The Lehigh Mountain Hawks decided to play one of their worst games in the past two seasons and fell at home by a score of 7 – 14 against Villanova in the 2nd round of the FCS Play-Offs (After getting a first-round bye). They fumbled the ball twice (after not losing a fumble all season), the 2nd one coming with under 2 minutes left on the Villanova 20 yard-line. They were unable to do anything with the passing game and failed to make a stop on defence when they really needed one.

I went back to the game and met up with an old classmate and his son. Despite it being a chilly afternoon, the Lehigh side of the stadium was completely packed. The crowd was loud and into the game. Even with the loss, it ended up being a fun day, and I am already looking forward to next season

Note – Lehigh extended its Head Football Coach Kevin Cahill to s multi-year extension, so the future looks bright

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The New York Mets have decided to completely rebuild the team this offseason and have made a bunch of moves/decisions

Among them, so far, they have:

Traded outfielder Brandon Nimmo to Texas for second baseman Marcus Semien
Failed to resign Pete Alonso (He signed with the Baltimore Orioles)
Failed to resign closer Edwin Díaz (He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers)

These were 3 of the more popular players, and even though they did not really live up to the expectations of the past few years, they were still solid players who the fans really connected with.

There were thoughts that Mets General Manager David Stearns (who previously was the General Manager of the Milwaukee Brewers), and was brought in by owner Steve Cohen, has been wanting to build the team similar to the Brewers (who were very good when he was there). This is relying more on analytics and metrics, and bringing in lesser players, and hoping to get the best of them. He did have some success with the pitching in 2024, but the strength turned into a weakness in 2025 as the pitchers failed to pitch up to expectations.

I know it’s a tough call — While I would have loved for the players traded away and the ones who signed with other teams to stay with the Mets, I understand that sports is a business, and moves need to be made. But it’s getting harder and harder as a fan to root for different players as they come and go.

I’ve always wondered what it felt like to be a Miami Marlins fan in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They won two World Series (1997, 2003), but traded away everybody after each one, and were pretty bad all other years. Would they have rather not won, but had players they liked stay on the team for longer times, or did they not care who was on the team as long as they won the World Series?

I wonder would a NY Yankees fan be happier if Aaron Judge had left and signed with the San Francisco Giants a few years back, but the Yankees went on to beat the LA Dodgers and win the WS without him?

I may be in the minority, but I think I would be happier if the Mets tried it a few more years with the team they had (besides signing or trading for 1 or 2 players to help them win), than what they are doing now by getting rid of many of the popular players. I will still root for the Mets and hope they do well, but it will take some time to get used to not seeing the same players from last year

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More to come

#GoLehighFootball
#GoNYMets

#NeverTooOldForSurvivor
#GiveMeAChance

#PEACE

Average Andy