Find out which Birds' team is 'Best of the Nest'

Look in the Daily News this week for recaps of the "Best of the Nest" series that will be airing on WIP (610-AM).

"Best of the Nest" is a series of fantasy matchups among the top six teams in Eagles history to determine the best Birds' team ever.

Game 1 is tonight at 8 o'clock on Glen Macnow's show. The hourlong format includes play-by-play with Joe Conklin impersonating Merrill Reese and Bill Campbell and Macnow interviews with Eagles names of the past. Game 1 will be recapped in tomorrow's Daily News.

It matches the 1980 team that fell to the Raiders in the Super Bowl, with Ron Jaworski at quarterback and coached by Dick Vermeil, against the 1995 Ray Rhodes-coached team that annihilated the Lions in an opening-round playoff contest.

So how is the winner determined?

Each game has been simulated on a computer by the Web site whatifsports.com, which runs an elaborate program allowing fans to play games between teams of different eras.

"I seeded the six teams [champs on top with a first-round bye], made the matchups, and ran each game through the Web site 300 times," said Macnow, who had a little free time on his hands recently rehabbing from knee-replacement surgery. "I figured by playing each matchup hundreds of times I would be able to create a more accurate tournament.

"Then I counted how many times each team won a particular game. I found the average margin of victory for that winning team and then chose the game among those 300 results that most closely resembled the average winning score. That game became the one I used as the basis for each night's radio show."

The tournament continues tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. on WIP before Saturday's championship game. The Daily News will recap each game, with a box score included, tomorrow through Friday.

The title game will air during Saturday's show, hosted by Macnow and Ray Didinger, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Then, in next Monday's paper, look for a special column from Daily News alum Ray Didinger on the greatest teams in Eagles history and the winners of the WIP-Daily News "Best of the Nest" contest. *