Recently in Sports Category

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• If you missed Koob's Corner last week, it is highly recommended reading. Especially the one where he asks the question: Is it ok to cheer for the other pitcher when he's throwing a no-hitter?

Ok, I'll admit it. I left the game early yesterday. My #1 rule has always been, "You never leave a baseball game early." The reason is simple. There is no such thing as a safe lead in baseball. It is safe to leave a 35-0 game in football. It is not safe to leave a 10-3 game in baseball. That being said, I had to work. I had warned the Vous and the players that I might be a bit late due to the game, but with it 10-3 in the 7th, I figured I might as well leave to get there on time after all. I hopped on the subway and rode under the city to the Rendezvous, hearing the other hopeful Phils fans in the subway reassuring each other with things like, "Hey, it's a long season" and "They'll get their bats back in Colorado."

I walked into the Rendezvous, and everybody's eyes got big. "Don't tell me you left!" someone screamed. "Yeah, of course I left. Why would I have stayed out in the wind for that garbage?" Someone told me to look at the TV. My jaw hit the floor. 10-9 Braves. Chase was then walked 10-10. Howard grounds out but drives in a run. 11-10. I shook my head in disbelief. Of course, a comeback unlike any I had ever seen in person took place...while I was riding on the subway under the city. And which leaves me in a curious position. Did my attending the game spur the team onto victory, or did my leaving the game inspire the club to a win? Do I need to leave the stadium every time the Phils fall behind? Should I spend the rest of the season riding on the subway whenever the Phillies have an important game? There are a lot of questions to be answered over the next few months. But hey, it's a long season.

Hey kids, we're gonna have a iSportacus par-tay this Sunday for the Phillies opening night game. We are gonna kick it off at 6 p.m., watching the final four innings of last year's Phillies-Rays Game 5. We're gonna do some giveaways, and Lagers are gonna be $2. To find out where it's going down, click here. Here's a few more things going down on iSportacus.

• According to Eskin, the Eagles are very close to signing Anquan Boldin.
• The Phil-o-Meter is running at a hot 78 degrees.
• Four people still have a shot at big money in the iSportacus Bracket-tacular.
• How Nova got hosed the last time they played Carolina.
• And finally, it's a new month in Streak for the Cash, so everything sets back to zero. Get signed up, start picking your games, and we'll have more gift certificates for the longest win streak and most wins this month. Just go here and join the group iSportacus.com.

• J-Roll engaged.
• Eagle fans whine.
• Why you shouldn't trust a drug dealer named Styles.
• Hockey and hookers.
• Brett Myers walks that fine line between Redneck and White Trash.

• The director's cut of yesterdays column in the Metro about college hoop team names.
• This week's quizzo wild card round.
• Why don't they play first round games at the Palestra?
• The 1970s actor that Correll Buckhalter looks like.
• White men can't dunk. They also can't do high fives.

• Get Your iSportacus Brackets Done and try to win your share of the $375 in prizes!
• Why the NCAA hates Cinderella.
• What do Hugo Chavez, JC Romero, and Marquette's basketball coach all have in common?
• Some GQ dandy picks a fight with Nails.
• Where Chief Kickingstallionsims ranks on the all-time great hoops names.

• LaSalle's dream of a postseason birth crashed and burned with a 62-60 loss to the St. Louis Billikens last night, which left me wondering, "What in the hell is a Billiken?"
• The most badass referee you've ever seen in your life. Guraranteed. (Seriously, you have to see this.)
• A Teal Phillie Phanatic? Only in Japan.

Vote for whether you want TO back. Why didn't the city go bats*** when Pat Burrell left town like they did when B-Dawk left town? Why the Eagles should petition the NFL to eliminate the free safety position.

Now that he's gone, can we admit that B-Dawk is a dirty player?

Wilt Chamberlain got drunk the night before his 100 point game.

Join us in the Steak for the Cash Contest! The person who picks the most games right in a row wins a $50 gift certificate to Pub and Kitchen!

Man, I cannot wait. A few notes about the Phils to get you in the mood:

• The Flying Hawaiian on FOX this morning.
• Phils interested in Andruw Jones? The other hot former Dodger rumor? No-mahhhhh.
• Jamie Moyer chatted with folks on ESPN yesterday. Some really interesting stuff. For example, someone asked, "How has baseball changed since you started you're career?" The ballparks have gotten smaller. The implementation of QuesTec has changed the strikezone. TV has changed the game greatly. You're really under a microscope. A lot of fundamentals have been lost in the game. It's based more on power, home runs, and big innings. Focusing on defense and pitching, to me, is what wins baseball games. As for toughest guys to get out? J.T. Snow. I used to kid him about it. I saw him about two weeks ago and asked if he still claimed me on his taxes. Bernie Williams was a tough out. Believe it or not, Renee Gonzales, I could never get him out.

With all of this talk about the 100-0 game last week, I thought I should turn it over to you guys. Please post below your most humiliating loss or the most humiliating loss your school had. I was on Bobby's Little League baseball team, the one that gave up 39 runs in the first inning. We went 0-15 that year, and never lost by less than 10. But there was one game when we were up in the last inning when the umpire called it off due to rain with two outs, so we had to replay the whole game and lost the replayed game 15-1. I also played on a terrible JV basketball team. We lost to Central Middle School 72-7. I remember that I led the team in scoring that day with 3 points. We also lost to Arcadia's JV team, 57-4. Then there was the Rock Academy team, a supposedly Christian school that kept the full court press on the whole game and beat us 93-25. We played them again a few months later on our home court and held a 48-46 lead with 5 seconds left to play. Then a kid who hadn't played for them when they beat us by 68 hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer to beat us, 49-48. That was probably my most devastating loss.

Let's not kid ourselves. Yesterday was a disaster. The Cardinals simply came in with an amazing game plan, and the Eagles were playing catch up all game. There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said, but I've got a few thoughts:

• Anybody who thinks the loss was McNabb's fault is a moron. He looked bad in the first half, sure. But he put on one of the great 2nd half performances in NFL history. 266 yards in a half against a defense that knew he was passing on every down is pretty impressive.
• Larry Fitzgerald is the best receiver in the NFL, and it's not even close. Does Howard Eskin still not believe that receivers matter?
• Westbrook looked seriously injured the whole game, so why didn't Buckhalter play more? He looked much better than Westbrook.
• Kurt Warner is now in the Hall of Fame.
• What was Asante Samuel laughing about moments after the game over? The rest of the team looked devastated, and Samuel is laughing his ass off, in a game in which he was humiliated by Fitzgerald. What a clown.
• Hate to say it, cause I don't really feel like thinking about it right now, but this is a pretty compelling Super Bowl. Boldin should be healthy, and Kurt Warner is a lot better than Joe Flacco or Philip Rivers. I think this is going to be a closer game than people think.
• Your thoughts? Leave 'em below.

JC Romero is getting absolutely screwed by Major League Baseball. I mean, screwed like few athletes have ever been. After taking a supplement he got over the counter from Vitamin Shoppe, he tested positive for steroids, though even MLB acknowledges that he didn't use them. But with a reactionary zeal that make the Salem Witch Trials look fair and balanced, MLB has decided to suspend him for 50 days. Baseball offered him the opportunity to only serve 25 games if he admitted guilt, but he didn't because he didnt' do anything wrong. Way to go baseball. Way to teach kids that if they don't cow down to authority their punishment will be doubled, even if they don't do anything wrong. This is so unbelievablty stupid it defies belief. Could you imagine how great baseball would be if it were run by people with an IQ over 30? If you're interested, you can call the commissioner's office at 212 931-7800.

I think that "Tying the Bengals" has a certain ring to it. It reminds me a lot of "jumping the shark", except in sports. "I thought the Patriots really tied the Bengals when Tom Brady got hurt." It also reminds me of "biting the big one", like going to a bad show and then saying, "Boy that one really tied the Bengals." Or dying. "You hear about Tony? Yeah, that poor son of a bitch tied the Bengals last night." I like the concept of "Tying the Bengals" becoming a cliche phrase. What should it mean?

At 4:15 a.m. on Thursday morning, after a night of partying and celebration following the Phils World Series win, I finally climbed into the back of a cab, left alone with my thoughts. I thought of the countless hours I had spent with friends watching this team for the last several years. The cheering, the yelling, the frustration and the excitement. The pounds on the back and the stares of disbelief. I thought of Frank, still one of my best friends, pitching against us on a cold opening day of Little League in 1987 with a coat on. I remembered my Senior League team, trying to rush through our championship game so we could get to the movies. I thought of the friends I had been gathering to watch the playoffs with, friends I don't really discuss feelings with, but whom I love and who love me. I thought of the joy that these Phillies had played with for the last couple of years, of the constant fists pumping or hands clapping after every single double. I thought about how much this must mean to Jamie Moyer, in the league for so long and finally winning a title. I thought of ants and rubber tree plants. I thought of how I moved here almost exactly 7 years ago, and how good this city's been to me since. I thought of my friends who had talked earlier in the night about recently losing their fathers, the men they had listened to Harry the K on the porch with, and how this World Series victory brought those memories alive. I thought of my father, whom I had excitedly called at around 11:30 earlier in the night. And even though I woke him up on a work night, he told me how glad he was to hear from me. I thought of the catch we had played in backyard so many years ago. I thought of Steve, the volunteer coach in my neighborhood who is on the baseball field down the street from myself seemingly every minute of every day, trying to help young kids learn the game of baseball. I thought of my Little League coach, Mr. Turner, who had turned us around in three years from an 0-15 band of misfits to champions of the league (Incidentally, that's me, 3rd from right, top row. And I can still name every kid on that team and what position they played.). I thought of all of the strangers I had hugged and high-fived over the previous years at the ballpark, people whose names I never got, but with whom I shared a brief but wonderful slice of joy with. I thought of all these things as I rode in that cab in the wee hours of the morning. And I cried like a baby.

Makes Buck and McCarver look like Sarah Palin and Miss Teen South Carolina. And oh by the way, you gotta check out Wheels' reaction to Strike 3. Priceless.

I ran into a friend of mine on Broad last night who said, "This is the best night of my life. And I've been married and had a daughter." I cried shortly before I went to bed at 5 a.m. and I cried a little again a few minutes ago reading about Charlie, and I'll probably cry again during the parade. I know I'm not from here originally, but I have been a sports fan since I was 5 years old, and have never gotten to be a part of anything like this either. This is exalting. The raging hangover I have will go away. The night I had last night will not. And the parade is going to be magnificent. More to come.

The plan on Saturday night was to watch at the 'Vous with a bunch of friends. As I walked to the Locust, the rain began to pour. The discussion of doing The Unthinkable quickly came up. I said to no-one in particular. "You know, if ever you're going to a Phils World Series game, tonight is the night. Tickets are going to be dirt cheap, relatively speaking." Everybody was hemming and hawing about it. Garbo said, "If you go, I'm in." I continued to mull over it. I felt confident we could get a cheap ticket, and the later they pushed the start time back, the better our chances would be. All the Phils fans would stay at the ballpark, but the corporate suits sure as hell weren't going to get their heads wet. So there would be seats. Finally, my buddy Jon texted me from a nearby bar. "Let's go down there. Tickets will be cheap." That was it. I was all in. "F*** it," I wrote back. "Let's do it."

I looked up from my phone and asked around, "I'm going down there. Who's in?". Garbo said with no hesitation, "I am." Nobody else was felt like leaving friendly confines to go on a strange adventure in the cold rain. So Garbo and I marched out like soldiers off to War, knowing that we had stormed off too cockily to return, even if we didn't score tickets. Jon called back, and said he had changed his mind and was out. Garbo and I sloshed through the rain to the subway, and hopped on board.

Just wanted you to know that I'm not the only one around here counting down the minutes to Game 3. I might be liveblogging it. I'll let you know. In the meantime, think you might enjoy this faux conversation between Mike Schmidt and his wife.

My apologies to the people I sent "Rays in Five" texts to last night. But this RISP situation is causing me to lose my mind. Also doing that was the buffoon who was umpiring last night. Way to come up small in the big game, you clown. Thing is, even with their lack of clutch hitting and the umpire conspiring against them, the Phils coulda won that game. Myers was solid if not spectacular. He gave up 3 earned runs, which would have been 2 if it wasn't for the joker calling balls and strikes. Jayson Werth's error was huge. But in the end, we come out of Tampa exactly the way we wanted to: tied 1-1. And keep in mind, these hitters have never seen Jamie Moyer. And how exciting is it that a 46 year old is getting ready to pitch his first World Series game? After the sloppiness of the first two games, I expect a classic in Game 3. But keep in mind, I am always wrong about everything when it comes to this team (thus no hesitation to send a "Rays in 5" text message), so don't take that one to the bank. Also, good news. I did not wear my lucky shirt last night, so it was no surprise that they lost. I will be wearing it tomorrow night. So rest easy.

...Charlie Manuel selects So Taguchi as his DH for the games in Tampa. No, seriously, I will. I will be so enraged that it will be impossible for me to root for the Phils. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it has to be. I cannot freaking believe Manuel didn't drop Taguchi and call up Marsons for the Series, so that he could DH Chris Coste. The only other acceptable DH against a lefty will be Burrell, with Bruntlett playing left. But even that still means you're wasting an at-bat, with Bruntlett being a black hole. I just cannot freaking understand why this team insists on keeping Taguchi around. I really can't figure it out.

I woulda posted earlier but, ahem, I just woke up. The party on Broad Street was pretty wild. Here are some photos I took of the celebration.

Go Phils!

Here's the latest short video I did at the Blue Horizon. Music for the video was from local band The Broken Prayers. There are fights there this Friday at 7:30 p.m. If you want to see any of the fights from October 3 when I went, click here. I'd highly suggest the Joselito Collado vs. David Orosco Cano fight.

Best Phils game of the postseason so far. I gotta admit, I gave up when Ryan Howard threw that ball into right field. This came after he lollygagged down to first in the first inning, where he would have been safe had he hustled. So I already had my goat picked out. But Shane Victorino made all of that irrelevant with his two run line drive homer in the 8th, followed by Matt "Beerleaguer" Stairs two run blast. It was even sweeter because the Dodgers fans have been all over Vic following Monday's "Throw at my ribs, not my head" showdown. But as Reggie Jackson once said, "They don't boo nobodies", and with his postseason performance, Victorino is certinly no nobody. Oh, and the even sweeter part is that he was drafter by the Dodgers, but they didn't call him up because they didn't think he could hit. After the Stairs home run, Trivia Art called. He said, "I just want you to hear this." He held the phone up to the 66,000 people in the crowd. It was the sweetest, most deafening silence I've ever heard.

RELATED: Jayson Stark's take on the game.

The spineless LA Dodgers decided to not retaliate for Manny being thrown behind while they were still in Philly. Doing so might have caused the Philly fans to hurt their feelings. So they waited a few days, until they got back to LA and had a 6-1 lead in Game 3. Then Kuroda threw at Victorino's head in what was, let's face it, the only interesting moment of Game 3. I really wouldn't have minded if Victorino had responded by throwing his bat at Kuroda. Sorry, but a 94 mph fastball is a lethal weapon, and paybacks are a b****. What was Russell Martin crying about all night? He got hit with a 50 mph pillow and started smashing Gatorade coolers. What a team of sissy punks. And Manny showed how tough he was, going into pro wrestler histrionics with three people holding him back and no chance of a fight. What a warrior! The Phillies take on the spineless yellow cowards again tonight at 8:22.

Sometimes I just flat out love this town. P.S. If anyone has an extra ticket for Game 2 please let me know (and yes I'll pay good money for it.)

To me, it's not even close. My thoughts after the jump (click on "Continue reading Poll Question" below).

That 2nd inning was just unreal. Here is my write up about Zen and the Brett Myers at-bat. For beerleaguers take, click here. But I have a quick question: between the Eagles loss to a mediocre Bears team and the Phillies two wins vs. Milwaukee, do you think the scales finally tipped? Is it too early to call Philadelphia...a baseball town?

The Mets-Nationals game was on at O'Neals last night, and it was like tennis, all the heads swinging on a pivot between that game and the Phils game. At one point during the Mets game, there was a question Mets fans could vote on via text or on the internet. It was how will the Mets finish the season. Here were the results (keep in mind, this is Mets TV, so pretty much everyone answering was a Mets fan):

• 32% Win the division
• 12% Win the wild card
• 56% miss the playoffs

Looks like they're feeling another collapse. But good news for them: the Brewers are collapsing even harder, and actually lost with Sabathia on the hill yesterday. I still think the Mets will make the playoffs, unless the Astros just go wild. The Brewers are done.

Went to the Blue Horizon on Friday, and thought you guys might enjoy some of the sights and sounds from the event. I highly recommend going to the next event on October 3rd. It is a Philadelphia Must Do.

• The Eagles enjoyed a blowout win over the Rams, who will be hard pressed to match their 2007 total of 3 wins. But the Eagles weren't the only ones enjoying a blowout this weekend, and 38-3 looks like a thriller when compared to the biggest blowout of all time. And in case you were curious, the Eagles biggest blowout win came in 1934, when they defeated the Cincinnati Reds 64-0.
• Arkansas State got off to a good start in their season opener, knocking off Texas Southern, 83-10.
• The record for biggest blowout in college football history was Georgia Tech over Cumberland College, 222-0. This game was a statisticians dream: Cumberland ran 27 times for -42 yards with 9 fumbles, and their QB was 2-18 with 6 interceptions. Georgia Tech had over 1,000 more yards rushing than Cumberland, finishing with 978 yards rushing. (They did not attempt a pass.) As the NY Times notes, Tech may have run up the score because Cumberland's baseball team had defeated theirs 22-0 in 1915.
• Slovakia's Women's Ice hockey team may have just one upped Georgia Tech, as they defeated Bulgaria 82-0 over the weekend. They averaged one goal every 44 seconds.

First of all, about that loss last night: It was catastrophic. There is a huge difference between being down 2 games and being down 3 games in September. Huge. The Phils go to NYC to play the Mets this weekend. It is, for the Phils, a playoff series, nothing less. It is a best of 3 series, and if the Phils don't win two, their season is done. Period.

2ndly, Duane's World regular and tortured Phils fan Johnnie supplied me with a list of 8 things that any casual Phils fan with half a brain knows that Charlie doesn't. I added a couple at the end.

1. Someone pitching effectively, with obviously good stuff, dosen't have to come out of the game because the next batter hits from the opposite side.


2. Pat Burrell is not the worst fielder in the starting line-up. Watch your first baseman for a while.


3. A tired Brett Myers or Cole Hammels is a more effective pitcher than anyone in your bullpen, save Lidge and Romero.


4. Pinch-hitting So Taguchi for a pitcher does not increase the chances of getting someone on base.


5. Playing a hunch once in a while is great. It brings an element of surprise. Repeating the same move redundantly reduces the chances it will succede.


6. Jason Werth hits right-handed pitching better than Jenkins or Bruntlett. He's not perfect, but he's earned the role of every day starting rightfielder.


7. Ryan Madson can never be trusted when the game is on the line


8. Replacing Pat Burrell with So Taguchi in the later innings actually worsens the outfield defense.

Ones I added:

9. Eric Bruntlett should never, under any circumstances, start a game for the Philadelphia Phillies. Never. Never. Never.


10. The team needs a defensive 1st base coach to explain to Ryan Howard what to do in any situation. He is not only slow and clumsy in the field, he is dumb in the field as well. His blunder last night of throwing to 2nd with the bases loaded would have honestly been stupid if a Little Leaguer did it.

Feel free to vent about last night's devastating loss or add more things to the list below.

Most of the people around town I've talked to are pretty uninspired by this current Philadelphia Eagles team. The over/under on wins this season seems to hover around 8. Ray Didinger, who probably knows more about football than anyone in this city, sounds uninspired by them. Turnout at Lehigh wasn't even all that great. So yesterday, a bombshell in the form of my latest copy of Sports Illustrated. SI has them finishing 12-4 and going to the Super Bowl. What? Am I the only one who is dumbfounded by this? This is an 8-8 team that gained one good cornerback and lost their only good receiver for 6 weeks. A team with a QB who begged for weapons and got none. A stubborn coach who thinks that his system can overcome the glaring deficiency at WR, even though all of the evidence proves him wrong. Sorry but I still got this team at 8-8. Your prediction?

Ok, so I'm not going to gloat after last night's amazing win because every time I gloat the team immediately goes in the tank. But can someone please explain to me why these two teams don't play each other a single time in the last 3 weeks of the season? Did no-one at MLB get the memo that this is the best new rivalry in baseball? Did no one see any of the epic battles these two had last year? Did no one really think that these two teams would really be fighting it out for the pennant come September? Because if so, why in the world would they only schedule 3 games between these two in the most exciting month of the season?

Mildly amusing moment last night at the Bards. With two outs in the 9th, Eric Bruntlett comes to the plate. "Game over" I scream. "This guy may be the worst player in the major leagues. I'd rather them bat Cole Hamels in this situation." Next pitch is a double into the gap, scoring Werth (who woulda been out if the Mets had made a good throw home). "Eric Bruntlett! I love that guy! Nobody believed me when I said he was a gamer. I always believed in him!" Great win last night. Great win.

Well, folks, here we are, just a little over a month left to go in the season, and in the midst of a pennant race we all thought we'd see back in April. This season has not been as enjoyable as last. The players have seemed surlier, Ryan Howard's average continues to plummet, Chase Utley looks like a poor man's version of himself, and Jimmy Rollins has had an absolutely abysmal year. With their superstars reeling, the team has been lifted by the likes of Shane Victorino, Pat Burrell, and Jamie Moyer. And somehow, here we are, in the midst of a pennant racethat we all know is going to come down to the last week of the season. And it will be for all the marbles, as neither of these teams will make it as a wild card.

I was at the game last night, and it was awesome to see Jimmy Rollins play like, well, Jimmy Rollins. When Brett Myers went down to the minors and then got shelled there, I thought he'd never pitch in the Majors again. But he's come back and been awesome. Sure, we all wish we had gotten CC Sabathia, and it's frustrating that our ownership TOTALLY F****** BLOWS, but Joe Blanton has been a decent if not spectacular acquisition (read: he's better than Adam Eaton). And Jamie Moyer, wow, has been nothing short of phenomenal. But I think the bottom line is this: If J-Roll and Utley get hot in the last month of the season then the Phils win the pennant. If they continue to hit like they have the last three months, the Mets take it. I really think it's that simple. Your thoughts?

Was talking with Steve-O tonight about Olympic controversies. The Roy Jones fight is, in my mind, the biggest scam of them all, much worse than even the '72 basketball game between the US and USSR (at least that game was close). I remember this fight, because it was the first time that I ever saw a sporting event that was unquestionably fixed. 20 years later and I am still pissed about it. Here is the fight in it's entirety. Jones landed 86 punches to Park's 32, and it later came out that the judges had been wined and dined by Korean officials, and the three judges were all suspended. But still they haven't given Jones his gold medal. In case you were curious, while Jones became one of the greatest boxers of the last 30 years, Park si-Hun finished out his pro career 0-9, being knocked out 6 times. Any other Olympic controversies you remember?

Jimmy Rollins called Phillies fans frontrunners, and ripped them for booing members of the team. "Negative energy doesn't produce anything positive. That's just the truth. . . . It's not me; it's booing the guy that's out there working hard, busting his butt. That's when I really get upset." Sometimes the fans curse their luck because they've won one title in 125 years. But to be honest I think they are part of the problem. And I include myself in this statement, because I boo the crappy players on this team too. But Jimmy's point is a good one: It's ridiculous to boo your own guy before he even does something wrong. Booing during player introductions for your team is assinine, and hurts the team. The sad truth: Now Rollins will be booed before the next home game. Of course, then again, with the way this team is playing, I think they might all get booed.

• Do bronze medal finishers feel better about their achievment than silver medalists? Yes, according to a 1996 study.
• D-Mac is covering the Olympics for Vanity Fair.
• As I saw so many of you cheering last night for the gymnastics competition, I thought to myself, "Am I the only one who finds the sight of 11 year old anorexic hermaphrodite automaton being hugged by a 55 year old man after she performs numerous backflips exceedingly creepy?" Apparently the answer is no. Buzz Bissinger thinks the same thing: I cringe at what I believe is the unsavory stench of the sport in general — children under the wing of men who based on lengthy documentation have proven to be abusive, relentless, intolerant, humiliating and, in some instances, accused of sexual misconduct. “These girls will do anything for these guys,” Ms. Ryan told me. “They have such control over them.”

The NFL just unveiled a new Fan Code of Conduct: drunk and "disruptive" fans can be ejected from stadiums or parking lots without refund — and stripped of their season tickets. The same goes for fans who verbally or physically harass other fans, use obscene language or gestures or interfere with the game by throwing objects onto the field. Fans who become drunk or unruly during pregame tailgating will not be allowed into stadiums.

Fans becoming drunk during pregame tailgating will not be allowed into stadiums? Yeah that should go over well for the 50,000 Philadelphians whose entire lives revolve around becoming drunk during pregame tailgating and then going into stadiums. But other than that (and I'm sure I'll catch heat for this), I think this is a good policy. Listen, I'm all for getting drunk and cheering on your team. But truth be told, the level of obnoxiousness I've witnessed at Eagles games is beyond absurd, to the point of being disgusting. Sorry glutton, but save your beer throwing, vomiting, and sexist/racist/homophobic screams for Wing Bowl. (scroll down.) But don't worry, Eagle fans. You can still boo your quarterback, even though he's the best one the team's ever had. They can stop you from being drunk, but they can't stop you from being stupid.

Wow, what an incredible 9th inning. After wrapping up quizzo last night, I was preparing to head over to the Bards, but decided I'd watch the Phils go down quietly in the 9th. However, Mets manager Jerry Manuel inexplicably pulled Johan Santana after only 105 pitches, and the Mets bullpen looked like, well, the Mets bullpen. And then, Jimy Williams decided for some reason to use So Taguchi. The conversation at O'Neals went like this:

JGT: Best case scenario here is Taguchi striking out. They can't take a double play.
O'Neals Patron: Why aren't they hitting Bruntlett?
JGT: They never lose without a rally in the 9th. Never.
All: Holy ****** ****! Get over his head! Get over his head! Yes! Yes! Yes!

The entire bar erupted with high fives all around. It was an awesome win, and allowed us to forget for a few moments that our rotation consists of Cole Hamels and pray for rain.

Whenever the MLB All-Star finishes 9 innings in a tie, it goes straight to hell. All of a sudden, pitchers who threw 100+ pitches on Sunday need to pitch on one days rest. The fans all go home. People at home cut off their tvs and go to bed. The kids (who baseball desperately needs to excite in a video game world) tell me this morning how "boring" the game was last night. How can the MLB settle for failure when the alternative is a surefire, guaranteed thrilling winner? It's simple. If the two teams are tied after 10 innings, you go to a home run derby. You bring out the HR leader on each squad for a little mano a mano, just like the regular derby, except now it means something. Nobody leaves, nobody goes to bed, no pitchers take a chance hurting their arms. I brought it up to the teens in the summer program and they said it would be awesome. Can someone give me a single reason not to do this?

...I'm a Sixers fan now. While the Phillies brass sat on their thumbs, the Cubs and Brewers both went out and vastly improved their pitching staffs. But why should Phillies ownership care? After all, they have found the sweet spot. They can take advantage of three of their best players ever (Rollins, Howard, and Utley) to put people in the seats. Why pay money to improve when you are selling out games? Meanwhile, read this about the Brewers: Though the owner has infused financial life into the franchise which hemorrhaged money during the pre-revenue sharing days of the Selig regime, $90 million is still a fairly significant figure for a team that plays in Major League Baseball's smallest media market.

"We'll probably generate some measure of a loss this season," Attanasio said.

It's a loss Attanasio, an investment banker by trade, is willing -- and feels somewhat obligated -- to take in order to produce a championship.

Even though just one team during his time as owner finished with a winning record, attendance has been steadily growing each year. The team is on pace to draw nearly three million fans in 2008. Those numbers made the move possible.

"It's a huge boost to the fans who have had a long drought here," Melvin said. "Maybe they thought this kind of thing couldn't happen. We felt we needed to go for it."

So who's the real winner here? The Phils, obviously. They are going to win 85 games this year and maybe or maybe not make the playoffs. But who cares? Ownership will make money hand over fist either way. Meanwhile, the multi-multi millionaire who owns the Brewers is actually going to lose money. And all he'll get for his loss is a legitimate shot at a World Series title and generate unbridled excitement for an entire city.

There is an excellent piece on Len Bias on ESPN.com this week that I think you guys should check out. Inspired me to write a short bit about his death after the jump. (Warning: Serious, non-snarky, and clumsy emoting on the site straight ahead.)

Big match today between Germany and Portugal! SPOILER ALERT: Nothing will happen for a while and then several guys will fall on the ground holding their ankles and then nothing will happen for a long time and then hey look, boobs! (Pretty safe for work, unless you can't look at girl in bikinis or body paint.) UPDATE: Germany wins 3-2, which we're pretty sure is the highest scoring game in the history of soccer.

This from the New York Post: What a crowd, these bums are, all of them, from the Wilpons at the top to Omar Minaya down below, all of them who conspired to botch this firing worse than any firing has ever been botched. Ever. You wouldn't trust these guys to run a 7-11, let alone a National League baseball team. What a joke. What a cowardly, dastardly joke. A midnight massacre. A 3 a.m. thrashing. Disgraceful. Utterly, completely, disgraceful...Is this the best the Mets can do? Is this really what they are about? Can they really consider themselves a professional operation when they do the simplest task in sports, firing the manager, this wretchedly?

A sad, sad day to have a hairy neck.

Am I the only one who finds the Tim Donaghy case a lot more compelling than either Spygate or the steroid scandal in baseball? For one thing, that Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals was perhaps the worst robbery I have ever seen in a sporting event as the referees were all but visibly rooting for the Lakers in the 4th quarter. At one point, a foul was called on Mike Bibby for being elbowed in the head by Kobe. I remember being furious after that game (and I'm not even a Kings fan), and so, to be honest, I am glad to see the NBA get its comeuppance. I have thought for years that the NBA was not on the up and up, and I am obviously not alone. A recent poll on ESPN.com showed that 76% of over 80,000 in the poll thought that two refs conspired to fix Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Final. 1 in 4 people think that the NBA is on the up and up! I bet 1 in 4 people believe that Pro Wrestling is on the up and up!

RELATED: Nader's back at it.
RELATED: News story about Game 6.

This one comes courtesy of Steve O.: What National League East team is 81-81 since last June 1st? I'll give you a hint: hairy necked fans.

Happy 52nd birthday to Marvelous Marvin Hagler! I saw that it was his birthday and thought back to watching his fight against Thomas Hearns as a kid, possibly the most exciting boxing match I've ever seen on TV. (Do yourself a favor and at least watch the first round. One of the greatest boxing rounds ever.)

Headed down to DC yesterday afternoon with Gabe from the Omelette and a few of the guys from the Kingdom. The traffic was surprisingly smooth. We got there and rolled in. The stadium just opened this year, so they still have a few kinks to work out. Parking is still kind of a crapshoot, and plenty expensive. Cheapest lots we found were $25. Rolled into a Permit Parking Lot only, where the girl told us, she's let us park there for $20 "on the DL". Why can't I go anywhere without being sketchy? Anyways, we walked up got tickets. They say the stadium has been pretty empty this year, and one reason is the tickets. The tickets down in the lower level are waaaaay more expensive than they are in Philly. For example, tickets right above the dugout in Philly are $50. In DC, they are $75. Lower level outfield in Philly is $24. In DC, it's $35.

As for the ballpark itself, the first thing I thought of when I walked in was, "I feel like I'm in a video game ballpark." Hard to explain, but everyone agreed with me. Everything was sort of harshly angled, the scoreboard was so huge it was borderline silly, and there were areas that didn't really make any sense (A section right behind the center field wall that I think was, no kidding, a sandy hill spray painted green to look like it had grass on it, like they ran out of money before they could lay the last of the sod.)

The concourses were extremely dull. Both the walkways and the floor were sort of tannish white color. The food choices were ok, and there didn't seem to be much of an effort to support local institutions, either beer wise or food wise. The stadium was a very fair representation of this team: generic and somewhat uninteresting. And the field will torture the Phillies for years to come, as it is not a home run hitters ballpark. The Phils had three or four hits last night that would have been gone at CBP, but were routine pop flies at Nationals Park.

By far the highlight of the night was the president race, when the four guys with huge heads raced around the track. Apparently Teddy Roosevelt has never won, and on this night his streak continued, as he finished a distant third. Teddy really looks lost out there, but I still bet he could beat Ryan Howard in a footrace.

Anyways, the best part of the (terrible) game was how eerie the first four innings were for the Phillies:
1st Inning: Rollins out, Victorino singles, Utley singles, Howard out, Burrell out
2nd Inning: Jenkins double, Feliz out (fails to advance the runner), Ruiz out but advances runner, Myers out
3rd Inning: Rollins out, Victorino singles, Utley singles, Howard out, Burrell out
4th Inning: Jenkins double, Feliz out (fails to advance the runner), Ruiz out but advances runner, Myers out

Weird. Anyways, it turned out to be quite possibly the worst Phillies game I have ever seen, as the listless Phightins' went down 4-0, despite a crowd that was probably abotu 50% pro-Phillies. But a bad day at the ballpark still beats a good day workin'.

This from a recent interview with Politico:

Question: Mr. President, I know you're going to hate this, but I'm hoping that we may twist your arm and talk about baseball for just a moment. (Laughter.) Mr. President, you're a Major League Baseball team owner again. Everyone is a free agent. You have a Yankees-like wallet. Who is your first position player?

THE PRESIDENT: That's a great question. I like Utley from the Philadelphia Phillies. He's a middle infielder, which is always -- you know, they say you have strength up the middle -- there's nothing better than having a good person up the middle that can hit.

Apparently tickets are selling poorly to tomorrow night's Game 6 against the Pistons. What? I mean tickets aren't that expensive, the team, although blown out in the last two games, has taken this series deeper than anyone thought they would, and they are a fun team to watch. Philly.com is giving away almost 100 tickets, and WIP is giving away tickets as well. That means that nobody is buying, and they don't want the arena to look empty for a Game 6 in the playoffs. Playoffs, people! I went last Friday and it was a blast. If I didn't have to work manana, I'd be there again. Crowd energy is such a big part of playoff basketball (thus the huge home court advantage), and it's really lame if we're the only city that can't bring any.

This town is so ridiculous. We've got two teams in the playoffs, the baseball team is hot, and I'll bet you dollars to donuts that if you turn on WIP today, they're talking about the NFL draft and what to do with Lito Sheppard. Well, I don't care if they drop Lito Sheppard into the goddamm river with cement shoes on, we have two teams in the playoffs so screw the Eagles.

Well gang, this is one of those times that you need to appreciate the moment. The Flyers pulled it off in highly dramatic fashion last night (how the Caps didn't score as they continually assaulted the net in the 3rd period is anyone's guess), then the Phillies followed suit by pulling off a thrilling win thanks to Pat the Bat. He is playing like a man in a contract year possessed. And not to mention that the Sixers pulled off a huge upset in Game One and look to keep it going against the Pistons tonight. Good times, people. Enjoy them.

Remember last year, when the Phillies were like 86-60 at games I didn't attend, and 3-13 at games I did attend? What a difference a year makes. Thus far this year, the Phils are 4-0 at games I attend, and 5-10 in games I don't. It is becoming increasingly obvious to everyone with any sense that I am going to be an integral part of this team's success this season.

...bummer about the last ever home opener in Shea. Hate to see that happen. Oh well, I'm sure you'll do better tommorrow. No way you're gonna lose TEN straight to the Phillies. Right?

Exclaimer of one of the greatest quotes in Philly sports history. And the fact he got taken to the woodshed for it is another grand display of what utter geniuses Eagles fans are. I mean, the team was losing 21-6 with like two minutes left in the game when it happened. Guy is making a couple million a year. Who in the holy hell is he going to risk his health and livelihood to catch a meaningless pass in a meaningless game? A moron. That's why Eagles fans just couldn't understand Ricky's logic, because their skulls are so thick they would have done something as stupid as blow a multi-million dollar job to catch a meaningless pass. For who, for what indeed.

Damnit, damnit, damnit! Belmont played right with Duke the whole night last night, and then at the end, instead of playing to win, they played not to lose. They deserved the loss. Aaaargh! Man, it would have been a great upset. I know that the tournament committee hates a good upset. That's why they only gave 6 at large bids to mid-majors this year, as opposed to 12 just a few years ago, then matched up all the midmajors against each other in the first round so their wouldn't be any major upsets. But their efforts were almost in vain, because Belmont played so well. Damn, damn, damn. I'm still mad about the end of that game. The good news is that Duke is just not that good, and they'll be going down soon enough.

It was on this date in 1970 that Vinko Bogataj became the Agony of Defeat. Does it make me a bad person because I can't help laughing every time I see this?

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Check out how young Larry Brown is here.

With the Flyers tanking hard and the Sixers looking good but with nobody watching, tonight marks the first time many of you will pay any attention to pro sports in Philly since the Eagles were eliminated from the playoff hunt, due to the return of one of Philly's all-time most captivating athletes. Well, here's a few thoughts on the Sixers and AI: First of all, the Sixers are better off without him. This is a young, impressionable team that is going to learn a lot of positives from point guard Andre Miller, who came from Denver in the trade. Andre Miller isn't just "talkin 'bout practice", he's attending it. The Sixers are one good power forward away from being the 3rd or 4th best team in the East, and they should make a splash in the free agent market this offseason due in part to not having to pay AI an obscene amount of money. The "let's build a team around one guy" concept was intriguing, and worked for a year or two, but it is simply impossible to sustain in the NBA. See Kobe after Shaq and before Gasol. All in all, if I was attending, I would give him a hearty standing O, as I have been a fan of his hustle and heart for a long time. But I do think he's a bit overrated, as he takes a ton of absolutely terrible shots every game. And, as a coach of impressionable youngsters, I'd rather not have him as a role model in my city. I appreciate the "keeping it real" stuff when it came to fashion and friends, but kicking down doors with a gun while looking for your wife? Yeah, I'm not really into that, and we haven't really had to deal with a lot of that from Andre Miller and Andre Igoudala.

RELATED: JGT vs. AI in high school b-ball in Virginia. (True Story!)

The Sixers have been playing in front of crowds similar in size to the ones who went to see the Pittsburgh Pythons before they hired astrologist Stockard Channing and changed their name to the Pisces and surrounded Moses Guthrie (played by Dr. J) with offbeat but talented role players. But I was surprised to open up my email from Travelzoo today and see that Sixers tix were $10. And the funny thing is, this is the most exciting team they've had since 2001. A lot of good young players with a lot of upside, a likable coach, and a fast breaking offense.

Ryan Howard won his arbitration case, and even though they had every right to take it to arbitration, the Phillies just come off looking the way they always do: like cheap bastards. Whether that is fair or not in this case I don't know, but due to a long running (124 year) history of doing everything on the cheap, they're gonna come off looking like the bad guys in a situation like this. They paid him a measly $900,000 the year after he won the MVP, and Howard wouldn't have such a short tenure if they hadn't been so short sighted and signed Thome. Anyways, we've got four seasons of Howard before he moves on to greener pastures (aka teams that don't pretend like they don't have any money). So does Howard deserve $10 million? Fans in Philly sure think so. More importantly, I'm glad he won. This will be one less distraction in the coming year.

One of my favorite people in America celebrates a B-day today. Here's a few choice Charles quotes, courtesy of barkleyquotes.com:

• On the Portland Trail Blazers serving Thanksgiving meals: "In between arrests they do community service."


• "You're the boss, Ernie. The white guy's always the boss."


• "They say it about brothers, but I can guarantee everybody in Finland look alike."


• Ernie: Do the Knicks have any chance of turning things around? Charles: Heeellll No!


• On the Enron scandal investigation: "Almost all those politicians took money from Enron, and there they are holding hearings. That's like O.J. Simpson getting in the Rae Carruth jury pool."


• Ernie Johnson: "Auburn is a pretty good school. To graduate from there I suppose you really need to work hard and put forth maximum effort." Sir Charles: "20 pts and 10 rebounds will get you through also."


• “I'm not a role model, ... Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids.”


• "When I was recruited at Auburn, they took me to a strip joint. When I saw those t**s on Buffy, I knew that Auburn met my academic requirements."

God, I love this team. They traded him for the hot dog eater.

Yes, it was a great Super Bowl, perhaps the greatest ever. Right up there with Bengals-Niners, Broncos-Packers, and Titans-Rams. And yes, because I am a closeted Dolphins fan, I had no choice but to root for the Giants. And I was jumping up and down hysterically when David Tyree made the greatest catch in football history, on what was the greatest play in pro football history. (The third best play in football history over all: Number one is here, and number two is here.) But I have to admit, when it was all over, I had kind of a sick feeling in my stomach. Had it been the Packers, I would have been overjoyed, but these are the Giants, and I can only be but so thrilled when they win a Super Bowl.

Nonetheless, it was a great time. My dad and his college roommate get together every year and bet a bottle of whiskey on the Super Bowl (they've watched 37 of the past 39 Super Bowls together), and my dad had the Patriots this year, which he thought was a sure thing. We had clams and oysters and homemade hot wings and DiBruno Bros. cheese that I bought down, as well as a Super Bowl cake I got from Isgro's (above). All in all, a fine way to spend a birthday.

As for the commercials, my favorites were the Will Ferrell commercial, the Charles Barkley one, and the one for the Planter's nuts when the nerdy girl has guys all checking her out because she rubbed the peanuts on her wrists and her cleavage. And can I just say for the record that I am over animals in commercials. Talking and dancing animals have been played out for like ten years. Please stop! And I hate talking babies! Seriously, they did a movie about this 20 freaking years ago. The joke is over! It's hack! Please! Anyways, if you'd like to vote for your favorite commercial, go here. Most of the ones that people are voting for are the stupidest ones, which really makes me upset. Man, why do I let this piss me off so much?

This is terrible. All we can hope is that he is the next Barry Zito. Good job, Twins. Sure you couldn't have gotten some more worthless junk in return? Pathetic. Here's the reaction in Minnesota. They are trying to stay positive: The Twins have been known to surprise us before. Who would have thought that the prospects received back in the Frank Viola trade would help push them to a World Series championship just two years later? Who could have known that the prospects brought over in the Chuck Knoblauch deal would help form the foundation for putting them back into contention after a horrible dry spell in the late '90s? Needless to say, they are euphoric in New York. And here in Philly, we are obviously miserable. The sounds of our "small splashes" never sounded so small. This is a tidalwave, causing a flood that will submerge the rest of the National League East for six or seven years. Baseball's best pitcher belongs to the Mets, set to anchor the rotation for years to come while canceling out our best hitters head-to-head. The Mets are trying to build a champion, the Phillies are trying to screw over their best player while telling us we should be excited about Pedro Feliz.

Later in the interview, TO said, “I always had a good relationship with my quarterbacks." That's not a joke. He actually said that. It reminds me of the time that Hitler said, "I've always had a good relationship with dwarves and gypsies."

Wow, another year, another amazing National Championship game! Boy, I can't wait until Ohio State beats up on a pathetic Big Ten (3-5 in bowls this year) again next year and then gets crushed by another SEC team in the championship game for the 3rd straight year. Won't that be awesome? Oh well, as long as USC and LSU don't settle this on the field, but in a computer (the same computer that thought that Ohio State was #1 in the country going into last nights game), I'm happy. Because that's what sports should be all about: determining a champion via computers and voters, not on the field of play. Thank you BCS!

Look out, National League! There is one team that is going to be not quite as good as it was last year, but will still win at least 80 games! That's right, the Philadelphia Phillies, firm believers in tradition, have decided to pick up a few more pieces of rusty metal off the scrap heap. What looks like JD Durbin, sounds like JD Durbin, and puts about as much fear into opposing hitters as JD Durbin? That would be his brother, Chad Durbin, who is now a Philadelphia Phillie. Dontrelle Willis? Puh-leez. Johan Santana? Whatever. We've got Chad Durbin. That's why this is one of the most storied franchises in all of sports, because they always are doing whatever it takes to build a champion. Speaking of building a champion, we have a new centerfielder to replace Rowand! Geoff Jenkins. He's older than Rowand, and not as good as Rowand, but that's OK, because he's cheaper than Rowand, and that's what this franchise is all about. Keeping it cheap. 4th largest market in baseball. 15th highest payroll. Jenkins actually isn't that bad, though. He does give you a little pop in the outfield (21 HRs last year), but his BA was only .255. But he's definitely not as good as Rowand.

UPDATE: Looks like CNBC was wrong about Pujols and Nunez. Those two homers Nunez hit total in the last two years cannot be attributed to illegal steroid use. Still got some big names though. Everybody is linking to the PDF of the report, like I'm gonna read a 409 page document on my computer. The hell with that. I'm gonna wait for the movie to come out. Here's the full list on Deadspin.

Rowand's gone. The San Francisco Giants came in with a 5 year deal, something the Phillies simply couldn't match. It is an absolute shame to let the guy go, although I really think it is folly to sign him to a five year deal. He'll be 36 by the time the contract runs out. Pretty old for a center fielder. That being said, this is no bueno. Rowand was a true gamer who laid it all on the line every single game, and the difference in intensity between when he was the leader of that outfield and when Abreu ran it is night and day. The full speed run into the fence is a Philadelphia legend that will improve with time, as when we're old timers, we'll tell anyone who will listen that "The Phillies once had a centerfielder who broke every bone above his waist to catch a fly ball." This leaves the Phils with Shane Victorino in center and Jayson Werth in right. Lots of hustle but no power and no leadership. The Lidge move was nice, but this team will start the upcoming season worse than it ended last year unless they make another big move. And really, what move can they make? I don't see any exciting free agents. RELATED: Beerleaguer chimes in.

None of the announcers talked about this, but this was one of the sketchiest plays I've ever seen. Watch after Lawrence Maroney catches the ball and the Ravens cornerback at the top of the screen, #22 Samari Rolle, comes into hit him at the fifty yard line, and then decides not to. He just runs alongside him for 15 yards without ever trying to tackle him. Was he in on the fix or just the biggest sissy in NFL history? I've never seen anything like this.

It is amazing that the Eagles have had a chance in so many close games and blown almost every one in the final minute of the 4th quarter. This team is awfully reminiscent of the 2007 Mets. Consider:

• Week 1 vs. Green Bay: The team muffs two punts, including one in Packer territory with less than a minute to go, to lose 19-16.
• Week 2 vs. Washington: Eagles drive deep into Redskin territory in the final minute with a chance to tie, but turn the ball over on downs.
• Week 7 vs. Bears: Give up a 97 yard drive to Brian freaking Griese and allow a touchdown with :11 seconds to play to lose the game.
• Week 12 vs. Patriots: Driving for winning score with a little over three minutes left when AJ Feeley throws a terrible pass into the back of the end zone and they lose, 31-28.
• Week 13 vs. Seahawks: Team has the ball at Seahawk 13 with under thirty seconds to play, when AJ Feeley decides to throw the ball to Lofa Tatupu for the 3rd time.

Of these five chokes, McNabb can be directly blamed for maybe one, the Redskin loss. But, oh yeah, he's the main problem for this team, the reason they're so bad. Get him out of here. Oh, here's another interesting stat. McNabb has thrown 6 interceptions this season in 10 games, Feeley has thrown 9 INTs in 3 games. But no, Eagle fans, you're right, we'll be better off without McNabb. Good point.

Happy 29th birthday, First Down Freddie! Man, I miss this guy. The biggest smack talking non-factor in NFL history. Oh, and here's a fun little Freddie fact: He played college baseball at UCLA with Chase Utley and introduced Chase to his future wife Jennifer. And I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank Eagles management for taking FredEx over Chad Johnson and Steve Smith. You think those guys woulda caught 4th and 26? Doubt it.

• Point spread for the Eagles-Patriots game? 23 points. That is simply unbelievable. I am quite sure it is the first time a 5-5 team has ever been a 23 point underdog. And keep in mind that Super Bowl III is considered the biggest upset in NFL history, and the Jets were only an 18 point underdog. Even still, would you take the Eagles and the points? Honestly?
• The Phillies tried to score Mike Lowell over the weekend, and even offered a better deal than the Red Sox, but he stayed in Boston. Jerk.
• Good news for Lancaster native and Barnstormer fan Chill Rob A. Von "5 for 1" Hayes has just been signed as their manager.
• Announcement in about half an hour to let us know if J-Roll won MVP.

The great Mike Schmidt once said, "Philadelphia is the only city where you can experience the thrill of victory and the agony of reading about it the next day." So is the case today, as WIP loudmouth, Metro scribe, and McNabb basher Angelo Cataldi spews vitriol at Donovan again in his column. Nevermind that McNabb is the greatest quarterback in this team's history, nevermind that he's trying to come back from a career threatening injury, and nevermind that he LED THE TEAM TO A FREAKING WIN. Nope, none of that matters when you work for WIP. All that's important is that you keep the assault on your own players going when the going gets tough.

In the column, the statement McNabb made last week that he's not the whole reason that the Eagles are so bad (which was an obvious and fairly benign statement if you ask me) is seen as "throwing his teammates under the bus". I love how WIP wants to have it both ways. They complain that Andy Reid only speaks in platitudes, then when Donovan actually speaks his mind, they launch an all out assault against him and say that he's a terrible leader. But of course. Because any old terrible leader could lead a team with receivers named Thrash and Pinkston to three consecutive championship games, and terrible leaders are often 5 time Pro Bowlers.

Of course, the fans that call into WIP are just as absurd. Philadelphia always claims that it loves guys who gut it out, win or lose. So when McNabb came back early from such a serious injury, despite the fact that he could have easily taken a few more months to recuperate, did Philadelphia Eagle fans embrace him with open arms, appreciative of the fact that he wanted to play so badly that he was willing to risk his career by coming back early from a devastating injury? Hell no. They just screamed and hollered about how we shouldn't have let Jeff Garcia go. Which raises the question: Do Philadelphia sports fans only appreciate gutsy though ultimately flawed performances from fictional white boxers, and not from actual black quarterbacks?

Yesterday was one of those rare good days to be a Philadelphia sports fan. The Flyers and Sixers both won big, but more importantly, Ed Wade finally helped the Phillies, giving us Brad Lidge for Michale Bourn. I like Bourn, and we'll miss his speed, but we've still got plenty of speed with Vic and Rollins. This means that Myers will move back into the rotation. Now, I'm just praying that the team re-signs Romero and Rowand. Then this will be a squad worth getting excited about. The fantasy: our terrible ownership realizes that this may be the best team in Phils history, opens up the purse strings a bit, and goes after Dontrelle Willis. A rotation of Hamels, Myers, Willis, Kendrick, Moyer would make this the best team in the NL. Send Eaton to middle relief or the Afghani League or something. (Of course, the above scenario will never happen because we got rid of our best trade bait in Bourn, so we've got nothing to offer for Willis.)
RELATED: Read Beerleaguers take.
RELATED: Salisbury writes about it in the Inky.

This is brought to us by my good friend Duff:
The time will come, sooner than later, when Westbrook will not be the jaw dropper he is today. Two years, maybe three left. So since Kolb is three or four years from taking us somewhere (he really looks good from the nanosecond I saw), we should get top $$$ and picks while we can. The only medium term issue is maintaining the offensive line and not losing the corners. The rest can be turned over as we develop Kolb but we need to dump Westbrook or we may win just enough games to avoid a decent pick and damage Westbrook just enough to make him worthless in a trade.

I happen to agree. This team is going nowhere but down for several years, and there is no reason to make Westbrook suffer through the rebuilding. Philly has a habit of holding onto their stars until they are no longer valuable, then trading them for nothing (Abreu, Iverson, etc.). But in this case, it's time to call this what it is. A bad team playing for next years draft. Let's start losing, get rid of our only valuable asset for numerous draft picks, and try to build the team thru the draft like the early 90s Cowboys. Of course, with Andy's drafting record, that might not work either.

"As Eagles fans filed out of the stadium with nearly 20 minutes of football still to be played, at least they had some clarity.

They walked in wondering whether the Dallas Cowboys were for real, having gotten to a 6-1 record without beating any good teams. They walked out knowing the Cowboys are 7-1 and still haven't beaten any good teams."
-Phil Sheridan in the Inquirer

-Have you seen the amazing play at the end of the Division III Trinity College-Millsaps College game? 2nd greatest ending to a college football game ever. (Had Millsaps band run onto the field, it woulda been #1). I love how #3 for Millsaps finally just says "The hell with it" and just stands there.

-A bitter debate about the designated hitter broke out in the comments section recently. Here's some numbskull that thinks that the NL should adopt the DH, and here is an interesting article which claims that the DH is a moral hazard. Bottom line, the DH is perfect for frat boys like Garrett and BMT who hate pitching and strategy and love home runs. I'm not sure where Garret lives in Seoul, but I'm guessing it's a frat boy suburb where people piss on the streets. And if you see BMT this week, tell him you like his backward Red Sox cap and his popped collar. But keep your distance: DH fans are inherently dangerous people.

-Andy Reid impersonator Steve O. (above) won the Best Sequel contest from September. Yeah, I was a little slow on this, but his Lambada 2: The Dance That's Been Legal Since 2006 took top honors. Congrats to Steve, who wins a $20 Bards gift certificate and 2 IMAX passes.

Boston Red Sox owner John Henry decided to celebrate his team's second World Series win in the last 4 years by raising a gloved black fist to the sky. It was a brazen move by the rebellious owner, and Red Sox nation is not exceptionally pleased. "Hey, it's great that he's built a winner here in Boston," said Sox fan Davey O'Brien, "But does he have to remind everyone that he is a Marcus Garvey disciple who believes in black nationalism? On today of all days?" Added Brian O'Davies of nearby Worcester, "He looked like a nerdy white John Carlos out there. We've come a long ways since the 1968 Olympics, and his black power salute was not wicked awesome."

Should be an interesting World Series, though I'm kind of torn on who to root for. On the one hand, the AL is a league for sissies due to the DH rule. And has anything gotten as annoying in the past three years as Red Sox Nation? Every frat boy douchebag in America now wears a Red Sox hat backwards to go with his Abercrombie and Fitch shirt. (I bet there are tons of Red Sox "fans" in Manayunk.)

On the other hand, I hate the Rockies for a number of reasons: 1) They wear purple. Pathetic. 2) They are an expansion team. I hate expansion teams, especially since they've won 3 of the last 10 World Series going into this one. 3) They are from Denver, and none of those hippies knows a slider from a hot dog. 4) They wear purple. 5) They beat the Phillies.

I guess I'm rooting for the Red Sox. At least they play in Fenway, and it's hard to hate Manny and Ortiz. And Josh Beckett is a bonified badass. What do you think?

Hire this man immediately. (Good call, Garrett. He posted it in the comment section). Leo Mazzone is one of the greatest assistant coaches in MLB history and after his suicide mission in Baltimore, is available. Fire Rich Dubee and hire this guy today.

Thoughts? Concerns? Did you really think for a second that they might go after Joe Torre or Joe Girardi? I think they signed him ASAP so they wouldn't get hounded by Phillies fans if Torre became available and they didn't go after him. I'll also repost what I posted on beerleaguer yesterday:
Here's what concerns me: I kind of think Manuel got bailed out with a truly terrible bullpen. In other words, since every pitcher other than Romero and Myers was downright awful, he really couldn't make a bad choice when he went to his bullpen because they were all likely to fail. If the team does get bullpen help, I'm scared we'll see more of what we saw in Game 2, moves that don't really make much sense.

However, I like Charlie, and I really like how he's handled the harsh environment in Philly. I don't think he gets enough credit for his attack on Eskin. Suddenly, with the team 4-11, the focus was on him and not on the team sucking, and they seemed to right the ship after that. I really want him to succeed, but they have to have someone on that bench who is in charge of the bullpen. He's a great hitting coach, but he's clueless with pitching and they need someone better than Dubee telling him what to do.

I remember when Utley went down with an injury, and I said to Trivia Art, "Well, I think that may do it for our Fightin's." Art strongly disagreed. "Oh yeah, like they're gonna break our hearts in August. This team isn't going down without a fight, if only to make the pain in September more acute." Well, I feel the same way about this series. This team isn't gonna get their asses kicked for three straight games. A) They're too good to do that. B) This team seems to thrive with their backs against the wall and C) That wouldn't break our hearts. Winning games 3 and 4 and then losing game 5 at home would break our hearts.

Teams never come back from 2-0 down after losing twice at home. But teams also don't come from 7 down with 17 to play, teams don't make the playoffs with a bullpen that consists of guys who haven't been good since "Teen Spirit" was released, and teams sure as hell don't make the playoffs when two of their starters go down for the year, one goes to the bullpen, and one is the worst starter in baseball. This is a team that has defied every law of baseball this year, and has fought like a rabid animal every time they've been backed into a corner, so don't expect them to go quietly into that good night. I've seen too many crazy things happen this year. I'm not throwing in the towel until the final out of the final game is made.

Good stuff from Jayson Stark at ESPN.com:
Charlie Manuel isn't the first manager in postseason history to gong his starting pitcher in the fourth inning. He isn't the first manager to wave for a reliever who found himself muttering later about that "one bad pitch" he tossed up there. But he was the first manager in the history of his franchise to yank his starting pitcher in the fourth inning of a postseason game even though he had the lead. And when a manager puts himself that far out there on a limb that precarious, here are the rules of October:
He'd better be right.

Phil Sheridan disagreed. Good luck on this one, Phil. When 46,000 people boo because they see a manager make a bad decision and then get completely validated by the results, you can be damn sure that the manager is going to hear about it. Forever. Charlie has made plenty of bonehead moves, but this will be the one that he'll be forever defined by. Says Stark:
20 years from now, the manager shouldn't be shocked if some total stranger approaches him in a restaurant and asks: "Why the heck did you take Kendrick out?"

This team has made a habit of striking back when the chips are down. They're gonna be fine. Remember like a week ago when they lost the first game against the Braves and then had to beat Smoltz and Hudson? Yeah, well now they have to win two, but they don't face anyone as good as either Smoltz or Hudson. I just hate that it's a day game and this team can't hit the ball in the daylight for some reason.

That being said, the crowd sucked yesterday. The home town faithful have gotten so spoiled on home runs this season that they can't appreciate really good pitching. The crowd has got to get fired up, and if the umpire today never figures out what the strike zone is like the ump yesterday, let him know about it!

Oh, and good news for the team. I'm going to today's game. They are 1-0 in the last 1 games I have attended. The numbers are in our favor.

Let's celebrate at quizzo tonight when the Phils win!

It was right before the All Star break when this frustrated, injured, and underachieving team finally hooked us all for good. And that was when they ran out into a squall to help save the grounds crew in Denver. It was probably the first time we'd cheered the damn team all year, struggling as they were at the time to reach .500. And now here we are, playing that same team. The Rockies stayed in the clubhouse, the Phils worked in the rain. Karmically, I'm feeling pretty good about this series.

Jose Mesa made the postseason roster! Other interesting notes from the roster: my boy Rod Barajas made the cut. Apparently Ruiz has a sore shoulder, so we could see a fair amount of Coste in the playoffs. Adam Eaton did not make the final cut. To be honest, I felt pretty bad for him at the pep rally yesterday when the only person who got booed louder than Eaton was Mayor Street. I mean, my dream in life is to get booed by 150,000 people, but I wanna get booed for being an a******, not for sucking.

Hey remember when Eskin went after Charlie after the 4-11 start and said that Charlie should throw a fit to get his players fired up, and instead of going after his players, Charlie went after Eskin? Yeah, well the team was 85-62 after that, best in the NL by far. Charlie pisses me off sometimes, but I can't help but like the guy, especially now. With this team on the ropes, he took all the pressure off them and put it on himself. Lou Pinella did the same thing a few months later and everybody called him a genius. Charlie did it and everybody called him a knucklehead. Well, vindication must be sweet. Now, if we can just get him to finish the job and beat the hell out of Eskin to get the team fired up for the playoffs.
RELATED: Great article about Charlie that includes this amazing quote: We had 13 kids in my family and I used to have to fight for my breakfast.

I had a free ticket to Sunday's game, and I almost didn't take it. Those of you who follow this blog know that the Phils lose almost every time I go to a game (I honestly think that before Sunday they were 3-13 in games I went to this year, including the opening day loss, the 10,000th loss, and the loss on Saturday), and I was going to honestly blame myself if I showed up and they lost again. But a free ticket is a free ticket, so off I went with my buddy Brian.

We sat beside a father-son duo. The father was in his 80s and the son was in his 50s. They were both delightful to talk to, and it was obvious that they had been to dozens of games together over the years. They had been through a lot of frustration together over the years, but not today. The energy at CBP reached a fevered pitch, the crowd began to sense a victory, and the towels began to wave furiously after every called strike. The grandfatherly man leaned over toward me, smiled and said, "This is the greatest day I've ever had at the ballpark."

Things only got better. After the game, I ran into D-Mac, and we headed toward the subway. Before getting on, I saw a couple of people wearing "Phillies-NL East Champions" shirts. I asked, "Where did you get those from?" Before they could answer, a 20-something gentleman leaned forward and asked brusquely, "How many do you need?" I answered two, and he rolled up his pant leg, showing off the new white shirts tied around his leg, giving new meaning to the term bootlegging. We each bought a shirt for ten bucks and hit the Express.

Story to follow whenever I recover from my hangover! How sweet it is! How sweet it is! Here's a few select calls from Harry in the 9th:
HARRY KALAS: You hear the cheer? You hear the cheer? You know what that is? That's the final out at Shea Stadium...This is just unbelievably exciting. Wow! What great fans...This is really special to be here and see this. This is quite an afternoon...This is truly exciting...Curve ball, struck him out! THe Phillies are National League East champions!

First off, gotta give credit where credit is due: I regularly check in on Metsblog to see what the hairy necks are up to, and I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed with what this Metsblog writer had to say. Apparently Mets fans are all jumping off the bandwagon, calling talk radio and going ballistic, leaving 3 run games in the 6th inning, etc. In other words, acting ways that the national media says that only Philly fans act. But man, the only thing as fun as coming from 7 games back is coming from 7 games back against the Mets. So now, a conundrum: I kind of want the Mets to make the playoffs, albeit as a wild card. I think a Mets-Phils NLCS would be off the freaking Richter.

Then again, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. The Phils still have to cool off a red hot Nationals team, the same team that kicked us out of the playoff race two years ago. But something feels different about this Phils team, and I'm sensing something I didn't sense a couple of years ago: confidence. Phillie players (and fans) fully expect to win the damn thing. This particular team has captured this city's hearts like no team in the city since I moved here 6 years ago, and I even count the Eagles team that went to the Super Bowl, because nobody enjoyed that team b/c they were expected to make it to the Super Bowl (or at least the NFC championship game).

We have a goofy manager that the fans still have a love/hate relationship with (and leaning a little heavier on the hate), a roster that has been ravaged by injuries, a shortstop who said they were the team to beat in March and then backed it up 159 freaking times in a row, a catcher who played in the minors for 14 years, a LF whose career was considered to be over until he suddenly surged back and rescued the team when their star 2B went out, a fun loving Hawaiian, Mitch Williams joining the post game show, etc., etc., etc. Oh, and don't know if you've noticed, but Harry has slipped into his playoff voice these past few nights, and it is spine tingling. I have been a sports fan for over 25 years, and I have to say that this has been the most fun ride I've ever been on. I really hope it continues past this weekend.

Sad day in Mudville. The Phils blow a chance to make up on the Mets, and the Padres come from behind to win in the 9th, putting us one back in the playoff race. Funny how fast we can go from "This is our year!' to "Here we go again." Took about 15 pitches last night, until that pathetic excuse for an umpire gave Texeira 4 strikes and he blasted one out of the ballpark after strike 3. A nice comeback to take the lead, and you heard Harry bust out his playoff voice when Werth launched that homer. Chicken skin when I heard his call. But anytime your season is on the line and you are forced to turn to Geoff Freaking Geary, you know you're in trouble. Tonight is essentially a Game 7. Lose, and we're done.

Well, gang, let's face it. We've been here before. Every single year, it seems. And every year we seem to blow one against the Nationals with three games left and a 1/2 game lead. But let's not pretend that it's not ours for the taking. Tied for the wild card lead with 6 to play. The team we're tied with, the Padres, seem to be on the verge of a collective meltdown. The team right behind us, the Colorado Rockies, are red hot. But that is irrelevant. The Phils control their own destiny, which is all you can really ask for with a week left in the season. So what should we as fans do at this point? Throw caution to the wind, and BELIEVE? Or realize that this team is going to go down in history as the biggest tease ever, missing the playoffs by a single game every single year for the rest of our freaking lives?

Went to the Eagles game yesterday with Trivia Art, and as you might expect, it was a lot of fun seeing the home team run up and down the field, steamrolling the hapless Lions. But you know me, I need something to whine about, so here goes: Just when I think that a lot of Eagle fans can't get any dumber, they boo a quarterback who worked his ass off to be ready to play this year. Yes, McNabb looked rusty the first two weeks. Not surprising, considering he was coming off career threatening knee surgery. But while most fans would try to get behind their star quarterback and pick him up, the idiots here boo him and call for Kevin Kolb. Yes, he also said that black quarterbacks get graded more harshly than their white counterparts. I tend to disagree, but so what? I could care less what my QBs opinions on social issues are, I just want him to throw the damn ball.

And throw the damn ball he did, for 381 yards and a perfect 158.3 QB rating. I wonder what the idiots said then. "Feeley woulda thrown for 500." If you morons want to see what a crappy quarterback dragging down a good team looks like, look at Chicago. Otherwise, either get behind your quarterback (the best, mind you, in the history of the franchise) or find a new team. This is precisely the reason that, while I never find a silver lining in a Phillies loss, the silver lining when the Eagles lose is that the jackass fans will be miserable for the next week.
RELATED: Remember last year, when the idiots cheered when Garcia got hurt? Then paid $125 for his jersey three weeks later? Fair weathered fans are the koolest!
RELATED: The 700 level calls fans idiots as well.

If you haven't already, read a bit about the Mets latest meltdown, as they blew a three run lead in the 9th. Here's some fun comments from the hairy necks on metsblog.com as Mets fans watched their team meltdown last night:
If there ever was a playoff “poser” the Mets are certainly it.
Somebody please explain to me what’s going on.
I’ve never seen a team with less heart. Period.
shameful
We don’t deserve the playoffs. Period.
Well as usual the Phillies come from behind to WIN and the Mets come from ahead to LOSE!!!
This loss may be the final nail in our coffin.
Words can’t describe what I’m feeling right now. Pain, anguish, anger, sorrow, and physically ill.
they don’t deserve to go the playoffs; let’s go phillies
GAME OVER. SEASON OVER. Phillies In. Mets Out. Biggest collapse ever.
How does one get Phillies Playoff tickets?

Let me just say, it will be a cold day in hell when I or any Phils fan finds themselves rooting for the Mets, no matter how bad things get. But the hairy necks aren't scared to pull a Benedict Arnold when the going gets rough. Btw, if the Mets do blow the lead, it will be the biggest collapse since the '64 Phillies. No-one has ever blown a 7 game lead with 17 games to play.

ONE AND A HALF GAMES, METS FANS!!! I bet your hairy necks are sweating now. Great win last night for the Phils, highlighted by another Met meltdown. If we take the division and the Mets don't make the playoffs, it will go down in history right up there with the '64 Phils. No team has ever blown a 7 game lead with 17 to play, which the Mets will do if they blow it. Dunno if you stayed up last night to watch, but my boy came through in the clutch, and I have thus decided to write him a short letter. Here goes.

Dear Rod,

I am sorry for the way I have treated you over the months. Please be aware that much of it was just frustration over the way that our dumbass GM had treated Chris Coste. That being said, I knew there was only one thing that would allow me to get over what you did against the Marlins when you let Ramirez slide through your legs. And that is what you did last night. Pressure packed situation, two strikes, and you pierce one up the middle. The city welcomes you back into it's collective bosom. And now, I think i should express my newfound feelings for Rod in song:
We sailed on together
We drifted apart
And here you are by my side

So now I come to you, with open arms
Nothing to hide, believe what I say
So here I am with open arms
Hoping you'll see what your love means to me
Open arms

David Akers is thus far having a really nice season.

Came up with a good nickname for Adam Eaton last night. Did you ever see the movie The Cooler, where William Macy plays a guy who, when someone gets hot on the craps tables, goes over and touches them and cools off their hot streak? Well, The Cooler is the perfect nickname for Adam Eaton, who is guaranteed to cool off the Phils every time they threaten to get hot. Of course, this nickname could also apply to every single pitcher we have besides Kendrick, Hamels, and JC Romero. Here's Bob Ford telling us what we already knew:
The Phillies' starters, as a unit, aren't capable of producing the kind of stretch the team will need eventually - even just to sneak into the postseason. Nearly anything is possible in baseball if you watch long enough, but waiting for the Phils to win eight out of 10 with this pitching staff would be asking for a very long wait...That means there is nothing to do now but wait the wait, watch the games fall slowly off the schedule, with a win here, maybe a couple, here a loss, here another, until the team comes to rest somewhere right around 85 wins, same as last season. In the hunt, but just behind the baying pack. It will be another solemn end, and another year tacked to the lengthening string of frustration. But at least everyone concerned is used to it.
RELATED: JGT discusses Phils and Iggles in today's Metro.

In an effort to lower the team's ERA, the Phils have decided to trade Tom Gordon to a tee ball team in Newark, Delaware, in exchange for a tee. "We felt like we needed to upgrade our bullpen, and we think that acquiring this tee does that," said general manager Pat Gillick. The Ducks of the Newark tee ball league were overjoyed by the trade. "We think that Tom will be teach some of the younger players the difference between 3rd base and the pitching rubber," said Slim Widgeon, coach of the Ducks. "More importantly, in tee ball, the pitcher doesn't have to actually pitch, so we don't think that Tom will be able to hurt us in that department."

The move was seen as a PR move by the Phils, as the tee has never beaten it's wife or set any Venezuelans on fire. The Phillies also traded Antonio Alfonseca to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival for an interpretive dancer who specializes in "bringing moonbeams to life."

-This amazing sentence comes from LJ Smith: This is a big test for me to see where my groin's going to be. Um, LJ, you're groin is going to be in the same place it always was. Or do some U.S. Americans not have groins? Oh, and I love the fact that today in Philly the most blue collar, football crazy hardasses will be spending their afternoon discussing another man's groin.

-This just in: There is no such thing as momentum. The Phillies since sweeping the Mets: 2-3. The Mets since being swept: 5-0. And oh, by the way, if we do make the playoffs and Cole doesn't come back, what would be our three man rotation? Kendrick, Lohse, Moyer? Wow.

-Chipper Jones had this to say after last night's loss: Waaaaaaaa! I want my binkie! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

-The feud between Comcast and the Big Ten Network over who gets to show Big 10 games is getting pretty heated. Always fun to see heavyweights mixing it up.

-Speaking of heavyweights, the annual showdown between Temple and Buffalo, by far the two worst teams in D-I college football, takes place this weekend. And for the first time since 1793, Temple is favored to win a football game.

Season over. Screw the Phillies. The Phillies always blow the businessman special games. Always.
UPDATE: Uh, yeah, scratch that. I'm an idiot. What a win! What a win! Paul Lo Duca sucks! Hahahahahaha! And we own Billy Wagner! Could someone please check on Palestra Jon? I just wanna make sure he doesn't do anything drastic. Hey Mets fans, enjoy the trip back on the Turnpike tonight! Hope traffic isn't too bad. Haha, just kidding. I hope traffic sucks.

ABOUT THE MANAGER:
He never challenges umps, he tries to keep this even keel attitude and I believe in the process has made this team chumps in big spots.

(He) is one of the worst 5 managers in baseball. He can't handle a pitching staff.

where the hell is the focus or for that matter the coaching?

ABOUT THE GM:
he made horrific trades, he is an overrated GM.

ABOUT THE TEAM:
I can't believe this.. .... I can't allow this team to do this to me anymore. I have never in my life watched a more frustrating team.

this team has no heart.

Looks like we're headed for a total meltdown.

just sickening...win a god damn game!

My god, how painful can this get....

Is it football season yet??

Where did these lines come from? Me on Sunday, after we had lost 4 of 6 to the Padres and the Dodgers and saw our season slipping away? I said some similar things, but no, these are lines from Metsblog.com , as they saw their season going to hell. The only thing sweeter than winning three straight is winning three straight over the Mets and their obnoxious fans, then sitting back and enjoying as they turn on their own! The games of the last two nights have been things of beauty, and if we can stay hot, this city is gonna go nuts. Oh, and good news, Phillies fans, I WILL NOT BE AT TODAY'S BUSINESSMAN'S SPECIAL. With the team's 2-10 record with me in attendance, I have decided to stay away from the ballpark and give them a chance to win today's game. You're welcome.

A'ight, I'm headed off to CB Park to watch a little baseball. Last night's 15-3 is meaningless. Win today and we take the series. But it don't look good. As the moderately insane are quite aware, the Phillies always s*** the bed in the businessman's special. And we've got Fabio Castro making his first start, and I'm not feeling real good about that. This is was the perfect opportunity for a fan group, though. Fabio's Castros, a group of guys with all green fatigues and long beards. Or Fabio's Fabios, a group of meatheads in pink shirts who have long, gorgeous golden locks
P.S. Keep those worst sequels coming! Yes, you may post more than one. We'll vote next week.

An inmate has filed a $63,000,000,000 BILLION (Is that $63 billion billion?) dollar lawsuit against Michael Vick and claims that Vick stole two of his pit bulls and then sold them on EBay and then used the money to buy missiles from Iran. You know, I've heard that Tom Brady buys missiles from the oppresive Saudi regime, but I guess that because they're our "allies", it makes it ok. Or is it because the NFL doesn't like black quarterbacks buying missiles from the MIddle East, but is OK with white quarterbacks buying missiles from the Middle East?

Now that the NFL has decided to become the judge, jury, and executioner of morally deficient players in the NFL, it's time to ask the question: When does Tom Brady start his suspension? After all, what is morally more reprehensible than a guy leaving his girlfriend immediately upon finding out she is pregnant, being seen with a new girlfriend a few weeks later, and then having friends spread rumors that she got pregnant on purpose to keep him around? Is the NFL really adding "morality police" to its resume in an effort to clean up its game, or is this an excuse to kick out players that don't fit its image of what they want an NFLer to be, while giving their "Golden Boy" a free pass? And here's the other question: why weren't the radio airwaves burning up with people condemning Brady after he behaved in this fashion?

It was, all in all, a fairly majestic moment, regardless of how you feel about Barry Bonds. He got The Natural treatment, fireworks exploding as he circled the bases. But for most baseball fans outside of San Francisco, it was a bittersweet moment at best, a sad recognition that a classy warrior like Hank Aaron was being passed by an arrogant ass who had used steroids to improve his power.

But baseball has always been a game filled with cheaters. In fact, it is part of what we celebrate about the game. Pitchers have used Vaseline on the tips of their caps since they invented Vaseline, and used a nail files for reasons that had nothing to do with manicuring. Phillies pitcher Kevin Gross was suspended for 10 games in 1987 for having sandpaper in his glove. In 1961, Norm Cash won the AL batting championship with a .361 batting average, way above his career average. After he retired, he admitted that he had corked his bat that year. In the late 1960s, the Chicago White Sox kept their baseballs in a humidor for weeks, so that they would be heavy and help their pitchers. If a grounds crews doesn't soak the area around first base when a renowned base stealer has come to town, it's not doing it's job, and in the 1950s the Phillies grounds crew added a little incline to the third base line, so Rickie Ashburn's numerous bunts would all stay fair. Hell, last year, Kenny Rogers was shown to have stick 'em on his pitching hand when he shut down the Yankees in the ALDS.

My favorite sports blog in Philadelphia is undoubtedly Beerleaguer. The guys on there really know their baseball, and commiserating and cheering with them through the ups and downs of this incredibly ulcer inducing season has been a lot of fun. And a glimpse at the comments in yesterday's thread could tell you the angst, inherent sarcasm, and exultation of what it's like to be a Phillies fan better than just about any other writing could. It is borderline poetic. I picked out the ones that told the story from beginning to end as we all experienced it while watching the Phillies coming back from being down 6-0 late in the game and posted them below. Enjoy.

Harry Kalas: "Rocky Cherry is in the on deck circle."

Basically anything Harry says for the rest of this game concerning Rocky Cherry will be my new favorite sentence.

UPDATE: I have decided to start the Philadelphia chapter of the Rocky Cherry fan club. Just drop a line in the comment section if you want to join my new club.
UPDATE, PT II: Rocky Cherry just grounded out to first in his first ever ML at bat.

I never buy the Daily News, I just check it out online. But on my way back from the bar last night, I saw the fresh papers going out and A) there was something kind of exciting of grabbing one "hot off the presses" and B) Chris Coste was the sports cover, and like every male fan the Phillies have, I have a man crush on Chris Coste. It's pretty cool that we live in Philly at a time when the Phillies have A) their greatest first baseman of all time B) their greatest second baseman of all time C) arguably their best shortstop of all time and D) We get to see the Chris Coste drama unfold. This is the most Hollywood story in this town since Papale, complete with an entire city that gets behind him and teammates who constantly come to his defense, and who were rumored to be crying when he was demoted last time. Of course, every great Hollywood story needs an antagonist. Eagerly providing it for this story is evil General Manager Pat Gillick, played by a sneering Crimson Tide style Gene Hackman. Will Coste send us to the playoffs with a huge hit in September? Or will the evil General Manager demote him because of his foolish pride? Stay tuned.

(And a quick piece of advice, Mr. Gillick. If you do send Coste back down to the minors again, I would suggest that you invest in some Aloha shirts that won't stain when splattered by eggs.)

Well, gang, it's just about time to start waiting till next year. Only the Phillies can blow a 3 run lead in the 7th and not have that be the bad news. Yep, Chase Utley's hand is broken, though the Phillies say it's not that bad. Not bad. Kind of like Freddie Garcia's arm, Brett Myers arm, Flash Gordon's arm, etc, etc, etc. He's done for at least a month. Our #2 starter has an ERA of almost 6, and if you asked our bullpen to prevent Lindsay Lohan from joining a convent, they would probably blow it. At this point, you trade Rowand for some decent young arms that you can season for next year; you trade Barajas for a Slim Jim and a bottle of Banker's Club Gin; and you hire out our entire bullpen to dress up as clowns for kid's parties. Anybody else got any ideas or wanna commiserate?

...could somebody remind me why Michael Vick is the worst person to ever walk the planet and horse racing gets off scott free? Much to her horror, Deibel learned that each year tens of thousands of healthy horses, including thoroughbreds that didn't fare well on the track like Maddie, 0-for-3 with career earnings of $120 racing as Secret Haughway, are bought for a few hundred dollars and slaughtered for meat for human consumption in countries such as France, Belgium, Italy and Japan. Again, I am not standing up for Michael Vick, but I do find it interesting that one type of animal that depends on humans can get killed for not performing and it's no problem, but if another type gets killed, it is a national outrage. It couldn't be the difference in the types of people raising, betting on, and killing the animals. Could it?
RELATED: Thousands of horses killed when they don't run fast enough.

I was at the historic game and it was, well, really not that fun. I mean, baseball games are always fun in a certain sense, because they are a good excuse to spend a little QT with your peoples. But the action on the field was terrible, and it was humid enough that the crowd didn't really seem to get excited about the 10,000 losses And to be honest, it was one of the most pathetic performances I've ever seen this team give on the field. It was the first time I've ever left a baseball game before the final out. With it 10-0 in the 7th, after the Cards 6th home run, I couldn't stomach anymore. However, I do think it's worth noting that the following people were part of the 10,000th loss: Jose Mesa, who pitched a perfect inning. Scott Rolen, who still gets booed loudly every time he bats. And home plate umpire Jim Wolf, who is Randy Wolf's brother, called balls and strikes for the 10,000th. And for the first time probably ever, a used Phillies ticket will be worth something on ebay. Final little fun fact: The Phillies 10,000th loss was the first Phillies loss in Lucia Marie's life. It's been reported that she cried and cried all night long after the loss.
RELATED: My column in the Metro about 10,000.

A thrilling race in my native Nassawadox (population 572) on the morning of July 4th. I had a little much to drink the night before, and didn't get much sleep, but that's when I race my best. The bets were as follows: $20 on whether I could do the 2.5 mile race in under 21 minutes, and $5 each on the two girls (above, with my gambling buddies dad). I started slow, but that's how I always start. With just over a half mile to run, I made my move, and found myself catching my buddy Gerald, a small forward on my high school b-ball team. We turned the corner neck and neck and headed down the homestretch. With about 100 yards to go, I tried to put it in overdrive. Bad move. Gerald was a track star in high school, and looks exactly the same now as he did then. He blew by me and beat me by about fifteen feet. However, that little burst at the end brought me in at 20:50, and I won the $30, though my buddy Frank says he needs to make some phone calls before he gives me the money.And the postscript: I am gonna be on Ibuprofrin for th erest of the day. I can barely move.

I made a remark on Beerleaguer a few days ago that watching Ryan Howard was like watching The Natural: every at bat is either a home run or a strikeout. Well, the stats bear me out, though he does mix in a walk every now and again. In the past year, Howard has had three games in which he had four strikeouts and a home run. No player in the last 50 years has had three games like that in a career.

For some reason, Pat Gillick has it in for Chris Coste. The real life Rocky who gave the Phillies amazing at bats in their late season run last year was brushed aside so that the Phillies could pay $2 million on a catcher who is, without question, the worst at his position in baseball. Then, Coste came up a couple of months ago when Ryan Howard went down. He gave the Phillies some solid at bats, then was unceremoniously dumped to Reading. So what will happen now that Werth is on the DL and Coste has been called up? He will probably hit .333, throw out a few runners, and then be sent back to Reading so that Barajas can hit .209, not throw anybody out, and have runners slide through his legs. It makes perfect sense.

Lots of Phillies stuff to talk about. Our dreadful bullpen blew it again last night. I am no longer on the Charlie-hater bandwagon. I have decided to devote all of my energy to the Pat Gillick hater bandwagon. For him to pretend like we didn't need bullpen help desperately, and instead spend his extra money on the worst catcher in baseball and the worst 3rd baseman in baseball is absolutely pathetic. I don't get mad at Charlie most of the time when it comes to pulling pitchers anymore b/c he is always facing a double edged sword: tired starter or dreadful bullpen? And that is entirely Gillick's fault. And he refuses to actually work to find a young guy with potential in somebodies pen and make a trade. Why bother, when you can just pick up Jose Mesa?

*Bill Conlin today says Charlie is to be commended for the job he's done thus far.

*My man D-Mac has a cover story about 10,000 losses. Good article, especially the opening.

*Sports Illustrated gives us the lovable loser treatment in their handling of the 10,000 losses. You have to read some of the great Phillie quotes over the years. Hilarious.

Apparently that crazed bus passenger was unable to convince me to stay away from the businessman special. To make it even more obvious that they're gonna lose big, they are throwing out a pitcher with a 4-7 record...in AA ball. Oh, and just to top it all off, the Phils have lost by a combined score of 21-3 at the last two games I've attended. This should be good. Oh well, at least I can get a Schmitter.
RELATED: Follow game with Beerleaguer.

By now, many of you have probably already seen the NY Times piece about the hapless Phils. It is a rehashing of a story everyone has heard 1,000 times about how bad the organization is and has been. But the "first pro sports team to 10,000" mark, while fun to celebrate, is completely meaningless. Baseball plays 10 times as many games in a season as football, and twice as many as the NHL and NBA. Not to mention that the NBA, NFL, and NHL were all started at least 40 years after Major League baseball kicked off. So the only teams you can compare them to are the teams that came into the league around the same time as they did (1883). The Braves (1876) are second in losses with 9,668. But they have 17 pennants, compared to our five. The hapless Cubs came in the league seven years earlier than us and still have a lot less losses, with 9,416. Fighting for 4th losingest of all time are the Pirates (1882) with 9,328 losses and the Reds (1882) with 9,325. Pretty fascinating that two teams that came into the league in the same year have essentially the same number of losses. Strangely, the Reds have 43 more wins. (All time records courtesy of baseball-reference.com)

And least we have a World Series win. That's something that fans of the Rockies, Astros, Padres, Mariners, Devils Rays, Rangers, and Expos/Nationals can't say. And there are other teams who, by a more fair measure, are less succesfull. The Rangers (.467), the Rockies (.466), the Padres (.462), and the Devil Rays (.400) all have lower winning percentages than us.
RELATED: Fascinating facts about Phillie futility.

Don't feel bad. Pat Burrell is a really tough out, and teams have struggled all year to hit Adam Eaton. Braw-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
RELATED: Phils sweep Mets, will now lose 2 of 3 to the Royals, the 2nd worst team in baseball. Come on, you know they will. Damn this team!

Today would be the birthday of one of the most interesting players in baseball history, Eddie Gaedel. At 3'6" tall, he was by far the shortest player ever to play in a major league game. St. Louis Brown owner Bill Veeck talks about the genesis of one of his wildest stunts ever.
"Eddie," I said gently, "I'm going to be up on the roof with a high-powered rifle watching every move you make. If you so much as look as if you're going to swing, I'm going to shoot you dead."

Where I will drink too much beer, eat too much junk food, and yell vociferously at our moron manager while sitting in the rain. And not wanna be anywhere else. Go Phils!

This is an updated tweaking of a story I did last year. Bonds and the Giants visit town this weekend. Philadelphia is the city that should be most ashamed of the way it treats Barry Bonds, because they are the most hypocritical about it. This is a city that prides itself on loving athletes who do whatever it takes to win, and yet when an athlete comes in here that has done everything possible, within the rules of the sport, to make himself better, he gets roundly booed. Bonds would be given a standing ovation by the fans of Philadelphia if their actions backed up their words. As it is, they are all just boorish jerks looking for an excuse to boo.

Barry Bonds did steroids. So what? David Bell did steroids, and he was still the worst player in the history of the game. And let's face it; was it not brutally obvious that Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were on the juice during that great chase of '98 that gave us all the fuzzies? So why does Barry not get treated like the star athlete that he is when he comes to Philly? Because he doesn't operate under a facade of niceness, b/c his p.r. people don't tell him to offer up a bunch of b.s. about "taking it one day at a time" and giving "110 percent"? You people always complain about how boring athletes are, then you get a guy who speaks his mind and you decide to hate him. Ridiculous double standard.

But what this really comes down to is the rules. Should Cy Young be villified b/c he was allowed to throw the spitball, which is now against the rules? No, so why should Bonds be villified for using steroids at a time when they were not only legal in baseball, but encouraged? It's obvious that McGuire woulda never hit all those homers and gotten all those endorsement deals without the help of steroids, so why should Bonds be treated any differently than McGuire? The fact that baseball encouraged steroid use is baseball's fault, not Bonds's fault. He saw an opportunity to improve his game, and make himself better and his team better. And he did so in a way that he knew could potentially hurt his own health. He did what all the great ones do: He put it all on the line to improve his game within the framework of the rules. And you people, who call yourselves baseball fans, continue to boo him.