It’s time once again for that seminal, semi-annual event known as the “From the Swamp” mailbag. While I don’t get the volume that Dear Abby does (and she’s dead, dammit!), I do get the occasional missive from FTS readers.

The first e-mail is from John Belt, in response to my column of October 29th, asking if WHIO Radio had their webcasting house in order for this season:

I wouldn’t hold my breath when it comes to WHIO. They seem to have the most screwed up priorities in the Dayton area: 60 seconds of sports on a high school football night when everyone else in town has 5 minutes; 30 seconds when both WSU and UD play and they have other sports scores to call as well. I wish a real news team came into town and gave these yahoos a run for their money (I’ll find out more about Dayton from Channel 19 in Cincy on their news).

If I recall correctly, the GM of WHIO Radio posted occasionally on the Message Board last year — maybe she can enlighten us all on what 1290’s plans are. Early returns from the Wittenberg and Nike exhibition games were spotty at best. My PC keeps telling me that I need an upgrade. So I downloaded it and it tells me I still need one. Arrrgggghhhh!

The next feedback comes from regular Message Board poster UD80NJ. He sent me a similar e-mail (which I swear I saved to my File Cabinet, just like Joe Page told me to do) but it got deleted, so here’s his MB post concerning the Basketball News College Yearbook:

“…..and Brooks Hall (#15 “Slasher”) ranked in the top 20 in the country at their positions, altho some would argue Brooks ain’t no slasher. …”

Of course he ain’t no slasher! If he was he’d be ranked third in the nation at his position!

Well UD80NJ, that would put him just behind future Flyer opponent Dwyane (not Dwayne) Wade of Marquette (who is an absolute stud) and Jarvis Hayes of Georgia and immediately ahead of Doug Wrenn of Washington and NCAA scoring champ (as a frosh) Jason Conley of VMI, which is a little optimistic. Based on his performance against Nike, I’m more inclined to think if Brooks decided to become a full-time ‘slasher’ it would raise him to #10, just ahead of Ebi Ere of Oklahoma.

The next is a two-parter: my e-mail to Mike Kern at the Philadelphia Daily News about St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli’s comments concerning the A-10 Tourney moving to the Gem City and Mike’s reply:

Mike:
What exactly is Phil Martelli trying to say? That the national media aren’t going to cover the A-10 Tourney simply because it’s in Dayton? ESPN is still going to show one or two of the early round games and the final. The papers from the A-10 schools playing in the tourney will still cover it. AP will be there. So who is not going to be on press row in UD Arena in early March that would have been at the Spectrum? Maybe a Philly TV station that’s on a tight budget, but so what? That has zero impact on “national” coverage.

The A-10 has had to put up with showcasing a half-empty Spectrum for too many years. Why can’t you guys in Philly allow a jam-packed UD Arena, shown to a nationwide audience on ESPN the chance to represent the conference before you say what a big mistake it is?
Jim Meadows

Mike’s enlightened response:
I think what he (Martelli) is trying to say is, when it was in Philly, you got columnists from both major papers, as well as some not so major. Sometimes you even got a guy from the Washington or New York papers, etc. In Dayton, you’re probably only going to get the guy from Dayton, and maybe Cincy, if they’re not preoccupied with the Conference USA tourney. It’s a fair assessment. Whether it outweighs the negatives of a half-empty Spectrum, only time will tell, which I think was the point.

As we all suspected, what the Philly guys are really talking about is the impact on Philly coverage. They jabber on about how “the media” isn’t going to cover the A-10 Tourney in Dayton, when in reality what they are saying is “The Philly Media” might not write about it. Since the conference has schools in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York (upstate and NYC), Pittsburgh, DC, and Virginia in addition to Philly — all of whom will still cover the tournament — I hate to tell you Mike, but too damn bad! It’s the Atlantic Ten (Actually Twelve) Tournament, not the “Philly Three.” Since I wrote the above, we’ve learned that ESPN is only going to televise the A-10 Final. The fact that the tournament is not in Philly didn’t influence their decision — there are just too many conference tourneys to cover in a very short time span.

The next e-mail is from Message Board poster Miamisburg Tom, alias Tom Hubler, who writes e-mails like I write columns — all over the place:

Nice column Swamp.
After reading it, a few things came to mind: Fisk’s homer in game 6 should have been one of the top 10 Series moments. Interesting side note on that game — late in the game with Pete Rose batting, he turned to Fisk and said, “Isn’t this the greatest game you’ve ever played in your life?” Pete had a sense for the moment.

You could have added to your column: Is there a bigger @#$# hole in sports than Barry Bonds? What a terrifically troubled super star.

By the way, is former Flyer nemesis Pepe Sanchez playing point for the Pistons?

I get a sense most people on the various Flyer websites feel we are NCAA bound this year and it certainly could play out that way. However, my gut is telling me we’re a bit too slow in the inside and this weakness will hurt us against the better teams. Time will tell.

Thanks, Tom. Yeah, I remember hearing Petey say that on ESPN Classic when they replayed the game. I agree 100% about Bonds — great baseball player, not so great human being. Pepe is currently on IR with the Pistons, but he made the team as the 3rd PG. They are now referring to him as ‘Juan Sanchez’ instead of Pepe, tho. Hope you’re wrong about UD’s frontline.

The next communication wasn’t even an e-mail — it was an IM from hardworkin’ Matt Schwade at FlyerHoops, chiding me for referring (not once, but twice in recent columns) to his site as FlyerHoops.com instead of FlyerHoops.net. My bad, Matt! It turns out that FlyerHoops.com is now the URL for a porn site! I bet Bilotta and Lombardi are really pleased about that. Speaking of Joe Lombardi, where you been, dude?

Here’s an e-mail from a name that is familiar to anyone who has hung around any basketball message board for a college hoop team in southern Ohio:

Hey Swampy;
I just wanted to drop you a note to say that I really enjoy the stuff you write. I like your many observations. Keep up the good work and I am just glad that basketball season is here. I have high hopes for the Flyers this year.

CigarBoy

Gee, thanks CB! I’ve always enjoyed your interviews — you seem to be able to get your subjects to relax and open up. You’re right — let the games begin!

Finally there is this on my last column in which I reviewed the various college basketball yearbooks, from a certain sophomore at UD:
Total cost of magazines: $31.45. Reading daddy’s column online: priceless (literally and figuratively)

Thanks, Cristen!

You, too, can garner yourself 15 seconds of rather fleeting fame by being included in the “From the Swamp” mailbag…and you don’t even have to be related to me to get it published! See below!