Now, when I think of against all odds, I think of the 1984 movie starring Jeff Bridges, Rachel Ward, James Woods, and Alex Karras. The movie, which is a kind of remake of the Robert Mitchum classic Out of Past, had the 1980's mandated Phil Collins song on the soundtrack, too.
Pete Marshall of sbsun.com has a different idea
"This team overcame the odds, but the thought was, maybe it spent all of its odds overcoming the odds," said Sixers broadcaster Mike Saeger, a witness to all five titles. "Of the five league champions, I think this team had a little bit more to overcome."
The Sixers won the first-half South Division title in dramatic fashion. The schedule didn't have every team ending the first half on the same day. When the Mavericks, after their 70th game, held a half-game lead over the Sixers, the Sixers thought they were out of the playoffs based on a tiebreaker.
But the league changed its ruling and determined that ties had to be broken on the field. The Sixers won one game against the Mavericks to force the tie-breaker game, then won another to win the first half. Both of those games were at Arrowhead Credit Union Park, where the 2006 team set record for home wins (46).
It helps just a little bit to fight back against the odds when the league office changes a ruling.
By the second week in July, the Sixers had lost four everyday position players: (outfielder Mike Wilson, first baseman Marshall Hubbard, second baseman Yung Chi Chen and shortstop Matt Tuiasosopo), plus standout starting pitchers Robert Rohrbaugh and Julio Santiago, and the backbone of the bullpen: Stephen Kahn, Mark Lowe and Eric O'Flaherty. Key veterans like Erick Monzon, Matt Rogelstad, and Luis Oliveros, who spent time in San Bernardino, also were gone.
In all, 54 players put on an Inland Empire uniform this season.
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