By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk
Merry Christmas ‘24 to all who celebrate the day. To others, this columnist wishes you sincere best wishes and joy for 2025 with peace during the holiday(s) you celebrate.
A sincere wish for Peace on Earth for all of us while we live our lives conveying Goodwill Towards Men (and women)!
As in years past, this Christmas-themed column carries the torch of the legendary writings of the late, great Shelby Strother. Later in the column, we’ll take a look back at 2024 with a week-by-week listing of what was covered by While We’re Young (Ideas).
I hope you enjoy this tradition.
Let’s get to it.
Each Christmas Day Contains the Past, Present and Future
By SHELBY STROTHER
It did not matter that the wind-chill was life threatening. It was Christmas morning, and a bright sun stabbed the frozen land. And children were playing.
The decision over which to play with – the official World Cup soccer ball or the Turbo Football – never materialized. With all the snow, a soccer match was out of the question. So spirals of pink and black performed in the most sincere imitations of Rodney Peete and Joe Montana floated back and forth in the yard.
What a nice sight.
The Annual Second Chance is near – it’s called New Year’s Eve. It is the window of opportunity where the hopes and fears of all the year (not to mention the mistakes) can be erased.
But Christmas Day is a time of reinforcement and the essence of tomorrow. And children playing with toys are the finest examples of what that tomorrow looks like.
I look out the window. I’ve been in that yard. All young boys have. Sports become such a part of childhood. Santa is aware of all of this, naturally.
This particular day is exquisite, I think to myself. I take personal inventory, not only of blessings and personal satisfaction, but of the presents of Christmas past. Still the kid, I suppose.
I got my first basketball when I was six. I made my first basket a year later. There was a tetherball set; I must have been eight. And a football helmet when I was ten. A Carl Furillo model baseball mitt at eleven. There were tennis rackets and fishing poles and boxing gloves and shrimp nets and a Mickey Mantle 32-inch Little League bat and one time, even a badminton set.
Every Christmas, I’d play out my dreams and my mind would fly over the rainbow, imagining my propulsion. Of course, I would become a major-leaguer, an All-Star, an all-time great, a Hall of Famer. We all would. My vision extended well beyond the day.
My athletic ability, alas, never kept stride. It was not the worst realization I would ever make.
But I have noticed a direct correlation between Christmas gifts and sporting dreams. The dreams are for the young. So are the gifts. Usually, the two disappear in unison. The rare few who project into greatness discover they do not need imagination to make those lofty flights of fantasy. Hope is not the co-pilot. Expectation is.
It must be a wonderful view.
I was thinking about all of this when another memory nudged me. My 17th Christmas I got a typewriter.
It was about the same time that I’d maneuvered my fantasy a few extra miles. I’d received a baseball scholarship to pitch at a small school in Florida. There were other opportunities, other colleges available. But none that would allow my athletic vision to continue.
I had expected a Christmas of more games in the yard. More dreams to celebrate. I got a typewriter instead.
“What am I going to do with a typewriter?” I asked.
My mother said I’d need it for college. But she also said, “Sometimes you get too old to play games. But you never get too old that you can’t use your imagination.”
Sometimes Christmas is taken for granted. Almost always, in fact. I think Christmas music, and I hear bells. I turn on the radio and I hear someone named Elmo and Patsy lamenting their grandmother’s head-on collision with a reindeer. I think of the meaning of Christmas, and I think of the most special birthday in the history of the world. But I turn on the TV and there are all these Claymation raisins doing Doo-Wop homages to the joys of buying machines wherein a microchip can seize command of entire generations.
Christmas (will soon) be gone, 364 days to go. But children still play. They chase the wonderful image of themselves as they would like to be seen. Christmas is their favorite arena. But they settle for lesser stadia.
But remember this – the present is sometimes confused with the package it comes wrapped in. Sometimes the gift is simply the freedom to imagine. There may be no greater one.
It was a great typewriter. I still play with it.
– A column by Shelby Strother
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Let’s take a look back at 2024 with Part One to follow starting today, and Part Two to come in next week’s missive. Here’s January to June 2024:
Part One – January 2024
Jan. 7th:
The PWHL Begins; The politics of Pro golf; PGA Tour Top 20 Players; NCAA TV Deal
Jan. 13th:
Bill Belichick saga; Jerod Mayo named Patriots head coach
Jan. 21st:
Celtics (20-1) at home; RIP Bud Harrelson; Sports Illustrated ^ sold (again)
Jan. 28th:
AFC/NFC Champ Sunday; BC vs. BU (ice hockey); Red Sox Truck Departs Fenway
February 2024
Feb. 4th
BIG EAST Update; 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend; Connor McDavid
Feb. 11th
Super Sunday (KC); NFL Honors (MVP Lamar Jackson); Super Menu; Clipped
Feb. 18th
NBA All-Star Weekend and Mac McClung; NBA All-Star ‘92 with Magic Johnson
Feb. 25th
Summer of ‘69 … From the Earth to the Moon; St. John’s Rick Pitino Meltdown
March 2024
March 3rd
March Madness; MIT Sloan Sports Conference; Hockey East; UConn Hoops
March 10th
MLB Spring Training & Seoul Game; The PLAYERS; Hockeyville, USA
March 17th
☘️ St. Patrick’s Day ‘24; BIG EAST at MSG; NYK St. Patrick’s Day tease
March 24th:
BC v. BU in Ice Hockey; National PUPPY Day ‘24; Irish Hurling
March 31st
MLB Regular Season; Predictions; UConn Dominating
April 2024
April 7th
Fenway Park; Basketball Hall of Fame Class; Caitlin Clark
April 14th
Boston Marathon/Patriots’ Day; Macklin Celebrini/Hobey Baker; Masters
April 21st
WNBA; Comparisons Miss the Facts; Scottie Scheffler Making History
April 28th
RIP St. John’s & ESPN’s Howie Schwab | The Who for Howie
May 2024
May 5th
FIBA Hall of Fame; The UFL; NBA’s Best Scorers Exit the Playoffs
May 12th
The NBA Draft Lottery; Thank you Mike Gorman; MLB Prospects
May 19th
Ice Hockey World Championship; ‘24 PGA Championship/Scheffler Arrested
May 25th/Memorial Day
The Sky is Falling at TNT; NLL Finals; 2024 Sports Emmy Awards
June 2024
June 2nd
Rest in Peace – Bill Walton (1952 – 2024) – Grateful Dead Tribute at The Sphere
June 9th
NBA Finals in Boston; Hockey’s Four Nations tournament
June 16th
Memorial tribute to Jerry West (1938 – 2024); Most Impactful in NBA History
June 23rd
The 2024 Travellers Championship; PGA Tour Update; Future CFB Playoffs
June 30th
The Greatest Things of Summer; BC Swimming/Dara Torres Hired to coach
TIDBITS: As the year comes to a close, it’s always fun to look at some sports business facts and figures, complete with a peek at the NBA team valuations provided by dear friends at Sportico. Each year, Sportico does a great job with the valuations of the major North American sports leagues. To see the full listing and the archives of others, you’ll need to subscribe (it’s a great value). Here? We’ll look at the Top 10:
- Golden State Warriors … $9.14b
- New York Knicks … $8.3b
- Los Angeles Lakers … $8.07b
- Brooklyn Nets … $5.7b
- Los Angeles Clippers … $5.68b
- Boston Celtics … $5.66b (team is for sale)
- Chicago Bulls … $5.56b
- Miami Heat … $5b
- Houston Rockets … $4.77b
- Toronto Raptors … $4.66b (US)
You’ll note, the Golden State Warriors took over the No. 1 slot previously held by the New York Knicks.
Also of note, the valuations were issued the week before the Dallas Mavericks hired longtime NBA Executive and Hall of Famer Rick Welts as its CEO. With that in mind, Digital Sports Desk estimates the Mavericks valuation improved mightily.
- Dallas Mavericks (as of December 10, 2024) … $4.46b
- Dallas Mavericks (as of this Thursday, December 19, 2024) … $5.46b
BOSTON PLAYER SALARIES: Here’s a look at the TOP 10 list of pro players cashing the loot during the 2024 season here in the Boston area:
- Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics … $49,205,800
- Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics … $34,845,340
- Jrue Holiday, Boston Celtics … $30,000,000
- Kristaps Porzingis, Boston Celtics … $29,268,293
- Mike Onwenu, New England Patriots … $26,000,000
- Rafael Devers, Boston Red Sox … $25,000,000
- Drake Maye, New England Patriots … $24,262,100
- Trevor Story, Boston Red Sox … $22,500,000
- Kyle Dugger, New England Patriots … $21,000,000
- Derrick White, Boston Celtics … $18,821,429
THIS JEST IN: Harvard announced its first foray into the land of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). The press announcement read, “We are excited to announce the launch of Harvard’s One Crimson NIL Exchange platform, designed to connect businesses with our talented student-athletes for Name, Image and Likeness opportunities.
“This platform, powered by INFLCR, offers a streamlined process for businesses to engage directly with Harvard student athletes, facilitating collaborations that can enhance your brand’s visibility while providing our athletes with valuable partnerships.”
YOU CAN’T MAKE IT UP: The FBI arrested and charged Atlanta-based Eugene Toriko travel agency’s CEO Maurice Eugene Smith in connection to the failed George Mason men’s basketball trip to the Bahamas this year. Again, credit to Sportico along with the D-1 Ticker, both reporting that $159,756 designated for accomodations and flights for George Mason’s team were allegedly utilized for private trips to Mexico and Panama. There is a possible 20-year sentence awaiting if convicted of wire fraud.
The complaint was filed this week in U.S. District Court in Virginia. Apparently, none of the money was returned to the school or its athletic department.