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Friday Mount Rushmore: Random White Dudes Who Absolutely Killed Us When We Weren’t Expecting It

Kevin Kinkead

By Kevin Kinkead

Published:

Welcome in everybody.

It’s another installment of the Friday Mount Rushmore column.

This week we’re highlighting Caucasians. Annoying Caucasians. Caucasians who came seemingly out of nowhere to absolutely kill Philadelphia sports teams over the years.

And boy are there a lot of them. A lot of random white guys. You’re just sitting there watching the game and thinking “David Freese? Where the hell did this guy come from?” Usually it’s a player who just had an okay season, and then he explodes for career highs against us in a playoff game, then we’re watching the rest of the postseason at home on the couch.

There are a lot of solid candidates to choose from, but this is who we selected:

 

Kevin Huerter

The inspiration for this article. A ginger. He scored 27 points on 55% shooting in Game 7 against the Sixers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

This one is always gonna sting, because the Sixers held Trae Young to 5-23 shooting in this game. They had done a good job limiting Huerter previously, who scored three points in Game 3, 10 points in Game 4, and zero points in Game 5. But he broke out of that slump in Game 6 with 17 points and went on to kill the Sixers in the finale, going for a career-high and finishing +8 while grabbing seven rebounds in 39:35 of game time.

 

Cody Ross

This motherfucker.

The Giants claimed him off waivers in 2010 with the goal of blocking the Padres from getting him.

He went on to bat eighth in their lineup and hit two home runs off Roy Halladay in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. He homered again in Game 2, off Roy Oswalt. Then he drove in the Giants’ first run in the Game 3 win and doubled in Game 4 to kick off a late-game rally.

It was beyond annoying. Cody Ross? He picked a ridiculous time to play the best baseball of his career, hitting .350 in that series and logging five RBI, three home runs, and three doubles.

 

Joe Jurevicius

Still have nightmares about this dude streaking down the field in South Philadelphia.

How does a guy take a shallow crossing route and go 71 yards, down to your five-yard line? It was the only pass he caught all game! Dude caught just one of five targets!

Not sure how much you remember about that game, but the Eagles actually went up 7-0 super early. Brian Mitchell returned the opening kickoff 70 yards and then Duuuuuuuuce ran for a 20-yard score. The Jurevicius play took place at the end of the first quarter, the Eagles went down 10-7, and would never regain the lead.

And it wasn’t like Jurevicius was lighting the world on fire that season. He caught 37 passes for 423 yards and four touchdowns. He was option four on a team featuring Keyshawn Johnson, Keenan McCardell, and the elder Michael Pittman. That’s why he goes on the Mount Rushmore, because his big play in that game was totally random and unexpected.

 

Ruslan Fedotenko

2004 Eastern Conference Finals.

The Flyers lost the series 4-3 at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who got six friggin’ goals from Ruslan Fedotenko. Yes, the same Ruslan Fedotenko who began his career in Philadelphia as an undrafted free agent. The same Ruslan Fedotenko who was a third liner.

Going into that series, you heard a lot of about Vinny Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. Cory Stillman and Brad Richards. Even 40 year old Dave Andreychuk had 39 points that season. Fedotenko scored 17 goals and logged 22 assists in the regular season and was in a three-way tie for sixth-most points.

He just killed the Flyers in that series. Scored a bunch of first period goals that put Philly behind. Fedotenko had a 10-year NHL career and scored 22 playoff goals, so 27% of those came in that series against the Flyers. Ridiculous.

 

Honorable mention: David Freese, Jeff Conine, Aron Baynes, Patrik Elias, Bryan Colangelo, Mitch Williams, Leon Stickle, Claude Lemieux, Carson Wentz

Kevin Kinkead
Kevin Kinkead

Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com

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