I’m not an enormous fan of lists. I learn them, of course. They’re usually unavoidable.
- They’re straightforward. It sometimes doesn’t take rather a lot of thought to regurgitate a list. Most of the time it simply takes a bit reminiscence, a notepad, and a pen.
- They’re disposable. A list is a sneeze. It’s there, then it’s gone. Until the subsequent one.
- They’re protected. Yeah, folks will argue over a list. People argue over all the things, however what’s at stake? A fleeting opinion, that’s all.
Some years, we’ve compiled a list of the largest sports stories in Maine that yr. It’s normally much less a list and extra a time capsule, one thing to make use of as a touchstone to a second in time. You would possibly say to your self “Of course, 1993. The University of Maine men’s hockey team won the national title. I met the love of my life trying to climb atop Alfond Arena in the celebration.”
People like lists, most likely for lots of the identical causes I’m not an enormous fan. So, within the spirit of vox populi, right here is the list of the top sports stories in Maine in 2025.
That’s it. That’s the list. What, did you actually suppose there was the rest?
Nope. Nothing else comes shut. Everything else sports-related that occurred in Maine in 2025 belongs on one other list. The Hearts of Pine were a huge hit of their first season. The University of Maine men’s hockey team won its first Hockey East championship in 21 years. The high school championships supplied their typical array of improbable finishes.
All attention-grabbing stories, certain, however what we noticed from Flagg this yr was singular. Nobody from Maine had been the primary general choose in any of the most important sports leagues. That occurs different locations.
Maine is being drawn alongside by him, carried away to Texas.
It felt like the entire state of Maine was at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn that night time in June, when Flagg’s title was the primary one referred to as by Adam Silver on the NBA Draft. I’d wager after the Dallas metro space, Maine has extra common viewers of Mavericks sport than anyplace within the nation.
Even earlier than the June draft, Maine came out in force to watch Flagg and Duke take on Boston College in January. For Jessica Greene of Island Falls, that meant making a 664-mile spherical journey from Aroostook County.
Mainers admire Flagg as a result of his arduous work is apparent, and it’s a mirrored image of what we all know we might be as a state, if we work at it. If a number of basketball followers resolve to go to us to see the place Flagg was molded, then all the higher. The door’s open.
There were bumps in the road, there at all times are. It’s an adjustment going from school ball to the very best basketball league on the planet. Flagg has proven regular enchancment within the NBA, and he’s dragged the Mavericks together with him. After a 5-14 begin to the season, Dallas went 7-7 over the subsequent 14 video games. The Mavericks are 12-22 after a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.
In 32 video games, Flagg’s averages of 19.5 factors, 6.4 rebounds and three.9 assists are greater than respectable. He’s the favourite to win NBA Rookie of the Year, and he’s getting higher. He’s been held beneath 10 factors simply as soon as, within the fourth sport of his profession in opposition to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the defending champs. In October, Flagg averaged 13.4 factors per sport. In November, Flagg’s scoring common was 17.8. So far in December, he has averaged 24.3 factors in a breakout month.
With 42 factors in a 140-133 loss to Utah two weeks in the past, Flagg grew to become the youngest participant to attain greater than 40 in an NBA sport. He’s scored at the least 22 factors in seven of his final eight video games. He simply turned 19 a number of days earlier than Christmas.
Flagg is simply getting began. That’s why in relation to itemizing Maine’s top sports stories of 2025, we are able to cease at one.