Annoyances: A.J. Brown vs. DeVonta Smith fake news and the Justin Thomas Ryder Cup fiasco

I’ve been in Philadelphia for almost 30 years, in which time I’ve attended and watched thousands of press conferences and heard hundreds of inane questions whose intent clearly is to provoke. Looking at you, Howard.

This one takes the cake. I had to listen to the incident three times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. I spent a couple of days making calls, digging to see if there was any there there, but there isn’t. I mean, what the actual ...

Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Brown, who set the team record for receiving yards last season, was asked Monday (not by Howard) if he sensed that Eagles fans were “choosing sides” in their appreciation of him and DeVonta Smith, who set the team record for catches by a wide receiver last season. Was there a “Team A.J.” and a “Team DeVonta.”

No. There was, however, “Team Trouble-stirrer.”

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Brown handled the moment with deference, class, and mild rebuke.

“I have seen reporters asking each of us questions. I don’t think you should do that. I think you should just enjoy both of us. It’s not about me and DeVonta. We’re great together. We complement each other really well. That’s another Wide Receiver-1 on [the other] side,” Brown replied. “You should just appreciate both of us while you have us.”

This proposition is asinine both in concept and reality.

The problem with an assertion like this is that it can be the beginning of actual dissension. One player may believe the other has been whispering subversive feelings to a friend, or family member, or maybe even to someone in the press. As a species, receivers are divas, but there has been no evidence either on the field or off it that either Brown or Smith is dissatisfied with his situation or his place. It’s a creation, a fabrication, and maybe even a desire.

It also is transparent, and mildly slightly pathetic. The team has little controversy and little real news; the biggest preseason issue involved the backup quarterbacks.

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The players in question are unfailingly complimentary of each other. Their relationship has been purely symbiotic since Brown arrived via trade on draft day in 2022. They are the best receiving tandem in Eagles history by a long shot and the best in the NFL today, according to Randy Moss, an NFL analyst who also happens to be the second-best receiver in history.

There’s no smoke here. No fire.

About two weeks ago, cornerback Darius Slay, who mentors Smith, said, “It ain’t going to be too much longer we’re going to be saying Smitty’s the best receiver in the league ...”

But even in that interview, Slay, who is smart, was sure to quash any hint of dissent: “With A.J. pushing him, he learns so much from A.J. doing this, doing that. It’s destined for him to be like who he needs to be. A.J. is doing a great job leading him because A.J. is, by far, elite as hell.”

Elite as hell. Doesn’t sound like a man taking sides, does it?

Smith isn’t sweating it.

“I wouldn’t say we are competitive,” Smith said. “I would say we are stacking up against each other. We both go out there excited for one another. If one makes a play, the other is like, I’ve got to be right there with you.”

“We’re always trying to pour light into each other,” Brown said.

As good teammates should.

I love golf. For several reasons, I do not love the Ryder Cup. I especially have not loved the recent U.S. teams, including this one. Here’s one reason.

Six players qualified using a (flawed) points system, which left U.S. captain Zach Johnson with six captain’s picks to round out his 12-man team. All of his picks had warts — Collin Morikawa is adrift, Jordan Spieth is shaky, Rickie Fowler is only lately relevant — but none has as many warts as Justin Thomas, a popular player who just had the worst year of his career. Still, ZJ chose JT over Lucas Glover, the hottest American golfer alive.

In his six starts from early July to mid-August, Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, has written a wonderful reclamation story with two wins and five top-10s. He rose 136 spots in the world rankings, to No. 30; qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs; won the first playoff event; and finished tied for 18th in the FedEx Cup race.

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By contrast, Thomas, in his last 12 tournaments since the Masters on April 9, has missed six cuts, including five of the last seven. He missed the cut at three of the four majors and finished tied for 65th at the PGA Championship — or, almost last. Thomas failed to make the playoffs, so when he got the call, he hadn’t even played in three weeks. He has fallen to 26th in the world rankings, his lowest slot since 2016.

Granted, Thomas is 6-2-1 in Ryder Cup play, but expecting him to return to that sort of form by the end of September in Rome overnight is as crazy as assuming James Harden, who averaged more than 34 points in 2019-20, will score like that again in 2023 after averaging about 22 points since.

At any rate, the selection makes you wonder how much sponsors might have influenced the thinking of Johnson and his Ryder Cup vice captains. Both Johnson and Thomas are NetJets shills. Both appear prominently in Titleist and FootJoy ads.

It also makes you wonder how much the PGA of America, the United States’ Ryder Cup administrator, preferred Thomas, a well-spoken 30-year-old with 20 years of stardom ahead of him, over Glover, a dour 43-year-old with hyperactive sweat glands who is 14 years removed from his U.S. Open win.

Finally, you might also wonder how much the networks, seeking compelling story lines, influenced this choice. Justin Thomas rising at a Ryder Cup resurrection is a considerably more compelling story than Lucas Glover and his last, best chance to contribute to this meaningless biennial contrivance. For that matter, JT’s continued descent into golf purgatory is a more compelling story line than Glover’s — and, frankly, a much more likely occurrence than any phoenix-like rise.

The most compelling story line would be Thomas’ torpedoing America’s effort. I’m not wishing him ill personally — I think he’s been good for the game overall, despite his gay slur incident — but the Good Ol’ Boys system stinks. Always has, in every industry. With a decision like this, the American team deserves to lose.

That’s because, to a lesser degree, the selection of LIV Golf stud Brooks Koepka to Team USA sickens me. I like Koepka, and I sympathize with his defection to LIV — when he left he was injured and didn’t know if he’d have much more of a PGA Tour career — but his boss, Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman, just sentenced one of his subjects to death for a mean tweet. So, yeah, Glover over Koepka, too.

Also: There are no LIV guys on Team Europe. Added bonus: This excludes Sergio Garcia, the odious Spaniard.

So, yes. Go, Team Europe.