It’s the most wonderful time of the year, if you are a sports fan. The high school basketball season is rapidly coming to a conclusion with a number of local teams positioned to make some noise in the tournament starting Feb. 13.
Both the Houlton boys and girls basketball teams are high in the standings for Eastern Class C and should earn a first-round bye directly to the Cross Insurance Center. In Class D, the Southern Aroostook boys, Hodgdon boys, Katahdin boys and girls and East Grand girls are all in the playoff mix, which could make for a busy slate of games in Bangor.
Preliminary round playoffs begin on Feb. 10 and 11, followed by the tournament opening in Bangor on Friday, Feb. 13. If you have not yet taken in a basketball game at the new Cross Insurance Center, you are missing out. Sure, the price tag is a bit high, but if you are a fan of high school basketball there is no better place to be.
Kudos to the Houlton High School cheering squad who just returned from Bangor Saturday, where the Shires competed in the Eastern Class C cheering competition. Houlton finished fifth in the event held at the Cross Center and by virtue of that finish, earned a spot in the state competition. The Shires have enjoyed their fair share of success, regularly earning a shot in the state meet and winning the Class C title in 2011.
Good luck to the Shires as they head to the state Class C and B competition, Saturday, Feb. 7 at the Augusta Civic Center. History is on their side as Augusta served as the site of the team’s last championship.
The New England Patriots are playing in the Super Bowl and thankfully the New York Giants are not. That could bode well for New England to claim yet another championship. New England’s success has been staggering in recent years as the team has vied for the coveted Lombardi trophy six times in the past 13 years. Only Dallas and Pittsburgh have appeared in more Super Bowls with eight each.
Unfortunately, this year’s Super Bowl has a fair share of controversy.
Controversy and New England seem to go hand-in-hand in recent years, stemming from a 2007 incident where the team was caught illegally videotaping the opposing teams’ coaches on the sidelines. The coach was fined $500,000, the largest fine imposed on a coach in the league’s 87-year history, while the team was fined $250,000 and lost a first-round draft pick in 2008.
From that moment on, critics of the club have used “spygate” as the only reason the team enjoyed success, which included winning the Super Bowl in 2005, 2004 and 2002. New England appeared in two more Super Bowls (2008 and 2012) losing both of those games to the New York Giants on a pair of the most unbelievable catches ever made in the NFL.
But the bottom line remains for critics, New England has not won a Super Bowl since getting caught videotaping signals.
The Patriots had an opportunity to silence those critics this season, advancing to the conference championship, but once again controversy followed. This time around, the team has been accused of under deflating its footballs to supposedly gain an unfair advantage in the AFC championship game against Indianapolis.
For many Patriots fans, myself included, the news that the team was caught doing something inappropriate yet again was devastating. If any team needed to be a Boy Scout, going above and beyond what is necessary to follow the rules, it is New England. Apparently, the coaching staff didn’t feel the same way. Instead, the team has flat out denied the allegations.
The Patriots are presently being investigated, but at most, the infraction will likely amount to a small fine. Other New England fans are using the whole debacle as a rallying cry of “Us vs. Them” which is fine too.
Personally, it would be refreshing to see the team win the Super Bowl, while under the microscope of the NFL. If that were to happen, perhaps it would finally put an end to all of the New England animosity.
Joseph Cyr is a staff writer for the Houlton Pioneer Times. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect that of the newspaper. He can be reached at pioneertimes@nepublish.com or 532-2281.
