DeMarco Murray didn’t practice one day last week because his hydration level wasn’t ideal. Three days into training camp, the entire team took a 24-hour break. There have been – and will be – no two-a-days, no tackling to the ground, and no participation by the best players in the final preseason game.
Welcome to Eagles training camp 2015 – or is it Club Med?
Now, don’t get me wrong. The Eagles are hardly the only team in the NFL that has softened its approach since the good old days when men were men and training camp was pure torture. The players’ association has bargained all of the most punishing traditions right off the practice field, and coach Chip Kelly has completed the process with his dogged adherence to new-age sports science.
Is there any evidence that proves two-a-days compromise the health of NFL players? No, unless the alarming NFL concussion studies are evidence enough to change the very nature of the sport. It is, after all, football – the most violent game in America.
Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell had a term to describe what is happening in the NFL – and all over the country, for that matter: "The Wussification of America". He wrote an excellent book about it after the Eagles postponed a game in 2010 because of a snowstorm. Rendell’s argument was that leaders are so worried about lawsuits now, they always take the safest (and softest) way out.
At the risk of coming across as a cranky old man – which I am, by the way – I wholeheartedly agree with Rendell, and Eagles training camp is a vivid example of this gentler style. It seems as if football teams are more concerned now about things they can’t really control – like the ACL tear of cornerback JaCorey Shepherd on Sunday – and ignorant of the one thing that makes their sport special: toughness.
Murray missed two of the first four days of camp with his hydration issue and an illness that the Eagles refused to explain. In the big picture, these absences probably mean nothing, unless you believe that the coddling of players is negatively impacting the game. Didn’t Kelly’s timid approach send a message to Murray (and his teammates) to bail out at the first twinge of distress, the first sign of trouble?
Maybe I’m the wrong person to be whining about the softening of training regimens, having witnessed first-hand Buddy Ryan’s infamous camp in 1986. That six-week exercise in torture was so brutal, the writers covering the team were screaming for reinforcements before it was over. And all we were doing was standing on the sidelines.
The first day of that camp will be etched in the memory of everyone who witnessed it, let alone endured it. Having finally received a head-coaching job after a career as a defensive assistant, Ryan sent a message right from the start. By the end of the second practice on the first full day of camp, 13 Eagles had been treated for severe dehydration, 10 in the hospital.
Ryan’s approach was ridiculous, of course, but the coach’s thinking was not. He believed that you train players to be tough the same way you teach them how to tackle, how to block, how to throw. He also believed that coaches programmed players, even then, to perform below their capacities by babying them.
What is happening at Eagles camp right now, and in all the other 31 camps in the NFL, is part of a wider movement to ease the demands on professional athletes. Why else are pitchers limited to 120 pitches per game, by four days off between starts, by no more than two relief appearances in a row? Why do NBA players almost never play all 48 minutes per game? And why do NHL goaltenders rarely appear in back-to-back games?
HBO’s Real Sports has a terrific piece running now about youth leagues that believe every kid should get a trophy. The do-gooders in the segment argue that each young player is special in his or her own way, and they all deserve a prize for their unique nature – even those kids who quit after the first practice.
The best part of the story is the interviews with child psychologists who say there is no empirical evidence to support this approach. No study shows that kids turn out better if they are rewarded for doing poorly, or for doing nothing. There is a study showing that mice in a maze tend to get lazy if the cheese is put right in front of them. They are trained not to work hard. They get fat.
Is there any evidence that proves two-a-days compromise the health of NFL players? No, unless the alarming NFL concussion studies are evidence enough to change the very nature of the sport. It is, after all, football – the most violent game in America.
I don’t think the unions are helping anybody by coddling their players, nor are coaches like Chip Kelly, who have convinced themselves that the best way to stay healthy is not to play football.
But then again, I am indeed a cranky old man, and I remember a time when the NFL was a lot tougher than it is today.
***
Don’t do it, Pat Gillick. Do NOT trade Chase Utley.
This sudden realization started with the jarring vision of Jimmy Rollins playing last week in Citizens Bank Park, but wearing the uniform of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Meanwhile, Cole Hamels was starting his new life as a Texas Ranger by wearing a familiar color – red – but a radically different logo. Sadly, 2008 was a long time ago.
There is one face that should remain a Phillie for as long as he chooses, or at least until his contract expires at the end of the season. That’s Chase Utley, the most beloved player from the championship team and the person who best embodies the blue-collar ethic of the city he has represented for 13 years.
Rumors have been circulating for months that Utley could be one of the last victims of the roster purge, a waiver acquisition for a contender in the days or weeks ahead. When I asked GM Ruben Amaro – who will have to defer to president Gillick on the final decision – he would not rule out the possibility, if the price is right.
The price can never be right, not for the diminished 2015 version of the best second baseman in franchise history. At most, the Phils will get in return a middling prospect, a nondescript name not worthy of association with Chase Utley. Is this really the way the Phillies want the exhilarating Utley story to end, a disposable hero dispatched to places unknown for the next J. C. Ramirez or Tyson Gillies?
No, not Utley. He is the closest thing we have to Derek Jeter in New York, or David Ortiz in Boston. He represents far more than a player well past his prime, still trying to defy time for one more month, maybe one more season. Fan memories are important, and Utley is the foundation of the most treasured moments in Phillies history.
You will hear and read many rumors in the days ahead of Utley leaving the Phillies the way Rollins and Hamels did, especially after a 4-for-10 weekend that included a rare smile in San Diego. It’s time to rebel, Philadelphia. Let the team know you want one player to get the special treatment he has earned. If Utley decides to continue playing elsewhere next season, it should be his decision.
With every hard run down to first, with every dive for a ball in the hole, with every dirty uniform, he has earned that right.
And we have earned the right to remember him as a Phillie forever.
***
This is the last mention of the Sixers that you will see in this column until this outrageous franchise begins treating its loyal fans with the respect they deserve. As a lifelong fan myself – even before I moved to Philadelphia – I am insulted by their outrageous behavior.
The current source of my anger is the 30-day blackout in information about center Joel Embiid, the team’s most important acquisition since reclusive GM Sam Hinkie took over two years ago. All we know is that Embiid re-injured his right foot sometime in the spring and will (probably) require a second surgery that will keep him off the court for a second straight season.
Hinkie issued a statement on July 12 emphasizing the scope of the search for medical opinions on Embiid – a quest that included Qatar, no less – but has not seen fit since then to update fans on when (or if) the young player will (or has already had) the operation. It’s a fine line between being wary of public comments and insulting the fan base. The GM has crossed that line repeatedly.
There is very little recourse that a writer has if a team tries to change the rules on communicating with fans. He can rant the way I have for months here and on my WIP radio show. He can speak directly to team representatives and express his distaste, which I have, loudly. And he can do what I’m doing right now – ignoring all attempts the team has for the free publicity a website like this one offers.
Now, I’m sure PhillyVoice.com will be keeping you updated on Sixers news with the same commitment to excellence it has had in the past, but you will be reading no opinions by me on what this sorry collection of carpetbaggers are doing to our basketball franchise.
This decision is not designed to change anything; I’m not delusional. It is merely a statement that somebody needs to say or do something about a franchise that sees no reason to treat its fans with respect.
As of right now, the Sixers are dead to me.
And finally ...
• Last month, Sports Illustrated named Philadelphia the most hated fan base in the NFL. Last week, USA Today called us the most depressing football city in America. Keep it coming, you cliché-addicted hacks. Spread the word to all the visiting teams in all the major sports. Philadelphia is the roughest, toughest city in sports. Hide your women and children. Beware. We bite.
• Does anyone outside of Philadelphia ever actually pay attention to how our fans behave? Jimmy Rollins received standing ovations all three days he was here with the Dodgers last week, and 43.000 fans turned out for Eagles practice on Sunday. Are all of our great moments disregarded because we threw snowballs at Santa Claus? Really?
• So far, the Cole Hamels trade is looking like a steal for the Phillies. The former ace has gotten battered in his first two starts in the American League, and Nick Williams – the highly regarded young outfielder who was one of five highly regarded prospects who came here in the deal – hit a ball so far last week in Reading, it hasn’t landed yet. Bravo.
• During the first Eagles public practice last week, Chip Kelly actually tried to get all of the guests on the sidelines to put their cell phones away. The secretive Eagles coach didn’t want anyone taping his plays. Hello? There were 20,000 fans in the stands at Lincoln Financial Field. The purpose of a public practice is to take pictures and video, isn’t it?
• Two days after declaring that no one in the NFL could stop him, DeSean Jackson suffered a separated shoulder when he fell into a tackling dummy last week at Redskins’ camp. The ex-Eagle will miss a week or two. After the mishap, it was hard to tell which took the harder hit, Jackson’s shoulder or his credibility.