The All-21st Century Kentucky Derby

In less than 24 hours, the 142^nd Run for the Roses gets underway at Churchill Downs. One year after American Pharoah ended the sport’s 37-year drought without a Triple Crown winner, the field of 20 is set for the first leg of horse racing’s marquee month. There are always debates in major sports about historic teams of today against historic teams of yesterday. This year the popular debate was the Golden State Warriors against the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls after the Warriors finished 73-9 to break Chicago’s record of most wins in a single season by one game. So with another Kentucky Derby having arrived, and considering we’re one year removed from history in the sport, it seems like a good time to look back. Here is my own field of the best 10 horses in since 2000.

                                                      David Quinn/Associated Press
Victor Espinoza aboard American Pharoah.

*The years each horse ran in the Triple Crown races are listed in parentheses.

1      American Pharoah (2015): Duh

2      California Chrome (2014): It looked like this was the horse that was going to end the drought after winning the Kentucky Derby comfortably and holding on in the Preakness after Ride on Curlin made a late charge. But it wasn’t to be at the Belmont after California Chrome ran out of gas and finished in fourth place.

3      I’ll Have Another (2012): This horse had perhaps one of the more exciting bids to win the Triple Crown narrowly edging out Bodemeister in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness and coming from behind to do so at Pimlico. However, I’ll Have Another was scratched from the Belmont with tendonitis a day before the race.

4      Rachel Alexandra (2009): The 2009 horse of the year won the Kentucky Oaks and took down Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird at the Preakness. Ironically, her normal jockey Calvin Borel rode Mine That Bird in the Kentucky Derby. She was the first filly to win the Preakness in 85 years.

5      Big Brown (2008): He captured the first two jewels of the Triple Crown with relative ease, winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness convincingly. However, Big Brown made history no one wants to make at Belmont Park becoming the first Triple Crown hopeful to fail to finish the Belmont Stakes. Following the race, a picture showed a dislodged shoe on his right hind leg that could have resulted in Big Brown being eased.

6      Barbaro (2006): The Philadelphia-area horse claimed the Kentucky Derby going away, winning by seven lengths. However, a false start two weeks later at the Preakness resulted in a severe injury to Barbaro’s right hind leg and in January of 2007 Barbaro was eventually euthanized.

7      Afleet Alex (2005): After a monumental upset in the Kentucky Derby saw 50-to-1 longshot Giacomo come out on top, Afleet Alex rallied to win the final two legs and had a huge comeback on the final turn at the Belmont. Jockey Jeremy Rose’s only two triple crown race wins came aboard Alfeet Alex.

8      Smarty Jones (2004): This Kennett Square-bred horse looked like he would be the one to end the drought. He made a late move on Lion Heart to grab the Kentucky Derby and smashed the field at the Preakness. He was the first horse since Seattle Slew to enter the Belmont Stakes undefeated. Then Birdstone stole the Belmont Stakes and the wait for a Triple Crown winner continued.

9      Funny Cide (2003): No horse has finished with a faster time at the Kentucky Derby since Funny Cide’s 2:01.19 thirteen years ago. He would claim the Preakness as well before finishing third on a muddy Belmont Park track.

10   War Emblem (2002): The field starts and finishes with a Bob Baffert-Victor Espinoza trainer-jockey combination. The two ended the Triple Crown drought last year but got two-thirds of the way there 14 years ago with War Emblem. However, War Emblem finished a disappointing eighth at Belmont Park as Sarava at a stunning 70-to-1 took the final leg.

Now go debate who would win this race.

Photo: http://www.foxsports.com/horse-racing/story/kentucky-derby-scratch-of-stanford-leaves-american-pharoah-in-dreaded-17-post-043015

The move that defines Howie Roseman’s career

There have been some questionable draft picks. There have been some major free agent signings. But there’s been no bigger acquisition by Eagles Executive Vice President of Football Operations Howie Roseman than the trade this week with the Cleveland Browns to move up in the draft for the second overall pick. The move presumably sets the Eagles up to select the franchise quarterback they have lacked for close to a decade.

Many draft analysts and NFL writers seem to like the trade for Cleveland, a team in dire need or as many draft picks as possible, while opinions are split on how the Eagles did here. With the draft still six days away, right now it’s impossible to say who’s right and who’s wrong.  There have been two proven paths to winning the Super Bowl. One is acquiring a franchise quarterback that leads the team to the greatness, and the other is building an elite defense that keeps the team in every game it plays. For the better part of the last 10 years, the Eagles have been caught in between with average quarterback play and average defenses and have fielded average football teams. This has resulted in no playoff wins since the 2008 season. This trade puts the Eagles in position to draft either Cal’s Jared Goff or North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz to potentially be that franchise quarterback. It’s the ultimate high risk-high reward move from Roseman who traded the eighth overall pick this year, a third round pick this year, a first round pick in 2017 and a second round pick in 2018 to pull it off.

                                   Yong Kim/Philly.com
Roseman has made some good moves and
some not so good moves, but this one
will determine if he succeeds as an executive.

If this works, it will be easy to forget some of Roseman’s big misses in the draft in prior years. Passing on Earl Thomas for Brandon Graham and drafting Danny Watkins in the first round in 2011 won’t hurt as much. But the inverse is that if this move doesn’t work, then some of Roseman’s better decisions like drafting Fletcher Cox in the first round in 2012 and Bennie Logan in the third round in 2013 won’t be as helpful. The Eagles were one of the more active teams in free agency this year. Bringing in guard Brandon Brooks and safety Rodney McLeod were their two biggest signings and each one made sense looking at the age of both players and the team’s desperate need for a guard and a safety. Both may very well work out, but there’s no one position in sports that impacts team success more than quarterback in football.

In five years, this trade could look like a no brainer for the Eagles if Goff or Wentz is taking the team deep in the playoffs.  But the alternative outcome could drive the franchise into a deep hole that will take a while to dig out of. So often do we like to grade trades like this and talk about the winners and losers the minute the news breaks. But, the grade this time is an incomplete for the Eagles.  Roseman is hinging the team’s future on one of these two quarterbacks, and it’s time to see what that future holds.

Photo: http://www.philly.com/philly/gallery/20160323_Lurie_finally_admits__It_s_Roseman_s_show.html?viewGallery=y&photo_2

Flyers ahead of schedule after clinching playoff berth

It was a refreshing change for the Philadelphia Flyers when Ron Hextall took over as the team’s general manager in the spring of 2014. The team was coming off of a loss in the first round of the playoffs in seven games to the New York Rangers and opted to entrust Hextall with the future of the franchise.

While the Flyers qualified for the playoffs in 2013-2014 after missing the postseason the year before, it was evident that the team had reached its potential and many were surprised the series against the Rangers even got to a seventh game. Previous general manager Paul Holmgren drove the team into salary cap hell with lots of big contracts that were either too long, too expensive, or in some cases, both. It started with the signing of goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year contract worth $51 million in the summer of 2011. Just two years later, the team bought out Bryzgalov after a woeful tenure between the pipes.

But, Hextall was still left with plenty of dead weight when he was promoted two years ago. Players like Luke Schenn, Vincent Lecavalier and Andrew MacDonald were all under contract for many years to come and giving the team marginal production at best. Scott Hartnell was signed through the 2018-19 season and while Hartnell was giving the team better production than some of Holmgren’s other acquisitions, Hartnell will be in his late 30s at the end of his contract and expecting similar production would be delusional. Additionally, the Flyers were still paying Chris Pronger despite the defensemen’s career being over.

In his time as general manager, Hextall has released the Flyers from many of their financial handcuffs moving Schenn, Lecavalier, Hartnell and Pronger’s contract while also getting good value in the trades of Braydon Coburn and Zac Rinaldo. Hextall has focused on player development both of the young players that were on the NHL roster when he took over, and of the few prospects Holmgren left him with. To do this, Hextall hired former University of North Dakota head coach Dave Hakstol as his coach after the Flyers unsurprisingly missed the playoffs in 2014-2015 and Craig Berube was dismissed. Hakstol coached T.J. Oshie, Zach Parise and Jonathan Toews among others at North Dakota so he seemed like the right guy to develop young talent.

                                              Matt Slocum/Associated Press
Hextall has brought a new philosophy to the
Flyers that has the organization in good hands.

In Hakstol’s first season, 24-year old Brayden Schenn posted a career high in points, while 23-year old Sean Couturier despite an injury this year, was in the middle of the Flyers’ second line for most of the season and continues to blossom as a two-way forward. One of the prospects in the system, Shayne Gostisbehere came up this season and set the record for longest scoring streak by a rookie defenseman. Hextall has placed a premium on building a roster with a strong foundation of draft picks and prospects and many experts now rate the Flyers as one of the 10 best farm systems in the NHL.

So when you consider Hextall’s long view as opposed to Holmgren’s willingness to spend big in free agency and frequently look for trades that had the Flyers better off in the short term than the long term, the consensus seemed to be the Flyers were headed down the right path. But 2015-2016 would likely be another year out of the playoffs. When you consider Jakub Voracek missed a crucial stretch in March, it seemed even harder for the Flyers to make the playoffs in an Eastern Conference with lots of good teams. But the play of leaders like Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux coupled with some of the aforementioned younger players contributing has the Flyers where they are today, preparing for the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Hakstol may not win the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year, and Gostisbehere may not even win the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie. But this was a roster that was similar to last year’s but had 12 more points largely due to Hakstol’s presence behind the bench and the energy that Gostisbehere seemed to provide everyone with upon being called up. While the term rebuild wasn’t really thrown around as much with the Flyers as compared to other teams in the city, this season had the feel of a transition year that would allow Hextall’s plan to start to play out. Hextall’s fingerprints are only beginning to touch the franchise and the team is already in the playoffs. For a city that’s been through lots of pain the last three years, that seems like a good silver lining.

Photo: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/ron-hextall-promoted-to-flyers-gm-1.2634677

Selection Committee’s decisions still can’t be validated

The Twitter takes got hotter and hotter. As the Syracuse Orange won game after game in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, discussions started about the validation of the at-large bid the Orange received. On Selection Sunday, many thought Syracuse was on the wrong side of the bubble and smaller programs like Valparaiso, Monmouth and St. Bonaventure had a better chance of making the field of 68. The committee went with the big program in a power conference and now that team is headed to Houston for the Final Four.

When you look at the path in the Midwest region that Syracuse was fortunate to even be given the opportunity to travel down, other than yesterday’s 68-62 win in the regional final against Virginia, there aren’t many impressive victories. Beating a Dayton team in the first round that was coming into the tournament playing relatively inconsistent basketball and then beating two double-digit seeds in the next two rounds doesn’t sound all that difficult.

But that’s not even relevant really. The principle remains that what bubble teams do once they get into the tournament should have no effect on if they earned a bid. There is no more adding to resumes once the field is picked. Syracuse’s resume was not good enough to warrant an at-large bid and that still has not changed. Wins out of conference against Texas A&M and Connecticut are nice, but losses to Georgetown, Clemson and Florida State are not so nice.

Valparaiso has rolled through its three games so far in the NIT, winning each by double digits and is in the NIT Final Four, which tips off tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden. If there aren’t going to be discussions now about the legitimacy of an at-large selection for Valparaiso, then there shouldn’t be discussions about the validation of Syracuse’s. Ultimately, there are always going to be unhappy teams, but there was a clear bias from the selection committee to choose bigger bubble programs like Vanderbilt, Syracuse and Michigan over smaller schools like Valparaiso, Monmouth and St. Bonaventure. Did we forget so quickly about that run to the Final Four from Virginia Commonwealth in 2011? A small school that won the hearts of the country that many thought did not deserve an at-large bid.

                                                   Dennis Wierzbicki/USA Today
Jim Boeheim cuts down the net in Chicago at the United Center
after clinching a trip to his fifth Final Four.

Syracuse feels nothing like a traditional underdog in this tournament, and now, the NCAA gets what it wants. Syracuse and North Carolina in primetime on Saturday night in the second game of the National Semifinal doubleheader and two of the most historic coaches in college basketball, Roy Williams and Jim Boeheim, facing off for the right to play in the National Championship game. It may feel right, but it’s not.

On a much smaller note, the committee is probably taking solace over the fact that it got the final number one seed right. Oregon made it to the West Regional Final, while Michigan State was the victim of arguably the greatest upset in the history of the tournament in the first round losing to Middle Tennessee State.  In my opinion, this is more of a debate than if Syracuse belonged in the tournament, but this was still the wrong call too.  If history of the program is a criterion for a bid, which apparently it is if Syracuse gets in, then I’d say Michigan State has a lot of going for itself there instead of Oregon. But what do I know?

The best time of year in sports

What’s your favorite sport? For someone like me, that may seem like a pretty easy question to answer. But from now until the middle of June, it’s also easy to see why that’s such a hard question to answer. Not much happens in February. The weather is cold, football is over and sports fans are left looking forward to the spring.  But once the second week of March arrives, things start happening again.

It’s championship week in college basketball with conference tournaments being played across the nation this week with the field of 68 released Sunday evening.  The big dance is the best postseason tournament in all of sports if you ask me. But with some of the games we’ve seen this week in the conference tournaments, it’s safe to say the madness has already begun. As I watched the four-overtime thriller between Cincinnati and Connecticut, and saw Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield drain a half court short at the end of regulation against West Virginia, only for the shot to be waved off, the same three words kept running through my head. Only in March.

With conference tournaments still to be decided this weekend, and then the big dance starting on Tuesday, there should be many more photo finishes and instant classics. Of course everyone fills out a bracket, but one of the best parts about championship week is that it allows you to just watch game after game come right down to the wire and just enjoy it and that’s always fun.

But after it’s all over, there’s more fun for sports fans. The NHL and NBA regular seasons both have about one month left. This year, the Golden State Warriors are chasing the record for most wins in an NBA season. The playoffs, particularly in the NHL, bring plenty of parity and excitement. This all leads to champions being crowned in both leagues by the middle of June.

The free agent frenzy kicked off this week in the NFL as the new league year started Wednesday. Teams begin to shape rosters for the following season and scouting efforts ramp up with the NFL Draft looming on the horizon. The hypothetical scenarios fans dream about what their team should do to ensure a bright future are endless.

Golf’s first two majors will be played during the next three months. There is truly nothing like the tradition that comes with The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in early April.  The second tennis major of the year comes at the end of May in Paris at the French Open.

Now if I had to answer the question and tell you what my favorite sport is, I would probably say baseball. It was the first sport I started playing and watching as a kid. The season is about three weeks away and opening day is certainly one of my favorite days in sports.

But these next three months are just why answering that simple question can be so hard for me. So while February can be very boring for sports fans, March, April, May and the first couple weeks of June are just the opposite. It all starts now and it’s not slowing down. So buckle up and enjoy the ride sports fans.