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  • Reflecting on the top 10 moments of Julius Erving’s career as he reaches 76 years old

    Reflecting on the top 10 moments of Julius Erving’s career as he reaches 76 years old

    Julius Erving, an all-time 76ers great whose No. 6 is retired by the franchise, will celebrate his 76th birthday on Sunday.

    As the basketball legend marks a milestone, here’s a look back at the 10 best moments of Erving’s career with the Sixers:

    The Doctor is in

    The Sixers acquired Erving from the New York Nets at the start of the 1976-77 NBA season, the first season after the league’s merger with the American Basketball Association was completed. The ABA’s Nets, one of four teams incorporated into the league, were forced to move on from Erving in order to pay the fees associated with entering the NBA.

    The Sixers paid the Nets $3 million to acquire Erving, who was already a three-time ABA MVP by the time he joined the Sixers. The forward was also a season removed from winning the 1976 ABA dunk contest with a legendary leap from the free throw line.

    All-Star MVP

    Erving got off to a good start in his first NBA season with the Sixers, averaging 19.9 points before the All-Star break in 1976-77. But that season’s All-Star Game in Milwaukee was a point of arrival for the former face of the ABA.

    Erving scored 30 points and nabbed 12 rebounds in 30 minutes, earning the game’s Most Valuable Player trophy despite the East losing to the West, 125-124. Erving, who was named an All-Star in each of his 18 ABA and NBA seasons, won the NBA’s All-Star MVP again in 1983.

    Finals slam

    Erving led the Sixers to the NBA Finals in his first season with the team, averaging 21.6 points and 8.5 rebounds in 1976-77. One of the high-flyer’s most memorable dunks came in Game 6 of the Finals against the Portland Trail Blazers. In the second quarter, Erving dribbled through three Trail Blazer defenders, leapt toward the rim and threw down a right-handed jam over the outstretched arms of Bill Walton.

    Despite an NBA playoff career-high 40-point outing from Erving, Walton’s Blazers won Game 6, 109-107, to claim the 1977 NBA championship.

    Baseline scoop

    Walton wasn’t the only Hall of Fame center Erving antagonized in the NBA Finals. His iconic “baseline scoop” move against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980 Finals was a crafty way of getting around the shot-blocking ability of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

    In the fourth quarter of Game 4, Erving drove to the right side of the basket, leapt while underneath the backboard and tossed an underhanded shot that hit the left side of the backboard and rolled in.

    “I didn’t realize how long I had been in the air, but I knew I didn’t have any legs left and I didn’t have any hang time left, so I fell on the floor,” Erving said to ESPN in 2019. “Just another move.”

    The scoop was two Erving’s 23 points scored in Game 4, helping the Sixers to a 105-102 victory that evened the series at two games apiece. The Lakers won the series, 4-2.

    Most Valuable Doctor

    Erving won his lone NBA MVP award in the 1980-81 season. At the time, Erving was the second Sixer to win the league’s top individual honor alongside Wilt Chamberlain.

    Erving finished top-five in MVP voting five times as a Sixer, but the three-time ABA MVP only won the award once after the merger. Erving averaged 24.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists in the 1980-81 season. He led the Sixers to a 62-20 regular season record, tied for the NBA’s best with the Celtics. The Sixers lost the 1981 Eastern Conference finals to Boston, which would go on to win the title that season.

    Rock the baby

    Another iconic Erving dunk, the “rock the baby” slam, came against the Lakers at the Spectrum in January 1983. Erving picked up a loose ball along the sideline just past center court, drove toward the rim and cradled the ball with his right hand before bringing it up to the rim for a dunk over Michael Cooper.

    “I wanted this dunk to live on forever and to prove that people could fly,” Erving said to Sports Illustrated in 2023 on the slam’s 40th anniversary.

    The Sixers held on for a two point win in overtime against the Lakers in what turned out to be a preview of the 1983 Finals.

    Four, five, four

    Moses Malone was the Sixer that predicted a full sweep of the 1983 Playoffs — “four, four, four” — after the team earned the top seed with a 65-17 regular season record, but Erving helped his center’s postseason prediction (almost) come true as the Sixers marched to the third championship in franchise history.

    Erving and the Sixers were 12-1 in the playoffs, including a sweep of the defending champion Lakers in the 1983 Finals. The Sixers’ only loss was to the Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals. Erving averaged 18.4 points in the Sixers’ 13 playoff games, including a 21-point, six-assist performance to complete a sweep of the Lakers in Game 4.

    At the time, the Sixers were the only team to complete a postseason with one loss. The 2001 Lakers and 2017 Warriors are the only teams since to take only one loss in the postseason.

    Downing Dallas

    Erving sank two game-winning shots at the horn during the final stretch of the 1985-86 regular season, which was his penultimate NBA season. The first shot came in Dallas on Feb. 28, 1986.

    With two seconds remaining in a tie game, Erving inbounded the ball from the sideline to Maurice Cheeks. Cheeks passed it back to Erving, who launched a heave from beyond half court. The shot went in, and the Sixers won, 123-120.

    Beating Boston

    Erving’s next game winner came a little more than a month after his heroics in Dallas. Erving’s Sixers were down two to Larry Bird’s Celtics at the Spectrum on April 6, 1986.

    The Sixers fouled Bird with seven seconds remaining, sending the league’s best free throw shooter to the line with a chance to make Boston’s lead four. Bird missed both, leaving the door open for the Sixers to win the game, 95-94, on an Erving three-pointer as time expired.

    Jersey retirement

    After the Sixers’ opening game of the 1986-87 season, Erving announced he would retire at the end of the season. In total, Erving played 11 seasons for the Sixers and averaged 22 points over 836 games with the team.

    At the time of his retirement, Erving was the third-leading scorer in Sixers history, though he has since been passed by Allen Iverson. Erving is still the franchise’s all-time leader in blocked shots with 1,293 rejections in a Sixers uniform. The franchise retired his No. 6 jersey on April 18, 1988, in a ceremony at the Spectrum.

    Erving also had his No. 32 retired by the Nets in honor of his ABA career, making him one of 16 players in NBA history to have their jersey retired by multiple franchises. Erving was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.

  • Megan Keller’s golden goal for Team USA should go down as one of the biggest moments in Olympic history

    Megan Keller’s golden goal for Team USA should go down as one of the biggest moments in Olympic history

    When they eventually install microcameras into the corneas of our eyes, we’ll still be watching this hockey highlight.

    This was Kerri Strug vaulting on one leg in 1996. Bob Beamon shattering the long jump in Mexico City in 1968. Sid the Kid in 2010, only much, much cooler.

    It was more than historic. It was iconic.

    In overtime of the gold-medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Team USA defenseman Megan Keller deked Canadian defender Claire Thompson and left her in the dust, flailing with her stick.

    Keller then beat goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens with a backhand to the short side.

    It was a golden goal worthy of the name.

    It should live as one of the great Olympic moments of all time. It should live as one of the great sporting moments of all time.

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    It’s hard to compare this Olympic moment with Romania’s Nadia Comăneci, who scored gymnastics’ first perfect 10 in 1976 at the age of 14. It’s not really the same as Usain “Lightning” Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who broke Michael Johnson’s world record in the 200 meters in 2008 or Michael Phelps, who, at those same Beijing Games, swam his way to eight golds; their moments were parts of aggregations. And it certainly lacks the social significance of Black sprinter Jesse Owens, who won a then-record four golds in 1936 in front of host Adolf Hitler.

    Jamaica’s Usain Bolt celebrates as he wins the men’s 200-meter final with a world record during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

    I was there for Bolt and Phelps. All of those moments took your breath away the way only great moments in sport leave you breathless.

    None was quite as magical as Keller’s golden goal.

    Sidney Crosby did something similar for Canada in 2010, and he did it against Team USA, and I was there for that, too. But Crosby’s goal was simpler: He carried the puck in, had a weak shot deflected away, got it back, went to the boards, passed to teammate Jarome Iginla, skated away from suddenly inattentive defenseman Brian Rafalski, got the pass back from Iginla, and snapped a shot past goaltender Ryan Miller.

    Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and film legend Donald Sutherland, both great Canadians, were sitting right behind me. They’d probably disagree with my assertion here.

    Sid’s was a great play.

    Keller’s was better.

    Keller’s goal isn’t quite the same event as Team USA’s upset of the Soviets in 1980. That was a true underdog story, mostly U.S. college kids playing an elite set of professionals who’d won the last four golds. It might be the biggest upset in sports history — but it wasn’t an overtime game, or even a gold-medal game, and there was no defining, game-ending moment like Keller’s.

    Pity poor Thompson, but not too much. She’d been a hero in China with 11 assists and two goals, an Olympic record for defensemen, when the Canadians won the gold in 2022.

    There are plenty of caveats surrounding what should be the play of the year. None of them of Keller’s making.

    Megan Keller celebrates after scoring one of the best golden goals you will ever see in hockey.

    Crosby scored his goal in a four-on-four setting, but overtime rules were changed ahead of the 2022 Olympics to make it three-on-three.

    The teams in 2010 were more evenly matched, while the U.S. team in Milan, Italy, was heavily favored, having outscored opponents, 31-1, in a 6-0 run that included a 5-0 win over Canada in the preliminary round. However, Canada’s strategy and execution Thursday had the reigning champs holding onto a 1-0 lead before American captain Hilary Knight tied the game with 2 minutes, 4 seconds left in regulation.

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    Finally, no teams besides Canada (five) and the U.S. (three) have won a gold medal, and they have met in the gold-medal game seven of the eight times it has been played. To date, it is not a sport in which the field offers the titans much resistance.

    This should not diminish the moment. Keller and her teammates can only beat opponents they meet.

    This golden goal is one of the best plays you will ever see.

    In fact, as a spontaneous athletic maneuver of incomparable audacity and breathtaking skill, seizing the biggest moment in a player’s life, I struggle to find its equal.

  • Can the return of Eagles OLs Lane Johnson and Landon Dickerson save Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts?

    Can the return of Eagles OLs Lane Johnson and Landon Dickerson save Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts?

    You never know how Jeffrey Lurie sees his team, but, after two Super Bowl trips and two post-Super Bowl disasters, it feels more than ever like there’s a one-year window in which Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts can save their jobs in Philadelphia.

    Their chances got a lot better Thursday.

    That’s when The Inquirer reported that right tackle Lane Johnson, arguably the greatest Eagle ever and inarguably the greatest Eagles offensive lineman, would return for a 14th season. The Birds are 110-57-1 with Johnson, 18-27 without. He’s the only Eagle on either offense or defense to start in both of their Super Bowl wins. Johnson considered retirement after missing the last seven games with a foot injury and after offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland resigned.

    Eagles star tackle Lane Johnson will return to team in 2026

    Thursday also was when both The Inquirer and former Eagles TV reporter Derrick Gunn reported that left guard Landon Dickerson, whose body has endured multiple injuries beginning in college, will return for a sixth season. Before this season, Dickerson was voted onto the three previous Pro Bowl teams.

    There has been a lot of noise since the Eagles’ season ended a month ago: A.J. Brown’s dissatisfaction; the firing of offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo; the tortuous pursuit of his replacement, who turned out to be little-known Sean Mannion; and the possibility of losing defensive coordinator Vic Fangio to retirement.

    None of those issues mattered as much as the possible loss of Johnson and Dickerson.

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    Replacing either of them would have been difficult.

    Replacing both would have been catastrophic.

    That’s because Hurts has shown little capacity for success in the NFL unless he plays behind an elite offensive line. When the Eagles went to Super Bowls after the 2022 and 2024 seasons, the offensive lines were elite and stable. They were markedly less so in 2023 and 2025, seasons in which the Eagles lost their first playoff game.

    Not coincidentally, Sirianni’s offenses have flourished when Johnson, Dickerson, & Co. have been healthy and wisely utilized, relying on a turnover-averse run-first attack.

    Eagles guard Landon Dickerson blocks Detroit Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes.

    When healthy, Johnson and Dickerson, both athletic freaks, are voracious run-blockers.

    An ancillary benefit of Johnson returning relates to the departure of Stoutland. “Stout” is the only offensive line coach Johnson has ever had in the NFL; for that matter, that’s true of every other Eagles starter.

    But no other Eagles lineman has either the base of knowledge or capacity to impart that knowledge on teammates like Johnson. He founded and runs an annual offensive line offseason camp every summer in Texas called OL Masterminds.

    Almost every lineman that has ever played with him testifies that Johnson has, at some point, acted as a sort of assistant coach when Stoutland or his offensive line assistants weren’t fully able to get their message across.

    More than anything, Johnson brings a level of intensity and professionalism to every game and practice that few others in the NFL can match. It is why he is great, and that sort of greatness is contagious. Certainly, Dickerson has benefited.

    So, their return not only could save the 2026 season, but it also could extend the Philadelphia shelf-life of both coach and quarterback.

    Granted, there are contingents of fans and pundits who would rather that either one or both leave the employ of Lurie sooner than later, and so this development on the offensive line might not be met with unrestrained joy.

    But one never should be thankless for news that is, on the whole, good for their own self-interests.

  • Mike Nardi only knew Villanova basketball. Now, he’s trying to help UConn dominate the Wildcats.

    Mike Nardi only knew Villanova basketball. Now, he’s trying to help UConn dominate the Wildcats.

    Mike Nardi turned 41 a few weeks ago, and considering he arrived on Villanova‘s campus as an 18-year-old freshman in 2003, played under Jay Wright for four seasons, then joined Wright’s staff in 2015 after seven years playing professionally overseas and remained on the bench through the end of last season, Villanova basketball was basically all Nardi knew for most of his adult life.

    He was there in the nascent days of Wright’s dynasty as a player and was back on the bench in time to enjoy the two national championships he laid the groundwork for.

    Xfinity Mobile Arena has been the site of many memories. Villanova fans still recite Sean McDonough’s “Nardi for three and the lead” call during an ESPN Big Monday broadcast on Feb. 13, 2006, with reverence. Nardi, who had missed the previous two games with tonsillitis, drilled a transition three-pointer from the right wing in front of the Villanova bench during a 22-4 run that erased a 12-point deficit and gave fourth-ranked Villanova its first win over No. 1 UConn in three years.

    A year earlier, the building was where Villanova, during a freshman season that saw Nardi make the All-Big East rookie team, announced its arrival on the national stage with a blowout victory over second-ranked Kansas.

    Nardi is returning to that building Saturday night. It’s the latest installment of the Villanova-UConn rivalry (5:30 p.m., FOX). But Nardi will be on the visitor’s bench, and he’d like nothing more than to prevent Villanova from getting its best win of the season over his fifth-ranked Huskies.

    Mike Nardi joined Jay Wright’s staff in 2015.

    “I had a great experience, but the emotions for me now are, ‘Hey, it’s competition,’” said Nardi, who was hired by Dan Hurley to be an assistant coach after Villanova brought in Kevin Willard last year. “I’m competing and I’m at a place where we want to win. The emotions and all of that, I’ve never been a guy to get caught up in that kind of stuff. There’s a task at hand and we want to go there and get a win and that’s the most important thing.”

    Has Villanova’s winning streak opened the door for new NCAA Tournament seeding? Yes and no.

    Nardi already got some of those feelings, if there were any to begin with, out of the way during Villanova’s trip to Connecticut in January. He caught up with Ashley Howard, JayVaughn Pinkston, and Nick DePersia, the only holdovers from Kyle Neptune’s staff; longtime radio voice Whitey Rigsby; athletic director Eric Roedl; and longtime sports information director Mike Sheridan. Then it was all business. Villanova was Nardi’s scouting assignment for each of the matchups this season. He exchanged his pleasantries, said his hellos, and then he helped coach a UConn overtime victory.

    “I was sad to see it end, but I landed in a place where, again, it’s like the standard of college basketball,” Nardi said. “I’m working for another Hall of Fame coach, a guy who has won at every level. For me, it’s a great learning experience because I played at Villanova, I coached at Villanova, and besides going overseas and seeing different systems and playing for other coaches, I really haven’t had a chance to branch out and see a different system and learn the game a different way.”

    If it were up to Nardi, this story probably wouldn’t be written. He returned a reporter’s call Friday in part, he said, out of respect for Villanova. He doesn’t want Saturday night to be about anything more than UConn trying to go on the road against a good team in a tough environment and get a win in its pursuit of a Big East regular season title.

    “I don’t want to make this about me,” he said. “It’s really not Mike Nardi and coming back to Villanova. This is about UConn and Villanova. That’s what’s most important to me.”

    Former Villanova coach Kyle Neptune (left) and assistant coach Mike Nardi shown during the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden last March.

    It didn’t take very long to get over being on the other side of the rivalry despite all his history with it. The good and the bad. He made that crucial three to earn his first win over UConn in 2006, then watched the meaningful portion of the 2024-25 season end at the hands of Hurley in the Big East tournament, only to have his friend, Neptune, fired a few days later.

    Nardi respects winning, he said, and respects excellence. He always viewed Connecticut in that light, from Jim Calhoun’s teams to Hurley’s. It was a good landing spot for him for basketball reasons and because Hurley, he said, respected everything Nardi was about, from playing for St. Patrick High School in New Jersey against Hurley’s father’s St. Anthony, to playing and coaching in the rivalry.

    Nardi wasn’t asked to stay by Willard, he said, and never expected to be.

    “I never felt slighted. I never felt a certain way,” Nardi said. “I kind of knew there was a slim chance of me being asked to stay. And that was OK. I didn’t take that the wrong way. I think I’m good at what I do. I think I could’ve been an asset, but I never ever looked at it like this is messed up, why aren’t you keeping me? That’s not how this works.”

    Bill Melchionni is a Villanova hoops icon. His grandson hopes to uphold the family name in lacrosse.

    Hurley, meanwhile, thought Nardi could be an asset in Connecticut. The Huskies are 24-3 after a Wednesday night home loss to Creighton, and they’re pursuing a third national title in four seasons. Villanova, meanwhile, is 21-5, 12-3 in the Big East, and in line to snap a three-season NCAA Tournament drought.

    Nardi was happy, he said, that Willard got the job. He wanted the school to hire someone who cared about the program, and Willard fits that description. Part of him is happy to see Villanova back in the mix, but he’s not watching Villanova games in his free time with his old No. 12 jersey draped over his shoulders.

    “It’s good to see them doing well,” Nardi said. “It’s obviously good for the league. I think that’s a big piece of it. But I’d be lying to you if I said I was rooting for them. I don’t root for anybody else in the league. I’m rooting for UConn and that’s it.”

  • A World Cup FanFest that had been planned near the Statue of Liberty is canceled

    A World Cup FanFest that had been planned near the Statue of Liberty is canceled

    NEW YORK — The New York and New Jersey World Cup host committee has canceled its fan festival that had been planned to be held at Liberty State Park in Jersey City.

    The committee scrapped plans for the weekslong festival that would have been held about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, where the final will be played on July 19.

    The FanFest was announced in February 2025 by Tammy Murphy, wife of then-New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and chair of the New York/New Jersey host committee’s directors, who said it would be open for all 104 matches of the tournament, which starts June 11.

    The committee said in a statement Friday an “expanded network of fan zones and community celebrations across 21 counties in New Jersey will serve as a cornerstone of the region’s official fan engagement program.”

    Mikie Sherrill, Murphy’s successor as governor, announced a $5 million initiative Thursday to fund community World Cup initiatives.

    Tickets for the FanFest had been put on sale in December.

    Plans for a FanFest in New York City’s Corona Park in Queens did not move forward. One is now planed for the U.S. Tennis Association’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens from June 17-28 and a fan village is scheduled for Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center from July 4-19.

    Fan fests with large video screens have been a part of each World Cup’s organization since 2006.

    FIFA is running the World Cup itself unlike in the past, when a local organizing committee was in charge of logistics. The host committees are limited to sponsorship agreements in categories not reserved by FIFA.

  • USA Hockey cruises past Slovakia to set up dream gold-medal matchup vs. Canada

    USA Hockey cruises past Slovakia to set up dream gold-medal matchup vs. Canada

    MILAN — Zach Werenski and his U.S. teammates tried not to look ahead to a potential gold-medal game against Canada at the Olympics. After each went unbeaten in group play, there was no way the North American rivals could meet before the final, but there was work left to do.

    After routing Slovakia 6-2 in the semifinals on Friday night, the much-anticipated but never guaranteed U.S.-Canada showdown for gold is on.

    “It’s the matchup everyone wanted,” Werenski said after his three-assist performance against Slovakia. “Now that it’s finally here, we can kind of shift our focus to Canada.”

    The two top seeds in the tournament, who went in as the favorites, will meet Sunday. It comes a year after the U.S. and Canada played two memorable games against each other at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

    “It’s the final that we wanted and the team that we wanted to play,” winger Matt Boldy said. “It’s exciting for the fans and for hockey and everything like that.’’

    That NHL-run event ended a drought of nearly a decade without an international tournament featuring the best hockey players in the world. Three fights in the first 9 seconds of the first meeting put the 4 Nations in the spotlight, and the epic final won by Canada in overtime only built the anticipation for the Olympics.

    “Now that it’s all set in stone, everything happens for a reason,” said Brady Tkachuk, who along with brother Matthew and J.T. Miller, was involved in the 4 Nations fisticuffs. “We’ll be looking forward to this one. You guys have been talking about it for a while. Now you get to enjoy it.”

    After Canada did its part by rallying to beat Finland earlier in the day, the U.S. had no trouble against the Slovaks, who made an improbable run and were simply overmatched. They’ll face the Finns for bronze on Saturday night, looking for just the second hockey medal in the country’s history after getting the first with a third-place finish in Beijing in 2022.

    The U.S. is playing for gold after the semifinals were a much easier go than the quarterfinals against Sweden, when overtime was needed to survive a scare. Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Jack Hughes, and Jack Eichel scored the four goals on 23 shots that chased Samuel Hlavaj out of Slovakia’s net past the midway point of the second period.

    Thompson, one of just a handful of newcomers who did not play at the 4 Nations, exited later in the second after blocking a shot and did not return. Coach Mike Sullivan said Thompson “was held out for precautionary reasons more than anything.”

    “We’ll see how he recovers, but I anticipate him being ready for game time,” Sullivan said.

    Hughes got his second goal of the game just after a power play expired, and Brady Tkachuk scored on a breakaway with just over nine minutes left to provide some more breathing room.

    The U.S. cruised in the semifinals with a 6-2 win over Slovakia. They’ll face Canada on Sunday for gold.

    “That was definitely one of our strongest games, for sure,” said Quinn Hughes, who, along with brother Jack, has been among the best U.S. players in Milan. “For the most part, we played really well. A little bit looser there in the third, but it’s a 5-0 game and you want to get out safe and feel good for the next game.”

    Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck did his job as his teammates outshot Slovakia by a substantial margin. Everything he has done at the Olympics has validated Sullivan’s decision to go with Hellebuyck as the U.S. starter over Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman.

    The U.S. last reached the final in 2010, when it lost to Canada in overtime on Sidney Crosby’s famous golden goal. Crosby’s status is uncertain this time after getting injured in the quarterfinals Wednesday and not playing Friday against Finland.

    The last U.S. men’s hockey gold came in 1980 with the “Miracle on Ice” in Lake Placid.

    “It definitely motivates us,” Werenski said. “We’ve talked about. We’re well aware of it. I don’t think it’s pressure. It’s fun. It’s exciting.”

  • Bryce Harper goes to the Jersey Shore boardwalk with his new ‘Mad House’ cleats

    Bryce Harper goes to the Jersey Shore boardwalk with his new ‘Mad House’ cleats

    Under the boardwalk, down by the sea. That’s where Bryce Harper wants to be, apparently.

    Harper’s newest cleats — the Under Armour Harper 10 “Mad House” — pay homage to the Jersey Shore, and unlike his previous colorful, locally-inspired cleats, these are not player exclusives (PE), meaning anyone can buy the $130 cleats.

    With a hyper violet base and slime-green studs that resemble a boardwalk funhouse, the cleats are “inspired by Bryce’s love for spending time at the Jersey Shore during the offseason early on in his career,” Under Armour said.

    On Thursday, Harper posted a short promotional video for the new kicks. Inside the funhouse’s skull entrance, the Harper 10s are displayed in the middle of a spiraling, mirror maze — akin to one that can be found on the Wildwood boardwalk.

    The latest edition of Bryce Harper 10s, “Mad House,” are a nod to boardwalk funhouses.

    Harper has not gone on the record to claim one shore town in particular. In July 2022, while rehabbing his broken thumb, he spent time in Stone Harbor, taking photos with fans in a Wawa. That same month, he posed with restaurant workers at Uncle Bill’s Pancake House in Ocean City.

    The release of the “Mad House” cleats comes after Harper and Under Armour reached a contract extension on Jan. 13. Under Armour initially signed Harper in 2011. In 2016, they awarded him with what was then the largest endorsement deal in MLB history.

    Previously, Harper has made his love for the Phanatic known through apparel. Last year, Harper and Under Armour released a pair of green, fuzzy Harper 3s inspired by the Phillies mascot, equipped with insoles displaying caricatures of Harper and the Phanatic. But that was hardly the first time Harper’s cleats have paid tribute to the Phanatic — he also wore custom Phanatic cleats during his first game as a Phillie in 2019, and again during the team’s home opener in 2020, this time featuring Swarovski crystals.

    Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper’s Wawa themed spikes against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, June 21, 2024 in Philadelphia.

    It’s also not the only way Harper’s shown his love of Philly culture. In 2024, Harper teamed up with Wawa for his “Gottahava Harper” PE cleats, which he liked so much that he was willing to pay a fine to wear them.

    “Obviously I understand why,” he told Front Office Sports, “but also I think kids love it.”

  • Sixers need to ‘blast ahead’ and play faster — with and without Joel Embiid in the lineup

    Sixers need to ‘blast ahead’ and play faster — with and without Joel Embiid in the lineup

    No one in the NBA has played more minutes than Tyrese Maxey this season.

    Without Joel Embiid in the lineup, even more of the Sixers’ offensive load lies on Maxey’s shoulders, and it’s leading to inefficiency in his shot-making.

    To play better with — and without — Embiid, coach Nick Nurse said he needs Maxey and the Sixers to play faster. Earlier this season, the Sixers played with “tremendous speed.” But as the season has progressed, they’ve moved away from that play style.

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    “I just talked to [Embiid] for a long time, and he said the same thing,” Nurse said. “[Embiid said], ‘They need to play faster, even when I’m out there. They wait for me too much. They need to blast ahead and take opportunities that are there, and if they’re not, I’ll get down there eventually to get into some of the halfcourt offensive stuff.’”

    On Thursday, Cameron Payne, playing in his first game back with the Sixers after starting the year with Serbian team KK Partizan, got the first minutes in relief of Maxey in the second quarter and again in the fourth. The Sixers lost Payne’s fourth-quarter minutes, 11-7, and Payne missed all three of his three-point attempts in his return to the NBA. But he dished out four quick assists in the second quarter and has familiarity with much of the roster.

    Payne played 31 games under Nurse after the Sixers acquired him at the trade deadline in 2024. While some things are similar to his last stint, Payne says there still are several new plays to learn, and he needed to get back into NBA shape after the time away from the league.

    “They play a lot faster,” Payne said. “I feel like we played fast when I was here, but they play a lot faster now.”

    Nurse hopes they’ll get even quicker. But to maintain that, Maxey and VJ Edgecombe especially need to have fresher legs. Edgecombe already has played more games this season than he did all of 2024-25 at Baylor.

    With a playoff race ahead, the Sixers are still figuring out how to play without Joel Embiid

    Nurse said that Maxey and Edgecombe’s speed and athleticism are among their biggest strengths, and the Sixers need to leverage it even more to find success down the stretch. But if players like Payne are able to come in and become playmakers on offense, that can help buoy the team in tough minutes and give Maxey more rest opportunities.

    “I thought early in the year, our guards were creating offense for each other a lot more,” Nurse said. “Remember all the VJ to Tyrese, all the stuff with [Quentin Grimes], and that has gotten a little less.

    “But I think that’s what [Payne] did last night. He came in and just hit through, ran the screen roll, got in the paint, boom, it’s out. Or even just simple throw-aheads, catch-and-shoots. … That’s what we need, is more creation for others, more hitting the paint and not trying to play through the gauntlet and then hitting the paint and getting it out a little.”

  • Cristopher Sánchez among pitchers impressing Phillies; Justin Crawford to start in spring opener

    Cristopher Sánchez among pitchers impressing Phillies; Justin Crawford to start in spring opener

    CLEARWATER, Fla. — After Cristopher Sánchez finished his bullpen session on Friday, Phillies manager Rob Thomson walked off from where he’d been observing behind the mound.

    As he passed by Mark Kolozsvary, the catcher who had been behind the plate, Thomson leaned over.

    “He any good?” he joked. “Make the team?”

    Sánchez, who looked very sharp in his session, is preparing to represent the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic next month. He will make at least one start in a Grapefruit League game before he joins his federation for pool play in Miami.

    Phillies roster questions going into the first spring game: Fifth starter, bullpen picture, and more

    “I just want to box him up and send him up north,” Thomson said. “He’s been great.”

    Thomson said the Phillies expect Sánchez to pitch in the Dominican Republic’s first game of the tournament, which is against Nicaragua on March 6, but they don’t know the plan after that.

    He was one of several pitchers who impressed Thomson on Friday, the final workout day before the Phillies’ Grapefruit League slate opens on Saturday with a game against the Blue Jays. Also turning some heads was prospect Alex McFarlane, a 24-year-old right-hander who was added to the Phillies’ 40-man roster in December ahead of the Rule 5 deadline.

    Phillies pitcher José Alvarado throws in the bullpen during a workout on Friday in Clearwater, Fla.

    McFarlane had been somewhat “erratic” in a previous live batting practice session on Tuesday, but showed better command Friday.

    “Fastball, heavy sink, 97 [mph] or whatever it was,” Thomson said. “Slider for strikes. That’s what you’re going to see. I think a lot of times, first time out you see hitters, [pitchers] can be a little bit erratic, but he was more in the zone today. He was really good. … Very mature kid, too.”

    Another standout was José Alvarado, who struck out Adolis García and Bryce Harper in his live batting practice session. Thomson said Alvarado looked like he did last year around this time. The lefty had a strong 2025 spring, hitting 100 mph on the radar gun with his sinker multiple times and not allowing a run in nine Grapefruit League appearances.

    Three Phillies starting pitchers are breaking their routine to compete in the WBC during spring training

    That hot start cooled off quickly, though, when Alvarado was suspended 80 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

    “He’s in a good spot, and I think we’re behind all that stuff,” Thomson said.

    Justin Crawford will start in center field in the Phillies’ spring opener on Saturday against the Blue Jays.

    ‘Satan’s corner’

    Justin Crawford is scheduled to play center field in Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener against Toronto. He will be sharing the outfield with García in right and Otto Kemp, who will play left.

    It will be a tough first test for Kemp, who has been getting more outfield work this spring as the Phillies believe he could be a platoon for Brandon Marsh. Rob Thomson has nicknamed the left field in TD Ballpark, the Blue Jays’ spring training home in Dunedin, ‘Satan’s Corner,’ because it is a particularly difficult place to play.

    Phillies coach’s infield drills take an unconventional approach to practice a basic skill: Watching the ball

    “The wind swirls down there. The sun, it seems like every time we go over there, there’s not a cloud in the sky,” Thomson said. “I’ve seen a lot of mistakes out there.”

    The biggest thing Thomson is looking for from Crawford this spring is to take the lead in the outfield as the center fielder.

    “Reads and routes, and taking charge,” Thomson said. “Florida for an outfielder, it’s brutal in spring training. High sky, wind, sun. I’ve seen gold glovers make a lot of mistakes out there. But that’s really what I’m looking for is just proper reads and routes and taking charge.”

    Extra bases

    Harper homered off Tanner Banks in a live batting practice session Friday. … Bryse Wilson is scheduled to start for the Phillies on Saturday against the Blue Jays (1:07 p.m., NBC Sports Philadelphia and 94.1 WIP).

  • Why do Jayden Daniels, Maxx Crosby, and other NFL players keep professing their ‘love’ for Eagles fans?

    Why do Jayden Daniels, Maxx Crosby, and other NFL players keep professing their ‘love’ for Eagles fans?

    Ever since Jason Kelce belted out “No one likes us, we don’t care” at the Eagles’ 2018 Super Bowl parade, the chant, with its origins in soccer, has become a staple of Philadelphia sports fandom. Whether they are liked or not, there appears to be a respect for Eagles fans, and recently, opposing players like Maxx Crosby and George Kittle have come out and praised them. The latest? NFC East rival Jayden Daniels.

    In an interview with Sports Illustrated earlier this month, Daniels, the Washington Commanders quarterback, compared games at Lincoln Financial Field to a college football-like atmosphere.

    “I love Eagles fans,” Daniels, an LSU alumnus, told SI. “I mean, they just embody what Philly brings, and to be able to go out there and play against them, it’s kind of just that their environment is the closest thing you can get to a college environment.”

    Daniels has played two seasons in the NFL, and has faced the Eagles twice at the Linc. His first was a 36-33 victory in December 2024, but just over a month later, Daniels and the Commanders were routed by the Eagles, 55-23, in the NFC championship game. He missed this past season’s game at the Linc due to injury, but his backup, Josh Johnson, was also excited to play in front of Eagles fans — even if he suffered some past trauma in South Philly.

    “It’s awesome,” Johnson, who was knocked out of the 2023 NFC championship game against the Eagles with a serious concussion that forced a hospital stay, told reporters before this year’s regular-season finale. “We get to go into the lion’s den. I love it. I wouldn’t change it.”

    Jayden Daniels was sacked three times in the Eagles’ NFC championship win over the Commanders.

    Some players don’t just like the environment, they use it for extra motivation. Daniels is one of them.

    “Yeah, for sure,” Daniels said when asked if Eagles fans bring him extra motivation. “If you can go out there and beat Philly in Philly — that is a different type — but their fans bring it, man, especially as we’re rivals with them in the NFC, in the East, so I love playing against them.”

    ‘Exactly what you dream of’

    As trade rumors swirl around Crosby, the Raiders star edge rusher’s past comments about the Eagles and their fans have resurfaced.

    On a December episode of his podcast, “The Rush With Maxx Crosby,” the 28-year-old defensive end spoke about the fan base following the Raiders game against the Eagles, his first at the Linc.

    “Cities that really have substance to them and true fan bases, and love for their city and the game — and going to Philly, you can feel that energy when you go there,” Crosby said on his podcast. “There were people everywhere downtown. We stayed right downtown in the thick of it. You know how Philly is. They’re rowdy, they are crazy, they’re flipping off the [team] buses. They didn’t give a damn about anything.”

    Maxx Crosby said he remembers the snow-covered trees outside the Linc as fans prepped for the Eagles-Raiders game in December.

    Crosby also got a taste of what the fan base brings not just on game day, but every day.

    “I low-key never do this, but I was driving into Philly, and this is the first time I’ve ever played in Philly, so that’s why I took some pictures,” Crosby said. “[I] was driving in there, trees just all white (snow) and fans everywhere in the tailgate. You can see the stadium behind it. I took a couple dope-ass pictures because this is my first time ever playing there.

    “If you love football, that’s what you dream of as a kid, playing in Philadelphia in December in a grimy-ass environment. That is exactly what you dream of, so I loved it.”

    If Crosby indeed hits the Raiders trading block, could Philly be a potential destination for the five-time Pro Bowler?

    ‘They hate all of us equally’

    Kittle has also embraced the city’s fans after several battles with the Eagles. Ahead of San Francisco’s wild-card playoff game at the Linc, his fifth appearance in Philly, Kittle told reporters about the respect he has for the fan base.

    “The one thing that’s really unique about Philly is that they don’t really — I mean, maybe like a division rival is different, but any other road team that comes in there, they hate all of us equally, and I just appreciate that,” Kittle said. “It’s incredibly loud, they flip you off, they moon you on your bus ride in.

    “But, they do that to everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re the 49ers, if you’re the Jacksonville Jaguars. It doesn’t matter. They just give you that no matter what, and I appreciate that because you can tell how much they love their team.”

    Eagles fans didn’t get the ending they hoped for last season, with the Birds falling to the Niners in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

    Kittle and Crosby aren’t the only ones to see the positive in Eagles’ fans antics, which can sometimes cross the line, like when fans egged then-offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo’s house after the team’s Black Friday loss to the Chicago Bears.

    Before his team’s game in Philly this season, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell said the city was “probably the most hostile place to play” and recalled a time when he was playing for the Giants and a fan at Veterans Stadium dumped a cup of tobacco spit on Michael Strahan. Despite that, Campbell still loves the Philly faithful.

    “You go on the road and it’s you against everybody else,” Campbell said. “And it’s very clear that it’s you against everybody else there. You go some places and they wave at you like, ‘Man, we’re so happy you’re here to play against us.’ This is not one of those places. It’s as far from that as you can possibly get. I love playing in atmospheres like that.”

    Even players who have had serious beef with Eagles fans have changed their tune.

    “I hate Eagles fans,” Los Angeles Rams edge rusher Jared Verse repeatedly told the L.A. Times before the teams’ divisional round matchup in 2025. “They’re so annoying.”

    The Eagles went on to win that game in the snow, and fans pelted Verse with snowballs on his way out after his quote was displayed on the video board for the crowd to see. But after the game, Verse said he has grown to respect Philly fans.

    “I like that they stand on it,” Verse said. “They don’t shy away from it.”