The baseball season officially started about 5:45 Sunday afternoon.
Actually, it started a couple of hours earlier. The Flyers simply had nothing left when they took the ice against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. It showed.
The Flyers were never in it, falling behind 2-0 in the first period, then watching the roof cave in as their season came to an ignominious end. The final was 6-0. It wasn’t that close.
The Flyers have developed a penchant for making their playoff exit in spectacular fashion. That is, if you’re a sado-masochist. I suppose that includes most Philly sports fans.
The last time they took part in the post-season derby, the Flyers were dispatched in similar fashion by the Sabres, 7-1, in 2006.
The quandary now is how to judge their season, whether to rejoice in how far the team came after their dismal showing last year when they sported the worst record in the NHL, or simply to look at the way it ended and conclude there is still a long way to go.
General Manager Paul Holmgren pretty much summed up the challenge.
“You go through 82 games and you look at the closeness in the standings, it shows you how close you are to winning,” Holmgren said Sunday after the debacle in the Mellon Center. “But it also shows you how close you are not to not being in the playoffs. So next year is going to be just as difficult to get into the playoffs, and that’s why I believe we really have to spend time over the next few weeks deciding how we’re going to achieve that.”
Take a day to lick the wounds. Then start planning for next year.
It has now been 25 years, 100 seasons of professional sports, since a team representing this city has won a title. Can you even remember the Sixers of 1983? Many readers of this blog probably weren’t even alive then. Hell, the Internet wasn’t even dominating our lives yet.
Maybe the Phils can break the jinx. Let’s hope so.
Actually, it started a couple of hours earlier. The Flyers simply had nothing left when they took the ice against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. It showed.
The Flyers were never in it, falling behind 2-0 in the first period, then watching the roof cave in as their season came to an ignominious end. The final was 6-0. It wasn’t that close.
The Flyers have developed a penchant for making their playoff exit in spectacular fashion. That is, if you’re a sado-masochist. I suppose that includes most Philly sports fans.
The last time they took part in the post-season derby, the Flyers were dispatched in similar fashion by the Sabres, 7-1, in 2006.
The quandary now is how to judge their season, whether to rejoice in how far the team came after their dismal showing last year when they sported the worst record in the NHL, or simply to look at the way it ended and conclude there is still a long way to go.
General Manager Paul Holmgren pretty much summed up the challenge.
“You go through 82 games and you look at the closeness in the standings, it shows you how close you are to winning,” Holmgren said Sunday after the debacle in the Mellon Center. “But it also shows you how close you are not to not being in the playoffs. So next year is going to be just as difficult to get into the playoffs, and that’s why I believe we really have to spend time over the next few weeks deciding how we’re going to achieve that.”
Take a day to lick the wounds. Then start planning for next year.
It has now been 25 years, 100 seasons of professional sports, since a team representing this city has won a title. Can you even remember the Sixers of 1983? Many readers of this blog probably weren’t even alive then. Hell, the Internet wasn’t even dominating our lives yet.
Maybe the Phils can break the jinx. Let’s hope so.
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