Good morning!
Hockey followers who tuned into the Tampa Bay Lightning sport towards Vancouver on Thursday might have noticed Bernardston’s Doug Weiss at Amalie Area. Weiss is an orthopedic surgeon within the U.S. Navy and a crew doctor for USA Hockey. He has handled wounds that have been suffered on the ice and within the battlefield.
Two years in the past in Afghanistan, he was stationed at Camp Shorab — Camp Leatherneck to some — a ahead working base in a distant desert space of Helmand Province. In the future between surgical procedures, he met Normal Austin “Scott” Miller, the final commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
“Normal Miller was answerable for all of Afghanistan and each few weeks he’d arrive for inspection,” mentioned Weiss. “I occurred to fulfill him one-on-one and we talked about USA Hockey. It was a surreal second, speaking hockey in the course of Afghanistan.”
It gave him an concept of how USA Hockey may honor servicemen like Miller who’d risen by means of the ranks and devoted their careers to defending America. The U.S. Central Command Heart is in Tampa and USA Hockey’s annual winter conferences are in Orlando, so why not unite the 2 at a Tampa Bay hockey sport?
“Everybody was on board with it,” mentioned Weiss.
The inaugural ceremony honored U.S. Navy Rear Admiral James Hancock, and U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Normal Robert Hedelund, each not too long ago retired.
Hancock was awarded the Purple Coronary heart for accidents obtained when the Taliban attacked his ahead working base. He was within the working tent however was capable of return fireplace. Hedelund, who commanded the U.S. Marine Corps at Camp Lejeune, was awarded the Bronze Star and twice obtained the Legion of Advantage.
On Thursday, they obtained USA Hockey jerseys with numbers and nameplates on the again and a heat ovation from over 19,000 in Amalie Area. Two others made the journey to observe the occasion, Weiss’s father Bob Weiss of Greenfield, and his Dartmouth Medical College classmate and Navy veteran Dr. Steve Cobery.
“I’ve bought some names on the again burner for subsequent yr,” mentioned Weiss. They embody retired Navy Seal Mark Donald and GHS grad Andrew “Andy” Mason who enlisted shortly after 9/11 and did six excursions of obligation abroad in particular forces.
■■■■
Rummaging by means of a field of previous correspondence I discovered a letter dated Could 19, 1989, from Dan Okrent. Writer, writer, editor and ombudsman, Okrent based rotisserie league baseball which grew to become the genesis of all fantasy sports activities. He’s not pleased with it; he’s in contrast himself to Robert Oppenheimer, the daddy of the atom bomb.
After pitching a narrative to him for New England Month-to-month, I requested Okrent if he thought Purple Sox outfielder Dwight Evans was a possible Corridor of Famer. “Dewey in Cooperstown? Effectively, I’m softening some. However why him and never Gil Hodges?”
Okrent bought his want final summer season when the eight-time Dodger all-star and the supervisor of the ’69 Miracle Mets was inducted with David Ortiz, Jim Kaat and 4 others. Hodges was chosen by the Golden Days Period Committee, which bought me to questioning if Okrent had finagled a seat on the desk.
He was not, mentioned Corridor of Fame communications director Craig Muder.
Dewey, in the meantime, nonetheless doesn’t have his quantity 24 atop the correct area roof with the 11 numbers which have been retired. He’s worthy if just for his catch of Joe Morgan’s blast within the ’75 World Sequence that was the precursor to Pudge Fisk’s residence run.
■■■■
When Marti (Martha) Barrett was the principal on the Frontier Regional College, she spoke the language of on a regular basis lecturers and college students. She thought-about athletics to be the second arm of schooling. She went to the video games. She was a part of the city. Condolences to her husband Steve, their daughter Mary and their three boys Adam, Sam and Steve for his or her loss, and for the neighborhood’s loss.
■■■■
Mike Cadran emailed the MIAA’s enrollment stats for grades 9 by means of 12 in Franklin County and Athol. Tech leads with 507 college students, adopted by Mahar (413), Frontier (409), GHS (367), Athol (322), TFHS (193), Mohawk (189) and Pioneer (107).
Regardless of Pioneer’s low numbers, coach Scott Thayer’s boys basketball crew began 6-0 earlier than falling at Hopkins on Tuesday.
Cadran reported there might be 11 co-op soccer groups in Western Mass. subsequent fall, and that the MIAA is trying into eight-man soccer groups and women flag soccer.
■■■■
The UMass basketball crew was favored by 8½ factors to beat La Salle on Wednesday. The Minutemen led by 9 factors, trailed by 10 and misplaced by one. If coach Frank Martin can faucet Tafara Gapare’s expertise and put some synergy into the Matt Cross-Noah Fernandes-RJ Luis troika then UMass will go on a roll.
For now, although, all meaning is Bob asking Ray, “Why is their butter on my pants?”
Whereas hoops was shedding at an empty Mullins Heart, the hockey crew was outplayed at BU, 6-2. The Minutemen (9-9-3) ought to beat UNH (6-16-1) on Sunday at 3 p.m. and keep away from falling beneath .500 for the primary time this season. One silver lining on their 2-4-2 skid is Henry Graham, the one-time third stringer has quietly put collectively a 1.18 targets towards common and dazzling .970 save proportion.
■■■■
Sixty-nine years in the past at present at San Francisco Metropolis Corridor, Joe DiMaggio wed Marilyn Monroe. Throughout their honeymoon in Japan, she left to entertain troops in Korea. Based on Homosexual Talese in Esquire, when she returned she advised her husband, “Joe you’ve by no means heard such cheering.”
Unmoved, DiMaggio replied, “Sure I’ve.”
The wedding lasted 274 days. He requested her to re-marry him after she divorced playwright Arthur Miller, however a yr later she was useless. DiMaggio organized to have roses left on her grave 3 times per week for 20 years.
■■■■
The sports activities enterprise web site Boardroom profiled soccer participant Jack Betts on account of his 37 name-image-likeness offers. The actual shock was that Betts performed for Division III Amherst Faculty. It wasn’t tender arms or quick toes that bought him observed, it was the “entrepreneurial spirit that inhabited my physique… I appeared round my dorm room and made observe of the manufacturers and merchandise I exploit and focused these corporations.”
Because of his “small market” success, Betts based the Make Your Personal Legacy Academy, and his inaugural class included UMass working again Ellis Merriweather.
■■■■
SQUIBBERS: Purple Sox spring coaching tickets went on sale this week. Two seats down the correct area line price $102, together with a $7 processing price, $7 per ticket price and $12 to park (and there’s no different place however inside their mud bowl). … Holy Cross, the varsity that produced basketball stars Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn and Ron Perry, is 4-11 and 328th of 364 groups within the Sagarin Rankings. …. The Browns have been 3-3 after Deshaun Watson returned. He threw seven landing passes and had 5 interceptions. … Tom Echeverria says former NMH hoops coach Invoice Batty was 43-0 towards Choate. … Tennessee handed South Carolina its worst SEC loss in program historical past final Saturday, whipping the Gamecocks in their very own yard, 85-42. … The Saint Louis Billikens hosted a child race at halftime of final Saturday’s sport towards St. Bonaventure. Tots needed to crawl throughout the court docket on all fours to be eligible. … UMass may have its arms full on Tuesday at VCU making an attempt to comprise guard Adrian “Ace” Baldwin who leads the Rams in factors per sport, three level proportion and assists, and is second in steals. … Brewers supervisor Craig Counsell advised Chris Russo the pitch clock’s going to trouble hitters greater than pitchers. “Hitters don’t need to get sped up — they don’t prefer it after they have 8 to 11 seconds between pitches.” … On his Patriot podcast with Nick Cattles, Greg Bedard mentioned Mac Jones was 9-for-9 on the play motion go. “That’s how the Patriots have to play,” mentioned Bedard. “That’s how they need to’ve run their offense the entire yr.” … Reader Tom Murphy supplies the quote of the day, uttered by Babe Ruth: “You possibly can’t simply beat the one that by no means offers up.”
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports activities for many years within the Pioneer Valley. He may be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com
