Random Sports Thoughts
• All four of our high school rugby teams in Pictou County are off to provincials this weekend in the Annapolis Valley.
Both NNEC teams are going, and the NRHS Nighthawks boys will be on the hunt for its second straight Nova Scotia title, while the girls team at Northumberland will battle for a Division 2 banner..
They almost never got the opportunity, even before things were decided on the rugby field in the past week. In early May, it looked as if high school rugby was dead in the water for this year – and perhaps a lot longer than that. As one local rugby enthusiast said at the time: once it goes, it’s hard to get it back.
When the Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation (NSSAF) abruptly cancelled the rugby season because of injury and insurance concerns, it required the provincial Department of Education to step in and get that decision reversed, with help from Rugby Nova Scotia.
Often, bureaucrats are slow-moving folks, taking their good old time in getting things done, but they got this thing wrapped up post-haste, getting the players back on the field.
• What a lot of people don’t remember about Bill Buckner and his famous error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the eventual-champion New York Mets is that:
1. The Red Sox bullpen fell apart that night, giving up a two-run lead with two outs to go in the bottom of the 10th inning, with Boston one out away from the title; and 2. Red Sox pitching coughed up a 3-0 lead two nights later, in Game 7.
Buckner, who died this week, is not usually remembered for the very good baseball career he had, but instead is remembered more for that slow-rolling little ground ball that slid under his glove at first base, changing the course of baseball history.
• A lot of people seem to think the Toronto Raptors will be overwhelming underdogs against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA championship series. Fair enough, but a lot of people thought they’d be overmatched against the Milwaukee Bucks, and we all know what happened there.
Non-Sports Thought of the Week:
• I’ll miss your delicious french fries – maybe the best fries ever – and that special way you’d put extra hot fudge on my sundae whenever I asked, which was always. But it’s over now.
Everyone makes mistakes at their job (I made two last week, and those are just the ones I know about), but after getting my order wrong once too often, you’ve joined my ‘banned list’. So, move over Tim, The Trews and Alice (not the pizza place, but Alice Cooper) – you’ve got company.
You know what Joe Pesci said about what happens at the drive-through, right?
It’s not like you weren’t given plenty of chances: Alice Cooper didn’t get a second chance – he ran his mouth about April Wine just one time on his radio program, and now, whenever one of his mediocre songs comes on the radio, off he goes.
People shouldn’t have to paw through someone’s else burger to make sure you left off the mustard and ketchup, or do a test-slurp through a straw at the drive-through window because you might not know the difference between root beer and ice tea. You should be counted upon to handle those things. It’s almost the opposite of what Sinatra sang about in ‘New York, New York’: if you can’t make it there, you can’t make it anywhere.
Kevin Adshade is a writer with The News. His column appears each week.
