Washington favored

1/01 4:15 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Washington @ Philadelphia	37 7	37 7.5	37 7.5	37 7	OFF	37 7

Matchup

Christmas in Arizona

One team dons red, the other green. The End.

Was there anything else notable about the game at all? Anything? Oh yeah, it was the last game at Sun Devil Stadium. Oh, and the Rutgers football team (which was in town for the Insight Bowl) attended. Gee, I wonder how they managed to get tickets. And, well, dub was in 'da house for the game (sorta).

More of the same old from AR after the game: "Congratulations to the Cardinals. They outplayed us today. That's my responsibility. I take the blame for that. I did not have this group ready to go." I mean, this stuff is annoying enough after a big loss.... does he really have to say this after games like this, with personnel like this?

I'm not sure what he meant, but Josh McCown had this to say: "That was one of the funnest games I've been a part of." Geez, even an opposing stank team QB is mocking us now.

Bruce Perry looked good on kickoff returns. Too bad he can't stay healthy and be put to ANY other use on the football team in the future. There we go, I actually got one football thought.

There, Ron, I saved you the trouble. I hope I didn't pull the rug out from under all of your live notes.

Now, off to wrap the wife's presents and start a Merry Christmas. The same to all...

Big Daddy B

Arizona is the favorite if you can believe that

12/24 4:05 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ Arizona	39.5 -1	39.5 -1	39.5 -1	39 -1	39 -1	39.5 -1

Matchup

Ram-tastic

What a game - 76 yards passing for a 2.7 yard average, 125 yards rushing with 59 yards coming on one play, 115 yards in penalties, 4 turnovers, and the Eagles still won. To celebrate their narrow 1 point victory the Eagles got a false start on the kneel down play. There couldn't have been a more appropriate tribute.

Rams favored. Yawn.

12/18 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ St. Louis	44.5 -3	43 -3	42.5 -3.5	43 -3	43 -3.5	43 -3

Matchup

Al-Moats*

I am becoming fatigued writing up these game summaries after losses because it's the same story every week. The defense doesn't show up in the beginning of the game, there is no pressure on the quarterback, every blitz is a failure, the defensive backs are bad, the flat is left uncovered, and around 60% of third downs are converted. The defense is pathetic. Yeah they got some picks but those were more a result of Manning choking and overthrowing his receivers by 10 feet. Plays earlier in the game where it took some actual skill to make the pick were dropped.

On the other side of the ball it was also the same story. You have Moats getting almost 100 yards in the first half then he has like 1 carry in the second. Nice job Reid. The offensive line played really good at times but then in crunch time and overtime they totally fell apart with either poor protection or holding calls. Reggie Brown had a really good game but when it really mattered, during the Eagles last possession of regulation, he drops a 20 yard pass that's right in his hands. Greg Lewis was consistent though, he sucked from start to finish.

The refs were terrible too. That wasn't interference on Sheldon Brown, that wasn't roughing the passer, that was a touchdown by the Giants, that wasn't interference on LJ Smith, that wasn't interference on Giant's cornerback Deloache.

And to sum up, I hate Shockey.

*If they had won, "Moats Valuable Player" was suggested by OB.

Giants favored by more than when they had dominant SB winning teams

12/11 4:05 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
NY @ Philadelphia	38 7	37 9	37.5 9.5	37.5 9	37 9.5	37 9.5

Matchup

Sorry for the late post. I figured no one really cared that much.

Best Game Yet

Flyers 0 - Calgary 0. Talk all you want about the new NHL and goal scoring and shootouts and Sidney Crosby and blah blah blah, this was the best Flyers game of the year. The wins versus Ottawa and NJ were quality, but in terms of entertainment this zero zero tie was tops. A tremendous effort by a short staffed Flyers squad, plus great hitting and goaltending by both teams, made this a game I watched perched on the edge of my couch instead of laying down on it.

But since I am a Philadelphia fan I have to go negative. First off- Donald Brashear- what the f are you being paid to do? You have Darren McCarty hammer Desjardins, injuring him, and you did nothing but stare at him. Gagne knows you are impotent so he took matters into his own hands when Robyn Regehr hit him. Has Hitchcock enacted a fighting ban? Pathetic. Also Knuble, you suck. Savage is totally useless, I hope they scratch him forever.

Now for some great hockey analysis. If Desjardins is seriously (4 weeks or more) hurt, I see the Flyers looking to pick up a defenseman. This would mean parting with a quality player, but maybe they could swing Brashear/Sim for puckhandler. The new guy (Ellison) played well, and looked good on draws. The team really needs Primeau and Forsberg back as soon as possible.

UPDATE: Desjardins is out for 8-10 weeks. Awesome.

A blizzard of suckiness

The Eagles, who were supposedly "fighting for their playoff lives", were hapless, were atrocious, were epically bad, and are the biggest bunch of chumps to take the field since the Kotite glory daze. On a night where Reggie White and the best defense I've ever seen were honored, the current defense on the first drive of the game showed everyone how it's not done. Every set of downs on the drive had a third down and the Seahawks converted on every one of them. There was zero pressure on Hasselback. The goal line stand was briefly reminiscent of the superior Reggie White years but in the end, the result was the crap 2005 vintage swill. And from there the tone was set for the game and it all "snowballed downhill in an avalanche of execrableness" from there.

Other comments:

• Eagles held Alexander under 100 yards! And I think the Seahawks had under 200 yards total offense! The defense pitched a second half shut out 2 weeks in a row! Way to go team!
• Eagles had 6 turnovers. Seattle scored 28 points off of them
• Bring TO back. It would be the greater punishment at this point.
• Eagles are 0-4 in primetime this year.
• Greg Lewis is weaker than Todd Pinkston, if that's at all possible.
• Darien McCants catch.
• Nice Landetta highlights montage that interfered with broadcasting the current punt. Glad to see Landetta is still rocking the one bar after all these years.
• Please, no more of the black jerseys. At first I thought it would have been a great idea to go vintage tonight to honor Reggie White and the returning players but after watching the game it was probably best they didn't. It would have been blasphemous instead.
• Westbrook should follow his blocks more and stop cutting it back so impatiently.
• McMahon sucks. Detmer sucks. Although McNabb was pretty bad at times this year, this is what quarterbacking looks like without him. This is what quarterbacking looks like all year for lots of other teams.
• Nice pickup of the blitz, Jamal Jackson.
• Moats, go back to the inactive list. And I felt that before his fumble that led to a TD return. Moats really isn't that good.
• I hate those Lexus commercials.
• While ignoring the Reggie White ceremony ABC blessed us with yet another week of atrocious Tim McGraw and Jimmy Kimmel banalities. Of course after not broadcasting the ceremony, Al Michaels then told us how emotional it was. Nice job.
• It took until 10 minutes left in the third quarter for the Eagles to get their first false start penalty of the game. After that the floodgates opened. The first false start nicely coincided with the first shot of a shirtless dude in the stands.
• Reno Mahe dropped 3 passes, all right off the tiny stone nubs he calls hands. He sucks.
• If you didn't bother to stay up you missed LJ Smith dropping a pass at the 1 yard line as time expired to preserve the Seahawks shutout.
• Eagles may lose out the rest of the year. This is not just a bad loss, this is a bad team.

McNabb Might Not be the Only One

We're about a quarter way through hockey season and all in all, it's been a give / take kind of start for the Flyers. They have proved they can score goals, but they can't keep leads. They have two players in the top spots for points and goals, but they can't kill penalties. They have sold out all but one game at home, but they are only one out of seven there as of late. It's getting better, and the aforementioned equation has them a few points behind the Rangers for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, a give / take scenario that's not too good but not too bad.

And now, keeping with the true WWEW? spirit, the Flyers must be trying to one up the Eagles, as it seems they've jumped on the injured bandwagon. Captain Keith Primeau is listed as "indefinitely" after missing close to a month with yet another concussion. Dennis Seidenberg has a broken wrist, while "Peter the Great" (which no one in Philadelphia calls him, thank God) has sat out the past two games with a groin strain and most likely won't suit up tomorrow. To top it all off, doctors in Philadelphia today feel Robert Esche may be suffering from an ever-popular sports hernia that could require surgery, thus keeping him out of the net for over a month.

Some of those following the orange and black feel this latest injury may be a blessing in disguise though, as the Flyers have been juggling goaltenders almost on a game to game basis. If Esche does need to be sidelined for an extended period of time, it will be a true test for Antero Nittymaki, but it may also offer some much needed stability and a break from the give / take the entire team needs. With games against Nashville, Calgery, and Vancouver all in the next ten days, the Flyers have something to prove, as they will be facing off against some of the "new" NHL's best teams.

Let's just hope they can take a few, giving us something to talk about.

Eagles aren't favored

12/05 9:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Seattle @ Philadelphia	44 3.5	42.5 4	43 4	42.5 4	42.5 4	43 4

Matchup

Yea! 5-6!

In a poorly played mistake-fest the Eagles managed to be the team that sucked the least and came away with a victory. The Eagles should have been up big early considering they started their first 4 possessions of the game on the Packers side of the 50 and Favre was playing terrible, yet they still only led by 3 points deep into the first half. When the offense managed to score what would be their lone TD of the game the defense, in totally predictable fashion, allowed an easy TD immediately after. Nice tackle Dawkins, very Bobby Tayloresque. And just as predictably, the offense went 3 and out on their following possession. That sorry effort though contained one of the highlights of the game -- the sound of the football clanking off the refs head. Fox should have replayed that more.

The defense gave up a late score in the first half to put the Eagles behind but you never felt the Packers had anything really going on and were not going to take over or win the game despite their 43% third down conversion rate. Instead the Eagles capitalized (as feebly as they could) on all the Packers turnovers, rushed for 181 yards, and took those important stats to victory.

Other observations:

• Eagles have yet another crappy punter. Where's Landetta?
• Did Gordon get the ball again after he fumbled it early? I'm thinking maybe once.
• Brett Favre should retire.
• Quentin Mikell can't play.
• Reno Mahe can't play.
• After the Gado fumble on the 50 why 3 straight passing plays?
• Why the stupid trick play at an inopportune time when you've planned to be so boringly conservative all game?
• McMullen had that first down but the refs blew it. He slipped down and extended the ball and then was touched. The ref spotted it as if he had been tackled to the ground. Reid should have challenged.
• I didn't like the Eagles settling so meekly for a FG after the kickoff fumble. A 5 point lead is not safe with this defense.
• Roughing the passer call was weak.
• Rod Hood had a good game, better than any Lito has played this year.
• I hate Jared from the Subway commercials.
• Who puts a bowling ball on their mantle?
• Seahawks are frauds.
• Giants are frauds.
• If the Eagles defense wasn't so bad this year they'd be 6-5, not 5-6 and have a chance in this weak division.

Eagles are favored

11/27 4:15 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Green Bay @ Philadelphia	41 -4.5	OFF	41 -4.5	OFF	OFF	OFF

Matchup

Those Other Things

Yup, the referees (who STUNK), special teams, and a defense that can't BUY a turnover.... they all blew our last few hopes. I guess I shoulda taken Ron's comment to heart: "For the rest of the season the following games will go down alot easier if everyone just accepts that this season is done." I couldn't, though. Now, I do. I'll be going to watch the 4-6 Birds next week against the Pack. How exciting. I hope my beer selection turns out good.

TO wont go

Trotter said on WIP he'd take TO back. You can add Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown to that list too.

Sheppard said he would be in favor of bringing Owens back.

"From my perspective, I'd vote for him to come back," the cornerback said. "That's just my opinion. Take a survey of the locker room, and see what you get."

There's not enough availability or time to take such a survey in one day, but Sheppard thought he had an inkling of what his teammates would say about T.O. returning.

"Some people might not answer that question, and I'm quite sure you'll get some nos," Sheppard said. "But I think the majority will say yes."

Even cornerback Sheldon Brown, who expressed tremendous disappointment in Owens last week, said he'd welcome back the wide receiver.

McNabb is done for the year anyway so why not? There really is nothing to lose. Just cause TO is out of the picture doesn't mean there still isn't dissension in the locker room as there appears to be pro and con TO camps. I also expect the Eagles to lose the arbitration hearing because TO's offenses are totally weak and don't come close to deserving the penalty meted out. It appears to me that the worst he did was hurt people's feelings. Other reasons for bringing TO back include making Eskin look like the juvenile clown that he is as well as avoiding the nightmare scenario of him possibly playing for Dallass next year. And the Eagles might even have a chance to win a couple of the remaining games too!

Is this a good time to remind everyone that the the Eagles chose Fraud Ex ahead of Chad Johnson?

Damn, 7 point dog

11/20 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ New York	42 -7	OFF	OFF	42 -7	OFF	42 -7

Matchup

Officially more pathetic than the Phillies

This game was lost more than once. The top 3 most responsible are:

1. McNabb of course, throwing his 3rd straight game losing interception. I'm sure TO loved it.
2. Reggie Brown who had several drops including the biggest at the end of the game on the 18 yard line. I'm sure TO loved that too.
3. The entire defense that let the Cowboys go 72 yards in 40 seconds. Brutal.

This debacle though has lots of blame to go around. Here is a list of idiotic plays:

• 6 false starts, 1 on a punt, 3 by Runyan
• Draw on 3rd and 13
• Interference on punt reception
• 7 yard pass on 3rd and 15
• Simoneau block in back on punt return
• Kearse offside to give Dallass a free first down
• McNabb's improvised shovel pass
• Holding call on a punt that went into the endzone
• Running shovel pass play when Dallass announced that it knew it was coming. Note to McNabb: that would be a good time to change the play and/or call a timeout
• Not converting a 3rd and 2 with 4+ minutes to go
• Throwing the ball right to Roy Williams with no receiver within 15 yards especially when you're supposed to be running the ball and running the clock out. The Reid-Childress-Morningweg-McNabb braintrust at its finest.

There were a bunch of bad plays too.

• Every punt - Where is Sean Landetta?
• Fake snap
• Reno Mahe drop
• Most kickoff coverage plays
• Missing wide open Westbrook
• Akers last second field goal attempt - I heard he was making them from 65 in warmups

Ordinarily I'd be more upset at this pathetic loss, but the Eagles would still be going nowhere if they had won despite some desperate grasping by lots of commentators. Winning would have been nice in that they beat Dallass but it would just be a star stuck on the side of an ugly turd. Hmm, what does that remind me of? Face it, the Eagles have nothing, their defense is a fraud, the ball will continue to bounce badly for the remainder of the season just like it did again tonight, and McMahon will probably be the one throwing game losing interceptions next week at the Meadowlands.

Eagles favored? Must be that Dallass sucks

11/14 9:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
DallASS @ Philadelphia	39 -3	OFF	39.5 -3	39.5 -3	39.5 -3	39.5 -3

Matchup

Owens is gone

The latest depressing chapter in Philadelphia sports history came to its familiar end today as the Eagles said good-bye to Terrell Owens. At the same time the announcement was being made, a small tremor shook the Delaware Valley as hope slammed into the earth at 3 times the speed of sound. Scientists said the impact could have been worse if this was a unique event, but because the Philadelphia region is overly familiar with these types of disasters there was only slight perturbations and most people just shrugged their shoulders and continued on with their day. Some experts said that if this type of situation had happened in the mid 80s shortly after Pete Rose and Moses Malone had taken their respective teams to championships, today's event might have had more of an impact. But many years of failure have passed since that era and the recent Eric Lindros event of 2000 left the region well prepared for the worst. "People have no memory of teams bringing in marquee players that bring home a championship, and we are very fortunate in that regard," another expert said, "This could have been a lot worse."

Sigh

There were a bunch of plays in this game that the outcome turned on and the Eagles only came up on the positive side on one of them, sorta. That play was Trent Cole's lone good play of the season when he forced Brunell to fumble. The Eagles immediately squandered that though with McNabb's super duper double secret trick spike play that was so secret no one else on the team knew about it. (The post below goes into more detail on this brilliant moment.) The plays that the Eagles needed but did not get - Thrash's punt fumble, Greg Lewis's catch that he made but the refs blew, even after proving it via replay, Lamar Gordon's drop as he was running across the middle wide open with lots of space in front of him - Eagles punted 3 plays later, and Cooley's fumble that sat on the ground for an eternity.

To me the TD drive that included Cooley's fumble that the Eagles failed to recover after Akers tied it at 10 is representative of this entire failed season: The offense has a good drive, no TD of course, but they do tie the game and supposedly have the momentum. The following kickoff by "specialist" Cortez has no hang time and only reaches the 15 and the return makes it into Eagles terroritory. The defense follows the spectacular special teams effort with one of their own and lets the Redskins answer fairly easily with a touchdown. How many times has this exact same scenario happened this year? The offense scores and the defense and special teams lay down on the opponent's next possession.

Ok, the end of the game. Well the Eagles finally ran a good 2 minute offense, except for the finishing it off with a tying touchdown part. They seem to forget the finishing up part alot. Why was Westbrook on the sidelines for that play? Andy Reid out thinks himself again. And to think, they took a timeout to draw that one up. Idiots.

For the rest of the season the following games will go down alot easier if everyone just accepts that this season is done. Yeah sure, they can still make the playoffs but who really cares at this point? The goal was to win the Super Bowl, not be sitting there in the last weekend of the season watching the scores of other games and hoping someone loses so the Eagles can back in as a wildcard. And the way both the offense and defense are playing, that might not even happen.

Why, Why, Why?

Why do I watch this team? The SAME problems EVERY week. Ok, the play calling is better this week, but for crying out loud, another mismanaged clock at the end of the first half? Why? Why? Why? So much lost sleep. So much fatigue for the rest of the week. And we can't spike the stoopid ball? DMac, I don't care what you saw on that play, but you CAN'T expect GLew to run a long route when rushing to the line to spike the ball. Man. Why am I an Eagle fan?

How far the mighty have fallen

11/06 8:30 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ Washington	40 -1	41 -2	41 -2	OFF -2	OFF -2.5	40.5 -3

Matchup

10 questions

Here are my questions as the NBA begins its 2005-2006 season:

1. The Sixers, where will they finish?
2. Will Iverson and Webber be able to coexist?
3. Will Webber spend more time on the court or more time on IR?
4. Will the Spurs repeat?
5. Will the Knicks do anything with Larry Brown as coach?
6. Will Phil Jackson be exposed as a fraud in his return to the Lakers?
7. Who will be the first player to be fined for dress code violations?
8. Will Artest go unsuspended the entire season?
9. Will the Heat dominate the East?
10. Which will be greater, Shaq-fu's foul shot bricks or Sixers victories?

The ESPN "experts" made their picks, what are yours?

Well, that sucked

Eagles get blown out once again in the first quarter. Defense stops nothing, offense goes nowhere. Same old sad story, same pathetic effort. The Eagles think they won the Super Bowl or something and seem to have forgotten they're also rans just like everyone else but the Patriots. Another brilliant scripted first 15 plays from Andy Reid. I think they gained 1 or 2 yards while going 3 and out 4 straight times and blowing a timeout. Maybe there was one run in the mix. This is what they practiced all week. Then notice when the Eagles started to get back into the game the pass and run was evenly balanced? Gee, once again the idiots sitting at home appear to know more than Andy Reid does about how to play football. Once the Eagles started running the Broncos suddenly stopped getting to McNabb in 3 seconds. But then of course when everything was starting to go the Eagles way and they were poised to tie the game, McNabb tosses up one of his back breaking interception specials that he's perfected over the years. Once that happened the game was really over and the defense proceeded to make it official and didn't bother to make a stop for the rest of the game. Great job chumps! I expected you to lose but I didn't expect you to do it so miserably.

Eagles road underdog

10/30 4:15 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ Denver	43.5 -3	42.5 -3.5	42.5 -3.5	42.5 -3.5	42.5 -3.5	42.5 -3.5

Matchup

Clarke, fighting, etc.

In this article about the NHL deciding appropriate penalties for shots to the head, Clarke said this:

"I'm not sure making it a long suspension sends a message," Clarke said. "Look what happened two years ago when [Ottawa's Martin] Havlat took a stick to Mark Recchi's face. And now he goes and kicks a player [Boston's Hal Gill] in the groin.

"Did Havlat learn anything from two years ago? I don't think so. Sometimes, the old law of the jungle was the best way to solve these things. Have a player go out and kick the crap out of him."

Clarke of course did the same crap back in the day but he had a retinue of goons to protect him from retribution. But he does have a point. The new NHL is definitely better and way more entertaining but it's unfortunately come at the expense of crushing hits and fighting. Fighting is definitely being phased out, slowly but surely. There has only been one fight in the Flyers 6 games. And if Brashear isn't fighting, why is he even dressed?

Fighting isn't just stupid goonery like critics claim. It is a deterrent to cheap shot artists like Havlat but also serves strategic purposes. Just last night Carolina was sluggish and down 2-0 to Ottawa. Jesse Boulerice fights Brian McGrattan, the Hurricanes finally start playing, the game turns around, and Carolina wins 3-2.

The NHL's lame justification for the cheap, gimmicky shoot-out is "nobody leaves". Nobody leaves during a fight either. Nobody stays in their seat during a fight and it often is the loudest cheer other than a goal. And besides, the Flyers need a justification for keeping Donald Brashear on the roster.

A win is a win

I'm lazy and didn't feel like working to come up with a clever headline so I went with a tired cliche. Sorry.

Anyway, this game is really difficult to figure out and write about. On one hand the Eagles totally deserved to win. When you hold Ladainian Tomlinson to 7 yards rushing and make him, and the running game, disappear you deserve to win. When you shut down and shut out San Diego for almost 3 quarters you deserve to win. On the other hand, when you don't blitz and give up a 3rd and 19, when you blow a 10-0 lead, and when you almost get tied with seconds remaining, you deserve to lose. (Thank you Sheldon Brown, you saved the game). When your offense pass/run ratio is 80%/20% and you gain 24 yards total rushing, when you can't make a yard on 4th down, when you stupidly get sacked out of field goal range, when you can't call plays fast enough and waste 3 timeouts on one drive, when you totally blow it at the end of the first half with a stupid play, when you average 3 yards a pass completion in the second half, when McNabb plays terrible, when Reid coaches terrible, and when you go three and out on all your possessions but one in the second half, you deserve to lose. But the Eagles won anyway thanks to the special teams that played good all day (except for that one Dirk Johnson shank).

But in the end this game really came down to luck. You don't win many games by blocking field goals and getting the ball to bounce perfectly into a guy's hands so he can sprint down the sideline untouched. In the Eagles entire history they've never returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown until this game. So I will bring this post full circle and close with another cliche -- in this game it was better to be lucky than good.

Sixers recognized

The Sixers new season starts in a few weeks and Allen Iverson and Chris Webber have been singled out for special attention by Sports Illustrated. Webber is #4 and Iverson is #10 on their "All-Poison Team".

Webber stands out by virtue of his penchant for being traded, his second home on the injury list (where he is right now), his complaining about the Sixers offense (Iverson), and his "creaky knees". No mention was made of his calling timeout when there are none left in NCAA championship games or lying to grand juries about accepting money illegally from Michigan boosters.

Iverson makes the cut thanks to what he is known best for -- his love of shooting alot a lot of bricks while the rest of his team watches. Overlooked by Sports Illustrated were racial fights in bowling alleys, recording bigoted rap records, sporting some really bad tattoos, and the recent dress code complaining.

Will Cheeks make a difference with this team? Sure the Sixers have talent in a weak conference but Webber and Iverson are 2 "superstars" that have never grasped how to truly play as a team and I don't think Cheeks (or anyone else) can change that.

Eagles favored

10/23 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
San Diego @ Philadelphia	47 -4	47 -4	47 -3.5	OFF -4	OFF -3.5	47 -4

Matchup

PATHETIC

Since I don't have the finger stamina to type everything the Eagles did as horribly as it could be done, I'll just list the good things.

• 4th and goal stop was nice
• Greg Lewis made a nice catch
• Wynn had good coverage on that one punt
• Rod Hood made one good play
• TO had 2 nice pick ups
• That 1, 3 and out was nice
• Nice play by Sheppard and Brown

In trying to decide the Eagles player of the game it's really a toss-up between France and Johnson. Both had productive days and nice tackles so either one would work for me.

Same Old Routine?

Well, October 5th is here. For many of us, it's just a normal day of routine. I'm sure you got up, did a triple S (s*it, shower, and shave), maybe had some breakfast, and then got in your car, driving off to work for the man. But in your commute, perhaps you turned on WIP and heard Angelo (in between whining about a bunch of somethings and nothings) talk about how tonight, the Flyers open the regular season against the Rangers. Then something might have clicked, because a night of hockey certainly is not routine. Then again, we're talking about the Flyers and if history proves itself, they'll screw it up again, as losing is certainly part of the routine they've been stuck in for almost 30 years.

But will this year be different? Has Clarke and company done their homework and finally put the team together that will bring the Cup back to Broad Street? I defiantly think so, but then again, I've been saying that since the 4th grade and have absolutely nothing to show for it. Really though, when you break it down on paper, they have a great shot.

Forget Forsberg, we know if he stays healthy (he sat for all of preseason after ankle surgery except for one game, and it's noteworthy that he looked great and scored in that game) he'll be a natural leader, both in stats and in playoff experience. Hatcher? I'm not sure about him, as again, it's an injury issue (not to mention his physical style of play is frowned upon by the NHL's new set of "rules"), but Hitch loves him so he'll add depth to an already deep blue line (with the exception of Therien, he blows). Rathje was a pleasure to watch during preseason and Knuble, although he shows some of his age, will add to the Flyers already strong offense (however, fat chicks in spandex with their old Tocchet jerseys will hate this dude, as he sports number 22).

The media is pointing to Gagne as one of the Flyers stars, and I agree with them. He'll have a break out year. Still, the dudes we all should keep an eye on are the young guys, as they'll make the difference this year folks. Full-time Phlexheads Ron and OB did some serious scouting last year on Carter and Richards, who both contributed well in preseason, but I think the guy to focus on is Jon Sim. Finishing with 8 goals in 7 games during the preseason, he certainly seems to have kept the spark from last year and will be a guy to get the puck to on the powerplay.

Johnsson will be the defenseman that will carry the team (maybe he can teach Pitkanen a thing or two in the process, or Desjardins can will him some experience, as he's due to kick the bucket any day now) and once Kapanen comes back in December (out with a shoulder injury), he'll add some grit and guts that only a dude who's 5 foot 9 can. Look for Primeau to impress Wood even more with some late game heroics, and let's all pray that Handzus gets a f'n haircut.

Besides the ever evident possibility of injuries ripping the team apart, the only problem one can foresee is goaltending. Nittymaki was one of the main reasons the Troll was sipping from the Calder Cup last year, and in his first three NHL starts two years ago, he went 3 and 0 letting in a total of only 3 goals. I'll be honest in saying he looked a bit shaky in the preseason, but once he has some more games under his belt, he'll most defiantly give Esche a run for the starting spot. Still, one cannot forget the performance Esche gave during the 03-04 playoffs, and with that experience, I think he'll be the guy to carry the team deep into the post season. I should also mention he was spotted riding the Zamboni around City Hall last month, tossing hats to those in attendance, and when I yelled out, "Good luck this year Eschey," he replied, "Thanks buddy." Now that he and I are buddies, I think he'll do an alright job (he's gotta paint over the Kid Rock portrait on his helmet though).

The NHL may be banking on the Flyers as well, for the new home of weekly games, the OLN, has picked tonight's game as the national one to televise (some are pissed they won't be watching Crosby make his NHL debut). Those who shelled out money to actually be at the Wachovia Center tonight will be treated to a plethora of goodies, most notably the "Back Where We Belong" t-shirt and a sweet Flyers bandana to twirl when Jager gets crunched into the boards. It should also be noted that many National experts have picked the Flyers as early Cup favorites, although most of the dudes at ESPN favor the Flames.

So it's another year of Flyers hockey friends. Another year of worrying. Another aching pit in our stomachs come June when the same old routine can ring true: an early exit from the playoffs, leaving us only with a question we are all so tired of asking, "Will we ever win?" This year, I think the answer is, "Yes."

Well, I do not think it yet, I just hope it for right now. After all, being a bit reserved is a part of a Flyers fan routine.

Eagles favored, of course

10/09 4:15 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ DallASS	-3.5 44.5	-3 44.5	-3.5 44.5	-3 OFF	-3.5 OFF	-3 45.5

Matchup

A Tale of Two Kansas Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was a half of wisdom, it was a half of foolishness, it was the half of belief, it was the half of incredulity, it was the football season of Light, it was the football season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, Kansas City had everything going for them, we had nothing going for us, they were all going direct to the Super Bowl, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest fans insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

The defense was horrible, then the defense was great. Priest Holmes was running through the Eagles with ease for early part of the first half and picked up most of his 87 yards. The Chiefs' play calling and formation shifting was keeping the defense off-balance and on top of that they weren't ready to play. The defense couldn't stop anything. Then after the Chiefs went up 17-0 a switch was flicked. FOX reported from the sideline that Dawkins told the defense that Kansas City isn't going to score on them again -- and he was almost right. Sheldon Brown started the Eagles resurrection by tricking Green into thinking he was covering long but then covered short, read the play, and returned the interception for 6. The special teams immediately squandered that momentum however by botching the extra-point and even worse, allowed a TD on the kickoff return. But Kearse, who finally had an impact game, disrupted the play on the Larry Johnson fumble which Rayburn recovered and the Eagles got the momentum back and scored off the turnover right before the half. By the second half things had turned around so well for the defense that Brown got another important interception off a lucky deflection. This never happens. Usually those deflected and tipped balls fall harmlessly to the ground, always a few agonizing inches out of reach.

The offense wasn't horrible, just sputtering and not warmed up, then the offense couldn't be stopped. Kansas City probably wanted to cover Owens but then again maybe it was their plan to leave him constantly wide open. And the amazing part is that if McNabb was more accurate with his long throws the Eagles could have had 50 or more points. The Chiefs did shut down Westbrook and the Eagles paltry running game, but that's all they did. And by focusing so much on Westbrook they allowed LJ Smith to have a big game. Once the Eagles started coming back, the Chiefs defense became panicked and clueless. McNabb and the offense did anything they wanted, and the bounces all went their way too. McNabb's final stats were 33 of 48 for 369 yards and three TDs. Imagine if he wasn't hurt.

The special teams were "special", then the special teams were special. In the first half the special teams were directly responsible for a swing of 19 points - kickoff return fumble that led to 7 for KC, blocked field goal, botched hold on the extra point, and a momentum killing kickoff return for a TD in which an Eagle didn't get within 4 yards of Dante Hall. In the second half though, they got it together. France put some nice field goals through (notice some actual animation and encouragement on the sideline from Andy Reid?), the punt returns were getting some yards, the kickoff and punt coverage became stingy, and things turned around so completely they recovered a Dante Hall fumble that led to points. They also recovered the onside kick with ease and Mahe very smartly ran out of bounds with the ball to essentially end the game.

Questions: Why aren't the Eagles ready to play at the beginning of games? Why did Kansas City use Gonzalez as a blocker and not as a receiver? Should Gordon get more touches? Was that Greg Lewis' first stupid mistake, trying to run with the ball before he caught it and costing the Eagles a first down? Did Reggie Brown get a catch? Is Kearse back? Will LJ Smith ever learn to keep 2 hands on the ball, especially on the 2 yard line? What if McNabb was healthy and more importantly, will he stay healthy enough to continue playing at this level?

Eagles road underdog

9/25 4:15 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ Kansas City	46 -2.5	45 -2	45 -2	OFF	OFF	45.5 -1.5

Matchup

ACHERS!*

This game was weird starting with the opening kickoff. Why was Akers kicking off if he's supposed to be gimpy? And to compound the mistake why did he kickoff the second time? Sometimes Reid just doesn't think. Fortunately Akers had enough to dramatically sneak through a 23 yard game winning field goal in the last seconds to win the game but he really needs to sit out and heal. And maybe McNabb does too as he was obviously hobbling in the pocket, had little mobility and was inconsistent passing the ball. Until he started using his lower body to throw in the second half, the offense was sputtering. Which brings up 2 more questions - why so many pass plays considering the circumstances and why have McNabb be a lead blocker on that Greg Lewis running play? Sometimes Reid just doesn't think.

Other questions: When are they going to sign Westbrook long term? Why did the defense blow a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter? Why so many stupid penalties? When is LJ Smith going to learn to protect the ball? He always looks like he's going to fumble to me. Can the offensive line play this good for the rest of the year? Will Kearse get a sack this year? Why run 3 consecutive (incomplete) passing plays at the end of the 4th quarter when you have the lead and you're trying to eat the clock? Why do I still hate that special teams guy even though he's no longer on the Cowboys? Are Enberg and Dierdorf the most clueless and worst announcers doing games at any level? On their own they both are horrible, but together they create an execrableness greater than the sum of their parts.

Sorry I seem rather angry even though the Eagles won the game but there are problems. The offense was great at times but still lacked consistency with Westbrook being the exception - he was great. Both teams "left points on the field;" the Eagles via turnovers, the Raiders via Janakowski. The defense stuffed the Oakland run game and only allowed 19 total yards and kept Moss under wraps. But then again they blew the 10 point lead. The special teams however are pretty mediocre right now and with Akers injured the field goals are now really iffy. All in all I'm not very confident going into next week.

*OB suggested this post's title and predicts it will grace the cover of tomorrow's Daily News.

UPDATE: OB was totally correct in his prediction.

Why the NHL sucks

I went to a hockey game last night and a baseball game broke out. I went up to Trenton to watch the Flyers play the Islanders in an exhibition game which the Flyers won 2-1 in a tedious and boring fashion. The reason it was tedious was because every 10 seconds the refs were calling a penalty, 26 total for the game, and play stopped. It was stoppage after stoppage and bad song after bad song on the arena sound system which only made things worse. The longest stretch of uninterrupted play was 6 minutes. 6 beautiful minutes stadium jam free. There was more skating to the penalty boxes than there was up and down the ice.

The NHL can't do anything right. In an attempt to increase speed and flow to the game by calling every obstruction, interference, hold, and hook that occurs no matter how minor, the NHL has made the game even more slow and awkward. Previously, at one extreme, everything was let go and now everything is being called to the other extreme. Why can't there be a middle ground? Imagine if the NFL refs called every hold or illegal contact that they see, that's what the NHL refs are doing. Two things will probably happen though. In the past the refs just stopped calling stuff after awhile (and that even happened to an extent last night) or the refs will continue to call everything and after 20 or so brutal games the players will have changed and adapted. But last night it seemed to me the refs called penalties when players were just fighting for the puck in good, legal one-on-one battles. And most of the penalties that were called the crowd missed completely because they were so minor or not even near the puck. The crowd did however indicate it's readiness for the regular season with lots of hearty boos. If you can stay awake, the NHL has videos to watch that explain all the new rules.

The other big rule changes didn't seem to have much of an effect on the game though. The allowing of 2 line passes didn't result in much. This was either because the players stunk and/or the defensemen just drop back to the blue line now instead of the red which isn't that big of a deal since the neutral zone is now smaller. The shootout is stupid and it will always be stupid.

Players that played good for the Flyers were Gagne, Richards, Sim, and Niittymaki. Richards had a surprising fight against a bigger dude and pounded him and was the main excitement of the game. Pitkanen was struggling again like he did at times during the regular season for the Phantoms. It's like he lacks confidence and hesitates and messes up because of it. Therien was just mediocre, not therienable, but I'm sure that will come as he will suffer the most because of the new rules since he's so slow. Anyway, the opening game is October 5th and it's going to be interesting how this all plays out.

Eagles favored again

9/25 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Oakland @ Philadelphia	47 -7.5	46.5 -7.5	46.5 -7.5	OFF -7.5	OFF	46.5 -7.5

Matchup

An idea

A coworker thought this up and I'm just embellishing it. Instead of having the Saints playing a "home" game in their opponent's home stadium, which is idiotic and unfair, the NFL should have scheduled the game in Philadelphia. The game probably would have sold out and the Eagles, who have a pretty good marketing department, could have made it something special. And most importantly, the Saints would have had the crowd behind them like a team playing a home game deserves. Game promotion could have been tied into the bushclintonkatrinarelief stuff and the "Be a Saint" commercials I saw running last night and had that Sean idiot dressed in a Saints football costume. The could have made it Mardi Gras night as well and even had Mummers in attendance. Ok, maybe not the Mummers. No matter how it was promoted I'm sure there would have been less than 10,000 empty seats than there were up in the Meadowlands which is pathetic. And talking about pathetic, how about the quality of play in both games last night? But you have to love Washington winning in Dallass on the night they honored Aikman, Smith, and Irvin. Ha ha.

Decimation

All you really need to know about this game is total yards; Eagles - 583, 49ers - 142. San Francisco had nothing. McNabb had only 6 incompletes the entire game while Rattay had more interceptions, 3, than completions, 2, at the half. There are some questions though. What's up with Akers, was LJ Smith's game his annual one good performance a season or is there more this year, is Simoneau now a folk hero, is Kearse on the downhill, can the offense stay on a roll, and how come no end arounds yet this year and where's the patented 2 and 11 play?

Eagles big favorite

9/18 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
San Francisco @ Philadelphia	43 -13.5	41 -13.5	41 -13.5	OFF	OFF	41 -13.5

Matchup

The blame game

The Eagles beat themselves tonight starting with Trotter getting himself kicked out before the game, but there is plenty of blame to go around.

1. McNabb
   In one of his worst games in awhile, McNabb was pretty bad - 24 for 45, 257 yards. Lots of terrible passes (maybe due to injury?) but more frustrating was his stupid decisions. I can't decide which one was worse; the play where he tossed the ball backwards to Westbrook for a turnover, the play where he stood still for 20 seconds on a 3 step drop waiting to get drilled so he would fumble, or the play late in the game where he was one on one with a big fat guy and instead of running by him for probably a 15 yard gain and a crucial first down, he threw the ball into the defenders upraised arms.


2. Andy Reid
   Aside from the one drive that resulted in a touchdown, Reid's play calling was bad - 45 passes, 14 rushes, terrible balance. Why wasn't Westbrook utilized more? How does this team get 4 illegal formation calls? Totally unacceptable. One hallmark of a Reid coached team is a minimum of suicidal mistakes. But in this game there were terrible penalties, terrible turnovers, and once again poor clock management and wasted timeouts. That's on him and he's going to have to go back and take a look at that and do a better job. Reid did do a nice job challenging that terrible spot but blew not challenging that "incredible" catch Crumpler made. He didn't catch that.


3. Offensive Line
   The big fat guys did a terrible job picking up the blitz, protecting McNabb, and run blocking. Nice false starts too at the worst possible time.


4. David Akers
   If Akers makes those field goals the Eagles win (probably). I heard he was making them from 85 yards in warmups though. Crappy kickoffs too.


5. Special Teams
   Marginal kickoff coverage, marginal to terrible punt return results, especially since their punter was putting up 35 yarders. You can't let that one roll for 60 Dexter Wynn. Nice play by Rod Hood on that big hit on the punt though but overall need to be way better.


6. Wide Receivers
   Where were they aside from Owens? And even he dropped some right in his hands and had communication problems with McNabb.


7. The Defense
   Well not totally to blame, but the Falcons got over 200 yards rushing (which is partly due to Trotter being ejected) but then again all the Falcons' points were scored in the first quarter and nothing at all the rest of the way. Dawkins was great, except for that long bomb. Kearse was pretty bad and Kalu outplayed him. Defense did keep the game in reach by forcing turnovers but really didn't shut the Falcons down consistently.

Other notes: Dear refs, spearing Donovan McNabb in the chest is a 15 yard personal foul, brushing Vick on the shoulder is not. Vick is totally overrated but at least he runs the ball when his receivers are covered. Dawkins was the player of the game, not the Falcons secondary, John Madden. Where was Ike Reese? Atlanta must still be kicking themselves for letting Simoneau get away. McNabb was the Eagles medallion to collect today. Is the medallion the new curse? Who is it next Sunday? Should the Eagles be worried about the 49ers?

Best baseball call ever

The only reason I spend any time at all watching a couple at bats of a Phillies game is to hear Harry Kalas. The man has one of the classic broadcasting voices of all time. During last night's predicatable loss via blowing a one-run lead in the ninth inning, Kalas was at his finest.

<CRACK!>

You're kidding me... (other announcer, "oh no, no")
You are kidding me.

Home run, Craig Biggio to give the Houston Astros an 8 to 6 lead.

I can not believe what I am seeing.

All the runs are unearned.

But so what.

I wish I had an mp3 I could post because the transcription doesn't come close to doing Kalas justice.

Eagles slight road favorite

9/12 9:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Intertops	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ Asslanta	-2.5 42.5	OFF	-1 41.5	-1 41.5	-1.5 41.5	-1 42

Matchup

archived PDF of predictions

Predictions

Below is the Eagles Schedule. In the comments make your season long, game by game predictions. Also I'd like to know what teams everyone thinks will be in the AFC and NFC championship games as well as the 2 worst teams from each conference.

Sep 12 @ Atlanta 9:00pm (Monday night)
Sep 18 San Francisco 1:00pm
Sep 25 Oakland 1:00pm
Oct 2 @ Kansas City 1:00pm
Oct 9 @ Dallass 4:15pm
Week 6 BYE
Oct 23 San Diego 1:00pm
Oct 30 @ Denver 4:15pm
Nov 6 @ Washington 8:30pm (Sunday night)
Nov 14 Dallass 9:00pm (Monday night)
Nov 20 @ N.Y. Giants 1:00pm
Nov 27 Green Bay 4:15pm
Dec 5 Seattle 9:00pm (Monday night)
Dec 11 N.Y. Giants 4:05pm
Dec 18 @ St. Louis 4:15pm
Dec 24 @ Arizona 4:05pm
Jan 1 Washington 4:15pm

archived PDF of predictions

Detmer

I like Koy Detmer, especially after I saw the picture above in the paper taken during last year's training camp, but if you watched him play during the preseason you have to come to the conclusion that he sucks. During his brief appearance last night his throws looked no better than Widener's starting QB's but they did get my yelling at the TV form in shape for the start of the season. McMahon, a mighty Rutgers grad, performed way better. Too bad he was usually throwing to McMullen and the soon to be cut Carlos Perez all preseason. On any other team Detmer would be cut but I guess he will stick around as long as Akers does.

Eagles will probably sign McCants

Darnerien McCants will probably be the WR the Eagles sign as insurance against TO blowing up again. Here are his lame stats. But I'm really making this post so I can be the first to suggest calling him McCants-catch after he drops a couple.

Also it looks like I was wrong saying Corey Simon gambled and lost. The Colts signed him and are paying him a bunch - 5 year deal worth $30 million with $13 million in bonuses.

See ya Simon

Eagles removed the franchise tag from Corey Simon and have basically said, "Good luck trying to find another team that's going to pay you $5.13 million. Dumbass." Simon and his equally dumb agent gambled and lost. The Eagles aren't gambling at all with what looks like great depth at that position -- Walker, Thomas, Rayburn, and the rookie Patterson, etc. In fact Reid even said so: "With the great amount of depth and talent we have along the defensive line, we chose to give Corey an opportunity to sign with another team."

Simon never blew me away and I was never a big fan. He never really lived up to that 5th overall pick status. What I'll miss most about Simon this coming season is him being out of shape for the first 2 months and his constant writhing around on the ground after every third play; not because he was hurt, but because he was out of breath.

The Eagles lose, lose situation

Terrell Owens returns tomorrow to Eagles practice after making a total fool of himself last week and receiving a letter from the Eagles detailing his antics and outlining how they expect him to act, i.e. like an adult. It's pretty inevitable that TO will again misbehave, not in an outright display but in a sly underhanded way so he can say, "What? What did I do?" Then the Eagles will suspend him again, maybe for the season.

The Eagles of course are doing the absolute right thing. You can't let Owens behave like he's behaving and then give him what he wants. But by doing the right thing they are significantly damaging their chances at a championship. Fans that just want to cut him or don't want him back at all are acting almost as impetuously as TO and letting emotion cloud their better judgement. He did score 14 touchdowns in an injury shortened season and was the best Eagle in the Super Bowl. The irony of this whole situation is the fans were decidedly against management in the Trotter, Douglass, Vincent, and Taylor ordeals and decisions and those were lesser players with a much smaller impact on the Eagles overall success. Could TO's efforts be any more hamhanded and stupid? And to compound it more, not only will the Eagles not be giving him more money, the rest of the NFL seems to be turning its collective back on him as well.

The ultimate responsibility lies with TO of course but I think the Eagles players have to sit this guy down and explain to him they are tired of his crap. He either has to act like a professional teammate or get out. The players don't need the distraction and they definitely seemed weary of the situation during last night's sideline interviews at the preseason game. If TO doesn't change and isn't suspended then he becomes a <cliche>cancer</cliche> and the Eagles and the fans lose again.

Will we ever win?

A True Hall of Famer

The Phillies have not produced many Hall of Famers in their 100 year, 10,000 loss existance. Sometimes, rather than be burdened by a great player, the Phils will trade them away for a journeyman like Ivan DeJesus. But despite the best efforts of this inept franchise, Phillies like Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Robin Roberts, and Chuck Klein have been inducted. Today these legends are joined by another superstar: The Phanatic.

Three legendary mascots will be inducted as the inaugural class of the Mascot Hall of Fame today in Center City. The Phillie Phanatic, the Phoenix Gorilla, and the Famous Chicken will be honored.

The festivities begin at 11:30 a.m. at Thomas Paine Plaza (Municipal Services Building), JFK Boulevard and 15th Street.

Also expected are 40-plus mascots from other pro teams from around the country, including Swoop from the Eagles and Hip Hop from the 76ers.

No word if famous Phanatic haters Eric Gregg and Tommy Lasorda will be attending the ceremony. Congratulations Phanatic!.

Another Reason to Hate the Cowboys

Michael Irvin on Owens:

He keeps saying "Get rid of me or give me my money". He believes he deserves his money and I believe he deserves his money ... Eagles fans, I am sorry, you have no shot without T.O."

And I am sorry that you suck, Michael Irvin. I can't believe you'd think a showboating WR deserves "his money". This almost makes me want to forgive those fans that cheered when you were injured.

Reid to T-O: You must G-O!

I really don't have much to say but I wanted to put in my suggestion for the Phildelphia Daily News' headline tomorrow. Story is here.

More bad news

While things keep getting better for the Flyers, the opposite is true for the Eagles. First TO threatens to hold out and annoys everyone, McDougle gets shot, and then Westbrook does hold out. Now Pinkston, who has been getting booed at camp, is out for the year with a torn Achilles.

Greg Lewis will move up the depth chart I suppose to fill Pinkston's spot but who will step up to be the third receiver? McMullen? I doubt it. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets cut this year even though he worked out with McNabb in the offseason. Reggie Brown? Maybe. Reid says he's picking up the offense fast. Hopefully that's true and not Reid trying to build confidence in a rookie. There are also some unknown receivers also in camp that could get the job done - Justin Jenkins, Robert Redd, and Isaac West. (The Eagles have a profile on Redd here.)

Although it's against my nature, I have to concur with the Eagles website's upbeat demeanor: "...if you look at the Eagles' track record, they always find a way to get the job done."

Let's hope. I still want two parades on Broad Street next year.

Forsberg

The Flyers have signed Peter Forsberg and in the process have righted a 13 year hockey wrong. Lindros should have stayed in Quebec and Forsberg should have been a Flyer. The hockey gods were displeased at the disruption of the natural course of things and cursed Lindros and all he touched. Lindros was given an eggshell head, won nothing, and never really lived up to his potential. Forsberg exceeded his and won 2 cups. Please hockey gods, allow Forsberg to play at his former skill level, be injury free (he missed the majority of the last NHL season played) and return the Cup to Philadelphia.

One problem with the signing is the Flyers are now over the cap and have to trade some players. The "hot" rumor is Roenick will be going to the Kings to make room. I say keep Roenick and get rid of Desjardins. I'm tired of him. With all the guys they just signed on defense they now have an extra man and if you're worried about depth down the road, Kapanen can fill in or you can bring up Slaney from the Phantoms.

This move will make the Flyers the favorite to win it all this year. Before they had lots of offensive weapons and skill and now they have added the "best player in the world". Defense is solid, if slow. Is goaltending going to be a question? Let's hope not and there will be two parades on Broad Street next year.

UPDATE: Flyers have traded Roenick to the Kings as expected. All they got in return was "future considerations". Weak.

Flyers signings

Flyers were looking for size along the blue line and they got what they were looking for. They signed Derian Hatcher (6-5, 225) and Mike Rathje (6-5, 235) and also brought back Chris Therienable (6-5, 234). They obstensibly traded Markov to Nashville to make cap room but I'm sure him being only 195 pounds had something to do with the decision.

So the Flyers got size but they also got age, injuries, slow players, and zero point production. Hatcher is recovering from torn knee ligaments and is 33. Therien has had a career long battle with sucking, has one eye and is 33. Rathje is 31. I'm not enamored with these signings. I'm tired of old, slow, broken down players. I didn't think they'd get Niedermayer or Pronger at the high prices they are commanding but Adam Foote was certainly available. But he's old and injury prone too so I guess they did what they could. The Flyers got depth as well instead of one big signing and Hitchcock should be able to figure out how best to use these players.

The Flyers also re-signed Phantoms forward Jon Sim to a a one-way NHL contract. Sim was great for the Phantoms during their Calder Cup championship run and won a Stanley Cup with Dallas when Hitchcock was coach there.

Football is finally back

Eagles are starting up again and the football juices are flowing but it's very easy to lose that good, all warm inside feeling. To avoid the comedown DO NOT care about TO. Don't read any articles, don't listen to WIP if they're rehashing everything for the millionth time, and change the channel if they start talking about it on TV. Second, and this one is harder, DO NOT watch more than 10-15 minutes of the exhibition games. In your mind you're thinking, "Alright, football!" but what your eyes see is entirely different. It's nothing but a sloppy, boring letdown masquerading as football and this will kill your football buzz.

Here is what you should do. DO watch and read about the additions to the team - Mike Patterson, Reggie Brown, Matt McCoy, Ryan Moats, and even Sean Considine. It's even worth paying attention to the rest of the draft class. Overall the Eagles tried to improve their offensive and defensive lines in the draft. See if there are signs that they were successful. Watch Matt McCoy to see if he can be a good backup. Watch Shawn Andrews to see if he's recovered from last year's season ending injury. Watch Buckhalter to see if he has anything at all after his second season ending knee injury. Watch the battle between Keith Adams and Mark Simoneau. Watch Billy McMullen to see if he has anything at all worth watching.

Watch out for more injuries.

A Young Rick Tocchet

Flyers drafted Steve Downie of the Windsor Spitfires (OHL) yesterday with their first round pick. He had 21 goals, 79 points, 179 pm last year. Says Downie, "I like to fight, I like to score." Amen brother.

In other Flyers news, the team traded away Todd Fedoruk to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. The trade was spun as giving the popular player a chance at more ice time. Personally I would have liked to see the Flyers move Donald Brashear instead of Fedoruk, who progressed nicely in the AHL this year. Brashear spent the off-season getting suspended from a Canadian semi-pro league for goonery. Quite odd for a guy who was a moody NHL fighter.

Other Flyer picks in the draft were:

Third round, 91st overall: Oskars Bartulis, 18, a 6-foot-2, 184-pound defenseman. He played at Moncton in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He's not a scorer, but as assistant general manager Paul Holmgren said, "He's a good puck mover who should develop into a player."

Fourth round, 119: Jeremy Duchesne, a 6-0, 200-pound goalie. The American butterfly goalie from Silver Spring, Md., split time between Victoriaville and Halifax in the QMJHL. He is the son of former NHLer Gaetan Duchesne.

Fifth round, 152: Josh Beaulieu, 18, a 6-0, 180-pound center. From Windsor, Ontario, he played for London of the Ontario Hockey League and scored 22 points with 159 penalty minutes with minimal ice time. "Down the road, we think he will develop into a two-way player," Holmgren said.

Sixth round, 174: John Flatters, 18, a 6-1, 203-pound defenseman. From Calgary, he played for Brent Sutter at the Western Hockey League's Red Deer, one of the Flyers' favorite drafting grounds. "He likes to initiate contact," Holmgren said.

Seventh round, 215: Matt Clackson, 20, a 5-11, 196-pound left wing. He's from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and played for Chicago in the U.S. Hockey League. He led his club with 270 penalty minutes.

Sounds like a lot of projects, but the Flyers generally draft well. Because this years draft was relatively weak, the team stockpiled 3 picks for next year. Flyers draft picks.

Lockout officially over

The owners of the 30 NHL teams unanimously voted for the new labor deal today ending the lockout. Here are the highlights of the deal:

• There will be a 24 percent salary rollback on all existing contracts.
• The salary cap for 2005-06 will be $39 million; the floor will be $21.5 million, based on projected revenues of $1.7 billion.
• Player salaries cannot - on a leaguewide basis - take up more than 54 percent of revenues next season. In ensuing years, that percentage may increase.
• A percentage of salaries will be put into escrow until the new salary cap can be calculated at the end of each season.
• No player can earn more than 20 percent of the team cap. For the 2005-06 season, that means no player can earn more than $7.8 million.
• The age for players to become unrestricted fr ee agents will remain 31 this summer, but it gradually will drop to 27 by the end of the 2007-08 season.
• The leaguewide minimum salary rises to $450,000 from $185,000; it rises to $500,000 in the sixth year of the deal.
• Under the revenue-sharing plan, the top 10 money-making clubs will donate to a fund shared by the bottom 15 teams - from $3 million to $8 million per club.
• Under a two-way salary arbitration plan, players and owners can elect to go to arbitration. Only players had that right in the previous deal. The plan allows owners to downgrade underperforming players.
• Teams can buy players out of their contracts at two-thirds of their value at no cost toward the salary cap within 10 days of the collective-bargaining agreement officially taking effect. That is designed to help teams fit under the cap, but the clubs won't be able to re-sign those players. Teams have between tomorrow and next Friday to determine their buyouts.
• Teams will not be allowed to restructure existing player contracts in an attempt to fit a big salary under the cap.
• There will be a minimum of two drug tests a year with no advance warning. A player will receive a 20-game suspension for a first-time offense, a 60-game ban for a second offense, and a permanent suspension from the NHL after a third violation.
• There will be NHL participation in the Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, in February 2006.

I really like this agreement even though it's an overwhelming victory for the owners. I like it because it mimics in some aspects the labor agreement that has made the NFL the greatest sports league in history. The adoption of a salary cap and the revenue sharing puts teams on equal footing and maybe will lower ticket prices(?) The lowering of the highest salaries and the raising of the lowest is probably unfair to the top players but overall it benefits more people. As a balance though the top players do get to become unrestricted free agents at a younger age where they can probably get more money sooner. Also interesting is the owners now get the right to take underperforming/overpaid players to arbitration. Speaking of LeClair and Amonte, if the Flyers buy them out as expected, they can't be resigned at a lower salary. Oh well.

While I think they were largely successful in restructuring the league, they blew it on the rules.

• Institution of a shootout, to ensure that every regular-season game will have a winner.
• Goalie pads will be shrunk by about 11 percent. The width of the pads will be reduced to 11 inches and the glove, upper-body protector, pants and jersey will also be smaller.
• Goaltenders can only go behind the goal line in a trapezoid-shaped area.
• The neutral-zone edges of the blue lines will be 64 feet from the attacking goal and 75 feet from the end boards in the offensive zone. That adds 4 feet in each zone, with the thought it will increase scoring -- especially during power plays.
• Although no-touch icing wasn't added, players who make long, home-run type passes that miss their target will not be whistled for icing.

First of all the shootout is a horrible idea. It's a gimmick that basically allows a team that's getting beat as a team to steal points via an individual skills competition that's larded with a heavy dose of luck. To me an equivalent would be taking the QB, kicker, and running backs on opposing football teams and see who can throw through a swinging tire, kick long distance field goals, and do the tire drill best to settle ties. Stupid. Also where is the elimination of the 2 line pass? (they did eliminate the 2 line pass, my bad) And not adopting no-touch icing is another bad mistake but then they compounded that by allowing players to get away with bad passes. But the real problem with that is putting another easily botched judgement call in the hands of the linesmen and referee. Look for this idiocy to increase levels of referee disparagement. And still no sniff of eliminating the instigator rule. Weak.

Stupid Roenick

Taking a page from the whinin' and cryin' Phillies and/or Freddie Mitchell's playbook, poor ol' Jeremy Roenick is complaining about fans complaining.

Philadelphia Flyers center Jeremy Roenick has some advice for hockey fans who blame the NHL lockout on players' greed: Once it's finally settled, stay home.

"We're going to try to make it better for everybody, period, end of subject. And if you don't realize that, then don't come."
(...)
"We don't want you at the rink, we don't want you in the stadium, we don't want you to watch hockey," he said Saturday at the Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational in suburban Pittsburgh.
(...)
"I say personally, to everybody who called us 'spoiled,' you guys are just jealous ... we have tried so, so hard to get this game back on the ice," Roenick said.

What an idiot. The NHL has about 3 fans, 2 of which think the players were greedy. That leaves you with 1 fan and no national television contract which doesn't really matter since you don't want people to watch anyway. If you think you won't be making any money now, it can get alot worse.

And guess who else thinks the players were greedy? Who thinks it was a mistake to not take the owners offer in February and instead continue to hold out for no salary cap? That's right, other players including Jaromir Jagr and even the super genius Jeremy Roenick himself admits the same. And the fans should feel sorry for them.

I know we are going to give up probably more than any union has ever given up in the history of [professional] sports and, to me, I think that's enough to bring the fans back -- to know what their players are going to give up as much as they have in the last year," Roenick said. "If people are going to chastise professional athletes who are making a lot of money they need to look at the deal we are probably going to end up signing in the next three weeks."

Because you guys were greedy and stupid we should take pity now that you think you're getting screwed? Classic case of redirecting anger at those totally unresponsible for one's own "crappy" situation. You have no one to blame but yourself and fellow players, Roenick. The fans had nothing to do with it.

Eagles picked to be champs

As we continue to ignore the mediocre Phillies and their endless, tedious season we might as well start thinking about the Super Bowl right? USA Today did a short article that summarizes the various NFL magazine's prognostications for the upcoming season. Athlon and Street & Smith's both correctly picked the Patriots over the Eagles for last year, both have the Eagles returning, but only Street & Smith's has them winning it in Detroit. Other magazines also have the Eagles winning.

I think this ignores history. Teams that are runners-up often don't even make the playoffs let alone return to the Superbowl. And Owens of course will have a lot to do with how the Eagles fare. Andy Reid is just as wrong now when he says "the receivers are good enough" as he was before they got Owens. The receivers are good enough with Owens, they are not without him. Of course when and if he returns his subsequent behavior will also be a determining factor.

And as an aside, one stupid thing people say about Owens is that he's selfish as if that's important on the field. Is he selfish in the way that Randy Moss is selfish where he takes plays off and gives up on winning and leaves the field early? People like Eskin try and denigrate his amazing effort to get healthy enough to play in the Super Bowl as merely a selfish effort to bring attention and glory to himself. If anyone remembers, he had the best game of anyone on the field and contributed tremendously to the Eagles chances of winning that game. If only the rest of the Eagles were that "selfish". I'm not saying Owens isn't selfish and self absorbed, but who cares what his motivation is as long as it leads to the Eagles winning games.

Phantoms go for the Cup

Without the Flyer's annual Spring time choking to entertain us, Ron and I have been feverishly following Philadelphia's farm teams- the Phantoms and the Trenton Titans- as they battle it out in the playoffs. The Titans have emerged victorious, winning the ECHL's Kelly Cup. Meanwhile, The Phantoms took a 1-0 lead in the Calder Cup finals with their victory over Chicago last night. Game 2 of the Calder Cup finals will be on Comcast Saturday night at 8pm. Watch if only to see some genuine Flyers stars of the future in Jeff Carter and Mike Richards.

So what have the Phantoms done to prepare for the Cup run? Watch a lot of movies, apparently. Check out this review of Gladiator by tough guy Josh Gratton:

I would like to think I pattern myself after the main character in the movie, Maximus. That boy could really kick some you know what. I'd say it's one of the better movies that have come out recently. I think it even won best picture. I highly recommend it.

Read others Phantom's opinions (including Todd Fedoruk's sweet review of Napoleon Dynamite) here.

Sixers can another coach

Unlike the Phillies who insist on second chances cubed and continue to go with what will never work, the Sixers seem to be in a hurry to jettison their mistakes and they dumped Jim O'Brien only a year after hiring him. I like Cheeks but I'm just afraid they hired him because it's a popular move with the fans. Also, it never seems to work out when teams hire fan favorites to coach their former teams. Oh well, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

NA-NA-NA-NA, HEY-HEY-HEY, GOO-OOOOD BYE!!!

Alas, the disgruntled underachieving sucker is gone. It wasn't until this year that I had issues with Freddie. I had maintained several times on this board that it wasn't his fault he was a 1st rounder. I thought he did his job well: posession receiver who wasn't afraid to go across the slot. Then, he started grumbling, and running his yap against his own teammates and hall of fame superbowl champion coaches. That was enough.

Freddie, we've all seen and heard plenty of you. We won't miss you. May it not take you 3-4 seasons to put up numbers worthy of a single season, ya DOG! Thanks for 4-26. Your 14 second scramble to get open by a tenth of a stride wasn't impressive.

P.S. Don't call Eskin up during next season. We've heard enough from you.

At least they won a game

Another Philadelphia team, another season without a championship. No one seriously thought the Sixers would be able to beat the Pistons and I even thought they would get swept. But after game 3 they stirred some hope. They should have won game 4 but blew it with a combination of stupidity and very unclutch shooting. To be up by 9 in the 4th quarter at home and lose in OT something is wrong with you. Weak.

Last night once again showed why people love Allen Iverson, even though he seems to have picked up a touch of Emmitt Smith Exaggerarted Injury Syndrome (ESEIS). While there was pretty much no hope he still gave it his all. That's what the sports fan wants maybe even more than winning. I also want some competent refereeing but that truly is too much to ask.

Iverson had a great series except for maybe game 2. Dalembert really stepped up and played with a fire I really hadn't seen before. I was actually impressed but enough with the drives from the top of the key and fadeaway jumpers please. Webber was his usual inconsistent self and he didn't deliver last night. What he is consistent at is disappointing Sixers fans. Iguodala was what you expect from a rookie in his first playoff series. He should maybe have been a little more assertive offensively but you can't complain about the defense. Well maybe you can because he was on Hamilton or Prince, who both lit the Sixers up but then again those guys are really good. The other starter that was new to the playoffs, Korver, was horrible. If you're not going to hit a shot and you're a defensive liability why are you on the court? From the bench, Willie Green was alright, Mark Jackson totally lost any game he had once the playoffs started and was the worst player on the team, Rodney Rodgers was good for a couple minutes in game 3 but didn't do much else, and I don't remember anyone else contributing anything.

So in the end the best player was Iverson but you need the better team to win. There's always next year, for the 1,000,000,000th time.

The draft

First Pick - Mike Patterson

One of the premier nose guards in the collegiate ranks, Mike Patterson was nicknamed "Baby Sapp," as his style of play is very similar to that of Oakland's Warren Sapp. Both rely on their suddenness off the snap, instincts and aggression to make plays in the backfield, despite yielding considerable bulk and size to the offensive linemen ... Patterson has excellent quickness and plays with recklessness and an aggressive style. He shows good pursuit speed to cover ground from sideline to sideline. Might be a little too short to play the two-gap system, but his explosion, long arms and strength make him ideal to handle the trash and double teams at nose guard. Patterson plays very quick in the short area, as his clocked 40-yard speed indicates. Does a very good job of avoiding blockers and making plays.

This guy wasn't a first round pick in any of the mock drafts I quickly scanned but he benches 520 and squats 700 and still runs a 4.83 40. Warren Sapp is his favorite player. I hate Warren Sapp.

Second pick - Reggie Brown

Brown is a very athletic pass catcher with excellent field vision and determination ... Has good overall muscle development, tight waist, good bubble and knotted calves* ... Off the snap, he shows good quickness to get into his routes and does a very good job of dropping his weight to get in and out of his cuts ... Works the short to intermediate routes well, displaying good body control and the ability to adjust to the poorly thrown ball ... Has good sideline awareness and the ability to catch outside his frame ... Will make the tough catch in traffic and can snatch and pluck the ball with ease

The negatives:

While he has the strength to gain yardage after the catch and good initial quickness, he is not a blazer and lacks the second gear to accelerate instantly ... Runs crisp short and intermediate routes, but rounds his cuts and breaks too early on the ball on deep routes ... Has made marked improvement reading zone coverage schemes, but struggles to maintain concentration on the ball, resulting in drops of easy passes ... Will disappear for stretches on the field, especially when he is not involved in the play

Seems like the perfect replacement for FraudEx, but at least Fraud caught most everything.

Third pick - Matt McCoy

McCoy is a product of hard training, having joined the Aztec program as a 200-pounder and developing into the 235-pound tackling machine that he is today. Blessed with sudden explosion off the snap, he teamed with Kirk Morrison to give San Diego State a punishing 1-2 punch in their linebacker unit. ... Has a short, but solid frame with good chest thickness, muscular arms and legs, good bubble and tight waist* ... Sudden, explosive mover who plays with very good effort and energy ... Instinctive athlete with good body control and change-of-direction agility ... Reads and reacts with a quick first step to attack at the point ... Has a nose for the ball and will not be fooled by misdirection ... Plays low to the ground and fast, seldom getting blocked when he explodes off the edge ... Readily avoids and slips past blocks and plays strong for his size, never giving blockers a clear shot at his body ... Drops back fluidly in pass coverage and breaks sharply coming out of his backpedal.

This guy seems good and fast but a little small -- another Simoneau? A criminal justice major genius.

Fourth pick - Ryan Moats

Moats is a jitterbug type of runner with excellent quickness through the rush lanes. The Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year ... Has a stout build, with broad shoulders, thick thighs and smooth skin* ... Shows suddenness coming out of his stance ... Has a quick initial burst and suddenness to gain advantage ... Accelerates through the holes, doing a nice job of keeping his feet while working through traffic ... Picks and slides with ease in the hole, displaying a proper feel for the cutback ... Doesn't create much on his own, but makes good adjustments on the move ... Not an inside power runner, but compensates with his ability to pick and slide through the trash ... Not a vocal leader, but lets his actions talk for him (good team player)

Seems like a Westbrook type of player except Westbrook can create on his own. Is a Basic and Career Studies major and has smooth skin.

*Doesn't this stuff sound somewhat like something you'd hear at a slave auction?

Who will the Eagles pick?

Below are a bunch of "experts" best guesses. This year's draft has disagreement right from the start so knowing the Eagles pick at 31, take all this with a large rock of salt and remember how great they did last year.

Eagles needs seem to be filling the annual wide receiver hole, tight end because Chad Lewis appears on his way out, defensive line especially at the Corey Simon spot, running back probably but maybe that can wait till next year, and they can always use more offensive lineman and linebackers. I don't think they'll draft a wide receiver, linebacker, or running back early. A tight end or defensive lineman is my guess for their first pick. The player I hope they draft in the later rounds is Craphonso Thorpe for obvious reasons.

First Round Guesses

About.com
Heath Miller, TE Virginia
The Eagles could use another weapon at wideout, but Miller can do as much to loosen up opposing defenses as any receiver Philadelphia could add at this point, and he is a tremendous value this late in the round. The Eagles also like to run a lot of two-tight end sets, and with Chad Lewis and Mike Bartum nearing the end of their careers, bringing in some youth should be a priority.

The Sporting News
Matt Roth, DE Iowa
The Eagles lost free-agent defensive end Derrick Burgess and are looking for a two-way replacement to play opposite Jevon Kearse, who will get pressure off the edge and play strong run defense. Roth plays with nonstop hustle and sometimes gets a little out of control. To adapt to Jim Johnson's upfield scheme, Roth would need to improve his pass-rush discipline to match his great potential.

TSN
Roscoe Parrish, WR Miami
This is a need pick and might be a reach, but Terrell Owens needs a little help. Parrish is a speedy player who could play the slot position in Philly's offense. He is also a dynamic punt returner, which would alleviate RB Brian Westbrook from that maintaining that responsibility.

Don Banks on SI.com's site
Reggie Brown, WR Georgia
Todd Pinkston and Freddie Mitchell are simply not enough of a threat to keep folks off No. 1 receiver Terrell Owens. Brown turned a few heads with a good week at the Senior Bowl, and he has nice size and reliable hands.

Don Banks on philly.com's site
Demarcus Ware, DE/OLB Troy

CBS Sportsline's 3 experts
Anttaj Hawthorne, DT Wisconsin
It would have been nice to control the Patriots up the middle.
Kevin Burnett, LB Tennessee
Eagles start collecting depth with eyes toward the future.
Heath Miller, TE Virginia
They need a player to replace Chad Lewis. Miller has slipped some, but he's still the best tight end.

Yahoo Sports
Matt Jones, WR, Arkansas
The former Razorbacks' quarterback is making the switch to wide receiver. It's rare that a player who switches skill positions when he enters the league is picked in the top-10. Then again, it's rare that a player stands 6-6 and weighs 240 lbs., yet is able to run a 4.39 in the 40-yard dash. We'll feel even more confident in this sleeper projection if the Eagles make good on the rumors that they intend to release or trade loudmouth wideout Freddie Mitchell.

Fox Sports
Barrett Ruud, ILB Nebraska
Linebacker is the only weak link on an elite Eagles defense. Jim Johnson likes to blitz from everywhere and needs smart, playmaking linebackers to be most effective. Ruud, a versatile defender, isn't the most gifted athlete, but he plays smart and has great character, both important traits to the team.

Frank Coyle, Draft Insiders' Digest via USA Today
Chris Henry, WR West Virginia

NFL Draft Countdown
Roddy White, WR U.A.B.
In recent years the Eagles have been very proactive when it comes to the draft, not afraid to trade up for a specific player they have targeted. That will likely be the case again this year since they have so many choices, all of which can't possibly make their roster. When all is said and done look for them to package a number of picks and move up for a shot at someone like Travis Johnson since that is a position they are looking at considering Corey Simon's long-term future with the team is in doubt. However, since it doesn't make sense to predict trades the best player available on the board for them is White, who will provide them with depth and insurance with the Terrell Owens situation lingering. Todd Pinkston has been a disappointment on almost a weekly basis and now appears afraid to catch the ball where he might be hit while Freddie Mitchell's bark is much worse than his bite (just ask Rodney Harrison) so to land White here would be a coup. White is an underrated player who many don't know a lot about but he is a dynamic receiver with a great combination of size and speed who is a threat to go the distance every time he touches the ball due to his ability to run after the catch. Philly could also be looking defensive tackle here with guys like Johnson, Shaun Cody and Luis Castillo being possibilities and with the losses of Nate Wayne and Ike Reese linebacker depth is a major concern as well so don't rule out names like Darryl Blackstock and Kevin Burnett either.

Second Round Guesses

35. Ciatrick Fason, RB Florida
63. Elton Brown, OG Virginia

35. Justin Tuck, DE Notre Dame
63. Roscoe Parrish, WR Miami