greatnoreaster's Blog

Tuesday Night at the ballpark, fans are trying any which way to back a winner in this town in hopes of bringing back a championship.  The April cold still hangs over the red brick yard as the Metropolitans of New York are in town.   The fireworks that should have happened on the field would wind up inside the locker room later that evening.  

 Radio host Howard Eskin and Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel squared off as if it was Saturday Night at the fights.  Now we know Howard is not the easiest guy to like in this city, and quite frankly has ruffled alot of feathers of managers, owners, players, and fans alike.  But lets not blame this one on the media folks.  Face facts, the Phillies production has been awful thus far leaving over 100+ runners stranded on base.  You can't win games if you can't score runs.  This team was picked to come out on top of their division this season.  Do they look like a division leader?  Hardly.  Who's the blame?  We can point fingers and disagree with each other and still this team will not make the playoffs.  I am tired of going to these games and watching what should be a lineup with a ton of spark, fizzle at these games that we pay good money for.  I don't think the owners care if there is a parade on Broad Street anymore.  As long as they produce the revenue to enjoy for themselves is as close as we are ever going to get to a World Series in this town.  Sad but true.  The manager clearly is not capable of handling the position as skipper for this crew.  The players can say all they want how much Charlie is easy to work for and doesn't put any pressure on the team.  Isn't this the problem folks??  Think about it, if you are at your job and not producing what your boss is asking for, you probably are going to an earful and maybe even a chunk of your rear missing.   The Phillies look like a team dazed and confused when they are out on that field.  But yet, the fans continue to pour down to South Philly and support this franchise.  My take is....  if the owners are not going to commit to the fans, then why should we commit to the Phillies.   Lets see some desire to play the game like its meant to be played.   Say what you want about the Eagles, but at least we have made it to the playoffs and Super Bowl in the past 4 out of 5 years. 

The Phillies may never read this heart felt article that I wrote.  Maybe they don't even care what we think.   It will however be clear the day those seats that haven't been paid for just yet are suddenly empty.  

~ kjc ~

We have just dealt with one of the nastiest nor'easter's in some time.  Wicked winds of 40 and 50 mph. Rain measuring 4 - 10 inches, followed by unusual snow and even more wind.  I am surprised by the number of power outages as I thought there would have been a whole lot more with all the rain and soft ground.  For any of you diehards who decided to stay awake late Sunday Night/early Monday morning and watch those barometers tumble along with the temperatures, it was a sight to see.  The winds picked up dramatically and kept on blowing whipping the rain toward the windows as if you were under a power washer.   Then that oh so familiar sound of the ticking of sleet smacking the window followed around 3am in the East Norriton area.  Temps dropped some 8 degrees in 2 hours as we approached the freezing mark.  It was apparent that a narrow band of super cooling was taking place and funneling right into our area.  Big gloppy wet snow flakes then mixed in and for a while was all snow.  The flakes as big as silver dollars for a while.  What my dad used to call the "onion snow".   They looked big enough to fit onto a hamburger bun..  Just a bizarre scene to say the least. 

Can we finally put winter to bed............please.  I am sure most feel this same way.   But is this the red flag signal of things to come.  Is this just the beginning of the global warming threatening to take over and change our weather pattern.  Will we be dealing with longer winters and cooler summers?   What about increased numbers of nor'easter's and hurricanes.  It does seem like our weather has become more turbulent and one can only wonder what lies ahead.  For now, lets look ahead to warmer days and dryer weather.  I know my backyard needs it. 

Enjoy the rest of the week and the upcoming warmer weekend. 

kjc 

This is a follow up to another fellow blogger on this site Doug Melegari who had a great post the other day "You decide: Were good decisions made yesterday? The arguments of both sides". March 17th, with regards to school districts in making the call to dismiss students early this past Friday during the severe winter storm.  It could be blamed on the media outlets and the forecasters.  Lets face it, every media outlet had something different with regards to the prediction of Friday's mess.  But is it really the fault of the media?  Or, is it poor planning by the school district itself.  Face it, weather has never been an exact science.  Not every forecast comes out right.  As meteorologist Rob Guarino from Fox29 pointed out about this last stomr, "a matter of 2 degrees made the difference from this being a crippling ice storm which would have resulted in 3 million or greater without power, or a 20+ inch street closing snowstorm. 

All excuses aside,  doesn't  the school district have to take some responsibility here.  No matter which way you look at it, a storm was coming, and for the most part, each station had some type of frozen precipitation in their forecast.  Whether the call was for 1 inch or 6 inches, shouldn't we call take into consideration that the weather has its own mind made up on what it will deliver.  You would think by now that most districts would have a better plan in place ready to go at all times if such an event takes on different characteristics than first predicted. 

I can speak for my sons school district "Colonial Schools" of Plymouth Whitemarsh who put the wheels in motion rather quickly and did not hesitate to close down early for the good and welfare of students and staff.   They took into consideration the rapidly changing conditions as of 10am that morning and gave the green light for an 11 - 11:30 dismissal for all students.  The point here is we can use the weather outlets as a needed tool for guidance but need to have "real time" preparedness in place as needed.  I would rather my school district see that the weather was going downhill rather quickly and pull the trigger in closing early, then to keep schools open the rest of the day and put the students welfare in jeopardy. 

We have seen too many incidents take place that were a result from lack of preparedness.  With spring around the corner and school to let out soon for the summer, now is the time to put those plans together for the next upcoming school year. 

Please feel free to add your comments or suggestions and thanks for reading..

~kjc~