The Boston Globe - 19.08.2019

Sports

THE BOSTON GLOBE MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 2019 | BOSTONGLOBE.COM/SPORTS

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TV HIGHLIGHTS

Soccer:Man.United-Wolverhampton,3p.m.,NBCSN
Baseball:Brewers-Cardinals,7:30p.m.,MLB
NFL preseason:49ers-Broncos,8p.m.,ESPN
Listings,C

BMW win

is valuable
Thomas (right)
hangs on at Medi-
nah, claims No. 1
seed in FedEx.C

Ultimatum

for Brown
Raiders GM tells
disgruntled WR to
decide if he’s ‘all in
or all out.’C

Taking

Falmouth
Korir is first Amer-
ican man to win
race since 1988.C

INSIDE

Josh Gordon’s reinstatement from sus-
pension on Friday evening generated plenty
of excitement in New England and across
the country. Julian Edelman Instagrammed
a photo of Gordon with lightning bolts as a
nod to Gordon’s nickname, “Flash.” Fantasy
football websites quickly added Gordon into
their rankings and debated his value. Even
Roger Goodell voiced his support in a state-
ment on Friday.
“We are all rooting for Josh to succeed,
both personally and professionally,” Goodell
said.
Gordon was allowed to report to Gillette
Stadium on Sunday, and immediately start
participating in workouts and practices. He
won’t be able to play in Thursday’s game be-
cause he won’t have had enough practice
time with the Patriots, but Gordon does not
have to serve an additional suspension. He
is eligible to play in the final preseason
game and in Week 1.
Gordon’s return to the Patriots is an ac-
knowledgment that both he and Goodell be-
lieve Gordon is in a good place with his
mental health and substance abuse issues.
That is what matters most.
There’s no doubt that Gordon’s return is
exciting, and could be the start of a nice,
feel-good story this year. It’s hard not to root
for him to finally turn his life around.
But it’s important to pump the brakes a
bit. Let’sapplaud Gordon, but not put too
much pressure on him to be a major weapon
for the Patriots — pressure that could poten-
tially contribute to his mental health issues.
Gordon faces long odds, and anyone famil-
iar with his story knows that his football ca-
reer still hangs by a thread.
Gordon’s NFL career, which began in
2012, has been marred by suspensions for
substanceabuse.Hesatouttheentire 2015
and 2016 seasons, and missed most of 2014
and 2017.
Gordon is back, but he’s one misstep
from his football career crumbling again.
We saw it last year, when everything seemed
to be going great with the Patriots. Gordon
made it through 11 games, his most since
ON FOOTBALL, Page C

By Peter Abraham

GLOBE STAFF

RedSox1 3

Orioles 7

Xander Bogaerts

has made it a

habit of sprinting

out to the mound in the first in-

ning and flipping the rosin bag

in his right hand a few times be-

fore continuing to shortstop.

In the last few weeks, Rafael

Devers has playfully raced his

teammate to the spot, the two of

them laughing like oversized Lit-

tle Leaguers as they take the

field.

Bogaerts got there first on

Sunday afternoon and threw the

bag at Devers when his back was

turned, leaving a small patch of

powder on his jersey.

Devers turned around in sur-

prise then jogged over to third

base smiling the whole time.

Maybe that helps explain why

Devers could well be the Most

Valuable Player in the American

League this season. Nobody is

having more fun.

Devers had four more hits

and drove in four more runs as

the Red Sox rallied from a six-

run deficit to beat the Baltimore

Orioles, 13-7.

The 22-year-old had a single,

two doubles, and a two-run

homer to lift the Sox to their fifth

consecutive victory. Devers is

now hitting .332 with a.

OPS, 27 home runs, 46 doubles,

103 runs, and 101 RBIs.

All that with 35 games still to

play.

“A young superstar,” Orioles

manager Brandon Hyde said. “A

guy who’s an absolute force of-

fensively and is going to be an in-

credible player in this league for

a long time.”

Mike Trout, a spectacular hit-

ter, defender, and base runner, is

clearly the best overall player in

the league. But Devers is stack-

ing up traditional statistics. He

leads the majors in hits, doubles,

and RBIs and is third in runs.

“It feels good. But overall it’s

just good to get a win. That’s

RED SOX, Page C

By Nora Princiotti
GLOBE STAFF
NASHVILLE — A perfect 10 takeaways
from the Patriots’ 22-17 victory in Nashville, a
perfect 10 city...

1. It was interesting to see Patrick Chung,
   who has yet to play as he’s still rehabbing
   from offseason rotator cuff surgery, taking a
   role on the sideline, appearing to call in plays
   with outside linebackers coach DeMarcus
   Covington. Bill Belichick didn’t give a clear
   answer when asked Sunday during a confer-
   ence call how that came about for the veteran
   safety, but said all players are put in position
   to take mental reps even when they’re not
   playing.
   “I think hopefully all the players are in-
   volved in it when their unit’s on the field, so
   we try to make sure that everybody gets the
   calls,” Belichick said. “They should be able to
   identify the situation themselves — the down
   and distance, field position and end-of-the-
   half type situations, two-minute and things
   like that. But, we try to give them the call we
   made, whatever it is we’re running on offense,
   defense, special teams, so that they can watch
   their position, watch the play and hopefully
   PATRIOTS, Page C

There were

the childhood

days sched-

uled com-

pletely around

sports, when

she joined just

about any

youth league

her hometown of Franklin offered.

Then there was high school, when

she’d whittled her sports options to

the three at which she most ex-

celled, moving through Franklin

High’s fall soccer, winter basketball,

and spring lacrosse slates with pre-

dictable dominance. And then

came college, when she boiled it

down to soccer, becoming an All-

American forward at Williams.

Kristi Kirshe knew how to work

with sports. She loved the disci-

pline, she loved the predictability,

she loved the camaraderie, and she

loved the competitiveness. And

sports loved Kristi back, with its

glorious unpredictability, its lessons

in winning and losing, its heart and

its soul. They were a perfect match.

And then they weren’t.

The post-college real world came

calling, bringing the adult days

scheduled around a new job with

the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray,

when Kirshe put her degree in po-

litical science to use as a possible

precursor to law school. Oh, there

were recreational teams to join, Pa-

triots games to watch, and gyms to

frequent, but still, something was

missing. Like a recipe without its

main ingredient.

“As long as I could remember,

my whole life revolved around

sports, being there, traveling, tour-

naments, and then to be without

that was really a jarring experi-

ence,” Kirshe said in a recent con-

versation. “I realized I did not like it

very quickly. I started doing pickup

soccer so it would keep me doing

something, but it wasn’t enough. I

wasn’t competing enough.”

And then she found rugby. Or

rugby found her. Either way, their

union is one of those stories that

makes you smile, one that should

be broadcast to the world — and

might well be by the time the Tokyo

Olympics get under way next sum-

mer. Kirshe, 24, has emerged as an

integral, if relatively inexperienced,

member of the United States wom-

en’s rugby team that has already

qualified for the 2020 Games,

named a captain by general manag-

SULLIVAN, Page C

Kirshe may find path to Olympics through rugby

Tara Sullivan

ARAM BOGHOSIAN FOR THE GLOBE

Kristi Kirshe, a three-sport athlete in high school, took up rugby

after finishing a superlative soccer career at Williams.

Caution

needed with

Gordon

Ben volin

ON FOOTBALL

Ten takeaways

from a perfect

preseason trip

MADDIE MEYER/GETTY IMAGES

Rafael Devers had his fourth four-hit game on the season and his second in six days Sunday, capped with a two-run homer in the seventh.

AnMVPperformance

Devers (HR, 2 doubles, 4 for 5) on

fire as Red Sox rally to sweep Orioles

MICHAEL DWYER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nathan Eovaldi had a tough afternoon, allowing five runs in two innings.

SAM GREENWOOD/GETTY

ºSale on his way to Florida to

have left elbow examined, C