Taking a look at what’s goin’ on in sports

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Hey, dudes, a lot is happenin’ and most of it is very excellent…. (Can you tell I just watched “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” again?)

What else can be said about Harold Alfond that hasn’t already been said?

His $2 million donation to the University of Maine for the expansion of the Alfond Arena further reinforces what we already knew: the man has a deep concern for the people in the state of Maine and wants to improve their quality of life.

The expansion of the Alfond will not only benefit the hockey and men’s and women’s basketball programs, it will also pave the way for all kinds of non-athletic ventures.

The Performing Arts Center is a wonderful place to view an event, but it has limited seating. The university will now be able to book acts or conferences that would require more seating. This, in turn, gives the university more exposure.

The Harold Alfonds of the world are few and far between. In addition to his countless philanthropic endeavors for which he is known, the humble Alfond showed another side of himself at Tuesday’s press conference. He charmed the packed gathering with his wit, some of which was directed at his close friend, Larry Mahaney.

Now that the much-needed rink expansion is on the brink of becoming a reality, if they can only do something about the parking situation.

Next item…. The World Cup has been a joy to watch even though our Americans have a lot to learn, especially about one-on-one defense.

It became obvious that the Americans had not been exposed to many world-class strikers. Their lack of footspeed along the back line was exploited to the fullest.

You can expect the 1994 U.S. World Cup team to be much quicker in all areas.

Soccer is like any other sport in that there is no substitute for speed.

Anyway, we can’t be that disappointed. They may have gone 0-3, but they at least have a benchmark. Now they know exactly what they must do to become more competitive in the 1994 World Cup, which they will host.

For 1994, wouldn’t you like to see them widen the goals by six feet so we won’t have so many 1-0 games?

I’ve tinkered with all kinds of ways to add more goals to soccer games and that seems to be the best solution. Teams will be inclined to shoot more from longer range and they will have a legitimate chance of scoring.

I’d also like to see the offsides rule altered so that you can’t be offsides as long as you are 30 or more yards from the opposing goal. The North American Soccer League used to have something like that.

This would eliminate offsides traps at midfield.

Item No. 3…. Why do the Boston Red Sox hit into so many double plays?

Two reasons: first, they don’t have much team speed. Second, their manager has no offensive imagination.

Our beloved Red Sox are playing station-to-station baseball. They aren’t bunting, they aren’t using the hit-and-run or run-and-hit and, to complement manager Joe Morgan’s lack of imagination, nobody is hitting home runs.

The Red Sox have hit 11 homers in their last 28 games.

The Red Sox need three hits in an inning to score a run and that has been made very difficult by the dreaded 6-4-3, 5-4-3 or 4-6-3. And to think Jim Rice isn’t even on the team any more.

Morgan obviously doesn’t want to ruffle the feathers of his veterans, so they don’t bunt. The designated bunters are Luis Rivera and Jody Reed.

C’mon Joe. Make something happen. Hit-and-run, try a delayed steal, slash, do something.

Rearrange your order.

Put Jody Reed in the leadoff spot and hit Wade Boggs second. Reed began the week with the second best on-base percentage on the team behind Boggs and he’s a better runner than Boggs. Boggs has better bat control than Reed and would be an ideal hit-and-run man.

Then have Ellis Burks in the three spot.

The starting pitching, thanks to the emergence of Dana Kiecker and Greg Harris, has been surprisingly solid. The bullpen, now that Rob Murphy is pitching better, seems to be in good shape if Jeff Reardon’s back ailment heals.

But the Red Sox are going to have to score more runs if they are going to win the American League East.