Here We Go Again

Things are about to get real interesting around here. I just read the following on Philly.com:

History repeated itself yet again today when an Eagles player unhappy with his contract fired his former agent and replaced him with Drew Rosenhaus.
The player this time is cornerback Lito Sheppard, who missed the Eagles' two-week voluntary camp last month and has made it known that he's unhappy with his contract, which has four years remaining and will pay him a base salary of $2 million this season.

Exactly what this means for Sheppard's immediate future isn't clear. Sheppard and most of the other Eagles veterans are scheduled to report to training camp a week from today at Lehigh University.

The Eagles confirmed that they are aware of Sheppard's decision to dump former agent Lamont Smith in favor of Rosenhaus. A league source said the team and the high-profile agent are determined not to have a repeat of the circus that engulfed the franchise in 2005 when former Eagle Terrell Owens got into an incendiary contract dispute that included heated arguments with his teammates and coaches, well-documented sit-ups by the star receiver on his Moorestown driveway and the eventual dismissal of T.O. from the team.

"We have signed Lito as a new client," Rosenhaus said after a meeting with the Eagles at the NovaCare Complex. "I'm trying to keep somewhat of a low profile. We're going to keep everything real positive. I've had a lot of positive dealings with the team recently. I'm confident that we're going to find a mutually beneficial solution to this situation and we expect things to move in a positive direction."
Sheppard did not return a phone call.

Multiple sources confirmed that Rosenhaus was in Philadelphia today and he met with vice president of player personnel Howie Roseman. Team president Joe Banner, who is on vacation, took part in the meeting via conference call.
"It was a relatively positive conversation and the Eagles expect him to be at camp when the vets report next Thursday," a team source said.
A source close to Sheppard also said the cornerback would report to training camp.

This is horrible news. There is now only one way the Lito saga can end in Philadelphia: BAD. Remember, Rosenhaus only gets paid if Lito gets a new contract. From past experience, Rosenhaus’ strategy will likely be to try and put some pressure on the Birds to trade him before the season. That would be the Sonny Corleone move. The Michael Corleone move would be to tell Lito to get in top shape, show up in camp and play his lights out in an effort to force a trade next offseason. What would be the Fredo Corleone move, you ask? I suppose it would be to hold out in camp and then show up before the start of the season, which would likely lead to yet another injury and cement his reputation as over rated and injury prone.

Personally, I'm really hoping that Lito shows up and plays in 2008. I think our three corners could be the best in the league and could be a real strength of the team.

Bye, Bye Spectrum

Today, we were greeted with the sad news that the Spectrum is being knocked down for the sake of progress. Comcast plans to put a W Hotel, bars, restaurants, shopping, etc on the current Spectrum site. I'm still dumbfounded by this decision on several levels, but what the hell do I know about business? They get millions of people to pay $170+ month for cable, phone and internet service, while I toil away in the reinsurance industry.

While I understand the need for the extra restaurants and especially bars (have you tried getting into McFaddens lately? It is an absolute mess.) near the sports complex, but why did they need to tear down the Spectrum? Couldn't a creative engineer/architect come up w/ a plan to build this "Philly Live" project around the Spectrum? Plus, by tearing down the Spectrum, Comcast Spectacor is going to lose a ton of event dates. I'm not sure why they are so anxious to forgo all those Country Music concerts, Indoor Soccer games, and Moto-Cross events.

The other thing I don't quite understand is why they think an upscale W hotel will be successful down at the sports complex. I figure that the place will do boffo business every time the Eagles are in town, and I'm sure various visiting teams will stay there, but if you are coming in for business, why on earth would you stay down there, so close from the business district in Center City? I'm really befuddled by this move. I've been in other cities with W hotels and they were never this far from the main hub of the city. W Hotels are usually pretty swanky. It would make more sense to me if it was down in Old City, not in the middle of a waste land of parking lots.

Finally, I'm pretty pissed that this move forces the Phantoms to be moved to another location. I like the fact that they still play in the city and give families another option if they want to see a hockey game. I hope they don't move too far.

Chase Utley: Total Stud

Sure, Chase failed to get out of the first round of the Home Run Derby, but who really cares. This is why we love him:



Chase basically told those scum bag New Yorkers, "you want to boo me at a feel good event like this? Well F&*K YOU!"

Chase Utley, you may be mired in a slump right now, but you are my hero.

First Half Is In The Books

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The Phils and Mets have both played over 95 games this year and find themselves in the same exact spot as the end of last year. Once again, the Phils hold a slight lead over the Metropolitans and it appears that both squads are poised to fight it out to the end of the year to determine the division champion.

However, I get the feel that the Phils' lead is quite tenuous. They desperately, desperately need another reliable starter. Not only is Brett Myers still in Allentown working on his game, but now Adam Eaton has completely gone into the tank. At the very least, this team needs to trade for a starter and hope that Myers can hold down the fort as the de facto 5th starter.

I've made a some other observations after watching the first half:

-J Roll needs to get his head out of his ass. Right now, he is brutally average.

-Geoff Jenkins sucks. He adds nothing.

-Pedro Feliz isn't great, but he's 10 times better than the Wes Helms/Abe Nunez platoon from last year. Plus, the guy has chipped in with a couple of big hits. However, he hasn't found a double play he couldn't hit into.

-Did Clay Condrey make the team out of Spring Training? I didn't notice him until 2 weeks ago.

-Carlos Ruiz is brutal. I'm still trying to figure out what he brings to the team.

-The month of June replaced April as our trouble month. Although, our inability to compete with the American League was the main reason for our failure this year.

-I hate how much this team is still reliant on the home run to score runs.

All this being said, the Phils are still in first place. Things could be worse.

I

Top 5 Questions For The Defense

After watching the Birds’ defense struggle since 2004, it looked like the Jim Johnson blitz heavy, “bend but don’t break” defense had seen its time come and go. Then, lo and behold a Jim Johnson style defense won the Super Bowl last year. Unfortunately, that defense belonged to the Giants and was piloted by former Eagles’ linebacker coach, Steve Spagnuolo. Nevertheless, it does give the Birds’ hope that they can become a contender once again with their style of defense.

While there was definite improvement in the run defense and Jim Johnson’s guys gallantly kept the Birds in a lot of games in ‘07, there are a lot of areas on the defense with question marks. This post tackles the top 5 questions that face the defensive side of the ball that will need to be answered positively if the Birds are contend in the NFC East.

(1) Will the Birds create more turnovers in ‘08? Last year, the Birds finished dead last in the NFC in takeaways with a paltry 19 and were the only NFC team that failed to score a single defensive touchdown. Obviously, these two stats will have to change next year if the Birds are to make it back to the playoffs. The addition of Asante Samuel, along with having B Dawk and Lito healthy all year should undoubtedly increase the interception total. An improved pass rush and playing with the lead more often than last year should also lead to an increase in takeaways. Overall, turnovers usually come in bunches depending on how the ball bounces. After a year of failing to get many bounces, I think the Birds’ turnover total will increase simply because they are due.

(2) Who makes the team and gets the majority of playing time at Defensive End? I don’t think there is another position on the team that is so unstable. Other than Pro Bowler Trent Cole, every other guy is a question mark. Juqua Parker (formerly Thomas) was exposed last year as a guy that performs pretty well as a rotational guy, but isn’t a starter you can count on to play the majority of snaps. Darren Howard was pretty much ineffective all year. We didn’t see enough of Victor Abiamiri to determine if he can play. At 240 lbs, free agent Chris Clemons looks to be a situational pass rusher. He racked up a decent amount of sacks for the Raiders, but that team played a ton of garbage time last year. I wonder how many sacks came in meaningful minutes. I really don’t expect much out of third round pick, Bryan Smith, a 245 lb, Div IAA defensive end. To be that small and succeed in the NFL at DE, you really have to run. Smith ran a 4.86 which is pretty pedestrian for a DE in the NFL. If you are looking for a bust from our 2008 draft, I’m putting my money on Smith.

So, who gets the majority of the playing time next to Cole? I’m guessing you’ll see a lot of Parker, Abiamiri, and Clemons on every third down. They can’t be any worse than the combination of Jevon Kearse and Darren Howard from last year. I also expect Darren Howard to be cut (although I did read he is tremendous shape, which may save him from the scrap heap.)

(3) Can the linebackers actually play on a high level? I really want to share the excitement of all my fellow Eagle fans when it comes to the potential of the ’08 linebackers. However, I am a realist and I use prior history to gauge future performance. In their entire tenure in Philadelphia, Andy Reid, Jim Johnson and Company have never drafted a single decent linebacker. With that history of past draft failures, why is everyone so ready to canonize former draft picks Stewart Bradley, Omar Gaither and Chris Cogong as solid NFL starters? As Bill Parcells once said about Tony Romo, can we “put away the anointing oil?”

Plus, a lot of people are basing their opinion on two meaningless games at the end of last year for believing Bradley is the real deal at MLB. I’d like to see him out there in a crucial NFC East game before I get overly excited about Bradley. I think Gaither is a decent player and is ideally suited to play the weakside, but what did Chris Gocong really show anyone last year? The best thing that I can say about Gocong was that he was better than Dhani Jones, which isn’t really saying anything.

I want to see these guys succeed as much as the next guy, but I need to see more before I commit that they are the second coming.

(4) Where is the depth at Defensive Tackle? We can all agree that Mike Patterson and Broderick Bunkley are an above average starting tackle duo in the NFL. However, they seemed to wear down as the year went on due to the lack of depth behind them. The Birds’ brain trust must have seen the same thing because they drafted a defensive tackle with their first pick of the draft. Unfortunately, Trevor Laws is a bit undersized for DT and it may take him some time before he learns how to play on the NFL level. Montae Reagor was basically invisible last year, so I’m really not expecting much from in ’08. For some reason, Kimo von Oelhoffen was brought back to the mix, but he didn’t show he had a lot left in the tank last year. Basically, the success at this position could come down to how quickly Trevor Laws gets acclimated to the NFL and begins to contribute.

(5) Who starts at Strong Safety? The contenders for this job appear to be Sean Considine, who went down after the 8th game of the year, and Quentin Mikell, who started 11 games last year. Mikell started 11 games last year and was a total, 100% improvement over Considine, who reminds me of Mike Mamula in that he is always a step late from making a big play. On the other hand, Mikell, and even the one footed JR Reed, made more plays than Considine. I will make this one simple. If Sean Considine wins the starting job, we are totally screwed.

Is This The Flyers' New Third Jersey?

He Gets Alot of Bang For His Buck

You can't come away from the last two Phils' game without having some hope that Ryan Howard has finally turned it around and is ready to go on a tear. Sure, it's easy to get on the guy because he is only hitting .234 and at times can look absolutely lost at bat, but damn is Ryan Howard productive. Currently, he's leading the NL in Home Runs and set a Phils' franchise record for most RBI's before the All Star Break with 83. Howard could end up with 50 homers and 150 RBI's yet not get his batting average may never get above .250. This could be the most schizophrenic season in baseball history.

It is downright amazing how Ryan Howard is compiling these stats since he looks completely over matched at times. I'm willing to bet that some left handers could tell him that a low and outside slider is coming and he still wouldn't come close to touching it. Why anyone throws him anything "middle in" is beyond me. At this point in his career, he's basically become a left hand hitting, American version of Pedro Cerrano. Unfortunately, I don't think even Jobu will help him hit a breaking ball.

Let's hope Howard continues to work out the kinks because his success is absolutely essential if the Phils want to hold on to the division lead.

I Love When People Make Fun Of The French

The next time I golf (hopefully in the near future), I'll have that tune "gotta get a six, gotta get a six" running through my head. Unfortunately, a six is a good score for me for most par 4's and definitely par 5's.

LL Couldn't Have Done It Better Himself

Do not let the initial frame on this You Tube clip dissuade you. You will find this very funny.



It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia never disappoints. I just wish it wasn't on FX. I always forget its on because I rarely get that high on the dial.

By the way, Rob McIlhenny is doing for Danny DeVito what Quentin Tarantino did for John Travolta.

Five Question Marks Facing The Offense

(FYI - This is the first article I turned in for Eaglesgab.com)

As the July 21st opening of training camp approaches and the offseason comes to an end, we pretty much know all the major pieces that we will see lining up for our Eagles come opening day. We can now start to analyze the line up and figure out the question marks facing Big Red for the upcoming season. This post will focus on the offense and an upcoming post will look at the defense.

1. Will The Red Zone Offense Improve? – Last year, the Birds were 24th in the NFL in TD efficiency in the red zone. Clearly, if the Birds want to become a contender again, they cannot leave as many points on the field. One step in the front office’s plan to rectify the red zone problem included tagging Tight End LJ Smith with the franchise designation. The Birds’ brass claimed that LJ would be a key to opening things up in the red zone. I partially agree. Having a legit tight end in the game will occupy the linebackers and safeties opening up the passing lanes for slant patterns and swing passes to B West. However, I believe two other factors need improvement before the Birds will see an increase in their Red Zone efficiency: McNabb’s accuracy and Reid’s play calling.

D Mac has to do a better job of putting the ball into small openings. My biggest complaint about McNabb throughout his career has been his unwillingness and/or inability to put the ball in small windows. Since everything tightens up in the red zone, we will need to see more “stick throws” from D Mac. Also, would it kill Big Red to bring some imagination to his play calling in the red zone? I cannot recall the last time the Birds scored an easy red zone TD due to a brilliant play call. To paraphrase Andy, he has to do a better job of putting his guys in position to make a play.

2. Will A Third Receiver Step Up? - As much as the fan base grumbles about our starting receivers, it looks like we are going to have to accept that Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown are our starters. There are no Pro Bowlers walking through that door to suit for our Birds. I cannot really put my finger on why, but I believe that Curtis and Reggie Brown can be functional starters, especially if a third receiver that compliments them is developed. It would appear that a big, physical slot receiver would be a great compliment to our smaller, quicker starting wide outs. If we are to have a good deal of success on offense this year, this is the season that either Hank Baskett or Jason Avant has to assert themselves. They both have the physical tools to become successful slot receivers. I would like to see D Mac and Big Red show a little faith in both guys to accelerate their development. By the way, I am not counting on DeSean Jackson producing much on the offensive side of the ball as a rookie. Look for him to make his mark solely as a punt/kick returner in 2008.

3. Will The Offensive Tackles Stay Healthy For Another Year? – The Birds’ venerable tackles Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan were superb and mostly healthy last season. However, they will be turning 34 and 35 respectively in November. Can the Birds realistically expect both to play at the same level as last year? We better hope they do not show any slippage. I think you will recall the nightmare that is the first tackle off the bench should one of them go down. One of the great errors of this past draft was failing to spend one high round draft pick on a tackle to groom.

4. Will A Back Up Running Back Be Utilized? – It is an unquestioned fact throughout the league that the Birds’ most indispensable weapon is Brian Westbrook. In his first five years, the Birds pretty much treated him like fine china and tried to keep his number of touches at a manageable level. Last year was totally different. He set career highs in both rushing attempts and receptions. As great as B West is, I would like to see his number of touches reduced. I think Big Red agrees with me as over the last two years he has brought in Lorenzo Booker (a similar back to B West) and Tony Hunt (a big back who was underutilized last years). Developing a reliable back up would not only preserve B West, but it could diversify the offense and give Reid more play calling options.

5. Who Are We Kidding? The Biggest Question Is Which Donovan McNabb Shows Up? - Let’s be clear. If the same Donovan McNabb shows up that played most of last season, then the Birds are basically cooked and we can start getting ready for the Kevin Kolb era in 2009. However, I really believe that we will see the Donovan McNabb we have become accustomed to seeing in Midnight Green. Coming off an offseason of rehabbing his ACL injury, McNabb struggled most of last season as he never looked healthy or comfortable with his receivers. Towards the end of the year, he started to move around the pocket a little better and his level of play increased greatly. After another complete offseason to recuperate and practice with his receivers, it would appear reasonable to expect a return to form by D Mac.

Broadening My Horizons

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm going to doing some blogging for a new Eagles website, www.eaglesgab.com and maybe even its parent site www.nflgridirongab.com . Check out the site when you get a chance. It's a pretty good place to get all your Eagles' news in one spot. You can catch my bio on both sites here and here. Plus, judging by the list of contributors, it appears the infamous Jenn Sterger will be one of my co workers. Very nice!

I plan on basically providing the same content for Eaglesgab.com that I would put on this blog. In fact, I will likely post the same content here as I will submit for that site. I will actually have an editor, which is probably a good thing.

I hope you guys will check me out over at Eaglesgab.com.

Thanks,

PSP

Maybe I Should Stick to Football, Baseball and Hockey

This past weekend, I wrote my first post on the Sixers in months and bitched about how the Sixers could be left holding the bag in the Free Agency market. Tonight, it was reinforced to me that I know nothing about the sport and should shut my pie hole.

ESPN.com is reporting that Sixers have signed Elton Brand to a 5 year contract worth $82 million. I shit you not. A legit NBA star has signed with your 1-2-3-4-5-Sixers! I sure hope he's worth the $82 million.

This is the highlight of the last 3 weeks. Right now, I'm stuck watching the NFL Cheerleader Playoffs on the NFL Network. (Can you imagine being the guy that picthed this show in a meeting? I would have laughed at him for five minutes non stop and then fired the guy.) Yes, I'm completely bored.

If You Are Looking For A Pick Me Up....

If you need a laugh after watching the Phils for the past 4 games, check this out from today's Daily News:

GIVEN THE TEAMS, the town and the times in which we live as Philadelphia sports fans, it seems a good place to measure exactly how bitter we all are. Just pick the answer that best reflects your opinion. With that, 15 questions to determine your Bitterness Quotient (BQ).
Ryan Howard is:

a) A player in the midst of making history.

b) A great force, even with the strikeouts.

c) The worst first baseman you've ever seen.

d) Destined to flame out and fail.

Rafael Nadal's five-set victory over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon men's final was:

a) Sport at its finest.

b) Diminished by the rain delays.

c) In desperate need of an American.

d) A freakin' tennis match.

Andy Reid is:

a) The best coach in Eagles modern history.

b) Dull by design, stubborn beyond reason.

c) A lousy general manager.

d) Way past his sell-by date and should be fired.

Andre Iguodala is:

a) Worth an enormous new contract.

b) A jump shot short of greatness.

c) A second banana on a good team.

d) A third banana on a great team.

Phillies ownership is:

a) Spending at the level of its income.



b) Invisible.

c) Cheap.

d) Laughing at you.

Jeffrey Lurie and Joe Banner are:

a) Doing everything they can to win.

b) Sitting on a billion, thanks to you.

c) Hiding behind/too tolerant of Reid.

d) Laughing at you.

Ed Snider is:

a) Unquestionable in his desire to win.

b) Too diversified in his business interests.

c) Living in the past.

d) Laughing at you.

The Tour de France is:

a) Despite everything, still the hardest event in sports.



b) A pleasant enough hangover companion.

c) Dirty, discredited, done.

d) A freakin' bike race.

Golf without Tiger Woods is:

a) Still a great display of skill.

b) Lacking.

c) Unwatchable.

d) Really, really unwatchable.

The Beijing Olympics will be:

a) The greatest, purest example of sport.

b) Flawed but still compelling.

c) Corrupt filth wrapped in the flag.

d) An irritant during Eagles training camp.

Donovan McNabb is:

a) The greatest quarterback in modern Eagles history.



b) A good man and good soldier.

c) Inaccurate and inadequate.

d) The guy who threw up at the Super Bowl.

The Phillies' current level of performance is:

a) Good - first place is first place.

b) Feast, famine, flawed.

c) Barely acceptable in a lousy division.

d) A mirage.

A Phillies division title will be:

a) Another sign of a franchise hitting its stride.

b) Reason to celebrate.

c) The barely acceptable minimum.

d) Prelude to a disaster.

An Eagles wild-card playoff berth will represent:

a) Another chance to win a title.

b) A disappointment.

c) McNabb's swan song.

d) Reid's swan song.

Twenty-five years without a championship is:

a) A conversation piece, nothing more.

b) A badge of honor for long-suffering fans.

c) A testament to lousy ownership.

d) A freakin' disgrace.

That's it. The scoring is easy enough - one point for each A, two for each B, three for each C, four for each D.

If you scored from 15-22, you are unscarred, unburdened, always looking on the bright side of life. You also are probably new to the region.

If you scored from 23-37, you are a wide-eyed realist. You have seen all of the disappointment, seen it and lived it but, at the same time, refused to become consumed by it.

If you scored from 38-53, you are prone to cynicism, a bit beaten down, influenced by the media. You have booed Pat Burrell, at least considered throwing a snowball at the Vet, and entertained the possibility that the curse of Billy Penn might be real.

If you scored from 54-60, well, you simultaneously live the Philadelphia stereotype and complain that people stereotype you. You will celebrate the next Philadelphia championship for about a week before starting to complain. You are beyond hope.

Surprisingly, I scored a 41. I guess I'm not as scorned and pessimistic as I could be.

What Happened To The Magic?

After today's 4-2 12 inning loss to the Mets, it's becoming abundantly clear that the Phils have lost their mojo. You simply can't lose games when you have a dramatic 9th inning home run to get you into extra innings. I don't know what happened to this team, but this lineup has definitely lost its killer instinct. Maybe Sam Donnellon of the Daily News was on to something when he argued that the Phils are really missing Aaron Rowand's leadership. In any event, they better get their crap together before they piss away the season.

A couple of other things I need to point out:

-J Roll, it's about time you showed up and did something of importance this season. It's time to stop the "Pro Bowl Glide" that Ray Rhodes used to talk about and actually produce.

-Did I actually see Tyler Green co-hosting the Phillies Post Game show? I guess Don Carman was busy tonight and couldn't make it.

-Is there anything more fun than seeing Billy Wagner blow a save against the Phils? Well, maybe watching T.O. drop a pass against the Birds.

-Kyle Kendrick is going to be a fixture on this pitching staff for years to come. I love the way he battles.

-I am absolutely shocked that Brad Lidge has re-signed with the Phils. I'm pretty much overjoyed to see him sticking around for 3 more years. I think it spells the end of the Brett Myers era. The Phils will get rid of him somehow. Although, short of fabricating another domestic disturbance for the Wife Beater. I'm not sure how they get Brett off the roster.

All Our Eggs In One Basket?

As I'm sure you've all read, the Sixers entertained Atlanta Hawks' free agent forward Josh Smith last week. Their pursuit of Smith makes a lot of sense on a lot of levels. The Sixers desperately need a power forward and Smith not only plays the position, but won't slow down the offense as he can really run the floor for a big man. He averaged 17 points and 8 boards a game in only his 4th season. Sure, this sounds like a potentially great move.

However, there are two problems with the Sixers' pursuit of Smith. First, he's only a restricted free agent and Atlanta can match any offer sheet. Plus, there appears to be no Plan B. There are no other power forwards out there except Elton Brand and he doesn't appear all that willing to take a $5M/year pay cut to leave the Clips.

That's why I'm starting to get the feeling that if the Sixers don't pull off their courtship of Josh Smith, they could be left holding the bag....well, a bag filled with $11 million in unused cap space. I'm pretty sure they can take that money with them next year and use it on a potentially better group of free agents, but I'd really like to see the money used this year as the Sixers really have the opportunity to build off of last year.

We could be pleasantly surprised and Smith could end up a Sixer. Unfortunately, as a Philly Sports Phan, you often don't have the luxury of being pleasantly surprised.

Hopefully, This Doesn't Start A Trend

Tonight's Phils' 9-4 loss to the Mets reminds me of the following line from the best movie ever made:

Normally, both of your sorry asses would be deader than f*&king fried chicken by now, but you happened to pull this sh*t while I'm in a transitional period, so I don't wanna kill you. I wanna help you.

If you haven't figured it out, I'm talking about J.C. Romero and Tom Gordon, in terms once used by Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction.

It's really hard to be mad at our 'pen for blowing tonight's Phils' game with a pretty f*%ked up, repugnant performance (Yes, I now have Jules Winnfield on the brain). Christ, the bullpen has been pretty much air tight all year and haven't blown a game like this in a pretty long time, so I'd look like a complete fool if I ripped them. Plus, my boy Aran has been trying to convince me to view life more positively.

Nevertheless, I think we learned something this evening. We might be using Juan Carlos it bit much. As effective as he's been, it's hard to forget he was let go twice last year before ending up with the Phils and finding his groove. In any event, we might want to find another lefty to use before J.C.'s arm falls off.

I also don't think I'm surprising anyone when I say that we've seen the end of Flash Gordon as a reliable set up man. Maybe this is where we could use the Wife Beater. We could banish Flash to being a utility type reliever (aka the one currently held by the worthless Rudy Seanez) and move Brett Myers into the 8th inning role. Of course, that does leave a giant hole in the rotation, but I'm fairly confident another starter will be brought in before long. (Whether the starter we pick will be a stud is another question for another day.)

The thing that really set me off is that this performance had to happen against the Mets. I hate watching their scum bag fans celebrate in our stadium. In fact, it sickens me. Hopefully, Lt. Kendrick picks up the slack tomorrow.

(By the way, if you think this post was an excuse to throw some Pulp Fiction lines into my blog, you know me too well.)

A Personal First

I've been meaning to comment on a personal matter that brought great satisfaction. Matter of fact, my buddy Donny is probably shocked that it took me this long to mention. I'm proud to announce that back on Friday, June 27th, yours truly recorded his first Birdie in a round of golf on the 418 yard, Par 4, 2nd hole of the Scotland Run Golf Course.

Of course, some people may chalk this happening up to something along the lines of "the blind squirrel finding a nut". This may be true, but I'd like to think there was some skill involved. I did my drive over 250 yards and then put my approach shot about 3 feet from the cup. (Although, Donny did tell me that had I hit the approach crisply, I probably would have over shot the green, but really who gives a crap? It's only the results that matter, right?)

I then calmly drained the Birdie putt to the excitement of my playing partners. Ok, truth be told, I barely made the putt and just about everyone else thought I missed it off the putter.

I quickly redeemed my true level of skill on the third hole, which I promptly triple bogeyed. Nevertheless, that birdie will pretty much keep me playing for at least the rest of the season.

A Little B&E Never Disappoints

Whenever I'm experiencing a pretty crappy day, I usually turn to the Philly sports scene to brighten my day. The Phils and Tom Gordon further sullied my day in the 8th inning, so I turned to the Birds' website and my spirits were raised pretty quickly. I came across a "Where Are They Now?" article on PhiladelphiaEagles.com about Byron Evans and boy did it bring back some good memories.

As I've mentioned several times, the Buddy Ryan years, while maybe not as successful as the Andy Reid era, were infinitely more fun and interesting. Sure, Randall was exciting with his "three big plays a game", but the defense was what got everyone jacked up about those teams. With All Pro's all over the field, they could be downright scary at times. Whenever they were really rolling, it always seemed like B&E was in the middle of some big play. Here's a pretty good example:

God, that play brings back some memories and it reminds me how much I hate the G-Men.

The other thing I'll never forget about B&E is how he lost out on the chance to make big money. As some will recall, he suffered a career ending leg injury shortly after being offered a large contract extension by the Eagles. His story is one of the sadder twists of fate I remember an Eagle suffering, so it was nice to hear that it sounds like he is doing well in his post football career.

Myers Demoted...Finally

There's not a whole lot to say on this one, but the Phils finally realized that they can't afford to allow Myers to work out his issues in games that count. I hope Brett figures something out while pitching in Lehigh because this team desperately needs him down the stretch. I can only imagine what we're going to do to replace him for the next couple starts. We could have a couple of real ugly games ahead of us.

Very Underwhelmed

Today was the first day of free agency in both the NHL and NBA. While both the Sixers and Flyers are poised to become major contenders, neither team did much of anything today. I can give the Sixers a pass as there is not a ton out there and not many players were signed today, the Flyers spent most of the day watching the big name players sign else where. They did add an improved 4th line center and another depth defenseman, but they did not add the puch moving second pairing defenseman they so desperately need.

Tomorrow, restricted free agent Josh Smith visits the Sixers, so maybe we'll have something to talk about if we are lucky.