Friday Four-Pack 3.29.24

Rumors of big WEEI changes. A Red Sox outlook. NBA betting scandal.

UConn’s Chis Grosse with the great photo

This was supposed to be an open about the experience of the NCAA Tournament in Boston.

The sights and sounds of the bars and restaurants near the TD Garden. A review of the “U-C-O-N-N: UCONN, UCONN, UCONN” chants as Storrs North celebrated a Sweet 16 win over San Diego State. And in the process, becoming the first team since Florida to return to the Elite Eight after winning a National Championship. It was going to be awesome.

Then I got shingles.

It’s an annoying little virus: one that started for me last week with what I thought was a pulled muscle in my lower back and some general fatigue attributed to late nights watching college basketball.

No such luck.

So instead of being in the Garden, I was struck watching the game in the basement.

And the Huskies dominated.

They are a complete team, top to bottom. Suffocating defense. Elite, unselfish offense. Depth off the bench. Top coach. Just no real weakness. A very enjoyable team to watch. And a better team than the one that cut down the nets a year ago.

Is it the best UConn team ever?

That 1998-99 UConn team was pretty good. This team has to win three more games to get into that conversation. But it’s wild how commonplace it’s become in NCAA Tournament games for Dan Hurley to empty the bench and call off the dogs in the final minutes.

After winning their six tourney games last year by an average of 20 points, this year’s Huskies have won games by 39, 17 and 30 in the postseason.

It’s now nine straight NCAA wins by double digits.

Pretty wild for a school where Friendly’s was arguably the best restaurant on campus when I showed up in the Fall of 1998. Kathy John’s was pretty good, too. But that was down the road. Great ice cream.

I still root for UConn like a lunatic in the student section, so it’s been a fun run. Even saddled with the shingles. Which suck. 0 out of 10. Would not recommend.

Will be in Portland, ME rooting on UConn Saturday night, with many fans of The Kirk Minihane Show as they and the show invade the city Easter Weekend.

Expecting Storrs North to be a massive home-court advantage for the Huskies. And another double-digit win will not be a surprise.

Changes at WEEI? Also not surprising after a brutal stretch in the ratings. We’ll start there in our Easter Weekend Four-Pack.

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On the rumors of big changes at Sports Radio WEEI…

I’ll start by admitting this is all rumor and speculation. But the WEEI rumor mill is cranking for sure.

And it’s no surprise. They were buried in the fall ratings, with only The Greg Hill Show close to rival 98.5 The Sports Hub in their respective dayparts. We wrote a few weeks about a small snapshot of the winter book that was brutal for WEEI. We’ll get the full winter book ratings in mid-April. It will not be kind to “Boston’s Sports Original.”

They were/are going to do SOMETHING. But given parent company Audacy is in the final stages of a bankruptcy transfer, did they have a budget to go outside the building and bring in a ‘big’ name?

According to Chad Finn of the Boston Globe, that might be the plan. The above post from X.com came on Wednesday, complete with a quick response from Rich Shertenlieb to Chad on the social media platform.

Some people, like my friend Kirk Minihane, are convinced that the above back and forth is a sign Rich is a lock for the job. I’m not there yet. I’ll explain in a second.

Kirk talked about the rumors and the potential lineup on his show Thursday. It would look something like:

Morning Drive - The Greg Hill Show
Midday - Adam Jones, Rich Keefe, Christian Fauria
Afternoon Drive - Andy Gresh, Rich Shertenlieb?
Nights/Red Sox - Unknown???

Spent a lot of time trying to get the exact details and timing of the moves, but to their credit, WEEI has kept much of this quiet.

Shertenlieb himself has been virtually silent since exiting #1 rated Toucher and Rich and The Sports Hub late last year. I know there was immediate interest in bringing him over to WEEI, but the finances would make it tricky: Audacy’s new owners will take over later this spring and until then budgets are tight. As one person told me, “You need approvals for anything.” Even after the transfer, it’s a major unknown how the new owners will proceed. Rich was likely one of the four highest-paid sports radio personalities in Boston when he walked away from his deal with The Sports Hub.

So yeah, the money is the biggest reason I’m not ready to lock in Shertenlieb from 2-6 PM.

As far as the potential pairing, Andy Gresh with Shertenlieb…yikes. No one I talked to the last few days thought that would work. If Shertenlieb does not come aboard, do we get “Gresh and Company,” with Andy as a lead host and a rotating cast of WEEI and WEEI.com writers?

You have to be able to listen to do that role well. Gresh doesn’t always give the impression he’s listening or cares what his co-host thinks.

As for middays, I don’t think Fauria will mind a change. But eventually, isn’t that show just going to be Jones & Keefe? It was a good show at The Hub. As I’ve written for months, reuniting that pairing made sense for a lot of people in WEEI management.

I don’t know what any of this means for Meghan Ottolini or Christian Arcand. Either could end up with a revamped afternoon show.

Will any of this have a major impact on the ratings? Nope. Especially with a spring book that will include both Celtics and Bruins playoff runs for The Sports Hub.

It would not completely floor me if any major changes are made after the Celtics season, to avoid having such a lopsided ratings book coincide with the debut of a new, reshuffled lineup: a lineup that’s being reshuffled again because the last reshuffling failed.

As someone who was in New York to broadcast from the Super Bowl and woke up to a story in the Boston Herald saying I was being replaced, I can tell you this stuff sucks from that side of the microphone. It can’t be much fun to be in that building right now. It would be hard to have much confidence in the decisions being made, based on the results of the last year.

Looming over all of this is new ownership taking over in a few months and a Red Sox radio deal that drastically changes in 2025, as the Red Sox take control of the announcer’s booth. And there’s buzz the deal could potentially change even more depending on how the financials go with the new owners.

To use the lamest line ever when it comes to stuff like this, stay tuned! We’ll update as we get more news, rumors, etc.

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Thoughts on the ‘new’ WEEI lineup? Hit the blue button and let us know what you think!

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On the Jontay Porter gambling story…

It’s a big deal.

First, the details from ESPN.com on how and why a bit player for the Toronto Raptors became a national headline this week.

In the game on Jan. 26 against the LA Clippers, there was increased betting interest on the under for Porter props, which for the night were set at around 5.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists. There was also an over/under for Porter's made 3-pointers, which was 0.5.

That evening, Porter played just four minutes before leaving the game because of what the Raptors said was an aggravation of an eye injury he had suffered four days earlier against the Memphis Grizzlies. Porter did not score against the Clippers but had three rebounds and one assist, and he did not attempt a 3, meaning the under hit on all of the props.

The next day, as part of a daily report to users on betting results, DraftKings Sportsbook stated that the under on Porter's 3-pointers was the biggest money winner for bettors of any NBA player props from games that evening.

Porter played 19 minutes two days later and scored 12 points with 7 rebounds and 3 assists.

On March 20 against the Sacramento Kings, Porter played just three minutes before exiting because of what the Raptors said was an illness and did not return. He did not score after attempting one shot and had two rebounds.

Sportsbooks had his over/unders set at around 7.5 points and 5.5 rebounds.

The next day, DraftKings Sportsbook reported in a media release that Porter's prop bets were the No. 1 moneymaker from the night in the NBA.

Porter has mentioned betting on sports on this X.com account in the past. There’s also this video of Porter looking upset when he hit a three.

The knee-jerk reaction of SEE THE NBA IS FIXED I CAN’T BELIEVE THESE LEAGUES ARE SO INVESTED IN SPORTS BETTING …is really dumb. Like, really dumb.

But so is the idea this is not a big deal.

People need to have confidence their sport is on the level. Sports bettors, especially, need to have that confidence. Stories like this make everyone question everything.

But it also shows that legal sports betting is vital in rooting this shady stuff out. Because the evidence is damning for Porter: it looks like he either bet on his own unders in these games or alerted other people to make sure they did. Without a legal sports betting market, this never gets flagged.

These leagues need sports betting right now. How badly? Well, the NBA followed the NFL’s lead and is now set up to let you bet on the games while you’re watching League Pass on your phone, without leaving the screen.

I can’t imagine Porter ever playing in the NBA again if he’s found guilty in ANY way of manipulating his unders for profit: his or someone else’s.

Sports betting is not going anywhere. In this case, its legalization helped point out a major red flag.

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On an outlook for the 2024 Red Sox…

It’s hard for me to separate the disaster of the Red Sox offseason from any sort of prediction or outlook for the 2024 season.

The latest kick in the nuts for Sox fans came in the form of the Jon Heyman report that free agent pitcher Jordan Montgomery turned down the Red Sox because they don’t appear to be a competitive franchise.

There had been speculation that he might like Boston since his wife was training as a doctor at Beth Israel in affiliation with Harvard. But his wife is transferring to Vanderbilt, and word is, Montgomery didn’t love the Red Sox because he wants to win.

‘Stats’ is right. Tom Werner, Sam Kennedy and Co. sold the fanbase on this being a huge bounceback year for the franchise. Then once season ticket renewals were paid up, Kennedy admitted that the Sox payroll would lower in 2024 than 2023, despite increased revenue of almost $40 million.

Embarrassing on almost every level.

On the field, they’re probably a little better than projected. Alex Cora is managing for his next job. There is talent there Devers, Casas and Story as the core. You have the unknown potential of Ceddanne Rafaela. They’re a pretty athletic team and might be entertaining. Two major issues loom.

1. Zero established starting pitching. Did little to really address it in the offseason. Infuriating. Can’t see the group of Bello, Whitlock, Pivetta, Houck and Crawford lasting the year with respectable ERAs. A lot of chances to bet Sox game ‘overs.’

2. Even if the team is pretty good, they’re giving off the vibe of “we’re going to sell anything we can at the deadline.” Kenley Jansen, Tyler O’Neill, any other reliever having a good season are all likely to be traded away. After not investing in the team this offseason, why would they bother to do it now?

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.

Best case - Frisky team that finds themselves in the hunt and ownership decides not to sell off at the deadline. End up in the Wild Card hunt. Ceddanne Rafaela shines.

Worst case - A bad opening-season road trip turns into a spiraling season as early as May. Team and Cora checkout. Last place. Empty ballpark.

Somewhere in the middle of that is most likely, resulting in a very boring season when fans start talking about the offseason in July.

So good! So good! So good!

On your Easter Weekend MutStack notes….

• We will handicap both the Florida Derby and Arkansas Derby here tomorrow morning in our Derby Prepping post, but we could sure use a big performance in one of those races. This has been about as buzzless a Derby Prep season as I can remember. Chalky preps, slow races, horses training right up to the race… not much to get excited about 36 days out from Derby 150.

• If you’re reading this and headed to Portland, ME this weekend for KMS LIVE at the State Theatre, do yourself a favor and get one of the massive slices of pizza from the bakery at Micucci Grocery Store. Top 5 slice and Top 5 best-smelling story/bakery. Ever.

• If you win enough money on your favorite sportsbook app, you will eventually be limited. Apparently, the Mass Gaming Commission wants the sportsbooks to explain this as they plan on examining the practice. This is worth watching not just in Massachusetts, but across the industry.

• I promised to move on from this, but Bob Kraft’s “I’m so disappointed” response to the negative reviews from players and fans of The Dynasty is comically tone-deaf. From one of the producers back in January. “So even though [Kraft] did get some pushback in different directions, he said, we’re doing this and we’re doing it with cooperation from everybody … I mean, if we couldn’t get it done, Bob was there to push it over and make it happen.” This was always a Kraft Production.

• A reminder that Peeps are disgusting. #neverpeeps

Back Saturday to talk Derby Preps. Happy Easter. Hope the Big Bunny brings you all the good stuff. And no Peeps.

Thanks for reading. Good luck with all your bets. And most importantly, Go Huskies.

Good weekend.