Good morning!
The UMass football season kicks off at McGuirk Alumni Stadium seven weeks from Saturday against Temple. The Minutemen are one-and-a-half point favorites and a win will be crucial to establishing credibility with the new coach in a new conference and under a new mandate.
On Dec. 6, New Jersey native Joe Harasymiak was introduced to the fans and media after 14 minutes of sweet nothings by athletic director Ryan Bamford who never met a microphone he didn’t like.
“You have to surround yourself with great people,” said Harasymiak, who turned 39 last month. “We will set the tone of creating a great environment, one that is demanding and accountable. We will put our heads down and go to work and believe.”
Harasymiak fired everyone from the previous coaching staff except tight ends coach Matt Layman and offensive analyst Jim Reid, and promoted Jake Fire from grad assistant to assistant nickels coach. Meanwhile by my count all but 43 of the 111 players on last year’s roster are gone.
Bamford promised in his “Vision for UMass Football” that the Minutemen will play in a bowl game every year and win a Mid-American Conference championship every four years and it’s up to Harasymiak to turn those words into deeds.
The Minutemen are 5,000-1 to win the MAC and $185 to win $100 they can cover the 4.5 win total. Believers and doubters alike see wins against Bryant, Akron and Kent State and losses against Iowa and Missouri and note that UMass is 0-11 against Ohio, Western Michigan, Northern Illinois and Bowling Green.
The Temple game is a toss-up. The Owls were 3-9 last season with wins against Utah State, Florida Atlantic and Tulsa. The other tossup is Buffalo on Oct. 18. UMass has four wins and five losses against the Bulls. Beat one of the two tossups and UMass covers the win total; beat both and it’s Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl here we come.
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Bernie Carbo spent the holiday weekend at Peter and Linda Hantzis’s home in Newport, R.I. They’ve been friends since they teamed up to write “Saving Bernie Carbo” and they read last week’s column about the Mt. Rushmore of Red Sox players.
“Bernie’s Mt. Rushmore includes Ted, Yaz, Rice and Jimmie Foxx,” wrote Hantzis. “Bernie thinks I am crazy but my picks are Ted, Pedro, Foxx and Mookie.
“Both played only six years for the Sox but both were dominant. Foxx’s best season with Boston was 1938. He hit .349 with 50 HR, 175 RBI and 139 runs scored. Mookie was Boston’s best all-around player ever. There was nothing he couldn’t do.”
Meanwhile Cam Ward thinks Jason Varitek deserves to be the fourth face on Mt. Rushmore. “That guy was a leader when the Sox needed an edge,” Ward emailed. “He handled a lot of ace pitchers and got the most from them. Plus he shoved his mitts in A-Rod’s grill. Legendary!”
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Swig n Swag at the Spa: Sunday at Saratoga adults of legal drinking age can use their admission tickets to buy one alcoholic beverage for $2.50 at each of the Spa’s four bars, designated drivers not included.
The track is open every Wednesday to Sunday through Labor Day and giveaways include Hawaiian shirts on July 20, fleece blankets on July 25, pennants on Aug. 8, tote bags on Aug. 22 and quarter-zip sweatshirts on Aug. 31.
The trip is 140 miles from Greenfield on the interstate and 100 miles west on country roads through smalltowns past rolling hills and roadside stands. The latter route is recommended going out, the former coming back.
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Skip Fotopoulos writes: “Thanks for the item on Kevin Hassett but it needs to be noted that his father John “Jack” Hassett was a much loved and active English teacher at GHS and longtime director of GHS plays. Jack also served in the U.S. Air Force and went to interpreter’s school to study Chinese and listen to the chatter on his plane’s radio flying near Chinese territory. At least that’s the way I heard it, and I’m sticking to it!”
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Power hitter Rico Carty died last week at age 86. Carty and pitcher Pat Jordan were teammates in the Braves farm system. In his book “A False Spring” Jordan wrote that at breakfast Carty would put a glass of grape, cranberry and orange juice in front of him simply to marvel at the colors. In the field, Jordan described Carty’s arm as “a bazooka without a sight.”
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The legacy of St. Louis pitcher Bob Gibson as told by Dusty Baker to Paul White: “Hank Aaron told me, ‘Don’t dig in against him. Don’t stare at him, don’t smile at him, don’t talk to him. He doesn’t like it. If you happen to hit a home run, don’t run too slow, don’t run too fast. And if he hits you, don’t charge the mound he’s a Gold Gloves boxer. That was the night my 17-game hitting streak ended.”
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SQUIBBERS: We missed seeing John Hickey in the GHS dugout for the state softball final at Sortino Field. Sidelined by a chronic illness, Hickey is everything you’d want of a coach and a father — smart and disciplined, and he always kept his cool. … Bob Kieras points out it was Andy Ackerman not Artie who was next to Jimmy O’Sullivan at an Orioles spring training game in Fort Lauderdale in 2009. Artie is Andy’s son, the poor guy who has to listen to Happy Boynton talk about pickleball all day. … Rookie Cam Schlittler’s first pitch in the big leagues came in at 99 mph on Wednesday. “It was a glorious day for Yankees fans,” said WFAN’s Chris McMonagle. …. Earlier this week former Bosox hurler Nate Eovaldi won his 30th game since signing with the Rangers, and former Boston slugger Kyle Schwarber hit his 159th home run since he left for the Phillies. … The UVM hockey team will have Vermont native Caeden Herrington on the point this season. A Holderness grad, Herrington had 18 goals for the Lincoln Stars and was the USHL’s top scoring defenseman. He was drafted in the fourth round by the LA Kings, the same team that took Greenfield’s Tim Hanley in 1984. … Northfield’s Ray Zukowski won a Red Sox hat signed by Jim Rice at the recent Hampshire County Sheriff’s golf outing, but Zukowski doesn’t wear hats. … The hapless Kent State Golden Flashes will play at Oklahoma, Florida State and Texas Tech this fall. … If necessary the Tampa Bay Rays will move their home playoff games from Steinbrenner Field to loanDepot Park in Miami. … Now that Kyle Teel’s with the White Sox, the Red Sox should take a look at Coastal Carolina catcher Caden Bodine in tomorrow’s draft. Bodine’s a 6-foot-3 switch-hitter who played four years for the Chanticleers and batted a career .339 with 25 HRs in 697 ABs. … In less than eight years Shohei Ohtani has already hit 236 home runs. … Manny Machado played his 900th game for the Padres this week. He’s played every game this season and he’s not in pinstripes because he said something stupid his walk year about not being Johnny Hustle. He is Johnny Hustle, the Yankees blew it and now they’ve got nobody to play third base. …… Pittsburgh’s PNC Park is the only MLB stadium where Juan Soto hasn’t hit a home run. … Seen on a T-shirt in a Brattleboro grocery store: “The universe is composed of neurons, protons, electrons and morons.”
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@gmail.com