Kat Cornetta

Sports journalist

Month: December 2011

Decoding Bill Belichick’s Thoughts On Sunday’s Patriots-Bills Matchup

30 December, 2011 /

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gave one of his regular cagey and depreciating press conferences Friday, answering questions about Sunday’s regular season ending matchup against the Buffalo Bills. He was displeased with many of the questions, and gave little insight into how he views Sunday’s opponent.

After reviewing the press conference transcript, I decided to decipher Belichick’s statements, and translate them into what he really wanted to say about the Bills. Continue reading

A Gillette Stadium Guide for The Non-Regular

27 December, 2011 /

Gillette Stadium during Monday Night Football on 11/21/2011On New Year’s Day, I’ll join hundreds of fellow transplanted Buffalo Bills fans and thousands of New England Patriots fans and take in the last regular season game of the year at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium. It will be my second game at Gillette this year, and my fourth ever game at the massive complex.

Like any stadium, you learn a few tricks and tips after a few visits that make your trip all the more enjoyable. After I attended November’s Monday Night Football Chiefs-Patriots game, I jotted down this list of the tips I’ve learned to share with other non-Gillette regulars. Continue reading

The Curse of the Pessimistic Bills Fan Strikes Social Media

26 December, 2011 /

On Christmas Eve morning, the Buffalo Bills’ official Facebook page and Twitter account asked Bills fans: “What will Santa deliver for the Bills today?”

The Bills were playing the Tim Tebow led Denver Broncos at 1pm on Christmas Eve. Even though the miracle Broncos had been snuffed by the New England Patriots the week before, the consensus was that the hopeless and injured Bills would lose.

On top of that, the game would be blacked out in the Buffalo and Rochester areas because Ralph Wilson Stadium did not sell out. In some markets, an owner will buy out the remainder of the tickets to ensure a sold out game, but Bills owner Ralph Wilson (or whomever is acting on his behalf these days) did not. To add to that, the Bills had squandered a successful first half of the season to fall to a 5-9 record, with no chance of the playoffs in sight. Add to that the general pessimism surrounding the Bills’ brass after they signed shaky starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to a long term contract but have yet to restructure key cog running back Fred Jackson’s deal (they have merely “assured” him of one, but haven’t inked anything official.)

Given all of that negativity, why would a social media manager ask such a question? You could expect at least eighty percent bitter responses. But the Bills’ asked, and here are some of the actual responses they received:

The Facebook comments section – several hundred deep – felt like a big group therapy session, or at least an extremely curmudgeonly family Christmas dinner. Surprisingly, the Bills pulled out the upset and used a strong day on defense to defeat the Broncos 40-14.

Was it harmless for the Bills to ask such a question via social media, or does it illustrate how out of touch they may be with their fan base?

Want To Get Away?

21 December, 2011 /

The awesome thing about working in education is having the week off between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Bragtastic, I know, but the older I get, the more I relish the time.

Last intersession, I was stuck in my apartment recovering from an awful case of bacterial bronchitis and its complications. I used that week to sit on my couch and write for hours on end. I produced one of my best received pieces ever during that week (Boston Hosted The Last Tuesday NFL Game, In 1946) and got to cover the the New England Patriots being stuck in my hometown of Rochester, NY after a snowstorm interrupted their travel back to Massachusetts (Snow Way and Patriots Trying To Get Back to Foxboro).

I love using my intersession week off to be a full-time writer – it’s the only time in the year I get to do so. With that in mind and no crazy bronchitis this year to derail me, I’m using the intersession again to write away. But I can’t possibly just sit in my apartment. I would go stir crazy. I have tentative plans for Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday I’m working for the Boston Herald. But Thursday is wide open.

Thus, I’m offering my services to cover any college hockey game in New England on Thursday, December 29th, free of charge (unless you want to pay me, then of course, I’d take payment.) I want to travel, and someone has to need a college hockey writer. Right? Right. Consider it my holiday present to the college hockey world.

Here is some work I’ve done covering college hockey in the past. I haven’t had the opportunity to cover much this season because of my full-time job, so that’s why I would love to cover a game on the 29th.
College Hockey Notebook: Andrew Glass, Wahsontiio Stacey Departures Have Fans Shaking Their Heads
College Hockey Notebook: Da Costa, Dumoulin Lead Hockey East’s Top Sophomores
Hockey East Tournament Coverage

Let me know if you’re interested by emailing me at sportsgirlkat AT gmail.com

College Hockey Ramblings: Who Is Really Tops In Hockey East?

10 December, 2011 /

Before the Hockey East season began, there were three teams that stuck out as teams that most viewers felt would rise to the top of the league: Boston College, Merrimack College, and Boston University.

Now approximately three months into the college hockey season, all three teams are in the mix, but two surprising additions have made noise in Hockey East: Providence College and UMass Lowell. As of the morning of December 10th, here are your league standings (from the Hockey East official website):

Standings are standings – they lack an ability to rank how quality the wins are against each other. After Lowell defeated Boston College 3-2 Friday night, I woke up insanely early Saturday morning with an idea. Using the spirit of the KRACH and Pairwise rankings, why not evaluate these top five teams by their records against each other? So I created a spreadsheet. (Never mind that I should be finishing holiday shopping or doing holiday cards. I have a whole college hockey free week ahead to do that.)

After I put this together, I realized that the five top Hockey East teams have not played enough games against each other for this to be an entirely useful evaluation. And then my husband pointed out that there is already a head-to-head comparison on the Hockey East website – it’s just at the bottom of the standings page.

Well, duh. I knew that. I was just…cutting the fat and pairing down that chart. Right? Right. (Mind you, I also whacked my head pretty hard Friday, so I blame that for me not remembering that the head-to-head exists.)

So what exactly does this comparison show, if anything? For one, it shows how few in-conference games Merrimack has played so far, and in the three games they have played against the top of the conference, they have a losing record. This also helps give Providence a bigger argument for being considered a bigger threat than UMass Lowell. While Lowell has won a few “loud” games (stand alone games – non weekend series games – against BU and BC), they haven’t faced anyone else among this top five, and have only played ten league games total.

It also shows how many more league games the Beanpot schools play earlier on in the season. In addition to the totals above for BC and BU, Northeastern has played 12 league games as of Saturday morning. The only other Hockey East team to play that many league games? New Hampshire, who also played 12.

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