Philadelphia Tribune - Index

Philadelphia Tribune - Sunday, September 07 2008 - Index

EAGLES VS. RAMS
Eagles hoping to look
sharp in season debut
Rob Maaddi
PHILADELPHIA — Perhaps the
schedule makers knew the Eagles
haven’t had much success in season
openers when they booked
the St. Louis Rams for a visit to
Philadelphia this week.
Surely, a team coming off a 3-
3 disaster could make it easier
or the Eagles to start their seaon
with a win on Sunday.
Not so fast.
“It’s not last year’s Rams team,
where they were decimated by
injuries,” coach Andy Reid said.
“They have everybody back, and
they have a lot of talent on that
football team. That’s the way our
guys are preparing themselves for
this game.”
The Eagles are 3-6 in Week 1
under Reid and have lost 10 of
their last 14 openers since Rich
Kotite led them to three straight
victories from 1991-93.
Philadelphia looks to parlay the
momentum from a strong finish
last year — it won three in a row
to end up 8-8 — into a fast start
this season.
“To be able to start the season
off the right way, it builds confidence
early on,” quarterback
Donovan McNabb said. “To set
the tone at the very beginning of
the season will do a lot for you as
the season continues on. It’s
important that we do start off on
the right note and be able to go
into each week knowing that if we
all do our jobs individually, good
things can happen. We can do
that this year and it starts this
week.”
A healthy McNabb is a main
reason why a few national prognosticators
have picked the
Eagles to win the NFC, even
though fans and reporters who
follow the team on a daily basis
aren’t so high on their chances.
Since losing the 2005 Super
Bowl, the Eagles have finished
last in the NFC East twice in three
seasons. Of course, injuries and
turmoil played a role both times
Philly fizzled.
“Our goal is to win the Super
Bowl,” All-Pro running back
Brian Westbrook said. “That’s
what we expect of ourselves.
That’s our ultimate goal. However
Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb (5) passes as Shawn Andrews, behind left, defends against
New England Patriots’ Mike Wright in the first quarter of an NFL preseason football game on Aug.
22 in Foxborough, Mass. — AP PHOTO/MICHAEL DWYER
that comes throughout the season.
Of course there is going to be
adversity and things like that, but
we want to win the Super Bowl
and that’s what we expect.”
Two players the Eagles are
counting on heavily to help them
reach their goal will make their
Philadelphia debuts against the
Rams. All-Pro cornerback Asante
Samuel, who signed a huge contract
in the offseason, plays his
first game for the Eagles after
spending five years in New
England. Rookie wide
receiver/punt returner DeSean
Jackson plays his first real game
in the NFL after an impressive
preseason.
Samuel makes up one-third of
possibly the best cornerback trio
in the league, although Lito
Sheppard is unhappy he’s not
starting over close friend Sheldon
Brown.
The speedy Jackson gives
McNabb a potential playmaking
target he can use to spread the
field. Jackson wasn’t expected to
make an immediate impact on
offense, but an injury to Kevin
Curtis created a hole.
“I would expect him to play at a
high level on a consistent basis,”
Eagles – Page 2C
Myers, Dobbs lead Phils by Mets
Mike Fitzpatrick
NEW YORK — Brett Myers
buzzed through the New York
Mets’ lineup, pitching eight dominant
innings and leading the
Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-0 victory
Friday night that cut their NL
East deficit to two games.
Greg Dobbs hit a two-run
homer off Mike Pelfrey (13-9), and
the Phillies took the opener of a
crucial three-game series between
the top teams in the division.
Philadelphia, which rallied past
the collapsing Mets last
September, handed New York
only its sixth loss in 23 games.
Brad Lidge got through a shaky
ninth, retiring Carlos Beltran and
Ryan Church with two on to end
it.
Shane Victorino helped manufacture
a run in the first inning,
giving Myers all the offense he
needed. The right-hander allowed
three hits and struck out 10 in
another overpowering performance,
winning his fourth straight
start.
After struggling early this season
and even going down to the
minors to polish his game, Myers
(9-10) is 6-1 in nine outings since
coming back from Triple-A Lehigh
Valley on July 20. He has not
allowed a run in three of his past
four starts, yielding only two runs
in his last 31 innings.
Lidge remained perfect in 34
save chances this year. He completed
Philadelphia’s NL-leading
11th shutout this season, while
New York was blanked for the
fifth time.
David Wright doubled with one
out in the ninth and went to third
on Carlos Delgado’s single. But
Beltran flied to shallow left on a 3-
1 pitch and Victorino ran down
Church’s long drive to center.
With two meetings left this
weekend, Philadelphia improved
to 6-10 against the Mets this season.
The Phillies won the final
eight matchups last year and
overtook their rivals to win the
division.
Philadelphia is looking for
another comeback this
September, and Hall of Famer
Brett Myers Phillies – Page 2C
Upshaw’s death leaves void in union
Chris Murray
Tribune Staff Writer
With the sudden and tragic
death of Gene Upshaw, longtime
executive director of the
NFL Players Association, the
organization is not in a hurry to
fill the void left by Upshaw’s
loss, according to league and
player’s union sources.
The NFLPA’s executive committee,
which is made up of NFL
players, will at some point hire a
firm that will conduct an extenive
search for candidates and
eview all the applications for
he position and eventually narow
it down until they make a
inal decision.
Even with the Collective
Bargaining Agreement with the
players slated to expire in 2010,
league sources are saying the
NFLPA is not in a rush to bring
in a new executive director. The
players who make up the executive
committee are apparently
looking for someone who has
labor relations experience.
Among the possible candidates
that have been mentioned
as replacements for Upshaw are
former NFLPA presidents Troy
Vincent and Trace Armstrong.
Former Atlanta Falcons offensive
lineman Mike Kenn might
be in the running. According to
a Sept. 4 article in Forbes magazine,
interim executive director
Richard Berthelsen is also a
possible candidate for the posi-
tion.
Player agent Ron Todd of
Ronald C. Todd Associates,
based in Dayton, Ohio, said
whoever is hired as the new
executive director of the NFLPA
is going to have to be someone
who can look out for the best
interests of the players while
establishing the kind of relationship
that Upshaw had with the
NFL’s Labor Relations Council.
“Gene had a great rapport
with the management council,”
Todd said. “He stood stern and
firm by what he thought was
right. They knew that and they
had to respect that.”
Todd said the one thing that
players and the owners have to
understand is that both sides
need each other in a situation
where the NFL is easily the most
profitable of all the professional
sports leagues.
“Somebody has to give in
order to get. In negotiations,
there is no free lunch, you can’t
get everything that you want,”
Todd said. “They’re going to
have to get to a point to where
they, the management counsel
and they, the Player’s
Association, come to a point to
where there’s equal ground.
“You can’t get everything.
We’re not kids here. That person
in there is going to have to work
with (NFL Commissioner Roger
Goddell) and with the owners.”
Upshaw – Page 2C
C SECTION
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Hurt Brown
out of lineup
for opener
The Philadelphia Eagles
could play the season opener
without their two top wide
receivers after Reggie Brown
missed his second straight
practice Friday.
Brown has been sidelined
since straining his left hamstring
in the second preseason
game against Carolina.
He took part in individual
drills on Wednesday, but sat
out the next two practices
and is doubtful for Sunday’s
game against the St. Louis
Rams.
Kevin Curtis is already out
indefinitely after having surgery
for a sports hernia.
Curtis had 77 catches for a
team-high 1,110 yards and
six touchdowns last season.
Brown had 61 receptions for
780 yards and four TDs.
Coach Andy Reid says the
Eagles will employ a receiverby-committee
approach.
Reggie Brown
Rookie DeSean Jackson,
Greg Lewis, Hank Baskett
and Jason Avant will rotate
at the two spots. — (AP)
After six years
Williams back
in Open final
Serena Williams backhands a shot back to Dinara Safina, of
Russia, during their semifinal match at the U.S. Open tennis
tournament in New York, Friday. -- AP PHOTO/CHARLES KRUPA
Howard Fendrich
NEW YORK — Serena
Williams wound up and
smacked a shot directly at
Dinara Safina early in the second
set of their U.S. Open semifinal.
The ball hit Safina near her
shoulder, ending the point, and
she quickly turned her back to
the net, muttering as she
walked away, ignoring Williams’
attempts to apologize.
Not much later Friday,
Williams tried again to say
“Sorry,” except this time both
players were standing up at the
net after the American wrapped
up a 6-3, 6-2 victory. Now
Williams can take aim at a third
championship at Flushing
Meadows and ninth Grand Slam
title overall.
It’s Williams’ first U.S. Open
final since 2002, when she beat
older sister Venus. This time,
they met in the quarterfinals,
and Venus was in the stands
Friday, cheering.
“Overall, she’s, I think, the
strongest player on the tour,
together with her sister,” said
second-seeded Jelena Jankovic,
who will meet the fourth-seeded
Williams in the final. “Nobody
has the power that they have.
We cannot compare.”
Still, Williams got off to a
shaky start against Safina, the
younger sister of 2000 U.S.
Open men’s champion Marat
Safin. Broken in her first service
game, Williams fell behind 2-0,
but she won seven of the next
eight games, eventually doing a
much better job than Safina of
dealing with wind that gusted at
over 20 mph.
Safina wound up with 41
unforced errors, and she repeatedly
rolled her eyes or shook her
head or shouted at herself in
English or Russian, much the
way her brother does. A few
points after being pelted by the
ball, Safina hit her fifth doublefault
of the match and yelled, “I
hate the wind!” Two points after
that, Safina pushed a backhand
long and Williams broke to lead
2-1 in the second set.
The whipping air played
havoc with serve tosses — the
women combined for 11 double-
Open – Page 2C