October 11-15

Wednesday lunch with Jenny and her mother, in the evening we were in Reading for the Royals' annual meet and greet event. The club has twenty-three players on the season-opening roster, they were all present and seated two-to-a-table (one table had three) as the fanbase made its way around the arena concourse for autographs and photos. Jenny always looks forward to it, I walk along the periphery while she gets the autographs and poses with the players for the photos. There always seems to be one or two fans who ask me for my autograph and this time was no exception, it doesn't happen regularly but I've never stiffed anyone who asked me. The club has a new radio broadcaster, longtime play-by-play man Mark Thompson left during the offseason for a new career opportunity in Colorado. The new broadcaster was in attendance, we had a chance to meet for the first time. His name is David Fine, he is an alum of Syracuse University and worked with the city's AHL club while in school. After graduation he worked for two years in the United States Hockey League and comes to us from the USHL club in Kearney, Nebraska. I've had a chance to listen to some of his work from the USHL, his style is very different from Mark's but he'll have no trouble fitting in. Mark's longtime color commentator Pat Richards is staying on board which will make David's transition that much easier. Obviously we'll never be on the air together but we are still colleagues as the "voices" of the franchise (him on the airwaves, me in the arena). Thursday morning brought rainy conditions but as the afternoon progressed the forecast improved as well, the night's schedule at the rink went off as planned. We had some light mist here and there but nothing that was going to stop us, winners (all in regulation play) included the Hammerheads over the Pub Dawgs, the Steamers over the Kings, the UniLords over the Owls and the Riot over the Misfits. Friday was another dreary day, I had the night off since both McCaskey and Lancaster Catholic played on the road. I could have attended either game but at my age standing on a sideline in the rain isn't my idea of a good time anymore. The rest of the weekend was quiet except for Saturday lunch with Jenny, on Sunday temperatures reached into the high 70s (with the forecast calling for overnight frost warnings during the coming week....YOU figure it out). Take care, thanks for reading.