Sports & Entertainment
By Pete Thompson
Coaching is going to be a strong theme here in my latest column. The Eagles have a new head coach. A baseball legend who “coached” us to accept players of all colors has passed away. A local high school coach also tragically is no longer with us.
Since I last wrote, the Eagles have officially named a new head coach. It also appears that several key coordinator or assistant coaching positions are being filled. The Sixers have been solid, but can’t seem to win if Joel Embiid is not in the lineup. The Flyers got off to a hot start, but have since “fallen back to Earth”. Meanwhile, the Phillies continue to shore up their bullpen with velocity in mind. Speaking of the fastball, a local athlete has a chance to actually pitch in professional baseball in a story reminiscent of the Disney movie “The Rookie.” Finally, on the local high school level, we sadly say goodbye to an area high school football coach and community leader.
From the entertainment world, I’m a little late to the game, but I’m enjoying an NBC show with a musical twist. I also got a pleasant surprise while I was watching the AFC Championship Game on CBS the other day. As always though, we begin with sports, and my thoughts:
The Eagles have hired Nick Sirianni to be their next Head Coach. Just 39 years old (he turns 40 on June 15th), Sirianni becomes the franchise’s 24th head coach. He’s the second-youngest hire, as Dick Vermeil was 39 years and 100 days when he took over in 1976. Sirianni comes to Philadelphia from Indianapolis, where he was the offensive coordinator under former Eagles OC Frank Reich. Carson Wentz had his greatest success with Reich in charge, so it makes sense that the Eagles hired what they think is the “next best thing”.
Of course, the first thing to do is to hire a staff, and Sirianni wasted no time in plucking away two Colts assistants and a veteran defensive line coach for his new staff while retaining an important holdover. Reports are that Colts defensive backs coach Jonathan Gannon will be the Eagles’ defensive coordinator and Colts passing game specialist Kevin Patullo is reportedly joining the staff as a passing-game coordinator. Also, longtime NFL and Southeastern Conference assistant Tracy Rocker is expected to become the Eagles new defensive line coach.
The holdover is a key piece though, as reports are that the Eagles will retain offensive line coach and run-game coordinator Jeff Stoutland. Stoutland reportedly had the chance to rejoin Nick Saban’s coaching staff at Alabama two weeks ago. The veteran coach spent two years there before joining the Eagles in 2013, but he’s now staying with the Eagles. Chalk this up as a HUGE holdover in my book as everything on offense begins with the line and the line protection.
Then there’s the coach that’s no longer here. Reports are that Duce Staley is leaving the Eagles to become assistant head coach and running backs coach in Detroit. That’s the same title he held with the Eagles under Doug Pederson, but after getting passed up for the head coaching job for a fourth time, he’s leaving to work under new Lions coach Dan Campbell in Detroit. I’ll miss Duce and I know he was highly respected by the players. You have to wonder if Duce was on board with Carson Wentz as the starter, and that cost him the top job. Either way, he’ll forever be an Eagle and beloved in this city for his contributions both on and off the field.
In the end, Nick Sirianni has his work cut out for him. The new Eagles coach is taking over a football team that won just four games this season and has a quarterback — Carson Wentz — who finished at or near the bottom of just about every significant NFL passing category. His success (or failure) will be tied to #11, just like Doug Pederson’s was in the end.
In basketball, the Sixers are 12-6 after 18 games, but an eye-opening 0-4 in games where Joel Embiid doesn’t play. Losing 119-114 to the Pistons in Detroit the other night was disheartening as Detroit is the league’s worst team so far. Embiid’s absence made it hard for the Sixers to open up the floor for their sharpshooters. Defensively, they were doomed by an inability to guard the Pistons. Dwight Howard, who started in place of Embiid, had a game-worst minus-23. Danny Green (minus-19), Seth Curry (minus-16) and Tobias Harris (minus-11) were also getting schooled. To me, this is a REAL concern, but coach Doc Rivers doesn’t seem worried just yet, saying after the game, “Not much,” he said. “Honestly to me, it’s what [18] games into the season. I don’t have a lot of panic concerns at this point of the season with all the of the guys that have been in and out. I really don’t worry about it that much. Obviously, you have to win games without Joel. But you have to get your team in order first.”
One more item from the NBA as the one-year anniversary of the death of Kobe Bryant is here. We didn’t just lose an NBA star and legend, but also his 13-year-old daughter Gianna who was aboard the helicopter with him as well as seven others. Bryant was well known to Philadelphia fans before his 20-year NBA career with the Lakers that included 18 All-Star appearances. He was an All-American at Lower Merion High and talented enough to go from high school directly to the NBA. Sure he heard boos in Philly in his playing days, but I think most people would agree that Kobe Bryant is definitely missed!
Moving on to hockey next, as the Flyers began the season off hot with two straight wins at home over arch-rival Pittsburgh. Then they split a home series against Buffalo, before struggling in their first pair of road games in Boston. As I write this, they’re on the road for a pair in New Jersey and things are looking shaky for sure.
The injury bug has hit the Flyers early as Selke Award winner Sean Couturier went down with a rib injury against Pittsburgh on January 15th. The Flyers then went 1-2-1 in his absence. Defenseman Phil Myers has missed time too, and the big problem so far has been the penalty kill. It’s no coincidence that the Flyers are just 5-for-11 on their penalty kill in their three losses. Overall, their penalty kill, which is missing the injured Sean Couturier and Phil Myers, is clicking at just 63.6%, which was 28th in the 31-team NHL as of the writing of this column.
The Fly Guys might get some help on the blue line as defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere seems poised to return from a bout with COVID-19 right after training camp. Also, Couturier is already skating, and that’s a good sign. When they drop the puck for the first Flyers-Devils game in Newark, Claude Giroux will surpass Bobby Clarke on Tuesday for most games played (611) in franchise history as the Flyers’ captain. A lot of people question Giroux’s leadership, but don’t count me in that camp. He might not be flashy, but “G” simply gets the job done!
Not long after my last column, the Phillies made some news by signing reliever Archie Bradley to a one-year deal worth a reported $6 million. Bradley throws consistently in the high 90’s, and is one of five relievers the Phillies have added this winter who throw harder than 94 miles per hour. This seems to be a change in thinking for the Phillies as last year they had just one reliever — rookie JoJo Romero — armed with a fastball that averaged faster than 94 mph. It’s no coincidence that the bullpen combined for baseball’s worst E.R.A. in 90 years and averaged the ninth-slowest pitch velocity (88.3 mph) in the majors.
Speaking of velocity, here’s an item that will make you think of the Disney movie “The Rookie”. Local product Mike Adams figured his baseball dreams were done five years ago in Pomona, New York when he gave up playing for little money for an independent league team. He came back home, opened up the Baseball Performance Center in Pleasantville with Ed Charlton and pitched in the summer for the Margate Hurricanes of the ACBL. But something cool happened along the way. As Adams was helping others discover a few more miles on their heater, he actually found himself throwing harder too! At Wagner College, his fastball topped out at 94 mph, but recently, he threw in front of major league scouts and his fastball zipped at 98 mph. The same big league teams that passed over Adams in 2016 when he came out of college were suddenly interested. Adams quickly signed a one-year deal to pitch for his beloved Philadelphia Phillies, the team he grew up rooting for. He will fly to Clearwater, Fla., sometime in March or April for spring training before being assigned to one of the minor-league affiliates. Since the Baseball Performance Center opened in Pleasantville in 2017, roughly 150 players have gone on to earn pro contracts or college scholarships, each of them signing their name to a wall the facility before leaving to start their journey up the baseball ladder. Now, Mike Adams is at the bottom rung, and I will be rooting like heck to see him succeed!
Henry Louis Aaron certainly was a success in baseball! “Hammerin’ Hank” passed away last week at the age of 86, but not before he helped open up white America’s eyes to the fact that an African American baseball player could excel at the highest level. His 755 home runs broke the record set by Babe Ruth, and stood for 33 years until Barry Bonds surpassed it. Even when that happened under the suspicion of steroid use, Aaron didn’t attend the game in person, did send Bonds well-wishes on the JumboTron. That was Hank Aaron. Classy right until the end.
My last item before I get to entertainment is a sad one folks are mourning the sudden death of Joe McDevitt from complications from COVID-19. McDevitt leaves behind his wife Ailyn and two children. McDevitt was a former Atlantic County freeholder, a former teacher at Atlantic City High School and was recently appointed to the Ventnor school board and to serve as the sending-district representative to the Atlantic City school board. He was also a coach with Holy Spirit and a Spartans alum (’85). Thoughts and prayers to all who knew Joe. An outstanding man indeed!
I’ll close with two items from entertainment as I’ve discovered and am enjoying “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” on NBC. The series stars Jane Levy as Zoey Clarke, a software developer who discovers she has the ability to hear the innermost thoughts of people as songs. Each episode features multiple song-and-dance numbers that develop the storyline. The choreographer on the show is Mandy Moore (not the singer), who also did the choreography for La La Land. If you’re looking for something uplifting and fun, check out “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.”
My last item is about a commercial that ran on my TV the other day when I was watching the AFC Championship Game on CBS. I have to admit, after years of being on TV myself, it was a pretty surreal moment to be watching NFL football and realize that the national spot for Mercari that was running had my niece Connie as one of the actors in the commercial! She appears on a couch with her dog, Bonzai, in her lap, and I couldn’t be more proud. Hopefully an agent and more acting gigs are in her future as she’s trying to make a go of it in New York City.
A reminder to keep wearing those masks please! I’ve signed up at covid19.nj.gov and urge you to do the same. Hopefully “normal” is coming soon in 2021!
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
