Random Two Cents --- Celts Can't Kill 'Em, Gronk's a Legend On & Off The Field, and How The Rocket Earned His Name

Celtics can't close, Gronk sleeps it off on the trainer's table, the TMZ circus rolls on, Clemens gets the escort, and a Sox prospect in Portland putting up some video game numbers.

• What is it with this Tatum/Brown iteration of the Celtics? Why can’t they cut the throat of the opponent in a playoff series when they have them on the ropes? Nah, let’s let them hang around and make things interesting when we absolutely don’t have to do so. Maddening to me.

• Speaking of the Celtics and Game 5— when the game was getting tight in the fourth, Crazy Joe went back to the starters who basically stunk all night as a unit. Hauser and White were awful. Why wasn’t Pritchard used more?

• With the Sox playing such thrilling ball here in ‘26, forget about heading to Fenway and take a trip down to Maine and check out Sox top prospect, 20 year old shortstop, Franklin Arias. Kid is crushing. Arias is hitting .420, slugging .920 with a 1.412 OPS. Seven home runs in his first 15 games. And he doesn’t hit left-handed! Yay!!! Finally!!!

• Gronk, congrats on getting inducted into the Patriots HOF. Well deserved. Adam Vinatieri should be in before you, but as a loyal fan of CTC said yesterday on social media, it shouldn’t be an either/or situation on one ballot with those two names on it.

• While we are on the subject of Gronk— I heard an ex-Patriot talking about Gronk’s early years with the Patriots and how he would go out on the town with his boys and as they would be on their way home, Gronk would get dropped off at the stadium at like 3am and go into the locker room and hop up on a trainers table to sleep it off. The trainers would get in a couple/three hours later and find him there. Then they would roll up his sleeve and stick an IV in him so when he woke up he’d be fresh as a daisy and ready to hit the practice field. Legend.

• Welcome to the land of TMZ, Mike Vrabel. Being followed and harassed through airports as you buy the wife a hoodie etc. I mean, to a degree, you reap what you sow. As I’ve stated, I LOVE this guy as a coach, and I hope this all hasn’t become too much of a distraction. He belongs on the field coaching football.

• Now a report has come out that Diana Russini slept with Rams HC Sean McVay back when she was covering the Redskins in Washington back in 2015 and fellow ESPN reporter at the time, Britt McHenry, also slept with him and they had a drunken fight over Coach McVay. McVay was a coach with Washington at the time. Once a story like Vrabel/Russini hits, the TMZ’s of the world just run absolutely wild to dig up other shit. It’s incredible. Never-ending.

• Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of Roger Clemens’ record setting 20-strikeout game at Fenway against the Mariners. Few fun facts about that game. He was stuck in traffic with his wife driving and he decided to jump out of the car, chuck his cowboy boots in the trunk and throw on running shoes and run to the park. A cop happened to see him and instead split the seas for him and the wife to drive and get to Fenway. He showed up 30 minutes before the game. Got called into manager’s office and told he wasn’t starting. He demanded the ball and got his way. Rest is history. 20 K’s and NO walks. White House called his apartment when he got home and invited him to visit. That was also the night he was nicknamed “The Rocket”, by fellow starting pitcher, Bruce Hurst.

• If you haven’t checked out the Hulk Hogan documentary on Netflix— do so. It was three parts. Well done. Now people like his daughter Brooke and other wrestlers have come out to dispute parts of it and wonder why other things weren’t included, but it’s still a well done doc.

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