Thinking out loud…while wondering when college bowl season starts around here…
- In the spirit of turning the calendar page with "2020" vision – see what I did there? – it feels like it's time to put a few things out. Permanently.
- Bring Out Yer Dead! Whether you play the Victorian-era board game or you're a fan of Monty Python's skit by the same name, we'll select a few choice items/traditions/athletes/coaches/bodies to pile on top of the cart as it passes by this house.
- Kinda gross, huh? Hey, it was the Middle Ages. Too soon to joke about it?
- And let's start with the boil that continues to fester on the sides of Red Sox fans and faithful everywhere – David Price. The sooner he's outta here, the quicker the Sox get back to fiscal sanity and a more positive, rosy outlook on the upcoming season.
- Chad Finn wrote about this on Boston.com recently, and pretty much nailed it. He is both a solution, and an extreme complication. A Cy Young and World Series winner/hero, and a first-class jerk.
- On top of that, he's just not nice. Especially to fan-favorite, Hall-of-Fame players-turned-TV broadcasters. But then again, he isn't paid to be nice, is he?
- Wouldn't we all prefer the Sox eat a bit of the $96 million he still has left on his deal to be rid of his pungent personality in the clubhouse and the dugout? Especially if it means hanging onto Mookie Betts if for only a precious few more days?
- Price can still pitch. But only if he feels up to it. I don't care to gamble with his warped sense of ability or loyalty, and if his departure means some fiscal sanity to the upcoming few seasons, I'm in. He should be out.
- Did you see where this Thursday was the 100th anniversary of the Sox selling Babe Ruth's contract to the Yankees? And to think it only took 86 of those years to overcome that gawd-awful mistake.
- Don't make the same mistake again, Mr. Henry (or Mr. Bloom), by selling off Mookie Betts before it's time. History does have a strange way of repeating itself. Just sayin'.
- Bring Out Yer Dead! Expectations for the upcoming Big East basketball season around Friartown have been, to put it mildly, squashed.
- Not for nuthin,' but the season opening win over Sacred Heart was pure fools' gold, as we have since witnessed. Perhaps only because our formerly reasonable expectations were overly inflated. Here's the real scoop on the Friars, and you probably won't want to hear this, or read this…
- They can win this Big East race, this year. I have not been nipping at the holiday egg nog, either.
- But not for the reasons you once thought would make them a Top 25 caliber club, or a media-darling to even the once-dominant, one-time Big East bastion of support, ESPN. No, these Friars can win because, well, because they'll stop trying to be what they ain't.
- They ain't got no consistent shooters. They often ain't got no smarts with the ball. And, please forgive me, Mrs. Gibson (my 3rd grade teacher) – we've seen they ain't got no consistent finishers around the basket, either.
- Wow, three double-negatives in the same sentence. Mrs. Gibson would flunk me, for sure.
- But what these Friars do have is resolve. The win over Texas is an example. This team simply has to resolve to play the way they know how, starting with defense.
- Alpha Diallo needs to be Alpha, and not a shooting guard. Nate Watson needs to be meaner/tougher/stronger in the post. Emmitt Holt needs to assert his calming influence, perhaps, a bit more demonstratively.
- Good fortune favors the brave – and the bold.
- And this team needs to create more opportunities for David Duke and A.J. Reeves to score with the ball. Because they can, even if Reeves is still struggling to show it.
- Hello, Luwane Pipkins. Play the point. Run the show, don't try to BE the show.
- There are some very good teams in the Big East this season. All of them are, in fact – which is unprecedented. But there is no great team. The Friars are in this mix, they just need to remember who they are, and how they won previously.
- Nine of the ten Big East teams are in the Top 52 of the NET rankings, at the end of this week. Only the Friars are on the outside, looking in, at 122. But the Friars also control their own destiny, with every remaining opponent in that Top 52.
- And it was an extraordinary weekend last weekend, with BE teams going 10-for-10 against non-conference teams. The current league winning percentage of .795 with six games remaining is the 6th best mark in Big East history.
- Each of the previous five seasons that were better? The Big East put a team in the national title game, winning three of them.
- Butler is better than previously advertised. So is DePaul. And another one – is St. John's. They won on the road at 16th ranked Arizona…without injured star guard Mustapha Heron.
- Should make for interesting nights at all arenas throughout the league this winter – including the Dunk. Happy New Year for the fans. Halloween for the coaches.
- Brown gets a nice end-of-the-year test Saturday, at 3rd ranked Duke, following an 18-day layoff. The 5-5 Bears lost at St. John's by 11 points on December 10th.
- And in case you've noticed something a bit off, you're right. The longer 3-point distance this year has resulted in lower shooting percentages, to 33.1% at present. Over the past few seasons, the nationwide average has been around 35%.
- But it's not really the shot-making part that seems to be affecting the game. Fouls, free throws attempted and points per possession are all down. Efficiency is down because spacing on the floor has changed, and proper spacing (with shrunken corners) has become more difficult to achieve.
- Bring Out Yer Dead! Every time they're written off by the likes of TV-talking head numbskulls like Max Kellerman and Nick Wright, they come back like Zombies from the Apocalypse.
- We're talking about the Patriots, of course, and the ever-growing perception that they're finally finished. Through. Has-beens. Falling off the cliff. Done-ski.
- Except that they aren't, just yet. What the TV nitwits and so many talk show bloviators fail to realize – and they might understand if they spent time actually following the team, rather than taking their pot-shots from afar – these Patriots have a professionalism and resolve that defies most other pro-team locker rooms, usually chock-full of selfish indignity.
- So much so, that those who actually DO cover the team on a daily basis often catch the disease – of Patriot positivity and work ethic. Some call these reporters part of the Patriots' Media Cartel.
- Actually, I'd just call them observant.
- Yeah, yeah. Easy for me to say. I've been in the cartel for more than 30 years, myself. But my observations and opinions are, shockingly, my own.
- I know we have a long-standing tendency around here to look at the negative side of a story with much more vim and vigor than some goody-two-shoes, feel-good fantasy tale. Call it the ever-lasting legacy of the Curse of the Bambino, from whence negativity grew into an actual New England birthright.
- Here's a different twist to that tired, but still-popular take.
- Do Your Job isn't so much a mantra, as it is an actual, practiced way of life. Nothing less, and sometimes a little bit more. The Patriots are, and have been more disciplined, if not more talented. They've been blessed with extraordinary ability, leadership and execution skills, sure.
- But don't forget they've long been in control of who they are, how they act and how they carry themselves publicly and privately. It's d-i-s-c-i-p-l-i-n-e.
- They're consistently copied, on and off the field…Spygate and Deflategate included, just worded and practiced a bit differently, perhaps. And, because other teams don't win with the uncanny regularity of New England, who really cares about anyone else's transgressions?
- The Patriots aren't perfect, however. Bill Belichick the GM can underperform, even if Bill Belichick the Head Coach can outwit his opponent. TB12 is ultra-smart, even if his legs are ultra-slow. They ain't perfect.
- But what makes the Patriots as perfect as can be – while ridiculed, reviled and rejected outside of New England? Undervalued and underappreciated athletes have often found a niche here, if only because they're asked to do but one thing – their jobs.
- Sometimes, the simplicity of it all is maddening. It can't be that easy, can it?
- If it were that easy, everyone would do it.
- I don't know about you, but I saw something in the Patriots last week against Buffalo I hadn't yet seen this season – grit. Or call it intestinal fortitude.
- As long as it's not just gas, this team should be able to close out a first-round playoff bye by beating Miami Sunday. And then, it'll be the same as it ever was.
- Tweet of the Week I, from @cpriceNFL: "Chasing history – if the #Patriots hold the #Dolphins scoreless next weekend, they'll go down as one of the stingiest teams in recent NFL history."
- Through 15 games, New England has allowed 198 points. Record-breaking? Not quite. Good enough to win it all? To be determined, but on a good track.
- Tweet of the Week II, from @peter_king: "In the 18 starting seasons for Brady/Belichick, New England has won its division 17 times. How will something like that ever happen again – not just in football history, but in sports history?"
- Good question, Peter.
- Never let it be said again that the running game doesn't matter. You'd be wrong.
- We're seeing a renaissance with RPO's all over the place, made popular by Lamar Jackson and the Ravens right now. And defenses will catch up. But the Patriots are also 27-2 over the last 29 games, counting the postseason, when they rush for more than 100 yards as a team.
- The MMQB's Albert Breer says Josh McDaniels would be a good fit – and a candidate – for head coaching openings in Carolina and Cleveland…especially if one opens in Cleveland.
- Bring Out Yer Dead! A Business Insider survey just before the holidays ranked Boston as one of the five rudest cities in America. Honestly, is anyone surprised by this revelation?
- Welcome to legal sports betting, New Hampshire. A good recap provided by Michael Silverman in the Globe this week pointed out it's unlikely Massachusetts will join the party in 2020. Especially because Rhode Island's take thus far hasn't been much to celebrate.
- And in typical, only-in-Rhode-Island fashion, Portsmouth's Daniel Harrop received a ruling from a Superior Court judge this month that his complaint filed against sports betting in the state may proceed. Harrop says sports betting is unconstitutional because the voters never got the chance to approve it, so it was wrongfully implemented.
- Stay tuned for more fun and frivolity coming your way, after the break.
- The kicker to this story – Harrop's previous attempts at filing a complaint failed, but when he was recently allowed to include information that he lost money on a Patriots' bet he placed a year ago, the court then decided to let him proceed.
- 13 states presently offer legal sports wagering, with seven more (plus Washington, DC) waiting in the wings. And in the month of November alone, three states raked in $1.49 billion (Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) in sports bets. That's billion, with a B.
- Tweet of the Week III, from @Super70sSports: "There are 21 baseball hall of famers who hadn't been born yet when the Rolling Stones were formed. Think about that for a minute."
- ICYMI, the college bowl season is underway…and in this week's example of "no matter how bad you have it, someone else has it worse," I give you the Miami Hurricanes.
- Once a feared but respected college football powerhouse in the '80's, '90's and into the 21st century, the "U" was shut out this week by Group of Five, Conference USA foe Louisiana Tech 14-0 in the Independence Bowl. Whoa.
- @footballfacts tweeted at me this week: "Belichick was 42-58 as a head coach before Brady came along. Brady saved his career. 42% coaches don't last long in the NFL."
- Kerry: Can't disagree with you. TB12 can win the 250th game of his career if the Patriots beat the Dolphins Sunday. That's 50 more than runner up Peyton Manning has, too. But certainly, they both enhanced the others' career at the same time, right?
- Interested in having your questions on local Rhode Island sports (and yes, that includes the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics) answered in a somewhat timely fashion? Send 'em to me! It's your chance to "think out loud," so send your questions, comments and local stories to jrooke@weei.com. We'll share mailbag comments/Facebook posts/Tweets right here! Follow me on Twitter, @JRbroadcaster…and on Facebook, www.facebook.com/john.rooke ...
Don't forget to tune into Providence's 103.7 FM, every Saturday from 7:00-9:00 am for Cordischi and Coit! Call in at 401-737-1287 or text at 37937.
