Some Things Just Never Change

Posted on December 16, 2007 by bry

I just want to preface my halftime comments with the following:

  • I am not normally a very negative person when it comes to Philly sports, honestly 
  • I think Donovan McNabb is the best quarterback in team history
  • I think Andy Reid is the best coach in team history
  • I think Reggie Brown is a solid NFL receiver and Kevin Curtis is a nice #3
  • I was in a tiny African village for the entirety of the 2004 Super Bowl season.  The only game I got to see was the Super Bowl, with French commentators
  • Everything in my life is better when the Eagles beat the Cowboys, so I am loving the 7-3 halftime lead
  • If there is anything in the following rant that you haven’t heard before, then you probably don’t know what a “punt” is either

None of these things, however, will curb frustrations that have been building over many years now.  I have heard that the definition of insanity is to keep doing something the same way, but expecting different results.  I never thought that the Eagles front office was certifiably insane, but maybe we shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss it.  It is just so incredibly frustrating to see things over and over and over and over and over and over and ov…………….

                                

This team has, for almost a decade now, been one of the top Super Bowl contenders year in and year out.  However, every year (except the one year that never happened to me) we have been compaining about the exact same thing–GET SOME RECEIVERS THAT CAN GET OPEN!!!  It is really not that difficult of a concept.  I have never been someone who believes that fans know more than front offices–in any sport.  In fact, I get really annoyed when people even suggest that.  But, this is different.  The same complaint has been leveled for almost A DECADE now.  Why do they not get this?  Why will they not address the problem of receivers that simply cannot get open??? 

I had a note to myself to write about McNabb’s perpetual inaccuracy, but upon second thought, I think that this is (and has always been) a direct result of the point made in the previous paragraph, so I will resist in piling on McNabb right now.  However, I would like the record to show that the annual 56% completion rate is getting really old, regardless of the causes.

Why can Andy Reid, an intelligent man and a great football coach, simply NOT UNDERSTAND how to manage the clock???  Again, I know this has been rehased over and over again, in every capacity, especially since the Super Bowl, but COME ON–it has been almost ten years now that we have had to watch him bumble and stumble his way through timeouts in the first quarter, stupid challenges and, in today’s case, stupid NON-challenges.  What was he possibly thinking when he called a timeout to THINK ABOUT WHETHER HE WANTED TO CHALLENGE???  If you are willing to burn the timeout, why not just throw the challenge flag???  What is the worst that happens?  YOU LOSE A TIMEOUT!!!  So, instead, Reid calls the timeout, decides to challenge, loses the challenge, thus losing another timeout, and then, at the end of the half, it looked like they were going to run out of time inside the 5-yard line…stop me if you’ve heard this before. 

And, finally, another frustration that I have that has been overblown and just killed in the media.  I don’t care, I’m going to say it anyway.  RUN THE GODDAM BALL!!!  I don’t think there is anyone who knows anything about football that would say that Brian Westbrook is not the best offensive player on this football team right now.  First half–NINE CARRIES???  Thirty-eight plays, NINE carries.  That’s 23.6%.  Uh, what???

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

Anyway, second half is starting…GO BIRDS!
(I wonder if they’ve burned a timeout yet)

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The Mitchell Report: The Names

Posted on December 13, 2007 by bry

Here is a list of who was named in the Mitchell Report:

Chad Allen, Rick Ankiel, David Bell, Mike Bell, Marvin Benard, Gary Bennett Jr, Larry Bigbie, Barry Bonds, Kevin Brown, Paul Byrd, Ken Caminiti, Jose Canseco, Mark Carreon, Jason Christiansen, Howie Clark, Roger Clemens, Paxton Crawford, Jack Cust, Brendan Donnelly, Chris Donnels, Lenny Dykstra, Bobby Estellela, Matt Franco, Ryan Franklin, Eric Gagne, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Jay Gibbons, Troy Glaus, Jason Grimsley, Jose Guillen, Jerry Hairston Jr, Matt Herges, Phil Hiatt, Glenallen Hill, Darren Holmes, Todd Hundley, David Justice, Chuck Knoblauch, Tim Laker, Mike Lansing, Paul lo Duca, Nook Logan, Josias Manzanillo, Gary Matthews Jr, Cody McKay, Kent Mercker, Bart Miadich, Hal Morris, Denny Neagle, Raphael Palmeiro, Jim Parque, Andy Pettitte, Adam Piatt, Todd Pratt, Stephen Randolph, Adam Riggs, Armando Rios, Brian Roberts, John Rocker, F.P. Santangelo, Benito Santiago, Scott Schoeneweis, David Segui, Gary Sheffield, Mike Stanton, Miguel Tejada, Ismael Valdez, Mo Vaughn, Randy Velarde, Ron Villone, Fernando Vina, Rondell White, Jeff Williams, Matt Williams, Todd Williams, Steve Woodard, Kevin Young, Gregg Zaun

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The Mitchell Report: Pre-Game Show

Posted on December 13, 2007 by bry

Well, here we are at the dawn of baseball history.  The Mitchell Report goes public in about 2 hours, marking probably one of the top three most significantly negative off-the-field events in the 125+ years of professional baseball (the 1919 Black Sox and the 1994 cancellation of the World Series are the only two others that come to my mind as even being in the same ballpark).  Before the actual announcement, the rumors abound about what this 1,000-page document will include.  Here are bits and pieces of what I have heard that were of interest to me:

–The most prominent name that has been thrown around is Roger Clemens.  Personally, I am not upset one bit about this.  I have always seen Clemens as a pompous egomaniac, who always puts himself before the team, while using his family as a veil for his blatant selfishnes (a la Brett Favre).  If he is named in this report, and it speaks with credibility, the big question now becomes:  How is Roger Clemens any different than Barry Bonds?  It will be fascinating to see how that plays out in the next couple of months/years.  Personally, I do not think their situations are different at all, but I can see three possible reasons why the media may cover them differently: 

  • Clemens is a pitcher–maybe the media could swing the public opinion in a way that says that pitchers do not gain quite the same advantages as hitters, and, honestly, I think there is some merit (to a point) in this argument.  Just not in this case. 
  • Clemens is perceived as a “good guy” because he gives interviews and is generally liked by the media.  Again, in my opinion, no reason to give him a pass in the history books.
  • Clemens is white.  I DESPISE the overuse of the race card (sounds like a topic for a pet peeve) because it has become so commonplace in any conversation that surrounds two players of different ethnicities, even when race has absolutely NOTHING to do with the topic.  However, in this case, I believe that if Clemens gets that proverbial on this, as compared to Bonds, it may be legitimately to do with race.  Hopefully it will not happen, but we shall see.

C:\Documents and Settings\INARELLI\Desktophttp://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=303321035&size=s–The Bergen Record is reporting that “several prominent New York Yankees will be named in the report.”  This begs the question:  Who?  Obviously, Clemens is an odds-on favorite, but from everything I have heard, it sounds like it is going to be multiple players.  Though I have not heard his name anywhere, it would not surprise me if Andy Pettitte was named because of his closeness to Roger, his ageless effectiveness and the fact that he quickly signed a new contract right before the release of this report.  Further, though I am not a Yankees fan in any way, I genuinely hope that the names Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter are as far from that report as Bryan Cimorelli and Dan Doogan.  I do not root for A-Rod or Jeter, but I do root for the game of baseball.  A-Rod, though he has his obvious faults, has always been perceived to put up clean gawdy numbers in an era of very dirty gawdy numbers.  And Jeter, well let us just say that Derek Jeter (though I find myself often rooting against his also) actually is to baseball what everyone believed Cal Ripken, Jr was–a clean-cut, friendly, hard-nosed, talented, dedicated, hard-working, five-tooled shortstop who plays the game the “right way” (whatever that means).  I will not get into my feelings on Ripken (wow, that would take a long post), but I do feel that Jeter is who is portrayed to be, and I hope that he is not implicated in any way by the Mitchell Report.

–The days leading up to the report saw a relative flurry of action in the major leagues:

  • The Orioles traded Miguel Tejada to the Houston Astros for five prospects
  • The Giants signed Aaron Rowand to a 5-year deal (as first reported in minor detail here on BSB)
  • The Dodgers signed Andruw Jones to a 2-year deal
  • Other players that have changed teams recently include:  Eric Gagne, Edgar Renteria, Orlando Cabrera, Paul Lo Duca, Randy Wolf, Jose Guillen, Miguel Cabera and Dontrell Willis, Elijah Dukes, Delmon Young, and Lastings Milledge

It should be very interesting to see if any of these players are named in the report (we already know that Guillen has been suspended), and whether or not that affected any decisions that they or their teams made.  Many sportswriters in Baltimore believe that the Orioles may have been able to get more for Tejada, but they had to take the best deal on the table before the report was released.  Now, that is simply presumptive, but it does make some sense.

–There seem to be four big warning signs of steroid use:  (1) an all-of-a-sudden power surge in the late-90s, (2) an all-of-a-sudden power decline in the last year or two, (3) agelessness (mainly in pitchers), and (4) unnatural body mass.  It will be interesting to see how many of the players named fall into any of these categories and how many are people we would not expect, based on these four prototypical ‘roiders.  For example, I would not be surprised to see guys similar to the following (I am, by no means implicating any of these players, just using them as examples):  Jeff Kent, Greg Vaughn or Richard Hidalgo (category 1); Todd Helton (category 2); Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman or John Smoltz(category 3); Troy Glaus or Eric Gagne (category 4).  Maybe the Mitchell Report will give us more updated characteristics of steroid users.  Either way, it should be interesting.  I will be tuned in to the wall-to-wall coverage of this “sporting event.”

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Cimorelli’s Question of the Day

Posted on December 12, 2007 by bry

In what order would you rank each division in the NFL?

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New Man in Charge of Sixers

Posted on December 9, 2007 by Doogan

When the Sixers (finally) fired team president and GM Billy King last week, I immediately started thinking about a celebratory blog post.  After all, over the last six years the team has gone from Eastern Conference Champions to one of the worst teams in the NBA.  The fact that we’ve been running this blog for over a month now and this is the first post kingregarding the Sixers tells you all you need to know about the level of irrelevance they’ve reached under King’s leadership. 

I was even trying to come up with a clever title for the post, something along the lines of ‘Hallelujah, the King is Dead’.  But as I started thinking about a post that would detail the many dubious personnel moves King made throughout his tenure, I realized two things: One, most people are already painfully aware of the man’s mistakes and shortcomings.  All you have to do is have a look at their win-loss record over the last four years and the current talent-level to see that things have not gone well. 

The second thing I realized is this: I don’t dislike Billy King.  I think he’s downright awful at running an NBA team and I’m very happy to see him lose his job, but I think he always put everything he had into the job.  He’s an honest and classy guy.  Instead of dragging his name through the mud any more and rehashing all the depressing details of his time at the helm, I’d rather have a look at the man that will shape the future of the team: former Nets GM Ed Stefanski.

All the articles out of Philly after the hiring focused on the fact that Stefanski is a native Philadelphian, coming home to run the team he rooted for his whole life before being hired by the Nets nine years ago.  The fact that he played at Penn and is a graduate of the Wharton School suggests that he knows the game well and that he’s a pretty smart guy.  But, I still wondered at first if this was the right hire.  I mean, it’s not like the Nets have been winning any championship trophies lately.  They’ve won the Atlantic Division four of the last six years, but how much of an accomplishment is that?  They made the NBA Finals in back-to-back years (’02-’03), but they certainly didn’t have a chance of winning either of those series.

I would’ve been more excited had the Sixers hired an up-and-coming front office man from one of the league’s premeire organizations, like when Toronto hired Bryan Colangelo from the Suns, or when Seattle hired Sam Presti from the Spurs.  But, alas, there’s only so many young hotshots out there.  When you take a look at what New Jersey accomplished in Stefanski’s time there, and also what was said about him last week after he left the job, it starts to look like a pretty good move by the Sixers.

stefanskiStefanski served as the Nets director of scouting before becoming the GM and he has a reputation for being an excellent talent evaluator.  Fred Kerber, of the New York Post, calls Stefanski a “draft sage” and says he was instrumental in the drafting of Kenyon Martin, Nenad Krstic, and Sean Williams.  Stefanski handled the Nets international scouting, an area in which the Sixers have been lagging far behind most of the league.  The Sixers have no international players on their roster (Sam Dalembert played college ball in the States), at a time when the reigning MVP is from Germany and the defending NBA Champs have numerous key foreign players, namely Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.  Aside from drafting, Stefanski was also responsible for the trades that brought Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter to the Nets.

Like I said, the Nets haven’t been championship contenders in Stefanski’s time there, but when you look at the history of the team, what they’ve accomplished this decade is pretty impressive.  Prior to the ’01-’02 season (Stefanski’s fourth year with the team) the Nets had been past the first-round of the playoffs exactly ONE time since their debut season in 1976, and had never been past the second-round.  In the six seasons since then, they’ve been past the first-round five times, including those two trips to the Finals.  Granted, it’s been a very weak Eastern Conference for the entire decade, but the Nets have been one of it’s top teams, ranking second in the conference (behind the Pistons) in wins over the last six seasons.

So, is Stefanski the Mr. Fix-It the team needs?  It will be a while before anyone knows for sure.  The Sixers are at least a couple seasons away from being competitive again and, due to the circumstances, Stefanski will most likely be given a grace period longer than most in Philadelphia.  He does seem to be almost universally liked and respected, and two of his former Nets colleagues, team president Rod Thorn and coach Lawrence Frank, gave him some of the highest praise you’ll hear.

The bottom line is, the Sixers need to rebuild and leaving that task to Billy King was a fairly terrifying proposition.  With Ed Stefanski now at the helm, Sixers fans can be optimistic of better days, and more wins, ahead.

   

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Yet Another Pet Peeve…

Posted on December 6, 2007 by bry

Why does everyone have to guarantee victory these days?  And, even worse than that, why are they doing it in regular season games?  There are two guarantees that are immortalized and fantastic–Joe Namath in Super Bowl III and Moses Malone’s 1983 “Fo’, Fo’, Fo'” prediction–everyone else needs to shut up with the guarantees.

The beauty of Namath and Malone is that they were big-time players, making big-time predictions for big-time games.  Joe Namath, the All-American quarterback, guaranteed victory over a vastly superior team in the game of all games.  Moses Malone, one of the best players of all-time, guaranteed that not only would the 1983 Sixers win the championship, but that they would do it with three straight series sweeps (hence, the “Fo’, Fo’, Fo'”), even though that meant sweeping teams with Bird, Magic and Kareem.  The best part about these two “recognized” guarantees is that they followed through–basically.  Namath’s Jets (22-point underdogs) defeated the mighty Colts, and Moses’s Sixers won the title (though they did only go 12-1), including a sweep of Magic and Kareem’s legendary Lakers in the Finals.  Oh, by the way, Joe Namath was the MVP of Super Bowl III, and Moses Malone was the MVP of the 1983 NBA Finals.

Fast-forward to 2007:  I don’t even know who Anthony Smith is, let alone why he is guaranteeing victory in a REGULAR SEASON GAME.  What I do know is that it really drives me crazy.

 Thanks for listening, friends…

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Maybe It’s Not Us…

Posted on December 6, 2007 by bry

You know when two people break up, and you think to yourself, “That guy broke up with her?  Why the hell did he do that, she’s fantastic?”  Then, without surprise, she lands on her feet, in an even happier relationship with another guy almost right away.  “Of course,” everyone says, “She’s great, remember?”  And everything seems to work out for everyone except that first guy.  Then, for another seemingly illogical reason, this new guys dumps her too, and it starts to dawn on everyone that maybe all those wonderful things we think about her aren’t really the reality of who she is.  Her strengths are for all to see, but her shortcomings are only for those that get close to her–and these shortcomings are just too much to overcome.  Well, that first guy, who “made the mistake” finds some vindication, no matter how long it has been.

Well, when Scott Rolen gets traded in the next couple of weeks because he won’t “give back” all of the respect that his new guy–the Cardinals and their manager, Tony LaRussa–has shown all these years, the first guy–the Phillies and their fans–will be the ones feeling that sense of vindication.

Rolen, drafted by the Phillies in the 2nd round of the 1993 amateur draft, won the Rookie of the Year, 4 Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger Award in his 6 seasons with the Phillies, but parted ways on bad terms because Rolen’s relatively thin skin wasn’t able to ward off some of the things that were said about him by the fans, the manager, and even some front office personnel.  In fact, the biggest dagger to Rolen’s ego was when Dallas Green, the senior advisor to the general manager at that time, questioning Rolen’s drive and personality.  “Scotty’s satisfied with being a so-so player.  I think he can be greater, but his personality won’t let him,” Green said, while Rolen was still with the Phillies.  Green also questioned Rolen’s determination to play through injury, making several snide remarks about how it is hard to build a team around a player who is only willing to play 120-125 games per season.  As it turns out, though Green may not have used tact in delivering these messages, he spoke the truth, as “Scotty” has only been a so-so player and has only averaged 121 games in 5 seasons with the Cards.

When Rolen was traded to his “hometown team,” he was as happy as a 6-year old on Christmas morning.  He must have been thrilled to be able to underachieve, take 40 games off, and never get booed.  What a dream-come-true!  However, all good things must come to an end, as the Cardinals now are actively looking to trade their once “golden boy” because of his attitude and his personality.  And it does not look like they are even asking all that much in return. 

He left Philadelphia in a whirlwind of negativity.  He was called out by Dallas Green, but everyone just blamed Green and his well-documented temper.  He was called out by his manager, Larry Bowa, but everyone just blamed Bowa for his consistent inability to handle “today’s athletes.”  He was called out by newspapers and talk shows, but everyone just blamed the Philadelphia media’s legendary over-criticism of its city’s athletes.  He was called out by the fans, but everyone just blamed our extraordinarily notorious propensity to boo and the harsh  demands we place upon our heros.  He was even called out by his teammates on several occaisions for being a “clubhouse cancer,” but everyone just blamed the players for their passive acceptance of a front office that appeared to not be fully committed to winning.  No one outside of the Philly–and I mean no one–even thought to blame Scott Rolen.  He was, in the eyes of the world, a victim and was being mercifully “saved” by a trade to his hometown team in a market of passive fans who love all players, regardless of the effort they put forth.  And now that it looks like we’re nearing the end of what has been the very disappointing career of one of the best talents to hit the game in a generation, the truth may be brought to light:  Scott Rolen, though probably one of the best “people” in baseball, just is not cut from the right mold to be a superstar athlete.  Though he might be (and I actually believe that he is) an incredibly “nice guy” and a decent, noble, genuine human being, from a strictly baseball sense, he is a selfish, spoiled, underachieving player without whom the Phillies have been better off for now six years and counting.

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BSB In-Attendance: Jimmy V Classic, Madison Square Garden

Posted on December 5, 2007 by Doogan

Last night I went to the Jimmy V Classic, an annual college hoops double-header at Madison Square Garden.  This was the third year in a row that I attended this underrated event.  There’s always good teams involved and I call it ‘underrated’ because there’s never that many people in attendance.  You can buy $10 nose-bleed tickets and move to center-court with no problem.  Not a bad price to watch two good games in nice seats at “the world’s most famous arena”.

This year’s edition certainly lived up to the usual standards.  In this Year of the Freshman (as some have dubbed the ’07-’08 season), last night’s games featured three of the very best first-year players: Kansas State’s Michael Beasley going against Notre Dame in the first game and USC’s O.J. Mayo doing battle with Memphis and Derrick Rose in the night-cap.

Kansas St. vs. Notre Dame

beasleyThe 6’9″ Beasley is emerging as the poster boy for the Year of the Freshman.  He came into last night’s game leading the nation in scoring (26.7/game) and rebounding (15.1/game), leading many to give him the obvious but appropriate nickname of “Beast-ley”.  He didn’t have one of his best games last night, as Notre Dame had him constantly double-teamed, and sometimes triple-teamed when he caught the ball in the post.  Of course, he still scored 19 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, but he was an unspectacular 8-20 from the field and had 5 turnovers. 

Beasley is similar in size and skill-set to Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh.  He has good low-post moves, especially for an 18-year-old, can hit jump shots, and is a monster on the glass.  Bosh may be the superior shot-blocker, but Beasley can do that as well and he is more advanced offensively at this stage of his career than Bosh was as a college freshman.  He is also, like Bosh, left-handed.

All the focus was on Beasley and K-State coming in, but Notre Dame ended up pulling off the minor upset.  For the first seven minutes of the game, Beasley was overshadowed by the Irish’s young big man, sophomore Luke Harangody.  He was dominant early and had 11 points and 7 rebounds when he came out for a breather at the 13:00 minute mark of the first-half.  Harangody doesn’t look like much of an athlete (i.e. wide-bodied white guy with a crew-cut), but he uses his size well, has a soft-touch, and can score with both hands inside. He finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

The other main contributor for the Irish was point guard Kyle McAlarney, a Staten Island native who had plenty of fan support at the Garden.  McAlarney struggled in the first-half, probably feeling the pressure from the hometown crowd, but he played great in the second-half and scored Notre Dame’s last nine points of the game to secure the 68-59 win.

USC vs. #2 Memphis

Coming in, this one had all the makings of great game, with two of the most purely talented teams in the country facing off.  What actually transpired was, well, not a great game.  In fact, for the first 34 minutes or so of game action, it was one of the ugliest college basketball games I’ve ever seen.  It was one ill-advised pass or shot after another and even the open shots were clanging off iron, but with about 6 minutes to play, the game did pick up and both teams started to play as expected.  The game actually got exciting for a bit, going into overtime, before the level of play reverted back to earlier levels and Memphis pulled out the 62-58 win.   mayo

I’ll give at least some credit to the defensive efforts by both teams, particularly to Mayo, who basically owned Rose on defense, and USC point guard Daniel Hackett, who did a great job on Memphis’s leading scorer, Chris Douglas-Roberts.  Rose and Douglas-Roberts, who combined were averaging nearly 40 points a game, had combined for 2 points at half-time and 14 at the end of regualtion. They also combined to shoot 7-22 from the field and turn the ball over 9 times.  Not good.

As my BroadStreetBelievers colleague pointed out in his College Hoops Preview, Memphis’s downfall may be their inability to shoot the 3.  That shortcoming was painfully evident last night.  It’s hard for me to imagine a team winning the national championship when not a single one of their five starters can make a 3-pointer.  Their starting five last night was a combined 0-7 on 3’s.  I think John Calipari may have to consider putting Willie Kemp into the starting line-up in place of Antonio Anderson and giving Doneal Mack more minutes off the bench.  Both Kemp and Mack are capable long-range shooters.

For USC, they can expect to win a lot of games this year thanks to the backcourt duo of Hackett and Mayo.  Everyone knows that Mayo can score, but he also showed last night that he can defend and pass, as well.  He also has a presence on the court and looks like a team leader already.  Star forward Taj Gibson, a Brooklyn native, had a rough night, with just 5 points and 5 turnovers.  Another USC player to watch is freshman forward Davon Jefferson, who had 12 points and 13 rebounds.  He is a freakish athlete who had the highlight of the game with a reverse alley-oop jam, in traffic, on a pass from Mayo.

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Cimorelli’s Question of the Day

Posted on December 4, 2007 by bry

 Has there been a better name than that of the agent for Billy Wagner and Francisco Cordero:  Bean Stringfellow?

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BSB Exclusive: Rowand’s House for Sale

Posted on December 3, 2007 by Doogan

rowand 3Thanks to Jason Cimorelli, BroadStreetBelievers has obtained inside information that free-agent center fielder Aaron Rowand’s house, in suburban Chadds Ford, PA, has been put on the market.  This doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but it is further evidence that Rowand will not be back with the Phillies next season.  On Saturday, the Phillies offered Rowand arbitration, but that was basically a procedural move because Rowand is highly unlikely to accept it considering the long-term offers he is expected to receive.  By offering the arbitration, the Phillies will receive two compensatory draft picks if Rowand signs with another team because he is a Type A free agent.

The Dodgers, Rangers, and White Sox are the main teams rumored to be interested in Rowand, who is seeking a five-year deal.  However, the free-agent market continues to be held up by the ongoing Johan Santana and Miguel Cabrera trade negotiations.  Rowand is probably hoping that the Yankees will get into the bidding for his services if they trade Melky Cabrera to the Twins.  There have been reports that the Yankees plan to move Johnny Damon back to center if they trade Cabrera, but that remains to be seen. 

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