A little bit of a chill in the air today … so are you ready for a bit of shock gang? The high school and college football seasons are just FIVE weeks away! Scary!
In fact the Vermont Shrine Football Team is in camp, getting ready for their game against New Hampshire one week from tomorrow!
By the way … I’d still feel a better about Vermont’s chances in that game if Max Librizzi was going to be playing quarterback.

Five weeks from tomorrow the Norwich football Cadets, the defending Eastern Collegiate Football Conference champions, open their season on Sabine Field against Western New England. That game and all other Norwich home football games will be video streamed again this season on NSN Sports, part of a new three year agreement that will see 30 or more Norwich events per year video streamed on NSN. We’ll also be audio streaming all the away football games as well.

Got to agree with Mr. Healey … he is no longer a Yankees … it is time to give Johnny Demon … uh, I mean Damon … the standing “O” he deserves when he comes to the plate as a Tiger tonight at Fenway!

Red Sox fans have got to be encouraged … but has the hole already gotten too deep?
The Sox completed a three game sweep of the Angels yesterday with Marco Scutaro’s grand slam providing the winning margin in a 7-3 victory. In all the Sox hit four homers in the game, accounting for all seven runs, and the pitching again was solid.
Still these are not the Angels of recent seasons, and despite the sweep the Sox still find themselves seven games behind the Yankees in the East and five back of the Rays in the wildcard race … with two months remaining Boston still has time to catch both, but as you look at those two clubs you see two teams unlikely to go into a late season slide … Boston will need a heck of a stretch run to catch either one of them.

It has been an epic year for Essex athletics … and the latest chapter was written by American Legion Post 91.
The Essex club lost their second game in the State Legion Tournament on Saturday evening/Sunday morning, but then came back to win four straight, finishing it off by demolishing Brattleboro and Bennington by a combined score of 21-2 in the two deciding games yesterday.
How good a year has it been for Essex? Well for shortstop David Valley, named the Legion tournament MVP, it was his fourth state championship in nine months!

Air Marqus is going to get a chance to fly with the big boys! Marqus Blakely impressed the LA Clippers enough in his stint with their summer league to earn a two year partially guaranteed contract with the club. Now nothing is set in stone … he still has to make the club. But he goes to training camp in late September with a legitimate chance, and who could ask for more than that?

The Red Sox? Well, there is still a pulse there at least.
Two very encouraging wins for them the last two nights in Anaheim. After dropping two out of three in Oakland they have fought back and guaranteed themselves at worst a .500 road trip heading into today’s finale with the Angels. They are in survival mode … and so far so good.

THERE WILL BE NO JACK HEALEY SHOW OR BIG SPORTS SHOW TODAY ON NSN RADIO … THE SHOWS WILL RESUME ON WEDNESDAY MORNING AT THEIR REGULAR TIMES.

Bennington … Brattleboro … Essex … one of them will win the state Legion Baseball Crown. Bratt eliminated Franklin County and Essex handed Bennington their first tournament loss yesterday. Today its Essex/Bratt in game one … with the winner meeting Bennington for the title.

Important win for the Red Sox … important in a couple of ways. Number one, they scored six runs, with Big Papi hitting a pair of homers in their 6–3 triumph over the Angels … second they got a solid pitching performance (after a shaky start) from Clay Buchholz, and the bullpen didn’t give it away.

Meanwhile, the FIFTH no-hitter of the season last night … this time Matt Garza of the Rays throwing one at the Tigers.
Five no hitters … and remember there really should have been one more … Armando Gallaraga’s perfect game that wasn’t earlier in the season. There have been several other close calls.
The Year of the Pitcher! Is it a sign of the end of the Steroid Era? I still question that … if only in the fact that pitchers were often juiced too. But I don’t think it is just a weird coincidence either. Interesting stuff, that is for sure.

THERE WILL BE NO JACK HEALEY SHOW AND NO BIG SPORTS SHOW TODAY OR TOMORROW … NSN RADIO IS DOWN FOR SOME TECHNICAL UPGRADES … BOTH SHOWS WILL RETURN ON WEDNESDAY.

Four teams still alive and kicking in the state legion baseball tournament … Bennington is the last unbeaten left … defending champion Colchester and top southern seed Rutland were both bounced on Sunday.

The Vermont Lake Monsters are in their first serious slump of the 2010 New York Penn League season. The Monster blew an early 5-0 lead yesterday and bowed to Tri-City 10-8 before 2.045 fans at Centennial Field. Since an eight same winning streak ran their record to 14-3 on the Fourth of July the Monsters have gone 9-10. They still are ten games over .500 at 23-13 and still hold a three and a half game lead in the Stedler Division, but they have to be concerned about their pitching. After shutting out Tri-City three straight nights back in June, the Expos hurlers were touched for 15 Valley Cat hits in yesterday’s loss … that on top of 14 walks issued in an 11-5 loss to Lowell on Saturday night.

He may not move as quickly as he once did, and his English may be a little hard to understand, but that didn’t matter to the 2.300 plus fans at Centennial Field last night … El Tiante was in town.
Luis Tiant always had a special flair, and now at around 70 years of age (no one really knows the exact number) he showed last night he still has it. After a long autograph seasion on the Centennial Field concourse he slowly made his way to the hill to throw out the first pitch before last night’s game between the Lake Monsters and the Lowell Spinners. But when it came time to get to work, it was vintage El Tiante … right into his motion, the look to the sky, and then the spin and the rapid delivery to the plate. The fact that the pitch came up a little short didn’t take a thing away from the scene, as a guy who probably should be in the Hall of Fame gave Vermont fans quite a thrill!

A REMINDER … NSN RADIO IS GETTING SOME TECHNICAL WORK DONE THE BEGINNING OF THIS WEEK, SO THERE WILL BE NO JACK HEALEY SHOW OR BIG SPORTS SHOW THIS MONDAY OR TUESDAY. THE PROGRAMS WILL RETURN ON WEDNESDAY AT THEIR REGULAR TIMES.

A soggy day one is in the books and everything went pretty much according to form at the 2010 Vermont American Legion Baseball Tournament. The top seeds, Essex from the North and Rutland from the South both picked up wins, while Brattleboro and Be3nnington also got opening day victories … the first day results left Colchester, Addison County, Franklin County and Bellows Falls in the dreaded losers bracket. Play continues today in Castleton and Rutland.

They also had to dodge the raindrops last night at Centennial Field, but it was well worth it for David Freitas of the Vermont Lake Monsters. Freitas extended his hitting streak to a team record 19 games in Vermont’s 6-5 win over the Lowell Spinners. He breaks the record of 18 previously held by longtime major leaguer Geoff Blum (1994) and Jason Tuttle (2003).
The Monsters won the game 6-5 on a two run homer by catcher Wilfri Pena.

And a solid outing last night for Josh Beckett in his first game back off the disabled list … Beckett worked five and two thirds innings, scattering five hits and striking out five … as the Sox beat Seattle 2-1.

NOTICE … THERE WILL BE NO JACK HEALEY SHOW OR BIG SPORTS SHOW ON NSN RADIO THIS COMING MONDAY OR TUESDAY. NSN RADIO IS MAKING SOME TECHNICAL ADJUSTMENTS. BOTH SHOWS WILL RETURN ON WEDNESDAY.