Philly, a sports paradise
By Marko Primorac
Staff Reporter
mcpl64@psu.edu
Thursday, May 12, 2005 will
be a day I will not forget soon.
It was the first time I attended a
Philadelphia Phillies game (in
fact, it was my first Philadelphia
sporting event). My buddy Joe
suggested a few weeks ago that
we should go to a game in the
new stadium, and, even though
I know about as much about
baseball as I do feminist theory, I
concurred. Joe is a sport-Taliban,
and he would fill me in on all
of the juicy statistical details
and rules that I never took the
time to learn. Besides, sporting
events (e.g. tailgating) always
rock, and I like everything Philly.
Joe ordered the tickets online
($4O), and we agreed that
if I covered food and spirits,
we would be Even Steven.
The drive down to Philly was
PennDOT business as usual:
construction delays and "Road
Work" signs with no workers
or improvement on the roads.
We arrived at South and Third
at about 1:00 p.m., and after
dropping quarters into the meter,
headed for Mako's bar. It was still
closed and I was devastated; they
have some of the best burgers
I've ever had. Plus they have
extra-large steak fries, and "X"-
sports and accidents playing on
their numerous TV's. We figured
that we would head to "O'Neal's"
just 100 feet up Third Street.
You can't go wrong with Irish.
We didn't. For starters, the
price of a very filling Jameson
BBQ cheeseburger meal was
about $6. They didn't even
charge me extra for the melted
cheddar I requested for the fries
(though not steak fries, they had
the skins on them and were damn
good none the less). I was as
happy as a fat kid could be. Also,
Chamberlain tapes discovered
WILT cont'd from 7
But WCAU in Philadelphia -
now WPHT-AM (1210) - was a
50,000-watt powerhouse and, on
that cloud-free night, its signal
came through loud and clear in
Amherst.
"If there had been bad weather,
if it had been a less-powerful
station, or if it hadn't been a
Friday night, when a lot of guys in
the dorm were out on dates or at
parties, I'd never have been able
to hear it," Trelease said.
Chamberlain had scored 78
points in a triple-overtime game
a year earlier and set a regulation
record of 73 just two months
earlier, so Trelease wasn't
shocked when the Warriors
center finished the first half with
41 points. In fact, he fell asleep
during the third quarter.
"I woke up during the post-game
show, and when I heard he had
scored 100, I went crazy," he
said.
He then heard By Saam, the Hall
of Fame Phillies broadcaster who
also did shows before and after
each Warriors game, inform his
listeners that the fourth quarter
would be rebroadcast at 3 a.m.
Trelease taped his portable
radio's antenna to an interior
water pipe that ran the full five
floors of the dormitory. He set up
his clunky reel-to-reel recorder
alongside it.
"In retrospect, it's amazing more
people didn't do the same," said
Pomerantz, a former journalist at
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"I later heard that someone else
had recorded the final minutes on
a Dictaphone. But he was running
out of tape, so he only recorded
the Warriors' possessions."
And, according to the author, in
1991, someone sent Campbell a
tape of his call of the final basket
_ when, with under a minute left,
Chamberlain scored his 99th and
The Phillies recently played Cincinatti, which was Marko's first Phillies game
one might add, the atmosphere
was dingy, Irish, and laid back.
The jukebox had a phenomenal
selection of music; from the
Grand Theft Auto Wave Radio
CD, to Curtis Mayfield, to The
Pogues, to Elvis, to Daft Punk.
And when my $5 bill registered
as a $1 bill, the owner put in a
five and let me pick my poison.
Speaking of poison, their beer
and ale selection was diverse,
and, without exaggerating,
exquisite. Any bar that sells
Chamay is a good joint, but a joint
that sells both red and blue label
Chamay, in addition to Leffe, with
cheap (but hearty) burgers and
fat kid food, well, that's called
home. And O'Neal's is my new
home. Our bartender made
sure that we had drinks in front
of us at all times, and she gave
us the inside scoop on where
to party once in the stadium.
After a $133.40 (we each got
a loser tourist T-shirt) bill and
a thorough convincing of the
100th points after receiving a
pass from Joe Ruklick.
"I thought that's all there was,"
Campbell said last week. "I wasn't
aware anything else existed."
An engineer at WCAU had
recorded over the game tape,
standard practice at the time.
Ten days later, the UMass
basketball team played a first
round NCAA tournament game
at the Palestra. Trelease did the
play-by-play. Without a halftime
guest, he replayed the fourth
quarter of Chamberlain's record
setting game.
And then he forgot about the
recording.
Nearly 30 years later, attending
a librarians' conference in
Pennsylvania's Chocolate Town,
he found himself sitting next to a
trustee of the Hershey Community
Archives.
"We got to talking about that
game and I casually mentioned
that I had a tape of the fourth
quarter," Trelease said. "He
couldn't believe it."
Trelease, who later wrote a best
selling book, The Read-Aloud
Handbook, gave the archives a
copy. The NBA also found out
and, when he presented a tape
to the league, it was digitally
restored, filtering out some of the
noise from the crowd that had
surrounded Campbell during the
closing minutes of the Warriors'
169-147 victory.
"It's strange how things work,"
Trelease said. "Now, if you want
to hear a Dodgers game you
missed last month, you just go
to MLB.com and buy it. The only
reason we have a tape of Russ
Hodges calling Bobby Thomson's
home run in 1951 ("The Giants
win the pennant!" etc.) was
because some kid in the Bronx
taped it.
"And we wouldn't have a record
of this game, either, if not for a lot
of fortunate circumstances."
innate criminality of the British
people by the obviously politically
moderate Irishman sitting next to
me, Kevin, we headed off to the
stadium. Keep in mind, there
is a parking garage on Third
as soon as you make a left, so
don't make my mistake and get
a $2O fine for an empty meter
when I could have just coughed
up the $7 and had a spot.
Just a ten minute ride away, the
new stadium rocks. Parking was
$lO, but there was ample space
and, after fertilizing the asphalt,
we realized that there were Port-
A-Johns not too far from the lot.
Once inside the stadium, we
indulged in Miller Light ($5 a pop),
and obnoxious sized hotdogs
and pretzels. In typical Philly
flare, we went to Pat's inside
the stadium, but it turned out to
be a dud. I expected far more
from Pat's, which, in the world
of cheese steak connesoirs, has
a mythical status. I paid $7 for a
dried out roll and stingy serving of
PSH sports
INTERCOLL cont'd from 7
sports a year and that its 10-year
master plan calls for more athletic
fields. Smitley said interested
golfers and tennis players could
be eligible to play in tournaments
at University Park by next school
year. Smitley also said the college
hopes to compete in Division 111
within five years.
The college will continue to offer
intramural sports, which include
touch football, softball, basketball
and volleyball, to students next
year.
The men's baseball team will
play a split schedule, playing
eight games in the fall and a mid
season tournament at a site to be
announced. The team will come
back in the spring to play six
games and a double-elimination
tournament to end the season in
April.
The men's soccer team will
play 13 games in September and
October before the four-team
conference championships begin
on Oct. 19.
The women's volleyball squad
will play seven regular season
matches, six of them on the
road, in addition to a mid-season
tournament in late September.
The co-ed cross-country team
will run in three meets, all on the
road, before the conference meet
at University Park on Oct. 15.
The men's basketball team will
play 17 regular season contests
starting on. Nov. 17, when it
travels to Penn St. Abington. The
women's basketball team will also
travel to Penn State Abington
that night to kick off its 13-game
season. Regional playoffs would
begin on Feb. 28 for both teams
if they qualify.
The women's softball team will
host Penn State McKeesport on
March 26 to begin its nine-game
schedule, with playoffs beginning
in late April.
Sports
Photo by John Fox/Capital Times
what tasted like Steak-Urn. I'll be
brutally honest; a blind monkey
on roller skates could have made
a better meal. I have no idea why
the bums at Pat's in the stadium
had 15 people when their service
was that bad. Fifteen idiots
and not a single good cheese
steak... scheming bastards.
We wandered around the
stadium, and realized that the
no matter where you are at in
the stadium, the view is good.
Next time, we're going with the
cheapest seats. After pounding
liters of Coca-cola to come back
to our senses, and heckling Ken
Griffey, Junior, we headed out
after the eigth inning. The Phillies
are bums, and their performance
was pitiful. But I like to be around
the freaks and geeks of this
world, and there are no worse
or bigger freaks and geeks than
Philly fans. I will be pre-gaming
in O'Neal's in a few weeks, mark
my words...
Fantastic location on
College Avenue,
directly across from
campus.
`lO , - Walk to Beaver io • • Leases.
Stadium, Bryce Jordan
Center, local •
restaurants, shopping,
& NIGHT LIFE.
Resident functions,
contests, & giveaways.
On site professional
management that
cares and prompt
maintenance.
Plush wall to wall
carpeting, individual
climate control, &
Internet access.
"Freebies," "boosterism"
plague sports journalism
By The Associated Press
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Sports
journalists routinely accept free
tickets, travel and memorabilia
from the teams they cover, a
practice that requires more
advocacy for better ethical
standards, a Penn State
University researcher said.
In a survey of 285 newspapers,
about 43 percent of sports editors
agreed that accepting such
"freebies" didn't affect reporters'
objectivity, said Marie Hardin, an
assistant professor at the Center
for Sports Journalism at Penn
State.
"A lot of sports journalists don't
see the harm in them because
they don't see it as changing the
story," Hardin said Wednesday.
But, she added, accepting
meals and other items could
affect a reporter's relationship
with a source _ or at least the
impression of the relationship
with a source _ in stories beyond
game coverage. She cited the
ongoing story of the use of
steroids in sports as examples of
sports coverage becoming more
complex.
The findings come from a study
conducted in the spring of 2003 of
sports editors or deputy editors in
•ip at $299.
Semester &
/11 ll
. Matching.
,go
• IP • • •
The Capital Times, May 16, 2005
the southeastern United States,
from Louisiana to Maryland. The
results were published in the
latest edition of the Newspaper
Research Journal, a publication
of the nonprofit Association for
Education in Journalism and
Mass Communication, based in
Columbia, S.C.
It also found that 39 percent
of editors reached in the survey
agreed with the statement that
sports coverage "should boost the
home team." Editors at smaller
papers were more likely to agree
than those at larger papers. More
experienced editors tended to
disagree with the statement.
About 56 percent of editors said
their staffs followed an ethical
code, and 90 percent said they
believed the sports department
code should be the same as that
used in the newsroom.
"Although an increasing number
of sports departments have
adopted ethical codes, beliefs
and practices that defy ethical
norms persist," Hardin wrote.
The results show a need for more
discussion in newsrooms about
ethical standards, especially
at smaller newspapers, Hardin
said. She also urged colleges to
emphasize "rigorous" training in
ethics to journalism students.
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