What a Beautiful Morning! Josh McRoberts is Staying, Kate Smith is Singing, The Flyers and Philles are Winning. Life is Good. For Today.

The sun is shining.

Was there any doubt that the Flyers would win last night and bring the series back to a competitive 2-1 deficit? If there were any questions, they should have been erased before the game when the orange and black brought out the recording of Kate Smith, the all-time good luck charm, singing God Bless America. (Note: if they lost last night, they would have had to resort to really major stuff, and brought her back live!). Of course, when you combined that with the crazy fans, there was one great home ice advantage. Which lasted all of 2 minutes and 37 seconds, when Buffalo scored the first goal of the game. Then 5:00 minutes into the game, the Flyers got a penalty called against them, and the next two minutes would probably determine if there season were over. After surviving about 90 seconds of a blistering Buffalo attack, Brian Savage saved the season with a brilliant shorthanded goal, and it was all good from there. It’s a series now, so let’s see what happens Friday night in Game 4…..

Josh McRoberts pulled the biggest upset of all and he is returning to Duke for his sophomore season. People that just watched Duke casually will say that this is not a big deal, and that he was not ready for the NBA, and he was not that good last year and will not make a difference for Duke, who lost Redick and Shelden after last season. I am telling those people that they are wrong. Josh McRoberts is going to be a stud. He is going to be an All-ACC player next year, and possibly an All-American. This kid has a great low post game, can handle the rock, is one of the best passing big men I have ever seen, and very athletic. This kid is the difference between Duke making a potential deep run in March and maybe not being good enough to make the Sweet 16 for the 10th straight year. If Duke can pull the April double and get Lance Thomas to go there (he is a 6’9” McDonalds All American), the Devils will be reloaded and young but talented.

Even the Phillies won last night, moving into second place in their division. Sure they are 4.5 games behind the Mets, but does anyone really think the Mets are going to continue to play great ball, with Glavine pitching like he is Cy Young? Now if they could just get consistent starting pitching, better hitting, and their manager gets broadsided by a us, this team can make a run at the World Series. When the news is this good this morning, I find myself dreaming!!!

Speaking of the Phils, I will be making my initial appearance of the season at Citizens Bank Park for today’s matinee, so I will have some comments on that trip in this space tomorrow. But until then at least,

The Sun is Shining.

Let’s see if the Phils, Flyers, and the Eagles with the draft can keep the warm rays flowing…..