Doomsday Saturday

March 12, 2006 | By Dennis Bakay | Discuss

The old adage goes-when it rains it pours. And, yesterday that was most certainly the case. We were delighted upon waking up Saturday morning to LeCharles Bentley…cancelling his flight to Philadelphia and visiting the Cleveland Browns. This is in stark contrast to earlier reports that he had agreed in principle to a deal with the Eagles. Around 1:00 in the afternoon the news broke that he had agreed to a deal with the Browns. Christmas was not to be. We had our present stolen away from us. This was a chance for the Eagles to make a big splash in free agency by getting the number one free agent out there. Now, the Eagles have to go to plan B. I guess for consolation we’ll get tight end Matt Schobel and defensive end Darren Howard who had a career worst 3 1/2 sacks last year. This is becoming the Eagles’ M.O. now; sign veteran players coming off injury plagued seasons on the cheap rather than going for the elite free agents. In 7 years of the Reid regime the Eagles have signed just three elite free agents: Jon Runyan, Jevon Kearse, and that man known as T.O. (well sort of-he was acquired through trade before being declared a free agent by an arbitrator and signed to a deal). So, that was enough to endure for an entire weekend and then the Flyers were set to play an hour later against a surging Buffalo Sabres team.

This was one of those classic shootout games in hockey that you get to enjoy every once in a while. The Flyers were up 2-0 after one period, then they coughed up the lead twice in the 2nd period as they were outscored 4-3, but they regained the lead and were up 5-4 after two periods. Then, in the third period they were out-shot 14-1 in a dreadful display. As I was watching this game I was saying to myself “I bet they will find a way to lose in the final minute.” It wasn’t meant to be…ah the Flyers escaped a power play (for a bogus call on Peter Forsberg) and were knotted at 5 with 45 seconds to play. Then, in the final 5 seconds Mike Grier scored a game-winning goal. I wasn’t devastated considering I expected this. I had a feeling this was going to be one of those days in Philly sports-one where if it rains it pours. Lastly, the St. Joe’s Hawks were set to play Xavier in the A-10 Championship at 6:00.

Ok, we’re 0 for 2 now, we can get a victory out of today can’t we? The Hawks were playing the lowest seeded team ever to make the championship game in the A-10 tourney. But, not so fast-remember Xavier was the team that knocked off St. Joe’s in the tournament two years ago during their magical run. While watching this game there was no question in my mind that it would end badly. Not that I don’t think St. Joe’s could win, but the sports Gods were destined to hand us diarrhea on a platter. This was another great game like the Flyers-Sabres game. Many leads were exchanged and these two teams fought tooth and nail until the very end. I actually was saying to myself “I bet Xavier hits a three with 2 seconds left”, similar to the John Lucas Jr. dagger in the Elite 8 game against St. Joe’s 2 years ago. That wasn’t to be, but Xavier hammered the Hawks inside and they made a pair of free throws to go up by 1 with 5 seconds to play. This was sort of anti-climactic but the ending was to be expected. The Hawks got the ball back and drove down the court and the ball it went…out of bounds on a block. They got a reprieve. Then, on the final shot the Hawks’ three point attempt was blocked, thus ending their hopes of getting into March Madness.

I couldn’t be sick to my stomach from witnessing these three meltdowns because I already was suffering from a severe stomach virus! I was bedridden all day and barely had enough energy to sit up, let alone even belch out a “What the **** are you doing?!” Instead, I merely said to myself “When it rains it pours.” This Saturday was certainly a Doomsday if there ever was one. But, now we have a big free agency period to look forward to for the Eagles. Darren Howard is on the way. Roll out the red carpets.