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BY JIM DAWSON

APRIL 20, 2020

SPORTS AS WE KNEW IT

Today is Patriots Day. Usually the Boston Marathon is run today. The Red Sox always had a home game at 11 am. My friend and old co-worker Peter Goodwin always made sure we had tickets for the Patriots Day BoSox game. At its conclusion, we’d go over to the finish line of the Marathon.

‘SPORTS’ NOW

As the sports desert continues, we have only the NFL draft (but it’s on this week, April 23-25), old sporting events and the WWE to slake our thirst. I’m not watching any WWE. There is the possibility of golf returning and, yeah, that I would watch. No spectators. Golfers keep your distance.

Hard to picture when MLB and the PawSox (I have my season tickets for whenever the games begin) will start their seasons. There was an idea floated that all games might be played in Arizona and Florida with no fans. I’m sure players will have no problem being away from their families for months. That’s the Hindenburg of solutions.

Driller Killer has already paid for our 3 Patriots season tickets. I will pay him for mine shortly. Yet there is no certainty that there will be an NFL season. Played to empty stadiums (it used to be stadia). A major difference in football over baseball is the fan reaction in the stadium on almost every play. Baseball can put you to sleep on any play. The only comparison with live football is NHL hockey which is fast paced and capable of an exciting score or stop at any moment. Damn I miss the Bruins. They had a good chance of winning the Stanley Cup this year. Doubtful that there will be any hockey, even playoffs.

THE PATRIOTS DRAFT

The Patriots have lost a lot of important pieces. On defense, LBs Van Noy and Collins are gone as is Elandon Roberts, a good run stopper who was also used at FB. They also lost Danny Shelton - a force in the middle. They traded away safety Duron Harmon.

On the offensive side of the ball, gone are Ted Karras, who played center when David Andrews couldn’t because of blood clots in his lungs. There is no certainty that Andrews

can come back healthy this season. So it’s Isaiah Wynn at LT, Joe Thuney, who was

given the franchise tag (almost $15 million against the cap), at LG, Shaq Mason at RG and Marcus Cannon at RT. However they all need backups. Now ESPN and WEEI are reporting that because the Pats have only about $1M in cap space that Thuney will be traded by draft day because of the high cap hit. Yikes!

The Pats have some unknowns from last year who either didn’t play or played sparingly. Amongst this group are OT Yodny Cajuste (3^rd round pick) and OG Hjalte Froholdt (4^th round pick). NE thought enough of OL Jermaine Eluemunor to re-sign him, but he played mostly on special teams in 2019. You would expect Bill Belichick and Nick Caserio to draft a couple of versatile lineman, especially one that can also play Center.

While we are on the Offensive side of the ball, the Pats desperately need a couple of TEs, preferably ones who can catch the ball and block. Equally important is at least one outside receiver with speed, something they’ve sorely lacked. The good news is this year’s draft is filled with good, fast receivers. N’Keal Harry will be fine. Fans forget that he was injured and didn’t play until the last 7 regular season games and then the playoff vs. Tennessee. They may pick up a slot receiver as Julian Edelman will be 34 in May.

The Patriots will be fine with RBs Sony Michel and Damien Harris who played sparingly as a rookie. Remember this – Harris had over 3000 career rushing yards at Alabama. In Michel’s defense, his OL didn’t open a lot of holes for him in 2019. He also sorely missed FB James Develin’s lead blocking. Will Develin be back? James White and Rex Burkhead are proven contributors.

Will the Patriots draft a QB? I’d be surprised if they didn’t. One pigskin pundit said to watch where Belichick picks one (if he does – BB always does the unexpected). The pundit said that would show how much confidence Belichick has in Jarrett Stidham.

On Defense, the Pats need DL and LB help. They’ll probably add a safety as Devin McCourty is about to be 33 and they traded safety Duron Harmon.

Finally a FG kicker is needed. Probably a late rounder or maybe even an undrafted player. We’ll see how high a pick is used on a place kicker.

The Pats have 12 picks. However over half are between rounds 5-7. Thuney would give them a higher pick. Belichick rarely uses all his picks and will move up and down depending on how they rate players at their needs positions.

BULLETS

• Friend Ken Forestal reminded me that the longest Triple A game was played by the Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings on April 18-19, 1981. It went 32 innings on those days and the umps didn’t call it until 4:07 am. I saw the 33^rd inning conclusion.

• Ken also wanted me to point out that on today’s date, the great Roberto Clemente played his first MLB game 69 years ago.

• FWIW the Herald’s Karen Guregian’s Power Rankings has the Bucs #12, the Pats #14.

• ESPN has a 10 part series called The Last Dance on NBA great Michael Jordan Sundays at 9. Missed last night, but I’m sure they’ll show Parts 1 and 2 before Sunday.

EMAIL

As usual great Zine!! Good to see it back. It’s necessary. Believe the answer to your quiz is the great Roy Orbison’s Oh Pretty Woman.  Be careful out there compadre.

Mike Curtis

Mike, good guess but No, not Oh Pretty Woman. Thanks for the kind words. - Z

Jim- outstanding issue! One for the ages. With the coming of spring comes hope, and though we have been severely tested by the challenge and tragedy of the pandemic, a fresh issue of Sportzine is a panacea for the senses. Even with a sports shutdown worldwide, including the Olympics, plenty of news to share as we overcome this crisis and move forward towards a restoration of our favorite pastimes. Keep ‘em coming!

P.S. music trivia- could it be Roger Miller and his song King of the Road?

Mark Allio

Mark, good guess but No not Roger Miller's King of the Road. - Z

Glad to see Zine is back.

Brady is gone that’s OK - we move on as we should - no baseball - go to the Little League games in your area - at least we have WWE in Florida - Jim you could cover it "The Haystack Calhoun Report"- I'll help!

Roy Orbison "Pretty Woman"

Ken Forestal

No, Ken, not Pretty Woman but good try. I hate the WWE and especially ultra fighting so that's a no go. Yes we move on from Tom Brady. I think Stidham will do better than some think, though I expect they will add another QB in either the draft or an undrafted one. - Z

hi jim

how about sunny by bobby hebb? thanks for the zine

david annese

David, good guess but No, not Bobby Hebb's Sunny. - Z

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

Coach - I’m saddened about the loss of John Prine but it’s very uplifting in the middle of this quasi-apocalyptic nightmare to see a Zine and tribute to one of the greatest songwriters of any time. I hope you and yours and all of the Zine Community are well.

Tom Queenan

Q, good to hear from you. Maybe when things settle down we can have that beer at the Hot Club. Hope you and yours are well. Peace.

The Coach

Your timing is beyond excellent. 

BZ JD

Richard Flinn

BZ, Richard? - Z

Bravo Zulu. Semaphore for Well Done.

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Bravo%20Zulu

Richard Flinn

Richard, Wow! Very kind of you. Thanks. Stay safe and healthy. - Z

Jim,

BB had Brady's departure planned. The final nail in the coffin was when he tagged Joe Thuney and used up all of the remaining cap space 14+ Million. The dead cap hit for TB12 was going to hit either this year, ’21 or ’22.

Jarrett Stidham, now 23, attended Stephenville High School in Stephenville, Texas. As a senior, he completed 183 of 260 passes for 2,934 yards with 35 touchdowns. He also rushed for 969 yards and 15 touchdowns. Stidham was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the sixth-best dual-threat quarterback in his class. He had over 20 college offers. He originally committed to Texas Tech University to play college football, but later changed to Baylor University. He began his college football career at Baylor, starting three games as a true freshman for them in 2015. He then transferred to McLennan Community College, where he did not play football in his one semester at the school. Stidham later transferred to Auburn, where he started for them in 2017 and 2018. The Patriots selected him with the 133rd overall pick in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Below are his college stats.

Football | NCAA | Player Stats - Jarrett Stidham - Auburn Tigers - washingtonpost.com

https://www.yourtango.com/2019327197/who-jarrett-stidhams-wife-new-details-patriots-rookie-qbs-wife-kennedy-brown-stidham

5 things Patriots fans should know about quarterback Jarrett Stidham

Ted Mahoney

Hi Ted, good to hear from you. Good point about tagging Thuney and having no cap space.

One thing that confuses me is that when the NFL recently agreed with the Players Association on a new deal, I thought it included a rise in the cap # which would be in effect this 2020 season.

It's obvious that this is Bill Belichick's move. It seemed pretty certain that he didn't want to trade Jimmy G, but Brady's determination to play a couple more years blew that up. I left it out, but Belichick and Brady were at odds over Brady using Alex Guerrero as his personal trainer. And Brady got Gronk to use Guerrero in 2018 (maybe some other Pats players too). Belichick, who has his own workout/training program, did not like that one bit.

They may be OK with Stidham. I do expect that they'll draft another QB this year or maybe sign a QB who doesn't get drafted. Belichick loves competition - Z

Hi Jim,

Great to see the Zine again, especially with this virus mess and all. I was a long time John Prine fan and saw him many times. Jo-Ann and I went to see him at a Joan Baez concert. John was the lead in and did a great job. We had great seats in the third row. At intermission, we went to the back of the theater where a young couple stood. I said are you fans of Joan Baez, they said they loved her. I said, see those two seats in the third row, they said yes. I said go and sit there. They were elated. They said you’re not leaving are you! I said we came to see John Prine, enjoy the show and we left. Yep we were real fans!

Hope all is well with your health and you are getting along OK! We had a lot of fun in the old days, many, many fond memories.

Ted & Jo-Ann Bates

Ted, hope you and Jo-Ann are well.

Funny story about leaving the concert after seeing John Prine open for Baez.

Doing pretty well. Still walking my 2 miles a day, but now it's to Slater Park.

Have my PawSox tix but wonder if/when they'll even play.

The WooSox had to halt construction on Polar Park. Could there be another season at McCoy? And the pandemic will further hurt Larry Lucchino's finances and those of Worcester too. The Woo Sox may become the Woe Sox. - Z

I have to say I never thought I’d feel this way but I don’t care about Brady anymore. Go Pats! I also believe Giselle had a lot to do with this decision, but I also believe in Bill and have to think it was the right decision for the team. Like you I never thought it would happen.

Lori Spooner 

Lori, I was thunderstruck by Tom Brady's decision to leave. A lot of behind the scenes stuff that may never come out. Time to move on.

There may not even be an NFL season. Tampa Bay paid Brady a lot of guaranteed money. Wonder how they'd feel about a 44 year old QB in 2021. - Z

THE HOT CLUB

Last Tuesday, the 14^th ,was the Hot Club’s Anniversary. It opened in 1983. So this year it was the Club’s 37^th year Anniversary. Yet none of us could celebrate it. That’s a first.

So 6-7 Hot Club regulars have ‘met’ via Zoom on Fridays at 5pm. We swap stories, insults, and coping measures as we try to keep COVID-19 from spreading.

Thursday I had cleaned the areas of leaves and dandelions around tulips and other flowering plants next to my house. Being outside is replenishing as are my 2 mile daily walks. So to the garden it is. I got so carried away that I planted rows of radishes on Friday. How the Hell did I know it would snow Friday night. Well, somehow Special K knew that it was going to snow. I just got the message too late to help.

We, as a group, have been sharing jokes, funny videos, anything that will amuse us at this difficult time. One very helpful source for that humor has been Hot Club regular Joe Pedro, who has emailed a bunch of fun stuff. Captain Jack sent us a video of a comedian doing a routine in which he proves that Jesus was actually Italian. After my Air Force buddy Mike Curtis sent me some Irish jokes, I forwarded them on to the others along with some Pat and Mike jokes similar to those my grandfather Jim Cullen told me. Help your family and friends with humor.

ANSWER TO LAST ISSUE’S TRIVIA QUESTION

OK so I asked what singer and song displaced the Beatles at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100. I am reading Exploding by Stan Cornyn about the Warner Music Group. In it, he mentions how thrilled Dean Martin (who hated the Beatles) was when Everybody Loves Somebody displaced the Beatles (1964). When friend Ken Forestal was insistent that Roy Orbison’s Oh Pretty Woman was the answer, I looked up Billboard’s #1’s for 1964-1969. Then I realized that over the course of the year, there are a number of songs that get to #1. Other singers who displaced the Beatles: Louis Armstrong ’64, Barry McGuire ’65, Petulia Clark ’66, Frank Sinatra ’66, Bobbie Gentry ’67. BTW, Oh Pretty Woman displaced House of the Rising Sun, not a Beatles song (1964). Source – Wikipedia.

THIS ISSUE’S TRIVIA QUESTION

What two British bands were the 3^rd and 4^th ones to be inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame? Hint – it was the same year.