The700Level.com - Philly Sports & Minutiae

A Win Streak Will End Tonight with T-Wolves in Town

With the Minnesota Timberwolves in town this evening, a winning streak will come to an end. The Sixers are riding high on a four game streak, their longest of the season while the T-Wolves are also winners of four straight. A fifth win in a row could certainly catapult these seller dwellers into playoff contention, right?

Roy Halladay Looks Great in Citizens Bank Park (Even Digitally)

It seems like every year a new version of a baseball video game is released with a beautiful digital representation of Citizens Bank Park and every year we tell ourselves this will be the year we'll finally go out and buy a video game. Once again, 2K Sports has released images from Major League Baseball 2K10 and we're licking our chops. Not only does CBP look pretty awesome but they've got Roy Halladay on the mound for the Phillies.

Has Joe Banner Changed His Beverage?

Maybe Joe Banner brewed a nice pot of extra dark coffee this morning to help him sober up from all of the Kool-Aid he typically loves to serve up. In a discussion on the Eagles website from over the weekend, Banner actually admits that there's some distance between the hated Dallas Cowboys and the Eagles.

Mets Finally Add Some Pop to Their Lineup

David Wright went through a power outage last season and the Mets are making strides to help change that. According to the New York Daily News, the outfield wall in centerfield will be cut in half to make the park a bit more hitter friendly, "Last season, the wall measured 16 feet in front of the sparsely used Home Run Apple. Now, with the second level of padding being removed, it will measure eight feet in the middle of the outfield."

Changing the dimensions of a ball park after its first few seasons isn't entirely uncommon. You may recall that the Phillies actually removed some seats in left field to move the wall back about 5 feet.

The Morning Extras: Replay Optional

The Flyers authored a great comeback last night, one that felt unlikely given their play in the first half and past several outings, not to mention while facing one of the tougher defenses and goaltenders in the NHL. It was an exciting game, the kind there is very little to complain about. Very little...

Besides the lack of instant replays on certain penalties, scoring opportunities, and of course the brutal hit that left Anssi Salmela lying face down on the ice for several minutes, spending much of that time completely motionless. No fewer than ten times during the telecast, I found myself asking aloud, "Why no replay?" These were not exactly trivial events.

Today in Philly Sports History: Recchi for Desjardins and LeClair, 1995

It was no doubt somewhat difficult to see Mark Recchi moved in what appeared to be the prime of a possible hall-of-fame career. Since coming over from Pittsburgh in part of a trade for Flyers star Rick Tocchet, Recchi twice led the Flyers in scoring, including a 123-point season in '92-'93 that still stands as a Philly single-season record. Still, the juice would be well worth the squeeze on a February 9th, 1995 trade that was supposed to put the Montrael Canadiens over the top, but instead ended up fleshing out a contending Flyers team for the rest of the decade.

Recchi was sent to Montreal on that day in exchange for three players--Gilbert Dionne, Eric Desjardins, and John LeClair. Dionne played sparingly and was soon a league wash-out, but Desjardins blossomed into the Flyers' best defender (winning seven Barry Ashbee awards to solidify that fact) and LeClair gave the team the perfect front-line complement for star center Eric Lindros. The two all-stars would stay on at least a decade each, and help the Flyers reach four conference championships in the process, although all but one ended in heartbreak and the fourth was capped by a sweep by Detroit in the Stanley Cup finals.

By All Means, Feel Free to Call It a Comeback: Flyers Top Devils (plus: Emery Update)

Heading into Monday night's game against the Devils, the stars were aligned for a tough night. A scoring-challenged team against a defensive-minded club with an all-world goalie, plus a newly added sniper? Doesn't sound great. And, for the first 37 minutes of the game, it was looking mostly Jersey. Which is never good. 

Danny Briere took a weak and not-at-all-helpful high-sticking penalty in the first period (pick your shocked self up off the floor). On the ensuing powerplay, the Devils scored a flukey goal, with Zach Parise banking the puck off of Chris Pronger's skate and past Michael Leighton. Neither Prong Daddy nor Leighton deserve any of the blame on that one. Then, a minute into the second period, Devils defenseman Anssi Salmela carried the puck while shorthanded, past Mike Richards, and buried a shot behind Leighton. Jeff Carter laid him out just after he released the shot, a much longer story you can read about here, with video. 

Down 2-0 against Marty Brodeur, things were looking pretty bleak for the Flyers, who haven't shown much resiliency in their ability to forge a comeback lately. Fortunately, with just two minutes left in the second period, the finishers finally showed up. 

Scary Moment: Jeff Carter Hit Knocks Anssi Salmela Out Cold

In the wake of tonight's Flyers-Devils game, you'll hear a lot of opinions on the second-period hit by Jeff Carter on New Jersey defenseman Anssi Salmela. Some will say it was a clean hit with an unfortunate outcome, and others will say it was dirty and/or late. Here's video of the hit as it happened, and after the jump, a better-quality video that consists of a series of replays from a variety of angles. 

The hit came just after the streaking Salmela shot the puck past Michael Leighton, and when I say "just after," it really was less than a second later. 

Flyers-Devils: "Will You Please Just Score Some Goals??" edition

When you're looking for a cure to your team's offensive production ailments, it's not often you'll find it between the pads of Martin Brodeur. And yet, unable to master the likes of Jeff Deslauriers and Anton Khudobin for more than a single goal in two games, the Flyers will now try to claw out of that rut against the NHL's all-time best goalie. Maybe it's just what they need in the middle of this Bizarro World season. They have had better luck against the Devils and Marty lately, so we'll see.  

Those last two games each featured the Flyers getting their fair share of shots on goal, but most became easy saves via the chest protector or the leg pads. They just haven't had enough luck or creativity around the crease lately. If it's more a case of the former, then we should expect to see that "luck" even out sometime soon. But if it's the latter, who's to say what they need to do to turn it around? These are the same groups of forwards who were sending opposing starting goalies to the showers early night after night just about a month ago. 

What's Up West Virginia: Wildcats Visit Mountaineers in Big East Top 5 Square-Off

Villanova had secured the top spot in the Big East conference, and looked like a possible threat for the eventual overall highest ranking in the AP poll, before getting trounced last Saturday in a snowy trip to Georgetown. Sixteen first-half turnovers doomed the Wildcats as Georgetown scored fifty points before the break, and a stunning 103 for the game. 24 points each for Corey Fisher and Scottie Reynolds weren't enough, as even with a 59-point second half, Nova still lost by 13.

"That was not one of our better performances, but you've got to give Georgetown most of the credit," said Coach Wright after the game. "I think just getting down like that early here and playing that team from behind is really difficult to do." Despite the bad loss to a longtime division rival, Reynolds remained resolute in his confidence in the team. "Nothing changes," said Reynolds. "We'll do what we have to do to be the best team at the end of the season."

YouTube Memories: Announcers Ho-Hum as Dave Brown Nearly Decapitates Someone

My hockey-watching career started in the mid-80s, which probably explains a lot of the biases that seep into my Flyers/NHL posts here on a regular basis. It was a rough age in the league, and it's well-documented that the Flyers were among the leaders in that department. 

Dave Brown was the team's enforcer when I was getting into hockey, and I'll never forget the zeal he brought to the role. My friends and I absolutely loved him. Brownie was obviously known for fighting, but when trawling the YouTubes for some old-school Flyers entertainment this snowed-in weekend, I came across a memorable clip from a 1987 Flyers-Rangers game, showing that Dave wasn't always shackled to the code of gentlemanly pugilism. 

If Filmmakers Directed the Super Bowl

The only thing missing from this Slate clip is a version by Francis Ford Coppola with Donovan McNabb eating an orange on the sideline in the third quarter. [video below]

Stephen A. Smith Returns, Rips Sixers

In his return to the Inquirer sports section, Screamin' Stephen compares the collective skill of the Sixers to that of an And1 team. He then goes on to say that the Sixers should tank the season and trade for Tracy McGrady. Sounds about right. [Inquirer]

Video: Not Hank Baskett's Finest Moment

Hank Baskett is famous. He's not famous because he's a professional athlete, or because he's married to a former Playboy bunny with her own reality TV show. He's famous for misplaying an onside kick on the biggest stage in sports, a blunder that completely altered the game's complexion. Nobody wants to be the most notorious special teams player of all time, but that may very well be Hank Baskett. [video below]

The Morning Extras: Winning The Super Bowl Is Not A Race

Welcome to the return of The Morning Extras as a daily feature here at The Level. We'll use this space to showcase links from across the web, and also debate the hot stories in the Philadelphia sports universe.

The buzz today is naturally over the Saints winning the Super Bowl. Kudos to them. They're a somewhat likable team, particularly with the New Orleans factor and the prior deficiency of major sports championships. Jeremy Shockey takes them down a peg, but whatever.

The question is how their victory is relevant to the Eagles.