Category: Sports

They tell you never to make decisions when you’re emotional. So maybe it’s fortunate I had a few days before giving my reaction to the Red Sox letting their leader of 11 years walk out the clubhouse door on Friday morning.

Since I’ve been saying for a year they were not going to re-sign Xander Bogaerts, I wasn’t surprised when the news broke. But I was more annoyed than I’ve been since the Celtics dumped Isaiah Thomas after he gave up his body (and long-term earning power as it turned out) for the cause in a trade for Kyrie Irving that I said from the start was a mistake.

And here’s why.

The Contract: First I would not have given the 30-year-old Bogaerts an 11-year contract. But it never had to get to that point.

However, the owner and his GM assured it would with their ridiculous offer last spring. Like he’d take it, when his agent was Scott Boras, who always gets top dollar for his clients.

If they were actually serious about keeping him, they’d have made a real offer like the Yankees did with Aaron Judge by starting with a realistic figure. Like an overpay per year for a shorter term, like $30 million per for six years.

Instead they followed the same playbook that led to the Jon Lester disaster in 2014 with the same result.

Which, despite what he said publicly for a year, was mission accomplished for Chaim Bloom because he didn’t want Bogaerts.

The Issue – They Lied All Year: I’m hardly the only person who knew from the day Bloom signed Trevor Story last winter that he would become the low(er)-cost replacement shortstop for 2023. Yet Bloom denied it all year. I know it required a tricky answer, but I absolutely hate being lied to. It’s not the only rub here, but it is a big part of it, as it makes me question everything he says going forward. Because his actions say he’s dishonest. Ditto for team president Sam Kennedy and the owner John Henry, who condoned it through his silence.

The GM, Part I – His Brand of Baseball: I must admit I hate Chaimball. I don’t like his Tampa Bay bargain basement hunting, five-inning starters and most of all the stat geek approach. And most galling is that, because of the “numbers rule all” attitude, he has no idea what he just lost in Bogie. Bottom line: I don’t think he’s ready to be the GM and I have my doubts he ever will be.

What Did They Lose? Goodbye, leadership and a steadying influence. But if they’re moving forward with a rebuild around their young farm system guys, those exact qualities will be an important ingredient for their development.

It’s what the Celtics lost when Danny Ainge let Al Horford walk after 2018 and why bringing him back to have him influence his young teammates was the first thing Brad Stevens did as Celtics GM. And you can’t argue with the results.

The GM, Part II – Can He Judge Talent? Not that everything he’s done has been wrong, but I haven’t seen one thing he’s done that has impressed me.

Yes, I know Michael Wacha had a nice year. But he was just a low-cost guy he got lucky with as after several years of struggles there had been nothing in his recent past suggesting he could return to the solid guy he was early in his career with St. Louis.

Show me three more similar reclamation projects going that work and I may believe it was an astute move.

Of course the real proof lies in the guys coming up through his vaunted farm system — which, the way it’s gone with the hyped Jarren Duran,is not off to a great start.

I should also say that I’m not always right. I thought Stevens would be a disaster and he’s been just the opposite as Celtics GM.

But to this point the only thing that stands out outside of Story’s underwhemling season is the subtractions (Betts, Bogie) and the obvious miss of seeing perfect fit Kyle Schwarber walking to hit 46 homers in Philly for less money being paid to the now departed J.D. Martinez.

Who’s Masataka Yoshida? I had never heard of him before last week, so I have no idea how good he is or isn’t. But Rusney Castillo was the first thing that leapt to mind when I heard of the Yoshida signing. He was signed mid-way through 2014 with much fanfare. He turned out to be a titanic bust; in retrospect it was probably so because it was a hurried signing to distract fans who were ticked off that Lester had just been traded and the team was on its way to finishing in last place for the second time in three years. Fair or not, this seems similar.

The Owner – What’s Fair To Expect: Owners can’t guarantee championships and fans don’t have the right to expect that. But since the Red Sox have grown from being worth $600 million to now being worth $3.9 billion since Henry bought the team on the backs of his customers paying the highest ticket prices in baseball, Red Sox Nation has a right to expect Henry to spend to make it competitive.

I was OK with two years of payroll restructuring to lay the groundwork for the future. But the continued Tampa Bay wannabe approach is the opposite. Enough already. This is a big market team supported by a passionate fan base, which has money to spend. If he doesn’t want to spend that’s fine. But if he doesn’t want to, he should sell the team, because Red Sox Nation has done its part.

And if he won’t sell, the only thing that will get his attention is if you hit him in the cash register. So don’t buy tickets or merchandise and shop watching on NESN. Until he does.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

I never listen to talk radio or even read the papers much after a Patriots loss. Especially a bad one like last Thursday to Buffalo. That’s because for the most part all you get is blame, finger-pointing and vitriolrather than insight and perspective on what happened.

Not that there weren’t things that were bad, or even exasperating, like wasted timeouts and the usual for 2022 high number of penalties at the worst time.

Most watchers these days are in denial, judging the Patriots with expectations based on what they have been for the last 20 years, rather than a sober evaluation of what they are now, an ordinary team with a lot of holes that hasn’t been as good as their former patsy Buffalo for three years now.

Given how long their former relationship lasted, it is understandably hard to compute even with the evidence piling up, making much of Patriot Nation and the media unwilling or unable to go against muscle memory to face the reality that Brady and company ain’t walking through that door to save the day.

Said another way: The dynasty is over. Done.

It’s not an unusual reaction when that has happened, as fans and the media are the last to know. Or maybe the last to give up/in.

And it’s not confined to football. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy still refers to the Celtics as the NBA’s greatest franchise when they have won just one title since 1986. That, for the mathematically challenged, is 36 freaking years ago. They certainly have a glorious history, but their rivals in L.A. have won that title eight times in the same period. Ditto with the Canadiens in Montreal, who haven’t won the Cup since 1993, or much of anything else for that matter since Patrick Roy left the building in a snit with the brass two years later.

Bringing it back to the NFL, there have been four dynasties since I have been following the NFL. Which I define as lasting for 15 years or more amid turnover of the original group of players to more good players that eventually formed a completely different team as the winning continued.

That takes out historically superior teams like the 1960s Packers and ’70s Steelers because both faded as their throng of Hall of Fame players declined or retired as they aged with no one near good enough to step in for them to keep it going.

And sorry, ’90s Cowboys, while you were a dominant team, winning three times in four years is not nearly long enough to qualify. Ditto for one-year wonders like the 1986 Bears and 2000 Ravens.

The final qualification is that being in the mix to contend for a Super Bowl title year in and year out is more important than actually winning a huge number of SBs. Which is a legit point of debate as the aforementioned Packers and Steelers won five and four respectively during their impressive reigns but missed the cut because their excellence didn’t last long enough and a dynasty by definition is about length of time.

So that leaves the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s Oakland/L.A. Raiders and Dallas Cowboys, the ’80s/’90s Bill Walsh 49ers and the Patriots from 2001 to 2019. Notice I said the Patriots dynasty ended in 2019, to drive home the point that dynasties end long before most realize it.

Each ended for different reasons. Oakland ended as maverick owner Al Davis lost his fastball. That was somewhat the case for the Tom Landry-led Cowboys, but it probably had more to do with losing their edge in finding talent as the rest of the league copied their sophisticated use of newfangled computers and method of drafting players for athletic skills — speed, quickness, size — over the position they played. Their mantra was “get me the best athletes and we’ll find a position for them.” Concepts now identified by all at the pre-draft combine.

The advent of the salary cap croaked the 49ers, because it leveled the playing field for a team always willing to outspend others for talent or to keep their own.

Which brings us back to the Patriots. I know a lot of people bring it back to the “Was it Bill or Tom?” debate. But while losing Tom Brady certainly was a blow, it started before that. The one who knew it first was probably Brady because he pouted all throughout 2019 that he had terrible receivers and the offense was a disaster for a lot of the year. Along with other factors, this led him to take his talents to Tampa Bay, who, oh by the way, had two 1,000-yard receivers, so voila, he was TB-12 again.

As for the rest of us. While the dual drubbings by Buffalo at the end of 2021 made it clear how big the gap was between the two teams, it didn’t kill the notion that they could close it.

That’s come this year via a number of signs like their non-effort vs. Chicago on MNF, (used to be) uncharacteristic penalties piling up and the fact the team no longer has swagger or conveys the feeling they can get out of any jam.

The final piece for me is knowing they were gonna get thumped again on Thursday.

The culprit has been horrible drafting dating back to the early teens along with swinging and missing on almost everyone outside of Matthew Judon and Jalen Mills in their 2021 free agent spending spree.

Then there’s also that in not seeing how important game-breaking speed receivers have come to be in the 2022 NFL, there could be a creeping early sign it may be passing Bill Belichick by.

Hopefully, that feeling is wrong. But if it isn’t, the dynasty is dead and buried.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

With the Thanksgiving Day extravaganza in the books, the stretch run for the 2022 NFL season has begun. It offers all sorts of local and national story lines. Here’s a look.

The Playoff Picture: Almost every team is still in it somehow, though in some cases it has little to do with the accomplishments of teams in the race. Like Tampa Bay, where at 5-6 Tom Brady is under .500 at the latest point ever in his career. Yet even in TB’s year from hell he finds himself in first place because the NFC South is so bad.

There must be something about the water in the South, as continuing the under .500 story, only Tennessee is above water in the AFC South. But they’re not alone in that way, as only 8-2 Minnesota is over .500, with a three-game lead over the pack in the NFC North.

Then there is the east, where the water must be better with every team in the NFC and AFC over .500 and threatening to make the wild card weekend an intra-division event.

The Patriots Thanksgiving Calamity: They gave themselves no help by coughing up a winnable game in Minnesota (with help from a pair of big mistakes/misses by the zebras). Thanksgiving was actually a double whammy, as Buffalo appeared to be headed to a loss before surviving vs. Detroit in the early game. If the verdicts were reversed, as they easily could have been, the teams would be tied at 7-4. Instead Buffalo has a two-game lead ahead of their meeting on Thursday night. Then came wins on Sunday by all their wild card contenders — Bengals, Jets, Chargers — to drop them from the 5-seed to on the outside looking in at eighth.

Odds and Ends

Biggest Surprise – Philadelphia: While most thought they would be good, few saw them being the last team to lose a game and having the best record as December arrived.

Most Disappointing Team: That would be the 4-7 Packers, though not to me. I seem to be the only one in the country to realize the Pack is always picked for high achievement in pre-season and by the time the post season ends they never achieve it.

Has The Game Passed Him By Award – Bill Belichick: It seems absurd to suggest this. But his utter failure or unwillingness to recognize the growing importance of home run-hitting, deep-threat receivers in today’s NFL makes you wonder. They may have been afterthoughts when he won two Super Bowls with the power running Giants back in the day and the first three with the Pats, but today they’re to the NFL what deep shooters are to the NBA, once low-priority players who became vital as their games evolved.

Look no further than Mac Jones if you want a vivid example of why. After Miami traded for the dynamic Tyreek Hill to pair him with the Alabama speed Jaylen Waddle I said they needed to trade for a disgruntled home run threat like AJ Brown or DK Metcalf because the D’s were about to become an offensive power with those guys, just as Buffalo did after getting Stefon Diggs from Minnesota in 2021. Instead Philly paid the price in draft capital and salary needed to pair Brown with Waddle’s dynamic Alabama teammate DeVonta Smith.

The results are clear, as all three quarterbacks got immediately better with those dynamic receivers. Josh Allen was a given. But in one year the two QB’s who preceded Mac at Alabama have gone from a potential first-round bust (Tua Tagovailoa) and stand-in-until-something-better-comes-along Jalen Hurts to the highest-rated QB in the NFL and leading MVP contender respectively.

And the point of this diatribe is that when Mac played with Waddle and Smith he threw 47 TD passes and three interceptions as Bama won the national title, whereas now with Waddle, Hill, Brown and Smith, those two once questionable guys have shot by him because he’s saddled with slow, unreliable receivers and they have dynamite wideouts.

Best Tight Ever: I know Tony Gonzalez has the most career catches by a tight end, so maybe I’m a homer. But I have thought for several years Rob Gronkowski is the best TE ever. But the more I see Travis Kelce the more I think it’s a legit debate over who’s better. Kelce is not the blocker Gronk was and with a higher yards per catch average (15-12) and a lot more TDs (92-63) the big fella was a bigger downfield threat. But Kelce has more catches and career receiving yards. And in having missed just two games in nine seasons he’s a lot more durable than Gronk, who missed 30 in 11 years. Either way, that Kelce dude is teally good.

What Goes Around Comes Around Award – Patriots: It’s true the refs blew it missing the hold on Kyle Dugger during that back-breaking Kene Nwangwu TD kick return on Thanksgiving vs. Minnesota. But it’s ironic it came less than a week after a clip was missed on the Marcus Jones punt return that gave the Patriots a final-second win over the Jets. Didn’t hear many local complaints about that.

However, since the Patriots likely would’ve kicked a game-winning FG even with the penalty yards tacked on it wasn’t as damaging.

Super Bowl Hangover Award – L.A. Rams: Now 3-8 after Sunday’s loss to KC, few teams have had a worse season after a Super Bowl than the Rams have had this year. And they were stumbling before big injuries hit.

Team Killer Award – Carson Wentz: After going from Philly’s last MVP (2018) candidate, HH’s killed the Eagles, Colts and Commanders in consecutive years. Though Washington has gone 5-1 since he was benched in favor of Taylor Heinicke after a 1-4 start.

Finally, with Buffalo twice and Miami in the final six games the Pats had better play well, because their playoff hopes are in peril.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

If you are a Celtics fan you wake up this Thanksgiving morning thankful for how the season has started. That’s because without the game-altering shot-blocking of Robert Williams to be counted on until late December at best and with the team being led by an untested 34-year-old coach in the wake of the Ime Udoka disaster, you really had no idea what direction it would all take.

But with a seven-game winning streak in progress and an NBA-best 11-3 record as I write this for my early Thanksgiving deadline, things couldn’t have gone much better.

Here’s how it all went down.

Differences From Last Year: There was a lot of hand-wringing early on because the defense wasn’t as stingy as it had been in the run to the NBA Finals, when they had the top-ranked D in basketball. First, I don’t know why anyone expected them to match that with Lob it to Rob on the DL. But judging defense is also not solely done with points allowed, as that’s often a function of pace of play, because it reduces the number of possessions a team has to score. And with them leading the league in scoring at 120 points a game they are running more and thus the possessions are way up. A more reliable indicator is the shooting percentage by the bad guys because it shows how they are defending in each individual possession. It’s up a bit; not having Williams could account for that. So I don’t think the D is that off overall as the points allowed suggest.

What To Like Best: The passing has improved. Ditto for the ball movement in half court, which is different from find-the-open-man creative passing. Both of which speak to why the scoring is up. But what I like best is how well they are playing together. They’re tight. They know who’s open and get them the ball with no dilly-dallying and it doesn’t matter who it is. That’s a sign of a good team.

Leadership: Given the job, Udoka last year and the choice to replace him with a guy who was just 34 and had never been a head coach above Division 2 was a bit concerning. While I’m not ready to put him in the Hall of Fame just yet, I like what I have seen so far for two reasons. They have kept all the improvements that came last year from Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, like better shot selection and taking it to the basket being the first option. And they are running much more, which accentuates the athletic advantage Tatum and Brown offer. You really won’t be able to judge it until a bad stretch hits and the big games arrive. But so far so good on Joe Mazzulla.

The Stars

Jayson Tatum: Contrary to the gushing from the cheerleader (Scal) and Sean Grande, he hasn’t even been the best player those watching this year have seen. That would be Donovan Mitchell, who outplayed him down the stretch and in OTs in both losses to Cleveland. But he has clearly taken up a step over last year and is now legitimately moving up the list of the best Celtics. With the year he’s having, I might take him over Paul Pierce because he’s a better passer and defender.

Jaylen Brown: Extreme athleticism that lets him defend and rebound aside, what I like about him is how he adds something new to his game each year. This year it’s better passing and court awareness, which has made him even better.

Marcus Smart: He’s finally become a real point guard as opposed to a guy doing that because he’s the only one they have to play there. He now directs the action, gets the ball to people when they can do something with it, and has dramatically improved his shot selection, which has improved his three-point shooting. He also scores below the foul line on pull-up Js and post ups, which he’s good at because of his strength. And then there’s the reason I never would have traded him when others wanted to: his toughness.

Al Horford: I love this guy because he’s the most under-appreciated player in the NBA. A versatile defender who can cover anyone over 6’6”, who doesn’t need shots but can make them from distance when it counts. The backbone of the team.

The Depth: The 2016-2017 dumpster fire season’s depth hurt them because most of the players were even in talent with skills that duplicated each other and all thought they should play more. This bench is deep but constructed with guys who have specific roles and skills. The leader is Malcolm Brogdon, who I’d been begging Danny Ainge to trade for for four years. He is a consistent and clutch scorer who is great at getting below the foul line to score or dish. As much as I focus on what he’s not (not tall enough, limited offensively) Grant Williams is really reliable. What I should focus on is that he’s always in the right place, a versatile defender who does the dirty work and puts in the work needed to get better as his expanding offensive game shows. The other guys like Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet are looking for a chance to play and are happy when it comes.

Biggest Surprise: When newly signed Danilo Gallinari went down for the year this summer many wanted a quick trade. Rather than panic, Brad Stevens elected to see what the untested Hauser could do in that role, and it looks like he was right. Again, it’s just 14 games, so no HoF nomination until we see how he does when teams make it a priority to give him no room to shoot. But with him shooting them at 48.5 percent, the jolt he gives off the bench is a plus, even when targeted for a defensive mismatch.

Hopefully it all continues.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

After a week off to recharge the batteries and give injuries more time to heal, the Patriots begin the second half of their season vs. the J-e-t-s Jets, Jets, Jets at home on Sunday in Foxborough.

Before they do that, here’s a look at some of the biggest first happenings and what lies ahead.

MVP Defense — Matthew Judon: With a league–leading 11.5 sacks Judon has been the overall MVP, best Patriots edge rusher since Andre Tippett and in the conversation for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

MVP Offense — Rhamondre Stevenson: A better way to say it might be he is the offense, with a little help from the dependableJakobi Meyers.He’s been a three-down back who can catch it out of the backfield when it matters who with 618 yards and 35 catches is on pace for a 1,200-yard, 66-catch season.

Stat Sheet — Turnovers: The defense has created a second best in the NFL 17 turnovers, which is great. What’s not is the 29th worst 17 TOs committed by the offense. That needs to be cleaned up.

Most Damaging injury — David Andrews: If you asked for a prediction before the season, you’d say Mac if you knew he’d miss three games. But since the O got better when he was out that’s not the case. It was the concussion suffered by center because the O-line turned into mush in the two games he missed.

Wally Pipp Award: Given how Bailey Zappe played when he got a chance you’d think it was Mac. But while I felt it coming as far back as last December, Damien Harris’s pulled hamstring opened the door for Stevenson and he ran through it. However, given how solid Harris is and smart it is to play two backs he won’t get totally pipped but the biggest minutes now go to Stevenson.

Most Idiotic Media Story, So Far At Least: The one where SI.com disscussed, after the Bears loss, the pros and cons of trading Mac Jones. No wonder they’re going out of business.

Better Than Expected: I was wrong and Coach B was right for playing the J.C. Jackson departure correctly. I said he should’ve signed him early after 2021 when handing out all that free agent money. Instead, the now out for the season Jackson has not been missed at all. Jalen Mills has outperformed expectations and the rookie Jack Jones has been solid, while the entire group back there has been a major plus, in part for their third-best 11 interceptions.

Worse Than Expected — Toss-up: It goes to the O-line because their shortcomings are having a negative impact on the unexpected struggles of Mac Jones. The pass protection has been inconsistent at best, shoddy at worst, they are constantly being penalized to put the O behind in down and distance, Trent Brown is a couple of time zones shy of the dominant guy he was in 2018 before going to the Raiders and Isaiah Wynn has been downright awful.

So What’s The Story With Mac? He has not played close to what he did a year ago. Especially when throwing downfield. We could point to his protection, but Bailey Zappe looked far more comfortable and was better doing it in his time with the same line in his three-game stint. So the question I have is what is the root cause for the regression? Some say he’s locking on receivers. That could be a part of it, but it seems deeper than just that. I thought the media yakking about his issues in camp was an overreaction. But they started on Day 1 and given where we are now, it seems they were right. Which points to the possible reasons: (1) instilling a new offense; (2) losing the guidance of Josh McDaniels and QB coach Mick Lombardi; (3) the decision to put the offense’s development and play calling in the offensively inexperienced hands of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge; (4) an inability by Mac to adapt to change; (5) the disappearance of the play action passing game; (6) he’s developed bad habits like the locking-on thing.

It’s likely all of it, along with the o-line and receiving corps (outside of Meyers and Stevenson) inconsistency. But again Zappe played with the same guys and was better. But having said that I wonder if the problems would be as deep if a more experienced offensive teacher/mentor was here.

Going Forward

The Schedule: It is a bear the rest of the way with the opposition having a combined record of 40-30. Four of their eight games are against teams ahead of them in the playoff fight along with 8-1 Minnesota on the road. They start with the Jets, Vikings and Buffalo, then close with the Bengals and vs. Miami and Buffalo at home. They probably need to go 5-3, which won’t be easy.

Loss That Could Bite Them — Da Bears: Given that Chicago’s one win in the last seven was that Monday night debacle in Foxborough, it’s safe to say the spotlight will be on that if the Pats fall a game short of a playoff berth. And while the suddenly blossoming Bears offense has scored 29, it should be particularly galling for Patriot Nation for how lethargic the defense was from the first snap to the last. I rarely boo, but I did for that non-effort. BOOOO!

What To Expect: The unacceptable non-effort vs. Chicago aside, I think the defense will be solid going forward. But they will not beat Buffalo or Miami scoring 17 points against them. So it comes down to can the offensive line get it together and what they get from Mac, or Zappe in the unlikely event a change is made, at QB. The good news is, with four games left vs. division opponents, their fate is in their hands in the suddenly wide open AFC East.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

It was another week of, as Johnny Carson used to say, weird, wild stuff. Among the happenings were Tom Brady ending a tough week with his billionth final-minute drive for a win, and the latest analytics-driven decision to cost a team the World Series.

Flash back to the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 1962 World Series. After a two-out double down the right field line that sent Matty Alou to third, Willie Mays was the winning run on second with the Yanks leading 1-0. If it were 2022, it would be, as Arnold would say, hasta la vista baby for starter Ralph Terry. Ditto for Jack Morris when he told Twins manager Tom Kelly to get back in the dugout in far more colorful language than that after he gave up a single and double to start the eighth inning while leading 1-0 in Game 7 of the 1991 series vs. Atlanta. He got the next three hitters and went for a complete game win in the 10th as the Twins won a second title in five years under Kelly.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson had that same decision on Saturday in Houston. He went with those in the stat geek suite and yanked Zack Wheeler in the sixth with two aboard after giving up just three hits, for Jose Alvarado, to get a lefty-lefty match-up with Willie McCovey look-alike Yordan Alvarez. Instead of hitting the rope that second baseman Bobby Richardson caught to end the ’62 Series, Alvarez hit a homer to center to give the Astros a 3-1 lead they would never surrender to take the Series in six.

Other than to revel in the second Series-costing failure in three years by the stat geeks, my point isn’t to hammer Thomson, especially since Alvarado had struck out all three Houston batters in the only inning he had pitched in the Series. It’s to say sometimes the right decision doesn’t work out and analytics are just a tool in the decision-making process. All the numbers they trumpet are what happened in the past and have nothing to do with the moment at hand, which is under an entirely unique set of circumstances.

World Series 101:Terry figures in an even more historic World Series moment than winning Game 7 in 1962. What was it?

Dusty Baker getting mobbed in the dugout by his players after Houston closed out the Phillies to win his first World Series as a manager after 25 years in the dugout has got to be a nominee for most heartwarming moment of the year.

UCLA and USC in the Big 10, yeah, that makes perfect sense. How many weeks do the, ahh, student-athletes get off from school when they do the Rutgers and Maryland swing in the Big 10 schedule? All of which Bill Walton sounded off on last week.

The Now I’ve Seen Everything Award goes to news that sportsbooks have put odds on who will be Gisele Bundchen’s first boyfriend after her divorce from TB-12. The favorite is ex-SNLer Pete Davidson. Nonsense like that probably made leading struggling Tampa Bay on a game-winning 60-yard final-minute drive over the Rams on Sunday a little sweeter for Tom.

There must be more to the Ime Udoka story, because I can’t see Red letting a guy who did such a great job as a rookie coach go to a division rival for no compensation. That says they just wanted to get rid of him for other misconduct or personality issues. I’d have tried to get Nic Claxton, who’s the athletic kind of big they need behind Al Horford and Rob Williams, and if it took expanding the deal beyond Udoka I’d do that.

World Series 101 Answer: When Bill Mazeroski hit the only Game 7 walk-off homer in 1960 to win a World Series it was Ralph Terry who threw the pitch Maz hit out of Forbes Field, making Ralph Houk’s decision to stick with Terry all the more revealing about the difference in thinking between then and the micro-management of today.

Finally, for the record: I haven’t liked Herschel Walker since he got run down from behind by a kicker (Adam Vinatieri) with nothing but the goal line in front of him on a kick return vs. the Patriots in 1996.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

When I come back in my next life I’m going to concentrate on making serious money.

The plan would be to come back in the ’70s and head straight to Vegas to bet on all the games I know the outcome of already, like Biff in Back to the Future Part II. Then after I get banned from the casinos I take my winnings to Wall Street to buy stocks like CMGI when it was at $1 a share and dump it at $140 right before the tech bubble burst.Then I’d find young Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and be the angel investor for Apple and Microsoft, which would give me real money after the initial public offering.

All this would be for the purpose of going on a spending spree to buy my own professional teams and/or entire sports leagues or media-related entities so I could bring back good things that have faded away and eliminate insanities that have emerged as people are afraid to go against trends and say the emperor has no clothes.

I would do so emphatically if I owned any of the following.

Boston Red Sox

I’d fire the analytics department before I found my new office.

I’d hire a stadium architect to figure out a way to make up the equal number of seats that would be lost if they pulled out all the old/ancient seats at Fenway to put in modern replacements wide enough to actually be comfortable through a whole game. With the proviso that not a blade of grass will be changed on the playing field.

Then for on the field in 2023, I’d do the following;

(1) Fire Chaim Bloom as GM. No hard feelings, buddy. You’re just not my cup of tea.

(2) Sign Xander Bogaerts to a six-year deal at high market rates with the proviso that when Marcelo Mayer is ready he moves to center field, or third if Raffy Devers leaves or goes to first.

(3) Get seriously into the Aaron Judge sweepstakes to get the right fielder they need and make 3-4-5 in the order a bear, or to drive up the price for the Yankees to inhibit future spending.

(4) Give in to the bullpen-crazed world of today and make Chris Sale the closer, to save his arm, with Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck the set-up guys to lock up the last three innings.

(5) Entertain trade offers made on everyone else to reset the team with the right deals. Though it would take a whopper to send Devers away.

The Patriots

Don’t care if it takes 20 years, I’d sign Coach B to a lifetime contract to insure he makes it to win record 348 as a Patriot to go past Don Shula after his classless 2007 during the failed undefeated season, especially the “Beli-cheat” comments.

I’d go back to the colonial army-inspired blue and silver uniforms they won all their Super Bowls wearing, ’cause the new ones ain’t bringing them any luck.

To heck with the border war; I’d immediately put Bill Parcells in the team Hall of Fame because he’s the guy who resurrected the franchise when no one cared and set it on course to be the dynasty it became. The guy’s 81, time’s running out.

The Celtics

I’d dump the black uniforms with the green trim. Yuck.

On the belief you have to give up something to get something, I’d trade Jaylen Brown and Grant Williams to Cleveland for point guard Darius Garland and Evan Mobley because it would improve their ball handling, make them bigger up front and give them the eventual replacement for Al Horford. And if they want to dump Kevin Love’s $30 million expiring contract I’d take that on because it would give them $55 million to spend on free agency next summer.

Tell Jayson Tatum to stop whining about every foul call and bench him when he takes it to the extreme and sulks the rest of the game. I mean who gets kicked out of an exhibition game for getting techs?

If not traded, I’d make Grant Williams an inactive — coaching decision until he stops complaining about every call against him. Because he doesn’t understand it’s costing him the benefit of the doubt on 50-50 calls.

Major League Baseball

I’d ban all the stat geeks and robot managers like they’re going to do with the shift.

It would be illegal to take a pitcher out of any game with a no-hitter in progress.

Sports Media

All in-game coaches interviews with play underway would be banned.

It would be No Soup for anyone making contrived signature phrases to stand out, like John Sterling’s annoying “the Yaaankeees win.” Authentic ones that come out of the moment like Mike Gorman’s “Got it” or Marv Albert’s “Yes!” that make the experience better get big year-end bonuses.

Since “superstar” is the most inflationary, inaccurately used and overused word in sports, it would be a month’s suspension of press passes for using it to describe any player below the level of Tom Brady, LeBron James, Bobby Orr or Secretariat. And it’s a lifetime ban for anyone on my staff if Kyrie Irving is ever called that.

Finally, I do know CMGI came after Microsoft and Apple. But since it’s my fantasy I make the rules how I like. So this one goes back and forth in time as well. With stops in 1927 to see the Babe in person, 1941 for the 56-game hitting streak and as the Kid hit .406, 1951 to see the Giants win the pennant, 1962 to watch Wilt score 100, and 1970 to feel the electricity in MSG as he ended the suspense of whether he could or couldn’t play by drilling the elbow jumper to start the magical Willis Reed game.

Now, sadly, back to reality.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

With the Celtics starting out 3-0 local optimism continues to be very high. And while it’s just three games, I will say they have done the most important thing they needed to do to show they will be picking up where they were when last season ended: attacking the basket over firing lazy threes. So the season started out as hoped.

Now some thoughts on the opening of the NBA season.

Six Biggest Stories To Start The Year: (1) LeBron James will pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time NBA scoring leader sometime after the new year. (2)How long before it implodes in Brooklyn? (3) Zion is (finally) back and the Pels have him. (4)Drama, drama, drama in Laker-land.(5) When will the Draymond Green departure happen at Golden State? After the sucker punch heard round the Chase Center, the Warriors signaled the end is coming by investing big money in young guys Andrew Wiggins and punch-ee Jordan Poole instead of saving some for when the tiresome Draymond’s deal is up at the end of the year. (6) After giving away its future, will pairing bigs Rudy Gobert and KAT work in Minnesota?

For the record, if passed, Kareem will have held that record for 37 years after surpassing previous leader Wilt Chamberlain’s 31,413 in 1985-86.

NBA 101: Who has committed the most personal fouls in NBA history?

Risers: Following a terrific year as a surprise young team last year until big injuries took their toll, Cleveland can’t be called a dark horse. Especially after adding a 25-point-per-game scorer in Donovan Mitchell to their rising young core led by Darius Garland and soon to be star Evan Mobley in a big trade over the summer. But they’ll be a riser to be reckoned with.

Overrated: 76ers: The Big 3 of Joel Embiid, James Harden and the underrated Tyrese Maxey will do damage in the regular season, but unless more is added to the roster at the deadline I don’t see it in the playoffs for them. Having said that, give Harden credit as he looks like he’s lost the many extra pounds he was hauling around last year. Combine that with taking less to stay in Philly than going for every extra penny in free agency. It says he wants to be part of the solution. Now if he actually starts trying on defense he’ll earn a tip of the cap from skeptics. Which as regular readers know includes me.

L.A. Lakers Saga: What they do depends on two things: (1) The health of ever fragile Anthony Davis. (2) Last year’s disaster wasn’t all his fault, though he did get blamed for all of it. But until Russell Westbrook gets a clue that he is not (and never has been) an actual point guard things won’t get better for him or likely the team either. It’s LBJ’s ball, so learn to incorporate what you do well into playing off the ball over dominating it.

Dark Horses: The East — Toronto. Ever whiny Nick (Good Night) Nurse gets a lot out of his players and basketball chief Masai Ujiri is good at finding unheralded talent. The West — New Orleans. Solid Big 3 and Brandon Ingram is better than almost everyone knows. All they need is luck in the health department.

Sorry, Scal, Jayson Tatum is not quite in the Top 5 players in the league just yet. And while it’s subject to change based on performance, here’s my Top 5 in top-to-bottom order: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, Nikola Jokic, LeBron James and Kevin Durant. I didn’t want to put Jokic here until his team does something. But consecutive MVPs said to do it. Tatum, Luka Doncic and Ja Morant will be the next three to crash the party as Ja really came into his own last year as a dynamic force. Going for 49 on opening night backs that up

NBA 101 Answer: Since he played 20 years in the NBA, it makes sense Kareem has the most fouls ever with 4,657. By contrast, Wilt, who never fouled out of even one game, incredibly is not even in the Top 250 players of fouls committed. This is even more incredible given that he almost never came out of the game. Overall he had just 2,075. His rival Bill Russell committed 2,593, which ranks 181st. LeBron is 210th with 2,531, and second all-time is Karl Malone with 4,578.

What a way to start a career for Jalen Williams. The 12th overall pick out of Santa Clara’s NBA debut for Oklahoma City lasted all of six minutes before he took one in the head leading to surgery on his orbital bone around his right eye that’ll have him out for the foreseeable future.

Former UMass-Lowell coach and current TNT announcer Stan Van Gundy is not the only (semi) local playing a role in the NBA this year. There’s the guy we called “Little” Stevie Clifford because he looked about 14 when he was a fledgling assistant on Bob Brown’s and Keith Dickson’s staff at Saint Anselm in the ’80s, who’s back in Charlotte as HC again there. And on the bench for the bad guys when Boston played Miami Friday night was one-time Plymouth State hoopster Dan Craig.

Incidentally, if Tatum wants to be the best player in the league he can get there if he learns to channel his emotions and frustrations into mental toughness to play (and lead) through adversity. Step 1: Stop being a crybaby when you don’t agree with calls and just play.

OK, one more, I love Bill Russell as much as anyone and like the idea of the year-long tribute. But the song by the rapper in the Riddler getup (see Batman’s adversaries) on opening night was overkill. A great player and dignified man, but come on, he wasn’t Gandhi.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

Do Pats Have A QB Controversy?
The results have been happily surprising for the Patriots after rookie Bailey Zappe stepped into what looked like a dire situation after their first- and second-string quarterbacks went down in consecutive quarters. Now that they are back to .500 from a 1-3 start, things are looking brighter.
Now the question is, have they played so well with Zappe because he’s played better than Mac Jones did in his three starts, or because the offense finally worked out the kinks that drew dire warnings from early in the pre-season?
By way of comparison: In Mac’s first three games as a rookie, the Pats were 1-2 as he threw two TD passes and three interceptions and averaged 243 passing yards as the Pats scored 57 points; Zappe has two wins and a loss in OT to Green Bay when he’s thrown four TD passes and one pick and averaged 199 yards per game as they scored 90 points, with the D chipping in 14 of them. Mac’s first 300-yard passing game came in Week 7; Zappe got his Sunday. All of which Coach B will have to mull in the immediate future. The one thing that is certain is that after what he’s seen of his rookie so far there is no need to rush Mac back until he’s fully healthy.

Roberts Leads Dodgers Off Early Post-Season Cliff, Again
Our day was made Saturday when foolish decisions made by the biggest robot manager of them all, Dave Roberts, brought down the Dodgers again in the postseason, this time by yanking starter Tyler Anderson with a 3-0 lead in their win-or-go-home Game 4 vs. San Diego, even though he’d only thrown 86 pitches and was cruising along with a two-hit shutout after five innings. In comes their bullpen and, as John Madden would say, BOOM, an immediate five-run explosion as Roberts once again let down his team with robot managing to turn an in-control 3-0 lead into a 5-3 loss, removing L.A. from the playoffs early for the ninth time in 10 years. Moral of the story: Managers need to act in the moment and not let stat geek law of averages dictate every move because they’re just averages.

How You’ll Know If Celtics Are In Trouble Without Ime
The Celtics opened their season on Tuesday as one of the favorites to go to the NBA Finals. But I’m not sure. First there is the obvious issue of Robert Williams being out until perhaps sometime in December. You may recall after he had surgery last March I said in no way should they rush him back before he’s fully healthy for short-term gain, because his game is his legs and they were risking that. Now after missing several playoff games due to knee soreness he’s had a second operation. So I’ll need to assess whether he’ll be the same destructive defensive force again before I’ll join the crowd.
Second is how the team adjusts to untested 34-year-old head coach Joe Mazzulla in the wake of the Ime Udoka mess. You may recall that before they became spring darlings last year they were an incredibly frustrating bunch until Udoka finally got through in early January. That led to getting Marcus Smart to play like a real point guard instead of chucking up every three in sight. Ditto for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who helped turn the season around by making them harder to defend by taking to the basket as the first option. The question is, was that a learned behavior or did it happen because a forceful coach stayed on their backs to make them change?
The first sign will be their shot selection. If it was learned, good things will happen. If not it likely means the stars aren’t listening to their coach and that will lead to frustration in the cheap seats again.

The Bogaerts Dilemma
Since he’s looked up to as the face of the franchise, re-signing Xander Bogaerts if he opts out of his contract seems like an easy choice. But for the Red Sox brass it’s actually more like playing chess than checkers.
First there is the fact that he knows Texas gave a lesser and far less durable Corey Seager $330 million guaranteed over 10 years last winter. So the market is set, making the Sox’ decision how many years do they want to give a 31-year-old shortstop? Complicating that decision is the fact that their minor-league shortstop Marcelo Mayer is among the top prospects in all of baseball, which puts him two years away at most. Do they want to give a long-term deal to a guy who will likely change positions in two years? And if so, where does he go? Third base or maybe a late-career move to center field like Robin Yount made to pave the way for a shortstop no one remembers today? Or if he goes to third, what happens to Raffy Devers, who’ll be up for an expensive long-term deal next year?
If Devers goes to first (where he should play), what about the highly thought of Triston Casas,

who’s been ticketed as the first baseman of the future for two years? Do they then trade him?
The decision is, are they a team that wants to compete now or one aiming for the future? So the options are (a) build around Mayer and Casas, then keep Bogey for veteran leadership and trade Devers now for help elsewhere; (b) let Bogey walk, sign the younger Devers and move Trevor Story short-term; (c) go big payroll, keep the stars, move Devers to first and trade Casas, or (d) keep all four — move Bogey to center in 2023 and trade Story to free up payroll.
I say D. Which would you do?

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

Round 2 of the MLB playoffs is now underway.

First, boo to the new best-of-three format for the Wild Card round. I liked starting it all off with winner-takes-all games to give it drama off the bat. Second, sorry, I just can’t call the Cleveland team the Guardians. I’m fine with the Buckeyes or Cleveland’s baseball team, but I don’t like “Guardians.” Third, I’m not sure giving up seven earned runs in his playoff start is why Mets owner Steve Cohen gave Max Scherzer an astonishing $49 million per to be their ace.

With that out of the way, let’s recap notable moments and Longshots Awards for the 2022 regular baseball season.

Most notably, it was a year of historic achievements at Albert Pujols became just the fourth person to reach 700 homers, Miguel Cabrera became the newest member of the 500 homers and 3,000 hits club and Aaron Judge broke Roger Maris’s hallowed Yankees record (and, oh yeah, for the AL as well) for most homers hit in a season with 62.

Baseball 101: There are seven members of the 500/3,000 club. Name the six who did it before Cabrera.

Want to know how much the game has changed from the olden days? Once upon a time the 155 homers hit by the Red Sox was a respectable team total. The supposedly power-laden Big Red Machine that beat the Sox in the 1975 World Series hit just 124, and 141 when they beat the Yanks the next year. But today 155 ranked 20th overall as seven teams hit 200 or more.

In case you’re interested: No one reached 200 hits for the season. The Dodgers’ Freddy Freeman led the majors with 199. He was also the leader in doubles with 47. J.D. Martinez was fourth with 43.

But what ever happened to the triple, as the most astonishing stat is not one player hit double figures in triples? The leader was Cleveland shortstop Amed Rosario with 9. Not too long ago Curtis Granderson had a 20-20-20 year in doubles, triples and homers when he hit 38-23-23 with Detroit back in 2007.

Talk the Balk Award: Miami Marlins hurler Richard Bleier for balking three times in the same at-bat to become the first to do that since 1900. He did it while pitching to the Mets’ Pete Alonso to let NL batting champ Jeff McNeil come all the way around from first base to score without the benefit of a ball even being pitched! Weirdly, Bleier had never committed even one balk in his 303 MLB appearances prior to that. He avoided getting a fourth by being tossed for arguing after the third one, but only after retiring Alonso. The Marlins won 6-4 despite Bleier’s historic night.

Baseball 101 Answer: Cabrera joined Pujois, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro and Eddie Murray in the 500/3,000 club.

If the Mets outbid the Yanks to sign Judge it will give them a batting with three of the Top RBI guys from 2022. Judge and Alonso led with 131 and Fancisco Lindor was fifth with 107.

It had to be more than just losing their 2021 ace. But the dominos began falling when Kevin Gausman signed with Toronto as they tumbled from 107 wins a year ago to 81. Actually it probably started with the retirement of Giants great Buster Posey. And it helped that everyone had a big stats slide (except young’n Logan Webb) from 2021 and there were injuries. It basically made them to the NL what the Sox were to the AL: the major disappointment.

There was an actual 20-game winner in Atlanta’s Kyle Wright, who went 21-5 with a 3.17 ERA. He’s got my vote for the NL Cy Young award. But since wins don’t matter to the stat geeks, they’ll probably pick the WHIP leader.

Comeback Player: Guess Justin Verlander still has it. After coming back from almost two missed seasons due to Tommy John surgery, at 39 he amazingly went 18-4 in 28 starts with a 1.75 ERA. He should get the Cy Young (his third) in the AL.

In case you’re wondering: It was 35 homers, 82 RBI and .269 for Mookie Betts in L.A. while trademate Alex Verdugo went for 11-74-.280.

Yankees announcer Michael Kay’s call of Judge’s 62nd homer goes into the Top 5 Worst Calls of a Giant Sports Moment of all-time. Zero drama in the voice like an astonished Howard Cosell bellowing DOWN GOES FRAZIER, DOWN GOES FRAZIER after George Foreman shockingly dropped Joe Frazier with a thunderous right 2 minutes into Round 1 of their 1973 title fight. And worse, he talked all through Judge’s trip around the bases. The cardinal rule is make the call, then shut up to let the crowd and team reactions carry the moment. Like Joe Buck’s dad Jack saying after a barely able to walk Kirk Gibson’s pinch hit walkoff homer off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, “I DON’T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!” Then just crowd noise. Which is what Joe did when the Sox ended the curse in Game 4 of the 2004 series.

Speaking of which, the enduring argument for 2022 will be, given the suspicion from the era, is the real homer record the 62 hit by Judge or the 73 of Barry Bonds hit in 2001?

Oddly it’s similar to 1961’s “Does the record belong to Roger Maris or the Babe?” as Nos. 60 and 61 came during the new 161-game schedule and after the old 154-game season Babe Ruth hit his 60 in. At that time Commissioner and Ruth binky Ford Frick gave it an asterisk to diminish what Maris did before it eventually disappeared to make Maris the King.

Finally, congrats to the retiring Eck after 50 years of excellence in baseball. He will be missed.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.