Rain, Rain, Go Away

We almost got through Fall Sports without a bad weather day. Almost.

Aside from some wind, the weather has been pretty good for the Fall Sports playoffs, but with only one day of games left, it looks like we're going to get wet. And cold.

If you're not planning on attending one of the four remaining Gold Ball games, there's a bunch of pre-season basketball "kick off" tournaments scattered around the state. You can find most of them in the Facebook group, as people have been posting them in the comments.

Depending on how the weather looks in the morning, I might be doing exactly that.

I might also do both.

This week on the podcast, my special guest had to cancel at the last minute, but since I had already set everything up--and because THE SHOW MUST GO ON--I did a solo preview of today's games, plus a few other things.

Not the best show! But not the worst either. It was also 10:30pm after a very long day at work.

Apple Podcasts

Football Rankings are updated.

Going into the final day, I feel like these landed in a pretty good spot. If you want to quibble a team is a spot too high or too low, I won't argue with you.

Sports Illustrated, on the other hand, I dunno.

Foxcroft Academy is doing something very cool this year in honor of the 50th anniversary of their last Gold Ball.

As we celebrate this historic accomplishment, we will relive the road to the gold on social media this winter. Each day there was a game, we will post the recap on Facebook and Instagram like it was the winter of the ‘74-75 season. For example, if a game was played on December 6, 1974, we will post it on December 6, 2024, and so on, through the 22-game journey. It starts on Friday, November 22nd, with the Penquis League Round Robin at FA and ends on February 28th (the night the Ponies won the gold ball).

This is such a cool idea.

The first one is up and it looks like they've got a good archive of photos.

Also, that Schenck jersey looks pretty cool.

Rene Cloukey, WAGM's legendary broadcaster, signed off this week to end a legendary career.

Here's video of CMCC's return to campus with their new soccer National Championship.

Fresh off OOB's Gold Ball in 8-man, Travis Lazarczyk sat down with Coach Dean Plante to talk about the impact of 8-man.

This AD is putting the rules of the game on the programs...HINT, HINT.

As an athletic director who doubles as a basketball official, I have decided to take an educational approach this winter. I’m attaching a commonly misunderstood rules of b-ball sheet to our programs in hopes that fans won’t blurt out “rules” about b-ball that aren’t accurate! 😁 pic.twitter.com/0y1JJsYo6d
— Brad Doerring (@brad_doerring) November 21, 2024

Hampden's Bella McLaughlin had 14 points and 6 rebounds in her first career start for BU.

Sadly, it was against Maine, but still a nice start to her BU career.

Here's a nice Q&A with Chad Finn promoting his new book about the Celtics.

I've watched a lot of basketball and I don't think I've ever seen this before.

Embiid just flopped on a free throw pic.twitter.com/ePKOENAXpQ
— Northwest Nugs (@NWNugs) November 21, 2024

I believe they call this momentum.

👀
— Maine Basketball Rankings (@mebballrankings.bsky.social) 2024-11-19T23:57:51.408Z

Come on over, the skies are clear and the water is warm.

Game of the Day

A Gold Ball game is, by definition, a great game, even if it isn't. The easy move is to call the Portland/TA game the one to watch, with Portland looking for their first Gold Ball since 2002.

But the Model is most intrigued by Falmouth and Kennebunk. It makes sense. Plus, the Falmouth narrative is a compelling one.

We'll see if they can finish off the storybook turnaround.

Sports Illustrated doesn't think they can.