Tom King

Here are some tids and bits to try to stir some warmth and excitement into the January blahs as we enter the final week of the worst month of the year:

First, obviously no New England Patriots game to forecast this weekend or for the next eight months. The question is, why? What happened? The simple answer is the Patriots down the stretch uncharacteristically lost the turnover battle and after the bye week their defense resembled the defense they had last year. Their veteran linebackers hit a brick wall, and as we’ve written on nashuatelegraph.com, the need for speed is obvious. Still, we’d expect the Patriots to try to add more bulk up front, and depth for the secondary. This year’s draft will be huge, because they won’t be after the high priced free agents after last year’s big spending spree. But for all the cries on trying to score points to keep up with offenses like the one in Josh Allen-led Buffalo, defense again is where the Patriots will try to improve the most.

It’s still hard to believe that there are just two weeks left in the Division I high school boys and girls basketball seasons. For some teams struggling and tired of the pandemic pauses and constant reschedulings, the end can’t come soon enough. For others they’ll just adapts, improvise and overcome.

Hopefully this schedule won’t take place again next year, but that’s only if there is enough opposition to it. Certainly the pandemic has made things tougher. But consider a worse-case scenario that one high school team, the Goffstown girls, are going to have to overcome: Coming off a two-week pause, old friend Steve Largy’s Grizzlies were forced to end the season with 12 games in 17 days.Yikes.

Bottom line? If the coaches don’t like it, they have to lobby very hard against it, or it won’t change.

• Yours truly’s NFL Picks column has already been posted on line, but here’s the cliff notes version: Winners are Rams (Bucs have two injured offensive linemen), Packers, Titans and….yes, Chiefs. We’ll see.

• Keep an eye on south of the border, in nearby Lowell, Mass. where push eventually will come to shove to see if the city will ever get professional baseball back – or go the collegiate league route. There are a a lot of factors, as it would seem an easy move for the Red Sox to move the Single A team they own in Salem, N.C.to Lowell. The problem is LeLacheur Park would need, according to reports, as much as $30 million in upgrades, and there would definitely be a question as to whether the city would pay for that.

Or, would the city pass the problem off via sale to UMass-Lowell, right now the chief tenant. No way the school would want a pro team taking April dates away, nor would it spend that kind of dough. That would mean the summer collegiate route, and that didn’t work 20 years ago when Lowell had an NECBL team, but back then the Spinners were the rage.

Stay tuned.

• Speaking of baseball, the Red Sox sent out a release early this past week that tickets for Opening Day through June would be going on sale. Fans, if you spend a dime on any of them, with all due respect, you’re crazy, because the season clearly isn’t going to start anywhere near on time thanks the greedy labor dispute and it will just give you that refund headache.

And did anyone notice that when the owners put forth a proposal a week ago, it included 14 playoff teams? Really? Seven teams in each league? Utterly ridiculous, increasing the playoffs by two teams in each league (currently at 10). Best record in each league gets a bye; the two division winners and top Wild Card team host best of three first round, and it includes that foolish pick an opponent thing. The players countered with 12.

Really, let’s water down the regular season some more. Ugh.

• Here’s hoping after Jan. 31, when the policy will be re-evaluated, that Rivier University will allow at least some fans to attend basketball games at the Muldoon Fitness Center. At the same time we respect any decision the school makes in the best interest of public health and safety, but you have to think if the city’s high schools can still play and have a fan limit, Rivier can, too. But these colleges all over New England and the country and their teams are going through a lot with games postponed, reschduled, rescheduled games cancelled, etc. At least teams are playing.

“The kids just want to play,” Rivier women’s hoop coach Deanna Purcell said. “They’re doing a great job of hanging in there.”

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

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