As a sports fan, what tops your holiday wish list this year?
Frank Coppola
Sports editor
Twitter: @FCoppolaSMG
Another early playoff exit for Peyton Manning. Santa has ignored my pleas for a Patriots championship over the past few years, so now I’m wishing for the next best thing. The rivalry between Tom Brady and Manning has taken some fascinating turns over the years, with the future Hall of Famers battling for historical legacy as the greatest QB of this generation — or perhaps of all-time. Of course, Manning’s Achilles’ heel in either debate is his putrid playoff record, which stands at 9-11 with eight one-and-dones. The national media often forgets that fact when it slobbers over Manning for putting up Nintendo numbers during the regular season. “Sports Illustrated” just named Manning its Sportsman of the Year despite his latest playoff choke against Baltimore last January. Maybe they really enjoy his Papa John’s commercials? Peyton will probably win his fifth MVP award in a few weeks and break Brady’s single-season record of 50 touchdown passes, but that will only make it sweeter when he is bounced from the playoffs again. Get it done, Santa.
Jay Pinsonnault
Asst. sports editor
Twitter: @JayPinceSMG
A fourth Vince Lombardi Trophy in the hallowed halls of the New England Patriots Hall of Fame in Foxborough. It has been nine, yes, nine years since Tom Brady has led the Patriots to a Super Bowl victory. Since that day in February 2005 against the Philadelphia Eagles down in Jacksonville, the Patriots have lost two Super Bowls to the New York Giants (2008, 2012) and lost to the Indianapolis Colts (2007) and Baltimore Ravens (2013) in the AFC championship game. In fact, the Patriots, believe it or not, are in the longest championship drought of the four major Boston sports teams. Patriot Nation has been spoiled for the past 12 years ever since Mo Lewis kick-started Brady’s Hall of Fame career. Brady is no longer the 24-year-old wonder kid who led the Patriots to their improbable win over the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. He is 36, his career is on the back nine and the window for No. 12 to hoist another trophy is getting smaller every year.
Mike Zhe
Staff writer
Twitter: @MikeZhe603
Better leadership for the NHIAA and better decision-making from its Football Committee. All indications are that the three-classification format for football will be continued in 2014 and that Portsmouth High School will be elevated to Division I, where it will compete against some schools three times its size. Locally and statewide, there is plenty of interest in a four-division format, interest that seems to have fallen on deaf — or obstinate — Football Committee ears. Football is still the sport with the heaviest participation numbers in the state (3,548 in 2012-13, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations), and the kids who make the effort should at least be rewarded with a level playing field. Meanwhile, Pat Corbin steps down as the head of the NHIAA on July 1, which will end an eight-year tenure marked by the laudable addition of several sports, but also the reduction of neutral-site tournament games and this current football mess. Hopefully, his successor tackles those issues immediately and can right some wrongs. Need some guidance? Just look at Maine.
Ryan O’Leary
Staff writer
Twitter: @RyanOLearySMG
A Frozen Four appearance for the University of New Hampshire men’s hockey team. Hey, Santa, a guy can dream, right? Last time my alma mater reached the national championship game was 10 years ago, the year before I moved into Stoke Hall on campus as a freshman. My ’Cats were ripped by Minnesota, 5-1, that year. I remember the 1999 championship more vividly; it was the year UNH lost to Maine in overtime, a game that had my father and I repeatedly leaping from the couch to the floor. Exciting stuff. So, Santa, I think it’s time for this decade-long drought to end, and it’s only fair after the football team’s spirited run to the FCS national semifinals. The ’Cats have some work to do after a not-so-inspiring, 9-9-1 start to the season. Still, they won eight of 12 entering the holiday break and return out in a holiday tournament in Florida against Cornell on Dec. 28. UNH would really have to flounder to miss the Division I tournament, a place it’s been 11 times in the last 12 years. And it came tantalizingly close last spring, falling one game short of the Frozen Four with a 2-0 loss to UMass-Lowell. It’d be a lot of fun to see the ’Cats have a football-esque breakthrough this time.
Dan Doyon
Correspondent
Twitter: @DanDoyon1SMG
I love the potential the Boston Celtics have shown this season, but it’s been too much. GM Danny Ainge appears to have great plan in place, beginning with the hiring of coach Brad Stevens, who has this young group playing hard for him. Unfortunately, the fastest way to being relevant in the NBA is to bottom out, and this Celtics team is too good for that in the pathetic Eastern Conference. Boston’s 12-15 record is good enough for fourth in the East, but all that means is a loss in the first or second round. Hopefully Ainge can trade any pieces he can, like Jordan Crawford, Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, Jeff Green or ... Rajon Rondo? When Rondo comes back, the Celtics will definitely be too good to be in the lottery. I would rather keep him and see what he does with Jared Sullinger ... next year. But with the best NBA draft in 10 years looming, my wish is for the Celtics to get in the lottery and get a major building block for the future. Maybe the Celtics won’t get Jabari Parker or Andrew Wiggins, but with two first-round picks, I’d like one of them to be in the lottery.