First time covering pro sports

I woke up this morning with a sense of wonder. What would it be like to cover my first professional sports team? Yes, Ive covered the Boston Pride of the NWHL but this is different. Something about this being the next step up from the defending world series champion Boston Redsox. How would i react? Fan boy? Scared? Nervous? Well i gotta say its a little of both. When i first got to the park i was nervous i wouldn't find my way. That was quickly put aside by the great directions left for me with my media pass. Next up was walking into the press box. Now Ive toured Fenway, Ive even been in the booth for both a Pats and a Bruins broadcast. But those were just quick visits. This is different. Across from me is the writer for Boston Baseball. Below me (in seat not ability) is the writer for the Pawtucket Times. These are real players in the world of sports media. Guys i aspire to be. Once i got set up in my seat in the press box it was off to find the second most important room of the day. The bathroom. Lucky for me theres one just down the ramp OK minor problem solved. Damn this nervous bladder. OK back to the real story. So now its 1115 and i know that Clubhouse media availability is only until 12. So off i went in search of the Paw Sox clubhouse. After a very nice exercising walk down the stairs i found my self at a long corridor which led to the luxury suites and the clubhouse. Now when i was a kid my uncle was the sales manager of the now silent 95.5 WBRU. Each year they would have a radio station day at McCoy stadium and each year my brother and me would get to walk onto the field. We played catch in the outfield with guys like Lou Merloni and Trot Nixon. We got to talk to redsox greats like Jason Varitek and Shea Hillenbrand. OK that last one maybe wasn't so well known but to a 10 year old kid, he could have been Babe Ruth. We also got to throw out the first pitch to a few games. Amazing memories. But back to the story. Down this long corridor is the clubhouses. I again got nervous as there wasn't any body by the door. Do i just walk in? It cant be that easy can it? No it wasn't. A few seconds later a very nice security guard came out and asked me to show him my credential. Once i did we talked for a brief moment about my show and blog and where i was from. Surprisingly he was from Wilmington mass. Now this is the moment where my pre game mind was blown. As I'm briefly talking to this security guard. Out walks Tim Tebow. Tim Freaking Tebow. 2 time Heisman trophy winner. National title winning quarterback Tim Tebow. So what did this idiot do? I blurt out Gators suck! HA HA OK I'm kidding. I did however say hey Tim can i ask you a couple questions. He very politely said he cant because its not the designated media time for the visiting team. I said OK and he walked on. That may seem quick but how often have i ever talked to a former NFL starting quarterback? Once with Scott Zolak. But as much as i love ZO hes not Tim Tebow. So after my near god like experience of talking to Tebow i walked into the Pawsox Clubhouse. This was my first venture into a pro clubhouse. First thing i notice is the ping pong table in the front of the room. At the time Rusney Castillo was battling against Tzu-Wei-Lin. I wasn't gonna interrupt the game to ask questions. Moving on around the room, there is a few TVs with ESPN on. But the thing that really caught my attention was the music. Rock? Country? Spanish? Nope, Backstreet boys. Not even kidding a little. And it wasn't just one song, i was in there for a good 10 minutes and it was song after song of the 90s boy band. After looking around the room for Sandy Leon and not finding him i assumed he was in the cage or otherwise into his pregame routine. I decided i would just wait for post game to ask my questions. Making my way back up the press box i took the scenic route. Wanting to really soak it all in. I got back to my computer fired up the free wifi and started typing this story. What happened next is something i could definitely get used to. Free food. Talking with some of the everyday beat writers i gathered that they have a different offering each game. Today's meal, Pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. I waited for someone else to go first because if living with my grandparents growing up taught me anything its that you never go first in line for food at someone else's place. After seeing a few people come back with food i made my way to the table. I piled the pork high on top of the brioche buns they gave us. No extra sauce but i felt i could manage. I took a couple scoops of the coleslaw and grabbed a water. OMG this sandwich is amazing! the pork was tender and juicy. The bun nice and soft. No extra sauce was needed. I may have gone back for seconds. Shhhhh. Moving on from my food network side show. The game was slated to be a good one with Josh Smith on the bump for the sox opposed by Chris Flexin. The Sox sent a line up out of guys that either have been or could easily be at Fenway very soon. Familiar face Tzu-Wei-Lin led off followed by Rusney Castillo. Castillo's contract size and his shaky time in Boston has pretty much guaranteed he will never make the big club with that contract so he has carved out a very nice home here in Pawtucket. Next up was Michael Chivis. You may remember him as the prospect who got popped for steroids and missed pretty much all of 2018. Hes back this year and actually posting some decent numbers. In the cleanup spot Pawtucket sent Bryce Brentz.The right haded DH is off to a slow start this season and the chatter i hear in the press box is that they should have kept him in double A. Skipping the 5,6,7 hitters just for now i will come back to them in a little while. Batting 8th is Sandy Leon. He was the odd man out in the red sox catching tree. Having Vazquez back and healthy he was always slated as the starter and after last years mess of the handling of Blake Swihart and actually seeing that hes rather good at catcher they decided that the veteran back up was to be sent down here. Doesn't hurt to have a guy with his resume and experience helping the future of your club. Rounding out the pawsox order is Nick Lovullo. He is the son of former sox coach and current Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovulo. I remember before the sox hired Alex Cora as their next skipper there was serious consideration being given to Torey so to see his son doing well in this system is always good. The Mets lineup left something to be desired, perhaps that's why the big club isn't all that great. They do have 2 Notable names in the line up however. Lets start with the obvious. Batting 8th is Tim Tebow. The Heisman trophy winning ex football player. Last year he played the whole season at Double A. His numbers weren't all that incredible that he should have garnered a call up to Triple A but here he is. Personally i think its more of a publicity thing. That's not saying hes horrible and looks like a fool out there. He has talent but if he was in any other organization or his name wasn't Tebow, i don't think he would be in triple a with his numbers. The Mets do have a real decent name in the lineup. Batting 7th is Rajai Davis. If you follow baseball you will notice the name is realize hes third among active players in stolen bases with 415. Although with Ichiro retired now he could be second. The mets star outfielder and also former redsox player Yoenis Cespedes isn't expected to return until closer to the second half of the season so Davis could just be shaking off the rust of last season and be moving up sooner rather then later. Either way the lineups are out the field is lined. Its time for the game. First thing i noticed is they use a pitch clock in the minors. 20 seconds in between pitches. Seems to speed things along a bit.Quiet first inning for the Mets. After the first 2 paw sox went down, Michael Chivis came up. He wasted no time putting the sox up 1-0 by blasting a shot to deep left center. All tebow could do was watch it sail. 1-0 sox after 1. I noticed that the pitch clock is 15 seconds with no one on base. Might have to bring that into MLB. Smith strikes out the side in the second. Tebow will lead off the third for the Mets. Through 1 and 2/3 innings there have been 7 strikeouts between the 2 teams. These batters need to relax.Make that 8 as Flexen strikes out the side. Its now TEBOW TIME!!!!! Nice ovation for him as he walked to the plate. I notice quite a few tebow jerseys. Mostly football of course. Tebow goes down swinging. That's 9 ks so far between the teams with the exception of the Chavis home run this is shaping up to be a pitchers game. Sandy Leon leads off the home half of the 3rd and quickly flies out to left. Lovullo another punch out victim and that makes 11 so far. Not alot of balls in play. 2 total hits so far. The home run and a base hit by the mets second baseman Adeiny Hechavarria. Tzu-Wei-Lin goes down swinging to end the third. 12 ks now. Someone make the fielders work. As i look around the crowd during the inning break i notice that theres not a lot of people. Afternoon game, decent weather, minor celebrity in Tebow and yet not a big crowd. Could be one of the reasons for the team moving to Worcester. Finally a base hit! Rusney Castillo puts one into center field. Chavis coming up. He adds to his day with a base hit. moving Castillo over to third. 2 hits in a row. The game is changing HA HA. Brentz goes down looking. We are back to strikeouts that's 13 for the day.Well, ball in play but Ockimey hits into an inning ending double play. Sox up 1-0 through 4 full. Taijeron leads off with a home run to left center to tie the game. Followed by a base hit from Nido. Mets are hungry. 14th strike out as Davis goes down. Tebow up again with 1 on. He rips a base hit into right almost taking out his base runner. Another strike out bringing up to 15 and a lazy pop out to third to end the inning. All tied up 1-1 after top 5. Double by Sturgeon and a base hit by Lovullo has the sox back on top 2-1. Lin walks and Castillo blasts one to right sox up 5-1. Chavis strikes out to end the 5th. That's 16 for those reading along. The strikeouts continue as Espinosa leads off the 6th swinging and missing. So i know Ive been totaling the strike outs but if your counting along that's 9 for the pawsox starter. Gomez swings and misses that's 10 punch outs for Josh Smith. Hes got a decent line going so far. 5 innings 4 hits 10 Ks. Flexin on the other hand is 4 innings 6 hits 8 Ks. Brentz starts the pawsox 6th with a strike out. hes now 0-3 on the day. That's also 19 strikeouts total. Both starting pitchers have hit 10 strikeouts as Hernandez goes down for the second time today. Hes also 0-3 on the day. After 6 full sox up 5-1. New pitcher on for the 7th for Pawtucket. Domingo Tapia. First batter faces hits one to the deepest part of the ball park. 5-2. Next batter swings and misses. 21 ks today. Ground out for Davis brings up tebow. He flies out to left. end of inning. Mets got one. 5-2. Its time to STRETTTTTTTCCCHHHHH at McCoy. Leon leads off with a base hit. His first hit of the day. Lovullo pops out to first. Leon is caught stealing second. Why send him up 5-2 hes not exactly a speedster. Lin takes next pitch into right for base hit. Castillo grounds into fielders choice. end 7. Quite top of the 8th for the Mets. Still 5-2 Sox. Chavis leads off with a hit to left that tebow bobbles leading to a triple. Next batter hits it right at tebow he runs and makes the rolling catch so a little redemption after the error but Chavis scores from third sox up 6-2. Another hit falls in front of Tebow. Sox seem to be aiming for tebow. Base hit his direction he has to make the throw to get a rounding Ockimey. Great relay Ockimey called out at home. Hernandez to second on the throw home. Sturgeon gives Tim a break and goes to right for the RBI single. 7-2 Sox. With that 7th run, the paw sox have reached a season high for runs scored. Leon strikes out making our total now 22 for the day. Top nine now. Last chance for the Mets. Gomez goes down swinging for his third strikeout today. 23 on the day total. Quiet 9th and the Sox win! So now that the game has ended my nervousness returns and I'm starting to question that second pork sandwich. I asked one the beat reporters when the clubhouse opens for post game and he informed me that its 15 minutes after the conclusion of the game. I gathered my things and made my way downstairs. While waiting outside the clubhouse i was trying to come up with some good questions as well as deciding who i wanted to talk to. First up was the manager Billy McMillon. After gathering around him me and the 3 other media members started in. led by the writer for Boston baseball i patiently waited my turn. My first question, When Both pitchers are going like that does that alter your game plan at all? Both starters combined for 20 strikeouts? There it is my first question in a professional baseball media scrum. Maybe not the best but still a strong question. The response, "No, it was only Smiths second start so he was monitored a bit but no that doesn't effect our in game management". From this point on I'm locked in. The nerves are gone. As i wait for my next question i decided to scrap my prepared question as the conversation as shifted to a better topic. Ive been told its great to listen and adapt. Thanks Trenni. My turn again, How big is it to have a guy like Leon behind the plate to guide these young pitchers? The answer "I think everyone knows and respects what sandy brings to the team, his experience is invaluable, he didn't have a lot of shake offs and that's a testament to the trust they have in him to know that hes gonna guide them". 2 questions for the skipper and now its time to find some players. First i think Rusney Castillo. Great game. Had the home run in the 5th. I notice hes on facetime with someone so i wait til hes done. As i walk over i realize oh crap he may not speak English. I was right. He greets me with a smile as i say hello he says "Habla Espanol?" i quickly remember 5th grade Spanish class and how poorly i did. I respond with "no habla espanol". This is where it gets awesome. Rusney understanding that i speak only enough Spanish to count to 10 grabs the guy at the locker next to him which turns out to be right fielder Gorkys Hernandez and asks him to translate. In my nervousness i didn't want to occupy Hernandez time for something that didn't include him so i said thank you and only asked one question. "How has your time in the minors shaped you to be a better ballplayer"? He said " The work i put in everyday and the coaching i receive is the best. i now one day ill be back in the bigs" I thanked both him and Hernandez and moved on. My next desired interview was Sandy Leon. When i walked to his locker he had just returned from the shower and not wanting to talk to a naked man i decided to wait til he was dressed. He saw me waiting and said i can talk if you are waiting for me and i responded with its fine i can wait til your dressed. He appreciated that. I think. Once he was half dressed (pants on at least) he waved me over. I got flush and nervous again because I'm about to talk 1-1 with a world series winning catcher. My first question ready to go i ask away and once the words come out of my mouth i instantly regret the wording of the question. it began with " So sandy tough day at the plate for you (remember he was 1-4). the question continued with " but behind the plate you weren't shook off much if at all whats it mean to you to be the veteran of the club and guide these young pitchers". The look he gave me was one of "this little shit just asked me a question that begin with so you basically sucked hitting" but one he gave me a look he responded with " i can call a good game but if you don't hit your spots and execute your pitches its not gonna work". My next question was about his mechanics but his answered was a bit drowned out by the music in the room which had shifted from backstreet boys earlier to 50 cent now. I decided that would be my last question. I took one more look around the room and walked out. I had done it. I completed my first trip to a professional sporting event as a media member. As i write this i realize its long and wordy. I wanted to try and capture my day as best i could for anyone reading this. I hope to have this opportunity again this season. Thank you everyone who has supported my show, My dreams, My goals. I'm here today because you all supported me and told me never to give up. Thank you to Marc Cappello, Barry Alley and Trenni Kusnierek for their advice on media scrums and the dos and donts. I cant wait to continue this journey which hopefully leads to me covering a team full time and or having my show on air somewhere. Keep following the show and blog as we have a lot more great stuff to come.

Brad

NHL Playoffs

Ahhh, the best time of year. NHL playoffs have arrived. One of the few times a year when its acceptable to shut out the world and just watch hockey. I'm gonna give you my take on each series (briefly). Lets start in the eastern conference and just go down the line.


Tampa Bay V.S Columbus

This one seems pretty cut and dry. Tampa has owned the jackets all season long. Sweeping the season series 3-0. Tampa is the heavy favorite to win the cup so i don't for see them having much trouble with Columbus. However, the Blue Jackets did make have arguably the best trade deadline this year picking up Ryan Dzingel and Matt Duchane from Ottawa and holding onto their center piece goaltender Sergei Bobrovski. Add to them the great coaching of John Tortella and other key guys like Seth Jones and Cam Atkinson, The Bluejackets could make this at least a more interesting series then just a steamroll sweep.


Boston V.S Toronto

This one is always better then advertised. Toronto has played Boston the last 2 times they have made the playoffs (2013, 2018) losing in 7 games both times. The Bruins won the season series 3-1. Toronto landed the biggest off season free agent in John Tavares and he came as advertised. Playing all 82 games this year he posted 47 goals and added 41 assists for 88 points. Which are all career highs for him. The Bruins come into this series having the same dominant first line of Marchand, Pasternak, Bergeron that saw them score a combined 30 points against the leafs in last years playoffs. If they do that again there is no way the leafs stand a chance.


Washington V.S Carolina

This one might be a bit harder to figure out. On one hand you have the defending Stanley Cup champions and on the other you have one of the more pleasant surprises in the NHL. Carolina is making their first playoff appearance since 2009.Washington won the season series 4-0 which leads me to believe things aren't gonna be much different.


Pittsburgh V.S New York Islanders

The Islanders have home ice advantage for the first time since 1988. This will also be thier first appearance in 3 years. Now if your like me you thought the idea of them playing in Brooklyn was just stupid and probably had something to do with their lack of production. Well they are back on the island and and Nassau Coliseum is gonna be rocking. I pick them to win the series in 6.


That's what i have for a brief outlook on the first round of the eastern conference playoffs. Ill post the western conference tomorrow. Any questions or comments feel free to leave a comment on the shows Facebook page.

One and done

Watching this years Frozen Four hockey tournament and not seeing teams like BC, BU, Michigan, Michigan State, got me to thinking about the impact 1 and done players really have throughout all college sports. Leaving out football because i believe there are rules in which they cant leave until they are at least a sophomore i wanted to discuss why I'm pissed off at 1 and dones. Lets start with the fans prospective. College hockey especially in this area of the country is a chance for young kids to get accustomed to liking good hockey without families spending a fortune to go see the Bruins. Now before i continue I'm gonna say that i don't have anything against the players I'm gonna reference i actually am fans of most. Lets start with Jack Eichel. Amazing player. Top talent. Went 1 and done at BU. Clayton Keller. Great Player. Top Talent. 1 and done at BU. Jordan Greenway. Under rated player. Top talent. Olympian. 4 years at BU. Now i understand the NCAA doesn't pay their athletes and that's a conversation for a different day. But these schools need to do a better job at enticing these kids to develop their talents at the school. I'm not saying they should pass on the opportunity to make millions of dollars in the pros. But at least stay 2 years and enjoy it. Greenway as i said was under rated and when the NHL stopped sending pros to the Olympics he was most likely the first choice based on his size. He seized that opportunity and i think boosted his draft stock and is a big reason why the Wild were all over him. But he also played 4 years at BU under coach Quinn and learned to use his size to his advantage in the NHL. Now Eichel maybe an exception. kid is a freak talent. Hes in the conversation with the Mcdavids and Ovechkins of the league. I understand him leaving. I don't like it but i understand it. Now Clayton Keller. Hes starting to put together his game in Arizona. But had he stayed at BU a little longer to develop the rest of his game i think he would have 1. went higher in his draft and 2. probably not have taken this long to shine. Now lets mention Johnny Gaudreau. 3 years at BC. he was rumored to be entering the draft after his sophomore year but decided to play with his brother and that decision won him the Hobey Baker. Now i couldn't tell you another Hobey baker winner but my point is he stayed and was clearly better then the talent around him. He then signed with Calgary and the rest is history. Back to Eichel. He just recently signed a massive 8 year 80 million dollar contract and was also named captain of the Sabers. But it took him a few years to get that contract. Do i think it would have come sooner had he stayed in college? Probably not but again hes an anomaly. Now what about Basketball? This is the biggest offender of the one and done. In fact most guys make it known while they are at school that they are entering the draft the next season. With the sneaker deals these guys get saying no to what could be 30 million dollars is hard i get it. But if you know your that good and your already being talked about, why not go to a lesser known school and help that program succeed instead of going to the proven schools such as Duke, or North Carolina. Why not go to the Davidson's of the world or the Tech schools. I know i sound petty and dumb on this but really, if your that good and already getting the looks why do you need to go to the schools that have the history if you don't really care about it. This also shows that by not having the 1 and dones this year both power house schools of BU and BC are now out of the Frozen four this year. I blame that on the fact that so much goes into game planning and certain guys miss ice time because these future superstars get it that when they leave and a new plan is in place you have guys who haven't had much ice time and it takes a while to build chemistry and find a groove. Look next year for a return of the Terriers and Eagles to the tournament after a building year.

Can the bruins get back to winning?

After rattling off points in 18 straight games, the Bruins have now lost 3 in a row. Most disturbingly was a blow out loss to the Blue Jackets which the 7-4 final score was not indictive of the way the game went. They also lost to the Penguins and Jets. Now the jets are a western conference leader and the bruins wouldn't have to worry about them until the Stanley Cup final but both Pittsburgh and Columbus are both teams that they could face in the playoffs. Watching how bad they played in the Pittsburgh game i understood it was the second half of a back to back, with travel after getting points in 18 straight i half expected a loss. But seeing how many turnovers they had against Winnipeg and how poorly they played in their own zone in Columbus i've started to get a little worried. Throw into that some injuries to key players the bruins are currently mixing up a recipe for disaster. I wrote in my last blog that this years bruins team had "it". That feeling that this is special that something might happen here. While i still have that feeling i will need to see some improvement in the small areas in order for that feeling to stick around.

Bruins on fire, Celtics not so much

It goes with out saying that im a huge bruins fan. Followers of this blog and podcast know that. This bruins team has that feeling this year. When they won in 2011 you could feel the buzz around the team. The epic come back against Toronto. The sweep of the Flyers. You could just tell something special was happening when they got to Vancouver. Then in 2013 they looked great all year. Granted that was the partial lock out year. Still they looked good. But they didnt have that thing, that shine, that feeling. When they drew Chicago there was more nerves then anything. Now this season. Currently they are unbeaten in their last 18 games. They are currently on an 18 game point streak. They havent lost in regulation since January 14th. David Pasternak has been injured during some of this run. Tuukka has been playing out of this world. The buzz around the team is electric. That the point. This years team has that X factor. That something special. After they beat tampa i said to my self, ok this might happen. Now im not claiming a cup win or anything crazy. Playoff hockey is a different animal. But pay attention to this team. They might surprise you.

Now the other occupants of the building on causeway street, those guys need Jesus or something. Im not sure if the hype surrounding them this off season was too much or if they really just dont gel. My goodness whatever it is its toxic. Kyrie Irving is the biggest bullshit artist ever. He said last week that he didnt get into the NBA to have cameras in his face and become famous. Umm hello Dumbass you just made a movie and are probably one of the top 5 best players in the league. Suck it up buttercup the cameras arent going away. I said in my last blog that i was sick of the complaining and "oh poor us" dialog. Well its gotten worse then that. This team cant even get on the same page as far as what to bitch about. Then to top it off, they go out and beat the Warriors. The freaking warriors. The best team in Basketball. The front runners for another championship. I have no exlplanation for that. The team gave the reason as "well we are just having fun on the road and the long plane ride helped". Yea i dont buy that. Im almost waiting for them to have a come to light moment and just rattle off 18 in a row like they did last year after Haywood went down. Little optimistic? Maybe. With this team it looks like anything is Possible. See what i did there ;).

Finally we come to the boys of summer. The defending World Series champs. Spring training is well under way. I know last blog i talked about how no one cares that these kids are hitting bombs. Guess what. Still dont. The guys who are gonna make the team looked good and have looked good so far. But i wanna bring up what is gonna end up being a very unpopular opinion. Dustin Pedroia. Its time for the sox to move on. Yes hes good. Yes i guess hes the leader of the team. Although i dont agree with that. The sox had a very successful season without him. Why not take whatever value he has left which lets be honest cant be much with his age and those knees. But why not trade him for soemthing of value? Young reliver, Proven closer. Something besides a broken down second baseman with 2 bad knees. Everyone has been drooling over his return and i just roll my eyes and am waiting til he brakes down again. We shall see what the season brings us. Almost a month away now.

Brad

Money buys you everything

79.99 for one hour of a rub and tug. Having never had the pleasure (no pun intended) I'm gonna assume that's a decent price. For the common man that is. Robert Kraft. Noted billionaire, documented philanthropist some hoe felt the need to save some money and go for the discount handy. While i applaud his efforts at the age of 79 come on man! You own one of the most lucrative sports franchises in history. Your net worth is right up there with the top 1% of the money and still you decided on a discount hand job. You would think you would be smarter then that. Now this farce that he in involved in some big human trafficking ring is just that, a farce. But those are some of the associated risks involved with the discount hand job parlor. I think this will all blow over in short time, mostly because it is a misdemeanor crime and Mr. Kraft has more money then the average guy who gets picked up on solicitation charges. In the mean time at least we will have something to talk about during the off season. Yay another patriots off season scandal. Moving on to something a little less gross. Spring training is upon us. The Boston Red Sox are defending yet another world series title. While also once again attempting to become the first team to repeat as world series champs since the 2000 Yankees. I watched the annual game against Northeastern University and as always it was lack luster and more fun for the school then anything. The thing that always intrigues me is any time some under 23 year old kid does anything more then hit a single, the media loses their collective mind. People listen the sox just won the world series. Their star second baseman is on track to finally return this year. Do you really think that anyone is actually in jeopardy of losing their job? I don't at all. Aside from the 3 catchers in camp no one is really in any real jeopardy. I read a story that asked if devers could be out of a job because some no name kid went yard against northeastern. Do they realize that devers hits a home run in the world series? not some D-1 college sophomore. it always makes me laugh when i read things like this because you can tell its late February and there isn't much to write about so any little sneeze from this training camp invites makes the rounds through the media. Lets relax people. Its literally day 1. finally id like to wrap up this quick post with a note about the Celtics. My god, everyone really bought into this theory that they were going to break records. Does nobody think it might take a little time to build some chemistry. I still think they will do well when it comes to a 7 game series. Wrapping up, for the love of god can some one shut up Kyrie Irving? This guy changes his tune more then i change my underwear. At this point just leave. It would be less of a headache trying to replace him and win then to deal with his crap. Shut up and play basketball. And its not just him either, most of the "stars" on that team whenever theres a loss all go in front of the media and shoot their mouth off and say how this is wrong and that is wrong, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!! when Jalen shoots 3-12 why is he saying whats wrong? umm hello you contributed to that. Lastly theres Brad Stevens. The boo who whiny "i need to do better" 'I need to coach better" "i must be doing something wrong" just stop, this isn't college. no one is gonna have sympathy. Your not on the floor playing. your not missing 3s. Stop with the poor me crap. Shut up, get control of your team and just coach.

Brad

Gripe about skills competitions

This past weekend was the NHL all star game. The day before as always was the skills competition. Growing up i loved watching this event. Ray Bourque going 4-4 on the plates. Al Iafrate shooting 102 with a wood stick! that was fun to watch. Now, eh not so much. Lets start with the fastest skater. First of all i would never wish injury on anyone but what is the league gonna do when someone loses an edge and goes barreling into the wall? Secondly I don't think too many people care how fast you can go around the rink. That's not an actual game skill. If they started on a goal line and went full ice and had to weave around a cone or 2 or catch a pass somewhere fine that's more interesting. Moving on to the passing challenge. This one I actually like. It has skill with that cross ice sauce pass into the little net. That takes skill and its fun watching them try and try. I'm gonna skip over the other 3 events because yes I'm bitching about them but i want to make a point about skills comps in general over all the major sports and i only wanna use the hardest shot as my point maker. Zdeno Chara currently holds the record at 108.8. But since hitting that mark he has not been in an all star game. That part I'm ok with. I'm not trying to say vote him an all star just so he can defend his title. But i think that the defending champ of all these records as long as they are still in the league and not injured should be at the skills comp to defend their title. Which brings me to the other major sports. Baseball only real skills competition is the home run derby. This has become the most boring thing to watch on TV next to the NBA all star game. Growing up it was swing til you get 10 outs. Any swing that didn't result in a home run was an out. The 99 derby with Mcgwire and Sammy Sosa was the best thing baseball has had at the mid summer classic. Now the event is timed. Again baseball also does not let the previous years champion defend their title unless voted onto an all star roster. Ill skip over basketball because their skills competition is dumb except for the dunk contest which hasn't been good since Vince Carter. Yes that includes Dwight Howard and his superman dunk. That brings me to the NFL. I'm gonna bet most of my followers were unaware that the NFL even has a skills competition on the same weekend as the Pro bowl. I figured it out only 5 years ago. I did a quick search and found videos of past years. This competition is legit. Every drill involves effort, skill and stamina. There is a drill where a QB has to hit a moving target at different yardages for points. This takes some major skill. I know because i still cant hit my buddies on a simple "go to the Chevy and turn around" pass. However if you haven't yet noticed a theme to this post here it comes. The NFL pro bowl and by virtue the skills comp, is the biggest waste of time of all the 4 major sports. Here's why. Its the week before the Super bowl. Which means that technically some of their "best" players will not play because they will be preparing for the Super bowl. Now correct me if I'm wrong but it used to be held 2 weeks or maybe even the week after the super bowl, meaning that those who played in the super bowl have the option to participate. It also used to be held in Hawaii. Now its in Orlando. That brings me to my final gripe about all star games and skill competitions, With the exception of the NFL for reasons just mentioned about date of game. If your selected to an all star team you should shut up and participate. Its a fan thing. Fans pay hundreds of dollars to see their local teams play night in and night out and they pay even more to see an all star game that features the best in the sport. By snubbing the game the player in my eyes in snubbing the fan. Don't give me shit about "family time" or "i need to recover and rest" that's bull shit (Alex Ovechkin) because if this was a break for the Olympics your pampered ass would be the first one throwing on his countries jersey and happily playing more then one extra game during that break. To wrap up this rant, all star games are useless and un necessary and most of the skills competitions are getting that way. just let the winners of the events come defend their title without having to be voted into the game. It would make for a better product.


Cheers,
Brad

Welcome to the blog

Hello everyone, this will be the blog that will now go with the podcast. I plan on updating this in between episodes as well as when there is a thought on my mind about something in the sports world. I apologize for the length of this post but as you know its been a while in between podcast episodes and i wanted to update you all as to why. First off i want to thank everyone who listens and follows the show. I never thought id have this kind of overwhelming support. I want to thank R&B Flooring for being our first sponsor of the show. Without that support its hard to legitimize what i am trying to accomplish. Having this measure of success this quick was very shocking to me and therefore i was overwhelmed trying to come up with weekly shows that stayed relevant and on topic without sounding preachy. It had now been almost a month since our last episode and i promise you a new one is coming in the next week. Over the course of this podcast i have asked you the listener to engage with me on various topics to help me get content for the episodes. This has gone both well and not so well. I decided to revamp the show so to speak and focus more on just delivering my opinion and that of who ever i have as a guest on the show. Should you want to engage with me on a topic i still very much highly suggest you do so. our facebook page is open for comments and DMs so feel free to drop me something and ill gladly engage in a back and forth. Who knows we may even take it live on a show. Going forward my hope is to get you new podcast episodes every other week. That is where this blog comes in. Obviously the sports world happens on a day to day basis. So i will try to have something on here in between episodes to help bridge that gap. Ok, if your still reading that does it for the pleasentries and now on to the good stuff.

Pats are back in the super bowl!!

So if your like me, you have probably just calmed down and had your heart rate return to normal after that AFC title game. My god. But once again it was shown that we are watching greatness and history right before our eyes. Tom Brady once again proved he is hands down the greatest quarterback to ever play football. Bill Belichick showed he is the greatest coach to ever have walked a sideline. I heard someone in the Boston media say last week that we are living in a time that will never be replicated in pro sports again. That got me thinking. Wow. Brady was drafted in 2000. Played his first season in 2001. That means for 18 straight season, ok 17 since he tore his ACL in 2010, we have been watching history being made. This is just a little comparison. The yankees have 27 World Series titles. None since 2009. But from 1996 until 2009 they had 5 titles. That is a span of 13 years. The Montreal Canadians have won 24 Stanley cup titles (23 with NHL 1 before the merger with NHA) none since 1993. Their longest reign was 1971 to 1979 in which they won 7. To do what the Patriots have done for 18 years is beyond comparison. I know i left out some other teams from other sports but you get my point. There has always been a generation in any sport that has had 1 or 2 guys that do things no one else will. But to have the same coach and player do it together is unheard of.

That being said. This is it. If or i should say when the pats win title number 6 in Super Bowl 53 that will be the end of the pats dynasty and their almost 2 decade strangle hold on the NFL. There are some real good young and hungry teams in the league now. The talent is spread wide. Take a look at who the pats are playing in the Superbowl. The LA Rams. They have someone who is being hailed as the next Bill Belichick. Sean Mcvay. This guy has a brilliant football mind, and on top of that hes only 33! Their defensive line is probably the fastest in the league at getting the QB. That's not a slight at JJ Watt its just truth. Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh are in my eyes the best D-Line tandem in the league. Now i know a lot of people regard Suh as a dirty player my self being one of them. But have you heard anything about him since hes been in LA? I haven't. I wonder if that's because hes now in a system designed to win. In Detroit well come on need i say more. In Miami they were never gonna out shine New England. Now hes in LA and they have young core thats hungry and ready to win. Im doling out this praise for them but yet i don't think they have what its gonna take to beat the pats.

This post has already gone longer then i expected but once i get going there's usually no stopping me. As i said earlier i will use this blog to have more up to date takes on sports in between podcast episodes. Thank you all for listening and now reading. i hope you've enjoyed this as much as i have. Stay tuned its only gonna get better.

Cheers,
Brad