Pieces falling into place
December 18
Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy
"Anybody else think of Kevin Youkilis dodging a Joba Chamberlain fastball when you saw the video of President Bush ducking the shoes hurled by an Iraqi journalist?
Bill Parcells's paw prints are all over the Dolphins. Tuna teams are taught to hold on to the football, and the 2008 Fish have only 10 turnovers in 14 games. The league record is 14 turnovers - held by the 1990 (Parcells) Super Bowl champion Giants. Miami had 29 turnovers while winning one game last year. Now they look like they might take the division. Amazing.
Mark Teixeira and the Red Sox are a good fit. The Sox have the money and covet his skills. This is a place where baseball matters. So, what is Teixeira waiting for? Or is he being led around by the insufferable Scott Boras? This could be a test of the Sox' close relationship with Boras, but if I'm Teixeira, I'd object to having my agent use me as a chip in procuring a multiyear deal for Jason Varitek.
We need more of Cedric Maxwell on television.
Here's Richard Nixon speaking to Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office in 1972: "Never forget, the press is the enemy . . . " Was young Billy Belichick listening? Belichick after all, once caddied for Spiro Agnew, Nixon's vice president. Bad tipper, Spiro.
We love Coach Bill more than life itself, but his national image is hurting. Ed Pope, the estimable Miami Herald columnist recently described Belichick as "a truly sullen little troll." Mock the messenger if you wish, but Pope is a Miami legend who has covered every Super Bowl, and was sitting with Joe Namath at poolside when Broadway Joe guaranteed victory in Super Bowl III. Things didn't get better for Belichick's rep when he made that challenge (first-down ruling) in Oakland in the driving rain while leading by 29 with 2:33 left. "Pretty funny," wrote John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News. "So funny that even the referees laughed." Hey, you gotta coach the game for 60 minutes, right?
In late November, Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher stunned his team by parachuting onto the practice field with members of the 101st Airborne Parachute team. When asked about the stunt, Fisher did not say, "It is what it is."
In a survey of 320 NFL players, the Giants' Tom Coughlin gathered 16 percent of the vote when players were asked which current NFL coach they'd least like to play for. Belichick was second with 11 percent. Belichick also got 6 percent of the vote when players were asked which coach they would most like to play for."
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