Thinking out loud…while wondering how far fans might go into their wallets for TB12 tix…
• Belichick vs. Brady. The Red Sox vs. mediocrity. The Bruins vs. a New Season. The Celtics vs. a New Coach. The Revs vs. The World.
• And I’m talking about practice. Not a game, not a game. PRACTICE. Always appreciate ya’, A.I.
• The Friars opened their preseason practice schedule this week, with just under three weeks to go before the exhibition opener against Stonehill. Masks? Vax proof for entry? We still don’t know what getting into the Dunk will entail.
• Be that as it may…stupid is as stupid does.
• Providence will be one of the more experienced teams in the Big East, and perhaps one of the more experienced in the country…thanks to the addition of transfers and 5th year “super seniors” due to an extra year of Covid-related eligibility.
• Will that translate into competitiveness? Perhaps. But it sez here that while 6-10 “super senior” Nate Watson might certainly be super…his prowess and ability in the paint will only grow with his teammates’ ability to hit a few from the outside.
• Ed Cooley thinks Watson could be one of the Top Five players in the country. Not just in the post…but anywhere, at any position on the floor. And yet, of the few all-Big East teams out there among the preseason predictions, no one (yet) has him mentioned as first team all-conference.
• And why is that? Time to crank up the Friar Propaganda machine, at the very least. And at the most, Nate needs to show he’s grown his game from a year ago, with expected double teams headed his way every time out.
• Unless his teammates can first find their range with any dependability.
• The Big East TV slate, along with game times, were also posted this week…and opening night on November 9th will feature ‘whip-around’ coverage on Fox Sports 1 of the seven league teams playing that night – including PC and Fairfield.
• No real late-night endeavors in the Dunk, except for one 8:30 pm tip (against Creighton). There is, however, a 9:00 pm road game at St. John’s (Carnesecca, not MSG) in February.
• The URI grudge match renews on Dec.4th at the Dunk after taking last year off for Covid. It’ll be a High Noon shootout for a national TV audience on the CBS Sports Network.
• No truth to the rumor downtown pubs will open at 7 am, or that DD will offer Bloody Mary’s for Perks Members.
• URI football had last weekend off after beating Brown for the Governors’ Cup…but found themselves nationally ranked this week (at #21) as they face Stony Brook for Saturday’s sold-out homecoming game at Meade Stadium in Kingston.
• Rhody is one of six CAA teams in the FCS Top 25. Looks like the Colonial is making out to be the FCS-equivalent of the big bully SEC.
• The commissioner of the Colonial is one-time Providence College hockey manager, grad assistant, compliance officer and former Big East Associate Commissioner Joe D’Antonio.
• See? There’s a Friar connection for ya’ everywhere you go. It’s inevitable. Kinda like the six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. Just sayin’.
• PC’s Hockey Friars will have 16 appearances on NESN this season, beginning with the opener Saturday against Army.
• You want national rankings? PC soccer is up to #22 in the country this week, after beating Xavier. The Friars have won four straight and are 2-1 against other Top 25 teams. They’ll be at Marquette this weekend.
• And women’s cross-country at Providence, under Ray Treacy and always a national contender, is ranked 24th this week.
• Boston College football is 4-0, unranked, and is a 15-point underdog playing at 2-2 and #25 Clemson. The Tigers were preseason ranked third in the country and a postseason playoff favorite.
• The National Labor Relations Board this week found that certain student athletes can, indeed, be classified as school employees. What will follow – will be college student athletes forming labor unions. It’s gonna happen.
• NIL update: MaximBet is offering deals to every female college student over 21 in Colorado, up to $500 in the first collegiate deal with a sports betting company.
• There will be more to come, further blurring the line between reality, opportunity and the pressure to cash in on it all.
• Speaking of more to come, the first sportsbook opened this week at Foxwoods in Connecticut, and a sports betting bar opened at Mohegan Sun.
• Several reports have the American Athletic Conference close to adding Colorado State and Air Force, but not San Diego State or Boise State. Both SDSU and BSU, you’ll recall, were in the old iteration of Big East football, but never played a game before everything went ‘blooey’ nearly 10 years ago.
• Not for nuthin’, but both schools this week reportedly told the Mountain West they’re staying – for now. Boise is holding out hope for a spot in the Big 12. Not sure the addition of the Broncos could hold this league together if the Pac-12 or Big 10 decide to further expand to keep up with the Joneses, or, the SEC.
• I don’t really have a horse in the race, contrary to some public belief. Sure, I have worked (and still work) for the Patriots, but the whole BB vs. TB12 thing is mostly a concoction created by New England media and writers who want to sell gossip.
• You buyin’?
• NBC certainly has bought in, sending both The Today Show and Nightly News to Gillette Friday for their shows for the first time. But the peacock network also has a horse in the race…since they’re carrying the game Sunday Night.
• And the ratings will likely be sky-high.
• Absolutely, it is a rare, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime occurrence for two people of their abilities, talent, history and stature in sports, much less just within the NFL, to face each other as opponents when they were once on the same side…and lauded as the greatest coach/player tandem in pro sports history.
• Can you imagine Vince Lombardi having to face and coach against Bart Starr?
• How about Red Auerbach against Bill Russell? No. Bleepin’. Way.
• Whoever wins Sunday, it’ll be because his team outperformed the other. Not because of any one thing accomplished individually by one guy over the other…just like with the six Super Bowl wins between the two.
• Should we care about the ‘reception’ TB12 gets from fans at Gillette? Look, I’ll genuinely be surprised if he doesn’t get cheered in the pregame. Lotsa peeps love Tommy (and they should) for what he did for this team, franchise, and region.
• From that point forward, however, you don’t necessarily have to boo.
• But if he (as he?) carves up your current heroes and you cheer for that? May I suggest turning in your Patriots jersey as you leave the stadium? That includes actor/fanboy Matt Damon.
• Dude, you’re famous enough already, no need to suck up. Sack up instead.
• Meanwhile, ‘Tom Brady, The Business’ continues to plug along, with a new, branded “Brady” clothing line appearing in Nordstrom stores this fall.
• I’m not kidding. “Brady.” Just like “Jockey.” Or “Polo.” Or “Tommy Bahama.” Or “Tory Burch.”
• Seth Wickersham’s new ‘tell all’ book (It’s Better To Be Feared) released several excerpts this week, in advance of the Oct. 12th official release.
• On Malcolm Butler’s benching in SB LII? Apparently, there was an argument between Butler and then-defensive coordinator Matt Patricia…which resulted in his benching.
• What is this? Junior High School?
• And alleged tension between BB and Mr. Kraft? Since when is there NOT any tension between alpha-male, authority figures both trying to achieve the same thing – and that’s getting to the top of their profession?
• The soap opera never stops around here. “As the Patriots Turn.” “All My Patriots.” “The Young Patriots and the Restless Fans.” “The Bold and the Patriots.” “Days of our Patriots.”
• And if Mr. Kraft did, indeed, once call BB “the biggest f-ing a-hole in my life,” and an “idiot savant,” well…so what? You’ve been called worse when you drive slowly in the left-hand lane on I-95.
• Let’s also keep in mind that while Wickersham is a very talented author, reporter, and writer…the basis for his book is through a lot of second-hand (third hand? Or fourth hand?) comments. But it will do well, because…we love a good soap opera around here.
• Not sure what else there is to say about the Saints debacle last Sunday at Gillette. Other than “let’s not have to watch that again?”
• And of course, that’s likely what we’ll be watching again, perhaps as soon as this Sunday night against TB12 and his Bucs.
• TB12 must not be too worried about his ‘golden boy,’ ‘goody-goody’ image.
• Not only did he reach out to noted bad boy receiver Antonio Brown about hooking up in Tampa a year ago, but he also reportedly placed a call to one-time Pro Bowl cornerback and nemesis Richard Sherman about coming aboard his pirate ship, aaarrrggghhh.
• Which Sherman did this week, after a summer full of legal problems including his arrest on domestic violence, criminal trespass and malicious mischief charges.
• How have these Patriots fallen short of expectation? Couple of reasons – 1) the OLine has grossly underperformed, especially in coaching. How else do you explain the absence of one guy (Trent Brown) having such a major impact?
• 2) the DLine hasn’t exactly been making life miserable for the other guys on offense, either.
• It doesn’t mean the Patriots can’t win. They can (maybe in an alternate universe). They just haven’t given us much of a hook to hang our hats on (in this universe) right now.
• I thought I had just about seen it all, but I’m not certain I’ve seen a worse performance from a pair of hands on a receiver (or tight end) than what Jonnu Smith showed us last week. Did he have the under, or maybe the Saints in his parlay?
• If you want to feel sorry for someone, do it for James White. The past couple of seasons have been more than most players should have to endure, even if they are well paid.
• The Manningcast of Monday Night Football on ESPN2 has been receiving rave reviews. I’ll rate it a B to a B+ on potential alone. It isn’t a typical football ‘play-by-play broadcast, nor is it intended to be. Both Peyton and Eli have unique personalities and often their conversations (and personality interviews) are downright funny.
• But it takes getting used to. Especially for a New Englander used to hating on the Manning brothers. Ex-Patriot nemeses Peyton and Eli are still pretty much persona non grata around here.
• My buddy “Big E” sez he thinks his neighbor is stalking him. “She’s been Googling my name on her computer; I saw her do it through my telescope last night.”
• Here are the Tampa Bay Rays, lording over much of the American League, and they’re still trying to divide their home games between Florida and Montreal? C’mon man.
• Didn’t your mother tell you – two wrongs don’t make a right?
• Yeah, there’s a weekend series for the Sox still to play in DC. But the season, and any chance of extending it, pretty much died right outside of Boog’s BBQ stand at Camden Yards Thursday night.
• When considering the Red Sox and their issues of not being able to beat good teams…or teams like the woeful Orioles this week when they should beat them…the incredulous comments of one-time Indy coach Jim Mora come to mind.
• “Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs. You kidding me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game! Another game!” Someone should play that clip for Alex Cora.
• The Sox have tried to tell us they’re good all season long. It’s now time to **** or get off the pot, fellas. Expectation, thy name is cursed around here.
• JD Martinez told Rob Bradford this week he’s ‘in the middle’ on deciding whether to come back next season, or not?
• JD, is anyone else going to pay you what you could earn here? Especially in light of your team stumbling down the stretch? Wait, before you answer that, here’s two words for you: “buh bye.”
• And a move might prove to be beneficial, anyway…especially if the next CBA includes the DH in the National League. Just opened 15 new possibilities for guys like Martinez.
• With our sports calendars full of so much drama, it’s tough to know what’s going on outside of our bucolic, little corner of the universe sometimes.
• For instance – the St. Louis Cardinals won 17 games in a row, a franchise record? When, and how, did that happen?
• Clemson football has already lost TWICE this season? Aren’t they, like, automatically in the College Football Playoff every year?
• ESPN’s Sage Steele announced this week she’s been vaccinated, but that she didn’t want to do it. She did it because of ESPN’s mandate to its’ employees.
• "I think the mandate is what I really have an issue with," Steele said. "I do know, for me personally, I feel — I feel like defeated."
• Hey Sage, like, get over it. You’re smart, talented, and you’ve had plenty of time to do your own research. Look at it this way. Maybe you saved yourself from some serious trouble, or you saved someone else from the same.
• And, you get to keep your job. Win, win, win. Now, like, move on.
• Yeah, I have so much sympathy for guys like Kyrie Irving who don’t feel they need to get the shot…which would protect not just fans, arena workers and teammates…but his own family.
• Can you tell that was said with sarcasm?
• The NBA is approximately 95% vaxxed, so we’re told. If the few holdouts balk, so be it. It’s their careers, not to mention…possibly their lives. They want freedom of choice? Great.
• Give it to them…while you give them a pink slip.
• ICYMI, TD Garden has a new center court/center ice scoreboard dubbed “Hub Vision” for the new NBA and NHL seasons. It will, apparently, have the best resolution of any scoreboard in the NBA or the NHL.
• Let’s just hope all those replays are worth watching again, amiright?
• Vivid Seats in Boston reported this week the average ticket price to see TB12’s return to Foxboro Sunday is $1101 – which makes it officially the second-most expensive game ticket in Boston sports history…but the MOST expensive for a regular season game.
• The most expensive overall? Glad you asked…Game 7 of the ’19 Stanley Cup Final when St. Louis beat the Bruins at the Garden. The average ducat that night went for $1887.
• And with this weekend’s Powerball hovering north of $600 million, here’s a thought: People do say money isn’t the key to true happiness…but the way I see it, if you have enough money, you can always have a key made.
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