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KEITH’S RETURN

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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.

 

Fans of “RCN SportsTalk” and of Lehigh Valley basketball know that SportsTalk co-host Keith Groller was diagnosed with COVID-19 in December and has had some difficulty overcoming that horrible illness.

No one had been more outspoken during the pandemic in promoting the high school games to continue over the last year.  Without delving into too much detail, it is pretty clear that he did NOT contract the disease by covering local sports events.  That being said, this awful sickness has been a significant setback for Keith and his recovery over the last few months has been much more drawn out than anyone would have liked.

This week, Keith makes his triumphant return to our program and talks for a segment about his ordeal over the last three months and also how his own experience now influences his thoughts on how high school sports should proceed going forward.

Yes, I’ll also be talking sports with him–getting his thoughts on this unusual winter scholastic season, some of the standout performances thus far and his players and teams to watch over the final two weeks of the regular season.

Tune in to hear more insights from Keith, along with our special guests from the Notre Dame basketball team on this week’s show.  The Crusaders posted some of the biggest wins so far this season, including a victory over the defending District XI 6A champions from Allen High School.

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A few other news items for Lehigh Valley sports fans that we’ll talk about on this Thursday’s show…

After a plan was in place and was ALMOST approved, the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference decided to scrap its plan for a basketball playoffs.

The fact that a few schools like Liberty and Freedom, who, at the time the EPC cancelled their post-season, had played just two games COMBINED, really tied the hands of the league officials to conduct a fair playoff format.  With some schools playing well over a dozen games so far while other schools from the Poconos have also been limited in terms of games played, the decision to cancel the tournament seems to make sense.  The decision allows the schools that have been severely sidelined the chance to make up some of those postponed games during the last two weeks of February.

Also, the District XI decision to have all other games completed by February 26 and in time for their tourney to begin at the beginning of March, made it even tougher for the EPC to try to squeeze in their own post-season event.

The Colonial League, meanwhile, has been adamant since Day One that they were going to conduct a post-season event for their teams.

What’s the latest on their plans?  Which might be the Colonial teams to keep an eye on over the next month?  And what are some of the top storylines to keep an eye on over the next several weeks?

Tune in to this Thursday’s show at 7pm to find out.  (RCN customers can also watch the show for free On-Demand or set their DVRs to catch the program).