A holiday weekend worth of independent thinking for your post-Fourth consumption: • If one more person asks whether the Boston Red Sox should be “buyers or sellers” before Major League Baseball’s trading deadline, I’m going to buy one of those swimming pool floats that looks like an oversized pipe cleaner and sell it across the […]
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Par for the Course: Locals react to Woods, Wie
Tiger Woods’ return to the PGA Tour and Michelle Wie finally winning an LPGA major have Maine golfers expressing their opinions on the best-known male and female professional golfers in the world. The Woods conversations from players participating in the MSGA State Amateur Qualifier this past Tuesday at Martindale generally led to the topic low […]
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Outdoors in Maine: Right to hunt subject to public opinion
As a wise sage once said, the only thing constant is change. Take hunting, or the right to hunt. It may be part of our American cultural heritage, but in a democracy it can be taken away. The upcoming bear referendum is a perfect example. People with enough money and strong convictions can take away […]
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The Hot Corner: Game’s changing face drives him batty
Maine high school baseball is in serious trouble. Notice I didn’t use “dying” or something of that alarmist genre. Full seasons and tense playoff games were still play with teams of nine. Trophies were hoisted heavenward. Winning coaches were baptized with whatever was left in the cooler. Top-level talent was on display between April snowflakes, […]
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The Hot Corner: World Cup brings out best and worst
When did everyone else have to like everything we like? And why does every person, place or thing have to be “polarizing?” I’m inspired to ask these questions almost every day, unfortunately, but they’re at the forefront this summer as we all develop our personal physical and emotional reactions to World Cup fever. The world’s […]
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The Hot Corner: Pointless debate cramping NBA’s style
LeBron James: Malingering, pampered star, or victim of the silent, pervasive racism that prevails in America each day? Well, that escalated quickly. Somebody turns up the heat in an arena to brick pizza oven levels, a guy gets a cramp that won’t quit, and suddenly he’s poster man for everything in the world that’s soft, […]
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Golf course was couple’s next move
Ten years ago, George and Donna Chiasson, with Donna’s brother Dave Iannotti decided they needed an economic challenge along with a job change. What they did probably was something most people would not consider. They purchased a 10-year-old golf course called Turner Highlands. “We were looking for a career change and an investment,” said Donna […]
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The Hot Corner: Track achieving favored status
We hear the question in press boxes, on sidelines, in classrooms and in casual conversations at the grocery store, when we weren’t savvy enough to put on a disguise before leaving the house. “So, what’s your favorite sport to cover?” I give the copout answer most of the time. “Whatever’s in season.” It’s a legitimate […]
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The Hot Corner: As Sox deficit widens, patience grows thin
Like any fan whose connection to the team existed when the only hat choices were red and blue, my relationship with the Boston Red Sox is marked by lies and denial. I pretend to have sold my soul for the first world championship. My party line is that anybody who had a piece of that […]
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The Hot Corner: Frustrations with mound trends too many to count
Pitch counts are killing baseball. Well, in fairness, statistical hyper-analysis is killing baseball, but the two are intimately interwoven. It all leads to my indisputable hypothesis that Tony LaRussa and Billy Beane are the Antichrist and Dr. Frankenstein of the national pastime, respectively. It’s all their fault that we can’t watch a major league game […]