My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part Last!

...I should add an asterisk to that title. I may have pics of every last tee and cap I currently, but I may be getting rid of some soon because of how they've aged over the years (sweat stains, etc.) or just to make more closet space -- but at the same time I'll buy new stuff. In fact, a t-shirt is already being shipped as we speak. So there may be an update here and there.

Or maybe I'll just post them on Instagram.

P.S. Some of these pics aren't so great due to the lighting and the current difficulties in my left hand which make it tough to hold the camera steady...and fold the clothes so they look pretty.

Oh, this is one of my absolute favorites! The 2007 NL East Comeback/Collapse!

An example of the lighting messing with the colors..

Gotta love giveaway tees with giveaway advertising...

Meanwhile, which of these is NOT an official locker room edition?

Wait, I actually went to a 76ers playoff game? In THIS century???

From the night the AHL Phamtoms won the Calder Cup -- with the NHL lockout for the entire season this is all we had, and over 20,000 poured into the Wachovia or whatever bank had the name on the building..

And we conclude with my remaining Flyers garments...

More playoff giveaway with more giveaway ads.. 

At least this sponsor's slogan sort of fit...

And the one below came from Game 6 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals (with Tampa Bay up 3-2 in the series)..This was the GREATEST HOCKEY GAME I HAVE EVER SEEN, IN PERSON OR ON TV, including the two Stanley Cup clinchers and the game vs. the Russians in the 1970s. Keith Primeau at his finest. Jeremy Roenick. Simon Gagne. And I was just a few rows from the OT game-winner.

By the way, what idiot uploads video of an incredibly dramatic game from 2004 -- and puts an Ed Sheeran song from 2 years ago on it???? What a dumbass!

Finally, jersey time!

Both conferences had very cool, retro designs for the 2004 All-Star Game. The pic doesn't show the lace-up front too well.

The first of the three that I bought belongs to the Flyers' newest inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame!

Flyers Make History -- You Can't Make This Stuff Up

When it comes to sports, everybody -- athletes, coaches, fans, media -- likes to make predictions. Whether it's about a particular game or a playoff series or an entire season, people feel they know enough to project how things will go down. Often those predictions don't come true. Sometimes they do. And sometimes they come true in inexplicable fashion.

Case in point: the Philadelphia Flyers. Lots of people thought, prior to the season, that the Flyers were serious Stanley Cup contenders. The Hockey News outright predicted the Flyers would win the Cup. Sure enough, after tonight's 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins, winning their Eastern Conference semifinal series 4-3 after trailing 3-0, the Flyers still have a chance. But how they got to this point -- that's the inexplicable part.

The Flyers got off to a quick start and then fell into a morass of inconsistency that led to a coaching change. Injuries caused a goaltending carousel -- 7 different goalies dressed for a game, 5 of those 7 actually got into at least one game. They had to defeat the New York Rangers in the final game of the season just to get into the playoffs. After three periods and a five-minute overtime, they got that win in the shootout, where the Flyers have historically sucked.

The Chronicles Of Birthday: The Glee, The Flyers And The Phillies

As Fox was kind enough to air the special "The Power of Madonna" episode of "Glee" on my birthday, I decided to a) watch it and b) drink. I watched the show at Tabu Lounge and Sports Bar, a new hotspot in the Gayborhood (but one where everyone is welcome), in their lounge on their second-floor, while missing the end of the Phillies and Flyers games (which were playing on the TVs on the first floor). At the time I went upstairs for the show, the Phillies had just scored a run in the 5th to take a 2-0 lead over Atlanta, and the Flyers were trailing the New Jersey Devils 1-0 in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

So how did things turn out?

"Glee" was fabulous. It was a love letter to Madonna, at times so much as to make me wonder if she had script approval. Besides the musical numbers, the rest of the show was enjoyable as well. However, I find myself wondering if I am truly finally getting into the spirit of "Glee" or if I was swayed by the Madonna influence and/or the alcohol.

Can The Gays Rally The Flyers?

This ridiculous Flyers season is rapidly drawing to a close -- more rapidly than usual, with the compressed post-Olympic schedule. The inconsistency that has dogged them all season, except for perhaps those four wins right before the Olympics, continues. Since the season resumed they're now 5-6-1, coming up with the occasional inspired effort (3-2 win over Chicago on a Chris Pronger goal in the final 3 seconds) followed by the inevitable lazy followup (3-1 loss at the NY Rangers the next day). And now it's taken a turn for the worse.

After losing starting goalie Ray Emery for so many games, and eventually the season, due to injury, they were basically saved by the surprisingly fine play of Michael Leighton. Then Leighton had to go and get the dreaded high ankle sprain on March 16th at Nashville, sidelining him for 8 to 10 weeks -- meaning he can only return if the Flyers make a long playoff run. The Flyers are down to Brian Boucher and heaven knows who from the minors to back him up.

Boucher ended up losing the Nashville game in the shootout, but won the next night at Dallas. The Flyers haven't won since, losing a home-and-home set to Atlanta over the weekend and at Ottawa Tuesday night. (More on that in a moment.) If that isn't bad enough, the team hasn't scored more than 3 goals in a game in their last 11 games, and just lost leading scorer Jeff Carter to a broken foot bone. He's expected to be out 3 to 4 weeks, and we're in the final 3 weeks of the regular season...

Flyers Resurgent, No Thanks To Cheating TV Network

When I last wrote about the Flyers, they had lost the Winter Classic in overtime and then lost a mess of a game in Ottawa. Fortunately, since then they've won three in a row. Wins at home over Toronto and Tampa Bay sandwiched the most impressive of the three wins, a 7-4 spanking of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens are the defending Stanley Cup champs and have dominated the Flyers recently, both in the regular season and playoffs. So winning in their building is impressive.

It might have been even more of a one-sided game. Late in the second period with the Flyers up 5-3, Simon Gagne seemed to have scored a goal on a rebound but the puck was pulled out of the net by the goaltender. The on-ice officials ruled "no goal." There was a video review in the NHL's "War Room" in Toronto, but the call was not overturned because there was no conclusive evidence. A few minutes later, after the game resumed, Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh aired a replay that clearly showed the puck in the net.

The procedure for video review is that the networks televising the game feed the replays from all camera angles to Toronto, where they are reviewed. Since Comcast Sportsnet here used Pittsburgh's video feed for its telecast, it had nothing to send. Somehow the replay that showed the puck behind the goal line wasn't sent to Toronto by FSN Pittsburgh.

Now, after the fact, the NHL is investigating the network's failure to forward that particular video to Toronto:

It is not yet clear whether FSN Pittsburgh purposely excluded the angle or it was an unintentional oversight, though one Penguins announcer can be heard saying “we saved that one” on the broadcast.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

That comment could well have been a joke. My guess is that, even if someone purposely excluded sending that video, they won't admit it and probably nothing will come of it. A well-run league would institute safeguards to ensure that the "War Room" has every available video, but we all know the NHL isn't exactly a finely-tuned machine.

The Flyers, on the other hand, are now 7-1-1 in their last nine games and stand just one point out of the playoffs, with three fewer games played than 8th-place Montreal, and goalie Ray Emery is back with the team and available to play, having played with the AHL Phantoms on Saturday on a conditioning assignment. So things appear to be looking up again.

Flyers Follow Up Classic With Debacle

The national overnight TV ratings for the 2010 NHL Winter Classic dropped 10.3 percent from last year's game, back to the figure achieved by the first New Year's Day outdoor game in 2008. It might seem surprising that the local ratings here were much lower than in Boston: while the game got a 14.4 rating and a 29 share there, in Philadelphia the rating was only 6/11, behind both the Penn State-LSU bowl game and (this is the shocker to me) the Mummers Parade.

I think there were two factors in the lower rating here, one being that the game was played in Boston. Had it been played in or near Philadelphia (such as at Penn State's Beaver Stadium, as has been proposed) there would have been a lot more local hype, which would have led to more interest. The main reason, however, has to be the season the Flyers are having, as evidenced by yesterday's ugly game in Ottawa.

The Flyers had a four-game winning streak snapped at Fenway Park on Friday, but they got a point since it went to overtime and they didn't play badly. They wasted a lot of scoring chances, botching 2-on-1 breaks a number of times. But they got away from what was working for most of the game, and when a questionable penalty call gave Boston a late power play, you knew the 1-0 lead wouldn't stand up. The Bruins' OT winner may have been helped by having too many men on the ice when they scored.

Still, it wasn't a bad effort. Unfortunately, they followed it up by allowing 4 first-period goals after taking an early 1-0 lead. The Flyers actually rallied to tie the game in the second period, but proceeded to give up 3 more goals in the third period to lose 7-4. I assume these guys were on the same line yesterday because the plus-minus figures are ridiculous: Claude Giroux -6, Simon Gagne -5, Mike Richards -4. It's games like this that lead me to be increasingly pessimistic about the Flyers' chances of even getting into the playoffs, let alone winning a Stanley Cup.

Philly Sports 4-team Update

A few bits of news on all four teams, if I may.

Phillies: Just finished off a series win over the San Francisco Giants with a 2-1 victory tonight. Pedro Martinez outdueled Tim Lincecum (both pitching extremely well for 7 innings) and Brad Lidge got the save. The hitters aren't doing a lot but the pitchers are. With the Giants right in the thick of the NL Wild Card chase this was a possible playoff preview, so winning two of three -- including tonight's win over the 2008 NL Cy Young Award winner -- is definitely a positive. The Phils now travel to Houston for four, followed by three in Washington (where plenty of tickets will be available).

Eagles: Michael Vick is apparently (I say "apparently" since I haven't been watching) getting a lot of playing time in the second half of tonight's exhibition finale. I read that he scored a touchdown in the first half as well, although Kevin Kolb played most of that half. Vick will be eligible to play in Week 3 of the regular season, the NFL announced today. By the way, at shops on the Boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ this week I saw t-shirts saying "Hide your beagle, Vick's an Eagle" and "Watch your hound, Vick's in town." While I am not a Vick supporter, these shirts are kind of dumb considering that pit bulls are the dog of choice for dogfighters.

Flyers: Hard to believe that their training camp starts in nine days. Last month, at a camp for Team Canada (in preparation for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics), Simon Gagne strained his right groin. It was said to be a mild strain and the team didn't expect any problems by the time their camp begins, to me this is a concern since Gagne has had injuries in this area in the past and had hip surgery in May.

76ers: Ummmmmmmmm...well, they hired Ed Pinckney as a broadcaster...I guess that counts as news...