NOTES FROM THE NOSEBLEEDS: Help us, Broad Street Bullies. You're our only hope...

Philly Sports fans, it's been a truly terrible weekend - a weekend marred by disappointment, insult, injury and just bad sports. It marked the actual end of the Phillies baseball season and a probable end to the Eagles' hopes for a successful campaign.

options

NOTES FROM THE NOSEBLEEDS: Help us, Broad Street Bullies. You’re our only hope…

POSTED: Tuesday, October 11, 2011, 1:00 PM

Sports nut Massimo Pulcini rounds up a week of everything Philly sports. Two points!

Philly Sports fans, it's been a truly terrible weekend — a weekend marred by disappointment, insult, injury and just bad sports. It marked the actual end of the Phillies baseball season and a probable end to the Eagles’ hopes for a successful campaign. A weekend like this has me scratching my head and asking a bunch of "what ifs" about the state of our teams, our franchises and our city.

But the most important (and scariest) question is this: Is Philly’s time as perennial contenders over? Has Philly sports died?

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

For the Phillies, the requiem began ringing during game five of the National League Divisional Series where the Phils were eliminated by the St. Louis Cardinals in a 1-0 loss. Despite Roy Halladay only allowing one run in his eight innings of work, the Phillies offense came out like a flat tire and couldn’t produce a single run against St. Louis’ Chris Carpenter. Phillies first basemen Ryan Howard, who was responsible for the final out in last year’s disappointing National League Championship Series loss, was once again the last man standing at the plate with two outs left and no men on base in the ninth. Once again he failed to deliver as the ball grounded out to first, collapsing Philly’s World Series dreams.

To make matters worse, the Phillies season wasn’t the only thing that tumbled — in a 60-feet-from-first crash (pictured), Howard ruptured his Achilles tendon. “I felt a pop,” he later said. “It went numb and it felt like it was on fire.” Now the Phillies end their season early, making that magical 2008 World Series run seem even farther away.

As for the Eagles, their woes trace back to last January when they closed the 2010 campaign with three straight loses, including a loss in last year’s Wild Card Playoff matchup against the Green Bay Packers. That mentality has apparently followed the Birds into this season, when the Eagles are now looking at a 1-4 record, last in the NFC East.

Sunday’s 31-24 loss at Buffalo was more of the same from the Eagles: turnovers, poor defense and bad coaching. The Bills mocked our defense by beating us with screen passes and running plays, racking up yard after yard and touchdown after touchdown in the first half. Mike Vick threw a career-high four interceptions and receiver Jason Avant lost a key fumble and was stripped of a pass that got intercepted, halting a fourth-quarter comeback against the Bills, who are surprisingly tied for first with the New England Patriots in the AFC East.

The Eagles — a team with so much promise and high expectations during the preseason — now lead the NFL in turnovers and must claw from the bottom of the league if they want to make the playoffs, or at least if they want to repair their image as the most disappointing team in the NFL.

WHO'S TO BLAME?

For the Phillies it’s easy to point the finger at the anemic offense that couldn’t produce one run in the elimination game. Despite a good series by shortstop Jimmy Rollins and second baseman Chase Utley, the rest of the lineup — namely Howard, left fielder Hunter Pence and third baseman Placido Polanco — were all ineffective during the postseason, not producing runs when necessary.

The Birds can continue to blame poor defense and poor quarterback protection for their woes, but on a team with so much talent you have to blame the coaches for not putting those players in the right position to win games. The players just look confused and downright dumb on the field. For that reason, you have to ask if head coach Andy Reid (pictured) is doing a good job and if maybe his time as head coach is up.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Phillies will enter the off-season with question marks all over the roster. Ryan Howard’s injury is a serious one and could shelve him for part of next season and he may not be the same player once he returns. Add this to the uncertain futures of free-agents-to-be Jimmy Rollins, Roy Oswalt, and Ryan Madsen, and the Phillies' future looks fuzzy. The Phillies aren’t planning on bringing 2008 World Series hero Brad Lidge back next year, either. And same goes for aging outfielder Raul Ibanez.

The Eagles, on the other hand, take on the division leading Washington Redskins next week, when they will try to get a win just to stay alive in the NFC and prove to the world that they aren’t the most over-hyped and disappointing team the NFL has ever seen.

HAS PHILLY SPORTS DIED?

Given the circumstances, it’s easy to say that the Philly Sports scene did die to some extent this weekend. The past decade was a very good one for Philly, though it only produced one championship, with the Phils winning five straight NL East crowns and a World Series in 2008, and the Birds having missed the playoffs only twice in the past ten seasons. We were spoiled. However, the window of opportunity to win rings does have a tendency to close up fast. This is a harsh reality that Philly may have to face. The Phillies have been post-season letdowns the past three seasons and the Eagles have been playing downright embarrassing football for the past month. The Phils will return next year with a huge chip on their shoulder but I’m not sure if that’ll be enough to overcome an aging roster that certainly seems out of its prime. The Birds can only hope their season turns around quickly because it’ll be Andy Reid’s head if it doesn’t.

So only one week after the Fightin’ Phils were crowned as the favorites to win the National League and World Series, and only one painful month after the Birds’ big-name talent squad was christened as the "Dream Team" by backup quarterback Vince Young, Philly is left with only one pro sports team with a chance to deliver a 2011 title — of course we are talking about the Union, Philly’s MLS pro soccer team. (Mild sarcasm should be noted here)

We can also still count on the Flyers (pictured) who are currently 2-0 in the regular season, but they have plenty of time to screw things up given that the Stanley Cup Finals aren’t happening until summer. The Flyers’ next game is Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. on Comcast Sportsnet, where the Bullies take on Vancouver. So until next baseball season or until the Eagles wake up and turn things around, here’s my best Princess Leia impression: Help us, Broad Street Bullies. You’re our only hope…

(massimo.pulcini@citypaper.net) (@massimopulcini)

Posted by Massimo Pulcini @ 1:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Comments (0)

Q&A with SHARI SOLANIS: "The goal isn't pornography"
What we're trying to do this weekend
SEXY TIME Q&A: I've never had an orgasm during sex with a man — and I'm 30!
NOW SEE THIS: Transit cop arrests marijuana activist for alleged disorderly conduct.
CONCERT REVIEW: Primus (3D & quadraphonic sound) @ The Tower 10/17
Q&A with Tony Goldwyn: "Life is gray, and relationships are, too"
ICE CUBE: In Memoriam: Joe Tartaglia
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: The Archbishop meets the Geator, the Mayor goes suit shopping, Le Bec Fin fin.
Coming soon to Philly: Two cockamamie movie promotion schemes
NOW SEE THIS: Tim and Eric direct Terry Crews for Old Spice

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

May
April
March

February
January

Past Archives: