Weekend Recap
With the fall sports season in full swing, a couple of items:
* There have been a few calls regarding the amount of coverage New York professional teams are receiving in The Eagle. Specifically, calls from those who believe New York teams are receiving too much column space.
First and foremost, The Eagle sports section will cover Boston’s professional teams — the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics — ahead of the other pro teams. One look at the daily “Sox Corner” on our inside pages will give you some proof of that. After all, this is a Massachusetts newspaper.
However, the paper is also distributed in parts of New York, and since the Berkshires shares a border with the Empire State, we cannot ignore the New York teams.
'With respect to baseball coverage, Yankees stories will likely find their way to the front page along with Red Sox stories. With the Red Sox and Yankees in a fight for the American League Eastern Division title, it’s only fair that our readers see how each team did the night before, without having to search for it in a roundup.
We know — and you know, too — that this territory is not solely Red Sox Nation. There are a lot of Yankees fans out there, perhaps to the dismay of Sox fans — and vice versa. Both fan bases are arguably the most passionate in all of baseball.
Since Sox and Yanks fans co-exist peacefully in the Berkshires, the Eagle brokers the deal by peacefully ensuring that Boston and New York team coverage co-exists on our sports pages.
* There will be two songs you won’t be able to remove from your head in a few weeks — because, whether you know it or not, your brain comes equipped with iTunes: The FOX baseball theme and John Mellencamp’s “This Is Our Country.”
If you think back to the 2006 postseason, it seems impossible that everyone isn’t driving a Chevy truck. That Mellencamp tune must have been in at least every other commercial break during the Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series. Of course, it worked out just fine between the coasts — Mellencamp is an Indiana native and two Midwestern teams, the Tigers and Cardinals, made the World Series.
For most of us, though, that song quickly equaled fingernails on a chalkboard. Even in the Midwest, where yours truly lived until July.
Also, there’s a distinct possibility that, with his “October” ads and “Good Luck Chuck” movie promos, you’ll also quickly tire of Massachusetts native and love-him-or-hate-him comedian Dane Cook.
* Watching Georgia’s overtime win at Alabama Saturday night, I saw something that I still can’t understand.
Both kickers — Georgia’s Brandon Coutu and Alabama’s Leigh Tiffin — wore jersey numbers in the 90s. While I can understand the shortage of jersey numbers on a NCAA Division I football roster, it still looks very odd to see a 6-foot-1, 198-pound placekicker sporting a number that should be on a 6-foot-5, 275-pound behemoth of a defensive tackle.
If you’re going to wear a number in the 90s, you should have to take a few hits. Otherwise, fellas, find the 00 jersey or stick to 10 and under.
* After a few months of running ourselves into the ground while being shorthanded, it’s nice to be back to even strength. Rich Fyle is the newest addition to The Eagle’s sports staff, coming to us from the Troy Record. He’s got 22 years of experience in all levels of sports, from preps to pros, and will undoubtedly improve our coverage of Berkshire County sports.
-Matthew Sprague, Sports Editor