Friday Four-Pack 3.21.25

The Celtics have a new owner and it's not Pags. The Belichicks hit the beach for some yoga. 2025 Red Sox outlook. Media notes!

On Wednesday afternoon, NBA Insider Chris Mannix was a guest on Felger and Mazz. After Mike and Tony were done with their attempts at getting Mannix to say something negative about the team’s NBA Title hopes this season, the conversation turned to the next potential owners of the team. Mannix suggested the process was moving along slowly, partly because potential new owners were unwilling to meet the team’s asking price of $6 billion or so.

“I’m not expecting anything imminent,” Mannix told the guys when it came to the team’s next owners. “I’m not expecting anything for a couple of months. But right now, everything that I’m hearing, wherever they're at, Steve Pagliuca still has an inside edge”

Less than 24 hours later, the Celtics had a new owner—and it’s not Steve Pagliuca.

In a shocker to most, William (Bill?) Chisholm, managing partner of something called Symphony Technology Group (STG), forked over a record-breaking $6.1 billion to become the team’s new owner. Chisholm - admittedly, I had never heard of him until Thursday - is apparently a Massachusetts native and lifelong Celtics fan. He must be a Superfan because this becomes the largest sale ever of a sports franchise in North America, surpassing the $6.05 billion that Josh Harris and Co. paid for the Washington Commanders in 2023.

Chisholm made his first Boston media appearance Thursday night via Zoom - alongside Wyc Grousbeck - on the network partially owned by the Celtics, NBC Sports Boston. You can watch the full interview here.

Chisholm comes across like a fan who’s excited to suddenly own the team he roots for, using words like legacy and responsibility to explain his role as the new owner. “I want to raise banners. Not just now, but in the future,” is a quote that will quickly win over C’s fans.

Wyc said the team received some great offers, including one from current owners including Pagliuca, but this offer from Chisholm’s group “stood out.”

Current co-owner Steve Pagliuca (Pags) is the familiar name and the one that C’s fans would have probably preferred, hoping for continuity for a team looking to become back-to-back NBA Champions. But the Pags group missed out, and he expressed disappointment in his own statement released Thursday.

“…Additionally, I recruited new partners with deep resources and expertise in technology and international markets to maximize the Celtics successes to ensure we can always compete for Championships, luxury taxes be damned.

We made a fully guaranteed and financed offer at a record price, befitting the best sports fans in the world, and with all the capital coming from individuals who are fully committed to winning on and off the court.

We had no debt or private equity money that would potentially hamstring our ability to compete in the future. We have felt it was the best offer for the Celtics. It is a bid of true fans, deeply connected to Boston's community, and we've been saddened to find out that we have not been selected in the process.”

One source I talked to during this process has ties to Pagliuca. They relayed how tirelessly Pags had been working to put together his own group. Basically, he traveled the globe and attended countless meetings to secure the capital for the deal. Based on his statement, it sounds like he believed he had done enough.

The Boston Globe reported Friday that Chisholm's offer was higher than Pags and Co.'s. So, was it all about the money?

The new owners have asked (allowed?) Wyc to “stay on the run the team as CEO and Governor for the first three years.” And there’s the smoking gun, if you’re looking for one, as to why Chisholm and not Pagliuca is the new owner…well, besides the money.

It’s unlikely that Pags would want to pay a record $6.1 billion and have Wyc stick around to run the team for three years, but it makes sense for the new guys with zero ownership experience. I have no clue if there’s bad blood between Wyc and Pags, but the latter releasing a statement like the one above suggests a STRONG level of annoyance. Like, Level 10 annoyance.

If you’re a fan, the wish list for new ownership is pretty simple: spend money and stay the hell out of the way. Speak to the fans and the media occasionally, and don’t go into hiding like John Henry.

More specifically, for this Celtics team—

• Keep the team together to win as many titles as possible in this window.

• Make Boston a destination NBA players want to come to

• Keep Brad Stevens away from going back to coaching for as long as possible

• Get the NBA All-Star game back to Boston

I initially had “Build your own arena without taxpayer money” on this list, but I don’t know if fans really care about that.

In the short term, it’s really simple: just don’t be the new Dallas Mavericks owners, who traded away one of the most talented guys in the NBA out of the blue.

Will the new owner be a good one? I have no clue. But it’s probably a good thing Wyc is staying on for the transition, as I doubt he’s planning to exit as the guy who broke up the Celtics in their Championship Window. That should mean continuing to spend real money on the basketball product.

Hopefully, the sale will cause minimal drama on the floor because, off of it, I don’t think this will be the last round of Grousbeck vs. Pagliuca.

Meanwhile, we have our annual Red Sox season outlook. Bill Belichick is doing AcroYoga. March Madness is here. And your media and betting notes heading into a weekend of basketball.

All ahead in today’s Four-Pack.

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On an outlook for your 2025 Boston Red Sox…

By next Friday, the Boston Red Sox will have already played the first of 162, opening the 2025 season Thursday afternoon in Texas against the Rangers. By then, it will be too late to go on the record with predictions on the season and how we might bet the Local Nine this season.

For the record, these MutStack.com Red Sox predictions have been trash.

I told you to bet the OVER 78.5 wins in 2023…they won 78 games. ❌

I actually wrote in 2024, “Their win total is around 77.5, bet down from 81.5 a few months ago. Given their pitching and potential to tank, I can’t advise a bet either way.” Didn’t even have an opinion! ❌❌

Their win total is set at a consensus 86.5 across the board for 2025, and I’ll be betting an over (the best line is -112 at FanDuel vs. -130 at BetMGM). The total went up after the Alex Bregman signing, so we’re not getting the best line here. But if you’re a baseball fan in Boston, you should have some pretty high expectations for this year’s team.

You should be excited because…

• The Red Sox have an ace…well, in 2025 terms, anyway. Like, Garrett Crochet is probably not throwing 230+ 220+ 210+ innings, but the 190 or so he should accrue if healthy could and should be dominant. The Athletic did a deep dive on the best 50 or so starting pitchers in MLB on Wednesday - Crochet was Ranked #6 overall, one of just a half dozen guys listed in the “Aces” category. He’ll remind many Red Sox fans of Chris Sale - hopefully, he can stay healthier than Sale. And hopefully, the Red Sox will be able to ink him to a contract extension here in the next few weeks.

• It’s a good lineup. Bregman’s addition is big and helps complement an offense that scored 751 runs (9th in MLB) a year ago and led the sport in doubles. The 144 stolen bases showed a new level of aggressiveness, thanks in part to baseball’s new rules.

• The stud prospects have arrived…or are coming. Jeff Passan wrote of the Red Sox ‘Big 3,’—"Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony, and Marcelo Mayer are the best position-playing-prospect trio in a generation.." Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo gave us an expert view of the Trio a few weeks ago. Even if Campbell is the only one to make the 2025 Opening Day roster, Anthony and Mayer will be up at some point in 2025. The news that the athletic Mayer is getting reps at second base this week singles a willingness by the team to find anyway to get their best players on the field.

• The organization is desperate. From ownership to manager Alex Cora, this group is desperate to get back to the playoffs. And, maybe even more importantly, some sort of relevance in Boston. That desperation should help keep everyone motivated.

Okay, but there are some reasons for pause…

• I hate the word, but the vibes are off with Rafael Devers. Didn’t play this spring until last weekend. Alex Cora said this week he’s unlikely to play any third base before they break camp for Texas next week. Devers has said he’ll do what’s best for the team, but he seems kinda pouty about this move to DH. A slow start for Devers impacts the whole lineup, and any complaining could hurt the vibes (again, sorry) in the clubhouse.

• After Crochet, it's kind of a crapshoot in the rotation. We here at MutStack.com are rooting for Walker Buehler because he likes the ponies. Bryan Bello was 48th of 50 in that Athletic piece, but he’ll start the year on the IL. There are going to be guys with last names that the casual fan has never heard of who are expected to eat a bunch of innings. Not awesome.

• 37-year-old Aroldis Chapman is your closer. His 14.4% walk rate was BAD last year - as in bottom 1% of baseball, bad. The Sox bullpen ERA was 24th a year ago, and there is a world where it’s not that much better in 2025.

You’ll allowed to still be mad about the number 1,859…

• By the time this little newsletter hits your inbox Friday morning, that’s how many days it has been since Red Sox owner John Henry took questions from the Boston media in a press conference-style setting. Late-night emails to Dan Shaughnessy? Sure. Instagram images of Henry smoking cigars, celebrating the Bregman signing? You betcha. But an actual press conference? 1,859 days ago, February 17, 2020. Pre. Covid. That’s embarrassing.

My guess is that the streak will only end if the Red Sox are good this year. If not, Henry will stay in hiding, sending late-night emails to journalists and employees of the newspaper he owns.

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On Bill and Jordon hitting the beach…

Just the typical photo of the greatest football coach of all time partaking in a little AcroYoga with his 24-year-old girlfriend.

How much would you pay to see the group text message of Bill’s best friends reacting to the picture? $100? $500? Maybe up to $1000 for you folks who got rich on $Jailstool or some other meme coin?

My wife, who is not active on social media, had not seen the picture.

“Interesting,” was her first response. “I didn’t know Bill was into yoga…”

I’m sure he wasn’t, dear. But in a relationship, you learn to enjoy what the other person enjoys. Does he like the Revolutionary War reenactments? Well then, guess what…YOU now get to enjoy Revolutionary War reenactments, too. In this case, Chapel Bill gets to play AcroYoga on the beach in Jupiter, FL. Fun!

Meanwhile, the dream of the all-access coverage of Belichick at North Carolina is not dead year. Friend of Bill and UNC Football General Manager (🙄) Mike Lombardi went on Pat McAfee, and it sure sounded like they might do a documentary-style production of the entire season…even with HBO’s Hard Knocks bailing.

“It would’ve been great,” Lombari said. “The problem was that we control the story we need to tell here. And the story that we want to tell doesn’t end after we play TCU. The story that we want to tell is about how we’re rebuilding this program…“And when it stops after the first game like Hard Knocks does, it doesn’t really do as any good to tell that story. And that really was the concern that we all had here in the building. We’re storytellers. When you let them in the building, we’re going to tell a story. And the story we want to tell about how we’re working to build this program, and we’re going to work hard to recruit and do all that — and that extends into September, October, November; it can’t stop at Labor Day. I think that was more the issue.”

The Bill and Jordon Reality Show has life!

And if you want one actual football take from me this week, here you go. From Tom E. Curran - “The Patriots were exceedingly wary of the negative impact a demanding veteran wideout could have on Maye. As a result, they weren’t in the game on talented guys like DK Metcalf and Davante Adams.”

Boooooooooo. Vrabel’s job as the head coach is to ensure you get all the talented players on the same page. The team just didn’t want to pay those guys.

Drake Maye needs the best players around him, not a babysitter. It sounds like excuse-making for missing out on Metcalf, Adams, Deebo Samuel, Christian Kirk, et al. in free agency and in the trade market.

Stefon Diggs has a reputation for being a demanding WR. He was in New England for a free agent visit this week, and I’d take him in a second. I hope no one shows Vrabel and Eliot Wolf the video of Diggs smashing a tablet in frustration. Get Drake Maye some receivers!

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On March Madness in 1998, 2025, and beyond…

Don’t worry, I know you don’t care about my bracket. And I won’t ask about yours.

But a quick thank you to the teachers who used to roll in the TV and let you and your buddies watch March Madness the first two days of the NCAA Tournament. A small TV was mounted to the upper corner of the wall in our classroom, where our journalism teacher let us watch Bryce Drew and Valparaiso knock off Ole Miss.

We didn’t get anything close to that drama in Thursday’s opening-round games. It was a mostly boring day unless you were sweating out some bets.

I’ll give CBS credit for fixing their scorebug issue on the fly. The scores from other games that they have plastered at the top of the game you’re watching were ahead of the action - so if you were watching multiple games (like a normal person), you’d see the score change on the scorebug of a different game before the score changed in the game you were watching. By the afternoon games, CBS fixed it. Well done.

It feels inevitable that the Field of 68, once the perfect Field of 64, will soon become the Field of 76. Last September, CBS paid $8.8 billion to retain the rights. More games mean more revenue for them… the schools…and the NCAA. Even without fans clamoring for it, expansion is coming.

The transfer portal will have a much bigger impact on the sport than the addition of a few more ‘First Four’ games. Smaller programs, like UMass Lowell in Massachusetts, will lose their best players on a yearly basis. Riverhawks guard Martin Somerville was America East Rookie of the Year and is considered by some to be the best freshman the conference has ever had. A few days after their season ended, the talented Somerville entered the portal. Head coach Pat Duquette will now have to fill that hole and more through his own portal acquisitions.

Signature programs are not immune to the same issues. UConn’s Dan Hurley, coach of the greatest basketball program on the planet, told 60 Minutes, “Fifty percent of my roster or more is at least considering going in the portal.”

I’m glad players have the same flexibility as coaches to find the best fit - and get paid - but I can’t imagine it’s great for college basketball in the long run. Once an absolute diehard, I’m just a casual college basketball now, so I could be wrong.

But that’s for later. Hopefully, the games will be better Friday and into the weekend. I’m happy to report that, according to sources close to MutStack.com, a gym teacher in Middlesex County wheeled something called a 'Smartboard’ into the gymnasium on Thursday and told the basketball fans in the class that as long as they were dribbling a basketball and being active during commercials, they could watch Louisville and Creighton.

Teacher of the Year stuff right there, folks.

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On your sports media and sports betting notes…

➡️ With Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum sitting, the team taking on the hapless Nets, and the NCAA First Four games taking place, I was not locked into Tuesday’s Celtics game. For at least the second time, NBC Sports Boston promoted the game as an “All-Female Broadcast of the Celtics.” This night and the broadcast benefitted Shooting Touch, an organization dedicated to improving health and opportunities for women in Boston and Rwanda.

Unfortunately, the video clip above is the only thing most people are talking about from the broadcast.

Diamond DeShields is the voice you hear asking her broadcast partners for the night, Abby Chin and Jackie MacMullan, “Who’s Tommy?” Tommy, of course, is the legendary Celtics player, coach, and announcer Tommy Heinsohn. DeShields is a WNBA player who played collegiately at UNC and Tennessee.

DeShields is 30 years old, and she’s not a broadcaster - she’s a current player who had a tumor removed from her spine a few years ago and made her way back to the WNBA in what is a wildly courageous story. But I don’t think it’s unfair to expect that knowing who Tommy Heinsohn is is a prerequisite for being an analyst on the Celtics broadcast.

It’s admirable that NBC Sports Boston raised money for a local cause and gave some new female broadcast voices a great opportunity before, during, and after the game, but this was a tough moment. Fans, including female fans, reacted strongly on social media.

If Drew Carter, the team’s regular play-by-play voice, had said something like this, he wouldn’t be able to log on to social media ever again without reading about it. Felger and Mazz would have done four hours on it

Boston fans are protective of their local broadcasts. Anytime NESN trots out the Dining Playbook team of Jenny Johnson and the guy who stabbed Matty in the Morning in the back onto the Red Sox broadcasts, fans get pissed. You can expect a strong reaction from the fans if someone - on the Celtics broadcast - doesn't know who Tommy is.  

Hopefully, it’ll be a learning moment for DeShields and NBC Sports Boston going forward.

➡️ With well over 1 million impressions on social media, the appearance of Elio Imbornone and Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports was a major boost for last weekend’s National Horseplayer Championship. I lost interest when The Syndicate got knocked out on Saturday. The winner, Dan Piazza, is a wealth management advisor from Chicago. He led after Day 1 and then extended his lead on Day 2 en route to an easy, drama-free win. You need characters in these events, and it seemed the participants were not very playful when I tuned in on Sunday. Credit to Dan Tordjman and the America’s Best Racing broadcast team for keeping it light during their coverage.

➡️ Portnoy didn’t seem to love some of the NTRA’s rules for the NHC. Here’s hoping he launches his own tournament, maybe in Saratoga.

➡️ Tried and failed in my first attempt to qualify for next year’s NHC on Sunday. I will find a way to Vegas for the 2026 event

➡️ Red Sox will open their season in six days, and the team still has not officially announced Will Flemming as the replacement for Joe Castiglione in the radio booth. Or Will Middlebrooks as the primary analyst. Weird. Still.

➡️ Nice job by my guy Boston Media Critic, clipping Felger ripping the postgame Celtics coverage on NBC Sports Boston.

And with that, we have for sure said it all.

Back tomorrow to handicap a pair of Kentucky Derby Prep races. I hope to have that posted and emailed to subscribers by 11:30 a.m. EST.

Good luck with the bets and the brackets this weekend…unless you picked Oklahoma. Then I hope you lose. Go Huskies.

Thanks for reading.

Good weekend.