Angelo Cataldi – Rants

Joshua Harris and Adam Aron came to Philadelphia last week, defibrillation paddles in hand, and brought back to life the corpse of the 76ers. The new owners are everything the old owners weren’t – people who care about basketball and have an actual plan on how to revive it here.
Even more interesting was what their debut revealed about the owners we already have: likeable Dave Montgomery, outdated Ed Snider and elitist Jeff Lurie. Billionaire businessman Harris and resorts entrepreneur Aron unwittingly said a great deal about all of those owners, and, in so doing, a great deal about themselves, too.
The new management face of the Sixers is Aron, who grew up in Abington immersed in the world of Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving and the greatest public-address announcer of all time, Dave Zinkoff. Aron can rattle off some of Zinkoff’s old lines effortlessly, and he doesn’t need much prodding to do it. The CEO and co-owner is one of us – a fan – with two Harvard degrees and an undefeated record in business.
The first thing Harris and Aron did upon their arrival was to slash the ticket prices on over 9,000 seats, some by 50 percent or more. If they had rented a neon billboard calling the previous owners clueless, the message would not have been any clearer. Comcast and Ed Snider are gone, and so is the clueless way they ran the Sixers. Hallelujah.
Less tangible but just as impressive was the way Harris and Aron took a page from Montgomery’s manual and built an immediate bond with the fans. They made their new ownership about the people, setting up a website (newsixersowner.com) where fans have direct contact with the bosses. They even reached out for advice from former president Pat Croce, a man who knows more about fan bonding than anyone.
In the process of their introduction to the city, Harris and Aron showed us a quality that we all undervalue in the high-stakes, cut-throat world of professional sports. They showed people skills – something the Phillies have in abundance and something the Eagles don’t have at all.
During separate interviews with both Harris and Aron, I pinned them down on their accessibility to fans. Specifically, I asked them if they’d be as available after a five-game losing streak as they were last week. Of course, they both said they would be, but then they proved it – at least to me – by adding that it’s their responsibility to talk to the fans. It’s their job. Meanwhile, the Eagles bosses, Lurie and Joe Banner, remained unavailable for a seventh straight week.
Just two days after the impressive debut of the new Sixers owners, talks broke down again in the NBA lockout. For the first time in memory, I actually gave a damn. I’m disappointed that we’ll have to wait longer – maybe a lot longer – to see the new Sixers. Congratulations to the new guys for starting to make us care again.

An alarming thought occurred to me last week after reading and hearing for the umpteenth time how the Eagles had saved their season against Washington. The general theme after that shaky 20-13 win was that the Birds would be fine now, that they had survived the premature demise of their promising season.
What if the Eagles won that game not because of their newly redesigned defense but because of the dreadful performance of Rex Grossman? What if the Eagles are spending this bye week deluding themselves into thinking again that they’re better than they really are? What if – perish the thought – Tony Romo exposes them on Sunday night?
These Eagles are never very good at dealing with reality, but here’s a dose of it for them anyway. Kurt Coleman is not going to make three interceptions in a game again this season; he probably will not get three more this season. The linebackers still aren’t big enough or fast enough to scare anybody. The heralded cornerbacks can’t tackle. The defensive coordinator, Juan Castillo, still has shown little evidence that he knows what he’s doing.
And that’s just on defense. Michael Vick is still getting hit way too much, the big-play offense is not making anywhere near enough big plays, the placekicker is not trusted in big situations and Andy Reid is still the coach.
The Eagles saved the season in Washington, you say? I doubt it. I have a really bad feeling that the only thing they actually did is prolong the agony of a lost cause.

Ruben Amaro Jr. did a brilliant job of building the 102-win Phillies, but we now can finally see what his team lacked the most. It’s the ultimate intangible in sports. Luck.
Just go back to the ninth inning of Game 2 of the World Series last Thursday. The Cardinals were leading 1-0 at the time, with the top Texas hitters due to bat. Does that situation call to mind any recent moment for the Phillies? Like, say, the ninth inning of Game 5 of the division series, same score, big hitters scheduled to hit?
In St. Louis, Ian Kinsler led off by blooping a base hit into left field, triggering a two-run rally that tied the series. In Philadelphia, Chase Utley crushed a ball to the base of the center-field wall, where it died in the glove of John Jay. Kinsler hit the ball 200 feet. Utley hit it 400. Kinsler won the game. Utley lost the season.
I was talking to coach Peter Laviollette last week after his Flyers had lost to the Capitals, 5-2, on four deflected goals. He said he hadn’t slept much the night after that game. He kept seeing the puck snake through a throng of skaters and ping-pong into the net. Three of the four tainted goals had actually struck Flyers on their way in.
You can’t coach luck, he said. And you can’t general manage it, either. You can put together one of the best starting rotations in history, but you can’t tell the ball where to land with the game – and the season – on the line.

Idle thoughts . . . .
• The Phillies have already made their first mistake of the off-season. They retained hitting coach Greg Gross for another year. Ruben Amaro and Charlie Manuel both said they didn’t like the approach of the hitters last season. And then Gross got rehired? It makes no sense.
• When is a trade a matter of life and death? When the player is Jerome Harrison and his physical right after the deal turns up a brain tumor. Bravo to the Eagles medical staff for catching the problem early, and even to Ronnie Brown for making the dumb play that saved Harrison’s life.
• A recent poll shows that two out of three fans want Sixers mascot Hip Hop bounced. In a city with the incomparable Phanatic, there’s just no room for a far inferior mascot. Boil the water. It’s time for some rabbit stew.
• Paul Holmgren stopped the housecleaning one player too soon. The Flyers GM should have dumped Scott Hartnell along with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. Hartnell already has a reduced role, and if he makes a few more plays like that giveaway against Washington, he’ll have no role at all.
• After his third straight benching in three seasons, Donovan McNabb said he has “a lot more football to play.” Is this why he was seen in the front row of a Lingerie Football League game recently? Is he looking for his next job already?

The Eagles won a football game on Sunday. That’s the bad news. The good news is, coach Andy Reid did not fix his broken team, despite a 20-13 victory over Washington. The coach simply found an opponent less talented and more clueless than his own. Reid is still on course to leave at the end of the season.
If those words seem like the bitter lament of someone who’s no longer rooting for the Eagles, well, they are. I decided late last week to root for something much more important than the final 11 games of an already doomed season. That’s why I was hoping they’d lose on Sunday – and every game after that until Reid is gone. I still love the Birds, always will. I love them so much, I’m sacrificing 2011.
While the city was applauding the revival of a team that had carried so much optimism just a few weeks ago, I had a new perspective when the Eagles faced the Redskins. And what I saw was nothing dramatically different than the four pitiful losses that preceded it. Yes, the run defense was better, and – for once – the Birds didn’t blow a lead in the fourth quarter.
But look at the rest of it, through my refocused eyes as a former Eagles fan. The team still started horribly, with two penalties on the opening drive and a snap over Michael Vick’s head that narrowly missed being a safety. Will Reid ever find a way to motivate his players before a game? What exactly does he say in his pregame speech? Does he sing them lullabies?
And before we send new defensive coordinator Juan Castillo to Canton, let’s consider the Washington quarterback , Rex Grossman. Somehow, Grossman managed to throw four interceptions before his benching, three to safety Kurt Coleman, who had amassed the grand total of one pick in his previous 20 NFL games.
The Eagles offense was hardly the explosive touchdown machine that had been advertised before the season, either. Because of a makeshift offensive line, Vick resorted to three-step drops for most of the game, thereby negating the deep speed of DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin. The Birds won the game because LeSean McCoy simply refused to lose, especially on the final drive.
Think about it for a second. Reid escaped with a win despite a still-unreliable offensive line, still-unreliable linebackers, a still-unreliable defensive coordinator and a still-unreliable placekicker. The only thing we can count on for sure right now is Reid’s insulting attitude. Even after a win, he said the Eagles “have to do a better job” of scoring in the second half. Ugh.
Philadelphia was happy that the football season didn’t end on Sunday. There will be more meaningful games to play after the bye week, maybe a whole season of them. But not to me. No, I’ll wait for something more significant to cheer. I’ll save my joy for the long-overdue departure of Andy Reid.

Every once in a while, a rookie comes along who acts so stupidly, he needs an instant education. Such was the case last week with Eagles center Jason Kelce, and I had the enviable task of serving as his instructor.
After their abysmal loss to Buffalo, Kelce and linemate Evan Mathis stopped outside the gates of the Novacare Center and strongly urged a couple of fans to take down a sign that suggested the it was time for coach Andy Reid to leave. Exactly what was said between the players and protestors is in question, but Kelce did admit on local TV that he threatened to pull down the sign himself if they didn’t remove it.
The idea of suppressing fan criticism is idiotic on the surface – this being America, and all – but the notion of trying it in Philadelphia is downright infuriating. I screamed my lungs out in making this point on my radio show last Thursday. This was certainly not the first time I went bonkers in my 22-year stint on WIP, but my tirade got an unusual response. Kelce apologized for his behavior.
The young lineman came on my show the very next day, explained that he was just being loyal to Reid, and then acknowledged his mistake. He expressed sincere regret to the protestors, and then he said he was sorry to all Eagles fans.
So what was the lesson of this incident? The lesson was that no one is going to come into Philadelphia and tell the most passionate fans in America how to act. Those protestors were well within their rights to post a sign calling for Reid to leave. In fact, they were expressing the opinion of a majority of the fans.
Our city has gotten a bad reputation – and an unfair one – because we care enough to boo and howl and erect insulting signs when our teams disappoint us. If the players want to stop the criticism, there is really only one solution. Win.

Charlie Manuel made a stunning admission last week, but many fans missed it in the depression that followed the playoff ouster of the best Phillies team ever. He said his players are not listening to him.
The manager didn’t mean to say it. He didn’t want to say it, either. In fact, he would deny saying it if pressed today. But he said it. Oh, he definitely said it.
Ruben Amaro Jr. began the exchange that led to Manuel’s revelation when the GM said the team needs to change its hitting style – to work counts better, to use all parts of the field, to adapt to the different situations that crop up in a game. In other words, to be smarter at the plate.
Manuel immediately agreed with his boss, before reminding everyone that his specialty is hitting. “I know how good of a hitting coach I am” were his exact words. Then came the moment of truth. Manuel said he has been trying all year to get his hitters to change their style, with no apparent success. Is there another way to interpret this but that, after seven years, the players are tuning him out?
The fact is, Manuel just handed a loaded gun to Amaro, an on-the-record public admission that he is losing his effectiveness as a manager. If Manuel doesn’t win it all with the Phillies in 2012, don’t be surprised if Amaro pulls the trigger.

Idle thoughts . . . .
• Mr. Charisma moved 3,000 miles away, but he’s still the most boring man in pro sports. Mike Richards set up the winning goal in overtime for the Los Angeles Kings Saturday night, and then the former Flyer captain had nothing more to offer than his usual droning, nervous mumblings. Good riddance.
• If you want to see how a really good coach does his job, check out Peter Laviolette of the Flyers. His strategy is logical, his approach is consistent and his answers to questions are respectful and intelligent. Andy Reid and Charlie Manuel could learn a lot from this guy.

• Joshua Evans just spent $280 million on a Sixers franchise with no star attraction, a tepid fan base and an NBA lockout threatening an entire season. Hey, at least he must really want the team – unlike the previous owners, Ed Snider and Comcast. Good luck to the new guy. He’ll need it.
• Jimmy Rollins needs to check his birth certificate. He wants a new five-year contract. He’s a soon-to-be 33-year-old shortstop with a lousy on-base-percentage, dwindling range and a bad attitude. He doesn’t deserve a day over three.
• Embattled Eagles defensive coordinator Juan Castillo said last week that he was totally unaware of all the harsh criticism he has been receiving. Clueless on the field, clueless off it. Well, at least he’s consistent.

The crowd was clamoring for a miracle as Ryan Howard took one last mighty cut and then stumbled down the first-base line before landing in agony just a few steps from the batter’s box. I was in section 214 as the feeble ground ball became the final out of a disastrous loss. Howard was seriously hurt. Nobody cared.
Has there ever been a clearer snapshot of the fleeting nature of fame than that moment last Friday night? Howard was the hero of Game 1 of the division series, he was the poster boy for a half-decade of unprecedented success by the Phillies, and nobody gave a damn – including me – as he endured a pain deeper than any in his remarkable career.
As I drove home in silence after the worst loss in Phillies history, the word was already circulating that Howard had ruptured an Achilles tendon in his left foot, raising doubts about his immediate future in baseball. Even then, I felt no great sympathy for the big slugger, and neither did any of the fans who called my radio show to talk about it yesterday.
With the wounds still throbbing after the defeat of the best Phillies team ever, it’s hard to draw any sweeping conclusions about how we will feel about this era and these players months or even years from now. But I have a strong suspicion that things will never be the same, that the harsh glare of this historic loss will change the way we see many of these heroes.
For example, will manager Charlie Manuel seem as charming and lovable now that he failed to win with this amazing team? Who deserves more blame for the failure of the offense than the manager, whose specialty is hitting? Is one championship in seven seasons with the best talent in Phillies history good enough?
And what about Cliff Lee, who blew a 4-0 lead in Game 2 and changed the direction of the series? His love affair with Philadelphia may not have ended that night in Philadelphia, but will it ever be so passionate again? Will he ever be embraced the same way after that shocking collapse?
There are questions at every locker now. Will Roy Halladay still be as brilliant next year, at 35, as he was this season? Will Chase Utley ever again be the player he was just a few years ago? Is this the end for the hero of 2008, Brad Lidge? Will Jimmy Rollins ever play another game for the Phillies? Should he?
All of these questions can be answered only by the passage of time, but the one moment in 2011 frozen forever is Ryan Howard on the ground, in horrible pain, and 46,530 people leaving the ballpark in silence. Many of them never even looked back. I know I didn’t.
Baseball can be a very cold sport, and this promises to be an especially frigid winter for all of us.

Juan Castillo must be removed as defensive coordinator of the Eagles immediately. The experiment must end. Every aspect of this overpaid, underachieving defense is broken – shattered – and it will remain that way until someone who knows what he’s doing is running the defense.
What happened Sunday in Buffalo was not at all surprising – a 31-24 loss to another inferior opponent – but it was infuriating just the same. Every member of the defense, including Pro Bowlers like Nnamdi Asomugha, has forgotten how to tackle. Every opposition running back looks like Walter Payton.
The one moment that best captured the current state of the defense came on the last meaningful play of the game, when defensive end Juqua Parker jumped offside on a fourth-down fake snap that wouldn’t fool a Pop Warner player. This Eagles defense is not just inept, it is dumb.
And all of its shortcomings point directly at Castillo, who was, is and always will be nothing more than an offensive-line coach. Yes, the Eagles turned the ball over five times, they screwed up the time management at the end of the half again, they committed stupid penalties and they appeared lost and disinterested until their fierce and futile rally.
But the only thing that really matters is that Buffalo scored 31 points, after 24 by San Francisco, 29 by the Giants, 35 by Atlanta and 31 by St. Louis. Those are the numbers of a losing team, a lost team. They demand immediate action. Juan Castillo must go.

On the trek out of Citizens Bank Park after the crushing Game 5 loss to St. Louis, the somber fans tried several times to start a “Let’s Go Flyers” chant. They were just as futile in that effort as the Phillies had been all night at the plate.
In the months ahead, however, we can expect those chants to grow as loud and strong as the team they represent. In the new power rankings of Philadelphia sports, the Flyers present the best hope for our next championship, and they did nothing in the first week of the season to discourage that optimism.
What was so appealing about the Flyers in their first two games – both wins – was the freshness of their boldly reshaped roster. Ilya Bryzgalov has already posted one more shutout than the goalie carousel did in the entire regular season last year. Claude Giroux is approaching superstar status, James van Riemsdyk is maturing quickly and the new additions – Jaromir Jagr, Wayne Simmonds, Sean Couturier, Matt Read and Jakub Voracek – are providing speed and depth.
Equally important is the absence of the two overrated and overpaid stars, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, who were banished in the off-season purge. Is there a single sober fan who believes the Flyers were better off with the dour Richards as captain than the feisty Chris Pronger? With Pronger as the unchallenged leader in the clubhouse, the Flyers will not fade the way they did at the end of last season.
The Flyers are the best pro team in Philadelphia right now, and – as predicted on these pages a few weeks ago – they will prove it by winning the Stanley Cup this season.

Idle thoughts . . . .
• There’s only one member of the Phillies I refuse to rip after the division-series debacle: Ruben Amaro. Not only did the GM deliver the best pitching rotation in team history, he also got Hunter Pence before the trade deadline. Amaro did his job. The players and manager didn’t. End of story.
• Now that Roy Oswalt has made it clear he wants to come back next season, the Phils need to exercise his option and then trade him. The Phils already have a better No. 4 starter, Vance Worley, and they can find a much better way to use the $16 million owed to Oswalt in 2012.
• Andy Reid said for the fourth straight week that he had to do a better job after losing again on Sunday. Just as an experiment, try telling that to your boss for four straight weeks. Then let me know if you get a chance for a fifth straight week.
• As usual, Eagles owner Jeff Lurie and president Joe Banner have vanished from sight during the past month. They smiled for every camera when assembling this team, and now they are invisible when it falls apart. Why do they think they can get away with this? Why do we let them?
• Hey, not all of the news is bad this week. At least Phillies fans won’t have to hear Dick Stockton broadcast another game on TNT, or watch umpires Jerry Meals and Angel Hernandez butcher any more calls, or stay up past midnight. That’s just like me, isn’t it? Always looking for the silver lining. . . .