Tag: 241107

The week that was

The Big Story – Dodgers Win World Series: With the Dodgers and the Yankees facing each other for a record 12th time and having the season’s two biggest stars in Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, images of epic-ness were dancing in our heads. That didn’t turn out to be the case, but there still were some major notables, which we’ll outline a bit later.

Sports 101 – Name the only teams to play their home games in a dome stadium during the season they won the Super Bowl.

News Item – Education of Drake Maye: In a boring 20-17 loss strewn with penalties and bad O-line play there were some good and bad moments for the rookie QB. The bad included three turnovers, where a strip sack handed Tennessee field position for their second TD and his second interception came on a bad decision that ended the game. Not throwing it down field enough, thanks to curious play calling, as evidenced by DeMario Douglas only gaining 35 yards on 7 catches, led Maye to having just 206 passing yards. However, his scrambling was superb in running for 95 yards on eight carries and he again led a drive ending with a TD on the final play to send it to OT. Overall, C+.

News Item – World Series Takeaways

For hitting the first walk-off grand slam to win Game 1 and becoming the first person to hit homers in six consecutive Series games Freddie Freeman clearly was the MVP.

NY’s fifth-inning defensive meltdown in Game 5 when Aaron Judge made the worst Series error since Bill Buckner in 1986 and Gerrit Cole forgot to cover first on a ball hit to Anthony Rizzo was indicative of why they lost. They just couldn’t make a play when needed.

The oddest stat L.A. had from Freeman’s slam on is that they only outscored NY 25 to 24.

Hey, John Henry, if you want to win, spending money matters.

Thanks to the power of L.A.’s two Japanese stars, Game 1 drew more TV viewers in Japan (15.1 million) than in the U.S. (14.75).

What a colossal mistake letting Mookie Betts leave Boston was.

By going just four for 23 Judge was hardly the first star to have a bad World Series. Ted Williams hit .200 with no extra-base hits and one RBI in 1946. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner called Dave Winfield “Mr. May” after he was 1 for 22 in 1981. And the great Willie Mays hit just .230 in four World Series with no homers and just six RBI. It happens.

The Numbers:

0 – catches Sunday for Ja’Lynn Polk to make it just 10 in nine games for the Patriots’ second-round pick.

16 – rushing yards vs. Tennessee on 10 carries for Rhamondre Stevenson, though he did score both Patriot TDs.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Bob Costas retires: He hangs up his baseball announcing mic after 40 years. Of the many high-profile sports people I’ve worked with he was the nicest, most accommodating and real of them all. Well done, young fella.

Thumbs Down – The Yankees and MLB: For not banning the nitwits who ripped the ball out of Mookie’sglove forever from Yankee Stadium.

Random Thoughts:

Hard to imagine anyone more in love with the sound of their own voice than Mark Schlereth was doing Sunday’s Patriots game on Fox.

Grant Williams, what exactly were you trying to do purposely bulldozing Jayson Tatum while not making any normal defensive play on Friday?

Sports 101 Answer: The three dome team SB winners were the (St. Louis) Rams (1999), Colts (2007) and Saints (2010).

Final Thought – Fox Broadcasting Malpractice in World Series: Hey, Joe Davis, career postseason home runs are not the same as career World Series homers. Thus when Fox showed a graphic for career postseason home runs that had Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle way down the list you should have made a distinction between the two. There were no playoffs when they played, thus while he trails Bernie Williams’ 22 all of Mantle’s 18 came in the Series, while the three postseason leaders, Williams, Derek Jeter and Giancarlo Stanton, have just five, four and two respectively. Mantle’s Series record 18 are followed by the Babe (15), Yogi Berra (12) and Reggie Jackson and Lou Gehrig with 10.

Then there was saying “Walker (Ferris) Buehler joined Sandy Koufax as the only Dodgers pitchers to not allow runs in consecutive postseason starts” when departing Game 3. True, but Buehler going four scoreless against the Mets and a gut-wrenching five vs. the Yanks wasn’t close to what Koufax did, which was throwing complete game shutouts in Games 5 and 7 vs. Minnesota in 1965 when he threw 134 pitches in Game 5 and 130 in Game 7 on two days’ rest. So to compare what Buehler did to what Koufax did is misleading and silly. Come on, Joe.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Once upon a time

A look at New Hampshire 12,000 years ago

Dr. Robert Goodby is a Professor of Anthropology at Franklin Pierce University. He earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Brown University and will be presenting his program “12,000 Years Ago in the Granite State” on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 6:30 p.m. at Peterborough Town Library, about an archaeological survey for the new Keene Middle School that brought to light one of the oldest Native American sites in New England. Goodby’s book A Deep Presence: 13,000 Years of Native American History is available from the Harris Center for Conservation Education (harriscenter.org).

How far back do human settlements go in New England?

The site I’m going to be talking about is the oldest dated site in New England. The date we have, it’s a radiocarbon date, is 12,600 years ago. The sites from this time period are relatively rare. We call this time period the Paleo-Indian period; it basically means old Indian period, and it’s the first period of human occupation here. … Of all the sites that we know about in all of New England, there are maybe one or two sites that are as old as the one in Keene that I’ll be talking about, but none that are older.

Are there any sort of indications that would lead you to think that a spot possibly contains an older human settlement?

You have to sort of work with geologists and recreate what the landscape was like at the end of the Ice Age and sort of understand it from that perspective. In Keene what we had was a nice high, dry, sandy terrace overlooking a river that would have given people a really good view to the south where they would have been able to watch the movement of game animals, particularly caribou, who were here at that time. There are some basics. All people need water, so the sites are close to water. Nobody likes to live on wet ground, and so you’re looking for nice dry sandy soil. Nobody likes to live on a slope or on land covered with boulders. So you look for the level dry, more or less rock-free areas that are close to water, and that’s where the sites tend to be.

What artifacts can be found at a site?

…We have stone tools, and we have over 200 of them. We also have burned pieces of animal bones, some of which have been identified as caribou. … [W]e think this was a wintertime occupation, and the winters back then were brutal, so people would have been hunkering down in their tents, eating food that they had stored up during the fall and just waiting for spring to come.

Is there anything that you’re still looking for? Something you hope to find?

That’s one of the things I love about archaeology is every time you’re looking at a site and starting to do excavation you really have no idea what might turn up. It’s really sort of the surprises that make it special and the idea that you don’t always know what you’re going to find. …

Anything else you’d like to mention about the talk or ancient sites in New Hampshire?

Just that we have a very long Native American history in the state and it hasn’t ended yet. We still have people here who are descended from the original inhabitants. And so it’s a very interesting story that’s still unfolding. The people who were here when the Europeans arrived, and the people who are still here, are the Abenaki. … [T]here is no evidence in that more than 12,000 years that the Native Americans here ever abandoned this area or that they were ever pushed out by someone who came from somewhere else until the Europeans arrived. So the more archaeology we do, the more we see that we just have continuous Native American presence here from, you know, almost 13,000 years ago all the way up to today. …

—Zachary Lewis

“12,000 Years Ago in the Granite State”
Hosted by Friends of the Peterborough Library
When: Thursday, Nov. 7, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Peterborough Town Library, 2 Concord St., Peterborough
Info: Contact Rebecca Enman, 924-8040. Visit nhhumanities.org/programs.

Featured image: Dr. Robert Goodby. Courtesy photo.

News & Notes 24/11/7

Chief heads to Easterseals

Manchester’s police chief, Allen Aldenberg, who recently announced his plan to retire in November, has been named chief military and veterans officer for Easterseals NH & VT, according to a release from the organization. “In this new role, Aldenberg will oversee the operations of the Easterseals New Hampshire Military and Veterans Campus now under development in Franklin, New Hampshire, and expected to open in summer 2025,” according to the press release. In addition to serving in local law enforcement since 1998 (first with Goffstown and then in Manchester), Aldenbreg “has served in the Army National Guard for over 30 years, and he currently holds the rank of Colonel,” the release said. About the Franklin campus, Easterseals NH said “the campus will provide affordable housing; a retreat center which includes a hub of services of veteran service organizations, 22 hotel-style rental bedrooms, and a rentable conference center … and recreation activities for service members, veterans, and their families as well as first responders.” See eastersealsnh.org.

Nominate all-stars

Steven Abraham, previous head football coach at Salem High School, and Kip Jackson, head coach at Merrimack High School, will be the Team East and Team West coaches respectively in the 2025 Dartmouth Health Children’s New Hampshire East-West High School All-Star Football Game on Friday, June 27, at 6 p.m. at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, according to a press release. More than 80 of the state’s top high school football players play in the fundraising game, tickets for which go on sale in February. Chelsea Dennis, director at East Celebrity Elite Londonderry and coach at Londonderry High School; Jada Belt, head coach at Souhegan High School, and Karissa Edelstein, Windham High School coach, will coach the All-Star Cheerleading Team. See chadallstarfootball.org for updates. High school coaches in the state can also submit football player and cheerleader nominations to the website, with players drafted in early December, the release said.

Fair for the trades

The New Hampshire Bringing Back the Trades & Tradeapalooza Career Fair will take place Friday, Nov. 15, at NHTI-Concord’s Community College, according to a press release from Merrimack County Saving Bank, a sponsor of the event. A free career fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and “offer the opportunity to speak to companies in many different trades from construction to automotive to manufacturing and more,” according to nhbringingbackthetrades.org. The day will also feature an interview with Dirty Jobs’ Mike Rowe; see the website for the ticket options for that position of the event.

Donate from home

Goodwill Northern New England will offer donation pickups in New Hampshire starting with people near stores in the Amherst, Concord, Hooksett, Hudson and Manchester areas, according to a press release. ReSupply will offer a fee-based pickup service to donors and will take any items Goodwill cannot take to other charities, the release said. Clothing and household items can also be brought to Goodwill stores for donation for free. Visit goodwillnne.org/donate or call 361-264-1467 to schedule a donation pickup and ReSupply will reach out to coordinate the pickup within 24 to 48 hours, the release said.

Historic spots

The New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places has 10 new properties on its list, according to a press release from the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources.

The new spots are the Upper Deerfield Road Causeway and Culvert from 1777 in Deerfield; the Ashuelot Manufacturing Company Boarding House in Winchester built in two phases in the 1800s; Eaton Center Church built in 1879; First Universalist Church in Jaffrey from 1845; West Milan Methodist Church from 1897; District 4 School/Lockehaven Schoolhouse from the early 1800s and Enfield Center School from 1851, both in Enfield, and properties in Randolph, the release said. See nhdhr.dncr.nh.gov for the register and for information on how to nominate a property.

Gleaning

United Way of Greater Nashua and Hillsborough Country Gleaners held the third annual “Gleaning United” to harvest fresh produce for 26 sites such as food pantries, senior centers, shelters and other locations in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, according to a press release. The United Way of Greater Nashua reported that 74 volunteers collected 5,780 pounds of apples and 2,600 pounds of pumpkins from Kimball Fruit Farm in Pepperell, Mass. For more on the United Way’s hunger relief programs, see volunteergreaternashua.org.

Craft fair season

Multiple craft fairs have been scheduled for this weekend. Check out the Arts listings on page 14 for a rundown of some fairs. Know of an upcoming craft fair? Let us know at [email protected].

The Business and Industry Association will hold BIA’s 2024 New Hampshire Energy Symposium on Thursday, Nov. 7, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the Grappone Conference Center (70 Constitution Ave. in Concord). Admission costs $150 in advance at biaofnh.com or $175 at the door if there is availability.

The Peterborough Town Library will host presentations about Medicare and other benefits available to seniors in the Monadnock Region by Home Healthcare, Hospice and Community Services — “Know Your Benefits: Options for Care and Reimbursement” at the library (2 Concord St. in Peterborough) on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at noon and 5:30 p.m. Go to peterboroughtownlibrary.org or call 924-8040 to register.

A ribbon cutting and grand opening for 75 Canal, a residential apartment community at 75 Canal St. in Manchester, was slated for Wednesday, Nov. 6.

Milford’s Veterans Day Parade will commence at 10:45 a.m. and begin and end at the American Legion, 15 Cottage Street, traveling to the Milford Oval and then to the World War I, World War II and Korean War memorials, according to milford.nh.gov.

Ethan Tapper will discuss and sign copies of his new book How to Love a Forest at Balin Books (375 Amherst St. in Nashua; balinbooks.com) on Friday, Nov. 8, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Find more about the Vermont-based forester and author at ethantapper.com.

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