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PSC est. 2018

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RIP, Philly Sports Complex

We had a good run.

Published September 24, 2024

Don’t worry, PhillySportsComplex.com remains alive and (mostly) well. Be not afraid, PSC will continue its semi-regular Philly sports ramblings, just as it has for the past six years. I’m sure you’ve read every word.

Anyway, when I say RIP, I’m of course talking about the physical sports complex in South Philly, which we recently learned will be disrupted sometime next decade when the Sixers move into their brand new digs in Chinatown. More power to them I guess, but let’s pour one out for having all four clubs conveniently located in one big block of concrete. 1971-2032 (or thereabouts).

People throw around “4 for 4” a lot but, let’s be honest, the Flyers pull up the rear for the vast majority of Philly fans. That’s not the case for me, as the Sixers are last place by a mile for me, but I still want them to do well. And I commiserate with their more faithful fans when they have their spirits crushed by that team the way the Flyers do for me. It’s all one big community but, for me personally, not much changes with my 4th place team being the one to move out of the complex.

Maybe it will even somehow make things better for everyone. The Sixers get their toy, the Flyers can make plans without worrying about them, and maybe there’s like a 1% decrease in traffic at the complex at certain times of year. At any rate, we’re talking like eight years away, and I don’t even know what I’m doing this weekend, so we shouldn’t dwell on it too much right now. Joel Embiid won’t even be a thing anymore by the time the Sixers open up Josh Harris Memorial Arena (a boy can dream). And that brings me to the most annoying point about all this: the owner.

Josh Harris is terrible. He’s clearly doing all this just so he can get into the new place and cash out at peak value. Maybe by then he’ll have gathered up even more clubs to compete directly with Philly teams (he already owns the Devils and Commanders). I don’t know anything about him personally, and I’m not even fully aware of how he made all his money, but he’s a bum. Obviously a rich and successful bum, but it’ll be nice when a societal leech like him is out of our ownership ranks. At least the other teams in the city, despite their many flaws, act like the fans matter. And they don’t have their hands in a bunch of other cookie jars.

But, let’s just get back to the fact that we will no longer have the most densely contained group of teams in the nation. That honor will, I think, fall to Detroit, which I didn’t realize had everything so closely bunched until I went to see the Phillies out there this summer. Ford Field is beyond the outfield wall of Comerica Park, and Little Caesars Arena is like a block away. Honestly, their teams are probably closer than our sports complex to begin with, but that’s our little secret. At least the Sixers won’t be moving to New Jersey, which was patently ridiculous.

Hey, maybe this all somehow falls apart. There’s always a chance until the money is there and shovels are in the ground. But it certainly looks like the “4 for 4” fans of this town won’t be able to get off at a single SEPTA stop for all their sporting desires. For me, this takes my percentage chance of attending a Sixers game in a given season from about 1% down to 0.1%, as I foresee it being a nightmare to get in and out of games. I just hope it works out for the community around the new ‘76 Place’ and ends up being good for the city. Even if it ends up being a big mistake, Josh Harris will be just fine, of course.

Given that the Sixers’ move is so far away, let’s not even spare a thought at this time. It made for nice article filler, though.

An old-timey view of the Philadelphia sports complex

The sports complex has stood for like 800 years, I think. (Photo from BASEBALLRELICS)

A measured take on the Eagles 24 hours after an awful loss

Was it really that bad? Probably.

Published September 17, 2024

They stink. Season’s over.

Ok, we probably shouldn’t go that far, but there is a fine line between ‘2-0 and feeling good’ and ‘1-1 and the sky is falling’. It helps that the Cowboys got rocked this weekend, but those good vibes evaporated when everyone realized that, oh yeah, the Eagles have the Saints up next. Then they go to Tampa, then they have the dumb early bye week, and the next thing you know they’re not playing at home again until they’re 1-3 and it’s October 13th.

Again, just breathe. It was garbage, but it’s just one game. If Saquon Barkley catches a ball, they win. Heck, if they had just called a different play and gained no yards but kept the clock running, they almost assuredly would have won anyway. I guess the point might be that if they’re not good enough to execute winning football, then temper your expectations. Are they Super Bowl contenders? In all likelihood, probably not. Can they go 10-7 and win a playoff game or two and still have an exciting season? Absolutely. At any rate, a team just needs to get into the playoffs, and then anything can happen (except for last year, when they were so bad going into the playoffs that everyone and their mother knew that they most certainly would get smoked right away.)

Some takeaways from last night (which is one more takeaway than the Eagles’ defense forced)...

Dallas Goedert makes me sad. The Eagles had like 15 years of very good tight end play, from Brent Celek to an even better version of Celek in Zach Ertz. From there, he was supposed to pass the baton to Goedert, but we’re now in Year 7. He’s topped out at 59 catches and 830 yards in a season so far. He’s fine, but he’s just not anything special. You’d think they would have consciously gotten him into the mix with A.J. Brown out, but Britain Covey got the most targets of his life instead. I don’t know; I just expected more.

Bryce Huff, professional bust. I don’t pretend to be a talent evaluator of defensive players on other teams, because they are no good to me in fantasy football. But this guy was supposed to be good. Instead, he’s played at the level of his uniform number so far (which is zero, so, burn). I also feel like the defense is once again bereft of playmakers. Zack Baun’s monster performance in the season opener aside, I haven’t seen many big disruptive plays. Kirk Cousins had way too much time. Let’s see if they can do better against fellow statue Derek Carr next week.

Oh, and speaking of Brown, football injuries are the worst. Obviously some of them occur in very obvious fashion and you can point to the exact moment that a guy sustains a major injury, but so many of them are cumulative or hard to discern. You hear that a guy didn’t practice like two days before a game, then all of a sudden he’s out for “weeks” like Brown. I suppose that means he’ll miss two more, rest up through the bye, and then return for that Cleveland game, giving him a full month off. Hopefully he’s full throttle for the rest of the year after that, but it’s a bummer to deal with at any time.

As for the offensive line sans Kelce, there is room for improvement after all of the penalties. I have confidence that Jeff Stoutland can work his magic. And Hurts did only get sacked once, so it wasn’t all doom and gloom. At least Hurts looked like his old self, and Smith can carry the mail while Brown is out. Not all too many positives to take away otherwise. That’s the nature of losing on Monday night at home to a team you should have beaten.

We’ll know soon if it was just a blip or the first crack in the dam before another season washes away. Nick Sirianni will be swept away if that’s the case, which may or may not be a positive development, depending on how you view things.

Saquon Barkley of the Philadelphia Eagles drops a pass and blows a game.

Barkley forgot he wasn't a Giant anymore at the worst possible time. (Fox Sports)

10 Thoughts on the 2024 Eagles

10 days till the season starts, so let's do this.

Published August 27, 2024

I don't do a whole lot of Eagles content because it's such a saturated topic and all the “experts” out there have it generally covered. But today, I'm in the mood to offer 10 thoughts on the Birds, now that we are 10 days away from their season opener in Brazil. In fact, let's make that the first thought.

1. The Brazil game is a terrible idea.

If the Eagles lose to the Packers in Brazil, this game will be, by definition, ‘terrible’. But even if they show well and come back with a W, I just don't like how it starts their season off with a weird rhythm while we wait 10 more days for them to play their next game as they face Kirk Cousins on Monday Night Football for seemingly the 20th straight year in Week 2. Their whole schedule seems so disjointed, complete with a bye in Week 5 that's coming about a month too early. It just feels like stops and starts until we hit a groove in late October. Hopefully the on field results aren't so wonky.

2. Brown and Smith will be the best WR tandem in the league.

I know there are plenty of other good duos around the NFL, and you might be able to find two teammates elsewhere that account for more total receiving yards if one of them goes absolutely nuts. But I think that Brown and Smith will be the only pair of teammates to each eclipse 1,200 yards this year. Is this based on any kind of analysis? Of course not. Just enjoy the ride when it happens.

3. Multiple “young” players on defense will make a leap.

At least, they’d better. The team has placed a bunch of confidence in Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Nakobe Dean, and more. With the old guard moving on, this is their unit, and they have a golden opportunity to solidify themselves as the faces of it. I’m also not considering Jeremiah Trotter Jr. for a “leap” since he hasn’t played a down yet.

4. Boy, we'll miss Jason Kelce.

It’s gonna be so weird. I have confidence that Cam Jurgens can be a good center in the league, both because Jeff Stoutland can seemingly pull guys off the street and turn them into studs and because Jurgens apparently sells his own beef jerky. Have to get me some of that. Anyway, as for the departed Mr. Kelce, while Jurgens can be an adequate replacement, nobody can fully fill the shoes of perhaps the most ‘Philly’ athlete we’ve ever seen. Let’s hope the running game can still be productive even without everything that Kelce brought to the table.

5. I'm not convinced we'll miss Fletcher Cox as much.

Jason Kelce played every down and touched the football at the start of every snap on offense. His loss is huge. As for Fletcher Cox, who had settled into somewhat of a rotation in recent years, it was probably time to go. His 7-year stretch from 2014-20 was undeniably great, and it gets him in the Canton conversation. But his last three years were much less impressive. We were constantly told that he wasn’t putting up sacks because he was getting double teamed so frequently, but Father Time was clearly about to win. The Eagles will at least save some major cap room by not having to worry about Cox any longer. I’m just sad I won’t be able to make any more Cox jokes.

6. This season will completely define the Hurts/Sirianni era.

One year ago, it seemed like the Eagles were set with their head coach and QB for years. But last year (really, just the last two months of last year) has put all of that in disarray, and now we reach the tipping point. They don’t necessarily have to win the Super Bowl this year, but a solid season and at least a semi-deep playoff run will put the controversies to bed for the time being. But any return to the way that the team looked from the San Fran loss onward last year, and one or both of Sirianni and Hurts won’t be here in 2025. Put up or shut up.

7. 11-6 will win the division.

Will it be the Eagles? Maybe. Dallas? Also maybe. Probably not the Giants or the Commanders, but you never know. The point is, nobody in the NFC East is going to blow everyone away with 14 wins. Just mop up against bad teams and hang with the quality opponents, and the necessary 11 wins could be yours, if the price is right.

8. I'll make an attempt to sync up the radio call with the TV so I can hear Merrill, but I'll fail as always.

I just can't ever get it right. It's annoying. I'll only ever hear Merrill on the infrequent occasions that I'm in the car during a game. Anyway, it's his 48th season doing it, so listen while you can.

9. I do believe the Eagles will make the playoffs.

I can't tell you the context, and who knows what'll happen once they get there, but the Birds are one of the 7 best teams in the NFC. If they fail to qualify, burn it down.

10. I’m even less inclined to listen to sports radio now.

I generally have enough podcasts downloaded that I don’t need to revert to my ancient ways of putting on Philly sports radio. But, while it’s tolerable sometimes, it will soon go back to being the arid wasteland of mouth-breathers hyper-analyzing every detail of every Eagles game to the point that your brain rots in your skull. That’s why I like to carve out 3-4 hours each week for the Birds and then just devote my time to other things the rest of the time in the fall. Hang on, do I secretly hate other Eagles fans? Sounds like a topic for my next book. Anyway, go Birds!

DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown of the Philadelphia Eagles

We're kinda spoiled, considering we used to have to put up with WR like Na Brown. (Rick Schultz, AP)

Formatting a standard ‘The Phillies lost again’ article

A quick and easy template for those “serious” writers out there.

Published August 14, 2024

Well, your (not my) Philadelphia Phillies are facing a bit of an existential crisis after charging out of the gate as the best team in baseball for the first half of this season but falling off a cliff since. They’ve built enough of a cushion that it would take an absolutely catastrophic collapse to not make the playoffs, and even their slimmed down division lead is theoretically still a solid bet. But the home field advantage it looked like they were running away with has evaporated, and there will be many questions once the playoffs arrive if some major improvement isn’t seen over the next six weeks.

As such, I’ve been reading a lot of pieces about the Phillies spiraling lately, and so I figured it would just save everyone some time to write a boilerplate piece that can just be filled in after each loss for the time being. And so I present this to all of you:

The Philadelphia Phillies fell yet again on [day of the week], unable to put together any pitching or hitting in a defeat at the hands of the [team that the Phillies are supposedly way better than, but you wouldn’t know it if you actually watched]. Phillies manager Rob Thomson took the loss in stride, saying after the game that he “wouldn’t be pressing the panic button” just yet but that the club needs more production from [list half the team here] if they hope to pull out of their recent skid.

Things started off poorly for the Phillies yet again, as starting pitcher [anyone but Wheeler, but probably Nola] allowed [a number higher than 1] home runs to opposing hitters early in the contest. From there, the pitching settled down for a while, but the Phils’ bats just couldn’t get anything going against [opposing pitcher you’ve never heard of, having the best start of his career], collecting just [very few] hits over his [very many] strong innings. Also, Brandon Marsh popped out four times.

The Phillies did finally string together a few hits later in the game in their attempt to rally, but the opposing bullpen held them in check long enough before pulling away in the final innings for the easy win. J.T. Realmuto’s line drive with two on and two out in the seventh inning was corralled on a spectacular play by [uncoordinated opposing outfielder who looks like Willie Mays against the Phillies], ending the Phillies’ final real hope to stage a comeback. The Phillies finished 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

From there, [Jose Ruiz or his equivalent] was touched up for multiple runs, as the opposition put the game out of reach. Garrett Stubbs pitched the final inning of the blowout loss, his [#th] pitching appearance since the all-star break.

In his remarks delivered [from his office/inexplicably while naked in the shower], Thomson mentioned that the team is considering the possibility of maybe looking into perhaps mulling over a plan to decide on whether or not to ponder putting a placeholder on the calendar to discuss the pros and cons of holding a team meeting due to the club’s recently poor play. But, Thomson kicked that can down the road and said that he won’t really worry unless the Phillies lose their next game.

Journalists, please feel free to copy and paste this to make your jobs easier for the rest of the 2024 Phillies season. I will be providing an Eagles version this November.

Some Marlins player trots around the bases after homering against the Phillies.

This should be illegal. (Chris Szagola – The Associated Press)

The appeal and apathy of west coast baseball

The Phillies’ never-ending West Coast trip has seen some emotional swings.

Published August 11, 2024

(To be fair, I had most of this written before the Phillies’ Saturday night debacle of a loss.)

Baseball’s ‘every day’ pattern makes it stand out from other sports, and one of the times you notice it the most is when your club goes away to the other coast for a week or more, as the Phillies currently are. On some level, it feels like the games don’t even count, starting so late and ending usually after you’ve gone to bed unless you really want to push it.

But the games that the Phillies have been playing in Seattle, LA, and Arizona for the last week-plus count just as much as any others, and this trip in particular has managed to showcase both ends of the fan spectrum when it comes to supporting your team from some 3,000 miles away.

It’s generally accepted that a team going on such a trip and managing a .500 record can hold their heads high about it, and this one looked like it would be a challenge for the Phils, both because of the quality of competition and the recent skid they’ve been in. You just hope that you don’t have an absolute disaster of a trip, as we’ve seen multiple times from recent Phillies squads. On this particular trip, it couldn’t have gone worse in their first two games in Seattle, with the Phillies getting blown out in the opener and then coughing up a large lead and losing in extra innings the following night. The first game in particular is where a West Coast trip comes in handy. I was a little late tuning in, and when I finally did, the Phillies were down 8-0. I would say thanks for nothing, but they saved me from spending any time on them that night. Channel changed, Phillies dead to me for 24 hours.

That extra innings loss the next night was the opposite experience, as I hung with it for a long time, ultimately passing out before it ended. Then, I checked the score within about 15 seconds of waking up the next morning, and it immediately annoyed me. Nothing like starting off your day on an extremely sour note. Curse you, West Coast baseball!

At least the Phillies broke out the homer stick in the series finale, a Sunday “afternoon” game that stretched into the early evening back home. These 4:00-ish games are always odd, and seem like they should be the exclusive domain of football. Anyway, that took us to LA, where one bad inning from Aaron Nola ruined the opener and left many in the Delaware Valley regretting that they stayed up for most or all of it. But the next night was a reward for those who watched, as Kyle Schwarber’s three homers were a memorable event. And it’s gone back and forth since then.

These long trips are such a break from the rhythm of the season, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I guess it’s good to have just a pair of lengthier trips instead of a bunch of shorter ones. And it’s such a weird dynamic, with some people likely to declare that “real” fans stay up for all of these late contests no matter what. Sorry, ain’t gonna happen. Unless you don’t have a job or kids or something that requires your time other than baseball, you kind of have to pick and choose your engagement level on these. As stated, sometimes a poor start makes the decision for you, and sometimes you’re able to stick with it. In some ways, these trips are a bit of a gap in responsibility for even hardcore fans, and I personally forgive anyone who just can’t make it through every inning of a grueling trip such as this. People will be there when the games are truly crucial, and they won’t be starting at 10pm.

I find that these West Coast games are a mixture of the more forgettable ones you’ll ever come across, and the occasional “I stayed up until 12:30 and saw something amazing happen that I’m wearing as a badge of honor.” Yes, this is a late night rambling as the Phillies near the end of this long journey before coming back to reality. That’s what West Coast baseball has done to my brain. It’s the last time we’ll deal with it in 2024, but we’ll do it all over again next year.

Kyle Schwarber celebrates a home run with Philadelphia Phillies tammates.

A trio of Schwarbombs were the highlight of the trip. ( Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY)

I'm Getting a Sports Complex

PSC est. 2018

RIP, Philly Sports Complex

We had a good run.

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I'm Getting a Sports Complex: Trials & Tribulations of a Thirtysomething Philadelphia Sports Fan