Thinking out loud…while wondering if Jeff Bezos could use a volunteer to become the first ‘sports guy’ in space…
• You Know You’re Getting Old, Part I: Walked into my favorite coffee shop last week (s/o to Coastal Roasters in Tiverton, RI!) and the barista recognized me. Not for what I do – but for what I order.
• YKYGO, Part II: Told her I felt like Norm from “Cheers,” who always had a beer waiting for him as he sat down at the bar. She looked at me quizzically and asked, “What’s Cheers?”
• Finally, we made it. NFL Training Camp time.
• And…finally. The NFL is telling its’ players – and the real world – how this Covid vax thing needs to work. And how it should work for everyone.
• We kick off with a Covid recount: There are two teams reportedly under 50% in their vaccination rates, Indianapolis and Washington, as of midweek this week.
• These guys are gettin’ ready to put a fork in their seasons, and the seasons of their teammates, before they even get started.
• The Associated Press reports teams with the highest vax rates are Pittsburgh, Miami, Carolina and Denver.
• Ten teams are reportedly at the 85% vax threshold, and about 73% of all NFL players have received their shots.
• I don’t know about you, but if they’re asking us to do our part and these guys don’t? It’s hard to generate much sympathy.
• Tweet of the Week I, from @KevinMcNamara33: “Does it make any sense that media members need to be vaccinated to cover the @NFL but the players don’t need to be? Just askin’. All in!”
• The league mentioned in a memo generated Thursday that if a game cannot be rescheduled during the season (within the 18-week plan) due to a Covid outbreak among unvax’d players – that team will forfeit and be credited with a loss.
• And it goes further – neither team involved in the game will be paid. And the forfeiting team will be forced to pay the other teams’ expenses. THAT should grab some attention. Just sayin’.
• Might be hard to generate much success in Indy and DC especially, since those teams could be at HUGE disadvantages having to also follow NFL Covid protocols and restrictions.
• Tweet of the Week II, from @Chatham58: “The easiest way to get 100% vaccination across @NFL locker rooms is branding: ‘Two simple injections to get Bigger, Faster & Stronger…Reduces Inflammation, Increases Recovery.’ Works every time.”
• For the players rumored to be upset with being told what to do – several have tweeted their displeasure with the NFL and have ‘threatened’ to quit or retire – you should go right ahead and refuse to show up. It is your right.
• The sport won’t miss you – at all – after a couple of weeks.
• To not vax is the height of selfishness and narcissism. Get with the program or get your mask back on and continue to play Russian roulette with your health, and the health of others. Simple.
• Three stories I’ll be following from Fort Foxboro as Patriots camp opens next week, having little or nothing to do with who plays quarterback, or who is or isn’t vax’d: 1) Does the wide receiver position have any value – or ability – in New England?
• 2) Is the defense potentially as good as many hope it will be? On paper, and before one snap is taken, it looks beastly.
• 3) And directly related to #2…Stephon Gilmore is in camp, but on the PUP list. Wink, wink. Will his absence cause a ripple effect in the locker room, and on the practice field?
• One thing is certain – it is a PR move so BB won’t have to talk about him, while they work on his contractual details. “He’s not able to be on the field, so…”
• Thanks in large part to the pandemic, the Green Bay Packers – the only publicly-owned NFL team – operated at a loss last year for the first time in more than 20 years.
• They still made a profit ($60.7 million), however, thanks to their investment fund. And the NFL managed to raise national revenue more than $400 million over 2019, to almost $10 billion. Without fans in the stands.
• Hard for me to see any NFL team or owner crying poverty, pandemic or no pandemic. It’s Business As Usual.
• My buddy “Big E” sez he was talking to his doctor about his spells of ‘forgetfulness.’ “I really need your help, doc,” he told him. “I don’t remember much these days and sometimes I don’t know if I’m coming or going.”
• His doctor thought for a moment, then replied, “pay me in advance.”
• What are we missing here? Alex Verdugo gets nailed with a baseball by a fan from the stands in New York…no arrest…and hardly a peep from national media until New Englanders make a stink about it.
• But the social media world comes unglued when a URI kid throws a water bottle at ex-Celtic Kyrie Irving – and misses…and he was charged with felony assault.
• How about we just say, ‘stop throwing stuff?’ K?
• I’m sensing there’s a little life left in the ol’ NY-BOS rivalry after all.
• Not for nuthin’, but anyone wonder how Yankee Stadium, or Fenway Park, or TD Garden, or Gillette Stadium or ANY sports venue can really BAN someone for life?
• I mean, if you really want to get into the place, who will keep you out of there? Big Brother?
• One thing these Sox have going for them this year – especially after watching Thursday night’s comebacker against the Yankees – is good juju. Or mojo. Karma ain’t yet a ***** in Boston.
• But – the Rays picked up a bat in Nelson Cruz to provide some power for their offense. Will the Sox respond with what they need?
• Go ahead. Tell me I’m wrong. The Sox still need pitching. Relying on Chris Sale to be the staff savior is simply folly…despite his successful rehab appearance in Portland, ME this week.
• The next week will tell if Chaim Bloom truly knows Red Sox Nation – or if he still believes his Tampa voodoo will work here, ya’ know, where there’s actual pressure to win.
• MLB must be happy, I guess. Strikeouts are down, offense is up since the crackdown on pitchers using sticky-stuff last month.
• But some pitchers can’t be happy. No big numbers = no big contracts starting next season, right Garrett Richards?
• The Toronto Blue Jays will finally return to Canada to play their home games next week for the first time in nearly two years. A “national interest exemption” is being made for them by the gub’ment without having to adhere to Canada’s Covid travel protocols.
• I don’t know about you but considering how the first two innings of Monday night’s game in Buffalo went for the Sox against the Jays, I wouldn’t be in a hurry to cross the border. Unless you’re a Jays’ fan.
• YKYGO, Part III: Collin Morikawa played in his first British Open and won last weekend. He’s 24 years old and won the NE Amateur at Rumford’s Wannamoisett CC just four years ago.
• Five PGA Tour wins, two major titles…Morikawa started his pro career by making 22 straight cuts, a feat only surpassed by Tiger Woods. Looks like potential greatness has walked through our local fairways – again.
• Inflation is hitting us all over the place, including the sports media – The Athletic is raising their annual subscription rate from $60 to $72. Still, a small price to pay – over a year – for quality reporting and in-depth stories beyond just your Twitter feed.
• I would imagine Seattle’s pick of Boston’s Jeremy Lauzon in the NHL expansion draft this week was well vetted, since his former head coach in Providence, Jay Leach, is a new Kraken assistant.
• Was anyone else watching the crowd, estimated at 65,000+, outside of Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee Tuesday night with just a bit of ‘ewww, super-spreader event?’
• Do you really believe anyone in that crowd, not vaccinated, was wearing a mask?
• Greek. Freak. His team basically stunk up Game 6 against Phoenix, and he literally carried the Bucks (50 points, 13 boards) to their first championship in 50 years.
• That was as impressive a performance, especially in the Finals, as anyone has had since Michael Jordan. And maybe better.
• His postgame joy, and amazement, seemed genuine. He has been loyal to the team that drafted him...almost unheard of in this era of “I’mma get mine.”
• KD, LBJ, Kyrie, Harden – pay attention.
• Perhaps then, the state of Wisconsin has one of the most likeable pro athletes today in Giannis Antetokounmpo…and one of the most unlikeable in Aaron Rodgers?
• Could’a been a Celtic, too. Danny Ainge traded up in 2013, you might recall, to grab Kelly Olynyk with the 13th pick of the draft. Milwaukee took a guy whose name no one could pronounce then…and everyone knows now.
• Gee, thanks Danny.
• Tweet of the Week III, from @WRigsby14: “So how many players in history won 2 NCAA Championships and an NBA title? Jabbar, Walton, @Divincenzo. Others? Pretty good company.”
• Were you on the “no Olympics” bandwagon? Really easy for you to say. You’re not an Olympic-caliber athlete.
• Ultimately, $$$ talks. Covid walks. Away from the competition, hopefully. But there undoubtedly will be bumps in the road along the way…just as there were in the NBA, NHL and NCAA bubbles of the past year.
• The World Health Organization said this week we could finally have Covid in check next year. If “we’re really lucky.”
• Translation: “Stupid is as stupid does, people.”
• Broadcasters should be on the road. Period. Enough of the studio stuff. If the world is trying to get back to whatever ‘normal’ is, broadcasters should certainly be there to accurately document it.
• Otherwise, YOU lose. Think about that. Your teams expect you to cough up the quid to support them…but don’t want to pay the artists for painting an accurate picture. Where’s the trust?
• College team streaming services could become a ‘thing’ in the not-too-far-distant-future. Notre Dame has had one for several years now, and has had success with broadcasting on campus games, events, archived broadcasts and more.
• If and when TV rights and TV money ever begin to dip, expect schools to launch their own ‘channels.’ If they haven’t already. And the progressive, smaht ones will do it anyway.
• Will we have another go-round of collegiate tectonic plate-shifting? Texas and Oklahoma this week were rumored to have inquired about membership in the SEC, and I’ve been told this isn’t just a smoke screen.
• It could lead to a death-sentence for the Big 12. Or, it could lead to the Big 12 poaching from other leagues as before.
• It might even be UConn’s golden ticket to a Football Five invitation, saving a football program and athletic department from severe monetary deprivation.
• We could be well on our way to the first 16-team “super conference” alignment. But three-fourths of the current league need to vote them in, and there are two “NO” votes already from Texas A&M and Missouri – the two former step siblings of the Longhorns and Sooners in the early days of the Big 12…and the old Southwest Conference and former Big 8.
• Politics will play a large part in the decision here. Money, grant-of-rights contractual clauses and even public proclamations of loyalty could be a detriment…but ultimately won’t be. Texas and Oklahoma print money. Their fan bases are massive. And the SEC certainly knows this.
• Buckle up. Another earthquake may be on the way.
• Well, that escalated quickly. Ex-Seton Hall Pirate star Myles Powell has sued the school and head coach Kevin Willard, along with another staff member, for failing to properly diagnose a knee injury during his senior season.
• Powell went undrafted last year but did sign and play briefly for the NY Knicks.
• Long time Creighton athletic director Bruce Rasmussen announced his retirement, after 27 years on the job in Omaha and 50 years overall in education…including, of course, overseeing the schools’ move into the Big East from the Missouri Valley in 2013.
• NIL news – saw this week where PC’s Nate Watson has a t-shirt out through his new deal with Playmaker brand (“Fear N0ne”). The entire Michigan football team has an arrangement where fans can buy jerseys with players’ names on them – and the player gets $10 bucks per shirt sold.
• That’s more than what NFL players typically earn from their jersey sales.
• And North Carolina athletes have permission from their school to potentially use the school name, logo and color scheme with a group licensing program. That’s a national first.
• Alabama’s Nick Saban sez his QB Bryce Young is already nearing $1 million in NIL earnings – and he hasn’t taken a snap yet as a starter. Recruiting advantage much? Roll Tide.
• Providence’s Mike Stephens, who has been one of college basketball’s best NCAA game officials for 20 years as well as the City of Providence’s Director of Recreation, is transitioning off the court.
• This week, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference named Stephens to the post of supervisor of officials as the league joins the men’s basketball officiating alliance along with the Big East, ACC, Atlantic 10, Big 12, SEC, Patriot League and Ivy League.
• In the past five seasons of NCAA Tournament play, Stephens has officiated in four national championship games.
• Nothing like going out on a high note. He’ll be missed. Even Joe Hassett liked him.
• While Massachusetts (Provincetown, primarily) and the rest of country grapple with this new Covid delta variant – largely among the unvaccinated – the Big 12 and SEC have told schools there will be no rescheduling of games this fall due to outbreaks.
• Expect this to be a standard within major schools, and not just for football season, either.
• In other words…if you can’t play, you may end up forfeiting. Or, a no-contest is called, with no way to recoup the lost income or opportunity. SEC schools are embarrassingly low in vaccination rates, with only six of the 14 football teams having reached 80%.
• Teams that are 85% vaccinated are not required to test regularly or wear masks inside school facilities.
• The message is clear – get the shot, or risk losing a game. Or maybe more than that.
• At the ACC football media days this week, new commish Jim Phillips said half of the 14 schools have vax rates over 85 percent, and the other half are near that target. But mandates on vaccinations from this point will come from the schools themselves, not the league.
• Seven of the schools, including BC, are requiring students to be vaccinated to be on campus in the fall. The buy-in from the Eagles’ football team was swift – and 100%. One player who opted not to take it was assisted with a transfer elsewhere last month.
• Four great white sharks being tracked have ‘pinged’ off the coast of Block Island recently? Not sure I’ll have my feet hanging overboard into the ocean anytime soon. Whoa.
• Watched with a lot of envy…when Jeff Bezos and his four-person crew became the first civilians in space this week aboard The New Shepard rocket.
• I’m old enough to recall the early NASA missions of the ‘60’s, right through Apollo and the moon landings. Fortunate to be on this planet during a time of extraordinary human achievement over the past 60 years.
• Days like these tell me – and should tell all of us – we can accomplish anything. Humans aren’t as dumb as we often appear to be…present days included.
• Yes, I would take a space flight in a minute. No, I don’t have that kind of quid to pay for the ride. Anyone care to contribute to a GoFundMe?
• “Shoot Rooke Into Space.” Has a nice ring to it. Amiright?
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