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Terry Lyons

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Jan 22

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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:

  1. Boston Celtics
  2. Denver Nuggets
  3. Milwaukee Bucks
  4. Memphis Grizzlies
  5. Philadelphia 76ers
  6. Brooklyn Nets (injuries a factor)
  7. Sacramento Kings (winners of six straight)
  8. New Orleans Pelicans
  9. Cleveland Cavaliers
  10. 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

  1. Purdue
  2. Houston
  3. Kansas
  4. Alabama
  5. UCLA
  6. Xavier
  7. Texas
  8. Gonzaga
  9. Tennessee
  10. Virginia
  11. Arizona
  12. Iowa State
  13. Kansas State
  14. UConn
  15. TCU
  16. 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:

  1. Boston Bruins
  2. Carolina Hurricanes
  3. Toronto Maple Leafs
  4. New Jersey Devils
  5. Tampa Bay Lightning
  6. Dallas Stars
  7. Winnipeg Jets
  8. Seattle Kraken
  9. Vegas Golden Knights
  10. 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

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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.”

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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)

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@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
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  • 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:

  1. Kansas City Chiefs
  2. San Francisco 49ers
  3. Buffalo Bills
  4. Cincinnati Bengals
  5. Dallas Cowboys
  6. Philadelphia Eagles
  7. 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.

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.

A “reeeuuucooooommme” with a Dog:

Guten Tag

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TL’s Sports Notebook | Jan. 8th

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While We’re Young (Ideas) on NFL, Damar Hamlin and Tons of Notes

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.

Damar Hamlin, Safety, Buffalo Bills

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

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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 24th-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?

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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

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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.

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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.

  1. Golden State Warriors – $7.56 billion
  2. New York Knickerbockers – $6.58 billion
  3. Los Angeles Lakers – $6.44 billion
  4. Chicago Bulls – $4.09 billion
  5. Boston Celtics – $3.92 billion
  6. Brooklyn Nets – $3.86 billion
  7. Los Angeles Clippers – $3.73 billion
  8. Toronto Raptors – $3.34 billion
  9. Houston Rockets – $3.30 billion
  10. 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:

  1. Washington Commanders – Expected to fetch north of $7 billion says Dan Snyder
  2. Chelsea FC – Sold for $5.3 billion, highest club price on record as of Dec. 25, 2022
  3. 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:

  1. United States – 2078.50
  2. Germany – 2073.73
  3. Sweden – 2057.90
  4. England – 2052.90
  5. 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

  1. Spain – 758.6
  2. USA – 757.5
  3. Australia – 740.3
  4. Argentina – 734.3
  5. 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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  1. 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
  2. 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

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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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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

While We’re Young (Ideas) – Nov 27

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TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook on Acronyms in Sports/TV

NEW YORK – Whether we like it or not, we’ve chosen to live in a world full of acronyms. As per usual, the sports industry leads the way. After all, the National Basketball Association is known worldwide as the NBA – except in The New York Times where it is the N.B.A.. The other major North American sports follow suit, as in the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Baseball (MLB), all known globally.

At one point in time – ‘circa 1975-1980 – the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball attempted to market the sport as Baseball, but it never caught on with the masses because of the fact every player and fan knew of the major accomplishment of making it to the “Majors,” to the “Show.” Simultaneously, the popularity and value of minor league clubs was reason for MLB to create MiLB, the governing body and marketing arm for many of the minor leagues.

While We’re Young (Ideas) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The next level of sports organizations might challenge every fan with their numerous acronyms, especially in the world of golf and tennis. We’ll spot you a few:

  • PGA – (Professional Golfers’ Association)
  • PGA of America – Represents golf club professionals and hosts tournaments and hosts/organizes the annual PGA Championship.
  • USGA – (United States Golf Association) – The federation for golf in the United States; Reps golf courses, the rules of game, tracks golf handicaps to rate players and hosts the U.S. Open on annual basis.
  • PGA Tour – The league for men’s professional golfers
  • LIV Golf – Rival league to PGA Tour (54 vs 72 hole tournaments)
  • LPGA – The league for women’s professional golfers
  • USTA – (United States Tennis Association)
  • ATP – (Association of Tennis Professionals, also know as the men’s tennis tour)
  • WTA – (Women’s tennis tour)
  • MLS – (Major League Soccer)
  • NASL – (North American Soccer League)
  • PBR – (Pro Bull Riders)
  • NLL – (National Lacrosse League)
  • PLL – (Premier Lacrosse League)
  • WNBA – (Women’s National Basketball Association)
  • NWSL – (National Women’s Soccer League)
  • PHF – (Premier Hockey Federation) – Was launched as NWHL, as in National Women’s Hockey League
  • NCAA – (National Collegiate Athletic Association)
  • IOC – (International Olympic Committee)
  • USOC – now known as USOPC (United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee)

Within the Olympic and Paralympic Committee, we could go to the oomph degree with USATF (United States Track & Field) all the way to USAB (United States of America Basketball), formerly known as ABA/USA and other offshoots like the AAU (Amateur Athletic Association) or NWBA (National Wheelchair Basketball Association), and the NHSF (National Federation of State High School Associations).

Editor’s Note: If you dare, click on the previous NHSF link for a look at acronym hell.

On a Personal Note: Within the world of sports acronyms, this columnist would go out of his way to always write USA Basketball instead of taking the shortcut to USAB, which was born of shortening the title for subject lines within internal e-mails, quite the same as the World Championship of Basketball quickly became WCOB when the NBA league office was responsible for the staging of the 1994 Worlds in Toronto.

We’ll draw the line before mentioning Rugby, Cricket, eSports or a dozen others.

Outside of Sporting, the other industry guilty of the acronym wars is the broadcasting world. Again, let’s delve into just a few of the major network types:

First, there were three: ABC (American Broadcasting Company), CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) and NBC (National Broadcasting Company). Soon to be added were PBS (Public Broadcasting System), FOX (named after 20th Century Fox) which followed the demise of the DuMont Network. In those days, if your television went beyond 13 channels of VHF (Very High Frequency), you were lucky to receive a few UHF (Ultra High Frequency) stations.

Boston Celtics TV ad, complete with (L to R) Dennis “DJ” Johnson, Danny Ainge, then Larry Bird, Robert “The Chief” Parish and Kevin McHale

Boston’s sports fans are familiar with the UHF channels as Boston Bruins games were broadcast on Channel 38 (WHMB/WXEL/WHIS/WSBK) and the Boston Celtics games were featured programming on Channel 56, Boston’s oldest UHF station which began as WTAO-TV and continues until today as a CW affiliate which eventually secured rights to both the Bruins and the Celtics. The history of that broadcasting network was a combination of CBS and Warner Brothers, along with UPN (United Paramount Network), not to be mistaken with UPI (United Press International) which competed with AP (Associated Press) which syndicated news to the whole mess listed above.

In Europe, you can watch CANAL+ or FR-1 in France, TVE or Cadena Cope in Spain, or maybe you’d prefer “tele basura” which translates to Trash TV.

To conclude, this week I watched GMA (Good Morning America) on ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation) while I checked to see if Sunday’s NFL (National Football League) schedule has games on CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) or FOX (20th Century Fox, now owned by Rupert Murdock and his media empire, while I logged-in to the NYT (The New York Times) to double-check which game is on SNFonNBC (Sunday Night Football) and MNF (Monday Night Football) before I watched the SEC (Southeast Conference) Championship game to see who will compete in the CFP (College Football Playoffs) on NYE (New Year’s eve) as long as I pay my FIOS (Verizon’s Fiber Optic Service) bill and that will depend on whether a scored a NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deal for a client or if my investments did well on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) or NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) which surely will be chronicled by the WSJ (Wall Street Journal).

Whew!

NOW WHAT? With Michigan’s drubbing of No. 2-ranked Ohio State, there are two clear-cut leaders for the CFP Playoffs and two toss-ups. Let the arguing begin.

  1. Georgia
  2. Michigan
  3. TCU
  4. USC

The outside looking in are:

  1. Alabama
  2. Ohio St.
  3. Penn St.
  4. LSU

After that, it really doesn’t matter as Clemson lost at home to South Carolina (31-30).

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Aside from a ton of speculation on Rafa Devers and Xander Bogaerts, there’s been no official news from the Boston Red Sox aside from a Wednesday (Nov. 23) trade for infielder/outfielder Hoy Park from the Pittsburgh Pirates, in exchange for minor league left-handed pitcher Inmer Lobo. … Park, 26, played in 68 Major League games for the New York Yankees (2021) and Pirates (‘21-22).

Miguel Gurwitz, left, with TV partner Carlos Hermosillo

MUNDO CLASS: Telemundo’s Miguel Gurwitz might be the busiest man on earth this weekend and he’s halfway done. Gurwitz, who is anchoring all Telemundo’s World Cup coverage while calling some matches behind the legendary Andres Cantor, will take on a marathon of broadcasting only rivaled by the late, great Jerry Lewis on his Labor Day Telethon. Beginning Thursday, the native of Mexico and current Miami resident, the regular play-by-play voice for NBC Telemundo’s Sunday Night Football Games, was on-air for the better part of 18 hours on Thanksgiving Day.

Beginning at 11am, Gurwitz anchored all of Telemundo’s World Cup soccer coverage, and then as day turned into night, he switched from futbol to football, calling the SNF on NBC/Telemundo primetime game between the New England Patriots at Minnesota Vikings game. Gurwitz called the NFL game off broadcast monitors LIVE from Qatar to complete 18 hours of work.

Gurwitz was back at it for Friday and Saturday WC 2022 coverage, splitting studio and game commentary before he shoots for another futbol to football marathon today when he works four games from Qatar and repeats his NBC/Telemundo marathon with his play-by-play call of Green Bay at Philadelphia at 8:20pm ET.

Will Monday be a day of rest?

Nope … Gurwitz will be working four more World Cup games.

WORLD CUP of BS – Right before the matches began, tone deaf FIFA president Gianni Infantino served-up a media session that was hard to believe. Not only did he overlook Qatar’s human rights record of staggering hypocrisy and racism, he went on for 57-minutes reversing the tides of accusation towards western media claiming they were hypocrites due to their own past and current behavior. In a bizarre rant he said: “Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arabic. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker. Of course, I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled. But I feel like it, because I know what it means to be discriminated [against], to be bullied, as a foreigner in a foreign country.

“As a child I was bullied – because I had red hair and freckles, plus I was Italian, so imagine.”

C’Mon Man. Need a drink? Or a cold Nastro Azzurro?

Since World Cup’s opening eve, just imagine the many hooligans who’ve been experiencing the “DTs” by the 45:00 mark of each match as the ban against public drinking of beer and alcohol was determined the week leading up to competition. From what TV cameras are showing, the packed venues feature capacity crowds, emotional fans and strong competition out-weigh the B.S.. Upsets have included Japan over Germany and Saudi Arabia over Argentina. The headline Thursday was that Cristiano Ronaldo is the first men’s WC player to score in five World Cups. … The major dust-up seems to be the rising tensions and protests between Iranian women and authorities and supporters and chants of “The Islamic Republic of Iran.” … Iranian authorities have responded in the homeland with deadly force to suppress protests which erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini in September following her arrest for wearing a headscarf incorrectly.

RULES CHANGES: Understanding the long history of the sport and the fact you only need a field, two goals and a ball to play – meaning you do NOT even need lights or electricity – this will make the futbol hardline traditionalists cringe with pain, but here’s a basketball expert’s thoughts to improve World Cup soccer. Admittedly, because of the “beauty of the game” and the control factor, these will NEVER happen:

  1. Institute a 4:00 minute shot clock
  2. “Back court” violation … Once ball crosses into offensive half of the field, the team on offense can not cross ball backwards to the backfield, but instead force traps at midline.
  3. Put Official as the game clock operator and that’s official for all the world to see
  4. While not a fan of Penalty Kicks to decide outcomes, personally, I can live with Round of 16 rules-on, so no change.

FINAL HARD FOUR: It’s a “hard four,” as in 7-to-1 odds paid off. Yes, the Final Four basketball tournament – the final weekend of March Madness – will be played in Las Vegas for the first time in 2028. Like a Spring Break with velvet tables, Vegas is the ultimate destination for wagering on the NCAA tournament has long been a staple of March Madness. Massive changes in sports gambling laws opened the door for the NCAA to award the men’s national semifinals and championship game to Allegiant Stadium to conclude the 2027-28 season. In other words, the NCAA is ‘all-in.’

The NCAA also announced Ford Field in Detroit would host the Final Four in 2027, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis would get the 2029 event and AT&T Stadium in Dallas will stage the 2030 event.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Nov. 13th

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Since the ‘70s, Free Agency in Major League Baseball has been a fact of life, yet the sting of major league clubs losing prized and maybe homegrown players hurts just as much in 2022-23 as it did in 1972 when St. Louis Cards outfielder Curt Flood vs (MLB Commissioner) Bowie Kuhn challenged the “reserve clause” in Baseball and arbitrator Peter Seitz ruled in favor of pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally who were officially granted free agency on March 16, 1976. The Supreme Court later ruled in favor of Kuhn and Baseball, but MLB’s next collective bargaining agreement introduced the Curt Flood rule, and, the rest, as they say, is HIS-TOR-EE.

CHICAGO – MAY 16: A general view of Wrigley Field as the Chicago Cubs take on the Houston Astros on May 16, 2009 in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs defeated the Astros 5-4. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Forty-eight years ago and slightly before the historic Messersmith/McNallyrulings, Seitz also ruled that Jim “Catfish” Hunter was free of his contract as he signed a then-whopping five-year, $3.25m contract with the New York Yankees, leaving his “Swingin’ A’s” behind in a new era of Baseball.

This winter, baseball stars like OF Aaron Judge (NYY), SP Jacob deGrom(NYM), SS Trea Turner (LAD), SS Carlos Correo (Minn), hometown Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts (BOS), SP Justin Verlander (HOU), INF Dansby Swanson (ATL), OF Brandon Nimmo (NYM), 1B Jose Abreau(CWS), and a host of others will test the free agent market. Others, by virtue of opting-out or no Qualifying Offers being rendered, are thrust into the free agent market. For the Red Sox, DH J.D, Martinez and SP Michael Wachaare two examples of the latter group.

Let the “Hot Stove” games begin.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: If the NFL wants to assure safer playing conditions for its players, the league and teams need immediate changes to the turf at some stadiums and make other safety modifications, NFL players association president JC Tretter said. … Tretter, in a post on the NFLPA’s website Saturday, called for the league to ban the thin playing surface, saying it has led to “statistically higher in-game injury rates,” compared to all other surfaces for non-contact injuries and injuries to the lower extremities, such as ankles and feet. … Seven teams currently play home games in stadiums with slit film turf, according to the NFLPA: New York Jets and Giants (with shared Met Life Stadium), Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals. … “Player leadership wrote a letter to the NFL this week demanding the immediate removal of these fields and a ban on them going forward, both in stadiums and for practice fields,” Tretter wrote. “The NFL has not only refused to mandate this change immediately, but they have also refused to commit to mandating a change away from slit film in the future at all.”

NFL POWER 10: The National Football League season is shaking-out and by Thanksgiving Weekend we should have a clear vision of the contenders and pretenders for the 2022-23 postseason.

The real pro-NFL pundits laud the “parity” of the NFL while those of us on planet earth recognize there are really only three good teams. Here is the WWYI POWER 10 with that in mind:

Philadelphia Eagles
Buffalo Bills – (*Josh Allen injury is hanging)
Kansas City Chiefs
Minnesota Vikings – (They’re not that great)
New York Jets
Seattle Seahawks
Cincinnati Bengals
Baltimore Ravens
New York Giants
All of the Mediocre Teams: Tampa Bay, New England, LA Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, and SF 49ers.

NOVA = NO GO: There’s an old Marketing 101 meets Globalization 101 story that said General Motors did not think through the naming of the popular “NOVA” sedan as Nova translated in some way to “Doesn’t Go” in Spanish, thus crushing sales in Spanish speaking Latin America.

Not true. It’s all a myth conjured up by some Marketing professor.

First, it’s a strange translation issue that really doesn’t work. Secondly, the car sold quite well in Latin America and outsold expectations of Chevrolet in countries like Mexico and Venezuela.

That brings us to ‘Nova, as in Villanova.

Villanova’s trip across the Schuylkill River to Temple Friday night resulted with a 68-64 defeat by the Owls and an early-season storming of the court by Temple fans. The Villanova Wildcats overcame a double-digit deficit in the first half and held a 64-62 lead with 58 seconds remaining in the game. The Owls made two free throws with 1.1 seconds left to earn a 66-64 advantage. Nova coach Kyle Neptune is now (1-1).

The warning was in place last weekend, as WWYI reminded fans of coach Jay Wright’s retirement and the No. 16 Villanova Wildcats being a giant question mark coming into the season. It’s far too early to draw any conclusions, but the BIG EAST will be wide open come 2023.

PIONEERS IN JOURNALISM AND CABLE TV SPORTS: Thursday morning brought the news of the passing of legendary reporter Jane Gross and of sports cable TV icon Fred Hickman.

Wrote Richard Sandomir in The New York Times, “Jane Gross, who in 1975 became the first female sportswriter known to have entered a professional basketball locker room, and who later distinguished herself at The New York Times with her compassionate reporting on aging and a well-received book about her mother’s decline in a nursing home, died on Wednesday in the Bronx. She was 75.

Her death, at the same Riverdale nursing home in which her mother had died, was caused by a traumatic brain injury after a series of falls, said Michael Gross, her brother and only immediate survivor,” wrote Sandomir.

Gross, first to rightly do her job doing interviews on deadline in the lockers, covered the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association for NEWSDAY, the Long Island newspaper once delivered door-to-door by this reporter. In 1975, Gross was covering a New York Knicks game and asked coach Red Holzman for access to the locker so she could compete evenly with the other reporters entering the room to gain access to the players and their viewpoints of the game.

Added Sandomir in his obituary on his colleague, “Jane Lee Gross was born on Sept. 10, 1947, in Manhattan. Her father, Milton Gross, was a syndicated sports columnist for The New York Post. Her mother, Estelle (Murov) Gross, was a nurse. From an early age, Jane was enamored of the sports world that her father covered, and she and her younger brother would sometimes accompany him on his assignments.”

Aside from her work in the Health section, Gross wrote for the Education sections of the Times.

Hickman made his mark as one of the first nationally known cable tv sports anchors. Together with the late Nick Charles (1946-2011) they anchored the 11pm (ET) “CNN Sports Tonight” which went head-to-head against ESPN’s SportsCenter from 1980-2001.

The duo were regarded as an informative and reliable source of sports news and highlights and they were equally applauded by fans and co-workers for their hard work and camaraderie.

For those of us fortunate enough to work with Hickman as he and his production team created Sports Tonight and later, This Week in the NBA, and later Inside the NBA, Hickman was a welcome presence in NBA arenas around the league when the shows went remote during the NBA All-Star weekend, Playoffs and Finals.

The cause of death for both Charles and Hickman was cancer.


SOME GOOD NEWS: To continue the fight against cancer, the Pan-Mass Challenge bike race, the nation’s single most successful athletic fundraiser, announced a record-breaking $69 million gift to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This gift brings the PMC’s total contribution to the fight against cancer to $900 million since 1980 and is the largest single donation Dana-Farber has ever received. Incredible. Congratulations to PMC superstar Billy Starr and his staff, all volunteers and PMC riders and to the great people at Dana-Farber, The JIMMY Fund, all medical and technical teams at all the great Boston-area hospitals, including Mass General.

 

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Nov 6

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While We’re Young (Ideas) | Looks at the NCAA Hoops Top 10

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – If there’s any sign from anyone or anything that Gonzaga will not be the 2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champion, stand up and be counted. Shout your reasonings from the highest mountain in the West Coast Conference.

The naysayers are coming: West Virginia coach and recent inductee to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Bob Huggins questioned Gonzaga’s chops, claiming in a backhanded way just how tough it is and what a toll the Big 12 schedule would take on the Zags.

“I would think it would be a tremendous awakening for Gonzaga [to join the Big 12],” Huggins told reporters this week, almost daring Zags coach Mark Few to take the bait as newly crowned Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark lures Gonzaga to join his conference in all sports. Yormark’s task is an attempt to make the Big 12 recognized amongst the top level of college basketball conferences in the land, a la the ACC, Big Ten, BIG EAST or the SEC.

Of course, it’s a long “bus ride” home from Morgantown, West Virginia to Spokane, Washington for the women’s tennis or rowing team or the Mountaineers’ men’s golf team from West Virginia to the State of Washington, but – so be it – in this business of college athletics where boundaries may be limitless in the interest of any revenue producing sport.

The University of Connecticut found out the hard way when their (previously local) schedules – against the likes of Providence, Seton Hall, St. John’s, or a train ride to DC to take on the Georgetown Hoyas – became lengthy flights to SMU (Dallas, Texas), Tulane (New Orleans, Louisiana) or Memphis (Tennessee) for its teams. Those long hauls kept the precious and guarded student athletes far away from campus on weekday school nights. Oh, the shame.

UConn, as originally reported by our Digital Sports Desk sister site, returned to their home in the BIG EAST, lauding the advantages of conference opponents close to home to allow those priority No. 1 student-athletes and their parents a reasonable ride to witness competition at its best.

Another naysayer for a Gonzaga ‘23 title is the bible. No, not The Bible but the College Basketball bible, as in Chris Dortch’s Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.

Blue Ribbon picked North Carolina as its No. 1 selection with Gonzaga rated No. 2. The Zags’ review/preview highlighted the loss of 7-footer Chet Holmgren but also noted the commitment to return to college and forego the pros by 6-10 Drew Timme and 6-7 Julian Strawther who started 31 of the Zags’ 32 games last season.

Dortch and the college basketball guru consensus rated blue bloods Kentucky (3) and Duke (5) with Houston in between to round out the Top 5.

Here is the Top 10 of Blue Ribbon’s Top 25:

  1. North Carolina
  2. Gonzaga
  3. Kentucky
  4. Houston
  5. Duke
  6. Arkansas
  7. Kansas
  8. UCLA
  9. Baylor
  10. Tennessee

TL’s NCAA Basketball Top 10:

Not too much of a difference from Blue Ribbon or the other polls, except at the top.

  1. Gonzaga
  2. North Carolina
  3. Kentucky
  4. Kansas
  5. Houston
  6. Arkansas
  7. UCLA
  8. Baylor
  9. Duke
  10. Tennessee

Duke’s lower rating reflects the loss of Coach Mike Krzyzewski, but is not a negative comment on the Blue Devils’ new head coach Jon Scheyer who is under tremendous pressure to produce in his first season. To his credit, Scheyer’s familiarity with the Duke system and its recruits are the reason for a Top 10 mention.

Creighton (11th) rates as the top BIG EAST team in preseason polls and Villanova (16) drops to the middle of the Top 25 pack, much due to the loss of head coach Jay Wright. Former Fordham coach and ‘Nova assistant, Kyle Neptune, takes over for Wright and faces similar pressure to that of Scheyer.

Next week, this reporter will take a stab at a preseason full bracket prediction.

CFP: On the College Football front, here are the Top 6 going into this weekend’s play, as rated by the College Football Playoff committee:

  1. Tennessee
  2. Ohio St.
  3. Georgia
  4. Clemson

On the outside, looking up were:

  1. Michigan
  2. Alabama

Note: The College Football Playoff will match the No. 1 ranked team vs. No. 4, and No. 2 vs. No. 3 in semifinal games that rotate annually among six bowl games – the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl and the Rose Bowl Game. This season’s Playoff Semifinals will take place Saturday, December 31, 2022 at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta. Los Angeles will host the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, January 9, 2023, at SoFi Stadium.

GEORGIA UP TOP: On a rainy night in Georgia, the Bulldogs dominated Tennessee and will gain the top rung of the CFP ladder when voting is conducted this week. While home field advantage certainly played a part in the Georgia win, the fact of the matter is that Georgia looks to be the best college football team in the country. The Bulldogs – with remaining games at Mississippi St. and Kentucky, then at home in Athens to close the regular season out vs. Georgia Tech. … It’s reasonably expected that Georgia will enter the SEC championship game as the No. 1 team in the country.

Earlier in the week, Boo Corrigan, the chairman of the selection committee, said there was quite a debate on all of the Top 25 rankings, but particularly for the top three slots, “The debate over the Top 25 rankings were extensive and very animated, particularly at the top,” he said. A case was made for Ohio State to be No. 1, for Georgia and for Tennessee, and there were good arguments for each one of the schools.

At the end of the debate, the committee voted Tennessee No. 1 because of their impressive road win at LSU and their victory over Alabama, and Alabama is a team that the committee respects highly. Ohio State has a powerful offense and a very solid defense, with an impressive win last week over Penn State. Georgia has been dominant this season, which has been plain to see, in particular the win over Oregon at the start of the season.

But Tennessee’s two wins against those two strong opponents really made a difference,” concluded Corrigan, the Director of Athletics at North Carolina State.

Those views will be altered as Georgia held court to defeat the Volunteers, 27-13.

No. 4 Clemson lost to Notre Dame Saturday night, 35-14, certainly removing Dabo Swinney’s Tigers from the Top 4 ranks. Michigan will get bumped up after a 52-17 shellacking of Rutgers.

Next week, we’ll be looking at:

  1. Georgia
  2. Ohio St.
  3. Michigan
  4. TCU

The outside looking up?

5. Tennessee

6. Clemson

BOWLING for DOLLARS: Duke became college bowl eligible when the Blue Devils came to Chestnut Hill and defeated Boston College, 38-31, on a balmy Friday night in New England. Duke is now (6-3 Overall/3-2 in ACC) and has three games remaining – Virginia Tech next week, then at Pittsburgh and a finale hosting a tough Wake Forest team on November 26th. … On Saturday, Kansas upset No. 16 Oklahoma St. and became bowl eligible for the first time since 2008. After winning their first five games of the season, Kansas had a three-game skid until Saturday’s win. The Jayhawks have three games remaining, all tough match-ups. The games to play: @Texas Tech, vs Texas and @Kansas State.