phillypressbox

Archive for February, 2012|Monthly archive page

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

76ERS ARE FOR REAL, 76ERS ARE FOR REAL!!!!

In Philadelphia 76ers on February 6, 2012 at 10:19 pm

www.youtube.com

Courtesy of Mike Norton Cassidy – CHECK IT OUT!!!!

In our post last Wednesday we talked about how important this week was in determining if this 76er’s team could be considered for real or not. Well I think it’s been determined, THE 76ERS ARE FOR REAL, THE 76ERS ARE FOR REAL!!!  The team finishes the week with a 3-1 record beating the Chicago Bulls at home, the Atlanta Hawks on the road and the Los Angeles Lakers at home, while losing to the Miami Heat at home. These are all real good teams and the 76er’s are as good as they are. The win over the Lakers is as big a win as there’s been in Philly for some time and although the boxscore doesn’t look that great they hung in there and played great D-E-F-E-N-S-E again. The BEAT LA, BEAT LA chant by the sold out crowd at the Wells Fargo Center brought back memories of the Spectrum and days gone by. The keys to the game are pretty simple. They played Doug Collins basketball, besides great defense the 76ers commited only 4 turnovers in the  game, a team record. Unbelievable!! The Lakers out rebounded the 76ers by 55-30. The 76ers only had 3 guys in double figure scoring with Lou Williams off the bench with a tremendous 4th quarter and 24 points. Jrue Holiday added 13 and Andre Iguodala added 12. Maybe as important as any stat for the game, as we’ve discussed in every one of our posts the Lakers shot only 42.0% from the field and a 7-24 from 3-point land for 29.2%. It’s still about the defense and fundamentals of the game. For the Lakers, Kobe Bryant scored 28 points, 24 points in the 1st half and was shutdown in the 2nd by Iggy.  Andrew Bynum had 20 points and 20 rebounds and Pau Gasol added 16 points.

You know what, it doesn’t matter!!! The 76ers are for real!!!!!!!

,

The Word of the Day – DETERMINATION – Lasorda

In The Word of the Day on February 6, 2012 at 11:17 am

DETERMINATION

“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination”

 

Tommy Lasorda

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Reluctant Congratulations to the Giants

In Pro Football on February 6, 2012 at 11:06 am

For those of you that know me and follow my posts on a regular basis you know that I despise the New York Giants. You also know that I was a high school football coach for many years so I appreciated talent, effort and game planning as well as anybody. With that said I have to take my hat off to the Giants, specifically Head Coach Tom Coughlin, Offensive Coordinator Kevin Gibride and Defensive Coordinator Perry Fewell along with, dare I say, Eli Manning. I think the Giants game plan for this game was fantastic on offense. They ran the ball enough to keep New England on their heels and used the short passing game to move the ball while allowing Manning to manage the game and not putting him in position to make mistakes. When they did stretch the field they weren’t great but got a great catch from Hakeem Nicks across the middle and a sensational catch by Mario Manningham that turned in to be the play of the game. On defense the Giants were able to keep decent pressure on Tom Brady and did a nice job in coverage the entire game. I can’t say how healthy Rod Gronkowski was but he was on the field and playing and the Giants took him out of the game. Aaron Hernandez and Wes Welker had decent games although Welker didn’t come up with a catch that probably would’ve put the game away for the Patriots. There were several big plays in this game that in my mind swung the momentum back and forth. Obviously the first one was the intentional grounding penalty on Brady on the first NE play of the game for a safety. Another was NE creating and recovering a fumble only to have a too many men on the field penalty overturn it. Going the other direction, I thought the holding penalty against the Giants as they drove down the field was weak at best and stalled their drive. The defensive offsides penalty against the Patriots on 3rd and 7 in the 4th quarter that went incomplete and would have made the Giants punt turned in to 3rd and 2 which the Giants converted and continued their drive for points. Huge Play!! The Welker no catch and the Manningham catch were obviously big plays in both directions but the play of the game for me was the Chase Blackburn interception of Brady. NE had control of the game at that point and Brady got greedy. If he throws that ball away or runs for a few yards and gets out of bounds or just hits the ground his team is still in good position to move down the field and add points, eat up clock and continue the momentum. The interception changed all of that and gave the Giants the life they needed. How can you let a linebacker intercept a pass 40 yards downfield because you under threw it? That turned out to be the only turnover of the game. I thought another key point in the game was the NY special teams. The punting of Steve Weatherford left NE working in bad field position a good part of the game and although the Patriots drove 96 yards for a TD after one of those punts they had to earn every one of those yards. Also, the late 34 yard kickoff return by Jerrel Jernigan after NE scored left the Giants with a much shorter field to work with.

In the end the 9-7 Giants, who barely snuck in to the playoffs, with Manning/Manningham making the play and Brady/Welker not making the play were the difference. It was a great win for the Giants and for Tom Coughlin and his staff. It’s probably safe to say they executed their game plan to near perfection on both sides of the ball.

Congratulations to the Giants!!

Football is now over for 2011and it’s time to prepare for the 2012 E-A-G-LE-S!!!!!! Please get a stud linebacker!!!!

,

Super Bowl Sunday – Philly Trend Shop at Shop.com

In Shop.com on February 5, 2012 at 1:47 pm
I don’t usually do much advertising on my site but I came across this site and thought it was pretty nice for Philly fans. Check it out. You can order directly on line and get quick delivery. Just about everything to choose from. Check it out and let me know if you like it. You can click on The Trend Shop for a bunch of Philly items or www.shop.com for the entire site.
 
I hope you enjoy it.
 
 
 

www.shop.com

My First Wing Bowl Experience – WOW!!

In Uncategorized on February 4, 2012 at 1:53 pm

My First Wing Bowl Experience – WOW!!.

, , , , , , , ,

My First Wing Bowl Experience – WOW!!

In Uncategorized on February 4, 2012 at 11:20 am

I thought I had seen just about everything until I went to my first Wing Bowl. I’d have to say this is quite a different event. Let me give you a little history for those not familiar with Wing Bowl. Wing Bowl was the brainstorm of Philly sports personality Al Morganti in 1992 when Morganti became tired of the Eagles not making it to the Super Bowl. The first Wing Bowl was held at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel in January 1993, the Friday before the Super Bowl, with only 10 spectators and the winner, Carmen “The Beast from the East” Cordero, eating 100 wings. Since then the event has moved to The Main Event (94), Club Egypt (95), the Electric Factory (96 & 97) the Spectrum (98 & 99) the First Union Center (2000-2003), the Wachovia Center (2004-10), and the Wells Fargo Center (2011-12). It is still held on the Friday before the Super Bowl every year. 2012 was the 20th anniversary of the event. Over the years there have been 11 winners including 5-time winner Bill “El Wingador” Simmons, 3 time winners Joey Chestnut and Jonathan “Super” Squibb. The record for the most wings eaten up until this year was 254 set by Squibb in 2011. This year’s event included professional eating champion, Takeru Kobayashi who smashed the previous record by eating 337 wings. The 2nd place finisher was Squibb at 271. The event has now become a sellout every year with 20,000 tickets being sold at $10 each with all proceeds being donated to charity.

The event is broadcast live on WIP radio and hosted by the Morning Show that includes Morganti, Angelo Cataldi and Rhea Hughes with several former Philadelphia athletes each year. Radio coverage starts during the night goes through the Morning Show and continues in to the afternoon shows.

Here’s how it works. The parking lot tailgating starts early in the morning or the middle of the night depending on how you’re looking at it. The Wells Fargo Center doors open at 5am and the bars and concessions open for beer sales at 7am. We arrived about 615am. We found a seat and watched as each contestant is introduced and their entourages parade around the floor of the arena. By now many scantily glad women are on the floor, riding a mechanical bull and in the stands. The bars are now open and packed and the heavy drinking has begun by many. It’s now 8am and the arena seats are pretty much full. The wing eating contest starts with a 14 minute eating period with 10 contestants. While the 14 minutes of eating is going on there’s a live band playing, a lot of drinking and a lot of skin being shown by woman throughout the arena. Once the first round is completed there’s a 10 minute break while the results are tabulated and 5 contestants are eliminated. During the break the “Wingette of the Year” is named. This year’s winner received a 2012 Harley Davidson Sportster 883 motorcycle. All the while the crowd is getting a bit crazier and more skin is being exposed throughout the arena. A second 14 minute eating period is now under way with the 5 finalists eating away. Just for entertainment you get the privilege of watching contestants “throw-up” on the big screen over and over again while the camera scans the crowd looking for females to partially expose themselves on the arena jumbotron. Believe me plenty were willing to do it! Once Round 2 is complete the results are tallied again and announced to the crowd. Finally there’s a 2 minute runoff of final wing eating. In this case the results were pretty well determined since Kobayashi had such a big lead. The fans started heading to the parking lots for “some serious tailgating”. The winner is announced and it’s now 9am and the event is over!!

My final analysis of the event is this, I’m glad I got to go one time to see it. It’s different than anything I’ve ever been to. I saw more skin in 3 hours that you’ll see on the beach on a 95 degree August day. The fans were drinking but were under control. There were no incidents or fights and overall everybody had a good time. I can’t say I’d hurry to do it again but it was a fun thing to say you’ve been to once.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

SUPER BOWL XLVI PREDICTION

In Pro Football on February 3, 2012 at 4:54 am

When I predicted the championship games two weeks ago I did pretty well. In the AFC game I picked the Patriots over the Ravens in a close one. It was a good game and the final result played out just like I thought it would. Little did I know that the Ravens would miss a chip shot to keep from tying it and sending the game to overtime. In the NFC game it was as close as I thought it would be and played out like I thought, except I picked the wrong team to win. In both cases I’m not sure that the two teams didn’t lose the games rather than the winning teams win the games. The Ravens and the 49ers both could’ve very well won those games and for the first time in some time Tom Brady looked human. Brady missed on several balls and threw rare interceptions. For the Giants, they hung close and the 49ers committed turnovers that cost them the game. However it happened we’re down to the New England Patriots versus the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, a repeat of Super Bowl XLII.

Let’s break it down. For New England to win they’ll have to do a couple things on offense that they haven’t done much this season The first thing is to run the ball to keep the Giants pass rush honest. Their leading rusher is Benjarvus Green-Ellis with 667 yards and 3.8 yards per carry average. His long run of the season is 18 yards. That won’t be good enough in this game. The Patriots may try to offset their lack of a running game with a screen pass game utilizing both Tight Ends, Rob Gronkowski, ( 90 catches – 1327 yards – 17 TD’s)  if he’s healthy enough to go, and Aaron Hernandez ( 79-910-7TD’s) and also use Wes Welker (122-1569-9TD’s) in this situation. The second thing the Patriots must do is stretch the field by throwing the ball deep. I think a surprise in this game could be Chad Ochocinco, only 15 catches on the season, or Deon Branch (51-702-5TD’s). This may be Ochos coming out party. Of course the most important thing is for the offensive line to keep Brady clean. If he has time to throw the ball he’s unstoppable and rarely makes mistakes. His 2011 stats are pretty amazing, 65.6% completions for 5235 yards and 39 TD’s with 12 INT’s and a 105.6 QB Rating. That’s a pretty good year!!! On defense the Patriots finished 15th in the league in points allowed and will have to play a closer game than that. They’ve only given up 10 and 20 points in the playoffs but Denver and Baltimore wouldn’t be considered offensive powerhouses. The other concern is the kicking game. Stephen Gostkowski has made 28 of 33 FG’s but he’s capable of missing from anywhere. He’s missed once from inside the 30, inside the 40 and twice from inside the 50. Gostkowski is a good kicker but I wouldn’t consider anything automatic.

For the Giants nothing really changes. The will attempt to play smash mouth football and run first with Ahmad Bradshaw (659-9TD’s) and Brandon Jacobs (571-7TD’s). A strong running game will keep Brady off the field and strengthen the Giants defense. They’ll try to minimize putting the entire game in Eli Manning’s hands. Manning has had his best season throwing for 4933 yards, 29TD’s, 16 INT’s while completing 61% of his passes. His top receivers have been Victor Cruz (82-1536-9TD’s) and Hakeem Nicks (76-1192-7TD’s). Both of these guys have had great seasons.  As always the Giants will rely on their defense and getting pressure on Brady. Although they finished 25th in the league in points allowed in the regular season they have stepped up their game in the playoffs. They have faced Atlanta, Green Bay and San Francisco, three good offensive teams, and have only given up 39 points.  They will need to be that good again to win this game. As we discussed with the Patriots kicking game the Giants can be as erratic. Lawrence Tynes has made only 19 of 24 FG attempts. Like with Gostkowski, nothing can be considered automatic.

As far as the coaches, both have been to and won the Super Bowl. Bill Belichick (175-97) is considered a coaching genius of his time and winning his 4th title in 5 visits would surely put him very close to the top of the list. Tom Coughlin (142-114) is a very interesting coach. About three quarters through every season Coughlin is being fired and his teams, when they get to the playoffs, step up their game and always play well. If Coughlin were able to win a 2nd Super Bowl and beat Belichick for a 2nd time his place in history will be set. I’m going with an even match as far as the coaches in this game.

It’s time for my fearless Super Bowl XLVI prediction. I’m going to take Tom Brady and the Patriots in a very close game. The Patriots are favored by 3 and might not cover that. Turnovers could very well swing this game as it has other playoff games. Watch out for the kicking games and an Eli interception to swing the game.

Patriots 23- Giants 21.


The Word of the Day – DREAMS

In The Word of the Day on February 3, 2012 at 4:52 am

DREAMS

“If the people around you aren’t going anywhere, if their dreams are no bigger than yours, get rid of them. They can take your dreams from you”

 

Anonymous

,

The Word of the Day – PERSISTENCE – Bradley

In The Word of the Day on February 2, 2012 at 7:23 am

PERSISTENCE

“Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in”

 Bill Bradley NBA Basketball Great, Rhodes Scholar & U.S. Senator

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

PSU, TEMPLE, NOVA, PENN RECRUITING RESULTS

In Philly College Sports on February 2, 2012 at 12:13 am

Like new Penn State Head Football Coach Bill O’Brien didn’t already have his hands full replacing a legend in Joe Paterno and a staff that had been together for 20-35 years he also only had 3 weeks to put together a staff and to pull together a recruiting class that had already lost several very highly regarded verbal commitments and, oh by the way, prepare for the Super Bowl. Here at Philly Pressbox we asked our resident recuiting expert from College Football Coverage, Terry Howse, to provide the list of PSU recruits with a quick breakdown and his rating of the class as a whole.

“This was not your typical PSU class, for so many reasons, and there were some players that were lost because of the unfortunate circumstances that surround the program. At one time during this recruiting cycle, PSU was poised to sign a top 10-15 class with players such as Jaron Jones, Tommy Schutt, Armani Reeves and Joey O’Connor, all 4 star players as per Rivals and part of the Rivals 250 list. Jones ended up at ND and Schutt, Reeves and O’Connor all committed to rival OSU.”

“This class still has some quality players including 4 star WR Eugene Lewis, who was an all everything Athlete at Wyoming Valley. This kid could step in and provide some much needed excitement and explosiveness at WR. The other player that we feel could make an impact is Jamil Pollard from West Deptford in NJ. Great natural size at 6-5/280 and could develop into a solid player up front.”

National Rank: 50 Big Ten Ranking: 5th Our Grade: D

Name

Pos

Ht/Wt

Stars

Rank
Steven Bench

QB

6-3/206

               ***

NR
Da’Quan Davis

DB

5-11/172

               **

NR
Derek Dowrey

DT

6-3/279

               **

NR
Brian Gaia

OL

6-5/285

               ***

23
Malik Golden

ATH

6-1/185

               ***

NR
Jesse James

TE

6-7/248

               ***

NR
Austin Johnson

DT

6-4/276

               ***

NR
Jake Kiley

ATH

6-2/173

               **

NR
Wendy Laurent

DT

6-4/285

               **

NR
Eugene Lewis

WR

6-2/181

               ****

22
Jordan Lucas

DB

6-1/195

               ***

NR
Akeel Lynch

RB

6-0/205

               ***

29
Jamil Pollard

DT

6-5/280

               ****

20
Evan Schwan

DE

6-6/235

               **

NR
Anthony Stanko

OL

6-5/302

               ***

46
Jonathan Warner

WR

6-2/200

               **

NR
Nyeem Wartman

LB

6-3/220

               ***

35
Brent Wilkerson

TE

6-4/245

               ***

17
Trevor Williams

WR

6-2/190

               ***

NR

 

For Temple Head Coach Steve Addazio this year he actually had a full year to get his recruiting house in order. At this time last year it was Addazio who was trying to play catch up. The Owls coming off 2 bowl games in the last 3 seasons, and should’ve gone the third year, are in a pretty nice position to bring in a good class. They have some major needs on the offensive line and must replace running back Bernard Pearce. Here’s Terry’s rundown:

“Temple signed 29 football players for the 2012 recruiting cycle. None more important than Jamie Gilmore, a 3 star RB from Citra Florida. Jamie had offers from some pretty good schools including South Florida, Maryland and Cincinnati. He’s an all-purpose back and ranked #9 in his segment by Rivals.com. Another quality player that Temple added to the roster was 3 star CB Nate Smith. A Philadelphia product that had offers from Michigan State and West Virginia. Nate is the #21 ranked CB in the country by Rivals.”

 Conference Rank: 1st –  Our Grade: B

Name

Pos

Ht/Wt

Stars

Rank
Shahbaz Ahmed

DE

6-3/200

       **

NR
Samuel Benjamin

ATH

6-0/190

       **

NR
Romond Deloatch

WR

6-4/213

       ***

NR
Rob Dvoracek

RB

6-1/215

       **

NR
Avery Ellis

LB

6-2/225

       **

NR
Mike Felton

WR

6-0/200

       **

NR
Kyle Friend

OL

6-2/275

       **

NR
Jamie Gilmore

RB

5-8/185

       ***

9
Nathan Hairston

WR

6-2/180

       **

NR
Khalif Herbin

ATH

5-8/165

       **

NR
Matt Ioannidis

DE

6-4/245

       **

NR
Michael Kalaman

LB

6-3/197

       **

NR
Raymond Korang

OL

6-8/285

       ***

NR
Stephaun Marshall

DB

6-1/186

       **

NR
Tyler Matakevich

LB

6-1/213

       **

NR
Brendan McGowan

OL

6-4/267

       **

NR
Shakur Nesmith

WR

6-4/200

       **

NR
Bret Niederreither

DE

6-3/250

       **

NR
Bryan Osei

DE

6-2/230

       **

NR
Brandon Peoples

ATH

5-10/180

       **

NR
Averee Robinson

DT

6-1/265

       **

NR
Damiere Shaw

WR

6-0/170

       **

NR
Brandon Shippen

DB

5-10/170

       **

NR
Nate Smith

DB

5-11/176

       ***

21
Kiser Terry

DE

6-3/220

       ***

NR
James Whitfield

WR

5-10/180

       **

NR
Alkwan Williams

LB

6-1/210

       **

NR
 

 

 

 

 
Avery Williams

LB

5-11/200

       **

NR
Tavon Young

DB

5-10/160

       **

NR

For Villanova Head Coach Andy Talley 2011 was a tough season. The defending 1-AA National Champions struggled with youth all over the field but Talley has been around a long time and will get on top very quickly. Here’s the list of Wildcat recruits”

Committed – Not Yet Signed

 

Name

Pos

Ht/Wt

Stars

Rank

Mike Burke                        WR                 6-3/205      ***                           NR

Austin Calitro                    LB                 6-2/220       ***                           NR

Mark Clements                 DB                 5-11/170                                       NR

Nico D’Angelo                    OL                6-4/270                                         NR

Corey Majors                    LB                 6-1/230         ***                          NR

Cameron McCurry           LB                 6-0/215         **                            NR

Aaron Wells                       RB                  5-8/185        **                            NR

TJ Wells                                LB                 6-2/225        **                           NR

 

The Penn Quakers are coming off a 5-5 season under Head Coach Al Bagnoli. The Quakers had been coming off back-to-back Ivy League Championships and struggled a bit with youth but Bagnoli has been in the coaching business a long time and will bring the Quakers back as he always has. They’ve adding a couple of QB’s in this class as they look toward the future.

Name

Pos

Ht/Wt

Stars

Rank

Nolan Biegel                                LB       6-1/215                                     NR

Cameron Countryman              WR      6-0/170                **               NR

Tyler Drake                                 LB       6-2/206                **                  NR

Andrew Lisa                                QB       6-2/200                                     NR

Danill Lysenko                            OL       6-3/270                                     NR

Alex Mathews                             QB       6-3/205                   **                NR

Kenny Thomas                            DB       6-0/170                                      NR

Jack York                                     OL        6-2/259                 **                NR

Tyler Roth                                    LB       6-1/215                                       NR

 

A final recognition goes out to the former Temple coaching staff members now with the Miami Hurricanes. The “U” finished with #8 ranked recruiting class in the nation. Hats off to Al Golden, Mark D’Onofrio, Jethro Franklin, Paul Williams, Billy Furman, Tom Deahn, Sean Desei and Ryan McNamee. Great job in taking the Hurricanes back to national prominence.