January 5-7

Thursday morning in Quarryville for lunch with Jenny at the downtown pizza parlor. The rest of the day was quiet as was most of Friday, in the evening it was a basketball night at JPM as we hosted Warwick. Over the years Warwick has been one of those pain-in-the-ass programs to play against, no matter the won-lost record or talent level they just battle to the end and never give you an inch (traits to be admired, not belittled). The Red Tornado won the game 78-60 but it was a proverbial harder-than-it-looks victory. We were ahead by just one point at halftime, stretched the advantage to ten after three quarters and finally put it away in the fourth. Coach Powell used eleven players and nine scored, Devonne Pinkard led with 19 while Diante Cherry added 16, Calvert Gantz had 14 and Shaki Staten contributed ten points in a reserve role. Overall the six non-starters accounted for 21 points, conversely Warwick got only two points from the five players they used as reserves. The win improves the club's record to 7-3 (4-1 in the league) and sets the stage for Tuesday the 10th as we play that night at Manheim Township. MT is 5-0 in the league thus far, they have just one loss overall so needless to say it will be a huge game. On Saturday Jenny and I were in Hershey for AHL hockey as the Flyers' affiliate (the Adirondack Phantoms) visited, Hershey won 5-2. The Flyers were affiliated in Hershey from 1984 to 1996, in the fall of '96 the organization elected to establish its own AHL franchise in Philadelphia and named it the Phantoms. As a result the Hershey fanbase-at-large developed an insane hatred of all things Philadelphia, I guess they felt jilted and to this day there are many who haven't gotten over it yet. In 2009 the club was moved to Glens Falls, New York (retaining the nickname) on what is considered a temporary basis, the long-range plans are to move the franchise to Allentown, PA (perhaps becoming the Lehigh Valley Phantoms) when the proposed arena is ready to open. It's always interesting when the Phantoms play in Hershey because there are many fans there who root for the Flyers as well but for some reason they root for Hershey against the Phantoms because somehow or another they consider Hershey "their team". I must admit I don't understand the logic, to me that's like siding with the neighbors on the next block against your own family (especially since Hershey's NHL affiliate is a direct rival of the Flyers). As a Flyers fan I support and follow their AHL club (no matter where they play) because I refuse to be a hypocrite, it's as simple as that. The Phantoms play in Hershey just two times this season, the other game will be in March. Take care, thanks for reading.