My take on the NBA

The sixers are in a bad situation and because of David Stern's trade matching contracts, they're stuck being bad for a long time. You can't trade a player for draft picks in the NBA, the players contracts have to be within 20% of eachother's value. It's no wonder there is no competition in the NBA. His league is pathetic. Since 1999 the lakers and spurs have made it to the NBA finals every single time except 2006 when the Mavs got jobbed by the refs to give the heat(Shaq & Wade) that championship!! Bad teams stay bad for too long in the NBA and stars get all the calls. Its not like that in any other sports. In the NFL, the Saints didn't make the playoffs last yr but are undefeated at 13-0 right now. How long have the NY Knicks being bad?

Tim Donaghy makes a lot of sense. Think back to the Lakers/Sacremento conference finals back in '02. Sacremento was clearly the better team but the refs made sure the lakers won the series. When was the last time an eight seed, matter of fact a fourth seed won anything in the NBA?? My point exactly! You can look at it right now and say the lakers or celtics will win the championship and you'll be a 100% right come june 2010. In other sports: baseball, hockey, football, the competition in the playoffs is much more even. Everyone has a chance and anything can happen. For example in football, you can guess all you want but you'll probably be wrong on who will win it all. The Cincinatti Beagals have just as much chance to win a superbowl as the Colts this year. In 2008, my Phillies won a championship after getting swept in the first round of the playoffs the year before. Not so in the NBA, you have to make a mega blockbuster deal like the Celtics did to have that happen.

The sixers best bet right now is to lose games and get a top three pick. In two yrs, Greene and Dalembert's contracts are coming off the books. With some solid picks in the next two yrs and Drew Holiday as the starting PG, i see this team being a lot better than it has been in recent years. That being said, in Sterns NBA, they'll still have no shot at winning a championship.

Eagles Vs Giants

After watching the Sunday night performance the Birds had against the Giants, I'm beginning to firmly believe that the Eagles can compete with teams like the Vikings and Saints, who really don't have that much playoff experience.

As happy as i was with the offense and special teams of the Eagles, the defense is and has been a part of the team that calls for concern. I believe, without fixing, the defense is eventually going to hinder us(Eagles' fans) from celebrating a championship down broad street, like they did last year in the NFL championship game against the Arizona Cardinals. What i saw yesterday was a giants team that scored 38 legitimate points against the Eagles defense. They couldn't tackle anymore! The Eagles won the game but it had to take 45 points to do it. That's not always going to happen(score 45 points), which is why the defense has got to allow less points.

Trent Cole is a beast of a pass rusher. It would be great to have another dominate pass rusher to help him out. I believe if the Eagles were to pull a trade for Richard Seymour from the Oakland Raiders, this defense will instantly be a championship type of defense. With that much pressure coming at opposing QB's from both sides (Seymour and Cole), chances are all those long completions and third down conversions that this defense has had troubles stopping will be a thing of the past. Andy Reid might not make any additions to the defense but i know one thing in order to win the big one, this defense has got to get better.

Redskins/Saints

I was on my laptop following the Redskins and Saints. Redskins up a TD and driving in the redzone with a little over 2 minutes left. I counted it a saint's lost (1st lose of the season). Yes!! Got in the car, hit the highway. Got home and was told the saints won! Unbelievable! How did it happen!? How could it be!?

What a season it has been for the Redskins! It's almost like there's a force out there against the Redskins. First the disappointing lose to the the cowboys, then to my beloved eagles and now the Saints? All games the redskins should have won...bad luck or Could it be, could it be the curse of the Indians is finally catching up to the Redskins? Maybe a name change might serve the redskins some good after all...

Sixers/Iverson

I don't know what Stephanski, (whom i've come to believe is mildly retarded) and the sixers were thinking when they signed Iverson. The illusion that a couple of thousand more ticket sales by the team is going to make up for many more years of mediocre basketball is ridiculous. Iverson being here is nothing more than a marketing ploy to get more people at the sixers games.

I don't like the signing because it's going to take away playing time from Drew Holiday who is a very promising player. The sixers are a terrible team right now so playing and developing the young guys while positioning themselves for a top 5 lottery pick, possibly a franchise-type player should be their first priority. A competitive team always sells tickets.

In my opinion, if Iverson stays here for the duration of the season, he might help the sixers win 5-10 more games which will land them right around the 8th playoff spot. If they do get into the playoffs they are going to get destroyed in the first round, leaving them right where they've been in the past couple of years - NOT getting a lottery pick. They've got to break the cycle of bad management signings and build through the draft...this is the year to do it simply because there are no expectations.

Sixers

After a lost last night (5th straight), the Sixers are now tied with Detroit for the fourth worst record in the league at 5-11. Although it's sad to watch sometimes, i believe its all for the best. In the NBA you have to be really bad inorder to be good. If the sixers are bad enough, they'll probably have a chance to get a top 5 pick in next year's NBA draft. Maybe they will be able to get a franchise player that would help us be championship contenders in the long run. Its a shame because this team had a chance to get a top 5 pick a few years ago when Oden and Durant were in the draft but they chose to win meaningless games at the end of the season instead.

I can't say i'm happy with GM Ed Stephanski's decision to sign Elton Brand or giving Iguodala all that money when he did not have to but what's done is done. Losing and building through the lottery draft is the best way to fix the problem with the sixers.

'09 Football season is here!

OK so i was wrong. The eagles didn't win the Superbowl like the Phillies won the world series. Anyway, its a new season and even though i think this Eagles team is highly suspect, I'm still pumped for the beginning of the football season because i still believe we have the 3rd best quarterback in the NFL next to Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. What about Ben Worthlessberger? Come on! His defense wins him champions. How else do u explain the 2006 superbowl!. Last season's superbowl too. The defense came up with a critical turnover right before the end of the first half and came up with 7 points despite of Ben. McNabb's Defense had zero turnovers in last year's NFC championship game and gave up 8 points when it mattered most.

Anyway that's the past!! Only three more days !!!

Eagles

This Eagles team reminds me of the Phillies. The Phillies were 4 games behind the milwaukee brewers for the wildcard spot and 3.5 games behind the NY Mets for the division with minimal games left to play in the season. They looked dead in the water. They managed put together some winning streaks to get into the playoffs and eventually, won the world series. I'm getting that same feeling about the eagles. The eagles overcame tremendous odds to get into the post season and now i think we can go all the way. One down, three to go. The vikings are down.

The giants are next. It'll be tough but i think that they can be beaten. The Eagles have already beaten the Giants once this season and without their superstar receiver, Plaxico Burress, i see no clear advantage that the Giants have over the Eagles, having lost 3 of 5 games to end their regular season. Eagles ended their regular season winning 4 of 5. If Brian Dawkins and the rejuvenated Eagles defense play well and hold Giants' running back, Brandon Jacobs to under 60 yards total rushing, plus pressure Eli Manning into bad throws, i think the eagles can come out with a win if the offense plays a decent game. Andy Reid has committed to the run and we've seen the positive results. I think he'll stick to that philosophy throughout the playoffs.

I called it for the Phillies, and now I'm going to go out on a limb and make it two for two. The Eagles are going to the Superbowl. Again i'm hoping i didn't just jinxed the eagles!