Book 'em, Joe! And R.I.P. Ingo

First, a little update on the girls. They're now a year and a half old. Ashley is fascinated by the Yankee logos on my cap and slippers. Rachel isn't, but, the other day, she pointed to the slippers, and said, "Shoe." And then she pointed to her head, and said, "Hat!" So she is at least aware of the connection. I was so proud of her -- partly for being smart, and partly for recognizing the interlocking NY.

I've tried to tell them, "Yankees, yay!" and to clap their hands, and to say, "Mets, no no no!" and wag their fingers like they do when the dog barks. So far, it needs work, but they're still toddlers. I have time.

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Now, on to Joe Torre, and his book The Yankee Years, written with former Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci, who also ghosted Joe's earlier book Chasing the Dream.

Now manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the former Yankee manager tells us that Alex Rodriguez is really insecure, gets called "A-Fraud" instead of "A-Rod," and doesn't like that he doesn't get the appreciation, from either teammates or fans, that Derek Jeter gets.

Next, Torre will tell us that dogs bite men, the sun rises in the east, and the Philadelphia Eagles are incapable of winning the Super Bowl. In other words, Joe, we already knew that!

Torre pulled few punches in that book. But the players he let loose on, with the exception of David Wells and Chuck Knoblauch, were post-2001 Yankees, who didn't produce World Championships for him. He didn't rip Derek Jeter, or Mariano Rivera, or Jorge Posada, or Andy Pettitte. Nor did he rip 1996-2001 Yankees like Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams or Tino Martinez, though he did suggest that Knoblauch was often distracted (which, let's face it, he was).

But some points need to be made to those who think he went too far.

* Has he revealed any facts that can be proven to be untrue? No. David Wells, Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown and Kenny Lofton were all players who have been terrific for some teams, but have worn out their welcome with those teams, and with teams for whom they did not produce.

* Has he revealed any opinions that were not already widely shared? No. Alex Rodriguez was already believed to have the issues Torre mentioned, and the players above were already known as malcontents.

* Look at the players he's called out: Most are from after 2001, who did not help the Yankees win those 4 World Series. Two exceptions are Wells and Knoblauch. The Knoblauch situation could have been handled better, but it's worth noting that Wells was dumped by the Yankees twice: Even the success he brought them didn't seem to be worth the headaches he brought.

* As for "violating the sanctity of the clubhouse," that myth went out the window in 1970. Torre's not the first ex-Yankee to write a book that got those complaints: Former pitcher Jim Bouton wrote Ball Four, and the hue and cry was much bigger -- because it was the first time anybody had written anything close to such a candid look inside a big-league sports team. (Even if the 1969 Seattle Pilots were a first-year expansion team, barely major league quality, and their ballpark was a hastily expanded Triple-A park from the 1930s.)

As a Yankee Fan, I can forgive Wells his trespasses. Then again, I've never been around him on a daily basis, so I'm not one who has to make that decision.

Torre has the right to say the things he says, so long as they're true. The same is so of Wells. And we, the public, have the right to agree, or not; and, if not, to call them out on it.

I still like Wells. But if I have to choose, I'm going with Torre.

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On Subway Squawkers, a terrific baseball-themed blog where I sometimes post comments, somebody commented on a blog entry about the Torre book story by writing, "Once again Uncle Mike doesn't get it. Its not about what he revealed. Its the fact that he preached one thing and did another. Of course he has a RIGHT to do the book but so did Wells and Torre ripped him for it. So explain to me how Torre could rip Wells for writing a book and not be a hypocrite by writing his own? If 'violating the sanctity of the clubhouse' went out in the 70s Torre shouldn't have been preaching in the 90s and on."

Ignoring the poor punctuation skills of this poster, whose true name I don't know (and don't care to know)... I "get it" plenty.

There's no hypocrisy here for Torre: He wrote a book, and Wells wrote a book; but the biggest problem with Wells' book is that it was bad, and sloppy, and Wells himself contradicted it and, at times, said he was misquoted in his own "autobiography."

Bottom line, Wells is the hypocrite here: If you're going to be an ass to someone, don't whine to the media when said person later appears to be acting like an ass to you.

As for what Joe Torre "preached," clearly, it didn't get through to Alex Rodriguez. As much as it nauseates me to admit that any Met, and Steve Phillips in particular, got something right, the former Met general manager turned ESPN talking head got it right: A-Rod will always be Mr. 24-and-1. By disappearing in 4 straight postseasons, A-Rod ruined things for his teammates, and ruined things for his manager.

Torre owes A-Rod, and Yankee Fans, no apologies for telling us what we already suspected: A-Rod is this generation's Ted Williams, with the exception (Red Sox fans, take note) that, in the opposite of Ted, A-Rod got MVP awards that he didn't deserve. (It's "Most Valuable Player," not "Most Outstanding Player.")

Torre didn't "betray" anything. I'm pleased that the Daily News interviewed Bouton on the subject, just a day after I cited him in the aforementioned blog. (Things like this are why the News is my favorite newspaper.)

Bouton is right: If you don't want people to write a book that calls you a jerk, don't be one! Even though Bouton himself his hardly innocent in this regard, but that just makes his point all the more. And you know what? He was able to shrug it off. Can A-Rod?

Remember the scene in the final episode of The Bronx Is Burning, where Billy Martin (played by John Turturro) and Yogi Berra (Joe Grifasi) are driving around, talking about the World Series they're in (1977)? Yogi asks Billy if he thinks about leaving baseball altogether. Billy says, "No. Do you?" Yogi says, "Wouldn't be the end of my life." And Billy says, "Well, it would be the end of mine." And both proved themselves right.

A few months ago, when Subway Squawkers was still affiliated with the Daily News, I wondered about Manny Ramirez. What's going to happen to this million-dollar talent with the five-cent head once he can't play anymore?

Maybe A-Rod's head isn't 5 cents, or two bits (25 cents), or $1.98, or any other small amount you want to mention, but it's plenty messed up -- hardly all his own doing, but some of it is. And when the day comes that he can no longer hit the curveball in April through September, let alone October; or in innings 1 through 6, let alone 7, 8 and 9; or with the bases empty, let alone with men on (hopefully, you've noticed a pattern here)... what's he going to become?

Is he going to be like Reggie Jackson or Tom Seaver, having built a life outside his game, where he can be offered a position with an organization, and take it or leave it?

Or is he going to wind up like Joe Namath, drinking the time away, fooling around with bad-news women, doing some bad acting (figuratively and literally), and telling the 2030 version of Suzy Kolber, "I couldn't care less that the Yankees are strugg-a-ling, I just want to kiss you"? (Namath appears to have straightened out his life since then.)

Or maybe he'll write his own book. More likely, he'll get someone to write it for him. I'm not even sure A-Rod can read. One thing he's never been able to read is the writing on the wall.

One well-placed single, or even walk, at certain points in October of 2004, '05, '06 or '07, and Torre's book would be very different -- or maybe he wouldn't have written it at all, as he'd still be the Yankee manager, and wouldn't be out in L.A. proving that there really is a Curse of Donnie Baseball (which, in such a scenario, would've been gone, instead of having been proven in 2 separate cities, in 2 separate leagues, and with 2 separate franchises).

Joe Torre proved himself time and time again. The burden of proof is on Alex Rodriguez. Alex, you wanna make Torre look bad for saying what he said in the book? Then you have a chance that David Wells will never have again: Win a World Series.

Until then, just be glad that Torre has more class than Shaquille O'Neal did with Kobe Bryant, and won't say, "Alex, tell me how my ass taste!" (In other words, you just kissed it. Never mind that Shaq was right, as Joe appears to be.)

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Ingemar Johansson died yesterday at the age of 76. In 1956, the native of Gothenburg, Sweden won the European heavyweight boxing championship. On June 26, 1959, with his powerful fists he'd nicknamed "Toonder" (in his Swedish-accented English, his right hand) and "Lightning" (his left), he knocked Heavyweight Champion Floyd Patterson down 7 times in the 3rd round, mostly with his right hand, before referee Ruby Goldstein finally stopped the fight. It should have been stopped after the 3rd, at most.

"Ingo" had made himself the new Heavyweight Champion of the World. It was the last heavyweight title fight at the pre-renovation original Yankee Stadium.

A year later, at the Polo Grounds, Floyd took the title back, knocking "Ingo" out in the 5th round, hitting him so hard that, after he hit the ground, his leg twitched for a few seconds. At first, Floyd thought he'd killed him.

They fought for a 3rd time a year later in Miami Beach, and this one was rough. Floyd knocked Ingo out in the 6th round. They fought 3 times, and they went a total of 14 rounds -- not reaching the traditional 15 rounds for a single fight, combined.

They became friends afterward, and remained so until Floyd died in 2006. Now, Ingo is dead as well. He remains the last white man, and the last native of the European continent, to be the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.

Now Batting, Number 44, Barack Obama

This afternoon, January 20, 2009, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States -- the 1st black person, the 1st nonwhite person, to hold the office.

The National Mall in Washington, D.C. was full. The National Park Service used overhead cameras to determine that there were 1.8 million people on hand, and that there was absolutely no more room for anyone else. It is an unbreakable record.

Was it mostly black people, proud to see one of their own, take the Oath of Office and become the nation's leader? Was it all liberals, glad to see one of their own after 8 years? Or was it just a lot of people eager to see the outgoing President, George W. Bush, a failed evangelical fanatic right-wing Republican, go away and never come back?

Obama takes just 4 months after the economy crashed on Bush's watch, and as a war that Bush started and never knew how to end -- at times, he seemed to not want it to end -- approached its 6th anniversary. He defeated the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, because McCain had promised to ramp up the war that America wanted to end, and didn't seem to understand the struggles of those hurt by the crash and the ensuing recession.

Obama's Inaugural Address was decent, if not one of his more memorable speeches: "This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America's possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: Youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk, and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it, so long as we seize it together."

Good luck, Mr. President. You'll need it. As will we all. 

10 Things I Hate About the Meadowlands

I bought some milk this morning. On the carton was a picture of the Giants' offense, saying, "Have you seen me?"

Nope.

The NFC Championship Game will be between the Philadelphia Eagles (who looked dead just three weeks ago) and the Arizona Cardinals (who have looked dead, in Arizona, St. Louis and Chicago, for the better part of 60 years). The only two NFL Championship Games in Cardinal history were against the Eagles: 1947, a 28-21 Card win at Comiskey Park on the South Side of Chicago, and 1948, a 7-0 Eagle win in a blizzard at Shibe Park in North Philly. From 1949 to 2007, the Cards played in a grand total of 4 Playoff games. The Eagles at least won another Championship in 1960, but haven't won one since; and have reached the NFC Championship Game in 1980, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and now 2008, reaching the Super Bowl in the 1980 and 2004 seasons, but losing both times.

The AFC Championship Game will be between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens. I knew the Ravens were going to beat the Tennessee Titans. You know how I knew? Because the Titans' quarterback is Kerry Collins, and Kerry Collins is what he has always been: A bum.

Could it be an All-Pennsylvania Super Bowl? If so, I hope they don't "compromise" and let Ratface Joe Paterno flip the coin to start the game.

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Speaking of the Super Bowl, today is the 40th Anniversary of Super Bowl III. January 12, 1969, at the Orange Bowl in Miami. New York Jets 16, Baltimore Colts 7.

The Jets have gone to two AFC Championship Games since (1982-83 and 1998-99), but haven't returned to the Super Bowl. Forty years in the wilderness.

Fast fact with which you can amaze your friends, and I'll bet more than half of all Jet fans don't know it... or maybe they know it, but they've never really thought about it: How many touchdown passes did Joe Namath throw in Super Bowl III? The answer is... zero.

And yet an entire generation of New York and New Jersey football fans grew up thinking Broadway Joe invented the position of quarterback. As much as anything else, these kids were the reason I didn't become a Jet fan.

I have never properly thanked them.

Frankly, I'm not sure the Jets even have a reason to exist anymore. That 40-years-ago Super Bowl is beginning to seem more and more like a movie, one that didn't really happen. Namath is still alive to tell us about it, but how often does he do so anymore?

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The new Meadowlands Stadium is coming along quite nicely. But I never thought the Giants needed a new stadium. The Jets, sure, because they were sharing with the Giants -- and will still be sharing with the Giants, even if the lease will be more favorable to them than at Wellington Mara's tin can on Route 3.

I just hope the place doesn't have the same wind problems. In fact, I'd like to present to you...

10 Things I Hate About the Meadowlands Sports Complex.

10. Horse Racing in the Winter. Isn't that considered cruelty to animals?

9. The Corporatism. "I was immortal for 15 years," said former Governor Brendan Byrne, an original investor in the Devils who got the Arena built and had his name put on it by a Democratic legislature in 1981. In 1996, a vengeful Republican legislature took his name off it. Why? Because Continental Airlines was offering a truckload of money for naming rights? That was a bonus. The GOP took Byrne's name off it as soon as legalities allowed because Byrne established the State's first income tax. The man had to balance the budget, something New Jersey's Republicans never seem to understand.

And while the Devils won their 2nd Stanley Cup while playing at the Continental Airlines Arena, and actually clinched their 3rd at the Continental Airlines Arena, and the Nets continue to play at the IZOD Center (a.k.a. "the I," a terribly doofy name), the Devils' 1st Stanley Cup was won at the Brendan Byrne Arena. And no shameless politician can ever change that fact.

8. Giants Stadium. Football player turned broadcaster and mystery novelist Tim Green called it "football in a tin can. Curse the Giants for ever leaving Yankee Stadium."

The stadium is big, but it's hardly an architectural marvel. It's not Soldier Field. It's not the Los Angeles Coliseum. You don't sense greatness in there, even if you know it's been home to Bill Parcells, Lawrence Taylor, or the 2007-08 miracle. It's ordinary. In fact, just about the only truly distinctive thing about Giants Stadium is...

7. The Wind. Also known as "The Hawk." Inside Giants Stadium, it turns field-goal attempts into pinball shooting, and it takes napkins, plastic cups and hot dog wrappers and sends them swirling around in a total mess.

In the parking lot, the wind blasts off the Hackensack River and sweeps through the parking lot with no trees to block it. It's terrible. (Yes, the wind can blast off the Passaic River and make coming out of a Devils game at the Prudential Center pretty bad in the winter as well, but it's not as bad as the wind at the Meadowlands.)

6. The Bus Service. It stinks. To get there by bus, you first have to get to Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York. Now, this isn't too bad if you're a fan of the New York Giants or the New York Jets. But suppose you're a fan of the New Jersey Nets? Or, from 1982 to 2007, you were a fan of the New Jersey Devils? Why should you have to change in New York? Especially when you're so close to Penn Station and Madison Square Garden? Home of the Knicks! And... oy... the Rangers? (Did I ever mention that the RANGERS SUCK? Well, they do!) And most of the people in Port Authority -- upstairs from the basement where Greyhound passengers go -- are fans of either the Knicks, or the Rangers, or both. Do you really want to mix with these people if you're a Nets or Devils fan? No, you do not!

And they don't even let you off within a short walk of either the Stadium or the Arena. You've got a ways to walk! Through that windswept parking lot! Oh, well, at least New Jersey Transit also provides rail service to the Meadowlands, right? Right?

5. The Train Service. Actually, there isn't any! Not yet, anyway! NJT is planning a spur of the Pascack Valley Line to the Complex, to open in time for the new stadium to open in 2010. Why couldn't they do that in time for Giants Stadium and the Racetrack to open in 1976? Or for the Arena to open in 1981? Or at any time in the last 35 years, from construction to today (which involves more construction)?

At least we can now get from just about anywhere in New Jersey to Newark's Penn Station and walk the 3 blocks to the Prudential Center to see the Devils, or Seton Hall basketball. And if Nets management has any sense, they'll abandon that might-never-happen Brooklyn boondoggle and move in at 165 Mulberry Street with the Devils and Pirates. Newark is a basketball city, and they'd love to have the Nets there.

Brooklyn is a basketball place, too, sure. But don't take our team! Have you forgotten what it's like to have someone else steal your team? (See "Dodgers")

4. The Parking Lot. The Meadowlands Complex was built for drivers. But the parking situation stinks. Not to mention that, when there's a Giants or Jets game, it's always sold out, 78,741 fans, and it turns Route 3, Route 120, Paterson Plank Road, Route 17 and the Western Spur of the New Jersey Turnpike into parking lots. So it's not so good for drivers, after all.

3. The Arena's banners, post-Devils. It looks a lot emptier without the Devils' banners. And the Seton Hall basketball team took its banners to the Prudential Center as well. When all that's left is the Nets' banners -- and they have as many title banners (ABA, NBA Eastern Conference and NBA Atlantic Division) as retired number banners, 6, which is a little off-putting -- and a banner honoring Bon Jovi, it's, it's, it's, how can I put this... lame. Almost as lame as Bon Jovi's music.

2. The Arena's Design. The seating area is bad enough, with the sound not carrying down to the court/rink, and the fact that it gets kind of drafty near the top. (Open windows? Not that I can see.) But they apparently designed the place after the Nassau Coliseum, 38 miles to the east. Two levels of seating, one level of concourse. You can't do that!

Even when the seating area is only half-full, it's like the concourse is jammed. It's bad enough when there's 16,234 fans, which would be a sellout on The Island. But when a full house of 20,049 is on hand at the Byrne Arena (it was 19,040 for hockey), forget it!

When the Prudential Center was built, they copied the new arenas in Philadelphia and Montreal: Three levels of seating, three levels of concourse. It works so much better. And while the wait for the food can be a little frustrating at The Rock, the wait for the bathroom isn't so bad. Contrast that with at the Meadowlands (or the Nassau Coliseum). It's interminable. (It's not quite as bad at Madison Square Garden, though. How come nobody ever copied that design?)

And the Number 1 thing I hate about the Meadowlands Sports Complex:

1. The Pedestrian Bridge. That creepy overpass over Route 120, connecting the parking lots of the Stadium and the Arena. It's now part of the Xanadu project, which might make it less creepy. But I wonder how many people got mugged there. It could also have been a shooting location for a horror film.

Well, I don't ever have to worry about that bridge again. Let's go Devils! And... please stay Nets?

Dropping the Ball, Dropping the Ball

Happy New Year to all.

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 2008. By "ball-drop" I mean on-field blunders or management miscues.

10. Alex Rodriguez. Maybe it's time to get him a lifetime achievement award.

9. The University of Memphis basketball team. Remember what that preening schmo John Calipari was coaching at the University of Massachusetts? They beat Temple in a game, and Temple coach John Chaney was, shall we say, rather miffed. He busted into Cal's postgame press conference, and yelled at Cal, "I'll kill you! I'll kick your ass!"

Now, I don't advocate the former, although the latter would've been fun to see. But if, for whatever reason, the incredibly overrated Calipari were not coaching Memphis in the 2008 National Championship Game, would they have blown a big late lead against the University of Kansas? Maybe, because Kansas was a very good team that deserved to win. That's why I can't rank this one any higher than 9th.

Dishonorable mention to the University of Michigan football team, for the worst season in their history, but at least they beat Notre Dame, which gets another dishonorable mention.

8. The Chicago Bears. The National Hockey League Winter Classic, to be held tomorrow afternoon, between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings? No problem there. But at Wrigley Field? No, the shape of the field and the stadium is totally unsuited to hockey! It should have been at Soldier Field, whose shape is much better-suited.

The Bears objected, saying they were hoping to host a first-round Playoff game at Soldier Field. How'd that work out, Not-So-Monstrous-Ones-of-the-Midway?

7. The New Jersey Devils. I'm taking this one personally, and they have gotten better in the season that started in October. But, in April, they blew it in the 1st round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. You do not blow it in the first round of the Playoffs in your first season in a great new home arena, or even in a halfway decent one.

And to the damned Rangers? Don't you know the Rangers are supposed to suck? Gentlemen, we must do better in 2009.

6. The New York Jets. They dumped Chad Pennington as their quarterback in favor of Brett Favre. Result? Last game of the season, the Dolphins beat the Jets, at the Meadowlands, to win the AFC East and keep the J-E-T-S-Oy-yi-yi out of the Playoffs. And on his last play (ever?), Favre looks like not just an old player but a damn fool.

Frankly, I'm beginning to wonder if the Jets even have any reason to continue to exist.

5. The Dallas Cowboys. This season, they weren't just their usual bunch of preening schmoes, they were a bunch of whining crybabies. What a magnificent season-ender the Philadelphia Eagles put on the Cowbozos: 44-6! And Tony Romo's girlfriend Jessica "the Jinx" Simpson wasn't even in the house! But Terrell Owens and Adam "Dropman" Jones were.

Dishonorable mention to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Denver Broncos, each of whom only had to win 1 of their last 3 games to make the Playoffs, and combined to go 0-6 in those games.

4. Kobe Bryant. He wanted the Los Angeles Lakers to be his team. He wanted to win an NBA Championship without Shaquille O'Neal. He got half of what he wanted.

The Shaq-Kobe question is settled for all time. Even if Kobe does someday win a title without Shaq... even if he manages to top Shaq by winning 2 without him... it won't be as "the best basketball player in the world," and it won't be with the Lakers as "Kobe's team." It'll have to be an incredibly balanced team, like the one that beat him in the 2008 Finals, the Boston Celtics.

You think Kevin Garnett cares that nobody thinks of the '08 Celtics as "K.G.'s team"? He didn't care who got the credit, he just wanted the title. And he got it.

Shaq, you spoke not only for yourself, but for everyone who's sick of Kobe's act, when you rapped, "Kobe! Tell me how my ass taste!"

3. The New England Patriots. No, not for the season of theirs that ended in December, the one that ended in February. Eighteen and one. Not Number 1.

There have been many chokes by Boston/New England sports teams, but this one is already getting overlooked, because the team benefiting from it, the New York Giants, is getting more out of it than the team that perpetrated it, the Cheatriots.

With Tom Bundchen (a.k.a. Brady) going down in the 1st quarter of the next game the Pats played that mattered, and then missing the Playoffs (even though they went 11-5 and the San Diego Chargers made it as AFC West Champs though they went 8-8), the punishment for their 3 Super Bowl cheats is... aw, hell, it ain't even close to being enough!

2. The New York Mets. They should open Citi Field on February 2, because the last 2 Septembers have been "Groundhog Day." They should get Bill Murray to throw out the first ball. Except he can't. Partly because he's a Chicago Cubs fan. And partly because, at the end of the film Groundhog Day, he got it right. The Mets never do. The Curse of Kevin Mitchell lives.

True, the Yankees were eliminated a week sooner, and were out of the race sooner. But that means that, unlike the Mets, they didn't put their fans through an extra month's worth of misery, not to mention almost an identical misery of the preceding season. And they were able to close out Yankee Stadium, if not with another World Championship, then at least with a win and without embarrassing themselves.

The Mets, as usual, were unable to die with dignity.

And the Number 1 Biggest Ball-Drop in Sports for Calendar Year 2008:

1. The Met Fans. The Flushing Heathen fell for it. Again. When will they ever learn?

Oh, Say, Can You CC? Yes, We Can! And Flash In the Hall

CC Sabathia is apparently about to sign with the Yankees. So he gets the best of both worlds: He pitches for the baseball franchise, and he can afford the off-season house on the West Coast that he wants, leading many to think he would sign with the Dodgers.

Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez, who set a new single-season record by recording 62 saves with the Angels, has signed with the Mets. Which means K-Rod walks home a Pennant-losing run with the bases loaded (think: Kenny Rogers in 1999), or gives up a cheap home run to some banjo hitter (think: Armando Benitez many times from 1996 to 2001 or Aaron Heilman in 2006).

The Cleveland Indians appear to be close to signing Kerry Wood, the former Cubs starter whose brilliant career was cut short by injury, until he became their closer this year, and was reborn. Then they got rid of him. Dumb decisions like this are why, in the words of Steve Goodman (the late, great songwriter who wrote the train song "The City of New Orleans"), "The law of averages says anything will happen that can, but the last time the Cubs won a National League Pennant was the year we dropped the bomb on Japan." 1945.

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Joe Gordon, the Yankee 2nd baseman from 1938 to 1946, was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans' Committee.

Good choice. But, again, two obvious choices got hosed: Ron Santo, the Cubs third baseman of the 1960s and 1970s, and Gil Hodges, the Dodgers first baseman of the 1940s and 1950s, who managed the Mets to the 1969 World Championship.

"Flash" Gordon, nicknamed for the comic strip character played in movies by Olympic swimming Gold Medalist Buster Crabbe, died in 1978, so he won't be accepting in person. Hodges died in 1972 while still Met manager, and has never been able to speak up for his own cause, which includes being one of the top power hitters of his era, the best-fielding first baseman of that time, and did I mention that he actually managed the Mets to a Series? Santo, the top National League third baseman of his time and a really good hitter, is still alive, and broadcasting for the Cubs, but has diabetes and has lost both legs to it, walking on prostheses and crutches. I don't know how much longer he has, but if anyone in baseball has reason to be bitter (through everything that's happened to both himself and the Cubs), he's the one.

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Days until the Devils play another nearby rival: 2, Friday night, at home against the Rangers (who suck).

Days until Rutgers plays again: 19. (I'll have an entry about them soon.)

Days until the end of the Bush Administration and the Obama Inauguration: 41.

Days until the dismantling of the original Yankee Stadium begins: 95.

Days until the new baseball season begins: 119.

Days until the new Yankee Stadium opens: 127.

Days until East Brunswick plays football again: 275.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 351.

RU Football, Very Good; EB Football, Not So Much

When does a loss to your biggest rival stop hurting? When I get over East Brunswick High School's 1986 football loss to Madison Central, the school now known as Old Bridge High, I'll let you know. (And we didn't even play them on Thanksgiving back then.) Anyway, as to the latest, it's taken me eight days to "get over it" enough to post about it.

EB lost the Thanksgiving game, 24-21. We took a 21-17 lead in the 4th quarter, but poor pass coverage let Old Bridge get close enough to score a winning touchdown. The difference was two field goal attempts, one in the 2nd quarter and one on the final play, that went wide in the wind. We can't blame the kicker, especially for the last one: From the 13-yard line, in that wind, we should have gone for the winning touchdown instead of the tying tie.

The Bears' final record is 4-6, including 5 leads blown in the second half, 3 of them in the 4th quarter, 2 of them within the last 4 minutes. And this is the 16th time in the last 18 years we've lost to the team that puts the "OB" in "slob." It's 13 out of 15 since we started playing them on Thanksgiving in 1994; overall, going back to 1963, their first season of football (they were known as Madison Township until 1975, when the town's name was changed to Old Bridge, then they were Madison Central until merging with crosstown Cedar Ridge in 1994), and our third, the once-Blue, now Purple Bastards lead 27-19-2. (I'm not counting our record against Cedar Ridge, which was pathetic for nearly all of its football history from 1969 to 1993; if I counted all games against teams from Madison/Old Bridge Township, EB would lead 35-30-2.)

It's too bad, because I really, really, really wanted to do to them what English "football" fans sometimes do, which is take the Monkees' tune "Daydream Believer" and adapt it for their arch-rivals, in my case the school that plays its games at the intersection of U.S. Route 9 and County Route 516:

Cheer up, 516!
Oh, what can it mean
to a... Sad Purple Bastard
with a... shit football team!

Alas, despite their final record of 3-7, they were not shit on Thanksgiving, and they've got a lot of guys coming back. But then, so do we, and next year, it's at Jay Doyle Field, a.k.a. "Bear Mountain." The Big Green will be ready for the Purple Bastards.

We'd better be...

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In 2004, Rutgers beat the University of Louisville at home. In 2005, Rutgers went out to Louisville, then highly-ranked, and ran out onto the field and jumped on their midfield logo. Big mistake: Louisville won, 56-5. In 2006, Louisville came into Rutgers Stadium with both teams undefeated on November 9, and pulled off a 28-25 nationally-televised win that still ranks as the program's signature win, and ruined Louisville's Big East and National Championship hopes, and in some ways their program hasn't recovered. (Rutgers fell apart shortly thereafter, but has stayed good.) In 2007, on the road, Rutgers lost on a last-minute Louisville field goal.

These two teams, conference opponents but separated by 750 miles, just don't like each other.

They played last night in the regular-season finale for both teams. Rutgers came out like a house afire, and torched Louisville for seven touchdowns, while the RU defense totally smothered the Cardinals. The Scarlet Knights led at halftime, 49-0, and cruised to a 63-14 victory. With ex-Louisville coach Bobby Petrino now making a mess of things at the University of Arkansas, I don't expect Louisville to get much in the way of revenge next season.

After a 1-5 start, Rutgers is now 7-5, and will definitely go to a bowl game, probably the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Oh, the prestigue.) Four straight years of bowl games after over 100 years of the bowls being in existence and only one visit to any by Rutgers -- and that one we made up ourselves just so we could go and we lost it and didn't revive it because only 25,000 people showed up at the frigid Meadowlands.

Coach Greg Schiano was a happy man last night. So was quarterback Mike Teel, who broke a Rutgers record and tied a Big East record with 7 touchdown passes.

Good way to end a rollercoaster of a regular season. RU finishes 5-2 in the Big East, which will be no worse than 2nd behind Cincinnati, their highest finish ever. If Pittsburgh or West Virginia wins on Saturday, that team (or both) will be 5-2 and be tied with Rutgers. If they both lose (not likely), RU will be 2nd all but itself.

You know who I feel sorry for? The cheerleaders who had to do all those push-ups every time RU scored last night.

*

The Devils beat the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime in Philly last night. And they blew up their house, too. (Sorry, they didn't really blow up the Wachovia Center. I just drifted over into a Bruce Springsteen song.) Tomorrow night, they go up to Montreal to play the Canadiens, who beat the Rangers last night. Did I ever mention I hate the Rangers?

I still haven't heard anything new about the Yankees trying to sign CC Sabathia.

So the Mets are going to keep the name Citi Field for their new ballpark, despite CitiGroup's troubles. They're finally building what looks like a decent ballpark, and they screw that up, too. But then, what did you expect: They're the Mets! You know what M-E-T-S stands for, right?

My
Entire
Team
Sucks!

*

Days until the Devils play another nearby rival: 7, next Friday night, at home against the Rangers (who suck).

Days until Rutgers plays again: 22, on December 27, presuming they actually are headed for the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, against a team yet to be determined but definitely from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Days until the end of the Bush Administration and the Obama Inauguration: 46.

Days until the dismantling of the original Yankee Stadium begins: 100.

Days until the new baseball season begins: 124.

Days until the new Yankee Stadium opens: 132.

Days until East Brunswick plays football again: 280.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 356. You can tell a rivalry is nasty when the team that loses starts counting down the days until the next clash with 365. I must be getting mature in my middle age: I didn't start a new count in my head until 364.

Crumbs From the Hot Stove League; Pete Newell, 1915-2008

It's been a while since I posted anything. I apologize. Here's some crumbs from the Hot Stove League:

Assuming the Yankees can find David Wells' uniform from his last season with the team, 2003 -- probably the only one in team history that would fit CC Sabathia, and he does seem to have lost some weight since -- open the vault. The House of Steinbrenner will make its money back, and they'll have a more reliable pitcher than The Great Johan Santana.

Getting Nick Swisher was a good trade. He drives in runs. Who cares what his hair, facial or otherwise, looks like. He won't be Thurman Munson, but if he can hit anything like the old Captain did, then I don't care if he looks like a Geico Caveman. Or even like Johnny Damon when he was still with the enemy.

I still don't want Manny Ramirez in Pinstripes. We already have too much drama with Double Play-Rod. Let the L.A. Bums overpay to keep him.

Getting rid of Kerry Wood was a dumb move for the Chicago Cubs. Here was a guy who totally worked out for them in the last chance they gave him. He's not the reason they tanked in the Playoffs. And... they get rid of him? Decisions like this are why, in the words of the late songwriter and Cub fan Steve Goodman, "The last time the Cubs won a National League Pennant was the year we dropped the bomb on Japan." (Not to be confused with the Yankees sending Darrell Rasner to a Japanese team.)

But if the Mets signed Kerry Wood, he'd be going from the Curse of the Billy Goat, or the Curse of Fred Merkle, both of which hit him enough to make him a question mark, to the Curse of Kevin Mitchell.

I'd advise the House of Wilpon to stay away from him, but since when have they ever listened to me? Or to anyone with any sense?

*

East Brunswick lost its "consolation game" to a garbage Howell team, 25-22. For the 4th time this season, we blew a 2nd-half lead. For the 2nd time this season, we blew a 4th-quarter lead, leading 14-6 going in.

We go into the finale with a 4-5 record, and have to beat the Purple B@$+@rds just to finish .500. They're 2-7. By all rights, we should be able to pound them. But the football team at Dear Old Alma Mater cannot be trusted this season. I predict the turkey will be one foul fowl this Thanksgiving.

Rutgers 49, South Florida 16. The Scarlet Knights are now 5-5 with two very winnable games left. Another bowl is still possible. Amazing.

Already, the talk around here is of a Giants-Jets Super Bowl. Oh, spare me.

*

Pete Newell died at age 93. He coached the University of San Francisco to the 1949 NIT Championship, at a time when that was still considered college basketball's "real national championship." He went across the Bay and led the University of California to the 1959 NCAA Championship, with Darrell Imhoff as his center, beating West Virginia with Jerry West in the Final.

He took them back to the Championship Game in 1960, losing to an Ohio State team that had Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek, and a reserve named Bobby Knight, who went on to become one of the great coaches himself and always looked upon Newell as something of an inspiration.

Newell was as high-strung as Knight, but more even-tempered: There were no embarrassing incidents on his record. Which was good, because of the role he had in the 1960s. At age 44, when he took Cal back into that '60 Final Four (only they didn't call it the "Final Four" yet), he was advised by his doctor to give up coaching.

He stayed on as athletic director, meaning he was in charge of the athletic department when the school -- known as "Cal" for sports purposes but "Berkeley" for just about everything else -- went through an incredibly turbulent period that included the "Berkeley Free Speech Movement."

His last active coaching job was in the 1960 Olympics. The U.S. team that won the Gold Medal was considered the best basketball team ever assembled, until the 1984 and 1992 U.S. teams. It featured Imhoff, West, Lucas, Oscar Robertson, Walt Bellamy, Bob Boozer and Terry Dischinger -- 7 future NBA All-Stars, and the first 5 are in the Basketball Hall of Fame, as is Newell. This team was so good that Havlicek, who went on to become the all-time leading scorer in Boston Celtics history (and still is, ahead of Bill Russell and Larry Bird), made it only as an alternate.

Newell later established a basketball camp for centers, where his students included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Ralph Sampson and Shaquille O'Neal. His effect on the game lasted from the 1940s to the 2000s -- from the era of George Mikan and Bob Kurland to that of Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and LeBron James.

UPDATE: Pete Newell has no gravesite: He was cremated, and his ashes were given to his wife.

*

Days until the Devils play another nearby rival: 3, Friday night, at home vs. the Islanders.

Days until Rutgers plays again: 4.

Days until the East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 9.

Days until the end of the Bush Administration and the Obama Inauguration: 63. Nine... more... weeks. Hallelujah.

Days until the new baseball season begins: 141.

Days until the new Yankee Stadium opens: 149. (At least, officially. Two exhibition games with the Cubs have been announced, but they won't count.)