Showing posts with label keith primeau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keith primeau. Show all posts

Sunday, June 9, 2013

MLB: Philadelphia Phillies' Ryne Sandberg Completes 30-Year Odyssey

With the Philadelphia Phillies' 2013 season likely being one of continuing transition, I thought it would be worthwhile to review a piece that I wrote last fall about Ryne Sandberg. 

Hardcore fans loved that 'Ryno' returned to the organization a few years ago and that he was promoted to a coaching position with the big club last fall. Now, what's next?...

Sandberg has finally returned to the Phillies' infield.
(Photo credit - Sean O'Brien, 2012)

(This feature was originally published by Yahoo Sports on October 4, 2012.)

The Philadelphia Phillies' general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. knows that a number of targeted moves are needed to improve his club's chances of rebounding into the playoffs next season. One of those changes includes today's hiring of Ryne Sandberg as the team's new third base and infield coach.
Amaro announced at a press conference that the team will go without a bench coach next season and that Sandberg's hiring means that Juan Samuel will shift to the first base coaching box. Charlie Manuel also said that Sandberg would assume the managerial duties if he were to be thrown out of a game.
Slightly more than three decades after being traded to the Chicago Cubs, 'Ryno' is sure to receive a strong ovation from the fans at next season's home opener. Regardless of job titles, it's also now obvious that he'll be second-in-command and the clear managerial heir apparent.
Sandberg's return to Philadelphia finally realized
Long after retiring, fellow Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt decided that he would like to try his hand at managing. So, he agreed to become the Clearwater Threshers' skipper in 2004. Schmidt lasted one season (59-77) with the Phillies' Single-A team and then decided to resign.
It's hardly appealing to lurch through the minor leagues for an indefinite period of time. But, that's exactly what Sandberg chose to do when the Chicago Cubs hired him to manage their Single-A Peoria Chiefs team in 2007. Deposed Phillies' bench coach Pete Mackanin also managed that team in 1985 and 1986, leading the Chiefs to the League finals in those successive seasons.
While Sandberg's 2007 and 2008 teams didn't fare well, he did lead the Double-A Tennessee Smokies to the League finals in 2009 and finished tied for first in the division while managing the Triple-A Iowa Cubs in 2010. Sandberg's 2011 Triple-A Lehigh Valley team advanced to the League Finals. While his 2012 squad finished above .500 (75-68), the Iron Pigs didn't qualify for the playoffs.
Ryno earned his second major league break
This 53-year-old doesn't need a job and didn't toil in the bushes for the past six years to boost his ego. Sandberg decided to learn his managerial craft step-by-step, which enabled him to earn this second major league opportunity.
Manuel seems likely to complete the final year of his contract next season unless his team truly falters. That scenario sets up well for the team's newest coach to then take over.
As a long-time Phillies' loyalist, I was happy to see Sandberg return to the fold when he was hired in November 2010. Today fully marks the completion of a thirty-plus year odyssey for one of the team's most lamented alumni. Welcome home 'Ryno'.
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I look forward to becoming friends on Facebook  
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Follow me on Twitter @SeanyOB
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Feel free to click on a selection of my interviews with broadcasters, actors, models and more...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------or...a selection of my interviews with famous athletes and sports' personalities...

Martin Brodeur: Discusses His Record-Setting Shutout Total and Key Rivalries 
Jaromir Jagr: Current NHL Forward and Future Hall of Famer
Philadelphia Flyers' Bernie Parent: Postgame reflections 
Bobby Clarke: Philadelphia Flyers' Legend Talks Hockey
Ron Hextall Recalls His Greatest Season
Kerry Fraser: NHL Referee is Still Making the Right Calls
Amazon.com is the number 1 online publishing platform in the world. That's why I used it to publish my first ebook: 
Fast Fiction and Other Stuff.

I am humbled by the reception it has received to-date and I thank everyone who has been responding to this digital creation.

This mini-tome is a collection of stories and poems for readers who don't take themselves too seriously. I hope that you enjoy it and am always welcome to your feedback. 
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It only takes a few minutes to read some of my other stories  whose links are shown below:

Horror Story: It Was Crawling Up My Chest!
Television Haiku Poem
My First Car Was An All-Time Classic
The Best Holiday Memories

When Baseball Cards Were King
Could One Baseball Shatter The Summer?
The Night Lenny Dykstra Was Swinging In The Rain
5 Traits of Hardcore Philadelphia Phillies' Fans

Philadelphia Flyers' Topps Hockey Card Mystery Revealed
5 Lessons Flyers' Fans Have Taught The Hockey World
5 Traits Old School Flyers' Fans Possess
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Visit my Rant Sports Author Page, my Examiner Contributor Page, or my Yahoo Contributor Page.
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Saturday, June 8, 2013

NHL Playoffs: Why Keith Primeau was one of the Philadelphia Flyers’ greatest captains

Overtime NHL playoff games (like the 6/8/13 Kings-Blackhawks game) often remind me of one of my favorite hockey features. It was humbling when this piece received thousands of hits after its 2011 online publication...

 Former Philadelphia Flyers' captain Keith Primeau played with grit and gusto during his fifteen years in the National Hockey League.

Primeau dominated the ice before concussions caused his career to prematurely end when he was 34-years-old in 2006.
Wikimedia Commons
Like Pittsburgh Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby, he was also a victim of concussions. Hopefully one of the game's currently great players won't have his career affected like Primeau's was.
Before head-shots took their toll on his body, the Flyers behemoth had become one of the best red-light players in the game.
Spring 2000
A contract dispute allowed Philadelphia to acquire Primeau from the Carolina Hurricanes for Rod Brind'Amour(notes) in January 2000.
He had two goals and eleven assists for the Flyers in the playoffs that spring. One of those goals came during one of hockey's all-time classic contests.
The Toronto, Ontario native's game-winner, in the fifth overtime period of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Penguins, enabled the Flyers to tie that series at two games each. The eight-period epic was one of the longest games in National Hockey League history.
The 28-year-old returned to produce a 34-goal, 39-assist season in 2000-2001.
Domination
The 6'5", 220-pounder had nine goals in 110 playoff games before the 2003-04 season.
Primeau played as though he was possessed during the 2004 playoffs, amassing nine goals and seven assists in eighteen kinetic games. But those numbers hardly define how the rink appeared to tip towards him whenever his skates seared the ice.
Bilocation
Primeau scored two goals at home in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. His second caused the strongest release of Flyers' fan energy since Game 6 of the 1987 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers in the Philadelphia Spectrum.
With less than two minutes remaining in that 2004 playoff game, the Flyers captain seemed to bilocate.
First, he tipped the puck with his skate through the crease from Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin's(notes) right side. Then, he went behind the net and reappeared at Khabibulins' left side. He received his own pass and knotted the game at 4-4 when he tapped a willing puck into the net with his wooden wand.
The resulting crowd reaction resembled a volcanic eruption of orange blood throughout the cratered arena.
Primeau and Jeremy Roenick(notes) both later touched an overtime puck that eventually went to Simon Gagne(notes). He scored the game-winning goal which forced the series to a seventh game in Tampa Bay.
Ice Rushmore
Flyers' captains Bobby Clarke, Dave Poulin, and Primeau all have their busts permanently carved into South Philadelphia's Ice Rushmore.

A likeness of the captain who will hoist the team's third Stanley Cup will eventually join them.
(This feature was originally published by Yahoo Sports on August 26, 2011.)
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My interviews with famous athletes and sports' personalities

Martin Brodeur: Discusses His Record-Setting Shutout Total and Key Rivalries 
Jaromir Jagr: Current NHL Forward and Future Hall of Famer
Philadelphia Flyers' Bernie Parent: Postgame reflections 
Bobby Clarke: Philadelphia Flyers' Legend Talks Hockey
Ron Hextall Recalls His Greatest Season
Kerry Fraser: NHL Referee is Still Making the Right Calls

I look forward to becoming friends on Facebook  
Let's connect on LinkedIn
Follow me on Twitter @SeanyOB
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazon.com is the number 1 online publishing platform in the world. That's why I used it to publish my first ebook: 
Fast Fiction and Other Stuff.

I am humbled by the reception it has received to-date and I thank everyone who has been responding to this digital creation.

This mini-tome is a collection of stories and poems for readers who don't take themselves too seriously. I hope that you enjoy it and am always welcome to your feedback. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It only takes a few minutes to read any of the stories whose links are shown below:

Horror Story: It Was Crawling Up My Chest!
Television Haiku Poem
My First Car Was An All-Time Classic
The Best Holiday Memories

When Baseball Cards Were King
Could One Baseball Shatter The Summer?
The Night Lenny Dykstra Was Swinging In The Rain
5 Traits of Hardcore Philadelphia Phillies' Fans

Philadelphia Flyers' Topps Hockey Card Mystery Revealed
5 Lessons Flyers' Fans Have Taught The Hockey World
5 Traits Old School Flyers' Fans Possess
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My interviews with broadcasters, actors, models and more...
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