Thinking out loud … and wondering whatever happened to Craig James.
— For all of the angst over Tom Brady’s NFL suspension, most of it dissipated like squeezing air out of a balloon as Jimmy Garoppolo’s Arizona desert debut unfolded. Now I’m hearing fans say, “Trade Brady!” What is wrong with you people?
— I’ll pony up here: After watching Jimmy G. during camp this summer, it’s clear he’s learned while performing as TB12’s understudy. Plus, Josh McDaniels hasn’t given him anything he can’t handle — yet. He should do the same this week against Miami.
— Most impressive against the Cardinals was his ability to stand in the pocket. Haven’t really seen that yet from him, but the early returns are positive. And he still hasn’t played with Gronk opening up a defense for him.
— He could have handled TB12’s face staring over his shoulder from that banner at Gillette, too. Make no mistake about that. If you’re focused on a banner, then you aren’t focused on your job. Ridiculous. But a good call, nevertheless, by the Patriots for taking it down. We’re on to the next one.
— New England now is playing with house money. Did anyone really figure the Patriots would win at Arizona? You hoped, but you didn’t know. Anything short of 4-0 during the TB12-less portion of the schedule will be considered disappointing, right? Be careful with that one.
— Here’s something else to consider, and why I took the Patriots and the points they were getting at Arizona (for entertainment purposes, only) — despite most of Betting America heaping cash on the Cardinals: The Pats have had 57 percent success against the number (betting odds) since 2001. Put that in your spread sheet and smoke it, haters.
— You, too, Steve in Fall River.
— You’d think the Patriots, after last year’s limp to the finish line, they’d learn about injuries. Why does it seem they can’t keep key players healthy enough? They changed strength and conditioning coaches in the offseason. And still, they can’t keep offensive linemen — or Gronk — healthy enough to play. Yet.
— Not a fan of Devin McCourty and Martellus Bennett’s right-fisted salute at the end of the national anthem last Sunday. It drew attention to them, and away from the moment. I am a fan of their right to protest and their right to speak out against injustice, but feel they could have used a different occasion in which to present their views. Sept. 11 is solemn for everyone — a time to come together, not divide. I’m color-blind. Shouldn’t we all be?
— Not for nuthin’, but while we all seem to be happy football is back, NFL TV ratings across the country are down compared to recent opening weeks — by 11 percent. However, the Pats’ local rating is up. Could have had something to do with the Jimmy G. factor. What say you?
— Of the ex-Pats nominated this week for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2017, most likely to succeed: Willie McGinest, Ty Law, Rodney Harrison. In that order, largely because of McGinest being front and center as a contributor on NFL Network, Law’s talent and Harrison’s media exposure. Doesn’t make it right, except in Law’s case, but it’s just reality.
— Tedy Bruschi? Drew Bledsoe? We love them, but not yet. If ever.
— Doug Flutie? Fred Smerlas? Yes, they deserve to be there for the way they helped shape the game today. But I don’t think they have enough support. Hope I’m wrong.
— Have you asked yourself exactly why the Red Sox are leading the chase in the AL East? Yes, the bats can boom, but they do so at an alarmingly inconsistent rate. One game it’s 10 or more runs, the next it’s 10 or more runners left on base. Other than Porcello and David Price (of late), anyone reliable in the rotation right now?
— Our friend Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe pointed out an astounding fact this week: The Red Sox had seven starts of three innings or fewer in their first 141 games, and have now had three in their last five as of Friday. Whoa.
— And the bullpen? Please. Bull(bleep). Reliability is not thy middle name. Or first, or last.
— Everyone owes a great, big THANK YOU to Hanley Ramirez for Thursday night’s Yankee-killing bomb in the bottom of the ninth. Think radio voice John Sterling called it an “H-bomb from HanRam?” I believe he called it the “worst night of the season” for the Yankees.
— So how are the Sox doing this? It’s all about timing. The bats have battered opposing pitching generally when Boston pitching has needed the help. Good pitching has (sometimes) transpired when the offense snoozes. But not all of the time, of course. Some of it is the fact that the Jays and Orioles also are similarly flawed.
— And let’s throw the Yankees in there, too, while we’re at it. Despite the Thursday collapse, this may be Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi’s best piece of work in some time, with a currently competitive team. Can you name one of their starting, producing players off the top of your head? Yankees fans, you don’t count. Sanchez — and after that?
— Yoan Moncada, for all of his inability to hit a big league offspeed pitch right now, was named Minor League Player of the Year. Are you still glad he wasn’t a trade chip a couple of months ago?
— Ben Cherington has a new gig — vice president of baseball operations for the Toronto Blue Jays. Yup, he’s ready to stick it to the team and organization that let him go, don’t ya’ know.
— And upon further review of several of his notable personnel moves for which he was lambasted — and turned out pretty well (Rick Porcello, for one) — who else thinks he’s relishing the chance to tell Tom Werner and John Henry to put it where the sun don’t shine?
— So is it possible the Red Sox received damaged goods when they traded for Drew Pomeranz? San Diego GM A.J. Preller was suspended this week (for 30 days) by MLB because the team instructed its trainers to keep two sets of medical records — one for the Padres’ use, one for “industry consumption.” Uh-huh.
— Only 30 days for what amounts to deceptive trade practices? Or fraud? Sounds like the equivalent of a government pardon to me.
— My buddy Statbeast sez he was reluctant to have “the talk” recently with Statbeast Junior. You know, the birds and bees? Junior was assigned a paper on childbirth, so he asked “how was I born?” Statbeast told him, “The stork brought you to us.” Junior then followed up with, “So how were you and Mom born?” The Beast said, “The stork brought us, too.” “And grandma and grandpa?” “Buddy, the stork brought them, too.” Somewhat confused by this newly discovered information, Statbeast Junior still got an ‘A’ from his teacher by opening his report with, “This report has been difficult to write, because there hasn’t been a natural childbirth in my family for three generations.”
— Finally, the Big East basketball schedule was released from the deep, dark, dungeon-like recesses of the league offices in New York. The dungeon part is an exaggeration. I will say this, however: The anticipatory buildup was pretty well played. And the marketing idea for this year’s Big East Marathon on Martin Luther King Day — a changeup over the previous New Year’s Eve day event — is a good one.
— It’s all about getting your product front and center. Up now against the NFL and college football playoffs on (or around) New Year’s Eve, it’s the right move to make. Instant exposure, a feel-good event for a significant holiday on the calendar.
— What strikes you about the Friars’ schedule? No 9 p.m. home games is a great start, ICYMI. But opening up with back-to-back road games, for a young team, will be tough — at Xavier and at Butler to start the Big East season.
— At Georgetown and at Villanova back-to-back in January also is a tough task, but then again, what isn’t tough when it comes to conference play?
— Five league home games in February, when the students are back in school, will help this young team grow. The Friars can gain momentum for a late-season postseason push, although I’m not certain it will be of the four-letter variety (NCAA).
— But that’s the goal, and it should be every year. Four straight NCAA appearances would be a school record for the program, so consider that for a moment. It’s a playing-with-house-money year. Any postseason play is a positive.
— Speaking of the NCAA, it took awhile, but the move to strip North Carolina of tournament games because of the anti-LGBTQ legislation in place is a bold — and stunning — move. Especially for an organization that seems to shy away from common sense and reasonable thinking.
— Oh, and also for an organization that loves the almighty dollar, despite what it may say. Pulling games from hoop-mad Tobacco Road is akin to committing a great sin against the Carolina basketball gods in Chapel Hill and Durham.
— Frankly, I’m surprised the NCAA did it. A year after the Friars were force-fed a big dose of Carolina Blue in Raleigh, but hey, later is better than never.
— Could the Dunkin’ Donuts Center really be an option for the replacement games next March? Absolutely. And as our friend Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal pointed out this week, plans already are underway for a Dunk bid. Why not? We bang the building out.
— Maybe I’m not hip enough (I do have hip problems, however), but I had never heard of DJ Diesel. Until I found out his alias is Shaquille O’Neal — one of the newest members to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. And Shaq is scheduled to appear (and DJ for the students) at PC’s Late Night Madness on Oct. 15.
— Never let it be said that Bryant shies from playing the Big Boys. The Bulldogs’ schedule for the past two years has opened with defending national champions. Ho-hum, they open at Notre Dame this season, on Nov. 12. Guess Kentucky was already booked?
— Curious, however, that only Brown steps to the floor to take on Bryant this season (Nov. 28) among the locals. No PC. No URI. I hope this is a mere blip on the schedule’s radar screen, and not a precursor to programs (and friendships) drifting apart. Just sayin’.
— Speaking of Brown and Bryant, Brown’s football program opens its 139th season of play Saturday in Smithfield against Bryant with a distinct disadvantage. It’s the Bears’ opener, while the Bulldogs are 1-1 after close call contest at Montana State. They’ve been tested.
— Brown’s secret weapon(s)? The return of six all-Ivy players from the 5-5 team of last season. Fifteen starters are back overall. I’d be surprised if this wasn’t a very good game to watch.
— And while you’re at it, watch the coaches, too. While Marty Fine has built the Bryant program to competitiveness within the Northeast Conference from Division 2 in a relatively short period of time, Phil Estes’ body of work at Brown also is pretty remarkable.
— In the 18 years before Estes arrived as head coach, Brown won barely 40 percent of its games — a total boosted by Mark Whipple’s short-but-sweet tenure in the mid-’90s. In the 18 seasons since, the Bears have won at a 61 percent clip.
— But the ultimate measuring stick of success, for many, is who you have in the NFL. The Bears have two players currently active on NFL rosters — Zak DeOssie (son of Steve), who actually is the second-longest-tenured player on the New York Giants’ roster behind Eli Manning. And, Patriots fullback James Develin, who was a defensive end when he played for Bruno.
— You know it’s a bad game when you resort to calling the play-by-play of a fan running onto the field (or the court) from the stands. It’s happened to me (anyone remember former Friar and St. Raphael star Jeff Xavier’s brother?), but what happened last week in the San Francisco-LA Rams game was priceless.
— Westwood One’s Kevin Harlan had the radio call of the knucklehead on the field in SF, and he played it to the hilt. It was the highlight of an otherwise awful game. Hilarious. And well done, too, as you might expect from a guy like Harlan.
— So, this is the new Cold War. It’s in cyberspace, and within athletic venues. The Russians allegedly hacked into the Democratic National Committee database in order to influence our electoral process, and now they’re hacking into our Olympic athletes’ health records?
— Are they setting us up for a big fall, so as to cover up their own PED-enhanced performances, or are they looking for secrets in our training methods? In other words, how can we possibly be doing these things, like winning gold medals and dominating international competition, without PED use?
— ICYMI, Sept. 3 marked the 25th anniversary of WEEI flipping from a news radio format to sports radio, on the old frequency of 590 AM in Boston. I joined the station as a show host, hired by Glenn Ordway and Jason Wolfe to fill in an everyday (and night) part beginning in 1995, and continue today as a once-in-a-blue-moon host for our Southern New England Sports Saturday program on 103.7 in Providence. Left for a brief period while we had The Score in Providence, and returned when The Score departed. And yeah, the Providence radio broadcasts also are on WEEI-FM, and have been for 10 years.
— Say what you will about sports radio today — and you’d probably be right. But it’s been a lot of fun working for, and with, some very talented people along the way.
— WFAN in New York actually launched the sports radio format nationally, starting in 1987. Today there are more than 600 stations and (at last count) five networks across the country that broadcast “sports radio” programming 24/7. Who knew then we’d go this crazy over our teams and towns?
— Do you remember the Pony Express? Craig James and Eric Dickerson were the dynamite 1-2 backfield punch for SMU’s explosive running game in the early 1980s, and eventually derailed by the program receiving the NCAA’s death penalty for having an illegal slush fund to pay the players — all of it secretly sanctioned by former Texas Governor Bill Clements. Post-college, James originally signed to play pro football with the USFL’s Washington Generals but joined the Patriots after one season in the USFL. He made a Pro Bowl in 1985-86, but lasted only into his fifth NFL season because of injuries and retired after 1988. Arguably, James became better known for his TV work covering college football on ESPN, but he left the network after the 2011 season to run for the U.S. Senate. His beliefs and controversial comments not only helped his political career run a quick course, but also derailed a TV comeback attempt with Fox Sports.
— Kevin in East Taunton, Massachusetts, posted on Facebook this week: I was a big fan of the NYE schedule. I wish FS1 stuck with it. Kevin: In regard to the Big East switching from the previous New Year’s Eve marathon opening conference play, I share your sentiments. It was cool for everyone to open against each other on the same day, with round-the-clock coverage. But that damn football keeps bouncing in the way. And you know football rules the roost. So, the MLK Day idea also is a pretty good one, since it’s a holiday and people can still watch hoops. Change is inevitable. And if you ain’t changin’, you ain’t tryin’.
— Interested in having your questions on local Rhode Island sports (and yes, that includes the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics) answered in a somewhat timely fashion? Send ’em to me! It’s your chance to “think out loud,” so send your questions, comments and local stories to jrooke@weei.com. We’ll share mailbag comments/Facebook posts/tweets right here! Follow me on Twitter, @JRbroadcaster, and on Facebook, www.facebook.com/john.rooke.
— Don’t forget to tune in to Providence’s 103.7 FM every Saturday from 7-9 a.m. for Southern New England Sports Saturday! Call in at 401-737-1287 or text us at 37937.