Why Should Phillies' Fans Be Optimistic?

This might make me sound like a typical Philadelphia fan, seeing the clouds on a sunny weekend (which it will be), but there hasn't been a lot of good news for this team. Still, the talking heads locally predict a division title and say 95 wins. The national media seem a little more skeptical, but it's hard to see who can really take the title from them in the NL East. All that said, here are the causes for concern.

1. Ryan Howard. Jimmy Rollins offered to ESPN the other day his view that Howard might miss the season. Regardless of his inability to avoid the shift and his streakiness, Howard produces in the middle of the lineup. That said, it has struck me over the past couple of years that he doesn't provide the menacing threat that other big hitters -- Prince Fielder (with his great on-base percentage) and Albert Pujols do. Seems to me that he has become more of the "just another big guy" to try to fool in the clutch. Put differently, he is what he is, and he hasn't adjusted much.

2. Chase Utley. When he signed his long-term deal several years ago, I wondered out lout what it might cost the Phillies to re-sign him when the contract expired in 2013. Now I'm hoping that the Phillies can get anything out of him for the next two years. Utley had the second lowest line-drive rate in the Majors last year (only ahead of Vernon Wells, whose long-term team had become the example of recent long-term errors -- and I am hoping that Howard's does not but fear that it might). He missed a large part of last season and, again, is not the hitting machine that he was several years ago. It's hard to see what he will bring to the club when he comes north except a reputation for pushing himself hard and a record of past accomplishments. The team cannot win on names alone, and the fear is that Utley simply might be through.

3. Roy Halladay. Not a major concern for down, but it doesn't help the optimism cocktail when you read that he gets annoyed from reports that his velocity is down. Then again, he's thirty-five and has a lot of tread on the tires, but, of course, then again, he's pitched masterfully everywhere he's been.

4. Placido Polanco. The Phillies seemingly will suffer the last year of the deal on this thirty-six year-old third baseman's contract. It baffled me a few years ago when they signed the Ancient Mariner, Raul Ibanez, to play left at 36 and then brought along Polanco at 34 when the team (desperately) needed to get younger. Polanco missed a lot of time last year because of injury, and, well, hasn't this become a trend? Cross the thirty-one, thirty-two year-old threshold and seemingly get more injuries (see, e.g., Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins, who it is good to see in a Phillies' uniform as opposed to say, a Red Sox' one).

5. Domonic Brown. The Phillies (desperately) need him to succeed, because if he can fulfill his promise he'll give them a huge stick in the middle of the order, making the losses of Utley's power and Howard less visible. Then again, reports from Clearwater is that while he's built like a better version of Garry Maddox, he looks like Greg Luzinski (the later years) out there in left field. That's not a good sign, but Brown is a linchpin. The Phillies can get younger faster if he can stick in left field.

6. The Farm System. Once vaunted, not in need of rebuilding after they traded almost every prospect for the likes of Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Hunter Pence. There are no position players on the farm worth talking about -- and the name of one former one -- Anthony Gose -- might come back to haunt them for years to come (he was sent to the Astros in the Pence trade and has the makings of a star written all over him). Okay, so you have to give up value to get it, but if the Phillies need help mid-season, there is precious little to trade except more pitching, as there are "Baby Aces" down on the farm. Then again, two-thirds of the prospects you sign are pitchers and most don't pan out, and, as far as I can tell, the results have been mixed for the prospects the Phillies traded over the past several years (where, for example, is the supposedly untouchable Kyle Drabek)? The current downturn of the farm system bodes badly not only for trades, but, more importantly, for replenishing the big club. It seems like only yesterday that the Phillies made room for Rollins, Utley and Howard, but that was almost ten years ago, and there haven't been many good position-playing prospects coming up since then. That hurts.

7. The Cole Hamels' Contract Situation is the Real Litmus Test. The great news for Phillies' fans is that both sides are talking seriously, they are saying all the right things and that Hamels likes the team and the town and wants to stay. If that trend continues, the Phillies will have done a great job firming up the best rotation in baseball. That said, if the Phillies really show their age and falter early (against perhaps the most favorable schedule in the Majors as they are playing -- almost exclusively -- second division clubs in April), then Hamels could have second thoughts. The reason is clear. He's had a lot of fun playing for an elite team that packs the house and goes to the post-season. If he were to see what many might think is a harbinger for several years to come -- a decline -- he might reconsider whether to hitch his expensive wagon to this organization at this time or head elsewhere -- such as back to California and either a rebuilding Dodgers team or, more likely, the increasingly competitive Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The will not to believe, historians write, is strong and can be why bad things happen in world history while the world watches. I won't give a history lesson here, but I will say that while I find pockets for great optimism -- the starting pitchers, a more experienced bullpen, Shane Victorino (who had an excellent year this year and is playing for a contract), Hunter Pence, John Mayberry, Jr., the re-signing of Rollins and a better bench, the team is older and the lineup no longer scares people. Sure, the pitching can take them far, but the lineup needs to produce, and, as they say in Missouri, "You've got to show me." Last year, an almost also-ran team from that state, which owed its appearance in the post-season to the Phillies' great play against the Braves in the last week of the season, showed the baseball world through its pitching and hitting. The 2012 Phillies need not to rest on their reputation, but to rally their collective mojo and put it all together. They had a great regular-season run in 2011, only to dishonor it by losing their way in the NLDS. What this season will show is whether that disappointment was an aberration, or a telltale sign that the teams in the rearview mirror are even closer than any of us would like to admit.

My prediction: 87 wins and a post-season appearance. What happens after that is hard to predict.

Why We Watch the Tournament, Part II

#15 Lehigh 75 #2 Duke 70.

One of the biggest upsets in college basketball history.

Someone forgot to tell Lehigh coach Brett Reed and star C.J. McCollum that they were supposed to make a good show of it and then lose the game.

What a performance! Just awesome.

Congratulations to Lehigh and Norfolk State for jobs very well done tonight.

Why We Watch the Tournament

#15 Norfolk State 86 #2 Missouri 84.

March Madness, indeed!

The Princeton Women Are Ranked #24 in the Nation

A great accomplishment for Coach Courtney Banghart and her team.

The team heads to Bridgeport, Connecticut as a #9 seed, playing 8th-seeded Kansas State. Win that one, and, in all likelihood, they get a match-up with Connecticut.

That would be a high-class problem to have.

Are the Redskins the NFL"s Version of the Portland Trailblazers or the (old ) Los Angeles Clippers?

So, Dan Snyder tried something different, giving up a bunch of picks for the opportunity to draft Robert Griffin III.

This compels analogies to the Blazers (who ended up picking Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan and Greg Oden over Kevin Durrant) and the Clippers, where high-round draft picks went to perish. You can't say that Snyder hasn't tried things -- he has -- but he also has tried so many things and failed that it makes you wonder why anyone should think that this move should work, as positive as people are on Robert Griffin III (hint: they were positive about Akili Smith, Tim Couch, JeMarcus Russell and Ryan Leaf, among others, too).

I recall reading a story once about Art Schlichter, the ill-fated former Ohio State QB whose gambling addiction has ruined a once-promising life. The story was that Schlichter kept on better on football and losing, prompting his bookie to suggest the following:

Bookie: "Listen, you've lost 20 bets on football games in a row. Why don't you try something else, like basketball?"

Art (somewhat protesting): "But I don't know anything about basketball."

Look, few would argue that you do not need a good signal caller to win. And Griffin is a very impressive quarterback and person. I wish him all the success in the world, even if his likely new team plays in the same division as my hometown team. That said, the Redskins have been to their free agents what the Sports Illustrated jinx has been to teams who are going well.

Something just tells me that under Dan Snyder, things won't go well in the nation's capital. Perhaps he should try buying the Wizards, even if he doesn't know anything about basketball.

Live at the Wells Fargo Center -- 76ers 104, Jazz 91

Had a rare Friday night to sit at center court about half way up in the first level to watch this game, and have the following observations from a solid 76ers' win:

1. Under Doug Collins, the 76ers play with great effort and energy. He sets a good tone for the team, as do its leaders, and the players play hard to try to keep up with each other.

2. Utah's defense made it difficult for the 76ers' Andre Iguodala to get shots, so as with any good player, he improvised, scoring a double-double -- 10 points and 10 rebounds.

3. The Jazz have no guards. They have some bigs who are intriguing -- Al Jefferson, Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter (who is huge) -- but they have zero in the backcourt. Devin Harris looked lost, Earl Watson is outmatched, Raja Bell is past his prime, and Gordon Hayward is intriguing but is not as athletically gifted as many others out there. He had a good night, but it was a good night for a flawed team that needs more oomph from the PG position.

4. The player who struck me as having the highest ceiling out there last night was Favors. He is a large, strong guy, had some great moves inside. I know that he disappointed last year, but the 76ers had no answer for him inside. That said, the 76ers' problem is a lack of big, physical big men, so my measuring stick is imperfect.

5. It's hard to see how Doug Collins' current dalliance with Evan Turner as the PG will work in the long-run, given that they have a good-sized PG in Jrue Holliday (6'4"), who, especially if he can cut down on the turnovers (and not dribble between two defenders and give up the ball), seems to be the PG of the future. Then again, perhaps the organization is showcasing turner and working very hard behind the scenes to score Dwight Howard in a trade. Josh Harris, the 76ers' owner, has worked in the cut-throat world of deal-making for over 20 years, and he didn't buy the team to be an also-ran to a Russian oligarchs' Brooklyn Nets or the goofball Dolan family's Knicks. He looks like a nice guy, especially with all his kids sitting near him court side, but this guy plays to win. And, the 76ers have a bunch of intriguing players who they can give up in a trade.

Still, while Turner gave a good effort he doesn't seem to have the explosiveness of a Holliday and had trouble -- to me -- demonstrating an ability to penetrate the way Holliday can. That said, his length at the point (the 76ers announce him as 6'7" is intriguing).

6. You gotta love the 76ers' bench duo of Lou Williams (who is so smooth) and Thaddeus Young, who could be the most underrated player in the league (Young was +21 last night, Williams +18, and those plus/minus numbers were far better than any other 76ers last night and telltale of the difference they made in the game).

A small forward cannot guard Thad, and the bigs have trouble staying with him. He's a battler inside, and he just makes things happens with a hoops IQ that seems off the charts. As for Williams, well, he's terrific at creating space, and in the NBA space can be defined as creating a 6-inch window in which to get off your shot. Both played more than half the game last night, and both scored in double digits. That's the thing about the 76ers -- they get balanced scoring from the entire team and don't rely upon one guy. That said, they don't have the go-to guy who can bring it home routinely when the game's on the line, although I would say that Williams is an offensive force.

7. Jodie Meeks, the two guard whom the team acquired last year, seems to have fallen into irrelevance, and rookie surprise Lavoy Allen only played a minute last night. Then again, it's a grueling season, so it make me wonder how the team rations minutes with five games in a week. Some guys might flat-out get tired, although in Allen's case he's battling fellow rookie Nick Vucevic for minutes. Vucevic looked pretty good on the glass last night.

8. It was great to hear the "10-9-8-76ers" song from years past, but I still don't get the concept of the dancing girls, and it's gotten worse. Somehow, the team strips (pun intended) itself of its dignity by having its "dancers" and then "junior dancers" and then "little girl" dancers. That and the young men who jump on trampolines to dunk the ball after the third quarter all cheapen the overall product, which should be about compelling basketball. Sorry, but I could imagine the look on Bill Russell's face if he saw this hijinks going on while he was en route to leading the Celtics to another title (then again, Wilt Chamberlain might have enjoyed it).

9. The 76ers might have sold 18,000+ tickets for the game, but the arena didn't seem to have that many people in it.

All that said, this is a fun team to watch, and could it have been that the team was showcasing Evan Turner for a trade involving say another player (Young?) and some picks for Dwight Howard?

76ers' owner Josh Harris had made many successful bets in his career. Don't wager against him here.

Book Review: "Out of My League" by Dirk Hayhurst

Sports books are an interesting genre. There aren't all that many of them, I don't think that they particularly sell all that well, and we all have our favorites. It just that they don't come around all that often.

I recall fondly Jerry Kramer's "Instant Replay," about life on the Vince Lombardi-led Packers in the 1960's, "Ball Four," Jim Bouton's M*SH-like tell-all about life on the woeful Seattle Pilots (now the Milwaukee Brewers), and Lawrence S. Ritter's "The Glory of Their Times," a delightful oral history of baseball played at the turn of the 20th century. And then there's Buzz Bissinger's "Friday Night Lights," about high-school football in western Texas, a compelling story about how football can dominate a local culture, and many others that you can find if you Google "SportsProf" and "book review" or my holiday shopping list from many years ago.

Hayhurst wrote "Bullpen Gospels," about his trials as a minor-league pitcher in the San Diego Padres organization. He brings a unique device to his craft -- he avoids the potential fallout from "Ball Four" and the wrath of teammates and organizations by changing names and making up composite characters, all the while mentioning some real-life people as well. I don't know whether baseball nerds are now going back to the Padres' records in the 2005-2008 time frame to try to figure out -- using whatever cryptographic devices are available -- who was who, but that really doesn't matter all that much. What matters, particularly in this book, is what a great story Hayhurst has to tell about what baseball life is really life for most of the elite athletes who rise as high as to have a chance to make the Majors.

Most do not have the lives of the stars about whom we read every day. Most do not have the shortest road -- bonus baby, minor-league success, fast path to the Majors and a long career. For every Trevor Hoffman there are dozens of minor-league relievers hoping to climb the ladder, one minor-league level at a time, get noticed, and then, after they string together many good performances, perhaps get put on the every-so-important (but little understood) 40-man roster and make "The Show." Hayhurst is the everyman, the player who excelled in high school, pitched in college (albeit at a cold-weather school) and then struggled to define himself as unique and indispensable among a bunch of players with similar backgrounds -- competitive young men who enjoyed much success during their young lives, only to face a brutally Darwinistic process in which most of them would fail to achieve their dream -- The Show.

What Hayhurst reveals is the human side to the journey, family issues, trying to live a good life, trying to have a relationship, trying to invent the Garfoose (read the book and you'll understand), and dealing with early wake-up calls, low minor-league wages, bad nutrition, questionable accommodations and dealing with good outings and bad. For anyone who has worked in a situation where you're competing to get to the next level -- whether it be a baseball team or a law firm -- you also can find yourself in an interesting situation, where you rely upon the comradery of your teammates but, at the same time, realize that when they slip or fail that creates and opportunity for you. And, as with any organization, there are terrific people and absolute nut cases. And there are also pecking orders and unwritten rules that you had better know.

Hayhurst has a gift of making you become him, feel his pain and his sorrow, want to jump into the narrative and either root for him or, at times, shake him and tell him perhaps that he shouldn't go to the "dark place" (my term) after a particularly bad outing. You like him because he's real, get annoyed with him at times because of intermittent self-absorption (which you can understand completely if you've ever been in a similar situation), want to jump into the book to root for him and, at times, live and die with every outing. That said, what you also realize is that all that glitters is not gold, and that the life of a professional athlete, particularly the ones on the way up and not sure of their future, is not the most relaxing way to spend one's time. What it also makes you appreciate is how hard it is to get to the Majors and how much special talent -- physically and mentally -- players in the big leagues have.

The writer seems to be a terrific guy -- self-aware, kind, bright and determined. I have no way of verifying that, of course, except to say that the honesty with which he writes is refreshing and not designed to paint him in a positive light. He is human, he errs, he loses his cool, a reflection of an elite performer succumbing to the pressures that many do not understand but that exist in most people. Think it's easy to pitch in front of 45,000 people, or to pitch when the brass are in the stands reviewing the talent on the team? Or to be a professional athlete when spending an entire season sleeping in a sleeping bag?

For anyone with ambition, for anyone who's tried to climb the ladder, for anyone who is coaching anyone who is trying to do that or trying to be supportive of that person, for anyone who wants to know what it's like -- "Out of My League" is a great book that teaches many lessons.

Because for most of us, our journey is like that of Dirk Hayhurst, a relatively anonymous baseball player trying to get ahead.

At Jadwin Last Night -- Princeton 62 Penn 52

You start sounding like an old, grouchy alum when you say, "well, things aren't the way they used to be -- and they were better then." Well, I hope that's not the case, but last night's Penn-Princeton game at Jadwin did have some meaning to it, and yet the game wasn't a sellout and the atmosphere wasn't quite as intense as way back when. In fairness, Princeton was playing for pride and for its seniors, who were playing their last home game. Those stakes, however, pale in comparison to what the old grads remember -- that the games meant the Ivy title, period. There weren't any interlopers like Cornell or Harvard then, just Penn and Princeton, vying for the title. It wasn't that way last night, and the fans had to settle for the proverbial half a loaf.

I don't have the time to link to the game coverage in the Philadelphia Inquirer (or Mike Jensen's piece in the same paper), but here are a few observations:

1. Penn was, well, flat. It was as though every Penn player not named Zack Rosen was waiting for Zack Rosen to pull another Harry Potter-like act out of his bag of tricks and will Penn to victory singlehandedly. His teammate and good friend, Rob Belcore, said as much in Jensen's column. Put frankly, save the efforts of Belcore and soph center Fran Dougherty (and occasionally Miles Cartwright), the Penn team looked relatively absent, especially on offense. Penn's coach, Jerome Allen, was frustrated, too, and was quoted as saying that the team without anything to play for showed more energy than the team with everything to play for. While I understand his feelings, and he's being honest, as a coach he might have been better off saying, "Gee, we didn't show the energy we needed tonight to win, and I take full responsibility for not preparing my team well enough to put them in a position to win."

2. Rosen had an un-Rosen-like night, taking 24 shots to get his 19 points and not getting to the foul line once. Ask most coaches, and they'll tell you that if you can force the other team's best player to take 24 shots to get 19 points, your team (and not his) should be in pretty good shape. Rosen worked his butt off to get difficult shots, and he also was forced into taking some bad ones. Credit Princeton's stifling defense, which a) forced the southpaw Rosen to go right, b) switched well, and c) used its length to disrupt the passing lanes. Douglas Davis, T.J. Bray and Jimmy Sherburne all hounded Rosen, and in the short time out there, I thought that the soph Sherburne did the best job on Rosen. Also, Rosen did not get to the foul line once last night -- further evidence of how difficult Princeton made it for him last night. He's a great player, but he did not have a great game last night, and Penn especially needed one from him.

3. Princeton played with a lot of energy, although somehow the sight of the junior center Brandon Connelly doing his Kareem Maddox imitation failed to impress. At the beginning of the second half, when Penn started to make a run, we saw Connelly do his back into the paint work and miss a short shot, only to have Penn covert on the other end. While Connelly has improved much while at Princeton, the ball is better off in the hands of others, particularly the likes of junior forward Ian Hummer (who was the star of the game, with his energy, his offense, his defense and his passing) and Davis.

4. As for the future, while Princeton will miss Davis, it has many good players returning, among them Hummer, Bray, freshman Denton Koon and many others who give Princeton the tallest and rangiest team in the league. As for Penn, they'll miss Rosen terribly, but they'll have Cartwright and Dougherty back. Senior sharpshooter Tyler Bernardini wasn't a factor last night, and they'll miss both him and Rob Belcore, who had a very good game. I don't know who is having what type of recruiting year, but that's for another post and another time.

5. Another factoid: Princeton honored its women's team at halftime. Over the past 3 years, they were 41-1 in the Ivies. This year they were 14-0 and won 12 of their 14 league games by 25 points or more. The Harvard men might be getting all the hype, but it says here that relatively speaking, the Princeton women are better. Yes, of course, I am a partisan.

6. I am sure that the Harvard team was whooping it up in Cambridge, and congratulations to them. That said, I would have preferred a Penn appearance in the Big Dance over a Harvard one (assuming Princeton wasn't good enough to go), but not at the expense of a Princeton loss in Jadwin last night.

Great end to the season for Princeton -- the second year in a row they've knocked someone out of a chance for the NCAA tournament, albeit not as sweet as last year, when their win put them in. Tough end of the season for a great program at Penn, a great kid in Zack Rosen and a good coach in Jerome Allen.

Here's to hoping that in future years, both Jadwin and the Palestra will be packed, both teams will be the top two in the Ivies, and the rivalry will resume with all its intensity. Both Penn and Princeton need each other to be good in order to make the rivalry what it once was.

And, yes, good luck to Harvard as the Ivy representative in the NCAA tournament. And good luck to the Princeton women, too.

Shane Victorino

I tried to write a witty headline, I really did, but his statement today that he wants a 5-year contract prompted many reactions.

Among them:

1. Jimmy Rollins, a former MVP, "only" got a 3-year deal, and constructively, is better at his position than Victorino is at his, so why should the 32 year-old centerfielder get a five-year deal?

2. Doesn't he remember that Aaron Rowand wanted a 5-year deal many years ago, and left because he got a 5-year, $60 million deal, only to stink the joint out in SF. (The deal was very good for Rowand, who has been a huge bust, and it got him a World Series ring even though he had very little to do with the Giants' success)? Based upon that scenario, why would the Phillies opt to make that type of mistake when they avoided it in 2007? In fairness to Victorino, the Phillies had him waiting in the wings to take over, thus making Rowand expendable. It's hard to see who they have waiting in the wings to take over for Victorino, unless they were to move John Mayberry to CF, which could be a possibility.

3. Victorino is injury-prone, and, as he ages, he's likely to break down more. So, an investment in an aging CF for five years might not be wise.

4. Are you kidding me?

Look, the Phillies want to avoid the luxury tax and they need to get younger. The bet here is that a) they'll spend all their energy to re-ink Cole Hamels, b) they'll find a younger replacement at third and (finally) a 3B who can hit with power, and c) they're probably (anxiously) awaiting what to do with Chase Utley, whose contract expires at the end of 2013. Two years ago, I worried about how much the Phillies might have to pay to re-up Utley in 2013. Now I'm worried that he'll be a liability for two full seasons (as his line-drive rate in 2011 was the second-lower in the Majors -- behind Vernon Wells).

It's hard to see the core group from 2008 age, but the age has been showing. The OF is now younger, but the IF and C are aging, and Hamels at 28 makes sense for a long-term deal. But resigning Victorino would mean that the team would hope that somehow each and every over-32 player could defy the aging process, and they just will not be able to.

I like Shane Victorino a great deal and have appreciated his contributions very much. He's positive, he has great energy, he has a solid track record of achievement, and he's a key part of the team's success. But it could well be that he'll get big bucks from a team on the verge of contending before he gets it from a team that, above all else, cannot get any older.

A five-year deal just would not make any sense for the Phillies, great, past contributions or not.

UCLA Basketball -- What Has Been Going On?

George Dohrmann, whose wonderful book about the troubling, depressing, and sometimes explotiative world of grass-roots basketball in California I wrote about here, wrote a piece in this week's Sports Illustrated that slams the UCLA basketball program for letting entitled high school stars run amok, for Coach's Ben Howland not holding them accountable, and, generally, for a recent demise of the program despite all-universe recruiting classes. I can't link to the article, but it's worthy of reading. Predictably, UCLA disputes Dohrmann's article and is closing ranks around Howland. You can read that piece in the Los Angeles Times here.

I have a few observations:

1. Not all all-world recruits come off badly in Dohrmann's article.

2. Howland comes off badly, as either abusive to his staff and student managers or aloof from his players, opting to let them enforce their own rules. It's a strange portrayal of someone who "manages up" well in corporate parlance, as he always seems to appear on the right media venues and has been a frequent guest on, for example, "Mike & Mike in the Morning" on ESPN Radio. Now, maybe we hear the real Howland with Greenberg and Golic, maybe we don't, so it's up to you to decide. Typically, what we see when people have their make-up on and are on stage differs from rehearsals and when we see them backstage. Translated, that means that no one is as perfect as he might seem when either rehearsed or relaxed.

3. Some all-world recruits come across as spoiled kids, juvenile delinquents, undisciplined or entitled or a combination of all of the above. That makes you wonder whether each and every major college coach has a sufficient amount of control over his program. Or, are the real puppet-masters the people who control the grass-roots and AAU teams that Dorhmann painted a gloomy picture of in his book? The ramifications of the answer to that question are that the grass-roots guys know that they can influence kids to do all sorts of things in exchange for unquestioned playing time, such as transfer to a rival school. So, for example, if Reeves Nelson was a sacred cow for the guys who sponsored his AAU program, David and Dana Pump (of whom Dohrmann has written extensiely), does that mean that Howland felt obligated to give him special treatment or risk damaging his pipeline of California talent, because according to Dohrmann, the Pumps are significant power brokers at the grass roots level? Don't underestimate the potential for that to have happened, as it seems like the AAU coaches have much more influence over kids than their high school coaches do.

4. What would you do when faced with the conundrum of maintaining your job, salary and lifestyle at the prestigious, historic UCLA program by allowing if not condoninng or embracing the petty corruptions that seem to cause even initially the most moral of men to bend if not cross the line by embracing these self-appointed power brokers and then letting the behaviors of the stars slide and accumulate, or, alternatively, take a hard stand, hold kids accountable, shape and mold them, and occasionally kick a kid off the team because he believes that the rules do not or should not apply to him because, well, he played for an elite AAU team in Southern California and had the impression that he was en route to the NBA and that he didn't need much coaching, just the opportunity to showcase and put the finishing gloss on his abilities at the next level?

The irony, of course, is that by seemingly not instilling the discipline that the winning programs seem to have, Howland might have jeopardized his trademark, if not his standing at UCLA, by allowing this to go on. So, if he overlooked things to protect his recruiting pipeline, then he might have damaged his future precisely because the talent from that timeline wouldn't do what it takes to win. In contrast, if he instilled more discipline, some of the most entitled recruits would have taken their games elsewhere, thereby damaging Howland's reputation with the AAU coaches and causing the best home-grown talent to go elsewhere. Mollify the talent, lose games. Adhere to time-honored coaching and leadership standards, jeopardize the pipeline of talent and at least fear that you will not win games. It's not an easy choice, given how great the pressure is to win.

UCLA doesn't agree with Dorhmann's portrayal, and that's to be expected. They have to protect their trademark, their brand. That said, certain numbers do not lie -- the players ultimately dismissed, those who transferred, and disappointing won-loss records given the available talent. That seems to suggest that all is not right in Westwood and has not been at some time, whether people like Ben Howland or not.

In business, leaders discuss a "root-cause analysis" for failures. I frequently subscribe to "Occam's Razor," which suggests that the simplest solution is the best one. To me, the root cause of some of the evils in major college basketball is the grass-roots system, which distorts reality for the most gifted players at a young age and creates a self-image of invincibility and unaccountability. The best players ask for feedback, work harder, work to make their teammates better and set a great example. All coaches should remember that. It seems, at least for a while, that Ben Howland might have forgotten that, so instead of molding a team of stars together, he had a roster of big names that failed to shine.

This, too, shall pass, for UCLA and for Ben Howland. It's a shame that such problems befell a historic program, a seeemingly decent guy in Ben Howland and the players themselves, who should be forgiven because they were just kids at the time. It seems that UCLA is more toward solving its problems than before, but a good lesson should be learned -- coaches and leaders should teach and lead the kids, not use them for their own purposes and gain (and that particularly goes for those who run AAU programs). If everyone remembers that they are there to develop young men into better men, stuff like this won't go on.

Sure, you might have to boot a promising player from the team, suspend him or encourage him to transfer because he will not be happy in your program. But the earlier you do it, the better, as you'll be helping your program and the player at the same time, and, importantly, early enough on for both to rebound.

Now That Princeton's Out of the Ivy Race. . .

I will be rooting for. . . Penn.

Click here to see the Ivy League's stats for men's basketball.

Harvard is 10-2.

Penn is 9-2.

Yale is 9-3.

Now, before Princeton fans are about to jump on me, our beloved Tigers are 7-4 and, of course, I will be rooting for the Tigers to defeat the Quakers next week in Jadwin Gym. That's a given.

But if the Tigers at 7-4 in the league are not in a position to win it, I will be rooting for Penn. Here's why:

1. To me, the Ivies have always been about the Penn-Princeton rivalry. When it doesn't exist, or when one is good and the other is not (or when both cede territory to Cornell), all is not right in the hoops world. So, if it can't be Princeton, it should be Penn. That should inspire Princeton to turn up its overall efforts and recruiting a notch so as to heat up the rivarly and take the title back from the Quakers. This, really, is the main reason.

2. Penn coach Jerome Allen was very nice to my son this summer at a basketball camp in Bucks County (held at a high school whose colors are orange and black). That said, I don't think we'd be as in like with Harvard mentor Tommy Amaker under similar circumstances. I do happen to like Yale's James Jones, who has done a very good job in New Haven for a long time. But not enough, though, to root for the Bulldogs. Okay, perhaps if a bunch of great swag were thrown in, we'd consider it.

3. Penn's Zack Rosen, the likely Ivy Player of the Year, is a special player, leader, clutch performer, fun to watch.

4. I grew up rooting for Penn, went to the Palestra, watched great teams playing magical games on television durign the Palestra's golden era, so I'm waxing nostalgic and getting older, I suppose. This does count for something, I think, although if you knew me as an undergrad, you wouldn't have heard me express such sentiments (that said, in 1979 I was glued to my black-and-white TV in my dorm room watching Penn upset North Carolina and St. John's in the Eastern Regionals to make a surprise visit to the Final Four).

So, that's my reasoning. The other question out there is if Penn or Yale were to win the Ivies and get the automatic berth, would Harvard get an at-large bid. I'm not an expert on such things, but if that were to be the case, I am sure that many a Princeton fan would be pulling for Harvard to win the Ivies outright. The reason: Northwestern. The Wildcats's coach, Bill Carmody, coached at Princeton, and the current Princeton coach, Mitch Henderson, was his top assistant there for years. So, the loyalty to the family tree runs pretty thick, which, translated, means that a Harvard at-large bid would push one fo the last teams reported to be in onto the bubble or beyond. In this case, that well could be Northwestern, and the Wildcats have never been in the tournament. Imagine the volcanic eruption in Evanston among those who care (as at elite academic institutions, far from everyone does) should the Wildcats go dancing. It would be something to watch.

Okay, so perhaps I'm torn. Carmody coached one of the greatest teams in Princeton history, when Henderson was his point guard. But to root for Harvard, perhaps the Ivies' evil empire, to win the league because that somehow will help Northwestern (and, remember, many were not happy when Carmody left) is a bit of a stretch. It's a tough call, but I'm holding true to my initial thoughts.

I'm pulling for Penn.

Overall, but not against Princeton.

A Team Pete Carril Would Love

This is by no mean a knock on Princeton's men's basketball team, which won the Ivies last year and almost knocked off Kentucky in the first-round of the NCAA tournament.

That said. . .

The Princeton women's team is going to the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive year, is 21-4, has won 14 straight, is 11-0 in the Ivies and is flat-out dismantling its Ivy opponents. That's right -- dismantling. Or destroying. Or annihilating.

Coach Carril's motto was "Play to Win." Coach Courtney Banghart is honoring that motto and then some on Carril Court at Jadwin Gymnasium. Her teams are fun to watch.

You hear about Harvard's men's team, about the wondrous or miraculous recruiting efforts of Tommy Amaker in Cambridge, about how Harvard was nationally ranked and how the Princeton men upset them a week ago in Jadwin, and all that helps create good stories for the Ivy men's teams. What -- or who -- gets overlooked amidst all that press are the Princeton women.

Hats off to Coach Courtney Banghart and her team for another outstanding year!

Play to Win?

Play to Win!

Live at Cornell-Princeton in Jadwin Gym Last Night

Went there on the spur of the moment and left with wondering how Cornell how could have beaten the team that showed up last night. Very bright spots were soph guard TJ Bray, who handles the ball well and shoots with authority, junior forward Ian Hummer, who simply takes charge out there, senior guard Douglas Davis, who is finishing up an outstanding career and forward Patrick Saunders, who had a bunch of nifty one-handed shots inside. Atop that, frosh forward Denton Koon looks like a future star and junior forward Mack Darrow had a career night the night before on ESPNU against Columbia. At 6'9", 230 pounds, he is a very good player.

Cornell played with a lot of energy, substituted perhaps too much to find the right combinations, but tended to overplay on defense and lacked the shooting ability that the Tigers displayed last night when rolling up 42 points in the first half. The team showed a lot of zing, and if I were to have one point of constructive feedback, they need to defend better and play better switching defense, especially inside. Cornell scored too many baskets when the perimeter player broke through, only to remain unchecked inside. My guess is that the coaches will see this on film and do something to correct it.

While it's doubtful that the Tigers can win the Ivies, and while they will miss Davis next year, they have some players in the pipeline who are difference makers and who are fun to watch. While Harvard has the hot hand that Cornell did during the last three years of the Steve Donahue era, it's not that hard to fathom that Princeton (and Penn, for that matter) cannot recruit enough players to make the competition in the Ivies more compelling over the next several seasons.

Good fun last night in Jadwin Gym.

Odd Twist of Events in Raleigh at N.C. State-Florida State Game

The visiting Seminoles won, but the big story was that an official summoned a security guard to toss former N.C. State greats Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta out of the arena. It's a bit hard to believe, but it happened.

Apparently, Corchiani tweeted that he and Gugliotta (who were sitting several rows behind the scorers' table) were on the officials for having a bad day and being inconsistent and that they were telling the truth.

The whole event seems bizarre. How vocal were the two former players? Was it typical ref-razzing or was it inflammatory, riot-inciting and threatening? How thick a skin does this ref typically have? Very thick (so that if he went to these lengths, he had a point) to thin to the point that he leads the league in ejections?

I'd like to give both sides the benefit of the doubt here and not pass judgment on a) how difficult it can be to official and hear the banter and b) how frustrating it can be (i) to be a fan when things aren't going your way and (ii) to be a former player whose competitive juices are still flowing and whose team is on the losing end of the contest. Neither, in and of itself, justifies this type of ejection, but it would be interesting to hear what actually happened.

The Continued Fall of Allen Iverson

PHILADELPHIA -- FEBRUARY 12, 2012

Against the backdrop of a 76ers' team with a passionate, refreshing and straightforward coach and players who dive for loose balls, defend, set screens and pass (to the point that the other night 7 players scored in double figures), comes this story from veteran, venerated columnist Bill Lyon. It's perhaps one of many we'll continue to see, about the (spectacular) free fall of one-time NBA MVP Allen Iverson.

What's particularly sad about this story is that mostly everyone who followed the 76ers saw it coming and yet remained powerless to protect Iverson from himself. He played like a house afire and lived his life the same way -- exciting, determined, stubborn, kinetic, frenetic, unique. But we all knew that the energy couldn't last, the money would run out, and the style of basketball would be exposed for what it was -- a one-man band, with a supporting cast whom the star failed to help make better, especially when the star took too many shots to score the points that he did.

The will not to believe, of course, was strong. The will not to believe that the type of basketball was borne of guts and energy but not discipline (both on the court and off) could last or was good, especially because of all people Larry Brown gave public testimony for it. The will not to believe that poor off-the-court habits could outdo and outlast the stronger work ethic of players like Kobe Bryant, who made up for their lack of bling and pizzazz with their sniper's accuracy. The will not to believe that AI would end up where he is now.

Which is unwanted and broke, a basketball junkie and lifer without a team, without crowds chanting his name, designating him as the most valuable player. It wasn't so long ago that he could run by opponents, leave announcers agape and fans wanting more.

And most of us saw it coming.

Even if, for a while, few wanted to believe it.

Princeton Allegedly Tells Injured Football Recruit "No" -- Unfair, Sour Grapes, or a Sign of an Inconvenient Truth?

Lou Rabito of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the story of a high school football player from a well-regarded Philadelphia-area private school who had his heart set on Princeton (to the point where he told other schools that Princeton was the one), only to have his hopes dashed after he suffered a season-ending injury early in the football season. As Rabito tells it, Princeton asked the player to attend a boarding school for a post-graduate year and, when the student-athlete didn't agree with the request, told him that he wouldn't be getting in. The kid's reasoning was simple -- he went to an elite private school and got good grades, so what would he have to prove by attending the boarding school?

Naturally, Princeton cannot comment because, well, the NCAA prohibits such commentary. The article allows for the concept that this story probably happens frequently elsewhere. But let's be clear about a few things. First, this particular newspaper will ding Princeton any chance it gets, especially when it can put Princeton in a bad light at the expense of hometown Penn (which, by the way, isn't on any church's beatification list for athletic recruiting, either). Second, what the article hints at is the hidden or inconvenient truth that a) all, b) many, c) some or d) a sacred few recruited athletes in the Ivies only get in because of their sports (sure, their grades are "in the ballpark," but some of these kids wouldn't get in unless they can block, shoot a basketball, wield a lacrosse stick). That happens everywhere in the Ivies, so what Princeton might have been saying to this kid is, "Hey, you won't be getting in here unless you show us that you can play football, and with this injury we're not sure that you can. So, go to the boarding school, show us you still can play, keep your grades up too, and then we'll let you in." Which means, perhaps, that the recruit's comment about his grades misses the point -- it's about your football playing ability and your grades.

Now, before former Ivy athletes, current Ivy athletes, all of their friends and parents, Ivy administrators and coaches and anyone else gets their dander up, think about it. The conventional wisdom is that the easiest way to get into an Ivy is if you're a recruited athlete (unless, of course, you're a recruited athlete and one of your parents went to that school). So, it stands to reason that in the particular case Rabito is reporting about, the recruit in question wouldn't have gotten in because of his academics and his entire body of extracurricular activities as a whole didn't wow the admissions office. That goes, by the way, for 95% of the kids who apply to Princeton, so this kid is by no means unique. Be a great actor, have a 3.5 GPA at a good school, you might get in. Hit other football players hard, fill the gaps in the line, project that you can do it in the Ivies, have a 3.6 GPA at a good school, you might get in. Fail to shine outright in your chosen extracurricular, well, your GPA, body of extracurriculars and scores must be off the charts. Ergo, get hurt, perhaps be unable to play at the next level, have less than off-the-chart grades and scores and you fall back into the pack.

Look, I feel for the subject of the article. He seems like a good kid. I also am no huge fan of the meat grinder that can be college athletics and the on again, off again hypocrisy of Ivy athletics (and the lengths some Ivies will go in certain sports to win -- Harvard's interpretation of the "index" to gain supremacy in basketball, Yale's taking as a transfer a quarterback to went to at least three high schools in four years -- for football reasons -- you name it, someone does something to find an edge). So, perhaps the Ivies are as human as the rest of us -- they push, they pull, they interpret, they advocate -- everyone gets that. But the cold reality is that the Ivy coaches are fighting for their jobs year in and year out, and roster spots come at a premium. So when a solid recruit shows that he might not be able to deliver, well, the coach has to find someone who can.

This recruit remains in the rarified air, has his whole life in front of him and will land well for either intercollegiate football or wrestling or both. But it's a stretch to say that he should have gotten a spot at Princeton, regardless of his ability to play the sport for which he was recruited, precisely because in all likelihood he wouldn't have gained admission unless he was on the football coach's list as a preferred recruit. Rabito kind of misses that point, perhaps because he doesn't get it, just missed it, or really believes that this recruit should have gotten in even with the injury. If the latter is his reason, then he's missing the inconvenient, hidden truth of Ivy recruiting for sports -- it's a tough, harsh, competitive game, even in the Ivy League.

Coaching a Shorthanded Team to Victory

Our team was short its top two scorers this weekend. They're good athletes, rec league basketball is not their top priority, and their commitments to their main sports had them out of town yesterday. The meant that we had eight of our ten players, and everyone is required to play half the game.

At our one, one-hour practice during the week, I conferred with my co-coach and we decided that we would tell the kids the news at practice so that they could prepare for the absence of these two players. At no time did we say that we would have difficulty winning or that it would be hard. To me, that would be offering them an easy excuse for failure and then not give their best effort. They could say, "well, how could we win without these guys there?" Instead, I said that the absence of these two players created opportunities for everyone else -- to shoot more, to create more and to do more. I encouraged each of them to step up his game a bit, concentrate better, make better decisions. I also said that we played well as a team together, we should continue to play stingy defense, and that we should honor the good play that the two players who would be absent showed and play their best.

We played against a well-coached, talented team, a physical team with a heady point guard, a bunch of kids who could handle the ball and knew what they were doing. They ran high-post plays, and my guess is that they worked reasonable well. One basic was to have a post player start low, run to the high post, grab a pass from the point guard and then send it right back on a give-and-go for a layup. Good stuff.

It was by no means an aesthetically pleasing game. One of my kids forgot the travel rule -- again. A few who are newer to the game got called for three seconds, and when you're short players you don't seem to get the calls. . . whether that's real or imagined is something for the economists and behavioral psychologists to write about, but the refs seemed a bit shorthanded yesterday, too, in their thinking, and these are good refs, refs who for the most part lets the kids play. We got off to a good start, and took a lead after the first quarter, in part because of stellar defense and in part because of good spacing. Without our two leading scorers, we were left with only three kids who really can handle the ball, and I planned to make sure that we had two of them on the court at all times.

The second quarter would be the real test, because that's when the top three scorers are permitted to enter the game for both teams. We were without ours, and we played two kids again in the second quarter to help make sure that we had appropriate matchups (without two players, four players can play three quarters apiece). The second quarter proved to be a revelation. Yes, we fell victim to the give-and-go once, but then sealed the back door shut the rest of the way. Our third-leading scorer ran the point and weaved in and out, but it was our fourth-leading scorer who did a lot of damage, too. By defending their point guard tenaciously, and by setting screens at every opportunity on offense, giving the point guard enough space to drive to the basket. We were up four at the half, and I saw something in our kids that I didn't see as much of in the other team.

The kids looked at me seriously, and for those who might have had some doubts about winning, they knew that they were in a game and that they were contributing to it. Some of the less experienced players remained a bit stiff and frozen on offense, not sure how to get open, not sure where to move, but they defended closely and challenged every shot. We remained up four after three quarters and held on to win by two. Our good screener had played the first three and was unavailable in the fourth, and his absence proved somewhat costly, as those who were on the floor did not know how to set screens on their own the way he did. But in the end, it was "hands up", hard-working defense that wore out the other team and enabled a close victory under challenging circumstances.

Did everyone on our team step up? On defense, yes, on offense, no. Did our remaining leaders step up, yes, by doing what they did well -- either penetrating, defending, rebounding or screening, and it was enough -- just enough -- to help an average-sized, not all that physical team beat a good team on a challenging day. Yes, it is a rec league, but they do keep score and they have playoffs. It was, by all accounts, a game that the team should not have won, but the kids have worked hard in practice all year and have learned the value of team play and defense. Given their hard work, it behooved their coach to think of every possible way to coach them to put them in a position to win.

Their effort made it easy. I had them focus on the things that they could do well, and in a fifth- and sixth-grade rec league that started with playing solid defense. Deflections, steals, sealed passing lanes caused the other team to rush, to throw up bad shots, to toss the ball away. That changed the tempo in the game and required us -- a team short on scorers -- to need fewer points to win. The kids were happy with the victory, not knowing, afterwards, the significance of their accomplishment. When asked, about half raised their hands saying that they thought we could win without our two leading scorers. Naturally, these were the kids who contributed the most. We will tell all of them on Monday night why they won -- their attention to detail, their hustle, their focus -- and reinforce it, all without letting their heads swell.

We play a well-coached team again this Saturday, and we'll need a great effort to keep pace with them. But we all learned something yesterday afternoon -- that kids are resilient, that leaders step up and sacrifice themselves for the team, that everyone has a little something extra that he can share and give in a time of need. We learned more about the value of concentration and worrying only about what we control in front of us, and not about two teammates who weren't there. And yet, at the same time, it all seemed so normal, intense, yes, but just like another game. And that made it special, too.

There was no special rejoicing, no extra back-slapping, none of that, because the kids know how to win or lose with grace. They win more than they lose, and much of it is because they want to show each other that they can play and not disappoint themselves, each other or the coaches. They are eager to learn and to contribute, they are good kids who give a great effort. Knowing that, they were easy to coach. Sure, I yelled to them "stay with your man" or "get over there", and I coached individually ("that's not your shot", "push with your legs when you shoot" and other advice like that), and I gave advice about when to set screens, but in the end a coach is not a puppetmaster, and the kids are not marionettes. If they come to the game ready to play, ready to win, you have a chance.

By raising the bar, the coaches gave them a good foundation to put in the effort to win. Their leaders played with grit and confidence, and the others followed and stepped up.

It wasn't the prettiest game, the most graceful or the biggest win.

But in certain ways, it was one of the best.

Practice Plan for 5th and 6th Grade Basketball

Of all the posts I've put up over the years, the one that has drawn the most comments has been one on coaching second-grade basketball. It's not the easiest to find a practice plan -- there are books (Dave Faucher, one-time coach at Dartmouth, wrote a good book on coaching youth basketball) and videos (Sysko has some good ones), and there are many books on plays, but not necessarily any on how to run a one-hour practice. I figured I'd take this time to tell you what we do with our rec league team, a fifth and sixth grade team that practices one hour a week and plays one game on the weekend.

First, a key decision that you'll have to make is whether to run scripted plays. Last year, we did, but we had a group with a very high basketball IQ, with every kid having played for years. Even then, it was a struggle, if only because we practice one hour a week and there is little time for reinforcement. This year, we started out with running plays, but figured out that of the ten kids we have on the roster, four just don't have the experience to run the plays well. So, after five games, we decided to scrap the plays, keep the kids in a 1-4 stack, and then freelance depending on what the point guard does (I'll explain the 1-4 stack a bit later on).

Second, you probably won't have an optimal space to practice at. We're fortunate in that we have a half court of a middle-school gym, and this half-court also has baskets on each side, so that we can divide the group of kids into smaller groups for individual instruction. Most of the time we do not do that (nor does the team that practices at the same time). We tend to work with the group as one, trying to develop skills.

Third, we try to give the kids a few guiding principles to go on. Some, of course, will pick up the principles faster than others. Some have played more, some are better learners, some watch the game in addition to playing it and figure out what to do. But others show up because their parents make them, because it's something to do. Yet others don't want to show that they don't know, so they'll nod, not ask questions, and then make the wrong type of mistakes -- traveling, double-dribbling, three- and five-second violations. And, depending on their attention spans, they might make repeated mistake of this type during the season. All this comes with the rec league.

What are the basic principles? Here goes:

• Defend hard. No matter how skilled or unskilled a kid is with the ball, each kid has the ability to stay with the man he is assigned, guard him tightly, put a hand in his face, deflect the ball way. At this level, teams will have a chance in each game if they defend vigorously (teaching "switching" or "help" defense is something you'll need to do at some point, too).
  


• Play under control. Or, to quote John Wooden, "be quick, but don't hurry." Translated, play under control, don't force things, and take what's given to you. Translated further, don't try to throw a chest pass through the lane, pick up your dribble in the corner (where the baseline and sideline act as additional defenders) and don't try to dribble between two defenders.



• Use space well. Meaning, don't run right next to a fellow offensive player, unless a) to set a screen under the right circumstances (but not when the teammate has stopped dribbling!) or b) to take a handoff from a teammate who has stopped dribbling.



• Finish a play well. The teams who insist upon drilling on plays end up missing a lot of shots because the kids don't practice shooting. Teach the kids not to shoot when under the basket (as the basket poses an additional defender) and to take a good angle to the basket to enable them to use the backboard (you'd be surprised as to how many kids go straight at the basket, toss up a prayer and have it bounce out or miss totally).
  

There are probably others, but remember, if you have one hour per week, you are limited in what you can convey and teach. With that principle in mind, try to think of Mr. Miyagi in the original Karate Kid movie and create drills with enough repetition that the kids might just deep down remember to draw on one of them in a game. So, with that in mind, we separate our practices into 3 twenty-minute sessions, as follows:

Part I

• Talk with the kids about what you're trying to accomplish. Use "we" and not "you," remind them that everyone can make a contribution beyond scoring points, emphasize a few themes, encourage questions. Even ask whether you're being clear, whether something is working. It's okay not to know everything and to show them that you might be wrong on occasion. Take a few minutes for this.



• Three-man weave (sideways on your half of the court). The kids absolutely love this drill. The basic principle, as I learned from my junior high school's gym teacher, is "behind the man I pass it to and head down court." You probably can find this drill on YouTube, but it involves movement, precision passing and finishing. It also helps the kids get loose and get into better shape. I usually run this for five minutes.



• Two-on-none passing drill. (Four minutes). Here you have two lines that start under the basket, and they make quick chest passes to each other, halting between the top of the key and half court, then they do the same back toward the basket, with one player throwing a bounce pass to the other at the and for a layup. This helps them move quickly, make good decisions, and finish.
  


• Two-on-one drill. (Four minutes). We have found that scrimmaging or playing two-on-two or three-on-three ends up having the kids in a major defensive scrum that doesn't yield many baskets. So, we have the kids form two layup-like lines near where the key starts, and they try to get by the defender with crisp movement and passing (we switch the defender every 5 plays or so). The goal is to work a lopsided advantage and finish well. This drill also deals with too much unselfishness, because sometimes you'll find that kids are so unselfish that the last pass is under the basket, goes out of bounds. We also have the defender lay back or charge upon our instruction, to make the kids think.



• Jab Step Drill. (5 minutes). You might need to search this on Google or YouTube, but this drill involves a ballhandler with a defender up close on him. The ballhandler then establishes a pivot foot and jabs his foot in one direction, then the other, trying to get the defender to bite and move in the opposite way of where he wants to put the ball on the floor and then try to make a basket. We've had great contests of will, some good finishes and a lot of fun. You never know who can smoke who and who can defend. It's a great drill to get the kids more confident in their abilities both to handle the ball and be an up-close defender.

Break

Part II

• Shoot off the Blocks. (5 minutes) Both sides of the lane have a square about 5 feet from the basket. We line 5 kids on a diagonal (45-degree angle) from the blocks and have them shoot off the backboard from both sides, trying to get them so focus on finishing, to speed up the line and to make shots. The importance of this drill? Many teams cannot finish. We've taught the weakest players to shoot using this drill, and some of the best athletes figure out that using the backboard makes sense. Interestingly, our less athletic teams fare better at this drill than the most athletic teams. At one point in practice this year, our kids hit 18 of 20 shots. Good stuff. Each line has 1 basketball.


• "Princeton" shooting drill. (5 minutes). We saw Princeton use this drill before a game, and we adopted it. Basically, you have two horizontal lines, one starting on each side of the lane, both about 8-10 feet from the basket. The kids on left dash to the center of the lane, and the kids on the right hit them with a chest pass. The receiver then shoots it. We teach the "LEEF" principle (push with your Legs, Eyes just slightly beyond the front of the rim, Elbow beneath the ball and Follow through). Using this drill, the kids learn to catch and shoot and adopt a shooting philosophy (shoot it slightly beyond the front of the rim). We use two balls in this drill.


• Chase drill. (5 minutes). We have two "layup" lines, one on the right near the top of the key, one a few feet to the left of the left lane line between halfcourt and the top of the key. We give the ball to the player in the right line, and then yell "go." The kid in the left lane "chases" the player with the ball, in order to pressure him. The goal is for the kid in the right line to make the basket under pressure.

Break

Part III

• Rebounding drill. (5 minutes). There are two lines. One is under the basket, the other at about 12 feet (3 feet before the foul line). The player in the lane under the basket throws a chest pass to the player in the other line, who then takes a shot. The passer "rushes" the shooter, but is instructed not to try to block the shot. The two players are supposed to jostle for the rebound, trying to box each other out.


• Switching drill (3 minutes). One coach plays the role of a player near the low post. The other coach plays the role of the defender of the point guard. There are two lines -- the point guards near the top of the key, and then the low-post defenders. We let the point guard blow by his defender, and then the low-post defender is supposed to dash before the point guard to cover him. Not a very complicated drill, but it's important to make sure the kids keep their heads on a swivel.


• Situational Matters (10 minutes). We'll typically work on an inbounds play and showing kids some basic concepts out of our 1-4 stack offense (two wings, two posts and a point guard). We try to work with the kids on passing and screening, passing and moving and screening and moving. This isn't easy; some kids get it, some don't, but it's the best we can do in a short time. Even if you don't run plays, you must show the kids what to do when they do not have the ball. After this, we wrap up practice.

There are more drills that you can run. You can have all sorts of dribbling drills (dribbling the length of the floor with the good hand and then back with the bad, have the kids shout out the number of fingers you put up (so that they keep their heads up when dribbling), play dribble "tag" -- dribbling the ball with one hand while trying to steal their "tag" partner's ball with the other) and passing drills (basics of overhead passes and bounce passes). We also on occasion run pick-and-roll, give-and-go and handoff drills.

We tend to review the prior week's game closely and then figure out what we need to work on. Each week, it's something different, whether it's setting a high screen, fundamentals of a defensive stance, figuring out what the opponent's "bad" hand is and forcing him in that direction, foul shooting, something. The key thing is to be organized, make it fun and plan every precious minute. The kids will appreciate the discipline, they will try to keep up with each other, and they will see themselves getting better.

Have fun!

The Toll That Football Takes

The year-end Sports Illustrated piece on the collective health of the Cincinnati Bengals 25 years after their good 1986 season is telling. Peter King and some colleagues talked to almost the entire roster of players. Most deal with significant health issues. Most would do it all over again. Interestingly, the toughest defender of the bunch, strong safety David Fulcher, would not.

It's a great piece. Read it.

Today, circumstances are different. The playing surfaces are more forgiving, the training methods better, the allowed hitting in practice more infrequent. But the players are bigger and faster, and the training methods that are better not only aid in recovery but in delivering an extra wallop when making a hit. Regardless of generational differences, the article confirms what we all know -- that football is a collision sport that takes its toll. You can decide, upon reading the article, whether it's worth it.

More Bad News Out of Yale: The Story Behind a Collapsed Candidacy for a Rhodes Scholarship

Read this and then contemplate it.

Who are the real heroes?

What can you believe any more?

A QB allegedly turned town a Rhodes interview to play in the "Game" against Harvard. Gets national coverage. A possible testimony to what's right and pure about college athletics.

Except. . . that he was yanked as a Rhodes candidate ostensibly before he would have had the chance to interview. For what's it's worth, he had a disciplinary record -- both at Yale and at the university from which he transferred -- and because of football either went to three high schools in four years or four in three years.

Role model?

Yale QB. Great grade-point average. Choosing teammates over fame.

Sounded great, didn't it?

But it was too good to be true, it seems.

What are we supposed to believe anymore?

An Afternoon at a Volleyball Match

I'm sure that each of us prefer one or the other, depending on whether we have a team that we're rooting for, whether we know someone involved with the team and, most importantly, whether our team wins or loses the game. Clearly, you want your team, your friends, your kids, your kids' friends and your friends' kids to give a good effort and to win. That's why they keep score.

There are levels to this of course. You want your professional teams to win championships. You want your favorite college teams to do the same, or, at a minimum, beat the rivals and those over whom you want bragging rights or, perhaps better, don't want to hear bragging from. You want your kids' teams to win, yes, but you want your kids to play on the right teams for their level of ability so that they can get the level of instruction, playing time and involvement that they seek. As well as good coaches and good kids, because when it's all said and done, if the teammates aren't good kids, the experience can be dreadful.

Yesterday, I witnessed a very good volleyball match between two teams that gave it their all. My daughter happened to be on one of them, and her team, while playing hard and competing reasonably well, loses a lot more than it wins. Yet, the girls play hard, they are spirited, they support one another, and when you see them before a game you cannot tell that they lose more than they win. That's a tribute to their coach, their captains, and the girls themselves.

They were playing a team that had beaten them twice before, once in three straight games on the road, and then in their own gym in four games. They found themselves short a captain and a few upperclassmen as they ventured on the road to play this rival for a third time.

To call the opponents' gym a "band box" would be an understatement, as a shoe box would be more like it. There was barely any room on the sidelines for parents to sit, and the floor itself was very hard, not the most conducive to diving and sliding. At any rate, the teams battled mightily. The hosts got off to a quick start and won game 1, while the visitors rebounded nicely and won game 2 by a nice margin. The hosts then took game 3, and right then I figured that my daughter's team would battle gamely, lose a close game, lose the match 3 games to 1 and call it a day. That's been their modus operandi -- they simply have enough talent to go so far.

Yesterday was different. It was as though after the third game the bells in the song from Rocky "Go the Distance" started chiming, and the group of girls on the floor looked particularly game. They didn't look resigned, they looked pretty relaxed with a tinge of a sense of purpose that indicated that perhaps they had one more run in them yet. The hosts also sensed the kill, and they upped their intensity. Yes, there were some bad serves and unforced errors that gave the other team points, but by and large there were good points, hard fought. For my daughter's team, girls who had trouble serving served better, diggers dug with fewer mis-hits, hitters kept the ball inside the lines and blockers blocked pretty well. The result was a solid victory in Game 4, which meant that they'd have to play a 15-point Game 5 to decide the match.

The referee held a coin flip, which the hosts won. They promptly chose the side they wanted over serving, and the referee told me it was because the team that won each game took the side that the hosts just took. I smiled. The way I figured it, my daughter's team got to a Game 5, not a frequent occurrence. In certain ways, the pressure was on them to overcome prior odds and win. In other ways, the pressure was on the hosts not to lose to a team in their own gym that they had beaten twice before.

The action was intense, and the hosts pulled ahead 11-8. It looked somewhat bleak for my daughter's team, but then they rallied to tie it and ultimately go ahead, 14-13. They needed one more point and were serving. They got a good serve, but the other team made a few good hits and won the point. Tied at 14.

The hosts' served, and there was a vigorous back and forth that led to a set for the outside hitter of the hosts, perhaps the most talented player on the floor. She might be about 5'6", but she has hops, and up she went, launch a cannon shot between two of the visitors' back line. There was no way they could return it, except. . .

it was out. By two feet, not even close. 15-14 visitors, serving for the match.

Again.

In a loud, crowded gym.

Against a team that beat them handily about a month ago, less handily several weeks ago, and without a few regulars.

The serve was in. The hosts returned it, and the visitors answered, placing a ball near the feet of a host player who just couldn't get to it.

The visitors -- my daughter's team -- won!

For the first time in a long time.

In the fifth game. On the road. In a crowded gym.

It was something to behold. A barnburner of a game. In a tight space, with young kids who gave it their all and who played their hearts out.

It wasn't the NBA, the NFL, the BCS championship game or anything close.

What it was was a hard-fought contest between two well-coached teams who gave a great effort and got a lot out of their abilities. What it also was was a victory by a team against the odds, and you seldom see that. When you do, it's pretty satisfying at many levels, a real treat.

I had texted my wife with updates all afternoon, and she offered that I really built the excitement because of the way the match unfolded. I am sure that her exclamation after my report of the final point was louder than mine, as I had developed a friendly relationship with a dad from the host team who was sitting next to me. And besides, why act like you hadn't been there before, like winning was new or rare?

Games like these are the most rewarding. Sure, part of it is because you know the kids. But perhaps a bigger part of it is that these kids play for their schools, each other and for the love of the sport -- and that's it.

And it's more than plenty.

It's pure gold.

What Happened Between Ryan Madson and the Phillies

Madson's agent, Scott Boras, says that the Phillies and Madson had a deal and then the Phillies decided to sign someone else.

Ruben Amaro, Jr., the Phillies' GM, sharply disagrees but doesn't want to get into a public dispute with Boras.

Whom do you believe?

The story I heard was that Madson and the Phillies had agreed in principle on a four-year, $44 million deal and then it got stuck on the desk of Phillies' owner David Montgomery. Then, a few days later, voila, the Phillies inked Red Sox' closer Jonathan Papelbon to a 4-year, $50 million deal. That story would suggest that the Phillies had told agents for both players that they would go hard after both and try to sign them fast, so that they both should be ready to deal. What the Phillies didn't say, logic suggests, is that they wanted Papelbon all along and that either a) his agent would respond quickly or b) they would use Madson's faster response to prompt a decision from Papelbon or settle with Madson. And then they signed Papelbon (and perhaps significantly overpaid for him given that no other team gave Madson a huge deal, which means that in all likelihood there might not have been serious competition for Papelbon, either). Of course, this is plausible if you believe the initial report that the deal got stuck on Montgomery's desk -- and that's where things get murky.

To me, Boras's public statement is logical, and the Phillies' denial is logical perhaps if only to save face, because Boras's explanation hints that the Phillies used Madson to get Papelbon, and, while players use one team to leverage another all the time, the Phillies' management doesn't want to look bad to the players on the team and therefore will deny what Boras says and perhaps get away with the denial because Boras is unpopular in Philadelphia. But, there's another equally plausible explanation.

Then again, I'm an Amaro fan, so I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt. It just may be that Boras didn't have a deal but is saying what he's saying to save face before his player (Madson), his other players (many) and potential future clients. Why is that logical? Because if Madson signed with the Phillies, he would have gotten a 4-year, $44 million deal. Now he'll get a 1-year, $8.5 million deal, and that looks very bad if you are an agent.

So what really happened? That's a good question.

And one that will be forgotten pretty quickly.

Pitchers and catchers report in 5 weeks.

On Bill O'Brien's Hiring at Penn State

Penn State alums have nothing to complain about insofar as who the powers that be chose to follow Joe Paterno as head football coach. The powers that be so screwed up any meaningful succession process because of the alums idolatry about Paterno that they just need to embrace who they got, period, and move on.

They resisted any meaningful call for a decent succession plan, going so far as to get nasty to anyone who suggested otherwise, even on these pages (where I have touched upon this point for years). And while the passage of time has proven that Jerry Sandusky was far from fit, a toxic cocktail of nepotism (in the form of the overemphasis on Jay Paterno's role, thus impeding any succession planning process), pushing out one possible candidate years ago (Fran Ganter, who might not have been perfect but who did all the right things), Paterno's stubbornness on the question and the pretentious fawning of alums over all things Paterno led to the combustion of the Penn State program and its "we're better than you" image. So, when you have a disaster on your hands, you do the best you can.

By enabling the Paterno aura beyond reason, the powers that be created a situation where the most viable of candidates wouldn't want to enter because how could they "replace" Joe Paterno (as it turns out, given what we believe has happened, that might be much easier to do than anyone thought). By waiting this long, they missed out on some good candidates. By having the scandal on their hands, many people who otherwise would have jumped at the chance probably passed. Say goodbye to Kirk Ferentz, Urban Meyer, James Franklin, Gary Patterson, Chris Petersen, Al Golden and others. So, it's not as though Penn State had its pick, which is a shame, because years ago it would have. What it was left with was a group of risers who might be great be who offer less certainty than an "A" list that would have emerged had those who ran Penn State at the time run it well and not permitted anyone to become bigger than the institution.

Enter Bill O'Brien. Symmetrically ironic in that he went to the same school that Joe Paterno did, Brown University. Interesting in that he's the offensive coordinator for one of the best coaches in the history of the NFL, Bill Belichick. But a question mark because none of Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weis, Eric Mangini or Josh McDaniels has succeeded as a head coach. And that makes the selection of O'Brien the triumph of hope over experience. At least for now.

And, to a degree, it shows how deep the Penn State administration had to dig to find the right candidate. To LaVar Arrington, Brandon Short and those who are upset, they should ask themselves why they are upset. Are they angry because someone shattered their myth? And, if that's the case, are they angry with themselves for believing in the myth so deeply, perhaps more so than their own religion or self-worth? Are they angry with the guy who sold them the myth? That would make sense. And are they hurting? Of course. They, like the rest of the Penn State faithful, should reflect as to why this happened, why they let any one person have such a disproportionate emphasis on their extracurricular activities and self-esteem, and why their institution -- which should be in charge first and foremost of the betterment of society and the individuals who go there, individually and as a whole -- let everyone down?

But they should not be angry at those who were left to pick up the pieces, to make some sense out of everything and to move the institution forward. When you look at all the problems in the world today, this is a relatively high-class one. We're not talking about avoiding a nuclear war, the overthrow of a government, a plague, massive hunger or double-digit unemployment. We're talking about a state university's football program, and that's all that it is, ever was, or should be. So to get all lathered up about the selection of Bill O'Brien as opposed to someone who has Penn State somewhere in his pedigree doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Because that culture was flawed.

Bill O'Brien will try to play nice, and he'll say all the right things. He'll be diplomatic with those with whom he has to be, but if he's smart he'll try to put his own image on things quickly. He'll use the intellect that gained him admission to Brown in the first place and the passion that he's demonstrated on the sidelines to create a program that not only talks about how good it is, but that really is good and stands up where it counts. I don't have any qualms with Arrington or Short -- they are hurting and like the rest of us lost something late last year -- but O'Brien cannot rebuild a program by worrying about the feelings of anyone with a history with the program.

No sir. Bill O'Brien must create a vision and lead toward it. It shouldn't be about a P.R. machine, about image building and defending, the building of statues or anything else.

It should be about the values that we all hold dear and that led to the ripping asunder of the same institution that disappointed everyone so completely because in the end, it forgot those values and didn't live them.

O'Brien may or may not be the right choice, but it doesn't really matter now. He is the choice, he deserves the full support of all Penn State faithful, and he should be given every chance to succeed. Comparisons to his predecessor might be inevitable, but they for right now are very much unwarranted.

The quicker Penn State moves forward into the next chapter of its football history, the better.

It's time for the alums to end their mourning period. What happened was terrible.

Let a new chapter begin.

What Jeffrey Lurie Really Said

His press conference was a mixed bag, but listening closely, one concept keeps coming back to me -- he's the best coach for us to win a championship next year. That's what Lurie said, so let's consider the comment.

First, if you agree with the premise that this team can win a championship next year, then logically it might follow that Reid knows the personnel the best and, therefore, is best situated to continue with his team and win a championship.

Second, if you agree with the premise that over the past couple of years the Eagles needed to shift gears, get younger and re-tool, you might be more patient with Reid than others because at some point the team did need to get younger. But that doesn't mean that you agree with the next premise, that the re-tooled team is in a position to win a championship.

Third, if you listened closely, does Reid pretty much have an ultimatum -- push the rock up to the top of the hill or leave town?

I don't agree that this team can win a championship. The team lacks linebacking, had iffy safety play, has some holes in its offensive line, needs a seasoned defensive coordinator and more consistent play from its quarterback, who, yes, must learn how to slide to protect the team's investment. He also must learn how to play in the pocket more, because it's hard to name a QB who won a Super Bowl by not staying in the pocket. One does not exist. The team does have a bunch of talent, should improve next year, but win a title? Unlikely.

I do think that in saying that he did without being very blunt, Lurie has told us that if Big Red doesn't win a title, he might be gone. Or, perhaps the impression he wanted to give off, but no fan bit. And the reason that no fan has bit is because had the Birds gone 4-12 this year, Lurie might have had no choice but to fire Reid. But the Birds went 8-8, and, well, it's tough to argue with Reid's entire body of work. Especially if you are Jeffrey Lurie. So, it stands to reason that despite this "ultimatum," were the Birds to go 11-5 next year and lose in the NFC Championship game, well, Reid might just get another 5-year deal.

So. . . tea-leaf readers might infer that Lurie gave Reid and ultimatum. Or they just might infer that Lurie is bullish that the combination of the re-tooled team, another year of experience and Reid's helmsmanship might be able to win a title next year. That's probably the most logical inference.

But not one that makes any Birds' fan happy at all.

It's Lurie's team, the fans will keep on coming back and buying merchandise and expensive beer no matter what, so Eagles' fans shouldn't expect any dramatic changes. Drama, yes, but dramatic changes at the top? Probably not.

What they can expect is a steady state of 8-8 to 11-5 finishes, perhaps an appearance in a conference championship game, etc.

But not a Super Bowl title.

Eagles' Fans Should Vote With Their Feet

They cannot fire owner Jeffrey Lurie, but they can try to make him look bad, not buy the team's merchandise, and so forth.

Lurie's announcement today that he will bring back head coach Andy Reid means that the owner has the following thoughts -- he thinks with his heart and not his head. Reid has been with the Eagles for 13 years, and Lurie is loyal to him, even though a) they haven't been to the Super Bowl in 7 years, b) Reid made a boneheaded decision in naming Juan Castillo his defensive coordinator, c) the team has only had one good linebacker during Reid's tenure and d) inking Michael Vick to a long-term deal doesn't look like a good decision now. Oh, and there's another one -- Lurie probably feels bullet proof because the demand for his tickets and merchandise is such that his fan base would probably re-up even if Joe Kuharich or Jerry Williams were coaching the team and guys like King Hill were still playing quarterback.

Ugh. Aargh.

Will this prompt the second "WTF?" headline from The Philadelphia Daily News, second only to the one that the people paper inked when Reid named Castillo his defensive coordinator after having served as the o-line coach since Bill Clinton was elected for his second term? Look, Reid is a good coach -- his record proves that. But there is a difference between someone who can manage the team to make the playoffs and someone who can win a championship. Reid has had plenty of opportunities to win a championship, and he hasn't gotten there. And look, this past season he put together a team more designed to draw headlines than to win games. The team lacked good coaching, lacked good leaders and blew 5 second-half leads. Win 2 of those 5 games and you make the playoffs. Lose all 5 and then win your last 4 and have a 5-1 record against divisional opponents and try to rationalize the season wasn't all that bad.

It was a train wreck. And it's been a series of train wrecks frequented by blind spots about positions (such as going into a season once without a punt returner and then without a fullback and almost never with linebackers who can come close to make a Pro Bowl save Jeremiah Trotter), bad time management, and, this season, almost no leadership among the players, no one holding DeSean Jackson accountable for his attitude or Michael Vick accountable for his, yes, stupid unwillingness to slide to avoid hits. I like Vick, but where is a leader who will tell him that the team needs him to avoid getting hit?

Sorry, but I just don't get it. And the only way for Eagles' fans to send Lurie a message that his head coach is the fourth best among the four major teams in the city -- is to vote with their feet. Don't buy the merchandise, don't buy the tickets, and don't go for being teased that almost is good enough. Every year, we get pumped up that "this is the year" and every year we hear sanitized nonsense about how the Eagles are improving and how it's Reid's fault when they don't and you hear Howard Eskin arrogantly dictate to us that football is complicated, we don't know the game and the Eagles obviously know more than we do. Huh?

Football is a game, it's easy to understand because it is a game, and it's not higher math, rocket science or neurosurgery. Not even close. If it were, it wouldn't have so many fans. And what the fans see is accurate -- and that is that the team was flawed, that it's head man cannot handle the dual role of coach and GM, and that under his leadership it won't go any further than say 10-6 any more, perhaps a division title and perhaps to a conference championship game. Reid has had an owner who has given him carte blanche, and he hasn't delivered.

True, I've written before that a fundamental tenet of human resources is that you shouldn't can someone without a better alternative as a replacement. That said, there must be better alternatives out there. Duke didn't hire Coach K knowing that he'd be the most successful college hoops coach ever. He was a young head coach with a career record of 1 win over .500 at Army when he got the Duke job. Dick Vermeil was the Eagles' 6th choice in the 70's when he got the job, and for a while he had the highest rating as a celebrity on Philadelphia-area commercials because of his success as a coach (okay, he didn't win a Super Bowl in Philadelphia, but he was a much more straightforward communicator).

There is another Mike Tomlin or Mike McCarthy out there. Jeffrey Lurie should have taken the time to check around, figure that out and go get the guy. 14 years ago he thought he had another Shula or Noll in Reid, but it just didn't work out that way. And it doesn't look like it's going to work out any time soon.

So, instead of change, we'll have to listen to the likes of Cullen Jenkins telling us that the defense finally jelled, despite the fact that they did so when they were 4-8 (or, put differently, garbage time for their season), that the players like Juan Castillo (sure, because if you have a coach who doesn't know what he's doing, he won't hold you as accountable as one who does), that Castillo will be back, that DeSean inexplicably won't be despite what he means to the team, that linebacking isn't all that important to their scheme, that somehow they'll figure out a way to play Nnamdi Asomugha, and that their safeties are actually pretty good. Worse yet, you'll have media types buy into the hype and tell us that they should be a favorite to win the division. The whole rap will be so saccharine that if you don't brush after listening you might just get a cavity.

Sorry to be so tough, but clarity can be offensive, and Jeffrey Lurie made it perfectly clear that somehow, after watching this regression, Andy Reid can rebound and turn the franchise around and get the team a championship. I suppose that if you tell yourself something like that enough, you'll be able to convince yourself of anything. The will not to believe is always strong, and, in Lurie's case, the will not to believe is that Lurie refuse to believe that his chosen coach cannot win a championship. That's a dangerous way of thinking, and Lurie's stubbornness not to admit what many of us believe is either courage or folly.

And most fans would argue folly.

I hope that Lurie is proven right, but I don't think that he will be.

And where will the accountability be if the linebackers stink again, the safeties can't cover, and the offensive line has holes in it?

Because we'll hear, "well, we've been working to get the team younger, and I'm looking forward to having Andy return for another year."

Huh?

Really?

WTF?

Reflections from the Winter Classic

When they announced that Philadelphia would be hosting the Winter Classic, my sixth grader offered that it might be neat to go. Well, have a partial season ticket plan to the Phillies, and, presto, I got a chance to enter a lottery to buy two tickets to the event, "won" the lottery, got two tickets underneath the cover on the third-base line that gave me an obscured view of the scoreboard (but a good view of the rink) for the same amount of money that third-row seats to the NBA Finals featuring the 76ers about 10 years ago cost (for some perspective; I was a guest at that game). My wife and I decided to surprise my son for this birthday, so when he opened a relatively light box inside was an email touting the game and a warm pair of Wigwam socks. That was about four weeks ago.


The build-up was fun, what with the alumni game and a 66 year-old Bernie Parent, who lives on a houseboat in Wildwood, NJ, strapping on the pads for the first time since perhaps Ronald Reagan was President (first term) (the team hasn't won a Stanley Cup since 1975). The coverage of that was pretty cool and set the backdrop for yesterday's game.


The powers that be postponed the game from 1 to 3 p.m., owing to weather patterns, sun angles, glare, possible sun melt and whatever combination of meteorology and outdoor ice hockey would have not blinded the players and turned the playing surface into what the average Center City street corner looks like the day after a snow storm. So, my son and I ate lunch at home, foregoing the opportunity for a quick stop at John's Roast Pork for a cheesesteak (among the best in the city and featured in, of all things, Zagat's national restaurant guide). The traffic to Citizens Bank Park was okay, and when we arrived at the stadium complex we noted how early the tailgaters got there. We parked in our usual lot, albeit a bit further from the Bank because where we normally park was full of tailgaters who seemed content hanging out in 40-degree weather in little more than a turtleneck and a $199 commemorative jersey over it drinking much cheaper beer than they would find inside.


Our contribution to the great sale of all things Flyers was the purchase of two wool hats, the one for me being relatively standard, the one for my son being the type with the flaps that go over the cheeks. As we were walking to the stadium, we started chatting with a couple who presumably was doing the same thing. The man had on a Claude Giroux jersey, and my son offered that the Flyers' star was his favorite player. To which he got this response, "That's nice to hear. We're his parents." And then we got to chatting about how Claude likes Philadelphia (loves it) and whether they've had cheesteaks (plenty of times -- remember, I'm with a 12 year-old -- and that they had been to Geno's just the other day). They ended up peeling off to go to a get-together near the Wachovia Center, and we made our way to the stadium.

My son honored me and the old Flyers by wearing, as his fourth layer atop cold-weather Under Armour, a long-sleeved Flyers t-shirt and a hooded sweatshirt the Moose DuPont #6 jersey that my father bought for me at Mitchell & Ness (well before they made the vintage jerseys) when the Flyers went to the Stanley Cup for the first time in 1974. Under those layers, it looked pretty good on him, and it was neat to see him where it. Despite the fervence of the fans and some near misses, the Flyers haven't won a Cup since 1975. It was cool to see him in this garb, even if the temperature dictated pretty quickly that he needed to don his winter jacket to stave off the cold.

The whole area was jammed, a sea of orange and black, with some New York Rangers' red and blue interspersed (Flyers' fans take note -- the average Rangers' fan spent a lot more for his tickets than you). The weather was okay to start, but got colder as the sun began to set and the winds kicked in. It was electric to a degree, and here are some observations:

1. The "experience", as it were, lacked two things that the Phillies add that would have made it a little more fun -- a) having photographers take commemorative photos of you that you can purchase on the website and b) giving out towels for the fans to wave. The former would have created revenue and keepsakes; the latter, well, a more electric environment akin to a Phillies' playoff game.

2. It's amazing how many beers people will drink in a below-freezing wind-chill factor environment.

3. The bathrooms seemed much more crowded than at any Phillies' game. Is it because the crowd is more male, or because people can go 18 times between innings, and only twice between periods?

4. People who wore only a turtleneck beneath a $199 dollar commemorative Winter Classic jersey found out how cold it can get and were cold.

5. We counted 20 different Flyers jerseys, at least from the names and numbers on the back. the most prominent were Giroux jerseys, but we also saw Hextall, Clarke, Powe, Sinisalo, Boucher and a dozen or so others.

6. I wore about 4 layers, we had blankets, and the "warmers" that hunters use that we kept in our gloves to keep our hands as warm as we could. We sat under cover, and the wind kicked up pretty strongly for most of the game.

7. We had pretty good seats, sitting behind the goal where the Flyers shot at twice. Henrik Lundquist, the Rangers' goalie, was terrific as the Rangers sleep-skated through the first period. The crowd stood for the entire first period.

8. Yes, it was hard to see the puck and the average fan cheered not at a score, but when he/she saw the players from his favorite team celebrating a goal. Remember, baseball stadiums are designed for baseball viewing, not ice hockey. So while it was exciting, it wasn't like every seat was a good one (and the purist could debate how many seats really gave the viewer a great shot at the action -- perhaps the luxury boxes along the third base line, which were high up enough to see above all the boards).

9. The Flyers need a goaltender.

10. People were generally pumped up to be there, as most people in most cities like to go to events, spend a lot of time at them and a lot of money on them. We had fun, we were cold, and we wished that the outcome were different. Overall, it was a good experience and showed a city that favors football and baseball that hockey can appeal to a group that's larger than the core of diehards that has subscribed to season tickets for years.

11. As for prices. . . beers were $7.75, programs $10, and parking $25 ($50 for larger vehicles).

12. We saw Barry Melrose walk by us as we walked into the stadium. The grey mullet kind of works on him, but he's not as big as he looks on camera.

13. Is it me, or have they grown bigger hockey players since, say, 30 years ago? The Rangers have a 6'7" center, and there were a bunch of players over 6'4" out there.

14. By my count, players from about 10 different countries were represented.

It was, in many ways, a classic, and, of course, when you go to a main event with your son for his birthday present, it's all the more special.