WATERCOOLER CHAT: PHILLIES VS HOT ARIZONA, FAVRE HELPING BROWNS, PRYOR WAITING FOR DRAFT

BASEBALL

 

In baseball, it was a battle between a possible first round playoff match-up between the dominant Philadelphia Phillies and a young hot Arizona Diamondbacks squad.  This was a good chance for Arizona to see if they could hit off, arguably, the best pitcher in the league in Roy Halladay. Halladay was remarkable Tuesday night, fanning 14 Diamondbacks.  He even got run support in the 5th inning when Shane Victorino hit a 2-run homer to right field.  The Phillies thought they had it locked up, but they didn’t account for Arizona’s never-say-die pride.  In the bottom of the 9th, Lyle Overbay doubled to deep right to bring in 2 runs and give the D-Backs a win!  Many baseball experts think Arizona’s success is due to their veteran leadership from manager Kirk Gibson (the former Dodger you see pumping his fist in that famous 1998 World Series).  This year, the Diamondbacks could go all the way.  Arizona 3, Philadelphia 2.

FOOTBALL

In the NFL, the Cleveland Browns go into every season hoping for a miracle.  Last year, they made the transition to rookie quarterback Colt McCoy — the former University of Texas standout.  McCoy played well, but not great.  So, looking for an immediate solution, the Browns hired a certain coach they thought could bring McCoy to the next level:  None other than old man Brett Favre.  Cleveland intends to run a form of the West Coast offense this season, a scheme that revolves around shorter passes to receivers, hitting them in their stride, and providing them with the best situation to gain big yardage.  Favre spent the past 20 years of his life mastering that offense, and the Browns thought McCoy could seriously benefit from his tutelage.  We’ll see if the experiment works.

Finally, the NFL usually holds what’s called a supplemental draft after the regular draft.  This is for players who did not ‘officially’ enter the regular NFL draft.  Obviously many players aren’t drafted in the regular draft, but they can still get picked up for training camp and get a chance to make the team.  But the supplemental draft is for players like star Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor.  As you may remember, Ohio State got into trouble during the NFL lockout for gift benefits, which led to the end of Pryor’s time with the Buckeyes.  So he was hoping for a chance to get picked up and signed in the supplemental draft.  But the draft was scheduled for yesterday, and was canceled — with no new date set.  Pryor may have to wait a year before he gets a chance to step on an NFL field.

 

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