Hitting New Heights
George Anastasia’s
MOB SCENE
The Philly POPS Orchestra
Volume 5 - Number 6 •
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2015 Men & Women of the Year
UNMASKING THE LEGACY OF OUR LOCAL HEROES
HOOPS STAR ELENA DELLE DONNE BY BILL LYON
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PUBLISHER
FROM JerseyMan Magazine THE VOLUME 5 • NUMBER 6 ____________________________________________________________________________________ BY KEN DUNEK ON THE COVER Dear Readers: It is with great pleasure that we recognize our 10 Men and Women of the Year nominees on the cover of our December issue. These community leaders were honored at the recent Celebration of the Year event in Philadelphia hosted by FoxTV29’s Mike Jerrick. Check it out on page 48!
His eyes were crystal blue. It was obvious he hadn’t showered for days. A weather-worn face with skin of cracked leather was beneath a mop of tangled hair badly in need of shampoo. He was probably about 40, but had the look of an old, old man. I’m in the city quite a bit these days, and the quantity of homeless and desperate people seem to be increasing in alarming numbers. They litter almost every street corner. Each has a different story of despair. The younger ones anger me a bit. For a twenty-something to give up on life and panhandle the streets is a concept I cannot grasp. More than likely it is the web of drug addiction that has brought them to the dirty curb. In earlier days I would briskly pass all of them without regard to their plight. But the words “there but for the grace of God go I” echo in my mind as I pass the less fortunate. Lately, I seem to be padding my pockets with lots of small bills. “Making it rain” has taken on a whole new meaning for me in my middle age years. And it feels so much better than it used to. I still see hope in those crystal blue eyes. How they twinkled with gratitude as I handed him a couple of bucks. ‘Tis the season... remember.
Ken Dunek Publisher CONTRIBUTING EDITOR George Brinkerhoff ART DIRECTOR Steve Iannarelli CONTRIBUTING WRITERS George Anastasia, Jan L. Apple, Michael Bradley, George Brinkerhoff, Sam Carchidi, Alexandra Dunek, Chris Gibbons, Molly Golubcow, John Hopkins, Robert Kennedy, Mike Kern, Sam Kraft, Bill Lyon, Anthony Mongeluzo, Daniel R. Morroni, Gervase Peterson, Don Russell, Andrew Ryan, Nick Santangelo, Kurt Smith, Robert Strauss, Dr. Rubina Tahir DC, T. Jordan Wompierski ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS Liz Boccolini Alexandra Dunek EVENTS COORDINATOR Ashley Dunek Editorial 856-813-1153 Advertising 856-912-4007 Printing 856-813-1153 Controller Rose M. Balcavage Sales Associates Ashley Dunek, Jamie Dunek, Terri Dunek, Chris Kazmarck, JP Lutz, Tinavalen Nguyen, Debbie Sarcone JerseyMan Advisory Board Peter Cordua. . . . . . Cordua, Pastore & Associates Joseph Devine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kennedy Health Ted Flocco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ernst & Young Bob Hoey. . . . . . . . . . . Janney Montgomery Scott Jeffrey Jaskol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Jaskol Group Steven Kantor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KEH Insurance Robert Kennedy. . . . . . . . The Kennedy Companies Julie LaVan is the managing partner of LaVan Law, which has offices in the Tri-State area. LaVan Law is a teamoriented strategic and result driven law firm focused on business agreements, partnership and shareholder disputes, commercial real estate and environmental litigation, discrimination and harassment, traumatic brain injury, wrongful death and premises liability.
Julie LaVan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LaVan Law Anthony Mongeluzo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PCS Toni Pergolin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bancroft Mike Regina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Big Sky Enterprises Paul Tully . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eagle Wealth Strategies Jersey Shore Winter. Photo by R. Beck
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 2015.
INSIDE
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FEATURES
JerseyMan Magazine VOLUME 5 • NUMBER 6
50 20 ELENA DELLE DONNE BY BILL LYON
28 SARAH BAICKER “BREAKFAST ON BROAD” CO-HOST
32 ELECTRONIC TICKETS CONVENIENT, FAST AND SECURE
36 FLYERS SKATE ZONE A FAN-TASTIC FACILITY
40 PHILLY’S MR. BASKETBALL
48
JACK SCHEUER
44 SHOOTING FOR GREATNESS
TOP COMPETITION AT PRECISION PISTOL
UNMASKING THE LEGACY
50 TAKEN FOR A RIDE
SELF-DRIVING CARS ARE COMING
OUR 2015 MEN & WOMEN OF THE YEAR EVENT
54 HITTING NEW HEIGHTS
THE PHILLY POPS ORCHESTRA
44
62 JAY SIGEL
54
PHILLY’S LEGENDARY AMATEUR GOLFER
66 A FORGOTTEN HERO
LT. EDWARD SEEBURGER
70 FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE
BRAIN BALANCE ACHIEVEMENT CENTERS
COLUMNS 12 JOTTINGS • 18 GEORGE ANASTASIA’S MOB SCENE • 26 THE ENTHUSIAST 76 THE ENTREPRENEUR COACH • 78 GET FIT • 82 THE HEALTH REFEREE • 84 JOE SIXPACK 86 THE CIGAR GUY • 89 TECH TIME • 90 WHAT WE WEAR • 93 THE WINE MAN • 94 SAY GERV? BY GERVASE PETERSON
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JOTTINGS
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BY GEORGE BRINKERHOFF
Philadelphia… Bastion of Cricket?
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NCE UPON A TIME in a not so distant land, long, long ago, Americans, yes, Americans played the funnynamed, oddly foreign game with the bat, ball and the wicket, known as cricket. Not only that, but the Philadelphia region would become the bastion of cricket, and a team from Philadelphia led by Bart King, one of the best cricketers to play the game, would manage to challenge the Brits on their home turf and best them. A form of cricket was being played in British North America in the 1700’s. The first specific reference to it shows it was being played in Virginia early in the 1700’s. During the Revolution, the game was so popular that the troops at Valley Forge engaged in matches, and even George Washington was said to have joined in on at least one occasion. It was during the 1800’s that cricket’s popularity grew and the Philadelphia area was at the forefront. In 1833, Haverford College students established the first cricket club exclusively for Americans. In 1849, Abe Lincoln purportedly took in a match between Chicago and Milwaukee. In 1854 in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Cricket Club was es-
tablished and in 1855 the Germantown and Young America Clubs were founded here. After the Civil War, cricket’s popularity was stymied with the development of baseball which soon took over as “America’s favorite pastime.” Amateur cricket was on still the rise, however, and the Philadelphia Cricket team represented the city internationally in “first class cricket” between 1878 and 1913. They were comprised of members of the four main cricket clubs in Philadelphia, Merion, Belmont, Germantown and Philadelphia, from smaller clubs Tioga and Moorestown as well as from local colleges. The team included some of the best cricketers ever from the United States, including King and George Patterson. In 1897, the Philadelphia Cricket team (also known as the Gentlemen of Philadelphia) went to England and played a series of matches against the top county teams. King led the team to victory over the Sussex team. In 1903 the team again traveled to England where they were rarely outplayed, and where the team from Gloucestershire suffered the worst defeat ever at the hands of an American team. In 1908 they again toured England but much less successfully. Still King was able to establish the season bowling record that would not be eclipsed by an Englishman until 1958. (George Patterson still
holds the North American batting record.) After 1908, the popularity of the game steadily declined. The last first class match in Philadelphia was played in 1913. A team from Haverford College was still playing in 1925. Through the end of the 20th century, the popularity of cricket returned to its roots on foreign soil. Today, most of the cricket pitches have been turned into golf courses and tennis courts for the clubs which owned them. Though renewed interest and efforts to reestablish the sport continue, it likely will never regain the measure of popularity it once had throughout this region and the country. Source: Worrall, Simon, “The History of Cricket in the United States” Smithsonian Institute Magazine, October 2006.
“There is only one boss; the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company, from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money elsewhere.” – Sam Walton 12
“ I think it is a man’s duty to make all the money as he can, keep all that he can, and give away all that he can.” – John D. Rockefeller
Cold Beer & Hot Music A Rockin’ Combination
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OR ALL YOU CRAFT BEER AFICIONADOS (as well as those who just enjoy a good cold one), some new beers from a unique new partnership with an Eastern PA/South Jersey connection recently came on the market. South Jersey’s Rock Station 100.7 ZXL in Atlantic City this year combined forces with Prism Brewery in North Wales, PA and developed its own branded beer. The first two offerings featured caricatures of the radio station’s morning crew, JoJo and Scotty, along with photos of “best blonde and best brunette” winners of a bikini contest held this summer on the Deck of the Golden Nugget and sponsored by 100.7 ZXL. They named them, appropriately
enough, JoJo and Scotty’s “Summer Blonde Ale” and JoJo and Scotty’s “Some are Brunette” Brown Ale. And earlier this fall the station had another limited released, ZXL’s Rocktoberfest Red Ale. It is featured at dozens of locations throughout Atlantic and Cape May Counties, and available via Harrison Beverage. If you love cold beer and hot music, make your way to the shore for the 2016 Atlantic City Beer & Music Festival (sponsored by 100.7 ZXL) at the Convention Center on April 8-9, 2016. Psst! Tickets to the Festival and some ZXL Rocktoberfest Red Ale, would make for a really unique gift idea. Rock on!
For more information, go to www.acbeerfest.com www.prismbeer.com • wzxl.com 13
Want to blow off a little steam?
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hen the Eagles play more like wounded ducks and lay a big, stinking egg, where do you turn? Alcohol? Junk food? Some other unhealthy vice? Well now there’s a place that you can go whenever your team really drops the ball, or strikes out, or fans on the puck or throws up a brick. Sportsventing.com, a forum designed by a local sports fan for sports fans, allows you to start a discussion or comment on postings made by other fans who are just as into their teams as you, and clearly just as frustrated. Because as we know, perhaps all too well, misery loves company. Some fun topics you can pop-off about include heartbreaking losses, bad coaching or a terrible general manager. Or how about blowout losses? Free agency? Trades? The next can’t miss draft pick? E-A-G-L-E-S! Aaarrgh! So go ahead and check it out and let off a little steam before you do something really rash!
www.sportsventing.com
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What We Read
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EGGIE LEACH, a member of the famed LCB (Leach, Bobby Clark and Bill Barber) line for the Broad Street Bullies era Philadelphia Flyers of the 1970’s, has just released a memoir based on his storybook life: The Riverton Rifle: My Story - Straight Shooting on Hockey and On Life. Nicknamed the Riverton Rifle for his thrilling speed and deadly shooting skills, he set goal scoring records that still stand today. Traded to the Flyers in 1974, his best season was in 1975-76 when he set career highs in goals (61), points (91) and game-winning goals (11). Leach’s 61 goals earned him the goal-scoring title (now the Richard Trophy) for that season, as well as the current Flyers franchise record for most goals in a season. In 1976, Leach’s 19 playoff goals in 16 games made him the only non-goalie ever to win the Conn Smythe Trophy on the losing team. Through his own recollections, The Riverton Rifle traces Leach’s rise from humble beginnings to NHL stardom, his dramatic fall caused by drinking and his rebirth as a successful businessman, family man and First Nations community leader. In his post-hockey life, Leach helps steer First Nations youth towards making positive life choices through his Shoot to Score hockey school, which he runs with his son Jamie, also a former NHL player. Leach is a proud member of the Berens River First Nation, and today resides on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada.
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Noted Philanthropists Kal & Lucille Rudman Honored by ‘Kal’s Kids’ for Boosting Music Education
Ron Jaworski Golf Raises $7,500 for Breastcancer.org thru The Girls’ Golf Outings
Noted philanthropists Kal and Lucille Rudman are surrounded by “Kal’s Kids,” some of the Philadelphia public school students benefitting from the Rudman’s generous lastminute gift to LiveConnections, upon arrival at the music education non-profit’s annual fundraiser held Oct. 6 at World Café Live in Philadelphia. The KAL AND LUCILLE RUDMAN FOUNDATION is particularly interested in education and public safety, and has created countless scholarships and awards for students of the arts. Photo: Randex Communications.
Life Time Athletic Grand Opening – Mount Laurel, NJ
Four of the golf courses owned and operated by Ron Jaworski Golf (RJG) have teamed up to fight breast cancer during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month by hosting the second annual Girls’ Golf Outing. “The Girls’ Golf Outings are a fun and fitting way for us to heighten awareness of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and to celebrate the participants who are breast cancer survivors,” said Liz Jaworski, President of Ron Jaworski Golf. “Men wearing dresses, bras as flags, and pink mustaches are just a few fun things we do to bring light to a serious subject. We are very proud to be able to contribute to such a worthy cause in this way.”
Rowan College at Burlington County Foundation’s Celebration of Philanthropy Life Time Athletic Mount Laurel hosted its grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony at the brand new facility on October 20. Founding and charter members enjoyed a special preview event of the two-story, 102,000-square-foot destination located at 3939 Church Road.
The March of Dimes’ 29th Annual Golf for Babies – Trump National Golf Club in Pine Hill, NJ
(L to R) front: RCBC Foundation Acting Executive Director Brittany Quintana, RCBC President Paul Drayton, Event Co-Chair and RCBC Foundation Vice-Chair Tony Mahon, CEO of A.C. Moore Pepe Piperno, Event Co-Chair and RCBC Foundation Trustee Henry Gosik, RCBC Foundation Trustee Wayne Hileman. Back row, left to right: RCBC Foundation Trustee Dan Clark, RCBC alumna Liz Woodward, RCBC Foundation Fund Development Committee Chair Karen Albanese, RCBC Foundation Trustee Dr. Patricia Cerulli, RCBC Foundation Fund Development Committee Chair Amy Webb, RCBC Foundation Trustee Dan Caldwell, RCBC alumna Christine Louis, and Holman Frenia Allison, PC, Partner Michael Holt. 16
The March of Dimes’ 29th Annual Golf for Babies was held on Monday October 5, 2015 at the prestigious Trump National Golf Club in Pine Hill, New Jersey. The March of Dimes raised over $119, 000 to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. Pictured (L to R) are Rob Trivett, Sean Porrini, Chris Olivia and John Tedeschi.
P.J. Whelihan’s Ribbon Cutting Ceremony – Washington Township, NJ
P.J. Whelihan’s hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Washington Township, NJ location to celebrate the opening of the newly-renovated four seasons patio on October 21, 2015. (L to R) New Jersey Director of Operations, Mike Perro; General Manager, Bob Dabrowski; Founder & CEO, Bob Platzer; Councilman Nick Fazzio; Mayor Barbara Wallace; and Councilman Scott Newman are flanked by P.J. Whelihan’s servers.
Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame Ceremony honoring Joe Paterno, Matt Bahr, and Chuck Fusina – Valley Forge Casino, King of Prussia, PA
Sue and Jay Paterno
Football great Franco Harris 17
MOB SCENE
_______________________________________________________________________________ BY GEORGE ANASTASIA
Following in his Father’s footsteps
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t’s probably the final chapter in the saga of Little Nicky Scarfo, a story of murder and betrayal, greed and treachery that literally changed the face of the Philadelphia–South Jersey mob. His son, Nicodemo S. Scarfo, 50, was sentenced to 30 years in prison this summer after being convicted of orchestrating the takeover and looting of a Texas-based mortgage company. Little Nicky was an unindicted coconspirator in the case which played out over an eight-year period beginning in 2007 and which reinforced that old con man adage about stealing more money with a pen than a gun. The FirstPlus take, estimated at about $12 million, was at least four times more than the elder Scarfo had accumulated during a sixyear run at the top of the local mob. When he was jailed in 1986, Little Nicky had a stash of about three million dollars, according to underworld sources. That cash came from the violent control of underworld bookmaking and loansharking, from the takeover of the Atlantic City hotel workers and bartenders union and from a street tax the psychopathic and paranoid mob boss imposed on a select group of criminals who were too intimidated to shoot back. (Scarfo and his henchmen steered away from biker gangs after one confrontation in which members of the Pagans responded to an extortion threat with roaring bikes and bullets. Black drug dealers, who had big guns, also were immune.) But Scarfo, ever the bully, preyed on the weak in an underworld that he controlled. His son, who lacked a penchant for violence, nevertheless followed in his father’s criminal footsteps. The younger Scarfo and his top associate, the bombastic Salvatore Pelullo, took behindthe-scenes control of FirstPlus Financial in 2007 and siphoned millions out of the company. They used the cash to support a lavish lifestyle. They bought a yacht and a corporate jet. They set themselves up with $30,000-a-month consulting fees. Pelullo got himself a $217,000 Bentley Continental. Scarfo 18
and his new wife settled in a $715,000 minimansion outside of Atlantic City. “Nicky Scarfo and his associates tried to take La Cosa Nostra corporate, using traditional strong-arm tactics to take over a publicly traded company and loot it like a personal piggy bank,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell in a statement released after Scarfo was sentenced back in July.
Chris, the oldest—a disappointment to his dad because he wanted nothing to do with Cosa Nostra—now uses the maiden name of his wife as his own. Mark, the youngest, attempted suicide as a 17-year-old back in 1988. He remained comatose for nearly 30 years. He died last year, never regaining consciousness. Nicky Jr., who shared his father’s name,
Little Nicky Scarfo used a management style built around murder and mayhem to destroy a once-stable criminal organization.
And along the way he devastated his own family as well. “Scarfo and his crew gave new meaning to the term ‘corporate takeover,’ pushing out the legitimate leadership of a publicly traded company and then looting it,” added Paul Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey whose office prosecuted the case. They didn’t use guns, but the threat of violence and the specter of organized crime helped facilitate the takeover. It was a brief and financially rewarding ride to the top. But the scheme quickly unraveled. Today Nicodemo S. Scarfo, referred to frequently as Nicky Jr., finds himself in the same place as his father. He will spend the next 22 years in a federal prison. His parole eligibility date is December 20, 2037. hat’s part of the dark shadow that has enveloped the world of Little Nicky Scarfo. The now 86-year-old mob boss used a management style built around murder and mayhem to destroy a once-stable criminal organization. And along the way he devastated his own family as well. All three of his sons paid a price.
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had two prior convictions before the FirstPlus debacle. He did time for a state racketeering conviction and a federal gambling conviction. A self-described wonk with an easy facility around computers, Scarfo Jr. could have gone in a different direction. Instead, he chose the world that his father had created. Phil Leonetti, Nicky Jr.’s cousin and Little Nicky’s nephew, saw it coming years ago. Leonetti, one-time crime family underboss, described his uncle as a Svengali-like gangster whose greed and paranoia led to death and destruction. Now living under a new identity after becoming a government witness, the one-time Scarfo hitman has turned his life around. His book, Mafia Prince, is full of inside information about the notorious family that he once served and whose blood lines he still shares. “My uncle is going to get my cousin killed or indicted,” Leonetti predicted several years ago. In fact, Scarfo Jr. was shot six times in Dante & Luigi’s Restaurant in Philadelphia on Halloween Night in 1989 by a masked gunman who entered the restaurant carrying a trick-
or-treat bag that held a 9mm machine pistol. Miraculously, he survived the attack. But the shooting signaled the end of Little Nicky’s reign as mob boss. Jailed in 1986, Scarfo had tried to use his son as his underworld proxy. That ended over a bloody plate of clams and spaghetti. After the shooting, Scarfo still depended on his son to be his eyes and ears in an underworld in flux. Testimony indicated that throughout the FirstPlus scam Scarfo Jr. and Pelullo visited Little Nicky in a federal prison in Atlanta, shared details about the takeover with him and promised him a piece of the action. Scarfo, and Vittorio “Vic” Amuso, 81, the jailed boss of the Luchese crime family, were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the case. Amuso is serving a life term. Scarfo, now at a federal prison in Butner, NC, is doing 55 years on a racketeering murder conviction. His parole date is Jan. 1, 2033, when he will be 103. Both mob bosses are likely to die in jail. As a result, the feds saw no point in trying them for the FirstPlus conspiracy. carfo’s reign as boss was one of the bloodiest in the history of the Philadelphia–South Jersey mob. Between 1981 and 1987, more than 25 mob members and associates were killed. Scarfo and a dozen more members were then convicted and sent off to prison for 30 to 50 years. The crime family, which at its high point boasted about 70 members, was decimated. It’s never recovered. Today, some of those Scarfo defendants are back on the streets, but what role they will play in the local crime family is still a matter of speculation. Angelo Bruno, who was boss from 1959 to 1980, was known as the “Docile Don.” But that was a nickname that came only after he was killed and only because of who came after him. Bruno ruled with an iron fist covered with a velvet glove. Scarfo saw no need for the glove. That was the difference and it turned the crime family inside out. Now it’s a crime family in transition. If the current blend of old heads, hot heads and money-makers are smart, they’ll keep a low profile and go about the business of making money. Sports betting and loansharking are still lucrative operations. But are they smart? Or will greed and treachery, the legacy of Little Nicky, result in another round of violence and prosecutions. However the future plays out, it’s clear the Scarfos, father and son, will be on the sidelines watching. Absent a successful appeal, Scarfo Jr. will be in his early 70s the next time he walks the streets as a free man. That’s part of the legacy of Little Nicky Scarfo and part of the price his son has paid for “honoring” his father. n
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BILL LYON ___________________________
Elena Delle Donne
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This will be remembered as the season in which Delle Donne blossomed… and did so despite a debilitating disease. She is a defender’s dilemma: Perimeter or post? Pick your poison. Concede the paint or let her kill you softly from outside? Her basketball IQ is off the charts and for that she is a coach’s delight. So then, judged by all the conventional measurements in these matters, there is irrefutable evidence that Elena Delle Donne, a native of Wilmington, Delaware, is the best all20
Photo David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images
he 15-foot pull-up jumper is pure butter. The 20-foot step-back from the wing is soft as baby’s breath. The three-pointer launched from somewhere over the rainbow kisses the net as it passes through, so sweet it gives you the shivers. There’s more, of course. This is just a tease, a tantalizing hint of what the lyrically named Elena Delle Donne can unfurl on 94 feet of hardwood. Wait ‘til you see her drive-anddish repertoire, a dazzling array of creativity that leads her to the free throw line, where she is death. (In high school she once made 80 in a row. This past season, playing for the Chicago Sky of the WNBA, she made 58 straight and 207 out of 218, which is merely 95 percent.) She is 6-feet-5, graceful as a willow, lithe and lean, a rebounding machine with a carnivore’s hunger for the ball. And there’s the little matter of spreading the wealth with crisp assists. When they station her at the top of the key they run their offense through her; she can see over the defense and decide whether to hit the cutter, launch another one of those rainbow threes or put it on the floor and dare anyone to try to intercept her.
The Best All-around Women’s Basketball Player. Period.
around women’s basketball player, period. Also the Most Valuable. The WNBA says so. She received 38 first place votes in the balloting at season’s end. There were 39 votes cast. She had already claimed the scoring championship, averaging 23.4 points per game. She also averaged 8.8 rebounds and two blocked shots. There was a 45-point night, and a 40-point burst in the playoffs, and oh yes, lest we forget, all those free throws—only five NBA players have posted higher one-season averages: Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Oscar Robertson, Steve Nash and Steph Curry. Other than that, she was just a slacker. This will be remembered as the season in which, at 26, she blossomed… and did so despite a debilitating disease. ••• IT’S CALLED LYME DISEASE and it will make you wish you were dead. There is no cure. An attack, without warning, leaves you wrung out, like you’ve been crammed inside a washing machine that’s set on high rinse. And someone is firing off a battery of strobe lights inside your eyeballs. She describes it so: “A migraine on top of the flu.” Surely there are meds, no? Why yes, yes there are. A veritable buffet of supplements, enough to start your own
pharmacy… and she takes more than 50 a day, that’s all. Fifty. A Day. Plus. And there’s the little matter of dieting, a rigid regimen that you must follow without exception, and that has been years in the making by trial by error, as in “This one’s OK… this one, ooooohhh… pass the puke bucket….” Somehow she has coped, learned how to manage it. It’s also helped to have an angel on her shoulder. ••• HER NAME IS LIZIE. She was born blind. And deaf. And the younger sister of Elena Delle Donne. They have forged a bond steel-strong. The word inspiration comes up a lot. And they have devised a unique way of communicating— forefinger traces on the palm. Touch and feel, simple but ingenious. Use the senses you have. Lizie, battling autism and cerebral palsy, has undergone 30 surgeries. She makes you rethink what we mean by courage. ••• THE JOKE WAS Elena Delle Donne came straight from the womb to the basketball court. Dribbling with both hands. And dunking. Only slight exaggerations. It’s just that she had that look, the one all the special ones have. Fluid. Sleek. Cheetah on the hunt.
And then there were, from almost the first time she touched the ball, the questions, wellmeaning but—how to be diplomatic here— moronic. Yes, she’s tall and yes, she plays basketball, and on and on. So she dutifully signed her name and looked out at that sea of faces, so eager and fresh and you think maybe this is what it’s like to be a rock star. At Ursuline Academy in Wilmington the legend emerged full bore. She won four state championships. Plus one in volleyball, and along the way scored more than 2,000 points, which no one has approached. Moving up, to the University of Delaware, she put that small school on the map. Yet for all that it never seemed to be enough. No matter what she did, the reaction was the same: But Elena you’re supposed to do all that; we’ve been telling you that your whole life. Haven’t we? Well, haven’t we? Lord, yes. That’s all I hear… great expectations. Somebody else’s expectations. It sucked the joy out of the game she loved. The walls closed in. And those nets, those nets she always heard talking to her, making that sweet, seductive swishing sound, fell silent. So she gave herself a time out, got away from it all. Dabbled in volleyball. And then came back recharged. Led the league in scoring. Led the league, by landslide, in voting for MVP. And maybe, just maybe, gave great expectations a rest. n
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Letter to the Editor
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hether you’re a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent, you can’t escape the political chatter of the 2016 presidential campaign. It seems even folks not interested in politics have tuned into this one if only for the entertainment value of witnessing combat in the arena of words. The way candidates handle zingers thrown at them affects their poll numbers more than any policy positions they might have. But honestly, have you heard any specific ideas from anyone that you haven’t heard a thousand times before? Sure, there’s plenty of sizzle. But it’s the same old over-cooked steak. Republicans stumble all over themselves to see who will be coroneted with the “most conservative” label. How many presidential elections do they have to lose before they realize that label is not what will get them elected? With a few exceptions, Democrats who might be qualified to be President eliminate themselves by hiding in the hallways intimidated by Hillary. Well, here’s an idea I’ll bet you haven’t heard for a problem no candidate, Republican or Democrat, has offered a real solution for. The problem is the terrorist organization that is so disgusting even AlQaeda is against them. They now rule territory in Syria and Iraq and are popping up in Afghanistan and parts of Africa. That’s in spite of the fact that the United States, Russia, Iran and all the governments of the Arab world are against them. The hundreds of thousands of people fleeing from countries being terrorized by ISIS are creating a refugee crisis in Europe unseen since the end of the Second World War. Typically, politicians fume about the problem without saying exactly what they would do to solve it except maybe dropping more bombs from above. But no territory has ever been gained in the history of the world without boots on the ground. The big question that no one dares to answer is: Whose boots? So consider this: The United States of America, as the leading humanitarian nation in Western Civilization, should lead all NATO countries to do the following: Each country accept a pro rata share of refugees from countries under attack by ISIS on the condition that all eligible males between the ages of 18 and 45 submit to being drafted into a fighting force whose purpose is to liberate all peoples subjected to the threat of tyranny by ISIS. Those unable to qualify physically would be assigned and trained in non-com-
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Co-Authored by: Alex Kazmarck & Jim Tweed bat support roles. Women would not be prohibited from serving on a volunteer basis. Their term would be for the duration of time it takes to liberate their country of origin. Their families would be registered and provided basic shelter, sustenance and healthcare, until the time of their return to the countries from which they fled. Political candidates avoid offering specific plans because details open them up to attack. Every plan can be criticized because no plan is perfect. But if they are not courageous enough to start somewhere, they don’t deserve to be leaders. Politicians won’t offer specific plans until the American people demand it. Americans are getting bored with simple-minded labels like “conservative” or “liberal.” We are a nation of problem solvers, a people who love what works. Thomas Edison experimented with thousands of ideas that failed before he came up with the lightbulb, the phonograph record player and the movie projector. How do you combat fanatics who rule by fear? How do you find enough brave people willing to risk getting captured by creeps who celebrate by publically cutting off the heads of anyone who is not subservient to them? You find among them those who have suffered the loss of a home or the life of a loved one. The people who are willing to fight the longest are the ones fighting for their own homes and their own people. Who would have the incentive to do that more than those who have been driven from their own countries? It is the ones who are willing to fight the longest who will eventually prevail. Think about it. And if you do not think this is a good idea, please offer a better one. n
THE ENTHUSIAST ______________________________________________________________________________________________ BY ANDREW RYAN
Digging up the guitar solo
CAN’T REMEMBER the first time I ever heard a guitar solo. By the time my mind had developed sufficiently enough to form memories (and several neuroses we won’t talk about here), the guitar solo was a concept I was already well acquainted with. Listening to my father’s CD collection from the back seat of the family SUV, I knew nothing about the greats like Hendrix, Townshend and Page, only that guitar solos were these violent, loud, unpredictable animals. These instruments and byproducts of war seemed to rewrite even the strictest parent’s rules. They were exhilarating and I was already hooked for life. As they always do, the years went by and I began to learn about these gods who sat atop Mount Olympus. (I’m referring, of course, to Angus Young, Eddie Van Halen and the like, although I did learn about them while I was supposed to be studying Ancient Greece during history class.) Each time I became acquainted with a new guitarist, I began to notice the most subtle differences in their style, as if the better guitarists were actually able to leave their signature hidden somewhere behind the distortion and between the notes. Like snowflakes and Steven Van Zandt’s headscarf on any given day, no two solos are exactly the same, and that’s what makes them such a pure and unique form of self-expression. It’s what makes them so fleeting, powerful and memorable. But, as an old Jewish harmonica enthusiast still sings every now and again, the times they are achangin’. Mainstream music isn’t what it used to be and neither is rock ’n roll (especially if Muse has anything to say about it). So to whom is a rocker to turn for some tasty, face-melting guitar solos while living in the age of criminally overproduced albums, the living and breathing Target apparel advertisement that is Imagine Dragons and 21-year old Justin Bieber’s (gulp) comeback? Have guitar solos simply gone the way of the dodo, cheetah-print vests and Aqua Net? Thankfully, the 26
Illustration by Dan Dinsmore
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“ My guitar is not a thing. It is an extension of myself. It is who I am.” — Joan Jett
answer is no, they haven’t. But just like with Sting’s solo album collection, you’re going to have to do some serious digging to find a good one. Which is why I’ve gone ahead and done the digging for you. Just think of me the next time you’re rocking out with your kids like it’s 1979 without being called a square (do kids still use ‘square?’). Before breaking out that crappy Best of Air Guitar compilation album you won from office Bingo five years ago, consider checking out some of the new blood in rock ‘n’ roll. Here are three guitarists that are not only keeping the spirit of the rock ’n’ roll generation alive, but are reintroducing the massive power of the guitar solo to a jaded society overwhelmed by auto-tune and electronic dance music.
Gary Clark Jr. If you fancy yourself a bit of a blues man like myself then I’ve only got two and a half words for you: Gary Clark Jr. The reincarnation of Jimi Hendrix with all the swagger and style to match, Clark found success with his 2012 album Blak and Blu, which managed to deliver the perfect blend of fuzzed-out guitar, driving rhythm and good ol’ Texas blues lyrics
Have guitar solos simply gone the way of the dodo, cheetah-print vests and Aqua Net? Thankfully, the answer is no, they haven’t. without ever feeling repetitious or played out. He has the rare ability to faithfully preserve the blues genre while injecting a whole new level of excitement back into riffs you’ve heard so many times before. As a truly gifted singer and songwriter, Blak and Blu expertly runs the gambit from blue-collar blues riffs to soulful Motown R&B, but it’s Gary Clark Jr.’s skills with an axe that truly make him exceptional. Tracks like “Bright Lights” and “Third Stone From The Sun”—the latter being over nine minutes long—offer extended outstanding Hendrix-style guitar solos that somehow never turn into plagiarism or tribute. You can truly hear his blood and sweat being poured into every massive bend of the strings, reminding us there’s more to life and music than what’s simply written on the page.
Jack White Even if you have never heard the name Jack White, you’ve probably heard some of his guitar work before. During the late nineties and through most of the aughties, Jack White fronted the American blues-rock duo known as The White Stripes. Alongside his under-appreciated yet still-not-that-important ex-wife on drums, The White Stripes were the single most important blues band of the past twenty years, almost single-handedly keeping the brooding genre alive in the mainstream during a time when melody became more important than mood, catchy hooks replaced emotive guitar solos and the biggest rock star in the world looked an awfully lot like Buddy Holly. As if The White Stripes’ contributions to the blues and truly innovative approach to guitar solos haven’t already earned Jack White a place in the history books (and let’s be honest, they most certainly have), he later went on to form a few other chart-topping bands, including The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, as well as release a number of solo albums to critical success. There’s no other artist out there today who so seamlessly fuses the essence of Howlin’ Wolf with the energy of The Ramones, resulting in some of the finest guitar work this side of the year 2000.
Jamie Hince When it comes to rock ’n’ roll, the last thing anyone wants to be is conventional. That’s where Jamie Hince comes in. In a band with only one guitar, two singers and a drum machine, Jamie Hince has developed what could almost be considered a new style of guitar that often involves playing both the bass lines and lead hooks at the same time and yes, on the same guitar. That band is called The Kills, and after really listening to them you may never look at a guitar in quite the same way again. Drawing inspiration from the most unexpected corners, Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart play lo-fi grunge that is as much B. B. King as it is Kanye West. And it is in that previously undiscovered country where Hince’s masterful garage-rock guitar skills have been allowed to run free and explore strange new frontiers. o even though the golden age of mid-air splits, spandex and thirty-minute flaming guitar solos may be well behind us, there’s no reason to worry, because the three artists I just mentioned have the chops, style and balls to take the guitar to bold, exciting new places. After all, if rock ‘n’ roll has taught us anything, it’s to embrace the future with open arms, a complete lack of conventionality and the knowledge that the beloved guitar solo will never die, especially thanks to rockers like these. n
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PROFILE “Breakfast on Broad” co-anchor
SARAH BAICKER BY ROBERT STRAUSS
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THESE DAYS SARAH BAICKER is pretty much all about happy hour. “I have to get to bed pretty early and one of my favorite things to do is hang out with friends,” said Baicker. “Pretty much when eight o’clock rolls around, I turn into a pumpkin, so I am thankful for happy hour.” On the other hand, Baicker has plenty of happy hours earlier each weekday as one of the co-anchors of “Breakfast on Broad,” the Comcast Network’s new 6-8 a.m. live sports and entertainment show. With former sports28
talk guy Rob Ellis, Eagles alum Barrett Brooks and erstwhile Channel 10 traffic reporter Jillian Mele, Baicker plumbs the Delaware Valley sports world with tidbits, profiles, interviews, in-depth reporting and sometimes just plain fun for those who want some local programming up against the major networks’ morning shows. Ellis, Mele and Baicker all grew up in the Philadelphia area and Brooks kept his family here even after he left the Eagles following his late 1990s tenure with the team, so “Breakfast
on Broad” is nothing if not authentic Philly. Baicker herself got the Philadelphia sports bug even before adolescence, when her dad, a passionate sports fan, took her to games for dad-daughter bonding. The lightbulb moment, though, came one night in the early 1990s, when Baicker’s dad brought her to a Penguins-Flyers game at the old Spectrum. “I just loved it and soon I told him I wanted to try to play myself,” she said. “We didn’t know anyone who played, but we lucked out because I had a friend whose dad was coaching roller hockey at the local Y. It wasn’t long before we found an ice rink where I could play and I have been hooked pretty much since.” Though she has played on women’s teams and pick-up games with men for a couple of decades now, Baicker said she never really thought about writing sports for a long time. She went to one of the best liberal arts schools in the country, Washington University in St. Louis, and took writing courses, but more to be well-rounded and maybe to write fiction. Then the summer after her freshman year, her mother said she had to supplement her part-time job at the company which rented boats for paddling down the Delaware River in Bucks County with something else. “It happened that a dear friend of hers was starting a community newspaper in Lahaska, near our home, so she signed me up as an intern,” said Baicker. “She shoved me in her friend’s direction and it was fortuitous for me.
Photos Comcast SportsNet
Baicker (right) with “Breakfast on Broad” co-hosts Barrett Brooks, Rob Ellis and Jillian Mele
I loved going out and covering stuff. I had good language and grammar skills, but doing the reporting made it fun. I joined the student newspaper the next year.” Even then, she didn’t do sports, but became the features editor her last year, and then went to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism after graduating from Washington University in 2006.
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then in the digital part of Channel 10, but kept in touch at Comcast, finally getting a job as a digital producer in 2009 at CSNPhilly.com. At Comcast, she mostly edited stories, occasionally writing, but noticed they had few people who knew much about hockey. “I sort of filled in whenever they needed someone who could speak hockey. I guess they liked having me know that,” she said. By
I am big with weird pop culture, which helps when you have to know a lot about a lot in a twohour TV show.”
“Their view was to send you right out into the world and to try everything—social media, print, radio, TV, whatever,” she said. But even then, she concentrated on writing in the arts and politics, not sports. After grad school, though, she did a wide range of job interviews, one of them with Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia. She worked for a company that did specialized magazines for a while, and
2012, she started appearing on “Daily News Live” every so often “because they wanted to mix it up a little bit, I think, and it just grew and grew and grew.” By the 2013-14 season, she was the hockey beat person for Comcast, the only female in the city with a fulltime sports team beat. “And hockey is about the worst in including females,” she said. “No kidding, I would go to
a game and look left and right in the press box and not see another woman, either reporting or working for a team.” Still, she loved the beat and started to really like being on air. “When I was at Northwestern, they preached learning all media, but I always figured my future was in print,” she said. “When they talked about TV, I just checked out. I never even gave a thought to being on air. I wasn’t skinny and blonde, but really, it was more about wanting to write anyway. It is really ironic that I have this chance now.” he is nothing but ecstatic about the new show, even if it means getting up at 3 a.m. each weekday. The anchors and production staff does an hour or two of preshow meetings, going over what they will emphasize, but, she said, about 90 percent of what they actually say on air is unscripted. “We did a lot of rehearsals to get the rhythm of it all,” she said. “We’re still feeling around, but I’m getting to know better when to speak up and when to hold back.” Each two-hour show tends to have a few live interviews, a reported piece or two and a lot of discussion about the games and controversies of the day. If Baicker has a specialty for “Breakfast on Board” it is as the monitor of social media. Whatever is on Facebook,
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Twitter, Instagram and the like is her baby, even while the show is going on, and even if it is from her dad. “My mom is not really a sports fan, but she jokes that it is every mother’s wish to see her daughter every day, which she does with me,” said Baicker, who moved from Center City when she was nine when her parents took her and her younger brother into the country, way up in Carversville, Bucks County. Being that far away from the stadiums and arenas hasn’t stopped her father’s sports passion, though. “Sometimes he will text me during the show about something, and sometimes his ideas are better than anyone else’s.” At 30, Baicker is still not ready to cut down her hockey-playing schedule just yet. She plays in a women’s league in Aston, Delaware County, in the winter and at the Wissahickon rink in pick-up, much of the time with men, in the summer. But she and her lawyer/agent Todd Shill were looking for ways to play off her recent notoriety and came up with the Sarah Baicker Hockey Camp, a skills camp for young girls, which scheduled its first sessions in Harrisburg in July. “I never had anything like this and I know the way to interest girls in a sport is to get them to know the basics while they are young,” she said. “I hope it works out initially and then we can extend it.” Baicker said she was not one of those let’stry-everything young athletes. “I didn’t play softball or soccer. It was pretty much ice hockey and riding horses, which I was probably better at than hockey, to tell the truth,” she said. These days, said Baicker, she is an exercise fanatic along with her hockey playing, and also loves being part of a Quizzo team, another way of being able to hang out with friends in the early evening. “Many bars have Quizzo at 6:30 or 7, so that is perfect for my schedule now,” said Baicker, who specializes, to be sure, in sports questions, but also music. “I’m surprisingly not very good with basketball. I think hockey people don’t warm much to the NBA. I am big with weird pop culture, too, which helps when you have to know a lot about a lot in a two-hour TV show.” Baicker said she has no intention of stopping writing and will hopefully continue to contribute pieces to the print aspects at Comcast. “I tell young people who want to be in journalism to make sure they do everything,” she said, knowing that there has been a contraction in jobs in the last decade or so. “I found myself in television and never thought that would happen. The media world is so fluid now, so it is necessary to know about all aspects of it. It has been exciting for me and I think that it can be exiting for anyone starting out. Just keep your eyes open.” n 30
electronic
e-ticket
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tic k e t s
BY T. JORDAN WOMPIERSKI
convenient, fast and secure
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IKE THOUSANDS of other diehard fans, Mike Sneed used to really look forward to the day his Philadelphia Eagles season tickets would arrive in the mail. Typically, the Eagles were known for presenting season ticket holders with a beautiful package of tickets printed on a perforated strip of quality card-stock material, with each ticket featuring a striking image of a different Eagles player. Last year, though, Sneed never received that package. It wasn’t that the Eagles made a mistake, or the tickets got lost in the mail, or that Sneed missed a payment and forfeited the right to his tickets (an oversight which would have proved costly, considering the team’s season ticket waiting list is currently at over 40,000 fans). Instead, the Eagles became the latest organization to make the switch from paper tickets to electronic tickets. “The package was cooler before they switched to electronic tickets, but the e-tickets are much better,” Sneed admitted. It’s easy to see why the Eagles made the transition to digital tickets: eliminating hard copy tickets significantly reduces costs for printing and shipping season ticket packages while also providing a more convenient system for fans. Despite a few gripes from ticket holders who miss the novelty of souvenir stubs, the reaction to the change was largely positive. The Eagles’ e-tickets can be accessed online and printed at home, transferred to other fans, or saved on a smartphone. “It’s so much easier to get into the stadium,” said Sneed, who simply shows his iPhone at the arena gate so his e-ticket can be scanned the same way a paper ticket would be. “It’s just one less thing you have to worry about,” Sneed said. “They made it really easy.
You can add it to your Passbook on your iPhone, so you can download the whole season all at once. You have the whole season on your phone, and you just need your phone. There’s no more worrying about, ‘Do I have the tickets? Did I forget them?’” hile the Eagles were one of the first professional sports teams to do away with paper tickets for season ticket holders, the e-ticket trend has been growing for years. The Philadelphia Phillies, for example, still issue paper tickets to season ticket holders, but also make season tickets available digitally to print, transfer, or sell. For single-game tickets, the majority of sports teams and box office websites like Ticketmaster offer buyers the choice between electronic tickets delivered via email or paper tickets sent via snail mail. The rise in popularity of electronic tickets has also bolstered business for ticket re-sellers. According to Cameron Papp of StubHub, one of the leading online ticket marketplaces, most buyers want the instant gratification that comes with e-tickets. “We sell a ticket every second and a large majority of our tickets are electronic,” Papp said. “About 80 percent of the tickets listed on StubHub are electronic delivery. That’s really been the norm for a while now. If you look back seven to eight years ago, that number is probably flipped.” StubHub does not sell tickets directly to buyers, but serves as a fan-to-fan marketplace for sellers to list their tickets for sale. “We connect buyers and sellers,” Papp said, describing StubHub as the eBay of ticket sales. “A lot of people will buy season tickets now, and if they can’t make it to every game, they’ll sell their tickets on StubHub. It’s really ideal
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for someone looking to unload their tickets.” It’s also ideal for fans looking for last-minute tickets. “If you look at the way consumer habits are moving, there’s a lot more last-minute tickets being purchased,” Papp said. “People like to procrastinate, and they’re more spontaneous. Especially for sports like Major League Baseball, with so many home games, a lot of times people are at work or just sitting at home saying, ‘You want to go to the ballgame tonight?’ and they want to get their ticket right then and there. It’s not very convenient if you have to
What are e-tickets? An electronic ticket is just like a traditional paper ticket to an event, except instead of receiving it in the mail or at the box office, buyers receive their ticket via email or can download it from the website where it was purchased. One the ticket is downloaded – typically as a .PDF file – it can be printed out and used exactly the same way as a regular hard-copy ticket. If the ticket holder prefers to keep things entirely digital, an e-ticket does not even need to be printed, unless printed tickets are required by a particular venue. However, most teams that issue e-tickets allow fans to show the tickets on their smartphones. Instead of presenting a paper ticket or a printed ticket at the stadium gate, the ticket holder simply shows their e-ticket on their phone, which is scanned in the same way a traditional ticket would be. 33
Easy Money Another advantage of electronic tickets is the ease with which they can be sold. Eagles season ticket holder Mike Sneed, 32, of Cherry Hill, NJ, usually attends all eight Eagles home games each season, but if he ever can’t make it to a game, he has the option to list his tickets for sale on a secondary market website like StubHub or to transfer his digital ticket files on his own through his Eagles account. “E-tickets do make it easy to sell games,” Sneed said. “You can just transfer the tickets online. If I wanted to sell them, I can just type in the email address of the guy who’s taking them.” Mike McDonald, 43, of Haddon Township, NJ, does not have any season ticket packages, but he frequently attends concerts and sporting events. Every now and then, it turns out that he isn’t able to make it to an event as he originally planned, and sites like StubHub make it easy for him to sell his seats so they don’t go to waste. “I’ve sold tickets on StubHub on three separate occasions,” he said. “It’s super simple. The process is easy, even for someone who might be somewhat technically challenged. It spells everything out and walks you through the entire process.” McDonald said he simply uploads his .PDF tickets to the StubHub site, sets his price, and then waits for a buyer to purchase the tickets. StubHub sellers like McDonald can choose between two payment methods: they can select to be paid electronically through PayPal, or they can request to receive a check in the mail from StubHub once their tickets sell. McDonald uses PayPal because the funds are deposited into his account relatively quickly (within five business days, according to StubHub). “You get an email notification when your tickets are sold, and then I was ‘PayPalled’ the money,” McDonald said.
try to find a hard ticket somewhere.” Brad Cassel, a 31-year-old sports fan from Riverton, NJ, is one such StubHub user who appreciates the convenience of e-tickets, especially at the last minute. “I find it to be the easiest,” Cassel said of electronic tickets. “Usually when I buy tickets, it’s closer to game day or the event, so I prefer the instant download tickets. Plus, I like that security of having them.” “Consumers want their tickets now,” Papp said. “A lot of times, it’s not the best experience when you order tickets to an event or game and you’re told your tickets will be there in four to five days.” n
Safe Scalping When buying tickets directly from a team or box office, buyers pay face value, but on resale sites, the re-sellers set the prices. There is no federal law against ticket scalping, and most individual states do not regulate the online re-sale of tickets (even if they do have laws regarding in-person scalping), so the prices sellers ask for can fluctuate greatly. Typically, pricing is established by the public demand for the event. That could mean a big bargain (for example, a baseball game on a cold Tuesday evening between two bottom-dwelling teams is likely to sell for significantly less than face value on the secondary market) or a huge markup (for example, a sold-out Friday night playoff game can cost at least twice the original face value on the secondary market). Regardless of the price paid for tickets, buyers who purchase from reputable ticket marketplace websites like Ticketmaster’s Ticket Exchange or StubHub can feel confident that the tickets they’re receiving are the real deal. “Back in the day, if you were looking to buy a ticket to a game that was sold out, you pretty much had to trek your way to the stadium, hopefully meet a guy outside of it, and purchase tickets there, hopefully for a good price,” said Cameron Papp, a communications manager with StubHub. “And then, you’re not sure whether those tickets are authentic or not.” “What StubHub really did was bring that process online and legitimize it,” Papp explained. “We guarantee every ticket that’s sold on StubHub. We have our Fan Protect Guarantee, and what that means is, we back every single ticket sold on our site, so if for some reason there’s any issue, we’ll do everything in our power to get you into that event. We can be seen as the overseer of the transaction. We’re ensuring that every transaction is authentic.”
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Photo Steve I.
Flyers Skate Zone is Fan-tastic BY SAM CARCHIDI
EVER WONDER how the Flyers, who haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1975 and have missed the playoffs in two of the last three years, continually sell out games at the Wells Fargo Center?
Well, some of it is because they have created a strong fan base in South Jersey, especially since they opened their Skate Zone practice facility in Voorhees in 2000. The Skate Zone enables fans to get a close-up view of the players during their practices, training camp and prospect camp. Free of charge. The facility has also introduced tens of thousands of people (read: future fans) to ice skating and hockey, whether through youth leagues, skating lessons or open-skating sessions. “The rink business is a challenging one, financially and otherwise,” said Pat Ferrill, vice president of rink management and development, who oversees the Voorhees facility as well as the other three Skate Zones in the area that are owned by the Flyers’ parent company, Comcast-Spectacor. “But for us as an organization, it’s an extension of the Flyers brand and our fan-development efforts.” Ferrill said it goes “beyond the brick and mortar” and “way beyond the typical marketing vehicles in giving the opportunity for people to participate in ice skating, participate in hockey and get to see the team up close and personal on a daily basis.” The Flyers used to rent ice at the Coliseum, located in another part of Voorhees, before shifting their practices to the Skate Zone. Ferrill called the Skate Zone a “bigger, more vibrant facility” than the Coliseum. “We definitely see more people come through the doors, and we definitely see an uptick in the number of people who come to catch practice and attend training camp in September.” The Coliseum had one rink, compared to two at the Skate Zone, which also boasts bigger and more modern weight rooms and locker rooms. “You couldn’t ask for a better facility,” said Dave Hakstol, the Flyers’ first-year coach.
Photos Philadelphia Flyers/Zach Hill
There are many advantages in owning a practice facility instead of renting it, Ferrill said. “Now we’re in a building where you can schedule the time when you need it,” he said. “So purely from an ice standpoint, you can control your own destiny as far as time [availability]. And you’re dealing with much better quality of ice standards because of our staff.” Back when the Skate Zone was in its design stage, “people working with the team had influence on the size of the dressing room, the size of the training room, the size of the strength- and-conditioning room.” Ferrill said. The club was able to make decisions on every aspect, including the equipment room, storage, all those things, he said, adding that the $20-million facility added a roller-hockey rink about one and half years after the Skate Zone was built. When the Skate Zone opened, “it was the premier training center in the NHL because it was new,” said Ferrill, 51, who lives in Havertown, PA. “Since then, a number of teams have built their own.”
Flyers coach Dave Hakstol addresses the team during practice at the Skate Zone
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n addition to the Voorhees facility, Comcast-Spectacor has public rinks in Pennsauken (which opened in 1992, but was purchased by Comcast-Spectacor in 1999), Atlantic City (which opened in 1999) and Northeast Philadelphia (opened in 2001). “We’ve really increased the opportunity for people to play hockey,” Ferrill said. The four rinks have over 1,000 youths playing organized hockey, including 500 players in Voorhees. There are also close to 20 adult-league teams, Ferrill said. Hockey, however, isn’t the only draw. “Because of our expertise among our staff, we run almost all of our own programming,” Ferrill said. “For instance, right from the start, we’re kind of drawing them in with community events. Things as simple as public skating, birthday parties, group outings for schools and Boy and Girl Scouts. We kind of introduce them to skating, and we have instruc-
“ You couldn’t ask for a better facility.” – Flyers’ coach Dave Hakstol tional programs, so we have learn-to-skate and learn-to-play-hockey programs that teach them the basics. “From that point, you pretty much draw them in and they start to become lifelong Flyers fans, if not participants,” he said. “And though you have recreational hockey, you’ve got competitive hockey all the way through the elite travel programs that we run. We see the number of kids who come though our program that started at a very young age at four, five or six, and they’re moving on and getting Division I college scholarships or moving up to different levels of junior hockey and college hockey—and hopefully one day professional hockey.” The four Skate Zones have yet to produce a player who has reached the NHL, “but we are getting closer,” Ferrill said. “We have almost 60 players who have come through our programs and have received Division I scholarships over the last six or seven years.” When a youngster plays for one of the leagues, his or her whole family usually gets involved, Ferrill said. They become Flyers fans, and they help fill the Wells Fargo Center and buy club merchandise, even during these mediocre times for the team. “What you see is children and their families become lifelong fans of the sport, so when [a child] participates, the whole family participates and they’re much more likely to watch on television, they’re much more
Skate Zone locker room
Hakstol meets with his assistants
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Photos Philadelphia Flyers/Zach Hill
The Flyers have been practicing at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ since 2000
likely to attend games some day,” he said. “You can see an advertisement on TV, or you can walk in and try the product.” The Skate Zone lets them do the latter. “Hockey is obviously a pretty passionate sport, and people who get involved tend to get pretty passionate once they’ve tried it,” Ferrill said. he Voorhees facility has become a smooth-running fabric of the community. In 1998, however, plans for the ice-skating arena drew bitter protest when the township decided to sell 18 wooded acres. Some residents argued that the Skate Zone would bring bright lights, unruly crowds and lower property values. That seems like ancient history. The Skate Zone is now the proud practice home to an iconic NHL franchise. The facility also hosts numerous other activities and is a family-friendly community center of sorts.
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“We really are a little bit of everything to everybody,” Ferrill said. “We do all kinds of other things. We do some dry-floor events. We have a home show in Voorhees in March that a promoter puts on for a weekend; we’ve done wrestling, trade shows and all kinds of other special promotions and fund-raising events to bring people into the facility. So it does serve as a community center and a little bit of everything to everybody.” It also creates some much-needed jobs. “We’re limited in the number of full-time positions we have, but we have over 200 part-time employees working in our building, and a lot of them are 16-, 17-, 18- and 19-year-olds, teenagers who are looking for parttime work and staying active and earning a little bit of income while they are going to high school or college,” Ferrill said. “It’s a fun place to work.” Seventeen years after some residents opposed it, the Skate Zone in Voorhees is thriving. Now if only the big-league hockey team can become a success…. n 38
SPORTS GUYS
JACK SCHEUER:
PHILADELPHIA’S
Mr. Basketball
JUST ABOUT ANYBODY who considers himself a sports fan has at least one hero. It could be the local standout. Or the mega-star whose exploits transcend those of most others. Role players who shut up and just play hard, spirited ball are often favorites. There is always someone. Jack Scheuer’s sporting hero was Guy Rodgers, the Temple basketball—and later NBA— guard. Like Scheuer, Rodgers was a Philly guy, and his outstanding play for the Owls and later the Philadelphia (and San Francisco) Warriors drew Scheuer to him. Rodgers was a classic distributor who could score but was known for running the team, making the right deci-
sion and rarely being out of place on the court. Scheuer, himself a point guard, felt an immediate connection, even if the two players’ skill sets were on vastly different levels. They did, however, play some ball together, and Scheuer delights in telling a story about how back in the mid-1950s the two were on a team in a league at the Jardel Recreation Center in the Northeast. Rodgers, who was sitting out a season at Temple due to eligibility concerns, “played in about six leagues” that year, trying to keep his game sharp. Scheuer, who had lasted “a couple workouts” with the Temple freshmen after two years of varsity ball at Frankford HS, was on Rodgers’ team. The two point men worked well during one particular game, and their output was indeed prodigious.
BY MICHAEL BRADLEY
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“We combined for 57 points,” Scheuer says before pausing. “I had five.” The story is funny, but the humor is outweighed by the significance of Scheuer’s connection with Rodgers, his hero. Throughout his distinguished career as a sports writer, Scheuer has built bonds with players, coaches, executives, writers, publicists and just about anybody else associated with the teams he has covered. That he would connect with Rodgers, a man who became his lifelong friend and whom Scheuer introduced when Rodgers was inducted into the Big Five Hall of Fame, makes perfect sense given their shared passion for basketball. But that doesn’t explain how Scheuer has been able to live his 83 years as “one of the few people who are universally liked,” according to former Sixers (and Nets and Washington and Portland) GM John Nash. Nash is not exaggerating. Scheuer is indeed a rarity whose list of friends is extensive and diverse. During his 55-plus years as a writer for the Associated Press and several other outlets, Scheuer has cultivated a diverse collection of relationships that makes him more than just Philadelphia’s longest-tenured sportswriter. He is, as Nash says, without enemies. Or at least those who don’t like him would be awfully difficult to find—and quickly shouted down should they express any animosity toward Scheuer. Try to find another octogenarian who can relate to young people like he can. Scheuer approaches life as a daily gift, the product of his being able to make a living all these years doing something he truly loves. He can get angry and occasionally grouchy—mostly because of things like bad basketball or baseball pitch
counts—but Scheuer is unfailingly upbeat and quick to smile. Simply put, it’s practically impossible to be in a bad mood around him. “He’s really very hip in a lot of ways,” says that ultimate arbiter of cool, Temple men’s basketball coach Fran Dunphy. “He’s very worldly and very much in touch with life. He doesn’t let life pass him by. He has participated in so many ways. I admire him a lot.” With last year’s unfortunate passing of legendary Sixers statistician and NBA historian Harvey Pollack, Scheuer is Philadelphia’s reigning basketball encyclopedia. “There has never been a young legend,” he says with a laugh. Encounter Scheuer at a game, and he will present you with a trivia question—a tough one. When writers want to settle an argument about something from Big Five history, they go to Scheuer. He has covered more than 3,000 basketball games and about the same amount of diamond clashes. He writes a weekly column for PhillyCollegeSports. com and covered all 81 Phillies home games this past season (quite a feat of endurance for anyone, much less an 83-year-old), gathering quotes for the Associated Press, for which he has worked for more than 40 years. cheuer is perhaps best known for the weekly basketball run for media types—and sundry others—he hosts every Wednesday during the college hoops season at the University of Pennsylvania’s Palestra. The pickup game dates back to the mid-1970s, when he and Nash started inviting friends to join them during their workouts at the Palestra after Scheuer had injured his knee. The game has made Scheuer the selfproclaimed “highest scorer in Palestra history,” since no one has spent as much time on the court as has he. “I still get a charge walking down that ramp onto the court,” Scheuer says. The roster of players changes frequently, and has included over the years Nash, 97.5 The Fanatic’s Mike Missanelli (who still plays), Neil Hartman of Comcast SportsNet, Big Daddy Graham and Inquirer columnist Bob Ford. Scheuer’s son, Bob, tried to count all of those who have participated over the years and stopped when he hit 70. Once a year, two AP basketball writers from New York take the train to Philadelphia just to take part. “It’s congenial but competitive,” says Missanelli, whose approach skews toward the competitive side. But Scheuer never lets a Thunderdome mentality prevail. After one particular loss, a frustrated Missanelli booted a basketball that clanged off the Palestra scoreboard. Scheuer gave a quick rebuke—and made him go get the ball—and there have been no similar incidents. “He doesn’t want to have guys get out of line,” Missanelli says. “He
wants to keep it civil, like the old days. He’s the maestro, and you definitely don’t want to disappoint him.” The idea of a bunch of sportswriters playing four-on-four halfcourt ball may strike some as meaningless, but this isn’t some frivolous affair. It occupies a place on the official Penn athletic schedule every week, and the game—and particularly Scheuer—receives considerable respect from the Quaker basketball community. One snowy Wednesday during Dunphy’s tenure as head coach at Penn, his team arrived at the Palestra early for practice, only to find Scheuer’s game in progress. “Dunph said, ‘I know who has priority here,’” Scheuer says. Instead of exercising the veto control he clearly possessed, Dunphy took his players next door to Hutchinson Gym for their workout. “Jack loves telling that story,” Dunphy says with a laugh.
D
espite knee problems and a few recent health issues, Scheuer is still out there every week. “I’m a point guard who
can shoot,” he says. He is also completely enthralled with Philadelphia basketball. From the time he was at Frankford, Scheuer has loved the sport. It doesn’t hurt that its city centerpiece, the Palestra, is the nation’s best place to watch a game. Scheuer played there as a high schooler and spends as much time as possible there now. When he turned 75, his family threw a surprise party for him, and guests threw streamers when he arrived. No matter how early one might arrive for a college game there, it’s a good bet Scheuer has beaten you to the spot. He will then hold court until game time, talking hoops, telling jokes and debating just about any sports question. Unlike many his age, Scheuer doesn’t spend every minute adoring the past. “I’m not one of those guys who say the old days were the best, even if they might have been,” he says. He will tell you that Rodgers was “the best player in Big Five history.” That is nonnegotiable. However, La Salle’s Tom Gola is the best player in city history. (Gola played before the Big Five’s 1955 birth.) Scheuer’s
S
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all-time all-city team includes Gola, Rodgers, La Salle stars Ken Durrett and Lionel Simmons, Villanova’s Paul Arizin and Saint Joseph’s Jameer Nelson. (Okay, so he has six on the team. Big deal.) Honorable mention goes to Cliff Anderson and Matt Goukas, Temple’s Bill Mlkvy and Mark Macon, Penn’s Ernie Beck, Villanova’s Howard Porter and Kerry Kittles and La Salle’s Larry Cannon. The 1968-69 Explorer team (Durrett, Cannon, Roland “Fatty” Taylor, Bernie Williams) was the best in city history. Scheuer will discuss basketball with just about anybody and would never dismiss someone who disagreed with his views (except the Rodgers proclamation). But when it comes to baseball, he will be strident on one topic: the aforementioned pitch count issue. In fact, he says the national pastime was his favorite sport until teams began putting numeric limits on their starters. “Pitchers are bigger and stronger than ever, and they have all these training facilities,” Scheuer says. “Why can’t they pitch?” Scheuer spent about 10 years as a sporting goods salesman, and one would imagine he was pretty good at it, given his engaging personality. His overwhelming love of sports led him in the direction of the media, first with the dearly departed Bulletin and later with the AP and other outlets. His primary mentor was late Bob Vetrone, who helped get him a spot at the Bulletin. “I was his wing man,” Scheuer says. He has coached basketball on the prep (Father Judge) and college (Drexel) levels, and was inducted into the Big Five Hall of Fame in 2002. Scheuer has a story about practically anybody who has ever been associated with baseball or basketball in Philadelphia. There was the time former Phillies third baseman Scott Rolen heard that Scheuer was a pretty good shooter and suggested a contest in the bowels of Veterans Stadium, where there was a hoop set up. “Is he from Indiana?” asked Rolen, himself a Hoosier. Upon hearing Scheuer was not from the Sycamore State, Rolen said, “Then he doesn’t have a chance.” (That is highly unlikely.) He loves to talk about Pollack, who in addition to running the Sixers’ statistical department—the NBA’s best, by far—also did movie and restaurant reviews for local weekly papers. “I asked him, ‘Harv, did you ever give a bad review?’” Scheuer says. “He said, ‘Are you crazy?’ He never paid for anything, so he wasn’t about to upset the people who were giving him freebies.” Scheuer laughs at the anecdote. It’s a light chuckle that makes those around him feel welcome. Philadelphia’s reigning basketball expert has a bunch of stories like that, and few get tired hearing them. Or of spending time with Scheuer. n 42
SHOOTING FOR
GREATNESS
A
BY KURT SMITH
AT THE END of Rocky III, Apollo Creed challenges Rocky to a rubber match between the two of them to settle the score of who is the best, once and for all. As Apollo explains to Rocky, it’s only to prove it to himself: “No TV, no newspapers, just you and me.” Because in the end that is all that matters to a true competitor at any level. Self-respect. Rich Kang, a surgeon from Maryland, has had his picture added to the New Jersey Pistol website as the Winner of the 2015 State Outdoor Pistol Championship. His name is now engraved on the Madore Trophy. And that’s pretty much the extent of his recognition for this exceptionally difficult achievement. The top result of a Google search for “Rich Kang” is the LinkedIn profile of a California product developer with the same name. Precision Pistol excellence isn’t something one pursues for stardom, applause or finan44
cial gain. There wasn’t much in the way of an audience or media other than a lanky, curious writer for a popular men’s magazine present at the championship event. Shooter Frank Greco likens it to golf: it may not be the most exciting spectator sport, but among participants, there is an unwavering admiration for the best. “It’s the ultimate badass sport with pistols. In the shooting world, badass is snipers,” he says. “In the pistol world it’s precision shooters.” Greco is the Regional Vice President of New
Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, based in Highland Lakes, NJ. A portion of this event took place at the Central Jersey Rifle & Pistol Club in Jackson. Greco didn’t participate in the competition, but he was there to explain the mystique of it, right down to the effect of donut consumption on shooters. True. “The sugar raises the blood pressure and affects the steady hand,” Greco says, while offering a donut to this observer. “Sugar and caffeine in excess can be Kryptonite to a shooter.” It’s that demanding? To say the least.
P
icture how far 50 yards is. One hundred fifty feet. Half of a football field. Now fathom being able to steadily aim and fire a pistol from that distance and consistently hit a target eight inches wide. That’s just for an eight-point shot. For a 10-pointer, that target is just three inches wide; for a bull’s eye, which is used as a tiebreaker if two shooters have the same score, it is just an inch and a half.
Photos Kurt Smith
“ Great shooters have an almost Zen-like approach to shooting and how they approach their daily lives, jobs, etc.”
one witnessing the action. But needless to say, it’s an essential one. Part of Glidden’s occupation is training shooters in gun safety, including teaching youngsters in the club’s highly touted junior program. “Individual training,” he says, “is keeping the gun pointed in a safe direction
Frank Greco and Ed Glidden
Can that even be done with normal human vision? Yes, and the shooters on the firing line this day are proving it. With multiple types of firearms and various types of shooting: moving targets, rapid fire, timed firing. It’s a three-gun match, with .22, centerfire and .45 caliber pistols. With each type of pistol, a shooter takes 90 shots. Those 90 shots are broken down into four matches: Slow Fire is two strings of ten shots each over ten minutes; National Match Course is ten Slow Fire shots, followed by two strings of five shots each at 25 yards; Rapid Fire is two strings of five shots each over ten seconds; and the Timed Fire Match is four strings of five rounds each, with 20 seconds per string. All day long, the barrage goes on. Casings litter the ground. Wisps of dust float from the dune behind the targets. The unmistakable odor of gunpowder fills the air. Wrists snap back in recoil with larger pistols. The noise is
thunderous and deafening at times, but that’s the only aural distraction allowed. No talking or other sounds behind the line. During one match a ringing smartphone is immediately shut off; only in church could that be more embarrassing. It’s grueling, this full day of shooting. Comfortable footwear is a must. etween rounds, a horn sounds and a red light begins flashing. When the light is flashing, guns must be down, and must remain untouched until the flashing stops. Ed Glidden, the director of the match, calls out instructions to the shooters, obviously with safety as the top priority. Cease fire, magazines out, make the firing line safe. Empty chamber indicators installed. Check your gun; check your neighbor’s gun. And so on, dozens of times. Glidden’s role looks boring to some-
B
Safety is a priority
at ALL times and treating every gun as if it were loaded. Constant awareness of the range officers and other shooters to prevent and/or correct the slightest infraction until safety becomes a habit. Any unsafe practice will result in expulsion from the match and the range.” The Central Jersey Rifle & Pistol Club people have a reputation for their focus on safe handling of lethal weapons. They are frequently praised for it in online reviews. It is particularly impressive to see younger people on the firing line, some barely in their teens, completely comfortable handling firearms. Partly because of Glidden’s repetitious direction, safety is second nature in this competition. Besides, with the concentration required at tournaments like this, competitors have more than enough to occupy their minds. Watching the shooters, it appears as though they are cool as ice, with the focus, the concentration, the steady hand. But as one of the 45
Photos Kurt Smith
Get Started with Precision Pistol Shooting If you’d like to try Precision Pistol Shooting, there is a website dedicated to helping you get started, with several insightful pieces from top shooters. The site is called “The Encyclopedia of Bullseye Pistol.’
The firing line
better shooters on the line can tell you, it takes years to develop this composure. And even, he still grimaces at the occasional subpar shot. Lateif Dickerson is the master instructor at the New Jersey Firearms Academy. His résumé of other titles is very impressive: Certified Pistol Instructor, Range Safety Officer, Combat Handgunner at the School of Defensive Firearms, the list is long. He’s been training civilians, police and military for 19 years in various weapons usage and self-defense. Dickerson can tell you a bit about becoming adept enough for this competition. There
are three stages, he says: know how, physical conditioning and mental conditioning. Know how is mastering the fundamentals, like stance, breath control and recoil management. Stance “should be as comfortable but as stable as possible. Think like a crane; your legs are the outriggers, your arm is the boom.” Breath control is “basically holding long enough so you aren’t moving.” Recoil management is the ability to “consistently recover to the same place when shooting.” Then there’s the physical conditioning. “A match can go from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM,
Among the articles is a piece by site owner John Dreyer about essential equipment. There’s a lot to know when laying out the considerable funds for pistols, like whether they are mass-produced or hand built, or the differences between high performance and convertible pistols. Not to mention other necessary equipment, like eye and ear protection, scopes and cleaning supplies. Pistol shooting is not a cheap sport, so spend wisely. Another piece by Dreyer quotes several Zen philosophies and describes the achievements in pistol shooting in how they relate to such quotes. One example: “A man who has attained mastery of an art reveals it in his every action.” Dreyer compares this to pistol shooting in the sense that once a shooter can sustain an “empty mind,” he can see “underlying principles in everyday life and life in all things.” Another piece from top shooter Jake Shevlin reveals the “secret” to shooting high scores. It’s the same secret one learns about how to get to Carnegie Hall: practice, practice, practice. The shooter must sacrifice: sacrifice time, money, convenience and priorities in life to excel at just one thing. Top marksmanship requires a level of commitment unmatched by few endeavors. That, says Shevlin, is the “secret.” The Encyclopedia of Bullseye Pistol website also features a discussion group, e-mail updates, and links and maps to shooting clubs and ranges. It can be found at www.bullseyepistol.com.
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A shooter checks his scores between rounds
or longer. If you start fatiguing during a match your performance will fail. You must be able to hold the weight of your arm and gun up all day—and steady. Holding steady requires an isometric tension that needs to be devel-
oped also.” But the mental preparation is by far the toughest part. “The ONLY thing that should exist in your mind is that your sight is where it’s supposed to be as the trigger moves rearward; this is very hard. We all have a lot of noise and distractions, so conditioning your mind to focus is a process. That process is largely the challenge in shooting.” Frank Greco emphatically agrees, sharing a story of his own self-defeat in the mental aspect of the game. “When you’re in it, on the line, loading, in the zone, improving your score, it’s incredibly intense and extremely difficult mentally. “One of my first times I experienced the ‘mental game’ was in the New York State Championship. The match director came over to me and asked me if I knew I was shooting better than most of the Experts and Masters. I said no, and got accidentally sidetracked, thinking I was going to win the match. The lost focus immediately showed; my shots were random and my scores went down. “It’s vital to maintain a positive outlook and to speak to yourself in positive statements. It’s
important to train your subconscious mind and create a positive self-image.” He pulls out his smartphone and shows this observer a picture of a target, the highvalue section of it riddled with bullet holes. Sometimes, he says, he needs to look at it during a match, to remind himself what he’s capable of. It’s all undeniably worth the effort. The true reward of Precision Pistol, as Greco relates from his own personal experience, is self-respect: the realization of one’s hidden abilities and the ability to meet the most difficult of challenges. Once a person can hit that one-and-a-half inch bull’s eye from half of a football field away, it’s hard to imagine how monthly bills could faze them. “Great shooters have an almost Zen-like approach to shooting and how they approach their daily lives, jobs, etc. Since I started, my ability to focus has sharpened dramatically, and it’s positively benefited other areas of my life. The ability to focus on what matters and disregard unimportant matters literally frees your mind. “The benefits are real, and to that extent, shooting has made me a better person.” n
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M A R C U S A L L E N • PA M B O Y D • G A R Y D E V I T O • D E B O R A H H AY S • T R A C I J O R D A N • R O Y
UNMASKING THE LEGACY Celebrating Our Men & Women of the Year
O
Photos HughE Dillon of Philly ChitChat
ur 1st Annual Unmasking the Legacy Celebration Event on November 4th was a great success with a sold out room of 400 at Union Trust in Philadelphia. Thank you again to all of our sponsors, committee members, emcee Mike Jerrick, guests and most importantly to our ten Men and Women of the Year honorees, for exemplifying our JerseyMan brand. We look forward to carrying on this tradition in the years to come.
L E I T S T E I N • C A R O L M C W I L L I A M S • C H R I S M U R P H Y • B R I A N R A D W E L L • C AT E W E AV E R Photos HughE Dillon of Philly ChitChat
2015 Men & Women of the Year. (L to R): Gary DeVito, Marcus Allen, Chris Murphy, Deborah Hays, Pam Boyd, Roy Leitstein, Carol McWilliams, Cate Weaver, Traci Jordan. Not pictured, Brian Radwell.
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TAKEN FOR A RIDE SELF-DRIVING CARS ARE COMING TO A ROAD NEAR YOU
W BY NICK SANTANGELO
Photo google.com
Google self-driving cars have driven over 1.8 million miles
“What the heck is this guy doing?!” You’ve likely uttered some variation of those words at least a few times in your life after witnessing other drivers make decisions that aren’t, well, that aren’t what you’d like them to be. Perhaps you’ve even gone so far as to offer some of those other drivers a colorful hand gesture or two to belabor your point. Ever since a seat was first attached to four wheels and an engine, drivers have found reasons to get angry at one another. It will likely continue unabated for as long as human beings are driving cars. But what if people weren’t driving cars? What if people just rode in cars and the cars did the driving? Unlike the flying cars Back to the Future II intimated we’d have in 2015, self-driving cars are not the stuff of science fiction. Google has been road testing vehicles that drive themselves since 2009. Tesla surprised tens of thousands of its owners by pushing out a “semi-au50
tonomous” firmware update in October. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently spoke in broad terms about autonomous driving being the future. Even traditional automakers have dipped their toes into the water over the last few years with cars that park themselves and offer “driver assist” options. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––
ELON, TAKE THE WHEEL Google’s self-driving car prototypes currently putt-putting around the search giant’s Mountain View, California headquarters are literally cars that drive themselves. But they’re years away from advancing to consumer production models. There are just 32 of them right now, and Google employees and some journalists are essentially the only individuals who’ve been allowed to drive or, perhaps more appropriately, “ride” them.
On the flipside, Toyota, Lexus, Ford, Nissan and other major automotive manufacturers have made automatic parallel parking options available as far back as 2012. Some, like Cherry Hill, NJ-headquartered Subaru of America, even have optional packages that perform limited braking, steering and deceleration on their own to avoid accidents. You can walk into a dealership right now and buy a car with those features, but they’re a far cry from cars that completely drive themselves. Arguably somewhere in the middle of those two extremes is Tesla. The fact that it’s a fully electric vehicle makes the Tesla Model S a hard sell to many, as does its roughly $70,000 base price. Nevertheless, more than 90,000 consumers worldwide have purchased a Model S, and a few—six to be exact—were able to put down the six figures required to take ownership of the first Model X’s released in September. Owners of both models began
Photos teslamotors.com
Tesla Model X
finding a surprise addition to their feature sets in October: about 40,000 Teslas could now effectively drive themselves. Sort of. Technically, they only became semiautonomous through a new feature dubbed “Autopilot.” The still-in-beta feature can read lane lines and sense other cars. This data allows Autopilot to steer on its own, maintain a safe speed and even change lanes when drivers flick their signals. Tesla CEO Elon Musk insists that someone be in the driver’s seat at all times with at least one hand on the wheel or their palms turned upwards and fingertips touching it. “We tell drivers to keep their hands on the wheel just in case, to exercise caution in the beginning,” Musk said at an October press event. “Over time, long term, you won’t have to keep your hands on the wheel—we explicitly describe this as beta.” ––––––––––––––––––––––––––
SAFETY FIRST You might be surprised, and perhaps a little unnerved, to know that there are cars driving themselves on public US roads right this very moment. After all, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) reports that vehicular crashes are the leading cause of death among Americans aged 1-34. The DOT’s most recent accident data report from 2013 found that there were 5,615,000 accidents in 2012, and those resulted in 33,561 fatalities. Considering those frightening numbers and the fact that we can’t even rely on Google and Apple to provide 100 percent accurate directions at all times, how can we trust tech and auto companies to put self-driving cars on the roads for us?
For starters, there’s the fact that computers are capable of being more technically sound drivers than human beings. Computers are more than capable of maintaining an
precious few creature comforts and somehow manage to outdo even Daimler’s line of smart cars to become perhaps the most econoboxlooking vehicles on the road today. But what they lack in style and luxury, the prototypes more than make up for in autonomous technology and safety. “In the six years of our project, we’ve been involved in 12 minor accidents during more than 1.8 million miles of autonomous and manual driving combined,” Google reported last spring. “Not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident.” That Google’s self-driving tech has not caused an accident in what it says is approximately equal to the distance a typical American drives over a 75-year period is extraordinarily impressive. The car insurance
GOOGLE’S SELF-DRIVING TECH HAS NOT CAUSED AN ACCIDENT IN WHAT IT SAYS IS APPROXIMATELY EQUAL TO THE DISTANCE A TYPICAL AMERICAN DRIVES OVER A 75-YEAR PERIOD. encyclopedic knowledge of the rules of the road—they can be updated constantly with new data and rule changes—and they won’t ever forget them. Even if you’re the type who’s motivated enough to occasionally crack open a DMV manual for a refresher course—and let’s be honest, you’re almost certainly not—you won’t soak up every single word, and you will forget some of what you do learn over time. Computers also obviously never operate under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Nor do they get tired or distracted. The computer systems that power self-driving cars aren’t simultaneously sending text messages or posting to Facebook. They’re also not reading books or playing trumpets, which are actual things Google’s “safety drivers” have witnessed human drivers doing on the road while drifting in and out of lanes. Google’s fleet is a mix of old Lexus SUVs retrofitted with autonomous driving tech and purpose-built self-driving cars. The latter have
industry estimated in 2011 that drivers report an accident, roughly, every 18 years. Those accidents are all caused by human beings, and that doesn’t even take into account the many fender benders that go unreported every year. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––
RULES OF THE ROAD Even with their strict computational logic and staunch safety record, self-driving cars still present some safety concerns. Recognizing this, Google has been in touch with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration since very early in its program. Elon Musk, meanwhile, has been expressing his concerns that the current lack of clear federal regulations could hold up the commercial release of fully autonomous vehicles until 2022 or 2023. A handful of individual states have put laws in place regulating how self-driving cars are tested and sold. They’re all over the map,
Elon Musk said on a November Tesla quarterly earnings call that “we’re very aware of many accidents that were prevented by Autopilot and not aware of any that were caused by Autopilot.”
Musk
Musk isn’t completely happy with what drivers have been doing with the semiautonomous feature, though. Tesla has noticed “some fairly crazy videos” popping up on YouTube in which drivers misuse Autopilot. In response, he promised that “additional constraints” are on their way to put a stop to the dangerous stunts he’s seen. 51
Google’s cars are safe—maybe too safe. They’re programmed to follow the letter of the law and always err on the side of safety. The New York Times recently reported that back in 2009, one Google-mobile struggled to get through an intersection with a fourway stop. The problem? Its sensors forced it to continually wait for humans to come to a full stop to allow it to proceed. They didn’t. The drivers kept slowly creeping forward, and Google’s robotic driving system just kept waiting. Google has made continual tweaks to account for such instances, but its cars aren’t ever going to take liberties with the law like people do. “It’s always going to follow the rules, I mean, almost to a point where human drivers who get in the car and [sic] are like, ‘Why is the car doing that?’” Google safety driver Tom Supple told the Times. He’s not the only one wondering why Google’s cars have been doing what they’re doing. In early November a Mountain View police officer spotted one of the autonomous compacts holding up traffic while moving at just 24 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone. The prototypes are speed capped at 25 mph for safety reasons.
GOOGLE IS CLEARLY CLOSER TO FULL AUTONOMOUS DRIVING THAN ANY AUTO COMPANY. ITS PROTOTYPES DON’T HAVE STEERING WHEELS, JUST “GO” BUTTONS. though, with Florida’s official regulation reading that it “does not prohibit or specifically regulate” them, while Nevada requires special licenses and California allows testing but not consumer usage. For its part, the industry is mostly in favor of regulation. “It’s good to have clear regulations on what to do to test those systems safely,” Audi engineer Daniel Lipinski, who helped develop the German manufacturer’s take on the selfdriving car, recently told Wired. Whereas Tesla has already pushed its semiautonomous update to drivers’ vehicles, Audi is still strictly in a testing phase. A modified Audi A7 that still has a steering wheel, like semi-autonomous Teslas, was able to drive itself from LA to Las Vegas, albeit through highway driving. The lack of stop signs, traffic lights, turns, crosswalks and other challenges on highways makes them the most ideal live locations to experiment with vehicular autonomy. Tesla stresses that its technology is designed only for freeway and highway driving. As a
precaution, it’s included the ability for its cars to automatically stop and turn on their hazard lights on if drivers don’t take over manually when prompted in the event that the car senses them zoning out or falling asleep. Pushing such technology out overnight through a surprise firmware update is a bold move. Google, however, isn’t content with partial self-driving. While the tech behemoth has yet to decide on whether to mass produce its own cars or sell its software to existing auto makers, Google is clearly closer to full autonomous driving than any auto company. Its prototypes don’t have steering wheels, just “Go” buttons, and they’re already navigating the dangers of city streets in addition to highways. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––
YOU HAVE ARRIVED AT YOUR DESTINATION With several competing ideologies in play,
experts believe early federal regulations could be driven largely by whose technology makes it to market first. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx has said he doesn’t want to hold up the advancement of the innovative tech. But he’s also conceded that it’s difficult for his agency to stay on top of the latest developments and put appropriate federal regulations in place by the time fully selfdriven vehicles are ready to be mass produced and sold. It will likely be decades until self-driving cars completely replace human drivers, but that means Foxx faces a short-term quagmire. He needs more data on how self-driving cars perform while sharing the road with human drivers, but he’s reticent to allow too many autonomous vehicles onto the road without having that data. If the government waits too much longer to put rules in place, though, it could hold up progress. Google, Nissan and Mercedes are targeting 2020 for full autonomy, and Elon Musk wants to beat all three, promising to deliver the feature in 2018. So it shouldn’t be long now until you’ll have to stop directing your road rage at other drivers, though you might want to restrain yourself before beeping and yelling at the software zipping past you in the left lane on the highway—it’s likely a better driver than you are! n
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Hitting New Heights BY JAN L. APPLE
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Under Frank Giordano’s leadership the Philly POPS Orchestra is Reaching a New Crescendo
Encore! Encore! It’s what audiences have been shouting since the Philly POPS rolled out an entirely new brand of programming over the past two seasons. “Sinatra: A Centennial Celebration” (a salute to Frank), the 2015/2016 season opener in October, performed to a sellout crowd, adding a fourth concert for the first time in over a decade. During that memorable weekend, Deana Martin (daughter of Dean) and her band wooed the audience in a special solo show. And The Prime Rib restaurant in Center City was transformed into the 500 Club, the former Atlantic City stomping ground of such “Rat Pack” members as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. These exhilarating events represent just a fraction of the buzz that’s been generated over this official POPS orchestra of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Ticket sales are 43 percent ahead of what they were last season; subscriptions are up by 35 percent and the Christmas Spectacular— December 4 through 22—is fast following suit, expected to draw an audience of 20,000 strong.
from a merger with The Philadelphia Orchestra. In July 2012, he also became CEO. The Philadelphia Orchestra had filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and, since the two were connected yet maintained their own 501(c) 3 statuses, Encore Series, Inc., the parent company of The Philly POPS, was technically part of that bankruptcy and had to forge a fresh start. The original intent of the merger, Giordano explains, was to eliminate redundancies and share administrative tasks and fund-raising. Suffice it to say, the merger was not a fruitful one. he Philly POPS was founded in 1979 by the late impresario Moe Septee. Renowned pianist Peter Nero became the conductor that same year and remained with the POPS until 2012. Since July 2013, the orchestra has been under the watchful eye and creative, whimsical talents of Music Director/Conductor Michael Krajewski. The Philly POPS now reaches 11 city schools and an array of venues, such as Longwood Gardens, Wildwood and Avery
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Now in its 37th season, the Philly POPS is showcasing its magic in what is being described as a dramatic re-emergence. Leading the re-emergence, in unison with an unwavering Board of Directors, is President and CEO Frank Giordano of Moorestown, NJ. In April 2011, Giordano—a board member since 2009—was asked to become president of the organization that had recently separated
Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Innovative programming includes a Salute Series with five festive concerts coinciding with American holidays and celebrating service to our country, Christmas in July, Disney in Concert and appearances with world-class guest artists like
Frank Giordano accepting the Philadelphia Music Alliance Platinum Award
Andrea Bocelli. The POPS even performed for Pope Francis at Independence Mall in late September. Now in its 37th season, the Philly POPS is showcasing its magic in what is being described as a dramatic re-emergence. The orchestra is spreading its wings far beyond its home residence at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. “This year, we will do 10 Christmas shows,” beamed Giordano. Last year, there were nine. The additional evening on December 4, he emphasizes, is about giving back. “We give 2,000 tickets away to the military and first responders—police and firefighters. We have 300 performers on stage at one time: our 65-piece orchestra, the Philadelphia Boys Choir, St. Thomas Episcopal Gospel Choir, Philly POPS 55
Festival Chorus and [renowned] organist Peter Richard Conte.” The Philly POPS, Giordano underscores, is the largest standalone POPS orchestra in the United States. Known for its wide-ranging repertoire, encompassing Revolutionary War time marches, colonial classics, Broadway show tunes and pop chart hits, the organization has taken on a new life—hitting the streets with its programs, reaching audiences like never before. In fact, requests continue flowing in to “take their show on the road.” Talking candidly about the rebranding and novel programming, Giordano couldn’t be more pleased with the community’s response. He’s thrilled to bring cheer not just at the holidays, but in July as well—referring to the Christmas in July program. “We truly made it Christmas because I gave away 100 bicycles to the children of police and firefighters,” said Giordano, passionate about the cause and the Philly POPS’ revival.
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t is no wonder that the man was presented with the Philadelphia Music Alliance Platinum Award on October 26 during the Walk of Fame Induction Ceremonies and Gala. Giordano was selected for this award because of his outstanding contribution to the music scene and work with the Philly POPS and Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. Giordano proudly
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Michael Krajewski, Music Director and Conductor of The Philly POPS
accepted the plaque—now adorning the lobby wall in the POPS’ Center City office—alongside such musical icons as Andrea McArdle, The Tramps and The Roots. The award is platinum, Giordano explains, as opposed to bronze, because he is not a musician. “Frank is a visionary,” said Sharla Feldscher of Voorhees, NJ, president of Sharla Feldscher Public Relations. “It seems like everything he gets involved with turns to success. There is no other option [except success] for Frank.” She cited his pivotal role as well in the revitalization of The Union League of Philadelphia, of which he is past president.
“I’ve gone from the trailer business to show business,” stated Giordano, sharing glimpses of his business acumen and longtime commitment to numerous charitable causes. “My background is in the trailer rental business [referring to his family-owned—since 1949—Atlantic Trailer Leasing Corporation]. It’s located in Tabernacle, NJ.” Giordano grew the company into a national success story: “When I started college, there were two trailers. When I graduated four years later, there were 800 trailers.” A graduate of Rutgers University-Camden and a South Jersey resident since age six (born
The Philly POPS orchestra
in South Philly), Giordano, who turned 65 on November 3, is quick to point out his deep bonds to both sides of the river, personally and professionally. “November 3 is also the 50th anniversary of the first date with my wife, Dottie,” he said. “We went to the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, NJ to see The Supremes.” His ties to his alma maters also remain strong. A few years ago, the Giordanos, graduates of Cherry Hill High School West, participated in Dancing with the Cherry Hill Stars, a fund-raiser for the district’s education foundation. And in early November, Giordano shared his family business’ success story and the turnaround of the Philly POPS with RutgersCamden students. He also made a donation to the School of Business to create the Frank and Dorothy Giordano Endowed Scholarship. The responsibility-based scholarship provides financial support to students based on academic merit and financial need. Giordano serves on multiple boards, including Rowan University, Goodwill Industries, Coriell Institute for Medical Research, Studio Incamminati and The Mann Center for the Performing Arts. In taking the helm at the Philly POPS, Giordano says his first order of business was to hire a conductor. Working closely with Board Chair Salvatore DeBunda, Esq.; Vice Chair Gary Frank, J.D.; and Executive Vice President/COO Louis Scaglione, the group initially selected composer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch. Shortly after signing the contract, Hamlisch passed away unexpectedly. He had previously told Giordano that Michael Krajewski was one of the best programmers in the industry. ”I recognized that we needed fresh programming,” remembered Giordano. According to DeBunda: “The maestro we brought in, Michael Krajewski, really was the right choice. We didn’t know it at the time; we were very lucky. He’s been tremendous for us in terms of the growth of our audience. Because of his skill and personality, it’s really captured the people who come out to see us.” The POPS orchestra, Giordano explains, consists of immensely talented musicians. Not 58
only do they play some 30 concerts a year for the POPS, many also perform for the ballet or opera. Others are teachers throughout the region at colleges such as University of the Arts, Rowan University, Temple University and West Chester University. “Frank likes challenges,” said DeBunda. “I’m the same way. Frank puts a lot of effort into making things that aren’t successful into successful ventures. He is certainly the inspirational leader, the guy that got everyone excited because he had so much energy. He’s been the innovative person with the military work and creative programming. Frank is out there every day motivating staff, subscribers and donors.” DeBunda emphasizes that the Philly POPS
is now being run with more of a business model, rather than trying to rely solely on grants and donations. And they’re hoping to expand beyond the Mid-Atlantic region into a national spotlight. “The turnaround has been a magnificent work in progress,” said Gary Frank, crediting a group effort in creating a unified vision, with Michael Krajewski at the forefront of the renaissance. “I am so proud and honored to be part of it.” Today, the Philly POPS reaches an audience of about 81,000 annually. Giordano attributes this success story to teamwork and continual innovations: “It’s our programming, our marketing, the staff that I’ve been able to put together. “We can bring all the good business practices and financial discipline, but without a good product, people only come once.” When you combine the talents of the conductor and orchestra with the right blend of public relations, marketing and social media, it all comes together as “a recipe for success.” “I’m in a fun business,” said Giordano. “I go to the concerts. I watch the people applaud. All the seats are full. It’s exhilarating to come to work every day.” n For a schedule of events or more information, visit www.phillypops.com.
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PROFILE
Philadelphia’s Legendary Amateur
JaySigel
BY MIKE KERN
Jay Sigel has never lived his life, or pursued his dreams, thinking about the what-ifs. Of course, the irony of his story is that he might never have become who or what he is had fate not intervened. “In 1963 I was told things happen for a reason, and I tried to accept that,” he recalled. “But you learn that it really is true, because it’s easy for me to say that now.” Sigel was a sophomore at Wake Forest that year when he accidently put his right hand through a glass dormitory door. He ruptured his ulnar nerve, which left him with 65 percent strength in that hand. It sidelined him for 11 months and derailed his plans for trying to play on the PGA Tour. But there was another side to the journey. One that was only made possible by that deflating setback. “I wouldn’t have graduated from college,” Sigel said. “My wife [Betty], I wouldn’t have met her. I would have turned pro. Back then, the money wasn’t what it is today. It was probably more intelligent to remain an amateur. Little did I know. I wouldn’t have had a degree. So if I’d failed as a pro, what then? “You think about all of that. So it was truly a blessing. We got married, had some children, my [insurance] business got better, I started to mature. And my golf got better as my business got better. That was the beginning. Of course my hand still hurt like hell. But no amount of money could replace any of that. So there’s no need to go back and wonder. It’s just been an incredible ride from any perspective you could possibly imagine.” The best golfer the Philadelphia area’s ever produced is also one of the best amateurs to play the game. And then he topped it off by taking the ultimate mulligan and competing on what was then called the Senior Tour, where he was Rookie of the Year in 1994 and won the Tour Championship two years later. Among his eight Senior victories was the 1998 Bell Atlantic Classic right here at Hartefeld National (Avondale, PA). “That is clearly right at the top [of my highlight list],” Sigel said. “It was unbelievable. I had a buddy who followed me around the first round, Tom Elliott, Jumbo’s [the legendary Villanova track coach] son. I didn’t play very well. I whiffed one in the high grass. He told me, ‘Why don’t you do this or that? I don’t see you finishing [your swing] high enough. It’s not as big, almost like you’re tired.’ So I tried to make a bigger arc. I hit it much better, much higher, and I shot that [second-round 62, with a 27 on the front nine], which I attribute to him.” After leading by five with eight holes left, Sigel beat Jose Maria Canizares, a four-time European Ryder Cupper, by rolling in a seven-foot birdie putt on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff. “My daughter [Jennifer] was the assistant tournament director,” Sigel said. “She was asked [on Saturday], ‘If your dad wins, would you present the trophy?’ Oh, my gosh. She never slept that night. She was physically ill from emotion. It couldn’t have happened any better. And I got the trophy from her. What a moment. There are things you never forget.”
“ …we started working with the inner-city kids [with golf]. It’s a lot of work, but that’s what it’s all about. And when you see what gets done, it’s pretty cool to be a part of that.” requesting the autograph. We’re so lucky to be in the position we are. It’s all about attitude. For me, it would be hard to stop.” Maybe that’s why he’s so involved in the First Tee, and before that what was the Greater Philadelphia Scholastic Golf Association. Or why the clubhouse at Franklin D. Roosevelt Golf Course in South Philly has his name on it. Or why he runs a golf tournament at his home course, Aronimink, which has raised millions of dollars for cancer research at the University of Pennsylvania. It’s the disease that took his father’s life some three decades ago. But he does it for more than that.
Photo Golf Association of Philadelphia
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ike those two U.S. Amateurs, three U.S. Mid-Ams, a British Amateur, the two Philly Ams, six Philly Opens and three Pennsylvania Opens. That sure is a lifetime’s worth of memories, especially for somebody who had no idea what his future held when he got injured. Funny how the world spins sometimes. “We had our first pregnancy, and my wife is having twins,” Sigel said. “This was 1970. On December 29th we went in for the delivery. She delivered twin boys, which weren’t diagnosed. They were stillborn…. We were devastated. But there was nothing anyone could have done. “Two years later, my wife delivers our first child [Jennifer] on the same day. Now we decided to have another. In ‘74 she goes into labor on the 29th and delivers [Amy] on the 30th. And we have a third daughter [four years after that], born on January 3rd I mean, really? “And people will say to us, to me, in front of our daughters or not, who don’t know anything about the twins we lost, ‘Aren’t you sorry you didn’t have [any] boys?’ And I’ll say, ‘Are you [kidding] me? Which daughter would we not have had?’ Holy cow. It’s wonderful, in an amazing way. Why would you change that? Talk about irony.” Sigel is a proud man, whether it comes to his many accomplishments or his family or that fact that he’s always been and always will be one of us. That’s extremely important to him. Maybe that explains why he’s been so willing to give back to the community that just as proudly claims him as one of his sport’s most engaging ambassadors. “It’s almost embarrassing,” Sigel said about the many accolades he’s received throughout his career. “People have been good to me, especially the sports writers. I can never thank them enough. It’s been a lot of fun to get to know them. “I lend my time for a golf event, a speaking event, whatever. I think it’s a big deal. Because so much has come my way and all that. How can I not be there when somebody needs me? What else am I going to do? You don’t say no unless there’s a really good reason. I’m at a point where you almost can’t say no. “I told a few guys on the Tour when they would be asked for an autograph and they’d brush them off, ‘You just wait until people stop asking you. See how you feel then.’ I’d say that right in front of the person who’s
Jay Sigel was inducted into the Golf Association of Philadelphia Hall of Fame in 2008
“The success stories are incredible,” Sigel said. “You can see that it’s for real, that you can step in and really help. One of our researchers uncovered a gene that fights prostate cancer. It’s staggering, all the good people can do if they pull together.... “When we started working with the inner-city kids [with golf], we all wanted to give something back. Now it’s in eight counties. That’s over 3,000 square miles. The business plan for the next few years is very impressive. It’s a lot of work, but that’s what it’s all about. And when you see what gets done, it’s pretty cool to be a part of that. But it’s not just me. Like anything else, it’s a team thing.”
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t didn’t have to be like this. Or maybe, knowing the man, it couldn’t have evolved any other way. He’ll never know what might have happened had he joined the PGA Tour in the 1960s. Maybe he would have made a name for himself on that stage as well, as he did later on as a Senior. But we do know he wouldn’t have turned into one of the great amateurs. And how many can say that? “Absolutely,” Sigel agreed. “I’ll ask my kids, ‘Ever wonder why you’re you and not somebody else? How you’re here and why?’ Success comes in all different ways. It can be redefined and reframed. It’s not always money. It’s helping out, being there for someone, etc. Here’s a person who’s struggling. You spend a few minutes with them and see what the issue is. So what can I do? By the way, do you know such and such? I get a dozen calls, mostly from people who have cancer, and with my clout and relationships, I have access [to help] within hours. In the health-care industry today, it’s all about access. To the right people, a second opinion to treatment. You hear people say, ‘I 63
couldn’t get in for six weeks.’ That’s not good. Maybe I can speed that up. And that’s thrilling. “At my [charity] event, we had people come out of the audience and ask if they could say a few words about how their life was saved because of the awareness with that kind of cancer. Or whatever. They thank us as a committee, and the folks at Penn for their assistance. Believe me, it’s better than a trophy.” And if anyone should know, it’s him. Yes, it’s been some life. Just not the one he probably figured on experiencing way back when. Didn’t make it any less rewarding. You could even say it might have been the best thing that ever could have happened to him. “At the time it was the biggest shock,” Sigel said. “You always want to be able to say that you’re not a quitter. I about killed myself, but I did graduate. That started a pattern of potential success. “First, though, I was depressed. I gained a lot of weight. I had my arm in a goofy cast. I putted one-handed for an entire summer. It wasn’t about winning golf tournaments. It was about playing without pain. I had to look forward to something. And gradually it just improved.... My cup is full, if you know what I’m saying.” And maybe no one appreciates all that he has more. “I don’t think people understand amateur golf,” Sigel acknowledged. “It’s difficult to be in business and be competitive as a golfer, have a family that’s seemingly normal and do other activities. I’m not shooting my horn. Did you see the guy that won the Mid-Am? He has two young children, and he and his wife set up a fundraising thing on the internet for his expenses to go to the Masters. Back in the day, as my wife reminded me, I had an exemption to the British Open. I didn’t take it. I didn’t have the money [to go].... “But I’d do it all over again. I think it turned out pretty good.” n
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THE
FORGOTTEN
HERO BY CHRIS GIBBONS
A
LTHOUGH IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO, Paul Sweeney still remembers that momentous evening well. On July 28, 1995, the Marine Barracks outdoor facility in Washington, D.C. was filled to capacity as the attendees patiently waited for the awards ceremony to begin. Dignitaries in the audience included former Marine aviator, astronaut and United States senator, John Glenn, Jr. A Marine announcer asked for everyone’s attention. The guests quieted. “Lieutenant Edward Seeburger, center walk,” the announcer said. The Marine Corps band’s drums beat a military cadence and bugles echoed across the barracks. All eyes then shifted to a gray-haired man in his early 70’s, sharply dressed in a navy blue suit, as he stood and proudly walked towards the center stage with a noticeable limp, the result of an old war injury. Tears filled the eyes of his family members as they watched Seeburger approach the stage where Marine Commandant Charles C. Krulak waited to present the graduate of Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High School with the prestigious Navy Cross—only one grade below the Congressional Medal of Honor. “It was quite a moment to see,” See-
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Lt. Edward
Seeburger
burger’s son-in-law Paul Sweeney told me recently. But when you consider what Edward Seeburger did during the Korean War’s Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, it is hard to believe that this award was overlooked and nearly forgotten. n December 2, 1950, First Lieutenant Edward Seeburger, a veteran of WWII, was leading the remains of his Dog Company Unit as they desperately fought their way south to reach the U.S.-held Korean town of Hagaru. Of the 220 Marines originally in his company, only about 20 were still fit to
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that plummeted to minus 20. Seeburger was near the lone tank at the front of the convoy when it was suddenly attacked by well-positioned Chinese troops with small arms, automatic weapons, rockets and mortars. “One minute there was no action, and then there was artillery and mortar fire,” Seeburger said in a 1995 Philadelphia Inquirer article. ‘’We couldn’t move. Everybody stopped.” The Marines took cover, but the American tank gunners could not see where the enemy fire was coming from. The convoy was being decimated. Seeburger knew that he had to do something, or he and his men would die on
SUDDENLY, A BULLET TORE INTO HIS RIGHT KNEE, KNOCKING HIM TO THE GROUND. THE SOLDIERS ADVISED HIM TO GO BACK WITH THE OTHER WOUNDED, BUT SEEBURGER REFUSED. fight, as the rest were either dead or wounded. Out of seven officers, only Seeburger remained. The men were not only fighting the enemy soldiers, but the weather as well. The snow impeded their progress in temperatures
the frozen Korean hills. He climbed on top of the lead tank so that he could locate the enemy positions, exposing himself to the enemy fire. “Somebody had to give them some direction,” he said in the article. “We were being hit
Edward “Bud” Seeburgfrom both sides and the front. I told them to open up with their er from the R.C.H.S. Class of weaponry to help our men out.” 1940 proudly received the Navy Seeburger’s direction was Cross that night in 1995, and it working as the tank’s guns bealso coincided with the formal dedication that day of the new gan to neutralize the enemy poKorean War Veterans Memorial sitions. Suddenly, a bullet tore in Washington, D.C. How fitinto his right knee, knocking him to the ground. The soldiers ting it was that on the day that advised him to go back with the the “Forgotten War” was finally other wounded, but Seeburger recognized, one of its forgotten Seeburger receiving his refused. The official Navy Cross heroes was finally honored as Navy Cross medal citation reveals what happened well. Sweeney told me that Seenext: “With well-entrenched burger never really talked about machine guns defending a roadblock to the that night in Korea until he received the award. front, and with his ranks depleted by eight “It couldn’t have been in a better setting,” Seefurther casualties, and he himself painfully burger said in a 1995 Philadelphia Daily News wounded and unable to walk, he staunchly article. “It was quite an honor. My daughter refused evacuation, and directed his men in and grandkids are able to see me get this award an enfilade movement which wiped out the whereas, 45 years ago, they would not have obstruction and enabled the entire column to been around for this… it’s amazing to me.” move forward. By his great personal valor and Seeburger worked as a park police officer, dauntless perseverance in the face of almost and then later as an engraver for 32 years at certain death, First Lieutenant Seeburger saved Becks Engraving Co. After retiring, he and his the lives of many Marines…” wife moved to Ocean City, N.J., and he worked For his actions, Seeburger was immediately part-time for the Claridge Casino in Atlantic recommended for the Navy Cross by his Major, City. He died in 2007 at the age of 85. James Lawrence. However, unknown to Law rence, the paperwork was destroyed when a hiladelphia’s Roman Catholic High regimental building burned down. Lawrence School, founded in 1890, is still thriving long assumed Seeburger received the award today. In one of the classrooms at the but was stunned to learn over 40 years later historic school are various plaques honoring that Seeburger never received it. Lawrence alumni who distinguished themselves in battle, then spoke to Navy officials and his recomand one of those plaques bears the remarkable story of Edward Seeburger. They serve as a mendation was approved.
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Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High School was founded in 1890
reminder to the students of the proud legacy of their school, which is the only Philadelphia Archdiocesan high school, and one of the few in the country, whose alumni have served in the Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 150 alumni have given their lives in these conflicts. On March 8th of this year, several of these veteran alumni were honored during Roman’s 125-Year Anniversary celebratory banquet, where the school formally recognized Roman’s “125 Persons of Distinction.” The Seeburger family was there to accept the award on behalf of their father. Roman’s Alumni Association felt that it was important to remember and recognize men like Edward Seeburger, whose actions and achievements are so remarkable that they reveal, not only to fellow alumni, but to the rest of our country as well, those quality characteristics that Roman has always strived to instill in its students. n
PROMOTION
Balance
bal·ance/´bal( )ns/ e
finding the right
noun 1. a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.
balance verb 2. keep or put (something) in a steady position so that it does not fall.
A Well (Brain) Balanced Child
What uncharacteristic trait do billionaire Richard Branson, NFL’s Terry Bradshaw and the iconic Cher have in common? Surprisingly, these successful and highly accomplished people all have a form of autism, dyslexia or other learning disability. According to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 in 88 American children are identified with a form of autism—a ten-fold increase since the 1970s. To put that in perspective, more children are diagnosed with autism each year than with juvenile diabetes, AIDS or cancer combined. Grim statistics? Yes, and researchers are not 100% sure what the root cause is behind the continuing increase in these conditions. However, studies show that early assessment and modification programs designed to resolve behavioral and academic issues have become the proverbial knight in shining armor for children who struggle academically and/or socially. Brain Balance Achievement Centers, the “brain” child of Dr. Robert Melillo, who started his research in the 1990s, believes in an inte-
BY MOLLY GOLUBCOW
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grated approach to overcoming the symptoms of childhood learning and developmental issues using a highly effective, drug-free program (emphasis on drug-free). Today, with over 60 centers located across the country, Brain Balance stands behind their mission to help “… each child reach their greatest physical, mental, social and academic potential.” The Cherry Hill, NJ Brain Balance Center provides the specialized assessment programs needed for a child’s individual needs. Dr. Joe Schneider, founder of two centers and former colleague of Dr. Melillo, believed so much in the concept that he decided to combine his background in functional neurology with the Brain Balance program. Schneider explains, “When I saw Dr. Melillo open Brain Balance Achievement Centers, I knew I wanted to get involved. At Brain Balance, I am able to apply the applications I learned in functional neurology to treat kids with behavioral, academic and social challenges. By opening my own Brain Balance Centers, I am proud to be able to access and help a wide range of children.”
“I Hate School, I Hate My Life…” If your child acts out to the point where he or she is doing poorly in school and/or in social settings, balancing your child’s brain on the teeter-totter of life and learning may be
Dr. Joe Schneider
needed. Red flags on the field indicating distress may include inconsistent use of the right or left hand; late or skipped crawling, walking or speaking; poor sensory motor skills and delayed learning (letters, number identification, color identification). So, what needs to be done if a child displays these signs? The staff at Brain Balance feel it is
critical to find the root cause of a child’s particular strengths and weaknesses. After going through a free consultation, an assessment is scheduled to identify any “hemispheric weaknesses” in the child’s brain evaluating reflexes, sensory perception and processing, sensory motor skills and awareness, as well as cognitive skills and behavior. The assessment, individualized to each child and age-based, consists of sensory/motor and cognitive tests in more than 900 functions. In the sensory arena, hands-on tests identify areas of a child’s brain that have not matured properly, which can lead to an imbalance—literally and figuratively (e.g., visual processing, auditory processing, sense of smell, sense of touch, balance, coordination and timing). For example, children with an imbalance in their brain and who have some learning or behavioral issue may also have a poorly coordinated motor system making them uncoordinated and clumsy. The cognitive exam, a standardized academic achievement test, measures 120 different core academic skills in reading, math and oral expression. Over the course of the test, it becomes clear which types of academic skills are weak and highlights the corresponding areas of the brain that are affected. The tests are designed with children in mind. In fact, kids report back that they actually enjoy the tests and think they are “fun.”
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In addition to sensory and cognitive evaluations, Brain Balance Centers believe in the “whole-child” approach and address nutritional needs. Based on years of research and successful treatment of children struggling with learning challenges, Brain Balance emphasizes that eating right and avoiding foods that can cause reactions (e.g., gluten, sugar and others), clearly makes a difference in helping a child’s brain and body function at their best. According to Dr. Schneider, “These food sensitivities, or delayed food reactions, can last for one to two days after a child eats a food, causing a wide range of issues with behavior, bowels, skin and sleep. By eliminating these reactive foods, we can help solve another issue at the core of children’s daily struggles.”
Problem Identified… Now what?
After completing the complimentary consultation, parents can expect to walk away with a greater understanding of their child’s needs based on the brain and the brain’s neuroplasticity (ability to change). In addition, and most importantly, parents receive an action plan for how to reduce or eliminate a child’s problems and give him or her long-term academic and social improvements. The program (one hour, three days per week) consists of intense, multi-
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sensory exercises that stimulate auditory, smell, tactile, visual and cognitive processing. Dr Schneider explains the process, “Specific exercises restore balance to the weaker hemisphere of the brain. During the course of a program, a child’s brain will make its way up the steps of natural development in a succinct order. As a result, the child’s brain matures and improvements are seen academically, socially and behaviorally.” What can parents expect to see after a child goes through a Brain Balance program? First and foremost, a happier child—less frustration at home, more confidence and coordination in athletics, improved communication and relationship building and an increase in reading levels. One mother who enrolled her son in the Brain Balance program noticed early on a change in her son’s behavior saying, “All I know is I tried dozens of different programs for my son. I saw very little results. After only a few weeks at Brain Balance, I see results. That’s what matters! Results matter.”
Success Can be Measured Parents and teachers see positive changes in children once they begin the program. For example, one parent noted that her daughter was reading books on her own, and enjoying them—for the first time in her life. The
examples of successes are numerous. Last year alone, Dr. Schneider’s Brain Balance Centers helped over 100 children improve their behavior and academic problems—in many cases with game-changing results. The staff at Brain Balance work their magic (actually neurological and child development theories) to help a child. The proof is always in the pudding—knowing and seeing that a child is happier and more “balanced” in life and school. The greatest success for a teacher or counselor is to see his or her student excel and be able to teach and help others. Dr. Schneider feels all of the children that go through the program are a “success.” One of his proudest moments was when one of the Brain Balance families was so moved by the improvements their son made, they decided to open their own Brain Balance Center. Dr. Schneider explains, “The mom, an educator, was homeschooling her son, and realized his reading was not improving as a typical second grader’s should. After opening their own center, our efforts are able to be paid forward, because in turn they have also changed the lives of more families. We couldn’t be happier.” Seems like those are two words equate to Brain Balance Center results—“happier” and “balanced.” Who could ask for more in life? n
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PROMOTION
CONFIRMING WORST SUSPICIONS Hire a forensic expert to find hidden assets
W
hen a client voiced strong suspicions that her soon-to-be exhusband was hiding assets, her attorney investigated the claim but found nothing amiss. However, he hired a forensic accounting expert to help ensure his client would receive an equitable share of the marital estate. The expert turned up a trunkload of hidden treasure — undeclared cash income and property “stashed” under the names of the husband’s mother and siblings. Deceptive spouses — and other parties to litigation — often are experts at hiding assets. To protect your client from such scam artists, you’ll need your own expert.
GATHERING DATA
To begin their search for hidden assets, financial experts request information and records relating to the spouse’s employment and financial holdings. Details about all sources of income (including pending litigation and insurance settlements), and all banks, brokerage firms and other financial institutions where the spouse has held accounts, are critical. Experts also need to know about the spouse’s lifestyle and personal spending habits, as well as his or her personal and business relationships. The individual could be funneling income or assets to family members, friends and business associates. Tax returns can be a particularly rich source of information. Itemized deductions listed on Schedule A, for example, may suggest that the spouse is living beyond his or her apparent means, in turn raising the possibility of hidden assets. It’s important to investigate whether the deductions for property taxes, mortgage interest and charitable giving are proportionate to reported income.
METHODS THAT WORK
Experts use one or more of several methods to ferret out assets: • Net worth. The spouse’s net worth (assets less liabilities) at the beginning of a period is compared with the ending net worth. Information about assets might be accessed through bank and brokerage records, tax returns, and credit applications. • Expenditure. This strategy is deployed by matching the spouse’s total personal expenditures during a period of time — using evidence from bank statements and canceled checks — against the available sources of funds. These sources can include salary, loans, gifts, inheritances and cash on hand at the beginning of the period. • Bank deposits. This method assumes that money is either spent or deposited. Thus, net deposits (deposits less transfers and re-deposits) are added to cash
expenditures to calculate total receipts. Funds from known sources are then deducted to calculate the total funds from unknown sources.
BUSINESS OWNERS POSE PARTICULAR CHALLENGES
If the suspected scammer is a business owner, he or she may try to use the company to mask assets and income. A deceptive spouse, for example, may use business funds to purchase personal assets, such as cars and real estate, or to cover personal expenses, such as mobile phone bills, insurance premiums or club membership dues. All of these expenditures can reduce the business’s net income, thereby reducing its value as a marital asset. The business also could have unreported income. A forensic accounting expert will scrutinize: • Actual expenses, • Associated expected sales, • Accounts receivable, • Journal entry write-offs, • Internal controls (and the owner’s ability to override them), and • Expected profitability. Finally, an expert will search for related-party transactions. These are important because they can indicate the owner’s attempts to divert income from the business.
WHAT CLIENTS DESERVE
No matter how well intentioned, clients and attorneys are unlikely to be able to find all of a deceptive spouse’s hidden assets or income on their own. Forensic accountants, on the other hand, are trained to gather relevant data, scour it for anomalies and prove that the opposing party is being dishonest. This is the kind of expertise your client deserves.
Cordua, Pastore & Associates is a boutique firm providing services to small and medium sized businesses. The mission of the firm is to provide, in addition to the highest quality accounting, tax and auditing services, a diversified range of professional services to help clients enhance their overall operations, prosper and achieve the goals they set out to accomplish.
www.corduapastore.com
ADVERTISE WITH US contact: ken@jerseymanmagazine.com 74
THE
Entrepreneur Coach by John Hopkins
inspireme@inspiritgrowth.com
A Business Owner’s Greatest Assets
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HE GREAT ASSETS OF THE BUSINESS. In looking to the value of our business we turn to the financial statements. Lenders, investors, owners, financial planners and others look to the financial performance of the business both in terms of changes to the balance sheet and the income statement. This is conventional wisdom and the traditional approach. It works. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Tax Accounting Principles drive the business performance presentation. What lies beneath the financial balance sheet and acts as the catalyst of the financial performance however, is what I call the “Value Creation Balance Sheet.” What if I were to ask you to define what creates the value of the business that is financially reported? Would you consider the “assets” on your Value Creation Balance Sheet to include: the company’s products and/or services, people, the customer/ client list, the intellectual capital, the front stage revenue generating processes, the repeatable back stage business processes, the technology and finally the company brand? Where do we report these? All these are the “great assets of the business.” They drive the revenue growth and profitability enhancement, and they are happening every day. It takes a company of people to keep all that moving. As a business owner, you are always collectively aware of each and every one of them because if not you, who else would be? The classic axiom, “the devil is in the details” is an unavoidable certainty that as business owners we know to be true. Take your eyes off the details and this is when the bite is worse than the bark. THE GREATEST ASSETS OF THE BUSINESS OWNER. Your wisdom and awareness of the details is what keeps the business assets running well. This allows the “business flywheel” to turn steadily and consistently to create value for the company. To make all this work well requires vigilance around the three “greatest assets of the business owner”: 76
OUR MIND - How we train it, how we expand it and how we monetize it determines the performance of our business. OUR TIME – How we focus it, how we allocate it and how we “invest” it determines the quality of our lives. OUR PEOPLE – How we develop them, how we align with them and how they perform at their highest and best levels determines the value of the company.
H
ow well the assets on the Value Creation Balance Sheet perform, which in turn drives the traditional financial statement valuation, is in direct proportion to how well you as a business owner focus on and strengthen your greatest assets. Mind - Make the ongoing effort to be intellectually curious to expand your mind. What earns the respect of your customers/clients, employees and peer business owners is how wise and in touch you are. Remaining interesting and relevant is the most fundamental path to personal and business growth.
preciating that 94% of employees are not clear what is in the mind of the business owner on an ongoing basis, it doesn’t take much to understand what they need to do well might be getting ignored. Our people are the company culture. Our people provide the customer experience. Our people make the difference every day. The changing demographics of the workplace and the related behavior nuances of baby boomers, Gen X’ers and the millennials are important to grasp as one size does not fit all. Investing in teams and people requires more attention today, not less. The landscape of business, particularly for the smaller company, is changing rapidly. Never stop learning and trying to become qualified for your leadership role. n
Mind Your Business ADVERTISE WITH US
Time - Focus in life is everything, particularly today. The fast paced challenges that demand our attention sap us of energy. We cannot add more hours to a day. We can only reprioritize our time to what is most essential. That requires an unprecedented strengthening of our “focus muscles.” Learn how and practice. It is not easy. Focusing how you time is spent is a daily essential priority. Your best ideas and most valued freedoms come from being able to focus how your time is spent and energy is restored. People - Never before have we needed to understand how to best invest in our people. Ap-
contact: ken@jerseymanmagazine.com
GET FIT
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ BY ALEXANDRA DUNEK
The 12 Days of Fitness On the first day of fitness Alexandra said to me… 3x: • 100 jumping jacks* On the second day of fitness Alexandra said to me… • 30-minute walk/jog/run On the third day of fitness Alexandra said to me… 3x: • 30-second jump squat
• 30-second lunges • 10 step-ups On the fourth day of fitness Alexandra said to me… • 1-mile walk/jog/run On the fifth fay of fitness Alexandra said to me…. 3x: • 15 burpees • 15 mountain climbers • 30-second tuck jumps • 30-second stationary sprint • 30-second high knees
On the sixth day of fitness Alexandra said to me… 3x: • 1-minute sumo squat • 1-minute reverse lunges • 1-minute side-to-side squat • 20 chair squats • 20 box jumps • 30-second jump lunges On the seventh day of fitness Alexandra said to me... 3x: • 1-minute right side plank • 1-minute left side plank • 30 bicycle crunches • 30 reverse crunches • 30 windshield wipers • 1-minute plank • 30 Russian twists On the eighth day of fitness Alexandra said to me… • 2-mile walk/jog/run
Alexandra Dunek
On the ninth day of fitness Alexandra said to me… 3x: • 1-minute stationary jog • 1-minute stationary sprint • 2-minute stationary jog
• 1-minute stationary sprint • 2-minute stationary jog • 1-minute stationary sprint • 2-minute stationary jog • 1-minute stationary sprint • 1-minute march On the tenth day of fitness Alexandra said to me… • 3-mile walk/run/jog On the eleventh day of fitness Alexandra said to me… 3x: • 10 burpees • 15 mountain climbers • 10 pushups • 10 tuck jumps • 50 jumping jacks • 10 star jumps • 10 ice-skaters • 10 single leg hop (30 seconds each side) • 10 bench hop overs • 30-second high knees • 1-minute stationary jog On the twelfth day of fitness Alexandra said to me… • 4-mile walk/jog/run
For more guidance follow Alexandra at @TipsFromAFitChick on Instagram!
Tips & Tricks • • • • •
Introduce faster cardio Learn portion control Fill up on veggies More food = more water Buddy up for motivation
*For exercise descriptions visit bodybuilding.com
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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
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THE HEALTH REFEREE ______________________________________________________________________________________________ BY DR. RUBINA TAHIR, DC
The LOVE Workout.
This holiday season, show your HEART some LOVE. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the USA for both men and women.
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FTER THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY, we are full speed ahead. Destination? The holiday season! Excitement builds with preparation for work parties, family gatherings, snow sports, vacations and, of course, Santa! The love feeling is infectious, as the true spirit of the season brings us together to share and be merry. The hustle and bustle can also serve as a big distraction from your own needs. Set aside some time to reflect on your wellness goals for the upcoming year. The best gift is the gift of health! Think of it as a lifestyle resolution, not just a New Year’s Resolution. Make it stick for 2016 and beyond, as your healthy habits will pass onto your kids, friends and loved ones. So as your Health Referee, the call for this game is: The Love Factor. When you amp up your Love Factor, you take your Love Workout to the next level, effectively keeping you in the game of proper cardiovascular health. The love workout is specific in supporting the needs of your heart. Just behind and slightly left of the sternum (chest bone) sits your heart, a fist-sized muscular organ. The heart has four chambers which work together to pump blood through a network of arteries and veins that make up the cardiovascular system. Let’s get training!
The Love Workout Exercise: Portion Control When you fill up your plate, think twice about how much you are consuming. Especially during the holiday season, when it’s foodie heaven with so many options. The best trick is portion control. When it comes to your plate, keep it half full with vegetables, one quarter protein and the remaining quarter starch. Identify portion sizes. The palm of your hand is a good rule for one protein serving. Weight management decreases your risk for health problems such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and more. The Love Factor: Portion control keeps you in the game by controlling the amount of calories you consume. This is effective for weight management. 82
When your weight is in a healthy range: • Your body more efficiently circulates blood. • Your fluid levels are more easily managed. • You are less likely to develop diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers and sleep apnea. Exercise: Keep Moving Dr. Jen Caudle
walks and doing yoga. “Walking is important to me because I can do this outside. There is something about fresh air that not only gets my blood pumping, but clears my head. I love yoga because it helps increase my flexibility, build core strength and helps me focus on breathing, which I find relaxing. What is most important is to find an exercise that you enjoy! Then, exercise won’t feel like a chore.” Thanks for sharing, Dr. Caudle! Exercise: Awareness, Signs and Symptoms In a 2005 study conducted by Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, only 27% of individuals were aware of all major symptoms and knew to call 9-1-1 when someone was having a heart attack. The Love Factor: Becoming familiar with all major warning signs can save your life as well others. Check out the list:
WARNING SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF A HEART ATTACK • Chest pain or discomfort • Upper body pain or discomfort in the arms, back, neck, jaw or upper stomach “Keep Moving” is the motto of Dr. Jen Caudle, a board-certified Family Medicine physician and Assistant Professor in the department of Family Medicine at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Caudle believes that there is not just one way to get exercise—rather, there are many! “What is most important is to find the exercise that suits you the best. Find activities that you enjoy, and that makes sense for your life.” The Love Factor: As a physician with a busy practice and a hectic media schedule, Dr. Caudle will try to get in exercise whenever possible. For her, this means taking the stairs and taking the “long route” when running errands. No excuses! Her favorite work-outs happen to be taking longs
• Shortness of breath • Nausea, lightheadedness or cold sweats
Exercise: Supplements Co-Enzyme Q10 High blood pressure is known as one of the “silent killers” because long-term high blood pressure leads to cardiovascular disease.
The Love Factor: Put some lemon oil on a handkerchief that you can put in your pocket or purse. Throughout the day, take a moment to inhale the scent. Research tells us that ingestion of lemon essential oil containing components such as limonene and citral alleviates both physical and psychological stress.
The Love Factor: This natural product has been shown to have a protective effect for the cardiovascular system. Research shows that 200-300 mg of CoQ10 per day can reduce blood pressure. CoQ10 makes cells healthier and less vulnerable to constriction, which can elevate pressure inside blood vessels. Omega 3’s EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) are primarily found in certain fish. ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), another omega-3 fatty acid, is found in plant sources such as nuts and seeds. Not only does your body need these fatty acids to function, but they also deliver some big health benefits. The Love Factor: Studies show strong evidence that omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil can lower blood pressure and triglyceride levels. High triglyceride levels in the blood indicate an elevated risk of heart disease. In the United States, percentages of DHA and EPA have been found to be lower compared to other nations with lower heart disease rates, such as Japan.
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Garlic Research shows that garlic can help reduce cholesterol levels. The Love Factor: Try incorporating one clove of garlic in your daily cooking. If you don’t enjoy the taste of garlic, try a supplement in powdered form, in doses ranging from 600 mg to 900 mg daily. Exercise: Stress Management When stress is excessive, it contributes to poor cardiovascular health. Whether it’s dayto-day stress or holiday stress, what happens inside the body is the same: your heart rate speeds up and your blood pressure rises. Stress management turns off this response. Citrus aromas can help cut the stress!
Congrats on a completing The Love Workout! These lifestyle tips are easy to incorporate into your daily routine. The only workout you regret is the one you never did! Stay motivated and healthy! Happy holidays! n Do you have a healthy holiday tip? We want to know! Tweet us at @JerseyManmag @PhillyManMag @chirorubina
References: 1. E xercise: Dr. Jen Caudle, D.O www.jennifercaudle.com 2. Burke BE, Neuenschwander R, Olson RD. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of coenzyme Q10 in isolated systolic hypertension. South Med J2001;94:1112-7. 3. A merican Heart Association 4. Disparities in Adult Awareness of Heart Attack Warning Signs and Symptoms—14 States, 2005. MMWR. 2008;57(7):175–179. 5. J Nutr. 2006 Mar;136(3 Suppl):736S-740S. 6. S tress and Health Volume 24, Issue 1, pages 3–12, February 2008
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JOE SIXPACK
_______________________________________________________________________________ BY DON RUSSELL
Collaborating with their competitors can produce delightful, one-of-a-kind brews!
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EMEMBER THAT TIME Budweiser and Miller got together and jointly developed a new beer recipe, then used each other’s equipment to brew a batch, then packaged it in bottles labeled with each other’s logos and later split the sales receipts? Me neither. The likelihood of the Big Two going all “Kumbaya” on us is somewhere in the realm of a Philadelphian sharing a cheesesteak with a Dallas Cowboys fan. Ain’t gonna happen. Which is precisely the difference between big brewers and small ones. Unlike the megabrewers who are always at each other’s throats, the little guys mostly play nicely together in the form of so-called collaboration beers. These brews bring together the talents and creativity of independent beer-makers who share everything from recipes to labels. Sometimes the collaborations lead to new, unusual hybrid styles. And sometimes it’s just an opportunity for a pair of industry colleagues to pal around the brewhouse for an afternoon.
yeast. What they produced was either a wheat beer with an unusual garden-fresh aroma that could only come from intensive Americanstyle dry-hopping, or a hoppy ale with the telltale spicy bite of Bavaria’s hefeweizen yeast esters. Dozens of other breweries had come up with their own hoppy wheat beers before and after, but none of them quite matched the unique aroma and flavor of Hopfen-Weisse. Chris LaPierre, the head brewer at Iron Hill’s brewpub in the Chestnut Hill section of the city, said it was one of his favorite collaboration beers of all time, and noted, “I can’t imagine Schneider ever would have made something that hoppy if they weren’t collaborating with an American.” Over the years, LaPierre has joined in numerous collaborations, including an annual gettogether with Maine’s Allagash Brewery. For him, “a collaboration is only worth doing if the two brewers push each other to do something they might not have done on their own. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
Unlike the mega-brewers who are always at each other’s throats, the little guys mostly play nicely together in the form of so-called collaboration beers. Whatever the reason, it’s the beer drinker who benefits, for these collaborations give us delightful, one-of-a-kind brews that would never be possible unless two competitors joined as one. For example, take Hopfen-Weisse, a hoppy wheat beer developed in 2007 by Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewing and Hans-Peter Drexler of Germany’s G. Schneider & Son brewery. In developing the recipe, the brewmasters played to their strengths: American hops and Bavarian 84
No one is certain who brewed the first collaboration beer, but its modern incarnation certainly owes a debt to Adam Avery of Colorado’s Avery Brewing and Vinnie Cilurzo of California’s Russian River. It was 2001 when the two brewers discovered they were both making a beer called Salvation. Cilurzo told me afterwards, “I suppose we could’ve done the typical American thing and hired lawyers and sued each other.” Instead they shook hands and decided to
bottle a blended version of their two Salvation ales, calling it Collaboration Not Litigation. Since then, hundreds of brewers have come together in the same spirit of goodwill. When brewer David Wood parted ways with Free Will Brewing in Perkasie, PA, there were no hard feelings. Instead, he invited his former boss, John Stemler, over to his new digs at Barren Hill Tavern and Brewery in Lafayette Hill, PA, to make a strong Belgian-style dark ale they called Mental Health Day. A successful collaboration, Wood said, “allows for the brewers to truly work together and make something that is unique.” Brett Kintzer of Stoudt’s Brewery in Adamstown, PA, agreed and added: “A good collaboration is one that is done for the love of beer and the fun of getting together with fellow brewers.” He pointed to Brotherly Suds, the everchanging beer made annually for Philly Beer Week by a rotating gaggle of local brewers. Inevitably it turns into a day-long gab fest with the participants munching donuts and experimenting with ingredients and techniques. Once, they brewed a lager with
yeast from Philadelphia’s long-gone Schmidt’s brewery. Last year the group came up with a farmhouse ale made with Philly soft pretzels and mustard. “A lot of collaboration beers out there are more about having fun than about truly discovering new things,” LaPierre said. That was his attitude when he and Casey Hughes, formerly of South Jersey’s Flying Fish, got together in 2013. “We figured since we were doing something really trendy that was all about marketing, we’d go all out and try to incorporate every attention-grabbing trend we could think of.” They came up with a bizarre Belgian Black Imperial IPA spiked with Brettanomyces yeast and aged on cherries in a used wine barrel. “I don’t think either of us would have done something like that on our own,” LaPierre said. It was still pretty darn good. Indeed the best collaborations, said Chris Wilson, head brewer at Weyerbacher in Easton, PA, “showcase qualities of both parties involved.” Case in point: Manneken-Penn, the beer he brewed with Yvan De Baets of Brasserie de la Senne for Philly Beer Week in 2013. It was made with oats and molasses, two ingredients that Wilson had worked with in the past. “It also featured Yvan’s stamp, in that it was dry and bitter, which he feels is necessary for any true Belgian ale,” said Wilson. The result: A full-bodied, fruity, well-balanced ale with just a touch of sweetness. You’ve never tasted anything like it before, and—since it was a one-off—you’ll never taste it again. That’s one of the hallmarks of many collaborations: they’re often onetime mash-ups designed to spark excitement. So, when Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada joined to brew a maple syrup-infused dark ale called Life & Limb in 2009, you had to grab a bottle immediately because it quickly disappeared from shelves. Same goes for Green Flash/Cigar City’s cedar-aged Candela rye barleywine, and Great Lakes/Deschutes Class of ’99 Imperial Smoked Porter. But don’t fret, there’s always another collaboration beer around the corner. Here are a few to look for. • Barren Hill/Freigest TBA – A sour imperial altbier that Wood brewed in October with Sebastian Sauer of Germany’s Freigest Brewery. On tap now at Barren Hill. • Deschutes/Harpoon EHOP – A hoppy ale spiced with sage and thyme, brewed in honor of each brewery’s ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). Available now in bottles. • Beer Camp Across America – An entire case of collaborative beers made by California’s Sierra Nevada with 30 different American breweries, including local favorites Stoudt’s and Dogfish Head. Available summer 2016. n 85
The Smoking Dog THE CIGAR GUY ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Sponsored by
BY SAM KRAFT
The Tierra Volcan
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EET MOMBACHO CIGARS, better known in the United States as Tierra Volcan. Today I am reviewing the newest size to their signature cigar line, the Fina. After having smoked all of the previous Tierra Volcans, I know that I’m in for a treat. The Fina has a much thinner ring gage than its larger counterparts, and for some reason is that much harder to find. A thinner ring gage translates to a stronger wrapper flavor, so I’m excited to see how the change affects this smoke. Let’s get right into it! The first puff of this cigar is woodsy with a unique sweetness, like licking an envelope. The taste differences in this size are present right away. It’s a bomb of flavor. There is also a dry spice on the tongue that would be pleasant even for those smokers who avoid spicy cigars. After the first couple of puffs the cigar transforms rapidly. This is when the volcanic flavors of Nicaragua start to emerge. Leather flavors are also detected as the cigar becomes more robust. This stick is slow burning and packed to the brim, while maintaining a fantastic pull. After the halfway point this Mombacho begins to smooth out. There is an oiliness that starts to coat the tongue, where there wasn’t much
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Company: Mombacho Cigars, Master Blender: Claudio Sgroi, Wrapper: Indonesian Sumatra oil previously. As the smoke continues the spiciness diminishes slightly (or maybe the other flavors simply become stronger). I can really taste all the flavors in my nose, even without retrohaling. It’s a very pleasant experience. By the end of this smoke, the leather has really come out and the spice is back in full force. The smoke finishes on a high note.
Mombacho Cigars is another one of those hidden gems. It’s a small boutique company out of Granada, Nicaragua, using the city’s landmark mountain as its icon. This cigar has become one of my go-to sticks. It has such a unique earthy and smooth taste that fits with any mood. If I can’t decide what to smoke, this stick never disappoints. If you’re lucky enough to find a retailer that carries Tierra Volcan, don’t hesitate to try it. Averaging under $8 a stick, Mombacho’s cigars are a rare blend of quality and cost efficiency. Be safe, have fun, and enjoy your smoke! n
TECH TIME
______________________________
BY ANTHONY MONGELUZO
A Fast & Furious 2015 Review Let’s wrap up the year with a quick, down and dirty take on a lot of topics we faced this year (and a glimpse to 2016). Microsoft
Apple
Surface Pro 4. Okay, allow me to put it politely. It’s kicking butt. Why? It appears that Microsoft has essentially resolved the kinks in previous versions. Even reviewers who generally beat up on Microsoft have good things to say about the Surface Pro 4, acknowledging that it is one of the best (if not the best) out there.
Life after Steve Jobs. Two words: there is. It’s surviving and thriving. The stock has more than doubled since Tim Cook took the reins (in August 2011) and recently posted the best quarter in company history. And don’t dismiss the power of cash: estimated to be $170 billion (not a typo). Enough said.
Windows 10. It’s a good release, meaning that updates have zapped some of those early bugs. We now recommend it to clients, though I confess we waited about four months. Many of you can upgrade for free. Important: Install over the weekend and get in some practice time before the workday begins.
Apple TV 2015. Great interface and you can use Siri to explore (beyond just iTunes). Solid selection of TV-based apps. Bottom line: A superb remote and that great voice control ranks among the best out there. A bit pricier than the competition, but then, it’s an Apple.
Microsoft Phone. I heard it died. Or exited, stage left, as they say. Just before Steve Ballmer’s departure, he closed the deal to buy Nokia’s phone division. This year it became a bust. Microsoft will write off the deal (reputed to be a staggering $10 billon) and laid off the entire division. It didn’t help employee morale. What does this mean? As one analyst put it, “Microsoft no longer minds which devices a customer uses to access its services.”
AppleTV
Google The Restructure. There was Google, then Alphabet and now almost every letter has a company. (Okay, small exaggeration.) But Google is Android, Search, YouTube, apps, Maps and ads. Alphabet handles Google Fiber, Calico and Life Science and so on. Simply put: Google is doing great and it’s everywhere.
2016 Predictions Virtual Reality. Only a matter of time. This isn’t the next wave, it’s the wave. Imagine a virtual world to practice surgery if you’re a wannabe surgeon. Or that virtual jiu-jitsu takedown as your wounded knees heal. It isn’t if or when. It’s only how fast. The pace will pick up. Combo Computers. You know the game. Is it a notebook or is it a tablet? The correct answer: it’s both, and the trend is unmistakable as combo computers that connect and detach will make greater headway. The new Surface Book is a great example. Everyone’s jumped on the bandwagon and for good reason, because it combines the power of the notebook with the convenience of a tablet. We now have Microsoft’s Surface Book and Surface Pro 4, which is the iPad Pro with Apple and Google’s Pixel C. In a little while, we may not be able to separate the notebook from tablet. The Thinner Wallet. Maybe even disappearing. It might seem obvious, but the thinner wallet is here. Paying cash (or writing a check) is so passé. It’s all about Google Wallet, PayPal, Amazon Payments and Dwolla. Take your choice. Embedded Card or smartphone. Down the road? A recent Wall Street Journal article, The Uberization of Money, raised the question of whether you’ll even need a bank. Exciting stuff (unless you own a bank).
T Microsoft Surface Pro 4
hat’s how I see it. Gotta downshift into the curve. See you in 2016. Have a happy New Year, and if you want to continue the conversation online reach out to me @PCS_AnthonyM or Anthony@ helpmepcs.com n 89
WHAT WE WEAR
_______________________________________________________________________________ BY DANIEL R. MORRONI
Fall & Winter 2015: Trends to Watch “ Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” – Henry David Thoreau
T
he changing of the seasons brings several new trends worth watching. Whether you’re ready to update your wardrobe or simply enjoy noting new developments, here are four noteworthy concepts from designers’ Fall/Winter 2015 offerings: GO GRAY This season, many designers’ lines are dominated by gray clothing, ranging from ensembles created with just a single gray tone to outfits that involve a range of gray hues and shadings. Heathers and stripes, sleek silks or comfortable cable-knits, are all dominated by gray.
ADD GREEN The second most sought-after color for this fall and winter are greens. Several designers focused on the heavier shades, including forest and military greens, which were often paired with neutral browns.
LAYER IN STYLE Most cool-weather fashions involve some layering, but this season, designers have extended that concept beyond the traditional sweater by using multiple thin layers of clothing to create outfits that not only provide warmth but also style. Consider slipping a fine wool sweater under a thicker layer, for a look that’s comfortable in any weather and elegant.
GIVE THE TROUSERS ROOM Designers’ major trend in the cut and fit of suits was a loosening of trousers. Trousers on the runway were far roomier than they have been during the last several years, and had higher waists.
Ask Dan
QUESTION: How do I choose cuff links? ANSWER: There are several good approaches to choosing cuff links. You may want to wear cuff links that carry personal meaning, such as an heirloom set or gift from a loved one. Your cuff links can also show support of a group you value, such as your political affiliation, your alma mater, or a philanthropic cause you support. Or, you may choose cuff links as a tribute to your culture or geographical region. Ideally, the best cuff links have visual appeal on both sides, instead of having one decorative side and one plain side. However, a fantastic design may be worth having a standard swivel on the back side. n 90
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THE WINE
MAN
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BY ROBERT KENNEDY
The Right Wine for the Season
W
ITH THE HOLIDAYS HERE, and with it the excitement of the season, there is a real desire to get everything right during these wonderful times. So it would be fitting, then, to begin the planning process now for all that this great season offers—the celebrations with family, friends, food and beverages. What’s not to love about the planning of these traditional meals of, perhaps, turkey and ham? Or, as an alternative, maybe we’re thinking about other types of delicious main dishes, like fish and beef? Along with those decisions, there’s one more important decision that many of us make during our holiday planning: what wines we will serve to optimize the flavors of each course for each special holiday meal. Many of us flock to our wine stores at least one week prior in search of those perfect bottles of red and white to be served at the most perfect temperature. The weight of the wine has to be exact, and the flavors must dance on our tongues with a finish that lingers for several moments following. ABV must not be too powerful. We all want to get it right, since so much prep will go into the
day. The complete and total experience of how food and wine are coupled must be meticulously and perfectly aligned. As most know from reading my past articles, I rarely recommend particular wines on the market. I’ve always said drink what you like no matter the label or price point. That said, to help you make a perfect pick for the most traditional and important meals of the year, I will make a few suggestions: Begin serving a nice French Alsace Riesling if salads or soups are a first course. These gems are very different from your typical Ger-
out the best in the turkey, and, in turn, the entire fare will be enjoyed with this combination. Sometimes we see beef served, especially at Christmas. This will need a more structured, full-bodied wine, and as such, a great California Cab or French Bordeaux will work best. (The Pinot and Beaujolais will get lost here; it would be a mistake to serve them.) The reds should be served somewhat warmer, but never at ambient temperatures. The optimal serving temps of these should be somewhere around 56-57° F. These will be wonderful paired with beef, so seek out a bottle of each.
Assuming turkey is the star of the show, two notable recommendations to serve while carving and serving the bird would be a great Beaujolais or a Pinot Noir. man Rieslings with which you may be familiar. Those have a tendency to be sweet, while the Alsace Rieslings have much more lemon-lime flavors, less sugar and sweetness and more tannic to the tongue. The citrus flavor of the Alsace Riesling will be an excellent complement either during the salad/soup course, or when family and guests arrive prior to dinner. Sparkling whites are another favorite to serve when guests arrive. It’s a fun way to kick off the day and will clean the palate, clearing the way for other flavors to be fully experienced. They both should be served at approximately 54-55° F, and they also pair well with nuts and cheeses. Assuming turkey is the star of the show, two notable recommendations to serve while carving and serving the bird would be a great Beaujolais or a Pinot Noir. What we cannot have happen is an overpowering wine drowning the flavor of our most coveted prize— the turkey. Nothing big and bold should be served here. The flavors of the Beaujolais or Pinot will bring
Now, if I was approached in a wine store by someone looking for a bottle of Pinot Noir to be that ultimate, quintessentially perfect red to pair with turkey, I would lean towards Flowers Vineyard and Winery or Etude Wines as my choice. Although Flowers is located in the Sonoma appellation of CA, and Etude in Carneros, the pinot noir from either is outstanding. Another recommendation is to gravitate towards any pinot noir from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Some of the very best pinot grapes in the world are grown there, and any one of them would pair well. Be careful, however, to choose the right vintage. Although the 2012 and 2013 vintages are highly rated, they need more time in the bottle. Choose the 2007 vintage if it’s available, as that year was terrific for the California and Oregon pinot, and it’s drinking very nicely right now. If you do choose a younger vintage, you may want to decant it, since it will be somewhat more tannic. When family and friends can be together and enjoy great food and wines during the holidays, the spirit soars. And there’s really no better combination than that, is there? Cheers! n 93
SAY GERV?
_______________________________________________________________________________ BY GERVASE PETERSON
S
ay Gerv? My buddy Tom and I grew up Eagles fans, but since they’re not winning he’s rooting for the Patriots. Is that a violation? – Jimmy, South Philly, PA
Absolutely, Jimmy! That’s a big violation and you need to pull Tom’s card right away. That just put a bad taste in my mouth. You don’t quit rooting for your team because they’re losing. And you don’t start rooting for a team because they’re winning, especially a team that beat (I really mean cheated) you in the Super Bowl! True Eagles fans bleed green and silver. This is a lifelong commitment. We can take it when times are tough because we are built for it, and when times are good we give our Eagles all the love and support we have. That’s why we are the best fans in the NFL. You know what, Jimmy, I’m glad Tom isn’t rooting for the Eagles. We don’t want him to! Only those who have that passionate dedication should. Fly, Eagles, fly on the road to victory! E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!!! Oh yeah, and Dallas sucks _________________________________________
Say Gerv? Who REALLY makes the best cheesesteak in Philly? – Shawn, Germantown, PA Shawn, there are many factors that go into determining who makes the best cheesesteak in Philly. I’ve had many a cheesesteak in my day and there are some good ones out there like Geno’s, Tony Luke’s, Donkey’s Place, Jimmy G’s and so many more. But you see, I grew up in Willingboro, NJ, and the best cheesesteak I ever had is from the Gaetano’s on Pennypacker Drive (and only at that particular location). Maybe it’s a nostalgic thing, or maybe it’s that it reminds me of my childhood, but they make a great cheesesteak. I like mine with fried onions, a little mayo and ketchup. If you ever cross the bridge, go check them out. Also make sure to try all the other
Go with your gut. If you think it’s time to get the kids phones, then it’s the right time.
great cheesesteak shops around. This area has some great food and cheesesteaks are a staple of it. Enjoy, Shawn! _________________________________________ Say Gerv? What’s a good age to give my kids a cell phone? – Jeff, Marlton, NJ Jeff, that all depends on the situation. My daughter was 11 years old when she got her cell phone. She was playing sports after school and I felt that she needed a way to keep in contact with me in case something happened. I kept it simple, monitored her usage and she had no social media. Now my son was 9 years old and since he was playing sports too he ended up getting his cell phone earlier then he should have. The younger siblings always have it better thanks to older ones. Go with your gut, Jeff. If you think it’s time to get the kids phones, then it’s the right time. And knowing that they can reach you in case of an emergency will give you a peace of mind that you can’t put a price on. n Gervase Peterson is a cast member from the reality series “Survivor.” Gerv is an actor and entrepreneur and keeps busy fulfilling personal appearance requests and speaking engagements all across the country.
Got a question for Gerv? Send your questions to:
saygerv@jerseymanmagazine.com and look for his answers in the next issue!
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