Gave me chills, and I said it!

Mansfield Cable Access is showing the game from last Tuesday, the Mansfield boys' basketball team against Franklin, on Xfinity Channel 9, and there's one call I hope all of you can hear. 

Just before halftime, Mansfield's Matty Boen got the ball under the far basket and started a desperation drive. Just as he crossed the halfcourt stripe, with the last second ticking off the clock, he unleashed the shot -- and it was good at the buzzer. My call was spot on, except for one thing … I said it was "about a 35-footer," but it was more like 45 feet because the James Albertini Gym has a pro-sized, 94-foot court, and he was a stride over the stripe when he released it.

Still, it was a decent call by this fledgling announcer and my wing man, Tommy Faria. If you're in Mansfield, check the local listings here, and maybe I'll find a way to put the audio up at some point.

Greatest Hits: The Owner's Box, Ep. 4

Foxboro coach Lisa Downs

In an effort to familiarize newcomers to this site with my podcast, I'm going to run links to some of the best ones from time to time over the next week or so. This one, with Foxboro High School girls' basketball coach Lisa Downs, was the first one that really had the format down to a T.

The very successful Ms. Downs will be a guest again in The Owner's Box in a few weeks when it's time to preview the MIAA Basketball Tournament. This post may also be especially timely because one of her athletes, junior guard Katelyn Mollica, may pass the 1,000-point plateau tonight in a game at home against Stoughton.

Of course, you can hear all the podcasts at any time if you scroll down the left side of the blog page and click on the picture of me behind the microphone. That will take you directly to the home page of The Owner's Box and you can listen to or download any or all.

"The Owner's Box" is also available through a number of popular platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Spotify.

Congratulations to Bryant Ciccio!

Heartiest congratulations are overdue to Attleboro High senior Bryant Ciccio, who recently became the 57th male basketball player in the 12-school region covered by my former newspaper to score 1,000 career points.

Bryant Ciccio of Attleboro (25).       Photo by Mark Stockwell

I've struggled a little at keeping the records without the box scores that the paper stopped running after I was laid off -- I'm still missing two games played by Seekonk High's Mia DiBiase, who accomplished the feat earlier this year -- but AHS coach Mark Houle has been helpful in keeping me updated on the progress of not only Bryant, but also teammate Qualeem Charles, who enters Friday's game at King Philip (to be telecast on North TV's Plainville Channel) with 936 career points in 82 games.

Q is averaging 15 points a game and has six regular-season games remaining. So if he makes it to 1,000, he and Ciccio will join an illustrious group of Attleboro athletes that reached the 1,000-point plateau as teammates. That includes Rebecca Hardt and Nikki Lima in 1994, and Leland Anderson and Derek Swenson in 1998. Emily Houle (2016) and Sarah Deyo (2017) were teammates for the majority of their careers, but not as 1,000-pointers together.

Here's the list of Attleboro High's 1,000-point scorers:


Player                           Points Games             Career

Leland Anderson         1,629     74                1995-99
Derek Swenson           1,463     92                1995-99
Sarah Deyo                   1,341     92                2013-17
Rebecca Hardt             1,221     72                1990-94
Mark Houle                  1,219     64                1986-90
Sara Wright                  1,209     75                 1995-99
Tom Sherman              1,127     63                 1992-95
Tim Walsh                    1,117     74                 2010-14
Jesse Martinez            1,085     75                 2000-04
John Shockro               1,061    n/a                1962-65
Rebecca King*             1,038     40                 1949-53
Nikki Lima                    1,030     79                  1990-94
Emily Houle                 1,025     90                 2012-16
Bryant Ciccio               1,013    79                  2016-

*— Scored under six-player rules.

The dynamic duo!

Good news! Alex Salachi (at left) and I will be telecasting two basketball games in the upcoming days. First we will be watching the King Philip boys at home against Attleboro on Friday night (6:30 start), then on Sunday, we’ll be at Mansfield High to watch the Hornet girls take on North Attleboro, a 4 p.m. start. Telecasting times on North TV and Mansfield Cable Access respectively are TBA.

A new day for Bishop Feehan (edited and updated)

The word is out today that the Catholic Central League will admit Bishop Feehan High School of Attleboro and Bishop Stang High School of Dartmouth, bringing that league's membership up to 15 members, not all of which compete in all sports

The move was made necessary by the dissolution of the Eastern Athletic Conference, of which Feehan and Stang are two of the last three members from the original league that was formed in the early 1980s after the implosion of the Southeastern Mass. Conference. Coyle and Cassidy High School of Taunton, whose enrollment has been steadily shrinking over the past decade, is left out of the mix.

The new CCL membership:

Archbishop Williams, Braintree
Arlington Catholic, Arlington
Austin Prep, Reading
Bishop Feehan, Attleboro
Bishop Fenwick, Peabody
Bishop Stang, Dartmouth
Cardinal Spellman, Brockton
Cathedral, Boston
Cristo Rey, Boston*
Lowell Catholic, Lowell
Matignon, Cambridge
St. Bernard's-Central Catholic, Fitchburg*
St. Mary's, Lynn
St. John Paul II, Hyannis*
St. Joseph Prep, Boston

* -- not in all sports

Bishop Feehan President Tim Sullivan revealed the details of the league expansion in a post on the school's website. It said:

"In most sports, Feehan and Stang along with Archbishop Williams High School (Braintree) and Cardinal Spellman High School (Brockton) will join to form a four team “south” division within what has been the CCL Large. Arlington Catholic High School (Arlington), Austin Preparatory School (Reading), Bishop Fenwick High School (Peabody) and St. Mary’s High School (Lynn) will comprise a “north” division within the CCL Large.

"The CCL also features long-time members Cathedral High School (Boston), Cristo Rey High School (Boston), Matignon High School (Cambridge) and Saint Joseph Prep High School (Boston) who will remain in the CCL Small division in most sports.

"For Feehan, this will mean a 10-game league schedule for most sports with home and away games against the three other south programs and a single cross-over game against each north team.  Feehan is not expected to have cross-over games with the Small division schools. Feehan will remain independent in football, winter track and spring track." (I added the boldface; it's an important bit of information that football will still be going it alone.)

“We couldn’t be more excited about this new opportunity for our school, our teams and our kids,” Sullivan said. “The CCL provides everything we could want in a conference -- terrific school partners, all with a shared mission, plus highly competitive athletics that will bring out the best in our student-athletes.”

Strangely enough, this is something I proposed in print at least 20 years ago. It's not the ideal situation for the Shamrocks because the travel to many of their road games will be outrageous, but given the ongoing objections by nearby public-school leagues to admitting a Catholic school, it's about the best that can be expected.

The Owner's Box, Ep. 12

The most recent episode features Red Sox writer and author Maureen Mullen, and there's a lot of good Sox talk in this one. Give it a listen.

Listen to "The Owner's Box!"

The point of resurrecting this blog is to help promote my new podcast, "The Owner's Box." There are 12 episodes to date, all discoverable at hawkmano.libsyn.com. Go there and choose, or hopefully I will learn how to post links here in the future. The most recent episode features Red Sox writer and author Maureen Mullen as we talked on Jan. 31 about the trials and tribulations facing the Carmine Hose as they emerge from a tumultuous offseason and prepare to head to spring training. Give them a listen!

Holy mackerel! I forgot I had this!

I have just rediscovered this blog after a decade absent. Who knows, maybe I will resurrect it in some manner now that the "Southeastern Mass. Online Community" is dead, the nitwits that harassed me on it are long forgotten, and The Sun Chronicle is on life-support. Cheers, my friends.

Temporarily suspended.

Sorry, but I'm putting this blog on hold for the time being.

Aside from the issues I'm having with a trio of nitwits on "The Southeastern Massachusetts Online Community," I'm anticipating some big changes in the way I blog for The Sun Chronicle. I'm told we have new software coming that will separate us from that booby hatch of the Internet, so I can't wait.

Of course, I'm hopeful that the new blog will allow me even more flexibility and the ability to use new features and doo-dads, as well as for me to highlight "The Blog Show" and "Mark Farinella's Audio Blog."

I'll let you know both here and on the "Online Community" when the departure is imminent.

Audio Blog 34.

It's the last weekend of the regular season, and Mark Farinella's Audio Blog has been there every step of the way. This week, the AB looks back at the big win over Jacksonville, chats with three of the four Pro Bowl selections from the Patriots (Tom Brady backed out on taping day) and hears from the coaches in Sunday's game between the Patriots and Texans in Houston. And yes, we'll be here for the playoffs, too.