BY JOE PAONE IGGLES CORRESPONDENT The fans, flat all day, sullenly filed out of the Linc more or less in silence. Few could muster the legendary anger to, as we often do, bitch and moan LOUDLY about the pitiful state of affairs. Sunday’s atrocity against the Detroit Lions was, in terms of the tenor of the crowd, much like the Eagles’ last game at the Vet, when Ronde Barber ripped our hearts out and stole a Super Bowl appearance we believed was rightfully ours. Much as after that game, you could hear a pin drop on the way to […]
SPORTO: It Was Nice While It Lasted
JOE WARMINSKY: Excuse me if the following statement sounds greedy or petty or obnoxious, because it’s really about a deeper, almost spiritual level of dismay: It’s horrible knowing that Philadelphia’s current streak of National League East titles will end at five. My feelings have almost nothing to do with the Nats, so you Washington fans can just step off for a minute. The pain is really about the Atlanta Braves. Like so many things that matter socially or psychologically in sports, the hurt goes back many years, to the Braves team that won 11 straight division titles from 1995 to […]
RIP: Steve Sabol, Poet Laureate Of The NFL, Dead At 69
Photo courtesy of NFL FILMS INQUIRER: Steve Sabol, an art history major and football star in college who combined those two passions to help transform the family business, NFL Films, into a modern mythmaking marvel, died Tuesday at 69. Mr. Sabol had been battling brain cancer since 2011. An inoperable tumor had been discovered just days after his father, Ed, the NFL Films founder, was elected to Pro Football’s Hall of Fame. A lifelong Philadelphia-area resident who never lost his accent or his boyish idealism, Mr. Sabol forever changed the way Americans view their sports. The theatrical instincts that grew […]
Suddenly Bobby Clarke Is A Rob Zombie Fan
DEADLINE: Rob Zombie will write, direct and produce Broad Street Bullies, a film about the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team that evolved from a cellar-dwelling expansion team into a team that racked up victories and penalty minutes in equal measure during the 1970s. Zombie, known for his head-banging music before transitioning to genre films like House Of 1000 Corpses and Halloween, is making a departure with this film, sort of, because the Flyers’ brutal style of play is genre-worthy and has the makings for a hockey film on the order of the 1977 sports film classic Slap Shot. […] Zombie […]
SPORTO: Superbowl XLVI Ad Game Play By Play
BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY So the Giants won. I hate them. At least the Patriots lost. Hate those cheaters too. Now let’s review the commercials. A true Super Bowl Ad can only air while the game is being played, so pregame and halftime ads are out. Forget the “straight” ones too…the car commercials, movie trailers, TV promos and others that just aren’t going for a laugh. The rest were trying to be funny or cool, and I’ve given them a ranking from 0-10. Anything that scored a six or higher I considered funny. The strategy now is to try […]
SPORTO: The Tao Of DeSean
BY MIKE WALSH One complaint about Andy Reid and the Eagles during the Donovan McNabb era was that Reid never provided McNabb with the quality wide receivers needed to win a Super Bowl. That’s a legitimate complaint as Eagles fans and McNabb suffered through season after season with sub par receivers like Charles Johnson, Torrance Small, Todd Pinkston, James Thrash, Greg Lewis, L J Smith, Kevin Curtis, Freddie Mitchell, and Reggie Brown. Of course, 2004 was the exception when the Eagles signed Terrell Owens. Owens went on to have one of the best years for a wide receiver in Eagles […]
Flyers Fans Brutalize Purple Heart Medalist For Wearing Rangers Jersey In Line At Genos
INQUIRER: Wearing a No. 24 Ryan Callahan Rangers jersey, Neal Auricchio [NOT pictured, above, that’s Bobby Clark in the 70s] stands surrounded by Flyers fans. He appears as a small man with his hands out, as if trying to play peacemaker. A man who looks to have about a one-foot height advantage on him removes his dark coat with white fur trim, uncovering his No. 28 Claude Giroux Flyers jersey. He shoves Auricchio, who still has his hands out, and then throws a punch. Auricchio throws back, punching up, but is quickly overwhelmed when a man in a No. 68 […]
SPORTO: Are You Ready For Some Playoffs!?!
BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY It was an ingenious move by MLB to switch the end of the regular season to midweek instead of Sunday. Who wants the last day of games to collide with a full day of NFL football? By making the move, baseball had the spotlight all to itself Wednesday night, and gave us what is being called “one of” the best regular season days in the sport’s history (simply by saying “one of”, sportscasters avoid having to step out on a limb or defend their statement). The Phils and Braves went extra innings, so did the […]
Q&A With Scott McCaughey Of The Baseball Project
BY JONATHAN VALANIA The knock on rock music since, well, time immemorial is that there’s nothing new under The Big Rock Sun, that it’s all been done before and everything after is just a distant echo of the big bang that ended on or about 1969. The Baseball Project puts the lie to all that. I submit to you that they are doing something that’s never before: An indie rock supergroup that writes catchy songs about the lore and the legends of America’s pastime. If there is an ur-text for the Baseball Project, it’s “Take Me Out To The Ball […]
MUST SEE TV: Web Redemption For Taser Boy
Tosh.0 Tuesdays 10pm / 9c Web Redemption – Phillies Taser Kid tosh.comedycentral.com Tosh.0 Videos Daniel Tosh Web Redemption DAVE ON DEMAND: Steve Consalvi, the Montco teen who was tasered for running on the field during a Phillies’ game, got his revenge last night. Comedically at least. Consalvi was the subject of a “Web Redemption” segment on Tuesday night’s Tosh.O. Comedian and show host Daniel Tosh will bring on someone who has gained widespread notoriety in an internet clip. Then he goofs on their dubious viral exploits. In Consalvi’s case, Tosh framed it as a sketch in which he is in […]
SIDEWALKING: It’s Comcastic!
Comcast Center, 1701 JFK Blvd., 3:46 PM Tuesday BY RAY SKWIRE RELATED: DEAR COMCAST, Why Can’t I Watch The Flyers? RELATED: Free speech online has come under withering attack from the astroturf lobby — corporate front groups that are determined to hand control of the Internet to companies like AT&T and Comcast. They’ve joined the forces of the Tea Party with pro-corporate attack groups like Americans for Prosperity to urge weak members of Congress to betray the public interest by voting to strip the Federal Communications Commission of its ability to protect our basic freedom to access an open Internet. […]
SPORTO: Sussing Out The Super Bowl Ads
BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUYThe game was entertaining enough, good job Green Bay. Now onto the important stuff: The commercials. They only count if they air during the game (kickoff-to-final gun, no halftime). I’ve thrown out the car ads, movie trailers and FOX promos and rated everything else that tried to be funny or cool. Ratings on a 10-point scale, 6 or above is funny, 5 and below is not. You can watch them all HERE and judge for yourself. I did it so you don’t have to, but don’t let that stop you. First Half Bud Light, “Hack […]