New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Sunday Gravy: Strange days at the Connecticut Open
Checked my rear view mirror to see a teenaged driver following me way too closely on an already congested highway. So I let him pass, switched back to my old lane and then rode his rear for a few seconds.
It’s straight out of the first chapter in the ‘OK, let’s see how he likes it!’ school of driving. And it never works.
1 The Connecticut Open has long occupied an unenviable slot on the WTA Tour that places it directly after a larger event in Cincinnati and right before the grand stage of New York City’s U.S. Open.
Using the week to rest and recover makes it an easy event to skip. Many don’t, however, largely because of tournament director Anne Worcester, one of the sport’s most respected and well-liked figures.
Still, to the top players who show up, winning in New Haven doesn’t seem nearly as important as escaping New Haven in good health. Withdrawals, early-round losses and match retirements were commonplace in what may go down as perhaps the most bizarre weeks in tournament history.
Five of the world’s top 10 players entered. Simona Halep never picked up a racquet. Only one made it past the quarterfinals. Carla Suarez-Navarro made it to the finals playing only one match to completion.
New Haven’s value, at least to the top-ranked players, comes as a place to mix in a little competition before high-tailing it down to the U.S. Open. It is what it is. But it would be nice if our annual tennis tournament featured a little more, you know, tennis.
The Jets have just
1 enough to sneak into the playoffs as a wild card this year, but only if they go with one of their veteran quarterbacks early in the season. Sam Darnold may be the quarterback of the future, but there are too many deficiencies and not enough wiggle room to gamble on a rookie out of the gate.
1 There’s no better cup of coffee than one brewed with a French press.
Just when you think
1 David Price is about to completely lose his status as one of baseball’s uppertier pitchers, he comes back with a vengeance. Since getting shelled by the Yankees on July 1, Price is 5-0 with a 2.05 ERA and a 57-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio. 1 As the Aug. 31 deadline for postseason eligibility approaches the Yankees could really use a majorleague caliber outfielder to get them through the rest of the season.
Aaron Judge may not be back for another month. Giancarlo Stanton’s balky hamstring tests fate on a daily basis. They’ve known since the spring that Clint Frazier would be on the shelf a while and that Jacoby Ellsbury should be permanently encased in bubble wrap.
Yet rather than grab a useful piece like Curtis Granderson, who has cleared waivers and would play every day now while providing a valuable asset in the postseason, they’re content with the current plan.
Shane Robinson seems like he’d be overmatched by pitchers in the rookie league. Neil Walker has never played outfield and should be spelling Greg “Balboni Jr.” Bird at first base. Brett Gardner, no spring chicken, could use a rest once in a while to recharge his battery for October.
Playoff seeding will be crucial considering the competition. Every win counts.
1 Of course, it’s easy to think the sky is falling with the Yankees. Sure, they’re eight games out in the AL East. They’ve also got the second-best record in baseball.
1 The Sacred Heart men’s hockey team — coached by North Haven’s C.J. Marottolo — will open the season with three impressive home games at Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena. Northeastern is there for a two-game set the weekend of Oct. 12-13 with Providence in town on Oct. 20.
1 There’s a new metric for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament selection process which takes into account factors like strength of schedule and margin of victory. Don’t expect much to change, though. Mid-majors like Quinnipiac will still have no chance of making the field unless they win its conference tournament.
1 The Providence men’s basketball team lost one game during a four-game exhibition trip to Italy, dropping a 70-66 decision to Rosetto, a team led by former Yale star Brandon Sherrod. The former Whiffenpoof, in his third season in the Italian pro league, scored 13 points in the victory.
1 UConn, which opens at home against self-proclaimed defending national champion Central Florida on Thursday, is a 23-point underdog. And it doesn’t seem nearly enough. The Huskies, by the way, are staring at another ho-hum 4-8 season. If they’re lucky. 1 Yale could have the three best running backs in the Ivy League this fall: sophomore Zane Dudek, the first freshman to ever lead the league in rushing; junior Alan Lamar, a second-team all-Ivy pick in 2016 who missed last year to injury and freshman Trenton Charles, who runs the 100 meters is 10.44 seconds.
As long as a mostly new offensive line performs, and given the past few recruiting classes there’s no reason to believe it won’t, the Bulldogs will again be a handful for opposing defenses.
1 Players’ weekend in Major League Baseball allows everyone the chance to put a nickname on the back of their jersey. They’re mostly just a last name with an ‘ie’ or ‘er’ tacked on to the end. “Walkie.” “Happer.” But a few are fairly amusing, most notably Hunter Pence of the San Francisco Giants, who went with ‘Underpants.’
Back in the day, shouting “Hey, Underpants!” at someone was meant to be an insult. Who says we’re not progressing as a society?