The700Level.com - Philly Sports & Minutiae

Mark Eckel Got Punked on Bentley

From an article in Today's Trenton Times by Eagles beat writer Mark Eckel:

PHILADELPHIA -- By the time you read this, Pro Bowl center LeCharles Bentley already will be an Eagle.

Bentley, who went to the Pro Bowl last season as a member of the New Orleans Saints, agreed to a mega-deal with the Eagles before free agency began at 12:01 a.m., according to a source close to the situation.

A key member of another team, which also was interested in Bentley, said the Eagles had a deal in place with the center for close to a week, and waited through the several delays to the start of free agency.

Hey Mr. Eckel, Bentley signed this morning with the Cleveland Browns.  The Browns?  Damn.  It's all about the Benjamins.  The Eagles are off to a slow start to free agency and haven't announced any signings.

This is why I always say don't believe it until you see it.

Big Scare For Allan Ray & Nova

A very scary situation for Allan Ray and Villanova occurred when Ray was inadvertently poked in they eye by a Pittsburgh player Friday night in Big East Tournament play.  Ray was going for a loose ball and hit.  From the shot they showed on T.V. it almost looked as if an inordinate amount of white in Ray's eye was visible as if his eye was popped out of place.  Ray immediately went to the ground and was writhing in pain screaming over and over that he couldn't see.  Ray was taken to the hospital and the severity of the injury was unknown.

While Villanova's hopes of winning the Big East Tournament and becoming the number one ranked team in the nation were crushed with the loss to Pittsburgh, their hopes of reaching the final four and winning a national championship just got exponentially more difficult.

Let's hope Ray will be alright.  Updates to follow.

-Ray Taken to Hospital with Eye Injury [Yahoo]
-Video Highlights of the Game which don't really show you much [ESPN]
-Ray OK after eye injury [ESPN]

Update: Early word is that the injury doesn't appear to be severe.  Maybe his eye didn't really pop out.
Update2: Allan Ray can see fine, his vision is fine, "not a scratch."  I could have swore his eye popped out.  Now that is bizarre.

YouTube VIDEO after the jump

Sixers Choke.. Again

They were up 15 points in the second half and ended up losing.. again.  The Sixers had the ball down a bucket and Allen Iverson drove to the lane and got rejected but the Sixers kept the ball.  The Sixers still had a chance to tie or win the game with about 12 seconds left.  The final shot the Sixers got off was an attempted drive to the hoop by Kyle Korver.  The three point specialist who can do nothing right but shoot three pointers took the final shot of the game and got rejected.  Sixers Lose.  I'm beginning to wonder if we should start rooting against them in hopes of getting a few lottery balls.  The problem with that theory is that the East is so pathetic the Sixers will still probably make the playoffs.

Some of you may have been wondering what this picture last week of center court at the Wachovia Center was about.  I got a chance to play in the Junior Achievement of the Delaware Valley's Battle on Broad Street Shoot Out Tournament.  It was for a great cause and all of the teams that participated got to stay the evening for the Sixers v. Wizards game in catered club boxes.  There were 48 teams of four players.  My team put in a solid showing, but came up just a bit short, finishing in 5th place.

There was a raffle at the event and I happened to win!  What did I win you ask?  Somewhat ironically, I won a Kyle Korver autographed basketball.  Awesome!  I tried to trade it with some middle aged lady who won a signed Iguodola jersey.  "Kyle Korver looks like Ashton Kutcher!" I told her to no avail.  I think she thought I was trying to punk her.  She had no idea who Iguodola was and when I asked her how to pronounce his name she laughed at me.  Oh well.

Friday Random Video 1

I know things have been a bit slow this week, but Philly sports news hasn't been jumping.  So to keep you people occupied I thought I would come up with a new weekly feature, the Friday Random Video.  Every Friday I will post a video which somehow ended up on the Internet.  What will these videos be about?  I have no idea, that's why it's random.  I'll keep them after the jump to keep things neat around here.  Without further ado, the first random video post, because sometimes.. sports are boring.

Buy Jim Thome's House

Jim Thome's old house in New Hope is on the market for a cool $4.25 million.  It's a tad bit out of my price range.  Check out the listing which is complete with a slideshow of the property.  A nice little wine cellar rounds out the digs of the former Phillie, but you can tell Jim Thome lived there and not Jimmy Rollins.  It could definitely be on MTV's cribs, but it wouldn't be all that entertaining of a show, unless of course they opened up the fridge to find Crystal and The Clear.

Shawn Barber Likely to Return

Anthony Gargano is reporting that former Chief Shawn Barber is in town today at the Nova Care complex and will likely sign as soon as free agency starts.  This will be Barber's second time around in Eagles green.

UPDATE: Barber agrees to one year deal with Eagles.  DE Juqua Thomas re-signed for a one year deal as well. [MSNBC]

Getting the Itch

Ah yes, April 3rd is right around the corner.  While you may be freezing in some wintry weather, the boys of summer are getting ready for the 2006 season with a little World Baseball Classic.  The U.S. squad won their opener against Mexico on the arm of Jake Peavy.  Chase Utley put up a doughnut.

Apparently, those Latinos know how to rock it out at their baseball games.  Latinos do their best Phanatic impressions on dugout [Jim Salisbury, Inqy]:

Fans jumping on top of dugouts, dancing, hugging and waving flags. During the game, for crying out loud.

-Peavy leads US past Mexico in first game, Utley stumbled [ESPN]
-Utley 5-5 with HR in scrimage Sunday [Hartford Courant]
-What do David Bell and A1 steak sauce have in common? [Beerleaguer]
-A little taste of Clearwater [BS&S]
-The World Baseball Classic Official Page[WBC]
-Also, Barry Bonds*

Cheerleaders, Yeah, They're Okay

This girl has some dedication. [Deadspin]  Video of fallen cheerleader still cheering with a broken neck:

Flyers Win in Shoot-out

Does it seem like they never won the shootout games until now?  It wasn't pretty but a win is a win.  Maybe this will help them get back on track.

Monday Extras - March 6th

The Sixers should have won yesterday against Indiana.  They were up 1 with 30 seconds to play and had possession of the ball.  They gave the ball back to Indiana on a shot clock violation and the Sixers decided to not play defense.  A horrible ending.

Another NFL extension: free agency will not start until Thursday at midnight, maybe. [ESPN]

-The Oscars were last night.  Because we like lists and pictures:
5. Keira Knightley 
4. Charlize Theron
3. Naomi Watts
2. Jessica Alba 
1. Salma Hayek
I loved how they sat Jessica Alba directly behind Dame Judy Dench so our eyes only had to hurt a little bit.  Reese is also a cute one.  I thought Jon Stewart did a nice job.

-Does anyone else think the Phillies commercials just get worse and worse?  The new "The color of" campaign is horrendous.  Hire a new advertising agency will ya.
-Larry Bowa got a nice ovation in Clearwater, despite wearing the wrong color pinstripes. [Inqy]
-A new name to deride Duke, the "floorslappers." [Deadspin]
-New buzz rap video from SNL's Lonely Island crew featuring Natalie Portman, it's a bit bizarre. [YouTube]
-There is a Godfather video game coming out, meet the guy who writes the guidebooks you buy so you can beat all those games.  Come on, you all needed one of those to beat Zelda, I did. [NYT]
-Bruce Springsteen has a new album coming out featuring all cover songs, with a mini tour to follow. [Backstreets]
-Don't forget to never trade Allen Iverson, watch A.I.'s crossover, new Rocky trailer, current Phillie on speed.

An awesome video for you after the jump.

Rocky Balboa Teaser Trailer

A.I. Crossover on Daniels

Which Current Phillies Player Used Speed?

An interesting article in Sunday's Inquirer by Jim Salisbury talks of how a current Phillie, who remains nameless, used speed everyday:

"Speed," said the current Phillie, who asked not to be named, for fear of tarnishing his reputation. "It's bad for your cardio. It's unhealthy. But I did it."

He did it every day for the last few seasons, and so, he estimated, did half the position players in the big leagues.

For decades, Major League Baseball, like other sports, turned a blind eye to illegal amphetamine use. Greenies were as much a part of the game as pine tar, rosin, and the 162-game grind.

Not anymore.

With stricter steroid testing in the MLB, the rampant use of speed has declined.  I'd like to try and figure out who the player talked about in the Inqy actually is.  The article mentions that the player had used speed everyday for several years so it is likely a veteran player.  I'm also assuming from the article it is a position player.  Players fitting that criteria: Bell, Lieberthal, Burrell, Abreu, JRoll, Fasano, Gonzalez, Tomas, Rowand.  From the well articulated quotes in English in the article along with the fact that his play is rather nonchalant, I think you can cross off Abreu.  David Bell grew up around major league baseball, so he could be a likely candidate.

Anyone have any insight on the matter?