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12.30.2001 00:08
Art Martone
Sports does matter, after all
One man's opinion of the top 10 local sports stories of the year:
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10
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BRYAN BERARD
The ex-Mount St. Charles star overcame astronomical odds as he returned to the National Hockey League in spite of a fluke injury that all but cost him the sight in one eye. In the process, he turned one of the heartbreaking stories of 2000 into one of the heartwarming ones of 2001.
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9
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THE PAWSOX
You'd think a season in which they didn't make the playoffs and had no prospects to speak of would keep the Pawsox off a year-end list. Think again. They drew an incredible 647,928 to McCoy Stadium this season -- the sixth-highest total in the minor leagues, outdrawing the major-league Montreal Expos in the process -- and reiterated their standing as the gold standard of local franchises.
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8
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THE BRUINS, BOSTON AND PROVIDENCE
The P-Bruins are making springtime their time; this year they advanced to the Calder Cup semifinals for the third consecutive season. In the meantime, their big brothers up north are making springtime a nothing time; they've now missed the playoffs in three of the last four years. Then, maintaining their unerring knack of irritating their fan base, the Bruins fired high-profile coach Mike Keenan, passed over local favorite (and ex-Providence coach) Peter Laviolette in favor of retread Robbie Ftorek as Keenan's replacement, and engaged in yet another contract dispute with one of their stars (Jason Allison), resulting in the trade of Allison to Los Angeles.
Still, things are looking up at the FleetCenter. Even though Laviolette is the early favorite for Coach of the Year honors with the New York Islanders, Ftorek has the retooled Bruins battling for the Eastern Conference lead over such high-profile opponents as the Philadephia Flyers, Washington Capitals and New York Rangers. At The Dunk, meanwhile, Bill Armstrong has the P-Bruins near the top of their division, as well. If you're looking for an early line on the top stories of 2002, this is as good a place as any to start.
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7
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URI BASKETBALL
It began in February, when Jerry DeGregorio was relieved of duty near the end of a disastrous two-year, 12-victory reign, replete with academic casualties, that all but erased the steady rise the program had made in the 1990s under the quiet Al Skinner and the flashy Jim Harrick. What followed was an elongated coaching search that started high (Rick Pitino, Bob Knight), stalled for a spell, and finally settled on a man -- Jim Baron -- who seems suited for the considerable rebuilding task ahead. Baron has already erased the patina of incompetence from the program, and may have a winning team in the new convocation center sooner rather than later.
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6
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PC BASKETBALL
Their slow fade to black at the end of the year -- the two heartbreaking losses to Boston College, their quick exit from the Big East Tournament, their just-as-quick exit from the NCAAs -- shouldn't obscure the fact that the Friars retook center stage for a time last winter. They gained momentum during the preseason, knocked off such league powers as Connecticut and Georgetown once Big East play began, cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time in eons, and had the state jumping in January and February. What also shouldn't be obscured is that the disappointing, injury-plagued beginning to this season doesn't necessarily dim the program's seemingly bright future under Tim Welsh, whose seven-year contract ensures he'll be around for a while.
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5
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THE LINCOLN LITTLE LEAGUERS IN WILLIAMSPORT
Only three Rhode Island teams (Westerly, 1950; Darlington of Pawtucket, 1980; Cranston Western, 1996) had ever advanced to the highest-profile event in youth sports: The nationally televised Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. This year, after knocking on the door in previous seasons, coach Lou Abraham's Lincoln team made it four.
Abraham's charges didn't win a game in Williamsport, but the players took it in stride. ("I'm not that mad, because we made it this far," said one.) And Abraham had already taken the experience to another level when, just prior to the beginning of the games, he spoke publicly for the first time about the death of his 18-year-old son, Jason, from a drug overdose in April, 1999, and how he was determined to keep the 14 "sons" on his championship baseball team from taking the wrong path in life.
There were many other uplifting local stories this year, chief among them the Chariho Pop Warner football team advancing to the national championships in Orlando, Fla., for the second consecutive season. All are deserving of attention and praise. Lincoln's Little Leaguers were the most visible of those stories, thanks to the national attention given to the games in Williamsport. And Lou Abraham was able to impart a critical life lesson in the process.
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4
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URI FOOTBALL
They opened the season with a victory at Delaware, which opened some eyes. They followed that by besting Hofstra in a Meade Stadium shootout, which made even more people sit up and take notice. Then they went to James Madison -- a place where the home team had won 14 straight games, against an opponent itching for revenge after URI had upset them last year in Kingston -- and won again. And we knew: The Rams were for real.
They would win their first seven, filling Meade Stadium for the first time in years in the process, and were ranked as high as fourth in the country in the Division 1-AA polls before stalling slightly near the finish line. They wound up 8-3 and weren't selected for the playoffs, but it was a far sight better than the 3-8 record of 2000. And coach Tim Stowers has people excited about Ram football for the first time, seemingly, since the days of Tom Ehrhardt.
The litmus test isn't with alums and students, though; it's with the general public. And on the day of their mind-bending 42-38 win over Brown, clinched when David Jamison scored on a 17-yard run with seven seconds to play, people everywhere were talking about the game . . . including a group of sports-minded fathers at a Cub Scout outing who normally save their conversation for the Red Sox and the Patriots.
Proof positive that URI football had taken root in Rhode Island's consciousness.
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3
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THE RED SOX
The Sox were determined to make the final year of Yawkey stewardship a memorable one, and they did . . . albeit not as they'd planned. With New England's hopes soaring after the signing of Manny Ramirez, things began to unravel almost immediately after the team reported to spring training. First, Nomar Garciaparra was sidelined with a mysterious wrist injury that eventually required surgery. Then Manny Ramirez recanted an earlier decision to switch from right field to left field, throwing manager Jimy Williams's planned lineup into flux. Then Carl Everett began acting up. "Camp Chaos," screamed the headlines.
But they quelled the chaos with a quick start that had them in first place as late as July 21. By that time, however, other injuries had struck. The best pitcher in baseball, Pedro Martinez, broke down in June, and was virtually useless the rest of the way. Their starting catcher, Jason Varitek, suffered an elbow fracture around the same time and was lost for the season. Everett banged his knee on the artificial turf in Tampa late that month, missed four weeks, and hit .197 with more strikeouts (33) than hits (25) after he returned. Garciaparra came back in late July with a bang (two hits, including a home run, and three RBI in a win over the White Sox), but even that proved to be a mirage; his wrist continued to bother him and by late August he was back on the sidelines for good. The best team in the world couldn't overcome all that, and the Sox were far from the best team in the world.
Would that those were the only problems. The clubhouse, loaded with edgy, overpriced veterans on the final year of their contracts, was an uneasy place in the best of the times. Once the team began plummeting out of contention, the poisonous gases exploded. Williams was dismissed and replaced by Joe Kerrigan but the move had no effect as the Sox went into a free fall, losing 23 of 29 at one point in August and September. Yet the off-field headlines -- Martinez and Everett engaging in screaming matches with Kerrigan, a fight on a plane trip near the end of the season, Ramirez all but refusing to play during the final week -- were, incredibly, even worse.
Even though the Sox never won a World Series championship with the name "Yawkey" on the owner's masthead, they've always -- from Tom Yawkey to Jean Yawkey to the Yawkey Trust -- been seen as noble and even heroic in failure. There was nothing noble or heroic about the 2001 Red Sox, who provided a sad and tawdry ending to 68 years of Yawkey ownership.
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2
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THE PATRIOTS
Who woulda thunk it? Certainly not the pundits, who felt the Pats might somehow cobble together an 8-8 or 9-7 season only if the stars were all in alignment and everything fell perfectly into place. When they opened their season with a ghastly loss at Cincinnati, hope dimmed. It vanished the next time out, when Drew Bledsoe was knocked into the beginning of November by Jets linebacker Mo Lewis.
Well, you know what they say about it being darkest before the dawn. Dawn arrived the following week with an astounding 44-13 rout of the previously unbeaten Colts. Slowly but surely, the Pats climbed the ladder to respectability . . . and beyond. Like the best of Bill Parcells' Patriots teams, these Pats got better as the season progressed and are playing their best football now, with the playoffs approaching.
And they did it in spite of the never-ending Terry Glenn tragicomedy, in spite of a potentially divisive (and still-needing-to-be-resolved) quarterback situation, in spite of it all. Yet with a week to go in the regular season, the team is together and the fans are excited and you get the sense there could be some memorable moments to come in the next five weeks.
These Pats have even put a smile on Bill Belichick's face. And that might be their greatest achievement of all.
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1
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THE RED SOX SALE
This will have a bigger long-term effect than anything else that happened this year, as the change in ownership may also change the team's philosophy. Of course, the Red Sox muted that message by (a) dragging out the sale for 15 months, which was half a year longer than their stated timetable, and (b) raising questions about the entire process by awarding the team to a group that had the double-barreled disadvantage -- in Boston -- of not being local and not believed to have submitted the highest bid. (The Sox deny this, saying higher bids had unacceptable strings attached.) It quickly became accepted knowledge, rightly or wrongly, that John Harrington had picked the group most favored by commissioner Bud Selig and not necessarily the one best-suited to run the team . . . something Selig, for one, passionately and vehemently denies.
Whether that's true or not, only time will tell. But Harrington managed to let the sizzle (the act of selling the team) overshadow the steak (whom they sold it to).
• OTHERS WORTH NOTING
There were other stories, of course. Rick Pitino's departure from the Celtics, and the team's 2001-02 resurgence under Jim O'Brien. The life-threatening illness of Ted Williams. The fast rise and quick exit of the New England Storm, who were representing Providence in the first Women's Professional Football League championship game in January, and on the road to Boston two months later. The continuing success story that is our local professional golfers. Brown's basketball team nearly winning the Ivy League title (and establishing itself as a legitimate contender for this year's crown). Providence College's hockey team making it to the NCAA Tournament. Goalie Jim Merola and his La Salle teammates nearly -- but not quite -- ending Mount St. Charles's 23-year reign atop the Rhode Island high school hockey mountain. Ray Bourque winning the Stanley Cup. The sad, and somewhat puzzling, dismissal of John Marinatto as athletic director at PC. Picking 10 wasn't easy.
But these were the top 10.
In one man's view.
Art Martone is sports editor of the Providence Journal.
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