For Phils, Game 5 Worth the Wait

The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies celebrate their World Series win

The Philadelpia Phillies had waited 28 years to celebrate a championship, what was another couple days after a postponment due to inclement weather?

The Phillies 2008 World Series win wasn’t something I think many expected at the beginning of the season. The blockbuster Johan deal put the Mets as a favorite to take the NL East. Then, at the conclusion of the regular season, a Cubs team that had won 5 more games than any other NL team appeared to be built for the playoffs: two 17-game winners, 3 bonafide aces, and they were the #1 scoring team in the NL. However, a scorching hot Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers were able to knock them off, giving Philadelpia a much easier opponent.

But, looking back, the Phillies were really a very logical choice for World Series champs in ‘08. They have the last 2 NL MVP’s (Jimmy Rollins & Ryan Howard), and Chase Utley will certainly contend this year. And most of all, it was a single pitcher’s impact in a series. Cole Hamels, a guy who wouldn’t even be on my radar if I were to name the top 5 pitchers in baseball, is now a household name. He shut the streaking Rays down, and he did it in style, even with the weather hindering his filthy off-speed stuff.

So, just like that – another MLB season is in the books, and I must say – another refreshing World Series between 2 hapless teams with losing histories. Now, we can turn our attention to the off-season, which will be a busy one with names like Texiera and Sabathia floating around on the market. Stay tuned for some off-season analysis in my next baseball headlined post, but while you’re here – lets give these Phils their due: check out their stats for their championship year:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PHI/2008.shtml

Until next time, congrats to the Phils on a job well done, and dare I say…Yankees in ‘09?

Crawford, Lee Shine as Garden Rocks on Opening Night

Jamal Crawford had a game-high 29 points.

Was that the ‘06 Suns? Do my eyes deceive me? The Knicks dropped 120 points on the Miami Heat in their season opener Wednesday, Oct. 29. In a surprising move by Mike D’Antoni, Stephon Marbury did not play in their 120-115 win. This made a huge statement about How D’Antoni wants his team to be viewed: this is a new era of New York Knick basketball. The Knicks played typical D’Antoni basketball, constant fast-breaks, constant pressure offensively. They had an incredible 27 assists; six players scored 13 or more points. It was an incredible team effort – much different than what we’ve seen in recent years.

David Lee, Zach Randolph, and Wilson Chandler were spectacular in the low post, combining for 53 points and 29 rebounds between the 3 of them. However, the star of the night was Jamal Crawford, who took on the role of team leader. Crawford had a game-high 29 points and hit a key 3-pointer with 2 minutes left to play, slowing a Miami 4th-quarter comeback.

Granted, this was just one game, against a Heat team that had a horrendous 15-67 record last year. But the feel of the game, and the energy of the players was easy to see. This team believes in themselves. They hustle. And despite a solid win, D’Antoni continued to scold his players for allowing a late comeback by the Heat. This is the type of coach the Knicks need, and more than anything they need a strong start to give them confidence in D’Antoni’s system.

The Knicks will be tested Halloween night against a re-vamped 76ers team which features two solid underrated players in their prime: Andre Miller, and Elton Brand. If they can get a road win, it will be a huge boost for their confidence. The game airs at 7pm on MSG.

Joba the Latest Athlete DUI

Last weekend, Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain was the most recent of the dozens of athletes to have been arrested for driving under the influence.

Hearken back to 2006, when both USA Today and The Washington Post released a list of all of the NFL players who had been arrested that year (of the 41 arrests, 16 were alcohol related). Since then, we’ve seen the NBA’s Carmelo Anthony, the NFL’s Lofa Tatupu, and several others arrested for DUI just in the past year. Tatupu, who had just signed a $42 million deal with the Seattle Seahawks in March, certainly could afford to call a cab, limo, and private jet to come pick him up.

We all know about the Mike Tysons and Adam “Pacman” Joneses of the sporting world, but it’s not just these few bad seeds that are getting into trouble; Anthony had good repute with the league and with the public, and even the media-darling swimmer Michael Phelps has a DUI arrest under his belt from 2004.

So what is it about professional athletes that is luring them into their cars under the influence? Well, let’s take a look into the persona of any professional athlete: most of them are young. (Excluding the George Foremans of the world), the vast majority of professional athletes aren’t of grandfather age, but range from around 20-35. So, what does this mean? For one, you can count on the maturity levels of some of these athletes to not be so high. After all, many of them are kids. The other thing you can count on is that young people party. So what you have is a recipe for disaster. Many of these players are thrown into wealth and celebrity before they can realize it, and understandably so – they can have lapses in judgement and make poor decisions.

What’s being done to solve this? In 2006, Officer Steven L. Buchanan of the Tampa Police Department launched the Professional Athletes-Against Impaired Driving (PAID) Awareness Education program. This program was created “to provide players of the game of baseball no cost impairment awareness education.” Aside from this, a company called Safe Ride Solutions has caught on with several NFL teams. The company provides round-the-clock transportation for athletes or any clientele who have been drinking and need a designated driver to take them wherever they desire. With programs like this in existence, it’s still a wonder how there are so many athlete DUI’s, but, newly catching on, only time will tell if they can slow what appears to be an epidemic among pro-athletes.

Sources:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AkRBaiCMQkZ57ljADeSEqYU8R9MF?slug=ap-yankees-chamberlaindui&prov=ap&type=lgns

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/sports/baseball/21araton.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=athlete%20dui&st=cse&oref=slogin

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/nfl/longterm/2006/nfl_chart_12162006.html

http://www.paidae.org/about_us.html

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2008/05/15/news/3174854.txt

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080628-9999-1n28rides.html

Welcome to The Back Page!

Welcome to my new sports-dedicated blog. I don’t know about you, but when I read the paper, I read it backwards. As of this moment, I’m still in the process of setting up the site, but posts will be soon to come. Please feel free to comment; I welcome your opinion. See you out there!

- Peter Ferraro