Weekend Wrap Up “WWU”

After a looooongggg holiday weekend, I’m back to give you guys my take on this weekend’s action:

Ryan Howard’s Home Run Spree – Much like Tiger Woods, I’m running out of good things to say about this guy. He is quickly becoming my favorite Philly athlete of the last decade. He is so humble. He seemed genuinely overwhelmed by the fan reaction in Game One of the Sunday Doubleheader when he hit three dongs against the Braves to carry the team to victory. Surprisingly, he still seems to be learning every day. The way he turned on that inside pitch that he hit for an upper deck home run he hit on Monday shows that he’s continuing to improve every day. What a career this guy is going to have, huh?

As of Tuesday afternoon, Ryan’s up to 53 dingers. The convenient question now becomes, how much longer until he surpasses 61? As I told some friends on Sunday, if he reaches 62, he should get the real single season home run title. On the way to work this morning, I heard Mike Greenberg on ESPN Radio and Angelo on the WIP Morning Show saying the same thing. I hope he approaches 62. This story could pick up steam and force the incompetent Bud Selig to comment on the topic. That would make for some fun. I love to see that guy sweat.

Extra Innings, With a Walk Off “Chase-r” – Yesterday’s walk off home run by Chase was absolutely HUGE. If they lost that game, after another dominant pitching performance by Cole Hamels, things could have snow balled negatively and reinforced their inability to beat Houston. Now, they finally beat the ‘Stros and have a bit of confidence for the rest of this series, which dovetails into the “do-or-die” ten game run against the back from the dead Marlins.

Birds Cut Down to 53 – There certainly were some surprises here. Did the Birds really need to keep ten offensive lineman? Two of the guys they kept, Nick Cole and Pat McCoy, I’m guessing would have passed through waivers and could have been put on the practice squad, but we all know Big Red’s preference for the “big uglies”. Anyhow, I believe that cutting Darnerian McCants and J.R. Reed could really hurt the special teams. Something tells me that McCants will be back after week one when the special teams don’t look real special.

Five Days to E-A-G-L-E-S!!!! – I can’t wait!!! Opening day is almost here. As I’ve said earlier in this space, to me, the start of football season is the most wonderful time of the year and now the Birds first game is a short five days away against the snake-bit Texans. Big Red doesn’t have a great opening day record, but I love our chances this week. If you’ve followed events down in Houston, it’s pretty clear that things have not gone the Texans way after spurning Reggie Bush and alienating their entire fan base. I can see things getting REAL ugly down there once the Birds have their way with them.

Notably, the Texans have two South Jersey running backs, Ron Dayne of Overbrook High School and Wali Lundy of Holy Cross High School. Unfortunately for their family and friends, I don’t see them having any success against their home town team.

Overall, I’m still not sure what to expect out of the Birds. It appears that some people are going a little overboard over the Stallworth trade. I expect his arrival to help, but not make the team significantly better. The playoffs are possible, but I still see this year being a struggle. I release my official prediction later in the week.

US loses to Greece in Semis of World Championships – How is this possible? Really? How is this possible?!?!?! Not even the beloved Coach K and LeBron could save us this time. With all apologies to my buddy Nick M., but when the heck did the Greeks start playing basketball? I had no clue they were any good. In any event, I think our failures the last couple of years are starting to sink in with the basketball community. We are too busy raising basketball stars instead of basketball players. Fundamentals are eschewed, while individual play is awarded. What a shame. I used to like the fact that we could count on creaming the rest of the world in hoops. Oh well, we still have women’s softball.

Tiger Woods: Simply Amazing – My man the Captain alerted me to Tiger’s comeback yesterday to overtake Vijay and win his 5th straight tournament. I tuned it in just in time to see him drain a birdie putt on 17 from what appeared to be 25 yards away. There are no superlatives left to explain Tiger. Right now, it comes down to whether he is the most dominant athlete of my lifetime. I have to admit, he’s getting dangerously close to entering Jordan and Gretzky territory. If he dominates at the Ryder Cup, he is on my Mount Rushmore, along with Jordan, Gretzky and Lance Armstrong.

As the Sports Guy wrote last week, he needs to start handicapping himself to make this more exciting. Of course a lot of his ideas were tongue in cheek, but Tiger should pull a ridiculous Roy Jones, Jr. type stunt and play a tournament with two less clubs than the rest of the competition.

Borgata – “The Wife” and I decided to go down to Brigantine on Friday in the middle of Tropical Storm Ernesto to visit our friends George and Jen. (Admittedly, this was not the smartest idea.) While down there, “The Wife” took me to the Borgata for my maiden voyage. (I’m always behind on these things.) I was pretty impressed by the place. The lobby reminded me of the Venetian and the casino floor was very similar to the one at TI in Vegas. We also stopped by the B-Bar, where I quickly realized that I was not cool enough for that scene. So I tried to hide out and observe the goings on while sitting on one of their couches and having a few beers while watching the Notre Dame game. Finally, on the way out, we picked up our car at the valet parking area and I was astounded at the number of luxury vehicles down there. I suppose New Jersey really is the richest state in the country as the number of BMW’s, Mercedes, Lexuses, Infiniti’s and Volvos was mind boggling.

Rutgers Opens Up With a Road Win Against UNC – Sophomore Ray Rice rushed for 201 yards and three td’s in helping the my alma mater, The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University, open the season with a road win down in Chapel Hill. Heisman candidate Brian Leonard didn’t do much to get the attention of voters in a regionally national televised game, but likely made himself more money by showing off his blocking skills. Next week, the Fighting Illini head to the Banks of the Raritan to take on the Knights. RU is a 12 ½ favorite and looking for revenge after last year’s opening week melt down.

Miami vs. FSU – I haven’t seen that bad an offensive performance out of two major college powers in a marquee game since last year’s Miami/FSU game. How do these offensive coordinators still have jobs? Well, I guess I can understand how the FSU guy still has a job since his dad is the head coach, but how about Miami? They certainly have the athletes as they get a ton of good recruits every year, but the ‘Canes offense looked brutal last night. Miami QB Kyle Wright has the body of world beater, but must have the brain of an egg beater, because he sure had a hard time moving the ball last night. (I always loved that line.) In fairness to Kyle, he was pressured the whole night and his coaches did nothing to help him.

Agassi Done – I’m not a big tennis fan, but I always semi-cared about Andre. Now that I have stolen his look, I’m quite sad to see him go. He was a great champion and I can virtually guarantee that I won’t watch a second of any men’s tennis match until the U.S. finds a new standard bearer.