Bits & Pieces

 

By Kim J. Harmon

W

ith the 12-year-old Cal Ripken State Tournament being held all the way out in Salem, parents of the Newtown All Stars have discovered (if they haven’t discovered it already) what I have known for many years – which is, that part of I-84 between the Middlebury and Cheshire lines (right through the heart of Waterbury) has to be the most maddening stretch of highway in Connecticut.

Right around three o’clock every afternoon the traffic starts to bunch up around Exit 17 and especially around the Route 8 interchange. That’s because three lanes of traffic, with on-ramps disgorging cars on both sides of the highway, are being squeezed into two narrow lanes in a very short period of time.

It’s like trying to push a watermelon through a bendy straw.

And speaking of all that, how nice is it that the New England Regionals are in Danbury this weekend, huh?

The Parks and Recreation annual Basketball Camp – facilitated Gregg Simon and Gino LoRicco – started up down at the Newtown Middle School this past week. Openings are still available for the next three weeks (July 30 – August 3, August 6 – 10, and August 13 – 17) of the program, which runs from 9 to 10:30 am each morning for players in grades three through five and 11 am to 3 pm each afternoon for players in grades six through nine. The camps focus on hard work, fundamentals and game situations and will be feature guest speakers, prizes and more. Sign up . . . Speaking of basketball, I took my first trip to the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts the other day. I like collegiate and professional basketball, but I’m not a HUGE fan of it like some people. But while the modern era stuff was kind of dull (to me), I did find it pretty interesting to see the early years of the NBA, the NBL, and the ABA and to see some of the guys – like baseball legends Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg – who could have gone in another direction in their lives. Overall, though, the place was not nearly as impressive as the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown – but, hey, there is a new building being constructed right next to the old Basketball Hall of Fame. Who knows what kind of magic may go on inside . . . Speaking of the NBA, thick-headed fans spent most of the 2000-01 season complaining about how soft Allan Houston of the New York Knicks could be in a big spot and, for the most part, they are generally right. But with the state of the NBA financial structure (where trading has become almost impossible), the Knicks could do little else but sign Houston to a six-year, $100 million contract. Which means, Knicks fans are probably in for another six years of mediocrity . . . ‘nuff said.