The Owner's Box After Dark, Ep. 36

I'm ba-a-a-a-a-a-a-ck! Yes, I know I've been here all along, but I had not created an episode of my video podcast since the beginning of the month, and it was long overdue.

But as you folks know, I've been busy. And that's what this episode is all about. I explain what I've been doing with the help of video clips from some of the best basketball games I've covered over the past month. 

Just so you don't think it's 52 minutes of me patting myself on the back, check out the mishap that happened during my first hockey broadcast of the year.

I also chat about how nice it is to have professionals in charge of the country again, how I can't wait until someone will stick me in the arm with a very long needle, and why I think I've messed up my left knee again.

And on the more serious side, I ask you to consider helping out a young man and a family in need following a terrible moment in a hockey game for the Bishop Feehan Shamrocks. I'll tell you how.

It's good to be back. I hope you'll enjoy Episode 36.

Some postponements, but weekend still uncertain.

As the play-by-play voice for King Philip basketball, I must report that today's girls game and Thursday's boys' game against Attleboro have been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus outbreak at KP.

There has not been a decision made as yet about the boys-girls doubleheader at KP scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. When I know, I'll let you know.

KP reported a current count of eight active COVID-19 cases within the high school as of yesterday.

Still beloved.

Jacqueline Cross, age 16, in the pool where she taught so many youngsters to swim.

(This is the text of a Facebook post I wrote earlier today. For those that have left Facebook, and I may soon be one of you, I repeat the post here with additional photos.)

Some may wonder why I still make note of the birthday of a long-dead woman with whom I spent only about three years in a sometimes loving, sometimes tumultuous relationship when I was in high school and college. Sometimes I wonder myself. After all, almost a half-century has passed since those fleeting moments — and 35 years since her death, when breast cancer took her away from her husband and four children.

Well, maybe it’s because Jacqueline Cross did more than almost anyone else in my life outside of a precious few to set me on a correct course for adulthood. Maybe it’s because she saw what was good in me and what needed molding and maturing. Maybe it’s because when I changed schools between sixth and seventh grade, she became one of the first people I didn’t previously know to befriend a shy, introverted and desperately-approval-seeking outcast whose personal development had somehow been sidetracked by six years of oppressive Catholic education.

Before the prom in 1971.

She became my friend when I needed to learn what friendship was all about. And then she became so much more.

I’ve stopped blaming myself for not being ready emotionally for the commitment she asked of me as we became young adults, together in unfamiliar surroundings a thousand miles from home. She had made the trek to college with me against all advice, trying to support me when she probably should have been looking to fulfill a life course all her own without the pain that resulted from our separation. But it’s all water under the bridge. Nothing can change what happened, much as I wish I could have done some things differently and more respectfully of her.

I will always fondly remember a reconciliatory meeting at her northern Illinois home nearly 12 years later, where old wounds were healed and acceptance was achieved. And I thank the powers behind our fates that that meeting took place before she learned that cancer was going to take her from her family in short order.

Playing in a boys vs. girls exhibition game at our new gym
in 1971, against classmate Sel Stearns (wearing a girls' uniform).

I grieved, disproportionately to the tenure of our actual relationship. But in the years that followed our breakup and then her death, I found ways for her memory to motivate me positively. Her life as an athlete in an era in which women were regarded as second-class citizens for being able to dribble a basketball spurred me to embrace the national legislation called Title IX, which guaranteed equal opportunity for women in athletics. My role was to equalize the coverage of boys’ and girls’ sports in the newspaper for which I worked, as a means of developing interest in the girls’ teams and creating an environment in which young girls would know they would receive respectful recognition for what they did. Today, no one would think twice about basketball stories that give equal play to the boys and girls. But in 1977, when my career began, it was heresy among many men that thought they were losing their dominant position in the sports world. I took a lot of crap from a lot of ignoramuses during those early years — and yet, as poetic justice would dictate, many of them would have daughters and then thank us profusely for spotlighting their careers.

It was all because of Jackie. All because on one day in 1970, when I was working part-time for the local weekly newspaper and she asked me why I never came to her games, I said, “it’s only girls’ basketball.” That’s when I saw the look of deep hurt on her face that would be burned into my memory forever. It was a memory that steeled me against ever causing other young women athletes to feel the same way.

There have been many times when I looked at stories I wrote, chronicling the greatest moments in local girls’ sports, that I wish I could tell Jackie that it was all because of her that I made this my life’s work.

I probably should have let go of her a long time ago, even long before her death on April 16, 1986, at the age of 33. All the wonderful women I met over the years always had to bear an unfair comparison to her. But again, it was in her memory that I accepted women as true equals in every walk of life, and vowed to throw off the shackles of a classic 1950s American upbringing to embrace a future that may finally be starting to fully arrive.

Cullen Park in Grayslake, Ill., named after Jackie.

Her parents are gone. So is her husband. And fortunately, I never sought to learn much about her children’s lives. That wasn’t my business. However, I did indulge myself in making occasional pilgrimages to her gravesite within Calvary Cemetery in Chicago, one of the coldest and least hospitable places  on the continent. There is no stone to mark her final resting place, just a small concrete family plot marker. To this day, I wonder why not. But I have some consolation in knowing that the  town of Grayslake, Ill., named a small children’s playground after her, to commemorate her short but beloved tenure as its recreation director before her illness overtook her.

Today would have been Jackie’s 68th birthday. But as the first photo accompanying this post illustrates, she remains forever young in my memories. Maybe a blessing, maybe a curse ... but it’s my choice to live with both. 

Ponderous thoughts I was pondering ...

Ponderous thoughts I was pondering while on the road back from my third COVID-19 test:

** Some of you have texted or emailed me to ask where the heck my podcasts have been lately. It's a good question.

The answer? I've been busy! 

It's been a joy to be calling as many basketball and hockey games as I've been calling for local cable systems, and even more important in this new age of live-streaming. I said at the very beginning of the pandemic that the EEA and other state agencies should look at media members as "essential" workers where involvement in high school sports are concerned, because with severe restrictions being placed upon fan attendance, those of us in the broadcast/cablecast and print industries would have to be entrusted with the responsibility of bringing these games to their fans in a different manner than to which we've been accustomed.

Alex Salachi (left), Tom Faria and yours truly.

Personally, I've very proud to work for North TV (which handles the King Philip games) and Mansfield Cable Access (the home of the Hornets), because both organizations take this seriously. There is a standard of production and announcing values to uphold, and at least in the latter department, I'd like to think that I and my announcing partners -- Alex Salachi, Glen Farley and Tom Faria -- uphold that standard. 

Hey, I'm not Jim Nantz or Al Michaels. I know that. But at age 67, I like to think that I can improve and become better at something I wanted to do my whole life, and I'm loving the opportunity to do it. And I take it seriously because as I watch those athletes on the courts, wearing masks and adapting to rules changes that sometimes make no sense, and they keep playing and not complaining about the circumstances that have altered the skills they learned as tykes and have used all their young lives, well, I feel as if I owe them my best effort as well.

This has been a very demanding season for all parties concerned. This past weekend, for instance, the Mansfield boys and girls teams added games on short notice to fill the gap caused by a COVID-caused interruption in their schedule. Not only does this put a strain on the athletic director, coaches and athletes, it also forced the good folks at Mansfield Cable Access to adjust its plans on the fly in order to accommodate the request to put both games live on cable.

It was accomplished without a hitch. These are good people doing their jobs well.

Glen Farley, left, joins me in the football booth.

So as for the podcasts, I'm hoping to get an episode of The Owner's Box After Dark (the video podcast on YouTube) up by the end of the week. Even though those are usually just me in front of the microphone for the most part, it takes the good part of a day to produce one because of all the editing they require (including insertions of video or still photos and graphics, and of course, those wonderfully bizarre Japanese commercials). 

The audio podcast, The Owner's Box, now has some new technology available to it, making it easier for me to conduct telephone interviews without the added complication of setting up video. I'll still do some of those to cross over to the video podcast, but you can expect some interesting interviews once the schedule calms down a little.

And that's hard to predict, because I've already had four planned telecasts changed by postponements. Also, Peter Gay at North TV heard the positive response and added four more basketball games to our planned agenda to televise three of KP's five Sunday hoop doubleheaders. Now we've got all five.

So don't worry -- the podcasts are just on pause for the time being. They will return with a happy vengeance shortly.

** You may also be wondering why I, as a person with a demonstrated interest in the state of American politics, have not commented about any of it here -- either the failed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, or as we thankfully approach the end of Donald J. Trump's failed presidency.

I'll tell you why. The Jan. 6 attack upon our Constitution reached into my heart and ripped at the core of my belief in what America is, as opposed to what it has become. I had a game to call that night, and after a full day of watching something not seen in this country since the 1800s, it took everything I had for me and Alex Salachi to go behind the microphones and present a call of a high school basketball game as if nothing had happened earlier in the day.

I was alive when JFK was assassinated, and Bobby Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King. I watched the planes fly into the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. And I recall the despair I felt on all of those terrible days. And now, I will remember the day before my 67th birthday the same way.

I pray to God that we avoid anything of the sort tomorrow when Joe Biden becomes our 46th president. I know everything won't be healed in just one day, but I applaud the efforts of law enforcement to root out and punish the instigators of the attack on the Capitol -- and now that we have professionals in charge of the country again after four years of Amateur Night, maybe America will get its second wind and restore its status as a shining city on a hill.

And that's all I want to say about it today. I have another game to do.

** You know what would be an incredible irony? If Tom Brady leads the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl in their own home stadium and then they lose to the Buffalo Bills, the team that Brady tormented worse than any other over two decades with the Patriots.

** Thanks for reading, folks. As I said, I'll get some new podcasts up here before too long. In the meantime, please watch our games and above all else, stay healthy and safe. And when the sun comes up tomorrow and the world changes a little, say a prayer to whatever deity sustains you that we can find our way as a nation again. Peace.

Mansfield boys and girls add games, and other changes (updated).

COVID-19 is wreaking havoc with the high school sports schedules locally, which is no surprise. But some opportunities have presented themselves in the form of additional TV games for me to do, so here's a list of my updated schedule behind the microphone.

** Saturday, Jan. 16: Canton boys' basketball at Mansfield, 12:15 p.m. and North Attleboro girls' basketball at Mansfield, 2 p.m. These two games will be live-streamed by Mansfield Cable Access. There will be no JV or freshman games. The boys' game was added to the schedule early Friday. Tom Faria and I will be on the call.

** Sunday, Jan. 17: Basketball doubleheader, Franklin boys and girls at King Philip, 1 and 3 p.m. This will be live-streamed on North TV with Alex Salachi and me on the call.

** Monday, Jan. 18: Canton girls' hockey vs. King Philip at the Foxboro Sports Center, 12:30 p.m. This will be recorded for later telecast on North TV, with Glen Farley and me on the call.

** Tuesday, Jan. 19: Attleboro girls' basketball at Mansfield, 6:45 p.m. Live-streamed on Mansfield Cable with Tom Faria and me on the call.

** Thursday, Jan. 21: Attleboro boys' basketball at Mansfield, 7 p.m. Live on Mansfield Cable with Tom Faria and me on the call.

** Sunday, Jan. 24: Basketball doubleheader, Milford boys and girls at King Philip, 1 and 3 p.m. Live on North TV, Alex Salachi and me on the call.

** Tuesday, Jan. 26: Franklin boys' basketball at Mansfield, 7 p.m. Live on Mansfield Cable with Tom Faria and me on the call.

** Thursday, Jan. 28: Franklin girls' basketball at Mansfield, 7 p.m. Live on Mansfield Cable with Tom Faria and me on the call.

** Sunday, Jan. 31: Basketball doubleheader, Attleboro boys and girls at King Philip, 1 and 3 p.m. Live on North TV, Alex Salachi and me on the call.

** Monday, Feb. 1, Taunton boys' hockey vs. King Philip at Foxboro Sports Center, 4 p.m. Recorded for later telecast on North TV, Glen Farley and me on the call.

** Tuesday, Feb. 2, Milford boys' basketball at Mansfield, 7 p.m. Live on Mansfield Cable, with Tom Faria and me on the call.

** Thursday, Feb. 4: Milford girls' basketball at Mansfield, 6:45 p.m. Live on Mansfield Cable with Tom Faria and me on the call.

** Saturday, Feb. 6: Fontbonne Academy girls' hockey vs. Bishop Feehan at New England Sports Village, Attleboro, 3:30 p.m. Recorded for later telecast on North TV with Glen Farley and me on the call.

** Sunday, Feb. 7: Basketball doubleheader, Taunton boys and girls at King Philip, 1 and 3 p.m. Live on North TV with Alex Salachi and me on the call.

And maybe more! Stay tuned for possible makeups and Hockomock Cup coverage.

Sunday's games on North TV's live stream.

Hey, Mansfield peeps! Your Green Hornet basketball teams are going on the road this weekend, but you can still watch the action live!

The Mansfield boys and girls are playing a doubleheader at King Philip on Sunday, starting with the boys' game at 1 p.m. and followed by the girls' game at 3. While no fans of the visiting team will be allowed into the KP gym because of social distancing restrictions, North Attleboro Community Television (North TV) will be live-streaming both games on its Plainville Channel with Alex Salachi and me on the call.

Just go to NorthTV.net and look for the link to live streaming on the left side of the page, and then select the Plainville Channel stream.

While the Hornets' games next week against Taunton have been postponed, there may be changes in the schedule before the next games on the 19th and 21st against Attleboro. I'll keep you posted. And of course, Mansfield's home games will continue to be live-streamed by Mansfield Cable Access.

Live-streaming for tonight's game.

Tonight's boys' basketball game between visiting King Philip and host Mansfield (7 p.m. at the Albertini Gym) will be live-streamed on Mansfield Cable Access.

Join Alex Salachi and me for the call by clicking on the Live Stream button on Mansfield Cable's web page. Click here to get there: (Mansfield Cable Access Corporation). 

Tomorrow night's girls' game between King Philip and Mansfield will also be live-streamed, as will all Hornet basketball home games this year.

The Owner's Box After Dark, Ep. 35.

Plenty is jam-packed into the 35th episode of my video podcast -- our first of the new year. 

We start with a half-hour of analysis of the rules changes that local high school basketball players will need to master as they begin a COVID-challenged season this week. Former Xaverian basketball coach Alex Salachi joins me to break down the alterations in the game that are supposed to make the game more safe.

After the break, I take a critical look at the Patriots' season-ending win over the Jets (because of which they sacrificed five spots in the first-round order of the upcoming NFL Draft), and a loving look at the Northwestern football team's dominating victory over Auburn in the Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day.

And I also update the plans of two local cable TV systems to provide live streaming of the home games for Mansfield High and King Philip Regional -- strangely enough, for whom I'll be providing the play-by-play starting tonight.

Finally (although we do this right off the bat), I announce the winner of the "The Owner's Box After Dark" winter wool hat. Yes, we really did get one!

Enjoy my three wardrobe changes as well! Happy New Year!

The Owner's Box, Ep. 31

Alex Salachi (left) and yours truly will be back behind the microphones this week.

We're back with another episode of the OG of podcasting, "The Owner's Box," and it's a preview of the upcoming high school basketball season for the two schools where I do the bulk of my play-by-play announcing.

My guest is one of my broadcast partners, my old friend and the former long-time basketball coach at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Alex Salachi, and we open the podcast with a detailed look at some of the changes in the local game brought about by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, now entering its 45th week.

Then we look at the four teams we'll be seeing the most -- the boys' and girls' teams from King Philip Regional High (for North Attleboro Community Television's Plainville Channel) and the same from Mansfield High (for Mansfield Cable Access, where Alex will be helping me out for a couple of games while Tom Faria is on the mend).

Our schedule will begin Wednesday night as the Hornet boys entertain KP, and continue Thursday night as the KP girls visit Mansfield. Then on Sunday at King Philip, we are scheduled to announce a boys-girls doubleheader against Mansfield, games starting at 1 p.m.

Plans were in the works to arrange for live streaming of the games, but that's still up in the air. But still, since most of you can't be at the games this year, I and my friends behind the microphones will do our best to present informative and entertaining telecasts to the teams' loyal fans.

Please enjoy my first audio podcast of the New Year.