August 09, 2016
The Eagles open their preseason schedule Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Bucs and the best advice we can give is to tell you to make sure you get there … late.
Well, at least make sure you don’t leave early.
Because the first preseason game is a perfect prelude for this season – it’s about the future. The future, in this case, is quarterback Carson Wentz.
Wentz is scheduled to play in the second half of the game and that is why the fans shouldn’t even be tempted to leave early.
In most cases during the preseason, fans just want to get their collective eyes on the starters. Just think back to last year when everyone waited to see Sam Bradford, and it reached an absurd high point very early when Bradford and the offense lit it up against the Green Bay Packers.
Fast forward to this year, this season, this week, and you will see all eyes trained on the future. In fact, this is so weird that it’s not even the backup quarterback who will be the focus.
Nope.
Chase Daniel doesn’t even figure into the equation. Even though he is the guy who will replace Bradford in case of injury, the eyes of the fans will scan right past him to Wentz.
Welcome to the soft opening for the Eagles 2016 season, when all eyes are on the guy who they hope will lead them in 2017.
Can’t wait for the kickoff on Thursday night.
The second half kickoff.
***
Big props are due to U.S. swimmer Lilly King, not only for winning at the Olympic Games but also for wagging her finger in the direction of Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova.
Efimova and the entire Russian team have been linked to state-directed doping in the past and there are many athletes who believe the IOC should have banned the entire Russian entity to these games.
Instead, the IOC genuflected to President Putin and the Russians, allowing each sport to make independent decisions.
King and the entire U.S. team were advised to take the high road when asked about the Russians, but King took her own path and literally pointed a finger of shame in the direction of the Russians – something that should have been done by the IOC.
***
Major League Baseball has slipped further and further into the background as far as a must-watch sport in the United States.
This is especially true during the Olympics where so many eyes are turned to competitions you only see every four years with the accompanying personal stories.
However, the baseball adage that on any night you can see something you have never seen before continues to be true, and over the last several days there have been many instances to prove that.
Start with the local nine, and the week began on Sunday with the Phillies turning a triple play. Mind you, this was no second-rate triple play, but a really rare play that went around the horn. This was that amazing triple play that you actually practiced as a kid with the bases filled with runners, a hard grounder to third, touch the bag, throw to second – and then over to first.
One … two … three outs. How sweet.
The next night Brandon Crawford of the San Francisco Giants got seven hits in eight plate appearances against the Marlins, including a single in the 14th inning to provide the winning run. Crawford became only the fifth player in history to accomplish the feat and the first since Pittsburgh’s Rennie Stennett turned the trick in 1975.
The same Monday night, when Chase Utley went yard against his old pals on the Phils, the St Louis Cardinals engineered a remarkable comeback victory over the Marlins. Trailing by four with two outs in the ninth inning, the Cards won the game when the next seven batters reached base.
The winning rally included three walks and two hit batsmen, the last being Yadier Molina who got beaned to force in the winning run.
It might have long lost its status as the prime sport in America, but virtually every night there is something to note in baseball.
***
Another era of baseball comes to a close this Friday when Alex Rodriguez plays his final game with the New York Yankees.
Rodriguez has piled up more money in contracts than any other player in the history of the game, close to $400 million. His more important numbers are the actual baseball statistics which should land him in the hall of fame.
But then there is the whole matter of the steroids, the stern denials, the following apologies, the on-again/off-again good feeling with the fans.
It’s been a long, strange trip for A-Rod and for all fans who have watched the sport rise and struggle with the use of steroids.
