■ Here’s an e-mail exchange with the great Stephen King one day after the Red Sox blew an 8-1 lead at Fenway against the Jays last weekend:

Stephen King: “The Sox hit bottom. Then, last night, they discovered the basement BELOW the bottom.’’

Me: “Can I use your basement joke in a notes column?’’

Stephen King: “Sure. But, I, um, wasn’t really joking.’’

■ Think the Sox are ready to turn it around now that they demolished the Royals Sunday, taking two of three from the American League champs? Me, neither. However, I will say that with each week that passes, Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval are taking on the look of a latter-day, Boston baseball version of Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe with the Celtics in the late 1970s.

■ According to a bipartisan report issued by Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, the Army National Guard paid NFL teams almost $7 million in taxpayer dollars for marketing and advertising contracts over the last three years. The Patriots in the last three years received $675,000 through contracts from the National Guard to conduct events that included honoring soldiers during halftime. The NFL issued a statement explaining the sponsored patriotism agreement (league donations to military nonprofit partners, etc.), but the statement did not deny that more than 20 NFL teams receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for sponsoring patriotic activities at games. In McCain’s report, he cited New England’s “True Patriot” program for which the team has been paid $675,000 for honoring soldiers at halftime. Patriots spokesperson Stacey James said, “We began honoring military at games long before we ever had any partnership with the National Guard and continue to honor all branches of military during games without any financial incentive.’’


■ Boston enjoyed nine Duck Boat Parades in this century. Now that the Cavaliers have limped into their summer, Cleveland has zero champions since 1964 — an aggregate 147 team seasons since the last championship (Browns in 1964) in one of the four major sports. Atlanta ranks second in futility with 70 aggregate seasons since the Braves won in 1995.


■ Remember when the Red Sox had a surplus of quality, big league outfielders?

■ No Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup in 22 years (Montreal, 1993). Vancouver came close in 2011, but . . . well, you know.

■ Wade Boggs turned 57 last week. It’s past time for the Red Sox to retire his number and include him with their all-time greats. The organization disrespects Boggs at every turn. He can’t even get his image on a spring training “legends” canvas that includes Sox greats such as Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek. Here’s a Boggs oddity: He was the first to hit a homer for his 3,000th hit. He’s since been joined by Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.

■ David Ortiz’s march to 500 homers is starting to feel like Wakefield’s interminable quest for 200 wins. Ortiz is on a mission to get to 500 next season. Meanwhile, he looks ridiculous when he gets himself tossed from a ballgame after getting a base hit because he’s still hissing about bad calls in the at-bat. To then hear him talk about “respect” is truly preposterous.


■ It’s nice of ESPN to honor Caitlyn Jenner with its Arthur Ashe “Courage” Award at the ESPYS, but it feels uncomfortably PC, and ratings-driven. Comparing the relative merits of those who would be considered for such an award is a slippery slope, but it’s hard for some of us to put Jenner in the same category with Lauren Hill, the Mount Saint Joseph’s basketball player who died of brain cancer, or Beverly’s Pete Frates, who continues to raise millions for ALS research in the face of overwhelming obstacles.

■ Amazingly, both Larry Lucchino and Janet Marie Smith have yet to be honored by the Orioles Hall of Fame. Lucchino and Smith changed all of baseball when they built Camden Yards.

■ In December of 1964, Red Auerbach became the first NBA coach to start five black players: Bill Russell, Tom Sanders, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, and Willie Naulls. On Sept. 1, 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates became the first team in big league history to feature a starting lineup with nine players of color. The Red Sox last week featured a lineup with six players of color.

■ Small wonder the Sox are in trouble if Bill James is still helping to assemble the team. James projected 22 homers and 32 steals for Rusney Castillo this year. Castillo has one homer and one stolen base. The man from Kansas also had Shane Victorino playing 129 games. Victorino has played 20 games.

■ The New York tabloids have been having a field day at the expense of the Patriots and Red Sox. According to the New York Daily News, Darrelle Revis’s mom could not attend the Ring Party at Bob Kraft’s house last weekend because the party was restricted to players-plus-one. ESPN reported that Mom Revis picked up his ring at the Patriots offices last Monday. When Golden State coach Steve Kerr said he lied to the media to keep his starting lineup change secret, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post wrote a column headlined, “Kerr embraces inner Belichick”, citing Hoodie’s “borderline contempt for rules and regulations.’’ Meanwhile, Joel Sherman of the Post speculated that the Red Sox 2013 World Series title might be the luckiest championship in baseball history. According to Sherman, the Sox latest championship “now stands as a rose surrounded by a cesspool.’’


■ Given everything that’s gone on around the Patriots, anyone think it’s bad judgment to feature rapper Wiz Khalifa (“I’ve been arrested for weed 21 times”) at Kraft’s house for the Ring Party?

■ Here’s Giants manager Bruce Bochy talking to the New York Times’s Tyler Kepner about Bochy’s enormous head (8⅛ ): “When I signed with the Houston Astros, they realized they didn’t have a helmet big enough. They had to special-order one. My nickname was Headly . . . That was the joke in New York: You need to use Mr. Met’s hat.’’

■ Reminiscent of Fenway dirt, the New York Islanders sold half-ounce vials of melted ice when they closed Nassau Coliseum this spring. The $20 containers sold out in three hours.


■ Congrats to the Braintree Wamps for winning the Super 8 baseball title, and a special shout out to runner-up St. John’s Prep. The boys from the Prep wore “Frates” jerseys throughout the tournament.

■ RIP Henry Carr. Blessed with amazing speed, Carr won two gold medals for the 1964 US Olympic team, then played three seasons as a defensive back with the New York Giants. Carr’s Olympic teammate, Bob Hayes, became a Hall-of-Fame wide receiver with the Dallas Cowboys.

■ The Mets have finished with a better record than the Yankees in only one of the past 23 seasons. It was in 2000 when the Yankees wound up beating the Mets in the World Series.

■ Riders from the “Ride for Hope Coast to Coast” will roll through Fenway June 25. The riders left for Boston from San Francisco Sunday and are raising money for the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

■ ABCD will hold the fifth annual Hoop Dreams Sept. 2, at the New Garden at 5 p.m. Co-hosted by Brad Stevens, Doc Rivers, and our own Bob Ryan, the event raises support and awareness for ABCD’s Dorchester Academy. For information, contact Robert Elias at 617-348-6244.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @dan_shaughnessy.