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I’m old, but so is Franklin Field.

He was a patriot, a diplomat, a printer, a student of foreign languages, and a writer. He also dabbled in science. He invented the Franklin stove, bifocal eyeglasses, and the harmonica (which he called “armonica”). However, the phenomenon that interested Benjamin Franklin the most was electricity. So much so that, in 1748, he turned over his printing business to his foreman so that he could devote his life to science.

School children best know Ben Franklin for flying a kite in a thunderstorm to show that lightning is an electrical discharge. From that experiment, he invented the lightning rod. Electricity became a passion for him. His home was Philadelphia and the city has honored his name and image in many ways.

Franklin Field was named for Benjamin Franklin. I was a bit awestruck when I entered the historic venue for the first time back in 2007. I will return there on Saturday night. Franklin Field is located in the heart of Philadelphia and is the home of The University of Pennsylvania football team. It has been their home for a very long time. On October 1, 1895, Penn beat Swarthmore 40-0 and, thus, the first football game was played at Franklin Field. The next oldest college stadium is Harvard Stadium which opened in 1904. Lafayette’s home turf, Fisher Field, opened in 1926.

Over the years, Franklin Field became home to the first scoreboard (1895) and was the site of the first-ever telecast of a college football game when Penn destroyed Maryland 51-0 (1940). The game was covered with two cameras. ESPN Game Day visited there in 2002 for the Penn-Harvard Ivy League title game. Franklin Field remains the only Game Day visit for a I-AA (now FCS) game. Almost all Philadelphians remember how the Eagles gave Vince Lombardi his only NFL playoff loss the day after Christmas in 1960 (Eagles 17 Packers 13).

So, in 2007, I was thrilled to get to do a game there. Some of the historical thrill began to wear off just a bit when we found our broadcasting location. The trip to the midsection of the home side required one to climb a “thousand” steps and perform the limbo dance without music. You must go low or risk a severe head injury on the metal support beams that hold the media in an open-air cave. The view is great – the amenities are non-existent. I began to fear that I was not that grizzled old veteran of 37 years of broadcasting, but, instead, I had become a spoiled media softie, expecting every stadium to be like Fisher Field at Fisher Stadium. “Get over it!” I told myself. “This is Franklin Field.” I settled in for the game.

Ironically, the field is named after the “Father of Electricity”. However, on that night, there was no light in the “broadcast cave”. As the sun began to lower itself behind the skyline of Philadelphia, it became quite apparent that we soon would be unable to see our information. Despite what you think, announcers are SO much smarter when they can see their notes! The “spotter” sheets began to fade, our stat sheets were hard to see, and we could not see our “flip charts” which provide essential roster info. The only light in the booth came from my monitor and the “Leopardstrator”.

There may not have been electricity in the booth, but, there WAS electricity in the air that night. With 5:15 to go in the game, Penn led 7-5.

Lafayette got possession and drove within field goal range as the game neared the end. Davis Rodriguez was Lafayette’s freshmen kicker from St. Petersburg, Florida. He was 1 for 5 on field goal attempts for the season. Lafayette had not beaten Penn since 1991 – losing eight straight. Lafayette had not gone 3-0 since 1988. Davis Rodriguez was not born yet.

All of those negative numbers were erased with one swing of the leg. The 27-yard field goal was GOOD!! Victory belonged to Lafayette! The Leopards beat Penn at Franklin Field!

So, despite not having electricity in our “booth” that night in 2007, I imagine Ben Franklin was looking down on his field and smiling. He was still creating electricity in his own way. I’m sure of it. I know because I felt it!

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ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. Chip Kelly’s Eagles offense was impressive on Monday night. The Redskins’ defense looked bewildered, inept, and slow, particularly in the first half. The Eagles’ defense looked vulnerable in the second half. Two questions: Can the offensive players maintain that pace and their health each week? Will the opponents figure out the system and stop the offense? It was certainly a good opening night.

2. Everyone (Cincinnati, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cleveland) is tied for first place in the AFC North. They all LOST!!

3. I wonder what the ratings will be for Rafael Nadal’s impressive US Open victory on Monday night. Are football fans, also, tennis fans? Or an entirely different audience?

4. Central Florida takes on Penn State this week. The Knights are pushing their major sports to improve enough to play anybody. They played before 20,000 people last week. It will be over 100,000 this week.

5. Speaking of crowds, the Notre Dame-Michigan game on Saturday produced the largest crowd in college football history – 115,109. The previous high was in 2011 when (you guessed it) Notre Dame played at Michigan – 114,804. If they played each other every week at Michigan, they would draw approximately 1,265,000 fans a season!

6. More numbers – The Catasauqua football team is averaging 51 points a game and 414 total yards of offense. They scored 62 points last week.

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Johnny Football should make $225,000 a year.

Do I have your attention, college football fans? Sean Gregory, Senior Writer for Time Magazine, published a cover story article in the September 16, 2013 edition of Time Magazine entitled, “It’s Time to Pay College Athletes.” The article focuses on Texas A&M student and Heisman Trophy winner, Johnny Manziel. Manziel was recently suspended by the NCAA for signing autographs. He did not accept any money for his autographs. If he had, the punishment would have been much more severe.

One should note, however, that a Johnny Manziel jersey sells for $64.75 on the NCAA’s shopping site and a fan on eBay recently paid $127 for an autographed Johnny Manziel helmet. Texas A&M football games generate $86 million in revenue for Brazos County, Texas, where the university is located. The NCAA recently signed a $3 billion contract with ESPN and Fox which will be shared with A&M. Johnny Manziel’s coach received a $1.1 million pay raise after Manziel’s Heisman-winning season and now makes $3.1 million a year. Manziel and his teammates have not shared in any of this!

Remember, Manziel signed autographs for NO MONEY and received a one-half game suspension. How dare he make money while playing college football?

A&M is not a unique big-time college football program. Texas University football netted a profit of $77.9 million in 2011. Michigan football made $61.6 million in profit that same year. The Michigan vs. Notre Dame game on Saturday, September 7, 2013 was played to the largest crowd in college football history. The money just keeps pouring in for big-time college football and basketball programs.

So it does beg the question – Should college football and basketball players be paid beyond the athletic scholarships they receive? For example, Gregory points out that if the 85 scholarship players on A&M fell under the same revenue-sharing system used by the NFL, each player would receive $225,000 per year. This may seem like an outlandish figure to you. How would it affect the academic side of a college education? Or, you may ask, how important is education to many of these athletes, who seem to take the easiest courses just to stay eligible? Can there be a balance for these student athletes and the universities?

For me, there is a huge difference between $0 and $225,000. Somewhere between those two dollar amounts is a very reasonable and justified amount. The time has come to start somewhere.

1. Super Bowl XLVIII is being held outdoors at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and it will be in February! Farmers’ Almanac is predicting heavy snow. Time will tell if this was a good idea!

2. I mentioned last week that Pete Rose’s 4,256 hits ranks 1st with Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, and Tris Speaker completing the top 5. Ichiro Suzuki just got his 4,000th hit in professional baseball, but 1,278 of those were in Japan’s top league. Pete Rose is adamant that those Japanese league hits should not be allowed in the conversation. I agree.

3. Some of us remember when Bobby Riggs lost to Billie Jean King in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match in 1973. Remember Riggs had easily beaten Margaret Court, the #1 player at the time and four months later took on King. It was a huge television spectacle. Riggs lost and, apparently, a number of underworld mafia figures won. It recently was reported that Riggs threw the match to pay off his own $100,000 gambling debts. Does anyone want to take this up with the mob bosses?

4. Parkland At Easton; Whitehall at Liberty on Friday night following Football Friday at 6:30. If you need to see a game LIVE, go to Southern Lehigh at Catty and set your TiVo to record our games.

5. Lafayette opens against Sacred Heart on Saturday at 6:00. Sacred Heart is 1-0 with a win over Marist. We have a “Sportscenter” feel this year with Matt Provence, Phil Ng, and Maurice Bennett at the game-day desk. Tune in on time!

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Week One in the NFC East

The 2013 NFL season kicks off on Thursday, September 5 at 8:30 PM on NBC. The defending Super Bowl champions, the Baltimore Ravens, will visit the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. NFL fans will be a “mile high” anticipating the start of professional football. This should be a ratings giant for NBC and deservedly so.

As a division, however, it is the NFC East that will really be spotlighted in Week One. Whether that is justified certainly remains to be seen. On Sunday, September 8 at 8:30 PM, the New York Giants will play at Dallas, airing on NBC. Then on Monday, September 9 at 7:00 PM on ESPN Monday Night Football, the Eagles will play at Washington against the Redskins. Fans’ expectations are at their highest since no one has suffered a loss yet. Let’s analyze these two matchups:

Giants at Cowboys
The Giants usually play well in September, but in the first six weeks of the season they go to Dallas, Chicago, and Kansas City, then play the Broncos at home. Their offensive line is banged up and the preseason offense has been non-existent. They may struggle early. If they do not struggle early, they will be set up to have an outstanding season. Late in the season, they play either at home or close enough to home to avoid road weariness. That equates to 57 days without air travel.

After being 8-8 the last two years, the Cowboys on paper look much improved. The expectations are for improvement on that record (9-7; 10-6 being the best they could hope for). This is the year for Tony Romo not to just move the football, but actually put points on the board. The defense looks solid. The Cowboys should return to the playoffs.

Eagles at Redskins
Your guess about the Eagles is as good as mine. Chip Kelly seems like a good fit for the Eagles, but will his high-velocity offense work in the NFL? Even if it does, will the Eagles stop anybody from scoring? Can Michael Vick stay healthy? He’s the best fit for their offense. The defense could not stop the run or the pass last year and there does not seem to be new talent on that side. They were 4-12 last year – the record will improve, but by how much? No idea!!

The Redskins, on the other hand, will be the favorite to win the division. They ended the regular season riding RG3 to a seven-game winning streak. They can run, throw, and defend the run. Can they defend the pass? That seems to be their weakness. A healthy RG3 could make them a Super Bowl contender.

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. Remember Juan Pierre who played for the Phillies last year? He is with the Marlins now. He will soon pass Joe DiMagggio’s hit total of 2,214 hits. Juan Pierre with more hits than Joe DiMaggio?? I don’t believe it WHILE I’m typing it!! Want another interesting number – Michael Young of the Phillies has more than 200 more hits than DiMaggio!

2. By the way, Derek Jeter has the most hits of any active player with 3,308 hits and sits 10th all-time. Pete Rose’s 4,256 hits ranks 1st with Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, and Tris Speaker completing the top 5.

3. Boston University has joined the Patriot League and will compete in men’s basketball this upcoming season. Did you know Boston University gave Rick Pitino, who won the NCAA this year with Louisville, his first head coaching job and the new Sixers coach, Brett Brown, played point guard for Pitino at Boston University.

4. I attended Lafayette’s last scrimmage this past Wednesday and came away very perplexed. Colleges may only scrimmage themselves so as I watched and tried to evaluate the team, I was left with a “Catch 22”. If the offense “looks” good, is it because the offense IS good or is it because the defense is not very good? And vice versa! You don’t know until you know. That starts on September 7 vs. Sacred Heart.

5. Believe it or not, I stayed until 2:12 AM on Saturday night/ Sunday morning just to see if the Phillies would get their 4th straight walk-off win. They had plenty of opportunities, but failed. It was an interesting game to watch – 20 pitchers, 137 at-bats, 35 hits, 32 strikeouts. 28 walks, 44 players used, one win, one loss.

Blow the Whistle

The referee stands on the goal line, raises his hand, and blows his whistle. This signals the opening kickoff of every football game. The official start of the football season is this week and I am really looking forward to another year. Since Lafayette has a first week bye, the college scene for me doesn’t start until Saturday, September 7.

This is probably the last year of the Lehigh Valley Conference, as we have come to know it. The Mountain Valley Conference is poised to join the LVC for next season. And, this should be a great year. What I do not like is the fact that the two most highly touted teams, Parkland and Easton, will face each other in the opening week of league play. It is week 2 and the game is at Easton. It is always nice to build the drama as the season progresses. Since that will not be the case for these two powerhouses, we will be there to bring the game to you LIVE. There were 3 co-champions last year and there may be enough parity for that to happen again. Whitehall, Liberty, and Emmaus all look capable of upsetting the two favorites on a given weekend. There are two rookie coaches in the conference and Steve Shiffert at Easton has the longest tenure, by far, at 21 years. No one else has double figure years at their current schools.

Catasauqua looks like the odds-on favorite to win the Colonial League. They were 12-1 and 10-0 last year and have three Division 1 prospects back. Pen Argyl will, also, be formidable and the two clash on Friday, October 11. We will be there for that one, too. I think Southern Lehigh can surprise, but it looks like Catty has too much talent for anyone to dethrone them.

The rules will continue to emphasize player safety and much of that emphasis will be on head-to-head contact:

Direct helmet-to-helmet contact and any other contact
both with and to the helmet must be eliminated
from the sport of football at the interscholastic
level! Using the helmet to inflict punishment on the
opponent is dangerous and illegal. Coaches and
game officials must be diligent in promoting the
elimination of contact to and with the helmet …

Also, no contact can be initiated with a helmet-less opponent (personal foul) and a helmet-less player can not participate in the play (illegal participation).

Mr. Referee – Blow the whistle!!

1. It looks right now like Michael Vick will be the Eagles’ starting quarterback. Nick Foles would certainly be a fine backup. The Jets, on the other hand, look like they have good backups, but no true NFL starter!

2. A similar battle for the QB spot at Penn State has junior-college transfer, Tyler Ferguson, battling with true freshman, Christian Hackenberg, for the starting role. Neither has ever taken a snap at Penn State.

3. I attended Lafayette football practice last week and the offense looked real sharp. However, college practice leads one into a Catch-22 scenario – if the offense looks really good, it might mean the defense is not so good or vice versa. Is the glass half full or half empty?? The question will not be truly answered until September 7 vs. Sacred Heart.

4. Those of us who played football, either high school and/or college, certainly remember the “dog days of summer”. Those were the first couple of weeks of two-a-days when the heat and humidity coupled with the coaches’ screaming made practice almost unbearable. The low temperatures and low humidity this past week makes it seem too easy for the players. Thank goodness, the coaches still yell!

5. Catasauqua vs. Wilson LIVE on Saturday, August 31. I can’t wait!

You Are Cordially Invited..

It was announced this past Friday that the Lehigh Valley Conference invited the Mountain Valley Conference (except for Lehighton) to join them in the creation of an 18-team super conference, tentatively maintaining the LVC name. And to do it by next season!

With Lehighton moving to the Anthracite League in football and the Schuylkill League in most other sports, the MVC was looking at the scheduling nightmare that goes along with just a 6-team league. Ironically, just a few months ago, the MVC invited the LVC to merge with them, but the request was not made to Central Catholic or Bethlehem Catholic. By omitting those two schools in the initial invitation, it gave the LVC the opportunity to “remind” both schools (particularly Beca) that there could be consequences to very overt recruiting. The message was delivered and the invitation was not accepted.

So now, the MVC has been “cordially invited” to join the LVC, bringing all the schools together. In terms of football and basketball, there are certainly plusses and minuses.

On the “plus” side, the super conference will now include all the AAAA schools in District XI. The merger would bring Allen and Dieruff back into the Lehigh Valley football picture and I certainly like that. By merging, all teams would battle for their spots in the District and State playoffs. This eliminates the complaint that some MVC teams got better seeding or easier qualifying because they played a much weaker schedule. Certainly, with 18 teams, the scheduling still may slightly favor one team over another, but that happens now. Also, the MVC will have no trouble filling their schedule.

On the “minus” side, an 18 team conference can certainly look a bit unwieldy when it does come to scheduling. In football, do you create two 9-team divisions and play for a championship? That sounds like a reasonable idea. In basketball, 3 divisions seem to be the best approach, but, if you play your division foes twice and the other teams once, you have the allotted 22 games filled. From there, a championship tournament could certainly be created. Even the “minuses” do not seem so bad.

Although I argued a few months ago, that the LVC was just fine the way it was and did not need to accept the MVC invitation, I do believe the “return to sender” invitation makes sense. I am quite certain the RSVP from the MVC will include acceptance. The nightmare will be for the AD’s to figure out the scheduling for all the other sports. And for a Sports Director at RCN to choose which League games to schedule for our viewers!!