Top 10 Spectrum Sports Moments

Hexy, Laettner, Moses, Wilt ...

by Patrick Rapa

Jim Horwat

 No need to be clever in a list like this; the Broad Street Bullies-era Flyers ruled the Spectrum. It was the sticks of Bill Barber and Bobby Clarke, the glove of Bernie Parent and the shoulders and fists of dudes named Moose, The Hound and Orest Kindrachuk that led this expansion team to the first of its two consecutive Stanley Cups with a 1-0 defeat of the Boston Bruins. Time had barely expired before fans climbed the walls to mob their team on the ice. And Dave "The Hammer" Schultz shoving people away from Clarke and the Cup? Still funny.

One could argue this is the most important Spectrum moment because — in the pre-Rocky IV, pre-Miracle on Ice era — a mere hockey game represented the United States' biggest moral victory over the commies. Russia's infuriatingly patient Red Army team had been kicking ass and mispronouncing names on an exhibition tour of NHL clubs and were undefeated when they got to Philly. Where they were promptly Broad Street Bullied. And, after Ed Van Impe hilariously mottled Valeri Kharlamov into the ice (no penalty!), the Red Army retreated to their locker room — in the middle of the first freaking period. So Ed Snider stormed down there and appealed to them on capitalist grounds: Get your asses back on the ice or you don't get paid. They did, and the Flyers beat them with skill and with beatings. Final score: Good guys win, 4-1. What a country.

Moses Malone wasn't predicting sweeps when he quipped "fo' fo' fo'" before the start of the '82-'83 NBA playoffs, he just meant they'd get the 12 wins in three rounds they'd need to win it all. He was being cocky, just not that cocky. But, damn, he was close. (How close? Ever hear "Fo Fi Fo" by Pieces of a Dream?) Dr. J and the Sixers ended up clinching the title in Los Angeles, so Game 2's 103-93 victory over the Lakers was the closest they came to winning it all at the Spectrum. That's the price of efficiency. The hero that night was Earl Cureton, who came off the bench when Malone got into foul trouble and airplaned it over Kareem in the last five minutes.

If you ask me, naming the "greatest college basketball game" is like declaring the world's tallest turtle, but that's cool. It certainly was exciting when Christian Laettner of Duke took "the shot" as "the clock" ticked to zero in OT, defeating Kentucky 104-103 in the East regional final of the NCAA Tournament. Zzzzz. What? It happened at the Spectrum.

Hot Hands Studio: $50 for $25 Massage, Skin Care & Body Treatments | Curves | Cafe Nola | Paddy Whacks Irish Sports Pub: Plastic Debit Cards | Philadelphia Orchestra: Four Tickets for April 8, 2010 | Philadelphia Orchestra: Four Tickets for June 3, 2010 | Skirmish Paintball | Swanky Bubbles | Gillian's ticket | Mango Moon

HALF OFF DEPOT

Why live life at full price?

It was Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals. The Oilers had Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and all of Canada on their side. The Flyers had their top players on the DL, rookie goaltender Ron Hextall and a young defenseman not known for his scoring prowess. JJ Daigneault fired a laser-guided game-winner through Hall of Fame goalie Grant Fuhr. Some say the Spectrum has never been louder than it was at that moment. (Others say the play was actually offsides, but not to my face they don't.) Game Seven was in Edmonton and I forget what happened there.

Look at you, all proud of your triple double. Wilt Chamberlain is laughing and feeling up your sweetheart. The Spectrum still had that new-arena smell when Wilt the Stilt netted 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists to lead the Sixers over the Pistons. That's right, the first and only double triple double in NBA history. We all need to accept that Wilt didthings we will never do.

Everybody sort of suspected young Ronny Hextall could score a goal one day. I mean, no goalie had ever done it (not on purpose) but Hexy was masterful with that huge curved Vic, and he used to take a few practice swings now and then. Still, it was spectacular to see him launch it the length of the ice, first in the air like a flying saucer then back down to Earth where it landed flat and slid straight and true into the Bruins' empty net.

The '79-'80 Flyers' 35-game unbeaten streak (25-0-10) is mind-blowing, even if ties were still in fashion back then. Twenty of the games were at home, including this 5-2 win over the Bruins which broke the Canadiens' old unbeaten streak record of 28.

After he shattered a backboard in Kansas City, Sixers fans begged monstrous center Darryl Dawkins to do it at home. He obliged in a game against the Spurs. Up he went and down came the rim. Two points and a $5,000 fine.

A sold-out Spectrum witnessed captain John Stevens and the rest of the Phantoms wrestle the Calder Cup (the AHL's top prize) away from the St. John Flames in Game 6. It was the first of two championships for the franchise and, for a while there, rough-and-crazy minor league hockey felt right at home in the Spectrum.

(pat@citypaper.net)