Sports & Entertainment
By Pete Thompson
I chose that as the headline for this week’s column because I think that’s how a lot of the fans of Philly sports teams feel right now. The Sixers are out. It’s “getting late….early” for the Phillies. The Flyers still don’t have a head coach, but then there are the Eagles. They made a move that appears to have folks excited. 72 holes were not enough to decide a winner at the PGA Championship. Meanwhile, on the local front, the folks at Seaview have opened up their wallets for some big-time renovations to the Bay Course just in time for the upcoming ShopRite LPGA Classic. And, I want to acknowledge two local crew teams who returned to South Jersey with some hardware from the Stotesbury Regatta in Philadelphia.
Remember, Extra Points is now sports-only. If you’re looking for my entertainment perspective, check out my other column that’s called “That’s Entertainment”. So, without further ado, here are my extra points this week from the world of sports:
I’ll begin with the Sixers again, and the NBA in general. As I write this, there’s a report out that the Lakers are still trying to figure out a way to possibly trade for coach Doc Rivers. He has three years left on his contract with Philadelphia though, and like I wrote last week, Daryl Morey has said he doesn’t want Rivers going anywhere, so this again seems like news for the sake of generating news.
I’ve had some folks ask me who I’m pulling for in the Boston-Miami series, and I answer that “you have to root for the team that took you out right?” It validates the loss, in my opinion. So, I’ll slightly root for the Heat. In the West, I love Steph Curry, and the Warriors are up 3-zip as I write this, so I’d be comfortable with a Golden State-Miami NBA Finals.
In baseball, the Phillies came off a great road trip, but then could only manage a 2-4 homestand against San Diego and then the Dodgers. Thankfully, Zack Wheeler was outstanding on May 18th when I was in person to see him go seven innings, striking out nine in a 3-0 win over the Padres. The best part was that the game was a quick 2 hours and 44 minutes. On a school night/work night, that was a real treat as we were up there to celebrate my Dad’s birthday and my girlfriend’s son’s birthday as well. Always nice to get a “W”.
But, I write about how things are “getting early….late”, and by that I mean that the Phillies are 19-22 and 8 games back of the N.L. East leading New York Mets as they begin a series with Atlanta as I write this. To me, this is a critical road trip for the Phillies as they have four at Atlanta followed by three at the Mets before coming back home to start a series with San Francisco on Memorial Day Monday.
In hockey, the Flyers are reportedly going to meet with Barry Trotz about their coaching vacancy. I’d love to see him as the next bench boss, but even if he chooses somewhere else, like Winnipeg, Vegas or Detroit, meeting with Trotz can still be a good thing, as he’s been a head coach with two Metropolitan division teams in Washington and then the Islanders. Again, if Trotz wants to come to Philly, I say hire him tomorrow. But stay tuned.
Eagles fans are definitely locked in on the Birds and their off-season moves as once again, Howie Roseman is showing that the franchise is in “win-now” mode. Since I last wrote, Roseman went out and signed former Pro Bowl cornerback James Bradberry. Bradberry was released by the Giants because of salary cap issues, but his one-year, $7.5 million dollar deal with Philadelphia seems like a bargain to me. Now, you can line him up opposite Darius Slay and have two established corners, along with Avonte Maddox and what was a questionable secondary becomes kind of serviceable to me. Put me in the category of being very excited about this move.
Nostalgically, I was curious to see where QB Nick Foles would end up. Foles, of course, led the Eagles to a win in Super Bowl LII, and there was talk he might come back to Philadelphia to close out his career. However, he ultimately chose to sign as a backup to Matt Ryan with the Colts. Foles will be reunited with Frank Reich, who was his offensive coordinator in Philly when he won it all. Good luck Nick…just not against the Birds!
I have some golf items, starting with the 104th PGA Championship at Southern Hills, where Justin Thomas rallied from 7 strokes back to force a playoff and ultimately win the Wanamaker Trophy for the second time. Thomas was one stroke better than WIll Zalatoris in a three-hole aggregate playoff, however it was almost a three-way playoff as Chilean golfer Mito Pereira seemed like he would win the tournament, then at least get in the playoff, before he had a meltdown on his 72nd hole. I was happy to see “J.T.” win, as his grandfather Paul was a PGA teaching professional and his father Mike is also a PGA teaching professional. Good symmetry there to see Justin Thomas win. And his caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay, who used to caddy for Phil Mickelson.
On the local front, I was in attendance for the official ribbon cutting to celebrate the major renovations on the Bay Course at Seaview Hotel & Golf Club in Galloway. The 108-year-old course got a new technically-advanced drainage system for the unkers, cart path upgrades (no more crushed sea shells), just in time for the ShopRite LPGA Classic in a few weeks as well as the busy summer season.
The ShopRite LPGA Classic is the longest running professional sports event in Atlantic City, having debuted in 1986. The tournament annually plays host to the best female professional golfers in the world as they compete over three days for a $1.5 million prize. The tournament is back to the traditional June dates, and I urge you to go to shopritelpgaclassic.com for more information on tickets. You can get a pair of tickets for FREE just by showing your ShopRite Price Plus card, so I hope you’ll get out and watch some of the golf as tournament play takes place on Friday June 10th through Sunday June 12th.
My last local item is about crew, as I want to offer congratulations to the Holy Spirit girls JV 8 and the Atlantic City girls JV 4, two local teams that brought back trophies from the Stotesbury Cup Regatta on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. Congrats girls!
Once again, if you’re looking for entertainment news, I urge you to check out my new column called “That’s Entertainment” elsewhere in this issue of Shore Local.
I remain very thankful for your readership and hope you will patronize the businesses you see in the pages here. The LOCAL in Shore Local comes from the support of those businesses, so please support them!
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 5:00pm, and if you see him out & about in the community, he requests that you please say “Hi”. Send comments to PBrooksT@aol.com
