Just some quick thoughts as the fall sports season winds down:
It’s been a long time since the Mansfield-Foxboro Thanksgiving Day football game hasn’t had postseason ramifications, but this rivalry, competitively-wise, is the best in our coverage area and has got to rank among the best in the state …
That said, it is somewhat refreshing to have a new school, King Philip, in the hunt for the Hockomock League crown. With a win over unbeaten Franklin on Thursday, the Warriors will clinch their fi…
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Added by Dale Ransom on November 20, 2009 at 10:21am —
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Now that we’ve passed the halfway mark of the high school football season, it’s time to get a little historical perspective on just what is happening in the Hockomock League.
The Franklin Panthers seem to have finally found the formula (and some good fortune) to break through the glass ceiling that has been the realm of Foxboro, Mansfield and North Attleboro. The Panthers are 6-0 and have already beaten every one of the ‘Big Three.’ Franklin, coached by Brad Sidwell, has a non-league game again…
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Added by Dale Ransom on October 22, 2009 at 12:30pm —
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Well, fall is finally here. I know, I know, it doesn’t officially start until Sept. 22, but for us here at the SC, Labor Day weekend gets my favorite time of the year off to an enjoyable, albeit busy, start.
First, we begin with the Deutsche Bank Championship right here in our little old town of Norton. If you had told me 10 years ago that this area would host a PGA Tour event I probably would have strained an abdominal muscle from laughing so hard. But the folks over at the TPC Boston have don…
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Added by Dale Ransom on September 12, 2009 at 11:09am —
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From the end of the high school playoffs to Labor Day weekend is the dead time here in the SC sports department. So when the Deutsche Bank Championship comes to Norton, the Patriots start playing for real and the high schools start fall practice, the sports staff begins to shake off the remaining summer rust and get back into our hectic schedules.
In the lazy weeks from late June to late August, we've tried to squeeze about 20 weeks’ worth of staff vacation time in. But we, or at least I, haven…
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Added by Dale Ransom on August 31, 2009 at 3:29pm —
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I recently experienced one of those moments that transcends being a modern parent.
To make up for all the running around, switching of schedules and sitting through two hours of a youth softball game in misty, 40-degree weather, my daughter Lauren’s team won the…
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Added by Dale Ransom on July 3, 2009 at 11:45am —
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Well another well-packaged athlete showed his true colors when his agent and PR lackeys weren’t around to pull the strings.
LeBron “King” James showed that he can be a royal crybaby with the best of them when things don’t go his (or the NBA’s) way. After being knocked out of the NBA playoffs with a 4-2 series loss to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference finals, James stormed off the court without congratulating any of the Magic players and then slinked out of the locker room without addr…
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Added by Dale Ransom on June 2, 2009 at 12:29pm —
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With the second jewel of the Triple Crown having been decided, and for the next few days at least, the sports world will be abuzz with the storyline of a filly, Rachel Alexandra, winning Saturday’s Preakness Stakes. Of course my thoughts turn to that great American pastime – gambling. Specifically, how can I sneak my 9-year-old daughter into the race track?
I knew and anybody following horse racing may have known, that Rachel Alexandra was the pre-race favorite. But my daughter neither knew, no…
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Added by Dale Ransom on May 17, 2009 at 11:44am —
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Was Thursday just about the roughest day in Boston sports we’ve had to suffer through in a long time? A brutal 0-for-3 for sure.
First, the Red Sox couldn’t buy a clutch base hit with all of John’s Henry’s money in a 5-4, 12-inning loss to the Angels.
It was a wonderful coincidence that the Sox-Angels were a 3:30 p.m. start with the Bruins and Celtics playing later that night. I watched the first few innings at home and saw the teams jump out to a 3-3 tie; took my daughter to swimming practice…
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Added by Dale Ransom on May 15, 2009 at 11:49am —
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So the father of the 12-year-old kid accidently bumped by Big Baby Davis after his game-winning shot is demanding an apology? Are you freakin’ kidding me!?
If you haven’t seen the final seconds of that thrilling Game 4, you can watch the replay on YouTube or ESPN.com.
The first thing…
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Added by Dale Ransom on May 12, 2009 at 11:32am —
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I’ve been a little (OK, a whole lot) lax in my postings lately, but here are a few things to bandy about:
-- Jim Rice with a beard reminds me of the black GI Joe I used to play with as a kid.
-- If this is the spring sports season, how come it felt like it could have snowed Tuesday?
-- In case you weren’t aware, Yankees’ outfielders Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Xavier Nady are all free agents after this season. I’m about as positive as you can be that Matsui and Nady wont’ be back and Damo…
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Added by Dale Ransom on May 6, 2009 at 5:22pm —
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Is it me or does it seem like the French are more ticked off at Lance Armstrong for winning their precious bike race than they are at the Germans for a couple of forays through their vineyards during the first half of the 1900s?
After being unable to nail the seven-time Tour de France for doping, the French seem to be mad at Lance for taking a shower (insert your own joke here about European hygiene habits).
Since Lance announced his comeback from retirement and intention of riding in this yea…
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Added by Dale Ransom on April 10, 2009 at 2:46pm —
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Unlike my six- and nine-year old daughters whose favorite two days of the year are their respective birthdays and Christmas, my two most highly-anticipated days are baseball’s Opening Day and the Red Sox home opener. This year I get a bonus as they are one and the same.
I love the start of baseball season for all the reasons most people do – it signals the true start of spring, nice weather is just around the corner and the daily grind of 162 games gives sports junkies like myself new topics on…
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Added by Dale Ransom on April 6, 2009 at 11:21am —
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Ever wonder why very few professional, or even Div. 1 quality, athletes come out of New England?
The answer's easy -- it's the @%*?#& weather!
Kids in New England are forced indoors for at least five months out of the year, time that their contemporaries below the Mason-Dixon Line are outside honing their skills. My daughter started softball practice this week and it was a typical first practice -- rainy and cold. How can kids get the most out of practice, when until June rolls around, they…
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Added by Dale Ransom on April 4, 2009 at 12:11pm —
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As a sports editor, I probably shouldn't admit this, but the NCAA Tournament just doesn't stoke my fires anymore.
Growing up in the early 1980s, just as the Big East was starting to dawn as one of the premier college basketball conferences in the land (along with the ACC), March Madness started for me with the Big East Tournament. Patrick Ewing and I went to high school at the same time, so when he moved on to Georgetown and the advent of "Hoya Paranoya" gripped the country and turned Big East…
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Added by Dale Ransom on March 21, 2009 at 10:29pm —
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Is it really necessary to have an ED ad every commercial break during a televised sporting event? Can there be anything more disturbing than hearing your 9-year-old dance around the house singing “Viva Viagra!” and giggling at your reaction?
Well, there is one more thing — having your 9-year-old hear certain radio commercials and ask what enhancement means . . .
Seriously, do we really need to advertise this stuff so openly and under such circumstances where young children are bound to be expo…
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Added by Dale Ransom on March 12, 2009 at 12:17am —
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My oldest daughter Lauren is nine and becoming more and more aware of this great big world around her than just her little cocoon of home, school and the bus ride to school. Yeah, there are little side trips to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, swimming practice and our annual one week down the Cape in the summer, but for the most part, her little universe revolves around our neighborhood and her school.
She also knows that Daddy “makes the newspaper” and spends way too much time surfing sports-rela…
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Added by Dale Ransom on February 19, 2009 at 11:07am —
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I must say, I was a little disappointed that the proposed expansion and splitting of the Hockomock League was voted down. Although I do enjoy the Thanksgiving Day rivalries, I’m not so much a nostalgia buff (I say tear Fenway down and give me Camden Yards North, ASAP) that I couldn’t live without the annual regular season-ending games.
I was part of one of the great ones in the state (Mansfield vs. Foxboro), but I’d like to see a state-wide playoff in place, though nine divisions in Eastern Mas…
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Added by Dale Ransom on February 15, 2009 at 4:08pm —
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This may become a reoccurring theme throughout the baseball season, and I’m sure to get a lot of eyeballs rolling when the subject comes up, but I just don’t understand the man-crush the Globe’s Nick Cafardo has on Manny Ramirez. Again, in the Etc. portion of his Sunday Baseball notes column, Cafardo asks the question that with the downfall of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and now Alex Rodriguez to steroids accusations, should Manny Ramirez be considered the greatest player of his generation?
If y…
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Added by Dale Ransom on February 15, 2009 at 2:29pm —
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Perusing through all the A-Roid or Ste-Rod fallout, I ran across an interesting side bar by Gerry Fraley on the Fox Sports Web site. Fraley touched on the long list of All-Star caliber players with performance-enhancing allegations against them that have logged time with the Texas Rangers. Die-hard baseball fans will recognize most of the names, a roll call that includes three players who tallied four American League MVP trophies with the Rangers since 1996 and seven MVPs overall. You could make…
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Added by Dale Ransom on February 8, 2009 at 2:45pm —
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If I hear or read about Manny Ramirez being the best right-handed hitter, or THE best hitter in baseball as the Globe's Nick Cafardo states in his baseball notes column today, I'm going to puke. How these supposedly knowledgeable baseball people continue to ignore Albert Pujols is beyond me.
Maybe it's because Pujols goes about his business in a quiet, professional manner and plays in the Midwest while Manny continues to make headlines for all the wrong reasons and has had the good fortune to p…
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Added by Dale Ransom on February 8, 2009 at 12:20pm —
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