Extra points
By Pete Thompson
By the time you read this, Eagles Training Camp will be well underway and along with it come the gigantic expectations for the Birds this upcoming season. If the Eagles are not your team, you still should be excited because essentially now through February 12, 2023, the NFL will dominate the sports landscape almost every day again! February 12th is the date for Super Bowl LVII (57), which will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Come to think of it, my Aunt Donna lives in Mesa, Arizona. Hmmm. If the Eagles make the Super Bowl, I think she just might be getting a visit from me in February!
Since I last wrote, the Phillies got swept by the Cubs in their first series coming out of the all-star break. However, they then went on to post a dramatic win over the Atlanta Braves, who currently lead the race for a National League Wildcard spot. The Phillies also sign their top draft pick as he visits Citizens Bank Park. GM Dave Dombrowski appears to be a “buyer” as the MLB Trade Deadline approaches on August 2nd. Meanwhile, the return of Bryce Harper appears to be delayed slightly. The Eagles officially report to training camp at the NovaCare Complex in South Philadelphia with super high expectations. Plus, the NFL announces a new way for you to “geek out” on NFL content if you so desire. The Sixers big news in the past week was that they would like to build a privately-financed arena in Center City near the site of the old Gallery. That sparked major public debate. On the local front, a Holy Spirit grad continues to shine for the Reading Phillies. Plus, they’re down to the final four in the South Jersey South Shore Baseball League playoffs.
Even though the headline is about football, I feel compelled to begin with the Phillies as they came out of the all-star break and “laid an egg” against the Chicago Cubs. It’s bad enough that they lost 15-2 in the first game back from the break, but then to follow that up with a 6-2 loss and a 4-3 loss to a team that’s going nowhere? Unacceptable…! That was the Cubs first series sweep of the season, and the first time the Cubs have swept the Phillies in Philadelphia since 2000. Again, can you tell I’m “Phrustrated” with this team?
Of course, they followed that up by posting a dramatic come-from-behind win over the NL wildcard leaders, the Atlanta Braves on Monday 7-25 by winning 6-4. Bryson Stott homered, doubled and drove in five runs. Alec Bohm doubled and had three hits for the Phillies. Even when they frustrate me by getting swept, the Phillies are definitely not out of the NL wildcard race. Remember, three teams qualify this year, instead of two.
Prior to that win over the Braves, the Phillies officially signed their top draft pick, Justin Crawford, son of four-time All-Star left fielder Carl Crawford. The younger Crawford signs a contract for $3.894 million. He’s from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, and two other Phillies players with Vegas ties were eager to give him some grief (endearingly). According to Crawford, Bryce Harper and Bryson Stott needled him with Harper saying, ‘You’ve got to give up that No. 3,’” Crawford said. “I’m like, ‘You’ve got that, man. Don’t worry. I’ll give that up.’” Crawford wore No. 3 in high school, a number taken by the 2021 NL MVP.
And then there’s the MLB trade deadline on August 2nd. By the time you read this, Phillies GM Dave Dombrowski could have already made a move to bolster the Phillies roster. What’s interesting is that they have so many needs, it will be curious to see exactly what moves he makes. I said on the radio with Billy Schweim on 97.3 ESPN that I think another starting pitcher is their biggest need, but I also think they need a true centerfielder, a true leadoff hitter, and they could always use bullpen help. None of those assets come without a price though, so again, I am very interested to see what moves Dombrowski makes. He’s been known to make moves, so I don’t expect him to stand pat. Stay tuned.
One final Phillies update and that’s the latest on the thumb injury that’s keeping Bryce Harper out of the lineup. There was hope that the Phillies star, who has been out since breaking his left thumb on June 25th, would have the pins removed from his thumb last week. That didn’t happen yet, and Harper will have to wait at least another week to have the three pins removed from his thumb. No matter what, it’s clear the Phillies are missing his production in the lineup. Coming into the series with the Braves, the Phillies only scored seven runs in three losses over the previous weekend against the Cubs, and only scored 42 runs over their last 14 games. In 64 games this season, Harper is hitting .318 with 15 home runs and 48 runs batted in.
Moving on to football now as you can tell from the top of the column, I’m excited to see how the Eagles move forward in the second full year of the pairing of Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts. After reaching the playoffs together last year, but losing to Tampa, will this combo reach new heights in 2022? I think this is a “prove it” year for Hurts, as the team certainly made some splashy offseason moves. The Eagles traded for star wide receiver A.J. Brown , and added several potential difference-makers on defense, including edge rusher Haason Reddick, cornerback James Bradberry, and rookie defensive lineman Jordan Davis. As a result, there’s an argument to be made that they should be able to improve off last year’s 9-8 record and be more competitive in the playoffs.
But, if the Eagles are to meet the high expectations, it will require improvement from Hurts and, by extension, Sirianni. The soon-to-be 25-year-old Hurts completed just 60.6% of his passes last season, which was in the bottom five of the league’s starting quarterbacks. Hurts struggled with accuracy and was inconsistent at times with his decision-making. Some of his inefficiencies were washed away by his ability to impact games with his legs, especially after Sirianni shifted to a run-first approach with Hurts posing as a threat to keep handoffs and attack the backside of a defense. In the end, with Brown joining second-year receiver DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert, the Eagles have at least three receiving threats capable of amassing 1,000 yards through the air. They also have one of the best offensive lines in the league coming off a dominant 2021 season. Oh yes, it is hard for me to contain my excitement!
My last piece of football news is that the NFL has launched its own subscription streaming service, offering live games, replays, and on-demand content. But NFL+ is far from a one-stop destination for football fans: To get the fullest array of content — and to access it wherever and however you want — you’ll need to subscribe to other streaming and linear services. The basic tier, at $4.99 a month or $39.99 annually, offers local and primetime games — including the Super Bowl, live — but you can only watch games on smartphones or tablets. To watch them on a TV, you’ll need separate access to ABC, Amazon Prime Video, CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC, and NFL Network, depending on the game. For me, I subscribe to Amazon Prime already, so that’s about all I need in addition to finding out-of-town games on over the air channels. I do pay for NFL RedZone and enjoy watching that. It will be interesting to see what impact NFL+ has on NFL RedZone, if any.
The launch of NFL+ comes as the league locked up broadcast rights for the next decade in a historically expensive set of deals with networks and streamers. The broadcast networks, plus ESPN and Amazon Prime, paid a collective $113 billion for rights that run through 2033. That means old-fashioned TV (or a live-TV service like YouTube TV or Hulu+ Live TV) is still pretty necessary — for now.
I can’t believe I’ve written this much so far and not addressed the Sixers big announcement that they want to build a new $1.3 billion arena in Center City. The team’s proposal would demolish a block of the Fashion District shopping center and build atop a key public transit hub near what used to be the Gallery shopping center. The proposed new home for the Sixers would be built on Market Street between 10th and 11th Streets, over SEPTA’s Jefferson Station and would be completed in 2031, the same year the Sixers lease runs out at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia.
Reaction to this one was swift and mixed. A lot of folks immediately jumped to the issue of parking, but developer David Adelman pointed out that there are 29 parking garages with almost 9,000 spots within a ten minute walk of the proposed site. Others cited “not feeling safe” in Center City, but who knows what things will look like nine years from now? My take on it is this, the Sixers have been “renters” at the Wells Fargo Center ever since the late Ed Snider & Comcast sold the team to Joshua Harris and his group. I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be able to build a privately-financed arena where they can keep the majority of the revenue. Plus, this is the wave of the modern NBA arenas. The “concrete oasis” of parking that surrounds the Sports Complex in South Philadelphia is nice, but I believe it is becoming a thing of the past. I say let them try to build this “76er Place” and let’s see what happens. Nine years is a long way to figure out traffic patterns and other issues. For now though, consider me ON BOARD with the idea.
I’ll close with some local items as Holy Spirit graduate and Egg Harbor Township native Mike Adams continues to excel with the Reading Fightin Phils at the Double-A level. Adams, 27, allowed one hit and struck out three in a shutout inning on Sunday July 24th to improve to 6-0 on the season there. As I write this, In 26 games this season, including one start, the right-hander has a 7.09 ERA and 42 strikeouts in just over 39 innings pitched. Go Mike go!
Closer to home, the South Jersey South Shore Baseball League (SJSSBL) semifinals are here with a best-of-three series in each pairing. The number four seed Northfield Cardinals play the top-seeded South Jersey Surf. The Surf are coached by former Atlantic City Surf manager Jeff Ball, and they won the league in its inaugural season last year. Meanwhile, the second-seeded Buena Blue Dawgs play the third-seeded Absecon Outlaws. I would expect that I will be venturing out to Birch Grove Park one night soon to check out a playoff game in this wood bat league and urge you to do the same.
I’ll close with my usual thanks and let you know that I am very thankful for your readership and hope you will patronize the businesses you see in the pages here. Remember, 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
