Bad Karma?

This creepy feeling of unease about Philly teams has been steadily growing over the last month or so, no doubt due to the Phils erratic performances and the Eagles' soap opera training camp/preseason. But now with playoff crunch time starting in MLB, and the Birds on the verge of games that count, the unease is progressing to full-fledged palpitations in the pit of my stomach. I'd like to disregard this as simply one more case of a life-long Philly fan expecting the worst -- understandable based on Philly sports history, but a premature overreaction all the same. After all, the Fightin's finally put Billy Penn's curse to rest last year, right? And the Birds, who looked headed for the dust heap after the Bengals and Ravens games last season, ended up rallying to make it (again) to the Conference Championships, right? All very good, but this year just feels more ominous, much like watching the character in a slasher film about to enter the darkened basement where we know the killer is lurking. The Phils are entering the most crucial part of the season looking eminently beatable by just about anyone: Hamels continues his Jekyll & Hyde act; Lee is looking human; Happ is nicked-up and is unproven in crunch time; Blanton has been surprisingly consistent but (as last night indicates) can't be counted on to function as the de facto ace; they have no dependable closer; their bats are relying exlusively on HR flurries and can't produce rallies; when they get good pitching, their bats go silent; when their bats are productive, their pitching sucks. Any way you slice it, this can add up to an ugly finish. And then there are the Birds: a wrecked O-Line with more holes than Swiss cheese; a quite possibly bipolar Shawn Andrews who clearly prefers making bad rap songs in homage to Michael Phelps than making any plays on a football field; a highly questionable knee attached to the Pro Bowl running back; a linebacking corps missing its top leader and performer; a 5th round draft pick rookie who never played safety in college taking over Dawk's starting position; a rookie defensive coordinator taking over for one of the best assistant coaches in the NFL; a possibly chaotic offensive scheme occasioned by the peculiar need to find a way to get Vick on the field. And this doesn't even take into account Reid's typical play calling gaffes and game day brain freezes. Given all this, I think it's quite reasonable, even at this early date, to be very concerned about what we'll be seeing at The Link and on our TV screens for the next 4 months. Tums anyone?

Open Letter to Philly Sports Fans

It has come to the attention of Kotite's Corner that you have been thoroughly disrespected, and in some cases overtly slandered, over the past week in the aftermath of the Dawkins fiasco. No surprise there, you may think, since you're certainly no strangers to uninformed put-downs by know-nothing outsiders. This is distinctly different, however, as the recent verbal smackdowns have been primarily home grown. Your well-founded distress and outrage over the sickening mishandling of the Dawkins affair have been derided in several quarters of the Philly sports media, and have been the subject of "tut-tut" chiding by quite a few Philly sports blogs. One would expect these reactions from the likes of Eskin and Spadaro, the robotic chief commode carriers for Team Gold Standard. But when drinking the Lurie Kool-Aid spreads to major Philly sports writers and bloggers, it's time for the alarm bells to go off, and Kotite's Corner is here to ring them on behalf of the best damn sports fans in the country!

The main target of this derision has been your emotional reaction to losing one of the most talented, inspirational leaders in all of sports. Your emotion, it is claimed, has clouded your judgment. After all, Dawkins' skills had deteriorated. He was on the downside of his career. He had nothing left in the tank. Johnson had to make defensive adjustments to hide his many liabilities, which opponents would soon learn to exploit. And anyway, it was his decision to take the Bronco's overpayment and walk out.? He didn't give the Eagles a fair shot to match.? One columnist -- who will go unnamed but whose initials are FF -- went so far in a particularly nasty piece in the Inky to portray Dawk as a self-centered, over-the-hill showboat whose act should have been put out to pasture seasons ago. This same genius sarcastically dismissed Philly fans as too stupid, too drunk, and too childish to appreciate the Eagles' sensible and mature decision to let Dawkins shuffle off to Denver.

Enough of this crap, Philly fans! Most of you have more sports knowledge in your little fingers than these self-appointed media and blogger experts have in their overly ample bodies. You know perfectly well that Dawk was no longer the player he was 2, 3, or 4 years ago. You know perfectly well there were increasing limitations to his skill-set. But you also know that there was no greater leader on any team in any sport. And you also know this is a man who could still inspire teammates to be the best they could possibly be. And you know this was a player who gave everything he had to an organization that benefited both professionally and financially from his contributions.

But most of all you know that there's a right way for employers to treat valued employees and a wrong way. You know that sometimes cold rationality and calculated logic by themselves are wrong. You know there's a place for heart and guts and determination and dedication in measuring performance that goes well beyond statistics, and which deserves to be valued and rewarded every bit as much as this or that "objective" achievement. You know all this because in addition to your knowledge, you are by far the most passionate fans in the country! And your passion is a gift that allows your vision to extend beyond the narrow range of those who would reduce sports to dull statistics and dollars & cents.

So to all the true Philly sports fans, Kotite's Corner salutes your courageous and heart-felt opposition to the Dawkins travesty, a travesty that is being shamefully "explained away" by all too many gutless media minions in this very town.