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August 06, 2008The Best Headline You'll See All Year
This is on the front page of this week's Center City Weekly Press. I'm not sure if this is as good as the time the paper ran a Super Bowl preview from the game three years earlier, but it's certainly close. Larger scan of the front page after the jump. Continue reading "The Best Headline You'll See All Year" Posted by D-Mac at 02:29 PM | Comments (4) July 31, 2008Penn Kid: Celebrate The Philadelphia Soul!
But wait! Penn's Neil Fanaroff says we should celebrate the Soul like they're World Champions! That's nothing really all that notable, until he gets into a lecture about not supporting our local sports "dynasty." The Philadelphia Barrage - of Major League Lacrosse - moved from Bridgeport, Conn. in 2004 and proceeded to win three of the next four championships, including back-to-back titles the past two seasons. Wait, the Barrage are on the road the entire season? That's totally awesome. I guess we'll have to settle for not having any of that joy other cities experience when their outdoor lacrosse team wins the league title. Update: Oh, yeah, there's a motorcade at 3-ish today down Market Street. Whoo, Soul! Hey Philly: beggars can't be choosers [Summer Pennsylvanian] Posted by D-Mac at 11:41 AM | Comments (3) July 14, 2008Philly's Nuns Finally Win A Conference Title
Woo-hoo! Saturday afternoon, the Philadelphia Soul routed the Cleveland Steamers at the Wachovia Center to win the National Conference Championship; the team now heads to its first Arena Bowl on July 27. (NB to the Inquirer: Come on, you guys really went with the "one victory away from bringing a championship to Philadelphia" lead? Yes, this is what they said about the Kixx and the Wings and the Barrage and the Charge -- women's soccer -- and the Stars -- the USFL, natch -- and that online Mario Kart race I won the other day. Yes, there are other sports teams in Philadelphia besides the four major sports, but if they win a title that doesn't mean Philadelphia wins a title or the drought is over or whatever. Okay? Thank you.) Anyway, as you can see from the screencap from Action News yesterday, the Soul pulled out all its best players for an on-field celebration: Team president Ron Jaworski, two nuns and the team's starting quarterback (he's in the right hand corner). If the Soul win the Arena Bowl, does the team play the winner of the CFL next? Update: Also awesome was this sentence in today's Daily News: Attentive father, devout Christian and Arena Football League Player of the Year . . . hard to make a guy like that look bad. I believe winning the Arena Football League POY is a plenary indulgence, actually. Posted by D-Mac at 08:57 AM | Comments (0) June 17, 2008Philadelphia Soul Do Marketing Research
The camera doesn't record anything, says Moto Media. KYW 1060 reports that "some don't see a problem with the cameras" but also notes that "others say if there's a camera, people need to be informed." Oh. Camera Planned for Local Digital Billboard Raises Concern [KYW 1060] Posted by D-Mac at 09:15 AM | Comments (0) April 25, 2008Philly Soul Exist, Are 8-0
The Soul actually play the Dallas Desperados on Monday night at the Spectrum for sole possession of first place in the Eastern Division. (No, I don't know why Dallas is in the East in Arena Football.) And Miss America, the President of Women, is going to be there! And get this: Apparently, the Soul have drawn over half a million fans to watch its games in the first four years. Judging by how Philly sports have been going recently, though, the Soul will probably lose the battle of the undefeated teams on a bad call from the ref. Posted by D-Mac at 01:09 PM | Comments (3) February 22, 2007Wealthy Man To Improve Philadelphia In A Way Other Than Running For Mayor
Bon Jovi's one of those rare rich people who, when you hear them talk, you actually kind of start to like them more. (Actually, scratch that. Bon Jovi is one of those rare people who doesn't seem like a total asshole. There we go.) Part of this, at least for me, deals with how seriously he takes his role as owner and president of the Soul. He doesn't meddle in the football decisions -- so he's a smart owner -- but he does seem to really get pissed when the team doesn't do well. And he had a television monitor set up on his tour so he could watch the Soul while he was playing. He's also building 21 homes in Philadelphia because, well, he has the money and he can, which is nice. "If I build 15 houses on that block and you have people who take pride in ownership of houses, they will watch the block," he said. "The bad guy who wants to deal crack to the neighbors, you watch grandma come out with her broomstick and chase him away." Bon Jovi: Making the city safe for grandmas to chase people with broomsticks. Until they're shot. Bon Jovi still happy to put his heart into the Soul [Inquirer] Posted by D-Mac at 11:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) March 17, 2006Quickies: Not tasty at all
• The woman who alleged she had been raped by a member of the Philadelphia Soul has requested the charged be dropped. [KYW 1060] • The jury is deliberating in the Rick Mariano trial. And by "deliberating," I mean they're watching the footage of him being hit by that gate and laughing over and over and over again. [Mariano v. USA] • Hey, Gavin Floyd pitched well yesterday! Could things actually be falling in place for the Phillies? [Daily News] Posted by D-Mac at 12:17 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0) March 16, 2006Their souls are safe?
Why, that is? According to NBC 10, now the Kansas City police are looking for two men unaffiliated with the team, while the team says the players are witnesses, not suspects. All the Soul's players questioned did provide DNA samples for the police. Everything is vague, but if the Soul players are witnesses, then they either (a) saw a rape taking place and didn't try to stop it or (b) were at a bar, left, and then other men came in pretending to be members of the Philadelphia Soul. Or perhaps (c), some other scenario. Anyway, the Soul appear to no longer be suspects, at least according to NBC 10. And Jon Bon Jovi is spared a PR debacle that would threaten to ruin his career as an arena league football team owner. I guess he would have had something to fall back on, though. Soul Says Players Are Witnesses, Not Suspects [NBC 10] Posted by D-Mac at 09:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) March 15, 2006How not to get your small-time sports team on the news
The Philadelphia Soul do get a little more exposure because of the latter, as Jon Bon Jovi is part-owner, he performs a concert every year, &c. Actually, Bon Jovi seems to be really into it; in the interviews I've seen of him he always says he's disappointed that the team's not doing better. Well, anyway, this is not the thing you want to have happen to get your team in the news: Players on the Philadelphia Soul face rape allegations. The incident allegedly happened after the Soul's Monday night win over Kansas City. (See? You had no idea they had a game, did you?) The woman says the players met with her at a bar after Monday's game in KC. The woman said she went back to the hotel with three of the players, where two players held her down while another raped her while two other players watched. The players allegedly cooperated with the authorities, but if the allegations are true, that's pretty sick. You know how when a kid shoots up a school TV news anchors will say things like, "Do you think it's the violent video games?" I think there's an underlying cause here (not that it excuses anything.) Frankly, I think it's that bad influence Kobe Bryant -- once his charges were dropped, a bunch of athletes think they're invincible. Shameful. Philadelphia Soul Players Face Rape Investigation [NBC 10] Posted by D-Mac at 08:55 AM | Comments (64) | TrackBack (0) January 20, 2006Freddie Mitchell Got Fingered
For those who may not know, the Philadelphia Soul is the Arena League Football team in the city; the rules are different from regular football: it's played indoors, there are only eight players to a side, there are walls, et cetera. Freddie Mitchell holds a special place in my life and in the lives of most Philadelphians, for several reasons. For one, Mitchell caught the infamous "4th & 26" pass, that saved the Eagles from a seemingly sure loss to the Packers in the 2004 NFC Divisional Playoffs. (The Eagles would, of course, lose the next game. But it was fun for a week.) Not only that, but after scoring twice in the 2005 NFC Divisional Playoffs, he gave a ridiculous press conference where he talked about how he'd "like to thank his hands." Then, after the loss in the Super Bowl, he said they should have thrown the ball to Freddie more. In my life, though, there's another special reason: Freddie Mitchell showed up on back-to-back nights (the second night, bringing Brian Westbrook and Correll Buckhalter with him) at a bar on campus when I was in college. Yes, he's quite the football player. It seems unlikely that Mitchell would sign up with the Soul -- he'd have to take a huge pay cut -- but think of the possibilities. Players go both ways in Arena football, which means Freddie would have to put his ego aside and play some defense. Now that's something we'd all like to see. Soul eyeing Freddie Mitchell [DN] Posted by D-Mac at 09:41 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) |
• The Tasty Baking Company is offering a $10,000 reward in the hunt for two teenagers who were callous enough to 
A quick update on the 
Okay, today's a very sports-related (but all kind of tangential), and for that, I apologize. No, wait, no I don't. This story, though, could be a boon for all Philadelphians: