Hope Springs Eternal

Punxsutawney Phil rose from his wintertime slumber this morning long enough to tell the world to expect spring to arrive early this year, not that Al Gore couldn’t have told you that years ago. And while I’m inclined to listen more to Bill Murray than an oversized rat – or the groundhog, for that matter (ba dam bum) – spring couldn’t come sooner. It’s not a matter of weather, really. With the Eagles out of the playoffs and the Flyers and Sixers looking more realistically to ping pong balls than championship rings, it’s summertime sport that promises to raise Philadelphia from its funk. Now, I know a thing or two about baseball, but ask me to figure out who to play based on VORP and I’ll claim to have a headache. Look to the sidebar to get some of the best, most comprehensive Phillies coverage you can gather. Here’s what I do know, though: these Phils need to break into the postseason, or the city might collapse on itself in grief. But hey, at least that means we care again.

The Sports Gal Silenced?

With Super Bowl XLI on the horizon, one issue remains at the forefront of my mind. No, it isn’t the fact that Peyton Manning exorcised the devil known as Tom Brady en route to his first AFC Championship trophy, or that, for the first time, two black coaches will meet in the Super Bowl. In fact, the game for me only siginfies the end of the season and, by extension, the logical end of the Sports Gal’s career as a columnist on ESPN.com.

Don’t get me wrong, this post isn’t meant to bash on Bill Simmons. I’ve always though of him as a pretty big part of the reason why I read ESPN.com on a regular basis, and I am in the process of reading his book, which, even though it’s full of recycled material, is quite enjoyable. In fact, the guy usually makes me laugh out loud right before he starts talking about the Patriots or Red Sox or Larry Bird or The Godfather or 90210 for the umpteen millionth time. Therein lies the problem with Bill: too often, he reverts back to being the Boston Sports Guy instead of the Sports Guy. There are legions of fans out there that care not for the Red Sox and would like to see you make fun of their teams for a change.

The Sports Gal’s mini-columns were breaths of fresh air: unbiased, hip observations from someone who, like us, both loves Bill and is annoyed at him from time to time. Here’s hoping that the Sports Guy finds more excuses to include sidebars from his wife and fewer opportunities to blab about yet another season of Real World/Road Rules Challenge that we don’t care about.

Quick Hits

…some thoughts on things that have been bouncing around my head but can’t find a full post.

• I’m extraordinarily pleased that Cal Ripken was elected to the Hall of Fame. For a stretch of my formative baseball-watching years, Ripken was my favorite player; he played the game the right way and always proved to be a positive role model for the game. More than that, his accomplishments on the field certainly warrant his induction. I can’t quite get the right words out, so you should stop by Swing and A Miss to see Tom G’s take on things. Well said, TG.
• I’m still not sure what to make of Children of Men. Shot beautifully , directed with an eerily realistic eye on the dystopian London, and acted quite well (especially by Clive Owen and Michael Caine), it should have me jumping to join the list of people it has wooed. But I just…didn’t care about what was happening on screen. There didn’t seem to be a side to root for (not that there has to be), and in the absence of that, there wasn’t a sense of importance that Owen’s character was protecting a newborn in a fertile world. I realize that the movie was well made, but I couldn’t get me interested.

Reunited and It Feels So Good

Last night’s 23-20 Philadelphia Eagles victory over the New York Giants will have plenty of storylines attached to it – the team finally managing the clock correctly, the continued resurgence of the team under Jeff Garcia, the reassertion that nobody quite knows what to make of this wild, rather pathetic NFC – but the most entertaining should be the return of The Bearded One, Koy Detmer, to the team. Like 2005′s resigning of Chad Lewis to fill a playoff-specific role, Detmer’s return showcases the calculating side of Andy Reid and the Iggle front office. In an eerie bit of precognition, considering Saturday night’s debacle in Seattle (go cry to Carrie, Romo), Reid acknowledged the importance of special teams – a strength in recent years for the Eagles – in close games. Having Detmer around to hold for David Akers was a crucial insurance policy, and last night’s ending feels all the more special because Detmer was brought in for just such an occasion. Like Lewis before him, Detmer will probably cash his last Eagles paycheck whenever these playoffs end, and Akers will spend the offseason getting used to another holder, but after an acrimonious year and a half, it’s nice to see a feel-good story coming from the Eagles’ brass.

Let the Greg Oden Era Begin

No major thoughts on today’s reported trade of Allen Iverson to the Nuggets. I think I said all I need to say when I wrote about this in July. I’ll agree with Meredith, who, in commenting on that post, said that it’ll be awfully hard to cheer for a Sixers team that doesn’t have anyone wearing the #3 jersey. I’ll miss Iverson, and I look forward to the day when he returns to have his number retired, when he is recognized as one of the league’s best-ever players.