State of the City Address - 11/18/08

With both the Sixers and Flyers off until later this week, it has been a slow start to the week. So, I've decided to give some sort of a state of the city address with regard to our teams. So, here we go:

Eagles:

The birds will likely not make the playoffs for the second consecutive season and the third time i four years. The defense has kept the team in a position to win every game, but the offense has not completed the job. The play-calling is often horrendous and predictable. At times, it seems like they're letting the opposing team set the tone. NO ONE has stepped up to bail the team out in time of need.

Andy Reid has been out-coached in every close game. He's been exploited and it gets clearer every Sunday that his coaching methods were overvalued due to the poor NFC at the start of the decade.

Do you still believe he can coach this franchise to a title? The answer is extremely doubtful. He's proven that he might do well enough to get to the big game, but in 1 out of 5 of those championship games, he's been defeated.

Flyers:

Maybe it was the message sent by John Stevens when he put Lupul on the 4th line. Maybe it was the benching of Scott Hartnell, but the Flyers are finally starting to play complete hockey.

Once again, Holmgren made a great acquisition when he acquire Matt Carle. Carle is looking like the player he was during his rookie year and not the player he was last year and the start of this season. The defense should look solid once Randy Jones and Ryan Parent finally return.

The Flyers need to become a little more physical when they play because they do get beat through the neutral zone at times and rubbed off the puck easily. They're not using what got them to the Eastern Conference Finals last year, but I'm sure that will happen soon.

Currently, they are over .500 and they to make sure they continue to play well or they are going to fall behind the pack in an extremely loaded division. The season is still early enough for them to get on a roll.

Sixers:

The 76ers are in the midst of a tree-game wining streak and they are beginning to play better as a team, both offensively and defensively. Samuel Dalembert and Elton Brand are becoming a good front-court in the key and on the glass. They're both averaging nearly 10 rebounds and two blocks each per game. Also, Andre Iguodala has finally arrived this season with double-doubles in 4 of his last 5 games. His ineffectiveness was a big reason why they struggled to start the season.

Finally, the Sixers are beginning to smother their opponents defensively to get out on the fast break. It took a few games to develop consistency against a tough schedule, but they are really starting to come into their own.

Phillies:

The offseason has begun and we should all expect it to be slow and quiet. The Phillies normally keep their negotiations hush-hush, so don't expect to hear much of anything until their is a done deal. They are negotiating with Moyer and Burrell with plans to bring them both back, but we'll see what happens.

They will likely address the bullpen via free agency. They have been said to be interested in Russ Springer and Doug Brocail. If they do not re-sign Burrell it is expected that they will look at Raul Ibanez and Rocco Baldelli.

They raised ticket prices to combat with raising expenses in general. Also, the laws of supply and demand means that prices should rise because more people will be trying to fill the same 45,000 seats. Who cares though, right? The extra 2-3$ per seat might mean that the team will remain competitive for a long while and continue to fight for the title they just won.