November 15-18

Street hockey playoffs continued on Thursday evening, with two of the divisions finished we're down to one game a night. This night featured the deciding game of a semifinal series, the finals start on Monday the 19th. Friday and Sunday were quiet and uneventful, the perfect bookends for a busy Saturday. Jenny and Helen were along for the evening's lacrosse game at the Sovereign Center, for Helen it was her first time seeing the sport in person. The Rockets' inaugural season has been a struggle as the franchise seeks to establish an identity, on this night the club broke through for its first win as they defeated the Syracuse Stingers 23-8. It was 12-1 at the half, the second half was more competitive but for the out-manned Stingers it was too little too late. The Rockets have one final home game on Saturday December 1 when the Charlotte Copperheads visit. The day's big news came in the afternoon when the Reading Phillies revealed the club's new nickname. The team is now the Reading "Fightin' Phils". I will freely admit I was against a name change because the franchise has forty-six years of tradition and history, changing the name would compromise that especially if the new name was something bizarre and ridiculous (as is the trend these days in minor league sports and something I truly feared might happen). As it is the new name is merely the old name with an adjective added, it's not really a change at all. "Fightin' Phils" is a nod to our major league affiliate's history (the 1950s era in particular) and most fans will still call the team the Phillies. Early reaction on the internet seemed to be largely negative as most of the fanbase wanted no change of any kind. It's been very controversial ever since it was announced, what may happen from here remains to be seen. Take care, thanks for reading.