Greg.sRant

I don't even know how you could ever possibly come to the realization that you can do this, but props anyway to this kid. I can't even make it from half court, yet he goes and shoots it from the opposite foul line while putting a little sumtin' sumtin' on it. Kudos, kid, although pretty sure this would be traveling in a regulation game.

Finally, a good day in the realm of Philadelphia sports teams.

In the wake of the death and funeral of Harry Kalas, the Phillies dropping 2 late inning leads, and the Flyers losing a game they should have won, the City of Homogeneous Bro Love came out swinging.

The Flyers returned salvo from a dismal set of games in the city of Pittsburgh to take a 6-3 win over the Penguins today, and bring them to a 2-1 defecit. I was very impressed by how explosive they were today in their play style. It seemed as if they were a completely different team, probably aware that they needed to win this game in order to stay in the hunt to move on. Last year their season was ended in the semi finals by the hand of Malkin, Crosby, and the rest of the Pittsburgh Penguins (who then got decimated in the finals by the Red Wings), so I am thinking that there is some bad blood left over. There were a lot of fights, some high sticks leading to blood being spilled, and an overall entertaining game.

The Phillies came back in the 9th inning to win it 5-4 off of a Raul Ibanez 2 run shot deep into the right field stands. That guy, he's paying dividends. He had some big shoes to fill in replacing Pat Burrell, and I think right now he's got Dr. Scholl's inserts or something, 'cause he's not missing a step. He is currently batting .386 with 5 home runs, 10 RBIs, and a whole lotta Philly love. He even got the traditional shaving cream pie in the face after the game, something I haven't seen in years. It was a good game, stressful but well worth the watch. I just wish Brad Lidge hadn't blown his first save in 47 regular season opportunities last night. But ah well.

And finally, the Sixers. Ohhhh, those Sixers. You underdogs, you. Coming back from down 18 in the 4th quarter to win it 100-98 over the heavily favorited Orlando Magic? Good thing you had the Lex Luthor to Superman Dwight Howard Andre Iguodala on your team to nail that 18 foot jumper with 2.2 seconds left, or else it could have gotten ugly in Philly. Dwight got away with a ton of things, too. He travelled at least 4 times where it went unnoticed by the refs, and of course he dominated the paint with 31 points, 10 rebounds (his best performance in a post-season game). But what mattered was keeping the outside shooters of the Magic in check, and that's exactly what the Sixers did. But don't get too comfortable, Philly, as remember that you guys won the first game versus the Pistons last year, and then they promptly sat you down the next 3 games. I feel good about it, and even better that we were able to snatch a game we probably shouldn't have won.

So yeah, that is about the extent of the Philly news this weekend. Man, there has been a lot of sports posts, hasn't there? I guess it's because it is such a hotbed right now, with 2 playoffs going on, and another season starting up. Plus I am a huge sports fan, so that can help to explain why I put so much effort into it, haha.

 It's official.

John Madden has retired from the sport of football.

This comes as kind of a surprise to me, because I thought John Madden would be involved in the sport forever, or until he scoffed down his last Bloomin' Onion. But he announced his retirement Thursday, midway through a 6 year contract with NBC. He cited wanting to spend time with his family, and righfully so, since he has been active in the NFL since 1967.

I think it's because Brett Favre finally retired, and he has nobody to adore anymore.

To be honest, I never really "got" John Madden. Dick Ebersol has called him "the greatest sportscaster of all time," and of course that can't be right, because that would obviously have to go to Joe Buck. (Ed.: That is a LIE! HATE)  I just got really confused whenever he spoke. Frank Caliendo did it best when he went on his Madden rants. Priceless entertainment.

I don't think we have seen the last of Madden. He's going to pull a Favre himself and un-retire, reviving himself as an analyst for the Arena Football League or perhaps the XFL (you know it's coming back).

Regardless, hats off to you John Madden. And you still have the top grossing sports game of all time. Unless EA Sports combines all the major sports next year and renames it Joe Buck's All Around Sports Broadcast Challenge: The Quest to Hate Philadelphia Even More. Not to mention Outback steakhouse. Thanks for being there Mondays nights for much of my childhood, and the hours of me shaking my head wondering wtf you just said.

 Today is a sad day. Harry Kalas, the voice of the Phillies for the past 39 years, passed away at the age of 73 today.

According to sources, he was found unresponsive in the press booth before the game around 12:30. He was rushed to George Washington University Medical Hospital, where at 1:30 he was pronounced dead. The whole Phillies phamily was rocked... hard. Especially with it happening so close to game time. Hearing all of the announcers' voices crackling under the sadness was very tough for me to take at times.

I remember growing up with Harry Kalas. He was the voice of the Phillies for me. I remember him announcing Michael Jack Schmidt's home runs, and tuning into all of his broadcasts with Richie Ashburn. I remember going to see the 1995 Induction of Schmidt and Ashburn in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and i ran into Harry Kalas. He signed a ball of mine and, although my time with him was short, he was one of the most genuine people I could probably ever meet. The fact that he would take the time out he did to bring joy to little kids' faces makes him a man above the rest, yet never acting that way.

I will never forget hearing his final call of the 2007 NL East Pennant, when he was practically so ecstactic that the mic couldn't contain his booming voice. And of course, the last pitch of the 2008 World Series, where he said it so matter-of-factly that the Phillies had won, but with enough heart to make it one of the most memorable calls for me.

And now, he is gone. Gone to the broadcast box in the sky, where he joines Whitey so they can smoke their pipes and cigars together, hit up piano bars with Liberace, and make a rainbow of commentary for the angels. His voice will bellow with the claps of thunder for the rest of my life.

Good night, sweet prince of baseball, and as you always put it, "OUTTA HERE!!!"

I do! I am probably one of the few people that enjoy watching golf on the television, in addition to playing it. Although unlike my dad, I cannot get fully interested in it until the last day. It's kind of like basketball in that the sense that nothing exciting happens until the last quarter, or the last 10 laps of a NASCAR race. But some people can just watch and watch golf, regardless of where in the tournament it is.

Tiger Woods isn't doing so hot. He is currently 4 under, a full 8 strokes behind the leader Chad Campbell, which might be hard even for Tiger to come back from. But if he makes his move and is able to pull it off like the win a few weeks back at the Arnold Palmer Classic, that will be nuts. I am not the hugest Tiger fan - as I love to root for the underdog - but I am amazed at his skills on the golf course. Anybody who is that consistently good... I just don't know how they do it.

Also with the completion of the Masters, I see it as the start of another golf season. I can't wait to get out and start spending a ton of money to suck. And get angry. But at least I get to be civilized while doing it. And drive a golf cart.

Sorry, there has been a slew of sports-related posts this week, but I guess that's just the odd timing of it.

Plus this is just too important to ignore, as you see, BASEBALL IS STARTING TONIGHT!!!!

And of course, that means breaking in the 2009 season with the reigning world champions, my Philadelphia Phillies. Tonight they play the Atlanta Braves on ESPN, so unfortunately I will not get to hear the sweet baritone of Harry Kalas (unless I was to listen to the radio). But it's ok, as it's still surreal that they won last year. It might be hard if you're not a Philadelphia, well, anything fan to appreciate what it is like to win a championship. Because we never do it. 1983 was the last time before last year that we won anything in the entire city. And, to be honest, it all started with AFL.

Yeah, that's right, the Philadelphia Soul, a.k.a. the team that Ron Jaworski and Bon Jovi built, brought home a championship last year before the Phillies. And although it wasn't one of the 4 major sports - football, baseball, basketball, and hockey - that Philadelphia participates in, I think it opened the proverbial floodgates to success. Philadelphia has a thing for winning all at once, and then going stagnant for 20 or so years.

But regardless, tonight is a night for celebration. The celebration of a new year of baseball starting, and who else to usher it in than the Phightin' Phils? Nobody.

So just got back from Madison Square Garden in New York City, and I had a blast. It is always nice to go to the Big Apple for a day, and see all the sights that the city has to offer. But this trip had only one stop today:

 NIT FINALS BAY-BAY!!!

As noted in a previous post, Penn State was playing Baylor in competitive play for the not-as-good-but-still-OK NIT championship. So, in the spirit of basketball season coming to a close, I will do this post in play-by-play form. 

I left work at 3 to get on a bus and drive. It was quite a normal trip, not a lot of traffic, but there were a lot of Penn State fans, which made me happy.

We were not looking forward to the 9 block walk to get to MSG from the bus terminal, so we were exuberant when we found that our bus was stopping right down the street from it. I high-fived my main man Mr. Driver and we walked our way to experience Penn State history.

We got there around 6:20. It was dead. I was shocked, but shouldn't have been. After all, this wasn't NCAA championships. And MSG is HUGE, so there coulda been a lot of people, but it didn't look it.

I ran into my friend Pat coincidentally. We were on the same escalator ride! I looked back and there he was. Crazy how that works sometimes, right?

Got to our seats, and they were awesome. About 12 rows up from the floor. I didn't even need my glasses to see the action, but I wore them anyway. I fumbled around with my nikon for a good 20 minutes trying to dial in the correct ISO and shutter speed settings.

Game started. It was loud. Real loud. Penn State was definitely in full force compared to Baylor. I heard something along the lines of 30 buses (Ed: Can somebody prove this number for me?) were taken from Penn State to NYC. I can believe it by the amount of buses I saw coming in. I took some more action shots, but it was harder because Penn State started at the opposite end of the court.

Halftime. Penn State was down by 4, boooo. Baylor hit a 3 on the last shot. Nothing is going on, just some mean looking security guys on the floor.

Woo, Penn State is winning! They surged and started penetrating the paint, and Morrissey landed a few shots from outside the arc to make it 9. I was starting to feel good.

Last minute, and we are leading big! It would take an epic fail plus a roll for massive damage for Penn State to lose. Morrissey ate it on the floor chasing after the ball, too. Sad, as I bet since it's his last game after 5 years that he'd like to be out on the floor.

Penn State WONNNNNNNNNN! Wooo! I think I can get used to this national champions thing. First the Phillies, now this? This year has been too kind to me. Or previous years not kind enough. Sticking around and watching them cut down the net!

Busted my ass back to the bus terminal, and made the bus by about 1 minute. I chatted it up with some guy who was the father of somebody I went to high school with, and it helped pass the time.

Really tired, and I'm here now, entertaining you folks! But that was my day in a nutshell.

So, I am a graduate of Penn State. Penn State is renowned for its football program.

 Penn State basketball, not so much.

This year, we were unfortunate to not be selected to the NCAA finals. How some other teams got in and not ourselves could probably be attributed to our road losses and possibly the quadruple overtime loss to Iowa, but we were lucky enough to get into the NIT.

 It was almost over immediately. We were trailing George Mason until the last shot, when Talor Battle sunk a desperation 3 to tie the game, and eventually they rode the wave to win the game. The other games have been exciting, but not nearly as close.

 Until tonight against Notre Dame.

 It was an early explosion by Penn State. Up by as much as 15, they were sitting well with 12 minutes left. Then they sort of collapsed. They were outshot by Notre Dame 17-4 to bring the game as close as 5 at one point. Of course being me, I had already purchased tickets to the NIT finals - at a handsome sum - so the tension was starting to get to me.

And I started to ask the good Lord for some guidance and aid:

And He responded. Like angels from on high, Penn State rose and blessed me with a moment of elation. Jamelle Cornley made his close shots, and they were able to actually make free throws. It was a team i was not used to. I started to rejoice:

And before I knew it, we had won. 

I am very happy, not only because I didn't waste money on good seats for a game i wouldn't care about, but moreso because our Lions are NIT-bound!!!!

 (Now let's hope for not another blowout like the USC Rose Bowl, eh PSU?)