Today’s “Behind the Mic” blog is written by long time RCN personality Scott Barr. Scott’s on-air career began in 1984 with the District XI Girl’s Tennis Championship, won by Monica Yurkonic. Since that debut, he has covered a wide range of sports, including kick boxing, track and field, lacrosse, soccer, volleyball, football, and baseball. Most of our viewers, of course, will know him for his work with District XI wrestling. The 2013-14 season was Scott’s 30th season covering “the nation’s best high school wrestling.” Fans across the valley have heard him call “Give him six!” after a pin, while working with three legends of Lehigh Valley sports—Gary Laubach, Ray Nunamaker, and Jim Best. Outside of RCN, Scott helps small businesses set up retirement plans for their employees, and lives in Macungie with his wife, Melissa, and their four children, ages 6 to 22!

I got an odd voicemail a couple of weeks ago. It was my dental hygienist, saying, “Scott—please give me a call in the office when you get a chance.” I thought, “Shoot. This is bad. I missed an appointment, or they want to do something to my mouth that will hurt.” I took a deep breath and called back.

She wanted to know the name of the store where I get my running shoes, because she knew I was a “real runner.” Pleasantly surprised, I told her. Then I hung up the phone and laughed out loud. Just three years ago, that call could not have happened.

Dozens of RCN TV viewers have seen what has happened to me over those three years, and sheepishly asked if I was “OK”. They’ve seen my weight loss—about 40 pounds, and thought, “Maybe he’s really, really sick.” I’m not. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. I’ve never, ever been healthier.

I was exactly like a lot of those same viewers. I “used to be” in shape, and I certainly wasn’t out of shape. Basically I was getting through my years of parenthood, career, and life in general—and not feeling badly about it. One night, I read a Facebook post from a work friend of mine, who happens to be a 40-something year old mother of two. She posted that she was going to Montana to participate in a triathlon! I thought, “Good for her!” Then, I thought, “Why am I reading about this?” The next day, I bought a new pair of sneakers,and took off.

I remember my first “run” well. I knew I should start slowly, so I targeted just one mile. I didn’t make it. After a slow, shuffling jog that lasted three minutes, I started looking around for anyone who looked like they had knowledge of CPR. I walked for three minutes before I started shuffling for another three. Back to walking, then three minutes of shuffling. After 21 minutes, I was done. I may have covered that mile but it was ugly. Really, really ugly. It was June 30, 2011.

The next day, I did it again.

I won’t bore you with the details of the next three years, unless you ask me in person—in which case you may regret asking. There were MANY aches and a few pains. I learned a lot about running equipment, nutrition, hydration and my body. I discovered that Lady Gaga is a really great artist to accompany my runs. I learned that I wasn’t alone in this journey. I met Bart Yasso. I chatted, during a race, with 1992 Olympian Summer Sanders. I got a high-five, during a training run, from a bride in her wedding gown! I found out that I could run a 5K. Then a 10K. I ran four half-marathons of 13.1 miles each, and now I’m training for “the full”—a 26.2 mile marathon that starts at the Lehigh Valley Hospital and ends in downtown Easton. And I want to do it in 3 hours and 30 minutes. How crazy is that?

You can do it, too. You will look silly at first, but really—nobody cares. You will hurt, but after you learn how to stretch, and get the right shoes, it will be a “good hurt.” I prefer to run alone, but there are lots of groups you can join to keep you motivated. Most importantly, you will discover something inside that has been hiding since high school. My mantra, early on, was, “I’m taking it back.” I’ll soon be 52 years old; I am just now discovering that I had no idea what this old set of bowed legs can do.

The toughest stretch of every run, even today, is from the couch to the front door. Conquer that stretch, and start taking YOURS back. It’s worth it.

Gary will be returning with a new blog post on May 19.  This week, he’s asked race announcer Randy Kane to guest blog.  RCN-TV viewers should recognize Randy from the Grandview Speedway broadcasts airing April through August each year.  Click here to read Randy’s bio from the RCN-TV “Our Broadcasters” page.

With the boom in the number of sports-oriented television networks, you can now find short track racing coverage just about anywhere. It used to be strictly on ESPN, TNN and SPEED, but those no longer have coverage as we saw back in the day. Today there is Fox Sports, CBS Sports, NBC Sports and MAV TV, all filling that void. You get national exposure, quality productions, looks at the stars and the series that are involved with short track racing.

NASCAR still brings you the complete coverage for hours each week and you get the best draw of all, the Indianapolis 500, with complete and full coverage. Those events reach millions and that is what everyone in the sport wants the most. Exposure. That is strictly the business side of things and that pleases sponsors.

You can now see dirt track Late Models, local dirt track Modifieds, different asphalt racers, several lower NASCAR divisions, plus the Midgets and Sprint Cars on your home television. These days there’s also a growing list of computer outlets that show weekly racing and series specials if you subscribe to a package that’s probably for the full season or race-to-race. Racing is all over the television dial; these days you’ll just have to surf to locate what you want.

The real racing, which appeals to the weekly fans, though, is racing such as the action you can find on RCN TV, presently from Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, PA. It’s local short track, dirt track racing. It is the local standouts. It is good, close and competitive for the most part, which is seat-of-the pants and grassroots style racing. The best part is, though, it is affordable. You don’t get dirt in your beer watching a race from Grandview Speedway on RCN TV, true, but the television program certainly gets you excited enough to get you out there to the speedway to watch it live some Saturday night.

SPEED TV became Fox Sports and the coverage is there, still, but it is much more corporate styled and a lot different from the old, much more personal, pleasing style SPEED TV had. CBS Sports is a new deal, which is looking to cut out its own piece of the overall coverage pie. Many regular viewers cried foul when SPEED TV was swallowed up by that much bigger FOX Sports television fish, but that’s the way things go these days. It is all corporate and just a lot more business, sponsorships and dollar signs.

RCN TV and local dirt track, short track racing is a great marriage. Grandview Speedway gets coverage in addition to all the usual outlets. The shows are replayed over and over and racers from Bethlehem or Easton or Wescosville or Boyertown or Scranton, as well as other local towns, all become stars on that local level. Race team sponsors love the fact they see their names on television, thanks to racing and it sells to the viewers, also, because they can watch it live and watch a replay to see something that they may have missed.

Local short track dirt racing is a program that just continues to grow. It is “Must See” television and each show is a tremendous tool for racers to use to attract sponsors. It is a great formula for success for every person involved. Everybody wins. Racers. Sponsors. Race tracks. Car builders and engine builders. The fans also benefit from it all. Racing just grows and prospers on television.

In the 1970s, RCN TV brought racing to local viewers from the now closed Nazareth Raceway half-mile track. They brought you racing from Pocono International Speedway and the Nazareth National Speedway, a one-mile speedway that was located right next to the old half-mile track. RCN TV additionally brought you asphalt racing from Flemington Fair Speedway in New Jersey, Nazareth Raceway racing on RCN TV lasted some 17 seasons. And for the past 14 years, Grandview Speedway, a one-third-mile high-banked dirt oval, has been the main focus. All in, racing now has been on RCN TV a good 30 to 35 years. That means if you are a motorsports fan, you got to go to RCN TV. There’s no doubt about it.

At the end of the day you have close competition, great coverage of the on-track action and, together, it gets the viewers interested enough to watch. RCN TV at Grandview brings fans all types of racing divisions on the Grandview dirt track. The television production sells the product for the speedway and everybody benefits from all that success. It is not the corporate coverage. It is not the slick, national productions. It is just racing at its best and the fans get excited. Word of mouth gets even more viewers.

While national coverage has blossomed to all kinds of networks, RCN TV remains loyal to the local, hometown, dirt track, short track racers. The RCN TV formula just helps everyone involved and it’s been successful for many years. RCN TV continues to bring the viewers the best product around. A local, well-rounded, very informative and extremely exciting product. Local racing has grown through local television racing coverage and RCN TV remains the leader of the pack. Right where RCN TV has been, now, for so many years. That’s a great feeling.

The Lehigh Valley High School Basketball Hall of Fame recently announced the Class of 2014 to be honored at this year’s Via All-Star Banquet at the Sands Bethlehem Event Center on March 26 at 6:30PM.   Among this year’s inductees is RCN TV sports commentator Gary Laubach.

For more than 30 years, RCN customers have enjoyed watching Gary cover Lehigh Valley high school and Lafayette College football, basketball and baseball.  Gary, a Wilson Area High School graduate, has broadcast over 4,500 local sporting events.  He’s also a member of the Member of the Northampton County American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame, along with the Valley’s football and wrestling halls.

“It has been a wonderful experience to be a part of Lehigh Valley sports for over 40 years.  And now to be honored by the VIA Basketball Hall of Fame Committee for that experience is both humbling and gratifying.  The recognition really goes to the RCN television team since they have been with me the entire journey.  I am certainly proud to be a member of that team.”

Please join us in congratulating Gary by leaving a comment on this post.

Ray Donovan meet A-Rod and Riley Cooper

Showtime has a new program on TV this summer titled Ray Donovan. It is adult in nature and reminds me of The Sopranos, in a way, but with a different “family”. Donovan’s family is made up of entertainment and sports figures. They hire him to keep their scandalous indiscretions out of the gossip pages and, more importantly, out of the mainstream media. His tactics are crude, violent, immoral, creative, and, yes, jaw dropping (dare I say, also entertaining?).

Now on to real life – You have to be living like a recluse this past week if you are unaware of the media bombardment of facts, opinions, and responses to both the Alex Rodriquez and Riley Cooper situations. One is accused of using performance- enhancing drugs in order to play the game of baseball better, the other of spewing an incendiary racial term at a security guard at a concert in order to prove (?) he is a racist.

To me, the common denominator here is not that these two men are prominent professional athletes who made some very bad decisions, but that they both committed serious offenses in a world where Big Brother is constantly watching and they should KNOW it. Throughout history, the sinner has never thought so much about “Don’t do it” but more about “Don’t get caught”. Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner, Pete Rose, Lance Armstrong, (you can add as many as you want) are all good examples of noted individuals who lived in the limelight and thought they could get away with indiscretions and lies.

We have all heard the expression, “History teaches us that…” Obviously, this message does not resonate at all. Every day in the news and, perhaps, in our own lives, we make choices that we hope no one ever finds out about. That goal is so much more difficult these days with the advent of security cameras that are virtually everywhere and phones, with cameras, that ARE everywhere. Any high profile individual who thinks they can “do it” and “not get caught” is highly delusional.

I am sure A-Rod felt the pressure and stress of succeeding and coupled that with the “everybody is doing it” belief in order to convince himself PED’s would not only help him succeed, but he could use them without getting caught. Riley Cooper can fall back on the alcohol excuse, but, to his credit, he has accepted responsibility for his inappropriate actions. However, one could logically ask if either man would honestly feel they did anything wrong if they had not gotten caught.

And that is the shocking aspect. In this day and age, when virtually everything a high profile person does has the potential for being seen by others in some form through social media, one would think our athletes, entertainment figures, and politicians would be wiser. I am sure they each have their own “Ray Donovan’s”, but, unlike the Showtime series, they do not always succeed in making the problem go away. Change the adage: “Don’t do it because you WILL get caught!”

“History teaches us…” – Never mind!