Monday, July 12

Now that the World Cup is over what did we learn about soccer in the United States? First and foremost is that mainstream sports fans will
get excited when the U.S. is playing with a competitive team as we saw over the first weeks of the month-long event. However we are not nearly good enough to play consistently with the top countries and frankly most people will not care about the World Cup if we’re not any good. To me it’s almost like hockey in the Olympics…if the US is not a contender then not too many people are going to really care. Where soccer gets a bit of an edge is that the ethnic make up of our country results in many getting excited about the fortunes of teams like Italy, Mexico, England and more. However the future of soccer in this country remains tied to the future success of teams that wear the red, white and blue.

If you are a Yankee fan than hearing Bob Sheppard’s voice was as reassuring as looking at a lineup with names like Mantle, Berra, Ford, Maris, Munson, Jackson, Guidry, Jeter, Pettitte, Rivera and many others. His first game as the Yankees public address announcer was April 17, 1951. That was Mickey Mantle’s first opening day in pinstripes and Joe DiMaggio’s last. From that day until September of 2007 his voice was what you heard when sitting in Yankee Stadium and Sheppard saw and called it all. He was also the PA announcer for the football Giants for 50 seasons and called other sporting events as well but certainly he was best-known when it came to baseball and the Yankees. Now the man called “The Voice of God” has died at the age of 99 although you might want to believe he’ll be introducing Mantle and DiMaggio again in a big ballpark above.

If you drive by football fields at Toms River East and Matawan this week you might be surprised to see players practicing in the heat of mid-July. That’s because its U.S. Army All Shore Gridiron Classic week with the 33rd annual All Star game set for Friday night at Matawan High School where Huskies Coach Joe Martucci will be in charge of the Monmouth County team. Charlie Diskin of Toms River East is the Ocean County head coach. Matt Harmon, Ed Sarluca & I will broadcast the game on our sister station, 105.7 The Hawk beginning at 7pm Friday.