A Trip Down Memory Lane

With the Red Sox winning the World Series, all is well in the city of Boston. The Patriots look like the best team in NFL history, the Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to join Paul Pierce this season in the NBA and dominate the Eastern Conference, the Bruins are doing better than expected in the NHL, and even Boston College has had an incredible year so much so, that they have been ranked as high as second in the NCAA football rankings. Boston fans are having the time of their lives right now basking in the glory of winning. The complete domination by this city in the world of sports reminds us of the only other time a city has enjoyed this much success. That year was the year of 1980 in the city of Philadelphia.

The glory year of 1980 for Philadelphia has been the only time in history where all four major sports teams reached the championship game in their respective league in the same year. The Phillies won the World Series, the Eagles were in the Super Bowl, the 76ers were in the NBA Finals, and the Flyers were in the Stanley Cup Finals. In order to relive this past, I needed a little help from someone who remembered this year like it was yesterday, a native Philadelphian who is loyal to his hometown sports teams; this person is Philadelphia University’s own Professor Stephen Katz.

I sat down with Professor Katz as he explained to me what Philadelphia was like in 1980 and how the media kept up with the championship frenzy that year. Although Philadelphia is known as a football city, it was the Phillies who received the most attention that year. This was partially because it was their first championship in franchise history and partially because although all four sports teams made it to the championship games, the Phillies were the only ones who won it. The excitement was so high in Philadelphia that over one million people came to the Phillies parade to celebrate the championship on Broad Street.

The Eagles also received a lot of attention that year especially in the NFC Championship game. The Eagles faced off against the city’s most hated team, the Dallas Cowboys. Both teams finished the season 12-4 that year, and the Eagles were looking for revenge after losing the last game of the season to the Cowboys. The media attention was high and the atmosphere was tense. The Eagles did go onto defeat the Cowboys 20-7 but lost in the Super Bowl to the Oakland Raiders. Professor Katz pointed out that this was a very disappointing finish to the Eagles’ season because they had played the Raiders in the regular season and had defeated them.

Although the Flyers had been embraced by the city, they received the least amount of attention in the public. When Professor Katz ranked the Flyers’ season fourth among the four teams in terms of popularity, I was somewhat surprised. The Flyers had accomplished something that no other NHL team has ever done to this day; they won a record 35 straight games. Professor Katz pointed out that although this was amazing, the team accomplished the feat at the wrong time of the season. He went onto mention that their record breaking streak that took place early in the season, was not only overshadowed by the Eagles’ Super Bowl run at the time, but it ultimately cost the Flyers the championship. Professor Katz believes that the team was too tired by playoff time and that if the streak occurred later in the season, it would have helped the Flyers’ momentum during the playoffs and lead to a championship.

I asked Professor Katz that of all of the superstars in Philadelphia that year, who was the most beloved by the fans? The list of stars includes Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton of the Phillies, Ron Jaworski of the Eagles, Julius Erving and Darryl Dawkins of the 76ers, and Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, and Ken Linseman of the Flyers. Although the choice was very difficult, Professor Katz stated that it was probably either Bobby Clarke or Julius Erving; he later settled on the fact that it was indeed Bobby Clarke: “Popular was Bobby Clarke, because he had that very scrappy aggressive style. He was dirty and he would hide it. The fans loved Bobby Clarke.” Confused, I asked him why Mike Schmidt, the best player on the champion Phillies, was not mentioned. Professor Katz explained that Schmidt did not have a good reputation with the fans because of his attitude and therefore was never too popular.

As I mentioned in my last article, Philadelphia’s professional teams have not brought a championship to the city since 1983. I asked Professor Katz why that was. He replied, “I like to blame it on management. I don’t think that we’ve had very good owners and intelligent coaches and managers here.” I asked him to further explain and he named a few of Philadelphia’s general managers who have not made great decisions. This included former Phillies GM Ed Wade, best known for trading away pitching ace Curt Schilling and giving a young Pat Burrell a contract extension with a full no-trade clause; current Phillies GM Pat Gillick, who signed underachieving pitcher Adam Eaton to a three-year, $24 million contract and signing pitcher Freddy Garcia to a one year deal of $10 million who sat out the season with a bad shoulder; and current 76ers GM Billy King, who has made so many bad decisions that it’s impossible to keep track. Professor Katz is also not happy with Eagles coach Andy Reid who is also the Eagles’ GM. He called Reid stubborn and a bad judge of talent. This could explain why the Eagles have underachieved over the past several years and why Donovan McNabb’s supporting cast has been fairly weak with the exception of former wide receivers Terrell Owens and Donte Stallworth.

Professor Katz claimed that the worst decision made by a Philadelphia GM during this time, was one made by former 76ers GM Jim Lynam. In the 1993 NBA Draft, the Sixers had the second overall pick with a chance to draft players such as Penny Hardaway, Jamal Mashburn, Allan Houston, and Sam Cassell. Instead, Lynam elected to draft Brigham Young power forward, Shawn Bradley. Yes, the same Shawn Bradley who has a highlight reel on Youtube of all the times he has been dunked on.

1980 was indeed a glorious year in Philadelphia. Many stories have been told of the time of great legends who brought the city a sense of invisibility. Success was high, and the level of excitement, even higher. Since then, this feeling has diminished into the dark ages of sports in Philadelphia. However, the streak of bad luck has to end sometime soon, right? When I asked Professor Katz what he thought about Philadelphia’s chances of winning a championship in the near future, he simply replied, “not too good”. These three simple words are the same words that could sum up the past twenty-four years of professional sports in the city of Philadelphia.