Crossing Broad

Flyers Will Not Send Stamkos Offer Sheet

As first reported by Tim Panaccio and quickly confirmed by the other beat reporters, the Flyers will not submit an offer sheet to Steven Stamkos.

Deep breath.

There are two sides to this: Had the Flyers submitted an offer, they may have had to wait over a week to find out if the Lightning would match it. This would have handcuffed them during the most critical week of the year.... On the flip side, trading Carter made room for Bryzgalov. Trading Richards, however, freed up a lot of cap space, which most of us thought would be used to sign a big-name player like Stamkos. Looks like that won't be the case.

Buckle up. Tomorrow begins free agency. I still wouldn't rule out something crazy happening. Homer's been drunk with power for eight days now.

Cole Hamels Wouldn't Speak to Media Because a Camera Filmed Him Without His Shirt on, Allegedly

Old pic

Get ready to get weird.

Cole Hamels didn't like being filmed with his shirt off... so he didn't speak to the media about his hand injury. We'll let beat writer Randy Miller (@randymiller) tell the story:

Hamels says a TV cameraman was shooting him while he dressed, but when reporters walked in clubhouse I saw Hamels completely dressed. I don't know if any TV cameras were in before Manuel's post-game talk was over in another room, but Hamels did blow us off. Just found out that Phils clubhouse was open early for Channel 10 and ESPN. Someone apparently shot Hamels with shirt off, a no-no. When I entered Phils clubhouse, I saw Hamels completely dressed ... but apparently he already was upset at that point & decided not to talk.

 

Howard Eskin chimed in:

Randy, what did the cameraman do ?

 

Miller:

He filmed Hamels with his shirt off.

 

I feel so, so icky. 

Weak sauce from Cole. He's one of the best pitchers in baseball and most important players on the team who pitched today and was hit with a line drive. It's a give a take: two weeks ago, he held a charity event where over a dozen media outlets showed up to cover the work he was doing off the field. Why? Because he plays for the Phillies, not because of what he was doing. That's a fact. Part of the deal there, as it is with all athletes, is that he uphold his end of the bargain. Leaving a game and needing x-rays makes him the story from today's game. It's not a huge deal, but just another one of those "Cole" things that keeps him from being mentioned in the same breath as Roy and Cliff... because he's been every bit as good on the field.

Amaro says he expects him to make his next start, but he's not 100% sure. No word from Cole...

X-rays Negative on Hamels

Cole Hamels left today's game after the fourth inning. He was hit by a line drive off the bat of Adrian Gonzalez.

It hit him in his non-throwing hand and knocked his glove off (looked like it hit the padded part of his hand). He threw a couple of warm-up pitches and got the final out of the inning. Tom McCarthy said he has a "hand contusion."

David Herndon came in to replace him. I started typing this when Hamels came out of the game, there are now two outs... with two men on base and one run already scored. Herndon!

X-rays on his hand were negative, according to the Phillies. He's listed as day-to-day and scheduled to make his next start.

DeSean Jackson Dropped $25,000 at Da Club on Tuesday

Chuuu chuuuuuz!

Nice find by Black Sports Online here. Late Tuesday night, DeSean Jackson Tweeted then deleted (poet!) about spending $25K at The Colony in Los Angeles:

$10k in 17 minutes... Jesus.

His buddy, (@iamKIDCALI), Tweeted a picture of the initial bill, which included: 

$2,500 on three giant bottles of Grey Goose

$850 on two bottles of Patron Silver

$4k on four bottles of Ace of Spades champagne

A $1,500 tip, over $900 in taxes and $48 on eight bottles of water

 

All of this, apparently, was to celebrate the launch of Jaccpot Records (coming soon!), D-Jac's new record label. And you wonder why NFL players go broke after their playing careers... Assuming Jaccpot Records is not yet profitable (safe bet), D-Jac isn't exactly "filthy rich." Full Court Pumps broke it down:

In 2010, Desean Jackson’s contract pays him $470k and $565k next year under the contract he signed with the Eagles in 2008. After paying for bills and agents and managers and taxes and everyone else who takes a dip into your money, Desean Jackson isn’t quite in the Randy Moss contract category which will pay Moss $6.4million or even Oakland Raiders’ wide reciever Darius Heyword-Bey’s contract that paid him a whopping $21.4million in 2010.

 

Of course, he has endorsement deals with Nike and others... but they probably don't pay enough to excuse a $25,000 bar tab. Further, the author at Full Court Pumps (no idea if that's legit or not) says D-Jac lost a $20,000 bet on video games. Take that with a grain of salt, though.

Sometimes it is so, so hard to side with the players in this lockout. But hey, at least Brittany got a nice tip.

Mitch Williams and the Phanatic Built a Man Cave

Mitch Williams and the Phillie Phanatic spent this week renovating a Phillies fans' home for an upcoming episode of "House Crashers" on the DIY network. [Philaelphia Business Journal]

They joined DIY Network’s Josh Temple this week for a project in which they are renovating a room with a baseball theme for a local Phillies fan.

Memorabilia from Veterans Stadium will be featured in the renovation. The project included the installation of a bar made from baseballs set in resin, complete with beer taps and systems, kegs, a refrigerator, sink and Phillies-branded bar stools.

 

These things always look great on TV until you think about their practical purposes. It's like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition for sports fans. BTW- I always love how Ty Pennington will hear one thing 12-year-old Suzy says about liking trees, then build her a room that looks like the aborted love-child of the demented minds of R.L. Stine and Tim Burton. Does anyone ever ask what is the long-term suitability of this room? When Suzy turns 16 and brings Bobby up to “play” (since Mommy and Daddy are working job num. three), isn't he going to be a little weirded out by the moat and Alice in Wonderland-inspired animatronic rabbit bopping out of Suzy's headboard? Here's a gigantic, ridiculous home from Sears- good luck with the bills, taxes, and mandatory renovations. Move that bus!

I'm sorry, I blacked out. Anyway, yeah, the Wild Thing and Phanatic built some guy a man-cave.

And that, folks, is how you turn nothing into something.

Morning Wood

Reader Eric on the Photojob

The number one search result in Urban Dictionary for "bastid" is this:

Phrase commonly yelled while watching the greatest left handed reliever of all time, Antonio Bastardo of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Slow going this morning. Taking my car for an inspection and am surrounded by a very diverse cross section of humanity in the waiting room: the guy next to me looks like a respected scholar, but the older gentleman across the room with the something-stained camo cap hasn't breathed for a good three minutes. Someone should check on him. Anyway, you're here for The Wood.

Can someone please tell me why anyone cares about Bernard Hopkins speaking to the team? A quick check of the major sites shows that they all covered it, mostly in a positive fashion. I understand Charlie Manuel's reasoning for bringing "The Executioner" in to address the squad. I get that you can improve your craft from listening to someone in a different profession (I often try to emulate strategies employed by a wide range of successful folk- from brewers to tech execs), but is this really news? And by news, I mean does anyone care?

The last time B-Hop stepped into a local locker-room, he came away hating (then verbally trashing) Donovan McNabb. Why? Because Five didn't fawn over him. I guess RyHow is in for it- he didn't even put his MacBook down to greet the great one. And since Hopkins is so fond of pointing out "Uncle Toms," it's worth noting that he was wearing Ray-Bans. Hood, yo.

As you know, the Phillies won last night, 2-1.

Billy Lyon, legend, wonders if Roy Oswalt did permanent damage to his back by pitching through the pain. 

Geek Johah Keri says the Red Sox are the best team in baseball. They lost last night to eight innings of pitching that started the season in AAA.

Brad Lidge could pitch in the minors next week.

Michael Stutes, setup man, talks about joing Twitter.

Now, it's almost all interaction with fans, answering questions like who wins in a fight between him, the Dos Equis "Interesting Man" and Chuck Norris or if the bullpen plays Monopoly when Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee pitches.

"It's still weird to me," Stutes said. "I don't get it."

 

Get it, Mike.

UPDATE: Flyers May Give Stamkos an Offer Sheet

Drago?

...worth $115 million. Holy Cliff Lee!

According to Anthony SanFilippo, the voice of reason in this whole mess, the Flyers may submit their offer:

Ok Flyers fans, I'm told that if the Flyers decide to give Stamkos an offer sheet it's for $115 mil over 12 years with a full no-trade.

 

Frank Seravalli, who is inching out Sam Carchidi in finding out whose source is bigger more accurate, backs that up:

Flyers are trying to decide internally whether its worth taking a stab at Stamkos and failing or nearly assuring 1 of Ryder, Cole or Madden.

 

The Flyers (and Tampa) would have to get creative to fulfill (match) that offer. But since Stamkos currently doesn't have a no-trade clause until 2016, a guaranteed NTC (or "no movement clause," as is pointed out in the comments) would make things harder for the Lightning. As you know, having a NTC (NMC, whatevs) with the Flyers is like gold. Just ask Jeff Carter and Mike Richards...

We're in a holding pattern, folks. I imagine that Homer is deciding who to kill next.

UPDATE: Chuck Gormley doesn't think the offer comes today.

Your Late Afternoon Roundup: Romero to the Nats, HBO 24/7 Confirmed, Roy Halladay's Legs, Skip Bayless IS an Asshole

Earlier, the Phillies Tweeted out this picture of Roy Halladay shooting a public service announcement to support hunger relief. As reader Julie points out- look at those legs (!!). There are Third World houses that don't have foundations that thick.

- The Nationals signed J.C. Romero minor-league deal. That should be fun. His swag meter is going to be off the charts if he ever steps foot back in CBP. Of course, that doesn't mean he'll throw strikes.

- According to the Globe and Mail, HBO will indeed air 24/7 with the Flyers and Rangers in leadup to next year's Winter Classic. 

Here's the interesting part of the article, though: Pittsburgh's Dan Bylsma said that the cameramen were like a part of the team and obeyed most of their wishes. Um, yeah, this is why most reality shows don't allow the actors to talk to the crew. No wonder why we saw Crosby and Co. in such a positive light: [Globe and Mail via Broad Street Hockey]

“The first thing you think is they’re going to find me behind a closed door or see me yelling at a player... and they’re not trying to do that. They’re not hiding. You know where they’re at. If there’s situations you don’t want to be on TV or recorded, that’s there for you. I probably turned off the microphone... maybe 2 per cent of the time. They’re trying to make you look good and portray your team in a good light.”

While Bylsma doubts they’d let the cameras backstage in for the playoffs, he says it could work. “I wouldn’t be averse to that. If I got the same crew back. They were Pittsburgh Penguins. The eight guys (on the production crew) that were in our room were Pittsburgh Penguins. It was ‘we’ and ‘us’, and I still get texts from them.”

 

If that is truly the case - that the crew was like "part of the team" - expect Homer to fire them in the middle of taping and maybe or maybe not exchange them for a better crew.

- Earlier, I posted comments from Skip Bayless calling Cliff Lee the most "riveting" athlete in sports. I jokingly said that we would use it as an excuse to hate him, even though the comments were positive. Well, never mind. Reader Stephen reminds us that Bayless was the one who trashed Lee for his LeBron-like decision. Bayless: A flip-flopper and an asshole.

Video: This is The One in Which John Bolaris Awkwardly Called Karen Hepp a "Babe" on Live Television

This has nothing to do with sports, but when Bolaris lines 'em up for you, well, you gotta knock em' down.

The most fascinating thing about Bolaris, to me, is that he doesn't age. He came to my school in the second grade to do the weather and looked no different. I'm 27-years-old.

I'd tell you to never change, John, but it seems like you have that pretty much covered.

[Related: John Bolaris was roofied]

Hop it for the video. I have no doubts that Thomas Drayton was cowering in the corner once they went to B-roll.

Reminder: Great Seats Still Available For Red Sox Series

As we like to alert you of from time to time, there are a ton of great seats remaining for the Phillies - Red Sox series. Our friends at TiqIQ have created a new widget (always located just over there on the right) to let you know about great deals on the secondary market. Today, there are a number of upper-deck seats available for $50 (plus service charges) at Crossing Broad Tickets.

For tomorrow's game, there are plenty of standing-room tickets available for $40. 

Go ahead, snoop around! There's really no need to ever search the individual ticket sites like StubHub, eBay, etc. again. They're all right here!

Here, This Should Give You an Opportunity to Hate On Skip Bayless, Just Cause

The funny thing is, I can almost hear him saying that.

My PHL 17 Post Game Show Continues to be a Work in Progress

The part of last night's post-game show most talked about was John Clark's butchering of Cliff Lee's actual name. He called him "Clifford." I'm willing to give him a pass on that one, even though Clifton is easily the most popular athlete in the city. To be honest, when he was first traded to the Phillies back in 2009, a friend mistakenly told me that his name was "Clifford." I'll admit that I too had a few Freudian slips during his first few months with the team. We'll assume - perhaps incorrectly - that the host of the Phillies post-game show knows Lee's real name.

But let's turn our attention to Marty Bystrom.

How in the world could he not notice the fact that Lee does the same move before every inning, dating back to - at least - his first go around with the Phillies and most likely the beginning of his pro career? This is a huge media market, with many fine sports minds, how is it possible that the guy pitching questions to the highest paid athlete in the city doesn't know his subject's most obvious quirk? Never mind the fact that, when asking the question, he sounded frighteningly like Alan giving his Wolf Pack speech in The Hangover.

And that camera... good Christ, the footage looks like one of those tapes that gets mailed to Al Jazeera. I was half expecting Charlie Manuel to emerge from the clubhouse pushing a guillotine and carrying a hood. Would it kill them to get an HD camera up in there?

Hop it for the video. I was alone first in the pack, and then Doug joined in later.