Terry Lyons

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | February 5th

February 5, 2023 by Terry Lyons

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Welcome to the Dog Days of Winter. It’s the first Sunday without NFL football since the weekend of September 11, 2022. That disregards the event formerly known as the Pro Bowl, now being staged in forms other than football.

What do the Dog Days of Winter bring to our sports-loving fandom?

A good look at the NBA of late brings altercations as in fights with guys coming off the bench to “give it a go.” There’s a laundry list of other assorted violations that will keep the NBA Dean of Discipline, the great Joe Dumars, up to his eyeballs with accounting paper and incident reports. Dumars, the most professional, wonderful, honest, down-to-earth player that’s ever played in the NBA, now knows what it was like when his predecessors (Rod Thorn, Stu Jackson) had to deal with the 1987-88-89-90 “Bad Boys” aka the elbow throwing, cheap-shotin’ Bill Laimbeer of the Detroit Pistons.

Suffice to say, Dumars has his hands filled, as did the Veeps of Violence of years past. It’s simply that time of year.

Since February 1st, Dumars has seen his officiating staff dole out 19 technical fouls. They’ve resulted in six ejections, a $25,000 fine for Donovan Mitchell and a one game suspension without pay for Dillon Brooks, estimated to cost the player a cool $78,621 for their efforts this past Thursday.

On Friday night, one of the crazier altercations of out time on earth began with Mo Bamba coming off the Orlando Magic bench to confront Minnesota’s Austin Rivers, who threw several punches as Orlando’s Jalen Suggs joined the melee to tangle with Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince both joining the fracas.

Facing the facts? There will be more.

Players, coaches, referees, and even the hot dog vendors have “had it” at this point in the year. They’re “banged up.” They’re playing hurt and the pressure is being turned up as the playoffs grow closer and closer. From a slow simmer on the back burner of January to a full boil come April, there’s no more room for understanding. The Dog Days call for dukes. No questions asked.

Even the G-League experienced the doldrums of the Dog Days of Winter in balmy Sioux Falls when Skyforce guard Mychal Mulder was suspended one game without pay for making contact with a game official and escalating an on-court altercation while Birmingham Squadron forwards James Kelly, Sr. and Kelan Martin were suspended one game without pay for leaving the bench area and escalating that altercation. The incident resulted in the ejections of Kelly, Sr. and Mulder.

The Dog Days know no bounds! But, it can get very dangerous. “Rudy T” dangerous because the players are BIG and STRONG and QUICK and they can pack a punch. There’s very few face masks, no padding and maybe a couple dozen mouth guards being worn by otherwise fully exposed players. Sheer momentum can bring two players together at warp speed.

It’s time for the league to get the word out – the officials are going to enforce the rules on the books. They need to T-up any and all verbal jabs and the players will adjust. The Holy Grail in the NBA is “Playing Time” and the players know where to draw the line when they know the league, from those in the office to officials at the games are going to come down on the B.S. and a suspension and $78k fine gets the word out.

AT PRESS TIME: The NBA league office came down with the hammer. Here’s the news release on fines and suspensions for the Orlando v Minnesota bout:

Orlando Magic center Mo Bamba has been suspended four games without pay and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Austin Rivers has been suspended three games without pay for their roles in an on-court altercation, it was announced today by Joe Dumars, Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations.

In addition, Magic guard Jalen Suggs has been suspended one game without pay for escalating the altercation by aggressively grabbing Rivers around the neck and pulling him to the floor.

Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels has been fined $20,000 for his role in the altercation which included running into the scrum and pushing Bamba in the back.

The incident, for which all four players received technical fouls and were ejected, occurred with 1:32 remaining in the third quarter of the Magic’s 127-120 win over the Timberwolves on Feb. 3 at Target Center.

Bamba and Rivers engaged in an altercation in front of the Magic bench, with both players throwing punches. Suggs and McDaniels then entered the altercation as non-peacemakers, which resulted in a continued escalation of the situation.

Following the incident, Bamba attempted to continue to engage with Rivers in a hostile manner in the corridor outside the locker rooms where he also aggressively shoved a security representative. Both Bamba and Rivers continued the escalation on social media following the game.

GET THE REMOTE: As you begin your Dog Day Sunday Morning & Afternoon, your viewing choices can range from a 9:00am (ET) Leeds United v. Nottingham Forest Premier League soccer game on USA Network to a 12 Noon (ET) DePaul at Seton Hall tilt on FS1.

If you prefer to stick with USA Net, the Fordham Rams and Richmond Spiders will be awaiting tip-off in an A-10 tussle. Or, you can watch Six Nations Rugby or Bowling or Figure Skating or Rodeo or Horse Racing or Women’s Pro Hockey or wait-out some NASCAR race at the LA Coliseum at 8pm (ET) – it’ll be Sunset Grills in Southern California.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Only eight days until Pitchers & Catchers report to Spring Training for Major League Baseball teams. That’s a sure sign, Spring is on the way and this cold blast (-10 here) will blow back to Canada and beautiful Spring days are not too far away. Spring Training leads to March Madness and WWYI favorite event of the year with the BIG EAST tournament scheduled for March 8-11th, the 41st year the tournament will be staged at The Garden. … The PLAYERS Championship is aligned with the BIG EAST and will be staged at TPC Sawgrass from March 7-12th. The signature 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass gets the vast majority of the attention, but the entire course is gorgeous and one of the most famous in the world. (More on that later in the column). … After a sometimes chilly March 30th Opening Day for Baseball their are a few other sure signs of Spring in the Northeast United States. The Masters will take place at beautiful August National from April 6-9 and it will be followed by the single best day of the year in Boston. Patriots’ Day, Monday April 17th, and the running of the Boston Marathon is only 71 days away. The great day is enhanced by the 11:00am LA Angels at Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park. Sheer perfection for a day when the entire city of Boston and the Commonwealth as a whole revolves around sports and celebrates the marathoners as they weave their way through eight local towns and cities: Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston. … Of recent years, the Boston Marathon was set back severely when the 2013 race was marred by a bombing incident. Two crazed radicals manufactured two homemade bombs and set them off within minutes of each other and some 200 yards from the finish line in Copley. Three spectators will killed immediately while some 260+ people were injured, 17 losing limbs. A few days later, while trying to escape a citywide manhunt with residents sheltered in place, the two brothers killed an MIT police officer and fled to the suburbs. The crime fighters of multiple agencies located the two bothers and one was killed in a shoot-out and subsequent fatal rundown as his younger brother fled the scene. Later, the younger brother was located, hiding in the backyard of a Watertown home, shot and critically injured in a winterized boat. His trial resulted in multiple charges meriting the death penalty. He is currently incarcerated in the Supermax ADX detention center in Florence, Colorado. A March, 2022 court ruling reinstated the death penalty verdict handed down but was being scrutinized by the Supreme Court of the United States.

Here’s a look at some select dates you can circle on your calendar (Partial List of Great Sports Events from Feb to June 1):

February 4 – March 18 – Six Nations Rugby
February 12 – Super Bowl (Phoenix, AZ)
February 19 – NBA All-Star Game (Salt Lake City, UT)
March 7-12 – The PLAYERS (TPC Sawgrass)
March 8-11 – BIG EAST Tournament (New York City)
March 12 – NCAA Selection Sunday (Indianapolis, IN)
March 8-21 – World Baseball Classic (Miami and other cities)
March 14-15 – NCAA Men’s Basketball First Four (Dayton, OH)
March 16-17 – NCAA Men’s Basketball First Round (Multiple cities)
March 18-19 – NCAA Men’s Basketball Second Round (Multiple)
March 23-24 – NCAA Sweet 16
March 25-16 – Elite 8
March 30 – Opening Day in MLB (Multiple cities, all 30 teams)
March 31-April 2 – NCAA Women’s Final Four (Dallas)
April 1 – Final Four (Houston, TX)
April 3 – NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game (Houston, TX)
April 6-9 – The Masters (Augusta, GA)
April 11-14 – NBA Play-In Tournament (Multiple Cities)
April 15 – NBA Playoffs Begin
April 17 – Patriots’ Day – Boston Marathon + Red Sox at 11am (Boston, MA)
April 17 – NHL Playoffs Begin
May 6 – Kentucky Derby – (Churchill Downs)
May 16 – NBA Draft Lottery –
May 18-21 – PGA Championship – (Oak Hill, Rochester, NY)
May 20 – The Preakness Stakes – (Baltimore, MD)
May 28 – Indy 500 – (Indianapolis, IN)
May 28 – French Open – (First Matches) – (Paris, France) – until 6/11

Clip and Save ⬆️

TIDBITS: Pick a job, any job. What would you rather do for gainful employment? If you are Secretary of Labor, a Cabinet position, reporting to the President of the United States of America OR become the head of the NHL Players Association? … Similarly, would you prefer to be the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or the President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association? … That is the question for former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and recently replaced Governor of Mass, Charlie Baker, who did not seek a third term after serving from 2015 to 2023. Both jobs are prestigious, yet thankless positions with much public scrutiny. The NHL Players association gig potentially pays the most while the NCAA President job has the most heavy-lifting to do, fighting off the influences of the “Power 5” NCAA football programs while juggling multiple issues, including Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) issues and the equal treatment of women within the collegiate framework. … The realities? WWYI can NOT see Baker living in Indianapolis nor Walsh living in Toronto or NYC. … Let’s see how this plays out.

MORE WORDS, PHRASES AND CLICHES TO AVOID: While We’re Young (Ideas) provided the STRONG recommendation to NOT use the word “Narrative” any longer in your written or verbal communications. While you read that piece of advice, you were also urged to stop “Unpacking” or having a “lot to unpack” from a situation. The advice came with a few other gems. … Today, a few more:

“Just like that”
Ball screen
“The crowd is electric”
“No Question”
True freshman
Bubble team
“The car’s running a little loose”
‘Turnovers (or protecting the ball) will be the key”

Let’s play cliche BINGO at Super Bowl parties everywhere?

A PEBBLE FOR YOUR THOUGHTS: The PGA Tour made its way to the fabulous Monterrey Peninsula and 17 Mile Drive at Pebble Beach. Thursday was a gorgeous day until the winds kicked-in late in the first round. The scenic course layout prompted the question: Name the most beautiful golf courses in the USA? Here’s WWYI’s take on that open-ended question:

Augusta National (Augusta, GA)
Pebble Beach Golf Links (Pebble Beach, CA)
Cypress Point (Monterrey, CA)
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
Oakmont CC (Chicago, IL)
Seminole GC (Palm Beach, FLA)
Winged Foot (Westchester, NY)
Muirfield Village (Ohio)
The Country Club (Brookline)
Riviera Country Club (Pacific Palisades, CA)

Noteables: Torrey Pines (San Diego); The Plantation Course, (Kapalua, HI), Whistling Straits (Wisconsin); Bethpage Black, (Long Island, NY); Kiawah Island Golf Resort: The Ocean Course (South Carolina); Shadow Creek (Las Vegas, NV); Pinehurst No. 2 (North Carolina); Baltusrol (Lower) (Springfield, NJ).

Across the Pond?

Old Course at St. Andrews
Muirfield, East Lothian, Scotland
Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland
Turnberry, Scotland
Royal St. George’s, Sandwich, England
Royal Birkdale, Southport, England
Carnoustie Golf Links is in Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland

St. John’s Defeats Georgetown

January 29, 2023 by Terry Lyons

NEW YORK – (Report from Official News Release) – St. John’s freshman guard AJ Storr buried the game-winning 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds remaining to lift the Red Storm men’s basketball team to a 75-73 victory over Georgetown on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

Trailing by as many as nine points with 8:22 remaining, St. John’s received a major boost from junior wing David Jones who scored eight-straight points in the final four minutes of action before Storr buried the dagger. Jones finished with a team-high 17 points, including 12 points in the final stanza, to go with seven boards and two assists in 27 minutes off the bench.

Storr finished with 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the floor. The Rockford, Ill., native also set career highs with seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Joel Soriano churned out his 18th double-double of the season for St. John’s (14-8, 4-7 BIG EAST), finishing with 12 points and 15 rebounds. The senior center from Yonkers scored half of his points at the free-throw line and grabbed 11 offensive boards. Dylan Addae-Wusu was the fourth Johnnie to record double-figures, as the junior from the Bronx registered 15 points and shot 4-for-6 from 3-point territory. Addae-Wusu also dished out four assists.

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St. John’s was without the services of junior guard Posh Alexander who missed his second-straight game with a sprained ankle. Red Storm sophomore guard Rafael Pinzon also did not see game action on Sunday due to a sprained ankle, as well.

The Johnnies jumped out to a 10-point lead less than seven minutes into the contest. Storr capped a 13-2 run with a layup at the 13:09 mark that gave St. John’s a 17-7 advantage.

After Georgetown chipped away at the deficit and pulled within three, the Red Storm rebuilt a double-digit lead with Kolby King giving the team a spark off the bench. The freshman guard scored five quick points before Andre Curbelo knocked down a jumper and Storr had a dunk in transition to push St. John’s out to a 35-25 advantage at 4:17.

From there, the Johnnies went cold for the rest of the half with Georgetown (6-16, 1-10 BIG EAST) unleashing a 14-0 run to close out the stanza. Brandon Murray capped the offensive surge with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Hoyas a 39-35 lead at the break.

Soriano scored 10 of his 12 points in the latter stanza, as the Johnnies’ big man got going out of the gate with a monster dunk. The Red Storm also took care of the basketball in the second half, committing just two turnovers after giving up the ball 10 times in the first 20 minutes.

Down 64-55 with 8:22 remaining, St. John’s dug deep to chip away at the Georgetown advantage over the next four minutes. The Red Storm went on a 9-0 run to knot the game at 64-64 on a Curbelo jumper at 4:34.

The lead traded sides four times in the final four minutes of action with neither team leading by more than three. With 46 seconds remaining, Jones buried a pair of free-throws that put St. John’s back on top, 72-70. However, Bryson Mozone answered with a corner three with 24 seconds to go that put Georgetown up one and set the stage for Storr’s heroics.

Coming out of a timeout with 18 seconds left, Curbelo drove baseline and kicked it out to Storr who nailed the decisive triple with four ticks on the clock. On the final play of the game, Mozone got a look from deep before the final buzzer that rimmed out, as St. John’s secured its fourth-straight victory over the Hoyas.

Duquesne transfer Primo Spears played all 40 minutes for Georgetown, leading all scorers with 25 points on a 10-for-19 showing from the floor, including four 3-pointers. Murray also scored 17 points while Hoyas’ big man Qudas Wahab rounded out those in double figures with 14 points.

The Johnnies outscored Georgetown, 38-28, in paint. St. John’s also capitalized on nine second-half turnovers, registering 13 points on miscues.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes – Jan 29th

January 29, 2023 by Terry Lyons

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – First things first. The AFC Championship is NOT in Foxboro and the Patriots reportedly are pointing fingers at coach Bill Belichick, his assistant coaches and each other on the reasons why. The tail end of that sentence clearly answers the front end declaration. It’s time for a shake-up at Gillette and the re-hiring of Bill O’Brien will not be enough.

O’Brien returned to New England after a two-year stint as Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama. O’Brien also had brief stints at Penn State as head coach in 2012-13 and a longer run with the head coach of the Houston Texans from 2014-20.

While the Patriots’ defense ranked No. 9 in Opponent Yards per Game and 11th in points allowed per game, it’s certainly the offensive side of the football that needs work. Looking at Special Teams, the Patriots ranked a league worst, according to ESPN’s DVOA (Defense adjusted-Value Over Average) and, the Patriots finished the 2022-23 NFL season at No. 16 in scoring and No. 26 in Yards per Game. Only Indianapolis, Chicago, Carolina, Tennessee, Houston and the LA Rams fared worse on gaining yards. In 3rd Down conversions, New England ranked No. 27 (of 32 NFL teams).

Belichick quickly addressed the issue, hiring O’Brien before the NFC/AFC Championship weekend. That will fill about 25% of the Patriots’ overall hole. The other 75% is on the players – the players on offense.

An interview with Captain Obvious floats the rumors the New York Jets will attempt to acquire longtime Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers just as they did in acquiring Green Bay’s Brett Favre in 2008. The Favre experiment lasted one season. Rodgers? Maybe two, but the trade would put New England at the bottom of the AFC East ladder predictions come September. (In 2022, New England (8-9) barely bested the J-E-T-S (7-10).

For New England, RB Rhamondre Stevenson, a 1,000+ yard rusher in 2022 will have high expectations as a 25-year old come 2023. RB Damien Harris spells Stevenson nicely, so the concentration for Belichick and O’Brien will be elsewhere.

Quarterback Mac Jones with his 84.9 QB rating over 14 games started in ‘22 will be in a make-it-or-break-it season. Bailey Zappe, who will turn 24 in April, is the No. 2 who will never be compared with Josh Allen of Buffalo or Patrick Mahomes of the KC Chiefs.

The NE receiving corps were abysmal. Jacobi Meyers (804 yards on 67 receptions); DeVante Parker (539 yards on 31 receptions); Kendrick Bourne (434 on 35) and tight end Henry Hunter (509 yards on 41 receptions) didn’t get the job done. Meyers had six TDs and the next three combined for six. The Patriots’ braintrust will need to beef up the WRs and TEs either through the free agency market or draft.

It won’t be until the WRs improve that any blame can be placed upon the shoulders of Mac Jones. Unless a minor miracle is performed at Patriot Place, Jones will be the started QB for 2023.

In the NFL Draft (April 27-29), the Patriots will seek help for the offensive line and for a deep-threat wide receiver. Of course Belichick never remains shy if there’s a top-notch corner available when the Patriots pick at No. 14.

That Patriots forecast leads us to Sunday’s NFC (SF 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles) and AFC (Cincinnati Bengals at KC Chiefs) Championship, arguably the best day of the year on the NFL schedule, unless you enjoy endless, two-week long pregame hype and endless $7-million dollar TV ads.

For those who enjoy a trip to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl or the first Thursday/Friday of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, next time, try the NFC/AFC doubleheader which comes along with lesser crowding, better games and some decent regular season hoops (College and NBA) games on Saturday.

From this armchair, the kiss of death for the Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals is that every talking head, every handicapper, former players, known sports gamblers – everybody – is picking a Philadelphia vs Cincinnati Super Bowl.

The lines as of Jan 28th – roughly 24 hours before kick-off:

Eagles (-2.5) over 49ers
Chiefs (-1.5) over Bengals

The pontificating pigskin public first saw the Eagles at (-1.5) while the Chiefs were getting (+1) on the opening.

The O/U for the Niners v Eagles opened at (45.5) and stands at (46.0).

The O/U for the Bengals at Chiefs opened at (46.5) and is up to (48).

Call me crazy, I like the Niners getting 2.5 and would not be afraid of the (+130) ML while I really like the KC Chiefs. Rumor has it a lot of “sharp” money came in on KC early.

KC will do or die by their secondary coverage of WRs Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd. I think KC can keep Chase under wraps, maybe a TD. Higgins can be the deciding factor as Cincy QB Joe Burrows will hit the open man. RB Joe Mixon on short screens could be a factor more so than via his straight run game.

The emergence of RB Isiah Pacheco for the Chiefs and the sure-fire, can’t stop it QB Patrick Mahomes to TE Travis Kelce will be enough to guide the Chiefs at Arrowhead. That said, a re-injury to Mahomes’ high ankle sprain would be disastrous for KC.

For SF, it’s all about Christian McCaffrey and the 49ers’ solid defense to match Philly. Any wavering by the Eagles in the first half will bring the pressure of the “Linc” down upon a playoff inexperienced roster. The Niners will need (at least) six points from their defense.

It’s kick-off time at 3:00pm (ET) (FOX) at Philly and roughly 6:30pm, call it 7:00pm if the game runs long, at Kansas City on CBS.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The NBA announced that they’ll pick sides for the annual NBA All-Star Game right before the game begins. Besides watching the Consumer Products guys flip-out providing proper jerseys and numbers and the Courtside stat inputter have a canary typing in the players/teams into the computers, it should make for a lot of fun.

The bad news, it should result in more “three point shots” being chucked-up as the coaches won’t even have a single practice to put in a few offensive sets to run. The talent of the NBA players will rise when the coaches put in some offense being run by nearly every team, but may God bless the point guards if they can organize any kind of half-court game.

The knee-jerk when the offenses aren’t in sync is for the ball to go up from three-point-land in the Mike D’Antoni style of “Seven Seconds of Less.” That concept calls for a shot to go up before the defense gets back. In other words, get the shot when the 24-second shot clock reads … 18-17. Last February, Steph Curry hit (16) three-pointers, shooting 16-of-27 from behind the arc. He had 50 points.

The number(s) to beat are (90) attempts by Team LeBron in 2019 when the game had a record (167) three-point field goal attempts. Sheesh.

TID-BITS: A copy of “How Basketball Can Save the World,” by David Hollander magically appeared in the mailbox of WWYI on Friday. Funny how that happens, isn’t it? Upon a quick flip today, the book looks like a job very well done. I can’t wait to find time to delve deep and read every syllable, then re-read it all again. First thought was that the book should be REQUIRED reading for every collegiate Sociology and Sports Business Management class in the world. More to come.

They call them “The Joker(s)” because American fans have trouble pronouncing Denver Nuggets’ MVP candidate Nikola Jokic or tennis great Novak Djokovic who will face “the Greek Tzatziki” in Stefanos Tsitsipas at 3:30am (ET) this morning. Set your alarm clock or your iPhone alarms.

QUARTERLY REPORT: As will be the custom – as often as a quarterly basis, the investment wing of WWYI Enterprises will reveal its most recent plays in the market. Some are successful while others are not. We tip our hat and tap our ice hockey sticks to our mentor in the investment world, Ralph Kramden. Old Ralph boy made significant investments in a few beauties. Here are just a few:

No Cal Pizza
A Parking Lot Next to the Movie Theatre (How would he know it was a Drive-In)?
The Handy Housewife Helper (MUST WATCH here)

Here’s our Quarterly Portfolio:

Sizable Investment in a new Theatrical Show: Chartreuse Man Group
10,000 Shares in: The Fire-and-Brimstone Tire Company
100,000 Shares in: The Lava Fence (*clinical trial failed in Hawaii)
Controlling interest in Oscar Madison Square Garden Network

ONE SMALL STEP FOR HOMA, ONE GIANT LEAP for the PGA TOUR: Did you see the clip of PGA Tour pro Max Homa walking toward his ball on the 13th hole at Torrey Pines? If not, watch this and I’ll pick it up “on the other side.”

Golf on CBS ⛳ @GolfonCBS

Mic’d up Max Homa ‼️🎤 “If I can hit this thing to 5 feet then I’m too good to be only 7 under.” 😂

First, let’s credit Max Homa for his participation and willingness to do an interview DURING his round of professional golf.

Secondly, credit the top notch interview skills of newly crowned golf commentator Trevor Immelman who made his CBS lead commentator debut this week. Add, equal praise for both Ian Baker-Finch and Frank Nobilo. With all three, the line of questioning was perfect for both a 1-handicap or a newcomer to the game of golf.

With the pressure applied to the PGA Tour by the LIV golf circuit, there will be more and more interaction with the PGA Tour players during their rounds, in addition to the usual before or after. It seems the players, as a group, realize the stakes have been raised and this is the time to forge cooperation with the Tour’s network partners.

Meanwhile, LIV Golf settled for a US television deal with the CW Network and moved their final event from Miami to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) to take place November 3-5 – a good two months after the PGA Tour crowns its FEDEx CUP champion at the TOUR Championship to be played at East Lake in Atlanta (before the NFL season kicks-off).

WE LOVE THE TEAM VALUATIONS, HERE’s to the EPL:

Again, tip of the cap to our friends at Sportico for the hard work that goes into making these valuations, here’s the list of the Top 5 English Premier League clubs:

Manchester United – $5.95 billion
Liverpool – $4.71 billion
Manchester City – $4.43 billion
Arsenal – $3.6 billion
Chelsea – $3.47 billion

The “average” Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise is worth $582 million. Not too shabby.

Parting Words

I DO NOT know where to start, so I’ll wing it on a topic far too important to take lightly. Better said, I’ll just try to do my best:

It wasn’t until about 2008 or so when I really learned there are some bad people in this everyday world, all with a single common denominator of evil overtaking them and their minds and actions. It’s prevalent in every single workplace, every field, every industry, in every single corner of the earth. Why? I do not know.

It took me 48 years to understand it and much was taught to me by my friend and former NBA colleague, Bob Delaney, who faced certain evils as a New Jersey State Trooper at the ripe age of 23, as he went undercover to try to bust up a major crime syndicate on the Jersey side of the Hudson. He wrote of it in his book, COVERT, recently re-printed as demand continued for a good true-crime book. Bob stressed they were just a bunch of “regular guys” who would bump off a delivery truck on the way to attend a First Holy Communion ceremony and then meet-up with each other for a Sunday family party.

Yes, I had heard about it. Yes, I had watched it unfold but as psuedo-comedy shows or motion pictures, such as “The Sopranos” or “Goodfellas.” I’d never heard it “live” like we saw on tape from a light pole in Memphis Friday night.

We – at the NBA – had a criminal rogue referee betray all we had done in our basketball lives, a wonderful force of like-minded people were all spreading the basketball gospel. Until THUD. A ref and his high school ‘friends” betting on the games. “GUILTY,” said the Judge.

“There are bad guys everywhere,” said Delaney to me as I was shaken to the core by someone who would undermine our game and all the work that was put-in over the years.

That basketball moment was important to me at the time, but this… this disgrace in Memphis … this total undermining of the entire law enforcement society built to protect us all … is disgusting and CRIMINAL.

Yes, I believe in the “innocent until proven guilty by a jury of your peers,” but damn, it’s on tape.

So, let the justice system do its job. The big Blue Shield has been exposed once again, evil overtaking the good of all the people of Memphis. The people who need their police to protect them, not kick them to death.

It burns me (and everyone on the right side of the law) up. It undermines and disappoints us to the highest degree possible.

What’s left? What can we do other than to pray for the people of Memphis, for the deceased (Mr. Tyre Nichols) and his family. Pray for peace and justice in Memphis at this precise time in our nation’s sorely blemished history.

Pray for healing. It’s not the answer but simply a remedy for the growing illness of evil.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Jan 22

January 22, 2023 by Terry Lyons

While We’re Young (Ideas) | Time Flies for Patriots and Sox

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Glance over your shoulder and 2018 doesn’t seem all that long ago. But five years in the NFL equates to a player’s career counted in dog years and Blake Bortles, Leonard Fournette and the Jacksonville Jags laying a 28-14 whoopin’ on the Pittsburgh Steelers is a long way back.

The Steelers battled back that January and Jaguars squeaked by to face the vaunted Patriots defeated Jacksonville, 24-20 to win the AFC Championship on January 21, 2018. The National Football League “Goliaths” somehow lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 41-33, that February but would bounce back a year later to win their second Super Bowl title in three years, their sixth title in the Tom Brady–Bill Belichick era.

Since then, the Jags built, re-built, sucked and re-built again with two of the best young players in the game today. Tanking a la carte.

How fragile it can be in the NFL.

Over at the old ballpark, the Boston Red Sox won four World Series titles from 2004 to 2018, that magical year at Fenway. Steve Pearce was the World Series and Mookie Betts was the MVP of the American League just five years ago.

A lifetime ago in Major League Baseball years, free agency and all. Old Dog years.

We have just 22 days until Pitchers & Catchers report to spring training and the scouting reports for the Sox project another possible last place finish in the AL East, a division loaded with talent, from the 99-win New York Yankees seemingly on the way up to the Wild Card holders Tampa Bay and Toronto to the immensely talented Baltimore Orioles, winners of 83 games last season.

The 2023 Sox?

One can predict ahead to the strength of a baseball team by looking straight up the middle. For Boston, because of the loss of SS Xander Bogaerts to free agency to the oft-injured Trevor Story, the men-in-the-middle will be challenged. Take a quick look at the depth chart:

Catcher: Reese McGuire
2B: Christian Arroyo
SS: Kiké Hernandez
CF: Rob Refsnyder
SP: Chris Sale; Corey Kluber, Nick Pivetta and – maybe – James Paxton

Suspect, at best. Cellar-dwellers, at worst.

So what do those stubborn and spoiled New Englanders do for their sports fix in 2023?

The Boston Bruins of the NHL are a league leading 36-5-4 with a whopping 76 points through 45 games (not including Saturday night). The Bruins are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and an astonishing 21-1-3 at TD Garden, never a fortress of Ws.

Bruins goalkeeper Linus Ullmark of Sweden is the favorite for the league’s Vezina Trophy for best goaltending with his 1.89 goals against average and his .937 save percentage, both figures topping NHL goaltenders.

Forward David Pastrnak leads Boston in scoring with 63 points, good enough to rank T-4th in the NHL. Pastrnak has 35 goals and seems to be warming up after a bit of a slow start to the 2022-23 season. Forwards Brad Marchand and team captain Patrice Bergeron returned for injuries, Bergeron was considering retirement as his longtime goalkeep Tuukka Raskhad decided to hang-up the skates in ‘22.

Forwards David Krejci (1,000 games into his career) and left wings Taylor Hall and Jake DeBrusk have picked up the scoring to round-out a very consistent offense – both home and on the road.

Some of this might be news to out-of-towners, but for Bostonians the buzz for a busy April-May-and possibly-June surround the Garden.

Across the Hall, the same goes for the Boston Celtics, league leaders in W-Ls, winners of nine-of-ten and nine in a row after gutting out a 121-118 OT win over the visiting Golden State Warriors on Thursday and a 106-104 win over Toronto on Saturday, January 21st, in a game that stayed locked at the final score for the final 1:13.

Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is in a four player race for league MVP, along with international stars Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic, an amazing stat considering only 25% of the NBA player rosters consist of international players. Joel Embiid of Philly by way of Cameroon, might be a distant fifth in the race.

The Celtics, after a 2022 NBA Finals loss to Golden State last summer, are primed, deep and ready for the next step. Only injuries might stand in their way and they are coming quite often. Of late, guard Marcus Smart, last season’s Defensive Player of the Year, and Robert Williams are both sidelined as of Saturday. Smart left the Cs game against the Raptors with an injured ankle while Williams Saturday hyperextended the same left knee he had surgery upon last March. Tatum has been playing through a sore left wrist and might skip some time as he did against the Raptors.

It’s a ways until the NBA All-Star Week in Salt Lake City and the NHL All-Star Game in sunny Sunrise, Florida. Until the mid-season classics are in the book and the dog-days of March play-out, the NBA and NHL playoff seedings are very much up for grabs. Only the health of the players can determine success come springtime.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Front Office Sports delved into the wonderful world of Pickleball after Major League Pickleball (we’re not joking) unveiled its A-list team of investors for its 24-team league. KC Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is in on the action as are tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Chris Evert, nevermind supermodel and adidas influencer Heidi Klum.

Other investors include Major League Baseball pitcher Justin Verlander and his wife, the model and actress Kate Upton, German soccer star Mesut Ӧzil, former National Basketball Association stars Jeremy Lin and Dirk Nowitzki, and former NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald

Major League Pickleball also unveiled its final two franchises to be added to the league, with the St. Louis Shock and Orlando Squeeze joining ahead of the 2023 tournament/season starting this month.

The addition of the two new teams completes the expansion to 24 teams that the league announced in December. The Shock’s ownership group will be headed by Richard Chaifetz and his son Ross, while Ryan DeVos will front he new ownersship group of the Squeeze.

The DeVos family, who own the NBA’s Orlando Magic and Major League Soccer’s Orlando City, invested in the newly formed Pro Volleyball Federation through an ownership group for a new franchise in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

TID-BITS: New York-based venture capital firm Courtside Ventures is now launching its third fund, focusing on early-stage companies involved in sports, digital media, fitness and gaming. Courtside announced a new raise of $100m – much from current NBA team ownership groups.

NBA POWER RATINGS: This listing should probably await the NBA All-Star break, but here’s an early look as the second half of the season fast approaches:

Boston Celtics
Denver Nuggets
Milwaukee Bucks
Memphis Grizzlies
Philadelphia 76ers
Brooklyn Nets (injuries a factor)
Sacramento Kings (winners of six straight)
New Orleans Pelicans
Cleveland Cavaliers
Dallas Mavericks

Perennial NBA playoff qualifiers, like the Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, LA Clippers and Lakers, Toronto Raptors and Utah Jazz, might be in trouble.

The upcoming NBA Trading Deadline (Thursday, February 9) could put some intrigue in the air around stalled franchises, like hot-start Portland (10-4 start, now sitting at 21-24).

NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL POWER: The men’s college basketball conference championships and “March Madness” are on the horizon. Teams in the BIG 10, ACC, BIG EAST, Big 12 & Pac 12, SEC, American Athletic (just Houston, really), and the West Coast Conference (figuring Gonzaga will be there in the long haul) are all battling it out within conference. Here’s a short list of the teams to watch through the end of February

Purdue
Houston
Kansas
Alabama
UCLA
Xavier
Texas
Gonzaga
Tennessee
Virginia
Arizona
Iowa State
Kansas State
UConn
TCU
Auburn

There’s still a VERY long way to go. Don’t turn your backs on Duke, North Carolina, Marquette, Miami, Clemson and Providence. It’s 49 days until Selection Sunday.

NHL POWER RATINGS: Lastly, a quick look at the NHL’s best:

Boston Bruins
Carolina Hurricanes
Toronto Maple Leafs
New Jersey Devils
Tampa Bay Lightning
Dallas Stars
Winnipeg Jets
Seattle Kraken
Vegas Golden Knights
New York Rangers

Look out for those Rangers, while the Kings, Oilers, Caps, Wild, Penguins, Calgary and Avalanche are all within the realm of Stanley Cup Playoffs contenders in 2023.

While We’re Young (Ideas) is a weekly Sunday Sports Notebook & Column, written by Terry Lyons. Each notebook harkens back to the days when you’d walk over to the city newsstand on Saturday night around 10pm to pick-up a copy of the Sunday papers. Inside, just waiting, was a sports-filled compilation of interesting notes, news, quotes and quips. TL’s Sunday Sports Notes – brought to you by Digital Sports Desk.

TL’s Sunday (Mostly) Sports Notes

January 15, 2023 by Terry Lyons

While We’re Young (Ideas) Examines “The Garden”

By TERRY LYONS

NEW YORK – Do you have a reuooooommme? (a.k.a. a room or, in German, zimmer).

I have a favorite reuoooooommme in New York City. It’s located atop Pennsylvania Station, 31st-to-33rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenue. It comes with a view and memories. More memories than the human mind can hold. It’s the World’s Greatest Arena and that’s no exaggeration. From when we all can remember as a little kids, the boxing publicity and great Public Address man, the late John Condon, reminded me of the fact. Condon was right every time.

Madison Square Garden is my favorite place in the world, edging out Fenway Park in Boston and the towns of Chatham and Osterville, and my home sweet home near Boston, Massachusetts. Fenway Park is a gift, one of only two neighborhood and old-time ballparks remaining with Wrigley Field in Chicago being the other.

Fenway is my happy place, whether the Red Sox are World Series Champions or cellar-dwellers. You can count on Fenway and you can count on baseball every spring and summer. Sometimes Fenway Park switches from baseball to college football or to its Summer Concert Series. If you can see the likes of Paul McCartney on a nice summer night at Fenway, just do it.

The high ratings for the two Cape Cod towns is self explanatory for anyone who has set foot on our sandy jewels, on the coast. The only place that can compete in the Northeast is Ditch Plains in Montauk.

But that brings us back to New York and the Garden. In fact, you can step on a Long Island Rail Road train in the town of Montauk and ride all the way (117 miles) to the engineering wonder of Penn Station and The Garden. Even on the coldest day of winter, if you run from your car to the train, you don’t even need a coat, as you can take a series of escalators and steps right to the ticket windows at MSG. State the same for hundreds of other routes – whether they be Metro North, Subways from the Bronx to the far reaches of Brooklyn or Queens – fans can get to The Garden.

Which brings me to this week’s notes column and Friday night’s Billy Joel Concert. The Garden just announced that this July’s concert by the Bronx-born, Hicksville, Long Island reared Joel is scheduled to be his 92nd monthly and 138th all-time performance at Madison Square Garden. He’s been playing his monthly residence at The Garden since January 2014 – nine years ago – and says he’ll keep playing “as long as the demand continues.” The shows sell out utilizing every inch, never mind seat in the building and come complete with “Garden-sized” ticket prices ($97.00-to-$1,090.60+) and $20.00 a beer pops to the wallet which ring-up more money in one night than Joel made in many of his years climbing to a 1999 Rock Hall of Fame inductee.

He’s won everything from Grammys to TONYs to Kennedy Center honors to American Music Awards, among many others.

So why all the fuss about Billy Joel in a Sports Notes column? Joel has played Citified, Yankees and Shea Stadiums, the latter the venue for a terrific show (and DVD), “The Last Play at Shea.” He’s played Fenway, Wrigley and Camden Yards. He’s even played the Notre Dame Stadium and the Melbourne Cricket Grounds in Australia. You name the ballpark, and he’s sold-it-out and some. Throughout 2023, he’ll play a series of outdoor shows with Fleetwood Mac’s siren and songstress, Stevie Nicks, including a summertime stop at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. His only European stop this summer will be at Hyde Park in London.

Joel’s Friday night show at MSG joins a long list of personal favorite moments at a personal favorite place.

But, taking it a step further, here’s a couple listings of my personal favorite moments at MSG, a list that might fluctuate, depending on my old but vivid memories “from when I wore a younger man’s clothes.”

***

TL’s List of Favorite Madison Square Garden Memories: Yes, I was there!

The 1971 National Invitational Tournament is a great way to start my two lists as it was the first time I stepped foot in the “new” Garden which opened in February 1968. St. John’s and 15 other highly ranked college basketball teams played first round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals, all at MSG. We attended most sessions, with my oldest brother, the late Timothy Lyons usually driving to Queens Plaza in Elmhurst and then taking the subway (now the “R” train) into the City. We saw a young Julius Erving and UMass, a strong Providence Friars with Coach (the late) Dave Gavitt and Ernie D (DiGregorio), and semi-finalists Duke and St. Bonaventure along with finalists Georgia Tech vs. North Carolina with Coach (the late) Dean Smith with LI Lutheran’s Bill Chamberlaingaining NIT MVP honors for Carolina. (March 1971)
A year later, St. John’s reached the semi-finals of the 1972 NIT once again but lost in a two-point heartbreaker to Niagara while Tom McMillen took MVP honors for NIT champion Maryland, 31-point winners over Niagara in the final. (March 1972)
The Concert for New York stands out as a tremendous night. The show-stoppers were The Who with Roger Daltry, Pete Townshend, bass John Entwistle, drummer Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr’s son) and pinch-hitting keyboardist Jon Carin performing the greatest rock n’ roll set of the night and maybe a performance that can stand up historically to Freddie Mercury and Queen at Live Aid or Prince practicing at his Paisley Park studios on a Tuesday afternoon, not to mention his work center stage at Royal Albert Hall, playing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” in a tribute to The Beatles’ George Harrison. At the 2001 Concert for New York, only a month or so after the attack on the Twin Towers, The Who were forced to play mid-way through the show because Entwistle had previously booked a solo show at B.B. King’s in Times Square. There was no foolin’ around as The Who player four of their best songs, rocking a sold out Garden and providing thousands of Fire Fighters, Cops and other first responders a chance to sing, dance, applaud and smile for the first time since the night of September 10th that year. They played:
- Who Are You?
- Baba O’Riley
- Behind Blue Eyes
- Won’t Get Fooled Again

John “The Ox” Entwistle passed away suddenly in June 2002.

The 1998 NBA All-Star Game at The Garden is mostly remembered for then 19-year old Kobe Bryant (RIP) challenging game MVP Michael Jordan, but it’s on this list for a different reason. At the break, the NBA pulled off one, if not THE greatest sports halftime show of all-time when they shutdown Broadway and had the cast of every theatrical hit musical on hand and in full costume to do an incredible medley of songs. An impossible sound engineering miracle, it will never be repeated and was a “shake your head in disbelief moment” as King Wally, Mike Walczewski introduced The Broadway All-Stars. (MUST visit HERE).
A total luck-out delivered my all-time favorite New York Rangersmemory when longtime NYR goalkeeper, Eddie Giacomin, was waived by the team. As fate would have it, Giacomin was picked-up off waivers by the Detroit Red Wings and they were scheduled to play the Rangers at The Garden on Sunday, November 2, 1975 – two days after the waiver claim. Long before that, we had acquired four tickets – in the Greens – to the Red Wings at Rangers game. Giacomin, wearing a red No. 31 instead of his usual home white No. 1 for the Rangers, started in goal and the Rangers’ fans let it be known who they were rooting for that night. Giacomin led the Red Wings to a 6-4 win over the NYR while the MSG crowd rooted for Detroit all night long, even booing the Rangers who scored. As an Islanders fan, it just made my day.
St. John’s vs. Duke in a midseason double overtime thriller (January 24, 1999) became the best regular season game many of the players had ever competed in, and both coaches – Mike Krzyzewski of No. 2 Duke and the overmatched Mike Jarvis of the No. 8 Johnnies said the same. St. John’s swingman Bootsy Thornton was unstoppable, totaling 40 points but Duke, with Elton Brand (16-12 and 7) and company taking a 92-88 national televised victory back to Durham.
Syracuse defeated UConn (127-117) in a Six Overtime BIG EAST tournament nightcap which took 3 hours and 46 minutes to complete. The quarter-final victory vaulted Syracuse to a win vs. West Virginia on Friday night and to the Big East final when they lost to Louisville. The Orange did make the Sweet 16 of the NCAA’s before losing to Oklahoma. (March 12-13, 2009)
St. John’s won the 1983 BIG EAST Conference championship and Madison Square Garden became the home of the BIG EAST forever. The first year, 1980, the BIG East staged its conference tournament in Providence, much to the ease of Commissioner Dave Gavitt’s home office. Syracuse took the honors. The following two years, the season ending tourney was held at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse and the Hartford Civic Center, respectively. When Chris Mullin and the Johnnies won at The Garden, everyone in the conference knew something special was on hand. The BIG EAST tournament has been at MSG ever since and the long list of incredible games and memories is far too long for this column. It is – no doubt – my favorite event of the year.
More Concerts than I can even Remember: Yes, I feel both spoiled and fortunate at the same time, but concerts – like the 12-12-12 event for Sandy Hurricane relief, multiple shows featuring Eric Clapton, including a once in a lifetime CREAM show with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce, both since passed away, tons of Bruce Springsteen, U2, multiple shows by the greatest band, The Rolling Stones (RIP Charlie), The Grateful Dead (once with Bruce Hornsby on the keyboards), R.E.M., Dave Matthews, Phil Collins, and, of course, The Allman Brothers.
The show that stands out the most? It’s U2 with a series of shows from October 24-27, 2001, 43 days after the terrorist attacks that took down the World Trade Center, Pentagon and killed good, innocent passengers and crew of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Ohio. When Bono grabbed his guitar, draped his microphone stand so delicately with the USA Flag, we knew it was coming. The simplest gesture of scrolling the name of every person killed by the terrorists on a black screen to the tunes of ONE which led into WALK ON brought us all to tears. U2 repeated the tribute at the 2002 NFL Super Bowl. It was powerful on the global stage, but seemingly intimate at The Garden. The greatest place in the world.

TL’s List of Favorite Madison Square Garden Memories: Seen on TV:

New York Knicks team captain Willis Reed limped out to the court to join his teammates in warm-ups, then start Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Championship. Reed hit his first two jumpers against Wilt Chamberlainand the Los Angeles Lakers sending The Garden into a frenzy never seen before or afterwards. Reed led the Knicks to a one-sided 113-99 victory, not scoring again in the game but lifting guard Walt Frazier’s confidence enough for Frazier to score 36 points with 19 assists and seven rebounds. (May 8, 1970)

@NBAHistory

“I think we see Willis coming out!” On May 8, 1970, Willis Reed fought through injury to start Game 7 in the @nyknicks‘ NBA Finals-clinching win over the Lakers at MSG. #NBAVault

After losing the first game of the 1973 NBA Championship Series to the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks took four straight games, including two at The Garden. The defensive-minded Knicks with six Hall of Fame players on the roster and Red Holzman as coach, won 87-83 and 103-98 to win the title, the first for Jerry Lucas and Earl “The Pearl” Monroe. (May 6 & 8, 1973)
The Knicks scored the final 19 points of the game with a 19-0 run to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks, 87-86. Earl Monroe led New York with 22 points as the Knicks outscored defending champion Bucks with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 29-to-12 in the final quarter. Afterward, NYK forward Bill Bradley said it was the first and only time in his life he could see “sound” as The Garden crowd rocked and prompted the victory. (November 18, 1972)
Smokin’ Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali in “The Fight of the Century” at a jam packed, sold out Garden. (March 8, 1971)
New York Islanders forward J.P. Parise scored a goal (4-3) against the favored Rangers 11 seconds into overtime to eliminate the Rangers and advance the Isles in their best of three 1975 NHL Stanley Cup Playoff series. (April 11, 1975)
The many tremendous Knicks vs (then) Baltimore Bullets playoff series games, as a whole, stand out amongst my greatest memories of the NBA, and the Garden. Home court advantage mattered.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Geez? With the list above, do we even need “Notes” this weekend?

NFL POWER RANKINGS for the PLAYOFFS: Here’s my final list of the season and with it, are predictions for the 2023 Super Bowl participants:

Kansas City Chiefs
San Francisco 49ers
Buffalo Bills
Cincinnati Bengals
Dallas Cowboys
Philadelphia Eagles
LA Chargers

That’s where we’ll draw the line.

PITCHERS & CATCHERS: We can begin the 30-day countdown. A notebook in the next 2-3 weeks will be dedicated to Major League Baseball, the Boston Red Sox, Free Agency thoughts and – maybe, just maybe a VERY early set of predictions.

Parting Words & Music

With the sudden passing of the great guitar legend, Jeff Beck (1944-2023), readers of this column will not be surprised that this week’s Parting Words & Music section of the weekly notes is dedicated to him. Beck died from a fatal case of bacterial meningitis, a dangerous disease which attacked the membranes of his brain and spinal cord. He was 78 years old.

Beck’s guitar influence is far reaching. He was made famous by joining the Yardbirds to replace the current greatest living guitarist and whole package, Eric Clapton and later when he teamed up with Rod Stewart in the Jeff Beck Band.

There were dozens upon dozens of essential Jeff Beck songs to choose from, each with guitar perfection. As you might expect, there’s a connection between the notebook leading this column and the song selected for this segment. “I couldn’t let the night go by without doing something by Jeff, said Joel as he played this gospel induced epic by Curtis Mayfield on Friday night, January 13, 202 at Madison Square Garden, my Roooooommme.

A “reeeuuucooooommme” with a Dog:

Guten Tag

TL’s Sports Notebook | Jan. 8th

January 8, 2023 by Terry Lyons

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Staying in the moment. It’s the sports equivalent of being cool. Staying cool and calm. The term is usually uttered by coaches who preach to their players to worry about the next play and not to look back at a missed opportunity, a missed shot, a missed field goal from the third quarter. When the game is on the line, stay in the moment.

The Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals are the two up & coming, rock solid AFC teams, challenging the proud and proven Kansas City Chiefs. Last Monday night, with the Bengals leading the Bills, 7-3, with about six minutes remaining in the first quarter of an incredibly important NFL game, the world stopped for Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin.

A few of the players on the field panicked and screamed for help. The ESPN Monday Night Football crew froze and did their best to keep an commentary to a minimum and, unfortunately – FILL TIME. To their credit, there was zero speculation.

Truly staying in the moment were the combination of:

The Buffalo Bills’ athletic training team
The Cincinnati Bengals’ athletic trainers
The visiting team Emergency Response Unit

As the unimaginable horror played out from television cameras right into our TV or living rooms, the medial team(s) stayed in the moment and responded in a matter of seconds. Then, they did their jobs. They worked as a cohesive unit, well trained and executing immediate, life-saving mechanisms to quickly revive Damar Hamlin.

At the time, it was unbeknownst to Hamlin’s teammates and opponents, to a Paycor Stadium crowd of 65,515+ and a MNF record national television audience of 23.8 million, but the medical teams were performing life-saving CPR and utilizing a cardioversion machine (defibrillator) to spark Hamlin’s heart back to rhythm after his cardiac arrest episode.

Although ESPN opted NOT to show a replay, other news outlets (CBS the next morning, CNN and others) showed the brute force of Bengals wide-receiver Tee Higgins (6-4, 219 lbs) out of Clemson barreling through the line. Hamlin made a move, then a football play to make a tackle of the wide-receiving version of NFL freight train Derrick Henry, a running back for the Tennessee Titans. It was a play performed 1,000 times a season but on Monday Night, the timing and positioning of the impact, combined with the milli-second timing of Hamlin’s heartbeat created the catastrophic series of events.

From the field, the transportation to the nearby University of Cincinnati Medical Center where trauma teams were notified and ready to respond. All in a matter of seconds – on the field – and minutes once the Bills-Bengals-and-EMS services stabilized Hamlin. All of that precious speed obviously saved his life. The medical team stayed in their moment, did their jobs and, much to their credit, not a word was uttered to fuel speculation to the national audience.

Hamlin’s immediate family was at the game, so they were getting confidential first-hand information. Media hustled to UC Medical Center but were asked to report from blocks away from the Emergency Room, thoughtfully as no one could predict another trauma situation in progress from another part of town.

The key elements from the night:

Everyone, from teammates and opponents to coaches to fans to the NFL kept the life of Damar Hamlin as their first and only priority. Even geeks in Fantasy sports leagues put the player first.
That fact resonated everywhere. Everyone did the right thing, especially the medical teams.
Cincinnati Bengals ticket holders filed out of the Stadium, many in small prayer vigils – all in full understanding of the severity and importance of the situation.
Bills fans filed out as well, in shock and worried. Bengals fans walked with them arm-in-arm, in silence.
Almost immediately, a charity Toys for Kids fund that Hamlin had started this winter saw donations flowing in so fast, they brought a $3,900 fund balance to $8,327,000 in a matter of four days. Most of the donations are not rounded to zero, but finish with a three – Hamlin’s uniform number. Some donations are $3,333.

While he remains in critical condition, and that is never to be overlooked, Hamlin’s medical team has been encouraged with day-by-day improvement and medical proof of positive neurology and all movement. The news also included a sign that every competitor in the world related to, right away.

Hamlin’s first question, once heart support and breathing tubes were removed and he could speak free of any medical machinery, was the question that proved why the University of Pittsburgh product from McKees Rocks, PA – a town of 5,920 in Western Pennsylvania – is a coach’s dream.

“Did we win?”

The Red Panda was at Boston College for the BC v Duke game

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: When the Red Panda unpacked her unicycle at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, the fans of Boston College basketball knew it was a big game. The Duke Blue Devils were in town and Conte was sold-out, although with the student body home on Christmas break rather than boarding at The Heights, many fans wore Duke blue rather than BC’s maroon and gold.

Saturday, Boston College (8-8, 2-3) had a legitimate chance to beat ACC rival and blue blood Duke (12-4, 3-2), ranked No. 16 in the nation in men’s college basketball. Duke’s Kyle Filipowski made the difference when he drained two free throws for a 65-64 advantage with 0:12 seconds remaining.

BC’s final play ran amok and Makai Ashton-Langford missed a jumper and a scramble and ridiculous and unnecessary Duke inbounds play allowed BC a final desperation heave by BC’s 7-footer Quintin Post which rattled off the backboard.

These are the games a team like Duke wins. Under new coach Jon Scheyer, the Blue Devils shot 89.5% from the free throw line as they shot 17-of-19, indicative of an afternoon of powering it inside to take advantage of mis-matches and height advantages. BC shot a respectable 85.7% from the line but shot only 6-of-7 because of perimeter jump shots rather than any success of working an inside game against their conference opponent.

The color commentator cliches of controlling the boards, limiting turnovers, winning the contest for 50-50 balls and hitting free throws proved correct. In fact, BC forced 15 Duke turnovers while the Eagles kept their TOs to nine.

Duke finds a way to win and winning an ACC game on the road is a major accomplishment. Don’t be surprised if the Blue Devils are in the ACC Tournament finals and play deep into March as they continue to improve throughout January and February.

ALL THE ROWDY FRIENDS ARE HERE FOR MONDAY NIGHT: When Georgia faces upstart TCU on Monday night for the college football national championship, Georgia coach Kirby Smart will be looking at the typical W-L barometers as the difference-makers. What will he he look for in his team in such an important game? “Well, the same thing it does in every football game — who can control the line of scrimmage, who can be explosive, who doesn’t turn the ball over.

“The game never changes. You just have more cameras here. You have more people viewing, bigger stage, a lot further away from home. But football’s football. And our guys prepare for that – really – all year. So we’ve got to go play a really, really good football team and we’ll have to play one of our best games of the year to be able to compete.”

It’s that simple and that difficult to win a national championship.

TO TANK OR NOT TO TANK: While most NFL fans will be scoreboard watching for home field advantages, higher playoff seeds or “win and in” scenarios in the NFL’s final week of play, the fans of the Houston Texans (2-13-1, .156) and the Chicago Bears (3-13-0, .188) will be watching for the position to hold the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. … While the NBA and the NHL have moved to Lottery events to include multiple clubs to determine the top pick in their respective drafts, the NFL lets it ride. May the worst team win, tank or no tank. … Chicago hosts NFC North rival Minnesota with the Vikings (-7). … Meanwhile Houston is on the road to a (4-11-1) Indianapolis Colts team, nearly as inept as the Bears/Texans crew. Houston is getting (+2.5) points but the chances of them winning and dropping the No. 1 pick is one in a million.

BIG EAST: Hopkins, Whitmore Honored

December 26, 2022 by Terry Lyons

NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Providence forward-guard Bryce Hopkins and Villanova forward Cam Whitmore have won weekly basketball honors. Hopkins was selected BIG EAST Player of the Week and Whitmore was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week.

BIG EAST Player of the Week

Bryce Hopkins, Providence, F-G, So. – Hopkins amassed 29 points, 23 rebounds and three steals in a 103-98 double OT win against 24^th-ranked Marquette in the Friars’ only game of the week. His “20-20” game was the first in a BIG EAST contest since Seton Hall’s Angel Delgado had 21 points and 20 rebounds on Jan. 22, 2017. Hopkins leads PC in scoring (16.7) and rebounding (9.7).

BIG EAST Freshman of the Week

Cam Whitmore, Villanova, F, Fr. – Whitmore contributed to Villanova’s 78-63 win against St. John’s by scoring eight points and grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds in only 20 minutes of playing time. It was the Wildcats’ only game of the week. Whitmore is averaging 12.4 points and a team-high 6.2 rebounds while playing only 21.8 minutes per game.

BIG EAST Honor Roll

Joey Calcaterra, Connecticut, G, Gr. – Came off the bench to spark a 15-2 run in the second half of a win over Georgetown (84-73). Scored 14 points in 17 minutes.

Trey Alexander, Creighton, G, So. – Scored a career-high 32 points in a win over DePaul (80-65) and averaged 20.0 points and 5.0 rebounds in a 2-0 week. Shot 56.5 percent from the field and was 9-of-15 from 3-point range.

Tyler Kolek, Marquette, G, Jr. – Scored a career-high 29 points on 11-15 shooting to go with five rebounds and five steals in a double OT loss at Providence (103-98).

Eric Dixon, Villanova, C, Sr. – Scored a team-high 18 points and pulled down six rebounds in a victory against St. John’s (78-63).

Zach Freemantle, Xavier, F, Sr. – Had a season-high 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting, nine rebounds and three assists in a win against Seton Hall (73-70).

Fire Sale: Are Sox Cleaning House?

December 26, 2022 by Terry Lyons

BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report; Originally Reported in New York Post) – Boston left-hander Chris Sale is not on the trade block, but the Red Sox are reportedly listening to inquiries about his availability.

The team’s willingness to field offers is based on the belief that its starting rotation has depth, the New York Post reported Saturday.

After the loss of shortstop Xander Bogaerts in free agency, and the expected move of Trevor Story to the position, the Red Sox have a big infield hole to fill and could use a pitcher as trade collateral.

The Red Sox have six potential starter candidates less than two months before the start of spring training: Sale, left-hander James Paxton, and right-handers Nick Pivetta, Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello.

Sale signed a five-year, $145 million contract with the Red Sox in March 2019 and is under contract through the 2024 season. It includes a full no-trade clause.

Still, the Red Sox haven’t gotten much return from their investment in Sale, who will turn 34 just before the start of the 2023 season, because of injuries.

The seven-time All-Star underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the 2020 season, not returning to MLB action until August 2021.

In 2022, Sale missed time due to a rib stress fracture, a finger fracture and a broken right wrist. The latter resulted from a bicycle accident and ended his season.

As a result, he has pitched just 48 1/3 innings over the past three seasons combined.

Sale is 114-75 lifetime with a 3.03 ERA in 323 games (243 starts) for the Chicago White Sox (2010-16) and Red Sox. His rate of 11.07 strikeouts per nine innings is the highest all-time.

–Reporting from Field Level Media

TL’s Christmas Notes: December 25th

December 25, 2022 by Terry Lyons

Longtime readers of my column will remember the reprint of this Christmas Day column by Shelby Strother of the Detroit News. It’s a keeper and really hits home as I remember trading the baseball mitts and pro footballs in for a typewriter and a Mylec Air Flow hockey stick. The column, along with dozens of others, is included in Saddlebags, a collection of Shelby’s favorites and his best from a career that spanned from Satellite Beach, Florida/Florida Today to the Denver Post to the Detroit News.

I’ve read this column at least a thousand times and enjoy it the same each and every time. Here’s hoping you do too.

After all, “Sometimes the gift is simply the freedom to imagine. There may be no greater one.”

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 youngsters 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

*This column is, by far, my favorite column of all-time.

Here’s to the late Shelby Strother, his great wife, Kim, and a Merry Christmas to all.

###

Editorial Note: For those of you who did not know Shelby Strother, I pass these little tidbits along:

He was a very good friend. I’ve lost a father and an older brother. I’ve agonized and felt helpless as we’ve since watched close relatives and friends of the family pass away, but Shelby was the first good friend in my life who went and got cancer and then died. Sadly, as the years pass, many others have fallen to cancer and now to this terrible COVID-19 disease. My good buddy, my goalkeeper, Bob Rose, passed away from Prostate cancer few years ago and our dear friend, Mike Shalin, just passed away from brain cancer a year or so ago. The bottom line – CANCER SUCKS.

Back to Shelby… I can remember when we attended the 1991 NBA All-Star Game in Charlotte, NC. That Sunday night, he said that he didn’t feel well and was going to bed early. That was Feb. 10, 1991. The next month was a bad dream, each minute of every day for a solid month. Shelby died in the suburbs of Detroit on March 3, 1991, leaving his wife, Kim and two great little guys, Tommy and Kenny (the latter joined Shelby in heaven a few years back but that is a terrible fact of life to be told another day). Shelby grew up in the great State of Florida and loved it. I met him when he was a writer for the Denver Post. He went on to be a sports columnist for the Detroit News, but when big news – not sporting – was breaking and the News needed a writer, they sent Shelby. When the Berlin Wall was coming down, off went Shelby. … I could go on.

ONE THING LEARNED: It’s pretty tough to follow a column by Shelby Strother, but I’ll try by passing along some recent sports biz news and sports-related notes.

NBA TEAM VALUATIONS: A year ago, the New York Knicks held the top position when Sportico posted its estimated valuations of NBA franchises. This year, the Golden State Warriors have to top designation, although the proposed sale of the Phoenix Suns to Mat Ishbia for a cool $4 billion might up the franchise ante by a cool billion for each club. Here’s the Top Ten NBA Valuations for this year.

Golden State Warriors – $7.56 billion
New York Knickerbockers – $6.58 billion
Los Angeles Lakers – $6.44 billion
Chicago Bulls – $4.09 billion
Boston Celtics – $3.92 billion
Brooklyn Nets – $3.86 billion
Los Angeles Clippers – $3.73 billion
Toronto Raptors – $3.34 billion
Houston Rockets – $3.30 billion
Dallas Mavericks – $3.26 billion

For reference, the Dallas Mavericks entered the NBA as an expansion team in 1980-81 and were valued at $12.5 million by the NBA.

ADDING 1 +1 = $7.0 BILLION: With the Phoenix Suns going for a cool $4 billion, the purchase price of sports franchises around the world continues to surge. Here’s a look at the current market:

Washington Commanders – Expected to fetch north of $7 billion says Dan Snyder
Chelsea FC – Sold for $5.3 billion, highest club price on record as of Dec. 25, 2022
Denver Broncos – Sold for $4.65 billion, highest NFL price tag ever.

WORDS FROM THE CAPT: Former Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks NBA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has some very basic and realistic holiday advice. The retired NBA All-Star turned ace columnists recently posted: “This is the time of year when we all take stock of our lives. We feel grateful for those we love and who love us, yet we also are planning how we might improve. Now, those plans for more exercise and a sensible diet may fade with the melting snow, but that’s less important than the fact that we want to be better, he wrote.

“The holiday season energizes my main resolution—which is the same every year—to be kinder. One act of kindness a day may not change the big, wide world, but it changes me, and it changes my world.”

2022 WORLD CUP in the BOOKS; WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO SOCCER? The crowning of Argentina as the 2022 World Cup champions and the professional staging of the matches by Qatar gave the sport of Futbol a huge boost as the year ends. The momentum should help England’s Premiership with a bump in interest. … The question remains, ‘what will happen in the United States of America and Major League soccer?’

For Soccer Ventures, a media and company attempting to connect brands, players, fans, families and platforms to the diverse American soccer community through experiential events, completed a third consecutive year of record growth, expansion and engagement as 2022 turns to 2023.

For Soccer is planning additional expansion of its properties and partnerships, while the Futbol crowd anticipates the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

“While the just completed FIFA Men’s World Cup certainly helped raise awareness and engagement for soccer, it was just the culmination of a year where we saw partnerships soar everywhere from grassroots, to community impact and media, to brand engagement,” said Heath Pearce, President of For Soccer Ventures.

FIFA WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS: Heading into 2023, the United States leads all women’s futbol teams in the World Rankings compiled by FIFA. Here’s the Top Five from the list:

United States – 2078.50
Germany – 2073.73
Sweden – 2057.90
England – 2052.90
France – 2025.85

The time zone will be a challenge for fans in the United States when the 2023 Women’s World Cup is staged in Australia and New Zealand but the enthusiasm from the 2022 World Cup will provide positive momentum for the women’s tournament which runs behind tennis, basketball, gymnastics, golf and figure skating in global popularity.

STICKING WITH THE RANKINGS: As long as we’re delving into World Rankings, bet you didn’t know that the United States men are no longer ranked Numero Uno in the sport of basketball. The most recent FIBA rankings are listed and the modus operandi is HERE

Spain – 758.6
USA – 757.5
Australia – 740.3
Argentina – 734.3
France – 715.0

BIG EAST CHRISTMAS: Sure there are plenty of NBA and NFL games on Christmas but the BIG EAST is making a bold statement to compete against the big boys. For the first time in league history, the BIG EAST will play a conference game on Christmas Day. Creighton, the preseason BIG EAST favorite, will host DePaul at the CHI Health Center at 4:30pm ET on FOX. The game will follow FOX’s coverage of the Green Bay Packers at Miami Dolphins game.

Creighton is coming off a 78-56 win against Butler on Thursday. Center Ryan Kalkbrenner returned after a three-game absence and scored a game-high 19 points. All five Bluejays are averaging in double figures led by Kalkbrenner’s 16.2 mark. The Bluejays own a 7-6 overall record and a 1-1 BIG EAST mark. … The Blue Demons are 6-6 overall and 0-1 in the BIG EAST. Forward Javan Johnson ranks fourth in the league with a 16.9 scoring mark. Newcomer guard Umoja Gibson ranks first in steals (2.3), second in free throw shooting (.904) and fourth in assists (5.3). … Both schools are known to have played once previously on Christmas Day. DePaul played in 2014, Creighton in 1953.

IDEAS FOR HOLIDAYS GIFTS: We have two great offerings for your last minute and INSTANT Holiday gift guide.

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NOTES, NOTES, AND MORE NOTES: A year-long subscription to TL’s Sunday Sports Notes – While We’re Young (Ideas) is a perfect way to have the sports fan in your life look forward to an old-fashioned, weekly, notebook full of sports insights. Sign-up for this special offer: HERE
PGA TOUR BRUNCH AS CHAMPIONS RETURN OF THE TOUR: Plans are on-going to re-launch the popular PGA Tour Brunch newsletter when the pros tee-it-up at the Sentry Tournament of Champions (January 4-8, 2023) at The Plantation Course at Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii.

SIGN-UP HERE FOR PGA TOUR BRUNCH.

TIDBITS AND SPORTS BIZ: A company that the late David Stern invested in long before his January 2020 death is a Massachusetts-based health and fitness company – WHOOP. Stern’s partner, John Kosner, continues with his portion of the investment, as the company is now valued at $3.6 billion. Here’s a FOS interview with WHOOP Founder and CEO Will Ahmed. … Boston College is adding a Deputy Director of Athletics to oversee Compliance, Name, Image and Likeness programming and education, HR, Facilities and Operations across many of the department’s sub-divisions. BC AD Blake James is readying for his second year at the school and has been hiring from within and promoting from within often. … The BC Eagles men’s ice hockey team has a pair of games in – get this – Tempe, Arizona – December 30-31 before returning to Boston for a January 7th game vs UMass at “Frozen Fenway.” … The NHL Winter Classic features the Pittsburgh Penguins at Boston Bruins at the Fens on January 2, 2023 at 6pm (ET). The long-term forecast for the day is cloudy and 57-degrees for the Bruins. … If the report is accurate, it’ll be about four or five degrees colder in Boston than Tempe. …

BABY. IT’S COLD OUTSIDE: There are NFL games being played all weekend as the league moved the bulk of its schedule to Saturday, Dec. 24th when 11 of the 14 NFL Week 16 games were played. At kickoff time, the NFL players were greeted with a little (turn) Blue Christmas with unusually cold temps and wind chill throughout the land. Here’s what was going down at kickoff time:

Home Team / Temp (F) at Kickoff / Feels Like/Wind Chill
at Baltimore / 16-degrees / 2-degrees
at Charlotte / 18-degrees / 8-degrees
at Chicago / 9-degrees / -10-degrees
at Cleveland / 5-degrees / -13-degrees
at Kansas City / 9-degrees / -5-degrees
at Foxboro (New England) / 15-degrees / 2-degrees
at Minneapolis / Dome / Dome but 5-degrees with low of -5

On Christmas Day, the NFL counter-programmed against the traditionally NBA-heavy Christmas sports TV schedule, with football games at 1:00pm (ET), 4:20pm (ET) and 8:20pm (ET) games. The NBA Christmas Day schedule:

12 Noon (ET) – 76ers at Knicks (ABC Sports)
2:30pm (ET) – LA Lakers at Mavericks (ABC Sports)
5:00pm (ET) – Bucks at Celtics (ABC Sports)
8:00pm (ET) – Grizzlies at Warriors (ABC Sports)
10:30pm (ET) – Suns at Nuggets (ABC Sports

It could be trouble for the NBA national network ratings game.

32: The Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL were planning for a special 50th Anniversary celebration of “The Immaculate Reception” while honoring Hall of Famer and four-time Super Bowl champion Franco Harris this weekend. Harris’ No. 32 is the first offensive side of the ball player to have his number retired by the “Steel Curtain” franchise. So sadly, Harris passed away suddenly this week and has shocked the entire Pittsburgh Steelers fandom and organization. Really, every fan of the NFL had to admire Harris. He was that kind of player.

“We are shocked and saddened to learn of the unexpected passing of Franco Harris,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement. “He meant so much to Steelers fans as the Hall of Fame running back who helped form the nucleus of the team’s dynasty of the ’70s, but he was much more. He was a gentle soul who touched so many in the Pittsburgh community and throughout the entire NFL. Franco changed the way people thought of the Steelers, of Pittsburgh, and of the NFL.

“He will forever live in the hearts of Steelers fans everywhere, his teammates, and the City of Pittsburgh. Our condolences go out to his wife, Dana, and their son, Dok.”

The only other numbers retired by the Pittsburgh Steelers organization:

No. 70 – DT Ernie Stautner
No. 75 – DT “Mean” Joe Greene

COLD REMINDER of HOW FRAGILE LIFE CAN BE: Combining with the news of the passing of Franco Harris came the sudden death of NFL producer Michael Antell, 33, who passed away this week in an automobile accident on his way home from work at NFL Films. Antell’s friends have organized a “Go Fund Me” page to assist his family. There’s some work to be done to reach the proper monetary goal. Mike and his wife, Becca, were expecting a son (Samuel) soon to be born and join his sister Caroline. Please consider a donation of any amount.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Dec. 18th

December 18, 2022 by Terry Lyons

While We’re Young (Ideas) – Guv’nah Baker’s Gotta Work!

Massachusetts State House in Boston (File Photo)

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. That is the short round-up coming from the Massachusetts State House this week just as Christmas Day draws near.

The Good: After an admirable eight-year stint as the Governor of the Commonwealth, Charlie Baker, a former Harvard basketball player, announced during the final days of his lame-duck stretch that he’d be moving on to a very challenging job.
The Bad: In 2018, a full year after the Supreme Court of the United States took-on the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act case pitting the State of New Jersey against the NCAA, with support from the major North American professional sports leagues, Governor Baker said he believed the Commonwealth should “look into” the prospects of legalizing sports gambling in Massachusetts. In January 2019, Baker announced that he planned to file legislation to permit Massachusetts residents to wager on professional sports, including online-only sports pool operators, stating “Expanding Massachusetts’ developing gaming industry to include wagering on professional sports is an opportunity for Massachusetts to invest in local aid while remaining competitive with many other states pursuing similar regulations.” … As that statement was made, the popular Fantasy Sports company, Draft Kings, set up shop in Boston and sprinkled large amounts of their shareholders’ money to sponsoring everything from thoroughbred races to luxury golf course hospitality venues at the PGA Tour event at the TPC Boston.By May 14, 2018, the SCOTUS ruled in favor of New Jersey. The high court ruling did not surprise a soul as both the NBA and NHL had completely pivoted on their prior public posture, more of less stating, “if we can’t beat ‘em, we might as well join them,” although an ill-stated “integrity fee” tax was proposed and batted down in public forum. Only a month after the SCOTUS ruling, then Governor Phil Murphy was placing 2018 World Cup wagers at Monmouth Park. Murphy, who succeeded Governor Chris Christie as both wrote legislation and fully supported New Jersey’s legally secure lawsuit against PASPA and the rights of all States to have legal gambling instead of some being left on the outside looking in.A month. It took all of a month for New Jersey to activate and that first to market approach led New Jersey to process $1.1 billion in sports gambling transactions in November 2022, up from $1.06 billion in October, 2022, according to New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement reports.
Meanwhile Massachusetts remained stalled after the State House and Senate each came up with dueling legislative rulings on how and when to institute the new Laws. It took marathon sessions in July 2022 to finally get a proper law passed and ready for Governor Bakers’ signature.

In the 2018-2022 span, 33 other States passed laws allowing sports gambling. Massachusetts was still bickering over the legality of placing wagers on in-State collegiate sports (mainly football and basketball) but split the difference by allowing legalized sports gambling on Massachusetts school teams only when they compete in Bowl games, playoffs and national tournaments. That ruling came much to the delight of “Joey the Bookmaker” and “George the off-shore and online bookie” thriving at collegiate dorms and off-campus housing located at every college and university in the Commonwealth.

What could be uglier? Governor Baker, this week, agreed to terms on an employment deal to head the National Collegiate Athletic Association, also known as the NCAA. Baker is scheduled to replace outgoing NCAA President Mark Emmert, who served from November 2010 until Baker takes over on March 1, 2023 – just as March Madness will begin.
Baker’s legislative, management and consensus-building skills will be tested from day one. He will be entering a shark-infested playground where football and basketball generate billions in revenue, but the NCAA must oversee each and every sport for the good of their beloved student-athletes. That is especially so for Baker to oversee equal rulings, funding facilities and eventually equal Name, Image and Likeness deals for NCAA athletes to generate revenue utilizing their own personal assets and interests, benefitting from on and off the playing field interests in their lives and personalties.
A recommendation for the Governor before he sets foot in the NCAA offices is to meet with BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman, the only person in the USA with proper, grounded and legal knowledge of what works in both pro and collegiate sports. After that? I’ll reserve another 10-12 suggestions and meet-ups for a reasonable but well-deserved consulting fee.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: NFL history was made in the past 24 hours as the Minnesota Vikings came back from a 33-point halftime deficit to defeat the Indianapolis Colts, 39-36, in overtime. The Vikings were kept scoreless until there were only 8:25 left in the third quarter of Saturday’s triple-header on the NFL Network. When Vikings PK Greg Joseph drilled a 40-yard FG in the overtime, it marked a 39-3 scoring run for the NFC North-leading Vikings.

RECORDS MADE TO BE BROKEN: Going into Saturday’s game, THESE great games were the prior greatest NFL comebacks, as chronicled by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Of course, back on January 3, 1993, Buffalo’s Frank Reich led the Buffalo Bills to a 32-point comeback win over the then-Houston Oilers. The comeback was highlighted by Reich’s four late TD passes, one to WR Don Beebe and three to WR Andre Reed. … New England football fans are fond of a 28-3 mantra taken from the Patriots’ 25-point comeback during Super Bowl LI in Houston back on February 5, 2017. Although the Patriots and Falcons were tied with 104 rushing hards, then-New England QB Tom Brady out-passed ATL’s Matt Ryan 442 yards to 240 yards as the Falcons attempted to stall and protect their 21-3 halftime lead. After letting up the first touchdown of the second half to give ATL their 28-3 lead, Brady and the Patriots went on to out-score the Falcons 19-0 in the fourth quarter to earn the win, 34-28.

GOOD NEWS WHEN THE CAPS GO UP: The Premier Hockey Federation announced a significant salary cap increase for next season, doubling the amount of compensation to players from $750,000 to $1.5 million per team in 2023-24. In the league’s ninth season, the rise in team player salary will be the third salary cap increase and represents a 900% growth since 2021 when the team salary cap was just $150,000 per team.

“This historic salary cap increase reflects the strength of our league and developing business model, and supports an enhanced player experience that over the last year when full healthcare benefits, facility upgrades, league expansion, and a record 84-game schedule, were introduced,” said Reagan Carey, PHF Commissioner.

ARMY vs. NAVY in FOXBORO: The countdown to kickoff for the 2023 Army vs. Navy Game, presented by USAA officially began the day after Army’s 20-17 defeat of Navy in overtime for the 2022 game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. In 2023, America’s Game is scheduled for the New England region for the first time in its 124-year history. There are several notable milestones for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States leading up to the game, including the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. … The lead-up and festivities will be plentiful but we’ll opt for a Boston “T-Party,” instead.

A BIG, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD BIG EAST THOUGHT: St. John’s (11-1, 1-0 BIG EAST) defeated Florida State, 93-79, in the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise, Florida. For the Johnnies’ who are experiencing their best start, noting the victory marked just the sixth time in the last four decades the Johnnies navigated their out-of-conference play with only one loss. … With the tough BIG EAST schedule ahead, it might be Sunday, January 29th before St. John’s can expect to earn their next victory. That’s when the Georgetown Hoyas visit St. John’s for one of only four regular season appearances at Madison Square Garden. … St. John’s was picked sixth in the BIG EAST preseason poll by the conference’s coaches.

ORR: Sincere condolences to the family of the late Louis Orr, a formidable competitor against St. John’s as a Syracuse player and then as head coach and an assistant with multiple NCAA teams. Orr was 64, and his cause of death was cancer, according to reports.

PARTING WORDS & MUSIC: In the spirit of Christmas and giving, this week’s Words & Music is inspired by Jeff Kazee who held his (hopefully, forever) annual Holiday Concert/Recital this week at the Rockwood Music Center on Allen Street in New York’s East Village.

Kazee will start us off with one of the great Christmas Songs of all-time. In fact, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007. The story of how it came to be is quite legendary, as Producer Lee Mendelson, a fan of jazz music, heard Vince Guaraldi’s work on the radio in San Francisco and asked him to create a song for the animated documentary to be produced for air on CBS on December 9, 1965. The song Christmas Time is Here went from being scribbled words and music on the back on an envelope to worldwide fame. Here it is in honor and memory of Charles Shultz

THE GIFTS OF THE BRUCES: Following Jeff’s lead of covering some of the greats while mixing in some of his original work, this week’s column is recognizing two songs written by superstars but gifted to other for their initial debut.

Without hesitation, I list this epic song as my all-time favorite as a Bruce Springsteen-penned for Patti Smith to make famous. What a gift it was!

This version includes a house band named U2, headed by Bono and joined by Springsteen himself.

Lastly, one of my faves – if not THE FAVE, Bruce Hornsby wrote a song that Don Henley made famous. “The End of the Innocence” is the lead single and title track from Don Henley’s third solo studio album, released in 1989. The song peaked at No. 8 and is performed often by both Henley and Hornsby in concert. They co-produced the sound track and the whole music-loving world can remember the gift. Here’s a 2019 version performed by Hornsby and YMusic in Brooklyn, New York. (I was fortunate enough to see Bruce perform this only a few nights earlier here in Boston. It just might be the greatest-ever performance of this incredible song. Keep in mind, Henley won the 1989 GRAMMY for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for his rendition. Hornsby took it up a notch in terms of musical arrangement to a degree of difficulty seldom reach by anyone on the face of the Earth.

THIS IS IT, A PERFECT LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY GIFT: Whether it be for your favorite sports fan or a die-hard fan of the PGA Tour: While We’re Young (Ideas) is a weekly Sunday Sports Notebook & Column, written by Terry Lyons. Each notebook harkens back to the days when you’d walk over to the city newsstand on Saturday night around 10pm to pick-up a copy of the Sunday papers. Inside, just waiting, was a sports-filled compilation of interesting notes, news, quotes and quips. TL’s Sunday Sports Notes are brought to you by Digital Sports Desk. Subscriptions to the weekly column and to our six-days-a-week PGA Tour Brunch are the perfect gift for your friends or family members who love pro golf. PGA Tour Brunch was published through the completion of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and will return the first week of January, 2023.

NOTE: Next week, we’ll be celebrating Christmas Eve but at 10pm that night, look for a special edition of While We’re Young (Ideas). After you get it, click the one-year subscription gift bonus offer. HERE

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