Uncle Mike's Musings: A Yankees Blog and More

Rating the New York vs. New England Rivalries

2012-02-03T10:09:00.004-05:00

12. New York Liberty vs. Connecticut Sun. There has never been a WNBA team in Boston. Most of you won't consider the WNBA to be "major league." The Sun are named after the casino where their arena is located, Mohegan Sun, in Uncasville, 132 miles from Times Square and 106 miles from Downtown Crossing in Boston. The other big Connecticut casino, Foxwoods, is 10 miles away. I once saw a poster at Port Authority Bus Terminal advertising Foxwoods as "closer to New York than Atlantic City." This is true, but they're also closer to Boston than to New York.

11. New York Mets vs. Boston Red Sox. It's happened in Interleague Play since the 1986 World Series, but who cares? Sox fans hate the Mets because they're a New York team -- not because of 1986.

10. New Jersey Nets vs. Boston Celtics. They've only played each other in the Playoffs twice, in 2002 and '03, although the '02 matchup was memorable due to the Celtics' enormous Game 3 comeback -- and then the Nets buried it by winning the next 3 and sweeping the Celtics the next season. I don't know how the Nets' move to Brooklyn is going to affect things, but I suspect a New York vs. Boston matchup might carry a little more weight than a New Jersey vs. Boston matchup.

9. New York Red Bulls vs. New England Revolution. Most of you won't consider Major League Soccer to be "major league." And of those of you who do, you might consider D.C. United or the Philadelphia Union to be a bigger rival to the Red Bulls than the Revs. But the Revs have cheated to beat the Red Bulls before. (I've been there. I've seen it.) The sooner the Empire Supporters Club, the Garden State Supporters, the Kearny Army and Hans Backe's Viking Army realize that New England, not Washington or Philly, is a New York/New Jersey team's real rivals, the better.

8. New York Islanders vs. Boston Bruins. From 1975 to 1988, both teams were really good. But they've only met in 2 Playoff series, in 1980 and '83, with the Isles winning both. Until the Isles get good again, this will be a minor matchup.

7. New York Giants vs. New England Patriots. In spite of this being the 2nd Super Bowl between the teams, it's not a real rivalry without the New York vs. New England matchup. Face it, if the exact same Giant roster was on, say, the Green Bay Packers, or if the exact same Patriot roster was on the Kansas City Chiefs, it would be just another matchup.

6. Rutgers University vs. University of Connecticut. This is a pretty good rivalry in football, a very good one in women's basketball, not yet a good one in men's basketball. There really isn't another Tri-State Area school with a significant football team, and only St. John's in basketball -- contrast that with New England, which has Boston College, the University of Massachusetts and Providence College. But there's no real animosity in any of those potential matchups.

5. New Jersey Devils vs. Boston Bruins. They've faced each other in 4 Playoff series, starting in the 1988 Wales Conference Finals, the series that had Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld yelling at referee Don Koharski, who'd made several questionable calls in the Bruins' favor, "You fat pig! Have another doughnut!" The Devils haven't lost a postseason series to the Bruins since.

4. New York Knicks vs. Boston Celtics. The only 2 charter members of the NBA still in their original cities, and while they haven't faced each other in the postseason in 22 years, they've had some memorable battles, including 1973. That season, the Celtics tied the record of 69 wins in a season, set by the Los Angeles Lakers the year before, but the Knicks beat the Celtics in a Game 7, the first time the Celtics ever lost a Game 7 (or any clinching game) on the famed parquet floor of the old Boston Garden. The Knicks went on to win the title -- their 2nd, and, for the moment, their last; the Celtics then won 2 of the next 3, and have won an additional 4 since, for a total of 17. In the NBA, the Boston edge over New York is proportionally a LOT bigger than New York's edge in baseball.

3. New York Rangers vs. Boston Bruins. Two of the NHL's "Original Six" teams, they've been beating each other's brains out (not always a time-consuming task) since 1926, and they've faced each other in 9 postseason series -- but none since 1973, a big Ranger upset over the Big Bad Bruins. Until the realignment of the NHL in 1982, a Stanley Cup Finals matchup between these teams was possible, and it happened in 1929 and 1972, the Bruins winning both. However, for the moment, this one has little more than history -- but the Bruins are the defending Stanley Cup Champions (for the first time since that '73 Playoff series), and the Rangers are riding high, so another big Playoff matchup is possible in April or May of this year.

2. New York Jets vs. New England Patriots. Bill Parcells. Bill Belichick. Curtis Martin. Bryan Cox. And, if you go back far enough, Babe Parilli. And that's just the names who have been on both sides of this rivalry. Take the massive egos of Belichick and Rex Ryan, and the trash talk between the teams, and add the NY-NE aspect, and note that they're in the same Division (unlike the Bruins and the 3 Tri-State Area teams), and you've got a rather nasty rivalry.

1. New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox. The Hundred Year War. The greatest rivalry in North American sports. Probably the one thing the two sets of fans agree on.

Who Is Kyle Flood, and Where Will He Take Rutgers?

2012-02-01T09:31:00.003-05:00

As much as I'd like to talk about how the Devils beat the Rangers in a shootout last night at Madison Square Garden -- Henrik Lundqvist, "King of Shootouts," my ass...

4-3! We beat The Scum, 4-3! 4-3! We beat The Scum, 4-3! 4-3! We beat The Scum, 4-3!

Instead, I have to talk about the new Rutgers University football coach.

Yesterday, Kyle Flood was promoted from assistant head coach and offensive line coach under Greg Schiano -- and interim head coach since Schiano left us in the lurch for the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- and made the head coach.

Who is he? He was born in in Queens on January 20, 1971, meaning he just turned 41 -- meaning he's just over a year younger than I am. That's a little depressing.

Being from the Bayside section of Queens, he's from what Schiano called "The State of Rutgers" -- which he defined as, pretty much, the combined metropolitan areas of New York City and Philadelphia, running roughly from Poughkeepsie in the north to Rehoboth Beach in the south, from Montauk in the east to, in the west, areas of New York State and Pennsylvania that are traditionally the prime recruiting areas for Syracuse University, Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh; plus his outposts in Florida, getting the kids that weren't recruited by the University of Florida, Florida State University, and the University of Miami.

He attended St. Francis Preparatory School, in the Fresh Meadows neighborhood of Queens, formerly seated in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. This is one of the most prestigious high schools in the country, in terms of alumni. In the world of football alone, it has produced Vince Lombardi, Ed Jenkins of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins, former Atlanta Falcons and Boston College head coach Dan Henning, former Lousiana State (LSU) coach Gerry DiNardo, and several former Rutgers players: Cincinnati Bengals tight end Marco Battaglia, and all 4 Pickel brothers including Bill who won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Raiders as a rookie and closed his career with his hometown Jets.

St. Francis Prep also produced a pair of baseball-playing brothers, Frank and Joe Torre. CBS newswoman, host of Big Brother, moderator of The Talk, and mistress-turned-wife of CBS head Les Moonves, Julie Chen. Fox "News" Channel newswoman Patti Ann Browne. Actor Peter Facinelli. Hot 97 show host DJ Envy. And Frank Serpico, the crusading cop who inspired the Al Pacino film Serpico.

Flood attended Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, was All-Conference as a junior and team Captain as a senior. He assisted at St. Francis Prep, and was an assistant at Long Island's C.W. Post and Hofstra, and then the University of Delaware, before joining Schiano's staff at Rutgers. He is married, with a son, a daughter, and a son on the way.

*

At yesterday's introductory press conference, Athletic Director Tim Pernetti said:

The criteria was simple. We built something really special here. Continuity was a big piece of the criteria. Somebody who believed in the core values of this program was a big piece of the criteria. Somebody who believed in the core values of this program was a big piece of the criteria. Relationships in the state of Rutgers, the Tri-State Area, in recruiting, was a critical part of the criteria. All those things together made the search a very targeted deal. We found all those things in Kyle Flood.

And the most important thing we found in Kyle Flood was my most important criteria in the search, which is character. What this program has been built on, the class that it's been, the way we are perceived, what Rutgers stands for, it's pristine, it's precise. It's as good as there is in college football. We will never sacrifice or compromise the core values of this program for any reason whatsoever. We will not win at all costs here. It's about character. It's about developing young people. And that was the most important thing we looked for.

Character, huh? Well, Schiano left us for a younger football team. (Much younger: Rutgers started playing football in 1869, before anyone else in America, aside from our first opponents, Princeton, while the Bucs only started in 1976.) And Schiano trusted and hired Flood. What does that say about his character?

Flood said:

Without Greg's vision and drive 11 years ago, the Rutgers football program would not be what it is today. He's a mentor to me. He's a friend to me, and somebody that I consider a lifelong friend. Thank you, Greg.

This is true. Schiano took a program that was a laughingstock. "Rutgers invented college football in 1869, and hasn't done a damn thing since." Not quite true: There were, among other achievements, the undefeated seasons of 1961 and 1976, although since Rutgers was an independent until the founding of the Big East Football Conference in 1991, we've never won a Conference Championship. Schiano made Rutgers football matter more than at any time since Ulysses S. Grant was President.

Then he brought us some success. Then he brought us to the brink of some major success. But he couldn't quite get us there. Then he got a "better" offer, and he took the money and ran.

Oh well, at least we can say Schiano had enough integrity not to go back to Penn State, where he was once an assistant under the late Joe Paterno. Though I suspect that, if he had, Jerry Sandusky would have been allowed no closer to Beaver Stadium than the federal prison at Lewisburg (57 miles).

Flood continued:

The core values of Rutgers football don't come and go with any one person. This program is built on a philosophy of family... That's something our players carry with them everywhere they go. It's how they live their lives. It's really what we're about here at Rutgers.

My message to the team was very simple. We're going to do things here in the Rutgers football program. We're going to raise you from young men to grown men, and we're going to win championships while we do it. It's an honor to be the head coach at Rutgers. I'm looking forward to doing the job. I'm as excited as I've ever been, and I can't wait for tomorrow.

Flood was asked, "Who would you say your influences are throughout your coaching career? Who's had the greatest impact, and what will be your philosophy going forward?" In addition to Schiano...

Well, certainly, the first head coach that I worked for was Vince O'Connor. He was the head high school coach at St. Francis Prep High School in Fresh Meadows, Queens. He's been there as the high school coach, the head football coach for over 55 years. And just a tremendous person in the way he cared for his players. Whether you were Kyle Flood, who had gone on to play Division III football, or Marco Battaglia going on to play in the NFL, when you spoke to Mr. O'Connor, you were the most important person in the world. It was a valuable lesson to learn as a young football coach.

He was asked, "What makes you think now you could succeed where Greg couldn't in 11 years, since you were here most of the time? Obviously, the goal is to win a Big East title and championships. Greg came close, didn't get it. Why you as opposed to Greg, who put 11 years in?"

I don't think it's Kyle Flood as opposed to Greg Schiano. I think the time is right for Rutgers to win championships.

He was asked, "How are you prepared to handle the pressures that come off a nine-win season?"

I don't make any assumptions in this business, that's for sure. I think, if you just watch TV every day, you know not to do that. When you're given the opportunity to do a job and it's a job you're really excited about, you take that opportunity without hesitation. The Rutgers football program is going to go on and do some great things here. I'm excited to be in charge of it.

Well, that's good. As Felix Unger (Tony Randall on The Odd Couple) taught us, "Never assume. When you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME."

*

I have to confess, I'm a bit skeptical. If you're going to promote from within, or give a man his first head coaching job, you probably couldn't get someone more appropriate than Flood. In all seriousness, I'm not questioning his intelligence, his character, or his dedication -- at least, for the moment, he has given me no reason to question any of those things.

But... With the way Schiano raised the profile of the program, Pernetti and University President Richard McCormick should have showed more ambition. They should have said, "Schiano has gotten us to a point where we could, and should, hire someone bigger than Schiano." At the very least, they should have gotten someone as big. Apparently, they didn't even try: They quickly narrowed the list down to 2 choices: Flood and Mario Cristobal, another former Schiano assistant, who has spent the last 5 seasons as head coach at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami.

Couldn't RU have gone after someone else? Maybe someone on the staff of the Super Bowl-bound Giants -- who are, after all, a local team? Or another widely-respect NFL assistant? Or a former NFL head coach looking for a new start? (Hell, if Lane Kiffin could get one... ) Or perhaps Kevin Callahan, who started the program at New Jersey's Monmouth University in 1992, and has built it from nothing into one of the best Bowl Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA) programs in the East?

I wish Flood all the success that Schiano got at Rutgers, and the remaining success that Schiano couldn't get here.

But when you've watched Rutgers football as long as I have, you learn not to hold your breath.

Top 5 Reasons Why the Giants Can Beat the Patriots... and 3 Why They Might Not

2012-01-31T09:22:00.007-05:00

Super Bowl XLVI, a rematch of SB XLII between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots 4 years ago, is 5 days away.

I am not a Giants fan, for reasons that are not important at this time. But being a Yankee Fan has led me to despise all the New England teams. Yes, even the women's basketball team at the University of Connecticut. The only thing they arouse in me is anger.

I didn't always hate the Patriots. In fact, I supported them in their first 2 Super Bowl wins, XXXVI over the St. Louis Rams (the Pats weren't arrogant yet, and the Rams were) and XXXVIII over the Carolina Panthers. Then the Red Sox won the World Series and all those New Englanders (okay, not ALL of them) started acting more arrogant than New Yorkers ever did, and with far less justification. Eventually, we found out that Patriot coach Bill Belichick was cheating -- hence "Cheatriots." And, unlike the other cheating New England teams, Belichick actually admitted it. He basically said, "Yeah, I did it. So the hell what? I can do whatever I want, because I'm Bill Belichick. Try to stop me."

All the New England teams cheat: The Pats with "Spygate," the Red Sox with steroids, the Boston Bruins with their easily melting ice, the New England Revolution (soccer) with their diving, the Connecticut men's basketball team with their recruiting violations. I don't yet know how the Boston Celtics or the UConn women have cheated, but they have, we just have to figure out how.

So, yes, I hate the Patriots. But have you noticed... Since we found out about Spygate, they haven't won the Super Bowl.

2007-08 NFL Playoffs: Were a minute away from completing the first-ever 19-0 NFL season, but lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl.

2008: Didn't make the Playoffs.

2009-10: Lost in the Wild Card round, to the Baltimore Ravens.

2010-11: Lost in the Divisional round. At home. To the New York Jets. For shame.

So if the Patriots lose this one, it will, for all practical purposes, prove, "You can't win without cheating."

No, there's no direct evidence that the Patriots cheated in ANY of their 3 Super Bowl wins. As that great New Englander, Jed Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen on The West Wing), would say, you don't want your tombstone to read, "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc." That's Latin for "After it, therefore because of it." Or, as President Bartlet explains, "One thing follows the other, therefore it was caused by the other. But it's not always true. In fact it's hardly ever true."

I don't know about "hardly ever," but it is a tricky analogy. Last season, I did just this kind of an analysis for the aforementioned Jets-Patriots Playoff: 5 reasons why the Jets could win it, and 3 why they might not. And the Jets won. A is followed by B, therefore A caused B. Not in that case: The Jets would have won whether I wrote that blog post or not.

Are there 5 reasons why the Giants can win this Super Bowl against the Patriots? Certainly. Are there 3 reasons why they might not? Definitely.

*

Let me get the reasons why the Giants might not beat the Patriots out of the way first.

The Top 3 Reasons Why the Giants Might Not Beat the Patriots

1. The Belichick Legacy. Belichick knows that if he goes 0-for-5 in post-Spygate seasons -- 0-for-2 in Super Bowls -- his legacy as a coach that led a team that had never won a title to 3 Super Bowl wins vanishes. There will always be doubt on those 3 titles. He'll be remembered, certainly, as the right-hand-man that helped Bill Parcells win 2 Super Bowls with the Giants, reach 1 with the Patriots, and nearly reach one with the Jets.

But as far as being a head coach is concerned, he'll be remembered as a failed coach with the Cleveland Browns, and as a corrupt coach with the Patriots, who won 3 Super Bowls but did so under a cloud. So Belichick knows that, more than his team, he HAS to win. We've seen it before: He will do anything to win. What will he do? Cheat? Have his players cheat? Have his players play dirty? Who knows. But the Giants will have to be on guard for that.

2. Tom Brady. If Belichick cheated, and his achievements are questionable, then so are those of the quarterback he picked off the scrap heap. Once, Brady seemed a contender to get into the conversation of "the greatest quarterback who ever lived," along with Sammy Baugh, Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana. But now, he's a quarterback who, without his coach to cheat for him, lost a Super Bowl to "the other Manning brother."

Of course, if Brady loses a second Super Bowl to Eli, it doesn't hurt him as much as it helps Eli. But it would suggest that Brady can't win unless Belichick cheats.

3. They're Still the Patriots. Despite the Pittsburgh Steelers having won 2 Super Bowls since Pats won their last, and despite Super Bowls also having been won by the Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, and of course the Giants, the Pats are still the defining team of pro football excellence the last 10 years or so. They still find ways to win, and they may again.

Now...

The Top 5 Reasons Why the Giants Can Beat the Patriots

1. They've Done It Before. They know how to do it: Get in Brady's face and knock him on his ass.

2. The Giants Are As Good As They Were 4 Years Ago -- the Patriots Are Not. The Pats are not coming in at 18-0, and nobody is afraid of them. True, the Giants don't have Michael Strahan, but Osi Umenyiora is as good as he was then, Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul have come into their own, Ahmad Bradshaw is running very well, and, it should be noted, the quarterback is better now than he was then. Which brings us to said quarterback...

3. Eli Manning. He's on fire. He'll never be as good as his brother Peyton was at his best, but, right now, he's playing as well as any quarterback in the NFL did this season, and that includes Brady, the Packers' Aaron Rodgers and the Saints' Drew Brees.

4. The Giants' Legacy. No, winning an 8th NFL Championship isn't appreciably more prestigious than winning a 7th. But Eli, Justin and Osi could well be playing the game that will mean the difference between being a contender for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and getting into it for sure. The same could be said of coach Tom Coughlin.

5. Pressure. In spite of having to build on their legacy, the Giants need that a lot less than the Pats do. True, the Pats won 3 Super Bowls that were close, but the first time they were the underdogs (to the St. Louis Rams), the second time they were playing a team that had never been there before and was nervous (the Carolina Panthers), and the third time they were playing a team that had a history of choking (the Philadelphia Eagles).

The Patriots have more to prove. Can they? Sure. But they've never been under so much pressure before. Even in their 2 pre-Belichick Super Bowls, they weren't under this much pressure, because they were underdogs (XX to the Chicago Bears, XXXI to the Packers). Had they won either of those, it would have been great for the people of New England. But now, they HAVE to win to preserve their championship reputation. If they lose, they go down in history as "You only win when you're cheating."

The Giants are under a lot less pressure. I'm not saying they can relax, but they'll go into Lucas Oil Stadium a lot less stressed. A lot less.

Presuming no additional injuries, here's my prediction:

Giants 31, Patriots 21. Both teams making history -- but only the Giants doing so in a good way.

How I Rank the New York Tri-State Area Teams

2012-01-28T19:34:00.005-05:00

Note that this includes only the major league teams -- no Rutgers, no Princeton, no Seton Hall, no St. John's, no Staten Island Yankees, no Brooklyn Cyclones, no Trenton Thunder, etc.

1. New York Yankees. The first sports team I ever loved, and the one that has rewarded my loyalty the most -- despite their 18-year title drought.

2. New Jersey Devils. The team closest to my house, if not to my heart. Since the sun set on June 24, 1995, in MLB, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL combined, only the Yankees, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Red Wings have won more World Championships than the Meadowlands, now Mulberry Street, Marauders -- and, in addition, only the New England Patriots (by cheating) and the Chicago Bulls have won as many.

3. New York Red Bulls. You may not consider Major League Soccer to be, well, a major league, but I do. Let's go fucking Metro! Let's go fucking Metro! Da-da, da-da! Da-da, da-da!

4. New York Liberty. You may not consider the WNBA to be a major league, but the Libs are the best basketball team in the Tri-State Area. Well, okay, since 1976, the most successful basketball team in the Tri-State Area.

5. New Jersey Nets. Though there's only a few weeks left in which they will have that name and play home games in New Jersey -- and, thus, probably only a few more weeks why I should bother.

6. New York Giants. Because they do a better job of beating New England than the Jets, even though the Jets have two (or three) chances to beat them every season.

7. New York Jets. At least they're entertaining. No, at most, they're entertaining. One more season like this, and the Era of Big Mouth is over.

8. New York Knicks. With Pat Riley, and John Starks, who ruined a chance at a glorious era by clotheslining Kenny Anderson, it was easy to hate them. Now, I only pity them. Will I switch to the Knicks after the Nets' move to Brooklyn is absolutely official with tipoff in the fall of 2012? I don't know yet.

9. New York Islanders. I still hate the bastards for beating up the Devils from 1982 to 1988, when the Devils ended up beating them in their first-ever Playoff series -- still the only time the Devs and Isles have met in the postseason, and still one of only 2 Playoff series wins the Devils have over a New York team (the other being the sweep of The Scum in 2006).

10. New York Mets. I keep telling myself that what's happening to them isn't funny anymore... but it's a lie.

11. New York Rangers. The Scum. (Unless we're talking about baseball, in which case that's the Boston Red Sox; or soccer, in which case that's Tottenham -- more than MLS' D.C., Philly or New England teams will ever be.) Dunt, dunt, dunt, duh-unt, Dunt, dunt, dunt, duh-unt, Dunt, dunt, dunt, duh-unt, Dunt, dunt, dunt! RANGERS SUCK! Stephane Matteau is my Bobby Thomson, and Mark Messier is my Leo Durocher. Except Durocher had more hair.

Or, to put it another way: On a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being how much I love the Yankees...

1. Yankees 10.
2. Devils 9.5
3. Red Bulls 7.5 and gaining
4. Liberty 6.0
5. Nets 4.0 and dropping
6. Giants 3.8 and that's mostly a measure of respect, not love
7. Jets 3.5 and that's mostly a sop to my sister, a Jet fan
8. Knicks 2.8 and that's mostly a measure of respect for their pre-Riley work
9. Islanders 2.0 and that's mostly a measure of respect for their 4 Cups and their '93 Playoff run
10. Mets 0.5 and that's entire a measure of respect for 1969 and '73 -- NOT for '86
11. Rangers 0.2 and that's entirely a measure of respect for what they were before there ever was a New Jersey Devils

*

Of course, it's not just about sentiment. As former Jets coach Herman Edwards taught us, "You play to win the game!" And win enough of them to win a championship.

Since the sun set on June 24, 1995, with the Devils winning their first Stanley Cup at 11:09 PM that night (yes, I know the exact time -- don't bet me), the title roll looks like this:

1. Yankees 5 World Series wins
2. Devils 3 Stanley Cups
3. Giants 1 Super Bowl wins, with a chance to make it 2 a week from tomorrow
4. Liberty 4 Conference Titles
5. Nets 2 Conference Titles
6. Red Bulls no titles but reached finals in both the MLS and U.S. Open Cups
7. Mets 1 Pennant
8. Knicks 1 Conference Title
9. Jets 3 lost AFC Championship Games
10. Rangers 1 Conference Finals
11. Islanders haven't even won a Playoff series

Since I was old enough to start watching on TV, 1977 onward:

1. Yankees 7 World Series wins
2. Islanders 4 Stanley Cups, last 29 years ago
3. New York Cosmos 4 Soccer Bowls, last 30 years ago -- defunct 1985, and the reborn Cosmos, who have yet to play anything other than a friendly, are connected to them in name only
4. Giants 3 Super Bowl wins, with a chance to make it 3 a week from tomorrow
5. Devils 3 Stanley Cups
6. Rangers 1 Stanley Cup, 18 years ago
7. Mets 1 World Series win, 26 years ago
8. Liberty 4 Conference Titles
9. Nets 2 Conference Titles, last 9 years ago
10. Knicks 2 Conference Titles, last 13 years ago
11. Red Bulls no titles but reached finals in both the MLS and U.S. Open Cups
12. Jets 4 lost AFC Championship Games

Compare that to overall, the teams' entire histories:

1. Yankees 27 World Series wins
2. Giants 7 NFL Championships, with a chance to make it 8 a week from tomorrow
3. New York Cosmos 5 Soccer Bowls, last 30 years ago -- the "New Cosmos," who have yet to play anything other than a friendly, are connected to them in name only
4. New York Giants (baseball) 5 World Series wins, last 58 years ago, defunct 1957
5. Rangers 4 Stanley Cups, last 18 years ago
6. Islanders 4 Stanley Cups, last 29 years ago
7. Devils 3 Stanley Cups
8. Mets 2 World Series wins, last 26 years ago
9. Knicks 2 NBA Championships, last 39 years ago
10. Jets 1 Super Bowl win, 44 years ago
11. Brooklyn Dodgers 1 World Series win, 57 years ago, defunct 1957
12. Nets 2 Conference Titles, 2 ABA Championships
13. Liberty 4 Conference Titles
14. New York Metropolitans, 1 Pennant, defunct 1887 -- the 1962-born Mets were, sort of, named after them
15. Red Bulls no titles but reached finals in both the MLS and U.S. Open Cups
16. New York Americans, no Stanley Cups, only once reached Semifinals
17. Brooklyn Dodgers (football), never reached NFL Playoffs but finished 2nd to Giants in Eastern Division in 1941 and swept the season series, defunct 1944

Not counting the various AFLs which, unlike the one that was founded with the Titans/Jets in 1960, didn't make it. Or the USFL's New Jersey Generals, or any other football league that didn't quite make it to "major league" status.

The Era of Big Rutgers Is Over

2012-01-26T13:30:00.003-05:00

Greg Schiano has accepted the position of head coach of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This means he is no longer the head football coach at Rutgers University.

He got Rutgers to 7 bowl games in 8 years, winning 6 of them -- but never one of the traditional New Year's Day bowl games, now called Bowl Championship Series games. And to the brink of 2 Big East Conference Championships -- but didn't win either of them.

Now, having gotten Rutgers that far, and no farther, he's gone, to Tampa Bay, the land of nice weather (if you don't mind humidity, hurricanes and mosquitoes) and bad football (at least at the professional level).

Now, Rutgers needs a new coach. Can they possibly lure one as good as Schiano? I don't think so.

The Era of Big Rutgers is over.

And now, Greg is gone, leaving Rutgers behind as if he were Newt Gingrich going after a younger wife.

I hope he doesn't expect us to say, "Thank you."

Number 20... Jorge Posada... Catcher... Number 20...

2012-01-25T10:28:00.002-05:00

I will miss this man.

I will also miss his wife Laura.

Seventeen seasons in Pinstripes, 16 trips to the postseason, 7 Pennants, 5 World Championships, 5 All-Star Games, and, despite that face and those ears, he got THAT woman to marry him and raise 2 children with him.

As another Yankee Legend could say, today, he can consider himself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.

And we, Yankees Universe, have been lucky to watch him.

Joe Paterno, 1926-2012

2012-01-24T22:26:00.002-05:00

May he rest in peace. And that's all I'm going to say on the subject.

Any further criticism of him on my part would just be running up the score. It would be poor form for me to have accused him of doing that, and then to do it myself, to him. Whatever I thought he deserved, lung cancer is not included.

New York vs. New England in Playoffs

2012-01-24T09:14:00.007-05:00

On Sunday, February 5, the New York Giants will play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.

The history of the New York Tri-State Area (New York City, Long Island, the Lower Hudson Valley, North and Central New Jersey, and the Connecticut Counties of Fairfield, Litchfield and New Haven) against New England (the entire States of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island, and the Connecticut Counties of Hartford, Middlesex, New London, Tolland and Windham) is rich and complicated, and has given both sides plenty of measures of what ABC's Wide World of Sports called "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."

Note that the following does not include regular-season finales, such as the 1904 4-game series that ended in a Pennant for the Boston Pilgrims (Red Sox) over the New York Highlanders (Yankees), or the 1949 2-game that the Yankees had to sweep, and did.

While the New England Whalers reached the Playoffs in all 7 seasons of the World Hockey Association (winning the first time, 1973), then entered the National Hockey League as the Hartford Whalers in 1979, and made the Playoffs 8 times before moving to become the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997, they never faced a New York Tri-Area team in either the WHA or the NHL Playoffs.

I'm not counting matchups in the Women's NBA between the New York Liberty and the Connecticut Sun, or in Major League Soccer between the New York Red Bulls (formerly the New York/New Jersey MetroStars) and the New England Revolution, or in the former North American Soccer League between the New York Cosmos and the New England Tea Men.

Matchups that were, or led to, a World Championship for a New York Tri-State Area team are in bold.

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1884 World's Series: The Providence Grays, Champions of the National League, defeat the New York Metropolitans, Champions of the American Association, in 3 straight. Yes, it was called "the World's Series" (but not "the World Series," and is not officially recognized as such by Major League Baseball), and the Metropolitans were known as the "Mets" for short. But they have no connection to the New York franchise that began in the NL in 1962, except for the name.

1912 World Series: The Boston Red Sox defeat the New York Giants, 4 games to 3, with 1 game called due to darkness while still tied. This was the Series whose Game 8 went to a 10th inning, and the Giants led 7-6, before Fred Snodgrass' "$30,000 Muff" led to a Sox win. It would take 74 years for New York could make New England pay for that.

1916 World Series: Red Sox over Brooklyn Dodgers, 4 games to 1. At this time, the Dodgers were officially called the Brooklyn Robins, in honor of their manager, Wilbert Robinson, a.k.a. "Uncle Robbie." Although it was possible for the Boston Braves, 1914 World Series winners, to play the Yankees in a World Series from 1903 to 1952, it never happened: The closest call, and also the closest call for an All-Boston World Series, came in 1948, when the Braves won their last Boston Pennant, and the Yankees finished 1 game behind the Red Sox and Cleveland Indians, who then had a Playoff for the Pennant at Fenway Park, which the Indians won. The Indians then beat the Braves for what remains their last World Championship. The Yankees and Braves have played each other in 4 World Series -- twice while the Braves were in Milwaukee, and twice thus far while the Braves have been in Atlanta.

1927 National Hockey League Stanley Cup Semifinals: Boston Bruins over New York Rangers, 3-1 in a 2-game total-goals series.

1928 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals: Rangers over Bruins, 5-2 in 2-games-total-goals.

1929 Stanley Cup Finals: Bruins over Rangers, 2 straight.

1939 Stanley Cup Semifinals: Bruins over Rangers, 4 games to 3.

1940 Stanley Cup Semifinals: Rangers over Bruins, 4 games to 2.

1951 National Basketball Association Eastern Division Semifinals: New York Knickerbockers (or Knicks for short) over Boston Celtics, 2 games to 0. Knicks-Celtics is the most common New York-New England postseason matchup, having happened 13 times. Rangers-Bruins is next, with 9.

1952 NBA East Semifinals: Knicks over Celtics, 2 games to 1.

1953 NBA East Finals: Knicks over Celtics, 3 games to 1.

1954 NBA East Semifinals: Celtics over Knicks, 3 games to 1.

1955 NBA East Semifinals: Celtics over Knicks, 2 games to 1.

1958 Stanley Cup Semifinals: Bruins over Rangers, 4 games to 2.

1967 NBA East Semifinals: Celtics over Knicks, 3 games to 1.

1969 NBA East Finals: Celtics over Knicks, 4 games to 2.

1970 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals: Bruins over Rangers, 4 games to 2.

1972 Stanley Cup Finals: Bruins over Rangers, 4 games to 2.

1972 NBA Eastern Conference Finals: Knicks over Celtics, 4 games to 1.

1973 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals: Rangers over Bruins, 4 games to 1.

1973 NBA East Finals: Knicks over Celtics, 4 games to 3. This was the first time the Celtics had ever lost a Game 7 at the Boston Garden. The Knicks went on to win their 2nd title in 4 seasons. They have never won another, while the Celtics have since won 6.

1974 NBA East Finals: Celtics over Knicks, 4 games to 1.

1978 American League Eastern Division Playoff: Yankees over Red Sox, 5-4. Although MLB counts the Boston Tie Party as a regular-season game, it came after the regularly-scheduled Game 162, so I'm counting it as a postseason matchup. Bucky Blessed Dent.

1980 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals: New York Islanders over Bruins, 4 games to 2.

1983 NHL Wales Conference Finals: Islanders over Bruins, 4 games to 2.

1984 NBA East Semifinals: Celtics over Knicks, 4 games to 3.

1985 American Football Conference Wild Card Playoff: The New England Patriots over the New York Jets, 26-14. Although the Jets and Pats were both original American Football League teams from 1960, being in the same Division made it impossible to play each other in the AFL Playoffs until 1969. This was their only Playoff game against each other in their first 46 seasons of play.

1986 World Series: New York Mets over Red Sox, 4 games to 3. Nearly three-quarters of a century after Fred Snodgrass, the Sox blow a 2-run, 2-out, 2-strike lead in Game 6, and then Bill Buckner's name gets written into the history of sports gaffery. The Mets haven't won the World Series since -- the Curse of the Bambino may be dead, but the Curse of Kevin Mitchell lives, born right after the Bambino Curse's most dastardly effort.

1988 NBA East Quarterfinals: Celtics over Knicks, 3 games to 1.

1988 NHL Wales Conference Finals: Bruins over New Jersey Devils, 4 games to 3. The Devils had made the Playoffs for the first time ever, eliminating the Rangers (who, like the Red Sox, are called The Scum on this blog) on the last day of the regular season, then beat the Islanders and the Washington Capitals in the Playoffs. But while the Bruins were the more experienced and probably the better team, and had home-ice advantage for the series, it will be forever remembered for the officiating (Same New England, always cheating) that had Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld yelling at referee Don Koharski, "You fat pig! Have another doughnut!" The Devils haven't lost a postseason series to the Bruins since. Here's the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asOmo8a4hrE

1990 NBA East Quarterfinals: Knicks over Celtics, 3 games to 2. The only to charter 1946-47 members of the NBA still playing in their original cities, they played each other 13 times in the Playoffs in the NBA's first 44 seasons, but not at all in the last 21 seasons.

1994 NHL Eastern Conference Semifinals: Devils over Bruins, 4 games to 2.

1995 NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinals: Devils over Bruins, 4 games to 1. The clinching Game 5 was the last competitive sporting event ever played at the 67-year-old Boston Garden, and the Devils went on to win their first Stanley Cup.

1999 AL Championship Series: Yankees over Red Sox, 4 games to 1. The first official postseason series in the Hundred Year War, the Sox won Game 3, 13-1, pounding their ex-hero Roger Clemens while Pedro Martinez pitched well. It was the only game the Yankees lost in the '99 postseason, as they won Game 1 on a walkoff homer by Bernie Williams, and used Sox errors (and some dodgy umpiring) to turn a 3-2 lead Game 4 into a 9-2 win that had the Sox fans throwing garbage onto the field, permanently rendering ridiculous their self-proclaimed "Athens of America" status -- although anyone who's ever seen footage of a soccer game in Greece might say they fulfilled it!

2002 NBA East Finals: New Jersey Nets over Celtics, 4 games to 2. In Game 3, the Celtics erased a 21-point deficit to beat the Nets 94-90 at the building now known as the TD Garden. Did this loss crush the Nets? No, they've never lost another Playoff game to the NBA's most successful franchise, and went on to reach the first NBA Finals in team history.

2003 NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinals: Devils over Bruins, 4 games to 1.

2003 NBA East Semifinals: Nets over Celtics, 4 straight.

2003 ALCS: Yankees over Red Sox, 4 games to 3. For the first time, New York and New England played each other in 3 out of 4 sports in a calendar year. Pedro tries to kill Don Zimmer, Grady Little leaves Pedro in, the Yankees come back from 5-2 down with 5 outs to go, Tim Wakefield throws Aaron Boone a knuckleball, and the Curse of the Bambino works one last time. Unfortunately, in the World Series, Joe Torre brought in Jeff Fucking Weaver...

2004 ALCS: Red Sox over Yankees, 4 games to 3. We now know that it wasn't so much the Yankees blowing a 3 games to none lead, the first MLB team ever to do so in postseason play, as it was the Red Sox cheating. The Yankees have clinched AL East titles over the Sox in 2005 at Fenway and 2009 at Yankee Stadium II, and knocked the Sox out of the race in a 5-game sweep at Fenway in 2006, and the revelations of the Sox' malfeasance is now known (if not fully accepted by the Sox-loving, Yankee-hating national media), but full revenge still does not feel like it has been taken. It may take another postseason series win over The Scum -- and at the rate said Scum are going, that may take years.

2006 AFC Wild Card Playoff: Patriots over Jets, 37-16. The first matchup between the teams since Bill Belichick, who had been an assistant to Bill Parcells when he was head man of the Giants, then the Patriots, then the Jets, was hired as Jets' head man, then one day later quit and took the Pats' job, leaving a note saying, in its entirety, "I resign as HC of the NYJ." This was also the first Playoff matchup between the teams since Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady started winning Super Bowls, and going through the Jets (at least in the regular season) to do it. This was, however, before it was revealed that Belichick was a cheating bastard -- and an unrepentant one at that. In spite of the Jets and Pats playing each other twice a year since the last year of the Ike Age, New York vs. New England, as a blood-and-guts rivalry, had finally spread to all 4 sports.

Super Bowl XLII, 2008: New York Giants over Patriots, 17-14. Maybe the best Super Bowl of them all, Eli Manning led the G-Men on a drive that turned the Pats' undefeated season into a big fucking asterisk. There is an intersection near my residence where U.S. Route 1 meets State Route 18. Officially, it's called the Brunswick Circle. I prefer to call it Patriot Circle: 18 and 1.

2010 AFC Divisional Playoff: Jets over Patriots, 28-21. The Jets finally slew the big cheating dragon. Then they went to Pittsburgh to play for the AFC Title, and laid an egg, and the Steelers fried it. In just 1 week, they forgot the wisdom of their former coach, Herman Edwards: "You play to win the game! You don't play it just to play it!"

Knicks: 6-7
Yankees: 3-1
Devils: 3-1
Rangers: 3-6
Islanders: 2-0
Nets: 2-0
Mets: 1-0
Giants: 1-0
Jets: 1-2
Giants (B): 0-1
Dodgers: 0-1
Mets (AA): 0-1

Baseball: 4-4
Football: 2-2
Basketball: 8-7
Hockey: 8-7

Total: New York over New England, 22-20. Very close, but New York has the advantage.

New York vs. California in Playoffs

2012-01-20T10:04:00.012-05:00

(Note: This blog was begun on the day you see above, as a preview of Giants vs. 49ers. I wasn't able to finish it until the day after the game was played. The game was not actually played on a Thursday.)

Last night, the New York Giants defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 20-17 in overtime, on a field goal by Lawrence Tynes, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, for the NFC Championship and a berth in Super Bowl XLVI (46).

It would, after all, have been a bit more appropriate for the 49ers to play in Super Bowl XLIX -- or would that be "IL"? -- than SB XLVI.

This is not the first time the Giants and Niners have played in the NFL Playoffs, nor even in the NFC Title Game.

The Giants won NFL Championship Games in 1934 (over the Chicago Bears at the Polo Grounds), 1938 (Green Bay Packers at the Polo Grounds) and 1956 (Bears at Yankee Stadium); and lost them in 1933 (to the Bears at Wrigley Field), 1935 (Detroit Lions at University of Detroit Stadium), 1939 (Packers at the Dairy Bowl in Milwaukee), 1941 (Bears at Wrigley), 1946 (again, Bears at Wrigley), 1958 (Baltimore Colts in that overtime thriller at Yankee Stadium), 1959 (Colts at Memorial Stadium), 1961 (Packers at what became Lambeau Field), 1962 (Packers at Yankee Stadium) and 1963 (again, Bears at Wrigley).

The Giants have won 3 Super Bowls: They won Super Bowl XXI in 1987 (over the Denver Broncos at the Rose Bowl), Super Bowl XXV in 1991 (Buffalo Bills at Tampa Stadium), and, of course, Super Bowl XLII in 2008 (over the team they'll be playing this time, the New England Patriots, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona). They've also lost 1: Super Bowl XXXV in 2001 (to the Baltimore Ravens at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa).

They will play the Patriots on Sunday, February 5, at Lucas Oil Stadium, the retractable-roof home of the Indianapolis Colts.

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The history of teams from the New York Tri-State Area and the State of California playing each other in the postseason is a rich and complicated one.

It first became possible in 1946, with the move of the Cleveland Rams to Los Angeles, where they could have played the Giants in the NFL Championship Game; and also with the founding of the All-America Football Conference, which included the 49ers and a team called the New York Yankees. These teams played each other in the 1949 AAFC Playoffs. Before the next season, the 49ers, the Cleveland Browns and the original Baltimore Colts -- the history of that team name is complicated -- were taken into the NFL. Except for a brief interlude in 1951, there has never again been a pro football team called the New York Yankees.

From 1950 onward, it has been possible for the Giants to play the 49ers and Rams in the Playoffs, although the move of the Rams to St. Louis in 1995 makes such a matchup (which hasn't happened sine) no longer a New York vs. California matchup.

In baseball, it has been possible for the Yankees to play the Oakland Athletics and the team now known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the Playoffs since 1969; and, since then, for the Mets to play the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres. When the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in the 1957-58 off-season, and the New York Giants baseball team moved to San Francisco at the same time, it became possible for them to face the Yankees in the World Series, and they did so, in back-to-back years, 1962-63.

The Yankees have now played all 3 California National League teams in a World Series, and have beaten them all. The Mets have never played the Angels in a World Series, but lost the 1973 Series to the A's.

In basketball, it's always been geographic: A New York Tri-State Area team can only play a California team in the NBA Finals. The Knicks and Nets have both played the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals; the Los Angeles Clippers have never reached the Finals, nor have the Sacramento Kings, and while the Golden State Warriors have (though not since 1975), they have never faced either the Knicks (at least, not since moving west from Philadelphia in 1962) or the Nets in the Playoffs.

In hockey, it was possible for a Tri-State Area team to face a California team in a pre-final round from 1975 to 1982. Then realignment made it possible only in the Finals.

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Series which clinched, or led to, a World Championship for a New York Tri-State Area team are in bold.

1949 All-America Football Conference Western Division Playoff: San Francisco 49ers over New York Yankees (football version), 17-7.

1962 World Series: Yankees over San Francisco Giants, 4 games to 3. Willie McCovey vs. Bobby Richardson.

1963 World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers over Yankees, 4 straight. Sandy Koufax 15 Ks.

1968 AFL Championship: New York Jets over Oakland Raiders, 27-23.

1970 NBA Finals: New York Knicks over Los Angeles Lakers, 4 games to 3. Willis Reed limps onto the court and hits the Knicks' first 2 baskets, and Walt Frazier has the game of his life. New York becomes the first city to win World Championships in all 4 major-league sports.

1972 NBA Finals: Lakers over Knicks, 4 games to 1.

1973 NBA Finals: Knicks over Lakers, 4 games to 1. The Knicks haven't won the title since.

1973 World Series: Oakland Athletics over Mets, 4 games to 3. Reggie Jackson says hello to New York.

1977 World Series: Yankees over Dodgers, 4 games to 2. Reggie says goodbye, goodbye, goodbye to Dodger pitches.

1978 World Series: Yankees over Dodgers, 4 games to 2. Reggie is hip.

1979 Stanley Cup 1st Round: New York Rangers over Los Angeles Kings, 2 straight.

1980 Stanley Cup 1st Round: New York Islanders over Kings, 3 games to 1.

1981 Stanley Cup 1st Round: Islanders over Kings, 3 games to 1.

1981 American League Championship Series: Yankees over A's, 3 straight. Billy Martin can't get his revenge on George Steinbrenner. Their seesaw relationship would resume.

1981 World Series: Dodgers over Yankees, 4 games to 2. Blew it, and the dynasty that wasn't quite comes to an end. Over 30 years later, this one still sticks in my craw.

1982 AFC Division Playoff: Jets over Los Angeles Raiders, 17-14.

1984 NFC Wildcard Playoff: New York Giants over Los Angeles Rams, 16-13.

1984 NFC Divisional Playoff: 49ers over Giants, 21-10.

1985 NFC Wild Card Playoff: Giants over 49ers, 17-3.

1986 NFC Divisional Playoff: Giants over 49ers, 49-3.

1988 National League Championship Series: Dodgers over Mets, 4 games to 3. Mike Scioscia vs. Dwight Gooden, and another dynasty that wasn't quite comes to an end.

1989 NFC Divisional Playoff: Rams over Giants, 19-13. This is "the Flipper Anderson Game."

1990 NFC Championship: Giants over 49ers, 15-13. No touchdowns, but 5 Matt Bahr field goals won it.

1993 NFC Divisional Playoff: 49ers over Giants, 44-3. Lawrence Taylor's last game.

1998 World Series: Yankees over San Diego Padres, 4 straight.

2000 NL Division Series: Mets over Giants, 3 games to 1.

2000 ALDS: Yankees over A's, 3 games to 2.

2001 ALDS: Yankees over A's, 3 games to 2. The Jeter Flip.

2001 AFC Wild Card Playoff: Raiders over Jets, 38-24.

2002 NBA Finals: Lakers over New Jersey Nets, 4 straight. The Nets' first NBA Finals appearance.

2002 American League Division Series: Angels over Yankees, 3 games to 1.

2002 NFC Wild Card Playoff: 49ers over Giants, 39-38. Giants blew a 17-point lead.

2002 AFC Divisional Playoff: Raiders over Jets, 30-10.

2003 Stanley Cup Finals: New Jersey Devils over Anaheim Mighty Ducks, 4 games to 3. Jean-Sebastien Giguere is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Playoffs, despite the winning goalie, Martin Brodeur, becoming only the 2nd goalie in Stanley Cup history to notch 3 shutouts in the Finals.

2004 AFC Wild Card Playoff: Jets over San Diego Chargers, 20-17. Doug Brien's field goal wins it in overtime.

2005 ALDS: Angels over Yankees, 3 games to 2. Randy Johnson spits the bit in Game 3.

2006 NLDS: Mets over Dodgers, 3 straight. Finally, the NL "half" of the Tri-State Area gets some revenge on L.A. -- if not on the evil O'Malley family, which sold the Dodgers a decade earlier. This remains the last postseason series the Mets have won.

2009 ALCS: Yankees over Angels, 4 games to 2.

2009 AFC Divisional Playoff: Jets over Chargers, 20-17.

2011 NFC Championship: Giants over 49ers, 20-17. Lawrence Tynes' field goal wins it in overtime. Will this one lead to a World Championship, the Giants' 8th? Stay tuned.

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Yankees: 8-4
Giants: 5-4
Jets: 4-2
Islanders: 2-0
Knicks: 2-1
Mets: 2-2
Devils: 1-0
Rangers: 1-0
Nets: 0-1
Yankees (AAFC): 0-1

Baseball: New York leads California, 10-6
Football: New York leads California, 9-7
Basketball: New York & California are even, 2-2
Hockey: New York leads California, 4-0

Total: New York leads California, 25-15.

Giants Are Now Where Jets Were Last 2 Years

2012-01-16T09:48:00.004-05:00

The Giants have advanced to the Conference Championship Game.

Just like the Jets did last year. And the year before.

Just like the Giants did 4 years earlier -- and, unlike the Jets, took the next step. And the next.

Just a reminder: What the Giants have done is amazing, but they are... not... done... yet.

They know. Because many of them have done it before.

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Don't even get me started on Arsenal losing at Swansea City yesterday.

True, it was on the road, and, being Welsh, the Swansea players and fans treat every home game against an English team as if it were a cup final. And, true, Arsenal got screwed on a penalty decision -- again.

But Arsenal played like crap. Plain and simple.

But ask yourself this: If you could only beat either Swansea away or Manchester United at home, and not both, which would you prefer?

Let's pick ourselves up and beat the Fergiebastards. Vermaelen and Sagna could be back, and that, alone, will be a big help.

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Bartolo Colon will not be a Yankee in 2012. He has signed a one-year contract with the Oakland Athletics.

Save your "dead weight" jokes. He did a good job for the Yankees in 2011. I'm sorry to see him go -- although it does settle the rotation a little more.

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Days until the Devils play another local rival: 5, this Saturday, a matinee against the Flyers, at the Prudential Center. They next play The Scum on Tuesday night, January 31, at the Prudential. The next game against the New York Islanders isn't until March 4, a Sunday matinee at the Nassau Coliseum.

Days until the U.S. National Soccer Team plays again: 5, this Saturday night, a friendly against Venezuela, at the University of Phoenix Stadium, outside Phoenix.

Days until Arsenal play again: 6, Sunday morning (afternoon, their time), home to Manchester United. This is the season: Win this, and trophies will still seem possible; lose it, and we might as well pack it in.

Days until the next North London Derby: 41, on Sunday, February 26, at New Highbury. Under 6 weeks.

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 58, on Sunday afternoon, March 11, at FC Dallas. Under 2 months.

Days until the Red Bulls' home opener: 69, on Sunday afternoon, March 25, at Red Bull Arena, against the Denver-area-based Colorado Rapids.

Days until the Yankees' next Opening Day: 81, on Friday afternoon, April 6, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg against the Tampa Bay Rays. A little over 11 weeks.

Days until the Yankees' home opener: 88, on Friday afternoon, April 13, against the Whatever They're Calling Themselves This Year Angels of Anaheim. Less than 3 months.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 95, on Friday night, April 20, at Fenway Park in Boston. A little over 3 months.

Days until the last Nets game in New Jersey: 98, on Wednesday night, April 23, against the Philadelphia 76ers, at the Prudential Center. Just 14 weeks before New Jersey no longer has an NBA team.

Days until the 2012 Olympics begin in London: 193 (July 27).

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 236, on Saturday September 8, against an opponent and at a location to be announced. Under 8 months.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 242, on Friday, September 14, opponent and location to be determined.

Days until the 2012 President election: 295, on Tuesday, November 6. Register to vote... and on November 6, vote!

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 311.

Days until Alex Rodriguez collects his 3,000th career hit: 551 (estimated around July 20, 2013).

Days until Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands: 748 (February 2, 2014).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 700th career home run: 821 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 756th career home run to surpass all-time leader Hank Aaron: 1,656 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 763rd career home run to become as close to a "real" all-time leader as we are likely to have: 1,690 (estimated -- estimating 28 home runs a year, he should get it late in the 2016 season, maybe around September 1, at age 41).

Analyzing the Montero-for-Pineda Trade & the Kuroda Signing

2012-01-14T17:35:00.004-05:00

The Yankees have completed a trade of Jesus Montero with Seattle for Michael Pineda.

The Yankees gave up a 22-year-old right-handed-hitting catcher from Venezuela, who has a total of 69 major league plate appearances. This included 7 walks, 16 singles, 4 doubles, 4 home runs, 12 RBIs, a BA/OB/SLG of.328/.406/.590, an OPS+ of 159…and 17 strikeouts, almost as many Ks as hits.

Montero appeared to have a good future ahead of him… the question was, “Where?” As a righty hitter at Yankee Stadium (new one has some outfield dimensions as old one), he would have been at a disadvantage. He’s been rumored to be trade bait since he was tearing up the Eastern League and helping the Trenton Thunder win a Pennant.

Playing his home games in Seattle’s Safeco Field, a good pitchers’ park, he will be at even more of a disadvantage. Plus, the Mariners stink, having lost 95 games last year, including a sub-.500 39-45 at home, 29 games behind the AL West-leading Texas Rangers. And while the M’s are hanging onto their best pitcher, Felix Hernandez – King? As Jim Bouton, a pitcher who actually won 2 World Series games, would say, “Yeah, surrrre” – they gave up their best pitching prospect in exchange for Montero. While the Oakland (San Jose in 2015?) Athletics appear to be on track to be even worse in the near future, the AL West appears to be a two-team race between the Strangers and the Whatever They’re Calling Themselves This Year Angels of Anaheim. In essence, Montero has gone from the penthouse to the outhouse.

If I were in Montero’s position, I’d think I was just a tad screwed.

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That’s what the Yankees gave up. What did they get? Pineda is a 23-year-old right-handed-throwing pitcher from the Dominican Republic, who has a total of 28 major league mound appearances. This includes 171 innings, an ERA of 3.74, an ERA+ of 103, a WHIP of 1.099, 173 strikeouts, a K/9 of 9.1, a BB/9 of 2.9, a H/9 of 7.0, and a record of 9-10 – not bad at all considering the M’s scored just 3.4 runs per game, last in the majors. The Yankees should give him much better run support. He was named an All-Star, and finished 5th in the AL Rookie of the Year balloting.

He wore Number 36 in Seattle, but that’s currently being worn by another ex-Mariner pitcher, Freddy Garcia (who wore 34 in Seattle).

*

The Yankees also signed Hiroki Kuroda to a one-year contract. He’s a soon-to-be 37-year-old righth-handed-throwing pitcher from Osaka, Japan, who has pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2008, and from 1997 to 2007 for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. He was an award-winner in Japan, and the son of a player in the Japanese leagues.

He has made 115 appearances in the North American majors, all for the Dodgers, all but one as a starter. His career record is 41-46, despite the Dodgers having been pretty good in that tmie. However, his career ERA is 3.45, his ERA+ is a strong 114, his WHIP a fine 1.187, his H/9 8.6, his BB/9 an impressive 2.1, his K/9 a good 6.7. He pitched for the Dodgers in the 2008 NLDS and NLCS, winning a game in each series, but got rocked in his one postseason appearance since, in the ’09 NLCS.

He has experience. He is efficient. He pitched in Japan and in Los Angeles. Playing in New York is not going to throw him. He may not be Hideo Nomo, but he’s not going to be Hideki Irabu or Kei Igawa, either.

He wore Number 18 with the Dodgers. That number is currently not assigned to a Yankee.

*

Assuming no further trades, free-agent signings or major injuries, the Yankees can be expected to have the following starting pitchers in 2012 – though this is in order of general effectiveness, not necessarily the order in which they will pitch:

1. CC Sabathia
2. Ivan Nova
3. Phil Hughes
4. A.J. Burnett
5. One of the following four: Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda. If either Hughes or Burnett falters, it will be two of those four. If Both Hughes and Burnett falter, it could be three of the four.

This may not be the best rotation in baseball, but if CC remains a horse (I don't see why not), Nova keeps it going (hopefully, no sophomore jinx), Hughes stays healthy (I really hope for this one), A.J. builds on his postseason start and pitches like the '09 A.J., and we can get one more year out of veterans Colon, Garcia or Kuroda, it'll be a very strong rotation.

UPDATE: Colon has signed with the A's, and is no longer an option for the Yankees. This is a disappointment, but hardly a discouragement.

Certainly, Pineda looks like a good one for the future. I wouldn't mind going into 2013 with a rotation of CC, Nova, Hughes, Pineda and Manny Banuelos -- or, failing a full recovery from Hughes, an as-yet-unknown acquisition. (Maybe turn Felix into the king people have been calling him?)

There are, of course, two elephants in the room. What do do when Mariano Rivera retires or goes into decline, and what to do with Joba Chamberlain. (I know, Joba, elephant... )

If David Robertson continues to be to Mo what Mo was to John Wetteland in '96, I would have no problem, and I don't think Joe Girardi would, either, moving him into the closer role.

If Joba is fine with being a reliever, things will be looking up. But it is possible that Joba could be one of the future starters, especially if CC runs out of tank fuel by mid-2013. God forbid, as, even with all those options, he's the only lefty. Damn, I miss Andy Pettitte. I'm even starting to miss David Wells a little. (Back to the elephant analogy.)

But, for now, the Yankees' pitching options look good. And trading Montero, in addition to bringing in Pineda, does give Russell Martin a vote of confidence that he is the Yankee starting catcher through most of the 2010s.

I think we're going to have another Pinstriped October. Granted, I'm not exactly going out on a limb here. But while the Yankees didn't make themselves appreciably better with these deals, they did give themselves more options, which COULD lead to them getting better.

And that's good.

I return you now to your previously-scheduled New York media slobbering over a certain blue-clad football team.

Do Medicore Players Make the Best Coaches? NHL Edition

2012-01-11T21:21:00.009-05:00

Last in the series. I'll start with the 1926-27 season. Partly because most of the previous winning coaches were player-coaches. Partly because it was the first season in which the Stanley Cup became the sole province of the National Hockey League. And partly because it was the first season for 3 of the modern teams: The New York Rangers (who, in those pre-Devils days, did not suck), the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings.

Remember: A player who didn't make it to the NHL, even if it was through no fault of his own (injury, illness, career interrupted by military service), is still classified as a "mediocre player."

1927 Ottawa Senators: Dave Gill. As far as I know, he never played pro hockey. This was the last of 9 Cups won by the old Senators, formerly known as the Ottawa Silver Seven. (There was an additional position 100 years ago, the "rover," sort of a half-forward, half-defenseman. Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey would have played the position.) These Senators went bankrupt in the Depression, moving to become the St. Louis Eagles in 1934 and folding a year later. The new Sens began in 1992, and have been far less successful: They're usually competitive, but they've won a grand total of 1 Stanley Cup Finals game.

1928 New York Rangers: Lester Patrick. One of the best defensemen of his time. In the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player, although he had much more influence as a coach and executive.

1929 Boston Bruins: Cy Denneny. One of the best forwards of his time. Hall of Fame.

1930 Montreal Canadiens: Cecil Hart. Never played.

1931 Canadiens: Hart.

1932 Toronto Maple Leafs: Dick Irvin. One of the best forwards of his time. Hall of Fame as a player, although he had much more influence as a coach. Actually, his best contribution to the game may have been his son, Hall of Fame broadcaster Dick Irvin Jr.

1933 Rangers: Patrick.

1934 Chicago Blackhawks: Tommy Gorman. Never played hockey, but was one of the best lacrosse players of his time.

1935 Montreal Maroons: Gorman. Not sure why he left the Hawks after winning the Cup, although it may have had something to do with team owner Frederic McLaughlin being a lunatic.

1936 Detroit Red Wings: Jack Adams. One of the best forwards of his time. In the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player, although he had much more influence as a coach and executive.

1937 Wings: Adams.

1938 Hawks: Bill Stewart. Played in college, but his professional sport was baseball. An injury cut short his playing career, but he became both a baseball umpire and a hockey referee, as well as the first American to coach a Cup winner.

1939 Bruins: Art Ross. One of the best defensemen of his time. In the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player, although he had much more influence as a coach and executive. You might be recognizing some of these names if you're a hockey fan over the age of 30, even if you're not one over the age of 80: Patrick, Ross and Adams all got their names put on NHL Divisions from 1974 to 1993, along with Toronto Maple Leafs executive Conn Smythe. With the NHL now having 6 Divisions, we'd probably have to add Scotty Bowman and Al Arbour.

1940 Rangers: Frank Boucher. Great center, on a line between the brothers Bill and Frederick "Bun" Cook, on the 1928 and '32 Cup-winning Rangers. Patrick, by now, was "only" the general manager, although his sons Lynn and Murray "Muzz" Patrick were Ranger players. Boucher, a Hall-of-Famer, was a part of every Ranger Cup-winner until 1994. And yet they've never retired his Number 7. Okay, it was also Rod Gilbert's number, but they've retired 9 for both Andy Bathgate and Adam Graves.

1941 Bruins: Ralph "Cooney" Weiland. Like Patrick, Ross left coaching and stayed the GM, and promoted his former Number 7, a Hall of Fame forward.

1942 Leafs: Clarence "Happy" or "Hap" Day. A Hall of Fame defenseman for the Leafs.

1943 Wings: Adams.

1944 Canadiens: Irvin. Left the Leafs for their arch-rivals. And, yes, today, the Habs and Leafs are still each others' arch-rivals, no matter what fans of the Bruins and the revived Ottawa Senators might think.

1945 Leafs: Day.

1946 Canadiens: Irvin.

1947 Leafs: Day.

1948 Leafs: Day.

1949 Leafs: Day.

1950 Wings: Tommy Ivan. An injury kept him from reaching the NHL.

1951 Leafs: Joe Primeau. A Hall of Fame center with the Leafs, along with Charlie Conacher and Harvey "Busher" Jackson on the 1930s' "Kid Line."

1952 Wings: Ivan.

1953 Canadiens: Irvin.

1954 Wings: Ivan.

1955 Wings: Jimmy Skinner. In the modern NHL, he probably would have made it, but in the six-team era, his path was blocked.

1956 Canadiens: Hector "Toe" Blake. He and Elmer Lach flanked Maurice "the Rocket" Richard on the "Punch Line" in the 1940s. An injury cut short his playing career but he was still elected to the Hall. Irvin was, uh, eased out of the Habs' head job after the 1955 season, partly because it was thought that an ex-teammate and good friend like Blake could handle the Rocket better, following the riot that bears his name. Blake coached 8 Stanley Cup winners, a record until Scotty Bowman broke it.

1957 Canadiens: Blake.

1958 Canadiens: Blake.

1959 Canadiens: Blake.

1960 Canadiens: Blake.

1961 Hawks: Rudy Pilous. A prospect for the Rangers, he never reached the NHL.

1962 Leafs: George "Punch" Imlach. Played minor-league hockey in Toronto, went off to World War II, and was offered a tryout by the Wings after his discharged, but didn't think he was in shape, and went into coaching.

1963 Leafs: Imlach.

1964 Leafs: Imlach.

1965 Canadiens: Blake.

1966 Canadiens: Blake.

1967 Leafs: Imlach.

1968 Canadiens: Blake.

1969 Canadiens: Claude Ruel. Played for the Habs' junior teams, but never reached the big club.

1970 Bruins: Harry Sinden. A good minor-league player, and an Olympian, but never reached the NHL.

1971 Canadiens: Al MacNeil. A defenseman, probably the first on this list to be good but not great, his career didn't have a whole lot of luck. Played for the Leafs before they won their 1960s Cups, the Habs between their '60 and '65 Cups, and the Hawks after their '61 Cup. Also an original 1967-68 member of the Penguins. His rotten luck continued when he coached the Canadiens in the 1969-70 and 1970-71 seasons -- bracketing the October Crisis in Quebec. During the '71 Finals, with the Habs down 3 games to 2 to the Hawks, with a potential Game 7 in Chicago, Henri Richard, the Rocket's much younger brother but also a HOFer, told the French media in Montreal, "MacNeil est incompetent." These words, suggesting that MacNeil's inability to speak French left him unable to properly deal with the many players whose ethnicity and language got the team nicknamed "the Flying Frenchmen," stirred up the ethnic, linguistic and political emotions of a city that, without having a wall, was as much divided at the time as Berlin. The only thing that could unite the city was the Canadiens, and they won Game 6 at home and Game 7 on the road. Afterward, Henri said, "I should've kept my mouth shut." As with Irvin in '55, MacNeil was quietly offered another place in the organization, and in came Scotty Bowman, who had coached the St. Louis Blues to the Finals in their first 3 seasons of play, without winning a Finals game, getting swept by the Habs in '68 and '69 and the Bruins in '70, despite a veteran lineup. Bowman and the '70s Habs were on their way to becoming the best dynasty in the game's history, as players like Henri and Jean Beliveau were on their way out, while men like Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson and Ken Dryden were on their way in. MacNeil did coach in the NHL again, leading the Flames in 1980 when they moved from Atlanta to Calgary.

1972 Bruins: Tom Johnson. A Hall of Fame defenseman on the 1950s Canadiens.

1973 Canadiens: Scotty Bowman. An injury cut short his playing career, but as a coach he won a record 9 Cups, and with 3 different teams, so it can't be said that he was solely a beneficiary of the Habs' wonderful scouting and minor-league system. He is now a senior adviser to the Blackhawks, and his son Stan is their GM, and thus, as of 2010, also a Cup winner.

1974 Philadelphia Flyers: Fred Shero. The first first-time winners of the Cup in 38 years were coached by Freddy the Fog, who briefly played for the Rangers but was basically a career minor-leaguer.

1975 Flyers: Shero.

1976 Canadiens: Bowman.

1977 Canadiens: Bowman.

1978 Canadiens: Bowman.

1979 Canadiens: Bowman.

1980 New York Islanders: Al Arbour. An All-Star defenseman, won Cups with the '54 Wings, the '61 Hawks and the '62, '63 and '64 Leafs. Also a member of the Finalist Blues under Bowman, alongside such NHL legends as Jacques Plante and Doug Harvey. That Blues team thus had a reach in the NHL into the early Fifties and into the 21st Century. In the Hall as a "Builder," which is the Hall's category for coaches and executives, but a pretty good player.

1981 Isles: Arbour.

1982 Isles: Arbour.

1983 Isles: Arbour.

1984 Edmonton Oilers: Glen Sather. A defenseman, was traded from the Bruins right before their '70 Cup and the Habs right before their '76 Cup began a string of 4 straight. But his luck evened out as a coach.

1985 Oilers: Sather.

1986 Canadiens: Jean Perron. Never played in the NHL.

1987 Oilers: Sather.

1988 Oilers: Sather.

1989 Flames: Terry Crisp. A good center for the '74 & '75 Broad Street Bullies, although not, himself, known as a dirty player.

1990 Oilers: John Muckler. Never played in the NHL.

1991 Pittsburgh Penguins: Bob Johnson. Longtime head coach at the University of Wisconsin, earning him the name "Badger Bob," he produced some of the players on the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, including their leading scorer, his son Mark Johnson. But he never played in the NHL. Died of cancer shortly after winning the '91 Cup. The Pens then hired Bowman, in the hope that he could keep the team's newfound success going. He did.

1992 Pens: Bowman.

1993 Canadiens: Jacques Demers. Never played in the NHL.

1994 Rangers: Mike Keenan. Although he's coached 8 different teams, including taking the Flyers to the '85 and '87 Finals and in '94 becoming the only living person to coach the Rangers to a Cup, he never played in the NHL.

1995 New Jersey Devils: Jacques Lemaire. A Hall of Fame forward for the 1970s Habs, he scored the goal that won Game 4 of the '77 Finals and gave Montreal a sweep of the Bruins -- as reflected in the film of Barney's Version. (While the Mordecai Richler novel on which it's based has Barney as a huge Habs fan, the time periods are different, so Lemaire's goal does not, as in the film, happen on the day of his 2nd wedding.)

1996 Colorado Avalanche: Marc Crawford. An unremarkable player, although he did help the Vancouver Canucks reach their first Stanley Cup Finals, in 1982.

1997 Wings: Bowman.

1998 Wings: Bowman.

1999 Dallas Stars: Ken Hitchcock. Never played in the NHL. Now coaching the Blues.

2000 Devils: Larry Robinson. Hall of Fame defenseman for the 1970s and '80s Habs.

2001 Avs: Bob Hartley. Never played in the NHL. Not to be confused with the lead character on the 1970s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show.

2002 Wings: Bowman. His 9th and last.

2003 Devils: Pat Burns. Never played in the NHL.

2004 Tampa Bay Lightning: John Tortorella. A collegiate star, he never reached the NHL. Now the coach of the Rangers, who, as you may have noticed, suck.

2005 No Cup. Gary Bettman, you're going to hell, where you'll face Devils who will
treat you worse than the ones in New Jersey.

2006 Carolina Hurricanes: Peter Laviolette. Played a grand total of 12 games in the NHL, all in the 1988-89 season with the Rangers, who, by that point, had begun to suck. Now the coach of the Flyers -- who swallow.

2007 Anaheim Ducks: Randy Carlyle. An All-Star defenseman with the original Winnipeg Jets.

2008 Wings: Mike Babcock. Never played in the NHL.

2009 Pens: Dan Bylsma. Played several years as a defenseman with the two L.A.-area teams, the Kings and the Ducks.

2010 Hawks: Joel Quenneville. An original member of the Devils, was with the franchise when it moved from Denver, as the Colorado Rockies, in 1982. Being, as Wayne Gretzky put it, "a Mickey Mouse organization" at the time, they let him get away, and he became an All-Star defenseman with the Hartford Whalers.

2011 Bruins: Claude Julien. Had, as they would say in baseball, two "cups of coffee" with the Quebec Nordiques in the mid-1980s.

*

Great players: 29
Good players: 8
Mediocre players: 46

So there have been quite a few great players who've gone on to coach Stanley Cup winners. However, since Toe Blake hung up his whistle in 1968, of the 42 Cup-winning teams, 31 were led by mediocre players.

So my theory holds in this sport, too.

Today, the New Jersey Devils are coached by Peter DeBoer, who never played in the NHL. Does that mean there's hope for a Cup under him? If his coaching in this 2011-12 season thus far is any indication, the answer is no.

Do Mediocre Players Make the Best Coaches? NBA Edition

2012-01-10T20:23:00.005-05:00

Part III of the series. I'll start with the beginning of the National Basketball Association, the 1946-47 season.

Remember: A player who never played in the pros, or for whatever reason did not pan out in the pros, is counted here as "mediocre" even if he was sensational in college.

1947 Philadelphia Warriors: Eddie Gottlieb. Never played, but organized the basketball team at the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association. The team was known by its initials, the SPHAs. The Warriors, a charter franchise of the NBA, grew out of this club, one of the leading pro teams of the 1930s. Gottlieb lived most of his life in Philadelphia, yet moved the Warriors to San Francisco in 1962.

1948 Baltimore Bullets: Harry "Buddy" Jeannette. A player-coach, and a Hall of Fame player.

1949 Minneapolis Lakers: John Kundla. A good college player, but never played in the pros.

1950 Lakers: Kundla.

1951 Rochester Royals: Les Harrison. Played semi-pro ball, never in the NBA or in a
pre-NBA league.

1952 Lakers: Kundla.

1953 Lakers: Kundla.

1954 Lakers: Kundla.

1955 Syracuse Nationals: Al Cervi. A pretty good player by the standards of the 1940s and early '50s.

1956 Warriors: George Senesky. A star by the standards of the time, he played on the Warriors' '47 title team.

1957 Boston Celtics: Arnold "Red" Auerbach. A good college player at George Washington University, but only played briefly in a pre-NBA league.

1958 St. Louis Hawks: Alex Hannum. A terrific player, he became player-coach and got the Hawks to the '57 Finals, then retired to stick to coaching and got them all the
way the next season.

1959 Celtics: Auerbach.

1960 Celtics: Auerbach.

1961 Celtics: Auerbach.

1962 Celtics: Auerbach.

1963 Celtics: Auerbach.

1964 Celtics: Auerbach.

1965 Celtics: Auerbach.

1966 Celtics: Auerbach.

1967 Philadelphia 76ers: Hannum.

1968 Celtics: Bill Russell. Player-coach, and still one of the top 10 players in the history of the game.

1969 Celtics: Russell.

1970 New York Knicks: William "Red" Holzman. An All-Star, played on the '51 Royal titlists.

1971 Milwaukee Bucks: Larry Costello. Good player in the 1950s and '60s.

1972 Los Angeles Lakers: Bill Sharman. One of the best shooters in NBA history while playing for Auerbach's Celtics, and along with John Wooden and Lenny Wilkens one of 3 men who has been elected to the Hall as both a player AND a coach -- no other sport does that. Having won the previous year's American Basketball Association title with the Utah Stars, Sharman is also the only man to coach an NBA Champion and an ABA Champion.

1973 Knicks: Holzman.

1974 Celtics: Tom Heinsohn. A really good player for Auerbach's Celtics.

1975 Golden State Warriors: Al Attles. A reserve player on the San Francisco Warriors' 1964 Western Division Champions, before they moved across the Bay to Oakland and became the Golden State Warriors.

1976 Celtics: Heinsohn.

1977 Portland Trail Blazers: Jack Ramsay. One of the greatest minds in basketball history -- he was the GM of the '67 76ers titlists -- he never played in college, let alone in the pros.

1978 Washington Bullets: Dick Motta. Never played in the pros, going straight from college into coaching.

1979 Seattle SuperSonics: Lenny Wilkens. Starred with the early Sonics and, before that, the St. Louis-era Hawks.

1980 Lakers: Paul Westhead. Never played pro ball.

1981 Celtics: Bill Fitch. Never played pro ball.

1982 Lakers: Pat Riley. A decent reserve player with the Lakers' 1972 champions, can't really call him mediocre. Like Phil Jackson, might've been a better player in the expansion-diluted NBA in which he's coached.

1983 76ers: Billy Cunningham. A HOF player, was the rookie 6th man on the '67 76ers, and starred in both the NBA and the ABA. The Sixers have never won an NBA Championship without him -- at least, not since '55 when they were the Nationals.

1984 Celtics: K.C. Jones. Hall of Fame player with Auerbach's Celtics.

1985 Lakers: Riley.

1986 Celtics: Jones.

1987 Lakers: Riley.

1988 Lakers: Riley.

1989 Detroit Pistons: Chuck Daly. Went into the Army after college, and went into coaching after his discharge, never playing pro ball.

1990 Pistons: Daly.

1991 Chicago Bulls: Phil Jackson. A decent reserve player with the Knicks' 1973 champions, he was injured for the entirety of the 1970 title season. Probably a better player than Riley.

1992 Bulls: Jackson.

1993 Bulls: Jackson.

1994 Houston Rockets: Rudy Tomjanovich. A very good player for the Rockets, a member of their 1981 team that reached the NBA Finals.

1995 Rockets: Tomjanovich.

1996 Bulls: Jackson.

1997 Bulls: Jackson.

1998 Bulls: Jackson.

1999 San Antonio Spurs: Gregg Popovich. Graduated from the Air Force Academy, and while he played there, he served his commitment rather than play pro ball -- ironic, considering he coached David Robinson, who was allowed to curtail his Navy commitment.

2000 Lakers: Jackson.

2001 Lakers: Jackson.

2002 Lakers: Jackson.

2003 Spurs: Popovich.

2004 Pistons: Larry Brown. A scandal got him banned from playing in the NBA, but he became a star in the ABA. The ban was lifted, allowing him to coach, and no human being, living or dead, male or female, scholastic, collegiate or professional, has coached more wins than Larry Brown.

2005 Spurs: Popovich.

2006 Miami Heat: Riley.

2007 Spurs: Popovich.

2008 Celtics: Glenn "Doc" Rivers. An All-Star with the Atlanta Hawks and the Knicks.

2009 Lakers: Jackson.

2010 Lakers: Jackson.

2011 Dallas Mavericks: Rick Carlisle. A reserve on the '86 Celtics, but not a good player.

*

Great players: 7
Good players: 29
Mediocre players: 27

So good NBA players have been better at coaching than in MLB and the NFL. But great ones? Take out player-coaches Jeannette and Russell, and the outlook for future greats is grim.

Magic Johnson wasn't much of a coach. Larry Bird was all right at it. Michael Jordan apparently doesn't have enough patience.

I wonder if LeBron James will ever go into coaching? It may be his best chance to win a ring.

My Way to Fix the BCS

2012-01-10T09:24:00.003-05:00

Last night, the University of Alabama beat Louisiana State University, 21-0, in the Superdome in New Orleans (essentially, LSU's home away from home) in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship Game.

This avenged 'Bama's loss to LSU in November, which cost them the Championship of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) West Division.

Now, give Alabama credit for taking the chance they were handed and definitively doing something with it.

But they didn't win their own division, let along their own league. They should never have gotten that chance,and I don't care that they only lost to LSU in overtime.

Under the old system, the one in place from 1936 to 1997...

* LSU, as SEC Champions, would have played in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, against an opponent not tied to one of the major bowls. As the bowl with the Number 1-ranked team, the Sugar Bowl would have had their pick of the next-best untied teams. Since that wouldn't have been Alabama (they would've been highly ranked, but not Number 2), it might have been Stanford, which only lost once but that loss cost them the Pac-12.

* Oklahoma State, as Champions of the league currently known as the Big 12, formerly the Big 8, would have played in the Orange Bowl in Miami. Okie State probably would've been ranked Number 2 under the old system, and probably would've played the next-highest-ranked non-champion, which could well have been Alabama.

* Wisconsin, as Big Ten Champions, and the University of Southern California, as Pacific Twelve (Pac-12) Champions, would have faced each other in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, outside Los Angeles.

* Arkansas, as the highest ranked team among those teams that used to belong to the Southwest Conference (SWC, R.I.P. 1912-1996), would have played in the Cotton Bowl, in Dallas. Possibly against Oregon, highly-ranked but losers in the Pac-12 title game.

Supporters of the BCS say that it's an improvement over what we have now. Often, that's true. But we've seen 2-loss teams win the National Championship under that system. We've seen teams that didn't reach their conference title game reach the National Championship Game -- and now we've seen one win it.

Presuming they won the Sugar Bowl, LSU would have been 13-0, the only major undefeated team, and unquestioned National Champions. But what if they'd lost? Presuming they won the Orange Bowl, Oklahoma State could say they're National Champions -- and, unlike LSU & 'Bama, it would have bene a first for them.

*

A few years ago, as part of their Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... series, ESPN said the biggest reason there's no playoff for college football's National Championship is the university presidents: They don't want one, because the bowl system means more money.

Well, I've got a system that will get a playoff and keep the bowls.

First, everybody goes into a league. Whether they like it or not. Notre Dame, you cowards, you don't want to go into a league and split the pie? That's fine -- but you would be ineligible for the National Championship. That means you'd go through an entire season, and win nothing. No league, no national title... you'd have to content yourself with beating Michigan and USC (maybe).

Then we settle everybody into 8 leagues. We can think about what they should be named, but the best way to do it for this demonstration (perhaps only for this demonstration) is to use the old names: The Big East, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the SEC, the SWC, the Big 10, the Big 8/12, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and the Pac-8/10/12.

Divide them all into 2 divisions. A team that wins its division is still eligible. Now we've gone from 120 (or whatever the number is now) to 16.

I don't care if you go 10-1 in the regular season, and win your games by an average score of 42-3: If that 1 loss costs you your division championship, you're out. I don't care if you go 0-4 in your non-conference games and finish the regular season 6-5: If you win your division, you're in. As Herman Edwards taught us, "You play to win the game!" If you win the games you've got to win, you're in.

Then the division champions play each other for the conference championships. We play these games on the 2nd Saturday in December, so that all the regular-season games are in, including such traditionally late games as USC-UCLA and Army-Navy. And now we're down to 8.

Now we step aside from the National Championship process, and we have the minor bowls, on the 3rd Saturday in December. See, they stay.

Now we have the quarterfinals. If the 4th Saturday in December turns out to be Christmas Day, they can be moved back to Friday, Christmas Eve. And we can have the (sort-of) traditional matchups (with the leagues' traditional names, rather than their current names, listed below):

* The Rose Bowl matchup of Big 10 vs. Pac-10, in the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena.

* The Orange Bowl's Big 8 vs., say, the Big East, at the Dolphins' stadium in the Miami suburbs.

* The Sugar Bowl's SEC vs., perhaps, the ACC, at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* And the Cotton Bowl's SWC vs. the WAC, at Cowboys Stadium in the Dallas suburbs.

What about the Fiesta Bowl, you ask? After 40 years, I suppose that's now a "traditional bowl." And it did crown a few National Champions in the pre-title game era. But I don't care how much the Fiesta has risen, or how much the Cotton has fallen: The Cotton is a traditional major bowl, the Fiesta is not.

Anyway, with these bowls-in-all-but-name that are actually Playoffs... now, we're down to 4.

Now it gets a little complicated, but fair. Now we can use BCS/AP/UPI rankings to set the traditional bowls, and have them on New Year's Day. This way, whatever prestige the bowls lose can be offset with the revenue of 2 big games at their sites. And teams that didn't make it to the semifinals can still play one more game, and win their season finale.

Then, on the first Saturday in January -- assuming it's not also New Year's Day, if so it can be moved -- we have the National Semifinals. Have the 2 easternmost teams play each other at a big stadium that's not a BCS team's home field. Possibly MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands. And have the 2 westernmost teams play each other at such a stadium as well. Maybe the Denver Broncos' new version of Mile High Stadium, whatever they're calling it this year.

And now, we're down to 2. The National Championship Game can be played on the 2nd Saturday in January, at a centrally-located facility. Soldier Field in Chicago. The Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. As long as it's not a potential home field for a participating team.

Might this result in 2-loss, 3-loss, 4-loss, or even 5-loss team winning the National Championship? Yes. But that team will have had to, starting in the conference title game, win 4 consecutive games, over a one-month period, against highly-ranked teams. They will have earned it.

The timing won't be bad, either. Last night's BCS National Championship Game was played on January 9. Under the system I'm describing above, it would have been played on January 14. Not that big a difference.

Too many games? Keeping an 11-game regular season, and going all the way, would be 15 games. But only the last 2 teams would play a 15th game. Perhaps the regular season can be shortened to 10 games, as it was until the mid-1970s. That way, given a conference title game and a bowl game, most of the good teams would still play 12 games.

This rewrite of the system would get rid of the BCS, keep the bowls, get a definitive National Champion, bring more prestige to the winners, and make everybody a hell of a lot of money.

It makes sense.

Making sense, of course, is not high on the list of priorities for any sports organization. Not even college football.

Do Mediocre Players Make the Best Coaches? MLB Edition

2012-01-09T13:56:00.009-05:00

What have the New York Football Giants proved this season? So far -- and the fact that we can still say "so far" about them proves something -- they have proven that actions speak louder than words.

What did the New York Jets prove this season? That talk is not always cheap.

*

On Saturday, I asked the question, "Do Mediocre Players Make the Best Coaches?" I suggested that they do.

Let's look at the managers who led teams to the Major League Baseball postseason in 2011.

New York Yankees: Joe Giardi. Decent defensive catcher, not much of a hitter.

Tampa Bay Rays: Joe Maddon. Never got above Class A ball as a player.

Detroit Tigers: Jim Leyland. Never got about Double-A as a player.

Texas Rangers: Ron Washington. Reserve infielder in the 1980s, once batted .294 for the Minnesota Twins, but was never considered good enough to get 500 plate appearances in a season.

Philadelphia Phillies: Charlie Manuel. Reserve outfielder, better known as Chuck Manuel when he played, which wasn't much. Did help the Twins win the 1969 and '70 AL West titles, though.

Milwaukee Brewers: Ron Roenicke. Reserve outfielder in the 1980s, not nearly as good as his brother Gary. Good manager, though.

St. Louis Cardinals: Tony LaRussa. Reserve infielder for the 1960s A's, only once had more than 53 plate appearances in a season.

Arizona Diamondbacks: Kirk Gibson. Easily the best player of these 8, although injuries kept him from approaching Hall of Fame status. One of the few players to win World Championships in both Leagues, and even fewer to homer in World Series games in both Leagues: 1984 Detroit Tigers and 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers.

So, for the moment, yes, 7 of the 8 were mediocre at best.

*

Historically? I'm going to start my count from 1936. Why? Because the 3 previous World Series winners each had player-managers: Bill Terry (1933 New York Giants), Frankie Frisch (1934 St. Louis Cardinals), Mickey Cochrane (1935 Detroit Tigers).

1936 New York Yankees: Joe McCarthy. Hall of Fame, Monument Park, one of only 2 managers to win 7 (or even 6) World Series. But never played in the majors, only getting to what we would know call Triple-A.

1937 Yankees: McCarthy.

1938 Yankees: McCarthy.

1939 Yankees: McCarthy.

1940 Cincinnati Reds: Bill McKechnie. Reserve infielder for a few teams in the 1910s, totally unremarkable, but in the Hall as a manager.

1941 Yankees: McCarthy.

1942 St. Louis Cardinals: Billy Southworth. Outfielder, led the NL in triples with the 1914 Pirates, played on Pennant winners with the 1924 Giants and the 1926 Cards. Lifetime batting average .297. Good player. But in the Hall as a manager.

1943 Yankees: McCarthy.

1944 Cardinals: Southworth.

1945 Detroit Tigers: Steve O'Neill. Good catcher, 3 times hit over .300, including with the 1920 World Champion Indians.

1946 Cardinals: Eddie Dyer. Journeyman pitcher, played on the Cards' 1926 title team but did not appear in the Series.

1947 Yankees: Stanley "Bucky" Harris. "Boy Manager" was 27 when, with himself as All-Star quality (no All-Star Game then) 2nd baseman, led 1924 Senators to Washington's only World Series win. In fact, only 3 Washington teams have ever won Pennants, and all with not just player-managers but "Boy Managers": Harris in '24 and '25, Joe Cronin in '33. Harris was a good player, but is in the Hall as a manager.

1948 Cleveland Indians: Lou Boudreau. The youngest permanent manager in MLB history (Roger Peckinpaugh was 23 when he managed the last 20 games for the 1914 Yanks), he was 24 when he took over in Cleveland, having replaced Cronin as the best shortstop in the AL (and preceding Phil Rizzuto as such). A genuine HOF player, was AL MVP in '48, but the stress of playing and managing allowed him only 1 more good year in either role.

1949 Yankees: Charles "Casey" Stengel. Outfielder for several teams before becoming the other manager besides McCarthy to win a 6th, and a 7th, World Series. Lifetime .284 hitter, not bad power for his era with 182 doubles and 89 triples. Had 3 .300+ seasons. Led NL in on-base percentage in 1914 with .404 (although he may not have been aware of it, as it wasn't a familiar stat then). Helped Dodgers win 1916 Pennant and Giants to Pennants in 1921, '22 and '23. Casey may have been the best manager ever, and while he wasn't a great player, he was no "mediocre player." The Ol' Perfesser could play. As the man himself would say, "And you can look it up."

1950 Yankees: Stengel.

1951 Yankees: Stengel.

1952 Yankees: Stengel.

1953 Yankees: Stengel.

1954 New York Giants: Leo Durocher. Shortstop for '34 Cardinals "Gashouse Gang," 3 times an All-Star for his fielding, not much of a hitter -- he was known as "the All-American Out" before the managerial career that got him the nickname "Leo the Lip" (or just "Lippy"). HOF, but as a manager.

1955 Brooklyn Dodgers: Walter Alston. HOF as a manager, but as a player had one at-bat, with the '36 Cardinals, and struck out.

1956 Yankees: Stengel.

1957 Milwaukee Braves: Fred Haney. Middle infielder batted .309 with 1924 Tigers, twice had seasons of at least 50 RBIs, but that was about it.

1958 Yankees: Stengel.

1959 Dodgers: Alston.

1960 Pittsburgh Pirates: Danny Murtaugh. Another middle infielder, led NL in stolen bases as a rookie with the 1941 Phillies. Had 2 .290+ seasons with postwar Pirates, but that was it. Can't call him mediocre, but was hardly great.

1961 Yankees: Ralph Houk. Yogi Berra's backup on a few Yankee Pennant winners.

1962 Yankees: Houk.

1963 Dodgers: Alston.

1964 Cardinals: Johnny Keane. Never played in the majors.

1965 Dodgers: Alston.

1966 Baltimore Orioles: Hank Bauer. All-Star right fielder with Stengel's Yankees.

1967 Cardinals: Albert "Red" Schoendienst. In the Hall as a manager, but a pretty good 2nd baseman, making 10 All-Star teams and twice finishing in top 4 of NL MVP balloting. Led NL in stolen bases in '45 (with 26, but never stole even half as many again), at-bats in '47, at-bats, doubles and sacrifice hits in '50, and hits with 200 in '57. Five times (nearly 6) batted over .300, topping at .342 in '53. Won Series with the '46 Cards and '57 Braves. I could call him a "great player" who won a World Series as a manager.

1968 Tigers: Mayo Smith. Outfielder played just 1 season in the majors, as a wartime placeholder with the '45 A's.

1969 New York Mets: Gil Hodges. Should be in the Hall as a player alone; if they could include his managing, he'd be in. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Hit 370 homers and was considered the best-fielding 1st baseman of his era. Helped Dodgers win 6 Pennants (5 in Brooklyn, 1 in L.A.) and 2 World Series (1 in each city, '55 and '59).

1970 Orioles: Earl Weaver. Never played in the majors.

1971 Pirates: Murtaugh.

1972 Oakland Athletics: Dick Williams. Utility player in '50s and '60s, had some good seasons.

1973 A's: Williams.

1974 A's: Alvin Dark. An All-Star with the Giants for his fielding, it wasn't his fault he was the 3rd-best shortstop in New York behind Phil Rizzuto and Pee Wee Reese (or vice versa).

1975 Cincinnati Reds: George "Sparky" Anderson. One season in the majors, as a weak shortstop with the '59 Phillies.

1976 Reds: Anderson.

1977 Yankees: Billy Martin. Scrappy 2nd baseman with '50s Yanks, good but not great... except in October where he seemed charmed.

1978 Yankees: Bob Lemon. Hall of Fame pitcher with '40s & '50s Indians.

1979 Pirates: Chuck Tanner. Decent left fielder in late '50s and early '60s, nothing
special.

1980 Philadelphia Phillies: Dallas Green. Relief pitcher for early '60s Phillies, nothing special, though the Phils' 1964 collapse was hardly his fault.

1981 Dodgers: Tommy Lasorda. Lefty pitcher in '50s for Dodgers & A's, lifetime record 0-4.

1982 Cardinals: Dorrel "Whitey" Herzog. Reserve outfielder, batted .291 in 112 games for '61 Orioles, but that was about it.

1983 Orioles: Joe Altobelli. Reached the majors, which is more than you can say for Weaver, but not much more can be said for this reserve outfielder.

1984 Tigers: Anderson.

1985 Kansas City Royals: Dick Howser. Was nearly named AL Rookie of the Year as a shortstop with the '61 A's, but it was for his fielding. Led AL in sacrifice hits with the '64 Indians, but by the time he joined the Yankees in '67 it was clear that, if he had a future in baseball, it was in coaching.

1986 Mets: Davey Johnson. A 2nd baseman (usually known as Dave Johnson while he played) who helped the Orioles win 4 Pennants and 2 World Series -- and connected the Mets' only 2 World Series wins thus far, making the final out in '69 and managing them in '86. With '73 Braves hit 43 homers with 99 RBIs, but while that was a freak year with the bat, he could hit a little, and won 3 Gold Gloves.

1987 Minnesota Twins: Tom Kelly. Outfielder who played 49 games for the '75 Twins.

1988 Dodgers: Lasorda.

1989 A's: LaRussa.

1990 Reds: Lou Piniella. Sweet Lou was a .291 career hitter, mostly with the Yankees I grew up watching. Another Yank who turned it up big-time in postseason play.

1991 Twins: Kelly.

1992 Toronto Blue Jays: Clarence "Cito" Gaston. An outfielder who iit .318 with the '70 Padres and .291 with the '76 Braves, but those were exceptions. Good, but hardly great.

1993 Jays: Gaston.

1994 No Series. You suck, Bud Selig.

1995 Atlanta Braves: Bobby Cox. Backup 3rd baseman with the '68 and '69 Yankeees.

1996 Yankees: Joe Torre. Maybe one step below Cooperstown as a player. A 9-time
All-Star, a Gold Glove catcher and the 1971 NL MVP, winning the batting title, leading the League with a .363 average, 230 hits and 137 RBIs.

1997 Florida Marlins: Leyland.

1998 Yankees: Torre.

1999 Yankees: Torre.

2000 Yankees: Torre.

2001 Arizona Diamondbacks: Bob Brenly. A good catcher with the Giants, an All-Star in 1984.

2002 Anaheim Angels: Mike Scioscia. A solid catcher for the Dodgers, twice an All-Star and twice a World Champion.

2003 Marlins: Jack McKeon. Never played in the majors.

2004 Boston Red Sox: Terry Francona. Utility player in the '80s, not bad but hardly noteworthy.

2005 Chicago White Sox: Ozzie Guillen. Very good shortstop with the '80s and early '90s White Sox.

2006 Cardinals: LaRussa.

2007 Red Sox: Francona.

2008 Phillies: Manuel.

2009 Yankees: Girardi.

2010 Giants: Bruce Bochy. Backup catcher, but did help both the '80 Astros and the '84 Padres reach the postseason.

2011 Cardinals: LaRussa.

*

Now, keeping in mind that never making it to the majors automatically qualifies them as "mediocre players" -- even if they might have made it but an injury cut short their career...

Great players: 9
Good players: 25
Mediocre players: 40

Aside from Torre, the last "great player" to manage a World Champion was Bob Lemon in 1978. The last non-Yankee manager to do so? Gil Hodges, 42 seasons ago.

Do Mediocre Players Make the Best Coaches? NFL Edition

2012-01-07T18:35:00.008-05:00

I just got a look at the NFL Playoff game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Houston Texans. At this writing, it's the 3rd quarter, and the Texans lead, 17-10.

This was the 44th season for the Bengals, and only the 10th time they've made the Playoffs. This was the 10th season for the Texans, and the 1st time they've made it, having also won their first AFC South Division Championship. The last time a Houston team made the NFL Playoffs was the 1993 Houston Oilers, now the Tennessee Titans, 18 seasons ago.

The Bengals are coached by Marvin Lewis, who never played in the NFL. The Texans are coached by Gary Kubiak, best known as John Elway's backup on the Denver Bronco teams that won 3 AFC titles but no Super Bowls.

Like a lot of athletes who were good enough to make it to the major league level of their sport, but not good enough to excel at it, they put their love and knowledge of the game to work in coaching. Kubiak became a respecting quarterbacking coach and offensive coordinator before getting the Texans head job.

Lewis, undrafted out of Idaho State, returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach, and worked his way into the pros, becoming the defensive coordinator that built the Baltimore Ravens defense that led them to the 2000 NFL Championship and Super Bowl XXXV -- holding the Giants to 7 points, and those on a kickoff return, making them the only team with no "offensive points" in a Super Bowl. (Of course, by definition, all points are scored by the offense, even if you pick up a fumble or intercept a pass, at that moment, even if you're a 300-pound defensive end, your side becomes the offense.) While it's not the lowest point total ever in a Super Bowl -- in SB VI, in 1972, the Dallas Cowboys held the Miami Dolphins to a field goal -- it is the lowest point total in an NFL championship game, under any name, since the Cleveland Browns shut out the Baltimore Colts in 1964.

*

What about the other teams in the NFL Playoffs?

Giants: Tom Coughlin won Super Bowl XLII, and got the Jacksonville Jaguars to the AFC Championship Game in only the franchise's 2nd season. But while he set Syracuse University's pass-reception record on a team that had Larry Csonka and Floyd Little in its backfield, he went undrafted by the NFL. He coached at Syracuse, and made his name as Boston College's quarterbacks coach, turning a 5-foot-9-and-3/4 kid named Doug Flutie into a Heisman Trophy winner. He coached with Philadelphia and Green Bay before joining Bill Parcells' Giant staff, then became BC's head man before coaching the Jags and the Giants.

New England Patriots: Bill Belichick has won 3 Super Bowls -- perhaps by cheating -- but as a player, went right from college to working for a pro coach, Ted Marchibroda of the Baltimore Colts, and began his coaching rise that way, including coaching on Parcells' staff, along with Coughlin and some other names that became head coaches. I don't know what Coughlin learned from watching Belichick, but Belichick's been a head man in 4 Super Bowls, all of them close, and Coughlin's Giants are the only one to beat him.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike Tomlin, like Coughlin, set receiving records at his school, William & Mary, but went undrafted. He coached under Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and when Bill Cowher left the Steelers they hired Tomlin, who has now led them to 2 AFC titles and a Super Bowl win.

New Orleans Saints: Sean Payton was one of the 1987 strikebreakers, playing 3 games for Chicago's "Spare Bears." Like Fox, he was on Jim Fassel's staff for the 2000 NFC Champion Giants, and led the Saints to their first Super Bowl appearance and win.

Green Bay Packers: Mike McCarthy went to Baker University, an NAIA school in Kansas -- there's the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A), there's the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA_, there's NCAA Division II, there's NCAA Division III... and then there's the NAIA. But McCarthy made his way to the nearby Kansas City Chiefs, where he was on a staff that got them to the 1993-94 AFC Championship Game, the closest the franchise has gotten to the Super Bowl since 1969-70. Maybe some of the Chiefs' veteran quarterback, Joe Montana, rubbed off on him. He became a well-regarded quarterbacks coach and then offensive coordinator before getting the Pack head job, and in the past 2 seasons has led them to a Super Bowl win and a 15-1 season which makes them the favorites to do it again.

Denver Broncos: Jon Fox played at San Diego State, where he was a teammate of Herman "You play to win the game!" Edwards, but went undrafted. Prior to his current job, his jobs including defensive coordinator for the Giants under Jim Fassel and the head job with the Carolina Panthers, whom he led to the 2003 NFC Championship before losing Super Bowl XXXVIII to Belichick's Pats.

Atlanta Falcons: Mike Smith was the defensive MVP at East Tennessee State University, but 1 year in Canada was the limit of his pro playing experience. Like Marvin Lewis, he was on Brian Billick's Ravens staff before being hired in Atlanta. He has taken a franchise that was a horror show after the Michael Vick fiasco and turned it into a very respectable unit again.

San Francisco 49ers: Jim Harbaugh is almost an exception to what I'm suggesting is a rule. The son of Jack Harbaugh, an assistant coach to Bo Schembechler at the University of Michigan, he became Michigan's quarterback, got the Bears into the Playoffs a couple of times, and got the Indianapolis Colts to the 1995 AFC Championship Game. He was a member of the Oakland Raiders staff that won the 2002 AFC Championship, then was named head coach at the University of San Diego and Stanford University before being named Niners head man earlier this year. He seems to have singlehandedly turned Alex Smith from one of the biggest first-pick-in-the-draft busts ever into a Playoff quarterback.

Baltimore Ravens: Jim's older brother John Harbaugh never played in the NFL, having been a defensive back at Miami University of Ohio. The brothers' father, Jack Harbaugh, was an assistant to University of Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, who had played at Miami and recommended John to the school. He spent 10 years on Andy Reid's Philadelphia Eagles staff before getting the Ravens job.

Detroit Lions: Jim Schwartz played at Georgetown University, the Washington, D.C.-based school far better known for its basketball team. He was a Titans assistant under Jeff Fisher and helped them win the 1999 AFC Title and make more Playoff appearances in the 2000s. After the Lions bottomed out with their 2008 0-16 season, he was brought in, and has made them a Playoff team in just 3 years. Considering that this is his first head job, and what he had to work with at the start, this may be the most amazing NFL coaching job in a long time.

*

"Okay, Mike," I can hear you say, "this theory of yours makes sense for the moment. But is it historically true?"

Let's see. First, let's start counting from 1933 onward. Why? Two reasons: First, it was the first season in which there was an official NFL Championship Game; second, we're now getting out of the era of player-coaches, men who were playing and coaching at the same time.

1933 Chicago Bears: George Halas. Good player, not a great one. In the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach and owner, much more than as a player.

1934 New York Giants: Steve Owen. Good player, not a great one. In the Hall of Fame as a coach, not a player.

1935 Detroit Lions: George "Potsy" Clark. I can't find much information about his playing career, which suggests he was, at best, ordinary.

1936 Green Bay Packers: Earl "Curly" Lambeau. Good player, not a great one. In the Hall of Fame as a coach, not a player.

1937 Washington Redskins: Ray Flaherty. An exceptional player, helping the Giants win the 1927 NFL Championship (in the pre-title game era). His Number 1 is, by some sources, the first uniform number to be retired by any team in any sport. In the Hall as a player.

1938 Giants: Owen.

1939 Packers: Lambeau.

1940 Bears: Halas.

1941 Bears: Halas.

1942 Redskins: Flaherty.

1943 Bears: Heartley "Hunk" Anderson, a former Notre Dame star, and Luke Johnsos (not "Johnson") were co-head coaches while Halas was a Navy officer during World War II. Although Anderson was a very good collegiate player, neither had starred in the NFL.

1944 Packers: Lambeau.

1945 Cleveland Rams: Adam Walsh. Not to be confused with the boy of the same name, whose kidnapping and murder inspired his father John Walsh to start the TV show America's Most Wanted, this Adam Walsh was one of the linemen known as the "Seven Mules," blocking for the "Four Horsemen," that helped Notre Dame win the 1924 National Championship. But he never played in the pros -- although by the standards of the time he would have been considered an excellent prospect. Despite winning the title, the Rams did not draw well in Cleveland, and became the only team in North American major league sports history to win a "world championship" and then move for the next season, to Los Angeles.

1946 Bears: Halas.

1947 Chicago Cardinals: Jimmy Conzelman was one of the NFL's first stars, and was player-coach of the 1928 NFL Champions, the Providence Steam Roller. (Officially, the name had no S on the end -- why, I don't know. But most people just called them the Steam Rollers, anyway, and some surviving artifacts of the team such as banners and game programs have the S on the end. The franchise went bust in 1933 due to the Depression.) Conzelman is in the Hall of Fame, mainly as a player.

1948 Philadelphia Eagles: Earle "Greasy" Neale was a very good baseball player, the starting right fielder for the 1919 Cincinnati Reds. He played both Major League Baseball and pro football with Jim Thorpe (albeit in the pre-NFL era). As a football player, he wasn't as good as he was at baseball.

1949 Eagles: Neale.

1950 Cleveland Browns: Paul Brown was one of the greatest minds the game of football has ever produced, but he never played in the pros.

1951 Los Angeles Rams: Joe Stydahar played on Halas' 1940 "Monsters of the Midway" and is legitimately in the Hall as a player.

1952 Detroit Lions: Raymond "Buddy" Parker played on the Lions' 1935 title team, but wasn't a great player.

1953 Lions: Parker.

1954 Browns: Brown.

1955 Browns: Brown.

1956 Giants: Jim Lee Howell played 10 years for the Giants and was a member of their 1938 title team, but was not particularly noteworthy as a player. As a head coach, he's remembered less for leading the Giants to this title than for his assistants: Offensive coordinator Vince Lombardi and defensive coordinator Tom Landry.

1957 Lions: George Wilson played for Halas' 1940 Bears, like Stydahar; unlike Stydahar, he was an unremarkable player. But he did lead the Lions to what, for the moment, remains their last title, after Parker quit in a huff in the preceding off-season. Wilson was also the first head coach of the Dolphins. He should not be confused with George "Wildcat" Wilson who in the 1920s starred at the University of Washington and then played under Conzelman on the 1928 Champion Steam Roller. Oddly, I know a pair of brothers named George and Merle Wilson -- but Merle is the Dolphin fan, while that George likes the Redskins.

1958 Baltimore Colts: Wilbur "Weeb" Ewbank is the only man to be head coach of both an NFL Champion and an AFL Champion, the 1968-69 Jets. But he never played pro ball.

1959 Colts: Ewbank.

1960 Philadelphia Eagles: Lawrence "Buck" Shaw was a teammate of Hunk Anderson on Knute Rockne's 1920 Notre Dame team that won the National Championship, but he never played pro ball.

1961 Packers: Vince Lombardi was a member of the "Seven Blocks of Granite" team that made Fordham University a formidable side in the late 1930s, but he never played in the pros.

1962 Packers: Lombardi.

1963 Bears: Halas.

1964 Browns: Blanton Collier is the most recent man to lead a Northern Ohio-based team to a World Championship, but he never played pro ball.

1965 Packers: Lombardi.

1966 Packers: Lombardi.

1967 Packers: Lombardi.

1968 New York Jets: Ewbank.

1969 Kansas City Chiefs: Hank Stram was an exceptional all-around athlete in high school, but World War II interrupted his college days and he went right into coaching in peacetime.

1970 Baltimore Colts: Don McCafferty played only 1 season of pro ball.

1971 Dallas Cowboys: Tom Landry was a very good player, a 2-way star for the University of Texas in the late 1940s, with Bobby Layne of the 1950s Lions as his quarterback. When the NFL went 2-platoon in the early '50s, he was the first player to make his mark as purely a defensive back. He became one of the great defensive minds in the game's history, building the unit that became the first one to lead fans to chant "De-FENSE!" as the Giants won the 1956 NFL Championship. He became the Cowboys' first head coach in 1960 and was their only one until 1988. He's in the Hall as a coach, but could have been elected as a player.

1972 Miami Dolphins: Don Shula was a good defensive back for the Colts, but not a great one.

1973 Dolphins: Shula.

1974 Pittsburgh Steelers: Chuck Noll was a very good 2-way lineman for Paul Brown's Cleveland Browns, but not a great one.

1975 Steelers: Noll.

1976 Oakland Raiders: John Madden was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1959, but wrecked his knee in training camp and never played a pro down. But that worked out wonderfully for him because Eagle quarterback Norm Van Brocklin was studying game film in the locker room and called him over, and taught Madden how to analyze game film. Madden couldn't play on the Eagles' 1960 NFL Champions, but he became an assistant in the AFL with the San Diego Chargers and then the Raiders, and was one of the few coaches in the era before the 16-game schedule to win 100 regular-season games in 10 years.

1977 Cowboys: Landry.

1978 Steelers: Noll.

1979 Steelers: Noll.

1980 Oakland Raiders: Tom Flores was the first-ever starting quarterback for the Raiders, but was an ordinary player, unlike later Raider signal-callers Daryle Lamonica, George Blanda, Ken Stabler, Jim Plunkett, Jay Schroeder and Rich Gannon.

1981 San Francisco 49ers: Although Bill Walsh he played football and boxed at San Jose State University, and served as a worthy assistant to Paul Brown with the original Cincinnati Bengals, he never played a down in the pros.

1982 Washington Redskins: Joe Gibbs went right into coaching after graduating from San Diego State, and never played a down in the pros.

1983 Los Angeles Raiders: Flores.

1984 49ers: Walsh.

1985 Chicago Bears: Mike Ditka is in the Hall as a player, and justifiably so, as he was the first offensive end to be a modern tight end, and helped Halas win his last title with the 1963 Bears and Landry his first with the 1971 Cowboys.

1986 Giants: Bill Parcells was drafted by the Detroit Lions but cut before the season started, and never played in the NFL.

1987 Redskins: Gibbs.

1988 49ers: Walsh.

1989 49ers: George Seifert never played in the pros.

1990 Giants: Parcells.

1991 Redskins: Gibbs.

1992 Cowboys: Jimmy Johnson played for the University of Arkansas' 1964 team that won a split National Championship, but never played in the pros. He made his name coaching at Oklahoma State and the University of Miami (the one in Florida, not the one in Ohio). His college teammate, Jerry Jones, bought the Cowboys, fired Landry, and hired Johnson, enabling him to become the first man to be head coach of both a college National Champion and a Super Bowl winner. But Jones drove Johnson nuts (not a long drive), Johnson quit, and Jones hired legendary University of Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, who preceded them both as an Arkansas player, and then became the second such coach.

1993 Cowboys: Johnson.

1994 49ers: Seifert.

1995 Cowboys: Barry Switzer played at Arkansas, but went right into the U.S. Army and then into coaching after his discharge.

1996 Packers: Mike Holmgren has been called the best high school quarterback the City of San Francisco has ever produced -- hard to imagine, considering how fat he was by the time he became an NFL head coach -- and was a backup on the 1967 University of Southern California team that won a National Championship, thanks to another San Franciscan, O.J. Simpson. Holmgren was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals, but washed out with both them and the Jets before the season began, and never played in the pros.

1997 Denver Broncos: Mike Shanahan was a quarterback at Eastern Illinois University, but a freak injury in practice ruptured a kidney, nearly killing him and ending his chances at a pro career. He was 2-0 in Super Bowls with the Broncos, the 2nd win coming at the expense of the Atlanta Falcons, coached by Dan Reeves -- who had a good pro career with Landry's Cowboys, first as a running back (SB VI) and then as an assistant coach (SB XII -- same with Ditka), but was 0-3 in Super Bowls as Bronco head man.

1998 Broncos: Shanahan.

1999 St. Louis Rams: Dick Vermeil was a backup quarterback at San Jose State, and never had a chance to play pro ball. But he's been named a Coach of the Year in high school, junior college, Division I-A (leading UCLA to win a Pacific Eight title and a Rose Bowl) and the NFL, getting the Eagles to their first Championship Game appearance in 20 years (losing Super Bowl XV) and getting the Rams to their first World Championship in 49 years (winning Super Bowl XXXIV).

2000 Baltimore Ravens: Brian Billick was drafted by the 49ers but was cut by them and the Cowboys and never played pro ball.

2001 New England Patriots: Belichick, as I said, never played pro ball.

2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jon Gruden was a backup quarterback at Ohio's University of Dayton and never had much of a chance to play in the NFL.

2003 Patriots: Belichick.

2004 Patriots: Belichick.

2005 Steelers: Bill Cowher ends a 20-year run of Super Bowl-winning coaches who never played so much as a single down in the NFL. A linebacker, he wasn't a great player, but he did help the Browns' "Kardiac Kids" dethrone their arch-rivals, the Steelers, as AFC Central Division Champions in 1980.

2006 Indianapolis Colts: Tony Dungy was a defensive back who didn't play long in the NFL, but did get a ring with the 1978 Steelers. He then became a boy-wonder coach, serving under Noll on the Steelers, Marty Schottenheimer on the Chiefs and Dennis Green on the Minnesota Vikings before getting the Bucs' job. Fired right before they could take the last step, he was quickly hired by the Colts, and led them to their first title since moving from Baltimore.

2007 Giants: Coughlin, as I said, never played pro ball.

2008 Steelers: Tomlin, as I said, never played pro ball.

2009 Saints: Payton, as I said, was a strikebreaker, but otherwise never played pro ball.

2010 Packers: McCarthy, as I said, never played pro ball.

2011 To Be Determined.

*

So, counting multiple winners multiple times, counting the 1943 Anderson/Johnsos entry as one player, and counting coaches who didn't play pro ball at all as "mediocre players":

Great players: 7
Good players: 20
Mediocre players: 50

Being charitable, the only "great players" to have become title-winning NFL coaches in the last 60 years are Tom Landry and his former player and assistant Mike Ditka. Being more specific, the only Hall of Fame player to have become a title-winning NFL coach in the last 60 years is Ditka.

Consider some of the Hall of Fame players who have become NFL head coaches from 1951 onward: Sammy Baugh, Tom Fears, Norm Van Brocklin, Otto Graham, Joe Schmidt, Bart Starr, Mike Singletary. But since Stydahar coached the ’51 Rams to the title, the only other HOF players to be head coaches of teams that even got into the NFL Championship Game (1952-65) or the Super Bowl (1966 season through 2010) is Forrest Gregg, who played on Lombardi’s 5 Packer titles and Landry’s 1st Cowboy title. (So did Herb Adderley, who’s never been an NFL head coach. He and Gregg are the only NFL players to have played on 6 title-winning teams.)

I'm not the only person to think about this idea. It's long been suggested that great players, when they become coaches, get frustrated with players under them who aren't as good as they were, and even more so with players who are good but don't put up the kind of effort the coach once did.

I'll look at the other major sports in subsequent entries.

Oh, and it's a final from Reliant Stadium in Houston: Texans 31, Bengals 10. This is the first time since December 29, 1991 -- 19 years and 9 days -- since a Houston team has won an NFL Playoff game. That time? At the Astrodome, the Oilers won 17-10 over... the Jets.

The FA Cup, and Few Other Things Off My Mind

2012-01-06T10:14:00.008-05:00

The Yankees couldn't reach an agreement with Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima.

My father, a nominal Met fan (translation: He prefers them to the Yankees but he doesn't get worked up about them or any other baseball team -- no, I'm not adopted) says the problem is that they didn't speak the same language.

Yes they do: Money.

Why were the Yankees going after this guy in the first place? They HAVE a shortstop.

And if he can't play, there's Eduardo Nunez... Okay, maybe they do need a backup.

*

Timothy Dolan, the St. Louis native who is now the Archbishop of New York, has been promoted by the Pope.

Have I telegraphed this punchline or what?

This makes him a St. Louis Cardinal.

*

Do you remember this trick question: "Who are the 2 former Cardinals in Monument Park in Yankee Stadium?" Popes Paul VI and John Paul II.

Of course, Miller Huggins and Roger Maris both played for the St. Louis Cardinals. Now, with the additional Mass by Benedict XVI shortly before the old Stadium closed, there are 3 "former Cardinals in Monument Park." So my response to the old joke doesn't work anymore.

At least, until Joe Torre gets his Plaque.

*

The other night, West Virginia beat Clemson in the Orange Bowl, 70-33.

WVU was ranked Number 23, Clemson Number 14.

Imagine that: You're ranked 14th in the nation, you're higher-ranked than your opponent, you're a lot closer to the game site than you opponent, and you scored 33 points... and it wasn't even half enough!

Clemson deserved to get 70 hung on them. Not that I have anything against them, or (being a Rutgers fan) particularly support West Virginia. But those Clemson uniforms were hideous. I know, it's called the Orange Bowl, but did their uniforms have to be THAT orange?

*

Thierry Henry is back at Arsenal, on a 2-month loan from the New York Red Bulls.

Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 226 goals, King Henry will be available for Monday's Football Association Cup 3rd Round match against Leeds United.

Henry was born August 17, 1977, the day after Elvis Presley died. King Elvis goes out, King Henry comes in. You can't make this stuff up. (Henry's former Arsenal and France teammate William Gallas was born the same exact day.)

*

Ah, the FA Cup. I love the FA Cup. It's England's version of March Madness, except it's all season long, concurrent with the regular season. It starts in August with preliminary rounds, with 763 eligible teams in England and Wales, narrowing it down to 256 in a 1st Round Proper in November.

The 92 teams in the Football League, including the 20-team Premier League as the top division, get byes into the 2nd Round in December. And the Premier League teams get byes into the 3rd Round, always held on the 1st Saturday in January, unless that happens to be New Year's Day, in which case it gets pushed back a week.

After that 3rd Round pares the teams from 64 down to 32, a 4th Round is held in late January, a 5th in February, and the Quarterfinals in March. To this point, teams always wanted a home draw -- not so much for the home-field advantage, but for the additional revenue.

Historically, the Semifinals were always held at neutral sites, usually near both clubs if both were from the same area, or roughly between them if they were far apart. More recently, since the 2007 opening of the new Wembley Stadium in London, the Semis have been played there on the 3rd Saturday and Sunday in April. The Final is held there on a Saturday in May.

From its founding in 1872 until 1922, the FA Cup Final was usually held at a large stadium in London such as the Kennington Oval (which has been rebuilt as a cricket ground) or the Crystal Palace stadium (since demolished and had no connection to the Crystal Palace team located in South London). In 1923, the original Wembley Stadium opened, and hosted the Final until it closed in 2000, nearly always filled to its 100,000-seat capacity. While it, with its iconic Twin Towers (built half a century before the World Trade Center, though far shorter) and large overhanging roof were demolished and the new 90,000-seat Wembley was built (with its big white arch and no running track, bringing the seats far closer to the pitch than the original), the Final was held at the next-biggest stadium in Britain, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

Arsenal have won the FA Cup Final 10 times. Only Manchester United have won it more, 11. Here are Arsenal's wins:

1930 over Huddersfield Town (Arsenal's 1st major trophy)
1936 over Sheffield United
1950 over Liverpool
1971 over Liverpool again (Charlie George's goal and lie-on-the-ground celebration, with Arsenal having won the League, clinches "The Double")
1979 over Manchester United ("the Five Minute Final," Arsenal blew a 2-0 lead in the last 5 minutes, but Alan Sunderland's goal won it "at the death")
1993 over Sheffield Wednesday (also beat Wednesday in the League Cup Final, the first "Cup Double" in English history)
1998 over Newcastle United (doing a 2nd Double)
2002 over Chelsea (also a London club, Arsenal completed a 3rd Double the next week)
2003 over Southampton
2005 over Manchester United (on penalties -- for the moment, Arsenal's last trophy)

And lost it 5 times:

1927 to Cardiff City (the only non-English club ever to make the Final, let alone win it, with Arsenal goalie Dan Lewis presaging Bill Buckner by nearly 60 years)
1932 to Newcastle United
1952 to Newcastle again
1972 to Leeds United, the Centennial Cup Final
2001 to Liverpool

Hopefully, Arsenal will be able to eliminate Leeds, as they did last season, and go on to win the thing.

Andy Carey, 1931-2011; Don Mueller, 1927-2011

2012-01-04T19:44:00.006-05:00

My thanks to David Lippman for informing me of the death of Andy Carey this past December 15 -- I didn't know until tonight.

I was at Old-Timers' Day in 1991, and saw him taking pictures with an old-style 35mm camera. But the last few times I'd seen him, he was in a wheelchair and looked pretty bad.

That was not the case for most of his career. Born on October 18, 1931 -- 2 days before his teammate Mickey Mantle -- in Oakland, California, he was one in a long line of Yankees from the San Francisco Bay Area that stretched back to Tony Lazzeri in 1926, included the great Joe DiMaggio, and continues to CC Sabathia today.

He had "cups of coffee" with the Yankees in 1952 and '53, succeeded Gil McDougald as the starting 3rd baseman in '54 (Gil was moved to shortstop as Yank management cruelly forced out Phil Rizzuto), '55 and '56, was hurt for much of '57, was the starter again in '58, then gave way to Tony Kubek in '59 and was traded in '60 -- and if you're familiar with the late Fifties Yankees, you can probably guess to which team he was traded: The Kansas City Athletics.

He hung on for another couple of years, going to the Chicago White Sox in mid-'61 and finishing with the Los Angeles Dodgers in '62, playing his last major league game at age 30. He never played in the minors after that, and I can find no explanation as to why.

Carey, who wore Number 6 for most of his time with the Yankees, played in 4 straight World Series, 1955 through '58, winning rings in '56 and '58. He is best known for a game in which he made one great play and couldn't make another. In Game 5 of the '56 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, in the top of the 2nd inning, Jackie Robinson hit a line shot off his glove. Fortunately for the Yankees, it caromed over to McDougald at short, and his throw nipped Robinson oh-so-slightly. (The photo proves the umpire got the call right.) In the top of the 8th, he snared a Gil Hodges liner to further preserve what became Don Larsen's perfect game, still the only no-hitter in World Series history -- and the only postseason no-hitter pitched later than Game 1 of a Division Series. (Thanks for messing up a great distinction, Roy Halladay.)

Oh yeah: Unlike any of the Dodgers, Carey got a hit that day, a single in the bottom of the 6th, and he scored on a Hank Bauer single, combining with Mantle's 4th-inning homer to make the score Yankees 2, Dodgers 0, which remained the final.

Interestingly, when the A's traded him to the White Sox in mid-1961, one of the players they traded with him was Larsen. The A's got some good players, too, outfielder Wes Covington and pitchers Bob Shaw and Gerry Staley. When the Yankees sent him to the A's in the first place, it was one of the many Yanks/A's transactions involving Bob Cerv, who seemed to be the "special relationship" between the teams in a nutshell.

Statistically, Carey's best season was 1958: He batted .286, hit 12 homers with 45 RBIs and an OPS+ of 136 -- not bad at all for a righthanded hitter with only 365 plate appearances in the pre-renovation original Yankee Stadium.

With Carey's death, the only 2 men who played in the perfect game, 55 years and 3 months later, are Larsen and Yogi Berra. None of the Dodgers who got into the game are still alive. Still living but not playing in the game are: Yankees Cerv, Whitey Ford, Jerry Coleman, Johnny Kucks, Norm Siebern, Bob Turley and George Wilson; and Dodgers Don Zimmer, Don Newcombe, Carl Erskine, Roger Craig, Randy Jackson (not the Jackson 5 singer or the American Idol panelist) and Ed Roebuck.

*

Also dying in the, well, dying days of 2011 was Don Mueller. Born in 1927 in St. Louis, he played for the New York Giants from 1948 to 1957, and was the starting right fielder on their 1951 National League Champions and their 1954 World Champions. Known as "Mandrake the Magician" after a comic-strip character, he was a career .296 hitter, 3 times batting over .300, peaking at .342 in the Jints' '54 title season, leading the NL with 212 hits.

Unfortunately, he's best known not for his great World Championship season or for his magical nickname, but for an injury. In the bottom of the 9th of the Bobby Thomson Game (you know: "The Giants win the Pennant!"), he singled, then was knocked over to 3rd by Whitey Lockman (1926-2009), but broke his ankle sliding into the base, and had to leave the game. Clint Hartung pinch-ran for him and scored when Thomson hit the homer.

His father, Walter Mueller, played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1920s. Until the 1980s and the arrivals of Cal Ripken Jr., Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds, most of the father-son combinations in Major League Baseball had the fathers as the more successful half. The Muellers turned out to be an exception, although Walter did hit a home run in his first major league at-bat. Unfortunately, he spent the Pirates' entire 1925 World Championship season in the minors and was gone from the majors for good before they won the 1927 Pennant.

With Mueller's death, the survivors from that game, now over 60 years ago, are: Giants Willie Mays, Monte Irvin and Alvin Dark; and Dodgers Ralph Branca, Don Newcombe and Andy Pafko. Just 6 left. Giant pitcher George Spencer did not appear in the game, but was on their roster and is also still alive; so are Dodger reserves Carl Erskine, Rocky Bridges, Tommy Brown and Wayne Terwilliger.

Just in the last three years, the following players from that day have died: Giants Mueller, Thomson, Lockman, Hartung, Larry Jansen, Davey Williams, Jack Lohrke and Artie Wilson; and Dodgers Duke Snider, Preacher Roe, Gene Hermanski, Don Thompson, Clyde King, future legendary manager Dick Williams, and Johnny Schmitz, who I (when I covered this game on its October 3, 2011 60th Anniversary) had as still alive, not knowing he'd died 2 days before.

Moneyball's Failure Reaching Catastrophic Proportions

2012-01-04T09:57:00.003-05:00

R.I.P., 1968-2014?

In October, I did a piece titled "Moneyball Failed." It mentioned the weak gross the movie of the same title was getting, but the point was that the philosophy of "Moneyball" failed. To wit:

Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane is called a genius because he uses this philosophy he calls "Moneyball" to win.

But since getting the job in 1998, he has only won Division Titles, in the American League West in 2000, '02, '03 and '06, and the AL Wild Card in 2001. He has never won a Pennant, much less a World Series.

He has failed miserably in October. In 2000, the A's won Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Yankees, and had the deciding Game 5 at home, and they lost.

In 2001, the A's beat the Yankees in Games 1 and 2 at the original Yankee Stadium, with the next 2 at the Oakland Coliseum (or whatever corporate name the Mausoleum had at the time). And the Yankees won the next 3 straight.

In 2002, the A's had the best record in baseball (well, tied with the Yankees, at 103 wins), and didn't have to face the Yankees in the ALDS. They led the Minnesota Twins 2 games to 1 and, if a Game 5 was necessary, it would be at home... and they lost.

In 2003, the A's again avoided the Yankees in the ALDS, facing the Boston Red Sox with the first 2 games at home, and won them both. Even if they dropped the 2 at Fenway Park, they'd still have Game 5 at home. And they lost all 3.

In 2006, the A's finally won a postseason series for the first time since 1990 and got into an AL Championship Series for the first time since 1992 (at which point the Division Series hadn't yet been instituted), and got swept by the Detroit Tigers.

Since then, the A's haven't reached the Playoffs in 5 years -- presumably using the same "Moneyball" philosophy.

Over that same stretch, such "small-market" teams as the Phoenix-based Arizona Diamondbacks, the South Florida-based Florida (now renamed "Miami") Marlins, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Houston Astros, the Detroit Tigers, the Denver-based Colorado Rockies, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Dallas-area-based Texas Rangers have won Pennants.

The New York Mets, the Chicago White Sox and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have proven that you can be the 2nd-most popular team in a market and still win a Pennant.

Over the course of his tenure as A's GM, Beane has refused to pay to keep his talent, thus winning a Pennant for the Yankees (Jason Giambi), a World Series for the Yankees (Nick Swisher), a World Series for the Cardinals (Mark Mulder), and a World Series for the cross-Bay Giants (Barry Zito -- okay, he's gone just 43-61 with a 93 ERA+ for the Giants and wasn't on the 2010 postseason roster, but he was there).

And the A's stadium situation is bleak. The Oakland Coliseum, especially since its reworking to bring the NFL's Raiders back from Los Angeles, is woefully inadequate. The team has tried to get a new stadium built in Oakland, both at the Coliseum complex site and downtown. They've tried in neighboring Fremont. (Not that surprising: The previous team in Oakland, the Oaks of the Pacific Coast League, played not in Oakland but in neighboring Emeryville.) And now they're trying to get a stadium built in San Jose, as the Giants once tried -- only, in this case, the Giants, who have their Class A California League team in San Jose, are refusing to waive their territorial rights to the city, thus standing in the way of the A's leaving the East Bay to the Raiders and the NBA's Golden State Warriors and sharing the South Bay with the NHL's San Jose Sharks.

With several other cities interested in getting teams -- including such geographically convenient (they'd be able to stay in the AL West) cities as Sacramento, Portland, Vancouver, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City -- the A's are in considerable danger of being lost to some other metro area.

I said then, and I repeat it now: Billy Beane is not only NOT a genius, he is a coward. He should have gone to the A's ownership group and said, "I need more money to build a Pennant winner. If you won't let me spend it, I'll quit, and I can name my price because everybody thinks I'm a genius." If they called his bluff, he could have become the new GM at any number of clubs, and proved that he wasn't bluffing after all.

Instead of working out a solution -- for himself, if not for the A's -- Beane became part of the problem: He now has an ownership stake in the A's, meaning it's now, at least in part, his own money that he won't spend.

*

When I posted this information in its original form this past October, I was ripped for saying that Moneyball was NOT an effective strategy for the A's. I got about as many unkind comments as I got when I said Joe Paterno was a disgrace -- 2 years before the Jerry Sandusky scandal came out.

The facts convict Beane, and mark the commenters out as the truly ignorant ones.

The facts have gotten worse. Beane has traded away more young talent, and gotten only cheap prospects in return. He has gutted a franchise with a proud, if rollercoaster, history, one that has won 6 Pennants and 4 World Series, and that's not even counting what they did in Philadelphia under Connie Mack (who also had a tendency to build great teams only to break them up to cut costs).

Check this out, from the Bay Area Sports Guy blog (see link to their most recent effort to the right), admittedly a Giants fan, not an A's fan, but he's right:

http://www.bayareasportsguy.com/billy-beanes-philosophy-go-small-until-you-get-a-new-home-fans-be-damned/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=billy-beanes-philosophy-go-small-until-you-get-a-new-home-fans-be-damned

One of his commenters, in response to an A's fan, said this:

The Giants at one time were leaving..the A’s were drawing 3 mill..and all motives were driven by winning and losing.

Now-Beane cant even claim the A’s lose money no matter how bad they do-so whats left is,he’s a greedy bitch..who wants more.

This is corporate greed-and why Beane is in hiding giving no explanation of why he’s tradeing all stars for bums. What is Beane going to say? I’m a f’ing greedy bastard,I admit it?

Beane has been operating as a welfar queen since becoming a part owner. I said for years he sold out,but local media stuck to “Beane has a plan”..I saw through that fast talker early.

The A’s are set for a 120 loss year..with full support of the shill local media

This is true: From 1981 to 1995, the A's had the higher per-home-game attendance in 12 out of 15 seasons. This despite the fact that, in that stretch, the Giants won a National League Western Division title in 1987 (one of the 3 years), a Pennant in 1989 (the A's still beat them, and then beat them in the World Series), and nearly won another Division title in 1993 (one of the 3 years, the other being 1986 when the A's were a bit down before their LaRussa-McGwire-Canseco-Stewart-Eckersley revival).

Starting in 1996, the A's have never had better attendance than the Giants again. What's the cause? The Giants' new ballpark, now named AT&T Park? They didn't get it until 2000, so how do you explain having better attendance from '96 to '99 at drafty old Candlestick Park? Was it Barry Bonds? No, because he arrived in 1993 and, while his arrival explains why the Giants led the A's that year, the A's still led in '94 and '95.

More likely, it was because the Giants, under Peter Magowan, who bought them in 1992 to save them from being moved to Tampa Bay, were determined to build a winner. And the A's were not. And still aren't.

Check out another comment on that BASG piece:

I just watched “Moneyball” and I’m already tired of Beane. Why didn’t the team that beat them in the playoffs that year get a movie?? The Minnesota Twins had an almost identical payroll in the season depicted in the film! They are also backed by a billionaire family (The Pohlads), but I guess the difference is they successfully blackmailed the taxpayers/government for Target Field…and Twins fans (before last season) had to be content with management building teams to win the division and get crushed by the damned Yankers in the ALCS…I thought that was a pretty slick oversight in the film…Beane’s budget ballclub got beat by another budget ballclub in the ALCS, not a major market Titan.

It should also be noted that the Giants won a Worlds Series pure magic and starting pitching…the biggest contracts on the team weren’t the keys to winning the last game of the season. (Mike's note: Emphasis mine, not the author's, although his point is quite valid.)

I think you hit the nail on the head. If I was an A’s fan, I’d be pissed. Can’t Beloved Leader Selig step in and give Billy a talking-to about clearly tanking the season? He could’ve KILLED at the trade deadline with Bailey and possibly Gio…can’t you see an AL East team giving up the crown jewel of their system for that package, or even one of those guys if they were hurting at the deadline?

*

It has been rumored that the A's just might make a deal with the MLB offices and the Giants to get the go-ahead to build in San Jose, ready to go for Opening Day 2014. (More likely 2015, because while they won't be building a superstadium like the Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Meadowlands teams, considering how long it takes to arrange and build these things, construction delays are probably inevitable.)

That won't make people in Oakland and elsewhere in Alameda County happy, but a 35-to-50 mile drive down Interstate 880 is a whole lot better than an 80-to-90 mile drive up I-80 to Sacramento, or a 500+ mile drive to Vegas, or a 600+ mile drive to Portland, or a 700+ mile drive to Salt Lake. (Public transportation would still be possible for East Bay fans: Taking the BART rapid rail service to Fremont and an express bus to downtown San Jose would take roughly an hour and a half, or about as long as it takes me to get from my Central Jersey hometown to Port Authority to either of the NYC parks.)

But if the San Jose deal doesn't happen, then there's a pretty good chance that, come Opening Day 2015, there will be no more Oakland A's.

Imagine the Sacramento A's. The Sac-A's.

The Oregon A's.

The Utah A's.

The Las Vegas A's.

Being a Yankee Fan, this is no skin off my nose.

But it's not far to the people in the East Bay who cheered on the Reggie-Catfish-Fingers "Swingin' A's" of the Seventies.

Or to the people who became A's fans because of Billy Martin's "Billyball" in the early Eighties.

Or to the people who got hooked on baseball by the Bash Brothers of the late Eighties & early Nineties -- even knowing what we now know about them, they sure were entertaining, in a typically whacked-out Eighties sort of way.

Or to the people who became baseball fans thanks to the Moneyballers of the early 2000s.

Those people don't deserve to lose their baseball team.

Billy Beane deserves to lose his job. And his reputation as a genius.

He's not a genius. He's a damn fool. And a damn coward.

Explain that away, Moneyball fans. You can't.

Most Playoff Appearances -- NHL Teams

2012-01-03T19:50:00.002-05:00

This is the 4th and final part of a series that began yesterday with the NFL. I had considered doing it for MLS and the WNBA, but decided against it.

As one of the incorrectly, but semantically correctly, named "Original Six" franchises of the National Hockey League, the New York Rangers -- known on this site as The Scum -- are one of the leaders on this list. But the New Jersey Devils have done pretty well on it as well. So have the New York Islanders -- although not lately.

From 1942-43 to 1966-67, 4 of the NHL's 6 teams made the Playoffs. From 1967-68 to 1969-70, it was 8 out of 12. From 1979-80 to 1990-91, it was a whopping 16 out of 21. You had to be really bad to not make it -- as the Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils were for most of that period. In 1991, the Minnesota North Stars made the Finals with a losing record. Today, it's 16 out of 30, still a pretty good percentage.

This makes the total times a team has reached the Playoffs much bigger than it would be in MLB and the NFL. And the amount of franchise relocations in the NHL makes the proportions much smaller as well. Indeed, while the Yankees lead MLB by making the Playoffs, on the average, every 2.14 seasons, 5 NFL teams can beat that, and fully 4/5 of the NBA does. And the Montreal Canadiens make even the Yankees, Celtics and Lakers look lazy.

1 Montreal Canadiens 82
2 Boston Bruins 66
3 Toronto Maple Leafs 64
4 Detroit Red Wings 59
5 Chicago Blackhawks 56
6 New York Rangers 53
7 Philadelphia Flyers 35
8 St. Louis Blues 35
9 Buffalo Sabres 29
Flames combined 29
North Stars/Stars combined 29
10 Calgary Flames 26
Nordiques/Avalanche combined 26
11 Pittsburgh Penguins 26
12 Edmonton Oilers 25
13 Los Angeles Kings 25
14 Vancouver Canucks 24
15 Washington Capitals 22
Scouts/Rockies/Devils combined 21
16 New York Islanders 21
Whalers/Hurricanes combined 20
17 New Jersey Devils 20
Jets/Coyotes combined 17
Both sets of Jets combined 17
18 San Jose Sharks 14
19 Colorado Avalanche 12
20 Dallas Stars 12
21 Ottawa Senators 12
22 Anaheim Ducks 8
23 Phoenix Coyotes 7
24 Nashville Predators 6
25 Tampa Bay Lightning 6
26 Carolina Hurricanes 5
27 Florida Panthers 3
28 Minnesota Wild 3
29 Columbus Blue Jackets 1
Thrashers/Jets combined 1
30 Winnipeg Jets 0

Here's the proportions. The first column to the right of the team is the number of times they've made the Playoffs. The next is their number of seasons. The last is, on the average, every how many years they make the Playoffs. This chart would have seriously favored the Isles up until 1987, and would have been rather kind them even as recently as 1995. No longer: Both the Rangers and, especially, the Devils are well ahead of them.

1 Calgary Flames 26 30 1.15
2 Philadelphia Flyers 35 43 1.23
3 St. Louis Blues 35 43 1.23
4 Montreal Canadiens 82 102 1.24
5 Colorado Avalanche 12 15 1.25
6 Boston Bruins 66 86 1.30
Flames combined 29 38 1.31
7 San Jose Sharks 14 19 1.36
8 Buffalo Sabres 29 40 1.38
Both sets of Jets combined 17 24 1.41
9 Dallas Stars 12 17 1.42
10 Detroit Red Wings 59 84 1.42
11 New Jersey Devils 20 29 1.45
12 Toronto Maple Leafs 64 93 1.45
Nordiques/Avalanche combined 26 38 1.46
North Stars/Stars combined 29 43 1.48
13 Chicago Blackhawks 56 84 1.50
14 Ottawa Senators 12 18 1.50
15 Edmonton Oilers 25 38 1.52
16 New York Rangers 53 84 1.58
17 Washington Capitals 22 36 1.64
18 Pittsburgh Penguins 26 43 1.65
19 Vancouver Canucks 24 40 1.67
Scouts/Rockies/Devils combined 21 36 1.71
20 Los Angeles Kings 25 43 1.72
21 New York Islanders 21 38 1.81
Whalers/Hurricanes combined 20 38 1.90
22 Nashville Predators 6 12 2.00
23 Phoenix Coyotes 7 14 2.00
24 Anaheim Ducks 8 17 2.13
Jets/Coyotes combined 17 38 2.24
25 Carolina Hurricanes 5 13 2.60
26 Tampa Bay Lightning 6 18 3.00
27 Minnesota Wild 3 10 3.33
28 Florida Panthers 3 17 5.67
29 Columbus Blue Jackets 1 10 10.00
Thrashers/Jets combined 1 11 11.00
30 Winnipeg Jets 0 0 0.00

Most Playoff Appearances -- NBA Teams

2012-01-03T14:06:00.002-05:00

This is the 3rd part of a series that began yesterday with the NFL.

As one of the charter franchises of the National Basketball Association, the New York Knickerbockers -- very few people call them anything other than the Knicks, unless, they're trying to insult them -- are one of the leaders on this list.

Marv Albert, longtime voice of the Knicks (and the Rangers, and the Jets) remembered a time in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the NBA had just 9 teams, and 8 made the Playoffs, and said the NBA regular season seemed to have no other purpose but to eliminate the Knicks from Playoff contention.

But that 8 out of 9 became a 16 out of 23. It's now a 16 out of 30, but teams with losing records have made it to the NBA Playoffs many times. In 1981, the Houston Rockets made the Finals with a losing record.

This makes the total times a team has reached the Playoffs much bigger than it would be in MLB and the NFL. And the amount of franchise relocations in the NBA makes the proportions much smaller as well. Indeed, while the Yankees lead MLB by making the Playoffs, on the average, every 2.14 seasons, 5 NFL teams can beat that, and fully 2/3 of the NBA does.

Lakers combined 58
1 Boston Celtics 49
2 Los Angeles Lakers 47
Nationals/76ers combined 46
Hawks combined 40
Pistons combined 40
3 New York Knicks 40
Chaparrals/Spurs combined 39
4 San Antonio Spurs 34
5 Detroit Pistons 32
6 Philadelphia 76ers 32
7 Denver Nuggets 31
8 Chicago Bulls 30
9 Phoenix Suns 29
10 Portland Trail Blazers 29
Royals/Kings combined 29
Warriors combined 28
11 Indiana Pacers 28
12 Atlanta Hawks 27
Rockets combined 26
13 Milwaukee Bucks 26
14 Houston Rockets 25
Bullets/Wizards combined 25
Sonics/Thunder combined 24
15 Utah Jazz 24
Jazz combined 24
Nets combined 23
16 Cleveland Cavaliers 18
17 Washington Wizards 18
18 Dallas Mavericks 17
19 Golden State Warriors 16
20 New Jersey Nets 16
21 Miami Heat 15
22 Orlando Magic 13
Hornets combined 12
23 Sacramento Kings 10
24 Minnesota Timberwolves 8
Braves/Clippers combined 7
25 Toronto Raptors 5
26 New Orleans Hornets 5
27 Los Angeles Clippers 4
28 Memphis Grizzlies 4
Grizzlies combined 4
29 Oklahoma City Thunder 2
30 Charlotte Bobcats 1

Here's the proportions. The first column to the right of the team is the number of times they've made the Playoffs. The next is their number of seasons. The last is, on the average, every how many years they make the Playoffs. This chart is less kind to the local teams.

1 Los Angeles Lakers 47 51 1.09
Lakers combined 58 63 1.09
2 San Antonio Spurs 34 38 1.12
Chaparrals/Spurs combined 39 44 1.13
3 Boston Celtics 49 65 1.33
Nationals/76ers combined 46 62 1.35
4 Utah Jazz 24 33 1.38
5 Portland Trail Blazers 29 41 1.41
6 Denver Nuggets 31 44 1.42
7 Phoenix Suns 29 43 1.48
8 Chicago Bulls 30 45 1.50
9 Oklahoma City Thunder 2 3 1.50
10 Philadelphia 76ers 32 48 1.50
11 Miami Heat 15 23 1.53
Jazz combined 24 37 1.54
12 Indiana Pacers 28 44 1.57
Hawks combined 40 63 1.58
Pistons combined 40 64 1.60
13 Houston Rockets 25 40 1.60
14 New York Knicks 40 65 1.63
15 Milwaukee Bucks 26 43 1.65
Rockets combined 26 44 1.69
16 Orlando Magic 13 22 1.69
17 Detroit Pistons 32 55 1.72
18 New Orleans Hornets 5 9 1.80
19 Dallas Mavericks 17 31 1.82
Sonics/Thunder combined 24 44 1.83
Nets combined 23 44 1.91
Hornets combined 12 23 1.92
Bullets/Wizards combined 25 50 2.00
20 Washington Wizards 18 38 2.11
Royals/Kings combined 29 63 2.17
21 New Jersey Nets 16 35 2.19
22 Cleveland Cavaliers 18 41 2.28
23 Atlanta Hawks 27 62 2.30
Warriors combined 28 65 2.32
24 Memphis Grizzlies 4 10 2.50
25 Sacramento Kings 10 26 2.60
26 Minnesota Timberwolves 8 22 2.75
27 Golden State Warriors 16 49 3.06
28 Toronto Raptors 5 16 3.20
Grizzlies combined 4 16 4.00
Braves/Clippers combined 7 41 5.86
29 Los Angeles Clippers 4 27 6.75
30 Charlotte Bobcats 1 7 7.00

Most Playoff Appearances -- MLB Teams

2012-01-03T09:53:00.003-05:00

This is the 2nd part of a series that began yesterday with the NFL.

The Yankees have won more World Series than any other Major League Baseball team. As you might guess, they have also made the Playoffs more times than any MLB team.

For the purpose of this chart, I'm counting making it to, despite then losing, "play-in games" such as the 1978 Bucky Dent Game, a.k.a. the Boston Tie Party, as "making the Playoffs." But not end of season deciders, such as 1949 Yankees over Red Sox: That one counts for the Yankees, but not the Red Sox. Other such examples: 1950 counts for the Phillies, not the Dodgers; 1967 counts for the Red Sox, not the Twins; 1982 counts for the Brewers, not the Orioles, who overcame a 4-game deficit with 5 to play only to lose the finale to the Brewers; and 1987 counts for the Tigers, not the Blue Jays, who blew a 7-game lead with 4 to play, including 4 against the Tigers.

I'm also counting the strike years. In 1981, all teams that won either the first-half or second-half division titles are included, as are the Cardinals and Reds, who each had the best record in their respective division over the course of the season, but didn't win either half's division title. In 1994, the Yankees, White Sox, Rangers, Expos, Reds and Dodgers were leading their divisions, and the Indians and Astros stood to be the Wild Cards; these are included, even if the MLB officials don't count them as such. The wankers.

1 New York Yankees 51
Braves combined 34
Dodgers combined 30
2 St. Louis Cardinals 29
Giants combined 27
A's combined 24
3 Boston Red Sox 23
4 Atlanta Braves 17
5 Los Angeles Dodgers 17
6 Pittsburgh Pirates 16
7 Cincinnati Reds 16
Senators/Twins combined 15
8 Oakland Athletics 15
9 Philadelphia Phillies 14
10 Detroit Tigers 14
11 Chicago Cubs 13
12 Minnesota Twins 12
13 Cleveland Indians 11
Browns/Orioles combined 11
14 Chicago White Sox 11
15 Baltimore Orioles 10
16 Houston Astros 10
17 San Francisco Giants 9
18 Anaheim Angels 9
19 Kansas City Royals 7
20 New York Mets 7
21 Texas Rangers 6
22 San Diego Padres 5
23 Arizona Diamondbacks 5
24 Toronto Blue Jays 5
25 Seattle Mariners 4
26 Milwaukee Brewers 3
27 Colorado Rockies 3
28 Tampa Bay Rays 3
29 Miami Marlins 2
Expos/Nationals combined 2
30 Washington Nationals 0

The Nats are the only team that has not won the Playoffs in its current form. As the Montreal Expos, they did win the split-season NL East title in 1981 and were leading the race in 1994 when the strike hit and ended the season.

Here's the proportions. The first column to the right of the team is the number of times they've made the Playoffs. The next is their number of seasons. The last is, on the average, every how many years they make the Playoffs.

As you might guess, the Yankees lead this one, too -- but it's a bit closer than you might think.

1 New York Yankees 51 109 2.14
2 Atlanta Braves 17 46 2.71
3 Oakland A's 15 44 2.93
4 Los Angeles Dodgers 17 54 3.18
5 Arizona Diamondbacks 4 14 3.50
Braves combined 34 140 4.12
6 St. Louis Cardinals 29 120 4.14
7 Minnesota Twins 12 51 4.25
Dodgers combined 30 128 4.27
A's combined 24 111 4.63
8 Tampa Bay Rays 3 14 4.67
Giants combined 27 129 4.78
9 Boston Red Sox 23 111 4.83
10 Houston Astros 10 50 5.00
11 Anaheim Angels 9 50 5.56
12 Baltimore Orioles 10 58 5.80
13 San Francisco Giants 9 54 6.00
14 Kansas City Royals 7 43 6.14
15 Colorado Rockies 3 19 6.33
16 Texas Rangers 6 40 6.67
17 Toronto Blue Jays 5 35 7.00
18 New York Mets 7 50 7.14
Senators/Twins combined 15 111 7.40
19 Pittsburgh Pirates 16 125 7.81
20 Detroit Tigers 14 111 7.93
21 Cincinnati Reds 16 130 8.13
22 San Diego Padres 5 42 8.40
23 Seattle Mariners 4 35 8.75
24 Philadelphia Phillies 14 129 9.21
25 Miami Marlins 2 19 9.50
26 Cleveland Indians 11 111 10.09
Browns/Orioles combined 11 111 10.09
27 Chicago White Sox 11 111 10.09
28 Chicago Cubs 13 135 10.38
29 Milwaukee Brewers 3 43 14.33
Expos/Nationals combined 2 42 21.00
30 Washington Nationals 0 7 Not applicable

Most Playoff Appearances -- NFL Teams

2012-01-02T09:29:00.007-05:00

So, the Giants had a chance to beat the Dallas (George Carlin word)ing Cowboys, and win the NFC East, and get the 3rd seed and a first-round home game in the NFC Playoffs.

And the Jets had a chance to beat the Miami Dolphins, and, if 3 other games fell their way, make the AFC Playoffs.

The G-Men stepped up, and delivered.

The J-E-T-S-Jets-Jets-Jets did not.

As we would say if they were an English soccer team, the Jets bottled it. Again. Against the Dolphins. Again. And they can't even blame Dan Marino. Yes, he was in New York, but he wasn't working for the Dolphins. He was working for CBS on The NFL Today.

*

This newly-completed regular season was the Giants' 87th. In those 87 seasons, they have made the NFL Playoffs 32 times -- this counts the 1927 season when they finished first in the NFL, before there were separate divisions and an NFL Championship Game. That means they make it once every 2.7 seasons.

This was the Jets' 52nd season in the AFL and the NFL combined. In those 52 seasons, they have made the Playoffs 14 times. An average of once every 3.7 seasons.

The Giants and Jets have both made the Playoffs 4 times: 1981, '85, '86 and 2002. Only in 2002 did both teams make it and the Jets went farther.

*

The Giants have not won more NFL Championships than any other team. That's the Green Bay Packers, with 13. And the Chicago Bears, with 9, are also ahead of the Giants, who have 7.

But the New York Giants have made the Playoffs more times than any NFL team: 32.

1 New York Giants 32
2 Green Bay Packers 30
3 Dallas Cowboys 29
4 Cleveland Browns 28
5 Chicago Bears 26
6 Minnesota Vikings 26
7 Pittsburgh Steelers 26
Rams combined 26
8 San Francisco 49ers 24
Colts combined 24
9 Philadelphia Eagles 23
10 Miami Dolphins 22
11 Oakland Raiders 21
12 Washington Redskins 21
Oilers/Titans combined 21
13 New England Patriots 19
14 Denver Broncos 18
15 Buffalo Bills 17
16 San Diego Chargers 17
17 Kansas City Chiefs 16
18 Detroit Lions 15
19 New York Jets 14
20 Indianapolis Colts 14
21 Atlanta Falcons 11
22 Seattle Seahawks 11
23 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10
24 Cincinnati Bengals 9
25 Baltimore Ravens 8
26 New Orleans Saints 8
27 Jacksonville Jaguars 6
28 Tennessee Titans 6
Cardinals combined 6
29 St. Louis Rams 5
30 Carolina Panthers 4
31 Arizona Cardinals 3
32 Houston Texans 1

The Texans made it this year, for the first time in their history. Now all 32 current NFL teams have made it, and each in their current city.

In comparison, all 30 NBA teams, and all 30 NHL teams, have done so. All 30 MLB teams have made the Playoffs, but the Washington Nationals have not done so since they moved out of Montreal. And there are a few NBA teams that have still not made it.

*

Of course, some context is needed. Of course, "most times made Playoffs" is weighted toward the older teams. So how about percentage?

The first column to the right of the team is the number of times they've made the Playoffs. The next is their number of seasons. The last is, on the average, every how many years they make the Playoffs.

1 Dallas Cowboys 29 52 1.79
2 Minnesota Vikings 26 51 1.96
3 Indianapolis Colts 14 28 2.00
4 Baltimore Ravens 8 16 2.00
5 Miami Dolphins 22 46 2.09
6 Tennessee Titans 6 13 2.17
7 Cleveland Browns 28 63 2.25
Colts combined 24 59 2.46
8 Oakland Raiders 21 52 2.48
Oilers/Titans combined 21 52 2.48
9 New York Giants 32 87 2.72
10 New England Patriots 19 52 2.74
11 San Francisco 49ers 24 66 2.75
12 Jacksonville Jaguars 6 17 2.83
Rams combined 26 75 2.88
13 Denver Broncos 18 52 2.89
14 Green Bay Packers 30 91 3.03
15 Pittsburgh Steelers 26 79 3.04
16 Buffalo Bills 17 52 3.06
17 San Diego Chargers 17 52 3.06
18 Kansas City Chiefs 16 52 3.25
19 Seattle Seahawks 11 36 3.27
20 St. Louis Rams 5 17 3.40
21 Philadelphia Eagles 23 79 3.43
22 Chicago Bears 26 92 3.54
23 Washington Redskins 21 75 3.57
24 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10 36 3.60
25 New York Jets 14 52 3.71
26 Atlanta Falcons 11 46 4.18
27 Carolina Panthers 4 17 4.25
28 Cincinnati Bengals 9 44 4.89
29 Detroit Lions 15 78 5.20
30 New Orleans Saints 8 45 5.63
31 Arizona Cardinals 3 24 8.00
32 Houston Texans 1 10 10.00
Cardinals combined 6 92 15.33

This really doesn't do the New York teams any favors, especially the Jets.

So, the Cowboys are Number 1 on this list.

It doesn't change the opinion, shared by all people with taste, that DALLAS SUCKS.

Speaking of things that suck, that reminds me: I have to hold my nose and root for the Philadelphia Flyers to beat the Rangers in today's NHL Winter Classic.

*

Hours until Arsenal play again: 2, this afternoon, away to West London club Fulham. It is not yet known if the returning Thierry Henry will play.

Days until the Devils play another local rival: 19, a Saturday matinee against the Flyers on January 21, at the Prudential Center. They next play The Scum on Tuesday night, January 31, at the Prudential. The next game against the New York Islanders isn't until March 4, a Sunday matinee at the Nassau Coliseum.

Days until the next North London Derby: 55, on Sunday, February 26, at New Highbury. This game had been scheduled for the day before, but was moved to accommodate TV -- never mind accommodating fans.

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 72, on Sunday afternoon, March 11, at FC Dallas.

Days until the Red Bulls' home opener: 83, on Sunday afternoon, March 25, at Red Bull Arena, opponent to be announced.

Days until the Yankees' next Opening Day: 95, on Friday afternoon, April 6, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg against the Tampa Bay Rays. A little over 3 months.

Days until the Yankees' home opener: 102, on Friday afternoon, April 13, against the Whatever They're Calling Themselves This Year Angels of Anaheim.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 109, on Friday night, April 20, at Fenway Park in Boston.

Days until the last Nets game in New Jersey: 112, on Wednesday night, April 23, against the Philadelphia 76ers, at the Prudential Center. Just 16 weeks before New Jersey no longer has an NBA team.

Days until the 2012 Olympics begin in London: 207 (July 27). Under 7 months.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 250, on Saturday September 8, against an opponent and at a location to be announced. A little over 8 months. They closed the 2011 season this past Friday by winning the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium II, 27-13 over Iowa State.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 256, on Friday, September 14, opponent and location to be determined.

Days until the 2012 President election: 309, on Tuesday, November 6. Register to vote... and on November 6, vote!

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 325.

Days until Alex Rodriguez collects his 3,000th career hit: 565 (estimated around July 20, 2013).

Days until Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands: 762 (February 2, 2014). 25 months.

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 700th career home run: 835 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 756th career home run to surpass all-time leader Hank Aaron: 1,670 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 763rd career home run to become as close to a "real" all-time leader as we are likely to have: 1,704 (estimated -- estimating 28 home runs a year, he should get it late in the 2016 season, maybe around September 1, at age 41).

You Say You Want a Resolution?

2011-12-31T14:28:00.003-05:00

For this last post of the calendar year, let's check my New Year's Resolutions for 2011, and see how I did:

* Do a better job at my new job, unless I can find a better one.

Can't say I did much better, although I did get a Christmas bonus this year, which I did not get last year, so I must be doing something right. On a scale of 0 to 10, a 6.

* Treat Ashley and Rachel equally.

No. I won't say which one I'd been favoring, but the other one doesn't seem too upset with it. Still, this was a failure. This is a 2 at most.

* Get to a few more Yankee games -- home and away.

Nope. Just one. I didn't even get to Yankee Stadium II for either of the games the Rutgers football team played there this season, either the win over Army or yesterday's Pinstripe Bowl, in which they beat Iowa State 27-13. But I did, at the least, "complete the circuit," getting to all 3 "local" ballparks: Yankee Stadium, Citi Field and Citizens Bank Park in Philly. So it's somewhat appropriate that I give this a 3.

* Come up with the money to make a trip to Europe, or at least to Britain.

Nope. The closest I got to seeing Arsenal live was ONE Red Bulls game, with Thierry Henry -- who is about to go back to Arsenal on a 2-month loan. (They beat fellow Londoners Queens Park Rangers today, 1-0.) This is a big fat 0.

* Call right-wingers out on their lies and ignorance. I think I already do a good job of this, but it must be done, perhaps more than ever. The 2012 election is less than a years away.

To borrow a phrase their side likes, "Mission Accomplished." For the most part. An 8.

Total, 19. Out of 5, 24. Average, 4.8. That's pathetic.

*

So here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2012:

For this last post of the calendar year, let's check my New Year's Resolutions for 2011, and see how I did:

* Do a better job at my new job, unless I can find a better one. (Again.)

* Remember that Ashley and Rachel are 4, soon to be 5, and that they won't understand everything I say, but they will hear things I say, and that I should temper my words accordingly. So as to avoid awkward questions. I mentioned the word "war" to them earlier this year, and Rachel asked, "What's war?" I told her the truth: It's when 2 countries have a fight with each other. She seemed to accept that definition.

* Get to a few more Yankee games -- home and away. (Again.)

* Come up with the money to make a trip to Europe, or at least to Britain. (Again, this resolution is made. Maybe 2012-13 will be the season -- if not 2012 being the calendar year.)

* Help President Obama get re-elected, and get the House of Representatives back, and keep the Senate, so that his 2nd term will have more caffeine and less Tea.

* Treat people better. Even when a lot of them piss me off. (Admittedly, this could be either the easiest to pull off, or the hardest.)

Happy New Year, and don't celebrate too hard. I want you alive to read my blog in 2012 and beyond.

Should-Be Winter Classic Sites

2011-12-29T09:12:00.005-05:00

Due to New Year's Day being a Sunday, and having the NFL regular-season finales (except for Monday Night Football), the NHL will have its annual Winter Classic on January 2 this year. It will be the New York Rangers against the Philadelphia Flyers, at Citizens Bank Park, home field of the Philadelphia Phillies.

As a fan of the New Jersey Devils (who beat the Buffalo Sabres last night), used to the off-color shout, "Rangers suck! Flyers swallow!", who do I root for in this one?

The Flyers. Never root for the Rangers. Never, never, NEV-ER.

Unless they're playing the Dallas Cowboys. Or the Boston Red Sox.

*

The seeds of the Winter Classic were sown all the way back in the early days of the game. In fact, that's how hockey started: Boys on a frozen pond in Canada. It wasn't until 1875 in Montreal that an indoor ice rink hosted a hockey game. It simply wasn't technologically possible before that.

Hockey was first played in the Olympics in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium, indoors. When the Winter Olympics were first played in 1924 in Chamonix, France, the hockey was played outdoors. This continued with the World Championships, sponsored by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). This topped out in 1957, at the Lenin Stadium (now the Luzhniki Stadium) in Moscow, where 55,000 saw the host Soviet Union played Sweden to a 4-4 draw in the final game, giving the hosts enough points to win the title. The crowd was, at least officially (translation: as far as anyone knew for sure), the largest ever to see a hockey game, in any country, at any level.

The first NHL team to play an outdoor game was the Detroit Red Wings. On February 2, 1954, in a season that would see them begin back-to-back Stanley Cup-winning seasons, they played an exhibition against the inmates of Marquette Branch Prison, on the prison grounds on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

This would be the only outdoor NHL game until 1991, when the Ranger sand the Los Angeles Kings played a preseason exhibition in the parking lot of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Then in 2001, the modern trend began. Michigan State University hosted their arch-rivals, the University of Michigan, in front of 74,554 fans, a new world record, at their football stadium, Spartan Stadium (a.k.a. Macklin Field). They called it the Cold War, and the two collegiate hockey powers played to a 3-3 tie.

The NHL got into the act in 2003, and this time it was in the regular season. The Edmonton Oilers hosted a doubleheader with the Montreal Canadiens: First, an alumni game between the 1980s Oilers (5 Cups in 7 years) such as Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier (who was still active at that point but got permission from the Rangers) against the 1970s Canadiens (4 straight Cups and 6 in 9 years) such as Guy Lafleur and Larry Robinson. It was known as the Heritage Classic, trying to tie in with the idea of youth hockey on frozen lakes and ponds, and it was −2 °F at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium. Still, 57,167 fans, far and away an NHL record (breaking the record of 27,277 for a 1993 Tampa Bay Lightning game at what's now called Tropicana Field), saw the ex-Oilers beat the ex-Habs 2-1, and then the current Habs beat the current Oilers 4-3. Canadiens goalie Jose Theodore started a fad by wearing a special snow hat called a "toque" over his mask.

On April 2, 2005, during the NHL lockout, a charity game called "Our Game to Give" was held at Ivor Wynne Stadium, home of the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats. A team led by Doug Gilmour beat one led by Steve Staios 9-8, although only 10,300 attended.

The restored NHL decided it was worth trying again. It set up an annual contest for New Year's Day, calling it the Winter Classic. On January 1, 2008, at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, home of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, a new league record of 71,217 fans saw the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 in a shootout, after the game was played in a steady snowfall. Both teams wore throwback jerseys from the 1970-71 season, the Sabres' first.

In 2009, for the first time since the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium closed in 1997, the NHL played a game at a building that opened prior to 1961. Also, for the first time ever, it was in a stadium built for baseball. Wrigley Field in Chicago, built in 1914 and home of baseball's Chicago Cubs, hosted the arch-rival Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings. The Wings won, 6-4, in front of 40,818. The Wings wore copies of their original 1926 uniforms, while the Hawks wore a uniform that was a combination of their 1936 and 1949 uniforms.

In 2010, the Boston Bruins beat the Flyers 2-1, on an overtime goal by Marco Sturm, in front of 38,112 at Fenway Park in Boston. Built in 1912, this made Fenway the earliest-constructed building to host an NHL game since 1929, when the Blackhawks moved from the 1899-built Chicago Coliseum (demolished in 1982) to the new Chicago Stadium (demolished in 1995). The Flyers wore uniforms resembling those of their 1974 Stanley Cup team, the Bruins from 1958. Bobby Orr and Bobby Clarke were honorary captains.

Fenway kept the rink for a week and played another 2 games on January 8: A women's collegiate game in which the University of New Hampshire beat Northeastern University (of Boston) 5-3, and a men's game in which Boston University beat Boston College 3-2.

The winter of 2010 saw two other sets of outdoor games: Camp Randall Stadium at the University of Wisconsin, a longtime hockey power, hosted a doubleheader. Their women beat Bemidji State of Minnesota, 6-1. Their men beat Michigan, 3-2. And a minor-league game was held at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. In what's believed to be a North American minor league record, 21,508 fans saw the Syracuse Crunch beat the Binghamton Senators, 2-1.

On December 11, 2010, a new record was set when 113,411 saw "The Big Chill at the Big House," Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Again, it was Michigan vs. Michigan State. This time, Michigan won, 5-0.

The 2011 NHL Winter Classic almost broke the '08 Sabres' record: A crowd of 68,111 saw the Washington Capitals beat the Penguins 3-1 at Heinz Field, home of the NHL's Pittsburgh Steelers. Each team wore uniforms from their first season, the Pens from 1967-68, the Caps from 1974-75.

Later in the season, on February 20, the "2011 Heritage Classic" was held at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, where 41,022 saw the host Flames beat the Canadiens, 4-0.

For this coming Monday's game, the Flyers will again wear 1974 uniforms, while the Rangers, whose uniform design has not changed much (except in font) from their 1926 debut, will wear a classic version of their familiar design.

Later in the month, Citizens Bank Park will host a minor-league game between the Hershey Bears and the Adirondack Phantoms; Fenway will host a series of college and high school games; and Progressive (Jacobs) Field in Cleveland, home of baseball's Indians, will host a revival of one of the great football rivalries in a hockey game, Ohio State vs. Michigan.

*

So where should future Winter Classics be held? They're already talking about one in California, in front of nearly 100,000 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. But just because something could be done doesn't mean it should be done. The whole point is that it's a Winter Classic. You know the old saying, "It never rains in Southern California"? Well, it does. But it doesn't snow. In northernmost California, or along its eastern border in the Sierra Nevada mountains, such as Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the Continental United States (a.k.a. the Lower 48).

So, in my opinion, the following teams should be out as potential hosts: The Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, St. Louis Blues, San Jose Sharks and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Likewise, the following teams have already hosted, and should be dropped from consideration until other potential sites have hosted: The Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Ironically, the 2 oldest and (at least in terms of most Stanley Cups won, if neither all that recently) most successful NHL franchises aren't exactly good choices. Where could the Montreal Canadiens play an outdoor game? McGill University's Molson Stadium seats only 25,000 people, not much more than the 21,273 they get indoors for every home game at the Bell Centre. And the Olympic Stadium, which seats 66,000 for football, has a permanent roof -- something it was supposed to have when it opened in 1976, but didn't get until 1987, and hasn't functioned well. Ironic: Now that there is a roof on the Big O, it works against a hope of the city.

While the Toronto Maple Leafs could play in front of 60,000 at the Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome), they'd have to open the retractable roof. Besides, now that the novelty of its roof has worn off, it's really not all that interesting a venue.

For similar reasons, the Vancouver Canucks would be a problematic host. The renovation of the Stadium at British Columbia Place gives it a retractable roof, making it possible, but it's hardly a stadium with a lot of character. (Then again, neither is the Bills' stadium.) And Frank Clair Stadium, home of the CFL's now-defunct Ottawa Rough Riders, seats just 26,000, making it not such a good site for the Ottawa Senators to host.

As far as Canada is concerned, that leaves the restored Winnipeg Jets. Canad Inns Stadium (formerly Winnipeg Stadium), is loaded with history as the home of the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and while its official capacity is just 29,533, it can be expanded to a respectable 44,784 with temporary seating.

In the U.S., the most obvious site would be Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, for the Red Wings to host. Also possible: Target Field in Minneapolis, thbe new home of the Minnesota Twins, or TCB Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, new home of the University of Minnesota football team, for the Wild; Sports Authority Field at Mile High (formerly Invesco Field at Mile High), the new home of the Denver Broncos, for the Colorado Avalanche; and one of the New York Tri-State Area stadiums. Less obvious is Ohio Stadium in Columbus: The Blue Jackets could play the Red Wings in a hockey version of "The Game," Ohio State vs.Michigan.

As for the New York Tri-State Area: Yankee Stadium isn't exactly suited, space-wise, for a hockey rink. But Citi Field, home of the Mets, would be ideal, especially if it's Rangers vs. Islanders. It wouldn't quite be the halfway mark between Madison Square Garden and the Nassau Coliseum -- that would roughly be Belson Stadium on the St. John's University campus, also in Queens -- but it would be close, and Islander fans could use another great Long Island institution. No, not Creedmoor. The Long Island Rail Road.

Could the Devils host? Sure, MetLife Stadium, the new home of the Giants and Jets, seats 80,000, which (depending on who else hosts the Winter Classic) could set a new NHL attendance record. But it couldn't be against the Rangers. I don't want their bastard fans outnumbering us 60,000 to 20,000 in what's supposed to be home game for us.

Yes, I know: Many of the Rangers' bastard fans are also my fellow Yankee Fans. What can I say, but "It's complicated."

Top 10 Ball-Drops in Sports for 2011

2011-12-28T09:18:00.007-05:00

Every year, in New York's Times Square, at one minute to midnight on New Year's Eve, a ball is dropped to signal the New Year.

Since the Mets are so good at dropping balls, which one will be chosen for the Times Square drop?

Here are the Top 10 Ball-Drops in Sports for 2011. By "ball-drop" I mean on-field blunders or management miscues.

Dishonorable Mention: Cliff Lee. He decided the Philadelphia Phillies had a better chance of winning the World Series than the Yankees. Well, both teams ended their season in Game 5 of the League Division Series. So, as it turned out, they had exactly the same chance. Nice going, you dumb hillbilly. And you've still never won a ring.

10. Jim Tressel. He had a great thing going at Ohio State, and he blew it. And it didn't have to be. All he had to do was tell the NCAA what he knew, and he could have saved his job, and probably saved THE... Ohio State University from shame and the more serious of sanctions that it ended up facing. He refused.

9. Michael Gearon. The owner of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers, he can't be totally blamed for having to sell the team and have it be moved to become the new Winnipeg Jets. But the fact is, this was the first move of an NHL team in 14 years (1997 Hartford Whalers to Carolina Hurricanes), and the first move of any team in any North American major league sport in 7 years (Montreal Expos to Washington Nationals).

Not an easy thing to do, considering the precariousness of the situations of the NHL's New York Islanders and MLB's Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays. Speaking of the latter...

8. Tampa Bay Rays Fans. Your team made the Playoffs for the 3rd time in the last 4 years. And yet you finished 29th out of 30 in MLB attendance. You averaged 18,878 fans per home game, only 646 out of last place. You've got 2.8 million people in your metropolitan area. That's more than MLB markets Baltimore, Denver, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Kansas City. And you trailed all of them in attendance. This, after waiting so long to get a team, with (depending on how you define it) anywhere from 3 to 8 near-misses (most notably the 1992 San Francisco Giants). You have a good team now, and the population to support it. And you don't. Shame on you. You deserve to lose your team.

7. NBA Owners. They came thisclose to canceling an entire season. True, the NHL has bounced back well from canceling the entire 2004-05 season, and MLB recovered from canceling the last one-third of the 1994 regular season and the entire ensuing postseason to be bigger than ever, and the NFL recovered from their own preseason lockout.

But the NBA's problems go beyond the lockout and the cancellation of the first one-fifth of the regular season. They've effectively taken the Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Chicago Bulls and, at least potentially, the secondary teams in New York and L.A., the Nets and Clippers, and turned them into a mini-major league, and turned the other 22 teams into a feeder league. Essentially, those 8 clubs are the Premier League, and if you're not in the Premiership, you're in the minors.

6. Rex Ryan. All that talk, and the Jets probably won't even make the Playoffs this season, after blowing 2 straight AFC Championship Games. Rex, you've failed as head coach of the New York Jets. Do the honorable thing and resign, and let someone else guide this team.

And there's 5 people and/or teams that can top (or bottom) that? Yes.

5. Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves (joint entry). Say what you want about Girardi and Lee, but at least they got into the Playoffs. According to SportsClubStats.com, the Red Sox had a 99.85 percent chance of making the Playoffs on September 2 -- at which point they were still, ever so slightly, in first place in the American League Eastern Division. Shortly before that, the Braves had a 94 percent chance of making the Playoffs.

And both blew it, completing their blows on the last night of the regular season. Both of these franchises are known for chokes, but this year, they outdid themselves.

And there's 4 worse than that? Oh, yes.

4. Texas Rangers. You would think that, having won its 2nd straight Pennant, this one without the incredibly overrated Cliff Lee, after not having won any Pennants in their history before, the two-time defending American League Champions would be immune from this list.

But they had 2-run leads in Game 6 of the World Series. In the 9th AND 10th innings. In other words, like the Boston Red Sox in 1986, they were 2 runs up in what should have been the last inning of Game 6, clinching the World Championship without needing a Game 7. But whereas the '86 BoSox blew such a lead once, the '11 Rangers blew such a lead twice, in back-to-back innings. And lost Game 6 in the 11th, and lost Game 7. If the 2004 and '07 World Series didn't get the '86 Red Sox off the hook, the '11 Rangers surely did: It was the greatest choke in World Series history.

And there's 3 worse than that? You better believe it, and one of them is in baseball. Barely.

3. Fred Wilpon. You would think that, having finally fired general manager Omar Minaya, the Mets' owner would be immune from this list.

But he had a new ballpark, and his own TV network, in the biggest market in the country, with some of the most passionate fans in the country, and started the season with David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez (but not Johan Santana, out for the season due to injury), and finished below .500, with only the first of those star players. Turns out, even with trading Beltran and K-Rod, and all those potential big-revenue sources, the Mets lost $70 million.

Granted, it was due to a stupid decision well before this year (Fred trusting his pal Bernie Madoff), but with all the possible ways to produce revenue in major league sports, you gotta be a real moron to own a major league sports team and lose money. Or perhaps really crafty at trying to write it off as a tax break. And I don't think Freddy the Freeloader lost that money on purpose, for tax reasons.

And there's 2 worse than that? I think you'll agree.

2. LeBron James. You know why. I'm not going to give you a long answer. I'm only going to give you three-quarters of an answer. After all, that's all LeBron ever gives. "King James"? Yeah, right!

So what could be worse than that?

1. The administration and football staff at Pennsylvania State University, led by Joe Paterno. Even a big Rutgers fan like myself, as much as I hated Penn State and Ol' Ratface before, could not have imagined something like this. I had said Paterno was not the squeaky-clean man running a squeaky-clean program like he claimed, so, yes, I TOLD YOU SO. But who could possibly have imagined something like this?

Let's hope that, when I do this piece in December 2012, it's about mere incompetence, on the field or in the boardroom. And not about what used to be known as "unspeakable acts."

Sportsmen of the Year: An Overview (SI's, and Mine)

2011-12-27T09:42:00.002-05:00

Sports Illustrated Sportsmen & Sportswomen of the Year

1954 Roger Bannister
1955 Johnny Podres
1956 Bobby Morrow
1957 Stan Musial (Lifetime Achievement Award, or LAA)
1958 Rafer Johnson
1959 Ingemar Johansson
1960 Arnold Palmer
1961 Jerry Lucas
1962 Terry Baker
1963 Pete Rozelle
1964 Ken Venturi
1965 Sandy Koufax
1966 Jim Ryun
1967 Carl Yastrzemski
1968 Bill Russell (LAA)
1969 Tom Seaver
1970 Bobby Orr
1971 Lee Trevino
1972 John Wooden and Billie Jean King (LAA in Wooden's case)
1973 Jackie Stewart
1974 Muhammad Ali
1975 Pete Rose
1976 Chris Evert
1977 Steve Cauthen
1978 Jack Nicklaus (LAA)
1979 Willie Stargell and Terry Bradshaw
1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team
1981 Sugar Ray Leonard
1982 Wayne Gretzky
1983 Mary Decker
1984 Edwin Moses and Mary Lou Retton
1985 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1986 Joe Paterno
1987 Athletes Who Care: Bob Bourne, Judi Brown King, Kipchoge "Kip" Keino, Dale Murphy, Chip Rives, Patty Sheehan, Rory Sparrow and Reggie Williams
1988 Orel Hershiser
1989 Greg LeMond
1990 Joe Montana
1991 Michael Jordan
1992 Arthur Ashe
1993 Don Shula
1994 Bonnie Blair and Johan Olav Koss
1995 Cal Ripken Jr.
1996 Tiger Woods
1997 Dean Smith
1998 Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa
1999 U.S. Women's Soccer Team
2000 Tiger Woods (only 2-time honoree)
2001 Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson
2002 Lance Armstrong
2003 David Robinson and Tim Duncan (LAA in Robinson's case)
2004 Boston Red Sox
2005 Tom Brady
2006 Dwyane Wade
2007 Brett Favre
2008 Michael Phelps
2009 Derek Jeter
2010 Drew Brees
2011 Mike Krzyzewski and Pat Summitt (LAA in both cases)

61 honorees: 39 right, 24 wrong; 67 alive, 6 dead; 9 Lifetime Achievement Awards

My choices

1954 Roger Bannister
1955 Otto Graham
1956 Bill Russell
1957 Maurice Richard
1958 Rafer Johnson
1959 Ingemar Johansson
1960 Floyd Patterson
1961 Roger Maris
1962 Wilt Chamberlain
1963 Pete Rozelle
1964 Jim Brown
1965 Sandy Koufax
1966 Frank Robinson
1967 Carl Yastrzemski
1968 Al Kaline
1969 Tom Seaver
1970 Bobby Orr
1971 Roberto Clemente
1972 John Wooden and Billie Jean King
1973 Don Shula
1974 Muhammad Ali
1975 Arthur Ashe
1976 Chris Evert
1977 Al McGuire
1978 Steve Cauthen
1979 Willie Stargell and Terry Bradshaw
1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team
1981 Sugar Ray Leonard
1982 Wayne Gretzky
1983 Mary Decker
1984 Bonnie Blair and Johan Olav Koss
1985 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1986 Greg LeMond
1987 Magic Johnson
1988 Orel Hershiser
1989 Joe Montana
1990 Lou Piniella
1991 Michael Jordan
1992 Mario Lemieux
1993 Jacques Demers
1994 Bonnie Blair and Johan Olav Koss
1995 Hakeem Olajuwon
1996 Joe Torre
1997 Steve Yzerman
1998 John Elway
1999 U.S. Women's Soccer Team
2000 Derek Jeter
2001 Joe Sakic
2002 Lance Armstrong
2003 David Robinson and Tim DUncan
2004 Joe Dumars
2005 Roy Williams
2006 Dwayne Wade
2007 Peyton Manning
2008 Michael Phelps
2009 Troy Polamalu
2010 Drew Brees
2011 Aaron Rodgers

63 choices; 51 alive, 12 dead

Who Are the Real Sportsmen of the Year? Part III

2011-12-26T09:18:00.004-05:00

1991 Michael Jordan. The best player in basketball at the time, finally led the Chicago Bulls to their first NBA Championship. Can't disagree with this one.

1992 Arthur Ashe. Another lifetime achievement award (LAA) that SI gave out for SOTY. As I said in Part II, they should have given it to him in 1975, when he deserved it a whole lot more than Pete Rose. Ashe died of complications from AIDS early the next year, and is the most recent SI honoree to die (though not the one who is the most recently deceased).

Joe Gibbs of the Washington Redskins coached his 3rd Super Bowl winner in 9 years. If SI wanted to go for an achievement of clean consistency by a thoroughly decent man, there one. Clarence "Cito" Gaston of the Toronto Blue Jays became the first black man to manage a World Series winner; if SI wanted to go for a civil rights achievement, there's one. Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins won his 2nd straight Stanley Cup, then came back from Hodgkin's disease to play again. If SI wanted to go for a champion dealing with a potentially fatal illness, there's one -- and this one not only lived, but returned to play at a Hall of Fame pace. All were worthy of SOTY. Considering that Ashe should have been honored 17 years earlier, and that I've already reflected this fact in my own picks, I'm giving it to Lemieux.

1993 Don Shula. The Miami Dolphins boss surpassed George Halas of the Chicago Bears to become the winningest coach in NFL history, but this was another LAA, and it came 20 years after he could have been so honored, following the Dolphins' 1973 achievement of the undefeated season.

Jacques Demers overcome a learning disability, which prevented him from learning how to read until he was already an NHL coach, to lead the Montreal Canadiens to their 24th Stanley Cup -- their 23rd World Championship meant that they were the most successful franchise in North American sports from May 1986 to October 2000 when the Yankees won their 25th World Series. And they did it the hard way: Beating their Provincial rivals, the Quebec Nordiques, in 6 games including 3 overtime wins; sweeping the Buffalo Sabres but needing 3 more overtimewins; overcoming the New York Islanders (the last time they've gone this far) in 5 games but needing 2 overtime wins (one in double OT); and topping the Los Angeles Kings in the Finals, losing Game 1 and then winning 4 straight, the first 3 in OT before winning in regulation at the Montreal Forum.

It was fitting that hockey's greatest franchise win the 100th Anniversary Stanley Cup (especially since the 1st Cup, and several others before the 1909 founding of the Canadiens, were from Montreal). A team that included such legends and stars as Patrick Roy, Guy Carbonneau, Denis Savard, Vincent Damphousse, Kirk Muller, Mike Keane, John LeClair, Mathieu Schneider and Eric Desjardins had a soft-spoken, determined leader who knew what it was like to refuse to quit. Demers is now a member of the Canadian Senate.

1994 Bonnie Blair and Johan Olav Koss. For the first time, the Winter Olympics were held in the even-numbered year between leap years, while the Summer Olympics continue to be held in leap years. SI honored 2 superb speed skaters: Blair remains, to this day, the most successful American female athlete in Olympic history; and Koss thrilled the home crowd at Lillehamer, Norway with his Gold Medals. In a year that began with the Dallas Cowboys (ugh) winning the Super Bowl, reached its midpoint with the O.J. Simpson murder case, and ended with Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig cancelling the postseason due to a strike in which the players, however greedy, had the comparative moral high ground, Blair and Koss were superbly sportsmanlike, and I do not question this decision by SI.

1995 Cal Ripken Jr. Whether Babe Ruth "saved baseball" after the 1920 Black Sox Scandal is dubious. Even more so, Ripken, the Baltimore Orioles shortstop, didn't "save baseball" by continuing to play until breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played streak of 2,130 games (especially since, due to the strike, while he played in every game available to him, he didn't play from August 12 to the intended end of the season on October 2, or from the intended start of the next season on April 3 through April 24). Ripken was a very good player for a long time, and while 3,000 hits was enough to make him a legitimate Hall-of-Famer, let's tell the truth: That streak, and the ego he maintained to mantain it, ended up hurting his team.

The real Sportsman of the Year was Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets, whom he led to a 2nd straight NBA Championship, this one (unlike the 1st) alongside his college teammate Clyde Drexler, who, like Hakeem, had previously been 0-for-2 in NBA Finals (in his case, with the Portland Trail Blazers) and had joined with Hakeem to lead the University of Houston's "Phi Slamma Jamma" team to 3 NCAA Final Fours, including 2 Finals, but lost them all. Hakeem's acts of charity were already well-known, and bringing Clyde the Glide back to his hometown was no act of charity: It was a masterstroke, as the Rockets, who struggled to beat the Patrick Ewing Knicks in 7 games the year before (avenging the NCAA Final to Ewing's Georgetown 10 years before), swept the Shaquille O'Neal-led Orlando Magic.

1996 Eldrick "Tiger" Woods. Tiger won the NCAA individual golf championship at Stanford University and the U.S. Amateur. He had not yet won a professional major, although he would do so in (pardon the pun) roaring fashion at the next year's Masters. Even if you believe that golf is a sport (and it most certainly is NOT), this award was premature at best and massively dubious at worst. This was Joe Torre's year to get the award.

1997 Dean Smith. In what turned out to be his final year as a college head coach, the North Carolina boss guided his team to a 13th ACC Tournament Championship and an 11th Final Four, and surpassed Adolph Rupp to become the all-time winningest men's college basketball coach. (He has since been surpassed by Bobby Knight and Mike Krzyzewski.) He won 2 National Championships and coached the U.S. team to the Gold Medal at the 1976 Olympics. If SI had a separate LAA, the Dean would have been an easy choice. But while he was a fine sportsman who had a great year, it didn't make sense to name him Sportsman of the Year.

After coming close 3 times with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jim Leyland finally got to, and won, a World Series with the Florida Marlins. Coach Mike Holmgren, quarterback Brett Favre, and defensive end Reggie White led the Green Bay Packers to their first Super Bowl win in 31 years. Steve Yzerman led the Detroit Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup in 42 years. Despite what we later learned about Favre and White, and the Marlins's spending spree with the promise of breaking them up in the off-season -- leading Dave Rosenbaum to title a book about the team If They Don't Win It's a Shame: The Year the Marlins Bought the World Series -- any of these potential selections would have been better for a single year. I'm going with Yzerman, the longest-serving Captain in NHL history, and a total class act for nearly 30 years now.

1998 Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. So Ripken didn't quite "save baseball," but the Mac & Sammy Show did? What we now know about Mac, and what we now suspect about Sammy, should be irrelevant, every bit as much as what happened to Pete Rose didn't cause SI to strip him of his 1975 honor, or what O.J. did in 1994 would not have made a difference had he gotten SOTY for his 2,003-yard rushing performance in 1973. But did Roger Maris get SOTY for hitting 61 homers in 1961? No. Did Hank Aaron get it for reaching 715 homers in 1974? No. Even if you believe Jerry Lucas in '61 and Muhammad Ali in '74 were worthy honorees, the fact remains that Maris and Aaron were not so honored, and Maris, at least, won the World Series. Sosa did get the Chicago Cubs into the Playoffs, but McGwire's St. Louis Cardinals... Refresh my memory, did McGwire hit 70 homers while the Cards won 83 games, or did he hit 83 homers while the Cards won just 70? For intents and purposes, there's no difference.

Having already given the award to Torre for 1996, I'm not going to give it to him for 1998. Derek Jeter? Not just yet. How about John Elway? He finally got his ring, and then led the Broncos to a 14-2 regular season in what everyone presumed (correctly, as it turned out) would be his last season. A LAA? Not really: Had Elway been named SOTY, it would have been totally deserved. He was a winner and a sportsman.

1999 U.S. Women's Soccer Team. They won the World Cup, in front of the highest live attendance (90,185 at the Rose Bowl) and the largest TV audience ever for a women's sporting event, and offered what should be the final proof that a woman can be athletic and feminine at the same time. Or, as Rick Reilly put it in SI:

Admit it. You were thinking, Joe Torre in heels. You figured when a U.S. women's team finally broke through, one that made even the truck drivers care, it would be a bunch of women with Bronko Nagurski shoulders and five o'clock shadows. Well, the revolution is here, and it has bright-red toenails. And it shops. And it carries diaper bags. The U.S. women's soccer team is towing the country around by the heart in this Women's World Cup, and just look at the players. They've got ponytails! They've got kids! They've got (gulp) curves!

Captain Carla Overbeck crawls across a magazine page in a leopard-skin dress. Midfielder Julie Foudy calls the team "booters with hooters." Lethal scorer Mia Hamm makes PEOPLE'S 50 Most Beautiful. Midfielder Brandi Chastain shows up in the pages of Gear wearing only a soccer ball, which gets her on Letterman, who sends Late Night shirts to the whole team, which snaps a picture of the players apparently wearing only the shirts and cleats, which causes Letterman to refer to them forevermore as "Babe City."

"Hey, I ran my ass off for this body," says Chastain. "I'm proud of it."

This team is a wonderful combination of Amazonian ambush and after-prom party. "We're women who like to knock people's heads off and then put on a skirt and go dance," says Chastain.

With all due respect to what Derek Jeter, Kurt Warner, Tim Duncan and anybody else achieved in that calendar year, this was the year a soccer ball shattered the glass ceiling. I dare you to tell Chastain her team didn't deserve the Sportspeople of the Year award. She's 43 now, still playing, and broadcasting, is married with 2 kids... and could probably throttle you if she so desired. Go ahead, tell her, I dare you.

2000 Tiger Woods. This is the only time SI has given the award to a previous winner. He won the last 3 of the 4 majors, and then won the Masters the next year to become the first-ever holder of all 4 titles, even if he didn't quite do it all in the same year to form a true "Grand Slam." (This became known as the "Tiger Slam," which is certainly better than the infamous "Saturday Slam" of Greg Norman.) But until Tiger, or any other golfer, tries to take a shot with Justin Verlander throwing the ball at him at 95 miles an hour, or with Ray Lewis bearing down on him at full prowl, or tries to put the ball in a hole guarded by Dwight Howard or Tim Thomas, he is playing a game... NOT a sport. You don't give Sportsman of the Year to a poker player, do you? No matter how successful.

Only one man has ever won the Most Valuable Player award of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game and World Series in the same year. That's Derek Jeter of the 2000 World Champion New York Yankees. Derek would be honored by SI in 2009, but this was the year he deserved it most.

2001 Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson. As dominating as they were in the 2001 World Series, to call either man a "sportsman" is absolutely laughable.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of choice. The Super Bowl MVP was Ray Lewis, who was coming off criminal charges. The NBA Finals were won by Shaq, Kobe Bryant, and the Lakers -- no sportsmen they, and of course they cheated again. There was no Triple Crown winner in horse racing, no Olympics, no World Cup, and boxing was a mess, as it had pretty much been for the 10 years before and the 10 years since. And to give SOTY to Ray Bourque, whose achievement of finally winning the Stanley Cup after 22 years of superb hockey, and still being a major contributor to his team, while not entirely undeserved would, essentially, have been another LAA. I could give it to the Colorado Avalanche's Captain, Joe Sakic, instead of teammate Bourque. So I'll go with Sakic, who was also, in this year, selected as Canada's Captain for the upcoming Olympics, which they won.

2002 Lance Armstrong. Since I've already honored Yzerman, none of the Anaheim Angels was a standout choice, the Lakers won again, we now know that the New England Patriots are a bunch of dirty cheaters, and not that many Americans knew Ronaldinho's name (or nickname), and we still don't know for sure that Armstrong was doping, I'm going to let this one stand.

2003 David Robinson and Tim Duncan. They led the San Antonio Spurs to their 2nd NBA Championship, all in the last 5 seasons. Robinson retired, and Duncan would make it 4 in 9. Both are distinguished, charitable individuals whose careers have never had a hint of scandal, and all lifted a community (West Texas) which has just this one major league sports team. I cannot question this honor.

2004 Boston Red Sox. At the time, even a sick, twisted, demented Yankee Fan like myself would have had a hard time doubting that they deserved it. Now we know: They cheated, they lied about it, they got caught, and they're still lying about it. We also know that Tom Brady, honored the next year and could have been honored for this year, benefited from cheating.

I'm giving it to Joe Dumars: In the late 1980s and early '90s, the idea of anyone associated with the Detroit Pistons getting SOTY was ludicrous. But Joe put together a team that, like the early 1970s Knicks, stressed team harmony over individual egos, and they beat the Lakers, a team so loaded it was considered "inevitable" champions. You know, just like the 2011 Miami Heat. Go ahead: Tell me that Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace, Lindsey Hunter, Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince or Mehmet Okur is going to the Basketball Hall of Fame. At the moment, you can't. But that's 7 superb players, and they triumphed over sure HOFers Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton.

2005 Tom Brady. Brady and the New England Patriots, early in the year, had won their 3rd Super Bowl in 4 years, and Brady his 2nd SB MVP. But since "Spygate," we can't taken any of the Pats' achievements in the Belichick/Brady Era seriously.

The World Series winner? The Chicago White Sox. No overwhelming star, and manager Ozzie Guillen isn't exactly a sportsman. The NBA Champions? The Spurs, and we've already honored Duncan. The BCS winners? We now know that USC was cheating. The World Cup winners? The horse racing Triple Crown? The Olympic Gold Medalists? The undisputed heavyweight champion of the world? The Stanley Cup winner? There weren't any, of any of those. (This was the year the entire NHL season was canceled.) And while a European sports magazine might have honored Steve Gerrard for the way he willed Liverpool FC from 3-0 down to win the Champions League Final, 99 percent of Americans didn't know who he was at the time.

While I haven't given my SOTY to Dean Smith, as much as I admire him, I'm giving the 2005 edition to Roy Williams, who did in this year what Smith did in 1982: Lead North Carolina to the first of 2 National Championship. And, unlike Smith, Williams can still win a 3rd.

2006 Dwyane Wade. In 2011, honoring a star of the Miami Heat would have been a sick joke. In 2006, it was a good choice.

2007 Brett Favre. At the time, it seemed like a good choice, if something of a LAA. In retrospect, who's kidding who? Whereas Peyton Manning led the Indianapolis Colts to their 1st Super Bowl (2nd, and 4th World Championship, if you count their Baltimore years), and has been an exemplar of stellar and fair play since arriving in the NFL in 1999. He has always "cut that meat." As opposed to Favre, whom we now know to have, uh, done something else with meat.

2008 Michael Phelps. Eight Olympic races, eight Gold Medals. Good guy, too. Except for the pot. I'm not taking this award away.

2009 Derek Jeter. Great award, but I've already given it to him for 2000, so I have to give it to someone else. I'm going with Troy Polamalu, the heart and soul of the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers (2nd win in this generation, 6th overall) and probably the most famous living person of Samoan descent. Certainly, the safety is a better choice than 2 of his prominent teammates from that game, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (issues with women) and Santonio Holmes (also got into criminal trouble). I could make it a joint away with Polamalu and receiver Hines Ward.

2010 Drew Brees. What he's done for the people of the New Orleans area is immense -- and that's before you get into the football playing. A completely deserving award, especially when you consider the Saints' history before he got there.

2011 Mike Krzyzewski and Pat Summitt. As I said, 2 good choices for LAA, but neither was the sportsman of THIS year. Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers was -- unless he's hiding a criminal, pharmaceutical, or otherwise scandalous secret.

I'll have one final entry, as an overview.

Merry Christmas from the Muser

2011-12-23T22:32:00.010-05:00

December 25, in the 753rd year since the founding of Rome – or so Dionysius Exiguus, working in AD 525, would have us believe – Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem, in what is now the West Bank, Palestinian Territories. Based on historical and astronomical evidence, and even passages in the Gospels themselves, this date is almost certainly incorrect. Besides, Jesus appears to be one of the last people who would be concerned about people noticing his birthday. He’d rather we were good to each other.

Christmas AD 800: Charles the Great (a.k.a. Charles Le Magne, Charlemagne and Carolus Magnus) is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome.

Christmas 1000: The Kingdom of Hungary is founding by King Stephen I.

Christmas 1065: Westminster Abbey is consecrated in London. But the King of England, Edward the Confessor, who ordered and funded its building, is too ill to attend, and dies early the next year. Which leads to…

Christmas 1066: William, Duke of Normandy, a.k.a. William the Bastard and William the Conqueror, is crowned King William I of England at Westminster Abbey. As the saying goes, never go into battle with a man called “the Bastard” or “the Conqueror,” because chances are he earned those nicknames.

Christmas 1183: Not the best of Christmases for King Henry II, his Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their sons, the princes Richard, Geoffrey and John. The film is "The Lion In Winter," and they are played by the following: Henry by Peter O'Toole, Eleanor by Katherine Hepburn, the future King Richard I (the Lionhearted) by Anthony Hopkins in his first major film role, Geoffrey by John Castle, and the future Magna Carta signer King John by Nigel Terry (who would be a much better King, Arthur, in "Excalibur").

Christmas 1635: Samuel de Champlain, the explorer known as “the Father of New France,” dies at the city he founded, Quebec.

Christmas 1642: Isaac Newton is born in Wolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, England.

Christmas 1776: George Washington leads the Continental Army across the Delaware River, attacks the Hessians on the New Jersey side, and wins the Battle of Trenton, thus keeping the Revolutionary cause alive.

Christmas 1818: “Silent Night” is first performed, at (appropriately enough) the Church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, Austria. Father Joseph Mohr wrote the lyrics (in German: “Stille Nacht”), and Franz Gruber composed the melody.

Christmas 1821: Clara Barton is born in Oxford, Massachusetts. She goes on to found the American Red Cross.

Christmas 1822: Clement Clarke Moore, a theologian in New York, is asked by his children if there are any books about Santa Claus. He decides to find out, but discovers that no bookstore in town has any. So he writes his own version of the story, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” which establishes so much of the Santa Claus legend that we know today. The story is published the following year. Moore was born in 1779 and lived until 1863.

Christmas 1826: The Eggnot Riot, a.k.a. the Grog Mutiny, takes place at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Among the cadets who took part, but not punished, was Jefferson Davis. Twenty were court-martialed.

Christmas 1843: In London, moneylender Ebenezer Scrooge has a change of heart. Instead of treating it with a cry of “Bah, humbug!” he accepts Christmas the way those around him do, with the words of his employee Bob Crachit’s small, handicapped son Tim: “God bless us, every one!” The story is “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens.

Christmas 1856: James Francis Galvin is born in St. Louis. The Hall of Fame pitcher was nicknamed “Pud” because he “reduced hitters to pudding.” No word on whether it was figgy pudding.

Christmas 1867: A Christmas party is held at the Ponderosa Ranch in Virginia City, Nevada, and there’s a Dickensian twist to this “Bonanza” episode titled “A Christmas Story.”

Christmas 1870: Chaja “Helena” Rubinstein is born in Krakow, Poland. She becomes a cosmetics tycoon.

Christmas 1875: “Young Tom Morris,” early golf legend and the son of an early golf legend, dies under mysterious circumstances in his native St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. He is only 24.

Christmas 1876: Muhammad Ali Jinnah is born in Karachi, British India. He becomes the founder of the nation of Pakistan.

Christmas 1878: Louis Chevrolet is born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. A pioneer of auto racing, he founded the car company that bears his name. Possibly also the source of Eartha Kitt’s request: “Santa baby, a ’54 convertible, too, light blue.”

Christmas 1884: Evelyn Nesbit is born in Tarentum, Pennsylvania. She became a popular Broadway actress after getting on the “casting couch” of architect Stanford White, and after marrying playboy Harry Thaw, saw Thaw murder White, resulting in “the Trial of the Century,” making her the most familiar woman in America thanks to the era’s “yellow journalism.” Her life was a disaster after that. Before her death in 1967, she said of the only man she truly loved, “Stanny White died. My fate was worse: I lived.”

Christmas 1887: Conrad Nicholson Hilton is born in Socorro County, New Mexico. Sadly, the hotel icon is now best known for his socialite great-granddaughters, Paris and Nicky.

Christmas 1890: Robert LeRoy Ripley is born in Santa Rosa, California. Yes, he was born on a Christmas Day – believe it or not!

Christmas 1899: Humphrey DeForest Bogart is born in Manhattan. Listen, sweetheart, if you don’t have a Merry Christmas, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.

Christmas 1902: Barton MacLane is born in Columbia, South Carolina. Like Bogie, he developed a reputation for playing tough guys.

Christmas 1905: Della Young has just $1.87 – about $34 in today’s money – not enough to buy a Christmas present for her husband Jim. She goes to a woman who buys hair, has her long hair cut, and receives $20, enough money to buy a platinum fob chain to go with the watch that Jim owns and loves. As it turns out, Jim sold the watch, and used the money to buy hair-care products for Della. This story was “The Gift of the Magi,” by William Sydney Porter, a.k.a. O. Henry.

Christmas 1907: Cabell Calloway III is born in Rochester, New York. “Minnie the Moocher” is not exactly a Christmas carol, but on December 25, Cab Calloway might’ve sung it, “Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho-ho-ho!”

Christmas 1908: Denis Charles Pratt was born in Sutton, Surrey, England. He was better known as the author Quentin Crisp.

Christmas 1912: Tony Martin is born in San Francisco. A singer and actor, and one of the few surviving entertainers of the 1930s, he starred on the Burns & Allen radio show, and married Alice Faye and Cyd Charisse. He and Charisse were married from 1948 until she died in 2008. He is 99 years old.

Christmas 1914: A truce is declared on the Western Front in World War I. Upon hearing the Germans sing Christmas carols in their trench, the British started to do so in theirs. Soon, they came out of their trenches, and stopped treating each other as enemies for a few hours, exchanging food, drinks, and trinkets. Legend has it that there was even a soccer game. Sorry, forgot to “speak English” there: A football match. The Germans supposedly beat the English, 3-2. The first time, but not the last, that Englishmen would be defeated by Germans at their national game; but, as Sir Alf Ramsey pointed out before the 1966 World Cup Final, twice, the English (well, the British, and their allies) would beat the Germans at their national game, and on their soil no less. Military historian Andrew Robertshaw says such a truce would have been unthinkable a year later. He said: "This was before the poisoned gas, before aerial bombardment. By the end of 1915, both sides were far too bitter for this to happen again."

Christmas 1924: Submitted for your approval: Rodman Edward Serling is born in Syracuse, New York. Rod Serling died in 1975, but he hopes you have a Merry Christmas. He sends you this greeting… from “The Twilight Zone.” (His opinion of the “Twilight Saga” books and films is unrecorded.)

Christmas 1926: Emperor Yoshihito of Japan dies. He is succeeded by his son, Emperor Hirohito.

Christmas 1927: Jacob Nelson Fox is born in St. Thomas, Pennsylvania. The diminutive but crafty Hall of Fame second baseman had his Number 2 retired by the Chicago White Sox, whom he led to a Pennant and with whom he won the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1959. Yankee pitching legend Whitey Ford called him the toughest out he ever faced.

Christmas 1935: Alvin Neill Jackson is born in Waco, Texas. Al Jackson was not the most accomplished, but was probably the best, player on the early New York Mets, winning 43 games with them from 1962 to 1969, although he was traded before they would win the World Series that last year. This, on top of being with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1959 and 1961, but stuck in the minors in the season in the middle, when they won the World Series. More hard luck? In 1962, for the Mets, he allowed a hit in the first inning and no-hit the Houston Colt .45s (Astros) the rest of the way. Heck of a way to almost pitch a no-hitter. (That’s as close as the Met franchise has ever come to having one.) At least he’s still alive, unlike Nellie Fox, who died of skin cancer in 1975.

Christmas 1937: O’Kelly Isley Jr. is born in Cincinnati. One of the singing Isley Brothers.

Christmas 1939: Ralphie Parker actually gets his Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass and this thing which tells time built right in to the stock. (This particular model does not exist in real life.) And doggone it if, but for the grace of God and his glasses, he doesn’t come near to shooting his eye out! The film is “A Christmas Story,” and Ralphie is played by Peter Billingsley.

Christmas 1944: Jair Ventura Filho is born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Known as Jairzinho, he starred with hometown club Botafogo and the Brazilian national soccer team, and won World Cups for his country in 1962 and 1970.

Christmas 1945: Billy Bailey, co-director of the Bailey Brothers Building & Loan, of Bedford Falls, New York, with his late brother Peter’s son George, loses $8,000 meant for the firm’s accounts. Unable to come up with the money, George runs into one awful occurrence after another, and wishes he’d never been born. An angel named Clarence Goodbody shows him what the world (or, at least, his home town) would have been like if that had been the case. George changes his mind, and finds that all the people he’d selflessly helped over the years have come to pay him back, to show him that, in the way that matters, he’s “the richest man in town.” The film is “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and George is played by James Stewart, Billy by Thomas Wilson, and Clarence by Henry Travers.

Christmas 1945 (in real life): Noel Redding is born in Folkestone, Kent, England. He was the guitarist for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Rick Berman is born in Manhattan. He become the keeper of the “Star Trek” flame after Gene Roddenberry died, until it was foolishly given to J.J. “Jar-Jar” Abrams. Ken Stabler is born in Foley, Alabama. “The Snake” quarterbacked the Oakland Raiders to victory in Super Bowl XI. Gary Sandy is born in Dayton, Ohio. Not far from Cincinnati, where he played radio station manager Andy Travis on “WKRP in Cincinnati” – not to be confused with country singer Randy Travis.

Christmas 1946: Legendary comedian W.C. Fields dies. He might have agreed with quirky singer Jimmy Buffett, born this same day in Pascagoula, Mississippi: “Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame.” Also born on this day, in Stow, Ohio, is football legend Larry Csonka. So is former baseball manager Gene Lamont, in Rockford, Illinois.

Christmas 1948: Barbara Ann Mandrell is born in Houston. She, and her singing sisters Louise and Irlene, were country when country wasn’t cool. And when it was.

Christmas 1949: Mary Elizabeth Spacek is born in Quitman, Texas. “Sissy” Spacek also sang country music, playing Loretta Lynn in the film version of Lynn’s memoir “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

Christmas 1950: Jesus Manuel Marcano Trillo is born in Caripito, Venezuela. A child born on December 25, and named Jesus? He’s better known as Manny Trillo, the second baseman of the 1980 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Unfortunately for all of humanity, Karl Christian Rove is born in Denver, and grows up to prove himself Christian, literally, in name only.

Christmas 1952: Captains Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce and B.J. Hunnicutt, Major Margaret Houlihan, and Father Francis Mulcahy are called away from Mulcahy’s party for the orphans at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Uijeongbu, Korea, to tend to a wounded soldier. The soldier has no chance, but when Margaret finds a picture of his family in his pocket, B.J. goes back to work, saying, “A family’s Christmas wreaths should be green, not black.” The patient dies at 11:25 PM. Hawkeye moves the clock ahead, so that the time of death will read 12:05 AM, December 26. Hawkeye was played by Alan Alda, B.J. by Mike Farrell (who also wrote and directed this episode of “M*A*S*H”), Margaret by Loretta Swit, and Mulcahy by William Christopher. Harry Morgan (who just died in real life) played the commanding officer, Colonel Sherman Potter… and Santa Claus.

Christmas 1952 (in real life): Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder is born in Georgetown, Guyana. She became the actress CCH Pounder. (Like the Yankees’ CC Sabathia, she does not use periods.)

Christmas 1954: Singer Johnny Ace shoots and kills himself backstage at a concert in Houston. He was allegedly playing Russian Roulette and had no intention of killing himself. But the world of music breaks even, as Annie Lennox is born in Aberdeen, Scotland. With Eurythmics and on her own, she is one of the world’s most beloved living singers.

Christmas 1955: Not having enough money to buy his wife Alice a proper Christmas present, Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden pawns his bowling ball. And on Christmas Eve, he finds Alice has given him a proper bag for his bowling ball. This “Honeymooners” episode, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” was based on “The Gift of the Magi.” Ralph was played by Jackie Gleason, Alice by Audrey Meadows.

Christmas 1958: Alannah Myles is born in Toronto. Essentially a one-hit wonder, the singer of “Black Velvet” has suffered nerve damage and can barely move now, but she still records. Someone born this day who moved a bit better was Hanford Dixon, born in Mobile Alabama. The All-Pro cornerback for the Cleveland Browns would bark like a dog at his teammates to get them psyched up, and fans in the bleachers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium would start barking along with him. Soon, he started calling that section the Dawg Pound, and they would respond by wearing dog masks and throwing dog biscuits. Someone born this day who moved even better still was Rickey Nelson Henley, born in Chicago. His mother remarried and took him to her husband's hometown of Oakland, California, and the boy was renamed Rickey Henley Henderson. A Baseball Hall-of-Famer and by far the all-time leader in stolen bases, Rickey is a legend. Just ask him.

Christmas 1960: Fired after arriving for work late and sloshed, department store Santa Henry Corwin wanders into an alley and finds a bag filled with gifts. The spirit of the holiday is one of the few bright spots in Henry's life, and as he begins handing out the gifts, he realizes the bag is able to produce any gift a recipient requests. After a brief jail stint that ends with Henry changing the mind of his mean, skeptical former boss, he continues handing out gifts until one of his giftees points out that Henry has taken nothing from the bag himself. All he wants? To continue playing Santa every year, a wish that's granted when he finds an elf with a reindeer-driven sleigh waiting to whisk him off to the North Pole. This was an episode of “The Twilight Zone,” titled “Night of the Meek.” Henry was played by Art Carney.

Christmas 1960: In Mayberry, North Carolina, department store owner and resident Scrooge Ben Weaver demands that Sheriff Andy Taylor lock up local moonshiner Jim Muggins. Muggins' family, as well as Andy's, gather to celebrate the holiday with Sam. After witnessing how Jim and Andy and their broods can turn the jailhouse stay into a warm, inviting celebration, Weaver gets himself arrested so he can be part of the fun, and he ends the holiday by getting a nip of Jim's hooch himself. This was the only Christmas episode of “The Andy Griffith Show,” and was titled “The Christmas Story.” Andy was played by Andy Griffith, Deputy (and substitute Santa Claus) Barney Fife by Don Knotts, Ben by Will Wright, and Jim by Sam Edwards.

Christmas 1968: The Apollo 8 astronauts become the first people of Earth to see the far side of the Moon. Also, Helena Christensen is born in Copenhagen, Denmark. She is one of the most heralded models of the last 20 years. Also, Jim Dowd is born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Growing up in neighboring Brick, he was the first New Jerseyan to play for the Devils, and remains the only New Jerseyan to have his name on the Stanley Cup, having scored a late winner in Game 2 of the 1995 Finals against the Detroit Red Wings.

Christmas 1969: Baby's First Christmas. Well, mine, anyway. Not that I knew it.

Christmas 1971: The longest game in NFL history was played. The Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 24-21, in the 2nd overtime of an AFC Divisional Playoff. It was also the Chiefs’ last game at Kansas City Municipal Stadium, before moving to Arrowhead Stadium. Also on this day, Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong is born in London. Best known for her song "Thank You" and her guest appearance in Eminem's video "Stan," Dido also sang one of the sexiest songs I've ever heard, "Who Makes You Feel." With her husband, Rohan Gavin, she had her first child, a son named Stanley, this past July. Also on this day, Justin Trudeau is born in Montreal to Canada's Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, and his wife Margaret. Two years later to the day, another son would be born to them, Alexandre Trudeau. Both brothers would become journalists, and Justin now serves in Parliament, as his father did before him.

Christmas 1975: Two very different Boston legends are born. Hideki Okajima is a Japanese-born pitcher for the Red Sox, who helped them win the 2007 World Series. And Rob Mariano is born in Canton, Massachusetts. "Boston Rob" continually wore a Red Sox cap while appearing on the CBS series "Survivor," and ended up marrying his season's winner, Amber Brkich. Together, they went on to compete on another CBS series, "The Amazing Race." They now have 2 children.

Christmas 1977: Charlie Chaplin dies. The most renowned of all silent-film actors is truly silenced.

Christmas, 1978: Bert doesn’t have enough money to buy a Christmas present for Ernie. So he sells his beloved paper-clip collection to Mr. Hooper, and uses the money to buy a soap dish for Ernie’s beloved Rubber Duckie. But Ernie doesn’t have enough money to buy a present for Bert, either, so he sells his Duckie to Mr. Hooper, and uses the money to buy a cigar box, perfect for storing Bert’s collection. Then Mr. Hooper comes over and gives them presents: Bert gets his paper clips back, Ernie gets his Duckie back, and the boys tell Mr. Hooper – who’s Jewish, and has been wished a Happy Hanukkah by Bob – that they’re sorry they didn’t get him anything. He tells the boys, “I got the best Christmas present ever: I got to see that everybody got exactly what they wanted.” Bert was a puppet operated by Frank Oz, Ernie by Muppets creator Jim Henson. Mr. Hooper was played by Will Lee, and Bob by Bob McGrath.

Christmas 1989: Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu is overthrown, in the latest chapter of the anti-Communist revolutions of Eastern Europe of that amazing year. He and his wife Elena are executed. Legendary Yankee manager Billy Martin is killed in a drunken-driving crash near his home in Johnson City, New York. Compared to them, the Wet Bandits, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern in the film "Home Alone," got off considerably easier, despite being tormented by Kevin McCallister, the child protector of the home they were invading in Shermer, Illinois. Kevin was played by Macaulay Culkin.

Christmas 1990: What would become known as the World Wide Web gets its first trial run.

Christmas 1991: Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union. He had become the opposite of “a man without a country”: He was, in effect, a one-man country. The next day, the Supreme Soviet dissolved, its last act being to dissolve the Soviet Union itself after 74 years.

Christmas 1994: Tim Taylor has to tell his son Randy, who wants to spend Christmas at a ski lodge with his friends, “Christmas isn’t about being with people you like! It’s about being with your family!” The show was “Home Improvement,” Tim was played by Tim Allen, and Randy by Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

Christmas 1995: Dean Martin dies.

Christmas 1996: JonBenet Ramsey is found murdered. Her killer has never been definitively identified.

Christmas 1997: Denver Pyle, best known as Uncle Jesse on “The Dukes of Hazzard,” dies.

Christmas 2006: James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, dies.

Christmas 2008: Eartha Kitt dies. The singer of “Santa Baby” and one of 3 women to play Catwoman on the 1960s “Batman” series apparently had used up her 9th life, but what a life it was.

Christmas 2011: May your days be merry and bright. God bless us, every one. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. Sleep in heavenly peace.

Who Are the Real Sportsmen of the Year? Part II

2011-12-23T09:22:00.007-05:00

From this point forward, all SOTY winners (SI's and mine) are still alive unless otherwise stated.

1970 Bobby Orr. It's hard to argue against the most popular hockey player of that time, especially since he led the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup and even scored the winning goal, despite getting tripped up by an opponent, still managing to raise his arms in victory. (That "Flying Goal" picture is one of the most famous in the history of the sport, and can be seen in Booth's office on Bones.) He won the Ross Trophy as leading scorer (as a defenseman!), the Norris Trophy as best defenseman, the Hart Trophy as regular-season Most Valuable Player, and the Smythe Trophy as Playoff MVP, and, as John Houseman would say, he got those trophies, and the Stanley Cup, the old-fashioned way: He earned them.

Orr wasn't just great, he was good: His acts of charity, including in business since his playing career ended far too soon due to injury, are as big a part of his legend as the way he forever changed the position of defenseman. And, though Canadian, he ignited hockey's popularity in America as no one before or since -- with the kind of boost from television that Frank Boucher, Eddie Shore, Maurice Richard and Gordie Howie were unable to provide. There are still many ice rinks in this country, and not just in the Bruins' native region of New England, that can legitimately be called Bobby Orr Rinks.

There are 3 other possible honorees, but I don't think I can put them ahead of Orr. Brooks Robinson, like Orr, redefined a position in a sport, in his case third base in baseball, with his defensive wizardry in the World Series, and his hitting was also a big reason why, unlike the year before, the Baltimore Orioles were able to win it. He, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Boog Powell and the rest redeemed themselves, big-time.

Willis Reed, though in incredible pain, captained the Knicks to their first NBA Championship. But with Red Holzman making such a big deal about how the Knicks were a team first, it made giving them individual awards problematic, no matter what Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere or Bill Bradley did on the court.

And then there was Pele. In 1966, it would never have occurred to SI to name England's captain Bobby Moore or its Final hat-trick hero Geoff Hurst their Sportsman of the Year. But 1970 was the first time the world really got to see the World Cup in blazing color. And what colors: Brazil's yellow, England's red, Italy's blue. The 1970 Brazil national team that won the Cup has often been hailed as the greatest team in soccer's history, and Pele as its greatest player, still at his best at this point. The photo of Pele and Moore, the greatest forward and the greatest defender in the sport, not just then but maybe ever, exchanging shirts after their group-stage game is every bit the classic as the one of Orr's Flying Goal.

But I guess SI wasn't ready for it. They'd rather name a white English-speaking Canadian winning a tournament in America in a sport that was already familiar to them, than name a black Portuguese-speaking Brazilian winning a tournament in Mexico in a sport that most Americans simply didn't get, even with the founding (if not yet the Pele-inspired rise) of the North American Soccer League in 1967. Had I been old enough to understand at the time (and not a baby), I probably also would have given it to Orr.

1971 Lee Trevino. The diminutive Dallasite won both the U.S. and the British Opens this year, at a time when Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were at their peaks, and did it with a felicidad de vivir (that's Spanish for joie de vivre) that made everybody like him. The first person of Spanish descent to be so honored by SI, he's one of the biggest money-winners and most popular people ever to be involved with golf.

But if you believe, as I do, that golf is not a sport, then we have to look elsewhere for an honoree. And I have one, another Hispanic: Roberto Clemente. Because Pittsburgh wasn't a big market, his achievements had often been overlooked. But when the Pirates won the Pennant, he set out to show everyone just what he could do in the World Series. He got a hit in every game, including hitting a home run in Game 7. (In fact, he also got a hit in every game of the seven-game 1960 Series. That's 14 World Series games in his career, and he got a hit in all of them. Top that.) With his intensity, his unwillingness to compromise (insisting upon being called Roberto instead of Bob or Bobby, although he let Pirate broadcaster Bob Prince keep calling him Bobby), his cannon of an arm, and his turning an awkward batting stance into 4 batting titles and 3,000 hits, he made people notice not just him, but Latin ballplayers, and the people of Puerto Rico in general.

Roberto should have been named Sportsman of the Year for 1971. It was his best year. Sadly, 1972 would be his last year.

1972 John Wooden and Billie Jean King. For the first time, SI had a split award. Also for the first time, they named a woman. Wooden led UCLA to a 7th National Championship, and didn't lose a game in the calendar year. But it was a lifetime achievement award (LAA): What made him more worth this time than in any of the 6 previous times? Look at the other years: Maybe Sandy Koufax was more deserving in '65, Carl Yastrzemski in '67, Bill Russell in '68, Tom Seaver in '69, or Orr in '70; but was Ken Venturi more deserving in '64, or Trevino in '71? If so, it wasn't by much. And it could be argued that, considering who the other champions of 1973 and '75 were, Wooden was more deserving in those years as well. (He died last year, a little short of his 100th birthday.)

But in the year in which Title IX was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Richard Nixon, Billie Jean was an easy choice. The first tennis player honored by SI, she won 3 of the 4 majors, all but the Australian Open. (No woman would win the Grand Slam until Steffi Graf in 1988.) But this wasn't just about her on-court achievements: Her activism led the tennis tournaments to give female competitors equal pay with male ones, and more than any human being, living or dead, she raised the profile of women's sports, and 1972 was a landmark year in that regard.

Oddly, she may have had an even greater contribution the next year: That such a spectacle as her "Battle of the Sexes" against Bobby Riggs (who really was once a great tennis player, winning Wimbledon and the U.S. Open... in 1939) was necessary is one of the great stupidities of a decade loaded with them. She rendered a repeat of such a thing unnecessary.

1973 Jackie Stewart. "The Flying Scot" was the child of an auto dealer and became a champion in Formula One racing, and SI's first SOTY honoree in any "motorsport." (They had, however, featured auto and boat racing from the very beginning of the magazine.) Prior to ABC Wide World of Sports broadcasting this staple of European sport, Americans knew Indy-car racing (such as in the Indianapolis 500) and stock-car racing (though we did not yet tend to refer to it by its "league name," NASCAR). Formula One was foreign. Very foreign, full of Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Brazilians. Like soccer.

But Stewart spoke English. He oozed love for his sport. He was personable. He was charismatic. And in his final season (he had announced his was retiring), he became a legend on this side of the Atlantic Ocean as well. He joined ABC to broadcast auto racing, and, along with Frazier, Joe Namath, Jimmy Connors and Reggie Jackson, was one of the top sports personalities in TV commercials in that era. In one commercial for Getty gas, he drove an F1 car up to a big gas guzzler and said that wasting gas "makes my Scottish blood run cold!" He became the most famous Scotsman in America, topping Canadian James Doohan's Montgomery Scott character from Star Trek.

No question he was a great champion, and a great personality. But is auto racing a sport? I say it isn't. But '73 was a tough year: "The Swingin' A's" were champions, but not exactly "sportsmen." George Foreman won the heavyweight title but, at the time, wasn't exactly considered photo- or telegenic. The Knicks won their 2nd NBA Championship, but it simply wasn't as great a story as it had been in 1970. Maybe if Hank Aaron had hit just 2 more home runs, to break the all-time record in spite of the vicious hate mail he got, instead of hitting Numbers 714 and 715 early the next season, he would have been named SOTY. He certainly was a deserving finalist.

And, of course, the Miami Dolphins began the year by completing their undefeated season, and continued their streak well into the following season. But Bob Griese, though a good quarterback, was colorless (the Dolphins' aqua and orange home jerseys notwithstanding). And their defense was known as "the No-Name Defense." (Totally unfair, especially now that Nick Buoniconti is in the Hall of Fame.) Head Coach Don Shula? He was honored by SI 20 years later, an obvious LAA. But he was never really all that interesting. But he should have been SOTY. After all, as he and the surviving members of that 1972-73 Dolphin team will tell us (especially now that the Green Bay Packers won't go 19-0 this season), they are the only undefeated champions in NFL history. (Not quite true, but they are the only ones since the NFL Championship Game, and its successor the Super Bowl, began in 1932.)

1974 Muhammad Ali. No argument. That year, he proved he was The Greatest. Aaron may have became baseball's all-time home run leader (and, for all honest men, he still is), but, barring an unforgivable crime, the new record was inevitable. Ali's knockout of Foreman to retake the heavyweight title was, at the time, truly shocking. (In retrospect, no, it wasn't.) As he had so many times earlier in his career, he predicted victory, and, well, as Dizzy Dean taught us, "If you can do it, it ain't braggin'." Ali told us, and he was right: "When you see this, you'll be shocked! You'll be laughin'! And you will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I am still... The Greatest... Of All Tiiiiiiiime!" He'll be 70 next month, and he still is The Greatest.

1975 Pete Rose. Yes, he captained (at least unofficially) the Cincinnati Reds to the World Championship, and won the World Series MVP. But, as we are now willing to see, even then he was no sportsman.

A better choice would have been Arthur Ashe, who not only became the first black man to win Wimbledon (Althea Gibson was the first black person to win it, in 1957), but delivered one of the most public early blows to the apartheid regime of South Africa. Ashe would receive the SOTY in 1992, a LAA, at the end of his lifetime. He deserved it at his peak.

1976 Chris Evert. The first tennis player, second woman, and first female sole-winner of the SOTY, she was also the youngest one yet: 22. She won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, after having won the French the previous 2 years. (It would take her until 1982 to win the Australian and complete "the career Grand Slam.")

I see no fault with this selection, although they could have gone even younger and selected Nadia Comaneci. But I guess America wasn't ready for SI to give SOTY to a 14-year-old from a Communist country. Even if she did go on to defect, marry an American, and settle in the U.S.

1977 Steve Cauthen. Chrissie's title as younger SOTY winner lasted just 1 year, as the 17-year-old Eclipse Award winner for Best Jockey was honored. He became known, borrowing the title of a popular TV show of that era, as the Six Million Dollar Man because he became the first jockey to win that much money in a year. Actually, right guy... wrong year.

I'm biased. This was the first year that I can really remember. And Reggie Jackson came to the Yankees for this year and became my man for all time. Sports star of the year? Even in retrospect, I'd say yes. But "sportsman" of the year? That's pushing it. How about Al McGuire? The longtime basketball coach at Milwaukee's Marquette University, having gotten to the National Championship Game in 1974 and lost to North Carolina State, won it this time, topping Dean Smith's North Carolina, and tearfully retired. He then began a second career broadcasting college hoops. The Far Rockaway native, and brother of 1950s Knicks legend Dick McGuire (Al also played for them but wasn't nearly as good as his brother), was one of the great personalities in the game's history. He was arguably the original "Dick Vitale." It was a sad day when he died.

1978 Jack Nicklaus. The Golden Bear won the British Open that year. That's it, just the 1 title. There had been 3 years in which he won 2, so what made this year any more special? Besides, while he remains the greatest performer his game has ever seen, golf is still a game -- not a sport.

This was the year they should have given it to Steve Cauthen. He won not one of his sport's majors, not two, but three. Aboard Affirmed, he won the Triple Crown of thoroughbred horse racing. There has never been another.

1979 Willie Stargell and Terry Bradshaw. No way to dispute this dual award. In the last year of a decade that saw either the Pirates or the Steelers make the Playoffs each year, and both of them 4 times, they both won their sport's World Championship. Bradshaw and the Steel Curtain won Super Bowl XIII in January, and were setting themselves up for SB XIV the following January, their 4th title in 6 years. Stargell had been with the Bucs on their '71 title, and by '79 he was the "Pops" of a team called "The Family." When the Pirates won the World Series in October, Pittsburgh began calling itself the City of Champions, and if you were going to argue, you had to face such black-and-gold badasses as Dave "Cobra" Parker, Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock, "Mean Joe" Greene, Jack Lambert and L.C. Greenwood -- the latter 2 so mean they didn't need no stinkin' nicknames. Sadly, Stargell has died.

1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. Do you dare question this one? What are you, a Communist? Coach Herb Brooks has died, but all 20 players remain alive.

1981 Sugar Ray Leonard. Unified the welterweight championship of the world by knocking out the undefeated Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns in the 14th round in Las Vegas, a fight that was very much a lower-division equivalent to the 1975 "Thrilla in Manila" between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. In a calendar year that saw championships won by such questionable personalities as the Oakland Raiders, Bobby Knight, the New York Islanders, the Boston Celtics, John McEnroe, and Tommy Lasorda, I can't dispute this one.

1982 Wayne Gretzky. In the 1981-82 season, Wayne Gretzky did to his sport what Wilt Chamberlain did to his in 1961-62 and Babe Ruth did to his in 1920: Rewrote the offensive record book. Although the Edmonton Oilers were not quite ready for prime time -- blowing a 5-0 lead in a Playoff game against the Los Angeles Kings, known as the Miracle On Manchester for the street the Forum is on -- there was no question at the time that Number 99 was class on and off the ice. That he sided with his fellow owners, not his former fellow players, in the 2004-05 NHL lockout is despicable, but it doesn't change what he did, on and off the ice, to promote the game.

1983 Mary Decker. In spite of the efforts of Wilma Rudolph, Wyomia Tyus, and a few Eastern Europeans that we now know had pharmaceutical help, Decker was the first female track-and-field performer to receive the honor. She won the 1,500 and 3,000 meters at the World Championships, the first time the event was held, in Helsinki, Finland. She had been unable to compete in the 1980 Olympics due to the U.S. boycott, but was a favorite to win Gold Medals at the 1984 Games. But it was not to be, in a race that was controversial even before it started, and more so afterward.

1984 Edwin Moses and Mary Lou Retton. Hard to argue with this dual entry. Moses won the Gold Medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1976 Olympics, missed the 1980 Games due to the boycott, and then won it again in 1984. From 1977 to 1987, 10 years, 122 straight races, he never lost. Retton became the first American, male or female, to win an all-around Gold Medal in an Olympic gymnastic tournament, and the most famous person, let alone athlete, from West Virginia since the State produced football's Sam Huff and basketball's Jerry West in the 1950s.

I suppose SI could've made it a mass entry, as they did in 1980. The Soviet boycott (obviously payback for '80) made it a considerably easier Olympics for the West in general and the U.S. (and West Germany) in particular, and some other Americans should be mentioned. Carl Lewis matched Jesse Owens' 1936 performance by winning Gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump and anchoring the 4-by-100 meter relay. A U.S. basketball team led by Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing won the Gold, and was hailed as the best amateur basketball team ever. It may still be, since by the time Jordan and Ewing competed again in 1992, with a few other guys you may have heard of, professionals were allowed. The U.S. men's gymnastic team won the all-around title, led by Peter Vidmar, Mitch Gaylord, and Bart Conner -- the last of them now better known as the husband of 1976 Olympic gymnastic wonderchild Nadia Comaneci.

And Jeff Blatnick had survived Hodgkin's disease and the removal of his spleen to become America's first-ever Gold Medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling. Interviewed after his victory, through tears of joy he yelled, "I'm a happy dude!" Is that phrase America in the 1980s, or what?

1985 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The former Lew Alcindor could have won in any number of years, but to be one of the top 5 players in the NBA at age 38, and to dominate the NBA Finals, clinching them against the Boston Celtics on the parquet floor of the Boston Garden, was something special. This was no LAA: This SOTY award was totally legit. There was a time when the Los Angeles Lakers were not known for overweening egos, criminality and cheating on the court, but, rather, for power and style, and this was it: Kareem, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, James Worthy, Michael Cooper, and so on.

1986 Joe Paterno. This isn't about what we now know about the football program at Pennsylvania State University. This is about what Joe Pa was thought to be at the time. Sure, he, his team, their uniforms and their style of play were blander than Pat Boone eating rice pudding. But they got the job done, and even a Rutgers fan like me enjoyed seeing them beat the thugs of the University of Miami in the Fiesta Bowl (albeit on January 2, 1987, after this award was already given) to win their 2nd National Championship.

The first happened in 1982, and there are those who argue they should have already been awarded them in 1969, 1970 and 1973. (And, later, in 1994.) So this looks like another LAA. But look who the other major champions of the year were. Egomaniacs and/or cheaters like the Mets, the Chicago Bears, the Boston Celtics, the World Cup winners of Argentina with Diego "Hand of God" Maradona, and Mike Tyson. Teams nearly as bland as Nittany, the Montreal Canadiens (hardly the flashy "Flying Frenchmen" of the 1950s, '60s and '70) and the University of Louisville. There was no Triple Crown winner in horse racing, and no Olympics. And while Nicklaus won the Masters at the shocking age of 46, I can't give Sportsman of the Year to a golfer, not even the greatest ever.

But I don't, even reluctantly, concede this one to JoePa. In 1986, Greg LeMond became the first American -- indeed, the first non-European -- to win cycling's greatest prize, the Tour de France. He was considered worthy of the SOTY in 1989, why not in 1986?

1987 Athletes Who Care. In a year with comparatively bland champions -- Phil Simms, the Minnesota Twins -- and with the Lakers' Kareem and the Oilers' Gretzky already past honorees -- SI went with charity:

* Bob Bourne of the Los Angeles Kings, formerly of the Islanders, who helped a handicapped children's school.
* Judi Brown King, a hurdler won won a Silver Medal at the 1984 Olympics, who helped abused children.
* Kipchoge "Kip" Keino, who won Gold Medals in track at the 1968 and '72 Olympics, who cared for orphaned children in his native Kenya (and is now head of that country's Olympic Committee, and was the first African native to win SI's SOTY).
* Dale Murphy, the Atlanta Braves' 2-time National League MVP and a majority charity fundraiser.
* Chip Rives, a college football player cited for helping needy children.
* Patty Sheehan, winner of 2 LPGA Championships (eventually winning 6 of women's golf's majors), who helped abused girls.
* Rory Sparrow, who came out of Paterson, New Jersey's famed-but-troubled Eastside High School to star for Villanova University and both New York-area NBA teams (he was with the Knicks at the time), who took his experience as an inner-city youth and helped those who came after him.
* And Reggie Williams, the Cincinnati Bengals linebacker who reached out to inner-city high schools, and was later elected to Cincinnati's City Council.

Nothing wrong with honoring any of those selections, all of whom are still alive and still involved with charity). But it is possible to select just one person for that year, and still fit the spirit in which SI made their selections. Magic Johnson led the Lakers to the NBA Championship, effectively moving them from being "Kareem's team" to being "Magic's team" that season (although Kareem, even at 40, was still rather effective), and being in the early stages of building his business empire. When conservatives talk about the super-rich being "investors" and "job creators," they don't think of Magic. But they should. As Magic said of Jordan, "If Michael did what I'm doing, he really would own the world."

1988 Orel Hershiser. So much has been made out of one swing from Kirk Gibson that it's easy to forget that the biggest reason the Los Angeles Dodgers even got to that year's World Series (still their last) was the Big O. (Not to be confused with another legendary athlete, Oscar Roberts. Or singers Roy Orbison and Otis Redding, for that matter.) His 59 straight scoreless innings, breaking the record of another Dodger pitching legend, Don Drysdale (who gave his emphatic approval), sparked a team that really didn't have much offense besides Gibson (who did win the NL MVP that year) to a surprising Pennant. Orel won Games 2 and 5 (the clincher) of the Series, won the Series MVP, and has always been class on and off the field. This was a good selection.

1989 Greg LeMond. The difference between this year and '86 is that LeMond had come back from cancer to win the Tour de France. And, unlike Lance Armstrong a decade later, there is no serious charge that he did so illicitly. He would win a 3rd TdF.

But if I give it to LeMond for '86, I can't give it to him again for '89. So I give it to Joe Montana, who, at this point, was probably the greatest any quarterback has even been, and as for the numbers of a Dan Marino, or a Tom Brady, or what Drew Brees is now doing, as impressive as those numbers are, well, as Charlie Brown would say, "Tell your statistics to shut up."

1990 Joe Montana. Totally understandable that SI would honor him for this year, just as it would have been for the year before. But if I honor him for '89, I can't do it again for '90. So I'm going with an oddball pick: Lou Piniella. He took the Reds from the disaster that Rose had left them with, and not only controlled his "Eurptions of Mount Lou," but was calmer than Rose had been as manager, and took an unheralded team to upset wins over the Dodgers in the NL West, the Pirates in the NL Championship Series, and a sweep of the McGwire/Canseco/Stewart/Welch/Eckersley "Bash Brothers" A's in the World Series. Louuuuuuuu!

I'll probably get to Part III after Christmas.

Who Are the Real Sportsmen of the Year? Part I

2011-12-22T09:13:00.003-05:00

Sports Illustrated magazine names a Sportsman of the Year every December. Sometimes it's a tie: Sportsmen. Sometimes it's a Sportswoman. On a few occasions, it's been a Sportsman and Sportswoman.

This was the case this year: Mike Krzyzewski, the head coach of the men's basketball team at Duke University in North Carolina; and Pat Summitt, the head coach of the women's basketball team at the University of Tennessee.

Coach K's Blue Devils lost in the Regional Semifinal (a.k.a. the Sweet Sixteen) of the Men's NCAA Tournament. Coach Summitt's Volunteers (a.k.a. the Lady Vols) lost in the Regional Final (a.k.a. the Elite Eight) of the Women's NCAA Tournament.

So why were they given this prestigious honor -- which, unlike the Person of the Year awarded by SI's parent magazine, Time, is not for the person who most affected the news, but a genuine expression of appreciation?

Coach K -- who, for some reason, pronounces his name not by starting with a K, "Kruh-SHEV-skee," like it should be, but "Shuh-SHEV-skee" -- has won 4 National Championships, and last season surpassed Bobby Knight, to whom he was once an assistant, to become the all-time leader in wins by a college men's head basketball coach. As of this morning, he has won 910 games. So he did have an achievement worth mentioning this calendar year.

Coach Summitt, whose 8 National Championships trail only the late UCLA men's coach John Wooden with 10, was already the women's leader in the same category -- indeed, she leads all college basketball coaches, regardless of gender, with 1,080 wins as of her most recent contest. This year, she announced that she had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, Alzheimer's type. She still plans to coach through the end of this season, at least. On occasion, SI has awarded Sports(person(s)) of the Year for bravery as much as for achievement.

But, essentially, these are lifetime achievement awards. Both Krzyzewski and Summitt have had, competitively speaking, better years. And there were other deserving candidates.

SI has done this before. Since their founding in 1954, they have given out a Sportsman of the Year award every year, and not always to the right person -- and sometimes, not for the right reason.

Here's their list, and here's who I would have chosen, if not SI's choice.

1954 Roger Bannister. As great as Willie Mays, Otto Graham and Tom Gola were in that first year of SI, SI got this one right. The four-minute mile was seen as a tremendous barrier. A Swedish runner named Gunder Hagg had run the mile in 4 minutes, 1.4 seconds in 1945, and that record had stood for 9 years, and people were thinking that the 4-minute barrier would never be broken. There were even scientists who thought that, if it was broken, the strain on the man who did it would be such that he would die.

But Bannister, a medical student at England's University of Oxford (usually written as "Oxford University"), knew from his studies of both medicine and athletics that it was possible, and he did it in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. His record was broken a few weeks later by Australian runner John Landy, but then, at the British Empire Games (now the Commonwealth Games) in Vancouver, Bannister, while not reclaiming the record, beat Landy. He then retired, becoming a neurologist rather than compete in the 1956 Olympics. (He'd finished 4th in the 1500 meters in the 1952 Games.) Sir Roger is now retired from medicine, although he still lectures. The record is now 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds, set in 1999 by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco.

1955 Johnny Podres. Podres was the pitcher who made the difference for the Brooklyn Dodgers in finally winning a World Series on the team's 8th try -- the last 5 defeats coming at the hands of the Yankees, whom they finally beat. But was he really more deserving than Otto Graham, who came out of retirement to quarterback the Cleveland Browns to another NFL Championship, then retired at the top of his game again? I don't think so. Podres and Graham are both dead.

1956 Bobby Morrow. An American runner who won 3 Gold Medals at the Olympics, I had to look up his name to find out who he was. The real Sportsman of the Year was Bill Russell, who led the basketball team at University of San Francisco to a 2nd straight National Championship and the longest winning streak the sport had yet seen (later broken by Wooden's UCLA in 1971-74), and then led the U.S. team to the Olympic Gold Medal, before revolutionizing the pro game with the Boston Celtics (although the bulk of that happened after this calendar year). Morrow was a white man from Texas. Russell was a black man born in Louisiana (though living his "formative years" in Oakland, California). Gee, I wonder why SI made the choice they made. Both Morrow and Russell are still alive.

1957 Stan Musial. You'll never get me to say an unkind word about Stan the Man, but this was SI's first lifetime achievement award (hereafter abbreivated as LAA). Truly, Stan's best years were before SI began publishing.

How about Maurice Richard? In the spring, the Rocket led the Montreal Canadiens to yet another Stanley Cup. In the fall, he scored the 500th goal of his career, at a time when only 3 other players even had 300. True, it would have been a LAA for him as much as for Stan, but he did win a championship, something Stan hadn't done since 1946. (The Rocket also won one that year.) The Man is still alive, but the Rocket is dead.

1958 Rafer Johnson. The UCLA student set a world record in the decathlon, 2 years after winning an Olympic Silver Medal and 2 years before winning a Gold with another record. SI names its first black SOTY. No argument here. He is still alive.

1959 Ingemar Johansson. The Swede knocked out
Floyd Patterson at Yankee Stadium to take the heavyweight championship of the world. Funny, but when Floyd knocked Ingo out at the Polo Grounds the next year to become the first man to reclaim that title (many had tried), SI did not name him Sportsman of the Year. Again, the honoree was white, and the man who got gypped was black. Anyway, Ingo, who is dead, remains the last white man and the last native of the continent of Europe to be an undisputed heavyweight champion. (Then again, when was the last time we had an undisputed one of any race, of any continent? Lennox Lewis, in 2004, a black man from Britain, a nation that likes to remind us that, technically, they are not "in Europe.")

Anyway, I can't think of a SOTY choice appreciably better than Ingo, although Johnny Unitas (NFL Champion Baltimore Colts) and Darrell Imhoff (NCAA basketball champion California) are possibilities.

1960 Arnold Palmer. If you presume that golf is a sport, Arnie was a very good choice: He won the Masters and the U.S. Open, and was the leading money-winner on the PGA Tour. If, like me, you do not think golf is a real sport, then it could be Patterson. It could also be the man who was chosen the next year. Arnie is still alive, Floyd is dead.

1961 Jerry Lucas. The Ohio State forward was hailed as a "scholar-athlete," and that was no joke: He remains one of the most celebrated intellectuals in sports history, a master of memory who has created a correspondence course to help people expand their own memory skills. He led Ohio State to the National Championship the year before, dethroning Imhoff and Cal, but in '61 the Buckeyes lost in the Final to the University of Cincinnati. This result would be repeated in '62, as Lucas and fellow future Hall-of-Famer John Havlicek completed their college careers.

There's no question Lucas was deserving, but was he the most deserving? Admittedly, single-season home run record breaker Roger Maris was not much of a "sportsman," but his achievement, so much derided by the sports media of the time, has only grown in impressiveness in the half-century since. Lucas is still alive, Maris is dead.

1962 Terry Baker. The most celebrated lefthanded quarterback of his time, the Oregon State signal-caller was, like Lucas, hailed as a scholar-athlete. While he did win the Heisman Trophy and lead his school to a very successful season, they did not win their conference (the league now known as the Pac-12). His pro career was a bust: The Los Angeles Rams drafted him despite already having Roman Gabriel, and barely played. Although his degree was in mechanical engineering, he went to law school, and practiced law until retiring. He is still alive. A good choice for Sportsman of the Year, if not the best one.

I can understand why they didn't select Mickey Mantle of the World Champion Yankees: He wasn't exactly a good interview, and wasn't always a class act. But what about Russell? He led the Celtics to another title. What about Wilt Chamberlain? He only had the greatest season, individually speaking, that any basketball player is ever likely to have. What about Maury Wills, who made baseball fans rediscover the stolen base? What about Frank Mahovlich, who brought the Toronto Maple Leafs back to the Stanley Cup? Since SI (with one exception) has never given this award out twice, I'm not going to give it to Russell a 2nd time. I'm giving it to Wilt. He's dead, Baker is still alive.

1963 Pete Rozelle. This was the first time SI gave it to a non-athlete. Consider the challenges he faced, when just 37 years old and in his 4th season as NFL Commissioner: The League's expansion, the bidding war for players with the AFL, the Paul Hornung and Alex Karras gambling scandals, and the decision, with very little time to make it, to play games 48 hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Whether the decision was right or wrong (and he later decided it was wrong), Rozelle was an incredibly consequential figure in this year, and, if it was a mistake, he still found a way to make it with class. SI got this one right. Rozelle is dead.

1964 Ken Venturi. He had come back from a car crash to win the U.S. Open. So his selection was understandable. But was he a better selection than Olympic heroes like Don Schollander, Dawn Fraser, Wyomia Tyus? World Series star Bob Gibson? Jim Brown, the best football player of his time (perhaps all time), who won his only NFL Championship that season? Mahovlich, who won his 3rd straight Stanley Cup? At any rate, like Bill Walton, Venturi overcame a youthful stutter to become a broadcaster in his sport. He is still alive.

1965 Sandy Koufax. No argument here. Koufax is still alive.

1966 Jim Ryun. He set the record in the mile run, and held it for 9 years. A year later, he would set the record in the 1,500 meters. His career as a right-wing Republican Congressman from Kansas should not obscure his athletic achievements.

But was he the sportsman of the year, capitalized or otherwise? Frank Robinson singlehandedly turned the Baltimore Orioles from pretenders to first-time Pennant winners and World Champions, winning the Triple Crown and becoming the first man to win baseball Most Valuable Player awards in both leagues. Don Haskins coached Texas Western University (soon to become the University of Texas at El Paso, or UTEP) to the National Championship with an all-black starting lineup, defeating the all-white Kentucky. Bobby Hull became the first hockey player to score more than 50 goals in a season, breaking the record held by Maurice Richard and his former Montreal Canadien teammate Bernie "Boom-Boom" Geoffrion. I'd have chosen Robinson first, Haskins second, Ryan third, Hull fourth. Ryan, Robinson and Hull are still alive, Haskins is dead.

1967 Carl Yastrzemski. The last man to win baseball's Triple Crown, he led the Boston Red Sox to their "Impossible Dream" Pennant. Wilt Chamberlain, who led the Philadelphia 76ers to their (and his) first NBA title, could have been selected. So could John Wooden, or his star center Lew Alcindor (who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972), who led UCLA to an undefeated National Championship. Then there was the star of college football's National Championship, O.J. Simpson of the University of Southern California. (Okay, but we didn't know what he would do in 1994.) If they'd chosen after New Year's Eve, when Vince Lombardi coached the Green Bay Packers to the NFL Championship in the Ice Bowl, maybe they would have thought differently.

But Yaz seemed such an inspirational figure that I'm going to say that SI got it right. Yaz, Lew/Kareem and O.J. are still alive; Wilt, Wooden and Lombardi are dead.

1968 Bill Russell. SI finally selects him, for becoming the first black head coach to win a World Championship in any sport, unless you count Fritz Pollard of the 1920 Akron Pros in the NFL's first season (when it was still, more or less, a semipro league). As we discovered in the 1970s and '80s, Russell wasn't much of a coach when he didn't have Bill Russell as a player. He is still alive.

1969 Tom Seaver. In spite of a 3rd straight title by Wooden and Alcindor/Abdul-Jabbar (they went 88-2 over that span), Seaver was "The Franchise" for the Miracle Mets. Certainly, he was a more sellable star to conservative sports fans than Joe Namath, the star of that other New York sports team to win a World Championship in that calendar year. (The Knicks won their first title the following year.) Seaver is still alive.

Part II will follow tomorrow.

Top 10 Washed-Up New York Sports Acquisitions

2011-12-19T12:11:00.009-05:00

The New York Knicks have signed Baron Davis. Up until 2008, it would have been a great pickup. Now? He's injury-prone, and "an old 32."

Typical Knicks, getting a player after he's washed-up. Also typical Mets. Also typical Rangers.

Top 10 Washed-Up New York Sports Acquisitions

Note that I am not including returning players such as Roger Clemens and Mark Messier, who were great the first time around but awful when they came back. I'm also not going to include Vinny Testaverde, who came to the Jets at age 35 and had 3 very good seasons for them thereafter. Nor LaDainian Tomlinson, who rushed for over 900 yards for the Jets last year; he may be just about done now, but I still think it was a smart pickup.

I'm also not going to include Tom Glavine. He had his difficulties with the Mets, but he did win 15 games in 2006 and 13 in '07, even if he is remembered for his last game -- actually, inning -- in a Met uniform. The truth is, if the Mets had won just one more game in the '07 season, Glavine would have pitched for them in the Playoffs.

Nor can I include Randy Johnson with the Yankees. He was a bust in his 2 postseasons with them, but he won 17 games in each season, and they wouldn't have reached the postseason without him. Nor will I include Eddie Murray with the Mets: As bad as they were in the 1992 and '93 seasons, he had 93 and 100 RBIs in those years; he may not have been part of the solution, but, clearly, neither was he part of the problem.

10. Mickey Lolich. From 1964 to 1972, "the original portly portsider" (he was 230, svelte compared to David Wells and CC Sabathia) was one of the best pitchers in baseball, helping the Detroit Tigers win the 1968 World Series and the 1972 American League Eastern Division title, and took the AL Cy Young Award in 1971. In 1975, he surpassed Warren Spahn to become the all-time leader in strikeouts by a lefthanded pitcher. Unfortunately, by this point, he was 35 and no longer as effective, and the Tigers' aging roster couldn't be blamed for all of it. But the Mets took a chance, sending Rusty Staub to Detroit for Lolich.

In retrospect, it might not have been so bad a trade: His ERA was 3.32, his ERA+ was 102, and his WHIP was 1.225, hardly bad figures (even if he, himself, had a "bad figure"). But he went 8-13 for a Met team that finished 3rd. Frankly, the Mets could really have used Rusty's bat. Frustrated, he retired. After sitting out 1977, he pitched 2 more years for the Padres and hung 'em up for good. He's not quite at Hall of Fame level, but he did win 217 games, and his 2,832 strikeouts are still 3rd all-time among lefthanders, and, now that Bert Blyleven is finally in, he's 1st among pitchers eligible for the Hall but not in.

9. Glenn "Chico" Resch, Devils. From 1975 to 1981, he was a viable backup goaltender to Hall-of-Famer Billy Smith on the rising New York Islanders, winning a Stanley Cup ring. Late in the '81 season he was traded to the Colorado Rockies, who became the New Jersey Devils for the 1982-83 season. (And are not to be confused with the baseball team of the same name, established in Denver in 1993.) In 1982 (Rockies) and '84 (Devils), Chico led all NHL goalies in losses, and lost even more in '83 despite it not being enough to lead the League. To put it politely, there was a reason why he was a backup, and it wasn't because Billy Smith was great.

In 1986, the Devils traded Chico to the Philadelphia Flyers, and he soon retired. Today, we know him as a beloved broadcaster for the Mulberry Street Marauders. But as a player, hoo, boy!

In fact, those original Devils had several former Rangers and Islanders, in a vain attempt to bring fans of those teams into the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford: Carol Vadnais, Bob MacMillan, Garry Howatt, Bob Lorimer, Hector Marini, Yvon Vautour. The best of them was Steve Tambellini, a 24-year-old center who scored 25 goals... so, naturally, they traded him in the off-season. And now you know why, shortly thereafter, Wayne Gretzky called them "a Mickey Mouse organization."

8. Jacques Plante, Rangers. From 1955 to 1963, the Montreal Canadiens' netminder was the best goalie in the NHL. Then the Rangers traded Lorne "Gump" Worsley for him, in a "my headache for your headache trade." Worsley, who wanted out of the old Madison Square Garden really badly, became a Hall-of-Famer in Montreal, while Plante allowed more goals than any player in the League in 1963-64. It was his last season as a full-time starter, although he still played regularly in the NHL until 1973.

The Rangers also picked up a pair of Plante's Montreal teammates too late, Bernie "Boom-Boom" Geoffrion and Doug Harvey, although Harvey did have something left when the Rangers got him.

7. Antonio McDyess, Knicks. From 1996 to 2001, with the Denver Nuggets, he was one of the best forwards in the NBA. Then he started getting hurt, making him "washed-up" even if he wasn't "old." The Knicks got him for the 2003-04 season, when the warning signs were already there. He was a Knick for 18 games, averaging 8.4 points per game, about half what he'd been averaging to that point. They dumped him off to the Phoenix Suns, and while he's still playing (age 36), he's never been the same.

6. Vince Coleman, Mets. Unlike Eddie Murray, he played for the 1992 and '93 (and '91) Mets and was very much part of the problem. Though just 29 when they got him, injuries left him a shell of the man who'd stolen 551 stolen bases the preceding 6 years. His batting average dropped from .292 to .255, and his steals from 77 to 37. He improved only slightly for the last 2 years, and wasn't just an overpaid bust, but a disciplinary problem. He played just 4 more seasons and played his last game at age 35.

5. Frank Tanana, Mets. Unlike some on the 1993 Mets, Tanana's problems were not disciplinary; he was just done. The former workhorse lefty for the Angels had won 13 games for his hometown Tigers in each of the preceding 2 seasons, but the Mets apparently didn't notice that his ERA had risen from 3.77 to 4.39 in that span. He was 39, and had won 233 games before coming to Flushing Meadow. He went 7-15 for that awful team, with a 4.35 ERA (so it wasn't all the fault of shoddy defense and weak offense), became one of the few players ever to be involved in a trade between the New York teams, pitched 3 games for the Yankees, losing 2, and called it a career.

Fast facts with which you can amaze your friends: Tanana and Rick Reuschel are the 2 pitchers who gave up one at least of Hank Aaron's 755 home runs and at least one of Barry Bonds' 762.

4. Brett Favre, Jets. After 16 years with the Green Bay Packers, during which he won a Super Bowl and put himself in position to hold many career records for quarterbacks, Favre retired. Then he unretired and signed with the Jets for the 2008 season, age 39. He led the Jets to an 8-3 record. He appeared to have been the second coming of Y.A. Tittle, who came to the Giants at age 35 and led them to 3 straight NFL Championship Games; and, while they didn't win any of them, it was hardly his fault.

But then Favre lost 4 of the last 5, including a 24-17 defeat at home to the Miami Dolphins, ending the season at 9-7 and missing the Playoffs. Favre retired again, and just like that, all those FAVRE 4 jerseys that the Jets had sold become not collector's items, but reminders of how they wasted a season on a legend-turned-bum. Of course, Favre didn't stay retired this time, either: He played 2 more years for the Minnesota Vikings, neither of them satisfying. And Favre's "retirement" from the Jets did lead the team to draft Mark Sanchez, which may well work out.

3. Mo Vaughn, Mets. From 1992 to 2000, Mo was one of the best hitters in baseball, first for the Boston Red Sox, then for the Anaheim Angels. But he missed the entire 2001 season due to injury, and even when he had played, he was considered moody by his Angel teammates. The club was happy to dump him off to the Mets for Kevin Appier. He was 34, and should have had a few good years left.

Instead, his already problematic weight rose to above his batting average (.259), he couldn't field anymore, and he was never an effective player again. He lasted just 2 years with the Mets, and retired. He might have been on a Hall of Fame path; now, he wouldn't get in even if we didn't know he was a steroid user. Ironically, he left the Angels because he didn't think they were committed to winning, while he thought the Mets were; the Mets then entered a brief period of mediocrity, while the Angels, the year after trading Mo, won their only Pennant and World Series.

2. Roberto Alomar, Mets. Came in the same off-season as Vaughn, and was an even bigger bust -- certainly not fatter, but bigger. He'd been an All-Star for 4 different teams: The San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians. He'd batted at least .295 for all of them, won a Gold Glove with the latter 3, reached the postseason with the latter 3 (including rings with the 1992 and '93 Jays), and had reached 100 RBIs in 2 of his last 3 seasons. He, too, was 34, and should have had about 5 good years left.

His batting average dropped 70 points in just 1 season. That's not a misprint: Seventy. .336 to .266. His OPS+ went from 150 to 89, his homers from 20 to 11, and his RBIs from 100 to 53 -- nearly half. True, Jacobs Field in Cleveland is a hitters' park and Shea Stadium was a pitchers' park, but OPS+ does take "park factor" into account, and he wasn't hurt, playing 149 games. He got the living hell booed out of him by the Flushing faithful, and when he was traded the next mid-season for 3 nonentities, it was seen as a "Free At Last" moment.

He lasted only another year, and I genuinely believed that Roberto Alomar had become the only player ever to play his way out of the Hall of Fame, without the viable explanation -- barring evidence to the contrary -- of injury, illness, substance abuse, disciplinary issues (like Dick Allen or Denny McLain, although McLain was also hurt), or personal problems. However, Alomar has been elected to the Hall of Fame, the first ever to go in wearing a Blue Jays cap. With this in mind, the Jays made him their first-ever retired number, 12. Suffice it to say that 12 will not be retired for him on the Mets, and while Vaughn was the last Met to wear 42, it remains retired, for all of baseball, for Jackie Robinson. (The St. Louis Cardinals have also retired it for Bruce Sutter, and the Yankees will do so for Mariano Rivera.)

1. Collectively, the early Mets. Like the Devils a generation later, the original Mets snapped up as many ex-Yankees, ex-Giants and ex-Dodgers as they could get, in order to bring in fans with fond memories of such men.

Gene Woodling, who'd won 5 straight World Series as a Yankee left fielder, wasn't so bad, hitting .274; but he was 39 and could no longer run well enough to play the field.

Yogi Berra, after being fired as Yankee manager after the 1964 season, was signed as one of Casey Stengel's coaches on the 1965 Mets, and even played a few games, but it was obvious he was past it.

Don Zimmer, who'd helped the Dodgers win the 1955 World Series as a rookie, seemed like a good choice, having played well for the Chicago Cubs the year before; but he batted just .077 in 14 games and was traded to his hometown team, the Cincinnati Reds, and while he still had a bad year, he shook it off and played 3 more reasonably good seasons.

Joe Pignatano, a Brooklyn native, played for the Dodgers in their last season in the Borough, 1957, and with Roy Campanella's paralysis he stepped up to be a decent backup to John Roseboro for a while, including the 1959 World Championship; but as a Met, well, let's just say that, as a catcher, he made a good first base coach and minor-league manager, which is what he was when I first saw him in the late 1970s. As a player, 1962 was his last season, and, in his last at-bat, he grounded into a triple play. That sounds like a joke, or an apocryphal story, the kind people make up about the early Mets or the 1930s Dodger "Daffiness Boys," but it's absolutely true.

Roger Craig, who pitched on the Dodgers' 1955 (Brooklyn) and 1959 (Los Angeles) titlists, was 32 and should've had 5 or 6 good years left, but went 10-24 and 5-22 in the Mets' first 2 years. To be fair, his ERA+ was 92 each year, so, while he was substandard, he wasn't as awful as his record suggests. A story which MAY be apocryphal says that manager Casey Stengel walked out to the mound to talk to him, and he said, "I'm doin' the best I can, Skip, what else can I do?" and Casey said, "You could strike them out. Don't you know we can't handle grounders?" The Mets traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals for 1964, and he helped them win the World Series. As did Ray Sadecki, who would later pitch reasonably well for a more mature Met squad.

Charlie Neal started out in Brooklyn, and, by the standards of the 1962 Mets, was a very good player. But in '63 he seemed to get old overnight, even though he was just 32: His batting average went from .260 to .211, he was traded to the Reds, and retired at the end of the season.

Clem Labine was a mainstay of the 1950s Dodgers, one of the players immortalized in Roger Kahn's book The Boys of Summer. He also helped the Pittsburgh Pirates win the 1960 World Series, making him one of the few pitchers ever to beat the Yankees in 2 World Series (also 1955). He was 35 in 1962, so he should have been able to help the Mets. Nothing doing: He pitched in 3 games, faced 19 batters, allowed 5 hits and 6 runs ("only" 5 earned). He never pitched in the majors again.

Then there was Duke Snider. Injuries had taken their toll on the former Duke of Flatbush, but he was still capable of belting a few homers for the Dodgers despite playing in the fledgling Dodger Stadium in 1962. The Mets got him for the next season, and he did hit 14 homers for them, pushing his career total to over 400. But at 36, he didn't have much left.

But the saddest story might have been Gil Hodges. At 38, a truly beloved member of the Boys of Summer (he'd married Joan Lombardi, a Brooklyn girl, and kept his home in the Borough even after the move), he'd hit 361 home runs, 10th all-time at that point. But injuries limited him to 167 plate appearances over 1962 and '63. He would, of course, manage the Mets to their 1969 "Miracle," but die of a heart attack just before the 1972 season, right before his 48th birthday.

In comparison, former Philadelphia Phillies star Richie Ashburn, 35 in the Mets' first season, was still a capable player. In fact, he was named team MVP. But he retired at the end of the season anyway, claiming he didn't want to be "the most valuable player of the worst team in history."

MLB Promotion & Relegation 2011

2011-12-14T10:29:00.003-05:00

Promotion and relegation, which is done in foreign soccer leagues (but not in North America's "Major League Soccer"), couldn't be done in the U.S. Not because of the vast distances involved (the Jet Age renders that a bad argument), but because of the ties of minor league baseball, basketball and hockey teams to major league clubs, as part of their "farm systems."

But if it was done, here would be the relegations and promotions for Major League Baseball for the 2011-12 off-season:

American League East: Relegated, Baltimore Orioles; Promoted, Patwucket Red Sox. As bad as their parent club finished this year, the Triple-A team, outside Providence, gives their fans some hope for the near future.

American League Central: Relegated, Minnesota Twins, after winning the Division 6 of the preceding 9 years. Promoted, Omaha Storm Chasers, formerly the Omaha Royals of the American Association, now Champions of... the Pacific Coast League? Since when is Nebraska on the Pacific Coast? Apparently, since the American Association folded and its teams were merged into the PCL.

American League West: Relegated, Seattle Mariners; Promoted, Sacramento River Cats.

National League East: Relegated, Florida (now Miami) Marlins; Promoted, Durham Bulls.

National League Central: Relegated, Houston Astros. Promoted, Columbus Clippers, former top farm team of the Yankees, now (much better geographically) of the Cleveland Indians. They won this year's Pennant in the International League.

National League West: Relegated, San Diego Padres. Promoted, Round Rock Express, the team outside Austin, Texas, owned by Nolan Ryan and two of his sons (and sort-of named for Nolan).

Of the 7 teams to finish first in a Division of a Triple-A league, the Reno Aces had the lowest winning percentage, and are thus the odd team out, for that reason, rather than for geographic reasons. I suppose a Playoff between the 6th and 7th seeds could be held -- or, perhaps, one-game Playoffs between 4th and 7th, and 5th and 6th, and the winner would then be the new 4th seed.

Ryan for Fregosi: 40 Years Later

2011-12-10T21:38:00.003-05:00

This is an update of an article I've posted before. I'm doing it today because it's the anniversary.

December 10, 1971, 40 years ago today: The New York Mets trade four players to the California Angels for shortstop Jim Fregosi.

At this point, there was nothing wrong with wanting a healthy Jim Fregosi on your team. He would be just 30 years old on Opening Day 1972, had been an American League All-Star 6 times, won a Gold Glove in 1967, and until slumping to 89 in 1971, had never had an OPS+ (on-base percentage + slugging percentage, in relation to the league average) lower than 108 in his first 8 full seasons in the majors, peaking at 141 in 1964.

His highest batting average had been .290, in 1967; peak home runs, 22, and peak runs batted in, 82, both in 1970. In 1968, he led the AL in triples with 13. The franchise was just 11 seasons old at that point, but Fregosi was, without a doubt, the greatest player the Angels had yet had.

Certainly, Fregosi was a better player than the Mets' incumbent starting shortstop, Derrel McKinley "Bud" Harrelson. Although Harrelson had helped the Mets win the 1969 World Series, and had won the '71 season's National League Gold Glove for shortstops and was selected for the last 2 All-Star Games, Harrelson couldn't hit a lick. His highest single-season OPS+ was 82, well below Fregosi's slump season. His peak batting average thus far was .254, and he would top that only twice; his peak RBI year was 42, and his peak home run year was... 1 -- in each case, it would remain so.

Clearly, what the Mets needed to do was make Harrelson a backup, a "defensive replacement." Or maybe the Mets could move him to third base, where 1969 starter Wayne Garrett had badly tailed off, and incumbent starter Bob Aspromonte was at the end of the line. (Bob was a Brooklyn native, now best known as the last active player who had played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was also the brother of the somewhat better Ken Aspromonte.)

Instead, the Mets kept Harrelson at short, and moved Fregosi to third. At first, it seemed to work, but then Fregosi got hurt, finished the season with only 32 RBIs and an OPS+ of just 89, and was never the same again. His 382 plate appareances that season would be far and away more than he'd ever have again.

Between the ages of 21 and 28, Jim Fregosi was, statistically speaking, similar to Alan Trammell, the longtime Detroit Tiger shortstop who is maybe one step short of being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (and would be in, as would his double-play partner Lou Whitaker, if they could go in as a unit, like the Chicago Cubs' early 20th Century combo "Tinker to Evers to Chance"). But between the ages of 29 and 36, Fregosi was just another broken-down player.

At 36, in 1978, the Angels fired manager Dave Garcia, and asked Fregosi, then playing out the string with the Pittsburgh Pirates, to come back; he instantly accepted the job, retired as a player, and in 1979, his first full season on the job, led the Angels to the AL Western Division title, their first postseason berth.

*

Did the Mets blow it by trading 4 players for an injured formerly solid player? Not necessarily. We have to take a look at those 4 players, to see if the Mets gave up anything worth having.

Frank Estrada. He was a backup catcher who'd played 1 big-league game, for the Mets in '71, and never appeared in another. No loss there.

Don Rose. A pitcher, he'd also reached the majors for 1 game with the '71 Mets, put up a 1-4 record for the '72 Angels, and by April 1974 had appeared in the majors for the last time. No loss there.

Leroy Stanton. He was a right fielder, and he turned out to be a good player, putting up OPS+ seasons of 110, 116 and 123, before slumping a bit in 1976, and being left unprotected in the expansion draft. Taken by the Seattle Mariners, he put up an OPS+ of 130 in 1977, before an injury ended his career the next season at just 32 years old.

Still, the Mets could have used someone like that from 1972 to 1977, particularly after trading Rusty Staub after the '75 season -- another dumb Met trade, as they got Mickey Lolich. Staub for Lolich would have been a good trade, even after the '71 season; but not after '75. (Interestingly, on Baseball-Reference.com's "Similar Batters" list, Number 1 on Stanton's list is... Ron Swoboda. Former Yankee World Champions Gary Thomasson and Ricky Ledee are also in his top 4.)

*

And now, to confront the elephant in the room: The remaining player sent from Flushing Meadow to Anaheim.

Lynn Nolan Ryan of the Houston suburb of Alvin, Texas.

At the time of the trade, he was a month and a half short of his 25th birthday. He had a career won-lost record of 29-38. Not good, especially when you consider that the Mets had won 100 games in 1969, 83 in 1970 and 83 again in 1971. He struck out a lot of batters, but also walked a lot, giving him a WHIP (Walks and Hits, divided by Innings Pitched) of almost 1.6 in '71. His ERA was nearly 4, not good in the NL of the time, which was pitching-friendly with a lot of concrete multipurpose oval stadiums (3 new ones in the preceding season and a half), and, of course, no designated hitter.

With Ryan having been disappointing thus far, and with Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry and a somewhat-still-effective Ray Sadecki in their rotation, the Mets could afford to let Ryan go. Or so it seemed at the time.

In 1972, his first season in the AL, Ryan led the League in both walks and wild pitches... but also led it in strikeouts with a whopping 329, and shutouts with 8, forging a 19-16 record for a team that won just 75 games. A decent Angels team would probably have made him a 23-game winner.

In 1973, he set a new major league record (since the 1893 adoption of the 60 feet, 6 inches pitching distance, anyway) with 383 strikeouts. That record has never even been approached, except by Ryan himself the next season with 367. Nor is it likely to be approached, unless managers suddenly decide to stop babying pitchers and let them pitch 7+ innings every 4 days instead of the post-1990 idea of only letting them pitch 6 to 7 innings every 5 days.

By the close of the 1974 season, Ryan had 3 seasons of 300+ strikeouts, 4 no-hitters, 3 games with at least 19 strikeouts (he would add a 4th, although "only" 1 of those came without the benefit of extra innings), 91 wins (but also 86 losses), a career ERA of 3.01 (not bad considering he was now in the DH-affected AL), and 1,572 strikeouts -- and he was only 27.

Putting aside for a moment all the things Ryan would achieve after 1974 -- 233 more wins, 3 more no-hitters, and enough additional strikeouts to place himself 4th on the all-time list even if you only count from 1975 onward -- this was still a bad trade for the Mets. Add in everything Ryan did from Opening Day 1972 until his retirement after the close of the 1993 season, and Ryan-for-Fregosi -- even if you forget about the decently talented Stanton -- looks like a candidate for the title of "The Worst Baseball Trade Ever" -- and not just the worst Met trade.

*

But is it? There is another elephant in the room. (You ever smell a room with 2 elephants in it? Smells worse than the Mets... most of the time.)

Big question no one ever seems to ask: Would having Nolan Ryan have helped the Mets any from 1972 onward?

It's easy to say, as does Greg Prince, author of the book and blog Faith and Fear in Flushing, that the Mets lost the 1973 World Series to the Oakland Athletics because manager Yogi Berra pitched Tom Seaver in Game 6 and Jon Matlack in Game 7, each on just 3 days' rest.

And Yogi wasn't that "old school": He was only 48, and had seen his mentor, Casey Stengel, adapt to changing conditions pretty well when they were together on the Yankees from 1949 to 1960. And it's not like Yogi had a lot of choice: Koosman had started Game 5, and couldn't have pitched again unless rain pushed Game 7 back a day; Sadecki had pitched in relief in Game 4; and he and George Stone, the Mets' other starter, had pitched in the Series only in relief and weren't much better options.

Besides, if you're a Met fan, who would you rather have, pitching a game that could win you the World Series, in a park that really, really favored pitchers, as the Oakland Coliseum always has: Tom Seaver on 3 days rest, or... any other pitcher then active? Especially knowing that, if Tom Terrific couldn't go the full 9, you had a workhorse reliever in Tug McGraw?

If the Mets had Ryan in '73, that would have been a huge boost for them. Not just in the Series. Don't forget, due to the closeness of the race, and rainouts, the Mets did not clinch the NL East until October 1, the day after the season had originally been scheduled to end, and even then they had to play a doubleheader at Wrigley Field to get Games 161 and 162 in. They clinched in Game 161 when they won and the Pirates lost, making Game 162 meaningless, and more rain led to the umpires canceling it.

Having Ryan's 21-16 in the rotation instead of the combined 8-12 of Sadecki and Jim McAndrew might have gotten the Division clinched sooner, thus enabling the Mets to set up their NL Championship Series rotation better; having Ryan there, against the Cincinnati Reds, might have gotten the Pennant clinched before Game 5, thus helping the Mets set up better in the Series.

Or... would it? Ryan's career postseason record is mixed. He saved the Mets' bacon in Game 3 of the '69 NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, and did so again in Game 3 of the World Series against the Baltimore Orioles -- all thise before he became NOLAN RYAN.

After that, he next appeared in postseason play in 1979, and while he pitched well for the Angels, it wasn't enough, as they lost the game and the Pennant to the Orioles.

In 1980, now with his hometown Houston Astros, he blew the Pennant-clinching Game 5 of the NLCS, at the Astrodome no less, enabling the Phillies to win their first Pennant in 30 years (and then their first World Championship in 98 years of trying). At that point in their history, blowing a Pennant to the Phillies was like losing to Suzanne Somers on Jeopardy! (This was when she was playing Chrissy Snow on Three's Company, well before she proved her smarts as a fitness expert and a businesswoman.)

In the strike-forced Division Series of 1981, Ryan pitched well for the Astros, but in the process, he only got a split of two decisions against the Los Angeles Dodgers. And he made just one other postseason appearance, in the 1986 NLCS with the Astros, losing Game 2, and pitching well but not getting the decision in a Game 5 his team lost... to the Mets.

Add on the fact that, from 1974 to 1983, the Mets were not in one single Pennant race, and it's hard to say how much difference Ryan would have made then.

Then there's the Mets' glory years from 1984 to 1990. Then again, for all their talk, there wasn't a whole lot of glory. Could Ryan, who pitched remarkably well even until he was 44 in 1991, have made a difference there?

*

So, really, what might have been the impact of the Mets keeping Nolan Ryan after 1971? Keeping in mind that, like Anaheim Stadium (or whatever the California Angels are calling it, and themselves, these days), Shea Stadium was a pitchers' park extraordinaire; but also that Ryan had a career winning percentage of just .526, is the all-time leader in walks, and is among the all-time leaders in wild pitches, we can surmise the following:

1973: We can presume that Ryan would have made a difference. The Mets clinch the Division sooner, and Ryan pitches well in the NLCS, where the Met rotation is Seaver-Koosman-Ryan-Matlack (in that order), clinching in Game 4, instead of Seaver-Koosman-Matlack-Stone-Seaver (as it was in RL), going the full 5.

The World Series? Instead of Matlack for Games 1, 4 and 7; Koosman for Games 2 and 5, and Seaver for Games 3 and 6; we get Seaver for Games 1 and 4, and potentially 7; Koosman for Games 2 and maybe 5; and Ryan for Games 3 and maybe 6, with Matlack as the long man if one is necessary.

Ken Holtzman pitched great for the A's in that Series in real life, so the Mets probably still lose Game 1 in this timeline. The Mets win Game 2 anyway. Against a tired Seaver, the A's needed 11 innings to win the real Game 3; against a rested Ryan, the Mets might win, and there's your difference. Presuming the Mets still win Games 4 and 5, get the riot police ready, it's another Shea Stadium clincher. New York Mets, 1969 and 1973 World Champions.

After this, the Mets aren't in contention again until...

1984: Ryan was only 12-11, but the Astros weren't very good that year. Without him, the Mets finished 6 1/2 games behind the Cubs. Would having Ryan have made 7 games' worth of difference? Probably not: After Dwight Gooden and Ron Darling, the Mets' rotation had Walt Terrell, Bruce Berenyi and a not-yet-there Sid Fernandez. Having Ryan instead of one of those might have made it closer, but the Cubs would still have won the NL East.

1985: Hard to say. Ryan was 10-12 for another under-hitting Astro team, with a 3.8 ERA and a 1.3 WHIP. If he were in the rotation instead of Ed Lynch...

The Mets finished 3 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. I don't know if Ryan would have made 3 games' difference in this season. If he had, do the Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS? Maybe, the Dodgers had Tom Niedenfuer in their pen; Jack Clark hitting a Pennant-clincher in the top of the 9th in Game 6 wasn't a surprise, but Ozzie Smith hitting a walkoff in the bottom of the 9th of Game 5 was. I can certainly imagine Niedenfuer giving up homers to Lenny Dykstra in Game 5 (or maybe Lenny still hits his in Game 3) and Gary Carter in Game 6.

The Series, against the Kansas City Royals? I don't know, because the Cards did lose, and if Cardinal fans still curse the name of umpire Don Denkinger over a quarter of a century later, what would Met fans say if that same call were made? I think the Mets win the '85 Pennant, but lose the Series.

1986: No, Ryan makes no difference here. How can he? The Mets won the World Series. The only difference is that the Mets beat the Reds in the NLCS, since the Astros don't have Ryan. (Then again, the Astros won the NL West by 10, so maybe they win it anyway.)

1987: This is the season Ryan, at age 40, led the NL in ERA and strikeouts, but had an 8-16 record, because the Astros remembered that they are the Houston Astros: Great pitching, good defense, can't hit the ground if they fell off a ladder.

I saw Ryan pitch that year, at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, as a friend of the family had a relative who briefly pitched for the Astros. I got to sit right behind home plate as Ryan, still mighty fast at 40, was zippin' 'em in there. Being 75 feet away from Mike Schmidt as he batted against Nolan Ryan, even at that stage of each man's career, was awesome. It was a typical game for Ryan that season: The Phils won, 2-1, beating Ryan with a Randy Ready single in the 8th.

Anyway, in 1987, the Mets finished 2nd to the Cards again, 3 games back. Ryan definitely would have made a difference here, and the Mets would probably have beaten the San Francisco Giants for the Pennant. But the Minnesota Twins were not going to lose any World Series games in the Metrodome. Nobody beat the Twins in the Dome in October. Nobody. (Except, as it turned out, the 2003, '04 and '09 Yankees, who clinched 3 ALDS in that disgraceful facility.) So the Mets reach their 3rd straight Series, but win only 1.

1988: The Mets lost the NLCS to the Dodgers in Game 7... or, rather, they lost it in Game 4, when Mike Scioscia took Gooden deep in the 9th. The Mets started, in the 7 games, Gooden, David Cone, Darling, Gooden, El Sid, Coney, Darling. Ryan had a good year, but I'm not sure where he starts. In all honesty, I can't say with any certainty that he makes a difference in this series.

1989: In his first season with the Texas Rangers, Ryan had his last big season in terms of wins, 16, for an 83-win team. The Mets finished 2nd to the Cubs again, 6 games back. Maybe with Ryan, now 42 but still effectve, the Mets don't make that dumb trade for Frank Viola, and win the Division.

But I don't think they win the Pennant, unless there's another dumb trade they don't make, Kevin Mitchell to the San Diego Padres for Kevin McReynolds. Mitchell's trade, soon after, from the Padres to the Giants made the Giants a postseason team in '87 and '89, and they beat the Cubs soundly in the NLCS; they would have done the same to the Mets.

1990: The Mets finished 2nd, 4 games behind the Pirates. Ryan had a pretty good season, and if he'd been in the rotation instead of the sinking-fast El Sid, they might have won the Division. On the other hand, as I said, if they still had Ryan, they wouldn't have traded for Viola, who won 20 in his one good season for the Mets. No, having Ryan at this point probably hurts them.

1991: In Ryan's last effective season -- as a fastball pitcher at age 44! How come no one ever tested him for steroids? -- the Mets collapse, finishing 20 1/2 back of the Pirates. Having Ryan wouldn't have helped. Having him in the disastrous '92 and '93 seasons, Ryan's last 2, wouldn't have helped, either.

So, in their history, real and alternate...

Real Life Mets, 1962 to 2011, without Nolan Ryan after 1971: 7 postseason appearances, 4 Pennants, 2 World Championships. Not great, but plenty of teams haven't done that well, including some teams that have been around longer.

Alternate Mets, 1962 to 2011, with Nolan Ryan from 1971 (really, from 1966) to 1993: 10 postseason appearances, 6 Pennants, 3 World Championships. Not a huge improvement, but a significant one. After all, when you've only won 2 World Series, winning a 3rd is significant. Ask fans of the Chicago White Sox. And those of the Chicago Cubs.

*

My, my, this room is getting cramped. Do you know why? Because there's a third elephant in the room.

It's what happened to the Mets after the 1973 World Series. Team chairman M. Donald Grant -- who "didn't know beans about baseball," according to '69 Met scout and later highly successful big-league manager Whitey Herzog -- broke up the team, piece by piece. In 1977, he got rid of Seaver by playing him (and his wife Nancy) off the Anaheim-based Ryan (and his wife Ruth), with the help of New York Daily News columnist Dick Young, a once-great (and once-liberal) sportswriter who had became embittered, pedantic and pedestrian (and arch-conservative).

When Ryan signed with the Astros in 1980, it made him baseball's first $1 million-a-year player. At the time, if you asked most fans to name 5 current players who might be worth that, I think most of them would have had Ryan as one of the 5. (The others would have been Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and maybe Dave Winfield.)

Grant would not have been one of those who believed that Ryan, or any player, was worth $1 million a year. (Then again, he was not a baseball fan in the classic sense.) It is likely that Grant would have gotten rid of Ryan well before the 1979-80 off-season.

After all, he had already traded several fan favorites before Seaver and Dave Kingman in the June 15, 1977 "Midnight Massacre" moves: Swoboda in 1970-71, Tommie Agee in 1972-73, Harrelson and Tug McGraw in 1974-75; Staub, Stone and Cleon Jones in 1975-76, and Garrett during the 1976 season; Matlack and John Milner would follow in 1977-78, and so would Koosman in 1978-79. And, unlike Fred and Jeff Wilpon letting Jose Reyes go in 2011-12, Grant didn't let those guys go because he desperately needed to save money, but because he greedily wanted to.

So, chances are, keeping Nolan Ryan beyond the 1971 season would have meant giving him up well before 1984. Therefore, the most likely scenario is that the Mets would have increased their winnings by 1 World Championship, and no other postseason berths.

Then again, think of how much 1 more World Series win would have meant to Met fans from 1973 onward.

A Met fan born between October 17, 1962 (who presumably would have been aware of baseball by October 16, 1969) and October 17, 1977 (the day before the Yankees won another Series) could have told a Yankee Fan born during that same stretch, "The Mets have won more World Series in our lifetime than the Yankees have!" And from October 16, 1969 until October 17, 1978, and again from October 27, 1986 to October 26, 1996 -- 19 of their 34 years -- that would have been true. And for all 34 years, the Mets would have been either ahead of the Yankees or tied with them (it would have been 2-2 from '78 to '86).

Of course, we're talking about the Mets here. Even with Tom Seaver, they found a way to lose the 1973 World Series. So who can say, with even 99 percent certainty, that they wouldn't have found a way to blow it with both Seaver and Nolan Ryan? After all, for much of their history, the Yankees have usually found a way to win; while, except for '69 and '86, the Mets have usually found a way to lose.

Marxist Mets

2011-12-09T10:25:00.002-05:00

The title of this entry might fool you. I don't mean that the New York Mets have gone communist, or that they seek to control the means of production. Let's face it, they have not exactly being doing a good job of producing anything. Or controlling anything, for that matter.

What I mean is that the Mets' story is getting to be like Karl Marx' view of history: Repeating itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.

As Lisa Swan of Subway Squawkers pointed out in an article, it was NEVER Fred Wilpon who took a joke franchise and made it champions from 1980 to 1986. It was Wilpon AND Nelson Doubleday AND Frank Cashen.

http://compliancesearch.com/compliancex/madoff/jose-reyes-bernie-madoff%E2%80%99s-latest-victim/

Whereas when it was Freddy the Freeloader and his son Jeff making the decisions, well, it's been a different story. To continue the Marx analogy, Met fans have nothing left to lose but their lunches. By the Wilpons selling the team, Met fans have a World Series to win. Metheads of the world, unite! Occupy Citi Field! Not the seats -- the Wilpons' offices!

But in spite of several learned observations, Lisa makes one mistake. Let's clear one thing up: Jose Reyes is getting more money from the Marlins than he'd be getting anywhere else, except the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Angels (who've now splurged for Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson) and MAYBE the Phillies -- none of whom showed any interest in Reyes, at least not publicly.

Whoever can be counted among "the victims of Bernie Madoff," Jose Reyes is not one of them. He might be one of the few people who benefits from the whole Madoff schmeer.

New Jersey's NBA Goodbye Is Set

2011-12-07T10:09:00.006-05:00

And another awkward goodbye for sports in this area: The revised, post-lockout NBA schedule has been released. The Knicks open at Madison Square Garden on December 25 -- you may know it as "Christmas Day" -- at noon against the Boston Celtics. These are, of course, the only two remaining 1946 charter members of the NBA still playing in their original cities.

Also playing on Christmas Day (all times Eastern):

* 2:30, a rematch of last season's (and the 2006 season's) NBA Finals, the Miami heat at the Dallas Mavericks.

* 5:00, the two most successful franchises of the last 25 years, the Chicago Bulls at the Los Angeles Lakers.

* 8:00, two of the up-and-coming teams of the league, the Orlando Magic at the Oklahoma City Thunder.

* 10:30, the Los Angeles Clippers at the Golden State Warriors in Oakland -- two teams that could have been arch-rivals, but instead are notorious underachievers.

*

The Nets open the next day, at the Verizon Center in D.C., against the Washington Wizards. Formerly known as the Washington Bullets. And the Capital Bullets. And the Baltimore Bullets. And the Chicago Zephyrs. And the Chicago Packers. They may the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim look like a paragon of nomenclatural stability.

The last Nets home opener in New Jersey will be the next day, December 27, against the Atlanta Hawks at the Prudential Center.

The Nets' New Jersey finale -- barring the Playoffs, but who's kidding who -- will be on Monday night, April 23, at the Prudential Center. Somewhat appropriately, it will be against the team to whom the New York Nets had to sell Julius Erving just to get into the NBA in 1976, the Philadelphia 76ers. Instantly, they went from being the best team in the ABA to being the worst team in the NBA, moved to the Rutgers Athletic Center in 1977, changing their name to the New Jersey Nets, to the Meadowlands in 1981, and to the Prudential a year ago.

The last day of the NBA regular season will be Thursday, April 26, and the Nets will play their last game as the New Jersey Nets at the Air Canada Centre against the Toronto Raptors. Come November 2012, it will be home games at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, as the Brooklyn Nets.

Damn you, Bruce Ratner. R.I.P. New Jersey Nets, 1977-2012.

*

Days until Arsenal play again: 3, this Saturday afternoon, at home at the Emirates Stadium (a.k.a. Ashburton Grove or New Highbury), against Everton, "the other Merseyside club" -- or, as they prefer to call themselves, in competition with arch-rivals Liverpool, "the People's Club." It will be Arsenal's official celebration of the club's 125th Anniversary, and they will dedicate statues of 1930s manager Herbert Chapman, 1980s-90s Captain Tony Adams, and 2000s legend Thierry Henry (now playing here in New Jersey with the New York Red Bulls).

Days until the Devils play another local rival: 13, on Tuesday night, December 20, against The Scum, at the Prudential. The next game against the Philadelphia Flyers is a Saturday matinee on January 21, 2012, at the Prudential Center. The next game against the New York Islanders isn't until March 4, a Sunday matinee at the Nassau Coliseum.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 21, on Friday, December 30, in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium, against Iowa State University. This is Rutgers' 6th bowl game appearance in the last 7 seasons. And their 2nd trip to Yankee Stadium this season, after playing there last month, beating Army.

Days until the next North London Derby: 81, on Sunday, February 26, at New Highbury. This game had been scheduled for the day before, but was moved to accommodate TV -- never mind accommodating fans.

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 108, presumably on Saturday night, March 24, 2012, opponent and location to be determined.

Days until the Yankees' next Opening Day: 120, on Friday afternoon, April 6, 2012, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg against the Tampa Bay Rays. Just 4 months.

Days until the Yankees' home opener: 128, on Friday afternoon, April 13, 2012, against the Whatever They'll Be Calling Themselves Next Season Angels of Anaheim.

Days until the last Nets game in New Jersey: 138, on Wednesday night, April 23, 2012, against the Philadelphia 76ers, at the Prudential Center. Just 20 weeks before New Jersey no longer has an NBA team. This is, of course, contingent on the current NBA lockout not rearranging the schedule.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 135, on Friday night, April 20, 2012, at Fenway Park in Boston. Under 5 months.

Days until the 2012 Olympics begin in London: 230 (July 27). Under 8 months.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 282, on Friday, September 14, 2012, opponent and location to be determined.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 353.

Days until Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands: 814 (February 2, 2014). A little under 26 months.

Days until Alex Rodriguez collects his 3,000th career hit: 592 (estimated around July 20, 2013).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 700th career home run: 865 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 756th career home run to surpass all-time leader Hank Aaron: 1,699 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 763rd career home run to become as close to a "real" all-time leader as we are likely to have: 1,730 (estimated -- estimating 28 home runs a year, he should get it late in the 2016 season, maybe around September 1, at age 41).

Top 10 Most Awkward New York Baseball Goodbyes

2011-12-05T09:51:00.007-05:00

Jose Reyes is no longer a New York Met. He's a Miami Marlin.

(In case you haven't heard, with the opening of their new ballpark next April, on the site of the demolished Orange Bowl stadium just outside downtown Miami, the Florida Marlins have officially changed their name to the Miami Marlins, and also changed their uniforms including the color scheme.)

The Marlins, who famously won the World Series in 1997 and 2003 and then infamously -- under 2 different owners, so we can't blame the same cheapskate for both -- broke up their champions in order to cut costs, are now splurging. They signed Reyes to a 6-year deal worth $106 million -- an average of $17.6 million a season.

Met general manager Sandy Alderson admitted that the Mets never made Reyes a formal offer. The franchise's signature player since Mike Piazza left after the 2005 season, and they never lifted a finger to try to re-sign him.

Lisa Swan of Subway Squawkers (check the link to the right) has said, "Feeling a little sad for Mets fans tonight. Not only is Jose Reyes apparently taking his talents to South Beach, but the Wilpons still own the team."

Ouch. That's cold, Lisa. True, but cold!

Is this the most awkward New York baseball goodbye ever? Oh no. Not even close.

Top 10 Most Awkward New York Baseball Goodbyes

10. February 26, 1935: Babe Ruth. The Yankees release the Babe, so that he can sign as a free agent with the Boston Braves, to be player, "assistant manager," and, he hopes, the team's next manager. It doesn't work out.

This one would probably rank higher -- after all, it was the Yankees letting the greatest player of all time go, even if he was now 40 and in serious decline -- except that the story you may have heard about it is probably wrong: Since the Yankees weren't willing to make the Babe their new or future manager, he asked to be allowed to go so he could seek a managing job elsewhere.

9. December 13, 1956: Jackie Robinson. This would be ranked higher had it happened in the "Chipmunk" era of sportswriting that was soon to come, and a LOT higher had it happened in the ESPN era. Although Jackie always revered Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodger team president who brought him into the organization to reintegrate the game in 1945, after the 1950 season Rickey was forced out by one of the other co-owners, Walter O'Malley, who concentrated his control. And, as much as O'Malley loved money and control, he hated Rickey and anything to do with him. Including Jackie Robinson.

So on the date listed above, with Jackie's weight going up, his once-great speed reduced, and his 38th birthday approaching, O'Malley traded him to, of all teams, the Dodgers' arch-rivals, the New York Giants, for Dick Littlefield, a lefthanded pitcher already with a reputation for being less than mediocre, and $30,000.

Jackie knew this was done not so much to improve the team (after all, they'd just won their 2nd straight Pennant, their 6th in the 10 years he was with them), but for spite. So he refused to report to the Giants, retiring instead. The was voided and Littlefield was returned to the Giants, who ended up trading him to the Chicago Cubs instead.

In 1953, in between his hostile takeover of Rickey's stock (for which Rickey found a way to make him pay a lot more than he'd intended) and his exile of Robinson, O'Malley drove broadcaster Red Barber away, into the hands of the Yankees. Rickey, Barber, Robinson: Three of the most honorable and influential people in the history of American sport, and O'Malley drove them all away, all in a span of 6 years. All this BEFORE he greedily moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles. In other words, had O'Malley gotten his new stadium where he originally wanted it, and were the Dodgers now preparing to play a 2012 season in Brooklyn, Walter Francis O'Malley would still have been a dirty filthy greedy bastard.

8. January 22, 1982: Reggie Jackson. On this date, Reggie signed with the team then known as the California Angels. Yankee owner George Steinbrenner pulled out all the stops to sign Reggie in November 1976; 5 years later, he wouldn't lift a finger to do so, in spite of Reggie helping the Yankees win 4 American League Eastern Division Titles, 3 AL Pennants and 2 World Championships. Autry, the movies' "Singing Cowboy" who'd founded the Angels in 1961 and ran them until his death in 1998, made Reggie feel welcome.

By 1991, George was willing to admit that not re-signing him was the biggest mistake he'd made as Yankee owner. He invited Reggie to Old-Timers' Day, and Reggie has come back nearly every year since. In 1993, when Reggie was elected to the Hall of Fame, George promised him the retirement of his Number 44 and a Plaque in Monument Park. So Reggie asked the Hall of Fame to show him with a Yankee cap on his plaque there. The Reggie-George relationship still had some rocky moments, but for the last few years it was warm.

7. September 30, 2007: Tom Glavine. For years, Glavine had helped the Atlanta Braves win National League East titles, NL Pennants, and the 1995 World Series with a one-hitter in the clinching Game 6. He'd pitched well for the Braves against the Mets in the 1999 NL Championship Series. So it was very strange to see the Mets sign him for the 2003 season. At first, it seemed to work: Over the next 5 seasons, Glavine won 61 games in blue and orange (and black), including his 300th win, and 15 in their 2006 NL East Championship season, their only 1st-place finish since 1988.

But he'll always be remembered for one game they really needed him to win, but didn't: The regular-season finale of 2007, against the Florida Marlins at Shea Stadium. Had he pitched well and the Mets won, they would have finished in a tie for the NL's Wild Card berth, after having blown a 7-game Division lead with 17 to play; at the very least, they would have played a Game 163, even though there would be no guarantee of a Game 164. Had he pitched well but the Mets' defense and/or bats didn't get the job done, at least Met fans wouldn't have blamed Glavine.

He faced 9 batters. He only got one of them out. He allowed 5 hits and 2 walks, and with his last pitch as a Met hit a batter with the bases loaded, forcing in a run to make it Marlins 7, Mets not yet come to bat. Willie Randolph, the former Yankee All-Star who had grown up in Brooklyn as a Met fan and was now managing the Mets, got booed like hell when he came out to replace Glavine, and Glavine got perhaps the worst booing in Shea's history when he walked back to the dugout. This one outing, on the last day of the season, raised his season ERA from 4.15 to 4.45, and permanently stamped the 2007 Mets as authors of one of the biggest chokes in baseball history.

To make matters worse, after the game, which ended 8-1 to the Marlins, Glavine told reporters, “I’m not devastated. I’m disappointed, but devastation is for much greater things in life. I’m disappointed, obviously, in the way I wanted to pitch. I can’t say there is much more I would have done differently.” He had a point, but the least he could have said was, "I let my team down. I let the fans down. I tried. I failed. I'm sorry." He could have said any one of those 5 things, or any combination of them. He didn't.

He returned to the Braves for 2008, showed he really was past it, and retired. To this day, Met fans hate him, for what he did to them against them AND with them. Greg Prince, author of the blog and book Faith and Fear in Flushing (see link to the right), calls him "The Manchurian Brave."

6. July 24, 1978: Billy Martin. Over the course of the 1977 season, Billy said that George had fired him 5 times, and he'd "fired himself 3 times." The Yankees won the World Series anyway.

But in '78, injuries mounted, and so did tension between Billy and George, and between Billy and Reggie. On July 17, Billy suspended Reggie for disobeying a sign. On July 23, when Reggie returned, Billy was getting on a plane for the team's roadtrip to Kansas City, and a sportswriter asked him what George thought about all of it. Referring to comments Jackson had made and team owner George Steinbrenner's 1972 violation of campaign-finance laws: "They're made for each other. One's a born liar, the other's convicted."

That was it: Billy had to go. George flew out to Kansas City, too, and Billy knew the game was up. He announced his resignation, but who was kidding who. Replaced by Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Lemon, who had previously managed the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox, the Yankees rebounded, got healthy, and won another World Series.

Billy's first tenure as manager was his most awkward -- but also by far his most successful. Although he returned in mid-1979, for the 1983 season, for most of 1985, and for the start of 1988, he only managed another 470 games for the Yankees -- almost exactly as many games as he managed in his first tenure (471). And while he came very close to getting the Yankees into the postseason in 1985, by 1988 he was a neurotic relic. He died in a car crash on Christmas Day 1989, and there are those who believe that George was thinking of hiring him for Billy VI.

5. October 17, 1964: Yogi Berra. With the Yankees struggling to win a 5th straight AL Pennant, Yankee co-owners Dan Topping and Del Webb made the decision that, at the end of the season, no matter what, they would fire Yogi, after 17 seasons as a player and 1 as a manager. But Yogi complicated things by leading the Yankees on a tremendous charge that resulted in a Pennant. The Yankees lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals, but Dan & Del fired him anyway. Yogi took it in stride: He said, "That's baseball." (What, you were expecting him to say something funny about it?)

This was the last major decision made by the Topping-Webb regime, as they had sold most of their stock to CBS 2 months earlier. And it was awkward. But it wasn't as awkward as a departure near the beginning of their tenure. Or even their most awkward replacement of a manager.

4. October 18, 1960: Casey Stengel. Casey had just turned 70, and after finishing 3rd as Yankee manager in 1959 and being in 2nd place for most of 1960, Topping and Webb decided he was too old. But, as Yogi would 4 years later, he surprised them, leading them on a hot streak that won the Pennant. But, as Yogi would 4 years later, he could only get them to Game 7 of the World Series, and didn't win it. So, 5 days later, Casey reads a statement to the press, announcing his retirment. He lowers the page, and says, "I guess this means they fired me." He also said, "I'll never make the mistake of being 70 again."

Within a year, he would be hired as the manager of New York's National League expansion team, the Mets. For nearly 4 years, he would prove not that he was too old (he was 75 when he managed his last game), but that it was hard to manage a team when you didn't have the superb Yankee farm system.

3. April 28, 1985: Yogi Berra. The first time Yogi was fired as Yankee manager, he took it in stride. The second time, it was different. After finishing 3rd in 1984, his first year back at the helm -- the Detroit Tigers ran away with the AL Eastern Division on their way to winning the World Series -- owner George Steinbrenner, already with a reputation for an itchy trigger finger, promised Yogi he'd be the manager for the entire 1985 season, no matter what. But the Yankees lost their first 3 games, and 12 of their first 18. (Yogi was actually fired when it was 10 of their first 16.) And George decided he had to make a change.

In retrospect, George was right to change managers: Bringing Billy back to manage for a 4th time (out of 5) worked. The Yankees went on to win 97 games and finish 2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. Five of the 16 games the Yankees lost under Yogi were by 1 run, 2 of those in extra innings; 2 others were by 2 runs. Put those 7 games together, and if the Yankees had won 3 of them they would have won the Division. And since the Kansas City Royals needed major comebacks to win both the AL Championship Series and the World Series, the title was there for the taking.

Where George was wrong was in HOW he fired Yogi. He sent Clyde King, a former big-league pitcher who served George in a number of capacities (including interim manager at the end of the 1982 season), to tell Yogi he was out. Yogi was furious that, unlike Topping over 20 years before, and Mets team president M. Donald Grant 10 years before when Yogi was fired as their manager, George wasn't man enough to invite him up to his office, or at least come down to Yogi's office, and tell him in person, instead sending a flunky to do his dirty work.

Yogi swore he would never return to Yankee Stadium as long as George was owner. Even dedicating a Monument Park Plaque to Yogi in 1988 didn't break the ice. In 1999, prompted by his family, a dying Joe DiMaggio, and sportswriter (now Yankee broadcaster) Suzyn Waldman, George came to Yogi's museum at Montclair State University and publicly apologized. Yogi, for once finding the perfect words, said of the feud, "It's over." Yogi and George restored their friendship and kept it going for the rest of George's life.

Which prevents this from being the most awkward New York baseball goodbye. If either man had died before fixing it, it might be Number 1 and a terrible stain on George's record -- along with a few others. But, as was said after the firing, George didn't realize that he couldn't win a popularity contest with Yogi Berra.

2. October 6, 1947: Larry MacPhail. This was a day for goodbyes, as the 1947 World Series came to an end with the Yankees beating the Dodgers in Game 7. Three of the heroes of the Series -- Bill Bevens of the Yankees, and Cookie Lavagetto and Al Gionfriddo of the Dodgers -- never appeared in another big-league game, although Lavagetto would become a big-league coach for years to come, including with the early Mets.

But it was at the postgame celebration that the fireworks really started. At the time, the Yankees had 3 owners: Topping, a wealthy playboy (translation: He spent the tin-industry millions made by his father); Webb, a construction magnate who'd made his fortune building Army bases in World War II, casino-hotels in Las Vegas (with the help of organized crime) and retirement communities in Arizona; and Larry MacPhail, who had previously built Pennant winners as general manager with the Dodgers and, before that, the Cincinnati Reds.

MacPhail was GM of the Yankees, but at the hotel where the celebration was taking place, MacPhail started drinking. It was said that with no drinks he was brilliant, with one he was wonderful, with two he was impossible, and he rarely stopped at two. He started crying and berating Topping and Webb in front of everyone, making a public spectacle of himself. Apparently, there had been friction between the 3 of them since they bought the team from the heirs of Jacob Ruppert in 1945, and, despite Topping being a rich man's wastrel son (recently ending the 4th of his 6 marriages) and Webb being Mobbed up, they still put up a public facade of being gentlemen.

The next day, away from prying eyes, Topping and Webb bought MacPhail out, and MacPhail never worked in baseball again -- although his son Lee, grandson Andy and great-grandson Leland Stanford MacPhail IV (also called Lee) have all worked in major league front offices. Topping and Webb promoted farm system director George Weiss to the GM's slot, and he built the most dynastic Yankee team of them all. But it's hard to get past having an awkward farewell after you've won the whole thing.

1. June 15, 1977: Tom Seaver. In the words of Redd Foxx, star of one of the biggest TV shows of the time, Sanford & Son, "This is the big one!"

This Daily News link says more about it than I could. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/true-story-midnight-massacre-article-1.224970

This and other M. Donald Grant moves drove not just the Mets but their attendance into the ground. Shea Stadium became known as Grant's Tomb. It would take the team's purchase by Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday in 1980 to turn things around, and even then they didn't get back into contention until 1984.

Of course, Wilpon had Doubleday and general manager Frank Cashen, who'd built the 1966-83 Baltimore Oriole powerhouse, to listen to. Now, Wilpon listens to his own instincts, to those of his son Jeff, and to those of Sandy Alderson. In this case, 2 out of 3 is bad.

The Yankees' Worst Trade Ever? 40 Years Ago

2011-12-02T12:33:00.003-05:00

December 2, 1971, 40 years ago today: The Yankees trade pitcher Stan Bahnsen to the Chicago White Sox for 3rd baseman Rich McKinney.

Bahnsen was the 1968 AL Rookie of the Year, and had won 14 games in '70 and '71. The Yankees sure could have used the 21 he won for the White Sox in '72, as they finished just 6 1/2 games out of 1st place in the American League Eastern Division. Bahnsen also won 18 games in '73, although the ChiSox fell apart and he also lost 21; the Yankees finished 17 back that season.

In contrast, McKinney, the man the Yankees hoped would be better at playing 3rd base and hitting than incumbent Jerry Kenney, proved even more inept: He batted .215 and made 8 errors in 33 games before manager Ralph Houk had enough and sent him down to the minors at the end of May. They dumped him off to the World Champion Oakland Athletics after the season, for an aging Matty Alou. In Oakland, McKinney probably felt out of place among Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Joe Rudi, Bert Campaneris, Catfish Hunter and Vida Blue. He only played another 147 games in the majors, last appeared at age 30, and had a lifetime OPS+ of 48 -- meaning he was 52 percent beneath the average hitter of that time.

If the Yankees hadn't made the trade, and kept Bahnsen and continued to trust Jerry Kenney as their 3rd baseman, and won the AL East, they probably would have lost the AL Championship Series to the A's. But at least their postseason drought wouldn't have seemed so long by the time Chris Chambliss hit that Pennant-winning home run in 1976, and team president Mike Burke, about to talk CBS into selling the team to George Steinbrenner's group, would have salvaged his baseball reputation before George came in and wrote the myth that he saved the team.

*

In his 1979 book This Date in New York Yankees History, which I still have, Nathan Salant rated this trade as the 2nd-worst transaction in Yankee history.

This book was published before such deals as not re-signing Reggie Jackson, Willie McGee for Bob Sykes, Fred McGriff for Dale Murray, Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps, and any trade involving Javier Vazquez (including the one that sent him and 2 prospects for Randy Johnson).

The only transaction from 1903 to 1978 that Salant rated worse was a trade with the St. Louis Browns after the 1917 season. The Yankees got Eddie Plank, a future Hall-of-Famer who'd won 326 games but was 41 and never appeared in the majors again; and 2nd baseman Del Pratt, who was decent enough but didn't offset who they had to give up: A 27-year-old righthanded pitcher, a Cleveland native of French-Canadian descent, born Urbain Jacques Shockcor, who anglicized his name to a GREAT name for a New Yorker: Urban Shocker.

Salant said that not having Shocker cost the Yankees the Pennant in 1920 (losing it to the Cleveland Indians) and 1924 (to the Washington Senators). It nearly cost the Yankees the Pennant in 1922, as Shocker won 24 games (after winning 27 the year before), and the Browns finished just 1 game back. That 1922 team, with George Sisler and Ken Williams, Jack Tobin, Hank Severeid, Marty McManus and William "Baby Doll" Jacobson, and Shocker as the ace, was probably the best team they ever had, certainly more talented than the one team they had that won the Pennant, in war-affected 1944, before moving in 1954 to become the Baltimore Orioles. It may have been the most potent-hitting St. Louis baseball team until the Cardinals of the 1940s.

The Yankees got Shocker back for 1925, and he was a key cog in the 1926 Pennant team and the 1927 World Champions, but he developed heart trouble, and pitched just 1 game in '28 before dying late in the season. (There's no plaque for him in Monument Park, he died before uniform numbers were worn, let alone retired, and the Yankees didn't even wear black armbands for the rest of the '28 season. He's forgotten today. He shouldn't be: He went 187-117 despite only being a starter from ages 25 to 36, and a case can be made that he belongs in the Hall of Fame.)

*

So was Bahnsen for McKinney the dumbest trade in Yankee history?

Maybe not: Still needing a 3rd baseman, on November 27, 1972, 6 weeks before George & Co. bought the team -- and with Indians president Gabe Paul probably making this trade knowing that he'd be Yankee president under Steinbrenner -- the Yankees sent McKinney AND Kenney, and John Ellis, Charlie Spikes and Rusty Torres to the Cleveland Indians for Jerry Moses and Graig Nettles.

Trading Bahnsen for McKinney was stupid. But trading McKinney, Kenney, Ellis, Spikes and Torres -- and, effectively, Bahnsen -- for Nettles was good. So maybe it all worked out for the best.

Sure, I can say that. Because I wasn't old enough to root for the Yankees in 1972! I wasn't born until 1969. I have very little idea of what it was to see the team collapse after 1964 and go through the Vietnam and Watergate years struggling to regain not just prominence but, in light of the Mets' 1969 title and 1973 Pennant, relevance.

But by the time I was ready for the Yankees, they wereready for me.

Boston V Party: A Very Bad Idea

2011-12-01T10:25:00.003-05:00

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate.

This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition!

The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.

Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.
-- V for Vendetta (film version)

(Translation: “Behold! Before you is a humble stage performer, cast, against his will, by the whims of fate, to the roles of both victim and villain. The face you see now is not just some meaningless costume. It is a remnant of the People's Voice, which has since gone and disappeared. However, this past annoyance stands courageously reborn and has sworn to conquer the evil and corrupt, who promote greed and the violent suppression of free will! The only choice is vengeance; a personal war held as a promise, but not in vain, for the importance and self-evidence of this quest shall one day exonerate the watchful and the righteous. But in truth, this thick soup of words has become too excessive. So, let me simply finish by saying that it's my very good honor to meet you, and you may call me V.”)

*

The Boston Red Sox have hired Bobby Valentine to be their new manager.

This is not a good idea. Robert John Valentine, born May 13, 1950 in Stamford, Connecticut, and played in the major leagues from 1969 to 1979 for several teams including the Mets, has managed in 15 different seasons in the majors, from 1985 to 1992 with the Texas Rangers, and 1996 to 2002 with the Mets. Only twice, with the 1999 and 2000 Mets, did he get into the Playoffs. Only once, in 2000, did he win a Pennant. And those 2000 Mets lost the World Series convincingly to the Yankees.

My grandmother, once a Brooklyn Dodger fan but later a Met fan, used to deride Dodger manager Charlie Dressen: "Ugh! That Dressen was so STUPID!" she would say. I tried to tell her that Valentine was dumber, but she wasn't buying it.

Bobby V's biggest brain-lock came on June 26, 1998, in the first ever regular-season home game for the Mets against the Yankees. (They'd played a 3-game series at the old Yankee Stadium the year before.) In front of a packed house at Shea, the Mets led 4-3 in the top of the 7th inning. But with 1 out, starter Al Leiter walked Chuck Knoblauch and gave up a single to Derek Jeter. The tying runs were on, and the go-ahead run was at the plate, in the form of Paul O'Neill, a dangerous hitter.

O'Neill was lefthanded. So was Leiter. In true workhorse fashion, Leiter had already thrown 110 pitches. Here were Valentine's options:

1. Leave Leiter in, keep the lefty-on-lefty matchup, and hope that Leiter has enough left in his tank to get 2 more outs, and then let the bullpen take over for the 8th and 9th.

2. Bring in Brian Bohanon, another lefty, who would finish the season with an ERA+ of 154 and a WHIP of 1.174 -- both quite strong.

3. Bring in Mel Rojas, a righthanded pitcher who did some fine relief work for the Montreal Expos from 1992 to 1996, but had been mostly ineffective for the Cubs in early 1997 and for the Mets from mid-'97 onward.

Clearly, the right (or, more accurately, the left) choice was to bring in Bohanon. If you don't have enough confidence in him, you could leave Leiter in, as it takes a tough man to pitch to a tough man. Valentine chose to bring in Rojas.

And so this contest goes down in history as "The Mel Rojas Game," and you mention it to a Met fan at your peril. Rojas threw low and away, a pitch hardly any player would swing at, let alone hit. O'Neill somehow got his bat on it with enough force to send the ball the opposite way, into the "picnic area" behind Shea's left-center-field fence. A 4-3 Met lead became a 6-4 Yankee lead, and the Yankees went on to win, 8-4, with Ramiro Mendoza getting the win in relief of Hideki Irabu. A little more than a year later, Rojas would pitch in a major league game for the last time.

Dumb, Bobby V. Very, very dumb.

*

The decision for which Bobby V most gets ripped came in Game 5 of the 2000 World Series. The Yanks and Mets were tied, 2-2, with 2 outs in the top of the 9th. Jorge Posada is on 2nd, Scott Brosius on 1st, neither much of a baserunner. Luis Sojo, already one of those unlikely Yankee postseason heroes, is up. Again, the Met pitcher is Al Leiter. This time, he's thrown 141 pitches, a lot even then, a staggering total today.

The Yankees lead 3 games to 1, so if they win this, they win the Series, and, having beaten the Mets in a World Series, clinching at Shea Stadium no less, well, for Met fans, never would the words of the old song be more poignant: "For it's root, root, root for the home team. If they don't win, it's a shame."

Valentine's options in this case?

1. Leave Leiter in, even though he's lefty and Sojo is righty, and hope that Leiter has enough left in his tank to get 1 more out, and then try to win the game in the bottom of the 9th; failing that, let the bullpen take over for the 10th.

2. Bring in Armando Benitez, keeping a righty-on-righty matchup, as the mercurial closer had already saved Game 3 of the Series, but had also already blown a 9th-inning lead in Game 1, blown a 9th-inning lead in the Division Series against the San Francisco Giants (the Mets ended up winning in extra innings anyway), and had blown quite a few big games for the Baltimore Orioles in 1996 and '97, including giving up the Derek Jeter homer that involved Jeffrey Maier in the 1996 American League Championship Series at the Tony Fernandez homer that won the Pennant for the Cleveland Indians a year later. (And Fernandez, although a good fielder, was no power hitter.) Benitez was like a box of chocolates: He could give you something that tasted really good, but he could also give you a mess. And he was nuts.

3. Bring in John Franco, a man with 420 career saves, more than any lefthander and any National Leaguer in history (he finished his career with 424), and who had already been the winning pitcher in relief in Game 3; but was 39 years old, had already pitched the last 2 nights (Games 3 and 4), and, well, there was a reason why he was no longer the closer and Benitez was (namely his 1998 season when he went 0-8 with a 3.62 ERA).

Tough choice. All 3 options have good reasons to choose them, and all 3 have red flags.

Was Valentine thinking of the Mel Rojas Game at this moment? I was. Personally, I didn't care what decision he made, because A, I'm a Yankee Fan; and, B, it didn't really matter who pitched to Sojo, Sojo was going to have to bat against him anyway... unless, of course, Yankee manager Joe Torre wanted to put in a lefty hitter to face either Leiter or, in case Valentine brought him in, Franco. (Torre's only lefty choice remaining on the bench was Luis Polonia, and, with extra innings looming, it was perhaps premature to use your last remaining lefty hitter.)

Valentine decided to leave Leiter in. Leiter's 142nd pitch was slapped at by Sojo. It went up the middle for a hit. Posada rounded 3rd, and he huffed, and he puffed, and he slid in, and the throw hit him and the ball rolled away. This allowed Brosius to score a potentially vital insurance run. Mariano Rivera finished it off in the bottom of the 9th, and the Yankees won, 4-2, to take the Series.

Met fans have debated this Valentine move ever since. Was he right to leave Leiter in?

With 11 years of hindsight, I think he was. Age 39 or not, Franco had to be tired. And Benitez simply could not be trusted in that situation again, especially against the Yankees. Leiter was one of those guys who, reaching a point where he could no longer pitch with his arm, found ways to pitch with his head and his heart, and it often worked. This time, it didn't.

Met fans often think that, had Rey Ordonez not been hurt, he would have snared Sojo's grounder, as backup Mike "I Need Viagra For My" Bordick did not, and that would have ended the inning and given the Mets a chance, and rendered Valentine's decision the right one. No way: Ordonez was not that good, and the ball was right over 2nd base, so the most Ordonez could have done, even with Sojo being about as fast as my 4-year-old nieces now are, and with about as much coordination, it would have been an infield single, bases loaded, 2 out -- although, Shea being a National League park, the pitcher's spot was up, and the only hitters Torre had left on the bench were Polonia and the righthanded, once-feared, but now seriously declining Jose Canseco.

At any rate, the criticism that Valentine gets for this decision is unfair -- but I don't think it would have happened if he hadn't botched the Rojas Game 2 years earlier.

*

Let's not forget that, in 1998, the Mets needed to win just 1 of their last 5 games to clinch at least a tie for the NL Wild Card spot. They lost them all, and finished 1 game behind the Giants and Chicago Cubs, who had a Playoff for that spot, with the Cubs winning. Surely, Valentine could have managed those last 5 games better. Indeed, he didn't need to manage ALL 5 better -- only ONE of them, and there would have been an unprecedented (and still never-done) 3-way tie for an MLB postseason berth.

Or that, in 1999, the Mets trailed the Atlanta Braves 3 games to 2 in the NL Championship Series, and were tied in the bottom of the 11th inning, but the Braves loaded the bases, and instead of bringing in righthander Octavio "Heartbreak" Dotel to pitch to the righthanded Andruw Jones, Valentine brought in the lefty Kenny Rogers. Clearly, to paraphrase the singer Kenny Rogers, Bobby V didn't know when to hold 'em, or know when to fold 'em. Rogers walked Jones, the most famous base-on-balls in baseball history -- unless you prefer the one a year later when Benitez walked O'Neill to give the Yankees the chance to come back in Game 1 of the Subway Series.

*

After getting fired as Met manager in 2002, Bobby V became a talking head for ESPN, then went back to managing in Japan, as he had done between Texas and Flushing Meadow. He was successful there, and then returned to ESPN, doing his damnedest these last 2 seasons to show baseball fans just how smart he thinks he is.

Now, he's going to manage the Boston Red Sox, a team with quite a few strengths, but also a lot of problems, including big egos, big stomachs, big injuries, and big psychological issues.

And while it's true that, if you can handle the media in New York, you can handle the media anywhere, the truth is that the New York media already knew and liked him from his playing days with the Mets; the Boston media does not really know him all that well, and, as is usually the case with outsiders in that oh-so-insular city, is unlikely to give him the benefit of the doubt.

And speaking of Boston being an insular city, what do you think the Boston fans will think of Bobby Valentine? Suppose the Red Sox get off to a start like they had this season. Will they give him a pass, saying, "Give him a chance, he inherited a mess and he needs time to straighten it out"? Even if they do, which would only be fair, suppose the Sox have a finish resembling the one they had this season. Results do matter. Will the Chowdaheads say, "Give him a break, he's only had one full season"? Or will they throw him to the wolves?

Silly question: Sox fans can be rather wolfish themselves -- and that's a quality that many of them not only admit that they have, but they tend to enjoy it!

To paraphrase David Byrne, Bobby Valentine may ask himself, "How did I get here? This is not my beautiful ballpark! This is not my beautiful team!"

Happy Birthday Arsenal -- At Least Unofficially

2011-12-01T10:03:00.004-05:00

December 1, 1886: If the gentlemen behind Untold Arsenal and the Arsenal Independent Supporters Association are correct, and I suspect that they are, this was the day, 125 years ago today, that Arsenal Football Club was founded.

Its original name was Royal Arsenal Football Club, as they were a works team -- what we in the U.S. would call a company team, as both the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers began -- at the Royal Arsenal (hence the nickname "The Gunners," which led to their fans later being tagged "The Gooners") in Woolwich (the 2nd W is silent), in what was then the county of Kent but is now part of Southeast London. The first game was on January 8, 1887, at Plumstead Common, 2 miles away, against a nearby club called Erith, and Royal Arsenal won, 6-1.

Using surviving published accounts, the Untold Arsenal/AISA men have demolished the myth that the first game was played on December 11, 1886, on the Isle of Dogs, at what was then the home field (pitch or ground, as they would say) of Millwall Rovers (now just "Millwall"), against Eastern Wanderers, a 6-0 win by the club then known as Dial Square (a section of the Royal Arsenal where the first players worked).

There is, in fact, no surviving contemporary evidence that this game took place or that the name Dial Square was ever used by the club that was Royal Arsenal from 1887 to 1893, Woolwich Arsenal from then until 1913 when they moved to a new stadium at Highbury in North London, "The Arsenal" until 1919 and "Arsenal Football Club" since, although "The Arsenal" is frequently still used, especially by the club's fans.

While the December 11, 1886 match at the Isle of Dogs almost certainly didn't happen the way later histories of the club would claim, and as the club's official website still claims, Royal Arsenal did play Eastern Wanderers at home a few weeks later and win, and then Millwall at the Isle of Dogs a few weeks after that and lose, before beating them at home a few weeks after that.

Here's a link to the first part of a four-part series that explains what I'm talking about in better detail:

http://www.blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk/2011/10/11/arsenal-the-first-year-if-you-know-your-arsenal-history-you-are-in-for-a-shock/

But, much like the story of Abner Doubleday inventing baseball at Cooperstown, New York in 1839, when all the available evidence shows that it was impossible for him to have done so, and that he never made such a claim in his lifetime, and that there's no evidence he even liked baseball or so much as ever saw a game in a rather distinguished life that saw him become a hero of the American Civil War... what has become accepted as "historical fact" is not going to change in the minds of most people familiar with the Dial Square/Isle of Dogs story. Just as Cooperstown will always be "The Birthplace of Baseball," December 11, 1886 will probably always be the birthday of Arsenal.

Good old Arsenal, we're proud to say your name.
While we sing this song, we'll win the game!

Happy Anniversary, and come on you Gunners! (COYG) They play away to Wigan Athletic this Saturday.

All Thumbs With Football

2011-11-28T10:31:00.003-05:00

Thumbs down to East Brunswick. I knew my Dear Old Alma Mater was going to lose the Thanksgiving game to the Purple Scum, probably badly... but 40-7 after 3 quarters? No, the final score of 40-20 does us no favors. Come on, have some pride.

Thumbs down to Rutgers. All the Scarlet Knights had to do was beat Connecticut, hardly a great team, to claim at least a share of the Big East title and have a shot at a Bowl Championship Series berth. It was almost identical to the EB-Old Bridge game: 40-10 after 3 quarters, before closing to 40-22. A few years ago, Greg Schiano told us, "It's time." But, as Keith Sargent said in the Home News Tribune, the future never comes. Schiano has had more time to build a champion than Rex Ryan has had; when does he start to get questioned? The fact that RU had the chance this season, after a losing season last year, speaks well of Schiano. The fact that this seems to be the furthest he can take the program does not.

Thumbs up to the Jets. This was a character-testing game, and they came through, especially Mark Sanchez. Whatever his problems are, they do not include a lack of guts. I can question his intelligence, his judgment, and his execution; but not his poise or his courage.

Thumbs up to the Buffalo Bills. In spite of this loss, they will be back. Chan Gailey has them going in the right direction.

Thumbs up to the Green Bay Packers. If Sports Illustrated doesn't name Aaron Rodgers their 2011 Sportsman of the Year, they're going to have a lot of explaining to do.

Thumbs up to the Detroit Lions. Yes, the Packers beat them pretty badly on Thanksgiving, but they're moving in the right direction. They even acted quickly to punish Ndamukong Suh, which is a good sign: They not only want to win, but also to win in the right way. Some teams (the Pats of the last few years, the Raiders of the 1970s and '80s) wanted to win in the worst way; the Lions want to win in the best way.

Thumbs down to Ndamukong Suh. You're a great talent, and you're ruining it. You could become the new Mean Joe Greene. Instead, you're becoming the new Albert Haynesworth -- and as Dick Smothers would say, "That was not a compliment!"

Thumbs up to the Oakland Raiders. I knew they were only one man away from becoming Playoff contenders again. I also knew that the one man was Al Davis. Like Bill Wirtz of the Chicago Blackhawks, as long as he lived he was the problem, not part of the solution.

Thumbs down to the Dallas Cowboys and the New England Patriots. No matter what you achieve, you will always be scum. And the sad part is, neither of you HAD to be. You were good enough to not be punks.

Thumbs down to the people behind the BCS. Regardless of whether Louisiana State wins or loses the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, you're going to have Alabama in your BCS National Championship Game -- and they didn't even win their Division of the SEC!

Thumbs up to the University of Kentucky. They beat Tennessee and claimed the Old Bourbon Barrel for the first time in 26 years.

Thumbs up to the University of Wisconsin. They beat Penn State 45-7, and advanced to the first-ever Big 10 Championship Game. Any time Paterno State loses, it's good. This time, they got their asses kicked. Of course, as they now know, there are worse things that can happen to a young male's rear end at Penn State.

Thumbs down to all this conference realignment. Although it's making rivalries that always could, and perhaps should, have been, like Nebraska vs. Iowa (the States do border each other), it's also breaking up good ones, like Nebraska vs. Oklahoma and the "Backyard Brawl" between Pittsburgh and West Virginia. But if Florida vs. Florida State, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, South Carolina vs. Clemson, and Oklahoma vs. Texas can survive realignments, maybe others can as well.

Finally, thumbs up to the British Columbia Lions, who won the Grey Cup, Canada's "Super Bowl," on their home field in Vancouver, beating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. This was their 6th Canadian Football League Championship. And, unlike when the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup Finals earlier this year, the locals did not riot. So that's 6 titles for the BC Lions, while Vancouver has not won a Stanley Cup since 1915.

The Green Good Guys Lost to the Purple Scum

2011-11-25T16:03:00.002-05:00

Well, the Good Guys lost the Thanksgiving game. Again.

The Big Green had beaten the Purple Bastards in 2 of the last 5 seasons, and the game was at home. But who was kidding who? East Brunswick lost our first 8 games before winning a consolation game, and Old Bridge came in at 4-5, with their 5 losses all at the hands of teams that made the Playoffs -- as if E.B. hadn't lost to 4 of those teams!

The Purple Bastards jumped out to a 40-7 lead, before we made the final score 40-20, with 2 incredibly meaningless touchdowns.

And Old Bridge's coach spoke of an 8-1 junior varsity and a good sophomore class.

My fellow EBHS grads, enjoy that 2009 State Championship, that 2010 Playoff berth, and those 2006 and 2010 wins over The Scum, because it may be some time before we get any more of those!

What a lousy way to end our 50th Anniversary season of football, 1961-2011.

Now the countdown to the next Battle of Route 18 starts.

I hate Old Bridge. I really, really hate 'em.

Come on, Rutgers, beat UConn tomorrow. Clinch that first-ever Big East Championship -- even if it does turn out to be only a Co-Championship, it's a title, the first.

The Devils are playing the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum, in a Day After Thanksgiving matinee right now -- no score in the 2nd. First half of a home-and-home series that concludes tomorrow afternoon at the Prudentail Center.

*

Hours until the Devils play another local rival: 21, tomorrow night, again against the Islanders, at the Prudential Center. The first game against The Scum isn't until Tuesday night, December 20, at the Prudential. The next game against the Philadelphia Flyers is a Saturday matinee on January 21, 2012, at the Prudential Center.

Hours until Rutgers plays football again: 21, tomorrow afternoon, at the University of Connecticut's home field, off-campus, at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

Hours until Arsenal play again in a competitive match: 21, tomorrow afternoon (morning my time), against another capital club, Fulham of West London, including American star Cliff Dempsey. Former Tottenham manager Martin Jol is now the Fulham manager, but, since he is no longer the Tottenham manager, officially, his mother is cleared of being a whore.

Days until the next North London Derby: 92, on Saturday, February 25, at New Highbury. Just 3 months. However, this game would be moved if Arsenal advance to the Carling Cup (League Cup) Final, to be held the next day at London's new Wembley Stadium. Arsenal play Manchester City in the Quarterfinals this coming Tuesday. The other teams still in it: Manchester United vs. Crystal Palace (South London), Chelsea (West London) vs. Liverpool, and Cardiff City (Wales) vs. Blackburn Rovers (Lancashire in England's North-West).

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 120, presumably on Saturday night, March 24, 2012, opponent and location to be determined. Just 4 months. I'm still pissed off that David Beckham and especially that Tottenham cunt Robbie Keane won the MLS Cup with the Los Angeles Galaxy this past Sunday.

Days until the Yankees' next Opening Day: 132, on Friday afternoon, April 6, 2012, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg against the Tampa Bay Rays. A little over 4 months.

Days until the Yankees' home opener: 140, on Friday afternoon, April 13, 2012, against the Whatever They'll Be Calling Themselves Next Season Angels of Anaheim.

Days until the last Nets game in New Jersey: 145, on Wednesday night, April 18, 2012, against the Chicago Bulls, at the Prudential Center. Under 7 months before New Jersey no longer has an NBA team. This is, of course, contingent on the current NBA lockout not rearranging the schedule.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 147, on Friday night, April 20, 2012, at Fenway Park in Boston. Under 5 months.

Days until the 2012 Olympics begin in London: 242 (July 27). About 10 months.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 294, on Friday, September 14, 2012, opponent and location to be determined.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 365. 2012 is a Leap Year, hence the extra day.

Days until Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands: 826 (February 2, 2014). A little over 8 months.

Days until Alex Rodriguez collects his 3,000th career hit: 604 (estimated around July 20, 2013). About 20 months.

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 700th career home run: 877 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 756th career home run to surpass all-time leader Hank Aaron: 1,711 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 763rd career home run to become as close to a "real" all-time leader as we are likely to have: 1,742 (estimated -- estimating 28 home runs a year, he should get it late in the 2016 season, maybe around September 1, at age 41).

The MVP Votes: One Right, One Wrong

2011-11-23T10:14:00.002-05:00

The Most Valuable Player in either League should, at the least, be a player from a Playoff team, preferably their Pennant-winner.

Ryan Braun, a.k.a. the Hebrew Hammer, helped the Milwaukee Brewers to their best season in almost 30 years, and he is a deserving National League winner.

I usually don't like to see a pitcher win it, as he's in only 1 out of 5 games -- or, if a reliever, 1 or 2 innings out of 9.

Justin Verlander definitely deserved the Cy Young Award for what he did for the Detroit Tigers, but not the MVP. As a Yankee Fan, I wanted Curtis Granderson to win it.

However, on the ESPN site, I saw the following comment, which does make considerable sense:

For all of the "he only played in 35 games" people....Verlander faced on average 35 batters a game. Therefore, in his 35 games, he affected 1,225 plays. A batter who plays ALL 162 games and averages 4 at bats and 4 plays in the field a game affects 1,296 plays..... I say that means they're on equal footing when doing comparisons.

If we're going for the Pennant winners, the highest finisher among Texas Rangers was Michael Young, who finished 8th. A .336 batting average and 106 RBIs are MVP numbers, but just 11 home runs? He did play very good defense, so he should have been higher in the voting -- certainly higher than 2nd-place finisher Jacoby Ellsbury of the choking Red Sox.

And the highest finisher among St. Louis Cardinals was, big surprise, Albert Pujols, who finished 5th. He had a .299 batting average and 99 RBIs -- the first time in his 11-year career he hasn't gotten to .300 and 100. But he did hit 37 home runs. Most importantly, he had a great year by MY standards: He won the World Series. Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers finished 2nd. Great year, but the Dodgers missed the Playoffs. (But what did you expect? Donnie Regular Season Baseball is their manager.)

Has Rex Ryan Failed?

2011-11-22T09:38:00.003-05:00

In their first 49 seasons of play, the New York Jets reached the American Football League or American Football Conference Championship game only 3 times: In 1968, 1982, and 1998.

In their next 2 seasons, 2009 and 2010, the first 2 seasons in which they had Rex Ryan as head coach, they made it to the AFC Championship Game both times.

However, it should be noted that, while the Jets, under head coach Wilbur "Weeb" Ewbank, did beat the Oakland Raiders in the 1968 AFL Championship Game, and went on to beat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, they have never won an AFC Championship Game.

Under Walt Michaels, they lost the 1982 game to the Miami Dolphins, in the "Mud Bowl" at the old Orange Bowl, the very stadium where they won their only Super Bowl. No shame there, the Dolphins were a very good team and led for much of the ensuing Super Bowl XVII.

Under Bill Parcells, they led the 1998 game over the Denver Broncos at the half, at Denver's Mile High Stadium no less, but lost. No shame there, the Broncos were 14-2, and were defending Super Bowl Champions, and went on to make it back-to-back titles in Super Bowl XXXIII.

Under Rex Ryan, the Jets advanced to the last 2 AFC Championship Games. In 2009-10, they gave the Indianapolis Colts a tough game in Indy before losing.

And last season, following emotional Playoff wins over the Bengals in Cincinnati and the New England Patriots in Foxboro -- the team's greatest achievement in 42 years -- they showed up far too late against the Steelers in Pittsburgh. My sister sent me a text message during that game, saying, "Arggggh the Jets!" I responded, "It ain't over til it's aw screw it it's over."

Still, getting to back-to-back AFC Championship Games is good, right? Of the 16 current AFC teams, 5 have not done it: The Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs -- and of those, the Begnals and Chiefs have been around for the entire life of the AFC. Make it 7 teams if you count the Tennessee Titans as being separate from the Houston Oilers.

On the other hand, how many teams have lost back-to-back AFC Championship Games? The Oakland Raiders (3 straight, 1973-75), the Oilers (1978-79), the San Diego Chargers (1980-81), the Cleveland Browns (1986-87)... and the Jets.

(In the NFC, there's been the 1970-71 San Francisco 49ers, the 1972-73 Dallas Cowboys, the 1974-76 Los Angeles Rams, the 1980-82 Cowboys, the 1992-93 49ers, and the 2001-03 Philadelphia Eagles.)

Well, so what? The Buffalo Bills won 4 straight AFC Championship Games... and lost 4 straight Super Bowls as a result! Does that mean that their coach, Marv Levy, failed? Actually, yes.

But while the Bills went into their first 2 Super Bowls rather cocky, it was nothing like what Rex has done with the Jets.

Like Joe Namath in January 1969, he has been predicting, even guaranteeing, that the Jets would win a Super Bowl.

They've gotten within 2 games of achieving that, twice... but haven't done it.

This season, he was predicting it before the season. Results? So far, the Jets are 5-5.

If the Jets run the table, they'll be 11-5, which is nearly always enough to at least win a Wild Card. If they go 5-1 the rest of the way, they'll be 10-6, which is often enough to reach the Wild Card, but not always. If they go 4-2, not a bad stretch by any means, they'll be 9-7, and the Playoffs would still be possible.

Their remaining games? Home to Buffalo this Sunday (tough one, even if they did beat the Bills in Orchard Park not that long ago), at Washington (should be a win, the Redskins are terrible this season and Landover is as bad a home-field advantage as RFK Stadium was a good one), home to Kansas City (the Chiefs got pounded by the Pats last night but were a Playoff team last year and I don't expect them to roll over), at Philadelphia (who knows which Eagles team is going to show up), officially a "home game" against the Giants on Christmas Eve afternoon (and the Giants have been hard to figure as well), and closing at Miami on New Year's Day afternoon.

None of those games will be easy, not even the last: We all know that the Jets, since January 12, 1969, anyway, have had trouble playing in Miami. On the other hand, all of these games are eminently winnable, if the Jets can avoid serious injuries and Mark Sanchez doesn't throw interceptions. The Jets are fortunate that the 3 hardest games of the season, the home-and-away with the Pats and the visit to Baltimore (all losses), are already out of the way.

But even if the Jets do win at least 5 of their last 6 and make the Playoffs, what then? After 2 AFC Championship Game losses, anything less than a Super Bowl win would mark this season as a failure.

The only question left is whether it marks Rex Ryan's tenure as a failure.

This may be the most talented Jets team ever. Indeed, I think they're every bit as good as Namath's 1968 team; the 1982 team that had Freeman McNeil, Wesley Walker, and the defensive line known as the New York Sack Exchange; Parcells' 1998 squad that came within 30 minutes of a Super Bowl trip; and Herman Edwards's never-say-die "play to win the game" AFC Eastern Division Champions of 2002.

*

But Rex has raised the bar too high. And it seems like every time he opens his mouth, he puts his foot in it.

Oh, was that a double-entendre?

In his column in Sunday's New York Daily News, Gary Myers spells it out.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/ny-jets-season-total-wrecks-rex-ryan-deliver-super-bowl-promise-article-1.980040

Rex Ryan made a promise he will not be able to keep. He guaranteed the Jets were going to win the Super Bowl this season, which is going to be hard to do without making the playoffs.

Broken promises. Two years ago, he said the Jets should be the favorites to win it all. He didn’t guarantee anything, but was certainly implying the Jets would finish with the trophy in their hands.

Last season he declared the Jets “soon to be champs.” Soon, as in right away. He left no room for interpretation this year...

“I believe this is the year that we’re going to win the Super Bowl,” Ryan said in February. “I thought we’d win it the first two years. I guarantee we’ll win it this year.”

Ryan became a cult hero to Jets fans craving a championship. But there’s only so many times you can make a promise, not deliver, and then expect anybody to still pay attention...

Realistically, the Jets just completed a five-day stretch that puts an end to their dreams for 2011. There is nothing they’ve shown the first 10 games that would make anybody believe they can sweep their final six against the Bills, Redskins, Chiefs, Eagles, Giants and Dolphins.

They are 5-5, the essence of mediocrity. Their five losses are more than the Patriots, Bills, Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, Texans, Titans and Raiders have. The Broncos are tied with the Jets but own the tie-breaker. Right now, the Jets are in 10th place out of 16 teams in the composite AFC standings. Taking the four division winners out of the battle for the wild cards, the Jets would have to jump over four teams to get to the second wild-card spot. All five of their losses are in the AFC, which hurts, and they would lose the tie-breaker to the Ravens, Raiders and Broncos because they fell to each to them...

This was the defense Ryan has bragged about for three years? It couldn’t stop Tim Tebow? All he can do is run and he carved them for 57 yards on the ground on the final drive. I have never seen an NFL quarterback be as inept throwing the ball as Tebow...

Back in March, I was talking with Ryan on the street right outside the hotel in New Orleans where the NFL was holding its annual meetings. It was about one month after he had issued his Super Bowl guarantee. I mentioned he would lose credibility making statements like that if he didn’t deliver. Kind of like the boy who cried wolf.

Instead of showing concern about his words losing impact, Ryan compared himself to Babe Ruth, but only after first invoking the words of Teddy Roosevelt. It was an interesting way to express his confidence.

“They talk about walk softly and carry a big stick. I love that. I agree with that 100%,” Ryan said. “But I guess I feel more like Babe Ruth. I’m going to walk softly, I’m going to carry that big stick and then I’m going to point and then I’m going to hit it over the fence.” ...

There is no joy in Jetville. The Mighty Rex has struck out... How many times can Ryan guarantee the Super Bowl? Broken promises.

*

Joe Namath guaranteed a Super Bowl win in 1969. He delivered, and the Jets were World Champions.

Mark Messier guaranteed a key Playoff win in 1994. He delivered, and the Rangers went on to become World Champions. To my everlasting dismay and disgust.

Jim Fassel guaranteed a Playoff berth in 2000. He delivered, and the Giants got all the way to the Super Bowl before losing.

They succeeded.

Patrick Ewing guaranteed an NBA Championship for the Knicks a few times. Not until 2009, when he was an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic, did one of his guarantees come true (beating the Boston Celtics in a Game 7). As a Knick, he failed.

Rex Ryan has to lead the Jets to a Super Bowl. If not this season, then the next. If he doesn't do it in either one, then he is no longer helping this team, as he once did.

If, as we go to bed on February 3, 2013, the New York Jets have won neither Super Bowl XLVI or Super Bowl XLVII, Rex Ryan needs to be fired. For cause. For failure.

Because, as things stand right now, he is a failure.

Sure, Tom Coughlin of the Giants is more likely to lose his job first... but he is not a failure. He won a Super Bowl for a New York team.

Ivan Nova IS the Rookie of the Year

2011-11-15T09:36:00.003-05:00

Jeremy Hellickson goes 13-10 for the Tampa Bay Rays, a 2nd-place team that needed an absolute miracle to make the Playoffs.

Ivan Nova goes 16-4 for the New York Yankees, a 1st-place team.

And Hellickson gets Rookie of the Year? And Nova only finishes 4th?

What the hell is the matter with these voters?

I posted that on Facebook last night. And a fellow Yankee Fan responded with this:

In this age of Saber-freaking-Metrics, Mike, the facts are that Hellickson's ERA was slightly lower than Nova's (by about half a run), struck out more batters and (no fault of his, the Yanks did this)sent him to AAA for about a month. To me, that doesn't mean much anyway!

I know he's only trying to explain their reason, and not necessarily agreeing with with it.

But...

Sabermetrics.

Oy.

Herman Edwards demands an explanation for this bullshit!

Because, and I don't care what sport it is, you DON'T play to get the fanciest statistics.

HELLO? YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!

And Ivan Nova was better at winning games than any rookie in all of baseball in 2011!

And anybody who says otherwise does not understand sports -- let alone baseball.

Rutgers Rises to Yankee Stadium Challenge

2011-11-14T10:12:00.003-05:00

The Giants and Jets really flopped yesterday. Ah, but East Brunswick finally won, beating West Windsor-Plainsboro North -- why didn't they just call it "Plainsboro High School"? -- 42-22 to prevent a winless season. And Rutgers...

In the old days, Rutgers would occasionally go to Yankee Stadium in its pre-renovation, fillagreed-roof, Monuments on the field format to play New York University (NYU) in football -- and usually get clobbered.

That was not the case on Saturday, as RU went to the new Yankee Stadium to play Army (the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York), in what was officially a home game for Army despite the neutral site (this after Notre Dame got a "home game" against Army at the new Stadium last year), and overcame a 6-0 deficit to win, 27-12.

It was only 13-12 Rutgers midway through the 4th quarter when RU blocked a punt, and Jordan Thomas returned it 32 yards for a touchdown.

Attendance at the 50,000-seat Stadium was just 30,028, including the thousands of members of the Corps of Cadets placed in the outfield, as temporary gray-clad "Bleacher Creatures." The 30,028 wouldn't have filled the 39,000-seat Michie Stadium at West Point, let alone the 52,000-seat new Rutgers Stadium.

I refuse to use the new corporate name: RU is not at a high point, and they've provided precious few solutions.

Or... have they? Rutgers is currently 7-3, having picked up overtime wins at Syracuse and over South Florida, beaten usually-tough Pittsburgh, and beaten both Eastern service academies, Army and Navy (Annapolis, Maryland, although the game was played at Rutgers Stadium -- I don't believe Rutgers has ever played the Air Force Academy, which is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado). But they've also lost games they should have won at North Carolina (24-22), at Louisville (16-14), and home to West Virginia (41-31).

Still, other conference games mean that the Big East is currently led by Cincinnati with a 3-1 record. Rutgers, West Virginia, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Connecticut all have 2 league losses. Which means that, theoretically, any one of those teams could still win the league. Only South Florida and Syracuse, each 1-4 in the league, are out of the race.

Rutgers has 2 games left. This coming Saturday, they host Cincinnati. Then, a week later, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Rutgers goes to East Hartford to play Connecticut.

Suppose Rutgers wins both. They will finish Big East play at 5-2, and be no worse than tied for the Big East Championship -- the first league title in the longest history of any college football team; going back to 1869, Rutgers has never won its league. Okay, Rutgers was never IN a league until the Big East Football Conference was founded in 1991, but they've still never won it. Win it, even a share of it, and they'll go to a much bigger bowl than would have been expected -- including a possible return to Yankee Stadium in the Pinstripe Bowl on December 30.

If Rutgers beats Cincy and UConn, it would have the tiebreakers over Cincy and Pittsburgh -- but not West Virginia, who beat Cincy on Saturday to make some of this possible, or Louisville.

West Virginia still has to go to South Florida, which is a lot tougher at home than on the road, but WVU should still win it. But WVU also still has to play Pitt in "the Backyard Brawl," one of the toughest rivalries in college football -- certainly the nastiest rivalry in the Big East. If Pitt wins, WVU is out of the picture.

Louisville has 3 games left: Home to Pitt, and at UConn and South Florida. USF is as unlikely, even at home, to beat Louisville as they are to beat WVU. But if Louisville loses to either Pitt or UConn, that knocks them out of the title picture.

And, since Rutgers already has the tiebreaker over Pitt, and, with a win over UConn, would have the tiebreaker over them...

Then Rutgers would finally have fulfilled the promise that Greg Schiano brought 10 years ago, to play in a Bowl Championship Series game on, or later than, January 1.

For Rutgers, the impossible has become improbable, but very, very possible.

*

It's been so long since I did one of these countdowns that I had to recalculate some of them.

Days until Arsenal play again in a competitive match: 5, this Saturday afternoon (morning my time), at Norwich City, of Norfolk, England.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 5, this Saturday afternoon, home to the University of Cincinnati.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 10. Come on you Greens, beat the Purple Bastards! Beat The Scum!

Days until the Devils play another local rival: 11, against the New York Islanders, in a day-after-Thanksgiving matinee, Friday, November 25, at the Nassau Coliseum. The first game against The Scum isn't until Tuesday night, December 20, at the Prudential. The next game against the Philadelphia Flyers is a Saturday matinee on January 21, 2012, at the Prudential Center.

Days until the next North London Derby: 103, on Saturday, February 25, at New Highbury. Under 15 weeks. However, this game would be moved if Arsenal or Tottenham advance to the Carling Cup (League Cup) Final, to be held the next day at London's new Wembley Stadium.

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 131, presumably on Saturday night, March 24, 2012, opponent and location to be determined. Under 19 weeks. They were eliminated from the Playoffs by the Los Angeles Galaxy, who will host the Houston Dynamo for the MLS Cup this coming Sunday night.

Days until the Yankees' next Opening Day: 144, on Friday afternoon, April 6, 2012, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg against the Tampa Bay Rays. Under 5 months.

Days until the Yankees' home opener: 151, on Friday afternoon, April 13, 2012, against the Whatever They'll Be Calling Themselves Next Season Angels of Anaheim.

Days until the last Nets game in New Jersey: 156, on Wednesday night, April 18, 2012, against the Chicago Bulls, at the Prudential Center. Under 7 months before New Jersey no longer has an NBA team. This is, of course, contingent on the current NBA lockout not rearranging the schedule.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 158, on Friday night, April 20, 2012, at Fenway Park in Boston.

Days until the 2012 Olympics begin in London: 256 (July 27). Just over 10 months.

Days until Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands: 837 (February 2, 2014). A little over 8 months.

Days until Alex Rodriguez collects his 3,000th career hit: 615 (estimated around July 20, 2013). About 20 months.

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 700th career home run: 888 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 756th career home run to surpass all-time leader Hank Aaron: 1,722 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 763rd career home run to become as close to a "real" all-time leader as we are likely to have: 1,753 (estimated -- estimating 28 home runs a year, he should get it late in the 2016 season, maybe around September 1, at age 41).

How Old Are You Now? Music Edition

2011-11-12T16:43:00.006-05:00

In a few weeks, I'll be 42 years old. That seems ancient. But is it?

In 1955, Boyd Bennett & the Rockets had a hit with "Seventeen." This would make her 73 years old today.

In 1958, Chuck Berry had a hit with "Sweet Little Sixteen." That same year, Johnny Maestro & the Crests had "Sixteen Candles." This would make both girls now 71.

In 1959, Sam Cooke sang "Only Sixteen," in which he played a kid who said that he and his then-girlfriend were that age a year ago. This would make both characters 71 as well.

In 1960, Johnny Burnette had a hit with "You're Sixteen." ("You're sixteen, you're beautiful, and you're mine.") This would make her 67. In 1973, Ringo Starr covered the song -- his version's girl would now be 54.

In 1961, Neil Sedaka sang "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen." This would make her now 66.

In 1963, Chuck Berry wrote "Memphis," in which a man tells a long-distance phone operator to "get in touch with my Marie." At the end of the song, we find out that "Marie is only six years old" and is his daughter, taken away by his estranged wife -- or perhaps his sister, and the singer is a little boy now living with "my uncle"; either way, Marie is not his girlfriend. Johnny Rivers had a much bigger hit with the song the next year. If Marie was 6 in 1963, she's 54 now.

In 1963, in the Beatles' song "I Saw Her Standing There," Paul McCartney sang, "Well, she was just 17, you know what I mean!" Assuming that this had just happened, she would now be 65.

In 1970, Alice Cooper had a hit with "I'm Eighteen." Which means the character he played in the song is now 59. Alice, real name Vincent Furnier, is 63.

In 1971, in her song "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves," Cher sang, "I was 16, he was 21." Assuming that the events in the song had just happened (probably hadn't), she's now 56, he's 61.

In 1975, Harry Chapin released a song titled "She Is Always Seventeen." The song begins with John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address in 1961. If she was 17 then, that means she's 67 now.

In 1976, in his song "Rock and Roll Never Forgets," Bob Seger sang, "Well, now Sweet Sixteen's turning 31." Which means she's now 66. This would match Seger's actual age.

In 1977, in his song "Running On Empty," Jackson Browne sang, "In '65, I was 17" and, "In '69, I was 21." This is true: He was born in 1948. Which means he's now 63.

In 1977, KISS had a hit song titled "Christine Sixteen." Which means she's now 50.

In 1983, the Stray Cats had a hit song titled "She's Sexy & 17." Which means she's now 45.

Probably the best-known song in which a character's age is mentioned in the lyrics, but not the title, is "It Was a Very Good Year," first recorded by the Kingston Trio in 1961, with the best-known version being the one in 1965 by Frank Sinatra.

In the song, the singer remembers the very good years he had when he was 17, 21 and 35. But the singer does not specifically say how old he is now, only that, "Now, the days are short. I'm in the autumn of the year." (Sinatra titled the album for which he recorded it September of My Years.)

Frank Sinatra was born on December 12, 1915. So if he's playing himself in the song...

* He was 17 for nearly all of 1933. I seriously doubt that Depression year was a good year for an Italian teenage boy in Hoboken, New Jersey.

* He was 21 for nearly all of 1937. It might have been better, but he didn't become famous as a singer until 1940 or so.

* He was 35 for nearly all of 1951. That was actually a horrible year for Sinatra: His second wife, the fabulous (in more ways than one) actress Ava Gardner, left him, and his own career was going badly. He began to lose his voice due to psychosomatic stress.

But the days did not turn out to be short for him, at least not at that point. September of My Years actually boosted his career, and at 50 he became bigger than ever before. He continued to perform before adoring crowds until 1994, when his health started to fail. He died on May 14, 1998, age 82.

If you were 13 and screaming over Sinatra outside the Paramount Theater in Times Square in 1944, you're now 80.

If you were 13 and screaming over Elvis Presley when he went national in 1956, you're now 68.

If you were 13 when the Beatles arrived in America in early 1964 (if so, surely, you were screaming over them), you're now 60 or 61.

And, if, like me, you were 13 in 1983 when Michael Jackson changed from Motown kid to an Elvis-sized phenomenon in his own right, you're now 42.

*

For me, 17, 1987, was a very good year -- until the end; 21, 1991, had its good moments, but also some dreadful ones; 35, 2005, was, in some ways, the best year of my life, but in some aspects (sports, for example) it was not a year I would care to repeat.

42? According to Douglas Adams, in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, 42 is "the answer to life, the universe and everything."

It's also the only uniform number retired for all of baseball, for Jackie Robinson.

In the original, British, soccer-themed version of Fever Pitch, the climactic scene revolves around the final game of the 1989 Football League season, in which London-based Arsenal Football Club had to defeat Liverpool Football Club by 2 goals in order for the tiebreakers to fall into place and give them the title. This at a time when they hadn't won at Anfield, Liverpool's home ground, by any score in 15 years.

When the game reaches halftime scoreless, Steve (played by Mark Strong) says, "We're doing okay, aren't we?"

Paul (Colin Firth): "Well, what's the use of 'okay'? We might as well be losing 8-0!"

Steve: "I don't think that's really true, Paul. I'd say, if you want to win a game 2-0, you've got a much better chance if it's 0-0 (pronounced "nil-nil") at halftime than if you're 8 goals down. You see where I'm coming from?"

Paul: "You're living in cloud-cuckoo-land! Join the real world!"

Steve: "In the real world, it's 0-0 at halftime!"

Paul: "Might as well be 8-0."

Steve: "Jesus, Paul! You need medical help! You've got some kind of disease that turns people into miserable bastards!"

42 times 2 = 84. These days, it's hardly surprising for a man to live to be 84 years old. Unless he's lived his life like a cross between Evel Knievel, Charlie Sheen and a Mob hitman.

No, life isn't great for me. But it's been considerably worse. I haven't had a lot of offense, but I haven't allowed too many goals, either.

Maybe my life really is "nil-nil at halftime."

And Arsenal did win that game, 2-0, and win the title. If they could do it...

Oh, You're a Riot, Joe Pa, a Regular Riot

2011-11-10T10:22:00.002-05:00

I've seen sports fans riot after winning a championship. Detroit for the 1984 Tigers and the 1989 and '90 Pistons -- although not for the 2004 Pistons and the 4 Stanley Cups won by the Red Wings from 1997 to 2008. Chicago for the 1990s Bulls. Los Angeles for the 2000s Lakers. Montreal for the 1993 Canadiens. And, of course, Boston when the Red Sox (cough-steroids-rough) beat the Yankees for the 2004 Pennant -- although they were considerably more legal for actually winning the World Series.

I've seen sports fans riot after losing a championship. The Vancouver Canucks lost in 1994, and their fans rioted -- while the New York Rangers' fans, so often castigated by me for stupidity, bad taste and boorish behavior -- pretty much obeyed the law after winning that Cup.

I've seen college students riot after simply winning a football game. The Big Ten seems to specialize in this: Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State.

And I saw students at Indiana University demonstrate peacefully in support of Bobby Knight when he was fired as their basketball coach -- far more peacefully that Knight sometimes conducted himself.

Penn State? In defense of the indefensible Joe Paterno, a mob flipped over a news van, tore down two lampposts, and threw rocks and cans.

Why? They're angry that a man who protected a pedophile from prosecution lost his job?

It doesn't matter of Joe Paterno stopped a war, cured cancer or invented a fat-free ice cream that tasted like heaven.

He knew Jerry Sandusky was a sexual predator who preyed on children.

And he protected Sandusky.

I'm not talking about telling Sandusky to turn himself in, and then finding him a good defense attorney, and then telling the public not to prejudge him. Even the most loathsome person on Earth is entitled to defend himself in the justice system, to attempt to get the charges dropped or gain an acquittal. Every jury, no matter how bad the defendant appears to be, must presume his innocence, and let the prosecution prove otherwise; the defense only has to show that the case hasn't been proven -- not can't be, but hasn't been.

If what Joe Paterno did was simply try to do the right thing, by both his good friend and his good friend's alleged victims, he couldn't be faulted.

But he knew what was going on.

And he didn't go to the police. Or to the district attorney. Or any law-enforcement agency.

Whether he meant to or not, he let it continue. He could have stopped it. He chose not to.

And these students are rioting to protest the firing?

They are rioting on behalf of this man?

In the immortal words of Jackie Gleason, "Oh, you're a riot, Joe Pa. You're a regular riot!"

Penn Staters like to talk about the library that Paterno's football program funded, with his and his wife's name on it.

I wonder if there will be a room in the back, separated from the rest of the books by a curtain, named The Jerry Sandusky Room.

Was that supposed to be funny? Of course not. Nothing about this is funny.

Penn State is a joke. A very sick joke.

Somewhere, Woody Hayes has got to be shaking his head and saying, "Damn it, Joe, even I didn't screw up as much as you did."