There’s an obvious problem with the subscription business model. While most people will listen to a song they like an untold number of times, people may listen to a podcast episode once; maybe twice? And then all it does is take up space. Not exactly a good use of valuable and expensive storage space and now the geniuses at these businesses are taking notice.

Apple has quietly tightened its reporting of how many people listen to podcasts, sending shock waves through an embattled audio industry still reeling from the end of the COVID-era production bubble. The shift, Apple wrote in a blog post, was technical: The dominant podcasting platform had begun switching off automatic downloads for users who haven’t listened to five episodes of a show in the last two weeks.

But while few users noticed the shift, some of the biggest podcasts in the world saw their official listener numbers drop dramatically. Long-running shows that publish frequently were hit particularly hard. A user who listened to a show like The New York Times’ The Daily a few times, subscribed, but stopped listening would continue to count as a download indefinitely.
— Semafor, 1/14/24

I’ve commented on, what I consider, the failed subscription business model because while you pay for certain things you like, you’re also forced to pay for many more things you don’t. In this case, you may have a person you enjoy hearing from but you’re also paying for the likes of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Meghan Markle, and almost every cable news personality and it’s doubtful anything you hear makes you want to hear it over and over again.

Even podcast executives believe the changes are part of a necessary shakeout in an industry whose bubbly inflation helped create the industry’s recent boom and bust.

But privately, reactions to the change have ranged from mild annoyance to legitimate alarm. Some advertising deals were inked under the assumption that shows had audiences they no longer have. The update also means that some shows could struggle to meet minimum download agreements. The fact that no major podcasts would talk about how much they lost is a sign that many big shows aren’t ready to admit how much their audiences have shrunk.

This could create some real problems in an industry that, in some cases, paid hefty up-front money to “personalities” and at some point will have to have awkward discussions with narcissists involving pay restructure because few are really rushing to hear what they say.

But even if it is not responsible for a sudden drop, podcast publishers are bracing themselves for a decline. “From our detailed analysis, these adjustments will largely impact download numbers on back catalog episodes, which are typically categorized as content older than 7 days,” Acast CEO Ross Adams wrote in a blog post on Thursday.‍ “However, it’s important to note that these adjustments do not reflect a change in the unique audience a podcast has, simply the number of downloads per user. On the whole, this will mean more accurate measurement and a more efficient depiction of a podcast’s total listens.”

You know who loves accuracy? Advertisers. And you know who doesn’t love paying for impressions that aren’t really impressions? Yeah, you get the drift. As this plays out, I will be interested to see how advertisers react to these changes.
— The Verge, 10/17/23

I can’t imagine how much a publisher pays on a monthly basis for storage, or if they own their own servers, how much it’s going to cost to expand, but if you’re having trouble getting advertisers or can’t tell them accurately what the reach to consumers is, that could be a problem.

It appears it now is.

Granted, a lot of the discussion centers around their reach to a smartphone, which nowadays also connects and sends content to automobiles (that strategically stopped putting CD players in them a few years ago). When phone manufacturers upgrade, it creates havoc downwind and that’s part of the problem.

Again, the subscription business model was ripe for those who wanted to take a website public, make a gob of money off screwed content creators, hire hundreds of employees, meanwhile forcing their consumers to pay for programming they like and programming they never consume. That is a model doomed for failure and it’s only a matter of time, especially when consumers revolt.

The geniuses as NBC decided to buck tradition, screw over the millions of football fans who already paid for cable subscriptions, and made the Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs playoff game available only to those who bought a subscription to Peacock, and went as far as openly bragging about it. Yet another act of public relations arrogance, thus stupidity.

And if it’s any consolation….

Peacock finished the June quarter with 24 million subscribers, up from 22 million at the end of March — but the streamer lost $651 million over the same three months.

Sadly, those losses have pretty much become par for the course. The NBCUniversal streaming platform lost $704 million in the prior quarter (and $467 million in Q2 2022). The company expects to post “peak” losses from streaming — to the tune of $3 billion — in 2023. Good thing Comcast is soon to come into about $9 billion in streaming bucks through the sale of its Hulu stake to Disney.
— Yahoo! Entertainment, 7/27/23

Chances are very good that once their tech-challenged, NFL playoff broadcasts are over, Peacock subscription will be cancelled en masse and they have it coming.

It’s no surprise the podcast industry is cratering. Most of those, who deem themselves important, aren’t creative enough to find new ways to talk about the same thing. They seem to believe an audience will be perpetually enamored simply because they said it. But they are still a part of what we used to refer to as the “entertainment business”. With few exceptions, people talking isn’t really all that entertaining.

Especially when it comes to people who have nothing else of value to give the world.

The reigning Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics suspended coach Ime Udoka after a months-long investigation by an outside law firm that found multiple violations of team policies but did not point to a larger cultural problem of sexual misconduct, owner Wyc Grousbeck said Friday.

“We go to great lengths … to run the organization with the central core value of respect and freedom in the workplace from harassment or any unwelcome attention,” Grousbeck said at a news conference. “This feels very much, to me, like one of a kind. That’s my personal belief. But I’ll have to verify that.”

Neither Grousbeck nor president of basketball operations Brad Stevens would elaborate on the specifics of the violations or the private report that was delivered to the team two days ago. But a person with knowledge of the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the details were not made public, told The Associated Press that it involved an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the organization.
— Associated Press, 9/23/22

Not to make light of anything inappropriate and/or possibly adulterous, but this whole situation could have been handled better. It’s not like the Boston Celtics were in uncharted waters navigating through a sex scandal. There are dozens of politicians, executives, entertainers who’ve been busted, maybe took a leave of absence, and eventually went right back to work.

But not the Celtics. They are in Boston surrounded by woke media writers who demanded a head on a spike for the indiscretion. The Celtics “zero tolerance” policy is one that would have been ignored by almost every political and business institution in the country. It certainly would have negotiated-down yet, ironically, it was a mostly white Boston sports media who went out of their way to make sure the city and nation knew Udoka’s actions would not be tolerated. There would be no insufficient multi-game suspension.

Ime Udoka had to go and the Celtics, very publicly, fired him.

Udoka connected with his young players because he was himself a former player of 12 years, among which he played for the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento Kings. He was later an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets before being hired as the head coach of the Boston Celtics in 2021. In his first year with the Celtics, they came within two wins of winning the NBA title. The 2022-23 was expected to be very special.

Instead, he was seemingly banished from his profession for committing a selectively-enforced ultimate crime against women. Instead of a team suspension, an example was made of him in Boston and Udoka was shown the door. The Celtics gave the keys of the car to Joe Mazzulla, a 34-year-old with zero NBA head coaching experience.

That didn’t sit well with many people within and outside of the organization and the double standard was obvious to anyone with a set of functioning eyes, especially when ominous clouds hovered over the team during the NBA Conference Finals against the Miami Heat.

I have said it countless times over these airwaves and I’ll repeat it one last time. All of us in this business know plenty of folks in the world of sports or sports teams that had stuff going on in the office. It was an HR matter. We know people who have been fired for the same thing. We never heard a word. But now, everybody knows what Ime Udoka did because of the way the Boston Celtics handled it.
— Steven A. Smith, ESPN First Take, 5/22/23

Smith reminded his audience that mistakes the inexperienced Mazzulla made during the playoffs were ones his head coach predecessors in Boston would have not have made. Clearly preparation was lacking and while “living in the moment” sounded cute, there is no substitute for preparing a team for “situations” that only experience brings.

His players, also muzzled by the politically correct shroud in Boston, let glimpses of the frustration slip, especially when the unmentionable happened as the playoff were set to begin: Ime Udoka was hired to be the new head coach of the Houston Rockets.

The hiring comes nearly three months after the Boston Celtics suspended and dismissed Udoka for an improper workplace relationship, a situation the Rockets investigated with the league office and with the Celtics, among others, before making the job offer, sources told ESPN.

The hiring is a coup for Rockets general manager Rafael Stone, who helped sell Udoka on the franchise’s young talent, salary cap space and chance at winning the draft lottery and selecting generational talent Victor Wembanyama.

“Ime’s intelligence, drive and toughness were the traits we were looking for in a coach to lead our team through this next stage of our development as we strive to become a champion,” Stone said in a statement. “We were honored to have the opportunity to speak to multiple outstanding candidates throughout the interview process and felt that Ime’s vision best aligned with the goals the Fertitta Family and myself have for the future of the Rockets.”
— ESPN, 4/24/23

Obviously, “Ime’s intelligence, drive and toughness” was something missing on the Celtics bench during the season and especially when it was needed most: during the NBA Playoffs where the they were pushed to Game 7 twice against teams they should have easily beaten. Udoka’s hiring couldn’t have come at a worse time for the younger players on his former team trying to make a playoff run without him.

This locker room never got over Ime Udoka’s dismissal as head coach These players did not accept the organization’s reasoning for doing it. They thought it was a wild overreaction. There were a lot of the people on the outside who thought it was an overreaction. That it was an HR matter. This team talking with management never got any more answers than the public was getting on this. That doesn’t mean they haven’t accepted Joe Mazzulla as head coach, but this is a team that really believed in Ime Udoka and had a strong connection with him.
— Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN, 5/22/23

But none of that mattered to the Celtics organization.

The Boston Globe had to be reassured. The liberal academics and institutions that pepper Boston like chicken pox had to be placated. The social elite and activists, many of whom don’t even know Boston has a basketball team or anything about the sport, had to be made to feel safe. And the team had to shut up and deal with it.

In the end, Steven A Smith had it right. Justice was served on the Boston Celtics organization. The team not only lost their last playoff game of the season, but it came in a humiliating fashion for all the world to see.

The team and their fans had to suffer and it was for a greater good, right?

USA Today: New book says Tom Brady has ‘had enough’ of Bill Belichick
ESPN: New book says Brady long worried about being ‘pushed out’ by Belichick
Mass Live: Brady-Belichick relationship improved after rumblings of drama
Golf Digest: Things were so bad between Brady and Belichick in 2018 that Belichick was reportedly considering vacancies in Miami, New York, and Washington

Yes, Golf Digest….

New York Post: Belichick wouldn’t meet Brady face-to-face when QB left: book
ESPN: The story behind the split of Brady, Belichick and the Patriots
Boston Herald: Alex Guerrero: Belichick didn’t evolve with Brady in New England
SB Nation: The Patriots’ Tom Brady vs. Bill Belichick feud, explained
Sportsnet: Feud between Brady, Belichick, Kraft similar to lover’s quarrel
Sporting News: Souring relationship with Belichick and other signs from the past
Boston Herald: Belichick refused to meet Brady to say goodbye, per report
USA Today: Belichick denies refusing to meet Brady upon exit from Patriots
New York Post: Brady can stick it to Belichick in what will be game for the ages
Musketfire: A history of Belichick’s track record without Brady at quarterback

After his final retirement from the game, the two sat down in an insightful interview that put to rest the false media narrative that their relationship was strained. Turns out, it was anything but that….

The credibility of the media has been reduced to a bad late-night program punchline, especially as they continue to blow off the traditional rule in journalism that forbids the use of anonymous sources. And never forget that attention-seekers in the craft will make shit up and not be banished from the profession.

The Boston Herald sports writer who reported the New England Patriots taped a pre-Super Bowl walkthrough by the St. Louis Rams in 2002 said he will regret the erroneous story for the rest of his life.

“First and foremost, this is about a writer breaking one of the cardinal rules of journalism. I failed to keep challenging what I had been told. I should not have written the story without seeing the tape or getting multiple, firsthand confirmations from members of the organization,” wrote John Tomase in Friday’s editions of the newspaper.
— NFL.com, 5/16/08

Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have always had a respectful and professional relationship that has evolved into a great friendship as well.

Something the media can’t diminish no matter how much they tried.

It was interesting witnessing, in real time, the Twitter mob calling for prayers for Mr. Hamlin. These are the same people who have no problem verbally assaulting any praying Christian who opposes any of their warped agendas. Yet now, praying is a good thing, in fact ESPN devoted many camera angles to Bills players praying for their teammate, as if this is an isolated, solemn event.

As it turns out, to avoid rupturing the fragile sensitivities of some viewers, liberal networks immediately end their broadcasts and never show what happens after almost every game: players from both teams, together, kneeling in prayer and giving thanks they made it through another Sunday relatively whole.

While serving on the USS Midway, I remember two catastrophic, peacetime events with loss of life. In each case, the carrier conducted searches for survivors before continuing on with the mission. And that pales in comparison to those fighting on the ground who witness their buddies being horrifically injured and/or killed. No one on Twitter called for the suspension of battles.

Did anyone on social media call for the suspension of the Afghanistan airlift after the bombing? You know, so that fellow soldiers could mourn? No. As in countless examples, our soldiers carried on their mission and received little genuine concern for their understandable mental health trauma.

In fact very few on Twitter even care that, to this day, we have veterans who are homeless and in need of financial assistance. (In case you wish to donate to a more-than-worthy and effective group that helps veterans in need, please go to Code of Vets.)

But I was dutifully reminded that there is a difference between war and entertainment.

Thanks for the tip.

Yes, there IS a difference. Soldiers are compensated at a very low rate of pay considering the possible risks. Professional football players are offered millions of dollars for their services and unlike soldiers, and can opt out of lucrative contracts any time. Athletes acknowledge the risks and most choose to take the money and assume those risks. Those who will remind us about the difference are clearly acknowledging that those who entertain us are more important than those who keep the nation safe, and let’s also not forget those underpaid police officers whom the Twits are quick to vilify.

As a matter of consistent disclosure, I am a lifelong New England Patriots fan and was watching the Bills-Cincinnati Bengals game because the outcome has a profound effect on our final game of the season, which just happens to be this coming Sunday in Buffalo. Most of those who were commenting on Twitter after the incident were not watching the game, merely reacted to what was “trending”, saw and reacted to #DamarHamlin, and to show what good people they are, decided to donate to his charity that provides Christmas gifts to underprivileged children.

When the game was officially postponed, a GoFundMe for his charity “Chasing M’s” started circulating through social media.

The online toy drive fundraiser was started by Hamlin in 2020 with the then-goal of raising $2,500. Since his collapse, fans have raised more than $3 million as of Tuesday morning.
— WGN 9, 1/3/23

Charity is a good thing, when sincere. Seeing how we’re over a week removed from Christmas, where the hell were these benefactors before Mr. Hamlin’s injury?

As usual, it’s not all about the cause but about participants feeling good about themselves. Again, most of those commenting on social media were not watching the game as it was unfolding and know virtually nothing about the sport, team and players. One Tweet proved that point from one of the platform’s most notorious attention whores.

While making a point to tell others to belatedly donate to the toy drive, Alyssa Milano couldn’t even spell the man’s name correctly. What does that say about her knowledge of the topic and those involved?

There have been many sensational injuries in professional sports over the years, so this sudden concern for putting players first is so fake, especially coming from sports and some social media users. On any given Sunday, local and national sports segments highlight the best “hits” of the day and on YouTube, there are hundreds of video compilations of football collisions and hockey knockouts. In not one of those examples has a game been suspended, no matter how horrific the injury and emotional distress clearly displayed by the players and fans in attendance.

Look up the deadly Dale Earnhardt Daytona 500 crash, the football hit that left Darryl Stingley a quadriplegic, the infamous Joe Theismann leg break, goaltender Clint Malarchuk whose carotid artery and jugular veins were slashed during a hockey game, or the more recent Gordon Hayward ankle-snap heard through the stadium that left players and basketball fans in attendance visually disturbed.

In none of those cases was the race or games suspended or cancelled. In Earnhardt’s, Stingley’s, Malarchuk’s and Theisman’s case, the Internet as we now know it did not yet exist. In Hayward’s case, users on social media generously shared the video of him in justifiable agony. Teammates, in the latter cases, composed themselves as professionals and played on. And as the life-is-more-important game is being played, let’s not leave out the fan who was seriously injured by shards of a broken bat at Fenway Park. The game was resumed and completed.

It’s not clear if the Mensa class in the NFL front office and the Players Association thought through the ramifications of this precedent-setting decision to “suspend” the Bills-Bengals game. This didn’t just affect the two teams on the field and the suddenly-triggered on social media.

There are still five teams in the American Football Conference who, going into the last week of the season, have a chance at making the playoffs and last night’s game could’ve made a difference on whose season may have officially ended, and who will have to face who on Wild Card Weekend and seeding. The questions going forward are is last night’s game going to be replayed, will it be “erased”, and how fair will that be to all the affected teams? Anyone on social media even hinting at these very valid questions was mercilessly descended on like flies on shit.

And lastly, many on Twitter sought to shut down and threaten to “cancel” anyone who brought up anything about Hamlin’s vaccination and/or booster status. Over the last few years, many of the things we were told to ignore as “conspiracy theories” turned out to be true. Given the documented increase in Myocarditis in young, healthy vaccinated males and the many videos showing players dropping on the field, asking if Hamlin was recently boosted is a valid question. Most NFL players were required to get vaccinated and boosted and Buffalo’s own superstar receiver Cole Beasley missed all of last season because he refused to get vaccinated. He’s only played in a few games this season so that topic is even more pertinent within the Bills organization.

So have we now reached that pinnacle moment in professional football where estrogen has overtaken testosterone and emotions have supplanted the toughness the NFL promotes? Is any game now subject to suspension when a player gets hurt and who decides how bad that injury will be to stop a game? Other sports that have longer seasons may survive such instances but these decisions in a sport like football will have ripple effects that can impact teams and careers.

And to have it dictated by the sports-ignorant on social media would be the biggest travesty of all.

UPDATE

Now that the emotion has begun to subside, reality has now set in and the aforementioned precedent has now become the real issue.

Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn was not happy with playoff proposals approved by the NFL’s competition committee on Thursday night. She urged other members of the committee to vote against the approved scenarios in a memo obtained by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham.

“The proper process for making rule change (sic) is in the off-season,” Blackburn wrote. “It is not appropriate to put teams in a position to vote for something that may introduce bias, favor one team over another or impact their own situation when the vote takes place immediately before the playoffs.”

Blackburn’s main issue is that the traditional standard of seeding in this scenario is getting thrown out in the middle of a season.
— Sports Illustrated, 1/6/23

Maybe those who demanded I either take down or rewrite the headline of this post, now take the time to reread what I wrote and maybe see that this wasn’t meant to be insensitive to the injury of Damar Hamlin just because I didn’t join the chorus of emotion over ramifications. The decision made last Monday night soothed the immediacy of emotions of the broadcasters and social media and created the predicted clusterfuck.

The Buffalo Bills are officially out of contention for the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs, as the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes trounced the Las Vegas Raiders in a 31-13 win at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday to secure home-field advantage and a first-round bye.
— Sports Illustrated, 1/7/23

It turns out, the cancellation had everything to do with how a long-fought season would end for one deserving team, clearly screwed by those in the NFL and NFLPA who should have had leveled heads at a time when they were sorely needed.

The cancellation helped the league avoid late-season logistical nightmares. As for the Bengals, playing 16 games instead of 17 did guarantee them the AFC North title, but it also meant that they no longer had a shot at the No. 1 seed.
— Sporting News, 1/8/23

What would happen in the days to follow was never considered and that’s why we find ourselves where we are now.

Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving made reference to a “documentary” (currently available on Amazon Prime) and for that he was suspended by his team, lost millions in pay, and he’s been told he must get his mind right before he can play again.

Irving missed a seventh straight game due to his suspension after promoting an anti-Semitic movie on social media and initially refusing to apologize. He has been given a list of remedial tasks to fulfill in order to potentially be reinstated.

Pick that up, boy.

Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown, and an National Basketball Players Association vice president, isn’t taking this well and is alluding to what everyone is told is a taboo topic and the humiliation typically demanded of an accused offender….

Kyrie Irving has issued an apology on social media and met with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Nets owner Joe Tsai, both of whom said they didn’t think the star was anti-Semitic. But on Saturday, when Tsai was asked by The Post about Irving returning, he said the guard “still has more work to do.”

Celtics star Jaylen Brown, who, like Irving, is an NBPA vice president, said Monday that Tsai’s comments don’t sit well with him.

“His response was alarming to me, I tweeted that out [Sunday]. He didn’t say that the organization was working together to get Kyrie back on the floor. He said that he had more work to do,” Brown said. “And our society has more work to do, including Joe Tsai. It’s 2022. It takes 10 minutes of time to see who these business owners, corporations, etcetera, who they’re associated with and who they’re doing business with, who they’re affiliated with. I’m vice president of the union, and it’s part of my job to protect our players legally,” Brown said. “And to see Phil Knight (Nike co-founder) first come out and condemn Kyrie, and also see Joe Tsai say he has more work to do — I think it’s time for a larger conversation. And Adam came out and said in a statement that he doesn’t believe Kyrie Irving is anti-Semitic, and yet he’s still suspended indefinitely.”
— New York Post, 11/16/22

It’s clear Brown is carefully dribbling around what’s clear to anyone who reads the large font credits after movies and television programming. And for groups like the Anti Defamation League to go for every once of blood, while ignoring the endless calls for diversity in Hollywood, that’s what’s problematic for Brown and millions of others who dare say the forbidden.

Because of his post and previous refusals to walk it back, the antisemitic film/book is now a best seller in multiple categories on Amazon. There is a lot more to do to undue this damage. Although we will not accept any funds from him, if Kyrie is open to direct dialogue to repair the harm that he has caused and to engage in a process of healing and learning in a sincere manner, ADL is open to engaging with him. Time and action will tell.”
— Jonathan A. Greenblatt, Anti-Defamation League CEO statement

Again, liberal Democrat types in politics and entertainment can repeatedly make racist comments and after a brief public penance and an all-clear from publicists, are allowed to continue on with their million-dollar careers. With the assistance of the media, it can be like the offense never happened. But when an obvious demographic fact is pointed out, careers will be destroyed until the sadistic “victims” agree if and when to back off the branding iron.

Hollywood is notorious for it’s tolerance and inclusion of verbal and sexual abuse, pedophilia, spousal battery, alcohol and drug abuse, racism, and in some cases, murder. For some strange reason, most of the offenders are still working to this day. You can get away with almost anything in the entertainment business, except saying two specific words in sequence….

Jaylen Brown is being very diplomatic in his pushback to the typical punishment to anyone deemed anti-Semitic but it’s also clear what he’s saying and given the power he has as a player association vice president, he full well knows what could happen if the ADL and others go too far this time in the demands and pressure to endlessly repent. Brown could conceivably call for a mass protest. Imagine an NBA with no black players on the court….

That might be worthy of a documentary.

Black head coaches in the NFL are no big deal nowadays. It’s all about wins and losses. But you’d think there are those in the sports media who want a Black Head Coaches Month.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to Pittsburgh for a game with the Steelers this Sunday, and whaddaya know: there will be two black head coaches on the sidelines. Despite the team dynamics and implications for the rest of the season, any questions about Tom Brady’s unending graceful aging, race AGAIN became a topic during a Buccaneers press conference with head coach Todd Bowles….

It was visually clear during the questioning that Bowles was maintaining composure during the insulting rounds of the media’s soft bigotry of low expectations after his initial response was clearly not what they wanted to hear.

It’s sad but expected that despite their best efforts, people in this society will never be judged alone by their accomplishments but by the assigned race-identifier that precedes they name. Thanks to the traditionally-racist left, we’re still reduced to being black congressmen, black judges, black models, black race car drivers, black CEOs, black professors, black superintendents, black mayors, black directors, black managers, black quarterbacks, and black head coaches.

The sports media racists are a problem that won’t go away as long as the nonathletic can make a living blabbing about those with gifts they weren’t born with. Forty-two years ago, there was actually an NFL game with no play-by-play announcers; just natural crowd noise and public address announcements like those who pay the big bucks at the stadium manage to survive with.

We will never go back to a time when it was just about the teams, players, coaches and not the leeches who fill up the time in-between with nothing of real value to offer.

And with the “injury”, the blabbermouths launched into rabid speculation….

There’s 1 Prominent Quarterback Being Mentioned For The New England Patriots
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Cam? Again? Oh No!
Cam Newton Is NOT the Answer for New England

Cam Newton knew coming to New England was boom or bust and quickly. He was in the no-win position of having to be the bridge quarterback after the GOAT. Due to the late 2020 contract offer, he missed organized team activities (OTAs), mini camp, and because of COVID protocols, enjoyed much of training camp on Zoom learning the most complicated playbook in the NFL. As expected, the Patriots didn’t make the playoffs but compared to other notable bums, things could have been much worse.

In fact, he exceeded some expectations.

Patriots’ Cam Newton Sets NFL Record With Rushing Touchdown Vs. Chargers

And he did this despite the constant nagging of the Boston sports media who got petty with his rap music and hats. You’d swear by their attire, Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak and Cam shared the same closet. No negativity, ever, about Pastrnak’s wardrobe choices.

No quarterback playing in his first season under Bill Belichick has had a good year. Again, mastering a new playbook every week was a new challenge for most. The second season was, to varying degrees, better.

1991: In Belichick’s first season as head coach with the Cleveland Browns and Bernie Kosar as his starting QB, they finished with a 6-10 record.
1992: Slightly better at 7-9, considering his quarterbacks were Mike Tomczak, Kosar, and Todd Philcox.
2000: Drew Bledsoe was 5-11 during Belichick’s first season as Patriots’ head coach.
2001: Both Bledsoe and backup Tom Brady went 11-5 and took the Patriots to the Super Bowl and won.
2020: The Patriots were 7-9 under Cam Newton.

Every quarterback in the history of the New England Patriots got at least a second season opportunity. Every quarterback except Cam Newton. And the Boston media and fans made it clear he wasn’t going to be given a second year….

Mac Jones gets standing ovation as he arrives at Patriots training camp
Mac Jones gets loud standing ovation from Patriots fans in preseason debut

Despite the clear improvements from his first season with the team, Cam Newton was unceremoniously cut in after the 2021 preseason and Mac Jones was given the keys to the car with very mixed results since.

Why would Newton want to come back to a region that treated him as disrespectfully as some in the media and fans treated him?

Tom Brady left the Patriots (among a myriad of reasons) because they lacked the weapons for him to succeed. Because of salary cap complications, Cam Newton inherited a depleted team in 2020. But the Patriots loaded up in 2021 and it could be argued one reason why the high-priced free agents acquired haven’t found the shine since because they signed lengthy contracts with the understanding they’d be playing for a legendary coach and with a former MVP quarterback.

Hunter Henry, who again said a “good quarterback” was crucial, excited to play with him?
“I am. I am. Very excited,” Henry said regarding Newton.
— NESN, 3/22/21

Jonnu Smith says he has plans to join Hunter Henry in working out with some of his teammates in Southern California in the offseason to help “get on the same page” before training camp and, more importantly, “build brotherhood” off the field. He’s also spoken with New England’s presumptive starting quarterback Cam Newton by phone: “He’s a hell of a guy.”
— Boston.com, 3/23/21

“His work ethic, that’s the main thing that stands out to me. Everything he’s been through these last few years. Just how he works that always takes over everything. He’s earned his opportunities, he’s earned his contract this year. I know he’s going to have an awesome year. I’m just excited to play with him. I told him, ‘I’ve been watching you since I was a young guy. It’s an honor to just play with you, man, pick your brain and get out there with you. And help you get better. I know you’re going to help me get better.'”
— Kendrick Bourne, 3/29/21

“Super Cam (Newton), excited to play with him,” Matt Judon said. “Growing up watching what he did in college to becoming an NFL MVP and leading his team to the Super Bowl. They barely lost. What he meant for QBs at the time, it was just incredible what he did.”
— NESN, 5/18/21

Hunter Henry on Cam Newton: “Great energy. He’s very proven in this league. I think that goes without saying. He’s a great player.”
— Twitter, 5/27/21

Would these players have risked the prime years in their career to play with a rookie? Too many have seen how dismally that usually works out and I wouldn’t doubt there are some players in the Patriots locker room who may feel a little deceived on what initially made them sign and would’ve liked to see Cam get that second chance.

Personally, I didn’t care for Cam Newton prior to his Patriot days. He was an enemy combatant but given his resume, I was more than willing to see how a few years with weapons could have worked out in New England. I, and many supportive Patriots fans with an attention span that didn’t start in 2001, never got that opportunity and just because the team is kinda’ desperate now (as they were in 2020) doesn’t mean Cam should submit himself to sacrificial lamb status again, especially for another insulting contract and the sadistic sports media environment.

“The New England experience was a fucked-up situation. I was still learning the offense seven to eight weeks into the season… It was just brain overload. It was times I was going to the line and I’m still thinking … Did I know it? Yes. To the degree that I needed to know it to show the world that I’m still Cam Newton? No… But I put myself in that situation.”
— Cam Newton, 6/10/22

He didn’t deserve it then and he doesn’t deserve it now.

If you wish to work in a liberal city, you must obey the dictates of the tyrants.

There was a reason for the delayed introduction that the Red Sox gave infielder Trevor Story after agreeing to a six-year, $140 million contract, according to a recent report. As described by ESPN reporter Jeff Passan, the holdup — a period which lasted approximately 72 hours — pertained to Story’s vaccination status.

The 29-year-old was unvaccinated against COVID-19, according to Passan. This caused a delay in finalizing the deal, and could have potentially resulted in it falling apart. “There were concerns the agreement could fall apart because Story was reluctant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” Passan explained.

But in the end, Story put Red Sox “fears” to rest, and he was able to officially sign.
— Boston.com, 3/25/22

Of course, it can’t have anything to do with the fact that COVID-19 vaccine-pharmaceutical Moderna is a very public sponsor of the Boston Red Sox….

So, the Red Sox’ “fears” were put to rest but what about consideration for the long-standing “fears” of Trevor Story and his family?

With all that’s come out about the fact the COVID-19 vaccine has documented inconsistent effectiveness, growing studies of dangerous side effects, growing numbers of what the pro-vaccination call “breakthrough” cases of the vaccinated still catching the coronavirus, healthy professional and amateur athletes dropping dead, as well as high-profile entertainers succumbing at relatively young ages, there are profound and understandable reasons why Story remained unvaccinated in Colorado up until it was time to sign on the line in Boston.

And they certainly couldn’t have a player show any public doubts in a city where Moderna advertises on the Green Monster and during local broadcasts where play-by-play, color announcers and players (with zero medical credentials) told their viewers to get vaccinated.

Knowing the tyrannical left as we do (Red Sox ownership oozes liberal Democrat), there’s probably a clause in that $140 million dollar contract that absolves the team of any liability from side effects (near or long term) that may affect Trevor Story. Let’s hope the Red Sox, Moderna, the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts didn’t pressure Mallie Story to get vaccinated just so she can have access to team and/or social events. Their newborn baby is safe for now, but we are talking Massachusetts, so it may be on borrowed time.

After almost two years, the Red Sox are taking down their 254-foot Black Lives Matter billboard that has been stationed behind Fenway Park facing the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Bekah Salwasser, the Sox’ executive vice president of social impact and executive director of the Red Sox Foundation, told the Herald on Thursday that the organization has been proud of its support for the BLM movement, but now wants to use that signage to promote the 20th anniversary of the foundation. The change of billboards will take place in the next couple of days.

“We felt it very important to take advantage of one of the most prominent tools this organization has, which is this billboard, to really shed a light on and celebrate the 20 years of incredible impact the Red Sox Foundation has had across New England,” Salwasser said.
— Boston Herald, 3/24/22

Don’t get me started again on the unfortunate impact and imposition of halfricans who are absorbed into legitimate businesses to create “social impact” through division they magnify to justify their existence. Yes, the Red Sox have unruly fans but so does a lot of other teams and while racism shouldn’t be tolerated, at least there aren’t the assaults, knifings, shootings and the people falling to their deaths from upper decks we hear about happening in other stadiums around the nation.

Call me old fashioned but as a lifelong Red Sox fan who starting at age 8, walked down Massachusetts Avenue from Central Square, across the bridge to Kenmore Square (okay, if I had an additional quarter, I’d take the T), and went to day and night games when bleacher seats cost $1, I was only interested in watching the team compete and ultimately beat the Yankees. I went to dozens of games during my youth and never encountered a feeling I didn’t belong there. I wasn’t a black life that mattered. I was (and still am) a loyal Red Sox fan.

So, why the need to “remove” the sign from the side of the stadium? Could it be because Black Lives Matter has been proven to be the political sham many understood from inception?

In July 2020, with the nation mourning the death of George Floyd, Red Sox decision makers thought they were joining an important movement.

Hmm… they “thought”. Who did they ask, Monica Cannon-Grant?

Team president Sam Kennedy announced a call to action as he asked members of the Sox front office and fans alike to work toward diversity inclusion and racial justice in their communities. To show their support, the Red Sox revealed the billboard, later to be joined by a large banner in the Red Sox bleachers and a permanent BLM sign in the Sox outfield.

Never could they have expected some of their fans to turn on them so quickly.

Sorry, unless you have winning championships down to a science, maybe that’s where members of the Sox front office should have been spending their paid time addressing. Actual baseball “fans”, as opposed to social justice activists, seemed to understand that.

Despite an overflowing show of support from a majority of their fanbase, the organization was also flooded with negative phone calls from what it views as a “vocal minority” of folks who didn’t like the sign.

“No one could predict the future; we certainly couldn’t,” Salwasser said. “So no, we had no idea what really to expect.

Arrogant liberals assume everyone thinks like them and are usually horrified, thus caught off guard, by the slightest pushback.

“I’ll be honest, it was a really challenging time for our organization when that board went up. Because as often happens, there is a loud vocal minority that expressed discontent with the board. And that was regrettable with us because we felt so proud when that billboard went up. We were taken aback by the negative feedback. But again, as oftentimes happens, there’s a very loud, vocal minority that likes to make their feelings known.

Project much?

Unfortunately a lot of our staff had to bear the brunt of some of those really tough conversations from those fans.”

Given current ticket prices, the staff was probably overpaid for the “brunt” they had to bear.

As usual, it was all about them, their “social” impact, or lack thereof. Between the pandemic and the “Summer of Love”, the Red Sox finished the abbreviated 2020 season with an abysmal 24 wins and 36 losses. But having visible support for Black Lives Matter was more important. Ask any fan who may have missed a few innings, trying to get home after being stuck in a spontaneous traffic disruption by BLM activists who demanded commuters check their privilege.

“I also think it’s important to note that last season we also had permanent signage of Black Lives Matter up in the park. So the statement isn’t going away. That’s not changing at all. That will stay permanently affixed to the interior of Fenway Park for all our fans of Red Sox nation to see. We’re proud of that.”

And while the billboard is coming down, the organization said its commitment to racial justice won’t change.

So why are the Red Sox visually distancing themselves from Black Lives Matter?

BLM co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors’ million-dollar real estate buying binge
Concerns Raised Over $60 Million in Black Lives Matter Funds
‘The BLM Foundation’ Raised Millions. Not Affiliated With The BLM Movement
CA threatens to hold BLM’s leaders personally liable over missing financial records
Where Did All the Money Shaun King Raised for Black Lives Go?

Aside from the greed of their grifter founder and supporters, they’ve been exposed as yet another liberal entity using willing black people (whom the left would call “house negroes”) for political and personal gain.

The Washington Examiner revealed last week that prominent Democratic lawyer Marc Elias and former White House political director Minyon Moore, both longtime Clinton allies, have taken on key leadership roles with BLM. Filings from the organization show Elias represents the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation through Elias Law Group, and Moore, who is also advising President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court confirmation team, is now a member of BLM’s board of directors.

The reason this matters is twofold.

First, it proves BLM is directly engaging known Democratic political operatives, undermining its claim that it functions as a charity. And second, it shows Democrats are actively trying to direct BLM and help it deal with the financial transparency scandal it finds itself in.
— Washington Examiner, 2/24/22

Actually threefold: Elias and Moore smell, and can attach themselves to, a lot of political money.

Sorry, Bekah. The socially-compliant in Back Bay and along the affluent Route 9 corridor may accept this on face value but you can only count on WGBH consumers who’ve never watched a game on television to buy the bullshit.

As for the Red Sox organization, it would be sad to think that winning is not one of the priorities of the franchise and instead infecting the product with hires from nonprofits with social agendas that have little to do with wins and losses.

Boston fans are often called the most intelligent in all of sports. Unfortunately, the socially arrogant in the Red Sox front office don’t appear to agree.

If you were any statewide Democrat in New York state, for example Governor Kathy Hochul, and you were for all of the things that have turned New York City into the violent, shithole it is today, the last thing you’d do (IF you were smart) is make a public appearance amongst those who aren’t hand-picked, partisan, adoring attendees.

The last place you’d want to go is in front of sports fans, especially hockey fans and with good reason….

Someone in the governor’s office thought this was a good idea.

Hockey fans weren’t impressed by a power-tripping politician during “Women’s Empowerment Night”.

This probably won’t happen again any time soon.