Monday Musings

Random thoughts on the first Monday of July:

I am certainly not a Philadelphia sports fan but I am a fan of Citizens Bank Park, the home of baseball’s Phillies. I like the stadium so much that over the last few years I have probably seen the Mets play there a dozen times as opposed to one stressful trip to Shea Stadium in New York. Sunday thanks to my brother’s connections, we got to root for the Mets from the Dugout Diamond section….we were five rows off the field from the Phills on-deck circle. With comfortable seats, waitress service and free food and drink it even made up for the fact that the Mets lost…well almost.

As many Met fans make the trip to Philly you don’t feel as much like a visitor as you would in most cases although certainly we were in the minority. What’s just as nice as the stadium is the fact they even with a sell-out crowd and staying until the end of the game, we were out of the parking area in just a few minutes….a far cry from leaving Shea or Yankee Stadium.

Of course this Wednesday is July 4th, and it seems the middle-of-the-week
Holiday is puzzling to many. Usually when we think of a holiday we think of a long weekend but that is not the case this year. For many it will simply be a matter of one day off in the middle of the week but there are quite a few who will look to extend it into the weekend by taking Thursday and Friday off. I’ll be among them and I’m also on vacation next week so after tomorrow I will go 12 straight days without setting an alarm clock…that’s something I’m really looking forward to.

The Shore Conference Football Coaches Association will be sponsoring this summer’s “Shore 44 Gridiron Classic.” The game which matches recently graduated seniors from Ocean and Monmouth Counties will be played on Friday, July 20th at Brick Township High School. Lou Vircillo, who guided Lacey to an undefeated season and state sectional title, will be the head coach of the Ocean County team. Howell’s Cory Davies will skipper the Monmouth All-Stars, who’ve had the better of things in recent years.
The game was created and run by the Asbury Park Press for many years and previously known as the All-Shore Football Classic.