Why Was Duxbury Playing Springfield?

Duxbury made it to the Super Bowl. They gave their starters a long rest period before the Bowl, absorbing a 43 point whipping for it on Thanksgiving against hated Marshfield.

They had a good team, a good coach and a good program. The kids were well rested, playoff tested and seemed to be peaking at the right time.

So, naturally, they get routed in the Super Bowl. The final score wasn't much different than the score in the Thanksgiving game where they started the JV.

What went wrong?

Duxbury didn't choke, the coach wasn't outsmarted and we were not robbed by the refs. The other team, Springfield Central, didn't cheat. They were the better team.

The big flaw in the equation is "Duxbury vs Springfield Central."

Duxbury is a small town by any measure. There is one stop light in the whole town. There are 15,000 people in town, and the high school (9-12) has about 1000 kids. Most of the town is relatively affluent, and they are as white as a Trump rally.

Springfield has 150,000 diverse people. It is the state's 3rd largest city, trailing Boston and Worcester. There are several high schools in the city, although some are charter schools and Sci-Tech type schools. The Voke-Tech in town is bigger than Duxbury High, as is the Commerce School. Springfield Central, yesterday's opponent, has 2500 kids. It is the largest school in Western Massachusetts.

What in the name of Ditka was Duxbury doing up against a town with 150,000 people?

Duxbury is Division 3. So is Springfield Central. How is this so?

Western Massachusetts is an odd place, and the MIAA has to level everything. Western Mass has Springfield, Holyoke and... and a whole bunch of small towns. I don't mean Duxbury small, I mean "Monroe, pop. 112" small.

Springfield Central doesn't have many equals out there. They have to travel to find competition, taking on big eastern schools like Everett and Catholic Memorial. This article wouldn't exist if the Super Bowl was Central vs Catholic Memorial.

Springfield Central gets a big perk from the MIAA. Eastern Massachusetts is divided into 8 divisions, based on school size. They run 1 through 8. Taunton, which has 2500 kids, is a division 1 school. Hull, which has 389 kids, is Division 8.

Western Massachusetts has 4 groupings... Divisions 3, 5, 7 and 8. There is no Division 1, nor 2.

How can that be, when Central is larger than Division 1 New Bedford?

Central is benefited by a new rule. Urban schools with 50% high need (usually language based) and 40% economically disadvantaged students, or schools scoring 90 combined in these two categories, get a two division handicap. Division 1 schools become Division 3.

Duxbury, who should have been facing Longmeadow or Amherst based on school size, instead got to take on a school with 2500 kids. The result could best be described as a slaughter.

Duxbury, the MIAA would argue, offsets the population gap by A) Duxbury students and the coach all speak English, B) Duxbury kids are more likely to have healthier diets, C) Duxbury kids can afford Pop Warner and football camp, D) Duxbury kids are less likely to drop out and E) Dad is around throughout childhood to play catch.

I'd personally trade that for 300 pounders on the line and sprinter-speed wide recievers and cornerbacks. You can't teach size and speed, and you are more likely to find size and speed if you are choosing from 2500 kids instead off 1000.

I'm sure there are outliers to make a lie of this statement, but I'd rather live in somebody's garage in Duxbury than one of the better houses in Springfield. But if I had a football game to win...

Daniel Webster's Sea Serpent

Loch Ness sort of has sea serpents locked down, but the South Shore has a pretty good serpent story.

Ours was "witnessed" by no less than Daniel Webster.

You can read all about it right here.

Daniel Webster And The Sea Serpent was written by Stephen Benet. He also wrote The Devil And Daniel Webster, where Webster goes to trial against the devil for the soul of a farmer. Benet had a Daniel Webster man-crush, or at least an author-crush.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

In this fictional story, Daniel and his friends are fishing for cod off of Duxbury Beach when Daniel gets something on his line that pulls "like a pair of steer."

Eventually, a vast sea serpent arises, shakes out the hook and charges the boat. Some men cower and one man faints, but D Web just stares it down. It goes away, and the men- to save their reputations- agree to not speak of it.

The serpent then haunted Green Harbor, letting out an eerie cry that drove local livestock mad with fear.

Hoping to prevent it from eventually killing a local, Webster armed himself and headed to the mouth of the Green Harbor River. The beast appeared, and Webster gave it both barrels. The creature sounded, her fate unknown.

Webster heads to Washington, where he is to negotiate a treaty with the British. However, he hears the sea monster again, this time coming up the Potomac.

He sends back to Marshfield for a local eccentric who claims to know the monster. The local speaks to the leviathan, who is female, and finds out that she loves Daniel Webster.

Webster, fearing monsterly retribution, enters into a relationship with the beast. I assume it was platonic. He'd bring her fish every day, Italian sardines.

Before he can sever the courtship, his treaty enters into jeopardy. The British have a powerful Navy and are threatening to use it. Webster takes the Brit to meet the monster, who prefers to be called Samanthy. She is large enough to reduce London to rubble. This revelation moves the naval treaty along quite nicely.

He inducts Samanthy into the US Navy, with a rank of Rear Admiral. She patrols the seas, and is seen with Teddy Roosevelt's White Fleet in the South Seas. Samanthy is even credited with helping out with the Monitor. As she ages, reports come in about her having 7 children.

They all fly Old Glory.

South Shore Surf Check

We checked the South Shore for waves as a powerful nor'easter moved away.

We started in Hull.

Almost the whole South Shore lost power for a while.

A lonely surfer.

Hull had the best waves on the South Shore.

...but the real action was on the South Coast.

Next stop: Scituate

From when I left Hull to when I got to Scituate, the winds let up somewhat.

Scituate is usually a Superheavyweight.

Off to Vegas...

Vegas was placid.

The 2 AM high tide was more gooder.

Off to Duxbury

I hope that this just washed out of someone's yard over in Duxbury Proper. Anyone missing a surfer?

Duxbury lost the Seaweed Lottery.

We took one more shot, then got to Wareham for a rainbow, below...

Surf Check, Duxbury And Marshfield

We went to the South Shore to check out the waves. This was Thursday. 

We started in Duxbury, Duxbury Beach in particular.

Horses generally don't mind a raw East wind, although this one was trying to get back in the car.

It wasn't that bad of a storm, we wouldn't be taking pics of horses and goldenrod if things were nastier.

Hardly any waves at all, why are we here? Oh, that's the bay side.

The Orca sank off of the Vineyard, but the current eventually washed half of it up to Duxbury.

We were forced to work at low tide, so no waves-hitting-houses shots today.

It wasn't that bad, even at high tide.

Maybe it is because I grew up on a beach, but few things are more depressing than an abandoned lifeguard chair on an empty beach during a grey water day.

Is that Marshfield on the horizon? Let's go there!

Green Harbor, still want to say "Burke's Beach."

Brant Rock

It's tough to enjoy the storm when you have to worry about Denzel chucking a mob boss corpse onto you.

I'd have had to snatch him up for that...

Some video, below. The first one is Duxbury, the others are Brant Rock.

South Shore Surf Check: Hurricane Dorian

Hurricane Dorian was south of Nantucket, but close enough for fringe effects like rain, wind and rough surf. 

We got out early (6:47 AM high tide) to see what was what.

We started off in Duxbury, because things tend to get wrecked there. I don't know who planned their wedding for today (see video below), but I wish them all the best.

Duxbury was saved some damage by A) an astronomically low tide, and B) the timing/placement of the storm and high tide.

If you leave your stairs up for even the fringes of a hurricane, you sort of deserve this...

I tore down this backboard with a 360 tomahawk, then we were off to Marsh Vegas.

Sorry about the blurry tower, but the wind was gusting with some tropical storm force.

No surfers were out, and we went to ten beaches between this article and the Cape Cod one, so we would know. This was rough, choppy surf, the slow rollers will arrive later.

Rexhame is where the North River used to empty before her course was altered during the Portland Gale.

Off to Plymouth we go, a bit past high tide...

Off to Cape Cod...

Duxbury Beach Hires Quint

After a contentious town meeting where some violence occurred, the village of Duxbury Beach will move aggressively against their Great White Shark population.

They will procure the services of noted shark hunter Captain Quint.

"Captain" is actually his first name, as long as your definition of "actually" hangs on asking Quint his first name and getting an answer of "Captain."

Rumors of Quint's untimely demise in a Martha's Vineyard shark interaction have been, as they say, greatly exaggerated.

Duxbury's shark population was thought to be non-existent, but numerous sightings in recent years culminated in a widely-seen video this week of various sea devils devouring a whale.

A shark attack in nearby Manomet a few years ago nearly offed two kayakers. That shark had been filmed by a state police helicopter the day before, off Duxbury. A fatal 1800s attack also went down off Scituate, far enough offshore that it was essentially off Duxbury.

It was feared that, when the whale carcass was removed, sharks would then be needing a food source, and realize it as they swam past the thousands of bathers at Duxbury's beaches.

Local officials were unapologetic regarding their decision to offer a blood-money contract on a protected species.

"Unlike Cape Cod, we won't send our people into the water while a limousine with teeth is lurking offshore," said Duxbury Beach Mayor Stephen Bowden. "While Cape Cod dithers, Duxbury Beach acts."

Terms of the deal with the shark hunter were undisclosed, and we were unable to determine if the Duxbury Beach Reservation funded the hiring as we go to press.

Quint is chumming off the shores of Duxbury Beach as you read this. He is unconcerned with protests over his lucrative mission.

Duxbury Beach is closed to swimming until the hunt us over.

He is at sea upon the Beyonce, as his prior boat, the Orca, is said to be damaged.

Quint doesn't plan to use harpoons on this shark. "I plan on drinking 17 Naragansetts and tricking the shark into eating a scuba tank, which I will then detonate with a high powered rifle."

"If that doesn't work, I'll lure the evil bastard over to Bug Light and electrocute him."