PhilaPhile

Drexel University Men's Basketball Team

Yesterday I saw the Drexel University Men's Baskeball team play Virginia Commonwealth University at the DAC. Drexel lost 75 -68 in a very good game against a perrenial power in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). If you want to see some very good basketball you've got to get down to see Drexel play. You better hurry they only have 4 home games remaining.

Unfortunately, the Dragons didn't have one of their best players, Frank Elegar. Elegar was suspended by the CAA's commissioner, Thomas Yeager, for a flagrant foul he committed at Delaware University on January 20th. For some reason the decision to suspend Elegar wasn't handed down until after their next game against UNC Wilmington on January 24th. Why did it take so long to enforce the suspension? Maybe things really do move more slowly down there.

Could it be that the CAA, located in Richmond, Virginia was deliberately attempting to assist it's hometown team VCU? Drexel should have won the game anyway. Just far to many turnovers. And they can't redeem themselves in the regular season becasue they only play VCU once.

Congratulations to the CAA for keeping the confederacy on top. Couldn't have VCU competing against a team that might beat them if they had their full complement of players. I bet ya'll are down there whistling dixie over this one. "I wish I was in the land of...."

tags: Drexel University Colonial Athletic Association basketball Virginia Commonwealth University

Gary Maddox Barbecue Challenge

I attended the Gary Maddox Barbecue Challenge with my daughter and one of her friends. It's a fundraiser that's held yearly outside of Citizens Bank Park before a Phillies game. There were about 20 restaurants and a number of amateurs competing in various categories. During the competition you can go around and sample ribs, pulled pork, and chicken from the competitors. Tickets are 3 for $10 and 7 for $20.

We had a great time sampling the barbecue. It wasn't really crowded while we were there and some of the restaurants were very generous with their portions. Typically, you received about 2 ribs for 1 ticket. I tried at least 8 types of ribs, some pulled pork and a few pieces of chicken. My vote for best ribs was El Vez. I went back to the El Vez booth a few times after my initial tasting. I'll definitely visit the restaurant to see if they remain at the top of my list. (Check out the Messy & Picky review of El Vez.)

Following that we went to the Phillies game to see them play the Cincinnati Reds. The Phillies lost 9-7. Ryan Howard was up in the bottom of then ninth with two on base and two out. He struck out. I hear so much talk on sports radio about how people can't get into the Phillies. Their not happy with some of the moves they recently made. They always collapse at the end of the season. Although some of the criticism is deserved we had a great time at the game. It was exciting because this team never appears to be out of the game when they are down. The crowd was into the game, I think there were about 38,000 in attendance. And the people who were sitting in our area were great. I had no problem getting into the game.

tags: 19148

NBA 2006 Slam Dunk Contest

It's a slam dunk, the Philadelphia 76ers Andre Iguodala was robbed of the NBA 2006 Slam Dunk contest championship. IggyD competed against Hakeem Warrick, Josh Smith, and Nate Robinson. In the end it came down to Nate Robinson and Iguodala in the first ever dunk contest overtime or dunk-off. Nate Robinson, of the New York Knicks, was the winner after Kenny Smith, one of the judges, repeatedly gave Iguodala low scores for his dunks obviously favoring Robinson.

There's no doubt in my mind that IggyD had the most innovative dunk seen in this contest for years. With Allen Iverson assisting, IggyD started from the right side of the court, a few feet out of bounds and behind the basket. Iverson stood directly behind and to the right of the backboard. Iverson tossed the ball off the back of the backboard while IggyD ran towards Iverson. As the ball bounced off the rear of the backboard IggyD grabbed the ball in the air, ducked under the backboard to avoid hitting his head, and dunked the ball on the otherside of the basket. Of course he got a perfect score for this incredibly innovative dunk.

In the dunk-off Robinson failed his final dunk at least 13 times before finally making it. For this he was given a higher score than IggyD. Just ridiculous. I think Robinson will learn how we feel about this thievary the next time he's in the Wachovia Center.

Philadelphia Soul

My daughter and I were invited to see the Philadelphia Soul play the Los Angeles Avengers on Super Bowl Sunday. It was the first time we attended an Arena League game. The Soul play their home games at the Wachovia Center.

Before the game we went to the Lexus Lounge for lunch. I had a cheeseburger that cost $10.00. It was not cooked to order but sitting in a warming tray. A rather dry, slightly warm burger with cheese, lettuce, tomato and fried onions. A lot of ketchup did not help. I would not order it again. The kids were smart and did not order anything to eat. Preferring to wait and purchase cotton candy and drinks when were in the stands. Instead of eating they played with the computers located in the lounge or watched one of the several flat screen displays. There's also a rather large bar in the lounge.

One of the first things you notice when you arrive in the stadium area is how little traffic you encounter. Parking still costs $10.00 but I got a space very close to the entrance. Possibly because we arrived an hour before the game started. There were a few fans tailgating in the parking lot.

We had great seats for the game, second row near the goal line. The action is amazing. The field is only 50 yards long and and 85 feet wide. But the players are big and fast making for some violent collisions. This Soul team has a quality that should endear them to Philly fans. They are hard hitting and appear to have a bit of an edge to them. There were several scuffles after the play and a few unsportsman like conduct penalties. There are far more passes than running plays in Arena football. When the receiver catches the ball there is very little time to react before thay have someone closing in on them for the hit. Several times I cringed when a receiver was knocked headfirst into the padded sideboard, which is out-of-bounds. And I don't understand why they send any of the smaller players to cover kick-offs. They were getting layed-out by some of the larger blockers during the returns becasue there's very little space for them to maneuver. The only thing that was missing was any familiarity I had of the players. Many of the fans were shouting the names of players. One player that I noticed creating quite a bit of havoc was number 31, Raheem Orr who played at Rutgers (on the team Web site his number is 53). He's listed as 260 lbs. but looks more like 230. He was fun to watch.

The Soul won 47-33 despite the fact that their starting quaterback, Tony Graziani, was injured with a dislocated finger in the first two minutes of the game. Matt Sauk filled in nicely and threw a touchdown on his first play from scrimmage. Around the second quarter my daughter leaned over and said, "Dad you have to get season tickets." Bon Jovi played two songs at half-time, not exactly even a mini-concert. But that was not the reason we were there. We had a great time. The environment was family friendly and I really enjoyed the game. We'll definitely return and I'm rooting for the Soul to do well this year.

tags: 19148

The Baker League

I went to the Baker League All Stars vs. the Philadelphia 76ers game yesterday at the Community College of Philadelphia. I had a great time watching some very good professional and amateur players battle it out in an overtime win for the Baker League All Stars. One individual battle I enjoyed watching was Temple alum and Seattle Supersonic's guard Rick Brunson vs. Louis Williams the Sixers 2005 second round draft pick. Rick took Louis to (summer) school. Patiently backing him down and either passing (14 assists) to a teammate or scoring over him. It was old school vs. new school right there on the court. Old school won this battle, as Louis constantly complained to the refs with gestures indicating that he thought Brunson was hooking him. Louis appears to be headed for D.C. as a lobbyist after his pro days are done.

As soon as I entered the gym someone shouted, "Hey old man." I looked over and saw Fred Stokes. Fred was on the first Sonny Hill Summer League All Star team in 1968 and played for West Philadelphia High School in the late sixties. He started guard on the their 1968 city championship team. Their tallest player that year was 6'4" Ernie Jones. They could run and shoot all day long and epitomized their school's mascot "the Speedboys." We sat and talked about how the ballplayers in our day were more fundamentally sound than today's players. A conversation that I'm sure has been carried on by older players, of all sports, forever. It was good to see some ball during the summer and great to talk with an old friend.

tags: 19130

Philadelphia 76ers

I was reading an article in yesterday's Daily News, "Dalembert worries about family members in Haiti", by Phil Jasner. Dalembert's family lives in Port-au-Prince and he has heard that his family is fine. But he's been unable to communicate with them directly and, undererstandably, he's worried. He's donating $20,000 to the Red Cross and the coach, Jim O'Brien, is donating $1,000. All donations are being matched by the NBA. What surprised me was that the total donated by the team was $22,500. Take away Dalembert's and O'Brien's donations and the rest of the team is donating $1,500. That's works out to about $100 per teammate.

If you were a fundraiser and your prospects were players on an NBA team I think you would expect the average donation would be more than $100. Especially when they are responding to a disaster in a teammate's hometown. Also, the article doesn't mention a contribution by the Philadelphia 76ers. I can't imagine their response would be so pitiful if a hurricane ripped through Iverson's hometown of Hampton, VA.

I'm trying to think of some reasons why there's not a better response. Maybe they don't know how devastating this natural disaster is for the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Maybe they don't know about the recent political strife in the country and how the hurricane has made an unstable country more dangerous. Maybe they're like the rest of us who are worn out by the limitless number of tragedies parading across our television screens daily. Despite this I think if I were a teammate of Dalembert's I would make a donation of at least $1,000.

If you think I'm way off base please let me know.

Philadelphia Phillies

A neighbor gave me two tickets for the Phillies game versus Montreal on Sunday. I received them so late in the day I had to go alone. Although I don't think I could have convinced any of my friends to see the Phillies at this point in their season. My daughter didn't want to go because she had a project for school due on Monday. When did that ever stop her from wanting to go to a sporting event with her Dad? The fact of the matter is that the Phillies are having an incredibly dissapointing season, as if that's anything new.

I was a pre-teen when the Phillies had a complete collapse in 1964. My grandmother was a big Phillies fan, she had a picture of Richie Ashburn on her desk at work. She and I trekked to Connie Mack Stadium a few times to see the Phillies play. Taking a bus, the el, the Broad street subway and another bus to reach the ball park. She helped develop my rabid Philly sports mentality. Well this month is the 40th anniversary of the Phillies greatest collapse. A 6 1/2 game lead over the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals with 12 games left in the season. The Phillies lost 10 straight games to lose the Pennant. Here's one article about it titled, "The big hurt," in today's Philadelphia Inquirer. My grandmother and I would sit on the front porch listening to the game on the radio. At one point during this losing streak she could not take it anymore. She said, "I'm going inside. This team is going to give me a heart attack."

I only wish that the current version of the Phillies could be that exciting. I went to Sunday's game simply because I had not seen the new stadium. It's beautiful but the place was dead. The team appears totally uninspired. They are again playing meaningless games in September. There were 41,000 dispirited fans in attendance. The setting does not matter if you have a losing or mediocre team. I can remember attending games at the Vet in the late seventies when the Phillies were developing into a team that would win it all in 1980. The Vet was electric. The entire stadium was into the game. It was the complete opposite on Sunday.

Well, I've seen the beautiful, new stadium. Phiilies fans packed the Vet because of the team. We don't stay away because of the environment. But, after this year, we will stay away because of the team.