Sports From The Hood

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 ...

 The last two seasons of Celtics Basketball can best be described using one word: Heartbreak.  In fairness the Celtics have several built in excuses they could have used for why this happened:  Their head coach was a scumbag who got suspended, Marcus Smart was a cancer, Joe Mazzulla doesn't know how to coach, Brad Stevens didn't do enough at the trade deadline, etc.  Let's look at a few of those excuses and their true impact.   I personally think it is absolutely 100% clear that Marcus Smart truly was a cancer on the team.  The proof of this is in the pudding.  I have said since the team made the trade for Porzingis that if they did this two years ago, we would be talking today about a team that won back to back NBA championships.  The way the team plays, minus Smart, is so much more free and so much more together.  Do you think Derrick White is the impact player he is right now with Smart here?  I certainly don't.  The additio...

      There are a lot of people that consider themselves die hard Red Sox fans, and many have a case to be made to refer to themselves that way.  I am often skeptical when people say this, so I am going to explain a little about why I am a die hard Red Sox fan.  Believe it or not I was born in Los Angeles California and became an early Red Sox fan via my grandparents who lived in New England when I was growing up.  Fast forward to October 12, 1986.  It was a warm fall day in Anaheim California and my mother had luckily secured two tickets to game 5 of the American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and the then California Angels.  The Red Sox had their backs against the wall and were down three games to one to the Angels who were flying high after their come from behind, extra inning, game four victory the night before.   The Sox got off to hot start with two runs in the top of the second, but by the end of the 7th inn...

      I think it behooves me to explain the stance taken in my title before I get into the nitty gritty surrounding Draymond Green's most recent antics on the basketball court.  I want to make it clear that I am not being critical of the culture that Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA's brass have been trying to build since Silver was unanimously chosen to replace David Stern in 2014.  I am not being critical of the NBA's response to Green's recent misconduct which was to suspend him indefinitely, unless indefinitely turns out to be 7 games in which case I will be critical.  In fact I have been pleased with how the league has handled disciplinary matters, most specifically Ja Morant.       Now that we have that out of the way, the person involved in the Draymond Green debacle that will now receive the ire of my harsh criticism is none other than Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.  As a life long Chicago Bulls fan Steve Ke...