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Mike DiMauro: The erstwhile bumpkins have become the envy of CT sports

mike dimauro, the day, new london, conn.
·4 min read

Feb. 28—In the pantheon of provocative questions, my late friend and mentor Randy Smith, longtime sports columnist in Connecticut, retired the trophy.

This was 25 years ago now on a UConn women's basketball road trip at UCLA. Shootaround, day before the game. We are standing inside Pauley Pavilion, the Yankee Stadium of college basketball. Randy starts asking the players, "do you know where you are?"

The first answers included "California" and "the place with the cute men's coach," alluding to Steve Lavin at the time. Randy eyerolled. Happily, Sue Bird, ever deft handing out assists, rescued the operation with a soliloquy about Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton and the Wizard of Westwood.

The original question, however, resonates beyond that particular day: Do you know where you are?

I ask this of people who follow sports here in our corner of the world. Do you know where you are? More specifically: Do you understand how we have evolved from bumpkins to the most sophisticated onlookers in Connecticut?

Ah, perhaps you quibble with the word "sophisticated." Maybe we try "fortunate." Either way, we have become the envy of Connecticut. Who else gets to watch conference tournament high school basketball championship games at Mohegan Sun Arena? (Answer: nobody.) Who else gets to watch high school championship events — not just basketball — via a livestream with three cameras, two announcers, a sideline reporter and replay? (Answer: nobody.)

Trust me on this one: I see it in the faces of coaches, administrators and media types from more populated state outposts, who have long considered themselves more urbane, simply because of geography. (It's the old line about being born on third base, but thinking they hit a triple.) Their expressions say it all: How is it those hayseeds east of the river are giving their kids better experiences than we are?

Cue the old Geno Auriemma line, "we have Diana and you don't." We have Jim, Peter and Tom and you don't.

That would be Jim Buonocore, Peter Huoppi and Tom Cantone. They are the difference makers in our sports watching experiences. And they're all ours.

Buonocore: the assistant principal and athletic director at Ledyard High, who is more important than a lung to the ECC as its de facto commissioner. Rare is the text I send him without the words, "you are a model of efficiency."

Huoppi: His title is The Day's Director of Multimedia. I prefer: the brains (and effort) behind GameDay. Even now, I marvel at what we're doing.

Cantone: The President of Sports and Entertainment of Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment. Recipient of the 2021 "Innovator of the Year" Award by CelebrityAccess, the home office for live entertainment news. Cantone is the man responsible for opening Mohegan Sun's doors to the kids, providing them with experiences of a lifetime. How many other big league national business entities open their doors to kids without asking for a thing in return?

I write this so you understand our good fortune. So we take none of it for granted. So Wednesday night, if you are going to Mohegan Sun for the boys' championship games or relaxing at home watching on GameDay, you think a happy thought for the people making this happen.

Because this isn't happening anywhere else in Connecticut. Or, dare I say, the country.

Quite the evolution. I was once critical of the ECC's decision to create two divisions of championship games in most sports. Watered down. Now we see the looks of hope and wonder on the kids' faces, the thrill of playing at Mohegan Sun, the grins at being interviewed on GameDay (not just in basketball) and the ability to go home and watch the replay. It's everything the high school sports experience should be. And we here in eastern Connecticut get the very best version.

If you happen to watch Wednesday night, you might grin at the idea that not even in Fairfield County, where even the cow pastures are turfed, do championship events have the same cachet. No need to toss any bouquets at anybody. Just understand the concept of good fortune and good people doing good things.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro