About

Welcome to The Top Level of the Minors.  The Top Level is the evolution of the “Horn and Bell Blog:  The Voice of the NoiseNation.”  In recent years, as many long-time readers know, the NoiseNation was neither Noise nor Nation, but the newsgathering arm of the organization lived on in the form of the blog, under the direction of the artist known as “Kram.”

So this is a place that better reflects what we do.  News, opinions, stats and more covering the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as both sports teams on the field and on the ice, as well as the minor league organizations themselves.  You see, the “top level” can apply to the last level of the minors before getting to Major League Baseball or the National Hockey League–or it can be applied to two of the best minor league sports organizations in the country.  But they’re not perfect.  Far from it.  So we’re here as a fan-run site to comment, suggest, and support them so that they may do better.

One other thing.  Now with the presence of social media, usually comments and feedback end up on Twitter or Facebook or elsewhere.  When possible, I’d ask you gentle reader to use the comments section.  You can remain anonymous as you wish, keep things clean, but if it’s all in one place it can enrich the content and help more folks who may have the same comment or idea.