Category: Sports

The Big Story – As the year closes, it’s time to look at the biggest stories of 2023 and to remedy Sports Illustrated’s choice of Deion Sanders as Sports Person of the Year by giving five better nominees for that distinction.

News Item – Top 5 Sports Stories of the Year:

Women’s Sports Growth in Business: The WNBA’s Seattle Storm sold for $160 million and an all-women group is putting up $100 million to bring a NWSL expansion team to Boston. These are previously unheard of prices for women sports franchises, so it’s clear the business of women’s sports is finally on its way.

Collapse of Pac-12: The generation of fans who grow up with it may come to love the bloated conference world. But those of us who grew up with schools’ regional identities tied to the conference they played in never will. Stanford in the ACC? USC, UCLA and podunk Rutgers in the Big 10? Creighton in the Big East? Give me a break. The culprit, of course, is money, with the first three schools mentioned being the reason behind the collapse of the once great Pac-8 (then 10, then 12).

Shohei Ohtani the $700 Million Dodger: The final number makes it hard to see how it can match the return L.A. will get back. And you don’t need much imagination to envision how an early injury to an already injury-prone guy can wreck this deal. But I’ll still root for him because he put greed aside to defer all but $2 million of his annual $70 million salary to let L.A. afford more players, which happened less than a week later when the Dodgers (incredibly) also put prized Japanese hurler Yoshinobu Yamamoto under their Christmas tree for a paltry $325 million.

Rise of Gambling in Sports: You can’t turn on any TV sportscast without being overrun by legalized sports betting ads. It’s gone from the ultimate taboo to “it’s all fine with us, boys, as long as you keep sending the cash.”

Collapse of the Patriots Dynasty We now have a clear answer to “Was it more Tom or Bill?,” don’t we? Tom Brady didn’t play in 2023 but clearly he was even more important to the dynasty than most realized.

News Item – Sports Person of the Year:

Brock Purdy: He may not be Brady just yet. But by going from 2022’s last player drafted to beating out the QB who cost the 49ers three first-round picks to get a year earlier, to the MVP favorite, he’s a Brady-like Cinderella story.

Pat Mahomes: The heir apparent to Brady’s passing records won his second Super Bowl.

Nikola Jokic: He led Denver to the NBA title, so he actually did something in Colorado besides promoting himself.

Nick Sirianni: By leading Philly to the SB while somehow adding excitement to the ancient QB sneak with the unstoppable Brotherly Shove, he’s a coach who actually did something besides promote himself.

Notable Deaths – RIP:

Tim Wakefield – 57: He wasn’t the greatest player, but he did earn a special place in Red Sox Nation’s heart.

Jim Brown – 87: The Browns 1950s-’60s fullback was simply the greatest and most indestructible football player who ever lived.

Dick Butkus – 80: No one was scarier or hit harder than da Bears’ MLB. With all due respect to LT, he was the most intimidating player I’ve ever seen.

Bobby Knight – 83: Dan Patrick said it best on his radio show: “I had friends who played for him. I had people who swore by him and swore at him. … This is a coach who demanded poise, composure, but he didn’t have it.” All true, but no one got more out of less athletic ability than the Indiana coach.

Vida Blue – 73: You had to be there to fully get how the A’s fireballing lefty took baseball by storm in 1971 like no first-year player ever has.

Willis Reed – 80: No one has ever put the hopes of his team and its fans on his back like the Knicks captain did in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. After two days of “will Willis play or won’t he?” fears, he limped onto the Madison Square Garden floor to face Wilt Chamberlain and the L.A. Lakers to energize everyone watching, then scored the game’s first two baskets to crush L.A.’s hopes 90 seconds into the game. I’ve never been more inspired or had a greater day as a sports fan.

Thumbs Up – Brad Stevens: Adding Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday to reshape the C’s has worked perfectly. Add bringing back Al Horford and Derrick White to town and every trade he’s made as Celtics GM has been a heist.

Thumbs Down – John Henry: He’s currently destroying his legacy as the Sox’ best owner ever. Save the legacy by taking the $3 billion profit you’ve earned and sell to someone who wants to win.

Final Thought: Happy new year to all.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Xmas Arrives: With the holiday season a time of joy, the focus for the big story is the early success of the Celtics and Bruins. The C’s start this week with the best record in the NBA, on pace to win 65 games. Time will tell if the pace can be maintained, since a tough five-game western swing lies ahead, ending vs. LeBron and the Lakers in the marquee national TV game on Christmas Day. The Bruins are tied with the Rangers for the best record in the East after Saturday’s tough 2-1 OT loss to the New Yawkas. They close the year with a mixed bag of six games, some tough and some easy. As for the other two Boston teams, thank them for great thrills over the first 20 years of the century and leave it at that.

Sports 101: Name the only full-time NFL kicker to be named MVP.

News Item – NBA Scores Going Through the Roof: Something is in the water in the NBA and it’s affecting the scoring. There were six games last Monday night and the lowest total by a winning team was 129 by Denver in a seven-point win over Atlanta. In the others, two had 131, in addition to a 132, 136 and the Sixers crushed Washington 146-101. At the top is Indiana, who won 131-123 over Detroit and are on a 129-points-per-game pace that would be more per game than any team in history.

News Item – Five Christmas Wishes: Five presents under the tree for the New England sports fan.

(1) Coach B steps down and the Patriots get the next hotshot GM from the SF or Philly organizations to shop for the groceries.

(2) John Henry sells the Red Sox. Thanks for the memories but he no longer has the fire that’s needed in the owner’s box to win big.

(3) The Celtics (somehow) find a big under the tree to give them needed depth up front.

(4) Seats with cushions and more leg room in the stands at Fenway.

(5) Trip to the Finals for the Celtics. Not wishing for a championship, because I want to see them earn that on their own.

The Numbers:

12 – all-time Saint Anselm record for 3-balls made in game as Josh Morrisette went for a career-high 44 points in an 84-77 over Franklin Pierce.

18 & 23 – team record losing streaks for the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistonsrespectively. The Spurs’ streak ended on Friday with a win over the Lakers, but Detroit’s rolled on with Sunday’s 146-104 blowout to Milwaukee.

64 – points scored with no box score-inflating 3-balls by Giannis Antetokounmpo, by going 20-28 from the field and making 24 of his astonishing 32 free throws to go along with 14 rebounds in Friday’s 140-126 win over Indiana.

A Little History – Giannis’ 32 Foul Shots: In case you’re interested, Wilt Chamberlain also had 32 foul shots that day in March 1962 when he went for 100 points vs. the Knicks, making 28. Dwight Howard holds the record for most FT’s in a game (twice) when he only made 25 and 21.

… Of the Week Awards

Biggest Joke: Warriors Coach Steve Kerr saying they want to “help” Draymond Green rather than “punish” him after his latest cheap shot got him suspended. Are you kidding me? If anyone needs to be sent to his room without supper it’s this dirtbag. You’re enabling him with that nonsense.

Late Xmas Present: Even though it was done in the early 1990’s, if you’re stuck for a present for a real baseball history fan it’s hard to find a better one than a boxed set of the baseball documentary from Ken Burns that originally aired on PBS.

Random Thoughts:

When did playing back-to-back games in the NBA become the equivalent of scaling Mt. Everest in a Speedo and wearing flip-flops?

Earth to Adam Silver: Enough is enough with Draymond Green. Suspend that blight on your game for the rest of the year.

Sports 101 Answer: Paul Hornung (1961) and George Blanda (1970) were kicker MVPs, but it was also for a combo of duties as a running back and off the bench backup QB/savior for Green Bay and Oakland respectively. The Redskins’ Mark Moseley was just a kicker when he somehow was MVP during the strike-shortened nine-game 1982 season.

Final Thought:

Happy holidays to one and all.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – A Weird Local Week: No story dominated. The Red Sox actually got worse at the winter meetings and the Bruins surrendered their overall points lead in the NHL thanks to going 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, while thin-skinned refs heard it from Jaylen Brown after he was surprisingly ejected vs. New York on Friday. But most notable was D.C. political pub Politico reporting that for the first time in 20 years presidential primary candidates are now scheduling events during Pats games because the Pats are so bad. Exhibit A: the negative yacking about Thursday’s win over Pittsburgh because it may hurt their draft position in April.

That’s where we start the week.

Sports 101: OnSaturdayJayden Daniels became the third player from LSU to win the Heisman Trophy. Name their other two winners.

News Item – New Hampshire Athletes: Two locals were in the news last week. Steelers tight end PatFreiermuth of Durham had three catches for 18 yards vs. the Pats, and Merrimack’s Mickey Gasper was taken by Boston in the Rule 5 draft after spending five years catching in the Yankees organization. He’s got to stick all year with the Sox or he reverts back to New York.

Lakers Win First NBA In-Season Tourney: Yawn. That’s all we got for that.

The Numbers:

3.2 –NFLlowest yards per carry allowed by the stingier than you think Patriots defense.

50 – second best in the NBA blocked shots recorded by San Antonio 7’6” rookie Victor Wembanyama after 19 games, with the 50th being his viral swat off the backboard of a layup attempt by T-Wolves big Naz Reid.

129 – points averaged by the Indiana Pacers, which will set the NBA record for most points per game ever if the number holds.

… Of the Week Awards:

Honors –Good guy Red Sox radio voice Joe Castiglione was elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame. After 41 years and 6,000 broadcasts he’ll go in next July as the recipient of the Ford Frick Award for broadcast excellence. It’s about time. Congratulations.

Grudge Match –The long feud between historically overrated Chris Paul and touchy referee Scott Foster grabbed headlines again after Paul claimed Foster’s tossing him with two quick T’s was “personal.” The interesting side note is Paul’s teamhas won just twice in the 20 games officiated by Forster since CP3 entered the NBA. It got both a (David) stern response from Commissioner Adam Silver to knock it off.

Stat – Patriots are 1-3 when they’ve given up 10 points or less, while the rest of the NFL is 53-0 when teams have done that.

Thumbs Up – Fisher Cats Sold: As first reported by the Union Leader, the F-Cats were sold to Diamond Baseball Holdings, the operator of 29 minor-league teams, who also bought the Red Sox AAA club in Worcester days earlier. Best of all they’re staying put.

Thumbs Down – Sports Illustrated: In the latest flash-over-substance drone pick, the teenagers now running Sports Illustrated (into the ground) somehow named Colorado Football Coach Deion Sanders as its Sports Person of the Year, a guy who following a 3-0 start after running off almost every Buffalo from 2022 finished at 4-9. Who was their runner-up, Kyrie Irving? What planet do you people live on?

Random Thoughts:

Sorry, Pat Mahomes, you can’t blame the refs for calling back Travis Kelce’s oh-so-alert cross-court lateral/pass to Kadarius Toney that went for a TD vs. Buffalo. Toney lined up in the neutral zone, a preventable mistake that was entirely Toney’s fault. No excuse for such a bonehead move.

Sports 101 Answer: The other two LSU Heisman Trophy winners were Joe Burrow in 2019 and running back Billy Cannon, who after winning in 1959 gave the AFL a huge publicity boost by being the first big name to sign with the fledgling league.

Final Thought – Yanks Got Better, Sox Got Worse: Aside from making their everyday line-up weaker by gift-wrapping Alex Verdugo to the Yanks for three pitchers no one ever heard of, Craig Breslow came away with a doughnut at last week’s winter meetings.

Not sure it was the first mistake of the Breslow era. But it made the Yanks seem less desperate to improve their outfield and thus took some of the leverage San Diego appeared to have as they pursued slugger Juan Soto, who they got the next day in a seven-player blockbuster deal for what’s been called a disappointing return.

This was done with a majority of the starting pitching trade options coming off the board and as the marquee free agents eliminated Boston from their wish list, most notably Shohei Ohtani. Though, since he almost landed in Toronto and got an astonishing $70 million for 10 years from the Dodgers, the dominoes fell right with him.

But if this doesn’t change right away, can you say last in the AL East? Again.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Big Week for New Red Sox GM: Except for the St. Louis Cardinals, the action all over baseball has been pretty slow so far this off-season. But with the winter meeting happening this week in Memphis that’s expected to change.

The first order of business for new Red Sox GM Craig Breslow is finding two starting pitchers. And if the desire is to preserve as much of the young farm system talent assembled over the last three years as possible, at least one needs to be a free agent.

The top target is Japanese import Yoshinobu Yamamoto. But with almost every team looking to upgrade their pitching and the pool of quality free agent arms limited, Breslow will need to have the checkbook open and be ready to act quickly if he is to get things started on the right foot.

Sports 101: Who is the oldest player to win an NBA championship?

News Item – Tiger Woods Returns: The biggest takeaway from Tiger Woods’ return to golf last weekend at the Hero World Golf Championship was that his health/back held up. But in his first tourney since the Masters he was, as expected, rusty in finishing 18th out of 20 players and 20 shots behind the winner. Still the story was how he fared physically, so the weekend was good news.

News Item – Victor Wembanyama Update: The brouhaha over the 7’6” French import isn’t translating into wins. The Spurs started the week 3-16 and battling it out with Detroit for the worst record in the league. For his part Wembanyama is leading the Spurs in scoring (19.2), rebounding (9.7) and blocks (2.7) while shooting at 43.7 percent. That puts him in a tight battle for Rookie of the Year with Oak City’s Chet Holmgren, whose numbers are 17.6, 8.0 and 2.2 while shooting 53 percent.

News Item – Three Red Sox Questions:

(1) Should they get in the Shohei Ontani sweepstakes? Yes — expensive, but getting Ohtani would give them the clean-up hitter needed to use Raffy Devers in a trade for a major starter.

(2) Trade Devers? Yes. He’s a terrific hitter but a lousy third baseman who can’t be moved to first base with Triston Casas the future there. Plus he’s got a body that’s a bad risk for the back end of his 10-year deal.

(3) How Do You Fix the Bullpen? Give the seventh and eighth innings Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock and make Chris Sale the closer. Risky, I know, but I’m betting the 3- to 4-inning-a-week workload does for Sale what moving from starter to closer did for Mariano Rivera and Dennis Eckersley. Plus moving on from Kenley Jansen gives them more trade ammo.

The Numbers:

1 – wins the Patriots have the four times they’ve held their opponent to 10 points or less including Sunday, when they were a 6-0 baseball score loser to the L.A. Chargers.

12.3 – points per game the Patriots offense is averaging, which is the lowest in their 62-year history.

… Of the Week Awards

Win – The 49ers’ 42-19 demolition of Philly in a chippy showdown win on the Eagles home turf.

‘How’d They Do That?’ Loss: The Dallas Mavericks, who somehow managed to lose to Oak City 126-120 despite having a 30-to-nothing run in the fourth quarter on Saturday.

Random Thoughts:

It’s his life, but seeing Tiger struggle to make the cut each week is tough to watch. Fine for others, but he’s a historic icon.

Aside from top pick Trevor Lawrence the supposed Year of the QB 2021 NFL draft that had five taken in Round 1 has been a bust. While seeing Justin Fields (11th ) as the 14th-ranked passer is a bit surprising, his Bears are just 4-8, while 30th-ranked Mac Jones (15th) is benched and likely done in New England, Bret Wilson (second) is at 33 and a total bust in New York and third overall pick Trey Lance has already been traded by SF.

A Little History – Great Rookies: Putting the hype aside, Wembanyama has a long way to go to match the career starts of Larry Bird, Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Shaq, who joined teams that had won just 29, 27 and 21 games respectively and by Year 2 Bird’s and Kareem’s teams won the title and Shaq had Orlando in the Finals.

Sports 101 Answer: The oldest NBA champion was 43-year-old Robert Parish as a reserve with Chicago in 1997.

Final Thought – Florida State Gets Screwed: The latest example of how morally bankrupt big-time college football is came Sunday when 13-0 Florida State was left out of the four-team CFP tournament because their starting QB, Jordan Travis, is out for the year. Which means a team that demonstrated the fortitude to overcome losing its first- and second-string QBs to remain undefeated is denied what they earned because the TV ratings won’t likely be as good without Travis. Greed, Greed, GREED!

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – The Fall of the Patriots Empire: It just keeps getting worse and worse. Every time you think it can’t go lower for the Patriots it does.

It seemed the bottom couldn’t be any lower after humiliating back-to-back losses to the Cowboys and Saints by a combined 69 points. Then came a 21-17 loss to the dysfunctional Raiders a week away from firing their plainly over his coach Josh McDaniels.

But Sunday’s loss to the hapless Giants is the worst so far. For a second straight week they couldn’t outscore a team they held to just 10 points, despite being able to move the ball on the ground with 144 rushing yards, after 167 the week before, in large part because of the indecisive, mistake-prone puddle of doubt and insecurity Mac Jones has devolved into.

After consecutive losses at the hands of three terrible teams, they are in the running for the first overall pick at 2-9.

Sports 101: Who is the NBA leader in most fouls committed?

News Item – Jordan Montgomery, No Way: Given how he pitched after landing in Texas at the trade deadline, the lefty hurler will soon be a hot commodity, and the rumor mill has the Red Sox kicking the tires. But while price is the ultimate deciding factor, there’s no way the Sox should drop big cash on a guy after a two-month hot streak. The record says after seven seasons he’s 38-34 with a decent 3.68 ERA.

News Item – NBA In-Season Tournament: Three reactions to the NBA in-season tournament: (1) Who cares? (2) The courts specifically made for the tournament are unsafe for players, idiotic at best to viewers and blasphemy in Boston Garden. (3) And only a doofus doesn’t know it’s a ploy to juice merchandise sales from goobers who’ll buy anything.

News Item – Alumni News: Not a good week for ex-Celtics sent away in depth-sapping off-season trades. First Lob It To Rob Williams didn’t even make it through Week 1 before going down for the season after knee surgery. Then Malcolm Brogdon goes down for a few weeks with a hamstring issue, followed by news out of Memphis Marcus Smart will miss three to five weeks after spraining his foot.

The Numbers:

7 – number showing reality won over nonsense hype given to the ever obnoxious Deion Sanders, as it’s the number of consecutive losses Colorado had to close at 4-8 after he was all but given Coach of the Year honors after a 3-0 start.

75 –millions of dollars still owed to Jimbo Fisher after his firing as Texas A&M football coach last week. How much freaking money do these football programs have?

… Of the Week Award

Thumbs Up – Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks: Whose players according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale voted an inordinately high number of full World Series money shares (61 and 71 worth $311,000 and $506,000 respectively) to include clubhouse attendants and support staff that helped them get to the Series to make that extra money. Bravo.

Random Thoughts:

Listening to Matt Bonner while sitting in on a recent Celtics broadcast in Toronto I say give that kid a TV gig. He was smart, concise, funny and likable. And I swear his legendary Concord-ite dad Big Dave Bonner didn’t make me say this.

Given her general nastiness to anyone not on her political side, I must say I’m getting a kick out of the flak Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is getting for spending $13,081.36 in public money on an invite-only party to kick off the U of A’s football season. Especially since the “Undefeated” season party badly missed the mark with the Razorbacks going 4-8 after the bash.

Sports 101 Answer: Not surprisingly the NBA leader in fouls committed is 20-year veteran Kareem Abdul Jabbar with 4,657, followed by Karl Malone, Artis Gilmore, Robert Parish and ex-76er Caldwell Jones to round out the top five.

Final Thought – Kristaps Porzingis Injury Watch Begins: Everyone knew the risk bringing him to Boston: a lack of durability that’s held him to just 54 games per since 2020, which was preceded by missing an entire season with a torn ACL.

And now it begins. He missed one at the 11-game mark, then went out early in Game 15 with a strained calf that will see him miss at least four games, including vs. Joel Embiid and the 76ers.

I’m not second-guessing trading for him. But his lack of durability was one reason I opposed giving up Rob Williams in the Jrue Holiday trade, because he was proven depth behind him. But given what’s happened to him, that’s a moot point.

What it all means is that Brad Stevens needs to find someone to reliably fill in for him. Though after the C’s depth and draft resources were wiped out by his two big off-season deals it’s hard to see how he’ll do that. Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Red Sox Makeover Begins: The spotlight in Red Sox Nation shifts to Craig Breslow this week as the makeover of a Red Sox team shaped by him kicks into gear. It has the Nation high on the belief the owner will open the checkbook to bring in big-ticket free agents. But what’s needed first is an assessment of who stays, to make clear what their needs are. To be followed by how those needs can be filled through free agency and trades of players deemed expendable.

Breslow has an uphill climb, but with Triston Casas, Rafael Devers, promising hurler Brayan Bello, solid reliever Garrett Whitlock and possibly speedy Jarren Duran as the core, he’s got a decent foundation to start with.

With that in mind, Breslow is now on the clock as he tries to silence skeptics (like me) by letting all see if being a Yale Phi Beta Kappa and alleged smartest guy in baseball translates to building a title-winning team.

News Item – Hot Mess Pats Return: To tank or not to tank? That is the question for the 2-8 Patriots as they return from their bye week. If Coach B is returning the answer is no, because he needs all the wins he can get to pass Don Shula for the most in history. If he’s not, then go for it to get the best draft position for the next guy to rebuild from.

News Item – Crybaby Coach Poll Results: The results of an exhaustive Hippo Sports poll for who is Sports’ Biggest Crybaby Coach is in. It’s a tie:

Nick (good night) Nurse – The ex-Raptors and now 76ers head man never sits down or shuts up no matter what the call, which was so evident in his two games vs. the Celtics already.

Sean McDermott – The NFL’s answer to Nurse is a blamer who whines from the sidelines on every single call for or against his Buffalo Bills, as evidenced by his scapegoating of DC Leslie Frazier last year and OC Ken Dorsey last week for team failures under his watch.

The Numbers:

13.3 –NBA-best point differential over their opponents in the Celtics’ 9-2 start that’s a whopping 5.1 higher than second-best Denver’s 8.1.

47.9 – NBA-best team rebounds per game by the Celtics.

106.0 – fourth-ranked points per game allowed by the Boston Celtics.

… Of the Week Awards

Holy Cow Am I Old Note – It came when Mike Gorman’s soon-to-be Celtics play-by-play successor Drew Carter said on air last week that by being born in 1997 he’d never seen Michael Jordan play. Let alone Larry Bird.

Penitentiary News – After being convicted in a New York Court last week it looks like ex-Celtic Glen Big Baby Davis may be headed for a stretch in the big house. Big Baby was part of an elaborate scheme to rip off the NBA of $5 million in bogus medical and dental insurance claims. It’s unclear whether he’ll go or avoid time. But since one-time Nets first-round pick Terrence Williams got a 10-year stretch for being the pilot’s mastermind I’d be nervous if I were Baby.

A Little History – Nov. 23: On this day in 1984 Boston College QB Doug Flutie locks up the Heisman Trophy with a 472 passing yard performance in a 47-45 win over defending National Champion Miami with the most famous Hail Mary of all-time with a 47-yard TD heave from Flutie to Gerard Phelan in the end zone on the final play.

Final Thought – The Rex Sox Rebuild: Over the next few weeks we’ll talk about what we think the Sox should do in the rebuild and/or chart their progress as it unfolds. We’ll start with these two key pieces of that process.

First, the biggest danger they face is yielding to public pressure to make a big, but ultimately unwise signing just to placate Red Sox Nation. Like by wasting $190 million on the dual bust combo of Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez after a last-place finish in 2014.

Second are priority needs, which are: (1) two starting pitchers, one in free agency and the other in a trade; (2)put Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck in the bullpen — if you’re going to ask starters to just pitch five or six innings you must have a pen that can lock up the game from the seventh inning on; and (3) improve the defense.

We’ll get into specifics as we go along.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].