-- With all due respect to Josh Beckett, he’s not doing himself any favors when he glosses over the behavior of Red Sox players late last season by reminding us that the clubhouse should be sacrosanct.
If I were Beckett, I wouldn’t be focusing so much on whom ratted me out.
I’d be more focused on why.
But we’ll get to that on Friday.
-- Tim Thomas is a terrific goaltender and an even better story, and he is entitled to believe whatever he wants to believe, say whatever he wants to say, support whomever he wants to support.
Our country, after all, is built on those kinds of freedoms and on that type of individuality.
But still, have we reached the point where absolutely everything must be politicized, including a cookie-cutter visit to the White House that is now considered part of virtually every notable American sports achievement?
I mean, if we start doing that kind of stuff, shouldn’t fans start asking whether their quarterbacks, goaltenders and shortstops are Democrats or Republicans?
And yes, that all goes for anyone else - including Theo Epstein - who blows off the White House so as to (allegedly) make some kind of political statement.
-- Rob Gronkowski can dance all he wants and Gisele Bundchen can say whatever she pleases, though most of us certainly would have preferred that the Patriots had done more dancing in the end zone at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Still, if you’re going to use your smartphone to take pictures and video, can you just keep it as a personal memento instead of trying to become the next Adrian Zapruder?
At some point, people need to be people, and not newborn puppies in the pet store window.
-- Paul Pierce is a terrific scorer and tremendous competitor who forever who won many of us over with his performance during the 2008 NBA playoffs, particularly when he went nose-to-nose with both LeBron James and Kobe Bryant - and beat them both.
But with or without the points, Pierce is not quite Larry Bird.
That reminds me: no matter how much Bird couched it in his ESPN interview with Bill Simmons, he absolutely, positively was taking a dig at James’ shortcomings as a competitor.
And he’s right to.
