Good morning!
Quite a year, huh? The Eagles upset the Patriots in the Super Bowl, the Red Sox won 108 games and beat the Dodgers in a “gentleman’s sweep” of the World Series, and Yaki Kawauchi won the 121st Boston Marathon.
You’re excused for not remembering that last one, and here’s a few other items you might not recall as the weeks rolled into months and the world spun toward another new year.
A sampling for your reading pleasure….
In Chicago, 36-year-old accountant Scott Foster was named the star of the game for his 14 minutes between the pipes during the Blackhawks’ 5-2 win against Winnipeg. Foster had played goalie at Western Michigan University and kept in shape playing men’s league hockey. On a whim, he had put his name on Chicago’s list of available emergency backup goaltenders. According to the Chicago Tribune, he’d sit in the stands on standby in the improbable event that both goalies would be hurt in the same game.
His 15 minutes of fame happened on March 29 when starter Anton Forsberg got hurt during warmups. Foster was told to report to the locker room, suit up and wait at his locker. When backup Collin Delia’s legs cramped, assistant coach Kevin Dineen rushed in and and hollered, “You’re going in!”
Foster stopped all seven shots in front of 22,000 fans at the United Center and was the toast of the town. He was mobbed by the players, appeared on local TV shows and was interviewed by USA Today but his fame was fleeting. A few nights later he played for his men’s league team and gave up six goals.
The Rosie Ruiz Award for trickery goes to Brazilian photographer Marcio Cabral, who submitted a night-time photo of an anteater approaching a termite nest. Cabral said he’d taken the photo inside Emas National Park in Brazil. In May, NPR reported that the photo was a fraud and that the prize winning “Night Raider” photo was of the same stuffed anteater that’s on display at the park’s entrance.
Ichiro Suzuki hung up his spikes after an 0-for-3 game against Oakland on May 15. A Japanese-born, slap-hitter from the left side, Suzuki came to America when he was 26-years-old, had 3,089 hits and a .311 career average.
Peter Gammons reported that in spring training Suzuki got a text message from an admirer who wanted to study his stretching exercises. “What’s his name?” asked a coach. “Some guy named Brady,” said Suzuki. “Who the f— is Tom Brady?”
April Fool’s came two months early in Hawaii, when a state worker obsessed by the North Korean nuclear threat broadcast a false alarm on cell phones and message boards that read: “BALLISTIC MISSLE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
Officials said they were testing the state’s early warning system and that the worker “pushed the wrong button.”
Hawaiian James Martin told the New York Post: “They basically made an entire state feel like they’re going to die in 15 minutes.”
Amy Baker of North Easton, N.H was hiking in the White Mountains last January when the trail was obliterated by high winds and drifting snow. According to the Boston Globe, the 45-year-old Baker’s survival gear included a $300 emergency beacon locator. The ELB released a distress signal that rescuers followed for two miles up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, where they found Baker in waist deep snow at 2 a.m.
After Jay Horowitz retired as the Mets’ PR boss, the New York Post’s Howie Kussoy recounted the pranks that players had pulled on him during his four decades on the road. “They filled his hotel room with canaries, put a fake horse’s head in his bed (replete with ketchup), and sent a call girl to his room. ‘I told her I couldn’t because my knee hurt,’ said Horowitz.”
ELSEWHERE IN THE NEWS: Page Six reported that David Kilmnick got a VIP seat at the Grammy Awards by pretending to be on his iPhone while he followed Lady Gaga’s entourage down the red carpet. … After 70 years of marriage, 90-year-old Burt Handelsman and his 89-year-old wife Lovey divorced and split their $550 million Palm Beach real estate fortune.“He lies, he cheats, he steals,” Lovey told the probate judge. (Palm Beach Post) … Where’s Porky? Shock and heartbreak after adopted pig winds up on dinner table. (CBC) … In July, a New Bedford man drove his motor scooter to Maine and was arrested by a Maine state trooper for using his cell phone as a headlight. (AP) … A Pennsylvania funeral director was sentenced to probation for taking grisly photos of corpses “to gross out” her boyfriend. (AP) … Financial analyst Francesco Pellegrino video-taped himself spraying champagne around his boss’s office and leaving a note on the desk: “F— you I quit. May the bridges I burn light the way.” (Carleton English, NY Post) … During its coverage of the boys soccer team that was rescued from a flooded cave in Thailand last summer, the New York Times referred to the country’s king by his proper name: King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun.
END-OF-YEAR SQUIBBERS: Baltimore’s Dylan Bundy became the first pitcher since 1900 to give up four home runs without recording an out. … Red Sox reliever Carson Smith separated his shoulder throwing his glove into the dugout after he gave up a home run against Oakland. Smith went on the DL, underwent shoulder surgery and is now a free agent. … The Mets suffered their worst loss in team history on July 31, losing in Washington 25-4. Infielder Jose Reyes pitched the last inning, gave up six runs on six hits, two walks and two home runs. … Sister Mary Jo Sobieck threw out the first pitch of the White Sox/Royals game on August 18. Sister Mary Jo went to the mound, kicked the pitchers rubber, tossed the ball up and off her bicep, wound up and hurled a strike over the plate. “I had to be all in. That’s just me so I had to go to the rubber,” she told abc7chicago.com. … Before a game in Seattle, Mariners infielder Dee Gordon politely asked reporters to leave the locker room and moments later players came crashing through the double doors. “The frustration mounts, there are bumps in the road,” said manager Scott Servais. … At Parx Race Course in Bensalem, Pa., Edgar Prado became the eighth North American jockey to reach 7,000 wins. Prado rode Low on Funds and held off the runner-up Take the Stromboli. … After Lucas Glover carded a final round 78 at The Players Championship, his wife Krista called him a “p***y” and was arrested for domestic abuse and resisting arrest. According to Jackie Salo’s account in the N.Y. Post, Ms. Glover screamed, “Wait till the Tour hears about this. Wait till the judge hears. You will be f— fired over this!” … Meanwhile, at Southers Marsh Golf Club in Plymouth, the Boston Herald reported that 46-year-old Derek Harkens was arrested for biting off a man’s finger during a fracas on the 18th hole.
QUOTES OF THE YEAR: Alex Ovechkin to SI’s Alex Prewitt after the Capitals won the Stanley Cup: “To all the people who doubted us, stick it up their a****.” …. Justin McConney to Politico, on being Donald Trump’s director of social media: “The moment I found out Trump could tweet himself was comparable to the moment in “Jurassic Park” when Dr. Grant realized that Velociraptors could open doors.”
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached by email at sports@recorder.com.