Philly Top Five Power Rankings: No Buy, No Sell, Big Problem
By Spike Eskin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Two weeks ago in Philadelphia, there was a whole lot of nothing going on in sports. It was clearly the calm before the storm. Though the Phillies still did a whole lot of nothing, at least they made some news doing it this week.
5. Nerlens Noel Is Dancing Gangnam Style On Video
Let me make this clear, I've got no problem with this at all. All indications are that Noel's rehab is going great, he's already said he's doing some running on the court and a lot of work to get back playing basketball. As well, the video is with a bunch of kids at a basketball camp, who are all very clearly having a great time.
Still, the scars of Andrew Bynum's dancing video are still so new. THEY ARE NOT EVEN SCARS THEY ARE OPEN WOUNDS. THE KNEES AND THE DANCING AND THE BASKETBALL PLEASE HELP ME.
4. The Phillies Weekend 50/50 Raffles
Look this is a nice thing the Phillies are doing. Though 50% of the money goes to "one lucky fan," the other 50% goes to Phillies charities, which is a good thing. Still, to go from sellout streak and competing for a World Series title to draw people to the stadium to an elementary school fund raiser style 50/50 raffle is a pretty steep cliff to fall off of.
And the scary part is that the number of people in the stadium in September might mean a raffle worth upwards of $57.
3. Ruben Amaro Defends Himself And Calls Out Baseball Insiders
It was a pretty epic edition of the WIP Morning Show on Thursday. Ruben Amaro called in not just once, but twice, to defend the Phillies lack of moves at the trade deadline (we'll get to that in a minute), he also took a moment to say what he thought of a couple of well-respected baseball insiders, CBS Sports' Jon Heyman and ESPN's Jayson Stark. Not only did Amaro question whether Heyman was in fact respectable, he made sure to note that he rarely talks to them, and they get a lot of stories wrong.
Better to get stories wrong than running a team though. Right? Right.
You could write a dissertation on what Riley Cooper did, and how his teammates and fans may react to it. I'm not going to do that here.
But as a side note to all of this, a little note to anyone who has any sort of fame, anywhere. EVERYONE HAS A CAMERA ON THEIR PHONE. EVERYONE, ALL OVER THE PLACE. It's already unbelievably stupid for Cooper to think and act the way he did, but to do it in public, in front of thousands of people, even more stupid.
So the lessons here: don't be racist, don't get drunk and threaten to fight people in public or it will get on the internet.
1. The Phillies Don't Buy Or Sell
Hilarious, yet so perfect for the Phillies to to make a move at the trade deadline. Yes, it's true that it was a quiet deadline overall, and teams were less apt to make deals. But it's why teams are less apt to make deals that is so scary for the Phillies.
Baseball teams, like basketball teams have already started to do, are really valuing young talent that you can underpay for a while. The Phillies, have done a poor job keeping enough of this talent around, and drafting and developing this talent. It's not about "go spend lots of money on the open market" anymore, it's about developing young players, and extending those players before they ever get to unrestricted free agency.
The game being played in baseball is not the game the Phillies have played the last half a decade. They're going to have to figure out this new game, or the last two seasons are just a sign of things to come.
Honorable mentions: the new Pro Bowl, the 1993 Phillies come home, Brad Lidge retires a Phillie, Ruben Amaro doesn't think he can replace Carlos Ruiz
Follow Spike on Twitter @SpikeEskin
