Is this finally the Winter of our discontent?
Well, not for those boys of Fall and Summer, but, oh, those Winter wonderkinds.
The Eagles somehow manage to win all but the biggest games when they have to and lose some gimmes when, by definition, they aren't supposed to. They are currently putting on one of those Winter spurts for which they are famous. They aren't really a Super Bowl team but we've had plenty of evidence over the years that the best teams don't always win. Wait. They nearly always do in football!
The Phillies just signed one of the best pitchers in baseball while trading away the best pitcher on their staff from a year ago before his value diminished and he walked away a free agent. In the process they subtracted a few top prospects while acquiring a few top prospects from another team. Were all these transactions a net plus? Who knows?! One thing is certain: they weren't a minus when Roy Halladay is still standing and wearing red pinstripes.
As a side note, it's interesting to watch baseball players clamor to come to Philadelphia and, in Lee's case, express deep regret over leaving, when only a few short years ago ball players, especially the ones who throw for a living, made it clear on the whole they'd rather not make their livings here. Winning does that. So does a good clubhouse.
Meanwhile, the Flyers fired the only eligible victim available at the time and proceeded to play just as poorly under the new guy as they did under the old one, proving yet again that when things go bad management nearly always fires the wrong albeit only person they can. John Stevens deserved better, of course, but he joins a long list of stewards who deserved better and didn't get it.
The Sixers are even more pitiful than the Flyers, losing twelve of thirteen while signing an over-the-hill veteran no one else wanted. So what happens when AI returns to the scene of his past glories? Five games later he is sidelined with arthritis, the sort of disease one finds in, well, over-the-hill veterans no one else wants. I never thought I'd say this, but Ed Stefanski makes one think wistfully about Billy King.
Out on the links, the only golfer other than Arnold Palmer who ever remotely tempted me to watch a match on TV has had a bad couple of weeks, most if not all apparently of his own doing. Ever since Muhammad Ali retired, Woods has been the most dominant figure in sports of his time. The first chinks in his armor appeared recently in some stories noting his foul mouth and temper, but these peccadilloes pale when viewed against the current backdrop.
Have a nice holiday.
As a side note, it's interesting to watch baseball players clamor to come to Philadelphia and, in Lee's case, express deep regret over leaving, when only a few short years ago ball players, especially the ones who throw for a living, made it clear on the whole they'd rather not make their livings here. Winning does that. So does a good clubhouse.
Meanwhile, the Flyers fired the only eligible victim available at the time and proceeded to play just as poorly under the new guy as they did under the old one, proving yet again that when things go bad management nearly always fires the wrong albeit only person they can. John Stevens deserved better, of course, but he joins a long list of stewards who deserved better and didn't get it.
The Sixers are even more pitiful than the Flyers, losing twelve of thirteen while signing an over-the-hill veteran no one else wanted. So what happens when AI returns to the scene of his past glories? Five games later he is sidelined with arthritis, the sort of disease one finds in, well, over-the-hill veterans no one else wants. I never thought I'd say this, but Ed Stefanski makes one think wistfully about Billy King.
Out on the links, the only golfer other than Arnold Palmer who ever remotely tempted me to watch a match on TV has had a bad couple of weeks, most if not all apparently of his own doing. Ever since Muhammad Ali retired, Woods has been the most dominant figure in sports of his time. The first chinks in his armor appeared recently in some stories noting his foul mouth and temper, but these peccadilloes pale when viewed against the current backdrop.
Have a nice holiday.
