Just thought I’d empty out my reporter’s notebook while wondering when the high school baseball and softball fields are going to dry out this spring …
The GOAT
I don’t watch a lot of women’s college basketball or the WNBA, for that matter, which is kind of a blasphemous statement in this neck of the woods. I’ve got nothing against the sport or the league. It’s just that I spend more time watching the NHL, college hockey and college baseball. I know … my sports viewing habits make me an outlier in the Nutmeg State.
But I was one of those record-setting fans who tuned in to watch the Iowa-LSU regional championship game. According to ESPN, the rematch of last year’s NCAA title game featuring Caitlin Clark, women’s college basketball’s all-time leading scorer, was the “most-watched college basketball game ever on ESPN platforms” with 12.3 million viewers, and a peak of 16.1 million viewers.
It was also ESPN’s highest audience for any basketball game since the 2018 NBA Eastern Conference Finals between LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics.
After watching Clark dribble, pass and shoot like a special combination of Carol Blazejowski and Nancy Lieberman, I can see why the GOAT rumblings for Clark had the good folks in Storrs and the rest of the state in a tizzy.
It’s simple: Iowa has Caitlin, and you don’t.
Trivia time
On May 15, 1967, the Boston Bruins traded Pit Martin, Gilles Marotte and Jack Norris to the Chicago Blackhawks. What three players did the Bruins acquire in return?
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A Boston Frozen Four
It doesn’t get any better than this Thursday’s men’s college ice hockey Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minnesota. Boston University versus Denver. Boston College versus Michigan.
Of course, I’m rooting for a rematch of the 1978 national championship game between the Eagles and the Terriers. The schools, located just three miles apart, met for the national title on March 24, 1978, in front of 11,668 raucous fans at Rhode Island’s Providence Civic Center.
Boston College lost to BU three times during the regular season, including a 12-5 shellacking in the annual Beanpot Tournament while the Blizzard of ‘78 raged outside the Boston Garden.
In the national final, the underdog Eagles had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before the Terriers rolled to a 5-3 victory behind a pair of goals from Tony Meagher and Mark Fidler.
The 1978 Terriers,…
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