Everyday EvanThe most impressive thing Patriots coach Bill Belichick has done, vis a vis quarterback Tom Brady, is sticking with him in the early days. Brady replaced the injured Drew Bledsoe in 2001 and remained the starter when Bledsoe recovered. Granted, Belichick was covered by Brady going on to win the Super Bowl.But the decision to […]
37 thoughts from the past year
Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes, but practice isn’t what I thought when I was younger. I believed band practice was a series of smoke breaks, interrupted by a song or two. When I was a kid, I always missed baseball and soccer practice because I thought: what’s the point? Instead, practice is the […]
Bullpen construction is a psychological hierarchy. We need a lefty? We’ll look at the numbers? Hardly. It’s all about people and roles. The closer is the fulcrum upon which the entire ‘pen rests. Without a closer, the mental state of every reliever is in flux. What is my role, he asks? The closer sets the […]
The season is over. Expectations are dashed. Fans are angry. What’s next? Expectations are a funny thing. What makes a successful season? Does it always have to end in a championship? If that’s the case, almost every outcome is a failure. If a team is a championship contender, it’s likely good enough to make a […]
The NFL Draft is my favorite sports-related event. I used to put together my very own draft board, filled with players I felt the Patriots should select. I DON’T do this anymore, but I’m still fascinated by the process. To some degree, the draft is just a numbers game. The results are almost so random […]
As I write this, the defending World Series champion Red Sox are 10-15, and in fourth place in the AL East. The Washington Capitals, defending Stanley Cup champions, just got knocked out of the playoffs. Why is it so hard to repeat success? Is it a mindset? The lack of momentum? A deterioration of skills? […]
Kevin Durant to the Warriors has worked out, no? To revisit what I said last year: In fact, we should all strive to join a championship crew. If you’re a superstar, why not have a superstar supporting cast? Time is essential, so why waste your career and your life waiting for a bumbling GM or […]
This is an obvious sentiment, but teams and fans get too caught up in narratives and biases and junk. If you can get a young superstar, you do it. Which is why I’m completely on board with the Celtics getting (maybe?) Kyrie Irving. What is a superstar, exactly? It’s so hard to quantify that multi-billion […]
Are you bored? More often I find myself getting something to do while watching a game. Something to read. Messing around on my phone. Anything that fills the gaps. Is it odd to need to be entertained while watching something that’s supposed to be entertaining? I’m always shocked at how much down time there is […]