I have broadcast well over 4,000 games in my 40+ years at this job, about one-third of them football games. For the RCN-TV team, this past Saturday’s win by Parkland over Upper Dublin in the PIAA state football semifinal was our final football game for this season. Parkland will now play for the AAAA state title this Saturday in Hershey. The game will be on PCN starting at 6:00pm.
As exciting as this season was with the success of our teams, I am never real sad to put away the football clichés for another year (both the coaches’ and mine). As I was packing away my notes this morning, I looked at some of the things coaches told me and some of the things I wrote down as keys to victory. Take a look:
“We have to take it one game at a time.” – I know the thought here is that a team may look past another team or the coach does not want to offend the team that they are playing at the time, but really? You can only play ONE game at a time. Talk about THAT game and leave the cliché in the closet.
“The other team wanted it more.” – Over all my years of competing and broadcasting, I can’t remember a team NOT WANTING to win. You cannot practice WANTING TO WIN, but you can face a team that is better than you are on a given night or, even worse, perhaps they were prepared better and that might actually reflect on the coach who was asked, “Coach, what was the difference in the game?”
“He’s deceptively quick.” – Does that mean he looks slow, but isn’t? Or he’s not as slow as he is …. What? Am I deceptively handsome and, if so, is that a good thing? I don’t know either.
“They are better than their record indicates.” – Ouch!! I use this one often when the teams look like a complete mismatch. I am just trying to keep you from changing the channel. That makes me deceptively sneaky, doesn’t it?
“He gave 110%.” – No, he didn’t. No, he couldn’t. Need I explain? And why is it almost always 10% more than you can actually give? Why not make it 125%?
“He’s a downhill runner.” – What if the field is level (which it is)? Are there runners who run uphill on a level field? Who makes this stuff up? And why do I continue to use it?
There are certainly many others (“The defense bends, but doesn’t break”; “The quarterback had all day to throw”, etc.), but you have heard them time and time again and I have probably said them time and time again. But what can I say, “I write this column one blog at a time and try to give 110% and I think it is better than what others might indicate.”
Get the picture?
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
- Saucon Valley was one of the top four teams in the state in the AAA football bracket and they were beaten on Friday night by a 72-27 score by Imhotep Charter. Imhotep is a private school and gets players from all of Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. I know the PIAA does not want to consider separating private and public schools for their championships, but something seems wrong when these two teams compete on equal footing.
- Parkland is everyone’s favorite to win the EPC, but without their football players, they have started 2-3; 2-1 in the conference. They have Pleasant Valley and Northampton this week and should win both. Next Tuesday, however, they will play Central Catholic and the football players, at best, will have one day of practice. We will broadcast the Central game.
- How about Moravian Academy? They did not win a game last year. They are already 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the Colonial League East. I would be shocked if they compete for the title, but there has certainly been some marked improvement.
- I’m sure you are all wondering, “How is Gary doing with his NFL season predictions made before the season started? In the AFC, after 14 weeks, I picked every current first place team – New England, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Denver correctly. In the NFC, I picked the Packers, Seattle, Carolina, and the Eagles to win their divisions. Only the Eagles are tied for first. The others are in first place by themselves. A perfect 8 for 8. Now you know why I brought this up.
- The Eagles are tied with Washington and the Giants at the moment and have the Cardinals (uh, oh), the ‘Skins and the Giants left. The ‘Skins have the Bills, the Eagles, and the Cowboys left. And the Giants have Carolina, the Vikings, and the Eagles left. Very, very interesting!
NFL PICKS LAST WEEK – 10-6; OVERALL 129-79 (62%)
NFL PICKS (WEEK FIFTEEN)
ST LOUIS
JETS
MINNESOTA
JACKSONVILLE
HOUSTON
KANSAS CITY
BUFFALO
NEW ENGLAND
ARIZONA
CAROLINA
SEATTLE
GREEN BAY
MIAMI
PITTSBURGH
CINCINNATI
NEW ORLEANS
