Ponderous thoughts I was pondering ...

Patriots' head coach Jerod Mayo: Should he talk more, or talk less?

Ponderous thoughts I was pondering upon finding a big truck blocking my driveway this morning as its owners attended to paving a driveway elsewhere on my street ... 

* I am so glad that I no longer cover the New England Patriots on a regular basis.

Don't get me wrong -- it was an honor and a privilege to have that responsibility for 42 years, 39 at The Sun Chronicle, two at The Patriot Ledger of Quincy and another 33 as a part-time writer for the Associated Press, including the last year of my career on the beat. I got to see the worst of times (the fall of the House of Sullivan and Victor Kiam's subsequent reign of terror) and the best of times (20 years of Bill Belichick and 18 of Tom Brady, in which I personally wrote about five of their six Super Bowl championships). I'm proud of my work during that time, and I can say without hesitation that my readers got my best effort at all times.

It wasn't all sweetness and light to be a reporter during those times, though -- even when the Patriots were at their best. In fact, there were times during the dynastic period when the job was just plain miserable because of Belichick's total disdain for the media corps.

Well, now the media has a coach that's far more open to the media -- and it's driving reporters nuts.

Jerod Mayo talks. Sometimes too much, some people think. That should be good for story-hungry reporters, who were left with nothing but crumbs by Belichick, who wouldn't reveal even the simplest and most harmless of information because he saw the media as vermin whose only purpose in life was to undermine his team.

Ain't it a hoot, then, that Belichick is dabbling in a host of media ventures as a new season approaches -- after he couldn't get hired to coach another team in the most recent offseason. I imagine he'll be a big hit at it as he offers his insight directly from the horse's mouth -- or horse's ass, depending upon your point of view.

The classic "Angry Bill" face 

But I digress. Belichick did a wonderful job of beating down the local media corps over his tenure with the Patriots. After a while, reporters wouldn't ask the simplest of questions because they knew the dismissive responses they'd get. And as the roster of aging scribes turned over through attrition and either they were replaced by newer ones, or news organizations stopped sending reporters because of declining circulation and income, the new kids on the block really didn't know how to challenge Belichick on anything.

There are still a few veterans on the print beat -- Karen Guregian, the former Boston Herald writer and columnist, who took her talents to the mostly-online MassLive operation out of Springfield, and Mike Reiss, the talented and trusted veteran at ESPN Boston, whose work transcends both online print and broadcast. Others like former print writer Tom E. Curran, have converted primarily to broadcast work. And I particularly trust Boston Globe beat writer Christopher Price, whom I worked alongside for many years and who has also written a very popular book, "Bleeding Green," about the heyday of the Hartford Whalers. But to be honest, I hardly know anyone else covering the team these days now that I'm five full seasons removed from it.

I have to admit, there are times I think that Jerod Mayo, in his first year at the helm, is suffering terribly by comparison to Belichick. He didn't deal very well with the contract complaints of former linebacker Matthew Judon, who took his pissing and moaning public -- something Belichick would have stopped after the first such instance.

Fancying himself as a player's coach, Mayo let Judon have his forum -- until it started to infect the locker room and other players openly complained about not being paid enough. It forced the Patriots' hand to trade Judon away -- and I have to give new GM Eliot Wolf credit for getting a third-round draft pick from the Atlanta Falcons for a player that talked a better game than he actually played.

More recently, Mayo's comments have been all over the map in explaining why Jacoby Brissett, and not No. 3-overall pick Drake Maye, is the starting quarterback. Mayo openly said that Maye was the best QB at the end of the preseason, but still, it was his decision (he first said "our decision," but backtracked and used the personal pronoun instead) to start Brissett.

The actual answer is plain to see. The Patriots' offensive line is horseshit. Maye would likely be at risk of serious injury if he was to start right now. Brissett is expendable. But Mayo's flip-flopping and disjointed answers about the situation project the image as if it's amateur night in Foxboro.

Admittedly, I'm not in attendance at the press conferences and I don't watch them on the Internet. I'm happily done with that. But I still peruse the coverage, and I get the feeling that a lot of writers just don't know how to approach covering a coach that babbles as opposed to clamming up.

Anyway, we're on to Cincinnati. One way or another.

* Speaking of media madness, there's a lot of buzz in WNBA circles about how, prior to a national broadcast involving Caitlin Clark's Indiana Fever and the Dallas Wings, former Texas Tech star Sheryl Swoopes was replaced on the telecast by all-time women's hoop great Nancy Lieberman.

Sheryl Swoopes in her playing days.

Swoopes, who led the nation in NCAA scoring in 1993 (the same year that Foxboro's Sarah Behn was in the top five while at Boston College, if memory serves), achieved WNBA stardom in its formative years with the Houston Comets and Seattle Storm. She was fired from one college coaching job in her post-playing career, but has since dabbled in broadcasting for Texas Tech and WNBA gigs.

But Swoopes has also been ultra-critical of Clark, the fabulous former Iowa star who has dazzled the WNBA and created a sudden surge of national interest in a league that literally nobody cared about beforehand. Swoopes apparently feels that Clark's sudden popularity somehow denigrates the great players that preceded her -- which, of course, is ridiculous. The WNBA was begging for a breakthrough star and it finally got one, but the jealousy of her from both former and current WNBA players is incredibly embarrassing for the league.

In some past broadcasts and on podcasts, Swoopes mischaracterized Clark as a five-year player at Iowa whose scoring totals were illegitimate. Other broadcast and print journalists took Swoopes to task for the inaccuracies and her obvious disdain for Clark. So when the Fever-Wings televised game came to pass, the local producers took the easy out and put Lieberman in the analyst's seat for the game, claiming that because Swoopes and Lieberman work for them on a rotating basis, it was Lieberman's turn.

Uh-huh. 

I hate to say this, but I can't help but think that there's something more than performance envy behind this situation. It's not simply a coincidence that many former players that happen to be African-American have also expressed similar sentiments about Clark, who is white.

And it's a shame. Maybe it's wrong that people didn't care about the WNBA before Clark burst upon the scene, but at least now the league has a generational star to shine light upon all the wonderful players in it. 

* Racism may also be at the root of the debate over whether Clark or Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, the former LSU star, should be Rookie of the Year. Both have set several league records in their debut season, but a quick look at social media exposes an unfortunate schism between the races over who should get the honor-- particularly a lot of Black posters who accuse anyone that prefers Clark of being racists.

Chicago rookie Angel Reese.

Reese is a very good player, no doubt. She has set a league rebounding record in her first season. But many of those rebounds have been offensive caroms resulting from her own missed layups. She is averaging only 38.5 percent on her field-goal attempts -- 48.4 percent from 0-3 feet out and 24.8 percent from 3-10 feet. Yes, she is relentless at rebounding her own misses, but until she gets more of those short-range bunnies in the basket on the first try, she can't be regarded as a dominant player.

For all of Clark's impressive skills, the one thing she does better than anyone else is making other players around her better while still being able to post 20 or more points of her own. I've talked to a lot of coaches that have been watching Clark's efforts with great interest, and they agree with me that her ability to find the open player may be her greatest skill.

One of my friends also said that Reese should spend less time working on her eyelashes and her fashion sense, and more time working on her layups. Can't say I disagree.

Bottom line for me? Clark has taken a bad team and spurred it to a 17-16 record and the No. 6 seed. Chicago is 11-17 and Reese was padding her stats during garbage time of a recent loss to the Fever.

Clark is the Rookie of the Year. Hands down. Reese can and most likely will be a great player down the road, but she's not there yet.

* My first football game of the year is Friday, King Philip at Walpole, a 5:45 p.m. start at Turco Field that will be televised live on North TV's Community Channel, which is Comcast Channel 6 in Plainville. It can also be seen online at community.northtv.net.

Now, if only I can get rosters of the teams, I'll be all set.

Mark Farinella is wondering if this is the year that he'll be more interested in Boston College football instead of the Patriots. Comment on his opinions at theownersbox2020@gmail.com.