_by John Cardullo, sportswriter_
The beginning of February 2026 started off much like the end, with a large winter storm hitting Rhode Island. Having snow come down in the middle of winter in Rhode Island is not all that uncommon. We do live in the Northeast; it is still winter. Although in the past few years the region has been spared big amounts of snowstorm accumulation – that is up until 2026. The month also brought some high profile and unexpected “storms” on the sports scene.
**Super Bowl**
Everyone knows that the Super Bowl was going to be played in February, but little did we expect that this year there was going to be a pleasant twist to the New England region. Everyone knew that the Winter Olympics were going to be taking place in Italy. The NBA was holding its All-Star weekend in the middle of all this commotion as well, and to add a little bit of a tease, baseball’s Spring training was going to be starting. A full slate of sports was about to take over in February; this would be enough to send any sports fan’s head spinning!
Rhode Island was welcomed to February with a snowstorm that dropped 19 inches of snow (depending on where you live), this storm will grind cities and towns to a halt as snow removal created problems throughout the state. The panic about snowstorms, no matter the amount of snow we get, is amazing! It’s like everyone forgets how to manage in a snowstorm. To take the weather off our minds, the 2025-26 New England Patriots were doing the impossible, making a run to play in the Super Bowl.
In the previous two seasons, the Patriots won only 4 games each season and reaching the playoffs seemed years away to the average Patriots’ fan. The Patriots made a coaching change with former Patriot and Super Bowl champion, Mike Vrable. His presence was known from the start. He took the team and changed the culture of the team. The Patriots went on a regular season run that led all the way back to AFC East champions and a 2nd seed in the AFC playoffs. The Patriots went on a playoff run that many non-Patriots fans didn’t think that would happen. They beat the San Deigo Chargers, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos to make it back to the Super Bowl for the league leading, twelfth time in the franchise’s history.
When the team began their journey into the 2025-26 season, they were not even in the conversation of being a contender to play in the Super Bowl. The Patriots were rebuilt with a new head coach, a second year, unproven quarterback in Drake Maye. They drafted left side offensive tackle, Will Campbell, to protect Maye. On the defensive side Christian Gonsalves was the building block of the defense. Going into his third season after an injury kept him sidelined most of the 2024-25 season. The hope for most Patriots fans was to improve on the previous two seasons, a 6-to-8-win season would send Patriots nation into orbit. Then the improbable started, they were winning.
After early losses to Las Vegas and Pittsburgh, the Patriots just kept winning. Coach Mike Vrable was the right guy at the right time as the coach, Drake Maye was playing at an MVP level, and the team began to come together as a unit. Side stories began to emerge, showing a fun side to the Patriots. Singing star Cardi B who was dating Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs, Drake Mayes’ school girl sweetheart who was his wife became a star in her own right with her cooking videos.
The ride lasted all the way to the Super Bowl where the Seattle Seahawks burst the Patriots bubble. For the fans of the Patriots, it was a magical season that nobody seen coming. To say that the team is ahead of schedule would be an understatement. Instead of worrying about next season, Patriot fans need to sit back and reflect on what we all just witnessed, relax and wait for what is in store for the future of our Patriots. We were one of only two NFL teams playing in February, win or lose I will take that every time!
**Winter Olympics**
Two days before the Super Bowl was to be played, the world tuned into the Winter Olympics that were being held in two different cities in the same country, Italy. They were known as the Milan – Cortina d’Ampezzo in northern Italy. For 16 days the world would witness winter sports that most of us would only watch during the Winter Olympics. Don’t believe me? When was the last time you watched curling? Or the biathlon? Cross country skiing? How about the bobsled? The last time any of us watched those sports was when they were on ABC’s Wide World of Sports years ago. That is, until every four years, when we all get in front of our televisions and no matter what sport is on, we are there rooting for Team USA!
Over the years we cheered for figure skaters, individuals and couples. The Quad God Llia Malinin became a household name; Alysa Liu was the first American woman to win the gold medal in 24 years and quickly became America’s darling. In pairs figure skating, Madison Chock and Evan Bates took home the silver medal. Skier Mikaela Shiffrin made it back onto the podium, taking home a gold medal and becoming the most decorated American skier of all time. On the other side was Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, who had several injuries and was making her Olympic comeback attempt at 41. Vonn retired from the sport in 2019 and returned in 2024. Vonn crashed in her first run after a previous crash, which led multiple breaks and to her having several operations on her left leg, and then we learned she had also broken her right ankle. All this will most likely end her career. Then there was Elana Meyers Taylor who at 41, finally won that elusive gold medal in the Mono Bobsled.
Two of the most popular parts of the Olympics are the **opening and closing ceremonies**. Watching the different countries march into the arena, wide eyed, dressed in their designer uniforms, seeing who were voted by their countrymen to be their country’s flag bearer. The pomp and circumstances of raising the flags of the host country, the Olympic flag and the lighting of the Olympic flame (2 flames in this year’s case), that signifies the official opening of the games. The excitement in the air knowing that the entire world will be watching the events that will be taking place over the next 16 days was palpable. Some athletes will be favorites to win medals and will do so. Then there were the underdogs that will rise to the occasion and in unexpected fashion make their way onto the podium. We as a country will lock in and suddenly be engaged to how the USA is doing, what is the medal count and where we stand in that count. At RINewsToday we published a sidebar every day with the latest count of gold, silver and bronze, by country. It is amazing how Patriotic our country becomes for 16 days every four years. How true that commercial becomes where Yankee and Red Sox, Cowboys and Eagles and Lakers and Celtic fans become one as they cheer for Team USA.
In a master stroke of scheduling, NBC televised the USA vs Canada Women’s Hockey gold medal face off game at 8am on a Saturday morning. What could be better than that? Oh, yes, the men’s gold medal hockey final between Canada and the USA on Sunday morning. In both cases the game needed overtime to decide that champion, in both cases the final score was 2-1 and yes, in both cases the USA won the gold medal. For the men, this was the first time since the 1980 Miracle on Ice team won the gold medal in Lake Placid, New York. Later that evening it was time to close the games. As is tradition with the closing ceremonies, the spectacle showed the culture of Northern Italy as it passed the flag of the Olympics to the next host country, France and the French Alps who will host the winter games in 2030.
**NBA’s All-Star**
NBC who won the rights to broadcast both the Super Bowl and Olympics made it a trifecta when they negotiated a contract to broadcast the NBA. NBC decided to have the NBA’s All-Star weekend the weekend right in the middle of the Olympics. The NBC, NBA partnership, was strange right out of the gates. Over the last several years, the popularity of the NBA has dropped like a rock in water. The league has virtually no marketable stars, defense is more a suggestion than a requirement, the 3-point line has eliminated the short-range game to the point where it becomes unwatchable. For NBC to commit primetime slots to air games that by the ratings, nobody is watching is curious. NBC gave up their prime time programing to CBS and ABC by losing a bet. It will not be long before the NBA returns to satellite affiliates and NBC bring back regular programming. The only thing that NBC did for the NBA was to promote entertainment host–turned composer, John Tesh, who wrote the NBA’s theme song. NBC would have been better off in broadcasting the WNBA games, they are much more exciting and worth watching. Having the NBA’s All-Star Weekend events preempt the Olympics was a huge blunder by NBC, Even partnering the NBA with the Olympics couldn’t help the ratings.
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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](https://shared.outlook.inky.com/link?domain=RINewsToday.com&t=h.eJxFjkEOwiAURK_SsDZFkALtqls3LowX-AWUastvgMY0xrsrC-N23kzevMgaJ9JVxOe8dJSejyf3TBe0sNUGZ7KryKPg4DLGm-BM7mVDQ_Y4Q-ozLC7luH2b8xpGA3nEkMqQsoFrYMq1RpmhtUYIzWUjLeirdIZbyhTjqlW6kbU4FI8rHgPRrtOEd_Sh38Aj_m7Ygv_J-wPNGDqw.MEUCIFk4uRShZ422Rifd4Nk39cqYDo2BcN9J-7Do__oPdlOEAiEAgJ-UYubEyGsVkoQJhpyNTv8A9sTWjBFqBRFRG7xMu3o), and is still actively engaged in the high school sports scene._