Friday Four-Pack 3.8.24

Pats docuseries gets national criticism. A Belichick theory. The new standard for the Celtics. Jim Thome trends.

With under a minute to play, Jayson Tatum had a wide-open look at a three-pointer that would have given the Celtics the lead late on the road against the Nuggets Thursday night in Denver.

A lead in a game they trailed by double-digits in the second half. A game where they shot just 64% from the free-throw line. A game where their offense was mostly Jaylen Brown or a launched three from someone else. Still, here they were, with Tatum an open three away from a lead late against the defending champs.

He missed.

And despite comebacks in both the third and fourth quarters, the Celtics would fall short on the road, making it back-to-back losses for the first time in 57 games.

If this were some upstart team just beginning their road to NBA Elite status, you might be able to celebrate the effort and point out how close the game was: that it was some sort of moral victory.

In the postgame, Eddie House called it a chance for the team to “learn something.”

I mean, I guess?

There was major IFO (internet fan outrage) earlier this week when Felger and Mazz ragged on Celtics fans who wanted to celebrate the team’s blowout win over the Warriors as a “big-picture win.”

Sorry Cully, he’s not wrong.

Well, Mazz is an idiot. That caption about ‘not giving them any credit for the win.’ That was his line. And it comes across as an obvious sports radio troll job.

But the Felger part about not learning anything big picture about the team? He’s right.

The Celtics are the favorites to win the NBA Championship (+230). They have the best record in the league, by a wide margin. They have an NBA record THREE 50-point wins this season.

I’ll go on.

They have two of the best young players in the NBA. They made offseason moves to upgrade (Holiday, Porzingis). They added at the deadline (Tillman). They’re a deep, talented, experienced team.

They are no longer some scrappy underdog. They are the favorites.

And yeah, sorry, the favorites get treated and viewed differently. The expectations are higher, as are the bars of success.

This season is not boring by any means, that’s not the right word. But there is this feeling hanging over the team and schedule of like, yeah, this is great, now go and win in the playoffs.

Right?

Wins and losses in March against the Warriors or to the Nuggets will not define this team. They’ve graduated beyond that. Their definition of success is winning an NBA Title. That’s it. At least it should be.

It feels like one of those Patriots’ seasons where the team was so good they were supposed to win.

Unfair? Absolutely. But also reality. It’s a different standard now. And with that standard comes a different level of scrutiny. I think fans have to accept that for this season. Your team is just that good.

Not a great Friday if you’re a Celtics fan. Except for the Tatum Haters, of which there are many.

Other assorted thoughts on the game and the local Celtics broadcast below. Plus our weekly review of the Patriots docuseries. And a theory on its portrayal of Bill Belichick.

All in today’s Four-Pack.

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On Episodes 5 + 6 of Apple TV’s The Dynasty: New England Patriots

I have to admit, this thing is wearing on me.

I find myself watching each episode for what moments will make the Krafts look good and make Bill Belichick come across like the bad guy. That’s been my view of the tone almost from the beginning.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who feels this way. Bill Simmons took a similar stance this week. The Pardon My Take crew jumped aboard on Monday.

WBZ.com’s Michael Hurley, who has a Ph.D. in Deflategate and has been covering these episodes weekly, disagrees.

It’s gotten so bad that director Matt Hamachek is being forced to defend himself and the series in interviews because it comes across as SO anti-Belichick.

I tried to go into this week’s episodes with an open mind. But right away it was hard to ignore.

Episode 7, Under Pressure, is focused on Deflategate - from what I’d call both pro-Kraft and pro-Patriots angles.

In retelling the story of the silliest NFL scandal of all time, it fails to mention Bob Kraft’s press conference in 2019 when he announced at the NFL’s Owners Meetings the Patriots would not appeal the four-game suspension handed down to Brady for his role in deflating footballs.

While that decision did not affect the NFLPA and Brady’s own eventual appeal, it was an awful look for Kraft, who was clearly trying to protect his place at the NFL’s big-boy table by not fighting back against Roger Goodell.

More importantly, he pissed off Brady, according to a book by Casey Sherman.

Its omission is pro-Kraft, for sure. The owner later admitted this was a misstep.

The episode seems to blame the media and the NFL for keeping Deflategate a national headline for weeks but never mentions the team itself helped fuel all the coverage by publishing its own website to counter the claims in the infamous Wells Report.

Last updated in 2016, “The Wells Report in Context” picked apart the legalese of the decision that it was “more probable than not” that Tom Brady knew about the team deflating footballs before the AFC Title Game.

There’s a whole package of Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’ types on TV explaining the ideal gas law, but no mention of the team’s similar pushback via WordPress.

Leaving that out is certainly pro-Kraft.

As someone who lived the whole thing out on the radio in Boston, there was nothing new here. Brady still won’t talk about it. No update on either John Jastremski or Jim McNally, the two equipment guys who supposedly did the PSI bidding of Brady. It was a pretty boring reminder of a wild, wild time.

Some good moments from the episode below.

Episode 8, Score to Settle, takes the viewer from post-Brady Deflategate suspension through the miraculous 31-28 SuperBowl comeback win over the Falcons.

The diehards are going to HATE this episode, as much as one could possibly hate an episode about the greatest comeback win ever.

I get why producer Hamachek did it, but there is a lot of foreshadowing on the Brady/Belichick relationship. It ends up lingering over the whole episode.

It got to the point where I wondered if they'd even show the Dont’a Hightower strip-sack that was such a pivotal part of the win. They did - and the Super Bowl coverage was well done, including a great moment with LeGarrette Blount, Brady, and Belichick on the field after the win.

Belichick’s unwillingness to once again add any real insight into the comeback win hurts the documentary.

Some other good from the two episodes -

• The Malcolm Butler portion of Episode 7 is excellent, including a few clips from Butler on camera.

• Good music, again. But the Taylor Swift thing seemed forced in Episode 8.

• Matthew Slater’s honest assumption of how hard Belichick coached Brady and his reaction to it.

• I like those old Brady/Drew Henson Michigan stories.

Some other bad -

• Tom Brady went 13 of 15 for 124 yards and 2 TDs in the fourth quarter of XLIX against Seattle. There is like no mention of this. He was unstoppable. Against the NFL’s #1 defense. Just another instance in the series where the football stuff gets fumbled away.

• Brady’s presser on his role in Defelategate…yikes. I forgot how unprepared he was.

• The Putin Story. Again. Over it.

• Brady was not willing to talk to Deflategate on camera. Again.

We’ll have a review of the final two episodes next week when reportedly the anti-Belichick narrative is as clear as day. We’ll find out together.

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On a dumb theory I have about the docuseries and Bill Belichick…

If you read the book it’s based on, The Dynatsy by Jeff Benedict, you’re not surprised that the docuseries is pro-Kraft. Why? Because so is the book! Interesting sure, but came across like a Kraft PR piece..just like much of the series.

Both Benedict and director Hamachek came out this week to defend themselves, saying that this was all filmed last July and the Belichick/Kraft breakup came well afterward.

But a quick sampling of just some of the Belichick stuff through eight episodes.

• Spending more time on his failures in Cleveland than it spends on the Patriots’ back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 03’-04’.

• The visual shots in the Aaron Hernandez episode make him look like the bad guy. And the tone that BILL SHOULD HAVE KNOWN.

• Very few, if any, pro-Belichick players interviewed on-camera.

• Again, in that Hernandez episode, they don’t include any of Bill’s clearly heartfelt remarks in the aftermath of his death. They edited his remarks to make him look much worse than he was in that spot.

He looks really bad in this thing. So why?

Can it be as simple as the filmmakers were annoyed that Bill didn’t want to be a part of it? Bill Simmons suggested that the coach had to be forced to even sit down for this by the Krafts.

He’s been bad on camera. There are probably hours of Bill saying “I have nothing to say about that” saved on a cloud somewhere.

Bill made their job harder (and the series worse) by not playing along.

They don’t like him for that. And this is their chance to rub his face in it.

Comments open below for your thoughts on the series, Kraft and Belichick.

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On bad actually being good…

Yes, I’m going to watch this. You will too.

1. It’s free (assuming you have Netflix)

2. It will probably be a disaster

But who cares? You’ll text your friends about it. Comment on social media. It will be an online “event.” Those are good, even when they are bad.

You had a great example this week with Kirk Minihane Show producer Jack Coleman needing almost 40 hours on a live stream to name the Top 10 home run hitters in MLB history.

He was stuck on #8 on that list, Jim Thome...for 13 hours or so. To the point where Jim Thome was trending worldwide on X.com.

Even after Thome’s wife called in with clues, Coleman had nothing. John Cyborg, Jim Machine, and Joe Giambi were just three of Coleman’s THOUSANDS of insane guesses AFTER that phone call with Mrs. Thome, where she accidentally said her husband’s first name.

This came hours after Kirk accidentally said Thome’s full name, which the blissfully ignorant Coleman missed.

Even when Coleman finally got it (did he really?) he was given ‘Jim’ plus the hint that his last name started with ‘T.’ The stream would still be going without Kirk’s bailout clues.

For a self-proclaimed baseball die-hard, this was embarrassing. And also great. Thousands of people (myself included) had to see how it would end.

It will be the same with Paul/Tyson.

My buddy Alex Reimer wrote last year about how younger sports fans do not like sports as much.

There are a myriad of possible explanations: youth sports participation is way down, kids are now addicted to video games and virtual worlds, TikTok is melting everybody’s brain. But the fact is, young people aren’t digging traditional sports these days. The idea of sitting down at a predetermined time to watch a 3-hour game seems so outdated.

Isn’t this part of it, too?

At a time when everyone is analyzing why NBA TV ratings are down. Why sports TV ratings are down in general?

If a game you’re watching is bad, you just turn it off. Not with events like these.

I’m not sure I have an answer to how to combat that. The NBA tried this year with the in-season tournament. Major League Baseball has finally acknowledged their games are too long. Spectacles/events like this are not going away. People love them. How will traditional sports compete if younger viewers grow up with these other options?

A few words do not do Coleman’s Quest for Jim Thome the justice they deserve. His full challenge is on YouTube for all to see.

On your Mutstack notes…

• I fully expect we’ll get an announcement on the next destination for former Barstool Sports and most recently DraftKings’ baseball personality Jared Carrabis as early as Monday next week. As I wrote last Friday, Underdog Fantasy makes a lot of sense.

• On the Celtics loss…Monster game from Brown in the loss…the Nuggets offense embarrassed the C’s defense at times, leading to layups and dunks over and over…Jokic screaming at Tony Brothers was probably the only time Boston fans will root for him…rough Tatum night…I am still Team Tatum.

• I can’t take a full season of Drew Carter and Scal calling Celtics games. Yelling. So much yelling. Nicknames. Catchphrases galore. “The ‘daddy to be for three,’” line on a Sam Hauser shot was cringy. Maybe younger fans want that? Mike Gorman’s excellence spoiled us all.

We’ve said it all.

Just one Derby Prep tomorrow. We’ll cover the Tampa Bay Derby over at StackCapping, but also some general racing thoughts that have been on my mind. That will be sent/posted mid-morning on Saturday.

Appreciate you subscribing and reading. Your feedback on the Four-Pack and MutStack.com is always welcome.

Good luck with all your weekend bets. We’re Team Jordan Spieth at Bay Hill.

Good weekend.