NBA PLAYOFFS in September. Hockey on melted ice in August. Baseball on Christmas Day in warm weather, at neutral sites. Deshaun Watson playing quarterback for the Patriots. Baseball doubleheaders with seven-inning games. Drafts via conference/video call. Mookie Betts and others granted the y…
When I describe someone as “hardworking,” I take two factors into consideration. The first is obviously their effort toward a specific task and the second is the level of disdain they experience while working. In my opinion, a truly hard worker both sticks to the task and does so even when t…
Editor’s note: The Union Leader is bringing back some of Joe Sullivan’s Union Leader sports columns. This one was originally published on March 17, 2009.
We're re-running columns by late Union Leader writer Joe Sullivan.
THE NCAA’S DECISION to grant an extra year of eligibility to its spring athletes affected by COVID-19 could result in the Winnipesaukee Muskrats and the Keene Swamp Bats, New Hampshire’s two entries in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, having better talent on their rosters this sum…
WHENEVER I watch the parade of big trucks leaving Fenway Park, my mind races to summer. Obviously, the baseball players are riding to spring training in other vehicles but my fascination is in the cargo trucks. I love the players and hope for a successful season but my true obsession is with…
ROBERT KRAFT offered an interesting comment in the wake of Tom Brady’s announcement that Brady’s football career will end elsewhere.
There are some things in sports that just don’t look right.
PAUL HOGAN said he first spotted something special in his NHTI men’s basketball team during a game in mid-November. He wasn’t the only one who saw the team’s potential that night, either.
The assumption is with the new collective bargaining agreement passing for the NFL, that’s good news with respect to a possible Tom Brady return to Foxborough, Mass.
AMID THE PAIN and immediate suffering that is the shutting down of the sports world, there is one thing not affected by the dreaded virus.
Most rivers and streams in New Hampshire open to fishing on Jan. 1. This may seem exciting to those anglers who love flowing conditions and highly prefer open water to ice fishing. I am in the middle of the road on this one as I love ice fishing but have a very strong affinity for water in i…
On one of those rare days on the calendar where no sporting contests were listed, the phone at the dive bar I frequented in college rang. The bartender who doubled as bookmaker answered it and had a distraught customer on the other end of the line.
Tom Brady Sr. predicted a messy divorce between the Patriots and his son. That was five years ago.
FIRST OF ALL, the message is clear. Don’t panic.
When Mike Souza woke up on Jan. 31, his University of New Hampshire hockey team was tied for sixth place in Hockey East, just five points behind UMass, which occupied the top spot in the league standings.
I HAVE a few fishing partners who become mentally unhinged if they catch a species other than that which they were targeting. I’m thinking of one guy specifically who I won’t name but faithful readers might identify. When this dude hooks a fish on a fly rod, plays it and finally lands it in …
IF Tom Brady indeed winds up leaving New England to end his playing career, well ... let’s just say it won’t be for a lack of Julian Edelman trying to keep him in New England.
NO OTHER TEAM in Division I has experienced the kind of turnaround Bishop Guertin of Nashua has this year.
QUICKIE QUIZ for you with just over three weeks left before opening day — and with the Red Sox and their interim manager still waiting on possible MLB discipline.
MORGAN FRANCIS may not care for the spotlight, but that’s where he’ll be Friday afternoon.
THEY SAY a picture is worth a thousand words.
A NEW HAMPSHIRE winter can offer many different conditions for an outdoor enthusiast. Opportunities to ski, snowshoe or ice fish are abundant and recreational activities are as varied as the ever-changing conditions. Few sportsmen, however, put themselves in the unique habitats as those that…
WITH TONIGHT marking the end of the girls’ Division I and II regular seasons, what better time than now to take an early look at how the playoff picture might shake out?
THE CLOCK is ticking.
Boston gets one more forward from Anaheim before the trade deadline.
IN SPORTS, as in everything else in life, you just never know.
ON A cold winter night, a certain peace can be found by walking on a frozen body of water. It is often incredibly quiet with only the sound of crunching snow underfoot. Despite the late hour, it is very easy to see and the moon may be strong enough to cast shadows. Although I only get to do …
“YOU PEOPLE are watching a group of people who startled the athletic world — not the hockey world, the athletic world. Whatever you choose to write — and I don’t mean for you to be cheerleaders — these people are deserving of so much in view of their age and the things they had to accomplish…
RALPH COX didn’t make the team. Despite an impressive resume, talent and character, he was deemed not good enough.
THE NHL TRADE DEADLINE is next Monday.
IT’S FITTING that Ryan Norton‘s first game as Raymond High School’s varsity baseball coach will be against Campbell of Litchfield (weather permitting), since the last time he took the field as a high school player was for Campbell’s 3-2 triumph over Norton and his Newmarket teammates in the …
MANY PEOPLE assume that because I fish so much, I must eat a lot of fish. It would seem to make sense just as I assume that anyone working at McDonald’s must eat over 100 hamburgers annually.
THE NUMBER was the same but the uniform was different. The city was different. The coast was even different. But the words of Mookie Betts were the same.
ONE OF the biggest storylines entering the 2019-20 girls’ basketball season was Bishop Guertin’s quest for a fifth straight NHIAA Division I championship. The Cardinals had become mainstays at Southern New Hampshire University’s Stan Spirou Field House over the last four years, and coaches a…
SOMETIMES, the best trades you make are the ones you wind up not making.
The Twins pulled out of the Betts deal Saturday, and the Sox might have hired a manager.
