Author: Dave Long

The Big Story – Tie – Knicks Take NBA Title and World Cup Begins: Normally a New York story isn’t something that makes it into our Big Story. But the Knicks ended their Red Sox-esque 53-year NBA title-less streak with a run that included 13-game playoff winning streak and multiple amazing comebacks, including overcoming a record 29-point second-half deficit in Game 4 of the Finals. So we’ll give the New Yawkers their due.

Then came a great first World Cup weekend that included USA’s shocking 4-1 opening round rout of Paraguay and Turkey’s unexpected 2-0 loss to Australia making USA’s chances to advance from Round 1 more likely. Beyond that was Germany’s 7-1 win over Curacao and several games few new-to-the-party Americans soccer fans care about. At least not yet.

Sports 101: How many of the 15 people who won at least two NCAA titles and one NBA title can you name?

News Item – Time for Red Sox to Panic: (1) They’re an astonishing 12 and 22 at Fenway Park. (2) They have the fewest homers in MLB. (3) Their average 3.9 runs scored per game is 31st in MLB. (4) It looks like neither Garrett Crochet nor Roman Anthony will be back until after the All-Star break.

News Item – Sorta Good News for the Sox: Every team competing for the final AL wild card slot is playing under .500 baseball.

News Item – Paul Misiorowski: Don’t know which is more unbelievable. Emerging Milwaukee star hurler being the first since 2000 to pitch a complete game in under 100 pitches while striking out 15 batters, or that, incredibly, it was the first complete game by a Brewer since Sept. 11, 2023. He allowed one hit and pitched to just 27 batters while 56 of his 95 pitches hit at least 100 on the gun in a 6-0 win over Philly!

News Item – Don’t Trade With Brewers: Thought Craig Breslow was supposed to be an expert evaluator of pitchers? Last year he gift-wrapped Quinn Priester, who went 13-3 with a 3.32 ERA. This year it was the supposed best get in the Raffy Devers trade, Kyle Harrison. He’s an even bigger black mark for the embattled Breslow. He’s 8-1 with a 2.47 ERA and 80 K’s in 65.2 innings.

The Numbers:

13.3 – seconds left when Emerson Stover scored the game winner off a pass from Garrett Lande to make Derryfield School Division II LaCrosse champs with a thrilling 8-7 win over Winnacunnet.

126 – years since the first three guys in any batting order each struck out in their first three at-bats in a game as Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu did last week vs. Tampa Bay.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Spike Lee: Hard to believe I’d give this guy anything. But he gets it for wearing a Knicks “Pope” Jersey to Game 3 to rebut our president’s mindless trolling of the first American-born pontiff.

Thumbs Down – Victor Wembanyama: For Bill Laimbeer cheap shot impersonation in the playoffs. Boooo.

You’ve Got to be Kidding Moment – Texas Tech Football: Hearing them hilariously talking about its “integrity” while defending accepting NCAA-banned transfer QB Brendan Sorsby after admitting he bet 40 times on his own team while at Indiana.

Sports 101 Answer: The 15 are Bill Russell, Al Horford, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Gail Goodrich, Jamaal Wilkes, Henry Bibby (UCLA-Knicks), Tom Thacker (U of Cincy-Boston), Corey Brewer (U of Florida-Dallas), Christian Braun (Kansas-Denver), Keith Erickson, Lucius Allen, Nazr Mohammed, and Villanova Knicks Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges.

Final Thoughts – NBA Finals: Hope Slow Joe Mazzulla noticed the Spurs blowing four double-digit fourth-quarter leads exactly as his Celtics did the last two years, by continuing to fire up threes after going stone cold.

If I’m Giannis Antetokounmpo, the best place to win another title is San Antonio. Because Wemby needs help down low. Plus they have the depth and picks to make the deal without whipping out their rotation.

If I’m Milwaukee, I’m not doing that deal unless Dylan Harper is in it.

Knick Josh Hart reminds me of former NHC/SNHU great Will (the thrill) Flowers because he impacts a game without scoring a point.

How dumb did Finals MVP Jalen Brunson make ex-Celtics assistant/current WNBA HC Becky Hammon look after she said a team can’t win an NBA title when their best player is “small”?

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – World Cup: The four-year wait is over for soccernauts. The first game is today (Thursday) between Mexico and South Africa in Mexico City. Then comes the first game in the U.S. when Scotland faces Haiti in Foxboro Saturday.

There are changes underway, as the tournament has controversially expanded from 36 countries to 48. That was done, of course, for, what else?, the extra dough to be racked in from the extra games. That’s before we even talk about the outrageous expense being charged for tickets, parking, hotels, merch and train rides to Foxboro, etc.

But since no one is being forced to buy any of those things, and I’ll only be watching on free TV, what’s to complain about?

So enjoy the best way you can.

Sports 101 – Name the first African American players to be MVP in the AL and the NL.

News Item – Red Sox Week: Things got worse, not better. No stat points more to the importance of power when you play at Fenway than their astoundingly being only 10-21 at home so far!

It’s been 43 days since Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet first went on the 15-day IL with simple shoulder irritation. With him being moved to the 60-day IL last week it probably wasn’t as simple as first thought.

The ERA was 6.34 when Brayan Bello got sent to AAA last week. And after last week’s debacle vs. Baltimore, the first-inning ERA alone was an incredible 16.88.

News Item – NBA Finals: Game 3 goes off after I file this. But having won 13 straight playoff games to take a 2-0 Finals lead over San Antonio, the New York Knickerbockers are on one of the greatest playoff runs in NBA history.

Karl-Anthony Towns and Mike Brown are changing their under-achieving reps around the NBA.

How dumb does Dallas look after letting Jalen Brunson walk for less money than they handed over to keep the always hurt Kyrie Irving instead?

News Item – World Cup Thoughts:

I’m taking the over on the Vegas line whatever it is, probably around 96.7% of the games will end in a 1-1 tie before shootouts are needed to break ties.

The only thing I don’t like is how the Final 4 will be played out in three separate sites rather than those three games played in the same city to close it out. But the needed recovery time between the Round of 4 and the Final negates the one local idea. So never mind.

Since I probably know five players in the whole thing, no phony predictions from me. Just hoping USA makes it out of opening-round play.

The Numbers:

0.74 – after 10 starts and 61.0 innings the earned run average of 6-2 Dodgers hurler/DH Shohei Ohtani.

1.75 – the ERA of the guy the Red Sox got for Raffy Devers and dumped this spring for .196-hitting Caleb Durbin as the headed-for-the-All-Star-game Kyle Harrison has gone 7-1 for Milwaukee.

844 – longest in the majors consecutive games played by Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson, which came ironically on MLB’s annual June 2 “Lou Gehrig Day” when his 17th homer knocked in the winning runs in a 4-3 game.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – The BBC: For announcing they will not air the World Cup’s Americanization of their event in the form of a half-time musical show a la the Super Bowl’s idiotic half-time show for the first time. The British broadcaster will instead air their usual half-time analysis show.

Bravo for the Brits.

Sports 101 Answer: Jackie Robinson was MVP in the NL in 1949, just two years after breaking the color barrier. Yankees (and eventual Red Sox) catcher Elston Howard was named American League MVP in 1963.

Final Thought – A.J. Brown Deal Called “Overpay” by Critics: The Patriots finally made the deal with Philly for wideout A.J. Brown. And while it gave them their first dynamic downfield threat since Gronk left the building, it was immediately labeled an “overpay” by Ben Volin of the Boston Globe and the always see the negative afternoon rocket scientists on the Sports Hub.

I said last week I’d give a second pick for him, so giving up a 2028 first-round pick and a fifth in 2027 is an overpay for that. But I look at the deal like this: What would be a bigger catastrophe for the Pats?

Not getting a 1A deep threat to complement the most accurate down field thrower I’ve seen since Roman Gabriel in the ’60s, but with the ego satisfaction of not having overpaid for him, or being forced to overpay a little (but delayed to 2028) by making sure their biggest need (by far) was filled to prevent someone else from swooping in with a better offer to steal him?

No doubt it would be the first option. I’ll be happy to take Brown and live with the overpay.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Wait Until Next Week: With the Red Sox scuffling along 10+ games out of first in the AL East and local teams long gone from the spring playoffs, there is no local big story. We’ll have to wait until next week when the World Cup and its incredible price-gouging/fan rip-offs begin.

Sports 101: Michael Jordan won the NBA Finals MVP a record six times. Who is second with four Finals MVPs and who are the three others who’ve been Finals MVP three times?

News Item – Red Sox Update

Who’s Hot: Connelly Early is 5-2 with a 2.97 ERA after last week’s seven shutout innings vs. Atlanta. Jarren Duran – The guy nitwits on talk radio say should be traded is back to leading off, where in the last 10 games in May he went 15-44 (.341) with 8 runs scored, 5 homers and 11 RBI, raising the average from the. 150’s to .219.

The GM: The answer is 19 and four wins and losses immediately after alleged pitching guru Craig Breslow gift-wrapped Quinn Priester (13-3) last year and Kyle Harrison (6-1) this year to Milwaukee in consecutive deals for two minor-leaguers we’ll probably never see and a third baseman now hitting .185.

On the plus side, the Giants are 60-78 since Raffy Devers arrived to play first base in SF.

In Case You Missed It – Mickey Gasper: The Merrimack product is getting regular at-bats for Boston after hitting .333 with three doubles and three RBI in 17 games.

News Item – Yankee Firsts: Given their history it’s hard to do anything for a first time in Yankee history. But they did it in last week’s 15-1 24-hit assault of KC, where for the first time every Yankee in the starting line-up got at least two hits in a game. Then on Sunday they had another first ever by batting around three times in a 13-run second inning of a 13-8 win over Oakland. Then ironically didn’t get another after that.

News Item – NBA Finals Update

After the upstart Spurs knocked off defending champion OKC, it started in San Antonio yesterday (Wednesday). It’s been 27 years since the Knicks were last in the Finals and 53 since they last won it all in 1973. NYK’s opponent in 1999 ironically was SA when Tim Duncan won the first of his four titles.

Victor Wembanyama’s shoe size is 20.5. That’s the largest since Shaq, and before him big Bob Lanier, of whom people said his toes entered a room at 12:00 and the rest of him got there at 12:05.

Spurs star Stephon Castle’s father Stacey was a teammate of the greatest Spur of them all, Duncan at Wake Forest.

Love that Jalen Brunson led NY to the Finals after Dallas let him walk for less money to sign Kyrie Irving. After KI got hurt again, they’re back to a well-deserved place in the lottery.

Why do so many yack about SGA’s “flopping” to get foul calls and no one says anything about Steph Curry flopping on almost every shot he takes?

The Numbers:

2 – number of teams currently in the three-spots-available AL Wild Card race that were over .500 on June 1.

4 – games the alarmingly disappointing Red Sox are somehow only out of a wild card playoff spot.

14.3 – strikeouts per nine innings by flame-throwing 22-year-old Milwaukee phenom Jacob Misiorowski in 2026 after striking out 49 over just 31 innings while giving up one run and 11 hits in his five May starts.

… Of the Week Awards

Alumni News – Dustin May: The disaster in Boston stayed that way in St. Louis, where he took a no-hitter into the eighth vs. Milwaukee before losing it and the game 2-1. It left him 3-6 with a 4.97 ERA.

Chris Sale: The big lefty can still pitch when not injured. He has a second best in baseball eight wins after beating the Sox last week.

Astonishing Basketball Fact of the Week – MVP Voting: Saw on my friend Tommy Ameen’s Facebook feed that an American hasn’t won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award since James Harden in 2018. Wow!

Sports 101 Answer: Most NBA Finals MVP’s are six for Jordan, four for LeBron James, three for Magic Johnson, Shaq and Tim Duncan.

Final Thought – Stephen A Blowhard Under Fire: Must say I love it when a guy who kills people on TV regularly can’t take it when people fire back. That’s the case for Steven A these days where Jaylen Brown yacked back at him on Twitter to retire, then challenged him to a debate at Harvard or MIT. Then “his friend” Kevin Hart put Stephen A on his Mt. Rushmore of Sports Racism during his recent roast.

Steve, if you’re gonna yack at people you can’t have the whiney, thin-skinned response you’ve been giving. Take things aimed at you in the same way you expect them to be taken on things said by you about them.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Memorial Day weekend

It’s not officially summer, but it makes it feel like summer has arrived. However, it brings an early holiday deadline that messes with my usual formula, so I’m doing something a little different today by giving my blueprint for how the C’s should reshuffle the deck.

Sports 101: Name the only three basketball players to win a HS State Championship, NCAA title, NBA title and Olympic gold.

News Item – Calendar Day: Come Monday, June 1, the Eagles can affordably make the long-rumored A.J. Brown deal to the Pats. What cost is moving him worth to you? Not more than a second-round pick for me, because at 29 he’s probably got three years left as a prime receiver.

Celtics Blueprint

The annual “we have to split up Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown” nonsense has begun. However, while it is a dumb practice, I could live with a deal for either depending upon whether the offer was eye-opening enough. It would have to achieve at least one of the following; (1) Makes them younger and deeper. (2) Someone in the middle who can cover Joel Embiid. (3) Spreads out years between max contracts to top players to manage the cap better. (4) A younger, cheaper on-the-way-up guy who’ll grow into what Brown or Tatum were at the same age in their careers.

Who Goes – Tatum or Brown: This year taught us they can win with either. So the one who goes is simply the one who brings the most back. That’s likely Tatum.

Rumors – Giannis Antetokounmpo: He’s one of my all-time favorites. But he’s 32, unsigned past this year, and his last two seasons have ended with injuries. All red flags. The only place he improves what’s needed most is size and scoring underneath.

A few names who’d interest me:

Nikola Jokic – Not likely, but Denver may be looking to shake it up. They’d give up quickness to fill the hole in the middle while improving ability to score better in half court and rebounding.

Deni Avdija – What’s not to like? He scores, rebounds and passes. Just nobody around here knows how good he is.

Stephon Castle – This guy’s got it — duende. A winner.

Jalen Johnson– It took him a while to get the career going with Atlanta but he’s been solid the last two years, culminating with last year’s 22.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game.

Acceptable deals:

Scottie Barnes and R.J. Barrett –Makes them more versatile offensively by adding two 20-point-per-night scorers for Toronto last year.

Amen Thompson– His age 21, 22 and 23 with Houston were all better than Brown’s. And he’s already the best wing defender in the league. Throw in 7-footer Jabari Smith to add size in the middle and I’m in.

The Numbers:

22 – points behind with 8:19 left before the Knicks overcame the largest fourth-quarter playoff deficit in franchise history in their 115-104 Game 1 playoff win over Cleveland

60.2 – regular season shooting percent for MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, which is unheard of by a guard

A Little History – The Memorial Day Massacre: It was an epic beatdown when the Celtics opened the 1985 NBA Finals with a 148-114 Game 1 slaughter of the Lakers. So bad that Celtics rookie Charles Bradley turned it into the first Celtics dunk-a-thon.

But it was also a lesson that taught all it was just one game, nothing more. Which L.A. demonstrated by winning the next two leading to a 4-2 Finals win.

Sports 101 Answer: The rare four-title champs are Jerry Lucas, Magic Johnson and Quinn Buckner.

Final Thought – Be Careful What You Wish For: The L.A. Clippers had Kawhi Leonard ready to re-sign if they could acquire another major star like Oak City’s Paul George. Which the usually wrong pundits all said would make them a true contender. But this deal reminds us trades are not won on paper, as Thunder GM Sam Presti used L.A.’s desperation for a star to extract an astonishing six first-round picks and an afterthought rookie on their current roster for George.

So who won that deal? Well, the Clippers never won more than 51 games, missed the playoffs entirely once, were Round 1 losers twice, and after playing just 236 of 410 games with L.A. the constantly injured George is now in Philly.

Meanwhile one of those six picks became All-Star Jalen Williams, and that rookie thrown into the deal is now two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander after leading them to become reigning NBA champs and getting close again. And astonishingly they still have the 12th pick this year from a deal made in 2020.

Thus desperation led L.A. to make arguably the worst NBA trade in history.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Baseball at the Quarter Turn: It has not been pretty for your Boston Red Sox. They’ve been getting killed for their weak offense, no power and lack of spending, leading an enterprising pilot to fly over Fenway one day pulling a banner behind begging the owners to sell the team. Other than that, the start’s been great.

Sports 101: Name the three second basemen to hit 300 career homers.

News Item – Patriots Schedule Out: For those outraged at the toughness of the Pats’ 2026 schedule: What did you expect? They got the easy one last year because they finished last twice in a row. Now they get the first-place schedule. That happened annually for 20 years, so what’s the big deal?

News Item – Rumor Mill: For those still whining about losing Raffy Devers: after hitting .207 with two homers and 11 RBI in April word is SF is having buyer’s remorse over his declining production vs. his massive contract. And while the numbers jumped to .240-5-18 by mid-May they are hardly game-changing. So with the record at just 15-24 whispers are growing that the West Coast G-Men are about to dump payroll with Raffy headed out the door again.

News Item – Red Sox at Quarter Turn:

Good: WithCeddanne Rafaela hitting .281 with four homers and 20 RBI it appears he’s taken the next step. Plus new starters Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez have been solid, as have surprising young’n Connelly Early and Payton Tolle.

Bad: They were 17-23, 11 out. In 2025 it was 18-22 and they still won 89 games.

Ugly: Jarren Duran, Trevor Story, Marcelo Mayer and Caleb Durbin all hit under .200 as the Sox scored MLB’s second-fewest runs.

Injured List: Think Red Sox owner John Henry is down on his knees looking upward and saying please don’t be another Chris Sale? As the next lefty Henry gave big bucks to after the $150 million Sale fiasco was Garrett Crochet. He’s on the DL with inflammation in his left shoulder after pitching a career most 203 innings last year. Hmmm.

Noteworthy baseball things after 40 games:

NL Central: Every team was playing over .500 baseball, from the 27-15 first-place Cubs to last-place Cincy at 21-20.

Billion-Dollar Dodgers: Tied with Padres at 24-16 instead of running away with everything with their pricey team. The Sox had a second-worst 31 homers and 161 runs scored in 45 games.Worst in homers was Milwaukee’s 27, but they’re ninth in runs with 209 and were 24-17 while the Sox were 17-23. Milwaukee has just the 20th-highest payroll at $127 million. Boston is 12th at $197 million, while the team with the worst record after, the 15-25 Mets, has baseball’s highest at $335 million.

Free Agents That Got Away:

Pete Alonso — 8 homers, 22 RBI, .306 avg.

Alex Bregman — 3 homers, 13 RBI, .233 avg.

Xander Bogaerts — 7 homers, 22 RBI, .267 avg.

The Numbers:

11 – percent increase in fouls during NBA playoffs vs. the regular season.

16 – astonishingly few pitches thrown by Zack Wheeler to get the first nine Red Sox batters ou in Philly’s 2-1 win last week. According to published reports it’s the least needed to do that since 2000.

20 – “thank you very much Chaim Bloom” MLB-leading homer total (including two last week at Fenway) by Kyle Schwarber, who the power-poor Red Sox let walk 207 homers ago after 2021.

Sports 101 Answer: The 300-homer second basemen are Jeff Kent (354), Robinson Cano (335) and Rogers Hornsby (301).

Final Thought –RIP Award – Ted Turner: The CNN founder and Atlanta Braves manager for one game died last week at 87. His run as Braves owner produced 14 straight NL East titles, five NL pennants and a 1995 World Series title. He also owned the Atlanta Hawks, skippered the 1977 America Cup winning sailing team and founded the Goodwill Games. All while eventually revolutionizing cable TV and USA viewing habits. And he still had time to marry Jane Fonda.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

Top Story – Celtics Playoff Loss Got Worse: Just when you thought the embarrassment of blowing a 3-1 series lead to the 76ers couldn’t get any worse, the Knicks then annihilated Philly in a four-game sweep. The biggest ignominy to Slow Joe and company was that they tied a playoff record by making 23 3-balls and shot 63% in two blowout wins vs. the same Philly D that held Boston to 27.7% on 3’s in three of their wins.

Interesting that no one complains when the 3’s are falling, isn’t it? Which re-enforces the point made here last week, that all their 3’s aren’t really the problem. It’s shot selection, where Slow Joe lets them just chuck up any 3 at any time over searching out better open 3’s by running through their offense and never adapts to Plan B when they don’t.

Sports 101: Friday is the 85th anniversary of when Joe DiMaggio started his legendary 56-game hitting streak on May 15, 1941. The best since was a 44-game streak done by who?

News Item – Welcome Back, Kotter: Merrimack product Mickey Gasper came back up from AAA to go 2-3 in the Sox’s 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay Sunday.

News Item – NBA Lottery is a Joke: There’s a clear irony of the NBA going to the lottery to prevent teams from tanking, which happened after Houston did it to make sure they could draft Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984. Now several teams regularly tank for better draft position once out of the playoff race, the latest being a team with Anthony Davis and Trae Young somehow losing 26 of their last 27 to ensure getting the best pick they could, which happened by getting the top pick after winning Sunday’s lottery.

Local loss – Dave Bonner: The New Hampshire basketball community lost a great guy last week when he passed after a lengthy illness. The 6’8” giant played for Concord HS in the late ’60s before becoming the father of three D-I players, one of whom was a 12-year NBA pro. No New Hampshire family we know of has ever done that. Condolences to the family. RIP, big fella.

The Numbers

12 – playoff record blocks by 7’5” Victor Wembanyama in the Spurs’ Game 1 loss to the T-Wolves.

91 – years since the Cubs last won 10 straight in 1935 like last week.

Of the Week Awards…

Earth to Slow Joe Award: His guys were 49 for 147 (27.7%) on 3’s in their four losses to Philly. And bet it was worse in those fourth quarters.

Stat of the Year – Celtics: Guess those shocked they got knocked out in Round 1 weren’t paying attention, as they went 3-11 vs. the Top 5 playoff seeds during the regular season.

Bad Record Tied – James Harden: Interesting week for one of the biggest playoff chokers in history. First he tied Bob Cousy by shooting under 25% in a playoff game with at least 10 shots for the 20th time when he was 3-13 in Cleveland’s 107-97 Game 2 loss to Detroit. Then a game later kept the Cavs alive with the game winner in Game 3.

Sports 101 Answer: Pete Rose had everyone on high alert when the free-agent-to-be made a run for 56 in 1978 before it ended 12 short at 44.

Final Thought – A Little Streak History: The stat boys and New England deniers have been saying Ted Williams should have been the MVP instead because he hit .406 that same year and out-hit Joe D’s .408 (91-223), 15 homers and 55 RBI in every category during the same two-month period. However, those people have missed the point for 85 years. The only player to be as inspirational to his team’s success since was Yaz during the Impossible Dream season of 1967.

On May 15, 1941, the Yanks were languishing 6.5 games behind Cleveland in fourth place. The Sox were 13-10. And when it ended on July 15 the first-place Yanks led Cleveland by five games as they went 31-13 to take command of the AL race. They went on to win the pennant by a then AL record 20 games ahead of Ted and the Sox after clinching it on the earliest date in history, Sept. 4.

If you want to say based on the stats Ted was the Player of the Year, fine. But Joe D was the definition of most valuable. Which is what the award in saner times than today was about. Because if Williams didn’t play the Sox still won squat. And, oh by the way, after his o’fer, DiMaggio hit in his next 16 straight to make it an astonishing 72 out of 73 games.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.