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TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Jan 21

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While We’re Young (Ideas) | On Midyear in the NBA

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Twenty and one. The Boston Celtics are no longer undefeated at home where 17 NBA Championship banners hang in the rafters of TD (Boston) Garden, high above a parquet floor that many of us remember from viewing on a Black and White television set when the Celtics were positioning nine of those 17 banners during the 1960s. Only the 1967 Philadelphia 76ers (once voted the NBA’s Greatest Team of All-Time) broke the streak for the full decade.

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At the halfway mark of the NBA season, the Celtics are atop the league-wide ladder, and they’ll face the Houston Rockets who will be coming off a game against the Utah Jazz – a back-to-back the Rockets could live without. Boston’s 32-10 (.762) record was blemished when the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets earned a had-fought victory on the parquet and under Boston’s revered 17 banners.

Denver (29-14) is two games behind Midwest Division leader, the Minnesota Timberwolves, surprise leaders in the NBA’s Western Conference. At the Half, the West is full of surprises as the Los Angeles Clippers lead the Pacific and New Orleans Pelicans lead the Southwest Division.

If the NBA Playoffs were to start this weekend, Sacramento, Utah, Phoenix and the Los Angeles Lakers would all be competing as “Play-In” teams, ranked No. 7-10 out West. All four of those clubs were preseason favorites. In the East, the standings have proven-out as many predicted with the Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers leading the pack. Only the Cleveland Cavaliers, winners of a league-leading six straight as they faced the (18-23) Atlanta Hawks, can be considered a surprise contender.

The midyear layout of the NBA standings call-out one question at this point of the season: Why?

In the EAST:

BOSTON: The deepest and most talented of the NBA’s 30 teams. The Celtics boast a starting five who could all be considered NBA All-Stars. Jayson Tatum (27, 8 and 4) leads the team, but is backed-up by Jaylen Brown (23, 5 and 4), newly acquired center Kristaps Porzingis (19, 7 and 2) while the backcourt of Derrick White (16, 4 and 5) and Jrue Holiday (13, 6 and 5) round out the talented starters. Depth and defense remain plentiful and the Celtics’ main concern to to start the month of May healthy, especially at the center (“bigs”) position with Porzingis and 37-year old Al Horford needing to guard rivals such as Philly’s Joel Embiid and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.

MILWAUKEE AND PHILADELPHIA: There are no big surprises with the fact both Milwaukee (Central) and Philly (Four games behind the Celtics in the Atlantic) will all strive for the top spot and home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference Playoffs. If Boston holds on to the No. 1 spot, it will force a very difficult and physical Eastern Conference Semifinal match-up between the Bucks and 76ers.

Out WEST:

The West is much more complicated and volatile. Only 3.5 games separate the Timberewolves from the Clippers (No. 1-4) and the fact the Nuggets and Finals MVP Nicola Jovic are ranked third, poses potential Playoff match-up nightmares for every round. Add to the turmoil, the NBA’s first “In-Season Tournament” champion LA Lakers hover in the dangerous No. 10 slot, only a half game ahead of the Rockets.

Minnesota, Oklahoma City, Sacramento New Orleans, Dallas and Phoenix are all formidable opponents and will all meet one or the other in the early rounds come April and May.

Good luck predicting the Western Conference bracket.

MVP: The logical recipients of the 2023-24 NBA Most Valuable Player are (possible repeat) Joel Embiid (who has only played in 30 of the club’s 40 games thus far); Giannis Antetokounmpo; and Nikola Jovic.

Coach of the Year: The media always seeks out the underdog, rather than the league leader, so that bodes well for Minnesota’s Chis Finch or Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault ahead of Denver’s Michael Malone, Boston’s Joe Mazzulla or Philly’s Nick Nurse.

Rookie of the Year: With all the very well deserved hype and praise for San Antonio’s amazing center Victor Wembanyama (team-leading 19, 10 and 3.1 blocks), the midyear favorite for RofY is Chet Holmgren of Oklahoma City. Holmgren who is averaging 17 points and a team-leading 7.2 rebounds per game while averaging 30 minutes in all 41 of OKC’s games. The Thunder are 28-13 and in serious contention in the West while Wembanyama’s Spurs are in the West basement with only seven wins and 34 losses. With two viable candidates, usually the one on the winningest team gets the vote. Holmgren is also considered an elite defender.

Most Improved: Houston’s Alperen Sengun, who has raised his scoring averages from a rookie year of 2021-22 (9.6 ppg), to 2022-23 (14.8) to this season at (21.5), seems to be the most deserving candidate. That noted, sometimes voters go for players drafted in the NBA Lottery positions instead of someone like Sengun who was picked 16th and only played 20 minutes a game as a rookie.

Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey is considered the favorite for Most Improved, and again, he’s playing for a real contender. Since being drafted in R-1, No. 21 in 2020, Maxey has steadily increased his PT and scoring averages (8.0, 17.5, 20.3 and this season, 26.2 ppg).

Defense Wins Championships: If you are one to focus on defense rather than any offensive statistics or current place in the standings, the Minnesota Timberwolves (with Defensive Player of the Year favorite C Rudy Gobert) are the league-leaders. Minnesota has the league-leading defensive rating of 108.6. Here are the Top 10:

  1. Minnesota 108.6
  2. Boston 110.6
  3. Cleveland 111.2
  4. Orlando 111.5
  5. Philadelphia 111.6
  6. Oklahoma City 112.0
  7. Houston 112.5
  8. New Orleans 112.6
  9. New York 112.8
  10. Miami 113.0

BOLD PREDICTION: It’s January 21 and the Super Bowl has yet to be played, never mind the NBA All-Star Game. In the second half of the NBA regular season, a team’s fortunes can turn upside down with one season-ending injury to a key player. That can happen to any team, any night.

Forsaking any major injury to any NBA All-Star or key rotation player, there’s absolutely nothing going on in the Association that makes me think the Denver Nuggets can not repeat as NBA champions. Miracle worker, center and 2023 NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic is the best player in the game and Michael Malone just might be the best head coach in the NBA. The deep, experienced Nuggets roster – starters and reserves – can play with the best of ‘em. The Nuggets have a tremendous home-court advantage, even when they don’t have the extra home game in a seven game series. Playing at altitude in the Mile High City is worth a game. On Friday night, the Nuggets proved they could win at TD Boston Garden, albeit a slim 102-100 victory with Jamal Murray scoring 35 points while Jokic had a 34, 12 and nine performance against the defensive-minded Celtics.

No matter which team comes out of the East, they’ll have played a very demanding Eastern Conference Finals.

Yes, a Minnesota, Oklahoma City, LA Clippers, Sacramento or New Orleans are capable of upsetting the defending champions, but it’s not likely. Take Denver as your 2024 NBA Champion.

STRAT-O-MATIC: The folks at Strat-0-Matic frequently use their software to predict the results of “real-life” sports. Before the 2023-24 NBA season played a game, Strat-O-Matic predicted the Boston Celtics would take home the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy as winners of the NBA Finals. The Celtics were tapped to finish with a 64-18 record, and they were named as winners over the Minnesota Timberwolves (nice pick, eh?).

The Strat-O-Matic technicians thought they’d give it another run at the NBA’s halfway mark, simulating the season thousands of times and guess what? The Celtics finished with the same record of 64-18 and advanced to the NBA Finals once again.

Let’s wait and see if the Strat-O-Matics have properly scouted Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.

Pete Rose (l) and Bud Harrelson squared off behind second base, leading to a bench-clearing brawl between the Reds and Mets in Game 3 of the 1973 NLCS. (file photo).

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: On January 11th, the Harrelson family, the New York Mets and Major League Baseball lost one of the great players and ambassadors of the game of baseball in Derrel McKinley “Bud” Harrelson.

Harrelson died at the age of 79 as a result of the complications of Alzheimer’s disease of which he was diagnosed in 2018. Harrelson played shortstop for the Mets from (1965 to 1977) and later managed the club for a portion of the 1990 season. He was the only person to be on the roster for both the 1969 Mets World Championship (as a player) and the 1986 Mets World Championship club (as a coach). Harrelson coached and managed in both the major league and minor league levels, and, in 2000, he settled in as part owner and manager of the Long Island Ducks independent league team. Harrelson made Long Island his home, living in Hauppauge and East Northport.

The outpouring of love and appreciation of Harrelson by nearly all New Yorkers was evident in the week after his death, especially by his Long Island Ducks franchise.

There’s a personal story to be told about Buddy Harrelson and it stems from the tussle he had with Cincinnati Reds all-star Pete Rose in Game 3 of the 1973 National League Championship Series (NLCS).

It was some nine or ten years after that October ‘73 day, and my story took place on an off-day of the NBA Playoffs in Philadelphia. My Hall-of-Fame level boss, Brian, and I finished up our NBA duties for the afternoon and decided to catch a couple innings at the Vet. We walked directly across the street from The Spectrum, and bought two upper level tickets – HIGH – behind the plate – section 503, if I remember. We grabbed a cold beer and a hot dog and settled in alongside a rather sparse crowd.

Minutes later – beers yet to kick in – Pete Rose (playing for the Phillies) – gets up to bat and I stood up and just start screaming at the guy. Keep in mind at that time, there wasn’t any inkling of gambling controversies and he is the all-time hits leader for MLB.

“YOU SUCK Rose. YOU SUCK!”

“You should retire. You’re washed UP.”

Brian looked at me as though I was Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair). His jaw dropped and he had no idea what the hell I was doing, except being quite likely to provoke a fight with the CRAZY Phillies fans.

Rose grounded out, and I lit into Rose all over again. “You see, a weak ground-out, YOU BUM!

“ROSE – YOU SUCK”

All the Phillies fans moved a row or two away from us until the inning ended, and a brave soul walked over and said something like, “You two seem like nice guys,” in that GREAT South Jersey/Philadelphia accent.

“Why did you yell at Pete Rose like that? He’s one of the best players ever.”

I just dead-panned, “Well, this is the first time I’ve seen him since the fight with Buddy Harrelson and I thought I’d give him a piece of my mind.”

Rest in Peace, Bud.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Jan 14, 2024

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January 14, 2024

By TERRY LYONS

FOXBOROUGH – Sunrise, sunset. Cold running water, direct from your home faucet. The unconditional love of a puppy. The U.S. Mail. The dial tone (remember those?).

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What are the things we count on but always take for granted?

For two dozen years, at 1:00pm or 4:00pm on an NFL Football Sunday (or Sunday Night, Monday Night or Thursday night), we could count on seeing Bill Belichick run out to a football field to coach the New England Patriots.

During the week, leading up to the game, we could count of Belichick to say nothing about his game plan. He’d complement the opposing team and say absolutely nothing else. He sometimes answered media questions with one word or even one syllable answers.

It’s something we could count on.

Patented answers to basic, softball questions: “Good, solid contributions from the players – all three phases of the game.”

On an excellent contribution by any one player: “Well, some good things and again, a lot of things we can improve on.”

We heard it week-after-week, year-after-year for 24 years. In the twenty-four years of postgame press conferences and Monday morning reviews, Belichick gave up nothing. Often expressionless, he dead-panned one short answer after another. Print, radio, TV all got the same – nothing.

Then, an appearance on an NFL at 100 special or a guest appearance for ESPN’s College Game Day before the Army vs. Navy game, and Belichick would turn into a quote machine. He’d tell stories, provide anecdotes, remember everything from his childhood to his first coaching job to yesterday afternoon – as long as it wasn’t about the New England Patriots.

He’d delve deeply into the history of the NFL, the great coaches, the Top 100 players of all-time. All tremendous, meaningful commentary. But, a question about the Patriots’ recent loss?

“It’s on to Cincinnati.”

After 333 wins, 31 postseason wins and six Super Bowl titles, he’s gone – “a mutual decision,” said team guidance counselor and franchise owner Robert Kraft. Yes, he’s gone – like the lyrics in a Hall and Oates song. He’s gone, surely to coach somewhere else and set the NFL’s all-time record for coaching wins. He’s gone, but he’s only 27 NFL wins away from passing the great Don Shula as the winningest coach the game has ever seen.

In a town where the Celtics’ Red Auerbach was the greatest coach of all-time, Boston might have to commission a statue of Belichick to sit right down on the bench with Red.

There are fond memories, of course. Belichick with Tom Brady. Belichick dressed up as a pirate to go roller skating at a Halloween Party at the request of Randy Moss. Belichick focused for the win even though the NFC’s Atlanta Falcons led Super Bowl LI, 28-3, midway through the third quarter.

But, just like the 6:00am train from South Station, Belichick was there, on time, ready to “Do His Job,” as he encouraged his every player to do the same.

Off the field, he’s delightful. A summertime gathering for the Bill Belichick Foundation would produce stories, smiles and hundreds of photos with the fans. At the press conference (with no Q&A), Belichick’s voice broke when he paid tribute to the fans. Somehow, he made it through speaking about the organization, the team owners, the coaches, the players and he even named his “right hand man,” Berj Najarian with a voice as solid as his successor, Jerod Mayo. But, the fans … it was the thought of the fans that made the toughest guy in pro football crack, for just a second.

It revealed one thing about a guy who would do anything for his players, his coaches, his staff. It revealed he doesn’t coach for the money or the fame. He’s got enough of both. It revealed he does what he does, he does his job and asks others to do their job all for the benefit of the fans of the New England Patriots.

The fans might count on him to be there for a 1:00pm game next Fall, but he’ll be on the other sideline and he’ll be coaching for the fans of another team.

It will be the New England Patriots’ biggest loss in franchise history. They let the greatest coach in all of sports walk out the door in the stupidest “mutual decision” in the history of American sports.

WINNINGEST COACHES IN NFL HISTORY

(Name, Regular Season Victories)

  1. Don Shula – 328
  2. George Hallas – 318
  3. Bill Belichick – 302
  4. Andy Reid – 258
  5. Tom Landry – 250
  6. Curly Lambeau – 226
  7. Marty Schottenheimer – 200
  8. Chuck Noll – 193
  9. Dan Reeves – 190
  10. Chuck Knox – 186
Here’s what “Seat Club” looked like for this week’s CFB Playoff Championship

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: You’ve heard of Sam’s Club, Lions Club, Lending Club, or Boys & Girls Clubs. Get ready for the “Seat Club.” Sports industry veteran and serial entrepreneur Cole Rubin recently launched “Seat Club,” a new marketplace designed to help consumers avoid all hidden fees and markups when purchasing tickets for live events at the lowest possible price on the secondary market. The marketplace, which sells tickets to its members at its cost without any markups or fees, officially launched this week and can be found at https://seatclub.com

“The biggest complaint consumers have in the event space, are fees and markups,” said Rubin. “Fees and markups make the ticket buying process frustrating and more expensive than necessary, so we built Seat Club as the pathway to solve these problems.

“We have spent a great deal of time talking to fans and event producers, and can now deliver this unique value proposition, where our members know they are getting the best pricing, and will save countless hours comparing ticket prices online. The price you see listed on our platform is the price you pay, with no fees added on later in the checkout process.

“There are no hidden markups, unlike other platforms who claim they don’t charge fees, but bake profits into the listed cost of tickets. Seat Club’s pricing may be as much as 35% less than competitors for the same exact tickets, which is significant, especially on high profile events. We believe in transparency, and our sole source of revenue comes from our membership fee,” added Rubin.

Seat Club’s $99/year membership includes:

  • Access to the same ticket inventory as the top secondary sites
  • No fees or markups, members buy tickets AT OUR COST
  • There is no cap of the number of tickets that can be purchased. Subscribers are entitled to unlimited ticket purchases annually.
  • Fan Protect Guarantee on tickets purchased (24/7 support staff)

(At this point in time, WWYI is not in position to vouch for Seat Club but we’ll check it out for the Celtics, Bruins, College Hoops, the NY Rangers/Islanders and NY Knicks and let you know in the near future).

TIDBITS: Every four years, we’re lucky enough to drop one of the greatest one-liners of all-time into the column. The scenario was a mid-January NBA on NBC game and the legendary play by play man, Marv Albert, opened the broadcast with Mike “The Czar of the Telestrator” Fratello. After the opening “scene setter,” Marv threw oit to NBA courtside reporter extraordinaire, Ahmad Rashad, with the following introduction: “Now it’s down to Ahmad Rashad, the man who thinks the Iowa Caucus is a CBA team.” … Of course, the line is dated as the CBA (Continental Basketball Association) was the predecessor of the NBA D-League which was the predecessor of the current NBA G-League. … Not to make light of such a potentially dangerous situation, but I think I saw the Houthis at CBGBs in 1980 … The New England Patriots wasted no time in naming Jerod Mayo as the club’s new head coach. What about the rest of the NFL as it stands on January 12? … Does former Seattle head coach Pete Carroll head for the opening at NCAA No. 2 Washington? Or, does he toss his name into one of the growing number of NFL head coaching jobs? … Wouldn’t the dream be for Bill Belichick, Carroll and recently retired Alabama Coach Nick Saban to all hook-up and share the helm as scouts, college draft prep, training camp, and then coaching together as one? … Wouldn’t Saban be the very best at drafting players from all the SEC schools?

That said, SportsBetting.ag provided a listing of predictions for the landing places for all the revolving NFL coaches. Here it is:

  • Chargers – Jim Harbaugh
  • Commanders – Ben Johnson
  • Falcons – Bill Belichick
  • Panthers – Kellen Moore
  • Raiders – Antonio Pierce
  • Seahawks – Dan Quinn
  • Titans – Bobby Slowik

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Jan 7th

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While We’re Young (Ideas) on the PGA Tour and Happy 2024

BOSTON – The holidays are a busy time of year, but post holidays might be busier for sports fans. Here at WWYI, you might expect this column to be topped by predictions on the upcoming NFL Playoffs (I like SF and Baltimore – chalk city). Or, maybe a look at the College Football Championship finale between Washington and Michigan (I like Michigan (chalk city II).

Maybe it’s time to dig in deeper to the College Basketball season since the silly season is completed and team are already three or four games into their Conference schedules. St. John’s is (3-1) in the BIG EAST after a nice 10-point upset win at Villanova Saturday – more on that later.

We also have the exciting start of the all new Women’s Professional Hockey League with our hometown Boston entry – known as PWHL Boston instead of some catchy name like the Boston Koalas. (Bruin, by the way, is the Dutch word for brown). The new team and league have opened to much fanfare and full-page coverage in the local paper, even though the club is playing out in Lowell, Massachusetts at the University’s Tsongas Arena – a wonderful venue and good choice for the fledgling PWHL.

But, instead of more coverage of the English Premier League (EPL) or stoking the coals on the Hot Stove season of “The” Major League Baseball, or even talk and typewriting on the NBA or the NHL, I give you the start of the PGA Tour season, a.k.a. the “Opening Drive.”

The professional golfers, those who haven’t cashed checks in LIV Golf, all teed-it up at The Plantation Course at Kapalua on the Island of Maui in Hawaii. The course is several miles north of Lahaina which was devastated by wild fires but the PGA Tour and its significant charity wing will be dedicating money, time and additional resources to assist in the rebuilding and comeback for the town of Lahaina and also Maui as a hole.

On the Tour, 21 of the top 25 players in the world are playing at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, a tournament that expanded its field and increased its purse to $20m to go with 700 FedEx Cup points and full elevated designation by the PGA Tour.

While the Nor’easter bears down on the east coast, viewers can stream ESPN+ for a look at the 81-degree sunshine of paradise by the golf cart lights. At press time, the Sentry Tournament of Champions leaderboard was packed with big name PGA Tour players with the final round on NBC and The Golf Channel this afternoon and evening. Yes, evening as in primetime golf as the time zones help the Tour office open up in the best of times.

It’ll be the same thing next weekend as The Opening Drive’s second event is the SONY Open from Honolulu.

There’s plenty of news on the Tour, so this weekend, I’d urge readers to click HERE for a look at sister-publication – PGA Tour Brunch – as you enjoy your breakfast brunch, lunch or dinner – maybe even a late night snack, depending on where you’ll be watching from for the start of the golf season.

The PGA Tour dignitaries and the powers that be of LIV Golf were not able to complete a deal by their self-imposed December 31 deadline, but they’ve expanded the window and a settlement is expected soon (by April). PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan is under intense pressure to make good on a deal but also work the PR lines as the Saudi Investment Fund (often referred to as the PIF, as in Public Investment Fund or Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund) who combined might sink a whopping $3 billion into the PGA Tour and the sport of golf.

“Our goal for 2024 is to reach agreements with SSG (Strategic Sports Group, consisting of individual investors in sports like the Fenway Sports Group and Boston Celtics team managing partner Wyc Grousbeck), PIF and the DP World Tour, bringing them on board as minority co-investors in PGA Tour Enterprises. These partnerships will allow us to unify, innovate and invest in the game for the benefit of players, fans and sponsors,” said Monahan in a memo to the PGA Tour membership, a memo Tour star Collin Morakawa later called “fluff.”

With all the intrigue and drama, the expected deal by the time the entire golfing world tees-off at The Masters, the morning line sees two competing golf leagues on tour in ‘24, one playing four days and 72 holes to determine a champ for each tournament and the other playing three days and 54 (LIV) holes to crown a champ who might clear as much as $3 or $4 million for a single tournament title. (Thus, the increased purse of the PGA Tour’s elevated events – the winner at the Sentry will bank $3.6 million).

When the dust settles, the average golf fan might be left with a bad taste in their mouth as the gentlemen’s game – like seemingly everything else – is screwed up and in flux. Only time will tell if professional golf will settle down and maybe join forces to bring the best players in the world back together each week.

PGA TOUR COM’s Top Tour Players: Rob Bolton of PGATour.com went 223 players deep on his PGA Tour membership rankings chart, more-or-less a Golf Fantasy Cheat Sheet. For the sake of space on your mobile phone, we’ll pass along the Top 20:

Embed from Getty Images
  1. Scottie Scheffler
  2. Rory McIlroy
  3. Viktor Hovland
  4. Collin Morakawa
  5. Justin Thomas
  6. Xander Schauffele
  7. Patrick Cantlay
  8. Max Homa
  9. Jordan Spieth
  10. Sam Burns
  11. Matt Fitzpatrick
  12. Ludvig Aberg
  13. Min Woo Lee
  14. Rickie Fowler
  15. Tom Kim
  16. Tony Finau
  17. Sahith Theegala
  18. SungJai Im
  19. Wyndham Clark
  20. Hideki Matsuyama

Chris Kirk Won at The Sentry AFTER a TL prediction:

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TL’s Two Cents for the Top PGA Tour Pros: Taking the Bolton Top 20 a little further, yours truly thinks the following golfers will break through in 2024:

  1. Tyrrell Hatton (Simply one of the best; could strike on a Major)
  2. Jason Day (Returns to form)
  3. J.T. Poston (That’s Boston, not Boston)
  4. Eric Cole (Rookie of Year takes the next step)
  5. Akshay Bhatia (Showed strong signs last year)
  6. Chris Kirk (Just get him to East Lake)
  7. Lucas Glover (Veteran returns to form)
  8. Harris English (Will battle back)
  9. Shane Lowry (Never count him out; Even at Augusta)
  10. Cameron Young, Cam Davis, Cam Anyone (They’re all good)

HERE NOW THE NOTES: Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was reinstated by the NBA following his suspension for striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić on Dec. 12, 2023. Joe Dumars, Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations, made the statement official and will be the man at the NBA keeping a close eye on Green, much the way his predecessor Rod Thorn had his watchful eyes on Dumars’ former teammates, Rick Mahorn and Bill Laimbeer back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s – when the Pistons were known as the “Bad Boys.”

During the period of his suspension, which began on Dec. 14 and resulted in him missing 12 games, Green completed steps that demonstrated his commitment to conforming his conduct to standards expected of NBA players. He has engaged in meetings with a counselor and has met jointly on multiple occasions with representatives of the NBA, the Warriors, and the National Basketball Players Association, both of which will continue throughout the season.

Green re-joins a team in disarray as indications are that coach Steve Kerr has “lost the locker,” or at least temporarily lost the respect of 2021 draft choice Jonathan Kuminga, who vented his frustration to reporters after he played only 18 minutes in a game, indicating he had “lost faith” in Kerr. A day later, Kuminga backed off his comments and in a media session Kerr tried to defuse the issue.

Kerr spoke with Kuminga and made it clear he wished any displeasure remained in-house. “You have an issue, I’m here. I’m the most accessible coach in the league probably. My door is always open,” said Kerr.

TID-BITS: The final weekend of the NFL brings a couple of games where it’s win or go home – in other words football at its best. Still others (like Pittsburgh at Baltimore) saw the Ravens sit MVP candidate and front runner in QB Lamar Jackson as a precaution since the Ravens had already locked up the No. 1 seed in the NFL’s AFC Conference. … Some teams are playing for their Playoff lives while others (see NY Jets and New England Patriots) have meaningless games, unless you think the Patriots should tank for a better draft choice. … Speaking of which, any player who tanks might see his club draft a player at his position, and that veteran player might be out of a job to a newcomer, so don’t think tanking is all that easy to do. … The Carolina Panthers clinched the slot as the worst team in the NFL, but the Chicago Bears have Carolina’s pick. … Of position players in the NFL in 2023, SF RB Christian McCaffrey outperformed all of his peers while Dallas WR Cee Dee Lamb paced the WRs. Miami wide-out Tyreek Hill wasn’t far behind Lamb, and Hill was nursing injuries late in the year. Amongst the higher scoring QBs, here are the Top 10:

  1. Josh Allen – Buffalo
  2. Jalen Hurts – Philadelphia
  3. Lamar Jackson – Baltimore
  4. Dak Prescott – Dallas
  5. Jordan Love – Green Bay
  6. Brock Purdy – SF
  7. Patrick Mahomes – KC
  8. Jared Goff – Detroit
  9. Tua Tagovailia – Miami
  10. Baker Mayfield – Tampa Bay
  11. C.J. Stroud – Houston

NCAA INKS a BIG DEAL: The NCAA signed a landmark eight-year media deal with ESPN for 40 championships domestically. Maybe that’s an indication that the sky is not falling within the ranks of the NCAA as bickering over NIL, college football playoffs (hear that, Florida State?) and dozens of other issues the NCAA is facing. (Relatively) new NCAA head honcho Charlie Baker, the former Guv’nah of Massachusetts, is settling issues one at a time.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Dec 31

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – There are “No Days Off” for WWYI and Digital Sports Desk. Last week, we had our January to June 2023 (Half) Year in Review. This week, we’ll feature July to December 2023, all reminders of what was covered by this Sunday Notes column during the so-so Year of 2023.

Let’s hope for better things to come in 2024.

First, a look at some NBA news generated by the one-and-only Steve Kerr. In case you missed it, take a look/listen on what he said last week after Golden State’s 120-114 Christmas Day loss to the Denver Nuggets, and I’ll comment on the other side.

First, the Golden State head coach has a decent point. It’s fair to state that the NBA – as a whole, and via the league’s Competition Committee and Officiating supervisors and staff – have always molded the NBA rules to return a slight edge to the offense. Yet, the defense always adjusts and catches up.

Look back to major reform, back when the late Commissioner David Stern and then-NBA Senior VP for Basketball Operations Rod Thorn called for a summit to discuss the fact teams had clamped down on the game to limit opponents to 84.3 to 88.9 points per game. Defenders locked down their opponents with stifling, firm hand-checks and made it damn near impossible to cut through the lane without being roughed-up. Thus, there was little movement on offense.

The first meeting resulted in a set of rule changes designed to even the playing court for the 1994-95 season. Hand-checking rules already on the books were more strictly enforced both on the perimeter and in the paint. The NBA also moved the three-point FG line in to a uniform 22 feet all around the arc. Previously, it was 22 feet in the corners but 23.9 around the top of the arc.

Although the three-point FG line was changed in order to help FIBA conform to one set of rules for all of basketball, the shortening of the distance allowed the superior NBA defenders to pack in around the lane but quickly get to the 22-foot line to defend three-point FG attempts. In other words, the move backfired on the NBA, and the rule was soon scrubbed and the line returned to 23.9.

For the entire decade, the NBA examined the game with input from some of the great basketball minds – a few that were actually the cause of the grind-it-down NBA. Pat Riley’s New York Knicks and Mike Fratello’s Cleveland Cavaliers limited possessions and played ultra-physical defense, but they joined in for the betterment of the game. Much of the trend was mirroring the success of Chuck Daly’s championship teams with the Detroit Pistons.

For every inch the league gave the offensive side of the ball, the defensive side always counted and quickly caught-up. Stern was a stickler for following the rules that were ALREADY in the NBA rule book and thus the officials were instructed (and new refs taught) to keep the offense free-flowing and enforce the very rules in the book.

Kerr was making a point of offensive players being smart and knowing how to draw contact and get to the free throw line. Back in the ‘90s, Utah’s Karl Malone was exceptional, and he led the league in free throw attempts eight seasons in a row. Interestingly, the Malones – Karl (9,787) and Moses (9,018) – are one-two in the all-time free throws made column.

Getting to the line to score is nothing new.

During the Christmas Day GS vs Denver game, reigning NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokić scored 26 points and went 18-for-18 from the line. Kerr was insinuating Jokić was a master chef in cooking up reasons the refs should call a shooting foul, and, as noted above, Kerr has a legitimate point. But, then again, Kerr’s best defensive player – Draymond Green – is serving an indefinite suspension for clocking Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkić in the face – earning a Flagrant 2 foul and ejection, then the suspension since it was a repeated violation and a potential harm to fellow players. (We’ve yet to hear why the NBA Players Association doesn’t reprimand Green for potentially injuring fellow union members).

That leaves us with the dilemma the NBA is facing in terms of Kerr’s criticism of the league – via its Competition and Rules Committee and the enforcement of the rules via the officials. Does Kerr’s view have serious enough merit to call for additional rule changes, or are we being cajoled by a head coach witnessing his best offensive players shooting (Steph Curry – 3-for-13) and (Klay Thompson – 3-for-10) an abysmal six-for-23 from three point range while the Warriors were outshot (26-for-32 to 20-for-23) at the stripe.

Play the game: Aging jump shooters vs. the league’s best at drawing fouls with the ability to “B.S” his way to the foul line” (Kerr’s words, not mine). Who is going to get the best result?

One important thing in Kerr’s defense is that he has a track record of integrity, honesty and very direct answers to media questions. He noted the Warriors didn’t play well enough – in “bringing the ‘A’ game vs. the NBA defending champs.”

Give the man credit.

Maybe it’s time for Kerr and current league Basketball Ops guru Joe Dumars to convene yet another summit to legislate some more physical play and defense back into the league?

We can call the new legislative agenda “The Jokić Rules.”

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: During the past two weeks, WWYI took time to stop and think of the amazing things in our lives that we are truly thankful for as Christmas brings joy to many, but pain and sorrow for some of our dear friends. Let us never forget those lost, this year, last year and the years before. A very special intention for my father, Timothy Francis Lyons (December 22) and his first son, my brother Timothy Francis Lyons III (December 16) and one other, for Mr Albert Nittoly, our loyal neighbor for so many years before he was taken by COVID-19.

As a lead off, this might surprise some as my favorite Christmas song is Luciano Pavarotti singing “O Holy Night,” … I love the original Spode Christmas Tree place settings. …Memories of three Matchbox cars under the Christmas Tree, a real evergreen complete with lighted village and running HO train set, the greatest machines ever build – Big Bruiser Tow Truck, the Flexible Flyer sled, my neighbor’s Easy Bake Oven, Hula Hoops, Whiffel Balls, the Hess Truck, a 45 rpm RCA Victrola, and tickets to the annual Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden in New York City when St. John’s, Manhattan (Billy Campion) and Fordham (Charlie Yelverton) were all tough outs.

You’ve gotta love meeting interesting people. … People that know that Springsteen’s “The Rising” just might be the saddest song you’ve ever heard but it’s also so inspirational that it ROCKS.

Puppy Fur and Puppy Barks … U2 doing “Walk On,” … Christmas tree lights glowing in a dark living room … Turntables … Artwork of Paris by Constantin Kluge (1912-2003) … Johnny Winter … a well-done cheeseburger … Dowses Beach on East Bay in Osterville … Ditch Plains Beach at Montauk … the Chatham Light established 1808 … Chuck Leavell’s piano on Jessica by the Allman Brothers Band. …. Hello Old Friend by Eric Clapton with backing vocals by Yvonne Elliman … Corner Bistro West Village … the Homewood Campus of Johns Hopkins University in the underrated City of Baltimore … the 1,000 acre Vassar College campus in the City of Poughkeepsie, another underrated joint with great restaurants stemming from the nearby Culinary Institute of America Center for Research and Innovation.

Freihofer’s Chocolate Chip Cookies … good news from a Facebook post … Tannoy Speakers … a full tank of gasoline … discovering a new great jukebox … cleaning up on Trivia Night … old Saturday Night Live skits, before it was known as SNL … Ditka and ‘Da Bears … Bears 96, Lions 3 … halftime score … Camelback Inn – Where Time Stands Still (Suite 159) … thick, green grass … seeing it’s Curly and not Shemp when a Three Stooges episode airs … Football weather. … Late afternoon winter sun in Southern California. … Refreshing thunderstorms … Seeing Louie Carnesecca at a St. John’s game. … Bass guitar … Original hot Dunkin Donuts coffee. … The smell of freshly cut grass or freshly painted walls. … Red Tulips. …a new Zildjian 20 inch S Series Medium Ride Cymbal. … the Pressbox at Fenway Park. … the Theme from The Last Waltz. … the patter of dog paws on a hard wood floor. … a good haircut. … St. Patrick’s Day. … Breyer’s Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. … Bruce Hornsby taking a hard turn in the middle of a hit song and it’s a tangent to heaven. … new Subway cars, we call it the T… Coast-to-Cost in First Class. … Late night Baseball on SIRIUS XM.

Frampton Comes Alive. … Earle Bailey on WLIR-FM 92.5. … Plenty of kindling and dry hardwood for the Fireplace. … F Troop re-runs. … The Turntable and listening to an album start to finish. … Christmas Tree smell until January 1st. … The late Christine McVie’s voice. … Replays of the ’69 Baltimore Orioles’ third-baseman, the Human Vacuum Cleaner, Brooks Robinson. … the sound of a golf ball hitting the bottom of the Cup. … See a red door and I want it painted black. … TOMMY’s back on Broadway. … A good clock, a good watch, a good time. … Joining a werewolf drinkin’ a piña colada at Trader Vic’s. His hair was perfect. … toast. … Top 1,000 Countdowns for Rock songs. … The guitar instrumental on ELO’s Fire on High. … Putt Putt golf. … Penny & Max. … Special ❤️ to CMM, VJL and AGL.

THE OLDEST RIVALRIES: College football is coming to a close for the 2023-’24 season. Here’s a quick look at the oldest rivalries in college footy:

  1. Princeton vs. Yale (1873)
  2. Harvard vs. Yale (1875)
  3. Harvard vs. Princeton (1877)
  4. Harvard vs. Penn (1881)
  5. Dartmouth vs. Harvard (1882)
  6. Lafayette vs. Lehigh (1884)
  7. Amherst vs. Williams (1884)
  8. Michigan vs. Notre Dame (1887)
  9. North Carolina vs. Wake Forest (1888)

OLDEST BOWL GAMES: It’s Bowl Game week(s) and we must salute the Taxslayer, the Pop-Tarts and other fine sponsors. An analysis of the Pop-Tart Bowl said there was $12.1 million in coverage generated for the sponsor. Okay.

  1. The ROSE BOWL – (Established 1902) but Played Year-after-Year (1916) – (Pasadena)
  2. ORANGE BOWL – (1935) – (Miami)
  3. SUGAR BOWL – (1935) – (New Orleans)
  4. SUN BOWL – (1935) – (El Paso)
  5. COTTON BOWL – (1937) – (Dallas)
  6. GATOR BOWL – (1946) – (Jacksonville)
  7. CITRUS BOWL – (1947) – (Orlando)
  8. LIBERTY BOWL – (1959) – (Memphis)
  9. PEACH BOWL – (1968) – (Atlanta)
  10. FIESTA BOWL – (1971) – (Phoenix/Glendale)

Oh, how we miss the Astro Blue Bonnet Bowl in Houston’s AstroDome!

2023: HALF YEAR IN REVIEW – Part Two (July to December)

July

2

  • Harrison Ford Tribute
  • Media in the Arts, Religion, Sports and Investigative Journalism
  • Professional Women’s Ice Hockey Future
  • SlamBall

9

  • FTX cryptocurrency collapse and sports
  • USA Basketball Named 2023 USA World Cup team
  • Nikki McCray-Penson RIP
  • Middle East new influence on global sport
  • NBA In-Season Tournament announcement

16

  • The Open
  • AI on The Open (Oops)
  • Gambling on the Special Olympics
  • USA Under-19 Women’s team – Kiki Rice
  • SlamBall Takes Shape for ESPN

23

  • Maureen Madill at The Open
  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
  • The New York Times folds Sports Section
  • NHL Players Assn (Marty Walsh) on the Winter Olympics

30

  • Congress on Name, Image, Likeness
  • Messi and Mbappe
  • UMass coaching money tree
  • NBA Basketball w/o Borders

August

6

  • NFL and the Sunday Ticket
  • FIBA World Cup
  • Tubby Smith on the Transfer Portal
  • Demise of Pac-12 Conference

13

  • Pac-12 – Tournament of Posers
  • HBO HARD KNOCKS
  • NFL Team Valuations
  • PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoffs

20

  • PGA Tour – No Boston Stop
  • Fallout on NIL and Collectives
  • USA Basketball Showcase tour
  • SlamBall Championship

27

  • Springsteen at Gillette Stadium
  • College Football ’23 Kick-off
  • Patriots Tough Start? (0-7) or (1-6) – How about (2-10)

September

3

  • College vs Pro Football Towns
  • Ten Best Colleges for Sports
  • The Un-Retirement Commercial
  • Sports Biz: Amy Latimer Promotion

10

  • Cable TV history lesson
  • The NFL Players You Wished You’d Drafted
  • USA Basketball World Cup Upended by Germany
  • Jimmy Buffett Memorial

17

  • Load Management in the NBA
  • 8.040 Days Since Sept. 11, 2001
  • Boston College and the Red Bandana – For Welles
  • Boston Bruins @ 100
  • NLL Lacrosse Entry Draft
  • Bruni

24

  • Ryder Cup Golf
  • Baseball Season Turns in to Football Season
  • The Worst Fans in the NFL
  • First Sighting: Travis Kelce Meets Taylor Swift
  • RIP: Dennis D’Agostino

October

1st

  • More on the 2023 Ryder Cup
  • Solutions for the USA Ryder Cup team prep
  • WNBA Finals
  • Stones, The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen Released Songs on Same Day

8

  • No High Payroll Teams Left in MLB Postseason
  • World 3×3
  • NWSL (Women’s Pro Soccer) Valuations
  • The Great Rivalries in College Football
  • Health in the USA
  • BIG EAST Predictions

15

  • Britney Griner/WNBA
  • College Basketball Blue Ribbon
  • Top 25 Predictions for CBB in ’23-24
  • ESPN’s Top 10 NBA Players (Active)

22

  • Dog Days of the NFL Season
  • Bill Belichick-Gate (Watch) Begins
  • Most Marketable Athletes
  • Sports Motion Pictures to Come
  • The Sphere

29

  • Improbable MLB World Series
  • NBA In-Season Tourney Spots
  • NBA Franchise Valuations
  • NBA on TNT
  • LPGA to Boston in 2024

November

5

  • RIP Coach Bobby Knight
  • Top NBA Team Salaries
  • More Really Bad Investments

12

  • Boston Common Golf
  • NHL and NBA Global Games
  • TL Sports Entrepreneur Podcast
  • Bill Hancock to Retire

19

  • Pardon My Take:  Charissa Thompson
  • Ben Bradlee
  • The Fall of Milan Lucic
  • TGL / Boston Common Golf: One Year Delay

27 – Thanksgiving Edition

  • Giving Thanks When Due
  • Pan Mass Challenge – Cancer Research
  • Mighty Max Joins the Family
  • World Basketball Day Approaching

December

3

  • Aaron Rodgers
  • The Fall of Sports Illustrated
  • NFL Power or Parity Ratings
  • MLB’s 2024 Look-Ahead

10

  • Army vs Navy Game (New England Style)
  • Bucket Lists for Sporting Events
  • Dodgers Land Ohtani
  • College Gameday
  • Imagine

17

  • Dodgers Have Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the Crosshairs
  • Need for MLB Salary Cap system
  • Draymond Green Indefinite Suspension
  • Get Well Soon: Kareem

24

  • Special Christmas Column
  • 2023: Year in Review (Jan to June)

31

  • Special Year End Column
  • 2023: Year in Review (July to Dec 31)
  • Special Thanks

PARTING WORDS and a TRIBUTE: Popular comedian of the ‘60s and ‘70s Tommy Smothers passed away December 26th. Tommy, together with his younger brother, Dick, formed one of the great TV comedy acts and earned a primetime show from 1965 to 1966 and then their “Comedy Hour” with more free-wheeling creative control on CBS in 1967. After the TV show was cancelled, the Smothers Brothers continued a successful comedy career, but in ‘67. Tommy bought a vineyard in Sonoma County, California which he kept through 2023 when he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Here’s a classic scene from The Tonight Show, starring Johnny Carson.

While We’re Young (Ideas) is a weekly Sunday Sports Notebook and news column written by Terry Lyons. The posting of each notebook harkens back to the days when you’d walk over to the city news stand 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, quotes and quips.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes is brought to you by Digital Sports Desk.

Last Chance for the Special Holiday Sale of While We’re Young (Ideas)

Special Holiday Offer: Visit —> HERE

TL’s Christmas Notebook | Dec 25th

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While We’re Young (Ideas) Wishes You a Merry Christmas

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Merry Christmas 2023 to all who celebrate the day. To others, this columnist wishes you sincere best wishes and joy for 2024 with peace in the holiday(s) you celebrate.

May we all wish for Peace on Earth and Goodwill Towards Men (and women)!

As in years past, this Christmas-themed column carries the torch of the legendary writings of the late, great Shelby Strother. It also takes a look back at 2023 with a week-by-week listing of what was covered by While We’re Young (Ideas). Also in years past, there’s been some details written about Shelby and his family. Check it out HERE, from this antique December 2013 column.

Let’s get to it.

Each Christmas Day Contains the Past, Present and Future

By SHELBY STROTHER

It did not matter that the wind-chill was life threatening. It was Christmas morning, and a bright sun stabbed the frozen land. And children were playing.

The decision over which to play with – the official World Cup soccer ball or the Turbo Football – never materialized. With all the snow, a soccer match was out of the question. So spirals of pink and black performed in the most sincere imitations of Rodney Peete and Joe Montana floated back and forth in the yard.

What a nice sight.

The Annual Second Chance is near – it’s called New Year’s Eve. It is the window of opportunity where the hopes and fears of all the year (not to mention the mistakes) can be erased.

But Christmas Day is a time of reinforcement and the essence of tomorrow. And children playing with toys are the finest examples of what that tomorrow looks like.

I look out the window. I’ve been in that yard. All young boys have. Sports become such a part of childhood. Santa is aware of all of this, naturally.

This particular day is exquisite, I think to myself. I take personal inventory, not only of blessings and personal satisfaction, but of the presents of Christmas past. Still the kid, I suppose.

I got my first basketball when I was six. I made my first basket a year later. There was a tetherball set; I must have been eight. And a football helmet when I was ten. A Carl Furillo-model baseball mitt at eleven. There were tennis rackets and fishing poles and boxing gloves and shrimp nets and a Mickey Mantle 32-inch Little League bat and one time, even a badminton set.

Every Christmas, I’d play out my dreams and my mind would fly over the rainbow, imagining my propulsion. Of course, I would become a major-leaguer, an All-Star, an all-time great, a Hall of Famer. We all would. My vision extended well beyond the day.

My athletic ability, alas, never kept stride. It was not the worst realization I would ever make.

But I have noticed a direct correlation between Christmas gifts and sporting dreams. The dreams are for the young. So are the gifts. Usually, the two disappear in unison. The rare few who project into greatness discover they do not need imagination to make those lofty flights of fantasy. Hope is not the co-pilot. Expectation is.

It must be a wonderful view.

I was thinking about all of this when another memory nudged me. My 17th Christmas I got a typewriter.

It was about the same time that I’d maneuvered my fantasy a few extra miles. I’d received a baseball scholarship to pitch at a small school in Florida. There were other opportunities, other colleges available. But none that would allow my athletic vision to continue.

I had expected a Christmas of more games in the yard. More dreams to celebrate. I got a typewriter instead.

“What am I going to do with a typewriter?” I asked.

My mother said I’d need it for college. But she also said, “Sometimes you get too old to play games. But you never get too old that you can’t use your imagination.”

Sometimes Christmas is taken for granted. Almost always, in fact. I think Christmas music, and I hear bells. I turn on the radio and I hear someone named Elmo and Patsy lamenting their grandmother’s head-on collision with a reindeer. I think of the meaning of Christmas, and I think of the most special birthday in the history of the world. But I turn on the TV and there are all these Claymation raisins doing Doo-Wop homages to the joys of buying machines wherein a microchip can seize command of entire generations.

Christmas (will soon) be gone, 364 days to go. But children still play. They chase the wonderful image of themselves as they would like to be seen. Christmas is their favorite arena. But they settle for lesser stadia.

But remember this – the present is sometimes confused with the package it comes wrapped in. Sometimes the gift is simply the freedom to imagine. There may be no greater one.

It was a great typewriter. I still play with it.

– A column by Shelby Strother

Digital Sports Desk was founded on January 1, 2012 and was redesigned October 1, 2016. For Sunday Sports Notes columns posted on Christmas or Christmas Eve over the many years, I’ve alternated by posting memorable columns from a few of my all-time favorite writers. This column is, by far, my favorite column of all-time so read on my friends and “followers.” Here is to Shelby Strother and a Peaceful Christmas to his widow, Kim, and to all.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Let’s take a look back at 2023 with Part One to follow and Part Two to come in next week’s missive. Here’s January to June 2023:

Part One – January

1st

  • New Year’s wish for World Peace – the difficulties of today and tomorrow
  • Sentry Tournament of Champions Preview
  • Salute to David Bowie

8th

  • Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin Injury
  • Hamlin’s Toys for Kids charity went from $3,900 to $8,327,000 in four days
  • Duke vs BC at Chestnut Hill
  • College Football Playoff
  • NFL Tanking

14th

  • MSG – World’s Most Famous Arena
  • Favorite Moments/Events at The Garden
  • KC Chiefs Top NFL Power Rankings
  • Salute in Memory of Jeff Beck

22nd

  • Prediction: Red Sox = Cellar Dwellers
  • Boston Bruins = Leading the NHL
  • Major League Pickleball
  • LIV Golf Schedule

29th

  • Pointing fingers at Bill Belichick
  • AFC/NFC Championship Preview
  • Chef of ‘da Future
  • EPL Franchise Valuations

February

5th

  • Dog Days of Winter; 19 NBA Ts in five Days
  • Marty Walsh to NHL Players Association
  • Charlie Baker to NCAA
  • Sports Catch Phrases – “Just Like That”

12th

  • Super Bowl LVII Preview (KC vs Phila)
  • PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open – LODR than LOUD
  • World Baseball Classic
  • Tennis Player Younes Rachidi Banned for Life

19th

  • Mass shooting and murder on campus of Michigan State
  • Coach Ed Cooley Feature
  • 40th Anniversary – Marvin Gaye National Anthem at ’83 NBA ASG

26th

  • PGA Tour Load Management
  • NBA Load Management Issue
  • Ideas for a Better NBA All-Star Weekend – None
  • Music: One Hit Wonders

March

5th

  • Memorial Tribute to David Benner

12th

  • Timeline of the 2023 BIG East Basketball Tournament

19th

  • St. Patrick’s Day Salute
  • March Madness Upsets
  • World Baseball Classic

26th

  • Willis Reed Memorial Tribute
  • Rick Pitino Hired by St. John’s
  • National Lacrosse League Playoffs
  • MLB Opening Day

April

2nd

  • Opening Day at Fenway Park
  • Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes
  • Jim Nantz’ Last NCAA Final 4 Broadcast

9th

  • The Masters
  • LIV vs. PGA Tour Golf
  • MLB and Austin Meadows’ Mental Health

16th

  • Boston Marathon
  • Amazing Shohei Ohtani
  • Bruce Springsteen and Last Man Standing

23rd

  • The Curse of the NHL President’s Cup
  • NHL Team Valuations
  • NBA Playoffs and Injuries
  • Suggestion: LIV World Team Golf

30th

  • Sports Gambling in Massachusetts
  • NBA Moves Up Finals Start Times
  • QB Aaron Rodgers to J-E-T-S
  • NCAA, Committees and Charlie Baker
  • Death of Boston Celtics’ veep Heather Walker

May

7th

  • Future Days for Saudi Basketball
  • Euro Soccer Team Valuations
  • Kentucky Derby Review

14th

  • Michael Jordan Barcelona Olympics Jacket Auction
  • Buzzword Bingo
  • MLB’s Oldest Ball Parks

21st

  • World’s 10 Highest Paid Athletes
  • Troubles of NBA’s Ja Morant
  • Beginning of the End for the PAC-12
  • Baseball Buzzword Bingo
  • Set Tribute to Meatloaf (RIP)

28th

  • Send-off to TNT’s Very Best (Tara, TK)
  • Brandel and Brooksie Mix It Up for PGA Tour/LIV
  • Busy Summer of ’23 Listings
  • SBJ Awards
  • TNT’s “Yes” Man

June

4th

  • Connor McDavid, Jack Michael and Nikola Jokic
  • Stanley Cup Final or NBA Finals – “s” or no “s”
  • Sox Chris Sale Out Again
  • NHL Stadium Series – NY/NJ Style

11th

  • Surprise of Potential PGA Tour/LIV Merger
  • Most Beloved USA Athletes
  • Harvard’s/WCVB-5 Mike Lynch Inducted Mass Broadcasters Hall of Fame

18th

  • NYC Father’s Day Fire
  • Ja Morant More Trouble – 25-game suspension (ended 12-19)
  • The Four’s is Closed
  • Bradley Beal shipped to PHX
  • Sports Hall of Fame Line-ups

25th

  • PGA Tour: The Traveler’s Championship
  • 2023 NBA Draft
  • No. 1 Pick: France’s Victor WembanyamaSlamBall is Back (and on ESPN)

(Tune-In Next Week for the rest of 2023 Look Back – July 1st through December 31st)

TIDBITS: You’ve heard of World Team Tennis which debuted in 1974 with Billie Jean King leading the way as player-coach of the Philadelphia Freedom, runners-up to the champion Denver Racquets, coached by Tony Roche. The league had talented stars such as Jimmy Connors who led the Baltimore Banners. Here in Beantown, we had the Boston Lobsters. The team played at the Walter Brown Arena and lost about $300,000 in its first year of operation … Fast forward to the conclusion of the 2021 WTT season and you’ll note the tennis league vanished. The following July, the WTT announced it was seeking expansion franchises at $1 million a clip. That news release was the last we heard of World Team Tennis. “World TeamTennis, the nation’s only professional, mixed-gender team tennis league, has announced that it is accepting expansion proposals from prospective ownership groups and markets that are interested in acquiring a WTT franchise.” … With WTT in the history books, tennis fans now have the World Tennis League, based in Abu Dhabi. Saturday morning, the Tennis Channel aired Taylor Fritz’ extra time match vs Daniil Medvedev and the new version of team tennis, featuring the Kites and Hawks, the Falcons and Eagles. The new league is big on entertainment and concerts, but short on match results and realtime stats. … Sports Business Journal’s media mind John Ourand announced he’s leaving the post he’s held since 2006 to join Puck.

MLB: A week ago we wrote of the urgent need for Major League Baseball to enact a form of maximum team salary after the LA Dodgers broke the bank and the concept of deferred compensation with a $700 million deal to pay for the services of Shohei Ohtani. This week, the Dodgers landed prized free agent in Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto who scored a 12-year, $325 million deal Thursday, per multiple media reports. Yamamato’s deal out-distanced New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole’s deal by $1 million, making it the largest contract for a pitcher in major league history. The Dodgers will also pay $50.6 million in a posting fee for Yamamoto. … A posting fee is MLB terminology for a transfer fee.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook

by

While We’re Young (Ideas) – On Baseball Free Agency

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Los Angeles Dodgers recent free agent signee, Shohei Ohtani, will collect seven hundred million over 10 years but only $2m a year in compensation with the rest – some $68m a year – to come in a record-setting deferral deal that might make former New York Mets and MLB journeyman Bobby Bonilla blush.

Of course, Bonilla “only” collects $1.19m a year, but does so until 2035. That’s not bad for a guy who hasn’t played an inning since 2001, but it signified a system gone mad in 2001. Now, 23 years later Major League Baseball has a full scale systematic player contract crisis on its hands.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have three of the top five hitters in baseball – none of them home grown – but still with a farm system often considered the envy of baseball clubs everywhere. Mookie Betts (2B/OF) was acquired through a trade with the Boston Red Sox. He promptly signed an extension with the Dodgers and will pocket $392m over 13 years. Meanwhile, Freddie Freeman (1B) signed a paltry six year, $162m deal with the Dodgers in 2022, a year after leading his only other team, the Atlanta Braves, to an MLB championship and two years after receiving the Most Valuable Player award for the National League.

That leads us to Shohei Ohtani – a generational two-way superstar – who signed as a free agent just after the Baseball Winter Meetings and set the salary scale on fire with the reported $700m deal. But just this week, The Athletic reported Ohtani’s deal was a smoke and mirrors cash-deferment deal of a lifetime, with the deferred money to be paid out without interest from 2034 to 2043. That’s quite a retirement plan for a guy who reportedly earns $50m a year in off-field endorsements, a number sure to rise.

With another generational player, Dodgers longtime starter Clayton Kershaw recovering from shoulder surgery and technically a free agent himself, the Ohtani deal is structured to provide salary flexibility to the Dodgers with free-agent Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the crosshairs. Former Tampa ace Tyler Glasnow fell in the Dodgers’ blue line, signing a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Dodgers that makes official the trade of Glasnow and outfielder Manuel Margot from the Tampa Bay Rays to Los Angeles, the Dodgers announced Saturday.

The LA-Tampa deal ends right-handed starter Ryan Pepiot and outfield prospect Jonny Deluca to the Rays. it was contingent upon Glasnow signing an extension. The window to do so opened Thursday morning, and the parties quickly came together with the framework of a deal that will tack four years and $111.5 million in new money onto the $25 million Glasnow was owed for the 2024 season.

There is no deferred money in Glasnow’s deal.

Wrote The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal this week, “The usual howls are coming. The large-market teams end up with all the best players. A $700 million contract is outrageous. Baseball needs a salary cap.

“We’ve been hearing this talk for years. The small-market frustration, to a degree, is understandable. But the most expensive teams — see the 2023 Mets, Yankees and Padres — do not always win.”

Yes, Ken, Baseball DOES need a better salary structure system – aka – a Collective Bargaining agreement that allows all major league teams to deal from the same deck of cards. But, as we know, Baseball’s super-agent Marvin Miller-esque Players Association will have no part of a structured system similar to the NBA, NHL or NFL. Baseball wants to be the wild west just they way Miller, the late architect of Baseball’s free agency and unlimited team salary operating system, wanted it to be before he passed away in 2012, but face it – the system is broken.

The only recourse for MLB teams is to draft wisely, build the farm system and strike it rich with a dozen home grown players, all playing under their original contracts.

IDEAS FOR A BETTER TEAM SALARY CAP SYSTEMS: Is it within reason for Baseball to solve its rich team/poor team issue of team salary with a league-wide system that can finally place all 30 MLB teams on even ground. Baseball would need to have 40 “Salary Slots” to spread across each 40-man roster to distribute the average team salary of $122,724,208 or $3.068m per man? Of course, paying all players the average would not fly, nor would it be right.

In general, this entire idea wouldn’t fly with the tight knit MLB Players Association. They pride themselves on total free agency and arbitration for players who can’t agree with their teams on fair terms.

But, for argument sake, take the $122,724,208 average team salary figure and place 10 of the 40 players on the current MLB minimum salary of $720,000 per year. That would subtract $7,200,000. from the team salary figure, and rounding off it would leave $115,524,000 to be distributed to 30 “slots” for players. The slots would begin at 18% of team salary and wind down gradually.

If the best player – Slot #1 took 18% of the team salary, he would earn $20,794,320. That would leave $94,729,680 for 29 others. If Slot #2 took 15%, he would earn $14,209,452 per year, leaving $80,520,228 for the remaining players. … The percentages would lessen, as would the salary of players decreased and the slots would diminish from #3 to #30. nFor ownership, salary and cost certainty for payroll would be determined and team looking to make trades would have a simple mechanism to trade slot-for-slot or slot for a combination of slots. The trading of future Draft Picks for a player would be an exception and the team receiving the draft pick(s) would need to slot in the respective proposed salary of the player from the slots they have open. They would be given three years to do that. This system might result in difficult team decisions to trade away one of their current players or cut a player to fit someone new into their hierarchy. In some cases, it might force another trade.

Injury exceptions would need to be reviewed by independent doctors and a player might need to be replaced with a free agent assuming his spot or a minimum wage player coming on board and subjecting his team to bump everyone up one “slot.”

Two-way players who can go up and down from the minors to the majors would be limited to three call-ups in a given year, or the player would earn minimum.

Reducing length of contracts to five years would be a must, maybe negotiate for four.

When recruiting free agents, a club GM could say, “I have an expiring contract at “Slot 3” and it might be a “take it or leave it” situation. Some veteran players might take a lower slot in order to play as the sixth man or seventh man on a championship contender.

The salary structure and full team salary would increase with increases in revenue and In-Season Tournament and NBA Playoff shares would be in addition to the regular season system.

Let the negotiating begin.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: What have we heard in Foxboro all week? “We’re getting ready for Kansas City.” … In San Antonio, the Spurs snapped a 17-game losing streak on Friday night, that’s (0-16 in a row) and (4-20 for the season) for longtime coach Gregg Popovich who is undergoing a total rebuild around 2023 No. 1 draft pick Victor Wembanyama. Yes, Bill Belichick is (3-10), coming off a miracle win in Pittsburgh and going into a tough match-up this weekend against the KC Chiefs (8-5) at Gillette Stadium. Pop won the NBA Lottery last season after going (22-60) and the forecast doesn’t look very good for this season with only the Detroit Pistons rivaling the lowly Spurs.

Two of the most decorated coaches in the history of their respective sports are feeling the pressure that comes from losing. In Boston, rumors surfaced midweek that Patriots team owner Robert Kraft had already made up his mind to part ways with Belichick, with that decision coming after a loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Germany.

The problem with that report? No sources were cited and Belichick did not comment or directly answer any questions, defaulting to his usual monotone response about his next NFL opponent.

Last weekend, both Belichick and Kraft appeared on ESPN’s College Gameday prior to the Army/Navy Gam played at Gillette. With Kraft situated front and center on the Gameday set, ESPN radio host Pat McAfee put Kraft in an awkward position, stating: “I don’t envy your position, what’s about to happen. We all know, we don’t have to ask.”

The lack of a reply from Kraft, call it the silence, was deafening.

In San Antonio, the waters are much calmer and all indication is that Popovich will make any and all career decisions on his own.

Don’t expect changes in Foxboro or on the Riverwalk anytime soon.

DRAY: Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green earned an indefinite suspension this past week when he clocked Jusuf Nurkić, center of the Phoenix Suns, after the two were tangled up on an in-bounds play. Green was hit with an indefinite suspension by the NBA less than 24 hours after the incident and the NBA noted, “This outcome takes into account Green’s repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts.” … “Green’s suspension will begin immediately. He will be required to meet certain league and team conditions before he returns to play.” … An indefinite suspension. That’s a five alarm fire in the NBA. Rightfully so for such a cheap shot and it coming in a play of tangled-up arms that happens three or four times a game, easily. Green’s most recent suspension, a five-gamer, came after he entered the fray of an altercation with the up and coming Minnesota Timberwolves and placed opposing center Rudy Gobert in a blind-side head-lock as he walked Gobert away. … While I’d love to see the NBA Players Association volley-in with an opinion on proper discipline for one union member cold cocking another union member, we’d all wait until the ghost of the deceased former executive director Larry Fleisher to appear before that would ever happen. It will be left for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NBA senior-veep of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars to opine the length of a suspension that will surely approach 10-games. That would put Green in the sin bin until a January 4, 2024 game against the Denver Nuggets. That length of suspension is reasonable, considering the situation, but it will come after the NBA and the Warriors consult on a plan going forward. We’re unlikely to hear a syllable from Green’s former teammate, Andre Iguodala, now serving as Acting Executive Director for the NBPA. Iguadola, a class act to be sure, replaced Tamika Tremaglio, who had served in the role of Executive Director since January 2021.

Prince = The Greatest (Photo by Getty Images)

TIDBITS: Who decided that just because “Up With People” was joined by the Southeast Missouri Marching Band and Anita Bryant at Super Bowl V (1971) that every damn sports event needs to include a miniature rock show at halftime or, in the case of the NHL Stadium Series (Met Life Stadium – February 17), a pregame concert? On Wednesday, the NHL thrilled all by announcing the Jonas Brothers would play before the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers face off in New Jersey. The Jonas Brothers hit The Disney Channel in 2005 right out of Wyckoff, NJ and it took three years for them to be nominated as “Best New Artist” at the 2008 GRAMMYs.

Honestly, do you think the Jonas Brothers are going to sell a single ticket to the grizzled fans of the Philadelphia Flyers or New Jersey Devils? The NHL would be far better off by offering cold Philly pretzels and a packet of mustard for every fan paying for parking at Met Life.

The last time a musical act tipped the scales of entertainment at a sporting event was 2017 when Hamilton star Daveed Diggs, DJ Jazzy Jeff, actor Michael B. Jordan, Jidenna, and Run D.M.C.‘s Darryl McDaniels joined The Roots for the NBA All-Star Game and the introduction of the stars.

Before that, roll the calendar back to 2007 when Prince did the halftime act of all-time at Super Bowl XLI in Miami (in the rain, no less). The NFL should’ve retired the tradition right then and there. Prince will never be topped, and that’s coming from a big fan of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (2009), The Rolling Stones (2006), The Who (2010), Tom Petty (2008), and even Beyoncé (2013).

But, the Jonas Brothers?

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Dec. 10th

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

FOXBORO – Surely, you’ve heard the question before. Everyone has. Everyone thinks and dreams, but very few can check them off the list.

The Bucket List.

The question: Can you name your Top 10 Bucket List of Sports Destinations and Events?

It’s a tough one.

Those of us lucky enough to call New York and Boston as home base can check off a few by jumping on the “4” Train or the Green Line T to arrive within minutes at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, respectively.

To delve into this topic, there will be three sets of 10 Bucket List choices. First will be a very typical list of all the obvious “bests.” Second, will be my good friend Mark’s choices and lastly, the WWYI columnist will list the ultimate Sports Bucket List, with an attempt to be more obscure. The lists will be in order of preference.

Here we go:

Top 10 Sports Destination/Event Bucket List

  1. The Super Bowl (any location)
  2. The Summer Olympic Games (any location)
  3. The Kentucky Derby
  4. The World Series (any location)
  5. The Masters
  6. Ryder Cup (in Europe)
  7. The Winter Olympics (any location, but Europe ideal)
  8. World Cup Final (any location)
  9. Wimbledon
  10. The Final Four (any location, any four basketball teams)

Mark’s list, and it’s a good one:

  1. Buffalo Bills home opener (annually, said the die-hard Bills fan)
  2. Wimbledon (Men’s and Women’s Semis
  3. The Winter Olympics (anywhere)
  4. Monaco Grand Prix – Formula One
  5. The Super Bowl (anywhere, especially if the Bills make it)
  6. Pebble Beach Pro-Am
  7. Green Bay Packers home game at Lambeau Field
  8. The Masters
  9. Army vs Navy Football Game
  10. The Kentucky Derby

The TL Bucket List of Sports (WWYI edition) – Not Your Average List

  1. The Army vs Navy Game – But, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  2. The Little League World Series
  3. The Travers and The Hopeful at Saratoga Race Course
  4. The French Open
  5. The Ryder Cup (Bethpage, Long Island, NY)
  6. Pebble Beach Pro-Am
  7. Monaco Grand Prix – Formula One (Monte Carlo)
  8. The BIG EAST Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden
  9. Wrigley Field – any Cubs home game
  10. The Boston Marathon (Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston, Massachusetts)

Do any of the events and destinations on this final list need an explanation? I doubt it, but for posterity’s sake, here’s a line on a few of the events selected by yours truly.

Embed from Getty Images

Army v Navy – The impact of this event doesn’t hit you until you are there, in other words, until you’ve attended one … especially if it’s in Philadelphia. The pomp and rivalry is unmatched, but the ceremonies also stress the camaraderie of the cadets and midshipmen, often standing with alternating uniforms of the officers to be. … The game goes on, and the intensity builds (depending on the score), but as a civilian looking at the players – and more notably, the sections of cadets and midshipmen in dress gear – you can’t help but think that the young men and women will soon be putting their lives on the line, whether they are in training or deployed in war times. Some of those you gaze at – in respect – might not be around in another five years. It’s a daunting feeling, and because of it, the Army vs Navy game tops my list.

The Travers – The setting at the Saratoga Race Course is delightful, especially if you catch a nice summer day. The Travers brings the crowds, and the tiny town (and the bars) remains packed. The food is good, and the atmosphere is fantastic. Sure, the Kentucky Derby is more famous, the Belmont could determine a Triple Crown, and Delmar is unmatched, but I’ll take Saratoga, and the last Monday Hopeful was always a get-away day. It’s a favorite of my favorite Railbird, too.

The Ryder Cup at Bethpage (Black Course) is a driver and a long iron away from the hometown of WWYI’s author. Combine the familiar grounds with golf’s best event, and you’ve got something very special. It edged out a trip to Augusta, Georgia for The Masters.

The BIG EAST Championship/Tournament is a longtime favorite. The setting is the key at The World’s Most Famous Arena. Other college conference/teams can only dream of playing at The Garden.

The Boston Marathon, staged on Patriots’ Day in the Commonwealth (new hometown) is the best day of the year. The event is inspiring to all who run and spectate. Friend of the column, 1967 Boston Marathon champion, Amby Burfoot, calls the race “the Carnegie Hall of Marathons,” citing New York’s prestigious Music Hall constructed between 1889 and 1891. And don’t forget, the Boston Red Sox play at historic Fenway Park at 11:00am on the holiday, and guess what? The bars are OPEN!

A FEW HONORABLE MENTIONS: (In no particular order) are: The Travellers(Cromwell, Connecticut) near Hartford. Once the Greater Hartford Open, the Travellers has fast become a favorite of the players on the PGA Tour because of the great TPC River Highlands golf course and the hospitality put forth by the organizers; the Frozen Four is NCAA ice hockey’s version of the Big Dance. It’s a must for college ice hockey fans. Similarly, the Beanpot Tournament in Boston pits Boston College, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern on consecutive Mondays in February. The winners get the famed Beanpot. It’s just a great event. Of course, there are hundreds of others, such as the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Final, the Rose Bowl, the NHL Winter Classic or simply a game at Montreal or Toronto.

FEEL FREE to post your own top 10 in comments on Substack or the Digital Sports Desk Twitter (‘X’) page or on Face Book. So, go ahead! Name yours.

[Read more…] about TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Dec. 10th

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | On Jets’ Aaron Rodgers

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Embed from Getty Images

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

FLORHAM PARK – Whether you’re playing poker or watching NFL football, the old adage remains the same. “If you’ve been playing in the game 30 minutes and don’t know who the patsy is, you’re the patsy.”

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.

Take the New York JAY-EEE-TEE-ESS for example: If you’ve been watching since QB Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles’ tendon four snaps into his debut with the Green Team on September 11th, you know the giant thud the NFL season took even though New York defeated the favored Buffalo Bills, 22-16, that night in overtime. The prognosis for the 40-year old Rodgers was not good. Even a man half his age might struggle with such a gruesome injury.

After pulling off the upset that Monday night, the Jets went into a three-game tailspin but course-corrected to a 4-3 record when the beat their cross-corridor rival NY Giants as October turned to November. Then? Another four-game death spiral to their current 4-7 record in the AFC East and less than a 1% chance of making the NFL Playoffs.

With those odds, in a hand of poker or a season full of football, who is this patsy we speak of?

It’s us.

Rodgers played us like a fiddle.

Rodgers directed a four week gaslight of the gullible media (and NYJ fans) better than George Cukor could’ve imagined on his best day.

Rodgers picked the first game (Nov. 6-7, loss vs LA Chargers) of the Jets’ current four-game slide to seed the thought and the media ate it up.

“Jets’ QB Rodgers Talks December Return”

Of course social media and the hook-line-and-sinker Jets fans took it to new levels before Rodgers could light the gaslight by walking it back in a weekly (paid) interview with ESPN radio man Pat McAfee.

“Obviously, that was said with a little tongue-in-cheek there,” Rodgers told McAfee. “It’d be nice to be able to be back in a couple weeks. That’s probably not anywhere near a realistic timeline.

“It’ll be a few fortnights,” Rodgers said, to set the table for even more speculation and sports talk.

Rodgers did so as he ditched a walking boot or crutches and displayed a no limp policy as he tossed 50-yard bullets with little to zero effort – letting the B-roll flow.

Why?

It’s quite simple: Rodgers was doing what he could do to take the heat off the Jets disappointing season. Obviously, he didn’t know the Jets would skid times four, but he certainly had an idea the meat of the 2023 schedule (vs. Chargers, @Raiders, @Buffalo and v. Dolphins) would be a test far too difficult to allow inexperienced QB ZachWilson to go it alone, never mind letting the New York media hounds and the fans devour Coach Robert Saleh before Thanksgiving.

Rodgers positioned the deflector shield as the weeks of November passed by with Wilson being benched for career back-up Tim Boyle, a fifth-year man out of Eastern Kentucky. All-the-while Rodgers fueled daily stories of jogging, eyeing practice, setting a 21-day practice ‘window’ to convince team doctors he was ready to go, despite his near-record early return and the Jets’ less than 1% chance of playing a meaningful football game.

He knew the media would fall for it, and they did. After all, there was nothing else for Boomer to blabber or for SI to program in Chatbot ai until another 70 days when pitchers & catchers report.

As the jury returns, WWYI will call the smoke-screen a success as Rodgers and the Jets qualified for the Gaslight Bowl. Maybe the game’ll be orchestrated by the late director, Cokor, but they’ll need to resurrect Charles Boyer and the most beautiful Ingrid Bergman in order to stage the show,

Maybe they won’t?

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: While in the prime of his longtime run as lead NBA writer at Sports Illustrated, Jack McCallum switched assignments to the weekly Scorecardcolumn and within the creative gems of wacky weekly stories was the mainstay: It was entitled: Sign of the Apocalypse.

The only thing funnier in the entire magazine was Steve Rushin’s closing piece.

Can it be duplicated? No.

Can it be copied? Yes.

Maybe this column should leave the word Apocalypse for McCallum’s legacy, thus pointing a synopsis on oddities in the Year(s) 2023-24 to have a new title? How about “Clues of the Cataclysm” to adorn WWYI for the year ahead?

We’ll start today: Can you BELIEVE what they’re doing to the publication we once loved? Sports Illustrated was a treasure of sports writing, sports and investigative journalism, the best of the best in sports photography and a serious record of the weekly activities in the world of sport.

Walter Iooss Jr. to Manny Milan to John Iacona to John McDonough on the photo trail were rarely matched. The SI photographers fought for access and they were usually rewarded with access. Access beyond anyone’s imagination. The late, great Lou Capazolla made sure everything went well from a technical standpoint. Freelance greats, like the NBA’s Andrew D. Bernstein or Nat Butler often earned cover shots and inside double-truck spreads.

Articles in “SI” were well reported, well written and well edited and fact checked. If I stayed-up late on 100 Sunday nights fact checking with Hank Hersch, I stayed-up another 1,000 nights (and some Monday mornings) with Franz Litz.

Not only were the stories well reported, the writers always seemed to come up with that gem. Every article had a great note or quote that you’d never heard before and it provided insight to the subject being interviewed. SI never failed.

Until now.

From this week’s New York Times: Sports Illustrated has struggled to “adapt to the digital age,” and Monday’s revelation of alleged Artificial Intelligence (generated) articles were “just the latest sign of drift at Sports Illustrated, exacerbated by a relentless pursuit of engagement with the site’s non-journalistic entities,” according to Nerkar & Draper of the Times. SI’s stewardship by Authentic Brands and the Arena Group has been “particularly rocky,” they wrote. Arena’s options for generating revenue are “somewhat limited, encouraging a daily churn of articles.” Employees have “complained publicly” that Arena has been “dismissive of concerns about article quality and a lack of editors — made worse in February when 17 members of the staff were laid off — all while enforcing weekly quotas from writers.” Authentic Brands bought SI’s intellectual property in 2019 and sold a 10-year license to “publish Sports Illustrated to TheMaven, (sic)” which has since been rebranded as the Arena Group. Since 2019, there have been “repeated rounds of layoffs” at SI and “reductions in the circulation” of the print magazine. Hundreds of sites dedicated to individual teams — helmed by non-staff writers (who are) “paid small sums — were created with little oversight and diluted what it meant for ‘Sports Illustrated’ to write something.” … SI’s problems “began before Authentic Brands and Arena,” wrote the NYT. Under its original owner, Time Inc., there “were layoffs — including the last remaining staff photographers at a publication celebrated for its sports photography” — and it went from “being a weekly print magazine to a monthly”

After an initial $1.00 come-on for the first month, a new subscription to Sports Illustrated will run $95.88 for 12 issues with both digital and print access for readers, or digital only at $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year, billed annually. Print only runs $20 for a year (12 issues) or $30 for two years (24 issues).

The result in a damn shame. A once beloved and iconic product/brand in the sports world has been reduced to alleged horse fodder.

It hurts. Yes, it hurts for anyone who thought Sports Illustrated’s best use of AI meant there was a great story upcoming on Allen Iverson.

The BIG EAST and OTHER ASSORTED COLLEGE ITEMS: St. John’s center Joel Soriano, the lone holdover from last year’s team, scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Johnnies to a 79-73 victory over West Virginia on Friday night in the Big East-Big 12 Battle. St. J newcomer Chris Ledlum added a season-high 17 points and Nahiem Alleyne had 12 of his 14 points in the second half for St. John’s (5-2), which has won three straight. … St J’s RJ Luis Jr., a talented swingman who returned in last Saturday’s rout of Holy Cross, is back on the IL. The UMass transfer is suffereng from shin splints and will be out a month, said coach Rick Pitino after the Johnnies’ win over West Virginia.

On Tuesday, Providence used a 13-1 run late in the first half in an 86-52 handling of Wagner. Guard Ticket Gaines scored a team-high 21 points, all on 3-point field goals. Bryce Hopkins added 20 points and six rebounds. The Friars (6-1) held the Seahawks to 27.7 shooting from the field. … ESPN has six BIG EAST teams penciled-in to its early 68-team bracket predictor, namely: UConn, Marquette, Villanova, Creighton, Xavier and Providence. … Xavier has fallen to (4-4) overall while Creighton and Providence have surged to (6-1) on the early season.

Conference leader and defending NCAA champion Connecticut lost to Kansas, 69-64, in its BIG EAST vs BIG 12 showdown on Dec. 1.

HOLIDAY SPIRIT: In the spirit of the holidays – (Psst, Christmas is 22 days away) – you might need a unique gift for your favorite sports (or GOLF) fan. There are two options. First a subscription to this weekly publication. – “While We’re Young (Ideas)” which brings a full column of notes, some great quotes, newsworthy stories or opinions about an issue in the news – usually sports industry news. Secondly, the popular e-Newsletter PGA Tour Brunch will be publishing again – usually six days a week – when the Tour cranks it up at The Sentry in Maui – January 4-7, 2024. Sign-up for one, both or get in touch if you have something else in mind (a business deal for the sports news or golf industry – hint, hint). For insight and an easy navigation tool to follow the Tour —> Click HERE.

NFL POWER RANKINGS: As of the completion of Thanksgiving Weekend competition, there are very few elite teams in the National Football League. While there might be a chance for some team from the middle to become a Cinderella Story, that chance is slim. Here are the best teams:

1. Philadelphia Eagles

2. San Francisco 49ers

3. Baltimore Ravens

4. Kansas City Chiefs

5. Miami Dolphins

6. Dallas Cowboys

NFL PARITY or MEDIOCRITY: The vast majority of the NFL squads this season are in the valley of unmistaken, god-awful mediocrity. It’s as though NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell snuck into Lester Bangs’ mind (played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman in the fabulous motion picture, Almost Famous), crept into the hellish cages of every football coach every made and stole both the concept and quote of: “You’ll meet them all again on the long journey to the middle.” Yes, the middle of the NFL – too high for. atop draft selection and too low for serious playoff contention. Here are my inglorious middles of each NFL Conference:

AFC: Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Las Vegas Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee Titans.

NFC: Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Rams,

NFL BEYOND HOPE in 2023: These clubs are horrible and will compete for the top one, two or three picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, but the teams are so deplorable not even the No. 1 pick will help much. They are not divided by conference but listed by inverse order of ineptitude:

8. New York Giants

7. Tampa Bay Bucs

6. Washington Commanders

5. New York Jets

4. Chicago Bears

3. Arizona Cardinals

2. New England Patriots

1. Carolina Panthers

EARLY NBA LOOK: NBA teams are approaching the 20-game mark and, by now, the preseason prognostications have been thrown out with the trash. It is time for the NBA Look with More Perspective.

In the East, there are three teams with a very good chance of making it to the 2024 NBA Finals and they are:

1. Boston Celtics

2. Milwaukee Bucks

3. Philadelphia 76ers

In the West, there’s only one team – the Denver Nuggets – and – setting aside serious injuries – they are a lock.

1. Denver Nuggets

Everyone else is playing for a losing bid in the Western Conference Finals.

IN-SEASON TOURNEY: As written once before, there might be a competitive advantage to teams eliminated from the Knock-Out round of the first NBA In-Season Tournament. The teams advancing theoretically play the better teams, while the teams eliminated will play their make-up games against other eliminated clubs.

As noted up top, as fans face a deep and dark December, there is hope on the horizon as we prepare for Pitchers & Catchers reporting day on February 14, 2024 and the first Grapefruit and Cactus League games on February 24, 2024. (2/24). Other important dates for the upcoming ‘24 MLB season are:

March 20-21 – MLB Seoul Series ((Dodgers vs Padres)

March 28 – Opening Day

April 15 – Jackie Robison Day

April 27-28 – MLB Mexico City Series (Astros vs. Rockies)

June 8-9 – MLB London Series (Mets vs Phillies)

June 20 – MLB at Rickwood Field (Birmingham) – (Cardinals vs. Giants)

July 12-16 – MLB All-Star Game Festivities – (Arlington, Texas)

September 15 – Roberto Clemente Day (MLB-wide)

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Nov 26th

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While We’re Young (Ideas) – Giving Thanks in 2023

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief

NEW YORK – It’s Thanksgiving Weekend 2023 and we’re here to make some important statements. “We’re back to normal,” and “Thanksgiving of 2019 seems so long ago.” That conjures up ill-fated memories of the horror, death and overall separation felt by most from March of 2020 to this past May 2023, after the Delta and Omicron variants of the virus subsided.

While it seems to be a trend to downplay the virus and knock Dr. Anthony Fauci with many pointing fingers as though Fauci, alone, was responsible for a global pandemic, the opposite is true. Remember now, COVID-19 hospitalized 6,484,329 Americans and killed 1,153,910 poor souls with the numbers posted by the World Health Organization through November 21st. To the informed, there’s an honest realization that Fauci did his best to forecast and curtail an on-going virus that was ignored by his bosses – an administration that – literally – wanted to dismiss cruise ships at sea from docking in the USA just to “keep our numbers down.”

Worldwide, the number of deaths from COVID-19 are daunting as 6,979,786 souls (and counting) are gone due to the virus with severe spikes realized and tracked in January 2020, January 2021 and 2022. With WHO public numbers updated through November 16th, there are 772,011,164 confirmed cases and they’ve been treated with 13,534,602,932 doses of the various anti-COVID vaccines.

You’re sick of COVID, we all know, so why do all these facts and figures head up a sports notes column on Thanksgiving Weekend? Because sports fans need to be more aware and thankful for Science. It is something to truly appreciate, despite the fact it’s outside of the world of sports.

Please be thankful for the researchers who worked so tirelessly – under pressure – on a dangerous public health issue beyond what any of us could fathom. I’m thankful for the doctors/nurses, medical workers, first responders and all who teach them. I’m even thankful for the lawyers who backed their work. That has to date back to 1948-1955 when the polio epidemic and Dr. Jonas E. Salk and his colleagues researched and developed a polio vaccine that treated some 16,000 cases of polio in 1955. By 1994, polio was eliminated in the Americas.

As it relates to the all-important research, I urge all readers of WWYI to be aware of the likes of the JIMMY Fund and Pan Mass Challenge (research work at the Dana Farber Institute) that raised $72 million this year and a total of $972 million since 1980. Those incredible amounts of money are enough to endow every single cent to go towards the research which saves lives on a daily basis and someday might save your life, especially if you’re suffering of the dreaded disease of cancer.

It did mine.

David Glucksman, GM of West End Johnnies, who together with “The Boys” train and ride the Pan Mass Challenge from Sturbridge out in Western Mass. to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod (Photo courtesy: Pan Mass Challenge)

MORE THANKS: Yes, there’s poverty, crime, lawlessness, and mass murders by the week (maybe by the day). There’s war – terrible wars in Ukraine/Russia, the Middle East and genocide in Sudan – but you don’t hear much about Congress arguing over funding for the Sudanese wars, do you? But, for one second, stop your crazy life and think.

There’s so much to be thankful for in 2023. Again, I please note science, research and education are the foundation of health – and remember, “the greatest wealth is health” or think of the Arabian proverb, ““He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.”

MORE THANKS II: In 2023 and beyond, let’s be thankful for former NY Islander Pat LaFontaine and his Companions in Courage foundation. Executive Director Jim “JJ” Johnson just noted CiC helped their 1,000,000th patient. JJ needs some help from us now and the support from Holy Trinity is and will be at the highest possible point as ‘23 turns to ‘24. … How about a thanks to coach Bob McKillop? Add: Lou Carnesecca and John Kresse. ,,, Here’s a few more: The McIntyre family and their ability to care for a jacket, Val Ackerman and John Paquette of the BIG EAST, the end of the UAW and SAG strike, Boston College – athletics and resident assistants, and the same for Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville.

Thanks, Norah and the CBS News, the entire WBZ-TV news team (David Wade) and the entire sports crew, led by Dan Roche in the Red Sox press room, then Kevin Doyle, PR and press room attendant at Fenway, Jeff Twiss at the Celtics, Brian Olive, too. Travis Basciotta and Annie Kew at the Bruins. Abby Murphy, Justin Long, Devin Benson, Raleigh Clark and Carlos Villoria Benitez at the Sox. And to Zineb Curran on the corporate side. The coolest thing about Zineb – aside the fact she excels at her impossible/never ending job – is that she’s from Casablanca (Morocco). She recently announced Boston Common Golf and reps bud, Mark Lev, amongst the FSG and Sox hierarchy. … Skip Pernham, Joe Fav, Audrey, Sammy, Tony Fay, Kevin Sully Sullivan, and Josef Volman. To Will Ahmed, and Jonathan Jeffrey of Whoop, Joe Malone, Mark Sage, Bobby and Greg Pannell, Billy Ess, Dennis, Chuck, Johnnie D, Pat Hogan, Goldy, Scoot, Barney, Rick H, Harold – Harry O. Mugs and Mary, Godmothers Barbara – who always remembers the important dates, and Barbara and Bryan, too. By the way, Billy’s son, Matthew, made the team at Kellenberg! Forgive me if I overlooked a few.

A high Five for Madison Square Garden and Fenway Park – my favorite room and ball yard. Add, the Beacon Theatre, Bar & Books on Hudson, the old Corner Bistro and Villanova Tommy (Ret.), along with Bruce Hornsby, Billy Joel, Mark Riviera, Southside, Rich Pagano, Will Lee, and Jeff Kazee. Jeff’s the man on December 20th at the new and larger venue, The Cutting Room.

High 5’s for the great Matt Winick, loyal reader Rich Hussey, David Goldberg and Tom Junod (Trinity’s best two writers), Rob DiGisi, Joshua Milne aka Mr. Carolina. Thanks to Matt Doherty, Brian Moran and our Rebound Live zoom cast. … The Cross Sound Ferry, a Padron Anniversary ‘64, Angel Gallinal and Rob Levine. HT friends, one and all: Min, Tony Luisi, St I contingent: Audrey, Dianne, Mary Civ, Clare Krummenacker-Crossley (who has a Sweet J from the perimeter), Debbie and her Mom who ran the bookstore. Robert Bed, Ray, Speels, Tony Pagano, George, Paul LoPresti, Barbara Kobel, Joe Koch, Dougie, Murph, Jim Dige, Ernie L, Bill Macedonia – my HS gym locker-sharing bud, and John Geerlings. Add: Joey T and Kathy L, Atta, John Murray, Mario, Regina C(fellow St J’s) and Carole Ann Catapano (thanks on the house assist, as it was gut-wrenching). Hundreds of others – all still one – Remember “The Black,” Mike Blackie Blackwell, and we’re all Titans forever.

Closer to home, thanks to Joe D, Stephen Riley, Tod Rosensweig and the recently retired DJ all deserve a Boston-based mention. … Best to Bob Ryan – the Commish, Jan Volk and The Tradition. … Johnnie, Dave, Arty, GM Dana and GM Higor along with the entire West End Johnnies (and Fenway Johnnies) operation. Congrats to Dana and his bride on their recent nuptials.

Here’s to John Kosner, who is always there for for our friendship and for sound business advice. Buddy Gumina – Grant Ave Partners, Boston VC Sports crew and especially to Ken Adelson via Pivottv Media.

I’m thankful for my neighbors. If the pandemic did ONE thing, it solidified the relationships for many of those who live on our street. Special thanks to Tucky and Matt and Jen, to Rachel for organizing the best damn block party in the history of the Commonwealth. Crap! Even, the Mayor showed up! … And special thanks to Margo and the late golden retriever Deacon. … Deacon was a great dog – went out, got cancer and was gone in a blink of an eye. He was our dog, Penny (Lane)’s role model. … While we’re at it, let’s thank the good dog, Billie, and his Dad, Kevin and all the other members of our little play group that has Penny – somehow sensing it’s Saturday and/or Sunday and going bonkers all morning until she sees my Yeti travel mug and knows it’s PLAYTIME!

By the way, let’s give thanks and a warm welcome to Max. He’s the new pup on the block and Penny’s little brother. He’s been fully adopted by the Lyons/Martin crew and is calling our home his home, as of this weekend. Which brings us to the finish line for this year’s THANKS … to Clare and the girls and all of our wonderful immediate and extended family (Tom and Mom).

Max, you can call him Mighty Max, or the guy with the Silver Hammer

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: There’s a special trio of new books to recommend as Holiday gifts for your favorite basketball fan. Let’s list them in no particular order and highly recommend you buy/read/gift them all.

David Hollander wrote, “How Basketball Can Save the World.” Hollander stresses the powerful aspects of the sport of basketball and how it teaches very important messages in the simple manner in which the game is played. Let’s focus for a second on teamwork, being in sync with one-another, and a realization of being one small part of a concept much larger than any one of us.

Consider how basketball teaches everyone important messages about gender and equity, inclusion and resilience. As we know, there’s a lot going on to help a basketball team at any level become one. The buzz-phrase is to put “trust in each other” and, as coach Larry Brown always preached, “to play the right way.”

Taking those messages and the basic concept to the world is what Hollander hopes and truly believes can make the sport an international language for peace and understanding. He works and provides guiding principles for reimagining what might be possible to correct the course the world is on today.

The United Nations took one of Professor Hollander’s ideas and declared December 21 – the date that Dr. James Naismith invented and played the first game – as World Basketball Day. Among the ways to celebrate the day are:

  • Hand someone a basketball
  • Join or host an “open run” (scrimmage)
  • Attend a game (Live-any level)
  • Watch a game on TV or a screen somewhere
  • Gift a Nerf-hoop to a college student
  • Simply hold a basketball

Along the same lines, there’s a great new book by friend and colleague Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff entitled, “Basketball Empire: France and the Making of the Global NBA and WNBA.”

Krasnoff, who earned her Ph. D at the City University of New York, is both a student and teacher of sport and basketball as a tool of diplomacy. Her book and her lifelong research delved into the rise of the sport of basketball in France. She taught the concepts of Sport and Diplomacy at NYU’s Preston Robert Tisch Institute of Global Sport (where yours truly has lectured) and later became a Research Associate and Co-Director of Basketball Diplomacy-Africa for (School of Oriental and African Studies) SOAS University of London.

Her research led her to write her first books, “The Making of Les Blues: Sport in France, 1958-2010” and “Views from the Embassy: The Role of the U.S. Diplomatic Community in France (1914). Krasnoff combined efforts with Mr. Boaz Paldi and the United Nations’ Development Programme where Paldi works as the Chief Creative Officer. Together, they tackled tough issues on how sports and public relations can play important roles in the problems humanity faces in times of crisis.

Basketball Empire is a good read for a fan seeking a deep dive into the history of basketball or an academic looking for clear results from extensive research in the field of diplomacy.

Three recently published and “Must Read” Sports Books, all great for a 2023 Holiday gift (photo by Digital Sports Desk

Lastly, a fun read for any New York sports fan or for any fan who appreciates some of the greatest sports stories in history is “The 20 Greatest Moments in New York Sports History (Our Generation of Memories – 1960 to Today) by Todd Ehrlich and Gary Myers.

While the book is a must read for any New Yorker born from 1959 through modern days, it is so well done, it’ll be appreciated by all.

The book begins with a forward by former New York Giants wide receiver, David Tyree, and if you remember, it was Tyree who made one of the most unexpected, difficult and impactful catches in Super Bowl history. (Super Bowl XLII (2008) when Tyree made what is commonly called, the “Helmet Catch.”

It was the last catch of Tyree’s career and it miraculously extended the game-winning drive in the Giants’ 17-14 victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots. The moment was voted “Play of the Decade” (2000s) by NFL Films and it tips the hand on the type of memories described marvelously by Ehrlich and Myers throughout the book.

“20 Greatest Moments in New York Sports” is a great gift for your 20-to-60 something sports fan and the concept of the book is sure to spread to other cities and even college campuses as Ehrlich expands his research and writing team(s).

Without spoiling the contents of the book, the key aspect of the storytelling is the magnificent way a single moment/memory is backed-up by the steps taken by the team or individual to get to that meoment in sports history.

Additionally, there was not a moment missed – and in an unusual manner – there might not be a valid argument to top the 20 moments chosen by the authors. How rare is that in the age of sports talk radio and arguing over every single day in sports?

You can purchase the books:

  • 20 Moments in NY Sports HERE
  • Basketball Empire HERE
  • How Basketball Can Save the World HERE

TIDBITS: Some early observations from college hoops: After beating No. 1 Kansas in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational this past Tuesday, the Marquette Golden Eagles lost 78-75 to No. 2 Purdue in the title game of the tourney. The Golden Eagles (4-1) were down 15 points before making a late surge and having a chance to tie the game in the game’s final possession. Tyler Kolek led MU with 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists. … UConn’s Tristen Newton recorded his third career triple-double on Friday and No. 5 Connecticut (6-0) routed Manhattan College, 90-60, to win its 23rd consecutive non-conference game. … Each of those 23 non-conference wins, including all six in the last NCAA Tournament, have come by double digits. That gives the Huskies a tie with the 2008-2009 North Carolina Tar Heels for most consecutive victories in non-conference play.

 

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Nov 19

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Charissa Thompson, NFL sideline reporter for FOX Sports and NFL Prime on Amazon (Thursday Night Football), walked herself into a hailstorm of negativity this week when she participated on an industry podcast and explained to listeners that she periodically “made up” comments and attributed them to head coaches who blew-off a halftime or pregame interview.

While speaking on an episode of the “Pardon My Take” podcast, Thompson said, “I’ve said this before, so I haven’t been fired for saying it, but I’ll say it again: I would make up the report sometimes, because … the coach wouldn’t come out at halftime, or it was too late and I didn’t want to screw up the report.

“So I was like, ‘I’m just gonna make this up.’ Because first of all, no coach is gonna get mad if I say, ‘Hey, we need to stop hurting ourselves, we need to be better on third down, we need to stop turning the ball over … and do a better job of getting off the field.’ They’re not gonna correct me on that,” she continued. “So I’m like, ‘It’s fine, I’ll just make up the report.’”

OUCH!

In the name of a long history of sideline reporters from Lesley Visser to Pat O’Brien to Hannah Storm to Ahmad Rashad to the late Tony Siragusa, Ms. Thompson set NFL game coverage back 25 years or more.

Why?

Explained David Aldridge, an editor for The Athletic but widely known as an NBA beat reporter and then sideline reporter for the NBA on TNT, “Writing about sideline reporting, much less doing it, is fraught with peril.

“Amend that. “Peril” is not precise here. More accurately, those who think the job is superfluous will never believe there is any value to the reporting gleaned from those who do it best, or to the real-time reporting on injuries and strategy.

“But that doesn’t mean Charissa Thompson’s admission that she, apparently more than once, simply made up halftime reports when she couldn’t speak to coaches coming off or back onto the field during her time as a Fox Sports sideline reporter for football games isn’t immensely corrosive to my business. Thompson, a host for Fox Sports and for NFL games on Amazon Prime, apologized Friday and said she “chose the wrong words” during an interview but added she “never lied” during her halftime reports.

“Too late,” wrote Aldridge, feeling the pain of 1,000+ cuts by social media critics.

“There is an assault on journalism,” D.A. continued. “It is ongoing and unceasing. It is an extension of the assault on truth by powerful people — in autocratic governments, in multinational corporations, garden-variety jerks — who don’t want to be regulated or challenged or criticized. It is a sign of journalism’s ongoing power that it is under such relentless attack by so many.

“It is working: Journalism is now regularly among the least trusted professions, and misinformation thrives. A lie on X/Twitter or IG or TikTokmetastasizes in the collective social bloodstream, swallowed whole by many who don’t know better — and, sadly, promoted by many who do.

“The best journalism provides a necessary counterweight to that fiction. It is the seeking of truth, and the conveying of actual events – how they happened, and why they matter,” noted Aldridge in a column posted under The Athletic’s banner.

It’s not that difficult, says this columnist, and this incident should not be blown out of proportion as we all volley-in our claims to journalistic integrity. Couldn’t Thompson simply state, “Coach “X” wasn’t able to stop for our sideline interview but earlier in the week, he stressed x, y and z for his team to succeed today.

 

Would a viewer think less of her? Would the game producer wonder why she missed the interview although their two-way communication set-up would’ve tipped-off the TV truck in real time? Would a network executive think less of her, and might it reflect negatively on future assignments?

Maybe so, maybe not. It would’ve been a non-issue if she simply told the truth – to her colleagues and the viewers (the fans). Without a doubt, Thompson needed to tell the truth.

Ahh, the truth. It sets you free in every profession except journalism and nightly cable TV entertainment shows, camouflaged as news coverage.

“Newspapers don’t tell the truth under many different, and occasionally innocent, scenarios,” wrote Aldridge’s old boss, the late, great Ben Bradlee(editor of the Washington Post from 1968 to 1991). “Mostly when they don’t know the truth. Or when they quote someone who does not know the truth.

“And more and more, when they quote someone who is spinning the truth, shaping it to some preconceived version of a story that is supposed to be somehow better than the truth, omitting details that could be embarrassing.

“And finally, when they quote someone who is flat-out lying. There is a lot of spinning and a lot of lying in our times — in politics, in government, in sports and everywhere. It’s gotten to a point where, if you are like me, you no longer believe the first version of anything. It wasn’t always that way,” said Bradlee in an October 22, 2014 opinion piece that quoted his own essay, excerpted from the Press-Enterprise Lecture he delivered at the University of California, Riverside, on Jan. 7, 1997.

Bradlee’s words are often paraphrased: “We don’t always print the truth. We print what people tell us is the truth.”

That’s an illuminating statement – whether in 1973 or 2023 – when the truth is batted around into self-admitted “alternate facts.” A scary situation for sure.

Back to Thompson: The reporter apologized and will try to move on.

“Working in media I understand how important my words are and I chose the wrong words to describe the situation. I’m sorry,” Thompson wrote.

But the fallout has begun, and many journalists are carrying the weight of Thompson’s unbelievable and unforgivable action(s), captured on live tape to be played forever and ever. Ideally, it will be discussed at journalism schools to teach an important lesson.

There’s a sub-plot underneath all of the discussion on truth, made-up coaches’ comments and everything being written in the wake of Thompson’s failures. The sideline reporters, as well as the pre-game hosts and studio talking heads, are all seeking on air time. Like playing time for a player, airtime is controlled by the game producers at the live remote broadcasts, and it is as valuable as gold.

No airtime, no recognition.

No recognition, no chance to advance one’s career.

We’ve heard it all before.

It’s all about money, exposure, self-promotion, ego, and perceived upward mobility for a coveted network assignment. It’s a cut-throat world in sports television, and making up quotes and strategies for a football coach is not the way to advance.

Embed from Getty Images

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Boston Bruins veteran and fan favorite Milan Lucic is stepping away from the team, effective immediately. “The Boston Bruins are aware of an incident involving Milan Lucic Friday evening,” the team said in a statement. “Milan is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team. The organization takes these matters very seriously and will work with the Lucic family to provide any support and assistance they may need. We will have no further comment at this time.”

Boston Police said the department could neither confirm nor deny any investigation into an incident involving Lucic.

The veteran forward has been sidelined with a foot injury after taking a puck off his skate. He was eligible for return but Bruins coach Jim Montgomerysaid Lucic had fallen behind on his rehabilitation program.

STORMING: St. John’s is 2-2 over their first four games and will play Utah on Sunday for third place honors in the Shriner’s Charleston Classic in South Carolina. Coach Rick Pitino has seen the fatigue and lack of familiarity before as he blends an entirely new team together.

“We played a really good first half,” said Pitino after the Johnnie’s loss to Dayton. “We had one defensive breakdown [in the first half]. When you’re playing a team and the game is see-sawing back-and-forth with [eight] lead changes, you can’t blow coverage.

“We had 11 blown coverages in that game after having one in the first half. So, why is that?

“Because you have 14 guys that have not played together and are not used to this type of defense. Defense hasn’t been their personality. It’s like the best player on a high school team where the coach says stay out of foul trouble and let the other guys play defense. That’s what happening right now.

“We have a bunch of guys that were the best offensive player on their team and now in order to win the BIG EAST, they have to play defense and it’s going to take some time.”

TROUBLES: It was a bad week for two rising entities in the sports world. Out in Las Vegas, this weekend’s Formula 1 race was besieged by logistical problems. Wrote Autoweek: “The first day of track activity at the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix proved to be quite the embarrassment for the FIA and Formula 1 after a loose drain cover caused significant delays and amended sessions.

“It was a lesson in humility for Formula 1—which is the promoter of a Grand Prix for the first time—after relentlessly and arrogantly hyping its event as one of the biggest sporting spectacles of the year,” continued Autoweek.

The second practice session, due to begin at midnight in Vegas, was delayed, as officials continued to work on the 30 man-hole covers along the famed Las Vegas Strip.

Race officials are being proactive when discussing the new talk of the town, the $2.3 billion “Sphere” which can illuminate the sky. F1 and the FIA, motorsports global governing body, have barred the Sphere from displaying blue, red or yellow when cars are on the track, so as to not to disorient drivers who look for those colors on trackside LED panels to convey key information, such as danger near the track.
The damaged So-Fi Center in Florida (Photo: Twitter/X)

In the TGL indoor golf world – featured prominently here last week with the announcement of the Boston Common Golf team – the roof caved in on Tuesday night.

Literally.

Thankfully, no one was injured during or after the incident, but the air-supported dome appeared to be significantly damaged as of Wednesday morning. As of publication, there is no clear cut prognosis for the new building (TGL’s studio, so to say), nor its effect on scheduling.

Lastly, we had a “Delay of Drone” at this week’s NFL Thursday Night Football game. The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday confirmed it is investigating a rogue drone that was spotted hovering above M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The sighting led game officials to temporarily halt the Ravens-Bengals game in the second quarter. Another delay came later during the fourth quarter, but Ravens representatives said at the time it was unrelated to the drone.

In a statement Friday, representatives for the Maryland Stadium Authority said security and Maryland State Police were able to locate the drone pilot and directed him to immediately land the drone. The individual was unaware of the restrictions but did not have a waiver to operate the drone in the vicinity of the stadium during the game. Authorities have since forwarded details of the incident to the FAA’s law enforcement assistance program.

TIDBITS: The annual Tradition at TD Boston Garden is on the horizon. The Tradition is the annual celebration of sports in Boston and a fundraising gala for the Sports Museum on the Garden’s two Suite Levels. Since 2002, the Sports Museum has been privileged to honor a host of sports legends at the event, including Bill Russell, Ted Williams, David Ortiz, Martina Navratilova, Jack Nicklaus, Lawyer Milloy, Pedro Martinez, Red Auerbach, Larry Bird, Ray Bourque, Doug Flutie, Cam Neely, Aly Raisman, John Hannah, Nancy Kerrigan, Chante Bonds, Shaquille O’Neal, and many more. The Class of 2023 is a fitting continuation of that line-up of superstars and it will take place on the floor of the Garden on November 29.

The honorees for 2023 are Dennis Eckersley (Baseball), Kevin Faulk(Football), Glenn “Doc” Rivers (Basketball), Brianna Scurry (Soccer), Bob Sweeney (Ice Hockey), and Dana White (Special Legacy Award for his creation of Mixed Martial Arts entity, The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

SPECIAL OFFER: Feel free to forward this e-newsletter to your friends, family, neighbors, strangers, plumbers, fire fighters, astronauts and other sports fans with hopes they subscribe with this new Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday special discount offer. It is as inexpensive as Substack can make it (except for the many freebies which – at the least – boost my circulation numbers).

Special Holiday Discount

PARTING WORDS & MUSIC: To say that I’m a big fan of bass guitarist Will Lee (not Will Leitch) is a bit like saying I’ve been rooting for the Johnnies all these years (saw my first game at Alumni Hall when Calvin Murphy and his Niagara University Purple Eagles visited Queens on February 13, 1969 – St. John’s 97, Niagara 60). Aside from an occasional charity concert, most of my Will Lee fandom revolves around his lead-bass role with the Fab Faux (Best Beatles cover band of all time) and his work as a long-time member of the CBS Orchestra and Paul Shaffer’s band for David Letterman. … Somehow or another, I stumbled upon a Letterman Show posted to YouTube. Although I’ve seen him sing dozens of Beatles/Paul McCartney ballads, I can say, I did NOT know Will Lee had this performance within him:

While We’re Young (Ideas) is a weekly Sunday Sports Notebook and news column written by Terry Lyons. The posting of each notebook harkens back to the days when you’d walk over to the city news stand 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, quotes and quips.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes is brought to you by Digital Sports Desk.