Rene’s Take

We are close to the midway point of the spring sports seasons and so far this year the weather has been very cooperative. I can’t remember the last time there have been fewer postponements.To compete in a spring sport takes a special athlete. You begin the season working out inside the gym or in the weightroom. You can work on pitching and running fundamentals in the gym, but you can’t work alot on hitting. You can get in all the weight training you want, but you can’t throw the javelin or work on pole vaulting. You can work on your serves, but you can’t work on volleys. The tennis ball skipping instead of a true bounce. Finally you are able to get outside and practice…. brrrrrrrr it’s cold can we go back into the gym where it is warm..Before you know it the season is here and for the St John Valley teams it might be your first   outside when you travel to Central or Southern Aroostook to play your first game.

Opening day is here and it is 32 degrees and the wind howling out of the north with a light drizzle. Not the perfect day for a game, but it’s time to play. For the next seven innings you are shivering in the field and when you do come to the plate you hope that you don’t hit it off the end of the bat and feel the sting on your cold hands.  On the tennis courts you toss the ball up for your first serve of the season and the wind blows the ball behind you. You pick it up and do it all again. On the track you are running into a 25 mile wind and wonder why there isn’t ever a tailwind to assist you. These are just some of the obstacles for the players.

The coaches also have several obstacles to overcome. Will the rain hold off and will be able to play today?? Who should I pitch? How many innings should I let them throw?? The pitching rule in baeball comes into play each and every time out. The coaches standing in the coaches box trying to keep the players focused. Knowing that they are cold and wet, but the game goes on. The umpires also are a special breed, standing behind the plate or on the basepaths waiting for that bang bang play.

It’s spring in the County and my hats off to  everyone who is helping make the spring season anothe great time of the year.

I am sure over the course of the baseball season there will be several Sox vs Yankees posts. Some will be because I am a happy Red Sox Fan and others will be from an unhappy Sox fan.

I know there are some tremendous rivalries in all sports. In the NBA the Lakers and Celtics, Magic against Bird. In the NHL Toronto and Montreal or the Bruins and the Canadiens. The original teams when they take the ice. Duke and North Carolina in College hoops. I spent some time in North Carolina the last couple of years and fans of the two schools are rabid their favorite team.

But in my eyes the Red Sox Yankees rivalry is the best one. From the Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees back in 1919, so the owner of the Red Sox could finance his Broadway play “No No Nanette”,  to the bench clearing brawls,the owners trying to outdo each other in the Free agent market. On the field some unbelievable games. From Bucky “Bleepin” Dent’s home run in the playoff game  to Aaron “Bleepin” Boones walkoff homer to eliminate the Sox in 2003 to the Sox doing something that had never been done before coming back from a 3-0 deficit against the Mighty Yankees including winning the series on enemy turf in 2004.  I remember listening to games on the radio withmy grandfather who couldnt stand the Yankees. Whenever the Sox beat the Yankees there was always that special smile on his face.

Over the course of the season Sox fans will be having that special smile at times and at other times Yankee fans will be repaying the favor with the “grin” that says how many World Series Championships have you won? It’s a great time of the year!! Whether you are diehard Yankee fan or a Sox fan. it doens’t get better then this. Oh by the way LET’S GO SOX

Something happened to the  Caribou girls tennis team last week that hadn’t happened since 1992. The team lost a regular season tennis match. The Vikings successs is almost unheard of in the State of Maine. Stearns basketball teams of the 1960’s with George Wentworth at the helm, John Donato’s Houlton Shiretowners girls basketball teams of the 1980’s and early 90’s had long winning streaks and success in Regional and State Competition, but neither team went 14 years without a regular season loss. John Habeeb’s Vikings also had success in Eastern Maine and State Tournaments. The team won State Titles in four straight years from 1992 to 95 and also captured four other Eastern Maine Titles including the last two years. The success shows a committmet to the program from Coach Habeeb to the members of the team who strived to live up to the success of their predecessors. 

Congratluations Caribou on your success in tennis and here’s to many more tennis banners hanging in the Caribou gym.