Author: Dave Long

The Big Story – The Super Bowl: Can the Chiefs pull off the first three-peat in SB history in a rematch of SB 57? A great game where KC scored 17 fourth-quarter points to come back from down 27-21 to win 37-35.

Two weeks ago after KC beat Buffalo to get to the big game again Ben Volin of the Boston Globe asked, is it time for the Bills to change coaches to finally get them past KC? And my answer was, Buffalo isn’t the only one who can’t beat Patrick Mahomes. No one else has either except Tom Brady twice. So the only question that matters in this one is can the Philadelphia Eagles stop Mahomes when it matters most? We’ll know by around 9:45 on Sunday night.

Sports 101: Name the only two people to win a Super Bowl as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach.

News Item – Kelly Jumps Again: In the shocker of the week former Central QB Chip Kelly’s stay at Ohio State lasted just one year. Two weeks after winning a national title he left OSU on Sunday to return to the NFL to be Pete Carroll’s Offensive Coordinator with the Las Vegas Raiders.

News Item – Big NBA Trade: Got to give it to the Lakers for always looking to make the big deal. On Sunday it was trading their second best player, Anthony Davis, for a Top 5 NBA player, Luka Doncic. Which is what they call a blockbuster trade in my neighborhood. Have said a few times in this space: Imagine how good Luka would be if he ever got in shape. Which apparently is what got to the Dallas brass too, and motivated them to make the shocking trade.

Wouldn’t have done it if I were them on age alone, sending an age 26 star for a 32-year-old who breaks down a lot. Plus AD can’t win on his own, which was evident when he went to the playoffs only twice in seven seasons with New Orleans, while Luka can, whether in great shape or not. Plus, since Doncic got traded, L.A. gets him cheap, as now he’s not eligible for a super max contract he would have been in Dallas this summer. L.A. wins this one.

The Numbers:

4 – ex-Patriots players — Joe Thuney, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Josh Uche and Tyquan Thornton — who’ll be in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

8 – million dollars to buy a 30-second ad in Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast.

26 – point fourth-quarter deficit the Celtic needed to overcome to beat the Joel Embiid-less 76ers on Sunday in their latest non-effort given against teams playing without their star.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Hubie Brown: The great analyst will retire from ESPN/ABC when he hangs up his mic at 91 after Sunday’s NBA broadcast.

Imaginary Fake News Donald Trump Crybaby of the Week – Chiefs Owner Clark Hunt: The owner of the team that now gets every call in their favor gets it for having the stones to ask the NFL to ban Tom Brady from doing the SB on Fox because he correctly said refs in the Houston-KC playoff game made awful calls on two imaginary roughing penalties against Mahomes.

Idiotic Podcast Idea of the Week – Bill Belichick: For saying on Jim Gray’s podcast they should take the name Vince Lombardi off the Super Bowl Winners Trophy and rename it the Tom Brady Trophy. Love TB-12, but dumping Lombardi’s name is a slap in the face of league history.

Random Thoughts:

Stumbled on a YouTube clip of great plays by Ben Coates last week. It convinced me that, thanks to leaving just before the dynasty started, he’s the greatest forgotten Patriots player ever. Check the stats. He was Gronk before Gronk. Even wore 87.

The side note to the Doncic-Davis trade is can Kyrie Irving’s latest trade demand be far off?

Sports 101 Answer: The two triple SB winners are Mike Ditka (P, Dallas; AC, Dallas; HC, Bears) and Tom Flores (P, Chiefs; AC, Raiders; HC, Raiders).

A Little History – Super Bowl 1: Seems hard to believe after what it has become, but nearly 30,000 tickets went unsold for the first Super Bowl, between the Packers and the Chiefs. It was played in the still standing L.A. Memorial Coliseum, which was built in 1923 and will be in 2028 the first place to host three Olympic Games after also doing it in 1932 and 1984.Ticket prices, which are $3,800 to $8,000 for Sunday’s game, were just $12 (about $90 in today’s money) for SB1 and attendance was 61,946 in the 90,000-seat Coliseum. It was also broadcast on both CBS and NBC with a combined viewing audience of 51 million. Pretty big, but not near last year, when 123 million TV sets were tuned in to the game with 210 million total viewers!

Last Word – Prediction: KC 23, Philly 20 — Mahomes does it again.

Hope I’m wrong.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – The Super Bowl Match-up is Set: The Kansas City Chiefs’ effort to outdo the Patriots dynasty continued Sunday by beating Buffalo again when it counted, this time 32-29, to give themselves a chance to be the first team to win three straight Super Bowls. They’ll try to do that in a rematch of SB 57 thanks to the Eagles crushing Washington 55-23 in the NFC title game.

A win over Philadelphia will put the Andy Reid/Patrick Mahomes Chiefs two wins shy of the Pats’ six SB wins and move 29-year-old Mahomes one step closer to matching or passing Tom Brady’s seven titles, all with TB-12 in the booth calling the action for Fox.

Sports 101: Lamar Jackson will find out next week if he’ll be NFL MVP for a third time. Name the six players who’ve won it three or more times already.

News Item – Philly Runs Over Washington: That is what the Eagles did in going for 229 yards on the ground and a league record seven rushing TDs in their 55-23 win over Jayden Daniels and company. Three of those TDs came from Saquon Barkley and three more from QB Jalen Hurts with rookie Will Shipley getting the final one.

Barkley’s first was a 60-yard scamper on Philly’s first play from scrimmage to give him a league record seven TD runs of 60 or more yards in one season. Overall it was 115 yards on 15 carries.

News Item – Red Sox in Free Agency: It was another week of the brass treating their fans like they’re stupid by talking a good game and doing nothing as the Dodgers signed the best closer on the market, 23-year-old Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, and Alex Bregman is looking like he could be headed back to Houston.

News Item – NBA Feb. 6 Trade Deadline Predictions:

Portland refugee Lob it to Robert Williams is reunited with Ime Udoka via a trade to the surging Houston Rockets.

Despite sinking in the west, Golden State holds on to dynasty relic Draymond Green six months after losing Klay Thompson for nothing.

Pat Riley doesn’t give in to petulant Jimmy Butler and give himthe ticket out of Miami he wants.

Brad Stevens has Celtics fans saying “I hope you’re right” when he does little to add to his bench.

The Numbers:

11.9 – far short of the 75 percent needed for election, percent of voters saying Dustin Pedroia belongs in Cooperstown.

18 – after sitting on the bench for over seven minutes to start the NFC title game the number of seconds it took the Eagles offense to score when Barkley ran for that 60-yard TD.

… Of the Week

Thumbs Up – Josh McDaniels Returns as Patriot OC: He’s not the New Age thinker Ben Johnson is but he has the championship resume and after doing a great job with Mac Jones in his rookie year he’s a good fit for Drake Maye.

Thumbs Down – Notre Dame: After their championship game loss to Ohio State USA Today’s Dan Wolken reported a locker-room scene with players cursing out reporters for asking questions they didn’t like, him being threatened as he left and ND staffers contributing to the chaos.

Why Can’t We Get Guys Like That Award – JuJu Smith-Schuster: The latest recent ex-Patriot to do something big in the playoffs was Ju Ju coming up with two huge catch-and-runs of 32 and 29 yards on separate drives KC cashed in for TDs vs. Buffalo.

What a Stupid I Yam Awards – Me: Whiffed on both predictions for last weekend’s games.

Random Thoughts:

Earth to Tony Romo – It’s true no QB has ever led his team to three straight Super Bowl wins as he reminded us Mahomes is trying to do. But the Super Bowl is just a fancy name for winning the NFL Championship and Bart Starr and Green Bay did that in 1965, ’66 and ’67.

Sports 101 Answer:Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre and Tom Brady all won MVP three times, while Aaron Rodgers did it four times and Peyton Manning five.

Final Thought – Last Week’s Hall of Fame Voting: The biggest takeaway should be to take away the voting rights of the only person who voted against Ichiro to prevent the Japanese great from being the second unanimous selection behind Mariano Rivera. Of course Willie Mays had people who voted against him, so my grandfather was right when he said there are more horses’ behinds in the world than there are horses. But congrats to CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner, who deserved their selections as well. And the same people who let steroids enabler Bud Selig breeze in still held it against three high-profile users who Bud looked the other way on during his watch in A-Rod, Manny Ramirez and Andy Pettitte. If Bud’s in, they should be too.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – OSU’s Big Day: Monday was a great day for former Central High quarterbacks Ryan Day and Chip Kelly as they led Ohio State to a 34-23 win over Notre Dame for the college football championship. They’re the first locals to win a national championship since Concord’s Matt Bonner won the NBA title in 2013-14 with the San Antonio Spurs. Congrats, fellas.

Sports 101: Travis Kelce (172) now has a sizable lead over Jerry Rice (151) for most catches in playoff history. Who are the three guys who round out the top five?

News Item – Celtics Play-By-Play Guy Drew Carter Drools Over Jayson Tatum Feat: Good god, young fella, pump the homer-ism brakes on Tatum climbing the list of the highest point totals by the age of 27. Journalists are supposed to give context, not drool. Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Bob McAdoo didn’t have two gigantic advantages Tatum’s era has. Those guys couldn’t enter the league until 22, while for JT it was 19. Plus there was no three-point shot then. Which means JT got a 4,312-point head start. Take that away and he’s at 8,628, which isn’t even in the top 25. Though many ahead of him also had his advantages.

News Item – Playoff Notes:

Player of the Weekend – Jayden Daniels: The dynamic rookie was the catalyst for Washington’s shocking 45-31 upset of 1-seed Detroit by throwing for 299 and two TDs and running for another 51 yards.

Player of the Week II – Saquon Barkley: Ran for yards 205 on 26 carries and two TDs on runs of 78 and 62 yards.

Smartest Decision – Bills Coach Sean McDermott: For taking the FG to make it an eight-point lead over a TD on fourth and 1 with 3:29 left like most automaton analytics followers of the day. Because when Baltimore couldn’t convert the two-point try to tie it at 1:33 the sure-thing FG won the game.

Turnovers Kill – Lesson 22,015: All the stats went to Baltimore. But they lost three and the Bills had none.

The Numbers:

2 – in Shaq Mason and Joe Thuney, guards playing in the playoffs for the Chiefs and Texans on Saturday who were shown the door by the offense-line-challenged Patriots.

6 – with two more in Philly’s win, league record TD runs of 60 yards plus in one season by Barkley.

100 – percent for sure prediction/boast from Rex Ryan he was a shoo-in to become Jets coach for a second time. But not so, as he was out of it before he even got interviewed.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Major League Baseball: For banning Yankees fans/nitwits Austin Capobianco and John Hansen from all major league parks indefinitely for grabbing Mookie Betts’ arm and ripping the ball out of his glove on a play down the line in the World Series to “help their team.”

Sports 101 Answer: Nos. 3-5 all-time playoff reception leaders are Julian Edelman (116), Rob Gronkowski (98) and Tyreek Hill (96).

Prediction – Next Week NFL:

Buffalo 23-16: Bills finally get by KC thanks to the league laying down the law to the officials to not give KC any more game-changing gift calls.

Washington 27-24: Commanders stay the actual biggest story in D.C. by getting to their first SB since 1992.

Final Thought – Slump or Something Else for Celtics: On Sunday the Celtics were 8-8 in their last 16 games and playing awful basketball. What is the problem? Could be just a slump as guys like Derrick White and Jrue Holiday are not playing well. Could also be teams adjusted to defending their three-point barrages or the self-satisfied complacency of a one-time champ that doesn’t have the hunger. It’s likely all of that plays a role. But it’s also time to call out the coach for the following:

Always making excuses for players rather than calling them out when they show little effort.

Having no alternative when threes aren’t falling besides Tatum and Jaylen Brown driving.

Never getting a good shot at the end of a quarter or game. Same thing: Tatum isolates one on one, wastes too much time, then takes a horrible off-balance fade-away that bricks.

Dumb strategy to give two FT’s when up by three with seconds left. That cost them Saturday’s game vs. Atlanta and gave New Orleans a two-point shot for the win that went in and out on Friday.

An idiotic day-off rest plan, like when Al Horford and fragile flower Kristaps Porzingis played against the worst team in the league (New Orleans) and then sat the next night vs. Atlanta, who they have trouble against because they kill them on the boards.

In short: Joe Mazzulla isn’t the only reason but he’s killing them.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Will it be Ryan’s Day vs. ND? It’s one win to go for former Central High School QBs Ryan Day and Chip Kelly. The ’90s QB and Offensive Coordinator duo at UNH get their shot at winning the CFP national championship Monday in Atlanta when Ohio State faces Notre Dame.

OSU got there behind a 14-point fourth quarter to earn a methodical 28-14 win over Texas, with the decisive blow being defensive end Jack Sawyer turning his strip sack of Quinn Ewers into an 83-yard scoop and score with 2:13 left. ND got there with a 27-24 win over Penn State.

The game comes your way at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Sports 101: Dustin Pedroia is one of eight players to win Rookie of the Year, win an MVP award and be on two World Series winners. Name the other seven.

News Item – Big Story II: It is the one talk radio buzzed about all week: who would be the Patriots’ new head coach. It turned out to be a return to the good old days in Mike Vrabel. No surprise there, and news that it was the three-time Super Bowl winner was met mostly with cheers thanks to his impressive six-year stint as Tennessee Titans coach between 2018 and 2023.

News Item – Interesting Rumor: It’s the one where Raiders minority owner Tom Brady may be interested in a reunion with Bill Belichick as HC of the LVRs.

Yes, he’s now HC at North Carolina. But it’s not like he hasn’t walked out on a new job before. Like when he was HC of the NYJs for one day. All it would take is paying off his $10 million buyout, which is NFL chump change these days. No way, you say? Maybe, but stranger things have happened.

News Item – Playoff Notes:

Patriots fans couldn’t miss the barf-inducing nine catches for 197 yards by Ladd McConkey on Saturday. Yes, the same Ladd the Patriots handed the Chargers by trading out of the 34th pick where L.A. got him, so NE could take Ja’Lynn Polk three picks later. Whose entire rookie season — eight catches for 87 yards — didn’t match what McConkey did Saturday.

The Ravens ran for an astonishing 299 yards vs. Pittsburgh, led by Derrick Henry’s 186. That was the third time he ran for 150+ in the playoffs to tie Terrell Davis for most times doing that.

Hope the analytics “always go for it on fourth down no matter what” goofballs noticed that passing on two chip shot FG’s inside their five-yard line for two failed go-for-it attempts nearly cost Washington their win vs. Tampa Bay. It worked once for a TD in three tries, giving them a temporary 20-17 lead. Which TB soon made 20-20 with a FG. However, if Washington had gone for the three chip shot FG’s it would have been 22-20 and they wouldn’t have needed total luck to survive the bad coaching with a doinked-off-the-crossbar FG that barely trickled over as time expired.

The Numbers:

2nd & 40 – the you-don’t-see-this-every-day situation Houston found itself in after a series of penalties took the ball from the 12-yard line to the other side of mid-field. And they still almost got the first down, falling four yards short, leading to a FG.

4 – interceptions thrown by Chargers QB Justin Herbert vs. Houston after throwing only three in 17 regular season games in 2024.

… Of the NFL Season Awards

Thumbs Down – NFL and Amazon Prime: Bad form by the NFL to keep the Baltimore-Pittsburgh Wild Card game off regular TV in lieu of Prime Video. Fans should pay both back for that.

Sports 101 Answer: Frank Robinson, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Thurman Munson, Jose Canseco, Albert Pujols and Justin Verlander.

Final Thought – Vrabel’s a Safer Choice but — : I have to say that despite Mike Vrabel being my favorite player in the first half of the Patriots dynasty, I was hoping for a guy with a background in developing young QBs and creative 21st-century offense to become the new Patriots coach.

But that doesn’t mean he’s a bad choice. Since track records matter, he’s the safest choice because his 56-45 record in Tennessee shows he can win in the NFL. And I know he’ll bring toughness to a team that needs it. But I wonder if owner Bob Kraft is living in the past and trying to recreate an era that’s gone. Can Vrabel adapt? His Titans won by grounding and pounding behind all-time great Derrick Henry. He doesn’t have that here or a line to do it even if he did. That makes the OC choice key. Hopefully he finds a guy who complements him the way Ben Johnson does Dan Campbell in Detroit. So while it’s likely a good hire, I’ll hold off on a grade until he rounds out his staff.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Mayo Out After Final: Well, that didn’t take long. But seeing Mike Vrabel interviewing to be HC of the NYJ’s last week likely gave Pats owner Bob Kraft the sense of urgency he needed to do the right thing and put Jerod Mayo out of his misery immediately. Stay tuned to see what, if any, changes are coming next, over what should be the eventful weeks ahead.

Sports 101: Name the NFL team and players that had their QB named MVP one year and his backup win it for them the next year.

News Item – Ohio State Rolls in CFP: You’ve got to love what Ryan Day’s OSU Buckeyes have done in dismantling Tennessee (41-17) and Oregon (43-23) in the first two CFP rounds. And it wasn’t just Chip Kelly’s offense, which pretty much ended it for the undefeated Ducks by midway through the second quarter. The D did their part in holding OU to an astonishing minus 23 yards rushing on 28 carries.

Up next: Texas in Dallas on Friday night.

News Item – QB controversy in Foxboro: While it was an exhibition kind of game, it’s hard to say anything bad about the debut of rookie sixth-round pick Joe Milton in the Pats’ franchise-damaging 23-16 win over Buffalo. And to think he had to transfer out of Michigan to start elsewhere his senior season after struggling in Ann Arbor. He was cool, calm, athletic and dynamic in going 22 for 29 for 241 yards and a TD while running for another. Which pretty much matched anything Drake Maye did all year. Throw in the standing back flip the 6’5” 250-pounder did after scoring his TD and it’s a legend in the making. Hey, wait, a sixth-round pick from Michigan competing with a more highly drafted guy for the QB job. That sounds familiar. Hmmm.

News Item – Darnold Seeing Ghosts Returns: Did the clock strike 12 on Sam Darnold’s Cinderella season? He sure looked like he did in his Jets days during Sunday’s showdown for the NFC Central title, where he was 18-41 for 166 yards and an 0-fer on TD’s the five times Minnesota got in the red zone. The easy 31-9 Detroit win gave the top-seeded 15-2 Lions home field throughout the playoffs and a Week 1 bye while 5-seed Minnesota face the Rams in L.A.

The Numbers:

24.1 – Christmas Day Chiefs-Steelers TV rating on Netflix, compared to the 5.25 NBA games averaged on ABC/ESPN the same day.

57,471 – careerminutes played by LeBron James as he passed Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s all-time record.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Detroit Lions Trick Plays: The best was the “stumble bum” just before Christmas where Jared Goff faked like he stumbled and fumbled as RB Jahmyr Gibbs dove on the ground like he was trying to recover the fumble. After the Bears bought it hook line and sinker, Goff straightened up and threw a 21-yard TD pass to a wide open Sam LaPorta. And the hook and ladder from Amon-Ra St. Brown to Jameson Williams vs. SF the next week for another shock TD was sweet too.

If it ain’t gonna be Vrabel, Bob Kraft, make it the guy who thunk them up to be the next HC of the NEP’s: Detroit OC Ben Johnson.

Thumbs Down – JimmyButler: Hearing a guy who forced his way out of Chicago, Minnesota and Philadelphia demanding a trade because he “lost his joy” in Miami is beyond laughable.

Best Commercial on NFL Broadcasts – Uber Eats: Matthew McConaughey is very funny in the clever spot as a guy seeing NFL games as conspiracies for getting viewers to buy food.

Random Thoughts:

I hate that the portal transfer rule allows senior QB’s, like Ohio State and Oregon had, to pick a team to move to alter the balance of college football every year.

Latest example why I hate Nike’s influence on the tradition of sports were the garishly awful red pants worn by Ohio State last week over their beautiful silver pants with the red jerseys.

Sports 101 Answer: Johnny Unitas was the 1967 MVP and after he went down in pre-season Earl Morrall stepped in to win it by leading Baltimore to the league’s best record at 13-1 in 1968.

Final Thought – Pats’ Plan Going Forward: Give Bob Kraft credit for admitting his mistake and firing his hand-picked not-ready-for-prime-time head coach Jerod Mayo after just one season.Mistake 2 was keeping the staff in place who helped Bill Belichick the GM compile an abysmal drafting record dating back to 2014. Which is why they came up with a 2024 draft that gave them nothing after Maye (and maybe Milton). The next step is getting a GM with a track record for creatively finding, acquiring and drafting talent to maximize their huge cap space edge and draft position. Then hire a coach who can help a young team grow into a winner.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – A look ahead to 2025: It’s our annual set of predictions for sports, 2025 edition.

Sports 101: With the newest members to be announced this week, name the youngest per­son elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Predictions – What I think will happen:

Ryan Day and his OC/local friend Chip Kelly win their first national championship when Ohio State beats Boise State 28-23 in the CFP title game

Juan Soto struggles to live up to his astronomical paycheck in Year 1 with the Mets with a not bad, but not worth $50 mil­lion 28-homer, 91-RBI, .273 BA season.

The Sox are able to find a trade partner/ sucker to take Masataka Yoshida off their hands to let them move Raffy Devers to DH.

In a Super Bowl for the ages the Josh Allen-led Buffalo Bills outlast the Detroit Lions to win the Super Bowl 45-42 in OT.

After his spectacular Cy Young season Chris Sales’ return to health lasts as long as Bill Walton’s famed one-season injury sab­batical did with the Celtics in the ’80s and it’s sadly back on the DL for CS.

Led by uber cheerleaders Brian Scal­abrine and sideline reporter Abby Chin, local green teamer homer-ism flashes large when Jayson Tatum is not named the MVP, because Cleveland has the league’s best record behind actual Award winner Dono­van Mitchell.

The surprise of the NBA playoffs are the Orlando Magic, whose outstanding, ultra-physical defensive game takes them all the way to a nail-biting final-minute sev­enth-game loss to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The youth influx begins as the Red Sox’ ballyhooed Top 3 prospects, Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell, make their Fenway debuts with Campbell becoming the regular second baseman by year’s end.

After winning 105 in the regular season the Dodgers win the World Series by beat­ing the retooled Yanks again.

North Carolina jumps out to a 4-0 start before losing to Clemson and after being coached up by Coach B eventually finish­es 9-3 to grab a spot in the much-coveted Scooters Coffee Fresco Bowl.

Wishes – What I hope will happen:

Sox sign Alex Bregman to be their new third baseman to juice/save their advance ticket sales efforts.

After the Sox are unable to trade him in the off-season Triston Casas goes for 30-plus homers and 90 RBI to show how dumb it would’ve been to give up on him because of his injury-plagued 2024 season.

Brayan Bello continues his upward tra­jectory to lead the Red Sox with 16 wins.

After another terrible draft besides Drake Maye, owner Bob Kraft finally comes to his senses to realize it wasn’t just Bill Beli­chick behind all those bad drafts since 2014. So he cleans house and hires a real GM to start replenishing their barren roster.

BK also sees how foolish it was to hire a guy who wasn’t ready to be a head coach and lets the new GM hire a new, offen­sive-minded head coach.

After their Super Bowl loss Lions OC Ben Johnson heads to Foxboro to become HC of the Patriots.

Thanks to the presence of Maye, the newly hired Johnson and a boatload of cash, the Patri­ots finally land a top-tier wideout by signing Bengals star Tee Higgins in free agency.

In the most talked about move on draft night, with major input from minority own­er Tom Brady the Raiders trade up to get the second overall pick from TB’s old team to let Deion’s kid Shedeur Sanders bring his Rolls Royce to Vegas to be their QB of the future.

Meanwhile for dropping down the Pats also get the Raiders’ second pick this year and their first- and second-rounders in 2025. Which gives them a first, two seconds and two thirds in this draft. Then they take the best OL available when LSU left tackle Will Campbell slides to them at 6.

Peyton Pritchard becomes the second off-the-bench player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP.

After his initial interest, Celtics Nation is relieved Elon Musk realizes he’s too busy messing with the country to buy the C’s. Instead the new owner is a crypto king bil­lionaire no one ever heard of. Phew! I think.

Predictions – What I’m sure will happen:

The Red Sox trade Merrimack’s Mickey Gasper to Minnesota for a pitcher I’ve nev­er heard of.

Sports 101 Answer: After retiring at 30 due to chronic elbow pain, in 1972 San­dy Koufax became the youngest elected to Cooperstown.

A Little History – 1973: The new year was rocked when Curt Gowdy announced during the Rose Bowl broadcast that while on a mission of mercy to earthquake-dev­astated Nicaragua Roberto Clemente died when his overloaded-with-supplies plane crashed on takeoff in Puerto Rico. That summer he became the second youngest person to enter the Hall.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].