Tossing batting practice...because nobody down here has any idea the relative importance of owning a Beanpot in February

I completely and wholeheartedly miss the Beanpot. I can’t really explain it, especially since I didn’t attend any of the four schools, but I was always a fan growing up, and then in college I had some great memories.
Freshman year I was in the NU student section for the title game, and it was like being a Sox fan. Only instead of “1918”, Terrier fans taunted us with chants of “Safety School” while we were more simple and direct; BU SUCKS!!!! (which it does).
Every time the puck entered the Husky zone, people stopped breathing and an eerie silence came over that section of the arena. Finally the hated Terriers, tied the game, and went ahead with a minute left and the dream died, while the drought lived for NU.

Sophomore year, the result of a 5pm opening round game, was a 2pm pregame show live from Emerson College, and the old Charley Flynn’s.
The Beanpot: where Monday afternoon underage drinking happens.
Two years ago, I was lucky enough to cover a Beanpot, that ended with my arch nemesis BU taking yet another title in overtime in what was a thrilling game with an unsatisfying outcome, Larry Fitzgerald Sr. and journalistic objectivity be damned.
I root for NU, because they never win. I try to root for Harvard, but quite frankly they just aren’t likable with the exception of Ted Donato coaching.
I like BC because Jerry York is a likable figure who was very accommodating to me when I went to write about some of his kids.
Jack Parker is the polar opposite of York, he was an a***** and thanks to an unfortunate November night in college I already detested BU, so I felt better that Parker was a jerk.

Overall, it sucks that I can’t watch it anywhere this week, especially knowing that Northeastern may actually have a shot to win the whole thing; I’d probably even attempt to go if I were back home, at least for the opening round.
The dejection of the Husky faithful was one that the other three schools in the tournament don’t understand. NU isn’t a hockey school, though that’s the sport its best known for. If you were born the last time they won a Beanpot, you could legally drink to celebrate a victory, or wallow in despair tonight. Either way, knowing that NU students rarely need an excuse to party I’m sure there will be libations a plenty. Let’s just hope the riot police aren’t required on Hemenway street tonight.


So wait, NU is no. 3 in the country in anything besides number of student arrests in one small concentrated neighborhood in which you wouldn’t normally expect to find anyone with a suburban upbringing making it their home?
(I’m allowed to make confusing long winded smarmy remarks like that because I lived on Mission Hill for three years. As far as I’m concerned that gives me street cred or at least the ability to disparage my ‘hood. But you Orchard Park, and Bromley Heath folks better recognize.)
But apparently yes, they are the third ranked hockey team in the country, excuse while I attempt to confirm whether or not I am living in a distorted universe in which me, Doc, and my nonexistent dog may have skewed off the space time continuum to an alternate 2009 that appears to be reality to everyone else.
Dunneski, you may be the only one who can confirm or deny this for me.


Mad props to Lebron for the fake triple double the other night, but honestly why do people compare MSG to the Boston Garden and the Forum? What exactly has made it the world’s most famous arena? Their greatest moment is a crippled guy limping on the floor burying two jumpers and calling it a day, and that happened 35 years ago. I’d argue even the old Chicago Stadium has more NBA history than MSG, at least for the home team.

Why do marginal professional athletes who hail from New England always save their best for us? Did Rocco Baldelli give Matt Bonner a pep talk before yesterday’s game?
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So apparently there was a parade at Fenway last week when the spring training truck leaves? Really are you guys that desperate for spring to start? Why is this a big deal? And if they hired the same moving company I did to move here, well they can expect it to cost an extra $1.5 million (probably why they let Alex Cora go) and it will arrive sometime before St. Patrick’s day.

Earlier this week Maryland’s AD came out in support of Gary Williams the other day, and her quote scrolled across the ESPN bottom line. The woman’s last name is Yow
So the scroll read like this “Yow: ‘I really want to lay to rest any of these crazy rumors floating around…’”
Honest to god, I thought Kay Yow had spoken to us from beyond the grave, or she was claiming she didn’t die. There was a brief 10 seconds of confusion on my part; this is what happens when you only catch part of a scroll while watching a game.

So it took ESPN more than a decade to turn the NFL draft, and to a lesser degree all the other major drafts, into a giant spectacle. Now it appears as though they’ve turned their attention to signing day for high schoolers.
What’s next, national choose an AAU team? Or does ESPN just start trolling delivery rooms to announce the births of the next great athlete?