We’re not many Sundays away from wall-to-wall football, glory be. In the meantime, let’s play a little Monday morning quarterback, survey the defense, and read and react to a handful of pressing subjects: • We are obsessed with labels such as “best ever” and “greatest of all-time” in this era of immediate gratification, but clearly […]
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Olympics: Rio worth a second look
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics, though widely panned and publicized as a train wreck-in-waiting since the day they were announced, are finally upon us. Thank the Lord, thank Jesse Owens, and thank the Greek messenger who breathed his last at the end of that impromptu marathon in 490 B.C., because right now we need it […]
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The Hot Corner: Even from afar, Maine athletes in the spotlight
Some of you might have heard the rumor that I moved to Lexington, Ky. If you’ve been sports-savvy for more than an hour, you probably can guess how the local media invests its time. To wit, whatever a University of Kentucky men’s basketball player eats for breakfast is headline news. Former Wildcats enjoy godlike status […]
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Red Sox earn high marks – so far
It’s the time of year for an exercise most teachers celebrate and some students dread, for all that it represents: the June report card. In Major League Baseball, such a progress report tells the tale neither of a happily elapsed year or a hopelessly lost one. Your Boston Red Sox are merely approaching the halfway […]
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The Hot Corner: Farewell (for now) after 27 years, and change
It makes no sense when you consider the salary and hours, the occupational hazards and reduced life expectancy, but young men and women fresh out of college are engaged in an everyday battle royal to get into this profession. They would be flabbergasted, probably even infuriated, to learn that I stumbled into it while loitering […]
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The Hot Corner: Failure to appreciate Warriors, Bryant is your loss
At some point since the turn of the century, mostly with the help — no, hindrance — of technology, we lost our ability to appreciate great athletic achievement. Our cynicism and our ridiculous rush to be too-cool-for-school have taken over. Post-game interviews aren’t finished and we’re already falling on our asterisk, eager to compare, contrast, clarify […]
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The Hot Corner: No need to mess with the madness, ever
Find something that works, and stick with it. That’s a fine strategy for sportswriters, teachers, salesmen and CEOs. Sure, we all need to adapt with the times, but change for the sake of change: A) Doesn’t always improve your product; and B) Often is a tried-and-true highway to self-sabotage. After living long enough to see […]
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The Hot Corner: Lewiston is cradle of champions, and that’s no joke
Want to polarize a room anywhere in Maine? Figure out someone’s political persuasion in the space of one conversation? Provoke a few cheap laughs in mixed company? Easy as pie. Just say, “Lewiston.” Proven more effective than dropping the names LePage or Trump, the reaction is more immediate and unequivocal. Even apologists groan and smirk […]
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The Hot Corner: Party like it’s 2002, Lewiston. The drought is over.
LEWISTON — Five thousand one hundred fourteen days. Give or take. Nobody skating for Lewiston High School on Saturday night was old enough to have been inside Androscoggin Bank Colisee in any more productive capacity than drinking fountain soda through a sippy cup when the Blue Devils won their most recent Class A hockey championship in […]
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The Hot Corner: Edward Little leaves fabulous final impression
PORTLAND — Edward Little girls’ basketball was part of something special this winter. Yes, that is almost impossible for the Red Eddies to comprehend right now. It’s difficult to digest for a school where the newest hardwood state championship trophy belongs to the boys and is older than almost every player’s grandparents. When the current players […]