A new Red Sox Hall of Famer, college football's demise, and other thoughts

Just thought I’d empty out my reporter’s notebook while wondering how the Red Sox are going to compete against the Yankees' billion-dollar outfield of Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Giancarlo Stanton …

*Speaking of the Sox … how about Boston Red Sox radio announcer Joe Castiglione winning the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting? The Hamden native has been in the Fenway Park radio booth, which was named in his honor last year, for 41 seasons. Castiglione will be honored during the Hall of Fame’s induction weekend from July 19-22 in Cooperstown, New York.

Castiglione, 76, began with the Red Sox radio team in 1983 while also teaching broadcast journalism at Northeastern, Franklin Pierce and Emerson.

Besides calling all four of the Sox’s World Series in 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018, Castiglione has broadcast four no-hitters and both of Roger Clemens’ 20-strikeout games.

There’s nothing like listening to a baseball game on a summer afternoon and Castiglione is right there with the great Red Sox radio announcers of my youth. I can still hear Curt Gowdy (1984 Ford Frick winner), Ned Martin, and Ken Coleman describing the action from the father’s AM radio.

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I’ll never forget the first time my Dad took my brothers and I to Fenway Park for the first time. We walked through one of the ancient portals off Jersey Street, down a ramp, and into the lower level where we bought some hot dogs, cokes, and a program. There was a concrete tunnel, with an upward slope, next to the concession stand. We walked up the ramp and when we reached the top the world became a green oasis. Everything was bathed in lush green: from the grass to the giant left-field wall that seemed to reach up to the heavens and from the seats in the upper decks to the walls in center and right fields.

We found our seats in the grandstand and then I heard a deep voice with a unique cadence rain down from the sky. It sounded like the voice of God.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Fenway Park.”

It was Red Sox PA announcer Sherm Feller. It was always a great day when you heard Feller say those words.

*The New England Patriots aren’t going to make the NFL playoffs this season. But it was so awesome seeing the Pats upset the Steelers on Thursday night and Wesleyan’s Bill Belichick reminding everybody who the GOAT is again. The Patriots have the Chiefs, Broncos, Bills, and Jets remaining on their schedule. Those are our playoff games.

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*Let me just say that being a “stuck in the 70s” kind of guy I’ve always hated when a group of people got together in a room, peeked at a computer printout, and decided who was going to play for the national collegiate football championship. I hated the BCS and I hated the new four-team playoff.

Yes, what happened to Florida State - a worthy, undefeated Power Five conference champion being left out of the four-team playoff - was eventually going to happen. It’s simple math: five conferences for only four spots.

The folks on this playoff committee didn’t get the four “most deserving” teams in the playoff or the four “best teams” in the playoff. So what games were they actually watching?

To me, Division I college football is not a playoff sport. It’s a regular season, every Saturday sport with teams playing regional and league rivalries. And if you had a great season, then you’d be invited to a bowl game that you were absolutely thrilled to attend. And if you had a special season, maybe you were playing for a national championship in that bowl game.

The Big Ten champ would meet the Pac-12 champ in the Rose Bowl; the Southwest Conference champ (who remembers that iconic league?) would head to the Cotton Bowl and play a worthy opponent like a Notre Dame, or a Big 8 team, or an Eastern independent like Penn State or Pittsburgh or Boston College (yup, I was there in 1985 when Doug Flutie led the Eagles to a win over Houston); and the SEC and ACC champs would go to either the Sugar Bowl or the Orange Bowl and play a Notre Dame, an Eastern independent, or a Big 8 champ like Oklahoma or Nebraska.

After the bowl dust settled, Associated Press voters selected the national champion. You’re saying that’s not the way to pick a champion but, in most years, a worthy champ indeed emerged from those big bowl games.

It saddens me to see one of my favorite sports - NCAA Division I college football - turning into a professional business. Friday nights are for high schools, Saturdays are for colleges, and Sundays are for the pros. With NIL (name, image, likeness), the transfer portal (a mini version of NFL free agency), a 12-team playoff, no more regional rivalries, and a watered down meaningless bowl system where each teams top players sit out while preparing for the NFL Draft, Saturdays and Sundays might as well be one and the same.

I get it. I’m not angrily throwing the kids off the lawn. They’re here to stay. But the old bowl system would have been awesome this year. On January 1 (and no later), we've got an undefeated Michigan playing an undefeated Washington in the Rose Bowl with the winner most likely being the national champion; an undefeated Florida State playing for a piece of the title in the Orange Bowl against Georgia; Alabama in the Sugar Bowl against Oregon; and Texas in the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State.

See ... no need for a playoff.

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*The Jiggs Cecchini High School Basketball Challenge takes place on Thursday at Mohegan Sun Arena. Some of the best boys and girls teams from Connecticut and Rhode Island meet to tip-off the winter season in style under the bright neon lights in Uncasville.

The girls games feature 2022 Class M champion Sacred Heart Academy versus the Moses Brown School (RI) at 2 p.m., and 2023 Class M state champion East Hampton versus North Kingstown High School (RI) at 6 p.m.

The boys games feature 2023 Division III finalist Bloomfield versus Barrington High School (RI) at 4 p.m., and 2023 Division I finalist Northwest Catholic versus La Salle Academy (RI) at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $10 each and available online through this link: https://am.ticketmaster.com/mohegan/Jiggschallenge

*Here’s a book for your Dad’s Christmas stocking: Home Fields by Bill George. George, who was the head football coach at the Coast Guard Academy from 1999-2019, wrote a memoir and historical account of his father’s life growing up in a Syrian immigrant town called Myers (N.Y.) during the World War II era. The compelling book (www.homefieldsbook.com), which was released on Veteran’s Day, is available on Amazon with part of the proceeds going to Lauren’s First and Goal to benefit pediatric cancer patients.

George has a book signing scheduled for Jan. 27 at Bank Square Books in Mystic.

*STUCK IN THE 70s: On December 12, 1973, the Boston Celtics defeated the Buffalo Braves, 126-119, at Rhode Island’s Providence Civic Center. Jo Jo White scored 32 points with nine assists, John Havlicek had a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists, and Dave Cowens collected 20 points and nine rebounds for a Celts team that went on to win the NBA title in June.

Braves scoring machine Bob McAdoo scored 42 points.

The game was a homecoming for former Providence star Ernie DiGregorio, who led the Friars to the NCAA Final Four the previous March. DiGregorio scored 14 points and dished out nine assists against the Celtics. DiGregorio, a St. Thomas More alum, went on to lead the NBA in assists (8.2) and free throw percentage (90.2) and was selected the 1974 NBA Rookie of the Year.

Jimmy Zanor is a sportswriter for the Norwich Bulletin and can be reached at jzanor@norwichbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter@jzanorNB.

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: ZANOR'S COLUMN: Thoughts on Joe Castiglione, college football and more