Sidelines: A Christmas sports wish list, in Maine and abroad

Nokomis freshman Ace Flagg dunks against Bangor during a boys basketball game Dec. 14 in Newport. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Dear Santa,

Sorry I’m a little late with my Christmas wish list this year. I won’t lie, I’ve got a lot going on.

I had a hernia surgery, that put my professional wrestling career on hold for a couple months. Work is obviously always a factor. Also, I have a 5-year-old daughter who has a list that’s three times as long as this one (you may still be reading it).

While my list may not contain requests for superhero costumes and Ryan’s World toys like my daughter’s, here is my wish list for the sports world — in Maine and abroad — for the coming year. Some wishes are easier to grant than others, but you never know if you don’t ask.

I wish fans of the New England Patriots would realize this is not the 2001 version of the team (the one that beat the St. Louis Rams 20-17 in Super Bowl XXXVI), as many have tried to make comparisons to on social media. Mac Jones is not Tom Brady. J.C. Jackson is not Ty Law. Nick Folk (who hasn’t received nearly the credit he deserves this season) is not Adam Vinatieri.

The simple fact of the matter is, the Patriots are a good — but not great — team this year. They have an excellent chance to win the AFC East, especially if they beat the Buffalo Bills on Sunday in Foxborough. They may even pull an upset win in the playoffs. But, as shown Saturday night against the Indianapolis Colts, New England still has its struggles against some of the National Football League’s top teams. There’s reason for that. There are holes with this team, particularly on the offensive and defensive lines. Jones should be in contention to win rookie of the year, and has been hands-down the best quarterback of the draft class of 2021. But he’s still a rookie, and prone to rookie mistakes.

Fans SHOULD appreciate the fact this team is far and away better than last year’s group that finished 7-9. It appears, at least at the moment, that the future of the quarterback position in New England has been answered. Take heart in this year’s turnaround, and the fact there’s potential going into the future. This team is on its way up, not down.

I wish the Baseball Writers Association of America would finally come to some sort of consensus on how to deal with the voting of players from the “Steroid Era” into the Baseball Hall of Fame. At the end of the day, it’s a museum. It’s ludicrous that players who are the best that ever played the game — especially Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds — are not in because of a moral stance. You want to go moral code? Kick Ty Cobb out of Cooperstown immediately for his open racism. Get rid of Babe Ruth for being an alcoholic and womanizer. Whitey Ford openly admitted to doctoring baseballs during his career. On that same front, ban Gaylord Perry. Research Cap Anson and see if he belongs in the Hall of Fame (Spoiler alert: He helped segregate baseball). That’s just a tip of the iceberg.

I’ve had the same take on this forever: Vote the “Steroid Era” players in, with an asterisk on their plaques saying they played during an era where steroids inflated offensive statistics. Problem solved.

While we’re at it, put in Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson as well.

I wish high school football in Maine would go to three classes for 11-man teams, along with the one class of 8-man football. As the number of 8-man teams rise in the state, it no longer makes sense to have Class D for 11-man. Eliminate it completely. And while we’re at it, it’s time to once again readjust the classification numbers so there’s not just eight teams in Class A. Of the 51 teams that had an 11-man football program this past year, 34 teams — or 66.7 percent — resided in Class B and Class C (per the Maine Principals’ Association football bulletin).

I wish — like many of us do — that the Maine high school basketball tournament returns in its normal form — played in Portland, Augusta and Bangor — as safely and smartly as possible. I know that’s a tough ask at the moment with the number of COVID-19 cases climbing in Maine, but it’s something everyone — players, coaches, fans and media — all agree we want to have back.

I wish the officials who will work the Maine high school basketball tournament understand that we are currently in a time where athletes playing the game are as good as they’ve ever been. There are now a multitude of players in the Pine Tree State who can throw down a dunk, a play that has been part of the game since the 1940s. There may, in fact, be a plethora of players who will attempt to dunk during the tournament. Please, Santa, for the sanity of those players, their coaches, fans and us media members on the sidelines, don’t let there be an official who gives a technical foul to any of these players achieving a physical feat that many of us wish we could do.

Many thanks and Merry Christmas,

Dave Dyer

A.K.A. “The Belfast Bulldog”

P.S. — I know you’re getting a lot of cookies and milk. As a nice change of pace, I have left Slim Jims and Mountain Dew. You’re welcome.