Category: Sports

The Big Story – Surging Red Sox: We still have a very long way to go, but the pole position between Chaim Bloom and his critics (of which I’ve been a very vocal one) as to who was right and who was wrong about the 2023 Red Sox goes to Bloom after the first five weeks of the season. The Sox have quickly rebounded from a slow start to go 15-7 since April 13. That’s the second best mark in baseball over that span and included an eight-game winning streak that ended Sunday in Philly. Thus, for the moment, all is looking up for Red Sox Nation.

Sports 101: With the passing of iconic ’70s Oakland A’s hurler Vida Blue over the weekendwe were reminded he was one of only five guys to start an All-Star game for both the AL and NL. Name the other four.

News Item – New Baseball Rules Working: Over the objections of its whiny players, baseball instituted new rules for 2023 that are having a very positive impact.

According to AP baseball reporter Ron Blum, the pitch clock has dropped the average game length from three hours, five minutes in 2022 to 2:37 in 2023.

And thanks to banning shifts to keep the shortstop on the left side of second base, the batting averages of left-handed hitters have risen from an average of .229 to .243, while for righties it’s .234 to .250 and runs scored are up 1.1 per. And limiting pick-off attempt throw-overs has led to a 40-percent jump in stolen bases.

News Item – Betts Trade Finally Paying Dividends: It’ll never be an even deal. But with Alex Verdugo providing spark while hitting .300+ in the lead-off spot and Connor Wong splitting time at catcher while hitting .257 following last week’s 4-4, two-homer game vs. Toronto, two of the three players who came back in the Mookie Betts deal are finally having an impact in Boston. Throw in being out from under their share of David Price’s gargantuan contract, and it’s looking a lot better than it did 12 months ago.

News Item – Glass Half Empty or Half Full for Sale: An interesting question since Chris Sale had three brutal early starts along with two very goods and a third pretty good one. He’s trending up by winning his last two, one when he gave up three hits and one run in 6.1 innings, then striking out 10 over six innings to beat the Phillies 5-3 Friday. And most importantly he walked just one in those outings.

News Item – A Father’s Conundrum: A sidebar story of the Warriors-Lakers playoff series is the question, who is Klay Thompson’s father rooting for? That would be one-time ’80s Showtime Laker Mychal Thompson, who these days is color analyst for Lakers radio broadcasts. So who is he rooting for? Klay said going in he thought dad would be for L.A. all the way!

Random Thoughts:

Who knows how one failed first overall pick in the NBA draft contributed to both teams in the 76er-Celtics series?

That would be Markelle Fultz, who of course was taken first by Philly in 2016 after they flipped picks with Danny Ainge, which gave Boston an additional first in 2017. It dropped them to third overall, where they took their supposed first choice all along, Jayson Tatum. Then, after a rash of issues led to Fultz’s flameout in Philly, he was dumped in a trade for Orlando’s first pick in the 2019, which turned out to be 20th overall that Philly used to take speedy Tyrese Maxey out of Kentucky.

Doc Rivers is right — Tatum did push Maxey off on his huge 3 at the end of OT on Sunday. But his whining would have a lot more credibility if James Harden didn’t get three calls a game he doesn’t deserve after flopping after 3-ball attempt like he was shot by an elephant rifle, or that Joel Embiid is never called for smashing defenders with his chest first to create space push to shoot before they come back with contact and then goes to the line. Sorry, Doc, one’s an offensive foul and the other should get a T.

The Numbers:

.331 –batting average for ex-Fisher Cat Bo Bichette when he left Fenway last Thursday after going 7 for 16 in the Sox’ four-game sweep of the Blue Jays. The 2023 stat line also included 7 homers and 21 RBI in 32 games.

1 – error committed in 30 April games by Sox third baseman Rafael Devers, which didn’t even happen until the final day of April. Of course he then made one in each of three consecutive games to start May to bring the total to 4.

3 – walk-off game-winning hits by Alex Verdugo after clubbing a ninth-inning homer to give the Sox a 6-5 win over Toronto on Monday.

Sports 101 Answer: The other AL and NL All Star starters are Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.RIP, Vida.

Final Thought – Patriots Hall of Fame: Enough already for holding the petty 30-year grudge that makes it harder for Bill Parcells to get in the Patriots Hall. It happened again last week when the deserving Mike Vrabel got in over Tuna in the fan vote.

The one-per-year thing is fine except when an overwhelming case can be made for a guy as age enters the picture as it now has for the 81-year-old Parcells.

The Kraft family made an exception for the deserving contributions of longtime line coach Dante Scarnecchia this year and the same thing should be done for Parcells. Because while they didn’t win the Super Bowls, he and Drew Bledsoe are as important to team history as Coach B and Tom Brady because they turned the Pats from a joke franchise to one everyone took seriously in these parts. It’s time to do the right thing and put him in.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story: There are actually three. (1) The shocking end to the Bruins’ magical season. (2) The Celtics moving on to Round 2 of the NBA playoffs after barely surviving a major scare from the 41-41 Atlanta Hawks in a series that wasn’t supposed to be that tough. (3) The Patriots’ choices in the NFL draft, showing more evidence Bill Belichick has slipped from his perch as the smartest guy in football.

Sports 101: Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1966 the Patriots have had the first overall pick in the NFL draft four times. Name the players they selected.

News Item – Celtics Up and Down vs. Atlanta: There were highs in the series to be sure. Most notably how dominant they were in the first halves of games 1 and 2, and most importantly the poise showed in the face of a raucous, hostile crowd over the final four minutes to close out a sensational series in Game 6 on the road in Atlanta. But their infuriating inability to stay focused with big leads also returned in games 1 and 2 and when they were overrun by Trae Young while blowing the lead with mistakes in the final minutes of their Game 5 loss.

But two games into their Round 2 playoff series with the 76ers let’s hope they’ve cleaned up their appalling lack of boxing out and woeful weak side 3-point defense that Atlanta murdered them with in the last three games.

News Item – Panthers Shock Bruins: Short of a ball going through your first baseman’s legs at the moment of truth, it’s hard to imagine a worse way to be eliminated from the playoffs than how the Bruins were on Sunday night by Florida.

One minute away from looking like they had survived blowing a 3-1 series lead to an 8-seed they coughed up the game-tying goal by Brandon Montour to send it to OT tied 3-3. And with karma gone the magical season somehow ended 8:56 into OT when Carter Verhaeghe sent the SRO crowd into the night crushed and wondering what might have been.

News Item – Coach B On The Slide: They say the worst thing you can do is chase needs by reaching for players at position of need ahead of more talented players on your draft board. Normally I agree, especially for the dynasty Patriots, who rarely had immediate holes to fill.

But not this year. They went into this draft with one need above all else: to find out whether Mac Jones is or is not the QB of the future. And to do that they needed to give him help to improve 2022’s fourth-worst offense in football. Specifically that meant getting a solid left tackle to improve his protection and a game-changing wideout to open things up on offense.

Yet the ever stubborn, now-living-in-a-2004-time-bubble Bill Belichick used his picks in the first three rounds, where impact players most often come from, on defense. To, I guess, combat the AFC East now having three dynamic passing attacks. While not taking even one guy who was a full-time tackle in college among his 12 picks and no wide receiver until Round 6.

I get that reaching is bad and those two big needs are hard to come by. But if he hadn’t cheaped out on Orlando Brown in free agency, when the Bengals added him to protect the blind side of their young QB, they could have given up the top of their draft to get the game changer. Or he could have traded up to get ahead of the run on tackles they liked.

All of which shows that Coach B is living in the defense-dominates NFL past, which is what got all the great coaches I’ve seen (Shula, Landry, Noll) at their end.

Thumbs Up – Malcolm Brogdon: Being named NBA 6^th Man of the Year after finally giving the Celtics a game-changer off their bench is a well earned honor.

Word of the Week – ‘Ironic’: Hard to come up with a better word for Joe Dumars, who played on the dirtiest team in NBA history, being the guy handing out the punishment for Draymond Green. Not that Joe played like that, but most of his teammates with the ’80s-’90s Pistons did and the league let them get away with it. And now he’s the warden.

Random Playoff Thoughts:

Love the old-school NBA every-other-day schedule for the first six games of the Philly series.

You’d think Charles Barkley would learn after being almost always wrong making predictions. But there he was again guaranteeing Sacramento would “whomp” defending champ Golden State in Game 5 of their playoff series. Then after they lost Game 5 he doubled down for Game 7. But sorry, Charles, wrong again. They lost by 20.

I’d call the Mavericks passing on reasonable money for their own guy Jalen Brunson last summer in lieu of having to now give Kyrie Irving a bigger amount this summer, along with their only two good defenders and a future first-round pick, a colossal mistake.

Brunson was a key to finally lifting the Knicks to a new level, while the Mavs went from the 5-seed out West when he arrived, to missing the playoffs entirely in just 23 games.

The Numbers:

50 – all-time NBA record for points scored in a deciding Game 7 playoff series by Steph Curry Sunday when the Warriors eliminated Sacramento with a decisive 120-100 win.

Sports 101 Answer: The Patriots’ four first overall picks were Jim Plunkett (1971), Kenneth Sims (82), Irving Fryar (84) and Drew Bledsoe (93).

Final Thought – Round 2 Picks: Denver over Phoenix in 7, Golden State over L.A. in 6, Celtics over Philly in 7, Miami over N.Y. in 6.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – NFL Draft: While knowing Coach B won’t follow the script by trading up, down and around the board, the Pats are now scheduled to step to the podium around 9:35 p.m. tonight (Thursday) to make the 14th selection in the NFL draft. It’s an important draft for a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2018. Whether they do it with savvy picks or draft capital in trades doesn’t matter; they just badly need to come away with a ready-on-Day 1 left tackle and a game-breaking wide receiver. Anything else is gravy.

As for the rest of the draft, it mostly centers around QBs likely being taken with the first two and maybe third picks if Arizona trades out of the spot, along with what could happen with agitated veteran QBs like Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson.

Sports 101: Name the future Hall of Fame offensive tackle once taken third overall who also was a pitcher for USC when their baseball team won the national championship in 1978.

5 Questions Going Into The Draft:

(1) With the Jackson situation in flux at best, what will the Ravens do this weekend?

(2) With whispers growing that his hometown 49ers want in on the Aaron Rodgers sweepstakes, are the Jets going to screw it up like they always do to be left at the altar for refusing to give up a first-round pick when they’re ready to win if they get a good QB?

(3) After being stripped bare with salary cap-forced cuts and having no high draft picks to get there, were the L.A. Rams just a one-and-done champion?

(4) Two years after handing L.A. their QB to win that SB, is Detroit in a better position going forward thanks to all those picks they got from L.A., which include the totally unexpected sixth overall pick they get this year from them that seemed like a high 20s pick at the time?

(5) With rumors swirling about Mac’s future in Foxborough, is he Coach B’s guy going forward or not?

Random Thoughts:

The Patriots haven’t drafted a defensive player in Round 1 since tackle Malcolm Brown in 2016.

More Matt Patricia stuff. You rarely see a team give up on a guy so quickly when taken as high as Jeff Okudah was by Detroit. So quite a comedown for the first draft pick of the Patricia era when the Lions traded the former Ohio State star to Atlanta for a measly fifth-round pick just three years after Okudah was taken third overall in 2020.

In Case You Missed It: NFL followers went into comical overdrive with NFL Draft lingo humor when it leaked out that former President Donald Trump weighed in at 6’1” and 270 during his arraignment at the NYC courthouse. NFL Combine maven Dave Kluge tweeted, “If he runs a sub-4.5, he’d comp historically to Dwight Freeney and may have a chance to go in the first round of the NFL Draft.” Former agent and Packers capologist Andrew Brandt tweeted, “Some teams have now taken him off their Draft boards.” And @Nati_Sports said Trump was “too small to protect my franchise quarterback. Day 3 grade.”

A Little History – Best and Worst Draft Picks of Belichick Era:

Worst 5 First-Round Picks: Dominique Easley, 2012 (29), lasted two seasons for work ethic and attitude issues. N’Keal Harry, 2019 (32), perpetually hurt and couldn’t get open. Laurence Maroney, 2006 (21), most indecisive runner in history. Sony Michel, 2018 (30), nice 2018 playoff run was high point, downhill after that. Isaiah Wynn, 2018 (23), because of durability and declining play his last two years were more disappointment than bust.

Best 5 Non-First Round Picks: Tom Brady, 2000, R6 (199 overall), GOAT. Gronk, 2010 R2, after trading up and down to get the 42nd pick. Julian Edelman, 2009 R7 (232). Matt Light, 2001 R2 (48), solid for 10 years. James White, 2014 R4 (130), always reliable and immense vs. Atlanta in 2016 SB. Deion Branch, 2002 R2, SB MVP in 2004 and could have been in 2003.

Interesting Picks:

Stephen Gostkowski, 2006 R4 (110), notable for three reasons: Bill had to get it right because he had just let Adam V walk in free agency; he became the best pick in the sorry 2006 draft class; and he became the franchise’s all-time scorer.

Neither Kliff Kingsbury, 2003 R6, nor Kevin O’Connell, 2008 R3, did anything in New England, but both wound up as NFL head coaches.

2007— even though they only got one player, first-round pickBrandonMeriweather, you can argue this was one of Belichick’s best drafts as by using their second on Wes Welker and the third on Randy Moss it kickstarted the 16-0 season that immediately followed that draft.

Sports 101 Answer: The OT/pitcher for USC was 6’6” 280 Anthony Munoz, who, given his immense size, I’m betting wasn’t a junkbaĺler.

Final Thought: I don’t know about you but I’m getting a little sick of Coach B reportedly being ticked at Mac for seeking advice/help from outside the building during his 2022 struggles. Sorry, Bill, he’s not the one who put incompetents in charge of the offense and the development of a highly drafted second-year QB — you did. And if you want a glimpse of how incompetent Matt Patricia and Joe Judge have been in those roles, take a look at how much the play of Jared Goff and Daniel Jones immediately improved after they were fired by the Lions and G-Men respectively.

Your fault, Bill, not that of the kid in need of real help because he wasn’t getting any and that’s what you’re supposed to do and didn’t.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Bruins Do It: Congrats to the Bruins for their epic achievement of finishing with the most wins and points in NHL regular season history. The bad news is that’s ancient history for the moment, as the best record ever guarantees nothing in the playoffs. The 2015-2016 Golden State Warriors can tell you that, as they got beat in the Finals by LeBron James and Cleveland after their record-setting 73-win season. Ditto for the John Havlicek-Dave Cowens Celtics, who won a franchise-best 68 games (against 14 loses) in 1972-73, but got beat (much to my delight) in Game 7 by the archrival Knicks in the Eastern Conference Final.

So it’s a whole new season that got started this week vs. the Florida Panthers.

But it doesn’t mean the playoffs don’t begin with great promise and high expectations. They just have to back it by keeping the train rolling into June.

Sports 101: Fourteen is the record for most home runs in April. Name the two players who share that record.

News Item – Casas Not Living Up to Hype: Those over-the-top notions that Triston Casas is the next Lou Gehrig (OK, slight exaggeration), pushed by Red Sox brass to get people to buy tickets, aren’t looking so good. After 13 games he was hitting .123 with 2 homers and 7 RBI. That after a .196 September in 27 games last year. The power numbers, though, actually aren’t that bad, as 7 homers and 19 RBI in 40 games projects to 28 and 76.

News Item–NBA Hits Mavs with Big Fine for Tanking:Some will think the $750,000 fine the Dallas Mavericks got for sitting all their key players to ensure they lost to miss the playoffs was stiff. But we’re guessing owner Mark Cuban isn’t one of them. Because if they won them, they’d have lost the protected top 10 first-round pick they owed the Knicks for their long ago Kristaps Porzingis trade. Instead they’ll now draft a player for next year’s team. So instead of likely losing their one play-in game and having no pick (made more important since Porzingis lasted just two years in Dallas) Cuban likely sees the dough as investment in 2023-24 and not a punishment.

New Item – Xander Bogaerts Update: The ex-Red Sox shortstop was hitting .333 with 3 doubles, 4 homers, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored in his first 12 games with San Diego.

By contrast, replacement Trevor Story likely won’t play until June due to a severe elbow injury the brass knew he had when they let Bogie walk, while Story’s fill-in, Kiké Hernandez, was hitting .083 with 2 homers and 4 RBI in his first 11 games.

Thumbs Up – Minnesota Timberwolves: For doing the right thing by suspending ornery Rudy Gobert for throwing a punch at teammate Kyle Anderson during a game even though it caused him to miss their winner-take-all play-in game vs. the Lakers on Tuesday — which they lost. It said something about the team culture they want.

Thumbs Down – Major League Baseball: Thanks to the new speeding-up-baseball rules, with games quicker, beer sales are down. So their cutoffs have been extended to the eighth inning, which will likely send lubed up fans into traffic sooner than when the seven-inning rule, uh, ruled.

Quote of the Week – Snoop Dogg: After being asked who in today’s NBA reminds him most of Kobe Bryant, Snoop eventually said Steph Curry because “he’s never considered the best, but he’s always the best when it’s time to be the best.”

Random Thoughts:

Earth to Joe Mazzulla: Grant Williams should be in the rotation over Sam Hauser. He’s a better, more versatile defender and rebounder and according to the stats not all that much different a 3-point shooter (41.2 – 39.5).

Celtics should hope Jaylen Brown makes one of the three All-NBA teams. Not for the individual honor, but if he does, it makes him eligible for a $290 million contract extension to increase the likelihood he re-signs with the C’s after next year, because that’s $70 million more than he can get elsewhere.

The Numbers:

7 –Major League homers hit by Rafael Devers 14 games into 2023, which projects to 81 if he remains on the same pace.

11.75 –earned run average for one-time Sox ace Chris Sale after his first three 2023 starts. If Don Meredith were still around you wonder if he’d be singing his favorite tune, “The Party’s Over,” on the career for Sale.

13 – tied for most ever consecutive wins to start a season for the Rays after sweeping four from the Red Sox last week to become the first team since the 1987 Brewers (13-0) to start a season with a double-digit win streak. A string where they led the majors with 31 homers and outscored their opponents by an incredible 101-30 margin. It ended on Friday in Toronto.

30.1 – points per game averaged by Jayson Tatum in the just completed NBA season to make him the first Celtics player ever to average 30 or more points a game.

Sports 101 Answer: The April record of 14 homers is shared by Albert Pujols (2006) and Alex Rodriguez (2007).

Glossary: Don Meredith:QB in the 1960s as the expansion Cowboys were on their way to becoming America’s team who next teamed with Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell in the ABC booth when Monday Night Football was a national sensation. Dandy Don would sing “the party’s over” when the game was out of reach.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Celtics Start Playoffs: Stumbling coming out of the All-Star break, including truly awful non-effort losses like blowing a 28-point lead vs. the non-Durant Nets, had Celtic Nation grumbling at best and filled with trepidation at worst. But they righted the ship to finish 57-25 and grabbed the second end in the East. However, they coughed up home court advantage vs. Milwaukee if both get to the Eastern Conference Finals, something that was vital last year when they had home court in their Game 7 win over Milwaukee.

I looked at it differently, as a product of their infuriating way of playing down to opponents, characterized by a lack of focus and lackadaisical defense. When someone good was on the schedule the focus and effort returned to show they can dominate anyone at their best, like the recent demolition of the Bucks, which came on the road, to show they ain’t afraid to play in Milwaukee.

And while they’re capable of getting through the East, it will be no cakewalk. The Bucks are as deep as they are and Giannis is more consistently great than Jayson Tatum, Philly has the likely MVP in Joel Embiid (see below), they were 1-3 vs. Cleveland and Miami plays them better/tougher than anyone except Golden State.

The key for them will be consistency behind the line and ability to deal with it by scoring inside and getting to the line when the 3-ball isn’t falling, as inevitably will happen some nights. Didn’t mention their D, because that’s an effort thing and the urgency of a playoff series usually puts a charge into everyone in green.

So, even with some concerns, buckle up because it could be a fun and hopefully long ride.

Sports 101: David Pastrnak became the eighth player in Bruins history to score at least 300 career goals when he became the 23rd NHL player to score 60 or more in a season on Sunday.

Name the seven other Bruins with 300 career goals.

The Numbers:

2 – pitch clock violations by Shohei Ohtani in being the first to do it once as a pitcher and once as a batter in the same game (a 4-3 Angels win over Seattle).

26 – years ago that Tiger Woods won the first of his six green jackets with a 12-stroke win in the 1997 Masters.

50 – recent per year increase in Major League homers attributed to climate change by a Dartmouth College study published last week.

News Item – Bruins Break All-Time Record: One down and one to go for your Boston Bruins after setting the all-time record for wins in a single season with No. 63 on Sunday vs. the Flyers. Next up is the 76-77 Canadiens record for most-ever 132 points, which they may get on Tuesday vs. Washington. Or, if not, against Montreal in Montreal on Thursday, which, given the way the Canadiens tormented them for most of their history, would be a more fitting way to do it.

News Item – Women’s Basketball Landmark Moment: Time will tell if this is the kind of watershed moment for women’s basketball that 1979’s legendary most watched Magic Johnson–Larry Bird clash was for the men. Drawing 12.6 million viewers, last Sunday’s Iowa-LSU NCAAchampionship game was the most-viewed women’s game ever in their sport, dwarfing last year’s 3.4 million viewers. An indicator may be the demographic breakdown between the more traditional male audience and the potentially growing female audience.

News Item – Watch Out For That Dude In The Playoffs: The 76ers may not have the greatest bench in the world but they will be a tough out in the playoffs thanks to having the most unstoppable force in Joel Embiid. Embiid showed that last week with a spectacular 52-point, 13-rebound, 6-assist night in Philly’s 103-101 win over the Celtics. And by going 20-25 from the field and 12-13 from the line he got those 52 the old-fashioned way since he didn’t make a 3-ball all night.

I Told You So Award – Me: With people inexplicably still calling Kyrie Irving a “game-changing superstar,” here’s what I said when he joined the then 28-26, 6-seed Mavericks after being traded/dumped by the Nets:“I’m betting they finish below .500 and land in the play-in round by year’s end….” I was wrong — kind of. They went 10-16 after he arrived, including 5-11 playing with Luka Doncic and 8-12 in the 20 games he played. In doing so they fell from the 6 seed to the 11 seed and entirely out of the playoffs. Superstar indeed.

Random Red Sox Thoughts:

Based on Masataka Yoshida’s decent start and stellar play in the WBC (three homers and a tournament-leading 13 RBI) the early indications are he’s not headed to be a Japanese version of Rusney Castillo.

I know he’s an emergency replacement who deserves some slack, but the five errors Kiké Hernandez already has in nine games projects to 90 over a full season.

How in the name of Calvin Schiraldi is Ryan Brasier still in their bullpen? He’s followed his 0-3, 5.36 ERA 2022 season with an early 9.00 ERA in five appearances. And the ERAs in two of the last three years were 3.96 and 4.85.

The 24,477 at Wednesday’s game vs. Pittsburgh was the smallest crowd since John Henry bought the Sox in 2002.

Sports 101 Answer: Johnny Bucyk (545), Phil Esposito (459), Patrice Bergeron (427), Rick Middleton (402), Ray Bourque (395), Brad Marchand (371), Cam Neely (344).

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Jackson Wants Out of Baltimore: He would unquestionably be an exciting upgrade over Mac Jones and for the Patriots overall. But the tantalizing question for local fans is, along with the two first-round picks Lamar Jackson would command if signed to a restricted free agent contract, are they willing to also surrender the additional players they’d have to give up/cut to fit $30+ million needed to get under the salary cap? That likely would start with Matthew Judon and Trent Brown for the first $20 million.

Then there’s also the question: Can a guy who runs as much as he does survive in the NFL through the entire term of his contract to make $200 million guaranteed worth it? Because if he goes down for a substantial time, as he has by missing the last two Decembers to kill the Ravens both times, or Bo Jackson-like for his career,it’s curtains.Ditto for the concussion-plagued way it ended for Troy Aikman and Steve Young. If it does, that’s a $40 million hole in your cap for whatever remained on the contract. and, oh by the way, you’d still need to find (and pay) a starting-caliber QB.

Finally, the other thing to consider is what Patriot Nation will think about letting Jackson pass by, if the Jets pivot from getting Aaron Rodgers to Jackson instead. Especially since they already have cleared enough cap space to fit Rodgers in without new cuts needed.

Sports 101: Who is the only person in baseball history to pitch a no-hitter on Opening Day?

News Item – NCAA Men’s Basketball Tourney Wraps Up: UConn’s 72-58 rout of Miami was a bit of a clunker. But who didn’t love the Florida Atlantic–San Diego State barn-burner? Especially since it came down to a play that anyone who has shot baskets in the backyard has pretended to take and make a thousand times? But this time it was for real with the nation’s eyes trained on Lamont Butler on his way to joining the debate over the biggest clutch shots in NCAA Tournament history. He did it by draining a right-side 12-foot jumper that saw the buzzer go off just after he let it go but before it hit nothing but net to send San Diego State to the championship game with a 72-71 heartstopping win over Florida Atlantic.

Unfortunately for us that UConn-SDST final went off after we went to press but before we hit the streets.

Thumbs Up: To CBS announcer Jim Nantz upon calling his 32nd and last NCAA Tournament. The SRO crowd gave him a standing O prior to Saturday’s games, which fittingly came in Houston, where he went to college and was a member of the U of Houston golf team with best bud Fred Couples.

News Item – The Greatest Packer Ever: That hilarious claim was made by Rodgers of himself a couple of weeks ago on the Pat McAfee podcast. Which basically is Rodgers’ propaganda outlet in the way Jim Gray does it for Tom Brady on his podcast.

Best ever? Really? He’s not even their best QB ever. With winning the most important thing in pro sports I’ve got him behind Bart and Brett. Bart Starr was a five-time champ who went to six title games overall, was 9-1 in playoff games as his QB rating climbed from 80.5 in the regular season to 104.8 in post season and was the MVP of the first two Super Bowls. For Rodgers, he has stat advantages thanks to a pass-happy era, but the QB rating dropped in January from 103.1 to 100.3 as he was 11-10 in the playoffs that annually never lived up to the usual hype in August of being championship-bound in all but one of his 15 years.

Brett Favre is No. 2 because he beats him in every stat you can think of and his two Super Bowls are one more than Rodgers has. And then there’s Forrest Gregg, Jim Taylor, Ray Nitschke and Willie Davis among others up there as well.

News Item – Choppy Seas for Sale: Giving up seven runs and three homers in just three innings was not the return to action many predicted for Chris Sale. However, his first 2023 start was not surprising to me, because after winning just five times in three years he’s going to have to prove he’s not the meatball artist he’s been in most outings since the second half of 2019.

In Case You Missed It: Let the record show that Raffy Devers was the first person called out for violating the new speed-up-the-game rules. It happened in the eighth inning of the opener when he took too long to get in the box and was hit with an automatic strike, which K’d him because he already had two strikes against him in the count.

The Devers punch-out was mildly reminiscent of opening day at Fenway 50 years earlier when the DH was baseball’s brand new rule as the Yankees’ Ron Blomberg stepped in as the first ever DH on a similarly brisk day in Boston in 1973.

Random Thoughts: Call me crazy, but amid all the MVP chatter for Jayson Tatum, I think Jaylen Brown has been more consistently excellent than Tatum, who’s had some seriously down games against some good teams.

Sports 101 Answer: The only hurler to pitch a no-no on Opening Day was Bob Feller, who struck out eight Chicago White Sox batters on April 16, 1940, and beat them 1-0.

A Little History: That game in 1940 was also the only time in history when no hitter in the lineup saw their average drop. That’s because the batting average for every player is .000 on Opening Day and thus it can’t drop lower even during a no-no.

Prediction: Red Sox go 77-85 to finish last in the AL East again.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].