Sports & Entertainment
By Pete Thompson
When people ask me what I love the most about sports, I often reference that classic “Wide World of Sports” opening on ABC back in the day. Do you remember it? When the late, great, Jim McKay would intone “Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports… the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition… This is “ABC’s Wide World of Sports!”
This is a long of way of saying that sports and drama are ALWAYS intertwined, and perhaps no more than ever these days.
Since I last wrote, the Eagles have lost two games in a row to fall to 1-and-2 on the season, with a familiar face coming back to South Philadelphia next. The Phillies are in Atlanta, but their playoff chances are on “life support”. The Sixers have opened training camp, but the big story is the guy who is NOT there. The Flyers officially skate in their first preseason game with lots of new faces in new places. On the local front, the ShopRite LPGA Classic is finally here. Plus, a 17-year-old from North Jersey stands poised to draw big crowds at Seaview.
From entertainment, I got to see a 71-year-old rock star who can still bring it even after 45 years of touring. Plus, another big name in rock is out with a book that I will be reading as soon as it arrives. As always though, we begin with sports, and my thoughts:
Remember when the Eagles beat the Falcons 32-6 a few weeks ago in Atlanta? Boy, does that seem like a distant memory as the Birds have now lost two in a row and each performance has gotten WORSE!
Let’s start with the San Francisco game, which was also the home opener as the Eagles lose by six, 17-11 to a good Niners team. Chalk that loss up to missed opportunities as the Birds led 3-zip and looked like they would go up 10-nothing after a Jalen Hurts pass to Quez Watkins ended up as a 91-yard gain to the San Francisco six-yard line. Then, somehow, with four cracks at the end zone, the Eagles did NOT score. Even worse, they never attempted a QB sneak. Instead, they ran a botched version of “Philly-Philly” that had head coach Nick Sirianni admitting that he might’ve gotten “too cute”. The Birds also lost the heart & soul of their defense in that game as Brandon Graham went down with a torn Achilles and is out for the season.
Things went from bad to worse last Monday night though as I actually predicted the Eagles would win a close game at Dallas. Boy was I wrong…!!! It’s not just that the Birds lost 41-21 to the Cowboys, it’s HOW they lost the game.
To me, the Eagles were completely embarrassed Monday night by their division rivals in a game that was the worst of all worlds for them. The 20 point loss to me, shows just how far the Eagles have to go and how long it might take for them to get back to being respectable again. After the loss, I saw a lot of social media posts about the fact that the Eagles should have three first round picks in next year’s draft. Of course, who’s to say they’ll actually select IMPACT players with those picks?
This one hurts because the Giants are off to an oh-and-3 start and are awful. The Washington Football Team has lost its starting quarterback and its defense has been shredded each week. But I thought Dallas was clearly the better team in the Monday Night Football game, and now Sirianni and his coaching staff are at a serious crossroads.
I look at the Eagles upcoming schedule and could conceivably see them at 1-and-6 going into the Halloween game in Detroit on 10/31. Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs come to town next. Then, the Birds have to go to play a good Carolina team coached by former Temple coach Matt Rhule. After that, it’s a Thursday Night Football game at home against Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Followed by a trip to Las Vegas and the Raiders brand new stadium. Can you see why it’s not out of the question that they could be a lowly 1-and-6 going into that Lions game on 10/31?
It doesn’t help things that the injury bug continues to spread. Left guard Isaac Seumalo has now been lost for the season with a Lisfranc injury that will require season-ending surgery. Safety K’Vonn Wallace is heading to injured reserve with a separated shoulder. Listen, all teams have injuries, I get that. However, this feels like Déjà vu for the Birds as once again their offensive line is banged up and that NEVER bodes well for a team and their ability to win.
My last Eagles item is about the penalties. In Atlanta the Birds were penalized 14 times for 89 yards. Then against San Francisco, it was 8 penalties for 57 yards. Finally, on Monday night, the Eagles were hit for 13 penalties for 86 yards. That’s 35 penalties in three games, the most the Eagles have ever committed in that time span. Hey, you want your team to lead the NFL in something, but not in the most PENALTIES!
As I write this, the Phillies have lost a close game 2-1 in Atlanta. That loss has taken them out of the NL wildcard race, and they are essentially on “life support” regarding their chances to win the N.L. East. Zack Wheeler allowed two runs in seven innings, but that was one too many when the offense came up empty (again). In the loss to the Braves, the Phillies could only manage three hits, all of them singles. Down the stretch, the offense has looked good against teams like the Cubs, Orioles and Pirates, but not as hot against a good team like the Braves.
So, it looks like the Phillies postseason drought will continue, and for that, you have to start playing the “blame game”, right? I mean, you can’t blame Bryce Harper as he’s had what might STILL be an MVP season. If the Phillies did make the playoffs, you’d think he’d be a lock. I think he’ll just miss out, despite some outstanding numbers this season.
I do think some of the blame falls on manager Joe Girardi, as he’s certainly made some questionable decisions with regard to lineups and how he’s run the team.
But, to me, the ultimate blame falls on the shoulders of former GM Matt Klentak and former team president Andy MacPhail. The fact that a team with a payroll north of $200 million lacks the pitching depth to avoid a bullpen game every fifth day says that the team is still paying for the mismanagement by Klentak and MacPhail. Late in the season, the Phils cleaned house on the front office side of things. Let’s hope that’s the start of actually finding some talented ballplayers to come and join the organization.
Which brings us to the Sixers. Keeping in mind that the theme for this column is sports & drama, is there a Philly pro sports team with more drama right now than the Philadelphia 76ers? Ben Simmons has told the team he won’t report to training camp and wants to be moved. The latest drama came when Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris and Matisse Thybulle were all going to fly to L.A. to meet with Simmons in person to try and convince him to stay with the Sixers. Except Simmons sent back word that basically said “don’t come”. On top of that, his camp has now floated a story that Simmons doesn’t think he can win with Embiid and that’s another reason why he wants out. Plenty of drama for sure, but there’s one thing to keep in mind. It isn’t like Simmons is in the last year of his contract. He’s under contract for FOUR more years. I hope the Sixers keep fining him and make him sit. Don’t give in to his petulant behavior, and don’t move him for “pennies on the dollar”. Stay tuned.
One thing that I hope people do tune in for is the new Sixers play-by-play announcer for TV as they have hired Kate Scott to replace Marc Zumoff. Scott becomes the second female to be named a full-time play-by-play announcer covering an NBA team and the first female play-by-play announcer for a pro sports team in Philadelphia. Good luck Kate, and may I be the first to say, in a good way, “GREAT SCOTT!”
From hockey, the Flyers are back on the ice for preseason action, but you’d better buy a program if you want to figure out who all the skaters are. I’ve written before about the seven key offseason additions, and after one game, we’re not going to really know yet how much of an impact the new guys will have. What I did see in the first preseason game was a team that was more committed to defense and more committed to killing off penalties efficiently.
The Flyers lost 3-2 in overtime, but their two goals both came from young players. Egor Zamula snuck a puck past Cory Schneider to put the Flyers up 1-zip, and Maximo tied things up at 2-2 to send the game to overtime. Those are the bright spots. However, it wasn’t encouraging to see team captain Claude Giroux turn over the puck in 3-on-3 overtime and watch helplessly as the Islanders skated down the other end of the ice to win it. Hey, it’s just ONE game. And it’s preseason. Let’s hope things get better moving forward.
On the local front, the ShopRite LPGA Classic, presented by Acer, is finally here. Hey, I can’t wait like last year there were NO fans at the event to watch Mel Reid win at Seaview. Six past champions are in the field, 15 LPGA winners from this season are in the field, 11 LPGA tour rookies are in the field, and one sponsor exemption with local ties.
Keep an eye out for 17-year-old Megha Ganne of Holmdel as she comes back to play at Seaview for the second year in a row on a sponsor exemption. She’s extremely popular after her performance this past summer at the U.S. Women’s Open in June at Olympic Club. Now, with fans allowed to return to Seaview, expect Ganne to draw big crowds as she first tried to cut and then perhaps hoist the trophy at the end.
The 54-hole tournament runs Friday-through-Sunday and for ticket information, you can head to shopritelpgaclassic.com
As always, I’ll close with a few items from entertainment as I went to two concerts in two weeks. First, I saw my favorite tribute band “Get the Led Out” as they came back to NJ and played at the Music Box inside Borgata. Then, I followed that up by going to Ocean Casino Resort to watch 71-year-old George Thorogood for the first time. I was impressed that after a 45-year career of touring, he and his band were still “Bad to the Bone”!
Speaking of rock stars, most people know Bruce Springsteen, but it’s his longtime bandmate and friend Stevie Van Zandt who has a new book out that I can’t wait to read. The book is called “Unrequited Infatuations” as it covers not only Little Stevie’s time with Bruce and the E Street Band, but also his role on The Sopranos and his origins as a bar band rocker in New Jersey. I’m expecting some GREAT stories from this book, and can’t wait until it arrives in my mailbox in a few weeks.
Once again, I have to close the entertainment portion with some sad news. Longtime “Sex in the City” actor Willie Garson passed away way too soon at the age of 57 from pancreatic cancer. I was also extremely sad to learn of the passing of comedian Norm MacDonald who privately fought a nine-year battle with cancer and died at the age of 61 on September 14th. Both men were extremely talented, and both men are gone too soon.
If you’ve followed the news lately, you know that this Covid-19 pandemic is not over. It is my continued hope that you stay safe, stay healthy, and when you’re indoors if a place requires you to wear a mask, it’s for a reason. Please lead with KINDNESS.
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” 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 and Friday on 97.3 ESPN at 5:30pm, and if you see him out & about in the community, he requests that you please say “Hi”. Send comments to PBrooksT@aol.com
