From the Sidelines

by Clark Groome   It’s fall (at least it is as far as the meteorologists are concerned). With fall there is a major pivot in the sports world. Baseball is winding down. The tennis and golf majors are in the rear-view mirror. Schools have started up. And in Philadelphia, football has become the dominant focus […]

by Clark Groome The annual Phillies Alumni celebration, held last weekend, honored previous winners and paid tribute to Jim Bunning, Darren Daulton and Dallas Green, all of whom died since the 2016 event. The issue of who should, and who should not, be included on the Wall was a hot topic. Until this year the […]

by Clark Groome As the Phillies stumbled through the first half of the season the day before Independence Day and lost five of six before breaking for the All Star Game for a MLB-worst winning percentage of .333, I searched for some good news about Philadelphia sports. There was plenty of negative stuff happening: The […]

by Clark Groome I probably don’t need to remind you but the Phillies’ May, in which they had a record of 6-22, was the team’s worst since 1928. Their year so far – and they’re 19-35 after last Sunday’s 9-7 victory over the San Francisco Giants – has been even worse than the most pessimistic […]

by Clark Groome News headlines from the last couple of weeks include the Philadelphia District Attorney being investigated for all manner of inappropriate financial issues; saber rattling by North Korea’s seemingly insane supreme leader, Kim Jong-un – and his sabers have nuclear points – the announcement that one of the area’s top arts organizations, the […]

by Clark Groome San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protest about the oppression of “black people and people of color” in the United States is hard to fault. His decision to protest that treatment by not standing for the national anthem at a couple of recent Niners’ preseason games is another matter altogether. For many […]

by Clark Groome Everybody loves “Chooch” – always have, always will. When Carlos Ruiz was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers last week, it created a citywide reaction that was both happy and sad. People were happy that Ruiz, the team’s principal catcher during its 2007-2011 glory years, would get a chance to participate in […]

by Clark Groome Sometimes the simplest question becomes the genesis of a column. Such was the case shortly after Villanova won the NCAA championship. The question: “Wasn’t that the most exciting game you’ve ever seen?” My answer: “It certainly was among them.” The exchange got me thinking: Just what are the most exciting sporting events […]

by Clark Groome After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941 there was a lot of discussion about whether or not the 1942 baseball season, or any season during the war, should be held. Many of the best players had gone off to fight. The country needed to focus on the efforts at home to supply […]