Thinking out loud…while wondering if the grass is greener on the other side, do you have to mow it?
• I’m a bit confused. Just sayin’.
• Bill Belichick sez he does what’s in the ‘best interests of the football team,’ correct? Where exactly does a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year NOT fit into making this Patriot team better?
• Stephon Gilmore’s release, and subsequent trade to Carolina Wednesday for a 2023 6th round pick sure doesn’t seem like it’s in anyone’s best interests, maybe except for Gilmore’s.
• He got his release. He’s on another team and may be staring at another big pay day for next year depending on his future play this season. How big a pay day he gets is certainly a question mark, one that has its’ roots, no doubt, in why Gilmore is no longer in Foxboro.
• Wouldn’t you rather have him “proving” himself here, than someplace else? If I’m gambling here, he’s under contract. He plays here, or he doesn’t play at all. Put his feet to the fire.
• And perhaps that’s why he’s gone. BB doesn’t want the trouble, or the distraction, of Gilmore being on the sideline in some injury purgatory with media and fans clamoring for his return.
• Business decisions happen frequently. Rule with your mind, not your heart. But like gambling…your mind also must include a modicum of common sense. This is where BB’s lack of explanation or reasoning on his decision-making process can be hurtful, rather than helpful.
• In Bill We Trust, or In Bill We Question The Hell Out Of? It’s what we’re left with.
• Ok, so the Patriots lost the Brady Bowl. The end result wasn’t surprising. But if you stopped long enough to watch the parade go by, you saw the future waving at you from that field.
• Mac Jones is the real deal. It’s hard to quantify, other than comparing him to other young QB’s in the game today – and he’s standing head-and-shoulders above them all. Including #1 pick Trevor Lawrence.
• That he’s doing it with an offensive line that has been, well, downright offensive is equally impressive. And with a running game that’s fine for one game, a dud for the next two.
• With TE’s who drop more than they catch. WR’s not wanted by too many other teams, either. And opposing coaches throwing the kitchen sink at him defensively.
• Rarely does hype meet reality. In this case, reality is surpassing the hype. But the rest of the team is a huge letdown.
• BB sez he’s got to coach better; the players have to play better. When exactly will that happen, Coach? This year, or next?
• They may dip from this point forward if fortunes don’t change, but the TV ratings for Brady vs. Belichick were boffo as expected. It was the most-watched Sunday Night game on NBC since 2012, with a 43.8 rating in Boston, a 34 national share and an audience of more than 28 million.
• But in little ol’ Providence, the game registered the highest local rating EVER for SNF on NBC. 45% of ALL television sets in the market were tuned into the game. Three out of every four sets in use? Also tuned in.
• Offensive linemen Isaiah Wynn and Mike Onwenu have had it rough the past couple of weeks. It certainly didn’t get any better with their placement on the Covid-19 IR list this week.
• It sez here if the Patriots end up flopping like a fish out of water this season, it’ll be because the line play was, well, offensive.
• A 1-3 start isn’t a death knell, but you can probably hear the bells chiming in the distance.
• 1-3 teams reaching the playoffs has happened 21 times since the current playoff format was adopted in 1990. The Patriots reached the postseason in ’01 and won the Super Bowl, of course. They’re (so far) the only NFL team to start that slow…and finish that fast.
• In this week’s “no matter how bad you have it, someone else has it worse” department, I give you – the Houston Texans.
• Hey Nick Caserio? Jack Easterby? How’s it going?
• Tom Brady is the NFL’s all-time passing yardage leader? YAWN. But what you may not know…is that including the postseason, TB12 might actually have a shot at cracking the 100K yard mark by the end of NEXT season.
• If he and the Buccaneers get that far. You betting against it?
• Has Urban Meyer lost his marbles? Best line I overheard on the impromptu ‘lap dance’ given to him by a female (who was not his wife) last weekend at his bar in Columbus, OH: “She had a wedgie and he was simply trying to lend her a hand.”
• That he would even think he could skate by incognito in this day and age of cameras being everywhere is extraordinarily naive. But it’s a whole ‘nutha side of dumbassery to think social media won’t make, um, a mountain out of this mole hill.
• My buddy “Big E” sez his health has been pretty good lately. But as we were discussing our little health-related conundrums, he told me this: “If I ever need a heart transplant, I’d want my ex’s. It’s never been used.”
• Fans at the Dunk for the Bruins and Friars this season will not be required to wear face coverings if they are fully vaccinated. Instead, they’ll be encouraged to wear them regardless of vaccination status in accordance with CDC guidelines.
• But without showing proof, how do you keep someone from cheating this policy? With honesty?
• Seeing as TD Garden has come through with a much stricter requirement…and fans are (so far) adhering to those requirements, because they have to…this could be a big ‘swing and a miss’ for the Dunk and the State of Rhode Island.
• Keep in mind, face coverings are required within all on-campus buildings at PC, except in a student’s personal dorm room. They’re required in Providence schools, too.
• But in a state-owned and operated building downtown…not required. Suggested. Big diff.
• Last week, we told you about ESPN’s Sage Steele complaining about being ‘forced’ to get vaxxed to keep her job. She got vaxxed. And this week, she was pulled from the air after reportedly testing positive for Covid-19.
• Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman is now “Doctor” Ackerman after receiving an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from PC last weekend.
• URI bumps up in the rankings of the FCS Top 25 this week to 18th in one poll, 20th in the other after beating Stony Brook in OT. Their reward is a home game with tenth-ranked Delaware.
• It’s one of five games across the country featuring two Top 25’s against each other. And it’s at Meade Stadium. The two teams have split the last four games between them.
• Bryant schooled Brown last week, getting up 33-0 on the Bears before Brown began hitting back. The Bulldogs held on at the end, however, winning 36-29.
• Boston College lost at Clemson, but the narrow loss cost the Tigers a Top 25 spot for the first time since 2014.
• UMass raised the banner for its’ 2020 hockey natty last weekend. But the Minutemen are off to an 0-2 start following back-to-back losses, at home, to #5 Minnesota State. That drops UMass from preseason #1 to in-season #7.
• BC, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern all have men’s hockey teams ranked in the national Top 20. Yeah, we still know how to do hawkey he-ah.
• PC hockey also comes in at #11 this week after an opening 7-0 whitewash of Army. The Friars beat Merrimack Thursday at home, and get American International Saturday in Springfield.
• Men’s soccer stays ranked at #25 after a 2-2 tie at Marquette, and a 1-0 win at St. John’s.
• ICYMI, the Revs are on a long, 17-day break between games with several players off on national team duty. New England already has the top seed in the Eastern Conference, a first-round bye and home field advantage, too…with five games remaining.
• Soccer is #3 among 6-to-24-year-olds in the US. When did 6-year-olds begin contributing to the sports economy, short of mom buying their halftime snacks?
• Speaking of soccer, the NWSL is having real issues. The commish has resigned in the wake of a scandal that saw a coach fired for coercing players into having sex. Another head coach was dismissed with a harassment investigation ongoing.
• And viewership in this league nearly tripled in 2020 over the previous year.
• Tweet of the Week, from @BostonSportsInfo: “Last time the Red Sox lost a playoff series to the Yankees Tom Brady had one Super Bowl title.”
• Hey, I’m just as stunned as you are about the Sox beating the Yankees. Especially considering the horrid pitching move Alex Cora made to pull Nate Eovaldi out of the game Tuesday night.
• 71 dominant pitches over the Yankees. Ok, well, 70. But to pull him out after one bad one? Think we best all strap on our seat belts for the ALDS. It’s liable to be a real roller coaster ride.
• JD Martinez was left off the Sox roster for the Yankees because of his sprained ankle…that he turned while running to the outfield and tripping over a base.
• And he couldn’t suck it up enough to help his team out, even as a DH? Sez all I need to know.
• Never mind the fact he was hitting only .186 against NY this year. He wussed out. You gonna argue with that?
• But the Wild Card win over the Yankees at least sez this about these Red Sox: There’s plenty of pluck in that suck.
• Tampa Bay, however, is clearly a superior team. They’re fun to watch. Wish I didn’t have to.
• Matt Barnes being left off the ALDS roster? Validates as a ‘fluke’ that his first half, all-star caliber performance was just that. Fluky.
• Loved the NY Post cover headline Tuesday morning: “Boston Sucks,” listing the idiotic reasons why New Yorkers feel superior to Bostonians. Jinxed the Yankees, didn’t it? Or did they not need any help with that?
• But of the idiotic reasons listed why they feel ‘superior,’ the one that makes NO sense: “They would all move here if they could.”
• To where? The Bronx with the pizza-eating rats?
• Not for nuthin’, but baseball attendance is at a generational low point. This year, attendance fell nearly 34% compared to 2019 – with the lowest attendance numbers since 1984.
• Of course, many teams didn’t open to full attendance until midseason, and Toronto’s home games weren’t even in Canada until late July.
• The Rays’ attendance? Horrific. Embarrassing, even. Would Montreal be any better?
• Viewership on TV was also down 19% compared to 2019, even with the wildly successful “Field of Dreams” game…and despite the Sox-Yankee wildcard game becoming the highest rated game on ESPN since 1998.
• It drew 7.7 million viewers. The Patriots and TB12 drew 28 million. MLB starts a seven-year, $5.1 billion deal with Fox next year.
• The collective wealth of the 44 sports owners on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans rose a stunning 42% from last year to $392.4 billion. That includes #12 Robert Kraft (among franchise owners), #35 John Henry and #42 Jeremy Jacobs.
• The internet – or at least Facebook and Instagram – stopped working on Monday of this week for several hours.
• All internal systems at FB went down after a whistleblower report on “60 Minutes” suggested they’ve known about the negative impacts of their algorithms – “profit over public safety” – on young people for some time.
• It was glorious watching people panic on Twitter.
• Oh, and stupid is as stupid does.
• Unvaxxed NBA players – and their union – have agreed to a reduction in pay for every game they must sit out due to vaccine-related issues in their home city.
• For noted malcontent Kyrie Irving, that means he’ll forfeit more than $360K for every game he misses.
• Man, life must be good on his flat earth.
• And Forbes reports the one-time object of Celtic eyes, Washington’s Bradley Beal, is staying unvaccinated and doesn’t see the need to be “forced” into getting a jab.
• Not sure I would want that kind of selfishness on my team, so thanks, Bradley…for letting us know how you feel about “us.”
• Five former Celtics are in that group of 18 ex-NBA players accused of defrauding the league’s healthcare plan. Not sure that’s what anyone really had in mind when it came to getting a job after the fun and games were over with.
• Rhode Island’s Boo Boo Andrade will return to the boxing ring next month (Nov. 19) and defend his WBO World Middleweight title against Jason Quigley at Manchester, NH’s SNHU Arena. It’ll be his fifth defense since taking the title in 2018.
• The first bit of restraint shown within the sports betting industry? Mohegan Sun has stopped taking bets on the Connecticut Sun…since Mohegan is the team’s home arena. Conflict of interest?
• Governor Ned Lamont placed the first bet at the facility…a $50 wager on the Sun to win its’ playoff game with Chicago Sunday. They lost, and so did he.
• Still think you’ll see sports betting in Massachusetts this year? You might want to re-think that…or keep driving across the border into RI, CT, NH and NY.
• Senate President Karen Spiika sez there are four or five other priorities on tap for legislators to tend to before they get around to making money for the Commonwealth. Really?
• Since when is not making money for her state in her constituents’ best interests?
• The Boston Herald reported the House passed a sports betting bill in July – the chamber’s second time doing so – which supporters of the bill said could generate up to $70 million in tax revenue annually plus another $80 million every five years for licensing fees.
• Sports betting accounts for 13% of all commercial gaming revenue, and sports wagering revenues are up 650% over two years as more states “realize and legalize.”
• Guess that’s not enough for Massachusetts.
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. 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 ...
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