SHU Spectrum

My first byline in The Spectrum, Sept 2014

My time as sports editor for The Spectrum, Sacred Heart's student-run newspaper, officially came to an end with our end-of-year dinner tonight.

It has been a pleasure to be a part of The Spectrum for the past three years. I started as a staff writer the fall semester as part of the News Writing and Reporting class. That spring, I became assistant sports editor and worked with Nick McAnney. The end of that semester, I was offered and accepted the sports editor position, which I have held the past two years. Thanks to Nick for teaching me what I needed to know.

Thanks to Anthony Santino and Tamaric Wilson who were assistant sports editors last year. Also to Alex Padalino, who was my co-sports editor this year and Heather Keller, who was our assistant this past semester.

Thanks to everyone else of the board this year and past years and to faculty advisor, Professor Joanne Kabak, for your assistance. 

Thanks to all the writers for all your work, no matter the difficulty of the assignment.

Thank you to the Athletic Communications, all the coaches and student-athletes and everyone in the athletic department for your help and patience. 

There were great moments and tough moments.

I wrote things that were fun to write, and other things that were not so fun to write. As a journalist, they all had to be done. Some I wrote well, others I would change how I wrote it. There are many reason why.

I always pushed for more online and social media presence and I am happy to see the progress that was made and what will be done in the future, including The Bridge Network.

I had ideas that I mentioned to other staff members. Some I knew would never happen, others I thought might help. Some were used, others not, and that is Ok.

There were compliments, but also complaints and suggestions. I welcomed all.

Most of all, I learned a lot of journalism and being in a work environment that will hopefully help me following graduation.  

Thanks for the memories, Spectrum.

Ludlowe and Greenwich Baseball

As I Tweeted yesterday, my "worlds collided" as Ludlowe and Greenwich played in baseball at Cardinal Yard at GHS. I've used the term of my worlds colliding when the Falcons and Cardinals played in football and basketball, as well. Obviously basketball and baseball are the teams I was a part of and am still involved with so those mean more to me.

I've been doing a lot with Rob Adams and WGCH Radio in Greenwich and obviously with it being Ludlowe baseball, I knew I would go to the game.

I was pestering Rob to call the game and as Rob alluded to in his blog, the cell service and WI-FI at GHS was not great. For that, Rob should #BlameShawn for making him call the game.

Rob called the game with Mick McGowan and I was there to Tweet, do stats, and assist the broadcast from a Ludlowe information point-of-view.

Always a fun time watching baseball and hanging with and helping of friends. 

You can listen to the game here or at 3pm today on WGCH.com on Greenwich Sentinel Doubleheader.

Opening Day

It's officially spring. It's Opening Day for Major League Baseball

For me, as a huge baseball fan, it's one of the best days of the year. As much as I love other sports, there is something special about baseball. It has such a great history. And it's played every day so there is always a game on TV to watch.

There is something special about Opening Day when the lineups are announced and the teams run out to the baselines as they are introduced. 

Baseball has changed, but there is still great tradition. 

For baseball fans, today is a great day. I would use the cliche of it being Christmas morning, but I'm Jewish, so pick your holiday/special occasion.

On a down note, this will be the first year since 1949 without Vin Scully behind a microphone.

In terms of the Yankees, I hope the have a good year, but I don't see them as a playoff team. The youth should be fun to watch. 

Yankees/Blue Jays Sept. 5 2016 (SS Photo)

If you want to read something really well written about Opening Day, check out Rob Adams' blog post from two years ago.


Here are my predictions for the season, which will probably be completely wrong.

I could write more, but I would just be rambling. Let the season begin. Play ball!

Sports Heartbreak

As sports fans we have memories of great moments and games for our teams and for games we watch, be it our team or not.

Sports also breaks our hearts.

I am not a Wisconsin fan, but I do enjoy rooting for them, and last night's loss to Florida in the Sweet 16 was heartbreaking. The Badgers never gave up. Florida kept trying to pull away late and Wisconsin stayed in the game until they were able to tie it until Zak Showalter's three with 2.5 left to send the game to overtime.

Wisconsin took a 83-81 lead with four seconds left in overtime before Chris Chiozza's running three-pointer as time expired ended the Badgers season and sent the Gators to the Elite Eight.

With that said, I thought of heartbreaking losses I've seen. The odd thing, being a Packers fan, I can think of many heartbreaking losses for Wisconsin sports fans.

Yes, I'm a Duke basketball fan, but the Duke loss wasn't as crazy as last night, so it didn't have as much emotion.

Here are my top five off the top of my head, in no particular order. I'm sure I'm missing some and these are for teams I was rooting for. Comment your thoughts and let's get the conversation going. 

1) 2014 NFC Championship - Packers vs Seahawks
2) 2012 Notre Dame vs Florida State Football
3) 2017 Wisconsin vs Florida Elite Eight
4) 2004 ALCS Game Seven - Yankees vs Red Sox
5) 2008 NFC Championship - Packers vs Giants

Update: I was thinking of this based off last night but from a team I am a fan of, I would have to switch the Wisconsin game for Packers/Cardinals in 2015. 

March Madness

The 2017 NCAA Tournament, also called "March Madness" begins today.

As we often do, I'm sure we will see some upsets, especially today and tomorrow.

Have multiple teams I am rooting for, for a number of different reasons. Overall, I hope we get competitive, exciting games. The teams I am rooting for are Duke, Wisconsin, Vermont, and Rhode Island. Unfortunately. those four teams are in the East and Midwest regions, respectively, so they all can't make the final four.  

I filled out two different brackets. After filling out the first one, I wasn't happy to see how much "chalk" I had. And I filled them out for different groups.

My first bracket: Lots of chalk

That was the first one, which I wasn't happy to see that I had picked the four number one seeds to be in my "Final Four."

Bracket number two

I was much happier with bracket number two. In this bracket, I picked a few upsets with my heart, rather than my brain.

I will be ecstatic if Duke makes the championship, as I don't think they really had a great year. However, as a fan of the Blue Devils (yes, I'm a front-runner), seeing North Carolina win would hurt, especially if it is against Duke.

Today is one of the best sports days of the year, along with Major League Baseball Opening Day and the Super Bowl, in my opinion. March Madness also means that spring and baseball is close which makes me happy.

Excited to watch the games. Lets have some fun! 

Thank You....Ludlowe Basketball

In December, I wrote about my experiences about being a student manager for Ludlowe basketball and baseball.

The 2016-2017 Ludlowe basketball season came to an end last night. 

Since graduating high school in 2013, I have still been around the teams....a lot.  It's been a blast.

Due the the fact that I'm graduating college in May, I'm going to need to get a job. That being said, I realize that last night is probably the last time I will be around the basketball program on a close to everyday basis.

Who knows, depending on a job I get, if I will still go to some games, or even if I might be covering the teams.

With that being said, many people to thank.

 First off, Josh Marko, who was the basketball coach and I managed freshman baseball for him. I never managed basketball for him as he resigned, but I never would have thought of managing basketball if it wasn't for Coach Marko asking me about it.

Brian Silvestro, who was the varsity head coach for the three years I was the manager. He was not only a coach, who I enjoyed helping out and doing whatever was needed. He became a friend and someone who would (and still does) push me with school work and other life things.

John Dailey, thank you for allowing me to continue to be around the program after I graduated when you took over as varsity coach.

To all the other coaches, sub-varsity and volunteer assistants...Thank you.

Alex Borusso, Kevin Mason, Kieran Kilbride, Colin Sullivan and Jack Began. All of these people (sorry if I missed anyone) were varsity managers at one point or another in the last four years. Thank you for allowing me to hang and help you guys out. Sorry if I did too much. You guys were fantastic and I can't think of better successors.

To all the players, from guys like Kevin Bentivegna and Erik Krumins, who were seniors my first year, through this years team, thank you for allowing me to be a part of the team

This is a program that I am so thankful for being a part of. I'll always have the managers pride and I'll always follow this program.

Baseball season ahead. Falcon Pride forever!

Super Bowl LI

So it's Super Bowl Sunday.

Patriots and Falcons will kick-off at 6:30pm.

Living in the New England and the Northeast, there are a lot of Patriot fans around here. However, for the majority of people who are not Patriot fans, people are rooting for the Falcons.

I am one of those rooting for the Falcons, but just hope we get a good game.

If the Patriots win, Bill Belichick and  Tom Brady will have the most Super Bowl victories for a coach and quarterback combination of all-time. Currently the Patriot duo is tied with the Steeler's duo of Chuck Knoll and Terry Bradshaw.

I previewed the game and gave my prediction in The Spectrum. You can read that here.

I am sure, in addition to watching the game for the football aspect, I will be watching for the broadcast purpose. The game is on Fox, with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman in the booth, along with Erin Andrews on the sideline.

In honor of the Super Bowl, had to watch this earlier today.

Brett Favre was drafted by Atlanta and then traded to the Packers. That's a good reason to root for the Falcons. #RiseUp

Good luck to all the Patriots fans I know.