So does anybody actually know who won the NCAA women’s basketball championship? It was the Tennessee Lady Vols (34-3), who handled the young and relatively inexperienced Rutgers squad (27-9) by a final of 59-46 on April 3.
But after the last couple of weeks, with the uproar over Don Imus’ dopey crack, it wouldn’t be surprising if people believed the Scarlet Knights were the champs.
And they are — in one sense. The Rutgers players and their estimable coach, C. Vivian Stringer, were the only people to emerge from the entire sorry spectacle with dignity intact.
They handled themselves so well, in fact, that I think the episode will help their recruiting, not hurt it, as originally feared.
The pack of cowards who were always eager to appear on "Imus in the Morning" and are now wearing paper bags over their heads, or, worse, attempting to explain themselves ("I didn’t know what went on" is the most popular excuse) — this bunch of self-serving creeps could take a few public relations lessons from the Scarlet Knights.
u u u
Ahh, baseball in the snow. You’d think the sight of the bulldozers clearing snow drifts from Jacobs Field in Cleveland would shut the global warming crowd up for a little while, no?
I like to draw sweeping conclusions from limited data as much as the next guy, so, based on the weather of the last four weeks, I hereby declare global warming over, and announce, with suitable hysteria, the beginning of an evil and sinister global cooling phase.
You watch — if we don’t do something about global cooling right now, in 10 years you’ll be able to strap on a pair of cross-country skis in Charleston, S.C., and head straight to Reykjavik.
u u u
Southington’s Carl Pavano, who occasionally takes a break from things and pitches for the New York Yankees, is back on the disabled list. I have lost track of how much time he has spent on this list, but it dwarfs the amount of time he has played.
And I find it difficult to feel sorry for the man. He signed an enormous contract to do nothing, and while I am sure he’d rather be pitching and winning and being a star of the most-recognized franchise in all professional sports, I suspect depositing the weekly paycheck takes the sting out a bit.
u u u
Back in real life, the Housy boys lacrosse team took on the Masuk Panthers, a pretty good team from Monroe, Conn., Saturday morning in a driving, chill wind.
The Mountaineers lost, rather convincingly, 20-5, but that’s not the story.
The story is that when they were down, the kids never gave up.
Coach Mark Gouldy says that for many of the players, lacrosse is a new sport. "We try to infuse them with enthusiasm for the game — the fastest game on two feet, by the way."
And he points out how accessible lacrosse is to the non-enormous player.
"You don’t need to be 6’4" and 280 pounds. You can be a regular athlete."
To make the state tournament, Housatonic must win seven of 16 games. The Mountaineers are 1-2, with two tough road games coming up.
Lacrosse is one of those games where the refs blow a whistle for no reason that is apparent to me; I am (so far) immune to the sport’s finer points.
But the basic setup is similar to soccer or hockey — and it’s easy to tell when a team is disheartened.
I saw no sign of that Saturday. And that’s a mark of character — something that doesn’t always show up in the standings.
Justine and Victor Valla in their studio with a painting of Victor’s,”Jonah and the Whale.” Robin Roraback 
A ceramic vase by Kathleen Heidemann.Provided 
Joy Brown’s delightful ceramic sculptures.Provided 
Hundreds of items at Stateline Auctions, including a candy-apple-red Crosley pickup truck.D.H. Callahan
