By Pete Thompson
Happy 4th of July everyone! By the time you read this, we will all be getting ready for the big 4th of July weekend, and all that comes with it. But it feels much different this year, doesn’t it? There has been a resurgence of cases of COVID-19 in states like Florida & Arizona. Sports leagues almost daily are changing or tweaking what their plans are. It almost…ALMOST…makes it difficult to write a sports & entertainment column!
But I’ll give it my best…
Since I last wrote, there was a resolution to the NASCAR situation at Talladega. NASCAR had a historic day in Long Pond, PA as not one, not two, but THREE races were held in a single day at Pocono. The PGA Tour successfully completed a stop in Connecticut and now it’s on to Detroit. Major League Baseball not only came to an agreement, but is now getting ready for “Summer Training” as opposed to “Spring Training” and an actual start date for a shortened season. The NBA has been in the news a bunch as that league continues to plan for a resumption of play at the Disney resort in Orlando. The NHL held its draft lottery and you won’t believe who the winner was. Speaking of hockey, two Flyers events are scheduled for right here at the Jersey Shore. Finally, in local sports, a bunch of high school baseball players are going to get the opportunity to play one last time in a super-tournament called “The Last Dance.”
From the entertainment world, I’ve “ramped up” my Netflix watching and finished one very good action movie trilogy. I also watched a SHOWTIME one-season escape drama that was pretty riveting. Oh, and my family continues to enjoy “Sunday Game Night” on ABC. As always though, we begin with sports, and my thoughts:
Let me start with NASCAR for the second column in a row because not long after I wrote the previous column about the Bubba Wallace situation at Talladega, an FBI investigation determined the noose found at the Talladega Superspeedway garage had been there since at least October and was a coincidence, not a hate crime. That said, NASCAR president Steve Phelps, then had NASCAR conduct a thorough sweep of every garage area in all 29 tracks at which it races, a total of 1,684 garage stalls. That sweep found 11 total garages that had a pull-down rope tied in a knot, and only one noose — the one discovered on in Bubba Wallace’s garage. Hate crime of not, NASCAR must do better. According to Phelps, cameras will be added to garages moving forward. In addition, NASCAR will also require members of the industry to complete sensitivity and unconscious bias training.
Now to the racing as for the first time in history, NASCAR ran a Truck, XFINITY & Cup races all in the same day at Pocono Raceway. But let me back up for a second. On Saturday, Kevin Harvick ended an oh-for-38 at Pocono. Now, the 44-year-old only has to win at Kentucky Speedway to have won at every active track where NASCAR races. Rain on Sunday almost washed out the planned trifecta of races, but in the end, Brandon Jones opened the day with a win in the Truck series race, and Chase Briscoe won the Xfinity event. Denny Hamlin won the Cup race, basically in the dark, as they had to set up lights in Victory Lane. This would’ve been an EPIC weekend at the “Tricky Triangle,” but without fans, it was simply historic yet quiet. Here’s hoping we can all get back to watching sports in person as soon as it is SAFE.
In golf, 50-year-old Phil Mickelson actually led the Travelers Championship after two full rounds of play, but it was a crowded leaderboard once again on golf’s biggest stage. On Sunday, Dustin Johnson emerged from the pack and won the tournament with a 19-under score of 261 for his 21st PGA Tour title. “DJ” as he’s known has now won a PGA Tour event in 13 straight seasons, which is a feat in itself. Arnold Palmer & Jack Nicklaus hold the record with wins in 17 consecutive years. There’s a catch to this too, as Johnson failed to win in 2014, but he did win in Shanghai in the fall of 2013, and the tour changed to a wraparound season in 2013, so they consider that acceptable for the purposes of the win streak. Once again, I enjoyed the golf on CBS and Golf Channel, but long for a day when I can watch an event with fans in attendance too.
Speaking of the TV coverage, the USGA made big news when they announced officially that FOX was opting out of the rest of their U.S. Open contract and now the 2020 Men’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot will air on NBC. To me, this is HUGE news, as I never felt golf was a good “fit” on FOX. In 2015, hearing Joe Buck & Greg Norman together was unnatural. Norman was quickly replaced by Paul Azinger, but even though FOX threw a lot of money at trying to “innovate” the coverage, it just wasn’t what I felt comfortable watching. And I know I’m not alone!
ESPN now has the weekday rounds of the PGA Championship starting this year, with CBS broadcasting the weekend. The deal gives Comcast-owned NBC, along with Golf Channel, the U.S. Open and British Open, The Players Championship, three World Golf Championships, the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup. It also will have the FedEx Cup playoffs every other year when the new media rights deal with the PGA Tour begins. NBC and Golf Channel also will have all the majors on the LPGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.
My last item about golf is that COVID-19 continues to be an issue. Cameron Champ tested positive earlier in the week in Connecticut. Then Graeme McDowell pulled out after his caddie tested positive. The biggest name in the field, Brooks Koepka pulled out after HIS caddie tested positive. Webb Simpson withdrew after a family member tested positive, and then the most bizarre moment was when Jason Day teed off by himself on Saturday, waiting to find out if his second COVID-19 test was positive. It came back negative, but it has forced the PGA Tour to change the policy once again. Moving forward, beginning at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, players will not be allowed on site at an event until they get back a negative test result.
The shadow of COVID-19 is looming large over the return for baseball as well. The Phillies and the rest of the other teams, had to submit their 60-man player pool to Major League Baseball with “Summer Camp”…er…”Spring Training” starting on July 1st. Sadly, this meant 30-year-old Cape May native Matt Szczur was released by the Phils. He was most likely projected to play at Triple-A in Lehigh Valley, but with the minor league baseball season cancelled, Szczur became a man without a team. Right-hander Drew Storen was also released by the team, but the Phillies only announced 53 names on their original list. Relief pitcher Seranthony Dominguez was placed on the 60-day injured list. Odubel Herrera is under contract to the Phillies, but he was NOT on their list.
Two of the organization’s top prospects are also on the list as pitcher Spencer Howard and presumed third-base heir Alec Bohm were both expected to compete at Triple-A this season. It’s likely both will be returned to the minor leagues by the start of the season, along with a host of other players on the pool list.
So, the Phillies scheduled season is still to come, with the first games expected to be July 23rd or 24th, unless COVID-19 has something to say about that. Oh, there will be NO fans at Citizens Bank Park for the shortened season. I’ve heard about some towns (like Chicago) that are trying to get permission to let SOME fans in, but I don’t see it happening with all the uncertainty right now.
As baseball tries to “steam ahead” toward a season, the NBA continues to have certain players come out and announce that they are opting out of the resumption of the season at the Disney resort in Orlando. Brooklyn Nets center DeAndre Jordan has tested positive for COVID-19 and says he will NOT be in Orlando for the resumption of the season. His teammate Spencer Dinwiddie tested positive as well, but hasn’t said if he will play or not. Either way, the NBA seems determined to resume games on July 30th in Orlando. We shall see.
The Sixers picked up some shooting help the other day when they signed Ryan Broekhoff to a free-agent contract for the rest of the season. Broekhoff is already familiar with at least one Sixers star, as he is Australian, so he knows Ben Simmons pretty well. The Sixers had one roster spot available, so the addition of Broekhoff gives them 17 players, the maximum they can bring to Orlando, Fla., for the resumption of the NBA season. The 22 teams will depart for Orlando on July 7, 8, or 9. The Sixers will leave July 9. The first NBA games are scheduled to be played on July 30th, but again, this is all under the category of “we shall see”…!
And then there’s hockey…the good old NHL. First off, 15 out of the 250 players practicing right now have tested positive for COVID-19. That’s enough to give some pause, but not a STOP to the league’s plans to resume with a 24-team Stanley Cup playoff format.
12 members of the Philadelphia Flyers have been participating in the voluntary, small-group workouts at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees. The Flyers haven’t played since March 10th, two days before the NHL stopped the season because of the coronavirus outbreak. They are scheduled to play in a round-robin seeding tournament against Boston, Tampa Bay, and Washington when or if the season resumes, probably in early August.
Here’s an update about the hub cities for the return, as Vancouver has now dropped out of the mix. With COVID-19 cases on the rise in Nevada, and specifically Las Vegas, there’s a real possibility that the two hub cities for the return of hockey could both be Canadian cities. Toronto and Edmonton remain realistic possibilities — if not the front-runners.
My last hockey tidbit is about the NHL Draft Lottery that was won by…..NO ONE! Only in this strange year of COVID-19 could there be a draft lottery and when the card for the #1 pick was turned over, it had the NHL logo on it…! Chaos reigned at the NHL draft lottery, with the No. 1 pick still up for grabs in a second lottery drawing among the eight teams that lose in the qualifying round of the playoffs — if play resumes.
I almost feel bad for league-worst Detroit, who dropped to the #4 pick, but then I remember 13 years ago in 2007, when the Philadelphia Flyers SHOULD’VE had the #1 overall pick, but the dang Chicago Blackhawks won the draft lottery and snuck up there. Chicago selected Patrick Kane, who would go on to lead them to Stanley Cups in 2010 (over Philly), 2013 and 2015. The Flyers took James van Riemsdyk and then traded him in 2012. JVR is back, but I’m still bitter about what the Flyers would’ve looked like with Patrick Kane playing a major role…!!!
Oh, I simply MUST mention the two Flyers Community events scheduled for July 7th and July 9th in our area. The Flyers Community Caravan is scheduled to stop in North Wildwood on Tuesday July 7th from 5 p.m. until 6 p.m., and in Ocean City on Thursday July 9th from 5 p.m. until 6 p.m. According to the official announcement, “Sidelining the hands-on activities of years’ past, the Flyers have transformed the Community Caravan into a socially-distant mobile pep rally featuring the Flyers own DJ Reed Streets, In-Arena Host Andrea Helfrich, Flyers Alumni, the Flyers Ice Team and, of course, Gritty on a tandem bike with his men in black! The Caravan will also include exclusive giveaways with a summertime twist that will help fans gear up for playoffs including beach balls, bucket hats, Frisbees, kites and sunglasses.” For more information, Google Flyers Community Caravan 2020 for details.
My last sports item is about the local baseball players that will get to compete in the Last Dance Tournament that is being organized by St. Joseph (Metuchen) athletic director and others. The Last Dance Tournament will start with pool-play July 14-16. About 60 sites statewide will be used based on location, placing teams into 32 regions. Most regions will have two groups of four teams. After three pool play games, the top two from each will then play for the regional championship.
Locally, Vineland, Ocean City, Holy Spirit, Egg Harbor Township, Cedar Creek, ACIT, Millville, Mainland and Buena will all take part in the action. The 32 regional champions will advance to the single-elimination rounds on July 21-29. There will then be two brackets (North & South Jersey) with 16 teams each. The North and South winners will play for the state title July 30th. This is a GREAT idea to get the local baseball players “one last chance”, even if they are not allowed to wear school-issued uniforms or use raised money for transportation and shirts. Ocean City is supposed to host one of the regions and tournament organizers called it one of the “best in the state”. I sure hope to be there…!!!
As usual, I’ll close with a few items from entertainment as I enjoyed “Olympus Has Fallen”, “London Has Fallen” and “Angel Has Fallen” this past week in my TV viewing. I had never seen any of those when they originally came out and enjoyed them very much with “Olympus” being my favorite.
I took a chance and binge watched “Escape at Dannemora” on SHOWTIME. The seven-episode limited series was EXCELLENT as it featured great performances from actors like Benicio del Toro, Patricia Arquette, Paul Dano, Bonnie Hunt, Eric Lange & David Morse. All the episodes were directed by Ben Stiller, as the series is based on the true story of the 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape in upstate New York. The escape prompted a massive manhunt for the two convicted murderers, who were aided in their escape by a married female prison employee with whom they both became sexually entangled. If you’re looking for good acting & DRAMA, you might enjoy “Escape at Dannemora” as well.
Lastly, have any of you been watching “Sunday Game Night” on ABC…? My family is enjoying the “triple-play” of “Celebrity Family Feud”, followed by “Press Your Luck” and “Match Game”. Family Feud is always a favorite to watch, but Elizabeth Banks has done a great job hosting the reboot of “Press Your Luck” (no whammy…no whammy…and STOP). Meanwhile, Alec Baldwin is perfectly suited for the more adult humor that weaves its way through “Match Game”. He even has the skinny kind of mic that Gene Rayburn used to swing around in the 70’s when the game was first popular. If you’re missing out, you’re MISSING out…!
As always, please stay safe & healthy as we start to emerge from our houses and interact with others. I’ll write again this week, to please try and be KIND! Nothing bad ever happened to someone who led with kindness, right?
Pete has been the local “sports guy” at the Jersey Shore since 2004. After a decade with TV 40, he joined 97.3 ESPN radio to talk Eagles, Phillies, Sixers & Flyers with Mike Gill on “The SportsBash” each day from 2-6 p.m.
Pete is proud to be a “voice” for the annual ShopRite LPGA Classic each June, and does emcee work for groups like the National Football Foundation, The Old Grad Awards, and The 200 Club of Atlantic County. You can hear Pete each Tuesday on 97.3 ESPN at 5:30p, and if you see him out & about in the community, he requests that you please say “Hi”. Send comments to PBrooksT@aol.com
