The World’s Most Famous Arena…For Ten More Years

A vote took place in New York City a day ago in regards to Madison Square Garden’s permit in New York City.  The New York City Council voted to extend the Garden’s permit to operate above Penn Station for ten more years, not the perpetuity vote the Garden was hoping for.  The vote was nearly unanimous, as the Council voted 47-1 to limit the permit.  What does this mean for New York City and MSG’s sports teams?  There is a very real chance that New Yorkers will have to find a new venue to root on the Knicks, Rangers and attend many of the sporting events, concerts, shows and other events that they have been going to the Garden since 1968 to see.

As a New York sports fan, there is really no place like Madison Square Garden to watch a sporting event.  I loved the old Yankee Stadium but when the Knicks and Rangers are in the playoffs, you can feel the electricity in the building.  The memories I have from the 1994season, when both the Knicks and Rangers made their respective finals are right up with my favorite sports moments of my life as an intense fan.  If New York City loses Madison Square Garden, it will lose a big chunk of it’s identity.

Ask any opposing player in the NBA or NHL which arena they love playing in the most and the answer will be Madison Square Garden 99% of the time.  Over the years, our team’s have been negatively affected by their oppositions motivation by playing on the biggest stage in sports, but it had lead to great performances for New York fans to witness.  From Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Wayne Gretzky, Martin Brodeur and many others, New York City sports fans have been able to witness the all-time greats travel to New York City and give their best performance because they knew we were the best fan base to impress.

The New York City Council feels that it is more important to extend Penn Station above ground.  I don’t understand why this is necessary.  I’ve been using Penn Station to travel on New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Railroad all of my adult life.  Although I can agree that a renovation for Penn Station might be a little overdue, I don’t see why it’s necessary to remove an arena that has given New York City and the midtown area of Manhattan so much life.  How many bars, restaurants and other businesses thrive from Ranger and Knick game nights?  Also, the New York City Subway system and other major train depots have been more than functional underground.  Does the New York City Council really feel moving our sports home is necessary so people traveling have better phone service as they wait to board their trains?

As a New York City employee, I pay a lot of taxes.  Madison Square Garden just put nearly a billion dollars into renovating the Garden and the project will finally be complete this fall.  Now, this Council is telling New Yorkers that not only will the city need to build a new arena and renovate Penn Station, but also it is likely that Cable Vision and Knick and Ranger owner James Dolan will want to be reimbursed the money he spent on the latest renovations.  Where do we think this money might be coming from, if not New Yorkers paychecks?  

Lastly, New York City fans are well aware of what happens when our teams homes are relocated.  As I said earlier, the old Yankee Stadium was about as electric as MSG.  The new Yankee Stadium is more like a mall then a baseball stadium.  An individual can have a full night out at the new Yankee Stadium without seeing one pitch.  Metlife Stadium might be bigger and cleaner than the old Giants Stadium, but it’s certainly not as loud and does not nearly carry the same home field advantage.  Look at the Giants recent playoff success and you might notice that all of their big victories over the years have been on the road.  MSG is the last sporting gem that we have in our area and now the clock for it’s relocation is ticking.

Another One Bites the Dust!

I understand the Yankees are old.  I think all Yankee fans have kind of seen the end of the road for the past few years.  With Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte all in their late 30’s to early 40’s, we all knew that the time we all enjoyed in the late 90s was ending.  However, nobody could have predicted that the wheels would fall of this rapidly in the form of injuries and reoccurring injuries.

 Coming into the season, we knew Jeter and Rodriguez would be starting off the year a little gimpy, although there was hope Jeter would be ready for opening day.  The assumption was a lineup of Cano, Granderson, Teixeira, Ichiro, Youkilis and Gardner would keep the Yankees afloat and provide enough runs to put them in contention.  That hope was short-lived:

Texiera strained his wrist while taking batting practice at the World Baseball Classic.  Came back for less than two weeks and reinjured it, out for the year!  Granderson broke his finger by getting hit by a pitch, finally comes back, and gets hit by another pitch!  Who knows when he’s coming back?  Jeter pushed himself hard to get back, fractured his ankle again, pushed hard again to come back, strained his quad, back to the DL!  Youkilis is signed to hold the fort down until the injured A-Rod comes back and his back goes out on him in April, done for the year and probably his career.  So terrible that all we could do as Yankee fans was laugh it off.

Then the madness that is Alex Rodriguez around started to take over.  There were steroid scandals, disputes with the Yankees front office, rumors of a plea bargain and 150 game suspension, and then when the smoke clears it looks like he might be coming back.  Now I believe most Yankee fans are done with Rodriguez.  He has been a negative influence for the past few years, was benched in the playoffs last season and has overall been more of an embarrassment than an asset since 2009.  However, I truly believe that any Yankee fan who has seen the cast of amateurs the Yankees have thrown out at third base this season would have to change their mind to a degree, and even if they don’t like him, they understand there is a need for him.

He finally announced that he would be coming back Monday and I’m not going to lie, I was excited to see it all go down.  The Yankees are in Texas tomorrow and to watch him come back against his former team would have been fascinating to see.  He would automatically improve the Yankees, even if he were half the player he once was.  The Yankees won against Boston last night and had the chance to take the series tonight, possibly building some momentum.  However, the inevitable had to happen and A-Rod felt tightness in his thigh and will need to receive an MRI to check out the extent of the injury.  The injury occurred on the last day of his rehab stint, one day before he was supposed to rejoin the Yankees. 

 I’m at the point where I have lost hope on the Yankees getting any of their aging players back.  This is the season that Lyle Overbay, Luis Cruz, Eduardo Nunez and Zoilo Almonte get their Bronx experiences and take the team as far as they could, which is honestly not looking like it will be more than 162 games.  The Yankees are 7 games above .500 which is somewhat miraculous given the roster they’ve been playing with, but they also find themselves in fourth place of possibly the most even division in baseball.  They are 6 games behind the first place Red Sox, but I believe the Orioles and Rays, who are also ahead of the Yankees in the standings are each better than both the Yanks and Sox.  To have had most of my hope on the off chance that A-Rod could come back and contribute was dicey enough, and now his set back confirms that the Yankees have hit the worst streak of bad luck I have ever seen in major league sports.  

 Because they are the Yankees and the greatest team in the history of professional sports, it will be tough to find anybody who will feel sorry for them outside of the Bronx.  Even so, it doesn’t make the frustration for the pinstripe faithful any easier to deal with.  I am still a die-hard fan and will tune into the games, but I am getting really sick of rooting for Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner.

 

Nick Saban’s in town: Do you know where your children are?

Nick Saban is a creep.  The Alabama coach who has won back to back National Championships  and four overall has always been known for being a douche bag.  He left LSU in the middle of the night, took a job with the Dolphins, bailed on them after a crappy couple of years and has now rebuilt a winning program at LSU’s biggest rival.  However, offering scholarships and actively recruiting middle school children is the most offensive act he has every participated in.

Dylan Moses is an 8th grader from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Apparently Moses stands at 6’1 and 215 pounds, which means he looks more like a man than most of my grown up friends.  However, the 13 year old running back is still just that, 13 years old!  Dylan hasn’t spent a day in high school yet.  He isn’t allowed to drive for another three years.  None of these things matter to Nick Saban because he has already offered Moses a full ride to Alabama 4 years prior to his high school graduation.  

I guess Nick Saban has been channeling his inner Jerry Sandusky by watching tape of and sweet talking prepubescent football players.  In a few years, I expect to see him hiding behind a bush of a Texas area elementary school, spying on the 2nd grade recess pick-up game looking for the next Greg McElroy.  Had Moses been jewish I guess we would have expected Saban to light a candle during the lighting ceremony.  

In a day and age where the sports world has become tarnished in every which way, it is rare for me to find a story with any shock value.  Since the beginning of this calendar year we’ve had legendary steroid and PED scandals, catfish scandals, olympic athlete murder scandals and now Saban has added to the insanity.  I’m pretty sure that in the next few days we will learn the Dylan Moses has been taking some form of steroids, probably Deer Antler spray which seems to be a popular choice among the Crimson Tide.  I mean, who has ever met a 13 year old who was 6’1 and 215 pounds?  Let’s just hope that Saban doesn’t shower with Moses or that the kid doesn’t invent a girlfriend who doesn’t actually exist.  Both of these scenarios would have been out of the realm of possibility as recently as three years ago, but hell, this is 2013 and anything can happen these days.

Dylan Moses should have been allowed to go through high school as a normal student.  Now that the has been offered a full ride to attend the best football school in the country, he has an automatic target on his back.  He’ll have a hard time making friends because people will only want to get close to him for his money.  He can’t possibly have a real relationship because ever girl he’ll be with will be trying to trick him into knocking them up, looking for that child support.  He’ll be walking around town with the biggest ego in the world but at the same time will go through his teenage years living a lonely existence.

Nick Saban did a huge disservice to Dylan Moses and he needs to be banned from all elementary and middle schools for the rest of his career.

Kings are Kings and I Don’t Care

The Stanley Cup FInals finally came to an end last night.  The Los Angeles Kings, behind the play of goaltender Jonathan Quick and captain Dustin Brown became the first #8 seed in the history of the NHL playoffs to win the cup.  The Kings had an improbable run, steamrolling the Western Conference before handling the Devils in the finals.  For Los Angeles, the question during the finals was never really if they were going to win, but rather when would they win.  The Kings had a chance to clinch in both Games 4 and 5, but were unable to seal the deal.  However, last night in Game 6, they were able to jump out to a 3-0 lead with 3 power play goals on the same penalty after Steve Bernier cost the Devs by taking a 5 minute major penalty in the first.  All the life the Devils had garnered in winning the last two games was quickly extinguished, and the Kings went on to win a 6-1 game.

As a Ranger and hockey fan, as soon as the Devils beat the Rangers and then lost the first 2 games of the finals in New Jersey, there was very little for me to follow.  First of all, I have very little respect for fake hockey fans and to be frank, I’m pretty sure that the city of Los Angeles’ major interest has already moved on to the Lakers postseason roster moves, just hours after the Stanley Cup party ended.  The Kings went on a magical run and I don’t want to take anything away from the players on the team, but the Kings fans who have emerged in the past few weeks certainly don’t deserve it.  As a Ranger fan, listening to the fans in the Staples Center chanting MAAAARTY, after Brodeur gave up a goal was down right disrespectful.  Kings fans who know shit about hockey have no right to mock the greatest goaltender of all time.  Only Ranger fans do!

Overall, the postseason was really terrific this year and I’m hopeful that it will spark the nation’s interest of hockey.  However, to say that I’m not disappointed with the how it concluded would be a lie.  If the Devils had taken the title I would be satisfied, as New Jersey fans appreciate hockey and the Devils would have earned it.  Also, if there was a team in Canada that was competitive and gave their entire nation a reason to celebrate, the league would have benefited.  However, to see a fair weathered city like Los Angeles, with all their celebrities and entitled citizens act as if they give a shit about hockey was hard to watch.  The Rangers have renewed my faith this season and although and even if I can’t wait for the puck to drop next season, forward, watching this season finally end does not sadden me. 

 

 

Meilleur Joueur de Tennis Jamais!

From 2005 thru 2007, Roger Federer was without question the most dominant tennis player in the world. His combination of professionalism on and off the court was something that the tennis world had not seen since the reign of Pete Sampras. During this stretch he won at Wimbledon and at the U.S. Open, then started the following year by outlasting the field at the Australian Open two years in a row.  Both seasons, Federer went into the French Open looking to win four Grand Slam titles in a row, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since Rod Laver in 1969.  Both times, however Federer was denied history by one Rafael Nadal.  Fast forward 5 years, and Novak Djokovic  was presented with the same chance to make history. The only thing standing in his way was the  6’1, 190 pound Spainard. Djokovic, like Fereder was just not up to the challenge. 

Nadal triumphed over Djokovic in the French Open Final in a weird match that started yesterday and ended early this morning. Even though Djokovic was able to wrestle a set away from the reigning champion, the outcome of the match was never in real jeopardy.  Nadal jumped out in front, taking the first two sets 6-4 and 6-3, and it looked like another easy French Open title for the Spaniard.  However, rain caused a  stoppage of play, halting all the momentum Nadal was able to build in the first two sets.  When play resumed, Djokovic took advantage of the wet clay and overpowered Nadal in the third set. After the third set the weather worsened and play was suspended again until this morning.  The grounds-crew spent the night working on the court, and when Nadal came back to play this morning, he appeared more comfortable and was able to slide, spin the ball and work all his clay tricks that he has mastered in Paris.  The end result was a  6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Djokovic.  Djokovic actually double faulted the last point of the match, which was a fitting way for a bizarre tennis final to end.  The only reason that Djokovic was able to win a set off of Nadal was because the elements neutralized the advantages that Nadal is able to garner on the clay court; there was no question who the superior player was.

There is not much that can be written about Rafa Nadal that hasn’t already been mentioned.  With the victory, Nadal won his 7th French Open title in the past 8 years, as the only year he didn’t win was 2009, when he lost to eventual Champion Robin Soderling in a shocking 4th round upset.  Nadal has won every major at least once, and yesterday’s triumph has given him 11 overall.  He has a stunning 52-1 record at the French Open, and passed Bjorn Borg for most French titles ever.  Nadal’s career record is a masterful 581-120, and he has won over $48 million dollars in event earnings.  Next up is Wimbledon, and even though Nadal got the better of Djokovic in their latest duel, there is no doubt the Nadal will be the underdog if the two of them find themselves in the final once again.  Djokovic is very deserving of the status he has reached in the tennis world, as was Roger Federer during his reign as #1, though it will always be Nadal who is known as the master of clay and the records he has been setting for a decade at Rolland Garros will likely never be matched.

 

Has there ever been a more dominant player on any given surface than Nadal on clay? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think…

 

Not Like Mike

Instead of doing a full recap of last night’s Boston Celtic 93-91 overtime win against the Miami Heat, I want to focus on the main point I took away from last night’s game.  LeBron James has great career numbers.  He is a rare physical specimen with a skill set never before seen in the NBA.  He is on track to have a hall of fame career, will probably be in the all-star game every season between now and his retirement, and will have more shoe deals and endorsements than any NBA baller, with the exception of maybe MJ.  However, with the game on the line and the ball in his hand, LeBron James is not and will not ever be in the same conversation as the legendary players he yearns to be mentioned with.

WIth the game tied at 89 in regulation, James had the ball in his hand with a chance to win the game.  He dribbled at the top of the key, looking poised to either drive the lane or pull up for a game winning dagger.  As a kid growing up, I witnessed Jordan succeed in the same position time and again.  Kobe Bryant has made a career of having the ball with the game on the line.  James had an opportunity to build his legacy in that same situation last night.  However, in the biggest moment, James dribbled to his right, got caught in the air, and threw a bail-out pass to Udonis Haslem, who missed a fade away jumpshot.  Memo to LeBron James…the Miami Heat pay you 18 million dollars a year to take that shot!  Udonis Haslem….are you kidding me?!?!  Anyway, Haslem missed a tough shot, the Celtics forced OT and went on to win while James watched from the bench.  

During the game, commentator Jeff Van Gundy was constantly saying how clutch LeBron James is.  With just over a minute left, James hit a wide-open three pointer to tie the game, then came down and forced an offensive foul on Kevin Garnett to get the ball in Miami’s possession for the last shot.  Van Gundy was going nuts, talking about how clutch does not mean just making the last shot, but also by making the other plays on the court to help your team in the big spot.  However, 30 seconds later when James passes the final shot, Van Gundy says nothing about it.  In overtime, when LeBron fouled out of the game, Van Gundy carried on about how it was a bad call, even though it was the same exact play that LeBron James drew on KG in regulation.  LeBron gets more calls than anyone I’ve ever seen, and when a few actually go against him, he looks perplexed and a commentator like Van Gundy, who I really enjoy and usually agree with, had the audacity to complain that James didn’t get a fair deal.  

 

Watching LeBron sit on the bench as Dwayne Wade missed a game winning three in OT was beautiful.  I hope James was taking notes on what a leader does with the ball in his hand and the game on the line.  Wade made a great pump fake, got Marquis Daniels in the air, and got himself a wide open look for the game.  Even though he missed the shot, at least Wade can take solace in the fact that he shot the ball.  There was zero chance he was giving up that shot to a lesser player like Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier or god forbid….Udonis Haslem!  Can you imagine Michael Jordan passing the ball to Luke Longley with the game on the line?  How about Kobe deferring to Josh McRoberts with 5 seconds left in a postseason game?  With the game up for grabs, LeBron showed the world what he’s really made of as he declared that he really doesn’t want the game to come down to him.  Spoelstra needs to pay attention to his players’ makeup and put the ball in #3′s hands in these future situations.  At least he’s man enough to put himself on the line. 

Definitely Not Jordan

Instead of doing a full recap of last night’s Boston Celtic 93-91 overtime win against the Miami Heat, I want to focus on the main point I took away from last night’s game.  LeBron James has great career numbers.  He is a rare physical specimen with a skill set never before seen in the NBA.  He is on track to have a hall of fame career, will probably be in the all-star game every season between now and his retirement, and will have more shoe deals and endorsements than any NBA baller, with the exception of maybe MJ.  However, with the game on the line and the ball in his hand, LeBron James is not and will not ever be in the same conversation as the legendary players he yearns to be mentioned with.

WIth the game tied at 89 in regulation, James had the ball in his hand with a chance to win the game.  He dribbled at the top of the key, looking poised to either drive the lane or pull up for a game winning dagger.  As a kid growing up, I witnessed Jordan succeed in the same position time and again.  Kobe Bryant has made a career of having the ball with the game on the line.  James had an opportunity to build his legacy in that same situation last night.  However, in the biggest moment, James dribbled to his right, got caught in the air, and threw a bail-out pass to Udonis Haslem, who missed a fade away jumpshot.  Memo to LeBron James…the Miami Heat pay you 18 million dollars a year to take that shot!  Udonis Haslem….are you kidding me?!?!  Anyway, Haslem missed a tough shot, the Celtics forced OT and went on to win while James watched from the bench.  

During the game, commentator Jeff Van Gundy was constantly saying how clutch LeBron James is.  With just over a minute left, James hit a wide-open three pointer to tie the game, then came down and forced an offensive foul on Kevin Garnett to get the ball in Miami’s possession for the last shot.  Van Gundy was going nuts, talking about how clutch does not mean just making the last shot, but also by making the other plays on the court to help your team in the big spot.  However, 30 seconds later when James passes the final shot, Van Gundy says nothing about it.  In overtime, when LeBron fouled out of the game, Van Gundy carried on about how it was a bad call, even though it was the same exact play that LeBron James drew on KG in regulation.  LeBron gets more calls than anyone I’ve ever seen, and when a few actually go against him, he looks perplexed and a commentator like Van Gundy, who I really enjoy and usually agree with, had the audacity to complain that James didn’t get a fair deal.  

 

Watching LeBron sit on the bench as Dwayne Wade missed a game winning three in OT was beautiful.  I hope James was taking notes on what a leader does with the ball in his hand and the game on the line.  Wade made a great pump fake, got Marquis Daniels in the air, and got himself a wide open look for the game.  Even though he missed the shot, at least Wade can take solace in the fact that he shot the ball.  There was zero chance he was giving up that shot to a lesser player like Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier or god forbid….Udonis Haslem!  Can you imagine Michael Jordan passing the ball to Luke Longley with the game on the line?  How about Kobe deferring to Josh McRoberts with 5 seconds left in a postseason game?  With the game up for grabs, LeBron showed the world what he’s really made of as he declared that he really doesn’t want the game to come down to him.  Spoelstra needs to pay attention to his players’ makeup and put the ball in #3’s hands in these future situations.  At least he’s man enough to put himself on the line.   

Kings of the Road

The Kings find themselves in a situation they have been in three times already this postseason…up 2-0 heading back to Los Angeles.  The Kings are 14-2 in the playoffs, but the more impressive number is their 10-0 road postseason record.  The New Jersey Devils appear baffled by the outcome of the first two games, because the sentiment from the club is that they have played two very strong hockey games.  Now New Jersey faces the daunting task of traveling across the country and playing the Kings at the Staples Center in front of a fan base which has waited 19 years for meaningful hockey and is ready to raise the cup.

For the second consecutive game, the Kings won a thrilling 2-1 OT game.  Jeff Carter beat Martin Brodeur 13 minutes into the extra period, but prior to his shot, the game was insanely close.  The Devils outshot the Kings 33 to 32, they outhit LA 35 to 32 and the face-off matchup was 38 to 33 in favor of the Kings.  Now the Devils will have to beat the Kings in 4 out of the next 5 games, in which 3 of the games will be on the road.  When asked about his teams chances, captain Zach Parise said “They are a great team, but it’s not like we got blown out the last two games,” Parise said. “It will be really hard but we will give it our best shot.”

Devils sniper Ilya Kovalchuk had two great chances to win the game.  In the last minute, Los Angeles turned the puck over to Ilya right in front of the Kings net, but Kovalchuk didn’t get his best shot off, it grazed goalie Jonathan Quick’s shoulder and deflected off the crossbar. Then in the first couple of minutes of OT, Kovalchuk had another chance to blast the puck in the net and Quick stopped him on the doorstep.  Martin Brodeur, who was playing in his 200th game did more than enough for Jersey to win them the game, though the youngster Quick as just a little bit better and as a result the Kings are in position to step on the Devs throats in the next contest.

Well, my original pick of Devils in 7 is looking pretty doubtful but once again, who really knows when it comes to these Stanley Cup playoffs…Enjoy the highlights from last night’s game.

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?intcmpid=nav-video-main

City of Angels Tops Devils in Game 1

I would imagine that when a young kid is growing up and playing hockey, he would fantasize about having a breakaway to win a game in the Stanley Cup Finals.  For Anze Kopitar, that fantasy became reality last night as he found the puck on his stick 8 minutes into the extra frame, looked up and had only the goalie to beat.  The thing about this scenario for Kopitar was that he didn’t have to beat any old goaltender, but he had Martin Brodeur, possibly the greatest goalie in NHL history, standing in his way.  Kopitar faked right, took the puck to his backhand and waited for Brodeur to make a move as he slid the puck under Marty’s right pad.  Game over, LA is up 1-0 and Kopitar realized a dream.

Oh yeah, I should have probably started this article by reminding everyone that the NHL Stanley Cup Finals actually started last night.  I’m assuming that the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics Game 2 destroyed the Devs-Kings in the national ratings, but all the true hockey fans who tuned in were treated to a great game.  Both teams played fundamental hockey, and each goalie made plays to keep their teams in the game.  Brodeur made an awesome play in the third, stacking the pads to stop Drew Doughty on the doorstep, and Jonathan Quick played shutout hockey for the most part, as the Devil’s lone goal was a flukey deflection off a King defenseman.  The King’s looked like they pushed the play a little more than New Jersey, and the road warriors were able to capitalize in OT and capture Game 1.

 

The NHL was certainly rooting for a Rangers and Kings finals, as facing LA and New York City off against each other in the finals would have been marketing heaven for a league that sorelyneeds the coverage.  Instead, the Devils forced the NHL to market a product that is not as appealing, lacking the marquee power a Ranger-King matchup would have produced.  However, for the true hockey fans like myself, this series will provide great hockey, defensive battles and a true appreciation for the forecheck.  Even if I am in the minority, and I know that I am, I can’t wait for Game 2!

Lets Get It Started…

NYBobby and Matthewtodderich are introducing a new feature to the website to help everyone out there.  Each day, we will pick one game against the line, in order to assist those interested in a little action.  We will keep track of the standings after each day to see who has the better insider knowledge.  

(For the record, this year I won the SD March Madness Pool, called the Elite 8 and Final Four and correctly picked the Kentucky Derby winner!)