Sean Horgan: FishOn: Lobstering should be Olympic sport

Jul. 26—We here at FishOn aren't planning to watch much, if any, of the Tokyo Summer Olympics. The Games just don't have much allure for us anymore.

We don't like the invasive professionalism. We don't like the economic toll they always exact from their host countries. We don't like the treacly coverage and we're still more than slightly miffed about the USA getting jobbed by the refs in the 1972 gold medal basketball game against the artists formerly known as the Soviet Union.

But there is one way the swells who run the Games could get us back: include fishing among the lineup of sports.

Why not? Have you seen the lineup of sports for the Summer Games? Three-on-three basketball. BMX freestyle. Golf. Athletic climbing. Skateboarding. Skateboarding! Are they kidding? We'd rather watch replays of every Bore de France since Napoleon. Why don't they just include card tricks and be done with it.

Fishing makes as much sense as any of them.

Fly fishing would be good. Stripers? Sure. Tuna? Como no. Salmon, sea bass, large mouth bass and Dickie Bass would do the trick.

But why stop there? How about some commercial fishing? Why not lobstering?

We say we should send over Mark Ring, Doc Herrick, The Mondello boys (Pete and Joe), Ed Smith, Scott Swicker and Doug Maxfield to face whomever the rest of the world dares to send. John Farrell could skipper the squad.

What about our old Rockport lobstering pal, Larry Stepenuck?

Hmm, we'll have to get back to you on that one. He may have already committed to the Ukrainian team. The Cranium.

FishOn weekly baseball quiz question

This week's question is courtesy of Lisa Olson, famed skipper of the Gloucester Little League Pirates:

We all know that Red Sox first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz recorded the final putout in Game 4 of the 2004 World Series against the Cardinals to break 86-year-old void of Red Sox World Series titles. And then tried to turn it into a retirement plan. But who recorded the final putout in the 1918 World Series victory that gave way to the Curse of the Bambino? The answer is celebrating down below.

Oysters and colonialism. Who's in?

And speaking of the Tokyo Summer Games . . . it just gets more and more surreal.

Consider the piece we saw in the Washington Post last week that detailed concerns by organizers that an armada of rogue oysters could invade the waterway venue for canoeing and rowing. And the gold medal goes to ...

"An infestation first came to light during a trial event in 2019, shortly after the venue was created," the Post piece stated. "Equipment floating in the water suddenly began to sink, prompting crews to investigate what was weighing them down."

The problem was the appearance of more oysters than even our late pal Ozie could eat in one sitting — 14 metric tons, or about 31,000 pounds. On second thought, the Oyster Whisperer would have crushed that.

The Japanese organizers hired divers to clean the mollusks off the equipment. They couldn't get Salvi Benson or George Hackford, so they went with the B Team.

The culprit was the coveted magaki.

"Magaki oysters, also known as Pacific oysters, are native to Japan and widely upheld as a delicacy," the Post reported. "Many chefs consider them to be among the best oysters in the world, and they often sell at high prices. However, as one Tokyo government official said, 'We did not consider consuming them. That would entail safety checks. We do not want to grow oysters but work to contain them'."

Words to live by, right there.

Fish, the gift that keeps giving

Every week, it seems, we learn something else about fish or a species of fish — that we didn't know before.

Last week, for instance, we made the acquaintance the fish species opah, or moonfish, when one washed up on an Oregon beach much to delight of everyone who saw it (though not, we are sure, to the delight of said opah).

The fish, which usually live at extraordinary depths, looks like an enormous version of a tropical fish that you might find in any home aquarium. It has big eyes and a round, vibrantly colored body of orange and silver scales with white spots. This one was more than 3 feet long and tipped the scales at more than 100 pounds.

And it was probably the runt of the litter, since the opah can grow to 6 feet in length and weigh more than 600 pounds. If Orson Wells was a tropical fish, he'd be an opah.

Researchers don't know that much about opah. They haven't even been able to find a way to determine their age. But this is known: the opah is the only fully warm-blooded fish because it has blood vessels in its gills that carry warm blood throughout its body.

The Washington Post reported that the opah will be frozen until later this year.

Excellent. The Ted Williams treatment.

Every story, ultimately, is about Gloucester

Last Thursday, Coast Guard watchstanders in Boston received a distress call from the crew of the F/V Lynn & William, a Maine boat that often lands its catch in Gloucester.

The 78-foot, Portland-homeported vessel developed engine trouble while about 65 miles out at sea. The Coast Guard scrambled the cutter Finback, which arrived on the scene and initiated a tow back to Gloucester. The Coast Guard then launched two of its 47-foot motor life boats to relieve the Finback of its towing responsibilities and they towed the Lynn & William safely into Gloucester for repairs.

On July 16, a sudden storm off the coast of New Hampshire capsized a 42-foot catamaran Triad from Maine with three people on board and the Coast Guard scrambled one of its helicopters to pluck them out of the water and back to terra firma.

And the boat's destination? Gloucester.

FishOn weekly baseball quiz answer

The final putout was recorded by none other than Gloucester-born Stuffy McGinnis, the Red Sox first baseman, on Les Mann's infield groundout in the decisive Game 6 against the Cubs. After Mientkiewicz, the final putouts were all recorded by catchers on strikeouts: Jason Varitek (2007 against the Rockies), David Ross (2013 against the Cardinals) and Christian Vazquez (2018 against the Dodgers).

As always, no fish were harmed in the making of this column.

Contact Sean Horgan at 978-675-2714, or shorgan@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SeanGDT