Red Sox/Liverpool owner John Henry has had better months (Photo: Boston Red Sox)

By BUNKY McCOY

• John Henry issued a late night (early morning?) mea culpa last Wednesday, apologizing for the
backlash around the failed European Super League project. The Principal Owner of your first-place Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club, Henry and other billionaire soccer owners got kicked in the face by a fanbase that felt no appetite for a venture that would change the face of international soccer. Sounds like an idea that should have remained in the hamper in the first place.

• Funny, I’m still waiting for Henry to issue an apology for signing off on trading Mookie Betts to
the Dodgers. Instead, we have to watch a Red Sox outfield that includes Hunter Renfroe (.176
batting average) and Frenchy Cordero (23 strikeouts in 45 at-bats).

• LINE OF THE WEEK comes from Ch. 12 sports gal Rosie Langello, who in response to someone
with the Twitter handle @supernanny8 replied, “Hate to be the one to tell you, this but it’s 2021
and A LOT of women talk about sports.”
• The enlightened @supernanny8 wrote, “What is it with chicks doing sports?” Guess we know how that person
spends their Saturday nights – alone on the couch.

• 2020 was not kind to the movie industry and that came across crystal clear during Sunday
night’s annual Oscars production. As you know, my Uncle Bunky was all about catching flicks,
yet he would probably agree that Sunday’s show was beyond boring and lacked star power –
not to mention any sort of funny bits or humor.

• As for where the actual Oscars festivities took place, on TV it seemed a cross between PPAC
and Rhodes on the Pawtuxet. Without the charm of a Gumba Factor, of course.

• Good luck to Hendricken alum Kwity Paye, who figures to hear his name called by
Commissioner Roger Goodell at some point in the first round of the NFL Draft. For you have
to go back to 1939 to find the last R.I.’er to go in the first round of the NFL Draft.
• On that subject, here’s this week’s trivia question: Name the last Rhode Islander to go in the
first round of the NFL Draft. The answer is near the bottom of the column.

• Last word on the NFL Draft: it’s not often you can sneak a fastball behind ESPN NFL Insider
Field Yates, but Kevin McNamara was able to bring the heat and drop the knowledge during
KMac’s latest “401 Podcast.” Yates was informed that Justin Fields – a quarterback who would
look good in a Patriots uniform – lived in the New Bedford area as a youngster before heading
down to Atlanta.

• There’s no truth to the rumor that the millionth person that signs up for their COVID shot will
be allowed to take a picture with the Independent Man.

• The Providence Journal All-State Boys Basketball Team is out, In a move that can only be
described as shocking, it does not include a member from Bishop Hendricken, which captured
this year’s Division I title. In the 90 years the Journal has done the All-State thing, there has
never been a D1 state champion that didn’t have a representative on either the second or first
team.

• Memo to Journal: Stats are overrated when you get to the Hendricken’s of the world. Winning counts.

• QUIZ ANSWER: Bill Osmanski, a Providence native, Central High star, was the sixth overall pick of the Chicago Bears.

• It’ll be breaking news when the day comes and I go check out a game at Polar Park, Bunky.

• Have to say I missed Providence College’s Q&A session with Rob Gronkowski last Friday night. I had business at the Club, after all. Come to think of it is the Big Fella losing his fastball hanging with the Friars instead of heading out to the Clubs?