Posts for Flyers Category

So The Yankees Apparently Dropped Kate Smith Because She Sang Blatantly Racist Songs

Russ Joy - April 18, 2019

If you’ve attended or even watched a Flyers game over the past few years, you’ve heard the #1 Anthemist in NHL Lauren Hart bridge a time warp in a duet of “God Bless America” with Kate Smith. To my recollection, that duet didn’t happen at all this season. I wouldn’t bet on ever hearing it again.

News broke today that the New York Yankees are ending an 18-year tradition of playing a 1939 recording of “God Bless America” during the 7th inning stretch after at least two overtly racist songs recorded by Smith were unearthed. The playing of “God Bless America” in the Bronx first began after 9/11, so in staying with that tradition, Smith’s version has been replaced.

Back to Smith. The songs are disgusting and the imagery used is nothing short of despicable. In the song “Pickaninny Heaven”, Smith dedicates the song to “a lotta little colored children who are listenin’ in at an orphanage in New York City”. It gets even worse. Per the New York Daily News, who reported the Yankees’ decision, Smith sang that the children:

“…should fantasize about an amazing place with ‘great big watermelons,’ among other treats.”

As if that weren’t enough, Smith also recorded a song “That’s Why Darkies Were Born”, which included the lyrics, “Someone had to pick the cotton. … That’s why darkies were born.”

For those wondering whatever happened to the statue of Kate Smith that once resided outside of the Spectrum, it’s currently stationed on the path near an Xfinity Live! parking lot.

Usually when accusations of overt racism are levied, some argue that “those were the times”. I can’t fathom a time when it was acceptable to conceptualize these songs, record them, and film a video. The Yankees made the first move. Will the Flyers do the same?

Takeaways from New Philadelphia Flyers Coach Alain Vigneault’s Introductory Press Conference

Russ Joy - April 18, 2019

Image via Twitter (@JHallNBCS)

Today was the first day new Flyers coach Alain Vigneault got to meet with the assembled media. With general manager Chuck Fletcher by his side, Vigneault acquitted himself quite well. Fletcher noted that AV represents a caliber of coach that doesn’t just become available often.

Three things Vigneault was looking for:

  1. Opportunity to win short-term to win a Stanley Cup. Analyzed parts in Philly and options to
    improve the team, gets a checkmark.
  2. Possibility to work with GM that shares same ideas in building a winner, building a hockey
    culture, develop players. To make a high-end winning environment and place where players
    would want to be.
  3. First-class organization. In today’s competitive NHL, you need total commitment from
    ownership. That’s here.

Positive Things He Saw With the Flyers

Solid youth with a lot of upside. Great goaltending. Solid core group that needs the right direction.
Combination of solid veteran players that can still contribute at this level. Flyers are a very good team w/
proper direction and culture will be a great team going forward.

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The Alain Vigneault Hire is a Symbol of More Changes to Come for Flyers

Anthony SanFilippo - April 16, 2019

Photo Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

Alain Vigneault is the new Flyers coach.

There were a lot of instant reactions in Flyerdom yesterday. And, as the case most times these days, the extremist opinions were the loudest.

There were those who panned this hire as another NHL retread who hasn’t won anything, a coach who trusts veterans over younger players, a coach who pushes the envelope with his offensive systems but has a defensive blind spot and relies heavily on goaltending to keep his team in games.

Conversely, there were those who see that Vigneault took two different teams to the Stanley Cup Finals, had eight teams reach 100-point regular seasons, won a President’s Trophy and a Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the year and were chortling “Let’s Go” with their thumbs on their smart phones.

The actual reaction though, as always, should be somewhere in between.

Vigneault is a good coach. You don’t get hired by four NHL teams and coach nearly 1,200 games and make the playoffs a dozen times if you aren’t a good coach.

As a matter of fact, the only coaches in NHL history who have won as many games as Vigneault has (648) and have taken at least two teams to the finals is pretty short:

  • Scotty Bowman (Montreal, Pittsburgh, Detroit)
  • Dick Irvin (Toronto, Montreal)
  • Mike Babcock (Anaheim, Detroit)
  • Mike Keenan (Philadelphia, Chicago, New York Rangers)
  • Alain Vigneault (Vancouver, New York Rangers)

The one thing that stands out on that list? Vigneault is the only one who didn’t win a Cup.

That was something that GM Chuck Fletcher pointed out during his Conference Call – that Vigneault is “ready” to win a Cup.

I would hope so. If after trying 16 times and failing to reach your goal 16 times, I would hope you are ready.

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Alain Vigneault is Your New Flyers Coach

Kevin Kinkead - April 15, 2019

Photo Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

Wow!

Monday afternoon stunner:

It’s not Joel Quenneville.

It’s not Scott Gordon.

It’s… Alain Vigneault?

Ok here’s the thing –

Vigneault has had some really good NHL seasons. No, his New York tenure didn’t end on a high note, but he took both the Canucks and Rangers to the finals (with veteran heavy teams). I don’t know if he’s the right match for the Flyers, though. I don’t know if he’s a guy who’s gonna come in here and groom young players or show patience in that department. Maybe there’s some frustration there, maybe not. Maybe some guys go in the dog house while others respond well and thrive.

Anthony and Russ will do the real analysis later, but until then, you tell me –

Alain Vigneault – yay? nay? meh?

Here’s his head coaching record:

 

John Boruk is Out at NBC Sports Philadelphia

Kevin Kinkead - April 12, 2019

via Twitter

Here’s some news on a Friday afternoon.

From Boruk himself:

Boruk was NBCSP’s Flyers reporter/insider, having replaced Tim Panaccio more than a year ago. I’m told via source that his contract was not renewed.

Why no renewal? Not sure. Could be money, could be a “different direction,” something like that, though he did drive over the occasional social media pothole.

Maybe you recall November of 2017, when Boruk was asked to apologize for a tweet in which he basically said that pink is a girly color and that he didn’t want his son wearing a pink basketball jersey. That’s a generalization, but this was the result of the backlash, after the jump:

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If Philadelphia Sports Figures were Game of Thrones Characters

Kevin Kinkead - April 12, 2019

(Caution: this post contains spoilers, so if you aren’t caught up on GOT, you’ve got less than 72 hours to binge)

 

Ah yes.

Fire and blood. Incest and dragons and whatnot.

Game of Thrones returns this weekend.

I’ll be 100% honest with you; I’m not as hyped as I thought I would be. Maybe the two-year break dulled my senses, or maybe some of the story arcs lost me when the show writers moved past George R.R. Martin’s book material. It took Arya Stark five seasons to cross the sea, for example, then she came back and started killing everybody in five seconds, with laughable ease.

It felt like some plot lines were taking forever to develop, then they put the characters in a DeLorean time machine and stuffed four years worth of material into one season, like a high fantasy burrito. We had to endure the Sand Snakes and redundant Ramsey Bolton behavior along the way. Every sadistic move delivered diminishing returns, in my opinion.

But I’m still ready to roll. Jon and Daenerys are on the same side. Cersei can’t be trusted. The Hound is still out there, ready to eat every chicken in Westeros.

Here’s how we imagined Philadelphia sports figures as GOT characters:

Markelle Fultz as Jaime Lannister

Both were excellent at their craft, then they suffered arm issues and were never the same.

What role will they play in 2019?

-Kinkead

any Sixers 1st round draft pick as Bran Stark

We see great things in their future, then they get hurt, can’t use their legs, and just watch things happen.

-Coggin

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Crossing Broadcast: Sixers/Nets, Flyers Coaching Search, Phillies Bullpen, Black Holes, GoT

Russ Joy - April 12, 2019

Kevin and Russ preview the Sixers’ first round matchup with the Brooklyn Nets, the Flyers’ search for a coach and top free agent targets, the Phillies’ disastrous bullpen situation, the return of Game of Thrones, Kevin’s hatred of the black hole photo, and a Wrestlemania recap.

Please subscribe to the show ([iTunes] [Google Play] [Stitcher] [RSS]), leave a 5 star review, and follow us on Twitter: @Kevin_Kinkead @JoyOnBroad

Check out the other shows on the Crossing Broad Podcast Network including: Crossed Up: A Phillies Podcast, Snow the Goalie: A Flyers Podcast, It’s Always Soccer in Philadelphia, and Crossing Broad FC: A Soccer Podcast.

Audio after the jump:
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“We’re Not Good Enough Right Now” – GM Chuck Fletcher Wraps Up Flyers’ Disappointing Season

Kevin Kinkead - April 8, 2019

Photo Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The Flyers are signing off this morning after another unsatisfying season.

They again failed to make the playoffs, the general manager was fired, and the head coach followed suit. Along the way they gave Carter Hart his long-awaited NHL debut, enjoyed a late resurgence, ripped off a couple of nice wins, and then ultimately failed to climb out of the hole they themselves dug.

It’s Chuck Fletcher’s world now. Time to find a new coach. Time to add some pieces to the roster. Time to get some jam back in the building.

The GM spoke on break-up day, and said the following in a 36 minute media availability:

  • On Joel Quenneville: “Disappointed, but happy for Joel. Less than 48 hours since the end of our season, and the process of identifying the next head coach of the Flyers will start today.” 
  • Scott Gordon “remains a strong candidate” for the job.
  • He had not talked to Quenneville recently. He says the team is just starting the process of finding a new head coach (which is obviously just a generic line, of course they have a shortlist of candidates).
  • Team will be active in trying to make improvements. Can’t control marketplace and trade market. He thinks the club has a lot of good players right now.
  • The biggest concern is giving up too many goals per game, mentions that team was 29th in goals against. “You have no chance of making the playoffs if you’re giving up that many goals.” He doesn’t think it’s an effort issue.
  • Thinks the team has some bad habits that need to be recognized, that’s a focus in training camp, an opportunity to implement changes when practice time is ample.
  • On the coaching search, he mentioned experience and a sharing of philosophy, plus intelligence and communication as desirable traits. “It’s a host of factors. Certainly experience is part of it.”
  • He will work with the head coach on naming the assistant coaching staff. They’ll work quickly on that after making a hire.

More after the jump:

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