What's In A Number?

Shank picks up on a theme after the attempt by Democrats to pervert the rule of law in order to jail their political opponents. To wit: President Donald Trump is booked for allegedly violating RICO laws in the state of Georgia, where...

Turns out Donald Trump is built just like a lot of famous athletes. Or is he?

According to booking records released by Georgia authorities, former president Donald Trump is 6 feet 3 inches and weighs a self-reported 215 pounds.

This makes Trump the physical twin of Patriots wide receiver DeVante Parker, also listed at 6-3, 215. Turns out Trump also could be a body double for San Diego Padres sluggers Manny Machado (6-3, 218) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (6-3, 217).

Truly amazing. The 77-year-old Trump at this hour is the exact same height and weight as Muhammad Ali was when he boxed Joe Frazier as a 29-year-old in the Fight of the Century at Madison Square Garden in 1971.

What a specimen!

Trump is 6' 3" but I doubt the weight of 215; more like 240 at a minimum.

,,, This is where I must ask everybody to calm down for a second and take a deep breath. This is not a political statement, nor is it about body shaming. In pro sports, being in top shape is part of the job. This has nothing to do with serious lies and issues that impact our lives and/or democracy.

This is about vanity and selling a narrative that makes one feel better about oneself. Who among us has not done that? I’m told it sometimes even happens on dating apps.

Read on for more examples of not being totally precise.

DHL Dan CLXXX - Big Returns

With Mookie Betts having returned to Boston this weekend, Shank looks back at other former Boston athletes who've come back to Boston on another team:

Recalling some memorable Boston ‘comebacks,’ and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while trying to navigate Apple TV+ …

▪ With Mookie Betts in town for the weekend, it’s fun to look back at other celebrated returns to Boston.

The legendary Babe Ruth, who was sold to the Yankees 100 years before Betts was salary-dumped to the Dodgers, launched the greatest dynasty in the history of American sports for New York City … but he didn’t hurt the Red Sox when he first returned to Fenway. Playing center field and batting cleanup in April of 1920, the Bambino went a tepid 3 for 12 with two singles and a double in three losses at Fenway.

Unlike Ruth, Tom Brady, Roger Clemens, and Carlton Fisk got revenge in their first trips home.

In October of 2021, the much-decorated Brady — who was allowed to walk by Bob Kraft and Bill Belichick — triumphantly returned to Foxborough as Super Bowl champion quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady was cheered with gusto when he ran the length of the Gillette Stadium field (his signature entrance in the glory days here) before the start of the game.

The Mookie Betts Columns

Shank's here to painfully remind you about the trade that sent Mookie to the Dodgers and, of course, the state of both teams:

This Mookie Betts appearance is a painful reminder of the contrasting fortunes of the Dodgers and Red Sox

Mookie Betts will be at Fenway Park Friday for the first time since he was dealt from Boston in 2020. His mere presence reminds us of an epic Red Sox blunder. It’s a little bit like Babe Ruth returning to Fenway for the first time after Sox owner Harry Frazee sold him to the Yankees in the winter of 1919-20.

On Jan. 10, 2020, less than a month before Betts was dealt, Red Sox owner John Henry, overseeing the top payroll in baseball, returned an email from yours truly and stated, “We are focused on competitiveness over the next 5 years.”

Looks like someone lost some focus!

He then asks Sam Kennedy (Red Sox CEO) about the Red Sox AppleTV + games on this and other nights:

Loyal NESN subscribers who follow the Red Sox all year may be in for a surprise when they attempt to watch the Sox at Fenway Friday night in Mookie Betts’s first Boston appearance since the Sox dealt him to the Dodgers in 2020. The game will not be on NESN. It will be broadcast on Apple TV+.

MLB is in its second year of a seven-year, $85 million-per-year deal to stream Friday night games on Apple TV+.

“We always like to have our games on NESN,” said Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy. “But we also recognize that we are part of a broader ecosystem, so having our games shown outside of the territory is good for baseball and for the Red Sox.

I'm not going to lose sleep over a missed Red Sox game here and there.

Q & A Time With Bill Belichick

Shank took a trip to Gillette Stadium to get a bunch of grunts and half-answers from the affable Patriots head coach:

Bill Belichick knows how to work the clock, even in a preseason press conference

FOXBOROUGH — MLB has the highly effective “pitch clock.” Colleague Bob Ryan suggests a universal “anthem clock” to curtail unnecessarily lengthy renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before ballgames.

Monday at Gillette … for the 24th consecutive season, we again experienced Bill Belichick’s time-tested “interview clock.’’

We arrived at the coach’s coveted media availability armed with a list of questions. With the Patriots scheduled to fly to Wisconsin Tuesday, then on to Nashville for back-to-back road preseason games, Monday represented the local press corps’s last chance to talk to Bill at Gillette for almost two weeks.

Driving down Route 1, I’d heard sports-radio patter about undrafted rookie Malik Cunningham (in camp as a wide receiver) becoming one of the greatest sports stories of all time by unseating Mac Jones as the Patriots’ starting quarterback. Cunningham quarterbacked New England’s lone touchdown drive in the exhibition opener against Houston and is all the rage of a largely dull camp.

DHL Dan CLXXIX - Happy 70th, Shank!

Shank has a few thoughts on turning 70 years old:

Reflections of a sports columnist upon turning 70, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering if Bob Lobel gets to throw out a ceremonial first pitch when Mookie Betts and the first-place Dodgers come to Fenway in two weeks …

▪ Bill Belichick turned 70 in the spring of 2022, and at this time last year, I reminded him of something he said to NFL Films when he was still only 57.

“I won’t be like Marv Levy and coaching in my 70s,” “young” Bill said in 2009.

Belichick was 70 when he coached last season. He is 71 now, still calling the shots in Foxborough, suddenly hearing that he is too old and that the game has passed him by.

Now it’s my turn. You are reading the words of a 70-year-old columnist.

There’s no getting around 70. We can kid ourselves about 40 being the new 30, and 50 being the new 40. Blah, blah. There is no hiding 70. It’s bloody old.

That's our Shank - always the optimist!

Connection Made

Or - A Tale of Two Grand Slams:

A tale of two grand slams: Mookie Betts, Pablo Reyes, and the direction of Chaim Bloom’s Red Sox

Mookie Betts and Pablo Reyes both hit grand slams Monday.

Betts’s blast powered the first-place Dodgers (65-46) to a 13-7 win over the Padres. Reyes’s walkoff granny gave the Red Sox a 6-2 win over the moribund Royals (36-78), vaulting your Towne Team out of last place for a few hours.

How are these things connected?

Chaim Bloom, that’s how.

Bloom’s first big moment as Boston’s baseball boss came in February of 2020 when he traded the face of the franchise and likely Hall of Famer Betts to the Dodgers for Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong, and Jeter Downs.

The Dodgers are going to be at Fenway two weeks from Friday, and it’ll be Mookie’s first appearance since that awful deal. And it got me wondering whether poor Chaim will still be on the job when Betts comes to town.

Wondering? I bet Shank's rooting for it.

DHL Dan CLXXVIII - Piling On The Red Sox

In keeping with the summetime tradition of constant criticism of the 2023 Boston Red Sox, Shank hires a hitman to take some shots:

Dan Duquette knows what it’s like on the hot seat in the Red Sox front office, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while covering Syracuse’s dugout TVs with shatterproof glass in case things don’t go well for Chris Sale in his Sunday rehab start …

▪ Dan Duquette is one of the few folks in the world who knows exactly what it feels like to be Chaim Bloom. Like Bloom, the Duke took over as baseball boss of the Red Sox when he was 36 and incurred the wrath of Boston fans and local media when things didn’t go well.

“There was one point in time when I had to park my car in center field so that I could get safely in and out of the ballpark,” Duquette said from his new home in Wilmington, N.C. “It’s a very passionate and emotional fan base. You need to make sure you’re all-in to understand how they feel.”

>

Don't Stop Not Believing

Red Sox GM Chaim Bloom basically sat on his hands as baseball's trading deadline passed earlier this week, which is great news for Shank:

The Red Sox’ Chaim Bloom showed at the trade deadline that he doesn’t believe in his own team

In the end, Chaim Bloom decided this team is not worth an additional investment. He did not listen to Rafael Devers, Alex Cora, or a sizable segment of Red Sox Nation calling for reinforcements at the trade deadline. After weeks of debate about “buy or sell,” we got a still life painting of a bowl of oranges.

Bupkis. Nothing. Nada.

(Sorry, bringing on Luis Urías, a 26-year-old Triple A utility infielder who batted .145 for the Brewers this year does not count.)

Do you believe in this surprising Sox team that has played the best ball in the majors since June 30?