Harold Alfond leaves a long legacy of giving

Born in 1914, Harold Alfond, one of Maine's most well-known and beloved benefactors passed away on Friday. Several of Maine's colleges and universities were honored with sizable donations by the founder and former owner of Dexter Shoe. Quite frankly, it's hard to imagine sports in Maine without the contributions this man made, which totalled well into the multi-millions of dollars. Alfond was also a former part owner of the Boston Red Sox. Perhaps the most significant of his donations was the one that created Alfond Arena. (show above) In 1977, The University of Maine was ready to make the jump to Division 1 Men's Ice Hockey. Alfond's generous donation enabled the university to build the original arena with 3,500 seats and later expand to 5,500. Two national titles later, it is one of the most feared home ice arenas in all of college hockey. Along with several other structures on the Orono campus, Alfond also contributed sports facilities and educational centers to St. Joseph's College, The University of New England, Husson College, and Colby College. Harld Alfond's legacy will live on and his passion for sports in the state of Maine will be fondly remembered.

A sad state of affairs in high school sports

Not too long ago, I wrote a post about playing sports for the love of the participation and passion for the games. When I wrote that I was unaware of something that happened in my home state of Maine that really has me sad.
Granted, rules are important in sports. When you break the rules, you get punished, but at the same time, rules are established for a reason. Some are based on situational factors while others are set up to stop something from possibly happening. We have increasing seen different sport almost re-write their rule books to allow for interpretation of rules that have particular areas of grey. This is one of those rules that certainly should have been better evaluated prior to acting upon…
In late October, the Massabesic Mustangs’ Girls Cross Country team was competing in the Maine State Championships when they encountered “Rule 4, Section 5, Article 8-c of the National Federation rulebook prohibits: Competitors joining or grasping hands with each other during a race.”
At the end of the 23-minute race two of Massabesic’s runners were about to finish 5th and 6th in the race. While the team already had two top-ten finishers, a Class A State Championship was all theirs; and then freshman Nicole Smith took the hand of teammate and senior, Kendra Johnson. After crossing the finish line, both competitors were disqualified and Massabesic High School fell from 1st to 4th overall.
When asked about the disqualification, Massabesic Coach Mark Crepeau said, “There was no intent to help. Their intent was to congratulate each other because the race was over." And the coach has a point. The rule in question was established so runners couldn’t band together and block other runners from passing. There were no runners approaching Smith and Johnson.
Sadly, the Massabesic team lost what should have been a title for them and a shot at the New England Championships being held this weekend. Even sadder is that none of the other teams had a problem with the disqualification even though the situation was clear.
Nicole Smith and Kendra Johnson are competitors who celebrated the spirit of competition on that day and they were penalized for their love of both the sport and the concept of being a teammate.

When it was a game...

The title reminds me of a two-part HBO special from the 80's or 90's about the days of baseball's past. Mostly shot in black and white with real interviews and candid moments with some of the games greats, the special showed something that is seemingly gone from professional sports - the love and passion for playing the game.
Yes, I'm well-aware that there are plenty of professional athletes out there with all the drive in the world, but they are totally overshadowed by the self-absorbed and larger-than-life characters that we as a society have created. These people get paid millions of dollars to play and we treat them as gods. Curious. Perhaps that's why they are self-absorbed.
In the 1980s athletes began to get very large contracts and once it started, it just got worse and worse and team owners and sponsors competed with each other. In the past few years, some professional sports leagues have put salary caps on teams, but players still make absurd amounts of money while rarely showing the class that the ballplayers from days gone by, showed.
I'm not going to call any of these athletes out by name. We all know who thought he was bigger than the World Series. We all know current players who think they are bigger than basketball. Hell, we even know golfers that make so much money from sponsorship - due to demand from fans who watch and create ratings - that you'd think he'd appreciate his fans, but the reality is that sports in our country have been declining for decades and it's a sad commentary.
I could make more of an argument, or rant, if you will and delve into the world of "college athletics," but I don't think there is enough room on the page; however, on the note of "amateur" sports, it isn't too long ago that we watched the Olympics and saw a unique spectacle that only allowed amateur athletes. While that is mostly not the case by-in-large, there are still many events in the Olympics (winter and summer) where money is NOT an issue whatsoever and it is great to see the twinkle in the eyes of these athletes as they enter the stadium for the opening ceremonies. Their payday isn't a bid check, but rather a small flag embroidered on their uniform, a camera full of priceless pictures, and memories to last a lifetime. Some of the events may be obscure, but perhaps it is those sports where we find those athletes who truly embrace and remember, when it was a game!