Flying High

Well, it took one of the most unbelievable comebacks in the history of sports -- not an exaggeration -- for me to get off my hind quarters and make a post on here.

The Philadelphia Flyers not only rallied from down three games to none in their Eastern Conference Semi-final series against the Boston Bruins to win after taking four straight games, but they won the final game last night rallying from a 3-0 defecit to win 4-3!

Unfathomable. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have never, EVER believed it.

And, how exactly did THIS Flyers team pull off the (nearly) impossible? They had a decent year, but nothing special. They generated zero buzz heading into the playoffs. Heck, they had to win on the final day of the year just to get in as a 7th seed.

When this series started to head downhill, who would have ever thought that THIS group would rally?

Winning the series? Yeah, right. Winning game four was a minor miracle.

Oh yeah, they also lost their starting goalie in game 5.

No problem.

And this isn't just a Flyers fan trumpeting a great comeback. This almost never happens. In ANY sport.

Just four times now, in almost 70 years, in ANY of the three sports that utilize a 7-game series has a team rallied from down 0-3 to win it.

Three of those four times it's happened in the NHL.

The other time was the Red Sox win over the Yankees in 2004.

So, how does it feel to be on the other end, Boston?

And, the craziest thing is that the Flyers now have home ice advantage in the Conference Finals, thanks to Montreal's even wilder run in the playoffs, knocking off the number 1-seed, followed by the defending Cup Champions.

Which sets up a tantalizing Cup Finals possiblity, as it is certainly within reason for Philly to advance along with Chicago (the 2-seed in the Western Conference).

The Blackhawks are my 2nd favorite team. Although, the gap between the Flyers and Blackhawks for my prime rooting interest is very small.

So much so, that if that matchup were to take place, I'm not sure I would be able to root for either side. I very well could cheer every goal and watch every game with a big smile on my face knowing that one of my teams would win the Stanley Cup.

Both teams are due. The Hawks haven't won since 1961, and the Flyers haven't won since 1975.

Maybe last night was the Flyers Cup win -- to a certain extent, of course. They could very well come out flat in the series with Montreal, and fail to advance, having spent so much energy rallying to beat Boston.

But, their place in history is already secure. What they did last night will always be mentioned in any conversation about great comebacks.

I watched the last two minutes of the game with my nine-year old daughter, after successfully convincing her to join me.

I told her that what she was watching was history. She's not much of a sports fan, has no allegiance to Philadelphia -- as I do -- and probably won't watch many more games this season, unless it's a similar game or series clinching moment that's about to happen, but I bet she'll never forget what she saw last night.

I know I won't. Either will the rest of the sports world.