{"id":544,"date":"2010-06-12T11:03:10","date_gmt":"2010-06-12T16:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/?p=544"},"modified":"2023-08-14T10:04:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T14:04:26","slug":"reflections-on-the-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/2010\/06\/12\/reflections-on-the-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on the Run"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Stanley Cup has been lifted once more, and once more, it has been lifted in a city other than Philadelphia. The Chicago Blackhawks quenched a 49-year drought with their four games to two Stanley Cup Finals win<\/a> over the Flyers, and I must say that they are worthy champions. The ‘Hawks earned the Cup this year.<\/p>\n

\"Let's<\/p>\n

Yet the Flyers aren’t just also-rans in this contest. Their improbable run to the Cup Finals has been well documented<\/a>, from the last-day-of-the-season qualification for the playoffs (in a shoot-out, no less) through to their resurgence after being down three games to none against the Boston Bruins in the Semifinals. It was a playoff run for the ages.<\/p>\n

This year, like most, we believed in the men in Orange and Black, believed on a visceral, almost unconscious level. Didn’t matter that they went down 3-0 in Game 7 of the Semifinals. They’ll find a way. When Scott Hartnell tied up Game 6 of the Cup Finals, we believed. The Flyers find ways.<\/p>\n

They lost that game in overtime, and Chicago got the Cup, but really, and not to take anything away from the ‘Hawks, that’s almost beside the point.<\/p>\n

This year’s team gave its fans, if not the Stanley Cup, then something worth almost as much: they reminded us why<\/em> we are Flyers fans. More than any Flyers team since the mid-1980s, this group played with heart and passion, grit and drive. They played smart, disciplined, hard hockey. They played Flyers’ hockey. They just didn’t quit.<\/p>\n

If the Flyers had won the Cup, it would have been glorious, make no mistake, but not just because they would have won, but because of how<\/em> they would have won. Their play might not have always been pretty, but it was beautiful, beautiful in the purity of its intention.<\/p>\n

The Flyers played with style. Style matters, and heart is style at its most elemental.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Stanley Cup has been lifted once more, and once more, it has been lifted in a city other than Philadelphia. The Chicago Blackhawks quenched a 49-year drought with their four games to two Stanley Cup Finals win over the Flyers, and I must say that they are worthy champions. The ‘Hawks earned the Cup … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[142,143,40,43,59],"class_list":["post-544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","tag-boston-bruins","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-ice-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-philadelphia-flyers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pedXm-8M","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6216,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions\/6216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chrisbaer.net\/mp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}