Friday Four-Pack 7.3.26
It's Opening Day at Saratoga! Jaylen Brown traded. My Boss Dave wrote a great book. MutStack Notes. Happy Birthday America!
A note from MutStack Owner Dave Portnoy:
Lovely Grey runs today in the 8th. If she wins, Mut is invited to the winners circle
👀👀👀 I’ll be there in my Go Go Greys polo, rooting as loud as anyone. Safe trips for all.
I wish I had asked this guy about his shirt on Opening Day at Saratoga, 2018. A day so important to people that they’ll make Arial Font T-shirts celebrating it.
I’m writing this from the Skidmore College box near the clubhouse seats here at Saratoga Race Course.
It is Opening Day here at The Spa (Belmont days don’t count). The weather here is perfect just after 7 AM. But it’s going to be very hot this afternoon, and there has been plenty of social media push for Saratoga to join tracks like Ellis Park, Colonial, and Monmouth and cancel racing due to the heat.
I will not pretend to track vet - if the experts decide it’s best for the horses if we don’t run today, great. I’m putting my faith in NYRA to put the animals' safety first. And if the horseman or the jockeys fight to postpone, again, I trust them. As of right now, it looks like we’re running.
For much of the week, it didn’t. Or I thought it didn’t. Or social media thought it didn’t. Or they shouldn’t. And while I’ve joked for the last few years about my anxiety (Kirk calls me an “anxious guy”), let me give you an example of how it plays out in real time.
I am not lying when I say I must have looked at today's forecast hundreds of times every day leading up to Friday. Legit, thousands of times this week. I’m talking, flipping between four or five weather sites, refreshing every few minutes, multiple times an hour, to see what the Heat Index was going to be today. Because if the Heat Index were, say, 105 or higher, there would likely be no racing. As if that wasn’t good enough, I legit reached out and asked a NYRA employee what Heat Index site they used, as if there is such a thing. I’m a lunatic.
And in these cycles of checking the fucking forecast four days out, I would find myself losing 20-30 minutes of an hour just looking at weather, social media, group texts, etc.
This is not a new thing for me. When I was doing Red Sox pre and post, same cycle when it came to rain. Are they playing? Are they not playing? What time will the rain start? How long will the delay be? Texting local weather guys. Texting Red Sox employees. Going to “special” weather sites. SMH.
And I know I can’t control the weather, dude. I know this. But it doesn’t stop me from flipping between HOURLY, DAILY, and 10-DAY on WeatherUnderground, hoping to find a forecast I eventually like. It’s borderline debilitating at times.
Travel baseball also gets this treatment, refreshing tournament websites looking for the updated schedules. And I also see this when I’m planning on doing something and the planning (lists, schedules, etc.) takes longer than the actual thing.
I wasted hours of my life checking weather reports this week. I know what Epictetus preached and Bill Belichick espoused: “Control what you can control.” I’ve written that dozens of times over the years on to-do lists, journals, etc. I just don’t do a great job executing. Obviously.
My wife has seen me in these moments, paralyzed by the unknown of something as silly as the weather. Writing about it here, it’s pretty embarrassing. And I hope that maybe by doing it, I focus less on what might happen and just deal with it.
I did not plan on writing about this today. Maybe later I’ll hate that I did. For now, I’m okay having reread a few times
And for now, I need a shower and to handicap these races for today at Saratoga. And to not look at the weather.
Meanwhile, Dave’s book is out, and it’s great. The Celtics traded Jaylen Brown. LeBron to Boston? And your weekly MutStack Notes.
All ahead in Friday Four-Pack #178.
On the Jaylen Brown Trade…
I’m on board with trading Brown this offseason. And unlike other team executives in town (looking at you, Breslow), I have complete faith in Brad Stevens to make the right moves to make this team better. Even if the initial return might seem underwhelming, I’ll be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Because they have to get better - a lot better.
Yes, I wrote this just two weeks ago. Then, last week, I wrote that, based on some trade reports, Brad Stevens was really testing our trust. After the trade of Jaylen Brown to the 76ers, I feel like I’m the last one left of Brad Island.
It’s a horrible trade, even if Paul George did outplay Brown in the playoffs (he did). There is no way you came close to maximizing the asset - saying they got 40 cents back on the dollar is being generous.
I just have to believe there is another move coming; it’s why I refuse to go crazy about this right now.
The biggest question I have this morning is simple - why now? Why did the Celtics have to take this shitty deal on July 1 rather than wait a few months? Why not wait until another team’s star becomes disgruntled? Or gets hurt. Why now?
I’ve read every story, listened to every podcast; no one seems to have a good answer for this. So Jaylen was a know-it-all. So the analytics didn’t like him. So what? Those things don’t point to a good reason for making this terrible deal now.
Was it money? Did the new owner, Bill Chisholm, force Brad to make this deal for financial reasons? If he did, he’s an idiot. And Brad should quit tomorrow. Well, maybe not tomorrow because it’s America’s 250th birthday. He should quit next week, then. Chisholm has set himself up for a TD Garden full of “Sell the team” chants here. He has to know that. I get that the money is a popular reason for this move, and maybe I’m naive, but I don’t buy it.
Deep down, I think this is about Brad knowing his team was not good enough. Knowing he did not want to lock himself into Brown for that massive extension, and seeking some roster flexibility to reset. Fine, I get it - but why did you have to make the deal now?
I still feel like we’re still missing something here.
As for Brown, he was a great Celtic who never seemed to get over being booed on Draft Night. His efforts on and off the court for Boston will be remembered for a long time. But am I allowed to say I hated his streaming this offseason? And for calling this season his favorite season ever? I hated that. And I’m sure his team didn’t love it, either.
As a Day 1 Tatum guy who has said over and over Tatum is better than Brown…I guess we’re about to find out together. This is all going to fall on him. He’s in his prime, and the Celtics should be doing everything they can to surround him with a championship-caliber supporting cast. They didn’t have it last year, and after this trade, they sure-as-shit don’t have it now.
It’s lonely, but I remain on Brad Island. But I’d sure like to see the eventual next move and have some company here.
On My Boss Dave’s New Book…
My mom’s copy of Cancel Me If You Can arrived this week, and this was her initial take. I’m guessing this is because Dave mentions Rockingham Park, Suffolk Downs, and middle school gambling all in the first three pages.
Been there, done all of that.
But Ellen is right. Sooooooooooooooooooooooo many things in common between a couple of Boston media moguls.
He launched Barstool. I founded MutStack ✅
We have both been arrested, though for very different reasons ✅
We both know the great Dr. Matt Lopresti. ✅
And on and on and on. Just so much in common, mom, very good first observation.
My copy of Cancel Me If You Can arrived later than I wanted it to on Wednesday. So I didn’t wait; I jumped into the Audible version, which, at 1.2 speed, clocked in at about 8.5 hours. By Wednesday morning’s gym session (chest and tris, no big deal), I had finished the book. The plan was to go back to the physical book once it arrived, but I couldn’t. Dave, reading his own book, laughing at what he’d (or Francis) had written, making comments that were not in the book but just off the cuff while he was reading, was too good not to finish the listening.
This still counts as reading the book, by the way, even if I didn’t actually read it.
So, if you bought the book, I’m here to let you know you also need the audiobook. I saw Tommy Smokes was reading while listening, and he probably has the right idea.
The book is great. I was selling radio and then co-hosting a 2-hour night show at a small radio station in Nashua, NH, when Dave launched Barstool. Like so many other sports fans in Massachusetts in their mid 40s, I feel like I grew up with The Stool. Those early days of the blog…Milton..1510 The Zone Show…I was hopeful Dave would give this time period a deep dive. He did not disappoint.
The Boston nostalgia stuff is excellent. I had forgotten that my friend Glenn Ordway claimed he “could not find” Dave’s phone number so he could have him on to debate the Brady son picture fallout. Or that Jason Wolfe told him the audio from those two days was lost to corrupted files or something. Sure. Wild times. I think people like me, looking for Dave’s thoughts on those early days, will love it.
The book reads (sounds) like one long Dave blog - and it covers a lot more ground than just the Boston beginnings.
Like, I didn’t know anything about the Dave/Dan/PMT drama over the years. Maybe that sounds nuts, but no clue. That Dave/PFT Commenter first meeting at the Super Bowl? Pretty wild shit. Dave and Dan stuff, too. Thank you, ESPN.
The Penn/ESPN Drama. KFC’s two-year dual life working for Barstool and an accounting firm. Glenny Balls is helping to launch DDTG. Elio talking to a reporter for a hit piece by accident. All of it is covered in the book. I loved all the Penn/ESPN stuff. And the political chapter challenges many of the tired narratives you see about Dave out there. In the end, he and my friend Kirk seem to share similar views on the extreme right and the extreme left.
Angel of Barstool story? Crazy. Dave and Gaz confronting that reporter and her very short husband in Florida (wish we had that video).
You want me to nitpick? Fine. I wanted more horse racing. There were a few mentions here and there, including in the last line of the book, but Dave is the most popular horse-racing fan/gambler/owner in the world. I could have used Dave on Saratoga, on starting Go Go Greys, and on which race he might most want to win. Maybe in the next book.
Easy read, funny read. Hits on nostalgia, and you learn some good inside shit. Full MutStack seal of approval. I’ll get you my mom’s review this weekend.
Dave told the world that if the book debuts #1 on the NYT Non-Fiction list, I get MutStack back. I think we’ll find out about that next week. Does this #1 in Amazon Baseball Biographies count? Either way, get the book. And the audiobook.
On Lebron James to the Celtics…
So, it looks like this is real? I think this is real? Sounds like it’s real.
LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul, with a map of the teams that might fit his client, from a podcast with Max Kellerman.
“Brad + Tatum” 👀👀👀
Oh baby.
There is a famous Minifan who called me about this this week, in fact. What if LeBron James joined the Celtics? Like most Celtics fans, I sports-hate LeBron. I don’t think there is another athlete I sports-hate more. Could I root for LeBron in the green-and-white?
Is there even a good comp for this? Derek Jeter joining the Red Sox?
I don’t think there’s ANY chance it happens, but once he puts on the uniform, I’d have to root for LeBron. I remember watching every game when Sheman Douglas was the point guard, so it would seem silly to bail on the team in my mid-40s.
My kids have ended up liking Lebron, for some reason. I’ve seen them watching LeBron is the GOAT YouTube and singing some sort of LeBron is the best song or brainworm, so they would be on board. They don’t know the pain he’s caused Boston.
Bron and Bronny and all that comes with it…again, not going to happen, but yes, I’d hold my nose and root for Lebron in Boston.
He’s also a part-owner of Fenway Sports Group… just sayin’.
On your weekly MutStack notes…
⚾ Yes, that is a paper bag on Ed’s head. And yes, he’s wearing Toy Story pajamas. Just another edition of Dirty Water - A Boston Sports Podcast. Did a bunch of Jaylen Brown here, too. Plus, plenty of Sox, including why Hogdale hates this team. “They have no soul. They play with no heart.” Direct quote.
Watch and subscribe on YouTube, and then listen and subscribe where you get your audio podcasts.
⚾ I think MLB got it right with the suspensions for Wilson Contreras and Cade Cavalli. Cavalli started the issue, and Contreras… well, he threw a helmet. Can’t do that. Much more on this in the podcast.
⚾ The 5-2 homestand does nothing to move me off Team Sell for this Red Sox team.
⚾ It is REALLY dumb that the Sox play at 9:38 PM ET on July 4th and Sunday, July 5th.
🎙️ The vast WEEI radio network is getting smaller by the day.
WEEI programming lost its presence in Providence, RI, this spring when Audacy sold the 103.7 FM signal that had carried its shows for decades. This past week, their Keene, NH affiliate changed ownership, and the new owners promptly flipped the format to FM Country Music.
This was not an Audacy station. This station just carried WEEI programming and Sox games and could sell local ads. But you paid Audacy a fee to do that - having worked at a local station in New Hampshire when I first started, that was the deal then, and I assume it’s the same now. The new owners apparently did not see the value in that and appeared to have cut ties rather quickly.
With the WEEI app, this won’t be an issue for most people. But it’s a sign the WEEI brand no longer carries the weight it once did around the region.
🎙️ Dave did an hour with Zolak and Bertrand on Wednesday, and it’s worth a listen
🎙️ I failed you, the loyal MutStack Subscriber, by not getting my hands on any radio rating this week. The spring book numbers are out on July 14, so that might be the week we get them. But I will keep trying before then.
🏇🏻 Saratoga is back, and that means the Saratoga Doubles Show is back. He was nice enough to ask, so I’ll be joining Elio and Turk this year, trying to hit the double every day at Saratoga. I think it releases every day at noon during the meet, and I’ll repost on X.com Daily.
🏇🏻 A reminder that races going long on the dirt at Saratoga, usually a mile and an eighth, are historically dominated by speed. This has especially been true at the beginning of the meeting. And in many cases, speed from the inside. People tend to want to bet closers at this distance, but you want to focus on the speed. The same goes for when they stretch out for a few races at a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half. Speed and the rail were a MAJOR advantage during the Belmont at Saratoga meet a few weeks ago.
🎆 The Fourth of July remains the second-best holiday of the year, second only to Thanksgiving. Happy 250th, America.
That feels like enough Stack for this week. Back tomorrow on the Barstool Blog to talk Saratoga. I like the #10 in the finale today at The Spa, if you care about such things. Go Lovely Grey!
Have a happy and healthy Fourth of July. Good luck with all your bets this weekend. And thanks for reading.