Nice weather or not, the Christmas Classic is coming

When you have nothing to talk about you talk about the weather. Well there’s plenty to talk about but we’re still talking about the weather because it seemed like everyone was outside this weekend. The boardwalks looked more like May than December and we spent Saturday in New Hope and Lambertville along with a visit to Peddler’s Village as we straddled the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

You were just as likely to see people wearing shorts and tee shirts than jackets and scarves and signs promoting “warm up with hot apple cider” just seemed out of place.

You can question why he is still in the race but Governor Chris Christie has fought his way back on to the main stage for tomorrow night’s prime-time Republican Presidential debate on CNN. Christie will be among 9 GOP candidates who hope to get a boost from the debate in Las Vegas as they all chase front runner Donald Trump. The nine also include businesswoman Carly Fiorina who like Christie made the cut because of improved poll numbers in New Hampshire.

Officially the Monmouth University basketball team played before its fifth sellout crowd Sunday since the opening of the Multipurpose Activity Center during the 2009-10 season. The Hawks led from start to finish in beating Wagner before more than 3,900 fans but the difference yesterday was they came to see Monmouth…not a bigger named opponent.

In improving to 6-3 the Hawks put on a good show in what I’m told was a rather electric atmosphere. With wins this season over UCLA, Notre Dame and USC the Hawks head to Georgetown tomorrow night in a game that will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 and of course also carried on News Talk Radio WOBM 1610 and 1310 AM.  Monmouth is back home on January 4th when they face Canisius.

The coaches seeding meeting and dinner for the 32nd annual WOBM Christmas Classic was held last night at The Villa in Toms River, a private party facility next to the Office Restaurant and Lounge. That is the first official event of this year’s tournament which begins this weekend at the Pine Belt Arena in Toms River. Special thanks to Nick Pagano and his staff for hosting us last night as we took care of tournament business and then had the coaches seed (or rank) where they think the 16 boys and 16 girls teams belong heading into the season.

The seeds and pairings for the WOBM Christmas Classic are posted on ShoreSportsNetwork.com.