SZ675

BY JIM DAWSON

DECEMBER 4, 2017

PATRIOTS

Yesterday I saw something that I don’t recall a Patriot player ever doing. Rob Gronkowski, upset at the officiating, jumped on Bills’ cornerback (Tré Davious White). This was not only dumb, but a poor example of Gronkowski’s anger management.

Gronkowski will probably be suspended one or two games. You can be sure that coach Bill Belichick will have much to say to Gronkowski. Belichick had to apologize to Bills coach Sean McDermott during the post-game handshake. Can’t remember Belichick ever having to apologize for one of his player’s actions before.

And when Gronkowski does come back, I wouldn’t be surprised if Belichick sat out Gronk for part of the game.

The incident spoiled a good team effort in beating a fired up Bills team that held the Patriots without a TD in the first half and constantly frustrated Tom Brady and crew. When’s the last time you recall Brady screaming epithets at offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels? Offensive indeed.

In the 1^st half, Brady was only 8 for 14 for 82 yards and was sacked 3 times. The Bills would not sack Brady in the 2^nd half. Brady ended up 21 of 30 so missed three 2nd half.

Brady calmed down in the 2^nd half as he masterfully mixed passes and runs to take away the aggression of the Bills. The Pats had piled up 130 yards rushing in the 1^st half, but had only a 9-3 lead.

NE had a total of 191 yards rushing, so only 61 yards of it came in the 2nd half. The Pats made those yards count as Burkhead had 2 rushing TDs and Dion Lewis contributed to the strong running. Shaq Mason at RG, RT Cam Fleming and Gronk supplied some of the blocking that sprung Burkhead and Lewis. Fleming, filling in for Marcus Cannon and LaAdrian Waddle, did a decent job.

My notes (and Gamebook) show that LT Nate Solder didn’t have a great day giving up a couple sacks and committing a dumb penalty when Brandin Cooks made good yardage on an end around. Solder also had a motion penalty. Joe Thuney gave up 2 hits on TB.

The Patriots defense came through with 4 sacks and 9 QB hits. David Harris, playing better of late, had 1.5 sacks as did recently added LB and ex-Bill Eric Lee. Lee had the game of his life with an interception, the 1.5 sacks, a deflected pass and tackle for a loss. Malcom Brown had .5 a sack and Kyle Van Noy .5 a sack (but was injured again).

The Patriots were running short of linebackers so they played Eric Lee at LE. They also started with 5 defensive backs to compensate.

There were some key plays. Alan Branch forced the center into QB Tyrod Taylor in the red zone and Lee intercepted.

James White was a yard short on the second 2^nd half TD drive and the ref gave them the 1^st down. Brady ran a quick run by Burkhead before the Bills could challenge the spot.

WR Bernard Reedy, Jr., just added, was back for two punts. One went out of bounds, on the other he made 11 yards. He could be a big help spelling the oft-injured Amendola.

Malcolm Butler may also be in Belichick’s dog house as his holding call negated a 3^rd down sack by Malcom Brown and gave the Bills a 1^st down. He came out the next play.

Gronk was having a fantastic game (9 catches on 11 targets for 147 yards). The ball he stole from White was amazing. Plus his blocking. And then Gronkowski lost his mind. Ian Rapoport just announced that Gronk was suspended for 1 game.

BULLETS

• Richard Flinn of the Naval Academy Preparatory School emailed a great story: in 1963, Army was scheduled to play Navy in football on Nov. 30. When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, there was talk of not playing the game. Jackie Kennedy thought it should be played since the President loved the game. Eventually it was played on Dec. 7, the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Navy won 21-15 with Roger Staubach at QB. Staubach won the Heisman Trophy that year. Thanks, Richard.

• Congratulations to the URI Rams who beat the PC Friars 75-68. URI played great defense forcing the Friars into 14 turnovers in the 1^st half, good for 19 points. Yet PC got within 3 twice late in the game, but a poor shot by Diallo and Cartwright’s missed 1 and 1 helped seal their doom. Cartwright was 1 for 7 (2 pts.). PC was 10 of 21 from the line.

• Thought it’d take Jimmy Garoppolo at least a game to get into gear. Nope! Led the 49ers down the field at Chicago for the winning FG by ex-Bear Robbie Gould. Garoppolo, from the Chicago area, was 26 of 37, 1 INT for 293 yards, almost 200 more than the opposing QB Mitchell Trubisky (12 of 15 but for 102 yards).

• If you saw any of Saturday’s big football games, hope you saw Central Florida’s win over Memphis 62-55 in 2 overtimes. The two teams were the highest scoring in Div. 1.

• The Bruins are starting to get back their walking wounded and are playing better, having won 6 of 7. Unfortunately their rivals, the Canadiens, just won their 5^th straight.

• The Globe’s Ben Volin (12/3) noted that the NFL Players Coalition leadership kicked Colin Kaepernick out and then got the NFL to allocate $89 million for social justice organizations over 7 years. Volin says that’s about $250,000 a year per owner. SF’s Eric Reid and others quit the Coalition when leader Malcolm Jenkins asked him to stop protesting the national anthem. Oh and the Players Association has to match the owners’ donation and the NFL gets to say where the $ goes.

• Don’t forget to vote for the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. The site is rockhall.com/vote You only have until tomorrow (Dec 5). We want Dire Straits in.

EMAIL

My guesstimate for the jukebox is Chicago 1943.

Roger Boudreau

Good guesses, Rog but not correct-a-mundo. You'll be surprised at the answers. - Z

Jukebox huh? How about Detroit 1920?  Seems like Detroit would be a place that might have happened. Just a guess. Garry Gillett Good try on the quiz but no, not Detroit and not 1920. - Z

Jim, good issue this week. Quiz guess....Definitely guessing here .......1935 in Chicago. Bruce Irwin Bruce, nice stab at it, but no on both counts - Z

23 November 1889 - The first ‘Nickel-in-the-Slot’ (jukebox) was placed in service in the Palais Royal saloon in San Francisco, California. Juke, at the time, was a slang word for a disorderly house or house of ill repute. The unit, developed by Louis Glass, contained an Edison tinfoil phonograph with four listening tubes. There was a coin slot for each tube. 5 cents bought a few minutes of music. The contraption took in $1,000 in six months!

The Wizard

Good job, Wiz, that pretty much explains it. I saw a reference in the ProJo on Today in History and thought it’d be a good trivia question, especially how far back it went. There was also this site https://www.wired.com/2007/11/dayintech-1123/ - Z

THE HOT CLUB

So FootJoy is talking to the Bear, Fleet Feet Pete, Pal Al and myself when he brings up ‘the sock on the doorknob’.We look at each other in bewilderment. We haven’t heard of that and don’t know what it means. FootJoy was very surprised and asked three different Hot Club bartenders if they knew what it meant. All did. Then we hailed Brock so that FootJoy could ask him if he knew what a sock on a doorknob meant. Brock said, “Someone doesn’t know how to get dressed.”

Do you know what ‘the sock on a doorknob’ means?

Later I told the Motley Crew (FootJoy, the Bear, Fleet Feet Pete, and Pal Al) that ESPN will have a ‘30 on 30’ show with Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells reminiscing. Should be must see sports TV.

Overheard at the Hot Club after a conversation about IQ’s: Needs an EQ. What’s an EQ? Emotional Quotient.

The rumor mill has it that the RI Yacht Club will double its dues after the New Year. Will Yachters revolt?

LAST ISSUE’S TRIVIA ANSWER

So last time, I asked when the first jukebox debuted and in what city. The answers are 1889 and San Francisco. The Wizard knew it, as did Matt Dawson (in person). In addition to Wiz’ answer (see email), Wikipedia notes that one of the first jukeboxes as we know it resulted when, in 1918, Hobart C. Niblack patented an apparatus that automatically changed records, leading to one of the first selective jukeboxes being introduced in 1927 by the Automated Musical Instrument Company, later known as AMI.

THIS ISSUE’S QUIZ

This great performer was virtually abandoned by his father, survived an assassination attempt, then a year later was diagnosed with cancer from which he died 4 years later. His musical influence is felt to this day. He is in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. His birthday is a national holiday in his homeland. Name?

Sportzine is available at jimdawsonsports.com thanks to Buffalo Steve Lenz