Worcester, Polar Park and the WooSox are in. Pawtucket, McCoy Stadium and the PawSox are out.
The most painful reminder that the Pawtucket Red Sox are no more occurred this week when the Worcester Red Sox christened their new ballpark. By all accounts Polar Park is a beauty and will grow even more stunning as construction in the neighborhood ends. With a price tag of $157 million, it should sparkle.
Opening Day Tuesday could have happened in Pawtucket, but roadblocks erected by former House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, the lack of strong political leadership by former Gov. Gina Raimondo, and the hangover too many Rhode Islanders suffered from the Curt Schilling-38 Studios fiasco doomed any hope for a public-private partnership.
So while Polar Park glistens in the May sunshine, McCoy Stadium, home of the PawSox for 50 years, remains vacant and decaying. The long empty Apex property hard by I-95 and the Blackstone River, proposed site for a new $85-million stadium, remains an urban wasteland.
Bill Koch of The Providence Journal rued the situation, noting that voters booted Mattiello from office last November, and Raimondo left Rhode Island for Washington, D.C. and the Commerce Department this year.
Dan Barry of the New York Times, who wrote “Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball’s Longest Game” about the 33-inning epic in 1981 between the PawSox and the Rochester Red Wings, crafted a paean to McCoy and the PawSox this week. He described McCoy as “a ballpark in suspension, its outfield far from true-hop ready, its billboards fading, its thousands of empty seats the hard-plastic playground of pigeons.”
We will really miss the PawSox and McCoy come June, when the kids are out of school and soft twilight follows sunset behind the left field fence, the crack of a hard-hit ball echoing beneath the roof of the old ball yard just a warm memory.
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Eric Rueb of the Providence Journal writes interesting pieces on high- school sports. Too bad some of his Super Bowl coverage appeared in the Journal a day late. But that seems to be the new norm at the Projo. Sunday results appear in the Tuesday paper, Monday in Wednesday’s, etc.
And since when is a 7:05 p.m. start at Fenway Park “late”, as noted in the agate results the next morning? Not so long ago, late meant a West Coast game. Now it covers anything on the East Coast after the six o’clock news, it seems.
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Where have all the Americans gone in men’s professional tennis? For the first time since computer rankings began in 1973, no American man is ranked in the Top 30 in the world. Unbelievable! Where have you gone, John McEnroe? Our tennis nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
Five American women are ranked in the Top 30. Sofia Kenin, 22, is No. 5. Serena Williams, 39, checks in at No. 8.
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Bryant, the Northeast Conference champion, plays No. 4 Virginia at noon Sunday at Charlottesville in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament.
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Thanks to COVID restrictions last fall, we have had a taste of football this spring. High school here in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and college at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level. South Dakota State and Sam Houston will play for the FCS title Sunday afternoon at Frisco, Texas.
Spring football was a nice try, but I’ll take mine in the fall, thank you.
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Is there a bigger disappointment in the NBA this season than the Boston Celtics? Talk about underachievers! The Celts have lost eight of their last 11, including an ugly 102-94 decision to the Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday night. The Cavs had lost 11 in a row! The Celtics now must compete in the four-team play-in to secure a spot in the playoffs.
The Celtics slide has the talking heads in Boston sports radio mulling the future of basketball boss Danny Ainge, coach Brad Stevens, injured All-Star Jaylen Brown and guard Marcus Smart.
