Dare I say it?  I shouldn’t, I couldn’t, I mustn’t, I wouldn’t… actually, I think I will.

Overall, it is a great time to be a Philadelphia Sports Phanatic (Canada changed the spelling of center, so we definitely have the right to make changes as we see phit).

I don’t know about everyone else, but despite the baggage and poor reputation we receive (on what seems like a daily basis) from all across America, I’m honored to call myself a Philadelphia sports fan.  Could it get any better than this? It’s a very exciting time for our beautiful historic city, since things seem to be on the up and up on all fronts.  Please, take a moment to digest and let me explain.

Prior to 2008, we had the longest championship drought for a city with teams in all four major sports.  Consistently, year after year, the season would begin with the highest of expectations, proceed through the season with various levels of hope, just to be battered, beaten, bruised, kicked, punched, mollywhopped, and embarrassed come the post-season.

However, the optimist in me implores you to once again bestow your faith in the athletes we have come to love and hate simultaneously.  Let me break it down for you…

(more…)

FYI: The NFL season begins in T minus seven weeks for our beloved Philadelphia Eagles. I don’t know about other Eagles fans, but I have never been more excited for the season to begin.

When you look at the Eagles’ roster, there are two players with 10-plus years of experience–David Akers and Juqua Parker. This team is young, energized and ready to prove themselves.

“It’ll be exciting, everybody, including ourselves, will get geared up for what’s to come,” Kolb said in an interview with the media.

Are you geared up for what’s to come? I know I am. But, I also know there are a lot of questions to be answered and concerns to be had.

First let us begin with the transition from McNabb to Kolb at QB. Eagles fans have enjoyed an inordinate amount of success since 1999. It is only logical to feel unsure about the future of our beloved Philadelphia Eagles after the departure of McNabb. However, logical doesn’t always mean right. For Reid to trade his pride and joy—McNabb—Kolb had to be ready to step in and lead the team. There is no better time than now to move things in a different direction—Kolb under center, the young, speedy WRs DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, the dynamic running back LeSean McCoy and Brent Celek at TE to move the chains, can now all grow together and begin a new decade of winning.

Although there is a change at QB, the offense will stay the same—West Coast style. Reid played to McNabb’s ability, which was the long ball. McNabb, rhythm and short, accurate passes were never in the same sentence unless you were complaining. That will change with Kolb under center. Although Kolb has a strong arm, he is known as a rhythm passer, who relies on short, quick, accurate passing. Kolb’s quarterbacking style plays into the receiving corps’ abilities to create and produce yards after the catch.
(more…)

In non-LeBron-related news (as if there was such a thing!), RDS (in French) and CSNPhilly’s Sarah Baicker (in English) are reporting that Simon Gagne has not waived his no-trade clause.

Gagne, speaking with French reporters, said what we all knew: That he had a no-trade clause. What we thought we know, though, was that he had indeed waived it late last week, when in fact it seems to be news to him.

The question is why it has taken this long for Gagne to issue a denial. One would think an apparent move of that magnitude would have reached Gagne’s ears sooner than this. The denial is issued in an RDS video, in French, so we’re taking the word of those who know French that Gagne is still a Flyer with a no-trade clause. The video is here.

Perhaps the more important question is: Where did these reports come from? The most reputable hockey people in this city all had this story, so it’s not an Eklund-type or message-board-variety rumor. How did they all get it wrong?

Coming off the Stanley Cup run, this is another twist in what has been a strange offseason for the Flyers. With talks of a contract with Nikolai Zherdev reportedly close, and all those stories mentioning Gagne’s contracts soon coming off the books, it could get even weirder.

We all know Charlie Manuel as a fun-loving, easy-going baseball guy with a slight kink in his delivery of the English language. It’s just who he is, and he’s never tried to hide it. Wouldn’t do any good, in his view.

Manuel will be managing the NL All-Stars for the second straight year for next week’s game in Anaheim, and he will have three of his players with him: Chase Utley, Roy Halladay and Ryan Howard. Utley was voted in and obviously will not be playing, but Halladay and Howard were picked by Cholly. Halladay will probably be used early in the game and Howard should play a few important innings toward the end as the National League attempts to win their first exhibition game that determines home field advantage since 1996.

The story is not that they are there, however; it is how they got there. The perks that come with being the National League manager for the second straight year, courtesy of two straight World Series appearances, go beyond assuring continuity in the NL dugout. Beyond the starters (voted in by YOU, THE FAN!), Manuel was allowed to assemble the team as he sees fit—remembering, of course, that he must represent each team. Yes, even you, Pittsburgh.

So it comes as no surprise that Cholly named Ryan Howard to the team. It’s even less of a surprise that Manuel, when asked why he chose Ryan Howard over Cincinnati’s Joey Votto for the NL All-Star team, said he picked Howard because he’s “my guy”.

If Cholly is nothing else, he is loyal. He believes in his guys, and rewards them whenever he can. We saw Manuel bring Jayson Werth with him to the All-Star game last season, and wouldn’t be surprised if he does it again this year, what with the injury to Jason Heyward.

As for next season, it’s not looking good at the moment for Charlie to be in any sort of position to bring his guys with him. It will all depend on whether those same guys start to play for him like he says they can.

Hey Venuers, how you doing? Still balling? Thought so…

K, so, look. We’re all pretty pissed about this whole “World Cup thing” at this point…. I mean, am I wrong or am I wrong? Not saying the lot of us wouldn’t do the whole thing over again if we could, mind you.

Matter of fact, we think we just might need to look up our local methadone clinic for the adrenaline withdrawals we’ve been having. Just right this moment, The Venuist is over in the corner slumped in his favorite office chair [better known around Venuing HQ as his "binkie"] and YT Crooks is high above New York Harbor threatening to jump from the tenth floor ledge into what he keeps calling the “Big Cool-Ade.” Come to think of it, we haven’t even seen Mags or Warning Track Power all this week…and 33 Problems keeps sending us 1-3 word texts chocked with non-sequiturs as if he’s been wandering aimlessly through some sort of lonely desert of the soul.

Whatevs. All you people care about are your weekly power rankings.

So fine, here: you can have ‘em. We don’t want ‘em anymore anyway!

TOP 5 Impact Performers, week 3ish:

1. Diego Maradona – Say what you will but dude understands the first — and by far, most important — rule of sportsman awesomeness: go BIG or go home. Argentina is killing all comers — with or without the aid of specious referee calls — and their coach has managed to deploy some 20 out of the 23 total men on his roster. No point in belaboring the point any further: Maradona is the biggest little man who ever walked God’s green soccer pitch. Wait, reports are coming in that Dustin Pedroia just challenged him to an arm-wrestling/Jenga/pissing contest. Sweet. One ring to rule them all…

BONUS: When it comes to sideline swagger Coach Maradona is unmatched. He’s a ray of sunshine in comparison to the rest of the national managers. He’s like a delightful marionette dreaming of sugarplums and champagne and he makes the likes of mean, cold brutes like Fabio Capello seem woefully mirthless. Viva el mano de dios!

For more World Cup power rankings, click here.

Dustin Pedroia, Placido Polanco (he’s eligible at second), and worst of all (because he was my 1st rounder in two separate leagues) Chase Utley, who is now out 5-6 weeks. They’ve all gotten injured very recently, and they’ve all been very viable fantasy options this year. As always, there are things you can do to help yourself while you wait for these guys to heal. All is not lost, you can find a ton of players on the waiver wire. Even better, there are some dudes who do the same stuff as the players you lost (just not as well, clearly). I’ve found them and given you two guys for each of the aforementioned victims of what I’ve dubbed The Great Second-Base-Tastrophe of 2010.

The Dustin Pedroias

Sean Rodriguez – Tampa Bay Rays
Rodriguez came into Spring Training and, simply put, tore it up. Then the season started. He wasn’t even a little bit good, and lost himself any playing time he earned in March. Now he’s back and, simply put, tearing it up again. In the past month he’s hit .302 with 4 homers and 15 RBI while stealing 5 bases. That puts his power numbers actually ahead of Pedroia, but the HR to SB ratio is similar with a high average (Dustin has 12 homers and 8 steals, while hitting .292). Unfortunately for Rodriguez, these numbers may not keep up. He’s got a staggering 86 point difference between his average and his BABIP and he’s walking only 1 time per every 10 K’s. Imagine Mark Reynolds striking out 200 times in a season but only walking 20. Ya, that bad. I’d ride out his hot streak for now, but be prepared to drop him when the tides turn.

Clint Barmes – Colorado Rockies
Barmes has been playing shortstop in Troy Tulowitzki’s absence, but he’s eligible at second so he counts. Clint has hit .300 with 2 homers, 16 RBI and 2 steals this month, and is going to force himself into the lineup once Tulo is back (in place of Jonathan Herrera, at second). The metrics tell us he’s even been a little unlucky this year, with a BABIP of .269 against a .283 career number. That should improve, as his BB/K rate is at an all-time high of 0.43, compared to his lifetime mark of 0.29. Barmes will continue to rake and should only get better once Troy Boy comes back. Get him now, you may even end up keeping him.

The Placido Polancos

To view the rest of this article, click here!