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Ahead of NLDS Game 1, the Flyers Need Only Look Across the Street to See the Level They’re Hoping to Reach
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As someone who grew up watching Philadelphia Flyers hockey, the playoffs were very rarely not in the equation, whether it was when 16 of 21 teams made the postseason, or just about any other orange and black era.
You took it for granted.
It was the rite of spring to watch the Flyers in the playoffs, hope they were healthy when they got there, and hope they were playing well and could go on a run. We haven’t truly seen a “run” since 2010, when the Flyers went to game six of the Stanley Cup finals against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Every time I pull into the new Xfinity Mobile Arena, or previous iterations of the center, I look across the street and see Citizens Bank Park, where this Saturday it will be utter mayhem as the Phillies embark on the quest to win a World Series.
I also look across to the other stadium and see Lincoln Financial Field, knowing the road to a Super Bowl victory last year once again went through that building and any team with hopes of getting to New Orleans had to deal with that rabid fan base.
Championships and great runs are markers in our lifetime. Runs to a Super Bowl are time stamps of our past. I remember in 2001 watching game one of the NBA finals when Allen Iverson did this stepover on Tyronn Lue and the Sixers shocked the world with a game one win.
There was a time in the not-too-distant past when the Sixers were coming out of the Process era and on their way to the playoffs for the first time in five full seasons. This was at the same time the Eagles had just won their first Super Bowl, a run of success that rubbed off positively on the nextdoor basketball team, according to head coach Brett Brown:
“I think that we all (feel it.).. you ‘feel’ the city. We want that. We want to have a playoff game here.
I’ve said to the team, both my parents are school teachers, my mom was a third grade teacher for 27 years and my dad was a high school teacher for 18 or 19. When they would always talk about the students and how the kids were raised, they’d talk about this thing that was actually called the ‘Pygmalion Effect,’ that people who knew what they wanted and were raised in a high level of expectation and accountability often times received it more than other kids. We wanna play in the playoffs. To be able to look across the street and see what the Eagles did and the way they did it, it’s an amazing story. They lost Carson Wentz and they found a way as a staff, organization, and team, to move on and get it done. So when you feel the city and watch that team and live here, you recognize the stories of perseverance, and you recognize that here we are, too, right across the street. We want to share that.”
Are these times imminent once again for the rebuilding Flyers? No, not imminent. Will they be here eventually, and are they on the right path to do so? Only time will tell. But am I a hockey-first guy? Am I a loyalist to the sport no matter what jealousy arises from the Flyers failing to provide that level of excitement and memories? Goddamn right, and I’m not afraid to admit it.
Enjoy this Phillies run. Enjoy this Eagles dominance. Hopefully the Flyers and Sixers can join that party of fun and create the memories and markers in time.
Jason Myrtetus is a Philadelphia-based broadcaster and host, best known for his work with the Philadelphia Flyers since 2008. He serves as a radio pregame, intermission, and postgame host and is the voice behind the Flyers Daily and Hockey & Hounds podcasts. A passionate hockey enthusiast, Myrtetus played organized hockey from age 5 to 50, starting as a goalie and later coaching youth teams. His career began in rock radio before transitioning to sports, including roles at WIP, WYSP, and 97.5 The Fanatic, where he worked as Assistant Program Director, producer, and co-host. Diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in December 2024, Myrtetus has openly shared his battle, drawing on his hockey-rooted resilience to face treatment. A father of three and husband to Angela, he remains a vital part of the Flyers’ broadcast community.