Good morning!
A few years ago at a Pioneer Valley Regional football game, I was keeping stats and standing next to the down judge at the goal line. The Panthers quarterback took the snap and ran straight toward us. Instinctively, I jumped out of harm’s way, but the down judge held his ground.
On-field officials in all sports work in peril of being hurt. Four years ago, NFL down judge Sarah Thomas broke her wrist during a game. In two weeks she’ll be at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa to work Super Bowl LV with six others including referee John Hussey, the guy in the white hat.
“Do I get yelled at? Yes,” Thomas told students at a Kent State symposium. “I answer their question or I ignore them because here’s the thing, silence can never be misquoted. I want to be as professional as I can, and I try to carry myself that way.”
The 47-year-old Thomas would’ve been a terrific candidate to be on “What’s My Line?,” the popular game show from the 1950s and ’60s. Off the field she’s a pharmaceutical rep from Mississippi who is married with three children.
She played hoops at the University of Mobile and got into officiating when she attended a clinic with her brother near their home in Pascagoula. She quickly moved up the officiating ladder from grade school to high school to college, and six years ago she was hired by the NFL. According to The Sporting News, NFL officials earn slightly over $200,000 a year, a big up from the $60 they make doing Pee Wee games.
Whether it’s high school or college games they’re working, they are watched by off-field supervisors looking for talent at the next level. According to operations.nfl.com, Thomas’ job as a down judge is to stand at the line of scrimmage across from the line judge and count the number of offensive players on the field, look for offsides, watch the nearest receiver for the first seven yards and mark the runner’s forward progress, together with several other responsibilities.
It’s not easy, but Thomas is a natural. Asked what it felt like to be on the field during a game, she told the NFL Network, “Every time I get to walk through that tunnel, there’s a flip of the switch, a huge adrenaline rush. I get to go out there and work a football game with the best athletes on the field, the best coaches on the field, and ultimately the best officials on the field.”
Indeed, Sarah Thomas won’t be out there to appease anyone or fill a quota, she’ll be out there because she graded out at the top of her game.
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UMass hockey coach Greg Carvel doesn’t persevere, he acts. “I guess I gotta start pulling people out of the lineup,” he told WHMP’s Brock Hines after Sunday’s 4-2 loss to BU at the Mullins Center.
The Minutemen lost to BU again on Monday and a shakeup likely occurred for Friday’s game against Providence, but that was after deadline so I really don’t know. One player Carvel didn’t blame for Monday’s loss was Jake Gaudet. A senior captain, Gaudet took a costly five-minute major for contact to the head against BU and was suspended for one game by Hockey East.
“Those calls are going to happen when you’re asking your players to play a physical brand,” Carvel told Hines. “I’m asking the kids to play hard, but we need to find a way to take fewer penalties.”
Goalie Matt Murray, who turns 23 in 10 days, was outplayed in both BU games by 18-year-old freshman Drew Commesso, a second round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks. Murray’s save percentage is under .900 in five games since New Year’s and he went into Friday’s game tied for 21st in Division I.
Filip Lindberg is too talented to stay on the bench much longer, but Carvel wants to stick with one goalie. “I’m honestly not sure who will start, that decision won’t be made until after Thursday’s practice,” Carvel said in an email. “They are both unbelievable kids, well-liked by their teammates.
“Murray won seven games in a row and had earned ownership of the net. His play this past weekend wasn’t as good as normal which leads to a possible opportunity for Lindberg, but it’s honestly day-to-day and no decision has been made.”
At this writing, sophomore Matt Kessel’s eight goals lead all NCAA defensemen. Kessel joined the Minutemen last season after a Finnish recruit got homesick and left the team. “We were lucky to get him,” said Carvel, who compared Kessel’s breakaway skills this season to Cale Makar’s the year he won the Hobey Baker Award. “He’s a big horse, a smart player, his skating has gotten better and he’s become a good NHL prospect,” said Carvel.
The Minutemen have a new grad assistant. Nolan Gluchowski played for Carvel at St. Lawrence. Prior to now his only contact with UMass had been just that — a five-minute major for contact to the head in a 2-2 tie versus the Minutemen in Belfast, Ireland, five years ago.
“Having a volunteer coach is very helpful because he’s able to fill in any crack the coaching staff can’t fill,” wrote Carvel. “Whether it’s skill sessions on the ice, video breakdown, watching recruiting video, working one-on-one with players, the more quality people you have on staff the better. I recruited Nolan at St. Lawrence and he’s one of the smartest and toughest kids I’ve ever coached. He knows the game and he knows me. He’s a good addition to our group.”
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TRIVIA: Name the first African-American football player to win the Heisman Trophy. (Answer in Squibbers)
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Horse racing returns to prime time today at Gulfstream Park where 12 horses will go to post for the mile-and-an-eighth Pegasus World Cup for four-year-olds and up on the dirt.
Admission is $100 and dining room reservations are $400, not including dinner and tips.
Knicks Go trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Joel Rosario is the 5-2 morning line favorite off his 3 1/2-length win and 108 Beyer Speed Figure in the B.C. Dirt Mile at Keeneland on Nov. 7.
Shug McGaughey’s 5-year-old Code of Honor was the Fountain of Youth winner two years ago at Gulfstream and is the 9-2 second choice with Tyler Gaffalione in the irons; Tax ,trained by Danny Gargin, is 5-1 off its impressive 4½ -length win in the Harlan Holiday Stakes at Gulfstream on Dec. 12.
The often overlooked Jesus’ Team was runner-up in the B.C. Dirt Mile at 62-1 odds and has won three of six starts at Gulfstream for trainer Jose D’Angelo and the Group 7C Racing Stable. The four-year-old brown colt will be ridden by the meet’s leading jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.
Post time is at 5:40 p.m. and NBC’s coverage begins at 4:30.
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Our favorite sports information director sends news about his beloved Williams College Ephs. Dick Quinn emailed that the Miami Heat’s Duncan Robinson has become the fastest NBA player to reach 300 treys. “It took him 95 games,” writes Quinn. “Duncan played his first year at Williams and transferred to Michigan.”
Other news from Billsville: Former soccer All-American Kristi Kirshe is helping the USA Women’s Team qualify for the Tokyo games, former hoopster Will Hardy was named to Gregg Popovich’s Team USA basketball staff, Anna Swisher is a coach for Team USA Weightlifting, and Joey Lye is trying out for Team Canada’s softball team.
Lastly, wrote Quinn, two-sport athlete Ashley Deeks is leaving her professorship at the University of Virginia School of Law to work for the National Security Council in the Biden administration.
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SQUIBBERS: The UMass basketball team (5-3) has moved into the top third of Jeff Sagarin’s USA Today basketball ratings — No. 119 of 357 teams — and play No. 79 Davidson (8-5) at the Mullins Center on Sunday (noon, CBS Sports Network). … NFL down judge Kevin Codey graduated from Western New England University. … AP reported this week that Jordan McNair’s mother and father settled with the University of Maryland for $3.5 million after their son died of heatstroke following a workout in 2018. … Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett IV has a name more suited for polo, but a Georgia football blogger reports the Bulldogs’ quarterback’s great grandfather was a sharecropper and his grandfather was a moonshiner. … Packers coach Matt LaFleur is “hopeful” AJ Dillon will be ready for Sunday’s showdown against Tampa Bay. The former BC running back left with a quad injury last week against the Rams. … Isn’t it a bit much for the local Fox affiliate to issue a winter weather warning calling for a frost scrape alert? … The Hockey East schedule is now week-to-week, UVM is on pause and UMass-Lowell has reported to sick bay. … Two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber was signed to a one year deal by the Yankees. Kluber hasn’t pitched since he had Tommy John surgery. “Is he solid?” asks NY Post beat writer Joel Sherman, “or a famous name and a broken toy?” … Trivia answer: Ernie Davis at Syracuse in 1961. … Former UMass cornerback Isaiah Rodgers returned kicks for the Colts this season. Rodgers was taken to Baystate Medical Center his last game for the Minutemen, crunched from behind by a BYU special teams player. … The U.S. Postal Service is issuing a Yogi Berra stamp. That calls for a Yogi-ism: “Love is the most beautiful thing in the world,” said Yogi, “but baseball is pretty good too.”
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet95@yahoo.com