Tom King

Here are some tasty pre-Thanksgiving tids and bits to wet your appetite for the upcoming holiday:

First, what a difference a year makes. Last winter sports were basically non existent at Rivier University thanks to the pandemic, and while there are still a lot of precautions being taken, the Raiders not only have basketball back but also men’s and women’s hockey.

Keep an eye on the Raider basketball teams. Riv has a player in Myles Gillette, a pure scorer who has made a difference and will start to get attention from the opposition.

And the Riv women have a duo from Manchester Memorial, score Lyric Grumblatt and point guard Jess Carrier. They’ve definitely made a difference for Raider coach Deanna Purcell’s team. Grumblatt is a sophomore, but likely has that extra year of eligibility due to last year’s season cancellation. Carrier is a freshman but certainly doesn’t play like one. If these two stay together for four years, watch out.

The new philosophy to expand recruiting and increase enrollment has certainly helped both basketball programs, as the men began the season with 19 players on the roster and the women with 15. It’s been ages since the numbers were that high.

– Still trying to get used to the idea that the Division I and II basketball seasons will end so early this year. Think about it: the Super Bowl date is Sunday, Feb. 13, and the Division I and II boys and girls basketball quarterfinals will have already been played. Mind boggling, and we’re not too thrilled about it.

– Speaking of which, warning for those who make rash judgements on who could wind up in the Super Bowl. There have been plenty of teams in the past who were struggling to find their way in mid to late November and either wind up in the Super Bowl or win it.

Perfect example: a team known as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If you remember, they were 7-5 in late November, all sorts of grousing and concern surrounding Tom Brady & Co., and then didn’t lose a game the rest of the way.

— No matter the outcome in this weekend’s Division II championship game between Milford and Timberlane, it’s clear that the Spartans mirrored the personality of their head coach, Keith Jones. Jones like rock ’em, sock em teams, run the ball down your throat and wear down the opposition. In the age of spread offenses, etc, he loves the ground and pound style not only on offense but defense as well. But consider his comment after the win over Lebanon as a monsoon raged.

“They (the Raiders) didn’t want to throw it, we didn’t want to throw it,” he said. “Nobody wants to throw it.”

There you go. Old time football.

—- If you want to go back in time, head over to Windham High School during football season. Obviously athletic facilities weren’t in the forefront when it came to opening the school in 2009, and it’s ridiculous. The huge hill above the football field creates charm, but word was they had to take the press box down for fear it wouldn’t hold up due to weather and the field/surrounding area is pure mud. The scoreboard is supposedly solar powered but has to be run on a generator on rainy/cloudy days.

Hate to say it, but it’s no wonder the Jags haven’t been top contenders since moving up to Division I, because it has to be tough to keep top players from bolting elsewhere where facilities (field turf facilities, etc.) are way better.

— Notice that Major League teams are signing pitchers as quickly as they can before the lockout? The Sox let the Tigers pounce on Eduardo Rodriguez, Noah Syndergaard got a ridiculous one-year, $21 million deal with the Angels, and the Blue Jays locked up the guy they traded for, Jose Berrios, for the next seven years and $131 million.

Berrios went 5-4 with Toronto, E-Rod was hot and cold in Boston, and Syndergaard missed most of last season. Can’t wait to see what the owners claim the players are doing to force them into a lockout. Come December, there’ll be coal instead of Sox tickets in a lot of stockings.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.