Phinally Philly

Here I am on a Tuesday morning working on an top prospect article for the Flyers’ top 20 prospects with Mike & Mike in the Morning playing on the TV in the background. For those who have never heard of the show, it’s normally some of the best programming ESPN has to offer even though quality ESPN programming has become hard to find in recent years.

Well, this morning there was a big deal about the NHL. I was in shock. ESPN should not be talking about hockey. That’s not something it never does outside of when a three second clip of some incredible, miraculous goal gets beat out in the top 10 on Sports Center by a couple of mediocre dunks that any NBA player can make in any game.

The talk this morning was about how the NHL is going to capitalize off the incredible atmosphere that the Gold Medal Game against Canada created.

Even though Team USA lost, it was the most watched hockey game in the United States since 1980. It pulled in more viewers than any NBA Finals game since 1998, more viewers than any MLB World Series game since 2004, and every NCAA Final Four Basketball game since 1998. Not including NFL related football, it was the 2nd most watched single sports event this year falling just shy of the BCS National Championship game.

That’s just in the United States.

As far as Canada is concerned…well last Sunday was arguably their most important game in Canadian sports’ history. To say the majority of the country tuned in would be a gross understatement.

Everyone in the world watched last Sunday’s gold medal game, and even though the United States lost, nothing can be taken away from that one incredible game.

So where does the NHL go from there? How does it become more popular from one incredible event?

ESPN wants them to take out the fighting because it’s so much more destructive and violent than any other television program kids will see. Fighting cheapens the game of hockey, but if there is a fight in the stands at an NBA game or a massive player brawl on the field at Miami University, ESPN won’t fail to show non-stop live coverage until everyone has had their say.

Fighting is not the reason nobody watches hockey, and in fact, to say nobody watches hockey is a bit of a severe misinterpretation of reality. Hockey is a culture that you either get or you don’t. There are no tweeners. There are no casual viewers. You either watch your local team or you tune in if something important happens. People won’t just pick up hockey a random hockey game to watch a superstar play like some might pick a football game out of their weekend selection.

Mike and Mike feel that is what needs to change. They feel the NHL needs faces; it needs names. Give me a name, and I’ll draw you a picture with words, you self-proclaimed journalists.

They talk about how there are no “story lines,” but who is at fault there? Story lines are written by the players, but they’re told by story tellers. The journalists are the ones that convey the story. There’s far too little actual journalism at ESPN and far too much sensationalism. Hockey gets lost in the fold.

If you really want to believe that hockey isn’t on ESPN because it’s not marketable, you really need to re-assess reality. ESPN has created Danica Patrick and midnight poker tournaments. What makes hockey so inferior to the garbage ESPN wastes it’s coverage on?

This is Trade Deadline week. It is practically a hockey holiday. Mike and Mike failed to mention that too.

Mike and Mike want to blame hockey for not marketing American stars like the Cherry Hilly native Bobby Ryan, or Zach Parise playing just north in New Jersey, or even the best goalie in the NHL, Ryan Miller. Unfortunately, what they don’t seem to realize is that these players exist just as much as the Brett Favres, the Kobe Bryants, and the Derek Jeters. Hockey players do exist. The stories are waiting to be told, so tell them. Don’t sit idly by making up excuses to look like you have some insight about what is wrong with the hockey world.

There is nothing wrong with hockey that can be fixed by people who know nothing about it. Mike and Mike couldn’t name you half of Team USA, but they know they exist. Find out who they are. If you really care enough to make it a point of emphasis on your show, then do something about it instead of playing the role of the Californian trying to tell the Philadelphian how to cook his cheesesteak.

I hope I do enough. I love sports. I love hockey. The gold medal game, despite the loss, was something spectacular. For Canada, the winners, it was one of those moments you will be able to tell your kid exactly where you were when it happened.

Don’t make excuses for hockey. We’ve proven we can survive without ESPN. It would be nice, however, if there was anything real about the way you talk about hockey. Mike and Mike, you are not journalists, you are not storytellers.

Any publicity is good publicity? I hope that’s true. I truly hope, for the future of hockey, that all the leaps and bounds USA Hockey has gone through as an organization over the past decade, to create a team worthy of skating on the same ice as the Canadians, have not gone to waste for your grand sense of self-righteousness. I hope kids everywhere begin to pick up their hockey sticks from Houston, TX to Duluth, MN and from Los Angeles, CA to Cherry Hill, NJ. I hope they do it just to spite you.

Lost in all of this was Team USA, which is slowly becoming one of the biggest hockey countries in the world. That’s right. USA Hockey has a group of young talent unlike anything it has ever had before. We will have our say. USA Hockey will not be denied whether ESPN will acknowledge its existence or not.

I wanted to beat the Canadians this time just like every other American on the planet, but they worship hockey. They celebrate hockey. As a country, we can never do that if people like you undermine sport; not just hockey, all sport.

Listen to the sounds of Vancouver, of a nation, as they celebrated, and tell me how different it was from New Orleans or even all of America in 1980. Tell me the difference. Tell me a story.

(Sound bite @1:15)

After all, in the end sports is just a story.

Screw Sidney Crosby. I don’t care if Canada won.

I wanted gold, everyone wanted gold, but I’ve never been more proud of Team USA. Never.

Remember that feeling when we tied it?

That’s what this is all about. They came to the Olympics to give it their best shot, to leave everything on the ice, and give a nation the chance to believe again.

We lost, but we still still believe.

This is a team of heroes, and Ryan Miller is our MVP.

You’ve seen these dramatics before. Everyone saw five days ago what can happen when the United States and Canada face off. This time it just happens to be for everything; the Gold Medal. Two weeks of hard work smashed in between a grueling NHL schedule has come down to this one game for 46 hopeful NHLers.

In fact, the United States and Canada were the only two teams to draw their talent completely from the NHL ranks. Is it any wonder why they’re here?

They have met before. Everyone knows the result by now. Canada was one shot away from doubling the United States in shots. That’s not including the massive amounts of blocked shots by the likes of Drury, Callahan, Brown, Suter, Rafalski, E. Johnson, J. Johnson…the list goes on.

USA played tough along the boards, got bodies in front of the net, and capitalized off of opportunities while their teams did their best to clog up passing lanes, pressure the puck, and keep Canada’s offense to the outside.

Even with a great defensive effort, it took Ryan Miller standing on his head to get the US a 5-3 victory.

Highlights CAN vs. USA Divisional Game 2010 Winter Olympics

After their loss to the States, Canada came out in the first round of the playoffs (while the US had a bye) and pummeled Germany. Then they slaughtered the powerhouse, Russia. Tonight, they squeaked by a Slovakian team despite handily outplaying them.

With the first win, it seems all the US managed to do was earn a bye and awaken a slumbering giant.

Even so, it’s not like Team USA has been doing nothing since their victory. Though they squeezed by a Swiss team that was giving all the competitors fits, they just crushed a tough Finnish team to earn a trip to the Gold Medal Game by scoring six goals in the first period.

Inter-NHL Rivalries

Anaheim Ducks: Bobby Ryan, Ray Whitney (USA) vs. Scott Neidermayer, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry (CAN)

Carolina Hurricanes: Tim Gleason (USA) vs. Eric Staal (CAN)

Chicago Blackhawks: Patrick Kane (USA) vs. Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook (CAN)

Nashville Predators: Ryan Suter (USA) vs. Shea Weber (CAN)

Pittsburgh Penguins: Brooks Orpik (USA) vs. Sidney Crosby (CAN)

San Jose Sharks: Joe Pavelski (USA) vs. Dan Boyle, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton (CAN)

Vancouver Canuks: Ryan Kesler (USA) vs. Roberto Luongo (CAN)

Team USA:

• Average Age -- 26.57
• 12 first round selections
• Record -- 5-0-0
• Goal Differential -- +16
• GFG/GAG -- 4.40/1.20
• 0 Gold Medal Players
• 2 Gold Medals (1960, 1980)

Team Canada:

• Average Age -- 27.48
• 19 first round selections
• Record -- 5-1-0
• Goal Differential -- +18
• GFG/GAG -- 5.33/2.33
• 4 Gold Medal Players (Pronger, Iginla, Niedermayer, Brodeur)
• 7 Gold Medals (1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1948, 1952, 2002)

Team of Destiny?

Canada has organized the best roster they have ever sent to the Olympic games with plenty of All-Stars, Stanley Cup Champions, and 1st Round Selections. Even so, their gold medal in 2002 was the “State of Hockey’s” only winning campaign in over 55 years. Even on home ice in 1988, Canada failed to even medal as the Soviet Union, Finland, and Sweden respectively stood on the podium. Now the games have come back to Canada in 2010. Even the great one, Wayne Gretzky himself, has never medaled at the Olympics. Mario Lemieux did in 2002, but there is enormous weight on the shoulders of a team made up of many players who won five straight World Junior Championship golds since 2005 before the United States upset them to win gold this year.

The United States has it’s own legacy to uphold. They are the only team to ever win a Gold medal in Ice Hockey when hosting the Olympics. They’ve done it twice in their last two hosting years but only managed silver their first time. This, the 30th Anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, has the United States once again competing against the center of the hockey world even though this time it’s for the gold medal. This also happens to be the golden year for USA Hockey in general. Never before has hockey in the United States been more powerful. Despite often being left on the backburner as far as nationally televised games are concerned when compared to other leagues, the NHL has amassed one of the largest regional followings with a mostly “underground” fanbase. Fans sick of ESPN’s monopoly of the “MTV version” of sports-journalism have become hockey fans despite ESPN’s embargo on most things hockey. Hockey revolutions for franchises such as Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Washington have only helped add to the state of hockey in the United States.

This year, only a few months ago, Team USA pulled off the greatest upset in World Junior Championships history to win gold against Canada on Canadian soil.

Don’t believe me? Here’s my proof as NJ-native John Carlson silences all of Canada:

So which team is this “Team of Destiny?”

No one will know until the end of the game this Sunday. By the way all of Canada chanted “We want USA!” at the end of the Slovakia semi-final, they must think they are. On USA soil, the opinions are very different.

We know how the first game went. It took a spectacular effort by goaltender Ryan Miller, the best goalie in the NHL, as well as a heart and soul performance filled with blocked shots, second efforts, and hard forechecking, just to upset the best team in the World. It will take that again if not more to beat an awakened Team Canada.

NBC, who holds all the broadcasting rights for the Olympic Games in the United States, made the mistake of putting their first divisional game on MSNBC instead of its main network. Even so, the first USA vs. Canada match-up for these Olympics nearly set a record for the most watched television program in MSNBC history, only 0.1 points behind the Obama Election Night Coverage. It was one of the most watched hockey games in hockey history across the world and didn’t even have the full backing of the nation who played the biggest role in an absolutely legendary game.

But obviously Ice Dancing was NBC’s “sport of choice” that evening…

This time the game is on NBC. It’s for the Gold Medal, something far more allusive to some of the greatest to ever play than the Stanley Cup. Either way, everyone goes home and right back to the NHL. One group will go home winners, and the others will be forgotten. That’s how it is. One game.

The other game, as impressive and legendary as it was, doesn’t matter anymore.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 27TH
10:00PM EST – FINLAND (4) vs. SLOVAKIA (7) (MSNBC)
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 28TH
03:15PM EST – USA (1) vs. CANADA (6) (NBC)

Well, my back-up team is officially out of the tournament. Sweden fell in dramatic fashion to Slovakia last night marking the end for the current gold medal holders and possibly the end of Peter Forsberg on your TV sets.

While there are rumors Peter Forsberg might try to make another return, his foot seems to be acting up. He’s still a dominant force, but he’s not operating at full speed anymore. He played well in the Olympics, but as much as it hurts me to say, we might have seen the last of Peter Forsberg playing in North America let alone another Olympic Games.

Regardless, yesterday’s action was incredible. USA pulled out another nail-biter against the Swiss, whose trap scheme seemed to have been giving even the best teams in the tournament the fits.

Canada absolutely killed Russia. It’s not even fair to say that it was that bad because the game was still entertaining to watch. The line of Richards, Toews, and Nash was an unstoppable force of raw energy. They used Richards to shadow Ovechkin’s line quite a bit, which ended up being the biggest factor in the game. While Canada’s San Jose line of Marleau, Heatley, and Thornton showed off another weak defensive performance, they did manage to score some goals. Crosby, much like Ovechkin, was once again invisible.

Regardless, it appears as though the United States, by beating Canada early, has only managed to awaken a slumbering giant. If the teams do meet again in the gold medal game, it’s not going to be easy.

Kimmo Timonen advances with Finland. Slovakia, as I mentioned before, upsets Sweden and Peter Forsberg.

A tribute to the last time I will probably ever watch my favorite player of all time:

Also don’t forget that the Women’s Gold Medal game is this afternoon. I understand some people’s reservations toward women’s ice hockey, but it’s still Team USA. As the men’s tournament takes a break before the medal rounds, Team USA and Team Canada will face off for the gold medal of women’s hockey at 6:00 PM EST on MSNBC. Be sure to at least check it out to support Team USA.

Now, on to the fun.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 26TH
03:00PM EST – USA (1) vs. FINLAND (4) (NBC)
09:30PM EST – CANADA (6) vs. SLOVAKIA (7) (CNBC)
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 27TH
10:00PM EST – BRONZE MEDAL TBD (MSNBC)
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 28TH
03:15PM EST – GOLD MEDAL TBD (NBC)

And then there were eight:

The United States (1), Sweden (2), Russia (3), Finland (4), the Czech Republic (5), Canada (6), Slovakia (7), and Switzerland (8).
There were no upsets in the qualification round even though both Latvia, with Flyers’ rookie defenseman Oskars Bartulis logging big minutes, and Norway came close to upsetting the Czech Republic and Slovakia respectively.

Now the real tournament begins, and there’s so much to take in.

For starters, one of Russia or Canada will not come away with a medal. Thanks to the United States, these two heavily favored superpowers of the hockey world will meet in the quarterfinals to determine who has the right to compete for a medal. Russia vs. Canada. Screw all of the Crosby hype, but this is truly a battle of the elites. There’s no question about bad blood and rivalries with this one. Based on Canadian fans shouts at the end of today’s dominant performance against Germany, Mike Richards, Chris Pronger, and the best of the best from the North American club of the NHL are ready to take on the big, bad Russians, who have their own arsenal of Ovechkin, Malkin, Kovalchuk, Semin, etc.

If you care about hockey, you watch that game.

Of course there’s USA vs. Switzerland. You don’t want to go in overly confident based on what Switzerland can pull off with that trap. USA has to hit them hard and early right where it hurts: along the end wall and on the scoreboard.
The Czechs against Finland isn’t a toss away game either. Neither is Slovakia vs. Sweden. All incredible matches to earn the right to play for a medal.

The real tournament begins tomorrow. Who of the elite eight will be able to drape gold around their neck and wave their flag proudly as the best in the world for the next four years?

Tune in. It’s bound to be “tremendously tremendous.”

The United States, thanks to some dramatics against the heavily favored Team Canada, have pulled out the number one seed in the Olympic Tournament. The qualifications for determining the seedings are as follows:

1. Higher position in division
2. Higher number of points
3. Better goal difference
4. Higher number of total goals scored
5. 2009 IIHF World Ranking

The United States (3 W for 9 Points) finished won the division over Canada (2 W and 1 OTW for 5 Points), Norway (1 OTW, 1 OTL, and 1 L for 3 Points), and Switzerland (1 OTL and 2 L for 1 Point). The United States won the number one seed and easiest path to the Gold Medal Game because their goal differential (+9) is higher than Sweden (+7) who also finished the tournament with 9 points off of 3 wins.

SEEDING

1. United States of America – 9 P / +9 (bye)
   
2. Sweden – 9 P / +7 (bye)
   
3. Russia – 7 P / +7 (bye)
4. Finland – 6 P / +6 (bye)
5. Czech Republic – 6 P / +3 (Q vs. 12th)
   
6. Canada – 5 P / +7 (Q vs. 11th)
   
7. Slovakia – 5 P / +5 (Q vs. 10th)
   
8. Switzerland – 3 P / -2 (Q vs. 9th)
   
9. Belarus – 3 P / -4 (Q vs. 8th)
   
10. Norway – 1 P / -14 (Q vs. 7th)
    
11. Germany – 0 P / -9 (Q vs. 6th)
    
12. Latvia – 0 P / -15 (Q vs. 5th)

I will also be providing updates on games here at Phinally Philly and through my twitter account.

Full Television Schedule In EST
*Finished games are italicized.

Ryan Miller was incredible! Team USA was incredible!

Martin Brodeur was incredible! Team Canada was incredible!

Only one team could survive in a stadium packed to the brim with colors of both countries blanketing the arena while echoes of “GO, CANADA, GO!” were met with, “USA! USA! USA!”

The arena in Vancouver was picture perfect. The sounds were incredible. The game was the stuff of legend.

It was “tremendously tremendous”…to quote the broadcast.

It was incredibly incredible, phenomenally phenomenal, unbelievably unbelievable, miraculously miraculous…you get the idea.

Even so, a magical performance by Team USA on the ice, particularly by goaltender Ryan Miller, is carried out in 60 minutes just a day before the 30th Anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, the greatest sports story ever to occur.

Do you believe in miracles?

I wasn’t alive. You probably weren’t either. Regardless, the United States has won the division and the right to a bye in the first round of competition.

The star of the game, Ryan Miller, didn’t even get to sport his full mask. His catchphrase “Miller Time” was covered up by order of the IOC. His other tribute, “Matt Man” was threatened as well.

“Matt Man” is a tribute to his late cousin who passed in 2007 due to complications with a bone marrow transplant which was necessary to treat Lukemia.

“I’ll contest,” Miller said. “My aunt and uncle and my family, it’s important to them. It’s important to me.

“I’m going to stand up for that.”

Even back-up goaltender Jonathan Quick was forced to cover up his “Support the Troops” logo.

Miller’s play on the ice so far for Team USA, regardless of the IOC’s reluctance, has been a far better tribute to his late cousin. His team has won three straight, cleaned out the division, and will await their fate in the playoffs having earned a bye in the first round.

There’s plenty of hockey still. Peter Forsberg and Sweden take on their rival Finland complete with Flyers’ defenseman Kimmo Timonen tonight at midnight on MSNBC. Then, after the seedings are taken care of, the first round can begin. Team USA will be watching and waiting for their next opponent. It’s not over yet. There’s no time to fully celebrate this incredible accomplishment, but the hope for Olympic Gold is sweeping America, now stronger than ever after witnessing one of the best hockey games in Olympic history.

Let’s give a warm welcome to guest writer Candice Monhollan.

With NHL hockey on hiatus for the Olympics, life has been pretty quiet in Flyerdom. So instead of focusing on the team, I’m going to touch on a subject that reared its annoying head again.

An issue that has been bothering me all season long appeared again last night during the Canada-Switzerland game. A female Canada fan in the crowd held up a sign that read, “Sidney, can I hold your stick?”

So we seem to now have moved on from blatant marriage proposals to “sexual advances disguised as hockey talk,” as Sean Leahy of Puck Daddy describes it.

Now I may have you confused as to why this is an issue. Most male hockey fans just roll their eyes and shrug it off as desperate attempts by so-called “puck bunnies.” But what about the female hockey fans like myself?

If you take a vote of all the women at any given hockey game, I’m sure the majority will admit that they know very little to nothing at all about the sport itself. They’re probably there with their husbands or boyfriends to keep them company, or try to be the good, supportive companion.

But then there are those few ladies, like myself, who actually do know what’s going on. I take pride in the fact that I have studied (yes studied) and followed the sport of hockey. On any given day, I can fill an entire sheet of paper with the names of current NHL players, but I digress.

We ladies who go to the games not because our significant others asked us to, but because we want to. We love the thrill of the game, the smell of the rink, the sounds of the sticks and posts.

The problem is that these puck bunnies ruin the reputations of the rest of us. Their goal? To try and get the attention of the players on the ice for a date or more. A prime example was seen at a Pittsburgh Penguins game earlier this season in Calgary. 23-year-old Kristyne De Mott showed up to the game in a white dress and veil, holding a sign that said “Marry me Sidney.” A little much, wouldn’t you say?

Others, not as obvious, can usually be spotted at the glass for warm ups. You know, the ones all dressed in tight and/or revealing clothes and face covered in make up. Some have signs in tow, others do not. They try to let their looks do the talking.

These ladies give men the impression that women are only there to oggle the players and try to score with them, or even some of the guys at the games. Because of this, men look down upon the ladies.

I recently attended a Flyers game with my best friend, who also happens to be a girl. I noticed the looks I got from some men. The look of “What’s she doing here? She’s probably just here for the players.” I am even judged on my own personal pages, such as Facebook. You can always catch my comments and opinions going up during Flyers games. But for the people who follow me that do not know me personally, they always fight and contradict what I say. They do not take me seriously. What would I know? I’m just someone who can’t like hockey because I’m a girl.

Do I blame the men? Not really. I blame the women who bring this on to us. So this is my parting message.

To the men: Don’t be so critical toward women. Believe it or not, there are some of us who actually love the sport and teams. And there are also some of us who know what we’re talking about.

For the women: Don’t think I’m writing this to say that you can’t ever look at another player again. Just don’t cross the line. It’s okay to see a player and think, “Oh, he’s cute.” It’s even okay to sometimes fantasize what it would be like to be with one of those players. Men do it too, like with the ice girls (don’t deny it guys). But to show up dressed in white and protest your undying love to a player, that’s overkill.

So to all those puck bunnies out there, stop ruining the game for the rest of us. Your sad attempts are pathetic. Let us ladies have our credibility back. And besides, do you really believe all that effort is going to work?

Let Sidney Crosby answer for you.

“No,” Crosby told the Edmonton Sun after being asked if he was considering the offer from Kristyne De Mott. “I apologize.”

Super Bowl Sunday is typically another painful reminder for Eagles fans of how yet another season has come to a horrific end. There is of course one outstanding solution to this problem for those of us 21 or older: alcohol. With that I present the 2010 Super Bowl Drinking Game…the perfect way to keep your Sunday Super!

(Note: Myself and Phinally Philly are not held responsible if anyone gets sick/suffers from alcohol poisoning from following these rules. Scale it down/up depending on your tolerance level nimrod. Also, I do not promote alcoholism, I just mildly embrace it.)

DRINK EVERYTIME…

A CBS announcer declares Drew Brees the second coming of Montana (or just obnoxiously kisses Drew’s ass) — 2 sips

A CBS announcer declares Peyton Manning the second coming of Jesus — 2 sips

A company wastes millions of dollars on a bad Super Bowl ad — 2 sips

A running back is tackled for a loss — 5 sips (Joseph Addai + Pierre Thomas + Reggie Bush = this will happen a lot.)

Phil Simms says something incredibly stupid/asinine — 5 sips

Jim Nantz gets a player’s name wrong – 5 sips (Could be worse…imagine if Joe Buck were doing the game!)

CBS shows another lame ass commercial for the Masters — 5 sips

Someone brings up Freeney or Wayne’s injuries — 5 sips

Eli Manning is on-screen — 7 sips

Archie Manning is on-screen — 7 sips

(If both Archie and Eli are on at the same time finish your drink. If they high five and/or hug down another drink.)

Reggie Bush and the words “explosive” or “amazing” are used in the same sentence — 7 sips (And I’d still take him on the Eagles in a heartbeat.)

Kim Kardashian is on-screen — groan as if you are annoyed to see that bimbo when in reality your eyes are affixed to the screen like your life depended on it because she’s smokin’ hot– 9 sips

A defensive player scores a TD — 9 sips

A “Pierre” scores a TD – 9 sips

Darren Sharper showboats/talks shit/acts like a dick — 1 shot

Jeremy Shockey showboats/talks shit/acts like a dick — 1 shot

MANNING FACE! — 1 shot

Anytime an Eagles player/coach is shown/referenced — 1 shot

(If our Super Bowl loss to New England is brought up finish your drink and cry in the corner for five minutes)

AND FINALLY…THE OBVIOUS ONES…

The Saints bullshit “connection” with New Orleans is brought up — 1 shot

We’ll just call this one the “Hurricane Katrina shot”. Allow me to explain with an example: “After Hurricane Katrina *SHOT!!!* devastated New Orleans…blah blah blah.”

Have any more to add to this list? Let me know in the comments!

First things first, I hope all of you had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Now that the day is coming to a close and we are all appropriately gorged (I had way more turkey and ice cream cake than any decent human being should be able to down) I figured now would be a good time to hand out some cheers and well wishes to some deserving parties after a busy week in sports. And to all of you who feel like I’m too negative…suck on this fluffy, feel-good piece of bloggage!

Cheer: The Denver Broncos

While one crappy AFC West team couldn’t take care of business against an Eagles division rival (thanks for nothing Bruce Gradkowski) the Broncos handled the Giants 26-6 in front of a national audience. Good news for the Birds, good news for fans of the Manning Face, bad news for my fantasy football teams (you’re killin’ me Steve Smith!) Special props go out to Brian Dawkins who had a team leading 8 tackles and a fumble recovery.

**QUICK DIGRESSION**

I might as well point out before someone else does that I, in fact, was one of those people who was advocating moving on from the B-Dawk era. Of course I’d miss seeing him in midnight green, but at the time I didn’t think he was worth the big contract the Broncos gave him given his “advanced” age. At some point the ageless wonder will start to slow down but he is proving the naysayers wrong and is a key part of an over-achieving Broncos defense. We should have never let him go.

HOWEVER, you have to remember the Eagles did supposedly have an offer on the table for almost as much money but not as many years as Denver, and Dawkins chose to leave. You can rip the Eagles organization for not taking the necessary steps to prevent this from happening, but don’t forget to place at least a bit of the blame on #20. After all, he made the final decision on where he would play this season.

**Now back to the regularly scheduled program**

Cheer: Winston Justice

To say Winston was an afterthought coming into this season would be an understatement of epic proportions. Something along the lines of “Old Dogs really wasn’t that bad of a movie.” But to his credit he stuck with it, and has emerged as a solid starter at right tackle this season. The reward? A $19+ million payday. You have to feel happy for the guy, especially considering you don’t want your second round picks only being remembered for something like this.

Cheer: Desean Jackson’s Twitter page

While the Eagles have had their share of issues on the field this season one of the bigger problems off the field is the team’s lack of representatives on Twitter. Shawn Andrews had been holding down the fort for a while until the one and only Desean Jackson finally got in on the act. Now I’m sure there are a lot of you out there who hear “Desean Jackson” and “Twitter” in the same sentence and get extremely nervous, but I highly doubt there will be any controversy spouting from his tweets because most people probably can’t understand them. Examples:

“OK BRANDON MARSHALL THAS HOW U HAD TO DO C WEBSTER…. JUS BROUGHT BAC THE OLD MOSS!!!! 1 HAND GRAB WAS SICC!! BOI YO GAME NICE I RESPECT IT”

“I’M Sitt’n at home ROLLEN at this m&m commercial.. the m&m run’n away from the lady talkn bout it dont want to get sold!!! shit was funny”

“‘It’s Da Boy’ And Im Layn Low Doin My WESTSIDE Ya Digg…… in my buizness zone… catch me if ya can IM ROLLEN”

So there you go…I have no clue what he’s trying to say in any of those three tweets. Something about Brandon Marshall doing another dude, M&Ms running away from something, aaaaaand layin’ low on the Westside?!? Funny thing is I don’t even care, I’m just thrilled a high profile Eagle is finally tweeting. Come on Donovan, this form of social media was MADE for you! Ya digg?

Cheer: Brian Boucher

The Flyers Western road trip is mercifully over, and after a string of tough losses and even tougher injuries the one guy who stood out was…wait…the backup goalie?!? Indeed Boucher was brilliant against the Kings (a game I got to see first-hand) the Avs and the Islanders, pulling out two key wins to help keep this trip from being a complete failure. A 1.61 GAA on the trip means Ray Emery better start stepping up. Not to say he is going to lose the #1 job, but Boosh may start to see more icetime if Ray can’t get it together.

Cheer: The “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” gang

My piece of advice to you for tomorrow? Go pick up the “It’s Always Sunny” Christmas Special…don’t ask any questions; just do it. You can thank me later.

Well Wishes: Shawn Andrews

Shawn is going to need a second back surgery if he wants to play football again, and hopefully this will take care of all the issues he’s had with that recurring injury. The guy takes a lot of heat from Philly fans, but how quickly we forget that when he plays he is one of the best linemen in football. Battling through depression and all these injuries would take a toll on anyone, so lay off him and let him heal fully so he is ready to go next season.