The last time the Phillies went to the World Series was 1993 when they lost in six games to Toronto. This team has a striking resemblance to that 1993 team. After Brett Myers last two starts he is back to form. With Brett Myers and Cole Hamels you have two aces on your staff. The 1993 Phillies had Terry Mulholland, Tommy Green and Curt Schilling but Brett Myers and Cole Hamels are better and younger. Adam Eaton is giving this team quality starts. Jamie Moyer resembles Danny Jackson, an older pitcher that won't hurt you. Kyle Kendrick is still a bit of an unknown but he has pitched well at times.

The team has the bats that can intiimidate any pitcher in the league. Rollins, Utley, Howard can hurt you on any given night. The team is playing great defense and their bullpen is best in the league. The biggest flaw in the 1993 team was the bullpen. You always held your breath when Mitch Williams came in to pitch. You barely break a sweat when Brad Lidge takes the mound. With this lineup, quality pitching and the best bullpen in baseball this team has the look of a World Series team.

I've been critical of Charlie Manuel in the past for being too soft. But his decision to pull Rollins was bold and the right decision. He wants his players to play hard and will even pull his team leader if necessary to send a message. He is definitely not too soft. The players love playing for him and though he makes questionable decisions at times let us not forget that Jim Fergosi was no baseball genius.

Let's sit back and enjoy the ride. It's been a long time since the Phillies have been in first place this early in the season. Things can only get better. I've said that the Flyers will be the first team to break the 25 year drought but after following this team I think this could be the year the drought ends. With the Flyers and Sixers on the way up this could be a city of winners again as it was in the early eighties when three out of four teams were in finals and one team won it all, the Phillies.

We've seen something like this before. Terrell Owens demanded compensation and the Eagles front office asserted their authority. The Eagles showed that no player is going to push them around. The Eagles also are less one of the best receivers in football and forfeited a chance to go back to the Superbowl. The Dallas Cowboys on the other hand just extended the contract of that same receiver.

Now it is dejavu. The Eagles had a chance to trade Lito Sheppard before the draft but possibly overvalued him. Now they are stuck with another disgruntled player. Possibly they diluted his value by waiting so long to trade him. The Eagles better find a suitor and find one quickly. So much for having the best secondary in football. What good is having three Pro Bowl calibur cornerbacks if one of them refuses to play?

So again the Eagles have backed themselves into a corner. They believe that being tightfisted is the way to run an organization. So all the nasayers who said that I am a moron for criticizing the Eagles front office, do you think the Eagles acted right toward Lito? Would it not have been better to trade him for a second round pick than keep him and have him hold out? The Eagles were so bent on getting a first round pick for Lito that they shot themselves in the foot. They had better hope that the Bengals have had second thoughts about trading Chad Johnson. The Eagles should seriously consider trading Lito and a first round pick for Chad Johnson.

The Eagles have done absolutely NOTHING to improve their team this year and possibly hurt the team by not trading Lito. How is trading one Pro Bowl cornerback for another upgrading? Although the signing of Asante Samuel should be applauded it is a lateral move at best. Have they addressed the defensive end or wide receiver positions? Even if Desean Jackson turns out to be a stud he is not going to see significant time at the wide receiver position this year. He was drafted as a punt return specialist, not to put Reggie Brown out of a job. The moves they made only make sense if you are building for the future, not if you are trying to win now.

True the season has not started and there is still time to remedy the situation but the longer the Eagles wait the harder it will be. Chad Johnson is still available. The Eagles can tell the fans they are interested in winning now by making a phone call to the Bengals and making them an offer they can't refuse and hopefully that offer will include one Lito Sheppard.

If Paul Holmgren is watching the Stanley Cup finals, and no doubt he is, it won't be hard for him to figure out what he was missing in his team's loss to the Penguins. Detroit's defense and their hot goalie Osgood is shutting down Crosby and company. Just look at Game 4, Detroit is holding onto a 1 goal lead and kills off the Penguins critical power play. The Penguins got a 5 on 3 advantage into the third quarter with a three games to one hole starring at them and they could not capitalize. Rumors swirl that the Flyers are targeting Brian Campbell in the offseason. With an already young team, the quick development of Parent, Campbell, Timonen, and Coburn you have a defense that is probably one of the best in the league. Jason Smith and Scott Hartnell were the defensive liabilities and there is a good chance that neither will be back next year. Add a healthy Simon Gagne and you have a team that can get past the Penguins and advance to the Cup next year. Should Gagne not be healthy than no doubt Holmgren will add another scoring threat. The Phillies are on a roll this year but should the Phillies not win the World Series this year thus ending the 25 year drought the team with the best chance of ending the drought would be the Flyers. For the great Flyers team of the nineties with the Legion of Doom they could not seem to find a way to beat the Devils. The Devils were built on speed and defense which is the element that Holmgren has added to this team. That is why this Flyers team has a chance of winning the Cup. The Penguins have been thoroughly exposed in the Stanley Cup finals and Holmgren knows that. Superstars do not win but great defense does. Next year will be the Flyers year. Watch out Penguins, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Imagine that you went to your boss offered you a raise and you turned it down because you didn't think it was high enough. Suppose to that your boss already has someone younger than you waiting in the wings to take over your position. Finally let's say your boss gave you a deadline to meet and you could not meet it.

This is the situation that Andre Iguodola finds himself. He turned down a generous offer by the Sixers because he believed himself to be a superstar and so deserving of Lebron James type money. He plays small forward but can play guard that that is not his strongest position. Instead of proving himself worthy to be paid like a superstar he came up small in the playoffs. And his eventual successor at small forward is Thaddeus Young, a superstar in the making.

So let me ask you Sixers fans, should Ed Stefanski seriously consider keeping Andre Iguodola on this team at all let alone pay him what he wants? What good is a shooting guard that can't shoot? If you project Thaddeus Young to be your small forward are you going to play Iguodola at the shooting guard or even at the point? If not are you going to pay him to come off the bench and spot Young?

My recommendation as I already had stated in an earlier article is to package Iguodola and Miller in a trade. Perhaps you can land the low post presence you desperately need or a legitimate shooting guard. As exciting as this playoff run was it has only proven how far away the Sixers are from being a contender. Had they traded Iguodola and Miller and thus tanked the season they could have drafted someone to fill an immediate need rather than just add depth off your bench by drafting at 16. True there is no guarantee they would have gotten Beasley but there are other players that could help this team immediately, Kevin Love for example who I am sure will be long gone by the time the Sixers pick.

Although his initials are the same Igoudola is not The Answer. He is a good complementary player at best. Miller has practically made it known that he wants to go elsewhere when his contract is up. Miller is like beautiful wrapping paper. If you wrap up a box of coal it looks pretty but it is still a box of coal. Miller makes this team appear better than it actually is. If he is not in your long-term plans why retard the long-term development of your team? Without Miller the Sixers would not have made the playoffs and would have gotten a top five draft pick. Instead they draft at 16, and can only add depth at best unless they strike gold as they did with Thaddeus Young.

Moving forward, Stefanski should trade Iguodola and Miller for a low post presense or shooting guard. FIll your other need via free agency and maybe without Miller and Iguodola this team will be bad enough to get a high draft pick to fill whatever other need remains and within two years you have a team ready not just to make the playoffs but contend for a title. Is that not the name of the game, winning a title? We need to get rid of the mentality that just making the playoffs is good enough. Otherwise the Sixers will be stuck in mediocrity for a very long time.

I've gotten many responses from my last article "Big Red and Green don't mix". Many have called me negative and a fair weather fan. While I have been very critical of the Andy Reid regime for their recent activity or lack thereof I have nothing but praise and high marks to give to Paul Holmgren in his first year as GM of the Flyers.

While it is true that the Flyers remain winless in their series against Pittsburgh let us not forget that they lost their best defenseman, Kimo Timenin before the series even started. To add insult to injury they lost Brandon Coburn early in game two. The Flyers may have been overmatched even with Timonen and Coburn but take Pittsburgh's two best players out of the lineup and the Flyers have a huge advantage.

The Flyers finished in last place the year before and were on a downward spiral. Paul Holmgren in a short time turned this team around. He added Timonen, Biron, Coburn, Prospel, and Briere. He improved the defense and added some team speed, things that were lacking under Clarke. Paul Holmgren has done a fantastic job and deserves nothing but praise for getting the Flyers as far as they have.

While I was critical of the firing of Hitchcock I must admit that Stevens has done a great job as well. He has been patient in the development of the young players. The Flyers have a good young core and will only get better. Holmgren should add another defenseman and some more offense in the offseason and perhaps next year the Flyers can overtake Pittsburgh. I have a firm belief that Holmgren will not sit on his hands but will evaluate his team objectively and see what pieces are needed so that the Flyers can contend for the cup next year. They are maybe a couple pieces away.

If you compare the two regimes you have teams going in opposite directions. Reid has done little to improve the Eagles because he feels the players he has are good enough. Reid will lead you to believe that the Eagles can contend for a Superbowl. He looks at the world through green colored glasses. Holmgren on the otherhand never said the Flyers were a cup contender. To get this far was a surprise even to him I'm sure. So expect great things from the Flyers. I am not a hockey fan and far from an hockey expert but I am a homer and love to see my teams do well and when I don't see committment from the ownership I get upset but I certainly see committment from the Flyers FO.

As Philadelphia fans we need to be objective about our teams and not be content with status quo. For those who say I don't bleed Eagles green I say in response that those who are not as upset as I am about the failure of the Eagles regime to win a Superbowl under Reid's tenure that you don't bleed Eagles green. Whether you are a hockey fan or not we should be ecstatic about the Flyers success and should be proud that there is a winning organization in town.

We've learned what the A in Andy stands for, Arrogant. A team that finished in last place in the NFC East two of the last three years deserves criticism. So Mr. Reid is tired of the negativity from the media. What exactly do we have to be positive about? The return of LJ Smith is the answer to the red zone problems? Another draft class that won't crack the roster this year or at least not make a significant impact. The only positive I see from this season is that I won't have to see Reno Mahe returning punts which doesn't say much.

Donovan McNabb makes a bold statement about needing playmakers and when questioned about it cowardly waters down his previous statement by saying I wasn't necessarily talking about offensive playmakers. So the only significant offseason move was the signing of Asante Samuels when the cornerbacks were the strength of this defense. There are still questions about the passrush. There is no explosive offensive weapon other than Westbrook. Does the acquisition of the running back from Miami mean that Tony Hunt was a bust? So tell me Mr. Reid, what do I have to be positive about?

Andy Reid should take a lesson from Paul Holmgren. Bobby Clark did the Flyers organization a huge favor by stepping down. He finally realized that his philosophy could never bring a Stanley Cup championship to this city. In steps Paul Holmgren who infuses a new philosophy and you have only the second team to advance to the Conference Championship after finishing worst the year before. So how long Mr. Reid are you going to stick to your philosophy? After finishing in last place two of the last three years you still believe that the system trumps talent. Time will tell.

I would like to present this challenge to you Mr. Reid. Since you so firmly believe that this is a Superbowl team, should the Eagles fail to even win a round in the playoffs this year you should do the manly thing and step down. Let someone else come in and infuse a different philosophy, a winning philosophy. Bobby Clark was a man, are you Mr. Reid. Or are you a spineless coward who needs your ears tickled by the media. Mr. Reid you are a spineless, gutless coward as is your quarterback, McNabb.

I know you read this blog, McNabb, though your coach may not, I challenge you to answer me and explain why you and your coach are not spineless cowards. I call you a coward because you allowed your coach to muzzle you yet again when he does nothing to improve this team. So if you are not a coward, take the muzzle off and challenge your coach to put a championship team on the field. You are the only player that can get through to your thickheaded, arrogant coach who is too cowardly to address the media with answers instead of feeding us the same garbage year in and year out that he can plug in anyone in this system and produce a champion.

Dear Ed,

You as do I would love to see the Sixers win a Championship. The best way to rebuild a team is through the draft. Although you can't openly tell your team to lose or fail to make the playoffs I think that if the team continues winning you are hindering the rebuilding process. You can't realistically think this team can compete with the big guns in the East, Boston and Detroit, let alone the powerhouses in the West. Why is Andre Miller playing as many minutes as he is? Andre Igoudola thinks he is a Superstar but he is just a little above average. If I were you I would trade Andre Miller and Andre Igoudola for a couple of expiring contracts. With them off the team, play the young guys, let them endure growing pains and in the offseason and the draft you can turn this team into a contender in the next year or two. You can have a legitimate shot at getting Michael Beasley or a player close to his calibur in the draft. Thaddeus Young turned out to be a diamond in the ruff but don't think you are going to get lucky with the eleventh or twelth pick in the draft every year. If you are striving for just making the playoffs than continue on the road you're going, play Andre Miller and Andre Igoudola for over 30 minutes a game and beat the weak teams in the conference, get the eighth seed and get smoked by the Celtics in the first round. If you want to win a championship than unload the Andres, tank the season and get a shot at Michael Beasley. You're a sharp guy so I'm told. You don't need a no name fan to tell you what you should do. I hope you read this. I want a championship. I'm tired of just being competitive. Please don't disappoint this city.

I've been a Philadelphia Sports fan since the late 80's and it hurts that another division rival won a Superbowl. I feel that the 2004 Eagles were better than this year's Giant's team and I'm not blaming anyone, the blame was collective, but it just seems like Philadelphia sports teams are not committed to winning. After the 2004 season we went backwards. Andy Reid seems to be too committed to his philosophy and doesn't feel that players are important. I'm glad you openly said you feel that playmakers are needed but is it too late. Are we going to be playing catchup now with the Cowboys and Giants?

When fans are critical please do not take it personally. It has been over 25 years since any major sports franchise in this town has won a Championship and it is difficult dealing with such a drought. Fans were critical of Eric Lindros during the Flyers run in the 90's. Fans are critical of the Phillies. It is not just you. Fans just want you to be committed to winning. When you feel that fans are overly critical of you it makes fans feel that you are more concerned about how people view you as a person than to winning. Fans just want a championship. I am more critical of Andy Reid's philosophy than of you. Please make sure that Andy gets playmakers this offseason. I just want a championship. I'm tired of seeing other cities celebrate. If you win a Superbowl this city will love you and embrace you. Please make me feel positive about the Eagles in 2008.