Desolation Row

Ironically, after the Flyers 7-1 embarrassment in front of the whole country (thank God NHL viewers are down), HBO debuted their newest mini-series - John Adams. It's a story of a lawyer from Boston who is selected to represent Massachusetts in the Continental Congress by his cousin Sam Adams. He must learn the ropes of politics from his mentor, Ben Franklin in order to get full support for a separation from Great Britain. This unlikely hero knows what his strengths are but is also aware of his limitations. Realizing he wasn't as eloquent of a writer, Adams delegated the responsibility to write the Declaration of Independence to Thomas Jefferson. The Philadelphia Flyers, though, not as important to American history, find themselves in that grey territory like the colonials in-between Lexington and Concord and July 4th, 1776Holiday-Art-Books Dec-07 . Standing in the 8th playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, just one point above Buffalo and only two points above the surging Capitals and Panthers, the Flyers have to make a decision - stay the course of demise or fight. This past weekend showed, again, that the Flyers lack 'intensity' or 'urgency.' How many times have we heard that in a post-game conference this year? And where would these catch phrases stem from? - is it from the coaches, players, staff, fans? I don't know. I don't know what is the pulse of the locker room, but from the out side looking in, it seems as if they've stopped playing. With Derian Hatcher out for the year and R.J. Umberger out for two weeks, along with the other walking wounded, the Orange&Black keep on leaving points of the table. This will determine their playoff hopes. Will there be a leader to rise up and save the season, or will the Flyers limp into the offseason with dreams of bulking up the blueline? The begining of the rest of the season starts on Tuesday versus Atlanta. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------