John Henry loves you, Boston.
Well, let me rephrase: he loves Bo$ton.
Maybe there was a time when Henry’s passion for sports success in Boston was more genuine. Those days are long gone. Now the priority for the owner of the Red Sox is making money, and he might be eyeing another Boston-related way to do it.
Despite again pooh-poohing the rumors that his Fenway Sports Group is interested in buying the Boston Celtics, the rumors persist. The latest word of their renewed interest comes from an NBC Sports report via CLNS Media.
TRENDING: John Henry and Fenway Sports Group are expected to make a bid for the Celtics.
— Celtics on CLNS (@CelticsCLNS) January 20, 2025
Per @NBCSports
-
"The Fenway Sports Group — which owns the Boston Red Sox of the MLB, the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL, and the Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League—is… pic.twitter.com/DhuBKtUnrN
"The Fenway Sports Group — which owns the Boston Red Sox of the MLB, the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL, and the Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League—is also expected to make a bid,” the CLNS post on X read.
Several outlets have already come out with reporting denying these rumors, but this isn’t the first time we’ve heard them — and it may not be the last. There are some obstacles in the way — like current NBA player and Lakers star LeBron James being part of your ownership group — but I’m sure there are ways around them.
When push comes to shove, why wouldn’t Henry be interested in buying the Celtics? It’s beyond rare that a chance to purchase one of the marquee teams in all of sports becomes available, and in his (adopted) backyard no less?
But make no mistake (not that any of you are): the only green Henry potentially cares about here isn’t Celtic green, but the dollar signs popping out of his eyes. Even at a reported asking price of over $6 billion, there’s a lot of money to be made in buying the C’s.
If they're worth $6 billion in 2025, what will they be worth in 2030? 2040? 2050?
Here’s hoping that Henry & Co. stick to their word (I’m not holding my breath..) and stay away from the Celtics. If he doesn’t and becomes the next owner of the Celtics (yuck) — he’ll become a lot like Kyrie Irving.
At the time of Irving’s infamous Celtics tenure, I often called him “a superstar that played in Boston” and not “a Boston superstar.” Because we knew what really motivated Kyrie, and it wasn’t etching his place in Celtic lore.
Much like Irving, Henry is no longer “a Boston sports owner,” but “a businessman who owns Boston sports teams.” His love for Boston is conditional, and that condition is money…
Kraft gets his guy (again)
About this time last year, I wrote that Patriots owner Robert Kraft stuck to his plan in hiring Jerod Mayo — for better or worse.
It turned out to be for worse — in spectacular fashion.
But after making such a high-profile blunder, you would expect a Hall of Fame-worthy owner to learn from his mistakes and take the process more seriously this time around, right?
Nope, guess not.
Just as with Mayo, Kraft skirted that whole “due diligence” thing to bring in his guy, Mike Vrabel. He flouted the Rooney Rule (as most teams often do) with two candidates out of left field. Sure, he brought in the (second?) hottest coaching commodity of this cycle in Ben Johnson for an interview, but didn’t take much time after that.
Start to finish, the Pats’ coaching search lasted one week. Hey, at least it was longer than the one day he waited to annoint Mayo after firing Bill Belichick…
Now, I’m OK with the guy he chose, as are most Patriots fans. As I also wrote last year, Vrabel was the obvious choice that Kraft clearly should have hired from the get-go. While we all think Vrabel is the right guy and a good fit, I hesitate some because… well, Kraft was also convinced that Mayo was the right guy.
Why should we trust his gut this time? What has he done to earn that trust? Yes, he brought in Belichick. Outside of drafting Tom Brady, that will be among the top accomplishments of his football legacy.
But his track record since has been disastrous. Not just bad — disastrous.
As with everything else, time will tell.
Cooper Flagg, meet Jayson Tatum
There’s just something about those Duke guys…
The Blue Devils are college basketball royalty, even in the post-Mike Krzyzewski era. That much was clear on Saturday when Duke came to town to take on Boston College.
Oh, Duke… and all-world, local product Cooper Flagg.
The second the ticket gates opened at Conte Forum, fans were literally sprinting to the court to get a glimpse, a high-five or an autograph from Flagg. He did not disappoint, putting on quite the show with 28 points, five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals.
Long story short, this kid is legit.
Of course, nobody was surprised by Flagg’s dominance of the Eagles (it’s about time for Earl Grant to start updating his resume…). The 18-year-old Newport, Maine native is already a lock to be the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft.
Yet even the best of the best in college go through a learning curve once they reach the pros, and I couldn’t help but wonder what his will look like as he tore apart my Eagles (seriously, the Earl Grant era needs to end…).
As it turns out, Flagg himself is already turning to his Duke counterparts in the NBA for help. Namely one Jayson Tatum, who he and his teammates watched in person at TD Garden on Friday as they took on fellow ex-Blue Devil Paolo Banchero and the Magic.
“They just touched on just staying hungry and staying prepared,” Flagg told me when I asked him what advice Tatum and Banchero gave him. “(They said) it’s a long season, and just to keep going.”
Flagg seems destined for NBA superstardom, and a (totally unfair) comp I kept coming to as I watched him was “LeBron James.” No, I doubt he’ll have as legendary a career as one of the literal two best players to ever do it, but Flagg plays the game the right way with a team-first approach.
And when those moments come for him to take control, he’s more than up to the task…
Bruins avoid (latest) rock bottom
For two-plus periods on Monday, it sure looked like the Bruins were about to lose to the Worcester Sharks.
Sorry... San Jose Sharks.
Boston played its now-too-usual brand of disjointed hockey, looking like they were the Sharks’ equals for much of the night… and that’s a real problem, because San Jose is literally the worst team in the NHL.
Fortunately, in rode Charlie Coyle to save the day with two third-period goals to overcome a 3-2 deficit and pave the way to what on paper looked like a good 6-3 win (that included a pair of empty-netters, which are no sure thing for the B’s these days…).
“They have a lot of skill over there,” Coyle told me about the surprisingly pesky, upstart Sharks. “You’ve gotta be hard on skill. They can make their plays, and it happens. It’s never a perfect game, but it doesn’t have to be.”
While there’s truth in that — including the highly-touted skillset of reigning No. 1 pick and Boston University product Macklin Celebrini — the B’s should not be letting teams like this hang around as long as they did.
It’s more evidence of a dysfunctional team, to me. That, and the way Brad Marchand went over the top in refuting a report by WEEI’s Rich Keefe (who, you know, was right on the money and first on the news that the Bruins had fired Jim Montgomery. Oh, and that Jeremy Swayman wanting north of $10 million… and that the B’s had signed Swayman) that the locker room “is a disaster” and David Pastrnak didn't want to play on the same line as him after Marchand purportedly (and rightly so) called him out internally on his play this season.
Now, I’m not surprised that Marchand pushed back on this report (which I am entirely inclined to believe, given Keefe’s track record), but I was taken aback by the way he refuted it. I can’t remember the last time I saw an athlete respond so vitriolically to a report.
Most of the time, guys say “that’s not true” and shrug it off. For Marchand to go nuclear here is pretty telling to me… and it makes me believe there’s something to it.
Marchy is the captain and the No. 1 voice of accountability in that room. It clearly touched on a sore spot, and he reacted in kind. I’ve long written this season that Marchand’s leadership, as much as I love him, should increasingly be placed under the microscope.
Yes, the B’s aren’t fully bottoming out. Yes, Pastrnak’s game is starting to come around again. But the results are the results, and these Bruins continue to be unable to put forth a consistent winning product.
The blame for that, now the “can the coach” card has already been played, lies squarely on Marchand's and his teammates’ shoulders…