thekrisheim's 2013 Year in Philly Sports

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One of our favorite end of year traditions here at The700Level.com is having one of our longest tenured commenters and friend, thekrisheim, reflect back on the year in Philly sports that was. You can read his look back at 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and today his look back at 2013 below.

No playoffs, new faces, bandwagons gathering dust, the undercurrent of disappointment has returned.  Sure, the year is ending on a high note with the Eagles seemingly headed in the right direction, but don’t fool yourself, eight weeks of Chip Kelly magic and one battle cry doesn’t mask what a downright boring and terrible year 2013 was for Philly sports.

We’ve already covered the biggest wins and losses, so lets look back at some of the bigger stories.

Under New Management

You want new coaches? Philadelphia had you covered in 2013 as all four franchises, five if you give soccer the respect that it is due, turned over the reigns to new faces at some point during the year.

The 2012 Eagles season was a disaster on and off the field and Andy Reid was finally replaced.  Who knows what happened? Who knows why Reid starting making knee jerk changes all over his coaching staff, but what it resulted in was worthy of his dismissal.  Reid deserves a ton of credit for what he achieved with the Eagles and it wont truly be appreciated for a few more seasons.

Charlie Manuel was dumped from his position on a Friday in August in a strange fashion that seemed to have been planned out so he could achieve the most wins in franchise history.  What followed was an emotional press conference where RAJ couldn’t hide back tears, Charlie was Charlie and the Ryne Sanberg era began.

Mr. Snider said it was the worst training camp he had ever seen and the coach who took an 8 seed to the finals was dumped before anyone could see Peter Laviolette's fourth orange tie of the year.

Doug Collins yelled, Doug Collins cried and Doug Collins was canned.  Collins’ firing was only one part of the failed 76ers marketing plan that sent the team into complete rebuilding mode.

Doctor’s Orders

2013 saw the end of Roy Halladay’s career. There isn’t a better athlete that represents just how fantastic and entertaining the last 7 years for Philadelphia fans were than Roy.  He came to the city in the prime of his career to win a Championship, something unheard of before the likes of Howard, Rollins, Hamels and Utley made it a reality.  He was a tireless worker, understood the fans and pitched injured. During the Phillies run it was really easy to get caught up in players wanting to play in Philadelphia, but Halladay was the first and will be beloved forever.

Culture Clash

Fans never really know what it is going on inside a franchise.  Who’s doing what?  Who’s really making the decisions? They signed who?  As the losses added up this year, may fans and writers alike tried to pull back the veil a bit and tried to decipher what was going on.

The Eagles seemed to be the easiest at this point, although following the Giants loss the over analyzing of their roster was at an all-time high.  Chip Kelly coaches, Howie Roseman GM’s.

They Flyers, “Flyered” things up this year by dumping their coach, appointing one of the most beloved goons in team history head coach, dispatched of their “goalie of the future,” got into a line brawl where their backup goalie assaulted the other team and got into arguments over their “culture” with whoever would dare question the franchise.

The Sixers went from talking 24/7 to avoiding the media, trading their best player and enter into full on tank mode except no one told the players.

The Phillies retained their GM, kept their core together, added more old guys, got a stat guy (who may be an intern) and for some fucking reason kept John Mayberry Jr.

The Year In Drugs

Chooch started the year suspended.

Antonio Bastardo destroyed any career momentum he had by getting suspended for his involvement in biogenesis.

No proof that Ilya Bryzgalov acutally uses controlled substances, but he continued to be the most entertaining Philadelphia athlete throughout the year.

There’s nothing funny about what Riley Copper said, and recording and selling the video is a whole different discussion, but if Copper could take some drugs to erase his racist remark made in a drunken stooper you’d imagine he would.

Best GIFs of the Year

5. Snow game for the ages

4. Miss you, Andy

3. Your 2013 Phillies In One GIF

2. For a 3 week stretch Philadelphia actually liked Dom Brown

1. Shady from opening night

The Year In Acquisitions

The rest of the teams don’t matter in this category, only one franchise’s scouts worked overtime to bring these guys to town.  The five best acquisitons this past year are…

5. A guy the fans love to hate? Sure, throw him in the starting rotation and don’t mind his injury history – John Lannan
4. Injury prone set-up man who may or may not have needed surgery before he signed on the dotted line? – Mike Adams
3. 36 year old career 2nd baseman who waived his no trade for a shot at the WS – Michael Young
2. Washed up, bad outfielder with off the field issues – Delmon Young
1. 38 year old journeyman? Who? What? Phillies have them for days – John McDonald

The Year In “What?”

Dom Brown attends professional football game, fans not happy

Claude Giroux hurts himself playing “golf”

The Sixers open the season by beating the Heat

Why You Should Be Positive

5. Scott Laughton

4. Cody Asche

3. The NBA Draft & MCW (tie)

2. Shady

1. “We’re from Philadelphia and we fight”

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