The idea, though, is that Trump’s magic touch extends beyond the business world (and now, the political world) to the world of sports. It’s akin to his insistence last year that his endorsement was winning race after race for Republicans — neglecting to mention that this effect only really worked in the Republican primaries. In the midterms last year, Trump again broke about even. But the point Trump wants to reinforce is that he’s always right and always successful, even indirectly. His occasional tongue-in-cheek-ish tone is simply a way to hedge his bets.<doc-sep>Marcus Smart Says He Has Heard Racist Remarks From Celtics Fans: 'It's Sad And Sickening'Asked about Kyrie Irving's comments about Boston fans, Celtics guard Marcus Smart said that he is hoping that the Boston crowd will treat all players -- whether they're in a Celtics or a Nets uniform -- with respect. Jayson Tatum Good To Go For Celtics-Nets Game 3Celtics forward Jayson Tatum practiced on Thursday and is good to go for Friday night's must-win Game 3 against the Brooklyn Nets. Jalen Mills Explains Why He Switched To No. 2 With PatriotsJalen Mills says switching to No. 2 is cool, but it also has a deeper meaning for the new Patriots defensive back. Long Snapper Joe Cardona On Playing For New England Patriots: 'I Never Thought I'd Be In The NFL'The Patriots long snapper says there is a different energy in the building knowing that fans will be returning to Gillette Stadium in the fall. Bruins-Islanders Game 1 Set For Saturday Night At TD GardenWe don't have a full series schedule just yet, but at least we know when the Bruins and the Islanders will begin their second-round series.<doc-sep>The Boston Red Sox, until about two weeks ago, looked like a mess. The reigning World Series champs were 11-17 in the first month of the season, hardly looking like a team that was the wire-to-wire best team in baseball just a year ago. Mookie Betts slumped early. Chris Sale looked like something was seriously wrong. For a while there, they were in fourth place in the AL East. Barely better than the Baltimore Orioles. Today, the Red Sox are 22-19. They’re three games out of first place. They’ve won five in a row and eight of their last nine. What caused this turnaround? Well, it could be a number of things. Sale has pitched better lately. They’re playing some so-so teams. Or, in a more general sense, early-season funks happen and good teams shake them off. But there could be something else afoot here. Our president, Donald Trump, and his White House could actually be what turned the Red Sox around. Early Monday morning, Trump hit send on the following tweet: Has anyone noticed that all the Boston @RedSox have done is WIN since coming to the White House! Others also have done very well. The White House visit is becoming the opposite of being on the cover of Sports Illustrated! By the way, the Boston players were GREAT guys! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019 This shouldn’t be too surprising. Trump, even before he was president, has been a glory hound. Becoming president hasn’t slowed down his desire to take credit for things to which he’s only tangentially attached — and it takes a special kind of person to operate like that. This isn’t about politics so much as shameless self promotion, which let’s be real, you don’t get to be a combo WWE character/reality TV star/president without a healthy understanding of self promotion. For fun, though, let’s break this down a bit: Story continues • It’s true that the Red Sox haven’t lost since visiting Trump’s White House last Thursday. But they’ve only played three games since then. And in the bigger picture, we’re talking about a team that’s 11-2 since April 29. • Of recent, the Red Sox have beaten the Mariners and Orioles, two teams that aren’t very good. The Orioles have been bad for a couple years now. The Mariners are in free-fall mode after a hot start. • A good number of Red Sox players didn’t attend the White House event, including some of Boston’s best players — such as MVP Mookie Betts, outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and pitcher David Price. So that one is a shrug emoji. • To Trump’s credit, maybe he’s right about the White House becoming the opposite of the SI cover jinx. The Clemson football team hasn’t lost a game since it visited the White House and ate all that fast food. Neither has the Baylor women’s basketball team or North Dakota State’s football team since they visited a few weeks ago. None of those teams have played a game either, but let’s not worry about that part. This, after all, is a White House that gave us the now-famous sound bite, “Truth isn’t truth.” ——— Mike Oz is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @mikeoz More from Yahoo Sports:<doc-sep>President Trump on Monday gave a shoutout to the Boston Red Sox in the midst of their five-game winning streak, for which he is apparently taking some credit after inviting the team to the White House. “Has anyone noticed that all the Boston @RedSox have done is WIN since coming to the White House!” the president said in a tweet. “Others also have done very well. The White House visit is becoming the opposite of being on the cover of Sports Illustrated! By the way, the Boston players were GREAT guys!” The team had won two in a row before its DC visit on Thursday to celebrate the 2018 World Series Championship – then swept the Seattle Mariners over the weeked. Pro teams’ ceremonial visits to the White House have been fraught with controversy during Trump’s presidency, with a number of squads and individual players opting to skip the event because of his policies on immigration and race. On Thursday, some Sox players – including American League MVP Mookie Betts, David Price and Xander Bogaerts — and team manager Alex Cora, a native of Puerto Rico, skipped the visit because of Trump’s handling of Hurricane Maria aid and his comments about Mexico. Asked earlier about some of the Sox not attending, Trump claimed that Puerto Rico has received adequate storm recovery funding, while citing an inaccurate $91 billion figure. “So I think the people of Puerto Rico should really like President Trump,” he said.<doc-sep>
President Donald Trump seemed to credit the Red Sox's visit to the White House as the reason they are on a winning streak. "Has anyone noticed that all the Boston (Red Sox) have done is WIN since coming to the White House!" Trump tweeted Monday morning. "Others also have done well. The White House visit is becoming the opposite of being on the cover of Sports Illustrated! By the way, the Boston players were GREAT guys!" The Red Sox, who are on a five-game winning streak, had won two games before visiting the White House last Thursday to celebrate the 2018 World Series. They went on to sweep the Seattle Mariners in Boston this weekend. Manager Alex Cora, who is from Puerto Rico, and a contingent of the team, all either Latino or African-American players, didn't attend. That group included stars David Price, Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts. Trump instead was surrounded by a group of primarily white players and executives on the South Lawn on May 9 during the celebration. Athletes and teams have notably suffered bad luck after appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated, including injuries to Jack Lambert after the "Man of Steel" cover before he retired due to turf toe and to Tom Brady in 2008. Serena Williams lost to unranked Roberta Vinci in the 2015 U.S. Open after SI promoted her winning all four Grand Slams. . The NBA's Golden State Warriors in 2017 and Philadelphia Eagles in 2018 had their White House invitations rescinded. The Virginia Cavaliers, who won the NCAA college basketball championship, declined the invite. The Baylor Bears recently became the first all-women's team to visit the White House. NASCAR driver Joey Logano finished 15th Saturday at Kansas a week after visiting the White House. The White House also was criticized last week for a series of errors, including the official website congratulating the "Boston Red Socks" and a White House email referring to the team as the "World Cup Series" champions.