{"id":76719,"date":"2015-04-27T20:33:02","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T20:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=76719"},"modified":"2023-02-24T17:20:20","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T17:20:20","slug":"behind-mic-look-back-30-years-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-look-back-30-years-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Mic:  A Look Back on 30 Years of Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Today\u2019s \u201cBehind the Mic\u201d blog is written by long time RCN personality Scott Barr. 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. Fans across the valley have heard him call \u201cGive him six!\u201d after a pin, while working with three legends of Lehigh Valley sports\u2014Gary 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.<\/em><br \/>\n__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<br \/>\nIn about six weeks, at the PIAA Baseball Championships, I will wrap up my 30<sup>th<\/sup> season on the air.\u00a0 Most of the hundreds of broadcasts melt together, with a few exceptions.\u00a0 Gary Laubach has been there for most of the \u201cexceptions\u201d, and we talk about them often.<\/p>\n<p>I thought today I would take a look at those 30 years and share some of those moments. \u00a0Some are on the air, some are not.\u00a0\u00a0 Some of the details are fuzzy, and some have been enhanced over time, I\u2019m sure.\u00a0 Regardless, it makes me excited about the next thirty!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best individual performance<\/strong>\u2014I was on the sidelines for the 1995 AAA football championship.\u00a0 In that game, James Mungro was ridiculous.\u00a0 My recollection is that he gained around 320 yards on about 20 carries.\u00a0 He returned the opening kickoff to the 40-yard line, and on the first play from scrimmage, took care of the rest.\u00a0 East Stroudsburg won 35-14, and Mungro went on to a long NFL career.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Luckiest TV assignment<\/strong>\u2014I was assigned to be the sideline reporter for the 1990 AAA football championship at Cottingham Stadium.\u00a0 I forget who was supposed to be the game\u2019s analyst, but he had to cancel at the last minute, so I spent the broadcast in the booth with Gary.\u00a0 During the game, no kidding, more than four inches of rain fell.\u00a0 It would have been miserable down there.\u00a0 Easton won that game over Stroudsburg 41-10.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Longest broadcast, Part 1<\/strong>\u2014Gary and I were broadcasting DXI boys\u2019 volleyball under the old double-elimination format without \u201crally\u201d scoring.\u00a0 Easton came out of the loser\u2019s bracket and beat Emmaus in a long, five-set match (which we called).\u00a0 This forced a winner-take-all championship, which Emmaus won\u2014in ANOTHER long, five-set match.\u00a0 We were on the air for around five hours.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Longest broadcast, Part 2<\/strong>\u2014Again with Gary, we were covering the Allentown Ambassadors on a getaway game night with the team from Maine.\u00a0 They absolutely HAD to fit the whole game in, and despite a long rain delay\u2014a really long rain delay\u2014they did.\u00a0 We finished at around 2:30 a.m.\u00a0 There were, maybe, 30 fans left at the end of the game.\u00a0 Team owner, the late Pete Karoly, gave Ambassador t-shirts to everyone who stayed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sports event I would watch again, right now<\/strong>\u2014Easy.\u00a0 The 2012 NCAA Division II baseball championship.\u00a0 West Chester beat Delta State 9-0, becoming the northernmost team to ever with the title.\u00a0 The dogpile at the end is one of my fondest memories, since my son John is at the bottom of it.\u00a0 If I die with a smile on my face, it\u2019s because my final thought was about that moment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best finish<\/strong>\u2014Nazareth was way behind in their annual wrestling rivalry with Easton.\u00a0 They needed pins in the final three weight classes, and got them all.\u00a0 Fans swarmed the mat, and referee Gene Waas had to be rescued from under the pile by Nazareth principal Vic Lesky.\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s a scene that could only happen in District XI.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Coolest TV related event<\/strong>\u2014RCN scored press passes for Jim Best and me to the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Philadelphia.\u00a0 Jordan Oliver won his first championship, and the atmosphere was electric.\u00a0 This event convinced me that if I have the chance to attend ANY national championship\u2014any sport, any division\u2014sponsored by the NCAA, I will do it.\u00a0 They put on a great show.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Most offbeat assignment<\/strong>\u2014I actually did play-by-play for a kickboxing card in Mountainville around 1990.\u00a0 In the final bout, the heavyweight competitor stood up in his corner for the third round, and promptly fell over, face first.\u00a0 It was weird, and scary.\u00a0 It took a good twenty minutes for the medical staff to get him into an ambulance, and I heard that he was unconscious for a day or so before making a full recovery.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Most fun season<\/strong>\u2014Gary and I had a great time getting to know the Allentown Ambassadors.\u00a0 A bunch of talented kids playing for the love of the game, with big league dreams, and coach Ed Ott who was just a great guy to hang out with.\u00a0 He even let Gary put together the batting order when they were in a slump one night.\u00a0 I think they still lost.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Favorite assignment<\/strong>\u2014I really, really enjoyed being on the Lafayette football sidelines, and hated when my personal situation forced me away.\u00a0 The Leopards\u2019 staff is professional and super friendly, and Frank Tavani might be my all-time favorite guy to interview.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Regrets<\/strong>\u2014None.\u00a0 Absolutely none.\u00a0 It\u2019s been one hell of a ride.<\/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>Today\u2019s \u201cBehind the Mic\u201d blog is written by long time RCN personality Scott Barr. 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. Fans across the valley have&#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":21,"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":[2,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic","category-featured","category-sports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Behind the Mic: A Look Back on 30 Years of Sports - 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=\"Behind the Mic: A Look Back on 30 Years of Sports - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today\u2019s \u201cBehind the Mic\u201d blog is written by long time RCN personality Scott Barr. 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