The high school football playoff season is upon us with interesting matchups in the PIAA District 2/4/11 sub-regionals.

First, a quick plug.  For the next two weeks, we’ll be spending most of our “RCN SportsTalk” programs (Thursdays, live, 7-8pm), breaking down ALL of the football sub-regional playoff games, along with thoughts on the Eastern Conference post-season as well.  Feel free to contact us before/during the show to weigh in with your thoughts and questions about the playoffs.

Now, some observations and details on the 4A contests involving District XI teams (we’ll look at the 2A/3A playoff teams in our next blog entry).

Easton/Freedom
If this was almost any other year, I would say the Red Rovers have the advantage—if for no other reason than Freedom already defeated Easton once this year…and Easton RARELY loses to the same team twice in one season.  In fact, even though I thought Freedom was the favorite heading into the first game between these two schools, I might have given the Rovers the nod.  But that was before last weekend.

(BTW:  Freedom was our pre-season #2 team in our “SportsTalk” poll, ranked just ahead of Easton).

I was very impressed with the way Freedom played last Saturday against their traditional rivals, the Liberty Hurricanes.  Andres Santos, who came into the season as the number-two back, finished the regular season with 136 carries, 625 rushing yards, 12-touchdowns and a 5-yards per carry average.  He took on a Liberty defense that was determined to try to stop him, and responded with a 200-yard rushing day (a personal best—his previous high was 117) and two scores.

Furthermore, the senior leaders—Brennan Reinert, Cordell Cotto, Alkiohn Dunkins, Joeshua Ortiz—to name just a few, have been outstanding and have made key contributions on both sides of the ball.  Teamed with junior Brady Hornbaker and sophomore Alec Huertas, I really believe this team is special.  The Patriots have already won a share of their first league/division title, but I believe they have the potential for even greater heights this post-season.

Nasir Minney-Gratz had another awesome performance last week against Nazareth, and before that game I thought that Easton might have had the best, all-around defense in the EPC-South.  I’m no longer sure of that opinion, but I do feel it will be a great game (Friday, live, 7pm on RCN-TV).

Del Val/Parkland
When District XI puts the schedule together before the season starts, they should probably just schedule these two teams to play each other, as these schools have run into each other—at least once—for several years in a row.

Del Val boasts senior running back Austin Cernek (156 carries, 920 yards, 9-TDs) and sophomore wide receiver Dylan Kelly (13 catches, 271, 4-TDs).  Junior QB Matt Cavallero 68-128 passing, 975 yards, 8-TDs, 12-INTs) does a good job orchestrating the offense.  However, I don’t think the Warriors are as strong as some of the previous years’ DV-teams that Parkland has faced.

The Trojans themselves are an interesting team.  The one time I’ve seen them in person (against Freedom), they looked flat-out phenomenal.   They have, in my opinion, the best athlete in the area (QB Devante Cross) and are loaded with depth at nearly every position, along with players (Kenny Yeboah, Eric Digirolamo and others) who have appeared quite a bit on the “SportsTalk” highlight reels this fall.

I’ve talked to some of my colleagues who’ve seen them more often and they opined that the team sometimes plays to the level of their competition and/or lacks emotion.  I feel that will not be the case now that the post-season is here, and I’d say that Parkland heads into the playoffs as the favorite in this game…if not the entire sub-regional tournament.

The Parkland/Del Val game will be broadcast on RCN-TV, tape-delayed, Friday at 9:30 pm.

Stroudsburg/Liberty
The Hurricanes may have the best quarterback (Doug Erney) in the area.  They have, in my opinion, one of the best junior running backs (Gunner Anglovich) in the region.  They have an outstanding offensive live and a great collection of receivers.  On paper, they have the advantage in every offensive aspect of the game.

However…

Over the last two weeks, the Liberty defense has surrendered a whopping 89 points.  They’ve had issues with tackling and have committed untimely penalties at times throughout the season.  They feature some great individual performers, but the team overall has lacked consistency.  If Liberty plays to its potential on Saturday night (live, 7pm, RCN-TV), the game could be a blow-out.  But I don’t see the Mountaineers going away quietly.  If the Canes take Stroudsburg lightly, look ahead to a possible second-round contest against Parkland, or if they lack consistency and focus for an extended period, this game could be much tighter than people are expecting.

Wyoming Valley West/Nazareth
There are some really great athletes at Nazareth right now…perhaps, a few of their future “all-time greats.”  The Blue Eagles have to be cautious heading into their first round match-up.  It’s not uncommon for District XI teams to face a team with a great regular season record, only to mercy-rule them before halftime.  It’s doubtful this will be the case.  The Spartans have played some good teams this year, and have a number of playmakers who will have to be contained.  Junior QB Aaron Austin has passed for nearly 1,500 yards, and running back Sean Judge has rushed for over 1,100 yards.

Nazareth can build on a strong showing last week against Easton, and, regardless of this Friday’s outcome, has exceeded expectations this fall—with many of these players returning next year.  However, I believe this will be a close ball game with lots of scoring, and an all-out shootout could translate to the Eagles coming home with a round-one victory.

Feel free to email your comments on our District XI 4-A football teams to RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com and tune in to this Thursday’s “SportsTalk” for your comments, along with more insights, predictions, players to watch and keys to victory on this weekend’s contests.  If you miss our live show, don’t forget to check out the program’s podcast available on Friday afternoon.

Our “SportsTalk” pollsters did it again!

As we approach the final week of the high school football regular season, a quick glance back to our pre-season predictions reveal that our pollsters correctly identified all of the teams in our “small school” poll.  In our “big schools,” four of the top five teams were correctly predicted—in order– back in mid-August (our “fifth” team did receive votes).  Moreover, our pollsters’ final results are very much in-line with the District XI power point system—which officially ranks the team at the end of the regular season and determines the playoff positioning.

As I mentioned before the first summer scrimmage, we have been incredibly fortunate over the years to have some wonderful and insightful people participate in our District XI football poll.  My thanks to all of the coaches, athletic directors and media members for their participation in the most comprehensive poll in the region.

And now, the final results…

Big Schools (11 pollsters)

1. 1. Parkland—55 points (11 first-place votes)
   2. Freedom — 43
   3. Easton — 34
   4. Liberty – 22
   5. Stroudsburg – 6

Other schools receiving votes: Emmaus, Nazareth

Small Schools (10 pollsters)

1. 1. 1. Becahi – 47 points (7 first-place votes)
      2. Saucon Valley – 43 (3 first-place votes)
      3. Notre Dame-GP – 30
      4. Northwestern – 16
      5. Central Catholic/Salisbury — 5

Looking back, easily the two best games of the regular season (to date) had to be the Easton/Freedom and Notre Dame/Saucon Valley games.

All four of these teams had some great wins this season, and their contests against each other made for some thrilling high school football action.

Looking ahead, there are some interesting match-ups in the regular season finale, as teams jockey for spots in the District XI and the Eastern Conference playoffs.  In 4A, Freedom and Liberty, who play Saturday (RCN-TV, 7pm) have both clinched districts, along with Parkland and Wyoming Valley West.  Easton needs to beat Nazareth to make the playoffs and the Blue Eagles with a loss and a Pleasant Valley victory.

In 3A, there are plenty of spots and important ball games this weekend.  Bethlehem Catholic plays Central Catholic on Saturday.  A Golden Hawk win gives them the number-one seed and knocks the Vikings out of districts.  Undefeated Saucon Valley still has not clinched a spot, but still could get in if they lose to Palisades on Friday.

In 2A, Notre Dame and Northwestern have both clinched district spots and Salisbury would be in with a win over Southern Lehigh.  The Pirates need a win combined with a North Schuylkill loss.

Who’ll win these games this weekend and what are each teams’ keys heading into the regular season finale? Join Gary Laubach, Joe Craig and myself this Thursday live at 7pm for “RCN SportsTalk” as we break down all these games, the various post-season scenarios and the playoff system overall.  Also, our special guest will be Dallas Cowboys Wide Receiver and former Liberty HS standout Devin Street, who’ll talk about his career and also preview this Sunday night’s Eagles/Cowboys game.

It’s been a wild last few weeks for high school football in the Lehigh Valley area.  There have been some very competitive games, and contests with several teams beating up on each other.  It’s made for some interesting playoff races as we head into the final two weeks of the regular season.

First, we take a look at some of the highlights of games RCN-TV has broadcast over the last few weeks.

Before we look at this week’s expert opinions on who the top teams are, here’s a quick recap of our poll structure.  Our pollsters consist of many different people over the entire Lehigh Valley region.  Our voting panel consists of local media members from different outlets, along with local coaches and athletic directors from across the entire district.  The voters are not identified so they can give their honest impressions without any worry of outside pressures or “bulletin board” material, and we rotate different pollsters from different schools each year, including guests from our biggest to our smallest schools.

As in previous years, we take the 400-male enrollment number as the cutoff for schools within the District XI/RCN footprint.  All schools above that number qualify as “big schools” in our poll. These schools consist of Parkland, Liberty, Allen, Easton, Emmaus, Liberty, Dieruff, Freedom, Stroudsburg, Pleasant Valley, Northampton, Nazareth, E. Stroudsburg-South, Whitehall, Southern Lehigh and Bangor.  “Small schools” (below 400-male enrollment) consist of Saucon Valley, Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, Northwestern, Wilson, Palisades, Palmerton, Salisbury, Notre Dame, Pen Argyl, Nolehi and Catasauqua.  Each pollster will identify their top five teams in each group—the top school gets five points, the second team gets four points and so on, with an average score determining the order of teams in the poll.

Also, if you have a beef about our poll or want to talk about the District XI football season, the different playoff scenerios or any other scholastic football topic, tune in to “RCN SportsTalk” live, this Thursday from 7-8 pm.  Our guests will include local official Joe Diorio and RCN Commentator John Breidinger, as we’ll also discuss football rules, interpretations and some controversial calls made recently.

With the particulars out of the way, here’s a look at how our next-to-last set of polls shake out.

Big Schools (11 pollsters)

1. Parkland—55 points (11 first-place votes)
2. Easton – 42
3. Freedom – 35
4. Liberty – 19
5. Nazareth – 6

Other schools receiving votes: Emmaus, Stroudsburg, Whitehall

Small Schools (10 pollsters)

1. Becahi – 45 points (6 first-place votes)
2. Saucon Valley – 42 (4 first-place votes)
3. Notre Dame-GP – 31
4. Central Catholic – 20
5. Northwestern — 10

Other schools receiving votes: Salisbury

There were some big changes in each poll.

Among the larger schools, Freedom’s first loss of the season to Parkland puts the Trojans back to the number one position and drops the Patriots back down to third.  Easton’s clubbing of Liberty moves them back into the number two spot.  Nazareth holds on to the final spot—barely—following its loss to Whitehall last Friday and is still very much alive in the district playoff race.

In the smaller schools, Bethlehem Catholic finally reclaims the top spot it had lost following their loss to Liberty the first week of the season.  Saucon Valley (8-0) could reclaim the number one position with another solid showing against undefeated Notre Dame this Friday (on RCN-TV, tape-delayed at 10pm).

Next week here at the “Shop,” we’ll have our final installment of the “SportsTalk” football polls, along with more video highlights of local teams and players and a breakdown of playoff possibilities for local teams as they jockey for post-season positions.

Again, we welcome your comments and opinions on our poll and on high school football in general.  Call our show live this Thursday or email us now (rcnsportstalk@rcn.com) and tune-in to hear it read and responded to during the program.

It has always been the mission of the “RCN SportsTalk” show to provide news and information on more than just the “big” sports.  While football, basketball and wresting receive the most feedback from viewers, and the professional and major college teams resonate with the widest audience, we have gone to great lengths to make sure we cover as many different sports in as many different schools and cities as we possibly can.

Last year, we started doing a “SportsTalk Shout-out” to people in the RCN viewing area for doing something out of the ordinary, with the main purpose of trying to find an achievement that wasn’t necessarily well documented or received a tremendous amount of initial media attention.

This fall, we came up with two additional ways to continue to spotlight our local athletes and teams in the RCN viewing area, in a way we’ve never done before.

Last month, we introduced the “Athlete of the Week” feature that we unveiled during our Thursday night “SportsTalk” show.  This focuses on athletes participating in a sport other than high school football (we also focus in solely on a football player for our “Football Friday” edition of “SportsTalk”).

This segment “debuted” in September by featuring Northwestern senior soccer player J.D. Haff, who recorded a hat trick in four consecutive games.  We’ve followed that up by honoring Meredith Sholder of the Emmaus field hockey team and Dana Evans of the Pen Argyl field hockey team.  Forget the traditional hat trick; these two ladies scored FOUR goals in a single game respectively earlier this year in helping their teams win games.  Diana Hammerstone of Easton’s cross country team outran several schools’ competitors in a dual meet last week ahead of the playoffs, and received honors for her accomplishment on our show as well.

We invite you to be on the lookout for our next “Athlete of the Week,” each Thursday, 7-8 pm, on our show throughout the upcoming school year.

Before we tell you about another new innovation for our program, there were a few more athletes, coaches and teams from the RCN region who deserve some “ink” for their recent accomplishments as well.

Former Parkland multi-sport standout and current track athlete at South Carolina, Olivia Hassler was selected as one of eight representatives of her student body to report to the federal government regarding critical academic, social and financial issues facing young people.  It’s a tremendous honor for a young lady who has endeavored through hardships in her life (her story was documented on ESPN earlier this year) and she’ll be a fabulous representative who’ll do a great job in her new role.

Coach Art Corrigan of Notre Dame High School in Easton recently became the most winningest cross country coach in the United States this fall.   He now has over 11-hundred wins and is still going strong.  We did a story on Art last year, which you can see by going through the archives of our “SportsTalk Shop” blog here on the website or find it here on YouTube under “The RCNTV” section.

Coach Corrigan was one of two Lehigh Valley head coaches who became the winningest head coach in their respective sport this fall.  Emmaus Field Hockey Head Coach Sue Butz-Stavin achieved this honor in September.  Coach Butz-Stavin and her team have also been featured on “RCN SportsTalk” a number of times over the last several seasons.

Two more Lehigh Valley high school alums from rival school districts joined forces to benefit a great cause recently.  Parkland’s Toomey Anderson and Liberty’s Darrun Hilliard (now playing for the NBA’s Detroit Pistons) held an event at Allen HS to benefit Kyle Kostic of Allentown—who’s going through some tough times right now.  One-hundred percent of the proceeds from that event went to benefit Kyle and his on-going battle with an illness and the costs associated with it.

Last but not least…after graduating 17 seniors from last year’s team, the Salisbury boys soccer team has had an amazing fall season to date.  The Falcons’ story is just one of the many local high school sports features we’ve featured on “SportsTalk” over the last two months—all of them available for you to watch on RCN’s On-Demand services.

But wait, there’s more!

Starting on Thursday, October 29, RCN-TV is looking to launch another brand new feature.  Each week on our “SportsTalk” show, we’ll have highlights and details of one of the biggest high school games played during the previous week for our viewers watching us in the Washington, DC/Virginia area.  With so many talented individuals and squads playing in that region, it won’t be an easy choice to see who will be in the spotlight each week, but we hope you’ll tune in and find out for yourself and enjoy our recap of our “game of the week.”

As always, if you have a suggestion for a team to spotlight or have opinion on our local sports features, whether it be in our Pennsylvania or DC markets, we welcome your feedback!  Please email us at RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com at any time and keep watching RCN-TV and checking in with our blogs for the latest in spectacular achievements made by the young men and women in the RCN coverage area.

Many national pundits had the Eagles going to the Super Bowl this year, and the Nationals were odds-on favorites to win the pennant.

The Birds were flirting with what could have been a catastrophic 1-4 start to their season (it was looking that way following Sam Bradford‘s second red-zone interception in the first half against the Saints on Sunday).  That combined with the fact that the Nats had already crash-landed well before the MLB playoffs got underway last week, got me thinking about some of the major sports disappointments that both Philadelphia and Washington, DC residents have had to endure.

Without question, there have been some horrendous teams in both of these cities.  But I’m talking about having even the most stoic fans getting caught up in a frenzy, ready to ride a sea of momentum to glorious new heights, only to have one’s hopes dashed to smithereens, leaving you feeling emotionally drained when your team failed to live up to the extraordinary expectations.

Just how does this year’s Nationals season and the Eagles slow start compare with the other major sports catastrophes in the region?  For argument’s sake—and to avoid using up too much of the internet’s bandwidth–I thought I better limit my Philly/DC-based disappointments to not more than the last 15 years.

Here are my thoughts on what have been the “other” biggest pro sports disappointments for fans in the RCN viewing area.

The Phillies 2011 Playoffs
From December, 2010 until the final week of the regular season, it seemed like it was a magic carpet ride for Phillies fans.  Launched into a frenzy over the signing of Cliff Lee, the regular season and preliminary playoff rounds were a mere formality, and everyone wanted to see the “Aces” baffling hitters right and left en route to another World Series appearance…and presumed victory.

For reasons I’ll never completely understand, nor agree with, Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel decided to play all of his regulars the final weekend of the season, instead of giving a couple blows to his everyday players, who had started advancing in years (by athletes’ standards, that is).  By playing their top players, and ultimately sweeping the series, the final three of those meaningless games (the Phillies had long since clinched the division title), the team missed an opportunity to rest its players, and knocked its opponents, the struggling Braves, out of the playoff race.  While the last three Phillies wins set a new club record for regular season victories for Manuel, it also gave rise to the hard-charging St. Louis Cardinals, a team the Phils did not match up against well, and positioned the Redbirds into the opposing slot to face the Phillies in the wild card playoffs.

Philadelphia’s tired hitters struggled to gain any traction against the Redbirds after the first game, and the team that everyone assumed would become the greatest Phillies team of all-time, went out with a game-five whimper—a 1-0 loss to St. Louis.  That team might have been the most talented club in the organization’s history on paper, but they failed to bring home a single playoff series win, and started what has become an incredibly long, drawn-out, rebuilding cycle.

The Redskins 2000 season
In 1999, the Skins were coming off a 10-6 season and had won the NFC East.  Mix in a renewed belief that the front office was “all in,” and that a promise of spending money in the offseason fueled the fervor that Washington was beginning to build another dynasty in DC.

They did, in fact, spend money and added some great players, including LaVar Arrington, Bruce Smith, Jeff George, Mark Carrier, Chris Samuels and–last and certainly not least flamboyant–Deion Sanders.  This complemented the return of the core of a talented offensive unit and a number of their defensive players.  Many expected another division title was a no-brainer with many people banking on Washington to at least get to the Super Bowl.  The Redskins won six of its first eight games, before the injuries set in to some of its key offensive players and…of all people, their kicker (sound familiar, Eagles fans?).   Then, Head Coach Norv Turner was let go (perhaps foreshadowing, Philadelphians, especially if the Birds don’t at least get back to 8-8?).

Instead of building on the ’99 team’s success and establishing a string of winning campaigns, Washington ended up losing six of its final eight games and failed to cash in on all the revitalized excitement that the ’99 team brought.

Marty Shottenheimer would then take over the head coaching reins for one fateful season the following year, going 8-8 that fall.  But the failure of 2000 started a seemingly endless cycle of revolving coaches over the last 15 years, with none of the seven subsequent head coaches to follow Turner owning a winning record while at the helm of the Redskins.

The Wizards’ “Michael Jordan Era”
After failing to win a playoff game for over 12 years, it seemed like the Wizards were finally headed back in the right direction when, in January 2000, Michael Jordan became the part owner and President of Basketball Operations.   Aside from his baseball experiment, everything that “MJ” had touched during his career had turned to gold.  His basketball playing career, his merchandising and advertisement campaigns…heck, I even liked “Space Jam.”  With his playing days finally behind him, he could focus completely on revamping the franchise using his acute basketball knowledge and business savvy.  Surely, Jordan would have the Midas touch to turn this franchise around and at least get Washington back into the NBA playoffs—whose eight-team format allows for even the most mediocre teams to have a shot at reaching the post-season.

In a short time, he made some positive moves by shedding payroll and unloading some of the dead weight that existed on the team and it looked like he was moving the franchise in the right direction.  Then came the 2001 NBA Draft and the selection of Kwame Brown (who ended up being traded to the Lakers after four inconsistent seasons).  Jordan brought in his former head coach in Chicago, Doug Collins, as the head coach, followed by his announcement that he, himself, would return as a player.

In his first year back (which followed his second retirement, for those keeping score at home), he battled injuries and the team he assembled was just not good enough to compete.  To his credit, he was active from a personnel standpoint prior to the 2002 season and tried to bring in headline names to improve the team.  While he continued to add talent and even agreed to take a reserve role for the betterment of the team (although he ended the year as the team’s top scorer), the chemistry never worked, and the team failed to finish at or above the 500-mark during his tenure, much less had a chance to make the playoffs.

Jordan was then unceremoniously fired as the team President and left the organization in disgust, pushing back the organization’s rebuild efforts for years.

The team finally has made great strides over the last few seasons, a trend I am fully expecting to continue this winter.  But the failures of Michael Jordan left Washington fans, along with MJ supporters around the world, with an empty feeling, and tainted the final on-court chapter of one of the greatest basketball players of all-time.

The 76ers 2001 Playoff Run
I know.   Philly sports fans could just as easily identify this team as one of its brightest moments over the last 15 years.

To be honest, I don’t remember glorious preseason expectations for the 76ers.  However, the way that the team played in the fall of 2000, led by the gutsy, and largely, very focused efforts of Allen Iverson that year, the 76ers quickly captured the attention of the entire Delaware Valley.  Iverson was living up to all his glorious potential, and the team won 41 of its first 55 games.  Even when starting center Theo Ratliff came down with an injury (he was initially supposed to miss 16-20 games per ESPN), it still seemed like the old-time Philly basketball mojo was flowing strong.  The Lakers were heavily favored to win the championship, but if Ratliff could get healthy, he could combine with Todd MacCulloch, Matt Geiger and Nazr Mohammed to form a formidable “hack-a-Shaq” tandem that could neutralize Shaquille O’Neil, and the Sixers speed could push the tempo and have an advantage against most teams in the post-season.

Until….

February 23, 2001, when the Sixers traded Ratliff, Toni Kukoc (one of just two players with NBA Championship experience) and others to Atlanta for Dikembe Mutombo.

Don’t get me wrong.  Mutombo is not only a wonderful person (he was incredibly gracious the few times I had the opportunity to interview him), a great humanitarian, and one of the best centers—when he was at his peak—of that era.  He was still one of the better centers in the game, but his slow, plodding-style kept the 76ers from utilizing its speed against Los Angeles in the championship round.  Furthermore, while that trade might have looked good on paper, the team never quite recaptured the swagger that it had before the Mutombo trade (the Sixers were 15-12 the rest of the regular season).

Iverson’s late game-one jumper and subsequent iconic stomp over Tyronn Lue became a sports moment few Philadelphians will ever forget.  But I remembered thinking when it happened, something along the lines of “yea, we weren’t suppose to be here, and we’re winning tonight’s game, and all things considered, we’re going to be proud of that moment.”  But the adrenaline rush soon subsided, and the O’Neil/Bryant pairing led Los Angeles to four consecutive victories, in which they outscored the slow-footed Sixers by 40 points in the final four games.

In retrospect, the Sixers certainly exceeded what most people had expected out of that team before the season started.  Much like the 1993 Phillies team, the entire Delaware Valley had gotten swept up in the blue-collar efforts and good vibes through that entire fall and winter season, but the feeling was never quite the same as the 76ers finished out their spring playoff run.  Did they overachieve?  Certainly.  It featured a tremendous team effort and the gritty performances of Iverson, Eric Snow, George Lynch and company.  But the team has never really been the same since, and what could have been still lingers among those long-time fans patiently waiting for the “Hinkie Plan” to develop.

Final Eagles game at the Veteran’s Stadium
If there ever was a time in my life when I thought I could bet the house—literally—on a game, it had to be the Eagles/Buccaneers game in January, 2003.  As someone who grew up—both as a fan and a reporter—at what had become an old, rundown ball field, I thought the “Vet” would work some magic one last time for its final professional football game.  And what a game it was.  The Birds were 12-3 coming in.  Donavan McNabb, the franchise quarterback, was living up to what Head Coach Andy Reid had envisioned when he drafted him.  The Birds had the defense, the offensive playmakers, and special team stars.  Even Mother Nature seemed to be helping out—and Tampa Bay had struggled mightily in cold conditions in previous games, and a wind chill in the teens seemed to be the final signal that the Eagles were finally going to advance to the Super Bowl.

Instead, Philadelphia looked flat, was manhandled physically and truly sent Eagles fans home dejected and with lumps in their throats—and not just because of the sorry way the team closed out its tenure at a worn-out stadium.

That game may be lost in an era of missed opportunities and “what could have beens.”  While optimists can say it was the golden era for Eagles football, one can also point examples of post-season futility.  During a ten-year span where the Birds won six division titles and finished second two more seasons, they lost two Wild Card games, two divisional round playoff games, three conference final losses and a pitiful end to the 2004 Super Bowl.

What are your thoughts on this list?  Should other pro sports teams be included, and where would you rank these, along with the 2015 Eagles and Nationals seasons?  Email your opinions to RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com and we might just read your comments on an upcoming “SportsTalk” program.

It’s time once again for a look at this week’s District XI high school football poll results, consisting of area head coaches, athletic directors and media members.

Big Schools (10 pollsters)

1. Parkland (50 points, 10-first place votes)
2. Freedom (39)
3. Easton (27)
4. Nazareth (19)
5. Liberty (15)

Among the big schools…no changes again for the #1, 4 and 5 teams.  Parkland continues to roll and hasn’t done anything to tarnish its preseason predictions as one of the state’s top teams. Nazareth and Liberty both posted pairs of wins the last two weeks to stay in the mix.

Easton, who had been #3 before an impressive win over Emmaus pushed them up to second in our previous poll, falls back a spot following their loss to Central Catholic.  Freedom had little trouble dispatching the Vikings when they played them last Friday.  The Patriots’ game was our live contest last week–check out the highlights here…

*******
It’s been a much tighter race among the smaller schools.

Small Schools (10 pollsters)

1. Saucon Valley (41 points, 5-first place votes)
2. Becahi (39 points, 4-first place votes)
3. Notre Dame (33, 1-first place vote)
4. Central Catholic (23)
5. Northwestern (10)

Also receiving at least one vote: Northern Lehigh, Palmerton, Salisbury

The Panthers hold onto the #1one spot–barely–as we cross into the second half of the regular season.  Undefeated Saucon Valley had probably its toughest game thus far before beating Northwestern, who moved back into the fifth spot in our poll with their solid showing.  Bethlehem Catholic continues to roll as the number-two team with its only loss so far coming at the hands of the Hurricanes.  Another undefeated team, Notre Dame, continues to gain momentum with a solid “W” against Palmerton and replaced the Vikings at the third-top team in our poll.

Although Salisbury failed to place in our poll this week, the Falcons represented themselves well this past Saturday on RCN TV.

Don’t forget, all of our local sports coverage is available to watch for free at any time for up to two months on RCN On Demand.

A reminder about our polls:  our pollsters consist of many people over the entire Lehigh Valley region.  Our voting panel consists of local media members from different outlets, along with local coaches and athletic directors from across the entire district.  The voters are not identified so they can give their honest impressions without any worry of outside pressures or “bulletin board” material, and we rotate different pollsters from different schools each year, including guests from our biggest to our smallest schools.

As in previous years, we take the 400-male enrollment number as the cutoff for schools within the District XI/RCN footprint.  All schools above that number qualify as “big schools” in our poll. These schools consist of Parkland, Liberty, Allen, Easton, Emmaus, Liberty, Dieruff, Freedom, Stroudsburg, Pleasant Valley, Northampton, Nazareth, E. Stroudsburg-South, Whitehall, Southern Lehigh and Bangor.  “Small schools” (below 400-male enrollment) consist of Saucon Valley, Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, Northwestern, Wilson, Palisades, Palmerton, Salisbury, Notre Dame, Pen Argyl, Nolehi and Catasauqua.  Each pollster identifies their top five teams in each group—the top school gets five points, the second team gets four points and so on, with an average score determining the order of teams in the poll.

Keep checking back to the “SportsTalk Shop” as we’ll be updating our pollsters’ opinions once again in a few weeks.

I have to admit, I continue to be amazed at all of the technological advances made by RCN.  I come from a long line of family members who are initially slow to appreciate change—ANY type of change.  This includes having reservations about new ways of doing things.  I still joke with my dad that he was the last one to give up his abacus in deference to a calculator.  I myself usually need new tech-related inventions explained to me a few times before I understand and can start to utilize and eventually appreciate them.

And yet, to look back at all the products that RCN has produced for us, its customers, from TiVO and RCN2GO to relationships with Netflix and YouTube, the advancements are really incredible.  Even the lightning fast internet speeds…there are so many avenues available to enhance one’s entertainment viewing lifestyle.  I continue to be impressed with more advances and innovations each and every month.

I had the pleasure recently to witness an almost instant benefit of one of the newest additions to the RCN-TV website, and that is the “SportsTalk” podcast.  Over the last few months, we have had several championship teams in our studio as guests for “RCN SportsTalk” to talk about their achievements in their respective sports.  These shows are always interesting for me – to speak with the young athletes in our area, after a long stretch of hard work is realized with the highest honor achieved at the scholastic level.  While some students are nervous about appearing on television, most everyone is usually smiling and having fun by the time the show wraps.

There was one studio guest, however, who seemed a little more distracted before going on the air and seconds before the red light flashed on, and I asked this athlete if anything was wrong.  The response was that he was excited to be on the show, but was disappointed that his grandmother, who lives outside the RCN coverage area, wouldn’t be able to watch his appearance on the program.

Enter “the podcast.”

Our marketing team has once again come up with a great, new addition to feature for our customers.  Our “RCN SportsTalk” show will be posted online as podcasts, so that if you, your family or friends are traveling outside the RCN coverage area (or even if you are in your car and can’t see the show live), you still have the opportunity to catch our sports conversations with all the wonderful people in our region.  While you can watch the show On-Demand when you get back home, the podcast gives you the ability to hear the show, anywhere and anytime.  It also allows you to hear current sports issues before they become dated (two excellent examples currently on our site was the MLB Draft Preview and also our thoughts and predictions on the start of NFL Training Camps and the Major League Baseball Trade Deadline—both recorded and posted right before those events took place!)

I recently took a step back and glanced at some of our guests since we began our podcasts this summer—a list that includes:

Major League Baseball Player Tony Gwynn Jr.
Associated Press MLB/NFL Writer Rob Maaddi
Eagles Longtime Broadcaster Merrill Reese
Redskins Radio Announcer Craig Hoffman
Georgetown Football Head Coach Rob Sgarlata
Lafayette Pre-Season All-League Corner Matt Smalley
ESPN’s Eric Longenhagen
Olympian Joetta Clark-Diggs
Philadelphia Daily News/PhillyBurb’s Sports Writer Jeff Moeller
Lehigh Valley’s 2015 All-Star Football Coaches & Players
All four Lehigh Valley Spring Sport PIAA/State Champions
District XI 4A & 3A Defending Football Champs
“Reunion Shows” featuring some of the top football players in Bethlehem & Whitehall history & more!

We really have been fortunate to have so many talented and well-respected guests give their opinions on our “SportsTalk” podcast since its inception just a few short weeks ago,  and we are looking to continue building on this list and speak with more special names as we transition into the autumn season.

In some ways I had considered myself an “old school” entertainment viewer…and, in a few ways, I still do.  However, I really am impressed by all the ways RCN is continuing to grow in terms of providing information, entertainment and access to more people than ever before.  I hope everyone enjoys checking out the new “SportsTalk” podcast over the coming weeks and months.  Be sure to be on the lookout for even more creative ways that RCN is making your life more “awesomazing” going forward.

We’ve had a couple surprises through the first three weeks of the high school football season, yet many of our pre-season expectations remain firmly in place.

The biggest surprise of the District XI high school football season has to be the improved performances of the Nazareth Blue Eagles.  While the football pundits thought Nazareth’s up-and-coming players might be a year away from contending, the Eagles have clearly established themselves as a team to watch this fall.  Jahan Dotson, Travis Stefanik and company have played three outstanding games—all against strong opponents—and have won two of those contests.  Several of those same Eagle athletes who surprised everyone during the basketball season during their tremendous run last winter are stepping up and making noise, pushing Nazareth forward and in to our football poll for the first time this season.

Saucon Valley holds on to their first-place ranking after jumping out to a 49-24 cushion on previously unbeaten Southern Lehigh in posting a victory last Friday night.  Parkland also continued its winning ways by jumping out to a 28-0 lead on Central Catholic last weekend en route to a win and a 3-0 record.  Both Saucon Valley’s and Parkland’s games last weekend are available to watch on RCN On-Demand.

Before we look at the complete list, here’s a quick recap of our poll structure.  Our pollsters consist of many different people over the entire Lehigh Valley region.  Our voting panel consists of local media members from different outlets, along with local coaches and athletic directors from across the entire district.  The voters are not identified so they can give their honest impressions without any worry of outside pressures or “bulletin board” material, and we rotate different pollsters from different schools each year, including guests from our biggest to our smallest schools.

As in previous years, we take the 400-male enrollment number as the cutoff for schools within the District XI/RCN footprint.  All schools above that number qualify as “big schools” in our poll. These schools consist of Parkland, Liberty, Allen, Easton, Emmaus, Liberty, Dieruff, Freedom, Stroudsburg, Pleasant Valley, Northampton, Nazareth, E. Stroudsburg-South, Whitehall, Southern Lehigh and Bangor.  “Small schools” (below 400-male enrollment) consist of Saucon Valley, Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, Northwestern, Wilson, Palisades, Palmerton, Salisbury, Notre Dame, Pen Argyl, Nolehi and Catasauqua.  Each pollster will identify their top five teams in each group—the top school gets five points, the second team gets four points and so on, with an average score determining the order of teams in the poll.

With the particulars out of the way, here’s the full look at how this week’s polls shake out…

BIG SCHOOL FB Poll (10 pollsters)
1)     Parkland – 50 total votes (10 -1st place votes)
2)     Easton — 37
3)     Freedom — 33
4)     Nazareth — 17
5)     Liberty — 9
Other schools receiving more than one vote:  Whitehall

SMALL SCHOOLS FB Poll (10 pollsters)
1)      Saucon Valley – 46 total votes (6 – 1st place votes)
2)      Bethlehem Catholic – 43 (4 – 1st place vote)
3-tie)      Central Catholic– 24
3-tie)      Notre Dame — 24
5)      Northern Lehigh — 9
Other schools receiving more than one vote: Northwestern, Palmerton

Here are clips of the highlights from all of our high school games broadcast on RCN-TV so far this season.

Feel free to email your opinions on our poll to RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com and join us this Thursday, live at 7pm, on RCN-TV.  We might read your emails live on the air during this program.   This week’s guests list includes Head Coach Matt Evancho and members of the Saucon Valley football team to talk about their success this fall and the Panther’s upcoming schedule.

Don’t forget to check back to the “SportsTalk Shop” throughout the fall for the latest results of our bi-weekly high school football poll.

It was a tough week for many of us on the RCN sports staff, and for the many people whose lives were touched by our former colleague, and legendary head basketball coach, Francis Richard Tracy.

For me personally, I had the good fortune of knowing Coach Tracy in many roles throughout my life…

• As a youngster, playing tag under the bleachers at Whitehall’s Gym during basketball games (which, for some five-year olds, is more fun than watching a basketball game—and a low scoring one at that).  I later wondered if my hearing issues are a direct result of Coach’s trademark kicking of the bleachers during games (see video below for a reminder).
• As a pre-teen, seeing this larger-than-life man, who curiously had the same name as one of my favorite comic strip characters, leading a parade of fire trucks through town following his team’s state championship win in 1982.
• As a high school student…he was an English teach and my journalism/yearbook advisor.  His first instructions upon hearing my name was that I could rob a bank using my real name, then legally switch my first and last name to avoid persecution (the way he delivered the line, I actually believed him for a few seconds).   As he noticed my intense passion for sports as a writer on his staff, he—gradually—warmed up to me, and provided invaluable instructions on my first ventures into the sports writing arena.  He was a tough critic…and an incredibly accurate
• As a senior, and after his departure from Whitehall … a man whose eyes widened while smiling exuberantly as he approached me at the Whitehall Library (where his beloved wife, Mary, worked), genuinely seeming interested in my progress and my college planning, followed by him giving me a laundry list of things to work on if I wanted to make a living working in sports.
• As a high school football radio announcer … Dick was the first one to greet me if we were doing the same game, and quickly went over all of his numerous notes with me, and made sure I knew all the latest news, rumors and a full rundown of items that I should be aware of for that game and for my broadcast.
• As a colleague at Twin County/RCN … Coach always commanded an amazing, and unique, presence, with everyone he came in contact with.  Among our staff, current and former coaches, athletic directors, players, fans…everyone.   And heaven help the game manager if the game was running long and an important Yankees or Notre Dame football game was scheduled for that evening.
• As Dick’s driver, set-up man and his foil.  There’s no two ways about it.  When I had the opportunity to work with Coach on-air, he was the broadcast.  I made sure to announce the particulars of the game, confirm we hit all the sponsors, liners and commercial breaks and every once in a while I’d bring up a storyline that I thought Dick might not know about.  He always responded to, and then augmented, whatever facts I mentioned.  Some of the happiest moments of my life were preparing for the broadcasts with Coach, driving to the site (including an unbelievable story regarding a flat tire suffered en route), having a pre-game meal (no one got more free food than Coach) and all the discussions that went on before, in-between (oh, the facial expressions I would get for an athlete’s mental error and during blow-out games!), and after, the broadcasts.  The rides home were filled with reflections … on the game, the broadcast (“NEVER take the game home with you!”), and…strangely enough, about nearly everything else you could possibly imagine.
• As a fly on the wall for his tribute show, featuring many of his former players and closest friends.  During one of our many long conversations, I once asked him, if he could have one afternoon to relive ANYTHING he experienced during his life…anything at all, what would you do?  My mind raced through games during his championship basketball seasons, running the Wing-T during his football playing days, the various sports he announced, his trips to Yankee Stadium and South Bend…what would he say?  I still remember his response.

He paused for a quick moment, then a smile flashed across his face…

“You know, Chris, that’s an easy question.  If, for one afternoon, I could sit down with some of my former players … and just talk.  Doesn’t have to be about basketball…it doesn’t have to be about anything, really.  Just to sit down, and talk with some of those guys…I don’t think I’d want anything more than that.”

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Following Dick’s passing last Friday, we had an opportunity to memorialize him, and to reflect on the many aspects of this colorful man’s life.  Here’s a clip of our discussion of “Coach” on last week’s “SportsTalk” show and a sample from our Liberty/Becahi football broadcast last Saturday.

RIP…Coach Tracy

High school football season is now in full swing.

Following a bunch of interesting contests within the RCN viewing area this past weekend, it’s time to examine our “week two” edition of the District XI/RCN HS Football Bi-Weekly Poll.

First, a quick recap of our poll structure.  Our pollsters consist of numerous people from throughout the entire Lehigh Valley region.  Our voting panel consists of local media members from various  outlets, along with local coaches and athletic directors from across the entire district.  The voters are not identified so they can give their honest impressions without any worry of outside pressures or “bulletin board” material, and we rotate different pollsters from different schools each year, including guests from our biggest to our smallest schools.

As in previous years, we take the 400-male enrollment number as the cutoff for schools within the District XI/RCN footprint.  All schools above that number qualify as “big schools” in our poll. These schools consist of Parkland, Liberty, Allen, Easton, Emmaus, Liberty, Dieruff, Freedom, Stroudsburg, Pleasant Valley, Northampton, Nazareth, E. Stroudsburg-South, Whitehall, Southern Lehigh and Bangor.  “Small schools” (below 400-male enrollment) consist of Saucon Valley, Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, Northwestern, Wilson, Palisades, Palmerton, Salisbury, Notre Dame, Pen Argyl, Nolehi and Catasauqua.  Each pollster will identify their top five teams in each group; the top school gets five points, the second team gets four points and so on, with an average score determining the order of teams in the poll.

With the particulars out of the way, here’s a look at how this week’s poll shakes out…

BIG SCHOOL FB Poll (11 pollsters)
1)     Parkland – 55 total votes (11 -1st place votes)
2)     Freedom — 36
3)     Easton — 34
4)     Liberty — 19
5)    Whitehall – 12
Other schools receiving more than one vote:  Emmaus

SMALL SCHOOLS FB Poll (10 pollsters)
1)      Saucon Valley – 45 total votes (6 – 1st place votes)
2)      Bethlehem Catholic – 38 (3 – 1st place vote)
3)      Central Catholic– 28 (1 – 1st place vote)
4)      Northern Lehigh — 21
5)      Notre Dame — 13
Other schools receiving more than one vote: Northwestern

The big shake-up in this week’s poll occurs with the smaller schools.  Saucon Valley’s impressive showing versus up-and-coming Salisbury, coupled with Becahi’s loss to Liberty, pushes the Panthers into the number-one spot.  Central Catholic also looked solid last weekend, which moves the Vikings up one spot (we’ll see Central Catholic play Whitehall this Saturday, tape-delayed on RCN-TV).  Notre Dame’s win over Northwestern allows the Crusaders to flip-flop positions with the Tigers and move into the fifth spot.

All of the “big schools” in our poll remained undefeated last weekend, so the top five (six, if you include Emmaus) all stayed exactly where they were in our previous poll.  The Hornets will get an opportunity to move up in our poll if they could pull off a win over Easton this Friday (see the game live on RCN-TV).
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We also had an opportunity over the last two weeks to talk with some of the local high school football coaches about their own teams, and their opinions on the other teams in the region.  Here are a few of those interviews (more can be seen by watching our “SportsTalk” show through RCN On-Demand or by checking out our podcast at rcn.com/atvn/sports-talk).

Feel free to send us your opinions on our poll to RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com and join us this Thursday, live at 7pm on RCN-TV.  We might read your emails live on the air during this program.   This week’s guest list will include Dave Mika from EasternPAfootball.com to talk about high school football teams, players and current issues across Pennsylvania.  Additionally on this Thursday’s show, we’ll be speaking with Redskins radio announcer Craig Hoffman to discuss the upcoming NFL season, as well as gaining insights into Washington’s season opening contest against Miami.

Don’t forget to check back to the “SportsTalk Shop” throughout the fall for the latest results of our bi-weekly high school football poll.