The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other other agency, organization, employer or company.

As part of the 15-year anniversary of the RCN SportsTalk program we are celebrating this month, I started compiling a list of the top 10 shows that come to mind when looking back at the show’s history (see our previous blog for entries #1-#5).

Here are entries #6-#10, in no particular order:

6) Joe Craig, Gary Laubach & Dick Tracy – the pilot show

You never forget your first show…although, it seemed if you blinked, this one was over in a flash.  Although a lot has evolved since that first program, one of the first — and biggest — changes since the first few shows was that the program was only 30 minutes long back then.  With these three legendary sports personalities on for just a half hour, this program seemed to end shortly after we started.  Subsequent weeks revealed that, because of the outstanding talent we have as guests each week, the show had to expand to a 60-minute format, which we have continued to this day. Unlike most television shows now-a-days that are reducing their shows’ length to try to improve their pacing to meet people’s shortening attention spans, I’m proud to say that when our hour is up, guests and viewers alike always say, “Hey, I wish we had another hour to talk more.” 

7) Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs

I’m cheating here as we have been honored to have this international star on a few times over the years. She has discussed everything from her time in the Olympics to raising her daughter, Talitha, to topical social issues, to her story with her dad’s career, on which the movie “Lean On Me” was based. If I find out in advance that Keith Groller will not be with us and we’re discussing a topic I know she feels strongly about, she’s the first person I call to see if she’s available to fill in as a co-host.  Joetta is always a joy to speak with about all of her areas of expertise.

8) The Lumberjack Show at the Fair

SportsTalk Executive Producer Rick Geho has had some very good suggestions for me and the show over the years. One idea that I didn’t think was so great at the time involved one of our shows from the Allentown Fair. We were sharing the Farmerama Stage with a gentleman from Minnesota who performed a lumberjack show and Rick suggested that we have him on as a guest.

A lumberjack show…really?

But not only did this gentleman produce some wonderful stories and made for an entertaining show, but he bid me — live on the air — to participate in some of his show activities.  This included me throwing an axe over my head to try to hit a target 40 feet away.  Without any practice, I hit the target – a feat Mr. Craig and our RCN crew members still say to this day was one of the most shocking things they’ve seen in their careers (I tried to think of that as a compliment from them, but I’m not so sure).

9) The Dick Tracy “surprise” tribute show

This is actually the first show that came to mind when I sat down to do this … and will probably be one of the greatest SportsTalk episodes that I will ever be a part of. Coach Tracy was a mentor to me – I looked up to him as a kid watching Whitehall HS basketball games, he was my journalism and yearbook teacher as a high school student and a colleague and the most helpful person to me when I started announcing games in the Lehigh Valley as a radio announcer. Then later I had the honor to announce games with him for RCN-TV. When Coach “retired” from broadcasting I remembered a conversation from years earlier in which I asked him: if there was one day in which he could relive any of the great experiences in his life, what would it be?  His response was that he would actually enjoy a couple hours sitting around with his state championship Zephyr basketball team and just shoot the breeze with them.  I contacted everyone on that team along with some other special people in Dick’s life who came in and surprised him live on the air. Coach HATED tributes and the fact that we were able to bring his entire team back and keep this a secret from him while pulling off a successful show on LIVE TV is truly one of the most amazing accomplishments I will ever have achieved as producer of this program.

10) ???

Now I’m really taking an easy way out. Probably even if I had the rundown of all of our shows in front of me I couldn’t name a final entry in this list.  I’ve been blessed to have so many wonderful people volunteer their time to come in and share their stories and opinions with us. I’d like to think every show is a little unique from the previous ones so I am just going to keep the spot open for now and call it a tie between practically every other show we’ve done.

Thanks to all for the memories!!!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other other agency, organization, employer or company.

 I know this week I had teased part two of our SportsTalk Top 10 list, but I really think it is imperative I address something else in this week’s blog entry.

From time to time I feel called upon to blow our own horn just a bit. Yes, it may be self-serving and, to be completely honest, it’s not one of my strengths. But as I do represent a talented and hard-working group of people who work on the RCN Sports staff, I do feel the need, from time to time, to point out a few truths to sports fans.

For the record, I don’t do this every single time I notice, but there are some occurrences where I do feel obligated to point some things out and set the record straight.

And this is one of those more extreme examples that I often see.

Back in mid-April when I did my first “all remote access” edition of RCN SportsTalk, Notre Dame Head Baseball Coach Mike Bedics was on our show and revealed that nearly all of the local high school baseball coaches in the RCN viewing area – 32 of them – had gotten together and put a plan in place to participate in a high school baseball tournament in August.

Granted, there were still a lot of unknowns at that time as everyone – including our state government – had no idea how long the coronavirus would last.  Nor did anyone have any idea on what the “return to normalcy” and resulting regulations would look like.

Still, it was noted that a solid plan was in place, along with locations that would host games. All of them would be able to accommodate spacing out issues in cooperation with social distancing, Bedics explained, that if it was all possible and permissible under Department of Education regulations, the tournament would be played. It was also explained this was a way to give seniors who missed out on their final high school season a chance to play the sport they love one more time.

It was a great scoop we had, as the meeting had just taken place a few hours before we recorded the interview and it was an opportunity, once again, to let the RCN viewers in on something before anyone else in eastern Pennsylvania had any idea about it.

Fast forward to this past weekend.

Another local news agency came out with “breaking exclusive news,” citing local high school coaches have put together a plan to have a high school baseball tournament in August.  The story then pretty much repeated everything that was on our program – TWO MONTHS PRIOR – with of course the repetition of the phrase “breaking exclusive story” a few more times.  It ended with a codicil noting that it still needed local and state government approval (as we had stated on our program) but that local coaches were optimistic the games could be played.  Again, the exact same information that was on our show … over 8 WEEKS before.

I realized that not every single person in eastern Pennsylvania watches the RCN SportsTalk Show every week.  I also know that people may not be able to see every single episode … even though all of our shows are available to RCN customers through video on demand and/or DVR or TiVo the show.

However, if you do want to stay ahead of the curve and find out information before it is revealed elsewhere, you might want to schedule watching the show – in some way, shape or form – each week, so that you are not left out  nor have to wait a couple months to get local sports news.

*******

Speaking of RCN SportsTalk, we have some great new programs coming your way over the next several weeks…

… Former playing great & retiring Allen Head Basketball Coach Doug Snyder, stepping down after 24 years

… Washington Nationals Beat Writer Jesse Dougherty with the latest on MLB’s attempt to restart their season

… Retiring Liberty Head Basketball Coach Chad Landis, stepping down after 12 years as head coach and eight more years as an assistant

… This fall’s incoming class of head football coaches in Easton, Pennsylvania

… New Allen High School Athletic Director Randy Atiyeh and new Head Basketball Coach Darnell Braswell

… New Dieruff High School Athletic Director David Stout and new head basketball coach Marlon Randall

… This fall’s defending District XI champions (in multiple sports)

… League and district administrators to talk about the Department of Education’s guidance and protocols for high school sports regarding the Coronavirus

… & more!!!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other other agency, organization, employer or company.

I thought I had a really cool idea for this week’s SportsTalk Shop blog entry.

Since this week marks the 15th anniversary of our first ever RCN SportsTalk program, I thought it would be interesting to go back and pick out the top SportsTalk shows that come to mind when I think about our 15 years on the air.

I really got excited when I started brainstorming all the great shows that came to mind, the wonderful people we’ve had on, and the tremendous conversations and stories we’ve heard. I thought it would be best if I put a cap on the number of episodes I recollect, otherwise we might be taking up far too much bandwidth than we’re allotted on the website.  But before I got too deep in the process, I thought I better check my files to make sure I don’t leave off an important show that might be slipping my mind.

I could say my memory is not what it used to be – although since I’m constantly writing things down, I could also argue my memory has never been as good as it should be.

So I went to my computer to get the full rundown of all the shows we’ve done and, as bad luck would have it, the link to the file that stores all of our show episodes is not available. So I’m going to continue with my original thought (for now) of writing down the first SportsTalk shows that come into my mind when I look back on the history of the program. Keep in mind this is purely based on my recollections and no statistics or official barometer was used in its compilation.

I do want to apologize in advance if I’m missing an obvious choice that should make this list and I reserve the right to do this list again to make changes or to insert something that should be on this list in the first place.

So here we go, in no particular order:

• Saquon Barkley
  He only gets one spot on our list but the New York Giants star running back has actually made a few appearances on our program over the years.  As I’ve said frequently over the last ten years — since he was a sophomore in high school, his tremendous work ethic is amazing and it’s paid off, making one of the biggest personalities currently in sports.

• Dick Tracy & John Donmoyer
  I have no shame in admitting that sometimes our best shows are the ones in which I say very little, and this show was certainly one of them.  They are arguably two of the biggest high school basketball coaching names in the Lehigh Valley, and I didn’t have to do much prodding to get these two sports geniuses to start recalling stories of their heydays – both great memories playing against each other and other wonderful recollections brought back from decades of coaching excellence.

• Doug Snyder & John Donmoyer
  Another show where I didn’t have to ask too many questions…the wonderful stories flowed freely as the 25-year head coach of the Allen boys basketball team and his prodigy-turned-successor recalled the Canaries basketball program’s greatest moments, some very personal moments and rarely told recollections of the school’s most triumphant victories over the last four decades.  Incidentally, Snyder just retired after his 24th year (out of respect he quit one year before Donmoyer did) and we will have an entirely new show with Doug coming up on SportsTalk later this month.

• Freedom football team
  I knew the basic idea for Sports Talk would be a success, given the popularity of sports in this area. However, I’ve frequently been shocked at times by the outpouring of feedback that I receive, and this particular episode was one that really blew my mind.  Head Coach Jason Roeder, starting Quarterback Joe Young (now playing at Harvard) and his teammates had some great stories recalling the hurdles they had overcome four seasons ago, the challenges students face and on turning their program around while overcoming massive injuries in this particular year (at that time, they set a school record for wins in a season – recently surpassed by the team from two years ago). Furthermore, I remember the people who contacted me for WEEKS after the show aired, thanking me for having them on – I’m pretty sure the number of IN PERSON responses from Freedom fans alone were well over 300!
• Nazareth girls & boys basketball & wrestling teams
  I’m cheating here because we’ve had the pleasure of having several Blue Eagles teams on SportsTalk over the years.  The student-athletes have always impressed me — not only being great on-camera speakers but also in revealing some wonderful personalities. Head Coaches Dave Crowell, Joe Arndt and Rich Bickert have not only won a lot of sporting events but have produced some great kids which is always evident when they make an appearance on our show to talk about, literally, everything. From discussing their love of classic movies to the Bridgeforth twins singing “Roll Out The Barrel” live on air, these Nazareth teams always make for incredibly entertaining TV.

We’ll continue our look back at some of the top moments in the history of the RCN SportsTalk program next week!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other other agency, organization, employer or company.

I very rarely discuss controversial topics publicly…and I don’t think I’m going to be providing much issue for debate here.

I won’t state any talking points that can entice an argument, and I truly don’t think anything I’m about to say would be something that anyone would seriously question.

Clearly the injustice in the killing of George Floyd last week is unacceptable.  Anyone who would even think about debating that has some serious mental issues.

I’m also not going to debate the issue of whether physical violence is the appropriate response. Clearly, something needs to be done in our society and I don’t think I have the aptitude to solve this divisive topic all by myself.

I’m not even going to open up the can of worms as to whether athletes should be social role models or not. Charles Barkley declared several years ago that he is not a role model and kids shouldn’t follow his lead because he’s an athlete…but I spoke with him many times during his playing days and he’s very well aware that millions do.  He’s proven to be a remarkable spokesperson of his generation both as a player and now as a broadcaster.

And unless you want to overturn the First Amendment’s right to Freedom of Speech, I don’t think you can argue the fact that people have a right to voice their own opinion, whether they’re a pro athlete or otherwise.

But I would like to offer a bit of advice to sports personalities, or for anyone for that matter, who seeks out a microphone to call for social change:

Know your facts before you speak and speak of what you know…you only hurt your own argument by using incorrect information.

I lost track of the celebrities over the weekend who made statements in which their arguments were based on things that weren’t even true, and/or mangled facts so badly that their talking points couldn’t be taken seriously.

In the past I have seen firsthand compelling arguments completely fall apart, just because people had no idea about the subject they were arguing for or failed to research a topic thoroughly enough to properly argue a theory.

Some examples…

My first year covering the Philadelphia Phillies, young outfielder Wes Chamberlain (who concurrently wanted more money and a new contract for himself) went on a rant before a game that society was unfairly discriminating against blue collar workers and the government should take a more active role in properly distributing income to low income families.

While it was a veiled attempt at trying to popularize himself with fans to put pressure on the front office to give him more money, he appeared to be making a very compelling argument…at first.

That was until he said he would have trouble just being able to put food on the table if he had to live on a blue-collar worker’s salary.

When one member of the media asked him, “What do you think an average blue-collar worker makes per year?”

His hesitant response.was, “About $400,000?”

(…and this was over 20 years ago).

Chamberlain didn’t get a new contract.

A few years ago, I was on hand for a general media gathering in which Will Smith, one of my favorite all-time performers, was available for questions as he became a new part owner of the Philadelphia 76ers.

The discussion evolved into Smith giving his thoughts on the nation’s economy and his suggestions that the U.S. Government should transition the country to embrace socialism.

Again, Smith started with some strong points before claiming that the United States would be better off if we adopted the exact same government system as Sweden…until someone asked if he would be okay with the government taxing his income at 50% or more.

Smith stepped back aghast and retorted, “Whoa, is that really how much the tax rate is in Sweden?”

The 76ers have never allowed media accessibility with Smith since.

Listen. I don’t pretend to have all the answers and I am certainly not right with my responses 100% of the time.

I am also not discouraging any athlete – local, regional or national – from speaking out and doing or saying what they believe is right.

Clearly, more action needs to be done, which includes having more vocal leaders and less passive followers.

What I AM suggesting is for people who hear the call to speak out, do so for the right reasons and be sure of your facts when you try to make an argument.

If you listened long enough…and patiently enough…this past weekend, there were some brilliant calls to action and solid points made by famous people both inside and outside of the sports world.

But far too many of those positive messages were drowned out by people clearly having no clue of what they were talking about. Too much time was spent quibbling about the inaccuracies of rants, pointing fingers on which facts were right and what words were politically correct to use at which times … along with flat out ignorant statements … all that clouded the main problem.

And let’s not forget NBA writer Chris Palmer who, one minute last Saturday, encouraged riotous acts, destruction of random property and to let cities burn to the ground … only to demand that an out-of-control mob shut everything down less than 24 hours later after they attacked a community in which his sister happened to live.

Similar acts of hypocrisy ran rampant the last few days, and nothing undermines a coherent thought more than completely reversing your opinion hours later.

Too often there’s a rush to get something on social media, whether it’s accurate or not, to ignite a feeling of hate, or simply to be the first to say something.  What IS needed are feelings to invoke inspiration for trying to make our society better and equal for ALL people.

Not enough time has been spent on addressing the real issues in our society and what could — and should — be done to finally solve racial tensions and police brutality.

If you take a pause and really look around, there’s plenty of celebrities who provide the inspiration in what they say and how they do it.

I would encourage people to do their homework in subject matter and learn a little from those positive people who you feel best inspire you, before becoming a great leader yourself and bringing about the change that’s sorely needed right now.

Once you are sure of your direction…BE THE CHANGE!!!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. 

When I first embarked on a career in communications, I was fully aware that I would have to work most holidays.

While I have met a lot of people in this industry who feel the complete opposite, I also happily acknowledged that as the low man on the totem pole when I first started out, I would probably be working ALL holidays.

And I did…for nearly ten years. And didn’t complain once.

My family has always been completely understanding that work may sometimes infringe on the normal “family times.”  Shortly after I got married, I negotiated a completely fair and reasonable arrangement for all the times I would have to spend away from home (aka, on the first day that I did NOT have to work, I am completely obligated to do whatever my wife tells me to do.)

Hey, whatever it takes.

One of my many benefits for working at RCN is that I don’t miss nearly as much time around the holidays as I used to. And even when I do, I usually get the chance to work from home for most of them, so I can at least be near some of the fun family activities that are going on.

For example, Labor Day traditionally coincides with the first Monday of the high school football season, which is the day to start gathering rosters, putting requests for information in with the coaches, athletic directors and support staff. Experience shows that you cannot simply wait until Tuesday to get started preparing for that weekend’s football game.  My experience has also helped in that I have developed great relationships with local football head coaches, so a call later Labor Day afternoon to these gentlemen is not looked at as an intrusion on their time either, but usually a friendly conversation in which I also get the information needed.

If New Year’s Day falls on a day before a high school basketball game, it’s also imperative you start working on getting your information BEFORE New Year’s Eve (most teams have a holiday tournament between Christmas and New Year’s, so it’s difficult to “cheat” and work too far ahead in advance) and then get in a quick conversation with coaches on New Year’s Day before putting the finishing touches on my game prep and disseminating the information to the graphics operators, statisticians, replay operators and other members of our production crew before truly settling in and enjoying that holiday.

Not the most festive way to ring in the New Year, but again, I wouldn’t trade my job for anything.

Perhaps the most hectic working holiday tradition has been the Memorial Day weekend.  Normally that Saturday/Sunday/Monday features several (and starting last year with the new expanded playoff system, no less than eight) high school baseball semi-final games.  In addition to running around the area to watch and make notes on these games and making contacts for accumulating the team’s info (since it’s the playoffs you can’t work ahead), the fun REALLY starts Monday afternoon and night.  This is when you have to compile/follow-up/edit/reproduce all the information to send it out to the crew to prepare for the district championship games, which sometimes start as early as the very next day.

Again, not complaining…just stating the facts, and I relish the challenge each year.

When people who don’t know me very well ask what my plans are for these holidays, especially Memorial Day, I simply say I have some work commitments and kiddingly refer to these working days off as my “forgotten holidays.”

Like a lot of the athletic directors and coaches who I have been speaking with over the last two months during the pandemic, I’ve been doing quite a bit of reflection about the situation we are in and taking stock of the time NOT spent running around frantically during these traditionally busy times…like what normally happens this week.

Coming from a military family, my father and grandfather instilled in me a very deep sense of loyalty and honor for Memorial Day and Veterans Day in remembering what is the true meaning of what these holidays.

One of my proudest early moments in my television career –  one that helped me win an award  – included being a host and producer of a public affair television show.  And one of the most memorable moments from that show included a feature I did on a group called the “Sons of the Revolution.”

Each year on Memorial Day weekend, these groups of dedicated individuals travel around to known cemeteries in Eastern Pennsylvania that house veterans of any war and perform a ceremonial service, complete with Taps and a 21-Gun Salute.

While each individual service never takes more than 30 minutes, it’s hard not to be moved by the experience and is something I feel everyone should experience at least once.  When I did the story, most of the participants were well past the retirement age, yet featured so much palpable energy, I would find it difficult for any witnesses not to be inspired by their efforts.

We followed this group around to three different cemeteries before compiling more than enough interview and b-roll footage to make for a very compelling video package.

Following our third service and after thanking the gentlemen for their hospitality and their own tremendous service, I left feeling an incredible sense of pride for my country, along with an obligation that it would not be the last time that I attended one of these events.

This year I did some research and was happy to find that this group is not only still fully operational but continues to perform services in Eastern PA–albeit limited somewhat this spring due to the Coronavirus and social distancing constrictions.  Included in this year’s event was with a special tribute to two World War II veterans on the 75th anniversary to the end of that conflict.  While I don’t think my twelve-year-old son got as much out of the experience as I did, I sincerely hope it’s something that sticks with him for a while and an event that he will not soon forget.

It also made me realize that 15 years had passed between me making that initial commitment to return to see these special people’s ceremonies and returning to witness another one in person.

While we have a whole new brand of modern day heroes keeping us safe during this pandemic, Memorial weekend is also a time for reflection and a reminder that, no matter what else we have going on, we should set time aside in our lives to honor and salute the brave men and women who courageously gave the ultimate sacrifice in serving our great nation.

Shame on me for sometimes forgetting this message.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other other agency, organization, employer or company.

Over the winter, Jesse Dougherty, Washington Nationals Beat Writer for the Washington Post, sent me an early copy of his new book, “Buzz Saw.”

His book chronicles the unbelievable run the Nats had last year, including their amazing mid-May transformation from cellar-dwellers to the eventual World Series champions.

The official book’s release was in late March, to coincide with what was supposed to be Major League Baseball‘s Opening Day.

Even though he sent me the book in early January, as has been my tradition over the last several years, I usually save reading my non-basketball reading material, fictional and nonfiction, until after the high school basketball season ends.  I try to take a few days to recover from one of our busiest times of the year.  One of my favorite things to do to reset my batteries is to enjoy some good reading material.

Please understand. I really like to enjoy reading and take my time, stretching it out over a several days to thoroughly enjoy the experiences.

Ironically, because of other projects and taking on new duties as we adjust to our “new normal,” I put reading this book on the back burner in lieu of developing new ways of going about our businesses in the wake of the coronavirus.

But this weekend I blocked out significant time out to delve into this book – as a fan of Jessie’s writing, I knew I would thoroughly enjoy it.

I was definitely not disappointed.

“Buzz Saw” is a raw, realistic view of the Nationals season, looking largely from the viewpoint of General Manager Frank Rizzo. Starting from the previous offseason, the book goes through the turbulent and downright bleak first six weeks of the season. Dougherty provides insights on the Nationals front office and everything Rizzo and Manager Dave Martinez were going through, including a more negative than normal Washington fan base.

A large part of the book deals with the time in and around May 24th – when the Nats as a team hit rock bottom in more ways than one.  The team was having significant health issues, including Martinez’s own hospitalization.

The book may not be for younger baseball fans, complete with realistic and frank conversations between management and players.  It is very comprehensive, discussing the players’, coaches’ and media’s perspectives, the fans’ views and includes an incredible attention to detail while recollecting the key moments during the Nationals season.

Jesse had promised me he was going to be a guest on “SportsTalk” again during spring training to talk about the 2020 edition of the Nationals baseball and give his expectations for the new season.

Those plans have been put on hold until we get some better news on the health front and get closer to the official restart of baseball’s preseason workouts (hopefully sooner rather than later.)

Until then, baseball fans, whether a Washington baseball fan or not, you will thoroughly enjoy this inside look on MLB’s reigning champions and their improbable run from worst to first within a four-month span.

Enjoy!

PROGRAMMING NOTE: We will have another “all remote access” live edition of RCN SportsTalk this week. Among our guests includes long-time Bethlehem Catholic Baseball Head Coach / Athletic Director Mike Grasso, talking about all the highs and lows during his amazing 45-year career, which came to a premature end this spring.

Over the next few weeks, we will also have conversations with a few other head coaches in the RCN viewing area (all of them with at least 20 or more years at their current school) who are retiring this spring.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

When the government ordered massive shutdowns in March due to the coronavirus, I was literally putting the finishing touches on my blog post that was going to run that week, when I received word that our studio would be closed for the near-term.

It was even more disappointing because, that Thursday, I was really looking forward to our “SportsTalk” program — having a terrific blend of wonderful people on the show, discussing some very important issues.

As concern for the virus continues and we get deeper in the calendar – with people’s scheduling becoming more hectic with other responsibilities – it’s becoming doubtful that we will be able to have all of the people on the show at the same time that we were going to have on for that particular day. While we will probably have at least most of them on, at different times on upcoming shows, I just thought it was going to be a great blend of personalities and views, all on the same episode, that may not come together again as I would have liked.

So I’m going to do something a little different for this week and present the blog that I had written for that week, as is, right up until I heard the news — just to give you a taste of what might have been if everything came together just perfectly.

By the way, we will not have a shortage of firepower on this week’s show as some of the guests listed below will be on Thursday’s program. Others will be on upcoming shows over the next several weeks.

Also, for this Thursday, we will have District XI Football Chair Jason Zimmerman on to give us some insights on the road ahead for high school sports’ recovery and potential timetables for the fall football season.

But now, enjoy the blog entry as it would have been – right up until it prematurely came to an abrupt stop.

*****

Original Title: “Women in Sports Recognition”

While it’s not yet an officially “recognized” month, there has been a movement in recent years to have one month emphasize the importance of women’s contributions in the ENTIRE world of sports.  The goal of this initiative ranges from more actively promoting women’s sports programs in participation, recognition and promotions to featuring coaches, broadcasters and administrators in traditionally male-dominated areas, as well as encouraging more women to enter these fields.

You may remember last year at this time I featured Melanie Newman, a relatively new broadcaster who, along with Susan Cool, became the first all-female broadcast team for a major sports franchise (a Red Sox Minor League team) in the country.

Newman, by the way, was recently named to the Baltimore Orioles broadcasting team, making an incredible ascension from the low Single-A Minor Leagues to the Major Leagues within one year’s time–yet another example of what amazing excellence can be achieved when women are given an opportunity in sports.

With SportsTalk co-host Keith Groller unavailable for several shows over the next few weeks, I dare say we have a very special individual to work the co-hosting chair.

Joetta Clark-Diggs, a four-time Olympian, 11-time USA All-American, inducted into the United States’ Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2009 and owner of track times that are still ranked among the best in the world, will be joining me on the program once again to discuss different topics of interest.

This week’s guests include members of the Saucon Valley girls track team to discuss defending their record shattering times set at last year’s Pennsylvania state competitions in Shippensburg. Among them will be Joetta’s daughter, Talitha, who already has earned some major hardware in her very young career.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

For over a hundred years some of the greatest video treasures of all time have been produced. Some have been lost in the sands of time and others, soon to be rediscovered, will become fan favorites for a whole new generation.

Each week we will feature just one of the many hidden gems that you can see on RCN TV with insights and commentaries on classic television shows and legendary cinematic performances.

In a career filled with tremendous individual accomplishments too lengthy to list in a single blog entry, Frank Sinatra’s performance in the 1954 thriller, Suddenly, is probably one of his greatest, underrated works as an actor.

After a decade of multiple number one hits and rave reviews as a happy-go-lucky leading man on the silver screen, Sinatra’s film career dipped in the early part of the 1950s.

But with a starring role in the iconic film, From Here To Eternity, Sinatra was back in the public eye and had the screen credit to play possibly the biggest “departure role” of his career.

In Suddenly, Sinatra’s character is John Baron, a psychopathic killer disguised as a government agent and a paid assassin who’s hell-bent on shooting the President of the United States of America at any cost.

Baron leads a small group of henchmen who ruthlessly take over an innocent family’s house, located next to the train tracks that will be escorting the President through the sleepy town of Suddenly, California.

Baron and his thugs take hostages and show no mercy in this gritty film, with many twists-and-turns in this fast-paced 75-minute flick.

This film further deepened “‘Ol’ Blue Eyes”’ range as an actor and was part of over a dozen highly successful films in the 1950s which further advanced his already successful singing career.

Two interesting bits of trivia concerning Suddenly.  An ill-conceived idea of colorizing this film in the mid-1980s went awry when they mistakenly painted Sinatra’s eyes brown throughout the film.

A less humorous antidote: Sinatra unsuccessfully attempted to purchase and destroy all copies of this film as well as the 1962 classic, The Manchurian Candidate, after a rumor surfaced that Lee Harvey Oswald watched both of these films before deciding to shoot President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Both films starred Sinatra with plot lines involving assassination attempts, although he handled the protagonist duties in Candidate.

Suddenly also stars Sterling Hayden (the crooked Captain McCluskey in The Godfather) and is a must-see for Sinatra followers and fans of thrill-seeking film noir works alike. 

Suddenly is featured on the “RCN Movie Theater/Retro Special” on Wednesday, May 13, at 9pm and Saturday, May 16, at 8:30pm on RCN-TV.

To view the complete rundown of classic programming on RCN TV, check out the weekly listings here on our website. 

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other other agency, organization, employer or company.

Gary Laubach stole my thunder in his blog the previous week in which he talked about the new technology we started using in our first “all-remote” edition of the “RCN SportsTalk Show.”

In observing the health requirements and mandated safety procedures of the times, we started broadcasting the show with all of our guests remaining in their homes.

For our next “SportsTalk” show, we took things up a notch. Utilizing my RCN high speed internet (a huge shout out to my colleagues out in the field keeping it going strong), the show originated from my home to connect with members of local high schools spring sports programs.

In scheduling that episode’s guest list, I thought the experience would be therapeutic for our guests as coaches and players could express their frustrations in talking about their seasons being cancelled but additionally give viewers some unique perspectives on how they are dealing with their canceled seasons during the pandemic.

Another benefit of this particular program was allowing senior athletes to not only break the monotony of their quarantine but also to reveal some very heartfelt stories about their playing days, with some realizing that their sports careers have already come to a premature end.

Initially, I thought doing the show from my home might be an advantage over our usual setup. Instead of trying to find interesting guests who had to be available on Thursday between 6 to 8 p.m., I suddenly had great flexibility in scheduling.

Sure enough, the first three groups I contacted were eager to be on the show.  When hearing what time would work for them…the first said mornings work best, the 2nd said another day at 2pm was ideal and the third said they’re not available until sometime after 5pm.  Normally this would be a major problem, but now, this was not an issue.

The days leading up to the program recording date were rather nerve-wracking for me. I have been spoiled for the last 15 years of having eight or more incredibly capable crew members putting all the technical aspects of the show together.  While grateful to be given the responsibility to try something new, I realized I now was pretty much on an island by myself.  Any significant technical glitch would reflect badly upon my ability to be the pseudo – director / audio person / cameraperson / floor manager, et al for this project.

I had actually been testing the equipment for weeks with various people, some who had utilized similar technologies while picking their brains in order to properly prepare for this first day of recording.  As a television veteran, I also knew that I had to prepare for every possible thing that could possibly go wrong. (Murphy’s law frequently applies in TV productions:  “If it can go wrong, it will go wrong.” The trick is not to let people know at home that it does.)

But very early in the proceedings, I started to realize something I had never considered before.  Let me explain.

One aspect of hosting the show that I feel I have done a very capable job of over the years is to make guests feel relaxed. Well-established speakers can easily sit down and talk on a live television show for 60 minutes without hesitation.  I realized very early in my career that even veteran athletic directors, administrators and other people who do a fair amount of public speaking on their own, can very easily freeze-up when the bright lights click on.

I relish the challenge of having people arrive at our studio, terrified by the thought of the TV cameras focusing on them when they first arrive, and making sure they thoroughly enjoy the experience and want to return again by the time the show is over.

But by utilizing the equipment from my home to connect with high school athletes speaking from their own living rooms, I could sense right away how relaxed they were and how quickly they opened up and expressed their feelings and revealed heartfelt stories.

Although I’d like to think I come up with some pretty good questions from time to time, they made my job rather easy this week, wasting no time in providing emotional responses for the situation they and many other student-athletes are dealing with right now.

I also like to think a great interviewer knows when to be a good listener while helping them to find ways to express themselves as they deal with their own stresses.  Again, a skill I’d like to think I have an abundance of, was hardly necessary on this occasion.

When one of the coaches called me immediately after we completed recording this week’s show to thank me for the opportunity, I didn’t pause in my response.  I told him that it was not only a very enjoyable experience for me as an interviewer, but probably, in terms of evoking emotional stories, one of the best shows we have done, and the kids themselves deserve all the credit.

I know coming into a television studio and sitting under the bright lights for an hour is a unique experience not very many people ever have the opportunity to experience.  I look forward to the time we can do the show again, live, with guests joining me in the studio.

But I think this week’s program shows that there is also something extra special in talking with people in their natural environment.  One that can provide even greater personal insights we might not have gotten otherwise.

Either way, it’s nice to know that we here at RCN TV keep finding new ways of serving our customers, especially during these unusual times in our society.

You can see last week’s “SportsTalk” show featuring local high school athletes and coaches discussing how COVID-19 has affected their sports seasons, through RCN’s Video on Demand.

We’ll be continuing our “all – remote” editions of the program for at least the next few weeks.  Coming up this Thursday, Tom Housenick of The Morning Call will sub for my usual co-host, Keith Groller, to talk about Major League Baseball’s hiatus and rumors concerning its return, plus high school wrestling off-season news.  We will also have Mike Hofmann, a local historian, previewing his new book on high school football.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Twenty-four-hour, all-sports radio stations have had an interesting few weeks trying to come up with new topics to discuss when there are literally no new topics in sports to discuss.  One program I heard recently on Philadelphia’s 94 WYSP (the station where I covered the Eagles for eight years) did bring up a Baseball Hall of Fame discussion, which led to a debate on who should and should not be in.  Among the names discussed includes one of the most positive personalities that I have ever met.

I have met, talked with and interviewed hundreds of very interesting head coaches in my day.

Among the professional head coaches and managers that I have interviewed: Doug Peterson, Andy Reid, Ray Rhodes, Larry Bowa, Gabe Kapler, Ryne Sandberg, Brett Brown, Mo Cheeks, Larry Brown … to name a few.  But I would be hard- pressed to find a more genuine and likeable pro sports coaching personality than former Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

When I (and just about any other media member—save Howard Eskin) have had a chance to speak with Charlie about, well, anything, he was as accepting and as gracious as any person you could ever find.  He treated all members of the media the same and never gave anyone a hard time for a question he didn’t particularly like…something you can’t often say when dealing with people who have accomplished as much in a career as Manuel did.

In the Delaware Valley, he’s now a legend.  Winning a World Series will do that for most managers.

Manuel was on a list of 10 candidates but fell short of being elected into The Hall last December by the new “Today’s Game Era Committee,” and Phillies fans have been making a push for his name to return—with even more support—again to this year’s ballot.

Sadly, if pressed for an answer, I would have to agree that Manuel should NOT be enshrined, and if I was on any of the groups that have that power (of which there are too many—which is a subject for another blog entry) I’m afraid I would not vote him in.

Why?

A look at the facts…

Manuel won just one World Series.  In all, he won six league division titles and two pennants—all with seriously loaded offensive lineups.  While his ability to reach and connect with players, both on and off the field, was one of his best attributes, it’s hard to quantify that into the numbers game that is so key to getting that extra boost necessary to put you into the elite that is found in Cooperstown.

Instead, Manuel will more likely be remembered for that likeable, good-natured human being trait that I mentioned at the outset of this passage, than any extraordinary number or statistic you could provide in his defense.

The Hall of Fame is a place reserved for strictly the best of the best, based purely in terms of the game of baseball at the highest level and the Shrine is filled with people who had less than admirable personality traits.

Perhaps then, it is only fitting that Charlie will probably not be among them.