The blog has been fixed and is better than ever (or, at least, just as mediocre), and it couldn't have happened at a better time. The Sass-a-thon Sports World (on a map, that's somewhere between Philly and Boston) is as happy a place as it has ever been, and like a true Philly native, I'm enjoying it the only way I know how: with lots of beer, smiles, trashtalking, and the knowledge that it probably won't last long.

The Boston Red Sox are in first place in the middle of August with the third best record in baseball, the Yankees are 1.5 games behind Oakland for the Wild Card, and in the time it took me to write this sentence, David Ortiz hit another clutch homerun. Sure, our bullpen is in shambles and our starting pitching is far from as dominant as last season, but the fact remains: the Sox are in first and the Yankees' playoff hopes rest firmly on the back of their one healthy pitcher, Jared Wright.

Hockey, my true passion, is back and the Flyers are, on paper, the favorite to skate with the Cup. I know, I know...we've been there before. The Eric Lindros Era was supposed to being a series of parades to Broad Street, and the Legion of Doom and Crazy 8's lines were supposed to end the drought. But this time is different. The Flyers improved their blueline with the signings of Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje. A few days later they shocked the hockey world with the signing of Peter Forsberg, answering the question that has tortured Flyers fans for the last 13 years: "What would Peter Forsberg have looked like in a Flyers jersey?"

In 1992, the Flyers traded Forsberg, whom they had selected with the 6th pick in 1991, to the Quebec Nordiques for 19 year-old phenom Eric Lindros. The Nordiques moved to Denver, became the Avalanche, and won two Stanley Cups behind the leadership of Forsberg; the Flyers, on the other hand, made just one appearance in the Cup finals, only to be swept in 4 games by the Detroit Red Wings.

Now, as Forsberg speaks publicly about his excitement to finally join the Flyers, Philly's hockey fans (named #1 in the country by the Sporting News, by the way) can hardly contain their excitement. The team also had a large number of players in need of resigning after last year's lockout, the most significant being goaltender Robert Esche, who won the starting job convincingly last season and got the Flyers within one game of the Stanley Cup Finals. Esche would have earned a paltry $775,000 last season and because of the rollback, was only set to earn $647,900 this season. But in a show of respect and class, Clarke tore up Esche's old contract and gave him a new deal that would pay him $2 over 2 years.

It has been said many times that given the league's new CBA and salary cap, the team with the smartest GM will be the team to win it all. With Bob Clarke at the helm, the Flyers appear to be in good shape.

On August 11, the Sixers signed 23 year-old free agent Steven Hunter to a 5-year deal worth $16.5 million. Reports are that he will back up Samuel Dalembert at center and Chris Webber at power forward. Earlier this summer, they resigned Andre Igudala, Kyle Korver, and Dalembert, and they've already got Webber and Allen Iverson tied up. Unfortunately, free agent guard Willie Green received word that he will be out 6-9 months following his knee surgery last week. He was injured just days before signing a $20 million deal. Still, consider the fact that Mo Cheeks has finally been named the Sixers Head Coach after what seems like years of speculation and anticipation, and it's hard not to be excited about the upcoming basketball season.

And then there are the Eagles. Donovan McNabb threw a number of solid passes in the team's first preseason game, Jevon Kearse looks even faster than last year, and Jon Runyun quietly took a pay cut to stay in Philly. Of course, those are all back page stories these days in Philly.

The Terrell Owens saga has given me a headache the size of Dhani Jones' bowtie collection, and I should be smart enough to know that no matter what, TO is always going to get the last word. So when I heard that he showed up at the NovaCare Center this morning and practiced with the Birds with a smile on his face, I should have been cautiously optimistic. Instead, my Eagles Fever got the best of me, and I started planning my February trip to Detroit. Forty minutes later, word out of Philly was that things were not be as jovial as they seemed, and that TO was planning to read a statement meant to "humiliate the Eagles organization." Things are now being called "calm" at practice, but that doesn't mean I'm taking my eye of the ESPN NEWS ticker. And so, it's with tired heads and battered hearts that Eagles fans head into football season, aware that the fate of our team is on the shoulders of a guy in desperate need of some Midol.