Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- This makes me sad. The last candlepin bowling alley in Worcester is closing for good.

- Ernest Hemingway on symbolism in The Old Man and the Sea.

- How to plan your day like Marcus Aurelius

- Wow - Joe Rogan bringing his podcast exclusively to Spotify. This really does seem similar to Howard Stern moving to Sirius XM.

- And speaking of Spotify and podcasts - an update on Bill Simmons and The Ringer

- Great Robert Parrish / Michael Jordan story

Sunday Morning Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations from a Sunday morning.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. No beer? This is so sad." I agree. What's minor league baseball without beer? (As an aside - Stan Grossfeld always seems to come up with these great stories)... Truth in advertising? Not so much in this case... Just saying but the Josh McDaniels situation is very similar to the way things were going for Bill Belichick in Cleveland. A quarterback controversy and people complaining that the coach is not ready and in over his head. Sure the situations aren't exact but still close enough for me to mention it... Interesting - winners wear red... The Scott Kazmir trade was a salary dump pure and simple. In eight starts since the All-Star break, Scott Kazmir was 4-2 with a 4.41 ERA. He was helping the Rays win games and remain competitive. However, the sad truth is that the Rays are 10th in attendance among 14 AL teams - an average of 24,169 fans. The last-place Orioles have outdrawn the defending AL champs! They just couldn't risk Kazmir not playing up to his contract so they had to dump him in order to use their slim resources for more pressing players like Carl Crawford... In order to get to the Angels - the Red Sox had to pass over Kazmir. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when the Boston front office was weighing the option to claim Kazmir... Today would have been Ted Williams' 91st birthday. It disgusts me that his head and body remain in frozen "biostasis" limbo... Today is also Celtics' great Robert Parrish's 56th birthday. Happy birthday Chief...

Larry Bird



The Big Lead had a post on Larry Bird which made me check out YouTube looking for the Robert Parrish take-down of Bill Laimbeer. I found the above instead.

Randy Moss

So the New England Patriots acquired talented receiver Randy Moss for just a 4th round draft pick. With Moss in the fold - the Patriots now have perhaps the deepest and most talented receiving corps in the NFL.

The big concern with Moss is not just his on-the-field performance but also his off-the-field-behavior. Many people are comparing this trade to the deal that brought Corey Dillion to Foxboro after 7 seasons in Cincinnati. I, however, think there is a better comparison to make here.

In 1980 a Boston area team traded for a tall, talented player from the Oakland area. This player had a poor reputation due to supposed attitude problems and we know now that this player also enjoyed an occasional bong hit in his spare time. This player was Robert Parrish and he worked out just fine for the Boston Celtics. I don't think anyone would dare think Randy Moss will have the same sort of Hall of Fame impact as Robert Parrish had on the Celtics but I think it is not unreasonable to hope that Moss will help the Patriots raise another championship banner like how Parrish was able to help the Celtics to their 14th, 15th and 16th championships.

Randy Moss also gives Tom Brady his own personal "big three" receiving corps with Moss, Donte Stallworth and Ben Watson (at tight end) with Wes Welker and Kelley Washington playing the roles of Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge receiver wise.

Looking at the Randy Moss as Robert Parrish analogy in full is not without its downside. Like how the arrival of Robert Parrish convinced Dave Cowens that it was time to retire - the arrival of Randy Moss probably will have a similar effect on Troy Brown.

It looks like the Patriots will have Moss, Stallworth, Welker, Washington, Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney and last year's number-one draft pick Chad Jackson on the depth chart. I don't see the Patriots carrying 8 receivers into the season - so that probably leaves fan favorite Troy Brown on the outside looking in.

Randy Moss has an under-publicized history of spending his time and money on charitable endevours and that will endear him to the Kraft family (who own the Patriots). His ability to gain yards after the catch and his ability to catch jump ball passes in the end zone will endear him to Tom Brady and the Patriots.

With the acquisition of Randy Moss - I will make the following three predictions:

1. Randy Moss will have double-digits in TD catches this season.

2. Tom Brady will easily top his career best 4,110 in passing yards.

3. The New England Patriots win this year's Super Bowl.