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!

Eastern PA Leaders
There are some wonderful people in the RCN viewing area who quietly do work that often goes unnoticed, and as much as possible, I’d like to try to identify their efforts as much as possible on this blog and on our “RCN SportsTalk” program.

The first one—and I can prove that I’m not trying to suck-up here—is my son’s T-Ball coach, Dave Fries.

Actually, and I’m optimistically saying you could probably insert the name of hundreds of names here who silently do work for our young people with any recognition or financial rewards, but I want to give Coach Fries some attention.

For anyone that has spent time around three-, four-, five- and six-year olds, trying to keep them on the field (forget being focused on the game itself) is a major chore. Kids that age can have the attention span of a gnat and trying to teach them the finer points of America’s pastime can be more than trying. Add the complete lack of pay and working a full-time job, a family, mortgage, et. al, the extra burden of youth coaching may not seem worth it. But Coach Fries was extremely patient with the kids and did his best to give instructions throughout the season—even if most kids seemed more intrigued by playing in the dirt behind second base.

I purposely waited until his season was over, and got word that he has officially retired from t-ball coaching before I wrote this post to avoid any bias. Truly, he had the patience of a saint, and I think he’ll be very hard to replace when my son goes out for the team next year.

Speaking of identifying unsung heroes in our community, former sports writer Joe DeVivo is running a very special golf tournament for the second straight summer—an event in which he turned a tragic event in his family’s life, into a fun outing that’s used to help out local students.

The second annual Joseph J. DeVivo Memorial Golf Tournament, which pays tribute to Joe’s dad, who was abducted from his home in the Poconos and murdered in 2012, was held on Sunday, July 21 at Country Club of the Poconos in Marshalls Creek (because of a technical issue, we weren’t able to post this prior to the event). Last fall, thanks to the generosity of individual and corporate donors, we established the Joseph J. DeVivo Memorial Scholarship Fund and were able to raise $9,000 for Ashley Kennedy, a graduating senior at East Stroudsburg North High School.

Last year, they gave out 135 prizes, so practically everybody got something. Most won 3 or 4 prizes and one woman won nine. They have a large number of very good raffle prizes again including tickets to the Aug 4 NASCAR race at Pocono Raceway, baseball tickets for the regional minor league teams, greens fees to a variety of golf courses in Northampton County and the Poconos, “Day at the Races” packages and numerous restaurant gift cards in the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos. More information is available on its new website (click on the tourney’s name above for the link).

Who are some other community leaders and coordinators who deserve some notice? Post your suggestions below as we try to salute people who very quietly do wonderful work in our area.

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).

Trade Deadline ’13 Thoughts

With everyone calling for the Phillies to “sell” and begging Ruben Amaro Jr. to call up nearly every significant prospect in the Phillies farm system (I had one viewer e-mail me the Phillies starting lineup that he’d like to see for 2014—and it included only two names on the current MLB roster!), let’s take a breath and take a realistic view of the players who COULD be in the majors at some point.

Of these two players, Cody Asche is by far having the best Triple-A season among the “prospects,” and probably the most realistic shot at starting opening day with the Phillies a year from now. However, while everyone I’ve spoken with loves his glove, he looks to be—at best—an “average” hitter, with very little power (a little more than Ben Revere, a smart base runner, but with average speed.

As for Tyson Gillies, Amaro spoke VOLUMES when the Phillies desperately needed someone to replace Revere—and later Dominic Brown—and he responded by keeping three catchers, and re-calling light-hitting Michael Martinez and journeyman Steve Susdorf ahead of him. It may not be unreasonable to think that Gillies, Phillippe Aumount, and J. C. Ramerez—the three players acquired for Cliff Lee back in 2009—all might be out of the Phils’ organization by the end of the 2014, instead of leading their re-building process.

Darin Ruf was another player I’ve often been asked about. I saw quite a bit in Triple-A and, at times, looked like a competent Major League bat. He would work the count many times, but also got frustrated when teams tried to pitch around him. I don’t know if he’s the left fielder of the future the Phillies need him to be — although with Ryan Howard’s tenuous injury status, he might be a guy that has a long career with the Phillies as an extra man, providing pop off the bench.

Adam Morgan and Greg Smith were the pitchers that impressed me the most so far this summer, although the latter may not have the velocity it takes to be a steady Major League starter.

Honestly, from what I’ve seen and from what I’m hearing, I don’t know if there’s much minor league help on the near-horizon, with the exception of Double-A third baseman Maikel Franco and southpaw Jesse Biddle, and Amaro’s insistence on not trading away these few precious commodities support that theory. (I’m not including Freddie Galvis with these names as he clearly was sent down to the minors to get some at-bats and be ready with whatever hole they’ll need him to fill next). With inherent raises in store for some returning Phillies players (and significant upgrades for an arbitration guy like Kyle Kendrick), I don’t know if the team will have much financial flexibility to acquire very many new names—certainly not enough to solve all the team’s current question marks?

What players currently in the organization do you like and/or want to see more of? What direction should the Phillies head next? Among our guests on the August 22nd edition of “SportsTalk” (live at 6 pm on RCN-TV) will be Phillies Beat Writer Brad Wilson, who will talk about the Phillies, Eagles and other local and national sports issues. Send your comments to RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com and we can read and respond to your comments on that program.

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.

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.

Connie Mack Baseball

It was our pleasure for RCN SportsTalk videographer Mike Kingsley and myself to attend the Connie Mack All-Star Game at Limeport Stadium. This year was a little extra special due to the league’s season-long anniversary celebration for its 60th year of existence. It gives young athletes a place to play under-the-lights (which is still a big deal to many 14 to 16 year-olds) and to play in this special venue. While the score itself is not important, it definitely had more-than-the-normal number of highlights—both offensively, defensively, and on the mound—in addition to some unique experiences. A few of them include:

* Lehigh Township’s Matt Miller coming through with multiple hits in clutch situations to give the “Green Team” a lead it would not relinquish.

* Pen Argyl’s Zach Luke striking out the side in his one inning of work (to allow for more pitchers getting into the game, pitchers were limited to just one inning).

* The “bull-rush” of players who stormed the pizza guy when it arrived later in the evening. I gave a heads-up to stay out of the players’ way when it was delivered, and quickly realized the warnings were on-the-mark when the entire dugout of 27 players (per side) emptied on-mass to gobble down the complimentary meal.

* The “thank you’s” we received for coming to this event were not necessary, but very much appreciated. We’d love to spend more time at community events and try to cover as many local organizations as possible. It was our pleasure to showcase the kids who work so hard at this wonderful game of baseball

We’re going to have more highlights and be talking in much more detail about Connie Mack’s 60th Anniversary season on the July 25th edition of “RCN SportsTalk” (which will be live from 6-7 pm on RCN-TV). It would be great if fans of this organization would contact us with their support for the league and thoughts on Connie Mack’s past, present, and future. Below is a sample of the video we shot and comments from the “winning” All-Star Team members:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkERjewD0lU

Feel free to post a comment or question on Connie Mack baseball and send us an email at RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com. Tune in on July 25th at 6pm on RCN-TV as we’ll be reading and responding to your comments, as well as talking more about America’s Pastime and this special youth organization.