NHL.  The season is in full swing.  The Flyers are duking it out for number one in the Eastern Conference, with a somewhat surprising Ottawa club.  I looked at my pre season predictions, wow.  I am close in almost every division.  Atlantic, so far so good.  Northeast, I'm close.  Southleast, err, Southeast I got Washington to high, if they were healthy they would be justifying my pick.  The Central, so far so good. Northwest, not so good I got the one and two flipped and the three and four flipped.  Pacific, who would of thought that the Coyotes could put it together.  My Flyers are cruising.  Lindros, LeClair, Jones, Therien, and Desjardins are HOT!!!!!!!!   Top five in plus minus, Two of the top three scorers, top scoring defenseman, enough said.
    Football.  The Eaglettes, got a new coach, new wide receivers, new quarterback, and the General Manager is calling the shots. So far, so good.  New coach is happy to be here and likes the idea of coaching in Philly.  (Yes he saw the Stadium before he signed)  The wide receivers are a major upgrade.  Rumor is that WR's are supposed to catch the ball when it is thrown at them.  WR's on the roster before the new guys signed deny that rumor.  The new QB, job description get paid $2 million to stand behind a rebuilding line while teaching the hot new stud how to be a NFL QB and act like tackling dummy for oppositions defensive line.  Found the dummy, err, new QB.  Good Luck Doug... You're gonna need it.   Needs (now): Strong Safety, Tight End, #3 Wide Receiver, Offensive Line, Stud/ can't miss QB prospect.  Got (now): LB's, CB's, Free Safety, Defensive line (if healthy), Running Backs, #1&2 Wide Receiver, Offensive Line, Tackling Dummy QB.   Yes OL is listed twice, why?   Because we have players for 4 of the 5 slots.  Tra Thomas, LT very good; Jermane Mayberry, LG, improving daily; Steve Everitt, C, finally learned the Eagles system; Richard Cooper, RT, has history of not allowing sacks.  Need RG.  Beckles and Hegamen SUCK!   Neither one can block, run or pass, anything.  LB's need a better MLB, but Willis is OK.  CB's Taylor, Vincent, Harris; that's 3 good CB's only need 2 though.  FS Dawkins, speed, hit, speed, hit, damn good, saw him stop the Bus, by himself.  DL gets sacks, slows the run, reason they sucked last year, forced to play 2/3rds of game because of bad Offense.  RB's Staley, HB, Turner, FB, Garner 3rd Down back, enough said.  WR's signed 2 good 'uns.  the rest has been explained.  My prediction for them to finish is still going to be last in the NFC Least.  Health and inexperience will kill them.
    BASEBALL!!!!!!!!  Spring training is starting.  Hope for a great year is up everywhere.  To bad half of the teams have been eliminated from post season contention already.  The Yankees have all but mathematically eliminated the rest of the AL.  The NL is open to a few teams Los Angeles, Arizona, Atlanta, New York Mets, and St. Louis.  One of those five must be eliminated, by law of Physics, four slots five pegs, one don't work.  Best bet Arizona is out.  Why those five?  One reason, MONEY.  They are spending it like crazy. Why is every one else eliminated?  They can't afford the talent needed to win.  I think I hear locks being moved from the NBA to MLB facilities.  The small market owners WILL succeed in overruling the big.  A salary cap will be implemented and the players will have two choices never play another game, or sign on the dotted line.  Some big careers will come to an end before it is all said and done, and MLB will NEVER be the same.  I'll miss it, until I go to my first minor league game and see that the house is packed for a cold rainy night with the last place team playing the second to last place team in September.

    Stadiums in Pennsylvania will get some state funding.  Philadelphia and Pittsburgh WILL get MONEY.  Philadelphia has two things to thank.  The State Senate majority leader and the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The Majority leader proposed the bill that was eventually accepted by the state.  The Pirates because they had started to build their facility and then was told the money was on hold.  They responded by saying, that they would consider moving if the funds were not in place.  What a mess that would be.  Stadium with one resident, that is threatening to leave, a half started stadium down the road, and half a city crying that they lost their team.  Embarrassment.  Only word to describe it.  Every function in Pittsburgh would have shots of the half built facility, and the announcers would remind everyone EVERY time that shot was shown why the structure is half built.  PNC bank would have a heart attack.  It would be called, "PNC Park, half built, and looking for a resident."  The state would be blamed, the community would be hurt.  Thank god a bill was finally passed.  No tax hikes, no raising of the public debt, the taxes on existing industries are being extended or reassigned to cover costs.  The taxes generated from the facility will pay the state's part of the bill.
    On behalf of Philadelphia I thank the Pittsburgh Pirates and the State Senate Majority leader for getting some stadium funding passed.   The funding for these stadiums has set a precedent for the rest of the state.  York wants minor league baseball, Erie wants improvements to its existing park, cities the funds are now there, you just have to wait a couple of years for the Big boys to finish using the fund.

D.A. Tater
The NBA is playing, and still no one cares.