State of Affairs

As the summer winds down, let's check in with our NY teams.

The Yankees are 4 games up over the Rays, with the Orioles a mere half game behind. If the season were to end today, the Yanks would win the AL East and the Rays would duke it out with the Orioles and A's for the Wild Card. The Yanks are going to play the next 22 games against AL East competition. Expect them to finish that stretch +/- 2 games from where they are now. If all goes well, expect to see the Yanks in October.

The Mets on the other hand have lost this season. Yet another post All Star break collapse. It is not like the Mets don't have good players. They do! But they have too many holes and a weak bullpen. If they can resign Wright and keep Davis and Dickey around, next year should be better. Mets's fans have been saying that for years.

The Giants are wrapping up their preseason with a game against New England on Wednesday. There have been a lot of injuries sustained this year. Some notable names not available are Chris Canty, Jason Pierre-Paul, Osi Umenyiora, Shaun Rodgers, Marvin Austin, Terrell Thomas, Prince Amukamara, and the list goes on. But somehow, I am not worried. I feel that Coughlin will be able to piece his roster together with exactly the right people. Some of the names listed above are out for a week, others longer. The Giants will kick off the season on Wednesday, September 5th, against the Cowboys!

The Jets are still a good defensive team. They should go into the season and remind everyone of that right away. But the offense still needs time to work on its chemistry and figure out how to get the ball from point A to point B; point B being the endzone. I don't see the Jets making the playoffs, but I've been wrong before.

The Knicks have their work cut out for them with the improvements everyone in the Atlantic division made this year, including the Nets. But as for now, there's nothing to really talk about. Preseason starts in a few weeks, will have more then.

Let's go New York!

Super Bowl XLVI Recap

There is no greater event in America today than the Super Bowl. Super Bowl XLVI, a rematch of Super Bowl XLII between the New York Giants and New England Patriots certainly matched the hype expected of it. With high profile names, Pro-Bowlers, and two amazing quarter backs, this was sure to be a classic.

Manning and the Giants led off to a quick 9-3 start over New England. There were several other chances for the Giants to tack on to the lead, but failed to capitalize twice. Although the Giants controlled the ball for the majority of the first half, Tom Brady and the Patriots took the lead on a scoring drive within the last two minutes to put New England up 10-9.

Having elected to kick off at the start of the game, the Patriots received the ball at the start of the second half. Within minutes, Brady had broken Montana’s record of consecutive passes in a Super Bowl at 14, the last of which was a touchdown pass to tight end Aaron Hernandez. But the Giants were not going down just yet. Two Giants drives ended in field goals to make the score 17-15. With such a close score, everyone knew there were going to be heroics in the fourth. Brady versus Manning: this was it!

Brady consistently got the ball off with great throws; just not the right spot. Unfortunately, he was unable to move the chains successively as Wes Welker dropped a pass at the Giants 20 yard line. Had he caught the pass, the Giants would have faced the Patriots in the red zone with 4 minutes to go, practically sealing the deal. Again, Brady’s next throw was too far into the defense which forced receiver Deion Branch to drop the ball on 3^rd down. A punt to the Giants ten set Eli Manning up with 3:40 left in the game.

All season long, Eli has come back to win games. In Super Bowl XLII, Manning led a game winning drive in the final minutes. Super Bowl XLVI would prove to be no different. Manning sat patiently in the pocket, scanned the field, and then threw as perfect a pass as possible to Mario Manningham down the side line. After reviewing the play, the ruling on the field was confirmed: Manningham had both feet inbounds and possession. A few more quick catches set the Giants up at 1^st and goal from the 7 yard line with 1:04 to play. Bradshaw had quite the running lane as the Patriots linemen opened up to let him score. It should be noted that Bradshaw did try to stop himself and use up more time, however, he was unsuccessful. Giants 21 Patriots 17.

Brady’s stage was set. He had the ball at the 20 yard marker with just about a minute to go. Could Brady pull off another comeback victory? Could he add to his already large legacy? Perhaps put another trophy on the mantle? The Giants made it as tough as possible, sending great rushes each down, forcing bad throws. Perhaps the moment was getting to Brady; it certainly was too much for Hernandez who dropped a pass without being hit. The Giants rush came back with a fury and defensive end Justin Tuck sacked Brady on 3^rd down. On what could have been the Patriot’s final play, Brady scrambled away from the pressure and found Branch for a first down. After another first down and spike, the Patriots had 17 seconds to go and half a field to cover. The next two plays were futile incompletions, leaving Brady with no choice but to attempt a Hail Mary.

Fans across the country stood up in unison to watch what could be the greatest super bowl pass ever. The ball was up; a collective breath was taken. Stud tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Hernandez were in the end zone. As the ball fluttered down, it was knocked into the air just a few feet in front of Gronkowski. With the original TV broadcast view, the ball was obscured momentarily by Gronkowski’s body. And then hearts were broken, and then cheers were yelled. What could have been the greatest catch ever. . . .was not. The ball caromed off the floor, off Gronkowski and out of bounds. The Giants win!

Rookie Soph...er Rising Stars Challenge

This year's Rising Stars Challenge (nee Rookie Sophomore Game) has taken 9 sophomores and 9 rookies. Shaq and Chuck will draft their own team. I thought it might be fun to give a little statistical background to our big GMs so they can make the best choice for their up-and-coming squads.

In this post, I'll list only the Sophomores. Rookies are explosive, volatile, and intriguing. Due to not being allowed to watch basketball highlights at work, I haven't seen enough of the new kids on the block to really justify any of their stats: other than Kyrie Irving and Ricky Rubio who seem to "got game."

The sophomores include: All-Star Blake Griffin, nutcase talent Demarcus Cousins, the other Knick sophomore guard Landry Fields, Indiana's Paul George, Utah up and comer Gordon Hayward, the big man from Motown Greg Monroe, the Brazilian Tiago Splitter, and last year's number 1 pick John Wall.

Griffin is obviously the cream of the crop, but who is the next best Sophomore available. Based on Player Efficiency Rating, Monroe actually outperforms Griffin with a PER of 24.29. Granted this is for a bad Detroit team, but Monroe does seem to have a more solid all around game than anyone else. He puts up good numbers 16.8 ppg/ 9.9 rpg, too. If you want to go on numbers, take a look at Cousins' 15.8 ppg/ 11.3 rpg. Cousins and Griffin are the only two to record a double double average.

There are a good selection of shooting guards available in Turner, George, Hayward, and Fields. Fields ranks lowest in PER in 13.05 but his all around game 10.1 ppg/ 3.1 rpg/ 3.0 apg is what gets him in this talent pool. Turner should be the second to go from the Sophomore guards. The first sophomore guard picked should be John Wall. When Wall is not busy leading a horrid Wizards team (which unfortunately is just about 4 times a week for him), he remains a great talent with undeniable speed and prowess. The outside shot is lacking but he finds other ways to produce as noted by his 7.1 apg.

That leaves us with only one more to talk about: Tiago Splitter. He's being groomed by Pop over in San Antonio. He puts up the 3rd highest PER yet averages only 9/5 a game. If you're looking for a solid backup to your PF/C as a coach, take Splitter over some of the flashier names. Unfortunately, this is a show and I doubt if Splitter doesn't go in the 16th-18th range. Then again, Kawhi Leonard is in the Rookie pool and I believe he should go last.