By Pete Thompson
Two weeks into October and we now have an NBA champion (with a local tie). The NFL continues, but each week there are more and more COVID-19 issues. The ShopRite LPGA Classic crowns a champion, but without any fans in attendance. Oh yes, this is a Fall Sports Season like no other!
Since I last wrote, the Eagles have won a game on the road surprisingly, and then lost one in Western PA. The Sixers have hired a head coach while watching another coach with local ties win the NBA Championship. The Phillies did demote their G.M., but there are now more question marks than answers on that front. Meanwhile, the world of baseball continues to lose some legendary names. Finally, the Flyers draft is in the books, and the free agency window is open.
From the entertainment world, I made a visit to a local movie theater, perhaps for the last time. I’ve also started something on Amazon Prime that is unlike any superhero program you’ve ever watched! As always though, we begin with sports, and my thoughts:
I’ll start with the Eagles as they won surprisingly, 25-20 on the road in San Francisco, but then lost 38-29 on the road in Pittsburgh. That puts the Birds at 1-3-1 after five games, and if the Cowboys had lost to the Giants, they actually could’ve still found themselves in first place in a down year for the NFC East. Up next, they’re home with the Ravens and home with the Giants, but will there be fans there? The Eagles are waiting to hear from the City of Philadelphia about the possibility of playing in front of a limited number of fans when they return home.
In the win at San Francisco, a few names that most had never heard of came up big for the Birds. First, Travis Fulgham caught a big touchdown pass in the 4th quarter to give the Eagles a four-point lead. Then, linebacker Alex Singleton jumped a mistake by Niners QB Nick Mullens and turned that into a pick-six to widen that lead to 11. The Eagles defense had some scary moments late in the game as C.J. Beathard marched San Francisco down the field as far as the 33 yard line before the Birds held on to win 25-20.
Those positive vibes did NOT carry over to Pittsburgh however as for once, you can’t blame Carson Wentz for the Eagles losing in Western Pennsylvania. No, the 38-29 loss falls squarely on the shoulders of Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz and his defense. Steelers rookie Chase Claypool set a Pittsburgh franchise record with four touchdowns in the game. Three of them came the traditional way, on passes from Ben Roethlisberger. One came rushing on an end around. What Eagles fans will remember most is that when the Birds got to within two at 31-29, Claypool found himself all alone as he beat linebacker Nate Gerry again for another touchdown. That caused social media to light up with questions and criticisms of Schwartz and his defensive call.
One bright spot from the Eagles game in Pittsburgh was the emergence of wide receiver Travis Fulgham. He finishes with 10 catches for 152 yards and a touchdown. Aside from the touchdown catch, each of the catches came in tight coverage, and as Wentz seemed to realize he could trust him to come down with the football, he kept throwing to him. Let’s hope this is the start of a beautiful pairing!
That said, the injury bug continues to be a problem. Lane Johnson had to leave the game in Pittsburgh as he continues to have problems with his left ankle. He left the field on a cart and is now seeking a second opinion on his persistently painful ankle. In his place, fourth-round rookie Jack Driscoll came in and played pretty solidly actually. Johnson had “tightrope” surgery on his ankle in August that was supposed to fix this problems. Instead, it appears the surgery has exacerbated them.
Darius Slay, who is the Eagles top corner, left the game after making a tackle on Steelers RB James Conner. He’s now in the NFL’s concussion protocol.
Even though he plays for a rival team, you have to feel for Cowboys QB Dak Prescott who suffered a gruesome injury in the Cowboys win over the Giants. Prescott went down with a dislocated ankle and had to have surgery on Sunday night. Backup Andy Dalton led the Cowboys to a win, but you have to feel for Prescott, who was playing on a one-year franchise tag and hoping for a long term, big money deal from Dallas. Now, who knows?
The Sixers have a new head coach, and it’s a guy with a pretty impressive resume. Glenn “Doc” Rivers was surprisingly available after the Clippers fired him on September 28th. The stigma of his teams blowing 3-1 playoff leads were not enough to dissuade the Sixers from jumping at the chance to get a former NBA champion coach into the fold. With 943 victories, Rivers is the NBA’s 11th all-time winningest coach. No less than Larry Brown says that Rivers will instantly make Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons better. Of the three names out there, I think “Doc” Rivers was the best fit of the three. Even if I still think Julius Erving is the original “Doc” in Philly!
It took six games, but the Lakers won their 17th NBA World Championship in franchise history on Sunday night beating Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat 106-93. For me, it was real special to see Wildwood Crest native and Wildwood High School alum Frank Vogel give the shortest speech postgame after the win. Humble as always, Vogel made it to the NBA Finals twice with Indiana and lost both times to LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Now, he has LeBron on his team (along with Anthony Davis), and Vogel is a NBA Champion Head Coach!
Which brings us to the Phillies. The good news is, the officially moved on from GM Matt Klentak, although they will pay out the remainder of his salary and assign him somewhere else in the organization. The bad news is that owner John Middleton doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to replace Klentak and Klentak trained Ned Rice will take over as the interim GM. According to “The Team Marketing Report”, the Phillies lost $186.1 million because of no fans in 2020. Middleton gave a murky answer too when asked about the chance that the team would re-sign catcher J.T. Realmuto, calling it a “priority”, but also saying uncertainty about fans in 2021 might prevent them from doing so. The popular sentiment is that now that the Mets are owned by Steve Cohen, who’s worth $14.6 billion (with a B), that the Mets break open the bank and pay Realmuto what he wants. The Phillies have to make a decision on shortstop Didi Gregorius too, don’t forget!
Three big baseball names have passed away since I last wrote. Bob Gibson, Whitey Ford and now Joe Morgan. All three of them icons in their own way, but only Gibson was someone who I had the pleasure of having some interaction with. The Cardinals great was from Omaha, and when I worked for the FOX affiliate there, I attended and covered his annual golf tournament for a few years. It was always fun to play golf with the Hall of Famer, because he wasn’t naturally good at the sport, and would look to me for advice on how his putt broke, or what club to hit. Imagine how surreal that is, to be telling a Hall of Famer in one sport, what to do in another. “Gibby” was known to be a little cantankerous and short tempered, but I’m happy to have had some interaction with him and to have known him just a little.
Finally, we close with the Flyers as we’ll first address the NHL draft, where they took a “shoot-first” right winger Tyson Foerster with the 23rd pick overall. The 6-1, 194-pound winger had 36 goals and 80 points in 62 OHL games last season. In the second round, they took Emil Andrae, a small but quick defenseman from Sweden. The Flyers didn’t have a third round pick, but made a trade with Tampa to move up to the start of the 4th round and select Zayde Wisdom at 94 overall. GM Chuck Fletcher admitted he was surprised when Andrae and Wisdom were available and “scrambled” to make the deal with Tampa when Wisdom was still on the board. Let’s hope that move works out. Hockey draft picks tend to take a while to mature, so we probably won’t see the fruits of this until a few years down the road.
On the other hand, free agency is a way you can quickly improve your team and Flyers fans had to be getting frustrated as players were moving like crazy, but none of them coming TO the Flyers until they finally signed free agent defenseman Erik Gustafsson to fill the Matt Niskanen void on Monday. Big names moved on Day #1 like Henrik Lundqvist to Washington and former Flyer Wayne Simmonds to Toronto. The Flyers lost bottom-six winger Tyler Pitlick to Arizona, which is a shame because he had some of the best energy of anyone for the Flyers in the postseason. Derek Grant also went back to Anaheim, but the Flyers didn’t make a move until Monday when most of the dust settled. Getting Gustafsson on a one-year, $3 million dollar contract gives the Flyers a top-six defenseman and they also could leave him open to the expansion draft when Seattle joins the league after next season. In addition to being a top-six defenseman, Gustafsson is expected to be used on the power play.
The Flyers now have about $5.7 million in salary-cap space, but still need to sign Nolan Patrick and Phil Myers.
On the local front, I have to give a shout-out to Holy Spirit running back Patrick Smith for his game last Saturday against Cedar Creek in Egg Harbor City. Smith carries the ball 30 times for 362 yards and FOUR touchdowns in a 41-0 win over the Pirates. Smith’s day will go down as one of the best ever by a South Jersey running back. Philadelphia Eagles running back Corey Clement holds the record with 478 yards for Glassboro against Gloucester in 2012. That same night, Wesley Hills of Wildwood ran for 452 yards against Maple Shade. Hills was most recently with the Detroit Lions and hopes to be back on an NFL roster soon.
Also, congratulations to 2020 ShopRite LPGA Classic winner Mel Reid. Count me among those disappointed that the annual golf event had to be held without fans, but kudos to Reid for finally winning an event on U.S. soil. And she didn’t have to go far to celebrate afterwards as she was pictured at local tavern McGettigan’s with a barley & hops beverage filling up the crystal trophy she was awarded on the 18th green!
I’ll close with a few items from entertainment as I was sad to learn that all 536 U.S. locations of the Regal Movie Theater chain closed quickly last Thursday. I had $45 in Regal Gift Cards and hurried out to the Hamilton Commons location in Mays Landing to see a final movie and spend all the money on those cards. More than 7,000 screens are now dark as movie theaters are really struggling right now. Which is why I’ll take a second to plug the Tilton Square Theater again and remind you to get out and support a LOCALLY run movie theater!
Lastly, I’ve begun watching “The Boys” on Amazon Prime, and trust me, this is not your family friendly superhero series for sure! Each episode comes with several 18-plus audience warnings, and “The Boys” is set in a universe where individuals with super powers are recognized as heroes by the general public and work for the powerful corporation Vought International, which markets and monetizes them. Outside of their heroic personas, most are arrogant and corrupt. The series primarily focuses on two groups: the Seven, Vought’s premier superhero team, and the eponymous Boys, vigilantes looking to bring down Vought and its corrupt superheroes. I’m enjoying it, but will save my final review for when I complete Season Two.
As always, I’ll close with a reminder to please don’t forget to wear your mask when you’re out in public and interacting with others. Be kind, wear your mask, and be patient. We can all knock down this COVID-19 together!
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
