‘Mods’ and Ends: President’s Day Weekend Review

Sorry for such frustration so early in the young life of the Silva Monkey, but the birth of America’s No. 1 President — and more importantly, the day off most of us received thanks to him — has meant that we have quite the bit of catching up to do after a busy weekend on the Heights. So, in what we hope to be a running feature anytime we go off the grid for a few days or there is just the right random minutiae floating around the interwebs worth mentioning in only a few words, we present the first installment of our favorites BC-related pun yet! Welcome to “‘Mods’ and Ends,” the Silva Monkey’s “temporary” answer to our lack of weekend commitment. Without further ado, here are a few stories that caught our eye over the long weekend.

Four National Titles, Six Beanpots, 900 Wins. Enough Said (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Jerry York, the Only Coach Gene D. Can’t Spoil

The most BC of all coaches — a double Eagle from BC High and Boston College itself — Coach York is in ever more rarified air this weekend. Already an icon in the College Hockey world, York reached the benchmark of 900 wins with a 4-2 victory over Merrimack (Sidebar: where did they come from to be No. 9 this season?). Only Ron Mason and his 924 victories stand in the way of York and the top of the heap. Barring anything unforeseen, that celebration should be gracing the ice of Kelley Rink next season. If only York had nabbed two more victories somewhere in his 40-year career he could have doubled down on that Beanpot Victory with No. 900. Oh well, I guess he’ll take them both in the same week.

Yup, We’re Not as Good as Duke

When Duke is involved at Conte Forum, fair-weather Eagles come flying out of the woodwork. This is obviously more about the skills of Austin Rivers and Seth Curry than John Cain Carney and Deirunas Visockas. Just sayin’. Still in the car on the way home from skiing in New Hampshire, I took in the first half — the one were BC looked competitive for about six minutes — on my iPhone, streaming without any wifi. On that constantly-buffering, ultra-pixelated stream I could still pick out a handful of empty seats  in the lower levels and, oh yeah, a team of freshman that hardly belong on the court with the No. 4 team in the country. Ryan Anderson showed that with a summer under his belt he just might become a force in the ACC, while Lonnie Jackson showed just what happens when his shot isn’t falling. Was the loss any worse than expected? No. Even when BC held a six-point lead early, I somehow was just waiting for Duke to take it all away in one possession.

Anthony Melchionda hit .429 in South Carolina to lead BC to a 3-0 start, winning ACC POTW in the process

Making BC Baseball Relevant Again At All

Already accepting college baseball for the strange animal it is, I was still confused looking at the Boston College weekend slate. On Friday they played Virginia — beating the No. 17-ranked Cavaliers 5-3 — in the opening game of the Caravelle Resort Tournament. Virginia is the only ACC team NOT on the full weekend schedule for the Eagles this season (last year UNC was the 11th out) but they still got to play. Of course, it doesn’t count as a conference win. Anyway, this win set up a wild weekend for the Eagles as they then went on to sweep a doubleheader against James Madison and recent powerhouse Costal Carolina. Anthony Melchionda took home ACC POTW honors thanks to a trio of two-hit games in South Carolina. Hopefully this is the start of something great at Shea field, a place known much more for tailgating and even intramural football than baseball.