I went 6-7 in week #10 in high school football and my overall record is now 87-60. Another sidelight from high school football championship day on Saturday. Brattleboro’s Tony Martinez caught 5 passes for 90 yards for Castleton in its 38-20 victory over Dean. His grandmother was at the game,but his grandfather Tim Johnson couldn’t…… Continue Reading

I made my predictions here yesterday, but it should be a great day in high school football tomorrow at Rutland’s Alumni Field. All three games are intriguing and they should be great! Division 2 at 11AM as it’s #1 Brattleboro vs. #3 Bellows Falls in the “All Purple Championship Game” Division 3 at 2PM as…… Continue Reading

Congratulations to the Proctor girls soccer team as the Phantoms pick-up their 8th state championship, 7th outright with a 6-0 victory over Rivendell on Saturday in the Division 4 state title game. Maddie Flanders with a hat trick, Maggie Mckearin with a goal and four assists and Jenna Davine and Allie Almond with a goal…… Continue Reading

How about those Washington Nationals? I went with the Nats in 7 and they won in 7! Move over Walter Johnson! Why all the hoopla over the Trea Turner play in game 6? it was the correct call. I went 11-4 last week in the NFL picks so my overall record is now 71-49. Here…… Continue Reading

I went 8-6 last week and I now stand at 60-45 Thursday October 24th Minnesota over Washington Sunday October 27th Seattle over Atlanta Philadelphia over Buffalo Chicago over LA Chargers Detroit over NY Giants Indianapolis over Denver Jacksonville over NY Jets LA Rams over Cincinnati New Orleans over Arizona Tennessee over Tampa Bay Carolina over…… Continue Reading

I went 9-5 last week and I now stand at 52-39 in the NFL picks. Here goes for this week: Thursday October 17th, 2019 Kansas City over Denver Sunday October 20th, 2019 Atlanta over the LA Rams Buffalo over Miami Cincinnati over Jacksonville Detroit over Minnesota Green Bay over Oakland Indianapolis over Houston NY Giants…… Continue Reading

It’s week #6 in the NFL. i went 8-7 last week and my overall record is 43-34. Thursday October 10th NE Patriots over NY Giants Sunday October 13th Carolina over Tampa Bay Seattle over Cleveland Kansas City over Houston Washington over Miami Minnesota over Philadelphia New Orleans over Jacksonville Baltimore over Cincinnati LA Rams over…… Continue Reading

I went 7-8 last week and my overall record is 35-27 Thursday October 3rd LA Rams over Seattle Sunday October 6th Carolina over Jacksonville Cincinnati over Arizona Houston over Atlanta New Orleans over Tampa Bay Minnesota over NY Giants Chicago over Oakland Philadelphia over NY Jets Baltimore over Pittsburgh Tennessee over Buffalo NE Patriots over…… Continue Reading

I went 9-7 last week and I now stand at 28-19 on the year. Here goes: Thursday September 26th Green Bay over Philadelphia Sunday September 29th Atlanta over Tennessee NE Patriots over Buffalo Kansas City over Detroit Indianapolis over Oakland LA Chargers over Miami NY Giants over Washington Baltimore over Cleveland Houston over Carolina LA…… Continue Reading

I went 9-7 in the NFL picks last week and my overall record is now 19-12. Here goes: Thursday September 19th Tennessee over Jacksonville Sunday September 22nd Buffalo over Cincinnati Dallas over Miami Green Bay over Denver Atlanta over Indianapolis Kansas City over Baltimore Minnesota over Oakland NE Patriots over NY Jets Philadelphia over Detroit…… Continue Reading

I love inter league play in baseball. I have never understood the whining about it. I get it, not all the match-ups are exciting, but you still have Yankees-Mets, Cubs-White Sox, Angels-Dodgers. You have rematches of the World Series like Red Sox-Dodgers this season or possible previews of the World Series like Dodgers-Yankees this season.…… Continue Reading

I went 10-5 last week and here I go with week #2 Thursday September 12th Carolina over Tampa Bay Sunday September 15th Baltimore over Arizona Cincinnati over San Francisco Detroit over LA Chargers Green Bay over Minnesota Houston over Jacksonville NE Patriots over Miami NY Giants over Buffalo Pittsburgh over Seattle Tennessee over Indianapolis Dallas…… Continue Reading

The NFL season gets underway tonight as Green Bay will be at Chicago. Here goes in week #1: Green Bay over Chicago Sunday September 8th Minnesota over Atlanta Philadelphia over Washington Cleveland over Tennessee Kansas City over Jacksonville Carolina over LA Rams NY Jets over Buffalo Miami over Baltimore LA Chargers over Indianapolis Seattle over…… Continue Reading

It’s high school football week #1 getting underway tonight and already Rice has to forfeit its game at Hartford even though the two teams will have a controlled scrimmage. Rice suffered several injuries in a scrimmage last week and just didn’t have the numbers to compete in game 1. It’s always disturbing when a team…… Continue Reading

Nobody cares about the Shrine game? Tell that to the players, the Shriners and the patients at the Shriner’s hospitals and the just over the estimated 5000 fans on hand at sun drenched Dave Wolk Stadium at Castleton University this past Saturday! The Shrine game is special and it always will be! By the way…… Continue Reading

The State American Legion Baseball Tournament continues today at Colchester with three games on tap including Rutland vs. Colchester at 10 AM. SD Ireland is in the best position to win the championship as it doesn’t have to play today and has two shots to win one game tomorrow. Rutland and Colchester have to win…… Continue Reading

The Red Sox start up a four game series against the Yankees at Fenway tonight. I don’t think the Red Sox win more than one game in the series and this series could make the series in London look like a pitcher’s duel. It was comical watching the umpires in the Sox-Tampa Bay game yesterday…… Continue Reading

I had a great vacation and I’m all set to get back to work. I watched the entire baseball All Star Game for the first time in about 25 years. Maybe longer…. Still read miles and miles of mindless drivel on facebook and twitter! Geez Joe Buck and John Smoltz are great, but of course…… Continue Reading

The London Series is over and quite frankly it ended the way I thought it would. All in all it was a very successful event and the Cubs and Cards will play there next year, but as somebody pointed out to me on Saturday if London loves baseball so much why was it dropped from…… Continue Reading

The final balloting for the baseball All-Star game from the list of finalists will start at noon today Eastern Time and run through 4PM Eastern Time tomorrow. The starters election winners will be announced at 7PM tomorrow on ESPN and full rosters will be announced at 5:30PM on Sunday. Are you ready for an all…… Continue Reading

The best trade over the weekend was Edwin Encarnacion going to the Yankees, not Anthony Davis going to the Lakers! With Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge coming back this week Encarnacion makes an already awesome line-up even awesomer!!! On top of that the Yankees gave-up virtually nothing to get Encarnacion. It’s the biggest robbery since…… Continue Reading

The St. Louis Blues are the Stanley Cup champs and quite frankly they deserved it. They won three of four games on the road including game 7. I thought the Bruins would win the series in 6 and I certainly thought they’d win game 7, but it wasn’t to be. One team wins and all…… Continue Reading

Let me say it AGAIN! Let’s see Toronto wins game 1 of the NBA Finals and carries that momentum into a victory in game 2. Wait a minute it didn’t happen because momentum doesn’t carry over from game to game. I repeat and repeat and repeat that I will stop talking about it when coaches,…… Continue Reading

Bill Buckner died yesterday at the age of 69. It is sad that he will be remembered for what happened in game 6 of the 1986 World Series, but he was a great player and you could argue that he was at least a borderline Hall of Famer. He had 2,715 career hits. Ted Williams…… Continue Reading

I don’t know about you, but I’m generally only interested in horse racing when it’s the triple crown races and especially when a horse is going for the triple crown. I generally see who wins the Kentucky Derby and then I root for that horse in the Preakness and hopefully is still in the running…… Continue Reading

Somehow I think if Toronto fans had a choice between the Raptors winning in game 7 or the Maple leafs winning in game 7, they would take the Leafs winning in 7. It is hockey and it is Canada remember! I’m going with Milwaukee over Toronto in 6 in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals and…… Continue Reading

The Bruins are in for a battle with Columbus as they coughed up the home ice advantage with their double overtime loss on Saturday night. I had the Bruins in 6 going in to the series, but they have to be better. Stupid penalty by Patrice Bergeron which led to the power play game winner.…… Continue Reading

I’m going with the Bruins over Columbus in 6 and Milwaukee over the Celtics in 6 in their respective Eastern conference semi-final series. I got to say that Tukka Rask was pretty good in the series against Toronto especially in game 7. Maybe it isn’t fair, but it’s only one round. He has to do…… Continue Reading

Who would’ve thought that the Tampa bay Lightning would lose in the first round of the playoffs, let alone being swept? Columbus made short work of the Lightning and the Islanders beat the Penguins in 4 straight. That one isn’t as much of a surprise and the Islanders were the higher seed, but still these…… Continue Reading

Ok now it’s time to turn the page. The opening day ceremony at Fenway was pretty good even though you can put me down for being one of those fans who thought it was a little strange that the players got their rings without being introduced. I actually find it refreshing that any references I…… Continue Reading

Yes the Red Sox are off to a 2-6 start and yes the games in April mean the same as the games in October. The difference is that when you play lousy in April you have more time to recover than you do when you play lousy in October. I have seen columns where the…… Continue Reading

Joe Bellino who won the Heisman Trophy at the US Naval Academy died yesterday at the age of 81. Bellino, a native of Winchester, Massachusetts won the Heisman Trophy in 1960 in a season where he rushed for 834 yards and 15 touchdowns along with 3 touchdown catches. Bellino spent 3 years with the Boston…… Continue Reading

The Vermont Basketball Coaches Association had its final day of high school basketball this past Saturday at Windsor High School. Rutland High’s Jamison Evans was named the Boys Player of the Year and St. Johnsbury’s Sadie Stetson was the Girls Player of the Year for the 2nd straight year. The NCAA mens basketball tournament is…… Continue Reading

It was a terrific boys and girls basketball season and a terrific girls and boys hockey season as well. We still have the All-Star Senior basketball games coming up at Windsor High School and the Rotary Hockey Classic at Essex on Saturday. The four basketball All Star games at Windsor High School will be video…… Continue Reading

Congratulations to the state champions in girls basketball:St. Johnsbury, Fair Haven, Thetford and West Rutland! How about St. Jay winning in Division 1? I don’t recall anybody predicting that one. Listen up people: The D2, D3 and D4 girls and boys basketball final 4 and championship games are played at the Barre Auditorium. The D1…… Continue Reading

So Bob Kraft pleaded not guilty. It looks like he’s going to get all lawyered up and prolong this thing. I think Kraft should apologize and say he made a stupid mistake and take the punishment, but of course they never do! No doubt Bryce Harper is a great player and he will probably hit…… Continue Reading

It’s hard to believe that Rutland High School has had just one girl to score 1000 career points and it was Elise Magro who accomplished the feat just last week. The MSJ girls basketball program only had one 1000 point scorer for several years as Kim levins accomplished the feat in 1987, but Now MSJ…… Continue Reading

Nick Cafardo’s baseball column in the Boston Globe on Super Sunday started off ironically enough about the difference between PED’s in the NFL and PED’s in baseball. Carfardo writes: ” Serving a suspension or being linked to it in baseball seems like a major crime among some fans. In football? No biggie. That was borne…… Continue Reading

My record going into the Super Bowl is 160-90 and I’m going with the Patriots over the LA Rams 31-24. There was a time when I couldn’t get enough of the pre-game hype, but now I really stay away from it as much as I can. After awhile it just over-analysis as far as I’m…… Continue Reading

Some random thoughts; Have you ever wondered what happened to the Vermont Athlete of the Month program? Back in the 70’s and 80’s the Vermont Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, now called the Vermont Sports Media Association, had a wonderful program when the Athletes of the Month would be honored with a banquet in Montpelier and…… Continue Reading

Yes the officiating was terrible and every team that played in the Conference championship games was victimized, not just the teams that lost so pump the brakes a little bit. The officiating doesn’t take away from the two games as they were both classics! Remember a couple of years ago when the regular officials were…… Continue Reading

I went 4-0 in the NFL divisional round last week after going 0-4 the week before so my overall record is 160-88. I think the Patriots will have their hands full at Kansas City on Sunday and I guess that the last second loss to Miami ended up being big after all because it’s the…… Continue Reading

There are 13 new members to the Vermont Sports Hall Of Fame. This is the 7th class of the Hall and again I have to say that the voters were right on. This is a diversified group. There is a field hockey player, a moguls skier, an alpine skier, a nordic skier and a snowboarder…… Continue Reading

I went 12-4 in the final regular season weekend of the NFL and now stand at 143-81. It’s the wilcard weekend coming up and tomorrow I’m going with Houston over Indianapolis and Seattle over Dallas. On Sunday I’m going with Baltimore over the LA Chargers and Chicago over Philadelphia. I went a mediocre 19-20 through…… Continue Reading

It will be Clemson against Alabama in the National Championship game on January 7th and with all the talk of how many teams should be in the playoffs, the best two teams in the country will be playing for the title so what’s the problem? The two semi-final games came out the way I thought…… Continue Reading

This list is geared for the most part to the Rutland area so keep that in mind. Taking a look back at the top local sports stories of 2018: I have the Rutland boys basketball Division 1 state championship as the #1 sports story for the 2nd straight year. 1. Last year it was Rutland…… Continue Reading

At first I was going to write that Josh Gordon is sick or stupid or both. I don’t know all the details, but it looks to me that he is an addict whatever the substance might be and he certainly needs help. It isn’t funny! He needs help and I’m sure he’s getting it if…… Continue Reading

In boys basketball last night, Rice defeated Rutland 56-47 as the Raiders had their 43 game winning streak snapped. Quite a run for the two time defending Division 1 state champs as they lost for the first time since December of 2016. It’s funny and nobody said anything but I get the feeling that there…… Continue Reading

NFL week #15. I stand at 123-68 after an 8-8 week last week. Thursday December 13th Kansas City over LA Chargers Saturday December 15th Houston over the NY Jets Denver over Cleveland Sunday December 16th Atlanta over Arizona Buffalo over Detroit Chicago over Green Bay Oakland over Cincinnati Dallas over Indianapolis Minnesota over Miami NY…… Continue Reading

“Do you believe In miracles?” It’s not quite the same thrill I get when I hear the Al Michaels’ call, but it was unbelievable and indeed it was a miracle as Miami beat the Patriots on the game’s final play yesterday by a score of 34-33. Yes the Patriots left points on the board all…… Continue Reading