And Another Mention Of Pokemon

By Kim J. Harmon

Just chattering away while I count down the days until my son starts playing an organized sport and I get drafted for my first head coaching position . . .

 

No, you don’t have to refill your prescriptions, things DO look a little different around here.

Don’t worry, it’s just that we have a new computer system up and running now and took the opportunity to change the look of the newspaper. You will probably notice that what we call standing heads on page B-2 and the Kid’s Page have gotten a little snazzier, I like to think, but none of it is going to change the kind of coverage we can provide to sports here in Newtown.

No, that’s not going to change.

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I don’t know which is funnier - that a Boys’ F Division soccer team named itself after a Pokemon or that I knew the team named itself after a Pokemon.

Someone save me.

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So far - and, please, no offense to the fine crew at the Jenner Stadium concession stand because they make some good food (still remember a cheeseburger I had last year when the grills were outside) - but the best hot dog I have come across since the Shelton High School monster dog of that long ago CIAC Class L volleyball tournament has been at Bunnell High of all places. Good, grilled dog - plump, juicy and with a nice sizzle. Mmmmmm.

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I would rather drive down to Weston or over to Jonathan Law or even Foran - the three schools which are, perhaps, the farthest away from Newtown - than go to New Milford.

With Weston, it’s that drive down the Merritt Parkway that gets you, trying to stay calm while all the psychos fly by you and hoping no fool suddenly pulls onto the Parkway from one of those entrance ramps.

With Law or Foran, it’s that ride on I-95 that gets you.

But with New Milford, which is closer to Newtown than all three of those schools, it’s the ride down Route 7. God help you if you need to get to that high school around 4:30 in the afternoon because a 20-minute trip will usually turn into a 40-minute trip.

God, what a miserable road.

And getting home – at least for me, heading back to Waterbury – is pretty bad, too.

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Oh my, how the mighty have fallen. Both Super Bowl teams from last year (who were a combined 28-4) are now each 0-4, each without their starting quarterback (Denver lost theirs to retirement and Atlanta lost theirs to, what else, injury) and each without their star running back thanks to season-ending knee injuries.

What the heck is going on around here?

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Few people get to enjoy moments like the one experienced last Friday at Bruce Jenner Stadium.

There are so few like it.

And, by the way, good luck to coach Bob Zito the rest of the way. I know he had ME convinced when his squad scored 50-something points the first week. Just goes to show you what heart and desire can overcome.

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This week the Newtown High School swim program joins nearly every other school in the known universe when its scoreboard and touchpad system is installed (scheduled for Wednesday as of this writing).

Newtown was the only school in this area that didn’t have a scoreboard or touchpad system of any kind. Schools in Waterbury that didn’t have swim teams had scoreboards and touchpads. Okay, they didn’t work, but at least they had ‘em.

This is a great thing for Newtown swimming. The athletes, the coaches, and the fans (local and otherwise) owe a lot to those who spearheaded the fundraising which ended up paying for the touchpads and to the company which donated the scoreboard.

I can’t wait for the first meet with the thing up there all clicking and clacking away.

Now let’s just make sure Carl Strait knows what he’s doing.

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If there is one thing I should have learned by now, it’s this:

When figuring out my schedule for the week, NEVER bet on the weather and NEVER bet on a weatherman to steer you right. This is New England, for god’s sake, the weather changes on a whim and lots of times won’t let you know too much in advance.

Can you believe we actually complained that we weren’t getting any rain?

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The wife and I were watching Everybody Loves Raymond on Monday night and during a commercial (she just HATES this) I asked if she wouldn’t mind if I flipped over to the New York Mets’ game – the playoff with the Cincinnati Reds.

“But you’re a Yankee fan,” she said.

I knew that and I tried to explain to her the drama that was unfolding right there on the television. I tried to explain that the Mets went through what would have been considered one of the big collapses in major league baseball history and there they were, right there, playing one game with the Reds to see who would go to the playoffs.

She didn’t get it.

Just sort of looked at the television with a glazed eye.

She did offer some condolences to Al Leiter, who was working on that two-hit shutout, because Armando Benitez was warming up in the pen and most likely coming in to shut everything down. “That’s sad. He worked so hard.”

She’s right. But Leiter finished. But when she went to bed with two outs in the ninth inning, I knew she was never going to get it.

(P.S – It was like the day Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak and was making his historic trip around the ballpark. My wife felt compelled to talk to me right at that moment and I didn’t have the heart – or the death wish – to tell her to be quiet)

 

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If the owners in major league baseball had a clue, they would go the way of the National Football League and added three more teams per league to the playoffs. This way, teams like the Cincinnati Reds with 96 wins won’t be left out.

And since teams like the Reds and the Oakland A’s, who don’t spend a lot of money, can make the playoffs it might serve to slow down spending at the high end and encourage a little spending on the low end.

 

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Is anyone aware that the National Hockey League season has started?

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Is anyone aware - or does anyone care - that the National Basketball Association will be opening training camps very soon?

Just thought I’d ask.