God,
Let Me Play Well
By Gregg Easterbrook God,
let me play well but fairly.
Help me to learn something that matters
once the game is over.
Let competition make me strong but never hostile.
Always let me help my opponent up.
Never catch me rejoicing in the adversity of others.
If I know victory, allow me to be happy;
if I am denied, keep me from envy.
Remind me that sports are just games.
If through athletics I set an example,
let it be a good one.
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ED MUST GO!
Flyers owner is reason
for team's decay!
There is no question over the past thirty years
that the Flyers have given Philadelphia the
greatest hope for a championship. Over their
first twenty years of existence, The Flyers
made it to the NHL Finals six teams and always
among the class of the league. Sadly to say,
over the last twenty years, they have been to
the finals once and are currently the laughing
stock of professional hockey.
Robert Earle Clarke, The icon of this franchise
has taken the blame for this demise. Poor draft,
stupid free agent signings and a revolving door
of coaching changes. Certainly, his tenure as
General Manager will always be considered a
failure, due to a lack of winning a Stanley
Cup, but the events of the last 2 months makes
me believe he was just a pawn in the fantasy
hockey world of Ed Snider.
After a very sluggish start by the Flyers, MR
Snider went out and optioned three players to
the AHL Phantoms without discussing these moves
with Clarke. He made no attempt to cover this
move up. One could then assume Snider was always
in control of player moves. He then offered
the General Manager's job to Colin Campbell
before relieving Clarke of his duties. Making
Clarke's resignation a sugar coating for his
firing. After making a feeble attempt at getting
a new GM from outside the organization, he promoted
Paul Holmgren. Not until Holmgren's second move
as GM did I know Snider was making his moves
also. The Flyers traded a 4th round pick to
Anaheim for former Flyer Todd Fedoruk. I know
Fedoruk personally. He is a fine young man that
has overcome some of the same issues I had as
a young adult and has become a wonderful husband
and father, but this club has enough "tough
guys". The Flyers have an urgent need for
scoring and NHL defensemen. Getting another
"Banger" was just a play by the owner
to sell more tickets. That 4th round pick could
have gone to better use.
This club is in total decay and no plan to improve.
The years of spending more money than most teams
to make the playoffs is over. The salary cap
took care of that. Ed, I mean, Mr Snider, your
son Jay said over 15 years ago that Bobby Clarke
was not the General Manager to take the Flyers
to the promised land. He was right. For that
matter, your time is over also. Please do us
all a favor and give the next generation a chance,
they could not possibly do any worse than what
is going on right now.
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