Could it really be so?

I've really been avoiding this like the plague. It's a rough subject, one that most men would almost certainly shy away from. I'm not talking about Ben Roethlisberger's god-awful beard. I'm not talking about Darrell Jackson's snaggle-toothed grin. I'm not even talking about the small village that could possibly reside inside the Bus's belly.

Seriously I'm even avoiding it in this column. Let's talk about something else for a while. Like Shavlik. Can the man get some respect please? Has no one read us touting his abilities, offensively, defensively, Miller truck robbing? LET THE MAN PLAY BALL. He was born to do it, and if he gets on the court more, Mrs. Randolph might even start cutting Cheeks' steaks for him.

Ok. I think I've delayed it enough. I'm here to talk about important issues, and important issues are, well, important. So here it is. After watching the Flyers play the month of January with the gas tanks below the E line, I've finally come to the conclusion that my pre-season sentiments of invincibility are unfounded. The Flyers could very well not win it all this season, even though I really was convinced otherwise. That said, they could still do it. Easily one of the top 5 teams in the league. But this past month of mediocrity, and periods of outright destruction, I'm just not sure anymore. I know one thing, if we continue down the injury road, we will not find a 4 foot tall silver bowl at the end.

My point is, our team is not infallible. They must win games against bad teams. And they must play motivated in games against the good ones. They're not gonna have a pig-greased slip'n'slide to the Stanley Cup in front of them. So get ready for the Olympics, get ready for an action-packed Bobby Clarke-style trade deadline, and get ready for Hitchcock to turn up the intensity.