What’s Brewing With Jen Includes Chess Champions And Huge Waves

See what was brewing with Jen Scordo today. Every day on The Best Show Ever? Jen Scordo shares a few recent weird and interesting news stories. Today that includes a chess world record and surfing a 100-foot wave… Here are her stories from today.

60-Hour Marathon Chess World Record Broken

A Nigerian chess champion has broken a Guinness World Record with a 60-hour chess match.  Or marathon.  60 hours is definitely a marathon chess situation… Tunde Onakoya played against the U.S. chess champion Shawn Martinez in Times Square recently.  They played for two and a half straight days only breaking for 5 minutes each hour.  The previous record for chess playing was set at 56 hours, 9 minutes and 37 seconds.  That was set by two Norwegian players back in 2018.  Guinness has not confirmed the record yet, but it seems primed to stand.  Onakoya was raising money for educational charities in Africa.

[Source - Pennlive.com]

Surfer Nails 100-Foot Wave

German surfer Sebastian Steudtner just demolished his own record for surfing the biggest wave ever.  Sebastian was in Nazare, Portugal and grabbed a wave that measured 93.72 feet.  That’s an almost 100-foot wave.  Geez.  Nazare is in a unique location and evidently attracts surfers from around the globe.  The waves surge in Nazare’s canyon-like area.  Sebastian actually smashed the previous record of surfing a 86 foot wave, set by himself. Back in 2020 in the same spot.  He shared video of the waves in Nazare and the footage is unbelievable.  I’m scared just looking at this guy’s Instagram page.  I can’t imagine actually trying to ride one of these waves.  He has teamed up with tech companies to find where the big waves will be in the world at any one time and also how best to actually ride the waves.

[Source - CNN.com]

Just a few more days until the NFL Draft. Who will the Eagles pick at 22? Will they go with a cornerback for the first time in 20 years? Will Howie stick with an offensive lineman? Or maybe an edge rusher to replace Haason Reddick? What do the "experts" think the Eagles will do? Let's do an Eagles Mock Draft Roundup to find out which way the Eagles might go.

Mock drafts often vary in accuracy. Predicting specific players to specific teams is very difficult. But what the best guys do usually get right is the type of player or the position a team will target. Looking at every mock draft might not get you the exact player, but it may hint at which direction a team is going to go.

Last year, late in the process, we did actually start to see Jalen Carter show up a lot in Eagles mock drafts. The year before Jordan Davis was a popular pick as well. There is some method to the madness with Mocks, even if most get it wrong.

Here is (nearly) every mock draft from a major outlet, and who they have the Eagles picking at 22. Some have the Eagles trading up, and a few have them trading down.

Shoutout to Brendan Gunn who did the legwork for this. I came into work fully prepared to go through dozens of Eagles mock drafts. But by the time I got in, BGunn had already done that for me as a reference to help Andrew Salciunas and John Kincade in the mornings. So I borrowed his hard work to make my job a little bit easier.

Edge rusher is arguably a need now that they traded Haason Reddick. But me personally, I would hate this. Not because I don't like Verse, I do. But because you are now giving up two picks, to address something that never needed to be a need. In Reuter's draft, Laiatu Latu went at pick 23. You could stay at 22, pick Latu, and then still have your 2nd round pick.

See his full Mock Draft here. 

This one I would be very happy with. Cornerback is obviously a need, and Cooper is among my favorite corners in the draft. He could also play inside, or even at Safety if needed. Staying at 22, and getting a great player, that fits a need, is an ideal outcome on day 1 of the draft.

See his full mock draft here.

Another corner whose name I would be happy to see on draft day. Wiggins is an athletic freak and may have the highest upside of any corner in this draft. He ran the fastest 40-time for any corner at the Combine.

See His Full Mock Draft Here.

Kool-Aid is my favorite potential pick. Not just because he has the collect name in the draft, but because I think he will be a special cornerback. He was also a leader with Alabama. The Eagles saw a lot of their leadership on defense leave, and Brandon Graham will be gone soon as well. Getting a potential future leader in on that side of the ball would be a plus.

Another Wiggins pick. Again, would be over the moon with this. He is not just fast as hell, but he is a technician. his small size is slightly concerning, but we saw Devonta Smith overcome the same issue as a WR.

Read His Full Mock Draft Here.

The Eagles taking an O-Lineman is a real possibility. they like to get ahead of things. And purely for replacing Lane, Mims makes sense. My problem with him is he does not have Guard versatility, at least not that we know of. If they take an O-Linemen at 22, for me, it needs to be someone who can start at RG for 2 years. I am not spending a 1st on a guy who won't play until 2026. Not with how many other needs they have.

Yet another person mocking Wiggins to the Eagles. Seems like he is a popular pick. Cornerback is definitely the popular position, but Wiggins in particular is the name coming up most often.

Wiggins again... People really love connecting him and the Eagles. That makes sense. He is not my favorite of the corners, but I won't complain if he ends up in Midnight Green.

If they are going to take a lineman, this is the way to go. Latham can play right away, and eventually replace Lane. Dicecco joined the Fanatic and told us he would go OL in the 1st round, because there is more depth at corner, and he likes their chances to get a good corner later in the draft more than he likes their chances to get a O-Linemen. For what it's worth, he has the Eagles taking Rutgers corner Max Melton in the 2nd round.

Again, nothing against Mims the player. He could be a very good RT. But I hate redshirting a 1st round pick, for possibly 2 years. Especially when you have so many needs on defense. They don't have the luxury of this type of pick.