One might say that the proverbial Philadelphia sports moment was realized this weekend. In one of our darkest moments in recent memory, Philly sports let you down. This hangover...well... will take a while to overcome. The figurative vomit taste that is still on your tongue after this weekend will not subside quickly and this one will sting. As Zach P. would say, "Put this in the heartbreak category." Indeed.
40 ounces to Phreedom
I should pour a 40 for my fallen homey, the 2010 Philadelphia Phillies. A great run. A great team. But overall, everyone knew that anything short of another World Series victory would be a huge disappointment. Remember, this year may have been the only time that a Philly sports team was the odds-on favorite for winning it all when entering the postseason.
As the dust begins to settle after this very tough loss, many will look at a particular person to blame. Well I can't answer that question directly, but I can tell you who not to blame. Don't blame rodeo clown and NLCS MVP Cody Ross. Don't blame Tim Lincecum or that bearded crazy person of a closer Brian Wilson. Don't blame offensive lineman Juan Uribe for the game winning blast in Game 6. And you can never blame anyone referred to as Panda because you know... Pandas are endangered or something. Don't blame Ryan Howard for taking the last pitch. You can't blame Brad Lidge or Ryan Madson and you can't fault H20 for this one. Cholly made some head-scratching moves this series but nope... can't blame him either.
In the end, baseball is a collective effort. When a team wins, the team wins collectively. All pieces must go together to create a product. The same can be said when they fail. And this failure, was a collective effort. Every single player on this club has partial blame. Every coach in the dugout and every suit in the office is somewhat to blame for the disappointing and premature end to the 2010 season.
With the World Series set to begin Wednesday night in San Fran, there will be a lot of familiar faces. Cliff Lee and Pat Burrell look to be major factors for their respective teams. Still, it will hurt to watch these games, thinking about what could have been and having arguably the two best teams in the league being ousted in their respective LCS.
And this is why I think that for just the 2010 season, the MLB should go all ECW. Let's give fans what they really wanted to see in a Yankees-Phillies rematch complete with loud intro music for each player and have Jayson Werth come out in a Yankees jersey only to rip it off and a have Phillies jersey underneath. Have Mike Schmidt parachute into the stadium and use a tire iron upside the head of Reggie Jackson or something. It would be great, but unfortunately, it was only in my dreams last night. And that's where the Phillies will reside until February 2011. Only in my dreams...
TKO
For those who don't know what a TKO is, it's tequila, Kahlua and Ouzo and a lot tastier than it sounds. But on Sunday it also meant what just potentially happened to the Eagles season. Yeah this one hurt. Heading into a bye and having a very difficult schedule after the said bye makes this loss tough to swallow, unlike the delicious TKO mentioned above. Ok, I need to remember that it's 8 am on a Monday before I start thinking about drinking. But the Eagles loss almost forces me to drink in complete despair.
TKO may also be wide receiver Kenny Britt's new nickname (Tennessee Knock Out) as Britt exploded against the Eagles and almost beat them single-handed. Britt caught three touchdowns and had 225 total receiving yards. And this was after not entering the game until a little before halftime. Why you might ask? Because he was being disciplined for having an altercation in a nightclub on Friday night.
Anyway, this is the second loss for this team in a game that should have been winnable. The game was all but won in the fourth quarter with 13 minutes left to go. The Eagles were up 19-10 and Chris Johnson looked more like Moose Johnston running the ball. Sure the offense looked shaky but the defense had done its job.
That's when Britt exploded. An 80-yard touchdown here. Another 16-yard touchdown snag there and just like that, it was 27-19 Titans with less than 5 minutes remaining. The rest of the game got even uglier as a Jorrick Calvin muffed punt put the nail in the coffin for the Eagles and lowered their record to 4-3 heading into the bye week.
The mistake filled game may have also cost Kevin Kolb the "starting" job (of course the definition of starter may change week to week), as Michael Vick is expected to start after bye against Indianapolis.
The Eagles have been tough to watch at times this year. Piling on points to Detroit only to have the Lions almost come back was nauseau-inducing. Tough losses against Green Bay, Washington and Tennessee have overshadowed the blow outs against Jacksonville and Atlanta. For three quarters of play, the Eagles put a little bit of hope into this city after the Phillies defeat the previous night. But no... the Eagles loss caused an even heavier Monday Hangover.
Of course it could have been worse this Monday. At least the Flyers won 5-2 on Saturday. Go Fly Boys!
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