Bring Back Rod Rust?

With the New England Patriots losing on Sunday, it brings back some bad memories for Shank:

Jerod Mayo’s powerless, flat Patriots channeling every bit of the bad old days

GLENDALE, Ariz. — These are games we mocked not so long ago: A 3-10 team against a 6-7 team in mid-December. A couple of Tomato Cans duking it out in a quiet stadium while Football America was riveted to Bills at Lions (48-42, Buffalo) on CBS.

If you were home in New England, forced to watch Patriots-Cardinals ahead of the true Game of the Week, too bad. Instead of a possible prelude to this year’s Super Bowl, you were hostage to the Dumpster Fire In The Desert. It was just like the bad old days of 20th century Patriot-watching.

Under the robin’s egg blue skies of State Farm Stadium’s open roof, the Cardinals pantsed the moribund Patriots, 30-17, Sunday. Jerod Mayo’s 11 dropped to 3-11, clearing the way for 3-14 and another top three pick in this spring’s draft.

New England showed little sign of life, and Bob and Jonathan Kraft looked pretty unhappy in their midfield thrones. Maybe deciding to hire Mayo five years ago because he demonstrated good manners on a trip to Israel wasn’t such a great idea.

When local teams are at their worst, Shank's writing comes alive. Funny how that works...

DHL Dan CCXXXIII - Innocent Until Proven Guilty?

That's Shank's somewhat disingenuous statement on certain professional athletes accused of domestic violence:

When employing those accused of domestic violence, teams weigh quest to win against damage to brand, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while waiting for more Red Sox news to come out of the Winter Meetings . . .

▪ Aroldis Chapman. Milan Lucic. Jabrill Peppers.

All three are Boston athletes on teams that have not enjoyed a lot of success lately; all were accused of violence against women; none were convicted (Peppers doesn’t go to trial until January); all of them raise questions about the responsibilities professional sports teams face when allegations of domestic violence collide with a team’s quest to win and the experience of its fans.

Every case is different. Like the rest of us, millionaire professional athletes are presumed innocent until proven guilty. But teams hiring baggage-laden players are ever measuring fairness and the quest to win against potential damage to the team’s brand. It’s a high-wire act filled with mixed messaging.

Unlike the rest of us, our names and faces aren't splashed across the sports pages in print and on the Internet, which tends to cause the ' potential damage to the team’s brand'. To me, that's the disingenuous part.

Playoffs?

That's Shank's tone after watching the Boston Celtics so far this year:

Can we get to the playoffs already? This year’s Celtics might be even better than last year’s.

The defending world champion Celtics have played only one quarter of their regular-season schedule. We still have four weeks left in 2024.

I have only one question: When do the playoffs start?

Sorry. I know the NBA regular season is a marathon, not a sprint. I know there are critical games left in the quest for the coveted NBA Cup; the idle Celtics were eliminated Tuesday night. I know we are supposed to take a deep breath, hope everyone stays healthy, and monitor the NBA readiness of Neemias Queta and Drew Peterson.

Not me. I watch the 2024-25 Celtics when I think they might be in for a close game or playing a team that could be a speed bump in the quest for Banner No. 19.

Also, to ponder their place among the greatest Celtics teams of all time.

DHL Dan CCXXXII - Hitting The Century Mark

As the Boston Bruins turn 100 today (Happy Birthday, Bruins!), Shank writes one of his three yearly hockey columns to commemorate the event:

There is so much to remember in 100 years of Bruins hockey, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while refusing to take the cheese on the Juan Soto nonsense …

▪ The Bruins turn 100 Sunday and plan a centennial birthday party before their 3 p.m. game at the Garden against the Montreal Canadiens.

Nice symmetry there. The Montreal Maroons were the Bruins’ opponents for their first game ever — a 2-1 win at Boston Arena Dec. 1, 1924.

The Zamboni of those days was a horse-drawn, plow-like scraper followed by a team of broom-toting sweepers (no jokes about slow horses playing for the 2024 Bruins).

As much as anything, Sunday’s celebration will be a salute to the Hub’s hockey culture, and the grip the Bruins have had on this region for as long as Jimmy Carter has been alive.

DHL Dan CCXXXI - The Juan Soto Pursuit

Shank doesn't think much of the Red Sox going after free agent Juan Soto:

Red Sox deserve no benefit of the doubt with their Juan Soto pursuit, and other thoughts

Picked up pieces while prepping to watch the Super Bowl-bound Lions on Thanksgiving …

▪ The Red Sox sent a contingent to Orange County last week to meet with outfielder Juan Soto and his agent, Scott Boras. The Sox were represented by Sam Kennedy, Tom Werner, Alex Cora, and Craig Breslow. It’s been reported that the meeting went well, but that no offer was made. Other teams courting Soto include the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Phillies, and Blue Jays.

Boston’s toe in the water has seamhead dreamers and innocents convinced that the Red Sox actually have a chance.

Not this typist.

When pigs can fly and cows jump over the moon . . . when hell freezes over . . . when an NBA guard gets called for “palming” . . . when Larry Bird picks up a check . . . when California tumbles into the sea . . .

OK, the Larry Bird quip was funny!

No, You're The Soft One!

Now that the 2024 New England Patriots are firmly below .500 for the season, Shank the Knife returns to his Patriots bashing form:

Jerod Mayo once called his Patriots soft, but he is coaching in a similar fashion

Butch Hobson. Dave Lewis. Rod Rust. M.L. Carr.

Soft team?

How about “soft coaching”?

Patriots rookie sideline boss Jerod Mayo made headlines last month when he termed his team “soft” after a 32-16 loss, its sixth consecutive defeat, against Jacksonville in London.

Highly insulting. There’s not much worse you can say about an NFL player or team. “Soft” is a highly charged word in professional sports, especially football. It’s like telling a Fox News host that he or she is “woke.”

Inspired by the insult and the play of rookie quarterback Drake Maye, the rebuilding Patriots won two of their next three games. They might have won three in a row but were restrained by their hesitant head coach in Tennessee when he ordered a point-after kick after the Patriots cut the Titans’ lead to a single point at the end of regulation.

It's a bit early with the Rod Rust / M.L. Carr comparisons, isn't it? And Shank's then beamoning other people on 'insulting' remarks?

DHL Dan CCXXX - Grogan's Heroes

Shank takes a look back at the last New England Patriots quarterback who ran a lot:

Steve Grogan can tell Drake Maye all about a scrambling quarterback, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while laughing at reports that the Red Sox “have interest” in Juan Soto . . .

▪ Before Tom Brady was born, Steve Grogan was the Patriots’ franchise quarterback. And he ran with the football. A lot.

Tough guy Grogan gave the Patriots 16 hard-nosed seasons, running amok, throwing his body on the line, and living to play another week. When he retired in 1991, Grogan was the Patriots’ all-time passing leader, and his 35 rushing touchdowns still rank fourth in team history.

Like Drake Maye, Grogan was not a fan of giving himself up at the end of a run. There was no “slide rule” to protect quarterbacks in the first decade of Grogan’s career, and when the rule was introduced in 1985, Grogan didn’t like it.

“I only slid once in my career,” Grogan said from his Missouri home this past week. “It was in Pittsburgh. I got hit under the chin and got a concussion and woke up in the shower. I don’t think they even threw a flag on that play. That was the last time I slid.

I think Grogan could've played a few more years with the new rules. I remember he used to get the crap kicked out of him every other scrambling run. Here's hoping Drake Maye's a bit more judicious with his running and sliding.

DHL Dan CCXXIX - Riding The Pine

The Bruins' David Pastrnak got benched earlier in the week, and Shank recalls another Bruins benching:

David Pastrnak’s benching recalls an earlier event that didn’t sit well with Cam Neely, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while calmly reciting Lou Gorman’s mantra: “The sun will rise, the sun will set, and I’ll have lunch” …

▪ Bruins coach Jim Montgomery benched his best player, David Pastrnak, for the third period of a win over the Kraken at the Garden last weekend.

And it was no big deal. After taking responsibility for a bad turnover in the game, Pasta said, “I don’t want to be any distraction to our team,” then two days later led all Bruins forwards with 22:18 of ice time in Toronto.

I don’t remember Manny Ramirez, Tom Brady, or Larry Bird getting benched very often. It’s a hockey thing. And it’s usually not a big deal.

Except for once around here when it was.

In January of 1996, 34-year-old rookie Bruins coach Steve Kasper sat Cam Neely and Kevin Stevens for a game in Toronto that ended in a 4-4 tie. Neely, a nine-year Bruins veteran and alternate captain who was playing in the final year of his career, did not take it well, and neither did Bruins fans.

The Real Deal?

That's what Shank's wondering after last week's New England Patriots loss to the Tennessee Titans:

Love or hate the Drake, you will always remember Maye’s Music City Miracle — and he looks like the real deal

NASHVILLE — Drake Maye did it all Sunday in Tennessee.

All except for the winning part.

One week after being sidelined by a concussion in the first quarter against the Jets, New England’s new franchise quarterback made his fourth career start and did a lot of everything.

With little concern for his personal safety, Maye ran the ball eight times for 95 yards, eschewing the safety slide on most occasions and coming within 5 yards of being the first Patriot quarterback in 48 years to rush for 100 (Steve Grogan, 1976).

Love the Drake!

He completed 29 of 41 passes for 206 yards and orchestrated two second-half touchdown drives.

Love the Drake!

He fumbled twice (losing one) and was intercepted twice.

Hate the Drake!

DHL Dan CCXXVIII - Spooky Thoughts

Speaking of mailing it in, I skipped three of Shank's columns from ealier in the week, so we can get right to a sequel to Shank's infamous book, The Curse of The Bambino:

These Mookie Betts/Babe Ruth parallels with the Red Sox are getting spooky, and other thoughts

NEW YORK — Picked-up pieces while concluding that the Mets, Phillies, and Padres also would have beaten the Yankees . . .

▪ The Dodgers won the World Series Wednesday, and it was Mookie Betts driving in the winning run. Mookie has won two World Series since the Red Sox dealt him for Jeter Downs (released after 14 games), Connor Wong, and Alex Verdugo (traded to the Yankees).

This really is starting to feel like Babe Ruth Redux. Exactly 100 years later.

The Babe came to the Red Sox in 1914, Mookie in 2014.

The Babe won a World Series with the Sox in 1918, Mookie in 2018.

The Babe was sold to the Yankees after the 1919 season because Red Sox ownership needed cash. Mookie was traded to the Dodgers after the 2019 season because the Red Sox wouldn’t pay what the Dodgers were willing to pay him.

On The Ropes Already?

The Los Angeles Dodgers jumped out to a 2 - 0 lead in the 2024 World series last night, and Shank's wondering if it may be over already:

Despite Shohei Ohtani injury, Freddie Freeman and the Dodgers have the Bronx in a panic

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers two. Yankees zero.

The Bronx is down. And the Los Angeles battery is up.

Japanese rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto stuffed the high-powered Yankees on one hit over 6⅓ innings and the Dodgers won their second straight Saturday, beating the Yanks, 4-2, to take a 2-0 lead over New York in a 2024 World Series that’s already supplied a ton of memorable moments.

The only drawback for LA was the sight of latter-day Babe Ruth, Shohei Ohtani, writhing on the dirt around second base after he was caught stealing in the seventh. The Franchise sustained a partial dislocation of his left shoulder while sliding feet-first into the bag and no one knows much about his availability for the rest of this Series.

“I hope he’s OK,” Dodger hero Freddie Freeman — two homers in two games — told the MLB Network. “I haven’t heard anything. But when you’re in pain, holding your arm, it’s probably not a good thing.”

The Kevin Bacon Comparison

Taking an interest in this year's World Series, Shank does the Kevin Bacon thing with the two managers:

Sox degrees of skipper separation: Yankees’ Aaron Boone and Dodgers’ Dave Roberts meet in the World Series

LOS ANGELES — The sports world is agog over this 2024 World Series. We have Yankees-Dodgers for a record 12th time (Yankees lead, 8-3) and all the major cliches — East Coast-West Coast, Larry-Magic, Sinatra-Billie Eilish — have been tossed around. Folks at Fox are happy and there’s no doubt this series will get more attention than the vaunted Diamondbacks-Rangers joust of 2023.

But as ever, it’s all about us and in this spirit we are here to talk about the managerial matchup of New York’s Aaron Boone vs. LA’s Dave Roberts.

Neither Boone nor Roberts ever played in a World Series for the Red Sox (Roberts was on the ‘04 roster, but never got off the bench in the Fall Classic) but both had enormous impact on the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry when it peaked in 2003 and 2004.

DHL Dan CCXXVII - The World Series Column

For Shank, the Yankees / Dodgers World Series is steeped in history:

Dodgers-Yankees is a World Series guaranteed to take us back, and other thoughts

LOS ANGELES — Picked-up pieces while worrying that Jerod Mayo is our new Butch Hobson …

▪ Dodgers-Yankees. Star Wars. Big Bucks. The Blue Ribbon World Series. Swimming pools. Movie stars. Life in the fast lane meets the city that doesn’t sleep. It’s the dream matchup for Fox.

We all know the World Series isn’t what it used to be when time stood still in early October and kids raced home from school to watch day baseball on black-and-white televisions.

But Dodgers-Yankees is as good as it’s going to get in a 21st century that’s seen MLB fall far behind almighty football.

The Dodgers won a thriller Game 1 Friday, 6-3, when Freddie Freeman hit the first walkoff grand slam in World Series history in the bottom of the 10th inning.

“One of the best baseball games I’ve ever been part of,” said Dodgers star Mookie Betts.

Banner Night II

Shank covers the first home gane for the 2024 - 2025 Boston Celtics:

From Bob Cousy to Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, Celtics history is second to none

Born in 1946, winners of multiple championships in every decade from the 1950s through the 1980s, the Boston Celtics and their extra large family gathered on Causeway Street to raise the franchise’s 18th championship banner Tuesday night before opening their season on the parquet floor with a 132-109 massacre of the New York Knicks.

It was a night to honor Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the other Celtic champs who shredded the NBA in a 16-3 playoff run that concluded just four months ago.

Tatum (37 points in 30 minutes, and he was 8 of 11 on 3-pointers) and Brown (23 points, 5 of 9 on threes) picked up where they left off as the Celtics hit a record-tying 29 from long range against the punch-drunk Knicks.

“I can honestly say, you’re the best fans in the world and let’s do it again,” Tatum told the crowd before the 2024 NBA champs took turns pulling on ropes to raise the banner.

DHL Dan CCXXVI - Banner Night

In this week's installment if the Picked Up Pieces column, Shank takes a look at the 2024 - 2025 Boston Celtics:

As Banner Night approaches, the Celtics look stacked, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while hoping we somehow wind up with Mac Jones vs. Drake Maye for Sunday breakfast . . .

▪ Tuesday night in the Causeway Street Gym, we’ll interrupt our regularly scheduled programming/nonstop kvetching about the Patriots, Red Sox, and Bruins in order to bring you . . . Banner Night!

That’s right, boys and girls. Banner Night, just like the earlier part of this century when Boston was king of the sports universe, awash in confetti, pumping the duck boat tires every other year for a pomp-fueled promenade down Boylston Street’s Canyon of Heroes.

Your Boston Celtics will be raising their 18th championship flag to the Garden rafters at 7 p.m. Tuesday, moments before their Opening Night joust with the new-and-improved New York Knickerbockers.

Everybody who’s anybody will be there, including all key members of the 2023-24 NBA champs who bludgeoned the league last season, winning 80 of 101 games, including a 16-3 playoff run.

It Was 20 Years Ago Today

Well, using Beatles lyrics is a Shank staple, isn't it?

20 years later, the Red Sox’ 2004 World Series win remains New England’s greatest sports story

It was biblical. It always will be New England’s greatest sports story. And 20 subsequent seasons have done nothing to diminish the magnitude of the moment.

My favorite photo of the 2004 Red Sox championship euphoria is one of a still-anonymous young man wearing a Red Sox jersey wading into the Charles River, arms raised in utter exultation. It was shot by the Globe’s Stan Grossfeld while he was riding in a duck boat three days after the World Series was won in St. Louis.

Grossfeld stood next to a surprisingly nervous David Ortiz as the Sox’ flotilla motored west on the Charles. Big Papi wore a tiny life preserver around his thick neck, telling Grossfeld, “I can’t swim and we got too many people on this boat!”

Time To Tune In

Last week the New England Patriots announced Drake Maye as the starting quarterback. Shank's happy that he can now tune into these games:

Thanks to Drake Maye, there’s finally a reason to watch these Patriots

We have seen Patriots Future and its name is Drake Maye.

Fifty years ago, The Real Paper’s Jon Landau famously wrote something like this about Bruce Springsteen and the future of rock and roll.

So let’s give it a shot now. Barring injury to Maye, or other unforeseen catastrophe, those of you who filled rainy, raw Gillette Sunday are going to be able to say you were there for the beginning of the next Patriots playoff run.

We are natural-born cynics here in New England. We have standards. We are not yahoos.

So why does a 41-21 home-field beatdown at the hands of the Houston Texans feel so good? (Yikes, who gave Rochie my laptop?)

Seriously, folks. The last-place Patriots are 1-5. They are 7-23 since November 2022. They have lost eight consecutive games at Gillette. Bob Kraft is needier than ever (CBS, please stop with shots of the owner high-fiving after TDs!) and there is little to indicate that rookie head coach Jerod Mayo or retread offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt know what they are doing.

Well, having a chance to take shots at Bob Kraft's another reason for Shank to tune in...

DHL Dan CCXXV - Welcome Back, Terry

Since Shank chose to criticize professional athletes' salaries, turnabout is fair play. The man who co-wrote a book with the main subject of this column and thus has a commercial interest in promoting the return of said subject so he can sell some more books, does just that with his latest column:

Catching up with Terry Francona on his return to baseball, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while saying a prayer for Drake Maye . . .

▪ Old friend Terry Francona is back in baseball, accepting an offer to manage the Cincinnati Reds for the next three seasons. He’ll be back in the third base dugout at Fenway Park next June 30 for a three-game series against the Red Sox.

We all thought he was done for good last October when he stepped down after 11 seasons managing the Indians/Guardians.

“I don’t have the energy to do the job the way I want to do it,” he said then. “Rather than hang around for the wrong reasons, I’d rather just go out on my own terms . . . It’s not like I came to this decision overnight.”

What changed?

Royalty checks, of course!

The Big, Bad Bruins

Did I say 'The Big, Bad Bruins'? What I meant was a Bad Bruins column by Shank:

Bruins are back home, and so are Cup hopes for yet another season

Can someone tell me what that headline's supposed to mean?

The 2024 Red Sox and Patriots are bad teams, as they often were in the old days.

The ‘24 Celtics are defending NBA champs, as they often were in the old days.

And the Boston Bruins are once again what they have been for most of this century. They are better than the average Bears . . . good, but not great. They will be in the playoff hunt. And if they enjoy a good run in the spring, they have an outside chance to contend for the Stanley Cup.

They'll contend... by bowing out in the first round, like they've doing often in recent years.

This is pretty much the way it’s been since Bobby Orr last skated on Causeway Street. The Bruins have won one Cup (2011) since 1972, and even though they had a Full Throttle offseason, they’re not likely to contend for the chalice in the spring of 2025.

Shank mentioning Bobby Orr is the hockey equivalent of him mentioning Larry Bird in any given column.

The Bruins welcomed their cult back to Causeway Thursday and delivered a 6-4 victory over the hated Montreal Canadiens. It was the Boston franchise’s 101st home opener.

Cult? Like the Manson Cult? Branch Davidians? Blue Oyster Cult? Or - The Cult?

Here's where the column turns into real crap:

It was a nice introduction for Cam Neely and Don Sweeney’s Full Throttle pickups. Moneybags center Elias Lindholm (seven years, $54.25 million) had one goal and two assists and big defen$eman Nikita Zadorov (six years, $30 million) assisted on two goals. Newcomers Mark Kastelic (two goals) and Cole Koepke (one) also scored for Boston. Meanwhile, $66 million goalie Jeremy (puck stops here, buck stops here) Swayman made 20 saves in his first game since hitting the sweet crease jackpot.

Is it me, or is it scumbag behaviour for a sports columnist to resort to low hanging fruit and basically complain about the salaries of professional athletes? And - note the '$' when describing Zadorov. It's a sign of a shitty person if you ask this cat.

Luis Tiant, RIP

The Red Sox legend passed away this week, and Shank has the column:

Luis Tiant was a beloved Red Sox icon, but to us, he was also ‘Uncle Luis’

New England is deeply saddened.

Luis Tiant has died.

Everybody’s favorite.

Only Red Sox fans of a certain age can fully appreciate what it was like around here in October of 1975. That’s almost a half-century ago, so young folks will have to believe us when we tell you that there was truly nothing like the El Tiante phenomenon when the Red Sox had it going that season. Baby Boomer Sox fans with imagination still hear chants of “LOO-ie, LOO-ie” bouncing around ancient Fenway Park.

Know this: Before there was Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, or David Ortiz, Boston had its first Latin American superstar in Tiant, the roly-poly Cuban righty with a Fu Manchu mustache who turned his back to batters as part of an elaborate windup that resulted in dazzling, unhittable pitches whizzing past befuddled batters (”wheeling and rotating on the mound like a figure in a Bavarian clock tower,” wrote Roger Angell).

DHL Dan CCXXIV - Time For A Rebuild?

After another season of below .500 baseball and not making the playoffs, Shank wants the Boston Red Sox to do what they couldn't be bothered doing the past five years or so:

Instead of an endless rebuild, the future should be now for the Red Sox, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering why the Red Sox won’t make a commitment to increasing player payroll . . .

▪ If you are satisfied with the 2024 Red Sox season . . . if you support the Sox’ small-cost, big-hype, long-term rebuild . . . you are part of the problem.

The endless rebuild drones on. Ticket prices keep going up, but the level of play stays the same. The Red Sox are 353-355 with three last-place finishes in the five seasons since they changed philosophy and traded Mookie Betts instead of paying market value for a homegrown MVP. Betts has been in the playoffs in five straight seasons since he was dealt to the Dodgers in what Sox ownership said was “a baseball trade.”

“Autopsy Monday” has become an annual part of the Red Sox calendar — no less than Truck Day, Opening Day, and Patriots Day at 11 a.m. — and Sam Kennedy, Craig Breslow, and Alex Cora met with the local media one day after the season ended last weekend.

The Pete Rose Column

Baseball legend Pete Rose passed away earlier this week, and Shank has a ton of small stories to tell about him:

Pete Rose was crude and rough around the edges, but his love for baseball was evident every game

Pete Rose, who died Monday in Nevada at the age of 83, loved baseball and compiled more major league hits (4,256) than anyone else who ever played. Unfortunately, his apparent addiction to gambling blew up his career and kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Rose was crude. Rough around the edges. And he noticed everything.

“I remember in 1982 when I first did the ‘Game of the Week,’ ” Bob Costas said Monday night. “I was set up on the field before the game and Pete was playing catch down the third base line and he looked at me and said, ‘I’ve seen you. You do those Big Ten football games.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Why would Pete Rose know me?’

“Years later, I figured it out. It wasn’t like he was following my career. It was the betting. He bet on everything.”

Definitely worth a read.

Starting Time

The 2024 New England Patriots are 1 - 3 at this point of the season. Shank wants to throw caution to the wind:

We have seen enough: Drake Maye should take over as the Patriots’ quarterback. Now.

MayeDay! MayeDay!

The SS Kraft is taking on water. The good ship and crew are in peril and the gales of October may come early.

Serious football scholars insist we’re not supposed to talk about playing Drake Maye over Jacoby Brissett because the rookie quarterback would be permanently damaged if he were thrust into the starting role Sunday against Miami at Gillette Stadium. The No. 3 pick in the 2024 draft needs to learn by watching and it’s too much to ask him to start his NFL career behind the Swiss Cheese Five, a.k.a the Patriots’ offensive line.

We don’t care. We have seen enough. And it just keeps getting worse.

Remember Steve Martin playing Neal Page in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”? After many hours enduring John Candy’s Del Griffith character (the boring shower curtain ring salesman), Neal finally explodes and says, “I could tolerate any insurance seminar! For days, I could sit there and listen to them go on and on with a big smile on my face. They’d say, ‘How can you stand it?’ I’d say, ‘Cuz I’ve been with Del Griffith. I can take anything.’

DHL Dan CCXXIII - Back To Earth

It's safe to say any buzz there was over the 2024 New England Patriots has worn off, with a brutal loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night:

We knew it was going to be bad for the Patriots this season, but not this bad, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while noting that the NFL’s new “dynamic” kickoff rule has basically changed nothing . . .

▪ The moribund Red Sox got shut out and managed only one hit Thursday against the Rays at the Trop.

And still . . . they gave us a better offensive show than the Patriots.

Yikes. We have to watch 14 more of these?

The final score was Jets 24, Patriots 3. Bigly misleading. It might as well have been 73-0. The Patriots were thoroughly pantsed by the Jets.

That’s right. The (gulp) Jets; the team New England beat 15 straight times before last year’s season’s finale. The Jets: the Sultans of suck, the masters of the buttfumble, the team that hasn’t been to the playoffs in 13 years, the team that’s riding a streak of eight losing seasons, the team Bill Belichick hates with the power of a thousand suns.

The Sultans of Suck - I'm stealing that one!

Can You Feel The Excitement? No?

Two weeks into the 2024 season, Shank thinks a certain element is missing from the New England Patriots:

After two games, it’s clear that something is missing from Patriots game plan: excitement

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The Patriots play the Jets at 8:15 Thursday night.

Pretty late, don’t you think? How are we supposed to stay awake after halftime if New England’s rookie coach, Jerod Mayo, keeps game planning as if he’s Amos Alonzo Stagg?

We are two games into the season, and the good news is that the Patriots are 1-1 and could easily be 2-0. The defense is pretty good. They’ve not turned the ball over, they’ve dominated time of possession, and they haven’t committed many penalties.

But would it be OK to maybe throw a deep ball one time? Or try a little trickeration? Maybe some play-action? Perhaps just open things up a little?

The Patriots are Mr. Play-It-Safe. They buy their groceries at Safeway. They buy Safety Insurance. They’ve made Gillette Stadium a safe house. They are fail safe, safe at home, and better safe than sorry. They do the Safety Dance while listening to “Safe European Home.”

I didn't say it was going to be good...

Whoopsie!

The Red Sox beat the Yankees yesterday, 7-1. The part I missed was the most pivotal part:

The Yankees began overthinking, and that’s when the trouble started

NEW YORK — In the epic baseball film “Bull Durham,” grizzled vet Crash Davis tells hot-shot hurler Nuke LaLoosh, “Don’t think. It can only hurt the ball club.”

This is what we saw Saturday afternoon in the fourth inning of the Red Sox’ 7-1 victory over Gerrit Cole and the Yankees.

The Yankees led, 1-0. Cole, the American League’s reigning Cy Young winner, had yielded no hits and faced the minimum 10 batters. The Sox were mired in a major slump and it looked like the first-place Bronx Bombers were on their way to another win.

And then the Yankees overthought things. Bigly.

As Rafael Devers (lifetime .333 with eight homers off Cole) stepped to the plate, Cole looked to his catcher, held up four fingers of his right hand, and swooshed his pitching arm across his body toward first base with a Fiedler-esque flourish.

Paying no heed to a century and a half of Major League Baseball, Cole intentionally walked Devers with a 1-0 lead and nobody on base.

Left unmentioned, at least explicitly, is precisely why this move backfires. This Outkick column alludes to the move not backfiring, citing "Barry Bonds, Mike Trout or Judge himself getting intentionally walked in unusual situations" as the examples. My best guess without looking it up is - it does backfire most of the time, as it did this time.

Pick A Team

Another in the occasional series of Shank comparing two teams, and the Sox / Yankees type seems to be an annual favorite:

Which franchise would you rather be right now, the Yankees or Red Sox? Let’s break it down.

NEW YORK — Put aside your emotions and decades of deep-rooted hatred. Erase those Ruths, Dents, Boones, and ARods. Pretend all things are equal. You are neutral. You are Baseball Switzerland.

Which franchise would you rather follow and support at this hour: the Red Sox or the Yankees?

It’s clear the first-place Yankees are the better team in 2024. They emerged from Friday night’s 5-4 win over the Sox with a record of 86-62, 12 games ahead of third-place Boston. They are going to the playoffs and could get back to the World Series.

But this is about more than that. It’s about sheer totality. And the future.

So which is the better franchise to follow?

Today’s Sox fans like to mock the Yankees and say, “It’s all about championships. We’ve won four in this century and you’ve only one one — none in the last 15 years.’’

That's always a winning argument with Yankees fans, isn't it?

DHL Dan CCXXII - The Big Hurt

Who could've predicted Shank taking another steaming dump on New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft so soon?

Bob Kraft seems to be hurting his own cause with the Hall of Fame, and other thoughts

NEW YORK — Picked-up pieces while waking up in the city that doesn’t sleep . . .

▪ Patriots owner Bob Kraft has another chance to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame later this season. Based on the team’s push to advance his candidacy, it’s pretty clear that the honor means a lot to the 83-year-old owner.

An exhaustive piece by ESPN’s Don Van Natta this past week demonstrated the “urgent and inventive” campaigning carried out by Kraft’s PR chief, Stacey James, over the last dozen-plus years.

According to ESPN, “No current owner has tried harder to get into the Hall — or been denied longer . . . In recent years, James has called, texted, dined, cajoled, and backslapped voters . . . James has emailed voters a six-page dossier that extolls Kraft’s many achievements as an NFL owner . . . James obtained a list of subcommittee voters. He phoned them, cornered them at Super Bowls, invited them to lunch or dinner or a visit to the owner’s suite, whatever it took to whip up votes.”

It's obvious (from this column and other reports) that Kraft's trying awful hard to get in; how many people he irritates and pisses off in doing so remains to be determined.

Stunning

You turn your back for a week, and what happens? You miss a slew of Shank columns! Let's check them out, including the New England Patriots' Week 1 win over the Bengals:

The Patriots, with new coaches and a new QB, looked like the good old Patriots in stifling the Bengals

New coach.

Old school.

Great result.

Playing a near-perfect 60 minutes of football, the much-maligned, heavy underdog New England Patriots stunned the Cincinnati Bengals, 16-10, at Paycor Stadium Sunday afternoon.

It was the debut of 38-year-old head coach Jerod Mayo — the first Patriots game not coached by Bill Belichick since Jan. 2, 2000 — and Mayo’s players sparked memories of the good old days for the full four quarters.

“We’re going to enjoy this one,’’ said Mayo, who was presented with a game ball by owner Bob Kraft. “I’m very proud of my players . . . Walking off the field, you get in that victory formation . . . and I’m going to enjoy this one. We’re still not where we want to be, but we’re headed in the right direction.’’

The Long, Cold Season Ahead

It's safe to say this year's version of the New England Patriots aren't expected to be very good, and this allows Shank to smother the Krafts like a wet blanket:

With this new era of Patriots history, we might be in for a long, cold football season

The Patriots open their season Sunday at Cincinnati and are consensus favorites to be one of the NFL’s worst teams.

It feels like we’re in for a long, cold football season. By any measure, these are the most barren days of Bob Kraft’s ownership, which dates back to 1994. After two decades of NFL dominance, the Patriots are in full decline.

They haven’t won a playoff game since 2019 and are coming off a four-win season — their worst since the 2-14 Dick MacPherson campaign of 1992 when Hugh Millen and Scott Zolak were New England’s quarterbacks.

The good news for Bob and Jonathan Kraft is that they have control of their franchise for the first time this century. For the last 24 years, the team was largely under the powerful thumb of Bill Belichick, who won 17 AFC East titles, nine conference championships, and six Super Bowls. It started to go south when Tom Brady left for Tampa Bay in the early days of the COVID pandemic in 2020, and four days after last season’s final game — a home loss to the (gulp) Jets — Belichick was fired by Bob Kraft.

You can tell by Shank's style and enthusiasm that when he's over a target, he just opens the bomb bay doors and carpet bombs the place. I trust we'll see more of these columns in the upcoming weeks.

On Your Radar

Every now and then I'll read a column by Shank that has the feeling (and accuracy) of an amateur / rookie gang member in their first gunfight, and his response will be 'spray and pray (that you hit something). This is one of those columns, and it's a humdinger:

Mb>He’s not on any team’s sideline, but Bill Belichick looms large over the NFL this season

For 24 seasons he was hiding in plain sight, grumbling, mumbling, taking care of every Patriot detail while playing the Stupid Game at NFL-mandated press conferences, refusing to release any information other than bare minimum, fearing it might hurt his team.

Now that he’s been fired and the Kraft family has tried to erase him from the franchise’s glorious 21st century history (see “The Dynasty”), Bill Belichick is ubiquitous. He’s on TV, radio, and social media outlets. And with the NFL set to kick off its season Thursday night, Belichick also will be rumored as the next head coach for high-profile teams that lose a couple out of the gate (hello, Giants, Cowboys).

In September of 2024, Belichick is the NFL’s Roy Kent. “He’s here. He’s there. He’s every(expletive)where.”

Sittin' on a park bench:

When we last saw him coaching — eight months ago at Gillette Stadium — Belichick was in full pandemic mask mode, covered from hoodie-to-Nikes while he slinked off the field as anonymously as possible. Greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes. He could have been Cosmo Kramer (“Look away … I’m hideous!”). Four days later, Belichick was fired by Bob Kraft.

It goes on from there, rehasing much of the discussion about Belichick getting back into coaching, etc.

This ending is odd, I think:

Welcome to the media, Bill. Hope you don’t mind if we engage in rumors about the job you covet most: your next NFL head coaching position.

It doesn’t concern us anymore.

We’re on to Cincinnati.

It doesn't concern 'us' anymore, so I'll write a column about it!

DHL Dan CCXXI - Rough Season Ahead

As New England Patriots fans are mostly aware already, they're in for a difficult 2024 season. As us older Patriots fans can attest to, there were some really bad teams in the years prior to Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Here's Shank to tell you all about it:

These Patriots won’t match the worst teams in franchise history, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while staying off Storrow Drive until move-in season is over …

▪ Many New England Baby Boomers have been around long enough to witness the entire history of the Patriots. We remember when Billy Sullivan invented them as the Boston Patriots in 1960. We remember when they played the New York Titans and Dallas Texans at Boston University Field. We remember when Patriots fans threw snowballs at the Buffalo Bills at Fenway Park. We remember Bob “Harpo” Gladieux getting paged in the stands at Harvard Stadium, then tackling Miami’s Jake Scott on the opening kickoff.

We have seen it all, and speak with some authority when it comes to identifying the worst teams in franchise history.

In this spirit, I am here to give you spoiled young folks a little perspective.

Yes, the 2024 Patriots are going to be bad. Years of frugal spending, bad drafting, inept offensive coaching, and upper-management dysfunction have caught up with America’s most successful sports franchise of the 21st century.

Read it all for the worst of the worst!

And The New England Patriots Starting QB Is...

Shank takes a look at the soap opera like debate over the starting quarterback position for the Pats:

Should the Patriots play Drake Maye over Jacoby Brissett? It’s not about who starts, it’s who finishes.

These are days of agonizing reappraisal in Patriot Nation. Who is the starting quarterback?

Veteran Jacoby Brissett or rookie Drake Maye?

Before the start of the preseason schedule, beginner coach Jerod Mayo said there was going to be a quarterback competition. With the preseason come and gone, Mayo says that Maye has outperformed Brissett. (Third-year backup Bailey Zappe, who started eight games over the last two seasons, was cut Tuesday morning.)

So who starts? And who sits?

It is a question of the ages … for the ages.

Most of you know the history. The Bill Belichick Patriots heaped too much too soon on 2021 first-round draftee Mac Jones, and Mac has been banished to NFL Siberia (Jacksonville).

The history of NFL rookie quarterbacks taking charge immediately is not great.

From there, Shank does a good job of looking back at similar situations with previous high draft pick QB's and doesn't draw a conclsion on the current Patriots' QB situation, a situation that's now moot with this morning's announcement that Brissett will be the starter for Week 1.

Happy Birthday, Yaz!

Shank catches up with the former Red Sox left fielder:

Catching up with the great Carl Yastrzemski as he turns 85, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while trying to learn the NFL’s ridiculously complex new kickoff rules …

▪ Carl Yastrzemski is New England’s historic, hardball J.D. Salinger. He’s our Garbo. Yaz gave us great work for 23 big league seasons and now he just wants to be left alone.

The greatest living Red Sox player — and the team’s career leader in games (3,308), runs, hits, and total bases — turned 85 Thursday. He says he’s no longer fishing or playing golf, but he’s watched a lot of Sox games on TV this season and keeps close tabs on his 34-year-old grandson, Mike, who’s in his sixth season with the San Francisco Giants.

The West Coast night games are tough on Grandpa Yaz.

“They get going at 9:45 and I’m sleeping by then,” he said with a chuckle.

To Play Or Not To Play?

Obvious headline aside, Shank calls on former New England Patriots coach Bill Parcells (who's still speaking to Shank) to discuss the pros and cons of starting a rookle quarterback (I.e. Drake Maye):

To play or not to play a young quarterback? Bill Parcells discusses the pros and cons.

Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells knows all about veteran journeyman quarterbacks, first-round franchise quarterbacks, and quarterback controversies.

He also knows a thing or two about the Bob Kraft franchise and the mind-set of New England football fans. He knows the Patriots are rebuilding and that there’s going to be pressure to play No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye over eight-year veteran (five teams) Jacoby Brissett.

“Fans always want to see what’s new, particularly if you’re losing games,” Parcells said when I tracked him down on the phone this week.

No specifics, please. Parcells worked for the Krafts for four full seasons — it ended badly, perhaps you’ve heard? — and has mentored Brissett since he was a 15-year-old high schooler in West Palm Beach. The Tuna roots for Brissett to succeed, but won’t butt into New England’s football operation.

Yeah, we heard, Shank - you were one of the writers cirling like pirhanas.

DHL Dan CCXX - The Heat Is On

After Thursday's preseason game with the Philadelphis Eagles, Shank points out the obvious - that New England Patriots' top rookie quaterback played fairly well (and a whole lot more then in six snaps the previous game) and it might be decision time in Foxborough:

There is going to be a lot of pressure — and soon — for the Patriots to play Drake Maye, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while reminding you that the King of Rock and Roll (Elvis Presley, 1977), the Queen of Soul (Aretha Franklin, 2018), and the Sultan of Swat (Babe Ruth, 1948) all died on Aug. 16 …

▪ Welcome to the 2024 New England Patriots, also known as “Tomato Cans R Us.”

This is Season 5 of Life After Brady and Season 1 of Life Without Bill. The Patriots are projected as NFL bottom-feeders, and it’s pretty obvious there’s going to be a lot of noise about Drake Maye between now and January.

Maye, the anointed franchise quarterback, got his first meaningful snaps of the preseason in Thursday’s 14-13 loss to the Eagles, and it gave desperate New England fans something to get excited about.

After leaving Maye on the shelf for all but seven plays of the first consumer-fraud exhibition against the Panthers (every other 2024 first-round quarterback got meaningful minutes in Week 1 of the preseason), New England’s rookie head coach, Jerod Mayo, let the 21-year-old Maye play two quarters against Philly, and it made us want to see more.

“Tomato Cans R Us” - is this the schtick Shank's gonna roll with all season? Stay tuned!

Larry Lucchino, The Final Farewell

Shank covers the Jimmy Fund, where the team said it's last goodbyes to the former general manager:

John Henry and Red Sox offer a final — and well-deserved — salute to the late Larry Lucchino

Red Sox owner John Henry and the Boston ball club said their final goodbyes to former ownership partner and CEO Larry Lucchino at Fenway Park Tuesday.

On the first day of the 22nd WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, Lucchino — who died April 2 — was feted in Fenway Park’s function rooms by a procession of speakers including Henry (who also owns the Globe) and former US Senator and (2000) presidential candidate Bill Bradley, who was Lucchino’s star teammate when Princeton went to the Final Four in 1965.

The hard-charging Lucchino (think of him as Harry Sinden with a law degree), who ran the Orioles and Padres (and built Camden Yards and Petco Park) before coming to Boston, oversaw the refurbishment of Fenway Park after Henry’s group bought the club in 2002.

Major Embarrassment

Celtics legend Bob Cousy is not too happy with US Basketball coach Steve Kerr:

Bob Cousy speaks out about Steve Kerr not playing Jayson Tatum: ‘This is an embarrassment’

Celtics legend Bob Cousy turned 96 Friday and had a lot to say about US Olympic men’s basketball coach Steve Kerr not playing Jayson Tatum in Thursday’s critical 95-91 semifinal victory over Serbia in Paris.

“This isn’t just a snub,” Cousy said from his Worcester home Friday morning. “This is an embarrassment for that poor kid all over the [expletive] world. The Olympics have gotten that big. Everyone’s going to think that there’s something wrong this this kid.”

Thursday’s benching vs. Serbia — a game in which the US trailed by as many as 17 points — marked the second time Kerr has chosen not to play Tatum for a single minute in the Olympics. The US plays France Saturday in the gold-medal game.

“Somebody from Boston should stand up for this kid,” Cousy said. “In my judgment, this is going out of your way to embarrass one of your players.

Make that two players, as Tyrese Haliburton got fucked over as well.

DHL Dan CCXIX - Wondering About The Red Sox

Although he's been covering the team for decades now, Shank doesn't know what to think about the 2024 Boston Red Sox:

We're still wondering exactly what the Red Sox are, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while worrying that Jerod Mayo might be the second coming of Daddy Butch Hobson …

▪ The 2024 Red Sox were built to make money, avoid the luxury tax, and probably finish last. After an offseason promise of “full throttle,” the Sox became Fenway Sports Group’s “golf widow” and were tossed into the 162-game grind with almost zero hope.

Then came the surprise. Under the guidance of Alex Cora, and some nifty magic by pitching coach Andrew Bailey, the Sox exceeded expectations and became an interesting watch. There were stretches when they were winning more than any other team in baseball. They worked their way to 11 games over .500 and achieved the illusion of contention that upper management covets.

Galvanizing nicely, Boston’s Dom Smith All-Stars have gifted New England with the thing we really want from our local baseball team: games that matter in August and September.

Fair to say the Red Sox stumbled into some success so far this year. But wait - it's gonna get worse:

The Sox have played two-thirds of their season. They’ve given us a nice ride, but things are trending in the wrong direction. Going into the weekend, they’d lost eight of 12 and given up a whopping 94 runs in 12 games since the All-Star break. Eighteen of those 94 runs were unearned. Boston relievers have a 7.35 ERA since the break.

The vaunted Bailey pitching corps has gotten worse every month. The March-April ERA was 2.59, May 4.12, June 4.38, and July 4.91. The Sox lead the majors in errors and unearned runs.

Yes, the Red Sox are contending for a wild card. So are Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Kansas City, Houston, and Seattle.

DHL Dan CCXVIII - Change Of Attitude?

Shank believes the recent re-signing of Red Sox skipper Alex Cora just might mean a different direction for the team:

Let’s hope Alex Cora’s deal is a sign that Red Sox are spending again, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while observing that “WAR” has yet to be chiseled on any plaque at Cooperstown …

▪ Alex Cora has agreed to manage the Red Sox through the 2027 season. Cora’s three-year, $21.75 million contract extension was announced by the team Wednesday.

This is great news for Sox fans. Also somewhat surprising. Cora, who would have been a free agent at the end of this season, had stated repeatedly that he would not negotiate once the season started.

This is why four weeks ago I told you to enjoy these final months of Cora because, “There is nothing to indicate he’ll be back next year.” (My finest prediction since “Mavericks in seven.″)

Good for Red Sox ownership to pay close to market rate for a manager who has become the face of the franchise. Former Brewers manager Craig Counsell — with a résumé shy of Cora’s — got $40 million over five years from the Cubs last winter. The Red Sox have responded by making their skipper the second-highest-paid manager in baseball history.

If this does mean the Red Sox are going to start spending again, I think we see the template already - "to pay close to market rate".

Things To Avoid In Sports Columns

Politics tends to be a topic that doesn't mix well with sports. This is why:

As always, the world revolves around the Red Sox … even when it comes to presidential politics

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Everything in life comes back to the Red Sox … even the stunning news that President Joe Biden is dropping out of the 2024 race for the Oval Office.

In the days leading up to Biden’s Sunday afternoon shocker, there was considerable pressure on the aging president to stand down. Multiple Democratic senators and representatives were urging him to step aside.

Clearly, the last straw was Representative Jamie Raskin’s four-page letter to Biden in which he compared the 81-year-old commander-in-chief to Pedro Martínez melting on the Yankee Stadium mound after throwing too many pitches in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series.

“Martínez one of the greatest pitchers in Red Sox history, began to tire badly after 118 pitches,” wrote Raskin (D-Md.). “Martínez vigorously protested that he could continue and gave it his all despite the statistics about what happens when pitchers play after throwing for so long.

DHL Dan CCXVII - Hall Of Fame Worthy?

That's the question Shank has about former Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia:

Is Dustin Pedroia a Hall of Famer? We asked him about his chances.

Picked-up pieces while ever-grateful that we emphatically said “no” to the 2024 Olympics . . .

▪ This weekend in Cooperstown is a reminder of why baseball’s Hall of Fame is the one fans care about most, and how it’s nice that we’re back to real baseball discussions (dare we say “arguments?”) regarding who qualifies for diamond immortality.

For too many years it’s been about closed-door lobbying by small committees, performance enhancers, and/or the dreaded character clause that asks BBWAA voters to consider factors other than what a guy did on the field. This is how we got a Hall that features Harold Baines but does not include Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, or Manny Ramirez (you can add Curt Schilling, whose debatable candidacy was blown up by his own big mouth).

... So what about Boston’s own Dustin Pedroia? The diminutive second baseman is eligible for the first time this winter and faces a high hurdle for admission.

Why is it every single fucking time I read a Shank column about Pedrioa, he has to mention his height in some sort of negative fashion? It's unprofessional and nauseating - to hell with Shank for that 'need' to constantly bring it up whenever he writes about Pedroia.

DHL Dan CCXVI - Into Darkness

Shank's most recent column dives into (what else) the bad parts of Ted Williams' life:

Ted Williams was the greatest hitter ever, but there was bad luck and darkness in his family life, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering why MLB doesn’t go back to having players wear their own team jerseys and hats at the All-Star Game . . .

▪ The death of Claudia Williams was announced Wednesday by the Red Sox, with the permission of her husband of 17 years, Eric Abel. Claudia was Ted Williams’s last surviving child.

Boston’s Splendid Splinter was the greatest hitter who ever lived, but there was a lot of bad luck and darkness in his family life.

The slugger’s only sibling, brother Danny, died of leukemia at the age of 39 in 1960. Ted’s eldest daughter, Bobby-Jo, was estranged from her dad in his final years and died of liver disease at the age of 62 in 2010. Ted’s only son, John Henry Williams, died of leukemia at the age of 35 in 2004. And now we learn that Claudia Franc Williams died at the age of 52 in December.

DHL Dan CCXV - For Sale

A few weeks after winning their 18th banner, the owners of the Boston Celtics are getting out while the getting is good:

Who’ll be next to own the Celtics, how long will it take, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while watching the USS Constitution take its annual victory lap . . .

▪ The Celtics just won a championship, Jayson Tatum got his extension, the whole band is back for next season, and it looked like everything was coming up Green around here.

Then, wham! The Celtics announced that the franchise is for sale. The team statement said the Grousbeck family, which holds the majority stake, has decided to pursue a sale “for estate and family planning considerations.”

It’s seismic sports news. We’ve had ownership stability for almost the entirety of this successful century. The Bruins have been owned by Jeremy Jacobs for 49 years, Bob Kraft bought the Patriots in 1994, and John Henry’s group took over the Red Sox in 2002. Irv Grousbeck and son Wyc took control of the Celtics in December of that same year.

And just in case you thought Shank's lost a bit on that ol' asshole fastball (Beetle on 98.5 The Sports Hub pointed this out this morning) ...

In conversations with some sources close to the situation, I’ve come away convinced that soon-to-be-90-year-old H. Irving Grousbeck is the one driving this sale and that 63-year-old son Wyc (one of four children of Irving Grousbeck) — managing partner, governor, and CEO of the Celtics, and always identified as the team’s owner — actually owns a relatively small stake in the franchise.

H. Irving Grousbeck — still teaching at Stanford Business School — has been the money behind the group since the beginning. (Forbes lists “Irving Grousbeck and family’s” worth at $1.8 billion.) There’s every indication that the billionaire rarely seen at Celtics games is motivating this sale in an attempt to get his affairs in order.

He made his fortune as cofounder of Continental Cablevision and is no doubt interested in ongoing negotiations for the NBA’s media rights. A nine-year deal is set to expire at the end of next season and the new deal, reportedly close to $76 billion, will have considerable impact on franchise values.

I emailed the elder Grousbeck late Wednesday, requesting comment on my assertions, and he responded Thursday with a polite no comment.

When I texted Wyc with, “You OK if I say your personal stake in the team is less than 2 percent?” he answered, “We hold as a family — all unified . . . We are a family and I also have a Celtics family is my comment. Thanks.”

I wonder what prompted Shank to try and pull Wyc's pants down like that? Time will tell, and I'll post something on it once it hits the news.

DHL Dan CCXIV - Curtains For Cora?

Shank thinks it's the last season for Alex Cora as skipper of the Boston Red Sox:

This sure feels like Alex Cora’s last season with the Red Sox, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering if Brad Stevens has ever smoked a cigar …

▪ Enjoy these final months of Alex Cora managing the Red Sox. There is nothing to indicate he’ll be back next year.

In his sixth season as skipper of the Local Nine, Cora (along with Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt) would be one of my top candidates for Manager of the Year in the American League. After a winter and spring that were anything but “full throttle,” Cora has the depleted Sox over .500 and very much in the running for a diluted wild-card spot. Nobody covets the “illusion of contention” more than Red Sox management, and Cora has his ragtag bunch in the hunt.

He is the face of the franchise and the best thing the Sox have going for them.

And though he won’t come out and say it, he’s also gone. In my opinion.

Cora is in the final year of his contract. No team serious about keeping its manager would allow this. Cora’s value around the game is at an all-time high. He’s young (48), smart, bilingual, and great at team-building with today’s players.

Read on for more reasons Cora won't be here next year, and other thoughts!

DHL Dan CCXIII - Credit Is Due

Shank thinks (correctly) former Celtics GM Danny Ainge deserves credit for putting this team together:

Danny Ainge isn’t taking credit for Celtics’ title, but he deserves some, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while plucking green and white confetti from my hair …

▪ Danny Ainge hasn’t been taking any victory laps. He was neither seen nor heard from while the Celtics were shredding playoff competitors from Miami, Cleveland, Indiana, and Dallas en route to banner No. 18. Ainge wants the credit to go to the Celtics owners, Brad Stevens, Joe Mazzulla, and the rest of the team’s staff and players.

“I was watching; I just couldn’t be there,” the 65-year-old Ainge said via phone from Utah, where he is an executive with the Jazz. “Justin Zanik, our GM, just went through a kidney transplant and so I’ve taken a little more responsibility here right now.

“It was fun watching. We followed the Celtics’ success all during the playoffs, and it was exciting to see and it’s fun to see everybody shine. There’s so many people there that we’re rooting for.

Banner # 18

Here's Shank on the 2023 - 2024 NBA Champions:

A torch has been passed: Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum join the champions club and help Celtics raise Banner 18

Light up a Hoyo de Monterrey in honor of Red Auerbach and get ready for another parade. Playing on their fabled parquet floor, with banners flapping high above courtside, the Celtics won their NBA-best 18th championship Monday with a 106-88, NBA Finals Game 5 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

Order is restored to the pro basketball universe. From the 1950s through the ‘80s, Boston’s Green Team ruled the National Basketball Association. The torch has been passed to a new generation of champions: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

“It’s time for us to graduate,” Brown told Tatum before Game 5.

When it was over, Brown received the Bill Russell Finals MVP Trophy.

“It was a full team effort and Jayson Tatum was with me the whole way," said Brown.

One Win Away

Here's Shank's column after the Boston Celtics win Game 3 of the NBA Finals Wednesday night:

Game 3 was harder than it should have been, but Banner 18 is an inevitability for the Celtics

DALLAS — You can relax, Boston. It might happen here Friday, or maybe you’ll have to wait until Monday on Causeway Street, but it’s inevitable. The Celtics are going to raise their 18th championship banner.

Just try not to worry about your team letting a 21-point fourth-quarter lead dwindle to one in what seemed the blink of an eye.

It wasn’t as easy as it should have been, but the Celtics beat the Mavs again. Playing at American Airlines Center on Wednesday without tree-top Kristaps Porzingis, the Green Team took charge early in the fourth quarter, watched their big lead fizzle, then prevailed for a third straight game. The Celts rode the broad shoulders of the two Jays (Tatum had 31, Brown 30) to a 106-99 victory, taking a definitive 3-0 series lead in the NBA Finals.

Celtics Wrapup - II

Shank's been banging out the columns over the past week or so, with images of victory cigars after the Boston Celtics take a 2-0 series lead, and The Cooz wants another banner in the rafters, presumably so all of The Cooz's banners have some company!

Celtics Wrapup

With Shank firmly on the Boston Celtics bandwagon, he comes out with a bunch of columns the past couple of days. The first one lets us know it's good for us and the NBA, the second column is a Larry Bird Sighting^TM, which includes a Bruce Springsteen sighting / anecdote that I'll gladly ignore, and another column from Game 1, which Shank takes to all but declare an early winner.

I don't think that's good karma, but there it is.

DHL Dan CCXII - End The Drought

Shank's thirsting for a championship, folks!

It’s the Celtics’ time to end our championship drought, and other thoughts

ROME — Picked-up pieces while asking Italians what they think of Giuseppe Mazzulla’s work in the first three rounds of the NBA playoffs …

▪ We’re due for another professional sports championship, are we not?

I mean, it’s been a whole five years and four months since guys named Brady and Belichick hoisted their sixth Lombardi Trophy after a 13-3 victory over the Rams in Atlanta.

That was New England’s 12th men’s major sports championship of this century. Good times never seemed so good. The Red Sox won four World Series from 2004-18, the Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett and then won Banner No. 17 in 2008, and the Bruins in 2011 won their first Stanley Cup since 1972, beating Vancouver in seven games.

This means that between February of 2005 (Patriots over Eagles in Jacksonville), and June of 2011 (Bruins in Vancouver), each of our four major men’s professional teams won a championship.

Rev up those duck boats!

Bill Walton, RIP

Legendary Boston Celtics player Bill Walton passed on earlier this week after a battle with cancer. Shank does the honors and pays tribute:

Bill Walton’s time in Boston was brief but unforgettable, and we were lucky to have him

The memories and stories started pouring in as soon as the news broke.

Everyone remotely connected to the 1985-86 Celtics has a Bill Walton memory. Invariably, those stories are personal. And all of us were shocked Monday when it was learned that Walton had died in California at the age of 71.

No player ever loved playing for the Celtics more than Walton. And it’s cruel and ironic that Bill would pass as the team is on to another appearance in the NBA Finals, which would mean a chance to win an NBA-record 18th banner.

My friend Rich Johnson, longtime curator of the New England Sports Museum and — like Walton — someone with a lifelong stutter, weighed in online, sending out a recording of the Grateful Dead’s “He’s Gone,” while writing, “Listening while wiping away tears. His personal kindness to me was life changing.”

Bill touched a lot of lives in his short stint in Boston, and those of us lucky enough to have known him share the same emotions.

DHL Dan CCXI - Roots

A few days before the Indiana Pacers got buried by the Boston Celtics in the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals, Shank took a look at Pacers coach Rick Carlisle:

Retracing the deep Celtics roots of Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while anticipating the Celtics raising Banner No. 18 to the rafters later this year …

▪ The Indiana Pacers are the only team standing between the Celtics and another trip to the NBA Finals. The Pacers, down 2-0 entering Saturday night’s Game 3, are coached by Rick Carlisle, a 64-year-old NBA lifer with a million connections to New England and the Celtics.

Carlisle ranks 12th in regular-season victories by an NBA head coach with 943. Red Auerbach ranks 13th with 938.

I knew him when he had hair. (Rick, not Red.)

Carlisle was a handsome, 24-year-old, piano-playing psychology major from the University of Virginia when he showed up at Celtics free agent/rookie camp in the summer of 1984. He was a third-round pick, which meant we initially paid little attention to him in those summer-night scrimmages at Marshfield High.

DHL Dan CCX - Underwhelming Competition

With the Boston Celtics in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, Shank's a little worried about the competition:

The competition thus far isn’t helping the Celtics prepare for a title run, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while waiting for some serious basketball competition …

▪ Seriously. I’m ready for the Celtics to start the playoffs now.

Bring on the Knicks, Pacers, Nuggets, Mavericks, or Timberwolves. Let’s see some nail-biting, down-to-the-wire, blood-and-thunder basketball. The Celtics’ upcoming run through the conference finals and NBA Finals should be wildly entertaining.

Certainly these upcoming series have to be better than the boring matchups we watched in the first two rounds as the Celtics toppled tomato cans from Miami and Cleveland. How did the Fort Wayne Pistons and Washington Generals not wind up on Boston’s dance card?

In Round 1 against Miami, the Celtics had leads of 34, 29, 28, and 37 points in the games they won. In Round 2, their average margin of victory was 15 points and they lost Game 2 by 24.

Let me ask … were any of you on the edge of your seat, or otherwise entertained for one perfunctory second of those two series? It’s always great to see the locals advance, but this was dreadful competition. Those were series that only Johnny Most, Tommy Heinsohn, Sean Grande, and Scal could love.

The level of competition, one way or the other, is out of the hands of the Celtics. I don't see any reason to make an issue out of it, but there's your take if it really matters.

DHL Dan CCIX - Underwhelming

A formulatic beginning to what looks to be a mailed-in effort by the Shankster:

Celtics-Knicks and Bruins-Rangers? The Boston-New York playoff duels would be good times, and other thoughts.

Picked-up pieces while dreaming of Celtics-Knicks and Bruins-Rangers in simultaneous conference championships at the two Gardens …

▪ Celtics-Knicks. Bruins-Rangers. Boston-New York. The New (1995) Boston Garden and the vintage 1968 Madison Square Garden. The Sports Hub vs. The Fan. Matt Damon vs. Spike Lee. Williams vs. DiMaggio. Real clam chowder vs. Manhattan clam chowder. “Cheers” vs. “The Honeymooners.”

When you start a column out like that, you get the feeling that this is indeed a DHL delivery, first class.

DHL Dan CCVIII - The Porzingis Effect

Shank considers the impact of Celtics center Kirstaps Porzingis' calf injury during the playoffs:

Wondering about the Porzingis effect on the Celtics’ chances, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering if the Celtics can win a championship without Kristaps Porzingis …

▪ As the Celtics prepare for a Round 2 Tomato Can, one can’t help but wonder how they’ll fare if forced to play the conference finals and (presumably) NBA Finals without Porzingis.

The Big Fella suffered a soleus strain in his calf in Game 4 against the Heat Monday and is on the shelf indefinitely. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo sustained a similar, non-contact injury April 9 against the Celtics and did not play again prior to the Bucks’ elimination by the Pacers Thursday night.

Watching Porzingis limp off the court in Miami, I thought of the 68-win Celtics of 1972-73, who were stopped in the conference finals by the Knicks after John Havlicek injured his right shoulder fighting through a Dave DeBusschere pick in the third game of that seven-game series. Hondo missed Game 4 entirely and came off the bench in the final three games, but he was a shell of himself and scored only 4 points when the Celtics were routed at home in Game 7.

DHL Dan CCVII - Drafting Drake Maye

The New England patriots selected the North Carolina quarterback third overall in Thursday's NFL Draft, so let's see how Shank likes the pick:

Drafting Drake Maye feels very much like a Patriots ownership selection, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while remembering when the Cubs playing at Fenway would have been a really big deal . . .

▪ After the botched Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961, President John F. Kennedy said, “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”

Strap yourselves in for the Drake Maye Experience.

In the final years of the magnificent, two-decade Tom Brady/Bill Belichick/Bob Kraft championship run, there was a lot of emphasis on legacy, on who would get the most credit for nine Super Bowls, six Lombardis, and an unmatched run of NFL dominance.

Once Brady left for Tampa, the Patriots’ narrative pivoted dramatically. Since the beginning of the 2019 season, it’s been all about carving up the blame pie. Who’s most at fault for a 29-38 record in four seasons without a playoff win? Who gets the blame for 4-13 in 2023?

The post-Brady decline of the Patriots gave birth to a wave of books and documentaries, each assigning blame and/or credit to the coach, the owner, and sometimes even the departed GOAT. It got really messy this spring with “The Dynasty,” a Kraft vanity project (described by one wiseguy as RKK’s “home movie”) that pretty much pinned all the bad stuff on the evil Hoodie.

DHL Dan CCVI - Harry Sinden On The Bruins

Shank talks to the former Boston Bruins coach / GM / Mr. Everything:

Getting Harry Sinden’s take on the Bruins’ playoff chances, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while watching Red Sox defense videos to the tune of the Benny Hill theme song …

▪ The Bruins are in the playoffs again. What does Harry Sinden think of their chances?

“They’re definitely a contender,” says the 91-year-old Bruin-in-Winter. “I’m not on top of the team, but from what I’ve seen, they are a reasonable contender. I think they have a good chance to advance. I couldn’t call them the No. 1 team, but they’re going to give anyone a heck of a time.”

A player, head coach, general manager, and Boston Garden king of hockey, Sinden first came to the Bruins organization as a player/coach in Kingston, Ontario, in 1961. Today he watches games on TV from his home north of Boston, and as “Senior Advisor to the Owner and Alternate Governor,” he ranks fourth on the team masthead, trailing only owners Jeremy and Charlie Jacobs, and team president Cam Neely. Sinden traded for Neely in 1986, and drafted today’s GM, Don Sweeney, in 1984.

DHL Dan CCV - Everything To Prove

In today's Picked Up Pieces column, Shank states what most people have been saying all season about this year's Boston Celtics:

These Celtics still have everything to prove, and other thoughts

Picked up pieces while waiting for the playoffs . . .

⋅ NBA teams have been playing an 82-game schedule since the 1967-68 season. In that time, the Celtics have won 66 or more games three times.

With Dave Cowens as league MVP, the Green won 68 in 1972-73, but failed to win the NBA championship because John Havlicek hurt his shoulder during the conference finals and Boston lost Game 7 at home to the hated Knicks.

In 1985-86, with a four-man-rotation frontcourt of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and Bill Walton (plus Hall of Famer Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge at guard), the Celtics won 67 regular-season games, went 50-1 at home (including Hartford games and playoffs), and won the NBA championship. In my opinion, that was the greatest NBA team of all time. Certainly the most fun to watch.

In 2007-08, the Ubuntu Celtics — led by Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen — won 66 games and crushed the Lakers in a six-game championship final. It is the only championship the vaunted franchise has won in the last 38 years.

That sets the tone for the rest of that part of the column - win or else!

Another Terry Francona Column

The former Red Sox skipper shares his thoughts on the 2004 World Series champions and other things:

On eve of a return to Fenway, Terry Francona reflects on ’04 Red Sox, the state of baseball, and retirement

Former manager Terry Francona will join players from his 2004 ball club when the Red Sox honor their curse-bustin’ champs while celebrating the lives of Tim and Stacy Wakefield at the Fenway home opener Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s unbelievable that it’s been 20 years,” Francona said. “The best thing about it are the memories. I’ll be so happy to see so many people, particularly [former coach] Brad Mills. But the Wake thing is what I think is really special. When Pam [Sox vice president Pam Kenn] asked me to come back for this, it took me about two seconds to say yes.”

His favorite memory of the 200-win knuckleballer?

“There’s a lot when you’re around somebody that much,” said Francona. “One thing that shows you what kind of a guy he was is Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees [a 19-8 loss that put the Sox down, 3-0], when we were just getting beat up. And here he comes up the tunnel with his spikes and his glove, and he said, ‘I can go suck up some innings.’

DHL Dan CCIV - The Larry Lucchino Column

Former Red Sox general manager Larry Lucchino passed away earlier this week. Shank's here to deliver the eulogy:

Boston baseball was well served by Larry Lucchino, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while pondering the life and times of Larry Lucchino …

▪ He was the last of a kind — a personable, hard-charging baseball executive who demanded results, never suffered fools, and most of the time made things better for fans. He should be in Cooperstown simply for Camden Yards (which changed everything about the fan experience in every ballpark built after 1993), and he could have been commissioner of baseball, but Boston was best served because Lucchino ran the Red Sox from 2002-15.

The Sox haven’t been the same since he “retired,” and you can be sure Lucchino wouldn’t have tolerated the “let the fans eat cake” message ownership delivered in the recent non-full-throttle offseason.

Larry Lucchino. Think Harry Sinden with a law degree. Think Red Auerbach brawling with NBA owners at Board of Governors meetings. Think Tommy Lee Jones as Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard in “The Fugitive.”

High praise indeed!

It's clear Shank 'sampled' many of his previous columns about Lucchino, and I'm still amused by his use of 'the Nixon White House' when the first thing Shank ever said to me was whether I was recording the phone call. I'll give him some credit for briefly mentioning the conflict / falling out he eventually had with Lucchino and didn't completely duck any of the bad stuff, unlike his shameless Bill Buckner eulogy.

DHL Dan CCIII - You'll Never Walk Alone

It took him a while but Shank's finally, FINALLY! accepting a certain sports reality:

FSG’s message to Red Sox fans seems to be ‘you walk alone,’ and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while finally understanding the message Fenway Sports Group has delivered to loyal Red Sox fans around the world …

From this point forward, you walk alone.

▪ Sadly, that’s it right there, folks. After a couple of decades of all-in, four-championship, money-is-no-object ownership, Red Sox boss John Henry evidently has decided that the Sox are no longer a top priority, but merely a part of “a global sports, marketing, media, entertainment and real estate portfolio.” FSG is out of the winning business with its baseball team in 2024, and Sox fans have every right to feel abandoned.

Red Sox Nation was once like FSG’s prized Premier League soccer team, whose fans locked arms, raised a pint, and sang, “You’ll never walk alone.”

No more. If you still care about the Red Sox, you very much walk alone.

It should be clear to all by now: The Red Sox brass is not going to spend money or make much effort to improve this team. The message to Alex Cora, his staff, and fans, is unambiguous: This is your team. Figure it out. We don’t care if you finish last for the fourth time in five years and the seventh time in 13 years, we are not going to spend another penny to make it better. We are done.

DHL Dan CCII - 'The Dynasty' - Hated it!

Full Disclosure - I did not read past the headline when I started this post. Honest!

If there's something that tends to portray New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft ina positive light, you can count on Shank to take a piss on said light:

Why the Patriots docuseries ‘The Dynasty’ is a farce, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces after heart surgery …

▪ It was not my intention to return to these pages this soon, and I am far from 100 percent, but some things cannot wait. I remember ripping tubes out of my arms after sinus surgery when I got the word that the Red Sox had finally fired crusty manager John McNamara on Bastille Day in 1988. been waiting three long seasons for that moment and was not about to let another Globe scribe Knife the Mac on the day the Sox made the long-overdue sacking.

Revenge is a dish best served cold!

Which brings us to … “The Dynasty,” the entertaining yet loathsome 10-part Kraft hagiography/Belichick hit piece that dropped its final two episodes on Apple TV last weekend.

The Globe’s estimable Ben Volin has already given great voice to the preposterousness and unfairness of the series, but my dark, healing heart would not allow this moment to pass without joining the chorus of “Dynasty” detractors.

Bottom line: As Patriots/NFL history goes, “The Dynasty” is a farce.

It’s great to have so much locker room footage, and the Apple folks give us a lot of credible and interesting voices. Hearing Rob Gronkowski tell his truth and Tom Brady drop F-bombs is new and enlightening. Free of Big Bad Bill, Devin McCourty, Matthew Slater, Ty Law, Tedy Bruschi, Randy Moss, Willie McGinest, and Danny Amendola are worthy truth-tellers. It’s great to hear so much from Ernie Adams.

But make no mistake: This is Bob Kraft’s authorized history of the Patriots. Nothing less.

I haven't watched the series but nearly every discussion of 'The Dynasty' I've heard so far points to this sameconclusion and it's nearly impossible to think this wasn't done on purpose to try and bury Bill Belichick.

No Shows

This theme includes a couple of items, chief among them not reporting Shank's heart surgery from last month. I've been there myself, so I'm not exactly sure why I didn't post on this when it originally happened, but there it is.

In other no shows, Red Sox ace Curt Schilling won't be at Opening Day 2024 to commemorate the 2004 Boston Red Sox championship:

Curt Schilling will not attend Red Sox’ 2004 World Series celebration at home opener

Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has declined the team’s invitation to be part of the April 9 Opening Day ceremonies at Fenway Park, a source with direct knowledge told the Globe.

The Sox on Monday announced plans to honor the 20th anniversary of the 2004 champions, who are famous for ending the team’s 86-year World Series drought.

Schilling was a key part of that team, forever earning his place in Red Sox lore by pitching with a surgically repaired ankle in Game 6 of the ALCS against the Yankees — known as the “Bloody Sock” game.

The Sox also plan to honor the lives of Tim and Stacy Wakefield that day. Tim, who started Game 1 of the 2004 World Series against the Cardinals, died in October from brain cancer. His wife Stacy died from a different type of cancer in February.

Schilling came under fire in September for revealing the health diagnoses of the Wakefields in the days before Tim’s death.

DHL Dan CCI - Theo's Back!

Shank notes the return of former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein as an adviser to the team:

Theo Epstein has been away a while but he knows how the Red Sox work, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while remembering the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady nine Super Bowls from 2002-19 …

▪ Theo Epstein is back with the Red Sox as a part-owner of Fenway Sports Group and a senior adviser to its many holdings.

Too many holdings.

FSG’s insatiable quest to expand its portfolio and take over the world has made the Red Sox the abandoned stepchild of the corporation’s family. The Sox might as well be Connor Roy.

Theo and Sam Kennedy were teammates at Brookline High and did a lot of their learning as very young men under the tutelage of Larry Lucchino with the Padres in the 1990s. When Lucchino came to Boston as part of John Henry’s group, he had to negotiate with the Padres to acquire the services of “The Brookline Two.”

I don't think he's going to impact things much with the Sox, if at all.

DHL Dan CC - Hope Springs Eternal

Shank thinks (or pretends to think) that we're winning two championships this year:

Again we have two shots at championships this spring, but we’d settle for one, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering if the Red Sox can get the Dollar Store to sponsor Truck Day …

▪ This weekend marks the fifth anniversary of New England’s last men’s professional sports championship, when the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady Patriots beat the Rams, 13-3, in Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.

By the gaudy standards of our 21st century sports high renaissance, five years without a parade is a certified drought.

Which brings us to the spring of 2024, when both the Celtics and Bruins have a chance to get everybody back on the Duck Boats.

I wrote about this one year ago (“Bruins and Celtics may be climbing toward a rare double this spring”) and we all know what happened: The Bruins, after compiling the greatest regular season in NHL history, flamed out in seven games of a first-round series against the Florida Panthers. The Celtics made it to the NBA’s Final Four for the fifth time in seven years, but dropped the first three games of their conference final series against the Heat, then collapsed in Game 7 at home.

And Shank will pick right back up with negative / critical columns about both teams when their seasons end.

Dude, I'm Extremely High

Shank's not trying to put too much pressure on the guy, is he?

Expectations are extremely high for the Celtics — and Joe Mazzulla is fine with that

He grew up here, just like you and me, and he knows how important the Celtics are going to be in this spring of 2024. He has seen the recent decline of the once-great Patriots and Red Sox, and he knows fans think it’s about time for the Celtics to step forward and win a championship — the way they did regularly in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s.

Rhode Island-raised Joe Mazzulla is still only 35 years old, and the franchise he coaches has won only one banner in his lifetime (2008), but he knows the expectations that come with coaching a team of All-Stars after recent playoffs featuring near-misses.

Everybody says the Celtics have the best team this year. And … if the Green don’t win it all, everybody probably will say it’s because their coach is too inexperienced, and they rely too much on threes, and he doesn’t call enough timeouts, and he cares too much for analytics, and that the late-game execution is lacking when the score is close.

This site has knocked Shank early and often when his columns contain the element of overhyping a team for the sole purpose of knocking them down later. I don't believe that applies with this team this year, but as Shank has noted a few columns ago, they need to win the tough games in order to win it all.

DHL Dan CXCIX - A Dear John Letter

How do you know when someone's close to retirement age and just doesn't give a fuck anymore? Like this:

A Dear John (Henry) letter to the Red Sox owner, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while composing a Dear John (Henry) letter to the owner of the Red Sox …

In all sincerity:

Dear John,

It’s been a long time since we’ve spoken. I hope you are well. Like all who follow the Red Sox closely, I also hope you still love owning this team and value the lifelong loyalty of a fan base that considers the Red Sox something of a public trust.

I know you’re busy expanding the portfolio of Fenway Sports Group, but by now you must have noticed that many of your fans are angry with the way the team is being run. They feel you and your people haven’t done a great job explaining the year-to-year plan for the ball club.

You and your group have been great owners since taking over in 2002. You’ve made the ballpark better and brighter and you’ve delivered four World Series championships, breaking an 86-year drought and giving the Red Sox more rings than any other major league team in this century.

Out Of Excuses

Shank does his first Celtics column in a while and naturally it has a critical edge to it:

No more excuses: Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have to come up big in big games

“So you’re scared, and you’re thinking that maybe we ain’t that young anymore.”

Bruce Springsteen, “Thunder Road”

It’s time.

No more “they are so young.”

No more “they are both All-Stars and max contract guys and top 20 guys.”

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown need to be NBA champions. In June. It’s time for them to win banner No. 18 for the Boston Celtics.

Brown is 27, playing in his eighth NBA season. Tatum turns 26 in a few weeks and is playing in his seventh NBA season. Brown has been to the conference finals in five of seven seasons, Tatum in four of six. Both made it to the NBA Finals two years ago but came up short after taking a 2-1 series lead against the Warriors.

DHL Dan CXCVIII - Tuna Talk

Shank's taken some interest in the post-Patriots Bill Belichick. Shank talks to another former Patriots head coach for some clues as to what's next for the other Bill:

Getting Bill Parcells’s take on Bill Belichick’s next move, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering why wannabe Patriots general manager Jonathan Kraft was called away to deal with a corrugated cardboard issue while the team he runs was introducing its new coach …

▪ Bill Parcells, now 82, is a Hall of Fame coach who won two Super Bowls with the Giants, then changed the culture of the Patriots when he came to New England in 1993. After four seasons and a trip to the Super Bowl with the Patriots, Parcells coached the Jets and Cowboys, then retired from the sideline at the age of 65.

The Tuna knows what it’s like to work for Bob and Jonathan Kraft, and he knows what it’s like to take on a new team late in his coaching life.

When I reached him on the phone this past week, Parcells was careful not to say too much about what went down in New England or what might happen with Bill Belichick.