SB Nation User Blog: ajay

Fourth Best Sports City in North America

ajay — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:26:57 -0000

The Toronto Star recently ranked the "Best Sport Cities" in North America (excluding Mexico) and our beloved city of Philadelphia came in fourth. Check out the (very small) map:

Indianapolis came in first, Boston in second (bleh) and Vancouver in third. This list considered 37 cities - the requirement was that a city have at least two major sports teams (the Canadian Football League counted). The best cities were determined by:

a.) Winning percentage by teams since 2000.

b.) Bonus points (I'm not sure what the exact methodology was) for teams that made the playoffs and/or won championships.

Check out the article: http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/635370

These are some interesting results. Your thoughts...

Phillies at the White House

ajay — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:47:36 -0000

Since I live right outside DC I thought I'd trek to the White House this morning to see if I could catch a glimpse of the World F. Champions before they met with President Obama. At around 10:45 they appeared en masse outside the South Entrance. It was quite a sight. Here are just a few candids I thought you guys might enjoy!

Brad Lidge

A little blurry, unfortunately, but Chase Utley and his hot wife.

Hollywood Hamels and Ryan Howard

Dave Montgomery, directing traffic, and his squad.

Scout.com reviews Eagles Minicamp

ajay — Sat, 09 May 2009 21:21:49 -0000

Scout.com reviews Eagles Minicamp

Lots of interesting analysis...

"I agree that I need improvement there [blocking]," said Celek. "I know I can do it. I struggled...

ajay — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:05:25 -0000

"I agree that I need improvement there [blocking]," said Celek. "I know I can do it. I struggled with that early last year, and once I got into the starting role I think I picked it up a little bit. It is something that I'm going to get into this year and I'm going to do great with it. I'm going to get better. It's not a strength thing. It's technique. It is about being consistent and working at it, and I'm going to work and work at it. I'm going to make myself into the best player I can be."

Blocking is Hard

Biden likes the Phillies

ajay — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:33:25 -0000

Biden likes the Phillies

As an aide ushered the pool out the door, VPOTUS seemed to take issue with ABC sound technician Bernie Gmiter's Red Sox cap. "Phillies hats are accepted," VPOTUS joked. After leaving the EEOB, Gmiter said, "Whoops. Won't do that again."

Chip on the Shoulder

ajay — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:32:23 -0000

Chip on the Shoulder

"Prominently displayed inside Quintin Demps' locker is a February edition of Sports Illustrated. It's opened wide to reveal the "Who's Hot, Who's Not" section, where the Eagles' safety is pictured -- under the "Who's Not" category."

"Dawk was a great leader," Mikell said. "You always heard his voice. But he rubbed off on...

ajay — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:37:27 -0000

"Dawk was a great leader," Mikell said. "You always heard his voice. But he rubbed off on everybody. Because of him, everybody knows how things should be around here. Now that he's gone, there will be [other] people stepping up, making sure we stay on the straight and narrow."

The New Eagles Leaders

"Mark my words," said an NFC general manager who asked not to be quoted, "Jeremy Maclin will have...

ajay — Sat, 02 May 2009 02:31:53 -0000

"Mark my words," said an NFC general manager who asked not to be quoted, "Jeremy Maclin will have the greatest impact of all the receivers taken in the draft. The Eagles got themselves a star."

via Clark Judge

Offseason Upgrades

ajay — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:56:00 -0000

Check out this quick and easy chart I made about our roster turnover:

Position	Departing Player	Incoming Player
Right Tackle	Jon Runyan	Stacy Andrews
Left Tackle	Tra Thomas	Jason Peters
Running Back	Correll Buckhalter	LeSean McCoy
Fullback	Dan Klecko	Leonard Weaver
Tight End	L.J. Smith	Brent Celek / Cornelius Ingram
Cornerback	Lito Sheppard	Ellis Hobbs / Jack Ikegwuonu
Wide Receiver	Greg Lewis	Jeremy Maclin / Brandon Gibson
Safety	Brian Dawkins	Sean Jones
Safety	Sean Considine	Rashad Baker / Macho Harris

Note: Not all of these players are starters. I tried to compare direct roster spots; for example, take Lito Sheppard. He was essentially our 4th CB last year. So I replaced him with whom I project to be our 4th CB this year. It doesn't always work perfectly (i.e. the Greg Lewis spot; that depends on how many WRs we dress, etc.)

When it's put out there like this, it's hard not to be really amazed with the upgrades at almost every single position. The only one that's even debatable to my mind is Sean Jones for Brian Dawkins, but Jones is probably an upgrade in coverage. Also, every single addition is younger.

It's generally pretty tough for teams to lose as many players as we did and replace them in a few offseasons. Give props to our front office for doing it in one.

Note: when googling "Eagles additions and subtractions" (I was looking for a list of outgoing and incoming players) I stumbled upon a similar post on Inside the Iggles so I must give credit where credit is due.

Thoughts? Did I miss anything? You could also argue that Nick Cole and Max Jean-Gilles are being replaced by Shawn Andrews. That makes the deal even sweeter.

"You look at his hands, his ability to catch football, he didn't drop footballs." -Andy Reid, on...

ajay — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 03:24:12 -0000

"You look at his hands, his ability to catch football, he didn't drop footballs."

-Andy Reid, on Jeremy Maclin, also talking about his current WR corps.

Mosley