Brewer needed subs

Obviously, the coach of the Brewer High boys basketball team isn’t yet the coach his father is. I have attended several of Brewer’s games this season and there have been hardly any substitutions during the games.

By the fourth quarter, the starters are so tired, they cannot play to their full potential. The boys play their hearts out, but too often, they don’t have the stamina to keep pace with the other team, whose coaches do substitute.

During the broadcast of one game, Dale Duff of WZON of Bangor commented several times during the last quarter that the boys were obviously very tired.

Virginia Tillinghast

Winterport

Bangor supports Brewer

It seems that hockey is rarely placed in the news unless something negative has occurred. Many times it is related to parent confrontation or negative screaming or yelling – essentially poor sportsmanship.

I would like to acknowledge Bangor Youth Hockey’s Squirt team for the sportsmanship when they ventured to Brewer (a rival team) and supported a team, which only two days earlier they had been trying to beat.

As a parent I was proud to see so many faces I usually only see through helmets. They stood next to me and cheered on the Brewer Travel Squirt team as they were coming out of the locker room onto the ice. It was the final game in the Maine Amateur Hockey Association Tier II playoffs. Brewer ended up losing the game to Lewiston-Auburn 2-1. In my heart this game was a win with the support of Bangor players such as Chad Kelly, Joe Gagne, Scott Farnham, Johnny Warren, Cameron Taylor, Sebastian Dionne and Devon Lyshon.

All of a sudden they had “real faces,” not just hockey helmets with lots of protective padding. No longer a team to beat but a team to build friendships with.

Thank you Bangor for sharing your good sportsmanship. You made one hockey mom very proud to be in the stands.

Brenda Nadeau

Brewer

Thanks to UMaine men

I am writing in hopes you will allow me to publicly thank the University of Maine men’s basketball team, cheerleaders and athletics office. The courtesy displayed toward the Wagner Middle School team was first class. The team was welcomed to campus, interacted with the men’s team and learned about more than basketball skills.

I want to especially thank Maine coach John Giannini for the impromptu clinic and Lisa Ackley for introducing the cheerleaders and recognizing our attendance on the scoreboard at the Vermont game. The Wagner team truly appreciated the extra time spent by players Rickey White, Buddy Leavitt, Mark Flavin, David Dubois and Ludmil Hadjisotirov shooting with them. The 360-degree and two-ball dunks were impressive to say the least.

The “can do” or should I say, “can’t do enough” attitude exhibited by this year’s team truly demonstrated a passion for basketball and sense of commitment to the university. By giving back to the community you exemplified “winning more than the game.” To the Wagner team, you were already champions before leaving for Boston. Again, thank you. Best of luck in the future and go Black Bears!

Dennis Whitney

Holden

Holyoke missed mark

I look forward to reading John Holyoke’s weekend column on a regular basis. I look to him to give me that Dave Barry type escape on a more local level.

I really think he missed the mark (BDN, March 9-10), however. I don’t attend UMaine’s basketball games, male or female, black, white, yellow, beige, weight-challenged, gay, straight, physically-challenged, height-challenged or otherwise because I simply don’t care for basketball. Plain and simple. Does that make me a racist?

A sweeping generalization applied to race in this situation is alarmingly upsetting and merely acts as a kindling to start a misdirected and dangerous fire.

Wayne Sinclair

Trenton

Column sparks questions

John Holyoke’s column (BDN, March 9-10) “Race is major factor in Bears limited support,” evoked many thoughts. Friday and Saturday night I watched two Brunswick High School tournament games at the Bangor Auditorium and saw white players embrace their black teammate, Ralph Mims.

On Friday’s newscast, I saw five black players on the UMaine men’s basketball team. On the front page of the weekend BDN sports section there is a picture of the Maine-Boston College hockey game and the BC player is black.

Questions: Are there any black players on the UMaine baseball team, women’s basketball team, how many on the football team and how many in the university? Whatever the numbers, compare them with universities across the country, including the South; think about professional teams, professional sports such as golf and tennis where blacks have been virtually excluded.

Extend the inquiry to include Asians and Latinos, and it reminds me of the BDN Census 2000 report in which it was pointed out that the state’s growth in population was 3.8 percent less than 45 other states, and the growth in those other 45 states was partially from an increase in the diversity of population.

The report also stated that Maine as the least diverse population in the United States and in 10 to 20 years Maine will lose one of its seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the year 2025. The state’s growth is projected to be 13 percent compared to 25 percent across the nation. One of the recommendations in the report was to eliminate the college’s differential for out-of-staters to attract more students.

There is something odd here. New England baseball fans, Maine included, are ecstatic over Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, but if the university were to have tried to recruit him as a college player what kind of social life could he have contemplated at the Orono campus, who would he have found who spoke his native language? Why would he want to be the sole person integrating the college campus?

The reality for a sports fan is that African-Americans make the athletic teams more competitive, as they have the basketball team. A diverse student body, I would think, would strengthen the student body and the educational experience at Orono. But don’t expect that to happen if the climate is cold.

Joseph S. Braunhut

Sunset

Community, you bet

Last week our kids suffered one of the most heartbreaking losses that just about anyone can remember at the Class C basketball finals in Augusta. It was not a fitting nor just end to their season, and for some, their high school basketball careers. It was one of life’s truly difficult lessons.

These words do not make that loss any easier for those kids to accept; but, after all, our boys weren’t supposed to be there anyway. They had a first-year coach; they lost three key players at the very start of the season; and they were underdogs throughout the Eastern Maine tournament.

They weren’t supposed to be there. But they were there, and the Blue Devils played like they had all season, with true teamwork, style and class and tough, in-your-face never-say-quit basketball.

The day following the finals a reception was held at Calais High School. The high school staff was surprised at the exceptional turnout and show of support to honor these fine young men and women. It was truly an emotional event and the message to these kids was that we couldn’t be more proud of each and every one of you. You are true champions on and off the court.

Both the boys and girls teams won and lost with the style and class they have displayed throughout their high school careers, and demonstrated the epitome of good sportsmanship in a most emotional and volatile situation. For the past four years all of you have given your many fans great basketball memories and for that we are very grateful. We wouldn’t trade any one of you for all the gold balls there are.

Alan Dwelley

Calais