Thinking out loud…while wondering whatever happened to Chuck Wilson on Sports?
• Happy New Year, Friars. Or is it a Happy New, Same ol' Year?
• Maybe that's unfair. But a predictable response from some in the fan base following a collapse in Milwaukee this past Tuesday. The 88-56 win for Marquette was their largest margin of victory – ever – over a Top 25 team.
• Sure, the Friars played poorly. But give the other guys credit – the Golden Eagles assisted on 24 of their 31 made shots. Hit on a high percentage. Didn't turn it over. Defended well, took it right to PC's strength in the middle.
• And yet, there isn't a fan who wouldn't have taken a 3-1 start to the league slate with three of the first four games on the road.
• That makes home dates loom even larger – starting Saturday with St. John's. Guard the Yard.
• Are they lucky, or good, or both? I've always believed it's better to be lucky than good. You can be good, and still lose. If you're good and lucky, well, you're championship caliber.
• Providence needs A.J. Reeves back in the lineup from his broken pinky, ASAP. Or at least, his presence back in the lineup so teams can't pack it in around Nate Watson. And Watson needs to reassert himself in the paint as a King. He's letting too many jesters joke around at his expense.
• Jared Bynum told listeners to Ed Cooley's Radio Show this week the team had a 'players' only' meeting after the Marquette massacre. We will soon find out if all are on the same page. Be Them Dudes.
• Wanna see a college basketball player of the year candidate? Watch Wisconsin's Johnny Davis. If the Friars have been 'lucky' at all, as some in the media have claimed, they were lucky they missed this guy.
• But it would have been more than interesting to see Justin Minaya's defense have a turn at keeping him in check. Minaya has been Kryptonite to just about every teams' Superman thus far.
• Good on ya,' Tyler Kolek. The Cumberland, RI and St. George's product dished out nine dimes Tuesday against the team he grew up watching. "Facilitator" doesn't really do him justice. But that's what he is for Marquette. And there's talent around him.
• As we all blast our way through Covid – a thought occurred. No matter the sport, no matter the team or athlete or coach – these days, every day is a challenge. Some just want to win a game. Others want to merely stay well, or even alive. Just sayin'.
• Priorities matter. Those that can manage to stay healthy by doing what's asked of them are winning. But that doesn't necessarily mean if you're late to the protocol party you can't still win.
• Mask up when asked. Vax up. Or, you can keep spinnin' that gun chamber around like you're playing Russian roulette.
• As Big East games are shuffled and rescheduled, let's note that three different teams have already been ranked as the league's highest within the national landscape. Villanova, Seton Hall and Providence (this past week) have all had their turn.
• Likely to be a couple more playing King of the Hill before we get to March's Madness. It speaks to the quality of the depth in the Big East. Don't be fooled by 32-point road losses.
• **** happens, especially with little difference between royalty and peasantry.
• Happy to report TWITBE (This Week in the Big East) returns to a Westwood One radio station, Sirius/XM satellite radio and a podcast near you for Season Eight. Kevin McNamara joins yours truly as co-host for a weekly look at the hot teams, the big-name players, and the coaches inside a big-time pressure cooker.
• Episode One this week features PC's hardcore defender Justin Minaya, Xavier coach Travis Steele and college basketball sportswriter/author Dana O'Neill. Come and get it – twitbe.buzzsprout.com and bigeast.com online.
• Not for nuthin', but did you know Minaya's dad is former New York Mets GM Omar Minaya? Yeah, sometimes I'm a late arrival to the party. But a cool story. Justin was a long, lean middle infielder and center fielder for much of his youth before the hardwood called.
• Just when a light appeared at the end of a long tunnel, URI's Covid troubles quickly became an on-coming train again. Rhody lost another game to a cancellation this week (that's three so far), against George Mason, through positives within the Patriots' program.
• Wonder what it was like, back in the good ol' days, when all coaches had to do was coach? Today, they need a degree in virology (with a minor in psychology) to navigate the landscape.
• Did you see where Boston College is now asking fans for vax proof when they attend games at Conte Forum and Kelley Rink? UConn is also doing the same. URI has been doing it at the Ryan Center. So has the TD Garden.
• Wonder if this statute might continue to trickle southward before too much longer, especially if some (in the minority) keep screaming about it – and others continue to get sick?
• Stanford has banned fans to its' sporting events altogether, following in the footsteps of Northeastern and Yale around here. Ohio State (THE Ohio State) has shut down concessions at their games. Going too far, ya' think? Ridiculous?
• Stop and ask former Friar and current PC athletic administrator Harold Starks how he feels about this. He's now on the mend, thank goodness, but it has been a long, difficult…and scary…trip.
• The women's teams at all four of Rhode Island's Division I programs have been affected with pauses and scheduling issues, too. Brown lost a game this week with Dartmouth; PC has had two games rescheduled and URI has been on a pause since Dec. 19th.
• PC hockey added 6-7 defenseman Taige Harding to the roster for the second half of their season. Harding is a 3rd round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks from last years' draft, who played in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Junior forward Jamie Englebert was co-player of the week in Hockey East with BC's Jack McBain.
• The Friars are off until Jan. 14th for a home and home series with Merrimack.
• Oh hey. It was Tuukka time in Providence this weekend. Until Covid reared its' ugly head again and postponed two games, in the case of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.
• Wait, wut? They're the Phantoms? There should be a rule that says any team from Lehigh Valley is, from this point forward, automatically referred to as the Iron Pigs – which IS the name of their AAA baseball team.
• Forget sportsmanship – and apparently, some still do. How about a little decency or compassion? Sacred Heart Academy in Connecticut has a girls' varsity hoop team that recently beat their opponent, Lyman Hall, 92-4.
• Yup. Ninety-two…to four.
• Sacred Heart's head coach, Jason Kirck, made a name for himself alright. He was suspended by his school this week. Stupid is as stupid does.
• Dan Reeves' passing last week at age 77 brought back a lot of great memories of his days as a player in Dallas. Especially of the first 'jersey' I ever owned as a kid.
• It was Reeves' #30 with the Cowboys, and I wore that sucker until it became bare threads. I remember my mom, sadly, bringing the tattered remnants to me one day long ago after it had been washed for like the millionth time.
• He should have been Tom Landry's rightful replacement as head coach in 1989.
• Got playoff scenarios? The Patriots still have an outside shot at the AFC's top seed with a win at Miami, a Bills' loss or tie, a Chiefs' loss and a Titans' loss. Yeah, right.
• But still within the realm of possibility is an AFC East title, should they win, and Buffalo loses or ties. Against the J-E-T-S, in Buffalo.
• Fish stink? Usually. But while Miami has zero postseason chances to play for, uneasy should rest the heads of those who won't (yet) be on the golf course next week.
• Did you see where BB is now tied with the late, great Don Shula for playoff seasons in the NFL?
• It's his 28th overall, 18th for BB in New England. If he sticks around for a couple years more – and he should – there will be more Shula records broken.
• He's always been a student of the history in the game. Bill Belichick, whether you like him or not, deserves his prominent place within that history.
• J.C. Jackson? Pay the man. The franchise tag will do. He's earned it.
• Antonio Brown sez he was misunderstood and mistreated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Uh huh. To the team who hires him to play football for them next year – and it will happen – you deserve everything you get.
• Incredibly sad to see the story that WBZ's Steve Burton produced this week on former Sox pitcher Jim Corsi, who passed away at age 60 from liver and colon cancer just a day after his story aired.
• Corsi pitched a couple of seasons for the Red Sox in the '90's and was considered a friend by many in and out of the organization during his time in and out of the big leagues. His last message to Burton, and the TV audience…get a colonoscopy. It might save your life.
• Rob Manfred, you have a real problem. Kicking Ken Rosenthal out at MLB Network, ostensibly because you didn't like or appreciate his criticism of you or your league, reeks of totalitarianism.
• Hey, that's what Rosenthal was hired to do – to tell the truth and give your sport credibility. Letting him go won't fix a thing. Your network has 49 million subs…but down from 70 million when it was launched.
• Your sport needs change like a baby needs its' diaper changed. Guess who is the poop?
• Betty White, thank you for being a friend. To all of us.
• Gamers, be on the lookout. Xfinity is launching an Esports league called City Series, and it is likely to include Boston. The competitions will include Fortnite, Rocket League and Super Smash Brothers Ultimate…and will run for three months until winners are crowned.
• And if you know anything at all about those games, you're a certifiable Gamer Geek.
• As we prep for the college football national title game, aka the true SEC championship between Alabama and Georgia (YAWN), we're learning the CFP TV ratings have hit a low ebb.
• The CFP semis on New Years' Eve were the lowest-rated and least watched since their debut in 2014-15. And they want to expand the CFP (College Football Playoffs) to 12 teams?
• Precisely. And absolutely, they should. If only to be all-inclusive.
• Novak Joke-a-vich is being refused entry into Australia to play in a Grand Slam tennis event he has dominated…because he didn't apply for the right kind of visa? Yeah, right.
• Hey, good on ya' Aussie. Here's how we solve the problem. He gets vaccinated. Everyone wins, including Joke-a-vich. Even if he doesn't know it.
• Online sports betting goes LIVE in New York Saturday morning. Operators will pay a whopping 51% state tax on their revenue but likely won't blink an eye at that…thanks to the number of betters expected.
• And Massachusetts? Still crickets…chirping. A major, major fail.
• ESPN Radio is 30 years old this month. I remember the birth well – the great Chuck Wilson (WEAN, WICE, WPRO) was part of the first weekend crew that has grown into a 24/7/365 operation, providing live content for hundreds of stations and thousands of podcast hours for consumption.
• For a good slice of it, from 1999 through 2011, I was privileged to be a part of it. Worked with some terrific, talented people that I call friends today, Wilson included. Have had former students working in Bristol, CT over the past decade…and hope to send a few more that way soon.
• Chuck Wilson on Sports had a 13-year run on local radio, from 1981 through 1993. From that point forward, I hosted the show (called "SportsBeat") for another two years before Scott Cordischi took the torch…eventually evolving into the creation of the former all-sports format on WSKO-AM 790 "The Score" – with Wilson anchoring much of ESPN's evening network programming.
• The wheels on the bus go round and round, don't they?
• Wilson left the network in 2009 but returned for a three-year stretch that ended again in 2013. He was inducted into the RI Radio and TV Hall of Fame in 2011 and is the founder and current director of EvenField, a non-profit organization that promotes character in sports.
• But not characters.
• Tom from Florida emailed me this week: "John - hello again from "free state" Florida. Still drinking the Covid Kool Aid and masking up I see. Even your home state doesn't believe in the Covid hype anymore.
• "And to add to the hypocrisy, some nitwit, highly overrated, underachieving congresswoman from New York just spent the New Year's weekend here in Miami proving once again Covid has been totally political so big pharma can get rich on taxpayers' dollars, not to mention all those votes for the dirty politicians (on both sides of the aisle, I might add) when election time comes around again.
• "That mask looks good on you from my TV down here watching the Friars' game."
• #SMH. After some minor cleaning of his note, I'll let you decide about Tom and his adopted home state…as Florida allegedly added more than 67 thousand infections Thursday – their second highest daily total since the start of the pandemic.
• Some will never understand, some don't want to understand, and thus, we have our current predicament. But I appreciate your reading.
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 ...
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