Some notes from a sports weekend …

… The New England Patriots won in Denver. Maybe I should repeat that … THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS WON IN DENVER! The Pats topped the Broncos 16-3 to clinch the AFC East and secure a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Those later two notes are not in anyway surprising, but to win IN DENVER! Okay, I’m starting to get excited about this team!

… The New York Giants won a big game at the Meadowlands! Not a big surprise .. . they won a bigger one last week when they beat the Cowboys. But considering their penchant in recent years … heck throughout the years actually … of suckering fans in with a big win only to follow it up with a horrifying loss this was a major victory. Still unlikely that they catch Dallas in the NFC East but the Giants have had more than their share luck as a wildcard in recent seasons so Big Blue fans have got to be feeling pretty good right now.

… A tough weekend for UVM Hockey. The Catamounts threw up a stinker on Saturday night in a 7-3 loss to Union. The Dutchmen sit atop the ECAC and they are really good, but except for a five minute spurt at the end of the first period and a ten minute run in the first half of the second the Cats didn’t look they were there. This afternoon Vermont came out with a much stronger effort, played well and dominated the first two periods, but only netted one goal for their efforts. That came back to haunt them in the third as Union popped in a pair to win 2-1 and sweep the weekend. Tough double dip for the Cats … those losses will stick out like a sore thumb when the NCAA selection committee is looking at such things come March.

… A better weekend down the hall at the Patrick Gym where the hoop Cats topped a very long, talented and athletic Eastern Michigan squad 82-74 on Saturday afternoon. The win becomes even that much more impressive when you consider Vermont did it without their injured leading scorer Payton Henson. A 26 point afternoon from freshman Anthony Lamb carried the day for UVM. Certainly an impressive effort, but they’ll have to be ready to do even better on Wednesday night as they travel to 18th ranked Butler. While UVM’s Saturday win over Eastern Michigan may have been impressive, Butler’s victory over #9 Indiana was even more so.