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!

My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 5

Two more caps, then four t-shirts -- one from each team, in part for reasons explained below.

On the left is a Camden Riversharks hat I bought last week at a game for $5. They may not be in Camden next year. The cap on the right is pretty self-explanatory.

Also self-explanatory. Took me a while to find one for sale at a good price, though.

Because the NFL has returned, I resume my wearing of an Eagles shirt on game days (I've had this particular shirt for quite a few years). Didn't work out so well last night. That was a really pathetic performance in so many ways, in a game that was very winnable.

A giveaway that's become a regular thing, The home opener (barring unusual circumstances such as a world championship) is a 3:05 pm start on a weekday. After a day off (in case it rains on Opening Day) the next game is often designated "Opening Night" and a t-shirt is given out. Of course, they aren't commemorating pennants now...

One of the few 76ers items I own, bought from the clearance rack at Modells some time ago. Sadly, Moses Malone just passed away. What a rare feat: he was acquired to put the Sixers over the top and win a championship, and he did it in his first season. Even Pete Rose's first Phillies team, in 1979, missed the playoffs before winning it all in 1980. Rest in peace, Moses, and thank you.

My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 1

A while back I counted the number of t-shirts (and jerseys as well) in my closet from the local sports teams and posted it on Facebook. The count is now updated as I bought another one recently: 41 Phillies, 10 Eagles, 12 Flyers (and Phantoms, from before they moved to upstate New York and back down to Lehigh Valley), and only 2 from the 76ers. A couple of them are over 20 years old (one looks it), while most of the rest are from around 2000 or later. I've decided to post pics of all of them, as well as my baseball caps (not all of them are sports-related, and I don't yet have a count). So over the next few weeks, assuming I keep up, you'll be seeing them.

I'm sure most of them don't have interesting stories or anything, but if I can remember anything I'll mention it.

Also, now I'm really regretting not keeping the old shirts and caps I had from the Phillies World Series championship in 1980 and Eagles first Super Bowl appearance a few months later.

So...

This is one that I bought somewhat recently. Not sure where. It's one of those shirts that's made of material designed to keep you dry when it's hot. I wore it the other day just because I hadn't worn it before and it was still pretty hot out. (Generally I wear the sports shirts only if I'm going to a game, or for every game the Eagles play and for every playoff game of any team.) Seeing as how it's 2XL and I've lost weight, though, I'm not sure the material would've made a difference even if I had been running around performing amazing athletic feats.

And this is the one I wore to Tuesday night's game that I teased online, asking if anyone could guess the last word in the sentence. This was from a few years ago when the Phils were just dipping into social media. They held what I'm sure was their first social media-related ticket promotion: with a code from Twitter, etc., you got an offer for a ticket in the Rooftop Bleachers (not the greatest view), this t-shirt (front and back depicted), and I think a food and beverage credit as well, all for $20 or $25.

This is my most recent purchase. $7 at Marshalls.

This one I've had for many years. I thought I'd share it since Pat Burrell was added to the Phillies' Wall of Fame last weekend. It's a prime example of my Sports Shirt Jinx: if I buy a shirt of a specific player, either he leaves via trade or free agency, or he gets hurt/slumps badly and his career goes downhill. That started, if I recall, with my Scott Rolen t-shirt (which I no longer own). I will probably buy a Cole Hamels t-shirt when they're marked down to $10 or less. Consider it a retroactive jinx, but it's okay as he'll get on the Wall of Fame quickly.



And finally, this is one I purchased a while back (I think at Modells, definitely at a discount or clearance price) but never wore, until last night's game. Size: Large. I can finally fit into an L again (as long as they aren't a really tight cut)!

The Mess That Is...The 76ers (And The NBA)

I'm a little shocked that I feel the need to rant about the 76ers. Basketball is my fourth favorite of the four major pro sports. So I don't watch Sixers games or other NBA games nearly as much as I watch MLB, NHL or NFL games. But this is brought on by a tool named Scott O'Neil. He's the team's CEO. He was interviewed on WIP-FM, the main sports talk radio station, Saturday morning. I was not up early enough to hear that, but I heard a few lines that were excerpted for the station's sports updates at :20 and :40 each hour. In one of them he commented that the Sixers were "fun to watch," that he had fun watching the game the previous night.

Really.

In that game, Friday at Milwaukee, the Sixers trailed 82-81 with 8:21 left in the fourth quarter. And didn't score again. Not a single point. The lowly Bucks scored the final 11 points of the game to finish off a completely forgettable 93-81 win. The 76ers missed their last 14 shots from the field and, during those amazing final 501 seconds, didn't get to the free throw line once. After Saturday night's loss in the home opener, they're now 0-3 to start the season.

But Scott O'Neil thought it was fun.

This comment came a day after he decided to take some verbal jabs at Larry Brown, the coach of the team the last time the Sixers were actually any good, because Brown had the temerity to criticize the team's current approach to building a team: by destroying it completely.

Their strategy the last year-plus has been to get rid of just about every half-decent veteran player they had, ditching high salaries and acquiring draft picks and woefully inadequate, untalented replacements, in order to turn into a mediocre team into one that is not remotely capable of winning, trying to maximize their chances of getting the top pick in the NBA draft. Last season they finished 19-63, second worst in the NBA, but only got the third pick in the draft thanks to the league's lottery system of allocating the top picks.

The draft is the other part of the strategy: picking players with an eye to improving years down the road, instead of players who might help the team now. As a result, for two years in a row the Sixers picked players who were injured in college, and wouldn't be fully recovered for months. In the case of Nerlens Noel the Sixers had him sit out the entire 2013-14 season. This year's top pick, Joel Embiid, seems to be on the same slow track. (Added to the Andrew Bynum disaster, this would make three consecutive years that the 76ers' key summer acquisition would fail to play a single game in the following season.) Also, another draft acquisition (Dario Saric) is under contract with a team in Turkey and can't play in the NBA for at least a year, possibly two.

The end result is a team that will struggle to reach last season's 19-win mark, looking to get yet another top pick, and then hoping that their young talent will flourish. And, with money to spend because they're well under the salary cap, the 76ers hope that will entice quality free agents to sign with them, and voila! they're one the best teams in the league, fighting for a championship.

That's all well and good. But they're charging full price for the tickets they're selling for the slop they put on the court last year, and this year, and probably next year as well. Scott O'Neil doesn't have to pay to watch this dreck so he can have all the fun he wants. The average fan? Not so much.

And this is the NBA's fault. Because of the way the league operates, with ridiculously complex rules for the salary cap and free agency, and a draft system that, even with the lottery in place, still encourages teams to essentially lose on purpose, the only way for most teams to become true contenders is to follow the slash-and-burn process the 76ers are currently undertaking. It's a joke.

Here's a prime example of the cap idiocy: last week the 76ers and New York Knicks made a trade. In addition to a couple of future draft picks (the 76ers may now have 76 picks over the next few seasons; you normally get two per year, one in each of the two rounds), the Sixers acquired a player, Travis Outlaw, from New York and sent one of their players, Arnett Moultrie, to New York.

After the trade, the Sixers cut Outlaw. The Knicks cut Moultrie. Because of the salary cap complications, the Knicks couldn't just cut Outlaw themselves They had to trade him so they could keep another player on the roster.

It's the same stupidity on draft night. Unlike the NFL, where teams will trade up in the draft before the pick comes up, in order to draft a player they want, NBA teams draft players first, and then trade them. It's lunacy. Players get drafted, march up to the podium to pose for pics with the commissioner and put on a cap with their new team's logo. Five minutes later they're on some other team.

76ers fans, to be sure, support what the team is doing. They want a team that can legitimately compete for the NBA title. I can't blame them. But I also can't be bothered to watch any of their games, unless there's absolutely nothing else interesting on TV or someone gives me a free ticket.

My Issues With The Daily News

A number of things have me wondering whether I want to continue my subscription to the Philadelphia Daily News after it expires in September. Most recently there was this...

Bavel Pure?

and there was this...

...and this (to the left and right of the "NEWS" banner)...

...and these others...

76ers: No Need To Play Out The Season

Ummmmm...wait, isn't this just a little bit premature? I mean, they're in first place with a 10-3 record (remember when they started last season 3-13?), but NBA champions?

Needless to say this gave me a chuckle on the way to work this morning.

A while back (like, months) I spotted a bus that had an "Eagles/Super Bowl champions" message. We know how that turned out...so perhaps SEPTA is the new Billy Penn jinx?

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...

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.

The S Words

Since the topics in this post all begin with "S" the title I've given this seems appropriate. And in one case, as you'll see, very appropriate.

Sarah: First, more information on the wife of Phillies pitcher Ryan Madson and her comment on fans. I'm glad I didn't really attack her on her comment, as I imagine others have. There are questions about the background of the woman who wrote the original blog post, as well as whether she identified herself as a reporter to Sarah Madson or not. The Phillies have issued a statement that says, in part: "(The writer) began to ask many personal questions about the life of a wife of a professional baseball player. The comments reported by Ms. Goldman were taken completely out of context, and as a result, Sarah is extremely upset and feels violated by the situation. Sarah says, 'For every one fan that may upset us, there are 99 Phillies fans that we love. We have lived here for years, have many friends, neighbors and acquaintances -- who also happen to be Phillies fans -- for whom we have the utmost respect.'" This post on PhillyChitChat.com states that the  woman offered him the story first, and had offered it to the Metro newspaper as well. Both rejected her. There's another "S" word that seems to apply to this woman's handling of this "story" -- sleazy. I'm definitely on the side of Sarah Madson now.

Softball: Weather permitting (or, to be accurate, if the field is dry enough Sunday after Saturday's rain), the City of Brotherly Love Softball League season opens at 9:50 am on Sunday morning. I don't expect anyone to come out and cheer me on (heck, I wouldn't be there that early if I didn't have to) but if you might be so inclined, come to Fairmount Park's Edgely Fields -- my team, now sponsored by Valanni, is on field 8. The opening day block party (200-300 blocks of S. Camac St.) takes place later that afternoon and evening.

Philly Fans Pushing Panic Buttons?

Surprise: sports content on my blog! It's been a while. However, there are a few things that need to be discussed.

First, let's not go overboard on the Flyers just yet. Sure, they had a four-game losing streak before last night, losing to teams ranging from middle-of-the-pack to the bottom of the standings (including a 7-0 embarrassment against the New York Rangers). And the win that broke that string wasn't exactly impressive (after a dominating first period, they allowed the poor Edmonton Oilers to stay in the game right to the end). But they're still in first place in the Eastern Conference and it's best to get the bad games out of their system before the playoffs start. Also, apparently a combination of a flu bug and -- believe it or not -- too much practice took a lot of energy out of them last week.

On the other hand, it might be time to worry about the Phillies just a little. I repeat: just a little. For now.

Chase Utley hasn't played in a game all spring due to a right knee problem. While it doesn't seem to be getting worse (it's not getting better, either, which is the problem), the pronouncements from the Phillies seem to get a little less optimistic each time. It's gone from "just sore and needs a day or two of extra rest" to "MRI shows tendinitis, needs more rest" to "getting a cortisone shot in the knee" to "doing another MRI, mild patellar tendinitis and chondromalacia." Some (and by "some" I mean rabid talk-show callers) have decided it's time to make a major trade because Utley's out for the season. This is soooooooo way off in the future. They're going to give the knee rest and treatment and worry about possible surgery if that doesn't work.

But it does seem likely that Utley won't be in the lineup at the start of the regular season. The Phils already have the Jayson Werth hole to fill. That right field job seems to be Ben Francisco's to lose, since Domonic Brown went 1-for-16 to start the exhibition season before breaking a bone in his hand and undergoing surgery that will have him out for up to 6 weeks. After that, I'm sure Brown will go to the minors until either Francisco (and other possibile fill-ins such as Ross Gload and John Mayberry Jr.) fails or Brown is crushing triple-A pitching so much that the Phils bring him back. If Utley misses significant time, it'll add a little more pressure on Ryan Howard and the rest of the lineup. Even the Phils' mighty starting pitchers can't win games if the offense struggles.

Although there's no panic button being pushed here, I have to mention the 76ers. They've been on quite the run. They lost tonight in overtime, letting a 5-point lead get away in the last minute, but they've still got a winning record (33-31, 30-18 since their 3-13 stumble from the gates). Everyone who follows basketball says that right now they're a fun team to watch, but that fun isn't selling tickets as their attendance is still terrible. I have a dream, though: that the Sixers knock off that ridiculous Miami Heat team in the first round of the playoffs. It's likely a pipe dream, but wouldn't it be awesome?