Win or lose, Red Sox get more kudos via Netflix
Netflix is tracking the Boston Red Sox’s season, on and off the field, for a 2025 docuseries. It’s another case of media portraying the Saux as so special and apart from other big-league clubs and fan bases — even when they’re losers — that the nation just can’t wait to lap them up. It’s like the way ESPN goes heavy on Yankees-Red Sox games all season, even when Boston is in last place.
Dunkin’ Youngkin: This week’s story about Eric Acra’s 300th career basketball victory at Norfolk Academy — congrats, coach — noted that one of his teammates at Academy in the ’80s was Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who averaged 25.8 points. That’s a lot of scoring from a guy who can’t go to his left.
Thumbs down: I don’t know about you, but I was never in the mood to help the owner of the Capitals and Wizards build on his fortune in Alexandria with our tax money. It’s reported that Youngkin’s vanity project is dead. Can’t be dead enough.
Joshing: I suppose there’s nothing for Taylor Swift to do now but return to relative obscurity.
Blunder: A third-quarter punt bounced off the foot of a 49ers player, setting up a 16-yard Kansas City touchdown pass, the Chiefs’ only TD in regulation. Are we sure that this wasn’t the defining moment of Super Bowl LVIII?
Fields of dreams: For the Steelers, the good news is that Mike Tomlin likes Bears quarterback Justin Fields; the bad news is that Tomlin likes Justin Fields.
Relentless: The NFL season never ends; it just switches gears. Next up are the mock drafts and the always riveting discussions over quarterback hand sizes.
Shuffling sneakers: Watching college basketball on TV,
I’m seeing more than the usual amount of traveling going uncalled by officials. That’s one way of getting collegians ready for the NBA.
Hoop du jour: The best part of any hotly contested basketball game should be the final minute or two. Instead, the drama is too often dampened by those scintillating replay reviews.
IMHO: Dan Hurley of No. 1-ranked UConn just may be the nation’s best college basketball coach.
Fade rout: North Carolina, loser of three of its past five games, still has tough road games with Virginia and Duke.
Future watch: Good, if obvious, move by the ACC to prevent the bottom three teams in the expanded 18-school league from competing in the conference tournaments starting next year. Thinning the herd, as it were.
Resurfacing: While some of us weren’t paying attention (does anybody pay attention to basketball in February?), the Cleveland Cavaliers turned into the NBA’s hottest team.
Off night: The Celtics beat the Nets by 50 points Wednesday. A wild guess, but it doesn’t appear Brooklyn left it all on the floor.
Options: Though Caitlin Clark can leave Iowa this year as the all-time women’s college basketball scorer, perhaps she’d retain more of her national visibility by returning to school for a fifth season rather than playing summer ball in the WNBA. She’ll likely go pro, but it’s something she might be thinking about.