Is it all a set up?

12/31 4:15 PM ET	Opening	BoDog	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	WSEX	5Dimes
Asslanta @ Philadelphia	45 -6.5	43 -8	43 -8	43 -8	43.5 -8	43 -9.5

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: Who is the Eagles MVP - Garcia, Westbrook, or Dawkins?

Flyers Prove they are the Worst

In a battle between two of the leagues worst teams, the Flyers showed once again why they are in the midst of losing 10 straight. I missed the first period but saw the second and third. Flyers were sloppy, turned the puck over, were unable to clear their own zone, and lost those crucial one on one battles. Even the goal the Flyers scored was weak- a pass from Calder that banked in off Belfour. Particularly horrendous was Gagne, who fanned on at least three one timers, all of which the enabler, Jim Jackson, attributed to bad ice. The Flyers power play looked like butt, as they failed to convert on two 5 on 3 advantages. The power play plan is this give the puck to Forsberg and stand around and watch as he tries to pass. No one tries to get open or goes to the net, and Forsberg apparently has forgotten how to shoot. As bad as the Flyers played the calls of referee Don Koharski were worse, especially a roughing on Calder after he was head butted and a fighting major to Ben Eager where Eager dropped neither his gloves or stick when Matador jumped him. Oh yeah Niittymaki pulled his groin and left after 2 periods. Flyers are in Tampa tonight where Martin St. Louis should score a hat trick. More on the suckage here.

Now is the time to weigh in on this question: Who wins more games this year- the Flyers or the Sixers?

Romo Isn't God

OK, being a monotheist, I knew that before this game, but nonetheless, this was a fun one to watch, despite having to endure a bunch of home field calls for the Cowgirls throughout the first three quarters. TO put his signature on the game with a fairly important drop (sorry, his TD wasn't exciting and his celebration was way lame).

Again, the Birds called a GREAT game, I'm loving the use of the run. Is this our D from here on out? Is Garcia going to remain poised (minus a bad INT)? Buckhalter recovered a handful of fumbles (although the Stallworth one on the sideline was negated by a penalty, and the Garcia fumble was caused by a missed Bucky block).

What was your favorite play? TO's first or second drop (at the end)? Trots call of the Cowboys draw early in the second half? Dawks' Willie Mays impersonation basket catch INT?

Merry Christmas, Birds Fans!

Ha!

Lito made the Pro Bowl! And OB thought he was only joking. Also making it were Dawkins and Shawn Andrews. Runyan was dissed again because all his opponents hate him, and if I was him I'd be more proud of that. Named as a first alternate was Brian Westbrook. Second alternates were Jeremiah Trotter and L.J. Smith. Westbrook should have made it straight up -- he's better than Steven Jackson, Trotter is valid as a second alternate, but LJ Smith? Then again Shockey was named a starter -- what a joke.

Dallass sucks

12/25 5:00 PM ET	Opening	BoDog	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	WSEX	5Dimes
Philadelphia @ Dallass	47 -6	46.5 -7	46.5 -7	46.5 -7	46.5 -7	OFF OFF

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: Ignoring all the scenarios, if the Eagles could beat Dallass but not make the playoffs or lose to Dallass but make the playoffs, which would you choose?

Ivan McFarlin traded...

And Iverson too for Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two first round draft picks from the Denver Nuggets. Denver isn't a lottery team right now, but with the upcoming suspensions, a really competitive Western Conference, and the imminent disaster that's going to come once Iverson and Carmelo Anthony start playing together, it can happen.

I will miss Iverson and the incredible talent he was but the guy never grew up. I guess growing up and becoming a true professional would have meant he was selling out to the man. Too bad, because Iverson possessed everything Philadelphia fans love about their athletes and he blew it with his dumbassery. Oh well, add Iverson to the list...

Revenge on Big Blew

I'm shocked the Eagles won this game. This was a different defense than the one we've been watching the last bunch of weeks. It looked like the "ghost" of Eagles defense present early in game but from the mid-second quarter on it seems the ghost of Eagles defenses past materialized to haunt the Giants, perhaps conjured up by Dawkins. Where did they find a run defense? Where did they find a pass rush? Where did they find some blitzes that actually produced? They even tackled well and got every break on the turnovers. Both pass deflections went right into Eagles hands and the Dawkins forced fumbles too. The Lito recovery probably should have gone out of bounds but instead just sat there a yard away.

On the offensive side of the ball Westbrook was great, Garcia was really good to great except for his brain dead taunting followed up with a horrible pick, Buckhalter got the ball alot after being invisible last week and was also great. Only one dropped ball (Tapeh) and lots of great catches from the receivers. The offensive line was pretty great this game as well. Even the special teams chipped in with Mahe's big return, but what's up with Akers?

OTHER NOTES: How nice was the Carolina game where the refs "let them play", where the players decided the game, not the referees? Where there were no ticky tack or imaginary penalties followed by replays that leave the announcers and viewers going, "What?!" These referees were horrible. There's too many examples to list on both sides of the ball. Too many calls where the refs need to show some judgement and realize the penalty they think they saw had nothing to do with the play and they should just let it go. Shockey is among the top 5 biggest idiots in the NFL and top 10 most overrated but he has to be the #1 jackass. Nice hit Quintin Mikell. Another game another opening drive for points and another first half closing drive for points. Dawkins came to the rescue again this week, how long can he keep doing it? Nice calls by the Reid/Mornhinweg "braintrust". I wonder what the ghost of Eagles defense future has for next week?

Dallass sucks.

Good one idiots

Flyers traded Freddy Meyer for 34 year old Alexi Zhitnik and Clarke was just rehired a week ago. Coincidence?

I was just discussing the future of this team a couple days ago with a friend and we both agreed it would be best to let these young players grow together as a team and set things up for down the road because this season is already over. Any trade the Flyers should be making at this point is to get younger and faster and for guys whose skills will be getting better, not for guys getting older and slower whose skills are diminishing.

Idiots.

Minor site updates

Unless you're a referee you probably noticed the top graphic changed, the clock was adjusted, and there's a tiny icon aka a "favicon", next to the URL in the address field. The top graphic used to have Thome, long gone, Tocchet, longer gone, Iverson, soon to be gone, and McNabb, gone for half of every season. The new graphic has who you'd expect and Hip Hop. Hip Hop was chosen because the Sixers are a team of scrubs and don't deserve to have a player up there. You might like Iguodala but c'mon, when is he going to start showing it? I say never. Carney maybe someday, but not now.

The favicon has a 23 to represent the years without a championship and the clock was put at 12 and half till with the Flyers and Sixers having zero chance of a Championship, the Eagles having a 10% chance right now, and the Phillies having a good chance but a track record that you have to account for. Setting the clock is more of an art than a science.

Also some day I hope to move this blog off of Blogspot and onto my own server but I have too many sidejobs going on right now to find the time. I did buy the domain willweeverwin.com though, so that's a start.

Screw this team

I turned the game off after it became 6-2. Granted it is the Phantoms vs. the Penguins but they're not even trying, they're just standing around watching. And if you look at the standings, the Penguins aren't really that great. If you take away the 5 thrashings of the Flyers, the worst team in the league, they're under .500.

Why don't the Flyers hate players like Crosby as much as I do? Why are they so weak. Instead they just sit back and let themselves be made into a bunch of fools while the other teams laugh in their face. You think it would make the Flyers angry but it doesn't. Instead of lighting a competitive fire they just docilely take their shifts and shuffle back to the bench or back to center ice after another goal where the other team had all the open ice in the world or all the time and space in the world to put in rebounds.

And while all this is happening the so called "best player in the world" is traveling it, questing for a magic golden skate for the delicate bloom of his veal like foot. Back in my day the Flyers had a captain that was a man named Dave Poulin who led his overachieving teams to Conference Championships with cracked ribs and his broken and swollen feet stuffed into skates 2 sizes too small.

I can't take this team anymore. After they only scored 2 goals in a 5 game playoff series vs. Ottawa a couple years ago and made Chechmanek and Bill Barber the scapegoats, I pretty much stopped watching them the next season because of my disgust. While my disgust now isn't quite the same as then it's still enough to make me do the same. I've had enough. This will be the last "comment" on a Flyers game from me for awhile unless they actually start to compete again. But I really don't see that happening anytime soon.

Weak and weaker

12/17 4:15 PM ET	Opening	BoDog	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	WSEX	5Dimes
Philadelphia @ New York	44 -6	43.5 -6	43.5 -5	43.5 -5.5	43.5 -5.5	43.5 -5.5

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: Will Reid be bragging after this game that the defense held Barber to 58 yards the first game? 158?

Eagles win but did they deserve to?

When the idiot Juqua Thomas facemasked Campbell while sacking him in the 3rd quarter giving the Redskins a free new set of downs, I thought he'd be joining the sorry ranks of Trent Cole and Jerome McDougal in making a play that single handedly loses a game via utter stupidity. And that was before the next play was a 34 yard TD pass to Randle El. But the Redskins out stupided the Eagles down the stretch and the Eagles held on, despite scoring zero points in the second half. And man are the Redskins stupid. Why they just didn't run the ball up the middle on 9 out of 10 plays I don't know. As it was Betts still got 171 yards rushing and the offense racked up 415 in total. But why they couldn't score a touchdown despite having first and goal on the Eagles 3 is a mystery. Why wouldn't you just call 3 running plays up the middle? Sure the Eagles might stop 1 but all 3?

Another reason the Redskins lost this game is because they dropped 2 easy interceptions. Carlos Rogers on the first play of the game and Marcus Washington later. Meanwhile the Eagles made both of theirs. Gaither's gave the offense a short field for a TD and Michael Lewis returned his for a TD. So despite the defense only being a minor speedbump of resistance, they made a few plays that did enough to win the game to overcome all the others they made to lose it, just like last week.

OTHER NOTES: Redskins field looks like crap. Another opening drive, another drive for points. Another drive to close the half, another drive for points. The Eagles blitz is terrible but it got there twice today, the biggest being Dawkins sack. Mahe submitted his entry for stupidest play of the year but there's been so many far worse it really can't compete. There will be a poll at the end of the season. In good special team play, Johnson the punter had a really good day. Westbrook had another really good game. Garcia a decent game. Dawkins had 2 good plays when the rest of the defense was doing nothing. I despise those Lexus ads.

Flyers lose, Sixers lose

It's not often you can watch the Flyers and Sixers lose at the same time on 2 consecutive nights. What a treat! Both teams played "gamely" despite being without their best player but both crapped out in the end.

In a game that changed leads several times, the Sixers were down by 1 and had possession with 21 seconds to go but inexplicably Webber lamely drove to the basket with 16 seconds left only to put up an scoop layup airball and then Dalembert, who has worse hands than the Eagles receivers, booted the rebound out of bounds. And that was essentially the game.

The Flyers were tied going into the third but lost because of a bad neutral zone turnover made worse by bad defensive coverage after it. They also gave up a goal earlier in the game on a bad defensive zone turnover and yet another terrible short handed goal. Nedved and Calder were especially worthless on the ice tonight and Richards and Sanderson both left early in the game because of injuries which didn't help things.

At least the Eagles are playing great these days so we have that to look forward to!

Flyers get beat

The title pretty much says it all. The Flyers were just beaten by a better team and the Devils won 2-0. As far as the game went, it defined "regular season matchup". Very mundane with nothing all that exciting or memorable except each goalie made 1 incredible save each. The highlight of the broadcast was Coatsey's Corner where he explained how skates way back in the day were made with leather from kangaroos but they had to stop because they went extinct.

Battle of the backups

12/10 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BoDog	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	WSEX	5Dimes
Philadelphia @ Washington	39 0	40.5 1.5	40.5 1	40.5 1	40.5 1	40.5 0

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: If you were Jim Johnson, would you put McDougal and Bunkley, aka big bust and bigger bust, on the field at the same time?

Eagles suck less than the Panthers

I'm not sure which is worse, the Eagles defense or Jake Delhomme. The ESPN announcers were saying the game was a boxing match going back and forth blah, blah, blah counter punch this and that, etc. It was more like the Eagles D tried to blow this game but Delhomme stepped up to blow it right back.

To inadvertently demonstrate how bad the Eagles defense is, ESPN put up Carolina's red zone stats which showed them to be the worst. The very next play - Carolina's first touchdown. And how did they score? Another anemic blitz that everyone knew was coming and Rod Hood covering 1 on 1 let Steve Smith get inside position for an easy TD.

Meanwhile in Carolina's subsequent series, Delhomme was throwing 5 yard passes when Carolina needed 8, getting intentional grounding penalties, crying a bunch, and just playing weak.

The defense counterpunched however by letting the opponent score yet again in the last 2 minutes of the first half. Yet again giving up another long drive with numerous 3rd and longs converted and capped it off with yet another stupid, anemic blitz that everyone knew was coming which left Keyshawn Johnson in 1 on 1 coverage with Quentin Mikel. Quentin Mikel??? Who is calling this defense? Even the dopes on ESPN knew who the ball was going to.

Eagles defense then held Carolina and played well, that is until the Eagles offense drove for a tying TD. Then the defense, as it almost always does, allowed the opponent to drive and to go back up by 7. This Carolina TD was the result of another stupid blitz that everyone knew was coming and Carolina called a screen to counter it that went 35 yards for a TD. Poor tackling also helped.

The offense, led by Garcia, responded with a nice drive of its own and got a field goal. Of course the defense then let the Panthers go right down the field and get their own field goal with an assist from the special teams, which allowed the kickoff return go to the 40.

Then Garcia responded again. First, with a nice 3rd down pass dropped in perfectly to Westbrook down the sidelines and lastly, a really nice 40 yard TD pass to Brown that hit him perfectly in stride. It was now time for Delhomme to step to the fore.

Delhomme tossed up a Farve like duck which Dawkins easily intercepted and returned 38 yards to the Carolina 37. This led to a go ahead Akers FG. 3:13 left in the game.

Who else knew that Carolina would then easily drive right down the field into scoring position, all the way to the Eagles 7? Everyone, that's who. But holy crap, Lito intercepts it with a great catch in the endzone with 25 seconds left to win the game. Eat it Keyshawn. Nice pass Delhomme, way to lose it.

Other notes: The refs eyes must have been watering up from the cold all night because they weren't seeing TONS of things. Missed facemasks, lots of holds, all sorts of pass interference - which I approve of, and Keyshawn's end of game helmet toss down the field. Garcia played another good game and got it done when he needed to. He showed alot of toughness and resiliency in leading the offense to 13 4th quarter points and threw lots of long passes on the money. And ESPN, the fans were booing the replay of the non-call on the late hit, not Garcia you idiots. How about that Stallworth catch? Thomas Tapeh sighting with 4 minutes left.

What if Dawkins and Lito had made those easy picks vs. the Titans? Good thing they made them today. Does anyone get the feeling this team is rallying and has hope? Nah...

Sixers lose

There hasn't been a Sixers post since they started their season. Guess what? They lost again tonight. But unlike the Flyers they're only a game out of first - that's how bad the East is and why I don't watch the NBA much at all. It's really, really bad basketball. And because the NBA has the worst salary cap/guaranteed contract set up of all the leagues, teams will stay horrible for years and years. And the Sixers, lucky them, have the poster child or all that's wrong with the league - 20 million dollar man Webber who, when he's not hurt, gets the most meaningless and hollow double doubles of any player in history. A guy that moves sideways like he's wearing 100 pound cross country skis and his shoelaces are tied to together. He's not much better getting up and down the court either. He even makes Rathje look fast and athletic, so much so Michael Irvin was going on about how Rathje's great-great-great-great-grandma must have run over to the hood and something went down.

This winter is going to be a long one. Maybe they'll put ice barrel jumping and motorcycles racing on ice in the winter X-games so I'll have something to watch.

Flyers are back

Back to the ways they've traditionally lost. Blow a 2 goal lead to the Devils - check. Have Brodeur rob you of open net goals - check. Outplay Devils but Devils get crap lucky bounce and weak goals - check. Give up a terrible late 3rd period goal to the Devils to blow the game - check.

So they're still losing but at least it's not embarrassing anymore. Also, Fedoruk played good in his return and Eager won his fight. Pitkanen is playing better but he still sucks. He's the LJ Smith of the Flyers - perpetually just in reach of having a "breakout" but will never, ever get there.

Have they turned a corner?

Flyers win again! Although the third period was brutal and was a return to the worst they can play, they managed to hold on to beat the Islanders. The night before they probably should have beaten one of the NHL's top teams, Nashville, but Rathje (sucks) foiled those plans. Aside from his horrible giveaway, the Flyers mostly lost that game in their traditional way of playing really well but hitting posts and blowing chances. The biggest came right after Umberger tied it up when Forsberg had Gagne wide open all alone in front of the net but couldn't get his pass by the defense.

So this makes 5 or 6 mostly well played games in a row, 3 of which they won. Are the Flyers "back"?

Game #3 on the way to losing out?

12/04 8:30 PM ET	Opening	BoDog	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	WSEX	5Dimes
Carolina @ Philadelphia	37.5 3	37.5 3	37.5 3	37.5 3	38 3	37.5 -3

Matchup

Not sure what's up with the 5dimes spread but that's what it said.

BONUS PARADOX: What happens when a stoppable force meets a movable object?

Eagles defense lays down and Addais

Dawkins sets the tone for the game and the defense early by blowing the first tackle of the night on ROOKIE running back Addai. Rod Hood feeds off Dawkins' effort with a missed tackle of his own on Addai's first, and least easy TD run of 15 yards. And another game, another opening drive for a touchdown.

Eagles offense starts with 4 straight successful plays to Westbrook. The Colts are dumb. Who else do the Eagles have but Westbrook? Nice to see the quick pass to the sidelines make an appearance in this drive. I really missed that. A nice catch by Mr. Softee on 3rd down is the big play in the drive that ultimately ends with the second bad snap in 2 weeks on a FG try which results in an Akers miss. Nice job field goal team. Pathetic.

Next Colts drive is just like the first - more horrible run defense, more horrible tackling. But no bad tackling on Addai's second TD run of 10 yards because nobody touched him.

Nice return by Mahe sets up the Eagles but a stupid trick play is called that is executed horribly and easily intercepted.

In the middle of the following Colts drive which was a repeat of the previous two, Trotter made the FIRST defensive play where the Colts lost yards and he followed it with an axe chop. Trotter, you're an idiot. A few plays later Addai made his third TD run and this time he was actually touched during his 15 yard stroll into the endzone. I believe it was an index finger.

Next Eagles offensive drive Reggie Brown made the best defensive play of anyone in an Eagles uniform so far.

Defense makes a stop which is followed by a nice Eagles TD drive. I'm pleasantly surprised. Terrible special teams coverage on the following kick off gives the Colts a short field for a half closing field goal.

I lost the motivation to pay attention for the second half so just a few notes.

Another nice drive by the Eagles and Garcia with several nice passes and catches leads to another TD. Eagles look competent and are actually competing on offense.

The defense follows up with a nice Pro Bowl like play by Lito, first and only good play by the defense all night. The pick sets the offense up nicely and shock of shocks, the offense takes advantage right away and punches it in for another TD. Eagles are only down by 10!

Colts take the kickoff and go right down the field with no difficulty at all and Addai gets his fourth TD. I think someone made a quick swipe at him on his way in but that was it.

Eagles offense gives up another meaningless defensive TD late in the game.

Thomas Tapeh sighting with 2:35 left.

Other Notes: Play calling was actually decent if you forget about the trick play. The offense surprised me and looked pretty good at times. The longest Eagles pass play was 19 yards - a short one to Buckhalter that he ran with. The longest actual pass completion was probably the one to Baskett that went for 16 yards. The defense was brutal, absolutely pathetic and execrable though. Manning is good, but he is the most annoying QB ever and I hate all those TV ads where he mocks the common man doing their mundane, crap jobs. How about some replays NBC? - Did Stallworth shortarm that one pass? Who cares about the Chris Collingsworth and the Broncos QB controversy. Can anyone name all the clowns in the man rules group? I can name 4.

Flyers win

Much like the game before Thanksgiving, the Flyers played well enough to win the game. Except today they actually did win as the unlikely combination of Pitkinin and Richards combined for a thrid period score. Flyers actually looked like an NHL team in the past two games, albeit not a very good one. They are now able to bring the puck out of their own zone and have not been giving up 10 or more odd man rushes per game. The 1-2-2 zone/trap or whatever it is that Stevens has installed seems to have stopped the bleeding and having Foresberg back has helped the offense. Still the Flyers are a long way from turning the season around. With the return of Ferdoruk, Picard, and Carter imminent, the Flyers have some decisions to make personnel wise. Frankly Calder sucks and should be off the team, but with his salary he cannot be moved. Interestingly he played over Meloche today. I assume Picard will replace Lars Johnson in the line-up, and I would play Fedoruk over Kane. Nedved was particularly bad vs Ottawa (2 minor penalties that were just plain lazy) and Hatcher looked good. Today Hatcher looked bad and Nedved pretty good. Flyers need consistency from all of their players if they expect to win. Any opinions?

Game #2 on the way to losing out?

11/26 8:15 PM ET	Opening	BoDog	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	WSEX	5Dimes
Philadelphia @ Indianapolis	46 -13	44 -9.5	44 -9	44 -9	44 -9.5	44 -10

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: Will Garcia complete a pass in the air for more than 20 yards?

Go Phillies!

Sure, we need some pitching, a solution to LF, and another bat in the lineup, but here's to the best news in Philly right now!!! (Of course, no, it doesn't involve hardware for the city, but you gotta like the guy and take some joy in this, kinda like Hexy back in 87 getting the Conn Smythe Trophy.... ah, maybe not that good, at least the Flyers were in the Finals back then and got trounced by a dynasty team at its peak.)

Dirty Waters No More

I think I'll watch the Body Bag Game tonight in honor of the REAL #20. There certainly isn't any green Kool Aid around anymore to drink to ease the sorrow.

Why do the Eagles suck?

• Defense gives up a TD on the opponent's first possession, one of their specialities.
• Offense struggled mightily to go a measly 12 yards after the fumble recovery.
• No QB sneak on the 1/2 yard line instead a pass play that is intercepted when McNabb lobs up an airball that flies about 12 feet too short.
• Dawkins drops an interception that was a sure TD.
• Sheppard drops an interception that was a sure TD.
• Greg Lewis, who sucks, drops a first down.
• Reggie Brown, who is overrated, drops what was probably a first down.
• Defense give up a long drive for points right before the half with several third and longs converted, one of their other specialties.
• Reno "Asteroids" Mahe is the only Eagle that came to play this week. That's sad.
• Mahe's kickoff return gives the offense great field position but they do NOTHING with it but lay a turd.
• Punter punts it into the endzone with a 10 yard penalty tacked on for a net of 10 or so yards.
• Next play is a simple run up the middle for a 70 yard Titan TD featuring a mini clinic on how not to tackle by the Eagles defense.
• Mahe's kickoff return gives the offense great field position but they do NOTHING with it but lay a turd. Again.
• Next play is a punt return for an 90 yard Titans TD featuring a mini clinic on how not to tackle by the Eagles special teams.
• Special teams follows that up with a blown field goal snap.
• After Eagles finally score a TD, defense immediately gives up a 40 yard play.
• Third and 1 can't run it for a first down and also lose 30 seconds off the clock.
• Can't snap it to Garcia in shotgun who can't easily recover a fumble, Titans pick it up and run it in for a TD.
• All of this against the 32nd ranked defense and the 27th ranked offense.

I thought the season ended with the loss to Tampa Bay and if not then, certainly after the loss to Jacksonville. And if anyone still thought the Eagles had a chance this game surely has crushed any last vestiges of optimism you might have had. And I'm probably not alone in getting the feeling in the first quarter that the Eagles were on their way to losing this game. You could just sense that they were going to do nothing all day but suck, and that was before McNabb went down, probably for the season with a Buckhalter knee.

Other notes: Anybody else that can take over calling the plays? If the Eagles can't score on a big play, they can't score. Reid has never beaten Jeff Fisher. Young only completed 8 passes and won the game. How's that flex schedule look now NBC? The Eagles "window" is closed and locked shut.

Flyers are chum(ps)

Flyers are back to sucking. Sharks first goal - typical Flyers. Sharks easily keep puck in the zone. Flyers gain possession but of course fail to clear and Esche gets scored on once again by a shot from the point that gets deflected in front.

Sharks second goal was a great pass by Thorton but Freddy Meyer just lets the guy go right by him to the net unmolested. Flyers are down 2-0 already and have no shots themselves. Eager decides to fight at this point and loses.

Flyers get a powerplay and their first shot of the game results in a goal thanks to a lucky bounce but overall the Flyers are still somnambulant. Soon after Thorton begins the Sharks parade of cheapshots by drilling Umberger into the short sideboards from behind. A worse hit came later in the game when Picard was drilled from behind by Bell and his head nailed the dasher and he needed to be helped from the ice. Both hits only resulted in minors. This is why the new NHL is a sad, pathetic joke. A little tap with the stick on the hip is equal to crushing someone from behind into the boards in penalty time.

Flyers get another powerplay and Forsberg, who played pretty bad, gets too cute and gives up a Flyers specialty - the shorthanded breakaway for a goal. Nice job. Flyers down 3-1 after 1.

Sharks fourth goal came on a powerplay. The Flyers just let the guy walk in and shoot and Esche lets him score on a bad angle to his shortside. Nice job.

The fifth and sixth goals were the result of the Flyers leaving a guy barely covered as he came down the slot. More nice defensive efforts. After 2, losing 6-1. Nothing happens in the third even though retribution for the earlier hits was promised.

To summarize the game - Flyers approach the blue line and the Sharks stand up and force a crappy pass or a dump into the corner which the Flyers rarely get to or win the battle for. Sharks approach the blue line and Flyers D backs in lets them easily set up or get a clear shot on net. Sharks win most of the battles for the puck. Repeat 40-60 times.

Let's hope the Eagles are more interested than I am

11/19 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BoDog	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	WSEX	5Dimes
Tennessee @ Philadelphia	42.5 -13	43 -13	43 -13	43 -13	43 -13	43 -14

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: Is Reid being purposely vague about who will be calling plays this Sunday so Tennessee will have to figure out the tendencies of Mornhinweg and Reid or is he just being stupid?

Waah!

The question has been asked, "Why isn't McNabb beloved?" The reason I don't particularly like the guy has nothing to do with his performance as a quarterback, which has been as good as you can get without winning a championship. The reason I don't like him is his "woe is me" act which never ends. The guy was a first round draft pick, is a millionaire many times over, plays for a very successful team, is a perennial pro-bowler, has one of the top 10 selling jerseys nationally and probably the top selling jersey locally, has an unpaid shill on the radio from 3 to 7 Monday through Friday touting his greatness, has 60,000+ people cheering him on at the stadium each Sunday and millions more in front of their TV sets, but 30 drunks booed him when he was drafted 7 years ago. Never mind that their boos were directed at the Eagles not McNabb. And just forget that the booers and their ringleader apologized and admitted to being wrong. Never mind that thousands more have cheered him since and wear his jersey, bought his bobble-heads, and other assorted McNabb related crap. None of that counts apparently because 30 people booed the Eagles on draft day because they wanted Ricky "sticky icky icky" Williams. Nevermind that booing at the draft happens almost every year. Also, after all the time McNabb has been here it's astounding that he's hasn't caught on that Philadelphia sports fans are emotional and say and do things without thinking. And if by some miracle the Eagles ever win a Superbowl he will be the beneficiary of all that irrational emotion for the rest of his life.

Flyers win!

The Flyers may have crushed the team with the best record in the west but the Flyers sucked just as much as usual. Don't let the 7 goals fool you. For this game, and probably this game only, something odd happened - everything the Flyers shot was into the top corners instead of into the goalies chest, opponents' skates, or "just" wide. Miraculously they also were 3 of 5 on the powerplay. Maybe Calder being scratched had something to do with it.

The Flyers did play really good in the first period but once the Ducks realized they were in a hockey game they dominated for the last 2 periods and ended up having 41 shots to the Flyers 16. The Flyers only had 2 shots each for the last 2 periods but they incredibly scored on both of them in the third.

Also for the 2nd and 3rd, the Flyers were absolutely pathetic on defense and couldn't clear the zone or the front of the net if their lives depended on it. The Ducks blew tons of chances to score. I can't count how many unmolested wacks they had at loose pucks in the crease or how easily they set up in front of Niittymaki. There were times in the second and third periods where it looked the like the Ducks had a 2 man advantage when it was even strength.

I'm still amazed the Flyers won 7-4. This is a weird, weird season. Hopefully the Flyers can build on this offensively but man, their team defense is still the worst.

Crosby is a Pussy

Yet another loss. Flyers were thoroughly outplayed in the second period. Shots were like 18-3. Flyers could not complete a pass, let alone attack with speed or forecheck. Still they entered the third period down by only one goal. The Flyers played better in the third and tied the game by, amazingly, going to the net. Still the Flyers could not get the lead, mostly because the power play is the weakest attempt at hockey you will ever see. Seriously they had 4 powerplays and did not get one shot on goal. Anyway Pittsburgh won because Sidney "Crybaby" Crosby blatantly interfered with Freddy Meyer, which allowed Recchi to feed that Russian kid for a nice shot that beat Niittymaki. After the game Stevens gave his usual speil about competition, and the lack thereof

"I'm having trouble understanding it, to be honest with you. We've got to play for 60 minutes. We've got a chance to win the hockey game because we played for 20 minutes in the third period on the road and to me it should have been for 60 minutes."

I like Stevens but I doubt he will be back next year. Some positives from last night. The penalty kill was good (no goals given up), as was Niittymaki. Hatcher actually dropped the gloves and wanted to crush Whitney (Who attacked Meyer after he was assessed a bogus boarding call). The Grant-Roy fight was entertaining. Also entertaining was Crybaby Crosby ended the game on his back after (1) eating a slapshot from the point and (2) getting pushed down by Sami Kappeneen, who Crosby had given a two handed slash. The bad- everything else, especially the play of Calder, who missed an optional practice to rest up and was a -2. I believe he was even benched because I did not see him on ice in the thrid period. VS also did a feature on Mike Richards fights to fire up Philly. Of course this begs the question, if Richards is going to fight everytime the Flyers fall behind by 2 goals, will he have 200 penalty minutes by the years end? Game summary is here, but if you've read one of these already this year, it just says the same thing. But there is hope for the Flyers- The fridge is back! Yes, Todd Fedoruk, last seen getting his face crushed, is returning to Philadelphia. I like the Fridge, and he is certianly a player that will play hard and be a leader, but he won't be scoring many goals. Welcome back Fridge.

Tracking A New Era?

Big Daddy B's finest takeaway from yesterday's game will rest in what Andy Reid revealed after the game, that he turned over the play calling to Morningweg. Now I'm not sure if this is a permanent change. And, no, I can't believe for a minute that MM is going to turn this team into a running team (BDB doesn't necessarily want that, nor does he think this team should be that). In fact, MM will probably target 60% passes per game. But, what I think it offers hope for is a future where the Birds will integrate the run into the overall play calling, and more importantly situationally make the right play calls. Heck, DMac might even have more time to set his team up at the line, read the defenses, and not blow timeouts.

For WWEW readers, BDB has updated his run chart for the Reidian Birds, which shows just how broadly out of control the guy had gotten, far beyond merely beginning or ending a season (ouch those latter games are hard to think about) in hyper-pass mode. Let's see how MM does in balancing the run game moving forward.

It's not about words, it's about energy

Dhani Jones is a clown, but the opening of his smacked-ass voicemail message is appropriate for this team. Tired of hearing from the 4 and 4 Eagles how great they are, it was time for them to show up and act like they wanted to play. And while the Eagles won and played a much improved game, they still didn't give a full effort for 4 quarters and probably would have a tougher time earning a win if the Redskins weren't so abysmal. Eagles also got some breaks and the Redskins got none since they depleted their supply last week vs. Dallass. One impressive aspect and big plus that happened in this game was the final Eagles drive which ate up the remaining 8 minutes plus of the game. Nice job Westbrook.

Other notes: Why didn't the Redskins just run the ball up the middle almost every play? Eagles should try tackling without grabbing a facemask or collar. McNabb threw a perfect pass to Stallworth on that bomb. The receivers had ZERO drops. Reid said in the press conference that Mr. Lucky, Reggie Brown fumbled the ball. It was not a play and he wasn't trying to lateral to Buckhalter. Reid also said Marty Morningweg called the plays all by himself this game. I don't think I'm right, but did the offense ony get one penalty all game - a false start? Dawkins played great and then kind of disappeared after getting shaken up on that huge play he made in the endzone. Lito owes him a dinner. Trotter also had lots of nice plays in the game early. Since when can you challenge "down by contact"? And Westbrook did fumble that and the refs blew it, even though there shouldn't have been a challenge allowed. Why can't the Eagles get 2 yards when it's first and goal at the 2? Special teams on kick-offs was weak in the first half but improved in the second. "Moose" Johnson was absolutely right criticizing the Eagles when they repeatedly did nothing after getting the ball inside Redskins territory. Tony Siragusa is boring. And Fox, where was the Clinton Portis's wacky costumes for the press conferences feature? I really missed that.

Battle of the Disappointments

11/12 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BoDog	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	WSEX	5Dimes
Washington @ Philadelphia	43.5 -7.5	43 -7	43 -7	42.5 -7	43 -7	43 -8

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: Is it good the Eagles locked up Patterson and Cole for the next half century?

Another sad loss

In regards to the Flyers complete and pathetic inability to score Coatesy says, "It's unbelievable, it's uncanny!". No Coates, the Flyers just flat out suck. Flyers are 6th in the league in shots but dead last in goals, mainly playing against backup goalies. That means you suck. And that doesn't even count all the shots they take that are blocked or simply miss the net.

A positive about this game though, if you discount the typical first period sleepwalk, is the Flyers resembled an NHL team and actually outbattled and outworked an opponent for significant chunks of play. They even outshot the Leafs 17-3 in the second. The Phantoms lead the way while the so called stars did nothing. Eager got the lone goal after finishing his check, one of the few on the team that does, and was set up right down the slot with a nice pass from Meloche which he buried instead of shooting into the mythical 6 hole. The stars meanwhile squandered chance after chance and powerplay after powerplay. Pathetic.

And any Flyers game review would be remiss if I didn't mention that Pitkanen sucks and so does Calder.

2-0!

Since the Eagles suck and the Flyers are worse, losing lamely again to the Tampa Bay Lightning last night, I figured I would take some time to watch the undefeated Sixers. And the Sixers came through for me. They provided some actual Philadelphia sports entertainment, they actually played hard the entire game, and they actually came through in the end when the game was on the line. The only real down note I have about the game was Dalembert. The guy is weak and he plays stupid. He's 6'-11" yet Grant "20 ankle surgeries" Hill blocked him clean.

I'll probably watch the Sixers again on Sunday vs. the Heat since it's going to be the only thing on. And it's always a great time watching Shat shoot free throws.

BREAKING NEWS: Terror Alert in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, (PA)--Philadelphia Eagles football practice was delayed nearly two hours today after a player reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the practice field. Head coach Andy Reid immediately suspended practice and called the police and federal investigators.

After a complete analysis, FBI forensic experts determined that the white substance unknown to players was the GOAL LINE.

Practice resumed after special agents decided the team was unlikely to encounter the substance again this season.

It's going to be a long, long winter

Eagles suck. I didn't watch the game but I could sense how much they sucked all the way from San Antonio, almost worse than the Flyers I hear. Another 0 point first half? Only 75 yards total offense in the first half? And: "if you add McNabb's runs and sacks to the pass-call side of the equation, the Eagles had 42 passing plays and just 15 called runs"?

Seems like another great job by coaching genius Andy Reid and "I'll still throw a pass short of the endzone with 9 seconds left" quarterbacking genius McNabb.

How will they blow it this week?

10/29 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	BoDog	WSEX
Jacksonville @ Philadelphia	41.5 -4	43 -6	43 -6	43 -6	OFF -6.5	43 -6

Matchup

BONUS QUESTION: If you could, for the rest of this season, would you trade Westbrook for Tiki Barber?

Cleaning house

Clarke is gone and more suprisingly, so is Hitchcock who just got a 2 year extension. Snider didn't actually fire Clarke though, Clarke fired himself. Why? Not because he did a bad job, but because he wasn't doing it and also didn't feel like doing it anymore. So who has been doing Clarke's job? Holmgren, who is now the interim GM. Wow, I'm really positive about things now. Things are really going to change.

John Stevens, former Phantoms coach who took them to an AHL championship, is the new head coach. I liked watching the Phantoms style of play when he was in charge. I think he let them play with more freedom and creativity than Hitchcock did the Flyers. I think they also weren't afraid to make a mistake and suffer the wrath of the coach -- they didn't play tight. But maybe he had to be more forgiving because he had mostly young players learning the game, which is sort of the situation with the Flyers right now. Sort of.

Who knows how this will work out but I'd just like to see the Flyers get respectable again. Yea! We're respectable!

Check that ball for helium!

Oh well, the Eagles didn't deserve to win this game so it's fitting that they lost on a miracle field goal. McNabb almost won this game but he did better at losing it. Although he had lots of help. Every pick McNabb threw was a terrible pass, especially the 2 to Eagles killer Barber. But throwing it to LJ Smith at the end of the first half, repeating an idiocy he committed with the same exact player last year, really takes the cake. How stupid can you be? And now that's TWICE! Pathetic. McNabb isn't to blame though for all the drops - Westbrook 2, Brown 1, Schobel the bobble, 1. But what about ZERO points in the first half?

Of course the defense played its part as well. I guess they missed giving up the opening game drive for points that they did it to start the second half. And they came up small lots of other times in crucial situations. They didn't really play bad, but no one made a play at all. This week's moron is McDougal, taking the baton from Omar Gaither and Trent Cole, 2 other braindead goats of past losses.

Other notes: Westbrook was mostly great and finally looked healthy. Williams is pretty damn good too. Terrible punting once again. Terrible kick off coverage when it really mattered. Reid is now 1-4 vs Gruden. What was up with the end of the game drive that was rescued by Westbrook? It took them 48 seconds to get 10 yards and they were just walking up to the line. The Eagles season highpoint was the Dallass win. It's all downhill from there.

Mid-Game Rants

After watching that first half, I figured some folks might want to rant mid-game, so here you go. (Besides, Tom/Lurker wasn't around by phone to gripe, so this is therapeutic, kinda, sort, not really.)

I know it is painfully obvious to every fan in the world what the options were on that last play of the first half. I also realize that Reid HAD to have told McNabb what his two options were. While I was fearing an Oline penalty and a ten second run off, the unthinkable happened, our QB throws it to a well-covered TE two yards short of the end zone. Wonderful. Unfathomable, unless of course, you know how terrible this team has in recent history been at the 1 or 2 minute drill. Geez, I thought they were gonna rid the ghosts. (It even looked like DMac was getting sick three plays before that.)

Special teams are a complete mess. The punt return team should be revamped completely. Penalties on both of the first two returns. The second punt return that was fair caught by Wynn, plenty of running room.

Good thing we have a nice pass rushing defense against these stiff quarterbacks... that and a great schedule so far of quarterback stiffs.

Gaither, thanks for yet another screw up on third and long (3rd & 7), giving TBY their 3rd & 2, which allowed for an easy first down conversion.

Is DMac haunted by TBY? That second INT was horrid (I'll credit a good read on the first one). These Birds have never protected the ball less, well, except, maybe, for that um, Superbowl thing (we still have a half left, though).

The MLew/Considine platooning doesn't look like a mistake, although Considine did allow two third down conversion passes. I guess that's better than a TD or two. He also fired through a hole to catch a runner trying to reverse the play.

Terribly frustrating, but hoping for that last drive to spark some confidence moving into the second half.

We're #30!

The Flyers sunk to worst in the NHL by losing to the Panthers in Florida for the first time in 6 years or something. The Flyers actually had some effort this game but still came up short. Came up short to a team almost as bad as them. Yea! I think you can put most of the blame on this loss on Niittymaki. All 3 Florida goals could and probably should have been saved, especially the 2nd one which came just 34 seconds after the Flyers actually took a lead.

When are the Flyers going to waive Mr. -10, Derian Hatcher? And Knuble, wake the f up.

Another sad loss

Well the Flyers looked sorta good for a little bit. Then they got behind the eight ball, had a little bit of pressure on them, and folded. Typical Philadelphia Flyers hockey game.

No one on this team can finish except Eager, who finished Janik with a blow to the jaw and sent him down in a heap. Of course Eager was given a 10 minute misconduct and didn't see the ice again. Kapanen got a goal but should have gotten a penalty according to how the rules are called these days, but didn't. I guess McCreary was taking pity on the Flyers. Hatcher was horrible, Knuble was horrible, Gagne was horrible, Pitkanen was horrible and Rathje was bad. Nothing changed from the Sabres game except the competition got worse.

But at least Ed Snider is pissed and knows there's a problem but of course can't figure it out. Here's a hint Ed, the initials are B and C.

Clarke added a group of smaller, quicker forwards who he believed could add offensive depth to his goal-challenged forward lines.

It hasn't worked.

Two of those signed, Marty Murray and Matt Cullen, were cut from camp, and Randy Robitaille is hanging on by a thread. Geoff Sanderson is the only one who has had any impact despite the preseason glamour Kyle Calder brought to a line with Richards and Carter.

Clarke thought he was making his team faster; what he made it was softer.

Yes, softer. Little and quick, even in a league with a renewed value on speed, means a team that can get pushed off the puck and plays like it is afraid to get to the net at one end or defend at the other.

At least the Phantoms call-ups played decently so maybe there is a glimmer. But now I'm stuck watching Nedved when I go to their games.

Aaaargh, birds better win this one

10/22 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ Tampa Bay	44 5	43 5	43 5	43 5	43 5.5	43 5

Matchup

I want hockey back

I realize this complaint would carry alot more weight if it was the Flyers blowing out a team instead of the other way around, but I don't care. What the NHL calls hockey these days is not the hockey I grew up with and loved to watch. It's a timid game now, without personality. It's a boring special teams game, constant whistles followed by slow skates to the box and powerplay after powerplay. Strength is not rewarded and hard work on the boards is pretty much gone. Working through checks is gone and fighting for position in front of the net is gone because it's been legislated out of the game. No more rugby scrums has Gene Hart rolling over in his grave. There is no intimidation factor and teams like the Flyers are playing scared of taking penalties while teams like the Sabres can just skate around them in circles without fear or any impediment whatsoever. It's even a damn penalty if you hook a guys stick or chop it out of his hands. Ridiculous.

Instead of a No Hooking League the NHL has created a No Hitting League and a No Heart League. The game that now exists on NHL ice is the end result of the "let's eliminate fighting mentality." The same weaselly mentality that doesn't have the balls to actually come out and call for an outright ban. I've mostly been bored watching the Flyers games this year and I suspect many other Flyers fans and fans of "old time hockey" feel the same way.

As the Flyers continue in what looks to be a season mired in mediocrity and the version of hockey Flyers fans love is no longer being played, look for more and more empty seats and even some defections from the Flyers cult. So far the two Phantoms games I've attended have been much more exciting than the Flyers. The refs didn't call every minor thing and even let some stuff go in the last minutes of the game just like the good ol' days of the NHL. There have even been several good fights and players with flair and character. And Berube is the Phantoms coach.

Anyway, the Flyers lost 9-1 in a pathetic effort (although the Sabres were outshot) and at least Carter finally scored. This game was great for Sabres fans I suppose, but it's boring hockey to me.

And then they went crawling out...

One positive: MLewis may finally get pulled from the starting lineup. Hasn't he given up a coverage touchdown in 4 or 5 of the six games? Outside of filling in if Trot ever goes down, I hope he rides the bench.

A personal negative: I waited too long to sell my jersey on ebay, and now it's worth about as much as TO's. Maybe I've got a bit more pride in having avoided the "homer loserness" of picking a TO jersey up, but Lurk at least got 3 nice Stone beers for his TO jersey. I probably couldn't even swing a Budweiser for that thing.

Game notables: The refs were horrible (both ways), the Aikman/Stockton coverage was better than w/ Buck, imo, the Fox coverage is horrible (replays late or no where to be found), AR running on 3-4?, Baskett is far better than McMullen but he's got a ways to go for studness, and what has Harbough been doing these last two seasons with special teams (the punt coverage is the only decent ST we have now), Reggie Brown had a nice game, ex-division coaches can all outcoach Andy, and I'm sick of hearing people call this a let down game when the Saints were 4-1 (not 1-4).

The Eagles go marching in

10/15 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ New Orleans	44 2.5	46 3	46 3	46 3.5	46 3.5	46 3.5

Matchup

Anyone notice the Flyers have started?

There was a Philadelphia hate cheesesteak made in the last 4 days. The meat of course was Dallass with the Rangers making up the 2 halves of the Amoroso roll. (TO was the cheese.) On Saturday night vs. the Rangers the Flyers deserved to win but ended up losing in a record long OT shootout. The shootout started to get boring real quick by the way. During regulation strong doses of luck enabled the Rangers to score 4 goals - one goal courtesy of a weird carom off the boards on a dump in and another nicked off a Flyers glove in front on a shot that was going way wide.

Tonight the Rangers lacked lucky bounces and lost 4-2, like they should have lost on Saturday. The Rangers also lacked effort. In the third period down by 2 goals they let the Flyers skate out of the zone with relative ease and they barely fought for the puck on the boards. The Rangers are picked by many to get to the Finals, but from watching the last 2 games they are a soft team. I guess that style of play filters down to the team from their new captain, one of the softest players in the NHL. Jagr didn't do much in either game and he doesn't even have Therienable to fear any more. The next time he checks someone will be his first time.

Flyers that were unexpectedly impressive in the 2 games were Sanderson, Nedved, Gauthier, and Hatcher. Yeah, that's right, Nedved. I don't believe it either. He even crushed someone tonight with the best hit of the game. Flyers that were expectedly impressive were Forsberg, Gagne, Richards, and Niittymaki. Flyers that need to get better are Meyer and Pitkanen. Even though Pitkanen had 3 assists on Saturday his defensive play was pretty bad and to me it looks like he is playing that hesitant, sheepish style again. Esche sucked and he didn't even play. Everyone else was "eh".

It's really hard to predict what the Flyers will do this year. There's a bunch of new, unknown players, a bunch of players like Richards, Umberger, and Carter that you hope will progress as much as they did last year, there's players like Hatcher that you don't know whether or not he will make the promised adjustments that need to be made, and then there's key players like Forsberg and Niittymaki that need to stay healthy for the majority of the season. I don't have Stanley Cup hopes like I did last year but the Flyers should be in the upper tier of the conference. And then again everyone figures the year that a Philadelphia team finally wins a championship will be a year that no one expects them to, so why not this one?

What a game

DALLASS SUCKS! Ok, now that that's out of the way, how often does it happen that a game lives up to its hype? Back and forth momentum swings, crucial turnovers, big plays, trick plays, a 4th and 18 conversion that ends up first and goal to go, and then a 102 yard interception return for a TD to seal the victory. And how about that interception return? Just when it looked like the Eagles were going to blow the game and Cowboy hopes were highest, the defense stabs Dallass in the heart. Ughhhh. Eat it Dallass. And then there was the TO sideshow that also went the Eagles way. He did next to nothing, dropped a catch when he heard Michael Lewis coming, watched 2 picks happen in his face, screamed at the coaches, screamed at his teammates, and went out a bigger loser than when he came in. And on top of all that it was a perfect Fall day. Football doesn't get any better and a victory can't get any more satisfying.

Even though the offense made lots of big plays in the game it was the defense that won it. They did exactly what everyone said had to be done - pressure Bledsoe into screwing up, and he more than complied. Dallass's great receiving core of Glenn, Owens, and Whitten really didn't do much. They never got a big play except for the bomb and interference call on 4th and 18. Glenn was largely a non-factor and TO was nearly invisible. Maybe that's why Fox felt it was necessary to have a big arrow graphic pointing to him before every snap. He was so lame Hanson was covering him 1 on 1 at times. The defense was getting gashed for big runs early in the first half but shut that down as the game progressed and even came up with several big stops on third and short. Dallass finished with 24 points but the defense only gave up 17 and alot of those points came when the special teams, which were pretty bad today, gave Dallass good field position. The defense even took over the game in the second half when the offense was sputtering and going 3 and out and taking no time off the clock to allow the defense to rest a little. Troy Aikman was correct in saying the MVP of the game was Jim Johnson with a variety of wacky blitzes with some that had the defensive ends dropping into coverage. He totally screwed up a very susceptible Bledsoe.

The longterm effect of the this game could be great. The Eagles finally beat a good team and can use this to propel themselves forward. Meanwhile, watching Bledsoe completely suck and lose the game pretty much all by himself and watching TO's reactions on the sidelines sets the stage for Dallass to implode. Let's hope it happens.

Other notes: DeMarcus Ware is good. Who else thought Bledsoe's fumble in the first quarter was going to get booted out of bounds instead of recovered by Trent Cole? How good was Trent Cole today? How good was Howard? Barber? Walker? Which was worse, Sheldon Brown's tackling or LJ Smith's? Or #25's on the Cowboys? Dirk Johnson was terrible today and so was the kick-off and punt coverage for the most part. On third and inches why was the call a 10 yard pass that was dropped by LJ Smith? What's up with Westbrook's drops? Nice shot of those 2 loser cowboys fans with stars painted on their faces looking like sad clowns. Who also hates that VW commercial with Slash by now? Dawkins interception was one of the best catches I've seen. Lito's first interception attempt was one of the worst. He also almost dropped the first one he did catch. And on his interception return he better not start celebrating too early again. GREAT game, GREAT win.

T.O.D-Day

10/08 4:15 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	BoDog	WSEX
Dallass @ Philadelphia	43 -2	44 -2	44 -2	43.5 -1	44 -2.5	44 -2

Matchup

Mr. Favre, Will You Please Go Now

Yeah, like the childhood book, you don't care how he goes just as long as he goes. In fact, you're hoping he takes those sorry commentators with him.

Well, the Birds did what they were supposed to in yet the 3rd matchup against these collegiate level opponents they've had. If you've got Donnnie Mac on your fantasy roster, you were probably more thrilled about that than any single moment of the game. I was never stressed or significantly irritated (even Bucky's fumbles only caused BDB to turn to his buddies and exclaim, "that stoopid guy from Nebraska"). I waited patiently for them to take the game over.

Some props to Reid for trying to establish a run game, it's clear this team needs to continue practicing that. Glad to see McNabb use the run when appropriate. Michael Lewis seemed to pick his game up, as did the Bow Tie Guy (if only he didn't strum that stoopid air guitar all the time). Why did Reid bail on Akers' FG attempt at the end of the half? I mean, despite BDB predicting on the previous kickoff that David A was gonna have a chance at a 53 yard FG and miss (seriously, I was off by only a yard and the end result was the same as a miss), wasn't a FG attempt a far better option than going for a 37 yard touchdown play with no time on the clock?

Next week is the real game. Start the hatin' now. After last night's Brett Favre slobbering from the media, I'm looking forward to hearing all the TO chatter start back up, and I was sick of that before the weekend.

Team Toughness

For the first time since I started watching the team (back in the late 70's), the Philadelphia Flyers will not dress an enforcer this year. While some years it seemed Philadelphia did not ice an enforcer (remember seeing Sean Antoski repeatedly whipped or Brashear look the other way when Desjardins was being hammered), there were actually fighters on the team. I cannot believe Clarke and Snider are doing this. Perhaps this is the way of the new NHL. Team toughness (also why Ovechkin is 100x better than Crosby).

Eagles heavy favorites

10/02 8:30 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	BoDog	WSEX
Green Bay @ Philadelphia	47 -10	48 -11	48 -11	48 -11	48 -11	48 -11

Matchup

Let's go Phils!

I don't really follow the Phillies because baseball isn't my thing. But I heard they had moved into the lead for the wildcard so I thought I would write a post to celebrate that fact. And all the sportstalk people and experts seemed convinced that they would be the wildcard team. Well, we all know what is going to happen next, if it hasn't started to happen already.

Other notes: Pat Burrell sucks. Lieby sucks. The umpires suck.

Eagles 38, 49ers 24

I was unable to watch this game but I followed somewhat on the internet and listened to the 4th quarter on the radio. Seems like the Eagles took control early, dominated, then slacked off just like last week. The offense's drives in the second half were 3 plays 5 yards, 3 plays -10 yards, 5 plays 80 yards and a touchdown, 4 plays 8 yards missed FG, 3 plays -3 yards, and then the final kneeldown to end the game. I know they were well ahead and in control but why is it impossible to put together a clock eating drive? Seems like the game was more one of big plays, with the Eagles making all of them, than anything else.

Westbrook was once again "the man". Akers missed another FG for the third straight week. Bring back Koy! The secondary was further reduced - Dawkins concussion, Hood couldn't finish, Considine went out, and Lewis suffered some leg injury. I need to see Patterson's fumble return.

<cliche>Time to move on</cliche>

9/24 4:15 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ San Francisco	42 6	42 6	41.5 6	42 6	42 6.5	42 6

Matchup

I'd like to make one more comment on last week. Reid has gotten lots of deserved criticism for the loss -- it's on him -- but it's been all over the place. Some saying he should have run the ball to kill the clock and then some saying he got conservative and went away from what was successful in the first 40 minutes of the game which was throwing the ball alot. Some complaining about both in the same call. I think Reid made some dumb calls but as I thought about it while staring into the void, restless at 3 AM monday morning, the game was lost when the players stopped executing. McNabb throwing the ball into the ground, Lewis booting the fumble, Westbrook fumbling, Reggie Brown, Stallworth, and LJ Smith dropping passes right in their hands, etc. And where did the pass rush and coverage go in the 4th quarter that was there the rest of the game? Where Reid blew it most I think is in not taking control of the situation before it slipped away instead of just burying his mustache in his Chinese food menu. Sometimes a coach needs to get in people's faces or at the least say a word or two to the right people instead of just standing there dumbly, watching as the tree slowly starts to tip and crash to earth before it pounds you into the ground like a railroad spike.

The most annoying team in history

Brutal or pathetic? I can't decide.

If anyone wants to know why Andy Reid and McNabb get criticized so much despite "their success" you only have to watch this execrable game. To me, and I said it at the time on the phone, the play that was the turning point was McNabb throwing it in the dirt to Westbrook coming across the middle on 3rd and 5 at the 48 in the third quarter. That was 3rd time in the game he destroyed a drive by throwing an inexplicably horrible pass to a wide open receiver while under no pressure. At that time late in the 3rd, they had been forced back into a 2nd and 24 (Runyan holding, Buckhalter -4 yard run) but picked up 19 on a pass to LJ Smith. I think if they converted that 3rd down they would have continued the drive and scored some more points, the Giants would have packed it in, and the Eagles could coast then. Instead they punted, the Giants scored a lucky TD on the next drive, and the Giants were back in the game. I knew 24 points would not be enough.

Of course anyone that is an Eagles fan also KNEW the Eagles would go 3 and out on their next possession for the first time in the game. It was a 100% guarantee, and of course the most annoying team in the world didn't disappoint. Of course the rest of the game the offense picked up a whopping 2 first downs and 40 total yards. They choked and McNabb joked. Ha ha ha. Good one McNabb! F'n heelarious!

Of course the defense did absolutely nothing to distinguish themselves down the stretch either, blowing a 17 point lead. And don't forget they started the game again by giving up an opening drive touchdown. When it really mattered they allowed Manning the time to make the game winning plays. Manning had 261 yards passing from the end of the third quarter on for a total of 318 yards.

Other notes: Andy Reid is stupid. They passed on first down 3 of the 4 "drives" in the fourth quarter. No more passes to Tapeh or Schobel the Bobble please. Stallworth and LJ Smith, who had been great the entire game, dropped first downs in OT. Why does McNabb throw a 4th down pass away instead of up for grabs? What's going to happen, a turnover? What an idiot. Why no blitz on 3rd and 18 at the end of the 3rd quarter? Another huge play that turned the game in the Giants favor. The defense (and the Eagles) can't recover a fumble to save their life at anytime. Why is Trent Cole kicking people? Michael Lewis won't be on the team next year. Kearse may be out for the year from an injury sustained in an OT that should never have happened. Worst loss ever? Most painful? Where does it rank? Will this effect the team the rest of the year?

Primeau retires

I admit I was never the biggest Primeau fan. You can read the archives of this here blog pre-playoff run of 2004 and find many a "Primeau sucks" comment. My main complaint was he blew golden opportunity after golden opportunity coupled with a festering dislike of the way he and the rest of the Flyers went out of the playoffs several years in a row capped with the ignominy of selling out Bill Barber instead of blaming themselves. But Primeau's performance during the 2004 playoffs that took the Flyers within one game of the finals won me over. If I remember right he was suffering from a concussion leading up to them and sat out the stretch run of the regular season recovering. So he went into the NHL's "second season" rested and ready. All the shots that he had previously buried into the goalie's mythic six-hole he instead blew by them. And the majority of the goals were big goals.

I attended game 4 in the series vs. Tampa and the one moment that's burned in my brain is Primeau skating down the wing and blasting a perfect shot shortside over Khabibulin's shoulder, causing the crowd to erupt in genuine, primal emotion. The Flyers then rode that momentum to a 3-2 victory. He then had a 2 goal, 2 assist performance in game 6 including the tying goal in the last seconds that was just as memorable. Gagne then won the game in overtime. I won't talk about game 7.

So today I am not surprised but somewhat saddened by his retirement. It seemed just as Primeau had started to take his game to another level and to solidify his standing as a memorable Flyers captain, he was sabotaged first by the strike and then by concussions. Even though he played 15 seasons, you feel it was a career cut short.

Other notes: Gagne signed for 5 years which is good news. Forsberg is the new captain. Clarke offered Ryan Kesler a one-year contract which if Vancouver doesn't match would give the Flyers 18 centers. The guy played with Umberger in college and is supposedly a clone. Training camp starts September 15th and the first exhibition game is next Wednesday.

Eagles favored

9/17 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	BoDog	WSEX
New York @ Philadelphia	42 -3	42 -3	42 -3	42 -3	42 -3	42 -3

Matchup

Solid win

It looked like last year all over again for the first 9 minutes of gametime and not much better for the majority of the first half. One horrible trend that the defense established last year was allowing the opponent to march right down the field on the first possession and score. The other one that killed them was allowing the opponent to score with under 2 minutes to play in the first half. Unfortunately they revisted both bad habits in this game but the offense came through with a big last minute drive of their own - 5 plays, 80 yards, 52 seconds, 1 touchdown - to provide the turning point of the game. Instead of going in at halftime down 10-7 to the lowly Texans, confidence shaky. They went in winning 14-10, used that momemtum to drive for another touchdown to open the second half, and then pretty much coasted to victory.

Other notes: Holy crap they ran the ball 22 times in the second half for a total of 30 attempts. And McNabb only threw it 35 times. That's not too far from 50-50. Westbrook was the man on offense. Stallworth was a close second making several big catches. McNabb was pretty good too except for that bad decision that led to an interception. Matt McCoy led the defense with 7 tackles? Trotter had 6. Bowtie guy had 1. How great was that Dallass loss? 24 unanswered points, 3 Bledsoe interceptions. The Giants loss was nice too but they did everything but win the game. Doesn't look easy for next week.

Eagles opening day favorite

9/10 1:00 PM ET	Opening	BetWWTS	Sportsbook	Pinnacle	BoDog	WSEX
Philadelphia @ Houston	30.5 3.5	37 5	37 5.5	37 5.5	37 6	37 5

Matchup

Predictions

Below is the Eagles Schedule. In the comments make your season long, game by game predictions. Also, what teams will be in the AFC and NFC championship games what teams will be this year's worst?

If anyone wants to embarrass themselves, read what was written last year.

2006 Regular Season
Date	Opponent	Time	Network
Sun., Sept. 10	@ Houston	1 p.m.	FOX
Sun., Sept. 17	Giants	1 p.m.	FOX
Sun., Sept. 24	@ 49ers	4:15 p.m.	FOX
Mon., Oct. 2	Green Bay	8:30 p.m.	ESPN
Sun., Oct. 8	Dallass	4:15 p.m.	FOX
Sun., Oct. 15	@ New Orleans	1 p.m.	FOX
Sun., Oct. 22	@ Tampa Bay	1 p.m.	FOX
Sun., Oct. 29	Jacksonville	1 p.m.	CBS
Sun., Nov. 5	BYE
Sun., Nov. 12	Washington	1 p.m.	FOX
Sun., Nov. 19	Tennessee	1 p.m.	CBS
Sun., Nov. 26	@ Indy	1 p.m.	FOX
Mon., Dec. 4	Carolina	8:30 p.m.	ESPN
Sun., Dec. 10	@ Washington	1 p.m.	FOX
Sun., Dec. 17	@ Giants	1 p.m.	FOX
Mon., Dec. 25	@ Dallass	5 p.m.	NBC
Sun., Dec. 31	Asslanta	1 p.m.	FOX

Pinkston and Detmer gone, Feeley returns

The Eagles did as predicted:

The Eagles made a flurry of moves on Wednesday, waiving wide receiver Todd Pinkston and quarterback Koy Detmer, and agreeing to terms on a two-year contract with quarterback A.J. Feeley.

Let us remember these longtime Eagles's greatest moments. Todd Pinkston scared and Detmer doing what he did best. I tried to find video of the spank dance, his actual greatest moment, but came up empty. This funny but scary video is the best I can do. I don't care about the SF game.

The greatest thing AJ Feeley ever did as an Eagle. (Har har)

Fans correct once again, everyone wins

Anyone with eyes could see the Eagles' receivers were weak, weaker, and weakest. Failing to get Jevon Walker during the off season, not wanting Lelee (who sucks anyway), not willing to pay Branch (NE is probably just messing with him), Reid and the Eagles continued to pretend that "the receivers are good enough". Now I don't know if the Eagles got really lucky in getting Donte Stallworth or pulled off a masterful heist, but either way it was a great move. Cherish it for now because these kind of breaks don't happen in Philadelphia. Simoneau sucks and maybe was even going to get cut with the rise of Matt McCoy and Jason Short. Sike, I mean Omar Gaither.

Stallworth was the first receiver taken in the 2002 draft at 13 and the only one in the first round. The second receiver taken, first in the second round, was Jabar Gaffney (who sucks). Deion Branch was the last pick of the second round at 65 and another big receiver name this offseason was Randle el, picked at #62. Stallworth supposedly has the speed to make the safeties back off while at the same time has toughness, will go over the middle, and is hard to bring down, i.e. lots of after the catch yards.

As a result of the trade, that pathetic 4 yard catch vs. Pittsburgh will probably be Todd Pinkston's last reception as an Eagle unless they run that quick pass to the sideline play (aka 2nd and 11) vs. the Jets as a tribute to Pinkston's storied career as an Eagle.

Now, will they do anything at running back? Rumor has it Domanick Davis of Houston is going to be cut, but he's injury prone as well. Then there's also the linebackers...

Mr. Glass 2006

I held off on this post to see if Buckhalter could make it through half a game; and he did. He even had a long run on a nice shovel pass screen and almost scored. Due to these developments however Buckhalter may lose his Mr. Glass title after a 3 year reign where he was untouchable. He won't be able to run away with it this year (no pun intended) like he has in the past. This season he has stronger competition than ever, the rest of the team has caught up, and the judges may now consider Buckhalter to be a one trick pony and want to see something new. There's only so many times you can blow out your knee completely untouched and still impress.

Pinkston made a really strong play last year for Mr. Glass but was just a rookie in the competition and rookies don't easily knock off the champ. Since then however he's shown he's learned alot and has remained injured the entire training camp without ever being hit. That's the strategy that made "Buck" the champ and now Pinkston seems to have adopted it as his own.

Buckhalters strongest competition the previous 3 seasons has been McDougle and this year he's challenging once again. After missing most of his rookie season, he went all out last year by getting himself shot and missing every game, but the judges frowned on the tactic because it happened off the field and was deemed "hotdoggish". Observers believed he was overcompensating to avoid the dreaded "sophomore slump". This year McDougle has gone the more subtle cracked ribs route, but he still hasn't mastered the art of getting severely hurt without getting hit.

Always placing in the top 5 but never winning it all is Westbrook. Westbrook makes a play for the title every year but you can tell his heart really isn't in it. His injuries are always bad enough to miss a couple crucial games but not bad or spectacular enough to really catch the judges' eyes. I think Westbrook sees himself more as an injury "auteur" and goes for weird things like torn triceps and this year's odd foot sprain. Injuries that are very subtle that no one saw happen. It might be art, but it doesn't win the title.

So who will win Mr. Glass 2006? There still is plenty of preseason left and plenty of cutbacks to make in practice before the opener versus Houston so all is not lost for Buckhalter. Never count him out -- He's the champ 3 years running for a reason. Pinkston has gotten this far with the Achilles thing but it's really run its course. He'll have to do something new and spectacular to legitimately take the title. Westbrook is always in the mix but I just don't think he will ever really have what it takes to be Mr. Glass. If I had to pick right now I'd take McDougle. He's worked really hard and paid his dues the last 3 years and you can tell he really wants it. Plus he's due -- don't think the judges are oblivious to that. I look for him to take it this year, maybe with a broken foot running out onto the field opening day, ala Hollis Thomas.

NCAA vs. NFL

ESPN is debating which is better, the NFL or the NCAA.

I used to be a big fan of college football but no longer. College football to me is best represented by teams like the University of Delaware - players playing not to go pro, but because they love playing.

I went to Rutgers for undergrad and Penn State for grad school. Both experiences at those universities turned me off to college football. Rutgers, for its pathetic attempts to go big time, wasting millions of dollars every year. Penn State, for the moron fans who up until last season were demanding Joe Paterno's head for a few losing seasons. But those fans are emblematic of what big time college football now is but can't admit -- a big giant cash cow for the NCAA and the few successful universities. Today winning is everything in bigtime college football so giants of the game like Paterno who have run their programs cleanly and with high graduation rates must go if they have 3 poor seasons out of 50.

In addition, Penn State probably makes as much money from its football program as some NFL franchises but it's all made on the backs of the players who get a pittance of that in the form of a scholarship. (The pro-college arguer says the NFL is the last bastion of socialism. The NCAA is the last bastion of indentured servitude and serfdom.) But the NCAA is loathe to admit what it really is and instead tries to maintain this huge phoney facade of purity, amateur athletics, and tradition. The NCAA is far more corrupt and just as money hungry as the NFL, but the NFL and its players have the decency to admit it's all about money and entertainment. The NCAA thinks their product is far more grand and "holy" and it's all BS. They're lying to themselves and they're lying to you.

Give me the NFL anyday. The NFL is sometimes cold, brutal, and mercenary, but they rarely pretend otherwise. Plus the level of competition, and more importantly the hitting, is about 100x better.

Various sports happenings

There has not been much traffic on this site lately, but that does not mean there hasn't been that much going on in the world of Philadelphia (and national) sports

The Eagles begin their long road back to respectability tonight, facing the Oakland Raiders in a meaningless 5 hour crap fest called the Hall of Fame game, one of 5 boring scrimmages the squad will partake in this summer. In Eagles camp, McNabb is a book critic, Mr. Glass (Buckwalter) is hurt yet again, some guy drives around with a gun because he still thinks he is in Texass, and Pinkston is soft. Also, here is another reason to hate the refs.

Chase Utleys hitting streak was stopped after 35 games, but his streak of moistening the panties of Northeast Philly chicks continues unabated. Phils did win 4 in a row until they blew the game yesterday with poor fielding. Apparently the Phillies are still in wildcard contention, which means that the Nationall League sucks. And who will Howard Eskin bash now that Bobby Abreau has left town?

Sixers may or may not be for sale. Pat Croce feels great, and is lining up investors as we speak, of course after first divesting himself of a certian pirate themed North Philadelphia slots parlor.

Michael Handzus was traded to Chicago for Kyle Calder. I like Handzus, but this is an acceptable trade, provided Richards and Carter continue to develop. More importantly, it's just 2 months till NHL action.

Floyd Landis' super Shoo Fly pie that got him back into the Tour de France may have had some unnatural ingredients Poppa Strohman would be so disappointed.

Please comment below.

McNabb could learn a thing or two

From the hot dog gluttony contest:

"When the hot dog came up, and some of it came out his nose, Kobayashi sucked it back down. To me, that's the testament of a champion and great athlete."

Ok, back to snoozing through the summer. Wake me when the Eagles start playing for real, Clarke signs someone other than Randy Robitaille, Lars Jonsson, or Nolan Baumgartner (who might actually be good though), or when the Phanatic starts using his ATV to do hot dog cannon drive-bys on Philadelphia cops.

Flyers

Flyers picked up two guys who were playing overseas. Marty Murray and Brad Tapper. Murray played with the Flyers before. He sort of did nothing, which is why you don't remember him. Here is Tapper in action.

Flyers draft

It seems the Flyers have made an attempt to adapt to "The New NHL™", at least in the NHL entry draft that took place this weekend. Here were their picks:

R1/22 Claude Giroux (RW)
R2/39 Andreas Nodl (RW)
R2/42 Michael Ratchuk (D)
R2/55 Denis Bodrov (D)
R3/79 Jonathan Matsumoto (C)
R4/101 Joonas Lehtivuori (D)
R4/109 Jakub Kovar (G)
R5/145 Jonathan Rheault (RW)
R6/175 Michael Dupont (G)
R7/205 Andrei Popov (RW)

Giroux is supposed to be another Doug Gilmore or Scott Gomez. All these guys are small and fast, with the exception of Rheault and Dupar/Kovar (goalies). A lot of these guys are European too. Lehtivuori is 5-11, 167lb. And he plays defense! I doubt any of these guys will have an immediate impact on the club (like Carter or Richards), most are in college and are years away from the NHL. No goons drafted but I hope that some will be invited to camp as unsigned free agents. More Analysis here.