GRR: Columns
This is an Op-Ed contribution from Joseph Sweeney. Sweeney is a longtime colleague of Mike Tolkin's, and was a teammate and co-coach of Tolkin's dating back to high school. He is currently the Xavier HS Program Director as well as Xavier's Dean of Faculty.
Chris Wyles has been a supremely important player for the USA national teams.
He was a steadying force through some pretty serious upheavals, and as he retires from international 15s duty, it's worth looking back and tipping your hat.
The retirement of Chris Wyles from playing 15s for the USA is the latest in what should be a series of shifts for the USA Men’s National Team this year.
I have been fortunate to work on a few webcasts recently as a play-by-play or color commentator (actually, I did 16 games in the space of ten days but who’s counting?), and I have some opinions that have sprung up from those experiences.
A few thoughts about the USA’s performance in Dubai:
Did you notice that Mike Friday started Kevin Swiryn and Will Holder in the 3rd/4th game against New Zealand?
After using only two subs in the last-second loss to England in the semifinals, Friday Nate Augspurger, Will Holder, Kevin Swiryn, and Carlin Isles. He didn’t use Maka Unufe and Madison Hughes at all.