Is it OK to start getting concerned about the New England Patriots yet?
As I'm writing this, the Pats are 0-3 in the pre-season, and Tom Brady hasn't taken a snap because of a mysterious foot injury, which has also prevented him from doing much to prepare for what could be a particularly grueling season.
As troubling as Brady's status is, the big concern is defense, which has always been one of New England's strong suits. It looks like a sieve this year. The best example came last Friday night in a 27-17 home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, where Bill Belichick's defenders gave up three drives of 70 yards or more and allowed two kick returns for touchdowns—in just the first half!
It's still pre-season, but this team just doesn't have the swagger it did last year at this time, so maybe there's something to the Super Bowl loss "hangover" theory. And to make matters worse, the Pats' next pre-season opponent is the very team that ripped their hearts out this past February, the New York Giants.
That game happens Thursday night, and if the Pats don't come out with a more inspired and consistent performance than we've seen in the last three games, I'd say there's good reason to have a little angst when it comes time to tee it up for real a week from Sunday.
The NHL is getting set to begin training camp in a few weeks and, as often happens off season, a lot of teams have been trying to gin up their lineups to add more scoring punch.
One exception to the rule has been the Boston Bruins, who, aside from signing a couple of young prospects, have not pulled the trigger on one major deal this summer. But that doesn't mean the Bs haven't been thinking about ways to get butts in the seats this winter. The Bruins have unveiled a new season ticket package intended to attract, literally, the team's biggest fans. The "Hungry For Hockey" promotion costs $1,677 for the season, and includes a ticket in sections 327 or 328 as well as the opportunity to enjoy all the hot dogs, pretzels, nachos, popcorn and soft drinks you can eat during each game. The cost breaks down to about $39 per game.
Boston isn't the first team to pull a stunt like this. The St. Louis Blues—another franchise that hasn't been within a sniff of the Stanley Cup in about 20 years—recently introduced an all-you-can-eat "Super Tuesday" promotion that managed to bring in some new fans. I'm sure General Manager Jeremy Jacobs is hoping for the same success on Causeway Street, because a few extra dogs and nachos is a hell of a lot cheaper than putting a team on the ice that can actually win a championship.
It's nice to see that Manny Ramirez has recovered so well from that pesky knee problem. Who knew that one flight to the West Coast was all it would take for baseball's favorite adolescent to heal the wounds that kept him from taking the field against the Yankees in his last days with the Sox? Manny now says he's interested in signing a free agent contract this off-season with the New York Yankees just so he can stick it to the Red Sox.
I'm sure there are a number of Sox fans who shudder at the prospect of Manny in pinstripes. Personally, I love the idea. Having Ramirez in the Bronx would be fantastic on a number of levels. For one thing, it would allow the Yankees to overspend on a guy who may not show up to work every day, while forcing them to make some changes they aren't really prepared to make.
The Yankees' main problem right now is pitching, so it makes little sense to spend $80 or $100 million on an aging hitter. If you sign Manny, what do you do with him? If you put him in left field, where he's an absolute train wreck everywhere except Fenway Park, what about Hideki Matsui? Ramirez could DH, but then what do you do with guys like Jorge Posada and Johnny Damon, good hitters who probably can't play in the field every day?
Good problems for a team to have? Let's see what happens the first time Captain Dreadlocks decides not to run out a grounder to first. If he thinks the fans and media in Boston are tough, wait until he jakes it in the Big Apple.
Most importantly, though, having Manny in New York would give Red Sox fans a fresh reason to hate their bitter rivals once again. Let's face it, since we took away their pride in the 2004 playoff comeback and won two championships in four years, the Yankees haven't been the same and neither has their rivalry with the Red Sox. This free-agent signing would jump-start things nicely, putting a charge back into one of the greatest rivalries in professional sports.
Please, Manny, come to New York. You'll be doing Red Sox Nation one huge favor, especially if you do for that clubhouse what you did for ours.
