DHL Dan CCCVI - Induction

In last week's Picked Up Pieces column, Shank looks forward to some awkwardness next year:

Patriots sure to be prominent when Pro Football Hall of Fame induction rolls around, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering why the Seahawks are only 3½-point favorites against the Patriots in Seattle on Opening Night . . .

⋅ The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2026 was inducted in Canton, Ohio, a couple of weekends back, and we got to see Adam Vinatieri take his rightful place in the shrine alongside new inductees Luke Kuechly, Larry Fitzgerald, Drew Brees, and Roger Craig.

With the Patriots set to kick off their regular season Sept. 9 in a Super Bowl rematch in Seattle, I got to thinking about potential Patriot presence on the HOF stage next summer.

Rules require that Tom Brady must wait until the summer of 2028. It’s the price he pays for playing until he was 45. The good news for New England fans is that all-world tight end Rob Gronkowski hung up his cleats a year before Brady and has a great shot to wear a gold jacket in Ohio next August.

But what about Bill Belichick and Bob Kraft, the bookend backbones of pro football’s greatest dynasty? Their omissions from the Hall last winter were a loud statement on the confusing process required to gain admission and the troubling tonnage of jealousy and hard feelings generated across Football America (Spygate and Deflategate, anyone?) during the two decades they dominated the sport. It’s also fair to say that since they won their last Super Bowl together, post-dynasty failures, salvos fired at one another, and non-football shenanigans have dented the legacies of New England football’s real men of genius.

I can't wait to see Belichick and Kraft pretend to like each other at this ceremony.

DHL Dan CXCVII - The End?

Shank has some surprisingly good things to say about likely soon to be former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick:

If this is the end for Bill Belichick, he deserves gratitude, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering if it’s Breslow-Ball or Bres-LowBall …

▪ Is this really it for Bill Belichick?

After 24 years, 17 division titles, 13 AFC Championship games, nine trips to the Super Bowl, six Lombardis, Spygate, Deflategate, Mona Lisa Vito, and 10,000 “just doing what’s best for our football team” non-answers … is this really the end for Belichick as head coach of the New England Patriots? ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported Thursday that Belichick, Patriots owner Bob Kraft, and team president Jonathan Kraft have a meeting scheduled for Monday. Putting beleaguered Bill in a room with combustible Jon is not likely to yield an amicable split.

Back at the turn of the century when Bill was hired, “Mr. Kraft” (a.k.a. “Robert”) was still plain old Brookline Bob and the ringless Patriots were playing in third-class Foxboro Stadium with aluminum bleachers. Myra Kraft was the franchise’s North Star, Gil and Gino were telling us where they ate dinner in Miami, and Scott Zolak was starting his media career with Bob Lobel after being cut by Dave Wannstedt in Miami. Tebucky Jones was trying to figure out what “press corner” meant.

Whither Belichick?

As the last week of the 2023-2024 NFL regular season approaches, the speculation into Patriots coach Bill Belichick's future intensifies:

Facing the toughest decision of his stewardship, what will Patriots owner Bob Kraft do with Bill Belichick?

What now, Bob Kraft?

Kraft has owned the Patriots for 30 full and fruitful years, but has never faced a decision like this one.

Feuding with Bill Parcells and firing Pete Carroll was easy. Deciding to break promises to poor Hartford was easy. Heck, even accepting Roger Goodell’s Deflategate sanctions — after demanding an apology from the NFL — even that was easy compared to this.

What is Kraft going to do about the future of Bill Belichick, the franchise coach who has won six Super Bowls for New England? I mean, how does Kraft fire Belichick, then someday invite him back for a statue dedication?

What isn't speculation is Shank's continued disdain for Kraft:

Belichick, Kraft’s head coach for 24 seasons, is 29-38 (including playoffs) since Tom Brady left and hasn’t won a playoff game in five years. After finishing 8-9 in 2022, Kraft apologized to fans and pledged that things would get better. Things have gotten worse.

Kraft does not want to fire Belichick. New England’s needy owner longs to be loved. He wants peace with honor. He’s 82 and desperately wants to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He didn’t like the way things ended with Brady and now he’s at a critical mass regarding one of the greatest coaches of all time.

You First

Isn't this an interesting take from a guy who's run enough Red Sox players out of town over his career to field an entire team:

Five years after the Astros’ trash-can transgressions, maybe it’s time to let our grudges go

PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies thrashed the Astros, 7-0, in Game 3 of the World Series Tuesday. The Phils hit five homers in the first five innings. It’s almost like their hitters knew what was coming.

And America no doubt loved it. Everybody still hates the Astros.

They trail the 118th World Series, two games to one, but still have a chance to win their second World Series in franchise history.

It would be their first legit title.

I'd say their first unquestioned title, but go on...

We all remember 2017 when Alex Cora’s trash-can dream came true. The Cheatin’ Stros beat the Red Sox, Yankees, and Dodgers in succession, only to live forever in disgrace when it was learned they enjoyed the benefit of an illegal sign-stealing system designed in part by the man who would become manager of your Red Sox. The Astros instantly became America’s most hated team since the Spygate/Deflategate, Belichick/Brady Patriots pantsed the NFL for the better part of two decades.

Houston’s transgressions were worse than anything the Patriots ever did, but New England fans haven’t had much high ground in this area, given the hiring of Cora, two celebrated football scandals, and the 2017 Red Sox Apple Watch malfeasance.

Not to go all “Trash Can Report In Context” on you, but the ‘22 Astros might be good without cheating. They won 106 regular-season games, and eight of their first nine postseason games. They swept the 99-win Yankees in the ALCS and went into Tuesday’s Game 3 with a combined record of 114-58, including playoff games.

They hope this Fall Classic will be their redemption tour.

Gotta love the warped mind that can take a World Series baseball game and make it about the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots, like that grudge will ever be let go.

The Tom Brady Retirement Column

Dear Tom:

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

We're good now, right?

Thanks,

Your Pal Shank

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

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

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

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

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

If You Ain't Cheatin', You Ain't Tryin'

Shank takes a look at the lack of compliance to league rules by both teams in this year's ALCS.

In Red Sox-Astros matchup, it’s impossible to ignore both teams’ scandalous recent history

It won’t be a party starter at Fox Sports, Fenway Park, or Minute Maid Park, but it’s impossible to avoid the years-old cheating narrative in this 2021 American League Championship Series.

Astros vs. Red Sox features those lyin’, cheatin’ Despicable Me(s) from Houston — Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman & Co. — against the upstart Bostons, who are managed by Alex Cora, one of the few culprits of the 2017 Trash Can ‘Stros who was punished for his role in the scheme.

It’s as if the Spygate Patriots faced the Deflategate Patriots in some computer-programmed, analytic-driven, virtual Super Bowl. It’s where “Bang the Drum Slowly” meets “Rounders” at the intersection of “Molly’s Game” and “Eight Men Out.”

The Houston Astros are the most famous cheat-to-win perps in sports history. They won the 2017 World Series in seven games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In January of 2020, an MLB report found that the ‘Stros cheated their way to the title with a sign-stealing system that (in part) included relaying stolen signs to batters by banging on a trash can at Minute Maid Park. Four years later, Houston’s lineup features four batters who were part of the scam.

Disingenuous Column Premise Time

With a much anticipated football game less then two weeks away, Shank's revving up the hype early and is back on the Tom Brady bandwagon:

Tom Brady is better at 44 than he was at 24, and it’s amazing

It’s the only thing we’re going to be talking about a week from now, so let’s get ahead of it and state the obvious: Tom Brady is coming to Foxborough Oct. 3 and it’s going to be the most in-your-face moment in the storied history of New England sports.

Bill Belichick was wrong. Bob Kraft was wrong. I certainly was wrong. Brady not only has left us and thrived — winning another Super Bowl last year while the Patriots didn’t make the playoffs — but he will return to Gillette Stadium as a 44-year-old professional athlete playing the best football of his career.

I give up. Bill and Bob have to give up, too. Brady in 2021 is better than he was in 2007 when the Patriots went 18-0. He is better than he was when he was on the Deflategate revenge tour. He is better than he was in his 20s or his 30s. In this, his 22nd NFL season, he is better than he has ever been.

This here link is just a reminder of all the times Shank has said, shall we say, less then flattering things about his newly found man crush.

Scoreboard

You just knew Shank would use the win by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday to bash the Patriots, didn't you?

Final score: Tom Brady 1, Patriots 0

The headline says it all...

Forty-three-year old Tom Brady is going to the Super Bowl.

In the immortal words of Bob Lobel, “Why can’t we get players like that?’'

All precincts have reported and it’s official: Brady has beaten Bill Belichick and Bob Kraft in a landslide. Ten months after leaving New England because the Patriots were done with him, Brady showed the world he’s still got the goods. The Patriots, who had no real plan to replace their quarterback, finished 7-9 and out of the playoffs. Meanwhile, Brady is going to his 10th Super Bowl; with the clown car Tampa Bay Buccaneers, no less.

This is like seeing the Red Sox dump Mookie Betts in the name of payroll flexibility, then watching Betts win the World Series after the Sox finish last.

Ouch! I bet he's been saving that line for months now. In any event, you and I know this new found love and appreciation for Tom Brady is world class hypocrisy, wrapped in bullshit. Let's take a look at recent history, shall we?

First up - September 30, 2014 - The Kansas City Massacre::

By the end of the night, the darts and arrows were coming from every direction. Bill Belichick was grilled about his musical-chair offensive line and the notion of starting two rookies in front of Brady in a loud enemy theater. The coach was asked if he might have to “evaluate” his quarterback position; the question from CSNNE’s Mike Giardi elicited a smirk with no comment. There were hysterical calls for out-of-work Charlie Weis to replace Josh McDaniels as offensive coordinator. Darrelle Revis was compared to Carl Crawford (OK, that one was me). It was noted that no Belichick defense had ever surrendered 300 yards in a first half. There was a television graphic explaining that the Patriots offense ranks last in the NFL, averaging 4.6 yards per play. We were told that Brady has missed his target more than 25 percent of the time.

July 28, 2015 - Deal With It - Brady's A Cheater:

In a 20-page decision that was released at 2:32 p.m. Tuesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell upheld Tom Brady's four-game Deflategate suspension. In the day's most shocking revelation, the commissioner revealed that Brady ordered his assistant to destroy his cellphone on the same day (March 6) Brady was interviewed by NFL investigator Ted Wells. Brady did not disclose this development for several months and it was not confirmed until the day of his suspension appeal hearing, June 23.

What do you say now, Patriot fans? Still think the NFL is out to get the Patriots? Still think Tom Brady is clean? Still think this is a witch hunt?

Of course you do. And that is why at a time when you should be embarrassed, you are probably emboldened.

Please. Give up. It's time for local loyalists to parachute down from Planet Patriot and get in touch with reality. Stop twisting yourselves into knots to justify the petty crimes and coverups of the Patriots and their quarterback.

January 3, 2017 - The Patriots Only Win Because Everybody Else Sucks:

Am I the only one?

Is there anybody else out in Patriot Nation who’d like to see the Patriots in a competitive, thrilling playoff game? You know . . . a game where the outcome is in doubt before Hoodie defers on the coin toss?

Guess not. The Patriots are going to get to the AFC Championship game without a serious test of their considerable abilities

February 28, 2020 - Please Go Away, Tom:

I just want it to be over.

And I officially am hoping Tom Brady leaves the Patriots.

Sorry.

I want Tom to go because his history-making time has run its course here. I like sports drama, and it would be a much better story if Tom goes to a new team. I’d like to see what Bill Belichick can do without Brady. I’d like to see what Brady can do for the Los Angeles/Tampa Bay/Tennessee Bradys.

And, with any further Tom Brady guile, luck and / or winning ability, Shank will have one more convenient column that he'll milk into a few more so he can take shots at the Patriots until Draft Day.

Fine Their Asses!

Shank wasn't happy about last night's game:

Doug Pederson is a disgrace to professional sports.

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) January 4, 2021

In fact - he was so pissed off about it he cranked out a column calling for some heads:

NFL should come down on the Eagles for Sunday night’s performance

Maybe they should, but they probably won't.

The Philadelphia Eagles are a disgrace and should be punished by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

The Eagles intentionally lost a “Sunday Night Football” game that had massive playoff implications for two other franchises. Philadelphia’s tank job served to improve its draft position from ninth to sixth, so the league should take away that first-round pick. Then fine the owner, suspend coach Doug Pederson, and apologize to all of us for insulting our intelligence and allowing Philly to throw a game.

Remember Deflategate? The Patriots lost their first-round pick, a fourth-rounder, got fined a million bucks, and saw Tom Brady suspended four games just for taking a little air out of the footballs. The Patriots were punished for breaching the integrity of the game. Tampering with the footballs was deemed a competition violation.

Based on that premise, his logic is sound. However, to use Shank's phraseology Deflategate was a bag job of a punishment and doing the same thing here would establish an ability to second guess a coaching decision, which is somewhat defensible were it not for the three pick improvement in draft pick. I'd be on board with that one at least being pushed back to the original slot; maybe taking it away completely would be a useful deterrent for future wannabe tank artists.

The rest of the column's worth reading and it'll be interesting to see what NFL commissioner Goddell does with this hot potato.

DHL Dan XCVII - Reusable Columns!

Shank rehashes his Tom Brady column from last week and is milking it for all it's worth:

Still waiting on the Tom Brady situation, and other picked-up pieces

If Brady leaves, it will be the biggest non-game-related story in Boston since Babe Ruth was traded

Picked-up pieces while waiting for the interminable (more than 50 days so far) Tom Brady situation be resolved . . .

■ If Brady leaves the Patriots, it will go down as the biggest non-game-related Boston sports story since Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees more than 100 years ago. Brady leaving is bigger than Spygate, Deflategate, and the LeRoux Coup at Fenway. It’s bigger than the sudden deaths of Reggie Lewis, Len Bias, and Harry Agganis. Bigger than the Braves leaving Boston. Bigger than the trading of Nomar and Mookie Betts. Bigger than Haywood Sullivan forgetting to mail Carlton Fisk a contract. Bigger than Bobby Orr going to the Black Hawks. Bigger than Bill Parcells to the Jets and Ted Williams going off to war twice. Bigger than the trade that brought Bill Russell to Boston. There can be no doubt. Tom leaving will be our biggest (non-game) sports story since the selling of the Bambino.

Gearing up to write another crappy book, Shank?

Spygate II - Electric Boogaloo

Didja ever notice when bad news abounds, Shank is all over it? First it was the Patriots losing in the playoffs, which already put a bounce in his step. Now we have yet another late Christmas present for the Shankster:

Throw the book at ’em.

If the new report is accurate — and there is no reason to believe it is not accurate — the Red Sox are an arrogant disgrace.

World champs in 2018? Swell. At this moment, the evidence indicates that when it came to winning the big games, “Our cheaters were better than their cheaters.’’

The 2018 Red Sox were good. They probably didn’t need to cheat to get an edge. But there appears to be ample evidence that they cheated. Just as the Patriots cheated with Spygate in 2007, and most likely again in the Super Bowl-winning season of 2014 during Deflategate.

The Sox of ’18 and the Patriots of most years were better than all the other teams, but that was never good enough. In the spirit of Red Auerbach, the Red Sox and Patriots took it to the next level. They covered all the bases. They uncovered every rock. Even if it made them bottom-feeding cheaters.

Is it just me or do many (if not all) of these cheating allegations vastly overstate whatever competitive advantage you'll get from the specific cheating activity?

No one is going to strip the 2018 Red Sox of their championship banner, but everything from that season is now tainted (do I have to keep saying “if the new report is accurate”?).

Two takeaways - a) I get the clear impression from Shank's tone preceding this sentence he would definitely strip the Sox of that banner if it were up to him. b) Yes, Shank, you do have to keep saying it - it makes you look like less of a jackass if these allegations are proven false.

Last thought - I think Shank was discussing this on Zolak & Bertrand yesterday for the few limited minutes I caught it on the radio. That's classic Shank - talk about it then and do a column on the exact same subject (or vice versa) and since there's no heavy lifting involved, you're not gonna mess up your back!

And if there was ever any doubt about this...

It’s time for Rob Manfred to have his Kenesaw Mountain Landis moment. Eight Men Out. Whatever it takes.

Come down hard, Commish.

Baseball needs to get its game back under control. Time to be harsh. Time to make the punishments hurt.

Ok, one more last thought - Shank is of course referring to the 1919 Chicago White Sox, where eight players threw the World Series and received lifetime bans from baseball. Shank is ridiculously calling for the same level of punishment for people involved in enhanced sign stealing (for lack of a better phrase). It's further ridiculous when you consider the following sentence from this column:

Organic sign-stealing is cool. And fun. Nobody is better at it than Alex Cora.

But Shank wants lifetime bans for a similar behavior? Vastly overstated, this column is.

DHL Dan XCIII - Cheatin' Bastards

Shank tosses out another picked-up pieces column while he wishes for another loss by the Patriots:

Picked-up pieces while wondering whether Malcolm Butler will tune in when the Patriots play the Eagles on Sunday.
■ Are sports fans bothered when their teams are caught cheating?

The investigation into the 2017 world champion Astros — triggered by charges from a former Houston pitcher — touches fans everywhere, certainly those who root for New England teams.

Nobody around here liked it much when the Super Bowl-winning Patriots were caught and punished in the Spygate and Deflategate scandals. We lived through years of pushback, denials, and controversy as fans in other regions tried to assign the Patriots’ stunning success to petty crimes and misdemeanors.

Shank's done exactly that numerous times during his stint at the Boston Globe, and that's not restricted only to the Patriots.

Delayed Gratification

Until now, we had one mere tweet from Shank about New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft and his legal problems stemming from an arrest for solicitation at a Florida massage parlor. Here's the column Shank has waited an entire month to write.

The Robert Kraft saga will loom over the NFL meetings

This is not Deflategate. This is not Spygate. This is not “they hate us because they ain’t us!’’ This is not Tom Brady with a MAGA hat in his locker or Donald Trump reading a supportive letter from Bill Belichick on the eve of the election. This is not the owner of the Patriots hitching a ride on Air Force One.

Things continue in this vein for a few paragraphs, then Shank tells us everything about the whole sordid mess that we've been hearing about for the past four weeks, which means you can skip all that stuff and get right to the conclusion:

What does all this say about Kraft’s decision-making and his fitness to run the Patriots?

Nothing - maybe Shank can figure out that these are two different questions?

How could an individual return to the same spa one day after getting pulled over by police and being asked to produce ID? Why would anyone attend Oscar parties just hours after a news conference announcing his impending arrest? How does this landslide of protest affect Kraft’s ability to run his football team?

Kraft is clearly headed for another showdown with Goodell. Is this perhaps a good time for Bob Kraft to step aside and let his son Jonathan run the team?

Just asking.

UPDATE AT 5:40 PM - Link to Shank's column now included, for better or worse...

And Now For Some Super Bowl ESPN Bashing

It helps to have an editor so you don't fuck things like this up too badly:

Typical ESPN, one reporter tweets about tonight being the last game for Belichick and Brady, then Schefter goes on TV and says both will be back for 2018. #RightEitherWay #WhatAreYouActuallyReporting?

— Andy Hart (@JumboHart) February 4, 2018

UPDATE, 1:08 PM - Here's the tweet in question:

Right now on @espn NFL Countdown it’s brought to light about what many in the league have been hearing which this game could possibly be both Bill Belichick and Tom Brady’s final games. Both could be hanging it up. Post game could be incredible tonight if this becomes truth.

— Dianna Russini(@diannaESPN) February 4, 2018

ESPN - getting it wrong since DeflateGate!

DHL Dan LX - David Price Update, Etc.

I'm wondering why Shank is going out of his way to stay positive with his coverage of David Price. Normally this would be the stage in the relationship with the player when Shank's trashing him, just before the one or two 'run him out of town' columns.

Picked-up pieces while wondering how things will end for the 2017 Indians and Dodgers . . .

■ So now the Red Sox are paying David Price $217 million to be Heath Hembree?

The Sox activated Price Thursday, and manager John Farrell announced that the sour southpaw will work out of the bullpen for the rest of this year. I hate this.

I'd rather he not reinjure his elbow. Price in the bullpen will insure he won't be throwing 100 pitches in a given day. This is logical. How Shank thinks otherwise is baffling.

Perhaps it’s rational given Price’s recovery from elbow woes and his potential value as a lefthanded power arm out of the pen. But I still hate it because it’s letting Price off the hook too easily.

As much as it might be dangerous for the Sox, I wanted to see Price get the ball for a playoff start in 2017 (with double-barrel action in the Boston bullpen during the anthem). It’s my thirst for great sports theater.

That, and pints at The Fours.

He still hates the Red Sox, in case you're still wondering:

■ Kudos to the New York Post for placing an asterisk next to “Boston” in its daily American League standings. Below the standings, the asterisk denotes, “Caught stealing.’’

When the Sox got caught cheating, how come nobody made the connection to “Damn Yankees”? The name of the devil in the famed Faustian show/movie is “Applegate.’’

One of my favorite readers reminds us, “You can’t hold a whole baseball team responsible for the behavior of a few sick, perverted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn’t we blame the whole major league system . . . ?’’

Shank realizes the movie 'Animal House' is almost forty years old, right?

He still hates the Patriots:

■ Hate to rub it in, but the New York Football Giants will salute their 2007 Super Bowl champs when they play their home opener in the Meadowlands Monday night against the Lions. Eli Manning and Zak DeOssie are the only players left from that squad. David Tyree currently works for the Giants as director of player development.

...and Federal judge Richard Berman, of Deflategate 'fame':

■ When it comes to the Yankees, Judge Sonia Sotomayor makes Fanboy Richard Berman look neutral. The Supreme Court justice donned a robe and sat in the “Judge’s Chambers” in right field (named for Aaron Judge) when the Red Sox visited New York last month. She cheered madly for her Yankees.

But that's different!

The One Where Shank Lectures Pats Fans, Again

Now we have our answer as to why Shank wasn't tweeting all the usual crap during the first half of tonight's Chiefs / Patriots game:

FOXBOROUGH — OK, Patriots fans. You can let it go now. You had your fun. You won the Super Bowl with the greatest comeback in NFL championship history. You got to shout down the commissioner with a spontaneous outburst of booing when he tried to speak on the postgame stage in Houston. You got to insult Roger Goodell again Thursday night at Gillette with shirts and towels bearing the commissioner’s clown-altered image. You got to see the unveiling of championship No. 5 and then you got to see the Patriots kick off their inexorable quest for No. 6 vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s probably time to release the ghosts of Deflategate and get on with your lives.

This, from a guy who still bears a grudge that he held for years and still continues to this day with the Pats' second Super Bowl appearance, against Green Bay.

Shaughnessy’s digs are predictable…and despicable. That breakfast snub 15 years ago or so really burns him up so much to this day?

More Shank:

Except for one parking lot photo with some Patriots fans (who should have their Fan Cards revoked), Goodell in August pretty much got in and out of town without anyone noticing.

Didn't he just tell Patriots fans to give it up?

You get the gist of it - more Nurse Ratched at the link.

Predictions

1) Will Shank tweet before and during the game?
2) How many tweets will contain the following - defer the kickoff, double score and / or tomato cans?
3) Any more comparisons of Deflategate and the Red Sox' sign stealing saga?

Leave your own predictions in the comments.

DHL Dan LIX / Rewriting History

Red Sox owner John Henry's is the latest in a torrent of politically correct efforts to rewrite history by removing the names of people they do not approve of. Shank is there to cover it:

Picked-up pieces while wondering whether angry Patriots fans still believe Roger Goodell (about to sign a five-year contract extension) is going to lose his job over his grotesque “mishandling” of Deflategate.

■ Red Sox owner John Henry is “haunted” by the Yawkey legacy of racism and would like Yawkey Way renamed to Big Papi Way. The Globe’s Adrian Walker, in a December 2015 column headlined, “It’s time to banish the racist legacy of Tom Yawkey,’’ wrote, “Why on earth does Boston have a street called Yawkey Way? . . . Changing the name of a street is simple enough . . . The time has come.’’

So Red Sox ownership sat on its hands for two years (and more) until there's sufficient cover to make the move? Brave stance, guys!

So now the debate is on. The climate is ripe for change.

Henry said that former Mayor Thomas Menino was not agreeable to a street-name change, which was suggested by former Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino shortly after the turn of the century, but current Mayor Marty Walsh seems ready to move on the combustible issue.

However, there's backup on this one. All that and more in the latest edition of the Shank mailbag...

Big Steaming Heap Of Bullshit

There are multiple angles to take with this latest Shank column, so I think I need to give this one an old fashioned Fisking.

HOUSTON — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was at it again Wednesday. The man is a master of passive aggression and manipulation. If his ginger hair were on fire, he would calmly tell you that he is not warm.

Shank is also a master of passive-aggressive behavior; he's spent the past two years attacking and criticizing the Patriots and Tom Brady on the issue of Deflategate in particular and is now about to change his tune because it suits him, and he has cover from other Boston area media. He has done the same with the Patriots for over two decades, criticizing them at every turn, then pretending to support them whenever they made serious playoff runs. These two sons of bitches ought to be exchanging notes.

Roger Dodger (never heard that one before! - ed.) held his annual Super Bowl media session Wednesday at the Houston Convention Center. We will not bore you with anything Goodell said about the Chargers’ move to Los Angeles, the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas, “Thursday Night Football,” or NFL games in London.

I'm thankful for small favors - let's get ready to rumble!!!

All we care about is Deflategate, and Goodell allowed five Deflategate queries during his 45 minutes at the podium.

Give him credit for taking some bullets. The typical NFL method is to deny the obvious and censor all dissent. In a room with hundreds of hungry reporters, it would have been easy for Goodell to rig the session and make sure he took no questions from New England. He did not do this.

Bear in mind that Shank was quite pleased with this investigation and its eventual outcome, with Shank concluding that Tom Brady and the Patriots are lying cheating bastards as he scolded the entire Patriots Nation.

The Globe’s Ben Volin was first up, and he told the Commish that Bob Kraft (who was sitting in the front row with Jonathan) is still going around telling folks that Goodell got bad Deflategate advice from folks in the league office.

Goodell quickly dismissed that with, “We had a violation. We went through a process. We applied the discipline in accordance with our process. It was litigated, as you know, extensively and validated by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, so we’re moving on.’’

What Goodell doesn't mention is the transmogrification of this case from an equipment violation to a 'conduct detrimental' matter in order to impose the four game suspension on Brady.

Moving on? Not bloody likely. The Patriots and their fans are not moving on. In this spirit, we went at the Commish with both barrels. We fired all the muskets at once. This was no time for decorum.

Need I remind anybody about Shank's passive-aggressive behavior?

“Tom Brady Sr. was highly critical and personally insulting toward you last week,’’ I reminded the commissioner. “You’ve not been in Foxborough for two years since the Deflategate investigation. Your explanation strains all credibility — that you needed to be in Atlanta two weeks in a row.

“It appears you were avoiding Foxborough. The Patriots are here in this game . . . it feels like there is still a war between the Patriots and their fans and you. How would you characterize the situation, and is it not awkward?”

“I would say that it is not awkward at all for me,’’ started Goodell (nose growing). “We have a job to do. We do our job when there is a violation. We apply the process and discipline and we came to a conclusion that was supported by the courts.

This is simply astounding - Shank used Deflategate to beat the ever loving shit out of the Patriots and Tom Brady for two years, and this line of questioning was conspicuously absent from the many, many colums he devoted to the subject. I'll call it breathtaking hypocrisy; pure fucking theater.

“So from our standpoint, we understand that fans who are loyal and passionate for a team object and don’t like the outcome. I totally understand that. And I was in Boston two seasons ago for two consecutive playoff games, the same way I was in Atlanta this year. That happens.

“So from our standpoint, this is just about making sure we take care of business and do it in a way that is right and upholding the integrity of all of our teams and our rules for all 32 teams.”

“So you’re not avoiding Foxborough?’’ I yelled. “You would come back there, if they win, for the flag raising?”

“If I’m invited back to Foxborough, I’ll come,’’ he answered.

How many of you are buying that?

Intrepid Bert Breer of MMQB tried to clarify that comment a few minutes later and asked, “To the best of your knowledge, over the last month have you been welcome in Foxborough . . . by the team?”

“I have no doubt that if I wanted to come up to a Patriots game and I asked Mr. Kraft, he would welcome me back,’’ said Goodell. “That’s up to him, though.’’

Breer followed up by asking Goodell how his relationship with the team has changed over the last two years.

“Listen, we had a disagreement about what occurred,’’ said Goodell, sounding a little sick of the topic. “We have been very transparent about what we think the violation was. We went through a lengthy process.

Being sick of the topic seems like the right response when your position is untenable or the matter just comes up too many times for your liking. Maybe it's a variant of the old saw - 'Have you stopped beating your wife?'

“We disagree about that, but I continue to respect and admire Robert, Jonathan, the entire organization. They are an extraordinary organization and they are extraordinary people in my view, so I have a very deep and close relationship to them.

“I’m not afraid of disagreement. I don’t think disagreement leads to distrust or hatred. It’s a disagreement . . . That’s what it is. It’s not personal hatred, which I know people like to make it, but for us it’s about making sure we do what’s right for the league, long-term.’’

When Kelly Sullivan of WPRI in Providence asked Goodell if he’d talked to Brady this year, the commissioner said he does not disclose conversations he may or may not have had with players.

I'll go with 'No, I did not talk with Tom Brady...'

Now, with more explosions!

Tom Curran of CSNNE fired this salvo: “From the players in the league, to fan bases in San Diego, St. Louis, New England, there seems to be an erosion of public trust in you and your office. Do you acknowledge that, and is there any way that you would go about repairing that if you would even seek to do so?’’

This produced a tower of Goodellspeak.

“The thing you have to always do, every day, is earn that trust, earn that credibility by how you act and how you do things,” he said. “Be transparent and make sure people understand the decisions you make.’’

There were many more words, but no true meaning.

The commissioner is not transparent. Fans do not understand the decisions he’s made.

And despite what Roger Dodger says, this is really awkward.

You might call it a big bowl of awkward, to borrow a phrase from the Shankster.

Scumbag Columnist?

Is it me, or is Shank (who did everything possible to pile on Tom Brady last year, including calling him a cheater) exploiting an illness in the Brady family just to get a fucking column out of it?

HOUSTON — We know it has been a trying time for Tom Brady. We know it was hard for him to give up his court appeals and serve his four-game suspension at the start of this season.

We knew Brady was going to get a lot of questions this week about Deflategate, Roger Goodell, Donald Trump, and his opportunity to become the first quarterback to win five Super Bowls.

But we did not know that there has been a personal crisis going on in the Patriot quarterback’s family this year, and we were not expecting Brady to become super emotional in the early days of Super Bowl week. CSNNE’s Tom Curran reported Tuesday that Brady’s mother Galynn has been dealing with an illness for 18 months.

What a fucking hypocrite. "We know it has been a trying time for Tom Brady." after Shank's been piling on him for the better part of two years. Absolutely disgraceful.