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DAN SHAUGHNESSY

Let’s ease up on Hanley Ramirez, and pile on Cam Newton

How did Hanley become the poster child for <i>everything</i> that was wrong with the Red Sox? Where do we start with Cam?

Hanley Ramirez and Cam Newton.Jim Davis/Globe staff/File 2015; Monica M. Davey/EPA/File/EPA

Picked-up pieces while waiting for the first aging Red Sox player who arrives in Florida “in the best shape of my career . . .”

■   Let me be the first to say that I think folks are being too hard on Hanley Ramirez. He is not the devil. The Red Sox have had bigger busts. How did Hanley become the poster child for everything that was wrong with the team last year? Give him another shot. Let’s see what happens this year before making him the Fenway pinata again.

■   Where do we start with Cam Newton? He’s young. He’s wildly talented. But everything about his Super Bowl week stinks.

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In the end, he was the leader of a team of front-runners. Newton and the Panthers were great when things were easy. Ultimate front-runners. They choreographed their touchdown dances. They were overconfident. When they got punched in the mouth, they did not know what to do.

Newton disgraced himself when he stepped away from his own fumble instead of diving into the pile in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. He quit. After the game, he sulked. He went Full Rondo on us. From Superman to Super Fraud. He made no apologies for any of it.

Days after the game, Newton made things worse, taking no responsibility for his failure to compete on the fumble play. He can get dozens of future cover shoots, and more MVPs, but his reputation stays in the dumper until he gets back to a Super Bowl and makes things right.

Folks around here pile on LeBron James and Peyton Manning. Neither ever embarrassed himself in a big game like Newton.

■   It is hard to fathom the sorry state of the Boston College athletic program at this hour. The Eagles still have a great hockey team (they just won one of the best Beanpots ever), but football and basketball have hit rock bottom.

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Much-maligned Al Skinner looks pretty good to BC hoop fans at this juncture. The Eagle cagers are on track to be one of the worst teams in ACC history. Football, meanwhile, is a mess. The Eagles are winless in the ACC in both sports thus far this academic year.

It’s amazing that a school as hot and attractive as BC can’t land more top recruits. Lucky for BC, local sports fans don’t seem to care about it too much anymore. It’s as if they’ve given up.

■   Industrial Justice Dept.: Why does everyone assume that the vacating of Tom Brady’s suspension will be upheld by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals?

OK, we all hate the NFL bosses. Roger Goodell is a buffoon. Got it. But try to remember that the March 3 court hearing regarding the NFL’s appeal of Judge Richard Berman’s ruling is not about ideal gas law and the PSI levels of the footballs. It’s supposed to be about the punishing powers of the commissioner, which, sadly, may allow Goodell to abuse the power the players keep giving him.

The bottom line is that the NFL Players Association needs to do a better job in collective bargaining. It needs to fix its CBA. It cannot always bank on a fanboy judge (“Tom had a higher completion percentage in the second half”) getting caught up in celebrity and ruling in favor of players who have been bullied or unfairly punished. Fix the agreement.

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■   It’s unfair to punish greatness, but does anyone think Connecticut’s dominance in women’s basketball is good for the sport? I admit I loved it when Lew Alcindor dominated at UCLA, and Bill Walton’s 88-game win streak with the Bruins was a thing of beauty.

UConn feels different. The Huskies are never threatened. Every time I see a score crawl, they are beating somebody by 40, sometimes ranked teams. Last Monday, they went to South Carolina and easily handled the No. 2 Gamecocks. Every great high school girl wants to play for Geno Auriemma. Boring.

■   During the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, after Beyonce’s appearance at halftime, the New York Mets announced that she’ll be playing at Citi Field June 7. The Red Sox, meanwhile, keep adding to their Fenway summer concert schedule. Who’s next at Fenway? Three Dog Night? The Kingston Trio? Iron Butterfly?

■   Makes me feel old when Danny Ainge tells me he has 14 grandchildren.

■   Sad to hear of the passing of Walt “No Neck” Williams in late January. Those of us who followed the 1967 Red Sox remember No Neck successfully backing up a play at first base . . . while he was playing right field!

■   Bill Belichick was among those saddened by the death of former Colts head coach Ted Marchibroda. Most Patriots fans know that Marchibroda is the man who first hired Belichick as a gopher/driver/intern for $25 per week in 1975.

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There’s another bit of trivia attached to this great coach. In 1955, the year after he got out of the Army, Marchibroda won a roster spot with the Pittsburgh Steelers, beating out a young quarterback named Johnny Unitas.

■   Former BC soccer star Stephanie McCaffrey, daughter of former Holy Cross hoop star Jim McCaffrey (drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 1986), is with the US Olympic team, which is currently competing in qualifying competition in Texas.

■   Around Madison Square Garden, the drumbeat has already begun for media darling Tom Thibodeau, but if the Knicks don’t stick with interim Kurt Rambis as head coach, they should take a chance on Luke Walton. And while we’re making recommendations to New York teams, can we all agree that the Jets would be so much more interesting with Colin Kaepernick at quarterback?

■   Here’s perspective: The Frisco Independent School District in suburban Dallas (comprising eight high schools) just inked a $1.74 million agreement to make Nike its official equipment provider. The schools also will use the Dallas Cowboys new indoor practice facility (essentially a domed stadium), which city funds help build.

■   According to SCP Auctions, Red Auerbach’s 1981 NBA championship ring fetched $82,727. John Havlicek and Bob Cousy have also worked with the auction house.

■   Retired names and numbers at the Mullins Center in UMass pay homage to Julius Erving, Al Skinner, Lou Roe, Marcus Camby, John Calipari, and George “Trigger” Burke.

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Who is Trigger Burke? He starred at Quincy High and UMass, graduated from college in 1956, and has donated more than a million dollars to UMass. He heads up the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame. Now 83, and still in Quincy, Burke says, “The vote to retire Calipari’s name was unanimous. Coach Calipari is well-respected at the University of Massachusetts.’’

■   The Wall Street Journal notes that, at the All-Star break, the NBA’s three worst 3-point shooters (among the 76 players with at least 180 attempts) are LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Russell Westbrook. Bron is at the bottom, hitting 27.7 percent.

■   Corey Robinson, the son of David Robinson, and a wide receiver for the Fighting Irish, was elected student body president at Notre Dame.


Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Dan_Shaughnessy