Picked-up pieces while waiting for someone other than Tony Massarotti or Lou Merloni to mention the Red Sox on Boston sports radio . . .
▪ I am a realist. I don’t bay at the moon wishing folks under 50 still read printed newspapers. I know that our printed product is enjoyed primarily by people who remember Dwight Eisenhower, daily Mass, Suffolk Downs, and an age when everybody knew who was heavyweight champ of the world. For the most part, this is Major League Baseball’s audience in 2021.
But it still breaks my heart sometimes.
Last Sunday, after attending a memorial service for a family member, I drove my brother back toward home, listening to Joe Castiglione (another hardball geezer like myself) delivering play-by-play on the Red Sox very important Game 162 in Washington. It was in the middle innings and the Sox were trying to dig out of a 5-1 hole.
We decided we’d stop for a Mai Tai at Rice Valley, a great Chinese restaurant situated in Newtonville near the corner of Washington and Walnut streets. It’s not a sports bar, nor a young crowd. It’s friendly, clean, with great food, and a cozy dark lounge with one large television over the bar. I figured we could sit and watch a few innings, then get home for endless hours of Tom Brady pregame patter.
As I reached for the door to my favorite joint, I looked through the glass and saw a few customers sitting at the bar watching . . . Packers vs. Steelers.
It was crushing.
I turned and went home where I could watch the only Sunday afternoon game that mattered to me . . . the only game that would have mattered if this was 1967, or 1975, or even 2004. The baseball game. Not the Packers and Steelers.
In subsequent days, there were more buckets of cold water dumped on my big seamhead.
On Tuesday, the day of the one-game wild card playoff between the Red Sox and Yankees, I turned on Boston sports radio and heard hosts still debating about Bill Belichick’s decision to attempt a field goal rather than go for a first down in the final minute of Sunday night’s game of the century, when Brady returned to beat the Patriots. This was two days after that game! They went on for an hour, two hours, with little more than a mention that the Red Sox and Yankees were playing their first winner-take-all playoff game since 2004.
On Wednesday, ESPN crowed about the great television rating the Sox and Yanks got Tuesday night. The Worldwide Leader was very happy with its number. Swell. But ESPN’s big number was still 1 million less than a Thursday night dog of a football game between the Jaguars and the Bengals.
Overall, NFL viewership is up 17 percent this year. The league has had the top 21 rated shows since the start of the season.
The Sports Hub, Boston’s FM sports radio powerhouse, routinely mocks baseball and largely ignores the Sox, except for Massarotti’s short evening program during the season. 98.5 consistently dominates the ratings. It’s strictly business.
The soul-crushing reality for us baseball guys is that a Boston sports station is not rewarded for talking baseball. So they don’t do it. It’s far better for business to talk endlessly about a 1-3 football team that hasn’t won a playoff game in three years. That’s the reality, people.
▪ Quiz — The White Sox vs. Astros ALDS features 77-year old Tony LaRussa (Sox) matching wits with 72-year-old Dusty Baker. Name the oldest skipper to manage a World Series winner (answer below).
▪ Heartening to hear the Justice Department is reviewing its decision not to prosecute FBI agents who badly mishandled US Olympic gymnasts’ allegations that they were sexually assaulted by former national team doctor Larry Nassar. One of the agents conducted a lengthy interview with US medalist McKayla Maroney, in which Maroney disclosed Nassar’s monstrous conduct. According to Maroney’s sworn testimony, the agent asked, “Is that all?’’ after Maroney’s painful disclosures. FBI agents were slow to document the allegations, allowing Nassar to abuse as many as 70 more gymnasts before he was finally arrested.
▪ Disappointing that the 2021 Red Sox were so passive about delivering a message regarding the importance of vaccinations.
More than most teams, the Sox front office seems to be afraid of its high-priced ballplayers, ever careful not to offend. It’s weak. The Red Sox were the only one of 10 MLB postseason teams to not pass the 85 percent vax threshold.
▪ Curious that Bill Belichick stated, “I don’t think I’ve ever even talked to the guy,’’ when asked about Seth Wickersham’s excellent book, “It’s Better To Be Feared.’’ Wickersham has multiple recorded interviews with Belichick, at least two of which are 15 minutes or longer. Never talked to the guy?
▪ During Brady Week, when Belichick was asked, “Do you think you would have had the success that you have had if Tom Brady wasn’t your quarterback, Belichick answered, “Of course not.’’ Reminded me of a conversation with Red Auerbach. When I mention that Red never won anything without Russell, Auerbach blew a plume of cigar smoke and asked, “What’s your point?’’
▪ The most nauseating moment of the sports week came when the “Sunday Night Football” camera focused on Brady’s parents in a suite at Gillette and we saw ultimate sycophant Jim Gray massaging Ma Brady’s neck.
▪ While the NBA prepares to announce its top 75 players of all time to celebrate 75 years of league history, folks at USA Today did their own ranking and came up with this top 10: 1. Michael Jordan; 2. LeBron James; 3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; 4. Magic Johnson; 5. Wilt Chamberlain; 6. Bill Russell; 7. Kobe Bryant; 8. Larry Bird; 9. Tim Duncan; 10. Shaquille O’Neal. Six Lakers and only two Celtics. John Havlicek came in at 25.
▪ How many more times are we going to see Eduardo Rodriguez pitch in a Red Sox uniform?
▪ Boston to Brooklyn regarding Kyrie Irving: We told you so. He’s all yours.
▪ Does anybody else think of Zdeno Chara when they see Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent?
▪ Along those lines, how about Steve Belichick and Roland Schitt?
▪ John Sterling’s miss-call of Giancarlo Stanton’s non-home run at Fenway Tuesday is a classic. When Sterling realizes the ball is being relayed to the infield and that Stanton is on first base, the Yankees’ legendary announcer says, “What did I do wrong?’’ Reminded me of Vice Admiral James Stockdale in the 1992 vice presidential debate saying, “Who am I? Why am I here?’’
▪ Mike Milbury will be back on the air, talking hockey this season. Milbury is scheduled for a weekly call-in with WEEI’s Greg Hill (“Hockey Thursday”) and also a weekly WEEI hockey podcast.
▪ Giants safety Logan Ryan told the New York Post he plans to auction off the ball he intercepted on Tom Brady’s final pass as a Patriot. Ryan’s pick-6 sealed Tennessee’s playoff win at Gillette in January of 2020. Ryan, who won two Super Bowls with the Pats, said he spoke to Brady about his plan to use proceeds from the ball for his animal rescue foundation.
▪ Back page of the Post after the Red Sox spanked $324 million ace Gerrit Cole in Tuesday’s wild-card game: “GERRIT BLEEPING COLE”.
▪ You’ll be happy to know that Jackie Bradley Jr. and his .163 batting average (30 percent of his plate appearances were strikeouts) is on the Milwaukee Brewers postseason roster.
▪ Quiz answer: Jack McKeon, who spent some time at Holy Cross, was 72 when he won a World Series with the Marlins in 2003.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @dan_shaughnessy.
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