It's been some time since I posted and I wanted to restart our blog with a post that I've been contemplating for a while. Members of all four Philadelphia sports teams seem to leave our city and find success in their new homes. Sometimes fans send off players with love, but more often than not, players leave Philly with a sour taste. To add salt to the wound, they either miraculously perform better or even win the elusive championship. What if you were dating a girl, then she leaves you for your friend? Or even worse, that over achieving bastard in the cubicle down the hall! It's bad enough we can't win a stinking championship, and now we have to watch our former players win in another city. Thats life as a Philly sports fan.
I compiled a short list of more memorable stars dating from the 90's to the present:
The 76ers:
Chris Webber
This schlub wouldn't stop complaining since he arrived in Philly. He barely played this current season due to some mysterious injury. The 76ers finally payed him $36million to just keep his sorry ass away from the team. That's right, $36 million to leave.
Now Webber is playing for the Detroit Piston's and averaging a double double. The Pistons have been surging to the top of the east since his arrival.
The "poor man's Bruce Bowen", Bell was a role player on 76ers run to the finals in 2001. He was never a star here or either disliked. However, no one thought he would become a ferocious defender and a self proclaimed "Kobe Stopper". He's playing on the Phoenix Suns and will be playing in the playoffs for many more seasons.
Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley is one of my favorite players of all time and I remember the day he was traded to the Phoenix Suns. He was such a strong presence in Philly and it's a shame things didn't work out. He went on to play in the finals with Suns and the Houston Rockets. Granted he never won a championship with his former teams he still went onto to bigger and better things.
Coach Brown rebuilt the 76ers, molded Allen Iverson, and brought some respect to the franchise. He was a extremely important presence in the organization, but the team deteriorated in his last few seasons. The 76ers kept loosing to the Detroit Pistons in the playoffs, and Brown insisted he would never coach for the Pistons despite rampant contradicting rumors. Well what do you know? Larry becomes the Pistons new head coach and leads them to a NBA Championship. Take that!
The Phillies:
Curt Schilling
He was an amazing pitcher with the Phillies and part of that miracle 93' season. However he always seemed to like hearing himself speak. Schilling was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks and immediately won a world series. Several seasons later he won another with the Red Sock. It's one thing to win after you leave Philly but it really stings when you win with the Diamondbacks and the Sox.
Rolen played third base so well as a Phillie but he couldn't take the pressure of playing in Philly. He turned down a ridiculous amount of money from the Phillies and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. They won the world series last season while we were stuck with David Bell.
The Eagles
Reggie White
The "Minister of Defense" was an absolute force for the Eagles. He set the teams all time sack record and actually recorded more sacks than the number of games he played with the team. He was beloved here but the ownership was too cheap to resign him. Reggie went on to play for the Green Bay Packers and won a super bowl. R.I.P.
A fan favorite and productive defender when healthy, Burgess had six sacks as a rookie. The Eagles didn't resign him and he signed with the Raiders. What happens next? He leads the NFL with 16 sacks and earns his first Pro Bowl appearance.
The Flyers
Rod Brind'Amour/Marc Recchi
Another fan favorite, Rod was a true warrior. He was captain of the Flyers and had a streak of 484 straight games played. I loved watching him dodge defenders and make crisp passes. Recchi was part of several Flyers teams during the 90's. He always seemed to come back to the Flyers and played very hard. Both ended up being traded to Carolina Hurricanes and won the Stanley Cup last season. The Flyers have great tradition and history, and seeing players win with a crappy expansion team really sucks.
Thanks for help from Scribbs, Iba, Adam Warner
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