The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Yankee Stadium buzzing again
There are few things I enjoy more than coaching Little League. But it can, on occasion, be exasperating. Our game was delayed for a few minutes on a chilly late October morning. The umpire was set to begin at 9 sharp. Yet no one took the field. That’s because half of our kids were sipping hot cocoa in the dugout and the other half was ordering theirs at the snack stand.
Things didn’t get much better from there. We wound up losing by one run in the last inning. I think the final score was 97-96.
The atmosphere at the “new” Yankee Stadium, a ballpark inside an upscale shopping mall, doesn’t really compare to the old stadium, a no frills dive where diehards made the upper deck shake when things got good in big games.
That’s changed in these playoffs. The stadium is rocking once again thanks to a rabid, raucous crowd capable of sucking the life out of an opponent. Just ask the Indians and Astros, both rattled in the glaring limelight of October baseball in New York City and seemingly terrified by an explosive atmosphere.
What’s spurred the renewal of energy? The team, of course. It’s a collection of young, homegrown budding stats mostly devoid of the overpaid, underperforming has-beens who’ve bogged down the roster the past decade (Jacoby Ellsbury notwithstanding.)
There’s also the fact that after a few lean years, Yankee fans no longer take playoff baseball as a birthright. This is a rare Yankee underdog rattling cages and re-establishing itself as a juggernaut, much like the 1996 edition, though not quite as title-starved.
The only question, since answered as this column was written well before the first pitch of Game 7, is will there be another game in the Bronx this season?
Nothing against Derek Jeter and the like, but these Yankees are infinitely more enjoyable and likeable than the corporate, no-nonsense vibe that emanated from the Core Four teams.
Todd Frazier in particular is a guy who seems like a lot of fun to be around; from the Sinatra walk-up music to the thumbs-down rally cry to the pure joy he exudes every game. He’s only been a Yankee for three months, but it feels like he’s been in the Bronx whole career. Now if he can just find a helmet that fits...
Can somebody let Dallas Keuchel know that "Duck Dynasty" was cancelled? He looks like a high school sophomore wearing a false beard.
Yale and Harvard are working to resume the "Rivalry on Ice" game at Madison Square Garden for the winter of 2019-20. The ancient rivals met for a third, non-conference game in 2014 and 2015, drawing crowds of 15,500 and 12,700 to the Garden. The MSG game against Harvard is still unlikely to become an annual staple on Yale’s schedule.
Keith Allain may not be the lone Yale connection on the U.S. Olympic hockey team. Four of his former All-Americans — Milford’s Mark Arcobello, Greenwich’s Sean Backman, Broc Little and Brian O’Neill — will all play for the U.S. at next month’s Deutschland Cup in Germany. All four are playing professionally in Europe, making them eligible for the Olympic team.
The Knicks looked particularly hopeless in losing their opener by 21 points.
What East Haven’s Al Bagnoli is doing at Columbia is nothing short of a coaching miracle. The Lions disposed of Dartmouth on Saturday in a battle of unbeaten, and are now alone in first place in the Ivy League with four games remaining. Columbia hasn’t won a league championship since 1961. Bagnoli, the longtime Penn coach who retired only to take the Columbia job in 2015, is back at the Yale Bowl on Saturday.
They get a bad rap, but I don’t mind most of the pumpkin-infused products that hit the grocery shelves every fall. I love pumpkins, I love autumn and I’ll eat pretty much anything as long as it hasn’t been on the floor for 12 hours. But I draw the line at pumpkin spice fettuccini. That’s just sacrilegious.
Nice to see UConn and Providence renewing their basketball rivalry in the name of charity, a Wednesday exhibition at Mohegan Sun. The Big East originals haven’t met since the league split a few years back. They should do it for real, starting next year, and make it a regular date on the non-conference schedule.
The Connecticut Hockey Foundation’s third annual fundraiser game, featuring Sacred Heart and Holy Cross, will take place Jan. 12 at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. The foundation was formed in memory of Jason Pagni, a popular youth coached who died suddenly in 2014. An extensive raffle and silent auction featuring signed NHL memorabilia has been the highlight of the annual game. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased through Eric Opin, executive director of the foundation, at 203-878-5881 or attorneyopin@gmail.com.