Friday Four-Pack 3.7.25

Things you need to know about New England's newest sportsbook. Kirk Minihane takes a break from his podcast. Boston sports takes, sports media news and more!

I miss Tommy Heinsohn.

He’s part of a documentary series that debuted this week, Celtics City, which we’ll review later in this week’s Four-Pack.

With the legendary Mike Gorman on the play-by-play and old friend Greg Dickerson on the sidelines, we open today with Tommy having the time of his life - calling a Celtics/Pelicans game, eating some fried seafood, and dancing away back in 2014.

Tommy was a great announcer - a character happy to be a homer for his Celtics. No referee was safe from the criticism, especially late in his career, when it seemed like he had a comment for every call that went against the C’s.

You might be too young to remember, but there was a period in the 90s when the team was not good, finishing no better than 5th place in the division for six straight seasons and failing to make the playoffs during that stretch. But Gorman and Heinsohn found a way to make games that featured Pervis Ellison, David Wesley and Tony Battie among others, entertaining.

Maybe I’m too old to get the schtick and appeal of the current Celtics TV team of Drew Carter and Brian Scalabrine, but I find it hard to imagine tuning into a 36-win Celtics team to get their call of the action - something I did for Heinsohn’s commentary in the 90s. Again, maybe that’s an age thing. But I find myself rooting for this current Boston team to be on national TV and away from the local announcers.

Going from Mike Tirico back to Drew Carter this week…yikes.

But this is not about the current broadcasters: it’s about appreciating a Hall of Fame player and coach. And given his work nationally for CBS and locally for the Celtics, a man who should also be recognized in Springfield, MA as a broadcaster - making him the only person to be inducted as a player, coach, and broadcaster. Gorman has advocated for this as recently as last year.

It was great to see him in Celtics City. And when I found this video on an old iPhone this week, I wanted to share it. And it’s my newsletter, so I am. If it doesn't make you smile, that’s a you problem. Tommy was the best.

Meanwhile, the sports betting ‘need to knows’ about a new sportsbook. We have two new sports docs to review. And a popular podcast host is taking a break from his show.

All ahead in today’s Four-Pack.

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On the newest casino and sportsbook in New England…

Hundreds of people were lined up around the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, NH on Wednesday morning, 15 minutes before the 9 a.m. Grand Opening of New England’s newest casino, The Nash. Most of the early patrons darted to the customer service booth to sign up for their Players Club card, which would net the first 1000 or so a free tee-shirt at a separate table. When the doors first opened, there was an audible cheer from the front of the line as gamblers hustled into the space once home to a Sears department store.

Will sports bettors react similarly when they go to watch and bet on sports at The Nash?

My first impressions just after 9 a.m. on Wednesday? The place looks great. Below is not an official review of The Nash—just some observations from a sports betting perspective. Yes, there were slot machines, poker tables, table games, and restaurants. But my goal was to report to you—the loyal MutStack reader and hopefully by now subscriber—on the ins and outs of betting on sports at The Nash and what you should expect and plan for.

Because as a sports bettor, there are two things I’d want to know before I went.

At the far end of the building - if you're coming in the main entrance from outside the casino - is the Stadium Social Sportsbook.

That’s the Stadium Social wall. It’s big. One monster screen the size of a movie theatre screen, six smaller (still big) screens around that one (three on each side), and then eight 42” screens on the bottom. There’s stadium seating in front of the screens with various tables and couches. I’m told guests will be able to reserve the stadium seating as soon as next week, and there will be a cost to book specific seats.

There are two bars where you can view the screens - one each, on the first and second floors, basically right above each other. At first glance, this should allow for plenty of viewing even if you don’t get a table or couch.

You can bet at one of 16 DraftKings kiosks - eight on each floor - in Stadium Social. There are no live tellers in that area, but one of the cage bosses told me that you can bet on sports at the cages located on both levels of the casino. I had to ask if there was a live teller for sports, as it was not very clear.

Visually, it looks awesome. There will be a lot of husbands who all of a sudden ask their wives if they can go with them on a Nashua shopping trip…myself included. Those two bars near Stadium Social will be wildly popular.

But two things you need to be aware of when you’re planning your first trip as a sports bettor.

1. You can’t access your DraftKings mobile sports betting app in the casino. Because the mall is right on the MA/NH line, the app can’t tell what State you’re in and you get this message.

   

   I tried this with The Nash Wi-Fi, the mall Wi-Fi, and Verizon LTE/5G - same issue with all three. I ran into an old coworker from my ESPN Radio NH days, and I had him and his friend try it - same issue. Thursday morning, another review came via text from a friend and he mentioned this issue without my even asking. At The Brook in Seabrook, the DraftKings app is easily accessed. At Mohegan Sun, you can log into FanDuel anywhere on the property and get a bet down.
   
   This has always been an issue at the mall - trust me, I’ve gotten the same message from the Buffalo Wild Wings next-door over the years. I figured The Nash would work with DraftKings on making sure their Wi-Fi would read as in NH, but as of Thursday, not the case. This will be an issue for people who want to bet on their phones in the casino, want to live bet but avoid lines, or just get the rewards points from DraftKings for using your account. Hopefully, this can be figured out. But for now, plan on betting with cash at a kiosk or window - or place your bets before you go.

2. They’re not taking bets on horse racing. No RaceBook. Boo. I was able to access the DK Horse app in the casino, but it does not sound like they’ll be showing racing on their TVs during the week. And it does not sound like they plan on adding it anytime soon. For most people, it won’t be an issue, I get it. But as a racing fan, I was hoping they’d follow the lead of The Brook in Seabrook and make it horse-player friendly. They did not.

First impressions are important. And my first impression of The Nash is that they built a great place to watch and bet on sports in Southern New Hampshire. Say hello if you see me there sweating my golf bets this weekend.

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On a pair of sports documentaries out this week…

🎥 So apparently, it’s sports documentary season at MutStack.com. A pair to quickly review on this first full weekend of March.

🍀🏀 The first in the 9-part series on the history of the Boston Celtics, Celtics City, aired on Monday night. Each new episode will air Mondays at 9 p.m. on HBO and at the same time On Demand on MAX. If the next eight episodes unfold like the first, they will be a ‘must-watch’—at least for Celtics fans. 

Episode 1, “Founding Fathers,” is focused on the Red Auerbach-built Celtics of the late 1950s. You get highlights of Bob Cousy making brilliant plays, Bill Russell dominating at both ends of the court, and Sam Jones making huge shots.

I’ll admit - I was shocked at how good Cousy looked in his highlight reel. I knew he was good…I didn’t realize he was that good. And Cousy on camera was probably my favorite part of Episode 1. It’s WILD how sharp he is at age 96. It reminded me how good those broadcasts were, when he would join Gorman and Heinsohn on TV to call Celtics games.

Some stories from the series opener will be familiar to die-hard Celtics fans, but credit to director Lauren Stowell for keeping the thing moving. Even when they used older clips from Russell and Heinsohn, they fit the conversation well. In my review of We Beat The Dream Team last week, I noted how the older clips from Michael Jordan and Larry Bird seemed forced in - this was the opposite.

Celtics Superfan/Mr. Ringer Bill Simmons is an executive producer and said the team had no creative control - that’s good. I was surprised Simmons was not in the first episode and it would be a miss if he’s not part of the series at some point. His dad - who was a season-ticket holder and took Bill to games as a kid - is part of the documentary.

I wondered going in just how different this would be from all the other Celtics docs, books, DVDs, etc, we’ve gotten over the years. But it was so good that I found myself annoyed that there wasn’t another episode (or eight) to binge watch right away. Well done and looking forward to Episode 2 on Monday night.

🏇🏻💰 Also out this week is a much shorter documentary - and one will have less mass appeal than Celtics City.

Winner's Circle is a 30-minute feature on the 2024 National Horseplayers Championship. The NHC is a handicapping tournament you must qualify for by winning a feeder tournament - you can’t buy your way in. I have spent hundreds of dollars trying to qualify over the years, falling short again and again.

Even if you do qualify, the odds of besting a field of over 600 other handicappers is pretty unlikely - especially since many in the field have multiple entries. That’s why the winner gets $800k and is named National Handicapper of the Year…even if the $2 WIN PLACE betting format is antiquated. But I digress.

The best moments in Winner’s Circle come when they catch horseplayers living and dying with their bets. They capture the ups and downs of a big score and bad beat. And they got lucky as after three full days of betting on races, the tournament was dead-tight heading into the final race on Sunday - it sets up a good final.

But not surprising for a 30-minute documentary, it’s short on substance. You get to know a few characters, but not enough that you’re rooting for one of them to win or lose. There’s very little detail about any of the players’ process when it comes to picking winners. Even the final scene, they fail to tell the viewer which horse each of the two ‘finalists’ picked, so you’re not quite sure what (if anything) to be rooting for.

I love the idea of profiling handcappers who qualify for the NHC. And I love the idea of following the drama of a huge 600-person gambling tournament that ebbs and flows for three days. But you can’t do it successfully in 30 minutes—give me more!

Racing fans can form their own opinions and watch for free on YouTube.

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On the biggest headlines in Boston Sports this week…

Things that would have been most interesting to me, if I still talked about sports for a living.

Bruins: Casual hockey fan here…are B’s diehards really going to be pissed off if the team trades Brad Marchand on Friday? Why? It’s rebuild time and he’s set to be an unrestricted free agent…this seems pretty obvious. You can’t risk getting nothing for the player if he leaves in July. He says he wants to be a ‘Bruin for life,’ but what happens when the team lowballs him and he gets a real offer in free agency? The return in the Mookie Betts trade was atrocious, but the team made the right call in trading him away vs. losing him for nothing in free agency. This feels similar, except Betts was in his prime when they traded him and Marchand will be 37 in May.

Celtics: The NBA is down bad. Ratings are in the tank. The product is so stale that Charles Barkley vs. Kendrick Perkins is a thing 🙄. The league has real issues.

That being said…look at these ticket prices for Celtics/Lakers at the Garden Saturday night. Holy moly. The lowest single ticket I found in the lower bowl was $637, before fees. The get-in price for a single seat in the 300-level is almost $400. It has to be one of the most expensive non-playoff tickets in Boston sports history.

You can even sit in one of those big, comfy chairs right on the court next to the Celtics bench, if you have an extra $16,681 lying around.

Red Sox: From last month here at MutStack.com, on the signing of Alex Bregman.

Okay, so why isn’t it a great signing?
Yes, he won the Gold Glove last year…at a position the Red Sox are probably not asking him to play. Reports have him ticketed for second base - he hasn’t played there since 2018. In fact, he’s only played third base since 2020. I would play him at third and tell Rafael Devers he’s the DH, but I’m not the manager. So we’re all projecting him to be as good defensively at a new position. We’ll see.

A month later, Rafael Devers is so annoyed about being moved to DH that he’s yet to play in a spring training game. The team has not pushed the issue and I’ll assume it’s because, much like the decision to let him rant to the media about this a few weeks ago, Alex Cora and Co. are just letting him get it out of his system now. Because come March 27 in Texas, he’ll be the DH. Bregman has yet to play a spring training game at second base.

"He's a proud individual," Cora said of Devers this week. "I think that first game in Texas we will do whatever is good for the Boston Red Sox and they are all on board."

Translation - “Bregman will be at third base.”

Patriots: Another brutal week for Eliot Wolf.

Deebo Samuel goes for a 5th. Christian Kirk goes for a 7th. Joe Thuney traded for a 4th. These are all players who could have helped the Patriots - and specifically the development of Drake Maye - and Wolf has the picks and the money to get involved. He chose not to.

Based on the reporting, Wolf has friends in the New England media. But after last season’s disastrous off-season and draft, I have very little confidence in his ability to rebuild the team into a contender again. There have been whispers that the team has deals ready when free agency opens next week. We’ll see. They could have added good players this week and punted.

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On your sports media and sports betting notebook…

➡️ Having had the privilege of watching him host his own sold-out live show this past Saturday Night in Laconia, NH, I was surprised Monday when my friend Kirk Minihane announced he would take a break from his popular podcast.

Having successfully transitioned from Sports Radio and WEEI to Barstool stardom, Kirk and his producers are looking at potential stories for The Case—Season 3. Seasons 1 and 2 of his true crime podcast have become national stories, and his work (along with his producers) has been a big reason for this. Kirk cited work on the next season of The Case as a main reason for the break. He hinted on his show that numerous streaming services have been in touch about being involved in this next season. 

He’s set to return to KMS on Wednesday, April 16.

➡️ If you follow me over on X.com you’re probably aware, but I had the distinct honor of having my head shaved - on stage - to close out Kirk’s live show Saturday night. The peer pressure of the awesome crowd and the chance to get back on the show after being banned by a contest winner last November were motivation enough to let producer Justin Trudell cut it all off. My wife is, um, still getting used to it. Just 36 hours after the cut, my ban from the show lifted, Kirk announced his break. But a free haircut is a free haircut.

➡️ It’s not surprising when media companies make cuts in 2025, but Thursday was a particularly bad day in Boston.

📻 Radio company Audacy made cuts across the board in Boston, most notably David O’Leary, who had been at Magic 106.7 for 20 years. And Erin O’Malley, who had been a fixture at Mix 104.1 for 24 years.

Nationally, Audacy had multiple cuts in their sports betting brand known as BetQL. Among those let go was my friend and former Mut at Night producer, Lucy Burdge. Lucy was the most active BetQL team member on social media and was able to have fun in the sports betting space without taking it all too seriously. She will be great in her next home, which I’m sure she’ll find pretty quickly.

A source at WEEI tells me they were not affected by Thursday’s Audacy cuts.

📺 There were also major cuts at NESN.com on Thursday. The company called it, “the decision to refine our operations, focusing on our core content strengths & streamlining our digital capabilities.” A person who works in the industry had a different view when asked about it by MutStack.com. - “They gutted NESN.com.” It sounds like NESN is going to focus on more video content.

On the same day, Boston Globe Media canceled “Boston Globe Today.” The show had been co-produced with NESN. It’s been on for two full years and I have never, ever, heard one person comment on it. Ever. The Globe’s Chris Gasper has been a part of the show and I’m told he’ll stay on as part of a new sports-centric show that will air weekly this spring on NESN.

➡️ ESPN abruptly canceled Around the Horn after a 23-year run. Every media story about the cancellation claims that the show still had good ratings. Apparently, host Tony Reali’s contact is up on August, so maybe that’s part of it? The show was fine for what it was, but I was PTI > Around the Horn 10 times out of 10.

➡️ So far this spring, we’ve heard Will Flemming, Rob Bradford, Cooper Boardman and Joe Castigleone call parts of Red Sox spring training games. While WEEI and/or the Red Sox have still not made an official announcement, former Sox infielder Will Middlebrooks is expected to call a bulk of the games with Flemming this season - and should be in the booth in Florida over the next week. NESN’s Tom Caron is also slated to call a few games before the team goes to Texas to open the season against the Rangers on Thursday, March 27.

And with that we have said it all.

We’ll be back tomorrow to handicap this week’s Derby Prep, The Tampa Bay Derby. Plus some horse racing notes from the industry, that include an update on Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy and his horses. I hope to have that mailed out by 11 a.m.

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

Good weekend.