Good morning! Montague residents with sports injuries and others with aches and pains will soon need to cross the river for health care. According to a reliable source, Baystate Health will be shuttering its Turners Falls location as early as October. Patients will need to go to the former Greenfield Tap & Die factory on Sanderson Street.
“I was asked (by a former colleague) to put a positive spin on this when or if I’m asked by the press,” emailed Dr. Wayne Gavryck, who was my PCP until he retired. “I told her that unfortunately except for her, the people that handled this transaction were idiots.”
Gavryck was part of the Connecticut River Internist group which was a bustling medical practice that tended to the sick and injured for more than three decades. At the time of its sale it included Adam Blacksin, Joe Viadero, Larry Klein and Gavrcyk, together with a dedicated staff of nurses and administrative assistants.
Several months ago in The Montague Reporter, I wrote of how the sale agreement had gone sideways. The original deal was to have the CRI doctors retire about a year apart from each other and be replaced each year by a Baystate physician.
The only physician who was permanently assigned to the Turners Falls location was Dr. Catherine Dodds. She became my doctor after Gavryck left but soon resigned. “I came in with an understanding of what would happen, and it was not going in that direction,” Dodds told me at my last appointment.
Now I have Dr. Sherry Weitzen, who like Gavryck and Dodds is highly skilled and dedicated to her profession. I see her at the Sanderson Street location but worry she’ll also have her fill of Baystate’s bottom line tactics.
“The most damaging thing to me and the community is the total loss of trust in anything they say or do,” said Gavryck. “Their cold-hearted treatment of staff and patients is incredulous for a ‘health care system.’”
Indeed. Now we know why Baystate is spelled as one word and not two.
Remember when the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife wanted to establish a colony of endangered timber rattlesnakes on an island in the Quabbin Reservoir? It did not go over well with the general public, which amused mayor-to-be Roxann Wedegartner.
She wrote a letter to the Recorder saying that in her native Texas, people swam amongst snakes. Last week, I finally had the chance to compliment her on the mirthful missive. She smiled and said, “They are ubiquitous, especially cottonmouths. When you water ski you always stay in the wake.”
The talk turned to her current job as the Greenfield mayor. In less than three years she’s had to deal with a pandemic, a police controversy, and marijuana fields larger than a Kansas cow pasture.
“What’s next?” I asked.
Ed Odeven recently sent me a copy of his book about 91-year-old columnist Jerry Izenberg of the Newark Star-Ledger. “Going 15 Rounds with Jerry Izenberg” pays homage to Izenberg’s interview techniques and his willingness to write outside the lines about topics like former outfielder Jim Eisenreich’s battle with Tourette’s Syndrome.
Odeven lives in Japan and is a former sports reporter for The Japan Times. When I asked him the difference between American and Japanese baseball, he recommended “Slugging It Out in Japan” by Warren Cromartie.
I ordered it through thriftbooks.com, and while his stories about the Yomiuri Giants were interesting, his best anecdotes revolved around playing baseball in Montreal during the 1970s. “Most of the reporters had covered hockey all of their lives,” he wrote. “They would ask funny questions like, ‘Warren, if you hit .280, will the Expos win the pennant?’”
When the Whalers came to Hartford, reporters there knew as much about hockey as Canadians knew about baseball. After practice one day, someone asked coach Don Blackburn why checking was important.
A dour sort, Blackburn looked at the scribe and said, “Because it’s easier to hit a guy than to chase a little puck.”
We have good news and bad news about UMass defensive lineman Marcus Bradley. A redshirt freshman and Vanderbilt transfer, Bradley was the Commodores’ top-rated commit in 2020 and was getting playing time last season until he was benched before the Missouri game.
Aria Gerson of the Tennessean called it “an unspecified disciplinary issue” and quoted coach Clark Lea who said: “Marcus is a talented person and player that doesn’t quite have the behaviors and habits to be an active part of the program.”
Bradley entered the transfer portal shortly afterward, a reminder that UMass coach Don Brown has the worst team in the FBS.
Football analyst Greg Cosell told podcaster Ross Tucker: “The college quarterback that’s most intriguing to me is Will Levis at Kentucky. He’s big, physically imposing, he generates easy velocity, and he was coached by Liam Coen who’s back with the Rams.”
Coen played for Don Brown at UMass, and his best friend Scott Woodward of Wendell remains Kentucky’s wide receivers coach.
UP IN THE BOOTH: When Joe Castiglione said umpire Tripp Gibson was faster making checked swing calls than ball and strike calls, Will Flemming laughed like it was the funniest joke he’d ever heard. Flemming is quite possibly the worst announcer in Red Sox history. … What to do about a team hitting slump? John Sterling said Joe Torre would take a cigarette lighter from his back pocket and put it under the Yankees’ bats to warm them up. … Red Sox fans applauded Andrew Benintendi his first night back in Boston. “Remember the night (Johnny) Damon came back?” asked Sterling. “He was so devastated,” said Suzyn Waldman. “He said, ‘They won’t boo me. I said, ‘Yeah they will Johnny. You left.’” … The Chicago Cubs call MGM “The official Sportsbook of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.” Yup, lay your bets 10 miles from where Eddie Cicotte and Shoeless Joe Jackson helped fix the 1919 World Series. … Luke Voit’s preference for keeping the top half of his jersey unbuttoned prompted Cubs announcer Jim Deshaies to quip that Voit goes “upper body commando.” … During the Braves-Mets series at Citi Field, Atlanta’s Joe Simpson said to his radio sidekick Ben Ingram, “I don’t think that’s popcorn I smell, Ben.”
SQUIBBERS: According to herosports.com, Stony Brook will get a $325K payday to play UMass in the home opener on Sept. 17. Beware the Seawolves who beat Delaware, Richmond and Maine in consecutive weeks last season. …. Two front row seats in Loge 12 for the C’s home opener versus the 76ers cost $7,738 plus fees on Ticketmaster. … N.Y. Giants coach Brian Daboll’s son signals in the plays at Penn State. Daboll has six children who range in age from four to 23. … Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard calls the Patriots preseason “the Nantucket Country Club training camp.” …. Manny Machado has an option to opt out of his Padres’ deal after next season and, you heard it here first, he’ll sign with the Yankees. … Chandler Redmond of the Double-A Springfield (Mo.) Cardinals hit four home runs against the Amarillo Sod Poodles on August 10: a solo blast, a grand slam, a two-run homer and a three-run homer. … Jason Garrett’s favorite Michael Irvin quote, as told to Dan Patrick regarding owner Jerry Jones: “Bossman, I’m just trying to do the wrong thing the right way.”
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com
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