Caitlin Clark continues to impress, Flag Football is ready for the Olympics
Just thought I’d clear out my reporter’s notebook while I rejoice in seeing Triston Casas back at first base for the Boston Red Sox, the surprise team of the American League this season…
Best season
I can’t wait for fall. It has always been my favorite time of year. Maybe it was all the beautiful fall days in Boston when the leaves were changing, the air was getting fresher, and school was starting up again. Maybe it was all the wonderful memories of going to football games at Chestnut Hill with my brothers. My dad and Uncle Jim, both proud graduates of Boston College, shared season tickets to football games for many years.
The fall was promising. And hopeful. I was always looking forward to another school year at Fordham’s beautiful Rose Hill campus in the Bronx. Fall brought a new beginning.
This fall, Lake Street Dive makes its concert debut at Madison Square Garden; Taylor Swift’s sensational Era’s Tour returns stateside for its final leg; a new era of football begins at Boston College with Massachusetts native Bill O’Brien as head coach; a new post-Bill Belichick era is also taking place in Foxboro; the Red Sox hopefully stay in the Wild Card race; Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever hopefully make the WNBA playoffs must-see TV; and a wild college football season will see teams battle it out for the top 12 playoff spots.
We also hope and wish all student-athletes and coaches at Norwich Free Academy, Norwich Tech, Plainfield High, Griswold High, Killingly High and Ellis Tech a great fall season.
Yankee Conference Football
I’ve always been in favor of UConn scaling back its football ambitions and joining forces with the presidents of New England-based schools to revive the legendary Yankee Football Conference. Saturday afternoons just aren’t the same without New Hampshire, Boston University, UMass, Maine, Rhode Island and UConn battling it out for the Yankee Conference title.
So I had to smile when Sacred Heart (Fairfield, Connecticut) and Merrimack (North Andover, Massachusetts) announced Wednesday that they would play for the Yankee Conference title on Nov. 16, reviving the brand of the old New England-based league that was founded in 1946 and eventually spread up the East Coast before dissolving in 1996.
Sacred Heart and Merrimack compete as independent teams in the Division I Championship Subdivision. Both played in the Northeast Conference until last season before deciding to join the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in the fall. The MAAC does not sponsor football.
Even if it is only in name and spirit, I am happy to see the rebirth of the Yankee Conference with this championship matchup between Sacred Heart and Merrimack.
“It will be a wonderful experience for our student-athletes to compete for the historic trophy,” Sacred Heart athletic director Judy Ann Riccio told the Associated Press.
More Clark-mania
Did you hear the news? Last Sunday’s Indiana Fever-Seattle Storm game averaged 2.2 million viewers. It was ABC’s most-watched WNBA game ever. Yes, you guessed it. Caitlin Clark played in the game.
Can you imagine if Caitlin Clark was drafted by the Connecticut Sun? Right now, the Sun would be in the process of changing their name to the New England Sun and moving all of their home games to TD Garden in Boston.
Last Thursday, Clark became the fastest WNBA player to reach 300 career points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists. No player had ever accomplished this in fewer than 22 games, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Clark did it in her 19th game.
While it was a crime that Clark wasn’t in Paris to represent the United States in the Olympics, I’m glad Clark was able to get some time off during the WNBA’s 25-game hiatus, her first break since leading Iowa to its second consecutive national championship game in April.
Since the restart, the best rookie guard in WNBA history has averaged 26 points, 9.2 assists and 5.0 rebounds.
Flag Football: America’s Sport?
The International Olympic Committee recently approved flag football as part of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Other new sports such as squash and lacrosse were also officially added, while baseball, softball and cricket were given the green light to return.
Don’t be surprised if the CIAC introduces flag football for boys and girls as a varsity sport in the near future.
Currently, Connecticut is one of 19 state high school associations with pilot programs for the fast-growing sport. Twelve state high school associations have already approved the sport, prompting the National Federation of High Schools in Indianapolis to establish playing rules for flag football that will take effect beginning with the 2025-26 season.
The NFHS Board of Directors has approved the first NFHS Flag Football Rules Committee to meet in January 2025 to develop the first official national rules for high school flag football. The 2025-26 NFHS Flag Football Rules Book will be available in May 2025.
“The NFHS is excited about this new sporting opportunity – especially for girls,” said Dr. Karissa Niehoff, CEO of the NFHS, in a press release. “Flag is a sport of inclusivity. It can be played any time of year (weather permitting), is fast-paced, and offers young people the opportunity to play and others the opportunity to coach or officiate the exciting sport of football.”
Niehoff is the former executive director of the CIAC.
In New York, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association hosted its first girls’ flag championship in June 2024 after serving as a pilot program for several years. Last year, about 4,100 girls participated.
“The popularity of flag football – for boys and girls – has grown at the youth level over the past 10 years,” Niehoff said. “In 2023, approximately 500,000 girls ages 6 to 17 played flag football – a 63 percent increase since 2019. At a higher level of competition, more and more universities are beginning to offer flag football for girls, which will certainly increase the appeal for girls playing the sport at the high school level.”
STUCK IN THE 70s
On August 25, 1978, the first-place Boston Red Sox defeated the California Angels 6-0 before a raucous crowd of 33,583 at Fenway Park. Jim Rice hit his 32nd home run and finished the game with three hits, Butch Hobson went 3-for-3 with an RBI, and Rick Burleson added two more hits to bolster the Sox offense.
Dennis Eckersley, who improved to 15-5, threw a masterful four-hit, hitless complete game against an Angels lineup that included Carney Lansford, Don Baylor, Joe Rudi and Bobby Grich.
Eckersley, playing his first season with Boston after being traded from the Cleveland Indians, finished the year with a record of 20-8 and a 2.99 ERA. It was Eckersley’s first and only 20-win season during his Hall of Fame career.
Eckersley saved 51 games for the Oakland A’s in 1992, becoming the first of two players in MLB history to win 20 games and also record 50 saves, the other being John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves.
Jimmy Zanor is a sports writer at the Norwich Bulletin and can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@jzanorNB.
