Good morning, all! It is a frigid Friday. Stay warm!
Bill Belichick not getting elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility is on the hall, no matter how much the Canton, OH-based museum tries to spin it. Meanwhile, one of the 50 voters on the committee, Vahe Gregorian of the Kansas City Star, explains why he did not vote for Belichick. I examine his reasoning in the video. By the way, a thank you to one of this newsletter’s subscriber’s, Brian Mik, for bringing this story to my attention.
Here are some other thoughts, as I yearn for a 30-degree day around here:
Two weeks before spring training and the New York Yankees held a news conference on Wednesday, to hype free agent Cody Bellinger’s return to the team. Baseball head Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone also declared that as presently constituted, the team is capable of winning the World Series. They are delusional. The Yankees could finish as low as fourth the A.L. East. Put it this way, I am old enough to remember, when the 1960-64 Yankees won five straight pennants and two World Series. Coming off a tough, seven-game World Series loss to the Cardinals in 1964, all the prognosticators were predicting a record sixth straight pennant. The Yankees fell to sixth, with their first losing season in 40 years and hit rock bottom with a last place finish the next year. I am getting somewhat the same sensation with the 2026 Yankees.
DraftKings has the Seahawks as 4.5 favorites over the Patriots in Super Bowl LX.
One thing about this Belichick story: it has given the talkshows and media something to talk about during the long wait between the conference title games and the Super Bowl.
“Let me make this perfectly clear,” to a paraphrase a former president, the WNBA players are making a huge mistake if they go on strike. And the more stories you read, the more you conclude that is the direction the players association is about to take.
Reports are Joey Votto, Anthony Rizzo and Clayton Kershaw will join Bob Costas on the NBC pregame baseball show, when MLB returns to that network in two months.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletters. As always, thank you for your support and have a great Friday!
DAN
