Flyers.... Best in NHL?

If you follow hockey even the littlest bit you would know that the Philadelphia Flyers are the best team in the NHL this year. They have it all going for them with the forwards like Briere, Giroux, and Richards all doing there part to get Flyers cruising toward first place. The defense has been very strong and even the d-men who have had to step in due to injury have done very well. Now we get to the bright spot for the Flyers this year, the netminders. Bobrovsky and Boucher have both been phenomenal this year back stopping them to the top of the league.

The one thing the Flyers do not have that other top teams do is a defined big name scorer. They don't have a Zetterberg or a Crosby or Malkin or Stamkos. They have Giroux, Richards, Briere, and Carter who have 46, 45, 43 and 43 points respectively. Other teams have the one player that is going to have 100-110 points with 45-50 goals which the Flyers don't have. They are getting scoring out of everybody even guys like Zherdev, Van Riemsdyk, and Leino.

The Defense has been really good this year as well. They are among the leaugue leaders in blocked shots and and plus/minus. With guys like Pronger, Timonen and Meszaros anchoring the blue line how could they not be one of the best. Pronger may be one of the best blueliners to have ever played the game. Meszaros is the league leader in +/- at +29.

The biggest surprise this season has been the goaltending. Bobrovsky and Boucher have been absolutley great between the pipes this year. Bob is 12th in the league in goals against average and 17th in save percentage. He is 20-6-3 on the year and you would never know he is a rookie. Boucher is playing his heart out as well. He is 10th in the league in GAA at 2.41 and 21st in save percentage at .916. He is 11-6-2 this season. The Flyers have no defined #1 netminder but as long as they keep playing the way they are I don't see Laviolette changing the fact that he platoons them perfectly.

With the All Star break looming this weekend and the Flyers going into it leading the NHL in points, you can honestly count on the second half of the season being just as exciting if not more exciting than the first half was. Hopefully the team can keep it going into the playoffs and through the Stanley Cup Finals and we will be standing on Broad Street at the 2011 Stanley Cup Champs parade.

Claude Giroux... Future of the Flyers?

Its amazing the difference between the 1st and 2ND picks in the NHL draft. In the 2007 NHL Entry Draft the Flyers ended up with the 2ND pick and chose James Van Riemsdyk. The Chicago Blackhawks had the 1st pick and chose Patrick Kane. The difference between the picks has been astonding. Patrick Kane has become one of the top players in the NHL playing with guys like Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith. JVR has been an okay player but he definitely has not been anything near what the Flyers projected him to be. He has struggled mightily at times and even been benched for a period of time. Meanwhile its been the other young stars on the Flyers that have stepped up and played very well.

Claude Giroux has far and away been the Flyers best rising star during his young career. He was drafted 22ND overall by the Flyers in 2006. Since then he has been not only on of the best up and comers on the Flyers but in the entire NHL. He is the lone Flyer that has been named to the 2011 All Star Game. As of January 18, 2011 he has 17 goals, 22 assists for a total of 39 points. Which is 3rd on the team in goals, assists and points.

On November 8,2010 the Flyers signed Giroux to an extension worth $11.25 million for the next 3 years, which will take him through his RFA period. During the Playoffs of the 2009-2010 season he ended up with 21 points in an outstanding performance which cemented the fact he needed a new deal.

The Flyers have inked other players to deals this year and have more they still need to. Most notably Jeff Carter was signed to a new contract this year even amidst all the trade rumors that had been surrounding him for some time. The one deal they will most definitely get done in the off season will be Ville Leino. The Finnish forward who didn't start playing hockey until age 17 has been a force since coming to Philly from the Dteroit Red Wings on February 6, 2010.

If the young forwards continue to progress the way they are now the Philadelphia Flyers are going to be a force to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future, with what i believe to be a Cup caliber contender for the next 5-10 years with guys like Carter, Briere, Richards, Leino, and most of all Giroux.

Andy Reid, In or Out? You decide

Its been 11 years now that Andy Reid has been here in Philadelphia. We have lived through all the drama with his 2 sons and all of their legal issues. We have stuck by him through all of the seasons where we have been the favorite for the Superbowl only to fall short of our destiny. If you listen to all of the fans around the Philadelphia area they are now calling for Reid's head.

Granted if you are outside of Philly you are probably looking at all of us here saying we are crazy for wanting to change regimes. Going to numerous playoffs and championship games just aren't enough for us. We want a win. We all thought we were getting rid of the problem when we got rid of McNabb after last season. We may have been wrong.

I'm not denying that Andy Reid is a very capable coach in this league. He has had many of his assistants go on to have success in the NFL once they had gotten their shot at the helm. Leslie Frazier, Steve Spagnola, and Brad Childress to name a few. Most of them were under the late great Jim Johnson though. Since Johnson has passed the Eagles defense just hasn't been the same. I don't know if its Reid or McDermott that is responsible for that but they need to iron it out. If Reid wants to finish out his deal here in Philly he has to think about replacing McDermott with a guy like Rob Ryan. If he doesn't want to move McDermott out at least bring Ryan on as the defensive backs coach once Dick Jauron goes to Cleveland to be their coordinator.

This year we were all going on false hope that this Eagles team was actually a contender because Michael Vick put this team on his back, and once teams figured out how to stop him we were in trouble. Andy needs to learn to run the football or else he is going to get Vick killed. You can not have Vick drop back 40 to 50 times a game and be successful. Also he has absolutely no clock management skills. I cant name how many times its come down to 5:00 left in the 4th quarter and he has 1 time out left. He did get a little better at that this year but he still needs work in that area. If Andy wants to get another extension he is going to have to iron those wrinkles out but I honestly feel he may be here for the foreseeable future.

If you are looking for a REAL jersey do not look on Craigslist or Ebay

With the economy the way its is, people have started looking for cheaper ways to get what they want. With an authentic jersey being between $200 and $400 people have turned toCraigslist or Ebay or even flea markets to get jerseys for between $40 and $75.

I have seen alot of these jerseys that you can get at a flea market or Craiglist and they are sometimes just laughable how utterly wrong they are. Sometimes they are the wrong color or the name does not have the right letters and sometime is even spelled wrong.

Now don't get me wrong i completely understand that $200 to $400 is crazy to spend on a jersey. When you could go to your local flea market and spend $50 on a Michael Vick jersey that is made in Taiwan and may last you maybe 3-4 months i can see the appeal.

I have friends that have bought them on Ebay for $40 and swore that they were real, until he bought a Cincinnati Bengals Chad Johnson jersey that was spelled Johnosn. Any NFL jersey that says it is made in China is a knockoff except the Miami Dolphins. Here are some of the ways to tell a REAL authentic jersey.

• Reebok, Mitchell and Ness or Majestic would never let a jersey leave the factory with miss aligned stitches or completely missed stitches at all.
• On a real jersey the numbers are glued down prior to stitching so there will not be any type of bubbles or wrinkles in them at all(even if you fold them they will bounce right back)
• If you look at the jock tag at the bottom of a Reebok NFL jersey the football in the NFL logo will actually have a ball shape. Fakes do not.
• On MLB Majestic jerseys when you button the front the two halves of the logo are perfectly aligned with no gaps at all and if you look at the jock tags on a Cool Base jersey it is screen printed on and the Fakes are sewn.
• If you are purchasing from somewhere that seems too good to be true, trust me it probably is.
• Think of it this way if a jersey costs $260 in a store or online, how could people be selling it for $40 or maybe $50 and still make money.

If you are going to purchase a jersey on the Internet then please do your research and do not get duped into buying a knockoff or a down right fake jersey from a non reputable dealer who is getting them from China for maybe $10. There are websites where you can check you see if your jersey has any of the signs of a knock off if you would like to.

With Reebok losing the NFL contract after the 2011 season to Nike, the jerseys that are left over from that to might be able to get on clearence or closeout after next season. The only problem with that is that when Nike takes over you can expect major changes to be made to the standard uniform they have when they switch to the Pro Combat uniform. If you are going to buy one from the internet just please research the seller and use common sense.

Manuel here to stay?

Charlie Manuel will be entering the last year of his deal in 2011. Word is that he will be looking for a 2 year deal with that will take him up to 70 years of age. After managing the Phillies to their first world championship in almost 30 years in 2008 and falling just 2 games short of a repeat in 2009 he should have no problem getting what he wants.

He is due to make 2.5 million this year and will most likely be looking to be more around the 4-4.5 million range for 2012-13. He is in a class with guys like Terry Francona of the Boston RedSox and Mike Scioscia of the Anahiem Angels for the highest winning percentage in the major leagues, and now that he has maybe the best rotation in baseball history, he should have no problem keeping that going.

It is in my belief that it is in the Phillies best interest to get his deal done before the 2011 season begins. I doubt that the Phillies would want Charlie going into the season on a lame duck year while the team is trying to make up for the loss in the National League championship series to the San Francisco Giants. The last thing the Phillies would like to do is allow Manuel to go out and test the free agent market because he would be picked up in a heartbeat by another club and with only 32 days till pitchers and catchers report to Clearwater FL for spring training you can guarantee that the GM Amaro and Manuel are attempting to get something done before the April 1st opening day.

What do you think about Vick? Sign, Franchise or Let go?

Now its time for the Birds to make some serious decisions, and by far the most important is what to do with Michael Vick. Since his contract has now ended they can either sign him, franchise him or let him go. The problem with franchising him is that with the Collective Bargaining Agreement expiring if they do franchise him he might have the option of getting out of it and just walking away. If they do he will make approximately $17 million for the 2011 season.

Another option is for them to just sign him to a deal which is definitely going to have to be around the $100 million range. This year he was playing on the lame duck year of his original 2 year deal that the Eagles had given him when he was released. He definitely played well enough this year to deserve a new contract. This to me is the most viable option for Philadelphia.

The other option is for the Eagles to just let him walk away. This would be a huge mistake. Behind Vick the Eagles have Kevin Kolb and Mike Kafka, both of which are unproven commodities in the NFL to say the least. Kolb has come out and said he wants to be starting somewhere next season but i do not believe it will be here, and there is absolutely no way that the second year man out of Northwestern University (Mike Kafka) will be the starter. It is in my opinion that Michael Vick will be back under center next year in the midnight green taking us on another run toward The Lombardi Trophy.

NHL All Star Game..... Waste of time?

Whether or not you think that sports All Star games are a waste of time they still see a point in them. In the MLB for some reason the winner of their All Star game has the home field advantage in the World Series. In the NFL its after the season ends so has no impact on the league itself. The NBA's is pretty much the same as the NHL as its winner and loser really does not matter. Pretty much all 4 major sports All Star games are just a show for the fans, even though most of us would be perfectly happy without one.

My problem with the NHL All Star game is that there is never any kind of contact. It's basically like they are playing a no checking scrimmage that always ends like 10-9 or 8-7. Whether is the East vs. West or North America vs. the World it doesn't ever change too much.

This year the NHL is trying to change up the format a bit. Its not East vs. West or North America vs. The World. Its Red vs Blue with the fans choosing the captains for each team and those 2 captains are choosing there teams out of a player pool the has been chosen by the fans as well. The NHL is even taking so far as to having a Fantasy draft 2 or 3 nights before actual game. The only thing remotely interesting about the whole All Star weekend might be the Skills Competition.

This year has a couple of notable snubs from the game. Henrik Zetterberg from the Detroit Red Wings who is one of the best players in the league, but he was left off. Danny Briere who is one of only 8 players in the league with at least 20 goals, yet he was left off. Roberto Luongo who has backstopped the Canucks to first place is somehow not in the pool of players. Sergei Bobrovsky, who should have been at least in the young stars game has been left off as well.

The bottom line is that if the NHL doesn't figure out some way to make this game interesting to people, its definitely going to be just like all the other All Star games where nobody watches and nobody truly cares about the outcome. The only thing the NHL can do is try to do it like the MLB does and have the game actually matter. Even though i am not a fan of the fact that in baseball the winner of the All Star game, the NHL might have to take a page out of their book in that aspect.

Bob, Bouch, or Leighton??

Before the season started we all thought it was going to be Leighton the starter flanked by Boucher. Nobody ever even heard of Bobrovsky. Now here we sit at the midway point of the season and Leighton isn't even in the equation. Bobrovsky and Boucher are both playing very well with no defined number one. On January 3rd the Flyers placed Michael Leighton on waivers and when he wasn't claimed he was loaned to the Adirondak Phantoms of the AHL.

The 22 year old Bobrovsky played the last 4 seasons with Metallurg Novokuznetsk of the KHL in Russia. He went undrafted in the NHL and was signed to a 3 year entry level contract by the Flyers. He started the year very well and has recently tapered off a bit, but is still paying very well for a rookie. He has never played more then 35 games in a season and I'm mid December he was already at 25. Peter Laviolet has been using him sparingly recently trying not to burn him out, but in the 2nd half we will most likely see more of him.

Brian Boucher was drafted by the Flyers 22nd overall in 1995. He made is NHL debut in the 99-00 season. Then he bounced around to San Jose to Phoenix to Calgary to Chicago then to Columbus and eventually back to Philly. He has been solid this year stepping up when ever Lavi has called his name. Him and Bob get along very well and have no problem sharing time.

Now we get to Michael Leighton. He was drafted by the Blackhawks in 99 165th overall. He has been a bit of a journeymen in this league, playing for Chicago, Montreal, Nashville and the Flyers. He has been in many other teams organizations just never making the NHL. During the 2010 season he was injured before the playoffs only to come in for game 4 and backstop the Flyers to a historic comeback against the Boston Bruins from a 3-0 series deficit. He unfortunately injured his back in the preseason of the 2010-11 season which opened the door for Bobrovsky to step in what was supposed to be his spot.

If anything was to happen to Bouch or Bob and the Flyers try to recall Leighton then another team will be able to pick him up on re-entry waivers for half of his remaining salary with the Flyers paying the rest. Michael was not happy about being placed on waivers feeling that he did not get his proper shot to show the team what he could do after his recovery. The Flyers said at this point in the season they do not have 5 or 6 games for him to prove himself while they are fighting for the top spot in the east. From this point on we can pretty much count on it being either Bob or Bouch between the pipes. Unless something drastic happens but then Leighton will be claimed by another team. Alot of people say that Leighton lied and his back was hurt since last year and the he just aggravated it in the preseason but I have not been able to authenticate that statement. Its safe to say he has probably played his last game for the orange and black.

Still a WWE universe!

Its now been almost 12 years since I was at Wrestlmania 15 at what was then known as the First Union Center. It was filled to the brim with over 20,000 screaming fans just waiting to see there favorite WWE superstar come to the ring and fight (I use that term loosely). Whether it was HHH or The Rock or The Undertaker you were guaranteed to be entertained by the match they were going to be in after they were done their elaborate entrance to the ring. I was 16 when I attended Wrestlmania and I was absolutely speechless. I had been to Raw before but I didn't Even compare to by far the greatest yearly event for the WWE. Just the environment was different.

I tried watching Raw the other night and it is so much different then it used to be. From the wrestlers to the entrances to even the crowds. Its just not the same. The only guy who truly resemble everything the WWE used to be is maybe John Cena. Now you have some guy named CM Punk, Santino, and Ricardo Del Rio. what ever happened to guys like the Ultimate Warrior, and the Macho Man and Rick Flair? I feel that ion 2 or 3 years the WWE and TNA are both going to be on the back burner to organizations like the UFC and Strikeforce. Everybody I talk to says the real fighting aspect of MMA is alot more interesting. When I was a kid the UFC was basically outlawed. It was a no holds barred type of competition, with little rules and no weight classes. You did not even wear gloves.

Nowadays the competitors wear 4oz. gloves and there are many rules in MMA. From not being able to throw 12-6 elbows(breakers elbow) to no kicking a downed opponent. You have guys leaving the sports entertainment(WWE) to go to a real sport like MMA. Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley to name a few. Brock Lesnar made the transition to the UFC in what everybody thought was just gonna be like a novelty type of fight. He actually came in and had a good fight and showed that maybe all wrestlers aren't all talk. He had maybe 3 fights before he got his title shot. Never before has a pro wrestler come in and just wreck shop like he has. His toughest fight yet was against Shane Carwin who he out weighs by like 40 lbs.

I do believe in the near future that pro wrestling will just be an after thought. MMA is going to just keep growing and growing in popularity. With show like The Ultimate Fighter (which is basically like MTV's The Real World just for MMA) how can it not, and with so many of the younger generation getting into MMA now and everywhere you go there is a new gym that has either karate or jiu jitsu on every corner. In the next 5 years MMA will definitely have the popularity the the WWE once captured.

7 vs 4

Now that the season ended so dismally the Eagles have some decisions to make, will Quinten Mikell be back? Will Patterson be back? Will Ellis Hobbs ever play a down again? I feel certain the David Akers will be back, he is on of the most accurate kickers in NFL history. Now to the real question 7 vs. 4. Say whatever you want about the situation, whether you believe its about the most exciting player in the NFL vs basically a rookie, dog killer vs dog lover or even white vs black. Even if you hate Michael Vick you have to admit that he is the main reason we even made the postseason this year. Our defense was last in the redzone this year and if we weren't creating turnovers them we had no shot. The offensive line was sketchy at best, which makes it hard for any quarterback to do well in the west coast offense. Without Vick i can honestly say we may have been fighting Dallas for the bottom of the division.

I am not saying that Kevin Kolb is the sole reason for that. He just does not have the mobility and ability to get out of the pocket when the protection breaks down like Vick does. Numerous time this year i can say i felt the play was over just to have Vick run around and find an open receiver for 5,10,15 yards and the 1st down. I along with most people in the Philadelphia area were not expecting all that much this year from the Eagles. Most were saying 8-8, 7-9, and even 6-10(myself included). We all believed that this was going to be a very dark and down year for the Birds. With Kolb at the helm we saw a guy who was inexperienced and we were not used to that since we had that same qb for 11 years (5). There is no doubt most of us did feel it was time for a change at signal caller. We all were willing to live with the fact that we may have to struggle for 1,2, maybe even 3 years. Nobody knew that Kevin would get hurt in the 1st half of the 1st game, and we would see Vick play the entire 2nd half and almost bring us back to victory, falling just short.

From this point on Kolb did not have a shot in this town, Vick had won us all over. I know the unwritten rule in sports is that you are not supposed to lose your job because of injury. But when a player comes in in relief and plays as well as Vick did those 2 or 3 games that Kolb was injured how could Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg honestly take him out. If you watch TV or listen to the radio and heard interviews with other players you could tell that they all had confidence in Vick over Kolb. That is a hard thing for a young team to over come. If you are a sports fan you know how truly important that confidence is in sports. You could have the best players in the sport but no confidence and go nowhere nowadays. I do not know if its Vicks leadership, or the fact that he has been to the Pro bowl and the NFC championship game and is a proven player in this league, or if maybe its just that fact that Kolb does not have the time in grade that Vick does. Whatever it is we can all tell that this teams heartbeat pumped in Vicks chest, as he went, they went.

Michael has completely change his game this year from the way he was in Atlanta. He is more of a true pocket passer with the ability to run if he has to instead of basically a running back that has the skills to throw if he has to. I believe that the way he plays now actually makes him a more dangerous player then he was back then. Defenses have to worry about him throwing the ball so they have to drop more in coverage, but also when they bring the rush he can roll out and break a run for 25 yards if they are not careful. Kolb does not bring that aspect to the position. He is a defined pocket passer who does not have the skill set to get out of danger if the protection breaks down. If you give him time he may be a quality NFL quarterback but he may be Brady Quinn or a Matt Lienert, the problem is you never know. Kevin has already come out and said he would like to start for this team but if he is not going to then trade him so he can start somewhere. He made 11 million dollars last year for mostly holding the clipboard, and this year he is only do to make 1.4 million on the last year of his deal so it shouldn't be that hard for the Eagles to get maybe a 2nd rounder for him. Wherever he goes he will be looking for an extension and with the CBA expiring i believe he will get what he wants if he is not here. I just can't see the Eagles taking a flyer on him after the season that Vick had this year. I believe that the Birds will put all there efforts behind signing Michael Vick even if they have to franchise him for this year which means he will make 17 million next year. So i believe that the debate 7 vs 4 is not really a debate at all. 7 will be here 4 will not.

My Phirst Post

Hey everybody this is the first post to my new blog! I have been a die hard Philly sports fan my entire life. Nobody can deny the hold that these teams have on each and every person in this city. From the Eagles with their quest for a Superbowl that always seems to be just out of reach, to the Phillies winning the World Series in '08 just to go back there in '09 and lose to the Yankees and then in '10 to have our season end on a definitely hittable pitch to one of the best hitters in the majors in Ryan Howard. To the Flyers losing the Stanley Cup on a goal from Patrick Kane that was along the lines of something that a high school goaltender probably wouldnt have had that much trouble with, and then there is the Sixers who are the epitome of everything that Philly sports was when i was younger. A team that ends up with a high pick in the draft only to have it not matter that much and still be in the basement in the NBA. I truly envy the kids of today who didn't have to live through the sports days in this town that I had to. I remember the days of the Vet for the Phils where i could walk up to the gate with my dad for a 7:30 game at 7:25 and get a seat anywhere in the house and have many open seats around me. Nowadays if you do not get your tickets the date that they first go on sale you have to either go on craigslist or stubhub and pay triple the face value. What can i say? Citizen Bank Park has become the place to be on a warm summer night. I'm not mad at the Phillies for that though, the place is absolutely electric and the 43,000 fans being down there every night is what allows us to get the marque players that we do such as Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Ryan Howard. And you may as well not Even try getting Eagles tickets. I have been on the waiting list for years and still i am not even close, but for some reason the Flyers and Sixers just do not catch on as much in this town. I do not know if maybe its because their games are indoors and the environment just isn't the same or if its because Hockey and Basketball are just considered 2nd class sports in this town just above Arena football and Major league soccer. If i was a kid growing up here now i would certainly try and cherish what is going on Philly sports because you cant never forget the dark days we have had to endure to get where we are today and we never know when they will be back. Thank you for reading my blog and there will be alot more to come from me. Feel free to give me feedback it would definitely be appreciated.