CAPITALS VS, WILD FOR STANLEY CUP?

 Briefly Told … but don’t count on it …

A FEW unsolicited predictions as the NHL regular season 

got under way Tuesday … GM CHRIS DRURY will be 

fired as the New York Rangers fail to make the playoffs 

under new coach MIKE SULLIVAN. Opening-game 

loss to undermanned Pittsburgh 3-0 only served to 

confirm our opinion … Washington Capitals vs. 

Minnesota Wild for Stanley Cup. I would have tapped 

Carolina Hurricane from the East until they traded for 

Rangers’ K’ANDRE MILLER, a big defenseman who 

plays small and could be the league’s most over-rated 

player.

POOR, UNAPPRECIATED BILL BELICHICK. (Yeah, 

right!) Saturday’s 38-10 home loss to Clemson left North 

Carolina 2-3 in his first season as a college coach … and, 

if Tar Heel supporters have any say, it could/should be his 

last. Fans left en masse at halftime and later took to social 

media to vent their frustration.

Now comes a rival coach, who chose to remain 

anonymous but was identified as being in charge of a 

Group of Five program, suggesting Belichick’s roster is 

not good enough to compete at the highest level of a 

Power Five Conference team.

The unnamed coach said he was surprised to find how 

often he was competing against Carolina for the same 

recruits even though the Heels were, in effect, I-A to his 

team’s I-AA.

“It made me wonder … did they understand that they’re in 

the ACC, and not Conference USA or the Sun Belt?”

the coach was quoted as saying.

Whether they do or not might be superfluous if yesterday’s report that Belechick and friends could be 

fired as early as this weekend proves to be true. Greasing 

the skids was the suspension of the corner backs coach 

for – HORRORS! – giving parents of some players 

sideline passes, which is an NCAA no-no.

NBC insider MIKE FLORIO suggested Belechick’s 

program could be guilty of numerous infractions. Stay 

tuned.

IF YOU didn’t know better you might think 7th-ranked 

Penn State deliberately rolled over against winless (and 

previously pitiful) UCLA 42-37. The Nittany Lions were 

24.5-point favorites. Coach James Franklin reportedly has 

one of college football’s largest buyouts, said to be $56 

MILLION.

NFL-on-FOX ANALYST GREG OLSEN on the woeful 

New York Jets: “They fired their defensive coach to hire a 

defensive coach as head coach… and got worse on 

defense.”

A guest on DAVE PORTNOY’s “Wake Up Barstool,” 

the former tight end was asked (among several topical 

things) to weigh in on Arizona losing a game because an 

apparent 72-yard run for an apparent touchdown became 

nothing more than a touchback when EMARI 

DEMERCADO dropped the ball (with no contact) at the 

goal line, and rolled out of the end zone.

“You can call me old-fashioned [but] I wasn’t a big 

celebration guy … [and] I don’t have a lot of patience or 

interest in any of that,” Olsen said. “The bigger problem 

is … they are so excited to score because they have some 

crazy end-zone dance or celebration planned. They’ve 

spent so much time thinking about what they’re going to 

do … and when they do score ...”

WHAT’S WRONG with this avior picture? Cardinals’ 

coach JONATHAN GANNON was caught venting his 

anger on Demercado, and Gannon was fined $100,000 by 

the team for his actions that included slapping the RB on 

the chest and hitting his shoulder pads.

The coach later apologized for the outburst.

Better Demercado should apologize … which he did, sort 

of.

Jacksonville came from 14 points down to win its first 

game of the year 22-21 on a late field goal by Virginia 

Tech alumnus JOEY SLYE.

LAST TIME a coach was fined for improper on-field 

behavior towards a player was 2022 when former VaTech 

QB BRUCE ARIANS, then coach of the Buccaneers, 

was docked $50,000 by the league for “swiping” at

 ANDREW ADAMS during a playoff game.

Portnoy on Belichick: “He doesn’t care what anybody 

says. He only cares about what he’s doing, and I don’t 

think he sees himself doing anything but coaching 

football … ‘I don’t care about my image, and we stink 

right now.’ As an outsider, it’s tough to watch.

“A lot of these kids don’t care who he is. They didn’t 

group during his dynasty days. It’s different world now. 

You beter be able to recruit … and he’s not exactly Mr. 

Electricity.”

Until next time ...