Washington Post – “The Browns apparently didn’t draft UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen because of a chat one of the team’s personnel executives had with a Bruins volleyball coach at an airport...Alonzo Highsmith, Cleveland’s vice president of player personnel, talked about the team’s decision to use the No. 1 pick on Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield…As for why Highsmith had Rosen third on his list behind Mayfield and Darnold? Here’s the Canton Repository’s Steve Doerschuk with the transcription:
“I was at an airport,” he said. “UCLA’s volleyball team was in front of me. You heard so much about Rosen. He’s this or that. We all know how people talk.
“So I asked one of the volleyball coaches, ‘What’s Rosen like?’ He said, ‘Aaaaa, you should probably ask his girlfriend. She’s one of the players. She’s over there.’
“I’m like, ‘All right coach. That’s good enough.’
“I don’t know what all this means, but there was something about him that bothered me.”
After I read this article I realized one thing:
The Browns have been terrible my entire life and they’re probably going to continue being terrible so long as they base their Draft Day decisions on innoccuous encounters at the airport or what a RANDOM HOMELESS MAN SAYS.
Cleveland fans, your GM literally admits these things in public, what the hell is he saying in private? That should scare you if this is the man running your franchise.
Cleveland’s VP of Player Personnel Alonzo Highsmith apparently didn’t draft Josh Rosen because the UCLA volleyball coach didn’t give Rosen a tongue bath when randomly approached at the airport. He didn’t even say anything bad either, he just told Highsmith to ask Rosen’s girlfriend who was standing mere feet away. Nah, I don’t like the way this “feels” so Rosen’s off our board. Huh?
Thats a great way to run an organization. Josh Rosen may suck for all I know, but thats besides the point. The Browns are apparently using Survey Monkey and reading the tarrot cards to decide who to draft rather than using analytics (RIP Sashi), statistics, physical results or anything tangible.
Ben Roethlisberger takes an absolute beating for a quarterback. Big Ben is the huge, lumbering, aging, savy veteran thats always extending plays in the pocket and running around before taking some big shots like he’s Cap Rooney.
As a result of that style of play, the last couple of offseasons have unsurprisingly been filled with questions of whether or not Roethlisberger would retire. Well the Steelers just happen to draft a quarterback in the 3rd round and Big Ben conveniently drops this line the other day:
“The way our O-line is put together, as good as they are, they kept me healthy as can be the last couple of years. I really feel I can play this game another three to five years.”
This seems to have shades of Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo, who the Patriots drafted when Brady was *also* 36 years old. When asked why draft a QB, Belichick replied with this famous line that spawned the TB12 institute as we know it today:
“We know what Tom’s age and contract situation is. I don’t think you want to have one quarterback on your team. I don’t think that’s responsible to the entire team or the organization.”
That pissed Tom Brady off more than we’ll ever know and made him recommit to the game. Numbers don’t lie and Brady, albeit slightly, had started to slip a bit at that point in his career. The Pats drafting his heir apparent was likely the thing Brady need to drive him even harder. Starting in 2014, Jimmy G’s first year on the roster, Brady’s numbers improved across the board and of course our favorite vocabulary word was forever etched into the New England lexicon; Pliability.
So is Ben Roethlisberger feeling a little bit salty that his team is planning his funeral and sizing him for a casket while he’s still battling for Super Bowls? You’re goddamn right. Maybe he’s feeling a little more pliable than he was this time last week. Sorry Mason Rudolph, unless Cap Rooney gets his head taken off by a linebacker, you’re ass is riding the pine. God forbid Big Ben finds his way to a TB12 facility, the kid won’t touch the field until his second contract. And I can’t blame Ben either. Imagine your boss telling you this kid is taking your job?
I don’t know many Boston athletes that have had a more prolific rise in my rankings than Joe Kelly. Kelly was always fine. He’s a flamethrower on the mound, which always adds bonus points, but he’s never really had any defining moments on the Red Sox. He also hasn’t really lived up to the hype surrounding him when the Sox acquired a young power arm from the Cardinals. So I never had anything against the guy, he was just kind of there.
First we had the rise of Good Guy Joe Kelly. The dude goes out of his way to not only visit sick kids in the hospital, but he legit goes full costume to make a kid’s day. Dressed from head to toe as Green Lantern simply because it would make a kid happy. You don’t see a lot of that in professional sports.
Then of course we had the benches clearing brawl he incited by beaning that mouth breather Tyler Austin. Not only did he jumpstart the Sox Yankees rivalry, but he also was itching to fist fight the guy. Most pitchers will bean the guy then if he charges the mound they want no part of it. You often see the pitcher throw his glove at the charging batter much like a purse, until the first baseman or catcher can intervene. Not Joe Kelly, that guy wanted blood.
And now, while serving a 6 game suspension for the aforementioned beaning incident, he’s literally watching the game in the bleachers with the fans. This dude just gets it. A down to earth guy that visits sick kids in the hospital, lays the wood on the Yankees, and now is self aware enough to joke about taking in a Sox game while sitting where the real fans sit.
Me: hey Joe mind taking a picture with my boy it’s his first game
Joe: also my 1st game in the bleachers no problem.. I’m in timeout pic.twitter.com/3tYtjeJ4yT
Keep it up and I might have to invest $34.99 into a freshly printed Joe Kelly t-shirt jersey after a bakers dozens beers at Who’s On First.
PS – Who’s On First on Yawkey Way is now a goddamn trivia question as that bar, after incidents, fights, and shootings was forced to sell off and change its name. As did the street itself with all the well known issues surrounding the Yawkey name. So now when people ask how to get to The Bullpen on Jersey Street, you know where to direct them.
Do you want to know the definition of first world problems? I legitimately am upset, vexed even, that the Bruins and Celtics have playoff games on at the same time tonight.
Our embarrassment of riches collide as the Bruins play Game 2 of the semi-finals and the Celtics kick off Game 1 of their respective semi-finals as both teams are playing for a shot at the Conference Finals. What a time to be a sports fan in Boston. Combine that with the Red Sox being arguably the best team in baseball and the Patriots being the talk of the NFL with their draft decisions over the weekend. No time to dilly dally.
Is it a chore to go picture in picture so I can watch BOTH of my teams playoff games? Sure. Is it hard work to flip back and forth in between intermissions? Absolutely. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. I now have my entire 6 pm-11 pm blocked off tonight. No time to watch The Office unfortunately.
Its time like these I almost envy the complete lack of passion from fans in cities like LA or Tampa. Just go about your day partaking in all sorts of activities. Me? I’ll be in front of the TV with garbage food that I 100% GrubHub’d and a 6 pack of moderately priced IPAs. Thats the cross I bear.
The Patriots love to zig when everybody else zags. They absolutely love it, which is why drafting Georgia running back Sony Michel is the most Patriots move ever. Most teams these days seem to have all but agreed that the RB position is overvalued (except for the Giants). With absolute studs like Alvin Kamara and Kareem Hunt both drafted in the 3rd round, its no secret that you can find elite running backs after Day 1 so why waste the draft capital? So we’re all in agreement? Ok cool.
*Bill Belichick immediately drafts a running back in the first round*
Its the first time he’s even drafted a SKILL POSITION player in the first round since Laurence Maroney in 2006.
Zagging for days.
You saw it in recent years as the Patriots adopted the more commonly seen in college spread attack and hurry up offense, which all but eliminated the need for a fullback. Then most of the league gravitated towards a similar approach. Then the Pats shifted gears and started heavily utilizing a fullback in James Develin, who only made the Pro Bowl this past year. Or what about when the Patriots all of a sudden changed their offense on the fly and morphed into a two Tight End system? They proceed to wreak havoc on the league with a young Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Until one of them became a famous serial killer, but the point remains.
Sony was a beast at Georgia playing with the big boys in the SEC, where he averaged 7.9 yards per carry last year.
He’s also the guy that ended Baker Mayfield’s college career with the walkoff TD run in that epic Rose Bowl game earlier this year.
As Phil Perry points out, Sony’s ball control is a bit of a concern, fumbling 12 times in his career, but half of those came in his freshman year. The only thing Bill Belichick preaches more than Do Your Job is hold onto the football. Ball security is job security. So that’ll be something to watch. Perry also shed some light on another reason why the Pats may have fallen in love with Sony:
“But in the passing game is probably where Michel’s true value will be at the next level. He may be the best pass-protector at the position in this year’s class of backs (two hurries on 52 pass-blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus), and he’s a capable receiver (64 catches, 621 yards receiving in his career).”
The Pats love a guy that can play in pass protection. Thats your No. 1 priority. Then running the football, and if you can also catch the ball out of the backfield? Well now we’re cooking with gas. Too many times in recent years have teams been able to either stack the box or just sit back in coverage because the RB on the field was either a battering ram (Blount) or a receiver (James White). Dion Lewis was excellent as a runner and a receiver, but he’s gone so Belichick got someone who can do both.
The Patriots are the ultimate marketing arbitrage in the NFL, buying and selling where they identify the most value. Everybody devalues running back these days? Time for us to snatch up a potential stud while you’re all sleeping on him just because thats what the rest of the league says you should do.
They are the tastemakers of the NFL. They’re not trying to do business as business is done, no they’re setting the trends themselves and letting the rest of the league react. And thats why the Patriots will always be successful with Bill Belichick running the show.
Plus if you are a fan, not an NFL Draft Analyst that gets paid to scout and report on players, who gets genuinely angry about who your team does or doesn’t draft? Then you are lying to yourself because any rational human being realizes that the only thing we really know about the draft is that we don’t know shit. So just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
Holy hell what a game. As many of my buddies that are not Bruins fans texted me last night; that was an incredible game, probably the best game of the entire first round of the playoffs. As a Bruins fan though? That shit was beyond stressful. From puck drop that game was a sprint and luckily, despite some massive miscues, the Bruins pulled out Game 7 in exciting fashion.
I’ve never been a TRADE TUUKKA guy. I think he’s fine. He can flash the mitt sometimes, but he’s not a top 3 goalie. He’s just not. Among goalies with at least 30 Games Played this year, Tuukka Rask ranked 15th in Save Percentage at .917, 17th in Shutouts with 3, and 15th in Quality Starts with 30. Its not like he was a workhorse either, he was 18th in Games Played with 54, which are the fewest games he’s played since the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season.
He’s also not a complete bum. He was 6th in GAA at 2.36, but holy shit does this guy have a scary tendency to disappear in big moments. Going into last night Tuukka was 1-2 with a .849 Save Percentage in Game 7s, which is cringe inducing. Still, thats a small sample size and anything can happen in a Game 7.
So what happens 2 minutes into the game? Tuukka gives up a goal. Ok, ok it was a powerplay goal so its hard to get on him too much, but this is a bad sign.
Bruins tie it 3 minutes later on a goal from Jake DeBrusk!
Less than 2 minutes later, Tuukka gives it right back.
Tuukka, buddy, you have got to be shitting me. Are you trying to get run out of town? I’m still waiting for Ol’ Milk Crates to make an appearance.
If you’re not familiar with that reference, back in 2009 when he was still playing for the Baby B’s in Providence, a young Rask gave up a goal to lose a game in a shootout and he went berserk. He goes after the ref, throws his stick, skates off the ice, walks down the tunnel, and then reemerges to chuck milk crates onto the ice like an absolute psycho. Thats the guy I wanna see. A crazy asshole.
Not to mention the short handed goal Rask gave up to Kasperi Kapanen in the 2nd period. It was a disaster of a play from the Bruins in the offensive zone ON THE POWER PLAY, and Marchand got bodied trying to get back in coverage. But still, Tuukka got deked out of his goddamn shorts.
It was an all around ugly play. If you want to be the man on a Stanley Cup winning team you need to pull some saves out of your ass every now and again, which Tuukka hasn’t done a ton of this series. He had a huge night in Game 4 for 31 saves, but he followed that up by getting yanked in Game 5. To make matters worse, Freddy Anderson was making Superman saves all night at the other end of the rink. Hell even Joey Hags was calling for the B’s to yank Tuukka.
Frederik Andersen makes a couple of standout saves at his end and then Tuukka Rask allows Kasperi Kapanen to get around him on a shorthanded breakaway for a go-ahead score. If I’m Bruce Cassidy, I’d pull Rask at this point. He doesn’t look like he’s up for this
Imagine that? Imagine your $8 Million/year goalie getting yanked in a Game 7? That would have been disastrous.
It wasn’t just Rask though as Boston was sloppy all night long. Whether it was fatigue or injuries piling up, they just could not clear the puck out of their own zone and they were turning it over in the offensive zone constantly.
Luckily the Bruins were shot out of a rocket in the third period scoring FOUR unanswered goals (including an empty netter) all but removing the necessity for great goaltending.
We also got this laugh out loud interview with Matt Grzelyck after the game. Keep in mind that NESN cut to this on-ice interview like 20 mins after the game ended so its not like it was live.
Its 2018. I can talk, text, tweet, and stream the Bruins on my iPhone, but DirecTv can’t figure out how to not completely crumble every time the doppler radar gets a little spotty.
Now we move onto the second round where the Bruins will take on an even tougher opponent in the Tampa Bay Lightning. Awesome. If the Bruins play the way they played in Games 3-7, they’re going to get their teeth kicked in. If they play more like they did in Games 1-2 then they’re in business. Tampa finished as the No. 1 seed in the East with 113 points, winning 54 games, and they have an absolutely stacked roster. BUT the Bruins need to remember they went 3-1 against that team this year. As good as Tampa has been, the Bruins have had their number in the regular season. Now they just have to translate that to the postseason. See ya Saturday for Game 1.
The Celtics remained undefeated at home this postseason by taking a near must-win game 92-87 over the Bucks last night. The C’s led by as many as 16 at one point, but the Bucks crawled back into it to make it a game down the stretch. Al Horford had arguably his best game as a member of the Celtics too with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Horford doing everything he can to bury that Average Al nickname.
The story of the day though was the return of Marcus Smart. It came out Tuesday morning that Smart had been physically cleared to play, but it would “be up to him” and how he felt at shootaround before the C’s would announce anything official. So ya there was no way Smart was missing Game 5.
It was Smart’s first game back since getting surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb in mid-March. He didn’t waste any time stirring up some shit either as he literally bumped two Bucks walking onto the court. He was a terror all night long.
This dude was everywhere last night with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and THREE blocks. He was routinely blocking the 6’11” Giannis Antetokounmpo for christ’s sake.
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) April 25, 2018
He does still takes shots he has no business taking, but its stunning how much tougher and nastier this Celtics team is with Marcus Smart back on the floor.
If theres one play that completely summarizes Marcus Smart’s career its this one. He runs into a bad play, loses the ball, falls down, rips the ball back, and somehow finds the open man from his back. #Celtics#Bucks#NBA#NBAPlayoffspic.twitter.com/ewiOnPzS1c
This was a different team on Tuesday, plain and simple. Of course being back on their home court helps, but Smart gave this team another gear that we haven’t seen in a long time. We even saw Shane Larkin picking Giannis’ pocket for a fast break layup, although Giannis’ was chasing him down like a heat seeking missile.
To top it all off Mike Gorman legit had me dying laughing with his “completely unfazed, but totally over it” description of yet another Marcus Morris circus shot.
“Celtics with a fresh clock…and Morris shoots it anyways.”
I think I might have to slap that on a T-shirt for the stretch run right?
The Celtics will look to close it out in Game 6 on Thursday night in Milwaukee, but they have yet to win on the road in this series. So I wouldn’t be too surprised to see this go seven, but I’d really rather not find out what The Greek Freak Game 7 mode looks like.
It looks like the best Marvel villain not named Magneto is finally getting the treatment it deserves and I am all sorts of jacked up about it. I am declaring myself ALL IN, six months before it even comes out.
As a comic book nerd I am still angry about the absolute disaster Spider-Man 3 was with Eric Forman as Venom.
Don’t get me wrong, I love That 70s Show. Its a highly underrated sitcom, but holy hell who thought casting this guy:
to play the psychotic badass villain Venom was a good idea? The character that Wikipedia describes as:
“According to S.H.I.E.L.D., [Venom] is considered one of the greatest threats to humanity, alongside Magneto, Doctor Doom, and Red Skull…Venom was ranked as the 22nd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time in IGN’s list of the top 100 comic villains.”
I could handle Tobey Maguire as Spidey, but Topher Grace as Venom was just a bad fit from Day 1. But I digress.
When Tom Hardy was announced as the star in Sony’s latest take on the symbiote my nerdgasm could be seen from space. You knew Hardy would nail the darker, grittier tone that Sony was going for, but then rumors started coming out that you might not even see the Venom suit in the movie. Coupled with an ambiguous and underwhelming teaser trailer and I was a little nervous. But then this shit leaked last night:
My goodness. This isn’t Captain America where you had Chris Evans pack on some muscle and put him in the right costume or even the Hulk, which you can just CGI the shit out of. This was going to take some serious work to get it right, as we saw in previous iterations just how wrong it can go.
And they absolutely NAILED it.
October 5th cannot come soon enough. Full trailer below.
The 300s 