Good morning!
Politics is sport, and on Election Day I visited two New Hampshire voting locations for a glimpse of what to expect after the polls closed.

At the entrance to Hinsdale High School a woman held a large sign that said, Roe, Roe, Roe Your Vote and down in the parking lot residents stood around their vehicles and talked to each other under the warm summer-like sun.

The voting took place inside the gym where state championship banners hung from the walls. Town clerk Julie Seymour and town moderator Ed “Smokey” Smith were helping election workers get voters in and out without waiting, which could be a chore because the Granite State has same-day voter registration.

While they answered questions, poll observers sat in comfortable foldout chairs in a roped-off area near the voter check-in desk.

The preliminary results were posted within minutes after the polls closed at 7 p.m. Harris had carried Hinsdale, 959 to 913, significantly less than when Biden beat Trump, 1,048-893.

A few miles east in Winchester, I asked town clerk Jim Tetreault if he could post the preliminary results. “Nope,” he said.

It wasn’t an unusual request. Election officials regularly release the early results so that the Fourth Estate has something to report. In Massachusetts I’ve seen them do it in Greenfield, and in New Hampshire they did it in Hinsdale and Keene, but not in Winchester.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Our policy is we don’t release anything until everything is counted,” said the charmless Tetreault. 

When I asked how long that would take, Tetreault said he’d get back to me but never returned.

I stuck around long enough to chat with Winchester’s chief of police Dave Rice who was a full time officer in Greenfield. A few feet away from us, officials were examining the names on write-in ballots.

Jack Reacher got two votes. 

Winchester could use a Jack Reacher.

Later that night the news networks declared Donald Trump the winner and woke resisters like Tom Peabody and Jim Bates haven’t stopped smiling. “We got our country back,” said Bates.

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At the Country Club of Greenfield on Sunday, over one hundred of Bob Weiss’s friends, family and former players gathered to honor him at Terrazza.

The 85-year-old Weiss began coaching youth hockey shortly after the Collins-Moylan Skating Arena opened in 1970. Many in his orbit have been mentioned in previous columns. Other attendees included Bobby Graves, Paul and Linda Amstein, Chris Davey, Mike Davey, Mark Olszewski, Mike Collins, Pat Collins, Chris and Karen Hoynoski, Chris and Missy Davenport, Ray and Marianne Fiske, Brent Griffin and girlfriend Ammie, Bonnie and Ian Grosse, Dave Weiss and Weiss’s former assistant coach Don Perreault whom the players called “Yukon Don” for his mountain-man beard.

“Coach Weiss taught us about hockey but I think his ultimate goal was to get us on our way to becoming productive citizens,” said keynote speaker John Organ, and on Sunday they returned to say thank you.

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Kudos to the Pioneer Valley Regional School Committee for standing up to the MIAA. The Franklin-based behemoth had ordered Pioneer to forfeit its tournament soccer wins for missing a clerical error at deadline, but the committee fought back and won in court.

“The kids were really happy,” said PVRS superintendent Patricia Kinsella. “I want to give credit to our coaches. They said, ‘Don't worry about this. It’s an adult issue and we’ll handle it.’”

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Stick another feather in Geoff Iacuessa’s cap. The Greenfield native, former Recorder sports staffer and UMass Sport Management graduate runs the Portland Sea Dogs, Boston’s Double-A affiliate in the Eastern League.

The Sea Dogs averaged 5,096 fans at Hadlock Field and finished first the Northeast Division, and that success helped Portland be named the No. 1 Minor Leagues Market by Sports Business Journal. “Thriving franchises, passionate fans and a bustling tourism industry all shore up the case,” wrote the SBJ.

The seaside city of 70,000 is also home to the Maine Mariners of the ECHL and Maine Celtics of the NBA’s G League. “We were thrilled to find out about it,” said Iacuessa. “Portland is an incredible sports market that extends throughout the entire state.”

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Allison (Tudryn) Belanger has recovered from September’s Vermont 50 mountain bike race at Mt. Ascutney.  “It was one of the hardest physical activities I’ve ever done,” said the 42-year-old North Hadley resident. “Legs, quads, hamstrings… My husband Matt cramped up completely. The salt tabs saved us.”

A cross country standout at Frontier Regional and Roger Williams University, Belanger navigated her $4,000 Stumpjumper over slick roots and gravel roads to be near the top of the summit.

“There were some absolutely stunning views, the colors were peaking and the enthusiasm at the aid stations was great. They had food, fuel, drinks, someone had espressos… It took us seven-and-a-half hours. We’re what they call Type 2 racers who ride for the fun that comes afterward.”

Caden Frost of Steep Falls, Maine, finished first in 4 hours, 14 minutes and 12 seconds. The women’s winner was Caroline Dezendorf of the Marin County (Calif.) Bike Coalition who crossed in 4:50:46.

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Two more remembrances from the 2004 World Series, one from Deerfield’s Jamin Hemenway and the other from Greenfield native Beth Davenport.

“I drove from Notre Dame to St. Louis with Paul Nebosky,” said Hemenway. “We walked around for two hours looking for the cheapest seats we could find and settled for $150 standing room tickets.

“In the ninth inning we squeezed our way down to field level in time to see Keith Foulke underhand the ball to Doug Mientkiewicz for the final out. Afterward we were starved. I’ve been to five star restaurants, but nothing’s beaten that midnight breakfast at the Waffle House in East St. Louis.”

Davenport said she watched from her home in Santa Fe the night the Red Sox went down three-games-to-none. “The morning after that 19-8 debacle I was in Albuquerque for a 5K. This guy who’s a blowhard asked if I was running for a personal best and I said, ‘Dude, I’m just looking to earn couch time and watch the Red Sox take the first of four against the Yankees.’

“It got really quiet and I could practically hear peoples’ necks swivel. One lady who was trying to be nice said, ‘You know it won't happen, right?’

“I shrugged and said there were enough games for it to happen — and they did it.”

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Spittin’ Chicklets podcasters Paul Bissonnette and Ryan Whitney came to Bruins coach Jim Montgomery’s defense after he was criticized for jostling Brad Marchand. “He barely put his hand on his shoulder,” said Bissonnette. “Back in the ‘60s, coaches were probably choking guys out on the bench, like wake the f*** up!” 

Whitney concurred, and compared it to playing for Jack Parker at Boston University. “Jack Parker used to call it the cage treatment. He’s shakin’ the cage and all of a sudden I’m ready to go.”

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