The  views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

There have been some wonderful stories to follow for local sports fans so far this spring that we have covered on our “RCN SportsTalk” program.  Here are just a few of the Lehigh Valley highlights over the last two week’s worth of shows.

One of the area’s nicest and most skilled coaches took over the reins of the Northampton boys volleyball team this spring.  Sue Arndt has been a successful head coach at Emmaus and Catasauqua high schools, a local AAU program, and with an assistant at Dieruff when that program made a strong turnaround.

The K-Kids have a strong core of now senior players who have had great scholastic careers.  Now led by these 12th graders, the team has already posted some impressive wins this season.  With their aggressive, take-no-prisoners style on and off the court, they are looking to be major players in the post-season.

Speaking of volleyball, the Whitehall squad has gone underrated, in my opinion, for the last couple of seasons.  The Zephyrs were the 2017 runner-ups in both the EPC and the District XI championship games, but didn’t receive much mention in the local preseason previews.

Like Northampton, Whitehall is playing well and is looking to take the next step in the playoffs.

We talked a few years ago about the outstanding job Saucon Valley has done turning around its girls lacrosse program.

Now, defending District XI 2A champs seem determined to stay among the elite teams in the Lehigh Valley.

We caught up with the Panthers, currently undefeated, following another win over a bigger, EPC school and they seemed determine to keep their squad playing at a high level.

The Easton baseball team is once again having a fantastic season under head coach Carm LaDuca.

In addition to posting yet another EPC victory last Saturday, the Red Rovers also took the opportunity to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Easton team that advanced in the state playoffs, featuring both LaDuca and long-time assistant Greg Hess.

The Rovers will see some tough competition in the Class 6A district playoffs again in a few weeks, but another run in the PIAA tournament should certainly not be ruled out for this year’s squad.

With the playoffs upon us, there’s just a few weeks left in the high school sports spring season. If you have an idea for a feature, a team you’d like our cameras to stop by and visit or high school athletes who deserve a “Shout-out” on the show, email me at chris.michael@rcn.net

For more on the above stories and additional interviews with high school teams in the RCN viewing area, you can check out “SportsTalk” through RCN On Demand.

Programming note: we’ll be rebroadcasting our interview with Saquon Barkley (drafted by the Giants in last Thursday’s NFL Draft) on this week’s “SportsTalk” program.

Also, be on the lookout for more information on our first “remote” edition of “RCN SportsTalk” presented by ‘The Morning Call’” out on location. We’ll have several “remote” shows coming up over the next few months.

See more details coming soon here at “The Shop” and on the RCN-TV website.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

It’s been one month into the “Great Experiment” known as the “Gabe Kapler Era” (aka “Be Bold.”) Time to take an objective look at how things have fared so far.

In full disclosure, I am not “heavy” into the analytics that have made their way into every corner of professional baseball. I have always been a fan of stats and using statistical information when analyzing players, but I was not a big fan of being “all-in.” While I enjoyed the movie “Moneyball,” I don’t believe you can use the philosophy started by the Oakland Athletics several years ago and base most/all aspects of building a team on numbers.

Also, (and again being completely honest), I admit I was very critical of Kapler with some of his experiments in spring training and several gaffs that took place during the first week of the regular season.

I was worried.

But I always try to have patience when making my analysis. I had an opportunity to speak with the Phillies Manager during the team’s first home stand at Citizens Bank Park, and I have to admit, he did impress me—for several reasons.

Firstly, he answered all of the questions and issues through the first week of the season (including his outfielder Nick Williams openly questioning his decision and another anonymous player saying his manager should “stay out of their way”).

He didn’t skirt the question or try to say that it was made up. Instead, he said he talked with Williams and addressed those and other issues with the respective players. He was firm in his decisions, addressed them privately but was still open in admitting that everything he has done has not worked out.

This in itself is quite different from previous Philly managers—among them Terry Francona (who later went on to win a World Series). When “Tito” was questioned early in his career (ironically, for not starting his best player on Opening Day—something Kapler also did), Francona starting whining about the media being out to get him and tried to make himself out to be victim, something that will never endear a person to the baseball fans in the Delaware Valley. (I believe he learned his lesson and is much more responsive in media interviews since his departure and not coincidently, had much better success as a manager).

Secondly, Kapler has cut back a bit with making in-game decisions solely based on numbers. He’s left his starting pitchers (who have pitched surprisingly through the first three weeks) in longer than he initially said he was going to do and has rarely gotten caught without available players—even while working with a shorter-than-typical bench.

These things have paid off with an impressive record (albeit against playing some of the worst teams in baseball during the season’s first four weeks).

However, Kapler has won over one skeptical observer so far with the way he has handled his club. I’m still not 100% convinced that they are playoff contenders this season, but I haven’t been impressed with very many other teams so far this year, and I’m certainly more confident of the Phillies’ direction than I was a month ago.

For more insights and Phillies interviews with manager Gabe Kapler, pitcher Vince Velasquez, Maikel Franco, Hector Neris and more, look back through recent episodes of “SportsTalk” through RCN On-Demand and here in previous “SportsTalk Shop” blog entries.

We’ll continue to talk baseball on this week’s “SportsTalk” show with Oakland Athletics pitcher Lou Trivino. Lou was born and grew up in the RCN of Pennsylvania region and just made his MLB debut last week. He will have some great stories to tell about his rise to the Big Leagues and what his first few games in the Majors have been like.

Also on this Thursday’s program, we’ll bring in beat writers from different areas to recap the NFL Draft, with an emphasis on the teams most popular with fans within the RCN-TV viewing area.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

There’s a great story involving sports fans in both the RCN DC and Pennsylvania viewing areas.

A new beginning got underway at Lafayette College as standout DMV player and coach Caitlyn de la Haba is completing her first year as the school’s head softball coach. 

As a player, de la Haba posted some ultra-impressive numbers in both high school in Virginia and at Villanova University:

• HS team compiled an overall record of 82-1 (she was a four-year starter, three as a pitcher)
• Team Ranked #1 in the country by USA Today
• As a pitcher, registered 65 shutouts, 26 no-hitters and 13 perfect games
• Earned Back-to-back Gatorade Player of the Year honors
• Led Villanova in appearances during all four years, winning 55 games
• Finished on the Wildcats’ all-time leader with 75 complete games and 3^rd with 660 strikeouts 

We had the opportunity for “RCN SportsTalk” recently to talk with Coach de la Haba and three of her key players.

Two of the senior leaders include Sam Sweigart and Miranda Skurla.

Samantha has been a constant for the team as the starting second baseman for the last three seasons.

Miranda has also been a key member of the team handling both first base as well as the hot corner for Lafayette the last several years.

Both have been key in bridging the gap between the gap to the “next generation” of players and have been part of a solid defensive infield. The Leopards have played a number of tough games late in the season but stressed that they were excited to be at the forefront of an exciting new era for their program.

We also spoke with junior shortstop Brooke Wensel, the Patriot League’s defending “Defensive Player of the Year,” who looks to lead the “next generation” towards more success for the 2018-19 campaign.

De la Haba said that the new direction of the team will be to build on solid pitching—a tried and true formula in this sport. With the renewed interest and excitement generated from the first year at the helm, it’s easy to see why there’s so much optimism on the horizon for this program’s future.

For more on the Lafayette softball program’s “new era,” check out their “SportsTalk” feature on RCN’s Video On Demand!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

When Maikel Franco was climbing up through the Phillies minor league system, I remember talking with the hot, young prospect the day before Opening Day—on a particularly frigid April afternoon. It was Franco’s first spring in the Northeast. As I approached him, our exchange went like:

FRANCO: “Man, it’s cold out there. It’s not normally this cold up here in April, is it?”

ME: “I’m afraid so.”

FRANCO (smiling): “That’s no good…I’m not a cold weather hitter.”

True enough, Franco struggled for the first two months of that season until the weather did warm up for good. Once that happened, he made a rather quick ascension up the minor league ladder.

Since then, Maikel has battled issues of inconsistency—coming randomly over the last couple years—regardless of what the thermostat was registering.

I recently approached Franco in the Phillies clubhouse—a few minutes after he hit his fourth career grand slam and his fifth consecutive game where he hit a home run at Citizens Bank Park, a streak that dated back to the end of last September—another chilly time for baseball.

He beamed his big smile again when I recounted that story to him. He quickly pointed out he feels that he has figured things out at the plate, even on a night where the wind chill factor was in the mid-30s.

Here’s the rest of my conversation with Maikel along with his comments on how effective his new batting stance has been…

At the time of this conversation his batting average was .308. However, after the two series against the Reds and Rays (in the warm climate/indoor stadium of Tampa Bay no less) and one game in “Hot-lanta” (although it’s been anything but warm in Georgia this week), Franco’s season BA has dropped to .214 (as of press time) and his slugging percentage has dropped over a hundred points.

Clearly, it still remains to be seen if Franco is the proven, everyday, power-hitting threat the Phillies organization had clearly envisioned back when he was still in the minor leagues. With Scott Kingery’s strong acclimation to Major League pitching and Mitch Walding hitting well at Triple-A (currently with a slash line of .342/.405/.579), he certainly has to feel some pressure. But if he can hit like he did the first two weeks of the season in the cold weather, perhaps there is still hope that he can still be a part of the team’s future.

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One of the top high school games we covered for “SportsTalk” last week was a great contest between Central Catholic and Northampton. Here’s a sample of the highlights and “players of the game” interviews from that contest.

For more features, be sure to check out to check out our show on Thursdays at 7pm, On-Demand and our podcast: rcn.com/atvn/sports-talk

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. 

When I first created the “SportsTalk” program on RCN-TV, I wanted to feature some of the incredible people from the RCN viewing area. Recently, I had the good fortune of interviewing a very special individual on our show.

Jack O’Halloran has continued to have a tremendous career, in sports, movies, books, productions and, in many other circles of life.

Jack, born in Philadelphia, grew up in the Delaware Valley and fought some of the greatest names in boxing history, and acted alongside some of the cinema’s biggest names of all time.

A California Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, Jack shared his personal stories of Mohammad Ali, George Foreman, Ken Norton and other great, ranked fighters.

He is developing his 2010 novel, “Family Legacy,” into a film (looking to release it next year) which deals with thought-provoking questions and unique aspects of American life, in addition to writing and producing other projects.

As an actor, Jack’s most well-known role was that of “Non” in the classic “Superman I” and “Superman II” films. He told us wonderful stories about his friends and colleagues – Sarah Douglas, Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando and Christopher Reeve – as well as Robert Mitchum, James Earl Jones, Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon, Ted Kennedy and many other well-known celebrities.

He talked with me about his excitement following his childhood team, the Eagles, to the Super Bowl this past winter, and shared a great story involving former Birds Hall of Fame Quarterback Sonny Jurgensen, Head Coach Joe Kuharich and how he “almost” went to play for this favorite team. Check it out!

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Speaking of the Eagles, we also caught up with CBS Sports/247 NFL Reporter Jeff Kerr on “SportsTalk” to get his insights and observations on the current Eagles team and general NFL off-season news. He also shared his opinions on potential roster moves, more free agent acquisitions, Penn State’s Saquon Barkley, the NFL Draft and the latest rumors…

Tune in for more insight from Jeff on the NFL Draft on this Thursday’s “SportsTalk” show, live at 7 pm on RCN-TV

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

With the expanded playoff format, we are just a couple days removed from the final Pennsylvania high school basketball games of the 2018 season.

Strangely enough, as I’m typing this on the second day of April, I’m looking out my window and seeing at least three inches of snow on the lawn. In keeping with the weather outside, it’s time for our final look at the winter basketball season with video highlights from all of RCN-TV’s exciting coverage of the Pennsylvania high school playoff races, featuring teams from both the Lehigh and Delaware Valley areas!

Don’t forget RCN customers can see all these games in their entirety for free, at any time, by viewing the games through RCN On-Demand.

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This week on “RCN SportsTalk presented by ‘The Morning Call’” we’ll start our transition from the winter to the spring high school sports season by meeting two of the Lehigh Valley’s defending District XI champions—the Allentown Central Catholic lacrosse team and the Emmaus volleyball team. Coaches (both of them voted “Coach of the Year” by the “Call”) and their players from both teams will be in-studio to talk about last year’s success and preview the upcom

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

The HS basketball playoffs are beginning to wind down—you can see this week’s Pennsylvania championship boys and girls basketball games on RCN dial position 97 in the Lehigh Valley.

The RCN TV crew was busy the last few weeks with our district and state basketball playoff coverage. Here are the highlights from recent broadcast games …

Don’t forget, RCN customers can see all these games in their entirety for free, at any time, by viewing the games through RCN On-Demand.

Coming up on the next “RCN SportsTalk presented by ‘The Morning Call’” we’ll be talking with various members of the Nazareth wrestling team following another tremendous year.

Guests include legendary head coach David Crowell, who recently won his landmark 300th coaching match. We’ll also have female coaches and student-wrestlers with the Blue Eagles program in-studio to talk about their struggles for equality and their experiences wrestling at the scholastic level this past winter.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

We’re nearing the end of the winter sports playoff season and there’s been some exciting action over the last few weeks on RCN-TV!

Be sure to keep watching the final state playoff games of the season and, in case you missed it, here are video recaps of some of the recent basketball games and wrestling matches on RCN. Don’t forget RCN customers can see all these games in their entirety for free, at any time, by viewing the games through RCN On-Demand.

Check back here for our RCN TV broadcast schedule covering the Pennsylvania state basketball playoffs!

And…coming up on our “SportsTalk” show (Thursdays at 7pm), we’ll continue to talk high school basketball playoffs, plus get you ready for the start of the Major League Baseball season, with live reports from spring training facilities in Florida!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

A few years ago, one of additions on our “SportsTalk” show was the “DKN Sports Minute,” a 60-second reel highlighting a recent DC-area high school football or basketball game produced by the great people at the DC Office of Cable Television, Film, Music & Entertainment (OCTFME) located in Washington, DC.

Well, the OCTFME has been busy adding to its own plate with expanded coverage of news, community events, public affairs, entertainment and sports in the DC region.  In its enhanced sports coverage are more-detailed and more in-depth interviews, videos and features of scholastic, collegiate and professional teams, personalities and special happenings.

With these additions, we’re proud to announce that we will share even more of their outstanding programming going forward on our Thursday night “RCN SportsTalk” shows.  Plus, you can see the “DKN Sports Reporters” show itself on RCN-TV on Fridays at 4:30pm each week.  The DKN sports channel is also available to RCN customers in Washington, DC on channel 18.

Starting this month,  there are a number of features we’ll look to present on “RCN SportsTalk”  that have been produced by the office of OCTFME, including:

“Britt Waters’ Recap of the DC Red Bull Reign”

“New Team, New Look”

“ESPN’s Lisa Salters on Her Keys to Success”

“Redskins VP Tony Wyllie on Football, Family, and Fandom””

“RFK Campus Block Party”

Plus, features on several high school sports programs in DC

…and many more!

And, to coincide with the start of the spring sports season in April, we’ll have regular interviews and videos of sports teams in the Washington, DC region.

We’ll look to have guests from OCTFME on a regular basis to get their opinions, sports rumors and first-hand impressions on sports action and previews of upcoming events of interest to sports fans in the DMV.

There’s an abundance of great student-athletes and sports action in the Washington, DC area, along with a number of nationally ranked teams and players in different sports, which is of interest to sports fans in many different markets in which RCN-TV broadcasts and is available.

We look forward to adding these interesting elements to our lineup in continuing to provide entertaining sports conversations and stories to our RCN viewers and followers here on the RCN-TV website!  As always, we appreciate your opinions on our coverage and would welcome your thoughts via email: rcnsportstalk@rcn.com

We’ve embarked on the District playoffs for basketball in Pennsylvania and the RCN Sports Crew has been busy bringing you six-days-a-week of coverage of the top games in our Lehigh Valley viewing area.

Here are highlights of our recent playoff broadcasts on RCN-TV (you can see these games in their entirety through RCN On-Demand!)

Check out our broadcast schedule here on our website for our Pennsylvania state basketball playoff coverage coming up on RCN-TV! And check back for more video highlights and notes from the final rounds of the District XI high school basketball playoffs.