Hampden fans treated differently at final

Robert J. Neill’s letter, “More to Eastern Maine than Bangor (BDN, March 15)” displays just one aspect about the “tourney” and how Bangor is given special treatment.

Five years ago, Hampden had another chance of winning its first Eastern Maine Class A championship. However, they faced a great Bangor team who ended up winning that game with ease (by 36 to be exact). As Yogi Berra might say, a championship is a championship is a championship no matter how many points one wins by.

As a player it was unbelievable to see the Bangor fans’ passion and see them storm the court to celebrate yet another Eastern Maine final. A moment one would see in the upcoming NCAA tournament when a lower seed knocks off a Duke or North Carolina. A dream most diehard fans live for.

Thank God for the Internet as I tuned into WZON and I listened as Hampden came from behind and beat Oxford Hills for their first-ever Eastern Maine Championship in Class A. I was and still am, so proud of that team, coach Russ Bartlett and of course Lucas Frace, the indispensable, student-proclaimed mascot of Hampden Academy athletics.

However, all of this said, as that final buzzer sounded, Hampden was missing something. The Bangor Auditorium “security” lined up facing the HA crowd and stood as though they were guarding the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Did Hampden not win by enough? What was the reasoning?

I know this is a very little argument in the whole scheme of things, however we define equality as, “the quality of being the same in quantity or measure or value or status.” This is why the Maine Principals’ Association allowed all teams to have a chance to play in the Auditorium. Where is the line drawn that it is OK to storm the floor when your team wins the championship?

Five years ago you must have had to win by at least 30. This year I guess seven wasn’t enough. The answer to these questions are simple, if one crowd can rush the floor and celebrate, the other crowd should be able to. Most people know if Bangor won Monday night, the bleachers would be empty and the floor would be covered with fans and players all celebrating together.

Congratulations to the Hampden basketball team. You guys deserve it. Jesse McCue is a very proud big brother!

Derek Rodgerson

Lynn University

Boca Raton, Fla.

A foul is a foul

I attended the game last Monday evening at the Bangor Auditorium that Oxford Hills coach Scott Graffam referred to in the Bangor Daily News (Tuesday, March 15). Hopefully, once Mr. Graffam reviews the film, he will see that Home “Cook”ing wasn’t available.

It was “about the children.” Too much smoke for me. A foul is a foul regardless of the time in which it took place in the game (first quarter or fourth), it’s in the book. Are fouls a factor or not at the Bangor Auditorium? Just ask No. 45 who was held and pushed in all directions throughout the entire game.

Walter Whitney

Hampden

Tributes overblown

If I understand the situation correctly, there will be tournament basketball at the Bangor Auditorium in the years to come. Granted, there will be no Class A tournament, but plenty of action in Classes B, C, and D. The tributes and false obituary of the past week are overblown; not to mention slaps in the face to smaller schools.

Dave Glidden

Bucksport

Not ‘Sports Done Right’

In response to Buck Owen’s letter (BDN, March 15) regarding putting in your star player after your team has won the game: Lee Academy vs. Hyde.

I watched on TV a couple of weeks ago when the University of Maine women’s basketball team was ahead by 20 points with less than two minutes to play and the Maine coach put star Missy Traversi back into the game.

I didn’t understand that at all but maybe it explains why the Lee Academy coach put in their star player.

My apologies to any team this has happened to. This is not “Sports Done Right.”

Bill Elliott

Bangor

Team needs to follow Moore’s example

I’m a season ticket holder for the University of Maine men’s hockey team. To watch these young men play is a privilege. I have one small pet peeve. When the National Anthem is played, very few take the time to look up at the flag, which is being honored. I understand many may be Canadian but many are not.

There is one truly exception, Greg Moore. It is not hard to pick him out of the line. For his attention, I want to say thank you. Maybe more could follow his example.

Roland Fogg

Hampden

Thorne needs to stick to doing games

It has been almost two years since the coach in Bucksport was accused and convicted of inappropriate sexual behavior with some of his players. Gary Thorne wrote an article (BDN March 28, 2002) about this situation. I saved that article. Why? I can’t really answer that, but I know it made me see red then and still does today.

You may remember Mr. Thorne’s article entitled “Non-teaching coaches present risky situation,” which basically stated that anyone not a bona fide professional teacher couldn’t possibly be qualified to coach, given all the ethical training and education nowadays. Worse than that, it alluded that we outside the school system were sexual perverts and really opened up a whole lot of liability to school administration districts crazy enough to hire us as coaches.

Well guess what? In the past couple of weeks in this same paper, we have not one, but two (one in Holden and one in Belfast) professional educators accused of sexual improprieties. This raises the question to Mr. Thorne: So now what? Where are the future coaches going to come from? Obviously, we in the parent pool don’t qualify, and now the teachers’ union is suspect.

Maybe sports announcers are our last bastion of hope. I just love when a liberal’s arrogant, elitist words come around and bite him.

Gary, just do the games – oh, that’s right, there are no games. So now what?

Stephen Dority

Winterport

Bowling deserves more coverage

Robert J. Neill from Hampden made some great points in his letter “More to Eastern Maine than just Bangor (BDN, March 15).” I think we are all in agreement that Bangor has well-deserving athletes along with everyone else associated with the sports programs. We do have several healthy rivalries within our communities and all deserve more recognition.

My complaint deals with other local events featuring talented participants. Recently the city of Bangor held their annual city bowling tournament at the Sports Arena. Granted, this is not a spectator sport. There are hundreds of men, women and children who participate in local leagues, state tournaments and national tournaments. We even have some local high schools who are beginning to form teams for their own competitive leagues.

During this recent men’s tournament in Bangor, a prefect 300 game was bowled. In basketball, this would be equivalent to making 100 percent of the shots from the field as well as 100 percent from the foul line. Imagine, a perfect game! There were other high games and series bowled as well. We’ve heard absolutely nothing about this in your sports section.

There are some men’s teams from Bangor who have already participated in the national tournament in Baton Rouge, La. Other teams will go in mid-April. Local women’s teams also participate in their own city, state and national tournaments. How about researching more local sports stories?

Debbie Clayton

Hampden

All hockey games need qualified officials

I recently had the pleasure of going to the friendship tournament in Bangor consisting of Peewee hockey teams from all over the state of Maine. I was amazed at the play from the 10- and 12-year-olds, and especially the play of the four girls on the Winslow team. However, the officiating left something to be desired.

Yes, there were well-officiated games, but there were poorly officiated games done by high school kids. In the game between Auburn and Maranacook, the officiating was very bad, and the game got out of hand and rough play was involved. With nine minutes left in the third period, the Auburn coach pulled his team off the ice and took them home.

Whether it’s a Peewee, high school, or college game, it should be done by qualified adult officials. This display was a slap in the face for Bangor and I wouldn’t blame some of the teams if they didn’t come back. One thing for sure, I didn’t let anyone know I was from the Bangor area. Whoever organized and headed this tournament had better take a long look before this happens again.

Carl N. Ripley

Stetson

Fish feel pain, deserve protection

Please allow me to respond to John Holyoke’s column “PETA bid to end fish stories fails” (BDN, March 12-13).

New studies are proving that fish are smart animals with impressive long-term memories. They feel pain. They have complex social structures and can recognize individual “shoal” mates. Some fish gather information by eavesdropping on others, and some use tools, such as the South African fish who lay their eggs on leaves and then carry them to safety. Fish even like to play: Oscar fish will toss and push ping pong balls floating on the surface of their water.

Why should we care about any of this? Because all our talk about being a “compassionate” society is just that – talk – if we don’t change our old ways of doing things, and find kinder alternatives, when presented with evidence that our actions are causing harm to others.

To learn more about fish, or PETA’s efforts to defend them, please visit FishingHurts.com.

Paula Moore

Senior Writer

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Norfolk, Va.

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