Fans honor UConn women with parade, Hartford hosts USA national team

UConn women's basketball team Head Coach Geno Auriemma pauses to pose with a future Husky hopeful, Katie Shea of Hebron CT, at the April 18, 2010 parade in Hartford, CT to celebrate the Huskies' second NCAA championship win. Photo © 2010 by Vito J. Leo for HTNP.com Sports

On April 18, Hartford was no longer just the capital of Connecticut. For a few hours, the city became the women’s basketball capital of the world.

Shortly after noon on Sunday, the USA Basketball Women’s National Team played an intra-squad scrimmage at the XL Center, a game that merely served as the appetizer for the day’s main course – the parade and rally honoring the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team’s second straight national title and 78th victory without a loss.

“It’s so exciting to be here and get this close and personal and watch all these girls play basketball,” said Kathy Shea of Hebron, one of the thousands of fans on hand to watch the national team scrimmage under the guidance of Coach Geno Auriemma.

And like most of the fans at the XL Center, Kathy and her two children, Liam, 13, and Katie, 10, planned to go from the game to the State Capitol and take part in the rally honoring the Huskies.

“We’re going right to the Capitol so we can watch the parade start and finish,” she said.

While watching the UConn women board the double-decker sightseeing bus that would transport the team on the parade route, young Katie Shea enjoyed a meeting with Coach Auriemma she will long treasure, when he stopped to pose with her for a photo.

“I was really excited I had the opportunity to meet Geno. I admire the fact that he has stayed with UConn for 25 years and I hope he will be there when I go to UConn,” said Katie, who has been playing hoops since she was four. She said she hopes to one day play for Auriemma at UConn. “He is an awesome coach!” she said.

Awesome enough to be able to coach two teams in one day.

One of UConn women's basketball's shining stars that have gone on to play at the national level, Renee Montgomery, who played in the USA Basketball Women's National Team scrimmage at the XL Center on April 18, 2010. Photo © 2010 by Vito J. Leo for HTNP.com Sports

After finishing his task of overseeing the USA national team scrimmage, the Hall of Fame Coach then led his UConn team to the steps of the statehouse for a rally attended by thousands of Husky fans who came there to honor the 2010 NCAA Division I National Champions.

That was only a fraction of the estimated 20,000 people who lined the streets of Hartford for the parade, which included a fife and drum corps, the UConn pep band and cheerleaders and, of course, the mandatory fire truck.

This is the second year in a row that Hartford hosted this of parade, a fact Maya Moore alluded to during the rally when she joked that the team had enjoyed the 2009 festivities so much, they decided to make an encore this year.

And while fans were already thinking of next year and the possibility of a “three-peat,” Auriemma put it all in perspective. He told them, “enjoy this title right now and think about next year when we get back to school” in the fall.

One of Coach Geno Auriemma's enthusiastic fans at the April 18, 2010 celebratory parade in Hartford. Photo © 2010 by Vito J. Leo for HTNP.com Sports

Auriemma now has seven national championships to his credit. His next task is to win an international championship.

One step toward that goal took place Sunday with the USA Basketball Women’s National Team scrimmage, as they prepared for the world competition scheduled for Sept. 23 through October 3, 2010 in Czechoslovakia.

Yes, there was a basketball game at the XL Center Sunday with Geno Auriemma coaching players that included Maya Moore, Tina Charles, Kalana Greene and Renee Montgomery.

No, it wasn’t a reunion of the 2009 NCAA national championship team. It was the USA Women’s Basketball National Team which has a healthy dose of present and former UConn players on the roster, befitting the fact that Connecticut is one of the most successful college programs in the country.

“That’s why I am glad we chose to practice right here in Connecticut, because you are the greatest fans in the world,” Auriemma said.

Posted April 18, 2010

The University of Connecticut women’s basketball team was honored April 18, 2010 with a parade through downtown Hartford. The team has won 78 consecutive games and became the first women’s team to win back-to-back national championships without losing a single game. Video by Vito J. Leo.

UConn Pep Band – clip by Vito J. Leo

The UConn cheering section took part in the parade on April 18, 2010 in Hartford honoring the women’s basketball team for winning a second straight national championship. Video clip by Vito J. Leo.

Coming soon: a new and improved Town of Mansfield Web site

Mansfield is undergoing a bit of a facelift, but this one doesn’t require a scalpel or anesthesia. Members of the town’s information technology (IT) department are creating a new Town of Mansfield Web site.

The existing Web site, www.mansfieldct.com, has been used since 2003, said IT Director Jamie Russell.

The new Web site, www.mansfieldct.gov, will replace the town’s current site.

“It’s a project that’s been a while in the making,” Russell told the Town Council at its April 12 meeting.

Russell said the simple act of changing the town’s name from a dot-com to a dot-gov site is significant. “It gives it a more official name,” he said.

The new site was created in response to requests from residents for a better organized way of searching online for documents and other town-related information, Russell said.

The new site includes a “document center” that is used to search for any documents pertaining to the town and various departments.

And now there is an advanced search option used with specific terms or keywords, he said.

The site also is the place to go for contact information, a calendar of town events, a bulletin board and a central communication hub for all things Mansfield, he said.

Audio files of governmental meetings now also will be accessible online.

Also, text on the site can be enlarged or reduced.

The changes are meant to make the site more user-friendly for people with different levels of computer skills, Russell said.

The new Web site should be activated sometime within a few weeks, he said.

Posted April 18, 2010 – as edited by HTNP.com Editor Brenda Sullivan

UConn football: Frazer fires four bombs to lead Blue to victory

Even though quarterbacks weren't allowed to be sacked in UConn's 2010 Blue-White Spring Football game, there was still plenty of hard hitting going on between the two squads. Photo © by Vito J. Leo for HTNP.com Sports

EAST HARTFORD – UConn’s annual Blue-White Spring Football game Saturday [April 17] was a splendid blend of past accomplishments coupled with the promise of potential.

Played on a misty, blustery afternoon before 2,500 stalwart fans at Rentschler Field, players preparing for the 2010 opener at Michigan scrimmaged against each other.

The Blue team beat the White team, 30-13, behind four bombs thrown by UConn’s first-string quarterback, Zach Frazer.

The game clock hadn’t even started when Frazier found a wide-open Kashif Moore for a 70-yard scoring strike on the first play of the game.

Frazer later hooked up with wide-out Michael Smith for a TD on a 69-yard flea flicker and then found Smith again on a pair of more conventional scoring passes, one for 57 yards and another for 75 yards.

Patrolling the sidelines, offering advice and encouragement, were five former Huskies serving as honorary captains for the game, including NFL players Donald Brown and Dan Orlovsky.

Joining Don and Dan in their return to the Rent were Tyler Lorenzen, Alfred Fincher and Ryan Krug.

Indianapolis Colts running back Donald Brown, UConn's only first-team All-American, honorary captain for the White team at the April 17 game, discusses Husky football with team co-captain Scott Lutrus. Photo © 2010 by Vito J. Leo for HTNP.com Sports

This was the second time this year that Lorenzen, on the Saints’ practice squad, and Brown, a productive runner for the Colts, were on the same football field. Both former Huskies capped their rookie NFL season with a trip to the Super Bowl.

Freshman quarterback Leon Kinnard said he was all ears when the honorary coaches spoke. “We definitely listened to everything those guys had to say. They’ve been where we are and have been through the entire process. Some of them are in the NFL, so we were definitely interested in hearing whatever advice they had for us,” Kinnard said.

Head Coach Randy Edsall said the former Huskies’ message to the 2010 squad that most enthralled him was the admonitio that talent is fine, but execution and determination are also necessary ingredients for a winning season.

“Alfred [Fincher] told the guys he needs to see more leadership and he needs to see a lot of hard-working guys,” Edsall said after the game, recalling the words spoken by Fincher, one of the tri-captains of the 2004 team.

“He reminded them that you can say whatever you want about talent on the team, but he still questions the togetherness and willpower. He told them he knows if they do what they’re capable of, they can get better. He reminded them that they could be good, but need to want to be great [in order] to be great,” Edsall said.

Sophomore defensive back Dwayne Gratz, a member of arguably the team’s weakest unit at this time, said he agreed that hard work is the key to success. “We’re still a young team [with only 16 returning starters], so there are obviously a lot of places we could still get better,” Gratz said.

Two former UConn running backs at the 2010 Blue-White Spring Football game, Donald Brown - now playing for the Colts, and Andre Dixon, looking forward to this week's NFL Draft. Photo © by Vito J. Leo for HTNP.com Sports

The game of football “is a learning process, so we’re always working to get better,” Gratz said.

Edsall said he was “pleased” with what he saw during Saturday’s game, but he knows there is much to improve before the Sept. 4 season opener in Ann Arbor. “I think we got a lot accomplished, but we still have a lot of work to do – but  I’m sure every coach in America would say that,” he said, “We found out more about the abilities of our team, so it was a productive day.”

“It was great to have the honorary coaches back and for them to address the kids after they’ve been out in the real world. It’s nice for players to hear things from other voices besides my own. It’s been a special weekend,” Edsall said.

Now the ideal would be to build on this special weekend and transform it into a special season.

“Last year is over with, this is a whole new ballgame, now,” Edsall said. The question is, “do these guys want to do what it takes to step up to the next level?”

That question likely won’t be answered until UConn ends the Big East campaign at South Florida on Dec. 4, 2010.

Posted April 18, 2010

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