Sports From The Hood

Every offseason seems to produce the same reaction whenever a championship contender falls short: blow it up, make a blockbuster trade, and chase the biggest superstar available. For the Boston Celtics, that superstar is currently Giannis Antetokounmpo. My response? Why? Why would the Celtics trade Jaylen Brown? Brown is not some expendable piece. He's one-half of the best wing duo in basketball alongside Jayson Tatum. At a minimum, Brown and Tatum are both among the twenty best players in the NBA. More importantly, they've already proven they can win together. They have been to multiple Eastern Conference Finals, an NBA Finals, and delivered Banner 18. The idea that Boston should split up a championship core because of one disappointing season misses a much bigger point. What were the Celtics actually missing? It wasn't another superstar. It was size. It was rim protection. It was interior rebounding. In other words, it was exactly what Kristaps Porziņģis was brought here ...

For much of the last two decades, Red Sox fans have lived with a simple expectation: ownership would do whatever it took to compete for championships. The franchise was not just a baseball team; it was a financial powerhouse willing to invest heavily in elite talent when opportunities arose. That identity has changed. In recent years, the Red Sox have increasingly operated like a mid-market franchise despite playing in one of baseball's largest and most passionate markets. The result has been a growing disconnect between ownership's financial strategy and the team's performance on the field. While the organization appears determined to control costs and avoid long-term financial commitments, the expected payoff—consistent winning—has failed to materialize. The theory behind a more restrained payroll approach is understandable. Baseball history is filled with expensive contracts that became burdens. Smart teams develop young talent, make efficient roster decisions, and avoid...

If you haven't heard of the Aaron Spencer case , you're not alone — but it may soon become one of the most debated self-defense cases in recent memory.  On a quiet October evening in 2024, a father in Lonoke County, Arkansas made a horrifying discovery: his 13-year-old daughter, who had gone missing, was found in the truck of a 67-year-old man who had previously been charged with sexually assaulting and stalking her . That father — Aaron Spencer , a military veteran — did what many parents might claim they'd do in a nightmare scenario. He rammed the vehicle, confronted the man, and moments later, the man — Michael Fosler — was dead, shot multiple times in the head and torso. Spencer later told investigators that Fosler lunged at him with an unknown object and that he feared for his life and the safety of his daughter. What followed is a legal drama that has captivated true crime followers and raised serious questions about where the law draws the line between righteous f...

                                                                                  Judge Beverly Cannone set July 22 as the date the two sides would reconvene for what’s called a status conference following the mistrial in order to facilitate the efficient and orderly progress of the case. At this time, I was having thoughts like, “What the fuck am I going to do for three weeks while I wait for this stupid status conference that is going to tell me nothing?” Every time I end up thinking that this case or story, or whatever you want to call it, can’t get any weirder, it gets SO MUCH WEIRDER!!!!   On July 3, 2024, Karen Read’s defense attorneys, David Yannetti and Alan Jackson, filed a motion to dismiss counts 1 and 3, second degree murder and leaving the scene of an acc...

  A recent poll on Reddit of over 2,400 voters had 2,200 of them vote not guilty when given guilty, not guilty, or hung jury as options.  Six days ago on Law and Crime Network, a poll of 34,612 had 85% for not guilty, 9% for guilty, and 6% for a hung jury.  A CourtTV poll of 42,000 viewers had 71% not guilty, 12% guilty, and 18% voted for a hung jury.  My point in showing these statistics is that a large majority of these viewers saw the same trial that the jury did.  In fact they got to see more than the jury did during times where the jury was not in the courthouse.  I am shell shocked that any rationally thinking person could have felt that the Commonwealth met it's burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.  You can take guilty or not guilty out of it, the only conclusion is that not only is there reasonable doubt, but. there is so much reasonable doubt that it makes one wonder what the actual F is going on here? Why don't we examine the reasonable...

  If what I shared with you about Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor hasn't already helped you form an impression of the man in charge of the integrity of the investigation into the death of Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, then what I am about to tell you will leave you no choice!  I have no reservations in suggesting that he should never be allowed to possess a firearm in any state in the USA, and should never be referred to, in any way, as a law enforcement officer again!  I have no reservations in suggesting that this piece of shit should do 10+ years in prison!  NO RESERVATIONS! Please remember that this is the lead investigator in the death of Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe.  He was the lead investigator into the Brian Walsh case that drew extensive media attention in the years following the Karen Read investigation.  He has acknowledged that he has investigated hundreds of homicides in Massachusetts.   The 23rd day of...

Trooper Proctor is now the poster boy for this and the poster boy for why the state police are in desperate need of accountability.   During David Yannetti's opening statement, he stated that the jury would hear that Trooper Michael Proctor sent text messages to his friends and colleagues.  One of those text messages, when referring to Karen Read said, "I hope she kills herself."  This is the lead investigator!   Michael Proctor was the lead investigator on the Karen Read case, and before that was the lead investigator in the Brian Walsh case.  I have to believe that the unprofessional behavior that has been uncovered in the Karen Read case would, at the very least, have him working desk duty and nowhere near an investigation for the rest of his career.  What should happen is that he, and his colleagues in text threads should all be severely disciplined.   Two of the troopers in these text threads were Michael Proctor's supervisors....

According to the Commonwealth in their first statement of the case, "Ms. McCabe stated that the victim was lying on his back covered with approximately six inches of snow, with his phone on the ground underneath him. The defendant yelled at Ms. McCabe twice to Google, "How long do you have to be left outside to die from hypothermia?" There are two interesting factoids related to this statement that put Jen McCabe right in the middle of whatever you want to call this fiasco, a cover up, conspiracy, or just plainly an absolute shit show of an investigation.  Those interesting factoids are as follows: 1.  The less interesting point, but interesting nonetheless, is that on the 911 call Jen that was played in court during her testimony, Jen stated to the dispatcher, "We just flipped him over", meaning the victim was first found lying face down.  It may not be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I don't believe in coincidences or honest mistakes when ...

  Once Trooper proctor became involved in the investigation of the murder of Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, all objectivity went out the window.  There was nowhere else to turn at that point.   The Canton Police Department had been taken off the case due to a conflict of interest.  However, it is a mystery why Trooper Proctor wasn't ALSO conflicted off the case.  Karen's defense attorney David Yannetti summarizes the significance of this in the following quote taken from an article on NBCBoston.com: "If Detective Sergeant Lank and Trooper Michael Proctor had been honest about their longstanding relationship with the Alberts, the grand jury would have been extraordinarily skeptical of this entire investigation, particularly given the fact that Detective Sergeant Lank and the Canton Police Department remained involved in the case in the hours and days discovering the agency was conflicted." Don't forget that the victim was found in the snow on the front ...

For those wondering where the controversy is, it began on the morning Karen Read, Jen McCabe, and Kerry Roberts found the victim, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, near death in the snow on the lawn of 34 Fairview Avenue in Canton Massachusetts.  The precise moment it began is when Canton Police Detective Sargent Michael Lank, Sargent Sean Goode, and Lt. Paul Gallagher arrived on the scene to investigate.  These are, after all, the law enforcement officers responsible for asking a neighbor to borrow red solo cups in order to to scoop up snow to collect blood evidence, and then not sealing those solo cups, placing them in an opened Stop and Shop bag, and finally resting that bag on the floor next to an oily dirty rag in the sally port of the Canton Police Department.  Important forensic evidence was given the care that I give my kitchen counters when I am cleaning them.   As if the evidence collection process weren't bad enough, the Canton PD made some other se...

 I will always remember the evening of Friday June 17, 1994, almost 30 years ago to this day.  It was a warm, late spring/early summer day, and the majority of my time, as a 16 year old high school kid, was spent hanging out with my friends and having competitions to see who was the dumbest of us all.  However, this night was different.  It was different in the sense that I was glued to the television, and most shocking of all, I was glued to the television watching TV with my parents.  On the TV was aerial footage of a White Ford Bronco being chased by police.  In that Ford Bronco was, the now infamous and late Orenthal James Simpson.  This was where it all began for me.  My interest in true crime began with an old fashioned car chase that eventually became anything but old fashioned.   Until this past spring, I am not sure I had seen a true crime case that ever came close to the level of the OJ Simpson case, from the Bronco chase, the ...

Let's rewind for a moment to September 14, 2023.  This is the date that respected Red Sox Insider John Tomase wrote an article for NBC Sports Boston entitled "Chaim Bloom's Biggest Sin Wasn't Losing, It Was Making Red Sox Irrelevant."  You can find that article here .  At the time, and in part currently, I agreed with him.  However, after hearing Red Sox President Sam Kennedy point fingers and call Red Sox fans liars for daring to question their vision and commitment after a very atypical Red Sox offseason, I began to see things differently.  On top of that, the recent sale of the Baltimore Orioles by the Angelos family that nobody saw coming for $1.725 billion, has allowed me to see things through a different lens.   Chaim Bloom spent four years as the Chief Baseball Officer after taking over for Dave Dombrowski.  I was, and still am, a big Dombrowski fan.  I liked that he had a "win now" focus and was never afraid to pull the trigger on a d...

  How could this have been scripted any better for the NFL?  Not only do they get ungodly revenue from NFL football and all that it entails, but they also get a whole new brand of NFL Football Fandom, The Swiftys!!!  What is that worth you ask?  I heard this morning on a Boston sports radio show that it is estimated that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's relationship has generated more than $350 million in revenue for the Chiefs and for the NFL.  Isn't it just lovely?  Oh wait!  I almost forgot.  The 5 reasons the Chiefs are winning Super Bowl Swifty-Eight (58)!   1.  The Chief's defense is the real deal!  In three playoff games the Defense has amassed six sacks, eleven tackles for loss, two interceptions and four forced fumbles.  They have gotten after it and knocked out Tua, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson on their way to the Super Bowl.  The defensive backfield, with guys like L'Jarius Sneed, Trent McDuffie, and Justin...

 Back in November, the Boston Globe reported that highly coveted, free agent pitcher Jordan Montgomery had just moved to Boston.  That's right, right in front of our noses!  His wife, McKenzie, had just started a dermatology residency at an unnamed Boston Area Hospital.  According to the November 28 Boston Globe Article that can be found here , Montgomery moved to Boston to be close to his wife during the offseason.  He has been working out and throwing at Boston College and is literally right there for the taking by new General Manager Craig Breslow and the Boston Red Sox, and what news have we heard about their pursuit of the former World Series champion Texas Ranger?  We have heard jack squat!  Jack freaking squat! It is almost as if Red Sox ownership has forgotten the city they work in.  This is the same geographic area that just successfully ran arguably the greatest coach in NFL history out of town because he hasn't won a Super Bowl in 6 yea...

  It's no secret I think the firing of Bill Belichick was long overdue.  It is also no secret that I believe Coach Belichick to be massively overrated and can't win without an elite quarterback that can mask the lack of weapons that his coach doesn't believe are important.  I use his record without Tom Brady and the many head scratching free agent and draft decisions from the Coach during the latter half of his tenure in New England.  All that aside, the Post-Belichick era in New England has been an unmitigated disaster through it's first week, and it started unraveling right from Jump Street! "Every decision has been his and we’ve always supported him,”  " We know how important it is to the psyche of the community and what's gone on here the last three, four years isn't what we want. We have a responsibility to do what we can to fix it to the best of our ability."  ‘Bill (Belichick) told me he couldn’t play anymore. Then he goes out and wins the ...