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Just thought I’d empty out my reporter’s notebook while wishing all of our local scholastic sports teams the best of luck as the spring season gets underway this week.
It’s always an honor to be a part of the media from across the state that votes in the various sports polls conducted by the good folks at GameTimeCT. (Even though I get some nasty letters for voting much-deserved Killingly No. 1 in recent football polls).
The preseason polls are always a guessing game. We have an idea of what players have graduated and who is returning but it always takes a few games to really assess a team’s fortunes.
Here is what I submitted this week for GameTime CT’s preseason baseball and softball polls.
Baseball
Softball
Putnam Science Academy recently announced its Hall of Fame Class of 2024, led by all-time leading scorer and two-time national champion Hassan Diarra. Diarra is one of eight members of the incoming class, which also features former players Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi, Jose Perez, Tyson Etienne and Danny Upchurch, as well as the 2017-18 team that won the school’s first national championship, and contributor Donald Cushing.
Diarra played three seasons at PSA and left his mark both in the record books and in PSA’s lasting legacy. He is the school’s all-time leader in points (1,469), assists (470), and games played (118). After his graduation after the 2019-20 season, he was the only player in school history to win two national titles.
Diarra is regarded as the face of PSA’s basketball program. He went on to play two seasons at Texas A&M before transferring to UConn, where he has won two NCAA championships with the Huskies. Diarra’s older brother, Mamadou, is a member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2021.
This is PSA’s third Hall of Fame class. The induction ceremonies are scheduled for June 14.
More: Softball preview: The Bulletin's players to watch in 2025
The latest episode of the sensational HBO sports docuseries Celtics City focused on the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson rivalry and the two Celtics-Lakers NBA finals championship series in 1984 and 1985. The rock ’em, sock ’em ‘84 series, which was won by the Celtics in seven games, and the Lakers revenge the following year on the parquet floor in Boston, saved the NBA and paved the way for the league’s explosion and popularity for the Michael Jordan years that followed.
The Celtics City episode also highlighted the 1986 team. Led by Bird, the league’s reigning MVP, the Celtics weren’t just good that season: they were the greatest basketball team I ever saw.
Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Bird were dominant forces in the frontcourt, while Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge formed a terrific backcourt. Bill Walton, a former league MVP who was acquired in the offseason in a trade for Cedric Maxwell, stayed healthy all year and was the perfect sixth man. Former All-Star Scott Wedman and Jerry Sichting added some terrific outside shooting off the bench, while Rick Carlisle, Greg Kite, David Thirdkill and Sam Vincent also contributed to a season for the ages.
The 1986 Celtics played basketball the way it was meant to be played: with passion and joy and team over self. They had no weaknesses. They could shoot either from the inside or outside; they played terrific defense, especially in the low post; they could slow it down and wear teams out in the halfcourt, or beat you with a textbook fastbreak. They were the best passing team you ever saw.
And if that wasn’t enough, they had a future Hall of Famer in Walton coming off the bench.
The Celts simply throttled their opponents night after night. They lost just one home game all season and breezed through the playoffs, going 15-3 against the Bulls, Hawks, Bucks and Rockets en route to the world championship.
The Celtics promised to be even more formidable the following season. They drafted Maryland superstar Len Bias with the No. 2 pick that June. Bias joining the Celtics didn’t seem fair. Bias was going to be the next Celtics superstar and Michael Jordan’s true rival in the 1990s. He was going to continue the Celtics championship lineage: Cousy, Russell, Havlicek, Bird, Bias.
The episode ended with the news that Bias had died, just two days after he was drafted.
More: Baseball preview: Players to watch in 2025
On April 8, 1975, in one of the most dramatic Opening Days in Boston Red Sox history, the Red Sox defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2, in front of 34,055 fans at Fenway Park.
The game featured the American League debut of new MLB home run king Hank Aaron. After 21 seasons in the National League, the Brewers acquired Aaron in an offseason trade. Aaron, who was in the lineup as the designated hitter, went 0-for-3 against Red Sox ace Luis Tiant.
The other big storyline was the return to the Red Sox lineup of legendary local hero Tony Conigliaro. Conigliaro, whose beaning in 1967 thwarted a surefire Hall of Fame career, was making his second big league comeback attempt. Conigliaro, who was also the DH, went 1-for-4.
Tony C, out of St. Mary’s High School in Lynn (Mass.), got four three-minute standing ovations during the game.
For the Brewers, George Scott, a member of the 1967 Red Sox Impossible Dream team, had an RBI double, while 19-year old shortstop and future Hall of Famer Robin Yount went 2-for-3.
Tiant pitched a masterful complete game for the Sox, while catcher Bob Montgomery, in the lineup for the injured Carlton Fisk, had two hits and two RBIs.
And who threw out the Opening Day first pitch? Former Red Sox outfielder Duffy Lewis. Lewis, age 87, was part of the Red Sox’s Golden Outfield with Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper that led the Sox to World Series championships in 1912, 1915, and 1916.
Jimmy Zanor is a sportswriter for the Norwich Bulletin and can be reached at, [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@jzanorNB.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Zanor column: Preseason polls, and another riveting 'Celtics City'
Continue reading...
Preseason polls
It’s always an honor to be a part of the media from across the state that votes in the various sports polls conducted by the good folks at GameTimeCT. (Even though I get some nasty letters for voting much-deserved Killingly No. 1 in recent football polls).
The preseason polls are always a guessing game. We have an idea of what players have graduated and who is returning but it always takes a few games to really assess a team’s fortunes.
Here is what I submitted this week for GameTime CT’s preseason baseball and softball polls.
Baseball
- Woodstock Academy
- Fairfield Warde
- Staples
- Trumbull
- Hand
- Fairfield Prep
- Darien
- Greenwich
- Joel Barlow
- Southington
- Wethersfield
- Norwalk
- RHAM
- Woodland
- Killingly
Softball
- Masuk
- Cheshire
- Woodland
- St. Joseph
- North Haven
- Coventry
- Fairfield Ludlowe
- Ellington
- Southington
- Trumbull
- Darien
- Middletown
- Ridgefield
- Norwich Free Academy
- Griswold
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PSA Hall of Fame
Putnam Science Academy recently announced its Hall of Fame Class of 2024, led by all-time leading scorer and two-time national champion Hassan Diarra. Diarra is one of eight members of the incoming class, which also features former players Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi, Jose Perez, Tyson Etienne and Danny Upchurch, as well as the 2017-18 team that won the school’s first national championship, and contributor Donald Cushing.
Diarra played three seasons at PSA and left his mark both in the record books and in PSA’s lasting legacy. He is the school’s all-time leader in points (1,469), assists (470), and games played (118). After his graduation after the 2019-20 season, he was the only player in school history to win two national titles.
Diarra is regarded as the face of PSA’s basketball program. He went on to play two seasons at Texas A&M before transferring to UConn, where he has won two NCAA championships with the Huskies. Diarra’s older brother, Mamadou, is a member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2021.
This is PSA’s third Hall of Fame class. The induction ceremonies are scheduled for June 14.
More: Softball preview: The Bulletin's players to watch in 2025
Celtics City
The latest episode of the sensational HBO sports docuseries Celtics City focused on the Larry Bird-Magic Johnson rivalry and the two Celtics-Lakers NBA finals championship series in 1984 and 1985. The rock ’em, sock ’em ‘84 series, which was won by the Celtics in seven games, and the Lakers revenge the following year on the parquet floor in Boston, saved the NBA and paved the way for the league’s explosion and popularity for the Michael Jordan years that followed.
The Celtics City episode also highlighted the 1986 team. Led by Bird, the league’s reigning MVP, the Celtics weren’t just good that season: they were the greatest basketball team I ever saw.
Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Bird were dominant forces in the frontcourt, while Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge formed a terrific backcourt. Bill Walton, a former league MVP who was acquired in the offseason in a trade for Cedric Maxwell, stayed healthy all year and was the perfect sixth man. Former All-Star Scott Wedman and Jerry Sichting added some terrific outside shooting off the bench, while Rick Carlisle, Greg Kite, David Thirdkill and Sam Vincent also contributed to a season for the ages.
The 1986 Celtics played basketball the way it was meant to be played: with passion and joy and team over self. They had no weaknesses. They could shoot either from the inside or outside; they played terrific defense, especially in the low post; they could slow it down and wear teams out in the halfcourt, or beat you with a textbook fastbreak. They were the best passing team you ever saw.
And if that wasn’t enough, they had a future Hall of Famer in Walton coming off the bench.
The Celts simply throttled their opponents night after night. They lost just one home game all season and breezed through the playoffs, going 15-3 against the Bulls, Hawks, Bucks and Rockets en route to the world championship.
The Celtics promised to be even more formidable the following season. They drafted Maryland superstar Len Bias with the No. 2 pick that June. Bias joining the Celtics didn’t seem fair. Bias was going to be the next Celtics superstar and Michael Jordan’s true rival in the 1990s. He was going to continue the Celtics championship lineage: Cousy, Russell, Havlicek, Bird, Bias.
The episode ended with the news that Bias had died, just two days after he was drafted.
More: Baseball preview: Players to watch in 2025
Comments and observations …
- The MLB’s new torpedo bats reminded me of the loaded COMBAT bats my son’s Little League team used in a tournament at Cooperstown Dreams Park. The owner of Dreams Park wanted every 12-year old to experience hitting a home run in Cooperstown. The bats the players used were banned from their hometown Little League games. My son did hit a few home runs but also pitched. The balls were coming off the bats at such a high rate of speed that I had my son wear a mask on the mound.
- Now that the NFL is recognizing statistics from the four-year All-American Football Conference, turning the Cleveland Browns franchise and coach Paul Brown and quarterback Otto Graham into rivals of the New England Patriots dynasty and Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, what’s next: the NHL awarding Wayne Gretzky the 46 goals he scored in the WHA? Or the NBA giving Julius Erving the three MVP awards and the two championships he won in the ABA?
- Watching Red Sox designated hitter Rafael Devers start the season by going 0-19 with 15 strikeouts was excruciating. When Devers finally got his first hit, a scorching double against the Baltimore Orioles, he rolled into second base like a Little Leaguer who got his first majors hit. That’s the beauty of baseball.
- I love having all four No. 1 seeds battling for the NCAA men’s basketball championship at the Final Four. Seeing the dominance displayed by Duke, Auburn, Florida, and Houston, it’s almost hard to believe that since seeding began in 1979, the only other time four No. 1s reached the Final Four was in 2008.
- Caitlin Clark is still the GOAT.
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STUCK IN THE 70s
On April 8, 1975, in one of the most dramatic Opening Days in Boston Red Sox history, the Red Sox defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2, in front of 34,055 fans at Fenway Park.
The game featured the American League debut of new MLB home run king Hank Aaron. After 21 seasons in the National League, the Brewers acquired Aaron in an offseason trade. Aaron, who was in the lineup as the designated hitter, went 0-for-3 against Red Sox ace Luis Tiant.
The other big storyline was the return to the Red Sox lineup of legendary local hero Tony Conigliaro. Conigliaro, whose beaning in 1967 thwarted a surefire Hall of Fame career, was making his second big league comeback attempt. Conigliaro, who was also the DH, went 1-for-4.
Tony C, out of St. Mary’s High School in Lynn (Mass.), got four three-minute standing ovations during the game.
For the Brewers, George Scott, a member of the 1967 Red Sox Impossible Dream team, had an RBI double, while 19-year old shortstop and future Hall of Famer Robin Yount went 2-for-3.
Tiant pitched a masterful complete game for the Sox, while catcher Bob Montgomery, in the lineup for the injured Carlton Fisk, had two hits and two RBIs.
And who threw out the Opening Day first pitch? Former Red Sox outfielder Duffy Lewis. Lewis, age 87, was part of the Red Sox’s Golden Outfield with Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper that led the Sox to World Series championships in 1912, 1915, and 1916.
Jimmy Zanor is a sportswriter for the Norwich Bulletin and can be reached at, [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@jzanorNB.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Zanor column: Preseason polls, and another riveting 'Celtics City'
Continue reading...
