The Fightin's

Tomorrow night, it will be the third annual trip to Reading for the Phillies' winter carvan stop. Featured are Harry the K, Charlie Manuel, Shane Victorino, Brad Lidge and JC Romero, plus some front office folks, lower on the scale than Pat Gillick and the Rube.
I can remember when they stopped in Lancaster, usually at the Sportswriters and Broadcasters banquet. Always had some names like Michael Jack, Rose, Dallas, the Wizard of Oz, the Bull and others. The Pope was always there and Bill Giles. Miss that.
But this will wet our taste until the first trip to the Bank.
I have developed a list of questions to ask Charlie and the others. Will be talking with Harry the K, I think I'll just let him tell the stories.
Here are the questions I plan to ask during a media session with Charlie and the others.
1. What moves will the Phillies make between now and the start of the season?
2. With the off-season moves, is this team stronger than the one that finished the season?
3. Might the move of Brett Myers from the role of closer into the rotation be the biggest free agent pick-up of the off-season?
4. Will Howard's contract situtation be a distraction?
5. What impact will Rowand's loss have on the team?
6. Is the team better with Victorino in center and the platoon of Werth and Jenkinsin right?
7. What is Eaton and Gordon's status?
8. You won the division last year with several key players missing time with injuries. If you stay injury-free, how good can this team be?
9. Now that you have gotten a taste of the post-season, how hungry will this team be to take it a step farther?
10. How can you avoid a slow start?
11. How much have the other teams in the division improved?
12. Can this team win 100 games like JRoll said?

Yesterday's mail

When I got home last night, the ballot for the voting for the Susquehanna Valley Chapter of the PA Sports Hall of Fame was in the mail.

The deceased inductee will be Jim Kuhn.

The ballot includes:
1. P. Abbott Asplin, who played football at Leighton High School and hoops and football at F&M.
2. Jack Cassebaum, who coached at E-town and McCaskey.
3. Robert Charles, soccer coach at the 'Ville.
4. Barry Henry, former basketball coach at Hempfield.
5. Spencer Henry, former basketball coach at Cocalico and former football official.
6. Bill Goad, former golf coach at Eastern.
7. Dr. Tom Martin, Penn Manor grad.
8. Paul Meisenbach, former swimmer.
9. "Buckle" Smaling, amateur basketball legend.
10. Warren Taylor, former track star at Hempfield and Stevens
11. Robert Thomas, softball pitcher.
12. Andrew Tompos, amateur golfer.
13. Merv Witmer, former Ephrata AD and wrestling coach.
14. Bill Young, amateur golfer from Wrightsville.

Members need to vote for six. The banquet is May 3.

19 straight

On the way into work today, I got to thinking with the Tide boys'
streak now at 19, about some of the famous athletes who wore the number
19. The only two that came to mind were Johnny Unitas and Greg Luzinski.

Back to the game, last night at Lebanon Catholic, which I think is a tough place to play, because the gym/auditorium is so old and poorly lit, the Tide led 15-12 after one quarter and 31-24 at the half.

Columbia dominated the second half in a 73-47 win for their 19th straight win.
They are 13-0 in Section 4. By the way, the most famous number 13 -- Wilt Chamberlain.

Girls Update

The Columbia girls' basketball team played its next-to-last home game of the regular season last night against Lebanon Catholic.

First a comment. It wasn't that long ago when the two small schools played each other in girls' hoops, the game was actually played before a full house. Last night, you probably could have put all the fans in one section of the bleachers up on the hill.

Lebanon Catholic won the game 70-52. The Columbia girls played hard and at one point in the third quarter used a 1-3-1 half court trap to get back into the game.

Lebanon Catholic has enough talent to win the Class A District 3 title.