You don’t necessarily need to root for another team … but it’s perfectly acceptable to root for certain teams to lose more than others. Post-Eagles playoff fandom is less about loyalty and more about spite management.
You’re no longer picking a champion; you’re ranking villains.
Dugan Arnett, Life & Culture Reporter
I believe that Philadelphians should be free to root for any of the NFL’s remaining playoff teams. Except the Patriots, obviously. No one should ever root for the Patriots.
Tommy Rowan, Programming Editor
At this point, you’re rooting for fan bases. So I’m rooting for Bills fans. As a fan base, they’ve been through it. Despite an unprecedented four straight Super Bowl appearances in the early 1990s, they have zero championship wins to show for it.
And there are some similarities between Buffalo fans and Philly fans. Our friends from up north routinely throw each other through card tables at game day tailgates like WWE wrestlers. The two fan bases could honestly be cousins. Real long-suffering Northeast football fans recognize real. So, Go Bills. … Until the playoffs are over.
Amy Rosenberg, Life & Culture Reporter
This is when being a transplant has its advantages. Buried ancestral loyalties can now resurface. My dad loved the Bills dating back to the Marv Levy era. I’ve always loved the Rams? Feels OK to go with the Bills. (Getting some Bills consensus here.) Anything remotely Boston, New England, or Dallas is obviously off-limits. Chicago could be a late pivot to root for. Birds, Bills, Bears.
Matt Mullin, Senior Sports Editor for Digital Strategy
Unsurprisingly, I have a lot of thoughts on this. Sorry! Like Biggie said, there are rules to this game, so I wrote you a manual. And these can be applied to almost any season — or any sport.
You absolutely cannot root for the team that eliminated you, so the 49ers are out. But! If they win it all, you’re allowed to say the Eagles basically finished second.
You can’t root for any NFC East teams — luckily that’s not a concern this year — or any teams that beat you during the regular season. Goodbye, Denver and Chicago.
In fact, you shouldn’t really root for any NFC team, since you’ve likely beefed with them all at one point. But if you must, pick one of the teams you beat. At least that way you’ll be able to convince yourself the Eagles were actually the better team. Would the Rams, who the Eagles beat in the regular season and last postseason and don’t really have a fan base to rub it in, making the Super Bowl be the worst? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean you have to support them.
You should also try to avoid rooting for the top seeds, since Philly loves an underdog. We’ve already eliminated the Broncos, but so long, Seattle.
That leaves three AFC teams. Again, any team that beat you this year is automatically out. So are the Patriots. You never root for the Patriots.
In five simple steps, we’ve now boiled it down to just two acceptable teams: the Bills and Texans. We’ll give the Bills the nod here since their fan base and Eagles fans seem to have a lot in common — even though their coach tried to kill the Tush Push over safety but still uses it regularly.
Sam Ruland
I think my ideal Super Bowl here would be Bills vs. Bears. Because the Bills have a good fan base, fun, loyal (all the things we said). And I have no negative thoughts on the Bears fan base either. Also, never forget Jason Kelce tailgating with the Bills Mafia. That’s gotta count for something.
Compared with the rest of the tribe of baseball writers, my criteria for Hall of Fame inclusion are undemanding. The most controversial element: I do not discriminate against the PED crowd.
I consistently have voted for Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Manny Ramirez, titanic talents of their era who are shunned by a voting bloc — us writers — that ignored and profited from rampant steroid use. Further, I know there are plenty of players who juiced and didn’t get caught, so banning the BALCO boys never made sense.
Which brings us to Ryan Braun, the best of a weak first-year class of Hall of Fame candidates — no offense, Cole Hamels. Inductees will be announced Tuesday. Don’t expect either to be on the list.
Between 2008 and 2016, a nine-season span, Braun was, without question, one of baseball’s best players. He was a five-tool player. He twice hit at least 30 home runs and stole at least 30 bases. His .902 OPS ranks fifth in that period among players with at least 4,000 plate appearances. Ahead of him: future Hall of Fame locks Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols, Hall of Famer David Ortiz, and, at No. 2, Joey Votto.
Braun was Rookie of the Year in 2007 and National League MVP in 2011.
From 2008 to 2016, Ryan Braun was one of baseball’s best players with a .902 OPS that ranks fifth in that period among players with at least 4,000 plate appearances.
You know what else happened in 2011? Braun tested positive for synthetic testosterone, and ruined his reputation in the aftermath. He challenged the test, smeared one of the testers as being antisemitic (Braun is Jewish), and had his record cleared on a technicality involving the handling of the sample.
Then, in 2013, later, Braun tested positive again. That invalidated all of his protestations.
This time, he served a 65-day suspension. Despite excellent production over the next three seasons and despite an effort to rehabilitate his image through varied good works, he never recovered.
There’s no way Braun will get the 75% of the vote he needs to qualify for induction; not this year, and probably not for five years or so. He’ll be the next Carlos Beltrán, the scapegoat for the Astros’ signal-stealing scandal in 2017 who should have been inducted years ago.
Braun certainly belongs in the Hall of Shame, right next to Rodriguez, who once indignantly denied that he’d ever taken steroids then later admitted to juicing as a younger player. A-Rod’s image has never recovered, either. Both belong in the Hall of Fame, too.
I vote for A-Rod every year. In fact, this is the third consecutive year he’s my No. 1 pick. The only time he wasn’t No. 1 was in 2022, when he was No. 2. Bonds was No. 1.
Braun’s situation is different. For one thing, he tested positive twice. For another, he was an absolute tool about it. For a third, PED use had plummeted by the time Braun arrived on the scene, so it’s not as if he needed to cheat to keep up. Finally, Braun tested positive in an era in which players knew the likely penalty for testing positive. Mark McGwire, who was first eligible in 2007, was being blackballed every year of Braun’s Hall of Fame run.
It is a penalty with which I always have disagreed. And, while I acknowledge that Braun’s candidacy is tainted more than any other PED user, I would be as hypocritical as my colleagues if I excluded him purely on the basis of PED use.
I will vote for him, but, more so than with A-Rod or Bonds or Roger Clemens, I will hold my nose as I check his box.
And I will think slightly less of myself for doing so.
The criteria
I not only divulge my votes, as I believe every writer should do, I also rank my votes and defend them.
I don’t vote for designated hitters because they don’t play the whole game. That included Ortiz in 2022, and it would have included Harold Baines and Edgar Martinez if I’d had a vote in 2019. Kyle Schwarber one day might make me eat those words.
I don’t vote for relievers. Traditionally, they’ve been failed starters. I backslid on that criterion in 2025 because I didn’t want to be the reason Billy Wagner didn’t get enough votes in his final year of eligibility. Thankfully, I didn’t have a vote in 2019, when Mariano Rivera was a unanimous selection. I don’t exactly know what I’d have done that year, when two designated hitters also made it. I probably would have abstained. My antireliever stance will further soften as more players who were drafted and groomed as relievers become eligible.
I use all 10 ballot slots, which means I’ve helped keep Omar Vizquel on the ballot.
I vote for players nearing the end of their 10-year candidacy limit over players who still have time left.
The last few players are usually interchangeable: This year, that interchangeability begins at No. 7, with Chase Utley.
Alex Rodriguez, here in a 2021 event as co-owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, was one of the great players of his era.
The vote
1. Alex Rodriguez, fifth year
Hit .302 with 642 home runs from 1996 to 2012, the most homers by a margin of 85 (Jim Thome had 557). Hot or cold in his postseasons. Elite fielder. Smug, condescending, weirdo, Yankee. But still.
2. Manny Ramirez, 10th year
In his final HOF run, Ramirez will be remembered less as the most important player on the Red Sox teams that broke the Curse of the Bambino than as a juicer. He led baseball with 1,660 RBIs from 1995 to 2008. He led Cleveland in aggregate OPS from 1995 to 2000 and was fourth in baseball behind McGwire, Bonds, and Martinez among players with at least 3,000 plate appearances. He led Boston in OPS from 2001 to 2006 and was third in baseball behind Pujols and Todd Helton, again among players with 3,000 or more plate appearances. He was the best hitter on loaded teams in Cleveland, Boston, and Los Angeles. He might have been juicing the whole time — he tested positive three times — but, again, PED use was rampant during his prime years.
3. Carlos Beltrán, fourth year
In a game rife with cheating, it astounds me that so many people hold the sign-stealing scandal against him, a scandal perpetrated when he was 40, in his final season, after an 18-year run of excellence. That included the 1999 AL Rookie of the Year as a Royal; nine All-Star Game appearances, his ninth at the age of 39; three Gold Glove awards; and incredible playoff production: a 1.021 OPS, a .307 batting average, 16 home runs, 42 RBIs, and 11 steals (never caught) in 65 playoff games.
That said, he got 70.3% of the vote last year, 57.1% in 2024, and 46.5% in his first year of eligibility. Independent preannouncement polling indicates that Beltrán will cruise into the Hall this year as effortlessly as he played the game itself.
4. Ryan Braun, first year
See above.
5. Jimmy Rollins, fifth year
I understand why, independent of their controversies, Beltrán and Braun aren’t slam-dunk Hall of Famers. I understand why Rollins isn’t, either. J-Roll is my best example of why defense, baserunning, and availability don’t get enough respect from voters. His 2007 MVP season was the best of an eight-year run in which his most consistent contributions involved superb shortstop play, base stealing, and baserunning, which helped account for his 292 stolen bases and the 395 combined doubles and triples he hit from 2001 to 2008, a league high among players with at least 5,000 plate appearances.
Rollins also played in 1,237 games in that span, second-most among shortstops (Miguel Tejada) and seventh-most among all players, including the next guy on this list, one of Rollins’ best friends.
Bobby Abreu had a great career offensively, and he was a good outfielder, but his chances of making the Hall of Fame aren’t good.
6. Bobby Abreu, seventh year
Abreu was one of baseball’s best hitters from 1998 to 2009; his .902 OPS is third among players with at least 7,500 plate appearances, behind Helton and A-Rod. He averaged more than 28 stolen bases with a .301 batting average. He was an elite offensive player with one Gold Glove and a golden arm to boot. He got 19.5% last season, but he’s a lost cause.
Chase Utley is expected to get closer than last year to the needed 75% of Hall of Fame votes.
7. Chase Utley, third year
He was a profoundly productive second baseman from 2005 to 2013, so why isn’t “Ut” higher? Because he was a profoundly poor second baseman who played out of position. He should have been at first base. Yes, his .881 OPS in that span ranks 11th among players who played at least 1,000 games, but he missed an average of 30 games per season in that span. He’s compared to Jeff Kent, who peaked at 46.5% in his final year of eligibility, though the new Contemporary Baseball Era Committee wrongmindedly slid him in instead of PED poster children Bonds and Clemens. However, Utley’s current popularity campaign as MLB’s ambassador to Europe — the most unlikely ambassadorship this side of Woody Johnson’s former gig in the United Kingdom — will surely help Utley blast past his 39.8% mark from last year.
8. Torii Hunter, sixth year
Hunter’s 5.1% last year barely met the 5% minimum for ballot retention, and he probably won’t be on the ballot after this year, but he was the best center fielder in baseball from 2001 to 2013 and a better player than Dustin Pedroia, Andy Pettitte, Hamels, and maybe even Utley.
Dustin Pedroia’s career compared favorable to Chase Utley’s, except in home run power.
9. Dustin Pedroia, second year
There’s an excellent argument that, if you’re in on Utley, you should be in on Pedroia. His 10-year peak was slightly less homer-heavy than Utley’s, but his overall play probably was better, considering his four Gold Gloves. He also won AL Rookie of the Year in 2007 and was AL MVP in 2008. He won two World Series with the Red Sox, but after his first playoff run in 2007 he hit .212 with a .628 OPS in his next 37 playoff games.
10. Omar Vizquel, ninth year
He’s the best defensive shortstop of the modern era after Ozzie Smith. However, his candidacy cratered when, in 2021, he was sued and accused of sexually harassing an autistic adult batboy while managing the White Sox’s double-A affiliate in 2019. No charges were brought, and the sides settled in 2022, but the incident, combined with previous, unproven accusations of domestic violence accusations by an ex-wife, effectively ended Vizquel’s Hall of Fame campaign.
He peaked at 52.6% in 2020, his third year of eligibility, but hasn’t broken 25% in the past four years, and almost certainly won’t again this year.
Honorably mentioned
If I had an 11th vote, I would throw Hamels, Pettitte, and Félix Hernández in a barrel, pick one out, and he would get that vote. None is especially Hall of Fame unworthy, and all were very good long enough to warrant consideration. Pettitte won’t make it this year, his eighth, so, in the spirit of my expiring candidacy criterion, I might vote for him in a couple of years, after some candidates drop off and after Buster Posey gets in next year as a first-ballot candidate.
When Adam Fisher was in the second grade, he was asked to write down things about himself.
Most of the questions were simple, like his favorite food. Then there was the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
While most kids jotted down doctor or chef, he said, Fisher proudly wrote that he wanted to be a college basketball coach.
“Why? I have no idea,” Fisher said. “I love college basketball. I love the students when you pack an arena, I love the band, and the comradery of bringing people together that are at the university currently and then you want to go back as an alumni.”
Nearly three decades later, the Bucks County native, who graduated from Penn State in 2006 and immediately dove in the coaching world, has been living out his dream. Fisher worked under former Penn State and current Florida Gulf Coast coach Pat Chambers and Hall of Famers Jay Wright and Jim Larrañaga at Villanova and Miami, respectively.
At each stop, he grew and learned from other coaches, as he waited for the chance to lead his own team. That finally came in 2023, when he became Temple’s head coach.
Now, Fisher is in his third year, and has Temple (11-6, 3-1 American) trending in the right direction. In November, he received a two-year extension through 2030. While the program has expressed its faith in Fisher, he hopes to build the team back into an NCAA tournament contender.
Adam Fisher during a game against East Carolina at the Liacouras Center on Jan. 7.
“Every job has pressure no matter what your profession is,” Fisher said. “With this job, the pressure is the great history, the rich tradition that comes with taking over a program like Temple. For me, you got to fuel yourself on the pressure and it’s something that is there and it kind of helps motivate, to get back to where Temple basketball was … it helps fuel you to not ever be outworked, to make sure you’re doing everything you possibly can for the program and put yourself in the best situation possible.”
‘You can win and have fun’
Fisher credits his father Neil for giving him the itch to coach. Neil was he and his brother’s first coach while they played basketball, among other sports, in the Warrington Athletic Association.
Fisher’s friends still bring up the times they had Fisher’s father as a coach. Neil’s impact went beyond sports as well, as Fisher’s family owned a restaurant. He watched his father run it on his own.
“All our friends still to this day will talk about playing for my dad, and that’s really cool when you know that somebody makes that impact,” Fisher said. “I think that was when I learned I want to coach, I want to impact lives the way he did in the way he helped change people for the better. And bring people together and show that you can win and have fun and all those things.”
Adam Fisher was an associate head coach at Penn State prior to being hired as Temple’s next head coach.
Fisher bounced between schools after graduating with a kinesiology degree from Penn State. He served as a graduate assistant at Villanova under Wright, where he eventually followed then assistant coach Chambers to Boston University and Penn State, when Chambers took over those programs.
He held various roles; director of operations, video coordinator, and director of player personnel. But in 2013, he got his break.
A father figure
Former Miami assistant coach Michael Huger got in Larrañaga’s ear about a coach at Boston University. The Hurricanes had an open spot for a director of player operations and hired Fisher, who learned under Huger and Larrañaga’s tutelage.
Huger let Fisher join his recruiting visits and even let him crash in his office while he worked. Larrañaga became a father figure for the budding coach, whom he called the best director of player operations he’s ever had.
He wasn’t a bench coach yet, but he coached 35-year-olds during the summer in a fantasy camp, where he impressed with his ability to build relationships, something that would come in handy down the line.
But Fisher wasn’t someone Larrañaga could let go.
Former Miami coach Jim Larrañaga and Adam Fisher on a plane together.
“He was going to go to Bowling Green State University with Michael Huger. My wife said to me, ‘You can’t lose Adam. You speak so highly of him and you need to figure out a way to keep him,’” Larrañaga said. “So I called Adam back and said, ‘Instead of going to Bowling Green, I’d like you to stay here as the ops, but I’ll promise you, the first time one of my assistants leaves, I’ll elevate you.’”
His tenure as director of player operations didn’t last long. Assistant coach Eric Konkol was hired as the head coach of Louisiana Tech. Larrañaga stuck to his word and promoted Fisher to a bench coach, where he stayed for seven seasons.
Fisher began looking at Larrañaga as a father figure as their families became friends. When he married his wife Rebecca, Larrañaga was at the wedding. He even showed up a few days early to avoid a hurricane in Miami, while other staff members had to miss it because of the storm.
“That just shows you who he is,” Fisher said. “That’s the guy he is. I’m interviewing for the Temple job and he’s getting ready to play in the Elite Eight and he has time out of his day to call Arthur Johnson the day of an elite eight game. That’s why I think he’s the greatest. He’s a Hall of Fame coach and Hall of Fame person.”
Even after he left for Penn State in 2021 to work under Micah Shrewsberry, the two stayed in contact.
Continue to build
While at Happy Valley, it was Fisher’s job to handle recruiting in the Philadelphia area. He added players such as Jameel Brown, Demetrius Lilley, Cam Wynter, and Andrew Funk to the team, and helped the Nittany Lions reach the NCAA Tournament in 2023.
Fisher later took the head coaching job at Temple. While he began building a foundation with the Owls, he tapped back into the relationships that he made during his career.
Huger had been fired by Bowling Green that offseason, and his protégé hired him as the Owls’ associate head coach. Jimmy Polisi, who had spent a season with Fisher in Miami, was hired as the director of player operations, the same role that gave Fisher his start.
Adam Fisher, while serving as Penn State’s associate head coach, helped the team reach the NCAA tournament in 2023.
When guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. was heading into his junior season of high school, Fisher and Larrañaga camped out in a movie theater parking lot to wait for July 1 to offer Mashburn Jr. a scholarship.
Mashburn Jr. never committed to Miami, instead he went to the University of Minnesota and then New Mexico, but when he entered the transfer portal in 2024, he had a familiar face reach out — Fisher. He only spent a year with the team, but the two still talk.
“I was reaching out to him about a lot of stuff, just keeping my mind right. And, you know, he’s a positive person,” said Mashburn Jr., who competes on the Grand Rapids Gold of the NBA G League. “He’s someone who believes in me.”
Fisher still has players reach out that are no longer in the program, like Mashburn Jr. and forward Steve Settle III. Settle tries to watch every Temple game when he can.
Fisher’s first year at the helm saw Temple make a Cinderella run to the American championship game. While Temple got blown out of the tournament in the first round of the 2024-25 season, the Owls are making strides this season.
The roster looks well connected compared to the last two season. A defense that needed fixing has improved and the offense has been multidimensional.
Fisher is hopeful that his team will continue to have success, and he’s committed to get there.
“This is where my family and I want to be,” Fisher said. “We’re excited to be here and continue to build this thing. We knew it was going to take time, taking over the job and where we were in the state of college athletics, we knew this was going to be a challenge early on.
Jaylon Tyson scored a career-high 39 points, Evan Mobley’s dunk with 4.8 seconds left was the winner and the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers completed a two-game sweep of the 76ers in Philadelphia with a 117-115 victory on Friday night.
Donovan Mitchell added 13 points, 12 assists, and nine rebounds for Cleveland, which rallied from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers defeated the Sixers 133-107 on Wednesday.
Joel Embiid scored 33 points and Tyrese Maxey had 22 points, nine assists and five steals for the 76ers.
Cleveland was without Darius Garland (right big toe soreness) and Sam Merrill (right hand sprain), who were both injured on Wednesday. Coach Kenny Atkinson said both will be reevaluated when the team returns to Cleveland this weekend.
The Sixers looked in control when Paul George hit a jumper with 8 minutes, 47 seconds remaining for an 11-point lead. But the Cavaliers used a 13-2 run, capped by De’Andre Hunter’s three-pointer with 5:53 left to tie it at 102. Philadelphia moved ahead by seven points after turnovers by the Cavs on three straight possessions, but Cleveland hung around.
Sixers’ Dominick Barlow (left) and Paul George (right) defend Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell during the first quarter of Friday’s game.
Hunter’s layup with just over a minute left put the Cavs up a point. After Mobley made one of two free throws with 22.7 seconds remaining, Maxey tied it at 115 on a runner with 8.1 seconds left. After a timeout, Tyson set up Mobley near the basket for an easy dunk to put Cleveland in front by two. Maxey’s shot from just beyond half court that could have won the game went long.
Dominick Barlow was back in the lineup for Philadelphia after leaving Wednesday’s game early due to a back contusion. He was questionable entering the contest and finished with two points.
The Sixers will host the Indiana Pacers (10-32) on Monday (7 p.m., NBCSP).
The exact details aren’t all set yet, but the picture is starting to come together in U.S. Soccer’s buildup to this summer’s FIFA World Cup.
Four of the big pieces are well-known: the games the men’s national team will play before the tournament kicks off. They’ll face Belgium and Portugal at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on March 28 and 31, respectively, with the game against the Portuguese sold out at the 71,000-seat venue.
The World Cup team will be announced at an event in New York in late May. U.S. Soccer Federation chief marketing officer Catherine Newman revealed the news during a speech Friday at the United Soccer Coaches Convention, and said the event will be open to the public in some form.
She did not specify the exact date or venue, so it’s unclear just how many fans will be able to attend.
U.S. Soccer Federation chief marketing officer Catherine Newman.
The team’s training camp will start right after that at the new national training center in suburban Atlanta. U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino has already said he’ll set the roster before camp starts, not wanting to leave any choices until the last minute.
There will be two tournament warm-up games: First, Senegal on May 31 in Charlotte, followed by a match against Germany on June 6 in Chicago. After that, the team will head to southern California to get ready for its World Cup opener against Paraguay on June 12 in Inglewood, Calif.
Another milestone along the way will be the unveiling of the team’s World Cup jerseys in mid-March. Some renderings have already made the rounds on social media, of a red-and-white horizontal striped primary kit and a navy alternate kit with a star pattern.
“You’ve seen the leaks, I’m sure — I’m not going to stand up here and pretend that you haven’t,” Newman said. “And [I] will not confirm or deny if they’re true either. But what I can say is that the kits are absolutely fantastic, they look brilliant, and importantly, the players helped us to design them.”
Perhaps the details of how that happened will become known upon the official announcement.
Newman tried to make the case that “what we are trying to do with a lot of things at U.S. Soccer is to make sure that if you can’t attend a match, that you can attend things with U.S. Soccer … Just come in and be a fan, that’s all we ask.”
But those words will be met with skepticism from some fans, for one big reason: ticket prices.
People who’ve paid attention know that U.S. Soccer has no influence on World Cup ticket prices. In fact, the 2026 host nations’ bid book proposed prices far lower than what FIFA decided on.
But there have been complaints for years about the prices of tickets for U.S. Soccer’s own games, whether in big NFL stadiums or smaller MLS venues.
So it will be noticed that as of Friday, tickets for the Belgium game were available for $44 through the governing body’s official sales page, run by Ticketmaster. Unfortunately, the news was less positive for the other games: $73 and up for Senegal, $122 and up for Germany, and $193 and up for what’s left for Portugal.
That doesn’t seem to fit with Newman’s claim that “we are not an expensive option in the U.S.,” even as she referred to $40 tickets and a free “block party” at last year’s U.S. women’s team game at SoFi Stadium. That’s the venue where the U.S. men will play two of its three World Cup group games.
“We try very hard to think about that as part of our pricing, and to make it as affordable as we can,” Newman said. “And if we think about those four matches, there will be fan activations for all fans that our commercial partners are helping us [with], and there will be no cost to the fans. It is very important to us that fans can participate and can be part of it.”
Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium will host the U.S. men’s soccer team’s March games against Belgium and Portugal.
She pivoted from there to more community-oriented events like watch parties, noting that U.S. Soccer is working with the American Outlaws supporters’ group to promote events across the country.
“Soccer isn’t about just being in the stadium,” Newman said. “It’s about how you watch at home, and how you have those other parts. And that is where it’s incumbent on all of us as part of the soccer community to make sure that people feel part of that.”
As true as that point is on its own, the words might not satisfy fans who want to take their family to a game, and look at ticket prices before anything else.
Union manager Bradley Carnell addressed the media for the first time in 2026, as the club prepares for its preseason camp next week in Marbella, Spain.
Carnell was accompanied by Jon Scheer, the Union’s director of academy and professional development, and, in the absence of sporting director Ernst Tanner, who has been on administrative leave, is part of a collective braintrust on sporting direction that includes Carnell, assistant sporting director Matt Ratajczak, and chief scout Chris Zitterbart.
The two spoke on the Union’s approach to what was an eventful winter transfer window, one that saw the departures of all-star-caliber players from the club’s Supporters’ Shield-winning campaign last season in Tai Baribo, Jakob Glesnes, and Kai Wagner.
But the Union were also active in acquiring players to retool its roster. The club spent a record $4.5 million to acquire Ghanaian striker Ezekiel Alladoh in December and made another deal to acquire centerback Japhet Sery Larsen for around $938,000.
Even with the changes, Scheer said the club has some more shopping to do.
Ezekiel Alladoh (center) joined the Union in the offseason as the team’s record signing all-time.
Transfer talk
Alladoh was the most significant of the Union’s acquisitions this offseason. The club paid a record fee for the 20-year-old striker, topping the $3.4 million fee it paid for striker Bruno Damiani last winter.
The Union sold Baribo, last year’s leading goalscorer, to D.C. United and allowed Mikael Uhre to leave in free agency, clearing the way for Damiani and Alladoh to begin the season as the first-choice strikers.
“[Alladoh’s] rise has been phenomenal,” Carnell said. “He’s been a target of the club upon my arrival, for example. So to get this acquisition, we’re incredibly excited about continuing his growth and development with us.”
The Union shored up their attacking line with Alladoh, but they also sought reinforcements on the backline after trading Glesnes to the Los Angeles Galaxy and sending Wagner to English Championship side Birmingham City.
To help fill Glesnes’s spot at centerback, the club brought in 25-year-old Sery Larsen from Norwegian side SK Brann. Sery Larsen, a Danish national, made 80 appearances in three seasons with Brann. Carnell compared Sery Larsen’s arrival to Glesnes’, who joined the Union in 2020.
"I think the style of play is really entertaining."
“[Sery Larsen] is of a caliber of a young leader,” Carnell said. “Jakob came into this environment, I think at a similar age to Sery Larsen, at the age of 25, and developed into a real good leader in and around the locker room and the team. Sery Larson comes in from a caliber and a quality level that almost commands respect in and around teammates. But, you know, the performance has to fit.”
Bedoya’s back
While a few of the team’s more vocal leaders have left, Alejandro Bedoya returns for his 11th season with the Union. Carnell said that he and Tanner met with Bedoya to discuss the captain’s future prior to Tanner being placed on administrative leave, and left the decision up to Bedoya.
“Knowing the impact that Ale’s had at this club, and knowing how important he is, in and around here, from setting the tone, the standards, the locker room, the leadership, we totally left it open to Ale Bedoya, if he would like to continue,” Carnell said. “Knowing the changes that happened in 2024, the conversation was so enlightening and so rewarding because, you know, he felt surprised that we were willing to bring him back.”
Alejandro Bedoya (center, with ball) returns for what will be his 11th season with the Union.
Bedoya’s on-field role has diminished in recent years, though the 38-year-old made 10 starts for the Union last season.
“I’ve seen what Ale does on the training field,” Carnell said. “I’ve seen what he does in games, the commitment, the bloody nose on the shield game. I know exactly what kind of person Ale is. When he reached out to us in the offseason to say he’s still chasing the cup and he wants to come back, doors opened, conversations happened, and we were so happy to bring him back.”
In addition to his playing roles as team captain and versatile midfielder, Bedoya will also continue his front office responsibilities as a player development and front office specialist.
The Union are shopping for a new starting-level left back to replace Wagner. For years, it was no secret that Kai Wagner wanted to go to Europe. It came up seemingly every offseason, even after the left back signed a new long-term contract with the Union in early 2024.
At a certain level, that part of Wagner’s tenure in Chester will not be missed. But his contributions on the field obviously will be, as statistically one of the best left backs in MLS for many years. His departure ended up coming at a time when the Union’s depth chart at the position isn’t great.
Union defender Nathan Harriel is an option at left fullback in the departure of Kai Wagner, but the club is still looking for a solution.
Frankie Westfield and Nathan Harriel can play the role, but neither is a natural. So it will come as a relief to fans that the club’s brass made it clear Friday that they’re shopping for a new left back, presumably one who can start.
“While we’ve made a few signings, we aren’t done,” said Scheer on Friday. “We’re very active in the transfer market. We look forward to continuing to attack, so that our club is in the best possible position come 2026 and the season’s start.”
Ben Bender (right) is also training as a left back to support the team’s depth chart in the absence of defender Kai Wagner.
“Kai is a player that has had a lot of interest over the years, and has had ambition to go across to Europe as part of his career,” Scheer said. “He’s been an important part of the team and certainly brought a lot of key characteristics. But certainly we feel like we’re in a position where this is something we’ve been planning for just in case, and it’s really important that Bradley has a lot of tools at has disposal.”
Carnell said that, along with Westfield and Harriel, attacking midfielder Ben Bender has been training at the position in case of emergency.
“If we had to play a game tomorrow,” Carnell said, those three names would be the depth chart.
“Like John mentioned, we’re always also looking,” he continued. “And we feel we’re not done in terms of our scouting and process to see what’s on the market. But we don’t want to make a rush purchase where it doesn’t make sense, or a rush purchase where we feel under pressure just to make an acquisition.”
Cavan Sullivan (6) and the Union depart for Spain on Saturday, where they’ll play three matches over the course of a two-week preseason camp.
Preseason match schedule
The Union finalized its preseason schedule on Friday, with five games on the calendar. The team will leave for Marbella, Spain, on Saturday night, and will play three games there: Jan. 20 vs. Czech club Sigma Olomouc, Jan. 23 vs. Demark’s Nordsjælland, and Jan. 29. vs. Montenegro’s Budućnost.
The Nordsjælland matchup could see Milan Iloski play the club he came to MLS from, moving first to San Diego FC before joining the Union in the middle of last year.
After returning to Philadelphia on Jan. 31, players will get a few days off before the team heads to Clearwater, Fla. They’ll play the second-tier USL Championship’s Tampa Bay Rowdies in St. Petersburg on Feb. 7 and CF Montréal on Feb. 10 at the Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex in Clearwater.
The Tampa Bay game will be open to fans. It’s not clear yet if the Montréal game will be, or if any of the five games will be broadcast.
Losers of five straight, the Flyers are spiraling.
To be clear, it’s not that they’re spiraling because they’ve lost five straight. The issue is how the Flyers have been playing during this stretch.
And have they been facing some adversity regarding injuries? Yes. Across the past five games, defenseman Jamie Drysdale missed three with an upper-body injury; forward Bobby Brink (upper-body) has missed five and is now on injured reserve; defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is day-to-day with an upper-body injury; and Dan Vladař was injured against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.
But all teams face adversity. The Flyers just need to play better.
Saturday, the Flyers face a New York Rangers team that is not just spiraling but plummeting. Facing the Rangers is a prime opportunity to get back in the win column, but it won’t happen unless the Flyers correct a bunch of things.
Aside from the power play, which is at 12.5% during the slide, and goaltending — the Flyers went from 2.80 goals-against per game in the first 41 to 5.00 in the past five — needing to, be better, here are five things they need to do to right the ship.
1. Stop taking bad penalties
Is every penalty a bad penalty? No. Is every penalty the correct call by the officials? Absolutely not, and there have been some horrendous calls this season against the Flyers.
But when the penalty kill has been struggling — it went from 80.2% across the first 41 games and is at 61.1% during the five-game losing streak — you have to stay out of the box.
The Flyers have taken 28 penalties during this stretch, which is the most by any team, have been shorthanded 18 times, tied for the second most, and have been shorthanded more than 5 minutes per game. They’ve also allowed the most power-play goals against (seven), three of which came on Thursday in the 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Flyers left Sidney Crosby all alone to score a power-play goal in Thursday’s 6-3 loss to Pittsburgh.
“Yeah, I think it’s just being smarter, not letting frustration creep in. I think it’s, I don’t know, a lot of away from the puck stuff that’s kind of creeped in recently, and I think that’s due to frustration,” forward Owen Tippett said after Wednesday’s game when the Sabres scored twice on the man advantage.
2. Maintain the diamond on the penalty kill
What’s going wrong on the penalty kill? A lot. But the biggest issue is that it has lost its structure.
“Yeah, just really disappointed, like, I’m pretty disappointed,” said coach Rick Tocchet after the Sabres game. “I’m a PK guy, and the reads that we gave them weren’t good. They’re just unacceptable for me, so we’re going to have to tidy that up.”
Tocchet prefers the diamond PK setup to take away point shots, the player in front of the net, and passes to the bumper. The diamond shape is designed to take away specific passing lanes from the player who is typically set up right in the slot in the 1-3-1 structure typically employed by NHL teams.
Buffalo scored two power-play goals on Wednesday, including this one, where all four of the Flyers’ penalty killers got caught too tight together in front of the net, allowing Rasmus Dahlin to walk in and score.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the other guys — see Sidney Crosby’s goal Thursday from the right flank. But the Flyers’ structure has fallen apart, and if you’re going to be a team to take penalties, this needs to be airtight.
Remember the good old days of fans yelling, “Shoot the puck?” It was always kind of annoying and probably didn’t come at the right time, but maybe it’s time to start doing that again because, as Wayne Gretzky and Michael Scott said: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
The Flyers have never poured the shots on in Tocchet’s system. They averaged 26.3 in the 41 games before the losing streak, which had them ranked 25th in the NHL. And they have only put more than 30 shots on goal in a game 11 times.
Flyers center Denver Barkey skates with the puck against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, January 12, 2026 in Philadelphia.
Across the losing streak, that average has dipped to 23.8, which is the sixth-fewest — and only looks better than it is because of the 33 shots they put on Stuart Skinner on Thursday night, including 17 in the second period.That’s by far the most in a single period during a stretch in which the Flyers did not have more than 23 shots on goal in a game; in 12 of their previous 13 periods, the Flyers hit double digits just once.
The problem is that at five-on-five, they are getting chances but not scoring. Natural Stat Trick has the Flyers tied for 13th in the NHL at shot attempts (205), but with only 86 shots and six goals during the losing streak. The Flyers are also No. 2 in missed shots during that span (92).
“I think there were a few chances tonight that could have changed, maybe the momentum of the game, but at the end of the day, that’s the part of it, you’ve got to score more goals than the other team,” Drysdale said in Buffalo. “So I think we got better [as the night wore on]. We will be better.
4. Follow Owen Tippett’s lead
Tocchet has long talked about Tippett being a guy he can unlock and how, with his size, speed, and scoring ability, he can be a power forward in the NHL. He just hadn’t put it all together — until maybe now.
The winger has been using his size to lay timely hits — he has 10 in the past five games — that create turnovers, and speed and footwork to drive to the net.
During the Flyers’ loss to Tampa Bay on Monday, he used his speed and body to drive down the boards and set up Sean Couturier for a Grade A chance that went off the post.
And in the overtime loss to Toronto, he was the one who turned on the jets and tried a wraparound that just missed before Trevor Zegras thought he scored an insurance goal on the power play.
His speed pushes defenses back, which led to another Grade A scoring chance, this time for Denver Barkey as he streaked to the net against the Leafs.
Owen Tippett has six goals in his last 13 games.
Now, does Tippett miss the net too much still? Yes. But he has 31 shot attempts across the five games with 18 shots on goal. He also has two goals and one assist.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers have 60 shot attempts to 43 when he is on the ice at five-on-five across the slide. Individually, he leads the team in five-on-five in individual scoring chances (12), shots (14), and individual shot attempts (25).
5. Let the kids play
The Flyers have three kids 22-and-under who bring different elements but have shown they can add to the lineup.
Barkey, 20, was a healthy scratch on Wednesday and bounced back with a two-assist performance against the Penguins. He set up Nick Seeler for a goal and connected with Matvei Michkov on a two-on-one after Couturier made a nice play along the boards to spring them.
Matvei Michkov had a goal and an assist on Thursday. Could he be coming out of his slump?
Despite playing juniors last year, Barkey has shown he has an extremely high hockey IQ and a motor that gets him up and down the ice with efficiency. Did he have two not-so-great games with turnovers leading to goals by the Lightning? Absolutely. But it’s obvious what he can bring, whether teaming up with Tippett or Michkov.
Grebenkin, 22, is a fireplug. He’ll make coverage mistakes and is still uncertain as to when to jump into piles vs. staying back, but he drives to the net, throws the body around, and stands up for his teammates. Considering Tocchet wants his team to go to the net more, he’s heeding the bench boss’s edict — and as noted, he did just that on Tippett’s goal against Buffalo.
And then there’s the polarizing Michkov. The 21-year-old is still learning the North American game, and does appear to be “stuck in mud” at times — watch his skating in the overtime against the Toronto — but his vision and desire for the puck is unmatched.
He scored against a goalie for the first time in 20 games in Buffalo, playing it perfectly by driving to the net on a two-on-one and shooting right off the pass. It’s what the Flyers need to do as a whole, as a lot of their shots are not quick enough, giving the opposition and goalies a chance to stop the play or make the save.
Across the past five games, he has shown that he can provide offense, but he also needs to work on his defensive game. Across all strengths, according to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers have a 63.99% expected goal share when he is on the ice; Barkey is No. 1 at 81.86%, and Tippett is No. 2 at 67.50%.
And although he’s been on the ice for two goals by the Flyers and six against at even strength — plus the short-handed goal by Laughton — he has the second-highest expected goals for on the Flyers (4.27) behind Zegras 4.99. He even made a nice defensive play on Peyton Krebs in the first period on Wednesday, and has seemingly stopped taking bad penalties
The Flyers need offense — going from 3.02 goals per game in the first 41 to 1.80 the past five — and the Russian has shown he can bring that, whether scoring himself or setting up his teammates.
The NCAA has added flag football to its Emerging Sports for Women program, effective immediately, the organization announced Friday.
Flag football was approved to join the Emerging Sports program by representatives from Division I, Division II, and Division III, giving it a path to becoming an NCAA championship sport in the coming years.
Since its creation in 1994, the Emerging Sports for Women program has identified sports that “help schools provide more athletics opportunities for women and more sport-sponsorship options for institutions,” according to its website.
Eight sports included in the Emerging Sports for Women program have been elevated to full NCAA championship status since 1996, including rowing, ice hockey, water polo, bowling, beach volleyball, and women’s wrestling. At the 2026 convention, the NCAA elevated stunt and acrobatics & tumbling from emerging sports to championship sports.
Several NCAA schools have added seven-on-seven flag football ahead of its inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympic games in Los Angeles, including some in the Philadelphia area.
Holy Family, Immaculata, and Neumann fielded teams for the Atlantic East Conference’s inaugural flag football season last spring, and Chestnut Hill will compete in the Atlantic East this season. After competing in the Atlantic East in 2025, Eastern’s team will compete in both the Eastern College Athletic Conference and the Atlantic East in 2026.
Make way for the newest emerging sport, women's flag football! 🏈@bamastatewff student-athlete Ki'Lolo Westerlund shares what flag football means to her. 💙
Flag football joins rugby, triathlon, and equestrian on the NCAA’s list of emerging sports. For flag football to be considered for championship status, it needs a minimum of 40 schools sponsoring it at the varsity level. It also will need to meet “minimum contest and participation requirements,” per the NCAA’s release.
The NCAA’s sports sponsorship data shows that 40 schools either currently field a flag football team or plan to this spring. Of the 40 schools included in the NCAA’s data, three are Division I, 14 are Division II, and 23 are Division III.
While the NCAA did not set forth a timeline for flag football to be added as a championship sport, it does expect sponsorship of the sport to increase as a result of its inclusion in the Emerging Sports for Women program.
Temple guard CJ Hines is no longer with the men’s basketball team, the program announced in a statement, after being referenced in a basketball gambling indictment by federal prosecutors in Philadelphia on Thursday.
Hines transferred to Temple in May 2025 but didn’t play in a game this season after the university announced on Nov. 5 that he was under investigation for eligibility concerns prior to his enrollment at Temple.
According to the indictment, Hines, who played two seasons at Alabama State, was allegedly involved in point-shaving efforts with former teammate Shawn Fulcher during the Hornets’ 2024-25 season. Hines will be charged elsewhere if he is found guilty.
The indictment names more than two dozen players on 17 different NCAA teams in the basketball gambling scheme, which also targeted the Chinese professional league for attempting to fix games from September 2022 to October 2025.
Temple coach Adam Fisher brought Hines in to add scoring depth after Hines averaged 14.1 points and shot 37.8% on three-pointers for Alabama State last season. Hines led the Hornets to the NCAA Tournament in the 2024-25 season.
The 6-foot-2 guard amassed more than 1,500 points during his career at Faulkner and Alabama State.
There was a lot said during the Eagles’ end-of-season news conference, but nothing stood out more to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane than a comment general manager Howie Roseman made about his head coach, Nick Sirianni. What did Roseman say, and why was it so noteworthy? McLane and Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes read between the lines in this recap of Roseman and Sirianni’s Q&A with reporters.
00:00 What did Howie Roseman say?
17:43 Front office power dynamics between Roseman, Nick Sirianni, and Jeffrey Lurie
23:24 Kevin Patullo, Jalen Hurts, and the blame game
33:17 Will A.J. Brown be here next year?
unCovering the Birds is a production of The Philadelphia Inquirer and KYW Newsradio Original Podcasts. Look for new episodes throughout the offseason, including breaking news updates and reactions.
