The Ramos roundup is a weekly Philadelphia sports column highlighting all the pertinent news of the week featuring the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, Sixers, and Union.
Brandon Graham Retires
This past Tuesday, the Eagles and their fans said goodbye to a franchise great, as defensive end Brandon Graham announced his retirement. Graham, 36, played 15 seasons (tied for the most in franchise history) and appeared in 206 regular season games, (most in franchise history), all with the Eagles.
The accomplishments don’t stop there for number 55 though.
Graham is also a 2x Super Bowl Champion, collected 76.5 regular season sacks (3rd in franchise history) and has 23 career forced fumbles (2nd in franchise history) as well. Finally, Graham has one Pro-Bowl appearance (2020) and is a former 2nd team All-Pro in 2016 too.
I actually met Graham at a Eagles pop-up event in New Jersey in 2022. He was among the nicest, most personable Philadelphia athletes I’ve ever met. He spent a little time with each fan that was in his line to meet him that day, and was especially kind to the younger fans. Everyone was greeted with a smile in the sweltering early September heat, and his line was the longest of all the current and former Eagles that were part of the event.
Above is the photo my fiancΓ©e I took with him that day.
Have a great retirement, BG!
Phillies Ready to Open Season
Baseball days are here again, folks. The Phillies kick off their 2025 campaign in Washington against the Nationals. First pitch is set for 4:05 p.m. in the Nations Capital this Thursday, with Zach Wheeler and Mackenzie Gore listed as the scheduled starters.
Of course, the Phillies should be in for a heavyweight bout in the NL East this year, with the Braves and Mets making for quality competition within the division. So, we’ll see where this season takes us later this week. We’ll track all the significant news this season right here with the roundup.
Blackhawks Rout Flyers 7-4
The Flyers yielded seven goals against in their latest loss in Chicago, and now have lost 10 of their last 11. This, obviously, is a good thing for the Flyers draft pick in 2025, which is all fans need to care about at this time of year. Travis Konecny picked up a goal and an assist in the loss, as did defensemen Jamie Drysdale.
Moreover, Matvei Michkov became the first Flyers player age 20 or younger to record a 50-point season since Simon Gagne did it in 2000-01.
All in all, a loss to boost the draft odds and another multi-point to boost Michkov’s chances of rookie of year honor is probably the most exciting we can get about this team right now.
Hawks Outlast Sixers 132-119
Speaking of the tanking teams…
Quentin Grimes recorded 26 points and six assists, while Justin Edwards added 22 points in the Sixers latest loss. Trae Young (28 points and 12 assists) and the Hawks proved too much for Philadelphia on Sunday. Another key performance was Rookie Zaccharie Risacher’s 22 points in the Hawks wins too.
On their first two possessions of the game, Philly turned the ball over that led to points for Atlanta. After that, Nick Nurse got a technical foul for bemoaning some of the officiating.
The Sixers are basically in the same boat as the Flyers. Their future draft positioning is at the forefront of the minds of their supporters. Perhaps even more so for the Sixers since, in order to keep their pick, they need to finish in the bottom six.
So while it’s an odd thing to do to root for your team to lose, it may as very well help the long-term health of the franchise here.
Strange times indeed.
