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Sergei Bobrovsky Likes Red Gatorade

The Philadelphia Flyers played in their 2nd pre-season tonight. And in related news, they played in their 2nd overtime pre-season tonight. And also related, they participated in their 2nd shootout of the pre-season. The 1st one was against the New Jersey Devils and the Flyers on in 4 rounds. This one was a tad different. This went 11 rounds and the Flyers wound up losing a marathon that saw Dan Carcillo take a penalty shot. But the highlight and most amusing moment of the shootout had nothing to do with Dan Carcillo. But the funniest moment of an amusing 11 round marathon came in the 9th round when Toronto Maple Leaf Christian Hanson went to take his shot on Sergei Bobrovsky. Now frequently when a player roofs a shot, there is a good chance it could knock the goalie's Gatorade bottle off the top of the net. But how often is it that you see the actual Gatordade bottle punctured and Gatorade spilling all over the back of the net and the ice?



To talk about the Flyers goaltending situation seriously for a minute, Sergei Bobrovsky (nicknamed "Bob") is one of the Flyers top goaltending prospects, though it must be said that even though this is pre-season, under no circumstances should he wear a Flyers uniform once the regular season starts. He needs to stay in Glenn Falls with the Phantoms to develop. He will most likely play behind Johan Backlund, but given the fact that the Flyers goalies seem to have injury problems, there is a good chance Backlund will spend time with the Flyers, which in turn would allow Bob to get more playing time with the Phantoms. While it seems like Bob may have a problem with shots named at the top shelf, as evidenced by this shootout and some other goals he has given up in the pre-season, he is extremely fast between the pipes and is very good saving shots that stay on the ice. For a team whose goaltending situation has been fluid since Ron Hextall and 1986, it is possible that Bob could be that long time the solution that has so long eluded the Flyers organization for the past 24 years.

Update: For those bored on this Friday and are interested in 10 minutes of lulz, here is the Maple Leafs-Flyers 11 round shootout in its entirety.

Tomorrow's Pre-Season Game Will Feature Sean McDermott Locked In A Battle Of Wits With....Whoa! That Can't Be Right!

There is unorthodox play-calling, and then there is the Jets gameplan for tomorrow night's final pre-season against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Jets normal offensive coordinator will experience somewhat of a night off tomorrow night. No, not because he is going to be dealing with back-ups and bubble players, but because he will be sharing time as the Jets offensive coordinator tomorrow night, instead of doing it alone like normal. His co-offensive coordinator, you ask? Mark Sancehz! Yes, it is that Mark Sanchez. Yes, this is apparently a serious deal with Rex Ryan. From ESPN New York.

The idea, of course, is to expose Sanchez to a different aspect of the game, giving him a coach's perspective on why and how certain plays are called. It's a clever way of doing things. Ryan said he used to do it in Baltimore on defense, letting LB Ray Lewis and S Ed Reed call plays in the preseason. They gave it up, he said, when they realized it's not as easy as it looks.

While I think this might be a good idea in theory, I am curious as to how it will play out. Some players are fighting for their job and if they look bad because Mark Sanchez called a slant route instead of a run up the middle on 3rd and 1, I am not sure if said players will be too pleased that their future came down to Mark Sanchez calling a bad play. Then again, watching it from an Eagles perspective could be downright hilarious. Hey, if nothing else, at least this will prevent the game from being a total snoozer as most 4th pre-season games are, right?

Pre-Season Week 4 Schedule

Good news: It is the last week of pre-season football! Bad news: It is the most dull game of the bunch! The Eagles are facing the Jets this week, in a tradition that dates back as far as I can remember. If it is Week 4 of the pre-season, it is the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Jets. Roster spots are on the line for the Eagles, but I am not sure if you are going to see anyone start play in this game that will be a Week 1 starter, unless Todd Herremans or Jamaal Jackson treat this game as an extra rehab game and are then chosen to start Week 1 against Green Bay. So now, without further ado, the pre-season Week 4 schedule!

Thursday, September 2

Buffalo Bills vs. Detroit Lions 6:30
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Indianapolis Colts 7:00
New England Patriots vs. New York Giants 7:00 (NFL Network)
Carolina Panthers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers 7:30
New York Jets vs. Philadelphia Eagles 7:30
Atlanta Falcons vs. Jacksonville Jaguars 7:30
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Houston Texans 8:00
New Orleans Saints vs. Tennessee Titans 8:00
Chicago Bears vs. Cleveland Browns 8:00
Denver Broncos vs. Minnesota Vikings 8:00
Miami Dolphins vs. Dallas Cowboys 8:00
Green Bay Packers vs. Kansas City Chiefs 8:00
Baltimore Ravens vs. St. Louis Rams 8:00
San Diego Chargers vs. San Francisco 49ers 10:00
Washington Redskins vs. Arizona Cardinals 10:00 (NFL Network)
Seattle Seahawks vs. Oakland Raiders 10:00

Pre-Season Week 3 Schedule And CBS Announce Pairings For 2010

I do not know if I can stomach 2 more broadcasts of Don Tollefson, Hugh Douglas, and Charlie Casserly speaking of the Eagles like Rod Dibble speaks of the Washington Nationals. Where is Tony Siragusa when you actually need him?

Thursday, August 26

St. Louis Rams vs. New England Patriots 7:30
Indianapolis Colts vs. Green Bay Packers 8:00 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden, SR: Michele Tafoya)

Friday, August 27

Atlanta Falcons vs. Miami Dolphins 7:00
Washington Redskins vs. New York Jets 7:00
San Diego Chargers vs. New Orleans Saints 8:00 (CBS - Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf)
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs 8:00

Saturday, August 28

Cleveland Browns vs. Detroit Lions 5:00 (NFL Network)
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Buffalo Bills 6:30
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7:30
New York Giants vs. Baltimore Ravens 7:30
Dallas Cowboys vs. Houston Texans 8:00 (CBS - Gus Johnson and Phil Simms)
Seattle Seahawks vs. Minnesota Vikings 8:00
Tennessee Titans vs. Carolina Panthers 8:00
Arizona Cardinals vs. Chicago Bears 8:30
San Francisco 49ers vs. Oakland Raiders 9:00

Sunday, August 29

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Denver Broncos 8:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, SR: Pam Oliver)

Gus Johnson calling a nationally televised pre-season game for CBS? Nice touch.

Aspeaking of which, here is the depth chart of announce pairings CBS will be using this season:

Jim Nantz and Phil Simms
Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf
Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts
Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots
Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker
Bill Macatee and Rich Gannon
Don Criqui and Steve Beuerlein
Spero Dedes and Randy Cross

Essentially Ian Eagle is taking over for Dick Enberg and Spero Dedes is coming into fill the physical void of Dick Enberg retiring from football. Personally I've always been a fan of Ian Eagle's work and I am glad to see that he has been given this promotion by CBS.

Pre-Season Week 2 Schedule

I am going to be doing the pre-season schedule a little differently from here on out. Instead of just listing the National TV games, I will list all the games, and only mark those that will be aired live on National TV with some sort of TV station. I am aware that all these games (outside of Fox, CBS, ESPN, and NBC games) are shown on local affiliates and will be seen in the local markets, but I am too lazy to incorporate all those affiliates and announce teams. That being said, I must admit that I wonder what Tim Brando calling New Orleans Saints pre-season games sounds like. I can hear it now: "It's a Breesey night in New Orleans!"

August 19
Indianapolis Colts vs. Buffalo Bills 7:30
New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons 8:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, SR: Pam Oliver)

August 20
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Cincinnati Bengals 8:00 (Fox - Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston, SA: Tony Siragusa)

August 21
Baltimore Ravens vs. Washington Redskins 7:00
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New York Giants 7:00 (NFL Network)
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7:30
Miami Dolphins vs. Jacksonville Jaguars 7:30
St. Louis Rams vs. Cleveland Browns 7:30
Houston Texans vs. New Orleans Saints 8:00
New York Jets vs. Carolina Panthers 8:00
Oakland Raiders vs. Chicago Bears 8:30
Dallas Cowboys vs. San Diego Chargers 9:00
Detroit Lions vs. Denver Broncos 9:00
Green Bay Packers vs. Seattle Seahawks 10:00 (NFL Network)

August 22
Minnesota Vikings vs. San Francisco 49ers 8:00 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, SR: Andrea Kremer)

August 23
Arizona Cardinals vs. Tennessee Titans 8:00 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden)

Pre-Season Hall Of Fame Game And Week 1 National TV Schedule

For reasons that will be explained later today (some of you already know what it is), I am posting the Pre-Season Week 1 National TV schedule now, even though not all announce pairings have been announced yet. Because I am lazy and do not feel like digging up every team's local broadcast information, I am going to stick with live nationally televised games for the weekly pre-season schedules.

Hall Of Fame Game (August 8)
Dallas Cowboys vs. Cincinnati Bengals 8:00 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, SR: Andrea Kremer)

August 12
Carolina Panthers @ Baltimore Ravens 8:00 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden)

August 13
Buffalo Bills @ Washington Redskins 7:30 (NFL Network)

August 14
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Miami Dolphins 7:00 (NFL Network)
Tennessee Titans @ Seattle Seahakws 10:00 (NFL Network)

August 15
San Francisco 49ers @ Indianapolis Colts 1:00 (NFL Network)
Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati Bengals 7:00 (NFL Network)

August 16
New York Giants @ New York Jets 8:00 (ESPN - Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden)

If you are interested in any non-local pre-season game not being shown live, NFL Network will at some point or another, re-air every single pre-season game at some point during the week.

Eagles 2010 Pre-Season Schedule

Fresh off the presses! Just announced! It is the 2010 Philadelphia Eagles pre-season schedule. Want to know who the Eagles will in meaningless football games? See below!

Week 1: August 13: vs. Jacksonville 7:30 (ETN)
Week 2: August 20: @ Cincinnati 8:00 (Fox)
Week 3: August 27: @ Kansas City 8:00 (ETN)
Week 4: September 2: vs. New York Jets 7:30 (ETN)

Now as far who the starting QB will be in those games remains a mystery right now. As I tweeted last night, there have been almost daily rumors about Donovan McNabb getting traded. If this was all bullshit and if there really were no plans to trade McNabb, the rumors would have been shot down by now. The Eagles organization would have said something. As of now, the only thing they said on the matter were listening to offers. And as far as the crazy notion goes that this is all somehow disrespectful to Donovan McNabb? Dan Levy as you covered with the rebuttal. Basically (and I agree whole-heartedly with his assessment) none of this is at all disrespectful for McNabb. Read this write-up and listen to his 30-minute podcast on the deal as it is quite refreshing to hear someone intelligent discuss McNabb in Philly.

Jaguars @ Eagles Live Blog And Stream

I've really been enjoying my job, but man, to have the freshmen at general university orientation (which tonight includes a pep rally and BU's 1st ever home night football game; only there is rain in the forecast), I finally have some time for myself to chill, relax, and blog. Michael Vick and Brian Westbrook will play in the 1st quarter today. I can't tell you what to expect, but this will definitley be a good show. Enjoy the game and leave comments and FYI, once game time rolls around, I'll try to embed a stream for you all.



Watch live video from wutitdo_kid on Justin.tv

2009 NFL Pre-Season TV Announcers

Before I start this (which I was planning on posting last night, but for the obvious reasons, decided to withhold until morning) I would just like to post a few footnotes on the tragic death of Jim Johnson. First of all, what a sad year this has been for Philadelphia sports. In the span of 4 months, we have lost Harry Kalas, Gary Papa, and Jim Johnson, with 2 of them losing their lives to some form of cancer. And of those 3, there were reports earlier the day they passed that Harry Kalas and Jim Johnson were not doing well, with Harry collapsing and Jim's cancer taking a turn for the worse as reported by Pro Football Talk. It's not like there's anytime to take in the news that they are not doing well when all of a sudden they are gone. All 3 were great individuals and utterly exceptional at what they did.

I won't be around for the rest of the day, so if there is some other news regarding the death of Jim Johnson such as funeral arrangements or such, either I will give it to you as soon as I can or JC and/or 49er16 have my permission to post something here today if such news were to be released.

With that being said, as sad and as cruel as it is to think such, we must move on. I am about to post what I think is an accurate, updated schedule of who is announcing pre-season game for individual teams on local affiliates. If I feel like it and remember, I will post week by week national schedules as we go along. I will warn you. My source for this information is Wikipedia! If there is an error and/or a change, please do not hesitate to correct me!

Buffalo Bills: Ray Bentley and Steve Tasker, SR: Mike Catalana
Miami Dolphins: Craig Bolerjack and Bob Griese/Nat Morore, SR: Kim Bokamper
New England Patriots: Don Criqui and Randy Cross, SR: Mike Lynch
New York Jets: Ian Eagle and Gret Buttle, SR: Sam Ryan
Baltimore Ravens: Gerry Sandusky, Rob Burnett, and Stan White, SR: Larry Rosen
Cincinnati Bengals: Paul Keels, Anthony Munoz, SR: Mike Valpredo
Cleveland Browns: Jim Donovan and Bernie Kosar, SR: Dave Chudowsky
Pittsburgh Steelers: Bob Pompeani and Edmund Nelson, SR: Jeff Verszyla
Houston Texans: Joel Meyers and Spencer Tillman, SR: Bob Allen
Indianapolis Colts: Don Fischer and Mark Herrmann, SR: Jeffrey Gorman
Jacksonville Jaguars: Paul Burmeister and Tony Boselli
Tennessee Titans: Cory Curtis and Eddie George, SR: Joe Dubin
Denver Broncos: Dave Logan and TBA, SR: Alan Roach
Kansas City Chiefs: Roger Twibell and Jayice Pearson, SR: Rich Baldinger
Oakland Raiders: Grant Napier and Jim Plunkett
San Diego Chargers: Ron Pitts and Billy Ray Smith
Dallas Cowboys: Brad Sham, Babe Laufenberg, and Daryl Johnston, SR: Kristi Scales
New York Giants: Bob Papa and Carl Banks, SR: Howard Cross
Philadelphia Eagles: Gus Johnson and Charley Casserly, SR: Dave Spadaro
Washington Redskins: Mike Patrick and Joe Theismann, SR: Kelli Johnson
Chicago Bears: Dave Barnett and Erik Kramer, SR: Lou Canellis
Detroit Lions (primary): Gus Johnson and Desmond Howard, SR: Matt Shepard
Detroit Lions (backup): Matt Shepard and Desmond Howard, SR: Charlie Sanders
Green Bay Packers: Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon, SR: Jessie Garcia
Minnesota Vikings: Ari Wolfe and Mike Mayock, SR: Ann Caroll
Atlanta Falcons: Randy Waters and Brian Baldinger, SR: Sam Crenshaw
Carolina Panthers: Gary Williams and Steve Beuerlein, SR: Pete Yanity
New Orleans Saints: Tim Brando and Solomon Wilcots, SR: Mike Nabors
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Chris Myers and Charles Davis, SR: Dave Reynolds
Arizona Cardinals: Mike Goldberg and Bill Lewis, SR: Jody Jackson
St. Louis Rams: Martin Kilcoyne and D'Marco Farr, SR: Randi Naughton
San Francisco 49ers: Dennis O'Donnell and Eric Davis, SR: Kim Coyle
Seattle Seahawks: Verne Lundquist and Warren Moon

GUJO AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For the first time (and probably the last), I feel an utter and sincere pity for Washington fans. Stuck with Joe Beninati during hockey season and now during football pre-season they are stuck with the dynamic duo of Mike Patrick and Joe Theismann on their TV sets. If you guys get any updates from Patrick on what Britney is doing with her life, please forward them to me pronto. I must know! Oh, and whatever happened to all of the sympathy that everyone was showing New Orleans? Someone must not have gotten the memo as they hired Tim Brando. All I'll say is "PLEASE DON'T LET ANY FIELD GOALS/EXTRA POINTS DING OFF THE UPRIGHTS AND BOUNCE AWAY!"

Even though they are also doing pre-season games, I probably won't post radio announcers until the start of the regular season. Although you really don't have to wait to find out, just click the Wiki link at the top. The page has both Radio and Pre-season TV announcers.

The NFL Pre-Season Schedule Has Been Released

One of my favorite parts about this time of year (other than the Men's Final Four and readling all 464 of Mel Kiper's mock drafts) is the releasing of the NFL schedules, and this year's pre-season is actually chock-full of epic match-ups that most would die for. Assuming the starters played the whole game that is. I have listed below the Eagles schedule, but in case you are curious about your team or what not, I have provided at the bottom of the page the link to the entire pre-season schedule (which includes a separate section for national TV games in case you did not see them over at AA yet). So here you go. The Eagles 2009 pre-season schedule! (all times eastern)

Week 1: August 13: New England Patriots at Philadelphia Eagles 7:30 (ETN)
Week 2: August 20: Philadelphia Eagles at Indianapolis Colts 8:00 (Fox)
Week 3: August 27: Jacksonville Jaguars at Philadelphia Eagles 7:00 (ETN)
Week 4: September 3: Philadelphia Eagles at New York Jets 7:00 (ETN)

It's nice to see the Eagles are going to get some stiff competition in the pre-season, especially in the first couple of weeks. Generally the Eagles schedule teams such as the Ravens and the Bengals so this is a nice change of pace. And keeping with tradition, the Eagles and the Jets are playing each other the last week of the pre-season, which in case you're not an Eagles or Jets fan, is pretty much a tradition for these two teams. Every year you can write it in. Pre-season week 4: Eagles vs. Jets.

2009 NFL Pre-Season Schedule (NFL.com)

Update: A belated congratulations to me! It took me over 12 hours, but I just now realized that this was my 200th blog post! It won't be long until my numbers reach AA levels......