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State of Philadelphia sports

***I want to start off my first blog post with my thoughts on the current state of Philadelphia sports teams.  I feel if you continue to read my content it is important to understand where I stand on each team.

  In season: Philadelphia 76ers

     I will start with the first place Sixers with a top three, if not THE MVP frontrunner in Joel Embiid.  My unbiased opinion believes he is the MVP at this point in time.  When the Sixers have their starting 5 they are undefeated.  You have to love this stat from the Sixers and it is a great thing to see in a season that had a shortened off-season where the Sixers had new pieces and a new coaching staff.

     Finally a win without Embiid.  What a win it was and it should be a morale and confidence boost for the team.  

     Overall I can't complain about the Sixers.  Sure, there are some things I wish they were doing better, but they're in first and I'm happy about that (especially if they are in first and can still play a lot better). Saving the best for last shout out to Glenn "Doc” Rivers.  The organization was in need of a fresh mind and Doc has the boys playing at a high level.  He was a great hire and I think the biggest addition to the team in the off-season (yes, bigger than Morey and the Al Horford trade).  

     To finish off my thoughts on the Sixers, I would ask if you believe this season is finals or bust?  Not sure I am ready to answer that, but the Eastern Conference Finals are a must.

In Season: Philadelphia Flyers

     Just like their Wells Fargo Center roommates the Flyers are also in first place.  I cannot say watching the Flyers has been easy this season.  They don't look great in any of the 3 zones.  D-Zone is a mess and they turn the puck over way too much.  They are scoring a lot but the offensive zone hasn't been great either and they need to shoot the puck much more.  At times in games they decide they want to get more pucks to the net and this creates more opportunities but also always them to cycle the puck and get their legs moving when the defense is standing still. 

     Although it was a couple games ago I did not love the benching of TK.  Goal scorers are streaky and he started the season hot and cooled off some.  Also he is a glue/chemistry guy and the Flyers are better with him in the line up; it is as simple as that.  Even if he is not playing his best he is still a danger to score every night and defenses have to game plan for Konecny.  

     People always say good teams find ways to win when they are not playing well.  That might be the case for this Flyers team at the moment.  They have the most wins in the East Division despite not playing their best hockey.  Further Coots (best player) is still hurt and we see how the Sixers play without Embiid (best player), so at least the Flyers have been able to win games without Couturier.  Once again they need to start playing better but at the end of the day, first place.

Out of Season: Philadelphia Phillies

     I honestly don't know what to think of the Phillies.  I have to start with JT Realmuto.  Getting JT back is huge and I am so pumped they signed him.  Maybe not all of Philadelphia felt this way, but somehow it felt like we were going to mess it up and let him go.  Also I believe Bryce Harper deserves to be rewarded for the contract he signed.  Harper wants to be here long term and win in Philly.  He has given himself to the Phillies Organization and I believe they owe him by bringing in top talent.  Our next big re-signing was Didi Gregorius. This was also a great move and I am excited to have Didi back in this line-up.  

     Even with these recent signings we all know the Phillies still need more pitching if they want to make the playoffs and contend for a World Series title.  Archie Bradley is a start for the bullpen and he should be a huge help, but a couple more arms are still needed.  Ideally the Phillies starting pitchers get better on their own and improve, but I think we have seen enough of Vince Velasquez and could really use some rotation depth.  

     Other than pitching I like the current state of the Phillies.  I am excited to see a full season of Didi and Alec Bohm and a full season with this line-up. The NL East title might be out of reach with the talent of Atlanta, but this should be a playoff team and if they do not find a way in the season is a failure.

Out of Season: Philadelphia Eagles

     Where do I start with this one? I always have hope when it comes to the beloved Eagles.  I crave for the Eagles to be competitive and perhaps let my emotions blind me to the truth more with the Eagles.

     I do think that Carson Wentz is fixable, but I am still not sure if he is the answer for the Eagles. If he gets back to his old self we hope every year is as productive as his 2017 season, but we have no way to prove that that is the player Caron Wentz is.  Let's be honest, if Wentz starts and gets back to his old self and the Eagles are winning, all our problems go away (in the short term) because we are winning.  I also like Jalen Hurts and thought he showed promise in the time he got.  He gave me more hope than Carson did last year.  

     Nick Sirianni is an interesting hire and I don't know too much about him, but I am not surprised they went after a Frank Reich guy. I do not have a strong opinion on the hire either way and I hope he is successful.  I was pulling for Duce Staley and believed he deserved it. I would love for him to be the head coach down the line at some point. 

     Their best hope at success next year is the NFC East once again being a terrible division.  If the Eagles are in a rebuild then this division is the perfect one to be in, they can rebuild and win the division at the same time.  Once you get into the playoffs you never know what can happen.  

     We all know the cap situation is a mess and we have a bunch of older players on expensive contracts. Ideally I would want to trade or move these contracts even if we have to "lose" the deal.  Howie should have been let go, but if he is responsible for these contracts maybe he can fix the situation.  When the Phillies won the World Series older players got long and expensive contracts.  The Phillies are still feeling the effects of that today.  I do not want the Eagles to make the same mistakes and move on as quickly as possible and getting rid of the money in the short to medium time frame is essential. 

      After this miserable season, we have a no name head coach and an unpopular GM.  Further, Lurie needs to take a step back and not be as involved.  For as long as I can remember (I'm 23) the Eagles have been bad at drafting.  They were bad with Andy and it wasn't much better with Doug.  We need a GM who knows how to draft and we need an owner that lets the people who know football make football decisions.  Hopefully the new coaching staff can light a fire under this team and lead them to first place in the dreary NFC East. 

***Thank you for making it through my first blog.  I hope you enjoyed the content and I will try and continue to bring interesting content on our favorite sports teams.  I would love to hear feedback in the comments and any suggestions would be awesome!