The Boston Sunday Sports Section
More Alike Than Different
One of the two biggest stars on the U.S. sports scene this week has the first name Ogugua.
The other has the first name Folarin.
You likely know them better as ‘OG’ Anunoby and ‘Flo’ Balogun.
International soccer and NBA Finals basketball rarely intersect, but this week they did in producing two instant legends.
Diego Maradona had the illegal ‘hand of God’ goal the last time the World Cup was in Mexico (this year’s event is co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico); OG had the very much legal ‘fingertips of God’ game-winning tip-in to cap the Knicks’ miracle comeback from down 29 to win Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
Balogun became the first U.S. player to score two goals in a World Cup game in nearly 100 years. In 1930, Fall River’s own Bert Patenaude scored a hat trick — also against Paraguay.
Both Anunoby and Balogun are sons of Nigerian immigrants.
Their journeys to stardom were in some ways mirror images of each other.
In Anunoby’s case, he was born in London. His father was a finance professor, and when OG was four, they moved from London to Jefferson City, Missouri (talk about culture shock). OG got very into basketball and, at age eight, convinced his father to buy a basketball hoop for their backyard. His father, Ogugua Sr., bought it on one condition that I am sure many parents out there can relate to: OG had to promise he would actually use it.
And unlike so many kids’ promises that they will use that fancy catcher gear or walk that cute puppy, OG sure enough did, and now Ogugua Sr. (who really should be known as ‘The OG OG’) said with his finance professor background, it turned out to be ‘a very good investment.’
OG Anunoby’s game-winning tip-in propels New York to its first NBA title in 53 years. Photo Credit: Vincent Carchietta / Imagn Images
Balogun journeyed across the Atlantic in the opposite direction. He was born in Brooklyn, but his family moved to London when he was an infant. At age 10, an Arsenal scout saw him playing in a youth tournament and approached his father about young Folarin trying out for the Arsenal academy (a feeder system for the Premier League club). His father was similarly approached by a Tottenham scout.
For a short stretch, Folarin tried out with both clubs. On Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, he trained with Arsenal and the rest of the week with Tottenham. As a young Arsenal fan, he hoped to make the Arsenal academy, and when he did, he signed with the club.
He currently plays for AS Monaco in France’s Ligue 1 when he is not leading the US World Cup team to victories.
Two Nigerian fathers support their sons in developing their natural talents while insisting that the sons put in the work. Two ‘instant’ stars after years of hard work.
Contrast this with a Nigerian friend of mine, whom I will call ‘Manny’ so as not to reveal his real name, though to my knowledge he is not hiding from immigration authorities inside the Green Monster. Manny is in the United States legally and in the process of going through the immigration system.
Best I can tell, the US immigration system was designed by prompting ChatGPT to build the most complicated, backward, and slow process possible — one that discourages people from migrating legally and thus feeds the illegal immigration problem. And to be clear, this is a bipartisan failure decades in the making, not the work of any one administration. Both parties have had their turns, and both have left it broken.
Manny and his family live in an apartment complex. As the only black people in the building, Manny tells his children to just keep their heads down when they leave the apartment and not talk to anybody for fear that a neighbor will think they are here illegally and call the authorities. Manny’s wife, despite being educated, works the kind of healthcare job cleaning up after other people that you only take when you don’t have better opportunities.
The contrast was too striking for me to ignore. We fete the athletic superstars while the regular, hard-working folks from a war-torn country live in fear.
Sports, at their best, can serve as a bridge between people from all walks of life and across many cultures.
With the world coming to America for the next month for the World Cup, and not in a Prince Akeem and Semmi with the ‘royal bathers’ kind of way, let’s remember that as humans we are more alike than different, that we are parents trying to support our kids so they have a good life, and kids trying to navigate a new country, language, or school.
And the world isn’t just coming to America — it’s coming here. Seven World Cup matches are being played at Gillette Stadium this summer, which is being rebranded ‘Boston Stadium’ for the occasion.
Haiti and Scotland kicked it off last night, with England, France, Morocco, Iraq, Norway, Ghana, plus a Round of 32 match and a quarterfinal still to come, opponents TBD.
Taylor Swift, wearing her ‘Stevie Knicks’ t-shirt to Game 4, probably didn’t care whether OG was from Nigeria, the fictitious Zamunda, or Jefferson City when he tipped in the game-winner. On her hit song ‘Mean’, Taylor sings, ‘one day, I’ll be living in the big old city, and all you’re ever gonna be is mean. Why you gotta be so mean?’
Let’s not have it take a game-winning tip-in or two goals in the World Cup to be kind to each other as fellow humans making our way through life on planet Earth.
Two Weeks to Save a Season
Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy came out this week and issued an ultimatum of sorts to the Red Sox players and coaching staff. He spared Craig Breslow, saying letting him go was not on the table, though I am skeptical of that, and what else was he going to say?
Readers of either the weekly Boston Sunday Sports Section or Boston Daily Sports Recaps already know my feelings about Breslow, so let’s focus on the ultimatum part.
Appearing on The Greg Hill Show Thursday, June 11th, Kennedy called the team’s then 27-39 record ‘embarrassing and unacceptable, maddening and frustrating.’
Ya think, Sam.
As a Kennedy known for being a glass-is-six-sevenths-full type, I am glad you at least recognize that Fenway is not exactly Camelot these days.
And as Terry Lyons notes, at least now we know for sure this mess wasn’t Alex Cora’s fault.
But I have lived in Massachusetts long enough not to take anything coming out of any Kennedy’s mouth at face value. Especially Sam Kennedy, who brings to mind the ‘I Don’t Believe You’ meme every time his lips move.
Which, I guess, is better than the Spider-Man meme between Breslow and Chaim Bloom.
He might as well just come out as John Henry’s highly compensated human shield and say ‘Read my lips, no new luxury taxes’.
But Kennedy made one other comment, perhaps of greater importance.
“Unless things change dramatically, we may have to pivot here from what our initial planning was. It wouldn’t be responsible to do otherwise… here in mid-June, we need to see what happens over the next couple of weeks, and then we’ll reassess.”
According to reports, that ‘initial planning’ was to add a right-handed bat. The calls for that have subsided both as the Red Sox have plummeted down the Wild Card standings and as the offense has been reasonably good the past few weeks. Unfortunately, the otherworldly pitching has tailed off since the exceptional stretch in the first half of May.
I do give Kennedy credit for calling the moment and saying what needed to be said. However, he did not provide specifics on what qualifies as dramatic change.
So I am going to share my perspective, if I were in Kennedy’s or Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow’s shoes, of what I would need to see in the next two weeks to become a buyer, what would have me hold and evaluate for two more weeks (until the All-Star break) and what would have me be first to market as a seller.
There are three dimensions:
Record and Standings – what would my criteria be for the team’s record over the next two weeks and where they would need to be in the Wild Card Standings?
Injury Situation – both the status of Crochet and Anthony and any significant new injuries.
Vibe Check – this is fuzzier and squishier, and there is a correlation with winning; I would want to see vibes around Fenway be different, with the team winning in certain ways against certain opponents.
Record and Standings
Since Kennedy’s comments, the Red Sox have won two in a row to move to 29-39. That is a 69-win pace, which would match the 2012 Sons of Bobby Valentine for the worst 162-game season record since 1965.
Bobby V. ran for mayor of Stamford, CT, a few years back – in a development I am sure will shock you, he lost.
Bobby V. also claims to have invented The Wrap as a type of sandwich, which I believe the Earl of Stamford came up with while surfing Al Gore’s Internet.
Let’s assume Kennedy’s evaluation period covers Friday, June 12th, through Sunday, June 28th, which is the last of a four-game home series against the Yankees.
The Red Sox are scheduled to play 16 games in that period.
They started the stretch in a promising fashion by scoring a Fenway season-high ten runs in a 10-1 Friday night victory versus Texas. On Saturday, Boston followed it with a 6-3 win, giving the Red Sox their first series win at home in more than two months. The Sox are now 2-8-1 in series at the Fens.
To go back to the originally reported plan of looking for a right-handed-hitting slugger, and even taking on money to do so, I would need to see the team go at least 12-4 over that stretch (now 10-4).
That would put them at 39-43, one game past the midway point of the season.
They currently trail the third Wild Card by five games, but there are five teams ahead of them. To become a buyer, I would need to be within 3 games and trail no more than 3 teams. One need only look back to the 2025 Red Sox to find a team in a similar position. After 82 games last year, Boston was 40-42, two games out of the third wild card and trailed Cleveland, Texas, and the LA Angels (!!).
And as you may recall, the front office had recently mobilized to buy Kyle Harrison, James Tibbs III, and Jordan Hicks. And would later continue the savvy work by flipping Tibbs for Dustin May before the Dodgers could say no.
And you can make the argument that it will be easier to catch the teams ahead of them this year, given none of them are currently over .500.
To hold through the All-Star break, they would need to go 10-6 and be within four games of the Wild Card. In any other circumstance, they would become a seller with Aroldis Chapman, who has made just three appearances in 24 games on the block.
Injury Situation
Garrett Crochet is on the 60 Day IL and currently hoping to be back just after the All-Star break. Roman Anthony is not swinging a bat without pain. Both have been frustrated by the slow progress in their recovery from injury.
My second criterion for flipping back to a buyer, or even holding, would be a high level of confidence that both will be back shortly after the All-Star break (the post-break schedule starts with a doubleheader on July 17th). The Sox would also have needed to avoid any other significant injuries to players like Contreras, Rafaela, Duran, Abreu, Gray, Sanchez, Tolle, Early, Whitlock, and Chapman in the meantime.
The Vibes
Sox need three types of wins during this stretch.
Wins at home: They are off to a good start here.
Wins against the Yankees: The Yankees, even without Judge, are the only very good 2026 team Boston so far faces during this period. The Red Sox host New York for four games to close this stretch. Toronto and Seattle are talented enough teams to have played for the American League pennant last season, but both are off to middling starts this season.
I would need Boston to win at least two of the four against New York to show they can compete with the big boys. There are five teams in MLB with winning percentages above .600. Boston has played four of them so far – New York (1-4), Tampa (1-5), Atlanta (2-4) and Milwaukee (2-1). That adds up to a 6-14 record for a .300 winning percentage. Why even bother making the playoffs if you can’t beat the good teams once you get there?
Overall, the Red Sox are 12-20 versus teams above .500.
Comeback wins: The Red Sox lead the Majors in ninth-inning runs.
They are also 0-36 when trailing after 8 innings.
Basically, they bludgeon low-leverage relievers and/or position players after a game is out of hand, as they did by scoring ten runs in the ninth against Baltimore the day Alex Cora was fired. However, they can’t touch other teams’ closers or come up clutch when it matters. This is where the lack of home run power hurts because it is tough to piece together hits against other teams’ high-leverage arms.
They are an incredible 0-28 when trailing by three runs or more at any point in a game this season.
If you need a heart transplant, I hope you are not relying on the 2026 Red Sox to be your donor.
The Red Sox have two weeks to try to resuscitate their season.
The clock is ticking.
The case for selling, with receipts: the Breslow track record, the trade chips whose value may never be higher, and the gap between the front office’s rhetoric and the standings.
The other side of the Kennedy ultimatum: Breslow says the team doesn’t need to ‘prove’ its worth to add help — a notably different tune than his CEO was singing.
The ace walks back ‘a lot worse than we thought,’ but the timeline is still a mystery — and the player and front office spent the week contradicting each other on the details.
From Great to Exceptional
Drake Maye made one heck of a second-year leap in 2025. From rookie to MVP runner-up. From 4-13 to the Super Bowl. From emerging leader to unquestioned leader.
From potential to performance.
And perhaps most remarkably, from outsider to New Englander.
Drake cooked while his wife, Ann Michael, baked.
Expect Drake ‘Drake Maye’ Maye to raise his game again this year to the most valuable commodity in football – a no-questions elite quarterback on a rookie contract.
The reports about Maye’s play during the Patriots’ mandatory practices this week were glowing. Instant chemistry and uncoverable red zone completions to A.J. Brown. A far greater comfort level in his second year in Josh McDaniels’ complicated offense, which Maye himself called “night and day from last year.”
Maye made the leap from good to great last year. This year he goes from great to exceptional. But he will need to improve in a few areas:
Pocket Awareness
Sam Darnold famously saw ghosts; Maye sometimes doesn’t see very much alive, and rather large defensive ends coming around the corner to strip-sack him. One of the underrated aspects of Tom Brady’s greatness was his pocket awareness – he could feel guys coming and make that small slide up in the pocket or slight dodge to one side.
Maye has physical tools that Brady does not, and that awareness comes in part from in-game reps (Maye still has relatively few starts under his belt as a pro, and is still only 23), but it also seemed like Brady could innately sense pressure in a way Maye does not.
Ball Security
Maye has gotten more careful when throwing the ball, but he fumbled far too much, especially during the playoffs. Some of these were due to his trying to do too much. Some were because of the lack of pocket awareness noted above. And some just seemed like sloppy lapses in concentration. A shoulder injury may have contributed as well. This needs to improve. Another factor in Brady’s greatness, and this one came with experience, was being willing to throw the ball away and live for another down.
Maye is often compared to Josh Allen and sometimes Allen needs to do more of this too. But you also don’t want to take Drake Maye out of Drake ‘Drake Maye’ Maye. The ability to extend a play and then drop one in the bucket to a receiver forty yards down the field is part of what makes him special.
Pre-Snap Adjustments
Maye is strong here already, but this is one I would expect him to take to the next level in his second year under McDaniels. The Patriots had a lot of negative run plays last year that Maye could have audibled away from once he saw the defense. Already in the mandatory practices, the Patriots are having Maye quickly come to the line without a play called, then call one after looking over the defense.
It will take a minute for Maye to develop chemistry with not only Brown but also new acquisitions Romeo Doubs and rookie tight end Eli Raridon. He will have both some new offensive linemen and some playing different positions. Receivers like Kyle Williams and Efton Chism III will hopefully make the more familiar second-year leap.
As the focus on the Patriots shifts back to the field, Maye’s progress will be the most closely watched and perhaps most important story in training camp. He will likely play sparingly in the preseason games, so the reports from practice will be our biggest source of information.
So far, so good.
Phil Perry’s read after three minicamp practices: Maye looks like a QB ready to jump again — and the ‘only 50% completions’ line hides red-zone-heavy work that actually impressed.
The no-huddle ‘get to the line without a play call’ drill, the Brown back-shoulder TDs, and why those inside the building believe Maye reaches another level in 2026.
Phil Perry’s five takeaways from minicamp, including why Maye and A.J. Brown already have real chemistry.
View on X → — Tom E. Curran on the one piece of unfinished business hanging over an otherwise sunny offseason: Christian Gonzalez’s contract, and how long these things can drag.
The Giannis rumor mill has given Celtics fans a serious case of whiplash: out, then in, then shopping everyone but Tatum, and now the betting favorites to land him — all with zero resolution. Then again, Boston tends to do its business in the dark, so don’t expect a leak. We may not know anything real until the June 23 draft.
Kevin O’Connor’s report that Boston is ‘in on Giannis’ and shopping everyone but Tatum — balanced against the skeptics (Windhorst, Amick) who aren’t buying it yet.
The health caveat (36 games, knee), the June 23 draft-day deadline, and why landing Giannis almost certainly means moving Jaylen Brown to make the money work.
Our contributor Tyler Rourke breaks down where the Giannis-to-Boston chatter actually stands — and whether the Greek Freak could really be wearing Celtics green.
View on X → — Keith Smith on the calendar: the draft is 10 days out, free agency 17. The whole offseason carousel is about to start spinning again.
View on X → — Even the betting markets have flipped: Polymarket now has Boston as the favorite to land Giannis at 62%, ahead of Miami at 26%.
View on X → — The counter, via Brian Windhorst: don’t assume Boston trades Jaylen Brown. ‘Whatever Boston is doing, I promise you, we don’t know.’
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