Friday Four-Pack 5.26.23

Petty Pete Abraham. Celtics are alive. Preakness thoughts.

It’s weird.

People keep sending me the same clip from this week’s Succession after my rough draft job-pitch to Dave Portnoy and Barstool this week on Wednesday’s “Kirk Minihane Show.”

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxTv-GqKoGxBfEOcw-N5-dLtXt85zQHczc

Saying things like “Way to go, Roam.” And “It’s okay, Mut.”

I don’t see the similarity…but it’s a good scene. Great show. Certainly appreciate the feedback from Dave and others on Twitter.

Anyway that’s in the past. We’re moving forward.

It’s a holiday weekend. The weather looks awesome. Let’s jump right into the Four-Pack.

On Petty Pete Abraham and the Boston Globe…

Many Boston media members don’t like each other.

Not breaking news, I’m aware. I’m sure it’s like that in any competitive sports media market.

But most of the time the animosity, the bitterness, the jealousy and the drama is kept behind the scenes. Well I guess in talk radio it comes out more often. And as a listener … it’s fun to listen to I get it! “Media on media crime” as the great Glenn Ordway used to call it.

But rarely do you get these guys to air that dirty laundry publicly. Especially beat writers. The guys covering teams on a daily basis. Boy do beat writers like to rip each other! Some real hate there. Real anger. This guy makes shit up. That guy is lazy. It never ends. The stories I could tell.

These media battles almost NEVER makes the pages of a daily newspaper or an online article - especially in the context of an actual sports story or column.

But there it was Thursday. In all its petty glory.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Red Sox made one major decision public on Wednesday, Alex Cora saying during his paid radio appearance that Opening Day starter Corey Kluber was going to the bullpen and Tanner Houck would stay in the rotation.

“His paid radio appearance.”

Boston Globe Red Sox reporter Pete Abraham could not help himself. Rather than just type out the four little letters W-E-E-I - Pete had to make his point.

“His paid radio appearance.”

Make no mistake, this was a calculated move from Pete. And not the first time the Globe and other media outlets have done this.

Rather than credit the actual source of the Alex Cora news (again WEEI, Gresh and Fauria Show), Pete could not help himself.

“His paid radio appearance.”

This used to annoy me when guys (and gals) would do this with the Tom Brady interview on WEEI. You’re mad because someone else got a good story or quote? You don’t like WEEI because the hosts have been meanies to you?

And that has to be the case here. The meanies thing. Pete has been a target of WEEI hosts for years. We’ve (I’ll include myself here) mocked him for all sorts of things.

Everything from the time he called a random Red Sox fan a “Grand Wizard” for saying he didn’t like David Price. To the unconfirmed rumors that he bought the same sneakers as the players on the Sox roster so he could fit in. Might not be accurate (the sneakers thing - he for sure called a fan racist) .. but if we’re being honest I (we) mocked him for it.

“His paid radio appearance.”

In this case I have to give the Globe and Pete’s editor some blame too. Someone read this and said “Sure, don’t mention WEEI. No problem.” More pettiness. I thought the Globe and WEEI were cool now? Clearly not the case.

And it’s so dumb because when Alex Cora talks to these guys on the beat he’s doing it because MLB mandates it. They make him do it. It’s a forced meeting with the media. Twice a day on gamedays. You think Cora wants to talk to Rob Bradford every day? You think Bill Belichick is pumped to get questions from Greg Bedard?

NO! He’s forced to. Again, it’s a mandated interview.

“His paid radio appearance.”

If I’m Christian Fauria I never talk to the Globe again. If I’m WEEI programming guru Mike Thomas I tell my hosts to stop referencing the Globe by name. Give them a dumb nickname or something. Until Pete or his editor change this. Which they never will.

Look at me defending WEEI. ZERO pettiness from me.

Plenty from Petty Pete.

On the Celtics …. in audio form

On the Preakness Stakes…

Some leftover thoughts from Preakness 148.

• Good for the account balance. Not as good for racing. From our Preakness Preview last Saturday.

National Treasure seems like the most likely upsetter. Just go from the rail with blinkers on and play catch me if you can. Bob Baffert has pulled this trick before. Don’t know how good he really is but he should get a great trip and if he goes gate to wire I would not be shocked. But he’s no world-beater and he’s going to be 5/2. No great value there. But a win contender. For me it’s him and Mage.

Only used two A’s in National Treasure so we were able to make a little money. And then gave some of that back because I had no faith in Blazing Sevens to bounce back for Chad Brown. Which was dumb because unlike Perform who I liked at a price, Blazing Sevens had the back numbers. And it’s Chad in the Preakness, which is now a thing.

Hopefully people used Jessica Paquette’s 17-1 shot in the first leg of the Pick 5. Or pieced together an “all As” late Pick 3 that while chalky, was posted here last week and made some money.

• But the actual result...not as good. National Treasure is trained by Bob Baffert- who up until a few years ago was the actual face of horse racing in this country after the Triple Crown runs of American Pharoah and Justify. These days he’s a guy a lot of day-to-day horseplayers believe is a cheater after Medina Spirit was DQ’d from his Derby win and subsequently dropped dead of a heart attack.

• The death of a Bob Baffert horse earlier in the Preakness card did not help matters.

Havnameltdown was looked at by chief veterinary officer Dr. Dionne Benson and others, who determined the injury to his left front leg was inoperable so the horse should be put down, according to a statement from 1/ST Racing, which owns and operates the track.

These is no evidence of foul play with breakdown, but given the scene at the Derby and Baffert’s now sordid history and reputation…the optics were bad.

• After the Derby - which was a bad week for racing - there were some pointing to the handle numbers as a sign of the game’s health. A record $412 million was bet on the Derby card this year - a number no doubt aided by more legalized sports betting in the United States and a company like DraftKings launching “DK Horse” and making it easier than ever to bet on the races.
  
  But those numbers did not continue with The Preakness. Full-card handle on the day at Pimlico was down 5%. Betting on the Preakness itself was down almost 20% - thanks in part to a tiny seven-horse field. Attendance was up slightly from last year, but still down almost 66% from the pre-pandemic 2019 Preakness. Even with a Bruno Mars concert on-track after the race.
  
  Finally TV ratings…down 5% even with the Debry winner in the field. But Mage was the only Debry horse to wheel back for the Preakness which had to have had in impact.

• If you still have some money left after the Preakness, I strongly suggest you find a way to Mohegan Sun this Saturday (May 27th) for their Alive to Five contest. The contest has carried over multiple weeks and now has a pot of $10,100 heading into the weekend. It’s an easy contest to get involved in - only $10 per entry - covers just five races.
  
  If we didn’t have multiple Little League games I’d be there myself. The five races that make up the contest will be posted later Friday. All the details can be found here.

On a minor MutStack milestone…

Sometime Thursday morning we pushed past 2,000 subscribers here. A huge thank you to everyone who has taken the time to subscribe over the last, well, almost four months. Thanks to those who have helped get the word out via social media too.

Even those who read or click and have not subscribed yet.. I see you. Thank you folks too…please freakin’ subscribe already but thank you. It’s FREEEEEEEEEEE.

And look this thing is still a work in progress.

I still want to do more audio and video. There is a podcast to think about. There’s the gambling element. The horse/handicapping side of it. Some interviews I want to do. Lot of moving parts.

But hopefully this Four-Pack is something you look forward to on Fridays. I enjoy putting it together.

Thanks.

I don’t miss a lot about doing radio everyday. But having had the chance to do a couple Memorial Day/Fourth of July shows with the better half of “Mut and Callahan” Gerry Callahan, I used to get a kick out of Gerry getting so excited about playing Toby Keith at the end of the show on days like this.

I loved it even before that when he and Dino (and eventually Kirk) would do. And Kirk would make fun of him for it.

“CURTIS WE HAVE TO CLOSE TO THE SHOW WITH TOBY KEITH…” or something along those lines. Laughing right now thinking about it.

So to Gerry and everyone else who served - a huge debt of thanks is owed.

Thanks for reading and listening.

Good weekend.