05/21/08
By Phil Haddad

Softball runs in the family, as Beaver's arm leads the Lady Bears

            In the Beaver household, softball is in the blood so to speak.  Kristen played for Boyertown High two years ago, and Shelby, a junior at Boyertown, was a pitcher this past season for the Lady Bears.  Their younger brother, Trey, doesn’t play softball, but he does play baseball. Is that a surprise? Their father, Ray, has worked with the girls on teaching them how to play the game.

            For Shelby, being able to play with her older sister is a great experience. “Kristen was her motivation when things were going bad, her reminder her that she can do it,” said Beaver. She was my main motivation and she told me to go farther. She was also my role model and I was always her little shadow.”

            When you play with an older sibling, it isn’t always easy, especially when you are compared to that older sibling.  Shelby would hear from her father that she should do things the way Kristen did things, and that was very frustrating. “I always had fun playing softball with her (Kristen),” said Beaver.  “It was a great experience playing with the older girls.”

Sue Benfield, the Boyertown High School softball coach, knows that Shelby learned a lot from Kristen, which has made her a more complete player.  “Her sister was a great shortstop, and so is she and she’s followed in her sister’s footsteps,” said Benfield.  “We’ve hardly had her play shortstop because she’s done a lot of pitching for us.”

She started playing in first grade for the Optimist Club of Boyertown softball program.  Shelby began playing travel softball for the Boyertown Storm in third grade on a 12u team. Kerry Fisher’s father (Rich) and Ray Beaver were Shelby’s first coaches for Storm team.  Shelby started playing on a Junior Olympic softball when she was in seventh grade.

The main reason she played travel softball was for the competition.  “My sister was playing softball so that got me started,” said Beaver.  “My dad always pushed me to go further.”

When she looks back, it wasn’t as hard as Shelby thought it was.  “My dad put me in to pitch and it was funny because I struck out a girl and I was the youngest one there,” said Beaver.  “I’ve always challenged myself to do better.  That’s what got me going to want to play and get better.”

            Starting in fourth grade and playing two grade levels up was a challenge, but the experience of facing older players has secured her to become a better player.  “It was a great experience and I’m not sure when I would have gotten better without it,” said Beaver.  “That’s what really got me into softball and playing really good competition.”

             Shelby got involved with the junior Olympic softball because her sister was playing for the East Norriton Heartbreakers.  Shelby tried out for a couple of teams, and for the first four years she played for the Harylsville Thunderbirds.  This year, she will be playing for the Heartbreakers.

Shelby knew that it was harder than she thought because playing for the junior Olympic team was a lot different than playing for the Storm team. The Storm, at that time, didn’t have a full travel team like the teams that she is playing for now.  “They went to three tournaments a year and played in a league (Junior Olympic softball teams),” said Beaver.  “When I played for the Thunderbirds, we had a tournament every weekend.

“We (Thunderbirds & Heartbreakers) would play teams from New Jersey and New York along with going to nationals.  There were a lot of good players from around the world.”

            She recognizes that playing all the travel softball has helped make her a better player, especially facing the other high school players who have done the same.  Shelby pitches every day to get ready for her games.  When she would go to the tournaments, there was a chance that she would pitch a game and a half or two games a day.

            Benfield knows that anytime an athlete can continue to play softball they will continue to improve. Players see different pitching and better pitching, along with different coaches and their philosophies.  “They also get to learn the game better by playing summer ball,” said Benfield.  “You always take something away from that experience.  The more they are playing the more they are getting to hit, or pitch in the game.”

            Beaver is a three year starter for Benfield, and the longer she’s on the team the more of a leader Beaver has become.  Being on the pitchers’ mound, Shelby is in the position of being a leader. Beaver is the type of player that the younger players can look up to.

            “Shelby’s done a great job from the beginning of the season,” said Benfield.  “She never should have lost the games that she did early in the year, and she only gave up three to four hits, but we were unable to hit the ball early in the year.  Shelby’s a complete player, and she’s really become a solid player.”

            While she still has one more year of high school, Shelby is looking at college but she isn’t sure where she’ll go or what she’ll major in. One thing is certain; you will find her on the softball field continuing her softball career.

Phil Haddad is a freelance writer for WZARTV and all comments can be sent to .

You can also visit my blogs “Haddad’s Corner” at http://haddadscorner.blogspot.com/

04/08/08
By Phil Haddad

Boyertown Baseball Looking to Win Fifth Straight Title

Winter has left us, well so we hope and that means that spring is right around the corner.  In Boyertown, that means it’s baseball season is finally here. There is a lot of tradition and history and it’s hard to duplicate their success. 

Todd Moyer, Boyertown baseball coach, lost several key players from last year, but still has a good neculas for the Bears who are on a mission to win their fifth straight PAC-10 title. That’s an accomplishment that hasn’t been done since the birth of the PAC-10 some 20 years ago.

Moyer will be looking for the young guys to be fill in those spots.  “We have a couple of holes to fill,” said Moyer.  “It’s always tough because we had good senior leaders who lead us both offensively and defensively.

“We are looking at a couple of 10^th graders filling those spots. We do have guys with baseball experience than in other areas.  They play a lot of games around here, and there are a lot of opportunities for kids to play.”

The biggest expectation Moyer and his players have is to win their fifth straight league title. Although, they know there is a big target on their backs and that’s something they need to deal with.  ‘We always talk about that we have a target on our backs whether we are the defending champs or not,” said Moyer.  “Because of all the history, that the program has had and all the success there’s a target on our backs.”

The pressure is something else that they need to deal with and isn’t always an easy thing. Moyer and his staff makes sure that the team takes it one game at a time, and He tells that last year is over and the players who were on the team will remember that, and never forget it, but it’s a new year and for the players on this years’ team, this is their time to shine.   The players on the team need to live up to that standard and for some of them this is a new experience.

Moyer is hoping for big things from his returning players. “Shanye (Houck) and Cody (Kulp) are third year returning starters for us,” said Moyer.  “They’ve been successful offensively and defensively. Shanye was one of our go to pitchers last year.  They are both quiet and mature leaders to follow.  They are the kind of kids that are easy to follow.  They come to practice, do their work and never question how hard or how difficult a practice or how repetitive may be. These guys lead by example.

“Brandon (Sullivan) took over half way through his sophomore year.  He’s been playing a lot and stepped up last year and had a lot of success.  If he continues to do that, he’ll be fine.  Brandon’s the stopper in the middle of our infield, and I’m looking for him to have the same kind of success this year.

“Ethan (Moser) played some last year, and he’s getting a little bit of a late start because he’s a very good basketball player.  He’s a very good athlete, and Ethan will catch up.

“Ryan (Zakszeski) stepped in last year as a 10^th grader and was a nice spark for us.  He did a nice job behind the plate, and he made some nice plays at third base too when Shanye was pitching.  That’s probably the job he will do for us this year, but if he solitifies the catching position for us, then we will have to find a back up third basemen.  Hopefully, one of the other catchers will step up too. “

Moyer feels that there are a lot of positions available, but he also sees that there are some capable players that could fill those position.  “We have a good group of guys,” said Moyer.

Moyer is hoping for big things from players like Tim Moyer, Jake Engleman, Alex Stauffer and Aaron Wilkins.  “Aaron (Wilkins) had a little success last year, but he’s still one of the younger guys,” said Moyer.  “He has the ability, and we’ll try to get him to gain some confidence and who knows maybe he’ll be the number two or three pitcher.”

Phil Haddad is a free lance writer for WZARTV and all comments can be sent to .

You can also visit my blogs “Haddad’s Corner” at http://haddadscorner.blogspot.com/

04/08/08
By Phil Haddad

Schiavo Wins Emmy Awards at E.S.P.N.

Ryan Schiavo is what one would call a sports enthusiast. He played baseball and played legion baseball for Boyertown along with playing Senior Babe Ruth in Pine Forge.  His father, Ed, played legion baseball for Boyertown and Ryan is an avid Philadelphia sports fan.  Ryan attended Alvernia College where he was a communication major.

He got the opportunity to do his college internship at the one place most would consider the Happiest place on earth.  No, I'm not talking about Disney World either. His dream of working at E.S.P.N came true which for any sports enthusiast.

Ryan had to come up with a place to do his internship at, and he felt that E.S.P.N was the one place where he could do that.  He checked the E.S.P.N website to see who he would have to contact about doing his internship there.

There were many different places to do his internship at, but there was one reason why he chose E.S.P.N. "I love sports since I was a kid," said Schiavo. "I've been around sports all my life.  I watched E.S.P.N. since I was a young child and it just seemed like the dream place to work.  I knew that I wanted to work in sports, when I 
graduated college."

He was anxious about going to Bristol and working at such a large company.  Ryan had three phone interviews with the lady in charge, and he got the job over three other candidates. Ryan wasn't sure what to anticipate when he got there which caused some nervousness. "This was really cool, but it was also intimidating," said Schiavo.

While he was doing his internship, he received a press pass to attend the Jimmy V Classic (Coaches vs. Cancer basketball games) which was very special for him. "I got to see Temple play Alabama and I was a huge Temple fan as a kid and I like John Chaney as a coach," said Schiavo. "The other game was Kentucky vs. Duke. Most college basketball fans will remember that was one of the regular season college basketball and considered to be one of the best that year and Jayson Williams scored 39 points that day. That was an amazing experience and that was one of the special things they did for me," said Schiavo.

The experience from working at E.S.P.N.  was something that he'll never forget and memories that Ryan will have with him for the rest of his life. "It was incredible and I learned so much about the media," said Schiavo. "I learned how we get people on television, what's a big story and what isn't a big story, how to report a story."

I learned how to promote the brand and the product. It's not just what you see on television, there is so much that goes on behind the scenes. I got to meet some of the anchors and I got to talk to famous people over the phone.

After going back to Alvernia for the last year and a half of college, he kept in touch with his contacts at E.S.P.N and went to visit them his senior year to let them know that he was still around. He wanted to come back and work for them after graduation.

"I didn't anticipate them finding a spot for me there," said Schiavo. "It's a small department (communication) and there aren't a lot of openings. The easiest way to get in was to get a job in production. They hire a lot of production assistants to do hands-on television. They teach you television from the ground up. They do want you to have sports knowledge, and they will teach you TV.  My friends in P.R. were able to get me an interview and I was offered a job a few weeks later."

There were several shows that Ryan worked on during the course of his four and a half years there. Sports Center, Outside the Lines, First Take, Sunday N.F.L. Countdown and the Ultimate Highlights which are the best plays of the week. In 2004, one of the shows he worked on received an Emmy award. The show was sports center for best daily studio show. The company showed their generosity by giving everyone that worked on that show an Emmy for every in the production department. He gave that Emmy to his mom (Kelly) and his step-father Dennis Frain owner of The Bear's Den in Boyertown.

The second Emmy was for working on N.F.L. Countdown in 2006 for best weekly studio show. After receiving the second award, he handed it to his grandparents Harold and Mary Schoenly. "That was a very special award because I only worked there a couple of months," said Schiavo. "It was a very special group of people. It's a good show, and a good experience."

Word had gotten out that sports center had won the Emmy and a co-worker of Ryan's told him about N.F.L. Countdown had won the second Emmy. "We were all really excited when we found out that countdown had won the award," said Schiavo. "There were a few of us working that night who were involved and we all congratulated each other. It was special because it brings you all together, and that's something that you can't take away from a person."

The people that worked on that show all had one common bond whether we were friends or not. It's a pretty prestige award and we go against the show on Fox and the show on C.B.S. For countdown to win, it was really nice.

After hearing about the award, Ryan wasn't surprised by receiving the award because he knew how hard the people there work to put the show together. "The staff is really good and the people work really hard," said Schiavo. "We all had a good year and the producers are very good. Chris Berman is excellent and the TV. analysts are great so I really wasn't surprised."

The Emmy's were a great accomplishment and a very satisfying experience for him. "You put in a lot of hours for a show like that," said Schiavo. "It's a two hour show on a Sunday and it's watched by a lot of people. The N.F.L. is very important to E.S.P.N. and it's the sport that people love the most."

"You work 14 or 15 hours on a Friday and a Saturday every week of the season. You have to be in early on a Sunday morning. You are around the same people all day and it gets tiring. You come together and do the best you can, you work hard.  There is a lot of stuff to do and there is a lot of stuff to produce. When it's all said and done, it's all worth it in the end."

So one would wonder what the next step for Ryan would be, he would like to become a highlight supervisor where he would work with the newer production assistants. Ryan would help the production assistants prepare the highlights and the production assistants sit and watch games and put highlight reels together.  Another job he would have is to help them formulate a highlight plan and checks their work and make sure it's correct. "I have a desire to really help people, and train people," said Schiavo. "I want to help them learn the ropes just like I did. I think it's a great opportunity to do that."

Phil Haddad is a free lance writer for WZARTV and all comments can be 
sent to .  Visit Phil's blog at http://haddadscorner.blogspot.com/.

New Boyertown Football Coach Interview with Mark Scisly

03/03/08
By Phil Haddad

New Boyertown Football Coach

             Former Salisbury Township High School football coach Mark Scisly wanted a bigger challenge, and to coach at a bigger school. His dream came true when the Boyertown Area School Board voted 5-4 to approve him as their new football coach.

The Salisbury Township High School Falcons were 0-11 his first year, and had a record of 7-5 last year.  They were they lost to Lansdale Catholic in the Class AA Sub-Regional playoff where they lost 34-14.

            Scisly was at Southern Columbia High School under Jim Roth a legendary coach for Southern Columbia.  He was an Associated Press all-state offensive lineman his junior and senior year.

Coach Roth was Scisly biggest influence on his life and one of the reasons why he got into coaching.   “Coach Jim Roth at Southern Columbia has been my role model in life,” said Scisly.  “I still talk to him today and I have implemented much of his coaching philosophy into my style.  He is a great coach who not only taught me how to be successful at football, but also how to be successful in life.”

After graduation from high school, he then a four year starter and member of the  ‘Ursinis Bears’ NCAA Division III playoff team in 1999. Scisly was offensive Line Coach  at Ursinus College (2001-2002).  He served as the offensive coordinator/Offensive line coach at Northampton High School (2003) and the Head Football Coach at Salisbury High School (2004-2007).

He found out that there would be an opening for the coaching job at Boyertown, when he read the paper that Ron Zeiber was going to resign as the coach after the Thanksgiving Day game against Upper Perk. Scisly talked things over with his wife, assistant coaches at Salisbury, and the athletic director at Salisbury and told them he was going to apply. It was a very tough decision to leave his team to take his dream job.

“It was a tough decision because I really enjoyed working with the student-athletes and parents at Salisbury,” said Scisly.  “I am very excited about the new challenge that awaits me.”

Coach Scisly was on cloud nine after he found out that he got the job that he always wanted. “Boyertown is my dream job,” said Scisly.  “It is an AAAA school in community that supports football.  It is the head coaching job I always wanted.”

After spending four years at Salisbury Township High School, Scisly is going to take the experience from the smaller school to a bigger school like Boyertown.  “I learned a lot the last four years about being a head football coach,” said Scisly.  “Because of this experience, I have a plan on how I am going to run a sucessful program at Boyertown.”

Coach Scisly is bringing some of his own coaches from Salisbury to coach with him to Boyertown. One of the coaches that’s coming is his offensive coordinator and QB Coach- Mike Holderman (At Salisbury his QBs passed for almost 7000 yards in four seasons).

Scisly met with his team for the first time on February 28^th.   He and tell them what he expects from them.  “I am going to set the ground work for our program,” said Scisly.  “I am going to explain rules, expectations, and discuss my vision for Boyertown Football.  I am expecting the team to work hard and have a very successful season.”

The offensive style he will run is a wing-T guy, but he’s also like to go with a West Coast style passing attack, too. Scisly won’t waver to throw the ball, but if Boyertown will pound the ball, then they’re going to do that. Scisly knows that he has to be flexible and adapt to his talent and adapt to the teams’ strengths.

“Our offensive terminology is easy to understand,” said Scisly.  “The team will have to dedicate themselves to learning the offense and put the time in needed to accomplish this task.”

The Bears return several key players and most of the offensive line from last year, which will be a big plus which could make for a very exciting season.  That’s something that Scisly is looking forward to and is pumped up.  “I am very excited,” said Scisly. “I have watched some of the films already and I feel there are some very talented players coming back.  It is great to be walking into a situation with several returning starters; it will make it much easier to be successful early in the season.”

Phil Haddad is a free lance writer for WZAR TV and all comments can be sent to .

WZAR Sports Interview with BASH Swimming Coach Linda Jones

Host Phil Haddad speaks with Boyertown High School Swimming Coach Linda Jones about the upcoming season.

02/17/08
By Phil Haddad

Boyertown Abington District Playoff Game

            The Lady Bears basketball team were entering unchartered waters, by playing in the second round of the district playoffs.  The team hasn’t been this far in 11 years, and after their 47-42 victory over Sun Valley High School, they knew that one more win and they would qualify for the state tournament.

 That is something that they haven’t done since the 1996-1997 season when Kathy Allen and Kristi Schellinger, and Amber Miller were the tri-captains for the Lady Bears.   Well they will have to wait another year to qualify for states.  They lost to a talented Abington High School Lady Ghosts 55-25.

Coach Mike Ludwig had some worries coming into the game, not practicing for two days.  “It’s tough when you don’t practice for a couple of days to get your rhythm,” said Ludwig.  “Basketball is a game of rhythm and it makes it difficult but Abington had that too.  I’m not sure if they practiced yesterday (Wednesday) but they were off the day before (Tuesday).  You need to come out and play the game.”

  The Lady Bears were couldn’t make shots in the first quarter, and the Lady Ghosts got even scoring during the first eight minutes of the quarter. They took lead of  17-5 after the first eight minutes.

The Lady Ghosts had two players 6’2” sophomore Emily Leer and senior Casey Pritz and used their abilities getting six of the teams 14 points in the second quarter.  Boyertown continued to struggle on their shooting and scored five points in the second quarter.  The Lady Bears trailed 31-10 at half-time.

“Things just didn’t fall for us tonight and we knew that they were big coming in,” said Ludwig.  “They force you to make shots from the outside and they just didn’t go in the hole for us.  That dug a hole and forced us to press and it was hard to get the ball inside.  They had a good defensive game plan.”

The second half became a very fast pace game and the Lady Bears were using  pressure defense during the third quarter, trying to get  the Lady Ghosts into turnovers and get some quick baskets to get back into the game.  The pressure defense seemed to cause some headaches for Abington. Boyertown got turnovers but they didn’t get the ball and able to score some baskets.

“We (coaches) knew that the girls had to attack them with some pressure, and the unfortunate part was we were unable to that pressure into points,” said Ludwig.  “They did throw the ball away a couple of times but never translated that into points.  They didn’t make the pass for a steal for a lay-up.  It was more of a dribble the ball out-of- bounds type of thing.  We got the ball back but didn’t get into a flow into a real frenzy.

“We were trying to attack their weaknesses and their weakness weren’t inside.  We had to attack outside and try to make some things happen and be aggressive.  They handled it and handled it well.  Abington played very well and their guards handled it well.  They got the ball inside when they had to and got scores.”

The second half was a very physical game where Boyertown players were knocked to the ground, and fouls were called against Boyertown causing the Bears fans to complain.  Coach Ludwig was hit with a technical foul after one of his players was on the ground and was called for the foul.  The officials also called a foul on a Boyertown player who wasn’t in the game, which was mentioned to the officials who switched the call.

“It’s a physical game, and you have two teams that don’t want to lose,” said Ludwig.  “Anytime you have that, it’s going to be physical and people are going to be aggressive.  There isn’t much that you can do about that kids are just playing hard.  Our kids are playing hard; their kids are playing hard that’s the way it’s supposed to be."

Coach Ludwig and the Lady Bears had a great season (15-10)  and this is  the best record in the past 11 years.   “The girls worked very hard, and I am really proud of them,” said Ludwig. He does lose three seniors; there is still a good number back for next year.  The future does look very bright for the Lady Bears.  “We’ve had a great group of seniors go through last year and this year and they have help build program back to where we want it to be. We are still looking to move forward.

“The kids that are coming back now have something to look forward to and something to set their goals to.  They want to continue to improve as much as possible.  Hopefully, we will take the next step forward and I just can’t say enough about this group of seniors and the amount of effort they have put in on and off of the court. They have really helped put Boyertown basketball back where it needs to be.”

Phil Haddad is a free lance writer for WZAR TV and all comments can be sent to .

02/10/08
By Phil Haddad

The Boyertown Lady Bears have improved from last year, and had two more wins than last year and three less losses from last year.  Last year, for the District 1 playoffs they were the 32nd seed, and faced the top and lost to Pennridge. This year the team was looking to improve upon what they did, and continue the momentum that they have built from the end of the season.

They traveled to Sun Valley High School (who was the 10 seed facing the 23rd seed) on Saturday night, looking to pull off the upset.  The Lady Bears got off to a slow start, but got some excellent defense to take the lead and hold on for a 47-42 victory.

The first couple of minutes of the game neither team could hit a bucket but the Vangards got some buckets to take the early lead.  The Lady Bears fought their way back and trailed by two points 10-8 as the first quarter came to an end.

Coach Mike Ludwig felt that the team had a tough time hitting shots in the first quarter because of having a 12 day layoff, and it wasn't nerves.  "It took us a while to get up to game speed, and we gave up some easy points in transition and they are a good transition team," said Ludwig.  "Once we settled in, and got back into playing hard nose basketball the girls played solid defense."

Kate Murphy a senior on the team felt that the team was a little nervous and that's why they had struggled early in the game.  She knows that not playing a game in over a week also caused them to miss shots.  "We knew that we could rebound and come back," said Murphy.  "We had to shake off our nerves and shake off our jitters."

"I thought that the team was lose and ready to play, but they weren't able to simulate game speed and it took two to three minutes to get back into game speed," said Ludwig.  "The team was very calm and very confident coming into the game. That's great for the team."

Junior Alex Brown hit some big three point shots, in the second quarter to help the Lady Bears take the lead.  Her three point shots changed the whole complexity of the game.  She couldn't get her shot to fall early, but Alex wasn't afraid to continue to shoot hoping that her shot would fall.  The Vangards had to change their defensive scheme forcing them to play man-to-man defense instead of zone.  That was something that the Lady Bears were trying to accomplish and did, to help them take the lead.

"I knew that I was suppose to come into the game and hit big shots," said Brown.  "It was our first district win and that was exciting and we're looking forward to our second district playoff game."

Alex has hit big shots all year for Coach Ludwig's Lady Bears and has her come off the bench to help make the team better.  "She's come through all year in big time situations and in big games," said Ludwig.   Alex has help from her teammates who are making the passes and playing defense to help the team.

Murphy knows that her teammate hit three point shots all year, and has been very dependable for shooting from the outside. She feels that when Brown shoots the three point shot it will go in.  Murphy knows that Brown work hard all year.

The Lady Bears continued to build off of  the momentum of the first quarter and Alex Brown hit a couple of three point shots to put her team ahead and essentially never look back.  The team continued to play solid defense and limited the Lady Vangards to just four points in the second quarter.  The Lady Bears had a three point lead 17-14 at the intermission.

"That's been our trademark for the past month," said Ludwig.  It goes back to the Spring-Ford game and the Perk Valley game that's where we learned to play as a team.  We had some big wins in the regular season along with tonight.  We really shut down a solid offensive team.

Coach Ludwig has seen the team play well all year, and they have confidence especially after the way the team has played towards the end of the season.  "I expected them to come into the game and win against Sun Valley," said Ludwig.  "If a team comes in expecting to win, and the team plays well, the team will win their share of games."

That always nice (having the lead at half-time) but we knew that we could win the game, and that was never an issue with us, said Murphy. We came in figuring that we are going to win.  It may sound a little cocky but we have a lot of confidence right now.  We know that we can play with anyone and when you have a lead that helps even more.

Boyertown pressured the Lady Vangards to start the third quarter and Alex Brown hit a couple of big three point shots to increase their lead.  Their defense caused turnovers and gave them easy shots trying to take the momentum from the home team.  The Lady Bears had a 10 point lead going into the fourth quarter outscoring Sun Valley 16-9.

The Lady Bears continued to hit big shots, but the Lady Vangards forced turnovers and took advantage of poor foul shooting from the Lady Bears (5-14 in the fourth qtr.) and cut the lead to five but couldn't get any closer.

Boyertown won their first district playoff game in 11 years and will face Abington High School the day before Valentine's Day at 7:00 at Abington High School.  Coach Ludwig gave his daughters a big hug, as they celebrated their victory but knows that they still have work to do.  "We told the team what they can do to become the best team they can be, and they bought into the idea of being a team," said Ludwig. We don't have stars, we have a team.  We have good players but they play together and that's how we are successful.

THE BEAR FACTS: Alex Brown was the high scorer for the Lady Bears with 16 points and Kate Murphy had 14.  TO BE CONTINUED AT Abington High School.

Phil Haddad is a free lance writer for WZAR TV and all comments can 
be sent to .