Friday, April 22, 2005
NBA Playoff Picks
See what Rob King & Guichard Cadet have to say!
---> see their picks!
Thursday, April 21, 2005
A Steph Closer?
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Ishii as 1, 2, 3…
It really was not easy for the Mets to win these past 3 games. They could have easily stumbled and be 0-8. Instead fans have been treated to a multi-faceted team, anchored by starting pitching, solid defense and speed.
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Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Mets Play Eight-Ball In Consecutive Victories
Yesterday in front of a capacity crowd, the Mets engineered another eighth inning comeback in their 8-4 victory over the Houston Astros in their home opener at Shea Stadium. Mets starter Tom Glavine pitched six effective innings allowing one run on four hits. Glavine left the game with an opportunity to secure his first win of the 2005 campaign when the Mets scored three runs in the bottom of sixth inning to take a 3-1 lead.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
sunday wrap-up: The Battle for New York
Friday, April 08, 2005
Can Rivera Regain His Mojo?
Over the last eight seasons Yankee manager Joe Torre would strike fear in the hearts of opponents with one phone call in the eighth inning of games in which the Yankees held slim leads. They knew that phone call would tell the bullpen coach to loosen up Mariano Rivera. Soon number 42 would take off that jacket, warm up and all hopes the opposition had of coming back vanished, along with Maalox moments for Joe Torre in the ninth.
Mariano pitched the ninth inning of those contests but essentially the game was over. The other team didn’t believe they could come back and were accurate in that assessment. Mariano was unhittable!! When opponents did connect it seemed like an act of providence. Mariano’s blown saves during the 1997 American League Divisional playoffs and the 2001 World Series are memorable because they were so infrequent. The New York Yankees and their fans have been spoiled the past eight seasons watching baseball's premier "fireman" extinguish opposition rallies in routine fashion. Recently it seems as if the top "fireman" in the game is burning out.
--->read the entire article
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Not A Closed Loop
After using two relievers who pitched shutout seventh and eighth innings, Randolph relied on what he knows best. He brought in his closer, as if reliving his days with Gossage and Rivera.
The call was right and wrong. Today’s game has become one of specialists. Managers often bring in relief for pitchers who are not even on the brink of struggling.
--->read the entire article
Thursday, March 31, 2005
The Fork in the Road
Recent Knicks history proves front office and coaching hiring/firing decisions are made in a New York minute. By the end of next season, unless the team shows significant improvement, Isiah may no longer be with the team.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Pat reaches Summitt as Dawn rises
---> read the entire article
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
"Major MC’s become Minor B Flats…"
--L.L. Cool J
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The media witch-hunt to prove Bonds is a cheater has knocked over a generation of Hall of Fame statues. Sammy Sosa. Rafael Palmero. Mark McGwire. Barry Bonds. Though they all may still make the Hall, history will prove the real interest in a maturing Bonds was not worth the investment, especially when dealing in a sport with few guiding principles.
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As it stands, the number of Power Conference teams who lost in the first 2 Rounds to lesser-ranked opponents is practically equal to the number who gets to go to the Sweet 16.
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Thursday, March 17, 2005
The Engine that Drives March Madness
Upsets happen all the time in the tournament especially in the early rounds. A school from a power conference unhappy with their seeding or coach from a school feeling the pressure of fans and alumni catch an upstart program with something to prove or nothing to lose, and someone’s going home early. In many cases we know who’s going to win but there’s that “anything can happen” element that keeps games compelling. Someone twists an ankle, someone gets their third foul or someone is in the zone; and that overwhelming underdog smells an upset.
However the NCAA tournament is one Big Dance where Cinderella may even electric slide past the first weekend, but it won’t hustle beyond the second weekend and it definitely won’t rock away home with the title. The NCAA basketball tournament is a battle where only the schools from the strong conferences survive.
--->read the entire article
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Closing Seconds
…Who is the Knicks’ Go-To Guy?
Two more 4th quarter collapses begs the question: who is the Knicks’ go-to guy? It should be the same for every team – the coach. Each time a game comes down to the final seconds my mind flashes to Bill Parcells’ first visit to the Meadowlands as coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
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Herb Williams has done a good job at strategizing and using all of his personnel. Yet, when it comes to closing out games, he has followed where his predecessors left off. Squandering double-digit second half leads has been part of the Knicks repertoire since the Pat Riley days. But, ever since Don Chaney’s regime, the team has not been able to continually hit the shot to salvage the win.
--->read entire article
Friday, March 11, 2005
Spurred Then Nearly Stung
Though the Hornets had made 5 straight playoff appearances, the job had one major parallel to Scott’s former job in New Jersey: a disgruntled Point Guard making ‘max’ money. Such situations can take a coach to Hall of Fame potential a la Pat Riley’s good fortune in becoming Magic Johnson’s guy after the firing of Paul Westhead. Scott has not been so lucky, except that he was not fired and the Golden State Warriors took Baron Davis off his hands.
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Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Isiah’s Taylor-Made Trade Has Herb Smelling Like A Rose
A few weeks ago, it was not a smell but a stench coming out of the garden. Where there are dead bodies, they are reporters hovering like buzzards, devouring the carcasses by writing premature obituaries.
The season is far from saved, but the recent winning has brought smiles to the players’ faces, and a wait-and-see attitude from the media, who blasted the trade and, more specifically, the man who orchestrated the move to acquire Malik Rose and Maurice Taylor.
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Tuesday, March 08, 2005
After the Magic is gone…
Same for the Knicks, who were able to shrug off the blowout at Orlando. On Sunday, they defeated the Golden State Warriors, improving their "post-trade" record to 4 and 1.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Revisionist History 0205: Thorny Issues…
Having the heard threat of a NHL lockout, I figured the hockey players would realize they are paid well, and with guaranteed contracts. Hence, there would be no lockout or strike. I was wrong, yet I could care less – it’s just ice hockey, a sport that never resonated enough curiosity, because it lacks crossover appeal and the ability to translate well into one’s living room.
B-Ball is a different matter. It is easy to shoot solo or play a pick-up game with friends. Basketball has been the foremost expression of race and socio-economic warfare, in which black males continue to prosper.
--->read the rest
Monday, February 28, 2005
sunday wrap-up: A Tangled Webb
The NBA should look into live television coverage of the annual trade deadline, the same way it does for the draft. This year’s deadline proved more dramatic than most daytime soap operas.
From a basketball standpoint and how it affects wins and losses, only the Chris Webber trade will have any impact this season.
--->read more
Friday, February 25, 2005
Knicks play No Limit, Texas Hold ‘Em
In two trades that amount to folding your hand right after the flop, Knicks President Isiah Thomas did his best Scott Layden impression. At the same time, Isiah showed why he is so different from his Knicks predecessor.
Thomas stocked up on Forwards by trading Center Nazr Mohammed, Vin Baker, and back-up Point-Guards Moochie Norris and Jamison Brewer. In return, he got San Antonio Forward Malik Rose, Houston Forward Maurice Taylor, and two first round draft picks.
Monday, February 14, 2005
sunday wrapup: ALL BULL?
Baseball is lucky to have Jose Canseco. He is a metaphor for why playing baseball is often considered passé. The game does not have a level playing field; it never had, not even after black players joined the ranks.
Baseball historians hold numbers dear, bypassing the fact each stadium has different dimensions; and the changes made to the ball at various points in the game’s history.
Canseco used steroids to alter his physical limitations, much the same way stadium walls are adjusted to benefit a team.
--->read the rest
Friday, February 11, 2005
Working Over / Time
Since 1999, the division has made 4 trips (sent three teams) to the NBA Finals. None of the teams has “rebuilt” completely through the draft. Their moves have been to complement their core with a patchwork of mid-level first round picks, and acquiring free agents.
Whether one or two teams make the playoffs, the Atlantic will be a force.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
sunday wrapup: Stay Off The Bandwagon!!!
The Nets cannot be categorized as a franchise that makes bad trades, except that of Julius “Dr. J” Erving. When it came to transactions, the team had become a haven for top draft picks, veteran underachievers, or established NBA talent whose image has recently been tarnished, in some fashion.
Until Rod Thorn took over the front office, at best, the Nets were a franchise beset by a string of bad luck injuries and tragedy, maximized by the death of Drazen Petrovic.
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Saturday, February 05, 2005
Brotherly Loathe
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T.O. has the chance to become the most loved figure in Philadelphia team sport history, unless Allen Iverson wins a title for the Sixers. Whereas A.I. was the NBA’s principal opponent, as the league tried turning players into robots, T.O.’s struggle is to be included in the NFL marketing hierarchy.
Except for its PSA (public service announcements), contrary to the NBA, the NFL markets the players who embody the sports’ pugnacious reality. The NFL does so, on a wink-wink basis, which is best represented by its recent affiliate marketing scandals: Janet Jackson’s nipple; and Nicolette Sheridan’s towel drop.
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