Philadelphia & Pittsburgh: A Tale of Two Cities

Interesting times in the cross state battle between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh these days.

To wit:

-The Phillies won the World Series in 2008, while the Pirates floundered as the third worst team in the National League.
-The Steelers won the Super Bowl in February, and the Eagles made it to the NFC Championship game.
-The Penguins are in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, continuing a run that they started by beating the Flyers in the first round of the playoffs.
-The Sixers lost in the first round of the playoffs, while Pittsburgh still has no NBA basketball team.
-In the 2009 NCCA Tournament, Villanova University (of Philadelphia) ousted the University of Pittsburgh in the Elite Eight.

And there may be more interesting results from the sports world in the past year or so that I'm not aware of, but as you can see it's been quite a roller coaster ride in the sports world for these two metropoli.

Basically, if Pittsburgh could field a Major League baseball team (wink wink) and a professional basketball team, these two cities would be completely dominating the world of sports right now. Interesting times indeed...

Christmas Comes Early in Philly

Budget cuts are never something you want to hear, especially during times of need as many people find themselves in now. Unfortunately, Mayor Michael Nutter made the decision to cut various programs in Philadelphia's budget due to a major deficit. Some of those programs include libraries, swimming pools, and hockey rinks, all of which are places that help keep kids off the streets and actively engaged in hands-on activities.

Fortunately, however, Christmas has come early, as the Philadelphia Flyers' owner Ed Snider has announced that his Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation will pick up the tab to keep three Philly hockey rinks open for the public to enjoy. This is a classy move that will help many kids and families, and save the city $150,000 annually. It's also very fitting since the people that helped Snider make his fortune will now benefit from his generosity. Well played Ed!

Ahh, How Far We've Come

Ok, so the Phils have a leg up on winning the 2008 World Series as they are just one game from winning it all (wow-- is this for real???). Just think about how far this team has come from just a few years ago. And just think about how far this team has come from the mid-1980s when it was a perennial basement dweller.

Now, watch this clip and you'll see how far this team has come since 1986 in so many ways. As a marketer by trade, it kind of hurts to watch this series of commercials from the 1986 Philadelphia Phillies, because they're just so bad. Yet I couldn't take my eyes off of it...

So, without further ado...

The 1986 Philadelphia Phillies "It Only Happens When You're Here" commercials...

Five Teams to Boo...

Pardon me as I act the negative Nelly here, but I had a little email discussion with my good friend Scott and he jokingly brought up a good point... now that Philadelphia will be getting a new MLS soccer team, does that mean we'll be stuck with another team that teases us Philly sports fans into thinking we'll have a chance at a title, only to be let down by inevitable failure?

Admittedly I hate to think this way, but consider the fact that the new soccer team playing in Philly, errr, Chester will be an expansion team and likely won't have a star studded lineup for a few years. That doesn't bode well for the team to help us break the curse on Cups for this city.

On the bright side, however, the new, yet-to-be-named team will have a better shot percentage wise because there are only about half the number of teams in the league compared to the other major sports leagues. So we have, technically, DOUBLE the chance of winning a trophy based on these odds!

So what do you think... should us Philly folks fear a fifth team failure? Or should we be optimistic and say that we can expect a parade down Broad Street soon after the team is up and running in 2010?

Hopefully some other Philly team will win it all before then, but I'm not going to get my hopes up...

Booing is Universal, Not Just a Philly Thing

To the next yokel who automatically declares Philadelphia boorish for booing, as announcers always love to point out, I suggest we all keep in mind that Philly isn't the only boo haven.

As reported by The Sporting News in a recent soccer match between the U.S. and Switzerland, in which the U.S. won 1-0, the fans booed the Swiss team off of the field.

And this was in Switzerland.

SWITZERLAND!

The "neutral" capital of the world!

If they can boo in Switzerland, then, like it or not, I think the rest of the world should get a free pass for booing at sporting events. How can the notoriously neutral natives of Switzerland get to reign down their disgust and not the rest of us sporting hooligans (booligans, perhaps?)? It's only fair.

If you'd like to see for yourself, simply fast forward to the end of this clip...

Arkansas Fred Goes Wireless

Wireless Philadelphia, an initiative organized by controversial Philadelphia Mayor John Street, announced that it has named a new member to its board... none other than "Arkansas" Fred Barnett of Philadelphia Eagles fame.

Barnett, who racked up over 5,000 yards and scored 32 TDs while playing for the Eagles (1990-1995) and Miami (1996-1997), apparently is quietly active in the Philadelphia community as he also handles public relations and fund-raising for the Institute for the Development of African-American Youth in Philly, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. Sounds like a hard-working and dedicated man who is definitely doing good things for the city.

Now for some more good things about Mr. Barnett...

• In two playoff games in which he had more than 100 receiving yards per game, the Eagles won both games by a combined score of 94-57. In the two games he caught for less than 100 yards each, the Iggles lost by a combined score of 64-21.
  
• One of the most memorable plays in Birds' history was his 95 yard catch against the Buffalo Bills in 1990, thrown by the seemingly unsackable Randall Cunningham. (Editor's note: that play has to go down as one of the league's top plays of all time, right?) Simply amazing.
  
• Here's a good article from 2005 about Fred's life.

I'll end this by saying, wired or wireless, Fred Barnett will always have a place in Eagles' fans hearts... and now, apparently, computers.

Age Old Saga: Phillies and Playoffs, Can the Twain Meet?

Well the age old saga that is weighing heavily on Philadelphians' minds these days is, once again, "Can the Philadelphia Phillies make it to the playoffs?"

While any Phils' fan wants the team to win a World Series, it's been a frustratingly long time since the Phightins last made the playoffs. 1993 seems to ring a bell. Indeed, it seems the twain never meet.

One statistically-minded sports fan has built an entire web site called SportsClubStats.com to determine the chances of any given team's likelihood to make the playoffs at any given time. As we speak, the site has the Phillies' chances of making the playoffs at 23.2%, which will obviously fluctuate depending on when you read it. The site is updated regularly.

Well, 23% is a decent chance, but for better or worse, statistics don't play baseball. Real people do. With 52 games left to play, let's see what these Phils can accomplish. If history is on our side, it'll be another long offseason.

(Then again, history doesn't play baseball...)

Pat Combs: Former Phils Phenom Faded Fast

Pat Combs pitched for the Phillies from 1989 to 1992. Unfortunately he is a now a case study in careers quickly careening out of control, as witnessed by his stats on baseball-reference.com. Check it:

1989: 4-0, 38 IP, 30 K's, 6 BB's, 2.09 ERA. Good stuff! Future star!
1990: 10-10, 183 IP, 108 K's, 86 BB's, 4.07 ERA. Ok, decent year.
1991: 2-6, 64 IP, 41 K's, 43 BB's, 4.90 ERA. Umm, what's going on here?
1992: 1-1, 18 IP, 11 K's, 12 BB's, 7.71 ERA. Bottom hath fallen out. Sorry Pat.

According to his Wikipedia entry, Mr. Combs actually zoomed from Single-A Clearwater to Double-A Reading to Triple-A Scranton to the big show all in one year-- 1989. Dang! Too fast, I wonder?

I have a theory about pitchers. Well it's probably not just my theory, but for the sake of this blog post just roll with it. Anyway, a pitcher will often come flying like bats out of hell from the minors to the majors and then pitch about 3-5 games of stellar baseball. And then, the pitcher hits a critical point. Either other teams catch up to him and start shellacking him (perhaps a result of better scouting reports, perhaps from the pitcher getting worn out by throwing his best stuff in a short amount of time, perhaps something else altogether), or he hits his stride and becomes a genuinely high-quality pitcher for the long haul.

At least this is what seems to happen with Phillies pitchers, and Combs was a prime example. He came storming into the majors in his first year. And then hitters caught up to him. And the rest is fodder for blogs like this one...

Welcome to Philadelphia, Jason Smith

Within the last week the Sixers drafted Jason Smith. And the Flyers traded for Jason Smith.

Yup, you heard right. Should be a fun year for sports news broadcasters in Philly.

I'm almost certain that players with the same full name playing on two different teams in Philadelphia has happened before, but I can't recall who that may have been.

Anybody with some help on this mind-bending issue?

Please?

Updates to follow if any are found!

Steve Jeltz: International Man of Mystery

My recent post (sorry for the delay since I last wrote, my loyal fan[s]), discussed the unassuming Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Steve Jeltz. Never did I realize he had a pretty strong little following out there in cyber-world (and out in the real world, by extension). In fact, since writing, I received two very kind and interesting comments, both by people who have previously met Steve and were impressed by his friendliness and, in one case, his looks! ("Hot, hot, hot" were the words of one adoring fan.) They even put out the smoke signals for Steve to contact them if he's so inclined. Well, no guarantees on that one, but I'd be happy to be the conduit if it works out as such! Steve-- if you're out there, drop us all a line, we'd love to hear from ya!

I suppose that's one of the great things about the internet... People from all walks of life and from all countries (including Canada, where one fan checked in with a comment) can unite on a common topic and discuss it at their leisure and with passion. Turns out that my fondness for all things Philly Sports coincides with the fondness that others have of one of the lesser-known Philly athletes from two decades ago. Pretty cool!

So to all of you Steve Jeltz fans, I'm excited to hear from you and perhaps we can keep the discussion going. And perhaps we can celebrate some Phillies' victories along the way. No guarantees on that one either.

The Countdown to 10,000

Many props to my man Kramer who found this site on the Phillies' quest to reach 10,000 losses. Yes, we our Phightin Phils are the losingest team in the history of professional sports, and we will undoubtedly hit the magic 10,000-loss mark by the end of this season, possibly by the end of June if all goes poorly!

Of course no Phils phan roots against the boys, but at the same time, it absolutely takes a great amount of appreciation and dedication to support a team that has let us down so frequently and so torturously over the years.

So if we're doomed to not celebrate a World Series championship, we might as well relish our record of futlity in the meantime.

21 games and counting...

Thanks for the Memories, Mellanby!

Well Flyers fans, our old buddy Scott Mellanby is hanging up the skates. He called it quits after 21 years of mucking and grinding, six of those years in the vaunted Spectrum of yesteryear. At age 40, Mr. Mellanby put in a solid career and had some memorable highlights, namely:

-364 goals, 476 assists, for 840 total points, and 2,479 minutes in the penalty box (that's almost 2 day's worth of penalties!) as a tough "never quit" right winger
-Made two trips to the Stanley Cup (one for the Flyers, one for the Panthers), though he never won it, honored as team captain, and earned an All-Star Game appearance; unfortunately he ended his career with the third most games played without winning the Cup, according to his Wikipedia entry
-A run in with a rat: He splattered a rat with his stick when it ran across the locker room, thus prompting his hometown Panthers fans to pelt the ice with rubber rats whenever he put the biscuit in the basket
-Founded Athletes Against Autism Foundation, to help fund research to cure Autism

Mellanby had a good run and played for one of the more exciting eras of Flyers hockey, from 1986-91.

Sign of the Times: Feeling Nostalgic for Veterans Stadium

So it's April and baseball season is underway. It's around this time every year that I think back to memories of our beloved Veterans Stadium, former home of the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Eagles, many brawls, and countless vermin.

But there's one thing in particular that I miss from the Vet days... the fans' creativity. I always looked forward to watching Eagles games and seeing the signs and banners that the fans held up. The signs ranged the whole gamut of feelings and emotions from passion to disgust to sarcasm to insults.

Who can forget the raggedy "Gang Green" signs that hung over the end zone during the Eagles' reign as defensive monsters? Or how about the gigantic stretch of a sign that was posted during the Eagles' dismal offensive years reading: "End Zone This Way -->"?

Sadly, the Eagles have banned this practice and have taken away a lot of the character of the fans, in my humble opinion. Even the atmosphere to me is a lot more sterile. Hopefully fans will find away to get this edginess back some day; but in the meantime, signs or no signs, I'll be happy with just having a winning team out there...

Bruce Ruffin Gets a Shout Out in the Inquirer

In a recent Philly Inquirer article recapping the Phils' opening day loss on 4/2/07, writer Bob Ford cited this Phillies' Phun Phact:

At 26, he (Phils' ace Brett Myers) is the youngest opening-day starter for the Phillies since Bruce Ruffin, the pitcher who replaced Steve Carlton on the roster but nowhere else.

That caught my attention because, well, that kind of stuff catches my attention.

I remember southpaw Bruce Ruffin being heralded as the next Phillies' ace in 1986 at the tender young age of 23. Indeed, in his rookie year he posted some tantalizing numbers: 9-4 record, 2.46 ERA, and 70 K's in 146 innings (and zero wild pitches, in case you were wondering... mind you, in 1988 he was second in the NL in wild pitches with 12). After his rookie season, he kind of slid into mediocrity... for his career with the Phils (6 years), Milwaukee (1 year) and Colorado (5 years), Ruffin was 60-82, with a 4.16 ERA, and 63 saves (he jumped to the bullpen when he landed in the Mile High City). Decent career, but he certainly didn't fill Steve Carlton's shoes, as the quote mentions. But then again, not many could.

And another tid-bit for you, Bruce "2 Minutes for" Ruffin (as Chris Berman called him) was traded from Philly to Milwaukee for that wiley Dale "Don't Call Me S-vee-um" Svuem (as I refer to him) in 1991.

And thus concludes this entry on the blonde hurler from Lubbock, Texas. Hope you learned something and keep the Quest alive!

Phun with Numbers: Looking at the Phillies' Attendance Figures

A few curious fun baseball stats to point out to my fellow dedicated and tortured Phillies fans out there...

-In 1980, when the Phillies last sipped from the Stanley Cup (err, raised the Lombardi Trophy, err, sorry, it's been so long I forget what happens when a team wins the World Series), the team averaged 32,736 fans per game in the cavernous Vet Stadium which held over 60k. The team that year also had some of the most talented players this city's ever seen: Rose, Schmidt, Carlton, among others.
-In 1994, AFTER the Phils lost the World Series, the team averaged 38,183 fans per game to watch a comparatively wearier squad whose season got cut short by the infamous strike before the end of the year.

-Apparently Philadelphia is not very nostalgic about its ballparks. In 2003, the Phils attracted only 27,901 per game during the last ever season at the Vet, less than half the capacity. Ditto for the last season at Connie Mack Stadium when the attendance averaged 8,853 compared to a capacity of about 20,000. However in each of the following years, the attendance jumped about 50% and 120% respectively. Out with the old, in with the new!

-The Phils' first year of averaging over 10,000 people per game came in 1946, after WWII, when about 13,401 people came per game. Prior to that, the team's highest average attendance came in 1916 with 6,524 folks per game.

-Lastly, the Phils have had two years of 3,000,000 fans: 1993 and 2004. The Yankees, for comparison, have had 8 years in a row up through last season of 3,000,000+ fans. But I guess it helps being located in a city that has 6 times as many people in it than Philly has. But sheesh, every Yankees game should be sold out with 8 million people hanging around the city every day!

The Amazing Google Presents: Don Carman

For some reason, Don Carman's name popped into my head today. One of those bursts of disconnected thoughts while driving (yes, in my car, man) today. Yes, the unheralded Philadelphia Phillies pitcher of the mid-80s or so some how crept into my mind.

So I decided to put fingers to keyboard (the new version of putting pen to paper) and see what his name brought up in a Google search. Boy was I shocked when I saw so many occurences of his name (1,120,000 results to be exact)! Being the good guy that I am, here's a quick summary of what I found...

Take for instance, this news story from ABC in Philly. Apparently, Mr. Carman was going through his garage and found a box of 200 letters. He replied to all of them, and one happened to be to a kid who had requested an autograph on a baseball card. He courteously signed the card and sent it back to the guy... 16 years after receiving it. That's pretty cool!

I also like this list of cliches and wisecracks that Carman used when responding to questions from reporters. My personal favorite is: "We need two more players to take us over the top: Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig." If you played for the Phils during the time that he did... I think even Ruth and Gehrig might have needed more help to get that team over the top.

And surprise, surprise... even Don Carman has his own Wikipedia page. He really must have made it big time! If the following statistic from that page is true, then I owe Carman some big props:

Carman held All-Stars Craig Biggio, Ken Griffey, Jr., Jeffrey Leonard, Pete Rose, Larry Walker, and Matt Williams to a .025 collective batting average (1-for-40)

And lastly, if this little anecdotee is true, then I'm about to go out and find where Carman lives and meet him at the bar...

Till next time, keep the Philly Sports Quest alive!

Charles Barkley: A Flaky Legacy?

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cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=69128 "
border="0" alt="" /> Most people remember Charles Barkley
as one of the bestrebounders to ever play the game. Indeed, having
12,546 rebounds in his career (not including the 1,582 he had during
his playoff career) will solidify that reputation. I certainly remember
his prowess under the boards during his years with theSixers.

But one of his lesser-considered or lesser-remembered legacies was his stance against "flaky white stuff" under the armpits. Ok, so maybe it wasn't his idea to campaign against this cosmetic faux-pas
as much as it was a marketing ploy, but he wound up being the ideal
model to fight against it since his arms were always up in the air
grabbing for rebounds.

And just think about how effective his
campaign was for Right Guard: watch a game of basketball today and I
guarantee that you will not see any unseemlyflaky white stuff under the
arms of basketball players. He undoubtedly revolutionized this scourge
over 10 years ago when most basketball players couldn't raise their
arms without exposing chunks of white deodorant in their pits.
Fortunately, we no longer have this problem.

Well done Sir Charles, well done!

The NBA: Ball + Basket = Billions

This past Wednesday, I went to see the Sixers play (and defeat) the Phoenix Suns at the Wachovia Center, the first game I've gone to in well over a year. The game was pretty good, save for the fact that Steve Nash was visibly not 100% and Shawn Marion was out for the game, thus rendering the Suns less potent than usual, but all in all it was a fun time.

While at the game I did some thinking. I saw Ed Snider-- the Sixers' President who represents Comcast, the team's owner-- walking around his establishment that holds around 20,000 fans on a full night. He watched his investments, errr, players who are collectively paid about $40-50 million run up and down the court. He undoubtedly smiled as he watched ticket-purchasing customers spend more hard-earned money by devouring overpriced food and beverages. And perhaps he thought about the income he would get from people who paid for parking, team gear, and other in-stadium purchases. And I'm sure he didn't forget the hundreds of ads that are plastered on the walls and other marketing messages announced throughout the game. He's got a lot to smile about... There's a lot of money floating around this building in just this one evening.

And all for putting a ball through a rim.

Think about it for a moment. A handful of guys in shorts, sleeveless jerseys, and sneakers run back and forth on a wood court trying to get a ball through a metal hoop. And people will pay tremendous amounts of money to witness it.

In fact, I did a quick estimate based on last year's Forbes Franchise Values and found that the NBA's teams are collectively worth well over $7 billion. All for getting that bouncy leather ball into a circular basket.

Is that unballievable or what?

Another Veterans Stadium Memory...

In 1991 or '92, I went to a game with my parents and two of my cousins at the Vet. It was Phils v. Cards. We sat in the right field seats, 10 or 20 rows up from the wall. There was a fairly good crowd on hand, and the vintage Phillies fans were in attendance, of course yelling smack at the Cards' rightfielder whenever he came out on defense.

For a couple of innings, one guy in particular, probably hopped up on liquid courage, kept a steady stream of trashtalking going.

"Hey, Jose-- you're a bum!"

"Hey, Jose-- nice strikeout!"

"Hey, Jose-- go back to Saint Louie!"

This went on for a couple of innings. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Then, in the middle of the game, I guess the guy got flustered that Jose wasn't acknowledging his taunts, and-- I'm actually chuckling out loud already as I think back-- this fan busts out with:

"Hey, Jose-- what's your last name?"

(Note: I was an avid baseball fan at my young age and I knew very well that the player's first name was Felix and his last name was emblazoned on the back of his jersey, facing our section's direction most of the time.)

But without missing a beat, another guy from a few rows back hears the trashtalker's question and replies out loud with (again, I'm laughing)...

"Hey! Isn't that Jose Snyder?!"

I heard this and I was practically crying! Right along with everybody else! The timing was perfect and the name was right out of a movie. It reminded me of the movie Naked Gun, when the fan yells out, "Hey, it's Enrico Pallazzo!"

So anyway, the rest of the game, what do we hear from the taunting fan?

"Hey Snyder-- you suck!"

That's vintage Vet Stadium verbiage folks.

Philly Sports Quest Profile: Ron Anderson

Ok, you just read the name "Ron Anderson" and I can GUARANTEE I already know what you're thinking.

Answer: Baseline jumper!

Ronald Gene Anderson was a Sixer from 1989 to 1993 and I think somewhere around 92.6% of his points came from hitting that baseline jumper from 10-15 feet out. Am I right?

In thinking about all of the players that I've ever seen play, I can't think of another player who made his living from that baseline jumper shot like Anderson did. Some players make their living in 3-point territory, some from planting themselves in the post, others from a jumper from the elbow, or something of that ilk. But Ron found that hole on the baseline and exploited it. And I'll tell you what, for a guy that put up 18 points per game over his career, he did pretty well for himself there. Shoot, the Sixers today I'm sure would love to have a guy like Anderson... a guy who can shoot reliably well (47% from the field during his career), hit his free throws (81%), get about 3-4 boards a game, not turn the ball over, and generally just fill in where needed. Nice kind of role player to have around.

But anyway, here are some little known facts that I just learned about our buddy (and that's what he seemed like... a buddy, average Joe kind of guy who just did his job with little fanfare)...
(Note, for some reason my prized bullet feature disappeared so I'm winging it with the bullets and also the hyperlinks)

-Ron went to Fresno State and joined the NBA in 1984 after just 2 years of college ball
-He played from '84 to '94 on 4 teams: Pacers, 76ers, Nets, Bullets, and scored over 7,000 points
-After the NBA he ventured off to play in France and later to Israel... nice gigs there for him I reckon
-He played on the '89/90 team with "Thump and Bump" (Charles Barkley and Rick Mahorn... Man, that must have been a fun locker room!), and yes, Chris Welp
-If you go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyZilWOTi8U and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFsrb-M3CJg

You can see a glimpse of Ron in action (#20)... Okay, so they were the best I could find. Sorry! (At least you got to see Manute Bol dunk-- twice!)

Well that about wraps it up for Ron Annnnnnndersonnnnnn, as he was affectionately called from the Sixers's PA announcer whenever he scored. Ahh, memories.

Till next time, keep the Philly Sports Quest alive!