I’ve never been a professional athlete and certainly have never been involved with a business decision where I could get an additional $20 million if I took a new job. But, while I understand the entire business and playing situation, I must say the Gordon Hayward free agent defection to the Hornets for a boatload of dough after opting out of the final year of his contract with the Celtics really irked me.
That’s me the “fan” talking, not me the sports writer. The sports writer gets the business decision thing. Ditto for what should go through any Celtics player’s mind after how Danny Ainge and the brass kicked Isaiah Thomas to the curb after he put his earning power/career on the line after taking one for the team by playing through a severely deteriorating hip injury during the 2017 playoffs. Not to mention doing it while playing through the pain of his sister’s death in real time and a face plant that forced extensive dental surgery that would have been a season-ender for me-firsters like the guy he was traded for a few months later. He’s still trying to come back from the damage that caused, which probably cost him somewhere between $50 million and $100 million.
But for me the fan, it irked me because it’s a reminder why fans should treat players as they treat them – as disposable commodities. I could give a lengthy speech about why things were better back in the day, but it’s not relevant. Today is what it is. Red Auerbach held on to his Big 3 because he felt they earned the right to retire in Boston and I was OK with that. But that led to 22 years without a title. Conversely, I must also admit I was in the chorus singing Danny’s praises for not doing that with his Big 3 after the haul he got back produced Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and others to give much more promise to the future than Red’s approach.
The being irked part comes in because isn’t getting attached to favorite players part of being a sports fan? It always has been that for me. I like the winning, but I also want to like the players on that team. That’s one reason I was cool to bringing Cam Newton to the Patriots, as I wasn’t sure about him. Turns out he’s a good guy and he gets extra slack because of it.
Now, on to specifically why Hayward’s leaving irked me. It was two-fold. First, while his horrific broken ankle wasn’t his fault, people in these parts invested a lot in him and his recovery. That included, if you read this space, infinite patience by me repeatedly sticking up for him to critics who didn’t get how long it would take to physically and especially mentally come back from that terrible injury. Ditto for the Celtics brass, especially Brad Stevens, who took a lot of heat inside the locker room for playing him when he clearly wasn’t the same. That led to a tumultuous 2018-19 Celtics season and if you want to insert toxic for tumultuous feel free. When a guy everyone did that for just up and leaves it makes one say what’s the point? Though smarter, more realistic people might say grow up because that’s the way it is.
The second part is the bigger issue, and no it wasn’t that I was bothered he was leaving. After all they beat Philly and Toronto and made it to Game 6 of the conference finals vs. Miami with very little help from him after getting hurt (again) in Game 1 of the playoffs. Plus, somewhere in the middle of last season I’d decided he was the guy to trade to help them get to a higher level. That’s because while I liked how he played at point forward, he’s just not mentally tough enough for me.
What I didn’t like was that his abruptly leaving as a free agent for the aforementioned extra $20 million scuttled a sign and trade being lined up with Indiana. And while I wasn’t in love with getting Myles Turner back, as the rumor mill said was being proposed, I knew he could be flipped for a better fit later. Which certainly was better than the talent drain of losing Hayward without getting anything back, as players of his caliber are hard to replace for a capped out team as the rising Celtics are. That irked me because it left fans who stuck by him during the dark times holding the bag for a lesser team.
However, by turning it into a sign and trade (for a mere second-round pick) Danny got back a valuable $28 million trade exception instead. That lets teams over the cap make trades involving contracts up to that amount without having to give matching salaries back. That’s even better than having Hayward’s contract to trade because it can be broken up into separate deals to fill their multiple pressing needs for bench scoring, long-range shooting and a deeper overall team.
Which brings me to the point of this diatribe regarding fans investing emotion in players who don’t return the favor. I’m not sure if it’s being willing to give up a piece of being a fan to avoid being irked in the way I was over the ungrateful way Hayward bolted. Or hanging in there because all’s well that ends well as this one may turn out to be. The only thing I do know is it’s not going to end here. Hayward joined far greater players named Brady and Betts in the exodus out of town for greener pastures this year and since the system isn’t likely to change any time soon they won’t be the last ones to do it. So all I’ll say to players going forward is just be honest. Say, “I couldn’t pass up the extra $20 million.”
Because most fans respect that and almost all know the rest of it is BS.
News & Notes 20/12/10
| Covid-19 update | As of November 30 | As of December 7 |
|---|---|---|
| Total cases statewide | 20,994 | 25,816 |
| Total current infections statewide | 5,145 | 5,386 |
| Total deaths statewide | 526 | 566 |
| New cases | 3,396 (Nov. 23 to Nov. 30) | 4,822 (Dec. 1 to Dec. 7) |
| Current infections: Hillsborough County | 2,246 | 2,015 |
| Current infections: Merrimack County | 462 | 703 |
| Current infections: Rockingham County | 1,118 | 1,296 |
Covid-19 news
In line with the CDC’s updated Dec. 2 guidance for quarantining, state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan announced during a Dec. 3 press conference that the required quarantining period for people in New Hampshire who have potentially been exposed to Covid-19 has been decreased from 14 days to 10 days. If someone has not experienced symptoms after the 10th day, the quarantining period can end. However, because of the continued rates of community transmission in the state, Chan said the state is not adopting the CDC’s option to allow people to end quarantining early with a negative test result. “If we were to start implementing a test out of quarantine option, the risk of missing somebody with Covid-19 and of spreading it … within our communities increases even further,” Chan said, “and that is not acceptable to us at this point in time.”
Later in the press conference, Gov. Chris Sununu reported that the first doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be arriving “very, very shortly” to New Hampshire. “The Pfizer vaccine will be the first one to arrive in the state of New Hampshire, sometime probably in the third week of December, with the Moderna vaccine to arrive likely sometime in the fourth week of December, early in that fourth week,” he said. The first doses will primarily be distributed to health care workers and those in long-term care facilities.
On Dec. 5, the New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services issued a notice of potential community exposures connected to positive virus cases. At least eight people who have tested positive for Covid-19 visited Filotimo Casino & DraftKings Sportsbook in Manchester between Nov. 19 and Nov. 29. At least nine people who tested positive visited MacDougall’s Tavern in Keene between Nov. 20 and Nov. 24, and at least two people who tested positive visited the Chop Shop Pub in Seabrook during a live music event on the night of Nov. 21. Anyone who visited either of the three businesses on any of those days should be monitoring symptoms and should seek testing.
On Dec. 7, state health officials reported 1,045 new positive test results of Covid-19, the greatest number in a single day to date.
Also on Dec. 7, Sununu announced on his Facebook and Twitter pages that a member of his staff has tested positive for the coronavirus. According to Sununu, the individual was last in the governor’s office on Dec. 2. “Contact tracing found only one close contact within the office, who is currently quarantining,” Sununu said. “I will continue to monitor for symptoms, as will all other members of my staff.”
Finally, Sununu has joined several other governors in urging Congress to pass a new Covid-19 relief package immediately, according to a press release.
School funding report
Last week the Commission to Study School Funding released its final report, which includes policy recommendations for the 2021 legislative session. The commission was established in 2019 and was appropriated $500,000 for comprehensive research and public engagement processes, according to a press release. “For the first time in decades, this Commission engaged a national research team with expertise in education, public policy, and data analysis to help us understand the problem,” Commission Chair Representative David Luneau said in a statement. According to the press release, student outcomes “vary widely” based on the amount spent per student, as well as unique student needs and the characteristics of each school district. “For New Hampshire to meet its constitutional responsibility where all students have equal opportunity to an adequate education, its state aid distribution funding formula needs to be altered. Currently, most state aid is allocated to districts as a flat universal cost per student. The state can more effectively use its education funds by distributing higher portions of state aid to districts with greater student needs and less capacity to raise funds due to lower property valuations,” Sen. Jay Kahn said in a statement. The report proposes an Education Cost Model that would “assist state budget decisions regardless of the amount of funding distributed.”
DCYF Data Book
The state Division for Children, Youth and Families has released the second DCYF Annual Data Book, which shows that, for the first time ever, DCYF’s child protection workforce is approaching national caseload standards, according to a press release. Right now, the average number of assessments per Child Protective Service Worker is 16 — down from 90 in 2016. Recent legislation has funded more CPSW and supervisor positions, and DCYF’s staff now includes the largest number of CPSWs and supervisors ever, the release said. The Data Book also shows that there has been a reduction in the number of children in out-of-home care, more children being cared for in their own homes with their own families, more foster homes available, and, for the first time since 2015, fewer assessments involving caregivers struggling with substance use disorder, according to the release.
Manchester is holding its first Holiday Lights Contest this year, with anyone interested in participating asked to fill out a registration form prior to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 10, at manchesternh.gov. According to a press release, all registered lights displays will be included in a Manchester Holiday Lights Map. Any Manchester resident can vote online starting Monday, Dec. 14, and there will be a Virtual Holiday Lights Tour online as well.
Jack Barry of Bedford is being recognized for his work with the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire, where he volunteers as the build manager for a student plane-building program that the museum hosts in partnership with the Manchester School of Technology. According to a press release, Barry, 72, is being honored with an Outstanding Volunteer Service Award from VolunteerNH in the senior category.
Make the most of the shortest day of the year with a Winter Solstice Luminary Walk, being held Sunday, Dec. 20, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Beaver Brook Nature Center in Hollis. There are six time slots for groups of 10 to 12 people, and the cost is $12 per person. Register at beaverbrook.org.
Last week, the City of Nashua held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Dr. Crisp Elementary School and turned on the school’s new 534-panel solar array. According to a press release, that solar array, along with the 1,760 panels that were just installed on the roof of Fairgrounds Middle School, is part of the city’s transition to 100-percent clean energy. The two projects were completed at no cost to taxpayers by ReVision Energy, and they are the first public schools in the state to get all of their annual electricity needs from solar power, the release said.
No Grinch this year
For more years than I can remember, at this time of year someone within earshot would say, “Christmas carols so soon? It’s the day after Thanksgiving and the carols have started. Far too early.” That always struck me as a little Grinch-like. This year, however, no one has uttered those words. Instead, there seems an almost universal haste to bring on the holiday season.
Our favorite nursery and hardware store reports their stock of wreaths, garlands, lights, candles and festive decorations is nearly sold out. Drive through neighborhoods after dark and more houses than usual seem festooned. And while many of us are staying away from retail shops for health and safety reasons, seasonal shopping is at a brisk pace online as witnessed by the UPS, FedEx, Prime and USPS trucks out and about.
We should not be surprised at ourselves this year. As we enter the 10th month of mask-wearing, social distancing and cabin hibernation, we are looking for the comfort of those seasonal traditions that were commonplace before the pandemic.
Across cultures worldwide, regardless of their religions, rituals bring meaning to ordinary time and action. They lift us out of the commonplace by changing what we see, hear, taste and smell. In short, rituals of whatever kind link the present with the past, whether it is our tribe’s, family’s, community’s or our very own. And we seem to need them most when the world around us seems dark and possibly even dangerous.
For centuries and in many cultures the winter solstice (which occurs this month) has been seen as a significant time and has been marked by festivals and rituals. It marked the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days.
With the pandemic death toll in our country now approaching 280,000, we are truly in a very dark time. And while the promise of effective vaccines offers a light ahead, as does the solstice promise the return of the sun, we seek some comfort in rituals of this season and trust they will bolster our hope for better times.
So this year, whatever festival we observe, we are likely to do so more thoughtfully and with greater intensity. As much as we may trust in science, we also take comfort in our rituals.
Feeding our neighbors
Feeding our neighbors
Meet some of New Hampshire’s all-star volunteers! This year has posed additional challenges and created more need, and these volunteers have stepped up to help keep their neighbors fed, housed and healthy.
Also on the cover, The Beatles Cartoon Art Show Tour comes to Manchester, p. 14. Get freshly roasted coffee, Nadeau’s subs and more at McLaughlin’s Country Market in Concord, p. 20. And get some laughs live or at home, p. 30.
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Covid-19 updateAs of November 22As of November 30Total cases statewide17,59820,994Total current infections statewide4,1995,145Total deaths statewide512526New cases2,569 (Nov. 17 to Nov ...
Helping families keep their pantries stocked and more ways Granite Staters are supporting each other This year’s need for volunteers ...
The Patriots enter December in the very unfamiliar position of being on the verge of elimination from playoff contention. We ...
Local projects get Moose Plate Grant funds The Conservation Moose Plate Grant Program has awarded $431,901 in grant funds to ...
Yellow Submarine, classic cartoons animator visits Manchester Relive the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons with legendary animator Ron Campbell, ...
The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities “This My Joy,” an oil painting by Brittany Soucy, featured in ...
Help yours survive and thrive I’ll have to admit that I see many fewer volcanoes of mulch snuggling up to ...
News from the local food scene • More Greek eats to go: Join St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (1160 Bridge ...
McLaughlin’s Country Market opens in Concord Photo by Matt Ingersoll. While looking for a commercial property to start his own ...
Sunny Side Up Deli now open in Nashua A New York-style sandwich shop with a unique New England twist, Sunny ...
Carrie Williams of Contoocook is the owner and chef of the Flannel Tavern (345 Suncook Valley Road, Chichester, 406-1196, flanneltavern.com), ...
Coffee, doughnuts and beer together at last Harpoon Brewery and Dunkin’ teamed up last year to bring the beer world ...
Life in a Blender, Satsuma (Telegraph Harp Records) So here’s this New York long-time quirk-rock guy, David Rauf, leading his ...
A User’s Guide to Democracy, by Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy (Celadon, 349 pages) If there’s anything we can take ...
Happiest Season (PG-13) Hulu offers a solid bit of Christmas content in the streaming-service-holiday-movie competition with Happiest Season, a sweet, ...
Local music news & events • Northern south: New Hampshire native April Cushman finds musical inspiration from singer-songwriters like Lori ...
Dual platform comedy show On more than one level, Mike Koutrobis knows the strange reality of entertainment in the Covid ...
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Hybrid ha-ha
Dual platform comedy show
On more than one level, Mike Koutrobis knows the strange reality of entertainment in the Covid era. Most Sundays he’s on the sidelines of New England Patriots home games, doing various jobs, from camera assistant to holding a sound dish, for whatever network is broadcasting the game. Right now, the stands are largely empty as fans watch the action safely from home.
“They pump in crowd noise. It’s an illusion,” he said. “It’s weird, but amazing to be there.”
The veteran comedian found a similarly novel way to share his act. For an upcoming show at Zinger’s in Milford, he’ll share the stage with Kelly MacFarland, as a live audience of a dozen or more people watches along with a virtual crowd. The latter will face Koutrobis from two giant flat screens in the back of the room.
“I’m literally looking at the Zoom crowds as if they’re in the audience,” he said, likening the experience to watching the opening credits of The Brady Bunch. Hecklers aren’t a problem, but crowd work isn’t impossible. “You can go, ‘Hey, left corner with a weird couch.’ … You can use it in your act, and it feels like you’re interacting with them.”
How to talk about the virus is “a million-dollar question,” he said. Comics are obliged to say something about it, but the truth is people come to comedy shows to escape that. It’s a high-wire act.
“I think the big phrase is making people feel OK that they’re not the only ones going through it — here’s how to think about it in another way,” he said.
Still, the pandemic gave Koutrobis plenty of new material.
“One of my first jokes is not even a joke,” he said. “I said, people lost a lot — jobs, family and friends. I’ve lost something very dear to my heart, and that’s the ability to button my pants since April.”
On the other hand, Koutrobis’s act has always focused on relationships, evolving from dating to marriage and parenthood. The quarantine simply added another wrinkle.
“I’m 50 years old with an 18-month-old kid, and I’m stuck in the house, so I’ve got a lot of that to go off,” he said. “I don’t care how much you love somebody, if you’re stuck in the same place, you gotta learn to adjust. So I have jokes showing my frustration but also how we’re making it work.”
Koutrobis was one of the first comics to work after quarantine ended in May, playing the kickoff drive-in show at Tupelo Music Hall in Derry, an experience he described as “disconnected. … I didn’t feel the flow like I usually do when I’m doing it every weekend.”
Later, shows got more comfortable.
“I was able to hook up with Amherst Country Club, and I found a couple of breweries,” he said. “People brought lawn chairs and I set up a portable stage; that way, people can sit as far away as possible. It started becoming … I’ll never say normal, but almost normal. We had enough people in the room or in the grass to at least feel like a crowd was there.”
He’s had his share of surreal moments, however, like one show done at a Milford retirement home as a favor.
“It really was only like 12 people, all sitting in a huge room, 15 feet away from each other,” he said. “I’m at the front on the stage, but because of the place I was in I had to wear my mask. So I’m telling jokes to senior citizens who can barely hear in the first place, with a muffled mask on.”
That’s not to say Koutrobis wouldn’t do it again.
“These are the things we’ve had to adjust to,” he said. “It’s a lot, but I can’t not perform. So I kind of take what I can.”
Mike Koutrobis & Kelly MacFarland
When: Friday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m.
Where: Zinger’s, 29 Mont Vernon St., Milford
Tickets: Live $20 and Zoom $10 at tinyurl.com/yy8sjsdn
Featured photo: Mike Koutrobis. Courtesy photo.
The Music Roundup 20/12/03
Local music news & events
• Northern south: New Hampshire native April Cushman finds musical inspiration from singer-songwriters like Lori McKenna and James Taylor, covering them in her shows while offering solid originals like “Once Upon a Time,” a charming, anti-Disney song. “I’ve tried really hard to kind of stay on my path,” she said last summer, “to know that my music is telling stories that are true to me.” Thursday, Dec. 3, 6 p.m., Copper Door, 15 Leavy Dr., Bedford, facebook.com/aprilcushmanmusic.
• Rhythm king: When he’s not performing solo — a necessity these days — Kevin Horan does the Don Henley bit, playing drums while fronting the Stone Road Band. On his own, Horan sings and plays guitar, offering a sound that’s often compared to Richie Havens and Dave Matthews. Friday, Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m., To Share Brewing Co., 720 Union St., Manchester, kevinhoranmusic.com.
• Star pupils: A socially distanced outdoor event, the Holiday Stroll features performances from Manchester Community Music School students. Stroll the grounds to the strains of “Silver Bells” and other favorites while safely experiencing the season and enjoying holiday treats. Saturday, Dec. 5, and Sunday, Dec. 6, at 5 p.m., Manchester Community Music School, 2291 Elm St., Manchester. Tickets $25 each and $225 for a block of 10; make reservations at mcmusicschool.com.
• Hold pattern: As Covid cases tick up in the state and country, the Geoff Tate Empire 30th Anniversary Tour show will be the last at Tupelo Music Hall for the next few months, possibly longer. Venue owner Scott Hayward wrote recently that challenges to both lower-capacity and scheduled events have “all but guaranteed that we will be closed through February of 2021 at least.” Wednesday, Dec. 9, and Thursday, Dec. 10, Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry. Tickets $55 at tupelohall.com.