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Bunky
Dec 30, 2017 10:16:07 GMT -5
Post by dex on Dec 30, 2017 10:16:07 GMT -5
COMMENTARY Garoppolo making a name for himself
BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ Ah, to be Jimmy Garoppolo. Young. Handsome. Wealthy. NFL superstar on the rise.
Ah, to be Jimmy Garoppolo, who in his brief time with the San Francisco 49ers has seen his stock rise.
Ah, to be Jimmy Garoppolo, and escape the feeding frenzy that always seems to surround Tom Brady and the Patriots.
Ah, to be Jimmy Garoppolo, and to find your own little slice of fame far away from Brady and the Patriots.
Ah, to be Jimmy Garoppolo where his time with the Patriots always is going to be a wonderful memory, but now you can make memories of your own.
■ How good would the Pats offense be with Julian Edelman?
■ Few things look any more ridiculous than seeing celebrities wearing ripped jeans.
■ Yeah, that means you, J.Lo.
■ Kudos to former PC great Kris Dunn, who is starting to come into his own in the NBA in his second season, with 20 points and 12 assists the other night.
■ There never has been an NFL tight end as good as Gronk.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Who was the last Red Sox starting pitcher to win a playoff game? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK is the all-time classic from the late, great, Al McGuire on New Year’s Eve: “Amateur Night.”
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from Chicago Bills coach Fred Hoiberg on Kris Dunn: “It’s fun to watch him get his confidence and swagger back, which I think everyone knew he had.”
■ LINE OF THE WEEK III is this all-time classic from Damon Runyon: “All life is 6 to 5 against.”
■ The fact we don’t have legalized sports gambling around here is ridiculous.
■ Memo from The Inevitable Department: The World Health Organization reportedly is about to classify “gaming addiction” as an addictive behavior disorder.
■ And one more memo: California’s recreational marijuana industry, which legally kicks off Monday, will be the largest in the world, according to The Associated Press.
■ Brown basketball freshman Desmond Cambridge from Nashville is very good.
■ I can’t tell you how little interest in Britain’s royal family I have.
■ The ability of some young forwards in the NBA — the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum being one — to handle the ball like a guard is changing the game right in front of us.
■ Paul Di Filippo, a local writer who has been writing professionally for years, is out with a new crime novel called “The Big Get-Even.”
■ The Christmas Eve matchup between the Seahawks and the Cowboys had a lot of people putting off Santa to watch the game.
■ The situation in Puerto Rico continues to be a national disgrace.
■ “Father Figures” is a movie that won’t make you sneak out of the theater, no insignificant thing in this day and age.
■ Did you see where Tiger Woods says he’s going to be his own swing coach?
■ Does every play in the NFL have to be reviewed, or does it just seem that way?
■ Rest assured the General Assembly’s decisions don’t get this kind of attention.
■ Jayson Tatum is second in the NBA in 3-point field goal percentage.
■ In case you missed it, Bunky, the biggest problem the Yankees have is what to do with the remaining $68 million on Jacoby Ellsbury’s contract. Why do they owe so much money to an aging outfielder? Good question. Maybe someone in Yankees management will answer that. But don’t hold your breath.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: John Lackey.
■ The top two baby names in New York City last year? Olivia and Liam.
■ R.I.P. Dick Enberg. His voice is always in my head, and what better legacy for one of the best sports broadcasters of his era?
■ And Johnny Bower at 93, one of the all-time great goalies of a bygone era.
■ Tom Brady has thrown interceptions in five consecutive games for the first time in 15 years.
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pcdad
Friar Fanatic
Posts: 3,707
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Bunky
Dec 30, 2017 12:12:17 GMT -5
Post by pcdad on Dec 30, 2017 12:12:17 GMT -5
....that Tom Brady stat shows how meaningless some stats are...
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Bunky
Jan 13, 2018 9:41:04 GMT -5
Post by dex on Jan 13, 2018 9:41:04 GMT -5
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
‒ What’s the thing about soap operas?
They keep on moving on.
So it is with the Patriots, this soap opera that’s been going on for decades, but now seems full throttle.
To the point that no one really seems to know what’s going on. Tom Brady’s best friend banned from the premises. Brady saying little but always with a smile. Bill Belichick saying little, but never with a smile, talking down rumors that he’s off to the Giants, that this is his last stand in Foxboro.
All this and a scathing ESPN report that made The Patriot Way seem like just another phrase for fear and loathing.
The beat goes on, right?
Seems so.
And ultimately they will be judged on whether they win or lose.
Everything else is theater.
Great theater, of course
.
But theater nontheless.
‒ Oprah for president? In this age where celebrity rules, would anything really surprise you, Bunky?
‒ Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who is part of Bill Belichick’s coaching tree, has won six national titles.
‒ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Name the two Patriots players on the 2001 Super Bowl team who were selected in the 1995 Major League Baseball draft. (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
‒ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from the front cover of the New York Post under a picture of Oprah Winfrey: “NOPRAH! Do we really need another celebrity president?
‒ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from longtime columnist Joe Fitzgerald in the Boston Herald on former Celtics great Bill Russell: “Russell was a man of very few words in those days. The joke was he planned to open a string of ice cream shops called “Unfriendly’s″
‒ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from Bill Belichick on whether he will be coaching the Patriots next year: “Absolutely.″
‒ What were the odds back in the mid-1980s that Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing would be coaching against each other in a big college game at Madison Square Garden?
‒ The Saints’ Drew Brees keeps on truckin’ along at 38.
‒ You’ve got to love Chris Christie, who said last week that if Donald Trump hadn’t run he would have been president.
‒ Remember the Titans? Not the Tennessee Titans, who are very forgettable.
‒ “Molly’s Game″ is watchable, my new standard for movies.
‒ There are 31 NHL teams, seven of which are in Canada.
‒ Patriots assistants Matt Patricia and Josh McDaniels are as hot as an August night as NFL coaching searches go into overdrive.
‒ Magazines seem to get smaller every month.
‒ The way the court is so spread out these days in the NBA makes it easier for small, ultra-quick guards to be successful.
‒ Speaking of Brady, there’s a six-part documentary called “Tom vs. Time″ that will stream on something called Facebook Watch, and will be directed by Gotham Chopra, son of author Deepak Chopra.
‒ I don’t believe in horoscopes, yet I read mine every day. Go figure.
‒ A new Gallup Poll say football is still the No. 1 sport in the country, though down from what it was a decade ago, while baseball is at an all-time low, its worse rating since Gallup starting doing polls in 1937.
‒ The Celtics playing in London? Please.
‒ Armand Batastini, one of the unsung heroes around here for a long time, someone who has been coaching kids for 50 years now, will have the gym at the Pleasant View School named for him on Jan. 20 at 3 p.m.
‒ Nothing says Providence more than the Industrial Trust building.
‒ QUIZ ANSWER: Tom Brady and Lawyer Milloy.
‒ Odds are “Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency″ will keep you turning the pages.
‒ The Big East has four teams in the Top 25: Xavier, Seton Hall, Creighton and No. 1 Villanova.
‒ Did you see where Jon Gruden reportedly is going to get $100 million to coach the Raiders?
‒ Thank the Lord I didn’t grow up in an era where everyone wa
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Bunky
Jan 27, 2018 10:39:02 GMT -5
Post by dex on Jan 27, 2018 10:39:02 GMT -5
The passion play that is the Patriots
BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ It’s the soap opera that simply won’t go way.
It’s the Patriots, of course, and this season has met the requirements of any great soap opera, a story full of great characters and plot twists that turn like a cat on a hot tin roof.
Who could make up Bill Belichick, who seemingly was born with a football in his cradle, this man who seems to live on the sidelines of an NFL game in a hooded sweatshirt?
Or Tom Brady, who seemingly was born with the American Dream in his cradle, this man who seems to glide through life as if it’s a magic carpet ride.
And next week it will all get ramped up again in Minneapolis, this scenario that never gets old.
■ Don’t be surprised if the UConn job opens up at the end of the year and the Huskies make a big run at URI coach Dan Hurley.
■ Speaking of the Rams, one of the reasons they are so good is that their two leading scorers the other night were Andre Berry and Stanford Robinson. You say you’ve barely heard of them, Bunky? That’s the point.
■ There’s no truth to the rumor that the Independent Man has no one to talk to in the State House.
■ Speaking of the Patriots, how much do you think the football world outside of New England hates them?
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Which team has lost the most Super Bowls? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from Tom Brady: “I still plan on playing for a long time.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from Robin Li, who deals with artificial intelligence in China, via Time magazine: “Tools will learn how to understand human language, human intentions. That’s the future.’’
■ But can they teach someone how to throw a curveball?
■ What’s up with the Cavaliers, who have been heading south for too long now?
■ Who do you root for in the Megyn Kelly-Jane Fonda dustup?
■ The biggest treat in college basketball is Oklahoma’s Trae Young, Steph Curry on training wheels.
■ The word is Gisele wants you-know-who to retire.
■ Raise your hand if you remember when Warren had its own high school.
■ Watching Ernie DiGregorio handle the ball for the Friars back there in the early 1970s in the Civic Center was like getting a sneak preview of the game’s future.
■ There’s no truth to the rumor that if the PawSox don’t get a new stadium, Pawtucket is going to check out.
■ Or that The Independent Man wants a cost-of-living increase.
■ Or that rap music is the cosmic payback, Bunky, for all those times you all but terrorized your parents back in the day.
■ Or that Stormy Daniels is going to be the new White House communications director.
■ The college 3-point line is too close.
■ Too many of the school buildings in Providence belong to a gone forever world.
■ You know baseball is riding some bad karma with the news that the original Iowa baseball field used in the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams’’ was vandalized this week.
■ A shout-out to old friend Don Kaull, whom I played against in Little League, junior high school, high school, and college basketball, and has had a wonderful second career as the color man on Rams basketball broadcasts.
■ Are the Nets always going to stink, or does it just seem that way?
■ This from the New York Daily News: About one of four young adults in this country are too overweight to join the army.
■ Neil Diamond turned 77 this week and just announced he has Parkinson’s, but he’s still one of the few singers I would stand in line to see.
■ When the Patriots no longer are the Patriots we’ve come to know, the winters are going to seem a lot longer around here.
■ Is Colin Kaepernick in the Witness Protection Program, or what?
■ A fond farewell to reporter Kate Bramson, who has left The Journal to go work for the state.
■ Cumberland’s Tyler Kolek, son of longtime Rhode Island basketball maven Kevin Kolek, had 43 points, 32 in the first half, the other night against Barrington in a great performance.
■ Every generation has its own music.
■ And if their parents don’t like it, all the better.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Denver, with five.
■ The No. 1 book in the country? “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,’’ by Michael Wolff.
■ If the Friars could take The Dunk on the road with them, they’d be very tough to beat.
■ Kentucky is out of the Top 25 for the first time in nearly four years.
■ Look up “solid’’ in the basketball dictionary and a picture of URI’s Jeff Dowtin stares back at you.
■ Look up “Rhode Island’’ in the dictionary and a picture of a pothole stares back at you.
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Bunky
Feb 3, 2018 9:23:01 GMT -5
Post by dex on Feb 3, 2018 9:23:01 GMT -5
COMMENTARY Tom Brady again in uncharted territory
BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ Once again, this game is about Tom Brady. Isn’t it always? So is this his last roundup, his last Super Bowl, his symbolic farewell to the biggest stage in sports? Or just another signpost along the way? That’s the question, and it might just be the most important one.
Because Brady is walking on strange terrain here, ground that he has not walked on. For he’s also pushing a new lifestyle here. A new way to stretch. A new way to eat. A new way to work out. A new way to live your life. A new way to slow down time. Isn’t that what his new series on Facebook (“Tom vs. Time”) is all about, this opponent that’s far more important in the long run than the Eagles? Isn’t that what this is all about now, this new game, this new opponent to beat? This is no longer just about football anymore.
Even if Sunday night’s game will be, you can count on that.
■ When did Bill Belichick’s lack of charm become almost charming? When he started winning Super Bowls.
■ Calling Brady’s young daughter a derogatory name on a Boston sports talk show is an obscenity.
■ Nothing will make you feel older, Bunky, than watching the Grammy’s.
■ Love him, hate him, somewhere in the middle? No matter. The sports world always is better when Tiger is back in it.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Who has scored the most points in URI basketball history? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from Tom Brady: “Why does everyone want me to retire so bad? I don’t get it.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from reader Walt Burrows on Brady: “Watching Tom Brady in the fourth quarter of a cliffhanger is to be a kid again watching Popeye as he reached inside his shirt to pull out a can of spinach.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State, who often writes about millennials: “They believe that every job will be fulfilling, then can’t even find a boring one.”
■ Look up “obnoxious’’ in the dictionary and the expression “G.O.A.T.’’ stares back at you.
■ I’m still trying to connect with Jimmy Fallon as a late-night host, but it’s not even close to happening.
■ Coaches who look the part too often are not.
■ There were reportedly 38 more concussions suffered in the NFL in 2017 than in 2016.
■ “The Woman in the Window,’’ a new suspense novel by A.J. Finn will keep you reading when you should go to sleep.
■ LeBron had his 63rd “triple-double’’ the other night, if you’re keeping track at home, Bunky.
■ Memo from the “How the Mighty Have Fallen’’ Department: The UConn men’s basketball program is the target of an NCAA violation.
■ The Cleveland Indians will jettison their Chief Wahoo mascot in 2019.
■ Good luck to the guy who one day follows Bill Belichick in Foxboro.
■ Or TB12 or that matter.
■ There’s no truth to the rumor that I tried the Brady diet and didn’t make it through the first day.
■ Did you see where the NBA has come out in favor of some sort of legalized gambling on its games?
■ I feel about rap what my parents once thought about rock ‘n’ roll.
■ Or what goes around comes around, right?
■ What, exactly, does the “Deep State’’ mean?
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Carlton “Silk” Owens. Tyson Wheeler is second.
■ Lookalikes: Superstar Bruno Mars, and PC freshman guard Makai Ashton-Langford.
■ James Harden became the first NBA player to have 60 points as part of a triple-double.
■ There’s no truth to the rumor that if the Rams keep winning, the Independent Man is going to move to Kingston for the rest of the winter.
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Bunky
Feb 10, 2018 10:40:55 GMT -5
Post by dex on Feb 10, 2018 10:40:55 GMT -5
COMMENTARY R.I. mourns loss of special friend
BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ Old friend Kevin Murray died last week of cancer at the too young age of 54.
He was a husband, a son, a brother, a father of five children, a friend to many, and a one-time lacrosse star at both La Salle and at Long Island University, and a coach.
He coached Hendricken to five state lacrosse titles in the last 15 years.
In short, he lived a rich, full life, the reason why the Perry-McStay Funeral Home in East Providence was jam-packed on Wednesday night.
It was an amazing tribute to Murray, and to old Rhode Island, too, the Rhode Island of neighborhoods, local sports, and ties that can come from that, ties that can last a lifetime.
So farewell, old friend.
R.I.P.
■ Another winter, another great UConn women’s basketball team, and the beat goes on, now 150 straight wins against unranked opponents.
■ The Pats’ Malcolm Butler, benched for the Super Bowl, played 98 percent of the snaps during the regular season.
■ Does anyone still care about the Kardashians, or has that train moved on down the track?
■ This from Forbes: The Cowboys are the NFL’s most valuable franchise, worth $4.8 billion, and the Patriots are second, worth $3.7 billion.
■ The Associated Press reported that an estimated 103.4 million people watched the Super Bowl, down an estimated 7 percent from last year.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: I have the most receptions in NFL history. Who am I? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from the Pats’ Malcolm Butler, in the Boston Globe, on not getting into the Super Bowl game: “It is what it is. I don’t know what it was.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from Tom Brady: “No one is going feel sorry for us.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from Karen Guregian, who covers the Pats for the Boston Herald: “There seems to be a sense of Patriots fatigue between the ranks.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK IV comes from Justin Timber-lake on Tom Brady: “He’s got great hair.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK V is this all-time classic from Ronald Reagan: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’’
■ Speaking of Brady, he and Barry Bonds went to the same high school, Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, Calif.
■ Kristaps Porzingis is out for at least the next 10 months due to an ACL tear, and the sound you hear is the Knicks season checking out.
■ There’s no truth to the rumor that Gina Raimondo has a moving van on speed dial.
■ Or that the Independent Man is telling anyone who will listen that next winter he is out of here.
■ Gronk as an action film star? That’s the new rumor.
■ Bovada has the Pats at 5-1 to win next year’s Super Bowl. The Steelers at 10-1, followed by the Vikings, Packers and Eagles at 12-1.
■ Longtime Pats’ defensive coordinator Matt Patricia cut his hair and trimmed much of his trademark beard for his introduction as the new coach of the Lions.
■ This from the Entertainment Software Association: Sixty-five percent of U.S. households have at least one member who plays three or more hours of video games a week. Add it all up, and TV viewership is down, even for the NFL.
■ The ESPN documentary on “The Two Bills’’ is excellent.
■ But if you have to ask who the two Bills are, Bunky, it just might not be for you.
■ Did you see where Randy Moss was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility?
■ Add the expression “slut-shaming’’ to the culture.
■ Memo to Major League Baseball: please do more to speed up the game.
■ Justin Timberlake’s appeal eludes me. Maybe in my next life.
■ The last week wasn’t Josh McDaniels’ finest moment.
■ A fond farewell to Tim Britton, who covered the Red Sox here for seven years, and is off to New York to cover the Mets for a website called “The Athletic.’’
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Jerry Rice, with 1,549.
■ Isaiah Thomas never really got along with LeBron in Cleveland, so guess what? He’s gone.
■ Did Belichick outsmart himself by not playing Butler?
■ Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, St. John’s beats Villanova.
■ Backup quarterback Nick Foles? He beat the Pats? Really?
■ Or, as he said afterwards, “The big thing is don’t be afraid to fail. ... I wouldn’t be up here if I hadn’t failed a million times.’’
■ Sounds like the General Assembly to me, but we keep waiting, right?
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Bunky
Feb 24, 2018 12:34:04 GMT -5
Post by dex on Feb 24, 2018 12:34:04 GMT -5
COMMENTARY Friars are hitting a wall
BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ The Friars are at a crossroads, a season that now seems perched on the brink. The loss against DePaul at The Dunk two weeks ago seemed like one of those things, a game that simply got away from them. Those things happen. Thursday afternoon felt different. It was the continuation of the game that had been stopped on Wednesday night due to a slippery floor at The Dunk, and the Friars looked out of sync as soon as the game resumed, eventually losing. And the takeaway? This is a team that’s hit a wall. No big surprise, really. A season is a long journey, both physically and emotionally, and right now they look like a very tired team, with still miles to go before they can sleep.
■ I’ve seen pickup games more interesting than the NBA All-Star Game.
■ Spring training is a remnant from another era.
■ So is downtown Providence, but what are you going to do, Bunky?
■ What are the odds that we’re ever going to find out what Malcolm Butler actually did to get on Bill Belichick’s you-know-what list?
■ Two things we’re never going to know: what Belichick knows, and what the General Assembly thinks.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Before Nick Foles did it this year, who was the last backup quarterback to win a Super Bowl? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from the Patriots’ Devin McCourty on the ongoing debate on why Malcolm Butler didn’t play in the Super Bowl: “We all knew he wasn’t starting all week. That wasn’t a secret to the guys on the team.”
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from longtime PC broadcaster John Rooke moments after the Seton Hall-PC basketball game was stopped on Wednesday night because of condensation on the floor: “I’ve been doing this for 50 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from E.J. Dionne, a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post, who grew up in Fall River, from a column that ran in Thursday’s Journal. “On gun violence, the United States has become a corrupt failed state.’’
■ A slippery floor the other night at The Dunk? I remember the Celtics back in the late 1950s with Bill Russell, back when they were the best team in the world, slipping all over the floor on a too-warm March afternoon at the old Rhode Island Auditorium on North Main Street.
■ Five years and $110 million for new Red Sox acquisition J.D. Martinez? What would Ted Williams have gotten in his prime?
■ But make no mistake, the Sox needed to get Martinez.
■ Rhode Island Monthly is a Rhode Island gem.
■ Have the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum hit the wall?
■ Why are the Golden State Warriors so good? How about the fact that four of their five starters were in the All-Star Game: Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
■ The movie “Black Panther’’ is smokin’ hot at the box office.
■ Sandy Alderson, the general manager of the Mets, says he can see Tim Tebow ending up in the major leagues.
■ Nothing looks worse than general managers who shell out millions to guys who can’t play.
■ There are few things sadder than hearing about a shooter in a school.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Tom Brady in 2001.
■ A fond farewell to Sandra Radcliffe, wife of former Journal sports columnist Jim Donaldson, who had several big-time jobs in her long career here at The Journal.
■ The AAU program, the Jersey Roadrunners, has an alumni list of 38 players who have played in the NBA, including Kyrie Irving and Bobby Hurley.
■ Memo from the How-The-Game-Has-Changed Department from Bob Ryan in the Boston Globe: “Last season Stephen Curry attempted 789 3s, and that was 97 fewer than he had taken the year before. ... Three years into the rule, the 1981-82 Lakers won the championship by going 13-for-94 on 3s during the regular season.”
■ It’s only a matter of time before the Independent Man is going to demand a big raise.
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Bunky
Mar 24, 2018 8:03:50 GMT -5
Post by dex on Mar 24, 2018 8:03:50 GMT -5
COMMENTARY No sad songs for Hurley
BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH:
■ So now Dan Hurley is gone, off to another coaching challenge in a bigger basketball job. But sing no sad songs. Isn't that what he did six years ago when he left Wagner to go to the University of Rhode Island? Isn't that the nature of the profession, always looking forward to the next season, the next challenge, the next job? Isn't this the world Hurley came of age in, the world of his Hall of Fame father, and of his older brother, Bobby, an iconic All-American at Duke? So he should leave with both our blessing and our thanks, too. For he did everything he was supposed to do, and more.
■ It's good news that the NFL is finally trying to figure out what a catch is, because the current situation is ludicrous.
■ Nothing was better for the NCAA Tournament than 16th-seeded University of Maryland-Baltimore County upsetting No. 1 seed Virginia.
■ The Boston Herald is still alive? Good.
■ Tom Brady is No. 20 on ESPN The Magazine's list of the 20 most dominant athletes in the past 20 years. The top three? Tiger, LeBron and Peyton Manning.
■ Spare me any of those spring training stories when "so and so'' threw a side session.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Which Division I college team went 66 years between appearances in the NCAA men's basketball tournament? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from old friend Rick Pitino in The Washington Post on being out of coaching: "I miss it terribly. I don't know how to explain it in words. ... There's just this emptiness.''
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from Providence College senior guard Kyron Cartwright on his career-ending loss to Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament: "I don't think I'll ever get over the loss.''
■ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from Kevin McHale on old friend Danny Ainge: "When you were playing cards, he could really cheat well.''
■ LINE OF THE WEEK IV comes from Steve Kerr on Celtics coach Brad Stevens: "I think that quiet sort of listen-first brain lends itself well to coaching.''
■ Just what exactly is the "Deep State?''
■ The Boston Globe recently reported that former Patriot Ronnie Lippett is facing serious cognitive difficulties.
■ The UConn women's basketball team had 94 points in the first half against St. Francis (Pa.) on the way to a 140-52 win last Saturday.
■ The movie "Game Night'' should have been called "Lame Night.''
■ The worst big city in the country when it comes to college sports? Boston's in the conversation.
■ Bobby Orr is 70.
■ The Celtics can't win anything without Kyrie Irving.
■ Self-driving cars? No thanks, Bunky. I don't have that much faith in technology.
■ Did you see where former NFL great Mark Gastineau publicly pleaded with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to help former players who are struggling with health issues?
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Harvard, 1946 to 2012.
■ The word is that Gisele you-know-who has a new book coming out in October called "Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life.''
■ But there's no truth to the rumor that one of the chapters will be called "Have The Right Genes.''
■ The word is that this is not the easiest of offseasons for either Tom Brady or the Patriots.
■ But rest assured it's easier than the news URI just got.
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Bunky
Apr 7, 2018 17:49:11 GMT -5
Post by dex on Apr 7, 2018 17:49:11 GMT -5
COMMENTARY Celts’ hopes went down with Kyrie
BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ Kyrie’s done for the year? So are the Celtics. Bang the drum slowly. It’s a tribute to both Brad Stevens, and a roster that has gotten the most out of itself, that the Celtics have been as good as they’ve been considering they lost Gordon Hayward in the season opener. But now the illusions are gone with the wind. Losing Kyrie will do that, as if someone pulled a curtain down over the stage. So now this is a season that’s over, even though there are still games left to play. Bang the drum slowly again.
■ If the Sox are back, can the warm weather be far behind?
■ Villanova made more 3-pointers (454) this past season than any other Division I college basketball team in history.
■ Just when you think you’ve got everything figured out, Bunky, someone comes along with something called “The Deep State,’’ and we’re all back to working on mysteries without any clues.
■ Good luck to new URI basketball coach David Cox, who is following a very tough act.
■ Golf is a lot better when Tiger is playing.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Name the two colleges with the most Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma on losing in the national semifinals for the second straight season while winning all the others throughout both seasons: “There’s nothing you can say to a college kid after experiencing this two years in a row that’s going to make them feel any better.”
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from the late Frank Zappa: “Modern music is people who can’t think signing artists who can’t write songs to make records for people who can’t hear.”
■ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from a headline in the New York Daily News over a story about Stormy Daniels: “I wasn’t porn yesterday.’’
■ Did you see where Giancarlo Stanton struck out five times and was booed in his Yankee Stadium debut? Welcome to New York, big fella.
■ I don’t envy high school baseball players around here, where all too frequently the biggest opponent seems to be the weather.
■ Brendan DuBois writes excellent crime novels set in northern New England, and his latest is “Hard Aground.’’
■ The Knicks have had at least 50 losses the last four seasons. Ah, the city game.
■ Mark Gastineau, the former Jet great, now 61, is just the latest NFL star to publicly say he is battling serious cognitive issues.
■ I have absolutely no interest in Jay Leno’s garage, but maybe that’s just my lack of vision.
■ The average age of a major-league player is 28.91.
■ There’s no truth to the rumor that life was better before anyone ever heard of a password.
■ Or that the Russians are hacking the waiting line at Twin Oaks.
■ Or that I have more passwords in my wallet than money.
■ R.I.P. old friend Jim Fiedler, who quarterbacked Barrington to the Class C football title in 1962.
■ Look up “big bats’’ in the sports dictionary and a picture of the Yankees stares back at you.
■ Craig Robinson, the former Brown basketball coach and the brother of Michelle Obama, is in his first year as the Knicks vice-president of player development.
■ Speed cameras are “Big Brother’’ with technology.
■ Remember baseball socks? No more, Bunky.
■ If I never drive to Boston again, it would be too soon.
■ Is Fox host Laura Ingraham going to get a mulligan?
■ A running back has not been the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft since 1995.
■ Villanova has now won two national basketball championships in the last three years, the same Villanova team that was upset by the Friars at The Dunk this past season.
■ The Red Sox have the highest payroll in the game at $235 million. The Yankees? The Yankees are seventh at $168 million.
■ Congratulations to old friend and former Barrington High School football coach Bill McCagney for winning the Larry Gallogly Humanitarian Award at the Providence Gridiron Club.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Purdue (Drew Brees, Bob Griese and Len Dawson) and Alabama (Joe Namath, Bart Starr and Ken Stabler).
■ Payback is when you think about today’s music the same way your parents thought about yours.
■ And we all know what payback is, right?
■ Is it me, or does this Patriots’ offseason seem full of bad karma?
■ Opening Day at Fenway? Talk about great karma.
■ There’s no truth to the rumor that “The Deep State’’ in Rhode Island is a New York System in Olneyville.
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Bunky
Apr 7, 2018 18:46:11 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by wtm97 on Apr 7, 2018 18:46:11 GMT -5
Villanova 454 three pointers all time high in D1 is beyond impressive...
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pcdad
Friar Fanatic
Posts: 3,707
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Bunky
Apr 8, 2018 1:01:14 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by pcdad on Apr 8, 2018 1:01:14 GMT -5
One of the better “For What It’s Worth “... Frank Zappa quotation puts it beyond the norm.
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mikemc
Friar Fanatic
Posts: 3,240
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Bunky
Apr 9, 2018 10:44:30 GMT -5
Post by mikemc on Apr 9, 2018 10:44:30 GMT -5
NE HS Baseball season needs to be pushed to the right. Most of the Midwest schedules state championships after graduation to accommodate better weather.
$235M better win it all.
....gotta love friartown...
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Bunky
Apr 28, 2018 9:49:35 GMT -5
Post by dex on Apr 28, 2018 9:49:35 GMT -5
COMMENTARY ‘Patriot Way’ under attack
BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ Gronk is happy, and everyone is happy once again at Fort Foxboro.
Is that about it?
Let’s hope so.
Because this has not been the easiest of offseasons for the Patriots, what with Gronk and Tom Brady doing their own offseason workouts, a symbolic slap at the so-called “Patriot Way,’’ and a more symbolic statement that these are grown men here, grown men who don’t want their offseason lives dictated by a coach, no matter who he is.
The new “Patriot Way.’’
■ Mark Jackson said five years ago that the best shooting backcourt in basketball history was the Warriors’ Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. He was right.
■ Just when you thought you’ve just about heard it all, Bunky, along comes the news that Linc Chafee might want to run for U.S. Senate.
■ Can anyone say “intervention?”
■ Baseball managers look ridiculous wearing uniforms.
■ The word is that Gronkowski the horse will not run in the Kentucky Derby. Must be something in the name, right?
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Who is the youngest NFL quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK is from New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman: “I don’t care what a guy runs on the watch in his underwear. I don’t care. It’s how fast he can play on the field.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from Gronk, when asked last week if he’d be attending the Patriots’ optional workouts last week: “No, I’ve got dirt biking skills to work on.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from rapper Kanye West, who called Donald Trump “my brother.’’ Say what?
■ LINE OF THE WEEK IV comes from the front cover of the Boston Herald with a huge picture of a frenzied Gronk over the words “PARTY TIME’’ in big huge letters.
■ Don’t look now, Bunky, but the Sixers are a sleeping giant in the East.
■ There’s no truth to the rumor that if you look up “endangered species’’ in the dictionary, a picture of a college fraternity stares back at you.
■ Or that Tom Brady will not like any quarterback the Pats pick in the draft.
■ The years come and the years go and still James Harden keeps putting up big numbers.
■ I wouldn’t want the Celtics’ Marcus Smart to be guarding me, Bunky.
■ Odds are you will forget the movie “Blockers’’ before you get back to your car in the parking lot.
■ It’s not easy being any kind of athlete in the social media era.
■ Or, I don’t know about you, Bunky, but if I had been trashed on social media when I was 14 years old I might not have come out of the house for a month.
■ The “Greek Freak’’ is aptly named.
■ Has baseball seen the best of Matt Harvey, now relegated to the bullpen by the Mets?
■ The Yankees started an under-30 lineup the other day for the first time since 1989.
■ I’m having trouble getting pumped up about the Prince Harry nuptials, but maybe that’s just me.
■ R.I.P. Gil Santos, one of the all-time Boston media greats.
■ I heard my first trashing of Alex Cora the other day, believe it or not.
■ Let’s see, the movie “Super Troopers 2’’ is described in the Boston Herald as “contains profanity, nudity, drug use and violence.’’ Ah, Hollywood.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Ben Roethlisberger — 23 years, 340 days.
■ R&B and hip-hop were the most consumed music in the county in 2017, the first time that’s happened.
■ Boston is ranked as the top city in the country to vacation in by U.S. News & World Report.
■ But there’s no truth to the rumor that the rating goes down if the Sox swoon.
■ The word on the street is the Independent Man is thinking of holding out for a new contract.
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Bunky
May 26, 2018 8:23:03 GMT -5
Post by dex on May 26, 2018 8:23:03 GMT -5
COMMENTARY National anthem solution solves nothing
BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ The NFL was never going to come up with a solution to its national anthem problem that everyone liked.
Not in this divided country.
So the new rule says that, if players are on the field, they have to stand for the anthem and, if they don’t want to stand for it, they have to stay in the locker room. No harm, no foul. Or else the poobahs of the game could do away with it altogether, simply saying that in these troubled times it’s simply not worth it right now.
Sounds simple, right?
Not really.
Not in this divided country.
And the beat goes on.
Call it Colin Kaepernick’s legacy.
■ The word in the Boston Globe is that Tom and Gisele have lowered the price for their swanky New York condo apartment from $17.25 million to $13.95 million. Sounds like a steal to me, Bunky, but what do I know?
■ Speaking of Brady, you don’t have to be a sleuth to figure out the message he’s been sending to Coach Bill this offseason.
■ Raise your hand if you ever thought Mookie Betts was going to be this good.
■ Hanley, we hardly know ya’.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Who is the only professional athlete to play for three different teams in the same city. (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from Celtics coach Brad Stevens on rookie Jayson Tatum getting 99 out of 100 votes for the All-Rookie team: “Someone made a mistake.”
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from the Red Sox’ J.D. Martinez, via the Boston Herald, who admitted he strikes out a lot: “That’s kind of the new wave of baseball. ... It’s either a home run, a strikeout, or a walk.”
■ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from the New York Post, among others, on you-know-who: “Commander In Tweet.”
■ There’s no truth to the rumor that the Patriots are going to charge admission to Gillette Stadium for the first meeting of Brady and Belichick this offseason.
■ Or that the new movie “Book Club” is so weak it almost had to be helped off the screen when it was over.
■ Marcus Morris keeps getting better for the Celtics.
■ NBA history tells us you want to have a seventh game at home.
■ A new thriller set in the dark political world of Washington, D.C., in the 1950s? “The Hellfire Club,” by CNN’s Jake Tapper, delivers.
■ It’s not even summer yet, and Belichick seems to already have his game face on.
■ Lou Lamoriello, the former PC hockey coach and athletic director, who is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, is the new president of hockey operations for the Islanders at age 75.
■ David Quinn, 51, who grew up in Cranston and played hockey at Boston University, is the new coach of the New York Rangers. How rare is that?
■ I’ve never gotten the fascination with the British royal family.
■ Then again, I never got the fascination with mathematics, but what’s a kid supposed to do?
■ LeBron looked exhausted the other night against the Celtics.
■ Stormy Daniels’ 15 minutes of fame keeps on ticking.
■ Over the last six years nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use.
■ But there’s no truth to the rumor that the Independent Man has been stoned for years, but around the State House who would know?
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Gene Conley, who played for the Red Sox, Celtics, and the old Boston Braves.
■ Police and first responders, preparing for a mass shooting on a sunny afternoon on a Narragansett beach? This is the world we now live in? Who said things get better?
■ And there’s no truth to the rumor that the General Assembly wants to move to the Coast Guard House for the summer.
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friar82
Administrator
BCC Member
Posts: 8,158
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Bunky
May 26, 2018 12:02:51 GMT -5
Post by friar82 on May 26, 2018 12:02:51 GMT -5
But then again, who could blame the General Assembly - if they did want to move to the Coast Guard House for the summer? I could think of a million worse ways to spend my time over the next few months.
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