A Few Blurbs For The Night

Tonight is one of those nights where there are lots of little things going but no one huge thing for a full post (Justice only got a full post because of how far he's come from that debacle against the Giants; don't get me wrong, he's not great, but going from dreadful to good and solid is a win in my books and deserving of a little more dough). So instead of putting up 5 posts on 5 little things, I'll combine them into one post and you can comment as you want on any of them.

First of them, the Phillies made their first move of the free agency. They have replaced Eric Bruntlett. The Phillies new utility man is Juan Castro. I think this is the part where I'm supposed to get excited or something. Anyways, to say he is an upgrade over Mr. Triple Play and the man who scored 2-game winning runs in the 2008 World Series is a pretty accurate statement. For those that don't follow the Phillies and are wondering how Juan Castro can be an upgrade, the answer is simple, outside of those pinch-running World Series runs and getting a triple play only because the Mets are horrible base-runners and he was in the right place at the right time, he is one of the most useless utility players in the history of baseball. When he's not kicking balls and making errors, he is hitting below .200 at the plate and making a complete ass of himself in the process. I'm not sure how much better Castro will be and I'm not sure he'll be much better, but for goodness sakes, they can't get any worse than Bruntlett. In fact, Bruntlett's so bad that he inspired a group of people to create a Fire Eric Bruntlett blog.

Onto the Eagles. Their 4th round draft pick in the 2008 draft can officially say that he did not play one snap for the team that drafted him. The Eagles released CB Jack Ikegwuonu who was placed on injured reserve in 2008 and did not help his cause by being caught with a bong during his time on IR and being useless during the 2009 pre-season. In his place, the Eagles signed career practice squadder Gregory Pope. Seriously, since being drafted in 2007, he's been on a practice squad for half of the teams in the league. Okay, so that may be a slight exaggeration, but apparently the Eagles like him better. The irony of the Eagles being desperate at cornerback was that at the start of the year, the depth they had was incredible, but a Joselio Hanson 4-game suspension for steroids and a Ellis Hobbs placement on IR, and the Eagles are relying on Dimitri Patterson a whole lot more than they ever thought they would. And I don't think there is a person in America that will forgive him for what he did on Sunday night. What did he do, you ask? Really? Is your memory that bad? He was the one who pantsed Devin Hester! And with Sheldon Brown's hamstring and Asante Samuel's stinger, we may be seeing a lot more of Patterson in the upcoming games, especially seeing as the next game is an epic battle with Jason Campbell and the Redskins. I guess worst case scenario if none of them are better, you put Macho Harris back at corner and start Sean Jones at full safety.

Danny Briere has been suspended for 2 games for a cheap late hit on Avalanche defenseman Scott Hannan. First a fight in San Jose and now a late hit suspension, the finesse Briere is now turning into something else. And as a Flyers fan, I love it! There are several reasons why I love the Flyers, but one of the tops has to be that we are a douche bag physical hockey team, you all know it, you all hate it, and as Flyers fans, that only fuels us. It's quite awesome. Congrats on your suspension, Danny! Welcome to the club!

And lastly, my thoughts on the Sixers. I posted the same roundabout thoughts numerous times in the comments section at Keith's Sports Journal, but something has got to be done with this team. They are not necessarily a rebuilding young team, yet, they are nowhere near contenders for anything other a very low playoff seed and that's only because they have the incredible ability to beat the New Jersey Nets! And all teams that play at that level. Whenever they play someone better than them, they get their asses handed to them. It really is pathetic and yet, nothing is being done to try to take this team to the next level. Elton Brand can officially be considered a bust, Andre Iguodala is not a franchise player, and Eddie Jordan's Princeton offense takes a whole lot more than the Sixers have. And instead of drafting someone that can make an immediate impact and change, which is what they badly need, they draft Jrue Holiday, somebody who was known not to be ready to make an immediate impact on any NBA team. That statement is holding true thus far as he has seen very little playing time in the 1st 11 games of the season. Not to mention that their attendance is laughable. The Wachovia Center is literally half empty during Sixers home games. And before you start blaming the economy, people have had no problem shoeing out money to see the Flyers. I'd be more than happy to see them take Iverson back as a bench player because what's a playoff run if they can't even put people in their seats. Suffice to say, at this point, the Sixers are going nowhere and they are getting there way too fast.