Sports & Entertainment
By Pete Thompson
“May the FOURTH be with you!”
As I write this, it’s May the 4th, which is traditionally a day to celebrate all things “Star Wars.” However, I think I’ll use it as a day to celebrate all things Philly and South Jersey sports to start off the month of May. How does that sound?
In fact, as I write this, the Phillies, Flyers and Sixers all won last night. That’s the first time that has happened since 2012!
Since I last wrote, the Eagles made a move up in the 2021 NFL draft and got a potential superstar. The Birds finish with nine picks total, and as always, there are a few question marks about some of the picks in the draft. The Phillies appear to have renewed a rivalry with one of the teams in the N.L. East, and continue to lose one run ballgames. The Sixers have quietly put together a five-game winning streak. The Flyers will NOT be in the playoffs once again, and wait until you hear the unceremonious stat they accomplished by failing to make the playoffs this season. On the local front, three guys with local ties are doing great things in professional baseball. Plus, an area high school pitcher has a chance to make some baseball history this summer.
From entertainment, the longest-tenured late-night host on American TV is saying goodbye to his traditional format & TV show. Plus, I watched a drama on Amazon Prime that I had high hopes for, but it ultimately fell short. As always though, we begin with sports, and my thoughts:
We’ll start with the Eagles as they actually moved UP two spots in the first round of the NFL draft to land the Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith from Alabama. What’s crazy is the team they traded with to move up two spots, and that’s the Dallas Cowboys. When did you ever think the Eagles would make a deal with their hated division rival? But the Birds send a 3rd round pick (that they got in the Carson Wentz trade) to Dallas for the chance to move up two spots and ultimately land Smith.
The Eagles moved ahead of the New York Giants by moving to ten, and all signs looked like the G-men might take Smith, so I think this was a good move on their part. DeVonta Smith was a guy I “fell in love” with during the national championship game, and even though some folks think he’s undersized (6-0, 166 lbs.), I think he will be a roaring success in the NFL. Hey, think of it this way, “You can’t hit what you can’t catch!”
The Eagles began the draft with 11 picks, and ended up with nine new players. Other than Smith, four of the remaining eight players chosen project to either the offensive or defensive line. In the second round, 37th overall, the Eagles took Landon Dickerson out of Alabama. On the upside, he could be a better version of Jason Kelce, who has already been great. However, he comes with a risk because of multiple injuries in college. This pick concerns me as I still remember when the Birds took an injured Sidney Jones in Round 2 with the idea that he was really a Round 1 pick. To date, Jones has never fully realized that potential, even now that he’s with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
I can’t talk about the draft without discussing the Eagles and their front office. Howie Roseman was criticized heavily leading up to the draft, and on draft night, ESPN cameras captured 74-year-old senior advisor Tom Donahoe apparently disgusted that the Eagles traded down three spots in the third round and ultimately drafting Milton Williams from Louisiana Tech. Reporters speculated that Donahoe was upset that the Giants were able to land corner Aaron Robinson, but Roseman hinted in a radio interview that Donahoe was disappointed the Eagles didn’t get N.C. State defensive tackle Alim McNeill, who went to the Lions at 72 overall. I would’ve liked to see the Eagles stay put in the 3rd round and get a corner, but they did ultimately take Zech MacPhearson from Texas Tech in the fourth round, 123rd overall.
So, what’s my final “grade” for the Eagles 2021 draft? Well, individual grades always need to play out, but for how they handled the draft, I think you have to give the Eagles an “A”. They finally took the impact receiver who also happened to be the Heisman Trophy winner. Howie Roseman read the board correctly a month before things even began to get a first round pick next year out of Miami. There’s a good probability that the Eagles will have three first round picks next year, and THAT’S how you build a team back up.
To baseball now, where last week I wrote about how the Phillies can’t seem to climb above the .500 mark. That pattern has continued, but fortunately, the rest of the N.L. East is also struggling as well. That said, it appears that one rivalry has been reignited as the Mets and Phillies had a bench clearing dust up in their game last Friday night at Citizens Bank Park.
Jose Alvarado struck out Dominic Smith to end the 8th inning and then gestured repeatedly at Smith while walking off the mound. The Mets (and Smith) had seen enough, and both benches emptied, but no punches were thrown. This is the kind of Mets-Phillies rivalry I like to see! Obviously I don’t want anyone fighting or to get hurt, but when I was a kid, this was the kind of anger & passion these two teams had. Ultimately Alvarado got a two game suspension for his actions, but I like to see bad blood between the two teams. Sports are competitive. You should NOT be the best of friends between the lines!
My other take on the Phillies is how close a lot of their games have been of late. As of this writing, each of their last five games was decided by one run. Again, as of this writing, six of their 15 losses were by one run. Again, the good news is that no team is really running away with the N.L. East, so as long as the Phillies hang around, they have a chance.
In basketball, last time I wrote about how much the Sixers missed Ben Simmons. Well, all they’ve done since his return is win five games in a row and open up a one game lead over Brooklyn for the #1 seed for the playoffs. Their 113-111 win in overtime in San Antonio came on a Simmons tip-in and it’s not a stretch to say it might’ve been the biggest win of the Sixers’ season to this point.
Simmons did not have a good game. He finished with five points on six shots and was largely insignificant even on the margins all night. The Sixers led by 17 points in the first quarter and let it get away. But all is forgotten after Simmons tipped in the game-winning bucket as time expired. The Sixers now have a one-game lead in the loss column and that’s big because for the Nets, the No. 1 seed has appeared to be an afterthought. Their priority is getting healthy. But for the Sixers, the No. 1 seed is a big deal as it likely means avoiding the No. 3 Bucks in the second round.
For the second column in a row, I’ve left the Flyers for last. They were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs by the lowly Devils. Their last glimmer of hope is to play the role of “spoiler” as they can help the Washington Capitals get the top seed in the East instead of in-state rival Pittsburgh. Playing loose & without pressure, Claude Giroux had two goals, including an empty-netter, and an assist as the Flyers ended a three-game losing streak with a 7-2 blowout win over the Penguins at home. The Flyers had lost three straight against the Devils, but bounced back to win by five and improve their record to 5-2 against their archrivals this season.
No matter how you slice it though, the Flyers have been a major disappointment. In fact, I saw a discouraging graphic on the postgame show the other night concerning the Flyers. Titled “A Historic Decade”, the graphic showed how the Flyers have alternated between the playoffs and missing the playoffs every year since 2012. By missing the playoffs this year, the Flyers become the first team in NHL, NBA, NFL or MLB history to alternate playoffs & non-playoff years for 10 straight seasons. Wow. Just think about that. A decade of playoffs vs. non-playoff teams for the Orange & Black. Can you see why I’m just hoping for some consistency out of the hockey team?
My last sports items are all from baseball and they all concern local athletes competing on a big stage. I’ll start with Oakcrest Grad and Cumberland County College alum Cody Stashak as he is back with the Minnesota Twins and wearing #61 out of their bullpen. The 26-year-old is married to his high school sweetheart Taylor and they have a young boy Colton who turns one in June. What a great picture Taylor shared with me and on Facebook of young Colton and Mom getting to see where Dad “works.” Stashak is a real success story from our area as he wasn’t heavily promoted or hyped coming out of high school. He used his time at Cumberland County College to attract the attention of Division One programs, and ultimately landed with St. John’s. His time there brought major league scouts calling, and he’s now a local guy pitching in the “big leagues.”
Elsewhere on the pitching front, I’ve been writing about Egg Harbor Township native Mike Adams as his magical journey has taken him from the Atlantic County Baseball League (ACBL) and the Margate Hurricanes last summer, all the way to a pro contract with the Phillies organization this summer. Adams and Ed Charlton run the Baseball Performance Center in Pleasantville, but Adams is going to be away from the business for a little longer as the Phillies have assigned him to their High-A affiliate in Lakewood. Now called the “Jersey Shore” BlueClaws, Adams will now ply his trade just about an hour north up the Garden State Parkway in Lakewood.
Don’t forget about 2014 St. Augustine graduate Zach Warren either. The 24-year-old spent 2019 with the Clearwater Threshers, and he’s been assigned to the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils. The minor league season begins on Tuesday May 11th. Remember, there were no minor league games at all last year because of the pandemic.
Lastly, I need to get out and see Mainland ace Chase Petty throw the baseball. The Somers Point resident is off to a 2-0 start to the high school season with a 1.00 ERA. He threw a no-hitter last time out! Every game, there are major league scouts in attendance, and he might end up being drafted higher than a guy named Mike Trout was way back in 2009. Petty has committed to the University of Florida but is expected to be selected in the MLB draft to be held July 11th in Denver. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior routinely hits 100 miles per hour or more on the radar gun. I can’t wait to get out and see him throw in person! Stay tuned.
As always, I’ll close with a few items from entertainment as Conan O’Brien will host his TBS late-night talk show “Conan” for the last time on June 24th, the network announced. The shows leading up to his grand farewell will feature all sorts of special guests, culminating in an hour-long finale that will celebrate the last 11 years of “Conan” O’Brien has a history far beyond “Conan,” of course; he’s currently the longest-tenured late-night host on American TV, having assumed the reins of NBC’s Late Night franchise following David Letterman’s departure to CBS in 1993. He staked out that slot with clever comedy for 16 years before a brief stint hosting “The Tonight Show” in 2009. In 2010, he started anew on cable with Conan. I’ve always liked Conan O’Brien, but not enough to follow him to cable when he went that route in 2010. To be honest, I see his clips on my phone now more than anything, and laugh at them still, so I will miss him.
Thankfully, O’Brien will continue his popular “Conan Without Border” travel specials — which have sent him everywhere from Italy to Greenland to Korea — in some form on TBS. He’ll also re-emerge on HBO Max with a variety-style series down the road. And O’Brien cohosts the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” which premiered in 2018. I love Sona!
I’ll close with an update about “Without Remorse” on Amazon Prime. Based on the 1993 novel by Tom Clancy, and a spin-off of the Jack Ryan book & film series, I so much wanted to love this movie. But I did NOT. Michael B. Jordan was great in the lead role, but the entire plot of the movie and pacing just seemed way to long and drawn out. I’m not sure I’m even excited now about “Rainbow Six”, which will be the sequel to this movie.
The weather is getting warmer, so I’ll close with my reminder to keep wearing those masks and staying socially distant please. I’m “fully vaccinated” and a bunch of you are as well. However, let’s not trip up so close to the “goal line.” Keep staying safe and following the protocols and I sincerely hope that a GREAT summer is ahead for all of us!
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
