I apologize for making this a fan post- it was just too damn long to put into the conversation thread…

 

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Warning: I will in no way try to back up any of my claims with supposed evidence.

 

Further Warning: This is my sad attempt at humor.  It is in no way meant to mock any analysis whether professional, expert, fan, or otherwise that has been posted on this blog; nor is it meant to mock sports analysis in general (okay maybe just a little bit).  It is simply my intention to try and lighten the tension in my own mediocre way.

 

 

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I already published this at Broad Street Hockey.  I hope it's not a "no-no" to double post it here.  If it is I am sorry...

I’m not making any apologies; this is one of those attitudes about sports fans in general that I cannot stand.

 

A couple days ago I was shopping at a local South Jersey Target™ and I was perusing some grocery items when I heard a guy talking to his girlfriend.  I did not hear exactly what he said at first but it was probably something to the affect of people jumping on the Phillies bandwagon since they won the World Series and 2 NL Championships.  What he said after that I heard very clearly cause he stared at me as he said it in an annoying condescending tone, “it’s just like with the Flyers winning game 7 suddenly there are people wearing Flyers stuff and everyone is a Flyers fan.” 

 

Duh-buddy, duh.  For the record I was wearing both my Flyers cap and my Phillies jacket.

 

Continue reading this post »

I’m not making any apologies; this is one of those attitudes about sports fans in general that I cannot stand.

 

A couple days ago I was shopping at a local South Jersey Target™ and I was perusing some grocery items when I heard a guy talking to his girlfriend.  I did not hear exactly what he said at first but it was probably something to the affect of people jumping on the Phillies bandwagon since they won the World Series and 2 NL Championships.  What he said after that I heard very clearly cause he stared at me as he said it in an annoying condescending tone, “it’s just like with the Flyers winning game 7 suddenly there are people wearing Flyers stuff and everyone is a Flyers fan.” 

 

Duh-buddy, duh.  For the record I was wearing both my Flyers cap and my Phillies jacket.

 

Continue reading this post »

I wrote this the on Friday as a sort of off the cuff perspective of this season.  I apologize for the length and grammatical errors.

I have to admit I have given up the ‘09-‘10 Philadelphia Flyers up for dead several times this year:

1.Prior to the Season- the trade for Chris Pronger (D), the signing of Ray Emery and Brian Bouche as starting and back up goaltenders respectively. I thought (and still think to some extent) that the Flyers gave up too much for Pronger. I also thought that the way the front office went about it was ass backwards… Start with a premier goaltender then go out and get the premier D-man but don’t get one that is starting the downside of his career. I thought Emery was too fragile both in psyche and in body to play in Philadelphia (turns out I was right about the body part). Bouche is a decent alternative but given the other two moves (especially Emery) I thought it was a mistake not to go after a more prominent goaltender. A goaltender who had more time as a starter and with a lot less streakiness then that which seems to have plagued Bouche’s career.

That Pronger move, if we win tonight, will be genius (for at least this year). Bouche outplaying Lunqvist at the last game of the season in a shootout and then beating (if not flat out outplaying) the greatest goaltender ever, Martin Brodeur, in the first round of the playoffs, unbelievable. 9 times out of 10 Lunqvist would have won that shootout and I would not be here writing this.

2. October- so upset with the off-season moves and so enthralled by the Phillies I didn’t even watch most of the first few games and yes this is extremely out of the ordinary for me. I was watching the games in 08 even as the Phillies were captivating and even as I was busy as hell.

3. November/December- Please feel free to check out how the Flyers did from Nov 20th to Dec 21st and, if you don’t want to do that (spoiler alert), let me spell it out for you: 14 losses in 17 games. The only team we could beat during that stretch was the Islanders. On December 4th John Stevens (a guy I really liked) was fired and Peter Laviolette (a guy who I didn’t think fit with the Flyers players/system) was brought in. Ray Emery went down with an injury at some point either just prior to or just after Stevens getting fired then later Bouche would go down with an injury and along came Michael Leighton, who came out of no-where and played magnificently. He single handedly won a few games for us in late December early January.

4. February- A great run prior to the Olympics leads to March… Oh, in the meantime Ray Emery goes down with a serious season ending (and possibly career ending) hip injury.

5. March- In like a lamb, out like a lamb, and just a smidge of Lion thrown in-between for a team who’s inconsistency bordered on the desperate and disturbed. And let us not forget that Carter went down with a broken toe/foot and Michael Leighton (who I was really beginning to enjoy) went down with a high ankle sprain. For those of you who are not big hockey fans a high ankle sprain is just about the worst injury for a hockey player, especially a goaltender; in sports comparisons it would be comparable to a pitcher spraining his pitching elbow. In the mean time there were some serious knocks against the Captain Mike Richards for his handling of leadership duties especially when it came to the press/media. I cannot comment on that without expletives… sorry.

6. April- I had no illusions or delusions what-so-ever this team was going to make the playoffs, right, and I was going to become Lord of the Dance (BTW I have signed up for Irish dance lessons-NOT). Back-to-back losses to the Islanders and Habs to open the month and then not shutting the door on the Rangers in the 2nd to last game of the season-ummm-er-uhhhh, why am I a Flyers fan again?

7. Last game of the season- Yes, I watched it anyway. I was watching my friend Josh’s house, dogs, and cats (well I didn’t pay much attention to the cats) and there wasn’t much to do. Also, he lives in North Jersey so watching the Phils was an impossibility and the Flyers were playing the Rangers. I have to admit the game was exciting. I also have to admit that I said to myself after regulation was over that if it went to a shootout the Flyers had “no chance, zero, zip, nada” against Lunqvist… They win?! WTF!? Boooooooooooooooooooooooooshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

8. Playoffs Round 1- Okay, okay- I was wrong about them not making the playoffs. But I thought, even as so many hockey analyst were saying it was a great match up for the Flyers, that our chances were slim. I mean Flyers-Devils in the playoffs? I am not even going near that history as it will end with me shaking and crying. Well toss that up to another one I was wrong about. Boooooooooooshhhhhhhhhhh- was awesome, the Flyers’ Defense was stifling and the Devils offense forgot to show up. BUT we lost Carter (broke his other damn foot, thanks Pronger) for the remainder of the playoffs, Gagne was lost for the first part of this Bruins series, and Lapierre almost had his eye shot out and is gone for the remainder of the playoffs also. As a side note Lapierre will probably miss part of next season too, a brain contusion is nothing to mess with, please see- Primeau, Keith.

9. Playoffs Round 2- We are playing the Bruins (thank you Montreal) but without Carter, Gagne (two of our top scoring forwards), and Lapierre (one of the best defensive forwards in all of Hockey). Yeah, okay. I probably should not even bother watching this one, seriously? Down 0-3 in the series, yeah I will watch game 4, if it will be broadcast from the moon. So I watch anyways, and I watch them blow a 4-1 lead and it goes to overtime and I think well they made it further than I ever thought and there was no way they could overcome losing so many players… Gagne, back from his injury, scores in OT?! Can it be true? So now, at least it would be respectable, I mean who wants to watch their team get swept out of the playoffs and they probably won’t lose the series on home ice (unless of course they win another game). For a summary of how the Bruins  performed in Game 5 please see the definition of “meltdown.” Except there was one tiny detail that might have gotten pass even the most ardent of Flyers fans, Booooooshhhhhhh went down with an injury in the middle of a stellar performance. Leighton, who had just been brought back that very afternoon from his high ankle sprain had to fill in. The thought was here we go but Leighton came through and the Flyers had the first combined shut-out in a playoff game in team history and the first one in the NHL since 1955. 

Game 6 was probably one of the most exciting Flyers games I have ever watched. It was not a very clean or overpowering game but they were in control and Leighton was stellar and it was, of course, his first start in playoff game. So now, I am looking forward to game 7 and my expectations are high.

Bringing in Peter Laviolette was the right thing to do. And getting Chris Pronger? Well they brought him in to get past Pittsburg and Washington and if we win tonight we will have gone further in the playoffs then both those teams… Let’s Go Flyers!