After that nice bit of alliteration, I think it’s time for me to finally start my first sports column on the website. As a foreword, it’s been mentioned that I love all sports. However, I will cover only the stories that I really want to. For instance, as much as I love hockey, I’m never going to give more attention to someone like the Chicago Blackhawks or the Anaheim Ducks over the Flyers.
With that in mind, the title above points out the three big stories I feel like covering right now. First, the drama in Dallas is all about the Cowboys letting Terrell Owens go. Then, with the departure of Scottie, I’m going to cover what the potential impact is of the Flyers losing forward Scottie Upshall and gaining Danny Carcillo. Finally, the death of the hawk is pretty much going to be my coverage of Temple’s final home basketball game, in which we faced and defeated St. Joe’s Hawks.
I’m a college student in Philadelphia, a city known for its devotion to its sports teams. I also happen to be a Cowboys fan, which can be a deadly combination at times. For future reference, never ever wear a non-Philadelphia jersey to a Philadelphia sporting event. Ever. I once remember going to a Flyers game, my very first one actually, wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux jersey. Bad choice, very bad choice.
I was standing in line to purchase something from the food stand, probably either a $20 hot dog or $15 soda with collectible cup, and a Flyers fan, (showing his pride with a Mike Richards jersey, no less), tells a joke. Being somewhat of a funny person myself, I made the choice to laugh at his joke. Again, very bad choice.
After looking at who laughed at his joke, he realized my very poor choice of attire for that evening. Then, with a look of disgust, he yelled a number of very diverse expletives that even your friends wouldn’t want to hear. So, with my head low and my tail between my legs, I purchased my overpriced food and made the walk of shame back to my seat.
Keep in mind that I really did learn a lesson from this experience and from this point forward, I’ve always worn a Jeff Carter shirt to every Flyers game I’ve been to since. By the way, did I mention that the Lemieux jersey has found a permanent resting place in the back of my closet and that my Flyers jersey is in the mail?
Well, as off topic as that was, it only makes sense to hold off on the Dallas drama and just move right into the Flyers for the time being. For those who don’t know, the NHL trade deadline was March 5th, and the couple days leading up to the deadline are usually filled with frantic pleas from teams trying to get franchise players. Sometimes this doesn’t always happen, in most cases, any trades that do happen involve lesser known players and the main objective is to either put less strain on the salary cap or to switch up the lines.
So, what did the Flyers choose to do this year? As previously mentioned, LW Scottie Upshall and a 2011 2nd round pick were traded to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for LW Danny Carcillo. In addition, the Flyers were set to receive defenseman Kyle McLaren from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a sixth round pick in the upcoming draft, but the Flyers chose to nullify that trade after McLaren failed his physical.
More importantly, how does this whole swap pan out for the Flyers? Now, I don’t know much about this Carcillo character other than his stats. One thing that I do know, is that I’ve always liked Upshall as a Flyer. So far this season, Upshall has combined for 22 points, with 8 of those points coming as assists. On the other hand, Carcillo has 10 points, with 7 assists.
With those numbers, the two seem to be quite similar, although Upshall has the edge in productivity. They both seem more like playmakers than snipers, which should allow for easier integration into John Steven’s coaching scheme. But, one stat that I always pay attention to is the plus/minus and here is one area where Carcillo and Upshall are truly distinct.
For those who don’t understand the terminology of the plus/minus, here’s a quick definition. If you are on the ice and your team scores, you receive a plus. If you are on the ice and the opposing team scores, you receive a negative. In my eyes, this stat reveals how well a player works with the rest of the team as a whole. Upshall has a +5 this season and a +24 across 213 games during his entire career. Carcillo has a -13 this season and a -19 over 130 games.
Now, it seems a little bit more clear to me who is the better player. Upshall not only has better numbers, but also seems to mesh better with his team. So why did the Flyers trade him away? According to ESPN.com, the Coyotes are strapped for cash and Upshall has an expiring contract, which allows him to be easily released if he’s not productive. With that said, John Stevens must have had a good reason to trade away Upshall otherwise he would not have done it. We’ll just have to wait and see how Carcillo does.
With two stars gone in Dallas, how will this season fare? With Romo looking like the solid quarterback Dallas has been looking for, how can we fix what’s wrong with the rest of the team? Getting rid of Terrell Owens is definitely a good way to start that process. Ever since Owens was causing problems in Philly, I had a feeling that those problems would follow him wherever he went. Then, he ended up getting signed to my Cowboys.
Granted, Owens was productive during his three years under the reign of Jerry Jones, with at least 1,000 yards receiving each season. The signs were good; Owens had his most productive season in 7 years in 2007 when caught 81 passes for 1,355 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Then, drama rushed in again and, once again, Owens was dismantling an organization from the inside out. He raised claims that Romo and TE Witten were having secret meetings and drafting up plays designed to get the ball to Witten more often. In the end, he’s out of Dallas and I honestly hope he never comes back. But, who could want him?
ESPN’s NFL analyst Chris Mortensen reported recently that two teams that may be interested, the Oakland Raiders and the 49ers. Either way, Owens is getting older and teams are interested in fresh, new recruits, not players who create chaos in every locker room they enter.
In other news, the Cowboys also released Pro-Bowl safety Roy Williams, (which I really don’t understand one bit), and signed defensive lineman Igor Olshansky, a huge boost to the already solid Dallas defense.
Is there any better way to close out the first sports column than with a recap of the last home game for Temple? All in all, Temple versus St. Joe’s was a great game with a lot of close and tense moments. I’m not usually drawn to college sports, but when you’re sitting in the student section for a rivalry game, it’s doesn’t get much better than that.
The first half was a hard fought battle between the two longtime rivals, but Temple gained the edge going into the locker room 30-23. Temple scored twice to increase their lead to 11 points, but St. Joe’s pulled off a 9-0 run, closing the gap to only 2 points. Dionte Christmas would lead the Owls to a 13-0 run, leaving the score at 47-32. The Hawks tried to gain an edge, but were unable to leave a dent in Temple’s lead. The Owls would end up winning 68-59 and the Hawks were doomed to take their very own walk of shame out of the Liacouras Center to the chants of “The Hawk is Dead.”
On that note, I’m closing out this article. As always, if you have something to say, please click the comments button above and let me know what you think.
**All statistics were taken from ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports.
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