If you were a Seinfeld fan, like I was, you probably remember the episode when George shouted, “The worlds are colliding, Jerry, the worlds are colliding!”  He simply meant that Jerry’s girlfriend and his girlfriend were friends and, therefore, sharing secrets about the two of them.  It was not good.

This week, my worlds are colliding for a whole other reason.  It is the time when sports seasons begin to overlap.  The collision takes place when basketball begins as football is continuing.  The other two “worlds” are high school athletics and Lafayette athletics with a sprinkle of other internet work on the Lafayette campus.   Trust me, I do not want your sympathy, but as a response to the many people who ask, “Do you just do games?”- Here is my schedule for this week:

Monday

• Choose the Patriot League offensive, defensive, special teams and rookies of the week and submit my ballot.
• Notify the Parkland and Liberty head football coaches that I will be doing their championship game on Friday night so I ask them to send me their starting lineups and season stats as soon as possible.
• Get the season stats off the internet for Lafayette and Lehigh. Do my stat sheets for the Lafayette and Lehigh game charts.  This entails putting all the offensive and defensive stats on my game charts.  I alshave to update the starters, the individual and team sheets to be used during the game.  I put together a pre-game sheet for the opening and come up with Keys to the Game.
• Now it’s on to writing this blog which I will submit Tuesday morning after all the NFL games are played.
• Make a recording for ESPN Radio discussing Lafayette’s outlook for the game. This will be played prior to their broadcast of Lafayette-Lehigh on Saturday.
• Prepare my notes for a one-hour interview with Lafayette President Alison Byerly, discussing the state of the college.
• Arrive at Lafayette at 5:30PM to rehearse. Interview the President LIVE on Monday night for the internet from 7:00-8:00 PM.

Tuesday

• Make the NFL picks for next week and submit this blog.
• Begin to put together the information for the high school game on Friday night. Hopefully, the coaches and stat people will have gotten me the information requested (often not the case by Tuesday).  This also requires doing all the offensive and defensive stats for these two teams.
• Begin the preparation for the Lafayette-Robert Morris women’s basketball game on Wednesday. This means filling in my game sheets with all the stats and researching pertinent information.
• Attend the Lafayette press luncheon for the Lehigh game; do an internet preview of the game; talk to the coach and a few players, and gather up the game notes (@50 pages combined for both schools).
• Spend the afternoon digesting the game notes and taking my own notes.
• Eat dinner at home for the only time this week.

Wednesday

• Complete as much of the high school prep as possible. This means profiling each team, keys to the game, starting lineups, stat charts, getting game officials and coming up with a trivia question.
• Finish all preparation for that night’s Lafayette-Robert Morris women’s basketball game and create another trivia question.
• If time permits, begin preparation for the Lafayette-NJIT men’s Thursday night basketball game.
• 5:00 – arrive at the Kirby Sports Center. Prepare the broadcast table.
• 7:00 – Tip-off for the women’s game.

Thursday

• Go over the weekly checklist to make sure all is done for the two football games.
• Complete preparation for the Lafayette-NJIT basketball game that night (another trivia question).
• Start to prepare for Sunday’s Lafayette-Cornell men’s basketball game.
• 5:00 – arrive at the Kirby Sports Center. Prepare the broadcast table.
• 7:00 – Tip off for the men’s game.

Friday

• Read all the articles in the local paper about tonight’s high school game.
• Check out all the possible individual records and numbers of significance that might be important as the game progresses that night.
• 5:00 – Arrive at the stadium and prepare the broadcast booth.
• 7:00 – Freedom vs. Parkland for the District XI AAAAAA championship in Allentown.

Saturday

• Read all the articles concerning Lafayette-Lehigh football in the local papers.
• 10:00 AM – arrive at Fisher Stadium for the game and set up the booth for the game day broadcast which is going around the world on the internet and on a number of broadcast networks.
• 12:37 – Kickoff for the 152^nd game of college football’s most played rivalry.

Sunday

• Finish the preparation for the Lafayette – Cornell men’s basketball game by completing and reviewing the game notes.
• 12:00 Noon – Arrive at the Kirby Sports Center and, once again, prepare the table for the broadcast.
• 2:00 – Tip off for the men’s game.
• I should arrive home around 5:00 on Sunday afternoon from just doing the games, realizing how right George Costanza was when he complained that “The worlds are colliding, Jerry, the worlds are colliding!” Indeed, they are!

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
No musings this week.  Did you read the blog?

Gary’s Guesses: NFL Picks – (Last week – 8-7; Overall – 86-62-2 – 58%)
Week Eleven

NEW ORLEANS
PITTSBURGH
DALLAS
DETROIT
TENNESSEE
KANSAS CITY
ARIZONA
MIAMI
NEW ENGLAND
SEATTLE
WASHINGTON
OAKLAND   

October is a month when people enjoy the transitional weather, the changing colors of the foliage, and the changing of clothing.  The month has some holidays – Columbus Day, Yom Kippur, and Halloween.  However, it is pretty much a “yawner” as far as celebrations are concerned.  Yet, for the sports fan, it may very well be the best month of the year.

In October, baseball comes to a close with the World Series; college football becomes real serious as the rankings begin to take shape; the NFL games are in full swing; the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association start their season.  This may be why there are so few holidays for a sports fan.  There is just too much going on to take the time to celebrate much of anything, except the wins by your team.

What could possibly be better than Game 7 of the World Series if you are a baseball fan?  That was especially true this year when you had two teams who had not gotten to the promise land for a combined 176 years.  What fan was not on the edge of their seat when the game went into extra innings before deciding the outcome?  And, honestly, could anyone really be that upset when the Cubs won for the first time in 108 years?

There is no question that college football generates a tremendous amount of excitement, especially if you are a Penn State fan.  As I write this, the Nittany Lions are currently ranked #12 in the nation and climbing.  They have a local Whitehall star in Saquon Barkley, who is under consideration for the Heisman Trophy, signifying college football’s best.  And I’m sure if you have a favorite team, you live and die every weekend following the results.

The NFL is in full swing so every Thursday, Sunday, and Monday, fans, fantasy football aficionados, and pool players are in front of their TV sets or checking their phones for scores.

Every NBA and NHL fan wants their team to get off to a great start in October so even these early games take on importance.

Sprinkle in the high school football runs to league and conference championships and you pretty much fill up the entire month.

So I offer praise for the person who foresaw that there was simply no time for many holidays in October.  The true sports fan celebrates almost every day of the month.

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS) 

1. In the blog, I mentioned that Whitehall’s Saquon Barkley is now in the Heisman Trophy conversation. His 20-carry, 167-yard effort Saturday against Iowa included a 57-yard touchdown scamper, and he caught a 44-yard TD pass as well.  He has 675 yards over the last four games, including a pair of 200-yarders, as well as 1,055 this season (his second straight over 1,000) and 2,131 in his career, 15th on the school’s all-time list.
2. Josh Huff, the Eagles’ wide receiver who was arrested last week for DUI , marijuana possession, and carrying a hand-gun without a permit, was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their practice squad. It’s really hard NOT to find work once you are in the NFL, no matter how hard some players try.
3. In case you did not see the Steelers’ attempt at an onside kick on Sunday – take a look:

4. Remember the, “Now that you’ve won the fill in the blank, what are you going to do now” question? And the answer was “We’re going to Disney World”.  The Cubs along with family, friends, and fans all went to Disney World.
5. By the way, Cubs’ manager and former Lafayette student, Joe Maddon, will be attending the Lafayette-Lehigh game on November 19. We will be doing our half-time interview with him.  Cool!!

Gary’s Guesses: NFL Picks – (Last week – 7-6; Overall – 78-56-2 – 58%)
Week Ten
            BALTIMORE
            HOUSTON
            CAROLINA
            DENVER
            JETS
            PHILADELPHIA
            WASHINGTON
            GREEN BAY
            CHICAGO
            SAN DIEGO
            ARIZONA
            PITTSBURGH
            NEW ENGLAND
            GIANTS

The state high school football playoff season is officially underway in Pennsylvania (it actually started last week for Lehigh Valley teams due to the expanded playoff format, but we’ve talked about that in great detail before…)

There are several big matchups coming up this weekend.  Here are some insights on each of the games which feature teams in the RCN viewing area.

CLASS 6A
EASTON AT PARKLAND
Parkland is getting key people healthy—especially at running back—at just the right time.  During his tenure at Liberty, Head Coach Tim Moncman has often shown his desire to grind out long scoring drives if he has the horses available, and the improving health of Nick Suriel has allowed his Trojans to do that last week in their win over Nazareth.

This sets up an interesting issue:  Easton has had much more success stopping (or at least containing) the run against almost every team they’ve faced this year.  Even through injuries, the Red Rovers were the second best 6A team in points allowed this year during the regular season (Parkland was first), and they, too, are getting guys healthy—especially lineman—heading into the post-season.

This figures to be a low-scoring game.  Time of possession, turnovers and the ability to pick and choose your spots to throw deep will be keys and should make for one of the more entertaining games on Friday night.

FREEDOM AT EMMAUS
I’m really surprised it took a gutsy coaching decision by Emmaus Head Coach Harold Fairclough to put away his Hornets’ first round win over Liberty.  Both teams were missing key personnel and Liberty did a nice job containing Emmaus’ running attack.

In the first meeting between these two, the Hornets proved to be one of the few teams that found a way to pressure Freedom QB Joe Young and made him rush his passes.  If the Patriots’ offensive line can buy him more time—and I’m sure Head Coach Jason Roeder and his staff will also be making adjustments—Freedom could have much more success offensively this time around.

Emmaus’ Josh Artis helped to stretch the defense in the second half of the regular season matchup, which led to a Hornets victory.   As long as Freedom doesn’t hurt themselves with penalties/turnovers, a Patriot win wouldn’t surprise me at all.

CLASS 5A
Southern Lehigh vs. Whitehall
This is the matchup that surprised no one once the new classifications were laid out and both of these teams, along with East Stroudsburg North and South, were guaranteed playoff spots.

This is the game RCN will broadcast Friday.  We’ll be talking about this contest in much more detail on this Thursday’s “SportsTalk” show, when I’ll be joined by The Morning Call high school football scribes Keith Groller and Steve Miller for insights, analysis and predictions.

CLASS 4A
Saucon Valley vs. Bethlehem Catholic
In my opinion, this championship game is the most intriguing playoff contest this weekend.

Becahi steamrolled through most of the top teams in the EPC and featured the best run defense in the area before hitting an injury wall in the last quarter of the regular season.  They had to bounce back from a Central Catholic beating the week prior to avenge the Vikings’ defeat in the playoffs (see video above).  They also accomplished last week’s victory without some of their top players due to injuries.

Furthermore, Becahi—a team last year predicted to go deep in the state playoffs—is looking to get revenge on Saucon Valley—the team that knocked them out of the post-season last fall in the district semi-final.  Both teams have had great success defensively this year and also feature solid players on special teams.  I think you would have to give the Hawks the advantage offensively, but the same was said last season and that didn’t stop the Panthers from using its underdog status to fuel a hard fought win.

CLASS 3A
Pen Argyl at Palisades
The Green Knights have been a tough team to figure out this year.  Pen Argyl was one of our top four Colonial League teams in our pre-season and scored some impressive wins.  They’ve also lost a couple games that surprised some of our football experts here at RCN-TV.  Palisades has really been playing well under Kevin Ronalds and looked strong last week in their win over Northern Lehigh.

I’d give the advantage to Pen Argyl given Logan Sterner’s running ability and the Knights having a more battle-tested group, but this should be another interesting match-up this weekend.

North Schuylkill at Notre Dame

Notre Dame took a while to get its motor running versus Lehighton last weekend, but once they did, it turned into the blowout that I had predicted it would on last week’s show.

The Crusaders clearly have the most offensive weapons of any in this classification and have been doing a better job defending the run over the last several weeks, which traditionally has been North Schuylkill’s bread-and-butter.

I haven’t seen North Schuylkill in person this season as they play outside our coverage area but already have some calls in and am waiting for more information and details on this year’s squad as this week’s blog goes to press.  Again, I’ll have to use the “tease” button here and invite you to watch this Thursday’s show (or hear the podcast at rcn.com/atvn/sports-talk) for more on this playoff game.

Don’t forget to bookmark and check out RCN’s broadcast schedule here on the website and check back throughout our local team’s playoff run for more details on our featured games.

Whew…that was fun!

First of all, a huge “thank you” to the media members and head football coaches that participated in a…well, rather “wild” high school regular season-worth of polling.  In a dozen years of covering scholastic sports and running a poll, I’ve never seen the number of different teams mentioned in a poll, nor seen as many different teams ranked number one in a single season—not to mention almost every voter’s “polling card” looked different—both from other voters and from themselves—from week to week.

We enter the playoff season with two clear “number one” teams in our poll and five different “number one seeds” (thanks to the expanded playoff system) through the teams in the five classifications in our area.  At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one or two of them fail to capture a District championship, due to the extreme parity in the area.

Speaking of the post-season, we hope you’ll tune in for our playoff preview edition of “RCN SportsTalk presented by The Morning Call” this Thursday and on our Friday podcast.  This week’s panel includes Morning Call high school football writers Keith Groller and Steve Miller, who will offer up insights, news and predictions on as many football playoff games in our area as time will allow.

Before we can move on to the playoffs, however, it’s time for the unveiling of our final high school football poll of this incredible 2016 regular season 

Big School Football Poll–FINAL
1) Emmaus (10 – 1^st place votes)
2) Parkland
3) Whitehall
4) Freedom
5) Pleasant Valley

Small School FB Poll — FINAL
1) Central Catholic (eight -1^st place vote)
2) Bethlehem Catholic
3) Saucon Valley
4) Notre Dame
5) Palisades

Thanks also to everyone who took the time to comment on our football polls throughout the season.  You may recall a few years back I was thinking of ending the poll, only to be surprised how many people enjoyed reading and seeing our local experts’ opinions on the local teams.

By the way– and, if we get enough feedback–I’m entertaining the thought of doing a first-ever high school basketball poll this winter.  If that’s something that you, our area high school sports fans, would be interested in, please email us at rcnsportstalk@rcn.com and we’ll see if it generates enough interest.  (Note: this would mean MUCH MORE work for me, but I’m willing to work late on Monday nights if it’s something you’d really like to see 🙂 ).

Now that our football polling is completed, don’t forget to check out and bookmark the RCN football playoff schedule here on the RCN-TV website and check back often for our schedule as we follow your favorite teams deep (hopefully, if they keep winning) into the state playoffs!

I know Donald Trump constantly complains about our inability to compete with China imports.  No one says much about American exports, but this past month one such export finally was brought to fruition.  After four years in the planning stages, China imported American arena football.  And their league’s version of the Super Bowl is being played on November 6.

The first China Bowl will be played in Shanghai.  The league kicked off its inaugural season this past month with six teams playing 8-on-8 arena football.  Four Chinese players and four “foreign” players are on the field at a time for each team.

Even though this league is not affiliated with the Arena Football League in the US, the ownership is very familiar to Philadelphia Soul fans.  The whole concept is the brainchild of successful businessman, Marty Judge, who happens to own the Philadelphia Soul of the AFL.  One of his partners is former Eagles quarterback, Ron Jaworski, and the League Executive is former Eagles head coach, Dick Vermeil.  And, does the name Lou Tilley sound familiar?  He used to be the sports guy for the local Philadelphia TV channel.  He is the Vice President of Creative and Broadcast Operations for the new league.

Local Forks Township resident, Mick Moninghoff, is also spending time in China.  He is part of Lou Tilley’s enterprise and does both marketing and broadcasting work for the new league.  The games are broadcast both in Mandarin and in English and Mick is part of the broadcast team.

The league held its first draft on June 10.  500 players registered for the draft. 120 players were selected.  60 of the players were American; 43 of them had AFL experience and some had NFL experience.  60 Chinese players were from China or of Chinese descent.  Germany, Spain, and Italy were, also represented on the rosters.  The season was called the “Super Series” leading up to the championship finale – The China Bowl.

The six teams are the Beijing Lions, Dalian Dragon Kings, Guangzhou Power, Qingdao Clipper, Shanghai Skywalkers, and Shenzhen Naja.  If you want to know how to pronounce the team names and see some of the action, watch here:

Qingdao will take on undefeated Beijing for the title.  I do not know if China also imported American sports gambling so I cannot give you the spread on the game.  However, for Judge and company, this venture has to be the ultimate in “fantasy football”.

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS) 

1. Did you see that the average ticket price to see the Cubs in Chicago this past week was $2,603 for Game 3 and $2,327 for Game 4? This was the highest average price ever sold for a World Series and topped every Super Bowl except the last two.  Game 6 looked like a bargain when the average price on the secondary market was @$650.
2. If you were in charge of your team’s draft picks and knowing what you now know, would you take Dak Prescott of the Cowboys or Carson Wentz of the Eagles? I still like the Eagles’ choice.
3. Since I made you a GM in the last musing, now I ask you as the Dallas Cowboys head coach, would you start Tony Romo once he is healthy or stick with Prescott?
4. Alabama, Clemson, Washington, and Michigan are ranked #1-4 and all of them are undefeated. Western Michigan is, also, undefeated and ranked #8.  Can the top four hold their spots to vie for the national championship?  Ohio State is looming at #5 and they want in.
5. On Friday, November 4, the District football playoffs begin. Ironically, there are not many attractive match-ups with quite a few mismatches on tap.  We tried to pick the best.  The RCN-TV crew will have the 6A Nazareth – Parkland LIVE at 7:00 PM.   That game will be followed by 4A Bethlehem Catholic at Central Catholic.  They played each other just one week ago and Central prevailed.  That game is on at 9:30 PM.  Lehighton will play Notre Dame on Saturday in 3A at 2:00 and we will have it LIVE.

Gary’s Guesses: NFL Picks – (Last week – 7-5-1; Overall – 71-50-2 – 59%)
Week Nine
             ATLANTA
            PITTSBURGH
            PHILADELPHIA
            MIAMI
            DALLAS
            KANSAS CITY
            DETROIT
            CAROLINA
            NEW ORLEANS
            TENNESSEE
            GREEN BAY
            DENVER
            BUFFALO

We’ve talked quite a bit this fall about how the early start to the high school football season has made the season go faster than normal.  That fact has almost been lost as a few of the winter sports coaches whose school will now probably not make the playoffs.  In talking with several of them over the last few days, they’ve suddenly realized that their athletes, as of October 29, may be turning their attention to basketball, wrestling, swimming and rifling.

As we head into the final week of the regular season for District XI teams, it’s time we once again look at this week’s “RCN SportsTalk” football poll for the teams in our coverage area.

First, a quick recap of how we put our polls together and arrive at our conclusions for our bi-weekly  results.

We take the 400-male enrollment number as the cutoff for schools within the District XI/RCN footprint.  All schools above that number qualify as “big schools” in our poll. These schools consist of Parkland, Liberty, Allen, Easton, Emmaus, Liberty, Dieruff, Freedom, Stroudsburg, Pleasant Valley, Northampton, Nazareth, East Stroudsburg-South, Whitehall, Southern Lehigh and Bangor.

“Small schools” (below 400-male enrollment) consist of Saucon Valley, Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic, Northwestern, Wilson, Palisades, Palmerton, Salisbury, Notre Dame, Pen Argyl, Northern Lehigh and Catasauqua.  Each pollster will identify their top five teams in each group—the top school gets five points, the second team gets four points and so on, with an average score determining the order of teams in the poll.

Unlike polls that consist of a couple representatives within the same organization, our poll is much more varied with input from many different people over a wider scope.  Our voting panel consists of local media members from different outlets, along with local coaches and athletic directors from across the entire district.  The voters are not identified (unless they appear on our “SportsTalk” TV show and podcast and chose to reveal themselves) so they can give their honest impressions without any worry of outside pressures or “bulletin board” material, and we rotate different pollsters from different schools each year, including guests from our biggest to our smallest schools.

Now, here are this week’s poll results…

(Note/for the record: one of our voters was “MIA” for this week’s poll).

“ BIG” SCHOOL Football Poll (10 pollsters)
1) Emmaus – 48 (eight – 1^st place votes)
2) Parkland – 42 (two – 1^st place votes)
3) Freedom — 17
4) Pleasant Valley – 16
5-tied) Nazareth/Whitehall – 13
Other schools receiving more than one vote:  Stroudsburg

 “Small SCHOOL” Football Poll (8 pollsters)
1) Becahi – 41 (six – 1^st place votes)
2) Central Catholic – 35 (three -1^st place vote)
3) Saucon Valley – 29
4) Notre Dame – 16
5) Palisades – 10

Other schools receiving more than one vote:  Pen Argyl

Coming up on this Thursday’s “SportsTalk” show (7pm LIVE, RCN-TV), we have a jammed-packed show with different sports topics.  Keith Groller and I will break down all the various playoff scenarios heading into the final week of the high school football regular season.  Georgetown University Head Football Coach Rob Sgarlata will talk about his team’s impressive performance against Fordham last week and give his thoughts on this weekend’s game against Lafayette.  Plus, Phillies beat writer Stephen Gross will talk about the World Series and the Phillies off-season agenda.  Gross also covers the Phantoms and will talk about the Flyers upcoming season as well as top prospects to keep an eye on.

Email me at rcnsportstalk@rcn.com and tune in for this week’s “SportsTalk” show and podcast for more

The Chicago Cubs have me watching baseball again.  And I would suspect a larger number of people will tune in to see if the Cubs can win their first World Series since 1908, 108 years ago. Teddy Roosevelt was the president.  They last played in the World Series in 1945.

The Cleveland Indians have not set the baseball world on fire either.  Their last World Series victory was in 1948 during the Harry S. Truman administration.  They did play in the 1997 Series and blew a ninth inning lead and lost in the eleventh to the Florida Marlins.

It will be very interesting to see if this storyline catches on with ALL fans.  World Series ratings have declined steadily, with three of the last four years owning the lowest ratings in history.  I, for one, became interested enough to watch the Cubs in their playoff games.  I enjoyed the games and was also frustrated by the sport.  There are things wrong with baseball.  With that in mind, I, along with many others, have come to some conclusions:

1. There are too many playoff spots. Ten teams make the playoffs: five American League teams and five National League teams.  There are a possible 42 games that could be played to decide the overall champion.  42 games!  With the current set-up of three divisions, changing the format would be difficult.  Eliminating one wild card berth only reduces the playoffs by two games.  We are stuck with this system.
2. The games take too long. This is the biggest drawback to truly enjoying baseball.  Pitchers take too long to pitch.  Batters take too long to get ready to hit.  Managers have too many options available that only slow down the game.  So, what is there to do?  Here are a few suggestions:

• Hitters must stay in the batter’s box.
• Pitchers must throw a pitch in 20 seconds.
• 2:00 breaks between innings.
• Three mound visits per game, not counting pitching changes.
• Limit the number of pitching changes per inning.

3. Start games earlier. I know this is an East Coast problem, but would it be bad to actually finish games BEFORE midnight?  Regular season games take around three hours.  The playoff games usually take around 3.5 hours.  Throw the first pitch at 8:00pm and the problem is solved.  Wait to 8:30pm and lose a big part of your audience.
4. Young people are not watching. Because of reasons #2 and #3, young people have just not been turned on to the sport as far as viewership is concerned.  Sure the seats at the ballparks are filled for the most part and television revenue is up, but overall viewership is way down and the long-term outlook as far as interest has to be in trouble.
5. The All-Star game winner gets home field advantage for the World Series. The team with the best record during the regular season should get home-field advantage.  The powers-that-be should not use a game that is so unlike a real game.  Enough said.

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME WORLD SERIES MUSINGS) 

1. The Cubs actually won back-to-back World Series in 1907 and 1908.
2. The Indians lost three World Series match-ups in 1954, 1995, and 1997.
3. Indians’ manager Terry Francona led the Boston Red Sox to a championship in 2004, following an 84-year drought. Ironically, he was hired by the Red Sox over Joe Maddon.  More irony in that Cubs’ General Manager Theo Epstein hired Francona over Maddon in Boston and hired Maddon in Chicago.  He seems to know what he is doing.
4. Joe Maddon grew up in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. He attended Lafayette College and played baseball and football.  He received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Lafayette in 2010.  As a player, he was never able to go higher than Class A in his baseball career.
5. On Friday, October 28, the RCN-TV crew will have the Parkland – Emmaus game LIVE at 7:00 PM. Emmaus can win the EPC South championship with a win.  That game will be followed by Easton-Nazareth.  That game is on at 10:00 PM.  The crew will have Georgetown at Lafayette on Saturday LIVE at 12:30PM.  Freedom-Liberty will be on at 7:00PM.  By the way, you can catch both of these award-winning bands on November 10 (8:00 PM), 11 (6:00 PM), and 12 (8:00 AM).

And that will end the regular season with District playoffs up next!

Gary’s Guesses: NFL Picks – (Last week – 9-4-1; Overall – 64-41-1 – 61%)

Week Eight

TENNESSEE
SEATTLE
NEW ENGLAND
OAKLAND
CINCINNATI
DENVER
KANSAS CITY
DETROIT
ARIZONA
GREEN BAY
JETS
DALLAS
MINNESOTA

 The next several days at the RCN TV studio is known as “parade week.”  We know, based on the feedback we get from our viewers each year, that our audience loves the fall/Halloween season and their community parades that celebrate the holiday.  These parades feature many local residents and organizations that we serve.  That means here at the studio (to borrow a baseball playoff term) it’s “all hands on deck” for our RCN crew members, as they are busy being out-and-about in the area in order to cover as many local parades as we can during the next ten days or so.

Consequently, some of our regular work assignments, including those of us on the “RCN SportsTalk” show, take a back seat for the next week in order to provide coverage of these special events.  This Thursday, instead of a live, call-in/email-us edition of the show, we will have a taped program (at 7pm), dealing with the controversial new high school playoff system in Pennsylvania, with local administrators & coaches giving their insights on the new systems, policies and changes that have/will continue to affect all scholastic sports.

We’ll return next week with our live show and a whole new round of District XI high school football poll results, leading up to the final week of the regular season.

In the meantime–and to get you set for what will be an exciting “playoff push” for teams in our coverage area, here’s a look back at highlights from recent games broadcast on RCN TV.  We hope you enjoy–and remember to check back here next week for more sports insights, videos and opinions.

*****
Last but not least, the RCN family lost two wonderful people this past week.

Former Sports Director Bob Gehris passed away last weekend.  While I never had the pleasure of working with Mr. Gehris directly—he retired prior to me starting with the company—I knew of his great reputation here in the Lehigh Valley for many years.  When I started here at RCN, he approached me warmly and always offered me great encouragement, advice and some tremendous stories of all of his great experience calling games over the years.  He would often greet me at local sports venues or the Allentown Fair to ask me how things were going, and he was always a wonderful guest when he made special appearances on our “RCN SportsTalk” program.

Ironically, one of Mr. Gehris’s close friends was our own Bob Gery, who also left us this weekend.

Bob served many roles for decades at Twin County/RCN and was a true friend to everyone who knew him.  He served countless roles—many of them not seen nor noticed by our viewers, and that’s because of Bob’s dedication and tremendous work ethic behind the scenes.  While we are scrambling to try to cover for all of Bob’s work responsibilities, it pales in comparison to the great human being the community has lost.

While he was a very quiet person to most people, he was very passionate about things he loved:  politics, history, the Beatles, the Flyers, golf and the local sports landscape.  Bob worked very long hours during our busiest times of the sports season, but always had a smile on his face when he’d be out at productions and see familiar sports personalities—Doug Snyder, Steve Shiffert, Bob Shriver, Bron Holland, were just a few of his favorites.

We spent many hours in the back offices coordinating different projects for “Community Spotlight,” “SportsTalk,” remote productions and whatever else came our way, but Bob was at his best when we could come into my office and relax and talk about whatever was on his mind—and he always had great insights in whatever he chose to talk about.

Both are viewed as Lehigh Valley television legends in my mind, while serving very different, but both essential, roles.  Both were class acts, and both of them will be very much missed by all.

Be sure to also check out Gary Laubach’s “Behind the Mic” blog this week for his reflections on the passing of Bob Gery.

Every week, while doing a game, someone wins and someone loses.  Announcers, and I am one of them, praise the winners and talk about how difficult it might be to rebound from a loss, and coming back the following week.  It’s just the verbiage of sports.

This past week, the RCN studio family suffered a loss that dealt a blow to our very core. It was the loss of one of our own – cameraman and producer Bob Gery.  Bob was always “behind the scenes” and he would not have wanted it any other way.  Unless you are a rare viewer who actually reads the credits at the end of a program or sporting event, you would not have seen the name.  The sad part is that those very people (directors, engineers, cameramen, audio and graphics people, grips, etc.) are greatly responsible for your enjoyment of a game or a program.  They are in the background to you, but not for those of us in front of the cameras.  We know and appreciate their value.

Bob produced Community Spotlight, kept our vehicles safe and running, and worked our weekend sporting events, doing audio or manning a camera.  He did all of these jobs extremely efficiently and was so conscientious about his performance.  He was a man of character and would take time to make sure everything was in order.

Personally, Bob was a very simple man.  He never wanted the material things in life.  Early on, he took care of his parents until they passed.  He was a dedicated and loving son.    He was quietly interested in life.  He loved history; he loved politics; and he loved reading.  He was quite intellectual and enjoyed debating the current issues of the world.  One of his pastimes was to visit the graves of past presidents and the Presidential libraries.  He was a huge Beatles fan and was planning a trip to England this coming summer.

I looked forward to his frequent visits to my office.  He always wanted to talk about high school and Lafayette College sports.  He was adamant about this current election and I cannot believe he will not vote.  He ALWAYS voted and cast a thoughtful and well-informed ballot.  He felt it was his duty.

Recently, he had been discussing with me the pros and cons of retirement.  His financial advisor told him he could make that decision because he had been frugal all his life.  His finances were in order. He was ready to leave the daily grind of television and reap the rewards of his labor.  No one deserved to do that more than Bob.  Fate took that away from him.

And there was no warning.  Bob worked camera for a weekend football game on October 7, as he has done for 17 years.  We all had a rare Saturday off since Lafayette was not being televised.  Bob thoroughly enjoyed the Lafayette games, but he looked forward to the break and even took the following Monday as a vacation day.

None of us at the studio ever spoke with Bob again.

The RCN studio just does not feel the same right now.  There is an empty cubicle in the office and an empty spot in our hearts.  We will continue on; ask someone to take on Bob’s responsibilities; and cope; and manage our loss.  No one knew better than Bob that in our world the show must go on.

But, make no mistake; it will not be the same.

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS) 

1. If you want to pick the Super Bowl winner right now, the best bet would be the New England Patriots. Tom Brady’s numbers in his two games back from suspension are ridiculous – 782 yards and six touchdowns.  And the defense gives up just 15.2 points per game.
2. The Steelers’ loss to Miami this week not only killed one of my “just for fun” pools, but Las Vegas reported that there were seven times more straight bets placed on Pittsburgh than on Miami. And there were 15 times more bets on Pittsburgh as a package with other games.  The bad guys won again.
3. Watching Clayton Kershaw pitch against the Cubs on Sunday night and win 1-0 made me assume that he was greatly responsible for their success this season. But the Dodgers won 74 games without him.  Manager Dave Roberts has done a masterful job changing lineups and utilizing the entire pitching staff.  Going up against Cubs’ manager Joe Maddon makes this a particularly interesting series for the student of the game.
4. If you need to blame someone for the Eagles’ loss to the Redskins on Sunday, blame Lane Johnson and he did not even play. And that is the problem.  Johnson is suspended for 10 games for using performance-enhancing drugs.  His replacement was awful and allowed Redskins linebacker Ryan Kerrigan to dominate the line of scrimmage.
5. On Friday, October 21, the RCN-TV crew will have the Saucon Valley – Notre Dame game LIVE at 7:00 PM followed by Emmaus- Easton. That game is on at 10:00 PM.  The crew will have Lafayette at Bucknell on Saturday LIVE at 1:00 PM.

 Gary’s Guesses: NFL Picks – (Last week – 10-5; Overall – 55-37 – 60%)
Week Seven
 
GREEN BAY
GIANTS
MINNESOTA
KANSAS CITY
DETROIT
CINCINNATI
BUFFALO
JACKSONVILLE
INDIANAPOLIS
BALTIMORE
ATLANTA
TAMPA BAY
NEW ENGLAND
SEATTLE
DENVER

While the Eagles have clearly stolen the sports spotlight in the Eastern Pennsylvania region, the Phillies’ “positives” this season should not be forgotten.

With their season coming to an end (and insights on the baseball playoffs with MLB.com’s Bill Ladson, and other guests, here: rcn.com/atvn/sports-talk), here’s a look at the top three “feel-good stories” of the year, along with my guesses as to who makes the Opening Day roster next spring.

The starting rotation
I thought at the beginning of 2016 that if half of the top-level prospects (eg., Aaron Nola, Jared Eickhoff, Vincent Velasquez) showed me some flashes of getting MLB-hitters out on an everyday basis, that this year’s team would be a great success.  Save Nola, who struggled before succumbing to a season-ending injury, I feel nearly every one of those prospects took a major stride forward this season. Throw in the better-than-expected performances of Ben Lively, Joely Rodriquez and others, and the team looks like it will actually be in the great position of having competition among those prospects for the top five spots in the rotation next year.  A quality team will use/need at least eight starting pitchers in a given season, and the Phillies might already have eight available (and quality) arms before you even think about your off-season shopping list.

Tommy Joseph
I remember talking with a scout behind the backstop at a Lehigh Valley IronPigs game in 2015 commenting on how far the once-prized catching prospect had fallen offensively, following several concussions that severely limited his playing time since being acquired by Hunter Pence.  In late August of that summer, Joseph looked completely lost at the plate and there were major questions whether he would even return to the 40-man roster.  Fast forward to spring 2016 and he not only excelled in what started as a platoon-role as a new position, but hit 20 home runs with the parent club.  Furthermore, he seemed to adjust and hit his way through slumps and, at the very least, should be counted in as the starting first baseman for Opening Day.  I’m not prepared to say he’s going to be a star in the Majors, but he certainly has worked hard enough to be given that position to start the 2017 campaign.

Hector Neris & Edubray Ramos
I talked with Phillies Manager Pete Mackanin in January about his bullpen, and he seemed really excited about a trio of young arms in the organization—one of them being Neris. Although he really didn’t get much of a chance to show what he could do as the team’s full-time closer, he certainly exhibited “closer-type stuff” all season long, and became the team’s most consistent pitcher.

Edubray Ramos was a guy I didn’t hear very much about from the organization’s top tier, but did hear a few people who have seen him pitch warn to “keep an eye out” for him.  He quickly rose from Double-A, to Triple-A briefly, and then to the Majors and formed a formidable bridge, along with Neris, to closer Jeanmar Gomez.

If Neris and Ramos equal their efforts in 2017 and the Phillies can get a couple more of their young arms to have success at the Big League level, the team’s bullpen will be a key part of future success without having to look elsewhere for much help.

Now, here’s a look at who I think we’ll start next season (along with a few suggestions for additions) for 2017:

Rotation
Jeremy Hellickson (or another veteran presence, if he elects Free Agency)
Eickhoff
Velasquez
Thompson
(combination of Alec Asher, Adam Morgan, Ben Lively and, when healthy, Nola and Zach Eflin)

Bullpen
Neris
Gomez
Ramos
Rodriquez
Severino Gonzalez (as a long-man/spot starter)
At least one or two additional veteran presence and perhaps another “swing man” to start in a pinch.

Catchers
Cameron Rupp, A.J. Ellis (both prospects Jorge Alfaro and Andrew Knupp, if not traded, still need more time, and so a veteran backstop will be needed).

Infielders
Joseph
Cesar Hernandez
Freddy Galvis
Maikel Franco
Either re-sign super utility (and all-around good guy) Andres Blanco or another stable veteran backup.

Outfielders
Odubel Herrera
Roman Quinn
Aaron Altherr
Cody Asche (he MUST improve in 2017, and should learn to play first base as a left-handed compliment to Joseph on a part-time basis).

A significant, but not a ‘break-the-bank’ offensive threat who can provide some much needed support to a very young and erratic offense.  We’ll take a look at possible options and best fits for the Phillies in the coming weeks.

Note:  No Nick Williams or J. P. Crawford on this list.  I still think both could use some seasoning and, at the very least, keeps these guys off the MLB roster until you can get another year before free agent eligibility kicks in (cover your ears, agents).  Plus, I’d like to see a few guys (ie., Altherr, Hernadez, Galvis) try to continue (improve upon?) what they showed flashes of during the 2016 season—especially more offense needed from Altherr.

What do you think of my off-season shopping list and 2017 Opening Day projections?  Email me at rcnsportstalk@rcn.com and tune in for this Thursday’s “SportsTalk” show for more sports conversations.