The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Connecticut’s Bagwell finally gets his due
Register columnist Chip Malafronte says it’s getting harder and harder to take the Baseball Hall of Fame seriously, but Jeff Bagwell is finally getting his due, and Connecticut should be proud.
The boy just had picture day for his rec league basketball team. They take a team photo and then individual portraits of every kid posing with a basketball tucked under an arm.
On the back of the order form were examples of about three dozen novelty extras, everything from laminated pennants to coffee mugs, each one emblazoned with your kid’s toothless smile. The boy seemed fascinated by the possibilities. So I asked him if he wanted something special, certain he’d been eyeing his own basketball card, complete with pertinent stats and info (height: 4-foot-2; weight: 59 pounds, favorite basketball move: the Olajuwon dream shake, etc.)
To my surprise, he pointed to the t-shirt.
“You’re going to walk around wearing a shirt with a picture of yourself on it?” I asked. “Who are you, Kanye West?”
“No,” he said. “It’s for you.”
Kids have an uncanny ability to answer wise cracks with something that melts your heart on the spot. So, of course, I ordered the shirt. I’ll probably still be wearing it when he goes off to college.
But I can’t shake visions of the boy running in playground pickup games, sinking jump shots on the opposition while wearing a t-shirt of his own face. That’s next-level confidence. Only wish I’d thought of it when I was playing.
• It’s getting harder and harder to take the Baseball Hall of Fame seriously. Some of the game’s best players can’t get in; others sit on ice for years before voters come around.
Take Killingworth’s Jeff Bagwell, who this week became Connecticut’s first Hall of Famer since Waterbury’s Roger Connor, a guy that retired in 1897. Bagwell was in his seventh year on the ballot. He should have been voted in years ago. The numbers show he was one of the best statistical first basemen since World War II, as well as an outstanding baserunner — he twice stole 30 bases and has 202 in his career — and firstrate defensive player.
But, he was a power hitter in the heart of the steroid era. So there was suspicion, even though there’s no evidence he ever cheated. He never failed a PED test; his name never appeared on a leaked list. He was just big and strong and hit a lot of home runs.
No matter, now. He’s finally getting his due, and Connecticut should be proud.
• You can bet Roger Goodell’s decision to avoid Foxborough (again) is only fueling the inferno raging inside Tom Brady, one of those rare athletes able to take his game to another level just to stick it to someone. Brady wants nothing more than to force Goodell to hand him the Lombardi Trophy in a couple of weeks.
But it might take five or six touchdowns to pull out today’s AFC championship game.
New England’s defense is good — best in the league in terms of points allowed — though it hasn’t exactly been burdened by the competition. It’s mostly been a steady diet of mediocre offenses, including the ho-hum Texans last weekend.
Pittsburgh features the league’s best wide receiver in Antonio Brown, the best running back in Le’Veon Bell and a capable quarterback with postseason success in Ben Roethlisberger.
Right now, it seems Pittsburgh can score at will. We’ll still give the edge to the Patriots, barely. But it’s going to be entertaining.
Someone wake Goodell when it’s over.
• Of course, those who subscribe to Optimum cable television in Greater New Haven won’t be able to see the Patriots once again thanks to its dispute with WFSB Channel 3. For the second successive week, the game is blacked out, even on the CBS New York affiliate, Channel 2. And you wonder why more and more households are cutting their cable all together.
• Did the Steelers learn nothing from Odell Beckham Jr. and his butter-fingered Giants teammates? Social media brings nothing but unwanted and unneeded attention during the playoffs. And live-streaming the coach’s post-game locker room speech is never a good idea.
• The Chargers attempted to unveil a new ‘LA’ logo that came off as a cheap mashup of the Dodgers and Tampa Bay Lightning. Team officials quickly dumped it after backlash. Why rebrand? No one in Los Angeles cares about the move — or the Rams, for that matter. But the logo and uniforms have long been the coolest in the NFL, and are the only thing the franchise has going for it since drafting Ryan Leaf 20 years ago.
• Now that Bagwell is in the Hall of Fame, I think it’s finally safe to conclude that the Larry Anderson trade was a bad move for the Red Sox.
• The non-conference schedule for Yale men’s hockey next season includes games with New Hampshire and UMass and two against Arizona State. There’s also a game with Sacred Heart at Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena and a spot in the Dartmouth Christmas tournament, where the Bulldogs will face Minnesota-Duluth and a second date with New Hampshire. They’ll open the season with a home-and-away series against Brown.
• The Packers-Falcons game is almost a mirror image of the AFC title game. Aaron Rodgers has almost single-handedly carried his team to within a win of the Super Bowl, but faces a loaded offense capable of hanging 40 points on anyone. As tempting as it may be to pick the Pack, this might be Atlanta’s year.
Falcons 35, Green Bay 24.
• Former Yale star Kenny Agostino, playing for the St. Louis Blues’ AHL affiliate in Chicago, leads the league in scoring by 10 points. He’s scored 52 points in 42 games. His one-time teammate at Yale, Alex Lyon, is second in the league in goaltender victories with 16. Lyon plays for Lehigh Valley in the Flyers’ organization.
• The UConn women’s basketball program brings in blue-chip recruiting classes year after year. Any argument to the contrary is pointless.