N'Awlins Trip – I’m happy to announce that the French Quarter and Bourbon Street are exactly how I remembered it, pre-Katrina. My favorite spots were left in tact. Plus, thanks to the NCAA Tournament being in town, the Quarter was pretty packed with people starting Thursday evening. Since I stuck to the tourist areas, I did not see any Katrina damage, but I did notice some empty store fronts on Canal Street, which was kind of sketchy in spots to begin with. Overall, it was a great trip. The only down side was that beers were too expensive and the usual smell of N’Awlins was gone. (I liked to refer to this smell as “The Funk”: a combination of the lack of underground sewage, the various cooking smells, and results of excess drinking.) The Funk was replaced by the inescapable smell of mold. I suppose that smell is commonplace when your city is flooded by a huge hurricane. Anyhow, the city seems to be back into the swing of things. I highly recommend it to anyone thinking of heading back down there.
Not to get all Peter King on you guys with a travel related horror story, but the only major downside was the return home. Thankfully, I was scheduled to leave Saturday morning so I had a guaranteed flight home, whereas all the people due to leave Friday evening had to scramble to find new flights due to the ice/snow storm caused cancellations. One would think that US Air would be ready for such an event, but that was not the case. US Airways caused my flight to be delayed by 45 minutes on the way out because they could not process all the stand by passengers. Then, when we finally landed in Philly, we had to wait another 45 minutes until the gate was ready for our arrival. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of my adventure. When I finally got home and discovered that my driveway looked more like the Ice Planet of Hoth that needed shoveling, I wasn't in the mood for celebrating St. Patty's day.
Ok, now that I've completely bored you with my tales of woe, let's get to the other stuff that happened since I've been gone.
Finally, the Birds get involved in free agency - Yes, it was nice to see the Birds get off their collective asses and sign someone and on the surface, the Curtis signing looks to be decent. However, I have a ton of problems with the signing. One of my problems, is that that the guy is a Mormon. No, I'm not being a bigot. I could care less about his religion. I just have a problem with the favoritism Reid continues to show for Mormons. Clearly, they wouldn't go to such extremes to re-sign Donte Stallworth (although Eskin says they did), but if you're a Mormon from Utah, the Birds will roll out the red carpet for you. I just hope that Curtis produces more along the lines of former Pro Bowler and BYU product, Chad Lewis, and not like Reno Mahe.
Another problem I have is that Curtis is being counted on being a number one wide out here with the Birds when he was only a number three in St. Louis. I'm not super confident that Curtis will be able to beat starting caliber corners on a regular basis. Finally, the Birds gave a six year contract to a 29 year old, Mormon wide receiver? Really? Who thought it would be a good idea to give this guy that long a deal? Did Joe Banner consult Billy King?
The Birds Re-Sign Buck - I'm underwhelmed. I'm so glad the Birds are banking on a guy that has missed three out of six seasons just because he held up for an entire year last year. I would have rather seen the Birds sign Ron Dayne…of course, this opinion has nothing to do with the fact that “The Wife” is friends with Dayne’s uncle and we would have probably scored tickets a couple of times next year.
The Flyers Extend GM Paul Holmgren for Two Years – In my opinion, this a great move. In the span of two weeks, he made four trades that should benefit the team for years to come. He picked up three young defensemen (Coburn, Kukkonen, and Parent) that should be big time contributors. Clarkie did not make one decent trade for a defensemen since getting Kjell Samuelsson for Bob Froese back in 1986. He also picked up a starting goalie (Biron) and an additional first round pick. Not a bad job. Plus, the Flyers have the most available cap space in the league next year to chase available free agents, as well as the likely first pick in the draft. I’m anxious to see what other moves Homer will make in the offseason to get the Orange & Black in the post season next year.
The Sixers Get CRUSHED – Finally, the Sixers’ true colors show themselves as they lost tonight by 50 to the Rockets. At this point, does it matter any more? It’s come down to the quantity of losses, not the quality of the losses! The Sixers are now tied for the 5th worst record with three other teams. Their turnaround the past couple months totally sucks.
The Phils’ Bullpen Problems Reach Crisis Level – Well, at least that’s what John Clark, my girl Jade McCarthy, and Eskin are saying tonight on Sports Final.
No Philly Teams Left In The Tourney – Nova and Penn are one and done, but who cares, I am in last place in my Tournament Fantasy Player Pool!!! Even my brother in law is ahead of me. I guess I was woefully prepared for the draft. Plus, I only have 11 teams left in my brackets’ pool.
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7 comments:
There's nothing wrong with the Mormon contingent; it's just like any other coach dipping back into their old colleges to find talent. The good thing about Reid tapping the familiar "mormon" vein is that the talent goes beyong just one college. There's a pretty good slew of talented and loyal Mormans that have been around (e.g. Todd Heap, the Detmers, Edwin Mulatolo, Haluto Ngata, and of course---Vai Sikahema! Dude beat up the Giants field goal post!!). Bottom line here--Reid has a connection to a talented pool of athletes that are devoted to the team, their families, and to the community. Nothing wrong with that. That's bringing a positive message to the organization (not that other religions can't do that). So, what's this all mean: Would I have preferred Stallworth? Yes. Do I think Curtis is a bad signing? No. Do I think the move strengthened the WR corps? Yes. Would I have overpaid for Stallworth like NE did? No friggin way! The birds played their cards wells here.
Tom F.
Let’s get something straight first. I have no problem w/ Mormons. (Well, except for Vai S, he ripped RU football last year.) By all accounts, they are absolutely wonderful people, despite what the writers of South Park would have you think.
As for Reid and his favoritism for Mormons, you are right. It is just like a coach that brings in guys from his old school, or players from former team. It is nothing that we haven’t seen w/ Clarkie for years and year. It just annoys me because it seems that Reid will overlook more talented players to give guys from his favored category a chance.
BTW, the Pats did not overpay for Stallworth. He basically got a 1 year deal for $3.5M. If the Birds had offered the same, Donte would be wearing green for the next 6 years.
Also, how the heck do you know every Mormon dude in the league? Is there a website that compiles this sort of list?
FWIW, I hope this sparks some debate.
The South Park stuff was pretty funny.... Didn't know that Vai punked out RU football---Blashemer!! Curtis vs. Stallworth--I stand corrected on the $$$ from NE, but do you think that Banner was putting Stallworth's injury issues and the prospect of giving up a higher draft pick (to NO) ahead of a fair contract offer? I guess they traded Buck's knees for Donte's hammy and threw in Curtis to ice it. (nice article on Banner BTW).
As for the LDS crew ("Latter Day Saints")I must confess that I have the inside track on that topic----my brother in Maryland is Mormon, and he just so happens to go to the same "Ward" (or church) as a couple of the Ravens players. If you noticed I only could name some of the Birds and Ravens! Either way, from what I understand those Ravens players are great guys and are dedicated teammates and family men. (side note: Ed Mulatalo was recently waived by Baltimore after 10+ years down there---and from what Billick said it was one of the toughest decisions they had to make---hopefully Ed will get picked up by someone else for another 2-3 years). Bottom line here is that after all the Pacman Jones BS, and the TO debacle, the importance of having quality individuals in the NFL has never been higher, and it just so happens that based on my "biased" perspective, "Mormons" bring that to the table (plus talent). I'll just Reid's favoritism on this one; I can't trust Banner though.
Tom F.
You two have written the longest posts I've seen in a while. This is what happens when religion mixes with sports.
Knock it the F off! No one cares if they're Mormon or Catholic or if their religion is Voodoo, like Cerrano in Major League.
As long as you can hit the curve ball no one cares...not even Jobu!!
Trading Bob Froese in 1986 was a horrible move. Samuelsson was garbage.
I do love the cap space going into the offseason. Hello Chris Drury.
First of all, Jorge...This is the first Flyer from the Keenan era that I have ever seen you rip. As for the trade...you are high. They had Hexy, Pelle and Froese all at one time. Froese was the logical guy to go and Kjell was pretty damn good until he came back to the Flyers in the late 90's when he was always hurt and could not skate.
Also, I know you are watching the games still (me and you might be the only people in the Del Valley)...they DESPERATELY need a top line center. Drury is a winger. I like Gomez...Plus, that move weakens the F'n devils.
Muller...funny stuff.
Drury is a center, dogg. He is third in the league in faceoff wins, which in another area where the Flyers could use some help.
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