Phantoms players

I took a trip up to Memory Lane, AKA my college alma mater, to drop off my Phantoms player's remaining PPPC Scrapbook Pages to the committee chair. (We already distributed scrapbooks to the guys, covering the games from preseason through the middle of March, at the Phan Club Banquet in the spring. But the rest of the pages, from mid-March through the end of the playoffs, are what I just turned over.) It was tough to part with my handiwork, as it felt like I was sundering my last concrete connection to the Phantoms' tenure in the Spectrum. It was kind of like if I hung onto the pages, the season wouldn't really be over and the team wouldn't really be leaving.

Of course, that's not true. Nothing will stop the clock on the Phantoms' departure; the preparations for their move are long since completed. But what IS true is that a lot of our young players, including the one whose scrapbook I made, will be in town this week for Prospect Camp. It's only logical to get the remaining pages to him while he's here, so he can install them in his book and have a complete season's worth of pictures and articles in his scrapbook. Hence, I took SEPTA up to the place where I worked my tail off for four years of my life, to turn the pages over to the Scrapbook Committee Chair.

Then, I couldn't resist taking a little stroll on the campus. So much has changed in the years (hint: more than two decades) since I attended classes here. The subway station, which was being remodeled for at least three of my four years here, is long since completed and boy, does it look spectacular. I only wish it had been in such great shape when I was dragging my tired rump through it day after day.

I have only walked through a few blocks' worth of campus, from the subway station to the Student Activities Center, and there are at least two buildings that have been rebuilt and/or renamed in that short distance alone. The Student Activities Center, too, has been completely redone. Chances are that a current student, on being shown old photos of the way this place used to look, wouldn't have the remotest clue what building they were looking at. Certainly, if someone had presented me with pics of what the building currently looks like, without identifying the location for me, I wouldn't have recognized the site for love or money. All I can say is WOW.

But the little stand where I used to get my morning bagel and coffee... THAT'S still there. :) :) :) Long may it reign!

Memory Lane University looks really gorgeous, or at least the part of the campus I have wandered through does. That's one thing that has always impressed me about this place: its ability to be a shining, landscaped gem with lots of plants and flowers and pretty buildings, parked right in the middle of the city. It certainly gives the lie to the presumption that when you're In The City, you are doomed to looking at a boring, scuzzy concrete jungle with littered sidewalks and beat-up-looking buildings. Long may Memory Lane University reign, too.

And now, I had better get myself limping back to the subway. There appears to be a T-Storm getting ready to break, and I don't want to get caught in a downpour.