It’s back! The Winter edition of the Top 10 is here. The listicle you can’t live without. Just remember– this is a STATE WEBSITE and I expect you to send me ideas for this list. YOU GOT THAT?!?!?!

The Top 10 is brought to you by TJ’S in Portsmouth! My absolute favorite spot in Portsmouth to catch a game. Tell Bethany that McIsaac sent you.

10. THE ALLIANCE OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL!

Who said football ends with the Super Bowl!! Pro football continued this weekend with some quasi-watchable games, Christian Hackenberg showing exactly why he never saw the field for the NY Jets, something called the Orlando Apollos beating the hell out of the Atlanta Legends, and more! For football junkies like me, this is the perfect bridge to the NCAA hoops tourney in this dead zone of sports.

9. A ROYAL UPSET

The Mt Royal girls record of 12-3 wasn’t anything to sneeze at, but with Farmington rolling into Friday night’s game at 16-0, most people (including EVEYRONE in the girls staff picks at NHSP) thought the Tigers would get another W – but Alexis Matte poured in 30 points in a 40-31 win. It’s a statement win for the Knights who will look to do some damage in the upcoming playoffs

8. RUNNING OUT OF HEATING OIL IN FEBRUARY

It’s not fun! Both Mrs. McIsaac and I failed to check the tank this week (“I thought you did it?” “I thought YOU did it!”) so the McIsaac family awoke to find ourselves in a refrigerator (except for Cameron, who keeps a space heater in his room and the door closed, it’s like a sauna in there…). Luckily, bleeding a furnace is one of the few manly things I know how to do, and, Life Pro Tip for the poor/forgetful, heating oil and diesel fuel are the same thing, so it’s nice and toasty in here at the moment. For now.

7. WHAT THE HELL IS A BTS?

I know I’m an old man and thus don’t really know music (plus I still listen to the same 7 Bad Religion/Reel Big Fish/Public Enemy albums on repeat), but how the hell is this 46 member K-Pop group getting half a million retweets every time they make a move? I’m not hearing K-Pop in HS or College basketball warm up mixes yet, so it must just be an army of 13 year olds and their moms digging this stuff, right?

6. DON’T LOOK NOW BUT HERE COMES LONDONDERRY

Close wins over WInnacunnet and Dover this week have the Lancers at 10-2 and thinking about a top 4 seed in D1. Londonderry ha a great scorer in Ethan May (who plays pretty good D as well), and a bunch of kids who play HARD for Nate Stanton (against Winnacunnet, Jackson Cox went to the rim against the much taller Jack Schaake and Ben Allen with fearlessness), so they’re going to be a nightmare for whoever they draw in the playoffs. I’m really interested to see how their game at Exeter goes on 2/19.

 5. GUYS REMEMBER WHEN THE PATS GAVE UP JUST 3 POINTS TO THE RAMS IN THE SUPER BOWL?

People forget that. Not me though.  

4. ELI SWANSON MESSED AROUND AND HAD A TRIPLE DOUBLE

When your team only scores 41 points, and you score 30 of them, plus adding 10 boards and 11 steals, I feel like you had a decent game. It’s a huge win for Inter-Lakes over White Mountains, getting the Lakers to 8-6, and letting Mike Rathgeber yell at us on twitter for taking WMRHS.

3. THAT ONE ZION WILLIAMSON BLOCK

You know which one. It’s too bad he plays for Duke, everyone knows Duke is evil, I’m looking forward to Coach K blowing a game to Lafayette or someone in the round of 32 this year.

2. FREE THROWS

Kyle Landrigan of Oyster River made SIXTEEN OF SIXTEEN  free throws on Thursday night, helping the Bobcats to a 69-53 win (that was a lot closer than the final score indicates). If you’re asking why a kid hitting 16 FT’s is number 2 on the list, A) Aside from #1, the order doesn’t usually matter in my top 10, BUT, B) think of how many HS games you’ve seen where a team misses, oh, say 7 of 16 FT’s and then loses by 6. IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. There’s a reason Oyster River has only lost one game, and little things like making your FT’s is one of them.

1. PARENTS, FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME, STOP BEING THE WORST

At halftime of the game I was at Friday, unbeknownst to me, a parent went up to the head coach of the home team and called him a “F’ing A-Hole” (without the censorship). Not only is this coach a hell of a basketball coach, he’s also legitimately one of the nicest people on earth, so you can imagine what kind of individual we must be dealing with for this to happen.

Luckily this situation was dealt with appropriately, but HOW MANY WEEKS IN A ROW DO I HAVE TO HEAR ABOUT PARENTS BEING INASANE? It’s never ending. And this wasn’t the only incident of some certifiable parent causing havoc with HS Hoops this week. I can’t understand what makes a functioning adult decide to act like a 3 year old on a regular basis, and this is coming from someone who used to pretend to fight people in his underwear for a living.

At this point, the good parents (and I know that’s most of you… at least I think it is…) need to help out and start calling out bad behavior when you see it. I’ve been screaming on my soapbox for some time, as has Dave, and many others, but clearly it’s not enough. At this rate, in a few years, there will be nobody left to coach these High School teams. I can’t believe there’s anyone left now.

ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: Memorial Girls almost had the big upset, Memorial Boys have won two straight, Goffstown boys could be frisky, Team Bowling State Championships Saturday 10 am in Raymond, be there!

Justin McIsaac writes the Top 10 every week (usually). He is the 2018 NSMA NH Sportscaster of The Year.  He has 1,000 jobs, including radio color commentary for UNH Football, Producer of "NH Today with Jack Heath", HS play by play for MOSN, The McIsaac On Sports Network, college play by play for Dartmouth, St Anselm’s, UNE, Harvard, and whoever else will cut the check. Follow him on Twitter: @justin_mcisaac