MLB's new home run king, steroids, top high school football teams, and other thoughts

Just thought I’d empty out my reporter’s notebook while thinking that if I'm president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics I'm getting 1998 NBA Coach of the Year Larry Bird to coach the team this season.

*The Quiet Corner is still buzzing over last week’s thrilling football game between Killingly and Bloomfield. Unfortunately, Killingly’s thrilling come-from-behind 28-22 victory over the Warhawks, who are serious state championship contenders, didn’t resonate among the voters in the GameTimeCT Top Football Poll. Despite gaining one more first place vote, Killingly was leap-frogged by defending Class L champion Maloney for the No. 4 spot. The Spartans were coming off an impressive 21-9 victory over Darien.

Here is this week’s Top 10 list. Voters choose their top 15 teams, ordering them from 1 to 15, with more points awarded to teams at the top of lists and fewer points awarded to teams further down. The number of people who voted a team in first place is in parentheses next to the team, while total points for each team are listed at the end.

1. Southington (6) 3-0, 592

2. New Canaan (6) 3-0, 590

3. Shelton (6) 3-0, 549

4. Maloney 3-0, 502

5. Killingly (2), 3-0, 484

6. Greenwich (1), 2-1, 450

7. Trumbull (1), 3-0, 396

8. St. Joseph, 3-0, 393

9. Ansonia, 3-0, 277

10. West Haven, 3-0, 274

Here is the vote I submitted last Sunday to the good folks at GameTimeCT.

1. Killingly

2. New Canaan

3. Ansonia

4. Shelton

5. Southington

6. Maloney

7. Greenwich

8. St. Joseph

9. Trumbull

10. Fairfield Prep

11. Naugatuck

12. West Haven

13. Bloomfield

14. Cheshire

15. Glastonbury

After a bye week, Killingly hosts unbeaten Windham - the Whippets garnered some “others receiving votes” in the poll - on Oct. 14 before traveling to Branford for a Class M semi-final rematch against the Hornets. Killingly’s longest trip of the season into SCC country is another chance for the ECC’s top team to impress the multitude of Top 10 voters from that part of the state.

*New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge’s pursuit of Roger Maris’ American League home run record of 61 dingers in a single season has stirred up the ghosts of steroids past. Maris’ son, Roger Jr., has taken some heat for saying that Judge’s home run tally should be recognized as the official record for most home runs in a season (by the time you are reading this Judge could have 62 homers).

Of course, the “hey, everybody was using steroids” crowd and all the Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa apologists took umbrage to Maris Jr’s remarks.

I get that MLB looked the other way during the Steroids Era for financial gain. Stuff happens, right? But the steroid users made a mockery of baseball’s iconic home run statistics - Bonds hit a whopping 73 in 2001 - and that’s why I’m agreeing with Roger Maris Jr.

Judge is the new Home Run King!

In fact, I am going to take out all of the sluggers who played in the Steroids Era from my personal MLB top home run hitters list. Even though some of them have not officially been linked to steroids, I'm taking a cue from Fordham grad and longtime Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay’s home run call and saying “See, ya!’ to Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr., Jim Thome, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Frank Thomas.

My list of the Top 10 home run sluggers of all-time:

1. Hank Aaron 755

2. Babe Ruth 714

3. Willie Mays 660

4. Frank Robinson 586

5. Harmon Killebrew 573

6. Reggie Jackson 563

7. Mike Schmidt 548

8. Mickey Mantle 536

9. Jimmie Foxx 534

10. (tie) Ted Williams, Willie McCovey 521

*The Connecticut Sun, who are now 0-4 in WNBA finals appearances, are officially the Buffalo Bills of the WNBA.

*If Mac Jones (high ankle sprain) can’t play against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, the New England Patriots depth chart at quarterback is Brian Hoyer and Bailey Zappe. Hmmm … former Patriot and 1998 Pro Bowl quarterback Doug Flutie, even though he turns 60 on Oct. 23 (welcome to the club, Mr. Flutie), might give the Pats a better shot at moving the chains against the Packers.

*I’m not exactly thrilled with the selection of Rihanna as the headliner for the Super Bowl LVII halftime show on Feb. 12 in Arizona. (I was secretly rooting for Taylor Swift).

Rihanna is more of an entrepreneur than a singer these days. Not sure how long it’s been since her last tour.

After the legendary run of Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, and The Who from 2005-2010, the must-watch Super Bowl halftime show took a turn for the worse the following year with the performance from the Black Eyed Peas. Subsequent shows by Maroon 5 and The Weekend were also abominations.

Give me the return of the rock and roll geriatric set. Give me Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham’s son, Jason, performing “Ramble On,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “Rock and Roll,” “Misty Mountain Hop” and “Stairway to Heaven” just one more time during football's biggest day.

*STUCK IN THE 70s: On this day - October 2, 1978 - the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox, 5-4, in front of 32,925 sun-splashed fans at Fenway Park in a one-game playoff for the American League East Division championship. This was one of the most dramatic games in MLB history. Another chapter for The Curse of the Bambino. Bucky “Bleepin” Dent.

Jimmy Zanor can be reached at jzanor@norwichbulletin.com.  

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Aaron Judge MLB's new home run king, steroids and other thoughts