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FRIDAY  Ever find yourself sitting on the couch, wondering how your favorite sport came to be? Wish you could've been there when James Naismith punched the bottom out of his peach basket, or Abner Doubleday whacked his first fungo with a stick? Well, here's your chance. There's a new sport a-bornin', called Super Scoreball. And the commissioner of the World Super Scoreball Federation will be here in Worcester — in person! — to celebrate the Federation's fourth anniversary (OK, so it takes a little time to launch a sport — must take time to make the bobbleheads) and speak about the evolution of sports and his organization's efforts to create a new world sport from scratch, based on "American culture, research, sports history, childhood and young adult fitness and sound leadership." Good luck with that. The press release doesn't even mention the commissioner's name, but whoever he is, he'll be speaking at the Webster House Restaurant (1 Webster St.) today at 6 p.m. — apparently they're not worried that he'll draw crowds sufficient to interfere with the dinner hour. If you're interested in fitness or in bankrolling this operation, you just might want to be there — if only so you can tell your grandkids that you were there when Super Scoreball started. Maybe you can even find out what it is and how to play. Reservations may be made through
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. Picture this: The Mass. Audubon / Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary (113 Goodnow Road, Princeton) is beginning its annual lecture series, featuring the great photography of local naturalists, their experiences in the field and their first-hand knowledge of their subjects. Titled The World in Focus: Wildlife, War & More, these sessions, held on Fridays at 7:30 p.m., allow those attending to meet and talk with speakers in person after the program. For more information and to register, contact Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary at 978-464-2712. SATURDAY One sure sign of spring (OK, so it's a little early, but we're ever-hopeful): Time again for maple-sappin', and the folks out at the River Bend Farm Visitors Center (287 Oak [not Maple?] St., Uxbridge) are wasting no time tappin' the trunks. For free, visitors can come out at 11 a.m. today and take a tour - watch sap being tapped, syrup being made and sample maple products — which will be for sale (including maple syrup, maple candies and maple cream). You can also buy coffee, hot chocolate and hot dogs — all to benefit Uxbridge's First Holiday Night Committee. This is part of living in New England, folks — get out there and enjoy it. For more information, visit www.blackstonevalleysugaring.org or call 508-278-5274.  With the Academy Awards safely behind us for another year, we have once again affirmed the mediocrity of contemporary cinema. Was there ever a time when it wasn't so? Yes, indeed there was. Back in the glory days of "Hollywood's Gilded Age" in the middle of the last century, stars were stars and films were films — not the slice-'em-and-dice-'em goulash or special-effects razzmatazz that purports to be "entertainment" today. If you were to name a great star from those halcyon days, your list would contain few (if any) names before you included Katharine Hepburn — that native New Englander (and survivor of the '38 Hurricane), whose romances (with Howard Hughes and Spencer Tracy, among others) were most definitely NOT eclipsed by her talent — imagine that. And she did it all without rehab and a Chihuahua. Though she's gone, you can "spend an evening" with this American icon by taking in Tea at Five, offered by Foothills Theatre Co. (100 Front St.). A play in two acts, the first checks in on the actress after she wins her first Oscar, yet she's branded "difficult" and "box office poison" and thus facing a premature end to her promising career (it's because she wore pants, isn't it?). Act II finds her in the 1980s, permanently established in the entertainment firmament, reflecting on her career and the people in it. We hope two things for this production — one, that the actress playing Hepburn abandons any delusion of trying to replicate her manner of speaking (coming from anyone but Hepburn, it's just parodic and annoying) and two, that the actress playing Hepburn bear some sort of physical resemblance to her subject. Nothing spells doom like trying to channel The Great Kate while looking like Loni Anderson. Or Edith Piaf. Anyway, give it a try. For more information on ticket prices and show times, visit www.foothillstheatre.com or call 508-754-4018.
SUNDAY We want crumpets, too: If you haven't had your fill of tea after the Hepburn show, head on over to All Saints Church (10 Irving St.) at 5 p.m. today for a program titled Choral Evensong & Tea. The All Saints Choirs of Boys, Girls and Adults combine with the male and female (we think there are just the two categories) Choristers and adult Schola of Trinity Church (of Copley Square in Boston fame) for a program of songs traditionally sung at day's end in cathedrals and parish churches around the world. Enjoy organ music, hymns with soaring descants (we love those), psalms, responses, anthems and traditional evening canticles (nothing to do with anatomy). We have to say this for the Anglicans/Episcopalians — they sure can sing. Often to the point of our wondering if there's anyone left in their membership to sit in the pews and listen. Be a listener tonight at 5 p.m. The concert's free, but if you want tea (and who doesn't?) it will be served for $5 at — you guessed it — tea time (4 p.m. — ah, the British), one hour prior to the musicating. For more information, call 508-752-3766, ext. 017. o
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