Knicks fire Thibodeau. Should that concern Cora?
Ohtani and AI. Rebrand for Magic
Good morning, all!
The New York Knicks came within two games of advancing to the NBA Finals, before losing Game 6 of the NBAECF to the Indiana Pacers on Saturday. It was the Knicks first trip to the conference finals in 25 years. That was not enough to save Tom Thibodeau’s job as head coach. The Knicks fired him on Tuesday, ending his mostly successful five-year reign that included four playoff appearances.
Using his bench sparingly and going full pedal to the metal with his starters probably cost Thibodeau his job. Expect to read and hear more of this line, which emerged throughout the playoffs.
So why should this concern Red Sox manager Alex Cora? Thibodeau still had two years to go on his latest contract. The Knicks owe him $30M. That’s not exactly chump change.
Last July, the Red Sox handed Cora a three-year contract extension worth a reported $27M. It used to be, if a team was on the hook for big money owed to a coach or manager, that was job security for said coach or manager. Teams do not like to give coaches huge bucks for jobs they no longer perform, while paying someone else to do the same job. If the Knicks and their deep pockets can shell out mucho dollars to pay a coach no longer working for them, while hiring another, why can’t the Red Sox and their deep pockets do the same?
The Red Sox are stumbling under .500, have not won two straight games since April, are horrible in one-run games, and entering Tuesday night’s game against the Angels were 11 down in the loss column to the first place Yankees.
Bottom line is Cora may have financial security like Thibodeau, but in today’s day and age that does not mean job security comes with it. In other words, do not think Cora is not aware of Thibodeau’s contract status.
Ohtani did not say that
This past weekend two of MLB’s legacy franchises, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees played a three-game series in LA. It was a rematch of last season’s World Series, which the Dodgers won handily, three games to two. Who would ever believe artificial intelligence would be at the intersection of this matchup?
Over the weekend, the Dodgers won the first two games of the set, knocking around Yankees ace Max Fried in the first game and decimating New York, 18-2, in the second. The Bombers bounced back to win the third game, 7-3. So what does AI have to do with this?
There is a video making the rounds on You Tube of Ohtani, speaking in English at a post game news conference, following the Yankees win. Ohtani does not speak English to the media and he would never utter the words that this video shows. You need to watch this to once more be reminded we live in dangerous times.
On the surface, some might consider the video humorous. I love a good laugh, but there is nothing funny about this video, even though the entity running this YT channel calls it DangerousAI.
At least the channel has the right name because this type of AI is dangerous. Sadly, more of these videos are out there and they are not just fabricated comments made to look real from a baseball player.
Many areas of our world are hanging in the balance and all it takes is an AI video of a world leader ostensibly saying the wrong thing, even thought it was never said, that could trigger a disaster.
My intent is not to give this YT channel anymore publicity but to serve as a reminder what is at stake now that AI has advanced beyond the experimental stage. Some of AI is good. Some of it is bad. This video was bad. Shohei Ohtani did not say this and it’s scary to think it is made to look as if he did.
Here are some other DAN ON SPORTS top stories for Wednesday, June 4, 2025:
Stanley Cup finals start tonight
Hurricanes promise Stanley Cup pursuit to continue
New location for Big East Conference headquarters
Rebrand for Orlando Magic
UConn MBB loses important staffer to Princeton
Vikings legend Jim Marshall dies
Yankees lose closer Weaver for weeks
Homa fails to qualify for U.S. Open. Carried his own bag
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DAN