Jungite aut Perite

"Join, or Die!" What Philadelphia fan wouldn't love that?

We know what some of you are thinking, wait what are these guys talking about? Is the city really looking forward to an MLS playoff game? Our answer to you few is, “Shut up.” Although we have not written anything about this team all season, it’s not because we don’t follow them closely. It is more of a… how do we say this? We know absolutely zilch about the game of soccer. We know the rules and things like that, but as far as tactical or strategic moves in the game… Our most profound thought is try to put the ball in the net and we enjoy good crosses into the box. We learned this from our many, many hours and late nights playing FIFA World Cup 2010 for Xbox (Hint: Didier Drogba and the Ivory Coast or Cote d’Ivoire are disgusting in this game. Just send one into the box in the air and soccers’ version of Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain, better known as Didier Drogba, will put it in the back of the net every time.) . Needless to say, with this being our extensive knowledge of the game, we have been hesitant to write about soccer, but we do watch almost every game and go to many of them as well. Here a couple things to get excited about with the upcoming MLS playoffs.

1.     This team is only a second year expansion team and they are already in the playoffs. Think about how hard it is in any professional sport to accomplish something like this. Ask the Bob McNair and the Houston Texans how good they are doing with the playoffs 10 years later. Pretty well actually, they are undefeated BECAUSE THEY’VE NEVER BEEN TO THE PLAYOFFS. This is a pretty big task for a young expansion team. The team has done well with Peter Nowak as the manager and drafted well to get to this point. They have done a good job of mixing young talent (Danny Mwanga) with solid veterans (Faryd Mondragon, Sebastien Le Toux) which has created solid chemistry with this team.

"Oooooooh... you suck @$$HOLE!"

2.     The Sons of Ben will be rocking. If you are unfamiliar with the Sons of Ben, it is the supporter section for the Union at the Rivers’ end of the stadium. On any normal regular season game, the side is loaded (not only are there a lot of people but the people in the section are loaded also), the SOB are always rowdy and loud, and they are everything a Philadelphia fan should be. They are loud and abusive to the opponent, they never sit down during any point of the game and most of them dress up in ridiculous attire to support the squad. The SOB will be loud and proud on Sunday night and we can’t wait to see their excitement after the first Union playoff goal.

You the fans... you're what drives me. I am a man of the people

3.     There is one man that encompasses all of Philadelphia Sports: Sebastien Le Toux. Yes, yes, yes you read correctly, we did say that all that encompasses Philadelphia sports is a French guy. He does not put up the white flag as many of his kind do, instead he continues to fight on. Sebastien has been with the team since its inception and he is everything that a Philadelphia fan enjoys seeing on a daily basis. Both of his years with the team he has been in MVP talks (which is important because if you’re not a winner here then go to Chicago, they’ll accept a loser). These talks were mostly spurned by a second half onslaught that saw him record 10 goals in the last 12 games including 2 goal performances versus DC United, New England, and Dallas. He does nothing but hustle up and down the field on offense and defense. As a striker it is easy to get lazy on defense and focus all of your energy on the offensive side of the ball, but true to form, Sebastien does play both ways (haha) very well. He realizes that defense generates an offensive counter-attack and he wants to be involved. The last thing you can say about this guy is that he loves the fans. After every home game he will walk around the stadium signing as many autographs as his fingers can bear. He wants every kid to leave with an autograph or a picture of their hero so that they can go home happy. Mind you, this is after he just gets done playing a full 90+ minute game of soccer in which he is sprinting up and down the field. Not even a lot of baseball players do this after they stand in the outfield on and off for 3 hours. He is loyal to his team, this city, and most importantly the fans that pretty much help pay his salary. Le Toux really does not get enough credit in this city for his all around great play and respect for this city so be excited for him to do big things for the Union in their first ever playoff run.

4.     DOOP. There are a lot of neat traditions with a lot of Philadelphia sports. All of Philadelphia and the sports world in general loves the Phillie Phanatic and he has become a staple of fan spirit at Phillies games. With the Eagles, we have our Eagles fight song which we sing after every touchdown. The Flyers have their amazing goal songs, and now there is something else… The stadium gets transformed by the Union’s goal song: DOOP. It is a song that brings about passion and excitement when there is a goal scored at PPL stadium. The manager, one of the architects of this young team, Peter Nowak, picked this song because he thought it was something the city could get behind. The stadium loves it and it is something that has taken on a life of its own. There are bumper stickers and tshirts with just DOOP on it and you may have even heard it somewhere else. It has found its way into the Flyers goal song at home as well. It gives the city of Philadelphia its own celebration and is something that, with backing, will continue to be known as one of the better sports traditions in the city.

This team is good enough to win an MLS cup for the city and for the franchise. We love a winner in Philadelphia and trust us this is a winning team. We don’t guarantee a championship this year, but this young team is going to be winning for years to come with all the talent we have so jump on the bandwagon now and get excited for the playoffs.

If you have never gone to a Union game before now is the perfect time to do it. Get in on the action and strike while the iron is still hot. The stadium is beautiful and the atmosphere is going to be electric. Even if you can’t go, support our boys by watching on ESPN2. If you don’t understand a lot that is going on, don’t worry, just do what we do and get extremely loud when the ball goes in the net behind their goalie.

 DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP

Greatest Eagles' Back of All Time?

Okay, we know what most of you are thinking right away when you hear this.

“Duce Staley!” 

“Ricky Watters, obviously.”      

            

 “Rod ‘HeHateMe’ Smart!”

And while all of these are absolutely phenomenal guesses, none of them are correct. There are only a few names that can really be in this conversation: Wilbert Montgomery, Brian Westbrook and… Lesean McCoy. Now we know that it might be a little early to throw McCoy’s name out there, but his stats so far have been eye popping to say the least. So let’s analyze the early careers of these three players just to give you an idea of just how good Shady can be.

In Wilbert Montgomery’s first two full seasons as the Philadelphia Eagles’ starting running back, he racked up 2,732 rush yards on 597 attempts for an Yds/carry avg of 4.6. On top of that he added 75 catches for 698 yards and between running and receiving he had 24 TDs. As you can see, he had a promising start and obviously finished with a pretty impressive NFL career overall.

The next guy to take a look at would be a young Brian Westbrook. Brian’s first two full seasons as an Eagles’ starting runningback came in 2003 and 2004 where he had only 294 carries for 1,492 yards an average of 4.9 yards/carry. But let’s not forget, this is in the midst of the Andy Reid West Coast offense so his receiving numbers are really what make him stand out from the pack. In those first two years, Westbrook caught the ball 110 times for 1,035 yards and in total had 20 TDs. The receiving numbers for those two years were ridiculous. He had so many screens and flares thrown his way that those plays were basically running plays anyway that he may have turned from nothing into something. Being alive during the Westbrook era, we also remember the amount of excitement he put into each and every Eagles’ game no matter when he touched the ball. This is a true sign of one of the greatest runningbacks in a teams’ history.

Finally, we take a look at the early career of Lesean “Shady” McCoy, who by the way, after only 2 cumulative seasons in the NFL is already 16^th on the Eagles’ all-time leading rushers. Now in order to make this work, we had to take the cumulative of two seasons with Shady which means 4 games in 2009 that he started while Westbrook was hurt, so bear with the numbers a bit. In almost two full seasons (in the Andy Reid pass happy offense) he has had 467 carries for 2286 yards which is a solid 4.9 yds/attempt. His receiving numbers in that time span show 139 receptions for 1023 yards. He also has 21 total TDs in that time span as well. So as you can see, his game is not far off of the other two Eagles’ legends. Plus, Merrill Reese says his name really cool so that has to put him up there amongst the elites as well. At this point, proclaiming him as one of the all-time great Eagles’ runningbacks isn’t wrong it’s just a little premature at this point considering he still has a long career ahead of him, but he is still young. Shady still has a large amount of growing and maturing to do and as long as he can stay healthy, he is going to end up being not only one of the greatest Eagles’ runningbacks of all time, but maybe just maybe one of the greatest Eagles’ players ever.

Take it away, Merrill...

Good luck not getting goosebumps...

Final thought: 

For those of you still saying Rod ‘HeHateMe’ Smart, you have passed the test that was the correct answer all along. He is indeed the greatest Eagles runningback of all time no matter what the stats or uneducated fans will lead you to believe. Keep strong and one day, Rod and you will get the recognition you all deserve.

Accomplishments Big and Small

"Thats a load off my mind, I thought I was going to have to start giving the money back."

If you watched Monday night’s game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, you saw something of a legend scoring his first goal for the Philadelphia Flyers: Scott Hartnell. Just kidding everyone… relax. The legend that we were talking about was the everlasting hockey dynamo known only as Jaromir Jagr. Jagr, obviously the oldest member of the team, came into the league with a lot of questions surrounding him. “Can he still cut it?” “Will he be worth the money Philadelphia paid him?”… so forth and so on. Naturally, as game 8 approached on Monday, a lot of the doubters were gloating because they thought they had gotten it right (Obviously these people are idiots because they don’t watch the game they just see 0 in the goals column and think he hasn’t done anything). Even before Jagr put these two goals in, he was having a pretty good season. He has shown he still has a lot of juice left in the legs. Along with that, he and Giroux are really meshing on their line and Jagr had already produced 4 assists in 7 games, which isn’t earth shattering, but still fairly productive. Along with the stats and chemistry he is forming with Giroux, he is bringing about a character and work ethic that needs to become contagious for a young Flyers’ team. When a group of young guys have success, they can sometimes let that get to their head, but bringing in a vet like Jaromir will help keep the young bucks in line over the season. His late night skating regiment with weights has already spread to the likes of Jody Shelley and James van Riemsdyk. If JVR learns a couple lessons of commitment from a legend like Jagr, we will have another explosive diaper dandy (Thanks Dickie V) to put alongside Claude Giroux and stack up a lot of goals and a lot of winning for years to come.

Also, Bobs did a number on Monday night. He looked extremely crisp in his 4-2 win against the Leafs in which he faced a total of 26 shots. He came up big on several occasions. Although he is not the starting goalie right now, it is critical that we have a solid back up so that we can give Bryz a ton of rest for our postseason run. A lot of times the backup is an underappreciated beast, but if we can keep Bryz fresh we improve our chances of winning immensely. On top of this, if something were to unexpectedly happen to Ilya, it’s important that Bobs has had enough reps where he is ready to step in right away. Good showing by Bobs on Monday night and is really a good thing to see for Laviolette and the rest of the organization.

Based on haircut and the obvious age of the gentleman in this picture, this individual is definitely Jagr, not Hartnell.

And yes… Scott Hartnell did get the monkey off his back as well against the Leafs. He scored his first two goals of the season on Monday night. That’s all that can be said about that. We will let you know immediately if he unexpectedly cuts his hair.

Congratulations are also due to 5’10” Danny Briere. The Center recorded his 600^th NHL point on Monday night with an assist in the game. That says a lot for a guy who many doubted because of his size, but coming from two undersized twins, we are proud of a fellow short athlete. Way to go Danny!

Turnaround? Nope, Everyone just Panicked Too Early...

Even Big Mike knows it's Rally Towel Time

After all of the talk of “must win games” over the past 3 weeks, the Eagles finally overcame what seemed to be the 'NeverEnding Story'. There were a lot of fans out there (including these twins) that were starting to get nervous about the season. There were many fans calling for Andy Reid’s head (as usual for this time of the year) and a lot of fans started writing this season off. We were slightly optimistic, but started to jump on the nervous bandwagon as many of the other fans did after a disappointing Giants' loss. Unlike most other fans, we actually respect and like Big Red, including the terrific job he has done with this team year after year, but even we were starting to question his tenure as coach in Philadelphia. The “Dream Team” was spiraling fast, but when your team needs a pick-me-up, you can always count on Sexy Rexy and the boys to get your season back on track and a city breathing a sigh of relief. The Eagles' played up to snuff and beat a team that has played way above their potential to dupe a lot of people into believing they were a legitimate contender (which still has no real QB in all honesty). This has led a lot of media personnel to call it a possible turnaround for the Eagles or a season changing game (sidenote: it is completely annoying to watch the newspapers flop back and forth to go from the world’s biggest bust to hope-filled miracle story in one week when some fans have remained pretty optimistic the whole way through), but lets not get too carried away. This is still only one game of a 16 game season and we are still 2-4. Let’s put a couple things in perspective here:

1.     This game is not the SAVIOR of the season because quite frankly, the season was not even close to over yet. If every fan could be promised a 10-6 or 11-5 final regular season record and a Super Bowl, they would take it every time, even if that means enduring an early 1-4 start until all of the new pieces got set into place. There are so many new things going on for this team, that the lack of a true full training camp hurt this team more than any other team in the NFL (no, we are not exaggerating). The Eagles were implementing new defensive schemes, working a brand new offensive line, and adding 6 new starters on defense. That is more change than almost any team in the league and it was going to take time for things to start working correctly, lets hope that this is that start we were hoping for. Still, the season was far from over and this one game doesn’t even prove yet that we are totally fixed, but it is a good start.

2.     The most important things for the Eagles the rest of the year will be their divisional games. Even with that rough start, if they can win all of their divisional games (minus the loss to the lucky New York Giants), they can still give themselves a good chance to advance to the postseason.  As we have learned in the past (Cardinals both in the NFL ’09 and MLB ’11), sometimes it is not the team with the best record, but the hottest team come playoff time. As long as we can win the divisional games, get on a roll, and stay hot, the Eagles can put the beginning of the season behind them quickly.

The Eagles now head to the bye week. In Andy Reid’s tenure as head coach, we are all well aware how good this team has been after the bye week. The man is 11-1 all-time as a head coach after the bye week, which needless to say is impressive. Reid gives the players what they need, which is an actual week off to relax and get refreshed while he game plans for the next game. The players should (as they have done almost every year during Andy’s tenure) come back hungry and refreshed and ready for a ‘W’. On top of this, we have three straight home games, which should help things quite a bit. If the Eagles can win all three home games, it will put them on a roll and right back on track.  Now, that’s not to say the Eagles haven’t messed up a bit in terms of their schedule. They missed opportunities to get Ws in the easier part of their schedule. The end will be a beast of a schedule and even with two easy games against Seattle and Miami (those just scream trap games), nothing is guaranteed.  

Although this ‘NeverEnding Story’ did start with a lot of turmoil, the storyline is still in their hands. If they want it to and play up to their potential, it still has the possibility for a happy ending. 

Just Pretend Prince Charming is Rockin' a #7 Eagles Uni and Snow White is

The Vince Lombardi Trophy

A Vote of Confidence for Jimmy Rollins

Most Valuable "Playa"

Since the 2011 season has come and gone with the disappointment of the Phillies weighing heavily on the City of Brotherly Love, there is only one thing left for fans to do: Focus on the 2012 season. This, of course, is not new to Philadelphia fans because the day after the glorious parade down Broad Street in 2008, the Phillies’ faithful were already talking about improvements to be made so that there could be back-to-back championships in 2009. With that in mind, the most important decision for the Phillies this upcoming offseason (besides whether or not they have a closer next year) is what to do with 32, soon to be 33, year old shortstop, James Calvin Rollins. In order to make an informed decision, let’s learn from the past and see what another recent shortstop over 30 has done.

The most recent example of this scenario was for the illustrious Derek Jeter. Now Derek is definitely older than Jimmy when requesting a big pay day, but then again it is “The Captain” we are talking about here so he can make those demands. In 2006, at 32 years old, Jeter felt like a boy growing up in the Bronx again with his split looking a little bit like this: .343/.417/.483 14 HR, 97 RBI, 34 SB. We are willing to bet that if Rollins put numbers even close to this over the next 3 seasons, it would be well worth the money to give him the 5 yr deal right now. Some of the naysayers out there may say, “big deal he must have fell off after that”, and to that we reply, look at his splits the next 3 seasons: .322/.388/.452, .300/.363/.408, .334/.406/.465, respectively. We aren’t saying Jimmy is going to put up this type of numbers over the next 4 or 5 seasons, but it shows that a shortstop over the age of 32 can continue to thrive and succeed even as his age progresses.

Then there is also fielding to consider, because this is one of the most important parts of the SS position. Jeter has always had more errors than Rollins, but since he turned 32 in 2006, he has 53 errors in a five year period, which is an average of 10.6/yr. If you look at that over his life as a Yankee, that’s actually a bit lower than his career average of 13.6/yr. We know a lot of that can be argued by his possible decrease in range, but as long as errors continue to be counted as a stat, we will continue to use them in the argument. Plus, watch game film of Jeter and Rollins, you can see using the “eye test” that these guys are still quality defensive shortstops.

This past year, Jimmy showed that he can continue to be as productive as any point in his career. His splits this year were .268/.338/.399 which is extremely close to his splits in his entire career .272/.329/.432. His BA and SLG are a little bit down, but possibly the most important stat for a leadoff hitter, on-base percentage, was actually higher than his career average. When we compare these numbers to every other SS in MLB, Rollins finished 13^th in the league in AVG, 9^th in OBP, 10^th in SLG and, oh yeah, 5^th among all SS for homeruns. Jimmy has always been a catalyst and the Phillies have been able to score runs because of his table setting at the top of the lineup. If his OBP continues to stay at that rate, the offense has a fighting chance to score some runs going forward. The other factor here is Jimmy’s defense, which has always been stellar. In 2011, with 138 games, Rollins only had 7 errors…wow. Throughout his entire life as a Phillie, he has averaged 8.62 errors per season. Again, this season appears to be an improvement for his career average. If you look throughout the league, Rollins sits 4^th in the league in fielding percentage (.988) and tied for third in Major League Baseball with only those 7 errors. The argument for his range declining can be made, but again use the “eye test” and you can see that he is still a gold glove caliber type of player.

After those valuable insights, even Ben is running to tell Amaro how to handle it.

Our final argument for Jimmy Rollins is a sentimental one. Jimmy has been with the club since he was drafted, and he has gone through the good and bad of being a Philadelphia sports star. He dealt with the team when we were perennial losers (80-81 in his second full year with the club in 2002) and the ultimate joy in 2008 with a World Series trophy. He deserves to finish out his career here in Philadelphia whether it ends on a high or on a low. The low would be if he got injured and couldn’t complete his contract, wasting the team’s money on a yearly basis, but players are routinely playing much later now-a-days, even Raul Ibanez can contribute at 39. Age is not what it used to be and injury is something that can happen just as easily to a 22 year old as it can to a 33 year old. The high would be a record that Jimmy Rollins is close to reaching. The all-time Phillies career hits leader, Michael Jack Schmidt, is at 2,234 and Jimmy is a measly 368 hits behind him at 1,866. Even if we have to give Jimmy the 5 year deal (4 with an option), it would help the Philadelphia area retain a leader and all-time great for the club. With three decent years in those five years, James Calvin Rollins can easily reserve his rightful place in Phillies history as one of the best ever to wear the red pinstripes. Give him the chance to be one of the greatest players in Phillies’ history.

2 Seasons End in a Matter of Days

Funerals are a great place to pick up chicks at least?

Within the past week, there have been two seasons that have officially come to an end. One ended in a playoff run with a record setting season; the other ended in Week 5 of the regular season. While we here at 'continued success' are usually positive and optimistic, this week we can find ourselves in only one spot, the graveyard, as we bury two professional sports teams in the area.

The Eagles again have embarrassed themselves with another disgusting loss. 4 interceptions for an unlucky Michael Vick, one huge fumble by Jason Avant, and an encroachment that should get Juqua Parker removed from the team. This was a team with high hopes at the beginning of the year that just came crashing down. After showing some life in the 2nd half, led by Michael Vick, the team (especially the defense) found a way to give it away again while trailing this time. Brian Billick was spot on with his description of what happened. The timeout was called for that play in the timeout the Eagles' coaches explicitly said "DON'T MOVE," and yet here we are talking about another Eagles' loss. Although most of the blame at this point will be pinned on Parker, there were quite a few other hiccups that cannot be forgotten.

Avant, for being as reliable as he has been over the past couple years, really could not have given away more in this game. He seemed to be Mr. Butterfingers today and hurt the Eagles just as much as Parker did with that last boneheaded play. Hopefully he can make up for it the rest of the season.

Another factor is that even though the defense played better in the second half, this can't happen. You cannot give up that many points in any game and expect to win on any given day. The unit as a whole cannot tackle. When Youngstown States' own Donald Jones is breaking three tackles on a play, you know that you have basic fundamental problems. The missed tackles of the Eagles is leading to big plays. The Eagles' defense is essentially making every team that they face look like their offense used to look last year. Even though Juan Castillo has definitely not done a good job with the defense this year, he cannot get out there and tackle for his players. If they have any hope of reviving the season, this is the number one priority that needs to change.

So with this game, we here by bury the season of the Philadelphia Eagles. It was once a promising and upstart life that has now been  cast asunder. However, with death, comes new life. Thank goodness for us, the new life comes in the form of a very good Philadelphia Flyers team.

(This is not a story encouraging you to stop watching/rooting for the Eagles. Please continue to yell and scream at the TV as if we are still undefeated, but have the thought in the back of your mind that we may not be making the playoffs this year. Hey, it has been worse.)

Just so we are all aware, we still are hopeful the Eagles will go 10-6 or 11-5, and we will continue to sit in front of our TV every Sunday to live/die with the final score.

Eagles Game #5 Free Flowing Thoughts

Below you’ll read our free-flowing thoughts from the Eagles’ game… These are the ups and downs that everyone reading this blog probably felt. If this brings on any type of post-traumatic stress disorder, we apologize…

1:05 PM: Because of time mismanagement on our part, we miss the kickoff due to videogame time. We assume it looks just like any other kickoff so we’re not too worried. We’re sure that someone kicked the ball and someone else knelt down in the endzone to cap off the play (just like every other kickoff in the NFL now).

1:07 PM: Billick claims ‘We are already seeing some sort of a plan from Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles… (Referring to the offense)’ WE HOPE EVERYONE HEARD THAT… If Billick thinks there is a game plan, then maybe everyone won’t whine on Monday about Andy’s lack of preparation…

1:12 PM: After a challenge that wasn’t necessary because there is no way Avant was actually far enough for a first down, Andy decides to go for it on 4^th and 1… Yikes… But they roll Vick out just like everyone has been asking Mornhinweg for in the past 4 weeks and we come up with it… phew.

1:13PM: Excitement replaced with disbelief (or belief, in our case) as Vick throws a pick to a very lucky Buffalo Bill that will undoubtedly ask Vick to autograph it after the game, and he’ll hang it in his basement.

1:18 PM: As Darryl Tapp can’t catch up to Fred Jackson on a run around the end, we make it known to everyone in our living room that he’s great anyway because he went to Virginia Tech (our dad is not pleased with that comment)

1:22 PM: 5 yard TD run for Fred Jackson… As that happens, we continue to wish that we could just pick up any RB that plays the Eagles’ defense each week for our fantasy leagues… Lots of points to be had… Lots…

1:25 PM: On a quality replay from Brian Billick of the TD run, we finally see who (Jarrad Page) took a bad angle to miss a one-on-one tackle on Fred Jackson… Wait, Page missed a tackle? That seems odd… He’s usually so good at those…

1:34PM: Stevie Johnson with a catch for a 1^st down on 3^rd and long… How are we not covering the only Bills‘ receiver that anyone’s heard of?

1:48PM: Billick is really harping on the fact that Vick is limping noticeably after he gets hit and ‘fumbles’… He clearly doesn’t watch all of our games because Vick does this every week… Relax, Brian.

1:49PM: AND WE GET A ROUGHING THE PASSER CALL ON A BUSTED 3^rd DOWN PLAY! GENIUS JOB BY MORNHINWEG TO CALL A PLAY THAT WILL DEFINITELY END IN A PERSONAL FOUL!

1:52 PM: Eagles get on the board with a short yardage TD pass from Michael to Jeremy… The entire city breathes a big sigh of relief all at once… You can actually feel it if you’re anywhere in the Tri-State area.

1:57PM: Billick tries to place a bet on air for a whopping $5… If he were going to put up more money, we’d get in on that action. Although, Billick seems like he’d really come after you for failing to pay…

2:00 PM: Billick says Fred Jackson is ‘beautiful to watch’… I’m getting concerned that he’s been hitting the firewater before the games… Poor coach.

2:13 PM: Chas Henry comes out for a less-than-spectacular punt… We want to be mad, but he doesn’t get the chance to practice very often considering we don’t normally punt… we just turn the ball over BEFORE 4^th down… You’re forgiven, Chas.

2:30 PM: We plead with the defense for an interception for a TD… We have got to be due for something…

2:31 PM: Ryan Fitzpatrick obliges! We’ve got to be psychic!

2:35 PM: The Eagles line up for a pass play with :08 seconds left in the half. We’re shocked. Are they kidding? We’re giant Reid advocates, but this is incredibly questionable. Annnnnnnnnd…. We miss out on 3 points… Assuming Henery could actually kick a ball that far…

2:36 PM: Half Time. Starting to wonder how much longer to wait before we can give up and go for a run…

3:04 PM: Realize that we were away from the TV for too long and turn it on… not much time has passed and yet the Bills have tacked on 7 more points… We are in no way surprised.

3:05 PM: Roger Goodell comes on to talk about Al Davis and memorials that they are planning for him… Our thought is that if they just wait for this game to finish, they can start coming up with designs for patches that commemorate the end of the Eagles’ season for all of the other 31 teams to wear…

Footnote: Eagles score while we’re putting this post together, but we’re not getting our hopes up… yet.

3:11 PM: Brian Wilson Taco Bell commercial comes on and everyone in Philadelphia becomes nauseous. It could be because of Brian, could be because of Taco Bell – but it’s likely still from the Eagles’ game.

3:17 PM: Darryl Tapp gets pressure on Fitzpatrick (finally!) to end a drive.  We told you, dad.

3:19 PM: Jason Avant (with a very impressive fumble) proves that only the Eagles could infuriate us to the point of actually exploding.

3:40 PM: A lot has happened. The biggest thing is that the Eagles finally decided to pressure Fitzpatrick. It works – who knew?

3:45 PM: Billick and Rosen have been asking for the Eagles to get a holding call for 5 minutes and it kind of works (hands to the face is call on Danny Watkins) because a TD run by Vick gets called back… We needed that like we needed a hole in the head.

3:46 PM: King Dunlap gets called for a holding. Now Billick and Rosen must be really proud of themselves (Eagles are now about 60 yards away from the endzone because of penalties).

3:49 PM: We find out that although it didn’t look like it last week against the 49ers, Alex Henery is perfectly capable of hitting a short field goal… Thank you, sir.

3:52 PM: Holding call on Buffalo on the drive immediately following the Eagles’ field goal! Take that, Rosen and Billick!

3:56 PM: HUGE THIRD DOWN STOP FROM NATE ALLEN ON ANOTHER CROSSING PATTERN! WE TACKLED! WOW! Hopefully the rest of the Eagles’ secondary was diligently taking notes…

4:02 PM: Jason Avant catches another ball for his career high 9^th reception for 139 yards… Roseman’s phone is already ringing off the hook with other GMs offering the likes of Andre Johnson, Calvin Johnson, and Randy Moss for him… ‘No thanks, Jason is kind of a big deal in Philadelphia,’ says Howie. (He’s holding out for another cornerback… great general managing.)

4:06 PM: With the quickest turnaround in the history of the world, Jason Avant loses the ball again (it should in no way be called an interception by the way) and has every GM hanging up on Howie who is now looking for at least a towel rack for the Eagles’ receiver.

4:10 PM: Everyone in the world knows that the Bills just want to draw the Eagles offisdes and have no desire to actually go for it on 4^th down. Too bad says Juqua Parker. ‘You don’t want the 1^st down? Well, we’re going to give it to you.’

Side note: This is a fantastic job of reverse psychology by Chan Gailey on our defensive linemen.

4:15 PM: The game ends and Philadelphia reverts back to its former self prior to the Phillies actually winning a championship.

The city is plagued in ways that no other hobby or catastrophe could – only sports.

Atleast we still have one good team in Philly...

On the eve of one of the most important/disappointing games in Phillies postseason history, another team was just beginning their season. The *new* Philadelphia Flyers started their run at the Cup on Thursday night with a 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins. The best part about the game was how they spoiled the Bruins championship ceremony night and hopefully sent the fans home crying. The fans maybe even went home a little scared last night with the likes of Ilya Bryzgalov, Jaromire Jagr, and Claude Giroux probably haunting their dreams for the rest of the season. With that being said, let’s take a look at some of the big things to take away from a solid 2-1 victory in Beantown last night.

1.     Jagr and Giroux are monsters.

"And we're the three best friends that anyone could have..."

We already knew that Giroux was a game changer, and that Jagr USED TO BE a superstar, but how would they perform together on one line? Giroux is now expected to be the star and leader of this team’s offensive punch all year, which is a lot to put on him since the trading away of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. Jagr is almost 40 years of age, coming off a couple seasons in the KHL so no one really knew what to expect of him. We’ll tell you one person who knew what to expect: Paul Holmgren. Jagr and Giroux were put on display last night in a nationally televised game and they didn’t disappoint. The two connected for the first goal of the game on the powerplay where Jagr fed Giroux up the middle, made a ridiculous move around 2 defenders and then finished with a “What the hell just happened” goal around Tim Thomas. It was only one play, but with a lesser goalie on the ice, the “Dynamic Duo” could have put two or three more goals together. Once JVR gets going, this line is going to be a lethal machine that will be getting almost all of the ice time in big situations.

2.     Ilya Bryzgalov

"Yeah, I agree, I am the bees' knees."

We didn’t need to say anything else. Just the name of the man says enough about how he played last night. He looked as if he was the No. 1 goalie that Holmgren promised when he brought in. While the Flyers were busy making dumb penalty after dumb penalty to try and give the game away in the third, Bryz was a rock in the net. Shot after shot, you could see what makes this guy so successful. He comes out of the net and is always square to the shooter. His glove hand is quick and was there to catch a point blank chance by Brad Marchand in the second period after he got through the defense. All in all, he ended the night stopping 22 of 23 shots. This was a great opening night for a man who is slated to be the answer to the Flyers woes. We think he is going to be the best goalie we’ve had in town since the exit of the man, myth, and legend Ron Hextall.

P.S. This guy is a character if you haven't seen an interview with him we recommend clicking here.

3.     Sean Couturier is going to be GOOD

"Yeah, my mom says I have a great smile too. She is always pinching my cheeks in front of the other kids on the school bus though... Embarrassing."

Sean is someone that even we can say is a youngster or “wet behind the ears” and that is saying something. A kid of only 18 years old, there is a lot of hype and pressure on a man of his age to produce for a team and city that is ready to win. Well, after game one, it looks like he is ready to deliver the goods. He had 14:04 of ice time and every time he was on the ice, it looked like he was making plays. He created numerous turnovers in the neutral zone, and looked aggressive and hungry on the forecheck. He only accrued two shots, but looked like he had a nose for the goal and you can expect that to continue going forward. His biggest contributions, however, came while killing off the powerplay. Couturier had the confidence of his head coach to go out there and produce late in the third period and almost all of the game killing off the powerplay. And of course this unit was successful killing off 4 of 5 attempts throughout the game. If he is this good this early in his career, imagine in the next two or three years learning and growing with the likes of JVR and Giroux and maybe even picking up a thing or two from the Wiley Ole’ Veteran Jagr. This kid could be dangerous.

4.     Defense will carry the team.

"C'mon guys its time, FLYING V!"

Even with some of the exciting offensive additions the Flyers made in the offseason, this Flyers team is definitely made to win defensively. The Flyers have the best defensive line pairings in the NHL all the way from 1-6. Pronger, although he is getting older, is still as good as they come in the NHL. Then there are some of the younger guys out there like Meszaros, Coburn, and Carle who are going to be key defensive pieces on this team for a long time to come. Finally, let’s not forget Kimmo Timonen. The often forgotten Finnish superstar showed last night that he is once again, a force to be reckoned with. He may have single handedly saved the win for the Flyers when stopping a gimme for Nathan Horton in front of an open net. With all of the talent in front of Bryz, the defense should put up a lot of 0’s as the season goes on. This is something that most Flyers fans weren’t alive for the last time it was happening. Paul Holmgren may have changed the philosophy, but the one thing that won’t change is the winning of the Flyers going forward.

Just What the Doctor Ordered...

We'll go out on a limb and say that this was probably a strike...

For 11 years, Roy Halladay suffered through losing seasons. Year after year after year, Halladay, one of the greatest pitchers in MLB, had to sit there and suffer on a perennial losing franchise. Although he would never officially come out and say it in the media, because he is too classy, he wanted to leave and go to a contender; everyone knew that the Doctor wanted a chance to go to the playoffs. For several years at the trade deadline, rumors would come and rumors would go, but one thing would remain constant: Roy Halladay wearing the #32 Toronto Blue Jays jersey. During those years of unrest, two more things remained constant, a clamoring from Philadelphia fans to have the best pitcher in baseball on the roster and the desire of Big Ruben Amaro to have the Blue Jays’ ace in red and white pinstripes (usually very slimming). Eventually, when push came to shove, and the offseason came around, Big Rube could no longer control himself.

In the offseason, following a 2009 loss in the World Series to the Yankees, Amaro decided to trade what turned out to be some pretty mediocre prospects, including Kyle Drabek, to the Blue Jays and brought Roy to his real home at Citizens Bank Park. This settled two things. The first thing it solved was that the best fans in professional sports got there man. It helped a fan base, who was grieving a big loss to the ugly troll of baseball, forget what happened and have hope for the future. Hope that in the upcoming years, they wouldn’t have to worry about the other teams, but that other teams would in turn have to start worrying about them. The hope that with the best arm in the majors, would come the best prize in MLB, a trophy and another championship, possibly even a dynasty. The savage fan base’s hunger was satisfied and the masses were quieted.

The second problem, which was more important, did not get fixed until the following October. In the following October, after years of losing, Roy Halladay got his biggest wish, he was going to pitch in the postseason. In his first game against the Cincinnati Reds, everyone knows what happened. Halladay threw only the second no-hitter in the history of October baseball. Halladay had given the fans what they wanted and had gotten what he wanted, to pitch in the postseason and become part of history again in a way that he had never imagined possible before. But, this story is far from over. Last year was just the appetizer; Game 5 on Friday night is the main course.

On Friday night, Halladay (and many other current Phillies) will get the ultimate postseason experience. Some men never get to experience what is about to happen on Friday night. A Game 5 is the absolute end all, be all of postseason baseball and this is what Doc wanted. If he wanted to experience the thrill, excitement and nerves of a meaningful fall game under the lights, this is what he wanted. Roy has waited his entire life for this moment. The moment when the ball, a season, and a city all rest in the care of his golden right arm. Knowing all of this, don’t expect him to fail. Don’t expect anything less than dominance, guts, and heart from the most dedicated man in professional sports. There is only one more thing to expect on Friday night: a win. Halladay has worked for this moment, October glory is his for the taking and expect him to take it.

Moments that only happen in October...

Any way we can...

Hometown of Ryan Howard and future site of the death of the '11 Cardinals

Starting this time of year… it doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as you get there. Whether we win each game by 1 or 10, as long as you keep getting closer to the World Series trophy that is all that matters. And as this team keeps chugging along, we are finding any way that we can to win. We have the unlikely hero of Ben Francisco tonight, and with the unlikely come from behind win on Saturday, this postseason is proving to be anything but ordinary.

On Saturday, as we sat in the stands in complete disbelief of the three run bomb that Doc gave up to the Big Puma, there was a sense of worry in the air. The stadium had a sense of “Oh no, not again,” in every half inning that passed. The Phillies continued to have awful at bats versus the “dangerous” Kyle Lohse, somehow getting out in an average of about 3 pitches per inning, and even though Halladay had started on his magical streak of 21 straight outs, there was still uneasiness. Until that 6^th inning, when everything came into place. Again, the unlikeliest of heroes came through for the Fightin Phils. Ryan Howard, who has been much maligned and hated for his playoff performances thus far in his career, came through with a shot heard round the world, and one that will certainly always be remembered if this turns out to be the special season that we all hope it will be for the Phillies. It shows that he has put his past playoff performances behind him, and he is ready to contribute, but what made this game so weird was how it started. Roy Halladay gave up a three run homerun. Roy Halladay NEVER gives up a homerun, especially a three run bomb so early in the game. But for once, the offense backed him up. In fact, the offense dominated so much that Halladay came out of the game before he needed to so that the bullpen could have some work. For once, in a long time, Halladay was picked up by a man who gets too much heat, in a big way.

Then there was the game tonight. Tonight, a man who was supposed to be a solid right field starter for us, showed he could still be a hero through it all. Ben Francisco, who lost his starting right field position half way through the season, has continued to try and contribute any way that its possible. He did not get angry when Charlie sent him to the bench, instead he adapted back to his old role as a pinch hitter. Since he has been back in the role, he has done a great job of coming through when the club needed him. Cole pitched a great game yet again through 6 innings, but without the versatile Benji Ya Ya ( as we have affectionately called him) we would not have the availability to be sitting in this series up 2-1 going into game 4 tomorrow night in St. Louis. This is just another way you can see, that we have done nothing but win in weird ways so far this postseason.

The Phillies, with all of their all-stars and amazing individual talents, are showing that through it all, they are a team. Whether it is Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, or yes, even Ben Francisco, this team finds a way to win. In October, its not about dominating or convincingly winning or even winning a solid all around performance, the only thing that is important is winning. We may be winning out of character and we may be winning in ugly, dirty fashion, but we are winning. This time of year, that is all that matters.

A great example of just how winning ugly can look for the Phils...

Quick in Game thoughts...

Game 2 is 6 1/2 innings over, and there is only a couple things to say.

Stadium is going to look like this all the time soon if the boys don't pick it up.

The offense came out really hot, but is starting to fizzle. We need a couple of good at-bats leading to a walk or two, get the crowd back into it and give us some momentum.

LaRussa got his wish. After going on the air and complaining about the strike zone, The ump has responded. He has gone the other way with the strike zone completely. He is so far off whack, it is hard to know what is a strike and what is a ball. Even if he was a little bit off in the first couple innings, it is even WORSE officiating to let a coach change everything about what you are doing out there. Home plate umpire Jerry Meals is showing that he cannot handle the pressure of the post season.

Finally, Dick Stockton is just an awful announcer. Not only does he not know a thing about baseball, but he cannot even pronounce the names of prominent Phillies' players. I have heard Raul sound more like Rail and his last name... don't even get us started on how off he is there. We weren't aware there was a Placido PALANKO playing third base for the Phillies either. There was another awful pronunciation, but we can't remember what it was at this moment.

Don't lose Phaith, we can do what we have done a thousand times before. Look for Jimmy to have a clutch hit at some point in this game if we are going to come back.