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My two hometown teams made me a couch potato.
I had grand plans for the weekend after Carolina’s big win over Richmond. First, I was on deadline to write a column about it.
But Saturday night, I went to a birthday party for the wife of Tom LaGarde, the 7-foot former Tar Heel basketball star who once worked on Wall Street and roller-skated around Manhattan.
It was a great party at their seven-acre farm in Snow Camp, where they moved 20 years ago. But it gave me a short deadline to finish the Art’s Angle column Sunday morning.
I wanted to take a bike ride before the Patriots game against the Dolphins. I still love all the pro teams from my Boston upbringing, especially the Patriots because of their new quarterback, second year star Drake Maye from UNC.
Never got on the bike since I watched the NFL pregame shows to hear what they were saying about Maye, who had a so-so game in the opening day loss to the Raiders. The talking heads predicted he would do much better. And he did, throwing for two touchdowns and running for another in the Pats’ thrilling 33-27 victory over the Fins.
There were three or four other games that went down to the wire, including the Chiefs second loss of the season and third straight to the Eagles, who beat them in the Super Bowl last February.
Then it was almost time to watch the Yankees-Red Sox game, a true must win for the Bosox after dropping the first two games of the series in the race for an American League wild card spot. But first I had to check the golf channel and see if Chapel Hill’s Ben Griffin still had the lead over Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, in the Procore championship out in Napa. And he did by one stroke midway through the final round.
When the Bosox scored six runs in the first inning, it gave me a chance to switch back and forth from baseball to golf, and Griffin had a chance to win on the 72nd hole, but he missed the birdie putt and Scheffler won by a shot over his new Ryder cup teammate.
The Yankees were chipping away with two in their fourth inning, one in the fifth on another Aaron Judge home run and the Sox never scored again. It all came down to the top of the ninth when former Yankee and now Sox closer Aroldis Chapman fanned the last batter and gave his trademarked stare at the 27th out for the Yanks.
The Patriots and Maye won an amazing back and forth game, the Red Sox held on to win and stay in the wild card race, and Griffin showed he would be on the PGA Tour for years to come. What day on the couch! Biking on Monday.
Featured image via Associated Press/Rebecca Blackwell
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
