Double play

A pair of stories mentioning East Boston from today's Globe:

***The East Boston Neighborhood Health Center wants to open a facility in Winthrop.

***Former Chicago Cubs shortstop Lennie Merullo, 93, who grew up in Eastie, looks back at his career.

Memories

When I was a kid the Bruins were kings, and I was sitting in front of the television forty years ago today when the B's won their first Stanley Cup in nearly three decades and one of only two since 1941. That championship series ended with Bobby Orr's famous overtime goal, after which the 22-year-old defenseman was sent flying through the air.

A poster of the iconic image, captured by photographer Ray Lussier, hung on my wall for many of my teenage years. Today a statue of Orr in flight was unveiled outside the Garden.

Serving with spirit

Several hundred people are gathered at the Boys & Girls Club gym (formerly Savio Hall) in East Boston this morning for a volleyball tournament sponsored by Catholic churches in the Greater Boston area. About a dozen teams of women and girls are on hand for the event. In the photo, the Everett team celebrates after taking a set off a squad from Cambridge.

In the red zone

East Boston High School football coach John Sousa will retire from the position after this season, which means his last game will either be this evening or on Saturday, depending on how the Jets fare in tonight's playoff game. The squad is 9-1 and meets Bristol-Plymouth (8-2) in Taunton at 5:15. A win puts them in Saturday's Division 4 Super Bowl against Whittier. Sousa has coached Eastie's gridiron gang for 17 years.

Update: Eastie advanced to Saturday's championship game with a 35-8 win last night.

Taking a pounding

In the wake of a University of Michigan study on the long-term health of retired pro football players, there is a rising chorus of concerned voices. The study, commissioned by the NFL, shows higher rates of dementia, Alzheimer's and other brain-related syndromes in those who suffered the repeated concussions associated with the sport.

I read the story in last week's New Yorker in which Malcolm Gladwell compared the physical damage done to NFL lineman to that done to the animals used in dogfighting -- very much in the news after the return to the field of Michael Vick. Gladwell's point wasn't, of course, that pro football players get ripped to shreds, but rather that they sacrifice their bodies for the enjoyment of others.

The New York Times has a story today about a former NFL executive trying to rally support for the retirees, who sometimes fall through the cracks of the league's support programs, and a Congressional committee has announced that hearings will be held on the matter.

As I've mentioned on this blog before, I know a little bit about the issue, having written a story about concussions among high school athletes when I was a sports reporter in southern Maine. (I recently posted the award-winning story again at The Eastie Jolt.)

The medical professionals I spoke with at the time were quite concerned about the issue and felt that it needed to get more attention from everyone involved in youth and collegiate sports -- and not just with regards to football, but other sports where concussions sometimes occur.

Flesh and blood

We hoped that Big Papi was different, but in the end we really can't be surprised by the news that Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is among those who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs back in 2003. His on-field heroics and amiable personality made Ortiz a Sox favorite since his acquisition and the long-suffering team's subsequent World Series wins in 2004 and 2007.

Former teammate Manny Ramirez was also implicated yesterday, but that news seems to go without saying after the hero-turned-traitor was suspended from the LA Dodgers for 50 games earlier this season for violating rules on anti-doping that didn't exist a half-dozen years ago.

Of course, the truth is that our heroes all have flaws, and if we are slow to realize that, reality will inform us sooner rather than later. No matter how talented, how intelligent, how apparently good, no one is able to do the right thing all the time. No one has the capacity, the will or the strength to always behave in ways that are beyond reproach. At times like this I throw out an oft-used, but powerful fact nonetheless: Thomas Jefferson had slaves. The guy is a hero of mine, but one can find quite a bit in his life to be disappointed about. He was a rather sneaky, dirty politician, and -- yeah -- despite his lofty words about freedom he personally owned dozens of people.

And this takes us to another issue, of less universal import and involving less human misery: in baseball the heroes end up in Cooperstown, but a list of those inducted into the Hall of Fame will include characters that represent a cross-section of the society that they came from. A New York Times review of a book on Cooperstown that was just published says, "The hall is full of gamblers, brawlers and defendants in paternity suits, and there are numerous drunks..." To top the list there is Ty Cobb -- undoubtedly one of the game's greatest players, but also "a sociopath, possibly a murderer and a notorious racist who was also a card-carrying, torch-waving member of the Ku Klux Klan" (and he isn't even the only Klan member enshrined!).

So how do we evaluate modern players and their worthiness for the Hall of Fame against this background? Pete Rose, who undoubtedly has the statistics to be in, is banned (by the Hall itself) from even being voted on (by the sportswriters who cast the annual ballots) because of his troubles with gambling during and after his on-field career. (Is that worse than Cobb?) Now we have a whole roster of athletes who have created the headlines of the last two decades -- McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, A-Rod, Clemens, Manny, etc. -- all under the dark cloud of substance abuse. Should the entire era be tainted? Should we accept that each period had its anomalies and cheaters and just go by the numbers? Will the writers even get to consider each of these guys, or will some of the names be stricken from the ballot, a la Rose? Does a place like the Hall of Fame have any meaning if Cobb is in, Rose is out and Bonds is on the fence?

Last Saturday two more players had their plaques added to the sacred space of the enshrined. Rickey Henderson, an amazing player and a character himself, was elected in his first go-round. (Players generally must be retired for five years before their name appears on the list that the writers vote on. A player needs to be chosen on 75% of the ballots to get in. After 15 years names are dropped from the list, but there is a Veterans Committee who can induct anyone they please.)

Jim Rice, who played 16 seasons for the Red Sox, was finally given the nod. Retired from the game since 1989, Rice's credentials have been hotly debated since, and he barely made the cut -- 76.4% of the voters selected him in his final year of eligibility. He was a formidable hitter, a good (not great) left fielder and was, by all accounts, not very friendly with the media while a player. His 1978 MVP season is one of the greatest ever put together by anyone.

Rice was dogged a bit by the feeling that his post-season performance was sub-par, but the Sox only made the playoffs twice during his career (1986 and 1988) and in the '86 World Series he batted .333, which is good. I do remember one of my uncles always railing about Rice not producing in the clutch, the rants filled with racial epithets as we sat outside in my aunt's yard grilling every summer Sunday.

Today, Rice is a broadcaster at NESN, though I don't think he's that good. I feel like the same discomfort that kept him from talking to the media a great deal as a player keeps him from feeling completely confident even though he is on the other side of the microphone. He never learned to, or even set out to, master and manipulate the press like Larry Bird did so skillfully. But Rice, I believe, is a very decent guy. His name has never come up in relation to any of the embarrassing episodes (gambling, infidelity, drunkenness, drugs) that pop up every so often in the game, as elsewhere. He's always been involved in a number of charity activities. And then there is the memorable episode when Rice carried an injured boy inside the Sox clubhouse for medical care.

Jonathan Keane was four years old on Aug. 7, 1982, when he was struck in the head by a foul ball that rocketed into the seats along Fenway Park's first base line, next to the home dugout. Immediately he was covered in blood, his skull fractured. Rice had been standing on the top step of the dugout and without hesitation he ran over, picked up the child (see the Boston Herald photo above) and brought him into the Sox clubhouse, where the team doctor met the pair. In minutes the boy was on his way to Children's Hospital. Keane credits Rice with saving his life. He doesn't remember the incident, but he has no lasting effects from it.

Rice didn't do anything superhuman that day. He was overcome by the same feelings that most other people would have felt, but he also didn't hesitate to act. Many who know Rice say that the incident speaks to the man's character -- one that probably puts him head and shoulders above many who were allowed to take their seats in Cooperstown much more easily.

Super risk

This evening, the 43rd Super Bowl will be played in Tampa. Bodies will be thrown at one another with a force that most of us will never experience (my year of freshman football at Savio notwithstanding). There will inevitably be breaks in the action for players who are slow to rise from the turf, and the sight of someone being whisked off the field via golf cart or ambulance is always possible.

Almost all of the most dangerous injuries will be ignored -- excepting maybe a replay that elicits a comment from the color commentator along the lines of, "Man, that was some hit!" In the coming years, however, the individuals involved in that hit, and many of the others, will be living with the effects of playing a contact sport for a span of years, and we are only starting to realize the effect of this.

Last week the autopsy of an 18-year-old football player revealed "the earliest signs of an incurable debilitating disease caused by the kind of repetitive head trauma he experienced on the field." After playing the game only at the high-school level, this kid was already showing signs of brain damage because of hits taken or given on the football field.

With the Super Bowl as a back drop, some doctors and former players are pushing the National Football League to take more seriously the issue of concussions, which some are calling a "crisis," that affects football players from Pop Warner level to the NFL. The Globe editorialized on the subject today.

I know a little bit about this subject because I wrote a story on concussions back when I was a sports reporter in Maine. In the fall of 2005 I interviewed doctors, athletes, coaches, athletic directors, trainers, school nurses and parents, and the result was an article entitled "Hard Knocks" (which, I must add, took a first-place award from the Maine Press Association that year).

Concussions are serious business. They are small brain injuries, but they are brain injuries nonetheless, and should be treated as such by everyone involved. When a player returns to a game -- football, hockey, soccer, basketball or whatever -- not long after getting his or her "bell rung" there is a risk to the long-term brain function of that person, which can affect thinking, concentration, behavior and attitude.

In the case of the NFL, they should see to it that all practicable precautions are taken to insure that players are protected and that they fully understand the risks so they are best able to weigh the cost of being macho with the long-term health of their brain. The league also needs to use some of its money to help care for those who have already paid the price on the field.

Most concussions, however, affect younger athletes, and parents need to educate themselves and their children on the subject. Is a little temporary glory on the high-school field really worth a lifetime of headaches and depression?

Sox regain first place

With a dozen games left in the regular season, the Red Sox have fought their way back to first place, albeit in a tie with the not-so-devilish Rays. Boston pounded their Florida rivals 13-5 on the road this evening, regaining a share of the top spot that they relinquished just after the all-star break.

The Sox could win their second consecutive AL East title by outplaying Tampa Bay over the next two weeks, but Boston would have to crash and burn to lose out on at least the wild-card spot.

Manny who?

Update: Spoke too soon?

It's 60 for number 4

Today is the 60th birthday of Boston sports legend Bobby Orr, who helped the Bruins to a pair of Stanley Cups and permanently changed the game of hockey.

Orr was signed by the Bruins when he was just 12 years old and came to town six years later as the golden boy who would change the fortunes of the lowly B's, and he delivered. Boston won titles in the 1969-70 season -- capped by Orr's winning goal that is immortalized in the photo -- and again in 1971-72.

Orr won eight straight Norris trophies as the league's best defenseman and set records for scoring from that position, but bad knees in the pre-arthroscopic surgery era meant that his career was eventually cut short.

Back in the early 1970s the Bruins were the team in Boston. Orr was, in the words of Globe columnist Bob Ryan, "a rock star," as were teammates Phil Esposito, Derek Sanderson, Gerry Cheevers, John Bucyk, Wayne Cashman, John McKenzie and Ken Hodge. The most popular game that we played back then was street hockey, with an orange "Espo ball" and a cheap hockey stick (just as the kids are in the flashback scene, filmed in East Boston, from the movie Mystic River).

The Bruins may be overshadowed now by the Red Sox, the Patriots and the Celtics, but for a while this was their town and it started with Bobby Orr.

Jets fly to title game

East Boston High School's football squad is now 11-0 after a come-from-behind playoff victory last night against Blue Hills Regional HS, 38-34, at Stonehill College in Easton. The Jets erased a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit on their way to the Division 3A semifinal win.

Eastie will play Saturday against greater Lawrence for the D-3A title.

Making us proud

I called this one, and Bobby Casaletto can back me up.

It might say that Tyronne Pruitt's home town is Brockton on his Boston College football team bio page, but he spent most of his childhood in East Boston and was a member at the Salesian Boys & Girls Club. I worked at the Club for 13 years, leaving in the fall of 1997, and I knew Tyronne, as well as his three brothers.

Tyronne was at the Club virtually every day, and he was a great kid. Unlike older brother Gary -- who was just about the most outgoing and funniest person you ever want to meet -- Tyronne, the youngest of the foursome, was reserved and deliberate. He was an excellent athlete, but I'd seen a dozens of excellent athletes in my time as a member and staffer at the Club. Tyronne was unique in the attention he gave to his studies.

In the time after the Club opened at 2:30 and before we started running events, I distinctly remember Tyronne -- then in the 5th, 6th and 7th grades -- grabbing a table, pulling out his homework and getting it done, patiently and neatly. Other kids did homework at the Club, but I have no memory of any particular youngster doing it most every day -- except Tyronne. He cared about his grades, and he was an A student.

He was a smart athlete, too ... good at most everything he tried. It was football, however, that I saw as the perfect match for Tyronne. We only played tag football on the cracked asphalt outside the building, and I never heard Tyronne indicate that he loved the game above any other sport, but the combination of brains, build and ability led me to say aloud that I thought he would be an exceptional football player someday -- probably a running back. I know I said this to my friend and co-worker Bobby Casaletto.

Tyronne is now a senior at Boston College. He's not a running back now, but he was in Brockton, where the family moved not long after I left the Club. He was all-scholastic in his junior and senior years at Brockton High, rushing for more than 1,000 yards in each. He was also team captain those two years, which speaks to his character.

A defensive standout at linebacker in high school, BC put him in that spot and he started every game (except yesterday: sprained ankle) over the past two seasons for the nationally-ranked program. Tyronne is a political science major, and I'm going to guess that he invests some time in his studies as well.

In Theo we trust

Mike Lowell is an excellent third baseman, and I'd love to see him back in that spot for the Red Sox next year. He was our most consistent hitter this season and led the team in RBIs, while in the field he makes every play, looking smooth and confident. He was our World Series MVP and is universally regarded as a class act.

However, those who are leaning on Theo Epstein and Sox management to re-sign Lowell, now a free agent, seem to be ignoring some facts. The team's current ownership took over in 2002 and has moved forward since then with strategies that have resulted in two championships, ending an 86-year drought that many New Englanders considered a birthright.

It's clear that principal owner John Henry is willing to shell out cash to sign key players. What should also be recognized is that management is willing to move people whenever they feel it's what is best for the long-term health of the franchise -- a policy that includes not signing older players for too many years. They were right on Johnny Damon, who batted .316 in 2005 with the Sox and then fell to .285 last year with the Yankees and .270 this season. They were right on Pedro Martinez, who has won a total of 27 games with the Mets since leaving here.

It appears that the Sox want to offer Lowell a two-year contract, probably with a nice raise, but some believe that he will look around the league for a three- or four-year deal. Lowell will turn 34 in the off-season. It's quite unlikely that he will ever again have a year as good as this one and for the 2010 season will we want a 36-year-old with deteriorating skills to be eating up a big chunk of payroll?

I'm a big fan of Mike Lowell, and I hope he stays around, but it is somewhat hypocritical to cheer this year's World Series win at the same time that one is demanding that the Sox go against the strategy that brought them to victory.

Two-timers

Nothing can ever top the Red Sox embarrassing the Yankees, breaking the curse and sweeping the Series in 2004, but this year's team had the nicest balance of hitting, pitching and defense of any Boston squad I can remember. They were fun to watch and -- except for a three-game stretch against Cleveland -- they obliterated their opponents in the post-season.

The Sox finished sweeping Colorado aside a short while ago, and the TV cameras showed a small crowd gathering not far from Fenway. Police in riot gear seemed to have things under control. In East Boston, I heard a few car horns beep after the last out and then there were a half-dozen teenage boys walking down Bennington Street screaming. Hopefully, they avoid doing anything really stupid.

One reason I'm happy that the Series only lasted four games is that I don't have to watch the Fox telecasts any more. In particular, Jeanne Zelasko was loud and obnoxious, forcing me to avoid the pre-game show. Some people don't like Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, but after the imbeciles in the booth for the ALDS on TBS, the Fox duo was a breath of fresh air. Seeing the same commercials for the past week is rather annoying, too.

One down side to the baseball season coming to a close is that the focus will now completely shift to the Patriots, who are tearing up the NFL. They are admittedly an impressive team and have been a powerhouse for several years, but I'm not a fan of Bill Belicheck. While he is certainly an excellent coach, he appears to lack personality, charm, warmth, friendliness, sense of humor, etc. He is no Terry Francona.

Sox on brink

It wasn't too long ago that the historic heartbreak of being a Red Sox fan continued in the modern era. Remember the Aaron Boone home run that KO'd the hometown team from reaching the World Series in 2003? And then the following year the hated Yanks went up 3-0 against the Sox in a repeat match-up of the ALCS, and it looked like our woes would continue.

Everything changed that October. Dave Roberts stole second and the Olde Towne Team began a successful and unforgettable comeback against the Bronx Bombers, following that up with a sweep of the Cardinals for Boston's first World Series win in 86 years.

Now, just three years later, the Sox are in position to sweep Colorado and win another title. Even if the Rockies come back to take Game 4, it seems assured that Boston is going to win it all. Almost no one can come back from 3-0.

Gone baby gone

In sports, momentum is a fickle mistress. Midway through Game 2 of the ALCS, the Red Sox looked like they could not be beaten. They took the lead back from Cleveland on a pair of home runs after waltzing past the Angels in the opening series and then smacking around the Indians in Game 1.

Cleveland did tie Game 2, but Boston look like they would take the contest with a ninth-inning rally. The would-be winning hit, a liner off the bat of Kevin Youkilis with pinch runner Jacoby Ellsbury ready to score from second, stayed up a bit too long. The ball -- and seemingly, the momentum that the Sox had been courting -- disappeared in Grady Sizemore's glove. Two innings later the Indians pounded the host team's bullpen, and that tailspin has continued through Games 3 and 4.

Thursday night is a must-win game, and we've got presumptive AL Cy Young winner Josh Beckett on the mound for us, which is a big plus. However, Lady Momentum is the ally we really need right now. Wooing her back is the key to winning the next game and the series.

Mudville joy on hold

The 10-3 blowout victory in Game 1 of the ALCS was nice, but it means little now to the Red Sox in the face of last night's 13-6 drubbing at the hands of the Cleveland Indians. By self-destructing in the 11th inning of Game 2, Boston gave away the home-field advantage. Now it's a best-of-five series with the next three games in Cleveland.

This is reminiscent of the 1985 NBA Finals, when the Celtics embarrassed the Lakers, 148-114, in Game 1 at the Garden. There was, of course, talk of how Boston would breeze through that series -- maybe even sweep it. Los Angeles came back and won Game 2, which happened to be the only NBA playoff game I've ever been to, and the Lakers went on to take the title in six games.

The Sox still appear to have the better team -- perhaps the best in baseball. They certainly have the hottest one-two offensive punch in David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. The game, however, is pitching, and we will see whether Daisuke Matsuzaka -- Boston's Game 3 starter -- is worth the $100 million that it took to get him.

Eastie's field of dreams

Joanna Alfano lives in Melrose, but grew up in East Boston in the 1950s, where she knew a boy named Anthony Conigliaro. In a sweet, sad column published today in the newspapers of the GateHouse Media, Alfano looks back at a moment in time when she was "one of the giggly little girls" who watched Little League games at Noyes Park. A young Tony C. -- who went on to Red Sox fame and then, just as quickly, tragedy -- even hit a homer for her and her friends one night.

I don't know who J.H.L. Noyes is -- maybe a war hero or some other deserving person -- so I am hesitant to suggest changing the name of the park, but can we name the diamond there Conigliaro Field? (Unless we already have and I am unaware ... maybe someone can educate me on this.)

There's magic in the air

After pounding the Yankees yesterday, the Red Sox magic number stands at nine with two weeks to go in the regular season. Any combination of Sox wins and New York losses totaling that number will give the hometown team their first division title since 1995 and set us on course to the post-season.

Of course, Friday night's loss was quite disheartening. More than blowing a 7-2 lead in the eighth inning -- which all by itself is something that the team with the best record in baseball should not be doing with the playoffs so near -- the Sox had their two best relievers roughed up. Ouch.

However, putting things in perspective, we already knew that set-up guy Hideki Okajima was having serious problems. The lefty, a big part of the team's success over the first few months of the season, seems to have run out of gas. There's a Globe story today that details his sliding numbers.

As for Papelbon, he gave up a couple of hits as well, but if we can just chalk that up to one bad outing then the big picture of this weekend series so far is that the Red Sox have pounded their opponents' pitching. Excluding the Yankees big inning on Friday, the visitors have been outscored by Boston 17-3 in two games.

Today is another interesting pitching match-up, with Curt Schilling taking the hill against Roger Clemens on ESPN at 8 p.m. Neither of the two know when to keep their mouth shut, but each had some great moments in Red Sox uniforms.

Go Sox!

Boys of summer

No matter what happens today, Michael Rando and his Walpole teammates will always have the memory of a spectacular catch and an exciting win Friday, the opening day of the Little League World Series. After "the catch" saved their 3-2 win over Hamilton, Ohio, the squad representing New England lost 1-0 yesterday to Lake Oswego, Oregon. Today, at 6 p.m., Walpole faces a do-or-die situation when they square off against a team from Georgia. [The game has been postponed to tomorrow because of rain.]

I take a bit more interest in the LLWS now because I was at the 2005 edition, covering the team from Westbrook, Maine, as a sports reporter for that community's weekly newspaper, the American Journal. Me, another reporter and a photographer hastily made plans to head down to central Pennsylvania from southern Maine in the aftermath of Westbrook's improbable come-from-behind wins at the state and regional tournaments, which the other reporter had been covering.

It was a long ride, but we found the Williamsport area relatively uncrowded and the Little League facilities were quite nice, with free admission for fans and modestly priced food and souvenirs. Of course, as part of the working media, I never paid to attend sporting events. In fact, the media room had complimentary sandwiches for lunch and hot food for dinner. Pretty sweet.

Westbrook went 1-2, and headed home after the "pool play" round. We beat them back to Maine, ready to capture the heroes' welcome they received, and we had some excellent stories and photos in that week's paper, as well as a special section the following week. It was a fun story to cover, and we were able to go above and beyond what the Portland daily did -- a testament to what community weeklies can and should do for their readers.

Flag down on the play

Back on Jan. 1, Ian Johnson seemed to be starring in a Disney movie: score touchdown on trick play to help small college beat perennial power in bowl game by one point to complete unbeaten season AND keep running through end zone over to girlfriend/cheerleader, get down on one knee, produce ring and propose on national television. If Chrissy Popadics had said no, it would have been quite a letdown, but she did say yes, and the couple is scheduled to get married on Saturday.

Here is where the plot moves from family feel-good story to reality in America today: Because Johnson is black and Popadics is white the groom has received death threats, forcing them to hire security for their wedding.

No fool, Johnson is aware of the irony here: "It's really sad because a lot of people that are probably [making threats] are the same people who were cheering me on."