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Weekend Wake Up: Flyers Cap Comeback, Walk Helps Yanks Win, McNabb Apologizes
↵↵Flying By. The Boston Bruins had a 3-0 series lead. That evaporated. They had a 3-0 lead in the first period of a Game 7. It evanesced. And thanks to Simon Gagne’s goal, the Philadelphia Flyers beat those Bruins 4-3, becoming the third NHL team (and fourth major North American team) to rise from a 3-0 hole to win a playoff series, joining the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders, and 2004 Boston Red Sox. They did it with gritty goaltending from Mike Leighton, with young players like James van Riemsdyk coming through, and with Flyers stalwarts like Gagne stepping up at the right moments. It’s fun to be a Flyers fan right now, and fun to wonder whether this is the greatest hockey comeback of all time.↵
↵↵Walk This Way, to A-Rod? Twins manager Ron Gardenhire’s rep as a manager is so bad that the masterful Joe Posnanski almost has to apologize for loving him. But when Gardenhire passed down the command to issue Mark Teixiera an intentional walk on Friday to get to Alex Rodriguez—yes, the Alex Rodriguez—he was basically asking for a karmic uppercut. And A-Rod delivered it, with a grand slam that proved to be the margin of victory in the Yankees’ 8-4 win. Rodriguez also passed Frank Robinson to claim sole possession of seventh on the all-time home run list. No word on where he is on Gardenhire’s We Want to See This Future Hall of Famer Hurt Us, So Let’s Walk a Batter to Get to Him list.↵
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↵↵McNabb: "I Apologize ... to the People." It's odd that an athlete who has been as successful as Donovan McNabb was in Philadelphia should feel compelled to apologize for not winning a Super Bowl. I doubt, for example, that Rex Grossman's going to apologize for failing to beat the Colts that year. But this is part of the charm that makes McNabb a "good guy," and swings the media to his side, and part of the political strategy that our own Dan Levy would point to as mastery of the off-field aspects of being an NFL star. (McNabb also sort of compared himself to John Elway, though, so he might be apologizing to Washington in the future.)↵
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