SZ714a
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 (3rd
round pick) and OG Hjalte
Froholdt (4th
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 33rd 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.
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.
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 14th ,was the Hot Club’s Anniversary. It
opened in 1983. So this year it was the Club’s 37th 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 3rd and 4th ones to
be inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame? Hint – it was the
same year.
posted by jdawson59 at 2:09 PM
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