Thinking out loud … while wondering whatever happened to Nelson de la Rosa.
— The U.S. Olympic Committee’s decision to select Boston as the potential host city for the 2024 Olympic Games is a stunner. I’m speechless. OK, not really. But it doesn’t mean the Olympic Games are coming here. It means there’s a chance they do. Boston has to beat out Paris, Berlin, Rome, Istanbul, Melbourne and perhaps South Africa, too — and Paris would be celebrating the 100th anniversary of its previous role as host (1924). Frankly, that’s tough competition. But in beating out Washington, San Francisco and two-time Olympic host city Los Angeles for the U.S. candidate bid, well, that’s still wicked pissah.
— This will be debated ad nauseam over the next few weeks, months and years — the International Olympic Committee won’t make the call on the host city until September of 2017 — but if the U.S. is expecting real New Englanders to embrace this bid? To get behind it? To root for it? To show national pride? To spend their tax dollars? To willingly put up with construction congestion and traffic snarls? Well, the latter already is a way of life around here. Whatevah.
— After watching a story on the local news this past week, I cannot imagine, under any set of circumstances, why any potential new owner(s) of the Pawtucket Red Sox would consider moving the team from Pawtucket and McCoy Stadium. This would be devastating news for Pawtucket, and for Rhode Island. Even if the stadium lease can be voided (reportedly it was renewed to 2021), why would a new ownership group do that?
— Part of the attractiveness of a place like McCoy — and many other minor league ballparks — comes from the “old school” feel the stadium gives you and gives to the sport — even after the wildly successful renovations to the old stadium back in 1999. The prices remain affordable for those who can’t (or won’t) spend the big bucks on a trip to Fenway. The team is ultra-competitive, the players often make the short trip up I-95 to help the big club. These factors make the relationship between the big league Sox and the minor league Sox one of the most unique in all of sport — and, of course, in all of baseball.
— If the new owners are from the Boston Red Sox ownership group — reported to be the case — what more do they need here? To be closer to Fenway? More money? Higher ticket prices? New fan base? Total control and world domination? It’s already a “model franchise,” considered one of the best in the country. Where would a new stadium be located — and would the community support the team like Pawtucket has done through thick and thin since 1977, when the late Ben Mondor purchased a dirty piece of coal and transformed it into an absolute diamond gem of an organization?
— Undoubtedly, business is business. For all of the goodwill the Pawsox have put forth in the community, behind-the-scenes guys like team president Mike Tamburro and GM Lou Schweichheimer don’t miss a beat. They’re businessmen, too. Madeleine Mondor, Ben’s widow, will do what’s in her best interest as well — but expect whatever that may be to also take care of Mike and Lou, too.
— One quick word of advice for the new owners, be they the Boston Red Sox or not: Don’t mess with loyalty. You should know all about loyalty, from the fans who continue to flock to Fenway despite outrageous prices, to the outliers residing within Red Sox Nation supporting your farm teams and entire system. Pawtucket and the State of Rhode Island have poured millions into the local economy and reshaped a team and a stadium for the benefit of your organization. If it ain’t really broke — and it ain’t — don’t try to fix it. Stupid is as stupid does.
— The Baseball Hall of Fame selections this year were all no-brainers. As easy a year for the voters as I can recall in a while. Pedro Martinez is probably an HOFer even if he had never helped the Red Sox snap the curse in ’04, because his talent was special. He had old-school numbers (especially in ERA) in the new-school era, and brought his wicked cut fastball into our lexicon.
— As to the future, not yet on Mike Piazza? I’ve never really understood why some might believe he’s not good enough NOW, but he’ll be good enough in another year or two? And don’t look now, but the more time we put between the past and the present when it comes to alleged (or not) PED use, well … Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are coming, kids. Book it.
— Jan. 7, 2015, the official date of Providence baseball’s sign-off. Not May 30, 1999, when Florida State eliminated PC from the NCAA playoffs, 14-3, in a Super Regional, sending Friar baseball into oblivion after 76 seasons, but this past Wednesday, when the final player link to the program, infielder John McDonald, retired from the major leagues. McDonald won a World Series ring with the Red Sox in 2013 and was one of seven former Friars to reach the big leagues before the program was put out to pasture.
— I’m out on an island on this, but I’m actually glad the Patriots drew the Baltimore Ravens this weekend. It’s the toughest matchup they could have had, but considering the way the Pats stumbled to the finish line somewhat disinterested, the Ravens should do plenty to grab their attention. Baltimore’s 2-1 postseason record in Foxboro — with the “1” largely due to a botched field goal in 2011 — might be just the ticket to push the Patriots through.
— I know, I know, Tom Brady says the previous games mean nothing going into this one. What else would you expect him to say? That the Ravens can come in with a huge boost in confidence will certainly play a factor. And if the New England offense can’t find a way to exploit Baltimore’s injury-depleted secondary, the Ravens can go out with more than just confidence — just sayin’.
— But … no Gronk, no Revis Island the last time the Patriots played the Ravens in the playoffs. ‘Nuff said.
— Very excited to host and debut “This Week in the Big East,” a weekly radio program focusing on the play in one of, if not THE, top basketball conferences in the country. The Providence Journal’s Kevin McNamara, who has covered the league for 25 years and written a book on Big East basketball, will join me each week as we visit with the newsmakers around the league, talk to the coaches and players and go over the big stories, trends and traditions that make the Big East what it is again today. One. Tough. Conference.
— “This Week in the Big East” will be heard nationally on Westwood One Radio and also on a podcast posted weekly on www.bigeast.com. Debut show this week included commissioner Val Ackerman, Villanova’s Jay Wright and former Providence and Xavier coach Pete Gillen, now with CBS Sports Network. A new show on Thursdays each week, right through the Big East Tournament in March — and only A-listers allowed, of course. Kevin Mac’s clout is tough to beat. As the saying goes, check your local listings for times and stations, or just hit up the website.
— Umm, seven Big East teams now in the top 37 of the RPI? And the lowest-rated team of them all, DePaul at 174, is in first place at 3-0 in league play? Down is up, and losers are winners — for now.
— No surprise this past week that Chris Holtmann was named permanent coach at Butler, removing the “interim” tag and ultimately replacing Brandon Miller. The start to this season the Bulldogs have had made it an easier decision for athletic director Barry Collier. Miller stepped away on a personal/medical leave, and the best move he might have made in his year as head coach (replacing now-Celtics coach Brad Stevens) was to add Holtmann to his staff. Holtmann had served as head coach at Gardner-Webb in the Big South for three seasons, where he was named Coach of the Year in 2012-13 for leading his team to a 21-13 record.
— Thirty-six million dollars in improvements over the past year have been put into one of the most iconic basketball facilities in America — Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler. New seating, new offices and vast improvements to the infrastructure of the 87-year-old building are obvious, but it still retains much of the old-world charm you notice from the movie “Hoosiers,” where the film’s Indiana state championship game scenes were shot. Hinkle Fieldhouse was awarded protected status in the ’80s, named as a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1986.
— Not for nuthin’, but when tiny Milan High School defeated Muncie Central for the Indiana state title in 1954 — the backdrop for “Hoosiers” — the building wasn’t known as Hinkle Fieldhouse. It was still Butler Fieldhouse then, and re-named for former coach Tony Hinkle in 1966. Hinkle was head coach for 41 seasons, coached some of the players from that Milan team at Butler, and was also responsible for the creation of the orange-colored basketball you see in play today. True story.
— My buddy Statbeast sez Mrs. Statbeast was recently reading the classifieds when she burst out laughing. “There’s a classified ad in here where a guy is offering to swap his wife for a season ticket to Gillette Stadium,” she said. “Would you trade me for a season ticket?” Statbeast said, without missing a beat, “Absolutely not. The season’s almost over.”
— Former Friars coach Pete Gillen was in Indianapolis calling the Providence-Butler game for CBS Sports Network, and he still slings his one-line Brooklyn-tinged barbs as fast as he can think them up. PC graduate assistant God Shammgod was knocking down 3-pointers after a practice at Hinkle, giving some in the travel party a reason to shake their heads in bewilderment, thinking back to what might have been in 1997. Not Pete. “If he’d have done that back then,” Gillen said, referring to the Elite Eight run in ’97 and OT loss to Arizona, “we might have made the Final Four, and I’d still be coaching today!”
— Speaking of Shammgod, he’s been working with the young Friars guards and forwards, primarily on moves to the basket and working on being “tougher” when possessing the ball. Gillen believes, as does Ed Cooley, that Shamm will make someone an excellent coach someday soon. Don’t be surprised if the opportunity presents itself and he joins the Friars staff full-time, in the event one of Cooley’s assistants moves into a head coaching position soon.
— Life on the road is tough. It’s especially tough for a team in the Big East trying to grow up in key spots, like the Friars are growing. There will be nights when this team will glide through effortlessly and display the talent we all know they have with absolute authority. And there will be nights when several of the younger players will look like lost little children on the court, trying to find mommy.
— Case in point: In Milwaukee last Saturday against Marquette. No reason in the world not to end the “streak” of horrors in the Bradley Center, where PC had never previously won a game. The Golden Eagles don’t have one of their better teams this year — although that may change for next season. Still, they out-toughed and outplayed a Providence team that found a way to cavort with the ghosts of previous teams that lost in that building. It was almost as if a commandment came from above — “Thou shalt not win at Marquette.”
— Bounce-back at Butler, though, big time. Ed Cooley’s decision to put Ted Bancroft, Junior Lomomba and Paschal Chukwu on the floor for the second half of the 66-62 road win — and then play them the entire way — was EXACTLY the message that needed to be sent. Let’s see if anyone else on the team is paying attention. And Chukwu’s play could signal the start of something special.
— We’ve mentioned a few times about the 20-year anniversary of the first Big East title team, the one from 1994, and it will be great to see some of those guys again this weekend as PC honors the ’94 champs during the Georgetown game Saturday at the Dunk. “Michael, Michael Motorcycle” is expected in the house … “peanut butter and jam” might be on the menu.
— The former founder of “Hoya Paranoia” in the 1980s, John Thompson II, is finally having his day at his alma mater. Thompson is a 1964 graduate of PC, and along with former Friars Jim Hadnot, original “voice” Chris Clark and women’s star Andrea Mangum, will be honored with his name in the Dunk rafters Feb. 14 as part of the Friar Legends Forever Tradition. Why it’s taken so long to honor Thompson is really simple — he’s simply shunned the spotlight, refusing several invitations in the past to be feted by his former school. Fantastic that there’s been a change of heart — and some persuasion going on behind the scenes, no doubt.
— St. John’s super soph guard Rysheed Jordan took an indefinite leave of absence from the Red Storm last week to attend to family matters in Philadelphia after his grandmother passed away. The Johnnies then lost to Butler, and voila! Jordan rejoined his teammates. But the Johnnies are struggling with an 0-3 start in league play.
— Here’s one that has made the rounds, but ICYMI, the very first basketball “final four” was held in Evanston, Illinois, in 1939 and featured Oregon against Ohio State. The Ducks defeated the Buckeyes, 49-33, to win the championship, after a tournament that featured just eight teams taking part. Now, of course, we have 68 teams vying for the hoop crown each year. Talk about a full circle — the first NCAA football “tournament” championship will be decided this year, almost 76 years later, by — wait for it — Oregon and Ohio State.
— And Oregon probably will win it by the same score the Ducks did 76 years ago. Will 68 teams be taking part in the football playoff 76 years from now?
— Eight non-Ivy wins for Brown basketball may not sound like much, but when you consider that eight wins are one short of the school record for non-league wins for a single season set in 2001-02, it means coach Mike Martin and his staff have things headed in the right direction. T.J. Sorrentine, the former Pawtucket St. Raphael Academy star and Syracuse-killer when he played at Vermont, and New Bedford’s Dwayne Pina, who played at Boston College and coached at Rhode Island College and Bryant before joining the Brown staff two years ago, are Martin’s movers and shakers.
— Have the Rhody Rams been caught looking ahead to a showdown with VCU? URI struggled with Fordham this week, 68-65, with some shaky free throw shooting down the stretch. Hassan Martin, at 6-foot-7, has largely moved into the center spot, and while he continues to play well — among the leaders in NCAA field goal percentage — a lack of size inside for the Rams bears watching down the line. Dan Hurley is shrinking the bench with a seven-player rotation.
— The Providence Sky Chiefs keep adding local flavor, if not talent: They’ve signed former Rhody forward Orion Outerbridge to the roster. The 6-9, 220-pound Outerbridge last played for the Rams in 2012, and had been in Europe as well as the NBA D-League in Santa Cruz, California, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, before joining Providence in the ABA. Three former URI players are on the Sky Chiefs roster, including Keith Cothran and Jason Francis.
— I worked for the self-proclaimed World Wide Leader from 1999 to 2011, almost all of it on the radio side with some TV for ESPNU and ESPN Regional. The beauty of being in Bristol, Connecticut, for that time was that everyone I came into contact with was just a “regular Joe,” no one was full of press clippings or blinded by the bright lights of television. Even the “stars” were generally nice people. Stuart Scott was one of those guys. I didn’t know him well, but in the few times we interacted (usually in the radio studios) he was always pleasant, humble and courteous, and he made it a point to shake my hand, whether we were on the air or off. Every time. He may have had a schtick (Boo-yow! He actually told me it was not “boo-yah”), and he might have had some jive and a little hip-hop to his routine, but that’s all it was. Routine. He wasn’t afraid to set new standards or embrace a new audience, where few had tried or succeeded before. Stuart was at the forefront of merging entertainment with information in a new era. He also had class, and smarts, as part of his routine. His passing this week after a seven-year battle with cancer was a tough moment, certainly, for anyone who knew him, and I know he’d be humbled by the outpouring of attention focused on his career and his life. We need less boo-yow and more Stu in this biz.
— One of the enduring memories from the Red Sox’ World Series run in 2004 came from a good-luck charm kept by Pedro Martinez. Remember his “lucky midget?” Nelson de la Rosa made appearances throughout the playoffs, sometimes mysteriously appearing in the locker room after games, often to the amusement and bewilderment of Red Sox players and media alike. De la Rosa once was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s shortest-known adult, back in 1989, at 2 feet, 4 inches. He also once appeared in a film with Marlon Brando — “The Island of Dr. Moreau” — and was an avid baseball fan. Born in the Dominican Republic, like Martinez, de la Rosa passed away while visiting two of his brothers in Providence in 2006.
— Simon from Amsterdam, Netherlands, sent this Tweet on the Patriots: “Does the fact the Ravens are number 1 in defensive pass interference flags and that we have Browner worry you?” Simon, in a word, yes. I fully expect Baltimore to target Brandon Browner early and often, and he’ll have quite the battle on his hands, whether he draws TE Owen Daniels or one of the true deep threats in Steve Smith or Torrey Smith. My thought is that the Patriots will try to keep the Ravens guessing here, but size should match up best with size most of the way Saturday.
— Interested in having your questions on local Rhode Island sports (and yes, that includes the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics) answered in a somewhat timely fashion? Send ’em to me! It’s your chance to “think out loud,” so send your questions, comments and local stories to jrooke@weei.com. We’ll share mailbag comments/Facebook posts/tweets right here! Follow me on Twitter at @JRbroadcaster and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/john.rooke.
— Don’t forget to join Scott Cordischi and me on Providence’s 103.7 FM every Saturday from 7-9 a.m. Call in 401-737-1287 or text us at 37937.
