There are certain things in life that I'll never understand, and I'm OK with that. For example, I'll never know why the sky is blue. I've still yet to figure out how it is that no matter what line I get in at the toll plaza, it always winds up being the slowest one. And I have no idea how the Philadelphia Eagles won the NFC East this year.
If you happened to drive along I-95 in Philadelphia on the morning of November 20, you probably noticed an abandoned green-and-white Eagles bandwagon lying in a ditch on the side of the road. The day before, Donovan McNabb crumpled to the turf in Lincoln Financial Field, the victim of a season-ending knee injury in a game versus the Tennessee Titans. The Eagles would go on to lose that game, and Eagles fans would begin to lose their nerve.
Who could blame them? Although the team's record stood at .500, a date with the Indianapolis Colts and a gauntlet of three consecutive road games against NFC East teams loomed on the horizon.
The trip to Indy went about as well as one could expect under the circumstances with one exception: despite the loss, Eagles' QB Jeff Garcia was remarkably efficient (19 for 23, 140 yards, 2 TDs) against the Colts' defense. Even still, emergency rooms across the Delaware Valley were filled with Birds' fans complaining of sprained ankles after jumping off of the aforementioned bandwagon in droves.
A funny thing happened on the way to December, however. At some point after that Colts game, the Eagles began to come together as a team. First came a Monday Night victory against the Carolina Panthers, and then - inexplicably - the Eagles went on the road and ripped off three consecutive wins against the Redskins, Giants and the Cowboys, and threw in a season-ending win against the Falcons to boot.
Reality check: teams don't win three straight road games against their rivals in the midst of a playoff race. They just don't. In fact, until the Eagles did it this year, no team in the NFL had won three straight division games on the road in December since the Giants did it back in 1982. If you had told me that the Eagles would sweep the three December games against their NFC East rivals - even before McNabb went down for the season - I would have laughed at you like a teenage girl who just inhaled a whippet balloon in the parking lot before a Dave Matthews concert.
Aside from Matt Millen's continued employment with the Detroit Lions, the Eagles' late season surge is the single most surreal story going on in the National Football League. Following the McNabb injury, commentators and armchair quarterbacks alike (myself included) had written the team off as a bunch of ne'er-do-wells. And now, they're hosting a playoff game against a team they beat by two touchdowns just a couple of weeks ago.
I can't explain it, but I don't have to. All I have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride.
By the way... can anyone help me pull a bandwagon out of a ditch?
Thirteen things I learned about the world of sports in 2006:
No matter how many millions are spent on the Winter Olympics, no one cares when they're over.
Remember Shani Davis? Odds are that you don't. It's OK, I won't hold it against you, even though it's only been 10 months since he became the first African-American athlete to win an individual gold medal in the Winter Olympics.
No... I won't hold it against you because he's a speed skater, and he - much like the other 2,662 Winter Olympic athletes - quickly faded into oblivion (or, as Mike Tyson would say, "bolivian") shortly after the closing ceremonies in Turin.
Sure, Davis still skates competitively, just like skier Bode Miller continues to drink recreationally. But as soon as the Olympic torch was extinguished in late February, speedskating, skiing, snowboarding and the biathalon fell completely off of the radar of the typical American sports fan.
Take care, Shani. See you in Vancouver in 2010. No matter what you may have done in the past, if you drop 81 points in an NBA game, you get a free pass. At least for a little while, anyway.
You can't mess up the #1 pick, can you? - Volume I It made all the sense in the world. The Houston Texans had the first pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. They needed a running back. USC RB Reggie Bush - four months removed from winning the Heisman Trophy - was the consensus #1 selection. The Texans didn't take Bush. They didn't even take the hometown darling Vince Young. No - they took NC State DE Mario Williams, who has all of 4.5 sacks during his rookie campaign.
You can't mess up the #1 pick, can you? - Volume II Any person who had the #1 pick in their fantasy football league this season and didn't select LaDainian Tomlinson (myself included) is an idiot. Period. And I don't care if he's on the cover of Madden NFL 2008 - if you have the first pick in your league next year and you don't take LT, then you should be banned from fantasy sports for five years. In fact, LT should be automatically assigned to the worst team in every fantasy league just as a matter of principle. 2006 was Vince Young's year. Let's review, shall we? 2006 was only days old when Vince Young and his Texas Longhorns upset the USC Trojans in what may have been the best college football game ever. All Vince did that night was score 3 TDs and rack up 200 yards on the ground, while throwing for 267 more through the air.
Less than two months later, reports surfaced that VY scored a 6 on the Wonderlic test given at the NFL Combine. Since a score of 10 is considered the threshold for literacy, Vince allegedly did the Wonderlic equivalent of running into several parked cars, failing to properly use his turn signal, and botching a three-point turn during his driving test. Young would later retake the Wonderlic and score a 16, which was good enough for the Tennessee Titans to draft him 3rd overall and lock him into a 6 year/$58 million deal.
With Tennessee, Young has learned the game under the tutelage of offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who is arguably the greatest quarterback coach ever (for references, see: McMahon, Jim; Young, Steve; Rivers, Philip; and Palmer, Carson). And despite not starting until the fourth game of the season (with the Titans starting out the year 0-3), Young has led his team to an 8-7 record with a reasonable chance at making the playoffs.
So Vince is basically playing with house money right now. Even someone with a 6 on the Wonderlic understands that much...
It's still hard to say goodbye. Every year, we lose a few more. Reggie White, Bo Schembechler, Red Auerbach, Lamar Hunt, Buck O'Neil, Kurt Gowdy, Kirby Puckett and dozens of others all said their final goodbyes in 2006. We all know that it's inevitable, but that doesn't mean that it hurts any less, either.
We fly high, no lie, and you know this... BRAWLIN'! Of the four major sports, two of them - football and basketball - have relatively few fights. But when they do happen... hide the women and children.
To say that the Miami and Florida International football teams "got into it" during their game in October is probably the understatement of the year. Helmets and crutches were used as weapons, bodies were being stomped on, and 31 players in all were suspended. Strangely enough, the fight occurred on a night when the Miami-Dade Police Department brought 700 area kids to the game as part of their "Join-a-Team, Not-a-Gang" anti-violence program. Irony is a beautiful thing.
Fortunately, the recent Knicks-Nuggets brawl was much tamer by comparison. Sure, J.R. Smith and Nate Robinson fell into the stands, and 10 players wound up getting suspended, but it was a far cry from the infamous "Malice in the Palace." As a matter of fact, the only semi-decent shot that landed in the whole incident was when the Knicks' Mardy Collins was "punched" by Denver's Carmelo Anthony, who backpedaled quicker than Champ Bailey covering a 9 route.
The US? That's Us. Losing in the World Baseball Classic was OK, even though it was played in our own backyard. And losing in the World Cup was fine as well - soccer is still a fringe sport in our country and the US team was vastly overrated well before they boarded their flight to Germany.
But in the month of September alone, athletes representing the United States lost in tennis' Davis Cup, got blown out 18.5 - 9.5 in golf's Ryder Cup and both our men's and women's basketball teams lost in the semifinals of the FIBA World Championships.
Well, at least we have a shot at winning the America's Cup in 2007. Nothing gets me more excited than a sailing regatta in Spain!
People really love horses. Game truly does recognize game. In September, Tiger Woods attended the U.S. Open in Flushing, NY as the personal guest of Roger Federer, who went on to win his 9th major title. The fact that Woods and Federer roll in the same circle shouldn't be that surprising. It's the same reason why the Angelina Jolies of the world always seem to hook up with the Brad Pitts.
In Woods and Federer, we may be watching the two most dominant athletes in the history of their respective sports. Enjoy it while you can.
The NHL gets lower ratings than SpongeBob Square Pants. Seriously. Question: who won the Stanley Cup this year? I'll admit it - I even forgot that the Carolina Hurricanes won until I saw a year-in-review retrospective on SportsCenter an hour ago.
It's a shame that no one cares about hockey. There are a TON of young stars - Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, Heatley, Kovalchuk, et al. - who are absolutely ridiculous with the puck. Yet because the NHL lacks a legitimate TV deal (most Americans don't even know they get Versus on their cable systems, much less actually watch it), the only people who get to see these talented athletes are die-hard hockey fans. So enjoy it IF you can...
Terrell Owens has 25 million reasons to live. This is the time of the year when just about everyone you run into will say something along the lines of: "Wow... 2006 sure went by fast!"
Everyone, except for Terrell Owens, that is. There aren't too many people on the planet who have had a more eventful year than the mercurial WR for the Dallas Cowboys. Here's what #81 has gotten himself into in the past 10 months alone:
- Waived by the Philadelphia Eagles in March - Signed a three-year deal with the Cowboys four days later - Posted a rap song on his website announcing the deal - Shows up two hours late for his youth football camp - Penned his second autobiography in 22 months - Admits that he was misquoted in parts of his autobiography - Spent most of training camp on a stationary bike - Overdosed on painkillers - Admitted to falling asleep in the film room - Tuned out a motivational speech from Coach Bill Parcells because he was more concerned with his birthday party in Vegas - Wrote a children's book: Little T Learns To Share - Spit on an opposing player - Currently leads the NFL in TD catches - Currently leads the NFL in dropped passes - Blames his teammates and coaches for the dropped passes
Other than that, T.O. hasn't really done much this year.
I've seen it happen before with marginal players, but I can't ever remember a time when a superstar such as A-Rod become completely inept at the basic concepts of his sport. Stars go through hitting slumps all of the time, but A-Rod can't even throw to first base, and his footwork around third is reportedly bad. He might need to borrow those Tom Emanski videos from Fred McGriff and practice throwing balls into trash cans like those kids who won back-to-back-to-back AAU national championships.
It's amazes me how hard the federal government is gunning for Barry Bonds. They're after him like he owes them money. Oh wait... he does.
OK, so Ozzie Guillen completely berates his stud pitcher John Garland - who was in the midst of a shutout - for throwing the ball behind the Rangers' Ian Kinsler. Twice. Ozzie only gives points for head shots, apparently.
Speaking of being "gangsta", Tony Stewart is the Ozzie Guillen of NASCAR. No respect for rookies, calling people out to fight, and basically saying whatever is on his mind, unsantized for media consumption. I'm not a huge stock car fan, but I dig his style.
About a week or so ago, former Sixers guard John Salmons spurned Phoenix and agreed in prinicple to a sign-and-trade deal that would send him to the Toronto Raptors. In the interim, the Suns filled their backup guard void by signing Marcus Banks to a five-year contract. Now, Salmons doesn't want to go to the Raptors, and no other suitors are lining up for his services. Good work on that, Johnny...
Shawn Kemp was arrested and charged last week with possesion of marijuana. Is this 1996 or 2006?
Al Harrington is on the verge of being traded back to the Pacers for a bag of air (in reality - cash, a draft pick, and a $7.5 million trade exception). For starters, this gives the Pacers a real solid starting five and a legitimate contender in the East. Secondly, the move completely eliminates ATL as a destination for AI.
On Sunday, I spent a summer evening watching an outdoor, middle school boys' basketball league. As I watched the sun set behind the trees, I realized that the sport of basketball - in its purest form - is one of the most beautiful things in the world.
Saints' fans (all seven of you) can rest easy... there is NO way Reggie Bush is going to sit out the entire 2006 season and re-enter the NFL Draft. Playing that primadonna card, quibbling over millions of dollars isn't going to fly in a city that was devastated by two hurricanes last year.
Names of randomness: C.J. Nitkowski, Craig Stadler, Harold "The Show" Arceneaux, Dale Sveum, Ray Whitney, Tyrone Wheatley
200 - The over/under on the number of yards T.O. gains in that October 8 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Her impressive performance was ignored due to the relative anonimity of the event (the Cincinnati Women's Open), but let me be the first to tell you: Serena Williams is back. She'll be a wildcard in the upcoming U.S. Open, but she's going to make some noise in September.
A man named Eldrick Woods just happens to be "back" as well. No need to put the PGA on notice - I think they've already heard of him.
That single thought has comforted me for the better part of the past decade. Until recently, I've been pretty confident that Iverson would retire in a Philadelphia 76ers uniform. Yes, he has a tendency to dominate the basketball in half-court sets - stifling the development of the players around him. Yes, his game doesn't mesh well with other stars - the Sixers have yet to find a player who complements his abilities. And yes, he isn't the most diligent player when it comes to practice. But Allen Iverson is one of the greatest players to have ever stepped onto a basketball court, and that alone should give the Sixers' front office pause when considering any potential deals.
And who could blame them? A previous regime made a similar mistake fourteen years ago, sending Charles Barkley to the Phoenix Suns for three players and a bag of magic beans. The only giant in that trade was Barkley, who led the Suns to the 1993 NBA Finals on the strength of his MVP season. The Sixers languished in mediocrity for several years following the deal until the arrival of an oft-misunderstood point guard from Georgetown University.
Ever since he was selected with the #1 overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, Iverson - who rolled into town with a low-cut fade, an infectious smile and a sick handle - has electrified basketball fans with his uncanny ability to get the rack, and his unquestioned desire to win.
Through the years, he's not only crossed over opponents on the court, but has done the same away from the game as well. Allen Iverson's fan base crosses all racial, ethnic and economic boundaries - a level of adoration reached by very few in the world of sports. The Answer has almost singularly made tattoos and do-rags fashionable while also making it OK for people in white collar professions to wear cornrows to work. Impressive feats, to say the least.
Fear of reprising the Barkley trade aside, one would think that the Sixers would be wary of trading AI for the simple fact that he remains a tremendous draw to this day. Shortly after Philadelphia drafted Jerry Stackhouse out of North Carolina in 1995, the soon-to-be completed Corestates Center (now known as the Wachovia Center), was referred to as "The House That Stack Built." But when Iverson arrived the following season, it would soon become "The House That AI Filled." The team's attendance figures increased every season from 1996-97 to 2001-02, and Iverson's jersey sales have consistently been at or near the top of the league's hottest sellers.
Ultimately, the Philadelphia 76ers are a business, and it doesn't take a person with an MBA to know that most organizations would be hesitant at the idea of shedding themselves of their leading source of revenue. Or, at least they should be.
My belief that AI would always remain a Sixer was challenged in 2000 when he was nearly the focal point of a four-team deal that would have resulted in Grant Hill coming to Philadelphia. The only thing that prevented the trade from going through was Matt Geiger's refusal to waive his 15 percent trade kicker. The near-trade led to a groundswell of support for Iverson, and disdain for the power brokers that had almost sent him away. Local sports talk radio shows were flooded with calls from Sixers' fans supporting their beloved 6-foot-nothin', 160-nothin' pound point guard. Coincidentally, the Sixers would make a magical run to the NBA Finals the following season, and for a while, everything was good. In those days, it was always sunny in Philadelphia.
But while the era of good feeling would soon come to an end - due in no small part to the love-hate relationship between Iverson and coach Larry Brown, culminating in the surreal "we talkin' 'bout practice" press conference - it was clear to everyone that despite his flaws, Allen Iverson was (and still is) the type of player that you build around. Everyone, it seems, except the people who actually make the decisions on matters such as these.
As such, my faith is being tested once again.
What makes it worse is that the Sixers haven't even bothered to make any attempts to disguise their plans. Being the team's franchise player for the past 10 years, Iverson deserves a far better fate than having to hear his name tossed around in trade rumors every summer.
I don't know - maybe I'm biased. Iverson is arguably the most talented Philadelphia athlete I've ever witnessed in his prime. I still get excited each time AI breaks down a defender at the top of the key. And to this day, I get emotional whenever I see the footage of Iverson - with the Lakers' Tyronn Lue draped over him - hitting that fall-away jumper in Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals, and emphatically stepping over the fallen Lue, putting an exclamation point on the Sixers' impending victory.
There's no maybe about it - I am biased. A stack of AI-related newspaper clippings occupies a prominent space in my closet. One photo shows former Sixers' president Pat Croce pinching the cheeks of his young superstar shortly after he was introduced to the local media. Another image is of the Sixers' point guard angrily loosening his tie after leaving court in 1997 following his hearing on charges of gun and marijuana possesion. And of course, there's the mug shot of a haggard Iverson upon turning himself in after allegedly throwing his wife out of the house.
Allen Iverson isn't perfect. None of us are. But much like Randall Cunningham, Eric Lindros and Charles Barkley before him, he has provided me with years of enjoyment, even though he's never been able to lead his team to the promised land. So while I'll be upset if he goes, I do understand that it's the nature of the business.
At this point, I almost don't care if the Sixers trade Iverson. Whether or not AI is playing in Philadelphia next season, Sixers' GM Billy King has managed the cap so poorly that the team can't get markedly better unless they unload some of their bad contracts. Chris Webber is on the books for more than $43 million over the next two years. Don't let his 20 and 10 averages from last season fool you - $43 million is an extraordinary amount of money to pay someone who - despite being 6'10" - not only shoots 43% from the floor, but who is also one of the slowest defenders in the league.
The biggest cap problem on the team - in more ways than one - is 6'11" center Samuel Dalembert. For the moment, let's ignore the fact that Dalembert has a reputation for not being receptive to instructions of his coaches. Let's merely look at his statistics and see that Billy King has committed to giving a player who has averaged approximately 8 points and 8 rebounds for each of the past three seasons $50 million over the next five years.
No... Allen Iverson isn't the problem. If anything, he's The Answer.
The Sixers are going to trade Allen Iverson.
In the press conference announcing the deal, someone will mention the incident from last season when he and Webber showed up late for Fan Appreciation Night - a game in which neither was expected to play. A few days later, an "unnamed source" will leak word to the media that Iverson's practice habits are just as bad now as they were under the Larry Brown regime. They'd even bring up the infamous bowling alley incident if they could. All of that is to say that the Sixers will attempt to spin it in a way to convince their fans that it was an even trade. And all of us will know that the deal is the most one-sided transaction since Manhattan was sold to the Dutch in 1626 for a bag full of trinkets.
But I've prepared myself for that moment. As a life-long Philadelphia sports fan, I've steeled myself against feelings of disappointment due to several lifetimes worth of heartaches, near misses and unfortunate endings. Quite frankly, the inevitable Iverson trade will just be another entry to add to the ledger. And when the news comes across on the wire, I'll smile... because I'll know that he's in a better place.
- The second autobiography of Terrell Eldorado Owens "accidentally" wound up on Wal-Mart store shelves yesterday afternoon. Far be it from me to assume that it was done intentionally to generate even more buzz for the self-titled tome. And although I'm a die-hard Eagles fan, I'm interested in reading the book just to see exactly how many Donovan McNabb digs T.O. can cram into 242 pages.
- Speaking of books - and piggybacking on CarolynT's recent post - here are some other quality sports reads marked with the crazydelicious Stamp of Approval:
- With all this good soccer going on in Germany, I completely forgot that the MLS is still in season. Now if I were the commissioner of said league, I'd... I don't know... take a break while the World Cup was going on. And then, while the few US futbol fans are just about to go into withdrawal after the Cup final, start up the season again. But that's just me.
- Names of randomness: Casey Jacobsen, David Nied, Carney Lansford, Leslie Shepherd, Steve Larmer, Alfred Pupunu
- "Some people call me a space cowboy.... some people call me the gangster of love": Maurice Clarett is slated to sign a contract to play for the Mahoning Valley Hitmen in the Eastern Indoor Football League. Karma is something, isn't it?
- The Broncos began a mandatory minicamp today sans WR Ashley Lelie. I'm not sure how a player can expect to move up the depth chart when he holds OUT of practice.
- EA Sports' NCAA 07 is coming out in less than two weeks. It is my lifelong mission to enlighten people to the simple fact that EA's college football game is FAR better than the yearly Madden offering. There's nothing like recruiting players and watching them grow in your program.
- Until two days ago, USC basketball had completely fallen off of the national radar. Then the word came out that the #1-rated HS player in the nation - all-everything point guard O.J. Mayo - would soon be verbally committing to Southern Cal. And if Mayo can convince his high school teammate Bill Walker (who just happens to the #2-rated player in the nation) to follow him to USC, the Trojans could be a legitimate Final Four contender. Ohio State's incoming "Thad Five" class is impressive, but grabbing the top two players in the 2007 class would be an incredible coup for Tim Floyd.
- I think people are making too much of this "Lebron hasn't said whether or not he'll accept the max offer from the Cavs" thing. Yeah, I know all of the other stars of that class have stated that they'll take the deal, but James can't even sign the thing until next week. Now if he hasn't signed it two months from now, then we have a problem. Or, at least, Cleveland has a problem.
- People will soon have to "respect the gangsta" of the Chicago Bulls. Not only do they have a nice young nucleus to build on, they have the option to swap 1st round picks with the New York Knicks next year as well. And we all know THAT will be a lottery pick.
- In the NBA's off-season, we get rumors of the Sixers possibly trading AI and the Wolves finally having thoughts of beginning the post-KG era. In the NHL, we get the Calgary Flames signing Alex Tanguay. It doesn't quite have the same effect.
- Francisco Liriano not making the AL All-Star team is a flat-out disgrace.
- Part of me is glad that the Phillies are pretty much out of the race before the All-Star break hits. Now I can take all of the energy that I was going to devote to them, and direct it towards something more productive. Writing, perhaps...
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