Muscato's Musings

A Kid From Easton Inspiring Our New England Patriots

Bill Belichick is a fan of Jim Craig, a child of our wonderful community

  I guess it is far too easy, now, to take for granted this extraordinary franchise, these New England Patriots.  Our Pats face the Baltimore Ravens Sunday at Gillette Stadium. It is the sixth time in the past 11 years that the Patriots play in the American Football Conference championship game of the National Football League.  It is incredible. I mean, really, over the past 11 years, New England has three Super Bowl wins, and five Super Bowl appearances. And, let's face it – if a few plays had gone the other way, the Patriots could have won five, if not six, Super Bowls, during this period.  Yeah, yeah, OK – I understand the flip side of the coin, that if a few plays had gone against the Pats there may have been only one Super Bowl win.  …

• Photos (1)

Craig Has No Plans to Sell Olympic Equipment

1908 USA goaltender Jim Craig says he has no problem with teammate Mike Eruzione auctioning off Olympic items.

Mike Eruzione is selling his Olympic equipment from the 1980s gold medal winning USA hockey team. Easton's Jim Craig, though, is keeping his, according to a report in the Boston Herald. He said he could never put the American flag he drapped around himself after winning the gold medal up for sale.  “I think at some point in time I might think of the Smithsonian,” Craig said. “Make a donation like that.” Craig also still has his goalie mask and jerseys from the Olympics. The former Oliver Ames and Boston University standout understands why his former teammates is putting his things on the block. “Well, I think he’s doing it for all the right reasons," said Craig in the Boston Herald.  Eruzione said he said he put the jersey in the auction …

• Photos (1)

Muscato's Musings

GREAT JOB LONDON!!

Easton — What Would Our “Games” Look Like?

  Yes, London can put on an Olympics. Wow!! That was just great. Absolutely great. And how about the performances of the sons and daughters of America in these games? Standout. Inspiring. Awesome. Now, of course, every Olympic Games has an individual stamp on it of the city hosting the event. The opening and closing ceremonies, the competition venues, the signage, the medals themselves, all contain something of the history, culture, and identity of the host location. Okay, so I’m thinking here — let’s say that Easton hosted some sort of international athletic competition. I mean, really, we could do it. We could scare up the dough. Get the volunteers in place. Put the Easton Lions Club on this project. What would our Easton Sports …

• Photos (1)

Muscato's Musings

Let the Olympic Game Begin

The 2012 London Olympic Games — the Next Installment in Just About the Best Event on Earth

  One of my favorite events in all the world is under way in London. Yes — the Summer Olympic Games. I am a big fan of the Winter Olympic Games as well — but having been a competitive runner and still a big track and field fan, I get more fired up about the summer games. (Here is a link to a column I wrote, "Easton's Olympic History is Impressive" , which ran in this space back on Nov. 5, 2010. You may be surprised just how big a role people from our town have played in the Olympics.) My affection goes far beyond the athletic competition of the Olympics — for it is the pageantry and international camaraderie, however flawed and imperfect, that does so much to make the Olympics magical. I was living in New York City in the summer of 1996, …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)

Muscato's Musings

That Old Boston Bruins Feeling

In the 1970s, the Bruins and Hockey were Big in Easton and Across New England

Nostalgia has spread across the Greater Boston area in the form of a longing, an acquaintance with a time and place and fervor of long past. Something about a hockey team. Included among my Facebook friends are many present and former Easton residents who are big Boston Bruins fans.  Here is a sampling of how my Facebook friends have integrated their affection for the Bruins into their FB page profile images:  Eric Blaney has a photo of himself, in Boston Bruins gear, standing alongside the ice at the TD Banknorth Garden while his lovely girlfriend, Jackie Belsky, also in Bruins regalia, is kissing him on the cheek; Joe Bailey’s FB profile image is the Boston Bruins logo; Linda (Wise) Ellis has a photo of her son, Harley, wearing a Boston …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (1)