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Wednesday, March 27, 2024

DHL Dan CCII - 'The Dynasty' - Hated it!

Full Disclosure - I did not read past the headline when I started this post. Honest!

If there's something that tends to portray New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft ina positive light, you can count on Shank to take a piss on said light:
Why the Patriots docuseries ‘The Dynasty’ is a farce, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces after heart surgery …

▪ It was not my intention to return to these pages this soon, and I am far from 100 percent, but some things cannot wait. I remember ripping tubes out of my arms after sinus surgery when I got the word that the Red Sox had finally fired crusty manager John McNamara on Bastille Day in 1988. been waiting three long seasons for that moment and was not about to let another Globe scribe Knife the Mac on the day the Sox made the long-overdue sacking.

Revenge is a dish best served cold!

Which brings us to … “The Dynasty,” the entertaining yet loathsome 10-part Kraft hagiography/Belichick hit piece that dropped its final two episodes on Apple TV last weekend.

The Globe’s estimable Ben Volin has already given great voice to the preposterousness and unfairness of the series, but my dark, healing heart would not allow this moment to pass without joining the chorus of “Dynasty” detractors.

Bottom line: As Patriots/NFL history goes, “The Dynasty” is a farce.

It’s great to have so much locker room footage, and the Apple folks give us a lot of credible and interesting voices. Hearing Rob Gronkowski tell his truth and Tom Brady drop F-bombs is new and enlightening. Free of Big Bad Bill, Devin McCourty, Matthew Slater, Ty Law, Tedy Bruschi, Randy Moss, Willie McGinest, and Danny Amendola are worthy truth-tellers. It’s great to hear so much from Ernie Adams.

But make no mistake: This is Bob Kraft’s authorized history of the Patriots. Nothing less.
I haven't watched the series but nearly every discussion of 'The Dynasty' I've heard so far points to this sameconclusion and it's nearly impossible to think this wasn't done on purpose to try and bury Bill Belichick.

Saturday, March 23, 2024

No Shows

This theme includes a couple of items, chief among them not reporting Shank's heart surgery from last month. I've been there myself, so I'm not exactly sure why I didn't post on this when it originally happened, but there it is.

In other no shows, Red Sox ace Curt Schilling won't be at Opening Day 2024 to commemorate the 2004 Boston Red Sox championship:
Curt Schilling will not attend Red Sox’ 2004 World Series celebration at home opener

Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has declined the team’s invitation to be part of the April 9 Opening Day ceremonies at Fenway Park, a source with direct knowledge told the Globe.

The Sox on Monday announced plans to honor the 20th anniversary of the 2004 champions, who are famous for ending the team’s 86-year World Series drought.

Schilling was a key part of that team, forever earning his place in Red Sox lore by pitching with a surgically repaired ankle in Game 6 of the ALCS against the Yankees — known as the “Bloody Sock” game.

The Sox also plan to honor the lives of Tim and Stacy Wakefield that day. Tim, who started Game 1 of the 2004 World Series against the Cardinals, died in October from brain cancer. His wife Stacy died from a different type of cancer in February.

Schilling came under fire in September for revealing the health diagnoses of the Wakefields in the days before Tim’s death.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

DHL Dan CCI - Theo's Back!

Shank notes the return of former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein as an adviser to the team:
Theo Epstein has been away a while but he knows how the Red Sox work, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while remembering the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady nine Super Bowls from 2002-19 …

▪ Theo Epstein is back with the Red Sox as a part-owner of Fenway Sports Group and a senior adviser to its many holdings.

Too many holdings.

FSG’s insatiable quest to expand its portfolio and take over the world has made the Red Sox the abandoned stepchild of the corporation’s family. The Sox might as well be Connor Roy.

Theo and Sam Kennedy were teammates at Brookline High and did a lot of their learning as very young men under the tutelage of Larry Lucchino with the Padres in the 1990s. When Lucchino came to Boston as part of John Henry’s group, he had to negotiate with the Padres to acquire the services of “The Brookline Two.”
I don't think he's going to impact things much with the Sox, if at all.

Saturday, February 03, 2024

DHL Dan CC - Hope Springs Eternal

Shank thinks (or pretends to think) that we're winning two championships this year:
Again we have two shots at championships this spring, but we’d settle for one, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering if the Red Sox can get the Dollar Store to sponsor Truck Day …

▪ This weekend marks the fifth anniversary of New England’s last men’s professional sports championship, when the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady Patriots beat the Rams, 13-3, in Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.

By the gaudy standards of our 21st century sports high renaissance, five years without a parade is a certified drought.

Which brings us to the spring of 2024, when both the Celtics and Bruins have a chance to get everybody back on the Duck Boats.

I wrote about this one year ago (“Bruins and Celtics may be climbing toward a rare double this spring”) and we all know what happened: The Bruins, after compiling the greatest regular season in NHL history, flamed out in seven games of a first-round series against the Florida Panthers. The Celtics made it to the NBA’s Final Four for the fifth time in seven years, but dropped the first three games of their conference final series against the Heat, then collapsed in Game 7 at home.
And Shank will pick right back up with negative / critical columns about both teams when their seasons end.

Monday, January 29, 2024

Dude, I'm Extremely High

Shank's not trying to put too much pressure on the guy, is he?
Expectations are extremely high for the Celtics — and Joe Mazzulla is fine with that

He grew up here, just like you and me, and he knows how important the Celtics are going to be in this spring of 2024. He has seen the recent decline of the once-great Patriots and Red Sox, and he knows fans think it’s about time for the Celtics to step forward and win a championship — the way they did regularly in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s.

Rhode Island-raised Joe Mazzulla is still only 35 years old, and the franchise he coaches has won only one banner in his lifetime (2008), but he knows the expectations that come with coaching a team of All-Stars after recent playoffs featuring near-misses.

Everybody says the Celtics have the best team this year. And … if the Green don’t win it all, everybody probably will say it’s because their coach is too inexperienced, and they rely too much on threes, and he doesn’t call enough timeouts, and he cares too much for analytics, and that the late-game execution is lacking when the score is close.
This site has knocked Shank early and often when his columns contain the element of overhyping a team for the sole purpose of knocking them down later. I don't believe that applies with this team this year, but as Shank has noted a few columns ago, they need to win the tough games in order to win it all.

DHL Dan CXCIX - A Dear John Letter

How do you know when someone's close to retirement age and just doesn't give a fuck anymore? Like this:
A Dear John (Henry) letter to the Red Sox owner, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while composing a Dear John (Henry) letter to the owner of the Red Sox …

In all sincerity:

Dear John,

It’s been a long time since we’ve spoken. I hope you are well. Like all who follow the Red Sox closely, I also hope you still love owning this team and value the lifelong loyalty of a fan base that considers the Red Sox something of a public trust.

I know you’re busy expanding the portfolio of Fenway Sports Group, but by now you must have noticed that many of your fans are angry with the way the team is being run. They feel you and your people haven’t done a great job explaining the year-to-year plan for the ball club.

You and your group have been great owners since taking over in 2002. You’ve made the ballpark better and brighter and you’ve delivered four World Series championships, breaking an 86-year drought and giving the Red Sox more rings than any other major league team in this century.

Out Of Excuses

Shank does his first Celtics column in a while and naturally it has a critical edge to it:
No more excuses: Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have to come up big in big games

“So you’re scared, and you’re thinking that maybe we ain’t that young anymore.”

Bruce Springsteen, “Thunder Road”

It’s time.

No more “they are so young.”

No more “they are both All-Stars and max contract guys and top 20 guys.”

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown need to be NBA champions. In June. It’s time for them to win banner No. 18 for the Boston Celtics.

Brown is 27, playing in his eighth NBA season. Tatum turns 26 in a few weeks and is playing in his seventh NBA season. Brown has been to the conference finals in five of seven seasons, Tatum in four of six. Both made it to the NBA Finals two years ago but came up short after taking a 2-1 series lead against the Warriors.

Saturday, January 20, 2024

DHL Dan CXCVIII - Tuna Talk

Shank's taken some interest in the post-Patriots Bill Belichick. Shank talks to another former Patriots head coach for some clues as to what's next for the other Bill:
Getting Bill Parcells’s take on Bill Belichick’s next move, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while wondering why wannabe Patriots general manager Jonathan Kraft was called away to deal with a corrugated cardboard issue while the team he runs was introducing its new coach …

▪ Bill Parcells, now 82, is a Hall of Fame coach who won two Super Bowls with the Giants, then changed the culture of the Patriots when he came to New England in 1993. After four seasons and a trip to the Super Bowl with the Patriots, Parcells coached the Jets and Cowboys, then retired from the sideline at the age of 65.

The Tuna knows what it’s like to work for Bob and Jonathan Kraft, and he knows what it’s like to take on a new team late in his coaching life.

When I reached him on the phone this past week, Parcells was careful not to say too much about what went down in New England or what might happen with Bill Belichick.

Chaos?

I'm answering Shank's question about the rumors earler this week that Bill Belichick is heading to Dallas:
Imagine what might happen if Bill Belichick signs on to coach the Cowboys

It’s always about revenge here in New England, and we’ve seen this play out in dramatic fashion over the last week in Foxborough.
Shank knows a thing or two about revenge...
Bob and Jonathan Kraft are rolling out their new head coach (Jerod Mayo) Wednesday, but perhaps the larger story concerns the destination of Bill Belichick, who (along with Tom Brady) led the Patriots to nine Super Bowls in his 24-season run as head coach and emperor of the franchise.

Belichick already has interviewed with the Falcons, but there is a more intriguing possibility out there that he could take over the ready-to-win Cowboys, which would only escalate the personal war between the Krafts and the Hoodie, a dispute over credit, blame, legacy, and pro football immortality.

Can you imagine Belichick coaching Dallas and humbly telling Football America, “It’s nice to be working for a Hall of Fame owner”?
Nice shot at the Krafts, Shank! There's more of that in the column, like that's a surprise.

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Situation Resolved - Au Revoir, Bill

The New England Patriots and coach Bill Belichick by 'mutual agreement' parted ways earlier today. Shank had this column done and posted a few minutes after the first noontime press conference had finished.
It’s Belichick and Auerbach, then everyone else when it comes to New England coaching greatness

Bill Belichick and Red Auerbach are the greatest two coaches in New England sports history.

By a mile.

Belichick and Auerbach are gold and silver. Or silver and gold. It’s not even worth talking about candidates for the bronze medal platform. One could argue Terry Francona, Harry Sinden, Dick Williams, Milt Schmidt, Tommy Heinsohn, Bill Parcells, Chuck Fairbanks, Claude Julien, Jimmy Collins, Bill Carrigan, and Joe Cronin. You get silly and make a case for Bobby Valentine and Clive Rush if you insist.

It does not matter.

It’s Bill and Red.

There is no other.

Belichick and Auerbach were the bookend builders of our two great sports dynasties ― the 1950s-60s Celtics, and the 21st century Patriots.
Since this was mostly written in advance, we'll probably see more Belichick / Patriots columns in the upcoming days. I fully expect one of those columns to place most or all of the blame for this separation on Robert Kraft.