On April 24, 2011 – my 24th birthday – the Philadelphia Flyers gave me a gift. A 5-4 win over Buffalo sent the teams’ first-round playoff series to a seventh game. Rooting interest didn’t make the win gift-worthy. At that point – like now – the winner was of little significance. Game 6’s...

Last week I released “The 10 Things To Focus On In The NHL Playoffs.” One reader commented that he wants “to see if Iggy,” Jarome Iginla, “can finally get that ring.” I immediately regretted leaving Iginla off my list. The NHL loves to watch its elderly stars culminate their careers...

After the artist formerly known as Roy Halladay gave up an eight-spot in less than four innings of work, I was able to focus my undivided attention to the NBA and NHL playoffs. OK, so since I have two televisions in my living room with the NBA on one and the NHL on the other, I guess my attention was,...

Well that felt shorter than usual, didn’t it? After just 48 games, we’re about to embark on the perilous journey we call the Stanley Cup Playoffs. You may be fully immersed in the NBA at the moment, and really I can’t blame you, but the NHL playoffs offer the most exciting playoffs in sports....

Everything I write from here on out will fall offensively short of the standard I wish to achieve. I have experienced tragedy in my life but nothing to the extent of what the families in Newtown, Boston and various other places in our great country are currently going through as a result of violence....

For some of you, your Saturday started with the news that one of the 10 greatest basketball players of all-time had his achilles tendon cry “uncle” while Los Angeles Lakers fans began to cry tears in their Kobe Systems. For a few more of you, your weekend may have ended with the news that...

The Philadelphia Flyers host the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight in yet another installment of hockey’s best rivalry. The last time these two met, the Flyers’ Jakub Voracek netted a hat trick in a thrilling 6-5 victory in Pittsburgh. These games have become must-watch affairs — fighting is...

A lot has been made this week, mostly among the uninformed, about the Chicago Blackhawks and their record-setting streak in gaining at least one point in every game so far to start this season. As it currently stands, following last night’s victory over the Minnesota Wild, the Blackhawks have...

My senior year of high school I named a resilient housefly after him that refused to die in Mrs. Frankowiac’s Economics class. He scored a hat trick in a poem I wrote in 8th grade, which would give him four for his career. I took his first name as my own in sophomore year Spanish. I molded his...

Last year the rehabilitation of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Matt Cooke became one of the league’s best stories. Following a 2011 season that saw him suspended for the final 10 games, Cooke served only 44 minutes in penalties in 2012, a career low. His reputation as the league’s dirtiest...

Before Robert Griffin III came along, Washington, DC was Alexander Ovechkin’s city. The Capitals left winger was talented and charismatic. He beat defenders and goaltenders with equal abandon, producing as many big hits as big goals. He was fun. He was also very, very good. In his first five seasons,...

If you’ve been keeping up with my work here at TSFJ you probably know a) I like sports and b) of said sports, hockey and soccer are my two favorites. Forgive me, I’m white. Not only do I enjoy playing these sports, but I enjoy watching them more than the others. I’m the kind of kid...