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

BOSTON – The radio and its sister, the transistor radio, gave way to the television which soon became a color TV. A few years later, we watched sports from around the globe by way of satellite TV. Years later, the technology improved from over-the-air to cable TV. A little while after that we could buy our own pizza-sized DIRECT-TV satellite dish which gave way to the smart TV and streaming devices.

Basketball’s set shot became a jump shot which morphed into running one-handers and finger rolls. Sooner or later, we had the dunk shot, then the slam dunk. Years later, the gimmick three-point shot was brought into the gamed years after that, pro teams were shooting 50 three-point attempts per game.

In baseball, the fastball was soon joined by the curve ball which gave way to a slider, then a cutter which is now a sweeper.

All-in-all, things ch, ch, ch, change.

Things change in life and in sports. It’s inevitable. When you take a giant step back to examine the progress, progress is good. Standing still is bad.

Take a look at the coverage of the 2025 Masters Tournament. CBS Sports via Paramount+ (and similar coverage by ESPN and its ESPN+ Streaming service) will provide over 100 hours of coverage this week. ESPN+ served up four hours of coverage of the Par 3 tournament on Wednesday. Not too long ago, over-the-air TV coverage of the Masters was limited to four or five hours from Augusta on the weekend.

For all four days of Masters Tournament play, viewers can watch four Featured Groups per day and Featured Holes coverage of Holes 4, 5 and 6, the famed Amen Corner and Holes No. 15 and No. 16. – all streamed on ESPN+ or Masters.com sites.

That a ton of TV coverage and a ton of change for the members of Augusta National who used to pride themselves as the ultimate “less is more” believers.

The “less is more” theory was perfected by the late NBA Commissioner David Sternwhen the league had to consolidate regular season coverage on CBS Sports in order to land a (then) lucrative tv deal that really focused on the NBA Playoffs and Finals. At the time, the NBA national tv deal was only eight regular season exposures plus the NBA All-Star Game. The power of the league’s cable tv package via Turner Sports had yet to reach its eventual impact.

Let’s talk about another ch, ch, ch, change.

The NBA will begin postseason play this week with a relatively new Play-In Tournament that will be as competitive as any first round match-up. Upon conclusion, the two teams to survive the Play-In will be in position to upset the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. That’s especially so in the West where about four games separates seed No. 2 from Seed No. 8.

In other words, the No. 2 Houston Rockets will have their hands full with their opponent, no matter who it is. That’s good for competition and good for the NBA which sparks interest in an extra four franchise markets and a massive marketing deal with So-Fi as the NBA Playoffs begin.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Back in the good old days of the Masters, these nine players were atop the leaderboard. In 2025, they all missed the cut. In fact, of the 18 former champions in the 2025 field, nine made the cut and these nine did not”:

• Dustin Johnson, 3 over (74-73)
• Bernhard Langer, 3 over (74-73)
• Sergio Garcia, 4 over (72-76)
• Mike Weir, 4 over (75-73)
• Fred Couples, 4 over (71-77)
• Phil Mickelson, 5 over (75-74)
• Adam Scott, 5 over (77-72)
• Jose Maria Olazabal, 7 over (77-74)
• Angel Cabrera, 11 over (75-80)
• Vijay Singh withdrew on Monday

This year’s tournament marked the end of his Masters playing career for Germany’s Bernard Langer, one of the true, gentlemen of the game of golf. He missed a 10-foot par putt on 18 and missed the cut by one after rounds of 74 and 73. Not only would making the putt have extended the two-time champion’s Masters career by two rounds, but it also would have made Langer the oldest player to ever make the cut at Augusta National. “It was a very special last two days for me,” said Langer, the 1985 and 1993 Masters champion, after 41 years playing Augusta.

All five amateurs in the 2025 Masters field missed the cut. Justin Hastings, the Latin American Amateur champion, shot 76-72 to lead the amateur contingent, but a player must complete 72 holes to earn low amateur honors. Hastings, No. 12 in PGA TOUR University, finished T13 at this year’s Mexico Open at VidantaWorld.

MASTERS: After an opening round 72 (even par), Rory McIlroy put two great rounds of (66) together and leads the 2025 Masters by two strokes over an equally impressive Bryson DeChambeau (69-68-69). The tournament’s 18 and 36-hole leader, Justin Rose, shot (75) on Saturday and fell seven strokes off the lead and is tied for sixth place. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler is also seven back heading into Sunday’s final round.

The post TL’s Sports Notebook | April 13 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

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

BOSTON – The Polar Vortex has been doing cartwheels all around North America as the glaciers melt in the Northern 51st. With it, the ice surrounding our homes is deeper, darker and as dense as the ice at TD Garden, where Team Canada recently defeated the U.S. of A. in overtime of the championship game of the 4 Nations Tournament

4 Nations was missing the sanctioned Russian Federation team and possibly the next best, the Czech Republic, for sure, but for an NHL contrived mid-season tournament, the event(s) in Montreal and here at TD Garden in the cold North End couldn’t have gone better, sans the injuries sustained by Charlie McAvoy, the Bruins’ best defenseman and Florida Panthers star forward Matthew Tkachuk who sat out Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken because of a lower-body injury. Panthers coach Paul Maurice announced Tkachuk’s absence after the pregame morning skate. Tkachuk first experienced discomfort during the 4 Nations, when he helped lead the United States to the tournament final.

McAvoy had “an infection in his right shoulder” and suffered “a significant injury to his AC joint” during Team USA’s 4 Nations opener last week, the Bruins said. He was released from the hospital on Thursday and is reportedly on a week-to-week timeline to return.

With McAvoy out, the Bruins’ new top backline pairing heading into the second half of the regular season will be Nikita Zadorov and Andrew Peeke. Recent call-up Michael Callahan is skating on the second pairing with Brandon Carlo, while Parker Wotherspoon, who has not played since January 30, is on the third pairing with Mason Lohrei.

Boston has an uphill climb, as they’ve dropped to sixth place in the NHL’s Atlantic Division, but they remain only one point behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final Wild Card spot. The Bruins are the fourth worst team in the Conference in +/- goal differential.

Down the hallway, the Boston Celtics are among the top three teams in the Eastern Conference but trail the Cleveland Cavaliers for the coveted top spot. Not surprisingly, the New York Knickerbockers are only two games behind Boston in the loss column. Even though the Celtics have won eight of their last nine games, the Sunday, Feb 23 (today) 1pm game against the Knicks at TD Garden will be a key indicator for the second half of the NBA season. The Knicks are coming off a 142-105 thrashing at the hands of the Cavs.

Similarly, on February 8, the Celtics slapped the Knicks’ ears with a 131-104 lesson at Madison Square Garden. Jayson Tatum put up 40 points in that game to anchor the Celtics’ scoring effort. Guard Payton Pritchard had 25 points off the bench. … NY Knicks ‘glue’ man, Josh Hart, has been sidelined with patellofemoral syndrome, a painful knee condition.

In other NBA news, San Antonio’s amazing All-Star center Victor Wembanyama will be sidelined for the rest of the season due to deep vein thrombosis (blood clot) in his right shoulder. His injury pretty much buries the Spurs underneath the four Western Conference play-in teams but assures them of another substantial pick in the NBA Draft.

All in all, we’re coming down the homestretch, and I don’t mean at rain-soaked Daytona.

If you’re watching the calendar and awaiting the great sports days of the spring, you’re not alone. We’re only 22 days away from the first pitch of the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season, as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs have the honor of opening the season in Tokyo. In doing so, the great fans in Japan will see some combination of the outstanding Japanese pitching trio of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and newcomer Roki Sasaki, while Chicago is likely to throw SP Shota Imanaga in the opener. … The rest of the MLB teams open their 2025 season on or about Thursday March 27 with the Red Sox at Texas. … It’s 40 days and 40 nights until Opening Day at Fenway Park in Boston.

SPRINGTIME SPORTS CALENDAR

• February 22 – MLS Regular Season begins
• March 2 & 5 – Atlantic Sun and Big South Tournaments begin
• March 9 – Daylight Savings Time begins
• March 11-15 – ACC Basketball Tournament (Charlotte)
• March 12-15 – BIG EAST Conference Tournament (MSG)
• March 16 – NCAA Selection Sunday
• March 17 – St. Ptrick’s Day
• March 18-19 – MLB Regular Season begins (in Tokyo, Japan) (LAD/CHI)
• March 20-21 – NCAA Basketball First Round (Play-In is March 18-19)
• March 20-21 – Hockey East Semifinals and Championship (TD Garden)
• March 27-28 – NCAA Sweet 16
• April 3-6 – NCAA Women’s Final Four (Tampa Bay)
• April 4 – Boston Red Sox home opener vs. St. Louis (2:10pm)
• April 5-7 – NCAA Men’s Final Four (San Antonio)
• April 10-13 – The Masters (Augusta, GA)
• April 10-12 – NCAA Frozen Four (St. Louis)
• April 15-18 – NBA Play-In Tournament
• April 19 – NBA Playoffs begin
• April 20 – NHL Playoffs begin
• April 21 – Patriots’ Day (Boston Marathon/Red Sox @11:10am)
• May 24-26 – NCAA LAX Final Four (Foxboro, Mass)

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The 4 Nations Face-Off concluded on Thursday night with Canada defeating the USA, 3-2, in overtime. According to ESPN and Nielsen, the championship game delivered 9.3m viewers, ESPN’s largest audience for ice hockey, ever. The previous high on any broadcaster was 8.9 million for NBC’s telecast of Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues. During the USA loss to Canada, the ESPN audience peaked at 10.4 million viewers and gave the network its largest non-NFL or college football viewership on the network’s platforms since the 2024 NBA Finals.

Former New England Patriots QB Tom Brady purchased part of a Foxborough-based trading card retailer and wants to help it score new business, according to the Boston Business Journal. … The Pats’ GOAT acquired a 50% stake in CardVault and is lending his name to the company, which will be known as CardVault by Tom Brady, according to the news release issued this week. The company did not disclose specific terms of the deal. … CardVault sells sports trading cards and other sports collectibles through its stores at TD Garden in Boston, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, and at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.

TIDBITS: “The Trade,” as it is now known, seems to be one of those occurrences in sports where everyone “knows where they were” when they heard the news. While it’s not of the level of Michael Jordan leaving the NBA in his prime for minor league baseball, the Dallas Mavericks’ trade of Luka Dončić for LA’s Anthony Davis (and other assorted goodies) just stopped the NBA/sports world in its tracks. … Mavericks great Dirk Nowitzki was in – get this – The Maldives, vacationing with family, when “his phone blew up,” according to the franchise’s all-time best player. … In the truly global NBA, the news of the trade travelled 10,022 miles in a matter of seconds.

Is Boston Brewin’ or is it just another cup of coffee? Brad Marchand, captain of the Bruins, winning member of Team Canada at the 4 Nations tournament and a six-time NHL All-Star, is launching a new business – his own brand of ground coffee. Brad’s Brew will soon be available at 90 Market Basket grocery stores in New England, according to a news release issued this week. … The coffee comes in medium and dark roast blends and is roasted by a family-owned business, Boston’s Best Coffee, which is based in South Easton.

The 2014 NBA Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams of Syracuse University, is hoping to land a WNBA franchise for Boston, whether it’s through expansion or being a destination for a current team that wants to move. Williams is part of the Boston Women’s Basketball Partners group that is spearheading the initiative. The group hasn’t submitted a bid to the WNBA, although it has talked with the third party the league hired to handle the expansion bidding process. “The main objective is to get a team in Boston,” said Carter-Williams to the Associated Press earlier this week. “It doesn’t matter if it’s an expansion team or a team that wants to sell and move to Boston.” … The hint was being dropped to the nearby Connecticut Sun franchise, playing out of the Mohegan Sun resort in Uncasville, Connecticut – about a 107 mile drive from TD Garden. Should the Sun wish to set up in Boston, complete with its loyal following and NESN broadcasting deal. … The WNBA already announced three expansion teams that will start play over the next two years, with Golden State beginning this summer, followed by Toronto and Portland starting in the summer of 2026. … One other expansion franchise is expected in 2027, and that will come from a long list of bidders, including Cleveland (again) – where are the Rockers? – Detroit (again) – where are the Shock? Houston (again) – where are the champion Comets? They’re all lined up along with Philadelphia, Kansas City and Nashville, among others.

THIS JEST IN: Where’s Johnny Damon when you need him? …Why? …It’s “Bring back the beards to the Bronx” year for the New York Yankees. Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner declared “well groomed beards” would be permitted in declaring an end to the franchise’s longstanding policy that allowed mustaches but not beards or unruly sideburns.

“In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees – spanning several eras – to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback,” Steinbrenner said Friday morning in a statement. “These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years. Ultimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”

The policy on player appearance includes the length of their mane — stating “hair cannot touch the uniform collar” — and came about in 1976. When George Steinbrenner died in 2010, his daughter and Yankees managing partner, Jennifer, insisted the team’s rule not be changed. … A generational shift that came too late for infamously shaggy stars such as Damon and Randy Johnson takes effect immediately.

IS IT COINCIDENTAL timing or part of a plan, as Steinbrenner claimed? Yes, there is at least one current Yankees player who appreciates the razor relief. New closer Devin Williams reported to Tampa with the goatee look he’s had for several years. When the topic of the facial hair policy came up, Williams was coy and said only “we’ll see” when pressed on his plans for altering his appearance.

CAN’T MAKE IT UP: PGA Tour pro Blades Brown made the cut at the 2025 Mexico Open at Vidanta World. To do so, he shot 68-69 for -5 when the cut came at -3. Brown made his PGA Tour debut about a month ago at the American Express at LaQuinta. Since then, it’s been a challenge. “I mean, I’m hitting a lot of golf balls. The weather back in Nashville isn’t amazing right now, but I’m super happy to come down here to Mexico and speak some Spanish,” said Brown. “I took Spanish four years in high school, so I’m really happy I chose that over Latin. I’m having so much fun here at the resort and I can’t wait for the next two days.”

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Feb 25 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

BOSTON – Let’s start the Year 2025 with some bold predictions for the sports world in the year to come.

• Ohio State will win the College Football National Championship.
• Free agent pitcher Roki Sasaki will sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• Canada will win the 4 Nations Face-Off.
• The Detroit Lions will win the Super Bowl. Jared Goff will be MVP.
• Kansas will win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship with Tennessee, Duke and Florida falling short in the 2025 Final Four.
• Citizen Bull will win the Kentucky Derby but not the Triple Crown.
• The Vegas Golden Knights will win the Stanley Cup, defeating the Washington Capitals.
• The Oklahoma City Thunder will win the NBA title, defeating the Boston Celtics with OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander winning a double MVP for the regular season and NBA Finals.
• Scottie Scheffler will repeat as the winner of the TOUR Championship, the FedEx Cup and the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year. He will not get arrested this season.
• The Los Angeles Dodgers will be World Series champions once again.

Admittedly, there are no wild and crazy predictions included in the bunch. Every team, player and horse has a legitimate chance if you were to poll the oddsmakers of Las Vegas.

It’ll be evident in the results of MLB that the rich will continue to get richer (Dodgers, Yankees, Mets), largely because the rules of baseball allow for it without much regard to league-wide parity.

For instance, the Dodgers agreed to a deal with star Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim, the team announced this weekend. The deal is for three years and a guaranteed $12.5 million with an option for 2028-29 that could increase the value of the deal to $22 million. … Kim batted .304 and logged a .364 on-base percentage over eight seasons with the Kiwoom Heroes. He also stole at least 20 bases in each of the past seven seasons, reaching as high as 46 in 2021. A left-handed hitter, Kim slashed .326/.383/.458 with 11 home runs and 30 steals for Kiwoom in ’24.

In the NBA and NHL, where teams play from the same proverbial deck of cards with various salary cap restrictions, repeating as champion is a difficult task.

Photo by Thomas Bormans on Unsplash

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Many of us fell asleep after midnight as December 31st turned to January 1st and the year 2025 began in the quiet peace of the night. In New Orleans, it wasn’t quiet nor peaceful in the French Quarter and by 3:15am, horror brought 2025 in with death and destruction. If you’ve been paying attention to the news, they (terrorists) ruined the celebratory atmosphere of fun and revelry in one of America’s great cities. In doing so, they put a damper over the Sugar Bowl (quarterfinal of the CFP) and the Bowl season, in general. More importantly, 15 souls were lost in a random, senseless attack which injured 36 others and left the entire city of New Orleans on edge, fearful of what might be next.

We’ve seen it before, right here in Boston, when two morons decided to place deadly homemade bombs in two backpacks and dropped the bags along the sidewalks of the finish line route of the Boston Marathon in 2013. The initial bombing caused the deaths of three and injured more than 260 others, not counting the emotional scars of friends and families of the victims and casualties. In addition, in the ensuing police action, a police officer was shot and killed.

The terrorism didn’t start in Boston, as there’s been countless strikes, including the 9/11 attacks, an open shooter at a Las Vegas outdoor concert, bombings at clubs in cities dotting the USA, Europe and throughout the world.

The unbelievable thing is the fact film producers turn the acts of terrorism into motion pictures and documentaries. Director and screenwriter Peter Berg, along with co-writers Matt Cook, and Joshua Zetumer, made a the film based on the book – “Boston Strong” – by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge. Boston-based actor Mark Wahlberg became the face of the film, “Patriots’” Day, all with good intention but still glorifying the act.

In theaters now is director Tim Fehlbaum‘s Golden Globe-nominated film “September 5.” The film is set almost entirely in the ABC Sports control room and focuses on the real-time challenges faced by the broadcasters in covering the terrorist plot at the 1972 Munich Olympics. September 5 wasn’t the first to chronicle that horrendous attack, as “Munich” and “One Day in September” predate the current film.

ABC Sports anchor Jim McCay summed it up that bleak September day, stating: “Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They have now said that there were 11 hostages. Two were killed in their rooms, yesterday morning. Nine were killed at the airport, tonight. They’re all gone.”

Yes, the victims of the ‘72 Olympics are all gone, but the terrorists – and the motion pictures – keep coming back.

TIDBITS: The things I think about include the fact that 8 o’clock coffee is just as good at 6:30 or 7 o’clock. … When I ordered my coffee, the counterperson seemed quite confused when I asked for No Sugar but Half and 1/4 … Wind breakers don’t really break the wind, and, in fact, the wind breaks the jacket more often than not. … Aside from their size, there’s not much difference between softballs and hardballs in baseball. If you get hit with either one, they’re both pretty hard. … You’ve heard of Manute Bol’s son Bol Bol, right? Pretty good player. Maybe he should sponsor a bowl game and it could be the Bol Bol Bowl.

Random Notes: In case anyone hasn’t noticed, UConn has reeled off seven straight “Ws” since the shakedown start in Maui. … the Big Ten basketball matchup of the week was UCLA at Nebraska. … Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama thinks the object of the game of golf is to shoot 65 or better … BC’s Zay Flowers, now known as Lamar Jackson’s favorite Baltimore Ravens wide receivers left Saturday’s game against the Cleveland Browns with an injured right knee. He walked off the field under his own power but further examination(s) will be necessary. Some might criticize Ravens head coach John Harbaugh for playing his starters, but Baltimore needed the win to earn the AFC North title, a game ahead of Pittsburgh. … TGL Golf will tee-off Tuesday, January 7 at 9:00pm ET on ESPN. The inaugural match will pit the New York Golf Club taking on The Bay Golf Club. Three players from each team will go head-to-head in a 15-hole match featuring two different formats – nine holes of Triples and six holes of Singles.

The column is happy to note a new indoor record for “Open Rate,” the key indicator of growth and acceptance for this publication each weekend. The new high mark is 78%. By comparison, a good open rate ranges from 17-28% and 21.33% is the industry average. With subscription offerings, the rate gets higher, of course.

“Hello Old Friend” – Need a new Spotify classic rock playlist? How about 4 hours and 57 minutes of serious rock, all compiled in one place for WWYI readers – right HERE. Eric Clapton and Yvonne Elliman are a reason to tune in right away.

LEGENDS OF SPORT: Here’s one of Andrew D. Bernstein’s tremendous podcasts, recorded at the Basketball Hall of Fame.

KEY DATES IN 2025: Everyone needs to circle these dates on their sports calendar:

January 2025:

9 – Orange Bowl (CFP Semis)

10 – Cotton Bowl (CFP Semis)

11-12 – NFL Wild Card Weekend

18-19 – NFL Divisional Playoffs

20 – College Football Championship (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta)

NBA – King Holiday Full NBA Schedule

26 – AFC/NFC Championship Sunday

February 2025:

2 – NFL Pro Bowl (Orlando)

6 – NBA Trade Deadline

9 – Super Bowl (New Orleans)

12 – MLB Pitchers & Catchers Report to Spring Training

12-15 – 4 Nations Face-Off (NHL) (Montreal)

14-16 – NBA All-Star Weekend (San Fran)

17 – 4 Nations Face-Off – Semis (Boston)

20 – 4 Nations Face-Off – Championship (Boston)

March 2025

8 – Final Regular Season Games in College Basketball

12-15 – BIG EAST Championship (The Garden, NYC)

16 – NCAA Men’s Selection Sunday

18-19 – MLB Tokyo Series (Cubs v. Dodgers) – Tokyo, Japan

18-19 – NCAA Men’s First Four (Dayton)

20-23 – NCAA First and Second Rounds

27 – MLB Opening Day

27-30 – Sweet 16/Elite 8 – NCAA Basketball – (ATL, NJ, INDY, SF)

April 2025:

4 – Boston Red Sox home opener (vs St. Louis)

5-7 – NCAA Men’s Final Four (San Antonio)

21 – Patriots’ Day/Boston Marathon

DIGITAL SPORTS DESK’S ALL NFL FANTASY TEAM: Here are the best players in NFL Fantasy Football for the 2024-25 season:

• QB – Josh Allen
• QB – Lamar Jackson
• QB – Joe Burrow
• RB – Saquon Barkley
• RB – Derrick Henry
• WR – Ja’Marr Chase
• WR – Justin Jefferson
• WR – Amon-Ra St. Brown
• TE – Brock Bowers
• TE – George Kittle
• PK – Chris Boswell
• PK – Brandon Aubrey
• DT – Broncos
• DT – Vikings

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Jan 5 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

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

BOSTON – The month of October just R-O-C-K-S. It always has rocked and I think it always will rock.

Most of the early rockin’ was done in the late ‘70s when AOR (album oriented rock) radio began with the likes of WPLJ-FM in NYC, KLOS in Los Angeles, the great KGB-FM in San Diego, WRIF-Radio in Detroit among many others all stations that left the 2-minute max-length sounds of the 1960s and delved into the lengthy music of Deep Purple, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Led Zeppelin – all playing six+ minute epics.

One station, WMNX in Minneapolis, is on record for the first to utilize the term “Rocktober.” Alex Tarpley, the former program manager of WMNX, Minneapolis, was the lead petitioner for “Rocktober,” which meant it would be nationally recognized and a law of the land to have the month of October so named by licensed radio stations.

By the mid-80s, Congress was working on – what else? – Immigration law. But within, came a proclaimation, written on November 6, 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), known as the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, into law. In addition to requiring employers to attest to their employees’ immigration status and making it illegal to knowingly hire illegal immigrants, the bill included in section 45, ii 99–603, paragraph 19, an un-related rider requiring all Classic Rock-format radio stations to observe Rocktober by using the official Rocktober voiceover when leading into a music segment, or “block,” or face fines of up to $5,000 a day.

“It was the Wild West, man,” said Tarpley. “We were out of our minds. WMNX was total madness. I had guys getting the Led out at 8 in the morning. I was first on that, by the way. This was the morning drive time and we’re getting the Led out. Unreal.”

Bob Donaldson, DJ, aka “Dodgy Bob from England”of WMNX, and later KSQY of San Diego noted the music being played became all about a block of music, rather than one song at a time, followed by commercial spots or banter.

“For me,” said Donaldson in his put-on English accent imitating Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers, “everything became about the block. “Life in the Fast Lane” backed with “Hotel California,” “Purple Haze” backed with “All Along the Watchtower,” “Stairway to Heaven” backed with “Kashmir.”

Darrel Schmidt, the station manager at WMNX noted, to freelancer Kevin Depew, “First time I heard a block I was livid,” said Schmidt. “Did I just hear two songs in a row by the same artist? What in the hell is going on?”

The rest was history for what is now called “Classic Rock Music,” but intertwined within the Rocktober moniker were people like New York Yankees superstar Reggie Jackson, a.k.a. “Mr. October.”

Thus, the stars aligned on an everlasting October sports scene of NFL football, College football, MLB Post Season and the World Series, together with the start of the NBA and NHL. It became a collision of great rock music and great sports. All in one month.

Nowadays, even the WNBA is as cool as it gets and right on the rockin’ theme as the WNBA Finals – once staged Labor Day weekend – is playing its decisive fifth game Sunday evening at 8pm (ET) on ESPN, going up against NBC’s Sunday Night Football match-up of the New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers (8:20pm ET).

Long live, Rocktober.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The head coach of the University of Virginia, Tony Bennett, packed it in this week. The reports first stated his sudden departure “was not health related.” But, deep down, maybe it was? … Bennett, one of the highly respected and very successful NCAA I head basketball coaches, explained to the masses that his decision was directly tied to the state of the game in 2024. “The hardest thing to say is when I looked at myself and I realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,” explained Bennett at a press conference. “If you’re going to do it, you gotta be all-in. If you do it half-hearted, it’s not fair to the university and those young men. So in looking at it, that’s what made me step down. I think it’s right for student-athletes to receive revenue. … “Please don’t mistake me,” he said Friday. “The game and college athletics is not in a healthy spot. It’s not. And there needs to be change, and it’s not going to go back. I think I was equipped to do the job here the old way. That’s who I am. … “It’s going to be closer to a professional model. There’s got to be collective bargaining. There has to be a restriction on the salary pool. There has to be transfer regulation restrictions. There has to be some limits on the agent involvement to these young guys. … And I worry a lot about the mental health of the student-athletes as all this stuff comes down.” … He’s 100% correct, says WWYI, but maybe his decision was health related? Maybe we all need to worry about the mental health of the college basketball coaches? … The saying is something like, “You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.” … It’s time for college coaches to recognize the fact they need a right hand to manage all the business BS that comes with the massive shift in college sports. The coach needs to give up the ‘full control’ militaristic approach and have a Basketball GM oversee everything that doesn’t cross between the four lines. ADs (who often think they can be the GM of a big time college basketball team but can’t because they need to dedicate their time across every sport – male and female) need to help hire that right hand for the head basketball coach. Colleges have pushed back against a “pro approach” for decades, trying to pretend it was an amateur sport, but once that March Madness () contract kicked in years ago, it quickly became a pro sport. FedEx envelopes delivered under the table are no longer in play. N.I.L. means “Now It’s Legal” and bright, creative sports business minds need to work together with their AD/Coach/Program to create an environment for the team to WIN. It’s hard. It’s different, but it’s not that difficult.

TID-BITS: It’s October 20, and there’s eleven days until Halloween. But today, there’s been (at least) two full-fledged Christmas promotions. Seen by WWYI on the morning of October 19, yes, a “Countdown to Christmas” promo for The Hallmark Channel. … Then, buried in this morning’s email was a Pottery Barn Kids Guide to its Holiday Shop. “See our latest festive collections, including exclusive styles from top designers and accents featuring fan-favorite characters,” said the missive, complete with Disney Mickey Mouse Christmas gifts and The Grinch, too. … WWYI calls “Foul,” and recommends to all marketers to – at least – wait until November. … In our joint, it’s officially Christmas season when Santa shows up at MACYS in Herald Square (NYC) the traditional end of the Thanksgiving Day Parade. … Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy made very few friends in the Gaston family when he referred to team owner Don Gaston’s son, Paul, as “Thanks Dad” when the younger Gaston took over the franchise. Now, it might be “Thanks Bro,” as the Globe is reporting that Mark Bezos, founding partner of HighPost Capital private equity group and half-brother of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is expressing interest in purchasing the club, according to an unnamed industry source. In addition, current Celtics limited partner Robert Hale, high on Forbes’ list of the wealthiest of Americans, said Friday he has “keen interest” in making a bid for the team, now that managing partner Wyc Grousbeck indicated the Celtics are up for sale. … The iconic NBA franchise could fetch a record $6 billion on the open market.

NEW NETWORK: Directly from a FanDuel media news release, Diamond Sports Group and FanDuel announced an agreement on a broad, long-term commercial partnership, including:

• Exclusive right to name Diamond’s 16 regional sports networks and Diamond’s digital offerings, including the direct to consumer product, as FanDuel Sports Network
• Linear and digital media placement and integration opportunities across all live NBA, NHL and MLB games on FanDuel Sports Network
• Shared commitment to explore a unified direct-to-consumer app experience with the ability to syndicate FanDuel TV programming across FanDuel Sports Network, including studio programming like “Up & Adams,” “Run It Back” and FanDuel TV’s live rights programming
• FanDuel to have reseller designation for Diamond’s direct-to-consumer product; and additional economic and equity elements.

David Preschlack, CEO of Diamond, stated: “Collaborating with FanDuel provides a tremendous pathway for Diamond to elevate the fan experience and deepen the incremental value we provide for our team, league and distribution partners. This partnership reinforces opportunities to further strengthen the close connection our RSNs have with local fans, including enhancing our direct-to-consumer offering for a growing digital audience. In the meantime, having finalized agreements with the NBA, NHL and our key distributors, we remain focused on moving our business forward and driving value for our team partners and our stakeholders.”

Mike Raffensperger, President, Sports, FanDuel, stated: “Partnering with Diamond provides us an opportunity to put the FanDuel brand at the intersection of the nation’s largest group of regional sports networks. A large cohort of FanDuel customers are devoted RSN viewers and this agreement allows us to further cement the FanDuel brand with sports fans and provides a unique vehicle to reward our users.”

On October 21, the (previously named) Bally Sports RSNs will officially be renamed under the FanDuel Sports Network brand with corresponding regional monikers. Diamond Sports Group‘s 16 owned and operated RSNs will include: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit, FanDuel Sports Network Florida, FanDuel Sports Network Great Lakes, FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City, FanDuel Sports Network Indiana, FanDuel Sports Network Midwest, FanDuel Sports Network North, FanDuel Sports Network Ohio, FanDuel Sports Network Oklahoma, FanDuel Sports Network SoCal, FanDuel Sports Network South, FanDuel Sports Network Southeast, FanDuel Sports Network Southwest, FanDuel Sports Network Sun, FanDuel Sports Network West, and FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.

POWER RANKINGS: It’s past the quarter pole of the NFL regular season and things are shaking out and shaping up. The first observation, stealing just another front page headline from years of the same old story, same old lies – SAME OLD J-E-T-S, is the fact the New York (Jersey) Jets were the first NFL team this season to fire their head coach. While WWYI won’t subject you to the days of Rex Ryan, a look at the last few hirings for the Jets provide the following gems:

• 2015-18 – Todd Bowles (24-40 .375)
• 2019-2020 – Adam Case (9-23 .281)
• 2021-2024 – Robert Saleh (20-36 .357)
• 2024- ? – Jeff Ulbrich (0-1 .000)

The Jets are conducting a search for their next head coach and former New England head coach and NFL legend Bill Belichick’s name . Might the next coach come from a group of coaches most likely to see the ax, according to Vegas odds?

• Doug Pederson Jacksonville Jaguars -140
• Mike McCarthy Dallas Cowboys +400
• Kevin Stefanski Cleveland Browns +550
• Antonio Pierce Las Vegas Raiders +600
• Zac Taylor Cincinnati Bengals +900
• Dennis Allen. New Orleans +1600
• Nick Sirianni Philadelphia Eagles +1800
• Brian Daboll New York Giants +2000

  ---

It’s ON to the NFL POWER RATINGS: Here’s one man’s P.O.V. less than halfway through the NFL regular season:

AFC:

1. Kansas City
2. Baltimore
3. Houston
4. Buffalo
5. Pittsburgh
6. Denver

NFC:

1. Minnesota
2. San Fran
3. Detroit
4. Atlanta
5. Washington
6. Chicago

ROCKTOBER POWER RANKINGS FOR THE 1ST CFB PLAYOFFS: Again, just one man’s P.O.V. and still very early in the college football season:

1. Ohio State
2. Georgia
3. Oregon
4. Miami
5. Alabama
6. Notre Dame
7. Penn State
8. Ole Miss
9. Tennessee
10. Texas
11. Clemson
12. Indiana

THREADING THE NEEDLE: There’s nothing prettier in sports than an NHL defenseman beating two quick-skating, checking forwards by threading the needle with a pass that sends one of his wingers in on a breakaway to score a goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Well, the FE Apparel Company, together with the NHL Players and our friends at Getty Images is threading the needle in another fashion by creating a limited edition set of NHL custom jackets and hoodies. In this day of sustainability, FE Apparel creates their garments with 100% recycled material – not used plastic Coke bottles but recycled yarn – which is designed for durability. Many of the images on the garments depict the iconic designs of NHL goalkeepers’ masks. Bill Chang, CEO of FE Apparel Co. oversees the new brand and asks his growing number of customers to tag the company – @feapparelco – to spread the news and styles. NHL Rangers fans can visit the FE showroom next to Madison Square Garden.

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Today is September 15th, 2024. You can grab a full deck of playing cards and deal one card per day to bring you to Election Day on November 5th, 2024. Meanwhile, we’re seven days away from Autumn, possibly the best and certainly the most beautiful season of the year in New England. We’re 16 days away from the first MLB Postseason Wild Card game, to be held October 1, 2024. The final Red Sox regular season game at Fenway Park will be held two days before that, on September 29th, 2024. The seasons of the sun, they are a’ changing.

Let’s take a good, long look at September 15ths of the past. It’s been a pretty amazing date on the calendar.

In 608, Saint Boniface IV began his reign as Pope. The 4th? Doesn’t this make you want to meet the other three guys?

In 1683, Germantown, Pennsylvania was founded by 13 immigrant families. Like Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote, “Immigrants, they get the job done.”

In 1789, the US Department of Foreign Affairs was renamed Department of State.

In 1851, Saint Joseph’s University was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That would eventually bring us all the great Mike Bantom.

In 1857, Timothy Alder of NY patented the typesetting machine. Good man he was.

In 1902, Chicago Cubs infielders Tinker, Evers, & Chance turned their first double play together in a 6-3 win over Cincinnati. But, get this, on September 19, 2024, I’ll be able to see Chicago’s Wrigley Field, first known to the world as a Federal League ballfield – Weeghman Park. The Cubs host the Washington Nationals in seven days. The game will take place in the “friendly confines.” The Cubs played their first home game at Wrigley on April 20, 1916, defeating the Cincinnati Reds, 7–6, in 11 innings. Only Fenway Park (1912), here in Boston, is older than Wrigley.

On September 15, 1921, WBZ-AM, here in Boston, began its radio transmission.

In 1946, the Dodgers beat Cubs, 2-0, in a shortened five innings when the game was called because of gnats.

In 1960, Maurice “Rocket” Richard announced his retirement from the Montreal Canadiens. He finished his career with 544 goals, an NHL record at the time. He played 18 seasons in the NHL and was the first 50 goal scorer.

A year later, in 1961, the 61st US Golf Amateur Championship saw Jack Nicklaus win at the age of 21. I’m pretty sure he turned pro and had a pretty nice run.

In 1963, the Alou brothers – Felipe, Matty, & Jesús – appeared in the San Francisco Giants outfield for an inning in a 13-5 win over Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field/

In 1966, then US President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to an August 1 sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote a letter to the United States Congress, urging the enactment of gun control legislation. The August 1 attack was known as the University of Texas Tower shooting where 15 people were killed and 31 others were injured before police shot the mass murderer, a 25-year old Marine. Forty-one years later, the Virginia Tech shootings took place, killing 32 and injuring another 17 people. That mass murder came seven Presidents after LBJ and nothing’s been done since.

In 1969, Steve Carlton was pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals when he struck-out 19 New York Mets but lost the game, 4-3, when the Metsies tagged him for two runs in the 8th inning when Ron Swoboda hit his second of two (two-run) homers. In the little-known facts department, the day before Swoboda’s two HR game, Mets broadcaster – the great Ralph Kiner – took Swoboda aside for some instructional batting practice. Tug McGraw earned the victory in relief of Gary Gentry. The Mets had rallied in September to take the divisional lead only five days before. It was the first year of division play in MLB. The Mets would go on to take the NL East by eight games over the Cubs. Then, they swept the Atlanta Braves in three games in the NL Championship Series, and defeated the Baltimore Orioles in five games in the World Series with Jerry Koosman gaining the two most important victories in franchise history, including a complete game in the ‘69 World Series finale. That team will forever be known as the “Miracle Mets.”

In 1974, Market Square Arena – home of the Indiana Pacers until 1999 – opened its doors in downtown Indianapolis.

In 1978, before 63,352 at the New Orleans SuperDome, the greatest – Muhammad Ali defeated Leon Spinks in 15 rounds. Spinks had upset Ali in February of ‘78 with a split decision.

In 1982, the first edition of USA Today was printed by satellite and distributed all over the United States. Editorial Note: Earlier that year, newspaperman Henry Freeman visited my office at the NBA to explain what they had in mind and asked for help with the NBA team PRs sending extra information and quickly sending full final boxscores which ran in the sports section, increasing NBA coverage exponentially over the short Associated Press boxscores.

In 1985, at The Belfry … Europe defeated the United Staes in the Ryder Cup 16½-11½, marking the first US loss since 1957. Sam Torrance clinched the win for Europe by beating Andy North, 1 up.

Sadly, on September 15, 2004 Johnny Ramone, the lead guitarist for the Queens, NY band passed away from prostate cancer. He was only 59. The Ramones were inducted to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and earned a Lifetime GRAMMY Award.

We can wish Long Island’s Marcus Iavaroni a happy 68th birthday today. Better known as Marc, the starting power forward for the ‘83 NBA champion Philadelphia 76ers, he hails from Plainview Kennedy H.S. in New York (Mid-Island) and attended Virginia before being drafted by the New York Knicks in the third round of the 1978 NBA Draft (55th overall). (Little known fact, the Knicks drafted two champion power forwards and watched them win as members of other teams. Iavaroni, you know. The other? Kurt Rambis of the Los Angeles Lakers. Almost a mirror image, the Knicks grabbed Rambis out of Santa Clara with the third round pick of the 1980 NBA Draft (58th overall).

There’s another 17 NBA players and two ABA players who were born on September 15, and the late Buddy Jeannette is the only Hall of Famer of the bunch. Jeannette was born in 1917 and attended Washington & Jefferson College. He was inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994. Jeannette passed away March 11, 1998 at the age of 80.

And, aside from Marc Iavaroni, there are dozens of famous folks who were born on September 15, including Prince Harry, actor Tommy Lee Jones, US President William Howard Taft and explorer Marco Polo, if you can find him.

HERE NUNN, THE NOTES: That’s no typo. Here Now, former NBA referee and one time Director of Officiating Ronnie Nunn is being inducted to the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame, a newly reorganized entity that will undertake the huge responsibility of paying tribute to the City game. … Nunn played ball at Brooklyn Tech and went on to play college basketball at George Washington University in DC. He played pro basketball in Mexico for two seasons but returned to New York to find his first calling as a special ed teacher and as an assistant coach at Pace University and also his high school alma mater.

Nunn began his officiating career in 1984 when he worked in the Continental Basketball Association and the Pro-Am summer league. Nunn went on to work 1,134 NBA regular-season, 73 NBA Playoff and four NBA Finals games, while enjoying an assignment at the 1996 NBA All-Star Game.

After retiring from active duty as an official, Nunn served as the NBA’s Director of Officials for five years, including his work on “You Make the Call” for NBA Entertainment.

The 2024 NYC Basketball Hall of Fame festivities will be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Thursday, September 19. Nine others will join Nunn for the honors.

TIDBITS AND GOLDEN NUGGETS: A follow-up to the terrible story of NHL star Johnny Gaudreau: The driver of the vehicle which struck and killed Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road has been charged with two counts of death by automobile. The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of Woodstown, New Jersey, had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said. … At a hearing held September 13, a judge ordered that Higgins be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving. Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said.

The Boston Red Sox are 22-31 since the MLB All-Star break and 5-4 over their last nine games, a pace that just won’t get it done in the AL Wild Card race. They’re 4.0 games back from Minnesota in the AL Wild Card standings but have Detroit and Seattle in between them and the Twins.

SMALL FRYE: Remember the ill-fated Frye Festival of 2017? Well, the George Mason college basketball team contracted with The VII Group of Georgia for a trip to play games against top competition in Nassau (Bahamas) and has cancelled the trip completely as VII Group allegedly hasn’t fulfilled obligations. George Mason placed $160,000 with the VII Group to plan a four-night basketball camp and exhibition games between August 8-12, 2024. Apparently, the FBI is now looking into the case, according to SPORTICO.

RIP No. 7: New York Mets fan favorite, Ed Kranepool, passed away this week after fighting a lengthy illness. While Tom Seaver, Rusty Staub, Buddy Harrelson, Jerry Koosman, Tommie Agee, Ron Swoboda, Doc Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Piazza and Pete Alonso might be the all-time headliners of Mets favorites, it was Kranepool who first held that honor in the 1960s.

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | 9/15/2024 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Here in Boston, we have the Duke vs Carolina rivalry of College Ice Hockey as the Hockey East finals brought No. 2 ranked Boston University and No. 1 ranked Boston College together for the fourth time this season. It’s tagged “The Green Line” rivalry and noted for the six-mile stretch of Commonwealth Avenue that separates the schools.

It’s not the 8-miles from Durham to Chapel Hill but rather a Driver and a couple three woods from Agannis Arena to Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill. BU kids vote for the Mayor of Boston, while the BC kids call the City of Newton home.

Heading into the Saturday night Hockey East finale, BC held a 2-1 edge in the 2023-24 ice hockey season, but the one BU win came in the annual Beanpot Tournament (won by Northeastern University as they’ve gone back-to-back with Beanpot wins twice in the last six years).

This year?

Boston College took the Hockey East title, as BC took a 2-0 lead into the second period. But, BU cut that lead in half with a gorgeous wrist shot goal by defenseman Gavin McCarthy, a freshman from Clarence Center, N.Y. (Population 3,337).

BC extended its lead to 3-1, on a goal by Cutter Gauthier, BC’s third power play goal of the game which came at 18:46 of the 2nd period.

Eagles’ freshman Will Smith scored his third goal of the night to make it 4-1, BC, at the 6:46 mark of the third period. Smith has 22 goals and 44 assists on the season.

BC’s key goal of the game made it 5-1, as Boston College freshman Gabe Perreaultscored on the power play, BC’s fourth power play goal of the night. All three players – Perreault, Gauthier and Smith – player on the USA Developmental team for USA Hockey.

BU tightened the score on a power play to make it 5-2. A BC empty-netter made it 6-2 for the final before the fisticuffs broke out to close out the game.

BC freshman goalkeeper, Jacob Fowler, recorded the win.

The NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship begins next week (March 28-29) and concludes at the Frozen Four, scheduled for April 11-13 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Note: The Bulldog Edition of WWYI was held for 30 minutes to see the final result of the Hockey East championship game from TD Garden in Boston.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: March Madness did not fail to entertain this week, as noteworthy upsets included No. 13 Yale defeating No. 4 in heavily favored Auburn in the first round, while No. 14 Oakland upended No. 3 Kentucky. In the second round, Oakland lost to streaking N.C. State, 79-73 in OT. N.C. State qualified for the NCAAs by winning the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament (upset over North Carolina) and with the win over Oakland, the Wolfpack move on to the South’s Sweet 16 in Dallas.

TO WIN JUST ONCE? – As the NCAA hoops tournament progresses, this column reflects to what might have been for the St. John’s Red Storm in last week’s BIG EAST Conferencde tournament. The Johnnies defeated a tough Seton Hall team in the No. 4 (Hall) vs. No. 5 (Johnnies) match-up on Thursday (Quarterfinals). As winner of the No. 4 vs No. 5, the reward was a match-up vs No. 1 UConn in the Friday night semis. You know that story.

Everyone left Madison Square Garden assured St. John’s secured a tournament bid and the speculation was whether Seton Hall and/or Providence would be “in” as well. When the Sunday Selection Show played out, all three teams were left out in the cold, as the likes of N.C. State – by winning the ACC – stole a berth, and the BIG EAST was left with only three clubs – UConn, Marquette and Creighton.

Rightfully so.

Seton Hall was closest, but their loss to St. John’s hurt the chances of grabbing a spot. St. John’s while hot during the home stretch (six game winning streak, including a big won over Creighton at MSG), did not have the overall resume as a tournament team. Losses to Michigan, Dayton and Boston College crushed St. John’s early, and two losses to each of the likes of UConn, Marquette and The Hall during the regular season was too much to overcome when the NCAA basketball committee met in Indianapolis to decide between NCAA and NIT bids.

The Johnnies quickly turned down the NIT bid, but Seton Hall (the No. 1 seed) has flourished. Guessing the Johnnies were focused on hitting the transfer portal or the seniors had enough.

Go figure, but has anyone noticed that the “Red Storm” nickname is useless, jinxed, terrible, confusing and not well liked?

It’s rebuilding time for coach Rick Pitino – make that a total renovation.

TID-BITS: In the NCAA’s, there’s plenty of Huskies, Bulldogs and other assorted animal mascots, but here, we have the two maniacs.

NATIONAL PUPPY DAY: How can we let “National Puppy Day” go by without mention of our TWO pups, the nearing “Adult Dog,” Penny (Lane) and the seven month old Max. … Penny joined us on Thanksgiving Weekend, 2020, right smack in the middle of the global pandemic due to the COVID-19 virus. In many ways, she got us through the “dog days” of that terrible year. National Puppy Day was celebrated March 23 and its founding doctrine states, “Established in 2006, National Puppy Day is a paw-some day for all dog enthusiasts to celebrate unconditional love and fawn over the undeniably cute fur balls that bring so much happiness into this world.” … True story. … It’s been a quick three and a half years that we’ve enjoyed having Penny bark and chase and play and only five months since we adopted the seven-month old “Mighty Max.” … Penny (Lane) has the obvious connection to The Beatles while Max was named as a “Silver Hammer” kinda guy, but we met his (human) parents on Springsteen Road in Albany, NY, so there was an immediate bond with “Mighty” MaxWeinberg of the E Street Band. Weinberg, born and bred in New Jersey, learned to play the drums with the influence of The Beatles’ Ringo Starr, like so many who grew up in the British Invasion era. … In the dual-meaning of names, Penny (Lane), played by Kate Hudson in the motion picture “Almost Famous” clocks in as No. 3 of my all-time favorite movies, locked in behind “Casablanca” and “The Sting.” … Happy Puppy Day to all who partake. Penny and Max have enriched all of our lives (four in the family) and they’ve made friends with all of our neighbors. It’s just GREAT.

The post TLs Sunday Sp🏀rts Notes | Mar 24 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

They’re playing basketball (to the beat y’all)

We love that basketball (yeah)

They’re playing basketball (uh huh, uh huh)

We love that basketball

– Kurtis Blow

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The basketball season was 1968-69 and the New Jersey Americans relocated to Long Island to become the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association, a rival league to the heralded National Basketball Association.

The year ahead was going to be great for New York sports fans. The New York Jets, behind the guarantee provided by quarterback “Broadway” Joe Namath upset the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. It was the victory that put the then-rival American Football Conference (AFC) on par with the National Football Conference (NFC) and it made the National Football League (NFL) the most popular sports property in the United States.

As that Summer of ‘69 turned to Fall, the Miracle Mets, behind the pitching of Jerry Koosman (two World Series wins, including the series clincher) backed by Hall of Famer Tom “Terrific” Seaver and Gary Gentry, defeated the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in five games to take the first Series victory in franchise history. Donn Clendenon, Cleon Jones and improbable offensive might of everyone from 2B Al Weisto reserve catcher J.C. Martin provided key hits while incredible defensive plays by center fielder Tommie Agee and right fielder Ron Swoboda made the Mets – Amazin’ and sent NYC and the Borough of Queens and most Long Islanders into a frenzy.

A flip of the calendar brought yet another championship to New York when the New York Knicks of the NBA defeated the LA Lakers and Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylorand Jerry West in a memorable seven-game series. While Willis Reed and his gutsy Game 7 return to action after seriously injuring his knee in Game 5, grabbed the headlines and Walt Frazier’s 36-point, 19-assist, 7-rebound performance went somewhat unnoticed because of Reed’s return.

Those championships were almost too much for a 10-year old to handle. But this (then) 10-year old harkens back to December 19, 1968 as the day the championship was solidified. It was the day Knicks GM Eddie Donovan had the guts to trade All-Star center Walt “Bells” Bellamy, and guard Howard “Butch” Komives, to the Detroit Pistons for eight time NBA All-Star power forward Dave DeBusschere.

Hit “The Open Man” became the Knicks’ mantra and, in fact, was the title of DeBusschere’s book chronicling the season day-by-day. It’s simple philosophy, honed by Knicks Coach Red Hozman was the perfect offense to deploy for the ‘69-’73 Knicks.

With Knicks tickets tough to come by in suburban Long Island me and my basketball-loving’ family would get our hardwood fix with regular attendance at (nearly) all St. John’s University home games. We attended dozens of Island Trees H.S. basketball games where both of my oder brothers played and then 100% of the Holy Trinity H.S.games from 1973 to 1977 and beyond as coach Bob McKillop and Matt Doherty hung banner after banner at HT.

All the while, the ABA Nets were our mainstay. After head coach York Larese flamed-out, the Nets recruited Little Louie Carnesseca away from his post at St. Johns, along with trusty assistant John Kresse (who gave me my college tour at St. John’s). The great Rick Barry was on the Nets, along with former Johnnies Joe DuPre and Sonny Dove. Bill Melchioni held down the point, while Laverne Tart was the shooting guard. The bigmen included Jim Ard, Manny Leaks, and another young Johnnie who made playoff appearances as much as the Kardashians appear in the Super Market tabloids.

Suffice to say, a good game of hoops was available every night of the week and we took advantage of that fact growing up. And it changed for the better when the Nets acquired Julius “Dr, J.” Erving who was at the height of his career.

At one point in 1977, an interview with Nets head coach Kevin Loughery and an intro to his then-assistant, Rod Thorn, began a life-long friendship as they led the Nets to titles in 1974 and 1976 over formidable ABA clubs from Kentucky (Artis Gilmore and Dan Issel), Denver’s (David Thompson), and Indiana Pacers’ big (Mel Daniels), just to name a few. Thorn would eventually join the NBA league office as the head of Basketball Operations and the so-called Dean of Discipline.

All-in-all, a pretty good apprenticeship in the sports of basketball and one that turned into a career come December 1980 when this columnist began a 26+ year career at the NBA league office, working under Commissioners Larry O’Brien and David Stern.

In the early ‘80s, the NBA league office was like Camelot. It was just a matter of time – and some hard work – to build the global platform and stage the game for the way its played today by the World’s Greatest Athletes.

THE NBA TODAY: It’s quite early for any meaningful  predictions for the on-going 2022-23 NBA season, but that won’t stop us from doing the very first Power Rankings” of the NBA season. Truth be told, the real power ratings are Post NBA All-Star Break.

Here’s a look at the Top 8 from each conference:

EAST:

1. Milwaukee Bucks
2. Boston Celtics
3. Toronto Raptors
4. Washington Wizards
5. Brooklyn Nets
6. Miami Heat
7. Philadelphia 76ers
8. Detroit Pistons

WEST:

1. Golden State Warriors
2. New Orleans Pelicans
3. Memphis Grizzlies
4. Houston Rockets
5. Denver Nuggets
6. LA Clippers
7. Phoenix Suns
8. Dallas Mavericks.

Check back in mid-December for a more educated prediction.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The Cleveland Charge selected Sam Merrill (6-4, 205, Utah State) with the first overall pick of the 2022-23 NBA G League Draft on Saturday afternoon, which was held virtually. The Wisconsin Herd selected Joe Wieskamp with the second overall selection, while the Greensboro Swarm selected Aaron Wheelerwith the third pick.

RATINGS GAME: The NBA on Tuesday saw its best opening night doubleheader viewership since 2017, as TNT averaged 3.3 million viewers for 76ers- Celtics and Lakers- Warriors.

TID-BITS: I can figure out who is pouring more money into the economy – legal inquiries on Camp Lujeane, the folks funding CrytoLef hack campaign or Big Pharma selling every drug manufactured under the sun. … Coach Jim Calhoun will be the special guest Sunday, October 30, at Lavietes Pavilion. when Harvard hosts its annual fantasy day for Friends of Harvard, and local coaches. Basketball Hall of Famer and New England native, Calhoun, won three NCAA Division I men’s basketball championships as the head coach of the University of Connecticut. With over 900 NCAA victories (917-397), Coach Calhoun has extensive experience across all three divisions of NCAA athletics. Coach Calhoun will share his depth of perspective with our community, and we would be thrilled if you can attend! In addition to hearing Coach Calhoun speak, you will also be able to watch a Harvard Basketball practice and receive lunch as part of the day’s events. Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker will be running the show. … Tickets go on sale Monday, October 24, 2022 for the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. This year’s conference is on March 3 – 4th, 2023 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

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The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | October 23 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The window for winning was wide open, the carpet plush with – not a playoff caliber team – but a club with true NBA championship aspirations and a real opportunity in 2022-23. The talent remains fully in place as this offseason, the Boston Celtics added true point guard Malcolm Brogdon and veteran internationally renowned shooter and three-point FG threat Danilo Galinari (suffered ACL injury) to a deep roster. Continuity would be in place as the first year coaching staff that managed to take the Celtics past Brooklyn, past the highly talented, defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks (sans NBA All-Star Khris Middleton) and then past the Miami Heat (53-29, and best record in the East) before being eliminated (4-2) by a better Golden State Warriors team.

Aside from talent and continuity, there’s not an NBA champion in the books that can claim they didn’t have some good luck along the way to their title. Maybe they avoided injury. Maybe they were able to pull-off a last minute trade deadline deal that filled a hole. Maybe a couple last second buzzer-beater helped claim home court advantage. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

But then, the hammer came down. Injuries and very poor judgement.

Luck is not on Boston’s team bus right now, even though their team mascot is a Leprechaun named “Lucky.” The first setback, noted above, was an ACL injury suffered by the newly acquired Galinari while he was playing for his native Italy in a European World Cup qualifying tournament this summer.

On Friday, Gallinari underwent left knee revision ACL repair. The surgery was performed by Celtics’ team physician Dr. Tony Schena at New England Baptist Hospital. Dr. Schena was assisted by Dr. Paul Weitzel, with Dr. Brian Cole consulting on the case. A timetable for Gallinari’s return was not mentioned, as he is expected to miss the entire 2022-23 NBA season.

“Yesterday I had successful ACL surgery. Now the focus is on my rehab and return to the game I love,” Gallinari wrote in a social media statement. “I want to thank the Celtics organization and the medical staff at the New England Baptist Hospital. I also want to thank Dr. Antonio Orgiani and Dr. Rodolfo Rocchi for the support they gave me in Italy before surgery. And of course thank you to all of my fans for their continued support and well wishes. See you soon on the court.”

The bad luck didn’t end with Gallinari, a reserve. Dr. Schena had to earn his keep operating on a starter, too.

Breakout starting center Robert Williams underwent a successful arthroscopic procedure to remove loose bodies and address swelling in his left knee,” said the Celtics in a Friday news release. “The surgery was performed by Celtics’ team physician Dr. Tony Schena at New England Baptist Hospital. Williams is expected to return to basketball activities in 8-12 weeks.”

The eight to 12 weeks is longer than the Celtics and their fans expected and it will set the club back as Training Camp opens this Monday, with a Noon broadcast on NBA TV (and nba.com) sure to be quite savage.

The key factor with the absence of Williams will be the added weight of playing time on 36-year old center-forward Al Horford. Horford will be required to hold down the frontcourt as Williams recuperates and rehabs and he will only be backed by 7-2 Luke Kornet, as departed centerman Daniel Theis was traded to Indiana in the deal for Brogdon. It might not take its toll in November and December, but can the veteran leader perform like he did in May and June, including a strong NBA Finals.

Horford possesses the ability to keep the team together, to bond the rank and file via his locker room presence and the respect he’s earned from the entire roster and coaching staff. Horford’s presence is surely a large part of former Cs head coach and now head of basketball operations Brad Stevens’ decision to promote Joe Mazzulla who will serve as the interim head coach for the Celtics until the team sorts things out during the season-long suspension to Ime Udoka. Mazzulla won three state titles as a player at Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick, Rhode Island, then played four seasons at West Virginia University under head coaches John Beilein and recently inducted Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Huggins.

Mazzulla began his coaching career as an assistant for the Glenville State University men’s basketball team, a NCAA Division II program, and assisted for two seasons after graduating from WVU in 2011. He also spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Fairmont State. His first head coaching experience came in 2017 at Fairmont State University. In his two seasons as coach of the Fighting Falcons, he racked up a 43-17 record and took his team to the NCAA tournament once.

Mazzulla joined the Celtics’ coaching staff as an assistant in 2019 and was quickly named as the right man for the job by Stevens. Mazzula’s opportunity arose mainly because Judoka’s No. 2 man, Will Hardy, accepted the head coaching job from the Utah Jazz this past June. Mazzula and the remaining Celtics basketball staff will utilize the same system Udoka installed in his first season with the club, a system honed by the ultra-successful San Antonio Spurs where Udoka assisted under Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich.

In other words, it’s not as if the Celtics will need to start over again. They need to do it for Al.

ONE GIGANTIC MESS MAKES WAY FOR ANOTHER: “Robert Sarver, meet Ime Udoka.”

NBA Training camps are about to open and the talk of two towns in the league is anything but basketball. In Phoenix, a club with a 64-18 record which was great enough to lead the 2021-22 Western Conference standings, is now on the market after an independent investigation found Suns team governor and principle owner (35%) was alleged to foster a toxic and inappropriate atmosphere in the organization led by his own words and actions. The league doled out a significant fine of $10m and a one-year suspension. In the aftermath of that fine and suspension, public and NBA player opinion was not buying the punishment for the NBA Constitutional crimes and a tsunami of pushback, even from the NBA Players Association called for Sarver’s all-out dismissal from the league. That pressure forced him to decide to sell the two franchises (the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury) as his limited stake in the franchise allows. Reports have the Suns’ value ranging $1.92b with a chance to fetch as much as $3 billion.

“In our current unforgiving climate, it has become painfully clear that that is no longer possible – that whatever good I have done, or could still do, is outweighed by things I have said in the past,” Sarver’s statement read. “For those reasons, I am beginning the process of seeking buyers for the Suns and Mercury.”

Seemingly, Sarver pointed his finger in every direction but inward as he plotted his exit statement, very obviously dismissing his past track record at the helm of the once model franchise.

The attention on Sarver’s decision to sell the Suns vanished a quick news cycle later as the Boston Celtics announced the one-year suspension of their coach, Ime Udoka. The (51-31) and 2022 NBA Finalists issued a terse statement on Thursday:

“The Boston Celtics announced (Sept 22) that the team has suspended Head Coach Ime Udoka for the 2022-23 season for violations of team policies. A decision about his future with the Celtics beyond this season will be made at a later date. The suspension takes effect immediately.”

The suspension was also reported as being accompanied by no pay for the season, and to conclude on June 30, 2023.

In a Friday press conference, conducted by Celtics’ managing partner and team governor Wyc Grousbeck and head of basketball operations and former team coach Brad Stevens, few details were provided – citing privacy issues – but the essence of the decision came after “months-long” third party and internal investigation. The investigation concluded Wednesday, the same day the fiasco was first reported by ESPN.

“I personally feel that this is well-warranted and appropriate, backed by substantial research and evidence and facts,” Grousbeck said at the press conference, “and so I’m standing by the decision, and Ime has accepted it.” The team’s statement as well as Grousbeck said the team will revisit Udoka’s future with the club at a later date.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals smacked home runs No. 699 and No. 700 on Friday night to join a very short list of MLBers to hit 700+ career homers. Only Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth have membership in that club.

While Bonds is frequently chastised for hitting the bulk of his home runs during the uncertainty of the so-called “Steroid Era,” the others have earned immortality which will include first-ballot Hall of Fame enshrinement honors for Pujols.

DIAMOND DUST-UPs and POWER RANKINGS: In 2018, the Boston Red Sox surprised Major League Baseball and even themselves by winning 108 games en route to winning the World Series. The season was astonishing, as the (108-54) regular season record was only enhanced by their (11-3) postseason mark. The incredible fact was that in every single postseason game at Fenway Park, when it came time for manager Alex Cora to bring in the closer, Craig Kimbrel, the general crowd reaction was, “No!” … It happens every September, it seems, as a usually reliable closer burns-out and becomes a liability for his club. Kimbrel earned 42 saves that year and has 22 saves for the LA Dodgers this season. Yet, as of this weekend, he’s lost his job as lead closer for the (104-47*) Dodgers. Kimbrel has a 4.14 ERA and a 1.34 whip, hardly mediocre, and rather poor for a 100+ win club.

* As of games heading into Saturday, September 24th

POWER: In past weeks, WWYI brought you power ranking for both college and pro football. They’ll be back next Sunday, but first there’s about nine games left in the MLB regular season so HERE NOW, are the MLB POWER 12 RANKINGS heading into Postseason, with six teams in each of the American and National League, then an MLB-wide listing:

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

1. Houston Astros
2. New York Yankees
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Cleveland Guardians
5. Tampa Bay Rays
6. Seattle Mariners

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. New York Mets
3. Atlanta Braves
4. St. Louis Cardinals
5. Philadelphia Phillies
6. San Diego Padres

MLB COMBINED:

1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Houston Astros
3. New York Mets
4. New York Yankees

Wild Card Sleeper: Toronto Blue Jays

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook | Sept. 25 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The NBA wasted no time in paying the ultimate tribute to the great Celtics center, Bill Russell, who passed away July 31 at the age of 88. On the day of his private funeral, Russell’s No. 6 uniform was retired across the entire league, a gesture that Major League Baseball reserved for the great Jackie Robinson and the NHL for the “Great One,” Wayne Gretzky

In the major North American sports, that’s it. A group of three.

While living athletes might gain lofty honors, such as being inducted to their sports Hall of Fame or making an NBA@50 or NBA-75/76, or an NFL or NHL All-Century team. Maybe the highest honor is to carry the flag of your birth nation into the Olympic Games, with the real treat of doing it on your native soil (Andrew Gaze, Sydney 2000, Australia; Yao Ming 2008, Beijing, China; Bruce Baumgartner, Atlanta ‘96, USA; Sir Chris Hoy, London 2012, UK); Yane Márcia Campos, Rio, Brazil 2016 ) and so on.

Lighting the Olympic cauldron on your home turf is pretty cool, too, but the retirement of a number across the entire league is the subject matter for today. That is a lofty group of three, although I’m a bit partial to Katherine Switizer’s bib No. 261 being retired by the Boston Athletic Association.

What about sports that don’t assign numbers? Are there a few players in those sports who might be so honored?

I’ll start!

• Jack Nicklaus
• Tiger Woods

Swimming

• Mark Spitz
• Michael Phelps
• Krisztina Egerszegi
• Katie Ledecky

Men’s Tennis

• Novak Djokovic
• Rafa Nadal
• Roger Federer

Women’s Tennis

• Billie Jean King
• Margaret Court
• Martina Navratilova
• Serena Williams

Yes, Serena Williams – definitely the greatest women’s tennis player of our time – announced her plans to retire after this year’s U.S. Open, scheduled August 29-September 11th at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing, NY.

They’ll need to build a new court to properly honor her, alongside King and the great Arthur Ashe.

Unless we get some “Jimmy Connors-like” miracle on center court in Flushing Meadows, Williams is likely to retire with 23 Grand Slam singles championships, one shy of Ms. Court. She was the winner of the “Serena Slam” – four consecutive Grand Slam tournaments but not in the same calendar year.

In 2015, Williams won her 19th Grand Slam at the Australian Open, her 20th at the French and her 21st at Wimbledon. (Serena lost in the U.S. Open semis to Roberta Vinci).

Williams’ 23rd Grand Slam, her last, was the 2017 Australian, when at age 35 and two months pregnant with her daughter Olympia, Serena defeated her talented sister, Venus, in straight sets to gain her victory.

Just this week, “The Atlantic” wrote of Williams’ desire to focus on her family, possibly give birth to a sibling for her daughter. To do what she wants to do with her life. Caira Conner of The Atlantic skillfully wrote, “Williams’s name is synonymous with the thing she helped revolutionize. Even when she finally puts down her racquet, Williams won’t really leave us. She may not be able to dually serve the gods of tennis and motherhood, but generations of young athletes will continue to pick up racquets of their own because she inspired them to do so. A legacy like that is more than numbers.”

Twenty-three is a great number.

I wonder if the NBA will retire it league-wide someday?

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: It’s been 30 years since the USA Basketball Dream Team came home from the ‘92 Barcelona Olympics with the gold medal and having changed the world of basketball forever. The impact resonates like the ripples of water from a pebble tossed into the center of a Great Lake. While the NBA and Michael Jordan were soaring to new heights in the early ‘90s, boys and girls growing up all over the world took a serious look at basketball for the very first time. … The first real impact came in about 2000-02 when Houston Rockets center Yao Ming came along from China, all 7-foot-5 of him, joined with Argentina’s Manu Ginobili, a soon-to-be-inducted Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer. NBA Finals MVPs Tim Duncanof the USVI and teammate Tony Parker of France led the San Antonio Spurs to five titles (1999, 2003, ‘05, ‘07 and 2014). Dirk Nowitzki led the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA championship in 2011 after 15 playoff appearances and a Finals MVP. … There were more, thousands more in the international leagues around the world, and in USA colleges. Now, 30 years later, the sport is seeing and enjoying the ripples from the first stone cast. … It’s happening all over the globe – both men’s and women’s programs. While the impact has been quite evident on the court, the true value has been the social impact off-the-court, as evidenced by the NBA’s Basketball w/o Borders program and hundreds, if not thousands, of player appearances and goodwill trips to not only help the growth of awareness in the sport but to convey important life messages to youth living all around the world. Thirty years! Can you believe it? It’s been a hell of a Dream.

DIAMOND DUST-UPs: Nothing like waiting until August 12 for the key indicator of success in a baseball season. Friday night’s 3-2 Boston win over New York marked the Red Sox first win of the season when trailing after eight innings (1-45). … That stated and heading into Saturday night’s game on FOX, the Sox have come from behind in five of their last seven wins and in eight of their last 11.

TID-BITS: College basketball teams are starting their international endeavors. Just this week, Auburn was off to Israel to play a selection of the Israel’s U-20, a national Select All-Star team and then a 95-86 loss to Israel’s senior national team. … Meanwhile, St. John’s was off to the Dominican Republic and took a hard-fought 89-87 victory over DR’s U-22 national team. … St, John’s center Joel Soriano, a transfer out of Fordham who once played for the DR’s U-18 team at the FIBA U18 Tournament of the Americas. … Three weeks until College Football. … Saturday, September 3 at 12 Noon, Big 10 Rutgers Scarlet Knights visit Chestnut Hill for Boston College’s home opener. … As you’re getting ready for some football, the PGA Tour will be exiting ahead of the NFL season to avoid any sort of TV ratings clash. … After this weekend’s FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, the Top 70 eligible players will qualify for next week’s BMW Championship at Wilmington (Delaware) Country Club, with the Top 30 after the BMW earning spots in the field for the season-ending TOUR Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club from August 25-28th, clearing the way for September football. Smart move for the Tour. … We’ll see how the Administrative/PR/Media/TV/Site Protest/9-11 Families/Time Zone-challenged LIVers have tournaments planned for:

• September 2-4 near Boston
• September 16-18 in Chicago
• October 7-9 in Bankok, Thailand
• October 14-16 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• October 29-20 in Miami (Trump venue, right before Election Day)

Smartly, LIV Golf is avoiding the September 21-25 President’s Cup at Quail Hollow, in North Carolina, but the rest of the schedule goes head-to-head against the PGA Tour, LPGA and college and NFL football, all on a USA television outlet to be determined.

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The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | August 14 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

State of the Commonwealth Sports

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – From June 19th to 27th, all was well in the Nation of Sox. After a very well documented — call it crummy (10-19) — start to the 2022 season, the Boston Red Sox battled back to the .500 mark by June 5th at Oakland. While still mired in 4th place in the American League East, Boston clawed their way to a (35-30) record when – on June 17th – Sox SP Michael Wacha out-dueled his former St. Louis Cardinals teammate, Adam Wainwright, 6-5, for Wacha’s fifth victory (5-1).

After dropping a game to the Cards the following day, Boston went on to win seven games in a row and climb to second place in the AL East, 11 games over the coveted .500 mark.

As the calendar turned to July, all hell broke loose.

As this is being written from Fenway Park on a gorgeous New England Saturday afternoon, Boston (50-52) dropped a game to Milwaukee, is 7-19 in the month of July, and that includes a 3-13 mark over their previous 16 games. The not so secret sauce is the fact that since Uncle Sam’s birthday, Boston is playing teams with records plus-.500 up until August 3 when they face AL Central cellar-dweller Kansas City.

Combined with the tougher comp, a slew of devastating injuries crashed down on the Sox. In no particular order:

• June 12 – SP Nathan Eovaldi – lower back pain
• July 2 – SP Rich Hill – left knee sprain
• July 5 – SP Michael Wacha – right shoulder inflammation
• July 9 – INF Christian Arroyo – groin strain after bout with COVID+
• July 14 – 2B Trevor Story – right hand contusion (hairline fracture)
• July 19 – SP Chris Sale – left hand, finger fracture
• July 19 – J.D. Martinez – back spasms
• July 23 – 3B Rafael Devers – right hamstring inflammation
• 13 Red Sox players were on the IL at one point

In their place, Boston was forced to call-up “F-Troop” from their Triple A Worcester WooSox farm team, and the Red Sox became the Red SAAAwx for much of the month. Starting pitching prospects, a la Brayan Bello (0-3), Josh Winckowski (3-5) and Kutter Crawford (3-3) were thrown into the deep end of the drowning pool.

With the cumulative effect, the ‘22 Red Sox started to resemble a memorable team from 60 years ago, with comparisons to the expansion New York Mets.

The Sox are a calamity, whether it be fly balls falling between three players in the infield, throwing, fielding and mental errors costing runs, pitchers failing to properly cover first base on routine ground balls to the right side of the infield, batted baseballs lost in the sun or twilight gleaming in both right and center field at Fenway. You name it, and it happened to the home team.

The lowlight was a July 22 inside the park home run by Toronto’s Ramiel Tapia during a 28-5 beat-down of the Red Sox by the Blue Jays, and a score falling two runs shy of the MLB record for most runs scored in a single game.

Overall, it seemed the Sox fell apart when the long-expected return of their ace – Chris Sale – went flat after an inning as a come-backer broke the fifth finger on his pitching hand. The injury sucked the life from the team, as Story, Martinez and Devers were all absent from the line-up.

Thus is the “State of the Red Sox,” as of July 30.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: If there’s one thing the New England fan base can do better than any other in the land, it’s turn the page and change with the seasons. Just as the aforementioned Sox fade to the bottom of the AL East, the footballs are out at Gillette Stadium as NFL training camps began this week. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the 2022 New England Patriots.

On Day One of Patriots’ training camp, all eyes were on second-year QB Mac Jones who appeared to be all business, in great condition and prepared for the challenges ahead of the Patriots team in transition from its many waltzes to the Super Bowl. While coach Bill Belichick and the Pats are accustomed to being the favorites in the AFC East, this year, they’ll be fortunate to win 10 games (as they did a year ago) and finish second to the ‘21 division champion Buffalo Bills. In many circles, it is the Bills, not the Patriots, who are destined for AFC glory and a trip to the Super Bowl.

Belichick is beginning his 23rd season with the Patriots as the team avoids any sense of the word, “rebuilding,” but does face uncertainty at many key offensive positions. Meanwhile, a look to the south and AFC East rival, Miami, has stocked up with arguably the best wide-out in the NFL in former KC Chief Tyreek Hill to pair with second-year QB Tua Tagovailoa. The Dolphins won nine games a year ago and will fight it out with New England for a possible Wild Card berth, for sure.

Meanwhile, there’s a lot of news and speculation as the NBA off-season hits midstream. For the Boston Celtics, all eyes are on Nets F Kevin Durantwho has asked for a trade from Brooklyn and reports have the Celtics offering some unknown package of players (with one piece likely to be F Jaylen Brown).

Of course, the Celtics made the NBA Finals but simply saw the fatigue of prior match-ups vs. Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Miami finally take their toll against Jayson Tatum and the team. Boston made one major move to acquire a true point guard in former Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdan for Milwaukee who the Cs acquired from Indiana in a multi-player trade in July.

The allure of an offensive threat, like Durant to pair with Tatum, is attractive to the Celtics and their fan base, but the lack of defensive intensity shown by Durant in the playoffs makes one wonder if his Achilles’ injury is limiting his defensive mobility against quicker players.

The foundation of the Celtics is “Team Defense” and the questions is whether Durant can buy-in? Brown’s contributions to that defense might be too costly a loss, never mind if 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smartbecomes part of the deal.

On the ice, the Boston Bruins are another team, like the Patriots, in total transition. Gone is goalkeeper Tuukka Rask, while Brad Marchand injured his hip and out for six months since his late May surgery. Then, there’s the uncertain status of forwards Patrice Bergeron and un-signed David Pastrňák, the club’s two best players.

On defense, more injuries and surgeries. Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk will be out until late November after shoulder surgeries. Mike Reillyis recovering from May ankle surgery.

In goal, Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark will share the netminding duties, trying to replace the talents of Vezina Trophy-worthy and former winner Rask has officially retired after some back-and-forth during the pandemic.

All the while, Boston is welcoming new coach, Jim Montgomery, to a team that is deep with talent but largely uncertain of its short term destiny.

If you take a step back and look at all four major pro sports, it’s a one for-four (.250) average for sure-fire success and that is only the Celtics.

DIAMOND DUST-UPs: Trade winds are blowing in Major League Baseball prior to Tuesday’s (August 2 – 6pm ET) trading deadline. Of course, the big fish in the MLB pond are Washington’s Juan Soto, who turned down a megabucks deal of 15-years and $440 million, and possibly Boston’s J.D. Martinez. The Seattle Mariners already acquired former Cincy ace Luis Castillo in a deal for a ton of top prospects. The terms “Buyers” and “Sellers” will be over-used this week.

Others MLB players reportedly on the block:

• Josh Bell, 1B, Washington Nationals
• Wilson Contreras, C, Chicago Cubs
• Ian Happ, OF, Chicago Cubs
• Tyler Mahle, SP, Cincinnati Reds
• Frankie Montas, SP, Oakland Athletics
• Noah Syndergaard, SP, Los Angeles Angels

That leads us to the extremely slim chance of the LA Angeles moving Shohei Ohtani before the deadline. The multi-talented Ohtani would be a game-changer as a starting pitcher and DH for any contender, but the question would be: “At what cost?”

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | July 31 appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.