Friday, July 26, 2019
WRESTLING'S SOUTHLAND: A LEGACY OF LOVE
Ray Southland stood at the head of the class.
When I was assigned to cover high school wrestling back in 1992, all I knew was the orchestrated, pre-ordained legacy of what is known as the professional version of the sport. I attended a high school that didn't even offer wrestling as a varsity sport. Only hockey was spoken during the winter season in Hamden.
So when I was gently pushed toward wrestling in 1991-92, my facial expression must have screamed to the close-knit community that I didn't know the difference between a fireman's carry and a single-leg takedown.
Ray Southland was among a group of officials whose incredible passion for the sport propelled him well beyond his appointed duties. I had many questions. Ray offered all the answers, not only efficiently in basic terms but with his love for the sport sparkling in his smile. Ray's sincerity, thoughtfulness and his profound love for the young athletes were so fluent, leaving no doubt in my mind that his broader mission was softening life's difficulties for all he knew.
Working with officials like Ray was a tremendous asset for a reporter looking for angles that superseded victory and defeat. Extrapolating their perception of the teams and individuals they scrutinized and the gnawing issues wrestling faced facilitated my ability to write more insightful pieces that transcended championships.
Among the ways Ray stamped his outgoing, candid personality on an issue was discussing the difficult calls he sometimes had to make. When calls would affect the outcome of bouts and matches, he was forthcoming in discussing it with me, fully knowing that he could be laying himself open for controversy if I wrote the issue up a certain way.
Wrestling, perhaps more than less grueling scholastic competitions, served as an excellent foundation for the lives of former competitors now spreading the gospel that Ray helped lay out. I saw a comment from former Southington All-Stater Zach Bylykbashi that echoes my feelings. Bylykbashi said he was always uplifted when he saw that Ray was going to officiate his matches because he respected his competence and understanding.
I regrettably never had an opportunity to know Ray beyond the wresting arena, but I can discern exactly how he approached his work as a secondary school teacher and administrator. Those who had the chance to work with Ray at Washington Middle School in Meriden will continue to benefit from his style, his demeanor and his unbridled passion for improving life around him. His words of guidance came directly from his heart, depositing a sparkle in his eyes that conveyed righteousness, integrity and authenticity, intermingling as part of the legacy he leaves behind.
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
HUSKIES, YOU NEVER SHOULD HAVE LEFT
I've been reading about the conference changes in UConn athletics with great interest and I thought I'd offer my taxpayer's portion of the millions we must cough up to support the transfer from the American Athletic Conference to the Big East.
Generally I believe the move is good for UConn and the fan base. The contrived inanity of former football coach Bob Diaco's ConFLiCT is stirring testimony that rivalries with other AAC teams just lacked the luster to stimulate football and basketball fans into opening their wallets, although losing records don't help either.
The notion of Division I football was a complete travesty right from the start.
With all due respect to head coach Randy Edsall, the idea that the 2011 Fiesta Bowl that through sheer luck and administrative lunacy pitted UConn against Oklahoma was as rare a commodity as a snowstorm in Satan's kitchen. How in heaven's name was the Big East champion presented a slot opposite a Big 12 team in a bowl game? The whole system is so driven by money and is so lacking in what college football fans deserved to see that I wonder if somebody -- anybody -- found that match-up compelling.
Oh, but it stirred the juices in UConn faithful that football could follow the route that Geno Auriemma and Jim Calhoun forged on the basketball court. Geno won it all! Jim won it all! Randy can do it, too? Poor fellow had no chance, although I certainly can't blame him or his successors for giving it that old college try.
To become an Oklahoma, a school must have a decent percentage of in-state scholastic players talented enough to make up the team's core. Trust me as a longtime scholastic football reporter in Connecticut; that was not going to happen here. I can count on my hands and feet the number of top-flight Division I prospects I saw play over my 28-year career. I can count on one hand how many of them opted to play for UConn. UConn was never going to be an Oklahoma, no matter how many times Geno may have thrashed their women's hoop team.
But the cockeyed optimists who made the decisions couldn't be told that. Hence, we built Rentschler Field, which has hosted more empty seats than the factories that produce them. Meanwhile, the Huskies were whiffing on the likes of Aaron Hernandez, the Reed brothers David and Jordan, and Tyler Matakevich of St. Joseph (Trumbull) now the Steelers.
UConn football was fun to watch in the old Yankee Conference. It was fine in the Big East, as it was. But delusions of grandeur after that Fiesta Bowl will now cost the beleaguered taxpayers a massive AAC exit fee and an entry fee for a league to which UConn could have still belonged. And what of UConn football as an independent? Do you think Notre Dame is interested in paying a visit to The Rent?
When you tag the costs of change to the $40 million athletic deficit and the rest of the financial problems Connecticut faces, we're in a mess even bigger than a 5 p.m. drive through the I-84 Mixmaster. The extra $15 million or so that this move will cost won't help our tax dollars fix the state's transportation infrastructure. It won't appease corporations from fleeing for the bright lights of Boston. It just gets added into a deficit column that compounds the erroneous judgment that makes Connecticut a great place not to retire.
With all that negativity out in the open, I see a glistening future for basketball, particularly the women's program. Thanks to Geno, Chris Dailey and assists from their magnificent array of alumnae, the Huskies have overcome the lack of competition in the AAC to remain the finest program in the nation. Given their brilliant scheming to shore up last year's lack of depth, the excellence will continue. The common-sense based strategy fomented by Auriemma and Friends is as refreshing as it is effective.
I don't foresee the same future for the men. Coach Dan Hurley's sideline antics are far too over-the-top for my tastes and I don't see him being competitive for the elite high school players, no matter what The Hartford Courant chooses to project. I see the athletes that Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Florida, Gonzaga, Villanova and now AAC foe Memphis vie for and their names don't seem show up when they post their college lists.
As my astute friend and founder of UConn Daily John Silver capably debates, the Huskies don't loom as one-and-done proponents but can still hold their own. After all, he says, they've won four national championships.
Can they do it again? Sure, anything is possible, but we'll have to see if Hurley can pass up the one-and-done talent level and coach the kids who hang around for two, three years to the top of the brackets. There may be another Kemba Walker, Shabazz Napier or Jalen Adams out there who slips through the cracks, but it took a Hall of Famer to find them, and he's at St. Joseph in West Hartford now.
But regardless of where the Huskies of the Hurley Era land, seeing Villanova, Georgetown, Seton Hall and St. John's back on the slate will be a nice lift. Few will pine for Central Florida, South Florida, Tulsa, Tulane and East Carolina, although I must say it is going to be a treat to watch Memphis and the games with Cincinnati were always competitive.
It's also great that UConn games will remain available on what modernists call "linear TV" instead of this ESPN+ streaming folderol. I'm not an advocate of New York City media entity SNY portraying UConn as its very own but at least I can still get it by using the television in my living room and not sending ESPN any money. I would imagine the sweet SNY deal that UConn probably would have lost was more tantamount in returning Big East-ward than nostalgia.
The sports end of what's transpired suits me fine but as with the reconstruction of the XL Center and all the other million- and billion-dollar projects, I have one burning question: Can we afford it?
Generally I believe the move is good for UConn and the fan base. The contrived inanity of former football coach Bob Diaco's ConFLiCT is stirring testimony that rivalries with other AAC teams just lacked the luster to stimulate football and basketball fans into opening their wallets, although losing records don't help either.
The notion of Division I football was a complete travesty right from the start.
With all due respect to head coach Randy Edsall, the idea that the 2011 Fiesta Bowl that through sheer luck and administrative lunacy pitted UConn against Oklahoma was as rare a commodity as a snowstorm in Satan's kitchen. How in heaven's name was the Big East champion presented a slot opposite a Big 12 team in a bowl game? The whole system is so driven by money and is so lacking in what college football fans deserved to see that I wonder if somebody -- anybody -- found that match-up compelling.
Oh, but it stirred the juices in UConn faithful that football could follow the route that Geno Auriemma and Jim Calhoun forged on the basketball court. Geno won it all! Jim won it all! Randy can do it, too? Poor fellow had no chance, although I certainly can't blame him or his successors for giving it that old college try.
To become an Oklahoma, a school must have a decent percentage of in-state scholastic players talented enough to make up the team's core. Trust me as a longtime scholastic football reporter in Connecticut; that was not going to happen here. I can count on my hands and feet the number of top-flight Division I prospects I saw play over my 28-year career. I can count on one hand how many of them opted to play for UConn. UConn was never going to be an Oklahoma, no matter how many times Geno may have thrashed their women's hoop team.
But the cockeyed optimists who made the decisions couldn't be told that. Hence, we built Rentschler Field, which has hosted more empty seats than the factories that produce them. Meanwhile, the Huskies were whiffing on the likes of Aaron Hernandez, the Reed brothers David and Jordan, and Tyler Matakevich of St. Joseph (Trumbull) now the Steelers.
UConn football was fun to watch in the old Yankee Conference. It was fine in the Big East, as it was. But delusions of grandeur after that Fiesta Bowl will now cost the beleaguered taxpayers a massive AAC exit fee and an entry fee for a league to which UConn could have still belonged. And what of UConn football as an independent? Do you think Notre Dame is interested in paying a visit to The Rent?
When you tag the costs of change to the $40 million athletic deficit and the rest of the financial problems Connecticut faces, we're in a mess even bigger than a 5 p.m. drive through the I-84 Mixmaster. The extra $15 million or so that this move will cost won't help our tax dollars fix the state's transportation infrastructure. It won't appease corporations from fleeing for the bright lights of Boston. It just gets added into a deficit column that compounds the erroneous judgment that makes Connecticut a great place not to retire.
With all that negativity out in the open, I see a glistening future for basketball, particularly the women's program. Thanks to Geno, Chris Dailey and assists from their magnificent array of alumnae, the Huskies have overcome the lack of competition in the AAC to remain the finest program in the nation. Given their brilliant scheming to shore up last year's lack of depth, the excellence will continue. The common-sense based strategy fomented by Auriemma and Friends is as refreshing as it is effective.
I don't foresee the same future for the men. Coach Dan Hurley's sideline antics are far too over-the-top for my tastes and I don't see him being competitive for the elite high school players, no matter what The Hartford Courant chooses to project. I see the athletes that Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Florida, Gonzaga, Villanova and now AAC foe Memphis vie for and their names don't seem show up when they post their college lists.
As my astute friend and founder of UConn Daily John Silver capably debates, the Huskies don't loom as one-and-done proponents but can still hold their own. After all, he says, they've won four national championships.
Can they do it again? Sure, anything is possible, but we'll have to see if Hurley can pass up the one-and-done talent level and coach the kids who hang around for two, three years to the top of the brackets. There may be another Kemba Walker, Shabazz Napier or Jalen Adams out there who slips through the cracks, but it took a Hall of Famer to find them, and he's at St. Joseph in West Hartford now.
But regardless of where the Huskies of the Hurley Era land, seeing Villanova, Georgetown, Seton Hall and St. John's back on the slate will be a nice lift. Few will pine for Central Florida, South Florida, Tulsa, Tulane and East Carolina, although I must say it is going to be a treat to watch Memphis and the games with Cincinnati were always competitive.
It's also great that UConn games will remain available on what modernists call "linear TV" instead of this ESPN+ streaming folderol. I'm not an advocate of New York City media entity SNY portraying UConn as its very own but at least I can still get it by using the television in my living room and not sending ESPN any money. I would imagine the sweet SNY deal that UConn probably would have lost was more tantamount in returning Big East-ward than nostalgia.
The sports end of what's transpired suits me fine but as with the reconstruction of the XL Center and all the other million- and billion-dollar projects, I have one burning question: Can we afford it?
Friday, May 24, 2019
A Re-Introduction and Renewal
Life has changed significantly for me since I last posted a blog, as life is prone to do over 10 years.
A torn meniscus in my right knee and psoriatic arthritis effectively ended my days as a sports writer/reporter in the scholastic domain in January, 2018. I was ready for it anyway having passed my 65th birthday and growing weary of contemporary journalistic principles.
Sports reporting today is rife with rumor-mongering, speculation and conjecture, a far cry from what enticed me to the medium as a child and student. I was always anxious to research news-oriented stories and feature pieces on worthy scholastic athletes as a service to the reader. Any speculation or opinion on my part was limited to columns with my photo on top, an indication that what was written below was not necessarily the opinion of my newspaper du jour.
For example, The Hartford Courant today (May 13, 2019) ran a story from The Washington Post that erstwhile Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving being reunited with Lebron James for the Los Angeles Lakers "could be on the table."
Sure it could be, but I wonder if that table has one, two or three legs because it sure doesn't come your way from the steady sphere of reality. The writer indicated her source was an ESPN commentator speculating on his radio show. Aha! We know that this yap crap on radio, television and sprinkled liberally across the internet is essential to drawing clicks, page views or whatever it is that the media thrive upon today so they can mislead advertisers and retain their shrinking niche in American culture.
I see it ad nauseum in forums that once reported the truth and I don't have the slightest inclination to be any part of that. Writers that can't match the tense of their verbs to their subjects go off on absurd tangents and bend their opinions to lure unsuspecting readers searching for positive reinforcement about their teams. I've heard it referred to as "click bait" -- websites needing a reaffirmation of relevancy to lure in advertisers. They'll mislead the reader in any way they can to get that page view.
Kyrie purportedly is joining the Lakers because he and Lebron were seen chatting with their lips shielded to prevent lip-readers from eavesdropping? Surely they were talking about reuniting after their uneasy existence in Cleveland, right ESPN? Hey, I think Kyrie could have just as easily been asking Lebron what he thought of the Peloponnesian Wars and their effect on modern-day Greece.
Greece, as in slippery slope? Yeah, I'd apply that to the piece of dreck in The Courant. If Kyrie should end up playing elsewhere or stay in Boston, does the Post and Courant have to print retractions? Thankfully not because retractions would fill the space every day.
So, I've removed myself from the scene. What little is available on scholastic sports no longer piques my interest. My intense interest in minor league baseball for over 30 years left my consciousness when the Eastern League departed New Britain under venal circumstances. What the hell is a Yard Goat anyway and what does it have to do with Hartford? I have not even been to Dunkin' Donuts Park.
The downside of my reclusive mantra is that I had made some sincere friends and had the pleasure of entertaining discerning readers who must wonder what the heck happened to me.
Well, I've had about a year-and-a-half to contemplate where I'd like my life to go, and I know that writing should be a part of it. Some small media outlets and internet concerns inquired about my availability but sheepishly asked if I'd be willing to write for free. While money has never been a big issue with me, I'm heavily into respect. Respect for a gift that God was good enough to grant me. Respect for my opinions that are probably not shared by many but are nonetheless my intellectual property to project as I see fit. If I'm going to write for free, I'm not going to conduct interviews and run up mileage on my 14-year-old Avalanche. If my opinions send you scooting for the "ist" page (you know, sexist, misogynist, racist), too bad.
I cannot readily opine on scholastic sports or the minor leagues anymore since I'm removed from those realms. I do enjoy my sports on television -- most notably basketball because I'm completely averse to what Major League Baseball has become. I enjoy interjecting my opinions on related matters.
So is Kyrie going to the Lakers? Is the sun going to be shining on my birthday in August? What will swallow us first, the pathetic financial condition of our state or the hideous specter global warming that no amount of money or attention can alter? Heck, I don't know. Kyrie doesn't know. ESPN doesn't know, and The Washington Post must have other assignments into which its sports reporters can delve.
I'm not going to offer the same unsubstantiated junk here, and whether or not people want to read it is up to them. I'm just going to use this space to let off some steam, sports-related or otherwise, and those who wish to read along, you're welcome. Those who don't like it, simply use your ESC key.
A torn meniscus in my right knee and psoriatic arthritis effectively ended my days as a sports writer/reporter in the scholastic domain in January, 2018. I was ready for it anyway having passed my 65th birthday and growing weary of contemporary journalistic principles.
Sports reporting today is rife with rumor-mongering, speculation and conjecture, a far cry from what enticed me to the medium as a child and student. I was always anxious to research news-oriented stories and feature pieces on worthy scholastic athletes as a service to the reader. Any speculation or opinion on my part was limited to columns with my photo on top, an indication that what was written below was not necessarily the opinion of my newspaper du jour.
For example, The Hartford Courant today (May 13, 2019) ran a story from The Washington Post that erstwhile Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving being reunited with Lebron James for the Los Angeles Lakers "could be on the table."
Sure it could be, but I wonder if that table has one, two or three legs because it sure doesn't come your way from the steady sphere of reality. The writer indicated her source was an ESPN commentator speculating on his radio show. Aha! We know that this yap crap on radio, television and sprinkled liberally across the internet is essential to drawing clicks, page views or whatever it is that the media thrive upon today so they can mislead advertisers and retain their shrinking niche in American culture.
I see it ad nauseum in forums that once reported the truth and I don't have the slightest inclination to be any part of that. Writers that can't match the tense of their verbs to their subjects go off on absurd tangents and bend their opinions to lure unsuspecting readers searching for positive reinforcement about their teams. I've heard it referred to as "click bait" -- websites needing a reaffirmation of relevancy to lure in advertisers. They'll mislead the reader in any way they can to get that page view.
Kyrie purportedly is joining the Lakers because he and Lebron were seen chatting with their lips shielded to prevent lip-readers from eavesdropping? Surely they were talking about reuniting after their uneasy existence in Cleveland, right ESPN? Hey, I think Kyrie could have just as easily been asking Lebron what he thought of the Peloponnesian Wars and their effect on modern-day Greece.
Greece, as in slippery slope? Yeah, I'd apply that to the piece of dreck in The Courant. If Kyrie should end up playing elsewhere or stay in Boston, does the Post and Courant have to print retractions? Thankfully not because retractions would fill the space every day.
So, I've removed myself from the scene. What little is available on scholastic sports no longer piques my interest. My intense interest in minor league baseball for over 30 years left my consciousness when the Eastern League departed New Britain under venal circumstances. What the hell is a Yard Goat anyway and what does it have to do with Hartford? I have not even been to Dunkin' Donuts Park.
The downside of my reclusive mantra is that I had made some sincere friends and had the pleasure of entertaining discerning readers who must wonder what the heck happened to me.
Well, I've had about a year-and-a-half to contemplate where I'd like my life to go, and I know that writing should be a part of it. Some small media outlets and internet concerns inquired about my availability but sheepishly asked if I'd be willing to write for free. While money has never been a big issue with me, I'm heavily into respect. Respect for a gift that God was good enough to grant me. Respect for my opinions that are probably not shared by many but are nonetheless my intellectual property to project as I see fit. If I'm going to write for free, I'm not going to conduct interviews and run up mileage on my 14-year-old Avalanche. If my opinions send you scooting for the "ist" page (you know, sexist, misogynist, racist), too bad.
I cannot readily opine on scholastic sports or the minor leagues anymore since I'm removed from those realms. I do enjoy my sports on television -- most notably basketball because I'm completely averse to what Major League Baseball has become. I enjoy interjecting my opinions on related matters.
So is Kyrie going to the Lakers? Is the sun going to be shining on my birthday in August? What will swallow us first, the pathetic financial condition of our state or the hideous specter global warming that no amount of money or attention can alter? Heck, I don't know. Kyrie doesn't know. ESPN doesn't know, and The Washington Post must have other assignments into which its sports reporters can delve.
I'm not going to offer the same unsubstantiated junk here, and whether or not people want to read it is up to them. I'm just going to use this space to let off some steam, sports-related or otherwise, and those who wish to read along, you're welcome. Those who don't like it, simply use your ESC key.
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