Friday Four-Pack 1.24.25
A great story from a former Mut and Merloni intern. WEEI Afternoons 2.0 debuts. Another Patriots scoop for Kirk Minihane. NFL Podcast and Picks!
Today’s edition of the Friday Four-Pack will not be the best thing you read on Substack this week. If we’re being honest, that probably goes for every edition, but it’s especially true today. No, the best thing you’ll read on this platform comes from a former Mut and Merloni intern.
I worked with Tom Carroll a lifetime ago at WEEI. He went from interning for Lou and me (and eating that delicious and free Papa Gino’s on Fridays) alongside producer and future WEEI PD Joe Zarbano - to eventually working for the station. He’d leave for bigger opportunities in other large markets and national shows, but he’s back in Boston, again with WEEI. I saw his byline on a few website stories but admittedly, didn’t think much about it. Or him.
Until he posted the essay above—where he openly talks about his weight loss journey that was spurred on by what sounds like his own life-changing moment that took place while eating pizza and sucking down IPAs.
Right as I was finishing up an incredibly fat bite - where I covered the front half of a rectangle pepperoni slice with my wife’s famous homemade pickle dip (a decision 100% influenced by the IPAs) - I got hit with something that fully stopped me in my tracks. I don’t even really know how to describe it. It just froze me. I felt it in my temples - like a rush of blood to the head and a brain freeze all at once, but for the entire upper third of my body, and totally unable to muster a single word.
I had never felt anything like it before, and I hope to never feel anything like it again.
‘I think I just had a heart attack,’ I said to myself.
I remember Tom as a big guy. A few months before the incident above, he was REAL big - 360 lbs big. Like many of us, he tried and failed at dieting over the years. But that pizza/IPA moment got him on the straight and narrow for a few weeks. He started a regimen of eating a Chick-fil-A Spicy Southwest salad every day. He was feeling better and losing weight. Happy ever after, right?
Fast forward a few weeks and after yet another pizza binge, he ended up in the ER with what he thought was an actual heart attack. His bloodwork came back bad and he was seemingly an undiagnosed diabetic with non-functioning kidneys and liver.
This was the moment where I decided that I would not only eat that same salad for lunch every day, but would also attempt to make my own version of that salad with store-bought ingredients every night for dinner.
It wasn’t going to be identical, but I knew I would make something exciting enough that it would keep me interested on a night-to-night basis.
If it wasn’t already before, the Chick-fil-A Spicy Southwest Salad was officially going to be my lifeline to success.
And from there his real work started. Tom gets very open about that journey, his struggles, and his fears - in particular about leaving his wife a widow at the age of 32. I don’t want to give too much away because you should read it yourself.
I talked to Tom on Thursday and asked why it was important to write about such a personal struggle in a public forum.
“Guys don’t talk about this stuff, “ he told me. “We make fun of each other and it’s all good, but dudes don’t talk about this. If my story helps one guy to make a change…”
And it sounds like it has. Tom told me that he’s received messages from people who don’t follow him on social media, both thanking him for telling his story and admitting that it jumpstarted their own journeys. One friend even texted to say he had scheduled an appointment with his primary care doctor to get his numbers checked out.
Tom talked to me about the other benefits of losing 132 pounds, besides the slimmer look in family pictures.
“You know, not having to wear enormous pants is pretty cool,” he joked. “Not having to go to DXL for all my clothes…being able to go to Kohl’s a buy a normal shirt, that’s awesome.” As is his sleep, which he says is so much better now.
One thing is clear - while Tom credits Chick-fil-A (including Sylvia and the team at the South Attleboro location) and their delicious salad for their role in his weight loss journey, he does not believe it’s some sort of magic wand to get everyone who reads his story into better shape.
“I don't have all the answers. Look I clearly had issues with food. And that’s something I had to get a handle on and finally figure out a thing that worked for me. That’s what I keep telling people ‘This is what worked for me. Hopefully, you’re able to find something that works for you.’”
His story does not come across as preachy or pretentious: it comes across like a guy who was scared shitless about his health and did something about it. And this ‘plan’ has worked for Tom - but will he keep getting the $10 salad daily as we roll into 2025?
“I was there today (Thursday). People bring up the cost. But this is the thing that’s keeping me healthy. This is the thing that’s working for me. So if it costs whatever it costs to keep me alive and keep this thing rollin’ and keep this thing on the tracks then I’m going to keep doing it. I don’t plan on stopping.”
Tom tells me Chick-fil-A has not reached out about him and Sylvia doing one of those Red Couch commercials yet, but they should. His story is a powerful one and it took a lot of guts to tell.
Congrats to Tom - not just for the awesome weight loss - but for having the courage to open up to the world about it. And in the process, adding to the rich history of Mut and Merloni.
Meanwhile, my review of the latest version of WEEI Afternoons. Kirk Minihane was once again involved in the biggest sports media story of the week. And we have an NFL Championship Weekend podcast and some picks and props for the people.
All ahead in this today’s Four-Pack.
Watch and bet on the Big Game at Mohegan Sun
Make ANY $25 bet on the AFC/NFC Championship games or The Big Game at the Mohegan Sun Sportsbook and qualify to win one of five autographed helmets. See full rules and details above.
On the debut of WEEI Afternoons 2.0…
For the third time in the last 2+ years, WEEI launched a new afternoon show. Hosted by Andy Hart and co-hosted by Nick “Fitzy” Stevens and former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson, the latest version of WEEI Afternoons debuted Tuesday at 2 PM. Or did the show technically debut at 3 PM, when Ted Johnson joined the show for the first time?
And look, it’s unfair to judge a new show by its first dozen hours. But as a radio veteran mentioned to me this week, “That’s exactly what the listening audience is doing.” So, I guess it’s fair game for a fired WEEI host who now writes a rapidly growing newsletter to provide his thoughts.
It was a tough listen. For many reasons, but primarily for me, it was Andy Hart in the host chair. Because over my last two years at WEEI hosting nights, Andy was my go-to cohost. He paid attention to every story, listened to everything, came in with ideas, was able to bust balls and did not take it too seriously. All good.
But the Andy Hart doing those shows sounds nothing like the Andy Hart hosting this show. It’s a New Andy vs. the Old Andy.
New Andy sounds like a carnival barker on Adderal. If I had to guess, one of his bosses told the New Andy to have some energy. The problem is if you’re a listener (I am) and you’ve heard the snarky, grumpy, sarcastic Old Andy—well, this New Andy sounds nothing like him. I liked Old Andy better - I’m guessing I’m not alone.
As we reported here last week, new addition Ted Johnson indeed has himself a ‘flexible’ schedule: he joins the show an hour after it starts and apparently, will just be appearing Tuesday through Friday. And both he and Fitzy have the flexibility to do shows from home once or twice a week via Zoom. If I had to guess, it’s a money thing and they could not pay him a full-time/afternoon drive salary so this was the compromise.
But it will be awkward not to have the former Patriot there for “Patriots Monday” on WEEI the day after games if it works out that way. But it can’t possibly be as awkward as the “quiz” segment they did Thursday at 5:30 (in the middle of the most listened-to hour of their show) where Hart and Fitzy were asked bad trivia questions about Johnson. Guys - he ain’t Dick Butkus - and the listeners in the market know who he is. Just do a show.
The whole thing comes across as small market radio. And I’m not the only one who feels that way based on the amount of people who reached out after last week’s Four-Pack. It’s not hyperbole to say I have never received so much private feedback on a newsletter.
It’s bad - and likely just a precursor to another version of Afternoon Shuffle later this year or early next.
On an assortment of potentially dated sports takes…
⚾ The idiocy of keeping Curt Schilling out of the Baseball Hall of Fame was magnified this week with the induction of C.C. Sabathia. This chart does not even mention postseason ERA - Schilling 2.23 v. Sabathia 4.28. Like Mike Mussina before him, if Sabathia is in, Schilling should be in too. He’s better than both. Dumb.
🏀 Don’t change, Dan Hurley. We need more great characters in sports, not less.
🏈 The local hand-wringing in Boston over the Josh McDaniels hire is weird. He’s had high-level success with multiple quarterbacks. He’s made them (Mac, Jimmy G) better. We agree - the Krafts messed up by hiring Jerod Mayo. But suggesting McDaniels was forced on someone as opinionated and sought-after as Mike Vrabel doesn’t make sense. All in on Josh 3.0 - can’t wait for the first “QB pretends the ball is over his head/direct snap to the RB.”
🏈 Are Pats fans rooting for Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen this week?
On our Championship Sunday NFL Picks - Presented by Sharp Hunter…
Sharp Hunter shows you where the actual sharp money is going by aggregating the best picks from sharp bettors, giving you access to winning insights and trends. All in real-time. That does not mean every bet with a Sharp Score always wins, but I love knowing who the informed gamblers are betting on... even if I want to bet against them.
NFL Final Four, NBA, and College Hoops - now is THE time to take advantage of Sharp Hunter’s free 7-day trial. They offer three-day, monthly, and annual subscriptions after that. Get started for free right here ➡️➡️➡️ Sharp Hunter.
Divisional Round: 2-1
Season Record: 28-32* (46.67%) 🤢🤢🤢
* - Total includes 8-1 ATTD winner on Foster Moreau Week 17
Missed the Bills under by half a point but got a lot right in the Divisional Round. Hope you crushed.
The Side
CHIEFS -1.5 VS BILLS
I like the Bills. I like Josh Allen. I like their fans. My heart is rooting for Buffalo.
But I have to bet the Chiefs here. When Patrick Mahomes has been an underdog or a favorite of less than three points in his career, he’s a gaudy 27-9-1 ATS. Travis Kelce was unleashed against Baltimore last week and is poised to have a good game again, especially if LB Matt Milano misses.
Allen became the first quarterback since 2008 to be named an All-Pro and not have any of his teammates also make an All-Pro team. If the Bills win, he’ll have to have an all-time game - and that’s possible. But when you factor in a coaching edge for Buffalo…their injuries…playing on the road…all the positive Mahomes’ trends…I can’t bet on the Bills.
Another massive number for Mahomes - he’s 15-2 SU at home or on a neutral site in January and February. Those two losses came vs. Tom Brady and Joe Burrow. It’s all on Allen’s shoulders on Sunday. They’ll be in it but in the end, Kansas City is better and Mahomes has more weapons at his disposal.
If you like KC, I’d be betting on them now because I’m guessing this gets closer to Bills +3 by kickoff.
The Prop #1
Zach Ertz ATTD (+300, DK)
Among TEs, Ertz was 6th in the NFL this season in red zone targets. According to Establish the Run, he was 4th in targets inside the 10-yard-line. His last seven touchdowns have all been inside the 10. He’s become Jayden Daniels’ favorite target around the goal line. SMALL sprinkle on Ertz to score 2 TDs (31-1)
The Prop #2
Xavier Worthy OVER 3.5 RUSHING YARDS (-105, MGM)
Full disclosure, I saw my buddy Adam Rosenberg gave this out on his Outlier.Bet show. So I looked it up. Worthy has rush att in 13!!! games this year. He had one carry for -8 yards last week so maybe Andy Reid will avoid it? No way - he gave Travis Kelce a carry in last year’s AFC Title game. And one carry probably gets us there. Some other assorted bets (best prices as of Friday morning):
Jahan Dotson OVER 3.5 YARDS REC (-115, FanDuel)
Patrick Mahomes OVER 4.5 RUSH ATT (-130, DD, been bet hard last 48 hours)
Mahomes SuperBowl MVP (+280, DK)
Any QB this weekend to register a TD catch (80-1 FANDUEL)
LEANS: I think Washington is getting too much love and will probably tease the Eagles and the BUF/KC OVER. Teams that played the Lions this season were 2-15 the following week. Yikes. Under in that game. Lean OVER in the AFC
Talked about all the games on the MutStack Podcast this week. Listen here!
On your sports betting and sports media notebook…
➡️ For the second time in as many weeks, my friend Kirk Minihane finds himself involved in the biggest sports media story in America. Last week, his comments on Surviving Barstool led Chicago Superfan Dan Katz to pour his heart out about his Boston roots. This week, he continued his streak of breaking huge Patriots stories without getting the proper credit from the local or national sports media.
The above post came hours before any NFL Insider had the McDaniels news. Kirk also had the Mike Vrabel and then Robyn Glaser news before anyone else. Did X.com user Grilledcheese37 technically post the McDaniels news before Kirk? Maybe. But Kirk said on his show Monday that McDaniels was a lock. Sorry, Cheese.
But the credit for the story went to the big national reporters. Another friend and former WEEI teammate Alex Reimer admittedly beat me to the punch on this story and wrote it better than I could. “How Kirk Minihane trolled his way into exposing the NFL insider industrial complex” does an excellent job of highlighting the insecurities of local and national writers who don’t want to pass along credit to anyone who’s not in their own media little ‘circles.’
Alex also hammers home a pet point of his - that guys like Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport don’t break news so much as they’re handed the information on a silver platter by their league sources to then present to the public. Minihane talked to Reimer for his story.
That includes agents and personnel people, who famously “information trade” with Schefter and his ilk. It all comes down to: “what can you offer me?” For most old-school newspaper and TV people, the answer is nothing.
For Minihane, the answer is entertainment. He says people who work for the Patriots listen to his show.
“I have a lot of fans of my podcast who work for the Patriots. They would rather me have the story than [the Boston Globe],” he said.
That brings us to the other reason why Minihane probably isn’t getting his due credit: he’s a troll. His endearing traits as a broadcaster can be personally alienating.
Maybe the troll thing is part of it, sure. As is the Barstool connection. But a bigger part is that Kirk is not part of the Media Football Club. I know a baseball writer who hated when a new guy came on the beat and tried to break stories - like they had not earned their stripes yet. Silly, but they’re a gossipy and territorial bunch.
And they’ll be chasing the next Pats story that Minihane breaks.
➡️ One more WEEI note—talking to folks over there, I get a real “What the f*&k are we doing vibe?” Very strong. I can tell you over at 98.5 The Sports Hub, they feel the same way about WEEI’s long-term plans.
➡️ Tom Brady was excellent on Saturday night for Commanders/Lions. His breakdown of the Goff INT where he missed a wide-open Sam Lapotra was his best moment of a strong game. He was better than Tony Romo this weekend.
➡️ While sports betting social media continues to be a wasteland of charlatans selling their Discord picks, the Nick Kostos/Sam Panayotovich-hosted “Countdown to Kickoff” shows have been excellent during the NFL Playoffs.
➡️ Terrific card for Pegasus Day tomorrow at Gulfstream. I’ll hopefully post a few ideas on X.com later in the day, but the kids have multiple basketball games and a lacrosse “Snow Game.” We’ll start our Derby Prep posts here next Saturday - just 99 days until the 2025 Kentucky Derby.
And with that, we have for sure said it all.
Good luck with all the bets this weekend. Sweep the board! And thanks for reading.
Good weekend.
I, like many, did not expect the Lions to get bounced so quickly, but at the same time, no one expected Daniel's to be so good. Scary Terry actually getting involved. I had Detroit winning it all against the Bills. Now, it's probably Chief's again.
WEEI sucks so bad, how are they still in business? Maybe I'll give the afternoon a shot but, ugh man.
Love the read, keep at it and good looks.
Hart is trying to "be a Sports Radio Host"...he's gotta get out of his own head.
So, true story: Marv Levy walks into my bar in Harvard Square 27 years ago, sits down...and we proceed to have a 45 minute discussion about how I was at SUNY Fredonia - 45 minutes South of Buffalo - from '90-'94, when they lost, every year, that's 4 in case you missed it...and then I continue to tell him that his face, his very visage, represented nothing less than Satan to me during my time at school...yeah, we got a good chuckle at that, and drinks were on the house. I'm not sure if old Satan-y face is still with us, but I hope he's watching...and sends up a little Mafia Magic to take on Dad-bod and Mr. Swift...Josh is gonna need it.
Unless he's not dead, in which case...I hope he watches. Go Bills. Something tells me it's now or never for Josh.