FB: New Jersey Athletic Conference

[Knightstalker]

+K

[rams1102]

I just wanted to add a thought about the passing of Phil Rizzuto.

Scooter was part of every baseball memory I had as a Yankee fan growing up. A fixture from my childhood and beyond. Hearing his voice on a broadcast would automatically take me back to the days of Mantle, which gave way to the days of Murcer and beyond. When I was older and living on my own — hearing him do a game was like catching a whiff of a certain smell which would instantly transport you back to memories of the safety and security of your parents' house.

Back in 1993 I was living in Pennsylvania and driving up to North Jersey twice a week to play in a softball league with old friends. I'd  drive up from work in Princeton, play the game, get showered and head for the bar. On these nights I'd stay with my parents, spend five minutes catching up and five more saying good-bye the next morning.

My dad was battling cancer for a few years at that point in time. He never wanted to talk about it with me, it was just an ongoing thing. On this one night in June after the softball game, I stopped home, showered and was on my way out the door when I stopped to catch the score of the Yankee/Cleveland game my dad was watching. Cleveland was his favorite team and Bobby Feller his favorite player.

On this night Rizzuto had Larry Gatlin of the Gatlin Bros. band in the booth and it was one of the wackiest things you'd ever wanted to hear. The game became an afterthought to Scooter while he tried to talk music (and his duet with Meatloaf) as Gatlin tried to talk baseball. The next thing I knew I sat down and wound up watching the entire game with my dad — probably for the first time since he took me to Bat Day at the stadium around '71. The Yankees beat Cleveland 8-5. Jimmy Key got the W. I lost my dad the following week — the game being the final conversation I ever had with him. To this day I have no idea why I decided to sit and watch that entire darn game — other than Rizzuto sucked me in and I was sitting there like I was 10 years old again. I thank God I did. So I owe a large debt of gratitude to Phil Rizzuto. He'll forever be a key part/architect of one of my most cherished memories. I shed a tear tonight when I heard of his passing. He passed away in the town I grew up in.

Thank you Phil and God Bless.

Great post about your Dad and the Scooter !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  +K

[rams1102]

How Will The NJAC Shake Out For 2007. Fill Out #1 thru #8

#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8

[rams1102]

Pat and Gordon

Help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a little  free time and tried to set up a poll for the NJAC, for people to fill in who they would pick #1 thru #8. As you can see I screwed it up.  Thanks in advance for your help and can you do this.

[Pat Coleman]

OK. It won't do weighted point totals for 1-8 but it's worth trying without that.

[guyman]

I just wanted to add a thought about the passing of Phil Rizzuto.

Scooter was part of every baseball memory I had as a Yankee fan growing up. A fixture from my childhood and beyond. Hearing his voice on a broadcast would automatically take me back to the days of Mantle, which gave way to the days of Murcer and beyond. When I was older and living on my own — hearing him do a game was like catching a whiff of a certain smell which would instantly transport you back to memories of the safety and security of your parents' house.

Back in 1993 I was living in Pennsylvania and driving up to North Jersey twice a week to play in a softball league with old friends. I'd  drive up from work in Princeton, play the game, get showered and head for the bar. On these nights I'd stay with my parents, spend five minutes catching up and five more saying good-bye the next morning.

My dad was battling cancer for a few years at that point in time. He never wanted to talk about it with me, it was just an ongoing thing. On this one night in June after the softball game, I stopped home, showered and was on my way out the door when I stopped to catch the score of the Yankee/Cleveland game my dad was watching. Cleveland was his favorite team and Bobby Feller his favorite player.

On this night Rizzuto had Larry Gatlin of the Gatlin Bros. band in the booth and it was one of the wackiest things you'd ever wanted to hear. The game became an afterthought to Scooter while he tried to talk music (and his duet with Meatloaf) as Gatlin tried to talk baseball. The next thing I knew I sat down and wound up watching the entire game with my dad — probably for the first time since he took me to Bat Day at the stadium around '71. The Yankees beat Cleveland 8-5. Jimmy Key got the W. I lost my dad the following week — the game being the final conversation I ever had with him. To this day I have no idea why I decided to sit and watch that entire darn game — other than Rizzuto sucked me in and I was sitting there like I was 10 years old again. I thank God I did. So I owe a large debt of gratitude to Phil Rizzuto. He'll forever be a key part/architect of one of my most cherished memories. I shed a tear tonight when I heard of his passing. He passed away in the town I grew up in.

Thank you Phil and God Bless.

Great stuff . This is Guy from northern NJ, we E-Mailed a few times couple of yrs ago. I grew up in the 70's in a Yankee house,  the game was on the TV downstairs, and on the kitchen radio - every game. Being of Italian backround our family really loved the Scooter.

Maybe I'll Post a bit more this season. Then there will be a grand total of two TCNJ fans on the Board.

[catchball]

catchball

Welcome aboard and +K for joining the Mighty Red Hawk Family on the board.

Tough schedule, it all starts at Wilkes. Time to walk our talk. 8-2 would be one heck of a season. What do you think?

Anything can happen, Wilkes is a good team from what I read, so it will be a good game for us to shake out all the cobwebs. The O line pass blocking  has to come up big, they have not been to impressive the past 2 years. Luckily Mc Coach has great field sense and is quick to the hole.Defense has won a lot of games for us,we will see.

Go Red Hawks !!

[JT]

JT,

For the record, Cortland did attend the 2006 NJAC Media Day. We did not attend the 2005 Media Day. Cortland, Buffalo St. and Western Conn. St. will be at next year's Media Day along with new members Brockport and Morrisville.

I understand the feeling that all the schools should be involved, but as John mentioned, it's a long day for us (3 1/2-hour drive each way - and even longer for Buffalo St., which has to travel the day before), with very little benefit. While you and Derek, and maybe one or two other reporters, end up asking our coach questions, for the most part we don't end up doing very much. I think only Derek actually talked to the three players we brought in 2006. I felt bad for those players, who all traveled in from Long Island to basically eat lunch.

We had a similar problem in the late 1990s in New York - for a few years there was an Upstate New York media day either in Syracuse or Rochester. It was tough on schools such as Union and RPI to attend, with little media attention paid to them. The event was eventually canceled, most likely due to lack of media attendance.

Fran

Its cool.  I think paltalk or something of that ilk is the solution.  Webcam amd mic the long distance coach(es) and cam up/mic a couple of players.   Set up a few laptops or PC's at media day with webcams and internet access.   One person can stream video of media day, to long distance coaches, players, media, etc.  The other PC's can be interview stations for the media attending media day.

I proposed this to Terry via email a couple of days ago.  We can come up with a workable, inexpensive solution to help everyone out.

I watch and listen to the Opie and Anothony Show via paltalk.  I can see the studio, guests, and behind the scenes.  I can also see other fans on webcams.  So I know it works.

What do you think?

I may bitch a little, but it helps me think of possible solutions.

[JT]

Hall of fame shortstop and broadcaster Phil Rizzuto passed away today at the age of 89.

I don't remember Rizzuto as a player, but I do remember him as a broadcaster.  He and Bill "Whitey" White did the Yankees games on WPIX 11 which I watched a fair amount as a kid.

Rizzuto was the master of telling odd stories and self-deprecating anecdotes during the game.  I remember how he scored plays "ww" for "wasn't watching" if he missed something and his mistaken calls of homeruns that were caught in front of the wall.  Without ever realizing it before today, I think watching Rizzuto as a kid definitely impacted my approach to calling games.  He showed me that broadcasting should be fun and that it can be if you don't take yourself too seriously. 

There's a fine line between entertaining and irrelevant.  Rizzuto didn't just walk that line; he drew it.

Rest in peace, Scooter.

My Dad introduced me to baseball, but it Scooter who got me to love the game.  He was a big part of my childhood.  Met him many times as a kid and an adult.  Truly a very nice man.  He will be missed.

[JT]

Hello everyone!!!!

When I played at Montclair I swore I would never join this, lol but I needed my fix... ohh and the receiver who is transfering in to play at Montclair left his previous school for other reasons, it didn't have anything to do with academics...

Welcome aboard. Please hang around and offer your insight on the program from time-to-time.

[JT]

Sorry for all the back-to-back posts.  Been plugging away the past few days at the NJAC Capsule for the d3football.com's Kickoff Preview.  Phew!!!

[MSUBIRDGANG]

I expect big things from McCoach this year... not only is he lightning quick through the hole.. he is one hell of a Leader, its nice to see someone come in as a freshmen, grow within the system and become one of the captains... The entire O'line is back the fullback (1st team all conference is back) Jeremy who is their TE big kid he transfered in from Monouth is back...like I said reminds me of 03.. I honestly think we could have one of the best defenses around, Cornell Hunt is a force to be reccond with and once again one hell of an individual, very smart kid he is a business major with I think like a 3.7 GPA ....
From what I remember when we played Willkes they are an I back team, and they try pound it down your throat, have a few differnt play action routes and they like to run the NCAA route with a drag and a post behind... if we can win the line of scrimage which won't be an easy task we can pull it off..

[rams1102]

I expect big things from McCoach this year... not only is he lightning quick through the hole.. he is one hell of a Leader, its nice to see someone come in as a freshmen, grow within the system and become one of the captains... The entire O'line is back the fullback (1st team all conference is back) Jeremy who is their TE big kid he transfered in from Monouth is back...like I said reminds me of 03.. I honestly think we could have one of the best defenses around, Cornell Hunt is a force to be reccond with and once again one hell of an individual, very smart kid he is a business major with I think like a 3.7 GPA ....
From what I remember when we played Willkes they are an I back team, and they try pound it down your throat, have a few differnt play action routes and they like to run the NCAA route with a drag and a post behind... if we can win the line of scrimage which won't be an easy task we can pull it off..

Nice Info +K.  I feel the first 3 games for us will make us battle ready for the NJAC. As a fan I would love 3-0, but 2-1 is a real possibility. We need to corall Sharp from Springfield. I think he ran for 300+ yards last year and we almost pulled it off. If we play hard and smart for 10 games, 60 minutes each, my first place vote for Montclair in the NJAC may bear fruit.

LET'S  GO  MIGHTY  RED  HAWKS  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@d3jason]

Found this in "O Holy Cow: The selected verse of Phil Rizzuto," Thought it may be appropriate

There's a little prayer I always say
Whenever I think of my family or when I'm flying,
When I'm afraid, and I am afraid of flying,
It's just a little one. You can say it no matter what,
Whether you're Catholic, or Jewish or Protestant or whatever.
And I've probably said it a thousand times
Since I heard the news on Thurman Munson.

But this is just a little one I say time and time again,
It's just:
Angel of God, Thurman's guardian dear,
To whom his love commits him here there or everywhere,
Ever this night and day be at his side,
To light and guard, to rule and guide.

For some reason it makes me feel like I'm talking to Thurman,
Or whoevers's name you put in there,
Whether it be my wife or any of my children, my parents or anything.
It's just something to keep you really from going bananas.
Because if you let this,
If you keep thinking about what happened, and you can't understand it,
That's what really drives you to despair.

Faith. You gotta have faith.
You know, they say time heals all wounds,
And I don't quite agree with that a hundred percent.
It gets you to cope with wounds
You carry them the rest of your life.

- Phil Rizzuto
  August 3, 1979
  Baltimore at New York
  Pregame Show

I have so many wonderful memories of growing up a Yankee fan. Scooter brought many of them to me, including this wonderful quote the day after my childhood idol died in a plane crash. I only wish I could remember even more of the times that he made me laugh and the times spent with my dad. God Bless, the Scooter! (And Phil's Dad too)

[rams1102]

Very interesting to see that Kean has (5) votes to win the NJAC. I think it would be nice to have people that vote, post why they did. That should open up the NJAC board to some spirited debating.

For better or worse I gave my reasons yesterday.