Extra Points with Pete
Sports & Entertainment
By Pete Thompson
As we approach the end of February, it seems like we are turning a corner in our almost year-long battle against COVID-19. Governors in New Jersey and Pennsylvania have announced a plan for fans to be back in the buildings for pro sports moving forward. Parents have been able to attend area high school sports events recently in limited numbers. Yes, it does seem like we will still be wearing masks and socially distancing for a while, but it also seems like we are turning a corner.. I hope!
Since I last wrote, the Eagles have moved on from Carson Wentz. Now, how will they handle things with the #6 overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft? The Sixers are at the top of the NBA’s Eastern Conference, but continue to need bench help if they’re going to make a deep run in the playoffs. The Flyers took a direct hit from COIVD-19 as six regular skaters have been out a few games, including the big NHL Outdoor Game in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Finally, the full roster of the Phillies are in Clearwater to start Spring Training, but a prominent star announces an injury that might force him to miss the season opener. On the local level, area high school winter sports continue, and swimming has been added to the mix.
From the entertainment world, I watched two decent movies on Amazon Prime, both of which I’ll recommend. Plus, I’ve caught an Oscar winner for Best Picture on HBO twice in the last week or so, and am reminded of seeing it in the theater in 2012 when it first ran. As always though, we begin with sports, and my thoughts:
I’ll begin with Carson Wentz and what I posted on Facebook five hours after the deal was announced on February 18th right around 12 noon. Here are the details as I wrote, “Carson Wentz is traded to the Colts for a 2021 third round draft pick and a conditional 2022 draft pick that could improve to a one. While I still shake my head at how this happened, and make no mistake about it, Wentz’s career in Philly started to end the minute the Eagles drafted Jalen Hurts, my take is that I’m at peace with it.”
I continued with, “They got the best package they could. There’s no way that they were getting two #1’s, like the Lions did for Stafford. If he plays well, or enough, the 2nd round pick becomes a 1st. He’s going to the Colts. Frank Reich, Press Taylor and Wentz himself should be ecstatic with how this turned out.”
Then I said, “As for the Birds? They still end up with the highest dead money cap hit EVER. Go draft Devonta Smith or J’Marr Chase. Don’t take a young QB and let history repeat itself. Bring in a veteran QB as the backup and give Jalen Hurts a full year to see what he can do. Or, maybe they’ll trade down from six and get more “assets” as Sam Hinke always called them.”
And I made sure to include what was a popular picture on social media the day the trade was announced. A #11 Wentz jersey from the Eagles with the “Z” blacked out, so it just says “WENT”. Oh yeah, Carson definitely WENT!
My last item on the Eagles is about Howie Roseman. Many folks want Roseman fired because of his bungling of the Wentz situation. Owner Jeffrey Lurie doesn’t seem inclined to do that any time soon. Which means that even though Roseman might have done a satisfactory job getting out of this jam, he still has other jams he’s caused that we can’t overlook. Consider his roster dilemmas in the past with poor draft picks (Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas) and bad contracts (Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson), and you have to admit a lot of the franchise problems are caused by Roseman. The big-picture bottom line here is the Eagles traded their franchise quarterback because he lost faith in the organization’s ability to help him turn his career around. No matter how you look at it, that looks terrible to the fan base, to the league, and to other players who might be considering playing in Philly. Bad optics all the way around!
Let’s move on to basketball now, where the Sixers hold the top spot in the Eastern Conference as of this writing, but only by a half a game better than the Brooklyn Nets. The Sixers are most recently coming off a pair of games where Joel Embiid put up a career high 50 points and 17 rebounds in a 112-105 win at home over the Chicago Bulls. Then, they went to Tampa to play the Toronto Raptors and lost 110-103 in a game where Embiid and Ben Simmons only managed 53 points combined! The Raptors double and triple-teamed Embiid every time he touched the ball, forcing the other Sixers to step up, and Simmons did, making 9 of 11 shots en route to a game-high 28 points, the rest of the Sixers wilted. Once again, the Sixers bench was a liability as they were outscored 35-16. Toronto reserve post player Chris Boucher was too much for the Sixers to handle as he was the king of the pick-and-pop, scoring all 17 of his points after intermission, on 6-for-6 shooting, making five threes. Don’t think for a second that other teams aren’t going to look at that as the “blueprint” for beating the Sixers in the playoffs.
Which means, they’re going to need help for the bench. President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey is to be commended for getting the right starting five for Doc Rivers. Now, he needs to find some bench depth prior to the March 25th trade deadline. Kyle Lowry’s name has surfaced, but I think that one is a bit far-fetched. Names I’d be okay with include Philly native Wayne Ellington, former St. Joe’s star Langston Galloway, pure shooter and former Sixer JJ Reddick and finally, almost a Sixer Nemanja Bjelica. In 2018, Bjelica had an oral agreement with the Sixers, but backed out of it and told the team he was returning to Europe. Then he signed with Sacramento. Come to think of it, I’m not sure how Philly fans would embrace the one-time “traitor” that essentially picked the Kings over the 76ers.
At least the Sixers have been relatively healthy of late. The same cannot be said for the Flyers, as after winning in Washington on February 7th, saw their season abruptly come to a halt as COVID-19 invaded the dressing room. The Flyers missed four games and have lost twice in their return to the ice with a less than 100% roster. When they skated against the Rangers at home last week, they were fortunate to get a point in a 3-2 shootout loss. Things went from bad to worse though in the next game as the Boston Bruins embarrassed them in an “Outdoor Game” at Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Once again David Pastrnak lit up the Flyers for a hat trick, and while Philly was missing six regulars, it does signal some alarm bells to me that Carter Hart might be leaky.
The six players who missed the game because of the league’s COVID-19 protocol — Travis Konecny, Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek, Scott Laughton, Oskar Lindblom, and Justin Braun — are expected to be at practice at some point this week. That said, there are some problems right now no matter who is on the ice. The Flyers need to spend more time in their opponents’ zone, like they did last year in the playoffs. They also need to change the ridiculous shot-disparity, which is a negative 9.6 per game. You can’t let the opposing team get ten more shots on goal each game than you and expect to win too many games! Finally, the power-play tends to be too pass happy for my liking.
There are some bright spots though. The revamped top line of Sean Couturier, James Van Riemsdyk and Joel Farabee look really good right now. Farabee has as many goals (eight) in 15 games as he did in his entire rookie season last year! JVR is finally playing like the man they thought they traded for to bring back a few years ago.
The last pro sport to discuss is pro baseball as the entire Phillies roster is now at Spring Training in Clearwater, Florida. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we learned that catcher and standout star J.T. Realmuto has a broken right thumb. The newly re-signed catcher broke his thumb last week when a curveball from reliever Jose Alvarado skipped in the dirt and hit his hand. He first thought the injury was a bone bruise before he underwent a precautionary MRI. Realmuto said he was “kind of shocked” when he learned it was actually fractured.
That said, Realmuto also says at worst he might miss a game or two at the beginning of the season. So far, a cast on his right hand hasn’t prevented him from catching a bullpen session or even taking some swings with the cast on. The Phillies are not overly concerned with the injury but will be cautious with the catcher after signing him to a record-setting contract. If Realmuto is not ready for the season opener on April 1, his return should not be much later.
Even if he misses the season opener, you have to “tip your cap” to Realmuto’s skills as a recruiter as for the second straight season, he’s responsible for convincing a free agent to come and join the Phillies. Chase Anderson, just like Zack Wheeler last winter, credited Realmuto’s presence for swaying his decision to sign with the Phillies. For the second straight offseason, the thought of throwing to baseball’s best catcher helped convince a pitcher to join the Phillies. I’m not sure how you list that on the resume, but it’s a good “perk” that Realmuto brings with him.
Locally, in my last column I wrote about high school basketball being in full swing. You can add high school swimming to that mix, and since I last wrote, parents and a limited number of fans are being allowed to return to the games and events. Even though the schedule is much smaller than normal, I’m just happy these high school athletes are getting SOMETHING that resembles a season. I’m hopeful that when we get to the spring, and outside, that even more fans will be allowed to attend and things will start to get back to “normal”.
As always, I’ll close with entertainment as I caught two movies recently on Amazon Prime that I liked. The first was called “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things”, and I really enjoyed this one. Mark (Kyle Allen) is a teenage boy who has been stuck in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over again. Because of his knowledge of what will happen, and the freedom from consequences provided by the time loop, he spends much of his day engaging in random bizarre activities, such as driving construction machinery through town. At the community pool, he makes repeated attempts to impress a pretty girl by trying to save her from being knocked into the water by a thrown beach ball. One day, a girl named Margaret (Kathryn Newton) unexpectedly intervenes at the pool. Mark tracks her down and discovers that she is also living in the same time loop. At a brisk 99-minutes, if you like time travel and you like romance, this one is for you…!!!
I also checked out the drama “Miss Sloane” starring Jessica Chastain. Somehow I missed this one in 2016 when it first came out, but the film stars Chastain, Mark Strong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alison Pill, Jake Lacy, John Lithgow, and Sam Waterston. The film follows Elizabeth Sloane, a fierce lobbyist, who fights in an attempt to pass gun control legislation. However, she is left helpless when the opposing party digs deep into her personal life. I’ll say this, I first noticed Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty”, then loved her in “The Martian” and “Crimson Peak”. Maybe my favorite performance she’s given came in 2017’s “Molly’s Game”, but go back and check out “Miss Sloane”…you won’t be disappointed.
My last entertainment item is about the Best Picture winner from the 85th Academy Awards and that’s “Argo” by Ben Affleck. It’s based on the true story of C.I.A. operative Tony Mendez and what he did to get six Americans out of Iran during the 1979-1981 Iran Hostage Crisis. Now, is it historically accurate? No, in fact it makes the British and the folks from New Zealand look bad in just an off-handed comment. It also doesn’t give enough props to the then Canadian ambassador to Iran, Ken Taylor. That said, the film, starring Affleck as Mendez, along with Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman in supporting roles, was nominated for seven Oscars and won three. If you haven’t seen it and are looking for things to watch while COVID has you cooped up inside, you could do much worse that “Argo”.
I’ll close with my reminder to keep wearing those masks and staying socially distant please. Vaccines continue to be given out in New Jersey with more people getting vaccinated every day. I’ve signed up at covid19.nj.gov and urge you to do the same. Hopefully “normal” is coming soon!
