Hopes high for Patriots title in ’08

Each new year brings reason for hope, so here are a few sports hopes I have for 2008:

. That the New England Patriots re-sign Randy Moss, and that Moss understands the value of his relationship with the team isn’t measured totally in the number of millions on his check. Moss has made Tom Brady the best quarterback in the National Football League, but Brady has made Moss the best receiver in the league, too. I don’t think Moss will go to the Atlanta Falcons or somewhere else for a few dollars more, but you never know until the ink is dry on the next contract.

. That the Patriots finish 19-0, because anything less than a Super Bowl victory will be a huge disappointment. The undefeated regular season has been memorable, but the expectations surrounding the team since it acquired Moss, Wes Welker and Adalius Thomas during the offseason have been to win it all, nothing less. Success often is measured relative to expectations, and at this point, if the Patriots finish 17-1 or 18-1, everyone will remember the 1, not the 17 or 18. Consider the 1985 Chicago Bears. They finished with just one loss, but it’s not the loss we remember. It’s the 46-10 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XX we remember – or try to forget.

. That the Maine Principals’ Association revisits its recent practice of holding its high school tennis state singles semifinals and finals on Memorial Day. I know the schedule is tight around the end of the school year, but to this son of a World War II veteran, it’s just unnecessary, particularly when you’re able to schedule events around most other major holidays – and all Sundays. If you want to plan an event around Memorial Day, how about something truly educational, because current and future generations need to keep being reminded about the sacrifices made so that we have the option to hold tennis matches on Memorial Day.

. That the Boston Celtics come up with a veteran backup point guard, perhaps the only thing separating the Green from an appearance in this year’s NBA finals, if not the 17th championship in franchise history. Led by the Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, the Celtics already are better than most teams in the league. But the Detroit Pistons exploited their lack of a quality backup to starting point guard Rajon Rondo in their first meeting this season and probably will again when they meet Saturday night in Auburn Hills, Mich.

. That the University of Maine athletic program will bounce back from its current travails. The Black Bears are struggling both on and off the field of play these days. Many teams are struggling with respect to wins and losses, even some of the athletic department’s more successful teams historically.

The additional bad press emanating from area police blotters can’t help morale, either, even though the recent spate of legal issues represents just a small percentage of those who represent the school in the athletic arena and probably is not out of line with similar percentages for the public at large, or at least those in their late teens and early 20s.

. Finally, I hope to shovel less snow in 2008 than I did at the end of 2007. Here’s hoping for blizzards aplenty in the mountains, the Maine Winter Sports Center and anywhere else that turns the white stuff into recreation and, or, profit. As for me, enough already. I haven’t seen this much snow since the onset of global warming.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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