Bittersweet Symphony

The month of April was a strange one that ended rather bittersweet. I am not exactly sure how something can be both bitter and sweet (quite frankly bittersweet chocolate chips are sweet) but if I had to guess it might have to do with an equal balance of both, so lets take a look at the Sweets and Bitters of April:

Sweets

• For the second year in a row the Eagles did not completely blow their first round draft pick by trading it but instead picked up a stud of a receiver in Jeremy Maclin. Makes a Philly fan wonder how good Donovan could have been if he had reliable receivers his whole career. Also lets not forget about that great pick up of Jason Peters from Buffalo.
  
• Chase Utley hit for an avg. of .342 and added 7 homers and 20 RBI's. World Champions.
  
• Raul Ibanez, the Pat Burrell replacement, is winning the hearts of Philly fans every where with a .359 batting avg, 7 homers and 17 RBI's (This scares me because it can only go one direction from here: Raul eventually breaks our hearts and we throw things at him then demand the return of Pat the Bat) Enjoy
  
• Sixers made the playoffs. What the heck? Really? Yes. This is probably what made me laugh the hardest this April. I would rather watch the Philadelphia Kixx play a pre-season match then this sad excuse for a team play ball. I'll never understand why 16 teams make the playoffs in basketball, when there are really only 3, sometimes 4 teams, that matter. If you ask me, and since you are reading this blog you have, I think once the season is over we should just let Kobe and Lebron play 1 on 1. Forget about boring playoffs with lousy upsets....that would entertainment.
  
• The rookie Claude Giroux really pulled away from the pack in the last week of the season and continued to play great in the playoffs, too bad the rest of the team enjoys taking bad penalties and losing to an inferior team...but I'll save that for the bitter section. I am excited to see this kid play next season. A 30 goal season would not surprise me at all.

Bitters

• Flyers losing to the Penguins. I can not limit this to just one flame of a point so here goes...

1. Sidney Crosby is an overrated cry baby who takes frequent dives. Don't believe me? Keep reading or leave now. Sid "The Kid" has been in the league since October 5, 2005, ironically the same day as is arch nemesis Alexander Ovechkin. In that amount of time Criesby has 132 goals to Ovie's 219. I don't care who you are, if you can count that is drastic! 87 goal difference is as if Ovie played 2 more seasons then Sid, yet Oct 5 2005 comes to mind. Okay Pitt fans I hear you crying about Sid being a better play maker then scorer, but stats even show he is not even the best passer on his team, let alone the NHL. That award goes to Malkin. I do love that the NHL has dropped Criesby's nickname of "The Next One". All of that aside I think the most dramatic stat that sets Ovechkin leagues above Sid his this little doosey.... Career hits: Sid= 251, Ovechkin= 819. Not only can Ovechkin skate faster, score more and pass purer, he hits harder. In a league where the "bruisers" rarely score, Ovechkin defies gravity. Sid is merely an after thought these days.
2. There is no team I hate more the the Pittsburgh Penguins. Partly because I am jealous of Malkin and would send out a campus wide mass email if it gave the Flyers a better chance at signing him. Second I just flat out hate everything about them. Even their colors.
3. I keep replaying that 5 on 3 in OT when I knew the game was over :(.
   
4. It's May, which means 6 months before the Flyers begin another playoff caliber season and then stab me in the heart with the butt end of a stick.
   

• Sixers won two playoff games, thus momentarily getting Philly fans excited because for some reason we still believe in miracles. I see no point in even trying to win playoff games when you are the sixers. Do they forget that the Celtics, Lakers and Cavaliers are out there? Next year just save your money and then buy some other "washed up, injury waiting to happen, band-aid to a gaping wound of a super star" and call it a season.

Bittersweet April is over and May is upon us. I guess one good thing about all of the Philly teams being eliminated from the playoffs is now we only have one team on the field to crush our spirits. I like my odds.