DHL Dan CCLXXIX - Goodbye, Matthews Arena

Shank pays homage to a place that's steeped in local history:

It’s the end of an era for Matthews Arena (formerly Boston Arena), and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while waiting for the wrecking ball at the old Boston Arena …

⋅ Northeastern University’s Matthews Arena, the ancient sports palace formerly known as Boston Arena, is a humble building in a humble neighborhood. It’s a multipurpose athletics hall that for 115 years has been home to events featuring magic and star power on par with Fenway Park, both Boston Gardens, and the long list of gridirons that have housed your Patriots since their creation.

Sadly, it’s time to say goodbye to this bastion of New England entertainment that first opened its doors on St. Botolph Street in April 1910. The curtain falls for good Dec. 13, when the Northeastern men’s hockey team hosts Boston University at 7 p.m.

From the jump, the old Arena was a place for big names, often folks with three names: James Michael Curley, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, and Jerry Lee Lewis all spoke/performed at the Arena. George Herman Ruth, a Red Sox pitcher and slugger of some renown, played pickup hockey games there during his baseball offseasons, circa 1914-18.

Ruth wasn’t the only champion hanging around St. Botolph Street in those early days. Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, and Joe Louis sat ringside for Arena prize fights, and Olympic skating champion Sonja Henie performed at an ice show in 1930. Later in the 20th century, the Rev. Billy Graham spoke at the Arena, as did General Dwight David Eisenhower.

Shank On The NCAA Tournament

Caution - some slightly contradictory statements ahead:

Zion Williamson.

There. Now you have a reason to watch the NCAA Tournament.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve lost interest in March Madness in recent decades. Living in Greater Boston, we are increasingly removed from big-time college sports. When the NCAA tourney unfolds, it feels like the rest of the country is having a party without us.

I'm not buying that. There's absolutely nothing preventing you from turning on a freakin' TV set and tuning into these games. Since Thursday, I've watched about a dozen tournament games, and I'll agree that Zion Williamson is an awesome player. What Shank is trying to sell here, as usual, is lazy provincialism.

For folks in North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, and most of sports-watching America, the NCAA tourney is a three-week Super Bowl Sunday.

Not here. Sure, we have office pools and young folks obsessed with bracketology. Gamblers and fantasy players (is there any difference?) study every nuance of Gonzaga and Iowa State. But we have no dog in the fight.

Go, Northeastern!

That Was A Close One

Shank writes a follow-up column on Northeastern's loss to Notre Dame on Thursday:

PITTSBURGH — Sometimes it feels as though we are on the outside of this magical American three-week hoop holiday. It’s like the Miss America pageant, the national Mickey Rourke Tanning Championships, or a competition to see who can make the best chicken fried steak.

Technically, our quaint little Boston schools are eligible, and usually one or two earn an invitation to the Big Dance, but nobody really takes us seriously. We are spectators in this Bracket Bonanza, like folks in Miami watching the Winter Olympics.

The Obligatory 'NU In The Big Dance' Column

Taking a break from ripping the local professional sports teams, Shank writes a decent column about Northeastern University's athletic director, Peter Roby.

PITTSBURGH — Athletic director Peter Roby is not with the Northeastern Huskies at the Consol Energy Center this week. Roby was in Dayton for NCAA first-round games Tuesday and Wednesday, then drove to Columbus to oversee the NCAA subregional at Nationwide Arena in the heart of Buckeye Nation. He says he’ll watch the Huskies’ NCAA Tournament game vs. Notre Dame on television or his iPad Thursday.

Roby wears a lot of hats. In addition to being Northeastern’s AD, he’s also in the middle of a five-year term as a member of the NCAA’s tournament selection committee, and the latter role supersedes his job as Husky sports boss during this first week of the tournament.

UPDATE at 2:25 PM - Well, that sucked - #14 Northeastern loses a close one to #3 Notre Dame, 69-65.