Picked-up pieces while holding my breath and waiting for the ruling of Tom Brady’s en banc petition for rehearing before the full US Court of Appeals . . .
■ Can’t fault Brady for fighting his suspension all the way to the Supreme Court, but it’s better for the Patriots if the suspension is upheld and Brady sits out the first four games. It gives the team a chance to find out what they have in Jimmy Garoppolo without threatening their birthright atop the Tomato Can AFC East. The high court drama is great for sports talk, but I’m betting Bill Belichick would like to have a little clarity regarding his QB situation as the Patriots prepare for summer camp.
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■ It didn’t get the attention of Spygate or Deflategate, but MLB certainly caught the previous Red Sox regime cheating in regard to signing teen prospects from Latin America. Baseball spanked the Sox with unprecedented sanctions, including the loss of five prospects. By any measure, it’s another notch in the loss column for former general manager Ben Cherington. The Sox were overpaying marginal prospects to get better prospects in package deals. Sounds like something right out of John Calipari’s playbook.
■ Just like that, the Warriors went from most loved to most hated. LeBron James will have most of the country rooting for him during next year’s NBA Finals.
■ More analytics for Red Sox pitchers. Swell. That ought to straighten things out. How is Brian Bannister supposed to quantify heart and mental makeup? How about telling the fellows to pitch inside once in a while to make hitters a little less comfortable? Putting a director of pitching analysis and development into a uniform is the worst idea since the Boston Olympic bid.
■ Speaking of the Cult of Bill James, Syracuse University is now offering analytics as a major. Wonder if they’ll let me sit in on a few classes for fun. The Quantification of Ball Screens 101 sounds like a dandy.
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■ Theo Epstein will have authorship of 11 All-Stars in San Diego.
■ Mets fans presented themselves as clueless boobs when they stood and cheered for accused wife beater Jose Reyes upon his return to Citi Field on Tuesday. Like to think that wouldn’t happen here. Remember Wil Cordero?
■ The exit speed of David Ortiz’s home run off the Rangers on Wednesday night was 116.2 miles per hour. Unbelievable.
■ Good luck to Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah playing with Carmelo Anthony. Do they know the Knicks have won one playoff series in the last 16 years?
■ Amazing that both Atlanta and Texas are building new baseball parks. The Rangers’ current stadium opened in 1994. The Braves started playing at Turner Field in 1997.
■ There’s a movement afoot to get Bob Cousy’s name in front of President Obama for consideration for a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Sign me up.
■ If you want to beat the Yankees (a lot of teams are doing this), you’d better be ahead after six innings. The Yanks are 15-1 when Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, and Aroldis Chapman pitch in the same game.
■ Can everyone just stop with the Johnny Manziel news updates? Mental illness/drug abuse is not funny. Manziel is no longer a sports figure. He is a tragic figure who needs help. No need for any more updates for the amusement of fans, writers, and talk show hosts.
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■ The Red Sox get props for sending 50-year employee Steve Russo on the road trip of his choice later in the summer. The loyal employee started as an usher during the 1967 season. He chose Anaheim. Smart guy.
■ Hope the Montreal Canadiens get what they richly deserve for trading P.K. Subban because he was not reverent enough to his coach and organization. What is the French word for “dopes?”
■ I know we went though this before the Olympics in Atlanta, Athens, Sochi, and London — there’s always a buzz that the next Olympic site is not ready and it’s going to be a nightmare — but Rio de Janeiro sounds truly frightening on every level. Best of luck to Globe teammates Powers, Springer, Washburn, Thurston, and Gasper.
■ Bob Kraft eyeing the old Bayside Expo Center for a new stadium for the Revolution reminds me of the early days of the Kraft Patriot ownership when the Krafts offended Mayor Menino and most of Southie by trying to build a playpen for the Patriots in South Boston.
■ Underrated story of the spring was Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton fulfilling his obligations to Golden State while no doubt eagerly awaiting his chance to get started as head coach of the Lakers.
■ Congratulations to the Groton-Dunstable Regional High School baseball team, honored at Fenway on Wednesday. The Crusaders won the Division 3 state championship and finished 23-0, the first Massachusetts high school baseball team to run the table in eight years.
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■ Pass Go and collect $200 if you know that Coastal Carolina, while finishing its time in the Big South Conference, won the College Baseball World Series in Omaha. Not as cool as Holy Cross winning the thing back in 1952, but pretty cool nonetheless.
■ This is the 40th anniversary of Mark Fidrych’s 19-win rookie season with the Tigers, which took America by storm in the bicentennial summer of ’76. MLB Network will debut “The Bird,” a documentary on Fidrych’s life, on Sunday at 10 p.m. The pride of Northborough and Algonquin Regional, Fidrych was one of baseball’s all-time good guys and continued doing charity work until his premature death while working on his truck seven years ago.
■ Ken Griffey Jr. will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 24. Like a lot of people, Griffey struggled with depression as a teenager. A recent Sports Illustrated profile reported that Griffey ingested 277 aspirin in a suicide attempt when he was 18 years old and the top baseball prospect in the country. It’s a reminder that there are thousands of at-risk kids out there, even some kids who appear to have everything going their way.
■ Belated thoughts and prayers to former Red Sox manager Joe Morgan, who lost his bride, Dottie, after a long illness. Dot was one of the greats. She had opinions and she stood by her man. We forever stand by Walpole Joe.
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Dan Shaughnessy can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com