A light week during the week. Mowed the leaves for a final cutting of the year on Thursday. Much easier than raking up the leaves over and over and over again. The last of the leaves finally came down early in the week and I would have done this on Wednesday but a snow storm came through at about 5 AM with a nice rain shower in the afternoon. It is usually easy work but in this case somehow the blade bent about 20 minutes in. So, I’ll have to finish it up when a new blade gets installed. It’s amazing, the old mower which we had never got a bent blade despite me putting it through hell and this one does within 2 months. After putting away the mower I went up to Harrisburg to renew my Senators’ season ticket package with lunch at Pizza Boy.
No sports on the docket for the early week as I did not go up to Scranton to watch York College play. If it were a Saturday (but not this Saturday) maybe, but that’s a long drive for a weekday and I’ve visited all of the breweries that I know about in the area. I have made enough trips up that way this year already. Didn’t think this one would be close after Scranton’s butt whooping from last year but York won it.
On Friday the high school basketball season started. Reading took on Williamsport in the opener. York High and Overbrook followed. Overbrook is of course most famous for being the high school that Wilt Chamberlain went to. Williamsport hung around for the first quarter but Reading proved to be bigger, faster and stronger. They opened up a big lead in the 2nd half and dominated the Millionaires. Reading wins 70-50.
The nightcap was not fun to watch. This was perhaps the worst effort I have ever seen from a Bearcat team (It wasn’t the actual effort effort, they played hard but the results just were not there). They couldn’t hit a layup, they couldn’t hit a 3 pointer, they couldn’t make simple passes and they couldn’t hit a free throw. It seemed like everytime that they tipped a ball it went to another Overbrook player. I hope this is not indicative of the season to come but I am bearish about the upcoming season after this game. I also don’t remember the last time they were held to 43 or less points. This one was hard to watch as Overbrook wins 52-43. Might have been when they got mercy ruled by Northeastern a few years ago when the team gave up.
Saturday took me over to Lancaster and Park City to finish up all but the last of my Christmas shopping. After that I made the short drive to Lititz up to Fetish Brewing. First time there, quite the complex that is there at Rock Lititz. I thought that this was the last brewery in Lancaster County for me to visit but it turns out there is a new one that has opened in Ephrata, so I’ll hit that one some point soon, probably the next time I go up for a Reading Royals game. Don’t know exactly when that’ll be.
After shopping I headed over to York College to take in their game with Delaware Valley. Del Val stuck around in the first half and for part of the second but York just was better, opening a big late lead. Del Val got hit with 3 technicals, I don’t know if I’ve seen 3 techs in college in one season and if you add the one York got hit with that is probably more techs in this game than I’ll see all the rest of the season. I think they let the ultimate pest that is Jared Wagner get under their skin a bit. York wins 94-71 and the bench got some a few minutes of playing time..
After a dinner at Parma Pizza I headed over to York High so I missed most of the JV game that was played against Reading. When I got there the game was in the last four minutes and Reading was up by 10. Looks like the JV team has many of the same problems that the varsity does. In the consolation game York started strong but let up allowing Williamsport to get back in the game. It looked like this would be a repeat of the previous night as Williamsport held the lead at the end of 3 but York stepped up the pressure and finally hit some layups and some free throws. York High wins 64-51. I only stuck around for half of the championship game between Reading and Overbrook. Overbrook did much of the same to Reading with Reading pulling out a last second 48-47 win.
And on Sunday I rested. Finally put a dent into the stack of beer leftover from the summer. Long way to go though. Well, I did start putting up the bookshelves I asked for for Christmas. I know it’s not Christmas but after picking them up it was easier to just deliver them to my house now rather than unloading them at my parent’s house and me reloading them into my car (I hope they would fit!). It took an entire bookcase to fit my Civil War books on. It is a beautiful sight to see.
