A few random Monday morning thoughts while we gaze out our respective windows, 1,100 miles apart, and wonder what nearly the entire continental United States did to infuriate Mother Nature this time around: • No matter how the other elements of the game change — players getting artificially blown up like the Michelin Man, baseballs being juiced, […]
Kalle Oakes
Posted inLocal Sports, sj-web
The Hot Corner: Shaking my head at Brady's non-shake outrage
Tried to forget, but the Super Bowl aftermath was a painful reminder how obsessed America is with surface, symbolic foolishness such as handshakes. We can’t even bask in the afterglow of what was arguably the greatest NFL championship game in most of our lifetimes. Irrational haters of the New England Patriots couldn’t even enjoy the […]
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Posted inLocal Sports, sj-web
The Hot Corner: Patriots ignore the noise, keep playing their own tune
Now what? What’s the next trick designed to keep the New England Patriots from winning a sixth Super Bowl championship in 17 seasons? Conventional means have been powerless to stop what is now undeniably the greatest quarterback/coach/owner triumvirate in history. So “The Media,” as we’re all derisively known to anyone whose self-interest contradicts the day’s […]
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The Hot Corner: Cosgrove and Colby a welcome combo
It’s a shame when someone from any walk of life walks away prematurely from what he or she was clearly born to do. Yes, there is inherent selfishness in that statement. It’s actually none of our business when one of our heroes puts health or other interests ahead of playing another season, writing a new […]
Posted inLocal Sports, National Sports, sj-web
The Hot Corner: Hard to get all worked up over Yanks' big move
I’ve tried to wring my hands, grit my teeth and summon all the righteous indignation most Boston Red Sox fans have exhibited over the New York Yankees’ trade for Giancarlo Stanton, and I just can’t pull it off. It’s kind of alarming, actually. Being the type of person who panics over every random physical symptom […]
Posted inLocal Sports, sj-web, SJVarsity
The Hot Corner: Sports administered differently — no better or worse — in Maine, Kentucky
Eighteen months since leaving the place where my love for high school sports was born and blossomed, then jumping into that scene in a different part of the country, I continue to be amazed at how differently student-athletics are managed outside my native Maine. I’m not saying that one way is always right or that […]
Posted inLocal Sports, National Sports, sj-web
The Hot Corner: Trading Garoppolo a great deal for Patriots
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (10) warms up before an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) Jimmy Garoppolo is the official barometer of New England pink-hat sports spectator delusion. The looniest in our fan base have overvalued players in the past. […]
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Hot Corner: Patriots are fine, but Red Sox manager is not
There are rare times in the sports calendar when a friendly, neighborhood columnist might be hard-pressed to come up with a compelling topic. October is not one of those dry spells. Between the baseball playoffs, college and pro football, the meat of high school’s fall season and NBA and NHL’s too-early starts, the major issue […]
Posted inLocal Sports, National Sports, sj-web
The Hot Corner: Football hate has run amok
At least the war on football is going well. Just when you thought people in this great nation no longer could be united for or against anything, it is clear that folks from all points on the political spectrum have had it up-to-here with one of our once unassailable pastimes. To be fair, united is […]
Posted inLocal Sports, sj-web
#Oxford250: Forty-four reasons I miss being in Maine for this race
The South harbors everything I expected it would when I moved here 15 months ago. Winters are milder. There’s a joint that sells chicken and/or barbecue on every corner. People have accents much more delightful than my own. And most of the stuff people told me I’d miss, I don’t. Never really developed a crush […]