Thinking out loud…while wondering if we aren't all vaccinated, are we still 'one nation, under God, indivisible?'
• Hey Kyrie? Shut up and dribble.
• We're booing you and your current team because they're better. It's what fans do.
• You just threw gasoline onto the embers of what WAS a non-story. A real cheap shot to Boston fans who, at one time, adored you. And didn't you, at one time, proclaim to never have had racial difficulties while playing here?
• So, what does that make you now?
• Haven't we learned the only way to right the wrongs of the past…is to be better in the present – and move forward, not backward?
• You also lied, to all of New England, while you were here, about your future.
• You made this personal, by blanketing us with your ideas of "subtle racism" after Tuesday's game. The whole world knows it? So should you and Kevin Durant. Unless, of course, you've already made up your minds.
• I'll take a chance here and speak for others…but the Garden will respond, regardless of your obvious talent and that of your teammates.
• New Englanders (and its' sports fans) are loyal if nothing else. That's a trait you clearly don't comprehend, considering your track record.
• Enjoy your role as "VFL" (Villain For Life). Good luck to you, your teammates and to your bank account.
• Someday, you'll need it. Your bank, that is.
• NFL training camps should be open for BAU, sez the league office this week, which also includes all players and Tier I personnel who have been vax'd. Yet the media covering the team during OTA's this week were subjected to last season's protocols, limiting and restricting access.
• Which isn't good for the sport, or sports in general. I fear we may never return to the old ways of establishing trust between coaches, athletes and the media, by interviewing people face-to-face.
• Fully vaccinated players won't need to be tested every day, nor will they need to wear masks. Which makes it strange that several Patriots, despite the public campaigning, apparently remain reluctant to vax up.
• Grand Poobah Roger Goodell said this week 30 of 32 teams were 90% vaccinated, and the other two teams were at 85%. Looks to me like the league is already trying to get a leg (or an arm) up in the PR spin race here.
• This would mean out of 90 players under contract in Foxboro, between 76 and 81 of them, at a minimum (I did the math!) have received their shots. Much as I'd like to believe that to be true, considering the state and national average is right at 50%...let's just call BS.
• Politely, of course.
• The Globe reported this week Gillette Stadium will remain cashless at concessions once capacity crowds return in the fall. They're already operating that way for the Revs' games.
• OTA's started this week for the Patriots, and the media got their first look at the rookies and first-year New England free agents on Thursday. And of course, every pass from Cam and Mac was scrutinized. Cam was 4-for-4. Mac was 3-for-4 but – gasp! – had a drop. Get used to that.
• The Julio Jones countdown continues…as the Falcons move closer to a potential post-June 1 salary cap casualty-trade for the all-Pro receiver. Hell yeah, love to see him here. The Patriots immediately become an AFC contender again with a healthy Jones plugged into an offense featuring one of the league's best offensive lines, and those two former free agent tight ends.
• Hell no, I don't want the team to mortgage a fragile future with all of the recent free agent signings…by giving up future draft capital in order to sign an aging skill-position player coming off an injury-plagued season.
• Which side do you fall on?
• Shannon Sharpe's interview with Jones this past week was certainly a great 'get' for Fox. But it also looked like Sharpe never let Jones know he was "live" on the air with his "I'm outta there" comments about Atlanta – which was not just a major privacy no-no.
• It's considered unethical behavior for a reporter to gain an interview under false pretenses.
• Explains why the Falcons are peeved. But Jones? Why would he be upset? He won't complain about Sharpe's underhandedness. All he cares about is a new destination and contract – one in which Sharpe is helping him achieve.
• Fox (and maybe Sharpe, too) will at some point be asked/forced to apologize for the interview. Thou shalt not offend thy major contractual partnership with the NFL and its' ownership, if thou wishes to remain a major player in carrying marquee games on your network.
• Did anyone notice the lack of interview replays following the live one? By any network? Uh huh. Ill-gotten gain by someone who doesn't understand, or care, how this game should be played.
• Adam Vinatieri is as sure a Hall of Famer as anyone. Forget the fact he's officially retiring at 46, after spending the last half of his career with the Colts. Three-times an all-Pro, four-times a Super Bowl champ, most career points in NFL history, 2000's all-Decade team.
• And maybe the instigator of the greatest single kick in the history of the game during the infamous Snow Bowl at Foxboro Stadium in early 2002. He also kicked the Patriots into a dynastic run with his game-winner in the Super Bowl that year.
• He was money. And yeah, he's an HOFer.
• Speaking of old guys…Phil Mickelson? Whoa.
• To some, he might come off as a bit smarmy. To others, maybe he's aloof? Maybe he's an underachiever…when considering his career body-of-work? Regardless, Mickelson last weekend struck a blow for the Fountain of Youth – in all of us.
• I mean, the guy is 50, nearly 51 years old. He hit a 366-yard bomb on one hole, chipped in from the bunker on another. He was like a kid in a candy store keeping up with the young 'uns – which is precisely why he not only maintains his popularity with fans – but with fellow golfers, too.
• By becoming the oldest golfer to ever win a major event – and by further stamping "hard work" as the forever byproduct of any discovered 'fountain of youth'…has he one-upped TB12?
• He's got Brady in age. His one-time 'Hefty Lefty' persona has long gone away, with attention to a fitness detail that may rival TB12's in results, if not in marketing campaigns. And sure, football is a physical, violent endeavor – where success often depends on your teammates holding up their end of the bargain.
• Not so, in an individual sport like golf…where the competition comes from the creativity of the course, if not also from the young guns firing rockets and bombs all around you.
• But that also puts the onus squarely on the individual shoulders of the golfer…who depends on no one to block, run, catch or tackle for him.
• Yes, it's an impossible comparison, really. But it's there to be made. They're both great at what they do. They're both personable. They both love the media, and the media loves them back.
• And they're both closer to social security than they are to the beginnings of their careers.
• It was amazing Mickelson and playing partner Brooks Koepka weren't crushed by the crowd on 18 at Kiawah Island. Pandemic, shmandemic. The PGA apologized to both, but only after Koepka whined about it first.
• The TV ratings were the highest for a final round on TV in three years. Loved Jim Nantz' call on CBS: "Phil defeats Father Time!" Son of a gun comes up with simple, but very effective, memorable and natural sounding phrases for his signature moments on the mic.
• That's why he's one of the best.
• Sometimes, announcers try too hard to say the right things in the big moments. Nantz doesn't do that. Part of his charm, and talent.
• Not for nuthin,' but golf has surged since the pandemic began 15 months ago. The National Golf Foundation counted nearly 25 million golfers in 2020, up 2% from 2019 and the biggest net growth for the sport in 17 years.
• As much as I enjoy watching playoff hockey, it's hard to completely buy into these Bruins. Maybe they have enough to get to the finals. Maybe Tuukka Rask doesn't.
• Seems most of the Bruins' fandom would agree on getting to the finals' part. The local ratings on NESN for the regular season were the 5th highest in the NHL, with a 19% audience increase over 2019.
• Were our preseason expectations of the Red Sox team for 2021 wrong? Only if you believe 50 games is an accurate measuring stick for playing all 162.
• I'll wait it out a bit longer, thanks. As we said last week, don't look now but both Tampa and NY are charging hard…and passing Boston. As was expected in the preseason.
• And not so much because of the Sox being bad – only because we expected the other guys to be good. It's great that the Sox have given us 50 games of hope and enjoyment. Maybe they can give us a bit more?
• But looking at the big picture – this team still needs starting pitching. Needs better bullpen depth and reliability, despite Matt Barnes' sudden impact and transformation.
• And it needs a bottom of the batting order that won't continue as a sinkhole, as it largely has been.
• URI baseball entered the Atlantic-10 tournament as the third seed…and earned a spot against top-seeded VCU in the winners-bracket semis.
• Bryant baseball won the NEC regular season title, opening against Long Island…and with the #1 seed for a ninth straight year. Wakefield, RI's Liam McGill was named the NEC Player of the Year as a catcher and grad transfer from Columbia. He led the nation with a .467 average, carrying a 33-game hitting streak into the postseason.
• Bryant also advanced to its' winners-bracket semis after a 17-13 slugfest win over LIU. McGill's streak is at 34 games and counting.
• Wait, wut? The Friars' November appearance in Madison Square Garden is moved to the Prudential Center? In New Jersey?
• The promoters' contract with MSG allegedly expired, inexplicably not renewed, yet the tournament was promoting the fact games would be held in the building. I have not seen the contract, but it sure sounds like a possible breach, no?
• Taking a cue from a few Friar fans, for Providence to move from Maui to Asheville, NC and from Madison Square Garden to the Pru Center in Newark, NJ (Newark!) in back-to-back seasons?
• Ouch. But a deal-breaker? Apparently. PC will instead play in the Legends Classic November 22nd and 23rd, replacing UCLA in that event and facing Virginia, Northwestern and Georgia.
• So much for that potential early season encounter against preseason national title fave Gonzaga. 2K Classic organizers have not responded to an inquiry of 'what happened?'
• But there's a catch – the Legends' event is apparently still in Newark. Dang. It has been held, or at least had been held, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn since 2012.
• Two things are certain about the new transfer rules in college basketball: 1) Young student-athletes, and their families/followers/possies/groupies/hanger-oners, are going to make poor decisions. That's a large part of what growing up is about – making decisions for yourself and living with the consequences.
• 2) Coaches are going to need, more than ever, to find "fit" for their program. Forget style of play. Top 100 recruits are great and all, but does the kid 'fit' the school, the philosophy on life? The geographic region?
• And you'd best have a coach on staff whose job is to constantly peruse the portal…looking for those former 4-star recruits having 1-star experiences at big time schools.
• Case in point – Indiana's Jerome Hunter landed with Xavier this week. Hunter barely averaged six points per game for the Hoosiers…but could be a major player for the Musketeers next season.
• Creighton also this week added 6-9 McNeese State grad transfer KeyShawn Feazell, who averaged 13 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game last year.
• There will be a lot – A LOT – of underhanded, wink-wink recruiting going on at mid-majors around the country…by high-major programs. One of the reasons why CBS' Jon Rothstein tweeted this week that some mid-major teams are refusing high-major "buy" games.
• If true, okay. But isn't that like cutting off your nose, despite your face? I mean, if you already fear losing players to bigger programs, shouldn't you at least grab some cash from them while you can?
• Capital One Arena, the home court for Georgetown (but also for the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals) in DC, has opened the country's first sportsbook in a pro sports venue.
• Best wishes to the family of Danny Byron, a PC grad and longtime basketball season ticket holder who worked in the school's IT department over the past 40 years. Byron passed away this week at age 67.
• College football postseason bowl games will be back with a vengeance next fall, with 44 games on the schedule – including the Fenway Bowl at Fenway Park on December 29th.
• ICYMI, here's a switch: UMass Dartmouth is reinstating some sports, and not cutting them from their roster. Women's swimming and diving and women's tennis are returning, after not competing last year due to Covid. Last July, UMD announced it would discontinue those sports plus equestrian, men's golf, men's lacrosse, men's tennis and sailing.
• Didn't work for soccer, but it might for high school basketball – a Super League. Another potential route for players to bypass college hoop will come from the National Interscholastic Basketball Conference, formed by six of the traditional prep school powers in the country.
• Eight teams will launch it, play a 10-game schedule plus special events and tournaments, and provide plenty of exposure to some of the game's elite players…even though they won't be paid.
• The Maine Celtics, instead of the Red Claws? With a green lobster for the logo? Have the Celtics gone mad? Messing with a perfectly good name and logo. Stupid is as stupid does.
• Then again, it caught my attention this week – it was so bad. So, I'm doing their G League affiliate a favor, I suppose.
• The way this team has finished the season, perhaps public attention away from their play on the floor is a good thing. Local TV ratings on NBC Sports Boston were 7th highest in the league but took a 15% nosedive from their previous full season.
• Did you catch this week's Super Flower Bad Ass Blood Moon? Isn't that what it was called?
• The next step toward Amazon owning the world – the company BOUGHT the 97-year-old MGM Studios this week – home to the James Bond and Rocky movie franchises and Gone with the Wind – for $8.45 billion.
• Tennis star Naomi Osaka announced on Instagram she will not talk to press at the French Open, which begins this week. Osaka said speaking to the press can be damaging to mental health.
• NOT speaking to the press can also be damaging to your career, Naomi. Just sayin'.
• My buddy "Big E" sez he knows he needs a hearing aid. He just doesn't want to spend money on one. So, when he asked his doctor about the cost the doc said, "anywhere from five bucks to $5000."
• "E" told him he'd take the five dollar one. The doctor put a string around his neck and a little button in his ear. When "Big E" asked him how it worked, the doctor said, "hey, for five bucks, it doesn't work. But when people see this thing on you, they'll talk louder."
• Borrowing from a Jay Mariotti comment made this week – I do wonder about the phrase in our Pledge of Allegiance "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." We most certainly are not 'one nation, under God' at present for many reasons, nor are we indivisible.
• But do we have liberty and justice for all? While some would argue we do not, and they wouldn't be wrong considering the social movements we've seen in the past year…this view sez we at least DO have liberty.
• We're free to discuss whatever we wish to discuss in this country, which we should remain thankful for…unlike in places such as Belarus, for example. But justice? For all?
• That's a constant W-I-P, a work in progress. It is a painfully slow, costly process. But…we're getting there. By being conscious of it in the first place.
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? It's your chance to "think out loud," so send your questions, comments and local stories to jrooke@weei.com.
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