Your chance to own part of the Spectrum!

With the Spectrum just days away from being demolished, Comcast-Spectactor has come up with a rather unique way to get memorabilia from the old stadium to the fans. This Saturday, fans can pay an admission fee of $25 and take whatever they can carry out of the stadium, including chairs, furniture and old televisions. There are a few catches, including that there is no re-entry and you can't use any equipment to help you carry things out, but it sounds like a pretty cool way to get your hands on a few seats for a reasonable price.

Even if you don't take anything, it still might be worth the price of admission to take one last look inside the stadium where many fans, including myself, saw their first professional game.

Thaddeus Young helps Sixers close out the Spectrum with a win

I think Thaddeus Young wouldn't mind keeping the Spectrum open for a while longer. Young exploded for a career-high 31 points as the Sixers beat the Bulls, 104-101, in the final Sixers game at the Spectrum, which will be torn down later this year.

Also playing well for the Sixers were Andre Iguodala, who had 25 points, 6 boards and 5 assists, Samuel Dalembert, who grabbed 19 rebounds, and Andre Miller, who had 13 points to go with 13 assists. Despite the solid effort by Young, who also had 5 boards, the Sixers still barely squeaked by the lowly Bulls, although they led for pretty much the entire second half until a late charge by the Bulls made it close.

So ends the Sixers era in the Spectrum. They first played in the Spectrum in 1967 and recently moved over to the Wachovia Center in 1996. The Spectrum will still be used by the Phantoms for the remainder of their season, but after that it will be torn down to make room for a restaurant and shopping complex that will hopefully rejuvenate the area around the stadiums.

For a kid who saw his first basketball game in the Spectrum in the mid-80's, I will certainly have fond memories of the stadium, but I'm not going to get emotional when it gets torn down. Stepping into the Spectrum now feels like going back in time. We won't ever forget the championships won at the Spectrum, of course, but hopefully we can make some new memories of titles over at the Wachovia Center.

So long, Spectrum!

Flyers lose to Phantoms in final Spectrum game. Wait, what?!?

The home team Philadelphia hockey club won at the Spectrum in tonight's contest. Unfortunately, the home team in the Spectrum is the Philadelphia Phantoms, which means the Philadelphia Flyers lost their final game at the Spectrum to their minor league affiliate. The Phantoms beat the Flyers 4-2 in a game that can be more described as an exhibition than an actual contest.

Exhibition or not, the Flyers should be embarrassed to lose a game to a bunch of minor league veterans and rookies. And, hockey's not like other sports where the back-ups play most of the game. The Flyers back-ups all play for the Phantoms, so the starters got beat by the back-ups.

The most interesting thing about the game was Antero Niitymaki making his return to the ice and playing for the Phantoms. Niity played the whole game and stopped 28 of 30 shots. Martin Biron played 2 periods for the Flyers and stopped 21 of 22 shots while J.S. Aubin played the 3rd period and let in 2 goals. Perhaps this means Nittymaki is already set to return and Aubin can be sent down, or sent away.

Not a great way to end the preseason. Let's chalk it up to the young guys being hungrier and wanting it more and move on to the regular season.

Click here for the game scoresheet.

Flyers say goodbye to Spectrum, hello to Simon Gagne

While the Flyers are still gearing up for the regular season, they played one of their most important preseason games Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Not only was this preseason game the final time the Flyers would play another NHL team in the old Spectrum, the game also featured the return of Simon Gagne, who hadn't taken the ice for the Flyers since February 10th.

The Spectrum, which was the home of the last Philadelphia sports franchise to win a championship, got a proper send-off today as the Flyers welcomed back a number of former team captains to celebrate the history of the building. Captains like Bobby Clarke, Eric Desjardins and Bill Barber were all honored before the game, although there were a few notable former captains who were absent from the ceremony, like Eric Lindros and last years captain, Jason Smith. The Flyers haven't played their final game in the Spectrum, as they will play one more game in the building against their minor league affiliate, the Phantoms, on October 7th.

Even more important for the current Flyers squad was the return of Simon Gagne to the ice. While Gagne didn't score a goal, he did have an assist and looked smooth on the ice as he shook off some of the rust. The Flyers experimented for most of the game with their new first line that features Gagne on the left wing, Mike Richards at center and Danny Briere on the other wing. If Gagne returns to his 30 goal form, that line will be a force.

As for the game itself, the Flyers defeated the Hurricanes 4-2. Richards showed all of the former Flyer captains in the building that the Flyers are in good hands with their current captain, scoring a pair of shorthanded goals. Richards has had a phenomenal preseason, scoring 4 goals so far, and he looks more than ready for the season to start. Braydon Coburn also added a goal and an assist for the Flyers.

The Flyers should be happy with the sendoff they have given to the Spectrum. They played their last NHL game in the building and went out the way they came in: a winner.

Flyers, Sixers both to send-off the Spectrum

With the Spectrum, the building that housed the last championship team in Philadelphia history, set to be demolished later this year, two teams that made plenty of history there will be giving it a proper send-off this season. Both the Flyers and Sixers will play one last game in the Spectrum this season, with the Flyers playing a preseason game against the Carolina Hurricanes on September 27th and the Sixers playing a regular season game against the Chicago Bulls on March 13th, 2009.

The Flyers chose to play a preseason game in the Spectrum because it holds fewer people then the Wachovia Center but apparently that wasn't an issue for the Sixers. The Flyers regularly sell out their games so they might have had to leave season ticket holders in the dark, but the Sixers don't generally play to full capacity, although that could change this year with the signing of Elton Brand.

Keep in mind that the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers minor league afilliate, will also be playing their final season in the Spectrum, so if you can't get tickets for the Flyers or Sixers game, you can still experience the Spectrum during a Phantoms game. The Phantoms will play their first home game on October 10th and their season will end in April or May.

Spectrum Could Go the Way Of the Vet

The stadium where the last Philadelphia sports franchise to win a championship played their home games could be demolished to make room for an entertainment complex dubbed "Philly Live!" The Sixers and Flyers both played in the Spectrum for about 30 years until moving into their current home, the Wachovia Center in 1996. The Spectrum currently hosts Philadelphia Phantoms minor league hockey.

Philly Live! seems a lot like the harbor area in Baltimore, with shops and restaurants and it will probably feature some kind of ESPN Zone or Philly Fan Zone of some kind. It could revitatalize an area of South Philly that is really just industry and sports stadiums. It seems like a decent idea that could draw some people and money into the city, but is it worth the loss of the Spectrum?

Having seen my first professional basketball game in the Spectrum in the mid-80's, I have a few great memories of the old place. How could I possibly forget the hobbling Mike Gminski dropping 25 on the Altanta Hawks? I don't think it holds the same prestige and nostalgic qualities that Veterans Stadium had, but it is always sad to see a piece of the city's history get taken down. After all, there were more Championships won in that building than in the Vet.

For the immediate future, the Flyers may need to find a new place for their minor league affiliate to play. It was always very convenient for the Flyers to have the Phantoms close by so they could call up and send down guys any time they wanted without placing too much of a burden on the player in terms of travelling. The Flyers literally could ask Phantoms players to come across the parking lot to come and play for the big club. The Flyers will have to search the surrounding area for a new place for the Phantoms to play.

In Philadelphia, all of the major sports teams are lucky that they play in fairly new, state-of-the-art stadiums. Citizens Bank and the Linc are two of the finest stadiums MLB and the NFL have to offer. The Wachovia Center is older, but seems to be aging well. We just shouldn't forget where these teams came from and all of the history that was had in these old buildings as they are turned into dust before our very eyes.