Okay, that was just the Birds fan in me gloating a bit. The real story of the evening was Brian Dawkins’ induction into the Eagles Hall of Fame.
Last spring, the nine-time Pro Bowl safety walked away from the game he revolutionized and brought to a close a truly remarkable career.
For 16 years, Dawkins roamed the NFL’s proverbial outfield like a ticking time bomb, daring quarterbacks to throw the ball anywhere within his jurisdiction. He finished his career with more than 25 sacks and more than 35 interceptions, joining an elite few in the NFL’s history who have accomplished that feat.
More importantly, Dawkins was the unquestioned team leader of an Eagles franchise that dominated the NFC East for much of the last decade and made a trip to the Super Bowl in 2005.
A great player on the field, Dawkins was an even greater person off of it. He was one of the few out-of-town professional athletes in Philadelphia who truly understood the passion, intensity and expectations of its fan base.
During the Eagles-Giants game on Sunday, the team he carried honored him in the best way they could. Dawkins’ signature No. 20 jersey was retired and an enormous mural was unveiled at the northern end of the stadium.
In football, jerseys don’t often get retired. With 53 men to fill out a roster every year, there are already limited options when it comes to picking digits. Dawkins hasn’t even been out of the league for a year yet.
As the current Eagles players took the field on Sunday night, “Weapon X” (as Dawkins was called) did one more “transformation” dance out of the team tunnel. Donning the very jersey he graced for 13 years in Philadelphia, Dawkins crawled, shook and danced his way towards the 50-yard line to a thunderous roar from the Philly faithful.
At halftime, Dawkins got to say thank you one more time as his honorary mural was officially unveiled.
The emotion he played with has not left him and his passion for the game is still evident. He was a privilege to watch for all NFL fans, and his punishing playing style may never be seen again in light of the new player safety measures taken by the NFL.
The Eagles won a nail-biter, 19-17, but Brian Dawkins was the real winner that night.
Courtesy of nhl-red-light.si.com Donald Fehr, the NHL Players’ Association’s representative, addresses the press at a news conference.
Julian Dorey Writer
Just when you thought the National Hockey League had learned its lesson, it struck again.
After seven years of tirelessly rebuilding a sport crushed by the lockout of 2004-05, the league has decided it is necessary to walk down the potentially long lockout road once again. Last week, after a summer of ultimately meaningless talks between the league owners and the Players Association, the owners officially locked the players out.
Why?
When the 2004-05 lockout washed out the entire season, the NHL lost TV sponsorship deals, millions of dollars and millions of fans. It has taken game-enhancing rule changes, exciting new features (like the Winter Classic) and tireless effort from everyone involved with the NHL to bring hockey back within range of its pre-2004 popularity.
Now the NHL is willing to throw all that work away for a few dollars and cents. Frankly, the numbers, demands and disagreements don’t even matter. In the end, everyone involved with the league is making a ton of money and that’s never going to change. What does matter is the stigma the league is willing to create.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. The fans aren’t going to be fooled twice. They are going to look at this situation and see a bunch of prima donnas who can’t figure out how to get along and split millions of dollars fairly every few years.
It may only be September now, but with the lockout officially underway and no urgency emanating from either side to sit down and negotiate, this work-stoppage seems like it could last a while.
The Players’ Association’s representative, Donald Fehr, used to be the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. His hard-line tactics have been notoriously scrutinized for years–and he does not appear to have outgrown them.
On the other side, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has been running the business since 1993 and has never allowed intense discontent from NHL players to faze him. Much like Fehr, Bettman’s attitude has always been “my way or the highway.” The head-butting that could ensue between the two faces of the respective parties has Vegas booking better and better odds that the season could be cancelled. Again.
The overarching outside opinion is that these guys need to do themselves a favor and get a deal done quickly. Just don’t count me in as being optimistic about that happening.
Enough is enough. The story that wasn’t supposed to be a big deal is now one of the biggest deals.
The National Football League’s replacement referees are single-handedly making a mockery out of America’s most popular sport.
You can’t blame them. They’ve been put in an unwinnable situation. In fact, you should give them some props. They have voluntarily subjected themselves to national jeering by signing on to help the NFL owners get through their ridiculous penny-scratching labor dispute with the real refs: the pros.
It’s time for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to save these guys from continued embarrassment and, more importantly, it’s time for him to do something smart for a change. I’m not sure I can remember a commissioner in one of the four major sports who was as unpopular as Goodell has become through the past few years.
This debacle certainly has not helped.
Let’s take a step back for a second. Who ever thought we would actually be picketing to get the NFL refs on the field? Isn’t there an old saying that the zebras are always the fans’ least favorite players? Yet here we are, begging them to come back.
If and when they return this season, everything will probably return to normal. Fans will quickly transition back and rid their minds of the blip that was the 2012 NFL Referees Association lockout. They’ll intensely scrutinize the very professionals they banged the doors down for. Every holding call against their team will be met with a complaint, and there will be no such thing as a pass interference penalty on their team’s defensive backs. But despite it all, fans will eventually get over just about every call against their team, and they’ll all be able to turn on the games every Sunday without their first thoughts being about the guys who aren’t there to win or lose.
Once the season is over, plenty will reflect on replacement refs with disdain. But it will simply be a very small wound in an incredible nine-plus decade old NFL history book.
Regardless, let’s hurry up and get out of this situation while it’s still a small wound. God forbid this turns into a season-long nightmare culminating with a Super Bowl result that leaves fans wondering if the champions won fair and square or whether they were benefactors of terrible officiating.
Right now, I’m watching games like the Broncos-Falcons Monday Night game that featured players hitting referees, veterans taking advantage of the “just don’t call anything that’s going to be controversial” attitude of most of the replacement refs and middle-school referees calling billion-dollar NFL franchises “red,” referring to the Falcons.
The NFL is too popular to have its headlines dominated by guys who aren’t playing, coaching, managing or owning. This “replacement ref concept” that is reminiscent of an officiating version of the Gene Hackman and Keanu Reeves’ film, “The Replacements,” should be nothing more than a decent idea for a daytime TV movie on Lifetime, not an actual course of action for the highest-grossing professional sports league in America.
Just for our viewing sanity, the madness has to end, and soon.
The most damning stat from the 2011 NFL regular season is 8-8.
That was the final record of the so-called “dream team”–the Philadelphia Eagles.
The dream team was as doomed as a runaway train from the very beginning. The moment an unproven squad puts the proverbial target on their back, that’s usually it.
The Eagles were no exception. They stumbled out of the gate to a 1-4 record, and a couple of Michael Vick injuries and brain freeze moments later, they fell flat on their faces with an out-of-contention, 8-8 finish.
You could say this year is the “make-or-break” year for the Birds. It could be Vick’s last shot to prove he can stay healthy and lead a contending team deep into January. It could be Andy Reid’s disappointing curtain call after 14 years if the Eagles aren’t around for the postseason. It could be DeSean Jackson’s one and only chance to win back some of the “haters” he garnered in the city of brotherly love because of the many issues he carried onto the football field amidst his contract dispute last year.
It could even be a season ending with a parade down Broad Street.
A week one win over the Browns doesn’t score the team anything more than a pat on the back and a “good luck next week,” though. Besides, after a bumpy preseason featuring two Vick injuries and the death of Andy Reid’s son, Garrett, the team looked very sloppy in victory.
For the first time in many years, Philadelphia fans don’t have any idea what they have. When this offense clicks, it’s hard to find a better one in the NFL. They can beat you with speed, they can beat you deep, they can beat you on the ground and they can beat you with off-the-wall play.
But if the mental mistakes creep in like they did last year–dropped passes, tons of turnovers (something that happened once again against Cleveland), poor third down play calling, Vick’s unwillingness to slide at the end of plays)–they could be just another disappointing means to an end.
The defense could be a lot better with Pro Bowl middle linebacker, DeMeco Ryans, there to sure up the middle of the field. Or, it could be much of the same if the 28-year-old Ryans truly isn’t the same player after his 2010 Achilles injury. For what it’s worth, he looked very comfortable against the Browns’ inept offense.
This year is pretty much a mulligan for the boys in green. After failing miserably last season, no major changes occurred. In fact, quite the opposite. Reid has been given a “do-over,” straight from the mouth of owner Jeffrey Lurie. Players like Trent Cole, Evan Mathis, Todd Herremans, LeSean McCoy and even Jackson were given the extensions and financial security they all clearly desired. Even Juan Castillo, former offensive line coach and now defensive coordinator, has been given second life.
That’s a lot of leeway to go around, which makes this season all the more important.
The preseason already seemed to have an underlying ominous tone, as Vick couldn’t even stay on the field for a quarter at a time–let alone a game at a time. It’s a “live-and-die-by-the-quarterback” league, and the Eagles can’t afford to have Vick out for a few games at a time. Great teams need continuity and Vick has to find a way to give his locker room that this year.
The Eagles might be equipped with the best all-around running back in football: McCoy. Despite the blow of losing All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters to an Achilles injury in the off-season, Eagles fans can expect big things out of the electrifying 24-year-old they call “Shady.” However, it’s DeSean “all eyes on me” Jackson who fans are really going to be judging this year.
Jackson exploded onto the scene immediately during his rookie campaign in 2008. Within a year he was a triple-threat Pro Bowler who could beat just about anyone in a footrace. Last year, he had serious problems because of his aforementioned contract dispute. As a result, his season stat line was the worst since his rookie year and his mind-blowing mental errors cost the Eagles dearly throughout the year.
Despite the negative press Jackson brought upon himself, the organization decided to believe in the usually up-beat 25-year-old and gave him a five-year, $51 million contract. With his financial worries behind him, it’s time for Jackson to light up the highlight reel like he did for the first three years of his career.
It’s talent like the combination of Vick, McCoy and Jackson that makes analysts continue to show some faith in the Eagles’ Super Bowl chances. But talent only takes you so far; they need to win.
The Eagles are still “on the clock,” but it’s time for them to nut up or shut up–because this roster will assuredly be clocked out if they can’t make some serious noise this year.
Major League Baseball’s National League-leading Washington Nationals have made it official: Stephen Strasburg, their ace pitcher, will be shut down following his Sept. 12 start.
What?
Has anyone ever heard of a contending team, let alone a team with the best record in the league, pulling the plug on their best player’s season right when the playoffs are set to begin?
This is madness.
Strasburg is a strikeout machine who has helped the young Nationals make a monumental climb in the standings after years of living in the cellar. Strasburg, the number one overall pick in the 2009 MLB draft, exploded onto the Major League scene during his rookie year in 2010, but tore elbow ligaments before finishing his initial campaign. As a result, he had to get the infamous Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for a year.
Before this season began, the Nationals were adamant about holding him to a count of around 160 innings pitched because of his medical issue. They maintained that his season would end once he reached that point.
Strasburg has reported no discomfort in his elbow this season. He has pitched very well, his innings pitched per start have been held below six and his team is in the thick of a heated pennant race.
Considering all of that, you would think that maybe the Nationals would stop playing the over-cautious, doctor-parent role and reevaluate the situation. Nope.
Manager Davey Johnson and General Manager Mike Rizzo have repeatedly insulted the intelligence of baseball’s fans by claiming that Strasburg needs to be shut down due to the best interests of the team’s future. Moreover, they believe if they don’t end his season when he reaches the limit, his elbow could give out.
Yeah, okay.
First of all, what does innings pitched have to do with anything? Last I checked, pitchers who throw five innings with 110 pitches labor more than those who throw the nine inning, 90-pitch gems.
Secondly, what does that say to the rest of the team? There is a club house of 40-some odd guys who have worked their tails off all year to put the Nationals in a position to possibly win a World Series. Apparently, Johnson and Rizzo have no problems whatsoever telling these guys that all of their work doesn’t matter because the team can’t afford to risk the future.
Stop it.
You know who waits around for the future? People who don’t have anything. When a businessman has a chance to get promoted, he doesn’t turn it down because he thinks the opportunity will come again when he’s more prepared. Instead, he pounces on it and makes everything he can of the chance.
This travesty isn’t just an insult to Strasburg’s teammates. It’s an insult to the team’s fans who finance the entire operation by showing up to games. It’s an insult to other teams in the league due to the Nationals’ sheer disregard for the unwritten rules of competition and it’s an insult to the game itself for all of the previous reasons combined.
Hey Mike and Davey: man up. Stop making yourselves believe the lies you’re spewing out every day. Everyone and their mother knows neither of you are doctors.
Protect the integrity of the game that has been shattered far too many times in the last decade. Let him play.
Dwight Howard got what he wanted. It’s a sad indictment on sports in general when players like Howard methodically and manically use their star-status to get their way.
But that’s just what he did.
For one full year, Howard made the Orlando Magic a lame duck. With no other star power to speak of on the roster, the Magic’s championship hopes were not good. However, with a 26-year-old franchise big man like Howard, the Magic’s front office should have had the opportunity to bide their time and wait for the right time to grab the one or two players who could put them into contention.
Instead, the Magic sit at square one today.
They have a new coach, a new GM, a new president, and many new, young, and very unproven players who have been thrust into a situation almost certainly destined for failure.
You can safely attribute the blame for everything in that regrettable laundry list to Howard.
As a player, I don’t doubt Howard’s talent. He’s a freakishly athletic center who can jump higher than most swingmen and take over any game because of his size. As a person, he’s probably a decent man. Let’s be honest, the guy is always smiling when you see him on camera. He’s a proven jokester, and he seemed to be very close with many of his teammates until he started his shenanigans last summer.
At this point, none of that really matters. He might be a great player with some decent personality traits, but above all, Dwight Howard is a baby.
It’s true, Carmelo Anthony held Denver hostage and Deron Williams did the same to Utah–but their teams were able to trade them to a team that offered them the best deal. Their teams didn’t have all their secretive organizational dirty laundry aired in the tabloids every day for a year. As a result, their teams actually kept their executive personnel and at least kept some continuity.
Howard tried to commandeer the ship. When the Magic’s owner, Richard DeVos, tried to convince Howard to sign an extension and stay in Orlando early last season, Dwight tried to coerce the big man into giving him (a player) the power to replace the GM with a person of his liking, to pick out other players around the NBA that he wanted the team to trade for and to fire the head coach (one of his other bosses), Stan Van Gundy. Oh, and Dwight also said that if he did get traded–he would only sign an extension with one or two teams. In essence, Dwight basically asked DeVos if he could just play owner instead.
All of the ridiculous tidbits of this drama found their way to the media and wrecked relationships within the franchise past the point of repair.
Unfortunately, he is a microcosm of the culture the NBA and other professional sports are creating. The players don’t just “play” anymore. If anyone had any doubts, I think Howard just removed them.
Bon voyage, Dwight. Let us know just how nice L.A. is when you don’t win the big one.
There are plenty of cliché quotes in sports. One that I hear (and say) seemingly every April is: “There’s nothing like playoff hockey.”
What does that really mean, though? All four major sports have a postseason, and all of them are exciting. So what is it about hockey?
It’s simple: a hockey game has the quickest ups and downs. Contrary to a sport like basketball, a goal in hockey means a lot. A simple basket in the NBA is just two or three points out of 100. In hockey, a goal might be one of two.
When you compare hockey to a sport like baseball, it’s easy to say baseball can be just as exciting—the final scores often look similar to hockey (4-3, 5-2, etc.). But in baseball, it’s very clear as to when a team can score: when it’s up to bat. In hockey, a power play for one team can easily culminate with an errant pass leading to a breakaway goal for the shorthanded team.
In the playoffs, especially—with blood pressure and nerves high, and tenacity at a new level—the typical NHL game is “back and forth.” Every time a player approaches the blue line fans move up in their seats a little bit. Each shot is met with some kind of verbal reaction. The nerves and emotions of every fan shift faster than the skates of every player on the ice.
There’s no other way to explain it. Playoff hockey brings something out of fans that no other sport can. If I had a nickel for every time I watched a playoff hockey game with a non-hockey fan and watched them slowly get into the game like it was life and death, I would be a millionaire.
Two years ago, an NHL team pulled off something in the playoffs that had been done only once in the history of any other sport (and just two previous times in hockey). The Philadelphia Flyers came back from a three game deficit to beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 in a best-of-seven-games series. What was even more shocking was the Flyers were down 3-0 in the first period of game seven in Boston and came back to win the game 4-3 in regulation. If that doesn’t get you going, I don’t know what does.
Results like that tend to make the case for me. And, trust me, there are plenty more great examples.
There are also the traditions. Perhaps the most well-known one is the playoff beard. Each spring, most of the NHL players in the playoffs relegate their razors to the bottom cabinet. It’s supposed to be a “team unity” thing or something. To most fans, it’s just another funky, off-beat part of the playoffs that adds a little flavor. By the conference finals, most of the remaining players look more like cavemen than athletes. It doesn’t seem to affect their play, though.
This year is already off to an incredible start. More than 10 games across all of the first round series have gone to overtime. Upsets are brewing everywhere.
The only thing that remains the same from last year is the feeling everyone gets watching the drama unfold.
It’s NHL playoff season and it has started rough. Rough for heartbroken fans, rough for the losing teams, and especially rough for the players at the mercy of the string of dirty hits and scrums that have defined the first round of playoffs. In the 28 post-season gamesthat were completed by Wednesday night, there were 1,006 penalty minutes, seven injuries caused by dirty plays and eight suspensions.
At the center of these controversies is the series between longstanding rivals the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins, whose Game Three resulted in 158 penalty minutes caused by a multitude of scrums, fights, and “chippy” plays. While Game Three stood out for its more-than-usual rowdiness, it wasn’t that far from the norm of recent Flyers-Penguins games. The next-to-last regular season match between the two concluded with an end-of-game brawl in which the coaches were climbing over their benches to yell at each other.
Games like these have created the need for the NHL to step in to try and take control of the situation by issuing fines and suspensions. Dirty plays and suspensions are nothing new to the game, but recent years have seen a rise in disputes over hits with intent to injure, such as knee-to-knee hits and “headshots.”
At the helm of this decision process is Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s Vice President of Hockey and Business Development and lead disciplinarian. Shanahan assesses plays in question based upon the extent of the victim’s injury, whether the play appeared intentional, and whether the player in question possesses a history of similar plays. Now, Shanahan is garnering some flack from fans who feel that the decision processes is flawed and uneven. Their main rallying point is one of the most controversial plays in the playoffs so far. In Game One of the Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings series, Predators captain Shea Weber checked veteran Red Wing Henrik Zetterberg into the boards and then proceeded to grab Zetterberg’s head and slam it into the glass, all of which occurred within the last seconds of the game. Zetterberg fell to the ice immediately, but with the protection of his helmet he sustained no injury. For this, Weber was only fined $2,500.
Fans are becoming more and more irked as they watch their teams’ players receive suspensions while others, like Weber don’t. Their annoyance deepens into anger when they see their favorite players injured by such play time and again.
When a game becomes marred by the loss of a favorite player to injury, or loss of respect for a favorite player who intentionally causes injury, it loses a bit of fun in watching the sport. The playoffs are inherently watched by a larger audience than regular season games, and the large amount of dirty play does nothing to dissuade those who only see hockey players as barbaric thugs on skates. NHL, it is your time to act!
John Calipari might be the most polarizing college basketball coach in the last 20 years. But, that doesn’t mean he’s not one of the best.
It does not matter what the court of public opinion might say about the man. He may not be morally strong or have ethics more respectable than a crook, but he is regardless one of the best.
Calipari does things his way. It’s a big reason why his previous two college head coaching positions, UMass and Memphis, had the dishonor of submitting to the NCAA and vacating wins and achievements from Calipari’s years there because of various violations.
Coach Cal, as his players call him, cares about one thing: basketball. He does not care about the idea of a “student-athlete.” He does not seem to care about NCAA rules. He does not seem to care about honor. The descriptive stories of the many egregious recruiting violations that have occurred under his watch are damning.
Above all, Calipari’s biggest lightning rod of criticism comes from his perpetual habit of recruiting “one-and-dones.” Ever since the NBA changed its age policy to require at least one year of college experience before going pro, Calipari has taken advantage of recruiting players with absolutely no interest in a college education. If you go to college, though, you have to participate in the academic part of it, and Calipari has yet to enforce that aspect. Coach Cal has even gone as far as convincing many of his first-years to leave college instead of trying to get them to come back. His sheer under-appreciation of the importance of education makes many college basketball purists squirm. Even longtime Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has openly questioned where Calipari’s beliefs will lead college basketball.
Calipari’s “one-and-done” system is bad for college basketball, but does not change the impressive results he obtains on the court. Two Mondays ago, Coach Cal earned his first-ever National Championship. With a starting lineup of three first-years and two sophomores, all expected to declare for this June’s NBA draft, Calipari’s Wildcats were the best team in college basketball all season.
More importantly, the team played the game the right way, a way that most basketball teams refuse to play anymore: everything started with defense. Behind Anthony Davis (the sure-fire number-one-overall pick in this year’s draft), Kentucky swarmed every team they played with feisty on-ball tactics and incredible blocking in the paint.
Throughout their six-game run in the NCAA tournament, the Wildcats were significantly smarter, faster and better than anyone they played. I might not like Calipari, but I have to give credit where it is due.
However, now that Calipari has won the big one, a question will float among the minds of every college basketball fan in America: What does this mean?
It’s a valid question. There’s a thin line between accomplishment and short-cutting. Through completely eliminating academics, Calipari is convincing talented—but young and academically unmotivated—players to come play for him. It has given him a leg up above other great programs in recruiting.
Now that he’s a champion, even more high school “one-and-dones” will want to play for him. It may only be a matter of time before other prestigious schools are forced to contend with Cal’s methods. That won’t be good for anyone.
For me, the real question is: Is it only what’s in the game that matters? Or, is it the pride, dignity, and honor that goes into playing the game in the first place that matters?
Calipari is a great basketball coach who is killing the student-athlete aspect of his game. If college basketball drops the college part of its name, what’s left?
The first pitch has hit the glove, and the 2012 MLB season is officially underway.
Every year there are big storylines going into the season. Players have new homes (Albert Pujols), teams have new looks (the Miami Marlins), and legends are replaced (Tony LaRussa). But this year, one story is staying under the radar.
The Philadelphia Phillies—one of the game’s great forces for the last five years—could be on the wrong side of a high incline hill. Even with the game’s best pitching rotation (highlighted by Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels), the Phillies enter this season with much lower expectations. Perhaps some of it has to do with the free-agency splash the Miami Marlins made and the young players entering the Majors for the Nationals (both teams in the NL East with the Phils). But most of it has to do with the one power no man can fight: father time.
The Phillies once “young-gun” core isn’t so young anymore. Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz are all 33, Ryan Howard is 32 and recovering from one of the most devastating injuries in sports (ruptured Achilles) and Shane Victorino is 31. The staples of the 2008 World Series Championship team and the 2009 runners-up are “up there.”
None of them have the same pop they once had. Many of their stats have declined in the last three seasons. Utley has cartilage damage in both knees which will cost him the beginning portion of his season. Howard’s Achilles injury may never allow him to hit the ball like he once did. Aging is a sad thing in sports, but it’s a reality.
Maybe the Phils have another fight or two left in them. Whenever you have pitching like they do, you always have a shot. But the name of the game is runs, and the Phillies don’t have a lot of forces to help them in that department. This year, they will need to rely on last year’s trade deadline pick-up, Hunter Pence, heavily. Without Howard for the first few months of the season, Pence (a career 20-25 HR hitter) will need to provide a little more power than usual in the cleanup spot. Role players like John Mayberry Jr., Juan Pierre, Laynce Nix and Ty Wigginton will need to put up some inflated numbers as well.
It’s a lot to ask of a team that simply lacks the edge it once had. Frankly, it’s sad that Philadelphia and America may have to say goodbye to a truly exciting team that gave the league a great thrill ride year in and year out.
