Pro football, and Tom Brady, return this weekend, and you can be there... for lots of $$$
Thinking out loud … while wondering if the universe is made up of protons, electrons, and neutrons, where do the morons fit in?
∎ The all-powerful, great, and wonderful National Football League made its triumphant return this week. But did it ever really go away?
∎ X Post of the Week (formerly Tweet of the Week) from @JoePompliano: “This is a crazy stat ... The NFL will bring in $20 billion in revenue this year, more than the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1 combined.”
∎ The Patriots' Jack Jones. One fortunate dude. Why do I get the impression we’ll hear from him again?
∎ Tom Brady Week hasn’t had quite the pomp and circumstance I thought it might have. At least from a media perspective. I figured there’d be more drooling.
More: Ready for football season? Here are 3 bold predictions for the 2023 Patriots
∎ Brady beats Manning, again. The average ticket price at midweek for Pats-Eagles was $734, per Vivid Seats. That’s 698% higher than Peyton Manning’s "retirement" ceremony game six years ago. That ticket price is also the most expensive single-game ticket for any team, in any game, this regular season. Enjoy being back on top while you can.
∎ Not for nuthin’, but the average ticket cost for a family of four at an NFL game this year? $646.88. The Patriots rank as the sixth-most expensive ticket for a family of four at $837.85. Number one is Vegas, at $1,381.96. Sin City, indeed.
∎ BetMassachusetts.com sent a note this week on Bill Belichick’s coaching record in September. Ninth best (.632) among the coaches with at least three years of experience. Does that make you feel any better about Sunday?
∎ Personally, I’m feeling better if it were a 1 p.m. kickoff — 75% of all NFL teams who kick off at home, at 1 p.m., win those games. The Patriots rank first in 1 p.m. kickoff home wins. But this one is at 4:25.
∎ Rhody football stayed ranked in the FCS top 25 this week (at No. 22) despite its loss at FBS-member Georgia State in last week’s opener. That sez something, doesn’t it?
∎ Bryant opened on the road at Pac-12 wannabe UNLV and lost, 44-14. The Bulldogs host Long Island in their home opener on Saturday night at 6 and will face Brown in Smithfield next week.
∎ Boston College faces national FCS No. 5 Holy Cross after its NIU disaster. Don’t count out the Crusaders’ chances of piling on the misery at Chestnut Hill in this one … even if the Eagles are a 16.5-point home favorite.
∎ Maybe you don’t care for Coach Prime, or the way Deion Sanders does his thing as a coach these days. Following Colorado’s upset of TCU last week, his son Shedeur’s NIL valuation (he’s the starting QB who threw for a school record 510 yards) went up to $3.8 million, which is more than Joe Burrow’s rookie salary with the Cincinnati Bengals.
∎ You could have attended every Colorado game last season (when it was were 1-11) for $222. The price for this weekend’s game with Nebraska, alone, is $476. Show Coach Prime (and Shedeur) the money.
∎ Think back to 2011, when Boston College, Pittsburgh and Syracuse decided to abandon their eastern brethren for the riches of Tobacco Road. It was all about football then — and it led us to where we are today.
In 2023, it’s not just about football, although that’s still a major part of the “game” in college athletics. It’s really about survival, and as we’ve previously opined, survival is incumbent upon hooking up the cash dealers (the TV networks) with their regular customers (the college presidents) so they can score their seasonal “fix.”
Syracuse and Pittsburgh are shadows of their once-proud basketball programs. They miss the Big East more than the Big East misses them — in recruiting and in branding. Football? It’s a business they’ve largely been lagging behind with their southern partners.
Boston College? If any school, anywhere in this country, was in it for just the money, it’s Boston College. How it left the Big East 18 years ago was devious and distasteful. But just business. BC hasn't had a better football record than 7-6 since 2010. One top 25 ranking in the last 15 years. Last weekend, the Eagles lost to Northern Illinois, a bottom-feeder in the Mid-American Conference, at home.
What goes around, comes around. In hoops, ONE winning record in the last 12 seasons, and only five since they left the Big East.
Today, school administrators sacrifice all sensibilities and send women’s soccer and tennis across the country to play so they can keep the football dollars rolling in. Or, send them halfway across the country to play at neutral sites (like in Dallas?) for some conference games so the travel “isn’t too difficult” for the student-athletes.
In a sudden fit of sanity, the American Athletic Conference said no thanks last week to Washington State and Oregon State — left behind in the implosion of the Pac-12. The scheduling sensibilities and travel just didn’t make sense, even for a league as far-flung as they already are. Imagine that. Sanity actually taking over in college athletics, over business. Amazing.
Instead, the AAC is hunting in a different direction, hoping to add Army into the mix for football. You can debate the business side of this move, but in terms of sensibility, and regionalism, it’s genius.
∎ My buddy “Big E” sez the trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was.
∎ URI announced its Atlantic-10 hoop schedule, and the Rams have seven league games on national TV. Conference play begins Jan. 3 at the Ryan Center against St. Joseph’s. Strange, but three of the first five are on the road — as are three of the last five on the road.
∎ Stunned to learn the news this week that Brown assistant basketball coach and former URI star Tyson Wheeler's daughter Tiara died from a recent accident. Thinking of you and your family, Tyson.
∎ Will McNair’s sudden departure from Providence is unfortunate in many ways. He played very well against UConn two years ago in the NCAA Tournament for New Mexico State.
He may not be eligible right away wherever he goes. But the transfer portal has changed the way college sports have been, and will be, viewed for the foreseeable future.
Best guess here: Rafael Castro had a great trip in Spain by all accounts and may have earned a shot at more playing time. And another player entered the picture in 6-foot-10 freshman Eli DeLaurier. Still, PC is presently thin up front up against some of the beefier teams in the Big East.
So, better run fast, and hope those 3s fall — a lot.
∎ Former Friar and Providence’s own David Duke Jr. has a new, one-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. Which means he could also cause plenty of extra agita when the Celtics play the Sixers this season, am I right?
∎ PC women’s soccer was nationally ranked last week at No. 22 (Top Drawer) and No. 25 (College Soccer News). Brown’s women are ranked 23rd.
∎ I didn’t consider myself a "‘"Parrothead" like so many Jimmy Buffett fans do, even though his music was highly enjoyable. But, I certainly felt the loss in his passing last week at age 76. Perhaps that’s because of a personal affinity for his favorite spot, Key West, Florida, where they held a parade to honor him.
Amazing that his last public gig was in Portsmouth in July, and fitting he joined a fellow band member for that impromptu performance at Sunset Cove as detailed by Mark Patinkin. Sail on, Jimmy. Your words and music have meant so much to so many and likely always will.
∎“Dream Weaver” and “Love is Alive” singer-songwriter Gary Wright also died last week at 80, after battling Parkinson’s Disease. Some days, these time passages are a bit much to comprehend, aren’t they?
∎ Are the Red Sox still playing? Sure, they’ll make things interesting over these final few weeks, but their flaws are major. Their management isn’t.
Just a guess, but Chaim Bloom will be the scapegoat from ownership’s point of view when this year is finally said and done, not Alex Cora. That is, if the owners care. They won’t fire themselves, even if they could. And they should.
∎Speaking of mismanagement, I couldn’t go back to McCoy Stadium last week for the fireworks finale or to run the bases one last time before the wrecking ball takes it away. To me, it would have been like viewing the body of a loved one at a wake. I’d rather remember them standing.
Interested in having your questions on Rhode Island sports (and yes, that includes the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins, and Celtics) answered in a somewhat timely fashion? Think out loud and send your questions, comments, and local stories to jrbroadcaster@gmail.com. We’ll share mailbag comments/Facebook posts/threads right here! Join me on Twitter/X, @JRbroadcaster…on Facebook, www.facebook.com/john.rooke, and on Instagram and Threads @JRbroadcaster.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: John Rooke's takes on the NFL, Patriots, URI, Providence and Red Sox
