There have been many predictions about how Tom Brady will do in his new role as Fox’s No. 1 NFL analyst.
WEEI Boston radio hosts Andy Gresh and Christian Fauria used a benchmark Tuesday in discussing expectations for Brady: Will he be better than Fox’s current No. 1 analyst, Greg Olsen?
Brady confirmed Tuesday on the Front Office Sports Today podcast that he will be bumping Olsen from the No. 1 booth, where he’s worked with play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt. That’s led to plenty of speculation about Olsen’s future, whether he moves to Fox’s No. 2 booth, or jumps to another network.
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On their Gresh and Fauria mid-day radio show the co-hosts debated how Brady will perform, using Olsen as the reference.
Fauria, a former NFL player, disagreed with longtime Fox analyst Terry Bradshaw’s recent comments on a podcast that “America’s gonna like him. They’re going to love him No. 1, just because he is Tom Brady.”
“What I disagree with is what Terry Bradshaw said, that everyone is going to love him,” Fauria said. “I don’t think so at all. I think the love affair right now is Greg Olsen. The accolades and the praise is going to Greg Olsen … no one can stop praising him. He’s likable, he’s lovable.”
“I don’t think so at all,” Gresh said. “Greg Olsen is a nice broadcaster, he’s good at the role, but c’mon now, it’s Tom Brady we are talking about.”
Gresh went on to say Brady has been putting in some serious prep work, and “I think he is going to be really good at this.” Fauria countered that he didn’t think Brady would not do a good job, only that viewers are “going to be resistent and he is going to have to win them over.”
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That led Gresh to level more praise for Brady, concluding with what sounded like a dig against Olsen.
“He is going to be better than (Tony) Romo right away and people will quickly forget about Greg Olsen. Again, it’s Tom Brady,” Gresh said. “Plus, he’s beautiful.”
Jeff Jacoby is exactly right that Boston dodged a bullet — no, make that a cannonball — in not hosting the Olympic Games this summer (“I rejoice that Boston didn’t get the 2024 Olympics,” Ideas, May 12). The likely costs and disruption were staggering. Imagine Boston’s current fiscal woes with a few hundred million dollars of Olympic shortfall added to the mix.
Unfortunately, the laudable goal of international, peaceable athletic competition has been sullied by an untransparent, unaccountable organization, the International Olympic Committee, and the trail of financial and physical ruin to its host cities is long and well-documented.
So it’s especially heartening, and an important lesson for us today, that the determined efforts of a few committed citizens can overcome the powers that be every once in a while. The grass-roots effort that beat back Boston’s proposal about 10 years ago was much like the successful effort in the late 1960s to prevent the Inner Belt freeway from destroying city neighborhoods. A few so-called little guys said no to the self-aggrandizing plans of Boston’s monied and political elite and won. Sometimes it takes a few Davids to take down a Goliath.
BOSTON — A highly anticipated trial in Massachusetts involving a woman accused of striking her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV and leaving him for dead in a snowbank is finishing its third week on Friday.
The case has garnered national attention because the defense alleges that state and local law enforcement officials framed Karen Read and allowed the real killer to go free.
Karen Read listens to testimony during her trial at Norfolk County Superior Court on Friday in Dedham, Mass. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor’easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. Charles Krupa/Associated Press pool
John O’Keefe died in the Boston suburb of Canton on Jan. 29, 2022. His body was found on another officer’s front lawn, and the defense argues the homeowner’s relationship with local and state police tainted their investigation.
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A look at the facts and legal arguments:
THE PROSECUTION: A TUMULTUOUS RELATIONSHIP TURNS DEADLY
Read, 44, of Mansfield, Massachusetts, has been charged with second-degree murder, among other charges, in the death of O’Keefe, 46. She has pleaded not guilty. The 16-year police veteran was found unresponsive outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer.
After a night out drinking at several bars, prosecutors say Read dropped O’Keefe off at a house party just after midnight. As she made a three-point turn, prosecutors say, she struck O’Keefe before driving away. She returned hours later to find him in a snowbank.
Prosecutors have put up witnesses who testified the couple had a stormy relationship before O’Keefe died and several first responders who recalled hearing Read say she hit O’Keefe.
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On Friday, jurors heard from Jennifer McCabe, whose sister and brother-in-law were hosting the party. She said Read asked frantically and repeatedly, “Did I hit him? Could I have hit him?” even before O’Keefe’s body was discovered.
McCabe said she saw Read’s SUV outside the home around midnight, but O’Keefe never came inside. Read called her the next morning, hysterical, and then showed up at her house, McCabe said. Together they went to McCabe’s sister’s home, where Read immediately ran over to O’Keefe’s body, McCabe said.
McCabe called 911 and one of the first responders asked what happened.
“I hit him. I hit him. I hit him,” McCabe said Read told him. “Earlier it was, ‘Could I? Did I?’ When she spoke to the paramedic it was crystal clear: I hit him.”
THE DEFENSE: POLICE ARE FRAMING THE SUSPECT
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Read’s lawyers have alleged that O’Keefe was beaten inside the home, bitten by a family dog and then left outside. They have portrayed the investigation as shoddy and undermined by the close relationship investigators had with the police and other law enforcement agents at the house party.
They argued that investigators focused on Read because she was a “convenient outsider” who saved them from having to consider other suspects.
The defense said police have not searched the house where they say the crime happened and that forensic teams never looked for trace or physical evidence there.
This week, they have tried to raise doubts about the integrity of the investigation, showing that many of the investigators and prosecution witnesses came from the suburban town where the crime happened and were either close friends or related.
They challenged Colin Albert, a witness who is the nephew of the homeowner and had been at the gathering, about his relationship with Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, who was investigating the case. Proctor interviewed Albert, despite the fact that they had known each other for most of Albert’s life and Albert had served as ring bearer at a Proctor family wedding.
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WHO ELSE COULD HAVE DONE IT?
Through their questioning, the defense has started hinting that at least three people — Boston police detective and the homeowner where the body was found, Brian Albert, Colin Albert or Brian Higgins, a special agent for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who was with the group drinking that night — all had a motive and means to kill O’Keefe. They successfully argued ahead of the trial they should be able to present what is called third-party culprit evidence.
The defense tried this week to show that Brian and Colin Albert had the means to kill O’Keefe. They pressed Brian Albert on his past boxing experience and brought up the fact he was play fighting at the bar that night with Higgins – suggesting he was capable of actually fighting. They also questioned late night phone calls between Albert and Higgins that were made before the body was found. Albert said he must have “butt dialed” Higgins and does not remember a phone call that lasted for 20 seconds less than a minute later.
They also questioned Colin Albert about cuts on his hand that he said resulted from a fall on an icy driveway and from hitting a punching bag. They were also allowed to introduce videos showing Albert making unrelated verbal threats directly into a camera when he was a teenager. Albert said the threats involved a beef with a group of boys over girls that never resulted in a physical altercation.
WITNESS INTIMIDATION?
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At least two witnesses this week detailed the toll that harassment from supporters of Read has taken on their family.
Allison McCabe, a good friend of Colin Albert, testified about text exchanges with him before she picked him up from the party. She also broke down as she explained that her family endured harassment in the months leading up to the trial from people online.
Albert also said his family has endured harassment for the past year mostly from people on social media calling his family murderers.
Neither witness singled out any person or people responsible for the alleged harassment.
Aidan Timothy Kearney, a blogger known as “Turtleboy,” has been charged with harassing, threatening and intimidating witnesses in the case.
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A college puts the ‘cat’ into ‘education’ by giving tabby honorary ‘doctor of litter-ature’ degree
A recent report by the social media site Stacker appears to confirm what anyone who’s tried to buy a house in Greater Boston over the last year or so already knows: There’s so little stock, and prices are so high, that many folks are looking beyond the Bay State’s borders for their dream house.
With mortgage rates high, and hybrid work and work-from-home an option that’s undeniably on the table, potential buyers are expanding their searches “outside costly urban cores,” Stacker’s analysts noted.
Stacker’s analysts said they “examined data from Realtor.com’s Cross-Market Demand Report to see where people in Boston are looking to buy homes,” adding that the “view share is based on page views of active listings during the first quarter of 2024 on Realtor.com. It does not include international viewers.”
Here, then, are the top 10 most-viewed communities, according to Stacker, with additional analysis from Niche:
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10. Lebanon, N.H., 2.6% of views: Lebanon, which is just about two hours from Boston, was ranked the second-best place to live in Grafton County, according to Niche. It scored an A-grade overall on Niche’s report card.
9. Miami, Fla., 2.7% of views: The South Florida art deco mecca finished 34th among the nation’s top retirement destinations, according to Niche. It scored a B-Plus overall on Niche’s report card. But caveat emptor: Housing scored a D-Plus, and it nabbed a C-Minus for crime and safety, according to Niche.
8. Springfield, Mass.,3.3% of views: Springfield finished 205th overall nationwide among the best cities for young professionals, according to Niche. It scored a C-Plus overall on Niche’s report card, nabbing a D-Plus for crime and safety.
7. New Haven, Conn.,3.3% of views: The Elm City was ranked the 57th best place nationwide for young professionals, scoring a B on Niche’s report card. Caveat emptor: The city got a D-Plus for housing and C-Minuses for schools and safety, according to Niche.
6. Manchester, N.H.,4 % of views: Manchester was ranked the 106th best place nationwide for young professionals, according to Niche. It got a B-Minus on Niche’s report card, scoring C’s across most metrics.
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5. Barnstable Town, Mass.,4.4% of views: The Cape Cod community was ranked the 16th best place to live in Barnstable County, according to Niche, netting a B-Plus on its report card. Housing scored particularly poorly, grabbing a C-Minus, from Niche.
4. Portland, Maine,4.7% of views: Portland was ranked the 14th best place to live, overall, in the Pine Tree State, according to Niche, grabbing an A grade for its amenities and services.
3. Worcester, Mass.,6.1% of views: Worcester was ranked the 103rd best city nationwide for young professionals, according to Niche, netting an overall grade of B for its amenities. The city’s nightlife and diversity both got A grades on Niche’s report card.
2. Hartford, Conn.,6.2% of views: Connecticut’s capital city was ranked the 204th best city nationwide for young professionals, according to Niche. It nabbed an overall grade of C-minus in Niche’s report card, scoring particularly poorly for its safety, housing, and public schools.
1. Providence, R.I.,8.3% of views: Rhode Island’s state capital was ranked the 43rd best nationwide for young professionals, according to Niche. The city “offers residents an urban suburban mix feel and most residents rent their homes. In Providence, there are a lot of bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and parks,” the website noted in its report card.
