Category: News

The Big Story – World Series/Lockout Coming: While it’s been over for a while for the local nine, the baseball season is finally done, and with a lockout looming, perhaps for 2027 as well.

But with the Brewers and their 19th-ranked $130 million payroll winning the World Series and having baseball’s best record the last two seasons, it came at the perfect time for the players. Ditto with AL champ Tampa Bay having an even smaller 28th-ranked payroll.

That’s because the coming labor fight will be about getting a salary cap most fans want and the players will vehemently refuse to give. And they’ll point to the World Series in saying teams can compete with the free-spending Dodgers even when the Dodgers’ payroll is more than the combined payroll of both World Series teams.

But for now, let’s tip a cap to the Brewers, who have done it the way John Henry envisioned since pulling the pin on his one-time gigantic payrolls: (1) having a farm system that fills holes left by departing players for big contracts, (2) not overpaying for big names, and (3) playing a style counter to the homer-ball most do now.

Sports 101: This is one for old-timers. Who was the last QB to wear a number above 19 in the NFL?

News Item – Pats 24, Miami 19: It wasn’t so much lucking out as that they woke up in the second half to overcome a 13-3 halftime deficit.

• Good – Drake Maye accounted for three passing and running TDs while Rhamondre Stevenson banged his way to 82 rushing yards.

• Bad – how does a team playing prevent defense with 2:05 left allow Miami’s Kevin Coleman to get behind them for a 35-yard TD to keep their hopes alive?

• Ugly – too many ill-timed penalties (seven for 46 yards) again, which took away three first downs and an interception.

• Grade – C+

News Item – CTE Update: Alarming news last week from the Boston University study on brain damage from playing in the NFL. It said nearly 75 percent of NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 had significant CTE damage.

The Numbers:

15 – second most in the NFL turnovers committed by the Patriots in their first eight games.

154 – 28th-ranked number of homers hit by World Series winning Milwaukee.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – The Golden State Valkyries: If you had GS’s second year expansion WNBA team winning a title before/if Steph Curry did in the company pool you win. Plus they beat dastardly Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream.

The Holy Moly Award – Tampa Bay: For the Bucs somehow scoring 16 points to beat Atlanta 16-0 without completing even one pass as they ran for a franchise 324 yards instead. The only other time that’s happened was 1974 when Buffalo beat (of course) the Jets 16-12.

Random Thought: Earth to Bob Kraft. The Patriots’ main uniform should be the dynasty years blue jersey with silver pants they wore Sunday.

Sports 101 Answer: Nope, not Doug Flutie; he wore 2, not 22, in the NFL. It’s John Hadl, a solid AFL-er who brought 21 with him when San Diego joined the NFL in the 1966 merger and kept it until retiring in 1973.

Final Thought – David Hamilton: The thing I liked most about the World Series was how dumb it made all the media folks look who claimed one of the biggest reasons the Red Sox only went as far as they did was that they didn’t invest big money in a third baseman.

First, the Prince of Darkness (Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe) keeps litigating last year’s trade of Raffy Devers to the Giants as just “a salary dump” instead of what it actually was, removing an insubordinate, grossly expensive, immature dog who walked out on his team ’cause he didn’t get his way. Saying his production numbers (37 homers and 98 RBI) would’ve made a big difference here. Well, how come they didn’t help SF? They were 10 games over .500 the day they got him, and since are 69-93. That doesn’t sound like a difference-maker to me. Plus the $35 million saved was spent to bring on Willson Contreras (27 and 81) and Sonny Gray (18 wins), which is a good two-for-one return for Devers.

Then came the demand to spend $40 million per year for Alex Bregman. Yes, he had a big last six weeks, but the Cubs still went out meekly in Round 1 of the playoffs too.

Meanwhile, with their miniscule payroll, the Brewers built a T-E-A-M that won more than anyone else for two years and rolled through the playoffs to win the World Series. And who was their primary third baseman who homered in the World Series deciding game? Red Sox reject David Hamilton, who made a whopping $780k.

Which goes to show that while money can be very helpful it still comes down to who you spend it on, not how much you spend.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Celtics’ Familiar Opening Day Loss: Celtics coach Slow Joe Mazzulla didn’t make it through even Day 1 of the new season before demonstrating he hasn’t learned one thing from getting his team run out of the playoffs early the last two years.

As usual, he refused to change tactics as Detroit chipped away at a 22-point third-quarter lead. Thus, led by Jayson Tatum’s six-for-23 shooting night, they kept firing threes as, brick by brick, it familiarly all slipped away before they lost by 8.

They then did what they always do: followed it with a solid game to let Slow Joe use bogus stats to justify his system. That came via a 107-103 game vs. New York, when Tatum scored 36 while going 3-10 on 3-balls.

The big question: How many more times will they do it this year?

Sports 101: Name the only player from a losing team to be named World Series MVP.

News Item – Brewers a Team of Destiny: It’s “only” 2-0 as I write this. But with exciting comebacks in both games and having done the same while sweeping L.A., the gritty Milwaukee Brewers seem to be on their way

World Series history is filled with teams coming back from down 0-2. But with their different-hero-every-night attack and a killer bullpen they’ve put Tampa Bay in a big hole.

All of which could be totally different by the time you read this Thursday.

So we’ll see.

News Item – Week 7 Patriots Report Card:

Good: Another game when they didn’t have their A game but hung in against a good team while playing third-stringers at both guard spots.

Bad: The D let Caleb Williams convert too many third-and-really-longs. And while the numbers look good, Drake Maye’s latest end zone pick was the game-killer and they had 10 penalties for 71 yards.

Ugly: They have (literally) tons on injured reserve.

Grade: C

News Item – Ebuka Okorie Debuts: The Nashua product was on the Pistons bench as the C’s lost the season opener in Motown. Unfortunately no PT this time.

The Numbers:

1 –shot made in 13 attempts for Wemby in a 12-point night when Oak City drilled San Antonio 116-104 in their opening night statement game win.

45 – pitches fouled off by grinding Milwaukee batters in forcing TB to use six pitchers and 184 pitches while overcoming a 0-4 deficit to a 5-4 comeback win in Game 2 of the WS.

100 – million more dollars for the Dodgers payroll than the combined payrolls of World Series combatants Tampa Bay and Milwaukee.

… Of the Week Awards

Idiotic Decision of the Week – Dan Campbell: There’s a lot I like about the Detroit Lions’ head man, but going for it on fourth and one from Detroit’s own 24 with 4:50 left and the score tied at 17-17 was not one of them. But, despite being stopped, he got bailed out by a gagged missed Green Bay FG attempt and horrendous officiating against GB to let Detroit somehow prevail 20-17.

Sports 101 Answer: The only World Series MVP from a losing team was Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson when the Bombers lost in seven games in the incredible 1960 World Series.

A Little History – The 1960 World Series: This was inarguably one of the weirdest in history. Thanks to winning their games 16-3, 12-0 and 10-0 the losing Yanks outscored Pittsburgh 55 to 25. Whitey Ford pitched two shutouts as Richardson set the RBI record while going 11-30, with two doubles, a grand slam and knocking in 12.

All of which paled next to Game 7, which had lead changes in every half inning from the eighth on, an eighth-inning 3-run from a guy — third-string catcher Hal Smith — even more obscure than Bernie Carbo and an incredible base-running maneuver by Mickey Mantle to avoid a double play in the ninth that let them stay alive to tie it.

Then came the hit that probably put Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski in the Hall. It went over Yogi’s head in left for the first and only World Series walk-off homer to give Pittsburgh the Series.

Final Thoughts: Does anyone know if one-time Red Sox uber prospect Triston Casas is still alive?

Is it me, or is Larry Bird’s prolific and often hilarious trash talking getting much more attention now than when he was actually doing it in the ’80s?

After seeing Seattle’s best in football D dismantle Patrick Mahomes and undefeated KC 20-3 Sunday night, I wonder what the folks carping on Maye for only scoring 10 on them opening day have to say now?

I H–A–T–E when the Pats play on Thursday and Monday nights. And they have four more coming up, along with a 9:30 a.m. start vs. Detroit in London over their next seven games. Yuck.

Finally, don’t forget to vote.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.