{"id":40678,"date":"2013-04-17T13:27:42","date_gmt":"2013-04-17T13:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rcntv.rcn.com\/?p=40678"},"modified":"2023-04-13T21:14:50","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T21:14:50","slug":"local-leaders-keeping-kids-first-the-sportstalk-shop-april-17th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/local-leaders-keeping-kids-first-the-sportstalk-shop-april-17th\/","title":{"rendered":"The SportsTalk Shop:  Local Leaders Keeping Kids First"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have long admired the local athletic directors in the Eastern Pennsylvania region. From Dick Tracy (who was also my English and Journalism teacher while he was Athletic Director\u2014(which is a story for another blog entry), to Mike Schneider to Bob Shriver, and several other former athletic directors that I\u2019ve always admired, I have always felt (and would frequently hear them say) that they would always want to keep the student-athletes\u2019 best interests in the forefront of any major decision that they would make. Even now that those gentlemen have retired and I have the good fortune of being able to talk with them, they continue to preach that mantra as the directive of all administrators. I also feel that the people who have succeeded them have very much continued with that message in mind.<\/p>\n<p>That point was hammered home once again this week\u2014with some help from other community leaders \u2014 as the District XI re-established the pact with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs to have their playoff championship games be played at a first-class facility, Coca-Cola Park. Here are some of the highlights from this week\u2019s press conference (in order): Dylan Dando\u2014LVBA Director of Baseball Operations, Scott Cooperman\u2014District XI Baseball Chair, Kurt Landes, IronPigs General Manager and Terry Schadler from ECTB.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vReeXii8nmc?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I think it\u2019s so wonderful for the local athletes to continue to play in a Triple-A professional baseball venue. It\u2019s a tribute to the local leaders to get together and work out a deal to continue this tradition. I\u2019ve covered the PIAA Baseball and softball playoffs for several years. While the games are played at very nice facilities at present, there have been some places (sorry Shippensburg) that have not been worthy of playing the ultimate spring season championship game. You could argue the teams in District XI\u2014thanks to this deal\u2014may play in one of the finest facilities in the country for a high school contest. To play in a pro baseball site creates a memory that will last a lifetime, and in an age where many big business men and women are always looking for the best deal financially for themselves, it was refreshing to see these organizational leaders work out a pact that will see future athletes enjoy this rare and incredibly special experience.<\/p>\n<p>Surely, there\u2019s no drawbacks to this move. Other advantages include having a professional grounds keeping crew on hand to battle inclement weather, and the stadium lights allow games to be played later, which allows parents a rare chance to see their kids play without having to sacrifice their work schedule. What do you think of the news, and would there be any local sites that you think would do a better job hosting the playoffs? Feel free to post your comments below. This will be just one of the issues we\u2019ll be discussing on this week\u2019s \u201cRCN SportsTalk\u201d show featuring current ADs, in which we\u2019ll show more video from the press conference.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of the former athletic directors in this region, they\u2019ll be part of some very special \u201cSportsTalk\u201d shows coming up in May. Here are upcoming show lists for our program, which airs live on RCN-TV on Thursdays at 6pm:<\/p>\n<p>April 25th: College Football Spring Recaps<\/p>\n<p>May 2nd: Local Sports Issues w\/Former Athletic Directors Bob Shriver, Dick Tracy, Les Kish<\/p>\n<p>May 9th: \u201cRadio Announcing Legends\u201d featuring Al Raber, Dick Hammer, Tim Cain<\/p>\n<p>May 16th: TBD<\/p>\n<p>May 23rd: Former Major League Catcher Brian Schneider, plus Mike Schneider &amp; Don Harakal<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have long admired the local athletic directors in the Eastern Pennsylvania region. From Dick Tracy (who was also my English and Journalism teacher while he was Athletic Director\u2014(which is a story for another blog entry), to Mike Schneider to Bob Shriver, and several other former athletic directors that I\u2019ve always admired, I have always&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[13,33,60,74,157,158,161,170,218,313,351,518],"class_list":["post-40678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","category-the-sportstalk-shop","tag-al-raber","tag-athletic-directors","tag-bob-shriver","tag-brian-schneider","tag-dick-hammer","tag-dick-tracy","tag-district-xi","tag-don-harakal","tag-high-school-baseball","tag-les-kish","tag-mike-schneider","tag-tim-cain"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The SportsTalk Shop: Local Leaders Keeping Kids First - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The SportsTalk Shop: Local Leaders Keeping Kids First - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have long admired the local athletic directors in the Eastern Pennsylvania region. From Dick Tracy (who was also my English and Journalism teacher while he was Athletic Director\u2014(which is a story for another blog entry), to Mike Schneider to Bob Shriver, and several other former athletic directors that I\u2019ve always admired, I have always...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/local-leaders-keeping-kids-first-the-sportstalk-shop-april-17th\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-17T13:27:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-13T21:14:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/local-leaders-keeping-kids-first-the-sportstalk-shop-april-17th\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/local-leaders-keeping-kids-first-the-sportstalk-shop-april-17th\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"headline\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: Local Leaders Keeping Kids First\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-17T13:27:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-13T21:14:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/local-leaders-keeping-kids-first-the-sportstalk-shop-april-17th\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":601,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"Al Raber\",\"athletic directors\",\"Bob Shriver\",\"Brian Schneider\",\"Dick Hammer\",\"Dick Tracy\",\"District XI\",\"Don Harakal\",\"high school baseball\",\"Les Kish\",\"Mike Schneider\",\"Tim Cain\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Sports\",\"The SportsTalk Shop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/local-leaders-keeping-kids-first-the-sportstalk-shop-april-17th\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/local-leaders-keeping-kids-first-the-sportstalk-shop-april-17th\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/local-leaders-keeping-kids-first-the-sportstalk-shop-april-17th\\\/\",\"name\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: Local Leaders Keeping Kids First - ATVN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-17T13:27:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-13T21:14:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/local-leaders-keeping-kids-first-the-sportstalk-shop-april-17th\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATVN\",\"description\":\"Local Programming &amp; Astound Digital Cable, Internet &amp; Phone Services\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\",\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"url\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Chris Michael\"},\"description\":\"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football &amp; basketball games and produces\\\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. 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