Dave Uram
The Phillies’ historically terrible 6-22 May is symbolic of the Philadelphia sports scene.
It’s a climate that lacks winners, not by the opinion of this writer, but by factual statistics of no playoff advancement since May 10, 2012.
While team presidents and general managers are often the ones in the cross hairs of their customers, and rightfully so, the people above them, the owners, rarely endure the vitriol that their underlings do.
Is it because owners can’t dismiss themselves so what’s the point of wasting energy saying they should?
Bryan Colangelo is complained about more than Josh Harris or, in a more topical instance, Matt Klentak is taking heat while John Middleton is viewed as someone who will step in and put out fires before they become too overwhelming.
Not that the aforementioned front office members don’t deserve criticism for their shortcomings, but the root of Philadelphia sports being so unsuccessful starts at the very top. The very, very top.
The Eagles haven’t won a playoff game since the 2008-09 season because they’ve drafted poorly and never replaced Donovan McNabb until Carson Wentz. Howie Roseman was solely in charge for most of those seasons, enabled by his long time supporter Jeffrey Lurie. It wasn’t until recently that Lurie exiled Roseman for a season, albeit with the wrong replacement, and brought him back emphasizing the need for a franchise quarterback and forcing him to hire a player personnel head, Joe Douglas. Things are looking up for the Birds.
It’s never been confirmed who was the ultimate decision maker behind the Phillies keeping their 2008 core for longer than they should’ve, but it’s been widely speculated that it was David Montgomery, who along with his ownership partners, chose Ruben Amaro, Jr. to replace Pat Gillick as general manager rather than Mike Arbuckle.
The late, great Ed Snider was a tremendous owner who always preached winning as the only option for the Flyers. But, Mr. Snider hired general managers to run his team who handed out bad contracts and made unsuccessful trades. Ron Hextall is trying to build a roster more suited for the current NHL style, but doing so at a very patient and methodical rate, endorsed by those who replaced Snider, headlined by Dave Scott, President and CEO of Comcast Spectacor. Meantime, the players and head coach often lack intensity. The team has missed the playoffs three out of five seasons.
And finally, Harris, who in fairness takes a lot of grief from a frustrated fan base of “Hinkie-ites” and non “Process” supporters, allowed Tony DiLeo to make an ultimately disastrous Andrew Bynum trade, Sam Hinkie to “tank,” and his current president of basketball operations to lack transparency, all while employing a medical staff that can’t seem to keep the cornerstone players healthy. Harris’ ownership group has a regular season record of 144-332 since buying the team from Snider.
Amazingly, even though the Sixers are constant cellar dwellers, Forbes reported their value rose over $500 million dollars since Harris bought the team in 2011. Forbes also said the Phillies were baseball’s most profitable organization in 2016. Clearly, wins and losses don’t factor in dollars and cents. Another example is the Yankees have been declining in ticket and suite revenue since moving to their new stadium, this according to The New York Times. While the Yanks haven’t been contenders like they were in the late ’90s, they always remained competitive.
Wins and losses are ultimately the bottom line to legacies, not dollars and cents. As with everything in life, smart employers make their bosses look even smarter. Brian Cashman is a great general manager, currently making Hal and Hank Steinbrenner look good even though their Yankees are losing revenue. Bill Belichick makes Robert Kraft a great owner. Jerry West is making the owners of the Golden State Warriors seem like geniuses. And, in fairness, maybe these owners are even without the brilliant minds they pay, but everything goes hand in hand.
When Middleton went on the WIP Morning Show on April 20, the Phillies were 5-9 and about to start a six-game winning streak, before losing 25 of their next 31 games. He was a man who sounded positive about the future and those he entrusted to make the Phils contenders again.
I would’ve love to have been a fly on the wall while he was watching these last 31 games. Is he still echoing the same sentiments?
Klentak, Colangelo, Roseman and Hextall aside, it will ultimately be up to Middleton, Lurie, Harris and the highest level of Flyers executives to right the sunken ship that is Philadelphia sports, while it’s the job of those they employ to make them saviors.
Before I forget…
-Fletcher Cox confirmed the reason he missed the first round of Eagles voluntary organized team activities was to spend time with his entire family, with the key word being “entire.” There were 10 reported absences on Tuesday. Regardless of whether you think it was a problem for Cox to miss last week, he isn’t leading by example right now.
On that note, it’s being surmised that Marcus Smith wants the Eagles to release him, as he’s one of the players that’s been missing OTA’s. Who was a bigger bust, Smith or Danny Watkins? At least Watkins started games. Is Nelson Agholor entering Smith and Watkins territory, if not already there? Hopefully he isn’t with the addition of Alshon Jefferey and Torrey Smith. Remember the point I made about the Eagles drafting poorly? Case and point.
-The Lehigh Valley IronPigs were 24-5 in May. They are 20 games over .500 heading into Thursday night. Does any fan, other than those up the Northeast Extension in Allentown, care about an International League Championship? I’d assume most would say no. A lot of these kids are too good for Triple A. They should be getting major league experience as soon as possible so when they make the Phillies out of spring training next year, they won’t struggle in April or May. After Aaron Judge was brought up by the Yankees last season, he hit .179 with 42 strikeouts in 27 games. This year, the 25-year-old is an All-Star. Enough said.
-While the Phillies are the worst team in baseball, at least their mascot remains the best in sports. On Wednesday, Mr. Met was caught on video making an obscene gesture to Mets fans, a one finger salute if you catch my drift. Thank goodness for the Phillie Phanatic, one of the few reasons to attend Citizens Bank Park these days until a wave of prospects get called up, hopefully.
-It’s amazing how Tiger Woods has fallen from grace after seeing photos and videos of him following his suspicion of DUI arrest early on Memorial Day. The guy was on top of his sport and expected to be for years to come. Poor decisions ruined that. Who knows if he’ll ever regain his old form? It’s unlikely. No one is untouchable, regardless of how good he or she is at something.
Dave Uram is a weekly contributor to Philly Influencer. You can follow him on Twitter (@MrUram) and email him at [email protected].