One of the many “guarantees” in my life is that my co-hosting partner of the “RCN SportsTalk” show, Joseph Lynnwood Craig, is constantly harassing me about things he wants…more airtime, bigger coffee mugs, softer cushions for his chair, etc.  One of his regular complaints each summer is that he doesn’t get many opportunities to write an entry on the “SportsTalk Shop” blog, especially, when I go on vacation.

Each year, I give him an opportunity to do this, with the following specifications:

• Please type it
• Please keep it to 8-12 paragraphs
• Please have it ready to go a few days before I leave for my vacation

Each year, he fails to follow all three requests.

Instead, he recently handed me a rolled-up stack of penmanship paper, with his long, hand-written and ink-stained rants about a broad and an incredibly vague topic.  His commentary, he insists, will flood my mailbox with positive support for his point of view.  Then, he promises, the public will demand he scribes even more entries during the year.

Well, now’s your chance to prove him right!

This week, we bring you a taste of Joe’s sports psyche and his thoughts on the recent transactions of his beloved Philadelphia Eagles.  We hope you enjoy the opportunity to hear Mr. Craig’s observations and opinions.  And now, from the “Scrolls of Craig” (and I do literally mean scrolls), here are Joe’s thoughts (with a literary assist from former sports writer Jack Logic) on the recent actions, missteps and future predictions of the Philadelphia Eagles (abridged version).
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The four major professional sports teams in Philadelphia have each taken many different routes in different season.  While the Eagles have had some success in recent years, there have been more disappointments than happy moments surrounding this team over the last few seasons.

After sticking with Head Coach Andy Reid from 1999-2012, (some would argue that was too long a tenure), Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie went in a completely different direction.  Reid was a life-long NFL-er, while studying under the coaching tenure and “Old School” mentality of Mike Holmgren.  Reid was very conservative in many ways and would try not to rock the boat very often.  He was like his successor, Chip Kelly, in that he was quite stubborn, but he would rarely try to make a giant splash.

Instead, usually made “safer” player personnel changes to his lineup.  Terrell Owens was, of course, a major exception to this theory, and his time in Philly was cut short.

With Kelly, Lurie went in completely opposite direction.  Kelly had no experience in the NFL as a coach or a player.  He had a radically different approach to many things and was a very polarizing person in the city of Philadelphia.  We would find out later that he seemed to relish developing an “us-versus-them” community and, as time when on, more people found themselves as an outsider in the “Kelly World.”

The Eagles thought they were on the right track when Kelly was hired in 2013.  His Eagles had a 10-6 record and went to the playoffs in Kelly’s first year.  Not many coaches in NFL history had the kind of success Chip had in his first experience as an NFL head coach.

In his second season, Kelly’s team repeated that level of success by once again winning ten games but failed to make the playoffs in an all-out power struggle in the NFC East.

That offseason was a time for change.

Between Kelly, team General Manager Howie Roseman and Owner Jeffrey Lurie, there was a front office shake-up.  Lurie handed the keys to his organization over to Kelly and put long-time front office man Roseman was put on the back burner.

As the Eagles new “GM,” Kelly made a number of controversial moves.  His first and only year as the man in charge of player personnel for the Eagles ended up being one of the worst front office men in Philadelphia pro sports history.  Kelly traded popular and proven players—and some that he clearly did not see eye-to-eye with along with the controversial decision to unload this year’s second round draft pick and, in return, received injured players or players who were not successful for a long period of time.

The two moves that angered Eagles fans (and probably the owner) the most, was the trading of Shady McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for Kiko Alonzo.  They also let the popular wide receiver Jeremy Maclin leave to go join former Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid and received nothing in return for him.

These off-season moves prompted Lurie to fire Chip Kelly before the 2015 season had ended.  Kelly was let go after a 6-9 record and had his office cleared out before the Birds played their final game of that year.

Going forward, the Eagles brought back the former GM Roseman to retake the position he previously had, in charge of the player personnel decisions.  Roseman, by all accounts, has had a good offseason, in my opinion.  Through free agency, trades and the draft, Roseman has plugged many of the holes that Kelly had left behind.

In 2016, the Eagles should challenge for the NFC East division title.  With a veteran cast and the hiring of new Head Coach Doug Peterson (who was mentored by Reid), the team will return to the playoffs.  They also have two new coordinators.  Jim Schwartz will head-up the defense and Frank Reich will oversee the offense.

As for 2017, the Eagles will have started the Carson Wentz Era as he was selected with the second overall pick in this past summer’s draft.  The team will once again return to glory.
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Don’t forget, Joe would love to get some responses for this week’s blog entry, so please send us your thoughts via email (RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com) and let us know if you’d like Mr. Craig’s to participate more often on our weekly blogs.  Also, be sure to hear Joe’s opinions each week on the live edition of “SportsTalk” every Thursday at 7 pm and on our podcasts.

Each December both here at the “SportsTalk Shop” and on our TV show, “SportsTalk”, panelists and I make some sports-based predictions for the new year.  I don’t get caught up in the prediction business ordinarily, but it’s become a bit of a tradition around the holidays to make a couple bold statements to go along with resolutions (of which I don’t do nearly as well).

While some sports prognosticators love to boast about how accurate they are with their futuristic insights, I make it a habit of going back and making public my predictions, and owning up to any that don’t come true.  (I’d also like to take a miniscule amount of credit for the ones that work out—I’m owed at least as much, right?)

Since we’re over the halfway point through the calendar year, and before we start ramping up our fall football coverage (which will be bigger and better than ever before!), I think I should take a peek at how some of my predictions are holding up and make myself accountable for any gaffes on my part.

Philly pro sports teams will win LESS games in 2016
The 2015-16 76ers certainly lived up to their end of my prediction.  Aside from forcing out the team’s General Manager, Sam Hinkie, they were near perfect in their quest for futility, reaching new levels of bad play, even with pressure from Jerry Colangelo (and the league office?) to try to improve.

My prediction will take a hit with the idea that the Sixers will try to go after some more recognizable free agency in all probability this offseason.  They might also win a few more games than expected if they select Brandon Ingram with the first pick in this month’s NBA Draft.  Selecting Ingram would make the team better—short-term—than if they select Ben Simmons or even draft down a few spots, but I don’t see that much improvement in November and December and still believe they’ll ring up more losses in the 2016 calendar year than they lost in 2015 (but the future is very bright for 2017).

I knew the Flyers were going to be improved, but had no idea that they would be as exciting to watch this past season as they were, to say nothing about making the playoffs and having a few good moments against the Capitals before losing to Washington in the first round of the NHL playoffs.  This team ramped up the speed of its rebuild and, with a few tweaks, will be a middle-of-the-pack playoff team, in not better, for next season.

The Phillies also have surprised me with better than average starting pitching, and the bullpen overcame a woeful start to the season and has pitched better, helping the team to a slightly better record than I had anticipated.  This, despite a woeful offense that had seven position players on the roster hitting below .200 after the first month of the season.

However, the Phillies fell (like a plummeting cannon ball) back to Earth hard and fast during the month of May and show very little signs of making a push to get back above, or probably even near, .500 this summer.

With less than half of the Major League baseball season remaining—which will still probably have more losses than wins, and an Eagles team in, at the very least, a retooling stage following the car wreck of the Chip Kelly Era, I’d say I still have a good chance at nailing this prediction.

The Wizards, Nationals AND Redskins – will have even greater success in 2016
With over half of the MLB season and the entire NFL season yet to come (and I’m looking pretty good for both of these teams), we only have the Wizards to look at.  And on the prediction that they would have a better 2016…I admit I put up a major “airball.”

Off a second-round playoff appearance and loss to a high-quality team, I thought the Wizards could improve and—with the right match-up–the Wiz could actually advance a round further.  However, not only did they take took a major step back in win total, they also didn’t qualify for the post-season, ushering in a quick replacement at the helm by bringing in Scott Brooks (formerly of Oklahoma City) as a new head coach.

Rumors of discontent and players “trading barbs” (according to the Washington CBS sports radio station) spread wildly as they limped home to close out the regular season out of the playoffs.  There are different reports as far as remaining free agent possibilities and other speculation about what direction the team could go in.  Also, players are a little less secure than this time a year ago and the forecast is more ambiguous as far as how good this team will be for the upcoming season, even with one of the most exciting, yet underrated players, in John Wall back on board.  I’ll stick to my guns and say they make a jump for the 2016-17 campaign.

Notice, I did NOT include the Capitals in this mix.  Their back-to-back premature failings in the playoffs have me worried about their future, and I’ll also continue to say (as I did following their playoff exit) that they might actually take a step back in the upcoming year.

2016 will be a successful District XI Wrestling season
I have never claimed to be a wrestling expert, but the fact that we had so many talented underclassmen returning for the 2015-16 wrestling season made it easy for me to say that the Lehigh Valley would have tremendous success at the state tournament in Hershey.

Not only did Bethlehem Catholic come away with convincing (mostly dominating) performances in the team PIAA competitions, but they accomplished this goal against the best the state of Pennsylvania had to offer, by competing in the 3A classifications (as critics had ask for, for a number of seasons).

Individually, District XI featured eight gold medalists and 20 overall medal winners.  Special props go out to Palisades’ Tyler Marsh, the lone wrestler in the RCN viewing area to receive the top scholar athlete award.

For an area that has had a long tradition of great wrestling success, it was a tremendous season all the way around for many different schools and I can unequivocally chalk this one up as one I got correct.

Stay tuned for more sports conversations coming up and don’t forget to check back later in the year as I take a look at the rest of my predictions to see how I fared.

When I first saw the Easton girls team play in an early summer league game, I was this close (imagine my fingers about an inch apart) to saying that they were unequivocally the “team to beat” for the upcoming scholastic season–only to see them lose to Nazareth the next day.

Since then I’ve seen the Blue Eagles play a few times, including capturing their second “Allentown Throwdown” Championship in the last three years.  This is a very special team.  This year’s Nazareth squad seems even deeper than some of the previously successful Blue Eagles teams that brought home various titles. They run their offense through multiple people, and have several different options and players who can score at different spots on the floor.  They have people who demand the basketball at appropriate times and the team plays as aggressive a defense (usually a 2-3 zone) as I’ve seen any summer basketball team play.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, they have the area’s best basketball player in Tessa Brugler, who recently committed to Division-I Bucknell?

This is going to be a fun girls basketball winter season, if the summertime play is any indication. Forget Batman V. Superman, Black Widow against Scarlet Witch, or any other “metahuman” analogy you can tie in with this summer’s box office options.  Nazareth versus Easton is going to be a war.  But as I overhead one Nazareth player astutely mention as she walked off the court after being named champions:  “Now there’s REALLY a big target on our backs!”

This is very much true, given that Easton will not be the Eagles’ only formidable foe with their own Division I caliber athletes and an outstanding supporting cast.

Among the challengers include Parkland, Northampton, Liberty, Bethlehem Catholic, Whitehall and others.

Among the key performances this summer was a strong showing by the Freedom girls basketball team.  The Lady Pats made their debut in the Holy Family Tournament—which also featured annual powerhouse Central Catholic.   The Patriots won six of its 10 tourney games, beating several teams that have had state playoff successes.  The Patriots were the last Lehigh Valley team standing in this year’s competition, not to mention holding its own in other tournament action this summer against strong programs.

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As far as Colonial League girls teams I’ve seen this summer, the one that impressed me the most was Northwestern, followed closely by Notre Dame.

I didn’t get a chance to see the league’s and defending District XI 3A Champion Southern Lehigh, but judging by some of the scores I’ve seen, they must be without some of their key players as they sometimes sustained more losses in one day than they did all of last year–and they’re returning nearly everyone!  If any team does have a chance during the winter to upset the Spartans, I’d look for the Tigers and Crusaders to be among the best bets.

One other note: The Catasauqua girls basketball team had an interesting summer schedule. Despite still being one of the smallest schools in the PIAA’s new classifications (2A), the up and coming Rough Riders were frequently matched against teams from the 4A, 5A and even 6 A (the largest) classifications.

Still, Catty fared well and showed that they continue to make improvements and could challenge for a playoff spot this winter.

We’ll have more summertime basketball action coming your way on RCN-TV next week, as we broadcast the annual Catasauqua “Tournament of Champions.”  Check back to the RCN-TV website for our broadcast schedule.

Last week here at “The Shop,” we examined the biggest summer hoops teams and tournaments in the Washington, DC and Eastern Pennsylvania regions.  This week, we focus on more of the underrated storylines to our local scholastic basketball action this summer.

Northampton &  Pocono Mountain West
Perhaps no single game I’ve seen this summer was more physical than when these two EPC teams squared off against each other.  I counted at least four times when players went down hard on the concrete in order to secure a loose ball in a contest eventually won by PMW.

Northampton got a lift this summer when Aiden Ellwood announced he was going to be returning to the Konkrete Kids after leaving Central Catholic, but he was not available for the local summer tournaments.  Nevertheless, Northampton has played well this year and should benefit from having some nice size upfront and, as they’ve shown both this summer and over the last year, a lot of gritty players.

Pocono Mountain West sometimes gets overshadowed by Lehigh Valley teams, but they are definitely on a short list of the top teams in the district.  They play with a brand of quickness and athleticism that not many other teams in the area can showcase.  They had some personnel issues at the end of last season, but if they can keep everyone focused, there’s no reason they can’t translate their summertime success (they’ve already one won summer tournament) into winter championship titles

Bangor & Freedom
These two teams played each other last Saturday evening in an entertaining matchup and both schools have had some very impressive summers thus far.

The Slaters’ overall sports programs’ successes in 2016 might just be THE Lehigh Valley’s sport story of the year—and a lion’s share of their accomplishments belong to the boys basketball team.

Bangor is proving that life without Michael Martino (the Slaters top scoring point guard in the school’s history) won’t be as tough a transition as some might have suspected.  Bron Holland’s teams have posted a number of impressive performances this summer, including over EPC foes, and players like Reece Jones (who had some stellar games last winter) are determined to carry on the Slaters’ new tradition of excellence.

As far as the Patriots, this summer’s team might have been the most underrated group of kids I’ve seen.  They have not gotten deep into much “final day” of summer tournament action (so far) and they will most definitely be picked behind at least Liberty in their EPC division come late fall.  However, the Freedom players really impressed me with their pose over the last few weekends and look like a scrappy bunch that can’t be overlooked by anyone in their conference.

I think if they can avoid some of the personnel issues that plagued them during key stretches of the 2015-16 scholastic season, they can make a run and qualify for at least a district playoff berth this winter.

Allentown Central Catholic
Rumors of the Vikings going through a rebuilding year have been greatly overblown after Central Catholic lost Zay Jenning to graduation and a few more players due to transfers.

Central Catholic not only had perhaps the biggest team I’ve seen this number (in terms of number of players–18 to be exact) but have a very nice blend of size, speed, ball handlers and outside shooters.  Plus, they have several returning players that have experience in big game situations and they’ve look to continue their ability to play lock-down defense–something that was very apparent in most of their second half games last winter.

NOTRE DAME
If Freedom is a dark horse in the EPC, then a team you should not underestimate is Notre Dame-Green Pond.  They battled a few tough opponents over the last few weekends including Central Catholic.

From what I’ve seen—and I’m speaking strictly on intensity—they were second only to Bangor among the Colonial League teams I had the chance to watch this month.  They’re always on the pre-season list as a probable playoff team, despite not getting to the title game a year ago, but I wouldn’t forget about them when looking to make prognostications for the 2017 campaign.

Salisbury
I think if there’s an award for coaches who yelled “defense” this summer—it would have to go to Salisbury Head Coach Jason Weaver.  As usual, he had his team operating at a breakneck pace—usually matched up against schools that have a much higher enrollment number—and has kept the intensity on all month.

It seems like they did have difficulty in the transition game against a few teams (including a surprisingly strong Souderton team), but if history is any indication (along with the talent they have returning this winter), the Falcons will once again get off to a great start in December and will be one of a handful of teams competing for a Colonial League championship.

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Fans of girls hoops…don’t despair.  We’ll have news and insights on some of the top ladies’ teams’ performances in the next installment of the “SportsTalk Shop.”

You can also hear more insights on summer league hoops and other sports issues by checking out last week’s “SportsTalk” podcast.

Last but not least, be sure to come out to a special “SportsTalk Gets Wild” this Thursday at Whitehall’s Buffalo Wild Wings (on Grape Street in front of the Whitehall Mall)—an event to raise money for the Miller Keystone Blood Center.   The show will feature the State Champion Parkland Girls Volleyball team, along with a special guest to talk about an event Parkland football fans will want to know more about coming up this fall.  You can learn more about this event, as well as going to http://rcn.com/atvn/bww-sportstalk-2016, click on the “Miller Keystone Blood Center” link for the July 21^st event.  Then print the “dine-and-donate” flyer and bring it with you to the program to help raise money for our local charity.

Summertime basketball has really exploded in the RCN viewing area over recent years, with rules expanding to make it more “coach friendly” (most of the time) and to increase the exposure of young athletes in both the Washington and Eastern Pennsylvania regions.

Some of the best teams in the country come into the Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia and the DMV area, and many players in these areas get to showcase their talents.  As we’ve seen over the last few years, players (Victor Oladipo, Darrun Hilliard, and others) pave ways for themselves that could lead to one day playing in the NBA.

Over the next couple weeks we’ll take a look at some of the tournament action in the RCN viewing area, along with news on the players and teams that we cover on ‘RCN SportsTalk.’

Goodman Basketball
In the DMV region, Goodman Basketball has been a long-standing tradition that was in danger of dying out a few years ago, but has come back with a vengeance and bigger than ever before.  A number of talented athletes each year both participate (and later return for) this event each summer.

Here’s a video detailing more of this year’s event and the history of the Goodman tourney…

Bonner Prendergast
The team looked very solid with double-digit wins over Phillipsburg and Berks Catholic recently, while playing without its best player.  Lane Christian and Mike Perralta were key players in several games this past weekend, but they have a very well balanced team and could be a player in this winter’s district playoffs.

Bonner Prendergast was one of just eight teams this weekend at Cedar Beach (Allentown) that made it to the final day of the tournament with an undefeated record.

Lincoln Leadership
This summer was actually my first chance to see this team in person—and they did not disappoint.  Although they did not make it to the later rounds of some of the Lehigh Valley’s tournament so far (they have been one of the smallest schools in the summer leagues), they have a nice team with good numbers and played very scrappy basketball each time I saw them.

Liberty
Last year around this time I remarked how impressed I was with gritty Hurricane players like Cam Hoffman, Alex Serrano and company.  They had an impressive showing in their games this past weekend, making it through to the morning of the final day without suffering a loss.  With several weeks remaining in different summer leagues and tournaments, Liberty should be a fun team to watch the rest of the summer, not to mention be fierce competition for Allen and Parkland for top spots in the EPC this winter.

Nazareth
While Nazareth will be going through a retooling effort—at least this summer—after losing so many key parts of their team, an under-the-radar player to keep an eye on might be Mayo Raman.  In a game versus Saucon Valley he came up big in pressure situations—scoring 12 points in the second half of that game and hitting a clutch “3” to send the game to overtime.

We’ll have more high school summer basketball talk and insights on this Thursday’s “RCN SportsTalk” program (live, 7pm on RCN-TV) and next week here at the “SportsTalk Shop.”

I try to maintain a “level head” when forming my sports opinions.  When fans rush from one extreme to the another (eg.,remember fans proclaiming the Eagles were going to the Super Bowl last year?), I try to take a step back and examine things objectively from all sides.

But…

I must admit, when the rumors were coming in hot and heavy for the 76ers to be “major dealers” (per ESPN) come the night of the NBA Draft, I was getting exciting for some major shake-ups and perhaps, finally, some resolution as to what this team will do with all the “bigs” they have in their front court.

So, when the team didn’t do anything – which slightly overshadowed the fact that they got the best player available in the country in Ben Simmons – I was initially disappointed with the organization.  But, as some time passed, I felt good about the team’s draft night and think we actually learned a few important facts about the Sixers and how the “Colangelo Era” will proceed through this rebuilding process.

BRYAN COLANGELO IS NOT HOWIE ROSEMAN
Not that any of Roseman’s moves this off-season are currently viewed as a “bad” move, but Roseman clearly had Chip Kelly issues and expediently removed all traces of Kelly’s influence with the Eagles following Chip’s departure.  Clearly, the Colangelos and Sam Hinkie could not co-exist, but I credit both Jerry and Bryan Colangelo for not stubbornly trying to undo everything that Hinkie tried to establish—just to prove themselves to the fan base.

I did start to get nervous when the rumors indicated the 76ers might deal Jahlil Okafor AND Nerlens Noel AND the 24^th AND the 26^th picks in the draft.  With a guard-heavy draft coming up, and the team owning three first-round picks over the next two years, there was no need to unload everything that Hinkie had built up just to make a deal for the third pick in this year’s draft.

NERLENS NOEL MIGHT HAVE MORE VALUE THAN WE EXPECTED
IF the 76ers were going to make a move to get the third pick in last week’s draft, I was perfectly OK giving up Noel for a potential starting guard (aka Kris Dunn).  But it seems that there was more interest in Noel than Okafor, which might be the reason the Sixers chose to hold on to both players.

Think about this…if you are the Sixers and Joel Embiid is healthy (or, if you’re any other team and already have an established starting center), which player would you rather have?

Noel is a shot-blocking/rim-protector guy who could back up Embiid and maybe play a little “four” against certain lineups.  And, IF Simmons turns out to be a major star, and IF Embiid is as good as some envision, wouldn’t Noel be a better complement than Okafor, who’s a major scorer, with not much defense, who can only play the five spot on the floor?

Since the Sixers are not going to win a championship next year (and I still have major issues regarding Embiid’s health), perhaps it was wise to hold onto Noel and see what shakes out, and wait until next year’s draft (or free agency) before deciding on a back court pairing to build your team around.

HOW MUCH VALUE DOES OKAFOR REALLY HAVE?
Before the draft, everyone, including me, seemed to think that trading Okafor would automatically get you the third best pick in the draft.  After all, the Celtics desperately needed a big man, and Okafor seemingly would have been a great fit.  But at the end of the day, Dunn fell to the fifth spot, meaning, if the Sixers were as aggressive in their talks as reported, two other teams other than Boston would have had an opportunity to pick up Okafor as an unproved talent…and passed.

High-quality guards were also selected at the sixth and seventh spots—which is interesting since CBS Sports reported before the draft that Philadelphia was very aggressively looking to move up and select a second “top eight” pick, but elected not to do so at the end of the day.

I still think he’s a valuable piece to the 76ers moving forward—mainly because I have very little confidence that Embiid will ever be the player most hope he’ll be (too many bad Jeff Ruland nightmares, perhaps, still fresh in my memory).   If you traded Okafor before knowing if Embiid can play, you might suddenly go from having too many scoring options at the center position to very little.

The best thing that could happen is that Embiid shows he’s healthy this year, but Okafor still gets enough minutes and takes a big step forward in developing his game during the 2016-17 campaign. If (there’s that word again) he increases his value,  a playoff-bound/post-player-starved team over pays to give you more than you would have acquired than by moving him this summer.

WHO’S DEFENDING WHO?
It was strongly hinted at after the draft that Simmons, who might be the team’s “point forward,” might be guarding other teams’ power forward, which brings us to another huge question regarding having all these post players in the first place…

Defense!

For argument’s sake, say Embiid is healthy, Dario Saric decides to play for the 76ers this year and no other forward/centers are moved.  Your potential “first eight in the rotation” could look something like this:
Ish Smith
Isaiah Canaan
Nik Stauskas
Ben Simmons
Dario Saric
Nerlens Noel
Jahlil Okafor
Joel Embiid

Question…who, among all these players, would guard the opposing team’s small forward?  Considering some of the league’s most dominating players play that position, it’s a question that probably won’t be answered this season (barring a significant move).  But developing some defensive stalwarts (in addition to another point guard, an outstanding long-range shooting guard, et al) have to be major priorities as you move forward with this rebuilding effort.

All in all, I think the 76ers make all the right decisions with this year’s draft.  I’m expecting some mid-level free agents to be added to the mix to help develop the younger players (both on and off the court) and the team should add more wins and have more interesting storylines to watch for this winter.

Put the Kris Dunn talk (and guards of a similar ilk) behind you–for now–and try to concentrate on taking the next “baby steps” as this process inches forward towards a better, brighter 2018 season.

Or 2019 … or 2020.

PROGRAMMING NOTE:   NBA & 76ers Beat Writer Tom Moore (Caulkins Media) will be joining us on this Thursday’s “RCN SportsTalk” (live at 7pm, RCN-TV) to give his insights on the this year’s NBA draft.  The show will also be available via our podcast (rcn.com/atvn/sports-talk) on Friday.

I am very fortunate to be part of a live, interactive show, so that we get instant feedback from sports viewers–both on sports issues as they are happening and also about our “SportsTalk” program.  I get some great comments, questions and opinions from our viewers and they never fail to amaze me with their creativity with different topics and acuteness to the things we do on the air.  I thought it would be fun to post some of the messages that I receive from our audience.

Below are several emails I’ve received over the last few months (along with my thoughts)  regarding still-relevant sports topics.

Q:  Do you think the Phillies can contend this fall?
A:  Probably the most asked-sports question I’ve gotten this baseball season.  If I thought the Phillies were legitimate playoff contenders, I would be very concerned about the teams’ hitting—especially the lack of power.  They would probably need a big-time power hitter for the clean-up spot in the batting order, a front-of-the-rotation pitcher, and a closer with a proven track record for closing in big time situations.

Because I DON’T believe they have more than an outside chance of getting the last wild card spot, I hope the Phillies don’t look to add any of these pieces—with the exception of picking up a player with no more than one year remaining on his contract.  The Phillies can afford to add a large salary through 2017, but to add an older name (like a Ryan Braun-type) will just block the way for a possible future superstar (eg., Nick Williams, Dylan Cozens, et al) and that doesn’t make sense to me at this point.

Q:  What did you think of Washington HS basketball this season?
A:  It impressed, as it always has.  RCN broadcast a few high school games a number of years ago in the DMV region, most notably the “City Series” Championship, which, that year, featured Ballou versus DeMatha.  A few of those players (the biggest name was Victor Oladipo), went pro, and everyone on the court that day was playing above the rim, and at a level that many schools elsewhere simply cannot match.

I think HD Woodson’s undefeated season was one of the top scholastic sports stories in the RCN viewing area—if not the entire country—and it was our pleasure to feature their team highlights on a number of our “SportsTalk” shows this past season.

Q:  Who’ll win the NFC East this fall?
A:  Teasingly, I asked that question of our NFL beat writers on our show following the NFL Draft—knowing full well any prediction could very easily change between April and the start of the season.

But, since I was asked (and reserving the right to change my mind after training camp), let’s go with:

• Redskins
• Cowboys
• Eagles
• Giants

Q:  Do you and Joe Craig really argue as much in person as you do on TV?
A:  Probably more.

Q:  What do you think of the PIAA’s decision to go to six classifications?
A:  I personally am reserving judgment on this, for at least a few years.  I know some people are openly despising it, and I’m afraid others will start complaining instantly once issues/problems pop up.  I think there are some exceptionally bright people who are 100% in favor of this, so I’m willing to wait and see how it shakes out over time.

I do know it’s going to create a lot of nightmares for many of us in the media as far as trying to cover the increase in playoff games.  In past years we tried to preview ALL of the boys AND GIRLS basketball league and district playoff games—barely getting everything in the allotted time on “SportsTalk” (not to mention, all the time it takes to prepare, getting up to speed on teams many of us have not seen all year long).  This will be a challenging school year coming up, getting use to the new alignments, and it will not be an easy transition.  But, again, I’m taking a cautious, but hopeful, outlook.

Q:  How ‘bout them Flyers?
A:  I got this email after their miracle finish to the regular season, and I was thrilled that the team not only make a return to the playoffs this year, but they did it with a younger and more passionate brand of hockey that I hadn’t seen in the Delaware Valley in a few years.

The fact that they have so many people coming back, along with some talent coming up through the pipeline, should make die-hard followers for the Broad Street Bullies very happy for some time to come.

Feel free to send your questions…and opinions…to us via email at rcnsportstalk@rcn.com & tune in to our live “SportsTalk” program and/or hear our podcasts at rcn.com/atvn/sports-talk

Also, you can see our show in person this Thursday at the Buffalo Wild Wings on Grape Street in Whitehall, PA for another live, on-location edition of “SportsTalk Gets Wild,” to benefit the American Cancer Society – Relay for Life .  Our special guest will be long-time/retiring Wilson Area Head Basketball Coach Bob Frankenfield and a couple of his long-time friends and coaching assistants.

The advertisements for this year’s Summer Olympics in Rio have kicked into high gear, and people who traditionally don’t follow sports like handball, judo, table tennis and equestrian events will suddenly become experts (or at least show a passing interest) if and when these events are on television.

It is a special time, and while I admit to knowing very little about the canoe sprint, rhythmic gymnastics and the modern pentathlon, I will sit and watch almost any sport or activity that’s available to watch.  I think the Games build a spirit of unity and give people a common issue to discuss for 17 days without worry or concern of getting into a nasty debate, as politics, news events or even professional sports issues sometimes do.

(I hate to admit this, but I even enjoy the many “feel-good stories” that the broadcasting networks produce—even if it often interrupts a sport’s natural rhythm of the broadcast when they playback events on a tape-delayed basis).

We have the benefit of having some special former Olympic athletes in the RCN viewing area, and I had the absolute pleasure recently to sit down with a couple of them.  Former cycling gold medalist Marty Nothstein and four-time Olympic track star Joetta Clark-Diggs joined us on “RCN SportsTalk” to talk about many different issues (the entire show is available on RCN On-Demand and on our podcast, here).

Nothstein and Clark-Diggs gave us some great insights on what Olympic athletes really deal with behind the scenes of the Games (for many, it’s not nearly as glamorous as one might think).  They also talked about their individual stories of success, failure and perseverance.  Both Marty and Joetta also gave us insights on what goes through their mind each year when the Olympic Games gain momentum and capture the nation’s attention.  Both of these Olympic legends participated in the 1996 Atlanta games and gave us unique experiences about having this event held inside their home country, as well as talking about their 2000 Sydney, Australia experiences.

What was perhaps most surprising to me is that both of these international stars not only have strong views on today’s young people, but also spend large amounts of their time working with young people, and trying to teach many lessons to young people in the RCN viewing area.

Nothstein lent his name to a youth program that helps support young people learning about cycling but also preaches at length to his students about the importance of teamwork and helping out other people.

Joetta runs a camp each year that focuses on typical track-and-field related events, but also uses the lessons she’s learned as a standout athlete, and applies life lessons to kids who could apply to their lives, and to more everyday hurdles that they might come across in life.

Both of these great talents have written books about these issues that our young people face in addition to great insights to each one’s incredible athletic career.  It is incredibly rewarding to see these mega-stars so involved in giving back to the community—willingly—and to really and sincerely enjoy working with our youth.

If you missed our “SportsTalk” show featuring these two Olympic legends, we’ll have an ‘encore’ edition of this program coming up on Thursday, August 4^th at 7pm and again at 9pm on RCN-TV.

The spring sports season is winding down for many scholastic and collegiate athletes in the RCN viewing area.  Before we shift our attention to summer activities, here’s a look at some of the outstanding team and individual accomplishments featuring schools in our coverage region.

JILLIAN PICCIUTO
While it’s not uncommon for a freshman to have a spectacular game or two when becoming adjusted to the collegiate sports level—where the action is much quicker and more physical—it is unique for a rookie athlete to make a dramatic impact with her new squad.

Moravian College freshman lacrosse player Jillian Picciuto did just that with an outstanding first-year campaign for her Greyhounds.  Picciuto was honored no less than four times as the “ECAC Division III South Rookie of the Week.”  During her fourth week of honors, she scored 10 goals and four assists over a two-game span.

Picciuto finished the season with a school record 64 goals, 38 assists (which is also the career record) and 102 total points.  She is the first women’s lacrosse player to reach the century mark in a single season.  Picciuto also had 74 draw controls, 33 ground balls and 17 caused turnovers during her freshmen year.

Moravian’s lacrosse program is going through a resurgence and is looking to once again become a major player in its conference, and Picciuto is a big reason why fans are excited about the Greyhounds program once again.

FREEDOM & CENTRAL CATHOLIC BASEBALL TEAMS
I know many Freedom and Allentown Central Catholic sports fans often feel neglected or overlooked when it comes to the local sports landscape—and, sometimes, for good reason.  Despite a very competitive Eastern Pennsylvania Conference schedule, Freedom, who entered the post-season as the #1 seed in both the league and district playoff picture, didn’t seem to get the attention it deserved heading into the playoff season.

Central Catholic, meanwhile, was the #8 seed and no one gave the Vikings a chance to advance all the way to the EPC finals.  Despite the pre-league playoff predictions, both the Patriots and the Vikings proved naysayers wrong by not only getting to the championship, but playing a very fundamentally sound and enjoyable title game.

BANGOR BASEBALL & SOFTBALL TEAMS
It’s been an extraordinary sports season for the Slaters.  Bangor has done well at a number of different sports during this past school year, and one of its biggest achievements took place this month.  Both the Bangor baseball (going a perfect 22-0) and softball teams won the Colonial League titles.

Unlike many of the “4A” schools in the region, Bangor’s athletic programs usually do not have the high participation numbers that other schools possess, and sometimes have to share athletes intra-season in order to field teams.  Credit the coaches for all working together for the school’s—and the student athlete’s—greater good with this one.  But to also have a high level of success in many different sports, culminating with conference championships for both a spring boys and girls team, was truly as spectacular accomplishment.

Additionally…

There also were some outstanding achievements on the track-and-field circuit this spring.  We featured a number of interviews with these young men and women on our “RCN SportsTalk” show for you to check out, either On-Demand or on our podcasts (rcn.com/atvn/sports-talk).

Helping us salute the spring sports champions in the RCN viewing area include a number of athletic directors, league officials and sports chairs, who provided us with their respective “all-star” lists of outstanding individual student-athletes:

We welcome your feedback and, as always, we encourage you to send your sports news, honors and accomplishments to us via email (rcnsportstalk@rcn.com) so we can feature them here at the “SportsTalk Shop” and/or on our “RCN SportsTalk” program.

I have some very fond memories of Philadelphia Phillies’ First Baseman Ryan Howard.

I had the good fortune of seeing Ryan play when he was a hot prospect with the Reading Fightin’ Phillies (then called the “R-Phillies”), the long-time Double-A affiliate for its parent club.  While I was a big Jim Thome fan at the time, I could tell the first time I saw Howard that he was going to be a player for the ages (it wasn’t hard—he hit two monstrous home runs that day).

When the time came to move Thome, there wasn’t any doubt in my mind that it was the right move.  I had seen Howard carrying teams with his bat and be a major force in a lineup that was already belted with legendary names like Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and company, and his power bat (and at that time, a productive .300 hitter) would be the perfect fit for the middle of that order.  The Phillies would go on and win a club-record five consecutive NL East Division titles and put together the greatest, successful run in the 100-plus year history of the franchise.

That time when Howard was just coming up through the organization is the first thing that comes to mind when people bring up the issue becoming the biggest elephant in the entire Delaware Valley region right now…what to do with this aging superstar?

I have to admit…I have been cringing at some of the comments that people have been bringing up to me recently regarding Howard:

• He can’t hit his weight
• His strikeout total might be higher than his batting average
• Two Phillies pitchers have higher batting averages than Howard

(All of these are either true or could be a reality!)

This whole season has not gone the way I had expected…as I had hoped.  While the Phillies win total heading into June is impressive, this team is still not going to win anything in October.  Ideally, the young prospects would play well and show that the future is bright, and guys like Charlie Morton (lost for the year because of injury) would pitch well enough to force a contending team to overpay for his services enabling the Phillies to pick up a few more pieces to help them for 2017 and beyond.

And…for purely selfish reasons, the “Big Piece” would pair with Darin Ruf for a presentable tandem in the heart of the batting order.  Not a return to glory.  Not a cry for a push for Howard to play every day.  Just hit well enough (and field decently enough) to not be embarrassed.

When the cries for Howard to be benched/traded/released started, my defense was that it was a rebuilding year and Howard wasn’t blocking the way for anyone currently pushing him for the first base job (especially with a mediocre spring training and even weaker early season performance by Ruf).

But the team’s overall success, mixed with its offensive struggles and Tommy Joseph’s hot Triple-A start, has exacerbated the Howard issue.  Howard’s struggles have glaringly revealed him as a massive liability on a team that might just actually have a shot at the final wild card berth.

This was not the way it was suppose to be…and it’s not fair.  For Howard, for Phillies followers, or for a life-long baseball fan who is becoming more and more removed from America’s Pastime due to its continuing lack of tradition, passion and interesting story lines.

Considering…

• I have to go to a Double-A game to see a manager have a genuine argument with an umpire—something replaced at the Major League level with six minutes of standing around waiting for replays, only to have a 70% chance of getting the call correct in the first place.
• I have to look at Bartolo Colon alerting the opposing team’s catcher to throw strikes because his back hurts too much to swing the bat or run the bases.
• I have to dismiss Bryce Harper’s blatant disregard for protocol and tradition by cursing at umpires well after his ejection simply because, without him, the game would be virtually void of personalities and big time stars we can root for.

Ryan Howard use to be one of those people.  He’d literally carry teams for weeks.  He was a great interview with interesting and sometimes abrasive view points.  He brought thousands and thousands of fans to the ball park, and gave millions of fans thrill after thrill for many years.  He was fun to watch and someone everyone wanted to see hit.  And man, in his heyday, could he ever hit.

Unfortunately, Howard’s legacy is going to be tainted, at least in the short-term, by his Babe Ruthian-like demise.  It gets harder to listen to the truth about the current situation, and remembering the good times becomes more of a strain on the old noggin.

If only there were other things in pro baseball to complain about…
******
On a more positive note, be sure to check out the District XI high school baseball championships games broadcast live this week on RCN-TV.  Check out our broadcast schedule here on the RCN-TV website for the latest details on teams and airtimes.