Good morning!
Two weeks ago Tyrone Mathis stood behind the visiting team’s bench at McGuirk Alumni Stadium and watched his nephew Pop Watson’s coming out party. His debut was on the heels of last year’s chosen one, Utah Utes transfer Brandon Rose.
Rose is from the Mountain Time Zone, but Watson hails from thirty miles down the road at Springfield Central where he quarterbacked his father Bill Watson’s Golden Eagles to two MIAA Super Bowls.
The prodigal son is home after three seasons at Va. Tech in Blacksburg where he mostly sat on the bench at Lane Stadium. South Deerfield native Mark Chmura called Lane the toughest road game when he was at Boston College— “Sixthy thousand hillbillies down from the mountains.”
This year’s spring game at Va. Tech was delayed when a skydiver’s parachute got stuck on the scoreboard, little matter to Watson who was playing in front of 500 fans, the kind of crowd that 0-12 teams attract.
Mathis noticed my notebook. “Who you scouting for?” he asked.
“I write for a newspaper,” I said.
He nodded, answered his cell phone and when he was finished said, “Excuse me. That was my wife.”
“How do you think Pop’ll do in the MAC?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the MAC Player of the Year,” said Mathis, who’s not just another hyped-up relative. He grew up in New York, played at Albany High School and was a three-time All-Conference defensive end at AIC. He coached at Commerce and helped mold defensive end Sha-Ki Holiness into a three-year starter at UMass.
“Pop’s always had that “it” factor. When he went in the game they went from slouching in their stances to perking up— they want the ball.”
Mathis said his nephew will bring his own fan club. His uncle Curtis Bosworth was in a wheelchair across the field, and his father and mother sat under the press box. “I’ll bet fifteen percent of the people are here because of him,” said Mathis.
Was UMass getting Good Pop or Bad Pop, the quarterback who dropped 27 points on Virginia two years ago or the one who was beaten out for the starter’s job by Kyron Drones last year?
“Kyron should have entered the portal,” Mathis said without explaining.
After the game the players gathered on the gridiron, removed their helmets, saluted the crowd and a voice on the PA system said, “Pop wants to say a few words.”
“This ain’t the same team you saw last year,” said Watson. “We’re gonna come through. We’re gonna f—- over the MAC!”
There were gasps and cheers. Some shook it off as reminiscent of when Big Papi told a sold-out Fenway crowd,“This is our fucking city!” but others are worried that UMass has a quarterback who’s not as good as he thinks he is. It wouldn’t be the first time.
McCarthy Impresses
Six-foot-5, 220-pound freshman quarterback Aedan McCarthy moved the ball seamlessly during the spring game passing to Joe Griffin and T.Y. Harding, but playing well in a spring game is like kissing your sister— it doesn’t prove a lot.
When he was at Bluffton (S.C.) High School, McCarthy describing himself on prepzone.com as a “team leader with great accuracy and arm strength… good field vision and excellent running ability. calm under pressure [with] an uncanny ability not to dwell on a mistake.”
UMass is Golden
For the first time in 152 years a Kentucky Derby winner was trained by a woman. “We can do everything we set our minds to [but] I consider myself a horse trainer who happens to be a woman,” said 44-year-old Cherie DaVaux after Golden Tempo won at 23-1 odds.
“I wasn’t surprised, she’s a helluva trainer,” Paul Manganaro texted after the race. The former UMass linebacker under coach Jim Reid, Manganaro is a third generation horse owner. He also is a major contributor to UMass athletics, and the football scoreboard is in his family’s name.
Manganaro’s used several trainers including DeVaux. In fact, he said, “I had her first winner seven years ago.”
****
UMass alum Paul Keating (’76) was at NMH on Wednesday to officiate a boys lacrosse game against Winchendon. Keating officiated his first lacrosse game in 1976, and his 50 years of service were recognized in March when he was inducted into the Mass. Chapter of the USA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. “He helped launch my college reffing career,” emailed Bill Togneri. “The son of a Fitchburg cop, he was a U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam.”
SQUIBBERS: Former Boston Herald columnist and WEEI sportscaster Gerry Callahan on the Mike Vrabel – Diana Russini affair: “I have never had an affair, and I’m not going to. I’m too afraid of my wife.” … UMass is putting in a new sound system at McGuirk so that fans won’t get their eardrums blown out on one side and not hear anything on the other, and will hopefully be programmed to play less hip-hop. … Former UMass coach Don Brown’s ninth grade grandson at the Williston Northampton School is said to be an up-and-comer on the gridiron. … Our Ocean State correspondent Paul White reports that the 65-ounce Kentucky Derby trophy was “handcrafted from 14-carat solid gold by S.R. Blackinton in Smithfield.” … Hundreds of listeners defended retired slugger Dave Kingman after Jeff Pearlman ripped Kingman on his “Press Box Chronicles” podcast. A typical response: “Dave Kingman helped my grandmother with her dropped groceries back in 1979.” … A recent guest on Ross Tucker’s podcast, NFL executive Andrew Brandt, cited a scout who told him Rounds 4 through 7 of the NFL draft were wiped out by NIL. “Round 4 bonuses in the NFL are $500,000 guaranteed, but good players in Power 4 conferences are making more than that.” … Mets fan Glenn Brown rues the day they fired Buck Showalter. … The first time my son Mat heard John Sterling give a home run call he laughed and said, “Who’s this guy?!” Aaron Judge said his favorite Sterling call was after a Gio Urshela home run: “Gio Urshela, A Most Happy Fella!!” RIP to a great Yankees broadcaster whose gravestone should read, “High, far and gone.”