Del Sport Commentary;

FREE AGENCY AND THE PRINCE OF DETROIT

2012-01-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

The Detroit Tigers made the move that no one expected, signing Prince Fielder. But when you think about it, it made some sense and works out for Detroit, by signing Fielder, because they needed another bat with Victor Martinez down for the season. However, that being said, the amount of money for this guy, for what he does besides hit is… well that’s the problem, he is fat and out of shape for a young guy, can’t in spite of his name field, and can’t run. So what do the Tigers really pay for?

So let’s look closer at these free agent signings who don’t come free, in fact, they come very expensively.

Pujols

If the Angels win the World Series this year, it will be a very expensive World Series. When they got Albert Pujols they pretty much said, we are the next champions. That may be true, but then again it may not. The problem is the Angels are paying this guy $25 Million a year, for TEN YEARS!

Pardon me for getting emotional, but the last year of that contract, he is 41 years old! By year 7 probably, he will not be worth that money. No ballplayer is worth $250 Million, not even Babe Ruth in his prime.

Then there is the contract that will end all contracts; the Jose Reyes deal. Jose is a great player when he is healthy. The problem is he is never healthy, and for that money, they should be getting a full-time player. He is an impact player, but he can’t do it on those legs. The other thing to consider is Hanley Ramirez shifting to third base, and the fact that he will not play second fiddle to Reyes. Once his contract is done, he’s gone.

Here is a deal that just does not make sense, yet the owners are all responsible for, because they spend the money. Yu Darvish, unproven in the Majors, spending over $50 Million just to talk to him, and I doubt, even if he succeeds, he won’t succeed $100 Million worth.

Then there are the Josh Willinghams, Joe Nathans and Heath Bells, all mediocre, all probably will not live up to their contracts, all getting inflated numbers.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

BRADY/MANNING

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

Comparing quarterbacks is really a difficult thing to do. The factors that make a quarterback create stats are at the least variables. Offensive lines, game plans, and how the man felt on a particular day all come into play when you read the stats for the season.

The two quarterbacks have played different teams as well as the same teams. The teams they both faced are not the same teams on the game days they played them.

But if you look at the two men, Brady has all the stats, all the glamour, and all the linemen. But Manning has all the guts.

If you look at the two guys side-by-side, Brady has a slickness that makes him the media darling of the sports world, a real pretty boy with the talents to go with it. He is a great passer, with a ball that seems to sit and relax into his receiver’s hands. Manning throws and gets the ball there, his receivers may need to twist and turn, leap and dive, but the ball does get there too.

I’ve seen Brady get rattled, and like all good quarterbacks, he gets rattled often if things don’t go his way. The same for Manning is true, however, when Manning gets his butt kicked by an opponent, no matter how bloodied, disheveled and torn, he gets up ready for the next play, and forgets about the last one. Brady seems to remember the last play at times.

When things go well, give me Brady, when things seem difficult and hard, give me Manning.

Brady has to face the Giants defense, a formidable opponent for any quarterback, If you don’t think so ask the Falcon, Packer and 49er quarterbacks about that.

Manning has to face the Patriot defense, which can play over their heads at times. The question with them is which defense shows up on a given Sunday.

Manning can win the ‘must’ games, the road games and the ‘underdog’ games. Brady needs everything to be in place and aligned. Don’t get me wrong, he has the greatest coach in Bill Belichick, and he is a sure Hall of Famer, but Manning isn’t done yet, and not by a long shot.

I’ll take Manning over Brady for the Super Bowl, even though the patriots are looking for revenge.

TOM COUGHLIN-MOTIVATOR

2012-01-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

Born on August 31, 1946 in Waterloo NY, he attended Waterloo High School where he gained the school's single season touchdown record-which still stands at 19. In Coughlin's senior year, he passed an entry test for seminary school to become a Catholic priest.

Coughlin attended Syracuse University playing halfback with Larry Csonka and Floyd Little, and setting the school's single-season pass receiving record.

Tom Coughlin was wide receiver coach under Bill Parcells when Parcells was head coach f the NY Giants. He is a stern disciplinarian and a stickler for details, all he learned from his mentor, Bill Parcells. (At the start of his Giants tenure he fined players for being two minutes early to team meetings, saying they should have arrived at least five minutes early per his new rules), earning him the nickname "Colonel Coughlin”.

The Rochester Institute of Technology was Coughlin's first head coaching job from 1970–1973. He also held the position of offensive coordinator both at Syracuse and then at Boston College.

After his stint with Boston College, he joined the NFL as wide receiver coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants. It was with the Giants that he was instrumental in the Giants victory in Super Bowl XXV.

Returning back to college ball in 1990, he took on the head-coaching job at Boston College and made it a perennial winner, capping his tenure 1in 1993 with a 41-39 victory over Notre Dame.

Due to Coughlin's success at Boston College he was hired as the first head coach of the NFL's expansion Jacksonville Jaguars. In his eight seasons at Jacksonville, Coughlin led the most successful expansion team in the history of the NFL, as the Jaguars went to the AFC Championship Game twice, the first time in their second year of the team's existence, 1996, was named NFL Coach of the Year by United Press International. Again in 1999, Coughlin took the Jaguars to the AFC Championship Game after a league-high 14–2 regular season record. The Jaguars were defeated: in 1996 by the New England Patriots, and in 1999, by the Tennessee Titans.

Although Coughlin's Jaguars won 49 regular season games in his first five years as head coach, the next three years was only 19–29, and after finishing 6–10 in 2002, he was fired. He ended an eight-year career in Jacksonville with a 68–60 regular season record and a 4–4 playoff record.

Coughlin was named the 16th head coach of the New York Giants on January 6, 2004. A team that finished 4–12 in 2003, the Giants surprised the NFL with a 5–2 start in his first season as head coach. losing back-to-back games, and the Giants at 5–4, Coughlin started New York's highly touted rookie quarterback, Eli Manning. Coughlin was criticized from the media who felt he was surrendering or quitting on the 2004 season when the Giants were still in playoff contention, The Giants would go on to lose six of the seven games started by Manning, who struggled in his rookie season.

In 2005, Manning and the Giants went on to an 11–5 record in Coughlin's second season and won the NFC East for the first time since 2000. It was also the Giants first postseason appearance since making it as a Wild Card in 2002. A sub-par performance by Manning, and a defense missing three key starting linebackers, the Giants got shut out 23–0 by the Carolina Panthers at Giants Stadium. Tiki Barber called out Coughlin and his offensive coordinator, partially because a Panthers player said that "We knew what they were going to do before they did it."

Hoes were high heading into the 2006 season: Coughlin transformed the Giants from an underachieving, last place team into a possible Super Bowl contender in two years.

The Giants struggled starting off the 2006 campaign, with a 1–2 record. The Giants rebounded by winning their next five games to go 6–2. However, the Giants suffered a stunning second half collapse, losing 6 of their next 7 games to fall to 7–8 heading into the last game of the season. After a late November loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Coughlin and his coaching staff were once again criticized. The Giants blew a 21-point fourth quarter lead and lost to the Tennessee Titans by a score of 24–21. After the game Coughlin had said to the media "I'm going to be sick about this one forever." Numerous injuries, excessive penalties, and a high number of turnovers—all three being problems that Coughlin promised to fix when hired as Giants head coach in 2004—had been most responsible for the downward spiral of the 2006 Giants. "Fire Coughlin" chant erupted at Giants Stadium, but the Giants rebounded with a key victory in the season's final game at the Washington, all but securing a playoff berth and perhaps saving Coughlin's job in the process. The Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 23–20, in the first round of the playoffs. Coughlin received a one-year extension on his existing contract and remained as the Giants' head coach in 2007.

In the 2007 season, the Giants started poorly with a 0–2 record, but the team rebounded and won 6 straight games. The Giants compiled a 7–1 road record for the season, and they made it to the playoffs for the third year in a row. Coughlin and the Giants had their first playoff win in seven years when his team defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-14. The Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the Divisional Playoffs, winning 21–17, preventing Dallas from beating them for the third time in the season. The upset victory over the Cowboys was followed up by a 23–20 overtime victory against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game. This victory set up Coughlin's first appearance in a Super Bowl as a head coach.

Super Bowl XLII took place in Glendale, Arizona and the game pitted Coughlin's New York Giants (13–6) against the undefeated New England Patriots (18–0) coached by Bill Belichick. The Patriots favored by 12 pointsfell to the Giants 17–14 in what is often considered one of the biggest upsets in NFL history.

The Super Bowl win earned Coughlin a four-year contract worth $21 million to coach the Giants through 2011. Fresh off their Super Bowl season, the team started 12-1 through 13 games, but after the Plaxico Burress shooting incident, the team went 1-3 down the stretch and were eliminated in the divisional round of the playoffs by the Philadelphia Eagles. The Giants finished 8-8 in 2009, and they missed the playoffs. In 2010, they began 1-2, and then began a five-game winning streak to finish 6-2 at the bye. Heading into week 15 against the Eagles, with a record of 9-4, during the last minutes of the game, Coughlin called a controversial out-of-bounds punt, when punter Matt Dodge punted the ball right to DeSean Jackson, who promptly took it to the end zone to seal the Eagles win, and eventually cause the Giants to miss the playoffs. This caused some to question whether Coughlin would keep his job as head coach after his contract expired. However, on July 24, 2011, he signed a one-year contract extension to remain with the Giants through the end of the 2012 season

After losing the season opener to the Washington Redskins, the Giants went 6-2 before losing four straight games. At 6-6, the Giants won three of their last four games to finish at 9-7 and the NFC East championship. In their first playoff game since the 2008 NFC Divisional round, they defeated the Atlanta Falcons 24-2, with the Falcon's only points coming on a first quarter safety on Eli Manning. In the 2012 divisional game Coughlin coached the Giants to a 37-20 win over the favored Green Bay Packers. The following week he coached the Giants to a 20-17 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game to set up a Super Bowl rematch with the New England Patriots.

BILL BELICHICK-MASTER PLANNER

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Bill Belichick was born on April 16, 1952 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was raised in Annapolis where his father was as assistant football coach with Navy at the United States Military Academy. He attended Wesleyan University in Middleton, Connecticut, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics in 1975. It was there that he played Center and Tight end and also played squash and Lacrosse where he was captain of his team. He is a member of Chi Psi Fraternity.

Beginnings of his career

After graduating, Belichick took a $25-per-week job as an assistant to Baltimore Colts head coach Ted Marchibroda back in 1975. In 1976 the Detroit Lions hired him as their assistant special teams coach. Soon his responsibilities included tight ends and wide receivers in 1977. The 1978 season found him with Denver as the Bronco assistant special teams coach and defensive assistant.

In ‘79, Belichick began his 12-year stint with the Giants under head coach Ray Perkins as defensive assistant and special teams coach. In 1980 he expanded his duties to linebackers, and named defensive coordinator in 1985, while under head coach Bill Parcells, who had replaced Perkins in 1983. The Giants won Super Bowls following the 1986 and 1990 seasons. His game plan was so successful tin the Giants’ 20-19 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV it is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame!

From 1991 until 1995, Belichick moved on to head coach the Cleveland Browns. As head coach of Cleveland he compiled a 36–44 record. In 1994 the team made the playoffs, his only winning year as head coach. Belichick resigned from the team in early February 1996 as the team was moving to Baltimore.

After departing Cleveland, Belichick reunited under Parcells once again as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach for the Patriots during the 1996 season. The Patriots finished 11-5 record, won the AFC championship, but fell to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXI.

After Super Bowl XXXI, Belichick moved on with Parcells to the New York Jets. From 1997 to 1999 Belichick was assistant head coach and defensive coordinator for the Jets. As Parcells stepped down as head coach in 1999, he arranged for Belichick to succeed him with team management. However, Belichick would be the New York Jets' head coach for only one day only. As he was introduced as head coach to the media—the day after his hiring was publicized—he made a resignation announcement, scrawling a resignation note on a sheet of loose leaf paper that read: "I resign as HC of the NYJ." Soon after he was introduced as the New England Patriots' new head coach; the team that had tried to hire him away from the Jets in the past, Parcells and the Jets claimed that Belichick was still under contract to the Jets. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue agreed that compensation was due the NY Jets, and the Patriots gave the Jets a first-round draft pick in 2000in exchange for the right to hire Belichick.

Bill Belichick succeeded Pete Carroll as New England Patriots head coach in 2000, Team owner Robert Kraft has given Belichick almost complete authority over football operations, effectively making him the team's GM as well. The Patriots went 5-11 in the regular season and didn’t make the playoffs, his only losing Patriot season. In 2001, the Patriots went 11–5 in the regular season, and defeated both Oakland and Pittsburg to qualify for the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl XXXI, New England's defense held the St. Louis' offense, having averaged 31 points per game during the season, to just 17 points, as the Patriots won on a last second field goal. It was the first championship in Patriots Super Bowl history.

In 2002 the Patriots went 9–7 and but missed the playoffs. New England finished with the same record as the New York Jets, but the Jets clinched the AFC East title as a result of the third tiebreaker (record among common opponents).

The Patriots' 2003 season started badly with a 31–0 loss to Buffalo in week 1. The team finished by winning 14 out of their remaining 15 games. Ironically the final week of the regular season, the Patriots avenged their loss to the Bills by the same 31–0 score. They beat Tennessee in the AFC Divisional Round. Playing against the Indianapolis Colts the Patriots recorded 4 interceptions, and went to Super Bowl XXXVIII and defeated the Carolina Panthers, 32-29 on a field goal, which helped Belichick win the NFL Coach of the Year award. In 2004, the Patriots once again went 14–2, as they defeated Indianapolis in the AFC divisional round.

New England opened the next season at 6–0, which combined with the 15 straight wins to end the previous regular season, made for 21 straight wins and broke the record for most wins in a row (18 regular season wins in a row), once held by the Miami Dolphins during and after their perfect season in 1972 with 18 straight wins (16 regular season, 1971–73). They defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game then defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX and became only the second team to win three Super Bowls in four tries. Belichick is the only coach to it.

The Patriots went 10–6 in 2005 and defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild Card round before bowing to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round.

In 2006 the Patriots went 12-4 and defeated the NY Jets in the Wild Card round. They then beat the San Diego Chargers the next week, before losing to the eventual Super Bowl XLI winner Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game 38-34. The Patriots were leading 21-3 mid-way through the second quarter, when the Colts came back, it was the largest comeback in AFC playoff history since the Bills overcame a 35-3 halftime deficit to beat the Houston Oilers.

Bill Belichick led the 2007 Patriots to the first perfect season since the introduction of the 16-game regular season schedule in 1978, becoming only the fourth team to do so in the history of the league after the 1934and 1942 Chicago Bearsand 1972 Miami Dolphins. However, the New York Giants upset the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII! The Patriots' failure to attain a "perfect season" (undefeated and untied, including playoffs) kept the Miami Dolphins as the only team to do so, having finished their 1972 regular season at 14-0 and having won three games in the playoffs.

In the Patriots' 2008 season-opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, Tom Brady, quarterback suffered a season-ending injury in the first quarter, leading to the substitution by backup quarterback Matt Cassel for the rest of the season. With a win in week 2, the Patriots broke their own record for regular season wins in a row with 21 (2006–08). After losing over a dozen players to the injured reserve list, the Patriots still managed their league-leading eighth consecutive season with a winning record, going 11–5. The Patriots, who finished second in the AFC East failed to qualify for the NFL playoffs losing tiebreakers to the Dolphins who were 11-5 and won the division. On January 22nd, 2012 the Patriots won the AFC Championship game when Baltimore Ravens kicker, Billy Cundiff missed a routine 32-yard field goal attempt, sending New England to their fifth Super Bowl under Belichick.

Illegal sideline videotaping

In an incident called "Spygate," on September 9, 2007, NFL security caught a Patriots video assistant taping the defensive signals of the New York Jets from an on-field location. Jets coach Eric Mangini, the former Patriots assistant under Belichick, tipped off league officials that the Patriots might have been filming their signals. After the game, the Jets formally complained to the league.

On September 13, the NFL fined Belichick $500,000—the largest fine ever imposed on a coach in the league's 87-year history, and fined the Patriots $250,000. Additionally, the Patriots forfeited their 2008 first round draft. Commissioner Goodell said that he fined the Patriots as a team because Belichick exercises so much control over the Patriots' on-field operations that "his actions and decisions are properly attributed to the club." Goodell considered suspending Belichick, but decided that taking away draft picks would be more severe in the long run.

Belichick later issued the following statement:

"I accept full responsibility for the actions that led to tonight's ruling. Once again, I apologize to the Kraft family and every person directly or indirectly associated with the New England Patriots for the embarrassment, distraction and penalty my mistake caused. I also apologize to Patriots fans and would like to thank them for their support during the past few days and throughout my career. [...] As the Commissioner acknowledged, our use of sideline video had no impact on the outcome of last week's game. We have never used sideline video to obtain a competitive advantage while the game was in progress. [...] Part of my job as head coach is to ensure that our football operations are conducted in compliance of the league rules and all accepted interpretations of them. My interpretation of a rule in the Constitution and Bylaws was incorrect. [...] With tonight's resolution, I will not be offering any further comments on this matter. We are moving on with our preparations for Sunday's game."

Following the incident and its fallout, Belichick was awarded the 2007 NFL Coach of the Year Award, as voted on by the Associated Press.

Belichick has led the Patriots to a 139–53-0 in 12 regular seasons. The team also boasts a 16-5 record in the playoffs, and 3–1 in Super Bowls. They have won eight division titles, including five consecutive titles from 2003 to 2007 (and only missed the playoffs on tiebreakers in 2002 and 2008).

GIANTS/PATRIOTS SUPER

2012-01-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

Coach Tom Coughlin

The unlikely pairing of the two teams, The New York Giants and New England Patriots came as a big surprise to football fans. The Patriots everyone figured would come at least close if not be in the big dance, but the Giants were the big surprise. I remember the prognosticators saying the Giants had too much wrong with them. Pre ELIte Manning was questionable, he would never measure up to his brother Peyton, and the injuries for the Giants along with a coach Coughlin who was about to be fired made the Giants prohibitive favorites to even make a playoff game.

Eli Manning

Tom Brady and Coach Belichick were the perennial favorites to go to the NFL finale, and maybe win it all, even though the defense was suspect. The only difference was that the Patriots have, once again: Tom Brady and Coach Belichick .

Coach Bill Belichick

Both the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers proved to be up to the task, but met with two of destiny’s teams, and how do you beat that? For the Ravens it was pretty hard to end the season so quickly, especially the way it did end, with a missed field goal. Some great players may never get another chance and will end their careers with a ‘What if’ note, or a ‘If only’ note of sadness.

Tom Brady

The season is only 16 games spread over 17 weeks. All the weeks are important, and even the bye week takes on significance and importance to a team. The preparation is key to any teams success, and that success hinges on the head coach and how he prepares them for regular and playoff season. If you question that, then speak to Rex Ryan and his prepping his offense this year and why they didn’t reach the playoffs.

I will try to compare the two teams in the next two coming weeks before the Super Bowl kickoff. I will start by comparing the coaches, their records and styles, what is known about them and how they are perceived around the league.

JOE PATERNO

Joe Paterno

It seems Sunday was a big day in sports, with the playoffs and the passing of Joe Paterno. JoePa as he was known, was almost elevated to sainthood, except that the Satin, Jerry Sandusky ruined it for him, marring a spectacular record as a big college coach, who set all the records. He seemed to be a gentle Vince Lombardi, except Lombardi would have had Sandusky’s hide stretched across the Green Bay tundra.

JoePa was a great coach, it was all he knew, and all he ever wanted to do, I think college football has lost a great coach, can we call him a great man? Only history will tell us.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

PRINCE FIELDER

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

Frank McCourt has a little time left as owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mysteriously, Prince Fielder has not made up his mind yet where he wants to play.

Los Angeles Dodger fans have been waiting for Frank McCourt to ride into the sunset (Which by the way is the Pacific Ocean), and take his divorce, bankruptcy and destructive way with him. He has placed a limit on the payroll, and my question is: if you are selling the team, would you not place as much value as you could to drive up the price? As an owner, don’t you look to make the team as valuable as possible? LA is no small market, there is a lot of exposure, a lot of tradition in the Dodgers and it behooves any owner to increase his stock in his team.

One way to make the Dodgers competitive would be to bring in a big-ticket free agent. Who better than Prince Fielder? The stock of the Dodgers would increase immediately and the team’s competitiveness would go up as well.

With Prince Fielder, the situation has become somewhat murky. The player is a top of the line type, on par with Albert Pujols and Ron Howard. His talent is there, but is he worth what he is asking, and just what is it he is asking for?

The Dodgers are in financial straights, none of the top contenders need Fielder, or are all tapped out right now, the Mets, a big market team have played themselves out of contention for free agent players of impact for a few years, so who could afford a large contract on a long term basis?

Two teams come to mind and they compete in the same market place for the most part. The Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals would be a good fit. Both seem to have the money, but I doubt that either one wants to invest more than 4-5 years, even in a 27 year old player with Fielder’s credentials.

Jayson Werth signed a $126 million 7-years contract, and in his first year went out and tore up the league with a .232 average! Would the Nationals b e willing to try that again with anybody?

The Rangers have the money, they have a great TV deal, they have a few pennants and almost won the World Series, but interestingly, have not made an offer. Is it that his agent has a white elephant on his hands?

So why doesn’t the Dodger owner sign Fielder to a 6-year $160 Million deal? It would bring his value way up, the team is competitive and attractive to buyers and fans alike, and Cecil Fielder could play for the most money, and if he sustains himself with his natural talents, renew that contract for even more.

That's all I wrote, folks!

RAVENS/PATRIOTS

2012-01-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

Talk about an interesting matchup, high-powered offense vs. high-powered defense. The pinpoint accuracy of Tom Brady and a great receivers corp. pitted against the slam bang in your face defense of the Ravens. This should be one hell of a AFC Championship game!

The Ravens are going to Foxboro for the second time since the wild-card round of the playoffs two years ago, and are still as fierce as ever. Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Anquan Boldin, Terrell Suggs, Ray Rice, and Lardarius Webbare are all heading to Foxboro, Mass., for a slugfest of a game.

Joe Flacco, QB

Of the two quarterbacks, Joe Flacco is the least dangerous. The 27 years old Flacco has started every game for Baltimore since 2008. He passed for 3,600 yards for the third straight season, with 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, is ranked in the bottom half of NFL quarterbacks with an 80.9 passer rating. He completed 57.6 percent. He threw for 176 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday's victory against the Texans.

Tom Brady, QB

Tom Brady is the third quarterback in NFL history to reach 5,000 passing yards in a season, and will be considered for the NFL MVP award. Brady finished 13-3, as the Patriots ranked second in the NFL in passing offense.

John Harbaugh, coach

Coach Harbaugh has led the Ravens against Patriots counterpart Bill Belichick twice, Harbaugh is 1-1, which includes a 33-14 victory in the 2009 wild-card round. Harbaugh is a defensive oriented coach who led the Ravens to an AFC North title with a 12-4 record. All four losses came on the road, where the Ravens will have to win in order to advance to the Super Bowl for the first time in more 11 years.

Bill Belichick, coach

Bill Belichick is 10th on the NFL's all-time career wins list, and has won three Super Bowl rings. He manages to stay competitive as the Patriots have won their division more often than not. His playoff record is 16-6!

Defense-

This is there one category the Ravens should be considered better it is in getting to the quarterback, with 29 sacks this year compared to 25 for the Patriots.

Offense-

The running game shows very little difference, with the Ravens holding a slight edge with Ray Lewis of about 50 rushes more. The Yards per carry run about the same, as do the running backs TD’s

Tight End-

Rob Gronkowski. Enough said.

Recievers-

The Raven’s Aquan Bolden and Torrey Smith are adequate to get the offense moving and perhaps scoring enough times until the defense comes out, but they don’t hold a candle to the likes of: Wes Welker and Dione Branch.

I personally can’t see this going anywhere but New England’s way, with a 2 TD win.

IT ISN’T THE NUMBERS THAT COUNT

2012-01-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

This Sunday’s NFC championship match pits two clubs with a history that dates back to November of 1952, when they first met. In the almost 60 years, the 49ers hold an 18-17 edge. That record includes regular and post season games, and the 2003 Wild card game that was a thrilling 39-38 victory for the 49ers.

In 1994, the Giants got blown out of the water by the 49ers: 44-3!

But here is the thing: none of that matters Sunday, you know it, the fans know it and the players definitely know it. The only things that will matter Sunday are the game plans, the readiness of the players (Manning has the flu) and who is better psyched at game time.

The NFC West champion 49ers have beaten the NFC East-winning Giants 27-20 when the teams met in the Bay Area last November, and the Giants are on a run with four straight wins and are confident they can run that momentum up to the Super Bowl.

The Giants came into the league in 1925, and were named after the baseball New York Giants. Wellington Mara was the original owner back in those days. Playing at the Polo Grounds, they eventually moved to Yankee Stadium, and finally to the Meadowlands, where they play now at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.

Such Greats as Andy Robustelli, DE, Y. A. Tittle, QB, and a former 49er, Frank Gifford, HB and WR, Sam Huff, LB, Michael Strahan, DE. Mel Hein, OL, Harry Carson, LB, Emlen Tummel, S, Rosey Brown, OL, Lawrence Taylor, OLB and great coaches as Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi to name a few.

The 49ers, a charter member of the All American Football Conference founded in 1946, joined the NFL in 1952. They own 5 Super Bowl titles, second only to the Pittsburg Steelers. They are the only team in the NFL to appear in more than 2 Super Bowl games without losing. Those championship teams were led by notable hall of famers such as Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Steve Young and coach Bill Walsh.

Pride and tradition will be on the field tomorrow, look for a great game.

YO! YU DARVISH

You came a long way Baby! All the way from Japan, and land in a pile of… money!

The Texas Rangers have signed Yu Darvish. They are strapping themselves with a 6-year, $60 million contract. That is a lot of resin for a pitcher to get before he even throws the first pitch in the majors. The Rangers first paid for the privilege of exclusive negotiating rights for $51.7 Million then sign him for a $ 56 Million for 6 years! There is another $4Million in attainable roster bonuses.

NOW LET’S DO THE MATH TOGETHER.

$51.7 million to chat

56 million to contract

4 million extra laying around

$111.7 FOR 6 YEARS.

18.6 MILLION A YEAR

@33 starts a season comes out to over $500,000 a start!

Now if he has a headache of doesn’t feel well enough to pitch, it goes higher! Then there is the 15-day disabled list, and the whole thing seems awfully stupid. When you think about it, how many starts is he likely to miss in 6 years? That is very likely.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

WANTED-DESIGNATED HITTER

2012-01-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

The New York Yankees have a position available; ‘Designated Hitter’ and former players may apply.

Here is a team that has enough talent on their team to not worry about an intricate part of the lineup in every American League teams make up. Usually a ballplayer may be reaching the end of the road, maybe he can hit but can’t field, and teams make him a designated hitter. It has saved a few careers for a while and will do so in the future once again.

The media is looking at four possibilities: Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui, two former Yankee heroes who were instrumental in the Yankees post season play in the past. I figure both would love to come back, if Damon can overcome his pride and play for a little less than $5.6 million. Both these players, although great hitters are not great fielders, but their hitting had made an impact in the past, but like a fading diva, they are starting to lose it.

Along with Damon and Matsui, Vladimir Guerrero and Raul Ibanez are also looking for a job these days, their agents reaching out to the Yankees about any interest in their players. But the job market opened up somewhat for the four when Victor Martinez went down while conditioning himself for 2012. Tearing his ACL in his left knee, it looks like he is through for the season, so the Tigers too are in the market.

It’s not a bad market right now if you need a DH; all four players could fit, and make a difference for either the Tigers or Yankees. Matsui may be the weakest of the four, but he is still good enough with 12 HR’s and a .251 B.A. Guerrero is an interesting possibility for the Yankees, batting .290 last, but he like the others stats have fallen off, as they face the end of their careers. The one possibility I think the Yankees will go for is Ibanez, although his average is way down there, he hit for power, 20 HR’s, 84 RBI’s and can fill in with his glove.

ARE THERE BATS IN THE METS PELFREY?

How do you give a pitcher who goes from 15-9 to 7-13 a raise? The New York Mets resigned Mike Pelfrey to an increase in his contract, a pitcher how lost more games then he did last year and won less than half the games he won last year, and an ERA that went from 3.66 to 4.74? Is this good financial management, yet they can’t pay Jose Reyes, or at least offer him a contract? Even in innings pitched he has fallen off, yet they give him a raise from $3,925,000 to $5,687,500!

That's all I wrote, folks!

DAVID WRIGHT

2012-01-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

Wright

Through the almost 50 years of New York Mets history, third base has been the most troubling position to fill in their history. From early on the issue has plagued the Mets, and with few exceptions few men manned the hot corner for long.

Zimmer

To be exact, 147 individual players have played third base for the Mets in their history! That s approximately 3 per year! That includes all the great ones like David Wright, Howard Johnson, Ray Knight and Ken Boyer, all the way to Amis Otis, Bobby Valentine to Pumpsie Green and Don Zimmer.

Smith

With the Mets financially in the gutter right now, the hope of Mets fans is that the team can retain the services of one David Wright, a home-grown product, not unlike Jose Reyes. Mets fans look at David Wright as their Derrick Jeter, home grown and a star, and in their eyes a superstar.

Green

But the Super Nova who owns the team may have to trade him away or lose him to free agency, just as he did with Reyes. There is talk that he could be traded before he is gone via free agency, figuring they could get more for him in a trade than allowing him to get away in free agency.

Jefferies

Of course Mr. Wilpon did make that statement a while back about how vital any player is in his estimation, and that rattled both Reyes and Wright.

Fregosi

Losing David Wright, a very good defensive third baseman, and very good hitter, a team player and a team leader, one that says the New York Franchise, would be a terrible blow to fans, especially in this walk year for Reyes, who excelled in 2011. Although David seems to be getting a little fragile lately with injuries, he is the best thing to come along since Reyes.

Johnson

How forgiving will the fans be if Wright is traded or walks? How many fannies will the fans plop into the seats for the second half of the season, if Wright is gone? How much interest will there be directed toward Flushing, or should I say redirected from Flushing to the Bronx?

Will the National networks want to carry a bad team? How much revenue will Wilpon lose with David Wright gone? How would any of that make any sense? Will they then look to trade off Ike Davis too.

Rebuilding is the buzzword that the front office is trying to sell us, for the sake of the Wilpons holding onto the team. Breaking down the team is a better buzzword to use, because e it makes more sense when you look at things.

Reyes

Sometimes there is very little difference between great and mediocrity in baseball teams. Sometimes it is the difference of only one or two players. The Mets with Reyes and Wright were mediocre at best, and lousy as usual. I guess you could make the argument that they lost with Reyes and Wright, and they can lose without them. No one remembers the 4^th place finisher. No one strives for 4^th place, and besides the Mets own it.

If David Wright is gone by the end of July, so is a great deal of the fan base, as there will be a backlash, Wilpon will have effectively ruined the team and still have his debt. Maybe then he will decide to sell.

A New York franchise should always be in the front, leading the league, not trailing a second rate city, especially losing players to small market towns. How is it that Philadelphia manages year in and year out to be in first place, and make spectacular moves to make their teams better, yet New York flounders?

Taking away what drives revenue so that you don’t spend any is suicide; taking away David Wright is suicidal if you own the franchise. It goes back to being penny wise and pound-foolish.

David Wright has played 1,098 games for 8 years, they finally have a third baseman, and a very good one at that in more ways than just baseball.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

OLD-TIME FOOTBALL

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

The New York Giants are back! Beating the Green Bay Packers in their own ball yard, a 15-1 team, and the Super Bowl Champs makes them that. I bet against the Giants this past Sunday, and I must say, if I had to do it again, I still would. But it is what it is and so go Giants.

When I think about the great Giant teams, I think about their defense. The great teams were always defensive works of art, with stars like Sam Huff and Lawrence Taylor. In 1920, the NFL was founded and five years later, the Giants, owned by Wellington Mara joined the league. For 80 seasons they have been around, and have won their share for the most part, and are mostly competitive. From 1964 until 1980 they had only 2 winning seasons, but in 1981 to 1990 they qualified for 7 playoffs! In 1987 and 1991 they were the Super Bowl champions.

San Francisco, or the 49ers as they are known, were founded in 1946 and joined the NFL in 1950, are the first professional team on the West Coast, and the first NFL team on the West Coast. All five of their championships come after the inception of the Super Bowl. Their greatest star has been Joe Montana, who was a contemporary of Marino of the Miami Dolphins, the two often compared. In the 1980’s they won 4 of their 5 Super Bowls, when they were know as the team of the 80’s.

And so this coming Sunday promises to be a great defensive game, with the highly charged defensive unit of the Giants, and perhaps the best defensive team this year going at it. Offensively, I think the Giants have the upper hand, as Elite Manning has proven himself to be a great quarterback this year.

So I take it all back, the Giants are a good team, but once again, I will bet against them. I think good defense beats good quarterbacking, especially a team with a so-so running game like the Giants. But I hope this is a knockdown dragged-out fight.

FLACCO/BRADY

The Baltimore Ravens are a very good team, better than most, probably better than the opponent this coming weekend, as far as balanced goes. But there are two factors that will negate all that: Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.

T.J. Yates was not ready for prime time yet, and so Baltimore persevered, and Tebow was no match for the playoff pressures and the New England Patriots. The two best teams in the AFC are meeting and that is the way it should be. I don’t think that Flacco can do it in this case, and I don’t feel the offensive line of the Ravens will do a good enough job of protecting the quarterback, in spite of what I said.

JOHNNY DAMON

The Yankees pulled off a spectacular set of deals this past Friday that makes me think that Brian Cashman is a great GM, with or without money behind him. I think he is very wise in waiting like he did, (Kuroda, Pineda and Campos for Montero and Noesi) trading for what he needs without over paying for the goods. Granted the trading of Montero and great prospect and catcher usually isn’t a best swap for the guy giving up his catcher for a pitcher, but the guys Cashman traded for make it worth the risk.

Now they are entertaining bringing back Johnny Damon. Here is a guy that plays hard, loved being a Yankee, and if he comes back, will probably play from the pure joy of being a Yankee once again.

Bobby Valentine has a right to be skeptical to a degree about the Yankee starting pitching. He proved to be a great manager with the Mets, taking them to a World Series, and winning over in Japan. He has a great baseball mind, instincts and knowledge for the game, so I think we need to heed what he says; Basically he thinks the trade of Kuroda and Pineda “might” improve the starting pitching, let’s not give the pennant to the Yankees just yet.

JOE PATERNO

2012-01-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Now that a lot of the commotion over the Sandusky scandal is over for a while until the trial, Joe Paterno’s firing can be addressed. A lot of Penn State alumni are angry that JoePa was fired. They feel as one alumni stated in NY to Penn State President Rodney Erickson; “The Paternos represented everything we Penn Staters stand for. When the Board of Trustees fired Joe, they fired many of us.”

That statement brought down the house, the applauding was loud and long. It was the sentiment of many, but not all. It was an emotional response to a highly charged situation. But how does it fit in the scheme of things?

Paterno is involved in a situation, which I think many of us would have reacted to the same way. In retrospect, it may not be the right way, but how often do we find ourselves in the situation that Joe Paterno found himself?

Someone tells you what Joe was told: you naturally want to go and report it to your boss. You don’t hold sway over whether the school can press charges: you assume it will. Do you immediately go to the police and not tell your bosses? What would have been the fallout if Joe did indeed report it to the police; immediately. Would he have been fired for doing so? I wonder?

There are too many self-righteous people running around. Once again: emotion in an emotionally charged situation. If you ask a lot of people, I bet many would agree that Joe did the right thing, and that he did enough. Even if Sandusky reports and is accountable to Joe Paterno, Joe had to go to the boss, who runs the school, because a scandal is brewing, affecting adversely, Penn State.

But Joe was indeed fired. When they fired Joe, they said in essence: You Joe Paterno, are as guilty as Sandusky, you are an accomplice!

Of course that is ridiculous, but that is what is.

JoePa’s Nittany Lions hold the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision. From 1966 until 2011, he has led the football team and enhanced a great football tradition at Penn State. He holds 14 different Coach of the Year and other awards through the years. In 2006, elected into the College Football Hall of Fame. The awards go on and on, too, too numerous to even list here. He was truly a great coach.

But here is what is also ridiculous: Joe Paterno should have retired. He wanted to at the end of this season. There is a long history of Joe Paterno led Penn State Nittany Lions football greatness, and that is evident. There are newer ideas out there now, tradition dies hard and in this case it is dying a slow death. But JoePa deserved better, he deserved to go out on his laurels, praised and adored, respected and honored, not tossed aside because of a scumbag like Sandusky.

Sandusky hasn’t been to trial yet. Sandusky hasn’t been convicted yet. JoePa has been fired!

THE COMMISHIONER IS BACK

2012-01-16T00:00:00.001-08:00

Bud Selig has decided to go against his original plan of retiring at the end of the 2011, and emerged with a two-year extension on his contract. Major League Baseball owners gave Selig until 2014 on his contract, and the commissioner was happy to sign it. Bud Selig will be 80 years old when the contract runs out.

Selig, former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers was named acting commissioner in 1992, and the named commissioner in 1998. He has seen the leagues prosper and has dealt with the labor strife. Major league franchises are worth more now than ever, as record revenues are recorded, and seen the depths of the steroid era.

Bud Selig is a good commissioner. There is a consensus of owners who will tell you that, contracts seem to tell you the players are happy with him, and the fans should be too, since he has expanded the playoffs, and introduced some integrity back with a tougher new drug-testing policy.

His tenure has not been without incidents, and one in particular occurred that occurred on September 11, 2011.

An angry Bud Selig called the Mets that Sunday night to complain that the team threw him "under the bus" by stating publicly MLB's decision not to let players wear caps honoring New York police and fire departments on the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks!

Selig was embarrassed by it, The game got moved into prime time because of 9/11, and [MLB] ended up getting embarrassed.

The Mets wished to wear caps honoring the police, firefighters and other first responders during a game against the Chicago Cubs that Sunday night. They wore the hats for batting practice and the pregame ceremony, but MLB insisted they wear their regular caps during the game.

Baseball has grown and so has the issue of running it. Bud Selig will not live forever, and so someone the owners can agree on is needed to replace Selig in 2014.

Troy Polamalu

Sometimes rules just don’t apply. Case in hand is Troy Polamalu was knocked out of a Steelers/Jaguar game with concussion like symptoms. Fearing that his wife had seen the collision on TV, he called to re-assure her. Well, the NFL didn’t like that and fined him $10,000!

The rule state that you can not have a cell-phone or other similar device one hour before game time and during the game, while on the field. Polamalu, has a long history of concussions during his career, and he appealed the penalty. Polamalu won his appeal and won't have pay the fine. Wayne Crebet comes to mind, maybe Polamalu should retire!

Jeff Fisher

The St. Louis Rams fired their GM Billy Devaney and head coach Steve Spagnuolo, then turned around and hired Jeff Fisher. He will now try to restore the team back to the time hen it used to beat his Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans.

After taking the 2011 season off, he became the hottest coaching prospect available! Fisher coached for 16 years leading the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, with a so-so record of 142-120. He has led his teams to four division titles and a conference championship. The 1999 team lost the Super Bowl to, you guessed it, the Rams.

IT’S STILL HIS TEAM

2012-01-15T00:00:00.001-08:00

Fred Wilpon

Mr. Fred Wilpon feels that he does not need to sell the New York Mets, just parts of it to cover the mistakes he’s made.

Some mistakes if they are minor you can forget. You can forgive also. You can forgive letting Jose Reyes get away, because the money people are going to pay him is not justified by any means. He has been a great player when healthy, but that is the caveat.

How on earth, this earth, this God made earth; can you justify having to face a lawsuit brought on by your decision Mr. Wilpon? How do we forgive you for the $386 Million lawsuit? How do we say, “It’s OK Mr. Wilpon, that $70 million you lost last year can happen to anybody”?

He asked: “How can anybody deny it’s been a challenging time?” No one is denying it Mr. Wilpon, which is why you should sell it.

Madoff

Some people see this crisis as he does: “Financial problems, plaguing the franchise”

I see it as incompetent ownership plaguing the franchise. Let’s see, how many World Series have the Mets won under his ownership? How many have they been in since he took over? OK, how many playoffs have they been in? Compare that to the New York Yankees, or the Philadelphia Phillies, or the Atlanta Braves.

This is New York Mr. Wilpon: you know how it works. You have two sources of income, fan attendance and TV revenues. One adversely affects the other. If the fans stop coming to CitiField, you lose money, AND no one will watch an inferior product on the old TV!

The sad thing about your ownership is that you are working hard to exist, not building the best team on the field of play! One of the most exciting times of the year is after the World Series and prior to spring training; when teams vie for talent, look to get free agents on board, and fans dream about how wonderful the season will be. What have you done for the fans this year? You lost a key player, you added nothing of real value, and you saddled baseball with mediocrity to failure in a big marketplace called New York.

If you look across the river, there is a real baseball team being managed by real baseball people, who understand the need to be competitive, not lost in financial woes. The Yankees go to the playoffs, they may not win them all, but they are there every year, year in and year out, unlike the Mets.

Citifield

Another reason you should sell is that you invested all this money into a new ballpark, and don’t have the pulse of the fan base. The ballpark is too big, too expensive for the ordinary fan to support your team, and you sir, have no idea what they wanted to begin with.

Ebbets Field

Your ballpark is all wrong for baseball and for free agents to want to play in it everyday. Why? Because it is too cavernous, the dimensions are way too deep! You should know better, being an old Brooklyn Dodger fan, the cozy confines of Ebbets Field is what brings back fond memories of the old days. You supposedly modeled your new ballpark after Ebbets Field, but a façade is not the way, feel is. What made Camden Yards so great is it is more like Ebbets Field than Citifield is.

Please Mr.Wilpon, sell the team, you mean well, but you will be better as a fan than an owner.

That’ all I wrote, folks!

YOU DON’T SAY

2012-01-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

As much as I would move on to other things, more controversy pops up about the New York Jets and the locker room tension.

Derrick Mason

On SNY the other day, they interviewed Derrick Mason, a former Jet that was sent away for reasons I won’t go into right now. But he said some interesting things in a very candid way. He did not sound like he was blowing smoke, and included himself in the criticism he leveled against his former teammates.

One of the things he said was that the offense was sick. Sick is not his word, but the crux of the criticism was that no one on offense was trying hard enough. They all knew something was wrong, but thought it would straighten itself out. Kind of whistling past the graveyard at night. This feeling goes way back to September, when they should have won games that they didn’t.

After opening up their 42^nd season with victories over the Cowboys and the only real offensive showing against the Jaguars, they lost three in a row to playoff caliber teams in Oakland, Baltimore and New England.

Nick Mangold

Nick Mangold was also interviewed, and also took some of the credit for the poor play the team experienced, saying that you can’t fault Sanchez for lack of leadership, when you have so many veterans on the team that didn’t step forward either! Mangold’s underlining message was simple: Every team has locker room problems, you can’t allow them to spill out onto the field.

GIANTS TESTED SUNDAY

Coach Tom Coughlin

The Giants have the season on the line this Sunday as they travel to the frozen turf (I don't use tundra) of Green Bay Wisconsin. The Giants didn’t beat anybody of note this year with the exception of beating the New England Patriots and the Cowboys twice, and yes, scaring the hell out of the Packers in New Jersey.

To bet against the Packers this season, in Packerville, with a team motivated by a recent tragedy, would be stupid. I don’t think the Giants are up to the task, and frankly will be out of it early. That is my prediction, and I hope I’m wrong. At this stage of the season, you want close games.

Brandon Jacobs

I have to say though, that Tom Coughlin has done a very inspiring job of taking a lot of mediocre talent and making it competitive! Take Brandon Jacobs, vilified all year by fans and media, and he stepped up big time against the Falcons. Some Giants fans will hate me for saying this but, Tom Coughlin IS a great coach, under appreciated and under valued. Let that go on record as my point of view. Without Coughlin as head coach, there is no playoff this year. There, I said it.

CAN IT BE!

Only 4 weeks until spring training! The season will start soon and a lot of fans will be getting ready to vent their frustrations. Particularly Met fans and fans other than the Yankees, Phillies and Marlins, whom all seem to have most of the talent of the majors locked in the three cities!

That’s all I wrote, folks!

WHAT’S GOING ON?

2012-01-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Rex Ryan

In less than 24 hours, the Jets front office can do amazing things!

Tuesday afternoon, Brian Schottenheimer walks away from his job as New York Jets Offensive Coordinator and Tony Sparano is hired to replace him.

In sports, when someone gives you a vote of confidence, especially after screwing up, it is usually a kiss of death, and that is the case or so it seems with Rex Ryan and Brian Schottenheimer.

Don’t forget: Brian Schottenheimer was not Rex Ryan’s boy to begin with. He was in place already, and I remember the press wanting him to stay as the new regime took over. Maybe that is why Schottenheinmer had so much freedom, and Rex Ryan had no idea what was going on.

Schottenheimer

Did Brian Schottenheimer know something? Did he know that he was about to be fired? Two coaches under him were let go, did that mean he was angered into quitting because of that?

The media questioned Ryan prior to Brian Schottenheimer leaving, and Rex said that he expected him back if he didn’t get a head coaching job. A vote of confidence! Not only doesn’t Brian Schottenheimer; not get a head coaching job, he then quits the job he has!

Tony Sparano

Did the Jets sit down with Brian Schottenheimer and tell him not to come back anymore? This is a question that I raise since Tony Sparano came on board so quickly that it seems he didn’t have a whole lot of time to make up his mind about things like: Do I want to coach again at a lower level after being a head coach in Miami? How much money will I settle for? Do I want to re-settle my family in New York? Can my offensive philosophy blend in well with the Jets scheme of things? Can I co-exist with Rex Ryan? Doesn’t he have an agent? Can you agree in principle for a contract like that, and announce it to the media?

My suspicion is that this was in the works a while. That Brian Schottenheimer was told that he should save face and just leave, not get fired.

MEANWHILE

Mark Sanchez

The fallout about Mark Sanchez continues. Greg McElroy. Who the heck is Greg McElroy? He sits on his injured reserve and makes outrageous statements about the Jets locker room while he is in Alabama or somewhere south on a radio station.

A nobody in the sports world makes a statement about his teammates, I would expect he is gone, and soon. It seems many teammates of Sanchez have come forward on record as saying that there is no truth to the statements made by McElroy. Yet the statements made contrary are hiding behind confidentiality!

Greg McElroy

Fourth string quarterbacks should be practicing and not heard. They don’t own the right to criticize the #1 quarterback on the team, or even the #2 for that matter. Before you learn to lead you learn to follow.

There are a lot of veterans on the Jets team. They are the guys you may have to rely upon to form a wall of protection for you when you are about to throw a football in anger, you don’t want them anything but in front of you.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

CONTROVERSY

2012-01-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

The poop hit the fan, and now it is flying about! The New York media is reporting that some players on the New York Jets want Sanchez replaced. They want him out, gone, as in disappear.

Marked Sanchez

Seems that Mark is rubbing some of the players the wrong way, especially since they missed the playoffs. The issues are his treatment as a prima donna, being babied by the Jets, and his ‘lazy’ work ethic. Many of the players say that he is too complacent about his job, and does not prepare well before each game. That plus many are stating that he is not mentally equipped, that he can’t understand some of the game plan and goes into games unprepared because he is confused. They cite his interceptions and fumbles and are questioning his leadership abilities.

I have a suggestion to those players.

Before you look into someone else’s sins, look inward first.

Much of the problem with Sanchez was not his doing. The offensive line play was indeed offensive. All too often the defensive opponents managed to go around the offense to get to Mark Sanchez. The offensive line offered no protection for the young quarterback.

Maximum Rex Ryan

Let’s face it, if you are a quarterback, especially one with a coach with a big mouth, people are gunning for you, they want your head if possible. You go into a huddle with no confidence in your offensive protection and you get smacked around, you become jittery, you lose faith in the scheme of things, you falter.

What we have here is a classic example of players who dropped the ball themselves and don’t want to take responsibility because they stunk, so the obvious target is the quarterback!

Here is a guy who took the team to two straight playoff championship games, and suddenly he is not equipped to lead the team? Who are we kidding? Point the finger in the mirror and correct what is really wrong, your own shoddy play!

Sadtonio Holmes

When I see a Santonio Holmes hot dogging it in the end zone after he finally catches a ball thrown his way, and his team is in such a deep hole, then decides he is unhappy and sulks, that is a problem. Go after that kind of thinking. When a linesman blows his assignment, and causes a hurried throw that leads to an interception, that is cause to be alarmed, or when you have an offensive coordinator who runs it up the middle on a 3^rd and 25, start reassign the blame and grow up.

RYAN BRAUN

As I wrote on December 13^th in this space:

“RULES ARE RULES, OR ARE THEY?

It’s quite simple. Don’t use illegal performance enhancing drugs AND play for a major league baseball club. Ryan Braun knew that, won a title and was tested and found that he broke the rules. He is appealing the findings. No player has ever won that appeal, what makes him think he should? He won the National League Most Valuable Player award. In my opinion, they should strip him of the title, and award it to the runner up. 50 game suspensions are fine, but they are cheating a ballclub, an owner who pays in good faith, and teammates that rely on Braun to do his job. No matter how good he is, he will always be under suspicion and tainted as a drug user.”

What I wrote still goes! When will the powers that be step forward and defend the integrity of the game?

Lyan Braun

If drug testing is put into place, it must be there for a reason, no? What does it mean if we find the MVP has used steroids, and we still award him the MVP? If nothing happens, then why bother with the testing?

Ryan Braun was found using enhancement, which is against the rules. He didn’t play fairly, look to gain at someone else’s expense and screwed up the records, because he invalidated his season. Take the award away from him. Now. Go through the process once more and give it to a more deserving player. Now! Make the award have meaning, don’t make it cheapened by someone who cheats.

SHOW SOME BALLS, BASEBALL!

HEY, YU, $20 MILLION ANNUALLY

2012-01-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

That’s right, that is what Yu Darvish is asking for, $20 million annually, is he kidding? Seems to be what some media is reporting, and if true, shouldn’t he sign a major league contract before becoming arrogant?

The Rangers have exclusive negotiating rights to Darvish through 4 p.m. on Jan. 18. The Japanese media outlet Sponichi said Darvish wants a five-year deal with an average annual value of about $20 million.

He has yet to strike out anyone, win a game, or even face a batter! That is a lot of nerve and blind faith at the major league level for a lot of money. Are the Rangers dumb enough to pay that? Daisuke Matsuzaka received a six-year, $52MM deal from the Red Sox about five years ago, and the Sox are still reeling from it.

The Rangers won the exclusive right to negotiate with Darvish for $51,703,411, which would be returned from the Nippon Ham Fighters if they fail to reach an agreement with Darvish.

What amazes me is that the US teams would pay for the negotiating rights to any player, Japanese, Chinese or American. If they want to come here and play, let them try out like everybody else!

IT’S SO OBVIOUS, NO ONE SAW IT!

Is Disney interested in buying the Dodgers? Just think of the possibilities if they did. Dodger Stadium would become a theme ballpark! They could hire the McCourts to run the ‘Hall of Horrors’. The possible asking price is well over $1 billion for the storied franchise. Other expected bidders being Magic Johnson, Joe Torre, Mark Cuban, Peter O’Malley and East Coast hedge fund executive, Steven Cohen. At least Mark Cuban would make it lively, and Joe Torre would return it to its former status as a venerated major league baseball club.

EVERYONE LOVES CINDERELLA

There are so many teams that could be dubbed; “Cinderella teams” this year in the playoffs that it is hard to choose. Mine is the NY Giants, and I’m a Jets fan. The reason being that no one selected the Giants to go far, and the fact that Tom Coughlin was almost axed by the media before the season was even over.

The media had to keep chopping with a dull ax since the Giants are deeper into the playoffs. If the Giants pull off an upset, and win against the vaunted Green Bay Packers, Mr. Coughlin, who never smiles, will have the last laugh.

Fred Wilpon

TIME TO SELL

Mr. Wilpon, I am begging you, sell the Mets and get out of baseball, you are ruining it for the fans. This is not going to be pretty in 2012, and if you can’t compete, and you know you can’t, you will lose more money than you already owe. The fans look forward to this time of the year, and you have done nothing.

Next year, the franchise player, David Wright will be gone, maybe to a rival. I use ‘rival’ generously, since you can’t beat anyone anymore that give you a rivalry. It seems to be a pointless ownership when you think about it-losing team and losing money; should equal “SELL”.

ABOUT TIME

The Kansas City Chiefs got it right this time, in hiring Romeo Crennel as head coach and removing the ‘interim’ from the name.

Crennel as you know was the head coach of the Browns and did a great job of taking over the last two weeks of the season and winning both games for Kansas City.

OBIT

Former Yankee third baseman Andy Carey 80; passed away on Dec. 15 of Lewy body dementia. The former Yankee was at the corner for New Yorkers for four years when the Yankees won four American League pennants and two World Series. Playing along side of Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, and Whitey Ford, he helped the team to establish itself as the one great franchise.

In 1952, Carey joined the Yankees and anchored at the hot corner, without any publicity or theatrics, just solid everyday baseball. In 1955 he led the league in triples with 11 and the first of four consecutive pennants.

Andy Carey played for Kansas City, Chicago White Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers before hanging it up in 1962.

AN ALL STAR IN THE HALL

Barry Larkin, 12 time All-Star. 3 time Golden Glove Winner and 1995 MVP winner was elected into Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Receiving 86.4 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers Association, this was his third year on the ballot. The newest member of the Hall received 495 votes.

That's all I wrote, folks!

SHOCK OF THE NFL

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

The playoffs took an interesting turn on Saturday and Sunday.

Texans/ Bengals-Texas for the first time wins a playoff game for the franchise. T.J. Yates proved he is not a fluke, but running his team past Cincinnati, and who could doubt it. Houston may be a dark horse in this playoff. Cincinnati, like Houston has not been able to field a full healthy team this year, and went into the game in the same shape. But someone had to win; it’s the law!

T.J. Yates may not have the flair of Tebow or the credentials of Tom Brady, but he does get the job done. What more can Texas Fans ask? The question is how far will he go?

Steelers/Broncos-Ben Roethlisberger found out the hard way, on gimpy legs, firing and miss firing, on the heels of his feet, hitting the turf, and yet coming back to go into overtime as the Steelers rallied to tie the Broncos, that Tim Tebow is not a gimmick, coming back in the nick of overtime to pull one more win out of the hat, as he has time and time again this season!

After blowing a 14 point half-time lead, then a 10 point 4^th quarter lead, Tebow took the Tebow time or Overtime, to perform his magic. The last time I saw such a thing was from Hollywood, but that finish wasn’t so implausible.

Lions/Saints-One of the oldest and grandest of franchises didn’t survive the weekend, but at least made an appearance for the first time since 1999. The mainstay of the old days of Thanksgiving Day football, the Detroit Lions, walked away disappointed, and de-clawed.

Giving up 626 yards will insure you of the rest of the playoff season off, as the Lions fell 45-28 to the New Orleans Saints. They allowed an average of 122 yards rushing and 312 yards passing in six losses to playoff teams — two times to both Green Bay and New Orleans, and once to San Francisco and Atlanta! The Lions were double-digit underdogs, who haven’t won a playoff game since 1957!

Giants/Falcons-Someone forgot to tell Matt Ryan to come to the Meadowlands for the game Sunday! So the Falcons suited up an impostor and put him out there. The trouble was everyone on the Giants showed up!

His team has once again vindicated Tom Coughlin. The New York Giants did it all correctly starting with the defense, and along the second quarter, even the offense caught on after a questionable safety called against them that left them in a 2-0 hole. Fortunately this isn’t baseball and a quick score by the offense of any kind would dig them out. 24-2 was the final score, but it wasn’t even that close as the New York/New Jersey Giants played like they have something to prove and did.

The New York press is all; gaga over the victory, and rightfully so, since they have been the underdogs all season of ever making the playoffs. The coach has his job for another week and who knows where this will all lead? Right now it leads to the Green Bay Packers and the frigid tundra, but can they survive next week? If they do you are thinking Super Bowl Champs?

So to sum this up, the Giants shocked the NFL in beating the Falcons, as did the Broncos spanking of the Steelers. It makes for an interesting weekend and discussion for tomorrow as we look at the match ups.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

IT’S A BIG TOWN

2012-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

If you are a New York sports fan, living and following professional sports takes on a dimension all it’s own. It seems each major sport has it’s own rivalry within the confines of the area. Yes, the Yankees do have the Red Sox, but when it comes to fan based pride, the Mets are the target. Every year the two teams vie for ownership of New York. So far, the Yankees hold the title, deed and all the leases, licenses and the only thing the Mets own is a losing record!

The Babe

The list of immortal Yankees reads as it should, like a Who’s Who of baseball. Needless to say, Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Rizzuto, Berra, Jeter, Rivera, Dickey, Martin, Ford, Reynolds and Raschi, just to name a few have dominated baseball through the years.

In basketball for years it has been the New York Knicks hands down. Even when the Nets had winning seasons and the Knicks were losing, it’s been a Knick town. Like the glamour and history of Yankee Stadium had, the Garden dominates with its excitement and geo-location.

Although the Championship seasons have been few and far between it seems, they still are a great ticket in town to have, no matter how dreary the team may be. This season, in spite of lousy ownership, excitement is being generated at a fever pitch. Meanwhile the Nets who don’t own a fan base and never will, will be moving back to the New York area once again, before they contemplate moving back to New Jersey, some time in the future.

ED-DIE. ED-DIE! Giacomin

Hockey, which is being elevated to ‘sport’ by this writer, since no one really watches it in NY, most fans come from outer space and land on the Garden roof to view the games. The Rangers own New York City. There is a farm team that the Rangers practice with called the Islanders, a very good farm team that could probably finish consistently in third or fourth place in any minor league can’t really be called a rival. The Rangers again, like the Knicks, own a piece of Madison Square Garden. Although the Rangers only win Stanley Cups when they feel like it about once every 50 years, (They are planning a ticker tape parade for them in June of 2044) they still own the hockey part of NYC.

That takes me to BIG BLUE, the New York Giants, the titans of Gotham. To suggest any team other than the New York Giants own the town would be blasphemy, except maybe that team in green, the Philadelphia Eagles. (You thought I’d say Jets!)

For years the Giants have been steady, playing good enough to carry legions of fans from way back to the 40’s and new ones as they learn to hate Philadelphia today. Whenever I think about football, the Giants come to mind. Whenever I think about choke football, the Jets come to mind, especially when it comes to Philadelphia. The Jets have NEVER beaten the Eagles in regular season football, and the Giants always, and I mean always find ways to lose to the Eagles at critical stages of a game or season. Re: Herman Edwards, Philadelphia Eagles, last second TD for instance.

The Jets had Joe Namath, Joe Klecko and punt, the Giants have had: Andy Robustelli, Joe Morrison, Rosie Greer, Fran Tarkenton, Del Schofner, Phil Simms, Gifford, Patten, Webster, Huff and the names go on and on. New York Giant football is an institution of higher tradition, glory and downright greatness as a franchise. I write this as an avid Jets fan, too.

Joe Namath

The Giants have been around since leather helmets, have always been called the Giants, and are followed every Sunday by more people than follow God!

Phil Simms

Giant fans are loyal to a fault, want to fire the whole coaching staff, have been to every game ever played by the Giants including those at the Yale Bowl, Old Yankee stadiums and the games before they were even born!

Funny how I disparage the Islanders, they have more Championship trophies than the Jets, or the Mets or Knicks. But when you talk about ownership, the real duplex owners are the Giants in the winter and the Yankees in the summer.

David Wright

The Mets need miracles to win in ’69 and again in ’86 (thank you Bill Buckner), and the Jets, have only won one stinking Super Bowl by a gimpy kneed quarterback in panty hose, who the Baltimore Colts could not bring down because he couldn’t (Namath) bend because his panty hose were too tight.

It's all I wrote, folks!

RE-ALIGNMENT IN SPORTS

2012-01-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Recently the NHL called off plans to re-align the league into a more geographical conformity. They called it off until they figure a way around the player’s association’s objections. They planned to go from two three-division team conferences to four seven or eight team conferences.

Aside from the disagreements within the league structure, is re-alignment always a good idea? What does it mean to the teams, the fans and league? How do you deal with the record books, the records set in the past and determining who is really a great player in comparison to the others competition? What about scheduling and travel, which impacts player’s health?

Many years ago in 1955, Major League Baseball had just two leagues with eight teams each. Life was simple, the winner in each league met for a World Series to determine whom the champion of baseball would be. There was no wild card, and the schedule was only 154 games, one all star game and a few preseason games and that was it.

Then in 1958 both the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants moved to the west coast, creating more travel time for teams like Philadelphia and Pittsburg particularly. The west coast teams had the advantage; the visitors were tired from the trip west.

But there are a lot of advantages for re-alignment, especially for revenues, attendance, and interest overall. Any hockey combination of Boston, the two New York franchises, Philadelphia and Pittsburg along with Washington would be an interesting rivalry in one geographical section. You would then set up less inter-divisional play and create greater intensity from the player and his play. In 1955, both the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants played each other 22 times, the games were at a peak interest and the cross-town rivalry was played up. It was excitement on a level close to a playoff game.

The NFL had it very uncomplicated back in 1955. There was an Eastern and Western Conference made up of six teams each, and geographically, most of it made sense. The problem in those days was there were two Chicago teams, the Bears in the Western Conference and the Cardinals in the Eastern Conference, and an East Coast team in Baltimore playing in the Western conference! But they played only 12 game-seasons and the Championship game.

In 1955 in the NBA, there were only eight teams split into two four-team divisions! The league was setup so that six teams out of eight qualified for the playoffs! Six of those original teams out of eight re-located, and some changed their names totally!

In the western division, there were three mid-west teams and one from Rochester, NY, and there were two teams in the Eastern Division, one from New York City, the Knickerbockers and the Syracuse Nationals, that’s three teams from New York State out of eight playing a 72 game schedule, plus playoff games!

Then there was the NHL in 1955. Six teams comprised the whole of the NHL, compared to 30 teams today and room for expansion. There was a 70 game schedule and two rounds of playoffs for the Stanley Cup game. The local of the six teams included a New York/Boston rivalry, a Toronto/Montreal Canadian rivalry and a Midwestern Chicago/Detroit rivalry. Once the league expanded, new rivalries were created and new alignments were needed. Today with 30 teams, it is a problem, unless you can bring them closer together in leagues or conferences or divisions as you wish, and limit the travel to just those in your section.

The best thing to come out of re-alignment into geographical norms would be that when the playoff games are decided as to who plays whom, speculation about which team is better is better for the sport, makes for interest and creates a stronger fan base due to local loyalty. With inter-league play in New York, the passion runs high, the two teams, Mets and Yankees, draw very well, tickets are at a premium. That would stay if the teams were in the same division, and played more than six games. Those additional 12 games that they would play would mean a huge revenue bump in the gross receipts of everything from tickets and hotdogs, to parking and subway fares.

ELITE OR DELUSIONAL?

2012-01-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

Recently Eli Manning the first round draft pick of the San Diego Chargers and now New York Giant was asked if he considered himself an Elite’ quarterback, and he replied that he considered himself in that class.

It seems to be a question that needs to be asked, since he is in his fourth meaningful season with the Giants, owns a Super Bowl ring and has led his team the New York Giants into the playoffs this year.

Playing for a New York team draws attention when you are the quarterback the high-profile guy on the team.

But 4,933 yards, 29 touchdowns with only 16 interceptions, six game-winning drives, and five fourth-quarter comebacks are very good numbers to boast about and say: Yes, he IS elite. He belongs in the same class of Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers.

Manning comes from a football family, a pro football, quarterback family, he was a leading pick in the NFL draft, and again, let’s not forget, does own a Super Bowl ring.

He has beaten the likes of the New England Patriots and almost beat the Packers, helplessly and frustratingly watching from the sidelines as Aaron Rodgers staged a last minute comeback for Green Bay to beat the Giants.

But is he elite? I think so, I call him “Elite Eli” because he has cut down on his turnovers, moves around the pocket very well, is very accurate, can lead and has thrown a lot of TDs., and most importsntly for a quarterback, knows when to get rid of the ball. He matched well against Aaron Rodgers, beat Tom Brady and can go toe-to-toe with Drew Brees.

Aside from his two wideouts Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks, each with over 1,000 receiving yards apiece this season, he has no running game, yet there he is poised to play against the Atlanta Falcons this Sunday !

Usually winning quarterbacks have sustained well-balanced team on offense that helps to complete a bigger package, Eli doesn’t own a running team this year. When the Co-tenants, NY Jets started this season, they had all the experts picking them to finish better than the Giants, who were riddled with injuries.

That takes me to another point, Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers have the confidence and support of their head coach, teammates and coaches, well so does Eli Manning. After watching Eli play this season, I think his days of walking in the shadow of his brother Peyton are over.

ONE OF BASEBALL'S FINEST

2012-01-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

JOE TORRE

It’s funny how events come to pass. Growing up as a young baseball fan in Brooklyn, NY, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Joe Torre was a NY Yankee fan. His brother Frank played for the Milwaukee Braves for 5 years, and eventually, Joe got to the big leagues too. In 1960, while Frank was playing his last season for the Braves, Joe joined the team in September.

Joe’s career included playing first base, catcher and third base for the New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, and was named to the All-Star team 9 times. He also managed the Mets, Cards and Braves, and then from 1996, to 2007, managed the New York Yankees, before moving to the LA Dodgers.

MANAGER JOE

He was a decent power hitter with over 250 home runs, but he is most noted as a player for one thing and one thing only. While playing for the Mets, he hit into 3 double plays in one game!

As a manager his career record was 2,326–1,997, a .538 winning percentage as a manager, as Yankee manager won the World Series in 1996, 1998-99, and 2000. Most of his career victories were with the Yankees.

Then he went to Major League Baseball as an Executive Vice President, where he retired.

CASEY STENGEL

Today, he is part of a group looking to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team he disliked the most is now on his wish list. The team he loved the most, the Yankees, fired him and they never looked back. I guess that is because he was an outsider, a Brooklyn boy.

MILLER HUGGINS

Joe Torre should own a baseball team, any team he can buy, because it would be good for the team, the sport and Joe Torre. I never thought much of Torre as manager of the Mets, and managing the Yankees meant you came to work, put on a uniform and sent the team out onto the field and waited for them to beat the other guys into submission, and then got manager of the year awards and World Series rings. It used to happen a lot to Casey Stengel that way. If you could, you would ask Miller Huggins and Joe McCarty etc., and they would say: Yup!

But Joe Torre is a classy guy who doesn’t look like someone you want to cross, but rather have him on your side. He never embarrassed himself, even when he hit into those three double plays, because he played to win, played hard and was a pro.

I hope Joe gets his wish, and soon, because we need him in baseball, especially after the way the McCort’s have treated a great franchise filled with pride and traditon.

Go Joe!

WHAT’S AILING THE SPORTS WORLD?

2012-01-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Two things are taking over the sports world, and one seems to rely on the other.

First is the sad commentary on sports that we now need mandatory spot drug testing! The prevalence of drugs in the sports world is so bad that not only must we test; we must test so that no one can prepare for the testing. What that means is drugs won’t go away, and athletes will do anything to have the drugs in their system. They either enjoy the high or it enables them to exceed their normal abilities.

We have gone through enough of the problem to know that BALCO is probably just the tip of an iceberg that promises to grow even larger. The shame of Barry Bonds not paying a stiffer penalty is a comment on society that we will have more tolerance for drugs, not less. Zero tolerance in the sports world, through the courts is a myth. The judge that sentenced Bonds proved that. U. S. District Court Judge Susan Illston gave Bonds no jail time for his steroid use, and really just a slap on his wrist. The problem has pervaded the trainer’s room, the doctor’s office and the locker room, all places to secure drugs and for a price, not the streets anymore.

The drug world has taken the sport of baseball and destroyed any chance of having meaningful comparisons. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds have taken care of that with their drugged, steroid fed homerun totals. We have to go ahead and view these totals with a sense of skepticism and some doubt that they are meaningful. We look to the home run as a category of achievement, but what about triples, doubles and singles? How many records per team are tainted?

Was Roger Clemens on something the night he threw Piazza’s broken bat at him? How much of his stats are worthless? Where is the integrity of the game so many of us thought is present in the game? How many people are being gypped by paying outrageous money to see a bunch of druggies play? Are they getting what they really paid for?

That brings me to the second thing wrong with sports. Money.

Would the drugs be there: if the players weren’t getting so much money to begin with? Are these salaries the reason sports in general are dying for lack of integrity? Is there a limitation to what we should be paying to watch a game, and paying a bunch of druggies?

The MLBPA is opposed to random steroid testing, claiming it to be an invasion of the privacy of players. But after enormous negative publicity surrounding the (BALCO) steroid scandal, the players were forced to drop their opposition to a steroid testing program. The US Congress got involved and threatened to pass a law if the MLB's drug policy was not strengthened, and the baseball union agreed in 2005 to a policy that would include 50-game, 100-game, and lifetime suspensions.”

It is about this time in 1966 when Marvin Miller put together for MLBPA the demands for salary increases, and soon came the revenue sharing demands; the players suddenly had a lot of money to spend. They were making the kind of money that made it affordable to purchase drugs, find doctors and suppliers and keep it going.

If you look at the costs of today’s franchises, long term deals, money that gets wasted because the player’s ability is less than the deal he signed, a guaranteed deal, you wonder why you can’t take your kid to a ballgame?

Look in the stands today, and you see corporate ownership in most of the box seats, stadiums named after corporations, and the unions driving the costs of player’s salaries ever higher than before. How is it possible to have ownership of a team when you have revenue sharing and obscene salaries? The corporations are the only reason that keeps the franchise alive, along with TV money.

But who pays for all this in the end? You and me.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

2012-01-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

The shame of it all is the Giants are in the playoffs, but the Jets are still making the headlines!

Tom Coughlin

Tom Coughlin said it best about all the bragging: “Let’s just play the game.”

Rex Ryan

Rex Ryan has some explaining to do. How can he tell the media that he didn’t realize how bad things were until after the big blowup with Holmes in the huddle on Sunday? It is also shocking that Ryan didn’t know that there was no Holmes in the lineup at the end of the game. Is there any communication with his staff on game day? Does he at least know what is being called and that he agrees with it? I know that the offensive coach needs lead way to run the offense, and some autonomy from the head coach, but the head coach has to be aware of it all. That is his job, no?

I can almost understand Ryan naming Holmes a captain of the team before the season. It was a reward for a great year he did have in 2010, and because of his reputation on the Steelers; Ryan felt that Homes would be less likely to cause a problem in the Jets locker room. But the opposite occurred, and Holmes felt empowered to talk about his lack of use. My question becomes, why didn’t Shottyheimer use Holmes more on Sunday? Why didn’t he use him more the past few weeks? Holmes did drop a few too many, but still he is an offensive threat, a weapon as they like to say in the broadcast booth. (An overused term)

How come Ryan didn’t question the offensive coach about the lack of Holmes being passed to and the fact that the Jets were paying him $45 Million to play and no one is throwing to him? I’m wondering what the cost of each catch Holmes made this year comes to based on that $45 Million?

I think that one of the needs that the Jets have is to get a good quarterback coach and work with Sanchez. I don’t think that getting a new quarterback is the solution, since his numbers (Sanchez) have improved every year. Maybe, just maybe better play calling, better coaching, and a better overall offensive game plan is what Sanchez needs. This winter and spring, a good education and review of the past seasons would be a great boost for his confidence and understanding of his job. He has the talent, although he may not be the best, his could be one of the best.

As far as Holmes goes, he should try to fix some fences, and get some help upstairs to figure out how to be a team player. I doubt that he wouldn't voluntarily leave the Jets as long as he's paid, and I don’t know what his contract stipulates, but I don’t see him being traded. What team GM would want him in their locker room after this past week, and all his teammates have said about him?

Right now, the Front Office can say that they want Schottyheimer back next year, because they are hoping he quits on his own. The fans don’t want him back, I don’t want him back and he probably doesn’t feel welcomed here anymore in New York. Hopefully he will gracefully bow out and go away

NOW WHAT?

2012-01-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

Rex Ryan

One of the worst things that can happen to any kind of team is dessention within the ranks. Form a personal standpoint, I think Rex Ryan has done a great job of recruiting and getting players wanting to come to the Jets to play for him. The problem is that he is too loyal, or blindly loyal to his coaches, and one in particular.

Brian Schottyheimer has been a problem for the Jets and Ryan since last year. The whole issue that is flying around the Jets with Santonio Holmes should not have occurred. My sense is that his quitting on his teammates is indicative of a larger problem, his dissatisfaction with the offensive coach, stemming form last year.

Brian Schottenheimer

The damage is done, and maybe Holmes should go, either on his own or the Jets find a way to send him packing, because any trust from his teammates is gone. No matter how he felt about Schottyheimer, he should have put out his best , he was being paid, he owed his bosses, his coaches and his teammates his best efforts.

Santonio Holmes

Mark Sanchez

As far as Sanchez goes, maybe it is time to reassess his abilities as a leader on the field. The last three weeks have been awful, and he has not performed as a pro. He can be touted as the future, but he let his team down with a bad performance. He finished the season with the worst gain per pass play of all the quarterbacks in the league! He has to be able to carry his team when the chips are down. The last three games he has 9 interceptions! That is horrific, three this past Sunday in a crucial game on check-downs. Three on the safest pass play there is? Compare that to their NY rivals and co-tenants and you see something is very lacking in Mr. Sanchez.

Maybe what happened between Holmes and his displeasure of the playcalling, and in the huddle with teammates, and Sanchez only spirals being his stats, points out that there are big flaws that finally came to the surface, albeit too late.

GOOD MOVE?

2012-01-02T00:00:00.001-08:00

Carlos Quentin

Carlos Quentin was traded from the Chicago White Sox to the San Diego Padres. The Padres were a bad hitting ballclub last year, and need power to some degree to score runs. A middle of the order man is needed and he should be a legitimate hitter. Hitting homers is nice, but RBI’s are better.

Let’s look at the numbers other than Quentin’s home runs.

Ted Kluszewski

77 RBI’s and a .254 batting average is not so great. How many games will he win with his bat? If you realize that Albert Pujols .299 BA and 99 RBI’s will account for maybe 10 games for the Cardinals last year, trading prospects for a marginal hitter like Quentin doesn’t make sense to me.

The 1959 White Sox had a team that could put the ball in play, they had only one real power hitter in Ted Kluszewski, who was beyond his prime, and two hitters who hit 17 and 22 homeruns. The Chisox did it with slap hits and bunts and stolen bases. If I were the GM of the Padres, I’d be looking for that kind of team. 24 homers are nice, but will they do the trick?

JETS DON’T HAVE IT

Sanchez

And don’t deserve it, either. A team with that much talent has to perform. Lackluster play calling by Schottyheimer is part of the reason. The other reason could be that Sanchez is confused. He has the ability, just look at the past two playoff seasons. Maybe someday he will take them to the promised land, but not now.

The Jets have issues with the offensive coaching, and they just have to be addressed before the fall. The past three weeks they looked out of sync, out of the game, and out of touch!

Is Rex ready to fetch a new offensive coach, and maybe recreate the playbook? I see 2^nd down and 17 and they continue to run the ball up the middle like they think they can fool someone. Last year they at least showed a lot more innovation in play calling, this year they seemed too predictable.

So far this year, Rex has learned to roll over and play dead for New England. Rex should sit up and lick a Belichick Superbowl ring so he gets a taste of it, at least. Don't mean to be mean, but let's face it, three years of promise and nothing.

I TOLD YOU SO...

Congratu;ations to the New York Giants and Tom Coughlin! They beat the Cowboys as I predicted and win their division, no choking and no bragging, just a win when it matters. The Atlanta Falcons may be next, and I see the Hiants moving on to the next round a winner.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

GROWING PAINS

Teague and Johnson and that’s all she wrote folks! Teague’s 22 and Johnson’s 21 made the Jeff and Joe show something the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets had wished they had missed.

Meanwhile Deron Williams dropped 23 and rookie Marshon Brooks followed up with 21, but it wasn’t enough for the Nets, as they dropped their third straight 105-98 to the Atlanta Hawks!

After the beating the Nets took from the hands of the Hawks earlier this week, this was a surprise that it was this close. In actuality, it was even closer, as the Nets closed to within only one point in the 4^th quarter.

But like all teams, the rookie has to learn and Marshon Brooks showed he is indeed a rookie. With the score 100 – 96 and 21 seconds remaining, and the Nets having no timeouts remaining Brooks tried to make an inbound pass from the left sideline with his teammates covered, but Brooks signaled for a timeout. Their were no more timeouts for the Nets, and they were assessed a technical which put them in a hole that they couldn’t climb out of.

SITTING PRETTY

The NY Rangers sit all alone atop the Atlantic division of the NHL! Alone and convincingly, they beat the Florida Panthers and look like the team to beat. Of course we really won’t know until the Bruins join them on the ice to settle the issue.

Beating the Panthers 4-1 tells you something though. They Rangers are for real, and the Garden looks exciting again once more.

SPEAKING OF WHICH…

Which team will show up when the Knicks play the Kings? After flying high with wins in the Garden, they flew to the West Coast and got shot down. Both the Warriors and Lakers both took aim and reality might be settling in.

COWBOYS AND GIANTS

Big game for the Giants! Their season, division and playoff hopes, let alone their coaches job is on the line.

After a convincing win against the Jets last weekend, they play another emotional intense game once more against the former ‘America’s team’ creating the longest playoff drive in their history, which started last week!

My pick: Giants by 11,

I guess now is the time that really counts, and someone awakened a sleeping giant, or THE SLEEPING GIANTS!

That’s all I wrote folks! Happy New Year!

WHO’S WHO IN INJURIES

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

Tom Brady

Looking at the final week of NFL Football, must be what a general would find in a field hospital as the battle is winding down! It seems a lot of talent injured and or healing, and the injuries are the 12^th players that will show up on the field of battle.

Tom Brady has a left shoulder injury.-Patriots

Ben Roethlisberger nurses a sprained left ankle-Steelers

Tony Romo owns a tapped right throwing hand-Cowboys

Osi Umenyiora babies a high ankle sprain-Giants

Brian Dawkins –lingers with a neck injury-Broncos

Key players on playoff bound teams that injuries will impact somehow. When you look at each playoff season, the teams involved biggest hope is that they have a full healthy squad, the biggest nagging fear is that their QB is injured.

NETS PLAYING FOR A #1 PICK

Three games into the season and the Nets look like they are out of the playoffs!

Going against the Orlando Magic, there was NO magic, as the Nets once again got bitch slapped by their opponent! So far this season their record is 1-3 with a stinker last night in Atlanta!

KNICKS LOOK EVEN

The Knicks should stay home and away from the west coast. After the fan fare comes the reality it seems. If the Knicks want to be considered a real team with real hopes for playoff contention, they have to learn how to win on the west coast. They now sit at 2-2.

The LA Lakers, who own the Knicks and have for some time (7 straight wins vs. the NYers). Having them handed off from one spanking in San Francisco to another in Los Angeles, the Lakers then praised the Knicks, for what a fine team they are! Really.

Since 2007, the Lakers have won every meeting between the two teams, the last on was on a 4^th quarter surge, as they roared past the Knicks.

CHAMPS TO CHUMPS

What a difference a few months make! One day you are on top of the NBA world, as champions, the next, the bottom looking up wondering, what happened! The Dallas Mavericks now look at a 0-3 start, and a lot of missing pieces seem to be apparent on defense.

TO ALL OF YOU-HAPPY NEW YEAR

May it be a grand slam, hat trick, slam dunk, touch down of a year in 2012!

That’s all I wrote, folks!

BOSOX DON’T GIVE AN INCH

2011-12-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

Rodger Maris

With Bobby Valentine on board, the Red Sox went out and addressed another issue that was lingering. What to do about the missing Jonathon Paplebon? Paplebon went to a hitter’s park and in his place comes Andrew Bailey from the Oakland A’s!

Years ago, in the mid 50’s and early 60's, the then Kansas City A’s were considered a New York Yankee farm team, as the A’s languished near the bottom of the 8-team American League, they sent all their stars to the Yankees, and up until Rodger Maris, that was the case.

Such greats as Enos Slaughter, Art Ditmar and Bobby Shantz, Clete Boyer, Ryne Duren, Virgil Trucks, Ralph Terry, Hector Lopez, Rodger Maris, Joe De Maestri, and Bob Cerv all came to the Yankees. This was between 1955 and 1961!

Well history is repeating itself. The only difference is the Bosox are getting the values!

THE SCUTTLEBUT

Payton Manning

The New York Daily News’ Gary Myers has offered a prescription for the ailing Jets, the idea being that they bring on Peyton Manning, and keep Mark Sanchez. It sounds good at face value, but what about Manning’s age, and recent injury. If you couple them together, it can be dicey. If you remember Brett Farve, the idea was similar in nature, and what happened? Farve didn’t finish the year out.

I think if you want to destroy Sanchez’s confidence, this will do it. He is going on his fourth year with the Jets, and had them in the AFC Championship game twice, in spite of Shottyheimer game plans.

SPEAKING OF WHICH

Mark Sanchez

If you want a reason to get rid of Shottyheimer, consider this: This season and last, the Jets were slow to get started for the most part. Too many games were exciting and pulled out at the end. The Jets were slow to score and played catch up all season. The only real game they got ahead of was their final game this year against Buffalo.

What that tells me is that the Jets offensive game plan is not good going into a game! This puts a lot of pressure on a quarterback, let alone a young guy like Sanchez. Sanchez may not be the best and maybe never will, but he could be a good one, good enough to get to a Super Bowl or two. If you compare him to Elie Manning in his first few years, Sanchez comes out more favorably.

A-ROD A LIGHTENING ROD

A-Rod

Alex Rodriguez has six years left on his obscene contract. Since the 2007 season, A-Rod has not been healthy, has not really earned the millions he is being paid. His latest injury in his knee has him seeking help in Dusseldorf, Germany for a procedure that is not approved in either the US or Canada. Although the procedure called Orthokine is not banned by MLB, it is not recommended by it either.

Time for the Yankees to find a way to buy out A-Rod’s contract, and stem some of the loses they will incur. He will be 42 when his contract expires in 2017. I keep wondering how many of those remaining six years will be productive? Better pay him off, and get back in the bidding wars for some of these free agents once again. I think his contract is what held Cashman back from signing anyone of note this past winter meeting.

Rodriguez is considered one of the best all-around baseball players of all time.He is the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs, and the youngest to hit 600, besting Babe Ruth's record by over a year. Rodriguez has fourteen 100-RBI seasons in his career, a record. A-Rod is the all-time leader in home runs by a player of Hispanic descent.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

CELTICS ON A ROLL…

2011-12-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

Downhill.

LeBron James and company extended the Boston Celtics losing streak to 2 games, and once again the Celts made it close. It seems funny to see the Celtics at the bottom of the pile, a temporary condition I am sure.

James netted 26 points and rookie guard Norris Cole poured in another 20; as the Miami Heat held on to win.

The Celtics need a win, over an opponent that cares and soon. Although I don’t doubt that the Celtics can win their division, is it time to break them up?

NETS BACK

The New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets reverted back to form in their home opener getting crushed by the Atlanta Hawks, 106 – 70. If the Nets hope to garner fans in Brooklyn, especially with the Knicks on the rise, they better start looking good and consistent. Coming out flat after only one game won’t do.

Why do you sit Deron Williams and Kris Humphries for most of the second half? If I was a Nets fan, I’d be unhappy sitting in the Newark arena, after paying for a ducat and not seeing much of the product I paid to see.

Williams tallied 10 points and Humphries 11 in the embarrassing lose.

MAVERICKS LOST

What’s with the champs? They dropped 2 in a row, both by wide margins! Can this be the World Champs or impostors?

According to Tyson Chandler, he’s not surprised. Seems the Mavs only give out one-year walk contracts, so they are literally playing for free agency.

AARON RODGERS

It doesn’t take a genius to know that Aaron Rodgers is terrific. Is he as good as say Tom Brady, or Drew Brees? The debate could go on forever, but rest assured that he is one of the very best.

True, the Pack looks human suddenly, but it is a long season, and the hits and bangs of the schedule can wear down a team and a quarterback, especially one that plays at such a high intensity.

I think that the pack is back a second year, and Green Bay is restored as America’s Team, for sure

DANGEROUS IS WHAT DANGEROUS DOES

The Miami Dolphins have a season to salvage, a coach looking to prove something, and an opponent who is psychologically beaten and embarrassed by the previous week.

The Dolphins have a 5 – 10 record, and nothing to gain except a positive end to a disastrous season, and the Jets, who lack any motivation and a playoff spot, have their season on the line and are ready to be ruined.

R. A. DICKEY

If you have a season left on your contract with a bad ball club and the season is still ahead of you, you might contemplate something drastic.

R. A. Dickey is planning a charitable effort to climb a mountain in

Africa to help the victims of sex trafficking in India. That’s what he says.

If you are on a team that finishes toward the bottom, can’t win, hit, score or pitch, and the best player just fled the coop, you’d want to find a mountain to jump off of too.

The New York Mets just sent Mr.Dickey a letter stating that if he hurts himself by violating the stipulations in his contract, he is not going to be paid. But being Mr. Dickey IS a Mets player, he will anyway. Maybe he can take Jason (no way) Bay with him.

BOSOX ON THE MOVE

I just love Boston! The team tries hard and although not always successful, still manages to get up and try. This time the retooling includes Oakland A’s best relief pitcher, Andrew Bailey! The 6’3” right-hander had a 3.24 ERA with 24 saves and averaged a strikeout an inning.

Along with Bailey comes Ryan Sweeney for outfielder Josh Reddick and two minor-league prospects. In the deal, first reported by ESPN, Bailey gives the Red Sox a reliable ninth-inning guy to replace the departed Jonathan Papelbon, who signed a $50 million, four-year contract as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies in November.

That’s all I wrote folks!

IT WAS A BREES

2011-12-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to a real quarterback, in Drew Brees. Not only does he break Dan Marino’s record for passing yards, he does it on a fourth quarter touchdown to Darren Sproles, the man that made a difference in New Orleans.

After all the Tebow and nonsense that we have been hearing, give the guy his due. A real winner, no antics, no kneeling, no nothing but passing and winning, that’s Drew Brees.

MORE SHOWTIME

Can the Giants win again? Can they fly into the Meadowlands and pump more life into Met Life Stadium, can they maintain their high emotional drive once again? Last week against the Jets, they played with great intensity and won a convincing victory. They needed the victory, the season was on the line. Well I guess the playoffs started early for them this year, another needed victory has come up.

Funny how a lot of sportswriters wrote the Giants off this year, and Coughlin found a way to keep them together, alive and relevant to the fans. There were many injuries that made it seem like the season was a washout this past summer-fall.

Meanwhile their opponent, the Dallas Cowboys and Tony Romo gallop into the stadium and have their first place division title on the line as do the Giants. Romo is expected to play in the regular season finale. This should be a great game. My sense is one of these teams could very well crash from the past weeks emotions, and be down. Yet, this IS an important game for both teams. I kind of remember another team from NY falling flat in an important, must win, emotional game recently.

PRACTICE GAMES THAT COUNT

The NY Rangers worked out with their Long Island farm team, the Islanders, and the practice went well. First they got the good news that all-star defenseman Marc Staal was cleared for contact, then when they finished practice with their farm team, they had a 5^th straight win (3-0) and continued the farm team with their own streak, albeit a winless one.

As I like to say in hockey jargon: “Who cares?”

SPEAKING OF WHICH…

The New Jersey Nets played their last opener for New Jersey before they move next season to Brooklyn, then move back again to New Jersey, as is the history of the franchise. The good news is they won, the bad news is they played over their heads so don’t get excited Nets fans.

The most despised player in basketball, Kris Humphries muscled the boards and battled in the paint and along with Deron Williams, took it to the Wizards, who were wondering how it could happen to them.

Humphries had 21 points to go along with 16 rebounds and Williams added his 8 assists and 8 rebounds for the 90 – 84 win.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

THE WEEKEND THAT WAS

2011-12-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

It was some weekend spent over the Christmas holiday. The Jets and Giants went at it and only one came out of it alive!

The Giants get closer to winning their division while the Jets find out that they are just tenants at the Meadowlands, the place the Giants own.

I think that to say Rex Ryan is a big mouth is unfair. He has gotten the Jets into the playoffs up to this year, and his mouth has generated a lot of sparks for the rivalry. I think it is good that he does it, and I think sometimes he WILL come out on top. just not this year.

My problem is the offensive coaching of the Jets. Brian Shottyheimer is NOT an offensive coach, just offensive. The last two weeks have been horrible, and although no one is calling out the Jets defensive coach just yet, the Jets offensive lacked a lot of focus, plan, execution and judgment. Sanchise looked lost, out of his league and pathetic.

As for the Giants head coach, I hear a lot of disgruntled Giants fans complaining. I think blaming the coach is unfair in this circumstance. Tom Coughlin has proven to be a winner, has taken limited talent and often molded it into something extraordinary. If there is a knock, it is the execution by the players, and you can read that in the coach’s face every time they miscue, which is often.

The Jets were totally embarrassed on offense, and if I was Rex Ryan, I’d dump Shottyheimer now, take solace in the fact that I am doing something about an embarrassment and move on.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE GARDEN

The Knicks found a way to beat the Celtics finally! Breaking an eight game curse, they deliver with their new look offense, although they almost blew the game after a nice size lead, and a missed Garnett shot at the buzzer saved them their opener.

Carmelo, playing Santa sans the suit made a great delivery under the Garden tree of 37 points, 17 in the fourth quarter in a 106 – 104 win.

Now comes the hard part. Shumpert hurts himself in the third quarter when Chris Wilcox fell on his knee. Couple that with Baron Davis being out with a herniated disc until February or March and Jared Jeffries about two to three weeks with an injured right calf he suffered on Christmas Day’s opener.

HIRING A HEAVY BAT

2011-12-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

Carlos Beltran

It was the bottom of the 9^th. The Cardinal’s Wainwright walked Paul Lo Duca to bring up Carlos Beltrán with the bases loaded and two men out. Down 0–2 to the rookie Wainwright, Beltrán looked at a called strike three, a curveball on the outside corner at the knees, and the ballgame was over. The bat never left Beltran’s shoulder. They almost made a statue of Beltran in that pose and were going to remove Stan The Man’s statue in front of the St. Louis Stadium! The Cards almost voted Beltran a World Series share for his contribution!

The Cardinals it is rumored have signed Beltran on for 2012 at $26 Million for two years. He will be the opening day right fielder and Lance Berkman will move to first base to replace Albert Pujols. What next? The Mets signing Bill Buckner to play first base?

IT’S GETTING TO BE A HABIT!

Indianapolis that is, well, all the winning, anyhow. The Colts stunned the Texans Thursday night with a 19-16 come from behind victory with a 19 seconds to go 1-yard touchdown! Sneaking over the Texas border was Reggie Wayne, keeping the streak alive and scoring to extend the victory totals to a whopping 2.

Dan Orlovsky, was given the ball by Wayne after scoring, breaking a tradition of Wayne’s of keeping the ball after each TD in his career. After a 0-14 start. Wayne felt that Orlovsky deserved the ball after two recent back-to-back victories. Don’t forget the Orlovsky was the 0-16 QB for Detroit in 2008.

Gio Gonzalez

NATIONAL GIO DAY IN WASHINGTON D.C.

The Nationals have traded for All-Star pitcher Gio Gonzalez of the Oakland A’s! The A’s will get three top prospects and a player; Catcher Derrick Norris. Gonzalez is 26 and was the 38^th overall draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 2004. He pitched himself to 16 career high wins and 12 loses last season after going 15 wins in ’10. Last year he had a 3.12 ERA in 32 starts.

A TERRITORIAL RIVALRY

The only real territorial rivalry was played out once again when the NY Islanders traveled all the way to Madison Square Garden to face off against the New York Rangers, and faced a bitter lose to the Manhattanites.

Opportunity is the trade mark of NYC, and the Islanders were full of opportunities, which they handed one after another to the Rangers! You might say Christmas was early this year for the Rangers.

The Rangers enjoyed a three game win streak while the Islanders saw their two game win streak snapped, 4-2. The victory puts the Rangers just 2 points out of first place in their division!

IT’S OVER THE TOP

Or at least over the wall as the UCLA Bruins, stage their yearly ‘Over the Wall – let’s skip practice today’ tradition that dates back to the late ‘80’s.

Jim Mora

New UCLA coach Jim Mora says the tradition of Bruins players going "over the wall" at practice will not continue next season. His feeling and rightly so is that if you play on the team, it is a privilege to, and you are expected to dedicate yourself 100% The latest childish act occurred and some of the teammates did not participate, and were angered that others did go over the wall.

SEE YA IN A FEW DAYS!

I will take the next three days off and return on December 27^th.

That’s all I wrote folks!

NEW YORK, N.Y.

2011-12-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

It’s a hell of a town

With a lot of trash talk going around.

And so with one more day yet to be lived, the Giants and Jets go at it. The coaches have not stayed out of the fray, either. The city area is hyped for this game. This is one season game that has a lot for meaning for each team. Outside of the Super Bowl, there is not going to be a more important game between these two rivals.

Plaxico Burress will look for some kind of “I told you so” revenge, depending on how you look at it, when he suits up against his old team on Saturday. Revis is no longer feared by the Giants secondary, and the two coaches are jabbering away, very pretty. The important thing is who gets to shut up and who goes on talking in the playoffs?

There will be one man in the stadium that day who will have the destiny of another’s in his hands. That man is Eli Manning, and his coach will feel every pass, every handoff, and every mistake Eli makes on the field of battle.

PICKS

Since I didn’t do all that well last week, here are the picks for this weeks mistakes. I hover the level of sucks and stinks, and hope to rise a little this week.

Houston, New England, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Washington,

Denver, Pittsburg, Giants, Carolina, Tennessee, Oakland, Detroit, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Green Bay, and New Orleans.

TYSON CHANDLER

OK, it’s the Nets, not the Mavericks, but the Knicks look good in their two exhibition games against the Nets. But this time, Tyson Chandler was in the mix, and the Knick fans loved it. 8 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocked shots later, Chandler is the talk of Knickstown, and the Garden.

88 – 82 was the final score, and you gotta believe as they used to say way back when, in New York. You have to wonder how good the Knicks could or should be.

That's all I wrote folks!

BIG WEEKEND

2011-12-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

The biggest Christmas present you can bring to N.Y. fans is this weekend that shapes up! First off, on Saturday, Christmas Eve, the New York Giants square off against their co-tenants, the New York Jets. What is at stake is the playoffs for both teams, and only one can walk or limp away from the game victorious.

The Jets need the win to stay alive, and let’s face it, where would the playoffs be without Rex Ryan? Tom Coughlin meanwhile has a lot to worry about. If he loses, and the Giants don’t make the playoffs, he is gone. Another late season collapse should not be tolerated.

It is an interesting matchup, both teams coming off embarrassing loses on Sunday, and should be motivated. It is Manning vs. Sanchez, Pierre-Paul vs. Ferguson, Big Blue vs. Gang Green, NFC vs. AFC, that will be fun. I hope to see a great game, and I am predicting the Giants will win it. Somehow, the Giants are in a better position to win the playoff spot that the Jets are of keeping theirs.

Joe Namath will disagree with me, but he is only going by his hunches also, even though his are more credible. But from the results of the season so far, Eli Manning has the knack to move his team when it counts the most, with the game on the line. That is not to say that Sanchez hasn’t in the past, but Manning has the experience. Sanchez has proven though that he will be a great quarterback, and someday, both may be the best in the business.

In regular season play, the teams have met 11 times, and the Giants have won 7 times.

Here is the final bit of interesting comment that came from my brother-in-law John, a true blue Big Blue fan. He asks the question: so what if they (Jets or Giants) get into the playoffs, are they good enough to beat the teams they will face?

CHRISTMAS DAY

The NBA season finally opens, and the New York Knicks go toe-to-toe against the Boston Celtics. This is interesting from a NY fans perspective as to just how good the Knicks really are. Will their backcourt hold up? Can they match well against a really good team like the Celtics?

Although Baron Davis will not play until the earliest February, and maybe later, the team does seem to be on the verge of something special, but not there yet.

The Celtics will be starting the final season of real championship hopes as the big three will begin their final season together. The expectations were high until they found out that Jeff Green will undergo heart surgery and will miss the season. Knowing Boston, I feel they will find a way to win anyway. Doc Rivers will get the right combinations out there on the court when it comes to lineup sets and create things to happen for the Celtics.

ANDRUW JONES AND THE YANKEES

Looks like there may be a fly in the ointment for the NY Yankees and Andruw Jones! Seems that although it is a mutual admiration society of two parties, very little progress is being made to sign Jones on. The Yankees are in need of right-handed power to share duties in the outfield. But wouldn’t you know it, so are some other teams, one being a club up in the Boston area called the Red Sox.

The 34 year-old veteran who is a lifetime .256 hitter, had an adequate year for the Yankees last year, batting .247, with 13 HR’s and 33 RBI’s.

WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID?

My words come back to haunt me, and frankly I’m glad they do. The New York Islanders have won another game! This time in Winnipeg, a shootout win, topping the Jets 3-2!

Montoya was injured in the win, as Nabokov came in to replace the goalie and held on for the win in overtime. Nabokov was tested only once when he fended off a Andrew Ladd wrist shot with only five minutes left to play in regulation.

BRONCOS TO WHISTLE PAST THE GRAVEYARD?

John Elway granted Kyle Orton's request to move on, now Elway may be getting left out of the postseason.

Kyle Orton, former Denver quarterback, who now pitches the pigskin for Kansas City, could conceivably return to Denver in 10 days and beat the Broncos right out of the playoffs, if KC wins that game. It is a risk that Elway knows will haunt him for a long time.

According to Elway: “If we beat Buffalo and Kyle helps [the Chiefs] beat the Raiders, it won’t matter, If that happens, we’d be able to thank him when he comes in here.”

Good luck Mr. Elway!

ANYONE SEE CECIL’S PRINCE?

Prince Fielder is still exploring the free agent market. There are a bunch of teams that are interested in him. Toronto, Miami, Texas, Chicago, Seattle Baltimore and Washington to name a few are the places Prince has visited. Not surprising is that the Yankees and Red Sox are not interested since they are locked in at first base. I keep thinking that maybe, just maybe the Cardinals might sign him, and help the fans of St. Louis forget about Albert.

Whatever happens, Prince will make a determination, and that team will be known as Fielder’s choice! (Gosh, I can’t believe I wrote that!)

That's all I wrote folks!

KNICKS TO SIGN NOVAK AND DAVIS TO ONE-YEAR DEALS

2011-12-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

According to league sources, the NY Knicks plan to sign 3-point specialist Steve Novak to a 1-year deal.

The 6’11” forward will have to pass waivers first.

In 23 games for the Spurs in the 2010-’11 season, Novak has 225 career appearances with the Spurs, Rockets, Clippers and Mavericks. Of his 720 career field-goal attempts, 513 are from behind the three-point line. He’s shooting a career .417 on his three pointers. He averages 3.5 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game.

Meanwhile, the team announced the signing of Baron Davis for one year to a veteran’s one-year contract. This to me is silly since he isn’t going to play for at least 6 to 8 weeks from now, and the season is only 66 games this year! The injury to his back is serious, and disk injuries need time. The idea is that the Knicks will be playing deep into June, and that is when the Baron should make his majestic appearance.

YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING!

The Texas Rangers just spent $51.7 million just for the right to sit down with Yu Darvish and try to sign him to the team! They have 30 days to do it! Figure him asking for $60 to $75 million to sign a major league contract! This is why your hot dog cost so much at the stadium these days, and why you really need to stay away from Major League Baseball, and all professional sports that spend this kind of money.

Like I said before, you don’t pay that kind of money when the guy hasn’t proved he can pitch in the majors. It seems that Japan to her credit, will rebuild her economy based on major league contracts.

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT

Barry Bonds for all intents and purposes is a free man! Yes, do something illegal and walk away free and clear. Oh, there was some nonsense about staying home under house arrest, and 2 years probation, but when you are rich to begin with, you bring in the luxuries of life, and save on gas!

Speaking of San Francisco wonders and the lights going out, it was lights out for the Pittsburg Steelers as they tried to find their way in the dark of San Francisco! When I read the score I thought it was the time-20 to 3! But no, that was the score, and the only scoring done by Pittsburg came from a former Jet, Jerome Cotchery, who almost eclipsed the Jets scoring!

Joe Molica, a spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said the power company was still investigating the cause of the outage. My question is: do you mean electric or steeler? The interesting thing is they call the place Candlestick Park. Maybe they need more candles.

METS GET MORE RELIEF

Frank Francisco becomes the latest to sign in on the Mets relief corp. Francisco, 32, signed up for 2-years for $12 million.

With a 1-4 record and 17 saves, he posted a 3.55 era in 54 games last year with Toronto. Along with Jon Rauch and Ramon Ramirez, they hope to keep any lead they may have this year, a big issue they had last year that translated into only 77 wins.

Ohio State gets bowl ban, other penalties

By RUSTY MILLER, AP Sports Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)—The NCAA has hit Ohio State with a one-year bowl ban and other penalties for a scandal that involved players taking cash and tattoos in exchange for jerseys, rings and other Buckeyes memorabilia.

The university had previously offered to vacate the 2010 season, return bowl money, go on two years of NCAA probation and use five fewer football scholarships over the next three years.

Ohio State violations

Y! Sports investigation

But the NCAA on Tuesday banned the Buckeyes from playing in a bowl in Urban Meyer’s first year as head coach in 2012, further reduced the number of scholarships and tacked on a year of probation.

Jim Tressel, forced out in the wake of the scandal, was hit with a five-year “show-cause” order which all but prevents him from being a college coach during that time.

IS SPRING FAR BEHIND?

The Mets have announced that their pitchers and catchers are set to report to Spring Training in Port St. Lucie, Fla., on Monday, Feb. 20.

The 2012 season will mark the Mets' 24th spring in Port. St. Lucie, having moved into the newly completed facility for Spring Training 1988.

The New York Mets also said they will no longer operate a team in the Gulf Coast League, the organization announced in a statement released on Tuesday.
Instead, the club will be conducting three Rookie League teams in Kingsport, Tenn., and one out of its facility in the Dominican Republic.
The GCL Mets finished their 2011 season with a record of 27-29 (.482), finishing in third place and 12 games behind the East division-leading GCL Marlins.
The GCL team used the club's Spring Training complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla., as its base of operations and entered the league in 1988.

NETS NET A DEAL

Free agent Kris Humphries signed a one-year deal for $8 million to remain with the New Jersey Nets, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Humphries will be dressed for Wednesday’s preseason game against the New York Knicks, sources said. He took his physical in New Jersey Tuesday.

That's all I wrote folks!

UGH!

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

The only Giant in the crowd

UGH, as in football, not just football, but New York football.

Seems like the Giants didn’t come to play in their own ball yard, and got beaten once again by the skins, putting their playoff hopes in deep jeopardy!

Rex Grossman put a nasty beating together for the NY No-shows, and the skins will be the only reason the Giants are out of the playoffs! Coach Tom Coughlin said after the Giants (7-7) fell a game behind Dallas (8-6) in the NFC East with two games left in the regular season: “I’m very disappointed in how we played today! I accept responsibility for it. But I expected to see more — quality execution — and we didn't get that.” Really coach? What about the players? They give you any input, or were they there?

After an emotional win the previous week, and the up and down battle with the Packers where they lost in overtime, I would expect a letdown by the Giants. The problem is this is not the time for one. The Redskins had nothing to play for except pride, and were loose, the Giants had a lot on the table and folded!

No show and no escape

The ugly did not end at the Meadowlands, it found its way in the city of brotherly love, in a place called Philadelphia. The Jets were scheduled to play there but must have missed the plane so management hired some imposters to fill the void. Guess what, the void was still there. So was a gut wrenching stink that came from gang green. In all my years watching the Jets play, and it goes back to the days of the Titans, this was the worst beating they have ever taken!

Not only did they stink, they embarrassed themselves, particularly Santonio Holmes after his only TD of the day. When the season is on the line, and you and your team are in a deep hole, you don’t taunt the opposition, you don’t showboat, you just score and go back to your pathetic huddle of mass green and put your mind in the game some more!

The stats, the turnovers and the penalties should keep Rex Ryan busy for the week. Saturday is a showdown between the two losers as they faceoff for their pathetic season to salvage as much as possible. To both the Giants and Jets: SHOW A LITTLE DARN PRIDE NEXT WEEK!

LST’S HAVE A LOOK

Cowboys, Giants, Packers, Seahawks, Texans, Dolphins, Titans, Bengals, Saints, Raiders, Cardinals, Patriots, Eagles, Ravens, 49er’s

Those were my picks for the past weekend. The bold-faced teams are the ones I got right. As of this writing I am 7-6. The Ravens and 49er’s have yet to play. This is what I call sucking at predictions! Two big surprises were of course: Green Bay losing and Indianapolis winning! How many had both right?

TEBOW

Thank you New England, I was tired of the hoopla and the yelling.

Mr. Davis

THE KNICK KNACK

Knicks look like Baron Davis is part of the game plan. To me it doesn’t make too much sense, if he will be out until maybe February

PACKERS SENT PACKING

Kudos to Crennel

What a personal victory for Romeo Crennel! He takes over and immediately is asked to beat the best team in football, the undefeated Packers, and what does the interim coach do? HE WINS!

RIDING A WINNING STREAK

The Colts lifted themselves up as a team by not losing. That is the most they can say for their season, and to their fans, avoiding complete embarrassment by not losing every game. It IS only a one-game winning streak, but it is something they haven’t had all year. Is Indianapolis Peyton’s Place anymore? Will he return?

That’s all I wrote Folks!

BIG MATCHUP?

2011-12-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

Tebow

By the time you read this, the big matchup, created by the media and Bronco fans will have happened. I find it funny that Tebow’s kneeling exercise and the fact that he is a heart attack quarterback has lifted him from obscurity to prominence. But the thing I find most laughable is that; many sports commentators are comparing him, with Brady! Tom Brady is one of, if not, the best in the business. Tebow is a rookie at best. Tebow does have receivers who get open.

CAN THE PATRIOTS STOP TEBOW?

Brady

Can the Broncos beat Brady? The question is this-will Brady run up the score in the first three quarters, enough so that Tebow can’t make the comeback? The Patriots have a poor pass defense. If there is one team that could be victimized by the Tebow phenomena, it is the Patriots. Yet the patriots sit up in first place in their division, beating the Jets twice and everybody else in their division.

At any rate, the proof will be in the results by the time you read this.

TJ YATES

If it’s last minute quarterbacking you want, without fanfare, just honest to goodness hard work, than TJ Yates is your man.

Pro Yates

The Houston Texans are in the playoffs for the first time in their history. That is due to some bad luck! Injuries to Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart meant to go to plan C for Texas, TJ Yates. Hard work and discipline has created in three games, a pro quarterback with a lot of experience it seems. The UNC Tar Heel, has taken the bull by the horns, or is that a Texas Steer, and led the Texans to playoff land. His last game was masterful!

UNC Yates

He is the first rookie quarterback to lead his team to 2 back-to-back victories in the last quarter or overtime in many years. Last week against the Bengals, in Cincinnati no less, he masterminded two 80 plus yard drives that led to scores, one in overtime that took the team from a 19-10 deficit to victory. The week before another 80 plus drive that led to a win!

It helps that the same kind of game was played out with UNC when he quarterbacked there, so he was able to step right into the system he knew so well. In fact it was his old UNC coach Jim Shoop, offensive coordinator who broke down Houston film for TJ.

ISLANDERS DO THE WILD THING!

Nielson

In an unheard of overtime moment for the Islanders, they win! Was it something I wrote, or maybe some welcome back to some injured players, that got them back to full-strength?

Montoya

Frans Nielson put the puck where it belonged for a change, and beat the Wild with the only overtime goal of the game. But it was Al Montoya who kept the cage clean and it was enough for the Isles to overtake the Minnesota Wild, 2-1.

Minnesota came out kind of stiff, and it was costly, never really generating any excitement. In defense to the wild, they did have a rather depleted lineup, but this is supposed to be a professional hockey team, you play the whole game, hard.

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY

Pouliot

The Bruins scored four first-period goals and ended a Flyers seven-game winning streak with a 6-0 win on Saturday, in the City of Brotherly Love.

Benoit Pouliot, Daniel Paille, Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic got the Bruins on the board 4 times, as Boston extended their winning streak to four games. Thomas blocked 31 shots for his 4th shutout of the season!

Both the Flyers and the Bruins are now tied atop the NHL’s Eastern Conference with 43 points each. Boston now leads the NHL with 21 victories.

The other locals, New Jersey and the NY Rangers also won. The Devils took it to Montreal 5-3 and the Rangers rose over Phoenix, 3-2.

COWBOYS BACK IN THE SADDLE

Tony Romo accounted for 4 TD’s, one he ran in and 3 passes as the ‘Boys beat up on the Buccaneers, 31-15. The 4 scores were all tallied in the first half.

MONTREAL MAKES A MOVE

By firing their coach, Jacques Martin, because of blown leads and shoddy play. The last place Canadiens put assistant Randy Cunnyworth in charge for the rest of the season.

CELTICS HAVE GOT TO HAVE HEART

That means Celtic’s Forward Jeff Green is out for the rest of the season, due to repairing of an aortic aneurysm. Doctors tell him he will be ready for next year.

ROLLINS ON THE MOVE

To sign for 3 years, $33 Million, pending a physical, where he can once again be in position to compete and compare with Jose Reyes.

That’s all I wrote.

PITY PARTY

2011-12-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Pujols and LaRussa

Poor Albert Pujols, he’s in pain!

What’s his pain about?

Why the poor guy left the Cardinals for $250 Million for 10 years, and the Cardinals treated it like it was a business deal.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“La Russa said Pujols has been "in pain'' since he accepted the Los Angeles Angels' 10-year, $254-million offer.

"I know it was a painful decision and it pains him now," La Russa said. "He deserves what he got. He earned it. There's no bad guy here. I think the Cardinals went where they thought they should go. If they can't go farther, they shouldn't."

La Russa underscored the sense of disappointment Pujols felt about the Cardinals' negotiating tactics and recounted a process that left the Angels to overwhelm the Cardinals' bid and Pujols to 'struggle" with reconciling their aggressive interest against the Cardinals' cautious approach.”

Prior to the forced signing on to the Angels roster for $25.4 Million a year, Mr. Pujols and his agent viewed the whole Free Agency racket as just a business. It seems now Mr. Pujols is a little upset that the Cards treated his signing like a business. Man, where IS the heart in those Cardinals?

RAMIREZ TO REYES… OOPS!

Ramirez

“As soon as I have the opportunity, I’m going to talk to him, because we are very good friends,” Reyes said. “We’re both here for one reason—to win the World Series. It doesn’t matter where I’m going to play or where he’s going to play.”

Seems like Hanley Ramirez forgot his manners! Hasn’t spoken to or even text messaged his good pal and fellow Dominican, since the Marlins told him to make room for Reyes. I mean if you are the starting anything, and your boss comes along and says: “Jocko, I got someone else who can do your job better, you go over there and do something else.” Then you are maybe a little upset? Maybe Hanley is out looking for a welcome gift for Reyes. There are people who think Ramirez is a better shortstop than Reyes! Can’t wait for this to play out.

PLAXICO BURRESS MEETING AN OLD FRIEND

Plaxico Burress

"If it wasn't for him going through what he went through and coming back, maybe I wouldn't have gotten that chance,"

Vick and Burress talk about once a week; while Plaxico was in jail, the Eagles quarterback spoke to his family often.

When Plaxico Burress went to jail for accidently shooting himself in the leg, he spent 20 months behind bars, wondering what would become of him. One thing that came out of his sentence was these two words: Michael Vick.

It was Vick who had spent time behind bars and became a friend of Plaxico and counseled him and the Burress family when Plaxico did his time. Plaxico feels that if it weren’t for Vick, he might not be playing football today.

Knicks Top Nets

The New York Knicks topped the New Jersey Nets 92-83 in their preseason opener. Stay tuned for the preseason closer on Wednesday as the same two teams go at it, this time in Madison Square Garden in NYC.

Reds trade for Latos in multi-player deal with cincinnati

Latos

The rebuilding of the San Diego Padres took a new turn when they traded 24-year-old right-hander Mat Latos to the Cincinnati Reds for four players – first baseman Yonder Alonso, right-hander Edinson Volquez and two prospects, catcher Yasmani Grandal and right-hander Brad Boxberger.

The Reds paid a high price for Latos, who has the potential to be an ace, judging by his 14 victories and 2.92 ERA for San Diego in 2010. In 2011 – he posted a 9-14 record, dropping in WHIP, strikeouts and walks. Latos is known for occasional occasional immature outbursts, but it appears not to concern the Reds who looked for more pitching for the Reds. The Reds pitching staff did not pitch well this past season as they did last year, when they won the NL Central.

The new Padres acquired – Alonso, Grandal and Boxberger – who were first-round picks for the Reds.

Latos’ has about a 95-mph fastball range and the ability to pitch deep into games; 6 1/3 innings average per start, and strikeout numbers that are very good.

The Padres, in the meantime, added three young great players with potential. Coming from the Reds;

Alonso, 24, becomes the Padres’ regular first baseman. Batting .330 in 47 games for the Reds in 2011.

The switch-hitting Grandal is a catcher, and Boxberger a starter and reliever or even a potential closer.

Just another sports day folks!

WEEKEND PRO PICKS

2011-12-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Here are my weekly picks for this upcoming NFL Weekend:

Cowboys, Giants, Packers, Seahawks, Texans, Dolphins, Titans, Bengals, Saints, Raiders, Cardinals, Patriots, Eagles, Ravens, 49er’s

A few limbs I’m going out on, nothing is really predictable at this time of the year.

LOSING STREAKS

Losing streaks are a common thing in sports. Teams measure losing streaks by games and sometimes even series. It seems the NY Islanders measure their losing streaks in years. When will it ever end? How much more will the fans want to tolerate? They have been rebuilding for years, had some great promises and still languish in last place! They may threaten to move to Kansas City, but will Kansas City really want them? If they do move, they should put a little announcement in the local papers so someone will know they are gone.

IT’S NOT UNHURD OF

So Sam Hurd, who makes $5.1Million a year has to resort to selling drugs and being a supplier for other players around the league, but after all, he needs to make ends meet.

I for one am sick of these crazy salaries that drive the price of seeing a game sky high, and don’t leave much room for any enjoyment in sports anymore.

With the free agency world, the idea that owners should share with the players and the concept of player unions entrenched in the mix makes for a very potent situation for the life of sports.

You can’t take you child or grandchild to a game anymore, because it is so expensive, it drives the parking and concessions even higher, and the guys who make all this obscene money, can’t even count for the most part, and couldn’t tell you if millions is more than thousands. Yet they do know their drugs, and the sad part is we set up testing for drugs for millionaires!

My feeling is they should throw out all the unions, all the free agency and start all over, make baseball, or football or basketball, or even hockey a game. We can even call it a sport if you will, and get ride of all the crybabies that now play it, and make sure that there is loyalty to the fans and the owners, that the game stays a game. The owners need to adjust their priorities and be loyal to their customers, not be greedy, as greedy as they were when they caused whole franchises to move, or keep on jacking up prices for bad products.

KNICKS KNOCKS

Travis Outlaw

The Knicks almost got it done, but not quite. The missed on Crawford and Williams and now need a plan ‘C’ I think. Maybe there is SOMEBODY that will be willing to come off the bench for the Knicks and spell relief.

I did suggest Baron Davis, and if not, maybe Mo Evans or Travis Outlaw?

THE NET GOAL IS DWIGHT HOWARD

Kirilenko

GM Billy King keeps his options open for cap space and Dwight Howard, as he cleans house and tries to build a lineup that will take over New York basketball.

On his wish list is starting forwards Andrei Kirilenko, and Kris Humphries, while exercising their amnesty clause by shedding Travis Outlaw, and about $28 Million in cap space. Ideally, they the Nets would like to trade for Howard, but will be willing to try through free agency next year.

BONDS IN PINSTRIPES?

Barry Bonds may never play for the New York Yankees, but there is a chance he will be in pin stripes. Yes those thick pin stripes of a prison uniform!

Yesterday he stood before U. S. District Court Judge Susan Illston, to find out if he will be fitted for the new uniform. In April he was convicted of obstruction of justice in the Balco case about trafficking of steroids.

Enough has been written about Bonds, and the case, and now the judge will put it to bed finally.

On his website he wrote:

“April 29, 2011

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my fans from all over the world who have sent me messages of love, support and prayers during this difficult time in my life. As a San Francisco Bay Area native growing up playing little league and going on to play for my hometown team, I have been especially overwhelmed by the support I have received in my hometown and it is hard for me to put my gratitude into words. To all my fans in the Bay Area, I simply say "I am humbled" and "I thank you" from the bottom of my heart. I have always drawn my strength from God, family, friends and my supportive fans - and this time was no different.

I look forward to entering the next phase of my life and giving back to the community that has given me so much.

God Bless and Go Giants!

Barry Bonds “

RED SOX FILL A NEED

2011-12-16T04:51:00.000-08:00

Mark Melancon

The Boston Red Sox filled a glaring need if they wish to contend with a possible closer in Mark Melancon from the Houston Astros. Since Jonathon Papelbon signed on with the Phillies, it left the Sox without a closer. Melancon, a 26 year-old closer had 29 saves last season, and an 8-4 record. In 71 relief outings he posted a 2.78 ERA. This seems to be a kid with a lot of potential, and a great move by the Sox. The beantowners traded away Jed Lowrie a versatile 4-position infielder who hit .252 with 6 homers and 36 RBIs. In addition, they had to give up Kyle Weiland, a 25-year old right-hander who was 0-3 and an ERA 0f .766.

GM, Ben Cherington didn’t take long in replacing Lowrie with a solid pickup of Nick Punto to a 2-year deal. Punto was a free agent and signed with the Sox for $3 million.

The other Pujols

PRINCE FIELDER

Prince Fielder and agent Scott Boras maybe looking for a ten-year deal in the neighborhood of Albert Pujols' $254MM contract, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Heyman lists the Rangers as the odds on favorite and possibly the Blue Jays, Mariners and Cubs, among others. Here are the latest rumors on Fielder:

The Marlins could be interested in Prince Fielder, like I suggested previously.

There seems to be some interest by the Chicago Cubs in Prince Fielder, and it would certainly excite the big shoulders of Chicago!

Johan Santana

JOHAN SANTANA

Is he ever coming back? Suddenly 2012 doesn’t look so promising for the Mets and Santana! Rumor has it that he had a setback and is at where he was last September.

PENN IN A STATE

Two high ranked Penn State recruits have backed away from verbal commitments to the university, and are going elsewhere, due to the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal. The scandal and the lack of a new head coach lend a lot to the problem of recruitment for the Nittany Lions. This will translate into to other refusniks and ruin the program long term. Let’s face it; recruits will think it a dirty place. A great college, with great traditions, ruined by the acts of an ugly man, Penn State has a lot to recover from!

Isles' Rolston with concussion, AND THE BEAT GOES ON

Seems the Islanders can’t catch a break. It is the most unfortunate team when it comes to injuries, year after year! What does a team need to get a break? Well, maybe NOT a BREAK, but come on!

The big question for the Islanders will be in the net. With Rick DiPietro assigned permanently on the disabled list, and Al Montoya recovering from an injury, the Isles are pinning their hopes on Evgeni Nabokov showing his old form. a revolving door in the net this year, but in spite of that the Islanders are a much improved team this year.

The Islanders are in a tough division. They will probably miss the playoffs again this year, but should be closer than they’ve been in recent years.

JOHN TAVARES

On the verge of stardom, John Tavares is growing into a superstarl and as he gains more experience in the NHL, he should become more and more dangerous.

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!

2011-12-15T04:58:00.000-08:00

Michael Vick

Looking at the NFL National Conference East, it struck me that the Eagles, with Michael Vick back, have an outside shot of winning their division, or at the least making the playoffs! Like I said, it is an outside shot, but with Vick back, it infuses hope in a team that disappointed greatly this season.

The schedule plays out where 2 of their last 3 games are against division rivals Dallas and Washington, so that makes for an interesting scenario. None of the games should be easy, but the Eagles could pull it out.

Baron Davis

JAMAL CRAWFORD

Turning down the Knicks 2.5 million offer, the Knicks need to look elsewhere for the sixth man from the bench. Can they lure Shawne Williams back? If the Knicks want to be Kings in their court, maybe they should bring on a Baron? (Sorry about that, I just couldn’t help it.) But there is mutual interest between Baron Davis and the Knicks, and if the former all star clears waivers, it makes a nice nice, and maybe they keep Williams too.

IS SAYING BELIEVING?

Andres Torres

The Mets had a conference call yesterday featuring Ramon Ramirez and Andres Torres. Torres said all the right things, but saying is not believing, and if I remember correctly: Ya gotta believe!

UNDER THE RADAR AS THEY SAY

The Yankees remain low-key about the Yu Darvish sweepstakes and you can’t blame them. The Japanese wonder is looking for a lot of Yen, which translates into $$$. Approximately $75 million thank you. Coupled with the $25 Million the Ham Fighters want to allow a signing to be negotiated, you are talking about $100 Million for an unproven major league tryout!

Meanwhile, if you look at the roster the Yankees have, it is virtually untouched. This year it is a little older, some parts are no longer going to work as they did and some are gone, like Jorge Posada. The other concern is if Gunderson will be the same as he was last year, or was that just a oddity. The Yankees didn’t think so before they signed him, and frankly I didn’t think it was a great signing, but I was wrong. But of course the big question becomes A-Rod, is he slipping into mediocrity?

5:00 P.M. DEADLINE

2011-12-14T06:49:00.000-08:00

Yu Darvish

If you are the Blue Jays or maybe even the Red Sox, get your $30 million bid in before the deadline at 5:00 p.m.! For what? Yu Darvish of course.

Seems that Bobby Valentine knows Darvish from his Japanese baseball days and Darvish’s with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

A. J. Burnett

I know I spoke about his reliability in the major leagues, but I can’t help but wonder why the Yankees don’t consider him in place of A. J. Burnett? I would think it a worthwhile gamble for the Yanks since they had major issues with Burnett last year. If I’m correct in my memory, every outing in the year from about the All Star game onward was becoming a make or break game for him in the starting rotation. If you look at his numbers, they are anything but stellar! In three years with the evil empire, he is 34-35 with a 4.79 era. His K’s to walks was pretty good, but he was imploding it seems towards the end of his games. In those 3 years he went from under 3.75 to over 4.75 in his era. He is 34 and getting older as we write this. His confidence has been shaken from last year and I bet there is now a psychological factor coming into play: that of his no confidence in him from his manager and GM.

TIME TO SELL THE FARM

Field of Dreamers

Like I stated before, the Mets need to get new ownership, as they go deeper into debt. Aside from the $25 Million they owe Selig and Co., they go further into never land with another $40 Million bridge loan from the Bank of America! They hope to sell bits and pieces of the club as shares and that will be a temporary fix. Meanwhile they lose $50 to $70 Million a year and say they are going to be competitive! They are in so much debt with building CitiField things will only get worse.

Bernie Madof

Building the new ballpark based on Pre-Madof plans now seems like such a bad idea. On top of that, they price the tickets so high that for two straight years they had to reduce the prices. My suggestion is to price them low enough to fill the seats, get the revenue from concessions and parking based on full house attendance. Get them into the ballpark, and quick.

RE-ACQUAINTANCES…

Jamal Crawford

Or is Jamal Crawford coming back. Since the Knick have such a fine front-court, it is a shame that there is nothing behind it, and no real bench to speak of. They could use a scorer to come off the bench and fill in with points. In 2010 Jamal Crawford won the ‘Sixth Man of the Year Award’ for the Hawks. Do the Knicks have the money to lure him back? Is Jamal my pal willing to come to NY once more and experience the excitement of being on a winner, in the Garden no less?

JETS LOOK FOR ANSWERS

Brodney Pool

With Jim Leonhard gone for the year once more, Brodney Pool has the experience at that position. Can he replace Leonhard, and if so will the Jets really need to look at him, since Leonhard and his contract could be gone in a walk year? They may want to look at Eric Smith more closely too, and for the same reasons. Leonhard says he wants to stay with the Jets, I guess you might say like Jose’ Reyes wanted to stay with the Mets. I think the only thing that would allow Leonhard to leave would be –you ready for this? MORE MONEY!

Speaking of the Jets, they are in playoff contention for the moment. But they journey to Philadelphia where they are 0-4 lately, and face a team that is starting to come alive even though they are out of contention for all intents and purposes at 5-8. They (the Jets) claim to be looking only at Sunday’s game and not beyond that. Somehow I find that hard to believe, and I would expect a big letdown because they romped over KC last Sunday.

Del Sport Commentary;

FREE AGENCY AND THE PRINCE OF DETROIT

BRADY/MANNING

TOM COUGHLIN-MOTIVATOR

BILL BELICHICK-MASTER PLANNER

GIANTS/PATRIOTS SUPER

PRINCE FIELDER

RAVENS/PATRIOTS

The Ravens are going to Foxboro for the second time since the wild-card round of the playoffs two years ago, and are still as fierce as ever. Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Anquan Boldin, Terrell Suggs, Ray Rice, and Lardarius Webbare are all heading to Foxboro, Mass., for a slugfest of a game.

IT ISN’T THE NUMBERS THAT COUNT

WANTED-DESIGNATED HITTER

DAVID WRIGHT

OLD-TIME FOOTBALL

JOE PATERNO

THE COMMISHIONER IS BACK

IT’S STILL HIS TEAM

YOU DON’T SAY

WHAT’S GOING ON?

CONTROVERSY

HEY, YU, $20 MILLION ANNUALLY

SHOCK OF THE NFL

T.J. Yates may not have the flair of Tebow or the credentials of Tom Brady, but he does get the job done. What more can Texas Fans ask? The question is how far will he go?

After blowing a 14 point half-time lead, then a 10 point 4th quarter lead, Tebow took the Tebow time or Overtime, to perform his magic. The last time I saw such a thing was from Hollywood, but that finish wasn’t so implausible.

Lions/Saints-One of the oldest and grandest of franchises didn’t survive the weekend, but at least made an appearance for the first time since 1999. The mainstay of the old days of Thanksgiving Day football, the Detroit Lions, walked away disappointed, and de-clawed.

Giants/Falcons-Someone forgot to tell Matt Ryan to come to the Meadowlands for the game Sunday! So the Falcons suited up an impostor and put him out there. The trouble was everyone on the Giants showed up!

So to sum this up, the Giants shocked the NFL in beating the Falcons, as did the Broncos spanking of the Steelers. It makes for an interesting weekend and discussion for tomorrow as we look at the match ups.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

IT’S A BIG TOWN

RE-ALIGNMENT IN SPORTS

ELITE OR DELUSIONAL?

ONE OF BASEBALL'S FINEST

WHAT’S AILING THE SPORTS WORLD?

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

NOW WHAT?

GOOD MOVE?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

WHO’S WHO IN INJURIES

BOSOX DON’T GIVE AN INCH

CELTICS ON A ROLL…

IT WAS A BREES

THE WEEKEND THAT WAS

HIRING A HEAVY BAT

NEW YORK, N.Y.

BIG WEEKEND

KNICKS TO SIGN NOVAK AND DAVIS TO ONE-YEAR DEALS

Ohio State gets bowl ban, other penalties

UGH!

BIG MATCHUP?

PITY PARTY

WEEKEND PRO PICKS

RED SOX FILL A NEED

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!

5:00 P.M. DEADLINE

After blowing a 14 point half-time lead, then a 10 point 4^th quarter lead, Tebow took the Tebow time or Overtime, to perform his magic. The last time I saw such a thing was from Hollywood, but that finish wasn’t so implausible.