News & Views: Waterbury shouldn’t let the thugs win

News: Waterbury cancels night football games for city schools.

Views: For a spell in the late 1970s and even into the 80s, the city of New Haven switched its high school basketball games to the afternoon because of so many fights between rival fans.

It was a point of pride here in the Brass City that our games were civil enough that they could still be played in the evening.

But this season, while other places have also had games marred by fights, Waterbury is the only city in the state to ban its public schools from playing night football.

We get it.

After 40 cops had to be called to Municipal Stadium to restore order at the Wilby-Derby game on Sept.

27, something had to be done.

Banning night games was the most expedient and effective solution.

But the Crosby and Kennedy players who spoke with our colleague, Roger Cleaveland, are correct that they are the victims in all of this.

Those who have parents who work during the day most of them dont get to perform in front of their families.

That was obvious when Torrington, in response to Waterburys ban, changed last weekends game with Kennedy to an afternoon kickoff.

The number of adults in the stands was noticeably lower.

The players and their families are effectively getting penalized.

Lets see how the criminal justice system punishes the 11 young men arrested for the Sept.

27 brawls.

Kudos to Police Chief Frederick C.

Spagnolo for being willing to discuss what happened publicly.

People have questions and need answers.

For one thing, fans want to know if basketball games, the most popular sport in the city, will continue to tip off in the evening.

Spagnolo indicated that probably wont change, although it depends on what happens this winter.

He was also right that when students or others know trouble is brewing at a game, they need to alert school and police officials ahead of time.

Ideally, the troublemakers parents would step in to control their kids, but nowadays thats a pipe dream.

The city says it will try to devise a plan to return night football safely in 2025.

Its essential to do so.

The thugs cannot win.

News: Former Providence Bruins CEO Ed Anderson dies at 77.

Views: Long before he was one of the pillars of the AHL, Anderson was a senior captain of the swim team at Crosby High in 1964.

His father, Ed Sr., coached the youth swim teams at the Waterbury YMCA that fueled so many state champion squads at Crosby, Kennedy, Wilby and Sacred Heart.

A back-stroker good enough to earn a scholarship to Rutgers, Anderson became a sportswriter in Portland, Maine, after college.

When the Philadelphia Flyers landed their AHL farm team there in 1977, Anderson was the first hire of the Maine Mariners as business manager and then president/CEO.

From 1977 to 2000, he was chief executive of the Mariners and the Providence Bruins, helping to steer the team to Rhode Island in 1991.

He won four Calder Cup trophies with three different affiliates, the Flyers, Devils and Bruins.

A longtime member of the AHL Board of Governors, Anderson died Sept.

26 in his home in Scarborough, Maine, earning praise across the AHL for his many contributions.

This season, the P-Bruins will skate with a special decal on their helmets to honor him.

Last May, Crosby inaugurated its sports hall of fame with 10 ductees and a long list of future nominees.

To that list, we should add the name of Ed Anderson.

News: WNBA rookie Angel Reese bemoans her salary.

Views: I just hope yall know, the Chicago Sky forward whined last week on Instagram, the WNBA dont pay my bills at all.

I dont even think it pays one of my bills.

Literally.

Reese, who finished second to Caitlin Clark in the Rookie of the Year voting, is pouting because her $74,000 annual salary doesnt even cover the cost of her $8,000-per-month apartment.

She didnt explain why its a necessity to live so expensively, but Reese, whose income from endorsements allows her to live high on the hog, proves its not only male athletes who are pampered and feel entitled.

A history lesson for Reese: It wasnt too long ago when sports stars had to take off-season jobs to feed their families.

I remember when Orioles shortstop Mark Belangers bubblegum card said he worked as a shoe salesman.

Then the MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL players went on strike to force the owners to give them a bigger cut of the profits (something the WNBA has never had).

Reeses real beef is with the WNBA players union, which ratified the contract that set her salary.

The solution is simple: Do what their male counterparts used to do and go on strike.

That would be real equity.

Reach Steve Barlow at sbarlow @ rep-am.com..

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