Every year we say the same thing: It’s here already?

Yes, next Friday, May 24, will be the start of another sports season in Nashua as spring overlaps with summer:

Welcome back, Nashua Silver Knights. We barely knew you were gone, it seemed so fast. Players report to Holman Stadium on Wednesday, workouts then and Thursday, and then it’s go time.

Now, let’s make this season a heckuva lot better than last. On the field, that is.

The 2023 season ended in relative anonimity. While the Knights were wrapping up at Holman Stadium on an sun-splashed early August Sunday, the Coffey Post American Legion team was ironically playing in the Northeast Regional Finals at the ballpark at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. where at the time Knights owner John Creedon, Jr.’s other team, the Worcester Bravehearts, plays. Nashua was wrapping up a horrendous (on the field) 24-40 season, but their fans all summer dodged the raindrops and came out, a record average attendance.

But Silver Knights general manager Cam Cook and field manager Kyle Jackson know that 24-40 won’t cut it again. Having the huge Education Day crowds is one thing, but eventually fans will grow weary of a team that struggles like last year’s did for especially the season’s first half.

It’s all about the start with the Knights. They seem stuck in neutral for the first three or four weeks the last few years, and leave themselves with too much ground to make up.

That’s only part of the story as Year No. 14 begins – and let’s be honest, did anyone back in 2011 think that 13 years later there would be a Year 14? Not because of anything wrong with the franchise, but simply no one has lasted this long at Holman. These guys have. Kudos, and here’s to another 13 years.

The other part of the story is the fact the owner, John Creedon, Jr., sold Worcester in January and Nashua is his sole team. That’s a good thing, maybe even a great thing. The Creedons are all about the fans and the players, because they know that without either, there is no franchise.

We always say that John Jr. truly became the team’s owner in an emotional sense when the Knights won the 2022 FCBL title that memorable Friday night in Vermont.

That was the first big story of the off-season back in January as we awaited the schedule release. Then, in February, when we were still curiously waiting, we found out why when it was announced Pittsfield (Mass.) was taking the year off due to all the issues at historic Wahconah Park. Surveys, studies, etc. and it’s been nearly two years, so don’t hold your breath on the stadium work beginning anytime soon, but it appears from Berkshire Eagle reports that a price of $26.3 million has been settled on. It makes you really appreciate all the efforts of the city of Nashua and former Nashua Pride owner Chris English did to get the Holman renovation of 2001 approved and done so quickly.There’s confidence in the FCBL hierarchy that Pittsfield will return under the current Goldklang Group ownership, but we guess that it won’t be next year. And the Road Warriors travel team concept that is filling Pittsfield’s road dates isn’t something you want to do more than one year. And keep an eye on Brockton, Mass., where the Rox now have a professional sister team, the independent Frontier League’s New England Knockouts, sharing Campanelli Stadium, both owned by Brian Kahn. The idea FCBL officials say is that the pro team will help subsidize the Rox. They drew 1,272 for their first ever game last Friday, but the independent league business model needs way more than that in the park to make ends meet. And last Saturday and Sunday the crowds were 392 and 312, respectively. Gonna be an uphill battle, and we hope the Rox aren’t aren’t an economic casualty.

But let’s not look too far ahead. Let’s look at the Knights and their constant work to be a hit, which they are. GM Cam Cook continues to draw raves from league officials, and local corporations should take note of his comments that the team really wants them more involved. That’s how these teams not only survive, but thrive.

We can give you a sneak peak at one thing, you’re going to love the pipes of new Knights PA announcer Anthony Sousa out of Nichols College. He worked the Rivier University men’s lacrosse quarterfinal late last month and we dare say he’ll be the best voice you’ve heard at Holman since the golden pipes of Nashua Pride announcer Ken Cail.

In any event, it’s almost here. Season ticket holders are hoping for a big bounce back season on the field from this team, which could certainly help make last year’s record average attendance even better.

Let’s get this baseball party started.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X (formerly Twitter) @Telegraph _TomK.