Charles Barkley gives up gambling

After the news came out last week that he owed $400,000 to a Vegas casino, Charles Barkley has decided to quit gambling, at least for now. During the pregame show for the TNT broadcast of Monday's game between the Spurs and Hornets, Barkley announced that he was "not going to gamble anymore. For right now, the next year or two, I'm not going to gamble." Barkley said that he doesn't have any money problems and that he has payed back the debt he owes, but he wants to take a break from gambling.

Sounds like a smart plan to me, considering how many millions of dollars Barkley has likely lost over the years. The man definitely has a gambling problem, so I wonder how long he can really stay away. He's a rich man so he probably isn't going to face any financial hardships, but as Barkley himself said, "Just because I can afford to lose money doesn't mean I should do it."

I'll set the over/under at 1 month before Barkley is going to gamble again. Wanna take the under, Charles?

Here's the video of the TNT segment:

Orange Crushed: Embarassing end to the Flyers' season

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

So much for a miracle comeback. The Penguins dominated the Flyers in every facet of play, beating them 6-0 in Game 5 to win the Eastern Conference Finals 4 games to 1. The Flyers season ends on a sour note but we shouldn't forget how far they have come since last season. From the worst team in hockey to a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals is an amazing turnaround, it was just too bad it had to end the way it did today.

Pittsburgh scored early and often in the rout. Despite the return of Kimmo Timonen, the Flyers defense looked slow and couldn't keep up with the Penguins forwards. The Pens were allowed to build up a head of steam heading into the Flyers zone and they used it to set up a ton of scoring chances.

Martin Biron also picked a bad time to play his worst game of the playoffs. Biron made a couple of head-scratching plays that led to goals and let in a few softies. Things got so bad for him in the second period I expected him to get pulled, but John Stevens allowed Biron to finish out the game. He managed just 19 saves on 25 shots.

The Penguins played a complete game of hockey. They got strong defensive play, great goaltending and solid offensive contributions from their forwards. They were the better team throughout this series and deserve to be representing the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals. They will be a tough team to beat for whichever team makes it out of the West.

So the Flyers season ends with them playing poorly. It was a bad way to go out, but it certainly didn't represent how they played all season. The Flyers showed a ton of grit and determination to get as far as they did, especially considering they were the 6th seed in the East. This team was not expected to get as far as it did this year, they are built to be a contender down the road. They have a ton of young talent in Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and R.J. Umberger who got great playoff experience this year and they still have Claude Giroux and first round pick John vanRiemsdyk coming down the road. This team is still a few years away from hitting its peak, so we should have plenty of deep Stanley Cup runs in our future.

I will have much more to say about the Flyers and what they need to do this off-season in the coming weeks, but for now we should celebrate how far they came this season. We can be pissed off with the way it ended, but every Flyer fan needs to look at the big picture and understand how good this team will be. It's the worst saying for fans of Philadelphia sports, but it's true: There's always next year. Of course, there is always the Phillies this year, too.

Game Five Flyers vs. Penguins Live Game Blog: Timonen in, Coburn out

The Live Blog is back! After changing things up for Game Four, the Live Blog is back to it's original form for Game Five. Come discuss the game with fellow Flyer fans as we see if the Flyers can stave off elimination again. Check back right here at 3:00 to participate in the Live Blog!

Rod Barajas? Seriously?

(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

Rod Barajas hit two home runs, one of them a grand slam, for the Blue Jays to lead them to a 6-3 victory over the Phillies. No, that's not a typo, that's the same Rod Barajas who stunk it up as a catcher for the Phillies last season. He finished with 5 RBIs on the game, just three shy of what Jayson Werth did on Friday. I guess Barajas didn't like getting booed by the Philly crowd.

Highlights of Barajas' ridiculous game via Comcast SportsNet:

Werth his weight in gold

(AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr.)

A little over a year ago myself and most of Philadelphia had a nickname for Jayson Werth: Werthless. After his effort Friday night in the Phils 10-3 win over the Blue Jays, I will never call him that name again.

Werth had a record breaking night, hitting a home run in each of his first three at-bats in the game. He hit a 3-run homer in the 2nd, a grand slam in the 3rd and a solo shot in the 5th to give him 8 RBIs on the night, a number that ties the Phillie franchise record for RBI in a game. Werth missed a chance to add a fourth homer in the 7th inning when he fouled out. It was an absolutely amazing effort, just look at his stat line for the game:

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
J Werth CF	4	3	3	8	0	0	0	.288

Four Phillies have had 8 RBI games in their history: Kitty Bransfeld (1910), Gavvy Cravath (1915), Willie Jones (1958) and most recently Mike Schmidt (1976). While I have never heard of the other three, Werth has to feel pretty special to share a record with Schmidt.

The night belonged to Werth offensively and Jamie Moyer put together a decent start on the mound. Moyer had just one bad inning in the 4th but otherwise he gave up several hits that led to little damage on the scoreboard.

Highlights of Werth's historic night:

Flyers Prospect Claude Giroux named MVP of QMJHL Playoffs

The future looks bright for the Philadelphia Flyers. Not only do they have several young stars on their final four NHL team but they have a bunch of young prospects who will be joining the big club in the next few years.

One of their top forward prospects, Claude Giroux, who you might remember from a brief stint with the Flyers earlier in the year, absolutely tore up the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) this season. Giroux was just named the MVP of the QMJHL Playoffs after his Gatineau Olympiques team won the championship. Giroux dominated the league, setting an Olympiques franchise record with 51 points in 19 games. The next closest player in scoring in the entire playoffs was his teammate, Paul Byron, who finished with 32 points.

With players like Giroux still in the pipeline, the Flyers are set up to be a contending team for the next decade. The final four finish this season is just the beginning of what should be a long and promising run for the Flyers.