Sports Tonight: Bad ice not reason for bad loss

Shayne Gostisbehere's career with the Flyers amounts to 151 regular-season and six playoff games. Roughly half of those have been played at the Wells Fargo Center.

So given his limited experience with the Flyers' home ice, perhaps it was true that the ice during Tuesday's ugly loss to Anaheim was "the worst it's ever been in my career here," as he put it.

Flyers captain Claude Giroux has played considerably more games at Wells Fargo, so when he said, "I don't really want to comment on it because I don't know what was going on," he should understand that he just had commented on it.

Giroux's calling the ice "just a little different" and adding, "We don't know what the issue was" are the same as saying the surface was not up to snuff for an NHL game.

At least Gostisbehere's saying that the ice was not "an excuse or anything," while putting it out there as a contributing factor to the Flyers' sloppy play, was the truth.

The Ducks played on the same ice and scored six goals, yielding just two.

The Flyers won't have to worry about the Wells Fargo ice tonight because they will play the Senators at 7 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa (TV: NBCSP; radio: 97.5 The Fanatic).

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco bet on himself and hit a jackpot.

In 2012, Flacco, despite never making a Pro Bowl, turned down a contract extension from the Ravens, saying he could improve and get more. He was right, as he led Baltimore to victory in Super Bowl XLVII. He briefly became the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history by signing a six-year deal worth $120.6 million.

Baltimore renegotiated that deal in 2016 to get salary-cap relief but gave Flacco a record $40 million signing bonus. Flacco still hasn't made a Pro Bowl, and the Ravens have made the playoffs only once since 2013.

They will play the Miami Dolphins at 8:25 tonight on CBS3 and the NFL Network. Flacco is 30th with a quarterback rating of 70.0 and is averaging 170 passing yards per game. He is tied for 26th with five touchdown passes but tied for third with eight interceptions.

If you were not as unfortunate as I was to have watched it live, staff writer Sarah Todd breaks down the painful final three minutes of the Sixers' buzzer-beating loss Wednesday to Houston.

Eventually, perhaps as soon as next season, Lane Johnson will make the move to left tackle, but staff writer Les Bowen said that Johnson isn't shifting positions now even with Jason Peters out for the season.

I'm not excited, but then again, I wasn't excited about Doug Pederson and that seems to be working out well for the Eagles. Staff writer Matt Gelb says the Phillies could be down to two "low-profile" candidates in their drawn-out manager search.

I'm not saying Houston Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel is wrong about the balls in MLB being juiced to produce more home runs, but when your team is 1-1 in the World Series, is that the time to bring this into the conversation?

Los Angeles Chargers offensive tackle Russell Okung needs to refresh his knowledge of American history if he truly believes the NFL could put together a comprehensive and universally agreed-upon platform concerning social injustice in a week, a month, a year.

Kobe Bryant isn't sitting back and relaxing off the $500 million or so he made playing basketball. ESPN senior writer Darren Rovell discusses Bryant's transition into a businessman.

Let's take the use of medical marijuana out of the discussion because that's just a, pardon the pun, smokescreen for what former NBA commissioner David Stern was talking about when he told former NBA player Al Harrington in an interview that the Association should remove Cannabis from its list of banned substances.

Medical marijuana is part of a treatment for serious, potentially fatal, diseases.

Leaving it to a team doctor, as Stern suggested, to prescribe weed to relieve pain for a high ankle sprain would be just asking for players to abuse the system. Athletes smoke joints for recreational purposes.

Even if marijuana was universally legalized, any sports league would be idiotic to believe that removing all penalties for smoking would not lead to increased incidents of athletes' playing while lit up. Marijuana significantly impairs judgment, motor coordination and reaction times – all things that most athletes need to perform at peak levels.

If you've worked closely with athletes for a living, I guarantee you that you've seen a player or two or possibly more go into games impaired by marijuana, alcohol or worse. It is an offense to the fans who pay their hard-earned money to watch the athletes perform at the highest levels.

Alcohol is legal, but sports leagues have penalties for abusing it. If marijuana is ever legalized, the same should hold true for it.

Better yet, just stay off the weed until you retire.

NFL
Dolphins at Ravens, 8:25 p.m. (CBS3, NFL Network)

NHL
Flyers at Senators, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSP; WPEN-FM 97.5)

NBA
Celtics at Bucks, 8 p.m. (TNT)
Pelicans at Kings, 10:30 p.m. (TNT)

College Football
Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois, 7 p.m. (CBSSN)
South Alabama at Georgia State, 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Stanford at Oregon State, 9 p.m. (ESPN)

Golf
PGA: Sanderson Championship, 2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel)
LPGA: Sime Darby Malaysia, 6 p.m. (Golf Channel)
WGC: HSBC Champions, 10 p.m. (Golf Channel)
Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, 1 a.m. Friday (ESPN2)

MLS Playoffs
Columbus Crew SC at Atlanta United FC, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)