28-02-2025
Taking stock of Boston's big four professional sports franchises, and other thoughts
Marchand has been a Bruin since the 2009-10 season. He is the last member of the Boston's 2011 Stanley Cup champs still skating at the Garden. He's a top-10 all-time Bruin in games, goals, and assists. He's the captain. Will the Bruins deal him to build for the future, the way the Celtics dealt aging Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets in 2013 to set the table for a championship run that we're still enjoying today?
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Patriots:
Wednesday was not a great day for the New England football franchise. We saw executive vice president of player personnel
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One has to wonder about the Patriots' hierarchy when, asked about who makes the final calls on the roster, Wolf tells us, 'Ultimately, it's my final say,' just a day after new coach Mike Vrabel
Wolf's claim feels untrue, or perhaps a face-saving exercise in semantics. Vrabel is in Foxborough to run the team. He did not come here to be overruled by Wolf, and fans are comfortable with that. So, what is Wolf still doing here?
Once again, it goes back to ownership. Are Robert and Jonathan Kraft willing to start spending money and, more important, turn their franchise over to a capable field boss, as they did when Bill Belichick ran the show?
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Already taking on water, the SS Kraft took another torpedo to its port side with
It's abundantly clear that how NFL players feel about the Krafts is the polar opposite of the nonstop propaganda that spews from Foxborough, and the estimable, Ch. 4-led Patriots media cartel. This matters at a time when the Patriots are trying to lure new players to New England. Maybe the Krafts should worry less about the Pro Football Hall of Fame and their new lighthouse. Maybe put some WiFi on the team plane.
And get rid of the armchair ashtrays. Johnny Most isn't coming through that airplane door.
Red Sox:
After five post-Mookie seasons of abject mediocrity, this team feels ready to contend.
What scares me? Plenty. The bullpen. The defense. The catching. The number of pitchers who showed up wounded for the start of spring training.
I must also say that my head explodes when I read some of the accounts of modern-day instruction, analytics, and techniques applied to young players in Fort Myers. ESPN's gifted Jeff Passan this past week filed a report on prospects Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, and Marcelo Mayer titled, 'Inside the Red Sox Plan to Revolutionize Hitting.'
We learned that the batting cages in Fort Myers are 'where the future of hitting is playing out in real time.' This was accompanied by lots of Driveline speak, including 'real-time batted ball data,' concentric impulse numbers, and a Trajekt robot pitching simulator that can replicate every pitch thrown in the big leagues over the last six seasons. I mean, what good is any batting cage without a Trajekt robot simulator?
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I think the Red Sox might finally be fun again. Let's just hope they're not out to prove they're smarter than everyone in baseball history.
Celtics:
The fabled parquet floor is Boston sports' sweet spot in the spring of 2025. The Celtics are reigning champs and have the best team in the NBA again. Barring injury, they cannot be stopped by any team in the Eastern Conference in a seven-game series. In the West, we worry about Oklahoma City and maybe Denver.
Watch closely Sunday afternoon when the Celtics host the Nuggets at the Garden. This is the Finals matchup I was hoping for last spring after Denver beat Boston twice during the regular season. The Nuggets folded against the Timberwolves in the 2024 west semifinals, which gave the Green Team an easier path to banner No. 18.
The Nuggets have been one of the few teams that the Celtics are unable to toy with, and Nikola Jokic is probably going to join Bill Russell and LeBron James as the only players to win four MVPs in five seasons. The
▪ Quiz: 1. Name five coaches with more than 300 regular-season wins with the Celtics; 2. Name six Bruins who are among the team's top 10 in games, goals, and assists; 3. Name six hockey players named to ESPN's list of Top North American Athletes of the 20th century (answers below).
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▪ Part 1 of HBO's
▪ When the Celtics won the NBA championship in 1981, Bird took seven 3-pointers in 17 playoff games, making three.
▪
Former Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada represents the Angels' latest attempt to find a third baseman.
Matt York/Associated Press
▪ Slouching toward Mendoza: In 2005 and 2006, all 30 big league teams had batting averages of .250 or higher. Last year, that number was seven. The 2024 Red Sox hit .252.
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▪ What do the Bruins have to do to bring Brady Tkachuk to Boston? In his seventh season with the Ottawa Senators, the big winger has never participated in a playoff game and would be a Hub hockey hero.
▪ Not another word about
▪ Andrew Marchand of The Athletic this past week wrote, 'Either Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has something close to a $550 million-per-year alternative to ESPN, or he has committed sports business malpractice.' We'll find out soon enough, but the announcement that
▪ Projected starting shortstops for NL West powers Dodgers and Padres: Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts. The Red Sox have Trevor Story, who has played what amounts to a single full season (163 games) over three years in Boston, batting .232.
▪ Roger Clemens is in Tampa as a Yankees spring training instructor. The Yanks made a stir this past week,
▪ The Yankees, by the way, have four former MVPs in their clubhouse: Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Paul Goldschmidt, and Cody Bellinger.
▪ Odd that the Red Sox have a glut of All-Star third basemen, given that the front-runner Yankees are holding open tryouts (DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza, Jorbit Vivas) to fill the position.
▪ Celtics homerism on NBC Sports Boston has gone past NESN Red Sox levels. I do a handstand upon learning that the Celtics are going to be on ABC, TNT, ESPN, or any Scal-free zone.
▪ Rick Pitino's got St. John's up to No. 7, its highest ranking in 33 years.
▪ Thirty-seven year-old Matthew Stafford to the New York Football Giants?
▪ Plaxico Burress's Super Bowl ring from the 2007 Giants'
Plaxico Burress helped the 2007 Giants upset the undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl.
The Boston Globe/Boston Globe
▪ 'The Last Manager,' a new book on the life of Orioles great Earl Weaver by John W. Miller, goes on sale Tuesday. Can't wait.
▪ Quiz answers: 1. Red Auerbach (795), Tom Heinsohn (427), Doc Rivers (416), Brad Stevens (354), K.C. Jones (308); 2. Ray Bourque, Johnny Bucyk, Patrice Bergeron, Wayne Cashman, Brad Marchand, Rick Middleton; 3. Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe, Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Maurice Richard.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
