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Month: April 2025

The all-time worst Boston sports team logo?

April 20, 2025

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After making my bold first-round Celtics playoffs prediction, I stumbled upon these old Celtics logos. I don’t recall ever seeing the jaw-droppingly bad 1950 and 1960 logos. … For obvious reasons, Celts fans seem to have purged them from collective memory. … But is the 1950-1960 Celts logo (we’ll count ‘em as one from here on) the all-time worst Boston sports team logo? The 1950s Red Sox logo is indeed pretty disturbing. … And the little-known Pats tri-corn hat logo from 1960 and the dead-on-arrival ‘Super Patriot’ logo (scroll down) from 1979 are both pretty damn wretched. …

So which among them is the worst? The Sox’s ‘50s logo is arguably so bad it’s good. The Celts 1950-1960 logo is just plain bad. So it comes down to the Pats’ tri-corn hat or Super Patriot. The tri-corn hat looks like a Batman logo, making it an obvious strong contender for worst Boston logo ever. But I’m going with the trial-balloon Super Patriot. How bad is it? Fans voted for Pat Patriot over Super Patriot during a half-time logo contest in 1979. It’s that bad. And it’s shocking Billy Sullivan even considered it as a logo. … Btw: I’ve also never been a big fan of Pat Patriot or the current Pats logo. … Btw II: the Bruins have a record of handsome, understated logos. Good for them.
The Celts in five? I don’t know about that

April 20, 2025

The Globe’s Gary Washburn and the Herald’s Zack Cox are both picking the Celts in five against the Magic. And it’s not just hometown bias as work. The folks at CBS Sports are predicting the Celts in four of five. … I’m pessimistic by nature when it comes to Boston sports teams before and during big games/series. I’m like a little kid who covers his face with a blanket during scary parts of a movie. As an adult, I’ll often change the channel during scary parts of big game. … Anyway, the Celts sweeping or winning in five against the second best defensive team in the NBA? Against a team that went 2-1 against the Celts this past season? I don’t know. I see the Celts in a tough 6.

Here’s the schedule for the Celts-Magic series that starts at 3:30 today, ABC.

Update — 4.21.25 – Like I said, Celts in four games. …

Update II — 4.22.25 – OK, it’s back to Celts in six. From the Globe: “Celtics forward Jayson Tatum listed as doubtful for Wednesday night’s Game 2 against the Magic.”

Update III — 4.24.25 – It’s back to Celts in four. … Thanks goodness I’m not a gambler.
China’s threat to Boston’s biotech sector: It’s real

April 18, 2025

Here’s yet more proof that Globe reporter Kara Miller’s recent piece on the Chinese threat to Boston’s biotech industry was unfortunately right on target. From a new report issued by the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology: “Based on two years of research and consultation with private and public experts, this report comes to a sobering, even frightening, conclusion: China is quickly ascending to biotechnology dominance.” … NSCEB report via John Ellis’s News Items. … More on the local biotech sector’s woes here.
Alternative reality: What if Paul Revere had never made his midnight ride?

April 18, 2025

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A Patriots’ Day wouldn’t be a Patriots’ Day without someone, somewhere trying to debunk some aspect of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem about Paul Revere’s midnight ride into history. On the 250^th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington & Concord, this year’s Paul Revere debunking honors go to the staff at the Paul Revere House in Boston, as reported at WBUR. … J. Bell isn’t going down the old Paul Revere debunking road. Instead, he’s asking a cool question: What would have happened if Revere and Billy Dawes had never made their midnight ride? He’s riffing off of Kostya Kennedy’s new book ‘The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America.’

I haven’t read Kennedy’s book. But for my money, David Hackett Fischer’s Paul Revere’s Ride still reigns supreme as the best book on all things Revere, Lexington & Concord, and Longfellow.
Get your local Trump fix here: Harvard’s vast real estate holdings at risk … The Enemies List. … ‘Trump fatigue’ … ‘Worse than thought’ etc.

April 18, 2025

Suffering from TDS? Need a fix? You’ve come to the right place. Here’s all things Trump in one handy-dandy post. … The Globe’s Catherine Carlock asks a good question about the president going after Harvard’s tax-exempt status: What does it mean for Harvard’s massive real estate holdings? It means some pretty hefty local property tax bills if Harvard doesn’t prevail. … Speaking of Harvard, from WBUR: “Abrupt visa terminations leave Mass. international students with uncertain future in the U.S.” … The NYT’s Tom Friedman is afraid, very afraid, and he’s right to be so in terms of America losing its political and economic standing in the world. … Karl Rove at the WSJ: “America Gets Trump Fatigue.’ (Yes, that Karl Rove.) … The Globe’s Larry Edelman warns local businesses that they may yet end up on the Trump administration’s enemies list. Think: fed contracts. … U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren sounds shellshocked by the White House’s 24/7 assault on the senses. (“This is so bad, so much worse than we thought.”) …

… And last but not least: I stumbled upon The Economist’s somewhat new (I assume) ‘Trump Tracker.’ The president’s poll numbers aren’t shifting as much as thought or hoped. Note to Dems: the Trump Tracker’s top five issues of concern for Americans are inflation, jobs/economy, health care, immigration, and taxes and government spending – and NOT identity-politics issues.
The BCBS Operating Loss Diet: Cutting out Ozempic, WeGovy etc.

April 18, 2025

I’m surprised this story isn’t getting a bit more play, i.e. the move by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to stop covering popular weight-loss drugs for non-diabetics, as the Globe reports. … BCBS says it’s responding to widespread complaints from employers about the high cost of GLP-1 meds like Ozempic and WeGovy. But I think it’s safe to say Blue Cross’s recent $400 million operating loss also had something to do with the decision. The Globe piece makes clear other insurers and providers are struggling under the financial weight of GLP-1 meds (pun not intended — originally).
‘Eephus’: Baseball banter at its finest

April 18, 2025

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If you can, try to catch a screening of ‘Eephus,’ a “quintessentially Massachusetts baseball film” that’s playing later this month at the Center for the Arts in Natick. WGBH had a nice piece the other day on the independent flick that was shot in Douglas, Mass. and directed by New England native Carson Lund. Bill “Spaceman” Lee makes a cameo appearance in the film, as does Joe Castiglione. … I saw ‘Eephus’ last month at the Dedham Community Theater – and it’s definitely worth a viewing. Eephus is not a gooey, baseball-is-a-metaphor-for-life movie, though it does get sentimental at times. …. The real star of the film? The banter between middle-aged men playing one last recreational baseball game on an old town ballfield destined for redevelopment. The back-and-forth chatter between the characters, many of them played by local actors, is quintessentially New England. They pretty much nail down the local accents as well as the constant ribbing and wisecracks we’re known for around the country.

For those wondering: Here’s a definition of Eephus, a type of baseball pitch.
It’s begun: Hundreds laid off or furloughed at UMass Medical, hiring freeze at Harvard, all tied to you-know-who

April 16, 2025

And it’s only going to get worse. From the BBJ: “200 laid off or furloughed at UMass Medical due to NIH cuts.” … From the Globe: “Harvard urges researchers to limit spending, cease hiring if projects are affected by Trump funding freeze.” … The BBJ reports that the Wyss Institute is taking a $20 million hit due to Trump’s freeze, but its founder says the impacted employees are staying – at least for now.

Update — 4.17.25 – From the Harvard Crimson (via CB): “At Grim Town Hall, Harvard Medical School Leaders Tell Staff to Expect Layoffs and Far-Reaching Cuts.”
Fond memories: Bicentennial, Concord, Mass., 1975

April 16, 2025

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Here’s a photo of the Sudbury Minutemen reenactors marching through Concord center 50 years ago, as part of the 200^th anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Lexington & Concord. What a special day. And what a special photo. That’s my father, Maurice J. Fitzgerald, second row, center, with the white tricorn hat. He was a former honorary colonel of the Sudbury Companies of Militia & Minute, so he got to march at the front of the militia with other past and present colonels. Along with other youths, I marched at the way back of the Sudbury contingent that day. I vividly remember the huge crowds in Concord, sometimes four or five people deep, and the constant roar of cheers and applause as we and other area militia groups marched through the town center. As I said, what a special day.

And here’s a schedule of events for this weekend’s 250th anniversary celebrations across the region. If you have kids, definitely bring them to one of the reenactments. They’ll love it.
From opioids to meth: Maine’s ‘cyclone of misery’

April 16, 2025

The NYT reports that many opioid addicts in Portland, Maine and elsewhere are shifting to untreatable methamphetamine, i.e. meth. From the Times: “This pretty foodie mecca has become yet another American city to be overwhelmed by meth — not the home-cooked biker party drug from the ’90s, but a far more dangerous concoction, mass-produced in Mexican cartel labs.”