So this is what a weekend without football is like. Funny, I tried to forget. Sunday was particularly challenging for me. It’s the only one on the calendar without some variety of televised football, baseball or auto racing. Can’t even play Sunday morning point guard and overanalyze all eight high school basketball tournament games that […]
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The Hot Corner: Sherman saga accentuates great divide
We watch sports, at least in part, because the result is unpredictable. If only the same could be said for our collective reaction to everything that unfolds before, within and after the games. Televised athletic events used to be our escape from mindless political debates and the other real, if ill-conceived, divisions that split our […]
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The Hot Corner: Let’s appreciate great and kill the debate
The Denver Broncos beat the New England Patriots on Sunday, advancing to Super Bowl XLVIII. If an objective person thought it would turn out any other way, it was merely a tribute to the complementary greatness of the coach and quarterback on the other side of the field. The better team held serve at home […]
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The Hot Corner: Remembering the region’s most enduring racer
Auto racing is a funny game and unique from the others people play in one crucial area: Popularity. The more a driver wins, the more haters he accumulates. It’s true in some endeavors (think LeBron James), but never is the relationship so directly proportional as in the go-fast, turn-left environment. Thanks to their closely related […]
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The Hot Corner: Put the hype on ice for a while
The verbal commitment by 13-year-old Yarmouth hockey player Oliver Wahlstrom to play at the University of Maine — you know, after he starts shaving — was received with an alarming lack of critical thinking from the Maine media. Some of that is a reflection of the times in which we live. You aren’t allowed to […]
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The Hot Corner: For televised drama, football stands alone
So I’m just coming off one of those three-week staycations that those of us whose goal is to win the lottery and remove ourselves from the grid can only dream about. Actually, between power outages, shoveling sessions and hours spent bundled up in a parka and praying for the space heaters not to trip the […]
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The Hot Corner: Phoenix flight shows need for further changes
Spruce Mountain High School’s decision to leave the Mountain Valley Conference and join the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, approved by its school committee this past Thursday, could be the wave of the future. It mirrors the choices being made at the major-college level, where universities often follow their overall financial interests or the relative strength […]
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The Hot Corner: This is no way to crown a champion
If every entity in sports decided its champion the way the Football Bowl Subdivision does: The Seattle Mariners would have a world championship banner flapping in the breeze at Safeco Field, their 2001 campaign widely recognized as the greatest baseball season in history. Eli Manning would have been home watching the New England Patriots hoist […]
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The Hot Corner: Breaking down the good, bad and ugly
It’s a mixed-reviews time of year. The food the past four days was fantastic, but most of us ate too much of it. On one hand, there is nothing better than the holiday season and the (general) peace and togetherness it brings. On the other hand, it’s cold and the roads from here to your […]
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Skiing: Let’s get it started
There are a number of kickoff dates for any ski season. Columbus Day weekend is homecoming for a number of ski areas, and we have had the annual Maine Ski Hall of Fame banquet at Lost Valley the fourth Friday in October for the past 11 years. It’s always a popular event, and 290 were […]