Stream on, stream away. Streaming has developed into a mandatory method of media consumption, as ubiquitous as costly and complicated coffee orders. Streaming is like breathing. You don’t think about it. You just do it.
With that in mind, it’s time to cut the cord on a few thoughts in the latest streaming of the sports consciousness:
▪ The dynastic success of the Patriots was defined by the advantage they owned at the quarterback and head coach positions. The Canton-bound coupling of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick formed the team’s Excalibur of excellence. Now, it appears the new-look Patriots are doubling down on the idea that inadequacy at coach (Belichick) and quarterback (Mac Jones) was the culprit for a 4-13 fall from grace.
How else do you explain the team re-signing or extending more than a half-dozen players from a team that tied for the NFL’s second-worst record last year? The latest recipient of New England’s newfound contractual charity was linebacker Jahlani Tavai, who inked a three-year, extension worth up to $21 million.
They’re in for a rude awakening if they want to hang all the blame on Belichick and Jones. This roster lacks requisite difference-makers. When you won because of all-time greatness at QB and coach it’s easy to assume decline at those positions is the root cause for losing. But with less than the all-time standard bearers at coach and QB, you must construct a more talented team.
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▪ Celtics fans should pull for passionate co-owner Steve Pagliuca to win the bidding for the franchise as hard as they rooted for the Celtics in the NBA Finals. Given what the Celtics have built, status quo is optimal.
Pagliuca made it clear he will be a bidder. Pagliuca, the former Bain Capital chairman and current senior adviser and board member, has deep pockets and knows where to find other well-heeled individuals. Finding the capital for the Celtics, valued by Forbes at $4.7 billion, shouldn’t be an issue.
Pagliuca assembled a group for majority ownership of the Italian soccer club Atalanta in 2022. His group was one of the three finalists for the English Premier League club Chelsea, which sold for $5.4 billion. Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck should do him and the team’s fans a solid to back up Wyc’s rhetoric about being “paid in parades.”
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▪ Part of the discussion around the Celtics’ eventual new ownership is the idea of the Green departing TD Garden for a new arena. A new place to lay the parquet any time soon is a pipe dream, though. The Celtics signed a 15-year lease with the Jacobs family, owners of TD Garden and the Bruins, in 2021.
Undoubtedly, the Jacobses don’t want to see another arena in proximity to compete for concert dates and lucrative events. It wouldn’t be surprising if they harbored some concerns about the Revolution building a soccer stadium in Everett for similar reasons. The Jacobses, who have done a tremendous job with the Hub on Causeway development, also remain influential with the current city government.
▪ One of the great American myths is that we’re a society built on pure meritocracy. Connections, influence, and entitlement have always tipped the scales. So, no one should be bent out of shape about Bronny James, the son of megastar LeBron James, getting drafted 55th overall by the Lakers. It’s the American Way.
Bronny’s last name opened the VIP entrance to the NBA for him, whereas if his last name had been Jones he would’ve gone undrafted as a 6-foot-2-inch guard who averaged 4.8 points on 36.6 percent shooting at USC. His surname afforded him the opportunity, but now it’s about what he does with it. That doesn’t make him any different than the scions of icons in other industries.
▪ Let’s get this out of the way: The Red Sox are a more competitive and entertaining team than expected. Watching the maturation of Jarren Duran, Tanner Houck, and defensive wunderkind Ceddanne Rafaela has been joyous. However, one rationale provided for why the Sox are required to add during this putative playoff chase is that postseason experience expedites The Plan.
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I present the Arizona Diamondbacks, who surprisingly made the World Series as the National League’s third wild card last year, led by Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll (5.4 WAR), who posted a better version of the season Duran is having. The Diamondbacks haven’t gotten a boost from their Fall Classic appearance. They’ve been treading water. Carroll has struggled this season with a .607 going into the weekend.
▪ As the sui generis Bob Ryan would say, here’s a mea culpa on the MLB pitch clock. It has not disturbed, perverted, or detracted from the product as much as I feared. After some early hiccups last year, players have adjusted, even with MLB lowering the pitch clock time with runners on base from 20 seconds to 18 this season.
There were 1,075 infractions last season. Entering play on July 4 with every team more than halfway through 162 games, there had been 357. Average time of game was 2 hours, 37 minutes, a five-minute decrease; it would mark the lowest in a full season since 1979 (2:35).
Still, there are some maddening, anti-competitive occurrences such as the Rockies winning a game last month on a bases-loaded walk walkoff pitch violation. But that’s the price of progress.
▪ Along the same lines, has there ever been a bigger debate about nothing than the universal DH? Intractable traditionalists fought it for nearly 50 years. Now, no one bats an eye when the pitcher doesn’t bat in the NL. The bifurcation of baseball was a waste of time and breath.
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▪ The Bruins struck early in free agency with the additions of bona fide top-six center Elias Lindholm and bruising blue-liner Nikita Zadorov. But the Bruins’ season will be determined by their ability to develop and integrate young players (Matt Poitras, Mason Lohrei, Fabian Lysell), which despite some hits such as Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman hasn’t always been a strength of the Don Sweeney administration. Getting the pucks prospect pipeline flowing was supposed to be one of Sweeney’s key attributes.
He and team president Cam Neely can’t keep changing hockey jockeys, blaming the coach ad infinitum. Ownership will eventually catch on.
Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at christopher.gasper@globe.com. Follow him @cgasper and on Instagram @cgaspersports.