Just thought I’d empty out my reporter’s notebook while wondering how long the surprising Boston Red Sox can stay in Wild Card playoff contention …
Convertibles to Duck Boats
There were Duck Boats rolling through Boston’s streets on Friday morning. Welcome back!
Yup, another championship parade for Beantown sports fans. The Boston Celtics captured Banner No. 18 last Monday night. It was the 13th major professional sports title for the Patriots (six Super Bowls), Red Sox (four World Series), Celtics (two NBA championships), and Bruins (one Stanley Cup) since 2001.
Since moving to Connecticut, I haven’t attended any of Boston’s recent parades. I did, however, go to the raucous Bruins celebration in 1972. It was a childhood memory for the ages.
While our dads were working, my amazing Mom, along with all of the other great moms in our neighborhood, was able to get a big group of us kids out of school that day. We took the Orange Line to downtown Boston to see our hockey heroes.
And it doesn’t get any better than being a 10-year old kid skipping school and seeing Bobby Orr and the rest of the Big Bad Bruins sitting on the back of convertible cars as they parade the Stanley Cup through the streets of Boston among a throng of adoring fans.
From convertibles to Duck Boats, the joy in celebrating a Boston sports championship never gets old.
City of champions? You bet.
Speaking of champions …
Eagles soar
It was a great thrill traveling to Worcester last Saturday night to see my alma mater, Boston College High School, win the state Division I high school baseball championship. Powered by Cornell-bound lefthander Sam Keene, the Eagles soared past St. John’s (Shrewsbury), 5-1, at Polar Park.
Kudos to BC High coach Steve Healy, who was a year behind me in school back in the early 80s. Healy, now in his third season at the helm, spent 14 seasons as an assistant coach on Norm Walsh’s staff. (Walsh, by the way, was my late brother Eddie’s freshman basketball coach at BC High).
This is Healy’s first state championship. BC High also won state titles under Walsh’s guidance in 2001, 2008 and 2009.
It was also my first trip to Polar Park and the new home of the Worcester Red Sox, Boston’s Triple-A affiliate that moved from Pawtucket, is an absolute gem. It's simply a glorious place to watch a baseball game.
It doesn’t hurt that the WooSox have one of the best groundskeepers in the business: Thompson’s Ryan Lefler.
Lefler, a Tourtellotte High grad, worked many seasons at Dodd Stadium for the Connecticut Defenders and Connecticut Tigers. Lefler treated Dodd’s Kentucky Bluegrass as if it were his baby and the field at Polar Park looked as pristine as Fenway Park.
Here’s hoping that Lefler gets called up to the majors soon.
CHSCA All-State
Kudos to Norwich Free Academy’s Molly Page (girls lacrosse), Norwich Tech’s Morgan Cook (softball), Griswold’s Kierra Neilson (softball), and Killingly’s Ashton Goodwin (baseball) who were recently selected to the Connecticut High School Association’s All-State teams.
Page, junior, scored 71 goals for the Wildcats this spring and eclipsed the 200 goal milestone.
Numbers don’t lie
Although there were nights when watching Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingas, Al Horford, and Jrue Holiday play basketball had me yearning for tapes of the 1986 Celtics – there is too much one-on-one, lack of ball movement, and hoisting of 3-pointers in today’s NBA – the numbers being thrown around following the Celtics’ 4-1 NBA Finals win over the Dallas Mavericks show that the 2024 Celtics were one of the best teams in NBA history.
- The Celtics were the second team in the 16-win playoff era (2002-24) to lose only three playoff games
- The Celtics 80 wins (plus 79 percent winning percentage) is ninth in NBA history.
- The Celtics were 1 of 8 teams in NBA history to outscore teams by 10-plus points for the regular season and playoffs.
- The Celtics 1.22 points per possession is the best offense in NBA history.
- The Celtics 1,351 3-pointers were the second most in NBA history.
- The Celtics allowed 1,182 opponent free throws, the fewest in NBA history.
- The Celtics won an NBA record 17 games by 25 points.
- The Celtics won an NBA record 10 games by 30 points.
- The Celtics won an NBA record three games by 50 points.
And to think … the Celtics will have their entire starting lineup back next season.
Clark mania
I am happy to report that despite taking enough cheap shots that would make Bill Laimbeer’s Bad Boy Detroit Pistons teams blush and hearing enough outside noise from the ill-informed, the GOAT (aka Caitlin Clark) survived the first 16 games of the WNBA season.
Keep tuning in to the Indiana Fever games, folks. And remember, the Fever have Caitlin … and you don’t.
Stuck in the '70s
On June 25, 1977,J. Geils Band fans made their annual summer pilgrimage to the Cape Cod Coliseum. Bryan Ferry and Boston’s The Cars were the opening acts on this memorable night.
The Coliseum, which was located on Whites Path in South Yarmouth, opened in 1972. Besides being the home of the Eastern Hockey League’s Cape Cod Cubs, later known as the Cape Codders, the venue was a regular touring stop for the biggest bands of the 1970s. The impressive list of rock and roll giants that performed for the 7,200 denim-bare feet-bikini top crowds included The Grateful Dead, Van Halen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Kiss, The Kinks, and the Beach Boys.
The mighty J. Geils Band, however, were the summer kings on the Cape, tearing the roof off the “Old Sweatbox” for a record 10 concert performances. If the venue was still open, the J. Geils Band would have a banner hanging from the rafters.
The Cape Cod Coliseum’s final event was a World Wrestling Federation show on June 4, 1984.
Jimmy Zanor is a sportswriter for the Norwich Bulletin and can be reached at jzanor@norwichbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter@jzanorNB.
