I agree with Barkley

In the clip below discussing what the Sixers should do in free agency Barkley stresses patience, something a town without a championship in 25 years doesn't really have, but I agree with him. Just because you have the money doesn't mean you have to spend it, especially not 11 million on Josh Smith. The Sixers already have plenty of super athletic guys that can run and throw down spectacular dunks while not being able to shoot.

I knew if I waited long enough ...

That Kyle Kendrick would pitch an eight-inning gem, that Chase Utley would almost hit for the cycle, that Bruntlett would play first base (wha?!?), Uncle Charley would mix up the lineup and that the Phils would pull out a win.

Oops, Eaton's pitching today, and he walked the fisrt guy on four pitches, and the next guy doubled him in. (Sigh)

Old fart Conlin flips the script, bucks tradition

Daily News crumudgeon and occasional imaginary ruler of the world, Bill Conlin, lately famous for insulting Latinos and bloggers, has written a new column attacking MLB's National League because the league insists on making the pitcher bat. The catalyst of this Conlin column was that Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang hurting himself running the bases in a recent inter-league game, prompting the always awesome NY Post headline "Yankees' Wang Hurt" and Steinbrenner's son to call the National League a bunch of idiots. The gist of Conlin's argument is twofold, that without a DH the NL lacks the excitement of the AL, and the AL is more dominate than the NL because of the DH.

Pitchers hitting might be "real baseball" by definition. But it is not better baseball. Nor is it more exciting baseball. The 21st century editions of the DH League can beat you lopsided with muscle in the middle and little ball skills at both the top and bottom of their lineups. When's the last time you saw a plodding NL pitcher somehow reach base with two outs, then get first-to-thirded by the leadoff hitter? In what is clearly the dominant American League, No. 9 and No. 1 hook up like that all the time. The Phillies will find that out once again when they visit Oakland next week at the start of a daunting California-Texas-Georgia road trip.

The problem is that Conlin doesn't back up either of those points. Arguing whether the AL baseball is more exciting than the NL baseball is like arguing as to whether watching paint dry or the grass grow is more stimulating- it is still baseball. The excitement of 1-9 small ball is about as exciting as whether to pinch hit or not to most fans. The American League is more dominating than the NL based on what- World Series victories since 1973 (when the DH was introduced), results of inter-league play, or some other sort of statistical measure? Conlin is using the Bill O'Rielly style of debate here- simply state that everyone knows that A is true (when it may or may not be) so therefore B is also true. And if Conlin's excitement argument is carried to its logical conclusion than why doesn't baseball also employee a designated hitter for other positions where offense may not be the number one priority- namely catchers?

Why? Because the DH is a bunch of bullshit. It is like the shootout in hockey- a clumsy add on that attempts to lure fans. It allows one hitter to mask their shortcomings (and still get paid) and allows a team to use their offensive skills without the risk of the hitter messing up in the field like a modern day Greg Luzinski. It also makes the manager's job a hell of a lot easier, because according to Conlin, apparently coming from an American League background was why Charlie Manuel couldn't correctly employ the double switch for his first two seasons with the Phillies. Universal DH implementation is also why a supposed athlete like Wang couldn't master the simple art of running 90 feet without injuring himself, and why no pitcher except maybe a fossil like Jamie Moyer can bunt. Give me a break. Bunting may take some skill and practice, but running? I am sure Ken Brett is turning over in his grave because Steinbrenner's son thinks American League pitchers have turned into some sort of china dolls.

Frauds?

Are the Phillies benefitting like the Eagles did in the weak NFC East by being in the weak NL East? Are they frauds?

Random

So for Boston to win their numerous championships the Red Sox had to become the team they despise, the New York Yankees, the Patriots had to cheat, which would make a difference when you eke out 3 point victories, and the Celtics shamelessly threw games last season to finish dead last in the league to get the #1 pick. The Sports Gods are dead.

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Does anyone else find it laughable that Tiger Woods is being portrayed as a great athlete with comparisons to Michael Jordan? To be an athlete don't you have to play a sport? You know, a competition where your heart rate increases and you sweat and not because it's hot. If golf is a sport then how did a 45 year old dude with a pot belly go toe to toe for hours on end, day after day vs. super athlete, 32 year old Tiger Woods in his prime? Woods, who is a great golfer, is more aptly compared to a virtuoso violinist.

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Well the Phillies have lost 2 of 3 in their last 3 series. Leading the recent failure train is Brett Myers who I personally can't stand so I am actually happy to see him fail. But in the best interest of the team they should sit him down to think about things like they did with Howard at times last year.

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Is it just me or has WIP's morning show become more unlistenable than ever? When they manage to spend a few minutes talking about sports, or more preferably talking to a guest about sports, the show is really good. But then it's right back to white trash bubble baths, intern competitions, prom dates, contests, something related to celebrities, eating food, and worst of all anything of importance that might be happening in the real world. This is when you realize how absolutely ignorant everyone on the show is about anything other than sports with Al Morganti being the worst since he is either proud of his ignorance or absolutely sure in it.

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Does anyone else think Ike Reese sucks as a host? He completely bores me and is almost as bad as Steve Fredericks was saying the same stupid thing over and over and over with lots of pregnant pauses, lots of loving the sound of his own voice, and never going to the phones. I'm waiting for him to complain about callers "not hanging in there" to make the comparison complete.

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For some good radio I recommend listening to Mike Missanelli on 950 from 3-6. Genuinely knowledgeable but not arrogant, very fair and funny, and he even has good callers. Basically the exact opposite of what you get from the Burger King during the same time slot down the dial.

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And last but not least, 37 days till training camp! Woohoo.

A request

Can we please throw "under the bus" under the bus? If I had a dollar for every time some tool -- athlete, host, guest, caller -- on WIP or elsewhere (newsmagazines, political pundits) mindlessly and apishly used this played out, horrible phrase I'd be rich. I'd also be rich if I had a dollar every time someone said, "If I had a dollar every time..."

Before you think I'm on some Quixotic quest, I'm not the first to ask this request and I'm not alone in wasting mental energy and time thinking about this idiom.

What a joke

By chance I caught the stupid and overhyped mixed martial arts thing that CBS showed tonight instead of the local news. The announcers were hilariously bad, trying to do a professional job but ended up sounding like some backup WWE announcers. When the match finally started after 30 minutes of talking about nothing and posturing, it mostly consisted of two big dudes wrestling on the ground doing alot of nothing. Eventually they got off the ground and a couple punches were thrown and the white dude with the giant cauliflower ear named "Colossus" Thompson couldn't box and couldn't avoid them. So after otherwise controlling the supposed "baddest man alive" Kimbo Slice or 2 rounds, he ended up losing early in the third when Kimbo staggered him - but didn't knock him down - and the ref prematurely called the fight.

So after watching this and seeing Kimbo Slice controversially awarded a victory, I couldn't help but feel that the league really needed to have Kimbo win since it was his image that had finally gotten them some mainstream hype and onto CBS. But in effect it probably confirmed what most people thought coming in - this crap is basically a carnival sideshow and a joke. But I wouldn't be surprised if it got better ratings than the Stanley Cup.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story

We all played "whisper down the lane" in grade school, and learned the lesson that stories can be altered drastically in a short period of time. Even if they aren't passed from person to person, our stories can become scrambled by way of revisionist history, intentional or not.

Now, if you base all your life decisions on a literal reading of the Bible, or are about to start a war based on a disputed line on a map, changing stories and fuzzy memories can be problematic. Not so with sports stories, which often benefit from the fuzziness.

Case in point: I saw this post and found the story of a Carlton Fisk-hating Thurman Munson deliberately dropping third strikes so as to pass his rival for the league lead in a pointless statistic very amusing. The problem? It's probably not true, as pointed out by Rob Neyer in this excerpt from his book on baseball legends.

Munson was unavailable for comment.

100 failures

Yep, we are fans of the biggest bunch of almosts, just this closes, one player away losers and far, far worse. Our teams have been in the finals 7 times since the Sixers last won, May 31st, 1983 and no one has managed to win it all since. There will be no miracle catches on the side of a helmet for a Philadelphia team.

After the Flyers were eliminated by Pittsburgh, the national media has started to recognize Philadelphia's "100 Seasons of Failure" milestone, but I doubt it will instill any understanding of the psychic toll that results from continuous failure. They'll still continue to lazily dredge up "they threw snowballs at Santa Claus" every time we boo another Philadelphia failure in anger and disgust.

Sports Illustrated has a decent article listing 100 heartbreaks during our ignominious 25 year run. Why college disappointments are in there I don't know; no one cares. And if they count, what about Villanova winning in 1986? Some events are missing however - Flyers, a 2 seed, only scoring 2 goals in a 5 game series vs. Ottawa, the 7th seed, who had Patrick Lalime in goal, and Lindberg killing himself drunk driving.

What else was forgotten? What team has the best chance of breaking the drought?

Let's go Phils

Flyers got outplayed the entire game, true. But every bounce and every bogus call went the Penguins way including Thoresen's goal being stolen away from him for absolutely no good reason or explanation. He was so due. But hats off to the the refs and their consistency, sucking from October to May with no wavering.

It is disappointing and pisses me off the weak way the Flyers went out in their last game. Other than 2004 it has been the Flyers tradition the last couple years to get blown out and embarrassed. This time though it only leaves a sour taste after a successful season. Before it was bitter anger.

Other notes:

• Penguins fans are lamest, most clueless fans in hockey. Nashville fans know hockey better. Seriously, only people 10 years behind the times still do the weak ass mock name cheer, sing the goodbye song, and vote for a Clinton. I was waiting for the wave to start next.
• Fleury is a guido and gets his eyebrows waxed.
• Anyone else notice the Penguins wheeled the Prince of Wales trophy out in a shopping cart? Fitting.

Alive and punching

OK, the guy who said its over for the Flyers in the previous post will post again for the game 4 win.

Yes, they tried to blow a three-goal lead (they might have thought they had a two-goal lead again), but they pulled it out.

Of note was the increased nastiness in this one, culminating in Hatcher giving Malone a good thrashing behind the net, and Richards repeatedly slashing Crosby in the legs after a faceoff. Unfortunately Crosby didn't drop the gloves like Richards did (drop the gloves Crosby!) or before the refs jumped in, obviously mortified at the thought of someone bloodying Crosby's hairy lip.

I believe the Flyers when they say they believe they can still win this series. Looks impossible considering the Penguins' team strength, but if they can steal one in Pittsburgh Sunday, and maybe get Timonen and Coburn back ... ehhh? Ehhh?

On an unrelated note, what the hell are the world hockey championships being played during the NHL playoffs for?

Let's get this over with

Ron was right, it's over. To the lowlights:

— Biron against the Caps or Habs stops those two first goals. The first goal, that bounced in off of Smith, was especially weak. He's been great, but you can't start playing after you're down 2-0 and expect to beat Pittsburgh.

— Prospal was virtually invisible, and Briere wasn't much better. Prospal assisted on the Umberger goal, and his line had another good chance in the first, but that was it, and that's not enough. Briere had the puck in good scoring positions a number of times but often didn't shoot until a defenseman got in blocking position. Where were the scoring instincts?

— Gonchar made a great play when we needed one from Richards on the short-handed break.

— Downie had another costly mistake. He could have just held the puck. Instead, he made the aggressive pass to the cutter at the blue line, and the Pens were just waiting to pounce. Of course everyone else on the ice took that opportunity to look like crap — Hatcher, Jones, Kapanen — and the Pens scored, sealing game.

— Since when are the Penguins such a great defensive team, or were the Flyers just that bad?

— Other stuff may have happened, but I repressed it.

I'll leave the season overview until after the season's officially over, but it was clear the Penguins are the better team, and out top two defensemen being out hurt. The rest of the defense couldn't step up as much as might have been needed, too many top forwards were invisible, and Biron wasn't the same this series. And that's that.

Am I crazy, or ...

MalkinBerry?

Will we ever win?

No.

As if losing Timonen wasn't bad enough. So now they basically have the defense they had last year during their worst season ever.

Is Richards going to be the only Flyer forward to show up? I guess Carter is doing pretty good too, but where's everyone else?

And don't give me any of that "they played better crap" because they played horrible in game one, so, so what. Tonight they played bad enough to lose. They're losing exactly how the Rangers did, waiting for something to happen.

Season is over.

Roll 'em

The last three innings took forever — I dozed off twice — but the Phillies employed some clutch hitting to beat the Giants late last night.

Jimmy Rollins returned to the lineup, and on the heels of a bunch of 0-fers in his rehab games, smacked a two-run homer to get the Phils back in the game, an RBI double and a single. Perhaps he was inspired by his return to his native Bay Area. I seem to remember the Oakland native always doing well in Frisco.

Cole Hamels wasn't dominant, but pitched well enough and deep enough into the game to pick up the win.

It was Brad Lidge who, despite giving up a one-out single in the ninth, looked pretty dominant, striking out the side pretty easily for the save. He's making a bunch of young hitters look silly, and his scoreless streak can't last forever, but it's pretty impressive while it lasts.

Alright, bed time.