As you may have heard on Tuesday, Johan Rojas tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and is facing an 80-game suspension by MLB.
Rojas plans to appeal the suspension, and the MLB hasn’t yet contacted the Phillies about his status. The center fielder was scheduled to play for the Dominican Republic in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, but didn’t join the team in Miami over the weekend.
The Phillies’ outfield depth would be diminished by a suspension to Rojas, as Brandon Marsh, Justin Crawford, and Adolis García are locked into outfield spots, while Otto Kemp hasn’t been a full-time outfielder.
A situation like this wouldn’t be a huge deal for some teams. The Phillies, however, are not one of those teams. They don’t have a choice but to scavenge for someone who at least looks like a center fielder, writes columnist David Murphy.
In other news, with the World Baseball Classic opening on Thursday, former Phillies pitcher Phillippe Aumont will return to the mound with Team Canada. The 37-year-old left baseball to become a farmer. Now, he’ll get the chance to face his old team in a tuneup.
Safety Reed Blankenship (32) and linebacker Nakobe Dean (17) could both require replacements during the free-agency period.
Change is coming to the Eagles’ defense. Of the Eagles’ 19 pending unrestricted free agents, nine are on defense and four — Jaelan Phillips, Nakobe Dean, Reed Blankenship, and Adoree’ Jackson — were starters for most of the 2025 season.
Some positions have more clear-cut internal replacements than others. Some pending free agents are likely higher priorities for retention than others.
Andrea Peterson has been at the helm for Neumann Goretti for 12 seasons.
Andrea Peterson is in her 12th season at the helm for Neumann Goretti. She is the most accomplished girls’ high school basketball coach in the area.
Somehow, she manages to run her childcare business in Delaware County, coach Neumann Goretti, which is really a 12-month long responsibility, runs her AAU Philly Legacy program, while raising her sibling’s three children, easily working between 70 to 80 hours a week during the four-month high school basketball season.
Flyers right wing Owen Tippett skates the puck against the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 5.
Owen Tippett has style. On Saturday, the Flyers’ social media accounts had a picture of Tippett in his gameday fit, sporting a Kith sweater, baggy black jeans, and sunglasses. He followed that up with a Canadian tuxedo, fittingly in Toronto, on Monday.
Now, this isn’t about fashion, instead it’s about the old-fashioned mantra: “If you look good, you feel good,” and right now, the Flyers need to Tippett to step up with Travis Konecny’s status up in the air.
Even without their leading goal scorer, the Flyers have won three straight after a 3-2 shootout win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Here are four numbers to know.
Lavar Scott grew up in Carneys Point, N.J. and raced on dirt tracks across Pennsylvania.
South Jersey’s Lavar Scott grew up racing on dirt tracks with his family. When he turned 15, he wanted to pursue a career in racing, which meant moving to Charlotte, N.C.
Six years ago, he was accepted into the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program and worked his way toward racing at the highest level. Now he’s one step from the sport’s top tier — and is already giving back to the Philly area.
Sports snapshot
Villanova forward Matt Hodge will undergo surgery to his right knee and miss the rest of the season.
Future implications: With Matt Hodge sidelined for the rest of the season, Kevin Willard will need to weigh some short and long term decisions.
Give an assist: Point guard Derek Simpson is a key contributor in St. Joseph’s turning around its season.
Title holder: Cardinal O’Hara graduate Maggie Doogan was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year for the consecutive year.
Let’s compare: A sellout crowd in New York brought another great atmosphere to Unrivaled. But it couldn’t top Philly’s spectacle.
🧠 Trivia time answer
The Eagles drafted first-round wideouts in back-to-back years in 2020 (Jalen Reagor) and 2021 (DeVonta Smith). Prior to that, who was the last receiver they drafted in the first round?
Reddit AMA with Flyers reporter Jackie Spiegel ahead of NHL trade deadline.
What are the Flyers’ plans for the NHL trade deadline?
You can ask that question and more during a Reddit AMA with the Inquirer’s Jackie Spiegel on Wednesday in the r/Flyers Subreddit.
What you’re saying about NFL free agency
We asked: Which of the Eagles’ pending free agents should Roseman prioritize re-signing? Among your responses:
Dollars and sense drives these decisions. We have no tight ends and few edge rushers on the roster today. Signing Goedert and Phillips makes sense if their contracts fit the budget. The pressure is on Howie to again figure it out, make the right moves and keep the Super Bowl window open. — Tom E.
Bring back Goedert, Dean and Phillips — why are they so intent on moving on from Goedert? None of the other tight ends on the roster contributed at all last year.— Richard E.
Phillips and Dean are players that the BIRDS should resign. Dean is the play caller for the D and is tough. Phillips brings that outside rush which we desperately need.— Tom G.
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert is set to become a free agent.
Free agent must keepers: P Braden Mann, OLB Jaelan Phillips, TE Dallas Goedert, LB Nakobe Dean. Dump List- T. O. 2.0 WR A. J. Brown. Off to the Raiders or New England. Enough with his disruptive nonsense.— Ronald R.
Make it a priority to resign Dallas Goedert who had his best season this past year 60 receptions for 591 yards and 11 TD’s. At 6-5 256 he make an excellent target. When Brown and others were failing Dallas was there for Hurts when he most needed him. — Everett S.
All of them. — Paul D.
We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Alex Coffey, Scott Lauber, David Murphy, Jeff Neiburg, Olivia Reiner, Matt Breen, Ryan Mack, Kerith Gabriel, Jackie Spiegel, Jonathan Tannenwald, Joseph Santoliquito, and Devin Jackson.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
Have a wonderful Wednesday, and thanks for getting your morning started with me. Kerith will catch back up with you in Thursday’s newsletter. — Bella
Why are Americans allowed to place bets on death and destruction?
An advertisement by the American company Polymarket shows Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo ahead of the New York City mayoral election on Nov. 4, 2025, in New York.
Donald Trump’s splendid and not-so-little war that started during a Saturday rush hour in Tehran and has spread like a coronavirus to numerous other countries is entering its fourth day on Tuesday — far too early for one of journalism’s oldest clichés: the “winners and losers” piece.
Except for these winners: a few “lucky” — if that word can even apply to such a ghoulish enterprise — gamblers who woke up Saturday morning and learned that the first deadly explosions across Iran had already made them a lot richer, regardless of who wins or loses on the battlefield.
The initial weekend of war wasn’t even over before we learned that Polymarket, one of the two leading prediction markets that are the inevitable next downward spiral of our national sports gambling addiction, was hit by suspicious trading by six individuals who showed up to bet big on when the war would commence.
One trader up for particular attention earned a reported $553,000 over the weekend by placing large bets on when Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — killed in the war’s initial minutes, reportedly — would be deposed. The handle on that well-timed, if macabre, gambler? “magamyman.”
My man, you aren’t even trying to hide it.
Polymarket’s brush with possible insider trading on predictive bets over the Iran war that is now a reality came as its customers bet a stunning half a billion dollars on the long-rumored conflict.
Many of them, presumably, are just regular schlubs desperate to get ahead in a dog-eat-dog economy. But it’s also hard not to contemplate that some may have had real advance knowledge of Pentagon war planning that loose-lipped insiders were audibly discussing in Joe’s Stone Crab just hours before the first cruise missile was fired.
I know … it’s shocking that something in America’s death spiral of late-stage capitalism is actually a rigged game, right? Still, it’s hard to decide which is worse about this new low of predictive betting on a war that’s already killed scores of innocent schoolgirls and hospital patients, and at least six U.S. service members: the rank immorality of wagering on death and destruction, or the insider trading that corrupts this already unholy process even further?
Over the weekend, even with the main focus on the latest missile attacks and changing Trump regime explanations for this undeclared war, there was growing outrage over the popularity of predictive betting on the news, especially when the news is deadly. Or, there’s the word the chief U.S. government official tasked with regulating Polymarket, Kalshi, or their rival firms has used to describe what’s happening.
Michael Selig, the lawyer tapped by Trump last year to head the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which — controversially — regulates these prediction markets, seems less a regulator and more of a cheerleader, maybe as much as “magamyman.” As several states have pushed to regulate or ban predictive markets as akin to sports betting sites, also under its purview, Selig has worked hard to override them with a claim of federal supremacy.
“The CFTC will no longer sit idly by while overzealous state governments undermine the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction over these markets by seeking to establish statewide prohibitions on these exciting products,” Selig wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
It’s worth noting Selig’s moves came at the same time that six Democratic senators wrote the CFTC chair to urge him to ban gambling on outcomes that result in death or physical harm — inspired by outrage that people were betting on whether a NASA spacecraft would fail to launch, as well as predictions around the fate of the former Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, seized in January by U.S. troops. Not surprisingly, the high volume of Iran war betting has sparked fresh calls to ban predictive market betting altogether.
“Life stops being something we live, but something we sell and trade,” Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy posted on X, before saying he is studying legislation to ban prediction markets. “It will breed both corruption [and] emptiness.”
Unlike sporting events, betting on political or social developments whose occurrence and timing are controlled and known by humans is incredibly prone to insider trading. In a case that seems to typify the fundamental flaw of non-sports prediction markets, and which Kalshi was forced to acknowledge in an internal investigation, an editor for the wildly popular YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, was caught betting $4,000 on predictions about what MrBeast would say in his next video.
Because betting on influencer video topics is how far off the deep end we are going here. The addictive nature of online sports betting, which was once mostly banned until elite schemers realized how much money was to be made from increasingly desperate people, was always pointing American society in this warped direction.
Zoom out and there’s a much bigger picture here: A society where the traditional pathways to prosperity are rigged for the Epstein class has created an entire ethos that seeks to match that level of wealth through unconventional not-40-hour-workweek paths, like online influencers, or by hitting the big one, whether that’s through buying a meme stock, betting on college basketball, loading up on the right crypto, or — now — gambling on stuff like when Israel is going to bomb women and children in Gaza.
It seems no one near the top of the American kleptocracy is immune to cashing in, including — sigh — Big Media. It was bad enough that CNN partnered with Kalshi to promote predictive odds on events like Tuesday’s Texas primary, but now the venerable Associated Press picked Monday — amid all the negative publicity about the Iran war wagers — to announce its own deal with the site.
Meanwhile, the only safe bet would be a prediction that no one in Washington, D.C., will be able to successfully stop this in the near future. It’s not only that reckless and potentially corrupt get-rich-quick maneuvers like crypto, artificial intelligence, and now these “exciting” predictive markets are simply in the Trump regime’s toxic money-grubbing DNA.
To seal the deal, Donald Trump Jr. joined the advisory board of Polymarket last August, and his venture capital firm, called 1789 Capital, has reportedly invested tens of millions of dollars in the firm, as well. In a remarkable coincidence, two federal investigations into predictive markets that began during the Joe Biden presidency were shut down around the same time.
Today’s dollars stained with blood from the Middle East are the, dare I say it, predictable result. Why merely wage war when you can also wager on it? Our leaders, whether in D.C. or our 50 statehouses, can’t shut down Polymarket, Kalshi, and all their imitators fast enough.
Yo, do this!
Escaping from a global crisis is always a good time to get back to the basics, and for boomers of a certain age, nothing is more fundamental than the power chords and pounding drums of Led Zeppelin. Listening to and thoroughly enjoying Andrew Hickey’s A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs’ two-part episode on how the most classic of all classic rock bands came together at the end of the 1960s made me discover that there’s also an acclaimed 2025 documentary, Becoming Led Zeppelin, streaming on Netflix. Let’s watch it together.
The rising thermometer this week should serve as your reminder that the arrival of March means it’s also time for some baseball that actually counts. The World Baseball Classic, the sport’s World Cup knockoff that comes every three years, starts Thursday and runs through the March 17 final in Miami — site of 2023’s thrilling conclusion in which Japan’s Shohei Ohtani struck out the USA’s (and South Jersey’s) Mike Trout. Some 10 Phillies are competing, including Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Brad Keller — on this year’s Team USA — and Dominican Republic ace Cristopher Sánchez, so let the games begin.
Ask me anything
Question: So one school of thought is that they are already trying to steal the midterms; another is that they really can’t. Where are you on the spectrum from mildly worried to totally anxious about this? Especially with Pa. being rather swingy. — Penthesilea (@hansklocker.bsky.social) via Bluesky
Answer: Yes, this is something I’ve already thought about quite a bit, and my answer — for now, anyway — is pretty much smack in the middle of the spectrum. It’s clear Donald Trump intends to use every implement in the voter suppression toolbox — extreme gerrymandering, executive orders aiming to require voter ID, or banning mail-in ballots — that would warp the voting outcomes, without going full Mussolini and canceling the election altogether. But I don’t think that can work for him — partly because any orders will almost certainly be struck down in the courts, but mainly because it looks like a Democratic landslide too large to easily suppress is building momentum. Just look at Texas, where the scheme to gerrymander five new GOP seats depended heavily on Latinos continuing to shift Republican, when polls show the exact opposite happening. Of course, in 2020-2021, few folks thought he would go so far as an attempted coup (I did). Who knows how far he’ll go to maintain power this time around?
What you’re saying about …
Last week’s question about how to handle the new prediction markets — anticipating the mess that occurred with the wagers on the start of the Iran war — and the surge in sports betting drew a tepid response. But it was pretty unanimous that sites like Polymarket and Kalshi should, at the bare minimum, be regulated under state gambling laws, and not as commodities trades — if not banned altogether. Wrote Mary Clare Gumbleton, who would ban Polymarket and Kalshi: “It’s just unregulated corruption and an incredibly awful incentive to both lose your shirt (as it were) and game the system where a handful of corrupt people can make a lot of money.”
📮 This week’s question: There’s only one thing on everyone’s mind: That crazy war in the Middle East. Now that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have started it, how on earth do we end it? Please email me your answer and put the exact phrase “Iran war end” in the subject line.
History lesson on when the Iran thing really started
A crowd of demonstrators tear down the Iran Party’s sign from the front of its headquarters in Tehran on Aug. 19, 1953, during the CIA-backed coup that ousted Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and his government. The operation cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi for more than 25 years before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
It’s been a while since the last history lesson in this space, but the poor quality of the TV punditry about the four-day-and-counting Iran war screams out for better information. A lot of the folks advocating for this war of choice in the Middle East argue that we didn’t start the fire, that the roots go all the way back to the 1979 Iranian Revolution. That’s the year when Americans who never paid much mind to foreign affairs were shocked to see huge throngs in the streets of Tehran chanting “Death to America” and taking 52 hostages at the U.S. Embassy.
What did we do to deserve this? Well …
For most historians, and for many Iranians, the year that matters is not so much 1979, but 1953. In a post-World War II geopolitical environment where many nations sought to break free of imperialism, Iran in 1951 democratically elected a surprisingly left-leaning prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, whose main project was to nationalize the then-British-controlled oil industry. This sparked great alarm in London, where U.K. leaders spent months lobbying Washington to join them in an effort to depose Mosaddegh in a coup that would advance Western oil interests.
It’s a messy story. The United States wavered and even flirted with backing Mosaddegh for a time, according to histories of the period, but ultimately British leaders leaned on the Eisenhower administration and America’s ongoing anti-left “Red Scare” of that era to get the relatively new CIA and its man in Tehran — Kermit Roosevelt Jr., grandson of Teddy Roosevelt — on board with the plot. The Americans threw around money and anti-Mosaddegh propaganda, and eventually organized street protests ahead of the government’s ouster.
To be sure, there is a never-ending debate over whether the U.S. involvement was central or just a subplot to the coup that gave power to the shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who ruled the nation with ruthless brutality for the next 26 years. Certainly, the nation’s Islamic clerics — powerful then, as now — played a key part in ousting a secular government. But the American role was so great that Barack Obama apologized in his 2009 Cairo speech, stating as fact that the CIA played a key role in the “overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government.”
Whether the U.S. led the coup or was a bit player, the Iranian people have never forgotten our involvement or our close ties to the eventually despised shah. “The rancor has never melted,” a 24-year-old Iranian woman told the Associated Press in 2023, on the 70th anniversary of the coup, as she compared the American meddling to being “like wishing for an earthquake to get rid of a bad neighbor.”
So did a state of war between the United States and Iran start in 1979, as some GOP lawmakers insist, or in 1953, or on Feb. 28 of this year? In arguably the world’s most violent neighborhood, the cycles of violence often seem to have no beginning and no end. An imperial America chose to jump into the middle of this mess 73 years ago, and now getting out feels more impossible than ever.
What I wrote on this date in 2016
He’s all but forgotten now, but up until his mysterious death 10 years ago, the flamboyant Oklahoma natural gas mogul Aubrey McClendon had reshaped the Pennsylvania landscape as king of the commonwealth’s fracking boom. The company that McClendon (known to sports fans as an owner of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder) cofounded, Chesapeake Energy, promised riches to Pennsylvania landowners, but left a trail of lawsuits and pollution. Less than 24 hours after his indictment by a federal grand jury, McClendon drove at full speed into a bridge embankment and was killed instantly. I wrote: “In Pennsylvania, Aubrey McClendon is survived by a legacy mostly of conflict, of thick lawsuits, of protesters facing off against armed marshals, of lawmakers and a governor at war over the taxes that gas drillers never had to pay, of brackish water and leaking methane adding to the greenhouse gases that may someday strangle the planet — of a promise of buried treasure that wasn’t really all it was cracked up to be.”
America is now at war on two fronts. In one column, I tackled the ongoing conflict in the streets of America, and looked at the tragic death on a frigid Buffalo street of the Rohingya refugee, Nurul Amin Shah Alam — a disabled and nearly blind man who was arrested by Border Patrol agents, and then dumped at a closed coffee shop five miles from his family’s home. It was a low point that spotlighted the unrelenting cruelty of a xenophobic mass deportation crusade by the Trump regime that has brought a mounting death toll. On Saturday morning, I knocked out my instant reaction to the news that the Trump regime had joined Israel in an all-out attack on Iran, which was that the war is both unconstitutional without the consent of Congress and also a clear violation of international law.
In moments of national and global crisis such as this, it’s easy to forget that many of the political decisions that shape people’s everyday lives occur on the local level. Here in Philadelphia, the school district’s plan to modernize its schools while closing 20 older buildings came as a shock to city parents, and The Inquirer’s coverage, anchored by our Pulitzer Prize-winning city public schools reporter, Kristen A. Graham, has been all over this story. The newsroom has explained the plan in detail, and covered the community protests and the fights over individual buildings, as well as Philly’s move away from middle schools. One advocate told me The Inquirer’s aggressive coverage of the story is why two schools have now been removed from the plan. A healthy community is one that has a vibrant news media. You nurture a better Philadelphia when you support The Inquirer by subscribing.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
What role could the preservation of Philadelphia’s oldest and historically significant buildings play in the housing crisis?
🏠 Pro-development activists have long argued that there is a link between the city’s preservation laws and the scarcity of affordable housing.
🏠 Yet local architects have shown that historic buildings can be a tool to create more housing for less money, using fewer natural resources, architecture critic Inga Saffron notes.
🏠 Consider her case study of Lea and Evan Litvin’s latest project: Their Lo Design firm is converting a 19th-century complex at 15th and Waverly Streets into a 32-unit apartment building.
In Philadelphia and across the United States, the humble whistle has become a signal of resistance.
Activists have been using them to alert neighbors, especially undocumented immigrants, that ICE is on patrol nearby. Locally, they can also be heard at weekly “Noise Demo” protests outside the agency’s Center City office, where the goal is disruption.
The instrument has become so ubiquitous at anti-ICE actions, President Donald Trump has sought to ban “loud or unusual noises” at federal facilities.
Notable quote: “There’s not much more shrill or penetrating than the sound of a whistle,” a Temple University professor who studies protest and dissent told The Inquirer.
Trump’s communications strategy about the U.S.-Israel attack on Iran — walking the line between claiming victory and avoiding blame — veers from past presidents’ approach to discussing American military actions.
A former Delsea Regional High School student has accused a math teacher of sexually abusing him in the 1980s and is suing the South Jersey school system for failing to protect him.
A 76-year-old Hatboro man has been charged with soliciting sex acts with a 15-year-old girl after paying for pictures of her feet, Montgomery County officials said.
Philadelphia’s school board just adopted the district’s first-ever comprehensive wellness policy, including guaranteed recess and bathroom and water breaks.
Chester County CEO David Byerman left his role on Monday, officials said. The county’s deputy administrator will replace him under a new title.
Philadelphia is being considered to host the Democratic National Convention in August 2028.
The city has hosted eight major party conventions, during which delegates nominate a candidate for president. Most recently, the 2016 DNC was held at what’s now called the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The event could generate millions of dollars in economic impact. Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, and Denver are also contenders.
Cheers to Karen Mirabelli, who solved Monday’s anagram: Villanova. At a Saturday university event to promote his memoir, Gov. Josh Shapiro discussed his love of basketball alongside decorated coach Jay Wright.
Photo of the day
Greta Meyer, of Northwest Philadelphia, is on her way to Race Street Friends Meetinghouse for her wedding on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026.
Hurry! The rest of your life begins today. Have a good one.
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The start of March doesn’t just mean the annual return of basketball madness. It also means that a new league year — and NFL free agency — is just around the corner. In other words, it’s about to be “Howie SZN.”
Some of the team’s biggest questions are on offense, where the Eagles will have first-year coordinator Sean Mannion running a new scheme. But the changes on the roster are just beginning. So how many new faces can you expect? And who might they be? A lot depends on what happens with A.J. Brown and Goedert.
Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm throws a ball to a fan during Sunday’s game against the Yankees
“The only person who takes more underserved blame than manager Rob Thomson for the shortcomings of the Phillies quarter-billion dollar lineup is Alec Bohm,” writes columnist Marcus Hayes.
Bohm was the third overall pick in the 2018 draft, and is labeled a semi-bust by many fans. And while he’s not the next Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, or Ryan Howard, as Hayes points out, he’s also not Domonic Brown or Maikel Franco. And he’s not to blame for the Phillies’ struggles behind Bryce Harper.
Next: The Phillies didn’t play Monday, but they’ll be back at it on Tuesday when they visit the Tampa Bay Rays. Alan Rangel is scheduled to make the start.
The Sixers host Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night.
After learning that a right oblique strain will sideline Joel Embiid through at least Wednesday, Andre Drummond told Gina Mizell that he wanted to “wrap him in a bubble sheet and give him a hug, man.”
“I just feel like he can’t get a break,” Drummond added.
Embiid’s importance to the team was magnified in Sunday night’s loss in Boston where the Sixers allowed a career-best 27 points, 17 rebounds, and three blocks to Neemias Queta, who is not exactly regarded as a dominant interior force. The Sixers were blasted in the rebounding category, 59-37, including surrendering 19 offensive boards that Boston turned into 30 second-chance points.
And those harrowing numbers come one game before tonight’s home matchup against 7-foot-4 NBA MVP contender Victor Wembanyama and the 43-17 San Antonio Spurs. So what are the short-handed Sixers to do?
Next: The Embiid-less Sixers host the Spurs (NBC/NBCSP, 8 p.m.) and Utah Jazz (NBCSP, 7 p.m.) in a back-to-back this week at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet made some changes to his defense over the Olympic break.
When Rick Tocchet came to Philly, he brought his box-and-one defensive structure. During training camp, he called it “a very aggressive zone” defense where he wanted his players to double and triple up when they could to keep the puck on the outside. It worked. Until it didn’t.
The Flyers were one of the best defensive teams leading up to the holiday break — and then one of the worst over the next month-plus. So, with time off over the Olympic break, Tocchet and his staff went to work revamping their defensive structure. So far, it’s paying off, but Tocchet believes they’ll see even more payoff “in the long run.”
The revamped defensive structure seemed to work as the Flyers picked up their third straight win in a 3-2 shutout victory at the Maple Leafs. It was their first shutout win since the end of November.
Next: The Flyers will be back on home ice Thursday when they host the Utah Mammoth in South Philly (NBCSP, 7 p.m.).
On this date: Mlkvy lights it up
Bill Mlkvy’s average of 29.2 points in 1950-51 still stands as a Temple single-season record
It’s a week for high-scorers. Monday was the 64th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game, but Tuesday marks another former Philly great’s highest-scoring night. On March 3, 1951, former Temple star Bill Mlkvy, also known as “The Owl Without a Vowel,” scored 73 points — including 54 straight — in a win over Wilkes College.
Mlkvy, who died in December 2024 and reached the rank of major in the United States Army, was a first-round pick of the Philadelphia Warriors in 1952, and played one season with the team before opting to return to dental school.
Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown has been the subject of trade rumors all offseason.
“The best way to get yourself into trouble at the NFL draft is to focus on immediate needs over expected future value,” David Murphy wrote in Monday’s column.
But this year, the draft looks like its strengths could align with the Eagles’ needs — especially if Brown is on his way out.
“If the mock drafts are to be trusted, the Eagles could have their choice of at least three potential difference-makers at No. 23 and perhaps a second if they can move up in the second round. Last year, I was beating the drum for Missouri receiver Luther Burden III, who ended up going No. 39 to the Bears. This year’s trio is even better,” Murphy adds.
Here’s a look at that trio of pass-catchers, who are drawing comparisons being made to Vernon Davis, Antonio Brown/Stefon Diggs, and Deebo Samuel.
🧠 Trivia time
Speaking of receivers in the NFL draft …
The Eagles drafted first-round wideouts in back-to-back years in 2020 (Jalen Reagor) and 2021 (DeVonta Smith). Prior to that, who was the last receiver they drafted in the first round?
A) Jeremy Maclin
B) Jordan Matthews
C) JJ Arcega-Whiteside
D) Nelson Agholor
We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Devin Jackson, Jeff Neiburg, Jeff McLane, Olivia Reiner, Alex Coffey, Scott Lauber, Marcus Hayes, Gina Mizell, Jackie Spiegel, and David Murphy.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
Thanks for reading. Bella will be back in your inbox for Wednesday’s newsletter. — Matt
Third Congressional District candidate and State Rep. Chris Rabb made headlines last month when he said Yolanda Brown, his former campaign treasurer, made “unauthorized withdrawals” from his campaign account.
It’s not the first time the Florida-based Brown, a consultant who works primarily with Democrats and social justice groups, has faced such allegations: The financial misdeeds she’s been accused of span at least four states and total more than half a million dollars, The Inquirer found.
Yet she avoided jail time, and, using three different surnames, continued to work on political campaigns across the country. Now, the campaigns she once worked for don’t know where she is.
The answer appears to be yes — and the local chain is doing something about it by expanding into the just-closed, industrial-scale Federal Donuts & Chicken location at Wolf and Swanson Streets.
Since attracting national fame, Angelo’s takeout-only South Ninth Street shop had become a headache for neighbors fed up with the long lines and litter. That flagship location will remain, but owner Danny DiGiampietro hopes the new South Philly spot — which will also serve as a production hub and commissary — will take the pressure off of it by offering delivery, takeout, and seating.
In other food news: Almost Home General’s Old City coffeehouse has closed, months after severing ties with Glu Hospitality, the now-disbanded restaurant group that operated the location.
What you should know today
A rally at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to mark the fourth anniversary of the Russian war on Ukraine war also drew a small group of Iranian demonstrators Sunday.
All charges were dropped against personal injury attorney Leonard Hill in connection with the 2023 shooting of a man outside a Center City cigar bar.
Domestic violence homicides are on the rise in Philadelphia, even as killings overall are down. A police unit is expanding to work with victims of abuse.
More Philly-area students are majoring in neuroscience. For some, it’s about wanting to find cures for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s because of personal connections to those diseases.
Overdose deaths in Philadelphia have hit the Puerto Rican community hard as the city remains divided on how to respond. Santos Jr. says the barriers his father faced in the ’90s persist today.
🧠Trivia time
Which Philly suburb was named the first Fair Trade town in the United States 20 years ago?
Cheers to Chris Singer, who solved Sunday’s anagram: David’s Bridal. The King of Prussia-based wedding dress retailer is staging an AI-fueled, post-bankruptcy comeback. Next up: a docuseries.
Photo of the day
A bald eagle flies over BayCare Ballpark during a Philadelphia Phillies game against the Detroit Tigers in Clearwater, Fla.
📬 Your ‘only in Philly’ story
Think back to the night that changed your life that could only happen in Philly, a true example of the Philly spirit, the time you finally felt like you belonged in Philly if you’re not a lifer, something that made you fall in love with Philly all over again — or proud to be from here if you are. Then email it to us for a chance to be featured in the Monday edition of this newsletter.
You can’t truly say you live in Philadelphia until you’ve been courtesy towed. This is something I tell myself because I have to believe that my suffering at the hands of this citywide tradition must mean something.
For those blissfully unfamiliar, the courtesy tow is that thing where the Streets Department or a construction company is performing some kind of task on your block that requires your parking spot, and they just … take your car away. Sometimes there are signs warning you of the potential of a courtesy tow; sometimes there are not. Technically, whoever tows your car has to tell the police where they put it, but frequently this does not happen, and you are left to shamble, panicked, in increasingly wide circles around your house until you come upon your car by chance.
I have been courtesy towed from my South Philly neighborhood three times, a sentence that enrages me every time I type it. [Editor’s note: And remember, this often happens even when a car is legally parked — then towed to an illegal spot.]
I wish I could say that waiting in line to get my car back at the PPA lot with dozens of other hapless souls, squinting into the setting sun of a late August evening as it sank behind the rowhouses, became some sort of bonding experience where I learned and grew and changed and ultimately understood my fellow Philadelphians better. The hottest club in Philly is the Weccacoe Avenue tow lot! But everyone was mostly just angry. I came home hungry and annoyed and $300 lighter and ready to perform a blood sacrifice for a parking spot.
Could I avoid this problem by moving to a house with a driveway? Yes. Would that also require me to probably leave South Philly? Also yes, and that’s something I hope I never do. I suppose there’s value in learning that you love your neighborhood enough to endure the unique derangement of multiple courtesy tows, an experience that would probably break brains in lesser cities. It would be nice to get my $300 back, though.
Wishing you a tow-free week. I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow.
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Happy March, Philly. As we turn the calendar page, let’s hope that snow turns to sunshine, with the spring air upon us.
It’s also time to lock in on my favorite time of the year — college basketball. That’s right, it’s almost time for March Madness. The regular season is wrapping up, with some conference tournaments set to tip off this week, and Selection Sunday is about two weeks away.
Some of our Big 5 schools will struggle to get a bid without winning their respective conference tournaments, while others, including Villanova men and women, are bound to receive at-large bids. Fran McCaffery’s Penn squad also clinched the team’s first Ivy League tournament berth in three years this past weekend.
And while Villanova suffered its worst loss in 29 years against St. John’s on Saturday, Kevin Willard is not reading too much into it. The loss, however, revealed that the Wildcats can’t climb any higher than third in the Big East.
Also, don’t forget, while some of Philly’s schools may not be playing in the NCAA Tournament, the madness will come to the area on March 20 and 22 for men’s games in the first and second rounds at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
So whether you’re a serious fan or looking for something to watch, get ready for the games to begin, and follow along all month with our coverage of college basketball.
The Eagles showed significant interest in the tight ends and offensive linemen at the combine, including offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor.
The NFL Scouting Combine is officially over, and some team fits have began to materialize, including what the Eagles may end up doing with the 23rd pick. It seems like the Birds were interested in the tight ends and offensive linemen at the combine, and tackle Kadyn Proctor was among their formal meetings.
The free-agency period will help paint a clearer view of what needs remain ahead of April’s draft. For now, here’s how we’re projecting our second first-round mock draft.
What we’re…
🤔 Wondering: Are the Flyers still in the mix to make the playoffs? Well, they took a step closer with Saturday’s win over the Bruins.
🏀 Following: Joel Embiid’s injury status after being ruled out on Saturday of the Sixers’ next three games with a right oblique strain.
🗞️ Reading: The relationship between Edmundo Sosa and Adolis García, and how they’ve been reunited as Phillies with the “same goal.”
👀 Watching: Temple men’s basketball went from one of the top teams in the American Conference to nearly missing the conference tournament.
Andrew Painter was “calm, cool, collected,” during his two innings of work on Sunday.
Andrew Painter’s two innings on Sunday were exactly three years to the day of his first-ever spring training start in 2023. At the time, he was 19, with a chance to win a spot in the Phillies rotation.
Since then, he underwent Tommy John surgery, rehab, and pitched a full minor league season. Painter has been waiting a while to make it back to this point, and the wait was finally over on Sunday, where he was efficient and flashed six different pitches in two shutout innings of a 5-3 loss to the Yankees.
Orion Kerkering is also eager to get back on the mound. The right-hander threw his first bullpen session in over two weeks on Saturday, after a mild hamstring strain had slowed his start to the spring. He’s recently been working on a new splitter and is one step closer to testing it against hitters.
Team USA honored the late Johnny Gaudreau by bringing his No. 13 jersey and his daughter, Noa, and son, Johnny, onto the ice after their win over Canada in the men’s hockey gold-medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 22.
Team USA honoring the late Johnny Gaudreau after its 2-1 overtime win over Canada in the gold-medal game was one of the most impactful moments of the Winter Olympics.
Meredith Gaudreau knew her late husband’s jersey had a place in the USA Hockey locker room in Milan, Italy, just as it had at the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025. However, she didn’t expect the team to bring the jersey to the ice as it celebrated USA Hockey’s first men’s Olympic gold since 1980.
But the Gaudreau family might not have made it to Milan without the efforts of Brian Roberts, the chairman and CEO of Comcast.
The Union only mounted five shots on goal against New York City FC.
The Union entered Sunday evening’s match looking to avenge the playoff loss that halted their 2025 playoff campaign in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Instead, they fell 2-1 to New York City FC in the team’s Major League Soccer home opener at Subaru Park.
Despite the Union outshooting NYCFC, 17-13, New York City put 10 of those shots on goal, and the Union struggled to create meaningful chances in the first half.
Sports snapshot
Explorers guard Aryss Macktoon finished with a double-double against Loyola Chicago on Saturday.
Record breaker: Aryss Macktoon became La Salle’s all-time single-season steals leader in its win over Loyola Chicago.
Matthew Tkachuk (left) and Brady Tkachuk pose for the team picture after receiving their gold medals.
Several of the USA hockey lads who were involved in the debauched postgame celebration with FBI director Kash Patel that devolved into a misogynistic phone call with President Trump have issued a range of regrets in the past few days. Maybe they’ll think twice next time before laughing about women — in this instance, their Olympic gold-medal counterparts, and the best women’s team ever assembled — being treated as their inferiors, writes columnist Marcus Hayes.
We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Marcus Hayes, Jeff Neiburg, Jonathan Tannenwald, Devin Jackson, Lochlahn March, Gina Mizell, Jackie Spiegel, Owen Hewitt, Ryan Mack, Conor Smith, and Avery Barber.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
Thanks for getting your week started with me. Hope you have a wonderful Monday. Jim is out this week, so Matt Mullin will catch back up with you in Tuesday’s newsletter. — Bella
Amateur diggers Melissa and Matt Dunphy stand in one of the privies they found below their house and theater in Old City.
Both amateur diggers and professional archaeologists say that they’re working in the public interest, but breaching the ground is a delicate practice and subject.
🚧 Not all “privy pirates” are the same. Some follow a set of rules and dig with integrity, but others trespass, shut out the professionals, and sell what they find underground.
🚧 Some archaeologists say the city has done little to protect its buried history, and warn about the risks of indiscriminate digging. “Once you dig through a site, you’ve destroyed it,” one told The Inquirer. “It’s gone.”
🚧 America’s 250th birthday is approaching, putting Philadelphia’s rich history in the national spotlight and raising questions about the access and preservation of that history.
The U.S. and Israel launched a major joint attack on Iran early Saturday, following months of rising tensions and the movement of American warships into the region last week.
In response to the turmoil, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherill said law enforcement would increase patrols at sensitive sites like houses of worship, while Philadelphia police said it was monitoring the situation overseas.
Immigrants are the only reason Philadelphia’s population is growing, according to a new analysis. It suggests stricter federal policies could threaten the city’s economic gains.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Friday that “all options are on the table” when asked by The Inquirer whether she would support adding a new tax on ICE detention centers in the state.
One woman is dead and another woman is in custody after a Friday afternoon shooting in South Philadelphia. An investigation is underway.
New Philadelphia-area cardiovascular surgery centers offer lower-cost outpatient procedures, pulling profitable cases from hospitals and adding financial pressure on health systems.
The Wallingford-Swarthmore school board approved a plan last week to cut nearly 20 positions as it tries to reverse what officials have called a trend of unsustainable spending.
New emails show Jeffrey Epstein repeatedly claimed he funded a “quantum gravity program” at the University of Pennsylvania, but he confused the school with Penn State. Also, a Cheltenham school may switch school picture companies due to an Epstein connection.
Almost Home General’s Old City coffeehouse closed this week, capping a complicated two-year joint venture between the chain and the troubled restaurant group Glu Hospitality.
Johnny Gaudreau’s family traveled from the Philadelphia area to Milan to watch Team USA win Olympic gold and honor the late hockey star. Johnny’s widow, Meredith, told us how they got there.
❓Pop quiz
In a time when many kids are glued to screens, this educational magazine is still thriving and reaching the lives of millions of children after 80 years — straight from the Poconos.
Cheers to Bobbi Harris, who correctly guessed Saturday’s answer: Cochranville. More than a decade in the making, the 300-year-old village in western Chester County is moving toward its first public water line.
Rooted in Love is a theatrical floral exhibit that brings together horticulture and Shakespearean storytelling by Jennifer Designs at the Philadelphia Flower Show.
Philly’s surprisingly cold and snowy winter isn’t done yet. Resident weather expert Tony Wood breaks down what went wrong with the outlooks, and some big changes on the way.
Heavy snowfall in the area means snowmen, sledding, and snowball fights. But what if you’re randomly hit, unprovoked, by teenage strangers? We discuss.
Quakertown Police Chief Scott McElree was reportedly put on leave as the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office continues investigating a clash at a student anti-ICE protest.
The so-called Clothespin building will host a hotel and hundreds of apartments after a recent sale. It once had the most office space in the city.
Aramark will not be the official food, beverage, and hospitality provider at the new South Philadelphia arena where the 76ers, Flyers, and the city’s new WNBA team are expected to play.
A decade ago, Philadelphia’s $10 billion municipal pension system looked like it could sink the city. Now it’s on pace to be fully funded by 2032.
Intermittent fasting may be no more effective than simply cutting calories for weight loss, a new review of Rutgers research shows.
A Philly-based biotech nonprofit has landed $76 million in federal funding to advance its artificial intelligence match-making tool that identifies existing drugs to treat rare diseases.
This week, we’re answering this reader question on a bit of winter warfare: Two random teenagers threw snowballs at me, a grown man. One hit me in the face and knocked off my glasses. Was I, a grown man, allowed to throw the world’s fastest revenge snowball? Or should I have just yelled a few expletives and moved on (what I actually did)?
To help, Inquirer editor Evan Weiss recruited life and culture reporters Jason Nark and Mike Newall. The group weighed the dangers of unprovoked snowballs, the value of retaliatory throws, and even brought up moving to warmer climates altogether (lol). Jason, who pointed out that our neighbors in New York City are also dealing with snowball related incidents, put it quite simply: “No one likes a snowball to the face.”
In this week’s Shackamaxon, Inquirer columnist Daniel Pearson unpacks the race to replace U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, a security snafu at Gov. Josh Shapiro’s mansion, and calls for some basic sense about security.
He also analyzes the rise of cameras around Philadelphia.
“Over the last few years, Philadelphians have increasingly come under surveillance,” Pearson writes. “This surge in surveillance has led to some residents bemoaning what they view as a cash grab.”
Every Saturday, we’ll show you a photo taken in the Philly-area, you drop a pin where you think it was taken. Closer to the location results in a better score. This week’s theme is about the art of the late Isaiah Zagar. Good luck!
Where can you find this mosaic by Isaiah Zagar? Our weekly game puts your knowledge of Philly’s streets to the test. Check your answer.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: 300-year-old village in western Chester County
Phillies shortstop Edmundo Sosa hugs new outfielder Adolis García during Wednesday’s 5-3 win over the Detroit Tigers in Clearwater. The victory was the Phillies’ first of spring training.
A warning to all who insist on double parking in the path of the 34 while they make a quick stop into a shop on Baltimore Avenue: The trolley will soon be watching — and tattling.
🚎 As of Monday, artificial intelligence-powered cameras will be mounted on 30 trolleys on six lines in Philadelphia to catch drivers breaking no-parking rules. Violations will carry a $51 fine beginning April 1.
🚎 The new system is meant to benefit riders whose commutes are slowed by stagnant vehicles — trolleys run on fixed rails, so they are unable to steer around them — or who must dodge them when alighting.
🚎 The technology is already at work on 152 SEPTA buses.
Conwell Middle School in Kensington and Motivation High School in Southwest Philly, both small magnets with powerful political allies, have been cut from the Philadelphia School District’s proposed closure list.
The district’s revised $2.8 billion facilities plan was announced by Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. at a Thursday school board meeting. Eighteen schools are still slated for closure, while six would be colocated, and 159 would be upgraded.
Watlington also shared a new plan for Lankenau High: The city’s environmental science magnet is still slated to close, but is now pitched to move into Saul High instead of Roxborough High.
Next, the board is expected to vote in the coming weeks. Schools would begin closing in 2027, and building upgrades would take several years.
Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday pledged to block the Trump administration’s plans for immigration detention centers in Berks and Schuylkill Counties.
An affidavit about the student arrests that came after a Quakertown protest last week offers the most detailed account yet of what law enforcement officials say happened that day, but doesn’t mention what appeared to bethe chokehold of a teen girl. Community members accused the Quakertown school board Thursday of failing to keep students safe. Plus: The protest has brought scrutiny to Quakertown police chief Scott McElree’s unusual dual role — he is alsoborough manager — and his controversial social media posts.
A sixth person associated with the Young Bag Chasers gang was arrested Wednesday and is expected to be charged with two homicides, prosecutors said. See a timeline of the crimes authorities say led to the arrests of 19 people affiliated with several Philadelphia gangs, including YBC, who they say are responsible for shooting nearly three dozen people in two years.
Five city police officers say in a new federal lawsuit they were skipped over for promotions because of a policy change to promote diversity in the municipal workforce.
Should Philly politicians have to resign to campaign for new seats? After Thursday’s City Council approval, voters will get to weigh in — again.
Walmart delivery drivers in Pennsylvania will receive about $1.4 million as part of a multi-state settlement over withheld tips and other fees.
While Congress debates a ban on hemp-derived THC, a smaller push for regulation in Pennsylvania hopes to put THC drinks in beer stores and regulate hemp alongside medical marijuana.
Welcome back to Curious Philly Friday. We’ll feature both new and timeless stories from our forum for readers to ask about the city’s quirks.
This week, we have an explainer from reporter Michelle Myers on what happens to artworks, artifacts, and other museum ephemera when they’re not on display. Surely they’re not just stacked in a basement, collecting mothballs — right?
Indeed, oftentimes they’re on loan, used for research, or undergoing restoration. Some items are so fragile, they could even be damaged if they’re not stored away for most of their lives. Here’s the full story.
When Team USA beat out Canada for the men’s hockey gold medal in the 2026 Winter Olympics, how did the players honor late New Jersey native Johnny Gaudreau?
A) They wore special jersey patches with Gaudreau’s initials
B) They announced a new scholarship during a postgame speech
C) USA Hockey renamed the trophy in honor of Gaudreau for 2026
D) They carried Gaudreau’s No. 13 jersey on the ice
Cheers to Darrell Klassen, who solved Thursday’s anagram: Germantown Mennonite Meetinghouse. The site will host Philadelphia Historic District’s latest firstival, focused on how Germantown became the building block of the abolitionist movement.
Photo of the day
The Imhoptep Institute Charter players lock arms for the national anthem before the PPL Girls Basketball Championship at La Salle University on Sunday.
Thanks for ending your week with The Inquirer. Paola has you covered with this weekend’s news. Until we meet again in your inbox, be well.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
Good morning and happy Friday. We at Sports Daily don’t like to push the panic button, but we also know a potentially worrisome situation when we see one.
Aidan Miller has yet to play in a Grapefruit League game for the Phillies, who are being abundantly careful with their 2023 first-round pick. At 21, he has been bothered by a sore lower back. Bryce Harper even brought up the injury in a televised interview.
The shortstop said he woke up with a “super tight” back one day last week and the feeling did not go away after treatment. Miller said that nothing specific on the field caused the soreness. He also said he felt it last season.
He was not likely to make the opening-day roster anyway, but Miller is one of the top prospects in the organization. The team has a lot riding on that back. Scott Lauber reports on the young player’s frustration.
A.J. Brown playing against the 49ers in their playoff game on Jan. 11. Was that Brown’s last game for the Eagles?
Will the Eagles trade A.J. Brown? The wide receiver’s name has come up among the media and NFL officials this week at the scouting combine, and Patriots coach Mike Vrabel has expressed his affection for Brown. (Vrabel coached him with the Titans.) If Howie Roseman can get enough interest from teams for the star receiver, he might work out a deal.
At any rate, Jeff McLane writes, the Eagles are likely to decide whether to trade or retain Brown within a matter of days.
Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is working his way back from a blood clot near his right shoulder that cut his 2025 season short.
Zack Wheeler toed the rubber on a mound Thursday for the first time in more than six months.
The 21 pitches — all four-seams and sinkers — Wheeler threw at the Phillies’ Carpenter Complex marked the next major step in his journey back from Sept. 23 thoracic outlet decompression surgery.
Could Wheeler conceivably be ready to pitch in major league games in six weeks’ time?
Taijuan Walker looked to be in regular-season form when he picked off a Nationals runner and then used his WBC tune-up to work on two of his pitches.
Next: The Phillies will split up today, with one group hosting the Marlins in Clearwater and the other headed to Lakeland, Fla., to play the Tigers (1:05 p.m., NBCSP+). Aaron Nola is scheduled to start against Miami and Jean Cabrera will start against Detroit.
Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey drives to the basket past Miami’s Bam Adebayo.
Tyrese Maxey is in his sixth season with the Sixers, but already he has surpassed a franchise record held by Allen Iverson, who spent 12 seasons here. Maxey became the team’s all-time leader in made three-pointers on Thursday, surpassing Iverson’s record of 885.
Now at 887 three-pointers made, he hit five threes in the first quarter alone, finishing with a team high 28 points in the Sixers’ 124-117 win over Miami last night.
Bill Koch helps cut down the net after Father Judge beat Neumann-Goretti for the Catholic League boys’ basketball title.
Bill Koch has been a fixture at Father Judge High as an assistant football and basketball coach since the 1970s. Now 76, Koch shows no signs of slowing down.
“He’s a lifer,” says basketball coach Chris Roantree. “People associate Mr. Koch with Father Judge and Father Judge with Mr. Koch. He’s been a part of Father Judge for 50-plus years. He’s the ultimate Judge Guy in my eyes in terms of everything he’s done for kids.” Now Koch is celebrating a Catholic League title and Matt Breen tells his story.
Sports snapshot
Cavan Sullivan celebrates one of his two goals late in the second half of the Union vs. Defence Force FC, Concacaf Champions Cup round of 32 game at Subaru Park on Thursday.
Michkov magic: Flyers winger Matvei Michkov scored the game-winner in overtime, one of his two against the New York Rangers last night.
Young gun: Two goals for Union wunderkind Cavan Sullivan aided in a 7-0 thrashing of Trinidad’s Defence Force F.C. in the Concacaf Champions Cup.
Junior Zaahir Muhammad-Gray was named most valuable player after Imhotep won its sixth straight Public League basketball title on Sunday.
Each Friday, Inquirer photo editors will pick our best shots from the last seven days and share them with you, our readers. This week, photos focus on Public and Catholic League basketball finals, the Phillies at spring training and more.
What you’re saying about Joel Embiid
We asked: Do you think Joel Embiid can help the Sixers make a playoff run this season? Among your responses:
When available, Embiid is still a dominant force on both ends of the court. Can he play on an every-other-day schedule? We hope so, but history tells us not to get our hopes up. — Bob C.
Of course Embiid would certainly help the 76ers in a playoff run. But he has to play. —Tom G.
Absolutely the 76ers would make a serious run in the East if Embiid can stay healthy during the NBA playoffs this year. Embiid, unfortunately, is this generation’s Bill Walton. A Hall of Fame talent with a body that continues to betray him. A healthy Embiid should get the Sixers to the Eastern Conference Finals. Book it! — John F.
Sure if he can play every other game. If he can only play every 5th game, forgetaboutit. — Bill M.
Sixers center Joel Embiid took averages of 26.6 points and 7.4 rebounds into Thursday’s game against the Heat.
I don’t think Embiid will ever bring Philly a championship. This has been going on too long with the so-called development, the Process, and now getting used to him playing every 5th game. Enough is enough with this process, it’s time to move on. The fans have had enough, work out a trade or just end this, you’re hurting the Maxey and the rest of the lineup. It’s a fast game and he’s in his own world with his pace of play. Enough! — Dick F.
I think he’s wasting his talent. Sixers probably don’t need him when one game he plays well but then he’s out. He’s just not a strong enough person to give 100 percent. I say trade him and complete the team to compete. — Jim E.
He will never be available enough for the Sixers to be a factor even if they make the playoffs. Josh Harris doesn’t give a hoot about the Sixers. All he cares about now is the Washington Commanders. — James
We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Scott Lauber, Lochlahn March, Matt Breen, Jeff McLane, Gina Mizell, Jonathan Tannenwald, Jackie Spiegel, Jeff Neiburg, Ryan Mack, Gabriela Carroll, and Mel Greenberg.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
Thank you for reading and have a great weekend. Sports Daily will return to your inbox on Monday. — Jim
