Idle thoughts from a mind gone haywire.

I was lucky enough to spend some time in my old stomping ground down in Bucksport last Friday.

Walking the sideline during the Bucksport-Stearns football game, I was struck with the thought of how fortunate the Golden Bucks are to have Joel Sankey running things.

Sankey is a classy guy who puts some fun in the game for the kids.

Back in the old days, I worked at a now-defunct newspaper in Bucksport and was lucky enough to sit in on Sankey’s current events class the day after Magic Johnson announced that he was HIV-positive.

It was purely a pleasure to watch Sankey at work. He prompted and prodded, and the kids participated.

– . –

When you’re a kid (or at least back in the golden age when I was a kid), there was only one reason you didn’t like, and claimed to hate, a player – because he could beat your team.

I wasn’t a Johnny Unitas fan. I was a Bart Starr and Green Bay Packers fan as a kid. My brother was the Colts fan. We fought (literally) over who was the better quarterback: Starr or Unitas.

I ridiculed Johnny Unitas. I laughed at his shoes. I laughed at the way he ran. I laughed at that flat-top haircut.

I laughed until I made my brother mad enough to fight.

I was a Starr fan, but Unitas was good enough to make me not like him.

– . –

OK, the Red Sox are toast, so it’s no big deal that Pedro Martinez wants to shut it down for the rest of the year.

But wouldn’t it have been nice to hear it from Red Sox management rather than the player?

At least give it the appearance that it was a team decision rather than a personal one.

– . –

It’s too bad the Red Sox didn’t win this year. The new ownership is talking about lowering the budget (just when did Boston become a small-market team?).

That’s what precipitated all of the “trade Nomar” talk. Someone pointed out that in two years, the team could have $60 million tied up in three players – Nomar Garciaparra, Pedro and Manny Ramirez.

This is scary talk because it means that people like Cliff Floyd might walk without much of an effort to keep them with the team. Wouldn’t you love to have Floyd batting behind Ramirez for a full season?

– . –

Heard this Sunday …

“The Patriots have moved into Adam Vinaterritory.”

– . –

“Season of the fraud” is just around the corner. While Bruins management continually attempts to sell the idea that they’ve done everything they can to keep their free agents – the free agents keep walking away.

(For the second time I ask, when did Boston become a small-market city?)

Did you happen to catch Bill Guerin on his way out the door? He couldn’t move fast enough to get separation from the team.

Now, they’re going to lose Kyle McLaren, who has demanded to be traded because he is tired of having a yearly battle with management over his contract.

Next up, Sergei Samsonov and Joe Thornton.

Thornton, the smiling kid, will become soured with the negotiating stance the Bruins will take. How can we be sure? They took the same stance with Raymond Bourque. If they choose to look like misers when dealing with a legend, they’ll go into negotiations with a future legend with their pants pockets hanging out.

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net.