We could have audibled this week, but coach told me to stick with the play we had called. So this week’s weekly feature is on Jeremy Colliton, based on interviews conducted about five hours before news of his recall to Long Island broke. (Definitively before the recall happened, because there was talk going on about whether someone — and then, of course, who — would get the call with Shawn Bates out.) Changed the focus around a little, but I hope the play still worked. (You might have to actually find the print version today, because I don’t see the link up yet.)
Football theme, of course, because I spent the morning in the snow at Ridgefield. More than eight years after I started with the Post, I finally got to Ridgefield for the first time. (The only FCIAC school I have not visited is Ludlowe, but I have an excuse: It wasn’t re-opened until after I moved over to the Sound Tigers beat.) (What do you mean that excuse doesn’t hold water?)
The way I figure it, of the schools we cover that were around when I was covering high schools, the only ones I now haven’t seen are New Fairfield (kind of odd, but in a way kind of not), Hyde, Career, Abbott Tech, Whitney Tech and Sacred Heart Academy. (Also Greens Farms Academy and Christian Heritage, but they weren’t calling us back then.)
Ridgefield is tough to get to. I don’t know how people live there. (I kid. They get there by getting rich.) They have a really nice facility at their football stadium, a brand-new complex there; there’s a grand entryway, with a concession stand and rest rooms. There’s a neat granite monument in the foyer, with a bunch of inspirational sayings etched in. One: “You always miss 100% of the shots you do not take.” It’s attributed to one Wayne Gretsky, which sours my whole opinion of Ridgefield. (I kid, again, and no punch line this time.)
OK, back to hockey mode.
Bloggin’ ’round the league: Check out the blog that ace Penguins reporter Jonathan Bombulie is keeping. Jonathan talks about roster shakeups, Arpad Mihaly and the Hockey Monkey.
A little time with the folks today, then on to Syracuse and a Philly doubleheader. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. (Unless you’re Canadian, in which case I’m a month and a half late.)