Category: Sports

The dramatically disappointing 2022 local baseball season mercifully ended with John Henry’s team in last place for the fifth time in the last 10 seasons.

Let that seep in for a second. Yes, there were two World Series wins in that time and four overall since Henry and Tom Werner bought the team. Which, given the sense of futility since selling the Babe to the Yankees, is noteworthy.

But five last-place finishes in 10 years when they annually have a Top 5 is mind-boggling to me. Fittingly it ended in a series with the forever payroll-strapped Tampa Bay Rays, who for the fourth consecutive season finished ahead of Boston despite spending roughly $120 million less on payroll in 2022. The disparity has reached as high as $160 million while being skunked by TB as the Sox drew 7.1 million to Fenway to Tampa’s over 3.1 million.

For that giant attendance edge Sox ownership gave their fans a collective 275 wins and 267 losses while the Rays went 322-220 at the time this column was filed.

That is dramatic evidence that it’s not how much you spend, but how you spend it.

Which should put Chaim Bloom on notice he better do a much better job picking the groceries or it’ll be curtains for him in Boston next October — something that would happen this weekend if I owned the team, because Chaimball ain’t working for me.

Here are a few more thoughts on the season.

The MVP — Xander Bogaerts: I’m not a big fan of giving this award during this kind of season. But it’s likely his last here and I want to recognize his professionalism through this and every other season since he arrived.

Best Move — Michael Wacha: This one got a ho-hum reaction from me as it just didn’t seem that after drifting for several years he could re-capture the promise of his early career. But while not exactly the reincarnation of Iron Man McGinnity in pitching just 123 innings he did so by going 11-1 with a 3.06 ERA. Now the two questions are (1) can he do it again? and (2) can Chaim re-sign him after a solid make-good year?

Worst Deal — Many To Choose From: Jackie Bradley Jr. getting DFA’d in July after being traded for a guy who hit 28 homers is hard to look past. But for me it’s passing on Kyle Schwarber in free agency, which was made even more galling by the fact that the guy who was smart enough to sign him, Dave Dombrowski, was the guy Henry fired to bring Bloomball to Fenway.

Because after finishing second in MLB in homers with 44 (as I write this) they’d now have him for three more years at DH while J.D. is done in Boston after hitting just 13 this year.

Throw in the 28 Hunter Renfroe hit in Milwaukee after the Bradley deal and it’s a net loss of 59 (44+ 28 – 13) homers Chaim let walk out the door for basically nothing. And there’s also the 35 hit by Mookie Betts. Yikes!

Advice For 2023: This came from a reader two years ago, and I agree 100 percent. Given his durability and injury issues, the Sox should go to spring training with Chris Sale penciled in as the closer. With his never-ending injury/fatigue issues that annually surface after the All Star break, his arm would likely tolerate the 70 innings a closer throws rather than the 200 expected of a starter. Put him at the back end of the two-innings abilities of Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck and they can lock up the seventh, eighth and ninth innings regularly.

Advice For 2023 — The Sequel: Nate Eovaldi should get drinks for free in Boston for life for his tremendous extra-innings performance in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series. But, while he pitches well when he does it, he’s only made 35 starts in four-plus years here. So given their need for durability in the pitching staff I let him walk unless he comes back for a lot less money as the fifth starter.

Coming Attraction —Free Agency 2022: If you think the natives are restless now, wait until after re-upping Aaron Judge the Yanks sign Bogaerts to be their shortstop. Seeing him in pinstripes will make Red Sox Nation absolutely irate and it should.

Get to work, Chaim. You’re now on the clock.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Celtics opened training camp on Tuesday for what almost everyone expected to be a season full of promise. At least until Thursday morning, when news of the Ime Udoka sex scandal broke.

I’ve been around long enough to see the Fritz Peterson–Mike Kekich family swap story, hear Wilt Chamberlain claim he slept with 25,000 women (which somehow didn’t stop him from scoring 100 points in a game or playing an incredible 48.3 minutes a game for an entire season), the Wade Boggs–Margo Adams girlfriend-on-the-road saga, and the daddy of them all, Tiger Woods derailing an all-time career with an array of extramarital affairs. But none threw a team’s season into chaos at Day 1 quite the way the Udoka story has.

For those who have been on Mars: Celtics Coach Ime Udoka was suspended for an entire year five days before training camp opened for violating team policy by having a consensual relationship with a co-worker/subordinate.

It triggered a number of stories and distractions large enough to overshadow the worrisome news that Rob Williams will be out for the next three months after another knee surgery.

All of which has everyone wondering if the tongues wagging will send the season south before it even gets started.

The distractions and ridiculous behavior that followed include:

News Item: Is There More To It?

I know this is the post-Harvey Weinstein Me Too era, but getting suspended for an entire year for one intra-office affair with a subordinate seems like overkill. Especially when the brass said they just learned of it in early July, which likely means he wasn’t continuing something after being told to stop earlier in the season. Maybe that’s all it was, but it makes me wonder when the other shoe will drop. Especially when you see 14-year NBA veteran Matt Barnes defend Udoka on Thursday and then retract that on his podcast the next day because he said when he got more facts it was “100 times” worse.

News Item: More Media Blather

First he correctly castigated Udoka for his role in the debacle. But then, in the most ridiculous newspaper column I’ve read (outside of politics) since Joe Barnea retired from the UL, Boston Globe basketball writer Gary Washburn went on to somehow blame the Celtics for the mess. Particularly vexing was the story being anonymously leaked to ESPN with a burner phone at 11 p.m. on Wednesday.

My question is, what difference does it make if it got out at 11 p.m., or 11 a.m. the next day? Because it didn’t change the story one bit.

As for who did it, my guess is it was someone who didn’t like Ime in the organization or maybe from outside. Like, I don’t know, the boyfriend or husband of the woman (or women) Udoka was sleeping with.

News Item: Why Do We Need To Know?

I’ll admit I’m curious to learn the full story, but I don’t see why the Celtics have to tell us. Washburn said Celtics fans deserve better after the Celtics press conference. Why? It’s a privately owned business, with employee privacy and legal liability issues at stake. And It’s hardly an important matter in the scheme of things. If you don’t like what they did, don’t watch. Like I quit being a Yankees fan after George Steinbrenner hired a convicted felon with mafia ties to dig on Dave Winfield.

We all have that choice here.

News Item: Social Media Does It Again

News flash: Social media is filled with gawking idiots and insensitive trolls. And they went right to work expressing who they thought the woman in question was. Washburn didn’t like it and intimated it was racist that the consensus settled on attractive Black women as the object of Udoka’s desire. I think it’s more likely the majority were sexist and settled on women most attractive to them as the likely candidate. Doesn’t make it right, or eliminate the discomfort of all the women, but that’s how those kinds of guys think.

News Item: What’s Next

It wasn’t all hysteria in the media. Chris Gasper wrote a solid analysis in the Boston Globe of why Brad Stevens taking over made the most sense. One that even included counter-arguments to his belief 34-year-old Joe Mazzulla is top young and inexperienced to take over for Udoka, which I agree with, even though I disagree with his contention that Stevens not being on top of his game his final three years as coach was because of burnout. I think it was because he fell in love with the 3-ball no matter what kind of shot it was, and got run over by the players, which led to all sorts of on-court issues and bad habits.

But given the situation, Gasper is right — Stevens is the best choice.

Now let’s see how it unfolds.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

A few thoughts on interesting sports stories in recent weeks.

Count me as enthusiastically on board with the new 12-team college football championship tournament to start as early as 2024.

I love that champs from the six top leagues automatically make it, there will be six at-large bids and the four highest-ranked teams get an opening week bye.

The Boston Globe headline reading, “Six fumbles, two interceptions, and just 29 rushing yards” told all you needed to know as BC lost its home opener to Rutgers. But how does a football team with eight turnovers only lose by one point, 22-21?

Suspending George Steinbrenner for life is what got Fay Vincent fired as Baseball Commissioner in 1990 because the remaining owners didn’t want an employee with that kind of power over them. Hence Milwaukee owner Bud Selig replaced him. So give NBA commish Adam Silver props for having the stones to suspend Suns owner Robert Sarver a year for the range of abuses investigators uncovered.

Props also to Brad Stevens for not panicking after Danilo Gallinari went down with a torn ACL. Better off first giving Sam Hauser a shot as the bench three-point bomber to save their meager cap space/injury exemption for the better options available in February at the trade deadline or buy out market if he’s not the answer.

Who else saw the irony in Danny Ainge getting back (with the usual boatload of top picks) Collin Sexton in Utah’s trade of Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland? The now 23-year-old 20-point scorer was the lottery pick sent to Cleveland to get Kyrie Irving in 2017.

Amid the excitement of Aaron Judge’s chase to pass Babe Ruth and Roger Maris for the single-season AL home run record and, more importantly, most in Yankees history is the absolute lunacy of analytics’ impact on baseball, as when manager Aaron Boone batted him lead-off on a team with 7, 8 and 9 hitters hovering around the Mendoza line (.200) and also getting few walks. My baseball analytics say this: With no one on base in the first at-bat for the team’s best RBI guy, and thanks to the stiffs in front of him getting on base twice every 10 at-bats during his next three, instead of the nearly five that would be on if batting clean-up, he’ll hit with roughly 300 fewer guys on base over 150 games. Case in point: When he hit numbers 56, 57, 58 and 59 last week, three were solo homers and the fourth had one guy on. I’d like to hear the stat geeks explain the benefit of that.

Here’s a stark illustration of what pitching is today vs. in the era when men were men, even when a guy is pitching great, as Arizona’s Zac Gallen did when he recently tied back-in-the-day-ers Orel Hershiser and Don Drysdale (plus Zack Greinke) for the all-time record of making six straight starts without allowing a run.

The difference is that Gallen never made it past the seventh inning in any of his starts while throwing 41.1 innings. For Drysdale it was six complete game shutouts, while Hershiser matched that and needed to go extra innings once to earn the all-time record at 59.

That’s two full games’ worth of innings more than Gallen. How can those feats be considered the same thing?

Hey, Matt Patricia, what’s the over-under in Patriots games for when you’ll finally call a few screen passes to help reduce the pressure on Mac Jones?

The “I did not know that” fact of the week, courtesy of Concord sports aficionado Jeff Smith via Facebook: While I saw the old man play a lot when he was hooping for Saint Anselm, I didn’t know Steelers tight end Patrick Freiermuth, who caught a TD vs. the Pats on Sunday, is the son of back in the day Hawks/Oyster River HS star John Freiermuth.

Best comic line I’ve heard from a broadcaster in a long time came from Ian Eagle during Sunday’s Patriots-Pittsburgh game. His partner Charles Davis made a Seinfeld reference about Nelson Agholor taking the “marble rye” (Jerry stole one from an “old bag” in one episode) into the end zone after a leap over and snatch away from the defender. Eagle followed that during the replay by saying that “was real and spectacular,” which is what Teri Hatcher said to end a show Jerry spent trying to find out if her, ah, impressive anatomy was real or enhanced. Yada, yada, yada.

Glad the aforementioned Eagle also cleared up why Pittsburgh is finally retiring the number of Steelers great Franco Harris 40 years after he last played. Turns out it’s to coincide with the 50th anniversary of his “Immaculate Reception” that stuck a dagger much deeper into the heart of Raiders Nation than the tuck rule did in early 2002. Makes perfect sense since it is unchallenged as the NFL’s most shocking ending and one of its greatest games.

Incidentally, my introduction to Harris came when he played with Lydell Mitchell at Penn State in one of the greatest college backfields ever. In those days WPIX in New York used to air condensed one-hour versions of PSU games on Sunday mornings. I watched every week, but thanks to the quirky delivery of whoever the announcer was, it was almost two seasons before I realized he was not the hard-running Irish fullback named Frank O’Harris I thought he was, but instead the son of an Italian mom and English dad named Franco Harris.

I hope all the LIV golfers taking Saudi Arabia blood money saw the gut-wrenching 60 Minutes special on the bravery and brutal sacrifice of the FDNY on 9-11 and its aftermath that ran on the 21st anniversary, ’cause their being so tied to that attack is one of the things SA is trying to whitewash with their golf PR campaign.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

With Week 1 gone and 16 games still left to play, here are a few people worth keeping an eye on before the Pats see them at some point as the season unfolds.

Bill Belichick: After Sunday’s 20-7 loss to Miami, he remains at 321 career wins. Thus he still needs four more to move past NFL founder George Halas’s 324 into second place for all time in career coaching wins, and that would then be 26 behind the 347 of all-time leader Don Shula, a guy who made the chase a little more personal by calling Coach B “Beli-cheat” after the spy-gate nonsense of 2007. I always thought that was a jealously petty shot by Shula to diminish the Pats’ attempt at surpassing Shula’s undefeated Dolphins of 1972 by finishing 19-0.

It gets a little murky between regular wins and overall wins, however, as today’s expanded playoff format helped Coach B to a 31-19 lead over Shula in post-season wins.

All of which means the 70-year-old Belchick will need three full seasons averaging nine wins per to pass Shula, while Papa Bear hopefully will be in the rear view mirror in October. While Belichick has the expanded playoffs on his side, Halas did his damage in 40 years, Shula 33, while it’ll be just 31 for Belichick if he gets there in three years.

As for hardware, he, Halas and back in the day Packers coach Curly Lambeau are tied with six NFL title teams each, while Shula was a paltry 2-5 in NFL title games, which includes somehow losing to the Jets in SB3.

Josh McDaniels: Guys rarely get a third chance when they flunk out after being a hot-shot head coach. So he’s on a personal hot seat in Year 1 with Oakland, er, I mean Las Vegas after his fairly disastrous turn in Denver. But that was over 10 years ago and that’s a lot more time than Coach B had before coming to New England for Round 2 after he was fired by Cleveland. By the time Vegas and the Pats meet on Dec. 18, we’ll know how his second chance has started, and whether the Pats’ O has survived his departure.

Tyreek Hill: While his departure didn’t seem to bother Patrick Mahomes much as he threw for five TDs in KC’s Week 1 44-21 blowout of Phoenix, he did occupy the Patriots’ attention all afternoon in Miami’s 20-7 win with eight catches (on 12 targets) for 94 yards. That helped distracted attention from game MVP Jaylen Waddle. Why? Because speed kills, which Bill B should have addressed in the off-season by trading for a proven ready-on-Day 1 home run hitter instead of drafting a maybe one in Round 2.

Hill will show us all why twice each year until at least 2026.

Jonathan Taylor: My friend the insurance mogul Dick Lombardi was right that I missed a lot by not paying attention when he was killing it in college at Wisconsin. My loss. After last season’s 1,811 rushing yards he’s 20 shy of 3,000 yards in two seasons and already has 29 TDs and averaged 5.3 a carry. He got off the same in Sunday’s 20-20 tie in Houston with 161 (5.2 per) and a TD. They (gulp) see him and Indy on Nov. 6.

The QBs: The Patriots defense will have its hands full as they face two guys drafted ahead of Mac Jones in 2021, along with three MVP contenders.

Zach Wilson and Justin Fields: Both were thoroughly outplayed by Mac in their rookie seasons. So besides rookie mistakes and dumb injuries, not much is on their resumes yet. Wilson is already hurt and expected to miss the Jets’ first month, But Fields got off nicely by beating fellow 2021 draftee Trey Lance by throwing for two scores in Chicago’s 19-10 upset of the ’49ers.

Lamar Jackson: He comes to Foxboro in Week 3. He’s an MVP winner once already, but took Baltimore’s sure playoff mid-season spot with him when he went out for the season in Week 12 last year. This is always the fear/risk when a QB’s game revolves around running as much as his does. But when he’s healthy, watch out, as his production as a runner is what makes him so dangerous and fun to watch.

Aaron Rodgers: Not a huge fan, but there’s no denying how good the reigning MVP is in the regular season. And now that the Green Bay brass caved to his “trade me or else” snit, they’ll see him in Week 4 at GB.

Josh Allen: All I can say about him is, I was right after being all in on him despite an up and down rookie year, and all the local media geniuses (Michael Felger, Tony Mazz and the Globe’s Ben Volin) mocking him as a bust during his early years were dead wrong. He’s a beast who crushed NE twice last year and who started the same way last Thursday night as Buffalo thumped the defending champs to give more credence to him as my pick for MVP.

Sean McVay: They won’t see him, but if you’re looking for who has the best chance to eventually pass Shula or Belichick’s final total, look no further. Hired at 31, he’s got an eight-year head start on Coach B and had 55 wins in his first five seasons to Coach B’s 36. He made his first SB in Year 3 and got his first SB win in Year 5. For BB both came in Year 7. Even his coaching tree is better. Zac Taylor got Cincy to the SB in Year 3 and Matt LaFleur is 39-10 in three years with GB while Bill’s assistants have mostly failed as head coaches.

Interestingly the guy with NFL best winning percentage (.759) also started at a really young age. John Madden was just 33 when Al Davis hired him to coach Oakland in 1969.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

Your New England Patriots kick off 2022 on Sunday in Miami. It’s traditionally a house of horrors when they do it during the blast furnace conditions of playing in South Florida before October arrives, so history gives a guide to how things may start out — which may be the clearest picture we have for what lies ahead. If I were asked to give one word to describe my outlook for 2022, “optimistic” is not the one I’d choose.

In fact, after seeing what I saw in three pre-season games and hearing daily reports from camp of continuing confusion in the new offense, I can’t honestly even use “hopeful.” So I guess it’s “I-dunno,” if that can count as one word.

Seasons usually come down to one or two X-factors, like how a new QB like Matt Ryan gels with his new team in Indy, or how healthy a team can remain. But with these Patriots it’s the opposite, as from the O-line to the new highly questionable coaching assignments nearly the entire team is an X-factor.

So here’s what I considered while trying to predict how it will unfold.

Who Do I Have Faith In?

Coach B: After losing his longtime offensive coordinator and several other offensive coaches and altering the offensive scheme for some reason, things seem pretty disjointed. But he always seems to figure it out. I think he’ll do it again this time, with one of the things being realizing he’ll have to take over play calling early on.

Mac Jones: He wasn’t very good in two pre-season stints, where most of his attempts were rushed dink and dunks that were mainly the result of protection breaking down — a big worry at the moment. But if they get that fixed he’ll take a step forward. If not, goodbye to making the playoffs.

Matthew Judon: He was great for 14 games, then got Covid and disappeared. My guess is that doesn’t happen again. Big year ahead.

Kyle Dugger: After a solid Year 2, he’s preparing to take over as leader of the defense from Devin McCourty.

Who Don’t I Have Faith In?

Offensive Play Calling: I stated my case a few weeks ago about how Matt Patricia’s ’fraidy-cat, bend-but-don’t-break style as the DC (which immediately got better with the same personnel when Brian Flores took over in 2018) drove me crazy. And it’ll be worse if he’s calling plays for the offense. Let’s just say I’m not a fan.

Who Am I Wondering About?

Offensive Line: Matty P’s official position is the O-line coach. So far it’s been a disaster both running and passing. Better hope he can fix it because this team goes nowhere if it can’t protect Mac and run the ball.

10 Rookies Make the Team: It’s astonishing 10 rookies made the cut down roster. But is it a tip of the cap to the brass for a second straight productive draft, or that they lacked dependable depth overall? If the guys can play, it makes them younger, faster and with the bonus of helping with the salary cap going forward. But 10 rookies makes you wonder if they’ll lack critical experience in times when it usually counts most. So it’s wait and see.

Who/What Am I Hopeful Over?

Return Game: Some people think this doesn’t matter, but I think it does. It was always a factor, from the early days with Troy Brown returning two punts for TD’s in 2001, to how the Edelman/Amendola twosome in the punt return game was a factor when they went to four SB’s in five years between 2014 and 2018. Ditto with the spark and anticipation Cordarrelle Patterson gave on kickoffs in 2018. But since all three left, the return game has been dismal besides a lucky six-game spurt by Gunner Olszewski.

But, even with the fumble-laden era of the over-hyped Cyrus Jones in my memory, I’m curious about rookies Jack Jones, Marcus Jones and Pierre Strong because they have drafted speed and guys with a track record of taking kicks and punts back for scores in college. Given their holes, they need all the field position help they can get from special teams. So I’ll use that word “hopeful” here.

Secondary: Two years ago they had the best secondary in football before Bill screwed it up by not signing JC Jackson early when he was giving out free agent cash to seemingly every stiff in the league and waited too long to trade Stephon Gilmore to get anything of value. As a result, the safeties are solid and deep. But with no elite corner and rookies likely in the mix it’s going to be a scary area until they prove otherwise.

Receiver Room: It’s not that I don’t like the DeVante Parker acquisition, Jakobi Meyer, Kendrick Bourne or Hunter Henry. It’s just that they need/needed to get a ready-on-Day 1 home run hitter to make everyone better. With that not here, they will need major improvement over 2021 from Nelson Agholor and Jonnu Smith to give Mac the extra help he needs.

Schedule: Not overly hard, but not easy. They face six 2021 playoff teams and Buffalo is the only 2021 first-place finisher they play. Having said that, three of their first four are on the road, including at Green Bay, and they have nine games on the road and just eight at home.

AFC East: The Jets are the Jets and starting out with 112-year-old Joe Flacco at QB. And until proven otherwise, despite their impressive wideout talent, Miami will find a way to screw something up. Buffalo is not only the cream of the division, they’re my prediction to win the Super Bowl as well.

Prediction:It’s a long way from the good old days when you could predict/guarantee 12 wins before the schedule came out

Now, it’s 9-8 and fighting for a wild card berth till the end.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

It’s been a crappy sports summer, hasn’t it? Even with the Celtics season lasting until June.

That’s because with Boston basically out of it since April 15 and no one doing anything memorable baseball’s been a complete dud.

So I’ve taken note of individuals over teams more than usual. Here are a few who got my attention.

James White: I mentioned when he retired how reliable and clutch he was. But what I didn’t detail was his role in his greatest game, the astonishing comeback win over Atlanta in SB 51. It was 28-3 right before he started the comeback with a short TD reception from TB-12 with 2:06 left in the third quarter. His next TD (after the PAT) tied it with 53 seconds left. Then came the game winner when he fought his way into the end zone for the win in OT. Overall he had 14 catches for 120 yards, 6 runs for 29 more, 3 TD’s and the 2-point conversion that got them to 8 down with 5:50 to play. It is among the five greatest games ever played by a Patriot.

Steph Curry: I knew he was good, but not that good I guess. I hate the way he flops on almost every shot, but he sliced and diced the Celtics so thoroughly in the Finals they should make Marcus Smart give back his Defensive Player of the Year award. I don’t like to overreact to one great series, but four titles in, I’m ready to say he belongs in the NBA’s all-time Top 10, though I’m not sure who to kick out.

Xander Bogaerts: Get your last looks over the final month of 2022. In his continuing zeal to become the 21st century’s answer to Harry Frazee, Chaim Bloom will let the face of the franchise (and its greatest ever shortstop) walk in free agency this winter, a move that should be on Chaim’s baseball tombstone when it’s all said and done.

Jarren Duran: A year ago he was the next big thing, a Top 100 prospect with blazing speed and emerging power ticketed for center field and a spot at the top of the order for years. However, in the 18 months since, he’s struggled to hit .218 over 300 major league at-bats before being demoted to AAA last week. His problems are made worse by his having the worst instincts of a Sox outfielder since Mike Greenwell was a collision waiting to happen on any ball hit into the gap. This puts him at a career crossroads going into spring training and makes him the latest poster boy for why you should never listen to spring training chatter that makes young guys out to be a lot more than they turn out to be.

Curt Schilling: I was almost beginning to feel sorry for the Red Sox alum over the way his final year of Hall of Fame eligibility ended with him just short but going backward in the vote. And then I was reminded last week why it happened. It was his tone-deaf tweet in opposition to the federal government forgiving some student loans. It’s OK to be against it if you have your reasons. Heck, I’m against it, I think. But when his objection came with his usual “I’m smarter than you” snark after he received, and blew, a free $75 million loan guarantee from the State of Rhode Island because of his celebrity status, I said, oh yeah, now I remember. Twitter wasn’t so kind in unleashing an avalanche of response to his utter hypocrisy and tone.

Steve Kerr: After watching him at work in the NBA Finals I think I’ve been under-rating Kerr all these years. And it was not just his decision-making. It was the Golden State defense. While Curry was the straw that stirred the drink, the surprising (to me) GS defense was close behind, especially the way it closed so quickly to the corner to render Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard useless on offense and how it gang tackled its Big 3 on drives to the rim and stifled them in half court O. That along with its usual offensive efficiency made it obvious what a good job Kerr does.

Steve Nash: For once an owner backed his coach over a star player as Nets owner Joe Tsai did during Kevin Durant’s angry summer. Now the question is how do you coach a team after your star has publicly demanded you be fired? We’ll soon find out.

Lenny Dawson: He died last week at 87 after long ago being the epitome of the “AFL players can’t play in today’s NFL” talking point of the 1960s after flunking out with the Steelers and Browns a few years after going one pick before the great Jim Brown in the 1957 NFL draft. But Dawson really just needed the opportunity the upstart AFL gave guys like him. His Dallas Texans (soon to be the KC Chiefs) won the AFL title in 1962 and again in 1966 when they lost in the first Super Bowl. He was back three years later when KC croaked the supposedly invincible 12-2 Vikings 23-7 in SB 4. It was an even more shocking win for NFL fans to swallow than the Jets’ titanic upset of the Colts in SB 3, because one win can be a fluke, but another the next year said something about the AFL’s overall strength. And that was a blow to NFL egos.

I’ll buy that Joe Namath was its most important player. But Joe Willie was not the All-time AFL quarterback as he was voted. Dawson was robbed. He was in the league longer, won more and had far better stats, along with the same SB ring and MVP award Namath won. So I see Dawson’s legacy as being a symbol of where the league started and how it ended up in a draw with the omnipotent NFL 10 years later. RIP Lenny D.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

News Item: LIV Making Waves In Golf World

I was around in the early days of the AFL and for the birth of both the ABA and USFL, so I get what the players who’ve left the PGA to join LIV Golf are doing. They’re grabbing the incredible money being thrown their way, which is fine if you can block out who is behind where it’s coming from and why they’re doing it. Regardless of that, it brings to mind two other points to me.

First, the players grabbing the cash, as is generally the case in the large me-first, greed-infested segment of our culture, want it both ways. They want LIV money and to play in PGA-sponsored events like the FedEx Cup playoffs. And several have sued the PGA for restraining trade by preventing them from playing in their events. I’m not an antitrust lawyer and I don’t play one on TV, but that’s like taking ABA money and still wanting to play in the NBA too. Doesn’t work that way. Who blames the PGA for saying, “Hey, pal, you can’t play in our events because you work for a rival business that’s trying to take money out of our pockets”?

Second, maybe it’s because it’s just golf or maybe it’s that I’ve been around long enough to see the real fun of the ABA, AFL and USFL, not to mention the XFL, but my attitude for LIV is “who cares?” While I root for certain guys at times, it’s only when they are playing in the tourney of the day. If not, so what? That’s because I watch golf for the events or the courses they’re playing, like Pebble Beach, and not for specific players.

Bottom Line: Keep them out of all four majors to make it hurt until the Saudi money eventually dries up and LIV folds.

News Item: Pats After Two Games

I love the pre-season pronouncements about how a team or a rookie looks in August. Like the Boston Globe’s Tara Sullivan saying the Patriots’ defense “is looking as stingy as ever” after two meaningless games. First, I guess she missed those last two games vs. Buffalo in 2021; I don’t know about “stingy as ever.” Second, they’ve played two series against a starting NFL QB, so how can you tell anything? Especially since Daniel Jones took the G-Men 68 yards down the field for a FG on his first series.

Then we’ve got the ultimate fan boy writer, Concord Monitor alum Chad Finn, saying in the Globe that second-round pick Tyquan Thornton should get the benefit of the doubt from skeptics after scoring a TD in Game 1. Oh, yeah, let’s ignore 18 years of futility between 2003 and 2021 in drafting wide receivers because a guy scored a preseason TD. I’m not saying Thornton is going to be good or bad; I haven’t seen enough of him against anyone, let alone face to face with a guy like Stephon Gilmore. And with him suffering a collarbone injury that could have him missing up to eight weeks his start now is a lot closer to N’Keal Harry than Deion Branch.

Bottom Line: Come see me in October. You rarely can tell much until then.

News Item: Judge Challenges Maris And The Babe

Steroid-tainted Barry Bonds holds the official record for homers in a season at 73, so this is more of a New York thing, but with Aaron Judge on pace to hit 61, all eyes in NYC will be on him as he tries to take the Yankees homer record from Babe Ruth and Roger Maris. While Maris holds the record with 61, many didn’t recognize that, in 1961, he did it in the new 162-game season whereas Ruth hit his 60 in 154 games.

Bottom Line: I’m a “records are made to be broken” kind of guy, so I’m pulling for Judge to do it even if it takes a bit of Yankees lore with it Either way, it should be a nostalgic final month in the Bronx.

News Item: How To End Brooklyn Saga

Enough already with the unending Kevin Durant-Brooklyn trade-me standoff. If I’m Brooklyn owner Joe Tsai I tell Durant we’re not trading you unless we get our price (which they have little chance of getting), so sit out. I’m worth $10 billion, so even losing $100 million is chump change. On the other hand, if you sit out for the three years left on your contract you’ll be coming back at 37 after missing 4.5 of the last six seasons. So good luck with that.

As for Kyrie Irving, that no one wants him is validation for me saying since 2017 he’s not as good as people think and even if he were, a guy who takes it all for granted ain’t worth the trouble.

Bottom Line: Stop letting players try to dictate what you do. Make them put up or shut up.

KD loves to play, so he’ll come back. As for Kyrie, his value will be highest at the trade deadline after somebody gets hurt on a contender and they’re desperate for help.

News Item: Browns Get Stuffed on Watson

Given his unrepentant attitude throughout, even with a $5 million fine and an 11-game suspension Deshaun Watson got off easy for what he did. But to some degree Roger the Dodger’s hands were tied after the arbiter tied her lighter ruling to the weak consequences various owners got for their own behaviors.

Bottom Line: Admittedly an after-the-fact bottom line. But I said last spring the Browns should hold on to Baker Mayfield. If they had, they wouldn’t be scrambling to find a QB in late August because sulking through the season wouldn’t be smart for a guy needing a reboot ahead of being a free agent in 2023. So he was a perfect fit for trying to prevent their season from going down the drain.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

Another week with too much going on for a once a week column.

With Chaim Bloom’s baseball visions sending fan interest into a death spiral, will the much bigger deal made over David Ortiz entering the Baseball Hall of Fame than when Richard Seymour went into the Pro Football Hall two weeks later be the last time the Red Sox will command center stage for a long time?

Sorry, I don’t get what the hoo-ha was over Washington’s Juan Soto being traded to San Diego at the deadline to “tip the balance of power” in the NL West. Really? When was the last time a .246 hitter did that?

Sports 101: An actual trade that did came in 1987 when Detroit gave up a no-name prospect to get veteran Doyle Alexander. Hethen went 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA in 11 starts to help them come from way back to win the AL East in 1987. Name the future Hall of Fame hurler they gave up to get Doyle.

Beyond that, how old are the people calling the Soto deal the biggest ever? 14? Here are two trade deadline deals I guarantee Soto won’t top.

In 1964 Lou Brock got traded at the deadline to spark the languishing Cardinals to win the World Series four months later. And all he did after that was accumulate 3,000 hits and become the all-time leader in stolen bases.

In 1977 300-game winner and Mets icon Tom Seaver was traded in his prime to Cincy. Think if they made it into a movie people would believe the 2022 Chris Sale saga, which supposedly ended by him falling off his bike and breaking his wrist? It’s a story with an ending many local media types are highly skeptical about. It makes the ledger for the first three years of Sale’s five-year deal signed in spring of 2020 5 wins, 11 starts and two losses for $90 million.

Congratulations to ESPN for getting it right for once in ranking Jimmy Brown as its GOAT for running backs. Ditto for Barry Sanders as No. 2 and Walter Payton third. Well done.

Shouldn’t Tom Brady be fined big for his role in the Miami tampering plot with owner Steve Ross and U of Michigan buddy/minority Dolphins owner Bruce Beal to get him out of his Tampa Bay contract to become the Dolphins QB?

And with that dishonesty added to the ledger with him not mentioning anyone in Foxboro when he retired as part of the phony plot, the halo has certainly descended on TB-12 around here.

Add another entry to Kyrie Irving’s “Is This Guy For Real?” file, from his contract extension talks where two of the items he wanted in his new contract, according to Ric Bucher’s On the Ball podcast, were that he only had to play 60 games a year and that he didn’t have to play “inhumanely” in games on back-to-back nights. He later refuted it in a bizarre rant on Twitter that contained phrases like shifting “paradigms” apparently to show how deep his intellect is.

Speaking of the tediously unending Nets saga, I think I’d do the deal for him if the price was Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and a first-round pick because it let Jayson Tatum just play and put the leadership burden on the more suited for it Durant.

But I’d rather see them send Brown and Grant Williams to Cleveland for Evan Mobley, point guard Darius Garland and taking on Kevin Love’s onerous but expiring $30 million contract. That would hurt them a little defensively but give them a better and bigger three-man rotation among the bigs, deliver the eventual replacement for 37-year-old Al Horford, a real point guard in Garland and with Horford’s expiring deal, $60 million to spend on free agents next summer.

Though if I were Cleveland I wouldn’t do it.

Sports 101 Answer: The prospect Detroit gave up for Alexander was John Smoltz, who went on to win a Cy Young, save an all-time single season record 55 games and win 213 games with Atlanta on his way to the Hall.

Sports 102: Name the Hall of Famer then major Dodgers prospect Doyle Alexander was traded for at the start of his career in December 1971.

One more thing on Soto. I get that he’s just 23 and bursting with potential. But he’s had a full season when he hit over .300, and another when he hit .351 in 46 games. Has never hit more than 32 homers or driven in more than 110 in six seasons.

At 23 it was 46/127/.356 for Albert Pujols. By his sixth season Junior Griffey had two 49-homer seasons and three 100-plus-RBI seasons already. In his fourth season Willie Mays was MVP for going 51/127/.319. In his fifth season Mickey Mantle won the triple crown and MVP for his 52/130/.353 submission.

Terrific prospect, likely bright future, but let’s pump the brakes on Soto because he hasn’t been as good as any of the people mentioned above by 23 or their sixth season.

Sports 102 Answer: The highly touted Alexander was the key guy Baltimore got back in a six-player deal that sent the great Frank Robinson to the Dodgers.

With other guys around the league going down with big injuries I probably should just be happy it didn’t happen here. But beyond the eight catches for 99-yard effort to support my belief Kristian Wilkerson is better than the Patriots seem to think, I don’t know what I got from last week’s pre-season game vs. the G-Men.

Finally a tip of the cap to James White at his retirement. He was as reliable as they come, clutch when it mattered most and with six carries for 29 yards, 14 catches for 110 yards and three TDs spectacular in the greatest Super Bowl comeback ever. A true Patriot if there ever was one. Thanks for the memories and best of luck as you ride off into retirement.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Patriots are back at work getting ready for the 2022 opener. They do so with a host of big question marks brought on by (a) a disastrous final month of 2021, which included getting annihilated twice by Josh Allen and Buffalo, (b) a number of high-profile defensive departures, (c) losing offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, coupled with the curious “Bill being Bill” decision to not name a replacement, and (d) low expectations for not much more than a one done in the wildcard playoff round.

So with that as the backdrop, here’s what to keep an eye on this month.

Biggest Strength

Running Game: Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson give them thump on the inside and burst to run outside. That will help the play action passing and let them get it more often on third and short, which is the key to having long drives.

Biggest Questions

Who’s Calling The Plays: Since I was no fan of Matt Patricia during his overly cautions, strategy-deficient reign as defensive coordinator, and he was a disaster as HC in Detroit, it’s distressing to hear Matty P will be calling the plays on offense. Made worse by an apparent scrapping of a big part of the playbook to create unnecessary confusion for QB Mac Jones.

Enough at Wideout: With the damage Randy Moss caused 2007 opponents in mind, I wanted Coach B to use his top pick and whatever else was needed to trade for a speed burning No. 1 receiver (and pay him) the way Philly did with AJ Brown. Instead he used that pick on an OL most thought he could get in Round 3 and spent the No. 2 on outside burner Tyquan Thornton of Baylor. Like the sentiment, but given the drafting record at the position he’s already in prove it mode.

So what do they have? DeVante Parker is a nice addition, but he’s a No. 2 and has been injury-prone in a seven-year career with just one 1,000-receiving-yards season. After that are Jakobi Meyers and Kendrick Bourne. Both solid, but they’re third-line guys who would be much more dangerous if they had a true No. 1. Finally there’s the speed guy Nelson Agholor, who I’ll get to later. If Parker can stay healthy they’re better, but they’re in a division with Tyreek Hill and Stefon Diggs, so they should have traded for the burner.

The Secondary: They’ve gone from the best secondary in football two years ago to a giant question mark thanks to Coach B fiddling while Rome burned. Instead of trading Stephon Gilmore for value ahead of 2021 (rather than the bag of beans he got doing it at mid-season) and spending the money to give JC Jackson an early extension, he walked when it got too expensive for Bill. So now it’s mix and match with retreads and rookies at the corners. Not sure who it could be, but someone has to come through or Mac will need to score 40 a game to win.

The Young Linebackers: With Dont’a Hightower, Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins gone, opportunity abounds for all the linebackers they’ve drafted in the last three years. And the question is, can those guys do the job?

Big Years Needed

Matthew Judon: He had 12.5 sacks in his first 13 games. But he got Covid in Week 14 and was MIA after that as the D fell apart. They need a full season this year.

Mac Jones: The numbers show he was better in his rookie year than Tom Brady was in 2019. That was good enough for me. Now he needs to be more in command and take the next step up. Plus with Matty P calling the plays, I’m hoping for a lot more audibles.

Guys to Watch

Kyle Dugger: With Devin McCourty nearing the end, the defense needs the next leader. After a solid Year 2 he’s the guy the brass wants that to be that guy.

Josh Uche: We’ve been hearing about his pass rush potential for two years. So in the put-up-or-shut-up year it’s time to find out if he can be the second edge rusher they need

Rhamondre Stevenson: I thought by the end of the year he was even better than Harris, as his acceleration through the hole and elusiveness in the open made big gains more likely. Plus he can catch, so I’m expecting a jump up in production.

Cole Strange: He can’t be a whiff. Because their top draft pick is stepping into a big hole at left guard and with an offense built on a solid running game and led by a young QB who needs to be protected, he needs to be as good asLogan Mankins and Joe Thuney were from the jump.

Marcus Jones: Except for a four-game stretch in 2020 byGunner Olszewski, who seemed more interested in running to contact than away from it, the return game has been awful since Cordarrelle Patterson left town. We’ve been burned (Cyrus Jones) by expectations from big college stats. But the No. 3 pick had four return TD’s last year. So it will be very helpful if he can be as dangerous here.

Improvement Needed

Jonnu Smith: Let’s just say he was an expensive bust a year ago. Thus while Hunter Henry was fine, the two tight end games never materialized. That needs to change and he needs to be much better.

Nelson Agholor: After a disappointing 37-catch three-TD season he needs to do a lot more to justify the expense. And that would have a bigger impact downhill, because if his speed can be a regular factor, it helps everyone else be better.

The X-Factor: The health of the re-shuffled offensive line where flip-flopped tackles Trent Williams and Isaiah Wynn both have injury histories. With not much depth they need them to stay healthy.

We’ll check back in a month for the answers.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

News Item: PGA-LIV Battle Heats Up

The controversial start-up LIV world golf tour currently giving the PGA tour indigestion had its first U.S. event this week when it stopped where else but at Donald Trump’s New Jersey golf course, which naturally started off with a headline-making bout with the PGA by telling players to take the huge money being offered by the Saudi Arabia-financed LIV tour. He’s not the only one saying that, but given the track record it likely has more to do with revenge against the Tour for yanking the PGA Championship from his course after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Politics aside, the question I have about the LIV is this: Is golf about watching top players play, or about them fitting into the annual march of PGA-affiliated major championship? In other words, do you watch golf in the second week of April every year to see the players or how they do competing at Augusta National in the Masters?

Time will tell of course. Though it did not get off to a rousing start, as while the weekend crowds were larger, the Wall Street Journal described attendance as “sparse.”

News Item: Should C’s Trade For Durant?

The big on-court basketball story was the Celtics allegedly offering Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and a draft pick to Brooklyn for Kevin Durant. With Durant likely in the top three players in the league, the pluses for him are obvious. Not the least of which was Brooklyn being 29-6 before he got hurt last year when they promptly disintegrated. Which is appealing to a team that’s won one stinking title in 36 years.

But here are three things to consider: (1) He’s become a very vocal whiner. What will that do to team chemistry? (2) First he wanted out in Oak City. That’s understandable because he had to live in Oklahoma to play there and coexist with the ball hog Russell Westbrook. But it was the same with epitome of team play Golden State and now Brooklyn. So you have to wonder if he’ll ever be happy. Especially as he gets to the grumpy old man phase of his career. (3) Megalomaniac Brooklyn GM Sean Marks wants Brown, Marcus Smart, another rotation player and three first-round picks for Durant. So are you ready to gut a young team that just added two solid bench players after coming up two games short of winning the NBA title, for a 34-year-old star coming off two seasons marred by major injuries in the last three years?

News Item: Pats Open Camp

Three things stood out above the rest as pre-season camp opened for the Patriots last week.(1) With Mac Jones firmly established at QB, for the first time in two years Tom Brady’s long shadow no longer hovers over the team. (2) After a horrid showing in the final month and several major departures, the defense is filled with question marks, especially at linebacker and in the secondary. (3) As the transition from the vestiges of the last three Super Bowl-winning teams fade and the newcomers from last year’s free agent haul have a year in the saddle, the search is on for new faces to emerge as leaders and high-end performers to keep the rebuild moving forward.

News Item: Ortiz Goes to Cooperstown

Congrats to David Ortiz for his well-earned first ballot entry into Baseball’s Hall of Fame two Sundays ago. But seeing that it took former Minnesota Twins teammates Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva until they were in their 80s and Boys of Summer Brooklyn great Gil Hodges over five decades since he died of a heart attack we have to ask, what took them so long?

The latter three were voted in by a committee of former players who got it right long after baseball writers kept missing. So congrats to three who should have been in years ago.

News Item: Benefit Found for Yellow Uniforms

Well, we finally discovered a good use for the RED Sox’ offensive yellow uniforms, which they wore all through the carnage of last week. It is that it let them play in disguise as they stunk up the joint so no one knew it was them as they fell into last place.

News Item: The Greatest Ever Passes On

After the passing of legendary Celtic Bill Russell at 88 on Sunday tributes to his greatness have been written all week. So instead I’ll just tell you about the one conversation I had with the great man.

It happened during a pre-season practice, Oct. 12, 1999. Not even sure how it started, but it went for about 45 minutes after he blurted out how impressed he was with young Shaquille O’Neal. Not the player, but the kid. “He must have good parents, because he’s a nice young man.”

Given Shaq’s immense size, I asked how he compared to his rival Wilt Chamberlain. A knowing smile came over his face as he said, “It’s hard to describe how good he was,” and he went on about him for quite a while. After hearing about the friction between the two, that made me feel good as his affection was obvious.

The conversation got so comfortable I even punked him, by saying to something he said about high school, “That’s not what [HS teammate and baseball Hall of Famer] Frank Robinson told me.” And he shot back, “Whuuut did he say?” I said I didn’t know Frank and was just kidding. That brought out the famous cackle, which was the high point of the chat.

I remember the exact day, because a short while later I heard on my car radio Wilt had just been found dead in his L.A. home. A surreal moment that’s always made our conversation bittersweet. But I will say it was the most normal one I ever had with a famous person and I’ve met a lot of them.

RIP, big fella, and thanks for the memories

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.