Good morning!
Nothing calls for a coffee refill like being at the kitchen table reading — or writing— about an old-fashioned rhubarb between Boston sports personalities. This one involves the Boston Sports Journal ’s Greg Bedard and the Sports Hub’s Mark Bertrand of WBZ FM (98.5), aka the Sports Hub.
Two weeks ago on the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast, co-host Nick Cattles told listeners that Bedard had “a bone to pick” with Bertrand about his take on Caleb Lomu, the Patriots’ first pick in last month’s draft. Bertrand had said on his mid-morning show with Scott Zolak that based on how high he’d gone in the draft, Lomu would be the starting right tackle this season.
Like the sinking of the Maine and the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, wars start over trifling matters like this. “You wanted to push back on this take?” asked Cattles.
“Yeah,” said Bedard. “I normally have a beef with Mark “The Beetle” Bertrand and a lot of his Patriots takes.
“So I was listening the other day to Beetle and basically Beetle got into his little whiney act which he tends to do. His point was there’s no way Caleb Lomu is not playing this year because of where they got him in the draft — but he used the example of Nate Solder as why [Lomu’s] not going to sit.”
Solder was picked 17th overall in 2011 and “Lomu went 28th in an extremely weak draft. Basically anything past twelve was a second round pick.” Moreover, said Bedard, Solder started 13 games his rookie year because Sebastian Vollmer and Matt Light were both injured. “Lomu wasn’t drafted to supplant anybody. Beetle didn’t explain it accurately. He does this all the time.”
Bedard takes his job as seriously as a political reporter covering the White House. Born in Springfield and raised in Athol, he covered the Dolphins for the Palm Beach Post, the Packers for the Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal, and the NFL for Sports Illustrated.
Despite being diligent, accurate and professional, he has trouble downshifting into playful teasing, and his “whiney act” comment about Bertrand came off as demeaning.
Bertrand grew up in Quincy, played high school football and worked for WMUA when he was at UMass. He doesn’t have Bedard’s resume, but he’s genuine and listeners like his shtick as the everyday fanboy.
He reacted to Bedard’s “whiney act” comment by airing Bedard’s dirty laundry, including revelations about former Patriot coach Bill Belichick’s dislike of him and that Bedard had once applied for a front office job with the team.
Belichick reportedly laughed off Bedard to Zolak before a pregame show. “His grades? His plus/minus? What a joke. He applied for a job in our front office. Who does this guy think he is?’
Aware that his “little whiney act” comment had set off Bertrand, in a followup podcast Bedard told Cattles: “He took that personally and launched what I thought was an unwarranted and unprofessional personal attack against me. I thought I was just busting chops. They play our podcasts a lot and make fun of you and me. Mostly me.”
Bedard let Bertrand have his say, “but I can’t leave the front office thing out there. I want people to know the proper context of what [Bertrand] was throwing out there, that Belichick’s laughing at me.”
In 2007, Bedard was laid off from SI and had about a month’s time “before, you know, I was officially out of work with 10-year-old twins and bills to pay.” He said he contacted newspapers, radio stations, the NFL Network, PR firms, college athletic departments “… and yes I sent the Patriots a letter… purely out of desperation so that I could provide for a family.”
Bedard’s flagging professional career started to take a turn for the better in 2017 when he founded BostonSportsJournal.com. According to rocketreach.com, BSJ today has nine full-time employees and generates $5.3 million in revenue.
All’s well that ends well, until the next line’s crossed.
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When classes begin at NMH in the fall, students and faculty will be admiring the school’s new hockey rink. Thanks to alumni largesse, the Ice Barn will replace the frigid McCollum Arena which is being transformed into a multi-purpose recreation center.
NMH also has a new athletic director. Telia Marks-McCall was a four-year letter winner at Virginia where she led the Cavaliers in rebounding, had a career-high 18 points against Georgia Tech and was one board shy of tying the school record against UNC.
She majored in sociology but stuck with hoops and played professionally in Europe, and later became the director of basketball operations at Quinnipiac where she earned her masters in organizational leadership.
She was a women’s basketball recruiting assistant at Iowa and has secondary school experience at Maryville Prep in Maryland and Miss Hall’s in Pittsfield. Now if she can learn to love hockey, because both programs need it. The boys’ team was 4-27-0 last season and the girls were 3-20-1, including losses to Lawrenceville, Choate Rosemary Hall and Deerfield by a combined score of 27-0.
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When Mickey Mantle hit one of his 535 round trips he’d run the bases with his head down because he didn’t want to show up the pitcher, much the same as Harmon Killebrew, Henry Aaron and Willie Mays.
Baseball was a blue collar game. Tickets were cheap and summertime doubleheaders were the norm. Today baseball is a showboating sport for teeny tots with weeny minds.
Kudos therefore to Mike Francesa for lambasting Mets players for celebrating a home run during Monday’s blowout loss to the Reds. “You’re down seven-nothing. You hit a solo homer and in the dugout you want to dress the guy up in a hard hat and vest? What’s wrong with you? It’s embarrassing.”
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Congrats to the UMass Zoodiscs for winning the Division I College Frisbee championship in Rockford, Illinois last weekend. Coached by Greenfield’s Terry Plotkin, the Zoodiscs saucered past Cal Poly, Oregon and Carleton College to capture their first Ultimate title in 40 years.
“Also, the Four Rivers Otters are going to the national Ultimate championships on June 12 and 13 in Salem, Oregon,” wrote Plotkin.
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Defending champion Team USA lost to Team Canada, 4-0, in World Ice Hockey quarterfinals in Switzerland on Thursday. Matthew Tkachuk led the team with four goals, Penguins center Tommy Novak had seven assists, Amherst’s Ryan Leonard had three goals and two assists and former Minuteman Ryan Ufko anchored the blue line with a goal and three assists.
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SQUIBBERS: Deerfield baseball coach Pat Moriarty and NMH soccer coach Jim Burstein have left for Masters Academy International in Stow which aspires to combine “elite sports with top tier academics.”… Terry Ball and John Manning will be remembered by friends and family this afternoon, the former under the rock at Eaglebrook and the latter on a hill at his home in Shelburne, two free spirits who’ve left us for a world unknown. … Montague’s Brock Hines reports that Evan Moorhouse will be the UMass goalies coach and the team’s director of hockey operations. Evan’s dad Donnie is the longtime radio voice of the Minutemen. … Face value to watch games six and seven of the College Softball World Series at Devon Park in Oklahoma City this weekend start at $167 in the outfield up to $371 behind home plate. … The Bastards of Boston Baseball have changed their stage name to “Fire Breslow.” They’re latest push is for Breslow to trade Aroldis Chapman and Jarren Duran to Houston for slugger Yordan Alvarez. … Ten bucks these days gets you into Citi Field where attendance is down more than 3,500 a game. … Texas Tech’s leading hitter Mia Williams (.435) was hit five times in three games against Florida last week, and was hit again her first at-bat Thursday against Mis. State after being hit four times in her previous 61 games. … UMass football continues to schedule its games on Pacific Time. Can’t wait for those 3:30 p.m. kick offs against Sacred Heart and Stonehill. … Gridiron blues: Rutgers is a slight 30.5 favorite to beat UMass in Piscataway on Sept. 3. … We’ll be reminded of a great summer song on Wednesday the third of June “another sleepy, dusty Delta day,” the day Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge and the year the 100-to-1 Boston Red Sox won the pennant. Happy 13th birthday to my grandson Carter Greene, soon to be a teenager in love.
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@gmail.com.