RI Sports: Highlights to hopes for 2025 – John Cardullo

by John Cardullo, sportswriter

New Year’s 2025 a time to reflect and a time to look ahead as we renew our promise to our sports readers!

The end of the year had always been a bittersweet time for me both professionally and personally, throughout the years. It has always been a time of review and reflection, looked upon with some sadness as another year passes by, but with some excitement of what lies ahead down the road.

I have been a columnist for RINewstoday.com since it’s beginning. I have “grown” into the role as a reporter, writer and storyteller. I must admit that I had many lessons to learn along the way. Nobody will ever mistake me for a Charles Dickens or Mark Twain, but with a lot of patience (mostly from my editor and publisher, Nancy Thomas), and writing advice from close friends, I’ve made sports writing and broadcasting a career (thank you, John Parente).

Writing over 32 sports stories in 2024, it’s been a labor of love – and I have become better! Some of my finest articles were ones that I had taken on and written about what I cared for, people that I wanted to tell their story in a way that may not have been ever told. The Ernie DiGregorio, Vinny Pazienza stories were about two men who had a great impact on my life many years ago. One I knew very well, the other I met while doing his story, but became friends with afterwards. Doing the Bill Walton story was one from admiration while my eulogy of the famous owner of the former Players Corner Pub (Rhode Island’s original sports bar), Jodi DiRaimo was written from the heart. My relationship with Jody had gone back to the late 1970’s and if it were not for him, it would be safe to say that my career in Rhode Island’s softball scene may have never happened.

Trying not to be a sportswriter focusing on professional sports – there ware too many great writers in the New England region that have better connections, better relationships. It would be foolish to compare myself to them. However, over the last few years I’ve stated how wonderful it has been to be a sports fan in New England, especially since 2001. Let’s face the facts that the New England Patriots will not win the Super Bowl every year! Although from where we stand now it looks as if it will be a longtime until we’re back on top. Yes, the Belichick, Brady and Kraft combo was a 20-year version of the perfect storm, but we all knew that the bubble would burst eventually. So now we rebuild, it’s not like we have never been here before. Keep in mind that as the NFL expands globally, we here in New England have a storied franchise here that any other city, town or country would love to have relocate to their corner of the world.

The Boston Red Sox have been a factor in our long dog days of summer and whether they win a world series or pennant, we have seen our boys of summer take home the World Series trophy several times, and like it used to be said, “there is always next year’s!” The Boston Bruins have been the region’s favorite naughty cousin. Winning a Stanley Cup this century, always making a run but falling a tad short since. But because New Englanders like their grit and rough and tumble approach to hockey, there has always been a love affair with the Bruins that will always remain.

Then there is the Boston Celtics, the region’s old standby. Winning NBA championships in droves. Starting in the 1950’s, owning the 1960’s and being a factor in both the 1980’s and 90’s and winning again in the 2000’s. The Celtics warmed the bitter cold New England winters, making household names of Bill Russell, KC and Sam Jones, Bob Cousy, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish, Kevin Garnett, Paul Peirce, Ray Allen and Jason Tatum. The Celtics were so famous even their coaches were famous but to go one step further how many radio play-by-play announcers could describe a game between the Celtics and other rival team the way Johnny Most did? You would have sworn that he was describing a street fight or mugging happening in the center of downtown Boston! These were what legends were made of.

Now the new era of Celtic basketball is here. The game has changed so much, the 3 point shot has altered the game in ways that few imagined since it was brought into the game. Coaches like Rhode Island’s own Joe Mazzulla has seen what the NBA future looks like and has coached the modern player the way they need to be coached, and for the Celtics, the future looks bright for our NBA team.

The Connecticut Sun of the WNBA has been caught up in the new wave of popularity, after 25 years in existence, it will remain to be seen how this league continues to grow. Speaking on growth, the New England Revolution remains as the only professional soccer entity, while a little south of Foxboro the upstart Rhode Island Football Club may give the “big boys” a run for their money.

For the new year the local college sports scene looks promising. Basketball teams at Providence College, Brown, Bryant College and URI are all having good seasons as they head into the midseason, all have upped their games, and all have taken on tougher schedules that will benefit their programs toward selection time comes around. 2025 renews hope, brings a fresh start and washes away a bad taste from season’s past. While the Brown, Bryant and URI football teams all had good seasons.

As far as the local sports scene, RINewstoday.com has renewed our dedication to putting the spotlight on the high school level. 2025 will bring more focus to the student athletes, the coaches the athletic directors as well as the schools themselves. Rhode Island is a small state geographically; however, it is enormous in local sport stories that barely get told. It is our New Year’s resolution to get these stories told, to get these stories to you and to overall get better at what we have been doing since RINewstoday.com began. No, we are not your old newspaper source of information, we are the leading source for your digital information. We come into your home everyday at no cost at all. So, we are upping our game, the question is – are you ready? Because ready or not, here we come!

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John Cardullo, sportswriter. John is a lifelong Rhode Islander. His sports experience is extensive, as a player, coach and sponsor of youth and high school sports. He has been the Public Address Announcer for the CCRI Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams. Both the Cranston East and Cranston West football, Cranston East Boys and Girls basketball for 12 years before moving onto the Central, Juanita Sanchez and Mt. Pleasant football teams. Also, Central HS Boys and Girls Basketball, Scituate High School Boys and Girls Basketball, Johnston High School Girls Basketball, Boys Volleyball, Girls Softball, Boys and Girls Soccer teams, and CLCF football.

John has been involved in Men’s softball for 61 years, starting as a batboy for his father’s team in 1964. He moved to the teams scorekeeper then became a player in 1975, and created the men’s team, Players Corner Pub, that went on to win 20 State Championships in their 35 year history. In the 1990’s he published the statewide softball magazine “The Fielders Choice” which was dedicated to all topics related to adult softball. As a feature writer, John and the publication won several media awards. In 2019 he was elected and inducted into the Rhode Island Slow Pitch Softball Hall of Fame which he also helped create. John is a softball umpire in Warwick, Rhode Island.

In his spare time John golfs with his life long friends in season. After retiring from the printing Industry after a 45-year career, he now writes specialty sports columns for RINewsToday.com, is still actively engaged in the high school sports scene, and will soon launch a radio show/podcast on high school sports.