A CITIZEN'S BLOG

Happy New Year!!!!

I’m back and I intend to resume full-time posting on January 7, with a review of the new Bill James Handbook. I’ve been busy mapping out a plan of attack for 2008. For one, I need to modernize my blog and kill defunct links. Two, I plan on posting with a little more regularity in 2008 and devoting a little more time to my blogging. The Phillies run to the playoffs last fall re-energized my blogging and I want to make this season my best.

I got bogged down a lot in 2007 with work and just plain laziness on my part at various points in the season. I intend on jumping out to a productive start in 2008 and never looking back.

My goal is for A Citizens Blog to be the definitive Phillies blog. I hope you all see a marked improvement in my work. Originally I intended to make 2008 my final season blogging but I might go onto 2009 because I wanted to end my run by publishing a book on the Phillies and I got exactly no work done on that project this fall. So stay tuned. The book project will probably still happen, but I have its release tentatively scheduled for October of 2009.

I’ll comment a little on Phillies news – Pat Gillick shipped Chris Roberson to the Baltimore Orioles for cash, which figures given that the team brought So Taguchi, Geoff Jenkins and Chris Snelling in this off-season to round out the outfield with Jayson Werth, Pat Burrell and Shane Victorino. The team has basically decided that Snelling or Taguchi will be the fifth outfielder given that the team needs Werth and Jenkins bats pretty badly. My sense is that Roberson, if given the chance, will do a decent job in Baltimore, so good for him.

A little off-topic, but let me move onto football … The NFL playoffs heat up this weekend and for the second time in three years the Eagles won’t be a part of them. I’m less inclined to see 2007 as a failure compared to others. Yes, the Eagles are just 24-24 (25-25 if you count the playoffs) since they lost Super Bowl XXXIX to the Patriots. But the ’07 Birds won their final three games and lost four of their eight by three points or less. They two others (20-12 to the Redskins and 28-24 to the Seahawks) by less than 10 points to playoff teams. Remember that they destroyed the Lions 56-21 in week three and they beat the Cowboys in Big D.

Oh, and they probably came the closest of knocking off the Patsies.

The Eagles 2008 schedule looks pretty favorable: they play the AFC North in 2008, but luckily for the Eagles the Browns and Steelers are home games and they get the Bengals and Ravens, the weaker of the two AFC North teams, on the road. The Eagles also get the NFC West, arguably the weakest division in football, in 2008 as well. Home games against the Rams and Falcons are just what the doctor ordered. The Birds could go 12-4 and play in the Super Bowl. I think they need to shed some dead weight (i.e., Jevon Kearse) and get a little quicker on defense.

As for the NFL playoffs … Look for San Diego to rough up the Titans 41-14 on Sunday afternoon. I think the Redskins and Giants will pull off the upsets over the Seahawks and Buccaneers respectively 17-10 and 28-14. Finally, in the biggest game of the weekend, watch the Pittsburgh Steelers narrowly upend the Jacksonville Jaguars 14-13 in what will be a very, very cold evening in Pittsburgh.

As for college football … Wouldn’t it be a kick in the teeth if USC comes out of this year with the AP title? The BCS was meant to avoid these disasters and look what might happen!

Labels: Odds 'n Ends