Jersey Boys

The University of Oregon revealed their latest trendy uniforms for the upcoming football season. For those who sighed in relief that they were finally toning down their jerseys....guess again.

The Ducks will be using five different jerseys, four different pairs of pants, and four yes four different helmets.

They just could not be like other teams and have just one helmet. They decided the white and awful yellow helmet they used along with the traditional green was not enough. They nixed the less then mellow yellow helmets with a black helmet, and the retro looks like no one has a color TV style of gray and silver.

The new silver helmet to this look is a story by itself is it tries to create a somewhat chain linked look. It is either chain link or static like. static fits better with the black and white TV joke above.

The other big change is that the Ducks are not unique enough with the diamond plated shoulder pads. The only way to stand out even more is to replace the diamond look with the new winged shoulders.

Whether you love them or hate them Oregon does do a good job at getting the sports masses to talk about their look. while other teams just have outright awful looking uniforms (more on this topic another post) Oregon can be awful yet creative at the same time.

Gold Glover

Monday finally brought the conclusion to the U.S. Open golf/swimming tournament. While congratulations have to go out to Lucas Glover for holding on to the lead without the need of a canoe, it also feels as though sympathy and condolences need to be given out.

The fact is that many people are going to remember this tournament for a couple things besides Lucas Glover holding the trophy, and a bunch of websites using the cheesy line "fits like a glove."

The first thing everyone is going to remember is the opportunity that Phil Mickelson had and could not win for his wife who is battling breast cancer. Many though Phil was either going to win or struggle this weekend. Until late bogeys in the final round he had that chance to win.

It is nothing against Glover winning. With the exception of a few players such as Tiger, and maybe Rocco Mediate or David Duval, every fan and casual golf person was pulling for Phil to win his first U.S. Open this year. any other week and Glover winning would be a nice story, just not this week.

The other issue behind it the fact the weather will be remembered more the Glover's name by many. There is nothing a person hates more then a wet dreary day when they want to play golf. It gets even worse when the golf fans have to watch and pray for no more rain at a major championship. Bethpage Black is an amazing course, and it would have been even better to see it without reservoirs by the greens.

On a slightly lesser note it may not help Lucas Glover that the headline just below him for the day was the retirement of former Pro Bowl Defensive Tackle La'Roi Glover. Glover retires after 13 seasons with six Pro Bowls and 87.5 sacks. Might not take too much attention away from Lucas Glover (no relation), but still needed to be mentioned.

Despite all these other issue Hard Knox Sports would like to tip our hat, and give a long golf clap to Lucas Glover for winning the U.S. Open at a course that was considered to be one of the toughest by all except for Ben Roethlisberger. Big Ben shot an 81 on the difficult course a week before the U.S. Open. See, yet another story taking away spotlight from Lucas Glover.

Never too soon to trade

Less then a day from the conclusion of the NBA Finals the basketball form of the hot stove has already begun. several trade rumors surfaced about as well as claims for free agency. It is true there is no such thing as the off season anymore.

The Amway Arena barely emptied out before Orlando Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu decided to file for free agency according to his agent. Lou Babby, Turkoglu's agent, claims he does not see any reason why not to leave. Apparently the thought of staying with a team that just reached the NBA Finals and is returning many talented players including a healthy Jameer Nelson.

Over to the rumor mill there have been reports that the Boston Celtics trying to trade away their talent to any team. Chad Ford reported the Celtics spoke to the Memphis Grizzlies about a trade including Ray Allen or Rajon Rondo for the 2nd pick in the draft.

Another rumor involved Allen and Rondo for Amare Stoudamire and Barbosa. This is a case of premature panic button mashing. Losing in a game seven to the eventual Eastern Conference Champions without Kevin Garnett calls for a breakup of the now Big Four.

Also on the rumor mill is Shaq to Cleveland for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovich. This reported no chance/great chance deal would be a great deal for Cleveland, but there is no logic reasoning behind Phoenix taking two overpaid players who have been relegated to bench time on a team with one solid player.

With all the trade rumors and just over a week to the Draft the NBA found a great way to keep their league near the top of the headlines at Sportcenter.

Mass Fury

An article for another blog I started about the Mass Fury. Be sure to check it out at www.MassFuryFootball.blogspot.net

The Mass Fury are back and looking to prove that there will be more of that same success they had in previous years. After kicking off their inaugural season in NEFL AA action with a record of 8-4, the Fury expects to continue their winning ways no matter what league.

After having easy success in the A league for many years the Fury have no intention of changing their winning ways. The second season in AA will not be the same as their inaugural year though as they divisions changed around this season. The Fury finds themselves in the tougher division of AA, but that does not concern the team.

“This is the toughest division of AA, but that is not a concern for the team,” said Head Coach Chris Chambers. “We plan to be a tough team in this tough division.”

Along with improvements to the division, the Mass Fury believed they made improvements to their own team. What was considered one of the weaker aspects of the team in previous years, the running game looks to be a strong point this season.

“The running game used to be a problem. We would average around 50 yards a game,” said Chambers. “This year I think we have made improvements and can now beat any defense anyway.”

The passing game looks to be as strong and dominant for the Fury as it has been in previous seasons. With the ability of Ryan Minns, the record holder in passing yards in a regular season, the passing game of the Fury looks to pick up where the left off. The passing game and style of Minns has led Coach Chambers to refer to his style as a solid, Doug Flutie like, ability.

“We do run a complicated offense, and he is able to perform well, and handle this offense easily,” said Chambers. “I think that this team is capable of throwing for 200 yards a game easily, and able to throw 300 or 400 yards without much problem.”

On the other side of the ball the defense looks to make sure that they never give another team the same chance to throw for 300 yards. Always known for a stingy defense the Mass Fury look to keep that reputation this year, and continue to be one of the top defenses in the NEFL.

“We have always been known for a strong defense, and one of the top scoring defenses in the area. There is no reason that will not be the same this year,” Chambers said.

Although the first game of the regular season is not until July the Fury will kick off the year at home with a preseason game on June 20. Fans are encouraged to attend, and see the talents of a solid core of local talent.

Don't Drink the kool-Aid

Now that the Red Sox are 8-0 against the Yankees this season, it seems as though everyone is talking about how the Bronx Bombers need to hit the panic button. As much as I enjoy seeing the Red Sox win eight straight against New York, I am not going to take this as an automatic title for the Sox.

Even though they are 8-0 the Yankees are only two games back of first in the AL East. If Thursday night's game put the Bronx Bombers eight games back then there still would not be a big reason to celebrate. After all: It is still JUNE!!!

8-0 in June is nice to talk about, but with 10 games left between the two teams and a whole three plus months of baseball before the playoffs it does not mean much. It will be more impressive if they can go 4-0 against New York in October.

Schedule Release

Mark the dates on the calendar, or just pick up one of those magnetic schedules. The 2009-2010 schedule was released for the UMass Lowell Riverhawks Hockey team on June 4. The ‘Hawks will have 17 home games this upcoming season and two tournaments as they look to earn their first Hockey East championship, and first NCAA tournament appearance since 1996.

UMass Lowell opens up the regular season in the city that screams hockey, Omaha, Nebraska. The ‘Hawks will be a part of the Ice Breaker Tournament taking on St. Lawrence on Oct. 9. They follow that up against either Army or Nebraska-Omaha the next day.

As if Nebraska was not a nice enough place to play hockey UMass Lowell travels to Alabama to take on the Chargers of Alabama-Huntsville on Nov 13 and 14. UAH played two games at the Tsongas Arena two years ago, losing both to Lowell

The first home game of the regular season for the ‘Hawks will be Oct. 23 in a non-conference game against Colgate in a rematch from last year. The other non-conference opponent playing in the mill city will be Princeton in the final two games before Christmas in Dec. 11 and 12. UML is 3-0-0 all time against Princeton.

Lowell has a tough stretch in November which thy play three games in less then a week. After a Saturday afternoon game on Nov. 21 against Merrimack the ‘Hawks travel to Providence on Nov. 24 for a Tuesday night game followed by a home game the day after Thanksgiving against Maine.

The River Hawks get their first chance at revenge early as they take on Defending National champion Boston University, the team that beat Lowell in the Hockey east Title game, in a home and home series on Oct. 30 and Oct. 31.

Before Lowell takes on the Terriers they begin their conference action against Northeastern on Oct. 24 at the Tsongas Arena. After a dramatic win in overtime against Northeastern in the Hockey East semifinals the schedule makers wanted to create the possibility of the Huskies and River Hawks playing against each other four times in the regular season. Therefore, Lowell and Northeastern will both be a part of the Dartmouth Tournament held at Dartmouth University on Jan. 2 and 3. Along with the two teams from Hockey East will be the host, Dartmouth University, and the College of the Holy Cross.

After the Dartmouth Tournament the ‘Hawks will finish the season with 17 straight games against Hockey East opponents. This stretch includes three games against Boston College, and a weekend series at the University of Maine.

UMass Lowell ends their regular season with a weekend series at home against Vermont. The last time Lowell and Vermont met was the first round of the Hockey East tournament when the ‘Hawks upset the Catamounts with a two game sweep at Vermont.

The schedule will be tough, but for a team in Hockey East that is expected, especially when that team was one goal away from winning the hockey east Championship. The River Hawks look to overcome this tough schedule, with lots of traveling early in the season, and take another shot at winning Hockey East and reaching the NCAA tournament.

With three more regular season games at home then last year look for support from the students and fans to be bigger this year then the record amounts set last season.

Lowell: Soaring with Pride

Welcome to all incoming students to UMass Lowell. A school thriving with winning sports programs as of late. Norman, OK Athens, GA and Columbus, OH have nothing on the Mill City. After the success that many of the teams at UMass Lowell had last season there is much to look forward to this upcoming year.

UMass Lowell started off strong in the fall with winning season from several programs. Despite big changes in the coaching staff, the Men’s soccer team brought back several players from a team that went 7-0-1 in their final eight regular season games.

The team reached the East Region Championship game last season, losing to Dowling in 2OT. New head coach Bryan Scales looks to bring this team further into the postseason.

The women’s soccer team reached the conference semi-finals of the Northeast-10 tournament last year, and just missed out on a chance to play in the NCAA tournament. The team looks to improve upon their 8-5-5 record from last season, and be on the opposite end of the NCAA tournament selection. They have the ability to.

The UMass Lowell field hockey team also has high expectations, following a 2008 season which saw them in the Division II Championship. Winning and success has not been an uncommon situation for the UMass Lowell field hockey team.

After a 20-5 season and their fourth championship game in six seasons, including one Championship, Head Coach Shannon Hlebichuk and several returning players look to make it five championship game, and yet another title.

With a 15-17 record last season the volleyball team reached the Northeast-10 tournament, but lost to Merrimack 3-0 in the first round. The team is losing one senior, and looks to use that veteran experience to a championship season.

Over at the Tsongas the hockey team will look to continue the success they had last year. The River Hawks reached the Hockey East Championship game for only the second time losing to eventual National Champion Boston University 1-0 on a controversial call.

With the team losing just three seniors the River Hawks return many big name players including their top seven scorers last season. That with the top goaltenders Carter Hutton and Nevin Hamilton UMass Lowell is a team that is going to be considered a team to look out for this upcoming season.

In the winter the Men’s Basketball team started last season off with a bang, playing an exhibition game at eventual Final Four team UConn. Although the River Hawks would be defeated they went on to finish the regular season with a 21-8 record, including a 13 game winning streak. The team would reach the NCAA tournament losing to Merrimack. With a lot of young talent, this team appears to be going nowhere but up.

The stretch of playoff runs continued in the spring as the baseball team reached the Northeast-10 playoffs after a 25-21 record. The team looks to use leadership and veteran talent in the upcoming spring.

The upcoming year has lots of potential for UMass Lowell athletic programs. If the teams can reach the success that they found last year or higher, this will be the best school to see in sports. What makes it even better is that Lowell does not need blue turf or an acorn for a mascot to be successful in sports.

Chosen One?

This week's cover of Sports Illustrated featured 16 year old Bryce Harper, a top baseball prospect who can hit home runs over 500 feet, and throw a 97 mph fastball. Harper is now consider the most exciting prodigy, and will have a lot of major league eyes watching him.

Be careful what you wish for.

While it can not be ignored that the numbers this "prodigy" has put up is remarkable, this cover has put a lot of pressure and eyes on Harper, who still has years before he is even eligible to try to play professional baseball.

To put this much pressure and establish that this 16 year old is going to have a career in baseball or bust could be putting too much on him. At 16 Yours truly still thought he was going to have a career as a game show host. Of course Hard Knox Sports did not have the high heat, and could not hit the long ball.

There is no guarantee that this fame, and belief will either make or break their chance at a professional career. While the spotlight and pressure of the Sports Illustrated cover as a teen did not seem to stop players like Lebron James from having a career, there is always a chance of becoming the next Todd Marinovich.

Of course there has to be concern in his health putting an end to this prodigy talk quick. It is always said that in baseball the next pitch or swing can be the last a player ever sees. Having the possibility of the Sports Illustrated Cover jinx on top of that may make this tougher.

This is not saying that Harper will be a bust, and not fulfill his prodigy talk. But it does not make sense to just declare a guy a prodigy when they have a test in Algebra or Biology class second period. Let him get time in the professional level before deciding that he is going to be the next superstar.