Sports & Entertainment
By Pete Thompson
By the time you read this, Memorial Day weekend 2021 will essentially be here. And what a difference a year makes, right? Last year at this time, we were all still in quarantine, and only venturing out when absolutely necessary to places like the store, or the gas station.
This year, “mother nature” might not cooperate, but Governor Phil Murphy has announced that fully vaccinated folks can go “mask free” indoors in New Jersey starting on Friday May 28th. Murphy also announced that businesses will no longer be asked to maintain social distancing in their establishments, which means that dance floors at bars and restaurants can reopen. All the mandates will lift just as the Memorial Day weekend and the Jersey Shore season kick off. On June 4th, all indoor gathering limits will lift, as well as the limits on large seating venues. This is GREAT news folks!
Since I last wrote, the Sixers have played one game in the playoffs and are hoping to go on a deep run like they did 20 years ago. They are also turning to a “good luck charm” to ring the bell before game two. I went to a Phillies game the other night, and even though they lost, I was able to enjoy the game “mask free”, which was outstanding. The Eagles welcome back some veteran players, but on a modified spring schedule. A familiar name has emerged as the leading candidate to take over the head coaching job for the Flyers minor league affiliate in Lehigh Valley. From the world of golf, I have to write about 50-year-old Phil Mickelson, who made a little history at the PGA Championship last weekend. Finally, on the local front, Mainland ace Chase Petty gets it done with his arm and his bat in a “showcase game.”
From entertainment, a local movie establishment has finally thrown open its doors. Plus, are you ready for the “Friends” reunion? As always though, we begin with sports, and my thoughts:
We’ll start with the Sixers again, as they win game #1 against Washington in the playoffs by the score of 125-to-118. Tobias Harris comes up HUGE as he finishes with a postseason career-high 37 points and kept the Sixers in the game in the 1st half when Joel Embiid was in foul trouble. 28 of the Harris’ first-half points came while Embiid was out. But then, Embiid overcame that foul trouble to finish with 30 points, and I saw after the game, it’s the first time that two Sixers players finished with 30 points or more in a playoff game since Charles Barkley and Hersey Hawkins did it back in 1990. That’s 31 years ago, but I’m pretty sure I was at that game against Cleveland at the Spectrum with my brother Chris!
Meanwhile, this is the Tobias Harris that the Sixers (and their fans) were hoping for when he signed with Philly back in 2019. Reunited with coach Doc Rivers, Harris seems to be playing at his best now in a three- star system with Embiid as well as Ben Simmons. Simmons spent a lot of the game defensively guarding Washington star Bradley Beal, but also finished the game with six points and career-playoff highs of 15 rebounds and 15 assists. Only one other player in Sixers history has put up at least 15 rebounds and 15 assists in a playoff game. That guy? Wilt Chamberlain. LeBron James, Fat Lever, and Hall of Famers Jason Kidd and Magic Johnson are the only other players in NBA history to do it. Simmons may not be able to shoot free throws that well, but boy can he change a game with his defense, his rebounding and his vision!
The key to this series, in my opinion, is limiting the damage done by Washington’s two stars, Bradley Beal & Russell Westbrook. To that end, Beal and Westbrook both had double-doubles in the Game One loss to the Sixers. Beal totaled 33 points and 10 rebounds. Westbrook added 16 points and 14 assists. The two combined to shoot 50% (20-for-40). While that all looks good, it was negated by their miscues. The two star guards combined to commit 12 turnovers, six each. To put that in perspective, the entire Sixers team had 11. If the Sixers keep playing good defense, this series will be over in four. A sweep. Which is what I predicted on 97.3 ESPN last Sunday prior to Game One.
One more Sixers item and that’s about who the team has picked to “ring the bell” pregame before Game Two. Former Sixers President Pat Croce is being called upon to step on the court at the Wells Fargo Center. Long-time Sixers fans might remember Croce’s enthusiasm when the team made it all the way to the NBA Finals in 2001, ultimately bowing out to the Lakers in five games. Let’s hope Croce brings this year’s team luck and they take one more step & hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of things!
As I write this, the Phillies are coming off a home series with Boston where they lost 2 out of 3, but the big news for me is that you can now take your mask OFF if you’re at the game in person at Citizens Bank Park. That was the most enjoyable aspect of the game when I went last Friday night as a fan and sat in Section 208. Thanks to Phillies supervisor Mike Melograna for accommodating us and letting my Dad move from row 12 where he was not comfortable to some nice, comfy folding chairs above the section. Mike took the picture of the three of us too, as I was joined by my father Jim and my girlfriend’s son Michael. The 11-3 loss was not very enjoyable, but it was a beautiful night for baseball and the company was great!
The Phillies did lose 2 out of 3 in their series with Boston, but boy, where would they be without Zack Wheeler? Seven and a third innings in the 6-2 win over the Red Sox last Sunday, 12 strikeouts, and only three hits given up. Wheeler’s 10 start is the best by any Phillies pitcher since Roy Halladay in 2011.
Wheeler’s outing last Sunday was the sixth time in 10 starts that he completed at least seven innings. He retired 17 consecutive batters at one point and matched his career high with 12 strikeouts. In his last six starts, he has given up eight earned runs (including four in one inning May 1 against the New York Mets) in 44 1/3 innings for a 1.64 ERA.
In 10 starts overall this season, Wheeler has a 2.38 ERA. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he’s the first Phillies pitcher with a sub-2.50 ERA and sub-1.00 WHIP in his first 10 starts of a season since Roy Halladay in 2011. In 21 starts since the Phillies signed Wheeler to a five-year, $118 million contract, he has a 2.65 ERA. I’d say that so far, Wheeler has been money WELL SPENT!
Now to the bad news, as the Phillies had hoped that shortstop Didi Gregorius would be able to rejoin the team after missing two weeks with an elbow injury. However, Gregorius still has swelling in the elbow, so he remains on the injured list. Catcher JT Realmuto has also been out with a hand injury as well. That’s two key starters missing because of injury for the Phillies.
On Monday (at least), star outfielder Bryce Harper sat for another game as manager Joe Girardi gives him back-to-back days off to hopefully get himself “right”. Harper entered Monday with two hits in his last 25 at-bats. His OPS (.884) is still well above league average, but it is 179 points lower than it was at the start of the month. He has 26 strikeouts this month in 57 at-bats after striking out 19 times last month in 78 at-bats. Harper has been slowed by injuries, including a ball to the face and a shoulder injury, but Girardi just thinks Harper needs a day or two to get his head “right.” Let’s hope that works!
Two of my favorite Phillies this season share the letters of the popular candy, M&M. I’m a huge fan of Brad Miller, and have you noticed rookie Nick Maton? Maton entered Monday hitting .371 (13 for 35) with a .971 OPS against left-handers. In 2019, Maton hit just .254 in the minors with a .673 OPS against left-handers. The rookie said his success this season is a result of the work he received last summer in Allentown when he was used as a left-handed hitter for the southpaws to get work at the team’s alternate training site.
As for Miller, his three-run home run last Sunday basically was the difference in the game. Miller now needs one more home run for 100 in his career. Formerly known as “Bamboo Brad”, the 31-year-old came back to the Phillies this off-season and in his last 27 games (since 4/20), is hitting .333 (24-72), 2 2B, 3B, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 14 R, 6 BB, .940 OPS. With numbers like that, can you see why I love the guy?
To football now, where the Eagles have reached a compromise and are modifying their spring schedule to resolve a conflict between what coaches and general managers want and what the NFL Players Association is pushing. On the team web site, a story announced that the players and new coach Nick Sirianni had agreed to modify the original, traditional schedule, which called for voluntary OTAs this month and then a mandatory minicamp in June.
The Eagles’ players, along with other teams, had issued statements indicating veterans would not take part in on-field work this spring, in the wake of the addition of a 17th game to the 2021 schedule. So now, the veterans have agreed to participate in three weeks of OTA work, which started Tuesday. It will be focused on “fundamentals, schemes and strength and conditioning,” the web site story said. That will be it until training camp — no mandatory minicamp, no 11-on-11 or seven-on-seven work before late July.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. The OTA work won’t involve tackling or any hitting, and being an “old school guy”, that’s why I think injuries have jumped up so much in the game. However, with the players feeling like they couldn’t stop the addition of a 17th game, I totally understand them wanting to have “some” measure of control over their offseason work.
In hockey, Sam Carchidi from the Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that “Ian Laperriere has emerged as one of the leading candidates to replace the highly successful Scott Gordon as coach of the Flyers’ top farm team, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.”
A former Flyers player, Laperriere, 47, has been an assistant with the NHL team for the last eight seasons. Terry Murray, 70, a former head coach of the Flyers, Washington, Florida, and Los Angeles, is expected to replace Kerry Huffman as a Lehigh Valley assistant coach, according to InsideAHLHockey.com. Murray was the Phantoms’ head coach in their first season in Lehigh Valley in 2014-15.
Best of luck to Scott Gordon, who was a Ron Hextall guy, and leaves after six seasons in which he compiled a 186-121-40-1 record with the Phantoms. Gordon’s contract expires after next season, and GM Chuck Fletcher was not prepared to give Gordon an extension.
I can’t leave the national sports scene without discussing 50-year-old Phil Mickelson and what he did last weekend at Kiawah Island in South Carolina. Mickelson captured his sixth major and by far the most surprising last Sunday at the PGA Championship, becoming, at the age of 50, the oldest winner in the 161 years of major championship golf.
Perhaps only Mickelson never thought he was too old to win again, as most folks didn’t give him a chance to win on the PGA Tour again, much less a major. But, he kept his nerve and delivered all the right shots for his first major win since 2013. He made two early birdies with that magical wedge game that never left him and then let a cast of challengers fall too far behind to catch him in the shifting wind off the Atlantic. Mickelson closed with a 1-over 73 to win by 2 shots over Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen.
I was 15 when Jack Nicklaus won at the Masters in 1986 and as time has passed, I have such fond memories of watching that as Jack won at age 46. So, to watch “Lefty” win at age 50 and 11 months (7 months older than me, by the way), I was grinning from ear to ear as things wound down on the CBS broadcast.
Mickelson turns 51 on June 16th, but he’s already made the year of one New Jersey bettor, who put $1,000 down on Mickelson to win the PGA at 300-1 odds with DraftKings. That’s a cool $300-K that New Jersey resident is taking home! What a win! Mickelson, himself, took home $2.16 million for winning his second PGA Championship of his storied career.
One final note, as prior to the PGA, Mickelson had said he didn’t want to accept a “special exemption” into the U.S. Open this year from the USGA as it’s being held at his favorite course growing up, Torrey Pines. Now, with his PGA Championship win, Mickelson doesn’t have to worry about that as with his win he gets a 5-year exemption into The Masters, U.S. Open, Open Championship & any PGA Tour event. Now, as a former Masters champ, he already had a lifetime exemption there. He also had a lifetime exemption already for the PGA Championship too from his win in 2005. The Open Championship he won in 2013 only gives him exempt status until he’s 60, but the United States Open is the toughest to get into, and the only major Phil has never won. Now, he’s qualified for the next FIVE, and with the way his game was at Kiawah, who’s to say he doesn’t finally get a U.S. Open win next month? I know I’ll be rooting hard for him!
My last item is from the local sports scene as Chase Petty and the Mainland Mustangs win a big showcase game 3-2 over Don Bosco Prep at Arm & Hammer Stadium in Trenton last Sunday night. Petty, a University of Florida recruit, but probable MLB first-round draftee, dazzled fans with his performance both on and off the mound. Petty struck out 13 and only allowed two hits and two runs in seven innings. He struck out the final batter he faced on a 97 mph fastball. Petty also went 2 for 3 as a hitter with an RBI and a run scored. I’m going to have to wedge out some time in my schedule to see this young man play one more time before the MLB draft on July 11th.
As always, I’ll close with a few items from entertainment as I’m so thrilled to see that the Ventnor Square Theater is finally open. Originally opened in the 1920’s, the Ventnor Theater closed in 2004, but after a two-year delay due to a snag in construction and COVID-19, the theater is officially open. The theater has three screens and a restaurant and bar, named Nucky’s Restaurant and Speakeasy for the Prohibition-era Atlantic City political boss. The restaurant also has outdoor seating overlooking Ventnor Avenue. Find out more about this GEM of Ventnor by going to https://www.squaretheatres.com/ventnor and best of luck to theater owners Clint Bunting, Scott Kaufman and former Ventnor resident Brett DeNafo. I can’t wait to take my girl to dinner and also see a show there…!!!
Finally, on a lighter note, will you watch the “Friends” reunion when it drops on HBO Max this week on May 27th? Officially titled, “Friends: The Reunion,” and also known as “The One Where They Get Back Together,” it’s a 2021 reunion special of the American sitcom series Friends. The episode will be executive produced by the show’s co-creators, Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman, David Crane, the show’s main cast, and Ben Winston (who will also direct the special). The un-scripted episode sees the main cast revisit the sets of the original show (such as the Friends apartments, the Central Perk coffee shop, and the Friends water fountain), meet with guests who appeared on the show as well as celebrity guests, do table reads and re-enactments of older Friends episodes, and share behind-the-scenes footage. Oh, I absolutely will NOT be missing this one!
One last thought, and that’s a reminder for you to check with local establishments and folks about mask on or no masks. Most places are going to pivot to “no masks”, but always be sure to be courteous and check what rules & protocols each place (or person) has. We are going to have a GREAT summer!
