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!!

1. Jason Dufner won the PGA on Sunday, the final Major of the year. Doesn’t he look like one of the guys who plays in your foursome each week? No fancy clothes, no pretentiousness, no annoying habits (well, maybe the “chew”). My kind of guy!

2. The Eagles were somewhat entertaining in their preseason opening exhibition game with the Patriots on Friday night. The offense moved the ball and put up 22 points; the defense, however, also, allowed the opponent to move the ball and put up 31 points. Both need to get better; the defense MUCH better.

3. Frandsen, Ruf, Asche, Kratz, De Fratus, Diekman, Wells, were all in the Phillies lineup on Sunday. WHO????

4. Since the Phillies are not going to make the playoffs, the next chance for a postseason game in Philadelphia would be an NFL playoff game involving the Eagles. That would be January 4, 2014 (587 days since the last playoff game). Since the Eagles are unlikely to make the playoffs, it would go to 700+ days for either the Flyers or Sixers to end the drought – also, not likely. By the way, the longest drought occurred from 1931 to 1947, a total of 5,652 days.

5. College football practice started last week and high school football practice starts this week. The bad news – summer is ending: the good news – football is beginning!

Running – Why Me?

This past week, I filled in for Chris Michael as the co-host of our weekly show, Sports Talk. I do not do it very often and I am beginning to think that Chris takes great pleasure in picking a topic that I know virtually nothing about. Before you say it, I know there is a rather large spectrum of topics to choose from if my lack of knowledge is the main criteria.

Last year, I hosted a show about hunting and fishing. I have always been a firm believer that seafood stores and butcher shops are the best place to garner a good piece of fish or an outstanding steak. I have never had such strong hunger pangs for catfish, trout, rabbit, squirrel, venison, etc. that I would have the urge to grab my fishing rod and rubber pants or my gun and camouflage jacket and rush out the door so that I would have something to eat. And, besides, I do not own any of those items.

I have not come to this conclusion out of ignorance. I have tried both. I fished up until the day I caught two eels. After the second, I cut my line, went home and sold my fishing equipment. My father and older brother both were hunters. I tried it as a young boy, went out with my loaded gun, fell down in the field climbing over a fence, dropped my gun, and my father and brother both agreed I should stick to football, basketball, and baseball. They were safer (for me AND for them).

But I digress. This week’s topic was about long distance marathon running and the triathlon. Since the invention of the tire and the motor, I have never seen the value of running for long distances. I consider running to my car in a parking lot when it is raining as exercise enough. The marathon was a charitable event run by VIA, a wonderful organization. Luckily, there were three representatives who knew about running and VIA’s cause that a few simple questions got the message out and filled the first half hour.

The second half hour was a single guest with a single, yet similar topic – the triathlon, an event which requires the contestant to swim, run, and bicycle ridiculous distances. If I could not understand a marathoner’s drive, how could I relate to this guy?

Kendrick Smith was the guest and he is an Ironman contestant, having chosen this new career full-time after success as an engineer. He is a very likable, sincere, dedicated, and passionate man. I found his goal of chasing his dream to be admirable and inspiring. He talked about setting goals and accomplishing them; about failure and overcoming it; about good health and achieving it. He summed up his life’s philosophy quite simply:

 “EXCELLENCE is the result of CARING more than others think is wise,

RISKING more than others think is safe,

DREAMING more than others think is practical,

EXPECTING more than others think is possible.”

There certainly is a message there for all of us. You do not have to swim, run, or cycle your way through life to pursue the kind of EXCELLENCE Kendrick espouses. Check out his website at www.K17SPORT.com . You will like it.

As for Sportstalk, I look forward to Chris’ next vacation when I get to discuss The Ups and Downs of Pole Vaulting.

1. Jack, Jr., the Georgetown Hoya’s live bulldog mascot, was fired this week. It seems he injured a small child and it was decided he would be better served living in a home environment. They will be hard-pressed to come up with a new mascot – it certainly will not be a Hoya.

2. Patriot League Football Media Day was this past week and Colgate was chosen to defend its title and win the PL again this year. Lehigh was second, Holy Cross third and Lafayette fourth. Only Colgate and Lehigh received first-place votes.

3. Donovan McNabb had his number (#5) retired by the Eagles recently and Hall of Fame talk began. He becomes eligible in 2017. He has good stats, but, obviously, never won a Super Bowl. His last two years in Washington were, also, very forgettable. He will have a difficult time getting the votes.

4. Eight Eagles, besides McNabb, have had their numbers retired – #15 – Steve Van Buren; #20 – Brian Dawkins; #40 – Tom Brookshier; #44 – Pete Retzlaff; #60 – Chuck Bednarik; #70 – Al Wistert; #92 – Reggie White; #99 – Jerome Brown.

5. I have become a Pirates and Rays fan for the rest of the baseball season – I like both managers and need a reason to stay interested in baseball through August!

Ray Donovan meet A-Rod and Riley Cooper

Showtime has a new program on TV this summer titled Ray Donovan. It is adult in nature and reminds me of The Sopranos, in a way, but with a different “family”. Donovan’s family is made up of entertainment and sports figures. They hire him to keep their scandalous indiscretions out of the gossip pages and, more importantly, out of the mainstream media. His tactics are crude, violent, immoral, creative, and, yes, jaw dropping (dare I say, also entertaining?).

Now on to real life – You have to be living like a recluse this past week if you are unaware of the media bombardment of facts, opinions, and responses to both the Alex Rodriquez and Riley Cooper situations. One is accused of using performance- enhancing drugs in order to play the game of baseball better, the other of spewing an incendiary racial term at a security guard at a concert in order to prove (?) he is a racist.

To me, the common denominator here is not that these two men are prominent professional athletes who made some very bad decisions, but that they both committed serious offenses in a world where Big Brother is constantly watching and they should KNOW it. Throughout history, the sinner has never thought so much about “Don’t do it” but more about “Don’t get caught”. Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner, Pete Rose, Lance Armstrong, (you can add as many as you want) are all good examples of noted individuals who lived in the limelight and thought they could get away with indiscretions and lies.

We have all heard the expression, “History teaches us that…” Obviously, this message does not resonate at all. Every day in the news and, perhaps, in our own lives, we make choices that we hope no one ever finds out about. That goal is so much more difficult these days with the advent of security cameras that are virtually everywhere and phones, with cameras, that ARE everywhere. Any high profile individual who thinks they can “do it” and “not get caught” is highly delusional.

I am sure A-Rod felt the pressure and stress of succeeding and coupled that with the “everybody is doing it” belief in order to convince himself PED’s would not only help him succeed, but he could use them without getting caught. Riley Cooper can fall back on the alcohol excuse, but, to his credit, he has accepted responsibility for his inappropriate actions. However, one could logically ask if either man would honestly feel they did anything wrong if they had not gotten caught.

And that is the shocking aspect. In this day and age, when virtually everything a high profile person does has the potential for being seen by others in some form through social media, one would think our athletes, entertainment figures, and politicians would be wiser. I am sure they each have their own “Ray Donovan’s”, but, unlike the Showtime series, they do not always succeed in making the problem go away. Change the adage: “Don’t do it because you WILL get caught!”

“History teaches us…” – Never mind!

Mike Matheny’s Letter to Parents

I was watching the Phillies this past week get destroyed by the Cardinals and the announcers began to talk about Mike Matheny, the new St. Louis Cardinals manager, and the letter he wrote to parents when he coached his kids in youth baseball. I looked it up. You can too at www.mac-n-seitz.com/teams/mike-matheny-letter.html.

It is well worth the read!

To paraphrase some of the points:

 1. Coach orphans – the biggest problem in youth sports are the parents.

2. Youth sports should be all about the youths.

3. He had three main goals – teach the players how to play; have a positive impact on them; do everything with class.

4. There will be bad umpiring. The boys will not be allowed at any time to show any emotion against the umpire. Parents should do the same. Get them there on time and enjoy the game.

5. A parent should be a silent source of encouragement.

6. If you hand your child over to me to coach them, let me do the job.

7. Spend time with them to help them improve – pitch, hit, field with them.

8. I will demand the proper attitude, concentration, and effort. These are things they can control.

9. Make your child responsible for his/her own drinks; don’t ask them if they are thirsty or hungry during the game.

10. The kids can miss a game or practice, but out of respect for the other kids there may be some repercussions – running, altered playing time, or batting order position.

11. The coach is always right – even when he is wrong.

12. The boys should come ready to play every time they step on the field – shirts tucked in, hats on straight, and pants not drooping to their knees. They should always hustle.

There is much more to the letter. Every parent should read it.

Mike Matheny, as of this writing, is the manager of the team with the best record in major league baseball. It has often been said of professional sports that it is men playing a boys’ game. It seems this manager certainly knows how to coach boys (of all ages).

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. Phil Mickelson won the British Open this past weekend. He is fan-friendly, seems to just love being out on the course, and is a great family man. It is certainly easy to root for him to win. The only major he has not won is the US Open, but he has finished second 5 times. He said the British Open would be the hardest for him to win. Check it off the bucket list.

2. There was no question that the All-Star pitchers lived up to their billing last Tuesday. I was so impressed with their ability to put the ball right where the catchers wanted it and they did it at 95-99 mph. How does anyone hit a baseball?

3. Everything about new Eagles head coach, Chip Kelly, is so different from Andy Reid – new workout schedules, teaching techniques, play-calling, and, most dramatic for the local fans, the pre-season practice facility. The Eagles will not be at Lehigh University. No question, this area will miss them!

4. Based on the last two weeks of summer basketball (the Stellar Tournament and Sportsfest), Parkland and Central Catholic seem to be the preseason favorites in the LVC. At the end of last season, the nuclei returning on these two teams made prognosticating the future of these programs quite easy. The last two weeks confirmed those feelings.

5. Speaking of summer basketball, the 2013 Catasauqua 24th Annual Tournament of Champions begins Sunday, July 28, and concludes with the championship game on August 1. This tournament features 24 teams that have won the various summer leagues in and near the Lehigh Valley, brings them together, and crowns an overall champion. You can watch the championship on RCN at 9:30.