Sports & Entertainment
By Pete Thompson
“Frasier has LEFT the building…!!”
Happy June everyone as we turn the page on the calendar to the month that has Flag Day, Father’s Day, and…apparently, the actor whose most famous role was “Frasier Crane” in the TV shows “Cheers” and “Frasier” on NBC.
Last week, Jon Henderson and the folks at Good Time Tricycle held the first major outdoor event in the state of New Jersey as they held the 16th annual Atlantic City Beer and Music Festival outside at Bader Field. More than 15-thousand people attended over three sessions on Friday and Saturday, including one celebrity brewery owner.
Yes, that WAS actor Kelsey Grammer at the Faith American Brewing Company tent happily taking pictures and talking about his beer with anyone who wanted to chat. Most famously known for his role as “Frasier Crane” on the TV shows “Cheers” and “Frasier”, the 66-year-old is the owner of Faith American Brewing Company, LLC out of Margaretville, New York.
Of course, there are several local breweries right here in Atlantic County including Tuckahoe Brewing Company, Pinelands Brewing Company, Garden State Beer Company, Hidden Sands Brewing Company and Somers Point Brewing Company. But, I’m not here to write about beer, I’m here to write about sports (and entertainment).
In sports, since I last wrote, the Sixers beat the Wizards without Joel Embiid, but then lost in Game 1 of the next round to the Atlanta Hawks and their superstar player. The Phillies won 2 out of 3 from Washington at home, but had a few strange things happen in the series finale. The Eagles wrapped up their OTA’s at the NovaCare Complex and now won’t be back in the “nest” until training camp. The Flyers have officially introduced a new coach for their top minor league team, and it’s a familiar face. On the local front, two high school athletes are honored with one of Atlantic County’s most prestigious high school awards. Plus, after a hiatus because of the pandemic, an annual charity event returns to Ski Beach in Ventnor Heights.
From entertainment, the seventh (and final) season of one of my favorite shows on Amazon Prime is all set to drop on June 25th. Plus, I know the first thing I’m binge watching when school lets out and it’s an HBO series that just wrapped up its first season. As always though, we begin with sports, and my thoughts:
We’ll start with the Sixers as they played Game 5 against the Wizards without Joel Embiid, but still managed to eliminate Washington winning 129-112 at home at home and winning the series 4-1. Seth Curry scored a playoff career-high 30 points, Tobias Harris added 28 points, and Ben Simmons posted a triple-double with 19 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for the Sixers as they advanced to the next round.
But, the big question as the Sixers begin the Eastern Conference Semifinals was whether or not Embiid would be able to return from a slight tear in his right meniscus. The answer was a resounding “YES,” but despite leading all scorers with 39 points, the Sixers lost Game 1 (and home court advantage) falling 128-124.
Embiid was dominant with 39 points on 12-for-21 shooting (14-for-15 on free throws) and he added nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks. But the Sixers had no answer for Hawks star Trae Young, who hit for 35 points. Young had 25 points and seven assists by halftime for the second time in his career. The first time he did it, on Jan. 30, 2020, also was against Philadelphia. Put this one down as the Sixers showing up “too late” to the party!
Young was initially guarded by Danny Green in Game 1, and that tactic didn’t work. Simmons, a defensive player of the year finalist, has already said he’d like to be put on Young moving forward. Of course, a lot depends on how close the referees call things, as the 6-10 Simmons can sometimes get himself in foul trouble with his physicality.
What’s scary to me, is that Embiid played a dominant game, and the Sixers still lost by four. Of course, the Hawks shot 51% from the floor, and 43% from beyond the arc. The Hawks had 74 points at the HALF! You’re not going to win too many games in the NBA when you give up that many points to a team early.
In baseball, the Phillies won back to back games for the first time since May 11th and 12th, but where are the fans? Last Sunday in a four-hour plus game, only 15,108 showed up at Citizens Bank Park to watch a 12-6 win over Washington. Now, the Sixers were in a playoff game across the street at the same time, but still! It was by far the smallest Sunday crowd in the ballpark’s 17-year history, if you exclude pandemic restrictions. In fact, the three-game attendance of 46,256 was a figure the Phillies nearly drew nightly during their 257-game sellout streak that lasted from July 7, 2009 through Aug. 5, 2012.
In that Sunday game against Washington, a few crazy things happened, including one that a veteran baseball employee had never seen before. Let’s start with home-plate umpire Brian O’Nora as he took a foul ball off his mask in the top of the first inning and had to leave in the bottom of the first. Then, Phillies starter Vince Velasquez hit Washington pitcher Austin Voth with a pitch as Voth was attempting to bunt. And Voth had to leave the game after being struck in the face. But, the ultimate “oops” was when the protective netting around home plate came tumbling down with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Apparently, the support rope to the right of home plate gave way and the netting collapsed onto the field and into both dugouts.
Mike DiMuzio, the Phillies director of ballpark operations since 1982, had never seen that happen before in his 50 years around baseball. Director of field operations Mike Boekholder was charged with organizing the grounds crew to formulate a plan to restore the netting. Remarkably, he got the job done, along with members of the grounds crew, ballpark ops, even some concession folks from Aramark! And someone had the genius idea to play the “William Tell Overture” while they were working on the problem. The “netting delay” lasted 20 minutes and 21 seconds, and let me tell you, it was RIVETING television!
In football, the Eagles wrapped up their organized team activities, and now first-year coach Nick Sirianni won’t see his guys until training camp on July 27th. After veteran players flat-out refused to attend voluntary camps, the Birds had to pivot to OTA’s that eliminated contact and the mandatory mini-camp that usually closes out the spring. There was no 11-on-11 work this spring, not even any seven-on-seven. Practice was mostly positional drills, and if the offense or defense assembled, it worked against air, maybe with a few coaches offering token resistance.
But, in his “glass half full” sort of way, Sirianni did point out that last year, spring work was completely virtual, so by that account, something is better than nothing! And the buzzword of the OTA’s was the word “compete” as Sirianni had drills set up as competitions, in lieu of coaches being able to pit the offense against the defense.
To the ice now where the Flyers did NOT get lucky and they will have the number 13 pick in this year’s NHL draft. There was some hope that history would repeat itself and they’d get lucky and move up. That said, it’s still the Flyers highest pick since 2017.
The Flyers also officially announced Ian Laperriere as the new head coach of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The man known as “Lappy” says he will stress fitness in the first head-coaching job of his career. He has competed in Ironman triathlons, consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run. Laperriere, a hard-nosed player in his 16-season NHL career says “Players that are going to play for me are going to have to be in shape, or I’ll get them in shape. They know that. For me, to be a pro, you’ve got to be a pro 24 hours a day, inside the rink and away from the rink. It goes from nutrition to the way you act around town. You represent the logo. I’m a big believer in that. That’s my job to make sure everybody is on the same page.”
On the local front, congratulations to Ahmad Brock from Egg Harbor Township and Sophia Pasquale from Holy Spirit as they are the 2021 Nichterlein / McCabe Old Grad Award winners. The “Old Grad” award is given annually to the most outstanding male and female high school senior athlete from Atlantic County and is given to a multi-sport athlete. I’ve been fortunate enough to act as emcee for this prestigious awards ceremony, and although we didn’t have a luncheon again this year because of the pandemic, I look forward to next year when I can celebrate with Brock & Pasquale in person and hear how their first year of collegiate sports went!
Lastly on the local front, don’t miss the 13th annual Dean Randazzo Cancer Foundation’s “Paddle for a Cause” on Saturday June 12th on Ski Beach in Ventnor Heights. “Paddle for a Cause” was born when eight friends of local surf legend Dean Randazzo, opted to paddle around Absecon Island as a show of solidarity to Randazzo and others who were battling cancer. From there the event has grown to include close to 100 participants. The Dean Randazzo Cancer Foundation hopes to raise $75,000 with this year’s “Paddle for a Cause”. To register for the paddle, to make a donation, or to sponsor a paddler, please visit the DRCF website at www.thedrcf.org
As always, I’ll close with a few items from entertainment as the seventh (and final) season of “Bosch” on Amazon Prime drops on June 25th. Based off the detective novels by Michael Connelly, Titus Welliver plays the lead character as he goes to perhaps his greatest lengths yet in pursuit of justice. Season seven finds Det. Harry Bosch investigating an arson fire that claims five lives, including a 10-year-old girl and two mothers, one of whom is pregnant. I know it sounds grim, but trust me, this is a series you SHOULD be watching!
And, since I’m talking about TV that you should be watching, I’ll admit that first up on my binge watching list once school lets out in a week or so is “Mare of Easttown” on HBO. By all accounts, this is a “can’t miss” series and Kate Winslet gives an award winning performance as a grizzled police detective from Delaware County, PA. Apparently the Delco accent and the local references are a hoot as well. I’m looking forward to checking it out.
One last thought, and that’s a reminder for you to check with local establishments and folks about mask on or masks off. A lot of places have moved to a “no mask” policy, but always be sure to be courteous and check what the rules & protocols each place (or person) has. I truly feel we are starting a GREAT summer. Let’s not mess it up now!
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
