They are greasing the runners on the sleigh.
The reindeer have tapered down their training flights and added some sprints for the heavily-populated neighborhoods so they can reduce the time it takes to dash from house to house.
Santa Claus has amped up his yoga workouts.
The elves have been on high-protein, no-alcohol diets for a month.
Christmas Eve is rapidly approaching.
As Santa gazes over the Eastern Maine gift list, he mulls over the chances of fulfilling the requests…..
A new Bangor Auditorium. The time is now to get things off the ground and begin building it. This has dragged on long enough, swelling the cost of the project considerably. No more petitions or referendums. And let’s include an ice arena. You might be able to land an Eastern Junior Hockey League team some day — we don’t have the population to support an American Hockey League club – and an NCAA Division I regional. Not to mention popular ice shows.
A healthy edition of the Boston Red Sox. Let’s be honest, Santa has already visited Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein. And he left him slugging first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, someone he has cherished for a long time, and star outfielder and speed merchant Carl Crawford along with usable righthanded relievers Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler. I can’t remember a more productive off-season. Theo must have been a very, very good boy this season for Santa to be so giving. Now if Santa can just provide an elixir to ensure a healthy Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis. Yankees GM Brian Cashman apparently hasn’t been the apple of Santa’s eye as top-of-the-rotation pitchers Cliff Lee and Zack Greinke have landed in Philadelphia and Milwaukee, respectively.
A pass rush for the New England Patriots. You can’t win a Super Bowl without a pass rush even if you have Tom Brady as your quarterback. When a young quarterback making his first start can complete 24 of 37 passes for three touchdowns, that tells you he had too much time to throw. That was the case Sunday night when Matt Flynn nearly pulled off an upset victory for the Green Bay Packers. The quarterbacks the Pats will face in the playoffs are going to be much better and much more experienced than Flynn.
A rejuvenated power play for the University of Maine’s hockey team. Not in my wildest dreams would I have ever expected Maine to go 0-for-33 on the power play during a five-plus game stretch. The Black Bears were hurt by the loss of injured defensemen and power-play point men Will O’Neill and Jeff Dimmen. But they still had seven of the other 10 players who manned the nation’s best power play a year ago. Maine has fallen to 34th in the nation with the man-advantage at 16.5 percent. The Bears are just 2-for-11 with a two-man advantage. However, O’Neill is expected back for the Florida College Classic and Dimmen could be back for the Merrimack game on Jan. 8. Special teams could very well dictate whether Maine makes its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2006-2007 season. This team has the potential to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament if it gets in and the young goaltenders continue to progress.
A safe and wonderful holiday season for our servicemen and women around the globe. They constantly make the ultimate sacrifice by putting their lives on the line for our welfare.
God bless all of them and all of you.