Sort of a painfully slow local sports weekend, except for the fact that, ohmahgod, the Flyers may, may be good again. I said it a few months ago and, because it’s another time in the future, I’ll say it again: Craig Berube deserves some credit. He immediately fixed the Flyers’ defensive woes, and though it took time, the scoring eventually came back, too.

But on to the topic everyone seemingly needs to have an opinion about: Richard Sherman.

Yeah, that was an extremely dickish thing to do. I always worry about guys who feel the need to trash-talk a losing opponent when the focus should be 100% on the fact that they’re going to the Super Bowl. But the righteous indignation from B-level pundits everywhere is ridiculous. I’ve seen comments ranging from what it means to be a top corner and why it’s not a big deal, to why we expect our gladiators (they’re words) to be well-behaved. C-level pundits on Twitter already want to turn this into a dialogue about culture, sports and race. Shut up, people! It’s funny, and highly entertaining. Seahawks fans will love Sherman for it, and 49ers fans will hate him. The rest of us should just watch and enjoy.

Let’s hit it!

 

But first, a word from our sponsors:

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Mason and Simmonds. Meet Wayne Simmonds at the Sports Vault in the King of Prussia Mall on Friday, February 7 from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. Meet Steve Mason at the Sports Vault in the King of Prussia Mall on Tuesday, February 18 from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Details and tickets here.

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More. Already have our entire catalog? Then be sure to shop with Philly Phaithful.

Flyers. Amazing deals on Flyers tickets at Crossing Broad Tickets, your one-stop shop for the best deals on the secondary market.

 

The roundup:

The Flyers locked up Steve Mason to a three-year, $12.3 million deal on Saturday. The contract will kick in next season and have a cap hit of $4.1 million, making Mason the 14th highest paid goalie in hockey. Good-ish deal, I suppose. But Mason has been an enigma his entire career, including this season, and has yet to put together a decent full season since his first season in Columbus, in 2008-2009. Why the Flyers insist on re-signing unproven players before they have to is a mystery to me.

Meanwhile, tough weekend for goalie prospect Anthony Stolarz, who not only watched his would-be competition sign a new contract, but also cut his leg:

Thankfully, it’s nothing too serious.

It’s gonna snow tomorrow. NWS is predicting anywhere from 4-6 to 10 inches of snow.

Brett Brown uses Skype and talks about the importance of getting tough shooters.

This sort of thing only happens in Philly, we’re told:

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I love you, Busted Coverage. 75 hottest sports anchors.

Dan Carcillo’s hipster condo is for sale.

Phillies 2014 giveaways.

I like this decision to not have Charlie Manuel in Clearwater this year. He’s (and everyone else involved) right– he would be a distraction.

Molly Eichel of Philly.com reports that CSN has hired Philly area-native Jen Daniels:

Daniels’ most recent stint as a sports reporter was at the ABC affiliate in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., but her gig at Comcast SportsNet is a homecoming of sorts. Daniels hails from Brigantine, N.J., where she was a basketball star in her own right, making Sports Illustrated‘s Faces in the Crowd section as an eighth-grader at Brigantine North Middle School, and achieving basketball stardom at Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, N.J. She attended George Mason University on a full athletic scholarship. Daniels received her masters degree in journalism from Georgetown University.

Here’s a picture Daniels tweeted last week, from what appears to be her going away party:

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Yeah, she’ll be a fan favorite. Follow her on Twitter (@JenDanielsCSN).

LeSean McCoy is celebrating a championship of some sort:

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via (@JPFinlayCSN)

Podcasts

The last episode of Crossing Streams was our best. A 45-minute conversation with Glen Macnow about sports media, online commenters, and his leaving the WIP Afternoon show. Listen or download. Subscribe with iTunes. Grab the RSS feed. All are mobile-friendly links.

We continue to get a great response to Cord Snipped, the new podcast in which me and CB fashion editor Dan Fuller discuss cord-cutting. If you love binge-watching on Netflix or Hulu, you’ll love the podcast. Our guest last week was Ryan Petzar (@petzrawr), who hates me. We discussed the WWE’s new streaming network and the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Aereo case. Listen or download. Subscribe with iTunes. Or listen with Stitcher. All are mobile-friendly links.

Good day, sirs.