Press Pass

With this year's World Series coming to a conclusion on Sunday, I decided now would be a prime opportunity for me to share a piece of poetry I found stashed in my old high school yearbook.

It was nearly 20 years ago that Matt Wentz and I were presented with the assignment by Dr. Gilligan in his Creative Writing class to write an English Ode poem.

So, with us both being die-hard Phillies' fans and the Phillies making the postseason for the first time in 10 years back in 1993, we thought we would have a little fun with one of our other teachers that year.

This week's column is about family.

It starts out with "Bo and Brett's Backyard Brawl".

Northern Lehigh and Northwestern Lehigh have formed quite a rivalry on the gridiron in recent years and both schools have come together to play the game for a great cause.

The game takes place on Friday, October 12 at Tiger Stadium and funds will be raised for the Bo Tkach Memorial Organization and Brett Snyder.

Bo, son of former Northern Lehigh head coach Jim Tkach, who was a standout quarterback for the Bulldogs, took his own life in 2007.

When I interview Northern Lehigh football players after games, the process is always the same.

The first thing they do is try to wipe their wet, dirty hands off on their muddy uniform. Then they give a firm hand shake and always address me as sir or Mr. Haines. Then I try to wipe off my now-muddy hand, but usually walk away with a dirty notebook and smears on my tape recorder.

Well, that's what it used to be like. This year, I'm sure the players will still call me sir or Mr. Haines. But the mud will be gone.

Pre season football practice begins Monday for the 2012 Nittany Lions and there will be some familiar faces missing.

All of the natural born world has heard about PSU's star tailback Silas Redd transferring to USC, which in turn affects the Nittany Lions depth immensely at the running back spot. Other Nittany Lions have also decided to depart totaling eight in all, that will also affect the depth at certain positions. Let's take a look at who has left, who is still rumored to leave, and what the 2012 Nittany Lions roster might look like going into pre season practice come monday.