Category: News

What’s in store for 2023

Our 15th annual predictions for the year ahead.

January: A day after their disappointing season ends, Patriot Nation files a restraining order to prevent Matt Patricia from being within 200 yards of the Patriots offense or Mac Jones in 2023. Coach B hears the begging from all corners of New England and announces Patricia has been “re-assigned” to a front office role. Heavyweight boxing is heard from for the first time in decades when, during an appearance on the Hitman Hearns podcast to commemorate the 50th anniversary of George Foreman winning the Heavyweight crown in 1973, the two-time champ asks what ever happened to Heavyweight boxing. And no one knows the answer.

February: After digging themselves out from the 13th western New York blizzard in 30 days, Buffalo wins the Super Bowl over surprise NFC entry New York Giants. With the Bills a 16-point favorite, the G-Men consider bringing Tom Coughlin out of retirement to engineer another massive SB upset, but decide against it. They then lose by 17 to make the folks giving the points happy dudes. In a bid to break Michael Jordan’s record for most retirements by a GOAT, Tom Brady retires again.

March: John Henry acts like an owner and talks to the media for the first time in two years early in spring training. But he soon retreats to the bunker after being bombarded with questions about his team’s epically low 2023 expectations.

April: When the “I’m sorry, I’ll do it your way” bid fails to get Yoko back, Brady unretires again and is traded to the hometown 49ers. The Sox go into 2023 with an average age of 43 for its starting rotation. The good news is, it beats the Vegas over-under of 45 after ancient Rich Hill somehow gets another team to give him a contract leaving him to flee faster than a guy finding an open lifeboat seat as the Titanic was on the way down.

May:After 47 trade-down and trade-up moves in Rounds 1 and 2, Bill Belichick selects punter Ray Guy IV with his top pick. Tampa Bay uses an all-time record 32 pitchers in a rain-shortened six-inning dumpster fire game at Fenway that takes 6 hours and 31 minutes to play.

June: In a first ever for the gentle sport of golf, a massive on-course brawl breaks out between LIV players and old-guard PGAers to mar Day 1 of the U.S. Open. After going down early in the marquee “animal” match-up between a Tiger and a Shark, Time magazine’s “Sports Weasel of the Year” Greg Norman squeezes his way out of the bottom of the scrum to start throwing sucker punches from behind like he’s Mickey Rivers in 1976’s famed dust-up between the Sox and the Yanks. The Celtics return to the NBA Finals, but this time they win in a sweep of Golden State when Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown live up to the billing. In the NBA draft, 7’4” Frenchman Victor (the victor) Wembanyama falls one letter short of Michael Olowokandi’s all-time record for having the most letters in the full name of a first overall pick.

July: Not that anyone but puckheads notices, but the Bruins join the Celtics as world champs when the ice hockey season concludes in the calendar year’s hottest month. Raffy Devers is sent packing at the trading deadline to complete the destruction of the Red Sox franchise for a raft of young players ballyhooed by the Sox brass but described by most baseball insiders as “worse than the box of rocks Chaim got for Mookie Betts.” At the presser announcing the move, Boston’s sports answer to George Santos says Devers will be his top priority to re-sign in the off-season.

August: Patricia is detained by security at Pats pre-season camp when he breaches the 200-yard boundary he’s required to maintain. He then quits in protest after learning the restraining order was actually taken out by owner Bob Kraft.

September: Patricia quickly finds work as offensive coordinator at Memorial High and vows he’ll resurrect the dormant-for-decades Crusaders offense. Mayor Joyce Craig immediately tries to overturn the move by telling (shouting at, actually) the school board in front of an overflow open SB session crowd, “Didn’t you people watch the Patriots offense last year?” For her strongly worded commendation, Craig gets an immediate 15-point bump in the polls ahead of her mayoral campaign.

October: Betts and the newly acquired Devers hit six homers off Nathan Eovaldi in Game 7 as the Dodgers top Texas to win the World Series.

November: Xander Bogaerts wins the National League MVP Award in a unanimous vote.

Despite scoring only 21 points on offense all season, Memorial somehow wins the Division 1 Football crown for the first time since Dave Croasdale was a pup. After years of hibernation, UCLA comes out of nowhere to finish in the Top 4 ranked teams in college football to set up an all-Manchester opening-round match-up (in January) between Chip Kelly’s Bruins and fellow Central alum (and Chipper’s old QB at the U) Ryan Day and Ohio State. The Manchester PD begins planning for handling lines at Billy’s Sports Bar, expected to snake past the back entrance to Elliot Hospital.

December: Devers signs with the Yankees in free agency. Mac Jones throws his 40th TD pass to help the Pats clinch a playoff spot, but resists the temptation to flip off the now adoring crowd that was calling for his head just 60 days earlier. After accepting MLB’s new Harry Frazee Team Wrecker award at a lavish gathering at New York’s No No Nanette Theater for discarding Betts, Bogaerts and Devers with astonishing speed, John Henry announces on what’s left of Twitter that he has sold the team to Elon Musk. He’s then installed by Vegas odds-makers and DraftKings as the odds-on favorite to win MLB’s Be Careful What You Wish For award in 2023.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Graphic history

Marek Bennett continues Freeman Colby’s story

Henniker comic artist and educator Marek Bennett discussed the third volume of his historical graphic novel series, The Civil War Diary of Freeman Colby, due out on Jan. 25. The book is available to preorder now at marekbennett.com.

How did you start this series?

In December 2012 … I realized I knew very little about local history here in New Hampshire, where I grew up. I started poking around in the local historical society, just curious about the photographs and old documents and things there. I came across this diary written by a guy from Henniker, Freeman Colby. It covered his service in the Civil War. I thought it would be fun to doodle a little stick figure comic to see what this [story] looks like when it’s drawn out. … That’s how I got started. I said, ‘I’ll just draw a little eight-page mini comic using the story and then put it down and let people read the diary themselves.’ Instead, I got hooked on it and kept drawing it.

What is Volume 3 about?

In each book, I try to unfold the story and find a new dimension to the story. Volume 1 is basically Freeman Colby’s diary verbatim, but in a comics format … For Volume 2, I started finding other people’s stories and weaving them in to help flesh out the narrative and figure out what was really going on. … That’s when the series really started taking its shape. … The next level is orchestrating all of those stories; that’s Volume 3. I realized it’s not enough just to have a lot of these other people … pop in and tell a short story and then disappear. I need to bring them in and let them be in conversation with each other. It was really a fun challenge to … see how they can all fit together on the page in a way that I can draw it. … It’s pulling together all these little puzzle pieces that haven’t been put together in quite this way before.

So is Freeman Colby still the main character?

Freeman Colby is still the throughline — he’s in the background of the scenes — but 90 percent of the book [consists of] materials taken from other storytellers who can flesh out his story. … For example … Freeman Colby ends up teaching a literacy class for freed people who had been enslaved … and I realized I could have a couple of his students tell their stories, too, in a way that is culturally relevant.

How do you choose which stories to include?

I’ve realized that history, in some ways, has very little to do with the past and a whole lot to do with the present, because we’re finding this information in the present. We’re putting these pieces together and crafting this new narrative in the present. … As I worked on this book, I tried to … choose stories and weave them together in such a way that it casts more light on the things [of the present] that connect us to that time period. … I just couldn’t help but notice that as I’m drawing people debating and acting and struggling to confront armed rebellion in the United States, there’s an armed rebellion — people marching on the Capitol — happening on the news.

Was it always your plan to create multiple volumes?

When I did the first book, I thought that would be it. … Then it was selected as a great graphic novel for teens by the American Librarians Association. That got my attention and I thought maybe there’s an audience for this. … Right around that same time, I heard from some descendants of the Colby family, and they mailed me a packet of 80 pages of letters that Freeman Colby had written home that I hadn’t seen before. … I thought, well, that’s a sign, then, that people are interested in the book, and they want to see more.

Was your research or creative process for Volume 3 different in any way?

Yes, partly because of Covid. … The pandemic was so disorienting, it took me almost a year of false starts and multiple drafts of a short section. It just wasn’t working. Then, at a certain point, I realized I just needed to get this book done. … I gave myself a daily deadline: I have to draw two pages a day. Even if they’re not the finished version, it doesn’t matter if they’re good or bad, I just have to have those pages done. … That was really helpful.

What now?

I’m going to get right to work on the next volume, on the most important parts, and just see how it fills out. … I have a New Year’s resolution where I’m blocking out a couple of weeks a month to be focused on Volume 4. … [While] I bring Volume 3 around to people, I want to keep working on Volume 4 … and keep it moving forward.

Featured photo: The Civil War Diary of Freeman Colby.

News & Notes 23/01/05

Opioid settlement

New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella has joined a national attorneys general settlement with pharmaceutical retailers CVS and Walgreens for a total of $10.7 billion in regard to the companies’ alleged contribution to the opioid crisis. According to a press release, the civil lawsuit alleges that the companies overly distributed and irresponsibly dispensed prescription opioids at their retail stores. The settlement has brought the national amount from investigations and litigation against the pharmaceutical industry for its role in the opioid crisis to more than $50 billion. New Hampshire stands to receive nearly $57 million from the CVS and Walgreens agreements, which will be dedicated to opioid treatment and prevention programs in the state. CVS has agreed to pay $5 billion over a period of 10 years while Walgreens has agreed to pay $5.7 billion over a period of 15 years, with payments expected to begin during the second half of 2023. “People trust their local pharmacies and these pharmacy chains failed to provide the people of New Hampshire with the pharmacy care and protection they had a right to expect,” Attorney General Formella said in the release. “This agreement mandates significant changes to these pharmacy chains’ business practices, including court-ordered monitoring to ensure checks that should have been in place will now be aggressively enforced.”

New director

The City of Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously approved the nomination of Michael Quigley for the position of Director of the Office of Youth Services. According to a press release, the city department provides youth programming designed to engage young people who are experiencing difficulties with academics, anger and aggression, bullying and fighting, changes in behavior, communication, changes in family structures, self-harm, death and loss, homelessness, isolation, tensions at home, substance abuse, trauma and more. Quigley, who holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and a master’s degree in adult education and leadership, has worked in youth services since 2007 and has extensive experience working with families, schools, nonprofit partners and government agencies to help better the lives of youth. “I am inspired by the young people in Manchester and believe in their endless potential,” Quigley said in the release. “I am eager to take part in the great work that OYS is currently doing in the community and will work to broaden our impact by strengthening our mission and vision. … The Office of Youth Services will do this by providing new opportunities, partnerships and programs that will allow youth to thrive, and provide spaces for them to use their voice to help this community continue to grow.” Quigley assumed the role on Dec. 27, according to the release.

New logo

Manchester School District has unveiled a new logo that incorporates visual elements from the city. According to a press release, students and school staff were presented with a number of potential logos and asked to vote for their favorite. The logo depicts a school clock tower, the Merrimack River and ornamental flourishes inspired by architecture and signs of Elm Street, in a color inspired by the red brick exteriors of the city’s schools and mill buildings. “We are excited to share this new logo with the community,” Jennifer Gillis, superintendent of the Manchester School District, said in the release. “It’s a significant change, but we feel this logo does a great job of capturing our community and history. In focus groups we held, the historical elements in this logo really resonated with people, particularly our students. We feel this logo does a great job of tying together our present and our past.” The new logo will be implemented as the District launches its new website this month.

New assistant commish

Gov. Chris Sununu and the Executive Council have approved the nomination of David Rodrigue for the position of New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) Assistant Commissioner, according to a press release. Rodrigue, who has a bachelor of science degree from the University of New Hampshire, has worked for NHDOT since 1991 in the Bureaus of Highway Design, Construction, Traffic and Highway Maintenance. He became the Department’s first Intelligent Transportation Management System Program Manager in 2005, where he worked to construct, outfit and open the Bureau of Transportation Systems Management Operations, also known as New Hampshire’s Transportation Management Center. He has served as the director of operations since 2016.

The Dairy Queen on Second Street in Manchester finished 2022 as the highest-earning Dairy Queen location out of 4,353 locations throughout the country, WMUR reported, with a $3,000 lead over the Dairy Queen in Gray, Georgia. The Manchester restaurant has come close in the past, finishing second last year to the Dairy Queen in Medford, Massachusetts, and it has held the No. 1 spot for total ice cream sales for three years running.

Jaffrey couple Chelsie and Jeffrey Thibault welcomed New Hampshire’s first baby born in 2023, WMUR reported. Cayson Thibault, who was originally due on Jan. 3, arrived early on Jan. 1 at 12:36 a.m., at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, to ring in the new year. He is the couple’s second child, little brother to their 4-year-old son.

With the new year comes a new policy on overdue books at Nashua Public Library, WMUR reported. The library is no longer issuing fines, and all existing fines have been forgiven. Library director Jennifer McCormack said in the article that fining people for late books is largely ineffective at ensuring that books are returned on time and often deters people from using the library.

This Week 22/12/29

Big Events December 29, 2022 and beyond

Thursday, Dec. 29

The SNHU Arena (555 Elm St., Manchester) is hosting the Harlem Globetrotters today at 2 p.m. The team will show off their basketball skills with trick shots, routines and more. Ticket prices start at $29. Visit snhuarena.com to buy tickets.

Thursday, Dec. 29

See Joe Gatto for a night of comedy tonight at 7 and 9:30 p.m. at the Capitol Center for the Arts Chubb Theatre (44 S. Main St., Concord). Gatto, a comedian, actor, author and podcaster, has performed to sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City and the O2 Arena in London. Tickets start at $40 and can be bought at ccanh.com.

Thursday, Dec. 29

See The Wizards of Winter, a holiday rock event featuring former members of some of classic rock’s biggest names, including Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, Def Leppard and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, at The Flying Monkey Movie House & Performance Center (39 Main St., Plymouth) today. Tickets start at $49 and can be bought at flyingmonkeynh.com

Saturday, Dec. 31

Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St., Derry) is having The Adam Ezra Group perform tonight at 9 p.m. Buy tickets for the show only (doors open at 8:30 p.m.) for $45, or tickets for dinner and the show (starts at 5:30 p.m.) for $95, at tupelohall.com.

Sunday, Jan. 1

The Apple Therapy and Derry Sports & Rehab Millennium Mile, a one-mile downhill race on Mammoth Road in Londonderry, starts today at 2 p.m. Registration costs $20 for ages 12 and up and $10 for 11 and under, with the first 1,250 registrants getting a winter hat (if available, registration on race day costs $5 more). See millennium-running.com to register in advance.

Sunday, Jan. 1

Today is the last chance to see the Gift of Lights at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1122 Route 106, Loudon). The show, which has more than 3 million lights, is 2½ miles long with 80 different scenes. The shows start at 4:30 p.m. and admission for one car costs $35. Tickets can be bought at nhms.com.

Sunday, Jan. 1

Join NHSCOT for a Hogmany at LaBelle Winery (14 Route 111, Derry) today at 3 p.m. Celebrate the New Year in a Scottish way, with traditional board games, dancing, music, food and more. Tickets cost $32 per adult ages 15 and older, $15 per child ages 6-14, and kids ages 5 and younger are free. For more information, see the story in the Dec. 15 on page 14 (find the e-edition at hippopress.com) or visit nhscot.org.

Save the Date! Thursday, Jan. 19
It’s the opening night of the Cirque du Soleil show Corteo at the SNHU Arena (555 Elm St., Manchester). The show will have acrobats from around the world performing death-defying stunts. The show will be in town until Jan. 22. Opening night show will start at 7:30 p.m. Visit snhuarena.com for more information or to order tickets.

Featured photo. Harlem Globetrotters. Courtesy photo.

Quality of Life 22/12/29

Power down

Around 95,000 New Hampshire electric utility customers experienced power outages on the morning of Friday, Dec. 23, after heavy winds and rain downed trees and power lines across the state, WMUR reported. The National Weather Service issued hazardous weather alerts for icy roadways, hurricane force winds and flood warnings. The storm caused seawater flooding on the seacoast, closing parts of Route 1A in Rye and North Hampton.

QOL score: -1

Comment: This was the second case of statewide outages this month, after around 62,000 electric utility customers were left without power following the first big snowstorm of the season on Thursday, Dec. 15.

Toys for kids

The 11th annual Tower of Toys, an initiative that collects donations of unwrapped holiday gifts for children of families in need, collected around 1,000 toys and raised more than $20,000, according to a press release. “Our mission is to make the work of nonprofit organizations and families easier during the Christmas season, and most importantly, to make the season truly magical for New Hampshire’s children,” Tower of Toys founder and sponsor Larry Thibodeau said in the release. The donations were distributed to a number of local nonprofit organizations that work with children and families, including Dover Children’s Home, Friends of Aine, Friends of Forgotten Children, My Turn, Nashua Children’s Home, New Generation, Roca Kidz Club, Spaulding Academy & Family Services, Walk with a Child and Webster House.

QOL score: +1

Comment: The donated toys were formed into a tower on display at a celebratory holiday reception held at the Beacon Building in Manchester on Thursday, Dec. 15.

An end-of-year gift

Gas prices in New Hampshire have fallen 12.2 cents per gallon in the last week. According to a GasBuddy price report, the average gasoline price in New Hampshire is down to $3.29 per gallon as of Dec. 19. The data is based on a survey of 875 gas stations across the state. Prices are now 41.7 cents per gallon lower than a month ago.

QOL score: +1

Comment: The national average price of gas was projected to fall below $3 per gallon for the first time in nearly 600 days by Christmas.

Praise for a NICU nurse

Victoria M. Hastings, RN, a clinical nurse in the NICU at the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, is among 10 neonatal intensive care unit nurses nationwide selected as a finalist in the 4moms first annual Nominate a NICU Nurse program. According to a press release, co-workers, friends and families of NICU babies nominate their favorite nurses for the award, and finalists are selected based on submission stories and the number of times they were nominated. “Reading through all of the nominations was truly special,” Hastings said in the release. “It’s nice to be reminded how important the work we all do in the NICU really is to our families, patients and co-workers.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: Ten 4moms MamaRoo Swings were donated to CHaD in Hastings’ honor.

QOL score: 90

Net change: +2

QOL this week: 92


What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at [email protected].

2022’s biggest sports stories

We’ll end the blah sports year of 2022 with a look at its biggest stories.

World’s Cup Runneth Over: Aside from seeing the world’s grandest sports event decided by penalty kicks, which is akin to the NBA Finals being decided by a foul shooting contest, the World Cup lived up to the hype. It ended with an overtime game with uber star Lionel Messi winning what some thought might be his final game. It had underdogs advancing, and the Americans made it out of group play. Best of all, TV ratings were great, which may signal soccer’s day as a spectator sport for the U.S. masses may have arrived.

Here Comes The Judge: Seeing clean cut, non-juiced good guy Aaron Judge chase Roger Maris’s and the Babe’s cherished single-season home run record in the AL was the feel-good story of the year. It was a “he’s got it the whole way” laugh in, until the palms got sweaty the last 10 days. But No. 62 finally came and the record, most importantly to New Yorkers, stayed in the Bronx.

Astros Blast Off in World Series: After being scorned by the baseball world since it was discovered they used an elaborate sign-stealing system all throughout their championship season of 2017, the Houston Astros finally got the monkey off their back. It happened by beating the Phillies in this year’s Fall Classic four games to two. It won’t erase the taint of 2017, but it does validate that after going to four Series since 2017, they have been one of the best organizations in recent memory.

Kyrie Irving’s World Implodes: The world’s most self-indulgent, delusional athlete wrote another chapter for the “why I (sports) hate this guy” book by derailing his team, not once but twice.

The first time was railing about the man in refusing to get vaccinated during the pandemic, which ran afoul of New York City’s mandate for having to be vaxxed to be part of mass gatherings. It led to his missing 53 games, which sent NBA favorite Brooklyn into a lurch that eventually led to their being swept out of the playoffs in Round I by Boston.

The other was getting suspended eight games after refusing to back down to the league-wide storm that followed his posting support for an anti-semitic documentary.

It all cost him close to $70 million in lost NBA salary and his canceled Nike deal.

And for those who still think he’s worth the trouble, the Nets were 11-18 in the 29 games played last year and the count this year was 2-6 before he was suspended and 5-3 in the games he missed.

College Football Playoffs Expands to 12-School Format: It won’t happen until 2024 at the earliest and maybe not until 2026. But the decision by the NCAA to begin a 12-school national tournament for Division I Football was met with near unanimous approval when announced in September. Its time had come for the following reasons: (1) D-1 football is the only sport in the NCAA without a season-ending playoff. (2) With New Year’s Day Bowl games no longer the unofficial ending of college football, it needed a better ending. (3) With schools like USC and UCLA headed to the Big 10, the once recognizable conference picture is a total jumble and this gives a better focus going forward. (4) Given the success of the Men’s Basketball Tournament, is there any doubt this will be a wild success too?

Golden State Proves Me Wrong Twice: First, I said in my NBA pre-season preview that after two injury-ravaged years I didn’t see the Warriors ever returning to their championship level form. SPOILER ALERT — They did. Then when they met the Celtics in the Finals I picked the Green and — SPOILER ALERT — they didn’t, after I underestimated how good their team defense was, their coach Steve Kerr was and historically how great Steph Curry is, which became more apparent as he dominated all but one game in the series. As for the history, winning for a fourth time in eight years cements them as one of the best multi-year run winners, while Curry pushed his way into my Top 10 greatest players ever.

Hot Seat Is Warming for Coach B: Due to repeated personnel miscalculations since 2013, his usual stubbornness, the team’s most mortifying loss since getting run over by the Bears in SB 20 and a major misguided choice for offensive coordinator, things are not going well for Bill Belichick three years into the post-Tom Brady era.

It has folks wondering the once unthinkable: If Coach B does catch Don Shula’s all-time record for wins, will he do it coaching in Foxborough?

I sense a clash coming between the owner and Coach B. One where Bob Kraft demands (as I would) he get some fresh perspective to help get things back on track by going outside the organization to hire a personnel guy with a track record of drafting success and another to lead the offense and develop their highly drafted young QB in a way Matt Patricia can’t.

Will he get stubborn and say no? Then what? Another year to fix it his way, or will a refusal push Kraft into making a “do what I say or else” decision most never expected would ever happen?

Brittney Griner Comes Home: This isn’t a sports story but an international news story involving a well-known American athlete that was in the news most of the year. Given the danger posed by the arms dealer she was swapped for in the prisoner exchange, the question is did it happen because of her celebrity? Or, more likely, because she was an innocent pawn taken hostage by a hostile country in retribution for the action taken by her country in support of Ukraine after it was invaded by a power-hungry dictator?

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

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