Thinking out loud…while wondering if political nonsense can stop long enough for us to heal the planet…
· It was only a matter of time. And not if, but when.
· Xavier pausing its basketball program due to Covid-19 positive tests within the team has postponed Providence’s Saturday Big East opener at Alumni Hall.
· It’s the first time this year PC’s men’s team has been affected by the ills associated with this hundred-year pandemic, outside of scheduling relocations. It may not be the last, either. Best be prepared to rebound, and play defense…not just physically, but mentally and medically, too.
· It’s just a bizarro world we live in today, right out of a sci-fi movie. It was hard to grasp when it began last March, and still harder to understand today after nine months of spiking conditions within an openly spiteful public.
· No one has gone through what we’re going through…personally, professionally, and especially recreationally. Really never thought it would be this tough to simply put one foot in front of the other.
· UConn has also been on pause, again, thanks to positive Covid tests. Which means next Thursday’s scheduled game at Alumni Hall is also paused. It would have been UConn’s 1st Big East game as a new member. Ironically, their last game as an old member before moving to the AAC was also against the Friars.
· Get used to this back-and-forth, shuffling the deck stuff. With a lot of uncertainty on the side.
· DePaul has yet to play even one game. Butler has only played one. Four Big East programs are currently “paused.” I’m not certain we should take boring ol’ ‘normal’ for granted – ever again.
· Covid aside, feeling any better about the Friars on the floor? The road win at TCU was solid, but the streaky shooting is problematic. Ed Cooley told us this week he’s told his guys to simply keep shooting.
· A.J. Reeves is the enigma. For all his obvious talents, he can’t find a stroke consistent enough to be a major factor. He’s hot and cold like a water faucet. Reminds me of former Friar Rob Phelps from the early ‘90’s.
· But we also know how that turned out…as Phelps was a major factor in the program’s first Big East championship.
· Xavier’s Musketeers are big and strong per the usual, but just got through torching Oklahoma for a school-record 19 made three’s Wednesday night. Maybe cooling their jets until all get healthy isn’t such a bad thing.
· And they’re the seventh best team in the Big East, at least according to the coaches…who supposedly, um, know better.
· Duke, Watson and…? It’s becoming clear, even at this early stage to the season, that the Friars can grow into a force again this season if someone (anyone) steps up as a reliable 3rd scoring option.
· Thanks to Louisville going on a Covid pause, Wisconsin became a golden opportunity for URI this week with a trip to Madison, WI. It didn’t turn out the way they hoped, but anytime you can match up against a Top 25 team you quickly learn what it takes to be one yourself.
· It sez here, the Rams need consistency from Fatts Russell, and another scoring option every time out beyond his play…to be a factor in the A-10. Fatts needs to take games over. Amiright?
· Not having Jermaine Harris didn’t help. And since they were able to schedule the Badgers, could the whining over not playing PC please stop now? Thanks.
· Those that know why the game wasn’t played, know. Move on.
· Ish Leggett (great name, btw) could be the next big-time player at Rhody…following in Fatts Russell’s footsteps. His name and his game. That’s also a big-time target placed on his backside.
· Both the ProJo and The Independent (in South County) had stories on Leggett this week, who has scored more points through his first five games than any URI freshman since Jared Terrell.
· Bryant had an opportunity to sweep through St. Francis-Brooklyn this week but blew a big lead in Game Two of back-to-backs against the Terriers. And this coming after putting up 138 against Rhode Island College. A hunny-thirty-eight.
· This past week has been a tough one in several ways, for a lot of people. Including the family and friends of three significant people in my past and present.
· But it’s a celebration, too. With the news this week these contemporaries and friends left us too soon, this is also an opportunity to remember the good stuff in each of our lives.
· And it starts with relationships, personally and professionally, for which we should all be thankful.
· Rhode Island native and Patriots’ Cheerleader Director Tracy Sormanti was one of the longest-serving employees the Patriots have had, since the Kraft’s purchased the team in the early ‘90’s. I’m one of the very few people who have been in the organization as long as she had been (a little bit longer, actually), and our paths crossed every-so-often.
· There was always a smile, always a check-up on what we were doing. No matter her focus, and it was intense, she always took the time to ask what I was up to.
· What always impressed me the most about Tracy was her work ethic. She never asked anyone to work harder than she was willing to work herself, and while I witnessed some of her legendary ‘task master’ intuitiveness with her cheerleaders (especially prior to the Super Bowl 36 celebration, yelling through her bullhorn at a previously unheard, unimaginable octave), Tracy always took representation of the team and organization seriously.
· From the time she was a rookie cheerleader herself in the ‘80’s, until she left us last weekend after a struggle with cancer at age 58, Tracy Sormanti was a real pro. She was classy. She, and her standard, will be missed at Gillette.
· I will also miss former Herald and NY Post reporter, columnist and author Mike Shalin at Gillette, and at Fenway, when we’d run into each other and always make time to ‘catch-up’ on our personal and professional lives. Shales passed away from brain cancer last weekend at age 66.
· Mike and I knew each other primarily from the Boston College football beat back in the ‘90’s and early 2000’s while I was their radio guy, and we traveled together frequently in that regard during those fall seasons. But I also know he was one of the best, and most honest, baseball scoring officials in the big leagues at Fenway.
· Our best, and sometimes most-heated discussions usually involved a baseball scoring decision – since he knew I coached at the youth and AAU levels. Loved that a guy who covered, worked with, and wrote books about the Yankees (Don Mattingly!) and Red Sox would ask me about strategy.
· “Hey Rookie, let me ask you something,” was a frequently heard refrain whenever I would see him. And off we’d go.
· Shales was also one of the funniest guys out there, with a quip or a remark said in jest for almost everything newsworthy. He could always lighten a tense mood – good writers can do that. He seemed to know everyone.
· My favorite Tweet this week, from @ChrisMCameron: "RIP Mike Shalin, one of the funniest humans ever. Once at Notre Dame, notorious for cheering fans in the press box, a BC player scooped a fumble and scored. 'BC just took the press box out of the game,' he said. Gone too soon."
· I’ll miss chatting him up mostly when talking about our kids’ respective sports accomplishments, and he always asked me about mine before I could ask about his.
· Coach Fred Akers is probably unknown to many in New England, largely because he was the head football coach at my alma mater, Texas, from 1977-86. He was a first-year head coach when I was a first-year student at UT. So, we sorta learned on the job together.
· Coach Akers was always friendly and patient with me and the other young reporters on The Daily Texan staff at that time…when you knew he had the pressures of the world upon his own shoulders trying to follow in the footsteps of a legendary, national championship-winning coach in Darrell Royal.
· He was poise under pressure, and I learned a lot from him in that regard. He treated people with class and dignity at a time when the collegiate sports world was beginning to expose itself as very, very dirty for many reasons.
· He was the 3rd winningest coach in the long, storied history of Texas football. In 1983, he had a record 18 of his Longhorns (18!) drafted into the NFL. I’ve previously told the story here of his bumping into me and my date on the dance floor during the Cotton Bowl ball on New Years’ Eve, 1983.
· With the utmost class and grace, after steamrolling two kids (my date and I were so excited to have been invited to the party with big-timers) he spent time with us to make sure we were ok. We were, and probably more embarrassed than he and his wife Diane were.
· We kept him up later than he undoubtedly wanted to be, as he missed the team curfew before Texas played Georgia the next day for the national college football championship.
· But that was because he bought us a drink. And asked about our lives. And talked football. And made two 25-year old’s feel as important as he was. I’ll never forget him for that.
· Texas lost that game, 10-9, the next day. And I’ve always blamed myself for part of the defeat.
· But in the end, we won. Those of us who knew him won. He suffered from dementia the last few years and passed away, peacefully, this week at age 82. God speed, Coach.
· Damn, life can sure disappoint you sometimes. But I’m forever grateful for the relationships I’ve been fortunate to have had…and equally grateful for those that continue to grow today.
· Not for nuthin’, but here’s some salt for that wound – and Massachusetts, you might want a do-over. Or at least grab a band-aid.
· The American Gaming Association this week reported Americans wagered an estimated $3 billion in one month for the first time, ever, in October. At about the same time, the Mass legislature decided…sports betting? Not for us.
· Rhode Island and New Hampshire thank you for that. Sports betting revenue is up nationwide 53.5% year-over-year. New Jersey took in another record monthly haul for the 3rd month in a row, at more than $800 million.
· Nah. We good, tho.
· Bizarro-world. That was the SoCal stay for the Patriots this week. Must have been the alleged laid-back nature that got its’ hooks into the Pats because I saw two different teams playing over the span of five days.
· I have a hard time believing the Patriots were as good, and the Chargers were as bad…as 45-0 might otherwise indicate.
· And the Rams’ game? I got nothing. Which is what the Patriots had.
· Pathway? What stinkin’ pathway?
· Ready to move on from Supercam? Yeah, I’m very disappointed…but there are obvious problems. Great personality. Seems like a good dude. Teammates love and respect him. Can’t play, or at least, can’t do what the Patriots need him to do.
· Cool story this week in The Athletic from Steve Buckley, on the 50 different NFL stadiums where Bill Belichick has won. The Houston Astrodome. Texas Stadium. Candlestick Park. Soldier Field. Azteca Stadium. Wembley Stadium.
· I half expected to see the Coliseum in Rome listed there. C’mon, Buck. You were there.
· BB has also moved past Hall of Fame legend Tom Landry with 456 games coached, behind only Don Shula (526) and George Halas (506). Does he have another four-plus seasons (depending on postseason, of course) left to break the mark?
· Oh, and Carson Wentz? No thank you. All things being equal, I’d rather keep Supercam around. Looks and plays like a 40-something in a 20-something’s body. TB12 excepted, of course.
· Is there any NFL coach made for the J-E-T-S more than “Bountygate” Gregg Williams? And the Jets fired him this week largely due to his brain cramp blitz call that allowed the Raiders to beat them on the last play of last Sunday’s game.
· I don’t know whether to cheer or boo that one.
· And is there any player easier to pull for than Washington’s Alex Smith? Did you get a look at his Curt Schilling-esque bloody sock this week? At least it wasn’t his nearly amputated leg from a couple of years ago.
· And Washington handed Pittsburgh their first defeat of the season. With bloody and battered Alex Smith at QB. Hate Washington, old habits die hard. But love Alex Smith.
· Cheers to the Revs for having a season no one really expected, perhaps except for Bruce Arena and maybe the Kraft’s. And now, expectations grow for next year…because that’s what we do in New England. We expect.
· As of today, 10 bowl games have cancelled for this season, leaving 33 postseason games on the schedule. They’re supposed to be a reward for teams having good seasons. Zen question: How good is the season if players and coaches get sick, and fans aren’t allowed into stadiums?
· And probably a smaht decision by Boston College to ‘just say no’ to a bowl. The year was a grind. Kudos to the Eagles for the rigor in which they successfully guarded their health and safety.
· Literally, we are crawling to the finish line of the college football season. Covid is catching up to everyone, even to previous protocols and well-planned intentions. Big 10, Pac-12, Big 12, AAC – all conferences have been affected with postponements and cancellations.
· Better to have tried and lost, than to have quit before it starts? Ask the Ivies.
· No Rose Bowl Parade. No fans at the Rose Bowl or Fiesta Bowl, either. Like a tree falling in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
· The NHL now sez it’ll be a 56-game season beginning in mid-January? But still no decisions on realigning divisions…and those will have to be made, soon, with Covid rates and standards different between cities – and countries.
· The Lowell Spinners are out as a Red Sox affiliate, even though the Sox say they’ll try to realign with them for 2021. Great. Did anyone think to ask why Salem, VIRGINIA was chosen to remain, but Lowell, MASSACHUSETTS was punted?
· Oh, and Pawtucket is officially ‘gone’ as an affiliate for the first time in half-a-century. But you knew that was coming. Still, it’s sad.
· The Staten Island Yankees are suing their former parent club – in New York – because they’re going out of business, thanks to the parent club. At least that’s their side of it.
· Baseball has blown a golden opportunity, which should not come to anyone as a surprise. Contracting the minor leagues with the sport’s popularity on the decline. And there will be no universal DH for the 2021 season, reportedly what they’ve already told teams.
· So, the entertainment factor takes a hit, so to speak. Could they at least tell teams to speed things up and play a bit faster for 2021? That’d be great.
· I’d settle for the Red Sox giving Matt Barnes lessons in how to pitch to tempo. And with purpose. And not give up big dingers.
· The NBA sez it will continue to fine teams upwards of $100K for resting key players during nationally televised games. Yeah, like that’ll stop anyone. $100K is a drop in a rain bucket.
· Oh, and this is a beaut – the new Olympic sport for 2024 is “breaking.” As in “breakdancing.” I (bleep) you not. Younger audiences are a priority, and ‘breaking’ was apparently a hit during the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
· I’ve always wanted to call the play-by-play for ‘breaking.’ “He’s now spinning on his head like a Tilt-a-whirl teeming with teenagers at a carnival, the crowd roaring with approval!”
· Or something like that. Just sayin’.
· Leagues are updating their drug policies, perhaps trying to move with the times? Even though marijuana and many byproducts are still banned in the NBA, they won’t be testing for it next season.
· Baseball is removing natural cannabinoids from its’ list of “drugs of abuse.” Hockey and football have both raised the threshold for positive marijuana tests and changed testing windows, allowing for use during off-seasons.
· Out of 123 teams in the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL…more than 100 reside in states or provinces where medical or recreational marijuana use is now legal.
· Oh yeah. Covid. Still here. The vaccine can’t get here soon enough. Trouble is, it seems few are willing to wait for it…jumping off the deep end of the gene pool, throwing caution to the wind and getting sick themselves while exposing countless others.
· Overwhelming numbers don’t lie. And I can’t imagine the doctors and nurses who are exposed everyday…do either. 290,000 people also can’t lie.
· It’s a 100-year, global pandemic. No one understands it all. But what makes you an expert over the experts? Thanks for taking my call, I’ll listen off-air for your answer.
· 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! Would appreciate the follow on Twitter, @JRbroadcaster…and join in on Facebook, www.facebook.com/john.rooke ...
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