August 17-31

As the second half of August began there was major news breaking regarding high school athletics. The PIAA (the governing body of HS sports in Pennsylvania) announced a delay of the fall season, for football in particular the delay forces the first three weeks of the season to be canceled. The revised schedule called for practices to begin on the 31st with the first games on the weekend of September 18-19. For the Lancaster-Lebanon League that means each school plays just one non-league game followed by its six-game league schedule, at McCaskey that means four consecutive home games followed by the final three on the road. The city school board subsequently announced a vote scheduled for September 8 at which time the decision whether or not to proceed with all the fall sports programs will be made. I guess they want to monitor the first week of practices and if all goes well the green light will be given. There were several school districts across the state announcing they would not participate in the fall season, I certainly hope the rug doesn't get pulled out from under the kids at JPM. The spring sports teams lost their seasons and the various summer athletic programs (the county youth baseball league included) reported no massive outbreaks so maybe the worst of it is indeed behind us. There are those who believe it was never as dangerous as it was portrayed (and to a degree I'm one of them) and after five-and-a-half months of "two weeks to flatten the curve" the public-at-large has just about HAD IT. I never doubted from the start that the situation was real and caution was warranted but sooner or later the political games must end and the public MUST be allowed to make their own decisions without constant interference from the state government (which has been inconsistent and confusing at best). Take care, thanks for reading.

August 1-16

The county youth baseball league schedule leaked over into early August, there was one final game at Community Park on Wednesday the 5th. The 12u team in Section Three lost to Donegal Black finishing their season at 2-7. The Section Two team finished 6-4 and the Salsa club in the 10u league was 6-3. The entire league featured eighty-four teams among the three age groups (14u, 12u and 10u) and obviously there were many communities represented by multiple teams. For example Mountville fielded eleven different teams (Giants, Cubs, Indians, Nationals, Pirates, Tigers, Phillies, Yankees, Orioles, Red Sox and Angels), by contrast Lancaster did not field a team in the 14u division. Before the game on the 5th one of the coaches approached me and asked which of the players was "mine". I explained that I had no personal connections to anyone, I was just there to watch a ballgame. These are city kids, I'm a city guy, many of them may one day play at McCaskey and with my association there it's only right to come out and support them. He seemed to genuinely appreciate all that since most of the spectators at these games are related in some way to one or more of the players. The midpoint of the month marked a special occasion, the 16th was Jenny's birthday. There was a time when she looked forward to it but in recent years her enthusiasm has waned somewhat, I guess she thinks there's some sort of a stigma involved. None of that matters to me, we've been together for close to nineteen years and I love her as much as I ever have. Her birthday fell on a Sunday, I asked her if she wanted to do lunch on that day or on Saturday as usual, she elected the latter. She didn't ask for anything specific in terms of a gift but I think she'll like what she got. Take care, thanks for reading.