Good morning!
Now comes Joe Harasymiak, bearded and bellowing, mandated by the administration to put fans in the seats and wins in the record book. Coach Joe comes from Rutgers where he was the defensive coordinator for three years. He was hired by UMass in December when promises and proclamations are meaningless, and in three weeks he will lead the Minutemen onto the gridiron to play Temple at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
UMass Nation hopes it will be the start of a new era but the sportsbooks say otherwise. After opening as a point-and-a-half favorite, UMass is currently a three-and-a-half point underdog. The money line is $100 to make $140 on UMass; $165 to make $100 on Temple. These are not good economic indicators, nor is the projected 3 1/2-game win total.
Yet every season I’m like Charlie Brown running toward Lucy, trusting she won’t pull the ball back just as I move in for the kick. Last year on opening day I bet $100 at the Bradley teletheater on UMass to whip Eastern Michigan, then drove to Amherst and watched them lose, 28-14. Once again I’d trusted, and once again I’d landed on my butt.
“Two-and-ten,” Artie Burke said of the coming season, and he was right. The team’s only two wins were against Central Connecticut State and Wagner.
Temple has had four consecutive 3-9 seasons but they beat UMass 28-0, and first-year coach K.C. Keeler was a linebacker at Delaware in the late 1970s when the Fighting Blue Hens were to UMass what the Yankees were to the Red Sox.
More karmic undertow could arrive on Oct. 4 when UMass hosts Western Michigan in the conference opener. The Broncos’ offensive coordinator is Walt Bell. You remember Walt, he coached four years at UMass and looked like he knew what he was doing in his inaugural game on Aug. 30, 2019 at Rutgers. UMass led 14-0 and 21-7 before the Scarlet Knights found their playbooks and rolled past UMass 48-21.
Harasymiak is the fifth coach to try and stop the losing. Can he do it, or is that Lucy over there holding the football?
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Pat MacWilliams isn’t on the UMass payroll and has never been inside a UMass classroom, but he’s done more to help State U’s image than many of those pencil-pushing vice chancellors who have six figure salaries. MacWilliams lives in Saratoga, owns Five College Movers in Northampton and is the driving force behind the Massachusetts Collective.
Late last month he combined his passion for UMass hoops and horse racing by inviting coach Frank Martin’s team to visit the Spa. “Frank was looking for a way to get the team out of Amherst,” said MacWilliams.
The Minutemen left Amherst on a Thursday morning and went to the track after a clinic at a YMCA summer camp. “The community service aspect was important,” said MacWilliams. “There were probably 300 kids, and they were engaged and wide-eyed.”
MacWilliams took them into the paddock to see the horses get saddled and through the clubhouse to the winner’s circle for the fourth race. Astute railbirds may have noticed the connection when they opened their programs and saw the race was “The Maroon and White Mile, Presented by UMass Basketball.”
“They had their photo taken with the winning jockey, Jose Ortiz,” said MacWilliams. “Frank was dressed in a perfect track outfit. He used to go to Hiahleah when he lived in Miami.” Given Martin’s courtside behavior, UMass fans would love to have seen him at the Hiahleah finish line yelling for his horse to win.
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More Spa News: Buck Butler’s stakes winning filly My Mane Squeeze is named for his wife Loretta. … Former Mets and Dodgers catcher Paul LoDuca hit the late Pick 5 for $1,700 on July 31. “I needed that one,” LoDuca told his colleagues at Fox Sports. “It’s been a little still these last couple of weeks.” … On Sunday, aptly-named Johnny’s Red Storm won at first asking for St. John’s coach Rick Pitino on Sunday and paid $5.60 on top. “I’m not as competitive in horse racing,” Pitino told Bob Ehalt of BloodHorse, “but the thrill is the same.” … The winner of last Saturday’s fourth race at Saratoga, Run Curtis Run, is named for NYC mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa.
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Cleveland reliever Nic Enright notched his first big league save on Monday against the Mets. Three years ago Enright was diagnosed with Stage 2 non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He’s had four rounds of immunotherapy and will have four more treatments in the fall. “It’s been a journey,” he told a Cleveland TV station. “Any situation I face on the ball field pales in comparison.”
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Betsy “Sockum” Jochum’s obituary by Jon Mooallem in the Wall Street Journal described a woman who played outfield for the South Bend Blue Sox of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Jochum struck out 125 times in 2,840 career plate appearances and in 1944 she stole 127 bases. “Lots of ouchies when you slid,” she said of playing in skirts. “We played every day with doubleheaders on Sundays and holidays with no days off.”
“The Sultana of Swat” used the money she made to earn a master’s degree in physical education from Indiana and subsequently taught school for 27 years. She died May 31 at her home in South Bend at age 104.
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SQUIBBERS: Kudos to first-year coach Jesse Phelps and the Post 81 Juniors for their 21-3 record and trip to the state finals in Worcester, where they were beaten by Newburyport, 5-2. The roster was composed mostly of GHS and Tech players who will be back next year to play for Phelps or senior coach Alex Siano. … If you’re up for one more baseball game, check the New England Collegiate Baseball League website (necbl.com) to see if the Keene SwampBats and Martha’s Vineyard Sharks need to play the rubber game of their best-of-three championship series. If so, the game will start at 6:35 p.m. tonight at Alumni Field. … Talkmasters Mike Francesa and Chris Russo will reprise their roles as Mike and the Mad Dog in a movie titled “Caught Strealing” that premiers this fall. “Big cast, big director,” said Francesa. … The New York Rangers signed former Minuteman Conor Sheary to a pro tryout. Sheary, who’s logged 593 games in four NHL cities, had 61 points in 59 games for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch last season. … Fenway Park vendors went on strike against concession giant Aramark during the Dodgers series and for good reason. The Athletic reported that BU pays its concession workers $23 an hour compared to the $18 vendors make at Fenwoke. … White Sox catcher Kyle Teel — former first round pick of the Red Sox — drove in the only run in a 1-0 win against the Angels on Aug. 2. … If Earl Weaver’s adage that baseball is pitching and three-run homers, Juan Soto isn’t earning his $765 million. According to baseball-reference, Soto’s last three-run dinger was July 22, 2024, a span of 184 games played. … Congrats to East Longmeadow’s Nick Ahmed who announced his retirement last month after 12 years and 964 games in the big leagues, all but 76 with the Diamondbacks. … Franklin Arias is the only Red Sox prospect listed in MLB.com‘s Top 50. At this writing the 19-year-old middle infielder was batting .346 at Single-A Salem (Va.) of the Carolina League. … Attendance has nosedived in St. Louis where the Cardinals are averaging 28,881 fans compared to 35,871 last year and 42,567 in 2017. … NY Post headline the morning after the Yanks were swept by the Marlins: Sweeping with the Fishes. … Tigers players have grown moustaches to help get them out of their recent slump. “Our boys are resorting to desperate times, desperate measures,” said manager A.J. Hinch. … Why grow moustaches? In the words of the great Leo Durocher: “Baseball is like church. Many attend, few understand.”
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@icloud.com.