Philly loses another legend, Gary Papa dies

The rain came down all week in the Delaware Valley, but the clouds parted and the sun came out on Friday afternoon. However, for many Philadelphia Sports fans, that was the end of the good from this day as they slowly learned that Gara Papa, the 6ABC sports anchor for more than 25 years died.

The fans loved Gary, and much of that was because of the heart and soul he put into all of his work, and the dedication how gave to the fans in giving them the best reporting possible for Philadelphia sports.

As Gary began losing his hair in early 2004, he announced to everyone on air that he was battling prostate cancer. All of the love he gave to the fans came back during this difficult time as he received sympathy from Philly fans everywhere he went because we knew he was sharing a very private and difficult moment in his life with us. He made a recovery, but again in 2007 needed to undergo chemotherapy. Once again, he shared it with us.

Many will participate in this Sundays "Run 4 Your Life", an annual Father's Day Prostate run, with Papa on their minds. Anchors from 6ABC will participate in the run, and they will wear "Team Papa" t-shirts.

Papa always had the Philadelphia fan on his mind, and many fans thought of him as family when they watched him on television every night in their living rooms. We will all miss you Gary. R.I.P.

Phils need to start winning at home

There's no way around it, Scott Richmond dominated the Phils last night. 8 innings of 5 hit, 1 run, 11 strikeout ball against the World Champions on the road. The loss dropped the Phils to 36-27 on the year, but only 13-18 at home. More importantly the Phillies are 0-8-1 when it comes to winning home series this season against teams not named the Washington Nationals.

Why are the Phillies playing so bad at home and so good on the road? The answer's not clear, however what is clear is that they must start winning in front of the home fans. The Phillies are doing so well on the road (23-9) that at this point of the season, if the team was only .500 at home, they would have a nice cushion on the NL East lead. Instead, being 5 games below .500 at home, they are only 3.0 ahead of an injury-plagued New York Mets squad.

Many unususal things have happened during homestands for the team this year such as the 1st game being at night, raising the championship flag, the ring ceremony, the rain outs, and the Harry Kalas tributes. The list goes on and on, perhaps going on the road and getting away from all of the championship reminders makes this team focus more on the road.

Some fans have said it doesn't matter that they don't win at home, as long as they win. I guess those fans have a point. If you get 90 wins on the season, and only 38 of them are at home it doesn't make much difference to the team with 90 wins and 50 of them coming at home. My concern is that if this team continues to play this bad a home, it could get ugly come September and October when every home game is a must win situation.

Winning today for Toronto is a must, and so is winning the series against Baltimore this weekend. In the beginning of July, with a 10 game homestand to close out the first half of the season against the Mets, Reds, and Pirates, this team can turn it around at home. However, wins aren't going to just be given to this team, as they should know by now.

At the time of this being posted, the Phils are trailing Toronto 3-1 heading to the bottom of the 3rd, the team must start hitting-not just in this game, but in general at home. Oh yeah, and Raul Ibanez was put on the DL this morning..it just gets better and better.

Joe Buck Rediculously Embarrassed on His Own Show; Philly Fans Everywhere Happy

You probably didn't know until today, but last night the "Joe Buck Live" show aired for the first time. With the way things went, it may be the last time as well. Why? Well, Artie Lange came on the show and absolutely ruined it for Buck. The only way it would have been worse was if Lange burnt the studio down with Buck still inside.

Lange is a regular on the Howard Stern Show. If you know nothing about Lange, you know that having a guy from the Stern show is a trainwreck waiting to happen.

Basically, what Lange is known for during talk shows like this is coming on and hijacking it. He made homo jokes, cracked jokes on Buck, and started lighting cigarettes on the air. You could tell Buck wanted to jump out of his chair and knock this guy out, he was utterly embarrased, and after the biased he showed against the Phillies last year, I couldn't have been happier watching it.

Now, there's no way I can type up what Lange said because of the language used, but the great people at Deadspin have a video that I'm going to post below. This is not safe for work, not safe if there are kids around, etc but it is the funniest thing you will see. Thanks to Deadspin for providing the video on its website.

16 year old to skip rest of HS for MLB Draft--Why people should be supportive of his decision

Over the past few weeks, 16 year old high school sophomore Bryce Harper has received a lot of praise for his baseball skills. This includes a cover story by Sports Illustrated, pictured below, which states that he is "Baseball's Chosen One", and that he "is the most exciting prodigy since LeBron [James]."



Well, in case you haven't heard it yet, he has decided to skip his junior and senior years of high school. Instead, he will get his GED at a community college. This will enable him to enter himself into the MLB draft next June, at age 17. However, as expected, this has drawn criticism from many across the country. I'm on the other side of this argument, and I agree and support his decision.

If someone wants to go pro in baseball, education is not a requirement in order to play the sport. Do I think that athletes should stay in school and get a degree? Absolutely. However, I'm completely against the fact that a league such as the NBA forces a player to do something he doesn't want to do and something that isn't needed for the said job.

If someone wants to be a chef, and he or she has a job opening at a top notch restaurant before they receive their degree, no one would tell the person to finish school. In my eyes, this is the same situation, baseball is his job and he has an opening next year. Take advantage of a once in a lifetime situation. As we've seen more and more adults go back to school to get a degree we've learned that education will always be there.

Harper batted .626 as a sophomore. The 25th pick in this years MLB draft, Mike Trout, a senior from Millville High School, batted .531 as a senior. Clearly, Harper has dominated the high school game, so why should he stay there for two more years? The stack of chips in front of him are high right now, and he's just cashing in at an earlier age than most.


At the age of 16, Bryce Harper has many critics already based on this decision. Personally, I think it's the right one for his unique situation and I'll be pulling for him. Best of luck to him, hopefully he will give us something to cheer for in the majors in a few years.

Welcome!

Welcome to The Philly Sports Blog, Blogger's home to Philadelphia sports and its fans from across the region. The purpose of this blog is simple, to talk, and perhaps rant, about the sports teams from Philadelphia that we all know and love.

However, Philly sports will not always be the only thing discussed, as some national stories will make the blog as well. Readers can expect 1-2 blog posts per day about ideas (Should instant replay be in baseball), sports stories (B-Dawk going to Denver), or live blogging during a game.

Hopefully you guys continue to read the blog, thanks and enjoy!