Bits & Pieces

By Kim J. Harmon

 

How many kids have grown up shooting hoops in their driveway or down at the park, always pretending to step to the free throw line with the game on the line and no time left on the clock?

That was fun and all, but when you’re 15 or 16 and you really step to the foul line with the game on the line and almost no time left on the clock and a couple of hundred cheering or jeering fans in the stands that’s no fun at all.

Listen, you can make a mistake in the first period or the second period or the third period of a basketball game and even if your team loses, no one is going to remember that mistake the next day. But if you miss a crucial free throw in the fourth quarter with the game on the line then everyone is going to remember it.

Now, that’s pressure.

Kristi Nowak felt that pressure. Darcy Fiscella felt that pressure. Despite how well these two played throughout the South-West Conference quarterfinal game between Newtown and Kolbe-Cathedral last Saturday, both were unfortunately set up to be goats after missing two free throws apiece in the final 37 seconds of regulation.

I felt bad for them. I really did.

Although it was on a much bigger stage, I remembered Darius Washington of Memphis missing those free throws against Louisville in the championship of Conference USA and how despondent he was at the end of the game.

The Lady Nighthawks, though, won the game in overtime and – fatefully enough – used four crucial free throws in the final 19.6 seconds to put the game away. But they were so ferocious at the end of regulation and in the overtime session that I couldn’t help recall the words, “Whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.”

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Speaking of free throws, a couple of years ago Newtown High School boys’ basketball coach gave me the opportunity to shoot free throws at practice. The team had just run a few sprints and if I sank a free throw, practice would be over.

I missed the first one and the kids ran a sprint.

Man, they looked tired.

I missed the next one and the kids ran a sprint.

Now they looked tired and ticked off.

You want to feel pressure at the free throw line? I took the ball one last time thinking that, if I missed this one, I wouldn’t get out of the gym alive. Except … well, the kids would probably be too tired to beat me up anyway.

I finally came through. I rattled the last one in.

Phew.

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Are you ready for some baseball?

Now that major league spring training has opened, the juices are flowing. And ESPN Classic will fuel the growing baseball fever when it airs an edition of classic Negro League Baseball on Sunday, February 26, with the Birmingham Black Barons squaring off against the Bristol Barnstormers at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham.

Willie Mays will be the honorary host for the event. A number of state and area ballists from the Hartford Senators and Pittsfield Elms will be playing in this recreation of 1948 baseball. Former New York Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton will manage the Barnstormers while former Boston Red Sox first baseman George “Boomer” Scott will manage the Black Barons.

Not exactly vintage base ball, such as the Newtown Sandy Hooks play, but it will be a 1948-style game with 1948-style uniforms (including those smaller gloves). First pitch is slated for four pm. Following the game, ESPN Classic will air a one-hour special on Jackie Robinson.

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Isn’t it just hilarious that sportscasters have called Lindsey Jacobellis’ fall in the Olympic snowboarding event “one of the biggest gaffes in sports history”?

I mean, come on. The snowboard cross is a brand new event and a handful of people – all new to the sport – compete in it. How can Jacobellis performing a hot dog maneuver, falling, and losing out on the Gold medal compare to Fred Merkle failing to touch second base in that 1908 game between the Giants and Cubs? How can it compare to Bill Buckner letting that ball slip through his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series’ How can it compare to Ralph Terry of the New York Yankees giving up that homer in the 1960 World Series to light-hitting Bill Mazeroski? How can it compare to Steve Bartman taking that ball away from Moises Alou and all but keeping the Chicago Cubs out of the World Series?

Give the poor girl a break. She made a mistake and she certainly won’t make it again.

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Anyone interested in becoming a certified youth lacrosse referee can attend a clinic being held Wednesday, March 1, from to 9 pm, in the Newtown High School cafeteria.

Participants must be in high school or an adult coach. If of high school age, bring a check for $47 made out to CWLOA. If an adult coach, bring a check for $67 made out to CWLOA. All participants must be members of US Lacrosse (membership fee is included in clinic fee) and if under 18, must have a completed and parent-signed membership form (which can be picked up in the main office of Newtown High School). All participants must bring a paper and pencil.For further information, call Mary Pat Frobey at 426-6185.