25 Years of Philly Sports Hell: The Worst Moments, Part III

The latest in a series of of soul-cleansing moments for Philadelphia sports fans as we complete a 25 year cycle of unmatched sports futility. For a full explanation of this series, look here. Moment II appears here.

May 26, 2000. I remember it. Eric Lindros probably doesn't.

Dear Lord, I'd like to write a lot about Lindros. The trade. The arbitration following the trade. The MVP Award. The playoff losses, mostly to New Jersey. The tickets for Joey Merlino. The concussions. The parents. The rib injury.

But that will be in the future. Let's just note that of all the guaranteed sure things in NHL history, the Flyers obtained the most star-crossed one (assuming Sydney Crosby doesn't suddenly forget how to skate). And the end of his Flyers career came on May 26, 2000.

The Flyers, it should be noted, probably have the most near-misses of any of Philly's teams in the last quater-century, with three Stanley Cup Finals appearances, 4 additional losses in the Eastern Conference Finals (twice in seven games) and innumerable playoff appearances. The Flyers probably could have won a Stanley Cup, if Bobby Clarke wasn't stuck in the Jurassic Period with regard to his view of speed in hockey, and/or if Clarke hadn't stubbornly insisted that any goaltender could be good enough to win a title (ironic, since the only two titles the Flyers won came thanks to the brilliance of Bernie Parent).

This is one of the near-misses. Game Seven of the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals. Goaltender Brian Boucher and Keith Primeau had helped the team overcome the loss of Lindros to yet another concussion. The team even overcame the loss of coach Roger Neilson, who was stricken with cancer in February. The Flyers ripped the Sabres in five games and then won a thrilling six game series over Pittsburgh when Primeau turned the series with a goal in the fifth overtime of Game 4. They won three of the first four games over the hated Devils in the conference finals before losing their concentration and dropping Game 5.

Ah, but Lindros was on the way to save the day... not. Team management, involved in the long-running soap opera battle with Lindros that included stripping him of his captaincy that year, didn't want him to return. His teammates didn't seem particularly enthused by his return.

But Eric returned to play in Game Six at the Meadowlands, which the Flyers lost 2-1, despite a sterling effort from Boucher. The team spent most of the game skating in circles while expecting Lindros to win the game by himself; Big E scored the team's only goal. Perhaps a better reason to keep him out of the lineup was the cohesion the team had developed in his absence, which seemingly disappeared with his return.

Of course, the return didn't last long. Game Seven started with one more rendition of God Bless America, which is the Flyers' good-luck talisman. Even with an early Devils goal, the building was rocking. Then, about 8 minutes in, Lindros skated toward the New Jersey zone, with his head down, just like you're not supposed to do. Scott Stevens, the Devils' best defenseman and a future Hall of Famer known for hitting, approached at top speed.

And destroyed him.

The folks in the building and those who saw it on TV won't forget the hit. Here's how one writer described it...

Lindros' head rocked like you would imagine a person's head in a car accident being rocked. His face went blank, body limp, but still held upright by the terrific force of the collision as if by an invisible rope, then dropping like one of those skyscrapers that are dynamited from the inside.

Lindros looked oblivious, defenceless, out on his feet as he feel earthward, his head then snapping off the ice.

His helmet settled over his eyes as Lindros lay on his side his lips drawn into a tight line, arms in front of him as though handcuffed.

If anything, the impact was worse than what he says. I remember watching and almost gagging.

The Flyers were trailing 1-0 at the time. True to form, the team somehow tied it in the second period on a goal by Rick Tocchet (he must have had money on the game). After Flyers rookie Andy Delmore missed a primo opportunity late in the game to give us the lead, Patrick Elias delivered the series-clincher for the Devils.

And the Flyers lost, again. And Lindros never donned a Flyers jersey again, although he may have needed help removing the jersey since he may not have been able to move his arms. And another superstar left Philly without a title.

Take a deep breath, fellow Philly fans. Let this one go, and let's move on to the next. Only 22 more to go.

25 Years of Philly Sports Hell: The Worst Moments, Part II

The latest in a series of of soul-cleansing moments for Philadelphia sports fans as we complete a 25 year cycle of unmatched sports futility. For a full explanation of this series, look here. Moment I appears here.

The last professional team hailing from Philadelphia to win a title? The Philadelphia 76ers (before fans of minor league teams ask again, no, I don't count those titles). Specifically, the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers of Dr. J and fo', fo', fo.

I loved that team. The starting lineup was unreal, with four All-Stars -- Doc, Moses (that year's MVP), Andrew Toney and Mo Cheeks (for anyone getting ready to ask, the fifth starter was Marc Iavaroni, now the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies). Bobby Jones, the best sixth man in the league. Vets like Clemon Johnson, Reggie Johnson and Clint Richardson filling their roles off the bench. 65 wins, and that was only because they took their feet off the accelerator near the end of the regular season, after SI had a cover story asking whether they would go for 70. Even today, I can remember how friggin' dominant they were -- they were the closest thing Philly's had in my lifetime to the 2007 New England Patriots (prior to my lifetime, Philly had the 1966-67 Sixers... how come none of our other teams are that dominant?).

Since then? Mostly crap.

Now, that's not entirely fair, since the Sixers have produced some playoff appearances, one unforgettable run to the Finals in 2000-01, and two once-in-a-lifetime unique players in Allen Iverson and Charles Barkley. But here's the funny thing -- most teams get special talents like a LeBron James (for example) and they turn it into a tangible piece of championship hardware. The Sixers have had two such talents in the last quarter-century, and turned it into one Finals appearance in that time.

Why? The moments that appear on this list, beginning with this one, will go a long way toward explaining. Every Philly pro sports team (along with some college teams and possibly a racehorse) that appears on this list will show up a number of times. The only one that will feature almost exclusively boneheaded front office moves is the basketball team, and that's saying something in a town where the Phillies once traded Ryne Sandberg as a throw-in.

But today's moment is perfect example of this team's insane stupidity. July 17, 1992 -- the day the Sixers traded Charles Barkley.

Yes, I know -- Sir Charles demanded to be traded. But can you blame him? He was probably around 6'4'' and won rebounding titles. The guy led the team in scoring and rebounding for six straight years, made the All-NBA First or Second Team every year he was in Philly after 1985 and was one of the few reasons to see the team after Doc retired. For his efforts, the Sixers signed guys like Charles Shackleford as support for him, after he dragged an undersized team into the second round of the playoffs each year.

Forgetting that... the Sixers traded Barkley to Phoenix, and all they got for it was Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry and Andrew Lang. Maybe they should have asked for a T-shirt that said, "We traded a Basketball Hall of Famer, and all we got was this lousy t-shirt and three players no one will remember!"

Okay, that's not entirely fair -- Jeff Hornacek once made an All-Star team and twice won the All-Star three-point shootout. Hey, and he's also one of the few Philly athletes who shares my birthday! Hey, and Hornacek did play on two teams that made the NBA Finals -- after the Sixers traded him to Utah.

As for Lang and Perry, their most redeeming qualities were that (a) Lang shares a name with a prolific Scots man of letters, and (b) Perry once played at Temple. Yes, these were their best basketball qualities.

As for Sir Charles -- one NBA Finals appearance in 1992-93, two gold medals, the playoffs every year with the Suns, and hours of laughter as an NBA commentator.

As for the trade, the Sixers tried to cover for the stupidity of the trade by hiring Doug Moe as a coach (Moe, which of course rhymes with woe). To give credit where credit is due, this might have been dumber than trading Charles, because they actually gave Moe a multi-year contract. The coaching change occurred after then-coach Jimmy Lynam decided to move up and become GM -- about the same time as the Barkley trade, probably because Lynam knew that as coach he'd be forced to actually watch the gawdawful Sixers play ball. Moe only lasted 56 games before he was canned and assistant Fred Carter tried to clean up the mess. As a Sixers fan, I've blocked out this time in order to preserve my sanity.

The only redeeming quality of the trade was that the Sixers were eventually bad enough to draft Allen Iverson. Of course, we'll cover how they screwed that up later on.

Take a deep breath, fellow Philly fans. Let this one go, and let's move on to the next. Only 23 more to go.