{"id":75238,"date":"2014-04-21T18:33:49","date_gmt":"2014-04-21T18:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rcntv.rcn.com\/?p=75238"},"modified":"2014-04-21T18:33:49","modified_gmt":"2014-04-21T18:33:49","slug":"the-sportstalk-shop-4-spring-observations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/the-sportstalk-shop-4-spring-observations\/","title":{"rendered":"The SportsTalk Shop:  4 Spring Observations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Most weeks, when I sit down to write my weekly blog, there\u2019s one issue or topic that rises above all others, making my writing discussion decisions rather easy. However, as I sat down to started brainstorming (insert your own jokes here) about which topic to delve into this week, I found myself getting pulled in a few different directions. So instead of an in-depth commentary on just one issue, I have thoughts on four topics of conversation going on in the Delaware and Lehigh Valley areas.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">1. The Flyers DO have a chance to advance.<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nI\u2019ve been riding an emotional roller coaster with this team all season. From the coaching change early in the year\u2026to weeks of spectacular play\u2026to <a href=\"http:\/\/flyers.nhl.com\/club\/player.htm?id=8445440\">Craig Berube<\/a> calling out his players for lackluster play right before the playoffs commenced\u2026I really wasn\u2019t sure what to expect for the <a href=\"http:\/\/flyers.nhl.com\/\">Flyers<\/a>\u2019 postseason. I was leaning towards a Flyers series win over the <a href=\"http:\/\/rangers.nhl.com\/\">Rangers<\/a> in six games, but then I heard the ominous report on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhl.com\/ice\/player.htm?id=8473461\">Steve Mason<\/a> and was skeptical of any advancement. However, <a href=\"http:\/\/flyers.nhl.com\/club\/player.htm?id=8469548\">Ray Emery<\/a>\u2019s 31 saves in net on Sunday gave me and all Flyers fans hope and, just as importantly, tied the opening round series at one game a piece. Unless the Flyers sweep at home, they would have to win at least one more game at Madison Square Garden (Sunday\u2019s victory was their first at MSG since 2011). However, the way Philadelphia was skating in game two and the quality shots they\u2019ve been taking has made me a believer in this team, and I think they can win the series in seven games.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>2. The weather is severely affecting the high school baseball season.<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nI know, the weather has made a mess for everyone over the last five months. During any given week, practice schedules change numerous times, game planning sessions are drastically shortened and young athletes are playing games at a rate in which the professional sports\u2019 unions would be protesting in earnest if it was suggested they play a similar schedule. It hasn\u2019t been fun for all the scholastic sports. However, in high school baseball, rules limit the amount of innings a pitcher can throw in a given week and the weather does give bigger schools and teams with more pitchers an inherent advantage. With most teams having to play four, five or even six games in a seven-day stretch, there are teams that simply don\u2019t have enough quality pitching to compete. It addition to an uneven playing field, the games themselves are also affected. A \u201cregular\u201d pitcher may throw the first five innings of a game, but then may reach his innings limit, forcing someone who normally doesn\u2019t pitch into emergency duty. The result? A 2-1 pitchers\u2019 dual turns into a 15-13 slugfest (and then games that run too long might be cut short because of daylight issues early in the season). It\u2019s not a fun way to play, but the local coaches and athletes have done their best under horrible circumstances.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">3. It wasn\u2019t pretty, but the 76ers\u2019 season came to a merciful end.<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nIt isn\u2019t often that a professional sports team can guarantee how their season will unfold and then deliver on its promise. Armed with the \u201ctogether we build\u201d mantra and the preseason objective of trying to lose on purpose in order to enhance its lottery draft chances, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nba.com\/sixers\/\">76ers <\/a>tied an all-time record for consecutive losses this past season. After stunning the world with a season-opening win against the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nba.com\/heat\/\">Heat<\/a>, the season quickly went south and the trade-deadline purge helped push the franchise to all new levels of futility. Ironically, their season closed out with a pair of wins &#8211; against <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nba.com\/celtics\/\">Boston <\/a>and a short-handed Miami team.<\/p>\n<p>There were a few bright spots on the court: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nba.com\/playerfile\/michael_carter-williams\/\">Michael Carter-Williams<\/a> delivered some tremendous single-game performances and looked like he can run the point when\/if the team ever makes a playoff push. Amongst the rubble of this horrific season, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nba.com\/playerfile\/henry_sims\/\">Henry Sims<\/a> emerged as a serviceable big man who could be a key man off the bench for the team going forward. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nba.com\/playerfile\/tony_wroten\/\">Tony Wrote<\/a>n also had more good games than bad, and role players like <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/nba\/player\/_\/id\/4242\/james-anderson\">James Anderson<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nba.com\/playerfile\/hollis_thompson\/\">Hollis Thompson<\/a> gave gritty performances throughout the season. The upcoming NBA draft will be key for the program to move forward, but even with a good draft, the Sixers will probably not be any better than a 30-win team one year from now.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">4. High school lacrosse is finding its niche in Pennsylvania.<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\nAfter becoming a sanctioned <a href=\"http:\/\/www.piaa.org\/\">PIAA <\/a>sport several years ago, the sport of lacrosse is gaining momentum. I have announced scholastic games in New Jersey where the sport has been around for decades. At many schools in the Garden State, lacrosse is as popular as basketball, wrestling or even football is at Pennsylvanian schools. While it will probably never ascend to that level in this state, the quality of play has drastically improved in eastern Pennsylvania. Most existing programs now have little trouble getting enough players to complete a quality team, and the skill level is definitely better than the first few seasons when lacrosse was labeled as a \u201cclub sport.\u201d Finances and low enrollment numbers will keep many schools from starting a lacrosse program for the foreseeable future, but for the schools that have a team, the game is fun to watch and will continue to get better with improved competition.<\/p>\n<p>How do you feel about some of these issues? What other sports events going on now should be discussed? Post your comments below or email us at <a href=\"mailto:RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com\">RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com<\/a> to continue the sports conversations!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/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>Most weeks, when I sit down to write my weekly blog, there\u2019s one issue or topic that rises above all others, making my writing discussion decisions rather easy. However, as I sat down to started brainstorming (insert your own jokes here) about which topic to delve into this week, I found myself getting pulled in&#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":"","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":[7,65,130,190,216,224,243,338,339,363,377,423,442,444,494,502,530],"class_list":["post-75238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","category-the-sportstalk-shop","tag-76ers","tag-boston-celtics","tag-craig-berube","tag-flyers","tag-henry-sims","tag-hollis-thompson","tag-james-anderson","tag-miami-heat","tag-michael-carter-williams","tag-nba","tag-nhl","tag-piaa","tag-rangers","tag-ray-emery","tag-sixers","tag-steve-mason","tag-troy-wroten"],"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: 4 Spring Observations - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/the-sportstalk-shop-4-spring-observations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The SportsTalk Shop: 4 Spring Observations - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most weeks, when I sit down to write my weekly blog, there\u2019s one issue or topic that rises above all others, making my writing discussion decisions rather easy. 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