Philadelphia Freedom

Not that you would know it from reading this blog, but there have been other things going on in the sporting world over the past two weeks. I know, it surprised me too.

- None of the involved parties should be pleased with how the Terrell Owens situation finally unfolded. Sure San Francisco got rid of Owens, who has been described as a team cancer, but is their offense really better off without him? The chemistry of the team definitely is, but I'm not so sure about the rest of it.
With Owens and Jeff Garcia out, the 49ers are headed into next season with Tim Rattay throwing balls to Arnaz Battle and Cedrick Wilson, and 87-year old Garrison Hearst in the backfield. Combine that with the offense wizardry of Dennis Erickson (and the knowledge that if Rattay gets hurt, Ken Dorsey is his backup) and the 49ers should probably start scouting the top prospects for the 2005 draft.
The Ravens should be upset, but not for losing Owens. The last thing a young quarterback like Kyle Boller needed was Owens demanding the ball on every play. Baltimore is better off without TO. Instead, the Ravens should be upset that they entered into a good-faith agreement and got screwed by the outcome. Baltimore thought they were acquiring Owens, and as a result, didn’t make a move to bring in another receiver. Why would they? They had Owens.
So, the Ravens let Marcus Robinson bolt in free agency and ignored Justin McCariens, David Boston and Darrell Jackson who were on the market. With Owens gone, the Ravens have a receiving corps that’s about as impressive as the 49ers, all because they thought they had their #1 receiver already in place and didn’t think they needed to make any moves. Now they’re stuck Frank Sanders and Travis Taylor.
And as for the Eagles… well, everybody thinks that they are the winners of this whole debacle. I disagree. I think the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and rest of the NFC are the beneficiaries of the trade. Here’s why.
Terrell Owens is a tremendous receiver. He is athletic, he plays hard and blocks (unlike his All-Pro counterpart in Minnesota) and he is able to create separation between defenders. But, Owens also has terrible hands and is one of the biggest complainers in all of sports. He is coming into another west-coast offense, albeit one with an inferior quarterback.
You thought Owens had a problem with Jeff Garcia? At least Garcia completes over 60% of his passes. TO’s new signal-caller Donovan McNabb only has a 57% rate, which is shockingly low for a quarterback in a west-coast system. Donovan also tends to throw balls either low or away from his receivers, which doesn’t bode well for Owens who doesn’t like stretching out for balls and doesn’t have the hands to bring in erratic tosses.
Also, Jeff Garcia was a quiet leader for the 49ers and never was a star in San Francisco. Owens could rip Garcia in public and nobody in San Fran would think too much of it. Garcia obviously didn't appreciate the comments, but never made it a public issue. If TO does the same things in Philly that he did in San Francisco (and what evidence is there to suggest that he won't?) that won't be the case.
Donovan McNabb is the Philadelphia Eagles. He has his mechanical faults as a quarterback, but he wins (except for the NFC Championship) and has a rabid following in the Philly. What is going to happen when Donovan misses TO on a crucial pass late in a game, and Owens rips the QB after the game? He’ll be booed out of town, that’s what. Philadelphia might be the City of Brotherly Love, but if TO crosses Donovan, that moniker will be seriously tested.
For years everybody has said that the missing link on the Eagles was a go-to receiver. But that was three years ago when Hugh Douglass, Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor and Jeremiah Trotter were playing defense in Philly. Now the Eagles need defensive help and last time I checked, TO only lines up on offense.
Bringing in Terrell Owens wasn’t a mistake for the Philadelphia Eagles. It was a move they needed to make. But nobody in Philly should be surprised when Owens starts acting up, begins demanding the ball, calls out Donovan McNabb and causes strife in the Eagles locker room. Because it will happen at some point. For the record, I’m picking Week 7.

- I don’t mean to focus on Philly too much, but the whole Allen Iverson-Chris Ford saga deserves a mention. For those who don’t watch SportsCenter four times a day, the Philadelphia 76ers interim coach Chris Ford wanted AI to come off the bench during a recent game instead of starting because the superstar was coming back from an injury. Iverson refused to play in the game, stating that superstars don’t come off the bench.
Both Ford and Iverson are at fault here. AI should have played because that’s what team players do. But conversely, if Iverson was good enough to play, Ford should have started him. But I don’t care about that. I care about something much more important than whether Allen Iverson plays a meaningless regular season game.
For there is a larger story here and it is this:
If Jim Mora doesn’t watch out, Allen Iverson just might take the title of the Best Press Conference Giver ever (non-Bobby Knight division).
Mora still holds a commanding lead with “diddly-poo”, “we sucked” and “PLAYOFFS?!!” in his repertoire, but in recent years AI has been something of a virtuoso in the field.
First he had those surreal press conferences during the 2001 NBA Playoffs where he would always wear a different throwback jersey and ramble on for a few minutes about his thoughts during the game. Like a true superstar, AI stepped up his game for the press conferences after each NBA Finals game by bringing his kids along. After Game 1, when the 76ers beat the seemingly invincible LA Lakers, Iverson sat at the podium for a good 20 minutes, with his exhausted children squirming the entire time all over him, talking about everything from John Thompson to the size of Shaq’s feet. It was classic theater.
AI moved into the pantheon of the all-time greats with his infamous “we talkin’ bout practice” press conference that was held after questions were raised about AI’s pre-game habits. In a span of two minutes AI defended himself saying that any criticism about how hard he plays in practice is ridiculous because he plays hard in the games, but did by saying/asking in utter disbelief “we talkin bout practice?” about 16 times.
Last week, in regards to his most recent beef with Ford, AI added another press conference to his growing Hall of Fame where he listed all his accomplishments (All-Star, MVP, Olympian, etc.) and asked “Does a (blank) come off the bench?” in succession until he exhausted all his credentials.
AI is no Mora or Bobby Knight (the Babe Ruth of soundbites) yet, but in a few more years he might deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as those two legends.

- Well, I didn’t plan it this way, but let’s keep with this whole Philadelphia theme. (And by the way, I add the title of each entry after I'm done writing it, so even though I hadn't planned to write about Philly when I started, the title suggests I did. And also, in case you hadn't noticed, the title makes no sense. But I always jump at the chance to drop the name of an Elton John song anywhere that is possibly appropriate.)
MTV cancelled plans to have their next version of The Real World filmed in Philadelphia. I guess that makes sense. The city once cheered Michael Irvin’s career-ending injury and booed Santa Clause, so you can only imagine what they would have done to Trishelle.

- I said I wasn’t going to talk about the NCAA Tournament, but since I have been consumed with this Philly lovefest, we’re gonna have to talk about St. Joe’s. I have two thoughts.
1) CBS made the right call in assigning Billy Packer to call the East Regional, and more specifically the St. Joe’s-Wake Forest game. It makes for good TV, but because of the matchup, the fireworks won’t be as bright as they could have been
A recap: On CBS’s Selection Sunday show, Billy Packer ripped St. Joe’s being a #1 seed. A few minutes later, St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli responded to Packer’s claims, challenged him to play against his team and called him a jackass.
OK, first things first. Packer was right in criticizing St. Joe’s last weekend. His point about the Hawks being a probably underdog to #2 seeds like Uconn and Oklahoma State was correct. Maybe Packer was a little harsh, but cut him some slack. He’s an old man and has to put up with Jim Nantz on the regular.
Phil Martelli was also absolutely right in defending his team. (I haven’t liked St. Joe’s all year, but after seeing Martelli getting interviewed on PTI a few weeks ago, I have become a fan of his. He didn’t talk like Dean Smith or Coach K and claim that every team St. Joe’s has faced is the best team ever. He spoke candidly and realistically assessed his teams chances of winning the National Championship. (He also predicted his team wouldn’t finish the regular season undefeated). I’ve gotten off on a tangent here, and I apologize.)
My point was that Packer was right to criticize and Martelli was right to defend. This situation would have played out perfectly if St. Joe’s was playing anybody but Wake Forest in the Sweet 16. But Packer, who played basketball at Wake in the early ‘60s, has always been reluctant to praise his alma mater too much, probably for fear of sounding like a homer. It’s not just Packer who does this. Guys like Len Elmore (Maryland) and Brad Daugherty (North Carolina) do the same thing. (Not surprisingly, Dukies like Mike Gminski and Jay Bilas are the biggest homers on national broadcasts).
But because its Wake Forest, instead of Manhattan, Packer won’t be hyping up St. Joe’s opponent as much as he normally would and thus his criticism of the Hawks might be tempered. Either way, the Packer-Martelli situation provides another story-line for an already compelling matchup.
2) St. Joe’s sure didn’t look like a #1 seed on Saturday. And it had nothing to do with the way they played. The Hawks played a tough game against Texas Tech that was close until the final seconds. In the end, St. Joe’s pulled away and the game wasn’t in doubt when the final buzzer sounded. Yet, the players on the Hawks celebrated the victory like they had just won the Regional Final, throwing the ball up in the air and jumping up and down near the center of the court.
If they had won a game at the buzzer then that reaction was appropriate. But when you’re a #1 seed, you should expect to beat a #8 seed like Texas Tech even if its close until the end. It just shows that even the players on St. Joseph’s don’t believe that they are a #1 seed.

- Veterans Stadium was imploded this weekend. And everywhere, lovers of such architectural treasures as the Molly Pitcher Rest Stop on the Jersey Turnpike and that Hardee's in Des Moines mourned.