With the demise of the Spectrum this off-season, comes the sad goodbye of the Philadelphia Phantoms as we know them. Sure, they'll most likely be the Flyers' AHL affiliate, but things just won't be the same, and frankly, they can't be the same. There is a tremendous advantage to having an AHL affiliate play right across the way from an NHL team: easy scouting of minor-league talent, no travel expenses for scouting minor-league talent, and the frequency and easiness of moving players to and fro based on needs. From the Philly Inquirer.
The Flyers suffered a setback, club officials agreed, when Comcast-Spectacor reached an agreement yesterday to sell their AHL minor-league affiliate, the Phantoms, to the Brooks Group of Pittsburgh.
The setback has nothing to do with Brooks. It has everything to do with the fact that, after this season, the Flyers' top minor-league team will not practice in the same Voorhees facility as the Flyers - and won't play its games across the parking lot at the soon-to-close Wachovia Spectrum.
Having the two teams next to each other made it easy for general manager Paul Holmgren to scout the minor-league players and reduce travel expenses. The proximity also made it convenient to send players back and forth between the clubs
It is unknown where the Phantoms will re-locate. Possible locations that have been considered have been Atlantic City and Lehigh Valley among others. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the Phantoms.
I will always remember as a kid going to Phantoms games and sitting in front row seats at the Spectrum. Having been young then, it is only now that I am beginning to realize just how truly lucky I was to have been able to sit in front row seats at America's Showplace.
And most of all the Phantoms were the reason for the first time I was ever truly angry at a TV station. In the 2005 Calder Cup which the Phantoms won, ComcastSportsnet and CN8 had only signed on to broadcast games 2, 5, 6, and 7. Well, as it turned out, the Phantoms swept the Chicago Wolves and game 4 was not one of the games scheduled to be televised so it was not televised. I was so angry about that, especially considering the times. The Eagles were 5-months removed from losing a Super Bowl and Terrell Owens was beginning his hissy fit, the NHL was in a lock-out, the Phillies were an embarrassment, and the Sixers were failing miserably to try to win a championship with Allen Iverson. The Phantoms were all Philly had to cling their championship hopes on, and that game 4 where the Phantoms clinched the Calder Cup was not televised. That is still to this day the angriest I have gotten over sports and sports media. If only I had a blog then.....
This has nothing to do with sports, but this is one of the most random, most sadly hilarious things I may have ever seen. Sadly, a girl was kidnapped 8-years ago, the good news is is that they may have a suspect. I know nothing about this case, but I'm fairly certain this is the wrong suspect.
I almost feel bad for laughing, but I just can't help it. It has to be almost insulting for the family of the girl who was kidnapping, but not only did they post the picture of the suspect as a hampster, but that is easily the weirdest looking hampster I have ever seen. Why on earth would a news station even have a picture of a hampster holding a movie camera slate?
The good news is is that Rodney Stanger is not a hampster (at least not that we know of). Hopefully the girl is all right and she will be able to see her family and friends once again.
Even though I'm pretty much in love with all Philly sports, the struggling and inconsistent 76ers have never been my favorite. I don't hate them, it's just if there is one team in Philly I could do without it's the 76ers. I hardly watch their games (actually I've been so preoccupied that I've hardly watched the Flyers this year and I love the Flyers). And I'm also not that big on the NBA period. I feel as if it often times becomes more of a showcase than a competitive game (Which is contrary to college basketball, which is really beginning to creep it's way as one of my favorite sports next to college football and the NFL). That being said about the Sixers, this video from last night's Sixers-Celtics game is insane. The Sixers were up 99-97 on the Celtics (yes, were actually beating the Celtics!) with 5 seconds left when Ray Allen, who may have had the flu decided that he did not like overtime that much...
ONIONS! The Sixers are like baby seals and Ray Allen just clubbed them. And that would be Clyde Drexler's analogy, not mine.
FYI, I plan on doing a few Sixers/Flyers live blogs throughout this season. I haven't figured out what games I'm going to do yet, but I'll be sure to have a few for you up this year (if there's ever a national TV game or a big game, I'll try to do one).
Okay, so this is not really earth-shattering, but the Eagles have already made 3 off-season moves. None of whom are really big. Actually, I have not heard of any of them!
Actually, now that I think about it, Parker's name does sound familiar. But, now that I read about him, I don't quite think I would have recognized him from anywhere. Ah well, they'll probably be back in the unemployment line by the end of pre-season anyway. Maybe they'll have a cheesesteak or 2 with Andy Reid while they are here. That'll make everything worth it...
48-hours ago I did not think there would be any need for me to type this. I was wrong. Dead wrong.
What happened 2-nights ago in Tampa at the Super Bowl was a travesty. Yes, it was a great game. Yes, Big Ben had a drive for the ages capping with a touchdown that will be replayed over and over and over again for years to come. The Pittsburgh Steelers are deserving of the Super Bowl that they won. That can't be taken away from them. But the Arizona Cardinals were deserving of a chance at the end. And they were denied that. Not by the Steelers, but by Terry McAulay and the rest of the officiating crew at Super Bowl XLIII.
Now had the last 40 seconds of the game been officiated properly, there's no telling what would have happened. Would the Cardinals have been able to punch it in the endzone in the last 5 seconds, no one knows. But what we really should have seen will surprise you. And that will be pointed out here.
You can debate calls all throughout the game. There were debatable calls on both sides. You can argue that the refs were against the Cardinals all game, as evidenced by the fact that the Cardinals had to use both of their challenges and they won them both. I'm not going to argue that. This is not Tim Donaghy big. But this is big.
It started on the Santonio Holmes touchdown catch. It was a great play and a clean play. However, it was after the play that we have some controversy. Actually, there is no controversy. After the touchdown, Santonio Holmes treated the ball as a prop by using it almost as a salt-and-pepper shaker (the motions mimicked that in a way) and then threw the ball up in the air while spreading his arms out, clearly mimicking LeBron James. And there was no penalty! This was something that was clear as day and yet, the refs clearly missed that call. That's 15-yards! This is the Super Bowl and while you can use the argument that it's the Super Bowl and he should be allowed to do what he wants after catching one of the greatest touchdowns of all time, the fact remains it's still a penalty. And a clear penalty in a game that was littered with ticky-tacky calls. No one's going to say anything if you call that 15-yards, it was clear as day. And yet, it went ignored and uncalled. 15-yards. Remember that.
Now we get to the Warner fumble. I have seen that play over and over and over again from every possible angle and I have come to one conclusion. Warner's arm was going forward. Based on the sheer physics of the play, there's no other possible explanation. We'll get to back the the physics later, but first let's disect the video. Here's a great close-up.
What happened when he threw is he put his arm back, put it back even more to heave it down the field, moved his arm forward, got hit as he was doing so and the ball came out. And if the video does not prove it (which I think he does) then let's talk science. There is no way this is not an incomplete pass. By the sheer physics of it. The ball ends up 4-yards down the field. How is that possible? Especially seeing as Lamaar Woodley came from Warner's side! He was not popped from behind. We've seen empty hands before. A good sign of an empty hand fumble is the ball popping up in the air because the only momentum is the defender hitting him and the QB going down. How does the ball end up 4-yards down the field if Warner is hit from the side with his arm all the way back? The only possible explanation is that he must have had possession of the ball while moving his arm/shoulder forward. How else does the ball get all that forward momentum? It certainly would not have been provided by Woodley who hit him from the side. Momentum cannot be created or destroyed and Raymond James Stadium is not a place where the laws of physics are destroyed. And not only did it end up 4-yards down the field, but it ends up 4-yards down the field on a line, not popped up in the air. If it were popped up in the air, that would lend credence to the empty hand, but the fact that the ball was 4-yards down the field on an albeit somewhat wobbly line proves even more that the pass was incomplete and the arm was going forward. There's no other scientifically plausible explanation. And if there is, I'd like to see it.
And what's an even bigger crime here is that this play WAS NOT EVEN REVIEWED! It is impossible in one-minute of looking at the play to make a judgment on it. You think that I spent only a minute or two looking at it? NO! I must have seen the play now 50-100 times. I've studied it. And while you certainly can't completely disect the film in 3-minutes for a booth review, you can definitley look at it, apply high school physics, and make a judgment that the arm must have been going forward. And even if McAulay and his crew don't remember anything about physics. Isn't that play close enough just by looking at it to warrant that it needs to be looked at for more than a minute.
And we're not done here. There was another 15-yard excessive celebration penalty on the Steelers. That would have been tacked on. Remember the 15-yard excessive celebration penalty after the Holmes touchdown? Assuming everything stayed the same, and the pass was rightly overturned, the Arizona Cardinals should have had the ball at the 19-yard line with 5 seconds to go. Now whether or not the Cardinals would have converted is anyone's guess, but there chances were very good with Larry Fitzgerald on their team.
The fact that this game came down to this though, is unforgiveable. I'm not here to come up with a crazy conspiracy that the refs were employed by the Steelers or something, but the circumstances certainly are dubious around the whole thing. Terry McAulay was the only referee to have a major controversy in the playoffs and he is the referee for the Super Bowl, having been named days after the Delay of Game controversy in Nashville. And here we are in the Super Bowl, with one of the most controversial finishes in Super Bowl history.
Again, I say, I'm not glad that I'm talking about this. I have no problem with Pittsburgh winning. But thanks to McAulay and the officiating crew, there will always be a cloud of "what if" surrounding the game? Does Warner connect with Fitzgerald for the game-winning TD? Does Polamalu pick it off and seal the deal? Is the pass caught at the 1 by Boldin and tackled immediately, leaving him and the Cardinals inches short of a touchdown? It was a great game, a historic drive by Big Ben ending with what may very well be considered the greatest touchdown in Super Bowl history. However, the cloud of controversy will forever lurk over this game. And that, my friends, is a damn shame.
It's amazing that with all of the talk about the exciting conclusion of last night's game that we've pretty much forgotten all about the ads, but alas, we've forgotten all about the ads. And with pretty good reasons as well. Except for a few diamonds in the rough, the ads this year were not really special. But there were a few diamonds in the rough. All ads courtesy of Hulu.com
While not necessarily one of the best per se, one of the more talked about ads. The Troy Polamalu Coke ad.
In hind sight, this ad is a bit tasteless for these economic times, but the CareerBuilder.com ad did make me laugh when I saw it.
One of the Budweisder Clydesdales has a girlfriend.
This Pepsi parody of MacGyver was, in my opinion, the worst commercial of the evening. But yet, it has that "so bad, it's good" air about it.
And now for my two favorites. The runner-up was the first commercial of the night. But Light at meetings are a must.
And lastly, my personal favorite, and according to the CBS Early Show, America's favorite as well. And if you know my sense of humor, this should come as little surprise...
NUT SHOT! Again all of these are available at Hulu.com. And because I like it so much, here's the link to the Doritos nut shot commercial and you can navigate your way through all of the other commercials easily from there.
Well then, that was a fun little Super Bowl, wasn't it?
For what many people were saying would be a boring snoozefest, it turned out to be one of the most exhillerating finishes in Super Bowl history, all being capped off with one of, if not the greatest touchdown catch in Super Bowl history. Oh, and if I were a Cardinals fan I'd be a wee bit miffed at Terry McAulay. But first, courtesy of Awful Announcing and SSReporters here are a compilation of videos from the Super Bowl.
Tribute to the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 and the National Anthem (Awful Announcing)
James Harrison 100-yard interception return for a touchdown. (SSReporters)
Larry Fitzgerald's go-ahead touchdown catch (SSReporters)
Larry Fitzgerald's go-ahead touchdown catch with a special 30-seconds of porn interrupting! (Awful Announcing)
The Exciting Conclusion of Super Bowl XLIII including the Holmes TD catch and ensuing controversial finish (Awful Announcing)
What a game and a finish. But I must say, I just do not get how that last play is not reviewed. And yes I know that Al Michaels and ESPN said that the play was "reviewed", but hardly a minute of real time elapsed from the time of the Warner fumble to Big Ben taking a knee. There is no way they could have reviewed it that quick. And even if they did, how could looking at that play take a minute? It's at worst inconclusive and at best an incomplete pass. I tend to side with the latter. Having watched it several times, unless I'm seeing something that no one else is, I see Warner's arm moving forward with full possession of the ball. Plus keep in mind the physics of the play. Woodley came from the side and hit the front of the ball. How then, does the ball end up 5-yards down the field? The only logical explanation is that the ball had some forward momentum created by Warner's arm and shoulder beginning to move forward. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but something about that last play just does not sit-well with me. Now with 5-seconds left, a 50-yard hail mary is a very unlikely play, but with Warner's arm and Fitzgerald's height advantage over the Steelers secondary, with the perfect throw, you never know what kind of magic we could have seen. But alas, we'll never know.
Congrats to the Steelers for winning a fantastic Super Bowl. It was definitley a very entertaining game, and for me, a very scary game, because with less than 4-minutes left, the score was Pittsburgh 20, Arizona 16, the same score that I had predicted in my preview 24-hours before the game. Santonio Holmes' touchdown catch will be replayed over and over for years to come, much like the Tyree catch last year. Hopefully next year's game is just as exciting. Actually forget about excitement, I just hope the Eagles are in it (and win it)!
Update: Tomorrow I'll have a Keith Olbermann-esque special comment on the officating of this game. There's just no way that game should have ended like that.
