Crossing Broad

Top Ten Philly Sports Moments of 2010: #1 Roy Halladay

This is our second annual "Top Ten Philly Sports Moments of the year."  You can find last year's list here.  We will roll out a new moment each day (one over the weekend) from now until New Year's Eve.

The man- he's a moment.

It's nearly impossible to choose which one of Roy Halladay's no-hitters was better, so we rolled them all up with the man, and a year's worth of dominance, to be our top moment of 2010.

There are a number of other Top Ten lists out there and, quite frankly, any of them that don't have Roy Halladay at number one are wrong.

You can make a case for Michael Vick and the Eagles.  But let's be honest, up until September 19th, we all thought it was a mistake that Vick was still in this town.  While his success is impressive and shocking, it is also divisive.  

You can build a strong case for the Flyers' comeback.  However, since they didn't eventually win the Stanley Cup, and most fans were long off the bandwagon until Game 7, it's hard to choose them as our top moment. I'm willing to bet that most fans, myself included, had, at best, a casual interest in Games 4 and 5.

You can also build a strong case for the acquisition of Cliff Lee.  But since that didn't take place anywhere near a playing field, we can't, in our right mind, place that above any of those other moments.

Roy Halladay was different.  He came to Philadelphia under the guise of an ace that would lead us to the promised land- only his presence, at least initially, was questioned because we just had such a person.  Many, including myself, felt that Halladay couldn't possibly perform any better than Lee did in the playoffs.

We celebrated his arrival, created Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and even websites, but always lurking deep within our subconcious was the fact that we gave away Lee to get him.  Of course, that feeling became buried deeper and deeper with each passing day.

Halladay showed up to Spring Training everyday at 5 A. M., inspiring teammates to do the same.  He picked up an Opening Day win and followed with dominant performance after dominant performance.  Then, on May 29th, he inserted himself firmly into baseball history, throwing the 20th perfect game of all-time and only the second in the Phillies' long and storied existence.

Much more, including video of the final out of his no-hitter, with my screaming and my Dad's epic yelling, after the jump.

Flyers Beat Kings, and Here's Why Michael Leighton is Awful

In case you missed it late last night, the Flyers beat the Kings, 7-4.  Overall the team played very well, with only a few mental lapses, one of which resulted in a goal for the Kings (delayed penalty where the Flyers couldn't gain possession).

But the real story was the struggles of Michael Leighton.  As I wrote yesterday, and most likely a dozen times in the Spring, Michael Leighton is not very good.  He is slow getting across the net, has a gaping five hole, and, for some reason, cannot figure out how to hug the post.  All three of those problems were present last night.

Just a few minutes into the game, LA's Ryan Smyth snuck one through Leighton's legs, from behind the net.  The end result was a goal that was eerily similar to Patrick Kane's Stanley Cup Winner, but at least his was on a shot facing Leighton.  Smyth actually slung the puck to the crease area from behind the goal line.  It hit Leighton's left skate and went in.

Uhh.

And here's where Smyth released the puck from:

Top Ten Philly Sports Moments of 2010: #2 The Timeout

This is our second annual "Top Ten Philly Sports Moments of the year."  You can find last year's list here.  We will roll out a new moment each day (one over the weekend) from now until New Year's Eve.

The entire Eastern Conference Semifinal series against the Bruins is cause for celebration.  But there is one moment that stands out above all the rest.

The Flyers not only fell behind 3-0 in the series, but also 3-0 in Game 7.  It appeared that they had blown their load.  The energy and resolve it took to even the series up was too great to sustain for another game.  For 15 minutes, the Bruins were all over the Flyers.  And after they scored the third goal, Peter Laviolette had enough.  He called a simple timeout to allow the team to regroup.  "Just one goal" was his message.  Just score one goal.

Minutes later, James van Riemsdyk took care of that.  In a series and game that will go down in history, it was Lavs' timeout that changed not only the course of the season, but also hockey in Philadelphia. As I wrote here, the Flyers' Stanley Cup run brought them back into the mainstream in Philadelphia.  Other than Richards, Carter, and maybe Pronger and Briere, there were no household names for the average sports fan in this city.  With so many young, new faces on the team, and after a rather disappointing season that included a coaching change, the Flyers were nowhere near the level of the Phillies or Eagles. A trip to the Stanley Cup Finals changed all that.  We now have characters and personalities- an identity.  All thanks to that little timeout, which spawned another month of excitement and countless positive sentiments for hockey in this city.

Thanks, Lavs.

Watch the full game highlights and video of the final two minutes from behind the bench, after the jump.

Rest of the Top Ten here.  As always, leave your memories of this moment in the comments.

Video: Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels Discuss Cliff Lee, Jayson Werth, and the 2011 Phillies

Not a ton going on in the sports world this week, but we did get exclusive video of a conversation between Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels from a sauna in Clearwater, where Roy is already working out (no really, he is).  He's ready for the season to start.

Kevin Kolb Will Start on Sunday

This comes as no surprise, but Kevin Kolb will start Sunday's game against the Cowboys, bringing the season full circle.

Sixers Beat the Suns, We Show Highlights

Because there is nothing else going on, here are Sixers highlights.

Report Says Michael Leighton will Start in Net Tonight

Welcome the Big Bear back to the ice tonight in Los Angeles.

Yes, in the same building that has its floor graced by Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson's casket, comes the return of... Michael Leighton.  Lights out on Leighton will make his triumphant uncomfortable return to the ice tonight at the Staples Center.  

Philly.com has the report.  It will be Leighton's first game action since Patrick Kane slipped the puck under his pads last Spring.

With Sergei Bobrovsky looking somewhat average lately, this could be an opportunity for Leighton to play himself back into a full-time role.  The Flyers plan, for at least the immediate future, to carry three goaltenders, in an uncomfortable game of "who's playing?"

My take?  Leighton has painfully slow lateral quickness and is nothing for than an average goalie who benefitted from a fantastic defense in the playoffs.  I'm not thrilled.

Weird highlight video that ends in... well, you know how it ends.

Jody Shelley Receives a Two-Game Suspension

For this.  Your thoughts?

SI Writer Gives the Phillies No Respect, We Blast

We're not ones to blast folks for making predictions.  No one, not you nor I, can accurately predict sports.  If we could, we would all be rich.  But when someone's prediction is so deeply seeded in moronic logic, well, then we're going to tear them a new one.  

Joe Sheehan, an experienced baseball writer for SI.com, gave his top ten predictions for 2011 and said the Phillies will win less than 96 games.  We dissect.

The Phillies will win fewer than 96 games. 

Oh goodie, do tell us how, Mr. Joe.

That figure is the current line for the Phillies' 2011 win total set by your finer, ahem, establishments.

A gambling man, you say.  Go on.

It's easy to win December: make the biggest trade, sign the biggest free agent, lose the least talent, and no one is shredding their elbows or having trouble locating their fastball or just plain feeling old. It's harder to win September, when stat lines give way to baseball games, bad bounces, human frailty.

Right.  That same human frailty suffered by this current group of core players that has led them to a record of 72-38 in September (.654 winning percentage) since 2007?  

It was three years ago that pundits -- myself included -- were raving about the Tigers' 1,000-run offense in the wake of their trades for Edgar Renteria and Miguel Cabrera. That team won 74 games, finished last and fell just 179 tallies shy of a grand.

So let's just throw out that four-consecutive division title track record, shall we?

This isn't to say that the Phillies aren't the best team in the NL or won't win the NL East for the fifth year in a row.

Woop, I'll remove it from the trash.

Top Ten Philly Sports Moments of 2010: #3 Eagles Comeback Against the Giants

This is our second annual "Top Ten Philly Sports Moments of the year."  You can find last year's list here.  We will roll out a new moment each day (one over the weekend) from now until New Year's Eve.

The week couldn't have gotten any better for Philly sports fans.  Cliff Lee had just thumbed his nose at the Yankees and the Flyers were coming off a resounding win against the Rangers.

After being completely dominated for three quarters, we couldn't expect the Eagles to complete the perfect week.  Trailing 31-10 with eight minutes remaining, they appeared to be dead in the water. Then, just like the Cliff Lee signing, something funny happened.  A long shot miracle at best, the Eagles slowly unveiled themselves as a contender in the game, just as the Phillies did in the Lee sweepstakes.

A few short minutes later, DeSean Jackson sprinted past the Giants, toward the endzone and an Eagles vistory.

In a year of Philly sports comebacks, the final half a quarter of the Eagles game against the Giants may have been the most unlikely of the bunch.  There was no margin for error.  No time to assess things.  And, instead of just playing better, the Eagles needed a lot of help from our little siblings to the North to complete their comeback.

Watch our highlight video of a week of dominance, after the jump.

Rest of the Top Ten here.  As always, leave your memories of this moment in the comments.

Tucker Carlson Says Michael Vick Should Have Been Executed

Say whaaaaat?

Yeah, you read that right.  Last night, when talking about President Obama's call to Jeffrey Lurie, conservative Tucker Carlson (an insufferable douche) said that Michael Vick should have been executed for what he did to his dogs: [AOL Fanhouse]

"I'm a Christian, I've made mistakes myself, I believe fervently in second chances, but Michael Vick killed dogs, and he did in a heartless and cruel way. And I think, personally, he should've been executed for that. He wasn't, but the idea that the President of the United States would be getting behind someone who murdered dogs? Kind of beyond the pale."

 

Wow.  Let that percolate for a minute.

This is the same person who criticized George W. Bush for mocking a death row inmate, sent fake emails to the Daily News' Stu Bykofsky, and, in his twenties, beat up a gay guy.

Also ironic, is that the first ad that popped up for me upon visiting Carlson's website, The Daily Caller, was an NFL Shop ad for Michael Vick t-shirts.  Heh.  Now, I know all about contextual advertising, and while the ad I saw will likely not appear for others, that is some funny shit right there.

Get them before he's gone! Literally.

Video after the jump.

H/T to Caleb Mezzy

Jody Shelley Sucker Punches Andrew Alberts, Flyers Lose in Equally Pathetic Fashion

So much for a nice night of Philly sports.  The Flyers got crushed, 6-2, and Jody Shelley might be suspended for this sucker punch on Andrew Alberts.

Read Stevie Why's game recap here, watch the punch at the "highlights" after the jump.