One of the most enjoyable things I do—Patriot League basketball games, a Sunday trip to Bucknell

I know most of the sports world is talking football today and I get that. I’m still recovering from The Baltimore Ravens collapse in Pittsburgh on Saturday and from the shock of seeing the New York Jets put their money and their talent where their mouths were on Sunday. (No foot jokes here).

Let me say one thing as a fan NOT as a neutral observer: the holding call on the Ravens fourth quarter punt return for a touchdown was a joke. The call was, at best, borderline, but in fact it was worse than that because a good official looks at a borderline block and says to himself, ‘did it affect the play?’ If so, MAYBE you throw the flag. If not, you don’t throw it and there’s no way that block affected the play.

Okay, enough whining. The Ravens blew the game with the three turnovers in the third quarter and giving up the 58-yard-pass late in the fourth. I thought the officiating was lousy. It is not the reason the Ravens lost.

Now, onto what I really want to talk about today: my trip Sunday to Bucknell.

I know there are dozens of you—maybe—who want to hear all about it.

Here’s what you need to understand: there’s really nothing I enjoy doing more at this point in my professional life than Navy football games on the radio and Patriot League basketball games on TV. I mean that in this sense: I still LOVE to write much more than I like doing radio or TV even though I think I’ve become reasonably good at the radio and TV stuff through the years. Writing is what I do and I love writing for The Washington Post and The Sporting News and, for that matter, this blog. I make most of my living from writing books but I also LIKE writing books, which makes me very lucky.

All that said, I really enjoy the niche that I have at Navy and in the Patriot League. I’ve done Navy football for 14 seasons now and this is my ninth season doing Patriot League games on TV. What makes it so much fun, quite simply, are the people. I’ve written before about my respect for the people at Navy—and at Army, I just don’t spend as much time up there—and how I’ve enjoyed watching the football team play so well the past eight seasons under head coaches I like for entirely different reasons: Paul Johnson won games and made you laugh; Kenny Niumatalolo wins games and makes you cry because he’s so sincere and dedicated to the kids he’s coaching.

The Patriot League is different. I’ve had an association with the schools in the league for 12 years now, dating to ‘The Last Amateurs.’ The TV package actually came about in 2002 when a (then) independent producer named Billy Stone approached me and asked if I’d be willing to do color on a package of Patriot League games he was thinking of trying to sell to DirecTV. Billy had already sold an Ivy League package and, after reading ‘Last Amateurs,’ thought a similar package might work for The Patriot League. His one caveat was that he wanted me involved.

Which was, to say the least, flattering. So we launched the package in January of 2003. I did the first two games with Jack Corrigan who then left to become the voice of The Colorado Rockies. He was replaced by Bob Socci, who has been my partner on Navy football for 14 years now. Working with Bob is a delight because he’s always prepared, he’s good at what he does and because he puts up with my humor and wisecracks with good humor of his own about 99 percent of the time.

The one-time we had a true on-air dispute—we argue often but almost always in good humor—was when I angrily said that I didn’t think President Bush should be at the Army-Navy game in 2004 when he was un-necessarily putting the young men he was glad-handing in harm’s way in Iraq. Bob didn’t see the issue as political: The President was the commander-in-chief and he had a perfect right to be there. I understand his point-of-view (I even understood it then) but the war made me SO angry at that point I just couldn’t see it that way. When The President returned to the game a couple of years later Bob and I made a deal: he wouldn’t bring up the president if I didn’t and vice-versa. So, we left it to our sideline reporter Pete Medhurst to talk about The President tossing the coin and I kept my big mouth shut.

I digress. Working with Bob is just one of the things I enjoy about The Patriot League package. Believe it or not, I look forward to the drives to the games—okay maybe not to Colgate when it is snowing but if it isn’t Hamilton is a pretty little town and I like the old-style warmth of The Colgate Inn. When I drive to Bucknell on a clear Sunday morning like yesterday, it’s a pleasure. I am an absolute creature of habit: I make two-stops each way: on the way up for gas in Thurmont (not far from Camp David) on Rte. 15 and at the Dunkin’ Donuts just outside Harrisburg for coffee and (now) one donut (powdered). On the way back I stop at the McDonald’s that’s right next to Dunkin’ Donuts (no French fries anymore, sigh) and then at a Rutter’s gas station just below Harrisburg—the door tweets like a bird when you walk inside.

It is almost exactly three hours to the minute each way. It’s actually a very pretty drive—first through the mountains going from Maryland to Pennsylvania. Then, say what you want about Harrisburg, but when you get to the T where you turn left to follow Rte. 15 and look across the Susquehanna River at the capitol building and downtown Harrisburg it’s quite pretty. The drive the rest of the way with the river on your right almost the entire way is about as scenic as any this side of The Pacific Highway.

I roll in the front gate at Bucknell, drive to the stop sign and circle to the back entrance, parking my car right next to the TV truck. These days the package is on CBS College Sports. There have been times when the 15 steps to the back door can be treacherous.

After all these years I feel as if I know about half the people who come to The Sojka Pavilion by name. Pat Flannery’s not the coach anymore, but he’s still around and I get to spend time with him while I’m up there. Most of the people who worked at Bucknell when I did the book still work at Bucknell. The same is true at all of the league’s schools. Whenever I go to do a game it feels a little bit like homecoming for me.

We had a terrific game on Sunday. Bucknell was up 14 in the second half but Holy Cross rallied to tie before Mike Muscala (who is a big-time player) hit a shot with 1.4 seconds to play to win the game for Bucknell. The funny thing about that play was that the shot was clearly a three and the officials, who had a very good game, called it a two. If Holy Cross’s last shot—a squared-up 30-footer had gone in there would have been quite a brou-ha-ha. The officials might still be looking at a replay.

They weren’t though and we got off the air exactly on time at 4 o’clock. I said my goodbyes—we may very well be back at Sojka for a flex game late in the season or for a conference tournament game—changed into sweats to drive home (another habit) and wheeled out of the parking lot at exactly 4:30—a little more than five hours after I pulled in.

I had three hours to drive and a smile on my face.

This weekend I’ll make the equally-familiar drive to Army. I could tell you where I’ll stop on that trip too but enough is enough. I’ll stay in one of my favorite hotels, The Thayer, and eat dinner with some of my Army pals on Friday night at Loughran’s in Newberg which has sawdust on the floor and prime rib that’s so good I don’t eat red meat all week so I can eat it without guilt. On Saturday Christl Arena will be packed for Army-Navy.

The atmosphere will be great. The game will be fun. And then I’ll be back in the car going back down The Palisades Parkway. Honestly, I can’t stand cold weather anymore. But going to Patriot League basketball games, seeing all the people I see and making those familiar trips to places filled with warmth makes it a little more bearable. Actually a LOT more bearable.

Review of the sports weekend; Snowy drive to Holy Cross

So here’s some of the news of the weekend:

--Serena Williams and Roger Federer won Australian Open titles in matches that tipped off at 3:30 a.m. on the east coast because the Aussies like to play their finals at night to avoid the searing heat that often hits Melbourne in January.

--They played The Pro Bowl. Somebody won. Driving home from the Holy Cross-Lehigh game (more on that later) I could not find a single sports-oriented radio station that was NOT broadcasting the damn game. My God, someone please help me.

--The ACC is a complete mess. Duke, which everyone in the league alleges is the most talented team the ACC has to offer this season got smushed—to use my daughter’s word—by Georgetown on Saturday. The final was 89-77 only because Duke finished the game on a 16-5 run. North Carolina was embarrassed at home by Virginia on Sunday night. Maryland, a team Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg said was, “playing as well as anyone in the country,” turned the ball over 26 times and lost to a Clemson team that shot 32 percent. Hey ACC fans, the league is still REALLY good in soccer.

--Ben Crane won the golf tournament in San Diego. Someone wake me when LA starts on Thursday. Crane is one of those guys the Rules Officials like to say takes a lantern with him as his 15th club. Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson is using a wedge with square grooves that is legal in spite of square grooves being outlawed by the USGA because of a court case settled more than 20 years ago. Scott McCarron says Mickelson is “cheating,” the spirit of the new rule. Mickelson says that McCarron has “publicly slandered,” him and is threatening legal action. One thing worth noting: you can’t PRIVATELY slander someone.

--The Islanders have tanked. Five straight losses with six goals scored in those games. Even their last win was 2-1 in a shootout. That makes seven goals in six games. That’s okay in soccer. Not so much in hockey. Meanwhile, the Capitals have won 10 in a row and I think the average score has been something like 14-2. Prediction: Barring injury, they win The Stanley Cup although I’m still not sure about the goaltending. It may not matter if they continue to score 14 goals a night.

--The NBA is still going on. At least I think it is. ESPN is still running those silly commercials so I guess it’s going on. No reported arrests in the Wizards locker room last week. Great line by a radio guy in New York before the Wiz and the Nets played Friday night: “The Nets are going for one for the thumb tonight.” That would have been their fifth win of the season. They didn’t get it. The announced attendance in the Meadowlands was 11,384 that night. Yeah, right. I believe the 384 part.

--I was listening this morning to a radio show and the subject of Cornell came up. I’m amazed sometimes that people who call themselves college basketball fans think that only the teams from the BCS conference matter or are any good—especially since that’s disproven every March. Someone had the temerity to call in and say Cornell deserved some respect and attention. The hosts started laughing at him, saying Cornell couldn’t possibly compete in the ACC. Guess what? The Big Red might not be able to keep up with the entire league for 16 games but one game on a neutral site? There’s not a soul in the ACC that wants to play them. This is a team that’s won At Alabama, At Massachusetts, At St. John’s and almost beat Kansas at Kansas. Its other two losses are at Syracuse and to Seton Hall—very early in the season. One host said, “yeah, I guess they’ll be a No. 14 seed.” Guess what: If they aren’t at least a single digit seed (assuming they win out which they should) the committee should be investigated.

Now, a few words on my weekend. After getting home late Friday night from the Florida trip for the ‘Caddy For Life,’ documentary, I had to drive Saturday to Worcester to do Lehigh-Holy Cross on Sunday. I enjoy doing The Patriot League games on TV. I like my partner, Bob Socci and we’ve worked together for 13 years on Navy games and eight years on The Patriot League games. I enjoy the coaches and the players and the people I’ve come to know through the years at the eight schools.

I don’t usually mind the drive to Holy Cross. I know it in my sleep, I even know exactly where I want to stop to eat and to get gas. I can usually make it in seven hours or a little less if I’m lucky.

Saturday was a nightmare. We were supposed to get a couple of inches of snow in the Washington area. Not exactly. Closer to 10. There was supposed to be no snow north of Baltimore. Not exactly. It stopped snowing when I got to the George Washington Bridge. There wasn’t a plow in sight on I-95. The road was treacherous. There were people spinning out and pulled over everywhere. It took me two hours and 20 minutes—normally 45 minutes—to get to Baltimore. It took four hours—normally two hours—to get to The New Jersey Turnpike. It took more than two hours to get up the Turnpike—normally 1:45 at most. In all, it was just under 10 hours. I think I’m getting too old for this. Maybe I’ll tell The Patriot League it should hire Pete Gillen to do the games next season.

I enjoyed the game. I always like being inside The Hart Center, which is a classic old GYM—not an arena with some stupid corporate name on it. The atmosphere is relaxed. There’s not a single yellow-jacketed security person to be found. I felt for Sean Kearney, who is in his first year at Holy Cross after 22 years as an assistant and is struggling with a team trying to learn a completely different style of play at both ends of the court. There’s not a nicer person in hoops than Sean. I think—and hope—things will get better for him.

The trip home was easy—seven hours on the dot. The only problem was not being able to escape The Pro Bowl. At least that’s over. Now we have seven days of Super Bowl hype to look forward to. Oh joy.

Access to College Practices; Follow-Up Note on PGA Championship, Tiger

The biggest story in sports today is, of course, Michael Vick signing with the Philadelphia Eagles. I certainly get why it is a big story but, to be honest, I’m sort of one with it. I really don’t care how much they use him or whether they put in the ‘wildcat,’ to get him some snaps behind Donovan McNabb.

Like a lot of people I’ve said what I have to say about him. If he gets back on the field and is productive and stays out of trouble, good for him. He’s a relatively low-risk signing for the Eagles because they have an established quarterback who isn’t going to be worried about losing his job to Vick. If he doesn’t behave or doesn’t perform, they can just cut him and say, ‘oh well we tried.’

I’m actually more interested today in a report someone sent me from Scout.com that lists the access policies college football teams have to their practices. I know that this is something fans really don’t care about and, to be honest, I don’t care that much either. It’s not as if being unable to watch Nick Saban’s practices has any affect on my life.

In fact, as I wrote recently about an incident years ago with the Redskins, I’m just as happy most times to not watch practice. Years ago, shortly after I had made the decision to give up covering politics to cover sports again, I was up at Holy Cross writing a story about a coach named Rick Carter.

To be fair, the story was my idea. I was going up to cover the Hall of Fame tip-off game in Springfield between North Carolina State and Houston and I suggested to my boss that I stop en route to see Carter. He was, at the time, a hot young coach who people thought might someday coach the Redskins since he was a friend/protégé of then Redskins GM Bobby Beathard.

Carter seemed like a very good guy and, after we had talked awhile, invited me to watch practice and then finish our interview afterwards. That sounds good to me. Holy Cross’s practice field is right at the top of the campus, essentially on top of a mountain. It was mid-November and the sun set about 30 minutes in to the practice. It then started to snow. I honestly can’t remember ever being colder but I couldn’t leave - I’d been INVITED by the guy I was writing about to watch.

All I could think standing there was: “I could be in a bar in Annapolis right now having a drink with a politician. Instead I’m standing here freeing to death. WHAT was I thinking?”

I made it through practice and finished the interview. Of course I couldn’t know that behind his friendly smile, Carter was a very troubled man. Not long after I wrote the story he had a chance to get the North Carolina State job but, as I recall, Holy Cross wouldn’t let him interview. The program slipped a little bit and a couple years later, Carter committed suicide.

If you are a beat writer—which I haven’t been for a long time now—you need access to practice. That’s because you have editors breathing down your neck wanting to know how a quarterback looked or if someone hobbled off the field and went straight to the training room.

What’s more striking about it all is the continuing—and escalating—paranoia—of coaches. If someone is putting in a trick play for a specific game and doesn’t want it on tape or reported in a newspaper or online, I get that. But generally speaking there are no secrets in football—or any sport really—anymore. Do you think Ohio State is going to be surprised on September 5th when Navy comes out and runs the triple option?

It’s interesting to note that Pete Carroll at Southern California, who has been as successful as anyone in the game for the past 10 years, runs what are essentially open practices. One might think—MIGHT think—that other coaches would look at that and say, ‘well, somehow the Trojans have overcome the presence of the media at their workouts.’ Having really good players tends to be more important than closing practices.

I couldn’t help but get a laugh when I noticed that Duke—my alma mater—allows TV crews to tape ‘B role,’—I think that means they can’t show live plays, just show players stretching and talking and warming up—for the first 20 minutes of practice.

Duke won four games last year and people acted as if David Cutcliffe was Bear Bryant reincarnated. Certainly the four wins were a major improvement over the four wins in four years prior to 2008 but let’s not get carried away here. Right now, Duke should be sending a stretch limo to the home of anyone who wants to publicize the program in any way. It basically takes a court order these days to get into one of Mike Krzyzewski’s practices—unless you’ve known him for 100 years as some of us have—but he’s won THREE national championships. Let’s see four WINS vs. three NATIONAL TITLES. Yeah, I’d say their access standards should be about the same.

One other note before we all go off to watch Tiger Woods win The PGA this weekend: I wrote the other day that the reason Tiger reacted badly to being put on the clock is that last Sunday in Akron is that he doesn’t like anyone telling him what to do. Someone put up an angry post demanding to know how I knew Tiger didn’t like being told what to do. The answer’s simple: I’ve watched him in action for 13 years now. He’s a control freak—and I say that as a complete control freak myself—and it’s part of what makes him great. Why do you think he’s fired caddies, agents and plenty of others in the past? Why don’t you think his current caddy plays the role of attack dog for him? Since his dad was brought up, the fact is Tiger, who loved his dad without any doubt, asked his dad to back off and give him some space to make his own decisions after he turned pro.

I don’t dislike Tiger and my respect for him as an athlete knows no bounds, but unlike a lot of people who cover him I’m not going to roll over and write and say that he’s always right so he’ll call me ‘Johnny,’ in press conferences (he tends to add a ‘y’ to the names of people he likes).

He was wrong last Sunday. The pace of play he and Padraig Harrington were moving at all day was ridiculous. Athletes ask officials to be one thing in sports: consistent. That’s what John Paramour was doing—being consistent. Tiger didn’t like that. Doesn’t make him a bad guy, just means he was wrong.

He’s also the greatest player in the history of golf.