The Nets Have Completely Surrendered

Left to right: Kevin Durant, smiling; James Harden, sort-of smiling;

and Kyrie Irving, not smiling. A metaphor for the "era"?

Wow. The Brooklyn Nets have completely surrendered in 3 days. Even by the standards of the biggest joke franchise in the NBA, this is embarrassing.

Assembling a "superteam" with the goal of winning the NBA title has worked before. It worked for the Boston Celtics, as Kevin Durant and Gary Payton were brought in to join Paul Pierce, and they won the NBA Championship in 2008. It worked for the Miami Heat, as Payton, LeBron James and Chris Bosh were brought in to join Dwyane Wade, and they won the Championship in 2012 and '13. And it worked for the Golden State Warriors, who brought Durant in to join Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, and they won the Championship in 2017 and '18.

But assembling a superteam has also failed. It failed for the Los Angeles Lakers, as Payton (2 out of 3 ain't bad, I suppose) and Karl Malone were brought in to join Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, and they lost the 2004 NBA Finals to a Detroit Pistons team which, at this writing, has seen only one of its players elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame: Ben Wallace.

The Nets -- on Long Island, in New Jersey, and now in Brooklyn -- have always been in the shadow of the New York Knicks, even when the Nets have been good and the Knicks have been bad. The Nets have a new arena in Brooklyn, the Barclays Center; and relatively new leadership in owner Joseph Tsai, general manager Sean Marks, and head coach Jacque Vaughn.

On July 6, 2019, the Nets signed Kyrie Irving as a free agent. Irving had helped LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers win the 2016 NBA Championship, but the 2 men fell out over Kyrie's bad attitude, and Kyrie was traded to the Celtics. There, too, he alternated between brilliance and mopery. When his contract ran out, they didn't lift a finger to re-sign him. The Nets signed him.

The very next day, the Nets got Durant from the Warriors in a trade. In addition to the 2017 and '18 titles with Golden State, Durant and James Harden had gotten the Oklahoma City Thunder into the 2012 NBA Finals, but lost to the Heat. With both Irving and Durant, the Nets were supposed to be contenders for the NBA Championship.

It didn't work out that way, although it wasn't all their fault. Durant was still dealing with the Achilles heel that cost the Warriors the 2019 Finals against the Toronto Raptors, and missed the entire 2019-20 season. Then, in March, that season was interrupted by the COVID pandemic. When the NBA started up again in August, it canceled the rest of the regular season, and went right to the Playoffs. Between the shutdown and earlier injuries, Irving only played 20 regular-season games. The Nets were the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference, and were swept by the Raptors in the 1st round.

Due to Durant's injury, the early exit wasn't totally unexpected. Durant would be back for 2020-21, and that was the season in which the Nets were supposed to go for it. They certainly tried: On January 13, 2021, they made a trade with the Houston Rockets, and got Harden, one of the game's top scorers at the time.

Now, the Nets had a "Big Three": Irving, Durant and Harden, with 7 Finals appearances and 3 titles between them. Surely, this combination would be enough to close a season with the 16 wins necessary to get through the Playoffs and win the NBA Championship.

Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden. They played a grand total of 16 games together. And it wasn't just due to injuries. With COVID still an issue, Irving refused to get vaccinated, and, by the law of the City of New York, the Nets could not even allow him in the arena. Then, after the law was lifted, Irving hurt his teammates by exposing them to him, and thus possibly to COVID, thus risking their lives.

This led Frank Isola, who covers the Nets for the New York Daily News, and is a regular panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn, to call Irving "the worst teammate in the history of sports." Given the circumstances, it's hard to argue. He made Stephon Marbury look like Magic Johnson.

And Irving couldn't get along with Harden. Still, the Nets got the 2nd seed in the East for the 2021 Playoffs. They beat the Celtics in 5 games, but then lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in 7 games. At first glance, it doesn't look particularly shameful. The Nets did win the 1st 2 games in Brooklyn, but, Cliché Alert, and this cliché is especially used in the NBA: The series isn't "over" until the home team loses at least once. Led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks won the next 2 in Milwaukee.

The Nets won Game 5 in Brooklyn, and the Bucks won Game 6 in Milwaukee. But in Game 7, in Brooklyn, the Bucks won in overtime. Durant scored 48, but Giannis scored 40, and the Bucks were just a little bit better, and went on to win the title.

Losing to that Bucks team was not, by itself, a terrible thing. Certainly, pushing a team that eventually won the title to a Game 7 suggests both some talent and some character. But losing a Game 7 at home always looks bad, especially in regard to character.

Cliché Alert: The window was closing. Except Nets management didn't know it. Irving still couldn't get along with Durant. So, on February 10, 2022, the Nets made a "my headache for your headache trade." They sent Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers for a package that included the talented but troubled star Ben Simmons. Simmons had missed the entire season to that point, with a back injury and, it was suggested, mental health issues. (Only he knows for sure what was going on.) So now, the Nets' Big Three was Irving, Durant and Simmons. Except Simmons wasn't available for the 2022 Playoffs.

As in 2020, the Nets were missing one of their Big Three, and only got the 7th seed in the East. As in 2020, they were easily beaten by the Celtics. But for 2022-23, all 3 -- Irving, Durant and Simmons -- were supposed to be healthy and ready to go.

Except Irving was whining his way through the season again. As always, bursts of brilliance, which suggested that he knew he was in his "contract year," were followed by sloughs of indifference, which suggested that he didn't care -- not about his future earnings, not about where he wanted to play in 2023-24 and beyond, and certainly not about his current teammates. Durant had demanded to be traded. And the Nets were 32-22, 5th in the East.

Finally, Irving demanded a trade. There were suggestions from basketball media pundits that they shouldn't give in to his demand before today's trading deadline, and instead should put him on the spot. Instead, 3 days ago, the Nets caved: They sent Irving and Markieff Morris to the Dallas Mavericks for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, and 3 draft picks for 2027 or later.

And then, yesterday, the surrender was made complete: The Nets traded Durant to the Phoenix Suns. The Suns reached the Finals in 2021, and were one of the favorites to do so again this season. Now, they look like favorites for the title.

The Nets look like they might barely scrape into the Playoffs, and then be done for a while. Once again, they are vying with the NBA's other "little brother franchise," the Los Angeles Clippers, for the titles of the league's biggest underachiever and its biggest joke franchise.

The Nets didn't even get a Division title out of their superteam experiment. There's not one banner that can be hung in the rafters of the Barclays Center as a reminder of anything good that Big Three I (Irving-Durant-Harden) or Big Three II (Irving-Durant-Simmons) accomplished, because they didn't accomplish anything beyond a 2 seed. Ain't no banners, trophies or parades for that.

The Nets' most recent banner remains the one for their 2006 Atlantic Division title. That was 17 years ago. They were still playing home games at the Meadowlands. Not one member of that team is still playing, in any professional league, anywhere in the world.

And yet, the Nets remain the New York Tri-State Area's most recent pro basketball Finalist, having made it in 2003, to the Liberty's 2002 WNBA Finals berth and the Knicks' 1999 NBA Finals berth; and the last Area team to win a league title, having won the ABA in 1976, to the Knicks' 1973 and the Liberty's never.

Somebody asked online, "How did this become such a trainwreck? There was soooo much promise.... "

Bringing Kyrie in, all by itself, made it a promise they had no chance of keeping. I was a Nets fan for their entire 35 years in New Jersey. I left them after they left me, when they moved to Brooklyn in 2012. I knew they would fail in their superteam bid, because that's what the Nets always do: They fail. But I didn't know they would surrender so spectacularly, and so fast.

Today, on ESPN's First Take, Stephen A. Smith called the Nets "the biggest failure in NBA history." On Around the Horn, Isola once again called Irving "the worst teammate in the history of sports."

Around the Horn airs on ESPN weekdays at 5:00 PM Eastern Time. It is followed at 5:30 by Pardon the Interruption, and that show's co-hosts also weighed in last night. Tony Kornheiser is a native of Long Island, where the Nets played from 1968, when he was in college at the State University of New York at Binghamton, to 1977, when he covered the New York Nets for the local newspaper Newsday. He compared the current Nets to mythology, citing both the Bible, calling what the team engaged in to "a sin of pride"; and the ancient Greeks, saying that, like Icarus, "They flew too close to the Sun, and got burned."

It was a great turn of phrase for Kornheiser, who often refers to having been an English major. But he got the cause of Icarus' death wrong: Icarus was the son of Daedalus, who made a set of wings, and flew, and the son asked the father to make him a set of wings, too. He did, but warned Icarus not to fly too high. He did, and as he got too close to the Sun, the wax holding the wings together melted, and Icarus fell to his death. So it is somewhat appropriate that Durant went to a team named the Suns.

And co-host Michael Wilbon, a Chicago native who covered a true superteam in the 1990s Chicago Bulls, and who, along with ESPN correspondent and former Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan, probably knows more about basketball than any living person not a player or a coach, said of Irving, "He's a great basketball player when he feels like it, which is not all the time." Wilbon is known for his bluntness, so, by his standards, this was putting it politely.

Upon his arrival in Dallas, Irving said, "To me, personally, just sitting in this seat today, I just know I want to be places where I'm celebrated, and not just tolerated, or just kind of dealt with in a way that doesn't make me feel respected. And there were times throughout this process, when I was in Brooklyn, where I felt very disrespected."

These are the words of a man who refused to do what it took to make himself even eligible to literally show up. And then, when he became eligible again, he metaphorically refused to show up on many an occasion.

There have been 4,374 men who have played at least 1 regular-season game in the National Basketball Association since its founding in 1946. Of those, Kyrie Irving is the one with the least justification to talk about respect.

Brooklyn Nets fans -- if any of them are left after this debacle -- should not talk at all.

As for the Knicks: They currently hold the 7th seed in the East. They will probably make the Playoffs. They might do better in those Playoffs than the Nets do.

Which Current New York Athletes Will Make the Hall of Fame?

Tomorrow, Eli Manning will hold a press conference and announce his retirement from the National Football League.

The question has been asked: Should he be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

Yes. As Drew Rosenhaus would say, "Next question!"

Come on. This is stupid. Of course Eli belongs.

He has passed for 57,023 yards. That is more than everybody except his brother Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Dan Marino and Phillip Rivers. Favre and Marino are already in, Peyton becomes eligible next year, and Brady (unless you want to keep him out due to cheating) and Brees are easy choices. Rivers is a question mark, but he plans to play next season, and could provide an easier answer.

He has passed for 366 touchdowns. That is higher than everybody except the exact same 6: Brees, Brady, Peyton, Favre, Marino and Rivers.

He has a pass completion rating of 60.3 percent. That is higher than these men already in the Hall: Sammy Baugh, Sid Luckman, Otto Graham, Bob Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, Bobby Layne, Johnny Unitas, Y.A. Tittle, Bart Starr, Sonny Jurgensen, George Blanda, Len Dawson, Bob Griese, Fran Tarkenton, Ken Stabler, Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Dan Fouts, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, John Elway and Warren Moon.

It's also higher than that of the man considered the best quarterback in New York football history: Joe Namath. Also, while he's not yet in the Hall, he should be, but he didn't have a higher career completion percentage than Eli, either: Phil Simms. Nor did Archie Manning.

His career passer rating is 84.1. Granted, it's a weird stat, and I don't put much stock in it. But it is higher than every one of those quarterbacks, and one more who is already in the Hall of Fame: Troy Aikman.

He led 37 regular-season game-winning drives. That's more than anybody except Peyton, Brees, Marino, Elway, Brady, Favre, Roethlisberger, Elway, Unitas and Matt Ryan.

Oh yes: He not only won 2 Super Bowls, defeating Brady and the New England Cheatriots both times, but won the Most Valuable Player in each game.

Here is the list of quarterbacks who have won at least 2 Super Bowls and are eligible for the Hall of Fame: Starr, Griese, Bradshaw, Staubach, Aikman, Jim Plunkett, Joe Montana. That's it: 7 guys. Eli, his brother Peyton Manning, Brady and Ben Roethlisberger have also done it, but they're not yet eligible: Peyton becomes eligible in next year's election, and Brady, Big Ben and (for the moment, at least officially) Eli are still active.

The only one of the 7 who isn't in is Plunkett. He should be in. And he was not a better quarterback than Eli Manning. (There's a little irony: Plunkett was one of the guys who beat Archie Manning, Eli & Peyton's father, out for the 1970 Heisman Trophy.)

If you count pre-Super Bowl NFL Championships -- and you should -- then add Van Brocklin (in), Unitas (in), Layne (in), Otto Graham (in), Tommy Thompson (out), Baugh (in), Luckman (in), Arnie Herber (in) and Ed Danowski (out -- which doesn't help Eli, because he was also a Giant).

So that's 13 out of 16 in. And if you don't know much about Thompson (1948 and '49 Eagles) and Danowski (1934 and '38), you may know that this was an era of significantly less sophisticated passing, and you would be safe in presuming that Eli was better than either of them.

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What other current players for New York Tri-State Area teams are going to their sports' Halls of Fame? It's not a long list. From the Giants, there is nobody else that's anywhere near sure. Saquon Barkley has gotten off to a very good start, but he's had just 2 years. Way too soon to tell.

From the Jets: Le'Veon Bell is a possibility, but that's mainly for what he did with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sam Darnold? Based on what we've seen so far, he seems more Richard Todd than Joe Namath.

From the Yankees: Lots of guys with a chance, but, unlike the newly-elected Derek Jeter and last year's honoree Mariano Rivera, nobody yet obvious. It's way too soon to tell for Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, or any of the other "Baby Bombers." Giancarlo Stanton has 308 home runs and he just turned 30, but his injuries, and now 2 postseason failures, make him a big question mark.

Masahiro Tanaka has won 174 games by age 31, but that's counting his stats in Japan. In America alone, he doesn't get in. The newly-acquired Gerrit Cole is 94-52 with 1,336 strikeouts at age 29, but we may soon find out just how much of that was due to his talent, and how much of it was due to his Houston Astro teammates cheating.

From the Mets: Jacob deGrom is 66-49 with 1,255 strikeouts, and 1 trip to the World Series (lost). He'll be 32 in June. He's not going.

Don't tell me about his Cy Young Awards. Tim Lincecum won 2 Cy Young Awards in the National League, and he'll never make the Hall of Fame. In the American League, Denny McLain, Bret Saberhagen and Johan Santana won 2, and they'll never get in. Of course, Saberhagen and Santana wrecked their careers by going to the Mets, something deGrom doesn't have to worry about. Corey Kluber has also won 2 Cys, but he's not going to the Hall, either.

The Mets have Robinson Cano, with a .302 lifetime batting average, 2,570 hits including 324 home runs, 8 All-Star berths, 2 Gold Gloves, and a World Series ring. But he's also got a steroid cloud over him -- one that came over him after he left the Yankees. He's not getting in.

The Mets have Yoenis Cespedes, but he's only got 163 homers, 2 All-Star berths and 1 Gold Glove, and he's 34. He's not adding enough stats to get in.

And the Mets have Pete Alonso. He hit 53 home runs as a rookie, and he's only 25. But, as with Saquon Barkley, it's way too soon to tell.

From the Knicks: Don't make me laugh.

From the Nets: There's Kevin Durant, but he's hurt, hasn't yet played a game for the Nets, and at 31, he has considerably more yesterdays on the court than tomorrows. He'll get in for what he did in Oklahoma City and Oakland, but not in Brooklyn. There's Kyrie Irving, who might get in for what he did as LeBron James' "Scottie Pippen" in Cleveland, and doing something with the Nets could secure his place in Springfield. But I doubt that, in 2035, anyone is going to call him "Nets Hall-of-Famer Kyrie Irving."

From the Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist has 458 career wins as an NHL goaltender. That's more than anybody except Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Roberto Luongo and Ed Belfour. He may end up passing everyone except Brodeur. His goals-against average is 2.43. There are only 10 goalies since the 1967 expansion who have a lower average, including Brodeur, but not including Roy. Of the 10, 4 are still active: Tuuka Rask, Ben Bishop, Jonathan Quick and Pekka Rinne.

He'll probably make it. But he's in his 15th season, and is 1-4 in Stanley Cup Finals games. That's not going to keep him out, but it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Chris Kreider will be 29 in April, so he has time to build up his stats, but his chances of getting in are slim. Nobody else on the team is even working his way into consideration.

From the Islanders: Who's kidding who? John Tavares has a chance, but he's been gone for a year and a half.

From the Devils: With Taylor Hall having been traded this season, nobody is close. It's far too soon to tell for Nico Hischier (21) and Jack Hughes (18).

So there it is. Since we can no longer count Eli Manning, here is the list of New York Tri-State Area athletes who are almost certainly going to their sport's Hall of Fame:

1. Henrik Lundqvist

That's it. He's all by himself. He's at the top.

This is the closest Lundqvist has ever come to actually being a "King."

UPDATE: In 2022, former Met manager Gil Hodges and former Yankee broadcaster Jim Kaat were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. That same year, while I hadn't included the New York Liberty in the original post, Swin Cash was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

In 2023, Lundqvist was, indeed, elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. So was early 1990s Islander Pierre Turgeon. That same year, 1980s Jet Joe Klecko and 2010s Jet Darrelle Revis were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

How Do the Warriors Compare to Other NBA Dynasties?

The Golden State Warriors won a dramatic Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Finals last night, 114-111, at home to the Portland Trail Blazers.

It has often been noted that no Playoff series is truly over until the home team has lost at least once. And, to their credit, the Blazers have pushed the Warriors very hard. They are a very good team going up against an even better team.

But the Warriors are a better team. Keep in mind, they've won their last few games with Kevin Durant being injured. How great are the warriors, in a historical context? If they win the championship again this year, that will be 4 titles in 5 seasons. And, for 1 game in the 2016 Finals, they would be going for 5 straight.

The Celtics of the 1960s won 8 straight, though the level of their competition can be called into question. The Celtics of the '80s won 3 titles in 6 years. The Lakers of the '80s won 5 titles in 9 years. The Bulls of the '90s won 6 titles in 8 years. The Lakers of the early 2000s won 3 straight titles. And the Heat of the early 2010s made 4 straight Finals, but only won 2 of them.

1. 2000-02 Los Angeles Lakers, 3 straight Championships: 45-13, .776

2. 2015-19 Golden State Warriors, 5 years, 4 Finals, 2 Championships, and counting? 73-24, .753

3. 1991-98 Chicago Bulls, 8 years, 6 Championships: 102-36, .739

4. 1980-89 Los Angeles Lakers, 10 years, 8 Finals, 5 Championships: 115-44, .723

5. 1949-53 Minneapolis Lakers, 6 years, 5 Championships: 45-19, .703

6. 2011-14 Miami Heat, 4 years, 4 Finals, 2 Championships: 59-28, .678

7. 1957-69 Boston Celtics, 13 years, 12 Finals, 11 Championships: 111-59, .645

8. 1981-87 Boston Celtics, 7 years, 5 Finals, 3 Championships: 73-43, .629

9. 1970-73 New York Knicks, 4 years, 3 Finals, 2 Championships: 40-24, .625

Before I compiled this list, I said on Twitter that the 2010s Warriors are even more dominant than the 1990s Bulls. I decided to look at the numbers, to see if I was right, or if I was just making a wild guess that turned out to be very wrong. As it turned out, I was, at least for the moment, ever-so-slightly, right.

And while the early 2000s Lakers look like the best of these teams, record-wise, 3 seasons is a comparatively small sample. Extend it to a 4th season, and they didn't do as well in the 2003 Playoffs. Extend it to a 5th season, and they made the Finals again, but the "superteam" got embarrassed by the more workmanlike, team-oriented, so far no players in the Basketball Hall of Fame Detroit Pistons.

Add the 19-15 Playoff record of the 2003 and '04 Lakers, and the 2000-04 Playoff record becomes 64-28: .696. That's still a fantastic percentage, ahead of either Celtic dynasty, but below the 2010s Warriors, the 1990s Bulls and the 1980s Lakers -- and it moves the 2010s Warriors to the top spot.

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Another thing about the 2010s Warriors: People who hate them, and especially those who hate Kevin Durant for bolting the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Warriors, just so he could get his ring, seemed to have no problem with:

* LeBron leaving Cleveland twice, first to join Dwyane Wade in Miami, then going back, and then again to build another title winner with the Lakers (which is now incredibly unlikely to happen).

* Kevin Garnett leaving Minnesota to join Paul Pierce and Ray Allen in Boston.

And, if they go back far enough...

* Karl Malone leaving Utah to join Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in L.A., which didn't work.

* Shaq leaving Orlando for L.A., and them for Miami.

* Allan Houston leaving Detroit and...

* Larry Johnson leaving Charlotte, both to join Patrick Ewing in New York, and it didn't work.

* Dennis Rodman leaving San Antonio and...

* Ron Harper leaving Cleveland to join Michael Jordan in Chicago.

* Clyde Drexler leaving Portland to join Hakeem Okajuwon in Houston.

* Bill Walton leaving the L.A. Clippers and...

* Dennis Johnson leaving Seattle, both to join Larry Bird in Boston.

* Moses Malone leaving Houston to join Julius Erving in Philadelphia.

* Bob McAdoo leaving New Jersey and...

* Jamaal Wilkes leaving Golden State, both to join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson in L.A.

* Earl Monroe leaving Baltimore and...

* Jerry Lucas leaving San Francisco, both to join Willis, Clyde, Double D and Dollar Bill in New York.

* Oscar Robertson leaving Cincinnati to join Kareem (then still Lew Alcindor) in Milwaukee.

* Wilt Chamberlain leaving San Francisco to join Hal Greer in Philadelphia, and then leaving them to join Jerry West and Elgin Baylor in L.A.

* Bailey Howell leaving Baltimore to join Bill Russell and John Havlicek in Boston.

In other words, lots of players have done exactly what Durant did, some successfully, some not. I can understand hating him if you hate all the Warriors. But don't hate him for doing what your favorite player (especially if it's LeBron) may have already done.

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Days until the New York Red Bulls play again: 2, on Sunday afternoon at 1:00, home to defending MLS Champions Atlanta United.

Days until Arsenal play again: 12, on Wednesday, at 2:45 PM New York time, against fellow Londoners Chelsea, but at the Olympic Stadium (not that the Olympics will every be scheduled for there) in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the UEFA Europa League Final. If Arsenal, who new manager Unai Emery guided to a 5th place finish in the Premier League, when just a little less stupid stubbornness on his part would have gotten them to 3rd, win the game, they qualify for next season's UEFA Champions League. If they lose, they don't, unless UEFA does what it's threatening to do, and ban Manchester City from the competition for a year due to financial irregularities.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 13, on Thursday, May 30, at Yankee Stadium II.

Days until the next Women's World Cup kicks off: 21,  on Friday, June 7, in France. Just 3 weeks. The U.S. team is 3-time and defending Champions.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 22, on Saturday night, June 8, against the Philadelphia Union, at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania. The next game against New York City FC will be on Sunday night, July 14, at Red Bull Arena. The next game against the New England Revolution will be on Saturday night, August 17, at Red Bull Arena. The next game against D.C. United will be on Wednesday night, August 21, at Audi Field in Washington.

Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: 32, on Tuesday, June 18, against the South American nation of Guyana, at the brand-new Allianz Field in St. Paul, home of Minnesota United, in the opener of the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup. A little over a month.

Days until the Yankees and Red Sox play each other in London: 43, on June 29. A little over 6 weeks.

Days until Arsenal play in America: 59. Under 2 months. On July 15, they will visit the Denver suburbs to play the Colorado Rapids. On July 17, they will visit the Los Angeles suburbs to play Bayern Munich. On July 20, they will visit Charlotte to play AS Roma. And on July 23, they will visit the Redskins' stadium in the Washington suburbs to play Real Madrid. This almost certainly means no Emirates Cup this Summer.

Days until the next North London Derby: Unknown, as both Premier League matches, and a League Cup match, have been played this season. The next season starts on August 10, which is 85 days from now, but the PL never puts a Derby on the opening weekend. The Gunners and Spurs usually play each other in N5 in October or November, and then in N17 in February or March.

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 106, on August 31, home to the University of Massachusetts. About 15 weeks.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: Unknown, because the 2019 schedule hasn't been released yet. Usually, the next season begins on the 1st Friday in September, which would be September 6, which would be 112 days. It has been announced that East Brunswick and its arch-rivals, Old Bridge, will no longer play each other on Thanksgiving Day. In fact, many of the local Thanksgiving rivalries have been moved back to the opening night, September 6. Whenever the Big Green play the Purple Bastards, it will be under a new head coach, because Bob Molarz, in charge for the last 6 seasons, has resigned.

Days until the New Jersey Devils play again: Unknown. Traditionally, a new NHL season begins on the 1st Thursday in October, which would be October 3, which is 139 days from now. Under 5 months. The new schedule is usually released around June 20 or so. We shall see.

Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: Unknown. But the Devils never open against either the New York Rangers, a.k.a. The Scum; the New York Islanders; or the Philadelphia Flyers, a.k.a. The Philth.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State football game: 197, on Saturday, November 30, at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. A little over 6 months.

Days until my 50th Birthday, at which point I can join AARP and get discounts for travel and game tickets: 215, on December 18, 2019. A shade over 7 months.

Day until the premiere of the final Star Wars film, Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker: 217, on December 20, 2019.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Derek Jeter: 249, on January 21, 2020. A little over 8 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 434, on July 24, 2020. A little over a year, or a little over 14 months.

Days until the next Presidential election, when we can dump the Trump-Pence regime and elect a real Administration: 536, on November 3, 2020. Under a year and a half, or under 18 months.

Days until a fully-Democratic-controlled Congress can convene, and the Republicans can do nothing about it: 597, on January 3, 2021. A little over a year and a half, or under 19 months.

Days until Liberation Day: 614, at noon on January 20, 2021. Under 2 years, or a little over 20 months. Note that this is liberation from the Republican Party, not just from Donald Trump. Having Mike Pence as President wouldn't be better, just differently bad, mixing theocracy with plutocracy, rather than mixing kleptocracy with plutocracy.

Days until the next Winter Olympics begins in Beijing, China: 994, on February 4, 2022. Under 3 years, or under 33 months.

Days until the next World Cup is scheduled to kick off: 1,284, on November 21, 2022, in Qatar. A little over 3 1/2 years, or a little over 42 months. The charges of corruption against Qatar may yet mean that they will lose the tournament, in which case it will be moved to a nation where it would not be too hot to play it in June and July.

Fix THIS!

Since this past February, the titleholders in 3 of the 4 major sports have been evil:

* The New England Patriots of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins of Sidney Crosby.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers of LeBron James.

In the cases of the Pens and the Cavs, it's more the fanboys, and the league Commissioners who seem to be fixing the titles, than the individuals. However, Belichick and Brady are cheating scum. The difference being that Belichick was man enough to admit it.

Anyway, the Penguins just got re-fixed. But the Golden State Warriors put an end to the LeBrons' run by eliminating them in 5 games.

All that talk about how the Warriors blew a 3-games-to-1 lead can now be stopped. In 3 Finals, the Warriors have won 11 games, the Cavs 7; the Warriors 2 titles, the Cavs 1.

Thank you, Steve Kerr, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, et al.

Hey, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: Fix this!

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Days until the Red Bulls play again: 1, tomorrow night, at 8:00, in the 4th Round of the U.S. Open Cup, against New York City FC, a Hudson River Derby at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. Although the Red Bulls have played the new version of the New York Cosmos in the Open Cup, the American version of England's FA Cup, this will be the 1st time they've played Manchester City NYC in anything other than an MLS game. This past Saturday night, the Red Bulls lost 1-0 away to the Montreal Impact.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": See the previous answer. They will next play the Philadelphia Union on Sunday, June 18, at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, Pennsylvania. They will next play a League edition of the Hudson River Derby against New York City FC on Saturday, June 24, at Red Bull Arena. They will next play the New England Revolution on Wednesday, July 5, at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. And they will next play the D.C. Scum on Saturday, September 27, at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey.


Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: 18, on Saturday, July 1, a friendly against Ghana, at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut. They played 2 qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup last week. They badly needed to beat Trinidad & Tobago, and did. So a draw away to arch-rival Mexico was not only acceptable, but welcome, and they got that, too. Qualification is not yet assured, but it's much more likely now, under manager Bruce Arena, than it was under the idiot Jurgen Klinsmann.

Days until The Arsenal play again: That depends. If you mean any game, the Gunners will next play on Thursday, July 13, when they begin their preseason tour of Australia and Asia, with a game against A-League winners Sydney FC at Stadium Australia in Sydney. That's 30 days. If you mean a game that means anything, well, FIFA counts the FA Community Shield (formerly known as the Charity Shield), the annual season kickoff between the holders of the League title and the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium in London, that's on Saturday, August 5, and that's 53 days. If you mean a Premier League game, a game that actually counts for something, the season begins the following Saturday, August 12, and that's 60 days, or 2 months. There is a chance, of course, that the TV networks could have Arsenal's match moved to the following Sunday or Monday.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series: 31, on Friday, July 14, at Fenway Park. Just 1 month.

Days until the next North London Derby: Unknown, since the schedule for the 2017-18 season won't be released until tomorrow. But, regardless of the teams involved, derbies are rarely played in August.

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 80, on Friday, September 1, home to the University of Washington. Under 3 months.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: Unknown, as the 2017 schedule hasn't been released yet. I now know that high school football games have been scheduled in Middlesex County, New Jersey for Friday night, September 8. That's 87 days from now.

Days until the New Jersey Devils play again: We don't know, as the 2017-18 NHL schedule has yet to be released. The NHL season usually begins on the 2nd Friday in October, which, in 2017, would be... ugh... Friday the 13th. that's 122 days. Exactly 4 months.

Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: See the previous answer, although the 1st game isn't likely to be against either the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders or the Philadelphia Flyers.

Days until the Alex Rodriguez Contract From Hell officially runs out, and the Yankees can spend his salary on new players: 140, on October 31.

Days until the next election for Governor of New Jersey: 147, on Tuesday, November 7. Under 5 months.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State football game: 151, on Saturday, November 11, at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving high school football game: 163, on Thursday, November 23, at 10:00 AM. Under 6 months, and thank God it's at home, at Jay Doyle's Green Grove, rather than at that purple shit pit on Route 9. A little over 5 months.

Days until the next Winter Olympics begins in Pyeongchang, Korea: 247, on February 9, 2018. A little under 8 months.

Days until the next World Cup kicks off in Russia: 366, on June 14, 2018. Almost exactly 1 year, or 12 months. Has Bruce Arena turned our chances around? Maybe. Or maybe, with the tournament on his soil, Vladimir Putin will tell his bitch Donald Trump to tell Bruce Arena to tank the games. Maybe not. Or maybe only if we end up playing Russia. I don't think Arena will listen. If he doesn't, I hope his life insurance is paid up, because Putin has had people killed for defying him.

Days until September 2018 roster call-ups, when we can finally start to expect seeing some of these wonderful "prospects" for whom Yankee general manager Brian Cashman threw away a chance at the 2016 Playoffs: 445. Under a year and a half, or under 15 months. Of course, we could end up seeing one of more of them sooner than that, but since most of them are at Double-A Trenton now, if that, who's kidding who?

Days until the next Congressional election: 511, on November 6, 2018. Under a year and a half, or just 17 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Mariano Rivera: 575, on January 9, 2019. A little over a year and a half, or a little under 19 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Derek Jeter: 940, on January 8, 2020. A little over 2 1/2 years, or a little under 31 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 1,145, on July 24, 2020. A little over 3 years, or a little over 37 months.

Days until the next Presidential election: 1,607, on November 3, 2020. Under 3 1/2 years, or a under 41 months.

Days until Liberation Day: 1,685, at noon on January 20, 2021. Under 4 years, or a little over 43 months. Note that this is liberation from the Republican Party, not just from Donald Trump. Having Mike Pence as President wouldn't be better, just differently bad, mixing theocracy with plutocracy, rather than mixing kleptocracy with plutocracy.

Top 10 Athletes from Maryland

First in a series. Of, yes, 51.

April 28, 1788: Maryland ratifies the Constitution, and gains Statehood.

April 28, 2017, 229 years later: The Yankees begin a 3-game series against Maryland's Major League Baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles.

Top 10 Athletes from Maryland

For the record, neither the State of Maryland, nor any college therein, has ever produced a Heisman Trophy winner. The State has, however, produced 2 of the greatest racehorses ever: 1950s champion Nashua, at Belair Stud in the D.C. suburb of Collington; and 1990s champion Cigar, at Country Life Farm in Bel Air, Harford County.

Honorable Mention to Kevin Durant of Seat Pleasant, Prince George's County. He's the best the State has now, but he's still got a ways to go to catch Hall-of-Famers and all-time legends.

UPDATE: He subsequently helped the Golden State Warriors win the NBA Championship, and won the Bill Russell Award as Finals MVP. That didn't get him into the Top 10, though.

Honorable Mention to Jessica Long of Baltimore, a Paralympic swimmer who won the 2006 Sullivan Award as the nation's outstanding amateur athlete.

DeMatha Catholic High School in the D.C. suburb of Hyattsville has produced a lot of great athletes, but a lot of them are from the District, and thus can't be counted here. This includes basketball star Adrian Dantley and track Olympic Gold Medalist Derek Mills. Basketball star Danny Ferry grew up in Hyattsville, but wasn't good enough in the pros to crack this Top 10. Nor was Steve Farr from La Plata, Maryland, or Brett Cecil of Dunkirk, both pitchers who went to DeMatha. Nor were the football-playing brothers Brian and Byron Westbrook of Fort Washington.

Honorable Mention to Courtney Kupets of Gaithersburg, the University of Georgia gymnast who won the Honda-Broderick Cup as America's best female collegiate athlete in 2009. She won a Silver and a Bronze Medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Honorable Mention to Katie Ledecky of Bethesda, who won a Gold Medal in swimming at the 2012 Olympics in London, and 4 more at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and then the 2017 Honda-Broderick Cup.

Honorable Mention to these players who, in addition to those who made the Top 10, came from Maryland (in each of these cases, from Baltimore or its suburbs) and helped the Yankees win the World Series: Jim Spencer of Linthicum (1978), Jeff Nelson of Baltimore (1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000), Denny Neagle of Gambrills (2000), and Mark Teixeira of Severna Park (2009).

10. Frank Baker of Trappe, on the Eastern Shore. Playing in the Dead Ball Era, he hit just 96 home runs. It was 2 particular home runs that he hit for the Philadelphia Athletics against the New York Giants in the 1911 World Series that earned him the nickname "Home Run" Baker.

He batted .307 lifetime. He starred with Connie Mack's "$100,000 Infield" on the A's, then became one of the first big stars signed by Jacob Ruppert after he began to build the Yankees into a champion. He played in the era before there was an All-Star Game, but he won Pennants in 1910, '11, '13, '14, '21 and '22; and World Series in 1910, '11 and '13. (He retired before the Yankees could win their 1st Series in '23.) He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

9. Joe Gans of Baltimore City. Nat Fleischer, long the boss of The Ring magazine, "the Bible of Boxing," called him the greatest lightweight boxer ever. He was Lightweight Champion of the World from 1902 to 1908. (He wasn't quite the 1st black champion in any weight class: George Dixon won the Bantamweight title in 1890, and was either that or Featherweight Champion, on and off, until 1900.)

Not counting draws, "no contests" and "no decisions," his fight record was 145-10. He was nicknamed the Old Master. Unfortunately, this nickname was only half-right: He never got to be old. He lost his title because he was beginning to suffer from tuberculosis, which killed him in 1910, when he was only 35. He was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. (Dixon, also in the Hall, had died from the effects of drinking in 1908, only 37.)

8. Leon Day of Baltimore City. One of the stars of the Negro Leagues in the years before, and immediately after, Jackie Robinson changed everything, he pitched the Newark Eagles to a Pennant in 1946 and the Baltimore Elite Giants to one in 1949. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

7. Sugar Ray Leonard of Palmer Park, Prince George's County. He was an Olympic Gold Medalist in 1976, the Welterweight Champion of the World 1979-82, the Middleweight Champion briefly in 1987, and the Super Middleweight Champion 1988-90.

His fights with Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler are the stuff of legend. He was named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year in 1979 and 1981, and Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year for 1981. He was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

6. Robert "Lefty" Grove of Lonaconing, in the Western Panhandle. Won 300 games as a pitcher. Perhaps the key figure, outside of manager-general manager Connie Mack himself, in the Philadelphia Athletics' dynasty of 1929-31. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and in 1999 was named to both The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Baseball Players and the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

5. Jimmie Foxx of Sudlersville, on the Eastern Shore. Only the 2nd man to hit 500 home runs, his 534 was 2nd-most all-time until 1966. Like Grove, starred on the A's dynasty. Also like Grove, was purchased by the Boston Red Sox, and had a few more good years there.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and named to The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Baseball Players. The Oakland edition of the Athletics hangs banners honoring their World Series wins in Philadelphia, but they don't retire numbers from that period, so Foxx' 3 and Grove's 10 remain in the team's circulation.

4. Al Kaline of Baltimore City. An 18-time All-Star for the Detroit Tigers, he collected his 3,000th career hit against the Orioles, at Memorial Stadium in his hometown, in 1974. Won the 1968 World Series. His Number 6 was the 1st number retired by the Tigers. He was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame and The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Baseball Players.

He remains the most popular athlete in Detroit history, ahead of Ty Cobb, Doak Walker, Barry Sanders, Isiah Thomas, Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman.

3. Cal Ripken of Aberdeen. It's interesting that Maryland has produced the most popular athletes in the histories of 3 metropolitan areas: New York, Detroit, and Baltimore itself. Like Kaline, Ripken is a member of the 3,000 Hit Club; unlike Kaline, he didn't get his 3,000th in Baltimore. (He got it in Minneapolis.)

He won the World Series and the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1983, won another MVP in 1991, and is best known for his record of 2,632 consecutive games played. The Orioles retired his Number 8. He was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame, The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Sports Illustrated named him their Sportsman of the Year for 1995.

2. Michael Phelps of Towson, Baltimore County. The greatest swimmer of all time, he won 28 Olympic medals, 23 of them Gold, 13 of those in individual events. 2003 Sullivan Award winner. Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year for 2008.

The International Swimming Hall of Fame is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He has not yet been retired long enough to be eligible for it. But he'll get in. He's the Babe Ruth of swimming.

Of course, the very fact that we refer to someone as "the Babe Ruth of (something)" shows you who's Number 1 on this list, and on so many others.

1. George Herman "Babe" Ruth of Baltimore City. Baseball Hall of Fame. Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Number 3 retired by the Yankees. 10 Pennants. 7 World Championships. 714 home runs. A one-man revolution.

In 1999, The Sporting News released its list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Editor John Rawlings admitted to Bob Costas in the accompanying TV special that the debate was always about who would fit in slots 2 through 100, and that Number 1 was never in question.

He didn't actually say this -- that was Art LaFleur, playing his ghost in the film The Sandlot -- but... Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.