Friday Four-Pack 2.16.24

New Patriots docuseries is live, but is it good? Barstool goes big for DraftKings. Media notes!

Zdeno Chara is a tall, tall man.

And on Thursday night, he told great stories about his storied NHL career and playing days in Boston to a packed house in the Seasons Showroom at The Brook in Seabrook, NH.

He talked about it all, including trying to go back into Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals after breaking his jaw. The doctors and team said no. He’d eventually return for Game 5.

I was in bed for two days with a sinus infection and this guy is trying to play in Cup Finals with a broken jaw.

To be fair, it was a bad sinus infection.

In partnership with DraftKings and the NH Lottery, The Brook has started to do events like this quarterly. Before Chara, Tedy Brushci and Robert Parish were the most recent guests. And while unlike Chara, I am NOT a tall man, I’ve been lucky to be up there on stage for these events asking the occasional good question. The guests and great crowds have carried the show.

Chara was terrific when talking about his teammates from that 2011 team. And gave some good advice to the hockey/youth sports parents in the room.

The Brook is an awesome venue (strong racebook and poker room, too) and I expect some big names will make their way to the stage there in 2024. If you’re a Boston sports fan, you should try and get to an event if you can.

Meanwhile, the new Patriots docuseries is live. Barstool has officially teamed up with DraftKings. And I miss football.

All in today’s Four-Pack.

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A BIG THANKS TO OUR FRIENDS AT MAD PROPS!

Want to thank Rafe and the team at Mad Props for being a big part of our football coverage all NFL season.

They are on to something with Mad Props - a great way to wager directly with friends and family.

And not just sports, you can create any bet you want. It's easy.

Hopefully, our Mad Minutes on social media put you on to a few winners this season.

And with NBA, CBB and the NHL in full swing, there’s some great action on Mad Props right now.

Looking forward to working with Rafe and his team on some cool stuff in 2024.

And if you have not yet done so, check out Mad Props on the web right here! It’s free!

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On the new Apple TV docuseries about the Patriots…

Overnight Friday, the first two episodes of "The Dynasty: New England Patriots” were released on Apple TV.

The series is based on Jeff Benedict’s book, The Dynasty, which was okay but at times felt like it was written by members of the Kraft Family. It came across as very encyclopedic. And again, it was super pro-Kraft.

So admittedly, I go into this 10-part series wary of what version of The Dynasty we’d get as viewers. Do we get the real version? Kraft version? Is that the same thing?

After the first two episodes, that concern is still front and center.

The best sequence comes in Episode 2, “The Snow Bowl.”

You get the elusive Ernie Adams breaking down why Drew Bledsoe’s career of taking big hits finally caught up with him. That’s followed by Bill Belichick and then players (plus some media) from that 2001 team all explaining how Tom Brady won the group over both on and off the field.

In that same episode, you get Adams re-creating his drive to old Foxboro Stadium on the day of the Snow Bowl, complete with him listening to fake sports radio callers from that day. And then ripping sports-talk radio. Weird.

The series is getting a lot of hype for the Brady/Belichick dynamic, but there is none of that here. Similar to Benedict’s book, these first two are a fun look back at the beginning of the team’s dynasty, but not much new ground gets covered here.

Some other thoughts -

Bill Belichick. For a few reasons, Belichick is my main takeaway from the first two episodes. First off, for the greatest coach of all time, he’s not really involved on camera. When he is, he doesn't say a lot. Second, the older clips of Belichick with the media…stunning. I forgot how human he was back in 2001. Spoke to the media like they were actual human beings, too. Cracked jokes. Chatted with them on the way out of his press conferences. Unrecognizable from the guy who grunts his way through most media interactions these days.

Tom E. Curran mentioned on WEEI Thursday that it’s his understanding that Belichick “hated” the project. “I don’t think Bill liked it. I don’t think Bill’s going to love it.” That comes across in how little insight he gives on camera.

Maybe he has the same feelings I do about the pro-Kraft angle to this. He famously loves NFL Films. This is not NFL Films.

A weird moment when they rubbed Belichick’s face in the way things ended in Cleveland. Did not expect to see old clips of Debby Belichick in this thing.

Nostalgia. A young John Dennis. A young Michael Felger, yukking it up with Belichick. Brady’s bachelor pad and Tecmo Bowl. Good.

Drew Bledsoe. Very likable. As usual.

Did I need Bill Burr in the first two minutes telling me how much the team sucked in the 1980s? Did I need that cinematic re-creation of Adams’ car ride? Not really.

But overall, the first two episodes were…well they were fine. If you’re a Pats fan, you’re going to watch. You should. Apple TV is free for three months on most new iPhones.

If you’re not a Pats fan, honestly, I’m not sure you’ll love it. Would I watch a Clark Hunt production of this Chiefs Dynasty? Probably not.

This series is getting massive hype. Maybe it will deliver as the series goes on.

But if you’re expecting any of the Brady/Belichick dirt that is getting all the headlines, you won’t get it in the first two episodes.

On the DraftKings/Barstool deal…

In a deal rumored for the last month, Barstool Sports announced their partnership with DraftKings in the hours after the Super Bowl.

DraftKings will be the official sportsbook of Barstool and their personalities. In their first venture, DraftKings sponsored a live stream of the crew out in Chicago trying to make 41 straight free throws.

It took almost 16 hours, but eventually, they got it done early Tuesday morning. As someone who watched way too much of this, my MVP ballot included Kirk, Titus and UNH product Scott Morris.

And the event spoke to how powerful Barstool can and will be for DraftKings.

1. It was good content. Not gambling content. Good content. There is a difference. As someone trying to maneuver the space myself, I understand that it has to be more than just picks on the games. You can get those anywhere. This was different.
   
   I mean, 20,000-plus people were watching (myself included) these guys fail over and over at 4:34 AM on Tuesday. And every few minutes they saw a DraftKings logo. And then all over social media again on Tuesday. This is a big win for DraftKings.

2. PEOPLE GOT TO BET ON THE EVENT. DraftKings utilized their FREE “Pools” Pick’ Em and about fifty thousand people signed up to make picks in a $100k prize pool. Just answering questions about how the group and some individuals would do in the event.
   
   Eighteen winners each split the top prize and pocketed $388, just for making picks on guys they like at Barstool shooting free throws!
   
   In all, 9000 people make a few bucks off the free pool. My guess is you’ll see a lot more events like this, where not only is the content good but as a fan you have a chance to win some money.

Dave Portnoy talked about how the DraftKings deal came together Thursday on The Unnamed Podcast with Kirk and Ryan Whitney.

“It took a little bit (the deal), but I know all those guys. We’ve worked with them before. Once we were done with Penn we had the ability, I knew there was a six-month non-compete, but we had the ability to explore new relationships. So they (DraftKings) were the top dog and the perfect fit for us.”

Whitney asked the question a lot of people in sports betting media are asking - How did Portnoy manage to buy his company back from Penn for just $1 and only have to sit on the sports betting sidelines with a non-compete for six months?

“Obviously there was a negotiation…I think their thought was - and we have a great relationship with Penn as well - so they didn’t want to like…I think everyone was trying to part amicably. Which we did.”

If the short six-month non-compete helped Penn (and now ESPN Bet) avoid getting in the mud with Portnoy and Barstool online, it was worth it. Dave has an extremely high win rate in those battles. He would have won that one, too.

The market seems to agree the move was good for DraftKings, with the stock up a few bucks since Monday.

Expecting more “events” with DraftKings involved that Barstool fans can watch and bet on pretty soon.

On Tony Romo…

It was a tough Super Bowl for the man once considered the next great former ex-player in the booth.

My first takeaways from Romo’s call Sunday were pretty simple.

1. He was overenthusiastic during the early parts of the game, maybe recognizing it was a dud before the eventual fireworks in the fourth quarter and overtime.

2. He seemed - like a lot of us - confused by the new NFL playoff overtime rules.

Rewatching the game with no distractions this week, I came away with a new set of criticisms.

First, some praise.

The biggest knock I have as a viewer of sports on TV is the lack of criticism. Players and coaches make mistakes all the time. It’s okay to point that out. It’s your job to point those things out.

So it was refreshing during the Chiefs’ final drive in regulation when Romo questioned and ultimately criticized the best quarterback on the planet Patrick Mahomes for not spiking the ball and saving time for his offense.

And Romo nailed it. Mahomes’ three-yard rush, then non-spike, then eventual incomplete chuck out of bounds cost the Chiefs 14 or 15 seconds. He should have spiked the ball, but he didn’t and in real time Romo questioned it.

Romo gained much of his popularity by first-guessing plays in the booth, telling you what was going to happen before the play went off. People loved that.

When the 49ers showed blitz late in the game, Romo predicted they’d just show the blitz and eventually drop into coverage. Instead, they blitzed and got burned by Mahomes. And again to his credit, Romo called them on it, wondering why they would do it.

A couple of good sequences for the ex-Cowboy.

But they were overshadowed by some major late-game gaffes.

1. In that same end-of-regulation sequence, Romo sounded like someone making it up on the fly.
   
   The officials added a second to the clock after a Kansas City first down, giving the Chiefs 10 seconds rather than nine.
   
   ”That’s huge, honestly, because you can easily run a three or four-second play. But at nine, you get it at five, and you really can’t run another one. If you have six seconds, you feel comfortable taking a crack at it.”
   
   One second is that big of a deal? Okay, Tony. So what happens? After Romo weirdly suggested potentially running a draw play, Mahomes passes incomplete. Six seconds left.
   
   Look at that. Plenty of time for one more play, right?
   
   ”That was smart, see how quick he got rid of it. Guess how much time he gave himself….ahh that’s tight though, six (seconds)…if he had seven (seconds) I’d do it. I’d kick it now, don’t take your time.”

   
   I get it’s real-time, but you just got done telling me how important that one second was and how it allows you to take another shot at the endzone. It plays out the way way you suggest and now you’re saying go for the field goal, with no pushback on the decision. Yikes.
   
   Romo also talks over Nantz at the beginning of that very important incomplete pass, something he did a few times on the NFL’s biggest stage.

2. In overtime, the 49ers had a third down attempt from the six-yard line. A chance to score a TD to open overtime. It was incomplete but on the replay, Romo isolated part of the play and said “This is for the Super Bowl.”
   
   But it wasn’t. No matter what happened, Kansas City and Mahomes would get the ball back thanks to the new overtime rules.
   
   Meanwhile, a KC defender falls on the play and Brandon Aiyuk was wide open for a score, but that was never mentioned.

Outside of that, Romo spent much of the game repeating what Nantz said, just in a different tone.

At the start of the season, here’s how I ranked the top NFL play-by-play teams.

• Buck/Aikman No. 1.

• Tirico/Collisnworth No. 2.

• Michaels/Herbstreit No. 3.

• Nantz/Romo No. 4

• Burkhart/Olsen No. 5

Here’s my updated end-of-season rankings.

• Buck/Aikman No. 1.

• Tirico/Collisnworth No. 2.

• Burkhart/Olsen No. 3.

• Nantz/Romo T5

• Michaels/Herbstreit T5

The first three are clearly ahead of the final two. And Michaels/Herbstreit were hamstrung by a brutal stretch of Thursday games this season. Michaels should have been on the call for a playoff game.

Tom Brady joins Fox next year. They have the Super Bowl. My guess is CBS would love to find a way to pair Olsen - now relegated to the Fox No. 2 team with Brady on board - with Nantz. But that seems like a long shot.

On your Four-Pack odd and ends…

• I miss football.

• Posts like the one below on X.com have become pretty common after Bruins games on NESN this season.
  

  

  That post comes from last night’s game. Earlier this week, this clip went viral and got a similar reaction from many fans. Edwards has had moments like this over the last few years. When his speech gets very slowed down and super deliberate. Even as a guest on WEEI, when Jack called into the show I was hosting (I think 2022), he was great but was talking at times with that same pattern.
  
  If you watched Jack on ESPN. Or his awesome calls during the 2002 Team USA World Cup soccer run. Or the Bruins Cup run in 2011. And then you hear him now - he just sounds different.
  
  When he missed time in December, he took to social media to let everyone know he was healthy.
  

  

  And I really hope that’s the case. NESN has not responded to some questions I’ve had for them since last year. At some point will he or NESN address it directly? I have no idea, but fans can tell something is going on.
  
  I have no other insight at this point, other than if you have watched Edwards for the last 20+ years broadcast at the highest level, you can’t help but notice it. And I hope he’s okay.

• I have no clue what it means for WEEI now that billionaire democratic activist George Soros has reportedly gobbled up Audacy’s debt and is set to have a controlling interest in the company. Air America 2.0? Trenni, Tomase and Reimer in the Morning? I’d listen to that.

• I miss football.

• The Red Sox explained to their fans that the team needed to financially reset with the Mookie Betts trade in 2020. Four years later, with the franchise now valued at $4.5 billion, they seem to be openly tanking while at the same time raising ticket prices. We are not talking about this enough.

• I guess WEEI is just going to pretend they didn’t post an opening for someone to take Will Flemming’s job? No announcement he’s back? Really?

• Did I mention I miss football?

Thankfully, we have a great Derby Prep tomorrow in the Risen Star. That and some Kentucky Derby Future Pool 4 thoughts posted over at StackCapping tomorrow morning. Should help us forget about no football for a few hours.

As always, thanks for reading. Good luck with all your NBA All-Star game bets.

Good weekend.