Category: Sports

The Big Story – Hello, Basketball: There’s also the waning days of the Winter Olympics. Not really my cup of tea, at least until a possible U.S.-Canada gold medal hockey game on I think Sunday, as the brackets they’ve set up confuse anyone without an MIT degree. Though I do think the incredible ability on display everywhere is, well, incredible. We’ll get to more Celtics stuff next week.

Sports 101: Only two Red Sox left-handed pitchers in their 100-plus-year history have ever won as many as 17 games in three straight seasons. Name them.

News Item – Baseball Comes Early to Manchester B&G Club: Spaceman could mean different of things to different people. But to baseball fans of a certain age it means the one-of-a-kind 1970’s Red Sox lefty Bill Lee. He’s the featured guest at the Speaker Series Luncheon event at Manchester Boys & Girls Club March 11. General admission and VIP tickets are $50 and $100 respectively. Call the club for how to get them.

News Item – Jaylen Brown: JB’s evolving persecution complex has another grievance. Don’t know if he or the police did anything wrong, but it’s safe to say being targeted (his word) for the shutdown of his event by Beverly Hills police (allegedly didn’t have a permit) during L.A.’s All-Star weekend will be added to his growing list.

News Item – SB Leftover Observations

• Much was made of the fact that Mike Vrabel joined George Seifert and Jim Caldwell as the only coaches who took their teams to the SB in their first year. But, but, but — Seifert took over the reigning SB champ 49ers. For Caldwell his Indy Colts were 12-4 the year before with a prime-of-life Peyton Manning at QB. Vrabel meanwhile turned consecutive 4-13 teams into a 14-3 Super Bowl club. The latter sounds like a tougher task to me.

• Interesting that both Sam Darnold and Mac Jones got their careers together after spending their gap year as the backup QB under Mike Shanahan in SF.

• After 19 years with the same coach, the Steelers hire ex-Cowboys and Packers coach Mike McCarthy to take over. That’s who’s going to breathe new life into that stagnant franchise? Did they see him coach in Dallas?

The Numbers:

14 – QB pressure allowed by Will Campbell in the SB, more than by any player in the regular or playoff seasons.

98 – years oldone of the early baseball closers Elroy Face was when he died last week. But in his day (1950s-’60s, mostly with Pittsburgh) it wasn’t a one-inning-a-game job. Most notably in 1959, when he was 18-1 with no starts among his 57 appearances. RIP.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Drake Maye: For donating all his SB winnings to the Children’s Cancer Research Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Quote of the Week – Drake Maye: “This money is just a number to me, but for the children in the hospital wards it could be a chance to save their lives.”

Random Thought: Earth to Bob Kraft and the NFL: The all white uniform worn by the Patriots in the SB is an affront to the multi-color unis of the dynasty teams. It’s like the Yankees getting to the World Series and not wearing pinstripes. You have enough dough. Honor your fans, who want the blue and silver tradition back, and not the merchandise gods.

Sports 101 Answer: The only two Sox lefties to win 17+ three straight years are Babe Ruth (24, 23 and 18) and the soon to be in Manch Bill Lee, who won 17 each year from 1973 to 1975.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Pats Lose Super Bowl: Sadly, the unexpected magic carpet ride of the 2025 Patriots season crash-landed on Sunday. It wasn’t quite the beating of SB 20. But the Seahawks’ defense similarly dominated the Pats’ O-line on their way to runaway 29-13 Super Bowl destruction.

Sports 101: Name the college program to have the most former players play for winning Super Bowl teams.

News Item – Seattle 29 Patriots 13 Recap: A total thumping where Seattle outplayed and outcoached the Pats’ offensive side of the ball from the first play.

• Key Stat – Six sacks and a strip sack/pick six allowed by an overwhelmed O-Line.

• Improvement – None during their worst game of the year.

• Backslide – O-Line: An extension of poor play throughout the playoffs when it allowed a record 20 playoff sacks.

• Game Ball: Seattle D and MVP Kenneth Walker for his 137 rushing yards.

• Bottom Line: The better team won.

News Item – Latest Hall of Fame Hoo-Ha: Last week it was Coach B’s snub by voters. This week it’s his former boss, owner Bob Kraft. I was against putting him in until he ended his pettiness of keeping Bill Parcells out of the Patriots Hall. But with that done and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones somehow in, despite his team winning just four playoff games in 30 years, how can Kraft not get in? The answer is the brass is being punished for behaviors during the dynasty years with some petty jealousy of others thrown in.

News Item – Non-Hall of Fame Hoo-Ha: However, the players aren’t being held accountable as the deserving Adam Vinatieri did get in thanks to a resume that includes scoring the most points in league history, winning two SB’s with FG’s as time expired and the greatest kick in NFL history.

News Item – NBA Trade Deadline Update:

Celtics Reshuffle: Brad Stevens again showed how good he is by completing the payroll sell-off to get under the luxury tax payroll thresholds, which eliminated all the onerous roster-building penalties they faced this summer. Out went four players, including the expensive expiring contract of instant offense Anfernee Simons. All while strengthening their front court size/depth by acquiring big Nikola Vucevic to fortify their playoff push.

The Kyrie Irving Curse Lives: Add Dallas to the list of teams dazzled by his great individual skills before seeing his real and mystical ways of killing franchises re-surface. This time it’s that he and the just traded (again) Anthony Davis played in just one game together after the Mavs dumped Luka Doncic for AD a year ago to build the team around them.

The Numbers:

30 – new players added by NE from the previous year, which is the most in Super Bowl history.

60 – percentage of the money bet pre-game on Seattle to win the Super Bowl according to ESPN.com.

75 – percentage of Buffalo fans polled who don’t agree with the decision to fire HC Sean McDermott.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Bob Kraft: For quickly admitting his mistake in hiring Jerod Mayo and then bringing back the guy everyone wanted to replace Coach B in Mike Vrabel.

Thumbs Down – Jeff Bezos: A week after his Prime Video company dropped roughly $85 million on the suck-up to Trump film Melania, the world’s richest man wiped out the entire sports department as part of a mass layoff at his newspaper the Washington Post.

NFL Awards – MVP and Coach of the Year: Vrabel was named Coach of the Year, while Drake Maye finished second to Matt Stafford for MVP.

In Case You Missed It Award – NBA All-Star Game: Their who cares All-Star game comes your way Sunday with a host of new tweaks to make the game interesting. The only one with a chance is the USA vs. The World format — which is a great idea (finally).

Quote of the Week – PJ Carlesimo: “right now the Celtics are 33-18. They were only 36-16 at this point last year en route to 61 wins. So it’s amazing how much they lost and still be a factor leading into All-Star break,” said the former SNHU head basketball coach on the ABC Knicks-C’s broadcast Sunday.

Random Thoughts: Thought the President said he was boycotting the SB half-time show. But there he was slinging nasty (un) Truth Social posts during the show. No word if that hurt Trump suck-up Kid Rock’s feelings.

Sports 101 Answer: With 58, including four Seahawks on Sunday, Alabama has the most SB winning alumni, followed by USC and Penn State with 51 and 48.

Final Thought – 2025 Patriots: Yes, the ending was disappointing. But after going 4-13 two years in a row with a projected seven-win 2025 season ahead, if you can’t say this comeback year was a gift to Patriot Nation there’s something wrong with you.Good job, fellas. Thanks for the unexpectedly fun season. Never saw it coming.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Pats and Seattle in SB: New England faces Seattle on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. It’s from the 49ers’ home in Santa Clara, California, so a win rubs it in a bit to the previous dynasty franchise. Still unsure exactly how the Pats climbed out of that two-year 8-and-26 hole, but they did, so enjoy.

Sports 101: Which college has sent the most Super Bowl-winning QBs to the NFL?

News Item – Keys to the Game:

• O-Line: It’s struggled in the playoffs. But to win, most feel they must run the ball, a tough task against a team that gave up just 91 rushing yards per game.

• Pass Protection: The 84.1 QB rating for Drake Maye is not a coincidence. He’s been constantly under pressure and sacked 15 times in three playoff games. Seattle’s 47 sacks are the same as Houston’s and two more than the Chargers’, so the O-line will be challenged again.

• Turnovers: They almost always are big.

• Sam Darnold: We all know about the failures and spitting the bit in two big end-of-season 2024 games. Until he’s past that, he’s suspect. Blitz early — a turnover could give his confidence level a shot.

Random Super Bowl Thoughts:

You win the pool if you had Darnold as the first in his QB class of 2018, which included Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, to take his team to a SB.

Wonder what clueless Jets owner Woody Johnson thinks of what Darnold has turned into since the QB-less Jets (since Joe Namath left the building) let him walk.

The opposition’s collective record vs. undefeated Miami of 1972 was 70-111-2 and they only faced two teams with winning records all year, where KC and the NYG’s and both were just 8-6. And I’ve never heard anyone say they had a weak schedule.

… of the Super Bowl

Since I’ve seen all 59 SBs to date, here are my award winners for various SB achievements.

Most Important Game: SB1. Hard to fathom the superior attitude the NFL and its fans had toward the AFL then. They expected to win and to win BIG. That ’tude got a little jolt when Green Bay led only 14-10 at halftime. But they dominated the second half to win 35-10 over KC. Then came SB3….

Biggest Upset: Jets Win SB3. It was a boring game and Joe Namath somehow got the MVP, but the D got four picks and FB Matt Snell’s 121 rushing yards controlled the clock by pounding it on the ground.

Best Comeback SB: Patriots-Falcons. Unless you were like my friend the real estate mogul Bill Weidacher, who went to bed in frustration, you saw the down-24 Pats stage the biggest comeback in history to win in OT 34-28.

Best Individual Performance: Steve Young in SB 29. He threw for 325 and a SB record six TD passes and ran for a Drake Maye-like 47 yards in SF’s 49-26 rout of San Diego.

Best Special Teamer:Desmond Howard. Adam V won two SBs as time ran out so he’s tough to beat. But Howard destroyed the Patriots in SB 31 with 244 punt and kickoff return yards, including the 99-yard TD return that iced the game.

Best Individual Play: Malcolm Butler. All due respect to Santonio Holmes, David Tyree, two spectacular Eli Manning throws and Marcus Allen’s incredible 73-yard game-winning TD run in SB 18. But it’s Butler’s last-second goal-line pick because it snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

Best SB Team:1975 Steelers. They had the greatest defense I’ve ever seen. If L.C. Greenwood gets in this weekend they had six Hall of Famers (five more on O). Plus linebacker Andy Russell should be in for 12. They were 12-2, only gave up 11 points per and outscored three playoff opponents 65-37.

The Numbers – Patriots SB record holders:

3 – sacks byDont’aHightower.

5 – touchdowns forGronk.

24 – receptions for Julian Edelman.

175 – rushing yards for AntowainSmith.

Sports 101 Answer: InBart Starr, Joe Namath, Ken Stabler and Jalen HurtsAlabama has the most SB winning QB’s with four, including winning the first three.

Final Thought – No First Ballot Hall for Belichick: Last week’s big hoo-ha was Bill Belichick being snubbed in his first try for the Hall of Fame. Since he clearly deserves to be in, it outraged many. Some of it is jealousy and of course the Indianapolis writers have been petty dating back to the Manning-Brady rivalry years. But most is payback for shenanigans like Spygate and making everyone’s job harder than he had to. I’ve got no problem with a one-year punishment for his behavior.

Prediction: Pats 27-23

The second and third highest scoring offenses move the ball. But Seattle is 31st in giveaways. So I expect a +2 edge in TO’s for the Pats and it keys their win.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – It’s 2013 All Over Again: Every time the Red Sox advanced in 2013, I asked, how did they do that?

Same for the Pats now as the D is becoming as reliable as Koji Uehara in 2013. After it gave up the usual (annoying) early TD, it completely shut down Denver to win the AFC Championship 10-7. And while Drake Maye had trouble throwing amid constant pressure, his 28-yard third quarter scramble set up the winning FG and his end of the game bootleg got the first down that iced it. So, so much for the “easy schedule” talk, as they’ve now beaten three playoff teams with a 40-14 combined record as the D surrendered just 26 points.

Next up is Seattle in the place no Patriots fan thought they’d be in 2025-’26, the Super Bowl.

How did they do that?

Sports 101: At 23 years and 162 days Maye will try to be the youngest QB to win a Super Bowl. He’ll also be the second youngest starter ever. Who is the youngest to start at QB in the big game and youngest to win one?

News Item – Patriots 10, Denver 7: It wasn’t pretty but they’re moving on.

Key Stat: The D gave up just 3.1 yards per play.

Improvement: Since Milton Williams returned the D has given up 8 ppg.

Backslide – Maye: No turnovers, but his 87 passing yards were his worst ever. He’s got to do better in Santa Clara.

Game Ball – The D: Yes, they were facing a backup QB, but Denver got just 181 yards overall, 79 rushing, were a +2 in TO’s, had five sacks and gave up just seven points.

The Numbers:

8 – 20+ points games off the bench already, with an eye-popping 39 vs. Miami two weeks ago, make one wonder if the Celtics should keep Anfernee Simons and his Vinnie ‘TheMicrowave’ Johnson-like instant scoring ability at the trade deadline.

20.7 – percent of Hall of Fame voters who voted for Dustin Pedroia, leaving him well short of the 75 percent needed.

346 – passing yards and three TD’s one-time ghost-seeing ex-Jet Sam Darnold threw for in Seattle’s 31-27 NFC Title game win over L.A.

… Of the Week Awards

Quote – Curt Cignetti: “I’m gonna have a beer,” said after Indiana beat Miami 27-21 in their thrilling college football championship game.

I Did Not Know That Stat – Jhonny Peralta: The .203 career batting average against the Mets’ newly acquired ace from Milwaukee is third best in history. Behind only two one-inning-per-night closers. For context that’s one and two points better than all-timers Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax.

Sports 101 Answer: The youngest SB starting QB was Dan Marino (23 years, 123 days), in Miami’s 38-16 loss to SF in 1984, and the youngest winning QB was Ben Roethlisberger (23 years, 11 months) when he somehow won 21-10 in 2006 despite having the lowest QB rating ever in SB history (22.1).

Final Thoughts – Latest NFL News:

Milton Williams is the best Patriots DL since Richard Seymour and worth every penny paid in free agency. The struggling end of the year D went right back to early season dominance since he came back off IR.

Don’t know if the Bills have hired Phillip Rivers to be their HC. But does it make sense to fire an effective HC in Sean McDermott because he couldn’t get his team over the hump to the SB in favor of a QB (with no experience) who never could get his own team to the SB?

Wasn’t Norm Van Brocklin available?

Google him.

Is it karma for the MVP vote that Matthew Stafford’s season ends one game short as he threw for 374 yards and three TD’s while the other candidate moves on when he just threw for a career-low 87 yards and no TD’s?

Thanks to Payton for making my case from last week when I said coaches are going for it too much on fourth down and should take the FG points in the playoffs. Payton does that vs. New England in the first quarter, Denver goes to OT instead of on vacation. Just like Chicago and Jacksonville this year and Detroit last year vs. Philly. The statistics-led “go-for-it” casualties are piling up.

Not really sure how they did it. But the Pats are back!

Who’d have thunk that in August?

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Pats Win: Been saying it all year, and did it again Sunday — how are they doing it? Except they keep doing it. This time beating the tougher-scheduled Texans 28-16 to return to the AFC Title Game for the first time since 2018. The defense got five turnovers while making C.J. Stroud look awful. Next up is Denver, where old friend Jarrett Stidham will start at QB after starter Bo Nix sadly broke his ankle in the waning minutes of OT in their 33-30 win over Buffalo. Game time 3 p.m. Sunday in Denver.

Sports 101: On Monday Indiana attempted to join eight other D-I colleges who’ve won both a football and a basketball national championship. Name the other eight.

News Item – Patriots Beat Houston 28-16:

• Best Play – Kayshon Boutte: His spectacular one-handed fourth-quarter TD catch was not only the play of the game, it also iced the game.

• Key Stat: Houston had just 48 rushing yards.

• Backslide – Drake Maye: After four more fumbles you’ve got to hold on to the ball in the pocket much better, young fella.

• Game Ball – Defense: With four picks, a recovered fumble, three sacks, constant pressure on Stroud and a pick-six by Marcus Jones it was tremendous.

News Item – Red Sox: After giving Phillies lefty Ranger Suarez almost as much as Alex Bregman wanted, the Sox have prioritized starting pitching over AB and that’s hard to argue with. Now get a real second baseman and the off-season work is done.

The Numbers:

14 – after coughing up four more Sunday, Maye’s NFL-leading fumbles.

28.0 – microscopic QB rating for Stroud vs. NE — can you play any worse than that?

119 – million dollars per year is what Tucker will actually cost L.A. instead of the meager 57.1 he’ll get after exceeding every luxury tax threshold. But who cares it’s only deferred money.

… Of the Week Awards

Crybabies of the Week – Joe Mazzulla and Jaylen Brown: I’m the last person to defend NBA (or NFL) refereeing and know how frustrating inconsistent officiating can be. But after hearing Brown and Slo Joe whine after consecutive Celtic losses, come on. Brown about a big free throw disparity and Mazzulla (correctly) about a no call on a moving screen on the game-winning score. Earth to those sore losers: everyone in the NBA moves setting picks and if Joe didn’t complain when Al Horford did it on every pick he set, then why now? As for the reason the C’s are last in free throw in the NBA, it’s because they are first in 3-ball attempts. You rarely get fouled 25 feet from the basket. Stop blaming others and get to the rack if you want more foul shots.

Prediction – CFP Title Game: With the game already over, here’s my pre-game prediction. Rooting for Miami to make Notre Dame’s whining about UM getting in over them look worse. But, I got Indiana winning their first national title 31-14.

Sports 101 Answer: The dual title winners are Florida, Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan, Syracuse, Maryland, Arkansas and Cal.

Final Thought – Fourth Down: I know going for it on fourth down is all the rage, but coaches overdo it. If I’m fourth and more than 2 in the red zone during the playoffs I’m taking the FG. Not doing that cost Chicago the game vs L.A. Sunday, when they failed three times in six fourth-down tries. They scored a TD on one of the makes, but if they made FG’s on those failed attempts instead, Williams’ miracle heave would have won the game not tied it. Of course Mike Vrabel did it Sunday and it scored the Pats’ first TD on fourth and 1 from inside the 10. But that does not change my mind.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Patriots Move to Round II: So much for “they’re only there because of an easy schedule.” Weird game in that it was close most of the way, but the Pats seemed in control the whole way. It wasn’t a thing of beauty. But if you’re from the “a win is a win is a win” club, it was, as they took out their ancient AFL rival from a supposed stronger division in the 16-3 win over the L.A. Chargers. Either way, they now move on to face the Houston-Pittsburgh winner in Round II.

Sports 101: Three head coaches have won a college football national championship and a Super Bowl. Name them.

News Item – Patriots vs. Chargers

• Key Defensive Stat: The L.A. offense was 3-14 converting third and fourth downs into first downs.

• Key Offensive Stat:Drake Maye threw for 278 yards and a TD, but his running was more pivotal. He saved two scoring drives with scrambles for first down as he ran for 69 yards on 10 carries.

• Backslide – O-Line: Maye was under pressure all night.

• Game Ball – Defense: Their best game for holding Justin Herbert to just 207 total yards and FG.

News Item – Pats Or C’s: Which was less conceivable on their opening days? The Patriots finishing tied with the best record in the NFL, or the Celtics climbing up to fourth in ESPN’s weekly NBA rankings last week?

The Numbers:

4 – ridiculous number of colleges Bill Belichick’s new QB Billy Edwards will have played for (Wake Forest, Maryland and Wisconsin) after transferring (again) to North Carolina.

18 – point lead blown by Green Bay to let archrival Chicago rally from down 21-3 at halftime to beat them 31-27 in their wild card playoff game.

… Of the Week Award

Har-Dee-Har-Har Moment of the Week – Jerry Jones: My friend George Copadis, the biggest Cowboys fan in NH, must have gotten a big laugh hearing the Cowboys owner say last week his goal is to retire with the most SB wins ever. Pretty funny when you consider in the 30 years since the architect of his three SB wins, Jimmy Johnson, walked out the door in 1994, they have never gone to even an NFC title game once. No shot.

Help Wanted – Chip Kelly: Nice to see he won’t be spending next year in Pago Pago unemployed after being hired as the Offensive Coordinator at Northwestern.

Random Thoughts – On CFP:

After Notre Dame’s tirade they deserved to be in the tournament over a team with the same record, who beat them head to head, ND looked even dumber when Miami beat Ole Miss to get to the championship game.

We haven’t seen the level of demolition of opponents by any school ever in CFP history like Indiana rolling up a 94-25 point differential in its wins over Alabama and Oregon. Which sets up IU as 7.5 favorites Monday night.

I’m betting Alabama already has IU head man Curt Cignetti on speed dial to be ready for the inevitable firing of Kalen DeBoer after next year for not being Nick Saban/Bear Bryant enough.

If you’re looking for a good underdog omen, Monday is the 51st anniversary of one of the biggest upsets in college sports history when Notre Dame beat UCLA to end its 88-game basketball winning streak.

Indiana 35-16.

Sports 101 Answer: The dual winning coaches are Pete Carroll (USC and Seattle), Jimmy Johnson (U of Miami and Dallas) and Barry Switzer (Oklahoma and Dallas).

Final Thought – The Alex Bregman Saga: There’s certain guys you just don’t like when they play for a rival team and he was of them. A whiner with Houston in the 2018 playoffs, in the middle of the Astros cheating scandal (with no apology I know of), a Scott Boras client with no loyalty and while good last year before getting hurt, he did get hurt again with the same kind of injury that derailed his 2020 season.

So the Red Sox losing him does not bother me even though they have no third baseman or real clean-up hitter with spring training five weeks away. And only partly because I don’t like him. The RBI totals of 55, 93, 97, 75 and 62 in the last five seasons do not bode well for giving a 32-year-old a five-year contract. Let alone at $35 million per, which he certainly is not worth now, let alone at 36.

But it does make me look stupid. Despite all the evidence he wouldn’t re-invest the money saved in the Devers trade in a big hitter like Pete Alonso, I gave him the benefit of the doubt he would. But, true to recent form, he didn’t. Instead it was just a salary dump. Now all that’s left is hearing lap dog/ president Sam Kennedy’s latest pathetic spin effort telling all how hard the Sox tried to keep AB.

As for me, I’m like that song from The Who — I won’t get fooled again.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.