Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia Senior VP & GM BRIAN MONIHAN will be trekking across the city and South Jersey this weekend, completely emersed in his rockstar daughters’ athletic endeavors, as well as suite hopping at the 76ers and Flyers playoff games. In between, he’ll spice up his mundane chores of mowing the lawn and folding the clothes with creative twists.
RUNNERS TAKE YOUR MARK…: Friday night my daughter, who is a senior in high school, has a track meet called the Rowan University Girls High School Open, which is right over the bridge in South Jersey. I was going to go over and watch her run and then I have to hustle back over the bridge because the 76ers have a playoff game at 8:00pm. … I usually go to a couple of suites, make sure that everything is going well with the broadcast and catch as much of the game as I can.
BOOK WORM: By the time [I] get home, everybody is asleep. So it’s usually just trying to decompress a little bit. … Usually a lot of times what I’ll do is maybe I’ll try and read a little bit or try to do something to wind down, particularly after a playoff game. Your emotions get sky high. So you have to wind it down a little bit. Right now I am reading “Mornings on Horseback.” It’s about TEDDY ROOSEVELT when he was a young adult. It is part of a series by EDMUND MORRIS. I try to read every night but in this day and age it’s usually catch up on Internet with everything that’s going on and if I can I try and squeeze some reading in as well.
PACKED AGENDA: Saturday I have a 9:00am baseball game. My 10-year-old daughter plays on a boys’ team in our town. She does great, plays catcher and first base. So I like to go and root her on. … Then after that I have to run over, my nephew is having his Confirmation on Saturday afternoon around noon. So I was going to run over to check that out and make sure I show the flag for the family. I got to find a way to take care of all the errands, like taking care of dry cleaning. After that I was going to catch the Phillies game. The Phillies are down playing the Nationals and then the Union has a game.
HONEY TO-DO: I’m in charge of folding the wash, because if you’re watching the games you can’t just be doing nothing. I usually end up being the one who’s in charge of folding the wash. Everybody else has got to put it away.
GET YOUR MOTOR RUNNING: I’m old school, I like to push the lawn mower and I’ve got one of those little bags in the back that you have to empty every once in a while. But I find that it’s a great chance to not think. Just run through and review everything that’s going on and think about things in a non-pressured environment. You know how sometimes when you sit down and try and tackle a problem, sometimes the answers don’t come to you? Sometimes when I’m cutting the grass, things will pop up or I’ll review a lot of things that have happened. It helps give some clarity of thought because you’re not focusing on anything. … Every once in a while I like to cut those diagonal patterns like the baseball fields do. Just to do something different.
FIGHT FOR THE REMOTE: With four kids usually I end up getting bumped off the TV set. So a lot of times I find I have to go on Slingbox on the computer and watch. But if I can convince my kids to watch, like the Phillies game, then I can get it. Particularly my ten-year-old daughter, she likes to watch the games with me.
SHAKING THE RUST OFF: Sunday I have to get up early. My 10-year-old daughter plays ice hockey. She plays on a boy’s ice hockey team for about the last four years. In the summer time when they are not playing games, she plays something called Selects, which is like they go up and they practice, do a couple hours of skating, do some dry land stuff to once a week kind of keep them in shape so they’re not forgetting how to play hockey.
TIE-ING IT UP: I’ve got the 76ers game in the afternoon. Then Sunday night the Flyers are playing the Devils up in Newark at the Prudential Center. My daughter, the 10-year-old, has been desperate to go up there. So I figured since it’s a Sunday game, she and I will head up and sit out in the stands and watch as fans. But I will wear my orange tie. … When I go to Flyers games I always wear an orange tie. It has to be a lucky tie. You know hockey, they’re very superstitious: if it’s got a win in it, you keep wearing it.
