January 21-22

The sloppy weekend weather ushered in colder temperatures, Monday highs were in the teens with wind chill factors below zero. The usual morning visit to the mall was about all that happened, once I was back in for the day I was more than glad to be there. On Tuesday night we were back at McCaskey as the second go-round for divisional play began, Manheim Township was the opponent. Sometimes you watch these games and it is utterly mind-boggling how things are called from one end of the floor to the other. In the varsity game on this night JPM was called for twenty-two personal fouls, MT for just eleven. It showed in the boxscore, from the field the game was dead even 55-55 but at the line MT outscored us 19-13 and won the game 74-68. It was the same way when we played at Cedar Crest, on the floor we outscored them by three but they beat us 22-7 at the line. It's just funny how certain players are permitted to do virtually anything they want while others may as well have a ball and chain locked to their ankles. Steve Powell always used to say how he'd rather play without officials and his point was well-taken. The game isn't easy when it's 5-on-5, when you have to go 5-on-8 it's damn near impossible. It's not a new phenomenon, it's been that way since the league started in 1972. I was around the program then as well (1972-73 was my junior year as a student at McCaskey) and as the old expression goes "boy, the stories I could tell.....". Coach Powell used to say that against us the blind can see and the crippled can walk, we have to win the game by twenty points in order to win it by ONE. The boys stand at 6-3 in league play and 8-8 overall, they are back on the court on the 25th at Penn Manor. Take care, thanks for reading.