Durham, NC

Okay, so I haven't posted anything here since March. No season recap or review of my preseason predictions, no pics from my trip to Columbus, and no comments on hockey or baseball. As stated before, the blog has taken a back seat as I've been focusing on some other things.

As some of you know, one of those other things is a possible relocation to North Carolina. In November, my employer informed us that they are planning an expansion in the Raleigh-Durham area, specifically in the Research Triangle Park. They are not moving jobs, but they were looking for volunteers to relocate. I would keep my same job through this move, but would be working in NC instead of MA.

My situation with them is complicated because I'm not considered a "full-time" employee. I'll spare you the details, but since November I've been working with my employer to determine the parameters and implications of a possible relocation by me. Finally, in recent weeks, I've received some answers (some good, some not so good, but at least things are moving in a positive direction). At this point, I'm not certain to relocate, but I will probably know for sure within a month.

When told I'm thinking of moving to NC, one of the first questions people ask me is, "Have you visited the area?" Well, actually I hadn't. Even with months and months of research, there was no way I could commit to a relocation with my employer without having seen the area in person and spent some time there. Over Memorial Day weekend, I visited the Raleigh-Durham area for four days and four nights. It was a productive, enlightening visit for me, very interesting in many ways. After some initial disappointment with the area, I was fairly excited by the end of my trip.

Over the same weekend, a co-worker of mine was on a house-hunting trip there with her kids. I had my own agenda during each day, and she had hers, but each night we'd all get together for dinner and a recap of the day's events. She flew back a day earlier than me, so I had my fourth evening to myself. I'm a baseball nut, so I decided to check out the Durham Bulls, the AAA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

As I was approaching the the Bulls ticket window, I recognized a face. It was a man, probably in his fifties, with his family. I looked once, twice, and then a third time. Who was this guy? It finally hit me, but I wasn't 100% sure. I walked closer to him and said, "Excuse me" to try and get his attention. No answer. He probably didn't hear me amongst the general pre-game din outside the park. I'll try once more, I told myself. "Excuse me..." I got his attention this time. "Are you Peter Vaas?" He had this incredulous look on his face, probably shocked that some stranger recognized him, but yes, it was him. "Hi Coach, I'm Jon (last name here), Holy Cross Class of '94. You were coaching at Holy Cross when I was a student there."

It was evident to me that Holy Cross is still something of a pain point for him, but he was very pleasant nonetheless. He introduced me to his wife and two college-aged daughters (one attends St. Mary's College in South Bend, the other will be a senior at Notre Dame this fall). After several minutes of smalltalk, including me explaining why I was in Durham, and him explaining the same (I'd forgotten that he is now coaching at Duke), we finally got in line for tickets to the game. He bought my ticket! We all sat together at the game and had a nice time. I sort of made up for the ticket by buying his wife a lemonade, which cost almost as much as the very reasonable tickets.

Coach seemed to be doing well. His wife said the family enjoyed their time in Europe, especially Barcelona. They've bought a house in a nice new subdivision just north of the most-populated downtown neighborhoods in Durham. It's just minutes from Duke. Mrs. Vaas said she hopes I'll relocate so she'll have someone to sit with at Duke football games! She might be getting a little ahead of herself, but it's good to know that if I do end up there, I'll have some new friends in the area.




By the way, the Bulls have a beautiful new park in downtown Durham, surrounded by a redeveloped American Tobacco District, full of brick walkways, waterways, patches of greenery, a block of bars and restaurants, and additional space for mixed-use commercial, retail and residential. A nearby warehouse district is also clearly on the upswing. Worcester talks about this kind of downtown redevelopment, and perhaps they'll attain it via CitySquare, but in my opinion they can only dream about enacting the changes that Durham, a city only 30,000 people larger than Worcester, has already achieved.

Oh yeah, the Bulls lost, 2-0, to the Ottawa Lynx, the Phillies' AAA affiliate. Lefty prospect J.P. Howell pitched for the Bulls. He has good stuff but was wild on this night, hitting three batters. Outfield prospect Joel Guzman has an athletic frame, but lacks polish at the plate. I think he has a long way to go. Justin Ruggiano could have a future as a spare outfielder. No one on the Lynx particularly stood out to me.

Football vs. Colgate

The final regular season game has arrived. T&G reporter Jennifer Toland has predicted a victory for Holy Cross today. I'm a little worried about that, as her record in picking the close-call PL games hasn't been good this season. She did correctly predict that Bucknell would lose to Holy Cross last week, but I don't think that was a tough call.

Anyway, best of luck to the Crusaders today. As many have said, these seniors have endured a lot, with the loss of Coach Allen and the subsequent transition, but they should be incredibly proud of their gains. 1-11 in 2003, 3-8 in 2004, 6-5 in 2005, and at least seven wins in 2006. We're hoping for 8 wins and maybe more!

Beat 'gate!

Must-Read HC Articles

Last weekend's Sunday Telegram contained a ton of Holy Cross content. Paul Jarvey wrote an excellent front-page feature. Also, there were the football and hockey game recaps, along with season previews for the men's and women's basketball teams.

Here are a couple of the articles, which I don't remember seeing linked by anyone over on Crossports. Read 'em before they get archived by the T&G!

First up is a heartwarming story by Sports columnist Paul Jarvey, on senior lineman Matt Lemire and his family. Matt's mom is battling lupus.















Next is the women's hoops preview, featuring an ecstatic Brittany Keil, taking a break from her basket-weaving classes.
Coach Gibbons is always good for some quotes, and this article is no exception. A nice story on Brittany.

I couldn't find the link to Jennifer Toland's men's hoops preview, but it was a very good article. Torey and Keith spoke about their bond, and how Keith does the cooking and cleaning in their student apartment. Keith also recently made his "famous beef enchiladas" for the team. Simmons also discussed the frustrations and limitations of his cramping last season. "I'd cramp up when I tried to be explosive," he said.

Torey Thomas closed the story with this gem regarding being a captain: "I relish the responsibility because not everyone's a leader, not everyone's called on to be a leader. It's prestigious, but it's not just because of a title. It's because you have more to give to other people. When you have more to give to other people, you can be successful. If you lead right, with a keen eye and good discretion, you can make something ordinary become something special."

Family Weekend Losing Streak

The HC football team hasn't won on Family Weekend since 2001. Consequently, the Dr. Edward N. Anderson Award has been presented to an opposing player each year since.

This year, the Holy Cross Club of Greater Worcester presented the Anderson Award, given annually to the outstanding player in the Family Weekend football game, to running back Marques Thompson of Lehigh. According to HCCGW president Dave Mahaney, Thompson "received 15 of the 16 sportswriters first place votes, was very humble and thanked the Club for the handsome trophy."

Thompson ran up 141 yards on 30 carries against the Crusaders, and was a pretty obvious choice in this fan's opinion.

The previous four winners of the award were Jermaine Pugh of Lehigh, Charlie Rittgers of Dartmouth, Daris Wilson of Bucknell, and last year, Jordan Scott of Colgate.

So we can add Thompson to the list of humble winners. Not all (*cough* Bison *cough*) of the award winners have been gracious in their acceptance of the trophy!

The People Under the Stands

Either my freshman or sophomore year, Kimball Theater at Holy Cross showed the mediocre Wes Craven horror flick, The People Under the Stairs. I guess it wasn't so bad to be deemed "forgettable," since I do remember watching it there!


Well yesterday, it was The People Under the Stands. With 36 seconds to go in the first half of Lehigh's 28-14 win over HC, lightning was visible in the immediate area, and fans scattered out of the stands like rats, very quickly, and most gathered under the home grandstand for the next 45 minutes.

So who'd we see under the stands, anyway? Pretty much the same people who were in the stands to begin with, except you could actually recognize them without the big hats, ponchos and umbrellas.

We saw parents of football players. We saw many of the regular football diehard fans. We chatted with "Crossports" himself. We also saw Steve Silva.

CBS4/WBZ-TV anchor Scott Wahle was there, too. Found out he's a Holy Cross parent, and according to the HC Online Directory, his wife is a member of the Class of 1978. I didn't know Scott was another Boston TV personality with a connection to Holy Cross, joining former WCVB Channel 5 executive Paul LaCamera '64, along with current CBS4 colleagues Joe Bergantino '73 and Joe Shortsleeve '79. I'm sure there are others. Please drop a comment if you know of more!

I guess some would consider Dan Shaughnessy '75 a Boston TV personality, and maybe also current Celtics color analyst Tommy Heinsohn '56, but I'm thinking more of TV news anchors, reporters, and execs.

Toland Football Picks

Telegram & Gazette reporter Jennifer Toland predicts the area college football results each week. She correctly predicted Holy Cross wins over Georgetown, Marist, Fordham and Dartmouth, and the losses to Northeastern and Harvard. But more recently, she incorrectly predicted losses to Brown and Lafayette, skeptical over the strength of Holy Cross.

This week, our Crusaders had apparently won her over, as she thought HC would beat Lehigh, 17-13. Oops! Well, it was a tough call. I wasn't convinced HC would win the game, especially as the rainy weather forecast became evident.

We like Jen, and she's been more right than wrong this year in general, but she's missed on the three "toss-up" games (Brown, Lafayette, Lehigh). "We Are Crusaders" predicts Jen Toland predicts a win over Bucknell this week. And hopefully she'll predict a loss in the season finale at Colgate, giving her an o-fer on the "tough call" games!

Mike Pedone Lookalike

Thought of this while watching the Tigers lose the World Series to the Cardinals on Friday night.

Former Cardinals and Phillies and current Tigers infielder Placido Polanco on the left, and Assistant Head Football Coach and Offensive Line Coach Mike Pedone on the right.

I don't think this comp came out as well as I envisioned it. Maybe it works better with Polanco's Phillies picture?

Neutral Site?

We're not necessarily advocating for this, but when was the last time Holy Cross played a football game at a neutral location?

Actually, we have the answer. It was 11 seasons ago, on October 28, 1995. Holy Cross travelled to Bermuda to take on Fordham.

Prior to that, in 1991, HC played its penultimate game of that season in Limerick, Ireland, also against the Rams.

Are these "exotic" locations any different than heading to San Diego or south Florida a few years ago? Would it benefit Holy Cross to seek a game outside the States in coming years?

Banana Slug connection

Who knew? Holy Cross Football has a connection to the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs! Yes, the same Slugs made famous by a T-shirt worn by John Travolta's character Vincent Vega in the 1994 Tarantino classic, Pulp Fiction.


These are the things you discover when picking up and getting sucked into the annual football media guide. According to the guide, senior DB Marc Crosby's "brother, Michael, played basketball at the University of California-Santa Cruz."

Career Day for Dom

What a day for the emerging star, sophomore QB Dominic Randolph! In the impressive 38-28 Crusader victory at Lafayette, Dom set personal highs with 4 touchdown passes, 352 passing yards, and 34 completions (34 of 46). The 34 completions broke Brian Hall's school record of 32 completions from Holy Cross's 63-53 win over Lafayette in a wild game in 2001. Some Leopard symmetry, perhaps?

Incidentally, that Brian Hall game was the last time a HC player won the Dr. Eddie Anderson Family Weekend MVP trophy, presented by the Holy Cross Club of Greater Worcester. It's been five years. The upcoming Lehigh game would be the perfect time to break the streak of visiting players taking home that trophy on Family Weekend!

All the single-game and year-to-date Dom Randolph numbers make you wonder if he's on his way to eventually entrenching himself among the QB greats who dominate the HC record book: guys like Wiley, Ciaccio, O'Neil and Hall, with the occasional Muldoon, McCarthy and Stapp thrown in for good measure.

We'd love to see it happen. The man can play.

Quick thoughts on the football team

So it wasn't the prettiest of wins. But HC won the game in overtime at Dartmouth yesterday, and is now 5-2 on the season. Yes, I realize the five wins haven't come against traditional 1-AA powers. But two of them have come against Ivy League opponents, and the two losses were competitive.

I expected this season to be a step back from last year. They graduated many seniors on offense, and I thought the Crusaders would struggle this year. Looks like I was wrong! And I'm happy with that! Two years ago, HC was getting pummeled in the second half of games, even as the first halves were tightly contested. Last year, HC went 6-5 and had some tough 4th quarters. Look at the Delaware game as an example. HC was losing 21-17 after three, and got trounced in the fourth, eventually losing 35-23.

This year, Holy Cross has had some late-game fades, but they're hanging on to win! The conclusion? Depth. The gradual increase in depth from two seasons ago is paying dividends. If this trend continues next year, I expect we won't see the late fades at all. Coach Tom Gilmore has turned this team around. He's acquiring the right pieces, and I'm excited about the coming years! I don't know how he got a talent like Aaron Jones to commit to HC instead of Lehigh, but whatever he said, it worked. Holy Cross football is finally on its way back to glory. Let's win these last four games!

More Fordham pics

Special thanks to a friend of ours from the Holy Cross Class of 1970, who sent these Homecoming day photos to us the old-fashioned way - via postal mail!

First up is a picture featuring a few of our hoops players. Left to right, it's sophomore Pat Doherty and frosh Zach Paterick and Adam May going up for a bomb on the baseball field, prior to the game. IIRC, the pass was tossed by Greg McCarthy. Or maybe it was Lawrence Dixon. On crutches. Or not. Honestly, I don't remember who threw that particular pass, but several of the younger guys were having fun throwing the ball around. Pat looked fine, I think! I'd say it was a good thing Coach Willard wasn't around to see these guys horsing around, except he was standing nearby watching them!




Another one of Dave and yours truly, tailgating prior to the game:



Finally, a couple shots of the actual game, taken from the Fordham side of the bleachers. HC on offense, then on defense. Expand to your heart's delight - you might be able to pick yourself out on the other side of the stands.

Fordham pics

We're guessing sader1970 sent these photos to Crossports for posting over there, but we received them, too, and figured we'd post them here! Not sure who made the ESPNU sign (it was passed to us by some nearby football family members who had similar signs), but it looks sharp.

Holy Cross won the game, 28-21! Here are three pictures from the day:

sader1970 and his wife, along with their niece on the left, and footballwoman75 (frosh gridder Don Matheney's girlfriend) on the right:


"We Are Crusaders" blogger Jon, with footballwoman75:


Non Alum Dave (fresh off his morning visit to the Hart Center) and Jon, on the 50-yard line:

Delaware Football Pics, 2005

I could've sworn I posted my photos from the Holy Cross game at Delaware held September 24, 2005, but as I'm in catchup mode here, I went through the archives and couldn't find any pics from that game. Delaware won that game 35-23, but Holy Cross made them work for it. It was 7-7 at the half.

I had fun at that game. It was also "Band Day," so after the game we were treated to a show by area high school bands and the UD band. Good times at Tubby Raymond Field.

There's nothing overwhelming here, but it's interesting to see the excitement of the player intros for the Delaware team, along with the stat progression in the last quarter of the game (seen on the scoreboard with a breakdown in passing, rushing, and total yards). Specifically, UD ran for 94 yards in the 4th quarter, Holy Cross only 18.

The first four pics were taken during pre-game. And how can I forget, the fifth photo features Holy Cross basketball center Tim Clifford on the very right, wearing his homemade hat with the Steve Silva cutout. Gotta give Tim credit, he stuck it out and wore his hat long after his buddies discarded theirs.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

WoMag found this blog!

We made the newspaper! No, not the T&G. It's the local alternative weekly, Worcester Magazine. Veteran Crossports readers will recall that WoMag published a cover story on Holy Cross football, entitled "Goodbye, Glory Days" in its November 13-19, 2003 issue. WoMag, meet Tom Gilmore.

Anyway, I discovered during a phone call this evening that there was some "big news" relating to yours truly. How big could it be if I didn't know it myself? Well, we're excited to report that WoMag has listed us in this week's edition of its Blog Log. They picked up our "Ice Storm" post which detailed my harrowing journey home from Bucknell to Worcester.

Maybe this news isn't at the same level as knowing Kevin Bettencourt is reading your blog (or more accurately, Boxman's Blog), but it's still pretty cool. I haven't seen the print edition yet, but hope to pick up a copy tomorrow. To any readers who've surfed over here after reading about us in WoMag, welcome aboard!

The Pride of East Providence

Teammate. Captain. Leader. Speedster.

Steve Silva: All-American!

Congratulations, once again, to Steve Silva, who has racked up two I-AA first-team All-America honors in the last three days. On Monday, Steve was named to the Sports Network's All-America first team as a return specialist.

Then on Wednesday, Steve was honored as a first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association. Once again, he was chosen as a return specialist.

Despite these honors, I get the feeling Steve Silva has been under-appreciated in Worcester and even by many Holy Cross sports fans. Steve's the most talented and accomplished player the Crusaders have had in over a decade! This year, he led the nation in all-purpose yards!

Maybe I'm preaching to the choir. Who knows. I'll say this: Steve has been so much fun to watch during his career, and not only are his many post-season honors well-deserved, but Silva deserves to be mentioned with the Holy Cross football elite. These career stats are staggering:

• Second all-time in rushing TDs (33) behind only Joe Segreti (37)
• Third all-time in rushing yards (2,646) behind Gill Fenerty and Joe Segreti, and ahead of Jerome Fuller
• Second all-time in all-purpose yards (5,153) behind Ari Confesor (5,226), (and he fell 39 yards short of Gordie Lockbaum's single-season all-purpose yardage record of 2,173)
• Third in total TDs (38) behind Lockbaum and Segreti (tied with 44)
• Fourth in all-time receptions (Laboranti, Confesor, Gallagher)

Fenerty's and Segreti's numbers speak for themselves. Fuller was like God when I was a student. Lockbaum is a legend. Silva's right with these players from the last 25 years.

Steve has progressed from a USA Today honorable mention All-American as a high schooler, to a bona-fide Division I-AA All-American. Steve, you'll be missed. Best of luck as you continue to pursue your football dreams.

One of the best Crusaders ever. Period.

Football Awards Catchup

This clipping is from the Scoreboard page of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette's Sports section, from Wednesday, November 30. Holy Cross football players earned several spots on the "Worcester Area Football Association 15th Annual All-Star Team".

If anyone knows who comprises that association, please comment. The "All-Stars" are mostly from HC, WPI, Assumption, Fitchburg State and Worcester State. Personally, I don't really understand this type of system. It's nice to have the regional recognition, but how can you compare Division One athletes with those from Nichols or Assumption?

Same question goes for the T&G's "College Cup," or whatever it is they call it. Once a week during each athletic season, they publish a list of "college standings" with the combined records of the various athletic teams for the area colleges. Holy Cross is usually in the middle of the pack. I'm curious who attaches real value to those standings.

Nevertheless, getting back to this clipping, congrats to Steve Silva and Dan Adams for sweeping the Offensive and Defensive POY awards, and to O'Neil, Silva, Dugan, Gruber, LaGrenade, Schoepfer, Cannon, Pinard, Adams and Gough for netting spots on their respective First Teams.

(If you want to read the clipping, click the picture, then on that page put your mouse over the picture, and if necessary you should be able to expand again by clicking on the button that shows up at the bottom right. At least that's how it works with my browser.)

Dartmouth Game, 2004

I scanned in a bunch of photos the other day, many of them relating to Holy Cross athletics. They cover various events from the past year, so I'm going to post them in chronological order.

This picture is from the Holy Cross vs. Dartmouth football game, held on October 16, 2004. (Click photo to enlarge.) This is the game that broke the 15-game losing streak. It was a crisp autumn day up in Hanover, NH, and the Crusaders played an excellent game. It was a pretty emotional scene on the field afterwards. Our guys are 9-8 since then (counting that game).

I also have pictures from my visit to Colgate in May, the Delaware football game from September, and a couple other games.

Steve Silva: All-Everything

Congratulations to HC senior gridder Steve Silva, who has won Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year and Special Teams Player of the Year!

From the release:

He becomes the first Crusader since Tom Ciaccio in 1990 to earn Offensive Player of the Year honors, and is the first Holy Cross standout to ever be named Special Teams Player of the Year.

Very well-deserved. Steve had some kind of season. And other HC players received honors:

Silva was joined on the All-Patriot League first team by senior center David Cannon (Export, Pa.) and senior tight end Luke Dugan (Maple Plain, Minn.). Four other Crusaders, junior cornerback Casey Gough (Hinsdale, Ill.), senior wide receiver Sean Gruber (Richwood, Ky.), junior punter Ryan McManaway (Ferdinand, Ind.) and junior offensive guard Andrew Schoepfer (Waterford, Conn.), earned second team All-Patriot League honors.

Congratulations, guys!

Congrats HC Football!

Before it becomes "old news," I have to pass along hearty congratulations to Coach Tom Gilmore, the coaching staff and managers, and all the players for a winning Holy Cross football season!

At the pre-season get-together with Coach Gilmore at Funky Murphy's on Shrewsbury Street, my friend and occasional Crossports poster "Jim" told HC Athletic Director Dick Regan that he thought HC would win seven games this year. Dick shouted over to Coach Gilmore, saying, "Hey Tom, this guy here already has you losing four games!" Everyone got some laughs from that, but Jim's seven-win prediction wasn't far off.

Fifth-year seniors Steve Silva (pictured) and Luke Dugan were a big part of the team's turnaround. Hopefully Steve will get his deserved consideration for the Payton Award.

And let's not forget senior QB John O'Neil, from White Plains, NY, who may be, statistically at least, the third-best quarterback to play at Holy Cross. He's played through injuries for the better part of two seasons, and had some rough spots in his senior year, so I'm happy he's able to walk away a winner.