Putting on a clinic

Getting to basketball practice early has its advantages, and not just for players. This writer wandered into the Palestra a little early and got to take in a great show.

Assistants Chris Sparks and Mike Martin were on one end doing running and shooting drills. Not leading the drills, doing the drills themselves. On the other was Glen Miller taking foul shot after foul shot.

Two things I noticed:

1. Miller is left-handed. That's one of the first things we lefties notice about each other. Maybe it's just because I watched the documentary Wordplay last night, and all the best crossword puzzle solvers fill in the squares with the correct hand. Except northpaw Mike Mussina, who was prominently featured.

2. Miller doesn't miss. He told me later that he's made upwards of 60 in a row at one point in his basketball career. This only begs the question of why can't he pass the skill along to his players.

Although maybe if he'd been running up and down the court with Mike Nardi and company for 40 minutes, he'd have some clangers here and there too.

Enjoy the Navy game. Word out of Cavanaugh's is that the bar and restaurant at 39th and Sansom gets CSTV. So I hope to see a lot of you there.

Please feel free to post if you know of any other places to watch the game.