I don't think we should be all that surprised that Philadelphia hasn't won a championship since 1983, given that each organization tends to work against the practical philosophies for bringing a title home:
PHILLIES
In baseball, pitching obviously reigns supreme. The Phillies, by their actions, couldn't disagree more.
They watched their club reach the World Series in 1993 with Curt Schilling as the ace; saw the team spike downward upon his departure; glared longingly as he won titles in two different cities; then ultimately decided Robert Person/Kevin Millwood/Eric Milton/Jon Lieber were adequate replacements.
Don't give me the money excuse, either. The organization has dipped down deep for plenty of bats (Pat Burrell, Jimmy Rollins, Bobby Abreu, Mike Lieberthal, David Bell, Jim Thome) over the past few seasons, yet chose not to buck up for the only essential position in the game.
EAGLES
The Eagles have the defense and quarterback parts down pat -- hence the reason why they've been the most successful franchise in town in recent history --but have ignored the running game. (Did you know that they haven't drafted a RB in the first round of the NFL Draft since Keith Byars was taken 20 years ago?)
They actually have two above average backs in town now (Brian Westbrook and Ryan Moats), but have yet to properly utilize them. You can't use their size as an excuse to not work them; there's two of them, after all, so they can split the load. And what exactly are we saving them for, anyway?
A pass-first offense is fine and in fact commonplace in the NFL, but the domino effect from not mixing in the run is disastrous: The opposing defense only has to key on one element of the game...They begin to shut it down...The offense racks up a bunch of three-and-outs, with hardly any time milked from the clock...Your defense makes more trips onto the field...The defense gets worn down...The other team begins to own time of possession, and keeps lighting up the scoreboard...You lose.
Stop out-thinking yourselves. Run the ball. Even when it doesn't work.
FLYERS
Bobby Clarke is stuck in the 70s. We know this. We know that he tries to build teams in the mold of the Broad Street Bullies, and that said teams (though entertaining) eventually come up with air when they try and lay bodies on a faster team, leading to more breakaways than a Wizards-Cavs game.
The biggest mistake is Clarkie's tenure, though, is his failure to put heavy emphasis on goaltending. Since Hextall, how many seasons of platooning netminders have we sat through? How many soft goals, choke jobs and meltdowns?
As far as this season is concerned, another Philly organization failed to employ logic. You have two goalies -- one that won a silver medal as a stalwart in net during the Olympics, and another who was a THIRD-STRINGER for an American team that got bounced before the ice even had a chance to get scuffed up. And which one did they choose to go with in the playoffs? Right.
Identify a top-flight goalie, play him regularly, and build your team around speed. I beg of you.
SIXERS
There's actually so much wrong here, I'm having a tough time sorting it.
This team's way too easy to pick on, seeing as they can't play defense, have no inside presence, get outrebounded more times than not, don't run any kind of systematic offense, and have next-to-zero financial wiggle room to fix all of these ailments. Otherwise, the sky's the limit with this club.
The bottom line from all of this, though, is that without a game-changing big man, a team can rarely thrive. The Sixers have won championships or gotten close when they have had a dominant inside presence, and fell short without one. Pretty much all of the other teams in NBA history can say the same, except for the ones that had Michael Jordan on their side.
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And so, my fellow lowly Philly fans, it becomes clear that we are not in a championship drought because we have angered the gods, but rather because our teams ignore the rules that they set forth at the dawn of each sport.
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