Tag: 250116

Day and Kelly go for CFP title

The Big Story – Will it be Ryan’s Day vs. ND? It’s one win to go for former Central High School QBs Ryan Day and Chip Kelly. The ’90s QB and Offensive Coordinator duo at UNH get their shot at winning the CFP national championship Monday in Atlanta when Ohio State faces Notre Dame.

OSU got there behind a 14-point fourth quarter to earn a methodical 28-14 win over Texas, with the decisive blow being defensive end Jack Sawyer turning his strip sack of Quinn Ewers into an 83-yard scoop and score with 2:13 left. ND got there with a 27-24 win over Penn State.

The game comes your way at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Sports 101: Dustin Pedroia is one of eight players to win Rookie of the Year, win an MVP award and be on two World Series winners. Name the other seven.

News Item – Big Story II: It is the one talk radio buzzed about all week: who would be the Patriots’ new head coach. It turned out to be a return to the good old days in Mike Vrabel. No surprise there, and news that it was the three-time Super Bowl winner was met mostly with cheers thanks to his impressive six-year stint as Tennessee Titans coach between 2018 and 2023.

News Item – Interesting Rumor: It’s the one where Raiders minority owner Tom Brady may be interested in a reunion with Bill Belichick as HC of the LVRs.

Yes, he’s now HC at North Carolina. But it’s not like he hasn’t walked out on a new job before. Like when he was HC of the NYJs for one day. All it would take is paying off his $10 million buyout, which is NFL chump change these days. No way, you say? Maybe, but stranger things have happened.

News Item – Playoff Notes:

Patriots fans couldn’t miss the barf-inducing nine catches for 197 yards by Ladd McConkey on Saturday. Yes, the same Ladd the Patriots handed the Chargers by trading out of the 34th pick where L.A. got him, so NE could take Ja’Lynn Polk three picks later. Whose entire rookie season — eight catches for 87 yards — didn’t match what McConkey did Saturday.

The Ravens ran for an astonishing 299 yards vs. Pittsburgh, led by Derrick Henry’s 186. That was the third time he ran for 150+ in the playoffs to tie Terrell Davis for most times doing that.

Hope the analytics “always go for it on fourth down no matter what” goofballs noticed that passing on two chip shot FG’s inside their five-yard line for two failed go-for-it attempts nearly cost Washington their win vs. Tampa Bay. It worked once for a TD in three tries, giving them a temporary 20-17 lead. Which TB soon made 20-20 with a FG. However, if Washington had gone for the three chip shot FG’s it would have been 22-20 and they wouldn’t have needed total luck to survive the bad coaching with a doinked-off-the-crossbar FG that barely trickled over as time expired.

The Numbers:

2nd & 40 – the you-don’t-see-this-every-day situation Houston found itself in after a series of penalties took the ball from the 12-yard line to the other side of mid-field. And they still almost got the first down, falling four yards short, leading to a FG.

4 – interceptions thrown by Chargers QB Justin Herbert vs. Houston after throwing only three in 17 regular season games in 2024.

… Of the NFL Season Awards

Thumbs Down – NFL and Amazon Prime: Bad form by the NFL to keep the Baltimore-Pittsburgh Wild Card game off regular TV in lieu of Prime Video. Fans should pay both back for that.

Sports 101 Answer: Frank Robinson, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Thurman Munson, Jose Canseco, Albert Pujols and Justin Verlander.

Final Thought – Vrabel’s a Safer Choice but — : I have to say that despite Mike Vrabel being my favorite player in the first half of the Patriots dynasty, I was hoping for a guy with a background in developing young QBs and creative 21st-century offense to become the new Patriots coach.

But that doesn’t mean he’s a bad choice. Since track records matter, he’s the safest choice because his 56-45 record in Tennessee shows he can win in the NFL. And I know he’ll bring toughness to a team that needs it. But I wonder if owner Bob Kraft is living in the past and trying to recreate an era that’s gone. Can Vrabel adapt? His Titans won by grounding and pounding behind all-time great Derrick Henry. He doesn’t have that here or a line to do it even if he did. That makes the OC choice key. Hopefully he finds a guy who complements him the way Ben Johnson does Dan Campbell in Detroit. So while it’s likely a good hire, I’ll hold off on a grade until he rounds out his staff.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Burns Night

Scottish Arts celebrates a night for the poet

Claire MacPherson is the president of Scottish Arts, an organization that has taught and preserved a myriad of Scottish musical traditions since 1984, including Highland dance, piping, drums and Scottish fiddle. Lezlie Webster, the founder of the organization, also provides weekly instruction to the New Hampshire Police Band. They host the Indoor Scottish Festival in April in Manchester as well as the Quechee Scottish Games and Festival in August in Vermont. On Saturday, Jan. 18, they will be celebrating the 18th-century Scottish poet Robert Burns with Burns Night at Castleton in Windham. MacPherson spoke to the Hippo about the event. Visit scottisharts.org or call 227-0207 for more information.

What exactly is Burns Night?

It’s really a celebration of Scotland’s most beloved poet, Robert Burns. It happens around his birthday, which was the 25th of January, 1759. People gather together and celebrate his life and works. The night typically follows quite a set pattern, so it starts off with a welcome to dinner and then the haggis is piped out. We have something called the Selkirk Grace, which is a little poem that’s typically recited and then someone will do the “Address to [a] Haggis,” which was one of his famous poems. … then the speeches begin.

One of the first speeches will be ‘The Immortal Memory,’ which is kind of the main speech of the night and typically follows a pattern of talking about Robert Burns and highlighting some of his works. The person giving the speech can take it wherever they want to go, but it would typically involve a deeper dive into some of his poems or some aspects of him, because he covered so many different topics for his works…. Interspersed throughout the evening are some poetry readings. The night will usually end with a rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ which was his, what you could look at as a world anthem, really, because everyone sings it to bring in the new year. We typically have a lot of music in there as well, because he wasn’t just a poet.

It began as a Burns supper in a place in Edinburgh, and his friends would gather and just remember him and recite his poems because he is our national poet and our most beloved son. It just blossoms into this huge event.

Besides being a poet, who was Robert Burns?

He was a humanitarian. He was very proud of being Scottish. He’s probably best known because he chose to write in the Scots dialect. He was really keeping that language alive and infusing pride in it. … He did a tour of Scotland and he would pick up songs, maybe even just fragments of a song that had been long forgotten, and he would go home and work on it and get a tune going. … That way he was keeping our music alive, the words and the tunes, the old tunes. His songs are just as important as his poetry. He was an amazing lyricist as he was a poet. So … because we’re a school of music, we’ll have a lot of music infused throughout the night.

Who will be performing music on Burns Night?

We’re very lucky to have Kirsten Z. Cairns, who’s coming to sing. She has the most beautiful voice. She will be singing some of her favourite Burns songs. Then we have Celtic Beats, who will be doing our traditional Scottish music. That’s pipes and fiddle, drums. Then we always have a little bit of a treat where we have our pipe band join us. That’s our sister organisation, the New Hampshire Pipes and Drums. We end our night on a Ceilidh, which typically means a dance. It has an older meaning to do with coming together and telling stories and some dancing and singing at somebody’s house, but typically now the meaning is to get together at the end of the night to do set dances. So Lezlie, our founder, walks people through the steps and everyone gets involved. In fact, it’s more fun if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s a great community feel to it.

What is Scottish Arts and what do you all teach there?

Predominantly, we are a school of Scottish music and dance. We have about 50 students at the moment doing bagpipes with Lezlie Webster, who’s our founder and bagpiping teacher. She’s also a judge. She’s as highly qualified as possible to be, so our students are really getting an amazing pipe instruction from her. We have about seven Highland dancers at the moment. Then we have drumming, which we do through our sister organization.The lessons are done through the New Hampshire Pipes and Drums, which is separate but connected to us. A lot of our pipers end up going into that pipe band. Drumming is done through that [too] and that’s snare, tenor and bass drumming. We also have fiddle lessons as well. That’s like violin, but it’s a Scottish fiddle.

Do you all have any other events coming up?

We run some events throughout the year. So the first event that we have coming up is the Indoor Festival, which will be at Manchester Memorial High School and that will be on April 12. … There will be the usual solo piping, pipe band competition and then dancing and drumming. There will also be some workshops we are going to put on for our students too, just to help enhance their instruction. We have some amazing judges coming to that, Bruce Gandy and Bob Worrall, who is a legend in the world of piping in Glasgow. He’s hosted that for a long time, and then we also have a little judges’ event performance at the end. That’s really a treat to see some world-class professionals playing the pipe at the end of the event.

Burns Night
Where: Castleton, 58 Enterprise Drive,
Windham
When: Saturday, Jan. 18. Cocktail hour
5 to 6 p.m. Call to dinner 6:05 p.m. Ceilidh
8 p.m.

—Zachary Lewis

Featured image: Previous Burns Night.

News & Notes 25/01/16

Radon Action Month

According to a press release from the American Lung Association, about 35 percent of radon test results in New Hampshire equal or exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level, as reported in the Association’s “State of Lung Center” report, which you can see at lung.org/research/state-of-lung-cancer. As part of January and National Radon Action Month, “the Lung Association in New Hampshire strongly urges all residents to test their home for radon and take immediate steps to mitigate the threat if high levels are found,” the release said. “Radon is a colorless, odorless and tasteless naturally occurring radioactive gas emitted from the ground…. [Radon] is the leading cause of lung cancer in people who have never smoked.” Get a free radon test kit at freeradontestkit.com/ala. See lung.org/clean-air/indoor-air/indoor-air-pollutants/radon for more on radon.

Museums, assemble

The Currier Museum of Art, SEE Science Center, the Manchester Historic Association, which operates the Millyard Museum, and the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire are launching a “Manchester Museums” collaboration that will seek to promote the museums, according to a press release. A new website, manchestermuseumsnh.org, will offer links to the four museums’ websites as well as a suggested two-day trip itinerary. The partnership will hold a launch on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 4 p.m. at the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 54 Hanover St., the release said.

“Cultural institutions are the heartbeat of a city’s economy, weaving creativity and heritage into the fabric of daily life, driving tourism, innovation, and community growth,” said Heather McGrail, president and CEO of Greater Manchester Chamber, in the press release.

The four institutions are launching the campaign in advance of the November 2025 convention of the New England Museum Association, which will be held in Manchester, the release said.

Franco-American guv

Kelly Ayotte, who officially became New Hampshire’s governor on Jan. 9, is the first Franco-American elected to the office, according to a note in the Franco-American Centre’s newsletter from the Centre’s executive director John Tousignant. She is also the first Republican woman to hold the office, the note said. Large numbers of French Canadians moved to New Hampshire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the note said.

Cash to charge

New Hampshire received $15 million in federal grants for publicly accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure, according to a press release from the state’s Department of Transportation, which applied with collaboration from New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and others. The funds will be used for the “Next Level NH” program, which will increase EV charging hubs throughout the state, the release said. See dot.nh.gov/projects-plans-and-programs/ev-charging-infrastructure for more on the projects.

Go, Twitchers

The Twitchers, a New Hampshire Audubon team that participates in the Mass Audubon’s annual Superbowl of Birding, will once again seek to find the most bird species during a 12-hour period on Saturday, Jan. 25, according to a press release. The Twitchers, led by captain Becky Suomala, are looking to raise $4,000 for the NH Audubon Conservation Department, the release said. See nhaudubon.org/make-a-donation-to-twitchers for more on the Twitchers. For more on the event, which covers the Massachusetts North Shore as well as towns in Rockingham County, see massaudubon.org and look for “Superbowl of Birding” in Programs & Events.

From church to home

The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance has a new handbook available to “assist congregations that are considering leaving or repurposing historic properties and want to explore their building’s re-use for housing,” according to an Alliance email. The handbook, Transitioning Religious Properties to Meet Housing Needs, is available for download for free at nhpreservation.org or for purchase as a hard copy for $22.

The preservation trades

The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance is also offering “career exploration opportunities for participants ages 16 to 19 who are interested in the old building trades,” according to an Alliance email. During February (Feb. 24-Feb. 28) and April (April 28-May 2) vacations, teens (who do not need experience) will get exposure to “a range of historic preservation activities which may include traditional construction techniques, repair of damaged building elements, wood window restoration and the history of the buildings being worked on,” according to the website. Professionals — many of whom are members of the Timber Framers Guild, the Window Preservation Alliance or other trade organizations — will provide the mentoring, the website said. The program will be offered in two regions — Central New Hampshire (Canterbury, Andover, Warner, etc.) and the Seacoast (Portsmouth and the vicinity), the email said. Apply at nhpreservation.org/internship-program by Jan. 24 for the February week and March 14 for the April week, the website said.

The New England Petite Pageant will be held Sunday, Jan. 19, at 3 p.m. at the Concord City Auditorium (2 Prince St. in Concord). The pageant is open to women of all ages who are 5 foot 6 inches and under. See newenglandpetite.com.

Queen City Rotary Club will hold its annual Comedy Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 6 p.m. at St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Manchester. The event will feature a buffet dinner, comedy show, raffle, silent auction and cash bar, according to a club press release. Tickets cost $50 per person and can be purchased on eventbrite.com, search “2025 Comedy Bowl,” the release said. The comedian line-up includes Harrison Stebbins, Rob Steen and Tim McKeever, the release said. See queencityrotary.org.

St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Manchester will hold an Apokriatiko Celebration (a Greek Mardi Gras) on Saturday, Feb. 22, from 7 to 10 p.m. in the church hall featuring music from The Salonica Boys with Greek and American dancing, hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. The cost is a $25 donation per person (children 12 and under get in free). Call 622-9113 for information.

Nashua Fire Rescue will hold an “Adult Field Trip” with the Nashua Fire Marshal on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 9 a.m. Meet at the fire station at 70 E. Hollis St. in Nashua on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 9 a.m. to learn more about the Nashua Fire Marshal’s office, tour the station and get fire safety tips, according to a newsletter from Great American Downtown Nashua.

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