In Case You Were Wondering, Yes, the Pirates are Still an MLB Team and Links

To outsiders, Pennsylvania may seem like one northern hickish state with two major metropolitan areas — a state united by its stupidity and obeseness.



In reality, Pennsylvania is made up of two entirely different places that might as well be in different nations, let alone states. There is the Philadelphia area, and the rest of the state that sucks incredibly hard. There is no disputing this. I know. I'm a born and bred Philadelphia area young fellow who spent his college years in the middle of Pennsylvania surrounded by mongoloids from the west. They don't like us. We don't like them. That's science. There is no overcoming this.

I feel a greater connection to the shithole that is New Jersey than my western brethren in my own state. That should tell you something. I prefer New Jerseyans to western Pennsylvanians. They and their six Super Bowl rings and their three Stanley Cup championships can go get fucked. Damn right I'm jealous, but just of the rings, not of anything else. You're practically West Virginia.

Of course, I bring this all up because tonight the sorry excuse for a franchise from the west comes to our great (crime-riddled, racist?) city, where you're God Damn right our very nation was founded! I thoroughly look forward to the impending sweep to wrap up an outstanding homestand before the All-Star festivities embark on Monday. Pittsburgh sucks.

Let's link …

-When is an appropriate time to break out the "C" word? When some lady goes to a Phillies game and instead of watching the action, reads a fucking Vanity Fair.



Full disclosure, I watched the Curb Your Enthusiasm last night where Larry David calls the gay guy from HBO a cunt during a poker game. That episode is fantastic.



-Apparently, Antero Niittymaki is signing with the Lightning.

-Penn State lands another quarterback recruit:



-Former Eagles receiver Donte Stallworth got drunk and high, got behind the wheel and killed a guy. Now he's been released from prison after serving 24 days. For DUI manslaughter. Seriously, 24 days. America and the courts make absolutely no sense at all, via Deadspin.

-Antone has a little fun with the whole LeBron getting dunked on Nike-gate business:



-As if you didn't already miss Harry enough having to listen to the insufferable Tom McCarthy every night, Iracane, who is headed to Philadelphia for the weekend, posted this:



I miss Whitey and Harry so freakin much.

-How Lenny Dykstra invested his money.

-Daniel Murphy: He's the best … and the worst:





-Adam Gretz profiles two former Flyers who are free agents, then shows his stupidity by calling Marty Biron "the weak link in Philadelphia the past two seasons." Clearly he didn't actually watch the Flyers whatsoever, because if he did, he'd know the defense was the weak link in Philadelphia the past two seasons. Perhaps you should have said scapegoat instead of weak link, especially seeing how Biron played out of his freakin mind in the 2008 playoffs. Sometimes I wonder if these guys even watch sports.

Yeah, that's pretty much it for me today. I'm tired. My back hurts. And it's entirely too nice to be inside an office with horrifying neon lights. Stay in college, kids, as long as humanly possible. Even if you're stuck with people from Pittsburgh.

Do. Not. Want.

If this rumor is even remotely true, Paul Holmgren shouldn't just be fired — he should be bound, gagged and tortured, then left for dead on the side of the road. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. (For the record, I like Holmgren, think he has done a great job, except for that Upshall trade, and would like to believe this is all a fabrication.)

Honestly, if what Sam Carchidi says here is correct, then I might as well just give up all hope of the Flyers ever getting a real goaltender. Ray Emery? Really? The guy who was more chemically imbalanced than Roman Cechmanek? Please tell me this is a joke.



Emery had one good season in his career, and really, it was no better than your average Marty Biron season. After that, he lost his damned mind, sucked balls and, uh, dealt with rumors of drug abuse. Call me crazy, but that sounds like exactly the opposite of what I want in a goalie.

I want no parts of Ray Emery even near Philadelphia, let alone calling it his home. Honestly, with the market, I'd like to see the Flyers resign Biron, a goalie who has at least played steady and given the Flyers chances to win. If not, why not try to trade for a guy like Jean-Sebastien Giguere, a guy who has proven himself in the playoffs and won a Stanley Cup, seeing as Anaheim has chosen Jonas Hiller over him. Or how about going after free agent Scott Clemmensen, the guy who did an excellent job for the Devils while Martin Brodeur was out?

All I know is, just about anyone is a better option than Ray Emery. I'd certainly take either Biron or Antero Niittymaki over him (preferably Biron). Just please stay away from the crazy goaltender. That's the last thing the Flyers need.

Stayin Alive

In game 4, it was Marc-Andre Fleury standing on his head and stealing the game for Pittsburgh. Last night, it would be a stretch to say Marty Biron stole the game for the Flyers in their 3-0 victory to stay alive, bringing the series back to Philadelphia tomorrow for game 6, but he most definitely stole the first period.



Except for the first five minutes, when the Flyers actually came out and played well, the Penguins completely owned Philadelphia in the first period, outshooting the Flyers 15-5 and spending almost the entire period in Philadelphia's end. The score could have easily been 3-0 Pittsburgh after one, but Marty simply wouldn't let that happen. He was on top of his game from the start, getting square to the shooter, absorbing pucks and thwarting all 28 shots the Penguins threw at him. Without Marty, the Flyers would be trading their blades and sticks for golf shoes and clubs right now.

I have to say, after sustaining that first period barrage, the Flyers clamped down and played some damn fine hockey. But, as per usual with the Flyers, there was something that truly bugged me, and, per usual, it was at the doing of John Stevens.



The past few days, all we've heard from Stevens and the majority of the Flyers is how well they've played in games 2-4 despite dropping two of those three games, how the effort was certainly there and if they keep playing that way, they'll be rewarded, how they really have been getting the better of the play. By that logic, it sounds like the line combinations have been doing a pretty good job, doing everything but finishing it off for goals.

So what does Stevens do? He starts the first period by completely shuffling his lines. The Flyers looked awful in the opening period, and finally, a little more than halfway through, he put his regular lines back together. Shockingly, the Flyers then began to play better. I mean, I can understand Stevens mixing things up a little to try and get some more goals, but throwing the entire lineup out of whack seems illogical. Again, as I said after game 1, why not reunite the lines that played so well together in the final regular season contest against the Penguins if you truly feel like you need to change things up? Sometimes, I really don't understand what John Stevens is doing out there, and I'm not the only one.

As I've been saying all along, Claude Giroux deserves more ice time and absolutely should be getting shifts on the power play. He's been the Flyers' most consistently dangerous forward in the series, and he could potentially help the struggling Flyers power play. Well, during the first intermission, Al Morganti echoed my sentiments, saying he would like to see Giroux get closer to 20 minutes of ice time and, you know, be a part of the power play. Then he proceeded to mention how Giroux only played 4 minutes in the first period, and subsequently, the Flyers generated very little offense. This is why I like Al Morganti. He and I are on the same page.

All right, now that that's out of the way, things turned on a dime thanks to the fourth line. Daniel Carcillo, who has really done nothing but get better with each game as a Flyer, jumped on a loose puck in the neutral zone, rushed up ice and dropped the puck for Arron Asham, who followed him into the zone. Then Asham unleashed a shot that Alexander Ovechkin would be jealous of, absolutely blasting an unstoppable, perfect slapper in the far top corner.



Now, I've watched Asham enough not only this year but during his career in the Atlantic Division to know he can let fly a heavy shot, but I had no idea he could produce such an unreal blast that could not be placed any better. It was just an unbelievable shot that no goaltender alive could have stopped.

Turns out, that's all the Flyers would need, but for good measure, Claude Giroux played outstanding again and gave the Flyers a cushion by burying the puck in the vacated net on a very nice touch pass that may or may not have been intentional by Darroll Powe. Jeff Carter should take notes from Giroux on how to bury the puck in an empty net.

Then Mike Knuble, who absolutely had his best game of the playoffs, slammed home the exclamation point off a rebound from a Mike Richards' blast. It was an excellent game, and the Flyers played tremendous defense in the final two periods, surrendering a total of 13 shots in the final 40 minutes, two less than they allowed in the opening period. Now the Flyers come back home with a chance to even the series, and if John Stevens has any brains between those ears, he'll make sure Giroux gets as much ice time as is humanly possible.

Oh, and Evgeni, this is hockey, not soccer. Not sure if you're aware of that. Kudos to the referees for getting that call right and taking away that goal.

P.S.—Rumor has it I may be attending the Sixers game tonight.

Update: I'd like to marry this girl:

Eating With the Enemy

Yesterday, I did a very foolish thing, bringing three Rangers fans with me to the Flyers-Rangers game. I was just trying to be a nice brother, getting tickets for my brother-in-law and a couple members of his family. I really didn't think this one through.

Things started off well enough, with the six of us (my brother-in-law, his sister, his father, my sister, my dad and I) getting things kicked off in the Lexus Club, my first time down there.



With food and drink provided, the Lexus Club was pretty sweet, but due to some unfortunate lack of restraint on Saturday night, I wasn't exactly ready to go all out with the drinking yesterday. However, I did give it a go.

After a few beers and some grub, we made our way up to the seats, and the harassment began. My brother-in-law was wearing his Brian Leetch jersey, and there were fans yelling at him occasionally. Surprisingly, however, it wasn't that bad. Claude Giroux scoring just 5 and half minutes into the game certainly helped, and after Brandon Dubinsky, the notorious Flyer killer, tied it up, the Flyers went back on top with a power play tally by Jeff Carter.

But again, Dubinsky became the spoiler, tying it up. And we all know what happened next. The Flyers, playing for pretty much everything, let three leads slip through their hands yesterday. Three. All the Flyers needed to do was get one point to lock in to the four seed, meaning they'd have home ice in the first round against Pittsburgh. The Rangers, on the other hand, had no opportunity to move out their spot as the 7 seed, so they were playing for exactly nothing.

Yet the Flyers couldn't get it done. They lost 4-3 in regulation, meaning they go into the playoffs as the 5 seed, conceding home ice advantage to Pittsburgh. Now they have to face the defending Eastern Conference champs in the first round, starting out in Pittsburgh.



We all saw how that turned out last year. With the way the Flyers have been playing this month, and the way they played last night, I honestly don't think they'll get out of the first round. A month ago, there wasn't a team playing any better than the Flyers. Now, a team I thought once could easily make it to the Stanley Cup Finals if the defense held up just a little, I can't see beating a Pittsburgh team that has been playing its best hockey since the calendar turned to 2009.

It's as if the entire team has taken a step backwards in April. Marty Biron had regained his form to have a spectacular March. He was one of the hottest goalies in the NHL, and he looked again like the guy who picked up and help carry the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals last season.



Now, Biron is back in a lull, looking sloppy and off his game. Where in March he was swallowing every puck, leaving no rebounds, suddenly he can't smother a puck, leaving more rebounds than I can count sitting right out in front of the net.

Mike Richards, unquestionably the best two-way player on the team, has been playing the worst hockey of his career the past two to three weeks. He's been turning the puck over, making horrible decisions with the puck, trying to squeeze impossible passes through sticks, and really not hitting much, at least not as much as he usually does.



Yesterday, I'd argue Richards was the single worst forward for the Flyers. He had just an awful, awful game. I can't remember him throwing one hard hit, and he didn't bring any energy to the ice. While Gagne and Knuble were generating chances by themselves, Richards was still trying to make the impossible play, and he hurt the Flyers in that game. I love the guy. I really do. But as the captain, as the leader, as the face of the team, Mike Richards has to step his game back up, regain his form, if this team has any chance of making noise in the playoffs. If he plays like he has of late, the Flyers don't stand a chance.

And the Achilles heel of the team, the defense, has continued to be shaky. Aside from Kimmo Timonen, there isn't a guy back there who you know will make the right play more than not. Now, Braydon Coburn and Andrew Alberts have actually been pretty solid, but even they have had some breakdowns of late. But Matt Carle, for all his offensive talents, has been routinely costing the Flyers on defense by being overly aggressive on the rush.



In fact, on the Rangers' second goal, Matt Carle made a poor decision to pinch, leading to a 2-on-1 the other way, which resulted in the first shorthanded goal against the Flyers all year. In the last game of the regular season. While fighting for home ice advantage. Pathetic.



I like Carle. He's immensely talented, and once he gets in the offensive zone, his skills really shine. But he needs to play more disciplined. He lets too many guys get behind him, leading to great scoring chances like the one above. That can't happen in the playoffs.

At least Carle does provide offense though. Randy Jones, on the other hand, provides nothing. The guy has been an average player throughout his career, but a very strong 2007-08 season raised expectations a little too high for Randy. Last year, he really was a solid defenseman who was underappreciated. He played the best hockey of his career. But this season, he's regressed. Whether that's due to his injury in the preseason or his play simply coming back down to reality, Randy Jones is not the same player as last season.



In my opinion, he's been the Flyers' worst regular defenseman this year. He's a turnover machine, unwilling hitter and average passer at best. He doesn't really give you much on offense. And the more minutes he's played the past few games with Ryan Parent out/hurting, he's been struggling mightily, even though he's been paired with Timonen quite often.

Yesterday, he made some horrendous turnovers, and honestly, he doesn't look confident on the ice. Randy Jones needs to find his game from last season in a hurry, or Stevens has to cut back his ice time. One or the other.

It's sad to see the team playing so poorly going into the playoffs. At points this season, the Flyers looked nearly unbeatable. They have three legitimately frightening scoring lines, can score goals in bunches and play great special teams. That's a recipe for success if there ever is one. But they're also a team that gets lazy, stops forechecking, misfires on passes, turns the puck over and gives up entirely too many chances, and that won't get it done.

It's such a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde team. On a bright note, however, Daniel Carcillo has been playing well of late, and Darroll Powe has been a great surprise. Plus, Danny Briere and Claude Giroux have still been showing uncanny chemistry, and that duo is truly lethal. But the Flyers have to find a way to put it all together in a hurry, or it will be one and done with Pittsburgh.

At least the Phils won a series. That was nice.

Kiss the Ring

So I'm on the el this morning, on my way to work, when suddenly my phone vibrates at 8:34. I take it from my pocket and there's a text message from Arkansas Fred waiting for me. I found this odd. I mean, why on earth would Arkansas Fred be contacting me so early? Well, reading the message, it all made sense:

Does anyone want to go to the Phillies game today? Anyone? I got an extra ticket. Hello?

Turns out he and his dad had tickets, but his dad called him and told him he couldn't go. How could I turn down such an opportunity? Simple, I couldn't. I got off the el at 15th Street, called up Fred and told him I was in. Then I walked to the eastbound side of the el, headed back home, got some McDonald's breakfast, called out of work, and here I am waiting for Arkansas Fred to get here so we can head on down to Citizens Bank Park. Needless to say, the day's off to a great start, and I couldn't be more excited. For the first time in my 25 years on earth, I will witness the Phillies receive their World Fucking Champion rings.



To top it all off, Pat Burrell will be there to accept his ring. Let's hope the Phils can make it a perfect day and get their first win of the season as well. I have a feeling they will. After all, the last time I saw Joe Blanton pitch in person, things went pretty well.



If he hits another home run, I swear to God the Phillies should pay me to go to every Joe Blanton start.

It should be a great time. The game starts at 3:05. Of course, we will be there much, much earlier than that, so as to witness every single minute of the ring ceremony. I cannot wait.

As for last night, it was another clunker for Philadelphia as a whole. Jamie Moyer gave up a home run on the first pitch of the game, and once again, the Phillies bats were silent. One run in two games ... not good. Today, they better the offense going, or you may just hear a couple boos from the Reverend.

The Sixers also lost. To the Bobcats. Not the best way to follow up the most embarrassing loss of the year. This team needs Thaddeus Young in a bad way. Nothing like going into the playoffs with some horrible losses in the last two weeks.

However, the Flyers did provide one things to cheer for last night. With the 2-1 win against Florida, the Flyers clinched a playoff spot and maintained their hold on the 4th spot in the East. But last night's game was far from impressive.

For what seems like the 10th straight game, the Flyers came out flat, were outworked early by a hungry Florida team, and fell behind 1-0. This is a trend that absolutely must stop. If it wasn't for a great game by Marty Biron, the Flyers could have found themselves down by more.



Luckily for the Flyers, they stepped it up big time midway through the 2nd period and took over the game. Joffrey Lupul tied things up on a very nice play by Matt Carle, and Jeff Carter got the game-winner, his 45th goal of the year, in the third. Where would this team be without Carter, and really, the rest of his line, this year? Great move by the Flyers to lock him up and let Umberger walk.

Now, there are couple things I'd like to point out. First, the play of Mike Richards of late. Without question, Mike Richards is a tremendous player. He's the captain, the top penalty killer, the best defensive forward on the team and an incredibly talented player. He's had a great year and very good career thus far. But over past three games or so, Mike Richards has not played very well. And last night, he continued that trend through two periods.



In the first two periods, he was fumbling the puck, missing badly on passes, trying to force pucks through defenders, basically having an all-around tough game. He kept working and skating, and honestly, his line didn't play bad because Gagne and Knuble were all over the place, but Richards, as the captain, needs to step his game back up. It's almost playoff time, and the team is fighting tooth and nail for home ice advantage. I have all the confidence in the world that Richards will right himself. In fact, he did in the third period last night. Now he has to sustain that the rest of the way.

My next point, the play off the fourth line. Without question, the Carcillo-Powe-Nodl line was the most consistent, hardest-working line for the Flyers last night. Daniel Carcillo, fresh off his first boneheaded move as a Flyer, had by far his best game in the Orange and Black, at least in my opinion, last night. In fact, by the end of the game, he was getting shifts with Giroux and Briere as a reward. He was hitting everything that moved in a disciplined matter, firing shots, winning battles along the boards, forechecking hard and making things happen. So were his linemates. Darroll Powe has simply been a very nice surprise for the Flyers, giving them energy, speed and grit. Every shift, he seems to make things happen, and his hustle is second to none. And now that Riley Cote is done for the year following finger surgery, Andreas Nodl is back up and looking like he did early in the year. He caused many turnovers for the Panthers last night and is working well with Powe and Carcillo.







If the rest of the lines played as hard every shift as these guys, the Flyers would be nearly impossible to beat.

Oh, and a note, Ryan Parent suffered a groin injury and is listed as day to day. Not the best timing for that.

So Long Sucker … the Weekend that Was

It was quite an interesting weekend around these parts, to say the least. One minute, a trade is getting nullified. The next minute, you wind up at a strip club with a few ladies that may or may not be able to legally drink.



And that was all before Sunday. For starters, let me touch on this Kyle McLaren nonsense. Believe it or not, I consider this an extremely good thing. I know the Flyers were looking for an imposing defenseman to come in and, if nothing else, provide some insurance depth should a blue line body go down. Understandable. Beyond Andrew Alberts, the Flyers don't have a guy back there who's looking to take people out, and considering what transpired last year with the injuries to Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn in the playoffs, insurance is good.



But, let's face the facts: Kyle McLaren is nothing more than Mike Rathje, and we all saw how that worked out for the Flyers. I'd feel infinitely more confident inserting Lasse Kukkonen, a guy who can actually skate a little bit, into the lineup should someone go down than the slow-footed McLaren. And hell, I'd have to think there's at least someone in the Phantoms organization that's a better option than McLaren. Either way, this trade getting nixed is a positive in my eyes.

As far as the Flyers themselves are concerned … Saturday's 4-1 win over Nashville was a nice way to rebound after that embarrassment at the hands of the Flames. Sure, the Predators aren't exactly, you know, good, but it was nice to see the Flyers take care of business. Joffrey Lupul deposited two goals, Mike Richards had another tremendous game and newcomer Daniel Carcillo notched an assist and was a +1. Oh yeah, and he fought, which was nice to see.

But, the story of the game was once again Martin Biron, who is officially stating his case to be the Flyers' man in net for the playoffs.



Following his tremendous display in his two periods against Calgary, Biron was fantastic again on Saturday, stopping 31 of 32 shots including a couple of dandies.





I think it's abundantly clear that Biron is the guy in net. He proved last year he's capable of coming up big when it matters, and suddenly, he looks as though he's getting into that groove again.

That was a nice primer before heading out to the Northeast to take in a little fun. And fun I had.

But unbeknownst to me, my alma mater wasn't having such a great time. Remember on Friday when I said Penn State should be getting their dancing shoes ready following the Nittany Lions' second win against Illinois. Yeah, well, scratch that. Turns out, for the second time this school year, Iowa ruined Penn State's season.

I didn't watch a second of this game, but it seems the Lions choked it up just like they did in football against those mother fucking Hawkeyes, this time with a double-overtime 75-67 loss. Apparently, Talor Battle did all he could, scoring 12 straight points in two minutes to keep the Lions in it, but his 26 points and 10 boards weren't enough to prevent Ed DeChellis from failing yet again.



Now, the Lions have had an excellent season, surpassing pretty much any expectations and bringing Penn State back to respectability. But that has been because of Battle, not DeChellis, who is pretty much as incompetent a coach as there is in the country. Get a decent coach in there with Battle doing his thing, and maybe Penn State would become more consistent. And seriously, someone needs to bomb Iowa to prevent the Hawkeyes from continually screwing us over. I fucking hate Iowa. Worthless state with nothing but dishonest jerks.

Now Penn State's gonna have to make a deep run in the Big 10 tournament and get a little help to make the Big Dance. A sixth seed in the Big 10 just isn't going to cut it on its own, nor should it. You lose to Iowa in your last game, and you don't really deserve to make it. That's just the way it is.

The Sixers, on the other hand, did manage to win on Saturday, albeit by just five points against a struggling Memphis squad. Here's the catch—they followed that up by losing to the Thunder without Kevin Durant. That's, as they say, god-fucking-awful.

As the calendar flipped over to 2009, the Sixers were playing some great ball and everyone, myself included, was saying how much better the Sixers are without Elton Brand. And that was and is true: The Sixers have played much, much better without Brand this season. Here's the thing: Better than bad still isn't good. And the Sixers are not a good basketball team. They're not really an awful team either, as the run in January proves, but losing to Oklahoma City this late in the year, with playoff positioning on the line, is not good. At all.



Andre Iguodala, who has had quite the inconsistent year, played his worst game since early in the season last night, scoring just 9 points on 3-11 from the field and 6 turnovers. That's not good for a guy who's supposed to be the man on this team. And that's the problem with the Sixers. They don't have that guy. They don't have a closer, the man who will put the team on his back and will them to victory. Andre Iguodala is getting paid like that guy, but he just isn't that guy. He does a lot of good things on the basketball court and is without question a player anyone would like to have on their team, but he's not a guy you feel confident will get you that bucket you need when you need it.

Andre Miller is probably the closest thing the Sixers have to that, but even when he's carrying the team and making big shots, it never seems like the Sixers can make it over the hump. With last night's loss, the Sixers dropped a game below .500 again, still in 7th place and two games ahead of Chicago, but they look like nothing more than a mediocre team. And as each day passes, the Sixers get closer and closer to facing either Cleveland, Boston or Orlando in the first round, meaning quite a short stay in the playoffs yet again.

It certainly hasn't turned out to be the year the Sixers had hoped.

Luckily, all was not lost yesterday, at least for me. In a fight of good vs. evil, the caretakers of the universe, North Carolina, topped the appropriately named Blue Devils, preventing Satan's minions from disrupting the balance of the Earth. What I'm trying to say is, as I've said before, when Duke loses, the rest of world wins. And yesterday, for the second time this season, Duke lost to North Carolina, giving UNC the outright regular season ACC championship.


Because this photo never gets old

It's pretty easy to say that North Carolina went 2-0 against Duke this season because UNC is simply better than Duke. And that would be true. But there's more to it than that. The Tar Heels are better for two main reasons: balance and versatility.

Take yesterday's game for instance. North Carolina had five players in double digits: Danny Green (12), Tyler Hansbrough (17), Ty Lawson (13), Deon Thompson (14) and Wayne Ellington (16). Duke had just five players in the entire game score, one of which had a measly two points. Contrast that with North Carolina's seven players who made a basket, and you get the idea.

The other thing is, UNC can beat you in different ways. They have guys who can score inside, guys who can score outside, drivers, slashers, shooters, pounders … and a point guard who should be a lock for ACC Player of the Year and be in the discussion for National Player of the Year (although Blake Griffin in a lock for that). On the other side, Duke has to hit the three ball to win, and that's a recipe for disaster come tournament time. You can't be one-dimensional, but beyond Gerald Henderson, Duke doesn't have another player who can get to the basket. The rest of the Dukies, Kyle Singler included, need to be on point from three to beat the top teams. That dependence on the three has been the reason Duke hasn't done jack shit in the tournament for a decade—and it's the reason they won't do jack shit again this year. This makes me very, very happy.

Now, surprisingly, yesterday's game was the most bored I've been in years watching a Duke-Carolina contest. I'm not exactly sure why, but it was. The game just wasn't very exciting. However, I'd like to give a little love to Philly's own Wayne "The Brain" Ellington for putting on quite an impressive showing (free throws aside) yesterday.



Ellington, who's been notorious over the years for coming up small in big games like yesterday's, scored 16 points and did it in impressive fashion. Known as nothing more than a deadly shooter as a freshman, Ellington has improved his ball-handling and aggressiveness attacking the rim over the past two years, and yesterday he used the whole repertoire to get his 16 points. At one point, he crossed up his former high school teammate Henderson badly, getting to the rim for a layup. On another bucket, he crashed the offensive glass on a beautiful putback. He also made a three, a couple short jumpers and a couple layups to account for his 7-10 shooting.



However, the 80-plus percent free throw shooter did go just 1-5 from the foul line, which was driving me nuts. In fact, the Tar Heels went a combined 17-25 from the line, just 68 percent, which was pretty annoying considering UNC is typically an excellent free throw shooting team. But nonetheless, the Tar Heels won the ACC Championship yesterday, giving Danny Green and Tyler Hansbrough a very nice gift in their senior seasons—not to mention two more wins this year against Duke.

It was a damn fine way to wrap up the weekend. Although Flight of the Conchords was pretty week last night, but I digress …

Good Day Giroux

For the past few weeks, I've been kicking around the idea that Claude Giroux just may be my new favorite Philadelphia Flyer.



Well, after a month-long stretch of excellent hockey and two great performances the past two nights, it's official: Claude Giroux is my new favorite Flyer. After scoring the first of four unanswered goals in the Flyers 4-2 come-from-behind victory against the Capitals on Tuesday, Giroux, although not registering a point, was arguably the best skater on the ice last night.



I should know. I was sitting awfully close to the guy in two of the three periods. Thanks to my incredible sense of picking the proper house to move into, I was able to sit 6 rows off the ice last night, in the sixth row of section 103—right at the blue line on the visiting bench side. I can thank my roommate for the privilege. It's the closest I've ever sat at a hockey game, and it was awesome … especially watching Giroux.

On a night when the Flyers were sluggish and outplayed following a game the night before, Giroux had a hop in step that no other Flyer really had. Right from the get-go he stick-handled through three Kings, making them all look foolish, and provided a great scoring chance. And he was doing it all night.

I mean, watching this guy up close and personal was just incredible. I've already said it once, and at the risk of sounding like an overhyping lunatic, I'm going to repeat myself: Claude Giroux really reminds me of a righthanded version of Peter Forsberg. He has incredible awareness on the ice, can thread a pass to anyone anywhere, sees plays that look like they aren't even there, stickhandles with the best of them, has a pretty nice little shot and, even though he's small, isn't afraid to take or throw a hit … much like Forsberg.



Of course, Giroux is nowhere near Forsberg's level in those things just yet, but it's evident that he is a special player. And he gets better each and every game. Last night, he, along with Scottie Upshall and Darroll Powe, provided the Flyers with their most consistent strong shifts, and their work was a big part in the 2-0 win.

But I'd be lying if I told you Giroux was the best player on the ice either Tuesday or last night. Best skater, sure. Best player, no. After the annual whirlwind controversy that is the Flyers' goaltending situation, with inconsistency from both Antero Niittymaki and Marty Biron, the two Flyers netminders stepped up their games big time.

On Tuesday, against Alexander Ovechkin and the rest of the high-powered Capitals, Niitty was back on his game. He made 33 saves and kept the Flyers in the game to allow the comeback.



He made some incredible saves and really provided confidence throughout.

But not to be outdone, Marty Biron had perhaps his best game of the season last night. Playing on tired legs, the Flyers were sluggish and outworked by a Kings team scrapping for a playoff birth. They were outshot in their own building 34-19, but in the end, the scoreboard read 2-0 Flyers. Why? Because Biron was spectacular in net.



All game long, Marty was in complete control, squaring himself up to the shooter, absorbing the puck and providing a calming influence in net. He didn't look frantic, panicked or unsure of himself. Sure, he still turned the puck over a few times when he came out to play it, but let's face it, Marty will never, ever be good at handling the puck. As long as he makes the stops, that doesn't matter. Last night, he stopped them all.

He certainly helped make up for costing the Flyers at least one point last Saturday, because last night he was the reason the Flyers won, plain and simple.

There's still plenty of games for the goaltending situation to work itself out, but I think it's abundantly clear that it's Marty's job to lose. Last night, he once again looked like the goalie that helped lead the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, and for the most part, he's looked like that guy since the calendar turned over to 2009. Here's hoping he continues to play well and Niitty keeps pushing him.

The competition should only help out the Flyers down the stretch, a team that currently sits in 4th place and is now just 4 points behind those hated Devils for first in the Atlantic … with a game in hand.

Stubborn Stupid Silly Saturday

So … Saturday completely sucked. The Flyers lost. The Sixers lost. North Carolina lost. And two of the three ended in horrible fashion.



I've said it before, and I'll say it again: MARTY, "DON'T EVER COME OUT OF YOUR NET EVER AGAIN TO TRY AND PLAY THE PUCK! YOU ARE BY FAR THE WORST GOALTENDER IN HOCKEY AT STICKHANDLING, AND YOUR DECISION-MAKING IS ATROCIOUS. HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES DO YOU NEED TO TURN THE PUCK OVER TO REALIZE, MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST LET YOUR DEFENSEMEN DO THE PUCKHANDLING?!? FUCK!"

Yeah, so, you know, please just stay in the net no matter what Marty. That was just a devastating way to end the game. After the Flyers fell down 3-1 to a desperate Pittsbrgh team, Mike Richards decided enough was enough and scored yet another shorthanded goal—his 3rd in three games—to bring the Flyers back within one, using the old Peter Forsberg backhanded five-hole shootout move.



Seriously, Richards' shorthanded play is just getting ridiculous at this point. Anyway, his goal sparked the Flyers, who tied the game on a goal by Braydon Coburn. Then they gave the lead right back to the Penguins and the comeback looked to be for naught.

Except, you know, the Flyers' top line of Richards, Gagne and Knuble continued its torrid stretch, combining on a tic-tac-toe goal that Knuble calmly deposited to tie it again. After falling behind by two, battling back, surrendering another goal and then tying it again, the game was incredibly entertaining. For the NHL's sake, it's a shame this game wasn't nationally televised, because it really was awesome: physical, high-scoring, intense, fights, and a true sense of hatred between the squads.

And then Marty happened. Unbelievable. And after battling back not once but twice in the third period, they Flyers lost because Marty is a fucking moron. Really, he had no reason to even come out, although he got the puck. Dupuis had a step on the defense, but he wasn't coming on a clear breakaway. He had pressure on him, and he wouldn't have had the easiest time getting a good shot off. Oh, and Marty absolutely blows at playing the puck, so there's that.

What an awful way to lose.

And the day didn't get any better. For you see, I then watched North Carolina go the way of the Mets and choke away an easy victory. Yes, I said a game at Maryland should have been an easy victory, and I mean it. The Terps suck. North Carolina has national title hopes. The Heels should be able to beat this Maryland team anywhere any time. But on Saturday they didn't. In fact, they allowed Greivis Vasquez to score the first 16 points for Maryland and surrendered a triple-double to that herpes-faced douche.



I detest that man so very much. And I hated that game. Vasquez kept Maryland close early on, but UNC took a 9-point lead into half and then built it up to 16 early in the second. Easy win, right?

No, it wasn't. You wanna know why? Because no one in a Tar Heels jersey, with the exception of Ty Lawson, seemed to give two shits down the stretch. Well, not exactly. Danny Green was playing pretty damn well too, but he got in foul trouble and things went to shit for UNC when he took a seat on the bench.



In all honesty, everyone else on North Carolina sucked. Tyler Hansbrough kept getting blocked and traveling, only he wasn't getting to the foul line or getting away with his feet-shuffling. Wayne Ellington disappeared per usual, as did Deon Thompson. Ed Davis got no touches, and North Carolina decided to stop guarding the three-point line.

And while Vasquez was having a record-setting day and Cliff Tucker was bombing away from three, Roy Williams just sat back and watched it all unfold. I know it's commonplace for Roy to let his team play through the tough stretches and not call timeouts, but about 5 times late in the that second half, you could see the game was slipping away unless UNC woke up. Yet Roy refused to call a timeout, calm down his troops and come away with the win. Instead, North Carolina fell apart, and Maryland took it to OT. And again, in OT, Lawson was the only one even trying.



But that jerk-face Vasquez just wanted it more. Maryland wanted it more. And Greivis put forth an incredible performance. 35 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Damn. Couldn't have happened to a bigger arrogant asshole. What a horrible day this was shaping up to be.

But oh, the losses didn't end there. As I flipped over to watch the final minutes of the Sixers-Heat game, I noticed that Andre Miller was going off … but he's no Dwyane Wade. Wade was the best player on the court, and he willed Miami to a 97-91 win. Three games, three losses. What a horrible Saturday.

Luckily, Temple and Villanova won yesterday to salvage something of the weekend, but man, Saturday sure did suck.

Marty Biron or Lumberjack Super Hero?

Honestly, I'm not sure how Greg Wyshynski finds these things, but he found another great video on Marty Biron over at Puck Daddy.



Biron is a strange, strange character. And I like him for it.