BEHIND THE MIC:
The NFL – Pre-season Best and Worst

I realize it is only July, but the summer seems to be flying by. I am already thinking about high school and college football. It will be here soon. And since I am writing this week’s blog and, in the fall, my blog includes my weekly NFL picks, it seemed like a good time to consider (in my estimation), which NFL teams will be the BEST and which teams will be the WORST.

Let’s start with the worst, since when these teams play (unless it’s against each other) my predictions should be easier. The five worst teams in the NFL for the upcoming season will be the:

• Jets – Tim Tebow goes; Geno Smith comes in so the Jets still have a quarterback controversy (5 on their roster including Mark Sanchez) and they have gotten worse overall as a team.

• Raiders – This team just does not have the talent to contend at all.

• Bills – QB position is really questionable. 6-10 last year and they will probably struggle to surpass that win total.

• Jaguars – They were awful last season and did very little in the draft to think they got better. Remember a 3-win season will be an improvement over last year.

• Browns – They traded away draft picks in Rounds 4 and 5 so they had only 2 picks in the first five rounds and they find themselves in a division where everybody is better.

• Titans – In case I’m wrong, the Titans should improve on their 6-10 record, but most of that responsibility rests on the QB Jake Locker.

Now that I have upset the Jets and Browns fans, I wish the Eagles, Steelers and the Redskins (my boss’s team) would now show up in my top 5. But, alas, that will not be the case. To me, the very best will be the:

 • 49ers – They were outstanding last year; had a decent draft and will have a new starter at safety (Eric Reid).

• Broncos – Peyton Manning and a talented stable of receivers (including Wes Welker) make this team extremely strong offensively, but they, also, have one of the top defenses. They could win it all.

• Falcons – They just needed to improve their defense and they did that with great improvement at the cornerback positions. They were 13-3 last year and, if possible, they could be better.

• Seahawks – They have a great coach, terrific chemistry, and improved in the draft on both sides of the ball. They are one of the very best and will battle the 49ers for the Division title.

• Packers/Patriots – Both of these teams have outstanding quarterbacks who could carry them to a win every weekend. The Packers got better at the running game. The Patriots did not do much with the draft and lost Welker so time will tell if they will be better this season.

 Oh, by the way, the Redskins and Giants should finish in the upper half, the Steelers in the middle, and the Eagles in the lower half.

Please, please don’t blame the messenger.

 ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. The Phillies this past week and a half completed three very important series with the front-running Atlanta Braves, the second-place Washington Nationals and the Chicago White Sox. It was a microcosm of their season – highlights and lowlights. However, they took every series and got their record to .500 at the All-Star break. It offers hope for the second half of the season and made it very difficult for Ruben Amaro to decide whether to be a buyer or a seller.

2. If you want to fill a minor league ballpark, sprinkle a major league star into the lineup every now and then. The Scranton-Wilkes Barre RailRiders sold out their stadium (10,000+) last Saturday night because Derek Jeter was in the lineup.

3. Speaking of minor league baseball, I had the pleasure of attending an Iron Pigs game last week and was a guest in the Coca-Cola box. Joe Brake of Coke is the perfect host – good food, good conversation, great seats, and exceptional fireworks. It was a truly fun night.

4. I certainly do not profess to understand world politics, but I am intrigued by the number of protesters in other parts of the world who seem to be available no matter what the cause, no matter what the day, or the time. You work, I work, my colleagues work – when would you find time to protest?

5. Aren’t the “dog days of summer” in August? To me, July has been a “dog” every day! I think the weather people just cut and paste the same picture in the paper every day and meteorologists have been offering the same forecast every day on the TV. If they are wrong, there are no ramifications. Being a weatherperson looks like a very easy job to me. Maybe, THEY would have time to protest.

Pocono Raceway: Bad Memories

Last weekend, the local papers were full of stories about the return of Indy Car racing to Pocono Raceway. The last time Indy cars raced there was in 1989. There were plenty of stories written about the history of the venue and local nostalgia about the Andretti family (Mario, Michael, and now Marco) at the race track. It turned out that Sunday was not a good day for the Andretti racing team. It was another bad memory for them. Ironically, it, also, brought back a very bad memory for me.

I really do not know the year, but it was a long time ago when I was asked to be the main announcer for the GATR 400 at Pocono. GATR was an acronym for The Great American Truck Race. The draw was to take truck cabs off the highway and have the drivers race them for 400 miles, you know, much like truckers do on Route 22 every day.

Now, let me be up front here – I was not and am not a racing fan. My sole auto sport interest, in the past, centered around the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day, especially if a local driver was involved. I know very little about cars, their engines, and how they work. That’s what mechanics are for. To make matters worse, I knew virtually nothing about trucks!

I did not want this announcing job. I figured rather than just saying, “No, thank you”; I would offer to do it for an exorbitant price. I asked for three times my normal fee, thinking that would get me a “Sorry, we’ll look for someone else.” That did not happen. The company agreed to my “demand” (ploy) and I was now doing a broadcast about which I knew nothing.

The race was on a Saturday with time trials and practice on Friday. I decided to go to practice to watch and learn. I went into the pits, struck up conversation with the participants, and took notes. I was honest with the drivers and they were cordial in divulging information. One suggested I should ride with him around the track to get a sense of the speed and the experience. Every brain cell said, “Don’t do this”, but my pride (stupidity) took over and I accepted the offer. I jumped in the cab and off we went. It was not long before we were going down a straightaway at 90+ miles per hour. I tried not to look frightened, but I was afraid my underwear would tell a different story. Trust me, it was frightening! I was convinced we would fly over the retaining wall and that would be it! The headline would read – “Young Local Announcer Dies Covering Sport He Knew Nothing About!” I, also, have the fear that same headline might be written about every sport I have covered over the years. But, I digress. Obviously, I did not die.

Instead, the next day I found myself high atop the track in the announcer’s booth ready to fake interest and knowledge and hope my color analyst was the best race announcer ever to take the microphone. To make matters worse, ten minutes prior to the start, we were informed our words would, also, serve as the PA sound to the thousands who had gathered to watch the race live – you know, the people who REALLY KNEW the sport.

The broadcast began (I still have nightmares about my scared voice “booming” out throughout the track), the race started, and I talked! It was exactly as I suspected – long, confusing (no truck should be allowed to lap another), and intense. Just like “all good things must come to an end”, it is also true of all “bad things”. I got through it.

On the way home, I wondered how much money I should ask for the next time I am offered a job to announce a race. For some reason, another offer never came.

To: Bubba Watson and Jessica Korda:
Don’t “Shoot” or Fire the Messenger

What If?
Over the weekend, I was watching the US Women’s Open Championship primarily because of Inbee Park. She was seeking to win the first three major golf championships of the season, a feat that had only been achieved once in Women’s Golf history. Babe Zaharias did it in 1950. Park did, indeed, win the Open championship on Sunday and now has a chance to become the first woman to win four (and perhaps, five) majors in one year – the Grand Slam!

Okay, that’s why I started to watch the golf, but on Saturday, a strange event caused me to sit up and take notice – Jessica Korda fired her caddie after playing the ninth hole, halfway through the round! She ordered her boyfriend, who was in the gallery to carry her bag the rest of the way. I bring this up because you may have missed it. Had it been Tiger, Phil, or Rory who did this, it would have been front page news.

There has not been any reason given as to why Korda took this unusual action. Bubba Watson blamed his caddie two weeks ago for giving him the wrong yardage on the 16th hole and it probably cost him the Travelers Championship tournament. Ian Woosnan at the British Open years ago threw all of his clubs out of the bag when his caddie allowed too many clubs to be placed there. Neither, however, fired their caddie on the spot.

So I got to thinking about famous duos that may have been broken up on the spur of the moment because of a miscalculation:

Would Bonnie have fired Clyde if he forgot the bullets?

Would Penn fire Tellar if, all of a sudden, Tellar would not shut up?

What would happen to Hall if Oates thought Hall was “pitchy”?

Would Jill fire Jack because he “broke his crown”?

What would happen to Lewis if he caused Clark to get lost?

What if Tonto thought he was more important than the Lone Ranger (sounds like a good movie)?

What if the Beast got more press than Beauty?

So, you may ask, “What did I learn from Jessica Korda’s actions?” Just this – If I mess up and I have any kind of reason to blame my administrative assistant, Kristin, I will. I may even fire her, but first I have to make sure my wife knows Microsoft Word!

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. The Phillies continue to be awful and the TV ratings and ballpark attendance are declining rapidly. Can they right the ship? Answer these questions:

Is it Charlie’s fault?
Is it Ruben’s fault?
Do you just blame the hitters and the pitchers?
Do you want to trade Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee?
Will Cole Hamels, your ace, LOSE 20 games?
OR, will they just get very healthy the second half of the season and turn this whole mess around?
Stay tuned!

2. My main blog this week was about not saying the right things. Read anything written about or quoted by Lehigh’s soon to be drafted by the NBA player, CJ McCollum, and you get a sense that here is a young man who has had the proper upbringing, has good values, a solid work ethic, and appreciates his talents. I hope he stays that way.

3. NFL training camps start in a month. Bad choices by the players during their down time will continue, however.

4. Every story I read about the Tampa Bay Rays coach and former Lafayette student, Joe Maddon, makes me wish he managed closer to home. Try to find a bad word written about him and/or his managing skills. He usually has inferior talent battling for a playoff spot, with great player support. And he gave us an interview the last time he was on the Lafayette campus. My kind of guy.

5. Football in June? The Lehigh Valley McDonald’s All-Star Football Classic was last Thursday. It was well-played and, more importantly, well-attended. The banquet for the players, cheerleaders, coaches, parents, and friends was held last Wednesday, sponsored and televised by RCN.

Serena Williams vs Maria Sharapova; Sergio Garcia vs Tiger Woods, etc
Great Matchups?
You would think that any time I offer up Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova or Tiger Woods vs. Sergio Garcia, I would be going to look at tennis or at golf. I would think the same thing. However, in the past few weeks, these rivals have taken plenty of shots but not on the court, nor on the course. Instead, the shots have been “backhanded” or “driven” AT each other.

This past week, right before the start of Wimbledon, Serena and Maria exchanged backhands. And, much like a high school dust-up, the animosity centers, not around tennis, but on their respective “boyfriends”. Serena, in Rolling Stone magazine, did everything but name Maria when she said her rival was not cool, was boring, and was dating Serena’s former boyfriend, whom she described as having a “black heart.” Maria countered by returning serve when she accused Serena of dating her coach, who is married and has children. Maria, also, implied Serena’s coach was headed for divorce. Deuce!!

Sergio Garcia had some nasty remarks to say about Tiger Woods during The Players Championship. Tiger was later found not to have been at fault, but did respond to Sergio with a few trite comments of his own. Sergio made the matter even worse with a perceived racist comment about serving Tiger “fried chicken” at the US Open. Tiger said the comment was “wrong, hurtful, and clearly inappropriate.” The scores by the two appeared to be par for Tiger; double bogey or worse by Sergio.

What were Serena and Sergio thinking? We all have to vent from time to time, but not to Rolling Stone, not during a press conference. How did they think these statements would be perceived? Did they not think they would be open to disparaging remarks directed right back at them? Did they really want to take on two people whom so many fans support? Did Sergio really believe his response would not be considered racist (after all, Fuzzy Zeller got into serious public relations problems of his own with an almost identical comment)? Sponsors want athletes to be, for the most part, squeaky clean – certainly not tinged by marital scandal or racist innuendo. Talk tennis, talk golf, talk weather – then just shut up!!

When you are in the public eye, what you say becomes public! Just ask Paula Deen.

1. The Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins of the NHL are playing legendary games in the Stanley Cup Finals. It’s hard to root against these two storied franchises if you are not from Boston or Chicago. The games are really enjoyable even without a vested interest in the winner.

2. The Merion Golf Club held the US Open this week. No one shot par golf. Only 16 players were in single digits over par. Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Sergio Garcia shot 13, 14, and 15 strokes over par! Did you enjoy watching the pros suffer like we do?

3. Speaking of the US Open, I’m sure by now you have seen Shawn Stefani’s hole-in-one at #17 on Sunday. It was the first hole-in-one ever at Merion during a US Open. It does not necessarily mean you hit a great shot (his was way left of the hole and took a fortuitous bounce and rolled in the cup). It doesn’t matter how – he still put a 1 on his scorecard.

4. The Phillies have just been awful of late. A coach told me this past weekend at the high school baseball championships that the game of baseball is very simple – “good pitching, good fielding, and timely hitting”. The Phillies had none of those three elements on their latest road trip.

5. Football in June? The Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic is Thursday. Watch it on RCNTV. The banquet for the players, cheerleaders, coaches, parents, and friends was held on Wednesday, sponsored and televised by RCN. Jim McCarroll, Chuck Daily, and Brett Godbout, M.D. were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The Pennsylvania State Baseball Championships

Preparation
On Friday, June 14, the RCNTV team broadcast 4 games for the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN). There was plenty of work that occurred prior to the games themselves in order to be prepared to do the best job possible. The crew and office staff took care of all the logistics to get 15 people to the site, set up, fed, and housed. This is our 13th year of doing these games so the process was pretty much set.

For me, however, the process was greatly disrupted this year. The semifinals were to be played on Monday, which was the case for the past 12 years. This year, however, 15 of the 16 Monday games were postponed until Tuesday. One full day of preparation was eliminated. Everything was moved back a day. After Tuesday’s games were played and the championship finalists were known, a conference call was held on Wednesday morning informing all the teams of their responsibilities to the games and to me. I needed information and I needed it fast (coaches, rosters, starting lineups, statistics, human interest stories on the players and teams, historical records for the programs, coaches’ histories, etc.) The normal process allows two days – one day for gathering the information (Tuesday) and one day for organizing the information (Wednesday). There was only Wednesday this year. It all got finished with the last school to respond getting with what I needed by 3:30 on Wednesday afternoon. Additional information kept trickling in from the schools throughout the evening.

Driving to Work
The crew left for Penn State, the site of the championship games, at 9:00 and I left at 11:00. They needed to get to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park to lay all the wire, set up all the cameras, run the audio lines, and prepare the graphics for the next day. I needed to get to the hotel to sift through all the information I had gathered and prepare packets for each game for my fellow announcers. Their work is very physical, mine is mental. We all met in the hotel lobby, went to dinner and discussed the elements and concerns for the next day. Crew call was 7:00 AM; announcers’ call was 8:00 AM.

Championship Friday
Everyone was at the field by 8:30; 2 hours prior to Game One. The crew tested all the equipment; the announcers talked to the teams and their coaches. Everyone took their positions in the stadium and in the press box by 10:00 AM. “Let the games begin”. I have attached a highlight video summarizing the baseball highlights of the day. Tim Kafer put the piece together; and the musical background is from “The Greatest Game in the World” by Fran Kovalski.

http://youtu.be/BAE5xv4AsVE

There are 664 high school baseball teams in Pennsylvania; 39 District Champions; and just 4 State Champions. Congratulations to the winners!

As for our gang – We came on the air at 10:30 AM and said, “Good night, everybody” at 10:10 PM – 11 hours and 40 minutes later. In between, there were 4 games, 30 innings, with the final game of the day (naturally) going two extra innings to decide a champion. All of us believe we “hit a wall” sometime during Game Three, persevered, and got through it. It seems to happen every year. I had plenty of time to ponder the day with the 3 ½ hour ride home that followed and there are always the same two thoughts, “Job well done” and “I’m glad that’s over”.

Valedictorian, Salutatorian, and MVP’s

Academics
This past week, I read that the Parkland School District decided to no longer award the distinction of class valedictorian or salutatorian. The rule was instituted in 2009 for the class of 2013. They are not the only local schools to do this. Moravian Academy and Emmaus High School also do not list the top two students. Instead, they would list all of the students who had achieved honors as a whole. This is easy to do, since the honorees are based on grade point averages, and perhaps, other criteria. It is not subjective. I am sure a computer just simply spits out the names. In other words, the schools (computers) choose their All-Stars, but not their MVP’s.

Athletics
This academic direction is an interesting path for those of us who are, often, a part of choosing athletic all-star teams and most valuable players. And our choices are much more difficult – we do not have grade point averages or computers to make the decisions for us. We have statistics, but we all know they can lie. I have usually been able to take a list of athletes and choose an all-star team from that list. Sure, if you need to select 10, the difference between #9, #10, and #11 (who would be left out) is not always extremely clear. Then, to select an MVP from the 10 may be even more difficult, more subjective, and simply unfair. A local paper is currently attempting to select an Athlete of the Year (one male and one female) and offered up their first two nominees this week – a football player and wrestler (male); a field hockey and softball player (female). The paper will offer 5 choices for each gender and voters will choose the winners. This would seem to diametrically oppose the academic philosophy of the schools mentioned above.

The Question
So the question I pose to you – who is right? Should we honor the absolute best in academics and in athletics or is it good enough for each school just to name their All-Stars and eliminate their MVP’s? Should we get away from Top Ten lists (unless you’re a David Letterman fan) and let high schools, colleges, and employers decide, based on their criteria, who they want?

Let me know your thoughts before the fall – I have an All-Star football ballot to fill out and the last line asks me to list my choice for an MVP!

This past Saturday night, second-base umpire Mike Estabrook called pinch runner Kyle Kendrick of the Phillies out at second base on a pick-off play in the ninth inning. Replay showed that the Milwaukee Brewer shortstop tagged Kendrick without the ball. No one saw the ball come free and roll into the bare hand of the shortstop. The Phils were down 4-3 at the time and the next Phillies batter doubled, but was left stranded. Right call = tie game; wrong call = lost game.

Baseball only uses replay for home run calls and, within the last two weeks, the umpires even got a home run call wrong. In the American league championship series last year, a Detroit player was called safe at second and TV replay showed the runner was out and the inning would have ended. Detroit scored two runs in the inning and won 3-0. There is a remedy to these bad calls. The NFL, NBA, NHL, major tennis tournaments, and some NCAA sports all use a form of instant replay. Why not baseball?

A subcommittee made up of Joe Torre, Tony LaRussa, and Atlanta Braves president John Schuerholtz will make recommendations for 2014. At first, consideration was to use replay only for a trap play and fair/foul. Now, all plays are being considered.

Baseball Instant Replay Concerns

1. Do you allow a challenge system by the managers, much like NFL football?
2. Do you use a replay official in the booth?
3. Do you use replay for all situations?
4. How much will replay disrupt the game?
5. Will it add even more time to a game which most people think takes too long now?

All these questions will be answered soon. Eliminate the arguments, take some of the pressure off the umpires, and get the call right. After all, isn’t that the most important element?

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. Speaking of baseball, as of May 15, there were 21 weather-related postponements, the same total as all of last year.
2. Did you know that no other state has hosted more USGA championships than Pennsylvania? The number is 80 entering 2013. Merion golf Club, the venue for the US Open in 2 weeks and Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh are the top two. They are the only two to host more USGA events than our own Saucon Valley Country Club which has hosted six. Saucon Valley will host their seventh in 2014 when 264 players converge at the club’s Old Course and the Weyhill course from September 5-11 for the Mid-Amateur Championship. 4,000 golfers attempt to qualify for this event. These are “true amateurs” who are over 25, with handicaps at 3.4 or less and have real jobs like the rest of us. The winner has an exemption for the Masters.
3. The NHL hockey playoffs are experiencing some good ratings for NBC and, particularly, for the NBC Sports Network. The May 29 Western Conference Semifinal Game 7 between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings posted a 2.07 rating and averaged 3.354 million viewers, making it the highest-rated NHL game ever on NBC Sports Network, and the most-watched Semifinal game ever on cable.
4. Congratulations to Parkland, Tamaqua, Salisbury, and Tri-Valley for winning District XI baseball championships this past week. On to states for them and for us. We have the PIAA state championships LIVE on PCN, Friday, June 14, beginning at 10:30 AM.
5. I am hosting Sportstalk this Thursday (June 6) and the panel will be discussing the best 5 high school football players at various positions. Dick Tracy, Dennis Laub, Jack Logic and Joe Craig will offer their lists. I am putting my list together. There have been some great ones over the years Join us with your opinions. I am sure there will be many.