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A fine story shaping up in Philly
Posted: Thursday June 01, 2000 12:51 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum touches on a Hot Button issue each Monday on CNNSI.com. After you read Jack's take, give us yours. The most interesting sports story right now is not the deliberate fouling of Shaquille O'Neal (should the Portland Trail Blazers continue that awful strategy, by the way, they should be forced to play in skirts), the continued elusiveness of horse racing's Triple Crown, Mark McGwire, Pedro Martinez or even the surreal goings-on at The University of Bobby Knight. No, the best thing going on right now is the Philadelphia Flyers, who are one win away -- a win they could seal tonight, perhaps -- from advancing to the Stanley Cup finals. You have to love the Flyers, even if -- like me -- you don't love hockey. As late as February, Philadelphia was 15 points behind the New Jersey Devils, the team it is now bedeviling in the Eastern Conference semifinals and the one by which it has been embarrassed over the last several seasons. The Flyers are going with a rookie, Brian Boucher, in goal, and he is not only outplaying New Jersey veteran Martin Brodeur -- but also doing a dead-on impersonation of Dominik Hasek. Patrick Roy (in 1986) and Ken Dryden (in '75) notwithstanding, teams are not supposed to win with a rookie in the crease.
Philadelphia wing John LeClair took 39 stitches after being slashed across the nose and eyelid by Brodeur's stick late in a 4-2 victory in Game 3, which the Flyers also played without concussed center Daymond Langkow. Both players, however, are the picture of health compared to Flyers coach Roger Neilson, who has plasma cancer and had to leave the team for a while for a stem-cell transplant. When he came back, management delicately ordered him off the bench in favor of interim coach Craig Ramsay (who looks like Robin Williams) -- even though Neilson raised a squawk and claimed he can still coach. Neilson has cooled off and now assists from the booth, a courageous godly figure looking down from on high. Man, if this team could scare up one shoplifting teenage stripper, they could fill up a week of "Maury Povich." If the Flyers get by New Jersey -- and it says here that's going to happen -- they will of course be underdogs in the Finals against the Western Conference champion, either Colorado or Dallas. I say Philly will keep going and win it all -- provided, of course, they make sure a civil war erupts over Lindros. Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum will contribute a Hot Button issue every Monday on CNNSI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the
writer.
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