February 1-4

The new month began on a Thursday, the next night saw the final bus ride of the basketball season. We made the short trip to Manheim Township for game #21 for the varsity and the eighteenth for the junior varsity squad. The JPM JV has struggled through a difficult season of their own with just five wins on the ledger but on this night they avenged an earlier defeat in satisfying fashion. MT won the first time around by 32 points, on this occasion JPM prevailed 54-53. The varsity game was another story altogether as JPM lost 81-60 to fall to 3-18. This is only the third time the club has lost by more than 20 and the first time since the third game of the season (that was a 27-point blitz in Harrisburg on December 16 from which I was somewhat thankfully absent). The boys wrap the season at home against Hempfield on the 6th. Jenny and I had our usual lunch date on Saturday, on Sunday night professional football's "Big Game" was played in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As a youngster my sports allegiances developed around the teams I saw most often on television, here in southeastern Pennsylvania that meant Baltimore and Philadelphia. I have always followed the Baltimore Orioles as well as the city's football teams: the Colts (before they were relocated in 1984 by a greedy carpetbagging owner) and the Ravens (who came to town in 1996 under admittedly similar circumstances). In Philadephia it has always been the Phillies, the Flyers and the Eagles. The Eagles have been in existence since 1933, on this night they won the franchise's fourth world championship (and the first in the league's so-called "modern era") with a 41-33 win over the defending champions. The other championships came in 1948, 1949 and most recently way back in 1960 so to say it's been a long time coming is a severe understatement. I'm 61 years old, the last championship the club won was nine days before I turned four so I'd say that qualifies as a LONG TIME. Take care, thanks for reading.