Count me among those who thought Patriots coach Bill Belichick was out of bounds Sunday in dismissing Boston Herald reporter Karen Guregian’s question about keeping quarterback Tom Brady in the game long after the outcome was in doubt.
First of all, it wouldn’t matter who the reporter was. If he or she was there, with a press tag on, and took on the appearance of a human being, then he or she deserved at least that much respect as a professional. Belichick gave her far less than that. The fact that it was Karen, who is practically an institution herself down there, makes it all the worse.
Second, it was a legitimate question. The Dolphins were running around throwing cheap shots at as many Patriots as they could get to, and it was a miracle that Brady wasn’t one of them. Someday, the Patriots will beat a team 106-2 and leave Brady in for most of it — and someday a team tired of having the score run up on it will take it out on him. Then we’ll see how smug Belichick is.
The situation in Tennessee with Greg Schiano is a disgrace. There’s no other way to put it.
For those who haven’t been following, Tennessee looked as if it was going to hire the former Rutgers/Tampa Bay coach to run its program until some boosters and alumni decided his name didn’t have enough glitter attached to it.
Never mind that Schiano brought Rutgers — a perennial Big East doormat for years — into the Top 10, which one would think would automatically qualify him for any job he wanted. These guys wanted Jon Gruden (so does everyone else, apparently) and after setting their sights so high they weren’t going to accept measly little Greg Schiano.
What makes this laughable is that these fools have no idea the coaching job Schiano did at Rutgers, have no idea how many of his players made successful transitions into the pros (including Devin McCourty of the Patriots) and weren’t going to listen to anyone tell them.
If that wasn’t bad enough, some of the Yahoos down there tried to link him to the Jerry Sandusky Penn State scandal. Apparently, in one deposition during the mess, Schiano’s name came up. Nothing was ever proven (nor was it really even pursued), but that didn’t stop those who didn’t want him in there from smearing him and making it almost impossible for the Tennessee administration to stand its ground.
So, the administration caved to the mob.
If you’re looking for indications as to how low we’ve sunk in this country, here’s where to look. Maybe it is time we blow the whole college football model up and start from scratch.
There’s no doubt the Red Sox need a power hitter. Their lack of a potent bat in the middle of the lineup made it easier to get every other hitter out. In a way winning the AL East last summer without anyone who put fear into the hearts and minds of pitchers on a regular basis was a minor miracle.
It won’t happen again unless the Sox act.
But I’m not sure Giancarlo Stanton is necessarily the answer. He will obviously come at too high a price, and the team just doesn’t have the depth to lose as many players as they’d potentially lose to land him. My suggestion is to try to get someone else.
Meanwhile, speaking of the Red Sox, to anyone going all-out to try and land Shohei Ohtani, I have two words for you: Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Are the Boston Bruins still in the National Hockey League? You’d be hard-pressed to find another Boston sports team as irrelevant at any time in the city’s history as the Bruins are at the moment.
It’s been a wonderful first two months for the Celtics, even with the unfortunate injury to Gordon Hayward. And it’s a testament to coach Brad Stevens and the wizardry of Kyrie Irving that it only took two games for the the team to pick itself up and move forward.
But I’m not sure it can last. Hayward was just too big a part of what they were projected to do. As the teams settle in, and the vagaries of the schedule, and the game itself, become more of a factor, expect the Celtics to fall back to earth. It’s inevitable.
