Next … Is Rex

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By GORDON GLANTZ
@Managing2Edit
 
GORDONVILLE – Rex.
Not the first name I would have picked for a dog.
Not the second, third or 35th.
I usually go for an Eagles quarterback and it seemed that Nick (or Nikki for a girl) would have had the best odds in Vegas.
But then again, Rex – a black lab mix at that awkward half-pup, half-adult stage of about 18 months old (according to his teeth) – kind of picked me.
And in the intervening week, the name he came with is kind of growing on all of us.
The dog on “The Waltons” (RIP, Ralph Waite) was named Reckless, so our official story is that this is a variation.
The actual story?
It all started on one of the Antarctic days when Laurie and I went to SuperFresh at the Centre Square shopping center to stock up on supplies for the snowstorm du jour.
A weekend day, it meant that the kind folks from Home At Last Dog Rescue in North Wales, were outside – braving the harsh cold – to have the dogs available for adoption interact with passersby.
We had been there before, often reaching over and under other people to pet a pooch while a volunteer pretty much ignored us.
No time for such frivolity that day.
Because we had an alternate agenda, I made it clear that we were not looking at any dogs, as tempting as it may be.
It was too cold, and we had to reach over and under people to get bread and milk and eggs.
I did add one caveat: Unless, of course, I’m struck by the same kind of thunderbolt that found Michael Corleone when he first locked eyes with Apollonia while on the lam in Sicily.
It happened that way back in 1990 at the Philadelphia SPCA on Erie Avenue. That’s when and where another black lab mix, Randall, looked into my soul from behind the bars of his cage.
He was one day overdue to be put down, and it was 10 minutes to closing.
He lived with us in three different places – from Northeast Philly to center city to the current suburban homestead – until 16 ½ and is still spoken of in rightfully revered terms.
We later added Kelly, who was more sweet and pretty than special and intelligent like Randall, but they – along with cat named Tyler – were like the three musketeers.
Kelly died first, battling through a litany of health issues to last until 10 ½, and Randall went while Laurie was pregnant with Sofia.
Tyler passed on to Rainbow Bridge, but new cats were added.
Somehow, despite being “dog people,” we became a three-cat household – with the current lineup consisting of Hank (5), Licorice (nearly 2) and Hershey (nearly 1).
We often spoke about adding a dog, as it seemed the last piece of a puzzle – along with a new kitchen and bathrooms – to make our house truly a home.
And with memories of Randall, we set the bar pretty high.
We felt Sofia was a year or two away, but there was no target date. Maybe her eighth or ninth birthday, or one of the Christmases in between, but nothing concrete.
It was going to come down to being struck by the thunderbolt, and that came that frigid Saturday in early February when a woman was walking Rex away from the crowd of volunteers and frigid shoppers and the dogs when we crossed paths in front of the Jade Garden Chinese Restaurant (our personal favorite).
His resemblance to Randall caught my eye, so I stopped to interface with him. Laurie was already half into the store when I called her back. The woman walking him began telling us Rex’s heart-wrenching story.
He was a recent arrival from South Carolina – Darlington County, the setting and title of a Springsteen song – and was apparently beaten in front of shelter workers there when his previous owner surrendered him.
From what I gather, he stole the hearts of the Darlington County people enough that they didn’t want to put him for a long period of time in one of their multiple-dog outdoor kennels where fighting is common and where any dog who fights – even in self-defense – is summarily put down with the aggressor.
An angel of mercy named Roz, who networks with the Darlington shelter, had seen and heard enough. She agreed to foster Rex and he was shipped to the frozen north (not that the south was much better) in a massive vehicle of small cages.
Roz, who had only had Rex in her care a short time, joined our conversation. By that time, a very timid Rex was warming up to us.
I looked up at Laurie for guidance. She looked at me with that “it’s up to you” look.
It’s a look that comes with consequences, because I was going to have to live with my decision.
But I had already been struck by the thunderbolt.
When we pried ourselves away to walk into SuperFresh, Rex started to follow us.
When we left, and loaded up the car with the typical haul to last 12 winters, Laurie wheeled the shopping cart back toward the store (we do that, unlike some others who would be named if I knew their names) and Rex spotted her and started pulling away from the next group of people fawning over him and waged his tail while looking in her direction.
I started the engine, turned on the heat to about 90 degrees and looked up again to see people engaged with Rex.
“Get away from my dog,” I muttered.
My dog.
Yep, my dog.
He found me.
Went home, filled out the online application and he was with us a week later.
The prime directive is a lot of TLC, which is always on the menu as a blue-plate special at the Glantz Diner.
The vet, who gave Rex a clean bill of health, warned against spoiling.
But that’s how we roll.
All things considered, he is doing well.
Not sure if he realizes just how lucky he is to have it made in the shade with us, but we can take the satisfaction of providing him with a place to land.
Rex is generally mellow – when I’m weaving my written tapestries at the laptop on the dining room table, he usually lies down underneath it — but he seems to be coming out of his shell.
The housebreaking is … well … coming along slower than expected, but I blame that on the weather and the lack of places to walk that aren’t snow-covered.
He had an adventure after just a few days, staying overnight in a pet-friendly hotel (Comfort Inn in Montgomeryville) and was an instant attraction with staff and other powerless refugees.
My mother, who lives with us, has a phobia about dogs. She tried to be afraid of Rex, but it’s impossible.
She declared, upon getting him, that she won’t be joining me in the car to pick Sofia up from the school if he is there, too.
After three days, her butt was in the car while Rex snoozed in the back, only to perk up when his favorite playmate, Sofia, appeared.
Rex has also signed peace accords with Hank and Licorice. For some reason, he senses weakness and fear in Hershey and gives him a hard time, but we have seen recent signs of thaw.
Just like this bitter winter that was made better by one moment when time froze.
And the thunderbolt struck.
 
 

The Lame Gang

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Pet Peeve: UMC Suburbanites — white, Asian, black, brown, green — throwing around gang signs in their social media pictures. You want to be urban? Here’s a idea. We can go on a little field trip. We’ll pile on a bus and let you all out in the Badlands of North Philly or in Watts, collect your cell phones and make you get off the bus. We’ll back in 48 hours. Enjoy, yo!

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Sad Day On North Broad Street

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Temple

By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing2Edit

GORDONVILLE –Telemarketers, how much to I loathe thee?

Too many ways to count.

So much that I refuse the opportunity to go on a do-not-call list.

Instead, I’d rather answer and argue (or track them down when no one speaks after answering).

As much as I try to support my alma mater, Temple University, I have grown weary of the hunt for money I don’t have.

Doesn’t mean the door is slammed shut on the place where my parents and many friends and family went to school, let alone where I met my future wife, but we are more prone to deal with snail-mail pleas for dough than ill-timed callers.

When Temple pops up on Caller ID — a regular happening — I don’t answer.

That is going to change.

I don’t mean to give an earful to the poor coed on the other line who is trying to make a buck — especially since Temple isn’t exactly Rich Kid Central — but the buck (and bucks) stop here.

The news this week that the only sports being granted clemency from death row are men’s crew and women’s rowing (or maybe the other way around, but what’s the difference?).

Baseball, softball, gymnastics …

Gone with the wind.

Some may call my line in the sand righteous indignation.

I just call it righteous.

I admit to not following those sports on the chopping block, but I admire the athlete who toil under the radar for little glory.

On Facebook, my stance was quickly challenged.

There was the expected put-up-or-shut-up challenge, to which I responded that do plenty of that.

I stay loyal to the football team, wasting many a nice autumn day having my heart torn out, only to “put up” with the jokes from the Penn State people who engulf me.

When I encounter a young person considering Temple, I don’t shut up about the school’s many pluses.

Another Facebook friend decried the emphasis on sports in general, and hinted that a change in priorities could lead to a cure to cancer.

My counter was that a scholarship to an athlete who may not have otherwise gone to school could lead to a cure to cancer.

Riddles aside, there is a deeper issue, one that needs to be addressed.

I think my friend — like many who shrugged off this news — is thinking of football and men’s basketball.

There are schools, mostly based on geography, where other sports are big (ice hockey in New England, upper Midwest and Colorado and lacrosse from Maryland down to the Carolinas) but it is primarily those two where an abundance of full scholarships are handed out by schools like Moonies giving out fliers at airports (back when they could get past security).

At the top levels, the so-called big-time (where Temple wants to be in football, for example), we are probably seeing more athlete-students than student-athletes.

However, these are the sports that make the lion’s share of money for the school (so it can pursue a cure to cancer) and it’s not as much through donations/ticket sales, as it is from TV contracts.

The schools make the dough, the athletes get nothing. Some get diplomas, but we know how much that’s worth these days.

For the ones who don’t, all they gave up were half a decade’s worth of a jump start of being in a blue-collar union, and they have torn knees and concussion syndromes to show for their time in servitude.

The sports being cut, like at Temple, are not the same thing.

We are dealing with true student-athletes who put in a lot of extra blood and sweat on top of schoolwork. Many don’t even have full scholarships. They were recruited based on promises about a school, in terms of what majors it offered and the coach selling him or herself on the specific sport.

They could have picked more serene places, blocking out life’s realities a little longer, but instead chose Temple.

And Temple chose to kick them in the gut.

Just like I am going to do to the next caller looking for money.

 

Number One With Bullets: Christians Top Hate Parade

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By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing2Edit

GORDONVILLE — So as not to be accused of being the Glantz Who Stole Christmas, I held back on one vital and disturbing piece of information during my annual quibbling with those mortified by the apparently egregious use of “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” a few months back.

Remaining sensitive to the importance of the holiday season and traditions — and understanding that the overall insolence of American society creates Frankensteins out of otherwise civil and respectful people — I kept the banter nonsensical.

As fights go, these are not good ones.

With chips on their shoulders as high as the star atop their Christmas trees, the end game of their argument is that “poor Gordon doesn’t get it.”

Actually, I do.

It is nothing to do with a claim that America — with a promise of separation of church and state – is a “Christian” country.

When they angrily point to a general greeting – as opposed to one more directed toward a specific holiday in a the holiday season – as evidence of Christian persecution, I wanted to hoot and howl.

But it’s not a laughing matter.

Not now.

Not in 2014.

They are semi-correct in their persecution accusation, but largely ignorant as to why.

If you want persecution, I’ll give you persecution.

And I do it with a heavy heart.

Christians are, in fact, being persecuted around the world at such an alarming rate that they have even surpassed Jews at No. 1 on the world’s Hate Parade.

And what is going on in the world at large is far more tragic than someone not greeting you the way you prefer, or your child being taught in a more secular way at a public school (where taxpayers of all faiths send their children with the hopes that they not be ostracized because they are not in the religious majority).

I don’t really blame my many friends and neighbors who go temporarily insane that Jesus — the “reason for the season” — seems secondary to coverage of Black Friday riots at big box stores.

I blame the American media – mainstream and otherwise – for leaving the populace in the dark when there their job is to shed light on the story behind the story.

How many knew that a Vatican representative, Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, testified on Feb. 11 before a House subcommittee about the “flagrant and widespread persecution” of Christians in the Middle East, where the thaw of spring has hardened hearts toward the Christians?

He did, and the Pope’s messenger pulled no punches.

“No Christian is exempt, whether or not he or she is Arab,” Chullikatt said. “Arab Christians, a small but significant community, find themselves the target of constant harassment for no reason other than their religious faith,”

In this explosive part of the world – the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam — a greeting of “Happy Holidays” would have gone a long way this past December.

Chullikatt – while detailing bombings of houses and churches on Christmas Eve — challenged the U.S. to take a stronger stance with the United Nations and its global goal of safeguarding religious freedom.

He also spoke of the psychological damage done to Christian children living through persecution – aggressive and passive – that will stay with them for years.

“They’ve had to live in fear,” he said. “They’ve committed no crime. They are children. When they go to their schools, they are not even sure if they will come back safe and sound or even alive.”

Reuters — a real news service out of London – cited a recent report stating that “about 100 million Christians are persecuted around the world, with conditions worsening for them most rapidly in Syria and Ethiopia, according to an annual report by the Christian advocacy group Open Doors.

The worst offenders still remain North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

Eight of the nations ranked in the top 10 for Christian persecution are Muslim states facing growing extremism.

North Korea does not allow Christianity, and deals with the practice harshly, putting around 70,000 Christians in what are, for all intents and purposes, concentration camps.

Certainly troubling in a world where most said “Never Again” after the Nazis did the same to Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and others not even 75 years ago.

If Hispanic is the new black on the domestic front, Christian is the new Jewish on the world stage.

“In recent years, we’ve been hearing that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world — that sounds right to us,” said Open Doors France director Michel Varton at a presentation of the report in Strasbourg.

Syria moved to No. 11 to from No. 36 on the list, largely due to the civil war and the largely inaccurate perception that the Christian minority has deep ties to the rebels.

Christian communities there have been intentionally displaced by militants. There have been shootings and beheadings of Christians who refused to convert to Islam, according to various news reports from the region.

Similar background stories exist in other countries, from Ethiopia (rising from No. 38 to No. 15, despite being two-thirds Christian) and Mali (No. 7 in this its first appearance on the ignominious list).

“There are over 65 countries where Christians are persecuted,” said the report released by Open Doors, which began in the 1950s smuggling Bibles into communist states and now works in more than 60 countries.

All but one of the 50 countries in the list – Colombia, which ranked 46th – were in Africa, Asia or the Middle East.

While Christianity is the largest and most widely spread faith in the world, with 2.2 billion followers — or 32 percent of the world population, according to a report by the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life — it reportedly faces restrictions and hostility in 111 countries around the world.

While Pope Benedict, who is the spiritual leader for more than half the world’s Christians (Roman Catholics), seems to be keenly aware of the crisis, others are not.

In Germany, where anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial are punishable crimes, politicians and human rights groups criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel for asserting it was pointless to try to rank religions according to how persecuted they were.

How and why is this happening now? Actually, wars that can be summed up as “my God can beat up your God” have been going on for thousands of years, but part of the recent uptick – aside from internal conflicts — is a consequence of migrant workers.

While Muslims have migrated to traditionally Christian European countries with some suspicion but without discernable venom and persecution, the same has not happened when the reverse has been the case.

Take Saudi Arabia, an ally of the United States, which ranks second to North Korea in persecution of Christians. It is a nation that bans the public practice of any religion but Islam. However, as a wealthier Arab country, many of the workers coming to sweep the streets and dig the ditches are Christians from less-wealthy nations.

And the Arab Spring, most notably in Egypt – that 2011 event received a lot of feel-good coverage in the US on the 24-hour news networks that always seem to fall short on following a story once it’s not breaking – has generally spawned more Islamic fundamentalism and antagonism to Christian minorities.

So, just possibly, instead of creating Ebenezer Scrooges that don’t exist on the home front, maybe you should hit your knees and say a prayer for your Christian brethren than have become the world’s Tiny Tim.

What can be done about it?

Knowledge is power.

Now you have the knowledge.

But hey, before we get to work on that, let’s get the pleasantries out of the way now.

Merry Christmas to all.

And to all a good – and more meaningful — fight.

Eagles Ready For a Safety Dance

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By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing2Edit

GORDONVILLE – What do Brian Dawkins, Bill Bradley, Wes Hopkins, Michael Lewis, Jerry Norton, Randy Logan and Quinten Mikell all have in common?

They are all safeties who have represented the Philadelphia Eagles in the Pro Bowl.

This tradition of decades of quality safety play extends beyond Pro Bowl bids, which are often political and often feature voters selecting the same players out of force of habit.

Case in point is the beloved Andre Waters. The late No. 20 never went to a Pro Bowl, but was voted to the Eagles’ 75th anniversary team, alongside Dawkins, at safety and was a first-team UPI All-Pro choice in 1991.

It is a tradition – on good and not-so-good Eagles teams – that has been carried on by others, too.

Don Burroughs, a 6-foot-5 safety who snagged a league-high nine interceptions in that long-ago last championship season of 1960 (and 29 in five total seasons with the Eagles), was a second-team all-league choice by the AP in 1960 and second-team by the UPI in 1961.

Terry Hoage’s eight interceptions – while platooning with Hopkins – earned him a second-team All-Pro nod in 1988.

Joe Scarpati played six seasons for the Eagles in the mid-to-late 1960s and had 24 interceptions, including eight for a league-high 182 yards in 1966.

Brenard Wilson, who started alongside Logan in Super Bowl 16 against the Oakland Raiders, had 15 of his 17 career interceptions in three seasons (including six in 1980, the NFC Championship year).

But 2009, when Mikell went to Hawaii as a Pro Bowl alternate, marked the start of an era of darkness.

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Since then, the Eagles have been like the 1980s pop band Men Without Hats – as in hats (coachspeak for helmets) on receivers coming over the middle or running backs galloping free downhill like runaway locomotives through the nightmarish Wide-9 defense.

In an attempt to fix the problem, the front office has been doing its own “Safety Dance” – the big smash from the aforementioned Montreal-based New Wave act – without much success.

And for all the excitement generated this past season, when the Eagles and rookie head coach Chip Kelly went 10-6 and captured the flag in the NFC East behind the mercurial play of quarterback Nick Foles and league rushing champ LeSean McCoy, the back end of the defense remained their Achilles’ heel.

The play of the cornerbacks – Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher on the outside and Brandon Boykin in the slot – was adequate, but they can only do so much, in lieu of holding their man and drawing crucial penalties, before releasing receivers to the next level and/or waiting for help to arrive over the top.

The safety position, even to the most casual observer, is the top priority.

And like that line in “Safety Dance,” general manager Howie Roseman and Kelly, “can dance if they want to, they can leave their cares behind.”

How, exactly, can it be done with a rookie crop considered just average and a top-heavy free agent list that gets thin in hurry?

Difficult, but not impossible.

Step one is cleaning house of the group in place.

Patrick Chung, who seemed like he was more in the way of his own teammates than the opposition, is sure to be jettisoned, along with his $3.75 million salary, after one disjointed season.

Nate Allen, whose claim to fame last season was that he was “better” than the comatose way he had played before, is a pending free agent. Ditto for Kurt Coleman, who was the one-time starter mercifully relegated to special teams work last season.

Another free agent is special-teamer Colt Anderson, who is really a safety in name only.

That would leave only Earl Wolff, whose efforts as a fifth-round rookie made him a default cult hero before a knee injury put him on the shelf. Practice squad holdover Keelan Johnson could get a look as a deep reserve at the NFL’s minimum wage, but there is no emotional attachment or investment of a draft pick there.

If this scenario isn’t a clean slate – a chance to do a safety dance right into a new era – then what is?

The murmurings are that Allen, the player the Eagles drafted with the second-round pick obtained from the Washington Redskins in the Donovan McNabb trade, has enough people still pulling for him within the front office to be brought back on a palatable deal.

If that’s the case, that would need to be as far as it goes, in terms of giving out 15th chances to this group of do-nothings.

The Eagles are facing a considerably tougher schedule this season and their weakest area needs an upgrade. There should be at least one free agent signing and one draft pick joining Wolff and, probably, Allen.

There are some safeties in the draft worth considering, but not worth a reach of Jaiquawn Jarrett proportions.

Pre-combine, most reputable mock drafts had Alabama’s Ha Ha Clinton-Dix going before the Eagles pick at No. 22. His value is not likely to drop, as he has proven adept at not letting some of the best college stud receivers get past him, but he could be pushed down a few spots – from the mid-teens to the early 20s – if other players at different positions see their stocks rise.

If he falls into the Eagles’ lap, it would be a no-brainer. Worth a trade up, though? He is probably not that type of impact player.

Next on the list is Calvin Pryor of Louisville, who plays with a physical style that would remind the Eagle Nation of Hopkins.

Going into the second and third rounds, we see players like Deone Bucannon of Washington State, Dion Bailey of USC and Craig Loston of LSU. All are more in-the-box strong safeties. (Bucannon led the PAC-12 in tackles, Bailey has played a lot of linebacker and Loston’s downhill hits have gone viral on You Tube.) That style safety has a harder time finding a place to land in the run-and-gun NFL (see Jarrett).

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Among the others still looking to break from the pack at this weekend’s combine and/or individual pro day workouts are Jimmie Ward of Northen Illinois, Ty Zimmerman of Kansas State, Lemarcus Joyner of Florida State and Tre Boston of North Carolina.

The Eagles could also think outside the box and earmark a big, raw cornerback prospect for training a safety. An ideal candidate would be Pierre Desir (6-1, 200) from Division II Lindenwood.

But the reality is that only Clinton-Dix or Pryor could make immediate impacts, albeit with learning curves and expected rookie mistakes.

The top two safeties in free agency are Jarius Byrd of Buffalo and T.J. Ward of Cleveland. Both, like that list of standout safeties in the team’s history, are fresh off of Pro Bowl appearances.

And it just so happens that both played at Oregon, Chip Kelly’s former college fiefdom and regular pipeline to the Eagles’ roster and practice squad.

On talk radio, Joe D’Fan has suggested signing both, which would be quite a coup, but it wreaks too much of the 2011 “Dream Team” strategy that backfired worse than a speeding 18-wheeler with 20-year-old spark plugs.

Roseman is on record as saying he is not going there again.

NFL insiders say that Byrd is looking for a humongous pay day while the Browns could brand Ward with the franchise tag before letting him walk.

Translation, Mr. D’Fan: Don’t get your hopes up, even for one of them.

The next group includes Donte Whitner (49ers), Antoine Bethea (Colts), Chris Clemons (Miami), Louis Delmas (Detroit), Malcolm Jenkins (Saints), Stevie Brown (Giants) or Major Wright (Bears).

Whitner could possibly be available, but only if the Niners have to spend too much to retain other free agents.  Still, they want him back and he does not want to leave.

Of the rest, Delmas seems the most likely to change locations, with Denver the most likely landing spot.

And once you get past this group, well, you are looking at guys with either too much tread on the tires or voluminous medical histories.

Anyone else?

We have Bernard Pollard, last of the Titans, who is 29 years old and has a ring with the Baltimore Ravens. He would bring leadership and a needed sense of honor to the back end, similar to former teammate Williams at the corner, but he does not have the pedigree to end the Pro Bowl drought.

An off-the-radar guy to watch could be Taylor Mays. The former three-time All-American at USC is a known entity to Kelly. A second-round pick by the 49ers in 2010, he was promptly traded to the Bengals and never really panned out at either place, largely because of injuries.

The 26-year-old was playing decently last season before a shoulder injury put him out of commission, so he would be a candidate for one of those incentive-laden one-year deals. Mays also fits Kelly’s theme of “big guys beat up on small guys,” as he is 6-3 and 220 pounds and ran a sub-4.5 40 coming out of college.

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At the least, if healthy, he is night-and-day depth upgrade over Coleman and Chung.

And then, there is always Mikell.

He will be 34 soon and is battling a Lisfranc injury, but his resume has one thing none of the others do.

Against a desperate backdrop of needing to head in the future by shedding the present and remembering the past, he did something none of the present have done.

He is the last Eagle safety to play in a Pro Bowl.

This column originally appeared at http://www.phillyphanatic.com

Separating Farce From Fact

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By GORDON GLANTZ

Gordonglantz50@gmail.com

@Managing2Edit

GORDONVILLE – Sorry, Ed.

And I can call you that – as opposed to Mr. Snider – so don’t give me one of those icy stares.

I am not cast under your spell.

Your name is not on my paycheck.

I am not a beat writer, covering the team you own – with an admirable passion – the Philadelphia Flyers.

You are not a Roman Emperor.

You are not a mafia don.

You are just an owner of a team – with the burning desire to see the Stanley Cup hoisted once more before nature runs its course – who is ticked that his prize possession, team captain Claude Giroux, was left off the roster of Canadian Olympic team for the ongoing Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

You called it a farce.

Aside from the games being awarded to Sochi in the first place, there is no farce going on here.

Not with the case of Giroux.

It’s not a farce, Ed.

It’s a fact.

One as cold and hard as the ice surface the teams will be skating on the next few weeks.

Giroux probably belonged on the team, but he was a not a slam dunk.

There are enough NHL standouts and stars born in Canada to send over A and B teams that could be in medal contention.

If that were the case, Giroux would be there, too.

But it’s not the case.

Instead, Austria (with Michael Raffl ), Slovakia (with Andrej Meszaros) and Norway (with one NHL player on its roster) have teams over there with as much of a chance to medal as my street hockey team from Wilson Junior High.

It would be nice if the Flyers were a little more universal, and had more than two aging defenseman – Mark Streit (Switzerland) and Kimmo Timonen (Finland) – and no forwards playing for, say, Sweden or Russia in the Olympics (and just two Canadian forwards and one Russian defenseman in the World Junior games).

It was bad luck – a hand injury while golfing late in the offseason– more than anything else that made Giroux a non-Olympian.

He couldn’t participate in pre-Olympic gatherings, and then got off to a slow start when the puck was dropped on the NHL season.

He was a bubble choice, at best, and he missed being inside Steve Yzerman’s bubble. Yzerman, who is the general manager of both Team Canada and the Tampa Bay Lightning, chose his own player, Martin St. Louis, to replace injured Lightning star Steven Stamkos on the roster this past week.

Not a farce. A fact.

And it’s one that could work to the Flyers’ advantage.

Giroux will be rested and ready to go – with a hand further rehabbed – when the Olympics end.

It gives us reason to root for Canada to win the gold, as it raise the chip on Giroux’s shoulder the size of William Penn’s cap atop City Hall.

If you want to talk about farces, though, let’s do it.

Giroux’s golf partner that day was boyhood friend Jason Akeson, whose quick thinking may have saved Giroux’s season – or maybe his career.

Akeson was not some chum with whom Giroux was doing some offseason golfing.

He is also a hockey player within the Flyers’ “organ-I-zation.”

He skated one game with the Flyers, at the end of last season, and scored a goal.

Not really an anomaly, though, as Akeson seems to find his way onto the score sheet more than he does the penalty box. That he currently leads the Adirondack Phantoms in scoring with 42 points (16 goals, 26 assists) in 45 games is not a fluke. Akeson, who just recorded his 100th career AHL assist while setting up Tye McGinn, is on his way to leading the Phantoms in scoring for the third straight season.

Why not a shot at the roster for this kid? Could it be that the Flyers are looking less at his 150 points in 183 AHL games and more at his “wimpy” 75 penalty minutes and 5-10 and 190-pound frame?

It has been said that Akeson is “allergic” to the defensive end of the ice, but is there not as much room on the roster for an offensive specialist as there is for defensive ones who kill penalties, let alone goons who drop the gloves once in a while and try to stay out of the way the rest of the time?

The Flyers once had a guy named Ron Flockhart who posted productive numbers (33 goals, 39 assists) as a rookie in 1981-82. He was primarily playing on the fourth line and on power plays, while taking shifts on a “scoring” line when the team needed a spark.

That is a fact.

The Flyers’ fourth-liners these days? We have Jay Rosehill, Adam Hall and Zac Rinaldo. Raffl has been dropped from the first to fourth line and, according to coach Craig Berube, is “making his linemates better.”

Could he make them much worse?

Prior to Saturday’s last game before the Olympic break, giving Snider’s sycophants in the town’s mainstream press more time to bemoan the grave injustice done to Giroux, the Rosehill-Hall-Rinaldo Bermuda Triangle has rung up a combined eight points (5 goals, 3 assists) in 133 games while posting  200 penalty minutes.

Those are facts.

And it’s a farce.

The response will be that it is not all about numbers. They’ll that it is about grit and being “good guys in the room” and not having any allergies to the defensive end of the ice.

Just keep in mind that they are a combined minus-18, and the “good guys in the room” stuff is often nothing more than a lame cover story.

Grit? I’ll take some offense from a fourth-liner on a regular basis in exchange for a trip to the sin bin for over-zealousness or the “great check of the game” that makes Steve Coates go apoplectic.

The sad thing here is that you would think the Flyers would have learned their lesson.

It’s sitting right there on the Canadian Olympic roster.

The real farce is not that Giroux is missing but the fact that Patrick Sharp, a vital cog for the mighty Chicago Blackhawks, is on the roster.

And he belongs there, without argument.

Even from King Ed.

Sharp was drafted by the Flyers back in the third round in 2001 and was showing promise, as fourth-liner when dealt to Chicago for Matt Ellison, who was billed as a quick skater with offensive skills.

Ellison, currently eking out a living playing overseas, skated in a grand total of seven games for the Flyers, managing an assist.

Even at the AHL level, when the Phantoms were playing in the old Spectrum, he was nowhere near as productive as Akeson, checking in with 64 points in 110 games.

The rationale for the perplexing trade at the time, as given by former general manager Bob Clarke (Snider’s adopted son), was that Sharp wasn’t getting enough ice time on the fourth line.

Wait, what?

So you would rather trade away a young talent and get nothing in return?

You want a farce, Ed?

There is your farce.

Spare us the righteous indignation.

This column originally appeared at http://www.phillyphanatics.com