November 3-4

Saturday night hockey at the Sovereign Center with the Royals as they met the Trenton Titans in the back end of a home-and-home. The boys won on Friday in New Jersey 4-2, on this night they made it two in a row with a tough 2-1 verdict. Yannick Tifu and Alex Berry scored for the Royals, Philipp Grubauer picked up the win in goal. Berry played for the Royals in 2010, he spent the following season in the AHL. In September of '11 he suffered a severe injury that kept him out most of the year, this season he's working his way back. The win improves the club's record to 3-5-1 in the early going, the boys are back home on Saturday the 10th. On Sunday we had street hockey make-up games at the rink, we started at 4:30 and were done by 9:00. The big news of the day broke in the afternoon at the ballpark in Reading, they had a charity fundraiser (which I was not at because of street hockey). The news was shocking and stunning to say the least. It was announced that the franchise will be "rebranded" including a new nickname, the "Reading Phillies" will no longer exist. Internet social media exploded upon the announcement, most of it harshly negative. I will admit I'm not crazy about it either, to me it seems completely unnecessary. If the franchise was struggling it might be understandable but that is far from the case. Since 1967 the Reading Phillies have stood as the gold standard for minor league success, it is a name recognized worldwide. It seems to me that forty-six years of history and tradition is being forsaken in favor of change for the sake of change. The new name will be revealed on November 17, I have no clue what it may be but give the recent trends in minor league sports I fear the worst. Take care, thanks for reading.