Watching Borussia Dortmund lay a beat down on FC Schalke 04 from the comfort of my own bed with a cup of coffee in my hand Saturday morning, life felt as close to normal as it has in the past two months.
This past weekend marked the return of sports in some ways. The German Bundesliga started its season back up, and even with no fans in the stands, watching soccer on a weekend morning felt good. I usually spend my soccer energies watching Arsenal play in the Premier League, though that has certainly done my heart and hair color no favors in the past few seasons. But on Saturday, I was more than happy to watch Germany take center stage and showcase what sports will look like for the foreseeable future.
On Sunday, we were treated with some golf, as Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson took down Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolfe in a televised skins game. That was followed by the return of NASCAR, where Kevin Harvick won the sport’s first race back at Darlington.
It was a good weekend. We had some sports to watch. I’m taking small victories at this point.
Happy Wednesday, folks. It’s mailbag time, and as a reminder, these are all/mostly/sometimes real emails from real people in Franklin County and beyond. Have a question/comment? Email me at sports@recorder.com
Now that NASCAR is back, are you going to fully jump on the bandwagon and follow closely? – Brian, Greenfield
I really want to, Brian, especially because they’re going to be running two major races a week so there’s going to be no shortage of NASCAR coverage in our future.
I need some help. How do I watch NASCAR better? I stink at it. Do I need to pick a driver to support? A team? What’s the key here, because I’ve never really enjoyed watching NASCAR on TV.
I feel somewhat up to date on things, especially since I read Jason Remillard’s excellent ‘Racin’ with Jason’ column that appears in these pages every Friday. I’m going to put in some work and improve as a fan. That’s an attainable goal, I think.
Have you splurged on anything during quarantine? – Sarah, Montague
Beer. And food. So, the usual.
I made the plunge and decided to have some oysters delivered from Island Creek Oysters on the Cape. They aren’t cheap, but I figured it would give me an afternoon’s worth of activities between the shucking and cleaning. First time shucking oysters, I think I crushed it. We wound up putting some of them on the grill in addition to the raw bar. I highly recommend going down that road for a long holiday weekend ahead.
Now that golf courses are open again, will you be playing? – Mike, Deerfield
I got out for the first time with one of my buddies a week ago. We played Longhi’s Par 3 course in Southwick, which is one of my favorite hidden gems in Western Massachusetts. Always a good place to open the season, get some swings in and work on a few things, especially since driving ranges are not open yet.
I plan on playing Northfield Golf Club this week after work. Trying to get out and see a few courses this spring, since most sound like they’re in excellent shape after not having golfers on them for the early months.
Have you been playing? Shoot me an email and let me know how conditions are throughout the region.
I noticed you’ve been running a bunch of my old Jaywalking columns every Tuesday. Are you only planning to run columns where I exert my physical dominance or what? – Jason, Greenfield
Great question. It’s true, the first two Jaywalking columns from the vault that we’ve run involved former Recorder stalwart Jason Butynski trying to hit home runs and kick field goals. I think that’d be a fun series, but we’ll get a mix of offerings in there over the next month or two, don’t you worry.
The good news is there’s such a variety of columns to choose from that I feel confident in finding other ways to embarrass you, as well. Game on.
Jeff Lajoie is the sports editor of the Recorder. Send him mailbag questions, story ideas, music recommendations and food recipes at jlajoie@recorder.com