DHL Dan CCLXVI - Shots Fired

In this weeks picked Up Pieces column, Shank looks at the bad blood between Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick:

The Robert Kraft-Bill Belichick divorce is as messy as any in our local sports scene, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while waiting for Bill Belichick’s NCAA debut on Labor Day evening . . .

⋅ The NFL doesn’t start until the Cowboys play the Eagles on Thursday in Philly. Meanwhile, there’s a holiday weekend college football smorgasbord, capped with ESPN’s Monday night showcase: TCU at North Carolina — Belichick’s first game on the sideline since a 17-3 loss to the Jets at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 7, 2024.

It often ends badly with star coaches and athletes around here. Remember Roger Clemens vs. Dan Duquette? Rick Pitino vs. The Fellowship of the Miserable? Terry Francona vs. Chicken and Beer? Rafael Devers vs. Red Sox leadership?

Belichick vs. Bob Kraft ranks high on our list of local sports’ harsh divorces.

A few days after Belichick’s final Foxborough moment, we got the phony photo-op with the owner putting his arm around Bill and claiming their breakup was “mutual.” Belichick played along, calling his firing “a day of gratitude and celebration.”

That was the end of the Kraft-Belichick decorum. Since then it’s been a series of heat-seeking salvos launched across multiple platforms — a full-fury-fusillade worthy of Gavin Newsom vs. Donald Trump, Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar, and/or Schilling vs. Shaughnessy.

DHL Dan CCLXV - Milking It

In last week's Picked Up Pieces column (sorry!), Shank looks at the ways sports teams try and Hoover even more money from the fan base:

Who knows, the real Boston sports media experience may soon be for sale, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering why the head of the Tom Brady statue is so small . . .

⋅ How much would you pay to hang out with real sports reporters after a Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins or Celtics game?

Maybe we’ll soon find out. Boston’s teams seem to be missing out on a great opportunity for a new revenue stream.

This came to my attention this past week when the Associated Press reported that the Oklahoma Sooners football program is selling a “fan experience package” that includes access to postgame media interviews. For a mere $692.11, two Sooner fans can hang with handsome media types and observe Nixonian-level stonewalling as reporters try to uncover secrets of Cover-2 defenses and lower-body injuries.

Yikes. Hard to believe it’s come to this, but in the new world order of transfer portals and NIL money, big-time college programs are looking for new ways to generate cash.

Selling “Sooner Magic Memories,” Oklahoma’s ad reads, “Get exclusive postgame media access for you and one guest and see where real-time reactions unfold. Hear OU coaches and players address reporters moments after the final whistle.”

An idea so asinine, I hope it fails miserably.

DHL Dan CCLXIV - Happy Birthday, Cooz!

In this week's Picked Up Pieces, column, Shank celebrates Bob Cousy's 97th birthday:

Celtics legend Bob Cousy talks turning 97, the Green without Jayson Tatum, Caitlin Clark and the WNBA, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering if I can see downtown Providence if I stand on the head of Tom Brady’s statue at Gillette . . .

⋅ Bob Cousy turned 97 Saturday.

That doesn’t stop him from hanging out with his longtime friends for dinner, cocktails, and conversation every Thursday night in Worcester.

“We’ve been doing it for over 30 years,” says Cousy. “We solve all the problems of the world. And I’m not even the oldest member. Two weeks ago, we had a cake for my accountant, who’s two weeks older than I am.”

Cooz’s Thursday ritual includes a shrimp cocktail, a cup of chowder, and a couple of Beefeaters on the rocks with a twist.

“Occasionally, I’ll stray and have a third, but my daughter, Ticia, she keeps an eye on me from the next table.”

Musings From Cooperstown

Earlier this week Shank took a trip to upstate New York:

Baseball’s split from its past feels more severe than previous shifts, and more observations from Cooperstown

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Old people think things were better in the old days. Young people like the way things are. It’s the natural order of life.

The Baseball Hall of Fame’s Induction Weekend brought this point home as I prowled the inner sanctum of the Hall’s plaque gallery, plus the ancient Otesaga Hotel where Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson were enshrined as the first Hall class in 1936.

Bet those hardball legends had quarrels with the way the game was being played at the time. Crusty old-timers always insist things were better in their day. Nap Lajoie probably told Ruth and Co. that the game was better in the 19th century, when men were men.

All that said, the current version of this universal push-pull is truly different. In the summer of 2025, baseball is largely unrecognizable to old-time greats and, even worse, today’s Hall of Famers increasingly feel estranged from the people who run the game. Analytics and new methods of teaching have removed the endearing layer of tutelage that’s always connected the sport.

DHL Dan CCLXIII - Standing Pat

In this week's Picked Up Pieces column, Shank's all over the Red Sox for doing jack shit at the trading deadline:

The Red Sox’ trade deadline inaction speaks louder than words, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while watching the Red Sox tread water at the trade deadline again . . .

⋅ The Sox treat loyal fans like chumps. They take them for granted. They continue to gaslight Red Sox Nation, making pledges about playing meaningful games in September and October, but deep down they value payroll flexibility and controllable contracts over winning the World Series.

This is the way it’s been since 2018, and nothing changed Thursday when the Sox had a chance to go all-in to support an interesting and exciting team that has put itself in position to make a serious playoff run.

Fans make an emotional investment in this team, but management doesn’t reciprocate. It’s been this way for 6½ seasons and it could not be more obvious. Actions speak louder than words. The Sox talk full throttle, then remain stalled in neutral.

Apologists and folks who’ve stopped paying attention cite “four World Series in this century,” enabling Boston ownership to perpetuate this farce.