Philadelphia Roundup

Lots of news out of Philadelphia from the last few days.

The Baltimore Ravens hired Eagles secondary coach John Harbaugh as their head coach Friday. He lost out on the UCLA head coach and was the fallback option for the Ravens. Cowboys coach Jason Garrett decided to stay in Dallas so the Ravens went after Harbaugh and got their man. The Ravens picked Harbaugh despite the fact he has no experience in the NFL running an offense or defense. He's only spent time in the league as a special teams coordinator and as a secondary coach. The Baltimore Sun put a poll up on their website asking readers if John Harbaugh was the right hire for the Ravens. Surprisingly 71% have said yes so far.

To me, it seems surprising that a guy like Harbaugh could jump straight from a being a secondary coach to being a head coach without any experience at positions in between. What's more surprising is how happy Raven's fans are that he's their new head coach. If Andy Reid left and the Eagles went after a former special teams and secondary coach, I don't think I would be too happy since he has no experience even handling an offensive or defensive unit of a team.

The Phillies and Ryan Howard are headed towards arbitration. The Phillies offered former MVP Ryan Howard a seven million dollar contract, but Howard is asking for three million more at ten million a year. The three million dollar gap was the largest of any player seeking arbitration. The Phillies avoided arbitration with Brad Lidge because he signed a new deal Thursday. This might be one arbitration hearing the Phillies might lose. With the contracts players have received during the last few years, it's hard to believe Howard won't get ten million when the guy hit 47 homeruns in 2007.

The Flyers won 5-3 against the Islanders last night. Scott Hartnell is awesome. He recorded another hat trick in front of all those Islander fans in New York. Hartnell now has 15 goals on the year and Mike Richards also scored his 21st of the year. The Flyers over came a 3-1 deficit in the first period by scoring two in the second period and two in third. The Flyers are now 25-15-5 on the season for 55 points. That ties them with New Jersey for second in the division, and puts them two points behind the Penguins for first place. They do have one game in hand with the Devils and two with the Penguins. The Flyers are also 8-1-1 in their last ten games, but so are the Penguins. The Flyers have beaten the living daylights out of the Penguins this year, winning all three games by a combined score of 16-5 including an 8-2 whooping at home with Joffery Lupul scoring six points. The Flyers take on the Ottawa Senators tonight.

It's time to take a trip down memory lane. The Flyers and Senators played an epic game in 2004 that ended in hundreds of penalty minutes and both teams left with about two players on each bench. The final two minutes of the game last forever as almost every time the refs dropped the puck, a brawl broke out. So now I bring you parts one, two, and three of the greatest brawl in NHL history.