{"id":83765,"date":"2020-06-22T15:16:09","date_gmt":"2020-06-22T15:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=83765"},"modified":"2023-02-14T20:16:55","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T20:16:55","slug":"top-5-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/top-5-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"A Top 5 Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This past Sunday in The Morning Call<\/u><\/a>, preeminent sports writer and RCN Sportstalk<\/em> <\/a>co-host, Keith Groller, offered up the results of a poll he took naming the Top Five Lehigh Valley high school basketball players of all time.\u00a0 The headline suggested that there would be plenty of debate about the selections.\u00a0 I am one who has no debate with the choices and I believe I speak with a bit of authority.\u00a0 You see, I either played against or covered nine of the top 10 first and second team selections.\u00a0 I believe the readers got it absolutely right.<\/p>\n

The only player I did not see play \u201clive\u201d was the late Bob Mlkvy.\u00a0 I did see plenty of video on him and his brother, Bill.\u00a0 I also connected with him in a number of various gyms since he was the color analyst for the Blue Ridge Cable high school basketball games.\u00a0 He still wore his sneakers of choice from back in the day \u2013 Converse All-Stars – to every broadcast.\u00a0 When he went on to Temple<\/a>, he became known as \u201cThe Owl without a Vowel\u201d.\u00a0 So many fans would tell me Bob Mlkvy basketball prowess stories that I cannot argue his position on the Top Five.\u00a0 He is, also, on my list of one of the five nicest people I have met.<\/p>\n

The next three players I had the privilege of watching.<\/p>\n

Billy McCaffrey came from a family of outstanding athletes: brother Ed was an outstanding football and basketball player who went on to play in the NFL<\/a> for the Denver Broncos<\/a>; sister Monica was one of the great girls\u2019 basketball players at Central Catholic<\/a> before going on to Georgetown<\/a> to play college basketball.\u00a0 But \u201cBilly the Kid\u201d led Central to a State basketball championship and a state runner-up title.\u00a0 Had he not fouled out in his second state final game, I feel he would have been part of two state titles.\u00a0 He could and did do it all on the court.\u00a0 He went on to play on a Duke team that won a national championship.<\/p>\n

I was privileged to see the greatest single game performance I ever broadcast when Antoine Hubbard scored 63 points against Nazareth<\/a> in a Salisbury<\/a> win over the Blue Eagles.\u00a0 He scored 40 of the last 48 points and 30 in the fourth quarter alone \u2013 and every player on the floor knew he was going to shoot and, yet, he could not be stopped.\u00a0 He finished his career with over 2,000 points.\u00a0 I have never been great at remembering specific games or performances, but that game is one I will lock away in my memory bank forever.<\/p>\n

It was just over five years ago when Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman finished his career at Central Catholic.\u00a0 But he thrilled the Lehigh Valley and our viewers for four years. I had the privilege to watch him get better and better each year.\u00a0 He was All-State for all four years and I will never forget how he almost single-handily beat Philadelphia\u2019s Neumann-Goretti in the PIAA<\/a> state playoffs.\u00a0 His team finished 29-1 that year and we were there for most of it.\u00a0 It was, also, special to watch him on TV during his great career at Michigan.<\/p>\n

The only person on the team that I played against is Larry Miller.\u00a0 In my mind, he was the absolute best ever.\u00a0 In the games my alma mater, Wilson High School<\/a>, went up against his Catasauqua<\/a> squad, he never scored fewer than 40 points.\u00a0 I will never forget playing against Larry at the Pennsylvania State Farm Show Arena for the District XI<\/a> championship.\u00a0 We could not stop him. I can still envision him rebounding an opponent\u2019s missed shot, dribbling the length of the court, and dunking the basketball. \u00a0He could run, dribble, pass, rebound, and score better than anybody I ever saw in the Valley.\u00a0 His 2,722 career high school points and 2000+ rebounds speak for themselves.\u00a0 I have played or called high school basketball in the Lehigh Valley for over 60+ years.\u00a0 I can say with complete confidence Larry Miller was the best I ever saw.<\/p>\n

As an aside, let me add that no one causes me to reflect on the Lehigh Valley sports scene better than Keith Groller. I struggle every week to think of something to blog about.\u00a0 Luckily, when I sit down at the keyboard, something always seems to come to mind.\u00a0 But Keith finds a very interesting topic or two on a daily basis.\u00a0 He is certainly at the top of the list for my all-time Lehigh Valley sports writers.\u00a0 As Bob Hope used to say and I say to Keith, \u201cThanks for the memories\u201d.<\/p>\n

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If things weren\u2019t bleak enough for Major League Baseball<\/a> returning to the field this year because of bitter negotiations, now multiple teams are reporting positive tests for Covid-19. It\u2019s the \u201cbottom of the ninth\u201d for baseball and there is no closer in sight.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. The situation in Florida is not helping the NBA<\/a>\u2019s return either. As you know, the plan was to play at the Disney complex, but Florida is seeing a resurgence of virus cases \u2013 over 4,000 this past Saturday.\u00a0 Players are rightfully questioning what the right thing to do is.\u00a0 I am getting the impression that our chance to see team sports this year may be fading.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. ESPN<\/a> and NFL Nation<\/a> put out their all-decade team and, along with that, they listed the best player on each NFC team. They chose Jason Peters as best for the Eagles<\/a>.\u00a0 The future Hall of Famer played for the Eagles all ten years of the decade starting in 2009 to the present.\u00a0 Fletcher Cox received the Honorable Mention pick.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. Watching the Belmont horse race this weekend with no fans did not seem like a race at all. It felt a little bit like a practice session for a number of horses.\u00a0 TV money is so good, I guess, that it truly PAYS to hold the events anyway.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. Until there is a vaccine for Covid-19, can anyone be sure of anything?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. This past Sunday in The Morning Call, preeminent sports writer and RCN Sportstalk co-host, Keith Groller, offered up the results of a poll he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Top 5 Perspective - 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=\"A Top 5 Perspective - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. 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