Phightins

I am sure they are working on all four. I could potentially see them trading Werth next winter (or sooner), but I am sure they will work hard to get new deals for at least 3 of the 4. Howard will be the trickiest, but I'd say there is a better chance of him staying here long term now than I would have thought this time last year.

Apparently this was a hot rumor this morning, but this is the first I am personally hearing about it. Kings get: Samuel Dalembert Sixers get: Kenny Thomas Another rumor is that a third team (Boston) will be involved. Kings get: Samuel Dalembert JR Giddens Celtics get: Andres Nocioni Sixers get: Kenny Thomas Brian Scalabrine Tony Allen http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/deep-sixer/Sammy_D_rumors.html

The teams being consistently bad really has nothing to do with money. In most cases, it is poor judgement by members of their front office and baseball operations people. I really think the lack of a salary cap is just an excuse for fans of those teams. Just look at the Marlins, Padres, Twins, Brewers, and Athletics. The Padres and Athletics are coming off down seasons, but for the most part, these are five small-ish market teams with small budgets that somehow manage to put a winning product on the field year after year. The money is seriously just an excuse. With that said, I see the arguments for both sides of this as I said. I also don't think a Phillies fan should be complaining about the lack of a cap, since we are one of the franchises "benefitting" from it.

I disagree with that. As with every league, there are some bottom feeders who have been stuck at the bottom of the standings for years (Royals, Pirates, Orioles are the main ones), but other than that pretty much everybody has been competitive at least at some point recently. This is a bigger issue in the NBA, IMO, where you basically have 5 or 6 teams every year with a shot at a championship, and that is it. And in the NBA it takes way way longer to rebuild and contend for a championship. With baseball, even if you don't have funding like the Yankees or Red Sox, if you are smart with drafting, trading, waiver wire pickups, international signings, etc, you can remain competitive every year (see the Marlins, Brewers, and Rays as a handful of examples). As for the salary cap, I can see the arguments for both sides. I see absolutely no way it happens though, and I do not think it is that huge of a deal. The truth is, if a team consistently wins and makes upgrades to the team/facilities/does other things to keep fans interested, their market will build and their budget will as well. Just look at the Phillies. 1999, they are basically mired in a 15 year slump and playing in an aging stadium. The team sucks and fans are not showing up to the games. Their payroll in 1999 was 23rd in baseball. In the next 5 years, they built a solid young core, built a new stadium, and what do you know, they begin to sell out every game. This coming year their payroll is going to exceed $140 million, which should probably put them in the top 5 or 6 in the MLB. It is far easier said than done, but the point is that the teams like the Royals, Pirates and Orioles are not hopeless.

Just an FYI, they had serious attendance problems last year as well (with Andre Miller). They won a decent amount and got into the playoffs as the 6th seed, and still nobody cared. Didn't even come close to selling out the postseason games. I have been going to Sixers games frequently for several years now. When we had Iverson, the building was sold out regularly even during the down years, and that changed dramatically the day he was traded. He is an icon. Even though he is currently a shell of his former self, people will go to the games to see him should he come back here.

Or, they can suck with him and actually sell tickets, which is why I thought of/mentioned this. I have a feeling Ed Snider at least ran the idea by Stefanski. He has to be scared to death by the attendance figures this year. Don't see it happening but I'd be willing to bet they are thinking about it.

Well I realize it likely won't happen, I'm just asking what everybody on here thinks. Also I did not hear that Ed officially ruled it out.

I was actually talking to Matt about this earlier. Hear me out... I have been against bringing him back for the longest time, however recently I have thinking about it. At this point, what do the Sixers really have to lose? They suck right now, worst case is they bring in Iverson and still suck but they'd have some media attention and ticket sales to show for it. And if a miracle happens and he actually helps them out, well, imagine what a story that would be. Him ending his career here would be pretty cool too. Anyway, probably pretty farfetched, but what does everybody think?

Lou Williams

I see no way Westbrook plays again this year. Forget football, his future mental state is on the line, you just can't [expletive] around with concussions and this is 2 in 4 weeks now.

I guess it's safe to say Westbrook's season is over.

Finally...

Jason Avant has been pretty much the lone bright spot.

Keep laughing, looks like the Cowboys offense is having a hell of a game themselves. But on a serious note, what a [expletive]ing joke of a game. What a horrible weekend.

SPEIGHTS** Not Sprights. Woops!

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sixerville/Speights_to_miss_6-8_weeks.html Maybe we will lose every game now.

Going to the game tonight against Buffalo...pretty excited. Hoping Ryan Miller gets the night off after that long game against Calgary last night. Flyers are going for six in a row. Ray Emery has been almost lights out in these past 5 games, so hopefully he can keep it rolling.

Eric Gagne and Ben Sheets are going to attempt comebacks. Also, as expected, the Cubs are very interested in Curtis Granderson.

Lol...if their regular practices are anything like the one we saw at the Spectrum, that would explain a lot.

Same reason Dalembert is starting. They will not admit that they made the mistake of giving him that contract. At least the bright side with Brand is that there is at least a little bit of hope for him. I think Sammy has worn out his welcome with just about every Sixer fan.

Wow, awesome seats.

Clearly, since you kept grabbing at it during the game.

At least not many were there to see it.... http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g96/philsphan1210/downsized_1113092006.jpg This was taken from the top row of our section in the middle of the game. Yes, there were only about 5 other people in the section besides me Matt and our other friend. And our section was more crowded than some of the others.

Yeah, shouldn't be too difficult to hear Matt.

Well there will be at least 3 OTR members in attendance. Matt and I will be there and N4S said he will be as well. Should be exciting.