Dallass sucks

1/03 4:15 PM ET	Opening	betED	Bodog	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Philadelphia @ Dallass	48.5 -3	47 -3	47.5 -3	47.5 -3.5	47.5 -3

Matchup • Expanded Odds • Line History

Bonus Question: Is this game more important to Dallass or the Eagles?

Almost a disaster

The Eagles dominated the first half, faltered somewhat in or near the redzone and so didn't have as many points as they probably should have going in at the half. But then they took the opening kickoff in for a touchdown and were solidly in control 27-10.

And then they fell apart.

The collapse actually began on what should have been the nail in the coffin. Asante Samuels made his ninth pick of the year at the Eagles 8 and returned it to the 48. But Moron Harris thought it would be great idea to hit a defenseless Scheffler who clearly did not have a ball in his hands. So bring the ball back all the way to the 1. This was followed by a terrible series by the offense followed by a terrible punt by Rocca and a penalty that gave the ball to the Broncos at the 25. A few plays later Denver scored a quick TD.

Then Moron Harris, who single-handily tried to lose this game, fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Denver scored another quick TD and now only trailed by 3.

In the meantime the offense was doing absolutely nothing. After going up 27-10, there were four straight three and outs, zero completions, and one negative play after another until McNabb traveled back in time to make a 27 yard scramble to break the drought. During this stretch the running game completely vanished as well. Eventually after being given good field position after good field position Denver managed to get in position to kick the tying field goal.

After Moron Harris tried to fumble away another kickoff, the offense finally got a first down on that long McNabb scramble, but still had to punt. But most importantly, they managed to change field position.

Denver got the ball on their own 10, went nowhere, had a crappy punt of their own and Jackson returned it to the Denver 42. Two plays later came the play and the catch of the game. Maclin extended, made the catch and had two feet inbounds at the 13, but the refs ruled it incomplete. Replay ruled it a catch though and a few plays later Akers kicked the game winning field goal for the Eagles 30-27 win.

Other notes:

• McNabb had only 3 completions after his lucky TD pass to Avant - one to Reggie Brown that was short of the first, one to Maclin that was also short of the first, and the last one to Maclin that won the game.
• In the first half the Eagles were making great catches, sometimes with one hand while the Broncos were dropping easy ones and that led to the Eagles nice lead.
• Nice stiff arm on Dawkins by McCoy to set up that long screen run.
• The hit on Marshall by Sheldon Brown seemed to scare Marshall the rest of the game going over the middle.
• Notice Avant gets interfered with, makes the catch anyway and never complains vs. the crybaby Stokely.
• Wildcat plays were all stupid this week, especially when they used Jackson which I've pointed out how stupid that is earlier in the season.
• Celek was the player of the first half, then disappeared.
• Players were getting injured all game but CBS gave almost no updates.
• Tracy White had a good first half on special teams and defense.
• Joselio no Handson.
• Akers was good.
• Was Reid out adjusted or did the Eagles just think they had the game won?

Dallass sucks.

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Remember, Titans and the Chargers play Christmas night.

We're the worst

Oh no, more proof that every thing bad ever done by sports fans was done by Philadelphia sports fans.



Like this brawl between Rangers fans and the Boston Bruins that happened 30 years ago that the New York Times commemorated in its sports section today.

As a scrum of players exchanged words, Kaptain, who was 30 and owned an executive recruitment firm, reportedly reached over the low glass panel and hit Stan Jonathan, the Bruins’ enforcer, with a rolled-up program, drawing blood beneath Jonathan’s eyes. He then made off with Jonathan’s stick.

(...)

Kaptain managed to break free of O’Reilly but was corralled several rows up by McNab and Milbury, who pinned him across a seat.

“I grabbed his shoe, took a little tug on it, and then sort of double pumped,” Milbury said. “I don’t know if I hesitated for a minute because I thought I’d be vilified for the next 30 years, but I gave him a cuff across the leg, and then I did what I thought was probably the most egregious thing of all: I threw his shoe on the ice.”

After this incident every hockey rink had to be retrofitted with higher glass. But Philadelphia burned Santa at the stake and defiled his corpse 40 years ago so it doesn't count.

Dawkins returns

12/27 4:15 PM ET	Opening	betED	Bodog	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Denver @ Philadelphia	41 -9	41.5 -7	41.5 -7	41 -7.5	41.5 -7

Matchup • Expanded Odds • Line History

Bonus Question: Who else has had the nightmare of Dawkins taking out Jackson like Trotter took out Westbrook?

Five in a row and another playoff berth

Another fast Eagles start and four first half San Francisco turnovers created a 20-3 halftime lead for the Eagles. Then the Eagles started to screw up in the second half and the 49ers got back in the game and soon only trailed by 7. But just as things started to look shaky, Jackson blew past the 49ers secondary for a 59 yard catch to get the momentum back - Remember the days when receivers supposedly didn't matter? Then the Eagles finished the drive with a TD thanks to strong running by Weaver and McCoy, re-established control of the game, and went on to win, 27-13.

Other notes:

• The opening drive once again was perfect. It looked so easy. After that there were a couple of 3 and outs though.
• Sheldon Brown's nice strip play bailed out Reid and his stupid 4th and 1 call from the Eagles on 39.
• 49ers punt returner sucks.
• I had no idea Takeo Spikes was still in the league.
• Terrible pass by McNabb on his first interception.
• Anyone else remember Merton Hanks? Best TD celebration ever.
• Why yell at Leonard Weaver? Just snap the ball and spike it! Who cares if he's not lined up. He's allowed to just be hanging out wherever, right? And the 49er's guy is offside anyway. Also note that the Eagles blew 2 timeouts earlier, one stupidly before the failed 4th and 1 attempt. One of those would have come in handy there.
• With four 49er first half turnovers the Eagles should have been leading by more at halftime, although 20-3 wasn't bad.
• During breaks they should have shown Singletary's Super Bowl Shuffle part on the stadium screen.
• Eagles got a couple calls today, or I should say the refs made some proper calls. But there was no hold by Herremans or by #62 on the 49ers. And Jackson was tackled out of bounds, but no call.
• Did everyone else see exactly where the ball was going on the 49ers 4th and 3 play before the ball was snapped? And nice wrap up Samuels. He'll never learn.
• What was McNabb doing on his second pick? Play conservative. That's what you usually do, almost to a fault.
• How stupid do you have to be to get an illegal touch penalty by purposely downing the ball? Joselio Hanson stupid apparently. That's punt coverage 101.
• Eagles deliver another huge TD drive when it matters that featured a long catch by Jackson and some great running by Weaver that was finished off my McCoy.
• Tracy White, why would you block a guy in the back when Jackson has the ball in his hands? He is going to make the guy miss all by himself. You are Joselio Hanson stupid.
• Moose Johnston was surprised it took till around 8 minutes to see snowballs being thrown. I'm surprised it took him that long to even mention anything at all about snowballs and Philadelphia.
• Despite the cold, only Curtis really dropped a catchable ball.
• McNabb didn't get sacked.
• Trent Cole should make the Pro Bowl.
• Celek was missing the entire second half until the first down conversion catch to ice the game.
• Where were the shots of Santa Clauses in the stands?
• Notice Jackson putting in his diamond earrings for the post-game, on-field interviews (that didn't happen)?

Eagles clinched making the playoffs again with the win. Ho-hum.

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Remember Dallass and the Saints play Saturday night.

4-9 inches

12/20 1:00 PM ET	Opening	betED	Bodog	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
San Francisco @ Philadelphia	44.5 -10	41 -7.5	41.5 -8	41 -9	41 -7.5

Matchup • Expanded Odds • Line History

Bonus Question: Who else wishes this game was scheduled for Saturday or the storm scheduled for Sunday?

Well, the Flyers suck

So instead, let's read an article about the 10 best hockey fights of the decade and watch the videos. Interesting to note that 5 out of the 10 involve former or current Flyers.

Phillies reach deal to get Roy Halladay says SI.com

Who knows what's really going on, but SI.com says:

The Phillies are in agreement on a three-team trade with the Mariners and Blue Jays to acquire star pitcher Roy Halladay, SI.com has learned. All indications are that Cliff Lee will likely be heading from Philadelphia to Seattle in the trade.

Sources say Halladay will agree to a contract extension to complete the deal. It's expected to be a formality, and though terms are not yet clear, it's expected to be worked out in the next couple days. Halladay wanted to be in Philadelphia, as the Phillies train in Clearwater, Fla., not far from his offseason home.

The Phillies are giving up prospects to Toronto to get Halladay, but it isn't known yet which players are in the deal. Philadelphia, which would also get prospects from Seattle, is trying to keep its payroll at around $140 million.

UPDATE: Still nothing final yet. This interview with Todd Zolecki was the best one I heard today trying to make sense of things.

FINAL UPDATE:
Here is the trade with Toronto:
PHILLIES: Roy Halladay and 6 million
BLUEJAYS: catcher Travis d'Arnaud, right-hander Kyle Drabek and outfielder Michael Taylor. The Blue Jays flipped Taylor to the Athletics for third baseman Brett Wallace.

Here is the trade with Seattle:
PHILLIES: right-hander Phillippe Aumont, outfielder Tyson Gillies and right-hander Juan Ramirez
MARINERS: Cliff Lee

So if the Phillies wanted to spend $9 million more this year and forgo the prospects (that they're now trying hard to sell you on their greatness), and settle for 2 #1 picks when Lee walked at the end of 2010, they could have had Halladay AND Lee for this season.

The Eagles taught them well. They'll be there in the end with a chance!

Eat it NY

The last game in the soulless dump known as Giants Stadium was a memorable and historic one. Together the teams scored 83 points and put up almost 900 yards of offense. And the Eagles won.

The Eagles jumped out to a quick 14 point lead before the Giants put up 10 points of their own, went up by 13 again by scoring on a 2 minute drive before the end of the half while getting the PAT blocked. Then the Eagles even fell behind by 1 point in the third quarter, but that only lasted a minute thanks to a 60 yard bomb to Jackson on the Eagles next play. Then the best drive of the season put them up by 14 again. The Giants got a TD with 1:35 left to make it a touchdown game again, but they blew the onside kick. The Giants did get the ball back but Howard made Manning fumble the ball away to seal the Eagles 45-38 victory.

Special note on the best drive of the season or maybe Reid's entire reign
With 13:12 left in the game and the outcome still undecided, the Eagles started with the ball on their own 9. Seven minutes and 24 seconds later Weaver was pounding it over from the 1 for a touchdown. Then they even converted a 2 point conversion attempt to make the lead 14 again. This was a completely edifying drive - 10 times more satisfying than a quick strike long bomb TD. The drive consisted of 6 runs and 6 passes. This was a drive I want my football team to do all the time. This is how football should be played. Is it possible Reid is FINALLY learning?

Other notes:

• With the win, the Eagles are the winningest visiting team in Giants Stadium history.
• After shutting out the Falcons for 59 minutes and 59 seconds last week, the defense was pathetic this week and were shredded by the Giants for 512 yards - 391 passing and 121 running. Bad run defense, bad tackling, and bad coverage. They did score a TD though.
• Opening drive worked to perfection. Great play call on Celek's touchdown.
• Great play calling almost all game actually.
• Super lucky bounce on Sheldon Brown's fumble recovery and return. That won't be happening again anytime soon.
• Congratulations to McNabb on throwing the ball away on a screen the Giants figured out. I didn't know he had it in him.
• I'll give Vick credit this game. The pass to Jackson was right on the money and he had a nice straight arm to pick up a first down on his second play. His third play was a stupid call and was destined to fail. Fourth play was a nice run for the TD to cap a 2 minute drive. Fifth play was a nice 5 yard run up the middle to set up Weaver's 1 yard TD.
• Amazingly competent and well executed 2 minute drive before the half by the Eagles. Who knew they could do that?
• I've given up on the government, I've given up on the country, and I've given up on the Eagles ever winning a Super Bowl. The only thing I could still believe in was NFL refereeing. But no longer.
  1. Ticky-tack crap on Mikel on illegal contact giving the Giants first downs galore and extending their drive for their first TD, then Celek gets MUGGED in the endzone when the ball is coming to him and no call. That cost the Eagles 4 points.
  2. The entire left side of the Giants line OBVIOUSLY false starts on first and goal and no call. Giants gain 4 yards and score a play later.
  3. One ref "rules" a "forward fumble" when every single player, the coaches, and the other refs on the field made their own ruling of incomplete pass. And no automatic review.
  4. The worst call had to be Dixon's fumble on the kickoff return where the Eagles CLEARLY recover it with 3 seconds left and the refs say time expired and run off the field and no automatic review. That cost the Eagles 3 points.
  5. Review on Hicks catch was wrong. He bobbled it again out of bounds and never had control.
  6. The Giants Schubert(?) comes over and punches an Eagle from behind to start the end of the game brawl and the refs do nothing even though one was looking right at it. Then they later call Cole and O'Hara for penalties while Schubert gets nothing.
The one judgment call they got right was the Manning dive fumble. But in my opinion that wasn't even close.
• Incredible punt return by Jackson. The only problem was it was down the wrong sideline so we couldn't see the Giants bench react and the special teams coach slam his crap to the ground in disgust.
• Eagles special teams were pretty good overall.
• Eagles benefited from a lot of Giants drops in the first half.
• "The movie is always good, but the ending always stinks." - Al Michaels on Reid, McNabb and the Eagles. Yay, a national guy that seems to get it.
• Dungy picked the Giants to win and was trying to justify it postgame noting all the Giants mistakes and missed opportunities. He didn't note the points the Eagles left on the field or their mistakes or the refs mistakes costing the Eagles points.
• Jason Peters was wearing a Yankees hat for post game interviews. Idiot.

Dallass lost again and it was great appetizer to the the main course. This was a great game, and the first game of the season I got emotionally involved in.

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Giant game

12/13 8:20 PM ET	Opening	betED	Bodog	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Philadelphia @ NY Giants	46.5 0	44 -1	44 -1	44.5 -1	47 -1

Matchup • Expanded Odds • Line History

Bonus Question: So how about that 3 year extension?

Flyers fail to score once again

I did not see much of the game, but here is a recap of what I did see on some of the seven (7!) power plays the Flyers failed to score upon: pass back to Pronger at the point. He shoots. It's blocked!

Oh yeah those power plays included a 5 on 3. Weak. Fire Laviolette!

Excellent defensive effort

The Eagles got the job done versus a depleted Atlanta team. The majority of the credit goes to the defense who delivered a huge goal line stand at the end of the first half, scored a TD, batted down about a half dozen passes at the line, shut down Tony Gonzalez, and almost <cliche>pitched a shut out</cliche>. Great scheme by Junior Jim Johnson.

Leonard Weaver was the star of the first half with a TD and several other big plays, but the offense as a whole was still abysmal in the redzone, scoring only 13 points in four trips. But they figured it out at halftime and took the the second half kickoff right down the field for a touchdown. After that the game was in the bag, and they'd go on to win 34-7.

Other notes:

• Always like the no huddle to start the game.
• Atlanta made a lot of shoestring tackles.
• Eagles got a nice bounce on that Falcons fumbled kickoff and good to see the Eagles capitalize on the turnover and convert a third and long in the process.
• Weaver probably has the best hands of any fullback to ever play.
• There is an entire category of celebrity in this country that I don't get. Tiny talent and serial athlete dater Carrie Underwood is in that group.
• Despite the two interceptions, nobody in the Eagles secondary has any kind of hands but Samuels. The non-gimme interceptions were all dropped.
• The Atlanta kick returner got crushed a bunch today. Kick coverage was actually good.
• Another week, another terrible job by the refs just blatantly making crap up.
  1. On the Samuels hit that caused a fumble that was ruled an incompletion that Reid challenged, but then was denied his challenge because "there was no defensive recovery," I have no idea what the refs and announcers were talking about. The Eagles defense IMMEDIATELY recovered the ball.
  2. Gonzales throws Macho Harris down to the turf and Harris gets a pass interference penalty.
  3. Horrible roughing the passer call on Demps who did nothing wrong at all followed by a horrible 2 minutes later call on Sean Jones "hitting a defenseless receiver."
• Hey Subway, Jared is fat again.
• Celek had a bad game pass blocking.
• Eagles short yardage still totally sucks. If they do make it, it's just barely.
• Merrill Reese once again predicted what Vick would do in a game predicting he would score a TD. Rob Ellis predicted the bomb, although he said it would come on the first play of the game. Didinger predicted the blowout.
• Except for the odd running back effort, the Atlanta players went down really easy.
• Sheldon Brown's hamstring looked fine on his interception return for a TD.
• Just like he did vs. Kansas City in total garbage time, Rocca downs a punt at the one when it really matters.

For Better, For Worse - There's Hope!

Reports are out that Reid might have his contract extension this week. The only thing I'm encouraged by is that the AR/5 combo will probably not continue on together past another year at the most. And, in this game today, it looks like Reid has figured out that Weaver can be utilized more. Not as much power-running (TD pass and 50yder started as a pass), but good stuffs!

Fire Laviolette

Usually a truly horrendous Flyers' performance is saved for when the team is facing elimination in the playoffs, but I guess the Flyers thought that the debut of their new coach was a big enough deal to unleash a supremely pathetic effort. It was all here, weak play from the get go leads to an opponent scoring first, turnovers galore, being outworked for loose pucks, poor goaltending, shitty passing, and bad penalties. There was nothing positive to take from this game, no matter how hard the Pollyannas on the broadcast team tried to sell you on winning a period (which did not happen) and other crap. Also imagine if Ovechkin had played in this game. Since Stevens is now gone, Pelly can ramp up his campaign to strip Richards of his captaincy. You can start with his handling of Carcillo's anger management issues:

After the game, Richards talked to Carcillo about showing more discipline.

"All I can do is hold people accountable here," Richards said, "and I don't think it's going to be a problem anymore."

Here is the beat article about the latest disaster.

Flyers players fire Stevens

Well, another coach, another short tenure. The Flyers were underachieving with their cap maxed roster and since you can't fire the players, as the cliche goes, you fire the coach. Maybe the braintrust thinks this move will catapult the Flyers to a Cup victory like it did for the Penguins last year, who were also underachieving until Bylsma was installed. Somehow I doubt it.

Friends of P

Third base, held down by Pedro Feliz the last couple of seasons, looked to be a possible area for the Phillies to upgrade in 2010. This seemingly became a necessity after Pedro didn't take too kindly to the Phillies not picking up a $5.5 million contract option for next season.

The Phillies took care of their third base future by looking to their past Thursday, signing Placido Polanco to a three-year, $18 million deal.

The offensive stats favored Polanco last season, despite a very slow start to the season. He hit about 20 points higher, scored 20 more runs and stuck out 20 times less than Feliz, while hitting two fewer homers and knocking in 10 less runners.

The big question, for me anyway, is if Polanco can handle his defensive duties as well as Feliz has in recent seasons. Polanco has played third before (and should really have been playing third for the Phils since Utley came up), but not much recently. By the few accounts I've heard, he has a good arm, so if that's the case he should be pretty close to Feliz defensively.

Overall it sounds like an upgrade as Polanco can hit in the two-hole in the lineup, and step up from a slightly down season last year. In this park and lineup, that seems very doable, even if Feliz never saw an uptick in production since joining the club.

In other business, the Phillies also signed utility infielder Juan Castro (zzzzz) and backup catcher Brian Schneider, who looks like a solid acquisition.


Soundtrack for writing this post provided by The Rentals.

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Birdfight

12/06 1:00 PM ET	Opening	betED	Bodog	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Philadelphia @ Atlanta	46.5 1.5	44 5.5	OFF OFF	44 5.5	44 5.5

Matchup • Expanded Odds • Line History

Bonus Question: Will the Eagles win the division based on how things are setting up for them and Dallass?

Iverson

Iverson is Vick without the dogfighting and contrition. Both make no sense for their respective teams, both no longer are what they once were, and both, while talented, couldn't be bothered to put in the work to learn how to play their sports correctly.

Almost a replay of last week

And almost a replay of a game we've seen a 1,000 times before from this team. Let's go down the list. Parade of penalties, check. Red zone failures, check. Stupid play calls, check. Dumb decisions by McNabb, check. No urgency anywhere for large stretches of the game, check. Defense allowing third down conversions all day long, check. Offense can't convert a third down for most of the game, check. Idiotic insertions of Vick, check. Out adjusted at the half, check. Drops, check. Poor tackling, check. Anything I forgot?

But at the end of the day they were playing the Redskins, who specialize in blowing games they should have won. So late in the fourth, Avant makes some big catches to wake up the offense, McNabb refinds his accuracy, they start running the ball again and have success, the defense finally makes some stops and the Eagles manage to come back and eke one out, 27-24, against a team they were favored by 10 against.

Other notes:

• The last time Reid did the onside kick and failed miserably was against a scrub Dallass team in 2003 that returned it for a TD. Why Reid thinks he has to use tricks and gimmicks to beat a team the Eagles are clearly better than makes no sense. Why he would risk giving an anemic offense the ball with a short field to start the game is equally stupid. And once again he paid for it by spotting the Redskins seven.
• Redskins are the #1 passing defense, #25 rushing defense. The Eagles of course passed it more than they ran.
• A team that can legitimately use injuries as an excuse came in to Philadelphia and should have beat the team that only has excuses.
• What has happened to the Eagles run defense?
• Samuels hands and arms can't tackle, but they sure can catch.
• The Redskins offensive line is supposed to be terrible, like the Bears, but there wasn't that much pressure from the Eagles. I guess it's that time in the season where the small dudes the Eagles have wear down.
• The refs sucked this game. When they weren't making stuff up they were missing the obvious.
• Obligatory "enough with the stupid Vick plays, he sucks" comment. But to a larger point, Reid once again misuses his players' skills. Vick isn't a running back. He's a running quarterback that can take advantage of a broken field, not a defense lined up to stop the run.
• How many times this year has the offense taken a lead and then the defense gives it right back? Then of course the following drive by the offense goes three and out.
• Hey Maclin, catch the ball and stop crying pass interference every time you come up empty.
• That clanky Miller Lite commercial is grating and unpleasant, like their beer.
• The Eagles couldn't figure out they had to go for two the entire drive so they had to burn a timeout. So typical. Great play by McCoy on the conversion though.
• Akers was good today.
• The Eagles have so completely sucked the enthusiasm out of the fans that they could barely muster any boos.

Up next is Atlanta, where Ryan and Turner may be out for the game. Another break for the Eagles.

Flyers lose 1-0 to Atlanta

It's not worth it to review the video. There was a good Therien quote though. Talking about Maxim Afinogenov he said, "They should have called him Minimum."

Flyers vs. Sabres lowlight reel review

I was traveling so did not listen or watch. Flyers are now 2 - 6 since looking really good beating the Devils about 2 weeks ago.

Sabres first goal off a rush was a combo of weak defense and luck, second goal was a real nice tip, third goal was a nice shot off a rush, but Emery should have had it, and last goal was weak sauce.

Richards goal was a nice pass and shot. I don't really know how the Flyers second goal beat Miller.

Carcillo earned his money besting the cowardly, helmet wearing Rivet, although most of his punches missed. If Asham was good, he would have had 2 goals. Carter is good, but also blew his chances. The Capitals shut out the Sabres 2-0 the day before.

Flyers vs. Islander highlight reel review

It appeared that Boucher was the Flyers best player. The majority of the Flyers chances shown were generated by the fourth line. Great pass by Carter for Hartnell's winning goal. Biron predictably comes up small in a close game. Bill Clement's boringness even comes through on the highlight reel.

Not a must win, but a better win

11/29 1:00 PM ET	Opening	betED	Bodog	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Washington @ Philadelphia	41 -9	40.5 -9	40.5 -9	40.5 -9	40.5 -9

Matchup • Expanded Odds • Line History

Bonus Question: Will Reid revert to offensive form this game?

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Slower Around Here Because...

The Phillies won last year and there is less to gripe about and the blog title is outdated? Nah. The show with the Eagles is getting old? Nah. The Sixers aren't worth talking about? Well, they aren't, but that's not the reason, they've never been big on wwew. And it's too early to talk Flyers seriously? Nah, that's not why.

Nah, the reason it's slower around here is cause Ron doesn't get enough talk going about the #1 "sport" with "athletes" who are just underappreciated!

While I don't share the same passion as the author of that link, I get his point. It is an interesting accomplishment, but I doubt that will kickstart wwew into greater relevance. As much as I enjoy putting a race on here or there for my sons to oogle over on TV, it's still a pretty irrelevant "sport."

Bearly

You could trace the trend of the defenses' inability hold a lead or make stops late in games to get the ball back to the game vs. Chicago back in 2007 when they let a bad, Brian Griese led Bear's offense go 97 yards in 2 minutes with zero timeouts to win the game. The same situation presented itself tonight, but this time the defense came through. The Bears converted one fourth down to extend their drive but then some guy named Tracy White deflected a Cutler pass up in the air and Sean Jones was finally able to hold onto an interception to seal the 24-20 win.

Even though this was a competitive game and back and forth, this was still a poorly played game. Watching the Bears is like watching the Eagles and vice versa. Both teams play the same mistake laden crap football where the simplest things become the most monumental struggles. Maybe the only team worse than the Eagles and McNabb in the redzone is the Bears and Cutler. Every stupid or drive killing penalty by one team was matched by the other. While Cutler was missing TDs with overthrows, the Eagles were keeping the Bears in the game with turnovers. To summarize the struggles of both teams, in the fourth after McCoy fumbled it setting up the Bears for a field goal that was then blocked, Al Michaels sounded disgusted calling the play and Chris Collingsworth just laughed. A laugh that said to me, "Damn, these teams are pathetic."

But the Eagles did come through in the end with a long drive to win and even converted a third and short late to help run some time off the clock. But let's face it, the Bears are a bad team and the Eagles struggled to beat them.

Other notes:

• What's up with Reid? With the game on the line he RAN the ball and kept feeding it to the ROOKIE, McCoy even after he fumbled. In fact, there was 32 passes to 30 runs. Amazing.
• Unamazing is by sticking with the run the Eagles used it to win the game.
• I could be wrong, but there wasn't one penalty on a kick return.
• Before the game Merrill Reese predicted Vick would have a big play.
• The hole for Vick was so big though that Reid could have moseyed through it.
• Loved the stupid penalty later in the game when Vick came in before McNabb left.
• Quentin Mikell, please learn how to catch, we'd all appreciate it and you'd have a touchdown.
• Tackling by the defense was good, then poor, then good again.
• Very nice play for the Avant touchdown. I don't think they've used that before.
• Nice punt return by Jackson. Bad fumble by Jackson on the next play. But then great play on the long bomb for a TD.
• Not only does Dungy look like a vampire, his head is shaped just like a football.
• During the Patriots vs. Jets game this afternoon the Jets blew up a Patriots screen and Brady immediately threw the ball into the feet of the running back to end the play. I was watching with BDB and commented that was something McNabb would never do. Then McNabb proved me right TWICE in this game.
• For all the talk about how bad Chicago's offensive line was the Eagles only got one sack.
• Cutler was terrible, but only gave up 1 interception.
• One thing Westbrook almost never did despite touching the ball a million times was fumble the ball. McCoy needs to learn that skill if he is going to replace him.

The Eagles won, but is anyone excited?

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Flyers bitten by Sharks, 6-3

I don't have Comcast, but I listen to the Flyers on the radio then watch the NHL's highlight reel of the game. This is my recap of their recap.

Nice moves by Carle to set up Briere's first. Thorton to Heatley 2 on 1 goals were pathetic. They were street hockey goals. Good to see Giroux score again. Too many fat rebounds by Emery and nice bounces for the Sharks.

Therien quote of the game: "I think I just found the slowest guy in the NHL. Number 3, Douglas Murray. He's got two pianos on his back."

Stolen in its entirety from The Onion

Eagles Settle For Field Goal After 260-Yard Drive

SAN DIEGO—The Eagles were forced to settle for a field goal against the Chargers Sunday after sustaining a 260-yard, 64-play drive that featured six separate red-zone appearances and took 52 minutes off the game clock. "It's disappointing not to score a touchdown when you keep a drive alive for more than three and a half quarters," said quarterback Donovan McNabb, who completed 32 of his 66 passes, converted 26 first downs, and was carted off the field for X-rays twice during the drive. "At least we came away with three points. Those 120 yards in penalties really hurt our field position, but those conversions on third and 21, third and 64, and the fake punt on fourth and 72 showed that this team never quits." Backup QB Michael Vick took one snap from center during the nearly hour-long drive, failing to complete a screen pass.

Duh Behrs

11/22 8:20 PM ET	Opening	betED	Bodog	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Philadelphia @ Chicago	44.5 2	45 3	45 3	45 3	45 3

Matchup • Expanded Odds • Line History

Bonus Question: What will be the higher number, Cutler interceptions or Eagles failed short yardage conversions?

Unshocking result

All the Eagles usual infuriating problems were in effect in the first half and doomed the Eagles comeback efforts of the second. You just had to laugh at every third and short failure and every red zone failure. Sometimes pathetic is funny. You also had to laugh at the penalties on every kick return and at all penalties of the stupid moron variety that occurred all game long. If I didn't laugh, my anger reserves would be depleted too early in the game. But the main reasons the Eagles lost 31-23 was they only got field goals in the first half instead of touchdowns, the defense couldn't stop the worst rush attack in the NFL, and the defense couldn't stop the Chargers on their final drive of the game. But that did save McNabb from another ignominious comeback attempt failure.

Other notes:

• Danger, high boltage is lame.
• A lot of bad tackling by the defense again.
• Samuels had a terrible game.
• I hate reverses, and I am not surprised when they fail miserably, which is almost every time. But that never stops the Eagles from trying them.
• Sheldon Brown was pushed in the back on the catch that set up the Chargers second TD, no call of course.
• On LT's first touchdown as Trent Cole was tackling him the Chargers lineman was tackling Trent Cole. No call of course.
• Who is this Reggie Brown guy?
• Do they really need to bring in Vick to throw passes behind receivers? Jackson still should have caught it though.
• Why didn't Andy Reid go for it on some of those 4th and shorts? I guess there was plenty time to kick 5 field goals for the win.
• Linebackers were weak. Insert usual tight end coverage criticism here.
• Avant is the best "catcher" on the team.
• Eagles actually put together some drives today.
• After that missed 5 yard pass to a wide open Weaver on the goal line that was behind and high, why do people wonder why McNabb gets criticized?
• By the way, where did Weaver go this game?
• I enjoyed Maclin's non-celebration after his TD. Notice McNabb's reaction on the pass? He thought he threw it out of bounds.
• Dallass lost too. Dallass sucks.

Delaware Parlay Play Picks for Week 10

Pick 3 games in the comments to win! Get the odds from the official 1/2 point parlay card. (Sorry, you can't pick the Niners/Bears game, cuz the lame NFL is starting earlier and early each year to expand their monopolization of their product through their government enabled/exempted privileges.... and Thursday Night Football started before I could post this.)

Brent Celek, advertising innovator

Unlike the rest of the world, major league sports in the U.S. continue to resist allowing teams to become billboards for advertising sponsors, at least when it comes to uniforms on game day.

Granted, they've crammed sponsors' names just about everywhere else (Matt Blatt splatt of the game anyone?), but when it comes to the players they're far from moving pitchmen during games.

Brent Celek burst through the firewall last week though when he busted out a Captain Morgan pose after scoring a touchdown. But while we assumed Celek was a television viewer having a goof, or possibly a problem drinker crying out for help through a thin facade of humor, he was indeed in cahoots with the Captain's corporate overlords.

The “Captain Morgan” was effectively banned this week after the league learned of a wider campaign meant to get players to repeatedly strike the pose during NFL games.

...

Celek spoke through an Eagles spokesman and denied any knowledge of a Captain Morgan campaign. But an account executive handling the promotion told Yahoo! Sports the Eagles tight end was indeed involved.

Celek didn't stand to make any money off the deal, as every instance of leg raise would send a contribution to a nonprofit benefiting ex-NFL players. In that sense Celek should be commended, as it wasn't just a selfish, "look at me" act. However, he might have snuffed out the campaign by jumping on board early. Really though, this thing had no chance of going beyond one week, as evidenced by the response time of the No Fun League to Celek.

I make no comment on Celek earning a 15-yard penalty in the game, as that was all Jason Avant's fault. The Captain stands alone and needs no support, Jason.

The second half of the season begins

11/15 4:15 PM ET	Opening	betED	Bodog	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Philadelphia @ San Diego	49 -3	47 -1.5	OFF -3	46.5 -1	47.5 -2

Matchup • Expanded Odds • Line History

Bonus Question: What do you see happening in the second half of the season?

Same old crap

After a game where everything went the Eagles way vs. the Giants, everything returned to normal this week vs. Dallass, who sucks. The Eagles were once again a team fighting itself at every turn. McNabb was his more typical inaccurate and inconsistent self with the receivers chipping in by dropping several passes (except Avant), the offense couldn't convert on 3rd down (4 of 12) and sustain drives, the offense couldn't make 1 yard on three tries, the offense had no big plays so only scored 16 points, the team had penalties (some bogus) on every other play, especially the big ones, the defense and special teams had instances of poor tackling, and of course time management and stupid coaching decisions also played a part.

One thing that was atypical for an Eagles loss though was pretty good balance between run and the pass, and they even outgained Dallass on the ground. So while this usual stupid aspect of the Eagles was avoided this game, all the other stupidity was too much to overcome and they lost, 20-16.

• Weak start by the offense.
• Weak effort by the defense after McNabb's first interception caused by Maclin.
• 100 years in the league and McNabb has never mastered the "throw the ball away" skill.
• Akers was good, hitting 3 long kicks including a 52 yarder.
• I'm glad Weaver got a bunch of handoffs for the second week in a row. How about some more though, like on third and short EVERY time, not some of the time.
• Celek showed how good he is on that one play where he caught it, got popped, but then had the field awareness to extend the ball for a first down before going out of bounds.
• The defenses inability to stop that wide receiver inside screen led to two long third down conversions and ultimately 10 points for Dallass.
• Tony Dungy looks like a vampire.
• What was Celek doing after his TD? Captain Morgan?
• Eli got the across the line of scrimmage call vs. the Eagles a while back, McNabb got the same call this game.
• Obligatory Rocky reference shot at 5 minutes to go first quarter and cheesesteak shot at 11:48 of third quarter.
• Several ridiculous calls this game on both sides, but the big ones went against the Eagles and cost them the most.
• The Wildcat seemed to send the offense off the rails in the third quarter. Vick stupidly came in and stupidly handed off, followed by a timeout, followed by the first down catch by McCoy that wasn't, followed by a challenge and a wrong ruling on the challenge and another lost timeout, followed by Peters false starting after defensive encroachment on 4th and inches, followed by a punt. No more Wildcat, dammit.
• If you can't definitively make a yard on three plays, you deserve to lose. Don't give the refs the opportunity to screw it up because it's obvious they will.
• If the Eagles are behind late in the fourth quarter, chances are the game will end that way.

Dallass sucks.

Delaware Parlay Play Picks for Week 9

Pick 3 games in the comments to win! Get the odds from the official 1/2 point parlay card.

Dallass sucks

11/08 8:20 PM ET	Opening	betED	Bodog	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Dallass @ Philadelphia	47.5 -3	48.5 -3	48 -3	48.5 -2.5	48 -3

Matchup • Expanded Odds • Line History

Bonus Question: Why does it feel so good to hate the Cowboys?

We are not the champions

Now we know what it's like to be tiny plastic Tokyo.

There were not a lot of controversial calls or crazy plays Wednesday night, just one team getting more hits and better pitching. That team was the Yankees, who won 7-3 to take the World Series 4-2.

The eyes of Philadelphia were turned toward Pedro to get this thing to a game 7, but Hideki Matsui — aka Godzilla — got the better of Pedro in the second inning belting a two-run homer and making this an uphill battle for the Phillies.

Pedro just didn't have it tonight, and I'm not real sure what he was thinking against Matsui. He kept pounding him inside, but was clearly not going to get a strike by him. Eventually Matsui turned on one and that was that.

Matsui didn't just pick on Martinez, though, and doubled in two of Haap to pretty much seal things. This is the Phillies, so it was by no means over of course. But after Dámaso Marte struck out Utley with two on in the top of the seventh, the Phillies could not mount another serious threat. Mariano Rivera got the last five outs to close it out.

So, another great season for the Phillies, but one that ends in disappointment. Additions and subtractions will obviously have to be made, but we can at least be confident in the fact we have a good young core coming back. And, more importantly, that we have a group of players fun to root for, as opposed to someone like A-Centaur ...

Off the mat

Game 5 got pretty crazy late in the going, but for the Phillies to win and keep the series, they got what they needed. That meant Cliff Lee being strong and going deep into the game. But more importantly it meant the top of the lineup collectively taking it to the opposing pitchers the way they're capable of doing.

If the Yankees are going to rely on starters going on three days rest, then the Phillies lineup has to knock them around. If they don't, they're going to lose, as it seems unlikely from this point forward that the Yankees will go scoreless. Tonight, the Phillies hit the Yankees around, and they have to keep the pressure on against Pettitte Wednesday.

Obviously the standout hitter for the Phillies was Utley, hitting another two home runs, including a three-run shot in the first that really put the gears in motion for the win.

Cliff Lee wasn't lights out like he was in game 1, but he was very good, and worked himself out of jams on his way to pitching seven innings.

Victorino got hit on the hand while squaring to bunt in the first, and is lucky he didn't break a bone. You could see it swelling up, and he was in obvious discomfort but stayed in and seemed to be alright as the game went along. Which led to tonight's "What is Charlie doing?" moment.

Victorino grounded out in the bottom of the sixth, stayed in the field in the seventh, but was pulled by Manuel in the top of the eighth for Ben Francisco. Why? I couldn't tell you. If he was OK enough to play in the seventh, why not leave the better fielder in the game? Could he not throw? Had it swollen that much in an inning? With a bad hand, I would consider lifting him for a pinch hitter before replacing him in the field if he'd been playing that long.

Naturally, Ibanez missed a line drive off his glove, and Franncisco could not throw out A-Douche at home after catching a short fly ball. Would things have been different with Victorino in? Who knows. But this signaled a turn toward the late-inning chaos we've seen all too much this season.

Fortunately, things leveled out. Madson, after letting two guys on in the ninth, got a clutch double play off the bat of Jeter, and was able to eventually close things out.

NOTES:
• Utley ties Reggie Jackson for the record total home runs in a World Series. In bad record news, Ryan Howard tied Williw McGee for most strikeouts in a World Series.
• Was that design on A.J. Burnett's had a tattoo? Super weak.


Pedro against Pettitte on three days rest Wednesday night. In the words of a high school baseball teammate, "Somebody rip that rag!"

Knockout blow(?)

Well, shit, that ninth inning just about sums up this season, at least when it comes to Brad Lidge.

With the game tied 4-4 entering the ninth, Lidge entered, got two outs, and then surrendered a single to Johnny Damon after a lengthy at bat. As soon as Damon started fouling off pitch after pitch, I got a bad feeling, because that's how so many blow ups seemed to start for Lidge this season. You saw the rest. His fastball was wild, except when located in what I refer to as the "meatball quadrant," and the Yankees started hammering it.

Goddamn it, that is a crappy way to go out. Or to lose a game, in case you think the Phillies still have a chance. Surely Cliff Lee has a good chance to win, but can the Phils then take two in a row in New York relying on the rest of their starters? Ehhh, yeah, so there you go.

Earlier in the game, before Utley and Feliz homered to tie it up and things weren't looking so good, it occurred to me that it was really good the Phillies won last year or losing to the stinking Yankees would be apocalyptic levels of suck. I guess that's still true. But losing still sucks, even if not at apocalyptic, noose-tying and looking for a chair levels.

NOTES:
• After about two months off, Joe Blanton was solid. Unfortunately he needed a little time to get into a rhythm and the Yankees picked up two early runs.
• I guess this game meant more than last night's, because Manuel pinch hit with Francisco in the sixth instead of Bruntlett.
• Would have been nice to see the Phillies go after some Yankees reliever other than Rivera. Was looking good there for a bit.

As Pat Benetar sang, it's a do or die situation tomorrow. Will we be invincible?

Giants receive a critical beatdown, 40-17

The Eagles team of the last 2 weeks was nowhere to be found today. The team of multiple drops, double digit penalties, poor tackling, no running game, bad play calling, and poor quarterbacking was seemingly replaced by a destructive force from an alternate universe. Starting from the opening kickoff the Eagles were on their game and all over the Giants.

McNabb was very accurate and made good decisions all game except for the 20 passes he annoyingly threw into people's arms. He was helped by a great day from the offensive line and good play calling that even included a running game and only one Wildcat play. Almost everyone on the offense contributed to the annihilation of the Giants. Weaver had more carries this game than he had the previous 6, Celek returned to form, Avant got some catches, McCoy made plays, and the dynamic duo of Jackson and Maclin both had big catches and big TDs.

The defense did its part as well by pressuring Manning into a terrible game - man, was Eli bad. He had opportunities for plays but missed, sometimes badly. That foot injury probably has something to do with his inaccuracy. The Giants running game was also kept in check and there were no big plays for TDs. The defense also set up two Eagles touchdowns with interceptions. My only criticism is they could have been better on 3rd down.

Other notes:

• Really good blocking on the kickoff returns.
• Good screen play call on the first play and the good play calling continued from there.
• It's about time Weaver started getting the ball. On his 41 yard run he outran the Giants defense. When does a fullback ever do that?
• I know they have injuries, but the Giants linebackers and secondary sucks.
• Sure Samuels can't tackle for crap, but he can cover and intercept and that's why he's on the team.
• How do you get an extra point blocked?
• Dawkins would have caught those balls that Quentin Mikell dropped. In the end it didn't matter, but in a closer game those drops could be the difference.
• I always enjoy the Tom Coughlin reaction shots. In comparison, there were almost none of Reid.
• The new field wasn't coming up in huge chunks on every play like previous games, but players were still losing their footing.
• Killer play when the game was still a game - 22 yard catch and run by Boss to get the Giants out of trouble which led to the 35 yard pass to Nicks (that Dawkins probably would have come across and broken up) and the TD pass to Boss where Quentin Mikell was clueless.
• The holding call on Sheldon Brown where he intercepted it was bogus in my opinion.
• The two touchdowns in 3 plays to close the half were amazing. That ripped the heart out of the Giants. First a sweet pass to DeSean Jackson by McNabb for 54 yards that Jackson made look easy. Then a pass into double coverage that McNabb put where only Maclin could get it for the second.
• Big break on that forward lateral call on the review.
• Babbin should have hit the kickoff out of bounds instead of trying to catch it.
• Have to love the Giants running the ball when they're down by 23 points. Good job.
• Moose couldn't resist, although it took him to the end of the third quarter, but he just had to deride Philadelphia fans for criticizing McNabb. Blah, blah, blah.
• How come Green Bay fans won't get criticized for booing football Jesus, Favre?
• First ever Phillies chant at an Eagles game with 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
• Sweet run by McCoy to reestablish the 23 point lead.
• Loved that the game ended with a Manning sack after that jackass Coughlin called timeouts when the Eagles were taking a knee.

Sixers beat the Knicks last night and the Eagles crushed the Giants today. Your turn Phillies.

Yankees ween

Aside from being paid to do it, I don't know how reporters covering the Philies did it back in the lean decades, because after two consecutive losses I feel like being a danger to myself or others. preferable others.

And yet, despite Megatron's best propaganda efforts and the fact the Phils will see C.C. Sabathia again tomorrow, I still have hope. But let's be clear — the pitching has to be better so the runs the Phils are scoring hold up.

Yankees starter Andy Pettitte was dealing effectively to left-handed batters early in the game, but was hit around a bit by the righties who, with the exception of Victorino, were also patient and working walks when Pettitte tried pitching around them. So up 3-0, it was looking good. But, sadly, with Hamels on the mound this season, that lead was nowhere close to being safe.

A walk to Teixeira on a very close pitch turned into a two-run homer to A-Nnoying in the fourth. In the fifth, it all went pear-shaped for Hamels as we saw why he hasn’t been throwing his curveball. He threw some absolute meatballs over the plate, including one Pettitte hit for an RBI single. Jeter followed with a single, and Damon drove them both in to end the night for Hamels.

For some reason, Manuel then brought in lefty Haap — and not a rightie — to face rightie Rodriguez and switch-hitter Posada. Did he want to risk A-Rod popping another homer just so he could have Posada hit right-handed? Rodriguez hit a hard line drive to center for an out, and Haap got Posada to end the inning, but that move made no sense to me and the Phils were lucky to get away with it.

That wasn't the last questionable call either. In the bottom of the sixth, with two outs and Ruiz on first, do you pinch hit with Bruntlett, or go with the better hitter in Francisco? Well, Manuel went with Bruntlett, and he made an easy out. I'm not sure what you’d be saving Francisco for at that point, down 6-3, and I guess we'll never know since he NEVER GOT IN THE GAME.

Phil Hughes gave up a homer to Ruiz in the ninth, but the back end of the Yankees bullpen was strong, and Rivera closed it out.

NOTES:
• Hamels has yet to go six innings in any postseason start. That is bad.
• A-Rod's homerun hit a camera that was slightly hanging over the right field fence. Why a camera was allowed to be hanging over the fence I don't know. I suppose it was there to get even more great game coverage (!), but it couldn't even get the shot when the ball hit the lens. Stupid.
• My brother calls Howard the "strikeout legend," and the last two games' output is why.
• I must have used up Phil Hughes playing for my Bulletproof Tigers fantasy squad, because while he was pretty much lights out in the second half of theseason, he is hella shaky right now.
• Speaking of shaky, will we ever see Brad Lidge pitch?
• Almost forgot, Jayson Werth homered twice. Be nice if someone was on base for him.

So it's Sabathia on three days rest against Joe Blanton Sunday night. It would be nice if the Sabathia plan blew up in the Yankees' faces, and the Phils came back with Cliff Lee in game 5, no?

Delaware Parlay Play Picks for Week 8

Pick 3 games in the comments to win! Get the odds from USA Today and make up half point spreads if there are none. I'd link to the PDF of the actual parlay card if I could find it on delaware onlines site, but their search feature is as worthless as a Yankees fan.

Shut down

These are more fun to do when the Phillies win, and of late that's all they've been doing. But not tonight. Guess you can't win 'em all.

What's frustrating is this game was there for the taking, as the Phillies got another strong performance from Pedro Martinez, but he gave up a few too many in the end and the Yankees evened up the Series.

More than the Phillies pitching though, this was really a case of the Yankees getting the ideal performance from their hurlers, with starter A.J. Burnett taking the lead to the eighth and handing off to closer Mariano Rivera. No one has ever doubted Burnett's stuff, and it was effective tonight, especially that nasty curveball. He allowed only one run, coming in the first off the bat of DH Matt Stairs.

Rivera got the last six outs, but wasn't exactly lights out, and so the game was still in play late as it always is with the Phillies. Maybe the decisive play came in the eighth when, with Rollins on second and Victorino on first with one out, Charlie Manuel did not send the runners with a full count to Utley. Utley grounded to second and the Yankees pulled off a close double play to end the potential rally. Announcer Tim McCarver was all over it, criticizing the non-move, and I have to agree. There was little chance of eigther runner getting thrown out if Utley struck out, which he didn't look like he was going to do anyway based on his at-bat to that point, provided he swung.

NOTES:
• Umps blew another call, letting the Phils get out of trouble in the seventh when they ruled Ryan Howard caught a ball in the air, thus doubling off Posada at second. In reality it was a short hop, and both the batter and Jorge Posada running to second should have been safe, as Howard threw wildly to second. This one was a really close call to the naked eye, but I'm not sure why an ump would assume it was caught cleanly, especially when Howard throws to second right away. I do have to give the umps credit for getting the previous night's weird play — when Rollins caught it in the air to start a double play — correct though.
• I missed the run being scored in the first and keep missing it in the hightlights. Anything weird there needing to be addressed?
• Raise your hand if you have as many hits in the World Series as A-Rod. OK, everyone put your hands back down.


Hamels vs. Pettitte back home Saturday. Andy Pettitte looks like a stereotypical New Yawka to me, and he has four T's in his last name. Him him around, Phillies.

First real opponent in awhile

11/01 1:00 PM ET	Opening	betED	Bodog	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
New York @ Philadelphia	45.5 -3	44 -1	44 1	44 0	44 0

Matchup • Expanded Odds • Line History

Bonus Question: Anybody have a good question?

Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good

If you heard Yankees fans at all in the past week, you would have thought Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson would be on the field Wednesday night to help kick off another World Series victory. They weren't. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Cliff Lee was.

Lee was dominant in pitching a one-run complete game. The one run came in the ninth after Jimmy Rollins made the Phils' lone miscue in going for a double play that wasn't really in the cards. But by that time the Phillies had a 6-0 lead, and Lee was never in any real danger. He simply struck out the last two guys in the ninth to close it out.

C.C. Sabathia was very good for the Yankees as well, but he gave up two home runs to Chase Utley that pretty much sealed the game considering Lee's performance. Eleven out of the last 12 game 1 winners went on to win the Series, and the Phillies just took game 1 on the road, with their ace winning while the Yankees' ace lost. That's a big win.

Utley was the hitting hero early on, but the rest of the bats opened up on the vaunted Yankees bullpen. Good to see the long layoff meant nothing.

NOTES:
• Lee, and a lot of the Phillies actually, looked super relaxed on the field, like they were playing a spring training game. That can't make the Yankees feel good.
• Utley set a MLB record by reaching base in his 26th consecutive playoff game. He also got a lot of airtime for his Gordon Gekko look. Why does he care about hat hair while he's playing baseball? He doesn't have to go home like that. Whatever works for ya, I guess.
• I might have missed it, but I was happy to not see Kate Hudson at all when I was expecting it 37 times. I saw Kurt Russell, but Kurt's cool by me.
• A-Rod A-no show at the plate.
• Ron sent me this funny photo of Jay-Z. Can't think of a caption, so provide your own.


Pedro tomorrow. Should be interesting, especially as it's not a must-win for the Phils, so do the Yankees come out with guns blazing, or uptight?

The Phillies Are a Good Team!

To be contrasted with the Skins and Eagles (and Raiders and Bucs and Chiefs, etc...), they are really good. They're World *bleeping* Champions!

Lee in Game 1. I like Pedro in Game 2 if they win 1. I'm a bit cautious about it otherwise, but how can you not start him after what he did in LAD? Anyone? I probably would have started Blanton, but who knows. I totally agree with Hamels in Game 3 at home, definitely not in NYY. Odd to hear that given he was last year's MVP of the playoffs, but... WOW. That could mean Lee back on the mound for game 4, although I'm guessing Charlie might wait to see what the Series is at by then.

WOW. Game 1. Under 24hrs away. Woo hoo!

The Redskins are a bad team

Another very painful game to watch even though the Eagles won 27-17. Just imagine if you were a Redskins fan. The Eagles offense and McNabb were weak and anemic once again except for 2 big plays that went for touchdowns thanks to DeSean Jackson. The Eagles offense barely sustained any drives, did nothing with turnovers except hold onto the ball for Akers' fieldgoals, and did absolutely nothing in the second half. (Of course this didn't stop the ESPN crew from lauding McNabb in the 4th quarter as if they game in front of them wasn't happening.)

The biggest factor in the Eagles victory was how much the Redskins thoroughly sucked. Redskins generously gave the Eagles 13 points via turnovers and when they made a play a penalty would be called to negate it. When they had momentum they'd destroy it with a terrible turnover or a costly sack. If the Redskins didn't really, really suck this game would have been a lot different.

Other notes:

• Wow, two runs to start the game, a third down conversion, and an end around that worked. End arounds should not work against a pro defense like that.
• Witherspoon made an immediate impact, at least in the first half.
• In the 1st quarter Gruden nicely regurgitated the conventional wisdom about Reid, McNabb and the Eagles, which of course is what somebody that doesn't watch the Eagles every week would say. And I don't care how many games Reid and McNabb have won at this point, what's their record in the biggest games?
• Reggie Brown played in this game, believe it or not.
• Weaver got a touch! I'm sure glad we signed him and are fully utilizing his talents.
• Once again Celek pretty much disappears with McNabb at QB.
• McNabb and Campbell both missed a bunch of plays in the first half.
• I watched some of the new Jay Leno show for the first time during the half. It's actually more unfunny than Saturday Night Live and less entertaining than this game.
• DeSean Jackson probably got a bunch of votes for the Pro Bowl from this game.
• Lots of Eagles penalties still, but none that costly.
• Suzy Kolber is starting to look old. Her hair looked like a wig.
• Trent Cole was good when he wasn't jumping offsides and giving the Redskins first downs.
• Another middling tightend (and a backup at that) had a good game vs. the Eagles.
• The Eagles got a lot of pressure and a lot of sacks, but how much of that was the Redskins?
• Jason Campbell has really gone downhill. I almost felt sorry for him watching this game - bad coaches, no good receivers, Cooley went down, Portis is cooked, and his offensive line is terrible.
• People still dress up as the hogs? Why?
• Four for fifteen on third down conversions. Good work, offense.
• That meaningless touchdown the Redskins scored at the end put the game over the total.
• Vick still sucks.

Hopefully this time next week New York will be crying in their beer like DC is now.

Mid-Game Notes

Totally unexcited for this game all day, and I'm still quite unexcited about it, but I'm watching it and having all these thoughts.... Ron will be cleaning it all up for us in the end, but....

Flyers win 5-1

Briere scored twice, Gagne got his first of the year and James van Riemsdyk got his first of his career. But the big story in the game is Richards hitting David Booth in the head and knocking him out.



I think Richards should be suspended for as many as 10 games because I think the NHL needs to eliminate all hits to the head. I also think all hits to the head are dirty. It's laughable that an elbow to the head is "dirty," but the a shoulder with the full force and weight of a players body behind it is "clean." And of course any stick to the head, even if it's a tap, has a good chance of receiving a suspension.

We've seen Lindros's career end because of hits to the head and Primeau's too. And almost every week now a new report showing the long term damage from head injuries in sports is released. Here are 2 articles just from this week in the New York Times:

N.F.L. Data Reinforces Dementia Links
Concussion Trauma Risk Seen in Amateur Athlete

Monday Night Mediocrities

10/26 8:30 PM ET	Opening	betED	Bodog	5Dimes	SPORTSBETTING
Philadelphia @ Washington	38.5 6.5	37.5 7	37.5 7	37.5 7.5	38 7

Matchup • Expanded Odds • Line History

Bonus Question: Can someone take away the play calling from Andy Reid too?

Delaware Parlay Play Picks for Week 7

Pick 3 games in the comments to win! Get the odds from the Delaware Park 1/2 Point Parlay Card HERE.

World Series: Once again it's on

Maybe it's because I didn't catch the first inning (in which Hamels gave up a homer), but this game never seemed in jeopardy as the Phillies closed out the Dodgers and the NLCS.

Hamels seemed to settle down after a while, but still couldn't get out through the fifth. This was kind of par for the course for Hamels this season, but it didn't matter as the bats were hot, and the Dodgers pitchers just didn't have it tonight. That meant more home runs for the Phillies, particularly Jayson Werth who had two.

So it's on to the World Series, and a likely meeting with the New York Yankees.

Notes:
• Ryan Howard had a hit and a run, but his RBI streak ended.
• With the early closeout of the Dodgers, the Phillies will have their rotaion set up for the World Series. Meaning Cliff Lee goes in game 1, and who knows beyond that.
• I didn't see the Manny hit in the first, but the Phillies pitchers just pounded him inside with fastballs the rest of the night and he could do nothing with them. Hit the showers, Manny.
• Do we want the Yankees to finish off the Angels tomorrow, and get the Series started? Or do we want the ALCS to go 7? I say bring on the Series ASAP, but either option has its advantages.

Ooooooooh!

As EMF once sang and Ron Wood once tweeted, the Phillies were (once again) unbelievable tonight in rallying for the win in the ninth. With two on and two outs, Jimmy Rollins smoked a double to the wall in right-center, and Carlos Ruiz rounded from first for the winning run.

They did all this against the Dodgers' fireballer closer Jonathan Broxton who, having retired Werth as the last out in the eighth, looked off his game in the ninth, inexplicably walking Matt Stairs with one out, then hitting Ruiz with a pitch before retiring Greg Dobbs on a humpbacker to third. Broxton was hitting 100 on the radar gun, and went right after Rollins, but J-Roll was able to pull the ball to the gap and that was that.

Stairs homered off Broxton to take game 4 of the 2008 NLCS, and his walk tonight felt just as big. Not sure what Broxton was thinking — did he prefer to just go after Ruiz and the probable pinch-hitter Dobbs? — but he was nowhere close to the plate. I don't think coming in the eighth helped him, as he never goes more than one inning.

NOTES:
• The Ryan Howard legend ascension watch continues. Another homer makes it six this postseason — tying Mike Schmidt for the club record. He's got 14 RBIs, with at least one in eight straight games to tie some old Yankee's record.
• I wouldn't want to be a pitcher tonight, as that ump had a super-small strike zone. He was randomly inconsistent too, and it must be said the Phillies seemed to get more of the breaks on the calls.
• The Phillies bullpen was pretty good tonight, even if it seemed like everyone let at least one guy reach base. Lidge got the win.
• MLB.com = breaking news FAIL.
• I didn't see what he was wearing tonight, but Craig Sager had a burgundy velvet jacket on last night. Pimp.


Hamels against Padilla Wednesday night. If Hamels wants to step it up, this would be a good time.

Easy peasy LEEsy

As Dire Straits once sang, "That's the way you do it."

If you don't want to worry about the back end of your bullpen blowing up — and Uncle Charlie helping it blow up — then the best thing to do is jump all over the rusty opposing starter, and have Cliff Lee throw eight fairly effortless shutout innings. Done and done, and the Phils lead 2-1.

Not much to say about this one, except the Phillies were pretty awesome in an 11-0 win. Aside from Lee's dominant, 10-strikeout performance, the batters were hitting and driving in runs up and down the lineup, with the lone exception of Raul Ibanez. Even Lee got himself a single.

If the series gets back to Dodger Hideki Kuroda's spot in the rotation, you'd have to believe L.A. might go with Chad Billingsley instead, as he was solid in relief, and Kuroda got lit up. But that's Joe Torre's problem.

Joe Blanton against Randy Wolf tomorrow.

Jokeland, ha ha

Seemingly full of themselves after beating powerhouses like the Chiefs and the Buccaneers the Eagles, not the Raiders, were the joke today. A sad, pathetic joke, especially the McNabb and Reid run offense. So while we all laughed it up because Dallass had to go to OT to beat the Chiefs, the Eagles did them one better by losing in 60 minutes to the Raiders.

All the Eagles offense had today was a few big plays and nothing else. And the big plays did not score TDs so the Eagles lost. This of course is a complete indictment of Reid and his concept of how offenses should work. I have no hope that Reid will ever learn the lesson that a running game is important and so is a normal, non-gimmicky offense that can just simply grind things out.

Let's look back at the last 5 minutes of the first half as a distillation of the Eagles ineptitude and stupidity.

McNabb tosses it to Westbrook who takes it 34 yards to the Oakland 27. That's followed by an incomplete pass to McCoy and then a timeout. The next play is an incomplete pass to Celek and then another timeout, their last of the half. Then the next play McNabb takes an 8 yard sack and in the process takes the Eagles out of field goal range, which went completely unnoted by the terrible Fox announcers. Then Rocca brilliantly punts it into the endzone.

A couple plays later Russell throws a stupid pass that's picked by Mikell who returns it to the Oakland 40. There is 1:53 left on the clock. McNabb passes to Celek for 14 which is followed by a dumb pass to Weaver for 3 yards. Westbrook then runs it for 4 with 1:04 left. The next play, a pass to Jackson for 4 yards starts with 35 seconds left. Classic McNabb/Reid time management. But at least on this play Jackson gets out of bounds to stop the clock. So what does Reid do?

For some insane reason Reid thought it would be a great idea to run out a wildcat play with Vick. Turns out McNabb's now racing and panicky brain couldn't handle this, and decided to do a Chris Webber and call a timeout that didn't exist. The 5 yard delay of game penalty was then followed by a 5 yard sack where half the team didn't seem to know what the play count was. Then with 12 seconds left McNabb spikes it on 3rd down and out comes Akers to kick one of the field goals he didn't miss.

Horrible. And it was like that ALL day.

Other notes:

• Is the Trotter experiment over yet?
• Great effort by Hobbs on the Raiders TD. Gee, I wonder if Dawkins would have made that play.
• Did the refs not feel like calling obvious penalties against the Raiders because they felt sorry for them or something? (I'm not blaming the refs in any way for this loss though.)
• Looks like the the straw landed on the offensive line's back this game.
• Is the wildcat experiment over yet? It better be. P.S. Vick SUCKS.
• So I compliment Akers last week, this week he sucks.
• McNabb was terrible.
• Tackling was pretty bad today.
• How many times are you going to pass (and get sacked) when it's 2nd and 2?
• Didn't the Giants run all over the Raiders last week?
• Did anyone on the Eagles have a good game?
• I'm glad Fox can spot a stupid pigeon on the field and feature it in its coverage, but can't tell the difference between DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin.

I sure hope those contract extension negotiations with Reid go well.