During the 2019-20 basketball season, I became so convinced that new Mascenic boys’ basketball coach Brandon Kear would be named Division III Coach of the Year that I made a one-sided wager: if he didn’t win, I’d literally eat my hat.
My chances looked good. Kear took over the Vikings and went undefeated the rest of the way as Mascenic shook off their recent playoff demons and played their way to a shared co-championship in the truncated season, their first state title since 1999.
Unfortunately, the New Hampshire Basketball Coaches’ Organization didn’t see it my way, instead naming Gilford coach Rick Acquilano Coach of the Year; never mind that Gilford’s one loss on the way to the co-championship was at Mascenic.
Luckily, I had a backup plan all along, right down the road from Mascenic at Wildflowers, where baker (and mom to a few Mascenic sports legends) Cyndi Babin makes sweet treats to supply the region. I’d seen – and tasted – some of her creations before and I knew that she could make a cake that resembled my trademark Hillsborough Hops baseball hat closely enough that I could pull a little movie magic.
Babin delivered, and earlier this week, I filmed myself “eating my own hat” – in reality, scarfing down the delicious cake. I’m not sure I fooled anybody with my ham-fisted switch-out, but at the very least, I ate a lot of cake, so that’s a win in my book.
You can find the video on my Twitter account @BenConantMLT or on the @MLTSports Instagram account.