JerseyMan Magazine V7N5

MIKE KERN previews the

2017-18 SIXERS

George Anastasia’s

MOB SCENE

$3.95

THE

Volume 7 • Number 5

For

What’s Right P.48

Sam Carchidi’s Travels in Scotland & Ireland P.32

ASTRONAUT ANDREW ALLEN www.jerseymanmagazine com

PUBLISHER

FROM JerseyMan Magazine THE VOLUME 7 • NUMBER 5 ____________________________________________________________________________________

BY KEN DUNEK

W

EDITOR George Brinkerhoff

e live in interesting and challenging times.

In August, we chose to have Eagles defensive back Malcolm Jenkins on our cover.

I spoke with him briefly in person recently and found him to be an articulate and engaging young man. He was quite friendly to me, and seemed excited to be profiled in JerseyMan Magazine and PhillyMan Magazine.

We have taken great pride in not taking sides on political issues in our magazines. Although the ownership group has strong opinions, our business strategy was and is to remain neutral.

So when I received several angry voicemails and emails regarding Jenkins, it gave me pause for thought.

He appeared on the cover because he is a veteran of the Birds defense, and an entrepreneur with his own line of clothing.

Having him there was not an endorsement of his political views or his raised fist as the National Anthem is played at the Linc before each game.

As a matter of fact, I disagree with it. In my opinion, the workplace is not a place where political statements should be made. Jenkins, as we pointed out in our article, is very active in the community, and that, to me, is the correct forum for his statement—not the football field.

ART DIRECTOR Steve Iannarelli CONTRIBUTING WRITERS George Anastasia, Jan L. Apple, Michael Bradley, George Brinkerhoff, Sam Carchidi, Alexandra Dunek, Ashley Dunek, Jamie Dunek, Mark Eckel, Molly Golubcow, John Hopkins, Robert Kennedy, Mike Kern, Sam Kraft, Anthony Mongeluzo, Daniel R. Morroni, Gervase Peterson, Eric Requa, DO, Matt Rooney, Andrew Ryan, Kurt Smith, T. Jordan Wompierski Administrative Assistants Alexandra Dunek Allison Farcus Events Coordinator Ashley Dunek Assistant Events Coordinator Jamie Dunek Editorial 856-813-1153 Advertising 856-912-4007

I guess my salient point is that with all our flaws, we are still the greatest country in the world.

For just one minute during the playing of our anthem, can’t we all just be Americans and unite?

Then we can go back and use our beloved freedoms of speech and expression that makes us so unique and special in the world.

Printing 856-813-1153

Perhaps we can use this as an example on how to communicate and have a better understanding of the people we might disagree with, or who have a different upbringing or view of the world. I have respect for Jenkins as a football player, and admiration for anyone that starts a business.

Sales Associates Ashley Dunek, Jamie Dunek, Terri Dunek, Allison Farcus, Chris Kazmarck, JP Lutz, Tinavalen Nguyen

And those were the sole reasons he was chosen to be on our previous cover.

GO EAGLES!

Photo Philadelphia Eagles/Drew Hallowell

Ken Dunek Publisher

Controller Rose M. Balcavage

JerseyMan Advisory Board Peter Cordua (Chairman). HBK CPAs & Consultants Nick DeRose. . . . . . . . . Legacy Treatment Services Joseph Devine (Emeritus). . . . . . . Kennedy Health Ted Flocco (Emeritus). . . . . . . . . . . Ernst & Young Bob Hoey. . . . . . . . . . . Janney Montgomery Scott Jeffrey Jaskol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Jaskol Group Robert Kennedy. . . . . . . . The Kennedy Companies Julie LaVan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LaVan Law Anthony Mongeluzo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PCS Ryan Niedoba. . . . . . . . . . No Boundaries Advisors Mike Regina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Big Sky Enterprises Paul Tully . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eagle Wealth Strategies

“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government when it deserves it.”

– Mark Twain JerseyMan Magazine/PhillyMan Magazine, products of the partnership of Joe LaGrossa, Ken Dunek, and Alex Kazmarck, are published

by New Opportunity Publishing, LLC, with offices at 7025 Central Highway, Pennsauken, NJ, 08109. Copyright 2017.

www.jerseymanmagazine.com

INSIDE 48

JerseyMan Magazine VOLUME 7 • NUMBER 5

COVER STORY

New Jersey’s Fork in the Road?

TRAVELING TO SCOTLAND & IRELAND 32

by SAM CARCHIDI PROCESS THIS 36 MIKE KERN previews the 2017-18 Sixers

42 ASTRONAUT ANDREW ALLEN

36

54

Joel Embiid

HALLOWEEN HAUNTINGS & HISTORY 54 Finding unusual local attractions on atlasobscura.com

58 STORAGE SCORES START YOUR ENGINES! 60 Channel your inner Jeff Gordon at these local racing hot spots

66 BILL BERGEY

Talking football with the legendary Eagles linebacker

70 PRODIGY SPORTS Photo NBA/76ers

The people who find the right people

84 LIFE AFTER RETIREMENT COLUMNS

14 JOTTINGS • 20 FEEL GOOD PHILLY • 22 GEORGE ANASTASIA’S MOB SCENE

24 MAN YOUR HEALTH • 26 GET FIT • 28 TECH TIME • 31 THE WINE MAN • 82 THE CIGAR GUY 88 THE ENTREPRENEUR COACH • 90 WHAT WE WEAR • 92 THE ENTHUSIAST • 94 SAY GERV? BY GERVASE PETERSON

jerseymanmagazine.com

JOTTINGS

“We live in a world where politics ______________________________________________________________________________ has replaced philosophy.”

– Martin L. Gross

BY GEORGE BRINKERHOFF

Get the Prison Blues

A

STINT IN THE STATE PEN automatically involves a predetermined commitment of time, hard time. What people learn when serving that time may make all the difference for both them and us when they ultimately return to society.

One state helping a select group inmates make better use of their time is Oregon. They’ve found a way, without harming the other businesses in the state, to offset some of the costs of incarceration and establish a unique clothing brand along the way, using prison skill and labor. The result is a collaboration between the private sector and the prison population which together operates a garment making factory manufacturing a brand of work clothes appropriately called Prison Blues. The factory was established in 1989 to fashion blue jeans, yard coats, work shirts and t-shirts for inmates.

The products are made by inmates serving at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institute in Pendleton, OR, and provides “the inmates with an opportunity to not only help out the taxpayers, but also, pay restitution, build a work ethic and gain a work skill,” according to their website.

Images prisonblues.net

Initially, to enter the program good behavior is needed followed by a rigorous interview process. Today, with the success of the program there is a three year waiting list to join the 80 person staff, which continues to design and develop the various Prison Blues items. And somewhere along the way they made their unique product line commercially available to the public. Their items are made in the USA, they don’t charge sales tax, they are PayPal verified and they lay claim that they make the “BEST jeans and workwear in the USA!” And which one of youz tough guyz is gonna say anything diff’rent, huh?! Perhaps their motto sums it up best, which reads “Made on the INSIDE to be worn on the OUTSIDE.” For more information and to check out their line, visit www.prisonblues.net.

“There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.”

– Alexis de Tocqueville 12

A Brothel, Some Booze and a Mob Boss

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avern on the Bay Resort, a three The Bay Room story Victorian mansion in Somers Point, NJ, is a local Airbnb with a colorful past. Sam Trocki, current proprietor of Tavern on the Bay, (including a bar, an outside deck, a steakhouse restaurant and a marina), says that “this place was a bordello in the 1880’s and where mobsters would hide massive quantities of alcohol during the days of prohibition. A gangster was whacked in the basement after messing up on an order, and a young wife hung herself in room 7 after catching her cheating husband with a whore. Also there’s a ghost in the attic and he locks the door behind me from time to time.” In particular, it was a hangout for Nucky Johnson, the Atlantic City crime boss made famous through the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire. There are five bedrooms to rent from $125 to $250, each with a private bathroom. Or for something even more unusual, try the Queen Nefertiti Yacht Hotel at Tavern on the Bay. It is said to have been owned by the actor Jimmy Cagney and then lost in a card game to an heir to the Elmer’s Glue fortune. Sam has restored it to its former glory with two bedrooms and one bathroom, sleeping up to five people at $200 per night. Go to Airbnb.com and enter Tavern on the Bay Resort or Queen Nefertiti Yacht Hotel to reserve your rooms.

The Queen Nefertiti Yacht Hotel

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Words of Wisdom Former PA Governor Ed Rendell “ People decry the failure of government at both the federal and state levels to get anything done. It seems like there are gridlocks in Washington D.C. and our state capitols. That perception is mostly true, and the main culprits are 1) the ideological polarization that exists between the two major parties, and 2) the fact that most elected officials are primarily motivated by the fear of losing their jobs. The prescription for changing this sad state of affairs is to elect leaders that are courageous and sensible enough to know that in the current atmosphere compromise is the only way for us to achieve real progress.”

Michelle Kosinski, CNN “ The state of poltics right now should spur every American to seriously look, and think, and act (which does, sorry to break the news, include actually voting)—on what is best for the stability, security and equality of this country long-term. Complacency that it’ll all work out fine, or being “too fed up to care anymore” ultimately hurts you, too.

On the flip side, too many responses to problems seem to come with a heavy desire to just hit back at the other side.

That’s ugly, short-term thinking that destructively eats away at options and time. We’ve all seen it, heard the endless angry rhetoric, shaken our heads at the next stalemate. Being able to compromise and have a re-think (and not just after you’ve glaringly flip-flopped for, again, political reasons) should be applauded! Instead of folks feeling like they absolutely must narrowly follow a straight party line, all the time. Do you know anyone who really lives their lives that way? These are complex, nuanced issues. Yet in politics we don’t seem to be there yet. It can revert so quickly to kindergarten: simplistic arguments, attacks, or even outright lies. Noise still often reigns supreme. This should be 100 percent unacceptable. Time for the pendulum of civility to swing back the other way. But I know many people struggle with what to DO about it, how to turn their own frustration into action, how on earth to find the time. It’s can be hard, that is true. But there are ways, even if it starts with simply voting for people you’ve done just a bit of homework on and feel are good human beings. No good options? Then that’s when people do need to get together and FIND someone. It all starts locally. Note to politicians: BS is far harder to disguise than you forever seem to think. You might get lucky at times, but the truth always comes out eventually.”

THRU THE LENS Photograph by Richard Beck

Haines Bog, Chatsworth, NJ

IndyCars Tackle the Tricky Triangle

I

t was another thriller at “the Tricky Triangle.” Pocono Raceway’s IndyCar ABC Supply 500 saw Will Power of Team Penske drive to the winners circle, just half a second over second place finisher Josef Newgarden. The competition was fierce with 590 passes throughout the field with 42 lead changes among 10 different drivers.

It was Will Power’s second Winner Will Power consecutive ABC Supply 500 IndyCar win at Pocono Raceway and his 32nd career Verizon IndyCar Series win, breaking a tie with Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti for ninth place for all-time career IndyCar wins. Marco Andretti of the Andretti Motorsports team—son of Michael, grandson of Mario Andretti, patriarch of the famed Andretti racing family out of Nazareth, PA—was leading ten laps from the finish but had to stop for fuel and ultimately came home in 11th place.

Photos Steve I.

For 2018, Pocono Raceway will again be the premiere local venue for top level motorsports, featuring NASCAR races the weekends of June 3rd (Axalta Pocono 400) and July 29th (Overton’s 400) as well as again hosting IndyCar ABC Supply 500 event in August. To reserve your seats now, go to www.poconoraceway.com.

Marco Andretti gets ready for the start of the race

Where We Eat Follow along as we taste and sip our way through Philly’s well-known establishments and hidden gems.

Ranstead Room Politics of Prohibition Did you know? Famous rum-runner W T Bell, a ship that crashed off the coast of Bayville, NY filled with illegal liquor, was manufactured locally in Linwood, PA in 1889. A rum-runner is defined as a person or ship engaged in bringing prohibited liquor ashore or across a border.

If you’re looking for an intimate spot in Philadelphia with strong, classic cocktails, the place you should be going is one that’s hard to find. In true Prohibition style, slip away down the back alley of Ranstead Street between 20th and 21st and look for the door labeled with red mirrored R’s- welcome to the elusive Ranstead Room. It will not disappoint you.

The vibe of the joint is part lavish lounge part seductive thriller. The mood is amplified by the vintage, pin-up art dotting the walls, dim lights setting the mood, and antique chandeliers dripping from the ceiling. Sharing a kitchen with El Rey, the menu is stacked with delicious homemade, inspired Mexican dishes like Campachi Ceviche and the Trio De Tamales. Seating is extremely limited, and with only 15 bar seats and 10 tables available you better get there early. Trust us, if the atmosphere doesn’t get you (it will), then these drinks will most definitely win your vote.

What we recommend: •B artenders choice Tangy or Sweet? Vodka or Gin? Prepare for a series of questions, revealing your desired preference. The bartender will concoct according to your response and the result will not disappoint. Be careful—there may be flames involved.

•T ricky Dicks Watergate* Blanco tequila, Madeira, Benedictine, Mezcal, Tomato Water •R ob’s Re-Election* Courvoisier, Fernet Branca, Lemon *seasonal menu items- hurry before they’re gone!

OUR MISSION: IBR is a professional content creating service partnering with restaurants and local businesses in Philadelphia to grow their social media presence. We produce alluring, high quality, engaging content featuring the things that you’re most proud of.

Our philosophy is simple: Please your eyes, please your palate.

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Ranstead Room 2013 Ranstead Street, Philadelphia, PA (215) 563-3330 Hours: 6:00 PM - 2:00 PM

@theransteadroom

PhillyMan Magazine Parx Casino Legacy Club Event – Bensalem, PA

Stewart Industries Ribbon Cutting Ceremony – Mt. Laurel, NJ

Best group shot winner - Center City Photo. From left: Vince Ceroli, Lisa Ficarotta, Bryan Hornung, Nancy Sipera, John Vanderslice, Tom Bove

Dogs Compete for the Crown at Rusty Nail’s 5th Annual Doggie Pageant – Cape May, NJ Joe O’Malley, President of Stewart Industries, cuts the ribbon at their new facility in Mt. Laurel, NJ.

43rd Annual Burlington and Camden Counties YMCA Golf Classic

Corson dressed as one of his favorite items from the Rusty Nail Dog Menu - a hot diggity dog! His owners, of course, were the ketchup and mustard.

Pictured (L-R) at the 43rd Annual Burlington and Camden Counties YMCA Golf Classic are Shaun Elliott, CEO of Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA, Bill Emerson, President/ Emerson Group/YMCA Board Member, Albert Fox, SVP, Morgan Stanley/YMCA Board Member. The event helps raise money to send kids to “Y Camp.”

Dexter and his mom pose with judge Dana Humphrey, Tito the Pom, and host Jorge Bendersky. Photos by Jessica Orlowicz

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The Philadelphia Eagles Team Up to Announce the 100th anniversary of Goldenberg’s® Peanut Chews® – Philadelphia, PA

The Philadelphia Eagles team up with GOLDENBERG’S® PEANUT CHEWS® to celebrate 100 years of “Peanutty” goodness and honor military veteran Volkert Veeder. Eagles greats, including Harold Carmichael, Brent Celek, SWOOP and the Eagles Cheerleaders pose with “Goldie,” the official automobile of the iconic candy brand. (Jeff Fusco/AP Images for Just Born Quality Confections)

Historic Linwood Country Club Hosts the 2018 Miss America Contestents – Linwood, NJ

After the ladies chipped, putted, and hit the driving green around the golf course, they met and mingled with club members and enjoyed a coast-to-coast barbecue featuring regionally inspired dishes like Southern Peach BBQ chicken, Pacific Coast Salmon, and of course, some Jersey Fresh favorites!

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Feel Good PHILLY

_______________________________________________________________________________

Local stories to live inspired…

Sunday LOVE

I

by Jamie Dunek

T WAS CHRISTMAS of 2015, and after noticing a few homeless in her neighborhood, Voorhees, NJ local turned Fishtown resident Margaux Murphy had an idea for a random act of kindness.

Fast forward two years and thousands of meals later, that decision has led her and a group of volunteers to 15th and JFK, where she is changing lives by spreading LOVE, one meal at a time.

“150 meals can be gone in as little as 6 minutes,” Margaux explains, followed by a quick snap of her fingers. “They go like that.” The meals she is referring to are the home-cooked ones the LOVE team provides to the homeless of the city. According to Project Home, the City’s January 2016 Point-in-Time count of the homeless included 705 unsheltered individuals throughout the entire city of Philadelphia. “I can get to Love Park by 2 pm and I’m back at the church preparing for Sunday’s dinner service by 2:30 pm,” she continues to tell me as we take another sip of our iced coffees. But thanks to a very recent grant from the city (1 year to serve 100 people), that’s not where her efforts end. Margaux and LOVE now offer a brunch at the Church of the Holy Trinity Church (1904 Walnut St.) in the Centennial Room at noon the following day. That’s 3 services and hundreds of people in as little as 48 hours. But Margaux’s not finished.

She spends the rest of her week serving at a recovery house in Kensington, aiding those suffering from addiction.

It’s hard to imagine that Margaux used to pull this off all by herself.

She explains that before she had access to Church of the Holy Trinity to prepare food for The LOVE project, she created these meals out of her own small kitchen. Now a non-profit, Sunday LOVE has the help of different volunteers and has gained national attention (like a guest appearance on the Rachel Ray show). Reading her personal Facebook page, I look over her entries from each day as she documents her encounters while serving meals. My favorite recently: “Folks just went bananas over that meal. It’s so crazy that all I have to do is show up and my guys take it from there. I love hearing them get thanked by the others out there. Earns them respect. I overheard one guy say, “How you get to help?” The other guy said, “Just ask Margaux and you can probably do it next time.” Feeling important is invaluable.

So is feeling LOVED.

Contact

Sundayloveproject@gmail.com • www.sundaylove.org •

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Get involved!

Sign up and make a home-cooked meal! The LOVE team posts menu items on www.signupgenius.com (food they need and recipes how to make it) and volunteers can click on the link on the sundaylove.org site to sign up to fulfill the order.

Marguax Murphy and friend

Donate: In the past 32 months alone, $33,754 of a $100K goal has been raised. Head over to www.gofundme.com/murphyLOVE to spread the LOVE and add to the project.

The Sunday Love Project

MOB SCENE

_______________________________________________________________________________

BY GEORGE ANASTASIA

They Called Him the Fat Rat

T

hey called him the Fat Rat, but he didn’t really care.

Ron Previte always knew who he was and what he had done. And he was okay with that, which made him unique in the underworld and immune to the slurs and epithets other wiseguys threw at him.

For him, it was a game and he always thought he knew how to play it better than they did.

It wasn’t about right or wrong, about morals or ethics. When it came to crime, he was totally amoral. He would smile and say he was a “general practitioner.” He did it all.

And becoming an informant, first for the New Jersey State Police, and then for the FBI, was part of his practice.

Previte died two months ago. He had been sick for over a year, battling various ailments that eventually led to a fatal heart attack. He was 73.

“What would you have bet that it would have been a heart attack that took him out?” an FBI agent asked at Previte’s memorial service. A dozen other law enforcement officials standing in the back of the funeral parlor down in Hammonton, NJ, that night nodded and smiled.

Nobody figured he would die of natural causes.

Ronnie Previte lived life on the edge and most people figured that he would die out there taking another chance, trying to make one more score.

Despite the fact that he wore a body wire for over a year, recorded hundreds of conversations and testified openly in federal court, Previte opted not to enter the Witness Security Program. He never left.

Hammonton was his base when he was on top of his game, and he stayed in that general area, still visiting friends and still poking around on the fringes of the criminal underworld.

After he died, some of his detractors took offense at the stories that were written about 22

him, claiming he was made to look like a hero when in fact the only reason he had cooperated was he didn’t want to go to jail.

“He didn’t man up,” said one.

Previte, of course, didn’t see it that way. It wasn’t about going to jail, it was about beating the system, whether that system was law enforcement or the mob. He was a survivor, a guy whose only loyalty was to the person he saw staring back at him in the mirror each morning.

And he was okay with that.

Didn’t man up?

He strapped on a body wire almost every day for over a year and met and did deals with individuals who, had they known he was wired, would have taken him out. That, to Previte, was manning up.

The fact of the matter was, he didn’t like or respect most of the people he was helping the FBI target. Wasn’t all that crazy about some of the FBI agents either, but that’s another story.

He had his own idea of what organized crime was supposed to be. And it wasn’t what he experienced when he first connected with mob boss John Stanfa in the early 1990s. Nor was it any better when, amazingly, he was able to segue over to the anti-Stanfa faction after Stanfa and two dozen of his top associates were indicted and taken off the streets.

The mob, the Mafia, Cosa Nostra, was a thing of the past, he said.

“You’d have to be Ray Charles not to see it,” was the way he put it.

Previte always had a way with words.

He was erudite. He read books. He studied

Previte

“I write about all that, you’ll go to jail,” I said.

Previte smiled.

“Don’t worry,” he said.

“We’ll work it out.” history. Conservative to an extreme, he would frequently wax philosophically, but then drift into a racist or bigoted commentary. That’s who he was.

FIRST MET HIM when he was around Stanfa. I had written several stories about the entourage, the “palace guard” that always seemed to accompany the Sicilian-born mob boss after he took control of the Philadelphia crime family in 1990.

One of the members of that entourage was a burly six-foot, three-pound ex-Philadelphia cop—Ron Previte. I was a reporter at The Inquirer at the time. One afternoon I was sitting at my desk in Cherry Hill when the phone rang. I picked it up and heard this: “George Anastasia? This is Ron Previte. You seem to have an interest in my life. I’d like to

I

meet you.”

I said fine, as long as it was in a public place and during the day.

One afternoon later that week I was in the Silver Coin Diner in Hammonton having lunch with Ron Previte. He was already cooperating at that time, but I didn’t know it. Over the course of the next three years, through the bloody mob war that pitted the Stanfa faction against another group headed by Ralph Natale and “Skinny Joey” Merlino, Previte would offer insights and commentary about what was going on. A lot of it worked its way into the stories I was writing.

“Some day you’ll write a book about me,” Previte said after we had gotten to know each other and he had detailed his extensive life in crime. I said I didn’t think that was possible.

He had told me stories about his involvement in gambling, extortion and bribery. He had also dabbled in drugs and prostitution, at one point running a brothel in Center City that catered to high end clients, lawyers and wealthy businessmen.

“I write about all that, you’ll go to jail,” I said.

Previte smiled.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll work it out.”

And we did.

A

FTER HIS TAPES led to the indictments of Natale, Merlino and nearly a dozen others, his role as a cooperating witness became public. I covered every trial at which he testified and then I wrote that book.

It was called The Last Gangster.

Here’s how I had described him early in the story: “Previte doesn’t claim that God, morality or a sense of righteousness led him to do what he did…It was simply a question of survival...

(He) had aspired to be a made member of the organization. He saw it as the pinnacle, the top of his profession. When he got there, though, he was disillusioned. Honor and loyalty had been replaced by greed and treachery. The sense of family that supposedly governed the actions of men of honor was gone. Instead, it was every man for himself.

“Previte cut his deal with the government because it was the smart, the sensible, the logical thing to do. He makes no apology for it.”

The book was published in 2004. Thirteen years later, as Previte struggled with the ailments that would lead to his death, he said he wouldn’t change a thing.

“I can’t complain,” he said in one of the last conversations we had a few weeks before he died. “What’s the point? I did a lot of things and I did them on my own terms. How many

people can say that?’

Not many.

Previte took pride in that.

And if he was listening, I’m sure he got a kick out of the way they ended his memorial service. There were about a hundred people in the funeral parlor that night, including a dozen law enforcement types who had worked with him at one time or another.

They heard a cousin talk about how, while he didn’t often know how to express it, Previte loved his daughters, his grandsons and other members of his family. They heard one of his sisters talk about how when she was a nervous and anxious first grader at Our Lady of Lourdes in Southwest Philadelphia, she always felt better when she looked out her classroom door and saw her big brother, Ron, standing in the hallway waving at her.

Ron Previte was in eighth grade at the time. It was only later, his sister said, that she learned the reason he was in that hallway so often was that he had been kicked out of his class for disciplinary reasons.

Everyone nodded and smiled at the story.

Then the funeral director said the service would end with a song. And with that the room filled with Frank Sinatra singing “My Way.” n

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MAN YOUR HEALTH

Sponsored by ______________________________________________________________________________________________

BY ERIC REQUA, DO

SPORTS MEDICINE PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN – VIRTUA SPORTS MEDICINE

Common Sense Tips for Preventing Injuries in Aging Athletes

A

N ACTIVE, ATHLETIC LIFESTYLE is becoming the norm for older adults. In addition to enhancing muscle and joint function, physical exercise is shown to decrease the risk of developing health problems such as osteoporosis, stroke and heart disease.

But even though older adults are increasingly active, they still experience the physical changes in balance, flexibility and strength that come with age. These changes can make them more susceptible to common sports injuries. Despite this, taking some simple precautions can make it possible for older adults to enjoy an active lifestyle safely.

What physical changes occur as you age?

Older adults should be mindful of physical changes that can increase their risk of common sports injuries. This includes: • Loss of muscle mass, which results in decreased strength • Loss of elasticity in tendons and ligaments, which reduces flexibility and range of motion • Loss of bone mass, which increases the risk of fractures • Reduced heart, lung and nervous system function, which affects athletic performance • Loss of cartilage, which results in less cushioning in the joints

• Deterioration of balance, which can increase the risk of accidental falls

What activities present a high risk of injury for aging athletes?

Your risk of sports-related injury depends on the activity itself and your physical condition.

•C ontact sports present a higher risk of broken bones due to the likelihood of falls and collisions.

• Activities like tennis, softball, baseball and golf increase the risk of soft tissue shoulder injuries such as rotator cuff or labral tears.

• Runners have an increased risk of suffering from knee or ankle conditions.

Warming up and cooling down Research has shown that cold muscles are more prone to injury, so you should always complete a proper warm up before engaging in physical activity. Doing 5 to 10 minutes of light aerobic activity, such as jumping jacks, cycling or running/walking in place, followed by a few minutes of stretching will prepare your body for exercise.

Your level and frequency of participation also can affect your risk of injury. For example, recreational athletes who only participate in an activity a couple of times per week are less likely to have a sports injury than competitive athletes who have a rigorous training schedule.

After exercise, take a few minutes to allow your body to cool down. Gentle stretching for 5 to 10 minutes after exercise helps make your recovery easier. It’s also important to replenish your body by drinking plenty of water during and after exercise, and having a snack after you complete your workout.

How can aging athletes prevent common sports injuries?

How can aging athletes tell if their injuries require medical attention?

The most important thing you can do to prevent sports injuries as you get older is to ensure you’re physically prepared for your chosen activity. To do this, engage in a consistent, balanced exercise program. It’s best to aim for 30 minutes of moderate physical activity each day instead of packing all your physical activity into one or two days a week.

Although some sports injuries heal with rest and home care, other injuries require professional treatment. If you think you have a broken bone—or if you experience severe pain, swelling or bruising—you should see your doctor.

Select activities that include cardiovascular exercise (running, walking, cycling), strength training and balance/flexibility exercises. Pay close attention to how you’re feeling while performing each activity and adjust your routine if needed.

Strength training is a great way to improve your physical conditioning, while yoga helps increase your flexibility. Studies have shown that regular participation in tai chi helps improve balance and decreases the risk of falls in older people. And having good core strength as a result of these activities also improves overall stability.

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You also can reduce your injury risk by wearing well-fitting, supportive footwear and performing activities with proper form and technique.

And, make sure you get adequate rest between exercise sessions to prevent over exercising.

If your symptoms don’t improve within a few days of the injury, it’s a good idea to get medical help. The specialists at Virtua Sports Medicine offer a range of treatments to get you back in the game, including physical therapy, pain management and surgery if needed. n

To make an appointment with Dr. Requa, please call 844-908-5483.

GET FIT

For more guidance follow Alexandra, NASM Certified

Personal Trainer on Instagram at @TipsfromAFitChick ______________________________________________________________________________________________

BY ALEXANDRA DUNEK

Take the Gun, Leave the Cannoli

Get Out!

L

ike a scene out of The Godfather…armed with a Glock 9mm, I placed my finger on the trigger, braced myself and pulled. The bullet hit the paper target several feet ahead of me.

Adrenaline rushed. Stress relieved.

I fired again, hitting nearby the already pierced paper. With every shot, I wanted to improve. Something so simple was quite challenging.

Did you know that shooting is also a sport?

It might not fall in line with classics like soccer, basketball or football, but it is established as a competitive sport that you can do either by yourself or with a team.

I might not be joining a tournament anytime soon, but I got to brush up on my target practice at Shooters Sporting Center, where I was welcomed by one of the owners, George Kurtz and his daughter Megan.

The center sits on 24 acres of land in Little Egg Harbor Township and is the biggest range in South Jersey since opening in 2013. BrandAbove, Megan Kurtz Maher gives author Alexandra tips on aiming her shot. Below, Alexandra with owner George Kurtz. ed as the sportsmen’s paradise, this shop has everything you would need for a trip outdoors.

Not only can you grab clothing or gear, you can practice your firearm skills in the 15-lane indoor range, with an outdoor range soon to come. They also offer a 10-lane archery range and shooting classes.

fter 30 or so minutes of practicing, I realized shooting a gun is a little more than what meets the eye.

You’ll need arm strength to hold the gun directly in front of you, hand-eye coordination to connect the barrel of the gun to the target, patience to understand that you won’t be perfect and balance to stand strong on your feet. All of these are lessons in remaining a great shooter.

Kurtz also stresses gun safety. You must complete a safety course prior to shooting, and wear the protective gear. When asked for some safety tips, Kurtz replied, “Never leave a loaded gun unattended and always keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.”

Next time you are in the area, Shooters is definitely worth the shot.

For more info or to check out the online store, visit www.shootersnj.com.

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@PCS_AnthonyM

TECH TIME

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BY ANTHONY MONGELUZO

Apps for a Better You, A Better Life

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HOPE SUMMER HAS TREATED YOU WELL and that you are ready to tackle the rest of 2017. I am going to suggest some apps that you might want to get familiar with if you have not already done so. They are not only helpful, they’ll make your life more interesting.

and do. I was able to lose almost 30 pounds after coming off a bad knee injury, and this app was extremely helpful. It has a barcode scanning feature that you can use with your smartphone, and it is very accurate at tracking food content (calories, carbs, protein.). MyFitness Pal has helped propel me to a new svelte me.

Blinkist – Can you imagine being able to get the best content of your favorite books in under five minutes? Now you can! This app has a plethora of books and gives you the option to read or listen to the main points of the book. While it does not replace the experience of reading a full book, it is great to stay motivated and fill small blocks of time.

Coinbase – Have you hear about the explosion of the value of a bitcoin? Want to get in on the crypto currency game? Coinbase allows you to start investing in several different types of currency, and so far, they have yielded amazing results. I have a friend who has turned $50,000 into $900,000 already, and he is still riding the wave.

MyFitness Pal – Want to improve your life and your health? This app allows you to track everything you eat, drink,

Fiverr – Need a new logo? Want someone to convert some Adobe PDF documents to text? This app is for the ultimate in outsourcing, and the prices are amazingly cheap. I have used this service four or five times and am completely satisfied with the results. I had 700 pages of scanned contracts in poor quality. For less than $200, they re-created them all for me in Microsoft Word. Professional logo design is only $5. If you are just starting in business and don’t have a big budget, look no further.

Have an app that you like or think is unique? Feel free to reach out to me—Anthony@helpmepcs.com. Want to continue the conversation online? Reach out to me @PCS_AnthonyM on Twitter and look forward to chatting. n

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THE WINE

MAN

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BY ROBERT KENNEDY

W

Don’t Mess with Mother Nature

E CONTINUE LEARNING life’s lessons never to fool with Mother Nature.

Even before a human ever stepped onto earth’s stage, nature had its way with how this world developed over 4.5 billion years ago. There’s not a more recent and better glaring sign than Hurricanes Harvey and Irma wreaking havoc on the gulf coast regions over this last fortnight.

Loss of life and property have been devastating to us, and it’s anyone’s guess on the ultimate price yet to be paid. We’ve not only witnessed and felt its ravage in the south, but continue to see volatile weather patterns affecting many throughout our country and world over countless years now.

Punishing and dangerous climate changes are taking up residence in the west, too.

Most notably, the L.A. wild fires, worst in the history of that city, took place a few weeks back. Extremes in our climate patterns, caused naturally and/or through global warming, have become a huge factor we cannot ignore.

Although very unstable conditions took place throughout California this year, fortunately for Napa Valley, no lives were lost where this tiny area in California saw its unfair share of very ruthless weather. Since climate has a profound impact on grape growing in this region of our country, let’s take a closer look at the effects it’s having this year.

February brought massive amounts of flooding rains to the valley, particularly the farms west of the Russian River Valley. Both rivers, Napa and Russian, were cresting, and some erosion took place with shallow-rooted trees downed, causing some damage to the vineyards in the region. Since the last 4 years came with extreme drought to the locale, the rain was a welcome sight for many wineries in both Napa and Sonoma—just not at the levels it fell. However, with vine roots that reach some 20-25 feet down, this overabundance of rain actually became a water source, providing moisture to most of the decent draining rocky soils. Even with 80 inches of rainfall in a very short and intense period, the vines root system was able to dig deep for

moisture—much needed for a healthy crop.

Of course, the first few months of the year don’t necessarily make or break the quality of the growth. It’s actually what happens between March and August that matters, resulting in what is known as veraison. This is the ripening and maturation process of the grape, where the sugar levels or Brix, continue to increase through the summer months until they reach peak levels at harvest time. As summer approached, June brought pellets of hail that caused some damage, but could have been worse. With yet another bullet dodged, this served as one more reminders of what Mother Nature can do without our knowledge or consent.

S SUMMER MEANDERED along, settling into a good rhythm, the valley’s grapes were benefiting from what appeared to be a good 2017 vintage despite the ravaging floods and the hail. Just when all seemed somewhat under control, August and September’s unbearable heat hit the valley, only this time it was a heat wave that saw temperatures soaring north of 100 degrees for several consecutive days. This caused much consternation, to say the least, to winemakers and winery owners alike. Wineries scrambled

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to measure the level of Brix in the grapes, since high temperatures cause a spike in the sugar levels. Many were forced to irrigate and mist the vines, attempting to mitigate dehydration and sunburn as much as possible. Fortunately, there had been good canopy growth on the vines that grew throughout the summer months that kept shriveling and burning to a minimum.

As a result of the heat stress, and accelerated sugar levels, wineries were forced to rethink their harvest timing. Although normal crop size and excellent fruit quality were present, timing of the harvest became critical. The real challenge now was when to pick the grapes, since temps optimally need to be around 65 degrees for best picking. Moreover, the high heat during the day kept the evenings from cooling down quickly. As a result, picking began after midnight, and extended into the very early morning hours.

Despite Mother Nature’s wrath, it appears that the 2017 crop, which harvested earlier than anticipated, will yield a great cornucopia of wines, which will be enjoyed upon release in a few years and thereafter. Wineries were smart in making the right adjustments at just the right time to combat what the extreme weather dealt to the valley. n

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A Stunning Family Discovery in Scotland and Other Joys of Traveling

The view of Edinburgh countryside from the Edinburgh Castle, which is like a little city itself.

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Y WIFE AND I recently returned from a trip to Ireland and Scotland that was filled with a stunning discovery about my grandmother, a day of luxury in a 13th-century castle near Edinburgh, and disbelief that Northern Ireland is still in the Dark Ages.

BY SAM CARCHIDI

d The Dalhousie Castle in Scotlan

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It also included a stop at hallowed St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf and usually the home of the British Open every five years. I almost felt like genuflecting before walking around the famous course. Visiting St. Andrews was amazing. So was the endearing and unique town. Example: The local Subway sandwich shop is housed in a building that looks like a castle.

Not exactly the same setting as the ones spread throughout South Jersey and the Philadelphia region.

But I digress….

When traveling, we like to find hidden gems, like to investigate areas that are off the beaten path.

When we went to New Orleans several years ago, we DID do a lot of the touristy things—exploring the French Quarter, eating at Emeril’s Restaurant (the sausage risotto was sensational) and sipping chicory coffee and munching on beignets at the iconic Café du Monde.

Outside of New Orleans, we took a swamp tour, one in which our captain scooped up

baby alligators in a net and passed them along to the passengers. We toured a plantation and marveled at its outdoor kitchen from the 1800s.

(Because they were afraid of fires, most kitchens were outside the house in those days.) And instead of dining at a well-publicized restaurant, we asked some locals where to eat, and they steered us to a place that was in a dark alley—a few blocks from the French Quarter— and literally had its tables in the street, which was so narrow that cars were not allowed on it.

The meal was one of the best we ate all week.

It’s the surprises that usually produce the most memorable moments on a vacation.

When our children, Sara and Sammy, were young, we took them to Wyoming and, naturally, spent time in Yellowstone National Park and at the Old Faithful geyser. We saw a herd of buffalo, meandering elk, and pristine streams, and, yes, it was inspiring. But not as memorable as going on a dinosaur dig in Thermopolis, Wyo. Using chisels, we dug up dinosaur bones that were millions of years old; our tour guide dug up a femur that was roughly the size of a basketball backboard.

After three hours of digging, the guide took our lunch order and drove to a local Subway (there’s that place again!). When he returned, he stacked a few bags from the fast-food joint next to the dinosaur bones we had uncovered.

To me, that photo was more priceless than the sprouting waters of Old Faithful.

And then there was our family trip to Punta Cana one summer. We stayed at a beautiful resort with all the amenities. It was relaxing, gorgeous, and a vacation-like experience. But what I remember more about the Dominican Republic is the tour we took of a typical house in the region. It was close to the posh tourist area, but the juxtaposition was startling. The house had dirt floors, an outside fireplace where the family did all of its cooking, and a generator that had to be hooked up to the residents’ old, beat-up car to provide electricity for the house. It was eye-opening, especially when you realized it was a short ride away from a glitzy casino and vacation spot that was filled with the obligatory tourist shops. n n n

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UR RECENT TRIP to Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland also had unexpected experiences.

My wife said she always wanted to stay in a castle and feel like a princess, even if it was just a day.

Happy wife, happy life. Right?

We used Marriott points for most of the hotels on our trip, but we booked an over-

Left: The bookcase slides open and reveals a secret bar in the library of the 13th-century Dalhousie Castle near Edinburgh, Scotland.

Below: The author, Sam Carchidi, holds a menacing-looking eagle as part of the falconry demonstration offered on the grounds of a Scotland castle.

night stay in Dalhousie Castle in Scotland. I’d highly recommend it (dalhousiecastle.co.uk), and it wasn’t outrageously priced, costing about $235 a night in U.S. dollars, when you consider its old-world splendor and that it included a terrific breakfast. There was a darkpaneled library that had a secret room. If you pushed aside the bookshelves on one wall, there was a hidden, well-stocked bar. There was a dungeon dining room, and four-poster, canopy beds in the huge bedrooms.

Oh, and did I mention they also have archery and falconry on the grounds?

The falconry was one of those unexpected surprises I’ve been talking about, and it made our visit extra special, extra unique.

In a beautiful meadow adjacent to the castle, a trained instructor commanded the falcons to fly from tree to tree, and then to return and land on your gloved arm. We watched the joy on the faces of the children and the adults as the falcons gently swooped onto their arms. This, we quickly realized, was something we had to experience.

Unfortunately, the instructor was booked and couldn’t squeeze us in, but she did have a compromise. In between her bookings, she had a few extra minutes and she could allow us to hold some eagles and owls.

Hmmmmm. We could drive to the touristy area of Edinburgh or do something that was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

It was not a difficult choice.

The instructor, a woman who looked to be in her 20s, put a sturdy glove over my left hand and wrist and placed the eagle atop it.

We had spotted eagles when we took a journey down the Snake River in Wyoming several years ago, but nothing like THIS. The bird, inches from my face, looked at me

menacingly.

The instructor could see the fear in my eyes.

“Don’t worry. He’s not going to take your head off,” she said in a calm, pleasant voice.

A sense of relief filled my body.

“You don’t know how good you just made me feel.”

I asked if I could pet him.

“No, no, no. He might get angry and do something to you,” she said.

I was more than content to just gaze into his dark eyes.

At the same time, my wife, JoAnn, held an eagle owl. They enjoy being petted, she was told. She stroked his feathers and he seemed to enjoy it. A few days earlier, JoAnn was doing this to our lovable golden doodle, Brody, in our South Jersey home. Now she was outside one of Scotland’s oldest castles and petting an owl like it was her favorite pet.

This vacation was getting better by the minute.

A few hours later, we were strolling down the main street in Edinburgh, whose Gothic architecture was a sight to behold. We walked around the Edinburgh Castle—perched high on a hill, adding to its majesty—and soon discovered it wasn’t just a “castle” that served as the

royal residence for the king and queen in the 11th century.

It was like a mini city, with amazing views of the rest of Edinburgh.

Once primarily used as a military barracks, the castle had shops, a room that housed the Scottish crown jewels, a chapel that dates back to the 12th century, and museums, among many other buildings, and it looked like something out of a Harry Potter movie. That was fitting because we were told that J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter author, lived nearby. After tour33

ing the castle grounds, you could understand where Rowling got some of the inspiration for her wildly successful books. (A taxi driver told us he could take us over to her house if we liked. We politely declined, but we wondered how many hundreds of uninvited “guests” he brings there each week.) n n n

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fter walking around the castle, we headed downtown. Our mission: To get a copy of my late grandmother’s birth certificate. Sarah (Factor) Sattin was born in Edinburgh in 1898 before coming to America when she was six years old. We stopped at the register’s office and the woman at the counter seemed confused as she tried to look up information on my grandmother, based on the birth date we had given her.

She said there was a baby with the last name of “Factor” who was born on that date, but that she didn’t have the same first name as my grandmother. She then told me the names of the girl’s parents: Harris and Martha.

The hair stood up on my arms.

“That’s her parents’ names!” I exclaimed.

“That’s them!”

“But the baby’s name wasn’t Sarah; it was Sherry,” she said.

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Pubs, pubs and more pubs in the quaint town of Kilkenny, Ireland.

All these years, my grandmother, rest her soul, was going by the wrong name!

After e-mailing my Aunt Jackie (Sarah’s daughter) and my cousins, we surmised what probably happened: Sarah’s parents spoke only Yiddish and had a thick accent. When they said the name Sarah, it may have sounded like Sherry to the person who recorded it. Sarah’s mom didn’t understand English at the time, and she

signed the birth certificate with an X. So she gave approval to the name “Sherry” but apparently didn’t know what she was signing. And I don’t think my grandmother ever knew that her birth certificate in Scotland had a different name on it.

I asked my aunt if my grandmother had ever mentioned anything about her six years living in Scotland.

Left: In Belfast in Northern Ireland, a Peace Wall separates the Catholics from the Protestants.

Middle: A clock in Edinburgh, made entirely of flowers (it works!), was a favorite childhood memory of the author’s grandmother in the early 1900s.

She always talked about the floral clock, she said.

We were on a mission to find the clock. That is, if it still existed.

The first person I asked looked at me with a puzzled stare. Then a light went on. “Oh, I know what you’re talking about,” she said.

The clock was located a few blocks away in the West Princess Street Garden. It is made entirely of flowers—even its hands—and it works!

As we soon discovered, the clock was built in 1903. My grandmother was five at the time, so you can understand why it was such a big deal to her.

Joyously, we took dozens of photos when we found the clock and emailed them to my grateful relatives. It was a wonderful feeling to know we were on the same ground where my wide-eyed grandmother, Sarah—or is it Sherry?—walked more than a century ago.

An unexpected family find. Could this vacation get any better?

at the massive Peace Wall. He explained that the Catholics live on one side, the Protestants on the other. The people are allowed to go on the “other side” until 6 p.m., he said, and able to go to work or school if it’s not in their area. But after 6 p.m., he said, you have to stay on your side or you will be asking for trouble.

The Peace Wall had a gate in the middle of it, and it was locked at 6 p.m. This seemed unfathomable to us. It felt like the ‘50s or ‘60s in America, when some cities had segregated water fountains, rest rooms and restaurants.

How sad. How eye-opening. Our trip also had many highs. If you go to Ireland, Dublin (a pub every few steps) is a lot of fun, but the cities of Galway—which had a quaint downtown filled with stone-clad cafes and boutiques—and Kilkenny (a medieval town with a 12th-century castle) are also must-sees. Ditto the breathtaking Cliffs of Mohr, and we walked over the famous Carrick-a-Rede Bridge—it is made of rope, stands high above the Atlantic Ocean, and has coastal views to die for—on the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.

(We ran out of time and didn’t get to the Ring of Dingle, which, I’m told, is sensational, in Southwest Ireland).

But I gladly traded going to St. Andrews for the trip around the photogenic Dingle Peninsula, which is home to a half million sheep.

A seaside town located about an hour’s drive from Edinburgh, St. Andrews is known for its golf courses, especially the historic Old Course.

Friends told me I was crazy for not playing St. Andrews (it’s about $230 a round for the Old Course) or one of its seven courses, but I didn’t want to leave my wife alone for nearly five hours and it was enjoyable just to walk around the course and soak in the history. Golf has been played there for six centuries, and the views of the North Sea are stunningly beautiful.

“I fell in love with it the first day I played it,” Jack Nicklaus, who won the Open there in 1970 and 1978, once said. “There’s just no other course that’s remotely close.”

A Who’s Who of golf have played there. I was just happy they let us on the practice putting green for about a buck. I came close, but, showing why I’m about a 23-handcap, didn’t one-putt any of the loooong 18 holes. No matter. It was an honor to be on the course where the sport began…..and nice to check off another item on my bucket list.

I still have a couple hundred more to go. n

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Photo standrews.com

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UR TRIP HAD MANY more highs and it also included a low—Belfast in Northern Island.

There has been peace in Belfast for many years, but you can feel the tension there. We went on a tour of the area, and the guide stopped

The Old Course at St. Andrews 35

Process this.

Finally.

Whether you were on board with it or not, The Process is over and the Sixers can move on to, well, whatever the future holds. Imagine that.

About time. It only took three years of tanking. It only seemed like 30. But in the end it did get them Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Dario Saric and now Markelle Fultz. Of course it also got them Nerlens and Jahlil Okafor. Yo, nobody ever said this plan was going to be speedbumpfree. But it’s hard to argue with two No. 1 overall picks in the draft and another who would have been had he not been injured, which unfortunately has been the most relevant word in the team’s recent growth chart. It happens, as we’ve continually found out.

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BY MIKE KERN Sure, they could have taken Kristaps Porzingis instead of Okafor, which would have obviously been a much better get, though it might have meant they wouldn’t have been in position to add Simmons the following offseason.

We’ll never know, and it really doesn’t matter anymore. It’s sorted out how it’s sorted out, and the only thing they can do is make the best of what they have. Nobody’s denying there’s a whole bunch of promise. Maybe even championship level potential. But that’s a storyline for another time. For the upcoming season, the goal is much more rudimentary: make another move in the right direction, see what you’ve got and hope that maybe it’s even enough to get you

into playoff contention. So wouldn’t it be great to not have any reason to watch the lottery?

That’s being realistic, something the fan base often has a hard time embracing. Hard to fault them since, after all, they’ve suffered through an historically brutal stretch. They just want something to feel good about for a change. They trusted, now it’s time to have something to root for besides ping-pong balls bouncing their way.

Last season, the Sixers somehow managed to be one of the better teams in the league in the month of January, which sounds impossible. And they did win 28 games, which was 18 more than the season before, despite the fact

The Sixers and their fans hope to have healthy Joel Embiid for the entire season.

Photo NBA/76ers

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Photo NBA/76ers

Embiid has to find a way to stay on the court.

For hopefully like 60-70 games, for years to come.

that Embiid played 31 times (the first 31 of his three-year pro career) and Simmons didn’t get on the court at all. Which sure gave you the impression that coach Brett Brown might just be the guy who really could take this franchise where it wanted to go. We’re going to find out.

At least now he will have more pieces to work with, albeit inexperienced ones. Ask the Minnesota Timberwolves how slowly that can go.

Then again, they play in the Western Conference. If nothing else, the Sixers have geography

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going for them. And Lebron James can’t be Lebron James forever, can he?

“Our style, our identity, was starting to take shape,” is how Brown described their January run. “I look back with a tremendous respect for my players, in many ways the city, for the way they handled it.”

“There’s nobody that can do the job that he’s doing, considering the situation as it has been,” said his former boss for 11 seasons, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. “You wouldn’t

wish all that losing on anybody. And now with the winning.... All of a sudden people probably start to think, ‘Well maybe this guy can coach.’

But he was already coaching. But it’s easier for me to coach guys like Tim Duncan that make you look pretty good. At this level, you have to have a level of talent to match everybody else.

When you don’t, you pay the price.”

The Sixers have absolutely bucked-up enough.

ny way you want to look at this, it basically comes down to one constant: Embiid has to find a way to stay on the court. For hopefully like 60-70 games, for years to come. Because at some point he’s also going to have to be capable of playing another 15-20 or so playoff games, if a parade is indeed the target. For the time being it’s mostly about smaller steps. Remember that it’s easier to go from 20-some wins to 40-some, especially in the East, than it is to then get to 50-some.

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can Simmons actually be a full-time point guard in the league? Some have expressed their doubts.

He’s the one everyone else is going to feed off of, on the court and otherwise. He is their Carson Wentz. Or maybe in time that will be the other way around. You think this town could handle multiple superstars in different sports?

And we didn’t even mention Rhys Hoskins. Or Ivan Proverov. Wouldn’t it be fun to find out?

et’s assume Embiid does his part and turns into an immediate all-star. And Saric is a solid if not spectacular fixture at power forward, even though his future role might become sixth man. And what a luxury that would be if the Sixers could bring him in off the bench down the road, when he might be even more of a weapon going up against the other team’s bench players. I’d take my chances in that scenario. Until then he’s probably the starter you can count on the most at the moment to give you what he’s supposed to on a regular basis. Don’t underestimate that, even though he will be the fourth option at the

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Coach Brett Brown feels Ben Simmons can be a “match-up nightmare” for opposing teams.

Photo NBA/76ers

Doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Just means it probably isn’t going to happen in one or even two seasons.

When Embiid was healthy he sure didn’t look like a rookie. His numbers, when projected out to more than the imposed limit of 25 minutes per, were off the charts. And he’s just a pup. He has to show that he can play at that level for the duration. If he can, he’s going to become one of the faces of the league. That’s a good place for any organization to start trending upward.

How high is his ceiling? I mean, what can’t he do? It’s only a matter of being on the floor for more minutes in more games. If he played 62 times last season, how many more do you think they would have won. Now Simmons and Fultz are part of the equation as well.

“It is the No. 1 goal for me to set out a road map, a calendar, for Ben Simmons,” Brown stressed. “That is the singular most important thing at the moment.”

Fair enough. But ...

If Embiid gets hurt again, it changes a lot.

The Sixers can still be a decent team without him, and maybe even down the road a contender if all the other ingredients fall into place.

But make no mistake. He is the differencemaker, the one who can put you over the top.

offensive end. That’s a good whatever to have.

And like the three higher-profile players ahead of him on the go-to list, he’s still navigating his way. Process that.

The backcourt could be the most interesting part of this ongoing evolution. Neither Simmons or Fultz has played an NBA minute, after playing one year of college each. But the talent is there. The question becomes, can Simmons actually be a full-time point guard in the league? Some have expressed their doubts, including former Sixer coach Larry Brown. He does possess a unique skill set. And he seems to need the ball in his hands. Fultz does too, although he might be the long-term perimeter shooter they haven’t had in forever. We’ll see how they co-exist, since the Sixers would like them to be partners in South Philly for the next decade.

“I think Ben Simmons has the chance to be a match-up nightmare,” Brown has said.

Hopefully, at the 1 or 2.

Simmons reminds me of Penny Hardaway before his knee turned to tapioca. And that was enough to get Orlando and Shaquille O’Neal to the Finals in the mid-1990s. That might be asking a lot. But if you’re going to dream, why not think big? I’m not sure what to make of Fultz yet, because I have to see more. But the reports are mostly inspiring. And I don’t want to hear about how their two college teams didn’t win nearly enough. Simmons didn’t have a coach

at LSU, and Fultz didn’t have a supporting cast at Washington. Neither is any longer the case.

egardless of how healthy that core stays, or how well it performs, you still need others to contribute. Last season, T.J. McConnell showed that he can do that.

Who knew? Robert Covington did his part.

Maybe Jerryd Bayless can as well, if he’s recovered from his wrist injury. The club made a nice move in free agency by signing veteran J.J. Reddick, who gives them an immediate perimeter option. How much of a difference he can make will have to play out. But it probably can’t hurt. When was the last time the Sixers had someone like him taking aim from the arc? And maybe, just maybe, they won’t give up on Okafor and can find a way to get 15 decent minutes out of him on a regular basis.

He has his faults, but he can still find his way around the low post with the ball. There’s not as many of those guys as you might think. So that story might have a somewhat happy ending here yet. It just won’t be third pick in the draft happy. But it’s time to move past that.

“It’s going to be exciting to see where we are going,” Embiid said. “I think we are building up at the right time.

Which of course was the whole point.

The Sixers will play the Celtics in London in January, and the Knicks in New York on Christmas. So somebody must feel they’re an

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attraction. Those people aren’t always right, but I’ll take my chances. This team should win between 35 and 40 times. In the East, that might be enough to crack the postseason field. It’s still too early for everything to come together. That’s OK. Barring anything too unforeseen, the journey has shifted. Of course, the unforeseen has dominated the Sixers’ landscape for way too long. Which means pumping the brakes for a little while longer isn’t necessarily a bad way to proceed, sanity-wise. But good times may not be far off.

“It is a non-negotiable vision for what the bottom line is,” Brown has often reiterated.

It won’t be all smooth, even in the years ahead, just because. Other teams get better too. See those once-dreaded Celts. And did somebody say Lebron might be coming here next offseason instead of LA? I wouldn’t put my 401K on it. But there is a nucleus in place, a young nucleus that many teams would swap rosters with. That’s something. How good a something? Check back in 2020.

Until then it’s time to start putting your trust in the progress. Start enjoying the upgraded view. n NBC Sports Philadelphia is proud to bring you 74 Philadelphia 76ers games this season with the Emmy-Award winning broadcast team of Marc Zumoff, Alaa Abdelnaby and Molly Sullivan.

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PROFILE

T S A F G N I V I L S P E E K N E L L A W E R D AN 42

Lt. Colonel Andrew Allen’s left eye was swollen shut and useless. He had dislocated his shoulder.

His voice box had been crushed. He was bleeding.

The visor of his helmet was cracked and smeared. The windshield was a mess. His parachute was sticking halfway out of its packaging. Oh, and he was covered in turkey vulture blood and guts. As he surveyed the damage the wayward bird had done to his F-X fighter jet—which had been blasting away at 550 mph just 500 feet above ground during an exercise designed to teach pilots to fly under enemy radar—Allen had to decide how he was going to land the plane and where he should do it.

In a second, he concluded that while battered, he was in good enough condition to finish the job. “The blood had stopped spurting and was just oozing,” he says. He decided that bringing the jet back to home base made more sense than attempting a compromised landing in an unfamiliar location. And he felt confident that the weapon systems officer sitting behind him wasn’t going to affect an ejection maneuver. That was a good thing, since Allen’s seat had been damaged, and such an exercise could have had catastrophic consequences. The big problem?

He might be late for dinner.

BY MICHAEL BRADLEY 43

He was also extremely intelligent – perhaps too intelligent. His sister thinks that explains his propensity for detentions.

“He would get his homework done earlier than others, and he would be bored and get in trouble,” Catherine says. “That could have been part of the problem.

“He was a daredevil. That’s why he would get in trouble.”

“ After watching some John Wayne movies in high school, I decided I wanted to be a fighter pilot.”

Allen posed for this picture on the Space Shuttle Columbia’s flight deck during STS-62. Allen flew on three Space Shuttle missions: STS-46, STS-62, and STS-75.

Allen had been trained to make those kinds of rapid-fire decisions under extreme duress.

But there was one question he couldn’t answer. Why, when he was drenched in a stew of his own blood and the vulture’s innards, didn’t he vomit?

“I’m something of a sympathy puker,” he admits. “If somebody else throws up, I do, too.

That day, I had it all together.”

Allen kept his lunch down and landed the plane, despite having a limited field of vision due to the extreme damage done to the cockpit and his visor, which had afforded him a “little slit” through which to see. It was a remarkable piece of flying, but hearing Allen describe it now, it was as if he had to perform the operation while dealing with nothing more than a smudge of pigeon crap on his windshield.

The 62-year old Allen may have been in the private sector for the past 20 years, but he spent the previous two decades as a certified American badass, flying jets for seven years and then serving on three Space Shuttle missions. He is in good enough shape today, thanks to plenty of cycling, to pass the NASA astronaut physical examination and hopes that when he hits his 70s, the space agency might just “be looking for an old guy” to send into space, as it did with 77-year old John Glenn in 1998. That he was able to bring a compromised jet back safely despite serious physical injuries and the 44

presence of a liquefied turkey vulture speaks to his tremendous mental toughness and his all-around American hero personality.

“I think a lot of astronauts are like this,” says his sister, Catherine. “There is a humbleness about him, but there is a load of confidence, too. They couldn’t do what they do without a lot of confidence.” ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ON JULY 20, 1969, Allen and his mother, Loretta, sat on the couch watching the first lunar landing. Loretta looked at her son and asked, “Do you think you would ever want to do that?”

Allen replied quickly. “I would love it.”

But there was a problem. Wanting to do something and being able to do it are completely different things.

“I don’t think astronauts have as many detentions as I do,” he said.

Loretta looked at him and said, “If you straighten up, you’ll have a chance.”

Allen was born on August 4, 1955, the son of man who had flown torpedo bombers for the Navy during World War II. The family bounced around for several years, but eventually settled in Bucks County, and Allen graduated from Archbishop Wood HS. He played football and baseball at Wood and loved sports of all sorts.

When it came time to apply to college, Allen wanted to secure an appointment to one of the United States service academies, but his older brother Matthew, who was a student at Penn State, asked him why he wanted to go to an all-male school. Allen thought that was a good question, so he dropped the Academy dream and applied for a Navy ROTC scholarship at several schools in the Mid-Atlantic region, including Villanova, which had “one of the best Navy ROTC programs,” according to Allen.

After graduating from ‘Nova in 1977 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he entered the Marine Corps and spent six months learning to be a platoon leader with an eye on flying jets. His father, Charles, had exposed all five of his children to his love of the air, and Allen was the one who “took it to heart”. There was also the romantic side to it all. “After watching some John Wayne movies in high school, I decided I wanted to be a fighter pilot,” Allen says.

He trained to fly in Pensacola, where his focus and determination served him well. While other students took advantage of the various offerings of the “Redneck Riviera”, Allen stayed home and studied. Only 10 percent of his class would get to fly jets – others would pilot helicopters and cargo planes – and Allen was determined to be part of that elite group.

“Embedded in us by our father was the motto ‘Failure is not an option,’” Catherine says.

“My dad was constantly learning. He got his Ph.D in aerospace engineering in his 60s and was a consultant for NASA in his 70s. That’s my brother’s option, too. It’s not that you can’t fail, because that’s how you learn. But he will always strive to succeed. He’s an incredibly high achiever.”

Allen ended up in the 10 percent and became

a fighter pilot, piloting the F-4 Phantom for three years and then the F/A-18 Hornet. Allen graduated from the Top Gun program, where his work was so successful he was asked to stay on as an instructor. But he had bigger goals and in 1987 completed training at U.S. Test Pilot School in Maryland. That’s when he applied—along with more than 700 other Marines—to become an astronaut. From that group, 21 names were sent to NASA, and six of them were interviewed. They selected one.

Allen.

“There is a stress performance curve,” he explains about the process. “As people get stressed, believe it or not, their performance increases—up to a point. Then they go flying over the cliff. [NASA] looks for people who can manage stress beyond the norm.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ALLEN’S FIRST MISSION was aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, an eight-day deployment in summer 1992 that included 126 orbits of the earth and work with an Italian space crew. In March 1994, he flew a 14-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, and two years later participated in a 16-day operation as part of the crew of the Columbia, which logged 6.5 million miles during its journey.

Allen, seated left, with the crew of STS-46.

The entire process awed Allen, who remembers his first time being strapped into the Shuttle, with every imaginable family member and friend watching in the distance and the countdown commenced.

“You realize it’s a little too late to change your mind,” Allen says. “You have to fly. It’s an adventure. You never know how it’s going to turn out.”

Allen describes the first time the solid rocket

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boosters fell away on his first flight as “one of the most memorable events that happened in my life.” He remembers the awesome power of the launch and the changes his body went through when zero gravity hit. Allen certainly enjoyed the camaraderie and helped to bond with his fellow astronauts on the third mission by bringing a bag of soft pretzels onto the Shuttle. Despite his current Florida address, Allen is a Philly guy, and when he returns to town, his first meal is always a cheesesteak.

From space, Allen saw the earth’s rivers and deltas, continental boundaries and even manmade spectacles like the Great Wall, the Pyramids and the Atlanta airport. That was cool,

While the rest of us were watching the eclipse, Allen was driving a Corvette at top speeds on a test track. He’s stil a badass. but it didn’t match the sense of wonder associated with being in space.

“It was fascinating looking out at the stars,” Allen says. “Every millimeter of space is filled with stars. You can see the wisps of the Milky Way galaxy and see the vastness of what’s out there. It gives you a feeling of insignificance, like being one grain of sand on all the beaches of the earth.”

After Allen’s third Shuttle mission, he moved into administration within NASA, a move that wasn’t exactly thrilling to him. That, coupled with the emotional responses his daughters Jessica and Meredith had in response to his final flight (Apollo 13 had just hit theaters), led him to consider a career in the business world, an arena that had always intrigued him. Since 1997, he has earned an MBA and worked in a collection of firms, including Honeywell.

Since 2006, he has run Aerodyne Industries— a company founded by his father—employing more than 200 people and working with NASA. While he still dreams a bit of outer space, Allen is happy working to assist the space agency reach its goals.

That doesn’t mean he still doesn’t have a little bit of that daredevil in him. On the day of the solar eclipse, while the rest of us were peering at the phenomenon through protective glasses, what was Allen doing? He was driving a Corvette at top speeds on a test track in Bowling Green, KY, into the darkness and back out.

In other words, he’s still a badass. n 46

U R M P L HY I H P H BY MATT ROONEY H

New Jersey’s Fork in the Road?

Eight years ago? Then United States Attorney emeritus Chris Christie promised New Jersey’s longsuffering taxpayers that he’d disrupt the status quo and turn Trenton upside down. He even made some progress in the early going. Property tax increases significantly slowed and the state’s economy, walloped by the 2007-2008 financial crisis, recovered much of its pre-2007 strength.

I unapologetically admit to having been a believer.

How could I not believe? After having suffered the likes of tax-obsessed Jim Florio, unimaginative Christine Todd Whitman and sleazy Jim McGreevey, Christie’s directness, willingness to pick meaningful fights and refreshing Jersey-tude seemed like exactly what the doctor had ordered.

KIM

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GUADAGNO

At the end of the day, however, the only thing that got “turned” was Christie’s head. One disastrous corruption scandal (see: Bridgegate) and a widely-panned national campaign later, the man whom Nancy Reagan and Henry Kissinger once begged to run for president is a political leper who can’t even land a job on sports talk radio (to the great relief of North Jersey’s WFAN fan base).

Like Nixon and Clinton before him, the one opponent Chris Christie ultimately couldn’t overcome was himself.

It’s sad, for him and the rest of us, too, but it’s time to move on.

We’re called upon to select a successor. New Jerseyans will head to the polls this November and decide between two major party options for a post-Christie world: Democrat Phil Murphy, yet another Goldman Sachs gazillionaire playing at politics in the mold of one-term former Governor Jon Corzine, and Republican Kim Guadagno, Christie’s hard-working two-term Lieutenant Governor whose biggest impediment is guilt by association with her wildly unpopular boss.

Consider the immense challenges facing the Garden State. They range from a foreclosure crisis and persistently worst-in-the-nation property taxes to America’s LEAST stable public pension system.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that this next election will likely decide whether we, as New Jersey taxpayers, either (1) start to turn things around after decades of chronic misrule or (2) throw in the towel and join the others shopping for new, much more affordable lives in Pennsylvania or North Carolina. We’ve officially arrived at the breaking point. The proverbial fork in the road.

With the stakes in mind, let’s take a critical, honest look at the available options:

PHIL MURPHY Corzine 2.0?

Resumes only get you so far in high office, but this year’s Democrat nominee and front runner to succeed Chris Christie is an undeniably accomplished fellow. He’s a graduate of both Harvard University, where he studied economics, as

well as the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Until 2013, he served a stormy stint as U.S. Ambassador to Germany for the Obama Administration while a spying scandal roiled his host country’s media establishment, before returning home to Monmouth County in 2013 to begin laying the groundwork for a 2017 gubernatorial campaign.

Murphy

Murphy’s distinguishing characteristic is his fantastic wealth.

He made his millions—a few observers guestimate he’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars—during a 23-year career with the infamous multinational finance giant Goldman Sachs.

Some supporters say that experience makes him uniquely well-disposed to tackle New Jersey’s immense fiscal problems. Others point to less encouraging aspect of his career; for exam-

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This self-styled Mr. Fix It has yet to flesh out how, exactly, any of his signature proposals would be implemented and paid for.

H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H ple, during his tenure as president of Goldman Sachs Asia from 1997 to 2000, his division profited from a shoe manufacturer repeatedly accused of abusing its workforce. His own spring 2017 Democrat primary opponents openly questioned whether a one-percenter who made big money off of slave labor could ever be trusted to help New Jersey workers improve their lot in life.

What is clear: with mere weeks to go before New Jerseyans pass judgment on his campaign, this self-styled Mr. Fix It has yet to flesh out how, exactly, any of his signature proposals would be implemented and paid for.

Phil Murphy plans to TRIPLE New Jersey’s budget with spending proposals including a new state-run bank (!), massive new school funding, and a tremendously costly singlepayer health care overhaul, but his proposed tax hike package, totaling $1.3 million annually, will only raise revenues representing 1.7% of $75 billion which he plans to spend. That number, by the way, is based on optimistic es-

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timates. He may fall far short as New Jersey taxpayers do what they’ve done in growing numbers for years and vote with their feet.

Murphy swears he will raise taxes on the rich and leave working stiffs alone.

There’s one problem: a so-called Millionaire’s Tax in New Jersey would raise, at most, $600 million per year. There is, therefore, no way around raising taxes on small businesses and middle class homeowners if Phil Murphy moves forward with his proposed spending blitz.

Perhaps in a tacit acknowledgement of the weaknesses of his own fiscal platform, Murphy’s campaign has thus far focused on attempting to tie his Republican opponent to Chris Christie and President Trump, both of whom remain immensely unpopular in the state. The immutable rules of mathematics are taking a backseat to the goodies which his base—comprised of Bernie Sanders Democrats and powerful labor groups—demand of their candidates in exchange for electoral support.

Substance might not matter very much in

the final analysis since money talks and… well, you know the rest.

The well-heeled Murphy dropped over $20 million of his own money to buy a Democrat primary victory—not including the many millions more in personal and charitable donations to politically-connected groups and power brokers lodged over the past several years—in order to unite his party’s machinery around him.

KIM GUADAGNO Life After Christie?

The Republican nominee might have the hardest job of any candidate running in 2017.

Anywhere! And her opponent’s cash is only the start of it.

She’s (1) a GOP’er running in a state that has elected Republicans statewide only four times since before Watergate, (2) at a time when a strong majority of New Jerseyans loathe the head of her party, and (3) while her boss, Chris Christie, languishes with a sub20% approval rating.

A lesser candidate might have shied away from what some early polling suggests is tantamount to mission impossible. At the end of the summer, Monmouth University conducted a poll and found Guadagno trailing Murphy among registered voters by 27 points, mirroring the results of an earlier-in-time Quinnipiac Poll.

But are things as grim as all that?

Adam Geller, Guadagno’s pollster who also previously served Chris Christie and later Donald Trump’s successful 2016 campaign, argues the race is closer than the summertime registered voter polls would lead you to believe.

His internal polling found Guadagno down only 9-points and well-positioned to improve her standing.

“Even after spending $20 million of his own money to buy the Democrat nomination, Phil Murphy remains an extraordinarily weak and unknown candidate whose promise to raise taxes is wildly out of touch with New Jersey voters. Not only is this race much closer than the public polls suggest, there is a clear and wide-open path to victory for Kim Guadagno in 2017 because voters understand that this race is about pocketbook issues,” said Geller in an August release to New Jersey media outlets.

Critically, Geller reported that 55% of those polled want a governor who will be a check on the state Legislature by vetoing new tax increases, while only 29% are primarily interested in electing a check on President Trump.

So can Guadagno pull it out by focusing on New Jersey’s property taxes while Murphy runs against Trump?

A lesser candidate might have shied away from what some early polling suggests is tantamount to mission impossible.

H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

Guadagno

She’s trying.

Guadagno spent the last eight years working to build considerable goodwill with New Jersey’s business community to whom she’s known as a ferocious red tape cutter. She refused to vote for the Donald and pushed back against the Christie-backed fall 2016 gasoline tax increase.

Now the former prosecutor and county sheriff is crisscrossing the state advocating a topto-bottom audit of state government and farreaching new ethics rules for state employees.

The centerpiece of Guadagno’s economic plan is the property tax “circuit breaker” program. Functioning like its namesake, at least in theory, it would kick in whenever “the school portion of a homeowner’s property tax liability exceeds 5% of their yearly household income,” in which event “[t]he homeowner will receive a direct credit on their tax bill for any amount exceeding the 5% threshold.” The average estimated savings would come in around $1,000 annually per household.

The proposed plan only applies to primary residences and there’s a $3,000 cap, too, but Guadagno says it’s step number one towards delivering immediate relief to homeowners.

49% of voters know enough about the front runner to render a decision (for Guadagno that number is similarly awful: 44%).

That’s tragic, and not just because representative democracy, generally, doesn’t work very well when the population is disengaged and clueless.

Like we’ve already said… the stakes for our long-suffering state are huge this time around.

New Jersey is dying. That’s not hyperbole either. In 2016, for the fifth consecutive year, the United Van Lines’ National Movers Study found a staggering 63% more New Jersey residents were moving out of the state than were moving in, and largely to states with worse pizza but much better tax climates. That makes New Jersey #1 for yet another decidedly dubious honor.

Let’s speak plainly. Phil Murphy’s unapologetically far-left vision for New Jersey’s future resembles something like the California, Illinois, or Venezuela experience: big government spending and an ever-expanding Nanny State

powered by confiscatory taxation. If his worldview works for the Garden State, it’d be a first in human history.

Guadagno, on the other hand, is a moderate Republican in the mold of Thomas Kean, Sr. whose initial offerings, while modest in scope and imagination, at least acknowledge that Trenton’s soul-crushing dependency on robbing Peter to pay Paul needs to end while there’s still a state left to save. Sadly, this superficially uncontroversial acknowledgment is hard to come by in the halls of Trenton power.

Guadagno? Murphy? Regardless of your party affiliation or ideological orientation, abstaining is clearly one option that’s not on the table this November, folks. New Jerseyans will have absolutely no one left to blame but themselves if they sit this one out. Trust me: the last one out will need to turn out the lights. I’ll be long gone along with everyone else who’s tired of footing the bill for Trenton’s usual ruinous nonsense. n

THE CHOICE

Two radically different visions for NJ’s future Every election presents voters with a choice.

One candidate represents one direction; the other candidate represents another.

New Jersey’s Election 2017 isn’t any different when you take the time to learn a bit about the aforementioned choices; in fact, the choice in this contest is more dramatic in almost every respect.

But the same polls showing Murphy far ahead of Guadagno also report that, in one example, only 51

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contact: ken@jerseymanmagazine.com

Halloween Hauntings, History & More

BY JAN L. APPLE

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Photos Earl Cain

Many visitors ask if the mansion at Batsto Village is haunted

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s the season of witches, goblins and ghosts fast approaches, some may be surprised to find a host of spooky, fascinating and unusual sites right in our own backyards.

In fact, according to www.atlasobscura.com—a website boasting a multitude of “curious and wondrous travel destinations” around the globe—New Jersey is home to 74 such sites. The Philadelphia region also offers numerous intriguing spots. Who would’ve known!

Devon Perry, executive director of Visit South Jersey, aspires to share our region’s rich history and rare, hidden treasures with residents and visitors alike.

Whether in search of a Halloween happening, a supernatural phenomenon or merely relishing the natural splendor throughout South Jersey, one such property Perry is proud to spotlight is Batsto Village.

Located in the Wharton State Forest in the heart of New Jersey’s Pinelands, the 123,000-acre site—just 8 miles from Hammonton—is administered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Parks & Forestry. In fact, Wharton State Forest is the largest park in the entire state system.

“Batsto Village is nationally recognized for its historical significance and beauty,” explained Perry. “Two centuries of American history are available to visitors.”

Guided tours of the 36-room mansion are offered to the public Wednesday through Sunday. The sprawling, picturesque grounds include a Visitor’s Center, post office (that still hand cancels mail without use of a zip code), a once operating grist mill, saw mill, out buildings, cottages long ago inhabited by workers, a large lake and more.

ATSTO VILLAGE, often referred to as a ghost town in and of itself, holds a very popular, annual Halloween event: “Haunting the Pines.”

The event is run by the Friends of the Batsto Citizens Committee, Inc., a volunteer group that promotes and supports the property and the Wharton State Forest through fund-raisers and special events throughout the year. In conjunction with two state employed historians, the volunteer corps imparts the stories behind the property that was once a thriving community with successful businesses that produced iron as well as glass products.

The Halloween event, geared toward kids 12 and under and their families, is open to the public and free of charge. This year, more than 300 children and their families are expected to swarm the property on Sunday, October 29 from noon to 3 p.m. The cherished tradition always takes place the Sunday before Halloween. Expect to find face painting, games, pony rides, tours, food and more, while spending quality family time and exploring nature and the colorful foliage.

“It’s our way of giving back to the community,” explained Wes Hughes

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Take a step back in time at Batsto Village

of Cherry Hill, NJ, chairperson of the Batsto Citizens Committee. He’s been a volunteer at the property since 2011. But the village, he explains, caught his attention many years prior. Hughes, 66, the director of Industrial and Commercial Services for Goodwill Industries of Southern Jersey & Philadelphia by day, first visited Batsto as an elementary school student on a class trip. The memory was indelible.

Traveling from his hometown of Glassboro, he recalls arriving at the impressive property on a yellow school bus. “I somehow fell in love with the place,” he said.

Long intrigued by its 200-plus year history and natural splendor, in 1983, after living for a number of years in Maryland and Connecticut, he returned to his home state of New Jersey. He wrote a letter to the State inquiring about becoming a volunteer at Batsto. “For some reason,” he recalled, “it just never came to fruition.”

Fast forward to 2010. Hughes was organizing a camping trip for himself and some friends to the Bass River State Forest. He submitted an application to volunteer at the park, another place that sparked his passion. When filling out the paperwork, he checked a box indicating his interest in history.

So when Hughes was contacted in early 2011 by Bill Schall, then chairperson of the Batsto Citizens Committee, asking if he would be willing to volunteer to give tours of the mansion, it was—quite frankly—a bit surreal.

“I said, ‘Bill, I’m your guy,’” remembered Hughes, admittedly a dream come true for the history buff. One thing led to the next and ultimately Hughes spearheaded the committee. Occasionally, he’s still called upon to give tours.

Hughes explains that the Richards family occupied the mansion for

Visit South Jersey Visit South Jersey (VSJ) is the official destination marketing organization for Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem counties, and the Outer Coastal Plain Wine Region. VSJ promotes travel to the region by marketing South Jersey as a destination.

According to Executive Director Devon Perry, there’s something for everyone. “Historic, bustling main streets, five-star cuisine, a burgeoning wine and craft beverage industry, sports, family fun, art, theater, shopping, crafts, agricultural tourism, picturesque farmland and open space. It is all here in South Jersey.”

For information go to visitsouthjersey.com or call (856) 757-9400.

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nearly 100 years. It was sold in 1876 to Joseph Wharton, a Philadelphia Quaker and wealthy industrialist who also endowed The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

“It was Wharton’s dying wish that if the property were ever to be sold, that it not be broken up; Post Office at Batsto Village that it be sold in one parcel,” explained Hughes. Wharton died in 1909. His wish was granted when the State of New Jersey purchased the entire property in 1954.

“Southern New Jersey and the Pine Barrens were rich in bog ore,” said Hughes of Batsto’s origins. Beginning in 1766, Batsto was one of many places that scraped bog ore from the area streams to produce an array of iron products. “The waterways and streams in the Pine Barrens were rich in iron. Decaying vegetation would fall in the streams and over a period of a few decades it would combine with the iron and formed bog ore,” he said.

Many products were made from bog ore, such as kettles, pots and pans, Dutch ovens, cast iron pipes. In fact, Hughes underscores that during the Revolutionary War a large percentage of the cannon balls and cannons were produced at Batsto.

Today, it’s not unusual for visitors to inquire about whether the mansion is haunted. “People often ask if there are resident ghosts,” said Hughes. And although a photo of a questionable silhouette on a mansion wall once appeared in the book “Weird New Jersey” and stories abound through word of mouth, Hughes says there’s no factual evidence of ghosts or paranormal activity. “We don’t promote it; we don’t dispel it,” he said.

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Paranormal Books & Curiosities and the Paranormal Museum Ghosts & Legends Downtown Tours take place Thursday through Sunday.

Participants meet at the storefront, 621 Cookman Avenue, Asbury Park.

For information, call (732) 455-3188 or visit paranormalbooksnj.com

T

RAVEL DOWN THE SHORE to Asbury Park and the Paranormal Museum/ Paranormal Books & Curiosities is clearly a destination that promotes all things its name implies. The museum is currently closed for renovations, but still offers tours of some spooky, ghostly sites (see box) on the boardwalk and historic downtown district.

According to their Facebook page, when they reopen they will once again feature a storefront of books and items that “explore the unexplained myths, legends and folklore that permeate our culture, dot our history books and continue to defy explanation in our modern world.”

They first opened in 2009 as the Jersey Devil Museum, named for the infamous monster that has caused goose bumps to many an area resident for over a century.

in the courtyard.

“All of the money raised through programming goes back into historic preservation of the cemetery,” said Savastana, adding that their events are family-friendly. “Nothing that we do is scary.” n

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ust over the Delaware River in North Philadelphia is another Atlas Obscura featured property—Laurel Hill Cemetery. A National Historic Landmark that was established in 1836, many renowned figures that shaped our country’s history are buried there. Forty Civil War generals, 6 Titanic passengers and individuals such as Rittenhouse, Widener and Elkins are buried on the grounds amidst a sculpture garden, art, architecture and greenery.

The cemetery holds numerous special events near Halloween. “October is our busiest month of the year,” explained Beth Savastana, program and volunteer coordinator. In September, the cemetery actually co-hosted an event with Atlas Obscura called “Into the Veil.”

At 7 p.m. on Friday, October 20 and Saturday, October 21, people will have a rare opportunity to partake in nighttime, flashlight tours of the cemetery: Soul Crawl, Haunted History Tours. The tour guides share some of the macabre stories of those buried there. The tales are of murder, intrigue and more, explains Savastana. And they are all true and well researched. After the tour, participants enjoy Halloween cider and candy

Laurel Hill Cemetery Upcoming Events At 7 p.m. on October 26, 27 and 28, there will be performances by the Mechanical Theater of an originally written production of “Dracula: A Gothic Mystery.”

From 1 to 3 p.m. on October 29, the cemetery will host their annual Fall Family Day: Halloween Picnic and Parade.

For more information on educational tours and events, call (215) 228-8200 or www.thelaurelhillcemetery.org.

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STORAGE SCORES

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BY ASHLEY DUNEK

My stomach was in knots like it was the first day of freshman year.

I immediately wished I had worn something grungier as we pulled up. I looked way too professional compared to the others.

It was our first storage auction and we had high hopes of finding a hidden safe stashed with someone’s long forgotten 1950 mint baseball card collection. Years of watching Storage Wars will do that to a person. Unfortunately, it’s not quite as easy as it looks on TV. We checked in quickly, got our bidding number and waited for the auction to start. I guess I was expecting mass crowds, confusion, taunting, maybe even a fight?!

That wasn’t the case.

There were around twenty-five people, most dressed in grease stained clothes with 24 ounce Wawa coffees in hand… and they all seemed to be longtime friends.

I quietly stepped back and intently peoplewatched, curious to know each person’s reason for wanting to snag an abandoned storage unit.

For those of you who, unlike me, don’t watch A&E habitually, let me explain how buy58

ing an abandoned storage unit works. When you rent a storage unit, you pay a monthly fee (let’s call it rent for your belongings). If you fail to pay your rent for a certain period of time, the company will auction off the contents of your locker; frankly—they make room for a paying customer. Your belongings are sold online or live at an auction, but either way they’re gone.

The companies give renters plenty of time to pay up, but if you only gave them an old email to contact you, you’re screwed. And if you think you can swing by the unit to grab some valuable items out of your locker before they auction it off, think again. Most companies require code access to enter their facility and will flag your account. Or they’ll replace your lock

with theirs. Either way, you’re not getting your Beanie Baby collection unless you pay up.

My thoughts of finding hundred-dollar bills taped to the back of an old painting were distracted as a portly man drenched in sweat nervously called out that the auction would begin.

We were quickly briefed on the rules which were simple enough: don’t touch anything, don’t go inside, look quickly, make sure your bidding number is visible and most importantly, have the cash.

Ready, set, go.

The metal door rolled up and we got in a single file line to check out the goods. We immediately realized we were noticeably the rookies as everyone else took out heavy duty flashlights for their turn.

The best way to describe everything after that is an adrenaline rush—gambling style, which is exactly what you’re doing. Sure, you

We were intimidated. These people were pros. They owned second hand stores, were wearing utility gloves and had moving trucks; we were out of our league.

have a good idea of what’s inside a unit when you clearly see a matching sofa and love seat, but it’s what’s hidden inside those boxes and back corners that really gets you going. Not to mention if you’re going head to head with another bidder who sees the same treasures stashed amongst trash bags of clothes.

The auctioneer sounds just like you’d imagine. That quick-talking, HUMMANAHUMMAN-A-THIRTYFIVE-DOIHEARFORTYHUMMANA-HUMMANA, is called an “auction chant” and every auctioneer has their own style and pace. Trust me, if you want to bid, they won’t miss you.

A fact I found interesting is that the auctioneers and storage companies aren’t making a percentage off that $500 unit you just snagged.

In reality, the profits are used to pay the debt from the original owner and after some minimal auction fees, the excess profit is sent back to the original owner. I can’t imagine that it always works out so smoothly, but I like to believe we live in a good America.

It took us awhile to physically raise our hands and bid on a unit. We were intimidated. These people were pros. They owned second hand stores, were wearing utility gloves and had moving trucks; we were out of our league. Our game plan was to see what the whole experience was like; I don’t think we thought we were actually going to win, or even bid for that matter. We didn’t even have a bottle of water! But by the fourth unit we couldn’t help ourselves.

So no one is going to bid ten dollars to take a stab in the dark that there’s something valuable in there? OK, why not, it’s only $10 right?!

Our meager bid was the big winner and we were the overly-excited owners of unit 6218.

And no, you can’t use their dumpster.

I’ll cut to the chase and let you know that our messy 5’ x 10’ unit wasn’t sending my Daddy into retirement early. There was no diamond jewelry tucked away, no vintage collectibles or luxurious furs hidden in those bags. Honestly, it was mostly junk. A lot of kid’s clothes, some designer sneakers, old bills, toys and some less than desirable appliances. We did find a $50 Macys gift card which we counted as a big W, considering the circumstances.

It was much less glamorous than I had imagined. Those few boxes and bags seemed like so little from the outside looking in, but when you have to fit every bit of it into your medium-sized Volkswagen, in jeans and flip flops, it becomes much less fun.

I’m not complaining. We sold a bunch of the toys, clothes and shoes to a second-hand shop, video games to a neighborhood store, donated a ton to the local Good Will and trashed what we didn’t want to keep ourselves. Let’s not forget about the $50 gift card—our grand deluxe find of the day. Around $100 profit and an insanely cool experience.

We didn’t let that first auction crush our dreams. We’ve since bought more lockers and scored an awesome collection of sports memorabilia, sold an entire house worth of engineered oak flooring, and found a beautiful 1904

Singer treadle cabinet in amazing condition.

There is money to be made buying abandoned storage units and selling the contents.

But it takes knowledge of what you’re buying and its worth, transportation and storage, manpower, and most importantly, the resources to sell your items. Yard sale anyone?

Oh, and a flashlight. You definitely need a flashlight. n Visit StorageTreasures.com to find storage auctions near you.

FFF WHEN THE AUCTION WAS OVER, we were directed to a woman who took our cash payment along with the $100 cleaning fee they hold. She asked us to return any personal photos or important documents we found, and let us know that we had 48 hours to clean our unit out.

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Drivers, Start Your Engines!

BY KURT SMITH

I

The Stock Car Racing Experience at Pocono Raceway

f the closest you’ve come to channeling your inner Jeff Gordon is running a #24 car in a boardwalk go-kart at the shore, it’s time to broaden your horizons. If you don’t need to at least let up on the hammer to get through a turn, it ain’t racing.

Philly-area racing fans not only have two high-end venues a short drive away, both of which feature various experiences for wouldbe racers, but we also have the option of racing electric karts inside a converted retail store. True.

Boardwalk go-karts might be fun for the kids, but you’d get some strange looks if you suggested it for a team-building event. n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n

“ FLAT OUT TILL YOU SEE GOD, THEN BRAKE.”

– Anonymous

n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n 60

n n n n n n n n n n n n n TWO HOURS NORTH of our fair city is Pocono Raceway, a track unique enough to have a nickname: The Tricky Triangle. The Triangle hosts IndyCar and NASCAR’s top series twice a year, and its scalene layout boasts the longest straightaway on the circuit. That lengthy stretch would lead to the highest speeds, if drivers didn’t have to stand on the brakes to survive the 14-degree banking in Turn 1.

Courtesy of Jesse Roverana and the crew at Stock Car Racing Experience, you can run the Triangle yourself…either as a student in a 600HP stock car, as part of a team in a go-kart race, or even…get this…in your own car.

The student experience includes an hour of safety instruction before one gets into a firesuit and inside a racecar, driving behind a professional who leads the way to speeds as high as 160 MPH. It’s a life-transforming event, according to Roverana.

“When they walk out to the racecar, their shoulders are down, they’re very meek, very quiet, because they’re a little scared. When they get out, their chest is puffed out, their shoulders are up, they’re

smiling. We have them fill out a survey, and their hands are shaking like crazy.”

There’s also a road course for go-karts inside of the famed racetrack, and lawnmower engine karts these are not. They ride an inch off of the ground and go as fast as 50 MPH…helmets required…and races are run with three-man teams for a full three hours. If you’re planning a corporate event, nothing builds team spirit like firesuits and driver changes.

“Every time I sell this to a corporate, they’re calling me back next year because employees want to do it again,” Roverana says. “Smack

talk goes on all day long.”

Car guys like to bring their own to race that long straightaway too. “It’s grown tremendously over the last five years. We have a Z06, we have BMW M3s, a whole lot of Mustangs.

Every once in a while you get that little Fiat, or a WRX. “Fortunately, we haven’t had any incidents.

They all own a car that is $60K to $160K in value, and none of them want to go home and say, honey, I ran my car into the wall.

“That’s the thing that keeps those guys under control out there.” n n n n n n n n n n n n n MILLVILLE, NJ, isn’t just the birthplace of WAR-demolishing ballplayer Mike Trout. It’s also the home of New Jersey Motorsports Park, where two road courses host events from ARCA to American Superbike to NASCAR’s K&N Series.

Marketing Director Ashley Freas calls NJMP the “Premier Motorsports Entertainment Complex”, and it’s not just for spectators. If you get tired of only turning left at Pocono, you can bring your car to the road course here.

“One of the most common questions we get asked is ‘How do I get my car out on the track?’

Challengers, Chargers, I’ve seen all kinds of cars,” Freas says. “I’ve seen Honda Civics, I’ve seen Priuses. There are four on-track sessions throughout the day, and progressively, you build up speed and go faster and faster.”

If you enjoy it enough, you can become a Driver’s Club member…NJMP sets aside track Karting at NJMP

days where only members can pilot their car through the road courses. Members say it’s a great way to entertain clients, and track days include a superb breakfast and lunch at the Finish Line Pub on the grounds. “Drink some water to stay hydrated, but no beer until after you’re done,” Freas says with a laugh.

But for those not yet of such means, the go-karts here are no slouch. They carry 9HP Honda engines and reach speeds of 55 MPH on either of two small road courses that even feature elevation changes. Like at Pocono, karts include transponders, and NJMP tracks your lap times, with the best time of the day written 61

Stepping on the accelerator suddenly whiplashes the occupant into a focused racer, picking up speed, braking through turns and hitting marks.

Speed Raceway

on a board inside the entrance.

Make a day of it, Freas says. “The road courses here always have activity, you can go go-karting, but you can also watch unique and fun racing going on. You can eat at the restaurant, we have paintball so you can do that. We have a pool too, if you get hot and sweaty and want to relax.

“It’s like an amusement park. There’s something for everybody.”

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n n n n n n n n n n n n n SO YOU ARE PROBABLY THINKING, this sounds great, but isn’t this October? Racing season is more or less over. Where can I host the holiday team-building racing event?

The Speed Raceway geniuses are way ahead of you. They saw the opportunities as electric cars emerged at the same time retail

stores began to close in the wake of the Amazon explosion.

In the days before the electric go-karts that Speed Raceway uses, it probably would have been too noisy to run gas-powered karts indoors, to say nothing of the collective heart failure that the EPA would have had about the pollution. Electric karts are quiet and don’t cough up smoke, making them ideal to run indoors… which is, as Speed Vice President Eric Armstrong points out, a huge advantage for them.

“We’re open seven days a week, 363 days a year. We’re incredibly busy throughout the week and that’s because a day like right now, where it’s raining hard, we’re open. When it’s hot, we’re open, when it’s cold, we’re open.”

And electric karts don’t have to build up to speed, either.

“When you turn on your vacuum, it’s on full power. That’s very similar to our go-karts. They have a lot of torque and they go quick.”

The vice president isn’t exaggerating. When a driver is first let out onto one of the two Formula One style road courses, after donning a head sock and a helmet, the kart moves slowly. Once out on the track, as if someone flipped a switch, stepping on the accelerator suddenly whiplashes the occupant into a focused racer, picking up speed, braking through turns and hitting marks.

Speed records lap times, but you won’t reach top speed in mph terms. Not even Armstrong can tell you what the karts’ top speed is…meaning they’ll go as fast as you can handle.

“If you had an absolute perfect, flat surface, these could easily beat the cars on the highway. But in here, they can’t, because there’s not enough space and you’re turning all the time.

You’re always zipping, but you’re never on a flat surface hitting high mph marks.”

Speed has two locations, in Horsham, PA, and in Cinnaminson, NJ. The Cinnaminson location is located in a large strip mall on Route 130. It’s a marvel of progress for anyone old enough to remember the Clover store that occupied the space for many years.

“With so many retail establishments closing, there’s a lot of big buildings like this, and a gokart facility like ours really fits,” explains Armstrong. “Five or six years ago, there was maybe ten facilities, now there’s easily 250-plus across the country.

“I guess we can thank Amazon,” he says with a chuckle.

The Speed Raceway experience is thrilling enough to draw occasional celebrities, even from as far as Baltimore. “Joe Flacco and his family come in here quite often. Especially with football players, people don’t recognize them because they wear helmets, until they put their names up on the scoreboard and they say, that

is Joe Flacco right there!”

Like the folks at New Jersey Motorsports Park and at Stock Car Racing Experience, Speed Raceway knows exactly how best to promote high speed, edge-of-seat racing for ordinary Joes…as a corporate team-building event, or for a bachelor (or bachelorette) party. At Speed, they’ve even built sound-proof conference centers, so the long-winded manager can spend just enough time thanking the team for the pizza to get cold…but the karts stay ready to run.

The exposure has helped Speed Raceway bring over a million racers through their doors in just over five years.

“It allows groups to blow off steam and do something unique,” Armstrong says.

“There’s really nothing like this as an amusement ride. If you compare it to a roller coaster, you sit in the car of the roller coaster, they strap you down and you hold on. Here, it’s similar, except you’re the one driving. You actually get to control the ride.”

If one of these racetracks starts selling Curley’s fries, they may just make the shore obsolete. n Speed Raceway: www.speedraceway.com Stock Car Racing Experience: www.877stockcar.com New Jersey Motorsports Park: www.njmp.com

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BERGEY

BY MARK ECKEL

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Photos Philadelphia Eagles

Bill Bergey, the cornerstone of an Eagles defense that saw a meteoric rise from the awful ‘1970s to a berth in Super Bowl XV in 1980, is having the time of his life.

‘‘

Eagles Got a Shot

BACK IN MY DAY, I CAN REMEMBER CERTAIN THINGS WE GOT AWAY WITH THAT THEY COULD NEVER GET AWAY WITH TODAY.”

B

ergey, who turned 72 earlier this season, but still looks like he can pick off a pass in the flat, or throw a running back for a loss, if need be, couldn’t be happier with how things have gone over 25 years after his final game for the Eagles.

“I’m enjoying life as much as I ever have,” Bergey, who still lives in the Delaware Valley area, but also travels to Florida for the winter months. “Because that’s what us old people do,” he adds with a laugh.

“We (Bergey and his wife, Micki) have eight grandchildren and we have a blast with them.

Life is wonderful. I have no complaints.”

As far as football goes, Bergey stays involved with the Eagles, gets to go to a few games a year, signs some autographs in the suites, talks to sponsors, all the normal stuff teams ask their legendary players to do.

“It’s fun,” he says. “It keeps me active, keeps me around. And it’s always good to see some of the guys.”

Bergey tries to stay in touch with as many of the players from the 1980 NFC Champions and head coach Dick Vermeil as he can. There’s a dinner here, a night out there. “It’s just a little calmer than it used to be,” he said. That ’80 team seems to have had a bond that will never break.

And they played the game, especially on defense, a lot different than they do in 2017.

“They’ve made the game a lot more safe than it was,” Bergey said choosing his words wisely.

“Back in my day, I can remember certain things we got away with that they could never get away with today. Number one, as a middle linebacker, if a tight end or a wide receiver would come across the middle, you could just about take his head off if you wanted. There was a big intimidation factor there. The next time they would come across the middle they would be looking around, so advantage to the defense.

“When we blitzed, we could absolutely undress a quarterback. We could go helmet to helmet. We could go low. We could do anything we wanted to get him down. Cornerbacks would clothesline receivers after they caught the ball. And you could do that, too.

Now, I’m not saying this is good or bad, it’s just the way it was.”

There aren’t many advantages to the defense in today’s NFL. Every new rule, every change to the system, while with safety in mind, has also been to aid the offense. Someone in the New York offices decided, and they were probably right, that more fans want to see 35-31 games; than 13-7 games.

“There’s no question about that,” Bergey said of the advantages to the offense in today’s game. “What’s the matter with a good 13-7 or 7-6 ballgame? Scoring points is what people want to see; they think that’s where all the action is. There could be good action in a good mano a mano defensive game, too.

“I watch the game now, and a cornerback, playing outside, gets a quick chuck on the receiver, and then you have to let your hands go.

The advantage has gone so much to the offense it’s incredible. I mean, with the quarterback, you can’t hit him high; you can’t him low; and again I’m not saying it’s good or bad. And the players are so much bigger and faster today, but there’s just such a small area that you can hit a quarterback. I think it takes away from a real good aggressive defense.”

HO KNOWS how Bergey would have done under today’s rules in today’s game? But chances are a 6-foot-4, 243-pound linebacker with the agility to intercept 27 passes, the ninth most in NFL history by a linebacker, would have found a way to survive, and flourish.

“Football is football and I love the game,” he said. “But today with the players being so

W

So what does one of the greatest players in Eagles history think about the future of his old team, beginning in 2017?

“I think they have a shot,’’ former Eagles linebacker Bill Bergey, a member of the team’s Hall of Fame, says.

Bergey, one of the greatest defensive players in the franchise’s long history, gets to a few games a year and watches the team on TV when he’s not there. What he likes most about this Eagles’ team, is what he hated the most when he played the game—the quarterback.

The big linebacker terrorized quarterbacks for the majority of his 12 seasons in the league.

This Carson Wentz guy, Bergey kind of has a soft spot for him.

Wentz

“I like the quarterback,’’ Bergey said of Wentz. “I really do. I talked to (Ron) Jaworski (the former Eagles quarterback and Bergey’s old teammate) about him and he loves him. I think as long as this kid can stay healthy, he’ll play 12-14 years. He going to be our quarterback for a long, long time. And that’s what you need, now. This is a quarterback-driven league these days. You can’t win without a good one. And we have one, we have our quarterback.’’

Bergey met Wentz at a practice earlier this season and came away impressed with the second-year man from North Dakota State off the field as well.

“He was impressive,’’ Bergey said. “A real nice kid. I think he’s going to do some good things here.’’

much smarter and it’s a year-round operation.

When I played, you would have to get a second job in the offseason. You didn’t even think about football until camp started again and we had those six preseason games.”

Cutting the preseason down from six to four games was a benefit to everyone, fans included. And the camp Bergey mentioned, let’s just say what current Eagles head coach Doug Pederson ran at the NovaCare Complex, isn’t 67

Now that Jerry Kramer, the great Green Bay Packers guard for the Vince Lombardi Packers dynasty, was selected by the NFL’s senior committee and is one of the senior finalists for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, does former Eagle linebacker Bill Bergey have a shot?

Kramer, who threw the key block in “The Ice Bowl’’, retired after that 1968 season, so he’s waited 50 years to maybe finally get inducted. Bergey’s last season for the Eagles was 1980, so maybe there’s still hope.

“I always compare him with the Giants’ Harry Carson,’’ long-time football writer and Hall of Fame writer Ray Didinger said of Bergey. “They played in the same division, played basically the same schedule. If Harry’s in the Hall of Fame, Bill should be. And I’m not saying Harry shouldn’t be. He should.

But if I had to pick one of the two, I’d take Bill. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.’’

In his 12 NFL seasons, the first five with the Cincinnati Bengals, Bergey played in 159 games. Sacks and tackles were not official statistics when he played, but turnovers were. And Bergey recorded 27 interceptions and recovered 21 fumbles. Those interceptions rank him ninth all-time among linebackers. For comparison sake, Carson, the Giants’ Hall of Famer, played 13 seasons and had 11 interceptions and 14 fumble recoveries.

Bergey, who has always been modest about his career, says it doesn’t faze him one way or another.

“Believe it or not, I really never thought about it,’’ Bergey says of the Hall of Fame. “I’ve never been really big on it. Now, I’m probably in eight or 10 Halls of Honor or Halls of Fame.’’

He’s not in the one in Canton, Ohio, however. And he probably deserves to at least be in the conversation.

“I do watch the Hall of Fame (induction ceremony) every single year,’’ Bergey said. “I enjoy it. But to me, it’s nothing I worry about.

“I think I’ve been in the final 16 (of the Hall of Fame vote) once or twice,’’ he said. “I’ve always believed that football isn’t about the individual stuff. It’s a team sport. Now, not to belittle anyone who is in the Hall of Fame; it’s a wonderful accomplishment. But if I could change anything about my career, the one thing is I wish we could have won Super Bowl XV. Then my career would have been complete.’’

And he would have probably been inducted into Canton by now.

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what Vermeil ran during his days at Widener and West Chester Universities.

“We would hit and tackle all through camp,” Bergey said. “Under Dick Vermeil, we had three-a-day practices, and we hit in all three practices.”

Now, because of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and its rules, teams don’t hit three times a week. Some might not hit three times throughout the course of camp.

“We would practice tackling, too,” Bergey continued. “We would go for 15 minutes before practice tackling a dummy on a spring.

And then we would tackle in practice. That’s the one real big difference I see today. You

watch some cornerbacks today and they just kind of throw their shoulders out there; they don’t go in and wrap up the way they did.

And I know why they do it, because they don’t want to get hurt.

“Another thing that’s different (in today’s game) and it bothers me a little is back when we played when it was 3rd-and-3, it was mano a mano. There was a darn good bet they were going to run the ball. They were going to line up their best against our best and we’ll see what happens. Now it’s 3rd-and-a half-yard and they pass the ball. That’s tough for me to take.”

Which is one of the few things tough for Bergey to take these days. n

STAY CONNECTED jerseymanmagazine.com

69

W SPORTS GUYS

Prodigy Sports The People Who Find The Right People

BY T. JORDAN WOMPIERSKI

hen the New York Yankees need a clutch starting pitcher or a powerful corner outfielder, their course of action is pretty predictable.

If there’s nobody in the minor leagues deemed strong enough to bolster the big league team, Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman looks outside the organization. Whether he signs a big-name free agent or acquires a star player via trade, the Yankees have a reputation for bringing the best possible talent to New York to don the pinstripes. When a team like the Yankees needs a new executive for the front office, though, the process is a bit different. While the Yankees—and all sports teams, for that matter—have their pick of many “free agents” on the open job market when it’s time to fill a sales or marketing position, many of the best candidates for the job are likely already locked up elsewhere. For that reason, the Yankees are one of many top sports teams that utilize the services of executive search firms.

“We can provide something very unique,” said Mark Gress Jr., the vice president of recruiting for Prodigy Sports, one of the executive search companies the Yankees frequently work with. “Our network and our ability to help an organization decide between some very large and robust candidate pools for any given job. Who’s the best candidate, who’s the best fit?”

That’s the age-old question for employers, and the sports industry is no different. While sports teams have data and statistics ad nauseum to help them decide which players to target for the field, the decisions made to fill front office roles aren’t as clear cut. Some teams simply don’t have the resources or manpower to handle an executive-level placement, while 70

others just prefer to utilize the vast databases of prospective employees that firms like Prodigy have access to.

“A lot of HR recruiting departments in sports are stretched very thin, or, they might want to leverage the network that we have for an unbiased recruiting process,” Gress explained.

There are a number of recruiting companies like Prodigy Sports that focus on staffing needs specifically for sports organizations, but Prodigy is considered a boutique executive search firm, specializing in C-level jobs with titles like director and vice president. When a sports team like the Yankees, the Miami Heat, or the San Francisco 49ers has a high-level opening, they often reach out to Gress Prodigy for assistance. The team typically will pay an up-front retainer fee to begin the search for their next top employee, and that’s when the recruiting firm gets to work.

“We try to really learn about the organization’s culture, the environment, and what type of person would succeed in the role long-term, before we start doing any research on candidates, before we start going through our database or any of our various recruiting tools,” Gress explained. “Once we think we have a good idea of the job description on paper, the company, and the key players in terms of the staff above and below the person that we’re recruiting, then we really do a lot of the

Most of the individuals who end up interviewing for the open position are already happily employed elsewhere, so it’s up to Prodigy and the sports team they’re working with to entice the prospect. legwork. That’s a lot of the reason we get hired and where we really earn our money. We start to do all of our research, all of our brainstorming, and we come up with a group of, for any given search, anywhere from 10-20 candidates to 70-80 candidates. These are prospects. These are people that we’re just targeting that we think they could meet all of the criteria and could be a fit, could have interest.”

HE POTENTIAL CANDIDATES for the job come from a variety of sources, ranging from individuals in internal databases to prospects who respond to publicly-posted job listings. Companies like Prodigy do post open positions to online job boards, but Gress said most eventual hires do not originate from public postings.

“I’d say less than 10% of the interested and qualified candidates for a given job come from our website,” he said. “Most of the candidates that we recommend for a position come through our own outreach. When we post something on our job board, we put it out there on social media as well. We want to create a buzz about the position, we certainly want to get the brand out there, we want people to know about the employer. All of that is critical and I’m not saying the job board is not important, but the reason a lot of these organizations and clients utilize us is because they

T

So, you want a job in sports...

IT’S NOT EASY to get a job in sports, but with the right attitude and work ethic, Gress believes it’s possible for an outsider to break in and climb the ranks. In the past, ticket sales have been a barrier of entry into the industry, but that’s not as much the case these days.

“I think that’s too much of an old school mentality,” Gress said. “It used to be ‘ticket sales or bust,’ but I would say, I think if people can break into digital or social, that’s an interesting way to get into the industry. Or, people can break in through analytics. People know of the movie Moneyball, but even Moneyball on the other side, on the business side of sports—not just Billy Beane on the Oakland A’s, finding the best players for a low payroll— but the idea of doing analytics for a team for their sales and marketing and business functions.”

Of course, starting out in ticket sales is still one of the easiest ways to get a job in sports, and one of the best ways to make a good impression.

“Even if people don’t want to do ticket sales, ticket sales can help you gain other skills,” Gress said. “I’m not saying just do ticket sales and then you break in and you move onto marketing or you move onto corporate sales.

You gotta be passionate about it, you do have to love it, and you have to be successful at doing ticket sales, but I think you can gain other skills by taking on roles like that.”

If ticket sales aren’t your cup of tea, and you aren’t quite up to speed on digital marketing or analytics, there’s still hope.

“There are other ways to go about your job search for an entry-level position in sports,” Gress said. “Find companies that aren’t Eagles, Sixers, Flyers, Phillies, Devils, Yankees, Rangers. Go outside of the big four sports.

Maybe soccer is your speed, or maybe college athletics, golf, UFC, motorsports. Go outside of the big four. Everybody wants those jobs in the big four sports leagues. Go outside of that and there’s less competition. That’s the reality of it.”

Gress also suggests looking for a more non-traditional, unique job in sports, “like what I do,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t know that firms like this existed.”

“Try to find a job that’s a little bit different,” Gress continued. “Food and beverage, for example. We’re local to Aramark in Philadelphia. There’s a whole world in sports that you can break into.”

Having some sort of experience is important, whether it’s a part-time job, an internship, or volunteer work with real-world applications that can be applied to the industry.

“Let’s say you want to be the CFO of the New York Yankees,” Gress said.

“You can be an accounting and finance professional and that can be your way to work your way up in terms of that background.”

Regardless of your specific goals, there are numerous opportunities in the sports industry, even if sales aren’t your forte.

“There’s different ways of entry into sports that don’t need to be ticket sales,” Gress said. “That’s the reality of this industry nowadays. I think people get caught up in that, because that was the old school commentary, ‘You have to sell tickets in order to do it.’ It might be the easiest way, but it’s not the only way.”

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know we’ll dedicate two, three, maybe four different people to be doing calls and emails and LinkedIn messages to find the passive job seeker.”

Gress said that most of the individuals who end up interviewing for the open position are already happily employed elsewhere, so it’s up to Prodigy and the sports team they’re working with to entice the prospect.

“If there’s one big component of what separates us versus posting a job on Job Board X, it’s that we’re finding the passive job seekers,” he said.

“Somebody that’s not on job boards, that’s not applying every day, that might not even have an updated resume. We’re finding somebody that’s happy, content, and would probably only go after the position after we’ve kind of pitched it to them.”

O

F COURSE, THE ALLURE of a big title with a prestigious sports organization is often enticement enough, but if it’s not, companies like Prodigy don’t push too hard.

“We are selling a job or opportunity, but we don’t want to over-do it, either,” he said. “If a person’s not intrigued by a company, by an ownership group, by a title, money, location, all those factors—if they’re not intrigued by those things and we have to work too hard to recruit them—then I think there’s danger in somebody getting there and being disappointed, or maybe taking the job, but leaving after six months. We want somebody to be there long term, so we want there to be genuine interest.”

Once the initial candidates for the job are identified, Prodigy works to whittle the list down through interviews and additional outreach. What remains are a handful of qualified and eager applicants.

“We’ll make a recommendation to our client that could be five, seven, maybe not as many as 10 candidates,” Gress said. “We’ll say, ‘OK, listen.

We’ve interviewed a few dozen people, we’ve spoken to 50 or 60 names in the industry, and these are our best five to seven candidates. We’ll provide to them who we think matches all the criteria and ultimately the people

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we view as finalists for the position, the people we think are worthy of an interview.”

From there, the final steps of the process vary depending on the client.

Some teams like to take matters into their own hands when it comes to interviewing the final candidates and making a job offer, while others prefer to keep Prodigy in the loop through the final interviews and offer letters. Once an employee is hired, the sports team pays Prodigy a one-time percentage of the employee’s annual salary, in addition to the up-front retainer fee that was paid previously. From start to finish, the process typically takes 60 to 90 days, and it’s almost always successful.

“It’s very rare that we don’t complete a search,” Gress said, adding that he can count on one hand the number of times an agreement hasn’t been reached at the end of the search.

Most of the positions that companies like Prodigy help to fill are in the sales and marketing side of sports.

“Our core business is primarily in ticketing, sponsorships, marketing, digital, social, and creative,” he said. “We’ve done searches in all business functions. We’ve done some in finance, HR, operations, venues and facilities. Literally every business function you can think of.”

Most of the clients Gress works with at Prodigy are professional, college, or minor-league teams, but he also deals with sports leagues, ticket companies, and non-traditional sports organizations like the UFC and horse racing. The clients range from iconic brands like the Yankees—Prodigy recently helped the Bronx Bombers fill an opening for a senior director of digital and social strategy—to upstart teams like the Minnesota United, a new expansion franchise in Major League Soccer that tasked Prodigy with finding its senior vice president.

“They all come with their challenges, whether it be location or the type of organization,” Gress said, “but it’s fun to work with these organizations.” n

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You’ve worked hard for a lifetime to make it to the top. And we want to recognize you for the success you have achieved for your company…and for yourself.

Welcome to the Club The Chairman’s Club from JerseyMan/PhillyMan Magazine is an elite fraternity. We are looking for a mastermind networking group of no more than 15 exceptionally gifted professionals who have made it to the head of their class and want to learn from and share with other members of this group.

Welcome to the rarified air of success…and to the Chairman’s Club!

JerseyMan

chairman’s club Contact ken@jerseymanmagazine.com or call (856) 912-4007 for more information

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C E L E B R A T I N G M A N

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O F

T H E

O U R

W O M A N Y E A R

H O N O R E E S

Man & Woman of the Month JerseyMan and PhillyMan Magazines are proud to recognize those in our area who demonstrate the rare combination of business excellence and dedication to community service. These Man & Woman of the Year candidates will be honored at our 3rd Annual Unmasking the Legacy Celebration on Nov. 2, 2017, where a portion of ticket proceeds will go to the winner’s designated charity.

Beau Institute founder Rose Marie Beauchemin is an internationally acclaimed expert in the field of permanent cosmetics, areola tattooing, and permanent camouflage with more than 22 years of experience as an industry leading practitioner, trainer, and speaker.

As a practitioner, Rose Marie’s artistry is unparalleled. Her extensive training and experience include facial morphology, paramedical cosmetics, color theory and analysis. She is known among colleagues as The Brow Doctor for her ability to create seemingly natural and beautiful hair simulated eyebrows personally designed for her clients’ unique faces.

Rose Marie customizes each permanent cosmetics procedure to flatter each of her clients’ individual features, whether it is eyeliner, lip liner/reshaping, 3-dimensional areola tattooing, or scar camouflage. By using the most effective topical anesthetics, pigments, and advanced techniques currently available in the permanent makeup industry, Rose Marie has a fundamental understanding of how to achieve the best results.

With a strong commitment to her clients’ comfort and complete satisfaction, Rose Marie displays her passion for excellence through every procedure, and her deep belief in the transformative powers of permanent cosmetics drives her to continue to hone her skills. Rose Marie’s dedication to helping cancer patients restore their physical and emotional health, as well as their inner confidence, is made clear as she donates her time to performing areola tattooing for breast cancer survivors during Beau Institute’s semiannual Day of Hope. A certified trainer by the AAM and SPCP as well as a licensed aesthetician and cosmetologist, Rose Marie has the knowledge and experience to qualify her as an industry-leading practitioner.

Rose Marie is supporting The Kidney Project for JerseyMan/PhillyMan’s 3rd annual Unmasking the Legacy event.

Peter J. Cordua, CPA is a Senior Director in the Cherry Hill

office of HBK CPAs & Consultants. He has more than 30 years of professional experience and has helped many clients with management efficiencies, ownership structure, real estate development, restaurant partnerships, succession planning and mergers. Peter’s areas of concentration are taxation, management consulting, mergers and acquisitions, and testifying as an expert legal witness.

Peter has been awarded with many honors by his peers over the years.

He was recently named the 2013 Person of the Year by the Collingswood, NJ Sons of Italy Lodge #0494 also nominated and chosen as one of SNJ Business People’s 2014 Exceptional Entrepreneurs award.

Peter is a Certified Public Accountant registered in the State of New Jersey and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He is a member of New Jersey and Pennsylvania Institutes of CPAs as well as the American Institute of CPAs. Peter is supporting Carz N’ Toyz for JerseyMan/PhillyMan’s 3rd annual Unmasking the Legacy event.

3rd Annual A Masquerade-Themed Celebration Event November 2nd, 2017 • 6-10 pm Ballroom at the Ben Philadelphia, PA FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT

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LegacyClub where business happens

• Do you want to expand your network in Philadelphia and South Jersey?

• Do you want to create powerful connections with other business professionals in the area?

• Do you want to attend exclusive networking events once a month at local venues?

We are proud to introduce to our readers the members of our private business network.

“My experience with JerseyMan/PhillyMan has been incredible. The people I have met at various events have been supportive in introducing me to decision makers who may be interested in holding a meeting or conference in Atlantic City. Tropicana has hosted a couple events and both have been outstanding turnouts with great feedback from those who attended. Looking forward to attending more events and getting to know more members” – Jim Ziereis of Tropicana AC “I was introduced to Ashley about two years ago by another member. After meeting with Ashley, I decided that it was not time for a commitment.

However, she referred me to a few people pursuant to my interest in the non-profit field.

Thanks to Ashley’s connection, my passion for working in the non-profit realm moved forward. It is the essence of what this organization does. She and I kept in touch and ultimately, I became a member.

Ashley’s persistence was appropriate and professional and I find JerseyMan/ PhillyMan to be a genuine and innovative organization. It is what one makes of it – JerseyMan/PhillyMan provides great atmosphere to generate and cultivate relationships in many exciting ways.”

– Steve Goodman of Volunteers of America

To learn more about the Legacy Club contact Ken at ken@jerseymanmagazine.com or call (856) 912-4007 78

Stephen Abbonizio, Synergetic Sound & Lighting Kathy Albanese, Independence Blue Cross Catherine Allen, M Financial Planning Services, Inc. Joe Allen, Sonitrol Hala Al-Shawaf, PNC Wealth Management Brooke Anderson, Academy Mortgage Corporation Robert Andrey, Speed Raceway Matt Auterson, AnnieMac Home Mortgage Jeff Backal, Take Flight Learning Keith Baldwin, Spike’s Trophies & Awards Sean Balliet, Baratz & Associates, P.A. Louis Barberio, Barberio & Rich Financial Services Kimberly Bastian, Coastal Spine James Berger, Integrity Staffing Brian Bielawski, ARC Document Solutions Marcin Bielecki, Capital One Bank Kimberly Biglin, PCH Technologies Matt Blatz, PCS* Ken Bode, Integrity Staffing Solutions Daniel Boody, Embrace Home Loans Thomas Bove, BBD Solutions Al Branca, Rx Cut Bonnie Brooker, BBE Promotions* John Brophy, NJ Advance Media Kimberly Bryson, Girl Scouts of Central & Southern NJ Anthony Burruano, CLM Advisors Keshia Butler, Aston Carter Alexander Buzbee, Conner Strong & Buckelew Sheri Caja, Holiday Inn Express & Suites Daniel Caldwell, Stout & Caldwell Taylor Campitelli, The National Kidney Foundation Louis Cappelli, Jr. , Camden County Department of Events Sondra Cappucci, Enlil Communications, LLC

Sean Flanagan, Always A Good Sign Ted Flocco, Ernst and Young Lauren Flounders, Fusion Employer Services* Steve Foreman, Financial Business Systems, Inc. Daphne Forte, DPM Designs, LLC* Marc Franzoni, Commonwealth Agency, Inc. Lynn Fraser, Emerson Group Shane Gardner, Gary F. Gardner, Inc. Puri Garzone, Table 95 Hospitality Group David Gelman, Gelman Law Frank Giordano, The Philly Pops John Gillespie, Parker McCay P.A. Mark Godofsky, Surety Title Hy Goldberg, Safian & Rudolph Jewelers Steve Goodman, Volunteers of America John Gormley, Ironview Capital Management Francine Graglia, Scale to Success* Chris Green, Richard Green & Son Public Insurance Adjusters Jen Groover, Thuzio Mitch Gyger, OPS Security Group Jim Haefele, Haefele, Flanagan & Co., p.c.

Jen Hall, Convergent Technologies, Inc. Dr. Thanuja Hamilton, Advocare Sharon Hammel, Republic Bank Berkley Harmon, Insperity Bob Harriett, Harriett’s Energy Solutions Whitney Harris, Insperity Catherine Heaman, Prelude Solutions Leor Hemo, Vantage Real Estate Services, LLC Chris Henderson, Wolf Commercial Real Estate John Herring, Liberty Bell Bank Matthew Hetrick, First Professional Brokerage John Hiltwine, NJLS

LegacyClub Members Floyd Carl, Stifel Financial Corp.

Lisa Carney, Farmers Insurance Anne Caruso, Networks Plus Vince Ceroli, Ductz of South Jersey* Ren Cicalese, Alloy Silverstein Group Vincent Cieslik, Capehart Scatchard, P.A. Dr. TJ Citta, LegalShield Vince Cocciolone, Creative Visual Productions Jon Cofsky, Whitepenny Larry Cohen, BCA Insurance Group Pamela Collins, Oaks Integrated Care Michael Coluzzi, Health Wealth & Fit* Trevor Cooney, Archer & Greiner P.C. Peter Cordua, HBK CPAs & Consultants Bill Cornelius, Ocean First Bank Milton Corsey, STRAXO Tom Costello, RE Business Solutions George Cressman Jr, Bohler Engineering PA, LLC Ray Cristofoletti, DURAND, INC. Joseph Cronin, The Cronin Firm James Crosby, Crosby & Co. Rob Curley, TD Bank Constance Curci, RE/MAX David Czarnecki, CzarStar Security Inc. Kendley Davenport, Source4Teachers Anthony J. DeGerolamo, DeGerolamo Financial Services Roxanne DeHart, Foodwerx by Nicholas Caterers* Charlene Delia, Western Pest Services Ernest Del Duke, Jr., Del Duke Insurance Group Dr. Alfred Dennis, South Jersey Urgent Dental Nick DeRose , Legacy Treatment Services Sheri Desaretz, Looking Forward Coaching* Joe Devine, Kennedy Health Gary DeVito, Zarwin Baum Devito Kaplan Schaer Toddy, P.C. Chris DeYoung, DeYoung Financial Group Nicholas DiFederico, MB Capital Solutions Devin DiNofa, Keller Williams Real Estate* John Dougherty, Wells Fargo Pam Downes, Downes Design Jeff Drozen, Gaspar Insurance Erica Dugan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Joe Duncan, Pine Valley Investments Ken Dunek, New Opportunity Publishing Doug Easlick, The Graham Company John Eason, E & O Financial Services Jason Edelman, Alliant Employee Benefits Donald Eichman, Alcom Printing Jennifer Einhorn, Compliance Services Agency Richard Ellis, M&T Bank William Emerson, Emerson Group Julia Emery, Peerless Business Advisors Bill Evans, Liberty Fox Technologies Shana Fannon, Humanscale Kerri Finnegan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Patrick Fisher, Wells Fargo Jerry Flanagan, JDog Junk Removal & Hauling *JerseyMan/PhillyMan Ambassador

Robert Hoey, Janney Montgomery Scott Robert Hoey, Jr. , Janney Montgomery Scott John Hopkins, Inspirit Growth Bryan Hornung, Xact IT Solutions Kristi Howell, Burlington County Chamber of Commerce Theresa Hrivnak, Indulgence Cupcakery Jim Hughel, Town Place Travel & Cruises Bryan Hughes, Total Technology Resources Daryl & Shari Hulitt, SharpLink Staffing, LLC Edward Hutchinson, Hutchinson Mechanical Services Paul Isenberg, Bringing Hope Home Mike Jaconelli, TAM Lending, LLC Jeff Jaskol, The Jaskol Group Philip Jaurigue, Sabre Systems, Inc. Larry Johnson, Total Traffic Control Heather Johnston, ConnectOps, LLC Lisa Joswick, Blackbook, LLC Kenneth Justice, KMJ INC. Abbie Kasoff, Say It With Clay Alex Kazmarck, Surf Mall Jessica Kiefer, Del Frisco’s Dr. Mark Kemenosh, Glen Oaks Health & Spine Center Robert Kennedy, The Kennedy Companies Sean Kennedy, New Jerseyans for a Better Tomorrow Jeffrey Alan Kerstetter, Kerstetter Law, LLC J. Philip Kirchner, Flaster Greenberg Janine Kiriluk, Janine’s Bookkeeping James J. Kirlin, Private Capital Solutions Group Joe LaGrossa, McKella 280 Keith Langan, Surety Title Company, LLC Stephanie Lantz, Lantz Consulting Julie LaVan, LaVan Law William Lees, Jr., New Life Properties LLC Roy Leitstein, Legacy Treatment Services Elizabeth Leska, Wells Fargo Brian Libby, Primepoint Josh Lignana, Spadea Lignana, Attorneys at Law Brian Lipstein, Henry A. Davidsen Ryan Loro, Santorian Michael MacFarland, TD Bank Douglas MacGray, Compassion Advisors, LLC Matthew Malinowski, Corporate Source Mike Mamula, CSS Inc. Jamie Martin, Strive Physical Therapy Betty Maul, FrontEnd Graphics* Lindsey McClaren, Seasons 52 Marla McDermott, The Walnut Club Brian McGroarty, Core Title* Kelly Meerbott, You: Loud + Clear, Inc. Steve Meranus, EBE Events and Entertainment Frank Messina, All Risk Jeremy Messler, Jeremy Messler Photography, LLC Earl R. Miller, Mainline Private Wealth Nick Mink, Guaranteed Rate Brian Minker, Able Technology Partners, LLC Rosemarie Mohr, Integrity Staffing

Anthony Mongeluzo, PCS Ron Monokian, We Make It Personal by Joy’s Hallmark Harry Morad, Pine Valley Investments, LLC Kathy Morgan, Integrity Staffing Solutions Dan Morroni, Morroni Custom Clothiers Charles Montecino, Montecino & Ciaccia, PA Michael Moynihan, Michael Moynihan Jay Mullen, Full Spectrum Services John Murabito, RE Business Solutions Charles Muracco, CLM Advisors Erin Murray, ELM Consulting Co. Peter Musumeci, TD Bank Randall Naftal, BOST Benefits Bill Naro, American Athletic Courts, Inc. David Nast, Nast Partners Ryan Niedoba, No Boundaries Advisors John M. Nolan, Jackson Lewis P.C. Sandy O, Creative Juice Joe O’Donnell, Fulton Bank Lori O’Leary, O’Leary Counseling, LLC Michael O’Leary, Design Studio 312 Joe O’Malley, Stewart Business Systems Marc Oppenheimer, Parx Casino Damon Pennington, ATS Group, LLC Tom Peric, Galileo Communications, Inc. Ian Perler, STAR Real Estate Group, Inc. Devon Perry, VisitSouthJersey.com Jeremiah Phillips, Profound Sound & Video, LLC Jaime Picozzi, J2 Solutions* Emil Pilacik Jr., EMCO Technology, Inc. Carmen Pilone, M&T Bank Tony Plakis, ADP Frank Plum, Workplace HMC Inc. Bonnie Pollaci, Katz/Pierz, Inc. Josh Poli, P relude Solutions Chuck Polin, The Training Resource Group John Politsky, Speakeasy Creative Casey Price, Price and Price, LLC George Rapp, Grappling Consulting, LLC Mike Regina, Big Sky Enterprises, LLC* Deanna Reilly, Deanna’s Travel, LLC Matt Ribaudo, Synergixx Daniel Rosenberg, Daniel M. Rosenberg & Associates, LLC Jill Ross, Beneficial Bank Andrew Ruhland, National HR Donna Sadwin, Design Studio 312 Derek Schaffer, American Financial Network Inc. Dr. Joseph Schneider, Brain Balance Achievement Centers Joseph V. Scorese, Firstrust Jennifer Sherlock, Jenna Communications, LLC Michael Sherman, Vanguard Building Solutions, LLC Gary Shickora, Northwestern Mutual Bill Shipp, Vaxient Eric Shugarts, Rx Cut Joe Silva, Kokua Technologies* Lisa Silveri, AGENCY Real Estate Partners, LLC Joe Simone, Regional Resources Energy Group Marc Sinkow, Synch-O Nancy Sipera, First Impressions Advertising, Inc. Elizabeth Six, Republic Bank Josh Smargiassi, Boomerang Andrew Smith, OSI Consulting Frank Sorrentino, Ardmore Toyota Jade Soto, Dave & Buster’s Philadelphia Greg Star, CARVERTISE Lee Stokes, Compliance Services Agency Walter Szymanski, Everingham & Kerr Scott Tanker, Tanker Consulting Services Jack Tarditi, Conner Strong & Buckelew Brian Tierney, Streamline Payroll, LLC Megan Timber, Tao Architecture + Design Brad Tornberg, E3 Consulting* Jordan Traenkner, Traenkner Cleaning Services, LLC Mark Tressel, Beneficial Bank Paul Tully, Eagle Wealth Strategies Les Vail, Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce* Nicolaus Valentino, Temple Sports Properties Alyssa Vargas, Keller Williams Real Estate John Vanderslice, Sandler Training Angela Venti, Investors Bank Teadra Vito, Keller Williams Real Estate Jon Vogel, 215Marketing Josef Vongsavanh, Center City Photo Bill Webb, Saratoga Benefit Services Jo-Ann Weiner, J.L.Weiner & Associates, LLC Eric Wetzel, Daniel I. Ward & Associates Janet Weyers, PAWS John White, Peerless Business Advisors Andrew Whipple, Greentree Mortgage Company Christofer Wilhelm, Gateway Mortgage Group Chris Winter, Legendary Exotics Rob Wishnick, Guaranteed Rate* Jason Wolf, Wolf Commercial Real Estate Wendee Yudis, WY Design Vittoria Zaslavsky, BB&T Bank Jim Ziereis, Tropicana, Atlantic City Jack Zoblin, Cory Communications

79

JerseyMan • PhillyMan

’ chairman s club Peter Cordua

Joseph Cronin

Rob Curley

HBK CPAs & Consultants

The Cronin Firm

TD Bank

Nick DeRose & Roy Leitstein

Bill Emerson, CSP

Marc Franzoni

Legacy Treatment Services

Emerson Group

Commonwealth Agency, Inc.

Christopher Green

Berkley Harmon, III

Keith Langan

Richard Green & Son Disaster Recovery Consultant

Insperity

Surety Title

William Lees, Jr. New Life Properties

Anthony Mongeluzo PCS

John Murabito

Harry Morad

RE Business Solutions

Pine Valley Investments

Joe Simone

Lee Stokes

Christofer Wilhelm

Regional Resources

Compliance Services Agency

Gateway Mortgage

Contact ken@jerseymanmagazine.com or call (856) 912-4007 for more information • www.jerseymanmagazine.com

THE CIGAR GUY _____________________________________________

BY SAM KRAFT

Sponsored by The

Smoking Dog

Tatuaje – Halloween Series

W

hat better month to review a Tatuaje cigar than the month of October? The company features cigars centered around this month’s holiday and its monsters.

The boutique brand, at times, enjoys being both eccentric and rebellious in its products and marketing.

In 2008, Tatuaje began their Monster Series. Each yearly release pays homage to the greatest horror villains from classic films and novels. The series will finish in 2018 with its 13th cigar, labeled The Bride. Each name is shorthand for a famous monster, The Bride referring to the Bride of Frankenstein. The Michael is set to be released this year in honor of Michael Myers, the character from the Halloween series. Other notable monsters in the series includes Dracula, the Wolfman, Chucky and Freddy Krueger. In a similar vein, Tatuaje released a cigar in 2016 simply called The Halloween Series. This cigar was marketed as an event only cigar.

This makes it a rare find. Marketing aside, Tatuaje’s themed cigars are not only a gimmick. They are phenomenal smokes, highly sought after by collectors and enthusiasts alike.

Tatuaje is the brainchild of Pete Johnson, who has become a celebrity amidst cigar nerds. Back in 2008, he teamed up with the Garcia family of My Father, to bring consumers a boutique brand of cigars catering to a more sophisticated palate. Pete Johnson has been able to connect to an enthusiastic and younger crowd of smoker due to both his style and his ambitious blendings. Last year, he excited his fanboys by renting a bus and

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Wrapper - Connecticut Broadleaf • Filler - Nicaraguan

touring shops across the country, hosting events and offering exclusive cigars. This has given him a rock star persona that bleeds into his work.

Johnson’s Halloween Series is a very unique smoke. It has a dark chocolate color and a closed foot. The initial sweet smell of the cigar is a red herring. On the first puff, strong peppery spice smacks the smoker across the mouth. It’s bitter and it’s mean and you can feel the sting on your lips.

Incredibly, it only takes a few centimeters into the smoke before the cigar becomes entirely smooth and balanced. The spice is still detectable, but there are also flavors like black coffee, anise, and orange rind present.

Inching inward, the cigar hints at a vegetal taste, an earthy green tea almost. There is a bready quality to the cigar. Its aftertaste is reminiscent to a walnut’s, bitter but smooth. What was once a strong black pepper spice has turned into a more complex chili.

Rounding the final third of the smoke, The Halloween Series delivers more of its orange rind and earthy qualities. Autumn leaves and licorice are present to both taste and smell. The cigar finishes woodsy and smooth.

The Halloween Series is one of the best Tatuajes I have had in a while.

It’s wild and engaging. If you can find this cigar, it’s worth the buy. Even if you can’t get a hold of The Halloween Series, keep a look out for The Michael from this year’s Monster Series. If you want to get into the holiday spirit, any Tatuaje will do.

Be safe, have fun, and enjoy your smoke. n

What Now? Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

– Dylan Thomas

Believing in the (Retirement) Hereafter To truly mangle young Hamlet’s famous words: To be retired or not to be, that is the question! Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of beaching in Florida with millions of other seniors or to pursue something different and challenging.

If Hamlet had not died so young, he may have pursued a career suited for a Danish prince, retired in style, and then asked himself—“Now what do I do?” We will never know what Hamlet’s path would have been, but millions of people are retiring as we speak and asking that question. According to recent Washington Post statistics, 76 million baby boomers will retire over a 19-year period—divide 76 by 19 and you get 4 million a year, or almost 11,000 people a day!

So, what are those 11,000 people doing the day after they retire? Gardening? Grandchildren? Hobbies? Sleeping? Some go gently into that good 84

night of retirement—happily doing what they want or nothing at all. However, some retirees suffer from depression and other health issues due to a sudden lack of purpose in their day, as well as isolation from human interactions that they had at work. According to the Institute of Economic Affairs (UK), 40% of retirees suffer from clinical depression.

To retire and start a new career, volunteer, or just lounge about? These are questions that Baby Boomers slog through every day. So, let’s take a look at retirement options and some folks who have found the answer— well, the answer for their particular retirement hereafter.

Finding the Blue Plate Special…Not! Today, the World Health Organization states that the average life expectancy in the U.S. for a man is 76 years old and 81 for a woman. In addition to quantity, quality of life also looks brighter for the Golden Years as documented by University of Illinois researchers who found that nearly 30 percent of folks over the age of 85 remain in excellent health, and an impressive 56 percent said their health didn’t stop them from working.

Anecdotally, we have all seen seniors who can out run (sometimes literally) a person half their age. You’ll see them at the store or at the gym and you say to yourself, “Wow, I want to be like that when I get old!” Well known examples of retiree-age folks who do not let the grass grow under

50 percent of retirees want to work or do “something” after retirement. their senior toes include Jimmy Carter (91), still travelling and working on humanitarian projects, Al Pacino (77), still acting on stage and movies, and comedian Betty White (95), continuing to make people laugh as well as fight for animal rights.

Are these famous folks unique? Apparently not. According to a Merrill Lynch study, 50 percent of retirees want to work or do “something” after retirement—about one-third continue to work because they need the money. However, a whopping two-thirds say they want to work or do “something” to remain connected, mentally active, and keep the skills they acquired over the years.

Purpose + Passion = Post Retirement Pluses So, what is the magic formula for figuring out what to do after retirement? You can ask yourself what you do best or what you want to try, and see if that leads to a purposeful solution. Many people did not have the luxury to have asked themselves questions like that during their first career because of children, mortgages, and other obligations. However, making a difference to yourself and others in your encore career is something that you can carefully plan.

Hollis Fleischer receiving an award for her recycling efforts along with one of the Recycle Cibolà co-coordinators, Tom Bombaci.

There are many groups and organizations (profit and non-profit) to help you find your niche. For example, Encore.Org believes in leveraging the skills and talents of experienced adults (from doctors to plumbers) to improve local communities and the world by “hiring” retirees who meet specific needs/skill sets for existing projects. In addition to making significant contributions using their experience and knowledge, retirees may earn stipends ($20,000 to $25,000) for completing a 1,000 hour assignment with a flexible work schedule.

Whether you seek help through an organization or it miraculously falls into your retired lap, encore “jobs” give purpose to many. For example,

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rewarding, challenging, frustrating, and fun. And, like the work I used to do, our work is never done.”

NCE YOU FIND A PURPOSE, you need a dose of passion. If you do not love it, it will not work—pun intended. So most people deciding on their “encore” career (paid or volunteer) use their heart as opposed to their wallets to pursue something that is personally fulfilling.

Just ask lifelong Atlantic City resident, Bob Pantalena. He put in “his time” as a State Parole Officer for the NJ Department of Corrections and then decided to retire. Pantalena explains, “Thirty years was enough. Retired at 56.

Burned out. Working in a negative environment for 30 years wounds your psyche, bruises your soul.”

Healing for Pantalena meant positive activities like jogging and walking by the ocean. During one of his Boardwalk excursions, Pantalena met Victor Saracini in August 2001. Saracini, another life-long resident of Atlantic City, was the United Airlines pilot flying whose plane would be hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001.

After the tragedy, the Saracini Family placed a bench and flagpole on the Boardwalk in his memory. Concurrently, John O’Neill’s family placed a bench on the Boardwalk as well. O’Neil, another Atlantic City native, was Director of Security at the World Trade Center on 9/11 who died saving others.

During his Boardwalk strolls, Pantalena was bothered by the fact that these two local heroes had their benches placed blocks away from each other. Something tugged at Pantalena and he just decided to have the benches moved to create an official memorial for the two men—a passion and purpose called him.

Pantalena explains his accomplishment with a bit of understatement and modesty, “I once did a favor for a government employee and it was payback time. The only Latin that I know is “quid pro quo.” O’Neill’s bench was moved next to Victor Saracini’s. I added two flower planters, and I change the flowers with the season.”

After much publicity and hundreds of visitors, Pantalena then “inspired” Atlantic City Mayor, Don Guardian, to build an official memorial including an I-beam from the World Trade Center ruins and memorial plaques.

Today, thousands of visitors stop to observe the 9/11 memorial on Jackson Avenue and the Boardwalk—thanks to Pantalena who started the process and continues to maintain the site and the flowers daily—rain or shine.

O

Bob Pantalena tending to the flowers bordering the Atlantic City 9/11 Memorial that he helped to create and maintain.

Hollis Fleischer decided to retire in her early 50s after working for the federal government as a senior trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice and as an Assistant United States Attorney for Maryland and the District of Columbia for almost 23 years. Although she was devoted to and enjoyed her career, something else called her. She did not know exactly what she would “do” next, except spend winters in New Mexico and summers at the shore at her childhood home in Ventnor, NJ. That was about all she had “pre-planned” for her retirement—at that point.

While in New Mexico, Fleischer discovered that her community— Grants, in Cibolà County—did not recycle. A neighbor asked if she would be interested in forming a group to start a recycling program and in 2010, Recycle Cibolà was hatched.

Although Fleischer knew little about recycling, her experience with law, and navigating through government forms and legalese, really helped the group of volunteers write several proposals for federal and state grants to fund a recycling program. Today, thanks to Fleischer and her merry band of recycling men and women, Grants, New Mexico not only benefits from a successful recycling program, but they also promote community outreach and environmental projects for and about recycling.

Although her volunteerism has made a difference to her community and her own sense of accomplishment, Fleischer feels it is not like “work” at all except that it takes up time—precious retirement time.

Fleischer explains, “During some of the busier months, it takes a lot of my time. It is like work, in the sense that I have made a commitment to the community; have many responsibilities; and perform various tasks to accomplish the goals of our recycling group. Like work, it has been 86

Retirement - Act I, Scene I Retirement is not always as easy as it seems. But remember—you are not alone! We all say we want to retire many times during our career(s), but when that day actually comes, many questions and issues arise.

In addition to a financial planner to guide you through money matters, make sure you have your emotional needs covered as well. If you Google “retirement what’s next” over 27,500,000 hits display. Yes, you are not alone! From AARP to How To sites—all available to ferry you happily into your retirement afterlife.

Wishing you a safe and happy journey! n

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contact: ken@jerseymanmagazine.com

THE ENTREPRENEUR COACH _______________________________________________________________________________

BY JOHN HOPKINS

Closely Held Company Management “Mantras” Where responsibility and regimen meet, so managers can become better coaches.

C

losely held companies and nonprofit organizations have different management challenges than bigger companies. Many of the culture based and operating characteristics of closely held companies (CHCs) require ownership, executive sponsorship and therefore leadership to be very hands on, highly intuitive and relentlessly focused. It is especially difficult for CHC leadership to develop more than one tier of management for bench strength.

CHC leaders will be the first to admit that they don’t invest enough in management training. Moreover, the shifting sands of the workplace that now are home to three different generations of employees are requiring more “coaching” than managing.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHC MANAGING vs. COACHING? Managing is directing, governing or controlling actions to help bring about accomplishment of the right results for success, sometimes despite difficulty or hardship. Coaching compliments this by providing guidance, asking questions to increase self-awareness and encourage selfdevelopment. In CHCs, coaching is becoming the “new normal” as it is especially acute that more work is getting done by less people.

WHY DOES MANAGER REGIMEN NEED TO BE DEEPLY ROOTED? In small to mid-sized companies, the path to management is most often a natural transition tied to good performance while being in the company for a number of years. Logical, right? The “Peter Principle” however, has frequent application in the CHC. The “Peter Principle” is a concept in management theory formulated by educator Laurence J. Peter published in 1969. It states that the selection of a candidate for a higher position is based on the candidate’s performance in their current role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively, and “managers rise to the level of their incompetence.” The generalized 88

Peter Principle is that anything that works will be used in progressively more challenging applications until it fails. Mr. Peter noted that there is a strong temptation for people to use what has worked before, even when this might not be appropriate for the current situation.

The end result is that work is accomplished by those employees who have NOT yet reached their level of incompetence. What is equally insightful is that Peter noted their incompetence may be because the required skills are different, but not more difficult. For example, an excellent engineer may be a poor manager if she or he lacks the interpersonal skills necessary to lead a team. Leaders and managers well trained in predictable behavior limit the Peter Principle from happening in their organizations.

Management Mantra MUSTS 1. Control the Tyranny of the Urgent – or it will control you.

2. Speak with Emotional Fortitude – foster trust by saying what has to be said so you can do what has to be done.

3. Anticipate-Initiate-Activate – know what finished looks like, engage with focus, take action with tenacity.

4. Essential-Urgent-Important – know the difference to prioritize best…daily!

5. Successful by Being Flexible – listen to your gut, call the audible, nothing’s perfect.

HOW CAN CHC MANAGEMENT & COACHING BE MADE EASIER? Today we have the convergence of science, knowledge transfer and technology like never before. For example, science and technology can define and map the precise behavior expected for any role in an organization to avoid the Peter Principle in minutes! This is an extraordinary breakthrough made possible by Predictive Index®, which has been training and developing workplace experts for over 60 years. This is a “have to have” for any company. Matching the behavior pattern for the required skills for the role to the behavior pattern for the candidate also is done immediately! These insights are then converted to either Interview Guides in the case of recruitment or Coaching Guides in the case of promotion and retention. These guides use precise science to help the manager meet the definition of coaching above, i.e. providing guidance, asking questions to increase selfawareness and encourage self-development.

Let’s look at knowledge transfer. There are dozens of “Management Mantras” that have been honed by many nameless, yet great managers over time. They may have used slightly different words but the fundamentals are the same. Great managers bring regimen to their teams by repeating management mantras so people can practice the right actions. Here are some of the most essential to share:

6. Ask, Don’t Criticize – resolve difficulty, adversity and avoidance by asking the question, “how could we have done that differently?”

WHO BENEFITS FROM CHC MANAGEMENT & COACHING MANTRAS?

7. Business Management - is about decisions and deadlines.

WHEN SHOULD MANAGEMENT MANTRAS BE REINFORCED?

8. Empowerment - you can have your say but not you way, until you have earned your way.

Yogi Berra said, “in theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.” The leader needs to meet once a month and talk these kinds of things through. In practicing “the language of management,” future leaders are born. n

9. Measurement – you cannot manage what you cannot measure.

10. Failure Anticipation - always ask, “where can this fail?” to get to the right answer.

Everyone!

Want to learn more about “Management Mantras”? Contact john@inspiritgrowth.com.

WHAT WE WEAR

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BY DANIEL R. MORRONI

Useful Wardrobe Workarounds

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OST GENTLEMEN send their shirts out for professional laundering. However, there may be times when you need to care for an item of clothing in the home. Here are a few easy tips to help the process go more smoothly.

Organizing • Arrange dresser drawers so clothing is slotted vertically, instead of having a stack of items and only being able to see the top one or two.

• Group casualwear and business attire separately to save time looking for your clothing for the day.

Washing and Drying • Place dress shirts in a mesh delicates bag before they go into the washing machine.

This protects collars and sleeves from fraying.

• Speed the drying process for delicates (such as cashmere) by spinning them in a salad spinner before placing flat to dry.

Ironing • Iron your shirt’s placket on the inside first.

It’s got several layers of fabric there and the iron’s heat can’t reach them all from the front. Then iron the outside of the placket, between buttons.

• Or, use a steamer to take the wrinkles out of clothes without pressing them.

Stains and marks • Use rubbing alcohol to remove pen ink from clothing.

• Use a dryer sheet to remove deodorant marks on a shirt.

“Fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life.”

– Bill Cunningham 90

MAKE SURE YOUR SHIRTS STAY TUCKED IN Wearing a shirt that frequently becomes untucked is the kind of constant annoyance that can take your mind off the business of the day. That reduces your productivity and focus, and that’s why you should customize the fit of each of your shirts so that they stay tucked in all day.

Make sure the shirttails are the right length for your frame, so they don’t gap when you reach up. Keep the armholes proportionate with and close to the body, so the shirt doesn’t have to move when you lift your arms. Look for just the right amount of “ease” into the sleeve over biceps so fabric doesn’t pull when you move your arms.

The best fix is the one you implement before there’s ever a problem. n

THE ENTHUSIAST ______________________________________________________________________________________________

BY ANDREW RYAN

Don’t Look Back in Anger (and Just Reunite Already!)

2017

HAS BEEN A VERY INTERESTING YEAR for fans of Oasis. New solo projects, heartless twitter insults, a brilliant documentary, tons of vague maybe-promises of possibly one day perhaps reuniting if both parties possibly are open to the…possibility. In fact, I’d even go as far as to say Oasis remains the single most interesting (a word I use very specifically) band of 2017, which most people would recognize as a rather surprising feat considering they’ve been officially broken up for nearly a decade. For lack of more appropriate metaphors, songwriter Noel and front-

man Liam right now are somewhere between the Cain and Abel and the Ross and Rachel of rock ‘n’ roll—will they or won’t they (either kill each other or reunite)?

I’m sure some of you are asking the understandable question: what’s the point in talking about a band that’s been broken up since 2009? Because to discuss Oasis is to, in a roundabout way, discuss rock ’n’ roll as a whole. Because Oasis is just, well, one of those special bands—those once-in-a-decade kinds of bands that, whether you loved or hated them, defined not only a group of fans but the times themselves. Hating Oasis between

the years of 1995 through 2000 required just as much, if not more, effort than liking them (not unlike, say, Taylor Swift today). But more immediately, I’m discussing Oasis because in less than one month from now, former frontman and all-around rock ‘n’ roll star Liam Gallagher will release his first solo album entitled As You Were, and the stakes are about as high as they could possibly be.

Despite being from Manchester, England, the beginnings and meteoric rise of Oasis embody the American dream more so than any other band I can think of. Two brothers from the bad side of the bad side of the tracks Illustration by Dan Dinsmore

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armed with nothing but big dreams and even bigger attitudes, brothers Noel and Liam almost single-handedly (double-handedly? I’m seriously asking) killed grunge and instead mastered the largely forgotten art of proper rock ‘n’ roll anthems dedicated to enjoying life. As Noel Gallagher once, ahem, let’s say emphatically put it: “Nirvana had this song called ‘I Hate Myself and I Want To Die’ and I thought I’m not f---ing having that. He’s in the most f---ing critically acclaimed band in the world, he’s got millions of dollars…He’s got everything I want and he wants to f---ing die? F--- that, f--- the song and f--- him. You and me mate? We’re gonna live forever!”

And that quote really defined Oasis and their entire ethos: songs and attitude so remarkably powerful, rowdy and feel-good it was almost impossible not to believe in them. The Gallagher brothers made rock ‘n’ roll fun again.

It was fun to root for the trouble-makers, the underdogs. It was fun to watch them curse and pick fights. It was fun to watch two brothers

that Oasis is the Gallagher brothers. A rock ‘n’ roll attitude falls flat without the songs to back them up, just as a great songwriter will never achieve greatness without the ability to entertain the entire concert hall. They needed each other as much as your body needs your mind and vice versa. That was their magic.

All of which brings us to right now, the month before the release of (what could technically be referred to as) Liam’s first solo album. (I say technically because many people, including myself, cannot remember the name of Liam’s post-Oasis band without the aid of a search engine, and at the time referred to them only as “Liam Gallagher’s new band”). Regardless, this is the first time Liam will expose himself to the world as not only a singer and a frontman, but as a solo artist and songwriter.

Nerve-wracking as that must be by itself, add to that the fact his brother Noel is considered one of the great songwriters of the past 30 years, then add to that the fact Liam has basically spent the last five years relentlessly taunt-

OASIS REMAINS THE SINGLE MOST INTERESTING BAND OF 2017, WHICH MOST PEOPLE WOULD RECOGNIZE AS A RATHER SURPRISING FEAT CONSIDERING THEY’VE BEEN OFFICIALLY BROKEN UP FOR NEARLY A DECADE. who came from nothing enjoy the benefits of anything and everything they could’ve ever dreamed for. Oasis was, well, just a lot of fun.

But for the better part of the last decade (longer than that if everyone’s being honest—we all stopped paying attention after Heathen Chemistry), those days have seemed long since over. That is until now, anyway.

he release of the fascinatingly insightful and downright hilarious 2016 documentary “Oasis: Supersonic” seems to have injected new life into the maybe-band once again. Featuring narration from both Liam and Noel and despite their…I suppose we’ll just say ‘current disdain’ of one another, the film makes abundantly clear their almost child-like love for their old band and the old days, each of them, sometimes grudgingly, sometimes humorously, sometimes wistfully, conceding their genuine respect for the other, thus confirming what the fans have always known deep down:

T

ing one of the great songwriters of the past 30 years on Twitter. In fact, on September 11th, Liam took to twitter and attacked Noel’s tearyeyed performance of “Don’t Look Back in Anger” in Manchester (for context, in relation to the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing), as nothing more than a PR stunt, claiming “if the same thing had have gone of [sic] in Edinburgh, he’d been up there like a shot.” (I know that recent example makes the whole Twitter-abuse thing sound pretty mean, but by a large majority, he mostly just posts unflattering pictures of his brother’s face with the caption “POTATO”).

o, after writing all of those checks with his big mouth, does the music live up to the attitude? Does it live up to Noel’s work? Oasis? After watching (read: pouring over for a week) the dark, oozingly cool, Curelike music video for Liam’s first single “Wall of Glass,” I can safely say: no, of course not— what, are you insane? Don’t get me wrong, the

S

track is pretty enjoyable, and in fact, sounds like it’s drawn inspiration from some of the best possible sources. It’s got hints of Arctic Monkeys here and dashes of Queens of the Stone Age there, all the while Liam delivering a truly strong vocal performance, injecting his signature Manchester edge and giving the whole thing the makings of a very, very good rock song—but not an essential one. Speaking for myself, once you get over how cool he can make a parka look, you realize there’s nothing there you haven’t heard before in some other recent shape or form.

’ve always found it hard not to root for Liam Gallagher. Maybe because he’s the last real example of what and who a rock ’n’ roll star should be during times when they’re all too scarce. Maybe because I miss the old days when rock still had an edge—the days when two brothers from a working town grinned and told the cameras they were the best singer and songwriter in the entire world and half the world believed them. Maybe it’s because a part of me feels bad for him, knowing he’ll never be quite as good as he once was, with his brother by his side, all those years ago. Whatever the reason, I’m rooting for Liam, and I’m rooting for As You Were.

While we won’t know for sure until the official release in October, it appears to be just a good album by a legendary rock ’n’ roll star.

Somewhat painfully, I have to predict this album will be near the back of my shelf before year’s end—just another interesting little asterisk somewhere near the end of the book of Oasis. And after all of this—the fights, the mocking, the interviews, the solo projects— the fans will still be waiting for the Gallaghers to one day reunite. Not because the scene still needs Oasis, or because they’ll be better than ever before, but because we need to believe they can. We need to believe that no matter what, no matter what you’ve said or how far away we get from home, your family will still be there. We need to believe that we complete each other and that anything is possible when that happens. We need to believe that rock ’n’ roll is still as big, as powerful, as meaningful as it was all those years ago when stadiums sang along to “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” and that despite all of the crap life throws in your way over the decades, there’s always a chance of returning to who you once were, like a cocky wide-eyed kid with nothing but big ideas, family and best mates, ready and expecting to take over the world. n

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Got a question for Gerv?

SAY GERV?

Send your questions to:

saygerv@jerseymanmagazine.com

_______________________________________________________________________________ and look for his answers in the next issue!

BY GERVASE PETERSON

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ay Gerv? I seem to keep on dating the same type of women. What can I do to find a different type?

– Dallas, South Philly

Dallas, first off it could be your name. I mean you’re living in South Philly (Eagles country) and you have the name of our hated rival the Dallas Cowgirls. Now if by chance it has nothing to do with your name (which I doubt), then I suggest this. Get out of the pool you’re swimming in. What I mean by that is when we like something, we get comfortable and don’t like to change it. Like how you go out to eat and order the same things instead of trying something new. Well Dallas, it’s time for a change. Start talking to different women. If you’re in the bar pool, get out. Get into the church pool or the gym pool, any other pool besides the one you’re currently in. With 3,710,295,643 women in the world, there is no reason you should be dating the same type of woman unless you’re seeking her out. Look at that number again. Over three billion women. That’s like being a kid in the biggest candy store ever! Now go find some good candy. Oh, and for the record, Dallas sucks! _________________________________________ Say Gerv? My father passed away and my son hasn’t talked about it yet. Should I push him to?

– Carl, Medford, NJ Carl, my condolences. Losing a loved one is never easy. The one thing I’ve learned from dealing with the loss of a loved one is that you can’t make someone deal with death the way you do.

Everyone processes death differently. When my kids lost their grandmother, I told them that I was here for them to talk about it, but if they didn’t talk to me, I wanted them to talk to someone.

It could be a cousin, friend, school counselor. It didn’t matter to me just as long as they were not holding all that grief in. It’s what I was concerned with the most, all those feelings bottling up and then maybe exploding out of them in negative ways. You can also consider therapy. Being able to talk to someone who won’t judge you for how you feel and think can be liberating. What you can do Carl is to let your son know you love him and that you’re there for him whenever he needs you. Throw in a couple more “I love you’s” and hugs, and reassure him that no matter what, everything is going to be alright.

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Gervase Peterson was a cast member on the reality series “Survivor” and is an actor and entrepreneur. He keeps busy fulfilling personal appearance requests and speaking engagements across the country.

Over three billion women. That’s like being a kid in the biggest candy store ever!

– Reggie, Conshohocken, Pa

Say Gerv? I just found out I have a 13 year old daughter. Her mother never told me. How can I be a good dad when I’ve missed so much time in her life already?

– David, Voorhees, NJ

Reggie, you should talk to your girlfriend to get an answer why. There has to be a reason why she doesn’t want to get married and leaving you hanging without an answer is very unfulfilling. Try explaining it to her this way. It’s just like if she wanted to have kids and you didn’t. She’s only going to stick around for so long until she decides that she has to break up with you so she can find a guy who wants to have kids too. So you need to decide how long you’re willing to hang around Reggie. And I know it’s a tough decision since you love her. Just don’t waste too much time if she’s 100 percent against marriage. That’s time you could be putting in with someone who is on the same page as you, building and growing your relationship to get to that big day. And when that big day comes, don’t forget your boy Gervase who helped to get you there. I love a good wedding!

David, congratulations on being a dad, albeit so many years later. You should start off by getting to know your daughter. Talk to her and find out who she is. Get to know her personality, her likes and dislikes. Spend as much time with her as you can so you both can start to bond with each other. Yes, you’ve missed a lot of time, but you now have an opportunity to build some great memories. Now this may not be easy because even though you’re her father, you are like a stranger to her. So be patient and constantly let her know you love her and you are there for her. And I wouldn’t worry so much about being a good dad. There are some fathers who have been around since their kids were born and aren’t doing as much as you are. You wanting to be in her life after all these years says you’re a good dad. You stepping up and doing what’s right means you’re a good dad. And I have no doubt in my mind that you’re going to be a great dad. Welcome to the club, David! n

Say Gerv? I want to get married and my girlfriend doesn’t, but she won’t give me a valid reason why.

What should I do?