Team Ferior Sports

Hockey Bob with Emmit and Pat Phillips
many years ago in Collingswood, NJ.

TIME OUT!!!!
Strike one!, the ball zips through the spring sky, pounding into the fine Corinthian leather of a catchers mitt!!! Can it be------ Baseball is here!!! As I look back on my life as a baseball fan I need to reflect what a wonderful rite of spring it was to hear the sound of PLAY BALL echoing into my ear drums. From my rather non descript days as a Little Leaguer, to playing (on the bench for a year and a half) for Coach Bob Reichel at UCLA, I never stopped believing in the game affectionately know as our National Pastime. But alas, and alack, here we are in the year 2007 and I have difficulty routing for the overpaid, spoiled prima donnas that make up today’s professional athletes. When poor Ryan Howard is dismayed over the paltry sum of $900,000 for a year, then I feel saddened that we as fans need to be insulted by Mr. Howard, his agent, and of course the Philadelphia Phillies, when they need to talk about the merits or lack of them for that matter of a $900,000 per year salary. When I know how tough it is to support your family in this decade, and a guy who can hit a fastball 400 plus feet is paid that kind of hard earned money that the fans actually pay, well I feel so sad for the game as we NO longer know it.
This reporter remembers when Mike Schmidt signed a $700,000 a year contract, and his main observation was, “now I can support my family and not have to worry”, the only problem was that this contract that Mike Schmidt signed was in 1982 when the average American was making $20,500 per annum. We the fans have created this ungodly mess, and frankly, it will never stop until that great leader form above comes down and calls the most official of time outs that we will ever hear. I only hope I can hang on long enough to watch Ryan Howard sign his next big heist, I mean pay check for the $75,000,000 that he needs to support his family. I will indeed, like the rest of us, sleep peacefully for years to come.
Where have you gone …… Roman Marazek, Robbie Moore, Ogie Ogelthorpe, and most of all…….. Vince Carrita
Hockey Bob

Drums Along The Hockey Beat:
Philly made a great move in trading Peter The Great to Nashville yesterday. Both teams were able to address their needs and that is what trading is all about. It will be a major coup for the Predators if their fan base can get on board and support them as they head toward the playoffs. For Philly, there is always a plus to go into the draft with more then one #1 pick. They also have freed up a ton of money for the off season spending spree that they will go on. In addition, the young blueliner Parent could be a fixture for them for years to come. Hats off to both teams on this one.

Tkachuk to Rangers. It is almost a lock that Keith Tkachuk will be playing in NY before the year is over. The Broadway Blues have a couple of young prospects including Dane Byers, that St. Louis would be glad to pry from them. Again this looks like a good potential deal for both teams as NY looks to make a big push for the Cup and the Blues will attempt to get younger and acquire cap space for the off season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in the market for tough guy George Laraque. They desperately need protection for Crosby and Malkin and big George should be the answer at a manageable price of a mid range draft pick.
Where have you gone: Eddie Shack: No one was more colorful then this hard nose hockey player. Playing for Toronto, the NY Rangers, Boston and a few others, Eddie was both a hardworking characterladen player who could also put the puck away at the same time. He played for 17 seasons and lit the lamp 239 times while amassing over 1400 minutes in penalties. Eddie was a tribute to old time hockey to say the least.

As always, Putting it on the tape: Hockey Bob

Hockey Bob’s Annual Trade Rumors:
I could not begin this annual without first mentioning that TFfounder JV graciously helped a young lady in NJ get her first pair of hockey skates.This may not seem like a big deal to most of us but to this young lady, a budding 13 yr. old who has a love for the game of ice hockey, it was a major blessing. Brianna has wanted to play hockey for the past 2 years but simply put, she did not have the finances. Up steps JV, as usual, and provides Brianna with the skates she needed. As I write this article, Bri is skating at the Flyers Skate Zone, and is on her way to hockey stardom no doubt. Great job John V, putting the kids first and foremost. You never fail to help those who cannot do it on their own.

Now Trade Rumors;
With the deadline rapidly approaching this season, who is coming and going is a difficult thing to predict. My sense is that unless there is a rent a player or two out there, I do not see a lot happening.
I know Peter the Great is on everyone’s list, but the reality is that he is finally skating better then he has all year and that is throwing Philly into a dilemma. My feeling is that Team Philly will have $ to spend in the off season, even if they sign Forsberg , they will go after Briere and or Drury from Buffalo. The reunion with Drury and Forsberg would be a great move for Philly and probably be enough to propel them back into the playoff hunt for 2008. They have received solid play from Nittamacki in net, and are pleased with the progress of a couple of their young defencemen, especially Alex Picard, who is showing much improvement since he has been paired with Alex Zitnick. Look for Forsberg to stay put.

The Broadway Blues are a team that is in desperate need of some infusion as the playoffs near. Shanahan is looking older and older as the season progresses. His hot start has been equaled by his rather lethargic play over the past 25 games. Even Jagr looks a bit ragged and its time for NY to seriously look at helping these aging superstars if they want to catch the Devils. It seems to me that with Marty in goal, NJ always knows they will be in the thick of the playoffs and they are looking at a little more offence along the way. Hats of to Sweet Louie Lam, he obviously knows the game as well as any executive in the NHL.

Teams like Carolina, Vancouver, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Tampa Bay will also be in the hunt for the proverbial rent a player. As we get closer to deadline day I will be back with a blockbuster move or two to excite us arm chair GM’s. Until Then,

Good Day, Good Hockey!!!

Where have you gone Roger Doucette?

PS: Great to see Our Founder JV and his basketball wizardry. Not many of you know that JV has as much pedigree as anyone out there in hoops land. His days with Don Casey, Gary Williams, Bob Knight, Fran Dunphy, John Cheyney, Coach K, just to name a few were days well spent going over the nuances of the game . Great job JV.

Merry Christmas To All!!
It is with great pleasure that I am allowed to wish everyone a Merry Christmas without being sanctioned by a school board, or a town committee,about being politically correct. If I want to wish my Jewish friends a Happy Hannakah, or my Afro American friends a Happy Kwanza, I will, but no one has the right to tell us in this wonderfull country what we can or cannot wish our fellow man. When our Constitution was adopted, our forefathers did not include the greetings of Happy Hannakah, or Happy Kwanza mainly because they did not exist. It’s a sad state of affairs when we cannot mention Christmas in our schools without being hammerd by some heavily laden minority controlled and in some cases, atheistically ladened school board. In the quaint little hamlet that I live in, we are blessed to have our town Christmas Tree and Hannakah Candle standing side by side, glowing rather majestically and perhaps, one could say, in unison of spirit. However, last year after December 25th was over, we were forced to turn the lights off the Christmas Tree since Hannakah was not over with. Hence we were left with our towns Hannakah Candle brightly lit and our tree looking sullen and dull. So it is with great Christian Spirit that I wish all of TF’s devoted readers a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy Kris Kringle, Santa Claus, and Papa Noel. As my old friend Any Williams duly noted: It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

Joyeaux Noel

Hockey Bob

The Phillies are sticking to the fans as usual. After all the fanfare that came with the hiring of GM Pat Gillick, has finally subsided, it appears that the second coming of Ed Wade has truly arrived. Last year, Pat’s first with baseball’s “loosingest” franchise, signed a bunch of sub par of free agents , 3 of which did not even finish the season with the Phillies and throw in Nunez, and his lusty .220 BA and it was a disaster. Sure he got rid of Thome . of course when you eat half of Thome’s salary, how difficult was it to unload him. And in return, we received the .260 hitting centerfielder who’s only claim to fame was that he can bang into a wall making one catch, that clearly was his biggest contribution to a team, that as usual, did not make the playoffs again.

This off season, their biggest need was a bat to protect Ryan Howard, which should have been Alfonso Soriano, but as we all know, Alfie baby signed with the Cubs. If you throw in names lie Estrada, Carlos Lee, Ramirez, etc. all the potential players that were speculated to be coming to Philly, Pat showed us that, we know nothing , but Gillick knows even less. Hey Pat, I spoke to one GM who wants to remain nameless, who said you were overrated before you came here , well I am sorry he spoke so highly of you. You like your employers are an embarrassment to Philadelphia and their LONG SUFFERING FANS!!!!! Keep your $50 million that you had to spend and move the franchise out of town.

Hockey Bob

Touchdowns and Extra Points:
My former team, Bemidji State will go against the Gorillas of Pitt State this coming Saturday. Good luck Coach Tesch and the Beavers as they look to advance in the NCAA Div.2 Playoffs.

====================

Greetings from The TF sports desk. As excited as I am about our new site, it would be a terrible injustice if I did not launch this article without first mentioning the loss I felt with the passing of TF Founder JV’s wonderful mother Anne. As John has previously stated, Anne was a warm, loving Mother, and frankly, a true inspiration to all of us who had the pleasure of knowing her. Anne has left a legacy that is both precious and long lasting, and she will never be forgotten. God Bless you Anne, just like you blessed all of us at TF over the years!!!

On to Hockey: It was not surprising to see the Philadelphia Flyers go through the turmoil of 2 weeks ago. Bob Clarke stayed about 15 years too long and we can thank Ed Snider for that mess, which he himself has created .. When will fast Eddie realize, that with a level playing field (salary cap), he can no longer cover up this mistakes by this organization perpetrated by he and his lifelong crony Bob Clarke. Selling tickets because you simply put a winning team on the ice will no longer cut it for the ever loyal faithful of the Orange and Black. We as fans pay hard earned cash to see an average team over the past 4 decades finish everywhere but at the top. Let’s see how the Flyer organization fares now that they cannot spend, in hopes of achieving mediocrity. Oh. By the way Mr. Snider:: great job guiding the Sixers : Talk about mediocre!!!

Touchdowns and Xtra Points:

As some of you know, part of my former life was coaching football at both the high school (coaching our TF’er JV among others) and college levels. My former college team, Bemidji State has won the NSIC conference title for the first time since 1985. Congrats to Coach Jeff Tesch and my Bemidji State Beavers.

Good Day, Good Sports!!!
Hockey Bob