“Amusement” is defined as, “the state or experience of finding something funny”; “the provision of enjoyment of entertainment”; “something that causes laughter or provides entertainment”.

RCN, like many companies I’m sure, runs an NCAA basketball bracket pool that is strictly “for amusement only”.  There is no fee to enter; there are no financial rewards, except for a modest gift certificate.  The REAL big prize, however, is owning the bragging rights that come with winning and, trust me, that is the best gift of all.

There is a little extra pressure that accompanies my selection because I am the Sports Director and expected to know what I am talking about (a mistake in their judgment, not mine).  And, when I handed in my pool, it certainly did not help when I bragged at our staff meeting that there was not much sense in anyone else entering the competition.  They would just be wasting their time.  The winning bracket had been filled out and handed in BY ME.

I also placed my selection in a “hermetically sealed envelope” (I have no idea what that means) so that no one could see my picks until the games actually began.  When asked which team I selected to win it all, I refused to answer or, even worse, offered up some obnoxious answer.

Now, truth be told, after last year’s results, my confidence level was way down.  I went into the Championship game needing only favored Wisconsin to knock off Duke and, as it should be, the championship of RCN Bracketology would be mine.  But Duke won!  Not Wisconsin! And I lost to Linda (not her real name – I wish I didn’t have to use my real name either) who made her picks based on uniform colors, nicknames, team mascot, the handsomeness of the coach, or some other nonsense.  Suffice it to say, she knew NOTHING about college basketball.  AND SHE WON!  (I hope I don’t sound bitter).

Linda (still not her real name) rubbed her victory in my face and just this past week offered to aid me with my picks this year and made sure others in the company knew she was willing to “help” me make my selections.  My response was not very nice and, as you can imagine, I could not wait to conquer this year’s bracket and put her in her place.

Until… Friday!  #15 Middle Tennessee State (who?) beat Michigan State 90-81!  You see, I picked Michigan State to win it all!  I did not pick them to lose in the FIRST ROUND, SECOND ROUND…!!  (Did I mention I am the Sports Director?).  And then, to make matters worse, Middle Tennessee State lost in the second round to Syracuse by 25 points!!

So as I sit here at my desk ripping up my copy of the NCAA bracket, I await the wrath of my fellow workers.  The worst response will most certainly come from Linda (I hope I never hear her real name again).  She has North Carolina and Kansas in the final and both are STILL ALIVE.  Geez!

So I can assure you, as far as I am concerned, this exercise is far from “for amusement only”.

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. It was nice to see Villanova get by the second round of the NCAA Tournament. And they did it with ease, beating Iowa 87-68, so that no last-second heroics were necessary.  It is their first Sweet Sixteen appearance since 2009.

2. Temple and St. Joseph’s were not so fortunate. Temple lost in the first round 72-70 to Iowa on a last second put-back.  Replays showed the scorer pushed off to get the rebound and should have been whistled for a foul.  And St. Joseph’s put up a strong fight against #1 Oregon losing by five.  That game kept me up until 12:05 on Monday morning.  I find it hard to leave any game once I look in because almost all the games come down to the last few possessions.

3. The team that beat Parkland and knocked them out of the PIAA AAAA Basketball championship in the quarterfinals won the state championship on Saturday night. Roman Catholic beat Alderdice 73-62 and repeated as state champion.  Alderdice was ranked #1 all year long and had only lost one game until Saturday.  So, Parkland lost to the best 73-60.  No shame there.

4. Private schools continue to dominate both the boys’ and girls’ basketball championships in Pennsylvania. They won six of the eight titles this past weekend.  The complaints of an “unlevel playing field” will certainly continue.

5. As I write this, the ‘76ers and the Flyers will not make the NBA or NHL playoffs. Do you believe that the ‘76ers have not won 10 games?  As of this Monday, they were 9-61.  Unbelievably bad!  The Flyers still have a chance.  Thank goodness for Villanova.

Over the next two weeks we’ll take a look back at what has been an extraordinary year for District XI winter high school sports.

“Eight is Enough”
Eight is the maximum number of gold medals one could accumulate while playing two sports—and that feat was accomplished by Parkland’s DeVante Cross.  He and his Trojans completed another dominating performance in District XI, not losing a game in the Lehigh Valley once he and his football teammates were finished with another district title (and playing for a state championship) on the gridiron.

Cross will be taking his talents to the Boston College football team where he will look to follow in the recent footsteps of other Lehigh Valley athletes who’ve had collegiate football success and then moved on to play at the professional level.  In my opinion, I believe him to be one of the top point guards we’ve had in District XI in some time, and my only regret is that we won’t see him on the basketball court again, but I know we’ll be seeing plenty of highlights once the collegiate football season gets underway.

We’ll be talking with Parkland Head Coach Andy Stephens and members of his boys basketball team on the Thursday, March 24^th edition of “RCN SportsTalk” at 7pm.

I don’t think Parkland will drop off too much, despite the graduation of some key seniors.  However, the 2017 boys basketball season will be wide open with so many returning star performers back on the hardwood again, and many will benefit from the extra year of varsity experience.  The same is true for a few key women’s basketball teams—we’ll have more on them next week.

“Save Your Programs”
On both “SportsTalk” and during our high school basketball broadcasts, we’ve talked at length this winter about all the amazing underclassmen talent around the region.  Heck, Allen, Central Catholic and Pocono Mountain West boys’ teams (among others) have virtually their entire teams returning next year.

While Emmaus will lose several quality people to graduation as well, they return arguably the area’s best player, David Kachelries, along with his twin brother Matt.  The Hornets also have some MAJOR size coming up through their system and will return to make the competition for league and district championships in 2017 even more challenging than it was this winter.

One underclassman who won’t be returning is Nazareth’s Jahan Dotson, who will be moving to play at a prominent high school football program this fall.  Dotson was a great athlete to watch and I enjoyed watching him on the hardwood—both being a dynamic scorer and delivering some great passes setting up his teammates.  We wish him the best on what could be a lengthy athletic career.

“Colonial League vs. EPC”
While some people like to put down the Colonial League in favor of the bigger schools that comprise the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, I always enjoy the opportunity to see and meet the members of the “smaller school” league in District XI.  We’ve often highlighted their accomplishments (including having both Bangor and Salisbury as in-studio “SportsTalk” guests).  The Slaters and the Falcons posted some tremendous wins this year, with both teams reaching the state tournament after having to battle each other for the Colonial League Championship.

“Rifling”
We also did our first ever feature on rifling this winter.  Many people don’t realize it is a PIAA-sanctioned sport—and has been for some time.  Our chat with members of the Freedom Rifle Team on “SportsTalk” was very informative and certainly brought to light many unique aspects of the sport.

Look for more high school winter sports notes and videos coming your way in the next “SportsTalk Shop” entry.  Also, be sure to tune in for this Thursday’s “RCN SportsTalk” (and then on our podcast here on Friday) as we take a more in-depth look at the boys and girls high school basketball programs in the Eastern Pennsylvania region.

It happened again!  This past Wednesday, Holy Cross stunned the Patriot League and Lehigh by winning the Patriot League Championship and getting the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.  Because they were the ninth seed in the Patriot League tournament, won four road games, after not winning an away PL game all season, and ended the pre-tournament season with a 14-19 record, they will play in Dayton on Wednesday, March 16, at 6:40 PM against Southern to get to the 64-team tournament.  Holy Cross became the lowest-seed to represent the League.

The fourth-seeded Lafayette Leopards won the tournament last year and, at that time, they were the lowest seed from the PL to win the conference title.  For two straight years, regular season champion Bucknell did not represent the Patriot League in the NCAA tournament.  It should be mentioned that the regular season champ does get an automatic bid to the NIT tournament.

So the question that needs to be asked – is it time to stop rewarding the conference champion with an automatic bid?  The answer is not so simple and just leads to more questions:

1. Does a conference want their best team (the regular season champ) to represent them in the NCAAs or do they want their “hottest” team (tournament champion) in the “dance”? The Patriot League will probably NEVER get both.
2. Is it fair to the team that played exceptionally well all season to be beaten out by a team that played exceptionally well for 120-160 minutes over one week?
3. If you favor the regular season champion to represent the league, must you eliminate the tournament all together or give every team one last hope to continue their season?
4. Financially, do these tournaments just make economic sense? The Holy Cross vs. Lehigh championship crowd was the largest in PL history to see a championship.  That cannot be bad for the institutions or the league.
5. Which team deserves the NCAA and which deserves the NIT?

I love the tournaments.  They create terrific basketball with great finishes.  But, I am not sure, like many others, what the answers should be to the questions posed.  I will leave you to ponder your responses.  And I am well aware that, right now, you probably only care about your office pools.

Remember, these pools are for “amusement only”.  That is not the case for conference tournaments as they exist right now.  They are much, much more important!  Should they be?

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
 

1. Our local basketball season came to an end this week in Hamburg and in Southampton when the Parkland boys and the Bethlehem Catholic girls lost in the PIAA quarterfinals. It was a great year!  And with all the talented underclassmen coming back next season, both the Lehigh Valley boys’ and girls’ team should, once again, provide plenty of excitement.

2. The success of District XI wrestlers at the PIAA AAA state finals was even more astounding – seven champions, 10 finalists, 20 medalists, and Bethlehem Catholic and Nazareth finishing as the top two teams in the state. Andrew Gunning won Liberty’s first state championship title in 31 years and garnered Coach Jody Karam’s first individual championship in his 23-year career at Liberty.  Kudos to all!!

3. Oh, the internet – the NCAA brackets were tweeted out before CBS was able to get through the brackets on their Selection Show. And CBS pays how much to be the network that gets to announce the brackets?

4. I had my first Friday night off in a long time this past week and went to see the Red Hot Chili Pipers (not a misspelling), a “bagrock” group made up of bagpipers and others. They were joined onstage for a number of songs by the pipe and drum members of the Liberty Grenadier Band.  The young people were outstanding, thrilled to be performing and reminded me, once again, that there is more to high school athletics than just the teams.  The bands and cheerleaders work just as hard!

5. There was also a little bit of creativity by the “captain” of the Liberty pipers. When he had a chance to play by himself with the Chili Pipers, he took the opportunity to ask a fellow member to the high school prom.  She accepted and it was an “aww” moment.

There are always “feel-good” stories every year in my world of Lehigh Valley basketball.

Just look a little deeper into the success of the Southern Lehigh girls’ basketball team.  They play with basically an iron five and four of them are underclassmen.  Only Sydney Cyr, who is outstanding, by the way, is a senior.  They won the Colonial League, but Colonial League teams are not expected to win Districts against teams from the bigger conferences.  Even though they appeared in their 31^st District tournament, they were 16-30 in those appearances and 0-2 in the championship games.  That changed this year when they beat a very good Bethlehem Catholic team and won their first District XI title ever!  As I write this, they have won 27 straight games and are into the second round of the PIAA state playoffs.  Obviously, Coach Matt Cooper has done an outstanding job with this young team.  This is a great story which, perhaps, can only get better.

The Easton girls’ basketball team last won a title of any kind in 1970 – 46 years ago.  Head Coach Dave Lutz is a physical education teacher and he has had to stare at the banner every single day as it hangs in the gymnasium.  Even approaching the championship game this year, history showed that they had lost five and won none.  When his team won the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship, the first thing he told me was how he could not wait to see the new banner hanging in his office which is the gymnasium.  He knew he would have a good team, but he did not expect to go through almost the entire season without the full roster of players available to him.  This team suffered through injuries, heart arrhythmia, and mononucleosis.  Even now, as they prepare to play the second round of the state playoffs, their starting center, leading rebounder, and tallest player is not available.  Yet, they have continued to win.  They are the only District XI AAAA girls’ basketball team still playing.  Another chapter awaits them this week.

And then there is the Bangor boys’ basketball team.  They won the Colonial League, but that is “ho-hum” for them, having won three of the last four.  What is not “ho-hum” is winning in the District playoffs.  The last time they were in a District championship was in 1988 – 28 years ago.  The best player on that team was Bron Holland, who just happens to be the head coach of this year’s squad.  Bangor was not going to beat Parkland for the District championship.  They are ranked third in the state and no team has beaten Parkland since they got all their championship football players back.  Parkland has won 24 games in a row.  Take that game off Bangor’s schedule and they have won16 straight – 26 overall, a school record for wins.  This team has electrified and solidified a town.  Rumor has it that the town of Bangor is empty when the Slaters play on the road.  Some imply even the police attend (probably just the off-duty ones).  Now they are in the second round of the PIAA playoffs, unheard of for a AAAA Colonial League team.

As I watch the basketball season wind down, these are a few of the stories I will not forget.  They make me and, hopefully, our viewers “feel good’!

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. It must be nice to go out on top. Peyton Manning did it this past week.  He retired from football this past Monday after winning the Super Bowl for the Denver Broncos.  Only John Elway retired after winning the Super Bowl for the same team and becoming their General Manager.  Manning walked away from a guaranteed $19 million contract.

2. I am usually not that interested in NBA scores during the regular season. But, on Sunday, the awful LA Lakers (13-51) beat the Warriors (yes, Stephen Curry’s Warriors), a team that is on track to go down as the greatest regular-season team in history. The Lakers entered with a .190 winning percentage compared to the Warriors’ .917 percentage. By percentage differential, it was the biggest upset in NBA history.

3. The NCAA selection Sunday is March 13 with the NCAA Tournament beginning in Dayton, Ohio March 15-16. Time to jump into the “pool”.

4. Lehigh or Holy Cross will represent the Patriot League in the tournament for the men. Whoever wins their championship game on March 9 may very likely play in Dayton.  The women’s final is Saturday, March 12.

5. As of Monday, March 7, six of our high school basketball teams are still alive in the state playoffs (Easton, Southern Lehigh, Bethlehem Catholic girls; Bangor, Parkland, Emmaus boys). And, even better for our wrestling fans, District XI wrestlers captured EVERY title in the PIAA AAA Northeast Regional wrestling tournament.  On to the State Championships for them.

Spring Training baseball is underway, and the Nats and Phils have two opposite perspectives on what to watch for this month during the exhibition season as they get ready to accomplish distinct different goals in 2016.  Here’s a look at key issues for both teams as the pre-season unfolds.

Nationals…

 …continue to look for and add depth.

This, in my mind, was one of the biggest issues with the 2015 Nationals.  When injuries came, they had one or two “backup” plans, and when they didn’t pan out, there were major issues.  Acquiring players as the season unfolds, both quality bench personnel, along with high-character guys, are key for this team to make it to the next level.  Washington does not want to get painted into a corner where they have to make a move for someone like another Jonathan Papelbon out of necessity, but should be continuing to look for ways to add depth into and throughout the season.  Just ask the Phillies how important a “minor” addition like Matt Stairs turned out to be.

Speaking of depth, the Nats need to bring up at least one or two players from the minors that will contribute.  With the number of injuries players sustain today, it isn’t realistic to think that five, or even four, members of the starting rotation will make it through an entire year—no matter how good they are.  Plus, they need players to come up and challenge the veterans.  Guys like Trea Turner, Wilmer Difo, Lucas Giolito and others must continue to improve and push the more established players at the Major League level (both Difo and Giolito had nice performances last Friday).

Finding a couple players to contribute as the season wears on is key to driving this team forward–if, for the purposes of just this year, that role is simply to light a fire under a current player who’s underperforming.

 …the return of Rendon—the REAL Rendon.

Anthony Rendon was one of a number of injured players during 2015.  He did play last season, but he wasn’t the Rendon that people wanted…needed for the Nationals to play a legitimate playoff run.  Instead of building on a tremendous 2014 campaign, a string of issues (starting in spring training and lingering throughout the year) kept the third base-turned-second baseman from ever truly hitting his stride last summer.  This spring, following the acquisition of second basemen Daniel Murphy, he’s been returned to his natural defensive position and hopefully will lead the team offensively in the way the team needs him to be.  The Nationals have done a great job, in my opinion, building an offense around the core.  But Rendon is that special player that, if healthy, is the guy who can carry a team during team-wide struggles and also is the guy I’d want at the plate with the game on the line.

Getting him ready for the season is nice, but, perhaps more than any one position player, a healthy exhibition season and a clean, injury-free, path to Opening Day is one of the most important issues for Washington this month.

Phillies…

 …Maikel Franco MUST continue improving.

Much like Rendon, Franco, right now, looks to be the centerpiece of the Phillies position players and will be looked to (until proven otherwise) as the team’s “go-to guy.”  The Phillies have done a great job of building a collection of great prospects, with the knowledge that, while some young players won’t live up to their potential, an increase in the number of blue-chip players in the organization strengthens the chances that SOME of these players make a significant impact.  The organization has been hedging their bets and not riding all their hopes on one player.  However, Franco—a home-grown entity—has been touted as the one key player to build around.  If he regresses, it won’t end the rebuild, but any lack of progress this summer will be tough for Phillies to deal with, especially from a PR-standpoint (see the 76ers situation).   Franco is the guy who Phillies fans can see–right now–in Philadelphia, and he’s shown flashes of amazing ability.  The fan base can be patient if they have some hope that they can see in close proximity.  Philadelphia’s starting third-baseman is off to a great start (he’s already hit as many home runs the first week of spring training as the two previous pre-seasons combined.)  As long as he continues to flourish at the Big League level this summer, it is easier to sell the fact that more players like him are coming down the pipeline.

…the pitching watch.

Through all the horrible 2015 baseball seen in the Delaware Valley…it was made dreadfully worse by poor pitching.  Again, new GM Matt Klentak has done a great job of building an abundance of low-risk, high-reward players, in the hopes that a few can be serviceable major league hurlers—either to be traded away for more prospects, or as veterans to help hold a future pitching staff together with experience.  There’s a number of pitchers to keep an eye on as spring training and the regular season unfolds, and a finding a few gems this season could really help the rebuilding efforts along.

Keep in mind, even the older veteran’s success—pitching or position players–can impact and have a significant influence on the future.  If one or more players is having a solid season heading into July (and approaching the trade deadlines), a contending team may be desperate to add a necessary piece (see the Nats’ with Papelbon a year ago).  Players that don’t figure in as regulars in the Phillies lineup two-to-three years from now (Carlos Ruiz, Cody Asche, Darin Ruf, Charlie Morton and others) might get you a diamond-in-the-rough prospect that helps Philadelphia in future seasons?

Join us on “RCN SportsTalk” in the coming weeks (Thursdays live, 7-8pm on RCN-TV or catch our podcasts here) as we get updates on the Phillies and Nationals’ spring training updates from the team’s beat writers.  We’ll also have discussions on this weekend’s Pennsylvania and Washington, DC high school playoff action on this week’s program.

Scott Barr is the RCN wrestling “guru”.  He has even written a book about District XI wrestling which goes back to its inception.  This past weekend, Scott announced the District XI individual wrestling championships as he has done for so many years.  He, along with Jim Best, did their usual impeccable job.  But one occurrence happened for Scott while doing the match that has NEVER happened before – the Easton Red Rovers did not crown a champion!  I asked him to reflect on the end of what came to be known as “The Streak”.  Here is his essay:

And, so, it’s over.

Just like that, when the buzzer sounded on the final weight class of the 2016 District XI Wrestling Championships, it was over.  After 14 championship bouts, for the first time since 1947, none of the winners was wearing an Easton Red Rover singlet.  All I could muster, on the air, was, “It feels weird.”

Jack Logic first told me about “The Streak” in the late 1980’s.  Nobody except Jack was really talking about it, but it was a remarkable accomplishment even then.  By the turn of the century, with The Streak still intact, I began calling it “the greatest streak in all of high school sports.”  Though I can be prone to exaggeration, I believed this statement to be true.

When Dick Rutt won the first championship, ever, for the Red Rovers, Harry Truman was president.  It was the first time that Easton had ever fielded a team.  His coach was Gust Zarnas, a man who played professional football for the Bears and Packers before World War II.  Last week, we were in Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium to see if Easton could crown their 186^th champion, 69 years later.   Of course, they could not, and The Streak went from reality to immortality.

There were years where the Red Rovers had only one champion.  Bob Ferraro, Dwight Danser, Dan Kasperkowski, Greg Geiger, and Elijah Brown come to mind.  More often, multiple champions represented the legendary teams from Easton.  In 1949, there were nine champions.  In 1996, the first seven weight classes had Red Rover champions.   A friend of mine, Pete Stoelzl, was crowned as the 100^th champion in Easton history in the mid-1980’s.

The Streak was already six years old when Steve Powell, Easton’s current coach, was born.  Steve is on my “Mount Rushmore” of District XI wrestling, and I can’t imagine the pressure he has endured throughout his tenure.  He told me, years ago, that he never thought about keeping The Streak alive.  I’m sure he was lying.   By tournament time, for the past 10 years, it’s all anyone was thinking about.

Face it—no matter who you cheer for, you liked The Streak.  When you talked with wrestling fans in other parts of the country, you told them about it.  And you spoke with pride about how tough District XI is in wrestling.  You may even have called it “Wrestling Country”.  And you told those folks how one school has epitomized the consistent excellence produced in this area.  You have been amazed by The Streak, and you wanted them to be amazed, too.

Perhaps, in a way, it’s fitting that 2016 should be the end.  This season, District XI Wrestling has lost icons Ray Nunamaker and Tony Iasiello who passed last summer.  Bill McCoach, the “voice” of the wrestling tournament for 50 years, has announced that he will not return.  Bob Kern, the long-time referee and coach, announced his retirement as well.  And now, we will not have The Streak, either.

At the end, it was long-time rivals from Nazareth and Northampton that had the honor of dispatching The Streak.  It was a merciful blow, dealt by deserving champions.  Like Maximus lying on the floor of the Coliseum in the climactic scene of “Gladiator”, we all knew that the time had come to honor this ‘once in forever’ accomplishment.  None of us will be here when this record is broken.

Indeed, the wrestling gods have spoken and The Streak is dead.  Long live The Streak.

After a busy and exciting week of calling District XI high school championship playoff action on RCN-TV, I am taking a few days off as we prepare for RCN’s coverage of PIAA State Playoff action.

So at the “SportsTalk Shop,” here is a highlights package of the playoff action over the past few weeks featuring teams in the RCN coverage area.  I’ll be back next week with more sports insights here at “The Shop” as well as on “RCN SportsTalk” next Thursday, live at 7pm.

Don’t forget to check out RCN’s sports coverage of District XI teams in the state playoffs starting this Friday and best of luck to all the teams participating in the tournament!

This is the time of the year when NFL fans get really nervous about some of their favorite players looking elsewhere, presumably for more money.  There are currently 650 free agents on the market.  650!  Free agency is a somewhat complicated process, which most of us, I would venture to speculate, do not understand.  I did a little research and will try to offer up in the simplest of terms, NFL Free Agency for Dummies.  Keep in mind this is written by a dummy.

For my example I will use Sam Bradford, last year’s starting quarterback for the Eagles.  By the way, there are 29 NFL quarterbacks right now in free agency. Sam Bradford is an unrestricted free agent (UFA).  The Eagles had until March 9 to sign him to a new contract before he was allowed to begin talking to and negotiating with other NFL teams.  In other words, after March 9, Bradford was “unrestricted”.  The Eagles could have named Bradford a franchise player before March 1, and he would have stayed with the Eagles for another year.  The cost to the Eagles would be the average salary of the top five players at his position.  The Eagles chose not to do that so Bradford is free to look elsewhere.

Bradford originally signed a six-year contract in 2010 with the St. Louis Rams for a signing bonus of $17,975,000.  He received an average salary of $13,007,500 per year.  He received bonuses from 2010-2012 totaling $17,300,000.  In the final year of his contract, the Eagles paid him $12,985,000.  His six-year contract totaled around $78 million.  When he signed the contract, he was guaranteed $50 million, but he obviously greatly far exceeded that.

So now what?  Of the 650 free agents, Bradford currently is the highest paid on the list primarily because he is a starting quarterback.  The second highest paid free agent on the market is defensive end Chris Long at $12,500,000.  Since the Eagles decided not to name him a franchise player or try to sign him before the deadline, Bradford now has his agent looking for a deal.  One service has his calculated market value at an annual salary of $18.6 million.  This value is arrived at by comparing Bradford to Ryan Tannehill, Matt Ryan, Jay Cutler, and Joe Flacco, all NFL quarterbacks.  Of course, his true value will be determined by the team that eventually signs him.

So, in a nutshell, you now have the numbers that a general manager must analyze to determine if Sam Bradford is the man for you.  In addition, a GM must concern himself with salary caps, but that explanation is for another time.  Remember, the Eagles can still be a part of the negotiations.  Once they have a sense of the offers being made, they too can present their offer or perhaps look at the 28 other quarterbacks available.

So what is Sam Bradford really worth to an NFL team?  Should the Eagles do whatever they can to bring him back?  Or would you just keep shopping?  If it was your money, how would you spend it?

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. Now, you might be wondering what other NFL quarterbacks are available. To name a few – Ryan Fitzpatrick, Matt Schaub, Tavaris Jackson, Chase Daniel, Kirk Cousins, etc.

2. The Yankees announced this week that they will no longer honor print-at-home tickets saying there is too much fraud in the process (“rampant, on a daily basis, every single game”). StubHub claims that they encounter fraud in 0.01 percent of transactions.  Is this the Yankees just showing their power against StubHub or a concern that will expand to other entertainment venues?

3. Jay Wright’s Villanova Wildcats continue to be the #1 team in college basketball, according to this week’s poll. They are 24-3 and garnered 25 of the 32 votes by the coaches.  Villanova is the team that knocked out Lafayette in the NCAA tournament last year in Pittsburgh.

4. The PGA tour is literally in Tiger Woods’ backyard this week in South Florida and he did not commit to playing. There has been no word about his health since December.  He had a major back operation 19 months ago and two similar surgeries since then.  He is no longer listed in the top 450 golfers.

5. Watch our local teams battle for the District basketball and wrestling championships this week on RCN-TV. The PIAA state basketball playoffs begin Friday, March 4.

There are some great high school match-ups over the next few days that I’m very excited about–especially on the girls basketball side.  Here are some observations and notes about District XI teams in the RCN coverage area to get you ready for this week’s playoff coverage on RCN-TV.

The 4A Girls Bracket
It was a coming-out party for Northampton freshman Victoria Keenan, who made her RCN debut last Friday with a spectacular performance en route to a big win over the second-seeded Parkland Trojans.  Despite her (and her frontcourt mates) getting in some early foul trouble, Keenan showcased her ball-handling and shooting abilities from different spots on the floor all game long.  I immediately noticed her poise and confidence in the pre-game warm-ups and she did not seemed fazed in the least about the win-or-go-home contest in front of her.

She finished with a game-high 23 points (no one else on either side finished in double figures) and set up her team to face their area rivals, Nazareth, in the semifinal matchup (7:30pm LIVE, Tuesday, RCN-TV).

I don’t often make predictions about players, and even more rarely do I single out a freshman, but after seeing Keenan play last week I feel confident in saying she’ll become one of the top girls basketball players in the area, if she’s not almost there already.

Not to be left out was Aja Blount, who came into the quarterfinal match-up averaging 20 points per game.  The Trojans played stifling defense on her and did not allow Blount her usual amount of touches, but Aja returned the favor by playing her own brand of ‘shut-all-windows-and-doors” defense against a talented Parkland frontcourt in the victory. Devon Saul, Lauren Sterner, Jenna Rogers, Brielle Ringo and (despite some quick fouls called on her) Sophia Eckroth all played well and I’m looking forward to seeing their next game on Tuesday.

I have not seen the Blue Eagles in person this year, but I’m well aware of the high level of play from returning players Tessa Brugler and Jessica Durnin, and the strong defense Head Coach Rick Bickert always cultivates.  This semifinal game should go right down to the wire.

I was very impressed by my first look at this year’s Easton game–a squad I saw last year and knew they would surpass those levels from a year ago.  We’ve spoken quite a bit about the Red Rovers on recent “SportsTalk” shows and podcasts (which you can hear here).  Pottsville has been led by two outstanding scoring threats, Kyra Schenk and Sadie Cresswell (the latter really shoots well from three-point land and will play college ball at East Stroudsburg University).  The Tide have some size and could create some interesting match-up issues for Easton (Tuesday, 6pm Live, RCN-TV).

Was Parkland vs. Allen the best HS game in decades?
I had a number of people answer in the affirmative about the above question between the boys teams from Allen and Parkland.   Emmaus’ Saturday victory over the Canaries will keep area fans from seeing a rematch of this contest (Parkland and Allen did not play each other during the regular season).  While I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was the greatest local game in over ten years, I will say unequivocally that on any given night, the Allen boys team can be as entertaining to watch as any team in the RCN viewing area.

Remember, nearly all of Allen’s key players were juniors or younger this winter and should return in 2017.  With Parkland graduating a number of the area’s top performers, I think you could certainly put the Canaries as one of the two or three best teams heading into the next high school basketball season, and should be a fun team to watch during the summer leagues.

With the Hornets win, we’ll see another great Parkland vs. Emmaus battle on Wednesday night (live, 7:30pm, RCN-TV).

We’ve talked about both teams quite a bit this season, and on paper, it still seems that the Trojans are heavy favorites.  The Hornets have battled through some tough games this season and we’ll see if Emmaus can come up with a new wrinkle or two to try to frustrate top-seeded Parkland.

SHOUT-OUTS
* Pocono Mountain West’s Lance Singh (a junior) had one of the best individual men’s performances I’ve seen in quite some time.  He scored 35 against Allen in the EPC semifinal and owned the first and last quarters, with the ability to score despite sometimes being triple-teamed, but also set up his teammates well down the stretch run.  Jalen Vaughns (also an 11^th grader) is also a difficult match-up—a guy who can score from different spots on the floor and is also a beast on the boards, and Isaiah Wiggins (another junior, by the way) also has a very similar skill set.  I think it’s safe to say PMW is clearly the single most talented scoring machine that Bangor has faced all season, and the Slaters will have their hands full in their semifinal match-up.

* Speaking of Bangor, props to last week’s “SportsTalk” panelist Toomey Anderson (from “LV Basketball Rankings”) for stating on the show that the Slaters will have a breakout performance and post a statement-declaring win over Whitehall in Saturday’s quarterfinal game.  We have been touting the great teams in the Colonial League since early December here at the “SportsTalk Shop” (feel free to go back through our past blog entries to see for yourself) and it is no surprise to me that there are two Colonial League teams still alive as we advance to the semifinal round of the District XI playoffs.

* Another correct “lock” prediction made on last week’s program was Andre Williams declaring that Bethlehem Catholic would beat Allentown Central Catholic in the so-called “Lehigh Valley Holy War.”   First-year Head Coach Ray Barbosa has done a remarkable job since taking over the program, even before his big win over the Vikings last Friday.  He has his team playing its best basketball of the season at just the right time.  They face undefeated Pottsville on Tuesday night (9:30pm, tape-delayed, RCN-TV).  The Tide have played some quality opponents and are an athletic team.  If Becahi can play like they did against Parkland in the EPC Quarterfinals, they’ll have a shot.  Regardless of this game’s outcome, the Golden Hawks already have had a tremendous season after winning just three games a year ago.

Send us your high school basketball comments and opinions via email (RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com) and enjoy all the playoff basketball action coming your way on RCN-TV over the next week!

Now that the NFL has completed play and with college basketball, the NBA, and the NHL moving to their respective championships, I find I am desperate for some intense competition.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching the serenity and landscape of golf, but it does lack the “mano a mano” aspect that the aforementioned sports offer up.  But, I am happy to say I have found a new “blood sport” – the Republican Debates!

I was for many years the Debate coach at Wilson High School and I am proud to say that we competed quite well against the bigger schools like Allen, Dieruff, Easton, and others.  I remember the parameters quite well.  There was the debate topic (an issue or resolution), the two sides – one supporting the issue and one opposing it, and the judges who would decide who won.  In other words, both teams formulated their arguments and presented them in a formal way and then the arguments were rebutted by the opposing side.  There could be no interruptions and each speaker must wait their turn.  There were very formal rules of procedure to follow. The debate was to be only about the issue, not about the personalities making the presentation.

As I mentioned, I have watched both the Republican and Democratic debates when my schedule allowed it.  The Republican frays are much more interesting even though they should not be called “debates”.  I watched the last one this past Saturday night.  There were virtually no rules.  Personal attacks abounded; interruptions were commonplace; and disparaging comments were the norm.  The clashes between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, between Cruz and Marco Rubio, between Trump and Jeb Bush are as good as any hockey fight.  And the passivity of Dr. Ben Carson in that environment is quite interesting.

Some of the phrases thrown around were, “You are the single biggest liar”; “He’s a nasty guy”; “I am sick and tired of him going after my family”; “He’ll moon anybody”, and one candidate even attacked another candidate’s mother, his mother!!  There are many, many other examples.

I am not taking any sides here, but I do think there is a much better way for these candidates to conduct themselves and conduct their debates.  What would be so wrong, since there are so many so-called “debates” now, if each debate focused on one, two, or three issues – immigration, foreign policy, taxation, the economy, abortion, Planned Parenthood, wages, the Supreme Court and so on and so on?  And wouldn’t it be fair if for each question, each candidate had an opportunity to give their answer without interruption?  And wouldn’t it be better and refreshing if the moderators had enough knowledge of the few issues for each night to challenge the candidates if, indeed, they contradicted either their past words or their actions?

Even though we all seem to like a good fight, physical or verbal, it would certainly seem that it would be better for our democracy if the “debate judges” (the people) would be able to see the true differences between those running for the most powerful office in the world.

Then and only then, we would have the candidates’ positions to judge who would be the better president, not who is the best at name-calling.

I’m not taking any sides here, just wondering if Presidential debates should actually be more like debates and not free-for-alls. In other words, more “Presidential”.

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

1. Remember the footage of Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens dragging Janay Palmer out of the elevator in Atlantic City? It was revealed this week that a Revel employee was paid about $105,000 for the video by TMZ

2. The Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition is due out soon and already some unveiling, literally, is happening. It is reported that Tiger Woods’ former girlfriend and Olympic skier, Lindsay Vonn, and MMA star Ronda Rousey will be in the issue wearing only body paint.  Rumor has it Rousey is on the cover.

3. A really good story came out of the PGA tour at Pebble Beach this week. Vaughn Taylor (who?) won!  He last won in 2005, and only got into the tournament as an alternate. He took a carry-on bag on the plane to California just to save baggage fees.  He was ranked #447 in the world.  But he won and made $1.26 million for the victory, $165,000 more than he made the last three years combined.  By the way, Phil Mickelson missed a five-foot putt on the 18^th hole that would have tied him with Taylor.  Taylor now qualifies for his first Masters.

4. If you want to see one of the best high school games we have ever had on RCN-TV, go to Video-on-Demand to watch Allen play Parkland. Imagine scoring 27 points and being the third leading scorer in the game.  The game goes overtime and two other players score more than 30 points.  It’s a special game – one of our very best.

5. Mark your calendar on February 27. The District basketball and wrestling finals are that day with the Lafayette men playing Colgate starting the day at noon.  We will finish up very late into the evening.  We will certainly be ESPN-ish that Saturday!