Hunting for Heal Points

Thanks to Heal Points, the stretch run of a Maine high school sports regular season is a thing unique in sports. Not only do you need to win your games and hope the teams you're chasing and/or holding off lose, but you also need to hope that other games scattered around the state go your way. They might be 5 hours away and in a different class than yours, but a game between two teams playing out the string can determine if you make the playoffs.

Some call this a flaw. I call it a feature.

This of course leads to strange bedfellows--Caribou needing a win from Presque Isle, South Portland rooting for Portland, Maranacook silently pulling for Spruce Mountain--you get the idea.

Like any system of seeding, teams will pull out all the stops down the stretch, hoping to eek out that last playoff spot and pull blood from a stone to get a couple of extra help points.

So when word came across my DMs on Friday that Fort Kent's baseball team was forfeiting a win over Lee Academy on June 2nd for a pitch count violation, the motives seemed like they'd be pretty clear: obviously they were hoping to win a must-win game in order to sneak into the playoffs...right?

Except Fort Kent was eliminated on May 30 with a loss to Stearns, so there's no motivation to push their luck. Either way, it's on to summer basketball for the champs.

So obviously, Lee Academy is the squeaky wheel here...right?

Nope. They're also out.

So I did a little digging and confirmed with the MPA that the pitch count issue was brought to their attention by a third party. So what happened is Fort Kent blew out Lee Academy in the final game of the season and in doing so, employed a pitcher who was over their pitch count limit. We're not sure why. I was unable to get a statement from Fort Kent. But they probably were just getting ready for summer and didn't put a lot of thought into it. And the losing team didn't say anything. But someone else, someone who needed the help points from a Lee Academy win, was lurking on GameChanger and found the pitch count violation. And like a dude with too much time on his hands who calls the PGA tour because he noticed a rule violation on TV, he contacted the MPA with his folder of evidence to get his team a couple more Heal Points. Because, hey, Heal Points are a valuable commodity, especially in the final week of the season.

Time to start the playoffs!

I spent the weekend making sure everything was ready for the tournament in the Spring Sports spreadsheet and I think it's all working.

Here's the Gold Ball Odds for boys Class B Lacrosse

Yesterday, Toby Nelson joined me on the podcast. Toby introduced himself to me at the state games in Augusta this year, which was weird because of course I knew Toby Nelson already, but it turns out we hadn't actually met before

So it was great to have him on to talk about the old Bangor Auditorium, Foxcroft Academy and the celebration of the anniversary of their only basketball title in 1975, Toby's quest to keep the legacy of Monson Academy alive, and so much more.

Plus, my kid joined me to talk about the weird movie he dragged me to.

Thanks to everyone who's been saying nice things about the episodes lately and if you haven't already, don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!

You can also listen on Apple Podcasts, if that's your thing.

The King of Foxcroft Academy — with Toby Nelson

Podcast Episode · The Maine Basketball Rankings Podcast · June 8 · 1h 7m

Apple Podcasts

After extra security added hours to the wait time to get into MSG and canceled the watch party outside the stadium, New Yorkers showed their displeasure in the least surprising way possible last night.

Donald Trump Booed at NBA Finals in New York City

Donald Trump was booed by the Madison Square Garden crowd at Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

VarietyJack Dunn

Without getting political, the vibes on this Knicks team has been off the charts and they lost last night at home. If the Knicks were to become the first team in NBA history to lose after going 2-0 on the road to start the series because James Dolan invited a very unpopular politician friend of his to Game 3...well that would kind of be a perfect Knicks thing. It's a borderline Jets move.

Having said that...

Chad Finn (@chadfinn.bsky.social)

I don’t know, I think they lost because Jeter was there, honestly.

Bluesky SocialChad Finn

Addison DeRoche is your softball Gatorade Player of the Year for the third year in a row.

Three straight Gatorade POTY awards might be a first in the state. Terion Moss won it two years in a row, as did Maddie Fitzpatrick, but I'm having trouble thinking of anyone who's done it three times.

She'll be the overwhelming favorite to make it a clean sweep next year, assuming she doesn't go prep out of state prior to heading to Florida State.

The Sea Dogs found themselves as a clue on Jeopardy!

Here's a fun twist in the upcoming battle of humans vs AI: Chicago Pope has entered the arena.

Taking a break from spinning Yankee Hotel Foxtrot on repeat, the Pope wrote a 43,000-word encyclical on Artificial Intelligence.

In the era of artificial intelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human.

Full disclosure: I've been using Claude and some other AI tools to do stuff like code the new data visualizations and come up with podcast show notes--boring stuff like that--but never to, say, write this newsletter. This is all me (and caffeine).

But what's fascinating is because the Pope got involved, a coder was able to use that to claim a religious exemption from being forced to use AI in her job.

Good for her.

And if you're a sportswriter who doesn't want their outlet to make them use AI to write stupid gamers like MaxPreps and GameChanger flood my inbox with, it's not too late to convert to Catholicism.

She won an exemption from using AI at her tech job. The Pope’s remarks could fuel similar appeals.

Legal experts say employers must take AI-related religious objections seriously, as a 2023 ruling raised the bar for denying such accommodations.

Business InsiderSarah E. Needleman

And because of course this led me down a Chicago rabbit hole, this is pretty great.

Even the secretary in your March Madness office pool knows that you have to pick at least one 12 seed to knock off a 5 in the first round, so perhaps it's fitting that our prelim Game of the Day features #12 Bonny Eagle and #5 Edward Little.

The two teams met back on May 14th with the Eddies prevailing 11-9 on the road. Bonny Eagle followed that up with a blowout loss to TA, but since then they've won 4 straight. Can they make it 5 and punch their ticket to the quarterfinals?

The Model's picks for the rest of today's games are after the jump.