Miles Johnson on the HBCU Swingman Classic in Philadelphia

Welcome back to Philadelphia Live. I'm Judea Murray. Next week we, Philadelphia, we are hosting the 96th Midsummer Classic and this is all part of the All-Star Games Week. There's a lot going on and the first event to get you guys excited about it all is the HBCU Swingmen Classic. Now this is a fairly new event so I wanted to bring in somebody who knows a little bit more about it to just talk to us about what we can expect. So welcome on in Miles Johnson. He's the Miles thank you for joining me. Thank you so much Judea and it's a pleasure. I'm a Morehouse graduate class of 2023. You know Philly, Philly guy, born in Overbrook. I'm from Overbrook rather and you know I'm blessed to be here and thank you for this opportunity. Oh absolutely. I knew that I had to have you especially when I looked into your background and I was like you're the perfect person to talk to me about this. Just a quick disclaimer, I went to Howard which is the best HBCU but Morehouse is cute. Well you know I'll say it was funny because I was debating on should I go to Howard or Morehouse. I played soccer growing up so I wanted to play D1 soccer at Howard but went to Morehouse. Easy best decision I ever made in my life. Okay well we'll see just how good of a decision that was. Let's get into all things happening with the HBCU Swingmen Classic. It is huge but it's also fairly new so for people who don't know what to expect, talk a little bit more. Yeah so the HBCU Swingmen Classic, it features 50 of the best HBCU baseball players in the country. So schools like Jackson State, Grambling State, Southern University, the SWAG, MEAG, like you're seeing some of the best and brightest stars in HBCU baseball and Ken Griffey Jr., several MLB scouts and coaches that have curated this list of players. Their main goal is to give these players an opportunity on a national stage to showcase their abilities and we're seeing what Bethune-Cookman has done in the SWAG last season even you know being some of the Power 4, Power 5 schools and HBCUs that are on the rise and the Swingmen Classic gives them a phenomenal platform to showcase their abilities. But you kind of got into it there but I really want to like bring this home for the people who are watching. How important is it to any one of these 50 players to come on out and be featured here? Yeah so I had an interview I talked with Justin Jornet who is honestly I say the best player to come out of Norfolk State baseball. He's phenomenal, phenomenal character, phenomenal guy and he's a vet in the HBCU Swingman Classic and they have him in the MLB draft or like development system where not only has he been in the Swingman Classic for several years but it's allowed him opportunities for potential opportunities after the Swingman Classic. So I think the greatest part about this is that they bring back players that are still you know highly productive at their schools but they're able to give them a platform again and it's not even just on the field but it's off the field too. It's you know the bands HBCU bands you know I know Howard got one you know Morales got one we can debate who has the best band in the HBCU you know scene. D-9 I'm a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated at Morales Kawasaki Chapter so D-9 will represent and it's just a great atmosphere to show and I think even for like the kids and you know younger generation you know that you know up north you don't have as many HBCUs. You have Lincoln, you have Chaney but it's a little bit different from the south so that opportunity for you know younger kids to see just everything that HBCU has to offer is so so important. So for an audience member who wants to come out and doesn't know that much about it they're not just getting the players they're also kind of getting a taste of what being at an HBCU is all about. Exactly exactly and whether it's Homecoming whether it's Morehouse we would have Morehouse and Spelman we would have Market Fridays where it would be like a little you know block party that everybody's looking forward to the end of the week after classes and all of that and it's just a phenomenal time and even the coaches Ricky Weeks I interviewed him and came from Southern University he was the second overall pick in the MLB draft and you know that's almost unprecedented you know especially like in the early 2000s you kind of see that in like the 1970s 1980s all of that but you know this is a guy along with uh Jimmy Rollins you know Philly's great um one of the legends uh in Philadelphia sports history um both of those coaches are you know coaching these guys as as well as you know Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. so you're getting excellence from HBCUs and like Philadelphia greatness. Hey Miles we got somebody in the chat right now we're on TikTok streaming as well Jackie was really excited to see you come out and said Morehouse represents I needed to let you know that you got some fans in our in our live stream chat right now. Hey we do this thing uh Morehouse it's like the house say the house so uh shout out Morehouse uh shout out my professors um and you know it's it's it's it's a blessing even the opportunity for me to uh you know cover the Swingman Classic uh one of my Morehouse brothers Kalen who works at MLB he gave me the opportunity so my story is a testament to how Morehouse has helped me even you know after graduating I'm you know it's 2026 I graduated 2023 uh so I'm a testimony of how great HBCUs are and how they've helped me too. Okay let's hold on to that 2023 seems to have been the golden year because I do believe that's when we had the first HBCU uh Swingman Classic that one was in Seattle I know it's also been I think in Arlington Texas in Atlanta and now we will be getting it here in Philly so you're a Philly guy talk to me how big it is to have an event like that here for people to see. I think it's so important Philadelphia sports as we know the passion is always there like football uh baseball Red October even you've seen with the World Cup now like the fan festivals everybody is hyped the energy in the city um is at a you know all-time high right now got Jalen Brown Eagles they're doing their thing you know um pump for them so uh I feel like this is great in a one of the best sports seas I would argue the best sports city in America to have the All-Star Week MLB All-Star Week so you know Philadelphia is the perfect place I know the fans the passion there um everybody's gonna be hyped to not only support HBCUs but for the the full week of you know the MLB All-Stars coming here. And for the big game itself that's going to be I believe July 14th so you guys mark your calendars um MLB did put out the roster I'm just curious hearing that originally five Phillies had made it to the All-Star lineup and now we're hearing I do believe uh Jesus Lozardo is now also included in the lineup talk to me about like how do you feel about the lineup is it a pretty good one this year? I do I like it a lot and you know Kyle Schwarber uh is again just playing like an MVP you're seeing Bryce Harper uh just show that you know he's not done yet a little bit of a down year last season and so even the Phillies they I feel like we're always like the the comeback kids it's like that Philly nature of we're doubted let's try to show y'all that hey you know we're not done yet and a lot of folks wrote off the Phillies after you know a slow start and now they're inching their way to the to the playoffs so I love the lineup and uh you know I just can't wait to see what else they do for the rest of the season. No same especially with the game tonight I'm excited to see how our guys play but how the starting game goes as well now I told you that I would pick your reign on something you just didn't know what follow you on social media you got a lot of hot takes this is why you have a podcast everybody's been talking about the potential for LeBron to potentially come to Philadelphia how you feel about that? I would love if LeBron James come to Philadelphia I mean that would be a and my question is what's the Sixers pitch to him because LeBron's 41 years old he's won four championships I mean if you think he's the GOAT if you don't think he's the GOAT his legacy is already set like if he wins another championship is somebody that is a Jordan guy gonna say that Bron's the GOAT no but if the Sixers I don't know do some handshake deal or something say hey like we can give you can give you some orange to give you some equity on top of you just helping us win a championship I feel like that is the key key pitch you got the heat you got the calves obviously the calves probably are the front runner because of that emotional time and we understand that but when you have Maxie and you have VJ and you have Jalen Brown and Embiid went healthy nobody could tell me that starting five with LeBron is the power forward ain't wearing a championship come on I love to hear how confident you are you're also making us laugh here in the studio we'll see what happens apparently he's taking his dear time so we'll look out and see whether or not he does come our way but I would love to see you too my amazing it has been so much fun talking to you I have to say I did a little research before we got out to you and uh I saw three years ago you had an interview with voyage atl and in it you said and I quote my goal was to have my own sports talk show and today I just want to speak life into you real quick you are an emmy award-winning sports and journalist you do have this amazing podcast and you are only growing I believe your trajectory is out of this world and I just appreciate you joining here on philadelphia live to talk to us about the hpcs main man classic thank you so much judea and it's been an absolute pleasure uh dream of mine to be on fox 29 a station that I've watched growing up you know going to penn alexander school in the university city and friends central school right in winwood walking down city line avenue so my flea got through and through my philly sports uh journalists first uh I guess fan second uh but sometimes that fan uh comes out a little too much when I'm talking that philly sports so you know how we get but it's a pleasure and thank you again for the opportunity no problem at all