Today’s “Behind the Mic” blog is written by long time RCN personality Scott Barr. Scott’s on-air career began in 1984 with the District XI Girl’s Tennis Championship, won by Monica Yurkonic. Since that debut, he has covered a wide range of sports, including kick boxing, track and field, lacrosse, soccer, volleyball, football, and baseball. Most of our viewers, of course, will know him for his work with District XI wrestling. The 2012-13 season was Scott’s 29th season covering “the nation’s best high school wrestling.” Fans across the valley have heard him call “Give him six!” after a pin, while working with three legends of Lehigh Valley sports—Gary Laubach, Ray Nunamaker, and Jim Best. Outside of RCN, Scott helps small businesses set up retirement plans for their employees, and lives in Macungie with his wife, Melissa, and their four children, ages 6 to 22!

Quick—without Google—name the five events in the Olympic Modern Pentathlon.

It’s a sport that may continue to be included in the 2020 version of this worldwide festival of competition. As you know by now, wrestling will not. There is plenty of finger-pointing, from FILA to the IOC, but the bottom line is that this decision is heinous, and reeks of politics.

The IOC stated, in their own report:

“The board voted after reviewing a report by the IOC program commission report that analyzed 39 criteria, including television ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy and global participation and popularity. With no official rankings or recommendations contained in the report, the final decision by the 15-member board was also subject to political, emotional and sentimental factors.”

Allow me to interpret—they gathered the facts, but didn’t really use them. They had important numbers available, but made this decision based on “emotion and sentiment”. Does anyone else smell corruption? Maybe I’ve been listening too much to Glenn Beck.

Wrestling, as an Olympic sport, dates to 1896, and is responsible for some of the great Olympic memories. Local fans, of course, will remember Bobby Weaver running around the arena with his 8 month old son, celebrating his gold medal in 1984. I still get choked up watching that one. Some may recall Wilfred Dietrich’s amazing suplex of the 500 pound Chris Taylor in 1972—find it on YouTube—it is the most spectacular throw in wrestling history. Other moments, American and otherwise, are equally memorable. To remove this sport is a travesty.

Further, it’s not hard to imagine that the elimination of Olympic wrestling would cause a death spiral to the sport overall. Title IX has already damaged our sport dramatically, and the IOC decision could well finish it off. Since 1972, 669 colleges and universities have dropped their programs. Of the 79 Division I programs that remain, how many would fold if Olympic dreams were suddenly torn away? Once that happens, the high school programs can’t be far behind.

There are those who say that the sport is tough to watch, difficult to understand, and doesn’t translate well to television. For the casual viewer, clearly, these are valid. My response is equally clear—hogwash. All of these arguments can be made for dressage, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized diving, and other events that seem to be safe from Olympic cuts. That’s right—dressage—an event where, as near as I can tell, is best described as “horse dancing”.

The final vote has yet to be cast on this decision, as this will happen in September of this year. I do not have a good feeling about it. The IOC, above all, is a political group, and their intent is clear. Dan Gable, the great American champion, is hoping that a petition with 2,020,000 signatures can sway their opinion. I hope he is right. Gable is not a man accustomed to losing, but the battle of FILA vs IOC is lightweight vs super heavyweight.

I would love to tell you “here’s what we need to do” in order to save this sport. I truly fear that the die has been cast. FILA has changed leadership, and is campaigning with urgency, but it may be far too little, and smells of desperation. Certainly, the IOC is used to outrage, and expects a good amount in the face of this decision. Dan Gable is a competent ambassador, and a passionate leader. If a miracle is needed, he may be the only one capable of delivering.

By the way — the modern pentathlon? Pistol shooting, 200 meter freestyle swimming, horse show jumping, fencing, and cross-country running. A cool event, really, but unless you are from a formerly Communist-block country, you don’t care. In 2005, the IOC affirmed its place in the competition, but will vote again in September of this year. Somebody’s out.

There’s been quite a bit of talk over the last few months regarding changes and speculations to our local Lehigh Valley Conference and Colonial League. We greatly appreciated local athletic directors coming on our recent “RCN SportsTalk” show (which you can watch for yourself for free on RCN Video-On-Demand). I have posted a short clip of our recent show below. I try to limit my own opinions on the program as much as I can as I try to focus and devote our time for our guests to give their views; however, there were several points I wanted to address on the show and did not have the opportunity to do so on that particular program.

First, I think the schools are absolutely justified in trying to look at options that would result in the best opportunities for their student athletes. I think the current alignment of teams in both the Lehigh Valley Conference and the Colonial League are overall very fair and make for genuinely good competition in most teams and sports. There are some “size discrepancies” (e.g., Bangor vs. Catasauqua) that sometimes directly affect their team’s abilities to succeed. However, if you look across the board at the different athletic events, a team like the Rough Riders not only defends their honor quite nicely, but in some sports, has held a strong advantage over bigger schools (among them football and softball). Is it perfect system? No . . . nor will it ever be. I think the school administrators must provide due diligence in looking to see if it can better the current alignments.

Secondly, there are some schools that have significant challenges in traveling to away games—especially during the winter sports season. The most obvious examples are Bangor and Northwestern going to Palisades and vice versa, which results in what amounts to a huge expense in travel costs and commuting time for not just the school districts, but also for the parents and family members, who already make sacrifices for their sons and daughters to participate in athletics. Does one trip from one end of the District XI map to the other sabotage one’s budget? Not really…but why make several trips from, say Bangor to Hellertown, Kintersville and Center Valley each season, when you have teams from up north at much closer distances.

Thirdly, I’d like to discuss the “super-conference” that we have discussed on our show and the suggestions proposed by Keith Groller of the Morning Call in a recent column. There are benefits to grouping teams together according to classifications, distances, and program strengths that could involve all the teams currently in the LVC, MVC and Colonial League in one way or another. Several weeks ago on “SportsTalk”, the Express-Times’ Bruce Buratti thought it was possible that a couple schools from the Poconos might want to “go north” and get more involved in teams from District 2, which, of course, would be right to do so if they feel that would be in the best interest of their schools. However, if any more teams leave the MVC— to the Anthracite League, Schuylkill League or wherever—I think you will have to look at assimilating teams from the Poconos into any rebranding of the LVC, even if they themselves have their own section which would limit their long-distance travel to the District’s southern region (most of those schools already schedule Lehigh Valley teams as part of their non-conference schedule).

There are other super-conference rumors that have not been spoken about publicly in recent weeks. As you might imagine, the current athletic directors cannot comment directly on any speculation that a plan could be in the works. That net will not apply for our May 2nd “SportsTalk” show, in which will be talking with former athletic directors from the region that have no obligations (nor a propensity) to limit what they can address.

Here’s some of the recent news and comments about the local leagues’ changes from last week’s show:

What are your thoughts on the changes that have already taken place, and in what direction do you think local administrators should move towards? Feel free to post comments below and email your comments and questions to RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com and we’ll read and respond to you emails on our live May 2nd show at 6pm on RCN-TV.

In my very first blog, I warned you that there would be times when I just did not feel like writing about sports. This is one of those times.

After this week’s tragic events in Boston and in West, Texas, it is hard not to think of the people who saw their family members and loved ones go off to watch the Boston Marathon, socialize with friends, or go to work and never return. Tragedy struck, without warning, and without any opportunity to offer any final words. It gave me pause to consider things we all should say or would say if we only knew we would never see some people again:

1. Hopefully, we all would take the time to thank our parents for their discipline, their support, and their love.

2. We would tell our “significant other” how much they have enriched our lives and have made every day better.

3. We would tell our children how proud we are of their accomplishments, but more importantly, how proud we are that they are good people and good citizens.

4. We would inspire our grandchildren to continue to work hard, persevere, and treat people as they would want to be treated.

5. We would offer hearty handshakes and hugs to our siblings.

6. We would find the time to thank teachers and coaches who taught us to push harder to become more than we thought we could.

7. We would thank our employers for finding and matching our talents to their needs.

8. We would tell friends and fellow employees their time spent with us makes our days better.

9. We would show appreciation to those individuals whom we come in contact with on a regular basis, treat us respectfully, serve our needs, and thank us for our patronage and loyalty.

10. We would make amends to those we have slighted, treated poorly, and made to feel badly.

Make this your “bucket list”. Do the best you can to take the time to check off the conversations, the messages, the thoughts and feelings. This past week tells us we do not know how much time we have. Don’t be left thinking, “If only…”

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. LeBron James (NBA), Mario Balotelli (soccer), and Lindsey Vonn (Alpine ski racer) are the three athletes mentioned by Time magazine as 3 of the 100 most influential people in the world. I know 2 of the 3 and spend very little time following any of their sports. However, I liked what I read about them. Zola, an Italian soccer star, wrote about Balotelli. Derek Jeter wrote the piece on LeBron and Danica Patrick wrote about Lindsey Vonn. I know the latter two writers. I have to broaden my horizons.

2. Tiger Woods received a two-stoke penalty during the Masters when a fan called in to say he had broken a rule. The fan was proven to be correct. In a more serious vein, as evidenced this week, with today’s technology, it is hard to get away with anything.

3. The Boston Red Sox are in first place right now in the AL East just ahead of the Yankees. Even a die-hard Yankee fan might not be too upset about that.

4. I will not be blogging the next two weeks, but this space will be in the able fingers of Scott Barr and Randy Kane. Scott will talk about the elimination of wrestling from the Olympics and Randy will look at auto racing. Enjoy!

5. I want to thank Jim Best for being a guest blogger last week. He talked about his trip to the National Wrestling Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. His passion for the sport just oozed out of the computer screen.

I have long admired the local athletic directors in the Eastern Pennsylvania region. From Dick Tracy (who was also my English and Journalism teacher while he was Athletic Director—(which is a story for another blog entry), to Mike Schneider to Bob Shriver, and several other former athletic directors that I’ve always admired, I have always felt (and would frequently hear them say) that they would always want to keep the student-athletes’ best interests in the forefront of any major decision that they would make. Even now that those gentlemen have retired and I have the good fortune of being able to talk with them, they continue to preach that mantra as the directive of all administrators. I also feel that the people who have succeeded them have very much continued with that message in mind.

That point was hammered home once again this week—with some help from other community leaders — as the District XI re-established the pact with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs to have their playoff championship games be played at a first-class facility, Coca-Cola Park. Here are some of the highlights from this week’s press conference (in order): Dylan Dando—LVBA Director of Baseball Operations, Scott Cooperman—District XI Baseball Chair, Kurt Landes, IronPigs General Manager and Terry Schadler from ECTB.

I think it’s so wonderful for the local athletes to continue to play in a Triple-A professional baseball venue. It’s a tribute to the local leaders to get together and work out a deal to continue this tradition. I’ve covered the PIAA Baseball and softball playoffs for several years. While the games are played at very nice facilities at present, there have been some places (sorry Shippensburg) that have not been worthy of playing the ultimate spring season championship game. You could argue the teams in District XI—thanks to this deal—may play in one of the finest facilities in the country for a high school contest. To play in a pro baseball site creates a memory that will last a lifetime, and in an age where many big business men and women are always looking for the best deal financially for themselves, it was refreshing to see these organizational leaders work out a pact that will see future athletes enjoy this rare and incredibly special experience.

Surely, there’s no drawbacks to this move. Other advantages include having a professional grounds keeping crew on hand to battle inclement weather, and the stadium lights allow games to be played later, which allows parents a rare chance to see their kids play without having to sacrifice their work schedule. What do you think of the news, and would there be any local sites that you think would do a better job hosting the playoffs? Feel free to post your comments below. This will be just one of the issues we’ll be discussing on this week’s “RCN SportsTalk” show featuring current ADs, in which we’ll show more video from the press conference.

Speaking of the former athletic directors in this region, they’ll be part of some very special “SportsTalk” shows coming up in May. Here are upcoming show lists for our program, which airs live on RCN-TV on Thursdays at 6pm:

April 25th: College Football Spring Recaps

May 2nd: Local Sports Issues w/Former Athletic Directors Bob Shriver, Dick Tracy, Les Kish

May 9th: “Radio Announcing Legends” featuring Al Raber, Dick Hammer, Tim Cain

May 16th: TBD

May 23rd: Former Major League Catcher Brian Schneider, plus Mike Schneider & Don Harakal

Today’s “Behind the Mic”  is a guest post from our very own Jim Best! Jim was born and raised in the Lehigh Valley. As a product of the District XI wrestling community, Jim wrestled at Parkland High School from 1980 to 1984, and then went on to wrestling for North Carolina State University. After graduating from college, Jim began a teaching and coaching career in the Parkland School District. At the high school level, Jim was an assistant coach at Parkland for eight years, and he held the head coaching position from 2000-2003. In 2004, Jim began his commentating career as a high school wrestling analyst fro RCN Sports. In addition to his position with RCN, Jim currently serves as principal at Macungie Elementary School and resides in Allentown with his wife, Katie. 

Hello Behind the Mic readers! My name is Jim Best and I’m honored to have been asked to fill in this week for a vacationing Gary Laubach. As an experienced wrestler and former coach, I’m excited for this opportunity to share my recent experiences at the 2013 Division 1 Wrestling Championship in Des Moines with you. I’ve worked as an RCN TV High School Wrestling Analyst for the past eight years. Growing up in the Lehigh Valley, I was a two-time State Wrestling Finisher at Parkland High School. I then went on to North Carolina State University where I continued my wrestling career by placing second and third in the ACC Championship Tournament, in addition to competing in the NCAA Championship Tournament in Iowa City, Iowa. After graduation, I returned to the Lehigh Valley where I soon became involved in coaching. I served as the Assistant High School Wrestling Coach at Parkland High School from 1994 to 2000, transitioning into the Head Coach position until 2003. In 2003, I resigned from “full-time” coaching to move into school administration. I am currently employed as the Principal at Macungie Elementary School in the East Penn School District.

Back in March, I had the opportunity to attend the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. When Gary asked me to fill in for him, I immediately felt this would be a perfect topic to share with you Behind the Mic readers.

The 2013 Division 1 Wrestling Championships – History in the Making!

Des Moines, Iowa .. .probably not on the top 10 list of “places to visit for spectacular scenery”, but if you are a passionate wrestling fan, like myself, Des Moines was the place to be during the second last weekend of March for some of the most spectacular wrestling scenery you will ever see! My trip began with a fight out of Lehigh Valley International Airport (or ABE, as it is still referred to on Expedia) on the evening of Wednesday, March 20th. Later that evening, as I boarded a connecting flight from Atlanta to Des Moines, I was amazed (as I always am when I travel by plane to the tournament) how many wrestling fans had come “out of the woodwork” to converge on the NCAA Championship tournament. Most of the passengers on the plane were wearing some type of wrestling clothing (tee-shirts, hats, sweatpants, etc.) that displayed their team of choice, and/or they displayed the wrestler’s “badge of honor”, which consists of one or a pair of cauliflower ears. Put it this way, if a person on that flight wasn’t a wrestling fan, they were probably thinking “what the heck have I gotten myself into?” In any event, it was a fun trip, with interesting conversation and, by 10:00 that evening, I was in Des Moines.

The Anticipation…

The opening morning of the tournament (Thursday) is filled with intense excitement and anticipation from both fans and athletes, but the morning also presented some challenges. The tournament was held in downtown Des Moines at the Wells Fargo Arena. Des Moines is not a large city and it doesn’t have an extensive public transportation system. Of the 18,000 or so people attending the tournament, about 9,000 of those people had driven to downtown Des Moines on Thursday morning and were scrambling for a parking spot. Most of these folks are ex-wrestlers who are known to have a bit of a temper! Lucky for me, my wife accompanied me out to Des Moines (although she had no interest in attending the tournament), so I had drop-off and pick-up service, throughout the entire three day span of the tournament, at the front door of the arena. From where she dropped me off, it was a short walk to the media entrance, and from there I picked up media credentials and found “my spot” on media row (all media folks receive an assigned seat, with the exception of mat side photographers, who have as assigned area beside each mat, and you must sit in your assigned seat or risk losing your credentials). Fortunately for me, my seat was directly in front of Mat 2, and I had a clear view of all other mats (to start the tournament, there are eight mats running at one time). By 11:00am that morning, wrestling had started and I was in wrestling “bliss”.

The Athletes…

Keep in mind, this is a tournament that all of the wrestlers qualify for. Every wrestler in this tournament comes with a great deal of wrestling experience and savvy under their wrestling belts. I would venture to say, based on my experience as a wrestler in the championship tournament (many moons ago) and a former coach, that most of the young men in this tournament have dedicated a better part of their youth to compete at this level. Every match that unfolds in the tournament has the potential to be “the best match of the tournament”, regardless of tournament seeds or prior accomplishments – all of the wrestlers are that good! In addition, the wrestlers have to weigh-in, at or below a designated weight, every day of the tournament. Of the 330 wrestlers that qualified for the tournament, all but a few of the 285 pounders (who cannot weigh-in at more than 285 pounds) walk around with only 5 or 6 percent body fat…these guys are also fit!

The Tournament Unfolds…

If you are reading this blog, and you are a passionate fan of wrestling, you know that I can write for days and days to describe all of the awesome wrestling action that I witnessed over the 72 hour period during which the tournament took place…but I won’t do that because you were either at the tournament or watched the ESPN coverage! If you are reading the blog and you don’t follow wrestling, I will sum it up as best I can without losing your attention and interest.

Of course, I kept my eyes on the local boys-Randy Cruz (Bethlehem Catholic/Lehigh, 133lbs.), Devon Lotitio (Liberty/Cal Poly, 133lbs.), Jordan Oliver (Easton/Oklahoma State, 149lbs.), Mike Ottinger (Parkland/Central Michigan, 165lbs.), Jimmy Sheptock (Northampton/Maryland, 184lbs), Brandon Palik (Saucon Valley/Drexel, 197lbs.), and Justin Grant (Easton/Bloomsburg. 285lbs). These were all wrestlers that I watched compete just a few years ago at local high school dual meets and tournaments that the RCN team covered. So, of course, I had a special interest in how they fared. As we know now, Jordan Oliver prevailed to win his second NCAA title, and in dominant fashion! Jimmy Sheptock also had a very good performance, as he picked up All-American honors, as only a sophomore, with a sixth place finish in his weight class. Cruz, Lotito, Ottinger, Palik and Grant all had great performances, but each one suffered heartbreaking losses that would bring their season to a pre-mature close before accomplishing the goal of All-American status (the top eight place finishers in each weight class earn All-American honors). At the end of the day, win or lose in this tournament, they will never forget the experience.

The “main story” of the tournament was the action unfolding in the 165 pound weight class. Two wrestlers were predicted to advance to the final round to wrestle in a match that some wrestling fans are calling the “best match ever.” Kyle Dake, a senior from Cornell who had already won three consecutive championships at three different weight classes (141lbs, 149lbs., and 157lbs.) would square off against David Taylor, from Penn State. Taylor was the defending champion at the weight class and the winner of the Hodge Trophy (college wrestling’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy) in 2012. Both wrestlers advanced through the tournament to the final round, and Dake prevailed over Taylor in a super-exciting 5-4 match to win his fourth NCAA title. Dake became only the third wrestler in the history of the tournament to win four titles (Pat Smith from Oklahoma State and Cael Sanderson from Iowa State were the previous two wrestlers to accomplish the feat), and he is the only wrestler to win his titles in four different weight classes. Penn State, coached by Cael Sanderson, won their third consecutive team title with five finalists and two champions. As I walked out of the arena at about 11:00pm on Saturday evening, at the conclusion of the final round, I reflected on my experience at the tournament and thought “Man, I am one lucky guy to have seen this unfold.”

Final Thoughts…

As I have described to some of my non-wrestling friends and colleagues, attending that tournament is the equivalent to a football fan attending the Superbowl, or a college basketball fan attending the Final Four – it just doesn’t get any better in terms of action and atmosphere. For three days in March, approximately 18,000 diehard wrestling fans converge at the site of the championships to watch the best college wrestlers in the country compete against each other, and then, in between the rounds of wrestling, we meet at the local eating establishments to discuss and relive the most exciting moments over a burger and some cold beverages. .. it truly is a “live, eat and breath” wrestling experience! Next year, the championships are in Oklahoma City…time to get on the Expedia website and arrange a flight out of “ABE”!

With the arrival of the baseball season and the Phillies looking less than stellar to start their season, I wanted to look back at a troublesome winter — sports-wise. The weather is supposed to warm up and there’s no snow in the forecast (not until Halloween anyway), so let’s examine a phrase I heard quite often here in the Eastern Pennsylvania region during the last several months, and decide if this truly was the “winter of discontent” for Philly sports fans. Let’s examine the pro sports happenings this winter & decide which event(s) was the most mentally draining for us:

1. On the NHL side, we first had to endure (yet another!) lockout. After months of arguing … sorry, “negotiating,” and a supposed deal that collapsed, followed by several more weeks of going back-and-forth, an agreement was reached. Then the remaining pieces of last year’s Flyers disappointing season were supposed to mix with alleged upgrades and Ilya Bryzgalov was supposed to have a bounce-back year. Then the teams who you knew were going to be good (Tampa Bay) were even better than expected and shook off the rust with ease. The teams the Flyers were supposed to be better than (New York), lit up the scoreboard on Bryz and the Flyers defense way too often. The Flyers even struggled to beat the mediocre teams or would lose in shootouts to horrific teams like the Florida Panthers. Their chances of making the playoffs are now slim, and they also don’t have the abundance of youth that one could hope for. The fact that they’ll start next season on time may be the biggest bright spot for next season

2. Andrew Bynam. Do we have to say much more when it comes to talking about the 76ers’ woes this season? Everything was built around a player who ended up never playing a game for the team. Add the double-double performances of the dispatched Nik Nucevic and the usual, better-than-average consistent effort by Andre Iguodala, mixed with the less than spectacular additions of Dorell Wright, Kwame Brown, the injury-riddled Jason Richardson and the inconsistent Evan Turner, Swaggy P and the like made for an absolutely abysmal season for the Sixers—and an abyss of questions, unknowns and I-don’t-want-to-think-about-thems on the roster for next year.

3. The Eagles came off their worst season under Andy Reid, and soon afterward dismissed the head coach. Despite a wave of more popular and NFL-proven commodities, Jeff Lurie, in his infinite wisdom went outside of conventional thinking and hired Chip Kelly. His under-the-radar free agents and his seemingly solid assistant coaching staff have given Birds fans reason for optimism, but the unpopular decision to bring back Michael Vick and his completely unknown ability to draft well (something his predecessor struggled mightily with) still have many faithful followers uneasy heading into the spring.

4. Last and maybe, in terms of this blog query, the least — the Phillies. They were coming off their first season since 2006 in which they not only failed to make the playoffs, but barely reached the .500 mark. With the trades of mega-millionaires Shane Victorino, Joe Blanton, and Hunter Pence, the Phightin’s were free to spend boffo-dollars to sign BJ Upton, Michael Borne, Nick Swisher, Annibal Sanchez, et al to fortify the troops and make a grand rush for the playoffs before the potential departures of free agents-to-be Chase Utley, Roy Halladay, and Carlos Ruiz. Instead, we got Michael Young, Delmon Young, John Lannan and Ben Revere (at the expense of Vance Werley and Trevor May). While we have to give due diligence to see if these deals work out, none of the moves were the ‘big splash’ we were all hoping for, and it can certainly be argued that the outfield and starting pitching (pending Halladay’s health) is actually WORSE than it was heading into last year.

Was it the worst winter in recent memory for Philly pro sports? And how would you rank these events in order of your frustration and angst? Post your comments and send us an email to RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com to let us know how you feel, and join us on our next “SportsTalk” show on Thursdays, live at 6 pm to discuss your sports opinions.

After doing this job for over 41 years, I have tried to maintain one rule of thumb. Do not work on Sunday, if at all possible. With so many weeknights and weekends away from home, I have always tried to keep Sunday as a day I can spend with my wife and/or my family. Obviously, over the years, there have been occasions that have superseded my wish, but when I am in control, I try hard to abide by the rule.

About three weeks ago, the Salisbury Athletic Director called to see if I would attend their boys’ basketball banquet. I hesitated in responding prior to knowing the date and day because, very often, I turn down these requests. To attend one, sort of obligates one to attend them all, if possible. To attend them all, however, is not possible. This request for me to attend centered around the highlight of their season – beating a team that had beaten them three times during the year and doing it in dramatic fashion: a half-court shot, trailing by one, as time expired in overtime, in the first round of the District playoffs!!

The Booster Club and the AD wanted to relive that moment and do it by reliving our broadcast and my call of the shot. Obviously, flattery usually is a great enticement. I did not decline the invitation, nor did I accept it. I asked for the date and was told April 7, a Sunday!

Well, I am sure many of you have accepted challenges that sound like a good thing, only to question your reasoning when the day actually arrives. That was my disposition this past Sunday. It was a beautiful day – the perfect day to spend with my wife. My granddaughter was home from college; my oldest daughter invited us to spend the day in the mountains; and my son-in-law (an accountant) wanted to get our 2012 tax returns completed. I said “no” to all of the options. You see, I had already accepted the invitation to the Salisbury basketball banquet.

When I arrived, I was greeted by the Booster Club president, many parents, the AD, her parents, and the players. It was a very, very warm atmosphere. The meal was excellent, the company at my table was congenial, and the setting was simple. I was asked to speak. I thanked everyone for the invitation, talked a bit about the thrill of competing, asked the players to make sure they understood that their parents, faculty, coaches, school, and the Booster Club make everything possible. We relived the “big shot” together and my job was done.

Then the coaches spoke. They spoke, like many coaches, about the season, the dedication, the work, the hours, the development of the players, etc. But the coaches, also, spoke of a player who had never scored less than 100 on any test so far in high school. He was #1 in his class. They spoke of a player who had garnered a perfect math score on his SAT’s and was headed to Lehigh to become an engineer. They spoke of a JV player who volunteered to perform the task of doing varsity stats (a job nobody wanted and had to be ordered to do in the past). They spoke of a highly energetic manager who just beamed when he was presented with a little gift of appreciation. They talked of the tremendous parental and community support they received throughout the season.

And as I listened, I got a sense that this is what sports should be all about. There was acknowledgement, but it was all done in the right way. There were tokens of appreciation, but they were not elaborate. There was praise, even for those who simply practiced hard. There was a sense of community, a sense of family. I left, sincerely hoping that these kinds of banquets happen throughout the Lehigh Valley.

So despite missing a Sunday with my family, I enjoyed the invitation to join another “family”. It was nice.

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. I usually give Saturday Night Live a chance to entertain me. I am often disappointed. Some of the skits are just awful. However, if you can, call up the VOD of this past Saturday’s show. Melissa McCarthy is the host and she literally had me in tears in the first half hour. Her opening, trying to walk in the latest style of shoes for women, was hilarious and her takeoff of Rutger’s basketball coach, Mike Rice, is absolute comedy genius. Check it out!

2. Speaking of the infamous Mike Rice practice video, those of us who have played sports probably spent this past week thinking of coaches we have played for who, in some fashion, berated and belittled us into performing better. I practiced basketball for 3 hours in galoshes because the night before we played so poorly. The next day, I could not lift my legs. I had football coaches who would “jack” us up against the wall to get our attention and make us tougher. I had coaches keep us on the football practice field for hours on end until we “got it”. The list is long. Now, Big Brother is watching. Cell phones and video cameras are everywhere. This requires a better way to coach and that is a good thing.

3. The Phillies and the Yankees are off to awful starts and there are no signs to indicate things are going to get better. Even the Iron Pigs look dismal early on. It could be a very long year for local fans.

4. The Masters starts on Thursday. Try not to bother me.

5. Jim Best will be a guest blogger next week talking about his trip to the National Wrestling Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Enjoy!

Louisville vs Wichita State: Saturday, April 6, 6:09pm on CBS

The Cardinals of Louisville are the only team that almost everyone expected to be in the Final Four. In fact, everyone probably expects them to be in The National Championship game. They are the only #1 to survive the bracket-busting in this year of parity. They were in this position last year and lost to Kentucky, the eventual national champion. They are the best offensive team for sure. With Peyton Siva and Russ Smith on the floor and the emotional catalyst of winning for Kevin Ware (severe compound fracture vs Duke) in his home town, the Cardinals look unbeatable.

If you are inclined to root for the underdog, then Wichita State is your team. They were seeded #9. Their nickname is the Shockers; their conference, the Missouri Valley, has not been in the Final Four since 1979, when they were led by Larry Bird, and they did not even win their conference. They lost to Southern Illinois, Evansville, and Indiana State twice during the season. But, remember, they just beat #2 Ohio State. A win by the Shockers would rank as one of college basketball’s greatest upsets.

Michigan vs Syracuse: Saturday, April 6, 8:49pm on CBS

It may be hard to believe but Michigan has not been to the Final Four since 1993 (remember the Fab Five?). This Michigan team, however, has all the ingredients to win it all. Trey Burke (a player of the year candidate) runs the offense, Mitch McGary can dominate in the paint and Nik Stauskas was unconscious in the quarterfinal game hitting 6-6 from beyond the arc. They also dominated a very good Florida team. They are the final member from the Big Ten, in a year when most thought that conference would dominate the tournament. In today’s vernacular, “they represent” for their now maligned (overrated?) conference. The Big Ten domination was supposed to come from Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Indiana. They are all out. Only Michigan remains.

That leaves Syracuse. If defense wins championships, then this is your pick. The Syracuse 2-3 zone has been absolutely smothering. They held a final eight team, Marquette, to just 39 points and #1 Indiana to 50 points! When you look at the strength of this team, ironically, one talks more about the coach rather than the players. This is Jim Boeheim’s fourth trip to the semifinals, having won the national championship in 2003. He is a master game-planner and a defensive genius.

These are very interesting match-ups, to say the least.

My Picks:

Louisville definitely beats Wichita State.

Syracuse ends the Big Ten participation for this year.

Syracuse is the only team left that could beat Louisville. They will not. The Cardinals win the national Championship on Monday, April 8.

This will bring a smile to many a pool player! Finally a favorite wins when they are supposed to.

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. The Wichita State research led me to Larry Bird. Did you remember that he originally was given a scholarship by Bob Knight and Indiana in 1974? He stayed for 24 days, overwhelmed by the size of the campus and the rather rude treatment by Indiana star, Kent Benson. He returned home to French Lick, Indiana, and got a job with the street department. After a year, he enrolled at Indiana State, averaged 30.3 points per game in three seasons, and led his team to a 33-1 record in his senior year, with the only loss coming to Michigan State and Magic Johnson in the national championship game.
2. Is it me? I really enjoy Charles Barkley, but he must feel like the luckiest guy in the world. He adds very little to the analysis of a game, butchers the English language, and doesn’t even seem all that interested. However, he has this look in his eyes and a smirk on his face that implies he knows he is putting something over on all of us, getting richer by the minute, and we will still like him. Worst of all, he is right!
3. I went to the VIA All-Star Basketball Banquet this past week. Bill Walton was the guest speaker – no notes, great message, memorized lists, great delivery. I have attended many banquets over the years and have seen many guest speakers. He was one of the best!
4. Baseball started this week. In most of the NL predictions, I have seen, the Giants, Cardinals, Reds, and Dodgers have been picked to make the playoffs. In the NL East, however, I have noticed a real split among prognosticators between the Nationals, the Braves, and the Phillies. No mention of the Mets! No mention of Miami. Nail biting time for Phillies fans!
5. The AL East is even crazier! There are five teams and all either have great talent or great tradition behind them. The talent belongs to Tampa Bay, Toronto, and Baltimore; the tradition belongs to New York and Boston. Most sportswriters are picking…. Wait for it – Toronto!!

“SportsTalk Shop” Looks at Philadelphia Phillies’ Prospects

I recently chatted with the Phillies’ AAA-team’s Director of Media Relations, Matt Provence, (just back from Clearwater) and asked him about some of top Phillies prospects. A number of them could play very important roles with the parent club in the very near future. In fact, with potential free agents like Roy Halladay, Chase Utley, Carlos Ruiz and others all in the last year of their contracts, there could be a quite a few minor leaguers starting the 2014 season with the Philadelphia Phillies. Here are Matt’s comments on some of the top prospects:

A few other items and observations I’ve obtained about the Phillies top prospects:

• Everyone I’ve spoken with has nothing but praise for third baseman Cody Asche. I’ve pressed some of the Phils reporters for areas of weakness or gaping holes in his swing. Everyone thinks he’s the real deal and “right on track” for taking over the position in 2014 — if not late this year if everything goes well with his play in the Lehigh Valley. A big concern could be that the Phillies would be even more left-handed hitting heavy with Asche in the everyday lineup behind Utley, Howard, Ben Revere, Dom Brown and Jimmy Rollins (who hits better from the left side), but the Phillies are “hoping” to have that problem a year from now. Everyone I’ve talked to said Asche has an excellent glove that will upgrade the team defensively from current third sacker Michael Young. In addition, Asche won’t hurt you offensively, especially if he bats near the bottom of the order to begin his soon-to-start major league career. He should be fun to watch—along with the continued development of Darin Ruff and his continued learning process of playing left field at Triple-A this year.
• B.J. Rosenberg may have been an early exit from the Phillies spring training, but don’t be surprised if he shows up on the Phils’ radar at some point – especially if Roy Halladay struggles. He’s been inserted into the IronPigs’ starting rotation and is one of the few Triple-A starters that has experience in the big leagues. His lively right-arm that scouts really like might just be the first option if the Phils don’t want to rely on the untested arms of Jonathan Pettibone, Ethan Martin, and Adam Morgan. The latter has continued to pitch well in the minor league camp—so much so that the organization has jettisoned all the veteran free agent pitchers who were brought in to provide insurance to the Phillies starting rotation.
• Be careful of “Player of the Future” labels. This time in 2012, Cesar Hernandez and Sebastian Valle were projected to be the replacements for Utley and Carlos Ruiz, respectively, yet neither is assured of even starting at those respective positions in Triple-A. Hernandez has been seeing time at shortstop as he looks more to try to tailor his game to a “utility guy” to give himself a better shot at advancing to the Bigs. Valle may go to Double-A just to get some regular reps as he has fallen behind Tommy Joseph (who looked solid offensively and defensively in both the major league and minor league spring training sessions) on the organization’s depth chart. Joseph has also gotten a big “thumbs up” in terms of the all important role of handling the pitching staff thus far. One caveat, there’s a rumor that Valle, who’s has the reputation of a big bat, could also see time in Reading learning left field and could be a back-up plan down the road if Darin Ruff can’t cut it defensively as an outfielder and/or is traded away.
• Tyson Gillies and JC Ramierez, both part of the Cliff Lee trade, continue to struggle to give the Phils any semblance of hope when trying to defend their acquisitions. Gillies, once hoped to be a top-of-the-order/solid defensive center fielder regular, seems to be on a path similar to Hernandez—that of a utility outfielder as he has seen time at all three outfield positions this spring, and looks to be too inconsistent at the plate to be a major league regular. Ramirez has continued to struggle with his control. Coming off a year at Triple-A in which he ended the season as an IronPig mop-up man, he finds himself once again buried in the pen behind Jake Diekman, Justin DeFratus and others.

What do you think of our Phillies prospects opinions and which players do you think will make an impact in the near future? We’ll be discussing the Phillies and more on our next “RCN SportsTalk” show (Thursdays at 6 pm). Post a comment on our blog or email us at RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com and we’ll read and respond to your questions and comments on our next show!

I had aspirations to become a lawyer when I was younger. Circumstances interfered with that goal and I certainly have no regrets about the path that life took me. However, I still love reading courtroom dramas, a la John Grisham, and shows like “Boston Legal” and “The Good Wife” have always captured my interest. So, this week I am going to practice law (with no background, other than reading about and watching Perry Mason as a kid).

The background: many of you have probably never heard of Royce White and you most certainly have never rooted for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Royce White was the 16th selection of the 2012 NBA Draft. He was selected by the Houston Rockets and signed a $1.7 million two-year contract. He has not played a game for the Rockets. His only professional basketball has been with the Vipers, the Rockets entry into the NBA Development League.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury:

In defense of Royce White:

Royce White suffers from serious mental illness, an obsessive-compulsive disorder and an anxiety disorder. As a ten-year-old during a basketball practice, he saw his best friend collapse, drool from the mouth, and be rushed to the hospital for cardiac abnormality. His fears began then.

Since that incident, he has had an aversion to conditioning runs. Among other areas of concern, he cannot get on an airplane. Avoiding conditioning exercises and not flying (the Rockets schedule would include 98 flights) have caused much consternation for the NBA Houston Rockets. Mr. White firmly believes that it is the responsibility of the Rockets to accommodate his mental health issues. They signed him to a contract knowing his mental disorder and, therefore, should be at the forefront in helping him accommodate his illness with his ability to play basketball. His claim is that mental illness is no different than a physical ailment that would keep one from playing basketball. He has been willing to take a 68 hour bus ride in order to play two games for the Vipers. He wants to play for the Rockets, but he will not risk his physical and mental health to do so. He, rightfully so, listens to his personal doctor and does not trust the advice offered by the Rockets’ medical personnel. Through cooperation and understanding, it is up to the Rockets to make it work.

In defense of the Rockets:

The Houston Rockets drafted Royce White because he was the only player in the nation to lead his team (Iowa State) in 5 major statistical categories. His talent and his achievements at the NBA Scouting Combine made him a very attractive selection for our organization. The Rockets, also, knew he had endured 20 flights for travel during the season at Iowa State. Houston was made aware, early on in negotiations, that Mr. White would require some special accommodations – a personal bus being one of them so he could avoid flying. We made the accommodations requested and he signed the contract. It was Mr. White who decided that we were not doing enough to handle his anxiety disorder and he became absent from the team. He just stopped coming to work. The Rockets assigned him to the Vipers in order to reintegrate him into the organization. He has now quit the Vipers and returned to Houston for the rest of the season on the advice of HIS physician. The Houston Rockets have done all they can do to accommodate Royce White’s condition. It is up to him to make it work.

Who is right here – Royce White or the Houston Rockets?

You decide and since I defended both, I, happily, cannot lose my first case!

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. I find the only way to avoid getting caught up in all the March Madness games is to just not watch. Every time I go to a game, I find myself staying with it until the outcome is decided and checking the scoreboard at the top of the screen to see where I should be focusing my attention. It is addicting, for sure. CBS has really adapted the tournament to the fan – every game in its entirety!
2. I do have one complaint about the NCAA broadcasts, however. If you are a basketball junkie like me, I just can’t take watching the same commercials over and over again.
3. Tiger Woods distracted me from basketball at times on Saturday, playing in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He is starting to look even better than he was before all the problems. Sunday’s round was rained out. Good. No distraction.
4. My former announcing buddy, Dick Tracy, is hawking hot dogs for Potts’ in Northampton just to keep busy. Last week, when a customer asked what he recommended, he said, with that glint in his eye, “Go to Yocco’s!”.
5. Passover, Good Friday, and Easter are all this week. Spend some quality time with your family.