A F&M Victory For The Ages...And More

  Let me open where I closed last week’s blog. With Franklin and Marshall football. 

Back from Pittsburgh with a win over Carnegie-Mellon, the #25 Diplomats hosted perennial Centennial Conference powerhouse, #3 Johns Hopkins on Senior Day. A large contingent of F&M rooters (including yours truly and my wife) nearly packed the home grandstand on a cloudy day with temperature hovering in the mid 50’s. 

This game marked the first time in CC history that two teams faced each other with perfect conference records in the final regular season contest. The winner would get one of 27 automatic bids to play in the NCAA Division III playoffs, with 13 at-large berths to be determined by a committee and announced on Sunday evening. While D III conferences don’t have championship games as part of their season, this was a de facto championship to decide which team would win the CC. 

Hopkins was the favorite to win this game. They had a high NPI ranking in their region—much better than F&M. And looking at the size of the players for the Blue Jays, there was a definite disparity between JHU and F&M. 

When I saw the schedule had F&M ending the regular season with CMU on the road and JHU at home, I felt that this was going to be too daunting for the Dips. Yet F&M showed moxie when they withstood a CMU run which put the Tartans ahead, and scored the winning TD and two point conversion to seal the victory. 

CMU had played Hopkins earlier this year in Baltimore. The Blue Jays won that matchup 28-27, but the CMU people I spoke to in the press box last week said that their team, not JHU, should have won the game. 

For much of the first half, JHU dominated F&M. They also received some help when the officiating crew awarded them pass interference calls while ignoring the same for F&M (they also didn’t call many obvious holding penalties agains JHU). F&M managed a late TD and extra point to make the halftime score 21-14 in favor of the Blue Jays. 

From there, the two teams battled. F&M finally knitted the score in the fourth quarter, as the defense continued to thwart a talented JHU offense. An offense which made a final spurt to get into field goal range with just over two ticks left on the clock. 

What would have been a heartbreaking loss for the Diplomats was saved by a blocked kick as time expired. Overtime loomed larger than ever, as it was a feeling of sudden death to determine the CC champion.

Hopkins scored a touchdown and converted the extra point. F&M was in the most critical place it could be in—score a TD or lose the game. The F&M side was in a frenzy. 

Then it happened. F&M met the challenge of the Blue Jays defense and scored the TD they desperately needed. A kick would tie the score.

Except that Head Coach Mike Phelan elected to go for the win. His team had rallied time and time again. Could they muster just enough to take home the trophy?

With a fake into the line, Diplomats QB Ty Tremba arched a pass to an uncovered Louis Paris. He caught it. Game over. F&M won. Delirium ruled in Lancaster. 

This was the first time since 1970 I had watched F&M play football in consecutive weeks. With a game like this, I don’t need to make the very hard trek to Lancaster any more. For this was the best F&M game I had ever seen—and likely will ever see. A win over a very solid team with NCAA championship ideations with everything on the line. 

It is F&M’s first NCAA playoff berth in school history. So well-deserved. If the teams played each other 10 times, I would guess that JHU would win 8 or 9 times. They just didn’t win the one which counted the most. 

On Sunday evening, the NCAA announced the selections for this year’s playoffs. Even with the loss to F&M, Hopkins was rewarded for its fine season with a home game on November 29th versus the winner of a play-in game between Springfield College and SUNY Cortland. If JHU prevails, they will host the winner of Salisbury University-Endicott College. 

Meanwhile, the Diplomats’ first NCAA football playoff game will be in Lancaster also on November 29th. Their opponent will be Eastern University, the winner of the Middle Atlantic Conference, sporting a 9-1 record like F&M. Should F&M win, they will likely face an undefeated Christopher Newport University on the road; CNU won the New Jersey Athletic Conference title and was rewarded with a bye and then hosting the winner of the Susquehanna University-Washington & Jefferson College play-in game.  

Hopefully there will be rabid F&M fans not too stuffed or hung over from Thanksgiving who will make the trek to Lancaster for the game and pack the home stands. I honestly have no clue how many Eastern fans will travel the roughly 55 miles to Shadek Stadium. 

While I am tempted to make another trip to Lancaster, there won’t be another game which could match the JHU-F&M contest in intensity or the outcome for all the marbles in the CC. The foot-stomping, vociferous crowd made it difficult for Hopkins to call plays at times. That was a once-in-a lifetime game. I’m good watching the Eastern game on my computer. 

Despite my fixation on my alma mater’s football team for the past two weeks, other things have happened in the sports world. Those events are far more important to a wider array of people than those interested in Division III sports. 

In major college football, I got my first look at Ohio State. They thoroughly dominated UCLA in Columbus. The defending champs look worthy of a top ranking and appear ready to defend their crown. Poor Rutgers, in search of one more win to be bowl eligible, will have to wait until Penn State comes to Piscataway for that opportunity. 

I have seen Georgia a few times. They are quite good; they throttled Arch Manning and  a ranked Texas squad. Manning has great potential but he is far from ready for the NFL. 

Even with Ohio State and Indiana at No. 1 and 2, the SEC seems to be stronger overall. Texas A&M survived a scare from South Carolina and overcame a 27 point deficit. Alabama was stunned by Oklahoma in Tuscaloosa, making the Crimson Tide’s to the playoffs that much more difficult. Add Mississippi and Vanderbilt to the mix along with Tennessee and the SEC could once more dominate the playoffs.

The big news in pro football was that the New York Giants finally pulled the plug on the misery created by Brian Daboll as head coach. It’s not going to right the ship immediately. But the intensity level versus Green Bay is indicative of a team that can succeed in the future. 

As for the New York Jets, another stumble in New England. New England’s Drake Maye looks like a solid quarterback, running a smooth offense behind a solid offensive line. Head Coach Mike Vrable has the team performing well. He looks so right coming back to the team he played for and assuming the reins. 

The top teams in the AFC appear to be Denver, Indianapolis and Buffalo, with nobody else really a contender. In the NFC, two divisions stand out. In the North, Chicago sports a 7-3 mark, closely followed by Detroit and Green Bay. Out West, the Los Angeles Rams downed Seattle for first place. San Francisco still looms large. 

Who may be on the outside looking in? How about the Kansas City Chiefs? The once-powerful team of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and company has lost all five of games decided by one score. That is not a recipe for success. Indy comes to town next week. A return match on Christmas Night with Denver, which defeated the Chiefs with a field goal as time expired on Sunday, may be the key to KC’s chances to make the playoffs. 

I will be seeing my first college basketball game of the season on Tuesday when American plays Rutgers. I spent a semester at AU in the Washington Semester Honors Program and I worked out with Kermit Washington, their All-American player while there; the weight room was a disgrace. I have attended classes at RU and did my pre-bar exam class there. You know I am rooting for the Scarlet Knights to prevail. 

Finally, the MLB Awards were announced this week. No real surprises. For those thinking that Cal Raleigh, Jr. would be the AL M.V.P. over Aaron Judge—that was foolish thinking. Judge had a way better year. Judge and NL winner Shohei Ohtani are the best players in baseball. 

As for pitchers, Tarik Skubal of Detroit repeated as the AL Cy Young recipient. Pittsburgh phenom Paul Skenes was the deserving winner in the National League. No doubts there. The bigger stories involved the Tigers and Pirates trading their star players, as they are unaffordable to those franchises once they become eligible for bigger contracts. Such a shame, especially in the Steel City, where the loyal fans yearn for a rerun of the glory days in the late 1960’s and ’70’s. 

For me, the storyline was trips to Pittsburgh and Lancaster on successive Saturdays to root my alma mater to victory. A F&M victory for the ages. The rest of the events in the sports world were just normal happenstance. 

Unfinished Business

  This weekend, I rectified a wrong that occurred just over 56 years ago. Let me explain.

Growing up in Highland Park, New Jersey, I did not long for much. What I did like was sports. Playing. Watching. Helping. Everything else was secondary. 

I was not very tall. I reached an adult height of 5’5”. I was heavy until the middle of 9th grade when I dropped 30 pounds and began a life-long love of weight lifting.  

Nobody told me I couldn’t play a sport. Baseball was easy for me. I thought I was good at football and basketball—until I learned that size and weight mattered. Being on the receiving end of a full blown hit from a 200 pound lineman during my freshman year playing football gave me pause about playing varsity. I ended my football career with one carry for a gain of five yards. 

From seventh grade on, I became proficient in keeping score and statistics in baseball, basketball and football. Which the coaches noticed. And it led me to being the football and basketball scorekeeper/statistician at Highland Park High School. I didn’t play baseball after my freshman year for reasons not germane to this blog. 

I loved my time as a statistician in high school. I became a necessary arm of the coaching staff for both sports. Which opened me up to strategy sessions when I delivered my morning after the game football statistics or post-game numbers in basketball. 

I knew I was destined for college. There was only one choice for me—if I could get in. That was my father’s school, Franklin and Marshall. At a young age, I avidly read the magazines sent to F&M alumni. I learned so much about the school. 

I devoured the sports section. I followed F&M football closely, with great interest in the undefeated 1964 team led by Seiki Murono at quarterback. 

It was that year that I set foot on campus. I fell in love with the beauty of the small school. I had my eyes set on F&M. 

I arrived in Lancaster with some athletic goals to augment my desire to graduate and attend law school. First, I fully intended to walk onto the freshman baseball team. Which started with my daily workouts in the gym and in the dusty dirt area called “The Pit.” I succeeded at that goal. 

Second, I wanted to do football statistics. So I approached a new freshman coach named Bob Curtis to volunteer my services. He said yes. Unlike basketball, which had no interest in my availability. Which worked out fine, as I could continue my studies without long road trips other than with football or baseball. 

Sophomore year I received a promotion to the varsity. Which placed me in the rickety old wooden press box atop Williamson Field, the home of Diplomats football. 

I was in heaven—even if the team wasn’t very good. I was given a sandwich of my choice, a drink and a spot on the 50 yard line to keep track of the plays. I ate with the team for the road games. I was glad to be part of the “training table’ and the older players adopted me immediately. 

My job was to tally the statistics and have them to the Head Coach by 8:00 on Sunday morning, which I did—except for the time the coach found my dorm room and woke me at 7:30, angry after a loss and wanting his numbers. I was accurate and honest in my job. 

F&M played an eight game schedule in 1969. Most of the games were at home. I did go to the first away game at Dickinson College on October 18th. We lost, as we would continue to do, except for the opener versus Ursinus. 

Next up was a road trip to Pittsburgh to face Carnegie Tech on October 25th. That would be my 19th birthday. I was excited about the chance to stay overnight with the the squad. 

Until I was called into the coach’s office. Without looking up, he told me I wasn’t needed and I wasn’t going. I should make myself available for the home game against Lebanon Valley the next week. 

I was crushed. It hurt big time. 

I continued my work, which included calls to the local media for some good pizza money, not only in my sophomore year but also for my junior year. I went to all the road contests. None were further than Baltimore at Johns Hopkins University. 

By my senior year, I had landed a summer internship in Congress as a Government major, which I parlayed into attending the Washington Semester Honors Program in Government at American University as one of the first to go from F&M. Coach Curtis, now the head coach, said it made no sense to travel to the games from D.C. My career as a statistician at F&M was over (I did fill in for Jersey City State College for two games in the 1980’s).

I had other pursuits to deal with, which included attending law school in Delaware and a career with the New Jersey Public Defender’s Office. I managed to see some F&M games. When they would come to New Jersey, which was rare, I would go. I went to basketball games at Muhlenberg and Moravian Colleges, easily accessible via Interstate 78.

I began to go to more home and away football games as my children got older. Of course, I go to baseball games—I did play two years before being injured my junior season. I watch F&M play on the computer. I guess I bleed Blue & White. 

Yet something lingered within me. With Carnegie-Mellon joining the Centennial Conference this year for football, the schedule had one date which leaped out to me. Saturday, November 8, F&M would be returning to Pittsburgh. My wonderful, understanding wife said sure to my craziness—said she would go to Pittsburgh to see this particular game which I have wanted to see since 1969. 

So with our daughter, who began her film and TV career in Pittsburgh, a city we are very at home with joining us for the trip, we drove the familiar route to the Steel City. The mid-Fall colors were as muted as they were bright. 

The loveliness and charm of Pittsburgh has never diminished. In fact, locales which were once warehouses are very trendy and upbeat. PNC Park is my favorite baseball stadium (and of all of the cookie cutter, dual purpose stadiums of the 1960’s and ’70’s, Three Rivers Stadium was the best). And I had been in the Steelers’ home field, then known as Heinz Field, to film a PSA spot as an extra. 

I visited Carnegie-Mellon previously and had driven through the area numerous times. It is one of the better-looking University Athletic Association campuses which includes a number of fine academic institutions (the UAA is the league CMU competes in with Brandeis University; Case-Western Reserve University; University of Chicago; Emory University; New York University; University of Rochester; and Washington University in St. Lous).

When I reached out to F&M Athletic Director Lauren Packer Webster about my adventure, she contacted Mark Fisher, the Sports Information Director at CMU and a good friend of hers, to make arrangements. I entered a press box for an F&M game for the first time since 1970, hopeful for a picture to document my presence. 

Instead, my wife and I were treated to the best time I ever had at an away venue. We were invited to sit in the second tier of the lower level of the press box, behind Mark, who was keeping the statistics on his computer, and adjacent to the live feed TV director and where the live stats were imputed. 

Everyone was so gracious to us. I was introduced to a Tartans sports institution, Donnie Michel, who once had my job as a CMU student. (Donnie played golf at CMU and stays jn touch with his coach, Richard Erdelyi—who was one of my coaches in Junior League baseball in Highland Park; Rich stayed in Pittsburgh after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh and then coached a young high school quarterback named Dan Marino as well at CMU)

Donnie assisted in a very necessary way—calling out down, distance and players involved in a play so Mark could enter the information in real time, to be swallowed up and regurgitated by a NCAA program designed to give coaches and fans comprehensive data they need and want. This was so far different than what I was doing in 1969. He also does basketball stats too; that’s true love and dedication to his alma mater.

What made it more fun was that at times, Mark of Donnie called for help and I was able to aid them with the number of a yard line where something had occurred at or which player(s) may have been on the play. Throughout the game I felt that surge of adrenaline which I had on Saturdays. The camaraderie in the press box was awesome. 

Oh, and by the way, jt was a great game. Franklin and Marshall went out to a significant lead, only to have CMU come all the way back to forge ahead. F&M then went down the field and scored the winning touchdown and two-point conversion to leave Pittsburgh with a crucial win and ruin CMU’s Homecoming. (In 1969, Carnegie Tech won 7-6)

This sets up a Centennial Conference winner-take-all matchup in Lancaster on Saturday between #3 Johns Hopkins (9-0; 6-0 CC) and #25 F&M (8-1; 6-0 CC). If I recover from this weekend and the long road trip with high speed crazy drivers out everywhere, my wife and I might just be inside Shadek Stadium on November 15th. 

Many thanks to Lauren Packer Webster, Mark Fisher and Donnie Michel for helping me relive the magic which a press box had for me all those years ago. And for allowing me to take care of unfinished business in the best way possible. 

The Best World Series Ever

  Unless you were on a remote island with no Internet access or somewhere like that, you could not have missed the end of the 2025 World Series between the defending champion and reigning National League kings, the Los Angeles Dodgers and their American League counterparts, the Toronto Blue Jays. Because those who gave the Series the nickname “The Fall Classic,” meant it for this particular set. 

The seven games were as riveting as I have ever seen a World Series. And my first one was in 1957, watching the New York Yankees lose to Henry Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Joe Adcock, Lew Burdette and Warren Spahn  and the rest of the Milwaukee Braves. (History lesson: the Braves abandoned Wisconsin after the 1965 season for the greener pastures of Atlanta, where the team is now in its third ballpark in 50 years; meanwhile, the Brewers were born in 1970 from the remnants of the Seattle Pilots—who lasted one season in the Pacific Northwest— and have played in two stadiums while members of both the American and National Leagues)

I have seen most every notable play in World Series lore. Ron Swoboda’s catch in 1969 for the Miracle New York Mets. Bill Buckner booting the ball at Shea Stadium in Game 6 of the Red Sox, giving the Mets a most improbable win. On my 36th birthday. Or the Chicago Cubs finally breaking the curse and downing Cleveland in 2016. 

You want home runs? Joe Carter’s walk off homer in 1993 gave the Blue Jays the title. Kirk Gibson limping around the bases after his clutch homer for the Dodgers. Bill Mazeroski’s winner in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series to give the Pittsburgh Pirates the crown although the Yankees out hit and out scored the Bucs overall. 

Yankees moments? They are aplenty, courtesy of the dynasties in the 1950’s-60’s, 1970’s, 1990’s-2000’s and the most recent win in 2009, which seems like eons ago for the spoiled NYY fans. 

I can see Bobby Richardson squeezing Hall of Famer Willie Mc Covey’s shot to the second baseman to secure the win for the Bombers over San Francisco. How about Mickey Mantle’s titanic blast into the Yankee Stadium upper deck to cement a win versus St. Louis? Could it be Reggie Jackson, “Mr. October,” and his three home run night against LAD? Or the highlights from Derek Jeter, which included a lead off home run at Shea Stadium in The Subway Series?

I can go on and on about the Yankees exploits and what I have watched on TV. I made it to the 1971 World Series in Baltimore to see the Orioles defeat the Pirates. What I remember most is the late Roberto Clemente unleashing a monster throw from the warning track in right field at Memorial Stadium, on a line and on the fly to third base. 

This is what made the World Series compelling to me. The drama. The excitement. The glory.

But as much as any one World Series before 2025 may have been must-see-TV, this year’s edition outdid every other one—by far. And nobody expects this to happen.

Sure, the Dodgers were the favorites. Besides being the defending champs, they buzz-sawed through the National League playoffs and seemed poised to do the same to Toronto. Especially since the Blue Jays endured two brutally tough series against the Yankees and Seattle Mariners, the latter going to seven games. 

Except that no one sent the memo to the Toronto team. In fact, they sent a huge opening salvo to LAD in the form of a major beat down of ace Blake Snell and emerging with a 11-2 victory in Game 1 in Toronto. 

Never count out the champion, who knows what it takes to win the title. LAD rebounded in Game 2 to tie the series at 1. Remember these Dodges’ names—pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and his battery mate, catcher Will Smith. Yamamoto shut down the Jays with a complete game four-hitter and Seth blasted a three run homer in support of his pitcher. 

Home field had shifted in favor of the Dodgers. Many thought that the Blue Jays might fold under the pressure. 

Then there was Game 3. Which morphed into a doubleheader by the time it was over. I gave up in the eighth inning, with the score tied at 5, courtesy of a Shohei Ohtnai home run. 

That would be the last run scored until Freddie Freeman, the first baseman with the knack for game-winning blasts, ended the marathon with a home run. This was an epic game, where both managers literally emptied their lineup and used 19 pitchers until Freeman mercifully ended the contest. 

Was this a killer game for the Blue Jays? Especially when they were facing Ohtani on the mound in Game 4? Would they not be up for the task at hand?

Less than nine innings later, we saw the series knotted up at 2. The Blue Jays were alert and hungry. LAD was roasted from the night before. Ohtani pitched admirably for 6 innings given the fact he had played 18 innings the night before. Vlad Guerrero, Jr. continued his impressive play for Toronto, with almost all of the lineup contributing in an eleven hit attack. 

Phenom Trey Yesavage. He was the Toronto pitcher in Game 5. He began the year in the lowest minor league and now he was unstoppable. The Blue Jays hopped on Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell early with home runs from Davis Schneider and Guerrero en route to a 6-2 win. 

The series was headed back to Canada and it seemed like Toronto was in control. The Jays needed one win to record their first title since 1993. 

That’s where things started to unravel for the Jays. Remember that guy Yamamoto? Well, he pitched another gem, this time for six innings and the Dodgers relief corps held off repeated Toronto assaults. 

Yet it came down to one play. LAD skipper Dave Roberts rolled the dice and inserted top starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow into a situation where one hit could have changed the outcome and given the Jays game, set and match. 

With three pitches, LAD survived. First, Glasnow retired Ernie Clement on a pop up; Clement was hitting lights out and would go on to set a record with over 30 base hits in one playoff. 

Up next was shortstop Andres Giminez. On the second pitch he saw, Giminez stroked a liner to left field. Playing little shallower than normal, Dodgers left fielder Kike Hernandez raced in, caught the ball and fired it on the run to second base, where Miguel Rojas, inserted into the lineup for more punch at second base, speared the on target throw and acrobatically completed a force out of Addison Barger, who had strayed just a bit too much thinking Giminez’s hit would land in the playing field and he would score the Series-ending run. Barger’s double was wedged under the padding in left-center field, depriving the Jays of more runs and maybe putting him on third base. 

With the luck that the Dodgers had on Friday night, it was inevitable that these two teams would go to the maximum to decide who would be the champ. Ohtani would face certain Hall of Fame pitcher Max Scherezer to begin what would prove to be an epic game. 

Ohtani was nearly mortal, surrendering 3 runs in only 2.1 innings. Toronto forged ahead 3-0 on a Bo Bichette home run. After Will Smith doubled, he eventually scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Teoscar Hernandez. 

Another sacrifice fly, this time from the bat of Tommy Edman, scored Mookie Betts in the top of the sixth inning. LAD now trailed by one, 3-2. In the bottom half of the inning, Clement singled, stole second and scored on a Giminez double. 4-2 Toronto. 

Yesavage came in to save the day for the Jays. He made it through the seventh inning okay, but in the eighth he surrendered a home run to LAD’s Max Muncy, cutting the lead again to one. 

Blake Snell came in to pitch the eighth inning, surviving a Cement double. On to the ninth inning with the crowd full of anticipation. 

That was until with one out and full count, Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman left a full count pitch over the plate and Rojas swatted the ball out of the park. Tie score. 

Roberts put Andy Pages into the game for more defense in center field with one out and the bases loaded. Clement lifted a shot to left center field and left fielder Kike Hernandez sped towards the ball. Pages, covering an amazing 121 feet of ground in an all-out sprint crashed into the smaller Hernandez and made the game-saving catch. 

That was after Rojas, plans in, stabbed a ground ball, righted himself and threw to home plate to nail Isaiah Kiner-Falefa by inches, confirmed by replay which showed catcher Smith’s foot leaving home pate before returning just in the nick of time. This was the second consecutive night Rojas saved the LAD season. 

The Dodgers threatened in the 10th inning with some slick defense. Roberts, desperate for the win, summoned Yamamoto to pitch the bottom of the tenth. Which he did, keeping Toronto at bay.

LAD catcher Smith dramatically hit a game-winning home run in the top of the 11th inning off of Toronto starter-turned-reliever Shane Bieber. Which led to a heart-stopping double play started by Betts to end the World Series. 

Maybe the greatest game ever played to decide the World Series did just that. Nobody left anything out on the field. Both teams were equal rivals. Sure, Toronto out hit the Dodgers, whose cumulative batting average was near .200. Yet LAD had emotion, talent and luck on their side. Which was enough for them to emerge as the winner of this epic struggle. 

Yamamoto, having thrown over 130 pitches in consecutive days while raking up his third victory, was named the M.V.P. Los Angeles would have a celebration. More people watched this game than in nearly a decade. 

It was riveting. It was dramatic. This was the best World Series I had ever seen.