Coast to Coast: Philly special


What a month it’s been for Philadelphia sports. The Phillies are in the World Series, the Philadelphia Union are in the Conference Finals, the Eagles are steamrolling the National Football Conference and the Sixers are, well, the Sixers. I wanted to get a window into how the fans are feeling in these exhilarating times, so I spoke with Philadelphia native Sam Nadol, a junior at USC majoring in business administration. 

On the sports scene as a whole in Philadelphia, Nadol said he felt “ecstatic, but also a little sad that [he’s] missing it.” 

Fans like Nadol have played a key role in recent postseason runs for their teams, with superstar outfielder Bryce Harper talking about them in his postgame interview Sunday.

“Unless you’re wearing Philly red or you’re a Phillie, they don’t like you. I love that. I love every emotion that they have,” Harper said. “I did it as an opposing player for a long time and I wanted that. I wanted that emotion from the fans.”

But it’s been much more than the fans pushing their teams forward, as Harper himself has been spectacular. As probably the most touted prospect since LeBron (with a matching Sports Illustrated cover to boot), Harper has faced his share of detractors on the way to his first major postseason success. His critics might’ve had a point before this year’s playoffs; Harper hadn’t won a single playoff series, and the team that drafted him won a World Series title the year after he left. But with a single swing of his bat Sunday night, the Phillies outfielder erased those years of pain, clinching the pennant with a deep drive that landed just over the left wall. Is he ready to take his team to the promised land? Nadol certainly thinks so, “He’s the hottest player in baseball right now.”

Speaking of hot teams, the Eagles will come back from their bye this week sitting pretty atop the NFC at 6-0. Quarterback Jalen Hurts has benefitted from a revamped receiving core, with veteran wide receiver A.J. Brown arriving by trade to complement a strong sophomore start from DeVonta Smith. A resurgent run game led by Miles Sanders has moved the chains well, giving Hurts an opportunity to air the ball out on single coverage routes downfield. 

The Eagles haven’t just been elite on one side of the ball, with a top five ranking for total yards of offense and yards allowed. Their turnover difference is the best in the league by a country mile, as 9 interceptions and 5 fumble recoveries to just 2 offensive interceptions, putting them at +12. The league’s second-highest difference is held by the Dallas Cowboys, who sit 6 turnovers back from the domineering Eagles. 

With elite marks on offense and defense, the Eagles are “favorites to come out of the NFC right now,” Nadol said. Two of the teams predicted to stand in their way before the season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Green Bay Packers, haven’t looked like serious contenders all year. The Buccaneers in particular looked woeful in a loss to a Panthers team that had just traded the bulk of their offense to the 49ers in the form of star running back Christian McCaffrey.

Unfortunately for Philly fans, it hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows for their major sports teams. The Philadelphia 76ers tipped off their season last Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors and have looked ice-cold since. It’s a concerning development for a team that has legitimate championship aspirations this season. 

A 1-3 start isn’t the end of the world, but the Sixers were hoping their offseason additions would take them to the next level. They traded for USC alum De’Anthony Melton and added P.J. Tucker to get younger and shore up the defense, respectively. They haven’t fully bedded into the team yet, with Nadol saying the team is giving Melton “too many ball-handling responsibilities” so far.

Still, the Sixers have too much talent to be this bad. Some fans have suggested Head Coach Doc Rivers is mishandling this roster, and Nadol floated Sixers assistant coach Sam Cassell as a potential replacement. Regardless of who’s on the bench for the rest of the season, you’d have to believe a team with the most dominant post player in the world today surrounded by sharpshooters has the potential to be great. If not, maybe they should look at trading a few of those outside shooters to the Los Angeles Lakers. They could use them.

Yoav Gillath is a sophomore writing about professional and college sports. His column “Coast to Coast” runs every other Thursday.