March 23, 2022
It's impossible to compare teams across eras.
The rules change. The quality of the athletes change due to technology, science, training techniques and so on.
The styles change. The 3-point line has only been around since 1979. The spread offense didn't exist a few decades ago.
But who cares. Let's do it anyway.
In the spirit of March Madness, we compiled a 40-team bracket. Managing sports editor Evan Macy, deputy sports editor Shamus Clancy and staff writer Nick Tricome ranked the 40 teams you see in the bracket below and we took the average of the three seedings to create the seedings we will use for this exercise.
coming this week on @thephillyvoice: pic.twitter.com/unti3yYnG7
— shamus (@shamus_clancy) March 15, 2022
How should you vote? Is it for your favorite of the two teams matched up? Which you think is better? Which you think would win a head to head match (if it were possible)? That's entirely up to you.
Today, we'll break down the matchups on the right side of our Sweet 16. Vote here on the other side of our bracket. Below we'll give you some facts on each team, and some thoughts on what we think of them. And then it's up to you to help us crown the best team in Philadelphia sports history.
Without further ado:
Nick says: "The Broad Street Bullies" is an apt nickname, but it wasn't just that this Flyers team was tough, they were straight up good, game-changing even. They had four players put up at least 32 goals, led by Bobby Clarke's 35, and Bernie Parent in goal, who had an incredible .932 save percentage for a share of the Vezina Trophy (Only the Lord saves more). There was also Fred Shero behind the bench, whose coaching style gave the rest of the league fits. This team played a different brand of hockey, and didn't just award them with the Stanley Cup in the end, it changed the NHL forever.
VS.
Evan says: The Phillies were supposed to go back-to-back, and as a college student watching every pitch on the edge of his seat (with a Yankees fan girlfriend at the time), the World Series was excruciating. It was a series the Phillies had the offensive firepower to win, and it was also the series that the front office used to change their focus from hitting the long ball to bringing in starting pitching. The 2009 Phils hit 224 homers, a franchise record and were also under the radar the fourth best defensive team in team history.
Time to vote:
Evan says: I am biased. When the Phillies won the World Series in 2008 I was starting my junior year at Temple. I jogged all the way down Broad Street from Cecil B. Moore to City Hall and bedlam followed us as we closed in on the celebration in the city's epicenter. It was epic. It was probably the best day of my life (aside from marrying my wife and having my daughter). Chase Utley and the rest of the 2008 Phillies are gods in this city, and their home run mashing style is one the team is still trying to replicate.
VS.
Evan says: This was a legendary team as I was growing up and despite the fact that the Phillies have gotten the monkey off their backs in 2008, it remains a legendary squad. In addition to Daulton and Dykstra, John Kruk, Curt Schilling and a bevy of other household names roamed Veterans Stadium in 1993 as the Phils nearly pulled off a world championship before faltering in dramatic fashion.
Time to vote:
Shamus says: Are they the most dominant team in Philadelphia history? No. Are they the most important? Absolutely. Nick Foles almost quit professional football then thoroughly decimated the greatest defensive mind of all time and out-dueled the greatest quarterback to ever live less than 12 months later. Every single thing had to break the right way. It did. I’ve woken up every morning for the last 1,502 days still in disbelief that it happened.
VS.
Evan says: I became a sports fan because of AI and this team. Poor Iverson had no help on offense whatsoever. Though Mutombo was great at the rim as the last line of defense and they had solid role players in George Lynch and Eric Snow, there was no one else scoring more than 12 points per game in 2000-01. The first game in Philly that the Sixers won in overtime was an epic victory and I remember as a 13 year old kid, thinking "Okay, it's 1-1 we are in this... Okay now 1-2, still in it... Okay, 1-3, hmm... maybe it's not happening after all." The Sixers haven't advanced past the second round since.
Time to vote:
Nick says: The Boston Celtics were the reigning champs for eight years running. The '67 Sixers sent them home in the Eastern Finals, 4-1. The clinching game, a 140-116 blowout to set up a date with the Warriors in the Finals. With a veteran Wilt Chamberlain and Hal Greer leading the way, this team set the best regular season record (at the time) at 68-13, and it's still the fifth-best all-time 55 years later. They also had the best start to an NBA season ever at 46-4, a feat only the 2015-16 Warriors ever matched, which should speak volumes about how great that 67 team actually was.
VS.
Shamus says: People might say the 2011 squad, but I still think the 2010 Fightins were the best team during that Golden Era. Doc was at the peak of his powers and it felt like fans were witnessing history every day he took the mound. This team was offensively superior to the ’11 team too, as Jayson Werth raked on a daily basis, leading the Phils with a .921 OPS.
Time to vote:
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