“This is the Eli of old,” said Deion Sanders at halftime, attempting to credit Manning after the Giants took a 21-16 lead.
No, no, Prime Time. The Eli of old was the guy throwing the interception to Ellis Hobbs in the fourth quarter.
Pats win, 38-35. Records fall.
In your face, Mercury Morris.
Some of my favorite assignments and moments from 2007:
1. Covering the Class L boys’ basketball tournament. Trinity of Manchester wins an amazing semifinal against Central, and Salem takes the title with a last-second shot by Stephen Savage.
2. Matt Bonner and the Spurs playing in Boston. (And Brent Barry showing the media a joke gift he bought for Luke Bonner.)
3. The “free kick” football game between Plymouth and Souhegan, won by the Bobcats, 11-9. And, later, the Division III football final. The UL’s Marc Thaler picked Souhegan of Amherst to win, and Plymouth methodically mauls the Sabers, 34-0.
4. The playoff race between the Fisher Cats and Sea Dogs, which became a battle of attrition between two awful pitching staffs.
5. David Smith of the Fisher Cats homering into the Hilton Garden Inn — on the same day someone broke his favorite bat.
6. The Division II football championship that ended in controversy (pass interference). Exeter won, 14-13. Fans were cursing at the refs.
7. UNH hockey at Boston University. Dick Umile gets his 400th win, and James vanRiemsdyke scores a ridiculous goal.
8. Three Fisher Cats getting ejected at home against Harrisburg.
9. Coach Gary Noyes winning a high school baseball title after waiting 26 years. Prospect Mountain holds off Franklin, 2-1, at Merchantsauto.com Stadium.
10. The NCAA skiing championships won by Dartmouth College.
Happy New Year!
The NHL Winter Classic between the Penguins and Sabres on New Year’s Day — that outdoor game being played at Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Stadium — is shaping up to be some must-see TV on NBC. Just checked the forecast for Buffalo, and it’s supposed to snow!
Now that’s old-time hockey.
Ah, 2007, the year an emergency room doctor discovered I only have one kidney.
Memo to self: reduce sodium intake, watch blood pressure, no more ultimate fighting.
What’s your favorite sports moment of the year? Most compelling story? Favorite quote? Athlete? Milestone? I’m currently gathering information for next Sunday’s Year in Review. It’s going to include top siblings, Top 10 lists and anything else I can come up with.
Please send any comments or suggestions to the e-mail address listed, kgray@unionleader.com
One of the most shocking moments happened in a Friday night football game at Amherst. The Plymouth Bobcats used the little-known “free kick” rule to beat Souhegan, 12-10.
My wife put the kids to bed, giving me a chance to check out the Millrats on Saturday night. Eleven random observations:
1. Former Providence forward Rob Sanders, a 6-foot-7 swing player, has NBA talent. Wish he’d show more of it.
2. Attendance was about 250. Considering the level of play, I’m surprised more people weren’t there on a Saturday night.
3. Manchester toyed with Boston, a team with much less talent, and got burned in the end. No doubt the Blizzard played harder in their 130-127 win.
4. There was a guard playing for Boston who had to be 50 pounds overweight. And he started.
5. Former SNHU star P.J. Young is a glue for Manchester. He’s done all the little things. Hustles, rebounds, makes an occasional important basket.
6. Souleymane Wane, a 6-foot-11 center from UConn, is still my favorite ‘Rat.
7. Izzy Caro reminds me of my old playing days. At least, defensively. (David Haley will get that joke.)
8. This team needs a play-by-play radio man. Where’s Mike “Millrat” Mutnansky! Come on, Mutt, you can say “Souleymane” all night.
9. Next month Manchester is making a regular-season trip to Singapore to play Aoshen Olympian. The team from China is paying all of Manchester’s travel bills. How can it afford it? The Chinese team makes a lot of money through pay-per-view TV sales.
10. There is a cool rule in the ABA called the “3-D Rule.” If a team turns over the ball before reaching halfcourt, the attacking team is awarded an extra point when making a basket on that possession. Boston had a steal and 3-pointer-turned-4-pointer.
11. The Pink Sapphire Dancers don’t wear pink.
We recently taped the 100th show of “The NBA Life” with Matt Bonner of Concord. We usually tape the radio program on Friday — it can be heard Saturday at noon WKXL 1450 AM — and an edited version of the conversation appears in the New Hampshire Sunday News.
This has been going on four straight years now. People occasionally tell me it’s their favorite part of the Sunday News, which is nice to hear. Radio workhorse Chris Ryan handles all the in-studio taping, editing, and always has an endless list of interesting questions.
I’ve been covering Bonner since he was a freshman at Concord High. As a result, the radio interview often includes anecdotes and reflections from the past. And it’s always funny.
What can you say about the Red Rocket? The guy is hilariously sarcastic, brilliant, charitable, nerdy, frugal, punctual. He ALWAYS returns calls almost immediately. But here is what you must know about Mr. Bonner: he really, really cares about New Hampshire and is a proud Granite Stater.
I can just picture him razzing Tim Duncan after Dartmouth College won the 2007 NCAA skiing championship. “Hey, Tim, how’s the Wake Forest ski team doing this year?”
The Sunday News version of “The NBA Life” doesn’t always capture the toasty dry humor of Bonner. It just doesn’t translate to print. Though people who know him must surely get a laugh at some of the comments.
A sampling from tomorrow’s chat:
Sunday News: What’s on your Christmas tree?
Matt Bonner: It’s funny you say that because we have a little Christmas tree at our practice facility (in San Antonio). There’s no ornaments. Our trainers, strength coaches and everybody has taken it upon themselves to add something to the tree. There’s a black Sharpie, a roll of tape, a protein shake.”
The Manchester Millrats had a teleconference with the president of the NBA Development League, perhaps opening the door for a future relationship with the NBA. Yeah, that’s right. The Millrats could evolve into a D-League team and perhaps become affiliated with the Celtics in the future.
Sound far-fetched? Don’t be so quick to shoot down the idea. The NBA didn’t.
At one point during the teleconference, Dan Reed of the D-League informed the Millrats that is costs at least $1 million to buy into the league as an affiliate.
Manchester’s response?
“No problem. Next question.”
Here is where things are getting interesting. Millrats Principal Owner, Jason Briggs, is a retired 36-year-old with millions and millions of dollars in his business portfolio. He owns buildings in Manhattan for crying out loud. Now he’s moving to Manchester and putting his energy into the Millrats — and the community. On Thursday, he made two charitable trips with members of the team, driving through the snow storm and meeting with kids.
(I did not mention this in my story because Jason didn’t want the kids to think he was there for publicity.)
The NBA is looking for local and independent ownership groups as the D-League expands into the Northeast. Manchester fits the picture. It doesn’t really matter right now that the Millrats are averaging only 300 fans at Southern New Hampshire U. If Manchester proves it has a strong foundation and committed ownership, etc., the NBA will closely review the Millrats’ application to the league.
It doesn’t hurt, either, that coach Larry Lessett has several ties within the NBA.
It doesn’t hurt that former Fisher Cats GM Shawn Smith is vice president and chief marketing officer of the D-League. His job is to help the D-League grow, and he knows Manchester is a great minor-league town.
It doesn’t hurt that Manchester is 12-2, sitting in first place, recently ranked No. 1 in the ABA.
Could it work? Could the Celtics partner with Manchester some day?
Does a rat like cheese?
Twenty years ago, my Plymouth High basketball team beat up on Gilford in a Christmas Tournament hosted by the Golden Eagles.
Dave Haley, a swing forward on that Gilford team, never recovered. The loss has inspired Haley to create his own Web site, NHSportspage.com, and compete directly with yours truly while covering high school hoops this season.
All kidding aside, it’s a cool new site with team rankings, boxscores, previews and a players’ lounge. The red-haired Haley attended the Trinity-Salem game on Tuesday, then immediately went to work on his site, which also includes men’s league action.
FRESHMAN Cory Vejraska, a 6-foot-6 forward at Southern New Hampshire University, pulled off one of the better dunks I’ve seen in person. He grabbed the rebound, went coast-to-coast and soared for the jam on a 2-on-1 break against Franklin Pierce this week. The video is a little grainy, but it has appeared on YouTube.
What’s also amazing is he pulls down the rebound in traffic and goes straight to the rim in four dribbles.
After making phone calls to past and present professional players and talking steroids for nearly the entire day, it was nice get a chuckle from battersbox.ca before retiring for the night.
From one fan to another on a message board:
“I can’t get over how many players wrote personal checks to their steroid dealers.”
“At least they were smart enough to not write ’steroids’ in the memo section.”
