My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 7

With all that's going on related to my cancer, things are kinda tough, including with this blog. But last night I finally got a picture of EVERY baseball cap I own! (For now. Some are quite old and have sweat stains so it may be time for them to go, and there's a Phillies cap or two I'd like to buy if they're available/the right price.)

And so I present the final batch of caps...followed by some cool throwback t-shirts I got recently...

OMG! A 76ers cap! And the 1997 Flyers Eastern Conference Championship. That was a fun ride. Until it wasn't. #chokingsituation

Baltimore Orioles giveaway from a game in 2002, some time when I gave money to Human Rights Campaign (something I'll never do again), and from the golden days of Outsports.

These tees are from Shibe Vintage Sports, and I love them! There are a few more I hope to get soon.

Except for the above, which also comes in red for the Vet's other main tenant, so far I've got some long-gone teams...

Note: this pic is from the Shibe website. My pic turned out a brown color(????) The Bell, from something called the World Football League, looked like a success story when they initially drew over 50,000 to JFK Stadium. Turns out they gave most of the tickets away. It killed the team. The WFL soon followed.

The Star were able to play at the Vet because USFL played their games in the spring. And they won a chapmionship! (See, Eagles, it IS possible!) Then this happened. The Stars were forced to move to Baltimore until the league was killed. #NeverTrump

The Blazers played here for one year before moving. They were from the WHA, the league that the NHL eventually took some teams from. Not the Blazers, of course. The NHL did get a team from Edmonton. Had a kid named Gretzky. Whatever happened to him?

Before Oakland, before Kansas City, they were the Philadelphia Athletics. And look at this list of championships won while they were here (before things went sour and they...you get the idea.)

World Series titles: 1910 1911 1913 1929 1930
AL Pennants: 1902 1905 1910 1911 1913 1914 1929 1930 1931

Phillies? Any comment?

The Firebirds were a minor league hockey team that played at the long-gone Civic Center (fun fact: the building's gone but Civic Center Boulevard keeps the name to this day!) I was at their final home game in 1979 before they moved to Syracuse. Someone outside handed out fliers asking fans to chant "Keep the Birds in Philly!" midway through the 2nd period. The result: dead silence. #ByeFelicia

Sleepy New Year

It's about 1 a.m. as I begin writing this, and I'm actually thinking of going to bed soon. I guess the rum I added to the diet Pepsi tonight is making me a little sleepy even though I was not up early this morning by any means. Anyway, it's 2013. Let's hope things are much better than they were in 2012. So much needs improvement: the economy is still a mess, the political system is failing to fix it (because the Republican party somehow finds itself enslaved by the Tea Party extremists -- doesn't any of them realize that these nuts are destroying their party's hopes of winning the White House for the next 20-30 years?), the Eagles turned out to be a disaster and the Phillies are on the verge of a similar fate (unless their old, now injury-prone stars discover the fountain of youth), the NHL doesn't even exist right now -- and that's not to mention the usual hurricanes, earthquakes, crime, war, etc. I could go on but like I said, I'm sleepy. Happy New Year. Please?

Today's Sports Sexism

Sports on television has always catered to the straight male audience, whether it's the camera shots of cheerleaders or the predominantly young female sideline reporters. So naturally this makes sense.

As a result of the Comcast takeover of NBC Universal, Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia's nightly "SportsNite" show now includes a brief weather update from NBC10. I'm not sure if the NBC10 staffer delivering the weather on CSN is the same every night, but my guess is if it's not, one staffer gets the majority of these updates. And that would be tonight's star, Sheena Parveen...

I mean, really, if you're a straight man wouldn't you rather get a weather update from her than from Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz?

MLB Stupid, CFB Stupid

Just a couple of sports rants here. Perhaps "annoying" is the more appropriate word for one of the two  mentioned in the post's title, but I'm sticking with "stupid."

Major League Baseball: They decided to add a second Wild Card team in each league, determining that the two Wild Card teams in each league would have a one-game playoff to decide which team moves to the Division Series. Then, they decided to rush to implement it this year. First, it allowed mediocre and underachieving teams like the Diamondbacks, Angels and, yes, Phillies to pretend they were actually contending at the end of the season.

Then, because they rushed it into effect this year, when the schedule had already been set and there was little flexibility for fitting another playoff game into the schedule, it was decided that the winner of the Wild Card game would start the best-of-five Division Series at home instead of flying to the city of their opponent, the team with the best record in the league. So that team got punished by starting with two games on the road followed by three at home, instead of the customary two home, two road, final game at home. I didn't realize it at first but the same rule applied to the Division Series involving the other division winners as well.

The result of this, besides a World Series between the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants (Tigers in 5, by the way)? Home field disadvantage. There have been 33 games in the playoffs so far, and the road team has won 17 -- more than half. The two Wild Card games went to the road teams, and in the four Division Series the road teams went 11-9. Some sanity was restored in the League Championship Series as home teams won 7 of 11 games.

College Football: This is the one that's more annoying, and part of my problem is that, because I didn't go to college, I have no true rooting interest. I can sort of root for the local schools, but that only goes so far. What's made things worse is the big schools' switching conferences in recent years, chasing after more and more money. It's watered down or ended a number of traditional rivalry games, caused ridiculous anomalies such as the Big Ten conference having 12 teams and the Big East soon to include schools from places like Idaho and California, all of which makes it more difficult for the casual fan to keep track of. And (helped by the television networks) it's led to about thirty different games available on TV every Saturday, many of them being played at the same time on different networks. With all of this, when I do want to sit and watch a game, I have no idea which one I should watch, so I end up flipping back and forth hoping to find something compelling, usually without success.

And don't even get me started on the BCS or the eventual switch to a four-team playoff.

Holy Cow, A Sports Blog Post!

I was planning to write a little post about the Eagles, with their season beginning tomorrow and all, but events have inspired me to make this post about a few different topics.

For one, the Phillies are 6 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second NL Wild Card because the Cards lost while the Phils, after a long delay, were rained out. People think of last year, when other teams made huge comebacks to get into the playoffs -- that very same St. Louis team not only got in, but eliminated the Phillies and won the World Series -- and think that the Phils could do the same.

But it's so extremely unlikely. The Phils have to pass not only the Cards, but the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Pirates and Brewers. The Pirates are fading fast. (Sorry, Kurt.) They're 9-19 over the last month. But the Brewers are on fire, 15-4 in their last 19. In addition, the Phils have no games left against any of these teams, which means even if they finish strong, they'll have to rely on all of these other teams losing enough games to get the Phils in. So there's really no reason at this point to get excited.

On another baseball note, normally I'd enjoy a team that's been an underdog for so long making a strong run at a championship. But then there's the Washington Nationals. From this spring's sad attempt to keep Phils fans out of their ballpark, to Jayson Werth's various comments since he left town, to their butthead general manager whining like a baby when Cole Hamels hit their hyped rookie Bryce Harper with a pitch, to their continued mediocre attendance despite a new ballpark and a winning team, I've developed a bit of a dislike for the Nats.

And the last straw is how they've completely mishandled Stephen Strasburg.

Short Sports Musing

The NCAA men's basketball tournament just ended. I'm sort of amazed at how little of the tournament I watched this year. And I only completed one online bracket (as usual, my picks were well off the mark). I'm not sure what's up with my sports love. I still read the Daily News sports section before the rest of the paper, but I just don't watch as much of it on TV. I watched a little less of the Eagles and NFL this year, and I've watched less of the Flyers and NHL, but those were influenced a bit by the DeSean Jackson and Wayne Simmonds verbal anti-gay incidents.

It makes me wonder a little how much of the Phillies I'll watch this year. At least in the case of the Phils, I'll be going to a game in person now and then, starting with April 11, the second home game (and first night game) of the new season. And despite the general awesomeness of the Stanley Cup playoffs, which start in a little more than a week, baseball is still my favorite sport. So we shall see, I guess.

More Gay Media Fail, More Flyers Annoyance

Okay, I don't want to keep picking on writers for gay media outlets when they delve into the world of sports. (Of course, I'm talking about the mainstream outlets and not sites like Outsports or Wide Rights.) Whether it's just that this particular writer isn't that familiar with sports, or is trying to dumb down the article to try and appeal to an audience that isn't sports-friendly or sports-knowledgable, I don't know. But this article from the Philadelphia Gay News about Flyers' scout Patrick Burke, brother of Brendan Burke, regarding Patrick's advocacy on behalf of LGBT issues, has a flaw. The beginning of the article refers to Patrick Burke as "a recruiter for the Philadelphia Flyers," as does the headline. Ummmm, no. He's a scout, not a recruiter. Colleges recruit athletes. Professional teams don't.

(Well, I suppose the process of signing high-priced free agents is a form of recruitment, but that is handled by front-office personnel much higher up the food chain.)

Meanwhile, the article mentions the Wayne Simmonds incident...

Flyers player Wayne Simmonds was criticized for allegedly using a slur during a game that was caught on camera, although, because there was no sound on the video, he did not face a fine or other repercussions, as some other professional sports players have.

Burke noted that he has never spoken with Simmonds — or most other Flyers players, as he is based in Boston and his role as a scout keeps him on the road most of the season.

He said he could not comment on the specific incident because of legalities but did say that the NHL’s follow-up is an important, yet often overlooked, addition to the story.

“The NHL released a statement in the aftermath where they announced that going forward the league would treat gay slurs in the same way they do racist comments. They took a firm stance that gay slurs are not acceptable,” Burke said. “That got lost in everything else that was going on, but I think it was a very important statement and one that other leagues are now starting to follow up with. But I think the NHL is well ahead of some other leagues in encouraging diversity and a safe atmosphere for gay athletes.”

I don't think the league's follow-up has been overlooked. I think the entire story has been overlooked.

Too Long For Twitter: 76ers, NBA Returning?

So there's a tentative deal to end the NBA lockout, which would give us pro basketball on Christmas Day. Yay? I suppose it depends on the details. Will the terms of the agreement allow the NBA to become a truly competitive and interesting league again?

But if it does happen, I suppose I'll have a fall/winter team to actively care about again. DeSean Jackson and Wayne Simmonds have kind of ruined their teams for me right now, so as long as no 76ers have made an anti-gay comment recently...umm, maybe I shouldn't hold my breath on this one...

Today's Daily News: A Page Full Of FAIL

It's nice that, because I am a Philadelphia Daily News subscriber, each day the newspaper is on my doorstep when I leave the house. (Especially now that I'm actually awake every morning to go to work.) It irks me, however, that in order to have it on my doorstep so early in the morning they seem to have a printing deadline of midnight, or earlier. What this means is, stories about any night games played on the West Coast are guaranteed to not be in my paper. Worse, there have been times when games played in the Eastern or Central time zones were not covered or, at best, a very short, bare-bones wire service article was published. There was one time when a two-paragraph AP story was all that appeared in the paper for a 76ers game that didn't go to multiple overtimes (or even one, if I recall correctly) -- and was played in Philadelphia.

Modern technology doesn't help them put together a newspaper more quickly, it seems. Until recent years, it wasn't quite so bad. Now it seems more and more prevalent. It also leads to errors. And one page in today's paper was a doozy.  First, note the date of the paper and check out the photo and caption in the first two photographs (click on them for larger versions).

Somehow a photo from the Raiders-Chargers Thursday night NFL game from last week ran in this spot (along with the caption correctly identifying Carson Palmer) instead of one from last night's Jets-Broncos game. This is typical, by the way: run a photo from early in the game and tell the reader to go visit philly.com for the result.

MixBlog 10-27-11

I need to put some content up here so the twelve or so of you who are actually reading this stuff (as compared to all the hits I get from people doing Google searches for pictures of shirtless guys*) continue to stop by, so here are some little observations...

Baseball: Right now I'm watching Game 6 of the World Series. It's kind of bizarre. It's 4-4 in the 6th as I write this and both the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals seem to be trying to give the game away with various displays of ineptitude. If they're this mistake-prone in Game 6, what happens if the Cards tie the series and they have to play the dreaded all-or-nothing Game 7? Update: 7-4 Texas in the 7th. Will this game end before I finish this post?

Hockey: Speaking of mistake-prone, I had the Flyers game on earlier. They were playing the Atlanta Thrashers Winnipeg Jets 2.0, who came into the game with a 2-5-1 record, at the Whatever-The-Bank's-Called-This-Week Center. Last night the Flyers lost at Montreal by a 5-1 score. The Canadiens were 1-5-2 before beating the Flyers and hadn't won a home game. So you had to figure the Flyers would be kind of desperate to put together a solid effort.

They fell behind 5-1 in the second period. I tweeted about it at the time and used these hashtags: #karma #apologizesimmonds (referring to this). After the teams traded goals, the Flyers then scored two more in the second and three in the first three minutes of the third period to take a 7-6 lead. I was worried that my tweet was serving as a reverse jinx.

2011 World Series

It's the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers this year.

Bleh. I don't want either team to win (although I suppose, if you held a gun to my head, I'd say I hate St. Louis and their phony fans and their slimy manager who supports the Tea Party nuts more than the team once co-owned by George W. Bush). I don't plan to watch very intently. It might be on in the background while I'm online or something but that's it. But since I've been making predictions for the playoffs, I guess I have to do it for this series as well, so...Rangers in 5.

Wake me up when pitchers and catchers report to Clearwater.

2011 Division Series Predictions

You can be pretty sure of one of my picks for the MLB playoffs' first round...or can you? Could I actually pick against the Phillies? Stay tuned.

First, I tweeted the AL picks earlier since I knew I wouldn't get around to this post before the games were played. Just a little elaboration, though:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

NY Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers: My thought was that the Yankees' CC Sabathia and the Tigers' Justin Verlander would cancel each other out, and that of the remaining pitching, the Tigers had the edge. So my pick was Tigers in 5. Tonight, though, Game 1 was suspended in the second inning due to rain, and will resume tomorrow. That takes both Game 1 starters, Sabathia and Verlander, out of the picture. With Game 2 now on Sunday and no off day, it appears Verlander will now pitch on Monday in Game 3, which means he couldn't start a possible Game 5. Sabathia, on the other hand, may start Game 2 and be available for a possible Game 5. This series has now taken a turn. I'm sticking with my pick, though.

Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays: After the incredible events of Wednesday night put the Rays into the playoffs, I get the feeling they're going to ride the wave. Despite not having home-field advantage, my pick was Rays in 5. And so far, so good: Tampa Bay blasted Texas 9-0 in Game 1. Last year these teams met in the ALDS with the Rays having the extra home game, but the road team won all five games in the series as Texas went on to win the AL title. I'd be surprised if that happened again.

Wayne Simmonds Joins DeSean On My Dislike List

It looks like I'm down to two Philadelphia teams now. Granted, I'm not much of a fan of the NBA but I still root for the Sixers. But the NBA is in a lockout that seems to have no end in sight. That leaves the Phillies, who tied their franchise record with 101 wins, with one more game to try and break it before they begin postseason play on Saturday.

But wait -- what about the Flyers and the Eagles?

I've discussed my Eagles conundrum regarding DeSean Jackson enough times. If it weren't already obvious that neither the team nor the NFL plan to do anything about Jackson's anti-gay slur, it became a given when reports surfaced that the NFL and its players agreed that only eight players were subject to suspensions for actions that occurred during the lockout. So right now, for all I care Jackson can take his non-apology and go to hell, sans contract extension. And the Eagles, for all their arrogance in just about everything they do, can do the same. I have yet to wear an Eagles t-shirt or jersey this season -- that used to be standard practice on game days. I will still watch the games. I will not at this point root against them, but right now I can't root for them either. So their falling to 1-2 and last place in the NFC East after an absurdly lame defensive and coaching performance Sunday against the New York Giants didn't really bother me much.

The Flyers situation I'm faced with is a bit worse in two respects.

Sticking With Stewart Bradley

So, in the wake of Stewart Bradley's signing with Arizona after the Eagles decided to let all of their own free agents go, I asked a simple question on Twitter...and got an answer from the man himself:

See? We're buds now! Okay, sure, he doesn't follow me back or anything, but still...so, yeah, I'll keep following him. And if he wants to leave me tickets at will call when his Arizona Cardinals come to the Linc that'd be cool. (For some reason I've spent the whole summer thinking that the Eagles were going to Arizona this year, not vice versa. I have no idea why.)

In all seriousness, I'm not quite sure why the Eagles didn't want Bradley back. The linebacker corps is a pretty weak group now. Lots of rookies. One, draft pick Casey Matthews, is listed as the starter on the depth chart over one of the holdovers. Under Andy Reid the Eagles have never given much importance to the LB position and it's cost them at times. Of course, they now have cornerbacks up the wazoo after their surprise signing of Nnamdi Asomugha, the consensus jewel among the free agents, so maybe they're hoping that opposing teams won't be able to take advantage of the linebackers. We shall see.

MixBlog 7-27-11: Eagles, Phils, Softball, Etc.

Just a few quick things, since I'm sitting here listening non-stop to a playlist comprised of 70 of Madonna's most famous songs...

Eagles: Now that the lockout is over, putting together the team has begun. Kevin Kolb has finally been traded -- to Arizona for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round draft pick in 2012. In other words, for more than they got from Washington for Donovan McNabb (who's now going to Minnesota). And rumor has it that Vince Young might come in to back up Michael Vick at quarterback.  But of all the players who are leaving, the one I think they'll regret losing is kicker David Akers, who's signed with San Francisco. The kicker the Eagles drafted, Alex Henery, might be great someday, but if he starts off poorly he'll cost them some games. By the way, individual game tickets go on sale Tuesday at 10 am. (It's so weird to have that happen in August instead of June.)

Phillies: Just lost two in a row to the Giants in the teams' first meeting since the 2010 NL Championship Series. It's the first time the Phils have lost a series since mid-June and the first time they've lost two in a row since early June. Granted, neither Roy Halladay nor Cliff Lee started in this series, but the fact that the offense was nonexistent the last two nights again emphasizes this team's Achilles heel and portends what could happen in October. Memo to GM Ruben Amaro: Go get Hunter Pence from Houston. Now. Whatever it takes.

Softball: Time goes by so fast. We have just one game left in the season (we're 7-8, so a win would put us right at .500), so you have just one chance to surprise me by showing up. Sunday, 9 am at Dairy Fields #2 in Fairmount Park. Followed by the league's All-Star game. (I'm not in that one.)

Etc.: Still -- still -- need to post about July 4th, plus the long day in East Rutherford while my friend Kurt auditioned for "The Voice." Plus more comics stuff. And I went to see the final Harry Potter movie. Did I like it? You'll find out...hopefully sooner rather than later. Oh, and I really want to head down to Wildwood or somewhere else along the shore. Deep fried Oreos are calling me...

NFL Lockout Ends And I'm...Disappointed?

Saying goodbye to Stewart?

After months of posturing and disruption, the NFL owners and players finally figured out how to divide the billions and billions of dollars in revenue the league takes in. The lockout is over, and only one exhibition game had to be canceled -- the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, which is normally played in conjunction with the induction ceremonies each year. Now, because no league business (other than the draft) took place for months and months, there's this mad scramble by teams to decide which of their own free agents they might want back, which free agents from other teams they might want to try and sign, and so on, as teams rush to open their training camps.

There are reports that the Eagles have decided they don't want any of their free agents back, including linebacker/Daily News Sexy Single/would-be "Sex and the City" guest star Stewart Bradley. There's also speculation that DeSean Jackson might not report to training camp because he wants a contract extension. Considering what Jackson's been up to recently, I'm not sure I care if he disappears from the face of the earth.

Beyond that, though, I'm actually a little sad that the NFL is back. This is the most popular of the four major pro sports leagues, but also very unlikable in many ways.

Phillies Will Finally Make It Better

In response to my scathing editorial regarding the lack of good news on the local LGBT/pro sports front (while other teams' current and former players support marriage equality and other cities' MLB teams make "It Gets Better" videos, Philly teams have done nothing and DeSean Jackson drops anti-gay slurs on radio), the Phillies have committed to making an "It Gets Better" video to help stop bullying.

Okay, it really had more to do with the "Ask the Phils to make an It Gets Better video" petition gaining publicity via a mass email from Change.org after Jackson's idiocy became known, and Philadelphia Weekly's adding to that publicity by profiling the petition's creator, followed by (I assume) the PW writer asking the Phils for a response, which led to the Phillies finally joining the cause -- as I explained in this blog post on Outsports.com. Still, I'm happy that it's finally going to happen.

Now, can we get the Flyers to do so as well?

A Phillies So-Right-Yet-So-Wrong Stat

This stat was just tweeted by MLB.com Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki. Here are the Phillies leaders in runs batted in for the month of July:

Raul Ibanez - 14
John Mayberry Jr. - 12
Michael Martinez - 11

Ibanez -- I didn't think he was having such a big month. Mayberry -- great news if he can keep it going. They need a righthanded bat, and since the Phils are unlikely to bring back Ibanez in 2012 there's a job for Mayberry if he can prove he can hit major league pitching. Martinez -- well, that's just ridiculous.

What's really ridiculous is: where's Ryan Howard on this list? Where's Chase Utley? Are you kidding me? These are supposed to be the biggest run producers. (Granted, Utley got a huge game-tying two-run double tonight in the 8th, which set up Martinez to do the same in the 9th to win the game.)

It still amazes me that the Phillies are winning so many games -- tonight's was win number  60 -- with their offense continuing to be so inconsistent. And what could potentially happen in October still scares me. As we head towards the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline, it's going to be really, really interesting to see what, if anything, the Phils do.

Losing My Religion (DeSean Jackson Edition)

If you have some working knowledge of Philadelphia's pro sports teams and their fans, you're aware that there are certain teams that we Just. Don't. Like. And there are players on those teams that we Just. Don't. Like. So a comparison of recent events involving Philly players and those from the Do Not Like category is distressing.

In the last couple of months we've had the New York Rangers' Sean Avery speaking out and even lobbying state legislators to get the same-sex marriage bill passed in New York. He's spoken on gay issues in the past and continues to do so even after the marriage victory in New York. Avery is one of those obnoxious, edgy, nasty hockey players that everyone hates, unless he's on their team. And the fact that he plays for the Rangers, still a major rival of the Flyers even though they haven't been all that successful since their last Stanley Cup win in 1994, makes it worse. But in the world of pro sports, speaking out on LGBT equality is, while not as rare as it used to be, still rather controversial.

This week, our attention focuses on NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin, who played his entire career with the NFL's Evil Empire, the Dallas Cowboys. Obviously he was a talented player, but also unlikable, a loudmouth who got into trouble off the field (suspended after arrested on drug charges, both by the NFL during his playing career and by ESPN after he became a broadcaster). But he, too, has spoken out on LGBT issues recently, and now he's on the cover of Out magazine. In the accompanying story (written by Cyd Zeigler of Outsports), he speaks about his late brother, who was gay, and how he also supports full marriage equality and wants the NFL to be supportive when the day arrives that an active player comes out.

Two disliked players from hated rivals, now doing great stuff to help gay people. As you can imagine, I'm a little conflicted. I'm not comfortable with Sean Avery and Michael Irvin giving me reasons to actually, you know, like them.

But I'm also disappointed, because while these opponents are doing these things, what do I have, representing my teams, the teams I love and passionately root for?

DeSean Jackson. And silence.

The Eagles' wide receiver

Flyers: Back To The Drawing Board?

So last week I was talking to my friend Kurt on the phone as I had just begun checking out my usual online haunts. My browser's home page is Yahoo.com, and it was there I saw a headline. "The Flyers traded Jeff Carter," I said to Kurt rather nonchalantly. I was sort of expecting it. Carter has scored a lot of goals but isn't quite as strong defensively as he could or should be, and seems to disappear at times, particularly in the playoffs. With the Flyers needing to clear salary in order to sign goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, having acquired his rights in a trade in order to have exclusive negotiating rights before free agency (which begins at noon today), Carter was the most obvious candidate. His salary is high but he's got enough talent that teams would want him, and Columbus was the team that ended up getting him.

Kurt and I kept talking, and I moved on from the Yahoo article, and clicked on Philly.com. There, I saw something that made me yell into the phone.

"OH MY GOD!"
"What is it?"
"THEY TRADED MIKE RICHARDS TOO!!!"