Friday Four-Pack 5.22.26
John Henry doesn't get it. Boston media stars on-air drama. CAWs hammer the Preakness. Thoughts from Chicago. Notes!
Note from MutStack Owner, Dave Portnoy:
No Note from Dave this week. But the NTRA will be happy with his success in horse racing tournaments these last few months. I’ll explain tomorrow in my weekly racing blog on the Barstool Blog.
I spent most of last week in Chicago, playing a small role as referee on Season 5 of Surviving Barstool.
Three non-spoilers from six days in Windy City.
I’ve spent my whole career doing what, 99% live content, so this was a completely different animal. Surviving Barstool is a big show, and it was wild to watch an entire reality TV production unfold before my eyes over five days. In radio, it’s you and a producer. Maybe a co-host. Maybe a second producer. The audience via calls or texts. A guest. I don’t know what I was expecting, but seeing this come together was eye-opening. Viewing the finished product this summer will be something else, given all the work that goes into it. The whole crew was awesome to work with - very talented people. Me? Famously not talented. But lucky to be involved.
Chicago. These were long days, so there was no real sightseeing, but I came away a huge fan of the city. The Fulton Market District was extremely walkable. I was trying to come up with a Boston comp and had a hard time. The great weather helped, for sure. The pizza above is from Pizza Lobo (7.9 pizza,10.0 atmosphere). I’ll admit there was a slight tinge of regret about never giving city living a real chance…Then I thought about a gross, slushy day in February, and that regret was gone.
Andy Mayo would disagree, but Jeff D. Lowe is really good at what he does. I’ve now watched him work in person on both a ‘Dozen’ Live Final and this, and in both settings, he makes very difficult things look very easy. Jeff mentioned he needed a break from me after these six days, and the feeling is mutual, but I appreciate him bringing me along this week. Sorry, Mayo, he’s very talented.
Lots more to say, but again, no spoilers. Based on what I saw for six days, people are going to love this season.
Meanwhile, John Henry still doesn’t get it. We have REAL anger between two Boston media members. The CAWs pounded the Preakness winner. And radio-heavy notes.
All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #173
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On John Henry just not getting it…
“We work every day on behalf of fans. Fans demand excellence from us on the field, and yet only one out of 30 clubs ends the season happy, with deliriously happy fans. When I arrived to live and work in Boston 25 years ago, I was told if you win the World Series in Boston, you’ll never have to buy another drink in this town. It doesn’t actually work that way. We won the Premier League again in Liverpool last year, but the next season, you leave all that behind, thankfully, and begin a new quest.
Like Fenway Park, that never gets old.”
He just doesn’t get it.
These were the words from Sox owner John Henry on Wednesday night, part of an acceptance speech for the Sports Business Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
It’s been a tough year for Henry. “Sell the team” chants have been common at Fenway, thanks in large part to My Boss Dave.
Henry had to fire his manager. His team is five games under .500. Now, once again, he’s showing he clearly doesn’t get it when it comes to Boston fans.
It’s been almost 2300 days since Henry met with the Boston media. That’s been through losing seasons, firing Cora, trading star players, losing star players…nothing direct from the owner. No response to being in the bottom third of the league when it comes to % of revenue spent on the roster. No explanation why he wants to go to the Tampa Bay Rays Northeast. NOTHING.
Meanwhile, when he made a big decision on Liverpool soccer, he issued a three-minute video apologizing to them. Shit like that makes it clear he’s much more invested in that team than he is the Red Sox…well, that and the lack of spending.
When Henry and Co. won in 2004, you could sense the commitment to winning at all costs. But that’s long gone, replaced by a commitment to win, but only at a cost that still makes fiscal sense to Henry. That sucks.
And that’s a big reason why he’s not getting that free drink these days. Not because the team lost to the Yankees last year, but because of the small-market direction of the club the last six seasons, and his hiding in the shadows. Where is the video for Red Sox fans?
To his credit, Henry has been around Fenway more than ever this spring. Maybe if he talked to some of his paying customers, he’d be more dialed into the reality of Red Sox Nation in 2026.
On some real Boston media beef…
Thanks for the shoutout, Beetle. And I sure will.
Over the course of a few days, we got some real-life anger between 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Marc “The Beetle” Bertrand and Pats reporter Greg Bedard.
Full credit to Boston Radio Watch for clipping this, as I spent the week in Chicago. And I saw a follow-up post from him, hoping I buried these guys today. Maybe I’m the problem because I loved every minute of it.
To try to summarize from the beginning:
Beetle and Bedard worked together on the Pats' postgame radio show.
Beetle got wind that Bill Belichick was mocking Bedard in front of others, saying that Greg had begged for a scouting job with the Patriots.
Beetle told Greg this was going on, but under the guise that Greg would not tell anyone - he wanted his co-host to be aware this was happening.
Ten minutes after Beetle told him this, Greg called Scott Zolak, who worked with Bill every week on the team’s TV show.
Sounds like that caused friction between the two guys who work together every day, Zo and Beetle.
When confronted, Greg showed no remorse for discussing something he had sworn he would not discuss with anyone else.
Based on Beetle’s take, he feels like Greg has taken multiple petty shots at him on his podcast, all stemming from an issue where Greg still shows no remorse and does not seem to get that he broke the confidence of someone trying to help him.
All this led Beetle to tell the now-viral story on Tuesday.
Got all of that?
To his credit, Bedard went on with Zo and Beetle on Thursday, explaining that he had actually written a letter to Belichick looking for a job with the team. Greg said he had been out of work and was looking for anything at the time.
There’s real anger here, especially coming from Bertrand. I guess that’s why I liked the few segments on this - more than another 20 minutes on AJ Brown coming to the Pats - this felt very real. You don’t get a lot of that in radio anymore. Is it, as Dale Arnold might have famously said, “Navel gazing???” Sure, but I was into it. Gaze away!
Plenty of reaction online to this, most of it critical of Bertrand. I don’t get it. Guy tried to do Greg a solid, Greg burned him badly with his co-worker, and doesn’t seem to get that all these years later. “It’s simple; you’re not a person of your word. Therefore, I’m not friends with you,” Beetle came back to say after the break.
Listening back a second time Friday morning, it’s clear Bedard went on the show not to apologize, but to explain that he didn’t ask for a specific job, but any job, from Belichick. I get doing whatever for your family, but it’s a little nuts from Greg. Dude might just be ‘off,’ since he still doesn’t get why Bertrand is mad at him, and the apologies he made seemed empty on Thursday.
It’s worth noting here that Greg went on his own podcast yesterday and made another Bill claim, where he says Belichick told him his work covering the Pats for the Globe was so good he thought Greg had a mole in the building. 🙄🙄🙄
Bizarre stuff. Greg did not get much support for this story from fans on Friday. Yes, kinda a dick move from Belichick, mocking Greg for this in front of other people. Maybe you could say the same about Beetle saying anything to Greg about this.
Media guys don’t like it, but in 2026, it’s usually all kept off the record. This one was wide open for the world to see.
Feel free to take a side in the comments below.
On the CAWs hammering the Preakness winner…
The Preakness was a good result for me. I liked the winner, #10 Napoleon Solo, and used him with #12 Incedibolt in two-day bets, exactas, etc. I also used him as my DK Horse “King of the Track” play, and wrote about it on the Barstool blog and talked about it last week on Picks Central. Once in a while, we get one right.
But you know who else had him? The Computer Assisted Wagering groups.
As they were loading the horses on Saturday, Solo was a juicy 10-1. Once they broke the gate, his price had been knocked down 7-1. The CAWs saw he was an overlay and smashed him in the win pool late. This is not uncommon - one of their big advantages is using the odds as part of their betting.
Credit to Twinspires’ Ed DeRosa for this chart above. It shows JUST the last two betting cycles of the Preakness; think the last 60 seconds of betting. From this chart, you can see that over 30% of the late (CAW) money came in on Solo. His odds based on just this money were 8/5. Again, this is not an accident. This is huge CAW action in one of the most-wagered-on races of the year.
You get these types of results when you let the CAWs bet until the last second. They would have had to bet him earlier, or not bet him at all, if you shut them off at 2 minutes to post, as NYRA does. #9 Iron Honor saw the third-most late money, which ended up being one of the reasons the exacta came back at only $53.
“But wait, the winner was 10-1, why am I only getting $17.80, it should have been over $20?”
Because the CAWs are allowed to bet as much as they want and as late as they want. In this case, they bet enough to knock the Preakness winner to 7-1 from 10-1 in the final few seconds. Even when you win, you feel like you lost because the odds are lower than they were when the race started.
Racing will continue to lose customers as long as they let the CAWs have free rein over the betting pools.
On your weekly MutStack Notes…
⚾ The Red Sox swept the Royals this week. HogDale and Ed Hand (from Beyond the Monster fame) reacted on Episode 34 of Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast. Great stuff from the guys, correctly pointing out that, of course, the Red Sox swept the Royals, since Craig Breslow built a team that would really contend in the AL Central. Plus, they glaze the hell out of Nick Sogard. Watch and subscribe on YouTube, and then go listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
🎙️ It’s rare I give WEEI credit for anything, but I like bringing on Zach Gelb for part-time weekend shifts. I’ve listened to Zach in various roles on CBS Radio and think he does a good job as a solo host. He also gets good guests and gets something out of them - booking Mo Vaughn created more aggregation and online ‘buzz’ than anything WEEI has done since Fitzy vs. Part Time Teddy. Boston has a hard time accepting outsiders, so it would have been a tough sell, but he’s better than Rich Shertenlieb by a wide margin. And I bet Zach would have been willing to shit on 98.5 The Sports Hub, something WEEI’s new afternoon show is never going to do.
🎙️ Speaking of Rich, here is a clip of him completely butchering Wilyer Abreu’s first name. No shot he has not watched a game this year. How can Ken just sit there and not correct him? Very fake shit, here.
🎙️Rich opened his show on Thursday by reading a written script and playing Red Sox highlights from the night before. In Boston. In 2026. WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING????????????????????????????????
🎙️I’m told that 98.5 The Sports Hub’s parent company, Beasley Media, has opted out of getting weekly ratings going forward. They’ll get the end-of-quarter numbers, but due to the cost of subscribing, they’re out on the weeklies. When you’re #1 every quarter with Men25-54, what’s the point, I guess. WEEI still has access to them, so if Rich wants to brag about a good weekly to the Boston Globe, he’ll be able to. But you’ll know where that info is coming from when you see it print.
🎙️ I don’t get the sense that The Greg Hill Show will be bragging about its own weekly numbers anytime soon, as one good source told that me those have been trending down this spring. To be fair, I have not had a full look. That show carries the station, and they need it to do not just okay, but good.
🏈 I saw zero issue with it, but Toucher and Hardy were critical of the Pardon My Take guys for not asking Bill Belichick about his girlfriend on their show this week. The subject did kind of come up on Belichick’s podcast with Sean Hannity, where Hannity said he hoped Belichick would sue CBS over how the non-famous interview that ended up including Jordon Hudson went. Belichick said he has asked for a full transcript multiple times, and called the interview “done very deceptively.” If Pablo Torre took a break from outing Oz The Mentalist and had Bill on, I would get him asking about Hudson. The PMT crew had a good laugh at the RADIO WARZ feel to all of it.
🏇🏻 On Thursday, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission gave DraftKings the green light to launch DraftKings Racing as part of a bigger DraftKings app update. This will replace DK Horse for users in the Bay State, and it will be a great thing for horseplayers. Much more on this, maybe as soon as next week.
⚾ Seems very, very dumb that the Red Sox are one of four teams not scheduled to play on a holiday, Memorial Day Monday.
🛒 At the age of 46, I made my first Uber Eats order this week. It’s info like that that shows why we’re almost at 7500 subscribers. I mean, where else are you getting that info heading into the three-day weekend???
And with that, it feels like plenty of Stack for this week.
Back tomorrow for the weekly Barstool Horse Racing Blog. Good luck with all your bets this Memorial Day Weekend. And thanks for reading.
Memorial Day weekend and Mut's first Uber Eats order being placed at the age of 46. Summer 2026 has officially arrived.