Thumb Exercise

Well, I'm going to be hitting the remote control pretty hard tonight. First up, we have the Phillies with a chance to tie San Diego for the wildcard lead tonight. The Phils will be looking to finish up their series against Washington with a sweep before heading home to open a series against Atlanta tomorrow. San Diego has an off day today and opens a series three game set with Cincinnati at home tomorrow. On the flip side, I'll be going over to USA to watch the Andre Agassi-Marcos Baghdatis second-round match. Agassi earned a hard-fought four-set victory Monday night over Andrei Pavel, while eighth seed Baghdatis beat Alexander Waske in straight sets in the first round.

"Yes the fire is coming and I am happy!!!"

I can't believe I forgot to blog about this. A friend of mine -- known online as jaysonpants -- is in a Seattle school learning how to be a stuntman. If you ever met Jayson you would immediately realize that this is the perfect place for him. He's an amazing person and I'm glad to have the chance to know him. You can follow his many adventures and misadventures at Living Through the Stunts, as he has decided to keep a blog for the duration of his trip. Good luck, Jayson, have fun, and be careful. P.S. Remember r.i.c.e. -- rest, ice, compression, elevation. It'll be your friend.

Eagles Sign Feeley

The Eagles have signed quarterback -- and former Eagle -- AJ Feeley to a two-year contract, and have released quarterback Koy Detmer and wide receiver Todd Pinkston. Feeley had most recently been with San Diego, after being traded by the Eagles to Miami. Amazingly, Detmer was here since 1997, serving primarily as the holder for placekicker David Akers (this job will now fall to punter Dirk Johnson). I know I don't usually post about the Eagles, but now that they've brought Feeley back into the fold I'm left wondering whether this will mean more Heather Mitts sightings. One can hope, right?

History In The Making

Congratulations to Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard for tying Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt's team record for home runs in a season. Howard hit his 48th home run of the year in a 10-6 win in Washington last night. I was fortunate enough to hear the call live in my car. Unfortunately, I had an opportunity to go to tonight's game -- where I could have possibly season Howard break the record -- but had to pass due to other commitments (Jesus, doesn't work suck?). By the way, don't look now but the Marlins are making a huge push for the wildcard spot. Winners of nine in a row (for the second time this season), the Fish are now just one game behind the Phillies and Reds, a game and a half behind the Padres. All this despite having one of the most embattled managers in baseball south of Toronto. At the very least, this ought to make for an interesting last month of the season as the Phils play the Marlins 10 times in that span. Anyone else think it will come down to the last day like last year?

Bored

Sorry for the lack of posting, but I'm just plain bored. I got hit with a new project at work (the real job, I mean) that is somehow more boring than what I normally do. Because of this, my mind has been wandering quite a bit. Unfortunately, it hasn't wandered enough to give me a coherent post for the day. Thus, here are a few of the things I've been thinking about and other things that have caught my eye. Discuss below. Andre Agassi gutted out a win in his first-round match at the US Open. Agassi beat Andrei Pavel 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 last night to kick off the final tournament of his distinguished career. BeerLeaguer lists his top 10 Phillies resources found online, prompting a couple of comments about how good his site is. They're not kidding folks -- Jason runs arguably the best Phillies site around and probably one of the best blogs around, too. Sass-a-thon is surrendering. Literally. She's got a white flag and all. James Mirtle has nothing going on. MovieHawk has updated his blogroll. E-mail him if you'd like to be linked. I completely missed that my Toffees won another game on Saturday, let alone that they even had a game. Oops!! The wins moves their record to 2-1-0, good for 7 points and third place in the Premiership.

Migrating Hawk

To those of you who noticed that the link to Minutiae has been removed and replaced by something called MovieHawk, good eye (a hawk-ish eye, perhaps?). To those of you who haven't noticed, well -- shame on you. Jeff Martin has moved his site and re-branded it as MovieHawk -- "my place to polish my writing skills and share opinions, primarily on movies but also on television, sports, and whatever else I encounter in my life and times." For anyone who's a fan of good writing, stop by MovieHawk -- Jeff brings the goods.

US Open draw, changes announced

Andre Agassi will not be given any favors in his last US Open. His first match will be against Andrei Pavel, a former top-20 player currently ranked 76th. If he wins that match, he then will possibly face Marcos Baghdatis in the second round and former No. 1 Andy Roddick in the fourth. (For the full draw, click here.) Good luck, Andre -- I'm pulling for you. The USTA also announced several changes and enhancements at this year's US Open. These changes to gameplay include: The introducton of instant replay for line calls: The most highly anticipated innovation at this year’s US Open -- instant replay technology with player challenges -- will be available in Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium. This breakthrough for the sport has been developed to improve officiating while increasing the interest and excitement for in-stadium fans and television viewers. Blue courts: The new color scheme of a “US Open Blue” inner court surrounded by a green outer court has helped to heighten the visibility of the ball for players, fans and television audiences. The color scheme is being adopted by public parks and schools across the country. Other changes include an expansion of the ball-signing program along with the renaming of the USTA National Tennis Center to honor Billie Jean King.

Explanation of EPL standings

On the left sidebar, you will see the current standings for the English Premier League. They tend to look a little funny, as soccer keeps its standings (known as tables) a little differently than other sports do. With that in mind, I thought I would post about just how to read the standings. If you look over them you will see this: 7 Everton 1-0-0 3 2 1 1 The first number is what place each team is in the standings. (Everton is currently in 7th place.) Next to the place, is the team name. To the right of the team name you will see a series of three numbers separated by two dashes like this: 1-0-0. This is that team's record and should be read as Wins-Draws-Losses. (Everton has one win, no draws, and no losses.) On the second line, the first number is the number of points that team has accumulated. A win equals three points, a draw equals one point, and a loss is worth no points. (Everton, with its one win, no draws, and no losses has gained three points so far.) The number to the immediate right of the team's point total is the number of goals that team has scored (Goals For, of which Everton has two), while the goals that team has allowed are to the immediate right of that (Goals Against, of which Everton has one). The final number listed is the total goal differential -- goals for minus goals against -- accumulated by that team. This is used as a tiebreaker for teams with the same amount of points at the end of the season. (Everton, by virtue of a 2-1 score in its first game, has a goal differential of 1.)

US Open Seedings Announced

The USTA has announced the seedings for this year's US Open -- the year's final Grand Slam which starts this Monday. There are never any surprises with the seedings as the US Open uses the ATP and WTA rankings to determine the 32 seeds for the men's and women's draws. Andre Agassi -- playing in the last tournament of his career -- is not seeded and is in danger of facing a top-ranked player in an early round when the draw is announced later this week. I wish Agassi nothing but the best. Early in his career, when he was more style than substance, I couldn't stand him. But after falling out of the top 100 and re-dedicating himself to the game, I was won over. In the second half of his career, he has shown humility, grace, and an incredible repsect for the game itself, all while rattling off an impressive amount of championships -- including being one of only five men to have won a career Grand Slam. So much respect is given to him in the tennis community that every once in a while when the idea is floated of having one governing body for tennis, his is the name most often associated with heading that body.

Splat!!

From the "That's gotta hurt" department comes news that this collision will cost the Phillies the services of centerfielder Aaron Rowand for at least five weeks due to a broken ankle. I haven't commented much on the Phils this year, simply because it would have been the same posts about underachieving that I wrote umpteen times already. However, since trading Bobby Abreu, the Phightins are playing solid, hard-nosed baseball and have somehow managed to climb back to .500 for the first time since June 19 -- all while slowly but surely making their way up the standings in the wildcard race. Their record currently stands at 62-62, and they are 2.5 games in back of Cincinnati for the wildcard (and a woeful 13.5 behind the Mets for the division lead). They continue the struggle tonight in Chicago with new acquisition -- and Philadelphia-area native -- Jamie Moyer taking the mound. I have to say, while I'm not giddy, I am optimistic about their chances. As I said, the Phils are playing a different brand of baseball now, and there are almost no games one goes into thinking they can't win. The loss of Rowand will hurt, as does putting All-Star closer Tom Gordon on the DL. GM Pat Gillick will need to make some moves to acquire a bat or two within the next week before the waiver-trade deadline passes on August 31. (For an interesting discussion of some available and unavailable names, stop by Beer Leaguer.)

You're My Boys, Blues!!

After watching a healthy portion of this year's World Cup, I got to talking soccer with my friend Vinnie. (Vinnie grew up playing soccer and has followed it on and off ever since.) I know next to nothing about it, so naturally I turned to him. I couldn't get over how exciting the games were, especially the semi-finals and final. Our conversation grew more interesting when we found out what Bill Simmons had done. It turns out this is exactly what we wanted to do!! After some research by Vin, we decided to adopt Everton as our English Premier League -- commonly known as the Premiereship -- team. By Vin's reasoning, Everton was a middle-of-the-road team that has a whole lot of history but usually doesn't threaten for the title. This worked for us so that we could never be accused of frontrunning (I'm talking to you, ManU fans!) and we also wouldn't have to worry about our team being relegated. So, after picking a team -- and even setting up a team in the Yahoo fantasy soccer game -- we set about looking forward to the start of the season. Well, what a start it was!! Everton opened with a 2-1 win at home -- known as Goodison Park -- over Watford. It was Everton's first home opener win in better than 10 years. The win puts them in a tie for 6th place with Reading and Newcastle, behind Manchester United (1st), Chelsea (t-2nd), Portsmouth (t-2nd), West Ham United (t-4th), and Bolton (t-4th). The Blues next face Blackburn on Wednesday. *For those of you wondering, the Latin on the banner -- "nils satis nisi optimum" -- loosely translates as "Nothing but the best." Not a bad motto, if you ask me.

She's Got A Good Personality

Click over to Japers' Rink, a Washington Capitals blog, for the Inaugural Japers' Rink Ice Princess competition. JP's got a bit about "Ice Girls" that is some of the funniest stuff I've read. I really don't know how #5 was so low on the list, though. Tap of the stick to my friend, Vin -- he of the Hampshire Cup-winning Thunder Bay Bombers, for sending me the link.

Salary Implications

The Inquirer's Tim Panaccio notes that the Flyers' salary commitments right now total $40,114,640 -- leaving them $3,885,360 under the $44 million cap with Simon Gagne still unsigned. General Manager Bob Clarke has repeatedly expressed confidence that the two sides will be able to work out a deal, but Gagne's agent sounded less than optimistic this week. "We spoke last week and we spoke this week, but [talks] are not moving," [agent Bob] Sauve said. "We're still talking and there is some time, but there is a gap. I can't say I'm confident right now." Panaccio goes on to mention that "a source familiar with the negotiations" is saying a deal will get done that averages $5.4 million per year, with no word on how long the deal is. If true, this would put the Flyers' salary total at $45,514,640 -- $1,514,640 over the cap. (Teams are allowed to go over the cap by up to 10% but must be at or below the cap by opening day.) As much as I love the heart and leadership that Keith Primeau brings to the Flyers, I have to think it's time for him to retire. This would serve several purposes -- preserving Primeau's quality of life chief among them, though certainly not the least of which is getting the Flyers under the cap.

Back To The Grindstone

Nine glorious days of nothing have come to an end, to be replaced by . . . . work. Great. A case of the Mondays, indeed.

Jonesy New Color Man

Finally, some good news about a smart move the Flyers made. The team announced that Gary Dornhoefer would be stepping away from the television booth for broadcasts, making room for former Flyer -- and part-time OLN announcer -- Keith Jones. Dornhoefer will be the latest Flyers' ambassador of hockey, a post also held by Bob Kelly and Bernie Parent. The third member of the broadcast team, Steve Coates, will stay on though not in the booth. Coates will move to ice-level where he'll provide in-game analysis and interviews. I LOVE this news. I have thought the Jim Jackson-Dornhoefer-Coates team was one of the worst announcing teams in all of sports. Jones is an intelligent and humorous individual who, I think, will do an excellent job of explaining the game to the fans.

Not Your Everyday Top 10 List

SI.com's Michael Farber came up with a column about hockey's 10 most embarrassing moments. Unfortunately, the title and subtitle were truthfully labeled this way: Embarrassing moments Hockey so full of humiliation, it's hard to stop at 10 The Flyers did make the list, at #4 for GM Bob Clarke's (mis-)handling of Roger Neilson when he was stricken with cancer. However, my favorite on the list is by far #9 -- "Have another doughnut": May 1988. I still laugh about this, 18+ years later. Say what you want about it being embarrassing -- and Farber's point isn't so much that what Schoenfeld did was embarrassing as it is that league president John Ziegler's action and then lack of action was -- it was damn funny.

"Wait a minute, why am I Mr. Pink?"

There's been some funny stuff going around the hockey blogosphere recently, after news broke that Reebok would begin manufacturing pink jerseys for all 30 NHL teams. First up was James Mirtle, who posted about the story the day the news broke. He seems, nonplussed, shall we say? Next up was Off Wing Opinion, who proclaimed "[t]he hockey gods will not be offended. Wear your pink jersey proudly." Eric followed that up with some more reaction to the idea today (along with a reader's version of what the pink Buffaslug jersey would look like). Finally, DCSportsChick is decidedly against the very idea: Polyester? A screen print? So not only will the jerseys be friggin' PINK, but they're hella-lame too. Not even good quality. Well, what do you expect from Reebok; they signed Sidney Crosby. As for me, I don't see what the big deal is. Maybe it's because I'm a Flyers fan. My team did try long pants for a season, so how can pink jerseys look any worse?

Around The Rink

A look back at the week that was in the National Hockey League: Monday -- 7/31 Detroit signed free agent goaltender Dominik Hasek to a one-year deal. Terms of the contract were not announced. Washington signed forward Matt Pettinger to a three-year contract. Terms of the deal were not announced. Sunday -- 7/30 Anaheim accepted the one-year, $1.55 million contract an arbitrator awarded defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski. Buffalo signed center Paul Gaustad to a two-year, $1.425 million contract, avoiding arbitration. Saturday -- 7/29 Friday -- 7/28 Buffalo avoided salary arbitration with forward Tim Connolly, agreeing to a three-year, $8.7 million contract. Florida announced it re-signed a pair of its defenseman. Ric Jackman re-signed for one year, while Mike Van Ryn re-signed for four years. Terms of the deals were not announced. Ottawa announced they re-signed winger Peter Schaefer to a four-year contract worth $8.4 million. Vancouver signed free agent defenseman Yannick Tremblay to a one-year deal worth $600, 000. Tremblay had played for the Mannheim Eagles of the German Hockey League last year. Thursday -- 7/27 Buffalo announced that it had signed defenseman Toni Lydman and forward Jason Pominville to multi-year contracts. Lydman signed a four-year, $11.5 million deal shortly before he was to go through arbitration, while Pominville signed a three-year, $3.1 million deal, also avoiding arbitration. Detroit signed forward Jason Williams to a new two-year contract. Terms of the deal were not announced. Tampa Bay re-signed defenseman Cory Sarich to a one-year contract worth $1.9 million. Wednesday -- 7/26 Detroit signed defenseman Danny Markov to a contract. Terms of the deal were not announced. Florida defenseman Jay Bouwmeester was awarded a two-year, $4.35 million contract in arbitration. The Panthers have until 48 hours after their final arbitration hearing -- August 4, Ric Jackman -- to accept or reject the ruling. Los Angeles signed forward Mike Cammalleri to a one-year contract. Terms of the deal were not announced. Ottawa avoided arbitration with forward Chris Neil, signing him to a three-year, $3.3 million contract. Pittsburgh forward Ryan Malone was awarded a two-year, $2.75 million contract in arbitration. The Penguins have until 48 hours after their final arbitration hearing -- August 2, Dominic Moore -- to accept or reject the ruling. Tuesday -- 7/25 Dallas signed general manager Doug Armstrong to a three-year extension through the 2010-2011 season. Edmonton announced it signed forward Ales Hemsky to a six-year, $24 million contract. Florida announced it reversed itself, signing goaltender Ed Belfour (one year, $750,000) and not trading winger Gary Roberts. The Panthers had previously announced they would not be signing Belfour, while Roberts had asked for a trade to be closer to his family in Toronto. Nashville has medically cleared goaltender Tomas Vokoun to resume his career after blood clots -- officially called pelvic thrombophlebitis -- at the end of last season. The Islanders announced they would accept the arbitrator's decision and sign forward Mike York to a one-year contract for $2.85 million. San Jose signed recently acquired forward Mark Bell and defenseman Christian Ehrhoff to multi-year contracts. Terms of the deals were not announced. Vancouver signed forward Jan Bulis to a one-year contract worth $1.3 million.