This popped up in an ESPN story written by Jackie MacMullan.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, a movement began this year to address concerns of mental health in the NBA. Kevin Love came forward to describe his struggles. DeMar DeRozan did the same. The NBA recently launched the “Mental Health and Wellness Program”, which is being funded by both the league and players association. Dr. William Parham was brought in to be the program’s first director.
Related to that, MacMullan’s article featured this nugget:
Yet there remain many obstacles to confront, chief among them the stigma attached to mental health that prompts many players to suffer in silence. The union also insists that mental health treatment be confidential, but some NBA owners, who in some cases are paying their players hundreds of millions of dollars, want access to the files of their “investments.” That is not, however, the league’s position. “The NBA fully supports protecting the confidentiality of players’ mental health information and, accordingly, committed to the players association that any mental health program we undertake would do so,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass says.
Confidentiality, says Love, has to be non-negotiable. Without it, he says, he never would have become comfortable enough to announce from that All-Star dais that he was seeking treatment.
It’s also a legal issue. I can’t imagine how NBA owners would navigate HIPAA laws to get those files. Lawyers would be licking their chops to take that case, if it ever made it to a courtroom.
Nothing sums up the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles “Dream Team” like the week three 29-16 home loss against the New York Giants.
It was late in the first quarter, New York up 7-0, when Eli Manning saw a wide-9 Eagles blitz and hit Victor Cruz on a simple flare pass. Kurt Coleman missed the first tackle, then Nnamdi Asomugha whiffed on an arm tackle, clattered into his teammate, and Cruz took it in 74 yards for the score.
Cruz went on to score 9 touchdowns that season and rack up 1,536 yards as the Giants won the Super Bowl. The Dream Team finished 8-8.
He had another 1,000 yard receiving season in 2012, then came back to Philly and tore his patellar tendon reaching for a pass in the end zone in 2014 He missed the entire 2015 season with a separate calf issue, returned to put up okay numbers in 2016, then was released by the Giants.
He was just never the same after those injuries, but really became a thorn in the side during the tail-end of Andy Reid’s tenure. Cruz finished his career with 45 catches for 679 yards against the Birds, snagging five total touchdowns. He put up 75 receiving yards on average in 9 games vs. Philly.
I nearly spit out my coffee when I saw this on Twitter:
When did Marty Mornhinweg turn into Andy Reid? pic.twitter.com/quXNoxtNAl
— Rachel Micali (@RachelMicali) August 21, 2018
Haha.
God bless Marty Mornhinweg. Guy gave 10 years of his career to the Philadelphia Eagles. Then he went to the Jets to become Rex Ryan’s offensive coordinator, which lasted two seasons until Todd Bowles was brought in.
Doug Pederson’s book comes out today, titled “Fearless: How an Underdog Becomes a Champion.”
It was co-authored by Dan Pompei of Bleacher Report and The Athletic, and – ironically enough – Pederson turned down an offer to have ex-critic Mike Lombardi write the book instead.
That was probably the most interesting excerpt floating around the internet, pre-release. Also intriguing is a passage that details Pederson’s displeasure with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who decided to run out the clock at the end of the first half instead of pushing for more points against the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
Vito Stellino, who is not an extra in The Godfather but a Hall of Fame sports writer, lays it out after the jump:
Carson Wentz returned to 11-on-11 drills Sunday.
Yesterday marked the return of Brandon Graham to practice:
Roster Move: DE Brandon Graham has been activated from the PUP list.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/bkbI1sNO8w
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) August 20, 2018
If all goes right with Graham, he should be ready to go come week 1 against Atlanta. But defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz mentioned the first step is to get him back in the first place. He’ll probably participate in individuals before slowly getting into team drills.
As for another player getting back into the mix, Carson Wentz once again said it’ll be “close” as to whether or not he plays week 1. It’s also not his call when he gets cleared for contact, which is up to the doctors, although he’s still feeling good out on the field. I think he still plays in the season opener.
There are still questions over the health of Alshon Jeffery and Tim Jernigan. We don’t know when Jernigan might return, but it’s expected he’ll miss some time. As for Jeffery, he still hasn’t suited up for practice since the end of last season and there also haven’t been any real updates to when he might return. It’s been rumored he could start the season on the PUP list, but those rumors were quickly shut down.
We’re a couple days away from the third preseason game against Cleveland, which will go a long way to deciding roster spots and figuring out position battles. The team will also try and figure out the new helmet rule, and the NFL will reportedly send out new teaching videos to help out. Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said the rule will probably cost jobs and potential playoff spots. Other than that, enjoy the game rehearsal!
In other Birds news, Doug Pederson turned down an offer to have Mike Lombardi co-author for his new memoir.
A detailed look at how the team would preserve a sixth-round pick by cutting linebacker Corey Nelson.
In former Eagle news, Marcus Smith, who was recently cut by the Seahawks, is leaning towards retirement.
The Roundup: Continue Reading
Anthony and Bob discuss the Phillies’ continued struggles against bad teams, the flawed NL East, the Odubel Herrera problem, Aaron Nola as an MVP candidate, and the bullpen’s potential Achilles’ Heel.
Please subscribe to the show ([iTunes] [Google Play] [Stitcher] [RSS]), leave a 5 star review, and follow us on Twitter: @AntSanPhilly @BWCrossingBroad
Audio after the jump: Continue Reading
I’ll take the bait.
It’s a slow news day anyway.
Angelo writes a weekly column for Philly Voice, or maybe it’s twice a month. I’m not sure. I go over there to read Kempski, Neubeck, and Mullin.
This week’s column is titled, “It’s only preseason, sure, but Eagles have shown they’re far from perfect.” That part of the article is fine but Angelo then goes back to the 24-4 Phillies loss from last week, the first game of the double-header.
At the time, Angelo called the use of Scott Kingery and Roman Quinn as pitchers “disgraceful,” claiming that he was “embarrassed” to be a Philly sports fan the following morning. BWanks sort of shut that shit down – as Negan from The Walking Dead would say – in a story he wrote later that day.
The short explanation is that the Phillies were getting blasted in the first game and needed to save their bullpen for the second game to give them a chance to at least break even on the day.
Not good enough for Cataldi, who writes:
“The fact that the Phillies won the second game did nothing to stifle the rage fans felt the next morning, when complaints by baseball fans overwhelmed the usual flood of football calls after an Eagles game. As he is known to do, Kapler made the situation much worse by opening his mouth.”
Yeah, well, they played like shit in the first one. The rage should have been reserved for the myriad defensive errors the Phils committed that allowed the game to spiral out of control in the first place.
“You guys are going to spin this however you want to spin it, but the fact of the matter is, in the fifth inning when we’re down 11 runs, we started to prepare for the second game,” (Kapler) said. “We used strategy to best position the Phillies to win games. We’re going to continue to do that.”
Correct. The first game was lost. So you put yourself in a position to salvage the second half of the double-header.
The NFL’s new helmet rule is all the rage these days. Everyone is talking about it. About how dumb it is.
If you watched the Birds game the other night, I believe they got hit with three flags for lowered helmet hits – one against Rodney McLeod, one against Nigel Bradham, and one against Jeremy Reaves. Sidney Jones received flag in the first game, so that’s four helmet penalties this preseason, unless I missed one. Malcolm Jenkins was also flagged last week, but I believe that was ruled unnecessary roughness.
Everybody knows why the policy exists; it was added this year to prevent injuries and cut down on violent blows to the head. That’s not the issue. The issue is the enforcement of a rule that feels vague and flimsy.
In this clip, McLeod lowers his helmet, but the running back also lowers his. So who gets the flag? Only the defender:
If you thought there were A LOT of flags last year, wait till this season with the NFL cracking down (more than ever) on Defenders lowering their helmets.
Rodney Mcleod called for lowering his helmet: pic.twitter.com/EjzMlwlsh8
— Marc Farzetta (@MarcFarzetta) August 17, 2018
Reaves found himself in a similar situation, with the ball carrier lowering his head to brace for contact:
