Tag: NBC Sports

Billy Beane is Reportedly Finally Coming to Work at Fenway…to Build John Henry’s Soccer Empire

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NBCSports – Per reports in the Wall Street Journal and Axios, Henry’s Fenway Sports Group — which includes not only the Red Sox, but Liverpool, Roush Racing, and stakes in other sports ventures — is negotiating to sell a stake of 20-25 percent to Redball Acquisition Corp., which Beane co-chairs. That portion of the club would then be taken public.

The shocking part is Beane’s reported role. Because he cannot maintain financial relationships with two MLB teams — he retains a small ownership stake in the A’s while continuing to oversee their baseball operations — he’d have to leave Oakland. But his plan isn’t to join Boston’s front office. Instead, he would reportedly help marshal FSG’s ventures in European soccer, where he’s already a minority owner of a Dutch team.

I’ll be honest, this is not how I expected John Henry to finally get his guy, but it seems like Billy Beane may be finally coming to work at Fenway…Sports Group. You can read the financial details at Axios, which help explain the nature of the deal better, but essentially Beane’s company Redball Acquisition is looking to buy a stake in FSG so he would be more of a partner or a chairman rather than an employee of Henry’s. Beane has been quietly building a sports empire since Michael Lewis profiled him and the A’s in the era defining Moneyball. Beane currently chairs the Redball company, has an ownership stake in the A’s along with his role running baseball ops, and even bought a Dutch soccer team so he’s not exactly looking to make a lateral move to be the GM of the Red Sox.

John Henry has lusted after Billy Beane for nearly 20 years. So much so that there was an entire scene devoted to it in the Moneyball movie where Henry is trying to lure him away from Oakland to join the Red Sox and become the highest paid GM in the league.

“Anybody who’s not tearing their team down right now and rebuilding it using your model? They’re dinosaurs.”

Now this could be disheartening to Red Sox fans, especially those of us who read Moneyball and have always daydreamed of Beane using his model and John Henry’s money to turn the Sox into the consistent behemoth they could be. But, it seems like that ship has sailed as Beane has his sights set on bigger fish. As does John Henry who, at least in the court of public opinion, seems to be drifting further and further from the Sox being his top priority. In case you’ve lost track, Henry now owns the Red Sox, Liverpool, Roush Fenway Racing, and The Boston Globe. Whether that has any real tangible effect on the day to day success of the Sox is debatable, but for a city as provincial as Boston this could actually anger a lot of fans.

What do you mean you’re bringing in the most famous brain in baseball to manage your SOCCAH TEAM??

He’s looking for Billy Beane to unleash Moneyball on the English Premier League and build Liverpool into a juggernaut.

I get it. John Henry is a guy who literally made his fortune by understanding market inequities in finance and trading “with the explicit intention of precluding not only human emotion, but also any subjective evaluation of factors outside of price behavior.” Sound familiar? He buys a couple of baseball teams (Henry owned the Marlins from 99-02) and then in the early 2000s emerges Billy Beane, a baseball GM that unlike anyone before him starts using data, analytics, and economics to build a baseball team with an AJ Wright level budget. Of course Henry was smitten. This was like a kindred spirit for him in the game of baseball. So he’s tried to lure Beane away for years with gigantic contracts, but Beane always opted to stay in Oakland. Henry even tried to snag Beane once again in 2019 before they hired Chaim Bloom.

Billy Beane has been John Henry’s white whale for nearly 20 years.

Until now.

Joe Kelly Picked His Top 5 Teammates for a Fight Club. Who Ya Got?

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NBC Sports – To celebrate the second anniversary of the brawl, WEEI’s Rob Bradford chatted with Kelly on the Bradfo Sho podcast and asked the Los Angeles Dodgers hurler to name five current and former teammates he’d want in his Fight Club.

Yadier Molina, Mitch Moreland, Austin Barnes, David Freese, and Chris Sale were his picks.

Joe Kelly will always be remembered fondly for his dominant 2013 postseason, but the man will never be forgotten for instigating a brawl and laying the smackdown on Yankees slugger scrub Tyler Austin. Kelly recently drafted his Top 5 for a Fight Club and it got the wheels spinning in my head. To keep this from spiraling into a 10,000 word think piece I kept my Top 5 to former Red Sox players. So anyone thats played so much as an inning for the Sox was available to draft for my Fight Club.

Adrian Beltre

No. 1 out of the gate for me is hands down Adrian Beltre because that man is a psycho. And not in the way that your skinny friend who wears polo hats says he’s a psycho. No, Beltre is unhinged. Just let someone touch his head and watch the carnage ensue.

Gabe Kapler

My No. 2 is 2004 Gabe Kapler because that man was a walking muscle who happened to play baseball. Remember how he maimed the Yankees Tanyon Sturtze? Sturtze’s pride may have never recovered from that.

Jason Varitek

Tek is a former Georgia Tech linebacker and he straight up bullied one of the greatest athletes of my generation in A-Rod so yea I’m taking the goatee as my No. 3.

Jonathan Papelbon

Every Fight Club needs a wild card and Jonathan Papelbon is that crazy sonofabitch.

Besides being a nutcase from the deep south, this was a guy who relished a fight, even if it was with his own teammate. Hell remember that time he almost ended Bryce Harper just because Harper wasn’t hustling?

Alfredo Aceves

This man may be in jail for all I know, but Aces always kind of frightened me and I only watched him on TV. Larry Walker once compared the guy to Satan for christ’s sake. Imagine this loose cannon hurling fastballs under your chin? This man got into a legitimate brawl during a Canada-Mexico matchup in the WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC so you know he’s just itching for a reason.

Game. Seven. This Bruins Maple Leafs Series Has Taken Years Off My Life and It All Comes Down to Tonight

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Game 7. It all comes down to tonight and my anxiety is peaking because this game is going to be a battle. Before the series started I had Bruins in 7 so I’m sticking to my guns, but it is problematic that the B’s have only played well in even numbered games. Seriously, they looked excellent in Games 2, 4, and 6 and then looked like an old, slow, shell of themselves in Games 1, 3, and 5. So with 7 being an odd number I am a little worried, but all superstitions aside with the Bruins having home ice for the winner take all game I feel like they’ll pull this one out. That or I’ll take a long, angry walk in the rain later tonight.

Lets take a look at some of the keys to the series and in particular tonight’s game.

Auston Matthews Has Risen

Look we all know how good Auston Matthews is with the puck as he’s had 37, 34, and 40 goals in each of the last three seasons. With that being said though, he hasn’t always been a stud in the playoffs, especially last season when he had 1 goal and 1 assist in 7 games against the Bruins before getting bounced. It looked like it was going to be more of the same this series, but the kid has gone from getting dumped on for his ghost presence in Games 1-2 to scoring 5 goals in the last four games. This kid terrifies me.

Is Tuukka Rask Going to Show Up?

Is he stealing games? Should he be DFA’d right now with Halak getting the Game 7 start? Read and listen to sports talk at your own risk because as a rational person you know the answer is somewhere in the middle, but the middle doesn’t drive clicks like a massive overreaction does. He’s been pretty up and down, but I think for the most part he’s giving the Bruins a shot to win each night. He’s 3-3 with a .921 save percentage in the playoffs, which is good for 6th in the NHL Playoffs, one slot behind….you guessed it…Frederick Andersen. He’s also 6th in Goals Against Avg at 2.54 per game. Is that a ringing endorsement of a former Vezina winner? Not exactly, but if he can keep the B’s in the game then thats all they need.

Discussions From the Cheap Seats

If NBC Sports gives us the cheap seats camera angle again I will blow a gasket.

Bergeron-Marchand-Pastrnak

These three need to be THE guys like they were all year long. Frequently referred to as the best line in hockey, Bruce Cassidy has opted to spread the wealth and move Pasta down to the second line. Thats all fine and well, but these guys have not exactly looked like themselves for much of the series.

Marchand has heated up and now has 4 goals and 5 assists in the series, but for too many stretches of time these three have been taken out of the game. I don’t know whats going on with Pasta specifically because in Game 2 he was laying the wood on guys and in Game 4 he scored 2 goals, but other times I forget he’s even on the ice. Those are his only two goals in the entire series actually, and one of them came on a mental breakdown from Toronto.

Torey Krug…

…needs to get his shit together. The guy is a beast on the powerplay and finished the year Top 5 in points for the B’s so they clearly need him, but he’s been a liability on defense at times this series. On two plays late in Game 6 Krug badly misplayed dumped pucks and pucks off the side board before getting easily beat to the play only to barely get bailed out by his teammates. I don’t need Krug to be a 2011-level shutdown defender like Zdeno Chara, but just keep the puck in front of you please.

David Krejci is Looking Like His Old Self

Krejci seems like an old man because he’s been on the Bruins for 13 seasons, but he’s really only 32. The main difference with him is that he’s finally healthy and he’s looking like his old self, especially when paired with young guys like DeBrusk (which we’ll get to in a moment). Krejci is fourth on the Bruins in playoff points, but he is dishing the puck like vintage Krejci lately.

If you remember, any time the Bruins make a run for the Cup it’s been in large part due to David Krejci. In 2010-11 he had 23 points in 25 games and the B’s won the Stanley Cup. In 2012-13 when they lost to Chicago he had 26 points in 22 games. So if Krejci is looking like his old self then the Bruins suddenly have a huge boost to their depth and secondary scoring.

Jake DeBrusk Has Evolved Before Our Eyes

This kid has been lights out for most of the series. He’s been a physical presence and before his suspension was drawing the ire of infamous dirtbag Nazem Kadri.

He’s only got 2 points in the series, but seems to always be buzzing around the puck as his ice time is up a full minute from last year’s playoffs to 15:54 per night.

Betting Line

If you’re feeling frisky and want to bet some hard earned Schrute Bucks on Game 7, as if these games weren’t stress inducing enough, well here are the odds for tonight’s matchup.

Heading into Game 7 with the Leafs, the Bruins’ Stanley Cup odds assessed from sportsbooks here are as long as +1000 (10/1). The Bruins would have to have a roughly 55% chance, on average, to win each of their remaining series, including Game 7 vs Toronto. That’s pretty high for something as unpredictable as the NHL playoffs (just ask Tampa Bay), but Boston would have home-ice against 10 of the 11 teams remaining. With their 29-9-3 home-ice record, theres a pretty strong argument that +1000 is a good price at this point.

Godspeed to everyone heading to the Garden tonight and for everyone watching at home just make sure you have all your adult beverages in plastic cups to avoid any destroyed property.

The Bruins Just Dropped the Best Team in the NHL and Now Have a 15 Game Points Streak

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I’m in. This team is legit, I am convinced.

Bruins v Lightning is always a heavyweight bout, especially with the Lightning already over 100 points on the year and its not even March. Thats insane! The Bruins were literally 19 points behind the Lightning in the standings heading into Thursday night. It was the first time two teams with point streaks of at least 14 games had faced off in NHL history. And the Bruins took Tampa Bay behind the shed and beat them with a garden hose, 4-1.

Granted, Tampa was coming off of 3 straight OT games and was playing back to backs, but hey a win is a win and that was a statement win.

“If it wasn’t for Louis Domingue I think this game could have been 9 or 10-1,” Jeremy Roenick said on the NBC Sports postgame.

They’ve been rolling lately, but after Wednesday nights W filled with clutch goals, hard hits, and Zdeno Chara ass beatings

and Thursday’s dismantling of the best team in the NHL

I am all in.

The Bruins showed up in a big moment once again and looked excellent all night, yet only lead 1-0 after the first 2 and a half periods. Domingue was standing on his damn head once again, but after a Noel Acciari goal the flood gates opened. The Bruins scored 3 goals in 1:28 seconds to open up a 4-0 lead and Domingue proceeded to lose his shit on national TV.

It’s only one game, but the Bruins showed Thursday night that they absolutely can play with the best of the best.

Time Lord Robert Williams Doesn’t Know What Day It is Because Time is Just a Social Construct

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Yahoo –  Boston Celtics rookie Robert Williams, sidelined the past five games with a groin injury, offered a refreshingly honest admission about the early days of NBA life.

“This might sound funny but I literally don’t know the days of the week,” Williams said after practice on (take note, Rob!) Sunday. “I promise, I couldn’t tell you what today is. I forget the days of the week. And with the traveling, mix up the hotel room numbers from the previous [night] – it’s a lot man. It’s a lot. It’s worth it though.”

Williams isn’t revealing anything that most rookies haven’t already experienced. The grind of NBA life, particularly with the heavy travel, makes it tough to keep the calendar straight. But in admitting it, Williams probably only strengthened the chances that his “Time Lord” nickname will stick.

Robert Williams doesn’t live in the same timeline of reality as normal human beings like you and me so he doesn’t know, nor need, the days of the week. Thats just how a Time Lord operates. So to that I say, forget these social constructs like “Monday” and just go out there and block some shots into the rafters, Robert.

Now go buy a Time Lord shirt!

Or better yet, a Time Lord clock…

The Robert Williams Time Lord T-Shirts Are Here and They Are Fantastic

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Update: Buy Time Lord shirts here!

So Robert Williams is finally starting to get some burn off the bench with Al Horford out and he has ran with that opportunity. The Time Lord has been rewarding Mattes and I for all the hype pieces we wrote before he even clocked into an NBA game. So we decided now was the perfect time for Bob to get his own shirt. Robert Williams’ time is now. The Time Lord shirts are here and we’ll be taking pre-orders on them starting today!

Here’s the backstory on the Time Lord nickname via MassLive if you aren’t constantly on Celtics Twitter:

“The Celtics, of course, selected Williams at No. 27. When Williams was late for a conference call and absent for the team’s first Summer League practice, the media reaction was intense.

“I’m irony poisoned, but to me it was hilarious,” Hebert said. “Manny Ramirez is the first athlete I loved and it was very Manny. And like, local writers and talk-radio people overreacted, and the whole point of Weird Celtics Twitter is to make fun of them and media in general being too uptight. …

So (we) started joking that he wasn’t late, he was operating on a different timeline concurrent to the one we are in, as evidenced by the fact that I knew he was a Celtic two years before he was a Celtic. And we would do it with people taking themselves really seriously and they’d get very mad at us for thinking they were too uptight. So from there he became a T I M E L O R D, like the characters in Doctor Who whose time travel can tie together terrible holes in the plot of a shoddy script.”

Tom Brady Has Put Everyone’s Brain in a Pretzel This Week

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NBCSports – Somebody needs to tug on Tom Brady’s sleeve and let him know that fun’s fun, but he’s drifting into Brett Favre territory now. Forty-eight hours hadn’t passed since the Oprah Orchard Interview in which Brady said his retirement was coming “sooner rather than later” and there he was on Instagram Tuesday afternoon insinuating in Spanish that he’s back to playing until he’s 45. Given that he’s 40 right now and his contract expires at the end of the 2019 season, 45 seems like later not sooner. That’s standard fare this offseason.

Tom E. Curran wrote an article yesterday about Tom Brady’s back and forth retirement timeline plans thats definitely worth the read. Curran is as tied into the Brady family as anyone so when he writes about Brady I pay attention.

It’s definitely frustrating to not know when exactly Brady will ultimately play until, but thats the cross you bear for having a 40-year-old quarterback, who just won the MVP by the way, leading your team. I’m sure 99% of the NFL would swap places with Patriots fans right now.

The waffling and the mind games are what will drive people up a wall though. Saying ad nauseum that he’s playing until his mid-forties or beyond, only to tell Oprah that he’s going to hang em up “sooner rather than later” only to then cryptically comment “45” in Spanish on an ESPN post on Instagram.

The Brett Favre comparisons will only grow louder unless Brady makes a definitive public statement declaring his intentions one way or the other, but why would he? It’s frustrating, but I get it. If my job asked me to commit to 3-4 more years I would give them a big shrug emoji.

Did Brady likely bitch and moan to the owner to get his heir apparent in Jimmy Garoppolo shipped out of town? All signs point to yes, but its not Tom’s job to make sure the Patriots are set up for 2024. That’s on Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick.

Listen, if Brady up and retires tomorrow it is a massive dick move and is a complete about face from everything he’s preached for the last few years. That would be unforgivable after he basically forced Kraft to ship Jimmy G out of town….but fans would forgive him sooner rather than later. Sure, Bill may never talk to him again outside of Hall of Fame inductions and such, but its become pretty clear over the past several months that these guys aren’t exactly ripping it up together on the VII Rings in Nantucket.

Back to Curran’s larger point here though. Brady joked after the Super Bowl when asked about retirement “Why does everyone want me to retire?” Thats just it. Everyone, outside of New England at least, does want him to retire. The rest of the league has just been counting down the seconds on the imaginary doomsday clock thats been ticking, and ticking, and ticking since the day the Pats drafted Garoppolo and we all became aware of “Tom’s age and contract situation.” So yea no kidding everyone wants to know when Brady is retiring. So they can start planning to maybe possibly be competitive or even potentially win an AFC East title for the first time in nearly 20 years.

“does he not get that his and the Patriots stranglehold on the NFL isn’t like Jordan’s on the NBA. It’s closer to Godzilla’s on Japan, and that every other NFL team and fanbase is counting the seconds until he walks.

That’s why every throat-clearing, every pause, every social media “like” is scrutinized for clues as to which way he’s ultimately leaning.”

The end is coming. I don’t know when, but we’re not quite there yet. They may have announced last call at the bar, but they haven’t turned the lights on just yet. So until then lets just enjoy the ride.

The Top 5 Moments from the 2008 Boston Celtics Documentary, Anything is Possible

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If you’d rather listen to The 300s than read it, just subscribe to The 300s Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, RadioPublic, or Anchor!

NBC Sports Boston has been teasing a documentary called Anything is Possible about the 2008 Boston Celtics and their championship season for months so I was pretty fired up for this 2 hour bonanza.

It was written and produced by Jim Aberdale and features interviews with players from the team including Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Leon Powe, James Posey, Brian Scalabrine, PJ Brown, Sam Cassell, assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, and of course head coach Doc Rivers.

Thats aaaaalmost the entire roster, with two faces noticeably missing.

Unsurprisingly Ray Allen declined to be interviewed for this documentary, which was to be expected considering all his public drama with his former teammates. I was surprised however to see that Kevin Garnett declined to be interviewed for the doc as well. Theres more than enough clips over the years of KG to piece together some great interviews, but it would have been great to hear his take on everything today. I know he has plenty of tv work of his own with KG’s Area 21, but I can only assume he just wanted to avoid anymore questions about Ray Allen.

With all that being said, lets get into the Top 5 Moments from Anything is Possible:

1. The Kevin Garnett Arm Wrestling Story

Every Celtics fan knows how tapped Kevin Garnett is and how he would do almost anything to win. It turns out that isn’t reserved for just basketball. The team plane was full of competition whether it was dice, cards, or in this case arm wrestling and to hear Kendrick Perkins set the scene is a laugh out loud moment..

KG was challenging the entire team and even ended up beating Big Baby by sheer force of will, which is impressive considering Big Baby is listed at 289 pounds. Doc Rivers even called it the most athletic thing hes ever seen. KG tops it all off with a classic Garnett moment, screaming I’m the Alpha Male in this bitch. This guy is the most competitive person in the history of the world and I don’t think thats an exaggeration

2. Paul Pierce Recruiting PJ Brown on the Streets of New Orleans

A key role player on the 2008 Celtics, PJ Brown tells the story of how he came out of retirement to play for the C’s. Brown describes walking down the streets of New Orleans during All Star weekend and Paul Pierce’s car happens to spot him, pull up, and roll down the window. Pierce, having had a few cocktails gushes to Brown how the C’s could use him, but PJ writes it off as Paul just having a good time. Then Ray Allen sees Brown the next day and reiterates the Celtics interest in him joining the team. Pierce brings it up to Danny Ainge who signs Brown almost immediately

3. Big Baby Davis Being High as a Kite

Big Baby is clearly enjoying his time reminiscing over the 2008 Celtics and it is a sight to watch.

4. Kendrick Perkins’ Reaction to the Celtics Getting Ray Allen

Perk is the highlight of the entire documentary, especially this line describing his reaction to one of the biggest Celtics moves before the 08 season, saying

“I didn’t know what to think when we got Ray Allen, I just knew we got Jesus Shuttlesworth.” – Kendrick Perkins

5. Doc Rivers Response to Phil Jackson Mispronouncing Leon Powe’s Name

After a big game by Powe in the NBA Finals Phil Jackson complained in his press conference that Leon POW got more free throws than anyone on the Lakers. Michael Holley points out that if your getting in the zen masters head, you know you had the Lakers on the rope. Powe himself laughed it off saying he knew it was mind games by the LA coach, but the best reaction was from Celtics coach Doc Rivers: “I told our coaches I wanted to beat his ass.”

Thats it, the Top 5 moments from the Anything is Possible documentary, but don’t take my word for it. Go watch it right now, because that is two hours well worth your time.

https://anchor.fm/the300s/embed

New and Improved Golf Channel to Feature NHL Playoffs!

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In one of the most absurd sports media moves since the Outdoor Life Network acquired the cable broadcast rights to the National (Indoor) Hockey League in 2005, two NHL playoff games will be broadcast on Golf Channel on April 18. A pair of Game 4’s – Lightning @ Devils and Ducks @ Sharks – will be broadcast on Golf Channel on the evening of Wednesday, April 18.

As ridiculous as it sounds, though, it’s probably not that bad of a move. Golf Channel is available in about 79 million households, compared to about 81 million households for NBCSN. Not a massive difference. Both networks trail well behind in household availability to the two other cable networks that will air some NHL playoff games, CNBC and US Network. CNBC is available in almost 94 million households and USA Network is available in 94.3 million households.

It sounds strange to say this but if you are an LA Kings fan living in Boston, you might be better off if the Kings game airs on USA Network instead of NBC’s main cable sports outlet, NBCSN. My grandmother has been getting USA Network since the first Bush administration in the early ’90s. It is doubtful that she gets NBCSN.

A lot of people like to poke fun at the NHL’s television situation, but that’s not the point of this blog. The move to put two games on Golf Channel is mildly amusing, but is likely more about attracting eyeballs to Golf Channel after the Masters rather than a comment on the NHL’s television ratings. It might appease more hockey fans if these games aired on the NHL Network instead of Golf Channel, but that would be far worse for the product. According to the most recent estimate I could find, the NHL Network was only available in about 37 million homes. Ask yourself how many MLB playoff games you’ve ever watched on MLB Network. I know my answer.  ZERO.

As a Bruins fan, I like seeing the B’s and Leafs on NBC in primetime Saturday night. I just worry about that game going to double overtime. If that game has to be finished on NBCSN to make way for a new episode of Saturday Night Live, then the NHL might have a real beef with its television partner.

Bruins Resign David Pastrnak for 6 Years and $40 Million

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NBC Sports – The Boston Bruins have finally found a way to get restricted free agent David Pastrnak under contract, according to TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger. Pastranak new contract is reportedly for six years and $40 million (annual average value of $6.67 million).

BOO YAH! I’m not gonna lie, I was getting increasingly worried the Bruins were going to fuck it up with yet another young stud player. We saw it with Phil Kessel, then Tyler Seguin and then most recently with Dougie Hamilton. With all the talk going around the past couple of weeks about how far apart the Bruins and Pasta’s camp were on negotiations its great to see this deal finally get done. And at a reasonable average annual value too. $40 million over 6 years works out to about $6.6 million per year, which makes him the fourth highest paid player on the Bruins, according to Spotrac, ahead of Brad Marchand, but still behind David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron and Tuukka Rask. That should make everyone happy.

I’m just glad Peter Chiarelli didn’t fuck up this team’s cap salary from the other side of the country after setting the market with the absolutely absurd Leon Draisaitl contract of 8 years at $8.5 million per year. The Bruins clearly weren’t approaching that type of money nor should they have. I love Pastrnak, I’m a proud owner of a No. 88 t-shirt jersey and I think he’s gonna be a superstar in this league. But 8 years at $8.5 mil for a 21-year-old with one breakout season is crazy talk. Glad the Bruins were able to meet in the middle though and get a deal done. After months of the Red Sox, Pats, and Celtics stealing headlines, finally some shine for the Bruins.

PS – That $40 mil should buy a LOT of new tattoos at Boston Barber and Tattoo Co.