THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Yes, Boston media packs a punch; Baylor could be loaded again
Steve Cameron Cheap Seats bug.
Yep, we’re going to do a couple of notes and quotes to start the week, but…
Not before I respond to an email that arrived with the rooster; which is to say, very early Sunday morning.
The question: Are Boston-area media really as tough on local athletes as I suggested in that day’s Memories column?
Indeed, although to be fair, there have been some terrific sports journalists from that part of the country.
On the subject of dishing it out, though, there may never be a take-no-crap answer quite like the one from the late Boston Globe football columnist Will McDonough.
In the fall of 1979, McDonough was minding his own business after a game between the Patriots and the New York Jets.
For reasons no one ever discovered — the Pats had won easily — New England defensive back Raymond Clayborn began bumping into reporters as he walked across the locker room.
McDonough stopped the 210-pound Clayborn and told him there was no need for such foolishness.
Clayborn responded by shouting and waving his hand at McDonough, eventually poking him in the eye.
McDonough had grown up in Southie — Boston’s toughest neighborhood — and he wasn’t a guy to take any nonsense, even from an NFL cornerback.
McDonough promptly slugged Clayborn in the nose, knocking him over a laundry cart and backwards into his locker.
The best part: Clayborn was fined $2,000 by the league for inappropriate conduct regarding the media.
And McDonough became a hero to us all.
ITEM: Are they growing players in some secret lab?
If not, can someone please explain where North Dakota State keeps finding enough talent to dominate its FCS peers — and send a gang of them off to the NFL every year.
I mean, this was the season that the Bison (who have won eight of the previous nine national titles) finally looked to be pretty ordinary.
On top of a talent drain, it seemed as though the few NDS stars still on campus — like soph quarterback Trey Lance – decided to sit out these spring FCS playoffs to prepare for the draft.
Oh, and the Bison (7-2) have been beset with injuries, not to mention watching some key players heading into the transfer portal.
And still…
North Dakota State gave Eastern Washington a familiar dose of smashmouth on Saturday, ignoring an early deficit to win 42-20 — behind the heroics of true freshman QB Cam Miller (Who is Trey Lance, anyhow?) and frosh running back Dominic Gonnella.
Please, help…
Where are these players coming from?
Is the water spiked in Fargo?
ITEM: Just when it seemed safe to wander through Waco…
Baylor’s bullies obviously enjoyed winning that first national championship, so they’re taking a shot at another one.
No one in Gonzaga’s world will enjoy hearing this, but Baylor will be loaded again.
Even if Mark Vital, MaCio Teague, Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell all move on to other pursuits (like the NBA in two or three cases), the Bears will open the year as a top-five team.
Flo Thamba and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua return up front, where they’ll be joined by young stars Zach Loveday and Dain Dainja — along with the headliner of the school’s best-ever recruiting class, five-star forward Kendall Brown.
What about the backcourt?
Well, Zag fans surely will remember Adam Flagler and 6-9 sharpshooting wing Matthew Mayer.
Flagler would be a cinch to take over at point guard, except…
Baylor just landed one of best players available in the transfer portal, former Arizona guard James Akinjo.
There will be some terrific teams lurking around this coming year – Villanova (with Connor Gillespie back), Michigan, UCLA, Duke, Purdue, and so on.
Even the Zags.
However…
The addition of Akinjo gives Baylor pretty much everything needed for a chance to put titles back to back.
Eeeeek!
Email: scameron@cdapress.com
Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday.
Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published monthly in the offseason.