Category: Sports

The Big Story – NFL Season Opener Dead Ahead: It all gets started tonight in KC when the two-time defending champs take on the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of last year’s AFC Championship game. Three things about KC are relevant to fans in these parts.

First, with three already and Patrick Mahomes in just his seventh season, KC is halfway to matching the six won by the Patriots in the Brady-Belichick era. Second, depending on how long he plans to coach, with 284 wins and his QB just entering prime years, 66-year-old Andy Reid has a realistic shot to catch Bill Belichick (333) and move past Don Shula (347) for most wins ever. Finally, Mahomes is on pace to roll by every one of Tom Brady’s all-time passing records. Long way to go, but that puts him on a path to eclipse TB-12 as the GOAT. Enjoy.

Sports 101 – For Level-A History Folks: Who was the last QB to wear a number above 19 in the NFL?

News Item – Jarren Duran: It’s been quite a year for the Boston speedster. In addition to being the All-Star Game MVP, last week he became the first player in history to have 40 doubles, 10 triples, 20 homers and 30 stolen bases in the same season.

News Item – Pitching Effort of the Week: Brayan Bello continues to pitch well after finding his groove from that big dip starting in early June. Exhibit A was last week’s two-hit, eight-shutout-inning, nine-strikeout masterpiece in a 3-0 win over Toronto. It moved him to 12-6 and dropped the ERA to 4.66, its lowest point since June 8.

News Item – Patriots 2024 Kick-Off:

News and thoughts ahead of Sunday’s opener vs. the Bengals, when Jacoby Brissett will start at QB.

Notable Roster Moves – Cuts – QB Bailey Zappe and power back Kevin Harris. PUP List – G Cole Strange and WR Kendrick Bourne.

Most Improved on D – Keion White: Think he’s going to be a difference maker.

Most Improved on O – Demario Douglas: Showed flashes last year he could be their next go-to slot receiver.

Biggest Surprise – The D: Since they were better after he went down for the season I don’t think they’ll miss Matthew Judon that much. And while losing Christian Barmore is another story, I think White will pick up the slack and they’ll piece it together.

Worst Part of Team – Offensive Line: Its being so bad is the reason I thought drafting a QB with the third overall pick before fixing it was a big mistake.

The Numbers:

20 – consecutive years in the majors for 44-year-old Rich Hill after returning this week for his third stint with the Red Sox.

85 – most-in-the-majors unearned runs allowed (at press time) by the porous Red Sox defense, 21 ahead of second-worst Miami.

… Of the Week Awards:

Dumbest Rule of the Year – New NFL Onside Kicks: Amid a number of new rules for the on-side kick, including that you can only do it in the fourth quarter and you have to be losing, the dumbest is having to tell the other team you’re going to do it.

Alumni News – Mac Jones Update: If you’re interested, here’s what the exiled Patriots QB did under an offensive head coach and with real receivers to throw to during the exhibition season: 38 for 52, completion average 73.3 percent, 421 yards, 8.1 yards gained per attempt, three TD passes, no picks, long gain 31 yards and a QB rating of 115.3.

What A Stupid I Yam Award – Me: Yaz actually turned 85 on Aug. 22, not 84 as I said. Thanks to eagle-eyed SF Giants fan/reader Dick Lombardi for catching that.

Random Thoughts

My only complaint about trading Judon is the brass should have anticipated he’d whine in the final year of his contract and traded him before the draft so they’d have that third pick now instead of having to wait until 2025.

Sports 101 Answer: JohnHadlwas the last above-19-wearing QB when he wore 21 for four teams starting with San Diego in 1962 through 1978.

Final Thought – Big Patriots Questions and Predictions:

Biggest Question – Jerod Mayo: He’s a first-time HC so expect hiccups, especially as the lifetime defender tries to untangle the offensive malaise of the last two years.

Should They Tank? Sadly with their schedule they don’t have to. But, while I hate trying to lose, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t play all their young guys to gain as much experience as possible. That includes Drake Maye and if they lose as a result that’s OK.

When Will Maye Take Over? Week 7 vs. the Jets at home on Oct. 27.

2024 Season Prediction – 3-14: It ain’t like the old days when the question was will they win 13 or 14. Instead, it’s for how many losses. And they don’t get their last two until December.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Pats Pre-Season Ends: After a 20-10 loss to Washington, the Patriots closed the preseason at 1-2.

Two things jumped out in the game: (1) While they did run for 139 yards, the O-line was awful. It had eight penalties called on it in the first half alone and got Jacoby Brissett hurt on the first series. (2) Yes, the Washington D is as bad, but Drake Maye was solid again in going 13-29 for 126 yards and two TD passes (one called back). He also had a nice 17-yard scamper out of the pocket.

Cut-down Day to 53 players was Tuesday, then comes the biggest question: After another strong outing will Maye be the starting QB in the opener in Cincinnati on Sept. 8?

Sports 101: Last week Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz became the fifth player in baseball history to hit 20 homers and steal 60 bases in the same year. Name the other four who also did it.

News Item – Big 3 Now Big 4: With the Red Sox wild card chances fading after being swept by the D-Backs at Fenway over the weekend to drop five games back, attention may be shifting to AAA Worcester. Their top four prospects have been promoted — Marcelo Mayer, Kevin Teel and Roman Anthony (three homers in his first 11 games) a few weeks ago, followed by the latest call-up, Kristian Campbell. With Campbell and Anthony hitting .421 and .341 respectively they’re creating a lot of excitement and living up to their ranking for being among baseball’s top 65 prospects. Stay tuned to what they all do in the Woo Sox’ last four weeks.

News Item – Danny Jansen and Baseball History: If it comes off, history will have been made before you see this and after my deadline. But since Alex Cora says his new catcher would be in the line-up for Monday night (Aug. 26) when they resume their suspended (due to rain) game with Toronto from June 26 that had him at the plate for the Blue Jays, I’ll confidently say Jansen will have/did become the first person in history to appear in the same game for two different teams when he got behind the plate for Boston Monday night.

The Numbers:

18 – homers hit in the first inning already this year by Yankees slugger Aaron Judge to tie the all-time record set by A-Rod in 2001.

24 – million dollars and change paid at auction for the jersey Babe Ruth wore the day he made his famous called shot at Wrigley Field in the 1932 World Series.

… Of the Week Award

Spectacular Moment of the Week – Shohei Ohtani: That was quite a way for the Dodgers star to enter the 40-40 club earlier than any player (in Game 126), with a walk-off grand slam to beat Tampa 7-3 after stealing his 40th base earlier in the game on Friday.

Alumni News – Triple Crown Ahead: My prediction was that after his never-ending injury troubles in Boston Chris Sale was going to win 15 games with Atlanta. Now that he leads the NL with 14 he’s likely going way past that. But what I didn’t see was him winning the pitching triple crown, which by also leading in ERA at 2.62 and strikeouts with 183 he’s currently on pace to do.

A Little History – Braves Pitching: Even with 369-game-winner Warren Spahn and their Hall of Fame Big 3 from the 1990s, if Sale pulls off the triple C, he’ll be the franchise’s first to do it since John Clarkson in 1889 when they were the Beaneaters in Boston. He went 49-19 with a 2.73 ERA and 284 k’s in 72 starts with 68 complete games over an astonishing 620 innings.

Of course he died at 47, so maybe that took its toll!

Random Thoughts:

Seeing Guerschon Yabusele play so well in the Olympics after being an overweight jump-shooting bust with the C’s made me sick to my stomach. But now he’s the opposite, in shape, physical, crashes the glass and plays hard. So good move by Philly to sign him even if it gets my goat.

Sports 101 Answer: The others in the 20-60 club are Joe Morgan and Ricky Henderson (twice each) and Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna did it last year (27 and 73).

Final Thought – Thumbs Up Red Sox Brass: Remember how the talk shows were all over the Red Sox for not signing free agent lefty Jordan Montgomery lastwinter?

The problem was he was a career fifth starter made out to be Sandy Koufax after two good months with Texas as they won the World Series. Well, if you were squawking, they were right and you were wrong. In 19 starts with Arizona the ERA was 6.44 amid calls to send him to the bullpen.Moral of the story: Never invest big after a rental’s hot pennant race run that goes beyond what the career wrap sheet says someone is.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Happy Birthday, Yaz: We’ll start today with birthday greetings to Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski as he turns 84. His 1967 season is arguably the greatest season for carrying his team on his back since Joe DiMaggio in 1941.

My favorite Yaz stat has nothing to do with baseball, though. It’s that as a high school basketball player he set Long Island’s single-game scoring record by going for 60 one day. Not bad for a place that includes Julius Erving among its basketball alumni. So happy b-day, Captain Carl.

Sports 101: When Yaz went for those 60 points, whose LI scoring record did he break?

News Item – Mickey Gasper: The big day came for the catcher out of Merrimack when the Red Sox called him to the show last week. He immediately played in two games, walking twice in two AB’s to give him an impossible-to-top 1.000 on-base percentage.

News Item – Drake Maye: The Pats may have lost 14-13 to Philly, but there were encouraging signs of life from their rookie QB as he calmly led two scoring drives while going 6-11 for 47 yards and 15 more and a TD on four carries.

The Numbers:

3 –games out of the final wild card spot for the Sox as the week started.

300 – homer mark reached by Yankees slugger Aaron Judge last week.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Bayless Dumped By FS1: With his ratings tanking, repugnant talking head Skip Bayless is gone from his show on FS1.

Sports/Politics Note of the Week – Royce White: The former Iowa State hoopster won the GOP primary in Minnesota last week to let him face Dem Amy Klobuchar for her Senate seat.

Random Thoughts: How ridiculous was it to hear Kenley (Blood and Guts) Jansen telling Alex Cora he was “ready to get 4” during a win over Texas last week? Wow, like facing four guys instead of three is a herculean task.

A Little History – Closers in 1949: The Yankees went into their season-closing two-game series with the Red Sox trailing Boston by one game for the pennant. Starter Allie Reynolds got tagged with four runs in the third inning to send New York down 0-4. So with the season on the line Casey Stengel quick-triggered him for an unorthodox move that would give managers, media pundits and people like Jansen a stroke today.

He brought closer Joe Page to stem the potential season-ending rally. Which he did. And Casey not only did that, but he had Page keep going until the Sox got to him. Which they never did.

Leading old Joe to “close” out a crucial 5-4 Yankees win with an astonishing scoreless 6.2-inning, 1-hit, 5-strikeout effort to save the season. Especially since the Yanks won 5-3 the next day to steal the pennant from Boston

Again.

Sports 101 Answer: Before Yaz, the LI single game record was held by the greatest football player who ever lived, Jimmy Brown, who had 53 for Manhasset in the early 1950s.

Final Thought – The White Sox Race to be the Worst Ever: Longtime New York Met Ed Kranepool went on record last week saying he hopes the Chicago White Sox surpass the 40-120 record of his 1962 Mets for the worst single season ever in MLB history.

If you don’t who Kranepool is, he is sort of a New York legend in a weird way. He was a NYC high school phenom who made it to the Mets in their first year when he was 17. And then despite being nothing more than a journeyman first baseman his entire career, he somehow managed to last with the Mets for the next 18 years despite never driving in even 60 runs in a year. I would venture no one’s ever pulled off a feat like that without being traded at least once.

But sorry, Ed, I don’t want them to break your Mets’ record of futility. I’m a New Yorker at heart and that team, as bad as it was, was a historic, beloved team of distinction.

First, because their arrival as an expansion team brought baseball back to National League fans in NYC after they were abandoned by the Giants and Dodgers after 1957. Second, they lost in both lovable and comical how-did-they-do-that ways. And finally, they had the perfect ringleader at the center of all the chaos in legendary Yankees manager Casey Stengel to explain all the lunacy as it unfolded in the entertaining fashion only he could.

In other words, they were perfect in their futility, while Chicago is just terrible and B-O-R-I-N-G. So it’ll be a loss for baseball history if the record falls from the Amazing Mets, at whom Stengel used to shout in anguish from the dugout, “Can’t anyone here play this game?!!!”

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Paris Olympics Come to an End: It was a memorable Olympics for good and bad reasons. The biggest story was the leading 40 gold (tied with China) and 126 overall medals won by the Americans in Paris. It continued their streak of winning the most medals every games since 1996.

Sports 101: Name the two athletes who were immediately sent home for making the Black power salute at their medal ceremony during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

News Item – Olympic Wrap-up – MemorableStories

Historic – Katie Ledecky: Cementing her place as the greatest female Olympic swimmer in winning her record ninth gold medal and 13 overall.

Biggest Upset – Cole Hocker: The Indiana miler left the starting gate a 21-to-1 long shot but somehow found a crack in the pack to slither through down the stretch to win gold in the 1500 meters with an American and Olympic record time of 3:27:53 — the equivalent of a 3:44.3 American mile.

My Favorite Story – USA Basketball: Both finals vs. France were closer than they should have been. But that only made their quest for dual gold more dramatic. Especially the women winning their ninth straight gold medal and the clutch shooting of MVP Steph Curry, who saved his team twice in their last two games.

News Item – The Rest Of The Week: (1) The Pats won their first preseason game 17-12 over Carolina. (2) The Sox’ playoff chances took a hit after they were swept over the weekend by Houston to fall three back in the wild card race.

The Numbers:

4 – year show-cause penalty for ex-Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, which is the NCAA’s fancy new title for being banned that many years for a variety of recruiting violations to keep him out of the college game till 2028. Said another way: Since he has a new five-year contract with the L.A. Chargers, who cares. That’s like when the NFL suspended Michael Vick when he was in jail for dog killing and couldn’t play anyway.

9.20 – shockingly horrid combined ERA from the Red Sox starting rotation when they lasted just 29.1 innings of the six-game road trip to Texas and KC and still somehow managed to go 4-2.

21 – where the White Sox losing streak ended with a 5-1 over the moribund A’s to tie Baltimore’s 1988 AL record and fall two short of the MLB record 23 the Phillies lost in 1961. Though it didn’t do Pedro Grifol much good as he was fired as Chicago’s manager the next day.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Down – Jerod Mayo: Hate to pick on the new coach after his first exhibition game. But you have to wonder why in the name of Babe Parilli a team with a highly drafted rookie quarterback desperately in need of reps would play just one series as Drake Maye did in preseason Game 1. What did that do? Especially since the horrid Panthers gave said rookie the perfect team to play against.

Nickname of the Week – Triple Espresso: The name Olympic Soccer stars Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith gave themselves amid lesser names the media has tried to come up with for the threesome that scored 10 of the 11 U.S. goals including Swanson’s game winner in the gold medal game vs. Brazil.

Party Pooper of the Week – Corey Seager: For the Texas shortstop wrecking Framber Valdez’s bid for the second no-hitter of his career by launching an opposite field two-run homer with two-out in the bottom of the ninth.

Random Thoughts:

If you think the embarrassing double DNP is going to drive Jayson Tatum next year, forget about it. Nope. Since nothing ticks him off he’s going to just take it in stride.

Sports 101 Answer: Gold medal winner in the 200 meters Tommie Smith and teammate bronze medal winner John Carlos were the ones sent home for giving the Black power salute.

Final Thoughts – A Little History: To the sad person lost in the culture wars who wrote on my Facebook feed that the bogus controversy over Algerian boxer Imane Khelif was “the darkest day in Olympic history” — get a life and a history book.

That actually happened at the 1972 games in Munich when the Black September terrorist group kidnapped and murdered eight athletes and one coach from the Israeli team, leading broadcaster Jim McKay to famously say “they’re all gone” after the rescue attempt failed.

Hard to imagine anything eclipsing that.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – The Summer Olympics: We’re just a few days from the close of the Paris Olympics, which have been a mixed bag for the American team.

On the bright side they had far and away won the most overall medals — 71 to 46 by next best China — as Week 2 started. But while tied with China for most gold medals at 19 each, that was less than expected, in large part due to their swim teams winning just eight golds, their fewest since 1988.

Sports 101: Name the four pitchers named AL Cy Young award winner as a Red Sox

News Item – Ledecky Surpasses Thompson: Down goesJenny Thompson. Not quite, but the all-time record set by the great freestyle swimmer from Dover of 12 medals and eight golds was passed by Katie Ledecky when she won her 13th overall and ninth gold on Saturday. Even more astonishing is that all of the Top 20 times in 1500-meter freestyle ever swum have been done by her.

News Item – Blake the Flake: Three days after I chastised Blake Snell in this space for willingly coming out of several games with no-hitters in progress, he finally did it. Hell froze over against the Reds on Friday when Snell struck out 11 and threw 114 pitches in the 3-0 win as he pitched his first complete game in 202 career starts.

News Item – Chaos at Pats Training Camp: With team leader Matthew Judon sulking and showing up the brass over his contract status, Drake Maye off to a mostly rough beginning, the Globe’s Prince of Darkness Dan Shaughnessy likening Jerod Mayo to “Daddy Butch Hobson” and talk radio and the rest of the media horde as usual making a bigger deal out of it than it was, Week 1 of the Mayo era got off to a rough start.

The Numbers:

20 – consecutive losses for the Chicago White Sox as the week started, leaving them one behind the record 21 straight lost by the 1988 Baltimore Orioles.

57 – consecutive game winning streak for the U.S. Women’s Basketball team in Olympic competition dating back to 1992 after beating Germany 87-63 over the weekend to move into medal round play.

64 – years America went since winning gold in Men’s 4 Rowing competition in 1960 before doing it again last week.

… Of the Week Awards

Olympic Relative of the Week – Trinity Rodman: The worm Dennis Rodman’s daughter delivered a laser shot clutch goal in the 106th minute to give the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team a 1-0 win in a tense battle with Japan to send the U.S. on to face Germany in the semi-final round.

Quote of the Week – Steve Kerr: What he should have said to stem the nonsense after Jayson Tatum’s much discussed DNP. “We have an embarrassment of riches on this roster, that’s the best way to put it. I mean these guys are all champions, All-Stars, Hall of Famers, however you want to put it. So the whole thing is are we committed to the goal? That’s it.”

Random Thoughts:

Since the Dodgers went all in to get the best pitcher at the trade deadline in the Tigers’ Jack Flaherty, guess their explanation for DFA’ing now Red Sox hurler James Paxton a week earlier because they had a logjam in the rotation thanks to three of starters returning from injuries wasn’t really true, was it?

Sports 101 Answer: The Red Sox Cy Young winners were Jim Lonborg, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez and Rick Porcello.

Final Thought – Tatum’s Olympic DNP: First it’s been mis-characterized as a “benching.” It wasn’t, as rarely do guys get benched before they play the first game. Second, there are only so many minutes in a game and it’s not an “everybody gets a trophy” event. So comments by loudmouth nitwits like Kendrick Perkins (“he was disrespected”) and Charles Barkley (everyone should play 10 minutes) are wrong.

Instead it’s for an Olympic gold medal so the best guys should play, period. It’s a team of all-stars, so it will happen to guys not used to ever getting a DNP. If you can’t deal with it don’t come on the team in the first place.

Now having said all that, I said what I said last week about Steve Kerr’s original reason for not playing Tatum in Game 1 was because it being a match-up thing was ridiculous.

But it’s possible a DNP was a good thing for JT anyway. Because for once maybe he’ll get mad about something, anything, to let it drive his play. With the best outcome being his learning about playing with emotion for a change.

Lastly, about the noise from the cheap seats. If they don’t win gold, guess who’ll be flapping their gums the loudest about America’s Olympic failure? Yup: the two dimwits who say everyone should play to assuage their ego — Charles and the open mouth, insert foot ex-Celtic Perk.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Olympics Underway: It started with a weird opening ceremony and the sabotaging of the transportation system around Paris, but the Summer Olympics did begin over the weekend. Americans like Simone Biles, the U.S. Women’s Soccer team and the Men’s Basketball team all jumped out of the gate with impressive opening wins that suggest promise for the overall medal count.Time will tell on that as it all will continue unabated over the next two weeks — enjoy.

Sports 101: Name the gold medal winner in the 1964 Olympics who went on to become an NFL Hall of Famer.

News Item – Alex Cora Signed for Three Years: There actually was some sign of life in the Red Sox owners booth this week. John Henry, against all odds, spent serious money to retain his manager in the midst of the spectacular job Cora has been doing this year. Henry gave Cora a $21.7 million deal over the next three years.

News Item – Sox Stars on the Way: FiveRed Sox minor-leaguers were included in Athletic magazine’s recent listing of the Top 60 prospects in baseball. Included were shortstop Marcelo Mayer as the second best overall prospect in the entire minor leagues. He was followed by catcher Kyle Teel (19) and slugger Roman Anthony (21) at AA Portland. Next came just-selected 2024 first-round pick Brandon Montgomery (38), and second baseman/outfielder Kristian Campbell (47) rounds out the list.

News Item – Pathetic New Baseball Standards: Giants hurler Blake Snell collected an astonishing 15 strikeouts while getting just 18 outs on Saturday vs. Colorado. However, I don’t know whether to congratulate him for the dominating effort, or vomit over his lack of competitive fire and his willingness to retire with the game and all-time records on the line. It’s the latest surrender from the ultimate gamer warrior of his time, who in recent years has been fine with his manager while being yanked with two perfect games in progress and in a World Series-deciding game after seven innings. Oh, and he got no decision in SF’s 4-1 win over the Rockies on Saturday.

The Numbers:

0 – shocking number of minutes Jayson Tatum played while getting a DNP-CD in the U.S. Olympic Basketball team’s 100-84 opening game win over Serbia.

7 – losses in their last 10 games for the Sox after losing two of three to the Yanks over the weekend.

55 – million dollars per year over the next four years the Packers will pay QB Jordan Love with the largest contract in NFL history after he delivered just one promising season in his four-year career.

… Of the Week Awards

Bad Injury of the Week – Christian Barmore: It was news the big fella coming off his best season will be out indefinitely after blood clots were detected in his leg.

Thumbs Up – James Paxton: Good pick-up by the Red Sox after he was designated for assignment by the Dodgers only because three of their starters returned from the injured list and someone had to go.

A Little History – Trade Deadline Bonanza: The shocking trade deadline deal that was originally met with “what the heck is Theo doing?” but instead turned the season around happened 20 years ago this week. It was when GM Theo Epstein traded beloved star Nomar Garciaparra to improve the defense by getting back Orlando Cabrera and Doug Meintkiewicz along with Dave Roberts in a separate deal. It eventually led to the Red Sox beating the Yankees with the greatest playoff comeback in history and sweeping the Cardinals in the World Series to win it all for the first time since 1918.

Random Thoughts:

How ironic will it be if Paxton pitches great to where the Sox miss the playoffs by one game and that one loss can be traced to Paxton beating them in his last game with L.A.?

Steve Kerr’s DNP of Tatum vs. Serbia was stupid. There’s no match-up on Earth that Tatum can’t face. Dumb.

Sports 101 Answer: Bullet Bob Hayes won gold with a world-record time in the 100-meter dash in Tokyo, then joined the Cowboys in 1965 as they were emerging as a perennial NFL power, which Hayes, as the fastest man in pro football, was a key part of by averaging 20.0 yards per catch, including 26.1 in 1970, and scoring 71 TDs in his Hall of Fame career.

Final Thought – Thumbs Down – City Edition Uniforms: If I don’t vomit over Snell, it’s because I waited to do it over seeing the Red Sox wearing their yellow and blue softball uniforms while playing the YANKEES on Saturday. If that’s not disrespectful of the tradition of the great rivalry nothing is.

So here’s my sports hate list for letting it happen: (1) Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, (2) Red Sox ownership, (3)Fox for putting them on TV wearing that crap, and most of all (4) Nike, who came up with the stupid idea and sold it to MLB.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.