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Patriots Grade Out, Red Sox Search Drags On

November 29, 2011 By

The grades for the Patriots win in Philadelphia are in, and the Red Sox approach December still not having named a manager. Meanwhile, how is Danny Ainge going to fill out the Celtics roster? And oh yeah, ho-hum, the Bruins are still red hot.

Making The Grades – Patriots at Eagles - Jeremy Gottlieb laughs at the notion some had just a few weeks ago that Bill Belichick is washed up.

Patriots report card - Ron Borges has The Who coming through once again despite a shaky start.

Patriots Report Card: Brady leads the way - Kirk Minihane notes the difference between Patriots receivers Wes Welker and Deion Branch and Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson.

ESPNBoston.com Grades – The pass defense gets the toughest grades in this one.

Patriots Report Card: Tom Brady, Patriots Defense Prey on Vince Young, Eagles Mistakes - Jeff Howe says this is a report card to put on the refrigerator.

Patriots report card Game 11 - Put your stamp on the Boston.com report card.

Branch in midst of brilliant final act - Tom E Curran has the sunset of Deion Branch’s career looking pretty good.

Woeful Colts could be worst late-season opponent in Gillette Stadium history - Christopher Price notes that Indianapolis will be the worst December home opponent in a long time.

‘War Room’ offers inside look at Belichick’s Pats - Bill Reynolds reviews Michael Holley’s new book.

Whoever they pick, the Red Sox have butchered manager search - Ron Chimelis says that the Red Sox have committed a cardinal sin in this process. Dan Shaughnessy agrees.

Red Sox tangled in issues of trust - Gordon Edes says that how the Red Sox handle trust issues will be critical. Sean McAdam has a similar piece.

Source: ‘Serious interest’ in David Ortiz - The Boston Herald reports that the Sox DH will have his choice of destinations.

Free agents the Celtics might target - Only click this Boston.com slideshow if you’ve got a lot of time on your hands. Be prepared to click 46 times to get through it. (I’m not kidding.)

Pressure on GM’s mounts as free agency, training camp near - A Sherrod Blakely looks at the pressure to put a roster together in less than a month.

Sources: Leo Papile out of picture - Steve Bulpett reports that Papile is no longer with the Celtics.  

Claude Julien’s players have his back - Joe McDonald looks at how the Bruins coach pulled his team together in the last month.

 

Filed Under: Morning Links
  • latetodinner

    I don't pretend to hide my disdain for Red Sox ownership. What continues to amaze me is how the media in this town treat them with kid gloves. I realize Shaughnessey has written a few critical pieces but that is only because he had to not because he actually thinks these owners are nitwits. Look at Ron Chimelis' piece today. It is full of a discussion of how the manager hiring fiasco makes ownership and management look bad but he does not take it to its next and most logical place…these guys need to go. This ownership is lousy for Red Sox baseball. They lucked into 2 world Series victories…now they seem invincible when they are utterly incompetent. If they want Larry L to call the shots…say so…let him hire Bobby V. Tell Ben C to playball or go home and be done with it. If they want to support the baseball opps people, tell Ben C to hire whoever he wants, tell Larry L to shut up or go home. Its not that complicated.

    The real problem on Yawkee way is that the owners don't own the team for the right reason…for this market. They look at the Red Sox as another entertainment property in a portfolio. The Red Sox are represented as numbers on a spread sheet. They do not understand that decisions they make or don't make effect their paying customers because they do not see us as individuals they see us only in the aggregate whole. For this reason John Henry comes off as aloof. When he storms 98.5 to defend the "brand" he comes off as uniformed, unintelligent and out of touch with fans who routinely pay $100 for a ticket on top of $50 to park and $9 for a beer. Larry L with his lawyer speak, his conniving and his lack of baseball knowledge further enrages the fan base. Tom Warner with his TV background and yet absolute failure when it comes to programming NESN completes the clueless triumvirate. Yet the media keeps feeding us stories about kumbaya, coming together, giving things a chance, or things will work out. What they should be doing is screaming for new ownership. These guys are more dysfunctional than Victor Kiam but because they own the Sox and not the Pats, and because they lucked into 2 championships they appear untouchable. How many stories were written over the years that is was time for the Jacobs' family to sell the Bruins? Yet no one is calling for an end to the ludicrous ownership of our beloved Sox. I think the media has totally dropped the ball on this one.

    • bostonsportsmediafan

      Did Felger find this site and write an article? Someone from there has to read this site regularly, especially the comments, because many topics are recycled on SportsHub from my listening.

      Well said, though.

  • Doc Michaels

    I understand why people are criticizing the Sox front office for "the process," but in the end what the media is missing here is that their collective outrage isn't matched by the fans — who ultimately just want to see the team win and hire the right guy for the job. If Valentine wins, are fans not going to be happy because Ben Cherington didn't hire him? Are they even going to remember this whole last month? Maybe the talk show hosts will get off on it, but I think the fans care mostly about what happens on the field and whether it translates to wins.

    Beyond that, maybe this process dragged on because there was nobody to hire? When Dale Sveum was the "hot" candidate, doesn't that tell you all you need to know about the field? Bobby V has the resume and the experience — I do think it's fair to wonder how the personalities are all going to mesh and how he's going to handle the volatile Sox locker room beyond his relationship with "Carmine." But at this moment, its difficult to envision there was a more qualified candidate. Valentine is a smart guy and likely knows what he's walking into.

    At least the conversation will now turn to the larger issue to me — changing the roster and mixing it up so a repeat of last season doesn't happen. It's time for some moves!

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