Newsday reports that the Isles’ coaching search is down to three: Bob Hartley, Paul Maurice and — wait for it — Scott Gordon. And with all due respect to the NHL vets, those of us who’ve been around this league awhile aren’t surprised.
The highlight of new Basingtoke defensman Jason Goulet’s career? Bridgeport.
RIP, Isaac Hayes.
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So since I like to have at least a half an idea about the people I’m trying to cover… I’ve avoided all Shelton National stuff and just tried to figure out where the other 15 teams come from. Here’s a bit on each:
Waipio LL, Waipahu, Hawaii – Right next to Pearl Harbor; the USS Arizona rests a couple of miles to the southeast.
Citrus Park LL, Tampa – Looks like northwest Tampa. They also have a softball team going to Little League’s “Big League” World Series in Kalamazoo, Mich., beginning Monday.
Canyon Lake LL, Rapid City, S.D. – Western end of the state, 40 miles east of Wyoming. First South Dakota team to make it. I couldn’t tell if this was a town or just a neighborhood, but Google Maps has something called “Gossage Memorial” right near where this league is based. Hey, the Hall of Famer ain’t dead yet…
Mill Creek, Wash. – Just off I-5, about 20 miles north of Seattle.
(South) Lake Charles, La. – Used to have a WPHL team. Western Louisiana, about halfway between Houston and New Orleans.
Jeff/GRC American LL, Jeffersonville, Ind. – Directly across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky. They won their regional the other night in 11 innings.
Pabao LL, Willemstad, Curacao* – Curacao is in the Netherlands Antilles, off the coast of Venezuela. This league has been to the World Series six years in a row and won it all in 2004.
Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico – Just across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, near the delta. Not all that far from where Rich Bocchini works now, actually.
Emilia, Italy – Up in the north. Lots of towns and cities whose names are on cheeses. Apparently they’re actual Italian kids; the only other team from Italy to make the World Series was a team of U.S. Air Force kids. (Ireland lost all six games in the European tournament. It has done better in golf.)
Southern Guam LL, Yona, Guam – Yona appears to be pronounced ‘Joan-Ya’. Guam is right next to the Mariana Trench. That’s deep.
Arabian American LL, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia – Expatriate Americans in Saudi Arabia. When they don’t reach Williamsport, something’s off.
Edogawa Minami LL, Tokyo – Couldn’t find much about them. Heard of Tokyo, though.
White Rock-South Surrey LL, White Rock, B.C. – Down the block from the U.S. border. (Almost. About four miles.) Near Vancouver. Only about 100 miles from Mill Creek, Wash.
Coquivacoa LL, Maracaibo**, Venezuela – Not all that far from Curacao, really. That big lagoon in northern Venezuela? It’s Maracaibo Lagoon. The city is at the narrow point, on the west bank.
There’s one more spot to be had, between Devon Strafford LL (Devon, Pa., near Villanova****) and Hagerstown (Md.) Federal (home of the Suns, just east of that spot where Maryland narrows to almost nothing). Get yourself to Bristol Monday night, and you can watch them play off.
*-Curacao was very difficult for me to plunder in Sid Meier’s “Pirates!”*** I was terrible at land assaults and at attacks from the west, and that was the only way you could do it. At least they’d trade with you, if you didn’t have a notorious-enough reputation yet.
**-Maracaibo was much easier. Sea attacks available from both the north and east, which gave you good odds of having no worse than a crosswind. Plus, treasure fleet and silver train visits.
***-I have an old computer, worthless for almost anything else at this point, that I have fixed up solely to continue to play the original “Pirates!” Sad, I know.
****-Dumb fact: Devon Stafford had a shorter trip to Bristol (c. 215 miles, four hours on Google Maps) than it did to the Pennsylvania state final in West Middlesex, Pa. (about five miles from Ohio, but 350 miles and five and a half hours from Devon).