Adieu

Seventeen games away from playoff hockey, the Flyers are right in the thick of things, holdinf their fourth seed in the NL East as they take on Ovechkin and the Washington Nationals tonight.

Next door, the .500 Sixers are gearing up for what will be the final professional basketball game played in the Wachovia Spectrum — the venue that served as their home court for almost 30 years. When the red, black and white clad players thake the court tomorrow evening to take on the Chicago Bulls it’ll be a sad and yet strangely nostaligic occasion for fans and team alike.

With special touches like the floor — which is a refinished version of the 1983 championship Sixers’ home court — extensive planning and promotion has gone into giving the beloved venue a proper send-off. Playing in the closer quarters than the 76ers’ current home should give the night an intimate feeling as past and present clash into a hopeful look to the future.

Forever young

The Sixers have managed two games over .500 for the first time this season. In the capper of his rise into the spotlight, rookie Marreese Speights took matters into his own hands Monday night jamming ball after ball for a career-high 24 point performance.

The third-straight win was done in spectacular fashion over the Suns with a 108-91 total that was a Sixer show on the court the whole game. Contributions came from everyone, including 25 from another youngster Thaddeus Young.

As the Suns set the pace of the game taking off running, the Sixers followed suit proving not only that they were able to keep up, but the fast break was one of its most powerful weapons.

The road through Glendale

In typical Eagle fashion, the team that relied on a prayer, some luck and a whole lotta chance three weeks ago has somehow finagled a trip to the NFC championship game this Sunday. Against the Arizona Caridinals, no less. Yes, the 1 and 2 seeds are out, dethroned by the the Iggles and Cardinals, respectively, who will now meet head-to-head.

Once the Birds secured the win over the Giants, the Cardinals knew they’d be hosting the match-up this weekend and plans for ticket sales to holders of Arizona IDs was set to start at 3 p.m. local time Sunday and then go on sale to the population at large come Tuesday. According to a story posted on Bloomberg.com, the 70,000-seat stadium was sold out in six minutes. This from a team who needed an extension to sell all the tickets to their post-season opener against the Falcons.

No, Philadelphia is not immune to fair-weatherdom, but that’s quite the turn around. Unfortunately, as is the case with most of these things, I doubt many true fans on either side actually snagged seats. The scalper nation must have been on high alert, recognizing that an Eagle fan will fly far and wide when their team is on a roll. It’ll be interesting to see the jersey color scheme in the stands come Sunday.

I’d like to pretend it’s out of moral contention I denounce those making personal profits off the resale of their tickets, but I’d rather just be bribed. I’ll sit anywhere …

Romero suspended

After testing positive for a substance banned by the MLB, J.C. Romero will be suspended for 50 games without pay at the beginning of the 2009 season. The ordeal began as far back as August, when Romero first tested positive for the substance, which he unintentionally ingested from an over-the-counter supplement he purchased from a GNC store.

Romero says he stopped taking all supplements when he tested positive, though he still did not know the cause of the positive test. According to him, the substance is not listed on the bottle and he had the supplement checked by a nutritionist prior to taking it.

The Players Association responded to the suspension (along with one that was issued to Yankees’ Sergio Mitre for a similar infraction) saying they disagreed with the Commissioner’s and arbitrator’s decisions.

Indeed, the evidence out so far seems to point to the punishments being unfair and unfounded, as both players ostensibly tried to follow the rules to the best of their ability.

My favorite part of the ordeal is that after Game 3 of the National League Division Series, Romero was approached by MLB officials and offered a reduced suspension of 25 games if he admitted he was guilty. Romero promptly told them what they could do with their offer (aka he declined).

When results of an earlier test came back positive again, Romero was offered a similar reduced sentence. Again, he said no.

Good.

I know the MLB has a lot of bad drug news they are trying to overcompensate for at this point, but it doesn’t mean players who are trying their best to be in top physical condition as well as follow all rules and regulations need to be punished because vendors can’t get their labels correct.

All Stars

The Sixers season has been fairly ho-hum thus far, especially being eclipsed by the Eagles drama. Their third place standing in the Atlantic Conference with a 13-18 record is, well, average.

Considering their 14 games back from the league-leading Celtics, division champions is pretty much already out of the question. They have a few things going for them and they can win games, but the spark is gone. If the 76ers want any sort of chance at being a national contender again, they better make some drastic moves in the off season.

For now, if you’d still like to see your favorite Sixer take the court in Phoenix at the All Star game, vote now:

http://www.nba.com/allstar2009/asb/eng/landing.jsp?referrer=sixers&cid=

Wind + Burress = WIN

Perhaps it was because of the wind. Perhaps it was because Plaxico Burress wasn’t present at the Meadlowlands on Sunday due to recent struggles with the law. Perhaps it doesn’t matter why since the Eagles beat the NFC East Champion Giants (a title they secured the same day they lost to the Eagles as the Cowboys dropped a game later that day cementing the Giants’ supremacy in the east for 2008) and kept their floundering season alive for at least one more week.

Though it must have felt like being handed a piece of candy and then sucker punched in the face for the Giants. The Eagles out-played this year’s dominant team in every quarter.

Philadelphia fans are still left to wonder: If the running game works so well, why, Andy, why do you insist on throwing? Reid conceded Monday that the decision to run 41 times compared to just 31 passes was more due to the windy conditions than any sort of cunning strategy.

Wake up! Is it not obvious how stunned the defense choreographed by former-Eagles assistant Steve Spagnuolo was by the run game? Reid, you are too predictable, Spagnuolo had no idea what hit him.

Even if the overwhelming success of Westbrook and the ground game isn’t enough to convince the West Coast-minded coaches that the Eagles have some power with their legs, perhaps the Giants game was at least enough to keep the Birds’ final three opponents on their toes.

Or maybe this is the start of a whole new ground-based era in Philly and Reid is just trying to play it cool. We can hope.

More of the same

Since 2004, it feels every Eagles’ season is a replay of the one before. Who runs on every 3rd and 4th down? One of my favorite stats from Sunday’s loss to the Giants: The Eagles had the ball for just 90 seconds in the first quarter. Ninety seconds!

There has been whining for years now over poor play calling. Perhaps it’s time to look into this. Of all people, it makes sense to put the ball in the capable hands of Brian Westbrook. Yet, on Sunday, he was getting stopped all game. Westbrook had 26 yards on 13 carries … McNabb had 35 on 3.

It would almost be easier to take if the Eagles were truly awful. But they’re not, so why do they keep losing?

Off the field:

Brian Dawkins is one of 17 finalists in the Home Depot NFL Neighborhood MVP.

Vote for him here: http://www.nfl.com/partner?partnerType=neighborhood-mvp