Predictions for 2025

The Big Story – A look ahead to 2025: It’s our annual set of predictions for sports, 2025 edition.

Sports 101: With the newest members to be announced this week, name the youngest per­son elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Predictions – What I think will happen:

Ryan Day and his OC/local friend Chip Kelly win their first national championship when Ohio State beats Boise State 28-23 in the CFP title game

Juan Soto struggles to live up to his astronomical paycheck in Year 1 with the Mets with a not bad, but not worth $50 mil­lion 28-homer, 91-RBI, .273 BA season.

The Sox are able to find a trade partner/ sucker to take Masataka Yoshida off their hands to let them move Raffy Devers to DH.

In a Super Bowl for the ages the Josh Allen-led Buffalo Bills outlast the Detroit Lions to win the Super Bowl 45-42 in OT.

After his spectacular Cy Young season Chris Sales’ return to health lasts as long as Bill Walton’s famed one-season injury sab­batical did with the Celtics in the ’80s and it’s sadly back on the DL for CS.

Led by uber cheerleaders Brian Scal­abrine and sideline reporter Abby Chin, local green teamer homer-ism flashes large when Jayson Tatum is not named the MVP, because Cleveland has the league’s best record behind actual Award winner Dono­van Mitchell.

The surprise of the NBA playoffs are the Orlando Magic, whose outstanding, ultra-physical defensive game takes them all the way to a nail-biting final-minute sev­enth-game loss to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The youth influx begins as the Red Sox’ ballyhooed Top 3 prospects, Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell, make their Fenway debuts with Campbell becoming the regular second baseman by year’s end.

After winning 105 in the regular season the Dodgers win the World Series by beat­ing the retooled Yanks again.

North Carolina jumps out to a 4-0 start before losing to Clemson and after being coached up by Coach B eventually finish­es 9-3 to grab a spot in the much-coveted Scooters Coffee Fresco Bowl.

Wishes – What I hope will happen:

Sox sign Alex Bregman to be their new third baseman to juice/save their advance ticket sales efforts.

After the Sox are unable to trade him in the off-season Triston Casas goes for 30-plus homers and 90 RBI to show how dumb it would’ve been to give up on him because of his injury-plagued 2024 season.

Brayan Bello continues his upward tra­jectory to lead the Red Sox with 16 wins.

After another terrible draft besides Drake Maye, owner Bob Kraft finally comes to his senses to realize it wasn’t just Bill Beli­chick behind all those bad drafts since 2014. So he cleans house and hires a real GM to start replenishing their barren roster.

BK also sees how foolish it was to hire a guy who wasn’t ready to be a head coach and lets the new GM hire a new, offen­sive-minded head coach.

After their Super Bowl loss Lions OC Ben Johnson heads to Foxboro to become HC of the Patriots.

Thanks to the presence of Maye, the newly hired Johnson and a boatload of cash, the Patri­ots finally land a top-tier wideout by signing Bengals star Tee Higgins in free agency.

In the most talked about move on draft night, with major input from minority own­er Tom Brady the Raiders trade up to get the second overall pick from TB’s old team to let Deion’s kid Shedeur Sanders bring his Rolls Royce to Vegas to be their QB of the future.

Meanwhile for dropping down the Pats also get the Raiders’ second pick this year and their first- and second-rounders in 2025. Which gives them a first, two seconds and two thirds in this draft. Then they take the best OL available when LSU left tackle Will Campbell slides to them at 6.

Peyton Pritchard becomes the second off-the-bench player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP.

After his initial interest, Celtics Nation is relieved Elon Musk realizes he’s too busy messing with the country to buy the C’s. Instead the new owner is a crypto king bil­lionaire no one ever heard of. Phew! I think.

Predictions – What I’m sure will happen:

The Red Sox trade Merrimack’s Mickey Gasper to Minnesota for a pitcher I’ve nev­er heard of.

Sports 101 Answer: After retiring at 30 due to chronic elbow pain, in 1972 San­dy Koufax became the youngest elected to Cooperstown.

A Little History – 1973: The new year was rocked when Curt Gowdy announced during the Rose Bowl broadcast that while on a mission of mercy to earthquake-dev­astated Nicaragua Roberto Clemente died when his overloaded-with-supplies plane crashed on takeoff in Puerto Rico. That summer he became the second youngest person to enter the Hall.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

News & Notes 25/01/02

Ice safety

New Hampshire Fish and Game Department officials urge outdoor enthusiasts to exercise caution when enjoying winter activities near any ice, including vertical ice and on trails. Parents are urged to educate themselves about ice safety and share their knowledge with their children to help prevent accidents.

In a statement, Col. Kevin Jor­dan, Chief of Fish and Game’s Law Enforcement Division, said that “caution is in order for those going out onto any ice, especial­ly with the extreme fluctuations in temperature and precipitation expected this week. With erratic weather conditions, some areas of ice may look safe, but may not be. We are urging people to check the ice thickness before going out onto any frozen waterbody.”

New Hampshire Fish and Game says it is never advisable to drive cars or trucks onto ice. They advise that if you’re on foot you should carefully assess ice safety before venturing out by using an ice chisel or auger to determine the thickness and composition of the ice, and continue to do this as you go fur­ther out, because the thickness of the ice will not be uniform over the entire waterbody.

Snow-covered ice can be deceiving and should always be inspected carefully. Though all ice is potentially dangerous, the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, N.H., offers this advice on ice thickness: There should be a minimum of 6 inches of hard ice before individual foot travel and 8 to 10 inches of hard ice for snow machine or off-highway recre­ational vehicle travel.

New Hampshire Fish and Game notes that thick ice does not always mean safe ice and that it is possible for ice to be thick but not strong, because of varying weather con­ditions. Weak ice forms when warming trends break down the ice and then the surface refreez­es; people should be especially careful of areas with current, such as inlets, outlets and spring holes, where the moving water can make ice dangerously thin, according to the release.

  • New Hampshire Fish and Game listed these tips for staying safe on the ice:
  • Don’t venture onto any ice during thaws.
  • Stay off the ice along the shore­line if it is cracked or squishy.
  • Docks, rocks and downed trees absorb the sun’s heat and can cause the ice around them to be thin.
  • Watch out for thin, clear, or hon­eycombed ice. Dark snow and ice may also indicate weak spots.
  • Small bodies of water tend to freeze thicker. Rivers and lakes are more prone to wind, currents, and wave action that weaken ice.
  • Never gather in groups on less than 8 to 10 inches of hard ice.
  • Always bring along a rescue rope, ice picks and a personal flo­tation device such as a float coat or life preserver.
  • If you do break through the ice, stay calm. Move or swim back to where you fell in, where you know the ice was solid. Lay both arms on the unbroken ice and kick hard. This will help lift your body onto the ice. A set of ice picks can help you pull yourself out; wear them around your neck or put them in an easily accessible pocket. Once out of the water, roll away from the hole until you reach solid ice.
  • If someone you are with breaks through the ice, don’t rush over to the hole — keep yourself safe. Look for something to throw or to use to reach out to the person such as a rope, tree branch or ice spud. Lie down flat and reach out with your tool. After securing the person, do not stand — wiggle backward on the solid ice pulling the person with you.

Ice safety is also very important for snowmobilers: Never assume a trail is safe just because it exists, and check out trail conditions before you go, at nhstateparks.org/ activities/snowmobiling/trail-in­formation.aspx.

Visit wildlife.nh.gov for more information which also includes a video on ice safety.

Robot talk

Attorney General John M. For­mella announced that he and a bipartisan coalition of 46 Attor­neys General have successfully urged the Federal Communications Commission to tighten rules aimed at blocking and mitigating robocalls.

In a statement, AG Formel­la said, “Illegal robocalls are a growing threat to New Hamp­shire families and businesses. By working with the FCC and col­leagues nationwide, we are taking strong, bipartisan action to protect consumers and hold those respon­sible accountable. These steps are a major move toward stopping fraud and harassment, and we must remain vigilant in combating these deceptive practices.”

According to the release, in response to a letter from the AGs the FCC has announced three ini­tiatives in its continued fight against robocallers, which include strengthening the Robocall Mitiga­tion Database (RMD), thousands of dollars’ worth of fines for non­compliance, and investigations into voice service providers trans­mitting illegal robocall traffic.

Panther Pitch winners

Plymouth State University’s annual “Panther Pitch” busi­ness competition announced two winners from 13 finalists for inno­vative business ideas: senior Cara LaPlante of North Woodstock for her Collegiate Recovery Program and senior Joe Zuber from Con­necticut for his SweetPea candy bar. The Panther Pitch challenges students to create innovative and entrepreneurial ideas that address societal challenges, according to the press release. Two other awards were presented at the Pan­ther Pitch event. Alex Ray, founder and owner of the Common Man Family of Restaurants, was giv­en the Business Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Award and 1999 PSU graduate Todd Angilly was given the Social Entrepreneurship Award for his service as director of workforce development at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.

On Monday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. at Pembroke Town Library (313 Pembroke St., Pembroke) Joshua Duclos presents a talk called “Why Democracy?” Call 566-1031 or visit nhhumanities.org for more information.

Gibson’s Book Club meets on Monday, Jan. 6, at 5:30 p.m. at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord (45 S. Main St.) to talk about The House in the Cerulean Sea, a novel by T.J. Klune. Newcomers are welcome!

On Wednesday, Jan. 8, at 3:30 p.m. at Newmarket Public Library (1 Elm St., Newmarket) Erin Moulton will present “History and Mystery: A Genealogy Starter Guide” for those interested in family history. Call 659-5311 for more information.

This Week 24/12/26

Monday, Dec. 30

Comedian Juston McKinney will close out the year with shows at the Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St., Nashua, 800-657-8774, nashuacenterforthearts.com) tonight at 7 p.m. and tomorrow, Tuesday, Dec. 31, at 5 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $39 through the Center’s website.

Saturday, Dec. 28

The world-famous Harlem Globetrotters will take to the court at SNHU Arena (555 Elm St., Manchester, 644-5000, snhuarena.com) today with shows at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets start at $35 through ticketmaster.com.

Saturday, Dec. 28

To Share Brewing (720 Union St., Manchester, 836-6947, tosharebrewing.com) will host One Last Drag Show for 2024 tonight at 7 p.m. This full-blown show will feature performances by Glamme Chowder, Luke Laroe, ChiChi Marvel, Obscura Freakshow, and Baddie Longlegs. This is a 21+ event, with a $10 cover.

Tuesday, Dec.31

There are three ways to celebrate the new year at Chunky’s Cinema Pub (707 Huse Road, Manchester, 206-3888, chunkys.com): (1) A special New Year’s Eve Scratch Ticket Bingo tonight at 6:30 p.m. Winners will receive a stack of $5 scratchies. With purchase guests will receive a complimentary movie pass, a $5 food voucher to be used toward one food item during the event, a reserved seat, a bingo card and a $5 scratch ticket (provided by Chunky’s) gets added to the pot. Tickets for the event are $13 each. Or (2) Celebrate with an evening of standup with comedians Steve Scarfo, Kyle Crawfod and Dan Crohn, with shows at 7:30 and 9 p.m. Tickets are $35. Or (3) Celebrate with the 21+ spectacle of Life’s a Drag, hosted by Karisma and Larissa Montes at 10 p.m. This hilariously filthy event comes with a Champagne toast. This drag show features New England’s fiercest entertainers. Tickets are $30.

Wednesday, Jan. 1

First Day Hikes are a long-running tradition at New Hampshire’s State Parks. Seven parks will host hikes today. This year’s participating parks include Milan Hill State Park, Monadnock State Park, Northwood Meadows State Park, Odiorne Point State Park, Pisgah State Park, White Lake State Park and, new to the list, Pawtuckaway State Park. Participants will be greeted with warm beverages and snacks around a cozy fire, along with a limited supply of New Hampshire State Parks-themed giveaways, including a special 90th-anniversary calendar and stickers. Register at nhstateparks.org/things-to-do/first-day-hikes-2025.

Save the Date! Thursday, Jan. 9
Disney on Ice presents Mickey’s Search Party at SNHU Arena (555 Elm St., Manchester, 644-5000, snhuarena.com) with shows Thursday, Jan. 9, and Friday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 11, at 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and Sunday, Jan. 12, at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tickets start at $18 through ticketmaster.com. Visit disneyonice.com/mickeys-search-party.

Featured photo: Juston McKinney.

Quality of Life 24/12/26

The opposite of dry reading

The Concord Public Library (45 Green St., Concord, 225-8670, concordnh.gov/1983/Library) found itself very, very damp, after a ceiling leak during the night on Sunday, Dec.14. As reported in a Dec. 16 online article by the Concord Monitor, water had come down “through the ceiling in the children’s room and pooled down on the first floor.” On Monday, Dec. 15, the Library posted on its Facebook page, “We have sprung a leak! Please excuse the mess as we dry out. The Main Floor is open for public use with the exception of the adult fiction collection. The Children’s Room and Lower Lounge will be closed for the day. We will be happy to get materials for you from the children’s and adult fiction collections.” The Monitor quoted Library Director Todd Fabian. “A few hundred library items were affected by the leak,” he said, “but how many books are a loss won’t be known for a few days.”

QOL score: -1

Comment: According to the Monitor’s story, the Library has had “a few sizable leaks of this kind” in recent years. Last year the room housing its computer servers was flooded, and the Concord Room, which houses the Library’s historical archives, was flooded before that.

An astronomical achievement

As reported in a Dec. 19 online article by WMUR, a team of students from Nashua has won a competition to have an experiment performed on the International Space Station. “Team Hydra” from the Academy for Science and Design wanted to look more closely at the effects of precipitation in microgravity. As explained by WMUR, “The experiment will analyze how calcium chloride and sodium carbonate interact in space, with potential applications for water filtration systems on Earth and in space exploration.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: Tech company Space Tango will implement and monitor the students’ experiment in space sometime in the next year. The Academy’s team competed against 10 other teams from across the region.

The cost of dog ownership can be ruff

A recent study by online discount platform WeThrift has ranked U.S. states by how much the residents in each spend on their dogs. According to a Dec. 18 press release, “New Hampshire ranks as the eighth most [expensive] state for pet owners, with a total cost of $1,883.38, 12.36% above the average annual cost across all states.” According to the study, some factors that contribute to the state’s pet spending include the cost of pet food (“an annual cost of $761.60, 11.54% above the national average”), veterinary care (“$75.32, which is 8.55% above the average”) and vaccinations (“The state’s annual dog vaccine cost is $233.46, which is 4.88% above the average”).

QOL score: -1

Comments: The study found that Massachusetts has the highest dog spending in the U.S., at $2,275.97. The most affordable state dog-maintainance-wise is Kansas, with yearly spending of $1,403.40.

QOL score last week: 73

Net change: -1

QOL for the end of 2024: 72

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

The year in review

The Big Story – 2024: Timefor our annual look at the big stories and best athletes.

Sports 101: In 2024 Jaylen Brown became the sixth Celtic to be NBA Finals MVP in 2024. Name the other five.

News Item – The Year’s Top Stories:

Patriots are at the Bottom of the NFL: We knew it was going to be bad, but not this bad.

Summer Olympics: The U.S. earned the most gold, men’s basketball beat France for the gold, and the women’s soccer team regained the top rung in their game worldwide behind, of all people, Dennis Rodman’s daughter Trinity.

Chiefs First to Win Repeat Since NE in 2003-04: After down goes SF for their third, get ready, Patriots fans, because with Patrick Mahomes not even 30 yet and the league’s best coach, Andy Reid, possibly around for another 10 seasons, six or (gulp) more SB wins are not out of the question.

Dodgers Destroy Yanks 4-1 in Series: It had it all: big stars in Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, the L.A.-N.Y. TV markets and their history of 11 previous World Series meetings. But with four homers, 12 RBI and a walk-off grand slam to win Game 1 Freddie Freeman stole the show as L.A. won in a walk. Judge put up similar numbers to what Dave Winfield had in 1981 that led George Steinbrenner to mock his star as “Mr. May.”

UConn Men Win Again: A feel-good story of their being the first to win back-to-back college basketball team titles since Florida in 2006-07 and coach Dan Hurley shunning big bucks from the Lakers to stay and go for three.

Belichick Gets Fired: A once un-imaginable ending to his reign in Foxboro. Got it thanks to horrendous drafting, the lunkhead move of putting incompetent Matt Patricia in charge of the 2023 offense and his prickly stubbornness finally catching up with him. Which gave us all the definitive answer to “Was it Brady or Belichick?”

Celtics Win NBA Crown: Breezing to the title mostly without injured center Kristaps Porzingis was nice. But the real prize was re-taking the lead for most NBA titles at 18 to put the dastardly Lakers back in second place.

The Numbers:

3.798 – grade point average at Colorado for Heisman Trophy-winning two-way guy Travis Hunter to make him an actual “student-athlete” as opposed to what many college sports kids are illegitimately called.

186string of second most playoff games without winning an NBA title that ended for Al Horford.

Of the Year Awards

Biggest Shock – Belichick Leaves NFL Behind: There isn’t one sports pundit anywhere who saw him jumping to college football coming. Not one.

Player of the Year – Shohei Ohtani: After getting the richest sports contract ever ($700 million) he delivered for the Dodgers as he had the first 50-homer and 50-stolen-base season in baseball history, he was named the NL MVP and his team easily won the World Series.

Biggest Achievement – Caitlin Clark Popularizes Women’s Game: The stats and all-time records were impressive. But the fact that her presence in the sport led to the Women’s Final Four having higher TV ratings than the men’s FF is a heretofore never imagined feat and the most monumental moment for women’s sports since Billie Jean King took out Bobby Riggs in straight sets 51 years earlier.

Lifetime Achievement Award – LeBron James: For two things: (1) breaking Kareem’s all-time NBA career scoring record and still chugging along at 38 to pass 40,000 points, and (2) having the amazing durability and longevity to be the first to play in an NBA game with his son, which he did with young Bronny on opening night.

DumbestEvent: The 112-year-old Mike Tyson fighting doofus Jake Paul.

Thumbs Up – Clark: For her magnanimous comments about those who came before her to build the WNBA throughout her Time Magazine Athlete of the Year profile. Classy.

Thumbs Down: Among the sports luminaries we lost in 2024 were Willie Mays, Jerry West, Bill Walton, Whitey Herzog, Dikembe Mutombo, Pete Rose, OJ Simpson, Orlando Cepeda, Larry Lucchino, Jimy Williams, Louie Carnesecca, Luis Tiant and Rickey Henderson. RIP

A Little History – Lakers 17: Sorry, L.A., that’s a bogus number. Because five of them came in the early 1950s behind the great George Mikan and the boys in Minneapolis, which has had zero connection with L.A. since they left town. So the number for the L.A. Lakers is really 12.

Sports 101 Answer: Since the Finals MVP was first awarded in 1969the six Celtics to win it areJohn Havlicek (’74), Jo-Jo White (’76), Cedric Maxwell (’81), Larry Bird (’84 and ’86), Paul Pierce (’08) and Brown (’24).

Final Thought: Happy holidays to all.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

News & Notes 24/12/26

Leadership Program

Stay Work Play is now accepting applications for its 2025 Rising Stars Leadership Program, a leadership development initiative tailored to young people across a myriad of industries from February through June, according to a press release.

The program consists of six in-person sessions that focuses on leadership skills, community engagement and fostering ambition for the Granite State. Tuition is $2,000 and discounts are available for Stay Work Play Board of Advisor members, according to the release. Applications are due Friday, Jan. 24. Visit stayworkplay.org/rising-stars-leadership-program for more information.

In a statement, Corinne Benfield, Executive Director of Stay Work Play NH said “the Rising Stars Leadership Program exemplifies our mission to elevate and empower the incredible young people that call the 603 home. By investing in this program, we are ensuring that New Hampshire has strong ambassadors who can help shape New Hampshire to be an attractive and vibrant place to live, work, and play.”

Here, fishy, fishy, fishy

According to a press release, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department stocks trout during the fall to bolster the winter ice fishery for winter anglers.

Fish and Game has listed on its website links for different bodies of water that are open year-round as well as rules for these water bodies with special regulations included in the New Hampshire Freshwater Fishing Digest, which is also available from license agents, according to the same release.

The following lakes and ponds were stocked with trout during the fall of 2024 and are open to ice fishing: Akers Pond in Errol, Beaver Pond in Woodstock, Bow Lake in Strafford, Cedar Pond in Milan, Big Diamond Pond in Stewartstown (opens Wednesday, Jan. 1), Higher Ground Pond in Wentworth, Highland Lake in Andover, Hildreth Pond in Warren, Little Dan Hole Pond in Ossipee, Manning Lake in Gilmanton, Martin Meadow Pond in Lancaster, Mascoma Lake in Enfield, Mirror Lake in Woodstock, Newfound Lake in Bristol, Ogontz Lake in Lyman, Pearl Lake in Lisbon, Perch Pond in Lisbon, Pleasant Lake in Deerfield, Streeter Pond in Sugar Hill, Sunapee Lake in Newbury, Tewksbury Pond in Grafton, Webster Lake in Franklin, White Lake in Tamworth, and Winnisquam Lake in Laconia. There are additional ones not listed here.

In a statement, Fish and Game’s Inland Fisheries Program Supervisor John Magee said that “the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s hatcheries stock post-spawn brook and brown trout into selected water bodies that do not have a closed season before winter. These fish can range from 2 to 3 pounds each. Numbers, dates, and stocking locations vary annually. I would encourage anglers of all skill levels to take advantage of this season’s stocked opportunities throughout New Hampshire when weather conditions are favorable and once the ice is safe.”

In another statement, he said that “The Granite State’s rivers and streams open to fishing on Jan. 1, and there are some quality fish to be caught in some of the tailwater fisheries such as the Newfound River. When water levels are drawn down on larger lakes for the fall, prize-sized fish often drop down below dams, creating opportunities for savvy winter anglers. This winter’s free fishing day is Jan. 18, so why not try your luck through the ice this year.”

To learn more about ice fishing in New Hampshire visitwildlife.nh.gov.

More access to education

According to a press release, New Hampshire’s public higher education systems have created more than 100 direct pathways designed to help students move smoothly from associate degree programs offered by New Hampshire’s community colleges to bachelor’s degree programs offered by the University System.

This collaboration between the Community College System of New Hampshire (CCSNH) and the University System of New Hampshire (USNH) makes it easier for students to continue their education, earn subsequent degrees more efficiently, and fill critical jobs in New Hampshire’s workforce faster and with less debt, according to the release.

Students currently enrolled in or planning to enter any of New Hampshire’s seven community colleges can now follow clear, structured pathways that lead directly to bachelor’s degrees at Keene State College, Plymouth State University, or the University of New Hampshire (UNH), which includes UNH Durham, Manchester and the College of Professional Studies Online, according to the release.

In a statement, USNH Chancellor Catherine Provencher said “these pathways give students the confidence to pursue their educational goals with assurance that we have taken steps to align programs to help manage time and cost. This collaboration makes it easier for New Hampshire residents to stay in the state, earn a degree, and strengthen our workforce.”

The CCSNH has trained advisors available at each community college and USNH sponsors a centralized Outreach and Enrollment Center that assists with applications, financial aid resources, and other support services available to students in both systems, according to the same release.

For more information visit nhtransfer.org.

There will be a Winter Ball at Phenix Hall: Home for the Holidays, Saturday, Dec. 28, from 7 to 10 p.m. at Phenix Hall (38 N. Main St., Concord). Tickets are $100 each. Visit eventbrite.com.

Shaskeen Pub (909 Elm St., Manchester, 625-0246, shaskeenirishpub.com) will hold its annual New Year’s Eve Bash on Tuesday, Dec. 31, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. There will be an open bar, a free buffet, a free Champagne toast, and music by DJMyth.Tickets are $60 through ticketleap.com

The Strand (20 Third St., Dover, 343- 1899, thestranddover.com) will feature a dance party on Saturday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m.