DHL Dan CXIX - No Shifts In Baseball?

Without any major news on the pro baseball front, Shank takes a recent Fred Lynn tweet and made a column out of it:

Picked-up pieces while waiting for baseball …

▪ There’s considerable push to ban defensive shifts in baseball because, well, hitters are too stubborn to make adjustments. An excellent analysis in The Athletic found many baseball people who want to legislate where a manager can position his defenders.

I say no. There have been nine defensive players on the diamond for more than 150 years. Put ‘em anywhere you want. It’s up to the hitters to figure it out. In the words of Wee Willie Keeler, “Hit ‘em where they ain’t.”

Add Fred Lynn to the chorus of those who think today’s hitters need to stop crying and make some adjustments.

“I believe they shifted on Ted Williams and didn’t he hit .406?” Lynn tweeted this past week.

Lynn’s remark was a response to Joey Gallo’s sob story in The Athletic.

Fight Night

I was watching this very game the other night but wound up flipping channels when the shit hit the fan. Fortunately, Shank's here with a recap of things:

Juwan Howard isn’t the first coach to lose control, but he was definitely out of line

By now you’ve probably seen the video of Michigan basketball coach and former NBAer Juwan Howard getting into a postgame dustup with members of the Wisconsin basketball staff after losing to the Badgers Sunday afternoon. The lowlight of the clip unfolds when the 6-foot-9-inch Howard reaches over a pack of police officers, players, and coaches and slaps Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft upside the head.

Wow. Big-time college basketball coaches going at one another after a hard-fought game in February? Never seen anything like it … except for what happened at the Mullins Center in Amherst 28 years ago.

Local sports fans of a certain age certainly remember that one. No actual punches were landed, but those who were there won’t forget hearing enraged Temple coach John Chaney yelling, “I’ll kill you!,” as he charged UMass coach John Calipari.

“You remember that — when I see you, I’m going to kick your ass!,” Chaney hollered as he was restrained by UMass player Mike Williams while Calipari stood at the postgame podium.

Video goodnewss of the Calipari / Chaney interaction can be found here, and read on for more coach on coach dustups!

DHL Dan CXVIII - Imagination Required

With Major League Baseball still at a lockout / labor impasse phase, Shank gets creative with his latest Picked Up Pieces column:

What might have been if the Red Sox had started spring training this week, and other thoughts

Less snow shoveling for Shank, just to name one thing...

Picked-up pieces while daydreaming about the column I should be writing today . . .

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Alex Cora is confident the 2022 Red Sox are ready to take care of unfinished business.

The Sox and their brash manager almost made it to the World Series four months ago and on the first day of pitcher/catcher workouts Cora told reporters, “No more sneaky good. We are ready to be world champs in 2022. Get ready for a lot of laundry cart rides in our dugout.”

Boston’s manager wants you to know that the 2021 playoffs were not a mirage and the Red Sox — who pantsed the Yankees and Rays, then dominated the Astros over the first three games of the 2021 ALCS — are ready to take things to the next level this season.

The Only Winning Move Is Not To Play

That's Shank's opinion (one that I share) about Boston not getting the 2024 Summer Olympic Games:

Not hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics is the best thing that never happened to Boston

Billionaire Charles Dolan almost bought the Red Sox in 2001. We have seen what he and his family have done to the Knicks. We dodged a big bullet there.

Bob Kraft almost moved the Patriots to Hartford in 1998. Kraft announced that it was a done deal. Fortunately, it was only a threat, and the Patriots never left Foxborough.

The list goes on. The Red Sox almost traded for Alex Rodriguez in the winter of 2003-04. The Celtics almost re-signed Kyrie Irving three years ago.

Oh, and back in 2015, Boston actually made a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Seven months after the US Olympic Committee designated Boston as the American city best equipped to bid for the Games, we withdrew our application. The 2024 Games will take place in Paris.

At least Shank's consistent with this opinion.

DHL Dan CXVII - Please Be Patient!

The NBA season's past the halfway point and the Celtics are 3rd place in the Atlantic Division. Shank urges Celtics fans to be patient:

Celtics fans, be patient, because they’re sticking with this team, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while going big on the Rams in the Year of the Tiger …

▪ Brad Stevens was busy on the day of his first trade deadline as Celtics president of basketball ops. He shipped seven players out of town, none of whom were destined to have their numbers retired in the Garden’s rafters. Derrick White (who played three seasons of Division 2 college ball) and Daniel Theis (hello, again) were the “name” acquisitions.

None of these deals will rock Causeway Street like Dennis Johnson for Rick Robey or Charlie Scott for Paul Westphal (remember when an NBA deal was player-for-player, talent-for-talent?). There were no fireworks. In Stevens’s first year as boss, it’s clear that the Celtics are staying the course with this group, and with rookie coach Ime Udoka.

Stevens is playing the long game with this team that has tested our patience.

All together now … meh.

Brett Favre 2.0?

It seems like Tom Terrific isn't officially off the retirement list:

We just said goodbye to Tom Brady, and he’s already talking about a comeback?

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water …

Tom Brady is already talking about a comeback.

Sheesh. Does it ever stop with this guy? Is there no end to his hunger for attention? His need to be loved and admired?

C’mon, Tom. We just said goodbye and already you want to have us at hello. Couldn’t this have waited a few more weeks or months? Maybe until after the Super Bowl and the draft? Maybe after the 2022 schedule comes out? Maybe after Jimmy G leaves the Niners?

Tom lit his comeback fuse Monday on the public platform where he delivers many of his other important messages — the “Let’s Go” podcast, Brady’s annoying weekly SiriusXM show with Jim Gray.

Jim Gray's the annoying one there but god damn, I don't like this any more than Shank does, and that makes me nervous.

It's All About Boston?

Or - The One Where Shank Decides To Troll Some Readers:

Remember when Super Bowl Week was all about us and the Patriots?

Super Bowl Week used to be our week. We’d invade a host city and bring you Patriot stories for a full six days before the big game. Media Day. Radio Row. The commissioner’s annual press conference. Nonsense. Substance. Parties. Rock stars. The whole nine yards.

Covering the Patriots put us on the scene nine times between 2002 and 2019. We went to New Orleans, Houston, Jacksonville, Glendale (Ariz.), Indianapolis, Glendale again, Houston, Minneapolis, and Atlanta. We saw the St. Louis Rams in New Orleans and the Los Angeles Rams in Atlanta. The Patriots beat both Carolina and Atlanta in Houston, and lost to the Giants in both Arizona and Indy.

DHL Dan CLXIX - Explosive Issues

Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has launched a lawsuit against the NFL and three specific teams, and Shank has some thoughts on it:

Brian Flores shined light on two explosive NFL issues — race and tanking — and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while missing Truck Day …

▪ The Brian Flores lawsuit is bad news for the NFL on multiple levels. It’s clear that the Shield’s Rooney Rule is a farce and that Black coaches have a legit gripe; they are not getting due respect or consideration from NFL owners.

The fat-fingered Bill Belichick text in which Hoodie congratulated the wrong Brian and revealed the Giants had already decided on Brian Daboll was appalling. Flores handled Bill’s blunder with grace, then submitted to a charade interview with the Giants.

Flores has demonstrated toughness, fearlessness, and competence. As head coach of the Dolphins, he was 4-2 against Belichick and 19-14 in his last two seasons. This gets you fired?

The Tom Brady Retirement Column

Dear Tom:

Remember all those negative columns I wrote about you during Deflategate (and others) and I wound up calling you a cheatin' bastard?

We're good now, right?

Thanks,

Your Pal Shank

Tom Brady goes down as the greatest athlete in the storied history of Boston sports

Old-timers (like myself) still carry a torch for the celebrated likes of Bill Russell, Ted Williams, and Bobby Orr. But the truth is that Tom Brady clinched the trophy three years ago when he won his sixth Super Bowl for the Patriots at the age of 41.

Brady, who announced his retirement Tuesday morning, goes down as the greatest athlete in the long, storied history of Boston sports.

Russell forever will be our most prodigious winner: 11 championships in 13 seasons. Teddy Ballgame was the greatest hitter who ever lived. Orr is the best to ever lace up skates.

But Tom Brady is Boston’s Zeus … A-No. 1 … Top of the List … King of the Hill … Capo di Tutti Capi of all who played sports for New England teams.