Friday Four-Pack 4.10.26
A great UConn run ends. Red Sox fans big mad at me. Mike Vrabel in the news. A Boston Sports Radio MutStack Exclusive!
Note from Owner of MutStack.com, Dave Portnoy:
Thank god for Mut that UConn lost. I have also put Mut in charge of finding me every grey horse that runs every weekend and looks good and is 3 years old or younger. I expect Silver Syndicate to run huge today at Oaklawn but at a very short price.
Note from MutStack.com Founder, Mut:
Congrats to Dave and Michigan. That’s the silver lining to UConn losing - I am still employed. I gave it my all in the luxury suite, UConn gave it their all on the court, but UM was too good. More on Silver Syndicate below.
The Celtics will likely beat the Pelicans on Friday night, clinching the #2 seed in the East and allowing the starters to rest in their season finale against the Magic on Sunday. They’ll go into the playoffs as a big favorite to win the East (+145 on DraftKings on Friday morning) and one of the more likely winners on the 2026 NBA Championship (+550 third choice on DK behind the Thunder and Spurs).
I can’t believe they're in this spot - and I can’t believe Jayson Tatum has played this well since his return.
Those are his season averages above, since his return from a ruptured Achilles. Not referenced are his 32 minutes per game and his 39 and 40 minutes in his last two games, respectively. His shooting was off on Thursday, and his 3-point % is down from his career average, but he looks like Jayson Tatum. He’s drawing a ton of defensive attention and doing a great job of finding the open Celtic - he’s always been an underrated passer.
Tatum’s return to form so quickly is a surprise, but so is the fact that the team is even in this position to contend upon his return. I didn’t have much faith in Joe Mazzulla or Jaylen Brown to have the team contend without their best player - I’m happy to have been dead wrong. Brown did anything and everything in Tatum’s absence. Mazzulla should be the NBA’s Coach of the Year for the work he did with this roster. Baylor Scheierman banging big 3s in the 4th quarter of a huge game against the Knicks is a great example. The team was shooting too many 3s early on; they adjusted, and Mazzulla has been a huge part of it.
The Celtics almost beat the Knicks without Jaylen Brown on Thursday night. Shit, without Josh Hart’s insane 4Q, the Celtics do beat the Knicks. Note, it was just Nikola Vucevic’s third game back from injury - he’s going to be a HUGE factor in the playoffs.
Look, five months ago I was talking tank, so, as usual, #MutWasWrong.
The Thunder are loaded. Spurs are very good. But the East? No one on the East would scare me based on the way this team has played with and without Tatum. This team not only could be but should be in the NBA Finals. Wild to write that, but it’s true. Happy to have been so wrong about this group.
Meanwhile, I went to Fenway Park. The biggest NFL story of the week involves the Patriots. UConn had a great season. And a Boston Sports radio MutStack Exclusive.
All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #167
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On the end of UConn’s great season…
“I just thought the two fouls on those three guys in the first half, I thought we had a real good chance to go into the half with the lead … [that] really put us down at the half…We just had to make more shots. We had great opportunities, I thought, from three. If you make three or four more, you have a great chance to win it. But how are you disappointed at all in your group?” - Dan Hurley
The greatest college basketball coach in America summed it up perfectly on TBS after his UConn team lost to Michigan Monday night in Indianapolis.
UConn did not play its best game in defeat, but Michigan did not play its best game in victory. But UConn had a chance late; they just could never get the big shot to go. The Solo Ball layup. The Alex Karaban three that came up just short - huge chances that did not go for the Huskies.
Michigan is good enough to survive a 2-for-15 shooting night from three. UConn had to make more than 27% (9-for-33). Hurley’s offense got his team constant good looks, but they did not fall. Frustrating. Between that, losing the turnover battle, and the foul trouble, it was too much to overcome.
There were missed calls on both sides - I think the losing team always feels like they got the wrong end of the whistle. Yes, I’ve watched the highlight reel of bad calls against UConn…I just think there were bigger factors in losing the game. I’m not ready to watch the DVR recording of the game yet. And with the Masters this weekend, it won’t be anytime soon.
Hurley got the most out of this team, and they have nothing to hang their heads about.
I was very lucky to be on Indy - thanks to Dave, Tom Moore, Hurley, and, as usual, #thankyoukirk. The UConn fans there were awesome. Took a million selfies with people, met some legends like Little Red…I love the UConn Fan Community. Got to meet football coach Jason Candle and transfer QB Bo Polston at the send-off rally. Besides the result Monday night, an awesome week.
With Hurley running the program, UConn is not going anywhere. Hopefully, Coach does not see me as a bad luck charm and ban me from the Final Four next year in Detroit. It will not be a surprise when he and UConn are back there.
As always, Go Huskies!
On the Vrabel/Russini pictures…
It’s a slow week in the NFL, so by now everyone has seen them, and the cat is out of the bag - Pats HC Mike Vrabel and reporter Diana Russini are allegedly friends, based on these photos taken from a resort in Arizona.
Vrabel responded quickly to the NY Post after they published the pics, saying, “These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. This doesn’t deserve any further response.” The Pats have not yet issued any sort of statement.
Russini told the newspaper, “The photos don’t represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day. Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues.”
“These photos are misleading and lack essential context,” said Athletic executive editor Steven Ginsberg. So they’re standing by Russini.
And look, their alleged friendship will lead to some fallout. I agree with the guys on Pardon My Take when they suggested on Friday that Russini will probably be doing a lot less reporting on the AJ Brown trade than she has been. The same probably goes for the Patriots in general.
Can she still do her job? 100%. Any time Jon Heyman reports on a Scott Boras client, we all assume it came directly from Boras, as the two are reportedly close. WFAN host Keith McPherson confronted Jon Heyman on-air, joking that Heyman is “part of Boras Corp” and asking how much of Scott Boras’ clients’ contract commissions he receives when breaking news, specifically regarding Juan Soto. But Heyman is still breaking news and working. Reporters are friends with the people they cover.
So, where did the pictures come from?
Front Office Sports had an exclusive late Thursday about how the photos ended up being published 👀
An anonymous tipster reached out to the (TMZ), saying that Vrabel was hanging out with an unidentified woman. When TMZ staffers evaluated the photos, they eventually realized that it was Russini. The anonymous tipster was not from a known paparazzi or photo agency, and requested an unspecified sum in the “four figures.” As TMZ’s newsroom deliberated whether this was a legitimate story or too “bedroom police-y,” the Post’s Page Six vertical ran with it, rendering the debate moot, a source said.
Fascinating. Why did TMZ pass? Kinda shocked the photos were not even worth $10k. And are there other photos that might confirm that this was a group trip, as Russini suggested? That’s worth investigating.
Where these pics came from feels like the next level of this story - a story that will eventually go away because the news cycle in 2026 is 24 seconds, not 24 hours.
But for now, they’re front and center. Vrabel is scheduled to speak to the media in a few weeks before the NFL Draft. Could he issue a statement before that and refer to it when he asked about this? That was Bill Belichick 101.
Either way, there will be questions. And the answers will be interesting, to say the least.
On the empty seats at Fenway Park on Wednesday…
I’m told “getting ratio’d” means having more comments than likes on a Tweet, so I didn’t quite get ratio’d on this Red Sox tweet the other day. But Red Sox fans were big mad that I pointed out the empty seats at Fenway Park on Wednesday afternoon. It was a day game, it was not warm out, and the team is off to a slow start. All fair.
My point was not to rip Red Sox fans by showing 1000s of seats empty around Fenway- my point was that those fans are making their own statement on the “Sell the team” movement by not going to games.
Red Sox reporter Chris Cotillo mentioned my post and pointed out that even going back to last year, “April games have been an issue.” The Sox announced 28,000 in attendance on Wednesday - I can confirm it looked and felt like A LOT less than that. Friend of MutStack and loyal Kirk Minihane Show fan, the talented Mikey GrabBag, pointed out that “from 2004 until Covid, Fenway had two (2) total games under 29,000 in attendance. Sox are deadest they've been in Boston, and Mut is right.” I didn’t double-check the numbers, but it sounds right. Ownership cares less about winning now than they did back then, and fans have noticed.
The big story Sunday and Monday at Fenway was those “Sell the team” chants. Red Sox reporter Rob Bradford told WEEI Thursday that before those two days, he and people he talked to had NEVER HEARD THAT CHANT AT FENWAY. He went on to give My Boss Dave credit for this movement, and I agree. That Dave cares so much about the Red Sox at the start of the season is a big part of this.
So is the fact that, coming off their first playoff appearance in years, the offseason was highlighted by the loss of Alex Bregman. There was potentially more fuel for those chants late Thursday, when the Associated Press reported the team’s actual cash spending on their 2026 roster is 12th in MLB - this with the third-most revenue in the sport. BAD.
The Red Sox won, so there were no “Sell the team” chants on Wednesday at Fenway. But if they keep losing, and the John Henry Clown nose tees are a nightly sight, and the chants get louder…At that point, maybe the Boston Globe will mention it?
As for the game, the Red Sox are 1-0 when MutStack is in the building. Sonny Gray was excellent. I didn’t want to support Henry at the concession stands, but with all those empty seats, there were no lines for anything. If you wanted to pay $20 for a 16-oz alcoholic seltzer, there was no wait. Same for bathrooms. Weekday-day games are kind of great if you can make it work.
And if the team is good and you believe in ownership, you’re more likely to make the effort to get there. I’d say the empty seats and “Sell the team” chants are a sign that the die-hard fanbase has questions about both.
On your weekly MutStack Notes…
⚾ Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast is much more fun to record when the Red Sox win. They won two in a row this week, and we laughed more in the first three minutes than we did on the show we recorded on Easter Sunday. Watch on YouTube and subscribe there - then go subscribe and listen wherever you get your podcasts.
🎙️ Over the last few weeks, I have written about the financial issues of 98.5 The Sports Hub and their parent company, Beasley Media. I had wondered if those issues might end up costing them a signature host. But in a MutStack Exclusive, I’m told that Marc Bertrand has signed a new, long-term contract to stay with the station. He had reportedly been working without that deal for a few months. Zolak and Bertrand continue to dominate in the ratings, and keeping Bertrand is a big deal for the Hub - especially as they start to look for what will be next in afternoon drive after Felger and Mazz. I don’t get the sense that WEEI had the budget to jump in and steal Beetle away. Nor do I think he’s dumb enough to make that leap. Good move for both him and The Hub.
🏇🏻 As Dave mentioned, Go Go Grey’s Silver Syndicate gets back on the track Friday afternoon.
Silver Syndicate is the 8/5 favorite and has a big pace advantage early. He ran one of the fastest Timeform US races all year for this distance and age group on debut. Then last time, he went fast against a good group and faded for third. Now he’s had a break and catches a field he could wire - I’m guessing that will be the plan? His half-brother Book Em’ was 2 for 2 at a mile, so this distance should be no issue. Also worth noting that trainer Ron Moquett has been hot - hitting at almost 20% over the last 30 days.
The biggest contenders look like #6 Feral cutting back from a mile, #5 Centerline going first for Super Trainer™️Brad Cox, and #2 Vintage Cowboy, who goes second time for Steve Asmussen. Has big chance on paper to break through here. I’ll plan to go live on X.com at 4:30 for a Silver Syndicate pregame. Safe trip for the speedster!
🏀 Dan Hurley is very superstitious…do you think he blames me for the loss?
🏈 If you told me some of the local Patriots media might be harsher in their coverage of Vrabel going forward, if they believe he was spoon-feeding Russini news and notes this past season, I would probably believe that.
📝 Some assorted notes for the Final Four trip…Dave is 100% locked into the Red Sox, watching them on his phone before the National Title game and constantly checking the scores… I pulled an all-time good-guy move for Jeff D. Lowe during the trip, and I wonder if he’ll mention it at some point…Jeff gfted me an amazing UConn pullover, so if he doesn’t, that’s okay…Tate takes his job covering Rico very seriously…Tate covering Meek covering Rico in Las Vegas will 100% be worth watching…Crowds at Barstool Live were awesome…
📺 They can promote it 5 million more times this weekend, but Rich Eisen hosting SportsCenter on Sunday night makes me 0% more likely to watch.
🏇🏻 “In my view, CAW is not a problem to be solved or something that needs to be severely restricted or limited,” said Scott Chaney, executive director of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB). “It’s a reality in racing that you deal with by trying to figure out what is the best long-term approach for the health of horse racing.”
A million middle finger emojis. I don’t have the space to fully address these idiotic comments here today, so I’ll address them in tomorrow’s Barstool Blog horse racing post.
That feels like enough Stack for this week.
Enjoy the Masters this weekend. Good luck with all your bets. And thanks for reading.