The Phillies sported their best threads this afternoon as the President of the United States of America welcomed the World Champions of baseball to his home on Pennsylvania Avenue. Barack made cute little comments about most of the players including Shane Victorino giving him the shaka. Sarge Mathews, who is legitimately boys with 44, got a nice hug and warm greeting.
Continue reading "Phillies Meet President Obama At The White House" »
For a moment, Pat Burrell will lineup alongside his 2008 World Champion teammates and be cheered as if he were a member of the Phillies one final time. On April 8th, Burrell will be in Philadelphia to take part in the World Champions Ring Ceremony before the Phillies play the Braves at 3:05. He'll then fly to Boston to help the Rays take on the Red Sox at Fenway later that evening.
Continue reading "A Champion Will Return To Collect His Laurels" »
Remember that time you flipped the car, chucked a liquor bottle at a guy on a lamppost, and/or broke into that luggage shop? No? Well you're in luck, because in case you missed the videos on the news, youtube, and every sports blog around, Discovery Channel will be airing a special episode of Rampage in honor of the... shall we say... pre-parade celebrations on Broad Street.
And me with my new TV and cable package, just in time.
Via Philebrity.
Continuing in the trend of real spring training news lacking, David Murphy takes a wonderful look back at the Canadian lumber that Matt Stairs used to swing his way into Philadelphia lore. "I hadn't used it before," Stairs said, "and I haven't used it since."
I believe that is the text book definition of a one-hit wonder. (Thank you, thank you.)
Every now and then we get an email from a fan that makes us smile. Today, Josh Taggert, a displaced Phillies fan, sent along a link to this book he made in honor of the Phillies 2008 championship season. He sent images of the book along with kind words about how it's teams like the '08 Phils and sites like ours that give him that taste of home he often misses.
Phillies fans will undoubtedly remember the 2008 championship run forever, but the chance to really milk the memories is likely coming to a close with the start of a new campaign. Alas, Opening Day is still weeks away so milk we shall. The Inquirer has been running quotes from many Phillies on their favorite memories. Chad Durbin's is great.
"The World Series was kind of a cardboard cutout of the whole year," he said. "The Series right up to the parade - it's still hard to wrap your brain around. Seeing that sea of red when you walked onto the field to the sea of red at the parade - it was worth all the hard work we put in.
ESPN's Rick Reilly profiles a man named Lionel Rodia, a 42-year old Phillies fan, who snuck his way onto the field after the Phillies clinching World Series victory. It's an amazing tale of a fan finding himself in the locker room pouring champagne over the players we all adore.
Continue reading "The Fan Who Snuck Into The Phillies World Series Celebration" »
Capping an outstanding year that saw the Phillies return to prominence in this town, the Daily News has announced that Brad Lidge was voted Sportsman of the Year. His manager and teammates rounded out the top spots, as you might imagine following a World Series win.
He received 13 of 35 first-place votes and 133 points in a list that, not surprisingly, was dominated by the Phillies. Manager Charlie Manuel (12 first-place votes, 100 points), lefthander Cole Hamels (7, 93) and first baseman Ryan Howard (26 points) rounded out the Top 4. The only other candidates to receive first-place votes were Jamie Moyer and Pat Burrell.
After Lidge's perfect season without a blown save, the team's juggernaut run through each playoff series, and the parade down Broad Street, maybe this award will finally help us cope with the loss of Michael Bourn, Geoff Geary, and Mike Costanzo.
Bernard Hopkins was the top non-Phillie on the list (5th), and Dawk was the highest Eagle (6th), tying with Paul Holmgren of the Flyers. Ed Stefanski and Mo Cheeks received the only Sixers votes and came in at a five-way tie for 17th with two votes apiece.
The Christmas season is an awesome time of year. Sipping eggnog with family and friends while discussing Philly sports is a joy after the '08 season. There are maybe four guys we'd wish would attend our annual Christmas festivities: Clark W. Griswold, Cousin Eddie, Chase Effing Utley, and good old Charlie Manuel. In fact, there's no jollier guy I'd like to talk to meet than Uncle Cholly.
The good folks over at 950 ESPN got the chance to chat with the Phils skipper this afternoon. Jody Mac and Harry Mayes cover the typical glorious Phillies World Series topics as well as the moves to let Burrell go in favor of Raul Ibanez.
But the question you're all dying to know, what does Charlie Manuel want for Christmas?
Chase Utley on dropping the F-bomb in the middle of World Champions.
"That was definitely an emotional day that we all had. That drive down Broad Street was one of the best days of my life. I imagine for a lot of Phillies fans it was the same. I could've used different words to express myself. At the time, I didn't. I would tell kids not to use that word. But if they're 29 and they win the World Series, I think they can say that. I definitely would say to all the kids out there, 'Kids, that's a bad word. Don't say it.'"
Continue reading "Quotable: Chase Utley On Being the World Effing Champion" »
Before going to the Wachovia Center to see the Flyers dismantle the Penguins on Saturday, my friend Will and I walked from FDR over to CBP to get our picture taken with the Commissioner's Trophy, a glorious moment for any Philly sports fan. Once we got inside, we saw lines in several different places... some for Phanta Claus, others for a charity merchandise sale, and the longest for the Holy Grail.
Reader Larry sent in this great shot of Phanta Claus with his 5-year-old nephew. 
Economic times are tough and retailers everywhere are feeling it, except for those hocking Phillies gear.
At least one sports licensor, however, is looking optimistically at the holidays. The Philadelphia Phillies’ first championship in 28 years sparked hot-market sales that MLB licensing chief Howard Smith now says surpassed the 2000 Subway Series. That means sales generated by the 2008 Series are second only to those fueled by the Boston Red Sox’s 2004 title.
Continue reading "Get Your Phillies 2008 World Championship Santa Hat" »
The glorious holiday of gluttony and laziness is over, and your ass is back at work. The Birds win seems like it was a week ago, and the Flyers and Sixers kinda had a shitty weekend, but two things are keeping me in good spirits today: (1) I didn't shoot myself in the leg, and (2) this video—another brilliant celebration of the Phillies 2008 World Series win.
The Phils have been criticized in the past for their reliance on hitting home runs to generate offense. In a small park, it's not the worst problem to have, but we'd all agree the team was clearly at its best when it could mix in some small ball between the dingers, because when the latter goes cold, it can get ugly.
But in the 2008 postseason, the Phils chose life and found their strokes, getting timely blasts up and down their lineup. Ryan Howard. Pat Burrell. Chase Effing Utley. Shane Vic! Jayson Werth. Carlos Ruiz? Yep. All 'em. And Matt Stairs. And Jimmy Rollins. Eric Bruntlett. Joe Blanton! In 14 games, they went deep 19 times. Some broke ties, some put a period at the end of a starter's death sentence. Some barely cleared the fence, and others rose slow and fell fast, white and against a dark sky or hardly visible among a cresting wave of CBP fans.
After the jump, every Phillies 2008 playoff homer in all its glory.
Continue reading "Life and Death With the Long Ball: Phillies 2008 Postseason Homers " »
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