Eagles calendar: No double coverage

Call it fantasy football.

Sexual fantasy football.

Leaving little to the imagination, the Eagles unveiled their 2005-06 cheerleaders' lingerie calendar this week with a fashion show at the NovaCare Center.

The calendar shows the Eagles cheerleaders with most of the mystery removed, racier by a few provocative poses than the average Victoria's Secret catalog, and its introduction definitely was not family entertainment.

As the calendar picture of each cheerleader flashed on a screen, the woman herself strutted across the stage in high heels clad in fancy underwear - which was still a good deal more than most of them were wearing in a lingerie calendar with a minimal amount of lingerie.

How revealing are those photos?

Consider the reaction of Adrienne Hartman, whose photo adorns the cover, on first seeing her picture:

"Wow, I was like, 'Whoa, nakedness,' " she said after the fashion show. "I was like, 'Whoa.'

"But I was like, they actually did a really good job picking it, so I'm really happy with it. I'm pretty pleased because it's classy and professional, but sexy at the same time."

Hartman is photographed in profile, long hair covering one breast and right arm covering another. Her left hand pushes down a thin strip of stretchy material between thumb and index finger. That would be the lingerie.

Not everyone likes the photo as much as Hartman. While it might be classy and professional in her view, it was nothing but pornography as far as William T. Devlin could tell.

Devlin, an evangelical Christian activist, announced on The Michael Smerconish Program on WPHT-AM (1210) yesterday that he was trying to get Eagles coach Andy Reid to use his influence to get the calendar recalled.

He said that several former Eagles players are supporting the effort to lobby Reid, but two who could be reached yesterday, Irving Fryar and Herb Lusk, said they hadn't heard from Devlin. Neither said he planned to do battle with the Eagles over the calendar.

Devlin did not respond to messages seeking comment.

"We have a large and diverse fan base, and we feel this appeals to a section of the population and that it's along the lines of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue," Eagles president Joe Banner said last night. "Hopefully, it doesn't go too far. I don't think that we do, but I would respect the opinion of anyone who disagreed."

Banner said he was not aware of any complaints.

This is the fourth year for the lingerie calendar. Sales have almost doubled since the first edition appeared in 2002, according to the Eagles.

"It's a revenue-generator for the club," said Barbara Zaun, the Eagles' director of cheerleading.

Last year, the Eagles printed 25,000, which sold out, then printed 3,000 more for the Super Bowl. The calendar, which sells for $13.99, is available on the Eagles' Web site and through major bookstores, Zaun said.

The calendar spans 16 months, from September 2005 through December 2006, and includes photos of each of the 38 Eagles cheerleaders.

Other clubs have done swimsuit calendars, but only the Eagles have done a lingerie calendar, Zaun said.

Now, you might think that in this football-crazed town, an Eagles calendar would inevitably have important dates for the team printed in big red letters: training camp, NFL draft day, Donovan McNabb's birthday.

"Actually, the focus is definitely on the photograph," Zaun said with a laugh, "and not on the small-print text."

In fact, the calendar wastes so little space on text that it abbreviates days of the week. Not a single holiday is identified. And there's certainly no room to write down a doctor's appointment.

Zaun conceded that "the calendar has been controversial," but added that the Eagles market it responsibly.

"We make sure that we let our consumers know through our advertising that it is targeted toward an 18-year-old-and-up audience," she said.

"It's not for everyone, but we did a lot of market research on it and, again, the demand is there and the fans want the calendars."

All that exposure apparently has spread the fame of the Eagles cheerleaders far and wide.

"We get inundated with fan mail, from actually all over the world, and a lot of it does come from the military," she said. "They want us to send calendars over to Afghanistan and to Iraq. They want a little taste of home, and we love supplying them with the calendars."