Remembering ‘Little Hugh’ | Sports Daily Newsletter

Hugh Douglas endured pain on the football field. He thought he knew pain, and how to live with it, until one September day last year, when his phone rang.

It was an Atlanta police officer calling to tell the former Eagle that his 20-year-old son had been in an accident and had not survived.

Little Hugh and his mother, Simona Douglas were “partners in crime,” she said. Over the years, the Douglases watched their son grow into a confident young man and a star in his own right — as a business student at Morehouse College. But on that September day, Simona received a text from Hugh’s cousin, who’d heard that Hugh and his former roommate, Christion Files, had been in an accident. Simona drove to the scene, where she saw Files’ overturned Honda. After her Little Hugh was pronounced dead, she went into a fog that lasted for weeks.

The elder Hugh, who cohosts WIP 94.1′s afternoon show, returned to the airwaves a couple of weeks later. The Douglas and Files families started scholarships in their sons’ memories. It’s been several months, but sometimes Douglas will be overcome with emotion while on the air. But talking to this city’s sports fans for hours on end has helped him in the five months since his son died.

— Maria McIlwain, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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The Sixers are Joel Embiid-less for the next several weeks. At least. And they’re struggling without their superstar.

But with the trade deadline looming, they have options. Particularly DeMar DeRozan.

Marcus Hayes makes a case for why the Bulls’ standout is a must-get for the Sixers, now and whenever Embiid returns.

The Sixers are in desperate need of a dependable center to hold down the fort. A sharpshooting wing player and combo guard are also positions of need. Keith Pompey takes a look at potential moves before trade deadline.

Wednesday night marked the seventh defeat in eight games for the Sixers as they fell 127-104 to the Golden State Warriors.

Next: The Sixers’ homestand continues Friday when they welcome the Atlanta Hawks (7 p.m., NBA TV, NBCSP).

The Eagles lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII almost exactly a year ago. The pain from watching the Lombardi Trophy slip away still seems pretty fresh.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan knows a thing or two about that. Remember 28-3?

Well, he survived.

Speaking Wednesday as part of his duties with CBS, the now-retired Ryan shared his secret to moving past that disappointment. Consider it great advice for Jalen Hurts and the Eagles.

The Chiefs’ regular-season loss to the Eagles was the first part of a rough stretch for the defending champs. But they were able to right the ship and are back in the Big Game. The Eagles weren’t able to stop their end-of-season slide.

We offered our opinion, and now you’ve spoken. Here are the results of the Eagles’ Stay or Go.

Next: The Niners and Chiefs’ Super Bowl showdown is Sunday (6:30 p.m., CBS3).

Bryce Harper learned to play first base in three months last season — while simultaneously recovering from elbow surgery and designated hitting every day — and somehow finished two outs above average, according to Statcast, in 36 games at his new position. Imagine what he could do if he gave it his full attention. This veteran coach has high expectations.

Dave Dombrowski says not to confuse a quiet Phillies offseason with an inactive one. He spoke on several topics on Wednesday, including just how serious they were in their pursuit of Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

The Flyers aren’t the most talented team in the NHL, but they have remained competitive thanks to a combination of belief, hard work, good goaltending, defensive solidity, and efficiency on the rush.

After a poor first period, the Flyers got back to their blueprint for success on Tuesday night, as they outworked the Florida Panthers to flip the ice and, ultimately, the game. Given their roster limitations and a razor-thin margin for error in the Metropolitan Division, playing that way is their only option if they hope to maintain their playoff position.

Next: The Flyers return home to face the Winnipeg Jets tonight at 7 (NBCSP).

We asked you: What moves (if any) would you like to see the Phillies make before opening day? Why? Among your responses:

What’s not to like? You’ve got a potential MVP, four other likely all-stars, three solid young players. Well, you don’t have a closer. Kerkering is a nice young pitcher who may well have a fine regular season. But he’s not Tug McGraw and he’s not Brad Lidge, and that’s the caliber of closer it takes to win a World Series, someone who doesn’t have to win games for you but won’t lose them. — Joel G.

First: I’ve seen enough of Dombrowski’s moves to trust him over my own opinion, which is only based on the most superficial publicly known observations. He and his staff have much deeper knowledge of the team’s true needs, and have made some fine under-the-radar moves over the last three seasons. If he thinks they’re good enough to start the season with the personnel on-hand, I believe him.

That said: their rotation is excellent, but shallow. Since Montgomery is still available, I’d like to see them lasso him and move Sánchez or Walker into the swing-man role, which would give them probably THE premier rotation in the Show (if they weren’t already: last season their SPs had the best fWAR in MLB).

THAT said, it’s easy for us to spend the Phillies’ money, right? Dombo is collecting enough SP odds & ends on the cheap at about the AAAA level to take care of the depth, though the rotation will likely be weaker when the inevitable IL list beckons and they need to fill the empty active SP slot with an Allard or similar. If Abel or McGarry turn the corner to Show-level accuracy by midseason, that should improve the overall rotation quality, and that looks to be Dombrowski’s plan. I’m down with that! — Marty M.

Bellinger would be a plus to have in the outfield playing left field and then have Marsh (my favorite) share center with Rojas, but not sure just how much Bellinger would contribute compared to what he would cost. I worry more about a closer and have to be somewhat skeptical of a young guy like Orion taking on that job. I think job number one need is to sign Wheeler as we did with Nola. Signing a guy like Bellinger could hurt our ability to do that. — Everett S.

I would like to see the Phillies pick up Jordan Montgomery to add to the starting rotation. I am still not sold on Taijuan Walker and Aaron Nola has a history of inconsistency. Montgomery proved in the World Series that he is not afraid of the spotlight and I think he could really bolster the starting rotation. — Bill R.

Get Wheeler a deserving contract! — Dave S.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Alex Coffey, Keith Pompey, Gina Mizell, Mike Sielski, EJ Smith, Marcus Hayes, Scott Lauber, Gabriela Carroll, Jackie Spiegel, Jeff Neiburg, Jonathan Tannenwald, and Owen McCue.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks for reading along! Jim will be back tomorrow with the week’s final Sports Daily. — Maria