Here’s a few tids and bits while we endure January in December with snow, ice and bitter cold. Bah humbug:

First, as you take the necessary day to read through the Tourney Trail, can anyone remember a busier, more successful fall season/postseason when it came to the local high schools? The highlight of course was the Nashua South vs. Bishop Guertn Division I championship game, such a boon for local soccer. But go beyond the high schools, if you will: How about both the Rivier University’s men’s and women’s soccer teams reaching the GNAC championship game? That was just amazing, especially when you consider the struggles both programs had endured in the years leading up to the last two or three. Those teams didn’t have the full benefit of the transfer portal, which does allow a program to restock or rebuild at a quicker rate, depending on all the circumstances. Still, the new era of Raider athletics continues.

—- To be clear, had Nashua South upset Bedford in the Division I football semifinals, the championship game would have been moved out of Stellos to a neutral site, based on a football committtee rule that was rubber stamped by the Executive Council that said finals have to be at neutral sites (some other sports, such as lacrosse, for example, don’t have that rule). Where it trumped common sense was in Division III, where the Gilford-Laconia final had to be moved from the pre-designated site Bank of NH Stadium at Laconia to Exeter. The two playing schools are about 15 minutes and their fans and teams were forced to hoof 71 miles to the seacoast. NHIAA hierarchy realized the situation but could not change the rule, but now as the cycle ends it’s possibe it will be amended to say designated sites remain, period. But here’s a simple thing: How about home field for the finals? A top seed has earned it, don’t you think?

—- It was a hot take that cooled off fast. In print we thought the University of New Hampshire’s Ricky Santos could end up as one of the topandidates for the UConn job. And then, presto! The Huskies hired Jason Candle. Hey, it was just a thought.

—- Notre Dame is taking a lot of heat for declining any bowl game offers. But guess what? Other schools are doing the same thing. The bowl era could be coming to a slow end over the next few years in college football, and that is a real shame.

—- Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft together on the stage in Canton in early August? It certainly could – and should – happen. Kraft finally made it into the big voting room as a finalist emerging from the contributor category, and Belichick from the coaching category. Fitting for both, and there are three senior candidates – Ken Anderson, Roger Craig and L.C.Greenwood. Of all these, a maximum of three can reach 80 percent of the vote needed aisde from the 15 modern era finalsts.If no one gets 80 percent, the lead vote getter gets the nod. Careful, there will be a quiz on this later.

—- Congratulations to the Bedford football team for its great undefeated season and a title game that packed Stellos Stadium last weekend. Now for the “but”: If we were in the Bedford admnistration, we’d have a long talk with the coaches and players heading into next season with the message that the unsportsmanlike penalties need to stop. Perhaps that’s happened. The Bulldogs, hate to say it, have that reputation but was there a game in which they didn’t get one of those penalties? Football and hockey, the two most physical team game sports (wrestling is different, one-on-one matches) will lead to those calls, but in these eyes the ‘Dogs were earning that reputation. We’ll see.

— The Hot Stove has been anything but with Major League baseball after the first two days of the Winter Meetings. Maybe that will change today. Why is that? One word: Lockout. It’s coming a year from now, so teams are being very careful with their spending. That’s why we expect trades to be on the rise over the next month. We’ll see.

— Friday starts the winter hoop season, and there will be a plethora of games to choose from: a twinbill at BG, North girls vs. Pinkerton, Oyster River at Hollis Brookline boys, etc. Pick one. See you there.

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