Tom Brady statue, the Vrabel bump, Drake Maye doubts, faulty sports fan memories, good basketball and declining interest, wild hockey and the biggest swing one way or the other in sports

Friday 6/13/25

The Patriots have announced the day their Tom Brady statue will be revealed at Gillette. I didn't know there was a Tom Brady statue. I think it's unwise to do this now. It's something that could happen later. The organization spends too much time and energy and focus looking back.

I've been following the reports from spring workouts out in Foxborough. Mike Vrabel sounds like a coach. I want to say that people will look back someday and be blown away that Jerod Mayo was ever hired to be the Patriots' head coach, let alone to follow Belichick, and after having been promised the job based on nothing but his obsequity, but people can't remember or think about what happened a half hour ago and I can't envision them thinking about NFL history from ten, fifteen, thirty years ago, especially the way the world is now and how it gets worse every day.

I think the Patriots could have a season like they did in 2021. That is, kind of seem to be good, but not actually be good. There will be a "Vrabel bump" that will last probably a year.

I am much less sold on Drake Maye than just about everyone else. I don't know that he's going to be good and I have doubts and reservations. Most people take it for granted that he's a surefire star. For starters, I don't think he's very bright. I question how well someone who isn't bright can lead. He turns the ball over a lot. He doesn't win. Last year, he had games he could have won and he found ways to lose them. I think he's entitled and sheltered. His family is involved in his interactions with the team. This family has demands. They stick their collective noses into team workings. Kids who come from families like that usually aren't winners. He was sufficiently threatened--and his family, too--that he and they basically forced the Patriots to trade Joe Milton for no return so he could be comfortable and essentially feel "safe." No competition. I'm not saying he won't be good. I think it's more likely, though, that he won't be this franchise quarterback for the next ten years.

The Red Sox take a couple series in a row and Red Sox fans have them back in the playoffs. "Yeah, then when we get Bregman back..." Take this weekend's series against the Yankees at Fenway and the World Series talk will be on again.

Jarren Duran doesn't seem like he's having much of a year, but he's in the top ten in a bunch of categories. One reason is because he plays every day--rarely is he given an off-day--and hits lead-off--so, more at-bats--and because he doesn't walk. It's odd to me when people make a big deal about total bases (well, it's not odd--if you give people one piece of information, they can't think beyond that one piece of information; that is, they see someone is ten in the league in total bases and they think "That good!" because they can't also think, "Well, he has more plate appearances and therefore opportunity because his plate discipline is poor..."), because that's impacted by how much you walk. Duran would be a much better offensive player if he had more plate discipline. He doesn't hit lefties well, strikes out often, and walks seldomly. His power is down this year as well. But, he's a player who could hit ten home runs this summer and then add on in September and get close-ish to where he finished last year.

How about those Pacers! Two wins to go! I think the Pacers would be such a cool champion, like the 1976-77 Trailblazers or the 1978-79 Supersonics. I'm uncertain what comes next in this series. I expected more from OKC. The Pacers really had their crowd behind them the other night. Felt a bit like some of those home court advantages in the 1980s.

People aren't watching this series, though. It's just basketball. People, being what they now are, need all of the extra BS and the household name stars who are also stars off the court and all of that insipidity because they can't appreciate something for what it is. They need the superfluousness. The empty calories. They can't pronounce the name of OKC's best player--or remember it--and the Pacers strike people as just a team. I just want good basketball. And not a million three-point attempts.

Regarding the nonexistent memory skills of sports fans: A team is bad. The team isn't going anywhere. Or a team is getting soundly beaten. Then, a star player gets hurt. The team continues to be bad or soundly beaten. Within a day, fans will blame the team being bad or beaten on the loss of the good player. Later, they'll say, "Yeah, that's why we weren't good last year" and "Yeah, that's why we got knocked out in the second round." Red Sox fans do this with Bregman. Celtics fans do it with Tatum. The Sox weren't a good team before Bregman went down and the Celtics were losing that series to the Knicks with or without Tatum. They were down like nine with three minutes to go and about to be trailing in the series 3-1 when he got injured.

I wrote the other day that most overtime goals in the NHL playoffs aren't fluky, and then last night a pass goes off a defender and into the net. Well, what of it? The same exact play could have happened three minutes into the first period. Wasn't a result of fatigue or anything. It's just the nature of the game. I'd also written that there is no more influential period--potentially--of any hockey series than when a series that is 2-1 goes into OT in Game 4, and that's what we got last night. Who do the Oilers play in goal in Game 5? I think you put Skinner on the bench. If the Panthers don't win this series, last night's game will be the one they look back on for the rest of their lives. Up 3-0 in the first, and you lose. Rough. Good series, though.