Category Archives: Football

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Friday Night Lights

Jeremiah Hasley and Kristin- his mom!

Nothing quite restores your faith in humanity than taking in a high school football game on Friday night. It is there you see excitement and happiness. Kids hanging out and supporting the booster club refreshment stand. Looking around to see who is there with smiles and maybe this boy or that girl is noticing them. The booster parents talking to each other about where their son or daughter is going to college, how is life going in general, and a feeling of camaraderie in selling whatever they can to support the team or the band. Football parents talking about the upcoming game. Who will win? Will they go to the playoffs? Who will they play? And if there are any offers on the table for their sons to play college football? Everyone is happy. Everyone is excited. And the stadium where I went last Friday night is nothing short of spectacular. Pine Richland High School Stadium looks like a small college stadium. Well kept, beautiful field, and when the band came out to play……..WOW!!!! A lot of college bands could take a look and see an amazing spectacle. Even the tuba players were all ladies. With white tubas. What an atmosphere and makes you feel pretty good that the youth of America- at least the ones participating in high school sports and the band, were really on track.

Senior Night – Jeremiah and mom and dad.

So, the forecast looked iffy and I donned the rain suit to go inside to meet Daryl, Chris, and Craig Hasley. We were all there to see Daryl’s son Jeremiah play for the Pine Richland Rams. Now the interesting thing about the Hasleys is that they all support the football program and they all are excited to see Jeremiah play. The cousins, the uncles, the aunts, and even the matriarch of the family – Mrs. Hasley. Mother to Daryl, Chris and Craig and Jeremiah’s grandmother. No matter what the weather, she is there to support her grandson. That night it was senior night and the pride for Daryl and Kristin, when they escorted their son Jeremiah on the field, was evident in their bright smiles and happy conversation. Big night for the Hasleys for sure.

As the night went on, I was amazed at the announcer who seemed to say at the end of every play, ” Tackle by the senior- Big Jeremiah Hasley.” Or ” gain on the play by the senior- Big Jeremiah Hasley” Or ” reception by the senior, Jeremiah Hasley.” The young man is a human wrecking ball and it is not surprising that a lot of Division I football programs are interested in him. But he made his choice recently and accepted a full scholarship at Duke University. The young man is not only a good football player, who plays both sides of the ball the whole game, but is an excellent student and Duke should feel privileged to have him as a student athlete. This season is a wonderful finish for him seeing that he has state championships already in the bank as Pine Richland is the reigning Class 5 A State Football Champion. No small feat and unfortunate that their championship winning coach is no longer with the team. The school board had a perceived issue with him and summarily dismissed him despite his huge success and his cohesiveness with the team. The seniors were devastated that their coach was the victim of an agenda that was never really validated. But the team persevered and Jeremiah leads the team this year as the captain and soul of the team. At 6’3 and 225 pounds, Jeremiah is an imposing figure on the field and he is visibly the leader of the Rams as they wage their way through the 2021 season. But that is not exclusively why Jeremiah and young men like him restore our faith in humanity. It goes much farther than his scholarship and his athletic ability.

Jeremiah and his grandma.

You see, Jeremiah has character. When Daryl and I went down on the field after the game, we came up to a completely exhausted player who leaves nothing on the field. He was tired and in a ball of sweat, but was the first to say- ” Hi Mr. McCloskey- how are you? ” Thanks a lot for coming to the game.” He summoned up all the positivity he could after a brutal hard hitting game to greet me and thank me for coming. Not the typical dead fish handshake, or someone who doesn’t look you in the eye when he greets you, but rather a polite, engaging young man who on senior night wanted to make sure that his grandma who was waiting in the wings was happy and that all his cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends like me had a good time at the game. How could we not?

Jeremiah at his old grade school classroom

Young men like Jeremiah give back to the community too. He recently visited his old grade school classroom and spoke to the students and answered their questions about football, what is is like to play, and other questions that Jeremiah patiently answered. They even asked for his autograph which he sheepishly gave them in humility befitting a young guy with his character.

As I said goodbye to the Hasley brothers, I went to my car and thought about what a great kid this Jeremiah is. I thought to myself, ” don’t believe all the junk you see on TV about the youth of America and the negative portrayal of the generation growing up today. Sure there are issues, but if you look at the youth today playing high school sports, participating in the band, or other extracurricular activities, you soon see that you can have faith in the generation coming up. As an older guy, I nostalgically look back on those days of my youth when I see things like Friday Night Lights. I am refurbished with the bright conversation and polite demeanor of a young man who has his life ahead of him. Good luck and God’s speed to Jeremiah and his parents. As Huey Lewis would say, ” his future’s so bright, I have to wear shades.” Thanks for reading.

Photos courtesy of proud mom – Kristin Hasley

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You Are!

I am not a Penn Stater. But my wife is. An avid one at that, and so is her mom, her uncle and aunt and her cousin. They all bleed Blue and White. They all shout…..” We are!!” For almost the last 30 years, I have been witness to a phenomena that is reserved for those who have been through the State College experience and have gone through leaps and bounds in their love for their school and their PSU friends. No group could ever be as close as my wife and her PSU pals.

Every fall, we make the trek to Happy Valley to take in a football game and get together with Jan’s whole clan. The fact of the matter is that we get together with them frequently. Ski trips, football games, the beach, weddings, bar mitzvahs, graduations, all are attended by this really close knit group of Nittany Lions.

Personally, I get the bonus of riding mountain bikes in Rothrock State Forest Challenging to say the least but equally as scenic riding along the ridges of Tussey Mountain with my friend Mike Smith- the spouse of my wife’s good friend who was a cheerleader for the Lions. I see the traditions of ice cream at the Creamery, a box of Rocks at the Skellar, hamburger a la Corner, and many others that have been introduced to me by Janet and her friends.

The ladies are particularly close and a lot goes into planning the trips, the food and drinks at the tailgates at the Smith’s motor home. How Judy(the cheerleader) manages to drive that behemoth through traffic, set up the tents, the food, the drinks, and welcome friends and strangers alike with her husband Mike, is really remarkable. For almost 30 years this crowd has invaded the Ritchey home as they graciously allow us to crowd in and crash for the weekend. Mark and Kathy are an amazing couple whose generosity over the years is inspirational. Kathy was Janet’s “roomie” and they are the best of friends. Dunz, Copes, Fru,the O’Donnells, the Readings, the incredible food prepared by Diane Barrett and her husband Billy. These guys all blow your mind with their love and passion for each other.

But the spirit of the Penn State Experience was truly on display this weekend when a record breaking attendance was set in Beaver Stadium for the game against Michigan. If you have ever experienced a “white out” it is a most intimidating sight for the opposing team but the zeal of 110,000+ people chanting “we are” stirs the collective soul of everyone who calls himself or herself a Nittany Lion.

However, if you really want to understand the soul of the Penn State experience, it really lies in the friendships that are created over the years. Penn State people love their school but more often than not, their fondest relationships and memories are with their friends from their days in Happy Valley. Janet’s best friends are her Penn State friends and they make an effort to get together, email,talk on the phone and plan the next get together. My wife recently lost her brother and the last crowd in the corner at our house was the PSU crowd. Gathering around Janet and her mom, crying, laughing, sharing feelings and hurts, and collectively wrapping their paws around two of their brood who were sad and hurting. This is the soul of the group. They love each other in the good times and in the bad times. They are there for each other through thick and thin and often it is no easy task seeing that the group is spread all across the country.

As I sat among Michigan fans this past weekend( the way the tickets worked out), the people around me remarked what a great experience they were having in Happy Valley. They said, there is nothing like the Big Ten experience and I am sure that friendships like these can happen at most schools who create that kind of atmosphere. I had a quite different experience going to a Division 3 private college but I have learned a lot watching the Penn State crew over all the years. They have become my friends as well and have embraced me like one of their own. Their paws have comforted my wife and me in hard times and welcomed us in all the good times when we get together. They are generous,kind, attentive, and would do anything for you. When I looked out on that massive crowd this past weekend, I thought about the cheer “we are!” It vibrated through the stadium and echoed in the mountains around Happy Valley. It was broadcast nationally on television and as I took it all in,I can surely say….., without a doubt…….. ” Yes- you are!!!” Thanks for reading.

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The Toilet Bowl

From the Best of http://www.chroniclesofmccloskey.com

QCBFL_-_Snow_Game_2011_Vander_Veer_Park%2C_Davenport_IowaYou know ,we all are really like a piece of malleable iron. Life’s experiences mold us, shape us, prod us, squeeze us, as we go through the refiner’s fire of life. This shaping process makes us what we are as adults and forms our basic personalities. A lot of this happens during the formative years of our lives. Take for instance when I learned to swim as a boy. I took lessons and was pretty good in the shallow end. When it came time for the test, I was afraid of the deep water. My mother who was sitting in the lounges with all of her girlfriends in hysterectomy row, as the lifeguards called it, was observing the proceedings. She instructed Don Geyer the pool manager to throw me in much to the horror of her friends. She said,” ladies- that water is going to get deeper and deeper every year.” Don threw me in and I swam to the side and with jubilation I said to my mom, I did it! My mom said,” Patrick- you can do anything you want to do in life.” With that, Don dropped me off the low board and eventually the high board and I passed the test.

A few years later, I swam in the winter for a team at the Northside YMCA and witnessed a lot of interesting happenings in the bowels of the city. One night while we were waiting to be picked up, two guys came running into the lobby where we were, wielding knives as two city police officers chased and eventually apprehended them. I told my parents what went on that night and my mom said,” Patrick- life is not the suburbs. It is good for you to see the other side of life and how tough it is in the city.” I would learn to appreciate that as I was bullied and had to defend myself with city kids. I held my own and usually was invited to their birthday parties after a few punches and pushes in the pool gained their respect. I was not a fighter but the refiner’s fire of the Northside forced me to defend my adolescent position in life. I worked most of my young life because my dad thought it was important for me to learn to be responsible to a job. Lots of molding, shaping, prodding, squeezing in those days.

Other lessons were learned by our daily routine at this time of year. Touch football on the Nicolette’s front lawn in our neighborhood. We had a posse of kids. Richard and John Nicolette, Cliff Forrest, Glen and Ron Zankey, Carl Shultz, and our hero- Rick Cuneo who was dating Jane Nicolette at the time and was headed off soon to Vietnam. Rick was an amazing athlete and every day after school, we all would play on the slanted, tight field which was the front yard of the Nicolette family. There we tested our athletic prowess every day with Rick proving to us all that he was the superior athlete much to the admiration of Jane as she watched the games. So, one day Rick goes off to Vietnam and we were a little shaken until we got a letter back from him stating that he was teaching surfing in Chu Lai which was a base on the ocean. Not too bad a duty for our star athlete. But Rick had prepared us for the annual challenge of the older kids from Woodland Road across the street from our neighborhood. Every Thanksgiving, we had the Toilet Bowl and the challenge was always paramount in the minds of all of us. The guys from across the street included the Rose brothers who skateboarded down a very steep Woodland Road on each other’s shoulders. They had a little screw loose which made them dangerous at bowl time. The Fisher brothers were good athletes, Michael Martin,  and some of the other guys brought their friends who were freshman football players from Slippery Rock University. I remember clearly after all the trash talking, having a clear shot at the quarterback only to be knocked into the middle of next week by the pulling guard from SRU. As I sat dazed and confused, the plays went on and once again the boys of Richmond Circle were defeated by the Woodland Road gang. As we made our way back across Siebert Road, we were taunted by a couple of hoods- Buster Livingston and his sister. Both sported leather jackets and those cyclone fence climbing pointy shoes with the Cuban heels. They didn’t play but they made sure we knew they were badasses and that thier posse had beaten our posse.

The Toilet Bowl went on for a few years and then faded into the memory of all of us as we made our way to college.Thanksgiving football games are really popular and these days there are even official tournaments for Turkey Bowls and Toilet Bowls as we all prepare for the eating and the subsequent snoozefest that is the Thanksgiving feast. A lot of the games are a little too organized for me as I see these types of official tournaments, teams and leagues that are common among the youth of America. What happened to the old pickup games? Everybody today has to get a trophy, a uniform, and accolades from adoring parents and coaches. The old days of the pickup baseball games and football games seem to be fading like the setting sun. Some of that refining fire took place when you picked teams, learned how to take it if you were the last guy picked, got into scuffles, and played all day until your parents went crazy calling you home for dinner. Touch football in the neighborhood taught me how to take a hit, how to grin and bear it when you cut yourself and got stitches, and basically got clean fresh air until the time change forced the early ending of the neighborhood clashes on the Nicolette front lawn.Those guys from Woodland Road always got the best of us but we always were up for the challenge which taught us how to compete with older kids who relished taking their aggressions out on the younger guys from Richmond Circle. We gave them a run for their money one year after Rick returned from his tour of duty and they balked at his participaton. But all was fair when we brought Rick and they brought their testosterone heads from SRU to play. Even the hoods shut up on those days. Yes- the Toilet Bowl and the neighborhood games were another part of my molding.I wouldn’t change a thing and I am happy the way that the refiner’s fire spit me out. Thanks for reading and get ready for the Bird. He is coming soon.