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I assume some of you remember The Twilight Zone and I, also, assume most of you do not. It was a TV show created by Rod Serling and the stories were, at various times, science fiction, absurd, fantasy, horror, and suspense. The stories would conclude with an unexpected twist, and Serling would end the program with a moral to the story. I know many do not know the program because it ran from 1959 to 1964. It did make three comebacks with the latest being on CBS All Access in 2019. I have not seen the new ones. I was an avid viewer of the old ones.
I bring it up because this athletic season often makes me feel like I am in the Twilight Zone. Let me use this week as an example. Our sports schedule finally looked somewhat normal – We would do college basketball on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday; high school basketball on Friday; and high school wrestling on Sunday.
I assigned the announcers for Friday’s high school game and the wrestling for Sunday. The task ahead for me would be to write my blog, prepare for the two college games, do the two halftime interviews on Zoom, and attend a company staff meeting. A full week, but one that felt almost like a normal, pre-Covid week.
And then we hit The Twilight Zone.
I wrote the blog on Sunday and Monday; prepared for the Lafayette men’s weekend game on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, there was a staff meeting and I watched the Lafayette women play Navy on ESPN+ in order to scout them for Sunday. Thursday was prep day for the women’s game. It was, also, another day of snow.
The snow led to the cancellation of Friday night’s high school basketball game. We had scheduled around 10 high school games this season, but were able to do only three. The announcers prepared for all ten. The crew prepared to work all ten.
On Friday, around 5:00, I was informed that the college weekend games were not going to be played due to Covid problems at Bucknell. Neither the Bucknell men nor the Bucknell women would be able to play their games. Those game preps needed to be scrapped.
I was, also, informed that the Patriot League was attempting to match both Lafayette teams with another opponent. Of course, that meant preparation for two new teams in a very short period of time. Around 10:00 PM, the decision was made that the Lafayette women would play Lehigh on Monday and the Lafayette men would not play at all. They might play in the middle of next week.
In addition, the Lafayette women would play at Lehigh on Sunday, so final game prep could not occur until after the Sunday game since all stats and summaries would have to be updated.
Thank goodness the wrestling was wrestled on Sunday.
Rod Serling would always warn the viewers at the beginning of the TV show that they were entering The Twilight Zone. I would rather have him tell me how to get out of it.
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
- Carson Wentz is no longer an Eagle. He is now an Indianapolis Colt reunited with his former offensive coordinator, Frank Reich, the Colts’ head coach. After thanking his teammates and the city of Philadelphia, he finished with, “As one chapter closes, another one begins”.
- Speaking of ex-Eagles, Desean Jackson was released this past Friday. After a great start in game one this year with two 50+ yard TD catches, Jackson missed 11 more games with an injured ankle. In 2019, he only played in three games. He is a great talent, but, too often, he was not on the field. Alshon Jeffery is probably the next Eagle to go.
- Former Phillies pitcher, Jake Arrieta signed with his old team, the Chicago Cubs, this week. Arrieta never lived up to expectations as a Phillie. His ERA climbed each year of the three years he was in Philadelphia from 3.96 in 2018 to 5.08 in 2020. Due to health issues, he was never able to provide the Phillies with a consistent winner. He returns to the team he was with when he won the Cy Young Award.
- This past Saturday, 76er, Joel Embiid scored a career high 50 points, had 17 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 4 blocks. He is currently averaging 30.5 points a game. He makes Philadelphia an NBA championship contender.
- The Colonial League championship basketball games will be on RCN on Friday night. Districts basketball begins on March 2. Hopefully, the games will get played!
