As expected, the defending Super Bowl champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will play in the first game of the NFL season on Thursday, Sept. 9. They will come up against the Dallas Cowboys, who should be in much better shape now that they will have their starting quarterback Dak Prescott back from a significant ankle injury. As an Eagles fan, I will be rooting for the Buccaneers to win this game.
The Philadelphia Eagles will start out against the Atlanta Falcons and their team’s projected powerful offense. This offense is made up of Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and Kyle Pitts (a first round draft pick). In terms of the playoffs, I don’t think the Eagles will know much until the very end of the season, because they have four straight division games to wrap up their season. This setup will make it very interesting to follow right up to the end.
In golf last week, Rory McIlroy came back from a long dry spell and won the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow golf course. This is the third time in his career to win this event and it was close because he only won by one shot over Abraham Ancer from Mexico. What is significant about this victory is that he hasn’t won a tournament in almost two years. McIlroy loves performing with large galleries and he has said that his golf game was very much affected by the pandemic. He said it created motivational issues from having no fans for such a long time. It's great to see him playing well again.
Next week the PGA Championship is being played in South Carolina at Kiawah Island golf resort. I hope the weather isn't perfect and offers some challenge to the field of players. I say this because when the championship was played there back in 2012, the scores were just way too low and didn't offer enough challenge. This might get a laugh out of some of you in the fact that I remember the specifics of the event from that long ago.
Last week, the Philadelphia Phillies were in first place in the NL East division. Now they’re in second place, one game behind the New York Mets. The Mets have won seven games straight making the Phillies and other teams look pretty bad! I think the National League East division will be close the entire season because there isn't a standout team. This is setting this division up to have only one team make the playoffs this year. On the other hand, the National League West division will be very competitive between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres.
This is the last week of the regular season for high school spring sports teams. It's been great to see the successes this year after last year’s cancellation at the height of the pandemic. Good luck to all the teams that end up in the playoffs, but especially my alma mater Cape. Go Vikings.
-
A 2002 Cape grad and 2007 UD grad, Lewes resident Sumner Spence is one of the Cape area's biggest sports fans. Although he’s used a wheelchair his entire life, he has lived vicariously through his sports-playing father, brother, and friends, who gave him his love of sports. He hopes to provide new and interesting perspectives on the sports stories and issues of the day. Email Sumner at sumspence@gmail.com.
