Kids These Days
Two days removed from the biggest news in the Flyers organization since Peter Forsberg slipped on his orange and black sweater, I still see Ken Hitchcock’s firing as change for change’s sake. Yes, Bob Clarke’s resignation represents a significant shift in team philosophy – moving focus from lumbering, workmanlike veterans to young, swift scorers – and that shift suggests that the Flyers have finally decided to catch up with the “new NHL,” but the appointment of John Stevens, a noted developer of young talent – to replace Hitch strikes me as another in a long line of examples of prima donna athletes who need to be handled with kid gloves instead of extra large Bauers.
Of Boys and Men
Whenever the Dallas Cowboys come to town, Eagles fans work themselves into such a frenzy that the national media is enticed to throw out their favorite generalization of the Philly sports fan: “they throw snowballs at Santa Claus.” Indeed, with the ‘Boys scheduled to play at the Linc yesterday and former Eagle Terrell Owens headlining the Dallas roster, Big Media had a field day all of last week, painting the Philadelphia sports fan as a brutish vandal, a miscreant spotting the great tradition of fans around the nation. Even Deadspin got into the game, dedicating their weekly “Cultural Oddsmaker” column to putting a betting interest into what brand of fan would be most likely to be tossed. Who knew that it would take a former Cowboys quarterback, among the most celebrated to put on the uniform and the leader of the most hated Cowboys teams until they started printing #81 jerseys, to finally give Philly fans some slack?
Jaws, Madden Together at Last
Ain’t It Cool News posted today that the theme music for NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcasts has been written by none other than…John Williams. Yes, that one. Of Star Wars fame. You can hear the audio here.
Now, I’m not going to question Williams’ ability to connect with sports; after all, he wrote the Olympic theme, and who hasn’t carried a tiki torch humming that to themselves? No, just me? Fine, then. But I’m not sure this music is enough to get me ready for some football. It’s right in line with the NFL Films music that’s so popular with Harry Kalas’ velvety baritone pouring over it, but it’s not something that pumps me up, like any of the industrial FOX sports themes (NHL, NFL, or MLB), or the glorious NBA on NBC theme. I’m sure we’ll learn to love, or at least ignore, Williams’ NFL theme. At the very least, it will soothe our nerves as we go to commercial hearing John Madden stating the obvious…yet again. “Sometimes, when the quarterback throws directly at the other team, the ball is intercepted…”
Non-Williams themes courtesy I Love WAVs.