All-Bethlehem battle for Allentown title

FROM KEITH GROLLER

I am here at Pocono back on the racing beat today for the NASCAR races this weekend.

But I am keeping an eye on what's going on with the area basketball and baseball leagues,

In basketball, the Allentown Summer League has come down to all-Bethlehem championship final.

It will be Freedom vs. Liberty for the title at 7 p.m. Tuesday on Court 3 at Cedar Beach.

Liberty will be going for its second consectutive summer league crown.

There are always some interesting sub-plots when the Hurricanes and Patriots get together, and this one has the added element of a key player changing schools. Izell Dickerson, a slick, quick guard for the Pates last year, is now with the Hurricanes.

Not saying there is anything suspicious with this transfer. I am told there was a legitimate move involved here.

However, all the movement going on in the city of Bethlehem -- we hear several Liberty football players will be at Freedom -- has to be a concern to the rest of the league. Of course, no one seems to have totally stable rosters these days.

My feeling on transfers is clear. Either take the rule prohibiting transfers for athletic reasons off the books or impose an automatic, cut-and-dried rule that forces any transfer to sit out a certain percentage of his team's games (40 percent? 50 percent?) as a deterrent to the parental shopping and recruiting that goes on and seems to be going on more than ever before.

Much too much movement is going on in my opinion. And it seems like everybody now is looking the other way.

As for the title game, Liberty is probably the favorite. It has been the most solid, more consistent program and has the best player in Darrun Hilliard, if he's available on Tuesday night.

No matter what happens, it has been an interesting summer and it's going to be an even more entertaining winter.

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/