Wednesday Space Filler: BC, soccer, Sox and yellow jackets

I’m going to be honest with you. I have a short attention span.

You probably do, too.

Therefore, I present to you a handful of topics displayed in their own little sections. To answer your questions: yes, it has been done before, and, yes, it is a cop-out.

First and foremost Boston College comes to town Friday night to play the Icedogs. Thanks to the wonder of deadlines, I’m writing this before Tuesday night’s BC-Providence game, so any comments based on that game are impossible (I have a feeling the result will be something along the lines of a 3-1 or 4-2 win for BC). However, last weekend is handy.

Last Thursday, BC beat Merrimack 7-0. On Saturday (I hope you already know this), Boston University beat Merrimack 2-1 while dominating play the entire game. The only reasons the Icedogs didn’t win by more are that Merrimack goalie Joe Exter played well and BU didn’t put enough quality shots on net.

BC, the new top-ranked team in the U.S. College Hockey Online Poll, will obviously be a much tougher opponent than Merrimack, but has never been and never will be out of reach of the Terriers. In short, this is going to be one hell of a game.

Boosting the Terriers’ chances, at least in my opinion, is the fervor that has overtaken the fans. Yes, every BC game sells out. But, in my recollection and the recollection of the ticket office at the Case Center, none have ever sold out in this fashion before. Every ticket for Friday’s game was gone by 12:30 p.m. There were easily more than 1,000 people in line and, according to the ticket office, more than 100 people who were in line did not get tickets. All of these are probably conservative estimates. Translation: Walter Brown Arena will be stuffed to the gills and as loud as it’s ever been.

wait ’til next year BU soccer fans and players alike have good reason to be upset about this season. After having such high expectations before the campaign began, who wouldn’t be?

Still, all is not lost. Most of the players on the men’s and women’s teams are coming back and should be able to get back on top in the America East.

As for those who are departing: on the men’s team, sophomore Zak Thompson should fill in well for Matt Smith at goalkeeper and the forward and midfield spots left by E.A. Carr and David Fahey can be dealt with. The main question is the gap left by Anthony D’Angelo in the middle. He didn’t score a lot of goals, but D’Angelo’s possession and aggressive defensive consistently caught my eye this year. Freshman Jamie Johnson will probably assume some of those duties, but where the rest will come from remains to be seen.

Now, the women: Suzanne Hudak and Allison Merkle will be tough to replace, although everyone said the same thing about Deidre Enos before the 2001 season, and the Terriers went on to win the conference that year. Melissa Shulman, after redshirting this season, will hopefully be back to her freshman-year form and add the scoring the Terriers missed this year.

Somewhere, Pete Rozelle is dancing a jig Parity is one thing, but what’s going on in the National Football League this season is absurd the good kind of absurd.

In six of eight division races, three or more teams are separated by two games or less. In two of those divisions, any of the four teams could win the title. Only the NFC North looks to be a runaway, with the Green Bay Packers leading by five games over the Detroit Lions.

Speaking of Green Bay, quarterback Brett Favre has a brace on his knee, running back Ahman Green suffered a concussion last week, back-up running back Najeh Davenport twisted an ankle and various members of the defense have come back from injuries in the last three weeks. So my question is, what happens when the Packers are healthy?

While I’m talking about the NFL, the Patriots could either be on their way back or in deep trouble. Sure, the comeback to beat the Chicago Bears was impressive, but if they fell behind by 21 points against the Bears, what will happen when they play an NFL team? Maybe it will snow in Foxboro next Sunday.

I Dig the jacket, Johnny This has nothing to do with anything, but I thought the yellow jackets Monday Night Football brought back for its 500th game looked pretty cool. If anything, they sparked at least a couple of conversations intended to determine which melon John Madden looks most like. I’m going with cantaloupe.

Boston loses … again Oakland GM Billy Beane took himself out of consideration for the same position in the Red Sox organization this weekend, shortly after it was announced that all that was left to decide was compensation. That’s like a fisherman heading out to the Florida Keys and hooking the largest marlin ever caught (in no way is this a reference to baseball’s Marlins), only to have it inexplicably flop out of the boat and swim away 30 feet from shore.