mikemc
Friar Fanatic
Posts: 3,240
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Bunky
Oct 8, 2018 10:22:09 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by mikemc on Oct 8, 2018 10:22:09 GMT -5
COMMENTARY Things are just starting to heat up BILL REYNOLDS FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH: ■ The dog days of summer? Not around here. The Red Sox are running away with the American League East — with the Yankees in the rear-view mirror and 32 games to play, a dream season if there ever was one (so far, anyway). And the Patriots are loaded up, ready for another run as they close out the preseason next week and open another campaign, complete with all the expectations they’ve built over the last two decades. If you’re a sports fan, September looks like it’s going to be a real treat. Now if we can just get those Connecticut license plates out of South County. ■ Old friend Lamar Odom says he had 12 strokes while in a coma after overdosing in 2015. ■ If the American League MVP Award were a horse race, would we say that Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez are neck and neck? ■ Michael Cohen is Donald Trump’s worst nightmare, the ghost of past sins. ■ The Orioles were an amazing 52 games back on Friday morning. Not the Rays. The Orioles. ■ Or where have you gone Jim Palmer, Baltimore turns its lonely eyes to you. ■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: What is the only NFL team that Tom Brady hasn’t beaten on its home field? Answer near the bottom of the column.) ■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale: “I’m on the best team that ever walked the planet.’’ ■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from Rudy Giuliani: “Truth isn’t truth.’’ Then what is it, Rudy? We can’t wait to hear. ■ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from the back page of one of the New York tabloids, on all the injured Yankees: “PAINSTRIPES.’’ ■ LINE OF THE WEEK IV comes from Joe Torre, who threw out the first pitch on Sunday at Yankee Stadium: “You’re 30 games over .500 and you look at the standings and you’re still 10 games back.” ■ Victor Cruz, who played in the NFL for seven years, and also played at UMass with former Rhode Island high school star Liam Coen, has retired from the NFL and will join ESPN. ■ But there’s no truth to the rumor that the Independent Man will retire, collect his pension, then run for the General Assembly. ■ And, of course, eat at Twin Oaks, and go to Florida for the winter. ■ Then come back and get his kid a summer job working for the state. ■ Then go to sleep in his “Full Rhode Island’’ T-shirt. ■ Larry Lucchino and former PC basketball coach Gary Walters were once on the same basketball team at Princeton. ■ Springfield, Mass., is betting the future on a downtown $1-billion resort casino. ■ Maybe it’s a clue that the economy is not working when we need casinos to bail it out. ■ But Kobe Bryant doesn’t need to get bailed out. He reportedly has made $700 million in both salary and endorsements over the course of his career. ■ Roll that figure around on your tongue for a while Bunky. Then go out and work on that jumper. ■ The movie “Grease’’ came out 40 years ago. ■ Speaking of movies, my spies tell me “BlacKkKlansman’’ is also worth it. ■ The Red Sox seem almost unbeatable when they score first. ■ Mike Lupica, who started out writing for the Boston Phoenix decades ago and became one of the truly elite sports writers in the country, has left the struggling New York Daily News to write detective novels. ■ David Price has been well worth it since the All-Star break. HOW DID THAT WORK OUT IN GAME 2??? ■ The word is that former URI basketball coach Jim Harrick is an assistant at Cal State Northbridge. ■ Urban Meyer is the latest big-time college football coach to find himself under a certain cloud. ■ Harvard is about to begin its 145th year of college football. ■ The Route 195 traffic nightmare? Really? ■ UMass has 100 players on its football roster, 27 from Massachusetts. ■ Did you see where Pedro buried the Yankees the other day, saying they don’t appear to be hustling? ■ Or in other words, they’re not his daddy anymore. ■ QUIZ ANSWER: The Seattle Seahawks. ■ Andrew Benitendi is having a great year in a season in which both Betts and Martinez are having super great years. ■ If Alex Cora wasn’t born to be the Sox manager, he’s certainly doing a great job of faking it. ■ The sound you hear is the General Assembly starting to warm up in the bullpen.
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Post by dex on Oct 10, 2018 10:07:27 GMT -5
WhatsAMatter U this fine morning Sir Pastrami...he of the Big Fat Mouth
Left holding your pastrami in one hand and your itsy bitsy Package in the other.
...OH, And Keep Out Of My Dunk
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mikemc
Friar Fanatic
Posts: 3,240
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Bunky
Oct 10, 2018 10:40:47 GMT -5
Post by mikemc on Oct 10, 2018 10:40:47 GMT -5
All is good Master of Fake news.. You have your David Price, I have my Luis Severino.. ugh. Has Stanton figured out that he can't hit a slider yet??
Your Dunk?? Fraid not, BCJoe owns the Dunk!!
....gotta love friartown...
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Bunky
Oct 10, 2018 11:51:02 GMT -5
via mobile
mikemc likes this
Post by dex on Oct 10, 2018 11:51:02 GMT -5
I must say that no one who posts on the exciting and informative OT Board can be all bad. Do you can come to The Dunk and remember and never ever forget that BC Joe’s home court is Paulette Pavillion
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Bunky
Oct 13, 2018 8:14:00 GMT -5
Post by dex on Oct 13, 2018 8:14:00 GMT -5
COMMENTARY Nothing’s better than fall in New England
BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ Talk about an October to savor.
The Red Sox slapping the Yankees around to go deeper into the playoffs, after winning an amazing 108 games in the regular season. The Patriots rebounding after a slow start, looking like the same old Patriots. The start of basketball and hockey. A great time in the sports year.
All this, and the leaves are beginning to turn, soon to be in full-stage dress.
Enjoy.
■ The Astros are better than the Yankees. Just sayin’.
■ David Price is supposed to get the ball in Game 2 against the Astros? Really?
■ The new movie, “Venom,’’ hattered the box-office record for October.
■ Alex Cora is going to come out of this postseason a flat-out star, no matter what happens from here on.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Who were the only two Patriots receivers to have more than 200 yards in a game? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from Sox reliever Matt Barnes on Cora: “It seemed like every button he’s pushing is the right one.’’ ■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from Jimmy Vaccaro, a Las Vegas oddsmaker since the beginning of time: "I think [Jon] Gruden is living in the past.''
■ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from Todd Bowles, the coach of the Jets: “This is just a no-excuse business. Either you win games or you don’t.”
■ LINE OF THE WEEK IV comes from a NYU business professor, Scott Galloway, via the New York Post: "We no longer worship at the altar of character and kindness. We worship at the altar of innovators and billionaires.''
■ Those New York FOOTBALL Giants, as they used to be called, they are off to a 1-5 start.
■ Or where is Frank Gifford when you really need him?
■ Speaking of Gifford, the late Giant hero, he is one of the key people in "A Fan's Notes,'' the classic '70s memoir by Frederick Exley, which is one of the best books I've ever read.
■ If you didn't know any better, you might think that the Friars' new on-campus basketball facility is a work of art.
■ The Jets think they have a franchise quarterback in Sam Darnold. We'll see.
■ This from The Associated Press: Nearly one out of five Americans 65 or over, is still working, the highest percentage in more than half a century.
■ Put some "Lil Wayne'' on the speaker and I'm fast-breaking out of the room, Bunky.
■ Does Tom Cruise never age or does it just seem that way?
■ Is it me or is it just matter of time before big-time college sports as we've come to know them blow up? n What in the world did Donald Trump and Kanye West have to talk about?
■ CC Sabathia seems about three big meals away from eating himself out of the majors.
■ Who knew Alex Cora was going to be this good?
■ I wish I could get that senior year of high school back, the one I was so rushing to get through.
■ There's no truth to the rumor that if you look up "coming up small'' in the playoffs, the Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton stares back at you.
■ Or that George Steinbrenner was rolling over in his grave when the Yanks rolled a seven against the Red Sox.
■ Did you see where first-base umpire Angel Hernandez was overruled three times in four replays in Game 3 of the Sox-Yankees series?
■ Once it was the North against the South. Now it's the liberals against the conservatives. Who said things get better?
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Terry Glenn and Wes Welker.
■ Lady Gaga seems to have more professional lives than a cat.
■ Yankees manager Aaron Boone didn't help himself in the playoffs.
■ Speaking of the Yankees, there are reports they were charging $132 to sit in the bleachers.
■ No wonder they lost. Talk about bad karma. They should pay that money back to their fans.
■ Ah, the old-time bad blood between Nicholas Mattiello and Joe Trillo, the Full Rhode Island story of the week.
■ The only thing missing was the Independent Man, right?
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pcdad
Friar Fanatic
Posts: 3,707
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Bunky
Oct 16, 2018 20:19:59 GMT -5
dex likes this
Post by pcdad on Oct 16, 2018 20:19:59 GMT -5
As a public service. To those younger Friar Fans may I give you some perspective on $132 price of bleacher seats at the old Yankee Stadium in the 1960's: - bleachers $0.75; grandstand $1.50; loge $2.50; box seats $3.50; parking ?, no fathers owned car. - admission for friends and self courtesy of Con Edison freebie bleacher seats, the area later painted black for hitters benefit. Walked to stadium because no one had $0.15/later $0.20 fare for the subway each way.
Speaking to a friend whose parents moved into their railroad flat apartment after marriage after his father returned from WWII service. Tthry were evicted in the 1970's when a new landlord purchased building and claimed the two lowest rented apartments as his legal right. My friend's parents rent was $50 a month at the time.
My friend bought his first used car in 1976, a 1975 VW Beetle, for $1,000 and soon drove some of his pals to Montreal Summer Olympics.
I won't even write of what tuition cost as the "small" amount was unreachable for most students who attended college through scholarships, financial aid, and loans.
So if you ever wonder why those of a certain age think a $20 expenditure is a tidy sum now maybe you can understand why.
So much for another uncle / grandpa's tale of "when I was a boy"...
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Bunky
Nov 3, 2018 14:36:04 GMT -5
Post by dex on Nov 3, 2018 14:36:04 GMT -5
COMMENTARY And what a time it was
BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ The best Red Sox team ever? This year’s gets my vote. No big decision really. One hundred eight regular-season wins. A World Series title. What more could they do, beat the Patriots in a scrimmage? We have seen history here, seen a Red Sox season that may never be replicated. Or as the old song lyrics say, “Preserve your memories.” For we might never see this again.
■ Speaking of the Red Sox, what were the odds back in July that Steve Pearce was going to be the MVP of the World Series?
■ The Warriors’ Klay Thompson broke teammate Stephen Curry’s NBA record by one with 14 3-point buckets against the Bulls on Monday night, finishing with 52 points.
■ What does Alex Cora do for an encore?
■ And Dave Dombrowski, too?
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Who was the last rookie manager to win the World Series before Alex Cora? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK I is this classic from Mike Tyson: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.''
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from New York Times columnist Frank Bruni: "The Internet will be the death of us. What a nightmare of manipulated biases and metastasized hate it has turned into.''
■ The Knicks stink, just in case you were wondering.
■ And so do the Giants.
■ Thank the football gods that we don't have to watch them on television every Sunday afternoon, like we did back in the old days when the Patriots existed only in American history books.
■ Whitey Bulger's death, at 89 in a West Virginia prison, brings an official end to a sad era in Boston history.
■ If anyone handles the ball better than Kyrie Irving, they've been hiding it from me.
■ Or as Isiah Thomas, the former Detroit Pistons great, recently said about him, "He's playing different instruments with the basketball, where everyone else is just dribbling.''
■ This from a headline in the Boston Herald: "Study: Pot impairs teens' memory.''
■ When they start to talk about "launch angles'' in baseball, I'm out of the room, Bunky.
■ The Patriots are allowing 23.1 points a game, 21st in the NFL.
■ The injured Dustin Pedroia looked like a lost soul in the Red Sox dugout during the World Series.
■ Why don't we just admit we lost the "War on Drugs'' and beg for mercy?
■ The phrase — "Do Damage" — created by manager Alex Cora for the Red Sox at the beginning of the year, had 750,000 posts on Twitter and Instagram since it began.
■ But there's no truth to the rumor it's since been co-opted by the General Assembly.
■ Eli Manning is playing in the shadows, and his Giants are awful, arguably the worse team in the NFL.
■ Just when you start to feel better about the country, some nitwit kills 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue, and we're back to the same sad reality, in this awful new normal.
■ Speaking of Cora, he is only the fifth manager in baseball history to win a World Series in his first year.
■ Former URI player Stanford Robinson has signed a contract to play for the Houston Rockets G-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
■ R.I.P. Willie McCovey, at 80.
■ R.I.P. Paul Zimmerman, Sports Illustrated's longtime prognosticator, "Doctor Z,'' at 86. came through, right?
■ You don't have to be a visionary to know things are happening in downtown Providence. You just have to look around, Bunky.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Bob Brenly with the Diamondbacks in 2001.
■ Did you see where Kanye West announced he is leaving the political world to focus on his art? Be still my beating heart.
■ Does Gronk seem a step slow this year, or is it just me?
■ This from the New York Times: Nine of the 31 National Hockey League coaches are former college hockey players.
■ There's no truth to the rumor that the duck boats in Boston want a raise.
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Bunky
Nov 24, 2018 9:34:56 GMT -5
Post by dex on Nov 24, 2018 9:34:56 GMT -5
COMMENTARY Gronk’s star looks to be fading BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH:
■ Is the Gronk we know close to being finished?
Is he now in the twilight of his great career, this career that's always seems to be plagued by injuries, as though the football gods long ago decided that he periodically had to be punished for his great physical gifts for the game; otherwise, it simply wouldn't be fair?
Is he now all but on football life support, as if existing in the present tense, his future as up in the air as a punt in the swirling wind?
That's the great unanswered question, one that now seems to hover over the Patriots like a thundercloud that never really seems to go away.
■ If you know what traveling is in the NBA, let me know, Bunky.
■ Or, as the old line goes, whatever it takes, right?
■ Pot is legal in Massachusetts? Who would know?
■ You know things are going along as planned when Duke and Kansas are one and two in the college basketball polls.
■ Phil Estes had one great ride at Brown, no matter how it turned out.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Which NFL franchise has the most postseason wins? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from Dodger shortstop Manny Machado, who recently told Fox Sports: "I'm not the kind of player that's going to be 'Johnny Hustle' and run down the line and slide to first base.''
So there.
■ John Carroll, who once coached the Celtics, is a URI assistant coach.
■ With URI basketball, the players come and the players go, but the "Ramettes'' go on forever.
■ Oh, yeah, one last thing about URI basketball, kind of: Last week, the Harvard Crimson played against URI in the Ryan Center and wore black uniforms. Say what?
■ Adrian Beltre, who was the first player from the Dominican Republic to have 3,000 hits, retired this week after 21 seasons.
■ Did you see where Villanova lost back-to-back basketball games for the first time in five years?
■ And that the Rolling Stones are supposed to come to Gillette on June 8?
■ But there's no truth to the rumor they will sing only "oldies.''
■ Or that TB12 will join them onstage.
■ Or that Coach Bill will sing his all-time favorite song, " Satisfaction.''
■ Which, of course, will only seem more dramatic when Brady is actually gone.
■ The Providence Bruins perk up downtown Providence.
■ Sports are all about the present tense? No doubt.
■ Get ready for the stories about the people who can't handle gambling, legal or not. Because they're out there.
■ A great singer gets me every time.
■ Did you see where Anthony Davis said he'd consider coming to Boston?
■ Three words to Danny Ainge: Make it happen.
■ Sorry, but watching Tiger and Phil on television betting on golf all but seems obscene.
■ I'm not real sure what the audience is for movies out there anymore, but I know I'm on the fringe of it.
■ Did Alex Cora make a truly bad move all last season?
■ What's the matter, the Celtics have lost their playbook?
■ Can the Pats get to the end of the season before it all crumbles away?
■ Memo from "The "Sign of the Times'' department: "Glamour'' magazine, which has been printed for more than 90 years, will be online only starting in January.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: The Pittsburgh Steelers, with
35. (The Packers, Cowboys and Patriots are tied for second with 34.)
■ Want to start an argument at a party? Start talking about Trump.
■ Old friend Don Kaull, of Rogers and URI basketball fame, is now in his 33rd year of doing color on Ram basketball radio broadcasts.
■ Want to start another argument at a party? Start talking about Trump again.
■ The sound you hear is all those old Puritans rolling around in their graves upon hearing the news that sports gambling is going to be legal.
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Bunky
Dec 15, 2018 12:20:18 GMT -5
Post by dex on Dec 15, 2018 12:20:18 GMT -5
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ When New England rolls into Pittsburgh on Sunday, we’ll get another glimpse of two of the game’s great quarterbacks, as they play for yet another postseason prize. In many ways, we’ve been spoiled around here — watching Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, the greats of the game, take on the likes of Ben Roethlisberger, or Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers, and usually winning.
They’ve been writing this wonderful football story for nearly two decades, but for how much longer? Can we agree that it’s now in the final act?
This year? Next year?
But sometime in the near future, it’s coming.
Which means that we should appreciate what the Patriots have done here for the last 20 years or so. For time is the enemy no one beats, the opponent that never loses, the opponent that now just lies and waits. And the opponent that knows the clock is always ticking.
■ Kyrie Irving is the 18th leading scorer in the NBA, the only Celtic in the top
50.
■ Clint Eastwood is starring in a new movie called “The Mule” at 88.
■ Just when you thought you finally had the culture figured out, Bunky, they come up with something called "vaping.'' Go figure.
■ The Pats are 3-4 on the road. Go figure that, too.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Only four NBA players have quadruple doubles, and none is named Bird, Johnson or Jordan. How many can you name? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from Bill Belichick on WEEI radio, commenting on last week's stunning loss to Miami on the game's final play: "Look, it's the National Football League. Nobody died.''
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from Rob Gronkowski after that game: "It was just kind of sucky."
■ Speaking of the road, the Pats haven't won a road playoff game in 11 years.
■ But neither has the General Assembly, if you're trying to keep track of these things.
■ I liked the movie "Bohemian Rhapsody,'' which surprised me.
■ Brad Stevens could coach my team any time.
■ If you were drawing up a play on the playground, you couldn't come up with anything like the one that beat the Patriots last weekend.
■ Speaking of which, it wasn't one of Bill Belichick's finest moments.
■ Or Gronk's either, for that matter.
■ This from Renée Loth's column in The Boston Globe: "Real wages for 80 percent of American workers have been stagnant for the last 30 years."
■ Steph Curry is hitting 50 percent of his 3-pointers.
■ Donald Trump is like a coach who needs a big win.
■ Or else a new defensive coordinator.
■ Did you see where the city closed the Foxy Lady through Monday after three arrests for prostitution?
■ GQ's "City of the Year?'' Would you believe Philadelphia?
■ I wouldn't either, Bunky, but what do we know?
■ Friar freshman basketball star A.J. Reeves, now out four to six weeks with a knee injury, is just the latest example of how fragile most teams are.
■ No big surprise, really. We've seen how fragile the General Assembly has been through the years, right?
■ Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. Let them grow up to be baseball players, like 34-year-old Troy Tulowitzki, the often-injured Blue Jays shortstop who was released and walked away with a cool $38 million for the last two years of his contract.
■ Did you hear about the Philadelphia Flyers' new mascot, Gritty, who has become an internet sensation? Strange times we live in, Bunky.
■ Michael Cohen must certainly think so.
■ Just when I think I've seen the best of Kyrie Irving, he does something more spectacular.
■ Joe Flacco will be the backup quarterback on Sunday for the Baltimore Ravens for the first time in his 11-year NFL career.
■ If you like Hollywood's history and some of the stories that never made the headlines, then "Hollywood's Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A." by Lili Anolik is the book for you.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Nate Thurmond in 1974, Alvin Robertson in 1986, Hakeem Olajuwon in 1990 and David Robinson in 1994.
■ A shout-out to longtime St. Andrew's boys basketball coach Mike Hart, who got his 500th win this week.
■ The word is the Red Sox are very concerned about Dustin Pedroia's future.
■ And the Independent Man is very concerned about the state's future.
■ And everyone's concerned about his or her own future.
■ And the world goes 'round and 'round.
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Bunky
Dec 23, 2018 11:00:19 GMT -5
Post by dex on Dec 23, 2018 11:00:19 GMT -5
COMMENTARY Kyrie in a class by himself BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH:
■ How good is Kyrie Irving? How about the best ball-handler I've ever seen good. How about he always seems to show me something new, a little nuance here, another one there. How about averaging nearly 23 points and more than 6 assists-a-game good. How about if he ever makes the ball talk back to him, I won't be surprised good. That's how good.
■ Pats-Steelers was the highest-rated TV NFL game of the season on any network.
■ Old friend Rick Pitino has signed on to coach a professional team in Greece. Born to coach, right?
■ Bang the drum slowly for the Foxy Lady.
■ Oh, and another thing about Kyrie Irving. He leads the Celtics in eight — count them, eight — statistical categories.
■ The aging Patriots need an injection of youth.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: I have played more seasons with the same team than anyone else in NBA history. Who am I? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from late, great Lenny Bruce: “In the halls of justice, the only justice is in the halls.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from Phil Mushnick in the New York Post upon President Trump attending the Army-Navy football game: “He needs a new rooting interest, as Trump University got the death penalty.’’
■ Speaking of the Patriots, they had 14 penalties on Sunday.
■ Or as Karen Guregian wrote in the Boston Herald: “Five false-start penalties in a game? Really?”
■ Portsmouth’s Chris Herren Jr., a freshman at Boston College, had 22 points the other night against Fairfield. He was also awarded a basketball scholarship this week.
■ R.I.P. Penny Marshall, aka Laverne, gone at 75.
■ The Giants stink once again? Say it ain’t so, Frank Gifford.
■ Did you see where the Sox and Yankees are scheduled to play two games in London’s Olympic Stadium next summer, part of Major League Baseball’s plan to keep growing the game?
■ Looking for a book on the game that arguably changed professional football in this country? Check out “Beyond Broadway Joe: The Super Bowl Team That Changed Football,’’ by Bob Lederer.
■ Elizabeth Warren was appreciably higher in the polls four years ago.
■ The Celtics could use a rim protector.
■ You’d never think that Bill Belichick coached last weekend’s Patriots team, a team that ostensibly played as though it first met a few hours before the game.
■ In short, the General Assembly with shoulder pads.
■ This from Sports Illustrated: Three NFL quarterbacks — Pat Mahomes, Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Ryan — are on pace for 5,000-yard seasons, of which there have been only nine in NFL history.
■ Is Mahomes the new face of the NFL?
■ The word is Sox closer Craig Kimbrel wants a six-year, $100-million deal.
■ I want one, too, but the word on the street is I’m probably not going to get it.
■ Remember when the home teams in the NBA always wore white uniforms? That’s so yesterday. Like just the other night, the Celtics were in green and the Hawks were in red.
■ Only two players in NBA history — LeBron James and Knicks’ rookie Kevin Knox — have at least 25 points and 15 rebounds in a game before their 20th birthday.
■ Tom Brady had a bad game Sunday, and the reason that jumped out is that he’s had so few of them in his amazing career.
■ Raise your hand if you were giving the points last week.
■ There aren’t too many Sundays when Coach Bill stands on the sideline looking like just another coach with too few answers. But Sunday was one of them.
■ No matter what happened to you this week, Bunky, odds are you had a better one than Middletown’s Michael Flynn.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: Dirk Nowitzki, 21 years with the Dallas Mavericks.
■ Few things are more evocative than Christmas carols.
■ Ah, if only the Foxy Lady could talk. Now that would be a true Rhode Island story, right?
■ But there’s no truth to the rumor that the General Assembly used to have its Christmas party there.
■ And that the Independent Man always had his own personal pass.
■ Call it a Full Rhode Island with Christmas lights.
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Bunky
Dec 25, 2018 9:39:13 GMT -5
pcdad likes this
Post by dex on Dec 25, 2018 9:39:13 GMT -5
COMMENTARY
Here’s some Christmas wishes, and gifts
BILL REYNOLDS
LOOK WHAT SANTA BROUGHT:
■ Five more years with the Patriots for Tom Brady.
■ Ditto for Gronk.
■ And five years off his team’s collective age for Bill Belichick.
■ 2018 all over again for the Red Sox.
■ For new URI basketball coach David Cox: all pictures of Dan Hurley removed from the Ryan Center.
■ For Celtics coach Brad Stevens, a banner-raising ceremony.
■ 2018 all over again for MVP Mookie Betts.
■ Ditto for Alex Cora.
■ A public thank you to the Pawtucket Red Sox for all those golden summers they gave us. (We’ll have two more!)
■ Ditto for Brad Faxon and Billy Andrade.
■ And for Larry Lepore, and The Dunk, too: without which downtown Providence would be Woonsocket, with better restaurants.
■ Another summer of the “Rem Dawg.”
■ And a public shout-out to Doris Burke, the former PC women’s basketball star, who continues to be a national figure as a broadcaster.
■ Ditto to Mike Martin, and his longtime assistant T.J. Sorrentine, one of this state’s basketball legends, for turning the Brown basketball program around, never an easy task.
■ Kudos to the three major television stations around here, all of which cover local sports very well.
■ And to Chuck Wilson, who once upon a time all but created the local sports talk-show culture around here by himself.
■ And to Andy Gresh, who is holding up the tradition very well each weeknight.
■ And to new URI coach Cox, whose young Rams team plays with grit.
■ And to the URI football program, which enjoyed its first winning season in a while.
■ A reminder that we’re only a couple of months away from pitchers and catchers going you know where.
■ But we’ll probably have to shovel our driveways a few times before then.
■ And, oh yeah, a bill in the mail from something called FOOTBALL GODS INC. for once sending Tom Brady here.
■ And another one for sending “Coach Bill’’ here.
■ And still another public thank you, this one to Tom Mezzanotte, the longtime head of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League, for there are easier jobs around here.
■ A young Friars’ basketball team that’s better than it was supposed to be, a team whose best games are all ahead of them.
■ The realization of how fortunate we’ve been to have both Brady and Gronk play their entire careers here.
■ Complete with no football version of “The Curse of the Bambino,’’ right? Not with the Pats anyway.
■ The realization that this is a great sports environment around here, one that never should be taken for granted.
■ The realization that teams, like athletes, are always in a certain state of flux, either getting better, or getting worse.
No big surprise, really. For all the obsession with stats and metrics, sports are played by people. People who have good days and bad. People who often bring their problems into the workplace, like it or not. We see it in the workplace every day, right? Why should it be any different in sports?
Truth is, it’s not.
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Bunky
Dec 29, 2018 10:05:16 GMT -5
Post by dex on Dec 29, 2018 10:05:16 GMT -5
COMMENTARY Father Time set to sack Brady BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ What’s up with Tom Brady?
Is he hurt more than he’s letting on?
Is the unrelenting ticking of the clock, no matter how many protein shakes he drinks or how pliable he is, taking its toll?
Or is this just the latest example that Father Time never loses?
I suspect it’s all of the above, that Brady is deep into the back nine of his amazing career, and his decline coincides with the decline of this great run the Patriots have been on, this amazing story that now seems as though it’s looking for an ending we all can live with.
■ Remember when Gronk was all but impossible to cover?
■ Giannis Antetokounmpo? One of the NBA’s rising crop of young superstars.
■ Aren’t we due for some new dance craze, or is it all played out for now?
■ Speaking of Gronk, Rex Ryan said the other day that Gronk looks like he’s running with a piano on his back.
■ Michigan, Duke and Tennessee are the consensus three best teams in college basketball. Use any order you want.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: How many Stanley Cup finals have the Bruins lost? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from Tom Brady on WEEI last Monday: “I’m not getting into any specifics on injuries. It doesn’t make any sense. Nothing benefits me talking about injuries.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II comes from Karen Guregian in the Boston Herald: “Most people who tuned in to watch Tom Brady and the Patriots’ offense on Sunday against the Bills have called a code red on the passing game.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from former Patriot Rodney Harrison: “I’ve never seen Rob Gronkowski look like this. I’ve never seen Tom Brady look like this. I wouldn’t be afraid to go into New England for the playoffs.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK IV comes from longtime column contributor Ray Perry: “Donald Trump needs to add Savannah State, Marist and Mississippi Valley State to his schedule because he needs more W’s.’’
■ Did you see that LeBron apologized for quoting a rap lyric about “Jewish money” on Instagram?
■ TB12 had one of the worst games in his long, glittering career last week, going 13-for-24 for 126 yards against the Bills, with the lowest passer rating in his career in a game the Pats won.
■ The former first lady’s new book, “Becoming Michelle Obama,” gives a huge shout-out to her brother, Craig Robinson, the former Brown basketball coach, for being “my protector since the day I was born.’’
■ You’ve got to love Coach Bill, who when asked why he pulled Brady with 6:34 left to play in last Sunday’s win, said, “I thought that was the right thing to do.’’
So there.
■ James Harden, one of the NBA’s most overlooked superstars, has had 30 points or more in eight straight games, including 45 against the Celtics on Thursday night.
■ Raise your hand, Bunky, if you remember the old Rhode Island Auditorium on North Main Street.
■ Keep it raised if you remember when the Celtics used to play a smattering of home games there every season.
■ Every generation wants to create its own world.
■ You can watch football for a long time and never see a young receiving duo any better than Gronk and Aaron Hernandez was when they first arrived in Foxboro.
■ The loss of speed is usually the first sign that an athlete is starting to go south.
■ This from The Journal the other day: Mariah Carey’s 24-year-old song, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,’’ was played 10.8 million times on Spotify on Monday.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: 13.
■ The two most popular baby names in New York City are Emma and Liam.
■ Speaking of LeBron, he reportedly has 46 million followers on his Instagram account.
■ But there’s no truth to the rumor that the Independent Man is one of them.
■ Raise your hand if you know what the “gig economy” is?
■ Put your hand down, Bunky. Who are you kidding?
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pcdad
Friar Fanatic
Posts: 3,707
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Bunky
Dec 29, 2018 11:49:29 GMT -5
Post by pcdad on Dec 29, 2018 11:49:29 GMT -5
"Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts." - Paul Simon, from "The Boy in the Bubble".
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Bunky
Jan 13, 2019 21:55:28 GMT -5
Post by dex on Jan 13, 2019 21:55:28 GMT -5
COMMENTARY Lots of talent in this town BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH:
■ They grew up in the same Portsmouth neighborhood.
The mother of one of them works for the father of the other one.
In short, they have known each other forever.
And the best part, the part that seems to come out of some TV movie of the week script?
They are both freshmen, on athletic scholarships, in big-time college basketball programs — Cole Swider at Villanova, and Chris Herren Jr. at Boston College, the Big East and the ACC, respectively — something that's very, very rare around here.
■ Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. Let them grow up to be NFL placekickers.
■ Better yet, have them grow up to be guys who sit in the owner's box, the guys who win no matter what the scoreboard says.
■ The highest grossing movie of 2018? "Black Panther."
■ There are now three sure things in life: death, taxes, and the Pats always winning the horrible AFC East.
■ That, and people who want tickets to the annual PC-URI basketball game.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: Who holds the record for the most quarterback sacks in the NFL's postseason? (Answer near the bottom of the column)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from Gisele you-know-who in Dan Shaughnessy's column in the Boston Globe: "After 12 years, I feel I could be a ref."
■ This from several media outlets: Two-thirds of all Americans say they get their news from social media.
■ And I have only one response: WOW.
■ But there's no truth to the rumor that too many of us get our news from the guy we talked to last.
■ Colts placekicker Adam Vinatieri is 46, and said the other day he wants to play for 10 more years.
■ P.S. He already has a white beard.
■ I don't trust cars with drivers, never mind cars without them.
■ This from the New York Post: Tom Brady had $5 million in performance bonuses written into his contract, and didn't make any of them.
■ Not that you're going to see him in a soup kitchen, Bunky.
■ Kris Dunn, the former Friar great now with the Chicago Bulls, has come into his own in the NBA.
■ Then again, we always knew he was just a jump shot away, right?
■ Amazon has eclipsed Microsoft as the most valuable publicly traded company.
■ The word in New York is that Eli Manning's future with the Giants is about as up in the air as a Hail Mary pass.
■ Then again, I always liked Archie better anyway.
■ Sears is fighting for its life, and who would have believed that a generation ago?
■ Remember when the 3-point shot in basketball was all but viewed as a circus shot? No more. Either drive to the rack, or hoist up a 3.
■ No one ever said change is always for the better.
■ I have never read a writer more talented than James Lee Burke, whose new novel is "Robicheaux."
■ Speaking of the Celtics, they have a roster full of good young players, a tribute to Danny Ainge's ability to spot young talent.
■ Is Duke still the college basketball team everyone loves to hate?
■ Did you see where Major League Baseball has reached agreement with MGM Resorts as its official gaming sponsor, as the sports industry is changing right in front of our eyes?
■ Narragansett's Tomas Murphy, son of former NBA player Jay Murphy, is playing for Northeastern.
■ Look up "awful" in the sports dictionary and the Jets' offense stares back at you.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: The Patriots' Willie McGinest with 16 (set in 18 games).
■ Just six corporations control what most Americans see and hear. In 1983 it was 50.
■ Brady is now 30-3 against the Bills. If it were a prizefight, it would have been stopped a long time ago.
■ The UConn women's basketball team lost its first regular-season game in more than four years the other day.
■ Is the Independent Man back from the holidays yet?
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Bunky
Jan 19, 2019 10:00:57 GMT -5
Post by dex on Jan 19, 2019 10:00:57 GMT -5
COMMENTARY A race to the end? BILL REYNOLDS
FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:
■ Who stays longer, Tom Brady or Bill Belichick, or do they both go out at the same time, symbolically holding hands?
That’s the question, as both time and shadows begin to fall over their brilliant careers.
What’s the next step in this amazing story?
For the clock keeps ticking.
And we all know that time gets everyone in the end, even a coach who often acts as though he was around when the game was invented, and a quarterback who often seems as if he’s playing out an amazing script that was written by the football gods themselves.
For this is the only question left. Who stays longer, Brady or Belichick?
All the others have been answered.
■ Golden State scored 51 points in the first quarter against Denver the other night, an NBA record.
■ The Pats are in their eighth straight AFC Championship Game, this time against the Chiefs.
■ Better yet, the Pats are an amazing 87-23 in the AFC East in the Tom Brady era. Think about that for a second.
■ But they still lag behind the UConn women’s basketball team, which hasn’t lost two consecutive games in 26 years. Twenty six.
■ The richest man in the country, according to Forbes? Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.
■ QUIZ OF THE WEEK: The Patriots are seeking a third straight Super Bowl appearance; only two other franchises have done that. Name them. (Answer near bottom of the column.)
■ LINE OF THE WEEK comes from Kyrie Irving on the Celtics: “The young guys don’t know what it takes to be a championship level team.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK II come from Julian Edelman on Belichick: “He’s the old wise owl. You just listen.’’
■ LINE OF THE WEEK III comes from Bill Belichick, after being reminded that this is a record eighth straight AFC Championship Game he’s playing in: “Yeah, I mean I really don’t really care about that right now.’’
■ Then again, are we supposed to be surprised?
■ Offensive coordinators who play zone against Brady deserve what they get.
■ R.I.P. Mel Stottlemyre, the former Yankee pitcher and coach, at 77.
■ And Durgin-Park, too, one of Boston’s iconic restaurants.
■ Speaking of Kyrie, when you see anyone handle the ball any better than he does, let me know.
■ You’ve seen too much football, Bunky, if you remember when the Pats were called the “Patsies” and for good reason.
■ Trump and Pelosi are like the couple from hell.
■ The New York Football Giants are 8-24 in their last two seasons.
■ Say it ain’t so, Frank Gifford.
■ Russell Westbrook had 24 assists the other day.
■ Bullying kids on social media should be a crime.
■ Can society go back before rap music and have a do-over?
■ TB12 is 41? What’s the big deal? Get back to me when he’s 50.
■ How good is James Harden? How about unguardable good?
■ Whatever happened to Bill Curley, the former Boston College basketball star, who played seven years in the NBA? He’s the coach at Emerson.
■ Sunday is going to be only the 19th start for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and he is going to beat the Patriots in a game of this magnitude? Really?
■ There’s no truth to the rumor that the Independent Man is taking the Pats.
■ The Friars’ David Duke, the freshman from Providence, is just a better jump shot away from being very good.
■ Either Kyrie Irving is hard to deal with, or the Celtics have some some internal issues.
■ Or maybe it’s both.
■ Gronk, even as a shell of himself, is better than most tight ends.
■ The 3-point shot in the NBA is too close.
■ Did you see where Lamar Odom made a reported $100 million playing basketball and has a current net worth estimated at $30 million.
■ Ah, what a country.
■ QUIZ ANSWER: The Miami Dolphins (1971-1973) and the Buffalo Bills (1991-1994).
■ Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez the 29-year-old from New York, is the youngest woman ever to serve in the United States Congress.
■ The new rave in the Big East? Marquette’s Markus Howard, all of 5-foot-11, who scored 53 points against Creighton, and 45 twice.
■ There are reportedly 110 Division I hockey players in college reportedly are from Europe. Five years ago it was
37.
■ Mark Whipple, the former Brown football coach, is the new offensive coordinator at Pitt.
■ Yeah, Mahomes is a great young talent, but doesn’t history tell us Belichick’s game plan will have Mahomes’ head spinning around by halftime?
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