Long time No Post people

It’s been a while since I’ve had the time to sit down and write on here.  Since my last transmission there has been a lot of happenings on the 215 sports scene.  A new Sixers coach in Eddie Jordan – awful.  The Eagles draft, which went great with teh additions of Maclin, McCoy and Ingram.  Oh and Cornelius Ingram inked a 4 year deal today as well.  So only Maclin and McCoy left to sign.  And the Phils are currently battling the Mets.  That was some shit last night, shoulda won.  Anyway, sit back and relax, cuz the 215 is back in biz and ready to bring you the hype again.  Stay tuned.

Doug Collins, the next Sixer Coach?

According to a source: Doug Collins has offered his name up for the vacant Philadelphia 76ers Head Coaching position.  He specifically said that ‘Yes’ he would coach the Sixers if the job was indeed available (we all think it is) and they offered him the position.

Well heck Doug, let me toss my name out there too to be in the running.  Hey Ed Stefanski, Ed Snyder, I will also take the job if it is available and you offer it to me, and for way cheaper then what Doug Collins wants.

Anywaaaaayyy, I think Jimmy Lynam gets the gig.  He was basically calling all the plays anyway.

But really, Ed and Ed, this is for you.  Hire me.  I’ll gladly accept and work these boys to the bone.  Bring this great city a real championship, a BASKETBALL championship.  Put Philly Ball back on the map BAY BAY.

Dwight Howard Out for Game 6

After what was a blatant elbow and a bullshit game 5 thanks to the referee’s and their love for the home team Magic, the NBA has finally handed down the correct punishment in the form of a Game 6 suspension for Magic center Dwight Howard.  Early in the game while tangled with Slammin’ Sammy Dalembert, Dwight became a little unruly and swung a vicious right elbow connecting with the back of Sammy’s noggin.

The refs at the time called a technical, meaning that they did indeed see the play, but decided not to call the required flagrant foul and ejection from the game for any contact above the shoulders.   This is what the rulebook says (bolded):

k. A technical foul, unsportsmanlike act or flagrant foul must be called for a participant to be ejected. A player, coach or trainer may be ejected for:
(1) An elbow foul which makes contact shoulder level or below
(2) Any unsportsmanlike conduct where a technical foul is assessed
(3) A flagrant foul where unnecessary and/or excessive contact occurs
EXCEPTION: Rule 12A–Section V–l(5)
l. A player, coach or trainer must be ejected for:
(1) A punching foul
(2) A fighting foul
(3) An elbow foul which makes contact above shoulder level

Pretty happy the league stepped in here and made the correct call. I’m almost certain the Sixers would have won Game 5 had Dwight Howard been ejected early on. Magic swingman Courtney Lee will also be out for Game 6 after receiving another bow from his own teammate Dwight Howard later in the game.

Damn Dwight, keep dem bows to yourself homie.

Eagles Draft Recap

Not only did the Eagles make a first round pick for the first time in three years, according to all sources, and my opinion, made the steal of the draft, getting a top 10 talent, Jeremy Maclin.  Not only was Maclin a top 10 talent, he was the number one rated WR on over half of the NFL teams draft boards.  Getting him at 19 was the steal of the draft weekend.  Now we are always leery of first round WR choices, but Maclin’s run after catch ability should fit perfectly into the Eagles west coast offense immediately.  If Maclin develops into what he is projected, the Eagles could potentially have the best, WR duo paired together for the next ten years.

In the second round, the Eagles pounced on former Pitt standout RB, LeSean McCoy.  Again, hats off the Eagles for another solid selection. McCoy has been compared to Brian Westbrook, will be great compliment to BWest.  McCoy was regarded as the best pass catching RB in the draft. So he should step in instantly as well, granted that he works on his glaring weakness, pass blocking.

After the Eagles traded out of the 3rd round, the 5th they made even more noise, with a few more solid solid moves.  They drafted Cornelius Ingram, a solid TE out of University of Florida who was out all of ‘08 with an ACL injury.  Granted the knee is healthy, this is ANOTHER steal in the 5th round.   The Eagles then drafted Va. Tech DB, Victor “Macho” Harris, who will come right out of Beamer Ball at Virginia Tech and should have an immediate impact on the Eagles special teams unit.

THEN, to cap it off, the Eagles traded a pair of 5th round picks, for a solid starting Defensive Back, Ellis Hobbs.  Hobbs has started all 16 games the past two seasons and is re-united with former Super Bowl starting duo Asante Samuels, and just adds even stronger depth, and potentially opening the door for Sheldon Brown’s move to either safety OR to another team.

Counting the acquisition of Jason Peters, for their other first round pick, the Eagles had an amazing week.  It’s amazing too me, how much they’ve rebuilt the offense this off-season. Not just adding bodies, but adding former Pro Bowlers (Peters, Weaver) and highly rated rookies (Macklin, McCoy, Ingram) to go with young and should-be-improved talent (Jackson and Celek).  Not to mention should-be-healthy veterans (McNabb, Curtis and Westbrook). If everything goes according to plan, and the team stays healthy, 2009 should be a very, very good year.

Sixers vs Magic – Game 2 Preview

Tonight YOUUUUUUR Philadelphia 76ers look to come back to the Wachovia Center on Friday with a 2-0 series lead.

Can they do it?

Absolutely.

Will they do it?

Absolutely not.

Dwight Howard will be in the line up tonight even with his blurry eye suffered in game 1, and don’t expect him to miss 10-12 minutes like game 1 when the Sixers went on their run to cut the 18 point deficit into a 2 point deficit.

Look for the Magic to play Howard 40 plus minutes, play determined basketball and unfortunately for our Sixers coast to an easy game two victory and tying the series 1-1.

Sal Pal Reports …

ESPN radio always seems to do me right on the morning commute.  This morning it did me dirty one more time.  ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio reported that your Philadelphia Eagles are said to be highly interested in Georgia RB Knowshon Moreno.  The Eags currently hold the 21st pick but with 9 total picks still in the upcoming draft, might package some and try and move up to guarantee the acquisition of Knowshon.

Sal went on to say that if the Birds could not move up and Knowshon happened to be off the board at number 21, they would then look to trade out of the first round and acquire a running back later on.

To be honest I wouldn’t mind Door #2 please.  And with that #21 pick and others, let’s go acquire Anquan Boldin.

Slammin’ Sammy Dalembert, Helping Team the Only Way He Knows How

Bitch Slapping Dwight Howard in the eye that’s how!  

Magic center Dwight Howard said he will visit an eye doctor later today to examine his right eye but he doesn’t expect his vision issues to cost him any game or practice time.

Howard was eye raked across both eyes while soaring for a loose ball with Samuel Dalembert.  Sammy, obviously knowing he was not going to grab the rebound over the Magic’s beast in the middle, took the cheap way out and performed his best wrestling move.  Sammy used the eye-rake which was made famous a ways back my Mankind, aka Dude Love, and went right for Superman’s only penetrable body part, his eye socket.

Howard Dwight told the Daily News that he suffered no pain or blurriness in either eye but was seeing spots in front of his right eye when he closed it.

Just when I close it, it’s a whole bunch of flashing lights and stuff.  I’m not worried.

After a light practice shooting free throws with assistant Patrick Ewing, Howard said he doesn’t expect to miss any practice or game time. The teams meet again in Orlando Wednesday night where the Sixers look to shock the world.

Giroux Has Coming Out Party – Flyers Take Game 3

Claude Giroux put on a show Sunday as the young rising star totally redeemed himself after taking a bad penalty at the end of Game 2 which really cost the Flyguys Friday night.

Jeff Carter opened the scoring fest for the Flyers early Sunday with a beautiful sweeping backhand shot 3 minutes into the game, and Richards made it two goals on two shots for the Flyers two minutes later.

Pittsburgh battled back and tied the game up early in the 2nd period off the stick of Evgeni Malkin, who landed his second goal of the game.  The first came with 10 seconds left in the first period on a savvy play by Maxim Talbot to center to the puck to a streaking Malkin for the one timer.

With the crowd silenced after the equalizer, the Flyers roared back on the heels of the rookie Giroux.  Danny Briere stole a rebound off Marc-Andre Fleury’s pad and fed it across the ice to a streaking Giroux, who punched in the puck for a 3-2 lead. Playing short-handed midway though the second, Giroux controlled the puck behind the net. The Penguins defense swarmed him, but the former first-round pick was able to fend off Kris Letang and slip the puck to Gagne. Gagne scored the short-handed goal to make it 4-2 and the Flyers never looked back going on to win 6-3.

With the win the Flyers closed the gap making the series 2 games to 1 in favor of the Pens.  Game 4 is back at the Wach Tuesday night with the puck set to drop at 7:00 pm.

So You’re Sayin’ There’s a Chance

An amazing comeback, injecting faith into a city, and a superstar FINALLY starts taking steps in full realizing that expectation.  The Sixers came back from an 18 point second half deficit to literally steal game one from the Orlando Magic Sunday night in Orlando.

Andre Iguoladala, who has never been fully accepted as the true superstar status that was projected on him when the other A.I left and he signed the big money contract, finally had his defining moment as the Sixers number one man, hit the game-winning fade away jumper with 2.2 seconds to go, a mere minute after Iggy missed two clutch free throws that would’ve then given the Sixers they’re first lead of the second half, as well as adding more fuel to the fire of doubt that Sixers fans have had since Iggy signed the big money contract.

“We discuss this all the time: We think Andre is a very, very good basketball player, knocking at the door of the All-Star Game,” general manager Ed Stefanski said. “I don’t think the people have embraced him as that kind of player.”

A.I and the Sixers get back to action Wednesday night at 7pm in Orlando for game 2 of the best of seven series.

Oh and in case you happened to miss the final few minutes, Youtube always has us covered, enjoy.

Sixers Magic Playoff Preview

After winning in overtime last night against the Cleveland Cavaliers “B” squad, combined with the Bulls losing to Toronto, yourrrr Seventy Sixers clinched the Eastern Conference’s six seed and a first round match up with the Orlando Magic.

The Sixers lost all three matchups versus the Magic this season and going into this series, there isn’t much that indicates the Sixers have a chance. But I feel the Sixers could make a series out of this. I’m not calling an upset, cause of seven words; Samuel Dalembert will be covering Dwight Howard, so unless Howard can do us a favor and get Dalembert into foul trouble early, he should dominate from opening tip of game 1 through the entire series, and he will be the deciding factor.

But with the return of Thaddeus Young to the lineup for the final two games will help him get his rhythm going into the playoffs and he will provide a boost and a spark that was missing during his injury. The Sixers will steal a couple games and make it a series, but I’ll take the Magic in 6.