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Showing posts from February, 2006
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Variety of Dumb Comments in Philly Lately

Was it just me, or were the last five days filled with one idiotic comment after the other? Ed Snider, chairman of the 76ers, kicked things off Wednesday night. In an interview on 610 WIP he took offense to the suggestion of Glen Macnow that the Sixers would draw better if they were seen as title contenders. As quoted in Friday’s Inquirer, he said: “What you're saying to me is that if fans are not going to come out unless we win a championship, then we've got a real problem," Snider said. "Maybe we should move the franchise to a city that would really enjoy basketball." I don’t necessarily disagree with Snider’s sentiment. But . . . are ya kiddin’ Ed? How dumb was that to say out loud? Then I read Saturday’s paper in which Bryant Gumbel was quoted by David Aldridge as saying the following about the Winter Olympics: "So try not to laugh when someone says that these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Game

Winter Olympic Dullfest Nearly Over

Ok, so I’m not the only person not watching the Winter Olympics. The Inquirer’s Gail Shister did a piece in Thursday’s paper on the ridiculously low ratings NBC’s Olympic coverage has garnered. She offers plenty of reasons, including better counter-programming, too many NBC stations airing the games, the time difference causing prime-time coverage to consist of tape-delayed events, and poor performances by U.S. athletes. All great points. I just want to throw out another possibility: The events suck. I watched the speed skating Wednesday night. I’ve seen some of the ski jumps, bobsledding, downhills, and the long-distance / combination ski sports. (If I cared about the combo sports, I'd look up their actual names.) Except for the combo ski sports, they do look like they’d be incredibly fun sports to participate in. But they’re dreadful to watch . . . unless, quite frankly, someone wipes out. Take bobsledding, for example. It’s got to be an incredible rush to go hurling down that t

Both Papers Question Abreu’s Honesty

Today, both the Inquirer and Daily News questioned Phillies’ outfielder Bobby Abreu’s assertion upon arriving at Spring Training that he wasn’t offended by trade rumors surrounding him this off-season. One overriding thought has entered my mind after hearing so much this winter about Abreu’s sensitivities on the issue: Who cares? The Inquirer’s Jim Salisbury’s sarcastic “The winner for best actor in a trade drama is...” starts off with my favorite aspect of any newspaper article — conjecture, wrapped in bravado: Here's what we know: The Phillies tried to trade Abreu this winter. (Take that to the bank.) Abreu was ticked off about it. (Take that to your local branch, too.) Of course, none of the principals will admit to any of this. I’ll admit I’ve read quotes from other teams substantiating the trade rumors, but not in Salisbury’s column. So, ok, maybe columnists’ get away with pushing opinion as fact. But Salisbury goes beyond that: Abreu won't admit that he was disappointed,

Stephen A. Claims to Know A.I. Better than A.I.

Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer gave us another example of Stephen A. Smith looking into his crystal ball and calling it journalism. Smith once again claims that he knows that Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson wants out of town, despite the fact that Iverson denies it. Smith wrote: [Allen] Iverson wants you to believe that he wants to stay in Philadelphia, that he loves everything and anything except his team’s unimpressive record, even as reality erodes the spin perpetually associated with the demise of this franchise — and that of Mr. Iverson. He then goes on to point out that other all-stars are on teams with much better chances to win than Iverson. There’s no doubt about that. Of course, it’s also not evidence that Iverson wants out of town. Smith goes on to point out rumors that Iverson is unhappy with his head coach: Oh, and did I mention the rumblings about Iverson’s dismay with [Maurice] Cheeks and president/general manager Billy King, and speculation that he wants to be tr

Sixers Need a Direction

Those damn Sixers. As the sports calendar hits rock bottom this weekend, the local hoopsters squandered a chance to head into the All-Star break with some genuine momentum. After an exciting win over the defending world champion Spurs, they pulled their Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde act and got thumped by the lowly Chicago Bulls the very next night. Instead of heading into the dead spot of the sports year with some hope, we’re slapped with the reality of a barren sports scene for the foreseeable future. The NBA, which just doesn’t hold fan interest around here anyway, takes four days off for an All-Star weekend that gets more overblown and less interesting by the year. The NHL, with it’s never-ending season, is in Olympic limbo, and the fact that pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training does nothing for most people – and I’m looking forward to the Phillies this year. Worst of all, NFL fans are going through the early stages of withdrawal as meaningful football now lies about 6 ½

Are Accusations Against Tocchet a Big Deal to Fans?

We’ve all heard by now that Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach and former Philadelphia Flyer Rick Tocchet is under investigation in connection with a multimillion dollar gambling ring that allegedly took bets from NHL players and others, including Wayne Gretzky’s wife. It seems clear that bets were not placed on hockey. I’m just curious: do we really care? Sure it’s going to be reported, and it’s not what you want to see pro athletes doing. I’ll even grant that it suggests plenty about the credibility of pro sports. In fact, I think that’s the reason this should be investigated. I’ve heard Howard Eskin on WIP dismiss the idea many times that gamblers or bookies could tempt pro athletes with bribes to fix games. He suggests that league security is way too tight and players are paid too much to allow bribes to be tempting. Is it just me or did that idea just fly out the window? Granted, Eskin’s usually talking about football, but hockey players aren’t exactly making chump change. So, maybe

Super Bowl Pick

The last pick of the football season is upon us, and I haven’t wavered in my thinking for 2 weeks. So, I’ll either look like a genius or an idiot, but at least I’ll be doing it with gusto. Despite an above .500 record on this site, I’ll be looking to . . . well, let’s just say, get to .500 in other ways. I think Seattle wins the Super Bowl outright. Everyone’s hyped about this so-called historic playoff run by the Pittsburgh Steelers, but I just don’t see it. The Steelers beat Cincinnati, which was forced to play without their starting quarterback after their first passing play. I’m not saying the Steelers took a cheap shot; it’s just a fact that the Bengals were without Carson Palmer. Then what? The Steelers went to Indianapolis to help Peyton Manning solidify his status as a hall of fame choker (and still should’ve lost). Finally, they went to Denver, and revealed Jake Plummer as the fraud he’s always been. No, Seattle didn’t really beat anyone in the playoffs either. But they’ve bee