YMCA swimming deserves coverage

After reading the fair coverage that the BDN gave the state high School swim meets, I was very disappointed on March 5th to find absolutely no coverage of the State YMCA Swim Meet, which happened all weekend in the Wallace Pool at UMaine in Orono.

I believe that swim programs, and notably YMCA swim programs, deserve a lot more recognition than they receive. If it weren’t for YMCA swimming, high schools would have very few athletes to work with, not to mention that the best swimmers on most high school teams started with YMCA programs. YMCA programs produce not only excellent athletes, but superior students as well.

There were two valedictorians swimming at the YMCA meet. Last year, Old Town High School sent three young men to U.S. service academies and one was accepted at four academies. One thing they had in common was that they were all YMCA swimmers.

Swimming provides more college scholarships for Maine athletes than any other sport. Once in college, swimmers have the highest overall grade point averages of all collegiate athletes, on average.

It comes as no surprise that when U.S. Special Forces, and of course the Navy SEALs, go looking for recruits, they start with the swimmers. I believe that a sport that does as much to build character, discipline and mental toughness, as YMCA swimming, should get better coverage in the sports section.

Brian Foley

Orono

Story was needed on state cheering event

“Bangor Daily muffs another one!”

This should be your headline for Tuesday March 13. Your Monday, March 12 edition covered a multitude of sports and public interest events from Brewer winning the state hockey title to the Iditarod race in Alaska. You printed articles and results on everything from NASCAR in Las Vegas to middle school wrestling in Rumford.

Your state page carried articles about the hundreds who turned out in Farmington and the hundreds who gathered in Caribou. The only thing you people seem to have turned a blind eye to is the hundreds and hundreds who gathered at the Bangor Auditorium on Saturday to watch the state middle school and elementary school cheerleading competition.

With the Bangor Auditorium being so close to the BDN, you would think that someone would have noticed the gathering, but obviously you were “out to lunch.”

Too bad, because you missed one heck of a time. Just ask the multitudes who were there. A longstanding attitude that cheering is not a sport is rapidly disappearing. Any cheerleader parent will tell you that if it were any easier, they would call it football.

With over 25 teams participating and sponsorship by Wal-Mart stores, it is obvious that the interest is everywhere except the newspaper. The Penobscot must really be iced in lately because you folks sure missed the boat on this one.

Pam & Pete Mercier

Baileyville

Change gym’s name

Let’s call it Barry/Reed Gymnasium, home of the Bangor Rams.

Rick Cosmos

Bangor

Bangor victories spark Ram title memories

Each Eastern Maine or state basketball championship won by Bangor High’s Rams brings two kinds of joy to an aging BHS alumnus. The first is the joy of the moment, and Bangor’s nearly flawless performance in the recent state championship game was undoubtedly one of the best I have seen in 60 years as a Ram fan. The players’ discipline and execution of coach Roger Reed’s immaculate game plan was a thing of beauty to behold in the comfort of my living room!

Inevitably, it sent me back to my collection of tournament programs to “analyze” exactly what Bangor High School teams have accomplished in the 86 years since the state championship games began. The evidence is clear and impressive, as far as Bangor High is concerned.

Since 1922, Bangor High has won 21 Eastern Maine titles and 11 state titles. Bangor is now tied with South Portland in state championships, but South Portland has a significant edge in regional titles with 18.

Since 1947, when I began following Bangor Rams basketball, the Rams have won 15 Eastern Maine titles and 10 state championships. Six regional titles and three state championships were won under coach Red Barry while eight regional and seven state titles have been won under current coach Reed.

Red coached at Bangor for 22 years and Roger has just coached his 21st season for the Rams. The 1947 regional and state championship teams were coached by Fred Pinkham, whose teams won five regional titles and one state championship between 1936 and 1947.

Coach Barry used to say that the 1955 and 1959 teams were the best teams of his career at Bangor High. The 1955 team made it to the semifinals of the New England tournament and the 1959 team played in the championship game. Coincidentally, the captain of the 1955 team was Charlie Taylor and the 1959 floor general was his brother, Joe. (There’s something about those Taylor boys, isn’t there?)

Memories mingle with the moment when another gold ball is added to the Bangor High trophy case, and how sweet they are!

Hal Wheeler

BHS Class of 1955

Baskets cause query

Trivia question: What Maine high school player scored the last basket of the game in two consecutive state championship games?

Answer: Dexter’s Mallory Ames, who scored a 3-pointer to end the scoring in this year’s state title game against Mount Abram and scored in the waning moments of the 2006 title game with Hall-Dale.

Bill Sawtell

Brownville

Refs need to let the kids play basketball

In answer to Ron Brown’s column (BDN, March 6) about the good, the bad and the ugly. When referees call 57 fouls, as they did in the Camden Hills-Winslow game, 38 after three quarters, 57 total, it sure leaves room to wonder.

Are the kids really being allowed to play basketball? Under those condition, I would have to say, no, along with many others who were at this game. In basketball, you’re going to have brushes, touches, and etc., but you have to allow a little leeway to let them play.

What if you called all the pushing and shoving under the basket? The whole team would be on the bench!

Fouls can change the outcome of a well-played game by both teams. No team deserves to lose because of an “eye winker” foul not worth calling!

Another thing, these kids are old enough to be working with a 30-second clock, their next step is college and they’re going to have to work with it there.

There’s nothing more boring than to watch a slowdown game. Fans don’t come to the tournament to watch that kind of basketball.

Lastly my congratulations to the Maine Principals’ Association for running such an outstanding tournament, thanks to all of you and you’re staff. Also to the Bangor Auditorium staff who do such a fine job of keeping things moving and under control.

Howard Perkins

Ellsworth

Note to readers: The BDN reserves the right to edit submissions for libel, taste, clarity, and to fit available space. Letters should include a signature, full name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters may be mailed to: P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402, or e-mailed: bdnsports@bangordailynews.net