jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 9hThe playoffs distill baseball's cruelty to 100 proof. What were problems in July are crises now. See Phillies bullpen, Red Sox offense, and Cubs pitching in general as evidence. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 27/09/2026The Phillies won and will make the playoffs after all. The celebration on the mound after the final out was said to be "fairly muted" by ESPN. There was a group hug, but the facial expressions of the "winners" was less "yippee!" and more "hey we might get to leave ballpark alive." 020
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 27/09/2026The Patriots never got their asses kicked for 60 minutes last year. The Jaguars did just that this afternoon. Drake Maye had his ass kicked the furthest and highest, but none of his teammates escaped a solid boot, either. 010
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 27/09/2026The collapse of the '64 Phillies remains one of my main life traumas. But before long (youth is resilient) I realized a team playing way over its head hit the wall. Reality had reasserted itself in an awful manner. The collapse of the 2026 Phillies is a little different. 110
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 20/09/2026The Steelers are not the worst team in the NFL. But after two games, one a win, and today's loss to the Pats, it is clear they are the league's most unwatchable team by a wide margin. Just the most tedious football imaginable. 010
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 18/09/2026So my email gets a daily blast from some outfit called Homes.com. Hey, ads are a part of life, I get it. But for reasons I cannot begin to understand, this week they've been saying they have just the homes for me on Staten Island. A glitch or to in the old algorithm.homes.com 100
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 12/09/2026Drake Maye had a terrible game against the Seahawks, so naturally there is a DEFCON-infinity level of fret in these parts. He's not DEVELOPING! It's an interesting theory, the QB as a plant, perhaps a tomato or lettuce failing to thrive. Fans are made he's not quite Tom Brady yet. 121
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 02/09/2026A good friend of mine of many year's standing just called to shoot the shit. He said we should get together to watch a sports event. "Gotta be a day game," I said. "You're right," he responded. "They still have those?" 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 02/09/2026It's time for that most useless of journalistic endeavors -- NFL preseason predictions! Tell me, what was the line for the parlay of the two teams that made the Super Bowl last September, about 12,000 to one? Many smart, super knowledgeable (far more than me) folks burn pixels on this doomed effort. 100
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 31/08/2026My team the Phillies are in the middle of a West Coast road trip. For fans in the Eastern time zone those are very restful. No matter how much you care, there's zero temptation to try and stay up to follow the game. The incentive is to go to bed before the first pitch. 110
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I'm watching sports online and my grown children are watching "Lantern" on TV. My mind, which can't remember appointments without my calendar, clicked in and I recited Green Lantern's oath flawlessly from memory of comics read at age 9. Is this an achievement or a sign of impending death? 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 14/08/2026It's been a hot humid summer and you'd think I'd welcome the foreshadowing, but the first NFL exhibition games of the year always make me hunch my shoulders against the cold winds that'll be blowing when the games start to REALLY count. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 04/08/2026The Red Sox needed a cstcher who can hit, so they traded a bunch of prospects for catcher Adley Rutschman, who can. The Phillies have the lowest OBP in the majors, so they traded for batting average leader Luis Arraez. Baseball media consensus is that both trades were terrible for those clubs. 100
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 25/07/2026Adding LeBron James means the Philadelphia 76ers will be an awesome team next season - for the 17 or so games Joel Embiid will be healthy enough to play. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 19/07/2026Spain didn't just keep a clean sheet to win the World Cup. They pitched a no-hitter. 001
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Fortune doesn't always favor the brave, which is why soccer teams park the bus to hold leads. But talent + bravery beats prudence more often than one might think. Argentina earned its victory today. England earned its loss, too. 100
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Dept. of Bad Timing: My daughter in Bordeaux reports that the city began its Bastille Day fireworks display at the exact moment the final whistle blew in Spain's skunking of France in yesterday's World Cup semi-final. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 13/07/2026Do others agree with me that it's very weird senior American political figures (Tom Kean, Mitch McConnell) have been forced to put out proof of life evidence in the last month? People have issues. People get injured and sick. Just say so. Nobody's portfolio rides on either of you. 110
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 06/07/2026The one person in the World Cup who underestimated FIFA corruption was Donald Trump. He didn't have to ask it to overturn. Falarin Balogun's red card suspension. They were in the process of doing so without his input, for their own crooked reasons, only one of which was pleasing him. 120
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 03/07/2026If there was VAR or its equivalent in international relations, we'd be at about World War 9 by now. 020
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 02/07/2026Brad Stevens is on drugs. Or I am. Since Red Auerbach, the Celtic tradition is to swindle the other guys in trades. Stevens has been good at it too -- right until today. The only way the Brown deal makes sense is if Joel Embiid's orthopedist is a Boston secret agent passing on MRI results. 020
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 01/07/2026National soccer teams have nicknames. France are Les Bleus, England the Three Lions. Cote d'Ivoire Les Elephants. By common usage, the US team nickname is USMNT. A goddamn acronym. Surely a nation that has spawned so many great college team nicknames (Hokies, Ducks, and Roll Tide) can do better. 020
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 26/06/2026Last night at a Cape restaurant, the TV array at the bar was tuned to World Cup soccer and women's golf. The Sox-Yankees game started, no customer said a word. It wasn't until the third inning baseball pinch hit for the LPGA. Cape Cod has many baseball fans. If I owned the Sox, I'd be scared. 020
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 23/06/2026Jaylen Brown for Giannis is a talk radio trade, a barroom argument deal. Without getting into the merits of two outstanding players, history suggests such trades don't do well as realities. Basketball teams are complex organisms. Sometimes the new body rejects the transplant. 010
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 21/06/2026The Father's Day tradition in our family is that my one wish, that I get to watch the US Open on TV, is foiled by events. This year the culprits are the World Cup and Wyndham Clark. Not his fault, but the only final round drama would be caused by his collapse. That's no fun. Belgium-Iran it is. 010
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 16/06/2026Nil-nil is the ultimate boring soccer score. Unless it was Cape Verde-Spain today, in which it was excruciating drama ending in abounding joy for every resident or emigrant from a very small place. So many evil things work to fuck up sports, and FIFA's one of the worst, but they just can't do it. 010
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 11/06/2026I assume my grandson George, 3 years old, is all in on Knicks as a Brooklyn resident. But I wonder how his father, a Celtics fans since childhood, thinks about this. PS: I didn't raise him that way, I'm a Sixers fan. Sports can get complicated. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 01/06/2026Raymond Berry, one of the great wide receivers in NFL history, died May 25 at age 93. He was head coach of the Pats when I came to cover the team for the Herald in 1987. He was a thoroughly decent man, who also taught me just how monomaniacal an NFL coach has to be in his line of work. 110
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 26/05/2026I've played golf in all sorts of weather, but today was new. A pollen storm. At Hyannis Golf Course, wind blew the pine pollen around in actual clouds which at first we thought might be wildfires. It didn't affect play, I was as usual mediocre, but my throat now thinks I've eaten a pack of Luckies. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 19/05/2026In our visit to the Perigord region of France we stayed at a small, old-fashioned hotel in the town of Ezyries. Comfortable rooms, a fine restaurant, and singular interior decoration. Highlight was a lobby portrait of a woman. It had eyes that lit up and moved. Part of the Scooby-Doo chain I guess. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 11/05/2026In three days in France I have seen these sights. Many guys in Yankees caps. An older man in a Blue Jays cap. A little boy in a Charlotte Hornets cap. A man in a Red Sox jersey. A man in a Shaq Orlando Magic jersey. American hard power might wane, but American sports merch power reigns supreme. 110
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 10/05/2026Sunday morning at the big downtown market. Moule frites and beer for brunch? Pourquoi pas? We were short hitters compared to the happy middle-aged guys I saw scarfing oysters and white wine at 10:30 a.m. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 08/05/2026I have been in France for a little over 24 hours. In that time, I have eaten more bread than I usually consume in a week back in the States, and more pastry than in a US month. To quote a famous native of this country, je ne regrette rien. 010
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 03/05/2026When the going is good, the Celtics shoot threes. When the going gets tough, the Celtics shoot more threes. When the going gets tough because they're missing threes, the Celtics shoot the most threes of all. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 23/04/2026Mike Vrabel is going to be the first NFL head coach to sleep in his office for non-work related reasons. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 18/04/2026Hyperbole surrounds the Celtics like a cloud that hides their excellence. Globe headline: Celtics set up for an historic playoff run. (later toned down). They could win the NBA title, sure enough. But would that be more historic than going 16-3 to win? The Celts did that all of two years ago. 100
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 16/04/2026Nothing is more deceiving to the eye than the first month of baseball season. But it's sure hard to escape the idea that the Dodgers are gonna win 120 games and the 20 other teams will win between 75 and 85. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 08/04/2026Every new form of mass media advertising becomes more irritating then existing forms. Internet advertising is no exception. I accept that one's Internet use is public record. I get target advertising. What I don't get is target advertising to make the rubble bounce, ads for products I just bought. 100
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 06/04/2026CBS Sports Network is broadcasting live from the Masters practice area. 10 minutes of viewing made one thing clear. Watching Rory McIlroy or any other great beat balls is as boring as watching me or any other hacker beat balls. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 02/04/2026Every opening week of the baseball season is the same. Some teams start hot, others Kelvin cold, some in-between. And fans, media, and alas, some front offices forget the sport's oldest and most true cliche. Perhaps lost in baeball's forest of number, they won't just say, "it's a long season." 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 25/03/2026Florida is different than New England. Saw a TV ad on local news last night for an establishment named Shooters. Back home, that'd be a strip joint in Providence engaged in litigation with a wings and beer restaurant chain of almost the same name. Here it was a place that sells firearms. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 21/03/2026If games were 30 minutes long instead of 40, there'd be more upsets in the early rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The overwhelming advantage the big schools have over the "where's that again" schools is depth. No McDonald's All-Americans on the bench at the.Sienas and Furmans. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 16/03/2026Used to be a big NCAA brackets contest guy, but not for years now. I don't watch as much college ball as before, and the player turnover due to going pro and NIL (both good for them), make it harder to follo. There are schools in this tourney I didn't know existed until yesterday. How do I bet that? 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 16/03/2026Winter Olympics, World Baseball Classic, and March Madness are very different events yet similar in one way. Each occurs in a dead zone of the calendar, each is splendid entertainment totally engaging fans. And then most of those fans will forget each event within a month. Perfection in its way. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 11/03/2026Calls for the Patriots to trade for A.J. Brown ignore two drawbacks to the deal. Eagles GM Howie Roseman always drives a hard bargain. And while the Pats have plenty of cap space, they have relatively little trade capital. Hard to imagine a swap that at best would leave the Pats running in place. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 04/03/2026Boston local TV news is pretty good on average, but when a station runs a feature on Mass. residents stranded in Dubai, why ascribe it to "rising tensions in the Middle East." It's not tension that's stranded them, it's high explosives. It's a war! Say so! 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 04/03/2026After over 50 years in Massachusetts, I have an almost impossible time trying to wrap my head around the fact that tens of millions of my fellow Americans live in places where March is nice. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 22/02/2026Daughter Hope watched the hockey game at her home in France. Her comment on Jack Hughes was better than mine could be. "Losing teeth then scoring the winning goal is complete maximum hockey." 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 22/02/2026Hockey is an awfully kinetic sport to follow before one's second cup of coffee in the morning. 000
jmgee.bsky.social @jmgee.bsky.social · 13/02/2026With deep regret I report I saw ABC-ESPN's first house ad for their broadcast of Super Bowl 61, five days after Super Bowl 60. It's gonna be a long year on the World Wide Leader. 000
