Our guests this morning on Jersey Magazine are Pete & Ashley Dercole, and author Valerie Fridland.
Pete and Ashley Dercole welcomed their second daughter, Ava, in April 2022. Shortly after, Ava was diagnosed with cancer. And in the blink of an eye, their entire family dynamic changed as Pete, Ashley, and Ava headed to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to figure out what was going on and how to get Ava better.
Pete & Jim Monaghan are assistant coaches on the Jonathan Dayton High School varsity baseball team (Springfield NJ) and on Saturday May 13, the Dayton Bulldogs play the South Plainfield Tigers at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater (home of the Somerset Patriots) with some of the proceeds going to Ava’s fight against cancer and remembering the precious lives of Matteo Anthony Nappe, Dayton Head Coach Mike Abbate’s nephew and Laney Grace Stoekle (Coach Abbate’s good friend’s daughter from South Plainfield).
Tickets are $10 with the option to add an additional $5 donation for a total of $15 to be shared with the families of the children at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New-York-Presbyterian, the hospitals that took care of all three babies. Your donation will provide meal tickets, gift cards, and much needed support to the families that are going through unimaginable stress as they help their babies fight courageously for their lives.
Tickets are available from any Dayton High School baseball player, or email Jim Monaghan directly at Jim.Monaghan@bbgi.com.
Valerie Fridland is a professor of linguistics in the English Department at the University of Nevada, Reno. As such, she has an amazing command of the English language. In her new book Like, Literally, Dude – Arguing For the Good In Bad English, Valerie offers a smart and VERY funny look at how each new generation finds new ways to butcher the English language.
And in the process, Valerie actually defends the very idea of how we change the English language.
Want to know where the word “dude” actually came from? What about calling someone “macaroni” from the song “Yankee Doodle Dandy” – where did THAT come from? And what about regional differences in American English? Valerie and Jim talk about all that and more.
This week’s Rock N’ Ruff Rockstar Rescue is a dog that checks all the boxes! Meet Jackpot (or Jack). Jackpot was found in Paterson and has the most epic personality. He’s friendly, calm, gentle, sooooo smart, aims to please, and loves other dogs; in fact he would do well with a canine companion. He lights up when he meets a doggie friend!
Jackpot is roughly 3 years old, around 45 pounds and is a really great dog that would do well in just about any home.
Randolph Regional has a great foster to adopt program, so if you are interested in seeing if Jackpot is the right fit for you, reach out to Sunny at the shelter at www.randolphregionalanimalshelter.org
COACH SHEETS’ RIDE IN – Jeremy Sheetinger is the head baseball coach at Georgia Gwinnett College where he led the Grizz Gang to the 2021 NAIA National Championship. His weekly “fire me up” tweet every Thursday may, on the surface, be geared toward his fellow baseball coaches, but his motivational message can easily be applied to the classroom, workplace, and your personal relationships. This morning, Coach Sheets talks about the importance of making sure you get the call right – both on and off the field.
🚘 HOW ‘BOUT THAT RIDE IN?🚘
— Jeremy Sheetinger | Sheets (@CoachSheets3) April 20, 2023
In baseball & in life, all we can ask is to:
Get the call right!
Not about pleasing our egos or letting our pride get in the way…
It’s about doing what’s right in the spirit of fairness, having integrity!
⚡️ Positive Vibes Only!
#👊 pic.twitter.com/KN32dA13UG
Looking for something fun to do in the area? Chris Swendeman has you covered with this week’s Local Look.
Questions or comments about the show? We would love to hear from you. Email us at JerseyMagazine@wdhafm.com.
