Weather update

Cool, wet and windy is the forecast for this morning's Middletown at Scituate game, but that hasn't seemed to stop the teams. The game is slated to start at 10:30, and from all indications, it's still on. So dress warm.

Friday night's games were moved to Monday. Rogers will play at Portsmouth at 6, while Tiverton will play at Mount Pleasant at 5.

Better with age?

The Newport Recreation Department over-30 men's basketball league season is quickly approaching, and I couldn't be more excited. Go ahead, make fun, youngsters, but this league, as I found out last year, is really, really competitive.

After my team stunk it up last year (our only win was a forfeit to a team that only had three guys show up), I got to thinking. If I could assemble a team of NBA ringers, who also had to be older than 30, to dominate the league, who would I choose?

As far as over-30 teams go, you'd be hard-pressed to put together a better one than this:

Guard, Kobe Bryant, 31.
I'm not a Kobe fan by any stretch, but the man can play. It's hard to believe he's 31 already, but the Lakers guard can score on anyone at any time.

Guard, Steve Nash, 35.
Who better to get the ball to Kobe (and me) than the best distributor in the game? Nash is clearly on the downside of his career, but aside from Kobe, so is everyone else older than 30.

Forward, Dirk Nowitzki, 31.
The shaggy-haired German has averaged 22.8 points and 8.6 rebounds over an 11-year NBA career. He's also got some range for a 7-footer.

Forward, Kevin Garnett, 33.
Aside from his production, one must take into account KG's intimidation factor. He'd scare the crap out of everyone in a rec league.

Center, Tim Duncan, 33.
I know he prefers to play forward, but the two-time league MVP and three-time NBA finals MVP is 6-11, so I'm sure he could handle being the five.

And finally ...

Backup shooting guard, 6-foot-1 out of Wisconsin (the state, not the University of), Josh Krueger.

A man can dream, can't he?

Boxing hits the canvas

I asked a friend of mine yesterday what his plans were for the weekend. He said he's going to a bar to watch the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto boxing match. To be honest, I didn't know there was a big fight this weekend, and that's because, for me, boxing has been down well past the 10 count.

I can't remember the last time I had a vested interest in a boxing match. I think it was Ward-Gatti III, and that's only because I'm from the Lowell area and followed the career of Micky Ward. The point is, there hasn't been a marquee fight on tap in at least 10 years.

While I think it's brutal and a little savage, MMA and Ultimate Fighting is taking over, and it's a bit sad to see. The sweet science of boxing is now No. 2 on the list because there hasn't been that charismatic fighter in years. The Mike Tyson, the Evander Holyfield, even the Lenox Lewis. Now we have the Klitchko brothers.

And the fact that there are nine different belts, I don't know who the "world champion" is anymore. That used to be an easy question to answer.

Boxing had a good run, but those days have been KO'd.

Instant replay is the correct call

The first thing I do when I get my latest issue of Sports Illustrated is read the column on the back flap. Then I go to the letters from the readers. This week, old school baseball enthusiasts fought against the use of instant replay, claiming it took the "human element" out of the game.

As a fan, if my team is on the wrong end of a game-changing call that could have been corrected via instant replay, I'm not going to be happy. And I'm just a fan. I can only imagine how players and managers feel. Technology is becoming so advanced that the game needs to change with it.

It's like watching a horror movie in the theater. You know the killer is coming to get the girl, and you scream at the screen. But she can't hear you ... and BOOM, she's dead. You can see the call is wrong on the replay, and you scream at the umpire, telling him to change the call ... but sorry, the call stands. Your team is killed.

The writers to SI claim the games are too long, and instant replay would only add to the length of games. Here's a few solutions: speed up pitchers, don't allow batters to lollygag in between pitches (that means keeping David Ortiz from spitting on his hands every 9 seconds) and shorten the time between innings. But baseball will lose out on some advertising dollars!??!

Tough. It's better than losing this fan and millions like me.

Fight night

To the best of my knowledge, soccer riots aren't too prevalent here in the U.S. But Rhode Island College had one on its hands Sunday night during and after the Division IV high school girls state championship game between Woonsocket and Tolman. For those who haven't seen the footage, click above.

As a semi-responsible adult, part of me feels like I should get up on my soap box and decry such behavior. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't find this fight pretty entertaining and amusing.

Now, if I'd had any ties whatsoever to the game, I might have another opinion. Say, for instance, if it had been Rogers, or another team I cover regularly, playing in that game (which nearly happened) I'd be disappointed that either, A. Rogers' state championship was marred by a silly fight, or B. Rogers players behaved in such a way when they were losing.

Unfortunately for me, I covered the game that immediately preceded Woonsocket-Tolman. Not that I didn't enjoy seeing the Tiverton girls win the D-III title, but I'd love to be able to say I saw the melee in the D-IV game.

Some might wonder how these girls could get so worked up over a Division IV girls soccer game. And I did, at first, too. But after looking in the mirror, I get it. Hell, I can get pretty psychotic on the basketball court in the Newport Recreation Department men's over-30 league. And there's pretty much nothing at stake there. In a high school championship game, no matter the level, there's a lot of emotion, and tempers can flare.

The pushing and shoving that broke out in the stands between fans of the two teams, though, is completely inexcusable, and just plain stupid.

By no means am I excusing the actions of any of the players involved, which, based on the video, looks like pretty much all of them. I'm just saying, I understand.

Week 9 R.I. high school football poll

Barrington's big victory over La Salle vaulted the Eagles to the top spot in the poll. Now, La Salle, Barrington and East Providence all have one loss. Bishop Hendricken has two losses, and Portsmouth has three, but the Patriots own the head-to-head tiebreaker. Portsmouth, which has to beat Rogers this Friday, needs East Providence to beat Hendricken.

Middletown, which rebounded from its first loss of the season, jumped up two spots to No. 15, while Tiverton is receiving votes and hoping to get back into the top 20.

Team Points Last week
1. Barrington (6) 139 3
2. La Salle 128 1
3. East Providence 125 2
4. South Kingstown 122 3
5. Hendricken (1) 113 5
6. Mount Hope 102 6
7. Woonsocket 94 8
8. Ponaganset 87 7
9. Portsmouth 84 9
10. Coventry 83 12
11. West Warwick 58 13
12. Cranston East 57 10
13. Moses Brown 52 14
14. Westerly 45 11
15. Middletown 43 17
16. Johnston 36 16
17. Lincoln 29 NR
18. Cranston West 17 15
19. Classical 13 20
20. Exeter-W.G. 11 NR

Dropped out (rank): Cumberland (18), Hope (19).

Others receiving votes: Cumberland 8, Central 2, Hope 1, Tiverton 1.

Participating publications: The Chariho Times, The Coventry Courier, The Cranston Herald, The East Greenwich Pendulum, The Narragansett Times, The Newport Daily News, The Northeast Independent, The North Kingstown Standard Times, The South County Independent, The Warwick Beacon. Note: The Westerly Sun did not vote this week.

Gostkowski adds another three

Thanks to Stephen Neal being off-side, the Pats didn't go on fourth-and-inch(es) and let Gostkowski kick a 41-yard field goal to give NE an important 10-point spread.
And Pats win 27-17 to assume even more control of AFC East.