We knew 2024 could be bat-bleep loopy lengthy earlier than the brand new 12 months arrived.
But nobody had odds on “We have interviewed Bill Belichick for our head coach opening” being posted on X by the Atlanta Falcons throughout an NFL playoff sport during which Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers demolished the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles 32-9.
TB who?
That capped a wild NFL Wild Card Weekend that noticed the 71-year-old Belichick anointed as the following coach of the Dallas Cowboys on social media as America’s Team was getting whacked 48-32 at residence by Green Bay on Sunday. Five of the six video games had been determined by 14 or extra factors.
For these preserving rating, the Packers have now received extra playoff video games at Jerry World (3), than the Cowboys (2).
Today at midday, the Patriots introduce the 37-year-old Jerod Mayo as their fifteenth head coach. Mayo was a freshman at Kecoughtan High School in Hampton, Va., the final time the Patriots performed a sport not coached by Belichick.
Full madness barely two weeks into 2024.
We’ll get a wholesome swig of sobriety on Friday as Red Sox “Winter Weekend” returns to Springfield.
“Take a snow day for a snow job!”
Last 12 months, the fan Q&A with John Henry and Chaim Bloom changed into a reenactment of the Salem Witch Trials. It now looks like the final time Henry took direct questions from the press or public was on Yaz Day.
This time, “Winter Weekend” returns with out the Red Sox proprietor, or the crew’s greatest participant, within the Playbill.
D.J. Cinco Ocho shall be spinning all of the golden oldies. Among the Red Sox greats attending shall be Hall of Famers Wade Boggs, Dennis Eckersley, Carlton Fisk, Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, and the always-effervescent Jim Rice.
Human shields all. No pitchforks allowed.
Red Sox President Sam Kennedy shall be taking bullets for his boss from the media, together with Tom Werner, someday through the festivities.
In a lot the identical method all of the bucks now cease on the desk with Robert Kraft in Foxboro, Henry stays on the fulcrum of all that was as soon as proper however is now incorrect with the Red Sox.
The greatest technique to preserve tabs on Henry lately is by way of his spouse’s Instagram feed. We’re glad Mrs. Henry and son Xander managed to flee from Iceland safely earlier than it blew up Sunday. Let’s hope they don’t let this Xander stroll when he desires a lift in his allowance.
Fenway Park has morphed into the best impartial web site east of the Rose Bowl. Visiting followers usually outnumber the locals – no less than when it comes to decibels and fervour. Welcome to America’s Most Beloved Ballpark, during which the Red Sox play 81 video games every year.
“Full throttle,” meet “empty grandstand sections.”
Not that it issues. This scribe was among the many first of the lemmings to leap off the cliff onto the rocks of Great Boars Head when spring coaching tickets went on sale final week.
“It’s not you, it’s me.”
There’s no cause for Fenway Sports Group to be upset about this. They’ve slashed payroll. Kept the crew beneath the aggressive stability tax. And nonetheless had 2.67 million paying clients in attendance final season.
That represents 92% of fan attendance posted in 2018. That season, Boston received a file 108 video games within the common season and the World Series with a payroll of $233,200,428.
Adjusted for inflation, that 2018 payroll quantity would have equaled $289,465,230 in 2023.
The Red Sox payroll in 2023 was $197,650,647, by way of Spotrac.
So in 2023, the crew minimize $91,814,583 in payroll (adjusted for inflation) vs. 2018 and completed in final place. Yet it solely noticed an 8% drop in fan attendance.
And whereas the NESN numbers fell off, the Red Sox and each different MLB crew have a sports activities betting income stream that didn’t exist in 2018.
Somewhere, LeBron James is smiling.
I’ve but to see definitive proof that Chaim Bloom and Craig Breslow should not the identical individual.
Someone purporting to be Breslow was quoted Tuesday within the Boston Globe discussing the failing of the offseason that wasn’t.
“It sounds like kind of empty words to say we’re engaged in every path and trying to pursue every opportunity, but it’s true that we are, and they don’t always work out,” Bloom/Breslow stated. “It’s been a challenge. I think a lot of teams are seeing that. Starting pitching is highly, highly desirable.”
Bloom/Breslow claims possession “absolutely are still supportive of assembling a World Series team as quickly as we possibly can.”
He didn’t supply any thought during which decade that will happen.
The reality was nestled within the 14th paragraph.
“It’s going to require a step forward from the young position players. It’s going to require the build-out of a talent pipeline of arms that we can acquire, we draft, and we can develop internally,” Bloom/Breslow stated.
Translation: “What you see is what you get.”
DraftKings has the Red Sox 2024 win whole set at 80.5. It opened at 76 in 2023 earlier than shifting as much as 78.5 by Opening Day. This time, the quantity is probably going headed in the other way.
It’s solely this “high” as a result of groups just like the Tampa Bay Rays have slipped additional this offseason than the Red Sox. For these into Powerball, the Red Sox are +4000 to win the World Series, +1800 to win the American League, +1100 to win the AL East, and +250 to make the playoffs.
And cashing any of these bets would make 2024 the wackiest 12 months on file.
Bill Speros (@RealOBF and @BillSperos) may be reached at [email protected].
Source: www.bostonherald.com