The Official Flyers Post

I understand it's baseball season, but bear with me. Hockey season is, after all, never more than three months away.

Growing up in Philadelphia, I was always into sports, both in terms of playing and following. Until I was about 8 years old (1992), none of the Philly teams were any good. The Eagles had a tremendous defense led by Reggie White and Jerome Brown and an always interesting offense with Randle Cunningham at the helm, but the Redskins, Giants, and Cowboys were always better. And then Jerome died and Reggie said it wasn't about the money and left for more money, and Rich Kotite came to town, and well, I'd really rather not get into it.

In 1993 the Phillies made a magical run and lost in tragic fashion, and the Sixers thought trading Charles Barkley for a white guy was a good idea. (It wasn't.) And then, out of nowhere, the Flyers, a team that had lost at least 37 games in each of its last 5 seasons, started making some noise in 1994. They had this new guy, Eric Lindros. And they had this old guy, Bobby Clarke. And then all of a sudden, a team that had been a doormat for 5 years was, in a season that didn't start until January 21st, the Atlantic Division champs. And they went all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, sweeping the defending champion Rangers on their way there. And I was hooked.

In the 95-96 season, they took a slight step backward, losing to the Florida Panthers in the semifinals. But still, it was clear that this team was going to be a force to be reckoned with. And in 1996-97, they were. They won 45 games for the second consecutive season, and cruised to a 12-3 record in the playoffs, earning a date with the Detroit Red Wings. And then the wheels came off.

The Red Wings didn't just beat the Flyers - they destroyed them. even at age 12, this was painfully obvious to me. They were faster, they were fancier, and shit, they were just better. In retrospect, that series marked the dawn of a new era in hockey. The game was no longer about big guys like Eric Lindros and John LeClair. Sure, you could win a lot of games with guys like that, but you can't win the most important games. You need to kill penalties, you need to score on power plays, and you need to not get hurt.

And yet, the Flyers kept on keepin' on. They kept making the playoffs and we as Philadelphians kept drinking the orange Kool Aid. And then in 2000, it looked like they might finally do it. After dropping the first two games at home to the Penguins in the conference semis, they won game 3 in overtime. And then they won game 4 in the fifth overtime. And well, you don't recover from a loss like that. At home. They won the next two against an already defeated Penguins team and had a date with the Devils, a team that I hate more than every other team in the world not from Dallas. And the Flyers went up 3 games to 1. And they were doing all of this without their melon-skulled captain, Eric Lindros.

And then they lost game 5 at home. And game 6 on the road. And then Lindros made his heroic early return from his 247th concussion for game 7. And Then Scott Stevens knocked him the fuck out. And they lost. And by then, I was done. I was no longer some 12 year old who actually thought his team still had a future. At age 16, I knew that this current group of players - and that current type of big, bruising player - wasn't going to cut it. And I also knew that if you wanted to win a Stanley Cup, you need a top of the line goalie. You know who didn't know that? Bobby Clarke. He brought in guys like Keith Primeau and Jeremy Roenick, guys who were undeniably good players, and at the same, undeniably not good enough to build a cup winning team around. If a 16 year old that had never played hockey understood what needed to be done, one would think a Hall of Famer would have been able to figure it out. One would be wrong.

In 2004 The Flyers started to suck me back in when they forced the Lightning to a game 7 in the Eastern conference finals. But even then, I knew they weren't going to win. They were the Flyers, and this was a game 7. And sure enough, they lost to a team that scored on half of their power plays in the series, which is usually a good way to go about winning hockey games. And then the lockout happened and hockey was officially dead to me.

And then, this season, something strange happened. Last season (06-07) the Flyers had the worst record in the NHL, which made them super easy to not care about. And then, in the offseason, they made some changes. Bobby Clarke was no longer in charge of personnel decisions, and the free agents they signed, headlined by Danny Briere, were the type of hockey player that this team has needed for countless seasons. And the team came roaring out of the gate. And yes, they had a few hiccups, at one point losing 10 games in a row. But they held on, made the playoffs, beat two division winners, including the top seed in the conference, Montreal, and eventually lost to a team that was healthier, and, well, better.

And what's different this time around is that this team really does have nowhere to go but up. This team, with young, talented players like Briere and Mike Richards, is going to keep getting better. Do I think they'll win a Stanley Cup? Hell no, they're the Flyers. They've broken my heart far too many times for me to just take them back. But watching some of their games this past season, I actually found myself caring about the result of their games, which is something I hadn't done since 2000. Am I ready to trust the Flyers again? No. (You burn in hell, Bobby Clarke.) But is hockey still dead to me? You know, I don't think it is. And honestly, that's kinda nice. After all, hockey does kick ass.