Nostalgia

  My daughter thinks I am nostalgic. Too much so for her. She wonders how much I live in the present. 

While the present and the future both scare and excite me, I do have a soft spot for what took place in the past. This is especially true with sports.

She and I went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania this past Saturday to see my college baseball team play. I have a fond place in my heart for Franklin and Marshall baseball, having played on both the freshman and varsity teams. 

I follow all Diplomats sports teams—some closer than others. That is largely due to my having known a plethora of student-athletes on the teams (all male, until the advent of co-education in 1970) from 1969 to 1972.

I know that F&M has won 5 National titles—a lot for a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania Dutch country, but pales in comparison with so many others on Division I, II and III levels. Walking through the gym and seeing the banners for the five trips to the Division III Final Four in basketball is a source of honor.  I watched those teams from afar, mostly by news releases, with visits to a variety of arenas which included a trip to Salem, Virginia to see Glenn Robinson’s team in the 1996 Final Four. 

Do I wish the Dips were reaching heights like they used to? Am I hopeful they can win a Centennial Conference title and play in the NCAA’s? Yes, Yes. And Yes. Which is why I will check out the schedule for 2024-25 when it is available, looking for dates I might head back to campus, when the team plays at Muhlenberg, the closest CC school to New Jersey, or it they make trip to the Garden State. I know I can watch the games on the computer, too. 

I was loyal and faithful when I would sneak away from my studies after dinner to watch the basketball team play. They were usually overmatched. Which is why when they win, like in the glory years under Robinson or this past season when the team went 20-7, I am joyful—even if I agonize during the videos. 

This is part of my heritage. I guess I bleed blue and white (even with the onset of black in the uniforms). I like wearing my F&M hat, courtesy of the current baseball coach and a game-worn jersey bearing my college number 25 when I see the baseball team play. 

It is why I gave a small donation in honor of the late Robert Curtis, who was the football coach who led the school back to respectability after a disastrous 1-8 season during my sophomore year. I contributed to naming the press box in his honor—a beautiful gesture for a great man. Every time I go on campus, I must enter Shadek Stadium, named for the great benefactor, football quarterback, baseball teammate and classmate, to see the plaque for those who contributed, and which includes my wife’s and my name. 

I never thought I would see a beautiful stadium on campus, in an area that which didn’t exist in my years there. The former football field sits vacant, used for the track which still encircles the field where so many Diplomat teams toiled. Heck, the baseball field I played on, part of the main campus when I patrolled right field, is long gone, with the present team playing on the Baker Campus, a decent car ride away. 

When I enter Mayser Gymnasium, besides reading the banners on the walls, I have such a sense of remembrance. All the times I slid on the wooden floor to practice my slide. Basketball games aplenty, including some NCAA contests. Wrestling, F&M’s sole DI sport, used to be sold out and noisy due to riotous nature of our students. 

And I remember all the musical acts which graced the stage—Linda Ronstadt; James Taylor together with Carol King; Santana; the Grateful Dead were among the great acts brought to Lancaster by the Student Union Board. Maybe that’s why my wife and I are seeing Gary Puckett and the Union Gap along with the Grassroots, the Brooklyn Bridge and Gary Lewis and the Playboys at the State Theater in New Brunswick. F&M gave me the impetus to see rock in smaller venues. I digress.

I don’t limit my nostalgia to just F&M. It can be Rutgers—I have watched and continue to follow a whole slew of sports, most importantly football, men’s basketball and baseball. How many times have I been at SHI Stadium (formerly just plain old Rutgers Stadium before the expansion) since my teens? I’ve seen Rutgers basketball as the home team in three venues—the College Avenue Gymnasium, Jersey Mike’s Arena a.k.a. the RAC, and Madison Square Garden, plus a few road games at Delaware, Cincinnati and Seton Hall. And I practiced catching fly balls on the old baseball field which had been swallowed up for football practice fields before migrating to the present location.

Then there’s the New York Yankees. The first team I rooted for was the team from the Bronx. I haven’t looked back. 

You always remember your first love. Baseball—particularly New York Yankees baseball. As a boy growing up in Highland Park, the games were freely available on WPIX, Channel 11 in New York—The Daily News station. Plus there was tremendous newspaper coverage from the beat writers and columnists who populated the numerous NYC publications and the local New Brunswick newspaper, The Home News.

I would watch numerous games in our bottom floor den, the coolest room in a mostly un-air conditioned house, with a huge industrial fan cooling us down on hot Summer days and nights. It didn’t matter if the Yankees were home or in Detroit, Cleveland, Boston or Baltimore. My attention was focused on the heroes of my youth. I patterned my batting after them, learning to switch hit like Mickey Mantle or Tom Tresh. And I wanted to play outfield like Mantle because it looked so cool. 

My faith never wavered—through the lean years, the renaissance of the 1970’s and then the time of the Core Four starring Derek Jeter. I trekked to Shea Stadium when the old Stadium was deemed unsafe. I have sat everywhere except the bleachers—perhaps out of fear of the rabid nature of the fans. Lol. 

Now there is a new group of stars—Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Gerrit Cole, Anthony Volpe. I still am transfixed watching the Yankees on YES or the myriad other outlets which alternately carry the games. I shudder when Clay Holmes comes in to close the game out—as good as he is, Holmes is simply not Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer ever. 

Yankees games make April to October must see TV. Which coincides with my obsession with the New York Jets. It will be 48 years this fall when my sister and I began our odyssey of having season tickets to a New York pro football team. Because you have to be committed to watch the Jets, winners of only one Super Bowl, which happened in 1970 for the 1969 season.

The agony of watching the Jets blunders was more than Lady, our beloved Shetland Sheepdog, could take. When I would have that regular outburst over the team screwing up once more, she would join with full-throated barking either in support of my emotional trauma or letting me know how berserk I was. 

Yet I am readying for another season, even after the terrible disappointment of the injury to our QB with the distorted views still fresh in my mind. It is my fervent hope Aaron Rodgers will rock my TV set and my seats inside Met Life Stadium this fall leading the Jets to the promised land. Perhaps my dog did have it right as to how delusional I am.

To a lesser extent, hockey has a hold on me. I have had shares of tickets to see the Rangers and Devils, and I have travelled to Canada and a few U.S arenas to see the players “shoot that puck, score that goal.”

Let me not forget the NBA—I have optimistically followed the Knicks and Nets since my childhood and early teens. I became enthralled with the Golden State Warriors led by Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. It was predictable that the dynasty would end ignominiously in the NBA backwater of Sacramento, where a revenge-seeking younger and stronger team eliminated the Warriors. I have seen the same things happen to the Lakers, Celtics and Bulls dynasties. 

And I have a soft spot for the Philadelphia 76’ers. I saw my only NBA Championship game in 1967 at Convention Hall. I have been to the Spectrum and Wells Fargo Center. I even pulled for the Sixers to down Miami in the play-in round, albeit letting them face my beloved Knicks who I will be rooting hard for. 

I have seen a lot of sports in my time. A ton on TV and a good number of games in person. While I long for a rebirth by some of my favorite teams, based largely on past performances which I cherished, I look forward to the time when they are winners in the present so I can exalt in my joy. 

So forgive me if, with the cold, gusty and persistent wind in Lancaster when the Diplomats hosted Muhlenberg, I thought of my catch versus York in April, 1969, when the chilly wind blew in so much that I caught the ball sprawled by the infield grass after sprinting in from left field. Or how a Yankees win on a Saturday afternoon was like many a game I attended at the Stadium and the radiant feeling of sharing in the victory in my own way, or how downcast I was after a loss. 

For me, nostalgia has its place in the present and in the future. 

What Would #22 Do For A Clark Bar?

  The jockeying for playoff position in the NBA is over. The NHL enters its last week. Baseball is through 10% of its games. The Masters field has completed its annual trek through the lush and colorful azaleas planted on the course. More on those shortly.

Yet those sports collectively pale in comparison with one event. Because the 2024 WNBA Draft is being held and the presumptive number one choice is America’s sports sweetheart, Caitlin Clark (Sorry, Swifties—being the girlfriend of the Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end and flying halfway around the world to attend the Super Bowl to see her beau play is in a different category of Americana). 

As many hits as “Traylor” has been getting on social media, Iowa’s superstar is keeping pace if not doing better. We know she has said goodbye to the University of Iowa fans and in turn, the school will being retiring her number 22 jersey in the near future. 

Without much digging, the web tells us that Clark is a marketing major with a minor in communication studies. We also know she was classified as a senior this past season but we do not know if she will be graduating.  

Unless she flies in from Indianapolis on that date, Clark can attend graduation virtually. She will be in the midst of the WNBA pre-season at that time. From the April 15th draft through to the start of the WNBA season on May 14 (look for her to be featured in the season opener that night when the Indiana Fever visits the Connecticut Sun, to be telecast on ESPN 2) and beyond, Clark will be busy adapting to the professional ranks and the demands of expected stardom.

Her stamina will be tested with such a hectic schedule so close after the NCAA Women’s Championship. By happenstance, or maybe in anticipation, Clark’s boyfriend just happens to be living in Indianapolis, working for the playoff-bound Indiana Pacers. 

Connor McCaffrey is his name. Basketball fans will recognize him as a member of the Iowa Hawkeyes’ men’s team, where he played for his father, Fran McCaffrey, and ended his career in 2023 as the program’s all-time leader in assist-to-turnover ratio. For the record, Connor did graduate with a dual degree in finance and political science; how this relates to becoming a basketball coach like his father is unclear.  

While the couple has been balancing their respective jobs—his as a team assistant for Head Coach Rick Carlisle and she as the women’s college basketball college G.O.A.T. (which is definitely open to debate)—he has been so supportive of his girlfriend. 

With the WNBA going through September and the Olympics in the middle, it’s going to be a lot for Clark. Not that McCaffrey won’t be working hard during that time. 

He does have her back. When Iowa lost to South Carolina, McCaffrey summed up his affection and respect for Caitlin on Instagram: My GOAT @catlinclark22. This guy sounds smart and could be a keeper. Will they someday be known as “Conlin?” Or “30/22” for their uniform numbers?

Certainly we will get daily updates on Caitlin Clark similar to how one can easily find out what is the latest for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. I hope Clark has enough privacy to live her life away from the sanctitude of Iowa City. And do not worry about her income—I have feeling State Farm, Nike and other corporations will gladly renew or include her in the ad campaigns.

The pressure on her will be enormous. If she remains with her guy and endures the frustrations sure to come with a team which finished last in the league in the past season, the future will be bright.

Before I get to other sports, the death of O.J. Simpson must be mentioned. Bigger than life as an athlete, first at USC where he won the Heisman Trophy, then in the NFL as the record-breaking star running back for the Buffalo Bills, Simpson parlayed good looks and what appeared to be a great temperament into a career in commercials and on the big screen. Which came tumbling down with the murder of his wife Nicole, the low speed chase on the Southern California freeways and the subsequent trial and acquittal. 

Simpson became a polarizing figure in American society, a lightning rod among the races and how things were viewed at that time. Never convicted of his wife’s murder, Simpson was held accountable in a civil trial. His persona became non grata and he lived a life denying his culpability. Ultimately, his bravado caught up with him in a botched retrieval of his memorabilia which landed him in a Nevada prison for over nine years. Prostate cancer summarily ended the pathos. 

Think what you want about “The Juice.” His life was one of the most complicated I have seen  in my lifetime, and with so much remaining unknown. O.J. truly was an enigma. 

The NHL chase to the end of the season is scrambled. Much to the joy of Commissioner Gary Bettman, the person who is universally booed in all the league’s rinks. 

In the Eastern Conference, the New York Rangers look like they will have the most points, followed by Boston, Carolina and Florida. What needs to be sorted out is which team secures the third and final spot in the Metropolitan Division presently held by the New York Islanders and which among the Islanders, Capitals, Penguins, Red Wings and Flyers takes the second Wild Card slot. Washington and Philadelphia meeting in the final game could be pivotal. As could the Islanders playing the Penguins. 

It is just as unsettled in the Western Conference. Dallas has a chance to catch the Rangers for most points. Vancouver, Colorado, Edmonton and Winnipeg are closely bunched entering the last week of play. Nashville has clinched one of the Wild Card openings. Vegas is ahead of St. Louis, with the Golden Knights having to play an extra game; they can catch the Los Angeles Kings for third place in the Pacific Division, relegating the Kings, who have clinched a playoff berth, to the Wild Card. Both LA and Vegas play the final four games at home.

Sunday marked the conclusion of the NBA regular season. While the playoff participants were set, the positions weren’t set until the final whistle. Which made for some TV ratings and scoreboard watching. 

Boston has the top record in the league. That does not necessarily make the Celtics the prohibitive favorite; defending champion Denver is more than ready to defend its crown. Minnesota and Oklahoma City, along with the Nuggets, form a formidable trio atop the Western Conference standings. 

The play-in games have been set. In the East, the Bulls and Hawks meet, with the loser eliminated and the winner taking on the loser of the 7-8 contest between Miami and Philadelphia. All for the right to face the Celtics. The Knicks nailed down the #2 seed and await their opponent from the 7-8 game. Milwaukee faces Indiana in the 3-6 matchup and the Cavs and Magic tangle in the 4-5 game. 

Out West, the games which played on Thursday night began the process of setting the lineup. When the dust settled on Sunday evening, OKC wound up with the top seed while ending up in a three-way tie with Denver (#2 seed) and Minnesota (#3 seed). The Clippers and Dallas meet in the 4-5 series, while the Lakers and Pelicans play the 7-8 game while Golden State travels to Sacramento with the winner continuing and the loser heads home. 

Let’s talk a little baseball. Not too much can be discerned from the first few weeks of the season. After all, this is a marathon and the runners may have just gotten off of the Verrazano Bridge. There is a long way to go to Central Park. 

Pittsburgh started strongly. So what? Last season the Pirates opened 20-8 and came nowhere near making the playoffs. 

I am also dubious as to how good Kansas City and Detroit really are, and whether the Astros are as bad as they seem at the start. Perhaps the retirement of the venerable Dusty Baker as manager is having a big impact on the team at the outset. We can tell that Colorado isn’t very good, neither are the Marlins.

Sure, the Yankees looked good coming out of the gate. The karma is outstanding and Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rondon have pitched well. Anthony Volpe seemingly has fixed his swing and knows the tight strike zone better. Recently, Giancarlo Stanton has really been hitting with authority. Juan Soto is, well, Juan Soto superstar. Aaron Judge is still coming along and Anthony Rizzo is getting here. However, Gleyber Torres is struggling in his contract year and the catchers are hitting abysmally. Plus injuries have hit the bullpen, which is always taxed the way the starters pitch. That showed up on Sunday in the extra inning loss to Cleveland. 

New York is not going to run away with the division with Baltimore right there. This is not like the Los Angeles Dodgers playing well thanks to the bat of one Shohei Ohtani added to the already potent lineup. 

Maybe by Memorial Day the picture will be clearer. At least the weather is beginning to get better in the East and Midwest. That will help to see who really is good. 

Former Yankees, Cardinals and Rangers left-hander Jordan Montgomery ditched super agent Scott Boras when the latter could not land a multi-year deal for the pitcher. Montgomery was not the only one Boras did not come through for. Could this be the start of a trend? Remember that Juan Soto is in his free agent year and is represented by Boras.

One more thing about Caitlin Clark. Fresh off her outrageously funny cameo on Saturday Night Live, I wonder if her management team has been approached by the Boyer Candy Company in western Pennsylvania. That company makes the confection called the Clark Bar. Revisiting the great past advertising slogan, I wonder what #22 would do to have a Clark Bar?

A College Basketball Weekend

  I feel like I have been watching this seemingly unending mini-series since mid-March as it reaches its conclusion. And there was a four part final act over three nights to reach the end. 

Of course, I am referring to the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments. This weekend the Final Four was pared to two in each bracket before the women declared a champion on Sunday and the men determined who was the best on Monday night. 

First there were opening acts—the play-in games. Once taken care of, the action took off in the main draw. There were upsets and routs. Buzzer beaters and unthinkable endings. All playing to a crescendo this past weekend. 

Maybe this is why America loves the tournaments. The spectrum of teams covering the entirety of the country coupled with the unmatched drama makes for quite a spectacle. 

Sure, there are many people who identify with a certain school. Allegiances aside, if you are a fan of sports and college basketball in particular, then you will routinely side with or against teams.

From this weekend alone, the viewership of the games involving Iowa’s Caitlin Clark in her final collegiate contests broke ESPN viewership records. And as much as the defending champion, the University of Connecticut and Purdue University, the other surviving seed on the men’s side were favorites in their Saturday games, there were plenty of fans rooting for #11 seed North Carolina State University and #3 seed the University of Alabama to knock out the big boys (literally and figuratively). 

UConn seemed dominant heading into the championship game where the school hoped to join other legendary programs with back-to-back titles (Florida was the last to accomplish this feat in 2007 & 2008). Purdue was a bit more enigmatic in its route to the Monday finale—the team tolerated NC State for awhile in Saturday’s first game before handily dispatching the Wolfpack. 

In fact, it was a bad weekend for NC State fans. Not only did the men not advance, but the women were easily defeated by a hungry, undefeated squad from the University of South Carolina, seeking its second crown in the past three years. 

Still, it was a very exciting and unexpected finish to the seasons for both Wolfpack teams. People in Raleigh and in the A much-maligned Atlantic Coast Conference should be proud of how both NC State teams did to get this far. 

As for the UConn women, a questionable screen was called a foul with a tick over three seconds left against Iowa. Even with that, somehow the Huskies could have had one more chance to win. They didn’t capitalize and Iowa was on to the finals against top-seed South Carolina, a team seeking redemption for its shocking loss to the Hawkeyes in last year’s semi-finals. 

Clark and Zach Edey of Purdue were National Players of the Year in both 2023 and 2024. They were seeking to further define their college legacies in their respective final games.

Except that their teams were flawed. And those flaws were exposed by two teams which were dominant in their wins. 

When Iowa went out to a quick 13-2 score behind the shooting of Clark, it was going to be a matter of time before the taller and more athletic Gamecocks came back. Dominating the boards and inside play, Head Coach Dawn Staley’s women sealed the deal on an undefeated season and the second championship in the past three seasons by making Clark and her team look mortal. 

In the men’s contest, Edey was dominant. He was sinking shots and swatting away balls near the rim. The problem for the Boilermakers wasn’t Edey—it was that the rest of the team didn’t match up with the quicker, stronger and more determined Huskies. 

The guys from Storrs, Connecticut played with the intensity of their fiery coach. He’s the first coach I have ever seen push his player onto the court—while play was still ongoing. His ferocity was evident and the talent of his players shined with the tremendous preparation the coaching staff gave them. 

The outcome was probably a foregone conclusion—Connecticut went into the match 5-0 in title games. In this tournament, the Huskies were the most dominating team in the long history of the NCAA Men’s Championship. Dan Hurley’s name is mentioned with the greats who had teams win back-to-back crowns: Wooden, Iba, Rupp and Coach K led their squads to victories in consecutive seasons.

Can there be a third win for UConn? Most likely not, given the volatile nature of the college scene with NIL and the transfer portal. For the younger brother of Duke great Bobby Hurley, Jr., who played on back-to-back winners at Duke, his place in history has been made. If he continues to coach like he has with the players and resources the school has at his disposal, Dan Hurley could some day joining his father in the Hall of Fame.

As for Clark and Edey, they should not be ashamed of what they have accomplished. Clark has redefined women’s basketball for the ages—much like Steph Curry did for the NBA. Clark has set every scoring and assist record in her storied career. Interest in women’s basketball reached record numbers when her games were televised. Her style and shooter’s mentality captured America’s heart. 

As for Edey. He is the best player to don a Purdue uniform. The center’s performance in the finals—37 points and 10 rebounds placed him in the company of Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton as the only players to score like that in a championship game. He gave a heroic performance versus an all-time team; he could not shoot threes from the perimeter to help his teammates who were shut down by the swarming UConn defense. 

What is the future for the duo? Clark is almost a certainty to be drafted #1 in the upcoming WNBA Draft. Her charisma will translate well in marketing the league. 

Will she lift the Indiana Fever to the upper echelons of the WNBA? Not unless there is a significant supporting cast. It was clear how South Carolina, with its athletic and tall lineup, reduced Clark’s effectiveness. 

What also might hamper Clark’s development is her frustration with no calls when she believes she has been fouled. The WNBA is a rougher league than college, and that seemed to be pretty rough itself. 

But I also believe that she will adapt to the different style of play in a way not too dissimilar to others like her—Sabrina Ionescu comes to mind, who came out of college as the only Division I player to racked up 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds in her career.  Ionescu is 5’11’ tall, while Clark comes in at 6’0”. 

Give her a team to lead, Clark might go on to a legendary professional career if she stays free of injury. For the sake of the WNBA, we can hope for that to happen.

As for Edey, he has gotten stronger. The Purdue senior is a decent free throw shooter. He does not possess a jump shot. His hands are suspect. His passing ability is not very good. Plus his mobility is not at the pro level. His defense is good around the rim; Edey will be swallowed up by quick NBA guards and forwards if he moves too much away from the rim; I think about how much better players such as Chet Holmgren, Victor Webanyama, Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Townes, Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic are. He is more comparable to a stay-at-home defender like Rudy Gobert, and I think Gobert is more athletic than Edey. Consider Zach Edey to be a project for whatever franchise takes him.

Edey is projected to be a late first round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. In comparison, UConn center Donovan Clingan, a much more mobile center with three point shooting ability, is a projected lottery pick. While he had difficulty at times guarding Edey, his agility is much better. 

UConn guard Cam Spencer, the former Rutgers player, showed his grit along with his shooting from three-point range and in the paint. I never thought of him as a NBA player until recently. He just might make it into the league. I wish he had never left RU, but Cam did exactly what he needed to do for himself. 

Dan Hurley is likely to stay at UConn. With John Calipari departing Kentucky after 15 years of disappointing the Wildcats’ fans, grabbing the big bucks of NIL at Arkansas, Hurley’s name has been mentioned as a successor. 

At another time, Kentucky might have been the place to go. No longer. Alabama’s Nate Oates said he’s not interested. Jay Wright, the former Villanova coach turned TV host took his name out of consideration. Nobody seems to be chomping at the bit. 

Why should Hurley be tempted to jump ship from what is now one of the premier college programs of all time? Hurley has the opportunity to make history at the right place, in the league he grew up with (Big East) and close to New Jersey roots shared with his wife. Jim Calhoun set the environment; Hurley has the chance to enhance the school’s basketball recognition. This appears to be a no brainer to me. 

Lastly, I want to recognize the brilliance of Dawn Staley. The former Virginia standout, Olympian, also a WNBA All-Star as a player, is in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame for a reason. She can flat out coach. A three-time NCAA winner at South Carolina, her name and record is there with the icons of women’s hoops: Auriemma, Summitt and VanDerveer. For good reason. 

When she decides to call it quits, she will have more championships under her belt, along with having taught a lot of life lessons to the young women she has coached. Not bad at all for a 5’6” point guard out of Philly with the tenacity of a lioness. 

In a weekend with an earthquake and an eclipse, college basketball shook the earth and shined brightly.