Philadelphia Continues To Innovate In The Field Of Losing

The (in)famous Defector Philly Bureau has been oddly silent on this bit of newsy detritus, which is not normally like it. Maybe it was just the giddiness of watching the Phillies beat the Colorado Rockies and extend their run of watchable baseball to two full weeks, or maybe it was the festivities of Mother's Day ("Hi mom, here's some flowers, some candy and some brunch. We'll try to be home for dinner"), or maybe Eternal Comrade McQuade wasn't around to revel loudly in the quirky details. Whatever the reason, the fact remains: Playoff season is over for the Children of Billy Penn, already the only town to ever lose two championships on the same day. This time it ended with near-synchronous thuds in the very same building. Saturday, the Flyers lost to Carolina in overtime, 3-2, to be eliminated in four straight games. Sunday, the 76ers got jackhammered by New York, 144-114, in a Game 4 that wasn't remotely that close; they too were swept. A six seed and seven seed overachieved right up to the point where they ran out of achievements, and in 24 hours Philadelphia's entire spring was wiped out.