A Note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

Looking forward to seeing all the Locked On UConn fans at 5:30 sharp today

Agreed. As Dave said, it’s UConn/UMass in East Hartford, and The Barstool College Football Show starts at 5:30. But the FanZone there opens at 3:30 - it’s all right between Gates C & D, close to the Stadium and Blue Parking. Lots open at the stadium at 3 PM.

This is a huge showcase for UConn. And it’s a huge deal that Dave and Co. brought the show to East Hartford. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

Much more below, but if you’re going to the game, you'd better come over and say hello. Hoping to see some Locked On UConn signs in the crowd…

That didn’t take long.

There are fans, like me, who think the Celtics clearly chose Jayson Tatum over Jaylen Brown, and Tatum knew the plan.

Looks like Jaylen would agree.

Brown left a blue hat (🧢) comment on a video where Tatum says he was surprised his ex-teammate was traded “down the street” to the 76ers. In modern slang, that blue "cap" means a lie, exaggeration, or fake statement. I didn’t know that until a few years ago, because I’m not hip. Or cool. Basically, Brown thinks Tatum is lying.

Like, he probably is.

Let’s say this all started when Brad Stevens realized he couldn't pay BOTH Tatum and Brown. Or maybe he could, but didn’t want to. He’s ready to trade Brown. I don’t believe he wouldn't talk about it with Joe Mazzulla and Jayson Tatum. Given how important it is to have a superstar on board with your vision in the NBA, I especially don’t believe Tatum wasn't consulted.

Did Tatum force the trade to the 76ers so he could play with his guy Paul George? I don’t think so. But I think it’s crazy to think he didn’t know the trade was coming. No way he was shocked.

But what is Tatum supposed to say? “Yeah, Brad came and told me they were trading Brown, and I knew for a while?” Not sure that helps anything.

Should he stop talking about it and just move on? Sure. Brown’s team is 2-0, and he’s averaging 20-8-5. Tatum’s team is 0-1 and coughed up a 22-point lead - and he stunk down the stretch.

I’m biased here - I would have picked Tatum over Brown as my franchise player, too. The C’s will probably lose the short-term PR battle, especially if Brown plays well and the 76ers are a wagon. But if the flexibility allows them to eventually get the next star with Tatum, that’s a trade you have to make. It’s a big gamble by Stevens, and I liked it.

I did not like the collapse on Tuesday afternoon. Mazzulla sitting there watching the Pistons go on an 18-0 run before bothering to call a timeout felt all too familiar. He should be under the spotlight this season as much as the team’s best player. The offense looked like the one that has settled for wayyyyyyy too many 3s over the years.

Brown can post, tweet, or comment whatever he wants. I remain #TeamTatum. Hopefully he can stay focused on making his team better and not get caught up in whatever drama Brown is looking to create with his 🧢s.

Meanwhile, the Patriots lost Thursday Night, and it’s silly to blame Drake Maye. It’s UConn/UMass tonight in East Hartford. NFL Picks, WEEI wins a BIG award, and so much more.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #194.

Hey! Subscribing to MutStack helps a lot.

If you’re a new reader or a weekly reader and have not yet subscribed, a reminder:

Still free - like it has been since Day 1

Subscribe now

On your Patriots/Bears Blame Game…

P.S. - WAY too many flags, and the call on Will Campbell was a joke.

Subscribe now

On UConn/UMass and the State of UConn Football…

My first experience with UConn football was walking five minutes from my McMahon North dorm room to Memorial Stadium to watch a game. Yep. Before The Rent and tailgating on an old East Hartford airstrip, games were right on campus. Plenty of good seats were available.

My seat was in the press box for UConn/Eastern Washington early in 2001, when head coach Randy Edsall (Skip Holtz had bailed for South Carolina a few years earlier) shockingly put freshman quarterback Dan Orlovsky (shoutout Shelton Gaels) into the game in the fourth quarter. The plan was to redshirt the star recruit. But then Ryan Tracy quit. And Keron Henry got hurt. And Edsall was forced to burn Dan O’s redshirt.

Since then, Orlovsky has gone on to NFL and ESPN stardom. UConn completed their move from what was then called 1-AA to what was then known as Division 1. The home games moved to East Hartford full-time. The Big East that we knew and love died, and UConn ended up in something called the AAC, playing teams like Houston (my boys’ first game was UConn upsetting the Cougs in 2015) and UAB. Then eventually became an Independent in football, and back to a new Big East in hoops.

Edsall left, and the program suffered the disastrous head coaching exacta of Paul Pasqualoni and Bob Diaco. Jim Mora (and alumni money) helped save it. Today, first-year head coach Jason Candle has a roster full of young talent, and the program appears to be headed in the right direction.

Orlovsky, Alfred Fincher, Donald Brown, Darius Butler, Byron Jones, Anthony Sherman, Jordan Todman, Travis Jones, and Skyler Bell are among the almost three dozen NFL players from UConn over the last 20 years. They have built something that fans and alumni can be proud of. I know I am.

BUT…

They need to find a conference, man. They need those conference rivalries and TV money that come with them. But basketball is rooted in the Big East, so it puts football in a weird spot since there is no Big East football.

As does playing in the Northeast. Many of the teams don’t play in the same conference. UMass is in the MAC. Boston College is in the ACC. UConn is an Independent. A bunch of the teams play FCS. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it. And obviously, it’s not the SEC. But there are good regional rivalries - like UConn/UMass.

We don’t like UMass. And they don’t like us. My Boss Dave refers to Michigan as big brother to Michigan State’s little brother. To me, that’s UConn/UMass; they are 1,000,000% the little brother. And like brothers, we fight and cuss and play dirty. The teams should play every year, in football and basketball. I’ve never gotten a great reason why they don’t. I mean, they haven't played basketball since 2005. UConn schedules more high-profile opponents; I get it, but that’s dumb.

Our only common ground, as brothers, comes in the agreement that our rich, annoying, a-hole cousins in Chestnut Hill are the real jerks. #neverbc

I’m hopeful Dave bringing the Barstool College Football Show to East Hartford Friday night reminds both schools why good regional rivalries matter. I kinda love that the series is tied 38-38-2 all-time. A UMass fan created The Southwick Jug (above) to go to the winner of these games… except UMass wanted nothing to do with it. As a school, they seem like the stick-in-the-mud in this rivalry.

The jug is named for the Southwick Jog (sometimes called the Southwick Strip), a roughly two-mile-long border irregularity where the Massachusetts–Connecticut line dips south into what would otherwise be Connecticut territory. Google says it dates back to a colonial surveying dispute. Born and raised in Massachusetts and a UConn alum, I had no idea. The Southwick Jug will be on hand Friday Night. I’m hopeful UConn wins and accepts it with honor.

And I’m hopeful the program finds a conference. And continues to get great student, alumni, and fan support - they have that, for sure. Given their location, facilities, and fan base, there’s no reason why they can’t have an impactful program year in and year out. Those things should be enough to find a conference to call home. Maybe a big showing tonight might open some big conference eyes 👀👀👀

Yep, big spot for UConn under the lights Friday. They should beat UMass. A big college football show in town. It’s a big opportunity. Here’s hoping the team - and the fans - are ready for the spotlight.

Share

On your Four-Pack of Week 7 NFL Picks…

WEEK 6 RESULTS: 2-1
SEASON RESULTS: 8-10
SEASON ATD: 0-6

How did the Bucs lose that game?????????????????????????????????????????????

Odds from the best sportsbook ever, DraftKings, as of Thursday at 6 PM. Please check the app for the latest odds.

The Side
LIONS -3 VS. PACKERS (-110)
Off the bye and getting healthy, I’m betting the Lions here. The Packers are still 27th in DVOA against the run on defense - and that’s counting playing teams like the Bucs and Jets this season. The Lions secondary gets a BIG boost with Brian Branch back on Sunday, and the idea should be simple - don’t get beat deep by Love, Watson, and Golden! I love that all the money (72%) is coming in on Green Bay. Good stat from Action Network - dating back to 2017, in Divisional Games where one team is off the bye and the other isn’t, the team off the bye is 115-87 (57%).

The Total
BENGALS AT RAVENS UNDER 48.5 (-105)
As of writing this up Thursday night, it looks like Tyler Huntley or a hobbled Lamar Jackson in this AFC North showdown. I’m good with the under either way. The Bengals are operating at the 4th slowest SEC/PLAY in the NFL coming in, and I see no reason they'll speed it up this week. Sapp Football has the Bengals as the slowest team in the NFL in neutral-pace situations. We LOVE Divisional Unders, especially with banged-up or backup QBs and slow teams. UNDER.

The Prop
CHRISTIAN MCCAFFERY REC YARDS 50+ (+132)
Down Deebo and Mike Evans, I think CMC gets peppered in this game. 6+ REC (+108) could also be in play, but one good screen pass might get us the yardage over. CMC is set to cook.

The ATD
DEVIN SINGLETARY (+700)
Led the team in RB snaps last week and is 7-1? Texans are good on D and rotation could be wacky but #value

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

“It’s all fixed.”

“How embarrassing.”

“That is insulting”

“That is BANANAS”

“Hey, good for them! Those stupid fucking things are for old people in radio.”

Those are the responses I got from people around radio, local and national, to the news that Sports Radio WEEI won the Marconi Award for Sports Station of the Year, as announced Tuesday night.

As I wrote about their nomination back in the summer:

So yeah, I was pretty surprised to see WEEI get a nomination. 2025 was a bad year for Boston’s Sports Original, with its afternoon show rating out as one of the lowest-rated major market shows in the country. Ratings were so bad, in fact, that WEEI torched that show early in 2026. The show they replaced it with is somehow worse than that show, but that’s a different MutStack.

Does the listening audience care about the Marconi? No. To quote my friend Kirk Minihane, “The two things listeners care about the least are Marconi Awards and anything Jason Barrett writes.” It’s a radio-industry private-parts measuring contest. WEEI’s nomination says more about the potential influence of Audacy’s new owner and left-wing super-activist George Soros and his Soros Fund Management than it does about WEEI.

If you have a working brain, it seems silly that a station that was beaten by their rival so badly they had to fire multiple people and revamp its PM Drive show would garner votes as the BEST SPORTS STATION OF THE YEAR. Who votes on these awards? No clue. That’s a secret, but reportedly voters are “Composed of an anonymous, independent body of prominent radio industry professionals, general managers, and broadcasters.”

Feels like it might have been Audacy’s turn to win, taking home this award and Major Market Personality of the Year - that one went to Karson and Kennedy, the AM Drive show for Mix 104.1. WEEI winning based on the year they had just cheapens the award for future winners.

Another award for programming guru Mike Thomas. Congrats, Mike!

🏈 Here comes all the Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, ESPN dirt

⚾ I know I’m in the minority, but I am a Red Sox fan rooting for the Rays in the World Series. If the Brewers win, Sox management can point to a team with the fewest home runs in baseball winning a title. If the Rays win, I’m hopeful the embarrassment of a division foe winning forces them to spend more money. It should serve as a real wake-up call if the Rays cap off an eight-year run that saw them win the AL East three times (Red Sox ZERO in that stretch) with a World Series.

🏈 EXCELLENT Deep Dive this week on the Bill Parcells/Patriots Breakup from my friend Kirk. Did not remember Mike Lombardi ever on ESPN’s Draft coverage.

🙄 My oldest son is now responding “Your momma” to almost any question his parents ask him. Teenagers are fun.

🏇🏻 Go Go Greys has Miss Watermelon at Woodbine tomorrow. She’s coming off her maiden win and goes in Race 5 (3:17 PM). Full coverage in Saturday’s weekly racing blog at Barstool.

That feels like enough Stack for this week. Good luck with all your bets this weekend. And see you Friday Night at The Rent. Big night. Go Huskies!

A Note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

Two big races for Go Go Greys Stable today. Boston Grey in the 4th at Laurel and Naughty Nancy in the 9th at Belmont. I think they both should be highly competitive in these spots.

More importantly the Barstool College Football Show will be in Hartford on Friday Night for UConn vs UMass. I will take it as a personal insult if Mutt and his Locked on UConn fanbase doesn’t show up by the hundreds and thousands to support the show.

This is huge.

I was already planning to be there. Of course I will be there. I need any UConn fans reading this to be there, too. And if you're a UConn fan reading this, you know how important it is to show up and show out for a program that deserves more attention from the Daves, Big Cats, and Brandon Walkers of the world. Given the unreal start from our “rivals” at UMass, they’re going to be there. We will not be outnumbered.

Big spot for UConn and an even bigger spot for UConn fans.

Be there for Jason Candle. And for Jordan Todman. And Larry Taylor. And Locked On UConn. The show starts at 5:30 between gates C and D in the parking lot. I’m working on getting more info this weekend. Go Huskies!

One of the wildest media stories of my lifetime. And it’ll play out in public for the next six months.

On Wednesday, friend of the Kirk Minihane Show, Ryan Glassspiegel, had the juicy report that Joe Buck and Troy Aikman got into an argument before Bills/Rams on Monday Night Football. The two have worked in a booth together since 2002, and I don’t recall any other story like this involving them. With Buck recently inking a 6 year/$108 million extension and Aikman set to be a free agent at the end of the year, it seemed pretty obvious what the impetus might be.

Then Aikman went on Dallas Sports Radio the next morning and pretty much confirmed it all. Then he added to it by commenting to Jimmy Traina on his Substack last night.

“It just seems to be where they’re going - that they’re gonna go in a different direction because there’s been no talks, no contract negotiations. We’re in a Super Bowl year. The Super Bowl is Feb. 14. My contract ends in March. It just doesn’t seem logical that if they were gonna keep me, something wouldn’t be in place before that.” 👀👀👀

Media free agency is not uncommon. But for it to play out like this, in public, five months before Buck and Aikman are set to call the first Super Bowl ever on ESPN? Yeah, it’s a huge story.

Some lingering thoughts after writing a couple thousand words on the biggest story in sports media over on the Barstool Blog.

• So how hard did Buck fight for Aikman when he signed his new deal last month? Was the former Cowboys’ QB blindsided by the news of the extension? Was Buck part of the reason he won’t be back? There are little details that will get out between now and Super Bowl 61.

• And so how do the two of them deal with that in the booth? They still have 12 regular-season games, two playoff games, and the Super Bowl together. Does ESPN go to Aikman and his team and beg for a ceasefire?

• Who replaces Aikman, and where does he go? I think Greg Olsen will be tabbed to join Buck on ESPN. He’s younger, and he can blend former-player insight with advanced analytics. He had already earned a No. 1 booth on Fox before Tom Brady came along and bumped him. Traina is a clued-in media guy, and he's been saying “100% Greg Olsen,” so I feel good about my pick. As for Aikman - why wouldn’t CBS pair him with Jim Nantz for the next five years? I guess Amazon could bring him in and rebuild that booth, with the legend Al Michaels now 81. Netflix only has a handful of games, so that doesn’t make sense. I don’t think Tony Romo will get the call. Former BC Eagle Luke Kuechly could be slotted in on Fox or CBS as the pieces play out.

• I’m sure they thought about it, but I don’t think Buck would go along with Pat McAfee moving into the booth. McAfee denied it yesterday. I think it’s more likely that if ESPN stayed in-house, they’d go Buck + The Manning Brothers.

• ESPN is basically saying as long as we have Buck, we can put anyone next to him.

• The whole thing is an awful look for ESPN, which let Glasspiegel get this story by not handling this better on their end. I root hard for ESPN flubs, so I adore this, but the NFL can’t be enjoying it. Multiple reports say the league loves this Buck/Aikman booth. My friend Kirk says they’re the best booth in football. I have them #2 behind Tirico and Collinsworth. Either way, it’s a big gamble splitting up such a known and well-liked duo.

Have to wonder if Buck goes on, say Pardon My Take, and tries to spin this. Or will they just ignore it? How? Will Team Aikman go along with that? What happens when we start to hear who might replace Aikman? Or how his new landing spot might impact someone else? A ton of moving parts.

Such a big story. And the backdrop of ESPN having the Super Bowl, with Buck and Aikman on the call, looms over all of this. And it’s still five months away!

Meanwhile, Drake Maye is back from the dead. A deep dive on the summer Boston Sports Radio ratings. Week 6 NFL Picks and your weekly MutStack Notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #193.

Hey! It’s a huge help when you subscribe to MutStack.

If you’re a new reader or a weekly reader and have not just subscribed, a reminder:

Still free - like it has been since Day 1

Subscribe now

On Boston Sports Radio 2026 Summer Ratings…

How many ways can I say that 98.5 The Sports Hub has once again destroyed Sports Radio WEEI in the Boston Sports radio ratings (first published by the Boston Globe)?

Among Men25-54, The Hub was #1 this summer (June 25 - September 16th) while WEEI came in #7 in that same demo. It’s the demo the industry uses to judge sports radio, even if WEEI staff and management try to convince people otherwise.

I like showing this chart every quarter to give some context to what we’re seeing. It’s worth going back to the Summer of 2024 for maybe the biggest headline of this book.

Toucher and Hardy - 16.6
The Greg Hill Show - 11.9
WZLX (with Rich) 1.8

That was the first summer of the post-Rich Shertenlieb version of The Hub’s morning show. WEEI got within five points of their main rival, and it looked like there might be a changing of the guard at the top of morning drive. Rich was actually over on WZLX doing a terrible show there and tanking their ratings.

Since then, Greg’s show has lost roughly half its audience. Brutal. Fred’s show is up 13%. Meanwhile, WZLX just did a 7.2 Men25-54 in AM Drive and has more than quadrupled its ratings since Rich’s disastrous stint there. There is little doubt they have stolen away much of Greg’s audience.

Yikes.

Again, that show and WEEI management will quickly point to other demos and numbers that tell a better story, but this one doesn't.

I wonder if Fred Toucher’s rant this week was tied to Rich leaving the show, Fred rebuilding it, and the ratings being better than ever. Does he feel like his bosses at Beasley Media - and the radio industry in general - are not giving him enough credit? He’s not totally wrong given the numbers.

And I keep hearing from my moles at The Hub that ratings seem to be de-emphasized these days. Per two sources, Beasley no longer subscribes to weekly reports. If his bosses are minimizing that ratings success, I get why he's annoyed. Could also just be the rantings of a very successful curmudgeon, IDK.

Back to the two stations. WEEI had a magical Red Sox run and saw just a .2-point bump from the spring. Woof. They can celebrate a small win at night, but if history holds, The Hub will once again dominate the all-important Fall Book.

AM Drive - See above.
Mid-Day - Zolak and Bertrand took the biggest hit of any show year-over-year, but the Patriots bump will help this fall. Jones and Keefe keep taking shots at Zo and his calls of the Pats’ game pretty consistently.
PM Drive - I guess for some people, the biggest headline of the book is WEEI’s new PM Drive crew. Rich, Ken, and ThreeTimeSuperBowlChamp Ted Johnson are a bad radio show. This was their first full book, and I suspect the bump came from some added audience from Red Sox games. At one point this summer, Rich basically admitted that Sox games were doing better than their actual show. Felger, Mazz, and Murray continue to collect #1 bonus checks quarterly. In fact, all three of these 98.5 shows ranked #1 in M25-54 this summer. #domination
Nights - Red Sox give WEEI the win over Joe Murray.

Will things change in the fall?
No. The Sports Hub will register a decisive win across the board.

Are there more changes coming?
I have not heard anything. Either station.

I see the complaints about 98.5 on social media, but it’s having little impact on ratings or relevance of the #1 sports station in town. There’s only one lever WEEI could pull that could change things. More on that below in the MutStack notes. And your WEEI/Hub comments are always welcome.

Leave a comment

On the revival of MVP Drake Maye…

He’s back.

Also, Positive Vibes only for the diet (down 2 lbs).

On your Four-Pack of Week 6 NFL Picks…

Week 5 Record: 1-2
Season Record: 6-9
ATD Record: 0-5

Could really have used the Bears to show up- the Packers did their part for the over. Odds from the world’s best sportsbook, DraftKings, as of Thursday night. Make sure you check for updated lines.

The Side
BUCS (+2.5) VS. STEELERS (-108)
I did not expect to end up here. But when I started going through the numbers, I kinda can’t believe this line and the money coming in on Pittsburgh. 71% of the bets and 79% of the money on the Black and Gold, according to Action Network. Guys - the Steelers might stink. The beat Cooper Rush and an Indy team COMING BACK from London for two of their wins. Now they face a Tampa team that is, I admit, shockingly, 5th in DVOA on defense. They have the extra rest from playing last Thursday, and teams with a rest advantage are 13-4-1 ATS this season. Gross, ugly, disgusting game, give me the home dog against a team I saw the Patriots wallop a few weeks ago.

The Total
CHIEFS VS. CHARGERS UNDER 42.5 (-112)
History says this will be a low-scoring game. Action has Andy Reid/Patrick Mahomes as a QB-coach duo 27-9 to the Under as home favorites over the last five seasons. As a team, KC 16-4 to the Under against the AFC West over the last four seasons. The Chargers are a disaster and have been passing at the second-lowest rate in neutral situations, per Sharp Football. The Chiefs have been content to pound MVP candidate Kenneth Walker, and that makes sense coming off the bye.

The Prop
KENDRICK BOURNE 40+ REC YARDS (+112)
Pretty simple stuff. Rams smash Cards. Cards have to throw. Bourne likely third in the pecking order behind Wilson and McBride here. Can ladder this too, up to 80+ (+790)…

The ATD
JALEN COKER +320

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

🎙️ No surprise Big O and Gerry Callahan combined for an excellent podcast this week. It brought up some tough-to-stomach memories of Mut and Callahan, but that’s for a different week. Go listen to Glenn and Gerry. A laugh-out-loud Eddie Andleman story…

🎙️ That’s the lever, and I agree. Will never happen, but he’d win.

🎙️ It’s early in the process, and Kirk said the next producer will not be someone previously connected to, or internal to, the KMS ecosystem, but give me Bobby Costa behind the glass.

⚾ They’re all good teams, I get it, but MLB getting the Brewers v. Guardians/Rays in the pre-lockout World Series is a brutal runout. ZERO buzz for this as baseball fans await the battle between players and owners.

🎙️ One more radio note, from Fred Toucher’s interview with Barrett Media.

For the last three years, Toucher has credited the chemistry he and Hardy share on and off the air as the foundation for the show’s continued success.

“At this stage in my career, that’s extraordinarily important for me. It’s a quality-of-life issue. I want to go into the station and enjoy doing the show with the person I’m with. I didn’t realize how much that mattered,” explained Toucher. “It’s been a lot of fun in a job that I’ve been doing for a long time. It can get tedious at times, but it’s been a great gift to have this change. It reinvigorated me in a lot of ways.”

Shots fired at Rich, obviously.

🏒 Made it to my first Chicklets Cup, and it will not be my last. The fans were awesome, and the hockey was legit. Harpoon on a nice fall day in a Seaport is an elite venue.

I want to end this week’s newsletter by sending prayers and well wishes to UMass guy and Lowell, MA native Jeff Howe. Jeff announced he’s been battling a serious health issue and will step away from his work at The Athletic. Jeff has been open about his health issues in the past, and that openness has helped others. We did some goofy segments on NESN back in the day, and he was great to work with here in Boston. Wishing him the best in his battle.

As always, I appreciate you. reading. And watching. Have a great and safe weekend…and plan on being in East Harford next Friday!

A Note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy…

No note from Dave this week

My Boss Dave was busy this week, buying more grey horses. This one with trainer Phil Antonacci (Lindy Farms in Connecticut). Go Go Greys is now up to close to 40 horses and two broodmares.

Two-year-old Drake Graye is tearing up the track at Turfway and might be getting close to a debut. Bunch of horses in training. Going to have to do a GGG Fall Stable tour, for sure.

Quite simply, my favorite professional team of all time - the 2001-2002 Patriots. Ahead of the 2004 Red Sox. Or the 2008 Celtics. I am not willing to debate myself over 2001 Pats vs. 1998 UConn, so don’t ask.

The team that launched a thousand championships and an NFL Dynasty. It’s been 25 years, and they’ll be celebrated on the field at Gillette before Pats/Raiders on Sunday.

Yes, I believe that the Patriots' Super Bowl run raised the bar for the rest of Boston teams. The Red Sox were extremely jealous of the attention the Patriots were getting. They were used to dominating sports talk radio. It wasn't shocking to hear Dale & Eddie spend two hours on WEEI dissecting one bad managerial move from the Sox game the night prior.

Until that Pats team came along.

Should they fire Bill Belichick?
Brady vs. Bledsoe (tremendous WEEI topic)
Playing the Rams close on Sunday Night Football - the “oh shit, they might actually be good” game. I was home from UConn on Thanksgiving break and can remember where I was sitting on the couch as they battled the Greatest Show on Turf
Snow Bowl
Beating the cocky Steelers in Pittsburgh
Coming out as a team for the Super Bowl
Capped off by pulling off one of the greatest Super Bowl Upsets of all time, complete with John Madden saying he did not like the idea of a young Tom Brady trying to score late instead of settling for overtime.

Just an unbelievable sequence of events for a team.

Still have the Super Bowl Special USA Today from the day after…and a bunch of other newspapers from big Boston wins over the years. I found them a few weeks ago while cleaning out the space above our garage. My wife wants to know what we’ll do with them. Uhhhhh, keep them safe, honey?

“They’ll be worth something someday,” he says confidently.

Boston teams would have won eventually, but I think this jump-started it. I was ages 10-20 between 1990 and 2000. That seems like the age when sports felt like they meant the most. During that decade, Boston won nothing. If you’re in your mid-40s, you understand. Our parents had 80s Celtics. We had Rick Pitino! It felt like they might never win. #loserville

This kicked things off. And it sure didn’t hurt a few years later when they won again - that really pissed off the Red Sox.

I hope my boys get to experience a team like that when sports still means a lot to them. That team was 25 years ago…holy crap, I feel old. And since it’s my newsletter (kind of), I wanted to start the weekend with some nostalgia.

Meanwhile, Craig Breslow's arrogance is disgusting. Good week for the NFL Picks. Justin Trudell is leaving The Kirk Minihane Show. And the most MutStack note ever.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #192.

We are closing in on 7500 subscribers here at MutStack

If you’re a new reader or a weekly reader and have not just subscribed, a reminder: it’s a huge help if you hit that blue button below

Still free - like it has been since Day 1

Subscribe now

On the pure arrogance of Craig Breslow…

This guy.

Chad Tracy, Sam Kennedy, and Craig Breslow held their Red Sox season-ending press conference on Monday. It was bad. They spent more time spinning the team’s decisions and direction than they did explaining to fans how it would get better in 2027. Or whenever they play baseball again. I hated the whole hour.

After that hour, I guess Breslow made himself available to the media in 1-on-1s. It didn’t get better for Boston’s Baseball Robot.

“Unfortunately, there’s a lot of …uhhhh….narratives that float around that I think could be dispelled with some simple questions that just never get asked…”

He might as well have just said, “I went to Yale. I’m smarter than Rob Bradford, Chris Cottilo, and Ian Browne. Those guys are fucking idiots.”

He seems like a nice guy, but rough moment here for Jahmai Webster. This was a HUGE opening for a simple “Like, what questions, Craig?” or some sort of follow-up to the team’s President of Baseball Ops basically calling the media morons. But we didn’t get that. It certainly didn’t help the softball image NESN has when it comes to the Red Sox.

The narrative Breslow was pushing back on here was, I guess, the idea that he has a say in how Tracy manages the team. The decision to pull Sonny Gray looked so bad that no one could believe a baseball lifer like Tracy would do it. The front office obviously gives him piles of information and expects him to use it to make decisions. That doesn't tell him what to do directly, but it has a big impact, and I'd guess most teams do this. In the playoffs, it’s fair to think the manager was following the outline. Or the script. Whatever you want to call it.

Earlier this season, a report suggested Breslow might be best served by having a translator of sorts to convey his ideas to other team management and players. When you hear this clip, you can understand why. Just oozing arrogance. Unearned arrogance, but the way. Remember, he was like the 11th or 12th choice for the job, after almost a dozen people turned it down. Or worse, turned down the chance to even interview for the gig! The guy has been here three years, and the team still hasn't advanced out of the Wild Card. And he complains the media doesn’t ask the right questions.

🙄🙄🙄

This is so unlikeable. Imagine having to negotiate with this guy? His biggest trades are with teams that have former Red Sox Execs (Cardinals, Nats). I’m convinced that his handling of Alex Bregman last offseason led to the star third baseman not giving the team a chance to match the Cubs' offer.

Imagine what Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras think about him being their boss - a former player turned super nerd who has ignored the biggest issue on the team (POWER) and is bragging that Caleb Durbin went from 11 home runs to 13 home runs…in 17 more games. Awesome!

I can’t stand him. John Henry’s spending is the team’s biggest issue, but Breslow is a close #2.

It’s been eight years since the team won the AL East, the same year they beat the Dodgers for the championship. I have a tough time imagining Breslow being the guy to build the next winner - division or World Series - thanks in part to thinking he’s the smartest guy in every room.

On Justin Trudell leaving the Kirk Minihane Show…

It was time.

Kirk said it yesterday, and Cullinane agreed. There was a tension on the show, and it didn’t seem to be going away. And I say that as a Justin Trudell fan. A fan of his hot dogs. Fan of his bits…well, some of them. Fan of his loyalty to Kirk.

A few months ago, I watched Justin step in and try to make the best of a bad situation backstage at KMS Live in Laconia when the drummer became an issue. It was a shit show, and Justin was ready and willing to do whatever was needed.

But I was also there Tuesday when Kirk asked if he really thought that he (Kirk) didn’t want any content from the show’s Madawaska weekend. “Correct,” Justin quickly answered the rhetorical question. That was tough - and it summed up a disconnect between the Justin who first got the job and the Justin who gave me a nice fist-bump on the way out the door Tuesday.

Of the departed KMS producers, I spent the most time with Justin, and it’s not close. Sportsbook Live…The Brook…KMS Basketball…trying to put out videos for the Barstool Black Friday sale last year. A bunch of little projects we worked on for the show/content. He’s the only producer I sat down and had a one-on-one meal with.

I’m also a KMS listener. And as a listener, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think Justin had been different over the last year. I think most listeners would agree. I don’t know if he would? Hopefully, at some point, he’ll be in the studio to say goodbye and talk about it. And Hopefully with Blind Mike. They are one of the great duos in KMS History, right? Justin and Mike. Josh and James. Mama K and Donna. This is probably a better exercise for Tim in Canton.

I haven't talked to him, but Kirk mentioned Justin was going to try to find a new role at Barstool after his paternity leave. Good for him. KMS Producers tend to stay in the show orbit. Hope that’s the case here. He’s a huge part of KMS history and was, what, 4th or 5th on the latest Top 50 list at Laconia?

Did he disparage my late Godmother’s famous mashed potatoes? He sure did. But I forgive him. Justin is a good guy with a big heart. I hope he finds something in or out of Barstool that he loves. He’ll be missed, but it was also time for a change, if that makes any sense.

Kirk said he’s going “outside the KMS world” for his next co-producer. Second producer? Looking forward to the search.

I’m sure I’ll see him again, but for now, good luck, Justin.

On your Four-Pack of NFL Week 5 Picks…

Week 4 Record: 2-1
Season Record: 5-7
ATD Record: 0 for 4

For the first time this year, we get to use the Good Football. There are actually four different footballs. Odds from DraftKings as of Thursday night; check for updated odds.

The Side
TEXANS -7.5 (-105) AT TITANS
I make horse picks everywhere: here, Twitter, Barstool Blog, live streams, racetrack simulcast feeds, and in group texts. I know there’s a good chance I’ll be wrong. And if so, I’m okay with that, and I’ll take my loss and turn the page. I need to remind myself of that when making these picks. Because normally, laying 7.5 points on a 0-4 team in the NFL would sound very, very dumb. But this is do-or-die for the Texans. They’re still a respectable 17th in DVOA - the tanking Titans are 29th. We got word this week that HC DeMeco Ryans will start calling defensive plays. The offense cooked against the Cowboys, and it's getting healthier. This is a statement game for Houston, and I think they smash Tennessee here. When they win by 7 and I lose, I’ll be okay with it.

The Total
BEARS AT PACKERS OVER 45.5 (-118)
Our first over of the season here. I like the pace setup here: Green Bay has the third-quickest SEC/PLAY in the NFL per FTN. On the other side, Sharp Football clocks the Bears as the 4th fastest team on offense in neutral situations. Defensively, GB is 24th in DVOA. The Bears were 17th a week ago, but jumped up 10 spots after playing the Jets. I still don’t think they’re very good. I see both public and sharp money on the over here. Divisional UNDERS are actually under .500 the last two-plus seasons, and feel more relevant when the teams meet for a second time later in the year. A rare OVER.

The Prop
BROCK PURDY 20+ RUSHING YARDS (-111)
The early-season MVP candidate has cleared this number in all four games this season. Now he’ll play without Kyle Juszczyk, leading to a few more carries for the QB. And he faces a Seattle defense that has allowed the 4th-most rushing yards per game to opposing QBs this year. 25+ (+146) and 30+ (+229) are both in play if you’re feeling frisky.

The ATD
TREVOR LAWRENCE (IN LONDON) +290

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

🎙️ This was fun. I was lucky to get invited on Snake Draft with Eddie, WSD, and Chief. I was unlucky to go up against three Snake Draft Hall of Famers and one of the smartest guys at Barstool, Tommy. The topic was Things We Refuse To Believe, and I had the last pick. I did not do well. But I had fun. Appreciate the guys having me.

⚾ Took us a few days to get here, but we wrapped up a disappointing Red Sox season on Dirty Water this week. Plenty of Craig Breslow slander and questions about Roman Anthony and Trevor Story. Watch and subscribe on YouTube, then go listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

🍎 The first four-plus days of the diet have gone well, thanks for asking. Four days no cereal and no second dinner. 11K steps each day, around 2 K calories. We’re on our way. Thanks to Minifan Josh in Pittsburgh for the encouragement this morning. Feel like I’m on the right path here with some help from him. And thanks for the visual motivation, MikeyGrabBag.

🎙️ This is the most MutStack note of all time.

WEEI’s Rich, Ken and Ted went semi-viral this week, thanks to Drake Maye’s opinion of the legitimacy of the moon landing. They’re using that to let people know that listeners can Ask Maye Anything, as it was a “listener” question that led to Maye’s answer this week. KMS Producer Dave Cullinane suggested the “listener” sure sounded like some sort of bad Boston voice actor.

When I wrote here a few weeks ago about a terrible listener question to Maye about smoking weed, a radio insider sent a tip: the “listener” was actually a station producer.

Wait…Paulie in the Truck was a fake! WHAT????????????????????????????????

I had to get into the lab and verify, asking AI to analyze the two voices (the producer in question has a public social media page)

They sure sound alike. And while not 100% scientific, AI says they are the same voice. “1000% sure it’s him,” said the source again yesterday.

Are they just using “listener” questions to ask the Pats QB silly questions they don’t want to ask themselves? Did they not have enough listener questions and were too embarrassed to say so? Maybe the producer didn’t tell the show and just did it? I don’t know.

Could my source and AI both be wrong? Sure. Is it the biggest deal? Maybe not? Kirk said yesterday the Pats have been annoyed by some of the Maye questions recently; Kirk has excellent Pats sources. Does the team, already annoyed with the questions, think the show/station is hiding behind ‘listener questions’ to try and go viral with their star quarterback’s words? That’s not being a great partner, IMO.

I’ll continue to work on this developing story. MutStack Messages remain open for your tips.

🌽 Thanks for all the suggestions on a good corn maze - found a good spot for a #familyfallfunday this weekend.

📺 It was helped by my Kyle Chandler fandom, but solid A- for HBO’s Lanterns. Not the biggest superhero guy, but I was into this from the start. Good story, solid twists. Will be back for Season 2.

🏀 UConn Twitter is great, thanks to guys like Little Red.

For a second straight year, he’s walking to raise money and awareness for the Husky Ticket Project. Every mile will support their mission of giving young UConn fans the chance to attend UConn sporting events, with the goal of building Husky fandom for generations to come! They have already distributed over 10,000 tickets to young fans. Great stuff.

He starts his two-day, 62-mile walk on Monday. Support him and a great cause right here.

⚾ So, MLB proposed a 154-game season that allows for weekly off days ✅
Division Series Back to 7 games ✅
Higher-seeded teams to pick their postseason opponents for the Wild Card Series and Division Series ❌
That last one seems way too gimmicky. Just give the Top 2 seeds the bye, then seed 3-6 after that by record. No automatic home field for the 3rd division winner.

Hell. Yes. 🏈🏈🏈 Let’s hope this happens in a few weeks. See you there.

That feels like enough stack for this week.

Back on Saturday for At The Post - the weekly horse racing blog that’s the talk of the town - over on the Barstool Blog. Good luck with all your bets this weekend.

Thanks for reading.

A note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

Im still sick

Brutal. Something is going around, for sure. Klemmer looked sick all week in NY, but that might have just been his sickly self.

But My Boss Dave has been fighting it all week. Fought through a 103° fever for Pick Em. He was so sick he missed Lovely Grey’s return race Thursday - and he LOVES to see his horses run. He actually has one in tomorrow at Keeneland, the debut of #4 Ronna's Sizzler, Race 11 at Keeneland. He co-owns with trainer Ron Moquett. Safe trip for her.

And get well soon, boss.

Dave was sick, but of course he was watching Lovely Grey at Belmont. And look, I’ve seen all the jokes by now.

Lookin’ good, Gut.
GutStack.com
Mut Looking like Dave Cullinane at the Korn Ferry event…that one hurt the most

And they’re not wrong. I have officially let myself go.

Too much food, too much drink, not enough sleep. But mostly, it’s the food. It’s not uncommon for me to have a second dinner after a first dinner a few times a week. That could mean three bowls of cereal. Half a box of Cheez-Its. Seven to ten mini Clio bars. One or two bags of microwave popcorn. This, multiple times a week, plus weekend drinking, and yeah, it’s out of hand.

And like, I already knew this. My nice Milton’s ‘slim’ suit barely fits. Some shorts don’t fit. Really, a bunch of clothes that kind of fit, but, well, I look like this.

I can just feel it in my body. It’s an extra 15 pounds or so that I’m not used to lugging around. I felt it yesterday out at Belmont Park. I wanted to hustle and make an earlier train on the LIRR back to the city, and it was gonna be close. I had to hustle, and I could feel my stomach bouncing around like a heavy-ass basketball in my awesome Go Go Grey Polo.

I needed this picture yesterday. Thanks to the great Fox Sports team for getting an action shot of me tracking down Lovely Grey in the Belmont Park Paddock. Happy to come on and handicap next time.

Lovely Grey looked ready to fire in her first race in 90 days. She ended up with a wide, in-between-horses trip that you’re just never going to win from. But she had some run in the lane and looked like the spill at Saratoga did not bother her at all. Don’t know what the plan is, but there are going to be some synthetic stakes races this fall or winter where she could prove very tough - that could be turf races that end up on that surface as the new Belmont. A lot of options for the lightly-raced 3-year-old runner.

My options? Just one - lose the weight. Yikes. Diet starts Monday.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox are done. The Haterz are out in full force. NFL Picks plus weekly notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #191.

We are closing in on 7500 subscribers here at MutStack

If you’re a new reader or a weekly reader and have not just subscribed, a reminder: it’s a huge help if you hit that blue button below

Still free - like it has been since Day 1

Subscribe now

On the main failure of the 2026 Boston Red Sox…

26th in home runs in 2026. 26th (!!!)

Can’t believe I bought in. #dumb

I wrote extensively about the Sox loss here.

On responding to the Haterz…

My guy James is one half of one of the great play-by-play teams of our time, Josh and James. They added so much to KMS Basketball. I love James.

I guess he wants to punch back at Joe Zarbano for this?

On the left, me in the PayDay/DraftKings Barstool NY Gambling Cave for Game 1. On the right, my old radio partner Lou on NBC, calling the game.

Okay James, I thought it was funny. Shoutout to Vibbs for making me look like a deranged Wally the Green Monster. If Joe was roasting me with this, whatever. Zing! I laughed. I saw a lot of people telling me to #GrowUp for putting a little face paint on. Those people need to loosen the grip a bit.

Joe was our producer for Mut and Merloni and eventually held some sort of management position at WEEI. He and Lou were much closer than we were, both on Mut and Merloni, and when Joe moved to the front office. Add him to the list of people who are not a fan, I guess. Have not talked to him in years and hope he’s well. I wish he was this creative as our producer!

Big day for James, b/c he also asked for a response to this. I listen to podcasts, so I didn’t see this when I heard Glenn’s pod last week.

Yikes. I guess Lou isn't a fan either. Yes, I cover horse racing and Dave’s Go Go Greys Stable for Barstool as part of my job. I love it. Being out at Belmont Park yesterday. Or Churchill last May. Or the NHC last March - fucking great gig. Dave has given me an awesome platform to write and talk about racing.

I wrote for years here that Lou should be the lead color guy with Dave O’Brien on NESN. When he got the gig, I texted him to congratulate him. He responded, and guess what - he got #MutToo’d. I never texted back. Bad job by me. Glad Lou got some NBC reps this week. Didn’t get much of the broadcast, but people seemed to really enjoy it. Add him to the list. And like, I take plenty of shots here - so Lou, Joe, Chris Curtis, or Ted Johnson are free to fire back.

But as far as me firing back, James? Life's too short, man. As you get older, you’ll realize that. We’re all gonna be dead someday.

Plus, the AI Overlords are coming for us all, so there’s that.

On your Four-Pack of NFL Week 4 Picks…

Week 3 Record: 1-2
Season Record: 3-6
ATD Record: 0 for 3

Wow, the Bucs stink. That was awful. Aaron Rodgers overthrew Pat Freiermuth for what would have put us well over his prop. AJ Dillon was a swing and a miss.

The Side
TEXANS (-2.5) VS. COWBOYS (-136)
I’m ready to back the Texans here. They are one of the few defenses that can slow down the Cowboys. Nico Collins is back at WR, and that will help against a terrible Dallas D. Per Action Network: 0-3 teams in Week 4 vs. teams with at least one win are 47-25-1 ATS since 2005. Good trend for us.

The Total
BENGALS VS. JAGS UNDER 51.5 (-118)
Jags have a good defense (DVOA #2) and play slow (#1 slowest sec/play FTN pace)
Bengals D has been good DVOA #11) and also play slow (7th slowest FTN pace)
This is exactly what we want to see for an UNDER

The Prop
Jacoby Brissett 10+ rush yards (+112)
Cleared this 7x last year and once in three games this year. One run gets us home, and the Cardinals will have to be passing here.

The ATD
DARREN WALLER +260
Sunday night shootout against Detroit.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

🎤 No, I will not be in Madawaska this weekend, but good luck and safe travels to everyone making the trip and running/walking in the 5K. It’s an incredible community Kirk has built, and I can’t wait for the RI Live Show next spring with the Minifans.

🎙️ Speaking of, Kirk and Glenn were great. I assume if you’re reading this, you have already listened. I found it noteworthy that Kirk has texted with Gerry recently. That makes me happy.

Must-listen. Glenn has mentioned a few times trying to get me and Mike Adams on. Again, I’ll say it here so it can go as my official answer - no thanks. As I said above, life is way too short.

🎙️ Being in New York all week, it was tough to track everything said on the radio. But it was obvious that WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show insinuated Mike Vrabel wasn't happy with Drake Maye. Then, when that clip went viral, Greg did the classic sports-radio backpedal.

Herald Pats Beat Writer Andrew Callahan went after them, as did many Pats fans. I mean, they had to know that people would assume they were talking about Mike Vrabel, right? Vrabel is a weekly guest. Of course it was going to be heard that way. Vrabel then had to be asked about it.

The show responded by saying Callahan needs to “get some coochie.” Ha. What are we doing? If you report something like that, even if you couch it as a whisper, you better be able to back it up. Doesn’t feel like they did in this case?

🏈 I’ll admit - completely rattled by the play of Drake Maye.

This was … not good. And it has not gotten any better.

I’m actually glad they play Buffalo on Sunday. I have no idea what to expect, but a road AFC East game leaves no room to not get locked in.

🗽 Really enjoyed the week at Barstool NY. Great to see Hogdale. The office gets a lot of shit, but I see a lot of people working on stuff and helping each other on a bunch of different projects. I will be back before the next Red Sox stream.

⚾ I did not expect Hubbs to celebrate the Yankees win quite as hard as he did.

🏇🏻 Note from a prominent horse trainer yesterday: “I’m a MutStack guy.” 👀👀👀

🙏🏻 Thank you, Ed! It’s a great shirt for some errands or cleaning the garage. You can buy your own MutStack tee right here

That feels like enough Stack for this week.

Back tomorrow with a full review of the renovated Belmont Park - that will be over on the Barstool Blog. Took a lot of pictures and have plenty of thoughts on racing’s ‘newest’ venue.

Good luck with all the bets this weekend. Thanks for reading. And watching.

A Note From MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

Despite the Nor’easter of intergalactic dimensions I will be running in the Tunnel to Towers 5K on Sunday. If you’d like to support, I am matching donations for Tunnel to Towers hats and shirts in our store. Every dollar goes to the cause and then I double it

On a sore leg, no less. And it’s a terrific cause.

Tunnel to Towers honors military veterans and first responders. The name comes from Stephen Siller, an off-duty New York City firefighter (FDNY) who died on September 11, 2001. When the attacks began, he strapped on 60 pounds of gear and ran through the blocked Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (now the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) to reach the Twin Towers and help save others.

You can (and should) buy a shirt or hat to support them here. Every dollar from the purchase goes to Tunnel to Towers. And then Dave is going to double the donation. Awesome gesture for an awesome organization. Hope Dave has rain gear for Sunday…

If you’re a horse racing fan, it’s important to get off Twitter and get to the racetrack every now and then. At least twice a year, I suggest. It’s good for the racing soul. And it’s a good reminder that not everything is as terrible as it feels online.

The game has some MAJOR issues. CAWs (and tracks that roll out the red carpet for them), insane yearling prices, racetrack executives who don’t give a shit about the bettors; those are just a few. I have spent the last three-plus years writing and talking about those issues here and for Barstool. They are real and need to be addressed, and I’ll keep harping on them.

But being at Churchill in May for Lovely Grey’s Oaks attempt, it was energizing to see all the young people at the track yelling support for Dave and Go Go Greys as he walked his horse down to the paddock. You see that same energy when you stroll through the backyard at Saratoga.

And I saw it again in Bensalem, PA on Saturday. I was just a few feet away from trainer Gustavo Delgado as he rooted home The Puma in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx. What a reaction. Now, I was too focused on my bets to get the great video Alexa from ABR got, but I saw it all live.

The Puma had always shown talent, but he hadn't run like that since his effort in the Tampa Bay Derby. He made a HUGE move around the turn and got the jump on Further Ado. The race came back fast, and his 128 Timeform number is the best of any three-year-old this season. Dismiss him (and Further Ado) at your own risk in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The fans at Parx were awesome. They came over to talk KMS, Surviving, Barstool, racing…all day. Chris brought me his hand-written picks for the day. Jake talked about what a big day this was for PA racing.

This was the first time Parx tried their hand at an in-house simulcast show for its big day. After watching hundreds of hours of racing coverage over the years, I got the chance to host some of it myself. It was far from perfect (I called Rick Dutrow by his dad’s name multiple times), but I was glad we got to focus on betting and handicapping with my co-hosts Ryan Anderson and Dick Jerardi. Parx gave us the green light to run our own show and supported us with sound and video.

The people watching a track feed are betting on the races- without those players, well, there are no races. I wish more tracks realized that. My friend Jess crushed her two Grade I calls, again. And the Parx team was committed to giving fans a good product. I loved being a small part of it.

New England racing is basically dead. I wish I had gone to Suffolk Downs more. Same for Rockingham Park. Right when I started playing, you could bet online. That seemed easier to me, and I assumed those tracks would always be there. I was dumb, shocker. Now the closest track is three hours away and only runs in the summer. Shit.

Look, later today I’ll be back doom-scrolling horse-racing Twitter about all the issues with the new Belmont and the idiot owner who tried to name their horse after Hitler. I can’t quit. But (and I think I’m using this phrase right) it was good to ‘touch grass’ and get to a big live racing day this past weekend. If you’re a racing fan, this is your friendly reminder to get to the track next time you can.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox’ playoff chances took a big hit Thursday. Drake Maye has been bad. Week 3 NFL Picks and your weekly MutStack notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #190

We are closing in on 7500 subscribers here at MutStack

If you’re a new reader or a weekly reader and have not just subscribed, a reminder: it’s a huge help if you hit that blue button below

Still free - like it has been since Day 1

Subscribe now

On the Boston Red Sox in the MLB playoffs…

Just the rantings of an angry bald guy in his basement studio.

On the struggles of Drake Maye…

Let’s start with the facts.

Of all the NFL quarterbacks who have 300+ passing yards through the first two weeks of the season, Drake Maye has the worst QB Rating. His 63.1 number is worse than Justin Herbert's. Worse than Daniel Jones’s. Worse even than Malik Willis.

He’s been bad. It's okay to say that.

It doesn’t mean he won’t get better, maybe even as soon as this week against Jacksonville. It also doesn’t mean there are some legit reasons why. AJ Brown went down. Romeo Doubs has been up and down. No TreVeyon Henderson in Week 1. I get it.

But he’s been…bad.

During his playoff run, I was willing to write those struggles off to injury. Is he still hurt? Is that why he has a hard time with some of his deep balls?

When he gets out on the run and plays backyard football, he seems okay. He rolled out to his right and hit Doubs for a big play against the Steelers. But when he’s asked to stand back there in the pocket, read the defense and make a big throw, it’s just not happening.

Woof. Like this game-losing INT vs. Seattle. Or the tipped passes last week against the Steelers. He’s either tucking and running before the play can develop, or he’s forcing the ball out quickly and sometimes into two defenders. The fans (Hogdale) who are quick to blame Josh McDaniels are wrong - I get that it’s easier to blame the OC than the star QB, but it’s the low-hanging fruit. Maye was awesome last year - was that all the OC? Come on.

Seattle and Pittsburgh tried to force Maye to beat them in the pocket. Without AJ Brown, it’s going to be tough.

I said this week on Dirty Water that when you compare him to 2025 MVP candidate Drake Maye, this version hasn't been good. But the reality is, when compared to the rest of the QBs in the league through two weeks, you can say the same thing.

Some silver linings: it’s early. His best WR is hurt. They played two good defenses. He appears to be healthy. He has a good team and coaching staff around him. Like, I still have faith in Drake Maye.

But as someone who heard from his ‘sources’ that he was ready to make the leap and be one of the three best QBs in the league, boy, I’d like to see some flashes of that here against the Jags. Becasue through the first two weeks, for whatever reason, it just hasn’t been there.

On your Four-Pack of NFL Picks…

Week 2 Record: 1-2
Season Record: 2-4
ATDs: 0 for 2

Five TDs for the 49ers, and Deebo can’t get just one. Pain.

We’re onto Week 3. Odds from DraftKings as of Friday morning - make sure you check for updated odds.

The Side
BUCS (+1.5) VS VIKINGS (-112)
Yesterday we were talking on the very popular Barstool Sports SPORTS show, Sports Central, about the 0-2 NFL teams we trust. I was surprised that I was the only one who still has faith in the Bucs. And I’m happy to bet them here. Bad luck turnover game in Week 1. Then in Week 2, that long lightning delay. Now they’re home against Kyler, and I love to bet against Kyler. The Vikings are going to blitz Baker - his 5.5-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio against the blitz ranks fourth among quarterbacks with at least 30 pass attempts against the blitz during that span, per the Tampa Bay media notes. Do not be afraid to bet the 0-2 teams this week.

The Total
DOLPHINS VS. CHIEFS UNDER 45.5 (-105)
The Dolphins are an embarrassment. And they’re playing slow - one of just eight teams in the league taking 30+ seconds per offensive play, per Stats IQ. The Chiefs have played faster, but if you expect them to big up big on the road, then it’s fair to expect them to run the ball and try and ice the game late without expending too much energy. Ugly games have a lot of ways they go under, and this one feels ugly - especially after the Chiefs played that OT game on Sunday night.

The Prop
PAT FREIERMUTH 40+ REC YARDS (+117)
I played a lot of Dalton Schultz in DFS, and it paid off. Turns out the Bengals still suck vs TEs. 17 / 200 through two games. After that pathetic offensive performance vs. the Pats, Rodgers goes back to his binky Sunday. Laddering this up to 80+, too.

The ATD
AJ DILLION +550
Shoutout Boston College. With Jonathan Brooks out, Dillon will get the bulk of the backup carries. He’s built like a fullback and built for goal-line carries.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

⚾ A weird Episode 71 of Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast. We (me, Hogdale, and Ed Hand) got the Contreras news right as the show started. But we powered through. Watch and subscribe on YouTube - then go listen and subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts.

⚾ The American League Playoff bracket is a joke. But I fixed it. You’re welcome, MLB.

🏈 Thanks to KMS/The Case producer and basketball coach David Cullinane for alerting me to the ultra-cringy Drake Maye interview with Rich and Ken (No Ted) Monday on WEEI. First, they asked him if Aaron Rodgers was a douchbag, forcing him to listen to sound from his podcast. Then they played a fan question, asking Drake if he was a “weed guy.” From here, Rich seemed to try to get him to endorse THC live on the radio.

Of course, marijuana is still illegal in Maye’s home state of North Carolina. And he just recently said on a podcast he drinks “once or twice” a year and lives a pretty boring life.

Just terrible stuff, bouncing between Rich’s bad questions and Ken’s “let’s get back to football questions.”

🏈 No Ted Johnson in the interview, but Ted now calls in each Monday at 2:30 as a guest on his own show. He can’t join his show on Mondays because he’s taping a TV show. Very cool.

🎙️ I have not listened to today’s Big O Podcast with John Dennis, but I will. I will definitely listen when he has my friend Kirk on next week. I listened to last Friday’s show with Lou and Christian. Glenn promised the truth on his pod, so I don’t know why they didn’t use Mike Thomas’s name when they were critical of WEEI management. They used some “Wreck-It Ralph” nickname instead? That’s how I heard it.

📺 I am rewatching Friday Night Lights, and I must say it doesn’t make a lot of sense that when Coach Taylor left, they passed over Buddy Garrity’s best friend and OC Mac McGill for the job. They hired the Tennessee Tyrant? And Mac just stayed on the staff? Come on now.

🏀 No, I don’t want UConn to go back to the AAC, thanks for asking.

⚾ Finally, congrats to me for winning the Minifan Fantasy Baseball League. Waking up at 3 AM to pick up starting pitchers was no fun to explain to my wife, but it was worth it. I said on KMS I was retiring, but no shot. Battling Ziggy, GPZ, Chris, and everyone else is too much fun.

And with that, that sure feels like enough Stack for this week.

✈️ Headed to NY next week to spend my days and nights in the Barstool office for Red Sox / Yankees. Or Red Sox / Astros. Or Red Sox / Rangers. Live streams Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. You should watch. Hopefully a visit to the new Belmont Park. Fingers crossed.

Back tomorrow with a big horse racing blog at Barstool.

Good luck with all the bets this weekend. And thanks for reading. And watching.

From the Desk of MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

I had emergency dental surgery and was under anesthesia when I renewed Mut. Not sure the contract is binding

Mut - Holy shit. Feel better, Dave. Yikes. But also, still binding, I think.

So yeah. The text came from My Boss Dave a little bit before 10 AM on Thursday.

I had emailed him last week about my one-year contract expiring. In retrospect, it was pretty dumb to wait until a few days before to reach out. I talked about this on Kirk’s show Tuesday.

Honestly, writing this Thursday night, I couldn't have handled it worse. I knew Dave would be traveling. I had a month to email him and let him know that I love working for him and wanted to continue. I don’t know why I waited so long - more than any boss I ever had in almost 20 years of radio, he’s quick to respond to just about anything I’ve ever reached out about.

Before I had a chance to text him about it again, he reached out to me (under anesthesia, I guess) with a number and a renewal.

Done and done.

I love working for Dave and Barstool. And being a small part of KMS. And doing the Doubles Show with Elio and Turk. And blogging about the Red Sox and horse racing. And doing shows like Surviving. And trying to find the next great grey racehorse. And the big events.

A few years ago, I made a big mistake by staying loyal to Bomber Brad and Sportsbook Live. Kirk said I was dumb. Glenn Ordway (more on him below) said I was dumb. My brother said I was dumb. They were right. And I’m extremely lucky that Dave was open to some bullying from me, Kirk, and Whit last year on The Unnamed Show (RIP).

I thought it was a pretty good year. But I was watching Rone on his show this week, and he talked about doing some “vicious self-evaluation” of himself and his work at Barstool. I’m due for some of that too. That’s for a different day. Today is a day for MutStack - which will continue to grow and prosper in Year 2 of new ownership.

And a day for #thankyoudave. And #thankyoukirk. I’m aware of how lucky I am and the opportunity I have. And I’ll continue to try and not fuck it up.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox are annoying. The Big O is back. Week 2 NFL Picks. And very busy MutStack Notes, including an apology.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #189.

We are closing in on 7500 subscribers here at MutStack

If you’re a new reader or a weekly reader and have not just subscribed, a reminder: it’s a huge help if you hit that blue button below

Still free - like it has been since Day 1

Subscribe now

On the Playoff-Bound Boston Red Sox…

For the last time, I promise. #healthmatters

On The Big O’s New Podcast…

I don’t know why Glenn is arguing with people online - this picture is clearly touched up. Either with AI, Canva, or something. Just admit it, Big O!

Yes, a year after coming on The MutStack Podcast and saying he was planning some sort of comeback. And years after saying that same thing on The Kirk Minihane Show, The Big O is back.

The first episode of his new podcast dropped Wednesday. Titled “Glenn and Pete,” it’s Glenn and his old flash guy, Pete Sheppard. I loved it.

We got a lot of old WEEI stories. Like this one.

When WEEI first fired Pete, Coach Bill Belichick was so mad he reached out to 98.5 The Sports Hub to get him on the Patriots’ pre- and postgame shows. Gary Tanguay hosted that show at the time and, as Pete tells it, Gary had a relative who was a sponsor, so the station balked. At one point, Pete said, “Go ask (former producer) Jimmy Stewart.”

Looks like Jimmy says it happened. Or at least the Belichick part.

Most of the first episode is Glenn and Pete talking about the old days, which was entertaining - and there is an audience for that. Is he planning on doing that five days a week? Because Big O mentions going 5x a week (he shouldn't feel like he has to do that) late in the episode. He also mentioned Pete as a weekly guest.

I talked to Glenn for a while on Thursday. He confirmed he is planning on building out to five days a week. He gave me some ideas of what it might look like, but he also asked me not to map out his whole plan for you, the MutStack reader. I’ve written this before and told him this, but no one was more supportive of my mid-day hiring at WEEI than Glenn, so I’ll let him map it out when he’s ready. He sounds great.

I think Pete will be heavily involved. Episode 2 features Lou Merloni and Christian Fauria (I have not listened yet), and I’m betting those two will be involved, too.

I should be viewing Glenn as real MutStack competition because he’s the only one who cares about Boston sports radio gossip MORE than I do!

He tweeted on Thursday night that Kirk has agreed to be a guest. Hopefully he tries to get Kirk and Gerry. And/or Dino and Gerry. He needs to have My Boss Dave on at some point. Hopefully he does not ask me to be a guest with Mike Adams b/c I would hate to say no to Big O.

There are a lot of Boston radio fans who read skim here every Friday looking for gossip. If you’re one of those people, you should be listening to The Big O’s new podcast.

On your Four-Pack of Week 2 NFL Picks…

Week 1 Results: 1-2
Season Results: 1-2
ATD Scorers: 0 for 1

Week 1 was shockingly high-scoring, right? Gambled on the Ravens new OC being bad (he’s not). And the defenses ruling the day in the NFC North (they didn’t). Prop was good, but Cade Otton could not find the box, but did get five targets.

We’re onto Week 2. Odds from DraftKings as of Friday morning - make sure you check for updated odds.

The Side
BRONCOS (-2.5) VS. JAGUARS (-118)
I don’t like either team. In fact, I actively dislike both teams. But while the Broncos were playing a good Chiefs team in Kansas City, the Jags beat up on the Browns. Shit, Cleveland is actively trying to tank. I’m not putting much stock in that win. The Broncos defense missed 28 (!!!) tackles against the Chiefs, allowing 247 yards after missed tackles, the most yards allowed by any defense in a game since at least 2018. Now they’re back home, and Sean Payton is probably going to call more plays. That’s a good thing. And I thought Denver was better before the season. Laying less than an FG? Yep.

The Total
COLTS AT CHIEFS UNDER 46.5 (-110)
How about that! Andy Reid just POUNDING the rock. The Chiefs had a 45% neutral pass rate in Week 1 - that would have been the lowest in all the NFL last season. Runnin’ Reid wants to chew clock and take the air out of the ball. On the other side, this Colts team has played slow under this coaching staff and lacks offensive playmakers to break a game open.

And then there’s this - per Action Network, the under is now 30-10 (75%) in Patrick Mahomes' last 40 home starts, best mark of any QB in the NFL since 2022. UNDER for me Sunday Night.

The Prop
Drake Maye Rushing Yards 30+ (+121)
I think Drake is going to be under pressure much of the game Sunday. The Steelers have a very good front and registered four sacks in week one. Shit, they had two strip sacks waived off thanks to penalties. He ran for 45 yards on just 7 carries last year against Pittsburgh. Might be a little wet but that’s okay.

The ATD
DEEBO SAMUEL +230
Seven targets, three in the Red Zone. Still a weapon back in San Fran.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

⚾ Late Night Baseball Talk with Ed Hand, Hodgale, and me on Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast. The Red Sox won, but does it really matter if Wilson Contreras and Aroldis Chapman are hurt? Playoff rotation, Jarren Duran, and a lot more. Watch and subscribe on YouTube - then go listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

🎙️ I thought a new football season might mean WEEI’s Ted Johnson would work Mondays and join the station's very important Patriots Monday programming, including an interview with Drake Maye. He has not done so since he started at the station - even though he’s labeled as the star of the show.

Well, Monday came, and no Ted. Sad.

BUT…he actually called into the show to explain that he has a TV show to tape on Mondays, and that’s why hes not in. Points for honesty, but it’s a wild move to call in and tell your radio audience that TV is more important than they are.

🏈 Credit to Gronk for taking the high road, but what a miss from the Patriots not to consult him at all before giving his #87 to Romeo Doubs. "I am not the one who makes the decisions," Gronkowski said with Kay Adams this week, before confirming, "I wasn't consulted at all, but I mean, I'm cool with it."

You can argue the team should retire his number altogether, but it’s tough to argue they should have given him a heads-up.

That looks ridiculous, right?

🎙️My friend Kirk will hate this, but his new Deep Dive series is very good. It’s just him in his studio, monologuing about stuff he cares about. Like Rocky. Or Michael J. Fox. Most impressive is that this guy hates new technology, but is apparently recording all of this by himself on Sundays. Minor miracle. He keeps asking people to subscribe, so I did, and you should, too.

🎙️ Since we’re here, as I said this morning on KMS, I messed up. I believe in the chain of command. I didn't follow it correctly re: the video edit. I apologized to Kirk on the show and off the air. And I’ll talk to Justin later. I feel like an asshole, and hopefully we can move past my mistake at some point.

🏇🏻 PA DERBY DAY! Back here in beautiful Bensalem, PA for Saturday’s Cotillion and PA Derby. This year we’re actually hosting a full simulcast show - you’ll be able to watch on the Parx Feed on DraftKings Racing and/or DK Horse. We start in Race 5 and go through the end of the 15-race (!!!) card. If you’re on track, come say hello. Full handicap of the big races tomorrow on the weekly Barstool Horse Racing Blog. Thanks to Dave for letting me make the trip and be a part of it.

🏈 Patriots Pick: I respect the Pittsburgh defense, but Mike McCarthy is still a moron. And the Pats should be able to make some plays downfield. Big bounce-back spot for Drake Maye here. Getting TreVeyon Henderson back will help. 24-13 Pats win.

🎙️Nantz and JJ Watt on the call for Pats/Steelers. Thought Watt was good last week.

🔒 So, yeah. I mentioned this on KMS, and people think I’m lying. When I stay at a hotel by myself, I put something in front of the door. Usually the ironing board. I know it doesn’t lock the door any more than it already is, but in my mind the loud sound of the board hitting the floor will wake me up and get me alert to fight off my intruder. Sometimes I’ll move a chair over there, too. I have done this for years, in hotels good and bad.

I’m a psycho; I’m aware. But I’m not a liar.

Yep. That feels like enough Stack for this week. Back tomorrow on the Barstool Blog to handicap the PA Derby card from Parx.

Thanks for reading. And watching.

Subscribe now

Share

In honor of 9/11 all Mut fans should buy a Tunnel To Towers hat or tee shirt.

100% of the proceeds go to Tunnel To Towers and I’ll match 100% of the proceeds.

Awesome gesture from My Boss Dave on the 25th Anniversary of 9/11.

Tunnel To Towers honors military veterans and first responders. The name comes from Stephen Siller, an off-duty New York City firefighter (FDNY) who died on September 11, 2001. When the attacks began, he strapped on 60 pounds of gear and ran through the blocked Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (now the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) to reach the Twin Towers and help save others.

Powerful stuff and a great organization. You can (and should) buy a shirt or hat to support them here and learn more about their work here. #neverforget

It was a very good Season Five of Surviving Barstool. Spoilers below.

Sure, I was the ref, and I’m probably biased here. But a very enjoyable watch.

But one of the biggest complaints I hear and read (besides people wanting more of the ref in green) is that the pre-show alliances are too impactful. But that’s why the show is different than Survivor. These are co-workers who can reach out and work together before the show, and they do.

Let me break some news for you now - there are already people at Barstool talking to each other about potential alliances for Season 6. Fact.

And because all these players have to work with each other AFTER the production, we get the drama of Tommy vs. all his friends. Dana vs. Kelly. Rear Admiral vs. Jeff D. Lowe. I think all of this adds to the game - it would be a lot more boring if this wasn't allowed.

The idols thing? I get it. But when Dana won four competitions in a row, it sort of changed the game.

I reached out to The Commissioner, Jeff D. Lowe, about potential rule changes for 2026. He responded exclusively to MutStack.com.

“Everything will be on the table IF it happens again. Obviously, for this last season specifically, I’ve gone on shows/social and said that if we could have one thing back, it would be to put time limits on the idols.”

In the end, Rone was a deserving winner. I’m a novice at Survivor gameplay, but Rone showed up in a tribe with no allies after the merge and made it to the Final 3. I would have voted for him. And yes, my vote would have been swayed by the fact that he was apparently the only person in the finals who did not try to reach out to the jury and sway their vote. I don’t know if Jeff can stop that in the future, but the jury house shouldn't be allowed to communicate with players still in the game.

As far as my role in the season finale, I wish I had offered to eat one of the worms before the competition. That would have been good TV. Damnit. My goal was to stay out of the way and do what Jeff told me to. Best idea for content? Probably not. I could have been more demonstrative with goals and scoring plays. But I took the role seriously and wanted to be locked in for every challenge. My co-workers were playing for $250k, and I didn’t want to fuck it up. It helped that I’m not really friends with anyone on the cast, and I don’t have to work in the Chicago office.

If asked, I would ref again. If he doesn’t play, Tate would be a good choice if they wanted to switch it up. Tate was born to be a TV referee.

Fun show. I’m sure it will be back for Season 6. I speak for everyone when I say I hope Kirk plays. He’s threatened to spoil it if it doesn’t. He should play. Very fun show to be a small part of. Thanks to Jeff and the whole team. Glenny did step off the platform.

And I wish I ate a worm.

Meanwhile, Drake Maye sucked. The Boston Globe rips Red Sox radio voice, Will Flemming. NFL Picks are back - plus a LOADED Notes section.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #188

Yes, My Boss Dave still owns MutStack. But it remains free to subscribe and have it emailed directly to your inbox every Friday.

100% Free. Hit the blue button. Go for it.

Subscribe now

On the Maye Report and the Pats’ loss in Seattle…

1%. Just 1%.

On Chad Finn’s Criticism of Red Sox Voice Will Flemming…

While the heat was cranked to 11 on Red Sox Radio voice Will Flemming for his anti-Jazz Chisholm rant and subsequent unnecessary apology, The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn wrote a scathing piece on Flemming last week. Well, to be fair, it was days after the peak of the Flemming story. But Finn pushed ahead with the oddly timed column anyway.

It would have made sense if he went all in on Flemming for his Yankee comments, but that was NOT the focus of the column. No, Chad ripped Will for the way he does a broadcast. “Way too often, the broadcast sounds like it could be called the World of Will Flemming Podcast,” Finn wrote.

A couple of things.

1. As a radio listener, this is actually what I want. I don’t want stats. Or league leaders. Or standings. I want opinions. I want to be entertained if the game is not entertaining itself. Chad makes a clear reference to Kirk and Callahan, saying Femming’s approach is “the realization of the opinionated sports-radio-show approach to a game broadcast that the then-WEEI morning show hosts pushed for several years ago.” That was Kirk and Gerry. And they were right. I have spent hundreds of hours in the Red Sox radio booth, and the constant reliance on stats vs. entertainment was frustrating. I feel the same way as a listener now. And I listen to a lot of games on the radio

2. Chad goes after Will for a common phrase of his, “That just can’t happen!’’ when a Red Sox player screws up. I’m thankful that Will (and Dave O’Brien before him on the radio) were willing to be critical of a player or a bad play. Sean McDonough, same thing.

3. “But the biggest recurring gripe I’ve heard from fans is that Flemming doesn’t always tell you what is happening, but what he anticipates will happen, which leads to misjudgments.” Chad (and others) are not wrong here. Will can get overly excited, like a dog about to be taken on his walk, during some important plays. Fair. I’d also point out that sometimes Will speaks as he played, vs. letting Will Middlebrooks or Lenny DiNardo do the talking from that perspective.

RE: the timing. Choosing now to go after Flemming was interesting, given that he claims that “(his) inbox has been peppered with listener gripes (RE: Flemming) going back to April.”

Big picture, I’m 100% okay with my radio broadcast being more opinion and conversation vs. stats and player bios. Nope, I don't care about the 5th note on a player’s history in the media guide. I’d rather hear about Will’s kids or what he had for lunch vs. what college Sam Antonacci attended.

Sounds like Chad disagrees. And his readers do, too. He picked a hell of a time to write about it, that’s for sure.

On your Week 1 Four-Pack of NFL Picks….

2023 Results - Good
2024 Results - Pretty good
2025 Results: Bad
2026 Record: 0-0

And we’re back! After a couple of solid years of picks here at MutStack, 2025 was not good. I’m adjusting my process for 2026, and I’m hopeful the results will follow. It will be hard for them to be worse.

Odds listed are current at DraftKings as of Friday morning. Make sure to check for updated odds. One side, one total, one prop, and one ATD scorer.

The Side
COLTS +3.5 VS RAVENS (-115)
I was not a big believer in Indy last year, but I love this spot as a home dog to start the season. Ravens have a whole new coaching staff and offensive play-calling unit. Declan Doyle has never called plays before in the NFL, and I’m betting he gets off to a slow start. Historically, Colts are 10-2 ATS against the Ravens over the last two decades. Daniel Jones is healthy (for now) and is 12-6 ATS indoors. 17-7 ATS under Shane Steichen in September, the Colts are prepared early, and I’ll gladly take the points here.

The Total
PACKERS AT VIKINGS UNDER 46.5 (-115)
Kyler Murray stinks. The Packers have a good defense. Matt LaFleur’s team always plays slow, and I doubt that changes with Josh Jacobs not available. Add in a blitzing Brian Flores defense? Folks, we love UNDERS Week 1 in the NFL, especially with teams not playing their starters in the preseason. Unders 12-4 last year in Week 1 and so far, 2-0 to start 2026. Plus, this is a Divisional Game, and we love those unders, too. UNDER!

The Prop
Devaughn Vele OVER 3.5 REC (+100)
Should play a ton with Tyson OUT. His yards prop might be in play, too.

The ATD (Anytime TD)
Cade Otton (+340)
Bengals AWFUL vs. TEs last year. No Mike Evans in the RedZone.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

🏈 The result was terrible and Drake Maye was bad, but thanks to Hogdale for letting me (and Jerry) share his stream stage Wednesday Night at GameOn! The crowd was electric; Hogdale’s fan club was out in full force. I got to meet Barstool legend, Uncle Buck. Just painful to have Maye vomit all over himself. But I had a blast. Thanks to Steve from Barstool for setting up and running the stream.

🏈 Hope to see some friendly faces tonight at The Brook in Seabrook, NH. The Brook has done a great job with these live events with New England Sports Legends, and it’s fun to be a small part of them. Doors will open a little before 7 PM, and there will be a line - if you want a front-row seat, you’ll want to get there a little earlier.

🎙️ Part 1. I can only imagine what the Boston sports radio listeners thought when they tuned into Rich, Ken and Ted on WEEI Wednesday afternoon and heard Red Sox talk in the first segment. It has to be the only show in America that wouldn't start with the local NFL team’s opener just a few hours away. Wild stuff.

🎙️ Part 2. I can only imagine what the Boston sports radio listeners thought when they tuned into Rich, Ken and Ted on WEEI Thursday afternoon and heard Bruins captaincy talk before 5 PM, the day after Drake Maye looked so bad in a Pats loss.

🏀 Adam Schefter breaking UConn recruiting news shows the program's importance and the status of the best college coach in the country, Dan Hurley.

🏈 Lafayette probably stinks, but UConn disposed of them easily last week. A much bigger test against Maryland tomorrow afternoon, but I’m all in on Jason Candle and this program, and I’ll be Locked In (On) to CBS Sports Network Saturday at 3:30. Flag football season opens tomorrow night, and we have a title to defend, but I'll be watching from home.

⚾ No Red Sox video this week because these games feel pretty meaningless. Getting healthy is important, and if the Sox are going to beat the Yankees in the Wild Card, these things need to happen.

🍕 My Boss Dave reviewed a local pizza place in Billerica, Big Al’s, a few weeks back. We’re a Joanie’s/Silver Palate family and embarrassed to say I had never been. We finally did takeout Thursday, and while I was shocked he gave it a 9.1, I totally get it. Sauce is good and the crust is excellent. Even after a quick reheat, it has a crunch you can hear - and it’s light. As a Chelmsford guy, I will not say it’s better than Joanie’s, but it’s very good. Chocolate chip cookie: A++ get one 👀

That feels like enough Stack for this week. See you Friday night at The Brook.

Good luck with all your NFL Week 1 bets. Go Huskies.

Thanks for reading. And watching.

Fingers crossed. Naughty Nancy runs tomorrow (Saturday) in Race 5 at Saratoga. Miss Watermelon runs on Monday also in Race 5. I’ll be in Bloomington for Big Noon Kickoff tomorrow so it’s up to Mut to bring Nancy home for GGG.

Yep. I’ll be on track to watch Naughty Nancy make her debut tomorrow. She’s been training great and is the 3-1 ML favorite in the race 👀👀

I’ll be the bald guy in the Go Go Greys polo. Come say hello. Much more tomorrow in At The Post with Mut on the Barstool Blog.

It was not a good throw.

Credit to the Surviving Barstool team for including this in Episode 9. Jeff asked me to throw him the suitcase full of cold, hard (fake) cash.

I didn’t get it there. Well, all the way there.

Jeff loves catching things thrown to him on the show. Immunity idols. The big red barstool idol thingy. One of those balls from an early challenge. He just loves to catch shit. He could have made a more valiant effort to catch the suitcase. He admitted that on X, but my throw could have been better, too.

In my defense, it was so heavy that I should have just said no. But I’m a people-pleaser. Because if I had thrown it full-force, it would have knocked his ass over. Maybe even hurt him. So I tried to toss a floater over there, but it was too heavy. And the result was fake money everywhere. It was very embarrassing.

And it broke the suitcase. Jeff was mad, and he would have been even more mad if Producer Rob had not been right there and said: “You can’t blame him for that.” That helped defuse the moment of a broken prop for a very important show. Jeff dumping the money out was hilarious.

One of just two highlights for me on the shows this week. The other was Brandon Walker asking me if I had an Idol, well, “In my a$$h*le?” I did not. Some spoilers below.

Episode 8: I was just there to be Vanna White and uncover the puzzles. I would have sucked at that puzzle.

Episode 9: There was some worry that the players might try to block the balls being thrown at their towers - that was not allowed. Might have been an auto DQ; I forget exactly. So I was there to judge if that happened. Of course, it never did, and you see me for like two seconds total. The Brandon Walker meltdown was as funny in person as it was on TV. I don’t really know Brandon, but in my interactions with him, he was the funniest cast member.

Turns out there is a lot of sitting around and waiting when you are the referee for a major media production. And BFW would see me and, four or five times a day, say, “You’re doing a hell of a job, Mut.” Every day. I’d reply, “Thank you, Brandon,” and we’d move on. It made me laugh. It made some of the social team laugh. You had to be there, maybe.

Anyway, yeah, Tommy getting blindsided was wild. Brandon getting knocked out was obvious watching it, but being there live and not knowing who had Idols or anything about the gameplay, I assumed Glenny was going home. But he’s still here.

I mentioned this on Kirk’s show Thursday, but there is a moment in the finale that was, in my humble opinion, the wildest moment of the season. We’ll see how the edit goes Monday night, but it’s a moment I texted with some of the cast about in the days after the show ended. You should watch.

The debates about idols and phone calls with the jury will roll on, but I think it’s been an awesome season. Can’t wait for Monday night.

Meanwhile, Will Flemming apologized. People hated my Red Sox blog. It’s football season! And your Labor Day Weekend Notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #187.

Yes, My Boss Dave still owns MutStack. But it remains free to subscribe and have it emailed directly to your inbox every Friday.

100% Free. Hit the blue button. Please.

Subscribe now

On a big week in Red Sox Media…

I actually blogged about the Will Flemming story early Monday morning. This was before it really blew up. I had a four-hour drive home from Saratoga in front of me - with two boys and no good cell service on the back roads of NY and VT. I wanted to write about it before we left.

By the time we got to Wahoo’s (great fries) in Wilmington, VT, Will had issued his online apology for these comments, and the story had gone mega-viral. But my main opinion had not changed - I disagreed with his take, but I love the passion.

I wish he hadn't apologized. And I wish he had not tried to make himself a victim by talking about threats. He’s a local announcer talking to a local audience, and he’s allowed to get emotional. If he had done this on NBC’s Sunday Night Baseball, I would get the backlash. But this was on Red Sox radio in the aftermath of the Red Sox getting screwed on that no-catch call in center. Get emotional, Will.

The only part that came close to crossing some line was suggesting that Austin Wells get plunked because of Jazz Chisholm’s actions. Sort of dumb, and you don’t want people to get hurt, but announcers and sports talk show hosts have suggested stuff like that for decades.

Maybe Will has dreams of being a national announcer someday and felt like an apology was the best way to move on. Maybe the Red Sox asked him to apologize (doubt it). Or maybe he’s just not used to any sort of criticism, was sensitive to the story going viral, and decided to apologize. If I had to guess, that would be it.

Will can be sensitive online. When he incorrectly predicted the big Red Sox move this offseason on X.com, then got razzed by Red Sox fans, he quit the platform and chastised the fans. He could have had fun with it, and he chose not to.

I think the fake outrage over his comments was crazy, and I don’t think he needed to apologize.

Now, there is no doubt that former WEEI host Jon Meterparel is talking directly to Flemming and NESN TV voice Dave O’Brien here. Both announcers call Ceddanne (not Cedanne, Meter) by his first name, not his last, on Red Sox broadcasts.

I have zero problem with this locally. Ceddanne sounds better. Shohei sounds better. Nationally, I guess I get Meter’s point. But it does not bother me at all - unless the guys using the players’ first names refuse to criticize those same players - or any players on the local team.

Bigger picture with both of these stories: make local sports broadcasts (especially radio) more emotional. More honest. That means being more open about criticizing the team when they suck. Dave O’Brien was never shy about doing that on radio. But now, on TV, we get a lot of schedule/standings/league-leader talk when the Sox aren't playing well.

And sure, it also means going nuts when Mickey Gasper gets hotter than lava. Or calling an opponent a bush league player. Just say it with your chest and don’t apologize for it.

Will didn’t need to apologize. And Meter needs to relax about being the announcer ombudsman for America.

That’s how I see it, anyway. Feel free to push back in the comments below.

Leave a comment

On the State of the Red Sox…

Seriously, why? Also, 22 games, not days, there at the end. I’m stupid.

Buy a T-Shirt.

On your 2026 New England Patriots…

This is the section of this week’s MutStack where I’m supposed to have some big, bold take on the 2026 Patriots. I had allotted this space and this week for this topic for weeks.

But MutStack Trust Tree - I just don’t have it. And just like in radio, previewing a game or a series kinda sucks.

Instead, my deepest thoughts and fears on the upcoming Patriots season, in list form.

🏈 For the 100th time, Drake Maye is going to have a monster season.

🏈 Like, ‘third-best QB in the league by the end of the season’ type season.

🏈 I don’t think the schedule is as bad as people have made it out to be. They have to go to Chicago on a short week (Thursday) during this, but the Raiders, Jets, at Bears and at Miami should put them in a good spot through eight weeks.

🏈 I’ve seen some pushback on Year 2 TreVeyon Henderson explosion, and I don’t get it.

🏈 What would constitute a step back for this team? I’d say missing the playoffs, not losing 1-3 more games.

🏈 I don’t think this team is missing the playoffs.

🏈 My friend Kirk has them at 9-8. I have them at 12-5, if you care. That’s with Christian Gonzalez playing

🏈 I really don’t get the Gonzo contract stuff, other than the team looks cheap. And stubborn. Seattle set the market with the Witherspoon deal - it should be pretty easy. He’s one of the handful of best corners in the league, and those guys get paid. Pay him

🏈 The AFC is going to be much better this year.

🏈 Josh McDaniels is going to cook. And Hogdale and others will pick his play-calling apart. They’re idiots. Respectfully.

🏈 The preseason is so stupid. What did we learn about this team with no one important playing in games?

🏈 Feels like the Vrabel/Russini story has gone away. I guess if she speaks about it or does some sort of tell-all during the season, it could impact things.

🏈 But a reminder - these NFL Insiders hold stories for Sundays - and especially Week 1 Sunday morning. I won’t be shocked if new info on this story drops this Sunday, this Wednesday, or next Sunday.

🏈 If I had to guess, the Pats lose on the road in the Divisional Round of the Playoffs. But do they have the upside to go back to the Super Bowl? Absolutely. But they won’t be surprising anyone this season.

There are much higher expectations this season looming over the team. I’ll be curious how the team deals with them.

Taping a Dirty Water - Patriots Edition later on Friday. Maybe Old Balls Jerry Thornton has better ideas on what we learned this preseason or why Gonzo isn't signed.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

🏈 Oh baby. Football! Big week next week. We’ll kick it off Wednesday at GameOn! at Fenway Park for Pats/Seahawks and the NFL Opener. Hogdale will be calling the game, like he always does. Just with a live audience, a first for a Hogdale stream. I’ll be there and ready to jump on stream. Old Balls Jerry Thornton will be there. Maybe some other special guests. Put on your best Pats jersey ot vintage Mut Stack T-Shirt and join us. Or I’ll never talk to you again.

🏈 Then Friday, Pats legend Rodney Harrison will be at The Brook in Seabrook, NH. It’s a free event, and I’m lucky to be hosting the Q and A with Rodney in the Seasons Showroom. I’d advise getting there a little early to ensure you have a seat. I’ll be there early in the DraftKings Sports and Race book; I’m sure you’ll see me yelling at my horse to win. These events have been awesome, and I can’t wait to talk to Rodney Friday Night. See you at The Brook!

🎙️ I get a lot of DMs and Substack Messages about this. I had incorrectly posted a few weeks ago that Rich Shertenlieb might be moving to Colorado. Hand up, got that one wrong. But he’s not been in-studio all summer.

His boss Mike Thomas posted this week, saying that Rich has been home helping his wife, who broke her hip. Hope she’s feeling okay.

Mike says, “Rich has been open about this,” but I’ll tell you some people who work in that building didn't know why Rich wasn't in-studio. Or when he would come back. If he’s back after Labor Day, it is sure going to look like he got the okay to work remotely over the summer, even if that’s not the case.

Family first, 100%, I get it, but it has hurt the show. As has Ted Johnson not being a part of the Patriots Monday interviews over the years. Has he ever been part of those? I don’t remember. I’ll have to go back and check.

🎙️ Good thoughts for 98.5’s Marc Bertrand, after he announced this week that he has thyroid cancer. He is symptom-free, feels good, and is in good spirits…which included busting my balls via text this week.

He’ll be out for a few days and back on Wednesday for Pats and Seahawks. “I’m going to be fine,” he told the audience this week. He was diagnosed through a screening and urged his listeners to get screened themselves.

"If it's colonoscopies, go do it. If it's a lung cancer screening, go do it. Don't avoid it, don't be afraid of it."

An important message, for sure. Glad he was open with the audience, and I look forward to hearing him back on the radio next week.

🏇🏻 This was awesome. Thanks to the Minifans/MutSluts who showed up at the live stream for Travers Day. Napoleon Solo winning would have been a meet-saver, but he ran his eyeballs out for second. Had a blast on the stream and hope to do more.

🏈 Updated New England College Football Rankings: 1. UConn 2. UMass. 3. Boston College

🏈 They won’t win the National Title, but it’s hard not to be excited about Jason Candle and UConn football. The new head coach went to seven bowl games with Toledo and, by all accounts, recruited his ass off once he got the job.

That feels like enough Stack for this week. Have a great/safe Labor Day.

Next Week - NFL Picks return to The Friday Four-Pack. We had a bad 2025. We’ll be better in 2026. Saratoga picks tomorrow on the Barstool horse racing blog. And we’ll see you in Saratoga tomorrow.

Good luck with all your bets this weekend. Thanks for reading. And watching.

A Note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

I am sick for Travers Weekend. Very disappointed in my body. I will try to persevere and give an A+ performance nonetheless.

Shit. Boss is sick. Michael Jordan Flu Game incoming? This means I have to step it up and find winners for him and the boys.

Also, feel better, Boss.

“He’s fucking useless.”

That wasn’t nice, Marty.

Two big episodes of Surviving Barstool this week. Spoilers below, be advised!

Episode 6:

The big bar/hook game. I should have gestured a touchdown or goal or something every time a team scored. But again, I wasn't trying to make it a ref show.

I was there to make sure people didn’t go over the line when they threw and then stayed in a line behind their teammate who was throwing. Like a kindergarten teacher. Not much action for me.

Episode 7:

Ring of Fire. Awesome. I loved this set of games from the Surviving team. Those shuffle calls… not all that close - the way the pucks hit the lines, you could tell pretty easily. I felt like I made more calls than we saw on the show?

Shout out to follow ref and host Jeff D Lowe for getting all those calls right too!

Again, calls were clear-cut. Not sure why Marty is mad, other than his Yankees are going to give up the top wild card spot this weekend.

This game took FOREVER. I was sprinting back and forth trying to speed things up, firing pucks back at the fellas, add some energy and laughs, but that didn’t make the edit. I was glad BFW said something at some point because everyone was playing so safe and there was a chance we were never leaving that office.

I was just the scorekeeper for bags.

The poker game - I had to keep replacing cards, and I sucked at it. Jeff and Crew were getting annoyed, for sure, because they wanted the cards at a certain spot and it took me a while to figure out exactly what they meant.

Thank you, McCannLSH. Tweet of the Year.

As far as the game goes, watching that Tommy/Dana moment play out again was wild. I would absolutely stink at this game and be voted out Day 1, but it seems like a mistake to let any strong alliance go on too long.

Tate played this game very hard. You can see it as a viewer now watching the show. And it was the same being there watching it all play out live in Chicago.

The show has been excellent. Some big players left, all trying to make big plays.

I’m sure Marty Mush will find a way to rip me again on camera.

Meanwhile, it’s a huge Red Sox weekend. It’s Travers Weekend. The Pats preseason is mercifully over. And I did the hardest thing I have ever had to do for this newsletter and you, the MutStack reader (and hopefully subscriber) this week - more on that in the notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #186.

Yes, My Boss Dave still owns MutStack. But it remains free to subscribe and have it emailed directly to your inbox every Friday.

100% Free. Yes.

Subscribe now

On the Red Sox and Yankees…

Here we go 3..2..1

First Walk and Talk Four-Pack video. A true day in history.

See, the QR code works! Sometimes!

Get the MutStack T-Shirt in the Barstool Store!

On the 157th running of the Travers…

Travers Day is my favorite racing day of the year. In fact, it’s one of my favorite days of the year overall.

I’ve been lucky to attend every Travers since 2003, when West Coast invader Ten Most Wanted won the Funny Cide-less edition of the race. Even the year the Travers was moved for Covid, our family was here, betting on races we couldn't attend as fans.

I love the fans running in to get tables. I love seeing the best three-year-olds in the country walk through the Saratoga backyard. I love the day's energy. The fact the race signals the end of summer is offset by the fact football is here. Sometimes the Travers comes up light.

Not this year.

The Kentucky Derby Winner, who is also the Belmont winner, is here. So is the Preakness winner. They’re joined by the Jim Dandy winner. And the Curlin winner. And the Haskell winner. The Indiana Derby winner. And the Louisiana Derby, just for good measure. Basically, anyone you want here is here, minus a few Brad Cox runners.

Loaded, loaded field.

Some quick thoughts on the group.

#1 Emerging Market
Just had not improved that much for early-season success

#2 Leading Change
Two for two but untested against these types. Super Trainer™️Brad Cox always dangerous.

#3 Napoleon Solo
New jockey for this who knows Saratoga and speed to take this group a long way

#4 The Puma
Bet him in the Haskell; maybe he didn’t like the slop? Wish he ran better.

#5 Renegade
No Irad but one of legit threats to take this

#6 Ocelli
Lower end of tri and superfecta seems the limit

#7 Sea Strike
Ran big in the Curlin and a similar effort might put him in the Winner’s Circle

#8 Baby Vino
Has won three in a row - got an A+ ride from Vargas last time but back to Paco today

#9 Golden Tempo
Will be flying late here with the meet’s top jockey

#10 Silent Tactic
Wild card - showed rare speed last time. Back to closing today?

My Win Contenders
Napoleon Solo, Renegade, Sea Strike, Baby Vino, Golden Tempo. I’ll be using these five in the Pick 5 in some way, shape, or form.

In the Preakness, I thought Napoleon Solo would take them wire to wire and win the race. He won, but he was able to rate and get it done. On paper, this race sets up the same way. He looks like the big speed, with #2 Lending Change the next up. I guess if you believe the speed that #10 Silent Tactic showed last time is legit, he might make things interesting early. If he does, I’m in trouble.

Because I’m prepared to bet Solo to win the Travers. Chad Summers could have taken him to Parx and been a Top 3 choice in the PA Derby. He lands here with Johnny V, and that feels like a bit of a tell. I have not seen the DRF Clocker Reports yet, but he looks to be training very well. At 8-1, I think he’s my pick in a deep Travers.

But honestly, as of Friday morning, I’m still on the fence for an official pick. I think Sea Strike is very interesting. And Renegade was loaded last time. I need more time. Sorry. It's just that competitive of a race.

So my official pick for tomorrow's Travers will have to wait for At The Post With Mut Blog at Barstool Saturday morning. Plus full-card selections for a loaded Saratoga card.

Side Note: Like, ‘too excited to sleep’ excited to be on the stream with boys on Saturday. Can’t wait. It’s all I’ve been thinking about.

On a few thoughts on the Patriots Preseason…

🏈 We didn’t see him for a snap of football, but the buzz continues to be that Drake Maye is going to have a monster season - at least that’s the word from around Gillette and people who have watched this team this offseason and summer. I’ve written that a few times, and nothing I’ve heard has made me think differently.

The WR core is just soooooo much more dynamic than anything he’s had in the NFL. He’s bulked up. He has the same OC for the second-straight season. And a real one too, not Alex Van Pelt. Big, big season incoming, and I’m not the only person who thinks so.

🏈 That being said, the Kayshon Boutte trade could haunt the team. He’s a great 1-for-1 replacement for AJ Brown, if he were to miss time. To dump him for a special-teamer from Houston and a late-round pick did not make a whole lot of sense, especially if other WRs struggle.

🏈 I have a very small brain, but this seems pretty simple:

Christian Gonzalez is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL
The best cornerbacks get paid a lot of money
The Patriots should pay Christian Gonzalez a lot of money.

What are we doing here? Guys like Mike Felger and Chris Curtis have destroyed the team for their actual cash spending over the years, and this feels like it’s only helping their argument.

And a bad look for Bob Kraft, saying at the beginning of camp the team had already offered Gonzalez a top-of-the-market contract. So when Adam Schefter comes out and says Thursday the team has not “gotten to that category” as far as offering him Devon Witherspoon Money ($33 million/year)…yeah, that makes the owner look bad. And his original comments made Gonzalez look bad, which I’m sure irked the player at some level.

Common sense dictates the deal still gets done, right? I mean, right? Are they really going to trade him? I don’t see it.

🏈 Watching Mike Vrabel punt away the preseason and not play anyone of relevance (especially on offense) is a reminder of the biggest ripoff in sports - NFL preseason tickets. The games are bundled into your season tickets, and you can’t opt out of them.

Sure, you can give them to the mailman or your brother-in-law, but you still have to buy them if you want the rest of the games. Pretty silly.

This is the least I have ever paid attention to a Pats’ preseason. Can’t wait for August 9, September 9, but what a snooze. Bring on the real football.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

⚾ Big, big weekend for your Boston Red Sox. And someone online is mad at Hogdale. Go watch Dirty Water and subscribe on YouTube - then go listen and subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts.

🎙️The best part about sports radio is that it’s live and you can react right away to a big game, big story, or breaking news. So in 2026, it’s INSANE that WEEI’s Rich, Ken & Ted were 10 minutes late after the Kayshon Boutte trade news broke Monday on X.com. Just yapping away on the Red Sox. Just terrible. Way late. Asleep at the wheel.

🎙️ I was listening to WEEI’s Afternoon Drive on Monday because I was curious - would they even get one phone call? Pats played a preseason game. Red Sox are hot again. You’re an afternoon drive show in one of the most sports-crazed markets in the world…you’re going to get calls, right?

In the first hour, they took zero. None.

Admittedly, I bailed after that and decided I’d listen back to the podcast. On the drive to Saratoga, that’s what I did. And it was the hardest thing I have ever done for MutStack.

In all, they took four calls over the three and a half hours (ended early for Red Sox baseball). One on the Sox. One on the WNBA. Two on “what NFL team is the worst?” None on the Boutte trade.

Less officially was how many times Rich gave out the phone number and said they’ll “take your calls”; I had that number at 12, but I may have missed a few in that first hour.

Are phone calls the biggest deal? Not really. But those live calls and reaction are what separates local radio from podcasts. They sort of mark relevancy. So the point is, as a show, WEEI built an afternoon program and brand that isn't relevant to the core Boston sports fan. Listening on Monday, it’s easy to hear why.

“Hey Ted, just read some football notes for three minutes.”

Brutal stuff. I pine for Hart and Fitzy. Jones and Mego. Benz and Friends. Any or all of the above.

🏌🏻I think the Good Good Golf Ad with Callaway was bad, but the story was over, and people had sort of moved on. Then the Good Good CEO posted this Friday morning at 3:38 AM, and I’m not a PR expert, but this seems like a bad idea?

🏌🏻 The new PGA Tour Playoff format that will end with a 16-player Match Play Bracket Championship sounds awesome, and I wish it started next year, not 2028.

That feels like enough Stack for this week. Shortish notes? Yep. But I have a lot of handicapping still to do, and my boss is sick and needs winners.

Good luck with all your bets this weekend. Travers Day thoughts tomorrow on the Barstool Blog. Best day of the year!

Thanks for reading. And watching.

A Note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

Mutt Stack stock is at an all-time high after he correctly called Glenny out in Surviving Barstool. I may take Mutt Stack public.

Wow. Wow. Very nice of the owner to say. My 1-year anniversary with Barstool comes up in a few weeks, so let’s try to stay hot here. And let’s start this with the call Dave and the rest of America is talking about.

The answer, of course, is yes.

As I wrote last week, ref hate is fair game - both in sports and in Surviving Barstool. My coworker Nicky Smokes didn’t like my call. He’s 100% wrong, but that’s okay.

That said, the people who were critical of me not being involved enough in the first three episodes are huge losers. Respectfully, of course. Who wants a ref show? Not me.

Spoilers ahead if you have not watched Episodes Four and Five.

My friend Kirk is hosting a Surviving Barstool Wrap-up show, but I was not invited on. So, like last week, some thoughts from the ref’s perspective on the two episodes we just watched.

Episode 4: The ONE thing you can’t do in Attack and Defend is step off your mat. Glenny Balls stepped off his mat. I made the call. It was one of my main focuses as the ref. We told these guys 100 times - DON’T STEP OFF THE MAT.

Replay confirmed I made the right call. My father, Dan Mutnansky, used to call himself Eagle Eye because of his great eyesight. Turns out the apple does not fall far from the tree.

As you saw in the episode, Dana was very mad. As was Tate. But that call - the correct call - didn’t really cost them. Their team sucked in the second half and got off nine shots in total. Tough to blame the ref there.

In real time, Dana seemed more mad. Then after the game when they lost. Tate, too. That might have just been my anxiety in the moment. Because it was a close call. I think MikeyBets (love that guy) has video of me doing the 1000-yard stare after the match, still thinking about the call.

I was sitting in a door between the four guys in front of me, GoPro on my chest, locked in on the players’ pads. I couldn’t see the shooters (or Feits stepping off his mat), but I don’t know how to fix that with the way the game is set up. A great game, by the way.

I forgot Rone mocked me with the fake $100. Very funny. Shoutout to TJ for getting the shot of Glenny’s foot clearly off the mat. The first time I saw how close it was was Sunday night on the show. Bad job by me on that inadvertent whistle, but I got this call right, and the video tells the story.

Episode 5: I told you guys, I did not hang out with the players outside of games. So in real time, I 100% thought Marty was hurt.

I took a knee, the way kids do in sports when someone gets hurt. Seriously. Like, I went up to him multiple times in the hours after the game, while he was in the wheelchair, to ask how he was and credit him for being so tough. I feel like a moron.

There was not much for me to do in this game, and I think you see me for like two seconds. My job was to make sure the first person who caught the ball shot it. They did. I think the Barstool Breakdown Crew brought up a fair question - where was the ref with the injury timeout?

100% fair criticism. I should have run over and waved my arms for an injury timeout. I was just too concerned for my friend. My weakness? I just care too much. Bad, bad job on my part here.

This is one of the games I would have LOVED to play, as a former high school basketball player who scored 22 career varsity points.

Fun couple of episodes that combined have about 1 million views on YouTube, and I’m sure tons more on Rumble. The season has been great, and I’m looking forward to Episode 6 Sunday Night.

P.S. Shoutout Feits for the Mut and Merloni plug. This was hilarious.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox are about to be a lot better. College sports stink. A must-see for horse racing fans. And a MutStack Notes where I find myself very mad at WEEI’s Ted Johnson.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #185.

Yes, My Boss Dave still owns MutStack. But it remains free to subscribe and have it emailed directly to your inbox every Friday.

100% Free. Still.

Subscribe now

On how to improve the Boston Red Sox…

New angle. I would not be booing Rafael Devers tonight at Fenway.

Also, buy the MutStack T-Shirt here.

Share

On the state of college sports…

The best college baseball basketball coach on the planet called this a long time ago.

"Can a player that only played three years of football and then enters the NFL draft, can they leave the Arena League next year and go play? Can they leave the CFL next year?…If someone in the Big Ten needs a left tackle or something if a guy gets hurt, can you pull a guy off a practice squad of an NFL team? Can a guy from the Browns next year come back and play left tackle somewhere? This (expletive) is absurd."

This was Hurley earlier this year, lamenting the legal loopholes that let former college athletes go pro, then return to college. It’s impossible to follow, as more and more players are granted waivers to return to college sports after being rostered on a professional team. We saw it this past college basketball season.

And as he predicted, it hit college football this week, with a judge granting over a dozen players an injunction to come back from NFL rosters to play college football or enter the transfer portal. Like ex-Ole Miss TE Dae’Quan Wright. He’s on the Browns roster, but he's set to enter the portal today.

The NCAA created a rule that allows players five years of eligibility, starting in 2027. But it doesn't cover players who previously had only four years. As I read it, those players are now going to court to fight for their 5th year waiver and are getting it.

This first batch of players is just from one state (Louisiana). Other states will likely issue similar rulings or temporary restraining orders (TROs)/preliminary injunctions against the NCAA on eligibility for high school class of 2022 athletes.

From CBS Sports

While there were players who’d signed NFL contracts who hoped to explore a return to college, there were reservations about being the first one to file a lawsuit in order to try to regain college eligibility.

Now, players don’t have to worry about that.

That has many around the front office space expecting the developments on Wednesday to -- as one personnel staffer put it -- “open the floodgates” for these types of lawsuits.

“That’s what we’re hoping for,” a Big 12 general manager told CBS Sports. “We need a player or two. Saturate the market, baby.”

Where does this end? Are college coaches going to scour the waiver wire to see who gets cut from an NFL team and start recruiting those players with NIL money?

Gross. I probably sound like an old man typing on a Dell Laptop here, but I hate this. I hate all of it. I hate that players are coming back to college basketball. I hate the constant movement that the NIL money has created. I hate that it does not feel like college sports…at all.

If and when you declare for the NFL Draft, that should be it for your college career. Same for the NBA (I know the NBA lets you research if/when you’ll get drafted, then decide. Fine).

But this new system is tough to follow and even tougher to support as a sports fan. It’s going to chase a lot of good coaches out of college. To quote the best college coach, “This (expletive) is absurd.”

Dan Hurley - right again.

On a great hour with a popular horse owner…

Look, I hate directing you off the Stack for more content. But in this case, it’s worth it if you’re any sort of horse racing fan.

I got My BossDave for an hour on Thursday for the second installment of the Go Go Greys Stable Tour. We did one back in the early spring when there were fewer than 10 horses making up Go Go Greys. Fast forward to Thursday, when we talked about the 27 horses and two broodmares that make up the Go Go Greys Family.

What is refreshing is Dave’s candor when talking about both his horses and the game itself. I got dozens of tweets and texts pointing that out - people IN the game are just not willing to talk about the game the way Dave does. Well, maybe other than Mike Repole.

And we talked about his efforts to buy grey horses, like stakes winner Chunk of Gold. When his bloodstock agent reached out, the owner stopped him before he could even ask and said, “Tell Dave thanks, but we’re not selling,” or something along those lines.

Stable update, new partnerships, some horse names he has reserved, state of the game, why he works with certain trainers; we covered a lot of ground. If it were up to me, we’d do one every quarter. Or season. Hopefully we can do another one in and around the Breeders’ Cup.

Appreciate Dave for taking the hour, and I’ve heard from a bunch of horseplayers and Barstool fans who feel the same way. Hope you’ll check it out.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

⚾ Very fun Episode 60 (!!!) of Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast. Full Squad show - this Jarren Duran T-shirt is wild. Go watch and subscribe on YouTube, then listen and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

🎙️The 24th annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, raising a record-breaking $7,158,135 for adult and pediatric cancer care and research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is to be commended. That’s a monster couple of days, and I suspect next year’s 25th annual will break that record for a third straight year. Big round of applause for everyone involved and everyone who donated,

🎙️ 👎🏻 But a big thumbs down to Ted Johnson. Not for this - he was part of the record-breaking two days in PM Drive for WEEI. But last week, he shredded ex-WEEI hosts, Barstool, Jerry Thornton, Podcasts…played the big radio tough guy. Just went off. Mocked Jerry’s name. Then, once Jerry responded, Ted wasn't on the air Friday. And he’s not going to respond Monday and Tuesday for this great event. I’m told he’s said nothing about it these last two days, after the Jimmy Fund Event.

This is so embarrassing. Ted accuses Jerry of being personal in a blog post he wrote about 20 months ago. Of course, Jerry wasn’t personal at all. Clearly, Ted never read the piece. He lobs all these bombs at Jerry, tries to make it about journalism, and tweets at him at all hours of the night/morning. The station posts the clips looking for engagement. Then when the response is as one-sided as a Harlem Globetrotters/Washington Generals game, Ted goes silent. Clown behavior. 🤡🤡🤡 How could you take him seriously after this?

He needs to apologize to Jerry. He used Barstool and Old Balls for engagement, and he needs to pay his penance. Then we can all move on.

🎙️ One more WEEI note. Posted a clip on X.com this morning and speculated that Rich Shertenlieb might be moving, based on something said on WEEI last night. I’m told that’s not the case. No moves. No WEEI changes. Nothing to see here. I speculated, and it looks like I jumped the gun.

🏇🏻 Next week is Travers week. I am thrilled to say I’ll be part of the Barstool DraftKings Travers Day Live Stream in the backyard at Saratoga. I’m excited, to say the least, Dave, Big Cat, Elio, Rico, Jerry, and myself. Horses, guests, shit talk. I’d like to figure out a way to play a big group Pick 5 into the Travers and root it home. I’ll be in Saratoga all weekend, so reach out if you’re headed there for one of the best racing weekends of the year.

🍨 I mentioned this on KMS this week, but the Ninja Creami is the best Father’s Day gift I ever got. I can’t be alone in how legit it is at making macro-friendly ice cream at home. Mix your ingredients in the morning, freeze them all day, and spin them into protein ice cream at night. easy. Better (and cheaper) than Halo Top. If the Ninja people are reading this, I’m a BIG fan. And boy, would the softserve version be a nice addition to the Mutnansky Kitchen.

🏈 Sports radio. I just couldn't have faked outrage about the Christian Gonzalez contract situation. Hour and hours of BORING contract talk. I change either station if it comes up. Just not that interesting.

That feels like enough Stack for this week.

Good luck with all the bets this weekend. Back on the Barstool Blog for our weekly horse racing missive and Alabama Day handicapping tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. And watching.

A Note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

No note from Dave this week.

But a programming note - we’ll be doing a Go Go Greys Stable Tour #2 next week. Later in the week, not sure when. But Go Go Greys added two horses this week at the Saratoga Sale. And his two-year-old Drake Graye just posted a quick work at Saratoga. Much to discuss, as a famous podcaster once said. Looking forward to it.

The first three episodes of Season 5 - Surviving Barstool are out. And people are big mad at the referee. I’ve always believed the best games are when you don’t even notice the ref - it’s about the players, not the official.

I’d say based on that, I am the best referee in the history of anything.

I took my role as Surviving Barstool Referee very seriously. My co-workers are playing for $250K, and I wanted to make sure I was locked in.

But I am there to officiate the games and challenges. For every challenge, I would talk to the commissioner, Jeff D. Lowe, about what I should focus on and where violations might happen.

Challenge 1: My job was to make sure players did not leave corrals early - or have puzzle pieces out of the corral. I had to remind players of this a few times (one player in particular), but for the most part, they listened.

Challenge 2: Not much for me to do here. I wore a safety helmet, which I thought would be a funny visual, but I guess Jeff and Rob didn't, so you don’t really see it in the final edit. But this one, yeah, I was just there to make sure players didn’t run in front of the ramp to get their balls. And the challenge was over in like 5 minutes.

Challenge 3: Again, players were good about not leaving their little pedestal; that was my focus. We had a moment where some players had gotten too close to the start of the game, and we had to reset, but nothing big. My biggest takeaway was how positive Rone was during this whole challenge - which took well over an hour. I was standing right next to that group, and he was annoyingly positive as Meek and Glenny kept dropping the vases. And Pat ripping on people.

That’s what I was there for. Was I there to make the final call on a stair piece Meek couldn't get fitted? Nope. That’s beyond my purview. Was I there to make sure players didn’t talk to their team after elimination? Again, get the hell out here. That’s for Rob and Jeff to figure out - they are really good at what they do.

I did not fraternize with the cast during the show. I was not there to hang out - I was there to help Jeff. I had no clue about the moves Tate was pulling or even what missions were. I’m seeing all this stuff now just like you guys are. It’s been an awesome first three episodes.

Not a cast member. Not there to make friends.

Episode 4 features what my friend Kirk Minihane calls “The greatest game ever,” or something like that: Attack and Defend. Based on the trailer, I do finally speak on the show.

Just like the players, ref hate is fair game. And you can rip me all you want for a bad call. But in these first three challenges, the cast followed the rules, and the referee in green stayed quiet. Very quiet.

Too quiet for some critics? I guess I could have yelled at players just to get on camera? Sorry, that wasn't my focus. My focus was making sure I was locked in each game. Looking forward to being locked in for Episode 4 Sunday Night. Going to watch the show in the YouTube chat with the people. See you there.

Meanwhile, John Henry will never sell the Red Sox. Ted Johnson went wild on WEEI. Alex Reimer is here with a Gueststack™️take on his time at WEEI. And your weekly MutStack notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #184

Yes, My Boss Dave still owns MutStack. But it remains free to subscribe and have it emailed directly to your inbox every Friday.

100% Free. Still.

Subscribe now

On WEEI’s Ted Johnson and his attacks on Barstool…

I don’t say this proudly, but it’s 100% true: no one has written more about Ted Johnson on Boston Sports Radio than I have here at MutStack dot com. And even I’m going to have a hard time explaining this.

Seemingly out of nowhere this week, the former Patriots LB and now radio host started lashing out at people.

First, he went after former WEEI hosts who “want his job” and are jealous of him. “You can’t do this job I’m doing right now,” he told his audience, which, according to the latest Nielsen ratings, is pretty small.

Then he turned his anger towards my co-worker Jerry Thornton. Jerry pointed out what anyone who has listened to Ted Johnson already knows - he holds a massive grudge against Bill Belichick. This is Ted’s brand.

Of course, Jerry pointed this out way back in January 2025, when Ted said he would give Bill Belichick just 10% of the credit for the Patriots Dynasty. Ted did the dumb thing where you pretend not to know someone’s name (kept calling Jerry, “George”), which I guess is funny to Ted. And Rich and Ken, who are just laughing along.

You can read Jerry’s 2025 blog here - he takes no personal shots at Ted and just points out how dumb his take is.

Here’s Ted on the radio Tuesday:

People that work for Barstool, they can’t do real journalism. You know what? They defend the teams and they crap on everybody that’s critical. The real journalists that actually have objective opinions. They side with the team, and anybody that says anything negative about the team, then you’re the enemy.”

All you former WEEI employees that are on Twitter or Instagram, because that’s where you can get your opinions out there that you think are so important. Your thoughts and opinions on sports in Boston, it’s so important to everybody that we get those. You go out there on Twitter, Instagram, or one of your podcasts in that sea of podcasts out there. You’re doing that because you can’t do this job that I’m doing right now.

And here is more of Ted on X.com, replying to Jerry.

This post came at 2:25 AM.

This one came last year, a reply to someone, at 3:47 AM. Ted is online a lot!

And sometimes he deletes his late-night/early-morning posts. But not all the time.

This post was also deleted at some point. Former WEEI host Glenn Ordway mocked him for his dumb Belichick take, the same way Jerry did. Ted is asking Glenn to “calm down, it’s just sport talk.” Which makes me wonder why Ted is so mad at Jerry for having an opinion about something Ted said on SPORTS TALK?????????????????????

This is why his rants this week came off as so forced and nonsensical. That first, more generic one…is that directed at Glenn? Me? Kirk? Fitzy? Who is he talking about?

Then the second one targets Jerry, based on something he wrote a year and a half ago. It’s almost like after that first rant, Ted Googled “Ted Johnson/Bill Belichick” looking for something negative, found that story, picked Jerry as his target, and just went off. Talking about not being a real journalist or something - is Ted calling Jaylen Brown before he rips him? Does he think every blog entry was written for a newspaper or something? So bizarre, especially for someone who was saying “calm down, it’s just sport talk” about his own takes.

Ted Johnson is lucky. Lucky he played for the best coach in NFL History, Bill Belichick. Lucky to be part of an all-time Pats team. And lucky he found the one radio guy, Mike Thomas, who loves him more than anyone else. Thomas plugged Ted into afternoon drive with Andy Hart and Nick ‘Fitzy’ Stevens. That show rated so poorly Andy and Nick were fired, while Ted stayed and was paired with Rich Shertenlieb and Ken Laird on the station’s current PM Drive Show, Rich, Ken & Ted. It’s not a good show.

He stayed because Thomas loves him. Multiple sources have told MutStack that over the last two years. Thomas has reportedly pushed Ted to tell more old Patriots stories on the show. And as WEEI was looking to build this latest afternoon ratings killer, Thomas made it clear to prospective hosts that Ted would remain and be part of the show.

Well, most of the time. He says he’s a full-time employee, but as best I can tell, he only works on air about 12-15 hours a week. Sometimes, he comes in an hour late after the show starts. Some days, he leaves an hour before it ends. For the last two years, he hasn't worked on Mondays during the football season because he does TV. Tough look not having the former Patriot on Patriot Monday. Maybe that will change this season.

Ted was a great Patriot, and an easy guy to root for in uniform. He’s not a good radio host. The ratings suggest that, as does the response to these rants, which have generated virtually zero support. Kirk mentioned on his show Thursday that Ted is texting people “all over the place,” shitting on his current co-host, Rich Shertenlieb. I will report that MutStack has heard the same thing. And I heard he had issues with Nick ‘Fitzy’ Stevens. So in addition to Barstool, he might not have much respect for his co-workers, either.

Bizarre, bizarre stuff from the former Patriot. Getting drummed in the ratings month after month and having no relevancy in Boston will do that. I’ve been there, Ted, I know.

Ted needs to just own his grudge against Belichick. Jerry blogged about this and his reaction yesterday. We’ll see if Ted and his show have their own follow-up today. Ted doesn’t work every Friday, so it might be tough.

Update: Ted was NOT in on Friday. Rich was also off. So, yeah.

Like I said, this is a complicated issue. MutStack might be the only one, but we’ll keep following this story as it unfolds.

Share

Gueststack With Former WEEI Host Alex Reimer - ‘My WEEI Tweet Explained’

Last week I mentioned that Alex Reimer posted an interesting note about working at WEEI, and that if he wanted some space to explain in more detail, he had it here. He took me up on that offer and joins a select group of Gueststackers for MutStack. I had some great times on the air with Alex. He was also very nice to my mom when she and I ran into him one Sunday morning while we were doing the Jimmy Fund Walk. His words below.

I would like to begin my Gueststack with words that have never appeared on this page: Thank you, Mut. He has always provided me with the platform that I crave.

Despite leaving WEEI seven years ago, I remain fixated on the station. Working there was a defining experience of my early adulthood.

A couple of weeks ago, I tweeted that my run at ‘EEI destroyed my mental health. While that was a joke, there is truth behind every barb.

In my 33 years of life, I’ve learned that feeling aggrieved is often the first step towards self-destruction. And at WEEI, I was constantly angry. Working at the station was the culmination of my young life’s work.

That was the problem.

I was obsessed with sports talk radio growing up and listened to ‘EEI from morning until sign-off. For Christmas one year, my dad and I offered to send cookies to the station. (Our offer was declined.)

Through my adolescence, every move I made was geared towards working in Boston sports media. I started my own Red Sox podcast at 12 and bombarded the region’s sportswriters with emails until they would submit themselves to an interview. As a BU student, I rented a Zip Car and drove every Friday to Glenn’s house in Cohasset to co-host his internet show, “Big Show Unfiltered.”

When I first appeared with Kirk and Gerry, I felt euphoric. But those good vibes quickly subsided. At the time, I was just coming out of the closet and discovering myself as a gay man. After years of repression, the crazy twink inside of me was begging to explode.

The radio was a place where I could turn up my volume to the maximum level, and be rewarded for it. It was an intoxicating atmosphere: the kid who was picked last at recess could enrage an entire city with just a few screechy words.

The roller coaster of emotions was dizzying. One week, I felt like I was on the fast path to superstardom. Then the next, I was banned from the morning show for some odious act. Those stretches were cataclysmic.

There was zero separation between my radio life and my real life. Blending the two constantly got me into trouble.

To move forward with my life, I had to leave. It was time to leave that precious preteen behind.

Years later, my time at WEEI feels like the distant past. Yet, the station still elicits a strong reaction in me.

Last week, I was talking to a writer for a story on WEEI’s rise and fall. It didn’t take long for my heart to get thumping, my cadence increasing with each declaration.

Maybe one day I’ll channel my passion into a book. But for now, I’ll stick to the occasional pithy tweet.

Some of his tweets are pithy. Others are what I think are called thirst traps. I appreciate his honesty. You can follow his work and other exploits on X.com

On John Henry and his Red Sox…

BUY THE NEW MUTSTACK SHIRT!

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

⚾ The Red Sox salvaged the week in Toronto with a win on Thursday. We discussed it on Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast late Thursday night. Hogdale, Ed Hand, and I picked through the series. Full credit to me for doing a podcast after a full day in the car with my kids, going from Virginia to Chelmsford. If I look tired, I was. Go watch and find out for yourself on YouTube. Then go listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

⚾ Yes, home from Virginia and the Cal Ripken World Series. The semifinals are Friday, so the Chelmsford 10U Lions will not be your 2026 Champs. As you might expect, the parents took it harder than the kids. They played their best - including a win over a Midwest All-Star team last Sunday.

I’ll be curious how much my son remembers of this trip in 10 years. In 20 years. My guess is he’ll remember the time at the pool, playing wiffle ball at the shitty hotel, and the full day at Funland much more than he will the actual tournament games. And at 10 years old, that’s a good thing.

I have some developing opinions on the corporate machine that is travel sports that I’m not ready to fully explore here. At least today. But I’m thrilled my son loves baseball and that he had a pretty rare experience this summer, playing for one of just two Regional Winners ever from our town and ending up alongside 27 other teams in the World Series. And selfishly, I’m glad I got to see a lot of it. And his grandparents got to see a lot of it. I think there were some core memories made along the way - ones that did not involve pulling some rare card in MLB The Show

I’m also glad the season is over. I could not take another night sharing a queen or double bed with one of my kids. And I’m thankful not to have to worry about the WiFi here in the MutStack basement.

Best thing I ate in Virginia was the slices from Benny Vitali’s in downtown Fredericksburgh. Strong MutStack recommendation. Nice area and downtown. Would go back. Just not anytime soon. And not at that shitbag hotel.

🍕 Shoutout to Coleman for his push on Esposito’s and their sesame seed crust when we made a brief stop at the Jersey Shore Thursday at lunch.

🏈 I did not watch much of Pats/Colts. Sounds like the TV broadcast had a lot of voices calling the game?

⚾ I’d be a lot more excited about the Red Sox playing in the Field of Dreams game next season if I were not so confident in a lockout and a lost 2027.

📻 “Last week, I was talking to a writer for a story on WEEI’s rise and fall” … interesting nugget from Alex there 👀

Over 3000 words. I’m tired. That feels like enough Stack for this week.

Back on Saturday to talk racing and Saratoga on the Barstool Blog.

Good luck with all your bets this weekend. Special thanks to Alex Reimer for the Gueststack this week. Thanks to everyone for reading. And watching.

Get the new MutStack Tee-Shirt

Share MutStack

A Note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

No note from Dave this week.

He did launch a new Caleb Durbin Red Sox shirt, celebrating the man who Lou Merloni thinks had a huge part in this whole turnaround for the Sox.

Big day for new shirts in the Barstool Store.

You’re in luck, The Cumrag! And David in Maryland. And my neighbors who keep saying they want Mut Barstool shirts (they probably have no idea about MutStack TBH). And my parents. Maybe.

Live now in the Barstool store - the MutStack Collection.

Couple of options for the people. The traditional white with the big MutStack Logo. Or your QR code version - a tribute to MutStack owner Dave Portnoy’s idea to add a QR code to the MutStack Business card. That version comes in white and grey (Shout out Go Go Greys).

Yes - the QR code indeed goes to the Subscribe Now page for MutStack. I tested it and got it to work. So now, not only are you supporting MutStack, you're promoting it, too! You’re a MutStack Influencer!

These things are perfect for mowing the lawn. Betting Saratoga. Watching race replays. Going to the hardware store. Taking in a kid’s sporting event…really all the very boring things that I spend my time doing!

It’s not lost on me that these are on sale in the effing Barstool Sports store. MutStack T-shirts lol. I get to talk and write about the Red Sox, hang out on KMS, handicap horses with Elio, help try and find Dave the next Go Go Greys Star, all while still doing this newsletter - and now we get merch. I should have begged Dave for a job a few years ago.

Very lucky, I understand that.

Winter hats and polos would be great down the road if there’s interest. But those are a different level - if these do well, maybe? Dave thinks we'll sell like four - I’m hopeful it’s more.

A day for a few Day 1 MutStack Subs and my parents to celebrate!

Meanwhile, the Red Sox can’t lose. The Boston College announcers story is getting WAY too much pub. Surviving Barstool starts Sunday. And the usual MutStack notes

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #183

Yes, My Boss Dave still owns MutStack. But it remains free to subscribe and have it emailed directly to your inbox every Friday.

100% Free. Still.

Subscribe now

On the Best Team in The American League - the Boston Red Sox…

What a win. But I gotta ask - what are the Red Sox waiting for?

On the firing of two BC Basketball Announcers…

This is an interesting story for MutStack. I can’t believe it made the pages of the NY Post. Or the freaking New York Times. Somehow, it did. 🙄🙄🙄

Awful Announcing had it first: the details of Josh Mauer and Kevin Collins losing their jobs as the announcing team for Boston College Men’s Basketball. A revolving door of announcers is not a new thing in college sports, for sure. What made this a national headline is that new BC coach and former UConn assistant Luke Murray was reportedly the one who called for the change. At least according to Collins.

The reasoning delivered to the pair, relayed through Deputy Athletic Director Craig Anderson, was that Murray didn’t want anyone in the travel party who’d been part of what was described as the program’s “losing mentality” under the previous staff, despite neither broadcaster having any real relationship with the coaching staff itself beyond showing up to call games. When pressed on why the decision took months to reach them given how long Murray had already been on the job, the answer was that the administration had only recently had the actual conversation with him about it.

“The reasoning that I was given was that Coach Murray basically wants a whole new fresh coat of paint on the entire program and wants no remnants of the past around the program,” Collins said. “We have nothing to do with any of that. But he wanted us removed. Didn’t feel comfortable being around a link to the past, if you will. My challenge was, well, how can he not feel comfortable around us? He hasn’t even given us the chance to meet us.”

Collins said he even offered to stay on purely as an engineer with no on-air role at all, and was turned down.

Collins and Mauer became broadcast martyrs of sorts, with Luke Murray getting buried by everyone involved. What many of the stories did not mention was this post from Collins RE: Murray back in March, as BC was looking for a new head coach.

Collins is a team engineer and broadcaster - for all intents and purposes, he’s there to pump up the program. This reads like a BC Message Board poster or a local columnist. If I’m the AD, Associate AD, or Murray himself, this is a red flag. I think that would be the case for most college programs, just how it works.

I have worked with Kevin - he was our engineer for Patriots broadcasts at Gillette and some WEEI events. Very nice guy, smart guy. Funny guy - would bust Doug Lane’s balls all the time. Loved it. But Kevin worked for Bill Belichick! If Bill saw a critical post from a radio producer, they would have been gone in two seconds. I don’t get how Collins doesn’t see that.

Kevin keeps talking to every media outlet, blaming Murray for all of this. Sources close to MutStack suggest the AD and Associate AD were behind the change, but it’s just whispers. Boston.com reported there was a “recommendation from Craig Anderson, deputy director of athletics for BC whose responsibilities also include serving as the direct sport administrator for men’s basketball, that the Eagles make changes in the booth.” I believe it.

I’ll say this - the timing stinks. They should have told these guys months ago rather than stringing them on. Mauer is a voice of the Brewers and flies in from Wisconsin to do games (what??????) so he’ll be fine. Stinks for Collins, I get it.

The quickness at which the sad, pathetic, lonely Boston College fanbase has pinned this all on the UConn guy Murray is both embarrassing and expected. This is a school that was so afraid of UConn they blocked them from the ACC. The AD should have come out even harder to defend the new coach. Welcome to BC, Luke!

I’d like to root for Luke, but I can’t just root for BC. And this is another example why.

Share

On the newest season of Surviving Barstool…

By the time this week’s MutStack is published, we’ll be about 48 hours out from the premiere of Surviving Barstool - Season 5.

🚨First and foremost, you should watch it. 🚨

Second, a couple of non-spoiler thoughts from someone who was there as referee for various competitions, but has not been seen in any of the promos.

1. Let’s address this now - I’m for sure out of shape, and that will be evident. Let’s all remember I hurt my knee (hit by a car, no big deal), and it has limited my cardio big time. Take that into account before you’re screenshotting pictures of my out-of-shape belly for all the Internet to see. Keep it classy. I had planned to tell you here how much better shape I’m in now, but that would be a lie, and we don’t lie in the MutStack Trust Tree.

2. I think it’s going to be an awesome season. The competitions and games are sick.

3. As far as the game itself, I know maybe just a little more than you. As one competitor said to me during the week, “Mut, where do you go all day?” I made a concerted effort to stay out of the “game” stuff, so most of the show will be all new to me. Which is kind of great. Also, I was blogging and doing other work #nobigdeal #grind #content

Can’t wait to tune in Sunday night. My kids can’t wait. I think I wrote this here the week after taping; Jeff D Lowe is really good at this shit. He has a great team working with him, and I was lucky to be a small part of it.

Tune in Sunday night. And remember, I got hit by a car. That’s if you see me in the show. Shit, they might have just edited me out based on the promos. I guess we’ll all find out together! Sunday night, 8 PM ET!

Barstool YouTube Page

On your Weekly MutStack Notes…

⚾ Yeah. I have run out of words to explain this Red Sox run. We went live at midnight Friday - myself, Hogdale, Kutter and Ed - to walk through the biggest win of the year and this insane Red Sox run. This team could be better with some guys coming back from injury too…

Closing in on 800 subs on YouTube - so go watch and then subscribe. Then go listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

🏀 So, Jaylen Brown was finally introduced as a 76er on Thursday. He told CLNS that he and Tatum won a championship together, and that “their relationship is rooted in respect. Said "not really" when I asked if they've spoken since the trade.

Can we PLEASE be done caring what Jaylen says now? Please? Focus on your streaming and your new teammates.

⚾ This. It felt like half of the NESN Women’s Celebration Night broadcast on Wednesday was just NESN patting itself on the back for holding a Women’s Celebration Night in the first place. Emma Tiedemann handled play-by-play duties alongside color analyst Alanna Rizzo, and they were good - Rizzo has good energy for sure. But they missed a big storyline of Sam Antonacci having a terrible night. I left like a few in-game things got brushed over, again, to celebrate that it was an all-woman cast. More game, less NESN promotion. Always.

⚾ I make the SAME argument when they spend two innings with the Dining Playbook crew. MORE BASEBALL!

📻 I know Matt Reimer, Alex’s dad, is a Day 1 MutStack sub. I hope he suggests his son write about this. As someone who has let work affect his own mental health, I’d love to hear Alex’s take on his time at WEEI. And if he wants to write about it here, he has an open invitation.

🏇🏻 I have a lot of thoughts on The Preakness moving back 8 days and the Triple Crown being dead as we know it. I’ll be diving into that in tomorrow’s weekly horse racing blog for Barstool. I wrote about the new series of three-year-olds here.

🏈 Hell, yes.

🏈 Adam Vinatieri goes into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend. A little late, but well-deserved. Probably because he’s a kicker, still underrated in the Pats’ dynastic run. Fans who booed him when he came back as a Colts (b/c Belichick did not want to pay him) should be embarrassed.

❓Is this how the sports card flame gets lit? Just got this from my son - said he found all sorts of rare cards at an Antique shop. Here we go. Shoutout, Coleman.

That feels like enough Stack for this week.

Good luck to the 10U Cal Ripken Chelmsford Lions as they play their first World Series games this week in Virginia. Can’t wait to see this crew on the biggest of stages.

And good luck to everyone betting Whitney Day at Saratoga. Looks like a LOADED card, and we’ll cover it all tomorrow on the Barstool Blog.

Thanks for reading. And watching. And buying a shirt - if you bought a shirt.

A Note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

Approved

That was the one-word answer from My Boss Dave on the designs for the MutStack T-shirts.

I reached out for owner approval last week but did not hear back. Dave’s been sick. He hurt his tooth. He’s running a company and building a horse racing empire. I did not want to harass him. And since this is a full-disclosure newsletter…I failed to follow up with him until this (Friday) morning.

Hand up, that’s on me.

So because of that, we’re still in the process of getting the shirts in the Barstool store for the people. That’s the annoying news. The good news is that here next Friday (I think), you’ll see the shirts and be able to buy one if you want.

I like them - they’re on-brand. I wish I was linking you to them today.

Hopefully, here next Friday. #staytuned

I’m going to use the rest of today’s open to simply say that I think Drake Maye is going to have a monster, monster season. Groundbreaking, I know.

He garnered all those MVP votes last year thanks to advanced stats, efficiency, and the team winning a ton of games. He was probably helped by the fact they won a lot more than was predicted.

This year? I think he’s going to go off on those ‘counting stats’ everyone loves. TDs. Passing Yards. Rushing Yards. He got a major receiver room upgrade, has capable running backs, and one of the best OC’s in the game.

I said a few weeks ago here the “buzz” around Gillette was Maye - that’s only gotten louder this week. The team feels like he’s ready to take it to the next level.

From Year 2 to Year 3, Josh Allen went from 20 TDs/9 INTs to 37/10. He went from 3000 passing yards to 4500. I’m talking that kind of leap forward. The kind of leap that gets people talking about Maye as the 3rd best QB in the NFL. It’s coming.

Honorary Mention - TreVeyon Henderson. The stuff they’re going to do with him in the passing game? 🔥🔥🔥

Thanks to 15 in a row and 25 of 30, we have a baseball season. But it’s hard not to start thinking about Pats and Seahawks, Wednesday Night (yep, Wednesday), September 9.

Drake Maye will be great this season. You heard it here first. #courage

Meanwhile, it’s Trade Deadline Weekend. A couple of WEEI items for the people. A terrible media move by a major professional sports team. And your weekly MutStack notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #182.

Yes, My Boss Dave still owns MutStack. But it remains free to subscribe and have it emailed directly to your inbox every Friday.

100% Free. Still.

Subscribe now

On the Red Sox and Trade Deadline Weekend…

Be advised - I have changed my opinion on the biggest need.

More thoughts on the Duran crashout here on the Barstool Blog

Share

On an embarrassing move by the NHL’s Blue Jackets…

This sucks.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are dumping their radio broadcast team. Starting this season, they’ll simulcast the TV broadcast across both TV and radio so that “fans can experience the same live game coverage across TV and radio.”

The problem, of course, is that TV and radio are two different experiences.

I still listen to a lot of play-by-play on the radio because, well, I drive a 2013 Camry and my car doesn’t have Wifi. If it did, maybe I’d just stream the games on a screen. But even then, it’d be delayed, and maybe I don’t want my phone breaking in with a scoring update of a game I’m trying to watch. That happens all the time now, watching the Red Sox on NESN - an app on my phone tells me about a home run a few seconds before it happens. Either way, no Wifi, so plenty of radio games. I also happen to like games on the radio.

Long-winded way of getting to 1. I need a new car. 2. Calling games on the radio is much different than calling a game on TV. On the radio, you have to fill in every detail for the listener, so that they can see the game as you see it. With TV, well, we can all see what you see - it’s your job to add energy, insight, and set up drama. I don’t want my TV doing play-by-play of every little thing happening in the game - that’s too much for the viewer. But the radio listener needs that.

I’m sure the folks at the Columbus Blue Jackets know this - they just don’t freaking care. This is a team recently valued at $1.4 billion with a b dollars. They could afford to carry a radio and TV broadcast - they just don’t want to. From all indications, this is a straight cost-cutting move. There are reports the Blue Jackets will not team up with a regional sports network. Instead, they’ll use the NHL in-house TV production team. Cookie-cutter stuff.

Bob McElligot was the radio voice who was the odd man out in all of this. He’s called their games for 17 years. His son said his dad found out about all of this less than two hours before it all went public. What a joke.

This is not just about Columbus and this one decision - this move should be a warning shot to fans of every team - this type of media consolidation is coming for us all. Private equity will keep trimming away at line items, even if it means losing the personality and color of your favorite team. This is BAD for sports fans everywhere.

A few years ago someone who might know suggested the Red Sox were thinking about doing this, so don’t think this is some mid-market one-off.

This is a huge middle finger to the fans and a terrible way to treat a long-time employee. I had zero feelings about the Columbus Blue Jackets before this - now I hope they lose every game.

I think about images like these a lot - the fact that a lot of the shit being built in 2026 is beige, square, and boring - this move makes me think of that. I hate it.

Sports should have color and personality - a local radio guy provides that. I hope the fans do some sort of boycott in Ohio over this.

This move stinks, and I’m mentally preparing myself for more and more teams doing this in the next decade. You should too.

On a couple of WEEI Items…

No words.

Well, that’s not true.

The Marconi Awards are an annual radio industry award ceremony honoring ‘overall excellence in radio.’ There are about 15 different categories, like LEGENDARY STATION OF THE YEAR, ROCK STATION OF THE YEAR, etc. Winners in each category take home a Marconi Award.

WEEI is one of five stations nominated for SPORTS STATION OF THE YEAR.

They’re nominated along with another Audacy Sports station, WIP in Philadelphia. WIP is sort of like 98.5 The Sports Hub - month after month, book after book, #1 in the market across the board with Men 25-54, the sports radio power demo. They consistently destroy the other sports station in town, 97.5 The Fanatic, in both ratings and relevancy - the way The Hub has dominated WEEI in those two very key categories.

So yeah, I was pretty surprised to see WEEI get a nomination. 2025 was a bad year for Boston’s Sports Original, with its afternoon show rating out as one of the lowest-rated major market shows in the country. Ratings were so bad, in fact, that WEEI torched that show early in 2026. The show they replaced it with is somehow worse than that show, but that’s a different MutStack.

Does the listening audience care about the Marconi? No. To quote my friend Kirk Minihane, “The two things listeners care about the least are Marconi Awards and anything Jason Barrett writes.” It’s a radio-industry private-parts measuring contest. WEEI’s nomination says more about the potential influence of Audacy’s new owner and left-wing super activist George Soros and his Soros Fund Management than it does WEEI.

More than a few radio pros believe that the Marconi Awards just take turns passing around the winners to stations and ownership groups that need them and their potential industry buzz. The voters for the award are kept secret, reportedly “Composed of an anonymous, independent body of prominent radio industry professionals, general managers, and broadcasters.” Yeah.

WEEI was beaten by rival 98.5 in all three major day-parts in every ratings book of 2025. In some cases, doubled and tripled up in those ratings. WEEI does a good job raising money for cancer research with the Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon, but they do that every year. I’d love to know what else the voters looked at to come up with them as a finalist.

If you’re WIP, it has to cheapen the nomination knowing that WEEI is also in the final five.

Like I said, win or lose, the audience won’t care. But people do care about the ratings. And so do hosts. And producers.

Last week, The Greg Hill Show mentioned on their show that they were #1 in the ratings. In the very public Men 25-54 numbers, they were not close to #1. In fact, they were 6th with a 6.0. Rival Sports Hub was at #1 at 16.1. WZLX was #2 at 8.8. We had these numbers, and so did others.

So listeners in the show’s Twitch chat started asking questions. One of them posted their own email in the show’s chat and asked if they were really #1, then someone should prove it. It’s a public show chat, and many people reportedly saw the back-and-forth.

Producer Chris Curtis reportedly did, emailing a stranger the ratings sheet above, which the listener posted publicly on Substack’s Notes feature - it was a nice break from all the terrible posts I usually see there.

It does indeed show The Greg Hill Show #1 - but among Men 18-34, for the 2026 Spring Book. Good for them - it’s just not the demo that sports radio is graded on. I don’t think it’s ever been. I just think it’s funny to think about emailing the ratings to a random on a show chat to prove a point. Maybe they feel like they should be getting more recognition from their own company and bosses for being #1 in Men 18-34? They might have a fair point.

I don’t know. It made me laugh - as I’m told the Marconi nomination made some radio folks in Boston (and beyond) laugh.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

⚾ Sox! We’ll go live for Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast later today. 2 PM ET. Sox, Duran, trades and more. Look for the live link here or here.

🎙️ Regarding those spring ratings for The Greg Hill Show, down 23% from 2025 among Men 25-54, I’m told at least one executive high up at Audacy points to Courtney Cox’s absence, as he was away on maternity leave. Cox returned to the show full-time this week.

➡️ Yes, I have seen the Tomy Romo video. I do not have a comment.

🎙️ With the Red Sox the hottest team in baseball, it’s at least a little weird that WEEI has not used Lou Merloni more on its shows. Are they annoyed he left radio for a more prominent role as the No. 1 color guy on NESN? Little weird, no?

🔥 Well here we go. I’m going to write more about this next week, but the new season of Surviving Barstool is set to debut next Sunday. I’m not in the trailer, but I can confirm I was there to act as referee for my coworkers (and Glenny Balls) battling for $250k. I think people are going to love it. More next week here before the Sunday Night Premiere.

🏀 I had thought about Nick Soares - best known as Cinema Lords to KMS listeners and his basketball teammates - more than a few times over the last few weeks. During the World Cup. Then with Survivor coming up, The Odyssey and Spider-Man getting so much buzz…I don’t know; these are things he loved and had real passion for, and he just kept randomly popping into my thoughts. Then Kirk mentioned that today would have been his birthday. Thinking of his friends and family today - so full of life and taken from us way too young.

🍕 Milano’s Pizza in Nashua was a frequent pizza source for the Friday Night Lights - High School Football in Action show, so nice to see them get a good score from Dave. The place that people keep buzzing about locally is Epigram Brewing in Tyngsboro, and their bar-style pizza.

🦁 Thanks to the Lowell Sun for the recap of the Chelmsford Lions 10U Cal Ripken team and their journey to the Cal Ripken World Series. The crew is off to Virginia next week and will take on the 10U team from Mexico in Game 1. Kids have worked so hard to be one of 28 teams in the world playing next week in this prestigious event. Proud of the players and coaches and can’t wait to see them in action in Stafford, VA!

That feels like enough Stack for this week.

Back tomorrow on the Barstool Blog to talk Jim Dandy Day and Saratoga.

Good luck with all the bets this weekend. Thanks for reading. And watching.

A Note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

At the time of print Ryan Whitney is still frozen at the buzzer of Family Feud.

1. Tough moment for Whit as part of an amazing Barstool showing on The Feud.

2. He owned up to choking today on KMS - listen here.

3. His hair does look really dark on TV, but I don’t believe the #haters who say it’s dyed

If you’re a long-time MutStack reader (and hopefully by now a subscriber), you know I am not an expert in much. But I am here to tell you I’d consider myself an expert in local, little league concession stands.

I’m not talking about the concessions at Fenway or those Monster Jam vendors like Justin Trudell. I’m talking local, next to the fields in your town, concession stands.

I have been to well over 50 baseball games this summer (more on that below in the Notes), and 100s of games over the last few summers, all over New England. I have been to dozens of Snack Shacks during that time.

This week, I finally found the best Snack Shack in all the land.

Now, these Snack Shacks serve a very important purpose. Kids and parents are out in the sun for hours at a time. Sometimes you’re running late and forget something. Or dad, mom, or a sibling gets hungry. Or thirsty. You can’t leave, so you’re at the mercy of the Snack Shack. How good or how bad it is can impact the whole day - not joking.

Most of the time, these Snack Shacks range from bad to slightly above average. Too much candy. No hot food. Not enough caffeinated drink choices. No sunflower seeds. Cash only because the card machine is down. Not open when the game starts, or open at all. Closed right after the game so you can’t get anything before you leave. You’re thrilled to get an average Snack Shack when you arrive for eight hours of baseball or get out of the car after a 90-minute drive.

We got that and more for the Cal Ripken 10U Regional Final this past week in New Milford, CT.

Shanks’s Shack was/is awesome.

The menu looked so big I was concerned. Like one of those restaurants that has a little bit of everything…how can it all be good?

But the breakfast sandwich (no picture, I forgot) on a roll was something you’d get at a diner and be thrilled with. Most Snack Shacks don’t even have these, so even if it was bad, it would have been a win, but it was good.

A fellow dad said something I’d never heard near a Snack Shack: “The wings are great.” Excuse me? I had to try them, even though I knew they would be messy. I can confirm - restaurant quality. Our family did two orders of these one day, one buffalo and one BBQ.

Fried chicken sandwich? Piping hot and made to order. Not afraid of lettuce.

Over and over, parents commented on the food and selection. Multiple cooks back there cooking food. Service was solid. Took credit cards - some places still struggle with that. And stayed open well after the game so you could order for the (long) ride home.

If you’re a parent of a young athlete, you already know - the bar is pretty low at these places. Shank’s Shack went soooooo above and beyond that I felt like I had to start here today. It helped that the field was very nice and you’re surrounded by the green mountains of Connecticut.

It’s the type of place that if I were driving by on a Saturday morning, I’d just stop and get a breakfast sandwich. And I bet some people do that.

Whatever they are doing, they should start consulting other Snack Shacks. I’d be happy to host and be the Jon Taffer of the local field concession stands across New England.

Shanks’s Shack gets the full, Five-Star MutStack Seal of Approval.

Meanwhile, big spot for Red Sox ownership. WEEI is going to Sirius/XM radio. We have some #MutMail questions. And your MutStack Notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #181.

Yes, My Boss Dave still owns MutStack. But of course, it remains free to subscribe and have it emailed directly to your inbox every Friday.

Subscribe now

On the Boston Red Sox at the Trade Deadline…

Shoutout, Whit.

Don’t mess it up, John Henry.

On the Audacy Sports/SiriusXM Deal…

You won’t be surprised that while most radio publications are calling this a great thing for Audacy, I have questions.

It is certainly a big deal for the radio industry that Satellite Radio’s SiriusXM is paying Audacy some sort of licensing fee to start carrying some of its biggest sports and talk stations on its platform. From Andrew Marchand:

All Audacy stations will be available on the SiriusXM app, while some, including WFAN, will be available through in vehicles as well. The Audacy stations will still be accessible on all of its current platforms, including radios, the Audacy app and connected-home devices, like Amazon’s Alexa.

As part of the sharing agreement, SiriusXM personalities, like Russo, may appear as cross-promotional guests on WFAN and other Audacy stations. Top radio personalities are expected to show up on SiriusXM as guests as well.

Locally, yes, WEEI will now be heard on SiriusXM. Or at least the SiriusXM app.

If this were 20 years ago, and Audacy didn’t already have an app that gave you access to any local station you wanted, anywhere you want, this would be a huge deal for listeners. Like, I would have loved to get into a rental car on a work trip and listen to The Big Show. Or not miss Kirk and Callahan on a Gary Tanguay day while I’m on vacation.

But with the app…isn’t that already available? Doesn’t that already exist for me out of market?

Over the air, the app, YouTube/Twitch, and now SiriusXM - I’m guessing Audacy would argue they’re putting their content in so many places it's impossible to ignore them. And this is a new revenue stream, since SiriusXM is paying them.

If I were local talent. I’d be wondering if there’s a chance some people in my audience who are already listening to my show on the radio and have SiriusXM just decide to listen over there - could that potentially impact my own ratings? Maybe?

I might not be the best person to talk about this. For a few years, I was a Sirius/XM sub because I wanted to listen to Stern and Artie Lange. That was my draw to paying for the service and lugging around that equipment in different cars for a few years. That was the only place I could hear the show, so I had to get it.

But with apps, are people going to subscribe to the service for something they can already get for free? Is the Audacy app so bad that people will pay to have their shows on a more stable platform?

I certainly see it as a bigger win for Audacy than for SiriusXM. But it feels more like a PR win than a win for the listening audience.

Every industry story keeps talking about getting Audacy stations “in front of a national audience,” and I guess that’s true. But is some guy in Detroit who is a Lions fan going to give a shit about Patriots talk? What kind of impact is that supposed to have? One way this would really suck for the audience is if some local shows started doing more bad, national content. No thanks.

Radio is not dying, but it’s changing. Everything is going to streaming, and I guess one way to get ahead of that is to get your product on a national streaming platform - and get paid to do it in the process.

IDK. Label me as someone who sees this more as a matter of survival than as something that will have a huge positive impact on listeners.

Big deal? Meh. Maybe I’m missing something. Feel free to correct me in the comments.

On your MutStack Mailbag…

❓When you started out this humble blog back in 2023 did you ever envision a scenario where 3 years later Mutstack would become a global fashion brand? - David in Maryland

Great to meet David in Laconia. And it was never a goal, David, no.

T-shirt update: I have a few mockups of a potential T-shirt from Barstool. I like them - they fit the MutStack brand perfectly. I sent one to My Boss Dave asking for his opinion and did not hear back. I don’t think that’s a great sign, TBH.

He’s the MutStack owner, so I don’t want to post the mockup here or give it the green light in the store before he says okay.

Hats will have to wait - we need to prove ourselves first. But there is a shirt, and I think we’re close. And I’d like to sell them in the store and then give some away to subscribers. Hopefully, soon.

❓ Do you HATE baseball? - Groundhog on Substack

Not at all, Groundhog. I find it tough to embrace Red Sox ownership and management. Like, not enough bad things can happen to Sam Kennedy. He is a snake, and I’ll celebrate the day he’s gone from the organization. I personally have a major issue with him, and it will be hard to ever get over. He’s a dink.

But I grew up loving baseball. My kids love and play baseball. I spent years in the Red Sox booth watching hundreds of hours of baseball. I do not hate baseball.

Sam Kennedy, yes. Baseball, no.

❓ Hey mut, I want to get into horse racing but don’t understand it. You should make a short form video series explaining it to a beginner. Congrats on the barstool job and the shoutout from portnoy this morning 👍 - Brian

Thanks, Brian. Nice mention from My Boss Dave this week. So, I am committed to doing this. But I don’t know how basic to make it…Do I focus on handicapping races or terminology or how to bet? I don’t want to make it complicated and have to figure out how to present it correctly. But Dave’s Go Go Greys are going to keep hitting the track, and people are going to want to follow along.

If you are someone like Brian, let me know what you’d want to see in a video or video(s) like this.

And that was it for questions. Bad job by me, I guess. Maybe we’ll try again in the fall. #mutmail

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

⚾ The never-ending baseball season…is not over yet. And that’s a good thing.

The 10U Chelmsford Lions hunkered down in beautiful New Milford, CT for a week (thanks to weather delays) and came out as Cal Ripken New England Regional Champs. I think this 2026 is the first 10U winners from Chelmsford.

Local Newtown, CT had a huge home-field crowd advantage Thursday afternoon in the Championship Game, but the Lions took care of business in what was essentially a road affair to take home the banner and New England title.

Just an incredible summer of baseball from the players and coaches.

Only 24 teams (I think) make the World Series, which takes place next month in Virginia… just an hour from Colonial Downs 🏇🏻. One of those teams will be from Chelmsford, MA, representing New England. Very cool to watch this team compete with the best teams in the region. I can’t wait to see them against the best teams in the country. What a run for the Lions! Impossible to be more proud of this group.

📍 New Milford, CT…awesome town. Green. Lots of farms. Very lively little downtown (MUCH better than Chelmsford). Great snack shack. Could retire there and be happy… if they get better cell phone service.

🏀 LeBron. 1. I don’t know it’s going to work with all those players needing the ball in Philadelphia. 2. I give credit for going to the place that gives him, on paper, the best chance to win. 3. And for taking little money to do it. 4. I would have taken him on the Celtics for that money, in a second, as I wrote here a few weeks ago. 5. This gives us a TREMENDOUS Hate Watch team in the Sixers. They will be so easy/fun to root against. I’m in the minority, but it will not be hard for me to root against Jaylen Brown.

📺 Family Feud HAS to have Barstool back next time they do a celebrity game. You can’t possibly get better entertainment than 543-0. And Dave should run it back with the same crew.

🏈 As someone excited about Men of Honor, yesterday was tough. A win for Rico, but tough.

🎙️ The Red Sox are running so hot right now, they might actually give WEEI a little bump in the ratings. The day games will 100% rate better than Rich, Ken & Ted.

➡️ Great seeing this on X.com Friday morning. Sending Gasper good thoughts as he comes back from prostate cancer surgery.

🏇🏻 Been a very slow start for me at Saratoga. Just can’t seem to get anything going. More on Saratoga and horse racing in tomorrow’s At The Post blog at Barstool.

That feels like enough Stack for this week.

Good luck with the bets this weekend. Thanks for reading. And watching.

A Note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

As I mentioned last week, My Boss Dave’s ownership of MutStack has been a good thing. Did his decision to NOT return ownership of MutStack to me, as he said he would do if Cancel Me If You Can debuted at #1 on the NYT best-sellers list, fly in the face of his famous “A Portnoy/Lannister always pays his debts” proclamation? That’s for other people to say.

But this is a great owner right here.

The people (David in Maryland) have demanded MutStack Merch. The owner of MutStack has approved it. At least, in concept.

Do I have a design? No.

Do I know the process to get this started? Also, no.

Some work to be done, but the hard part is out of the way.

As far as keeping them in stock, I think we’ll sell more than four. David, myself, my mom, Alex in Saratoga…that’s four right there. Boom.

Big day for this little newsletter that could, that’s owned by the biggest name in media. Feels like the sky’s the limit here at MutStack HQ this morning!

Yes, Dave still owns MutStack. But of course, it remains free to subscribe and share. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Subscribe now

Hopefully, more of an update here next week. #staytuned

Jarren Duran makes it really tough to root for Jarren Duran.

Tyler Milliken, best known for his sometimes shirtless work on the Section 10 Podcast (Shoutout Jared and Ellyn Carrabis), posted this on the show’s Discord last night.

The TL;DR version of this post is that Duran did not like it when Milliken posted a picture online of the very public middle finger Duran gave a fan during a game earlier this year. Duran went so far as to text Tyler’s boss, Carrabis (Jared, not Ellyn), and reportedly called Milliken “ a fat fuck” and said, “If he ever saw Milliken, he’d beat the fuck out of him.”

Milliken then tries to talk to Duran about it face to face at Fenway, to which Duran reportedly says Milliken is “the fucking worst” and just gets up and walks away.

A couple of things really bug me about this from Duran’s standpoint.

To his credit, Duran was very open about his own mental health in the Netflix/Sox doc last year when he admitted he had contemplated suicide. Chris Cotillo of Mass Live mentioned that “Jarren sharing his story publicly saved countless lives, and that’s real. I’ve heard that from so many people around the country.” Cotillo interacts with a lot more Sox fans than I do, so I’ll take him at his word.

So Duran, who admits he has battled his own mental health demons, decided to text Tyler’s friend/boss and call him a “fat fuck” and threaten violence because he posted a picture of something Duran did online? I wouldn’t call that bullying, but it doesn’t seem like a healthy or mature way to handle the situation.

Then, when Tyler tries to be the mature one and talk to Duran about it face-to-face, Duran just walks away.

Are these War Crimes by Duran? No. But it makes him extremely unlikeable. As does his yelling at fans, which he’s reportedly done as recently as last month. Though he refused to talk about it when asked by the media after the game. Just like he blew off the media the day Alex Cora got fired.

It’s no secret that players don’t like the media, especially when they say or write bad things about them. And I get that podcasts can blur the lines a bit, but Tyler is 100% media. Like, even if it’s not traditional, look how active he is on social media. Did Duran think he was his friend because he was a podcast guest on Section 10? Did he think Tyler should not post the photo because he is a fan? We don’t know what the player thinks because when Milliken tried to talk to him about it, Duran stormed off.

Trevor Story suggested in Spring Training that Duran was going to take a “big step” as far as becoming a leader on this Red Sox team. I really hope that’s not the case. This is the opposite of being a leader. This is being overly sensitive to someone trying to do their job. And rather than talk to them about it directly, you text their friend/boss. What is this, Mean Girls?

I don’t know if I would have posted this if I were Tyler. But since he did, I’ll add it to the list of reasons I find it hard to root for this player. I don’t think I’m alone in that feeling. There will not be a big outcry from Red Sox Nation if he’s traded before the August 3rd deadline.

And while I doubt he’ll comment on it, I hope Duran gets asked about it Friday at Fenway. I’d be curious to get his thought process on being so angry at a podcast host that you text their friend/boss.

Meanwhile, we have a deep dive into the 2026 Spring Book Boston radio ratings. A simple request for the Red Sox. The Official MutStack Drake Maye Ranking. And lots of links in the notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #180.

On your Spring 2026 Boston Radio ratings…

First off, full credit to Boston Radio Watch on X.com, as he was once again the first to have all these numbers and post them late Wednesday PM.

I’ll get to the numbers and some thoughts on another Sports Hub pantsing of WEEI in a second. But I’ll say up front that what’s going on behind the scenes with these numbers is pretty interesting.

Beasley Media (which owns 98.5 The Sports Hub) has opted out of getting weekly ratings access from Nielsen, the company that tracks the ratings. So now, they just get quarterly numbers. Could be a cost thing. Could be they don’t love the way Nielsen operates. Could be because they have been No. 1 with Men 25-54 for so long that it just doesn’t matter. But it’s clear from talking to multiple sources at 98.5 that the access that many people had to the numbers no longer exists.

At least one person suggested to me this week that the company has internally really started deemphasizing the ratings to the on-air staff. I’d suggest that being #1 over and over and over should be celebrated. But maybe the suits there disagree. And maybe those same suits are sick of paying out ratings bonuses that are just automatic at this point. Sounds shitty, but I’d believe it.

I get why WEEI would want to deemphasize the ratings - once again, they’re getting bludgeoned by their main competition. But it’s a little weird to me that 98.5 is doing it. If I were on air and No. 1 over and over, I’d sure as shit tell my audience. And thank my audience.

Now, as far as the Spring Ratings go, “scoreboard is scoreboard.” This is another decimation of WEEI by the Sports Hub. Red Sox didn’t help. ANOTHER new afternoon show didn’t help. There were Harlem Globetrotters / Washington Generals games more competitive than this.

I don’t know why the hell I can’t find the overall winter number, but I believe both stations are down a bit. But year over year, one station is up 6%, while the other is down 14%. The station that's down 14% can point to its morning show being down 23% from a year ago at this time as a big reason.

The Greg Hill Show needs to be competitive with Toucher & Hardy if the station ratings are ever going to be close again. Losing by 10 points, I can confirm, since I’ve hosted shows that probably lost by that much, is not competitive. Going back to Spring 2024, Greg’s show is down 30% 👀👀

WZLX and The Chuck Nolin Morning Show continue to smoke WEEI, as they come in at No. 2 with an 8.8 for the spring. Fred Toucher said a few weeks ago he doesn’t really root against WEEI and only roots against WZLX, and you can see why, given how much closer they are in the ratings.

It’s boring to keep writing this, but Toucher & Hardy smashed again, and that 16.1 is the highest rating on either station.

I mentioned last week that I have been inundated with notes from people who claim they like Mego much more than Courtney Cox on GHS. Small sample size, but the numbers here would not back that up among a larger swath of listeners. Cox has been out on maternity leave all spring, and Mego has filled in for her most of the time.

Unless the weekly ratings (which I have not seen) tell a different story, Rich, Ken & Ted made little, if any, impact in their first few months on the air at WEEI. Rich Shertenlieb’s return to sports radio has strengthened my friend Kirk Minihane's claim that Rich would be a complete non-factor away from Toucher and the Sports Hub. The new WEEI afternoon drive show did not seem to draw any new-show bump, and as a listener, it remains the worst of the six “main” shows on the two stations. Rich making every rejoin some sort of talking point for a shitty band, movie or TV show I’ve never heard of is off-the-charts annoying and masturbatory.

Middays stayed about the same for both stations. Nice spring for Hub nights.

Will the summer book be any different? I doubt it. Fall? Nope. Maybe a small Red Sox bump? But that’s offset by the fact that people are ready for the Patriots’ season to start later this month.

Are the bad numbers getting to some very sensitive people at WEEI? The video below in the notes says 100% yes. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

On my wish for the Red Sox…

One or the other, please. Great lighting today.

On the Official MutStack Ranking of Drake Maye…

I am not an NFL executive. I am not an NFL coach. Nor am I an NFL scout.

I am a blogger/newsletter publisher who does not even own the very newsletter I publish.

All that being said, I present to you the

July 2026 Official MutStack Rankings of QBs I Would Take Ahead of Drake Maye If We Were Drafting For The Next Five Years

With no more than one sentence for each QB.

1. Josh Allen. He’s a stud, and he’ll be a pain in the ass for this Pats team in the AFC.

2. Patrick Mahomes. Even 35-year-old Mahomes will be Elite.

3. Lamar Jackson. Much better passer (check the numbers) than he gets credit for.

That’s the list - only three guys I’d take over Drake Maye if we’re talking about the next five years. He might not be the BEST QB right now, but he’s going to be in the conversation.

But Mut, Joe Burrow…always seems to get hurt, and Maye is much more mobile at this point

But Mut, Matt Stafford…Dude is 38. Elite, but 38.

Given his age, Caleb Williams might be my next pick on this list, ahead of Burrow, Stafford, or Dak.

Maye was not at his best throwing the ball in the playoffs, but he made up for it by rushing for 178 yards in four games.

I’ve heard from a few people that there's real Drake Maye buzz around Gillette this summer. That’s he’s added weight. That he’s going to thrive with the overhaul of the receiving core. I believe it.

Year 3 Josh Allen was 🔥🔥🔥 - 37 TD, 10 INTs, and inproved is QBR by 25 points from the previous year. Maye is coming off an almost MVP season, but another big step forward would not be shocking. The team will need it to avoid that classic Super Bowl losing hangover this season.

The ESPN list had Maye 8th for this year, and even that is a little low, in my view. I would have had him ahead of Herbert and Dak. But this MutStack list is much more important.

And his place on MY list is a reminder that the Patriots should be Super Bowl contenders again this year. And the next five, maybe 10 years, with Maye at the helm. No matter where the exes, coaches, and scouts rank him.

You can make your own list in the comments. Or go publish your own newsletter.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

📫 Next week. Let’s open it up to some MutStack Mailbag questions for the Four-Pack. It just feels right. Comment here with questions, message me here, or DM on X/Twitter.

🎙️ A very funny takedown of the Globe’s Kevin Cullen from Kirk on Thursday. Well, funny until you realize that there are highly-paid people who work in journalism who were okay with Cullen keeping his job even after being suspended for three months without pay after a review found fabricated details and inconsistencies with his Boston Marathon bombing columns. Those inconsistencies were, of course, also uncovered by Kirk. Maybe Chris Curtis gets a producing credit on those? A must-listen.

😂 Also very funny - this Klemmer prank on Nate. Must-watch.

🎙️ Not funny, but just…sad. Or very weird. But he’s not wrong - Red Sox baseball will get more listneners than his show. Just wild to hear him call out the demo by name. Very weird dude, huh?

🃏 Shoutout Coleman. Off to Nashville. Good producer. Loyal Teammate. Can take a joke. Kamala Fan. Godspeed, Jack. And Dickens.

⚾ John Henry stinks.

⚾ Very nice to talk to some great Minifans/Stoolies/MutSluts this past week in Freetown, MA, at the Cal Ripken State Baseball Tournament.

After Chelmsford High won the state high school tournament last spring, I am happy to report that the 10U team joined a select group from Middlesex County by capturing the Cal Ripken State Championship.

Amazing run for this great group of kids, including my son. Coaches did an outstanding job. Shoutout to the Freetown concession stand, maybe the best one I’ve been to for youth sports. Eight New England teams are battling in the Regional Final this weekend. I see lots of rain and fire smoke from Canada in the forecast. Sweet! Go Lions. 🦁

That feels like enough Stack for this week.

Good luck with the bets this weekend. Thanks for reading. And watching.

A note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy

Congratulations to me for being a NYT bestseller. Thank you to all the Mutsluts and Minifans who bought the book. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.

Now I know I said if this happened I would give Mut back ownership of the Mutstack. However as Bill Parcells once famously said…”I reserve the right to change my mind”

Yeah.

So, based on his tweet the other day, I had a feeling this was coming. And my boss Dave sort of has me over a barrel here.

I’m a Barstool Employee. He’s my boss. I like working for him. He also owns the MutStack IP (I legit signed it away when I joined Barstool last September). I thought about deleting this whole newsletter and going on MutStrike, but that’s not fair to you, the loyal MutStack reader and subscriber. I freaking flew to Chicago to win a bet and publish in March; I’m not NOT publishing.

Plus, if we’re in the MutStack Trust Tree, Dave’s tenure as Owner has been very good for MutStack.

Dave has often said that a Portnoy/Lannister always pays their debts - in fact, I’m 99% sure he said this in the audio version of the NYT #1 Best Seller, Cancel Me If You Can, available on Amazon now. So if he’s going to keep ownership of MutStack, I need to find a way to do something for the loyal MutStack subscribers. Hopefully, Davey Lannister would be open to that. But I don’t really want to negotiate over text on a Friday morning.

My next move is critical, and I don’t want to rush it. I need some time here. Hope you’ll understand.

Congrats to Dave. Thanks to the MutSluts (who are really Minifans, I get it) for supporting Dave’s book. And this newsletter. Hopefully I’ll have some further news/updates next week.

Yes, Dave still owns MutStack. But of course, it remains free to subscribe and share. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Subscribe now

Share

“If you’ve enjoyed what you’re seeing, well, support your local team.”

“This doesn’t have to be the last soccer you watch for the next four years. It’s a beautiful sport…”

These were the words from soccer announcer John Strong at the end of Team USA getting WORKED by Belgium on Monday night, ending their World Cup run. I would play you the clip, but FIFA might come to my house and sue my pants off. But boy, I really would love to post it here because the quote itself, in newsletter form, doesn’t do it justice. Strong just PLEADING with fans to keep watching.

“The future of American soccer is very bright,” added analyst Stu Holden a few seconds later.

I don’t think it was the intention, but it came across as weak - PLEASE keep watching soccer. I let out a real-life LOL when Strong said it.

Since 1994, I’ve been told that soccer is coming. And while this was a nice run for Team USA, I don’t think anything really changed. Do you? Was this the year soccer broke through?

Breaks through to what exactly? I don’t know. What’s the metric we’re going to point to and say, “See, I told you, soccer is here to stay”? More kids playing? Better MLS attendance?

Professional soccer is a fringe sport in this country. Not a knock, just a fact. I am a diehard fan of a very fringe sport in horse racing. I personally don’t care if you like racing or not - I get the sense some soccer fans need everyone to like their sport as much as they do.

In Europe, horse racing is a deeply embedded national pastime/sport (maybe even 2nd to soccer in the UK). Their racing festivals are ingrained in the culture and are major social events. It’s much different here in America, where, outside of the Triple Crown, racing does not register with many sports fans. I’m okay with that.

Same for soccer and the World Cup.

As far as growing the game, it can’t help that Major League Soccer seems kinda hidden on Apple TV. The $99 a year doesn’t seem steep, but there is a barrier to watching the games when they’re tucked away on a streaming platform.

Soccer fans should enjoy the beautiful game, as I guess they call it. Stop worrying about getting new fans. Who cares. Me? I’m committed to watching Team USA play high-level International matches, and that’s about it. I think there are a lot of people like me - just like there are fans who watch one horse race a year, the Kentucky Derby. Some will like it so much they’ll watch other races and become diehard fans - same for soccer and the World Cup.

Soccer is never going to be football in America, and that should be okay. People who love the sport should not have to beg sports fans to keep watching.

And to me, a casual soccer fan tuning in Monday night, that’s what it came across as.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox are on fire, but there’s one thing I won’t do. I have completely come to terms with the Jaylen Brown trade and remain on Brad Stevens Island. My Boss Dave was in Nashua. And your usual MutStack Notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #179.

On one thing I won’t do when it comes to the Red Sox…

PG-13 video this week. Sorry not sorry.

On a final word on the Jaylen Brown Trade…

So, turns out I might have been the only Celtics fan who was okay with the Brad Stevens/Bill Chisholm press conference on Monday. Seriously, people hated those 45 minutes. I think every show in Boston mocked it for the next 48 hours.

I thought Stevens came across as understanding of fans' and the media's reactions in the aftermath of the Brown trade. I thought he was thoughtful in agreeing that, yes, telling fans to care about draft picks is pretty silly. He seemed well aware that this trade could potentially not work for the Celtics.

But to me, he also seemed confident: confident that there was a reason for this trade, even if he couldn’t just come out and explain it directly in that setting.

“…In fact historic ball hogs like Kobe, Iverson, Jordan and peak Harden only had one or two seasons each with higher usage than 36.1. Lebron, Steph and KD NEVER had the ball that much in a single season. I just found this very interesting….This makes the argument that the ball moved better with him running the offense completely false along with them being 27th in assists and the slowest team in the league (30th in pace).”

Very good post from The Sports Hub’s Cerrone Battle. And I’ll use it to say I feel like this is 100% what Brad was trying to say on Monday. Or some version of it.

The high-usage Jaylen Brown Celtics were a slow team that didn’t play much team basketball and, in the end, put a lot on Brown to make plays. For last season, with no Tatum, that kind of worked. But Tatum is back in full for 2026-2027, and it’s been suggested that Brown did not want to go back to a secondary role behind him. As I have said from the beginning, Tatum > Brown.

As a viewer, there were times I hated watching the high-usage Jaylen Brown Celtics. For all the shit that Joe Mazzulla takes (plenty from me) for his ‘three-first’ offense, there were plenty of times the team had to jack up a three because they never got a better look with Brown running the show.

Rather than run the offense through Brown again, or go through the painful process of taking Brown off the ball and dealing with the fallout from that, they decided to trade Brown.

I think the money was also part of it - that 2 year/$141 extension that was due in a couple of years, but that Brown reportedly wanted sooner, was looming. I think one thing Brad would have said Monday, if he were being completely honest, is that there might be two players worth keeping if it takes up over 70% of your salary cap, and Tatum is one of those players, but not Brown. But he wasn’t going to say that about the beloved Brown in that setting - I would not be shocked if he said it directly to his owner behind the scenes. And I’d agree with him.

NBA reporter/podcaster Zach Lowe reported that Brown “reportedly gave intelligence to multiple interested franchises indicating he had no interest in playing for them, causing teams to stay out of the bidding and ultimately forcing Boston's hand to make the deal.” That detail helps explain the WHY NOW part of this - the walls were closing in, and the team felt like they had to make a trade before Brown forced his way to a preferred destination, where the return might even have been worse if that’s possible.

Brad looked at the idea of locking himself into five more years of Jaylen Brown at max money and didn’t like what he saw.

Stevens and Chisholm have taken a beating this week. And I get that - when you make a title contender WORSE on paper, fans are going to be upset. This might sound and look really dumb a year from now, but I just trust Stevens here. I trust that when the time comes, Paul George's expiring contract and extra draft picks become the next piece or pieces of a Celtics Championship.

And maybe they won’t be. But it took some guts for Stevens to pull the trigger on this, knowing the fans would hate it, and the basketball world would question it. But I got the sense on Monday that he was okay with the move. And I am, too.

Feels like I might be the only one. #inbradwetrust

On A Night With New York Times #1 Bestselling Author Dave Portnoy…

The whole thing was very funny. At least to me.

I started my radio career in Nashua, NH. Selling ads, doing a sports show, vacuuming carpets, driving my boss around, and hosting a big Friday Night High School football show. I mean, we were legit flyering cars during the games, telling fans they could listen to the postgame and get scores from around the state after their games. WEEI star Rich Keefe was one of our best at-game correspondents.

The station moved two or three times. The last two homes, both in Downtown Nashua, were just a few good golf shots away from where Dave held a book event on Tuesday Night.

Sitting next to me at the show was my brother Matt, who was a correspondent on that high school football show. He loves Barstool. Before the show, we met Kirk for dinner. Kirk’s first show on WEEI was with me, and eventually, years later, he helped twist Dave’s arm to land me my current gig.

Sitting in the crowd, listening to Dave point out how talentless I am, the crowd laughing along, the whole thing felt serendipitous. No clue if I’m using that right, but since I’m the editor, it stays.

Whatever, it was a fun night. Dave was great with the crowd. Hosted by old Mut at Night stallworth Tom E. Curran, Dave talked about many of the stories in his book. And some things not in the book. A few takeaways from the night-

• For as much as he claims he wouldn’t win, Dave gets very fired up when he talks about running for office. I think the Florida Keys and the Go Go Greys will probably keep him out of it, but he gets very fired up when he starts talking about New York, Mamdani. 1% chance he runs for something at some point.

• A Minifan heavy crowd, including at the Mexican Restaurant we went to before the show.

• Kirk mentioned this on his show, and he’s right: the only boo of the night from the crowd was for Chris Klemmer.

• There was a very big response when someone asked about the return of The Unnamed Show. One of the louder pops of the night. Dave didn’t commit, but he also didn’t completely rule it out. Like most of you, I hope the show comes back.

• I wish Curran had punted the lightning round questions and done more Q and A with the fans.

• One person tried to use the Q & A to get a job. It was clear that that was not the way to get a job with Dave.

I think that’s it for the tour. We need to figure out this MutStack situation first, but Dave should/could do more of these and just take questions for an hour, and people would love it. The crowd in The Gate City certainly did.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

⚾ I might have to adjust the “They’re Not In It, But They’re Not Out Of It” stance after a three-game sweep of the White Sox. Big series in New York this weekend. A full-squad podcast of Dirty Water to try and explain this surge. Go watch and subscribe on YouTube. Then go listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

⚾ It’s impossible to believe that the Fenway training room being too small is the reason the Red Sox sent Roman Anthony to Florida to rehab. Not a believable sentence for Craig Breslow to say out loud.

🎙️ I don’t think it’s possible for a morning show to look less happy than this.

We’ll get the spring ratings for Boston sports radio next week. I think both stations will be down. And I don’t think the new WEEI afternoon show is going to help much.

I’ll say this about The Greg Hill Show. 1. WEEI NEEDS this show to carry, and if they falter, it might have a big impact on the numbers. 2. I’ve had way more people than I expected reach out and say how much more they like the show with Mego vs. Courtney Cox. We’ll see if the ratings show any of that, as Mego has been there most of the spring with Cox out on maternity leave.

It is a much different show with Mego. Greg and Wiggy end up talking less, and Mego seems to push back more. I do not think they’ll make any sort of change, for the record, but I’d be curious what the staff behind the scenes at WEEI thinks.

Full spring ratings breakdown here next week

🏇🏻 Tough first week for the Saratoga Bankroll. Hit the double yesterday on The Doubles Show w/ Elio and Turk. Elio posts it here every Saratoga race day on X.com, right around noon.

➡️ As I made clear yesterday on The Kirk Minihane Show, I am losing the battle in my kids vs. the screens. It’s bad. I am open to ANY AND ALL suggestions, limiting apps, etc. Comment here, email me, or DM me on Twitter. I’m 100% serious.

🏈 I’ll admit, Tom Brady helping the Seahawks beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl hurts.

Condolences to the family, friends, and former colleagues of the Boston Herald’s Danny Ventura, who passed away this week after a seven-month battle with cancer. Danny was the written authority on high school sports in Massachusetts, having covered them for the Herald since 1990.

The outpouring of love on social media over the last few days confirmed all the stories about how good a guy he was. I don’t often agree with Dan Shaughnessy, but when he wrote “Everybody loved Danny. MIAA should name a building after him,” he was 100% correct.

As always, thanks for reading. And watching.

Back here next week and back this weekend on the Barstool blog.

A note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy:

Lovely Grey runs today in the 8th. If she wins, Mut is invited to the winners circle

👀👀👀 I’ll be there in my Go Go Greys polo, rooting as loud as anyone. Safe trips for all.

I wish I had asked this guy about his shirt on Opening Day at Saratoga, 2018. A day so important to people that they’ll make Arial Font T-shirts celebrating it.

I’m writing this from the Skidmore College box near the clubhouse seats here at Saratoga Race Course.

It is Opening Day here at The Spa (Belmont days don’t count). The weather here is perfect just after 7 AM. But it’s going to be very hot this afternoon, and there has been plenty of social media push for Saratoga to join tracks like Ellis Park, Colonial, and Monmouth and cancel racing due to the heat.

I will not pretend to track vet - if the experts decide it’s best for the horses if we don’t run today, great. I’m putting my faith in NYRA to put the animals' safety first. And if the horseman or the jockeys fight to postpone, again, I trust them. As of right now, it looks like we’re running.

For much of the week, it didn’t. Or I thought it didn’t. Or social media thought it didn’t. Or they shouldn’t. And while I’ve joked for the last few years about my anxiety (Kirk calls me an “anxious guy”), let me give you an example of how it plays out in real time.

I am not lying when I say I must have looked at today's forecast hundreds of times every day leading up to Friday. Legit, thousands of times this week. I’m talking, flipping between four or five weather sites, refreshing every few minutes, multiple times an hour, to see what the Heat Index was going to be today. Because if the Heat Index were, say, 105 or higher, there would likely be no racing. As if that wasn’t good enough, I legit reached out and asked a NYRA employee what Heat Index site they used, as if there is such a thing. I’m a lunatic.

And in these cycles of checking the fucking forecast four days out, I would find myself losing 20-30 minutes of an hour just looking at weather, social media, group texts, etc.

This is not a new thing for me. When I was doing Red Sox pre and post, same cycle when it came to rain. Are they playing? Are they not playing? What time will the rain start? How long will the delay be? Texting local weather guys. Texting Red Sox employees. Going to “special” weather sites. SMH.

And I know I can’t control the weather, dude. I know this. But it doesn’t stop me from flipping between HOURLY, DAILY, and 10-DAY on WeatherUnderground, hoping to find a forecast I eventually like. It’s borderline debilitating at times.

Travel baseball also gets this treatment, refreshing tournament websites looking for the updated schedules. And I also see this when I’m planning on doing something and the planning (lists, schedules, etc.) takes longer than the actual thing.

I wasted hours of my life checking weather reports this week. I know what Epictetus preached and Bill Belichick espoused: “Control what you can control.” I’ve written that dozens of times over the years on to-do lists, journals, etc. I just don’t do a great job executing. Obviously.

My wife has seen me in these moments, paralyzed by the unknown of something as silly as the weather. Writing about it here, it’s pretty embarrassing. And I hope that maybe by doing it, I focus less on what might happen and just deal with it.

I did not plan on writing about this today. Maybe later I’ll hate that I did. For now, I’m okay having reread a few times

And for now, I need a shower and to handicap these races for today at Saratoga. And to not look at the weather.

Meanwhile, Dave’s book is out, and it’s great. The Celtics traded Jaylen Brown. LeBron to Boston? And your weekly MutStack Notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #178.

On the Jaylen Brown Trade…

I’m on board with trading Brown this offseason. And unlike other team executives in town (looking at you, Breslow), I have complete faith in Brad Stevens to make the right moves to make this team better. Even if the initial return might seem underwhelming, I’ll be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Because they have to get better - a lot better.

Yes, I wrote this just two weeks ago. Then, last week, I wrote that, based on some trade reports, Brad Stevens was really testing our trust. After the trade of Jaylen Brown to the 76ers, I feel like I’m the last one left of Brad Island.

It’s a horrible trade, even if Paul George did outplay Brown in the playoffs (he did). There is no way you came close to maximizing the asset - saying they got 40 cents back on the dollar is being generous.

I just have to believe there is another move coming; it’s why I refuse to go crazy about this right now.

The biggest question I have this morning is simple - why now? Why did the Celtics have to take this shitty deal on July 1 rather than wait a few months? Why not wait until another team’s star becomes disgruntled? Or gets hurt. Why now?

I’ve read every story, listened to every podcast; no one seems to have a good answer for this. So Jaylen was a know-it-all. So the analytics didn’t like him. So what? Those things don’t point to a good reason for making this terrible deal now.

Was it money? Did the new owner, Bill Chisholm, force Brad to make this deal for financial reasons? If he did, he’s an idiot. And Brad should quit tomorrow. Well, maybe not tomorrow because it’s America’s 250th birthday. He should quit next week, then. Chisholm has set himself up for a TD Garden full of “Sell the team” chants here. He has to know that. I get that the money is a popular reason for this move, and maybe I’m naive, but I don’t buy it.

Deep down, I think this is about Brad knowing his team was not good enough. Knowing he did not want to lock himself into Brown for that massive extension, and seeking some roster flexibility to reset. Fine, I get it - but why did you have to make the deal now?

I still feel like we’re still missing something here.

As for Brown, he was a great Celtic who never seemed to get over being booed on Draft Night. His efforts on and off the court for Boston will be remembered for a long time. But am I allowed to say I hated his streaming this offseason? And for calling this season his favorite season ever? I hated that. And I’m sure his team didn’t love it, either.

As a Day 1 Tatum guy who has said over and over Tatum is better than Brown…I guess we’re about to find out together. This is all going to fall on him. He’s in his prime, and the Celtics should be doing everything they can to surround him with a championship-caliber supporting cast. They didn’t have it last year, and after this trade, they sure-as-shit don’t have it now.

It’s lonely, but I remain on Brad Island. But I’d sure like to see the eventual next move and have some company here.

On My Boss Dave’s New Book…

My mom’s copy of Cancel Me If You Can arrived this week, and this was her initial take. I’m guessing this is because Dave mentions Rockingham Park, Suffolk Downs, and middle school gambling all in the first three pages.

Been there, done all of that.

But Ellen is right. Sooooooooooooooooooooooo many things in common between a couple of Boston media moguls.

He launched Barstool. I founded MutStack ✅
We have both been arrested, though for very different reasons ✅
We both know the great Dr. Matt Lopresti. ✅

And on and on and on. Just so much in common, mom, very good first observation.

My copy of Cancel Me If You Can arrived later than I wanted it to on Wednesday. So I didn’t wait; I jumped into the Audible version, which, at 1.2 speed, clocked in at about 8.5 hours. By Wednesday morning’s gym session (chest and tris, no big deal), I had finished the book. The plan was to go back to the physical book once it arrived, but I couldn’t. Dave, reading his own book, laughing at what he’d (or Francis) had written, making comments that were not in the book but just off the cuff while he was reading, was too good not to finish the listening.

This still counts as reading the book, by the way, even if I didn’t actually read it.

So, if you bought the book, I’m here to let you know you also need the audiobook. I saw Tommy Smokes was reading while listening, and he probably has the right idea.

The book is great. I was selling radio and then co-hosting a 2-hour night show at a small radio station in Nashua, NH, when Dave launched Barstool. Like so many other sports fans in Massachusetts in their mid 40s, I feel like I grew up with The Stool. Those early days of the blog…Milton..1510 The Zone Show…I was hopeful Dave would give this time period a deep dive. He did not disappoint.

The Boston nostalgia stuff is excellent. I had forgotten that my friend Glenn Ordway claimed he “could not find” Dave’s phone number so he could have him on to debate the Brady son picture fallout. Or that Jason Wolfe told him the audio from those two days was lost to corrupted files or something. Sure. Wild times. I think people like me, looking for Dave’s thoughts on those early days, will love it.

The book reads (sounds) like one long Dave blog - and it covers a lot more ground than just the Boston beginnings.

Like, I didn’t know anything about the Dave/Dan/PMT drama over the years. Maybe that sounds nuts, but no clue. That Dave/PFT Commenter first meeting at the Super Bowl? Pretty wild shit. Dave and Dan stuff, too. Thank you, ESPN.

The Penn/ESPN Drama. KFC’s two-year dual life working for Barstool and an accounting firm. Glenny Balls is helping to launch DDTG. Elio talking to a reporter for a hit piece by accident. All of it is covered in the book. I loved all the Penn/ESPN stuff. And the political chapter challenges many of the tired narratives you see about Dave out there. In the end, he and my friend Kirk seem to share similar views on the extreme right and the extreme left.

Angel of Barstool story? Crazy. Dave and Gaz confronting that reporter and her very short husband in Florida (wish we had that video).

You want me to nitpick? Fine. I wanted more horse racing. There were a few mentions here and there, including in the last line of the book, but Dave is the most popular horse-racing fan/gambler/owner in the world. I could have used Dave on Saratoga, on starting Go Go Greys, and on which race he might most want to win. Maybe in the next book.

Easy read, funny read. Hits on nostalgia, and you learn some good inside shit. Full MutStack seal of approval. I’ll get you my mom’s review this weekend.

Dave told the world that if the book debuts #1 on the NYT Non-Fiction list, I get MutStack back. I think we’ll find out about that next week. Does this #1 in Amazon Baseball Biographies count? Either way, get the book. And the audiobook.

BUY THE BOOK.

On Lebron James to the Celtics…

So, it looks like this is real? I think this is real? Sounds like it’s real.

LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul, with a map of the teams that might fit his client, from a podcast with Max Kellerman.

“Brad + Tatum” 👀👀👀

Oh baby.

There is a famous Minifan who called me about this this week, in fact. What if LeBron James joined the Celtics? Like most Celtics fans, I sports-hate LeBron. I don’t think there is another athlete I sports-hate more. Could I root for LeBron in the green-and-white?

Is there even a good comp for this? Derek Jeter joining the Red Sox?

I don’t think there’s ANY chance it happens, but once he puts on the uniform, I’d have to root for LeBron. I remember watching every game when Sheman Douglas was the point guard, so it would seem silly to bail on the team in my mid-40s.

My kids have ended up liking Lebron, for some reason. I’ve seen them watching LeBron is the GOAT YouTube and singing some sort of LeBron is the best song or brainworm, so they would be on board. They don’t know the pain he’s caused Boston.

Bron and Bronny and all that comes with it…again, not going to happen, but yes, I’d hold my nose and root for Lebron in Boston.

He’s also a part-owner of Fenway Sports Group… just sayin’.

On your weekly MutStack notes…

⚾ Yes, that is a paper bag on Ed’s head. And yes, he’s wearing Toy Story pajamas. Just another edition of Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast. Did a bunch of Jaylen Brown here, too. Plus, plenty of Sox, including why Hogdale hates this team. “They have no soul. They play with no heart.” Direct quote.

Watch and subscribe on YouTube, and then listen and subscribe where you get your audio podcasts.

⚾ I think MLB got it right with the suspensions for Wilson Contreras and Cade Cavalli. Cavalli started the issue, and Contreras… well, he threw a helmet. Can’t do that. Much more on this in the podcast.

⚾ The 5-2 homestand does nothing to move me off Team Sell for this Red Sox team.

⚾ It is REALLY dumb that the Sox play at 9:38 PM ET on July 4th and Sunday, July 5th.

🎙️ The vast WEEI radio network is getting smaller by the day.

WEEI programming lost its presence in Providence, RI, this spring when Audacy sold the 103.7 FM signal that had carried its shows for decades. This past week, their Keene, NH affiliate changed ownership, and the new owners promptly flipped the format to FM Country Music.

This was not an Audacy station. This station just carried WEEI programming and Sox games and could sell local ads. But you paid Audacy a fee to do that - having worked at a local station in New Hampshire when I first started, that was the deal then, and I assume it’s the same now. The new owners apparently did not see the value in that and appeared to have cut ties rather quickly.

With the WEEI app, this won’t be an issue for most people. But it’s a sign the WEEI brand no longer carries the weight it once did around the region.

🎙️ Dave did an hour with Zolak and Bertrand on Wednesday, and it’s worth a listen

🎙️ I failed you, the loyal MutStack Subscriber, by not getting my hands on any radio rating this week. The spring book numbers are out on July 14, so that might be the week we get them. But I will keep trying before then.

🏇🏻 Saratoga is back, and that means the Saratoga Doubles Show is back. He was nice enough to ask, so I’ll be joining Elio and Turk this year, trying to hit the double every day at Saratoga. I think it releases every day at noon during the meet, and I’ll repost on X.com Daily.

🏇🏻 A reminder that races going long on the dirt at Saratoga, usually a mile and an eighth, are historically dominated by speed. This has especially been true at the beginning of the meeting. And in many cases, speed from the inside. People tend to want to bet closers at this distance, but you want to focus on the speed. The same goes for when they stretch out for a few races at a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half. Speed and the rail were a MAJOR advantage during the Belmont at Saratoga meet a few weeks ago.

🎆 The Fourth of July remains the second-best holiday of the year, second only to Thanksgiving. Happy 250th, America.

That feels like enough Stack for this week. Back tomorrow on the Barstool Blog to talk Saratoga. I like the #10 in the finale today at The Spa, if you care about such things. Go Lovely Grey!

Have a happy and healthy Fourth of July. Good luck with all your bets this weekend. And thanks for reading.

Subscribe now

Share

A note from MutStack owner Dave Portnoy:

I hope that MutStack doesn’t suffer with the recent falling out between Jeff D Lowe and Kirk causing Mut to pick up the slack on Minifan dick sucking at the expense of the MutStack

Yeah, Jeff D Lowe and Kirk. I was not expecting that after the Dozen playoffs.

My Minifandom, or any increase in it, as Dave points out, will not impact MutStack…I don’t think? That’s the goal, anyway, faithful subscriber.

As for Kirk and Jeff…yeah, no comment. Other than that, I hope the ice eventually thaws.

Jeff D Lowe is in Dave’s book, right? Kirk, too? Are they both in the MutStack Chapter? MutStack chapters, plural? We’ll all find out together next week.

BUY DAVE’S BOOK NOW.

As the doors to New York City’s only thoroughbred racetrack close forever this Sunday, I will be left with some awesome memories of Aqueduct Race Course.

I was not a fan (or alive) for some of its biggest and best moments. I never took the subway there. But I made a few visits to The Big A over the years. And I confidently say one of my favorite racing memories ever came there on Cigar Mile Day, 2015.

I was there with our usual Saratoga/King’s Tavern crew. I don’t know how or why, but we decided at some point during the day that it was a good idea to walk down the narrow path on the track apron to the Winner’s Circle after one of the races. It’s right on the track near the finish line, so the Winner’s Circle also provides a great view of the live race. I guess they weren’t checking for IDs that day in 2015, because we were able to move in and out of there as we pleased. And we did so for a few races.

As they got ready for the prestigious Grade 1 Cigar Mile, we decided to head back down, test our luck one more time, and watch the race from there. Worst they could do was say no, right?

I’m glad we did.

It turns out to be a phenomenal race. Tonalist was farrrrrr back into the turn, and with the half-mile in only 48 seconds, it looked like he had no shot to win.

But under the steady urging of Johnny V, Tonalist starts picking up steam. Johnny gets him out clear, and now he’s gobbling up ground. We’re right there on the rail, a couple of hundred yards away, and holy shit, he’s moving. Can’t he run them all down? Can he? No way. He was too far back. The pace was too slow.

And here he comes. We were so close that we could feel the track shake as he came thundering by. With the finish line lights on because it was already getting dark, the mighty Tonalist gets up in the final strides to win the Grade 1 Cigar Mile. To go along with his Grade 1 Belmont Stakes. And his Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. He finished third in the Whitney and second in the Met Mile, both times losing to the great Honor Code. He had a storied career - a career that ended with that Cigar Mile win.

And there we were, right next to his trainer, the late Christophe Clement, cheering our asses off for him in the Winners' Circle, as he ran a huge race.

I’ll miss big races at Aqueduct. I’ll miss the times when the inside speed bias would show up, and smart riders like Kendrick Carmouche would take advantage. I’ll miss betting on a few Aqueduct races before Thanksgiving dinner. I’ll miss (and I have missed) the image denoting the Inner Dirt track in the Daily Racing Form.

I get why NYRA is closing Aqueduct, but I don’t have to like it. I’m going to write more about this Saturday in my weekly Barstool racing blog. But for today, I wanted to end on a high note with The Big A.

If you’re a racing fan, you know that the sport gives you moments you won’t ever forget. Cigar Mile Day in the Winners Circle, watching close by as Tonalist capped his career with a Grade 1 win, is one of those for me.

Meanwhile, my faith in Brad Stevens is being tested. Craig Breslow remains the absolute worst. Tom Durkin wrote a great book. And a sports-radio heavy MutStack notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #178.

Subscribe now

I bought the book. My mom bought the book. You should too.

Next Week! Perfect for summer vacation. Go buy My Boss Dave’s book - out June 30th!

Buy the book here

On Brad Stevens, The Celtics, and the Trust Tree…

S-P-O-R-T-S SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS!!!

Brad can’t be serious, right?

On the State of the Red Sox…

A legit layup question.

It came from Jermaine Wiggins on Friday morning. Making an appearance on WEEI, Craig Breslow was asked to grade his and the team’s performance so far in 2026. Saturday’s game will be the halfway point of the season, so I get it

And if you’re Breslow, you just say “F.”

Look at our record, look at us a year ago. Not good enough. That starts with me. Blah. Blah. Like, such an easy answer to show you get it, and also take some accountability for building a crappy, last-place team. EASY.

But he couldn’t. Either it was arrogance, trying to back his own players and staff, or just being oblivious to public sentiment. Whatever it was, he started his answer by saying that the on-field performance has not been good enough… and then listed all the positives of the team. The pitching. The better at bats. Whatever the hell else he said after that. I sort of blacked out. It was such a nauseating answer.

Seriously. He sat there and tried to spin what has been the worst Red Sox season of my lifetime. The team is 33-46!

Maybe he’s a poor communicator, in addition to being a poor baseball executive. There were reports that some people in the organization felt like he might need a ‘buffer’ to help him talk to others - like a Breslow Translator. You certainly get that sense every time he talks to the media. He sounds clueless and completely out of touch.

I thought for a hot second after the team lost two of three to the hapless Rockies this week that that was it for Breslow - that with the Yankees in town, the team would fire him Thursday and start the rebuild for 2027 and beyond.

Nope. Wrong again.

I hate to bring this up, but we’re looking at a Doomsday Scenario with Bres. Keeps his job. Makes a few moves at the deadline. Team plays better in September. He keeps his job for 2027. I think that’s 100% in play.

Even without the fake comeback in September, he’s giving off vibes that he’s been assured he’ll be here next year. I guess ownership could wake up and change their mind on that, but why have they given him this much rope? I’d love someone to ask the owner, but he has refused to take questions from the media for the last six years. We keep getting media reports that his job is not safe - what does Henry say? We’re left to guess.

Breslow looms over the entire season. As does finding a new manager - Chad Tracy has shown little in his six weeks at the helm.

So you’ll forgive me if I don’t go crazy over Red Sox 6 - Yankees 3 on Thursday night. This team has much bigger problems than the wins and losses on the field at this point.

And it starts with a Chief Baseball Officer who, despite being clearly bad at his job (and reportedly bad at human interactions), might be in line to keep it.

Share

On a MutStack Book Review: “A Life’s Calling” with Tom Durkin…

There is a moment in Arazi’s breathtaking move to take the lead and eventually crush the field in the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, where the NBC cameras zoom in on the race leader Bertrando. In fact, the video above starts right there.

Once they zoom back out to the wider shot of the field, Arazi has suddenly gone from the back of the pack to contention in just a matter of seconds. If it sounded like the move caught track announcer Tom Durkin by surprise, it’s because it did.

“There wasn’t much change in the running order, and I executed what is known in the race-calling profession as a bridge, which is a phrase like “As they continue down the backstretch.” That’s when I can momentarily take my eyes off the field and focus on the infield toteboard, where I can find the time for the opening half-mile and announce it to the crowd.

After that bridge, I got my glasses back on the field, which is now on the far turn, and there’s Arazi, who has passed nearly the entire field. I instantly say to myself, “That can’t be Arazi. How is this possible? Where did he come from?” But I memorized his head markings. The chestnut colt had a long white blaze that went down one side of his snout. I spotted that blaze and internally I said, “That has got to be Arazi.” I was stunned. Just two seconds ago this horse was behind. But boom, there he suddenly was in full flight, about to swallow up the entire field.”

You can hear the surprise in his call. You never see a horse move like that, especially on the dirt. Durkin captures the moment perfectly, as he did so many times during his legendary career.

In his new memoir, “A Life’s Calling - The Voice Behind The World’s Greatest Horse Races,” Durkin tells some great stories. Like how he started his illustrious career calling races at a country fair. About growing up in Chicago around Arlington Park. About the lavish parties he would throw after big horse races. About calling the biggest races in the world. About his time traveling in Italy. A great storyteller in the booth, it’s no surprise is book is more of the same.

He also does a great job explaining the process of preparing for a race. There is no doubt that it takes a certain skill set, and Durkin honed it to perfection over the years.

I’ve felt for years that horseplayers are drawn to other horseplayers. It’s comforting to talk to someone who has felt the pain of being alive to the top three choices in a big Pick 5, and still not closing it out. You can tell from reading this book that, indeed, Tom Durkin is one of us.

And like us, he has had his battles. He mentions multiple times in the book that he dealt with race-day anxiety as a race caller, to the point of using hypnosis, among other tools, to try and make sure it did not impact his legendary calls.

And if I had any minor nitpick of his excellent book, it’s that I would have liked to hear more about that. Hearing that someone as talented as Durkin has been able to overcome something so many people face can be motivating for a reader - Dan Hurley’s book had that impact on me. And the way Durkin talked about these lavish parties he’d throw… selfishly, more about those! And how do I get invited???

It’s an easy read, and if you’re a racing fan, you’ll love it. I mean, he has a chapter called “Saratoga Is Saratoga…” He gets it. And there are small sections written by his friends and colleagues throughout the book - those are a nice touch, in particular, a very funny story from former Suffolk Downs announcer Larry Collmus.

I was lucky to take the Racing Hall of Fame tour with Durkin as our tour guide years ago - it was fantastic. Once it was over, I told all my racing friends it was well worth it. I’ll say the same about this book. If you’re a horse racing fan, this book is well worth some time this summer.

I have heard rumors that Durkin might call a race on Sunday at Aqueduct, the track's official closing day….I hope that’s the case.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

🎙️ This is not just about a terrible radio bit.

WEEI’s Rich, Ken & Ted Show produced this really bad AI-generated song last week. It’s gross. It’s lazy (more on that word in a second). The fact that it was promoted on air says a lot about the show and about how they feel about their audience. It’s awful.

BUT… there was a time, not too long ago, when this would have been great for WEEI or any radio station.

Because not too long ago, something like this would get mocked by other shows on a station. They would talk about how bad it was. Take calls on how bad it was. And guess what - you’d get calls on how GOOD it was, too. Get the creator (Rich, I assume) on another show, have him listen to it, and have him explain the process behind it. Or the nonsensical lyrics. Have a real musician try a version of the song. Would have made for a good few days of programming for multiple shows.

But radio has changed a lot over the last 10 or 20 years. And almost amazingly, this song did not get any run at all on WEEI, outside of the show that created it.

And Kirk is 100% right in his post - it is something that Chris Curtis used mock because it’s so mockable. And I’m sure he and countless others in that building had a lot of fun with it. But on air? Crickets.

WEEI is not the only station that has moved away from this. WIP in Philadelphia doesn’t do it. WFAN used to do it - Mike Francesa and Craig Carton had real battles over the years, and Craig mocked Mike at all times. Gio did some of that, too. But now?

Gio and Brandon Tierney got into it, but Tierney was gone from the station. And as I wrote at the time, these clips got millions of views, and it was great for both sides. And I don’t see much WFAN back-and-forth as I used to.

I’m told that WEEI boss Mike Thomas likes to brag about how everyone at the station gets along now and how toxic it was when he got there. Swell, Mike, but you’re getting drilled in the ratings across every daypart. So yeah, maybe station outings seem more friendly now. But you really do believe that, behind the scenes, hosts and producers aren’t still ripping on other shows as much as they EVER did? Come on, you’re smarter than that. And the audience is smarter than that. They want real. And ignoring a song as bad as this because you don’t want your shows to fight on air is as fake as it gets.

Maybe I’m in the minority on this. Comments are open for all your radio takez.

Leave a comment

🎙️ When Tom Brady calls in at 6:15 AM the day after a Patriots game for his scheduled and sponsored weekly radio interview, it’s a smart idea to replay that interview later in the show, say the 8 AM hour. 1. Because it’s Tom Brady. 2. You have more listeners in that hour, and Tom Brady is always a must-listen.

But the Rich, Ken & Ted Show has started replaying ANY interview they get later in the show. I heard the most boring Red Sox manager of my life, Chad Tracy, twice in 90 minutes this week. Mike Florio, who famously wanted the NFL to close shop forever because of Covid, was replayed on Thursday as a “content replay.”

Toucher and Rich would replay funny bits more than once. But Chad Tracy? Mike Florio? Freakin’ Scal? I don’t know what some radio suit would call it, but I’d call it lazy. The whole benefit of radio over, say, a podcast, is that radio is live. Replaying Mike Florio two hours later seems like the opposite of that.

🎙️ The Spring Boston Radio Book (April, May, June) closed on Wednesday. Full disclosure: I have not seen any real numbers from just the spring, and might not for at least a few weeks, but was told by a media insider that the rumblings about the early Rich, Ken & Ted Show ratings were “not good.” Or “really bad.” I forgot how it was phrased. WEEI still has access to the weekly ratings, and my guess is, based on history, they would have been leaked to the Globe and Chad Finn if they had been any good. We’ll get the full spring ratings on July 14. But I’ll try my best to get some early returns next week.

⚾ Saw a live triple play in 13U baseball on Thursday. Seeing a triple play > a no-hitter. Just electric.

That seems like enough Stack for this week.

Good luck with all your bets this weekend. And thanks for reading. And watching. Back on the Barstool blog for a big horse racing Saturday

Subscribe now

A note from MutStack owner Dave Portnoy:

No note from Dave this week.

Last week’s note was pretty important, and if you missed it, I’d check it out.

“I understand that there's this sort of heat around Jaylen Brown & the Boston Celtics. I am not a believer that Jaylen Brown is not going to be a Celtic at the start of the season…I believe there's a very good chance Jaylen Brown is staying put with Jayson Tatum.” - ESPN’s Brian Windhorst

This is getting tiresome. But I get it.

For multiple offseasons, the Boston Celtics have clearly dangled Jaylen Brown in trade talks. Then the trade doesn’t come to fruition, and it gets spun like they never tried to move him in the first place.

No one really believes that, right?

I’m on board with trading Brown this offseason. And unlike other team executives in town (looking at you Breslow), I have complete faith in Brad Stevens to make the right moves to make this team better. Even if the initial return might seem underwhelming, I’ll be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Because they have to get better - a lot better.

Whatever tier the Thunder, Spurs, and Knicks are in, the Celtics do not belong as currently constructed. I assumed that when Tatum came back, that would fix everything - it didn’t. I don’t think you can just run back last year’s team and expect better results. And I don’t think Brad Stevens thinks that either.

“I think the other thing you have to consider, especially for next year, is there were a lot of teams in the NBA that were playing for draft positioning this year and that will not be the case next year,” Stevens said after the season.

“The league is going to be a lot better, the regular season is going to be a lot harder, and it will probably give you a better indication of what everybody really is.”

I love this quote from a Boston executive who doesn’t sugarcoat it (again, talking about you, Bres). How refreshing!

So maybe it’s Brown for Giannis. Or Brown for pieces that free up the cash to trade for someone else. Or I guess, Brown and Tatum stay, and Stevens finds a way to add to those two. But trading a player with Brown's talent feels like the most efficient way for the team to take a step forward. And they need to; Stevens knows that and basically said as much. You can make the case that they’ve underachieved with this group and need a reset. The fact Brown’s name keeps coming up in trade talks is proof the team thinks that, too.

So they can keep trying to cover their tracks with the player, but I don’t believe it. I have too much faith in Stevens to think he’s going to sit back just HOPE this team finds a new ceiling next season. And if that means shopping a star player but telling the media you didn’t - until you finally find the right deal - I’m okay with that…even if the whole process is getting laborious.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox suck. My co-worker had a wild World Cup take. A Boston radio legend passes away. And the usual MutStack notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #177.

I bought the book. My mom bought the book. You should too.

Go buy My Boss Dave’s book - out June 30th!

Buy the book here

On the Pathetic State of The Red Sox…

Congrats, Bres, you did it! Idiot.

Share

On rooting for the 2026 World Cup…

So this was a pretty wild take from Chris Klemmer.

This week on Sports Central (the show previously known as Picks Central, which airs Monday through Thursday at noon and you should watch), Klemmer complained to us that he didn’t like the World Cup because baseball is his favorite sport and soccer is taking attention away from it.

Insanity. As if you can’t possibly pay attention to two sports at once.

He went on to say that he’s just not a soccer fan, which is fine. And he suggested that he didn’t want to pretend to be some soccer super fan for this event.

I don’t think you have to.

There are soccer fans, like my brother Matt, that will get up and watch the Premier League every weekend. He knows all these players and what’s going on. He’s into it. And so he’s very into the World Cup.

I am 100% not one of them. I’m probably right there with Klemmer at Barstool in terms of knowing the least about soccer at the company. I’m a super, super, super casual, and many of you reading this are probably the same - don’t let Klemmer guilt you into not enjoying the event.

There is nothing wrong with jumping all into the event and rooting for Team USA. Or any other team you associate with. I hate the idea you have to be an expert on something to be fully invested in it. I’m not going out of my way to watch many matches outside of Team USA, but I know I’ll be watching Friday at 3 when they play Australia. I like rooting for my country, and I like the ‘buzz’ of a single-serving, BIG event like this. Or a random Olympic sport. Don’t let the Chris Klemmers of the world sports-shame you into thinking that’s not okay.

And yeah, this has been fun to watch, too. International soccer fans discovering Boston has been pretty funny.

By the way, it works both ways. If you don’t like soccer or care about Team USA, great. You should not be sports-shamed into watching if you don’t want to. I love horse racing, but I have ZERO interest in Royal Ascot this week. But it’s not because it’s taking away from US Racing - it’s just not for me. Maybe you feel that way about the World Cup; I get it.

But don’t tell me it’s taking attention away from baseball, Klemmer. Give me a break. In the case of the Red Sox, good - the team sucks. Less Red Sox, more Team USA.

Comments are open for all your soccer takes below.

Leave a comment

On the passing of Eddie Andelman…

I didn’t really “get” Eddie at first.

Now, I never listened to the Sports Huddle, one of the first all-sports talk shows in Boston. It was just a little before my time. But by all accounts, that show was a must-listen and eventually helped launch all-sports radio in Boston.

My experience with Eddie mostly came as a listener came through The A-Team, with Eddie and Dale Arnold. I knew him at first as the old guy who would yell “Jambalaya!” not just in the weeks leading up to the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss to the Packers, but in the months. I feel like he and callers started yelling it that summer.

But as I started listening to more sports radio in the years after that, Eddie would say just ridiculous things on his show, like suggesting they fill the NHL hockey nets with pudding; I don’t remember if there was a specific reason. Or that soccer should have two balls on the field at all times to increase scoring. He’d have on-air Scavenger hunts with listeners where they had to find random items to win a nominal prize. He held an annual Gobble Show the day before Thanksgiving, where people and things would earn a certain number of ‘Gobbles.’ The Gobble Show was great.

And as a sports guy, truthfully, I found myself rolling my eyes. I wanted S-P-O-R-T-S talk. More SPORTS! Serious SPORTS!

I just didn’t get it. Eddie was as much an entertainer as he was a sports talk show host. And that’s what set him apart, even if I didn’t appreciate it at the time.

Eddie Andelman passed away this week at the age of 89.

There was an outpouring of love from listeners and colleagues.

I never really worked with Eddie, but I was a summer intern for The A-Team in 2001, Eddie’s last summer with WEEI. I would come in for the last two hours of that show and stay for the entirety of Glenn Ordway’s The Big Show. What I remember most was that when he sent me downstairs to place his lunch order, he would never let me give the change back. As a college kid with no money, that stood out. His generosity went well beyond that, as his Hot Dog Safari must have raised millions for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation over the years.

I remember the fax line would be cookin’, and I’d bring faxes into the studio for him and Dale during their show. Many of those faxes were jokes for Eddie to read on the air - some of them you just couldn’t, thanks to FCC regulations.

But he was a true character - 1 of 1. He left WEEI for 1510 The Zone late in 2001 and was happy to take shots at Glenn and the rest of WEEI on his new show. As a listener, it sure sounded like Eddie could hold a grudge.

It felt like he did what he wanted to over at the Zone - and that included shows where they would play the live race calls from Suffolk Downs on the air. Eddie was a horse guy - I actually wasn’t at the time. Or he’d get one of his friends from Vegas on for an hour. “Have a hunch, bet a bunch,” was an old Eddie line I still hear in my head once a month. Eddie was a fan of gambling stories. And the Kowloon. He had a good straight man on that show in Dave Jagler, who would play along when Eddie would go off the rails. By then, finally, I sort of got it with Eddie. But those shows at The Zone, or later at WTKK, won’t be the lasting memory faithful listeners will have of Eddie.

He’ll be fondly remembered for helping to bring full-time sports radio to Boston. And being part of the real blast-off for WEEI. For ripping local owners, coaches, and athletes for their bullshit. For his sense of humor. For raising millions for charity. For his love of wrestling. For being a true pioneer in the business. And for his many memorable catchphrases and malaprops that have given people so much enjoyment over the years. #hihowareya

A true entertainer who also happened to be really good at talking sports.

Condolences to his family and friends during this tough time.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

⚾ Bad. Just bad. Went live Thursday night to react to the Red Sox home sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays. Four guys asking each other why Craig Breslow is still here. Watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

❓ I did not like this. I am hopeful that Kirk reconsiders and unretires from The Dozen. Team Minihane played well, just ran into another good team. He can’t retire. Run it back, Skip.

🎙️ “Grunting doesn’t help anyone listening on the radio.” I’m paraphrasing, but Jones & Keefe Thursday with some pretty blatant shots at Scott Zolak and his Patriots’ radio calls. Went on for a few minutes around noon. They were not complimentary of Zo. Like, at all. Is there real beef there? 👀👀

🎙️ I can only hate-listen to Rich, Ken & Ted for so long, but I did hear Rich ask Sean McAdam if maybe John Henry being around the team more is what IKF was alluding to when he said there were a lot of people around the team at Fenway. That made me laugh.

🏇🏻 It was a big story that Churchill Downs had purchased the IP rights to the Preakness Stakes. Turns out the state of Maryland had the right to match any offer, and on Thursday, they did. I still believe we’ll see a new TV deal for the Preakness that will push the race back at least a week, something I am 100% on board for.

🎙️A great old Eddie Andelman interview with Wade Boggs, where he tells Wade to his face that Kirby Puckett is a better player than he is and worth more. Good find from Boston Radio Watch. Thanks to Kirk for alerting me to it.

🥍 I spent time here last week reacting to the story of the Ipswich Lacrosse team having to forfeit a state semifinal game because some of their players were caught on camera smoking cigars, an MIAA no-no. Part of my defense of the players was that the parents claimed the cigars were fake and that they had a store receipt to prove it. Well…

“The manager at Shaw’s was able to print out a receipt that matched the details of the purchased tea bags with a date of June 8th at 1:03 pm, Mr. Mitchell had alerted the six families about the potential violation and the impending investigation by email at 12:41 pm on June 8th,” the principal and superintendent said.

“The receipt indicates that the ‘tea’ allegedly used in the ‘fake’ cigars was actually purchased 20 minutes after the families were notified of the potential violation.”

The receipt was dated after the parents knew of the impending investigation. So it looks like they just lied about the cigars being fake. I mean…what the hell are we doing? We can debate if smoking a cigar should lead to the team having to forfeit a playoff game (It shouldn’t), but it’s hard to debate the stupidity of the parents trying to cover it up for their kids. What kind of message does that send? Bad, bad look.

👎🏻 Three days into summer vacation and I’m losing the battle in keeping the kids off their screens and video games. Gotta be better.

⛳ I will be rooting for the course, a close and tense final round, and Xander Schauffele this weekend at the US Open. And hopefully get to watch some of it with my dad.

A Happy and Healthy Father’s Day to my dad, The Viking, and to all the MutStack Dads out there. Enjoy the day and the weekend.

That sure feels like enough Stack for this week. Good luck with all the bets this weekend. Thanks for reading. And watching.

Subscribe now

A note from MutStack owner Dave Portnoy:

If my book Cancel Me If You Can launches as the #1 best seller in non fiction I will give Mutstack back to Mutt. So go preorder the book.

Look, I already bought the book. I was always going to buy the book. I can’t wait to read the book. I was a Barstool fan a full two decades before Dave took pity on me and hired me last fall. #thankyoudave #thankyoukirk

Dave is the best boss I have ever had, and it’s not that close (shoutout Bomber Brad). I love working for him. And I hope I’ll be working for him over the next two decades. But we all need to help make his book #1.

Really, as a thank you to him for all he has given us over the years. Throwing that wallet at Blind Mike in Milton. Putting that jerk Glenn Ordway in his place. Fighting for the Patriots against Roger Goodell. I could go on and on and on. Oh…

HIRING KIRK MINIHANE.

Seriously, let’s do this for Dave. We owe him so much.

And, look, if MutStack is rightfully returned to the guy that started it in the process, hey, who am I to argue with My Boss Dave?

⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️ You can click on that handsome face above and place a preorder. Or you can buy the book RIGHT HERE. Post those receipts in the comments.

Book of the summer. Amazing graduation gift. Perfect Father’s Day gift. Arbor Day. Labor Day. Any day.

Again, buy the book RIGHT HERE. Not for MutStack, but for Dave. But also, maybe MutStack.

It’s kind of a silly record, right?

The Red Sox became the first team, maybe ever, to see the Top 3 batters in their lineup start a game 0-9 for 9 strikeouts. Has not happened since 1901, when they started tracking in-game strikeouts. I might have happened before that, but we’d have no idea. So it may have never happened in the Major Leagues until it happened to the Red Sox on Thursday.

But the offensive futility symbolized by that record is in the DNA of this 2026 Boston Red Sox team. And that futility is the #1 reason Craig Breslow should be fired.

Forget all the other potentially fireable offenses, like the way he handled the Rafael Devers trade. Or the way he botched the Alex Bregman negotiation this past offseason. Or the Level 10 Dysfunction that permeates this 2026 team - from the Roman injury to the Crochet injury to the ESPN reports of a “terrible” working environment at Fenway Park.

Putting ALL of that aside, his plan for this year’s team is enough evidence to send him packing yesterday - he built a team with no power. The Red Sox have 52 home runs this season, the fewest in all of baseball. Teams who out-homer their opponents have won about 70% of their regular season games, according to a quick AI search Thursday. In the playoffs, it’s over 80%. Home runs are the most efficient way to score runs and essentially, win games.

Just over the last decade, the teams who hit the fewest home runs have averaged 66 wins per season. The teams who hit the most? They have averaged 95 wins per season. Again, a little extreme, a small sample size, but you get the point.

You have to homer to win. Days after the team was bounced by the Yankees last fall, he was telling us all he knew the team needed more power in the lineup. Then the offseason came, and he failed to deliver. Breslow is supposed to be this big analytics guy, and he went and built a team around pitching and defense, even KNOWING how much power equates to winning. That’s stupid. That’s baseball malpractice. That’s FIREABLE.

And if the Red Sox could find someone to take the job, I think he would be fired. But they already fired the manager (didn’t work). And the last time they had an opening for Chief Baseball Officer, no one wanted the job - people forget multiple smart folks around baseball turned down the chance to even interview for the position with John Henry’s team #selltheteam. I think they’re worried about the same thing right now.

So that’s why Sam Kennedy goes on WEEI and says firing Breslow “is not even on the table.” That’s why we’re stuck with the reality that, even if the team ends up being sellers at the deadline (they should be), Breslow will be allowed to do the selling. That’s frightening.

Because for a ‘smart’ guy, he makes a lot of stupid baseball moves. The stupidest of which was not adding legit power to a team that needed it, in an era where power = wins.

Sean McAdam wrote today that BresBot is probably gone after the season. Again, my take - if the Red Sox could find someone to take the job, I think he would be fired. Instead, he’ll be allowed to sorta run the trade deadline?

Brutal stuff. Maybe worse than Breslow’s offseason plan for this baseball team. A baseball team that, less than a year after finally getting back to the playoffs, appears headed for yet another rebuild. And another new Chief Baseball Officer.

Meanwhile, I have some basketball takes. The Kirk Minihane Show is back! A wild high school lax story in Massachusetts. And your usual MutStack notes.

All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #176.

“Hey Mut, how can I support the always free and sometimes spelling-mistake-free Friday Four-Pack at MutStack.com?”

1. Subscribe. Blue button.
   

   Subscribe now

2. Share the Four-Pack with your friends, enemies, co-workers, bowling league teammates, fellow Little League parents. Really, anyone. Again, Blue button.
   

   Share MutStack

On Giannis, the Celtics & the Knicks…

Leave a comment

Call me a moron for this take in the comments. I dare you.

On the return of the Kirk Minihane Show…

Was not expecting that!

When Kirk announced on November 25 of last year that The Kirk Minihane Show was over, I did not think it would ever come back. He seemed very content with the decision to end the show and focus on The Case, the highly-rated Golf Gambling Show, and other Barstool projects.

This opinion was solidified in the weeks leading up to KMS Live in Laconia, NH on Saturday. I had a small part in the show, singing my first original KMS parody song (I’m A ColeMan, a tribute to Jack Coleman. Although after the tweet below, I almost wish I never had) as part of the three-hour whirlwind production. I never got the sense that the show was a launching point for KMS to return. I assumed there would be more live shows and other KMS events, but not the actual show. Felt like that ship had sailed, even if I was among the thousands of fans who wanted it to return.

So like the rest of the crowd, this slide was a shocker.

The Kirk Minihane Show returns Monday, January 4, 2027. Kirk admitted on the show (I mean, the show is back, so Tuesday was a show, right?) this week that he was not 100% sure what form KMS might take next year. I think he said one show a week and then phone calls on Friday were a possibility. We’ll see.

What’s clear is that Kirk continues to have the greatest and most loyal fans at Barstool or really, anywhere. They packed the Colonial Theatre and turned Laconia into Minihane, NH all weekend. The town should be paying him a fee to hold the show there based on the hotel rooms and booze he sold this weekend. Shoutout to Hector’s for showing the Belmont, with the sound up, Saturday night. Great chicken fingers, too.

He didn’t say exactly why he came back, but seeing a sold-out crowd go nuts for three hours... and line up for the VIP event before that... and go to a fan live show the night before... and pack Laconia...again…that had to be a motivating factor.

These live shows are incredible, thanks to the work Kirk (okay, and the producers too) put into them. If you call yourself a Minifan, you owe it to yourself to get ot the next one. Which might be next May, per the show Tuesday?

The show being back is great. For the fans. For Barstool. And most importantly, for my potential continued employment with Barstool. I was hired, and then the show was gone, so this helps. I think?

Great to talk to so many Minifans in Laconia. Finally got to meet the legendary “David in Maryland.” Can’t wait for the next live show. And for 1/4/27.

📈KMS Stock Up: Menners. He hates me, I get it, but what a superfan. Came from Australia for the show AND got Murchinson’s Mouse on stage to save the band. A+ stuff.

📈KMS Stock Up: Laconia, NH. We were a Maine vacation family (Drake’s Island FTW) growing up, so I never really spent much time in the Lakes Region, but love it. Am I crazy to call the area a good Bachelor Party spot? Do people do this? Lakes are gross, but the area seems awesome.

📉KMS Stock Down

This guy. I love you, but cut the shit, Coleman. Wish the show was back now so I could hear Kirk do 20 minutes on this ridiculous video.

Covered my thoughts on the craziness of the Live Show itself with Kirk on Tuesday.

On Massachusetts Lacrosse team getting screwed…

Occasionally, there is a story that makes me wish I was still on the radio in Boston. This one of those stories.

The undefeated Ipswich Tigers Lacrosse team had advanced to the MIAA Division 4 state semifinal against Cohasset High School, scheduled for Tuesday night.

Tuesday afternoon, the school informed the MIAA that the team would have to forfeit the game because they didn’t have enough players. They didn’t have enough players because the school district suspended 8 or 9 players for violating the MIAA’s chemical health/tobacco policy (which bans possession or use of tobacco products, including during the season).

How did the players violate this rule? By posing for a post-graduation photo on a beach holding what appeared to be cigars.

Only, the parents say they weren’t real cigars; they were homemade props.

The MIAA took the brunt of the early heat for this. But they claim the school made the call, and it never reached their desk for a ruling.

The parents say the school principal gave the kids the green light to play, only for the superintendent to say no. The superintendent has refused to speak on it publicly.

Some parents think the superintendent did not fight for these kids as retaliation for an event earlier in the year. On Thursday, police had to be called to the school during a meeting between lacrosse parents and the Ipswich principal. Wild stuff.

I’m annoyed at the parents. Even if they were fake, homemade, banana flake cigars, as one of the parents has claimed, why not just tell the kids “No.” Explain the potential consequences and how it’s not worth it, like, at all. A local coach tells me that these kids are told “over and over” about the rules and the punishments, so the parents are aware, too. There is no world where this photo op was worth the risk. You want the photo, take it after your last game.

The kids take some blame too, obviously. They’ve had these rules hammered into their heads over and over. And keep the photo off social media if you are hellbent on taking it.

The superintendent needs to speak. He has refused multiple media requests, and it seems like he made the decision.

I guess most of all, I hate that the punishment in this case does not fit the crime. The rule stinks. These kids were unable to play in a playoff game because they had cigars in their mouths for a few minutes days before a game? Is this really the best message to send to young adults? Did the school fight for these kids at all? Did they want to? Was there a chance that, if they worked with the MIAA, they could have found a better way? Because they ended up punishing the whole team, not just the kids in the picture. Was that taken into account?

I’m a rules guy; I get it. They exist for a reason. But when enforcement turns a harmless graduation celebration into the end of an undefeated season… Then what are we doing???

Feel for the team. Seems like everyone could have handled this better from the very beginning.

On your weekly MutStack Notes…

⚾ Over an hour of how bad the Red Sox are, why Craig Breslow should be fired, on this week’s Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast. About 12 hours after we recorded, Sam Kennedy gave BresBot another vote of confidence. But if you enjoy Breslow Bashing, it’s a must-listen.

🏇🏻 I would not pretend to understand the business behind the Daily Racing Form or the New York Racing Association. As a consumer of both of their products, I find some of their decisions maddening. That includes the news this week that DRF’s David Aragona will no longer provide written analysis of the daily New York cards on the NYRA website.

Aragona’s work in handicapping races in written form was the best in the business. Forget picking winners, whatever. David was clearly invested in each race, and you could tell in the way he wrote about them. He made me, and I’m confident countless others, better handicappers because of his work. And I get that everyone is in a rush to go to video content, but as a handicapper, I like written breakdowns as much as I like YouTube videos. Maybe I’m in the minority.

Hopefully, he’s able to continue his written work somewhere, like Substack. Or DRF.com. If it's on Substack or behind a paywall, I’ll be one of his first subscribers.

🎙️ Sam Kennedy is a very good salesman. So when he went on WEEI Thursday, sidestepped Greg Hill’s first question, and gave a three-minute opening statement about how bad the team is and how he understands the pain of the fans, he knew EXACTLY what he was doing. He completely took the air out of the interview by falling on his sword, and by the end of it, the hosts were commenting on how down he was about the team - which was exactly what he was looking for.

🎙️ That Greg’s first question was going to be about Garrett Crochet’s injury, after all the shit that happened this week to the organization, was a terrible instinct.

🎙️Rich, Ken, and Ted replaying full interviews like they’re live hours later in the show is lazy. Replay Bill Belichick or Tom Brady. Not Chad Tracy or Buster Olney.

⚽ No one is more out of the loop on the World Cup than me.

⚾ Happy to report the home of the old Lowell Spinners, LeLacheur Park, is still in awesome shape. The Sox Single A Red Sox team is gone, but a Futures Collegiate Baseball League team named, yes, the new Lowell Spinners plays there now. As does UMass Lowell. The legendary Dog Man is still around, too. Awesome park. Will be back this summer.

That feels like enough Stack for this week.

Good luck with all your bets this weekend. And thanks for reading. And watching