the 13th round

Only Giants Defense Shines in First Half

2010-10-03T21:59:00.005-04:00

In one half of play in Monday night's game between the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears, the Giants were miserable on two of three sides of the football.

Luckily for them, there are three sides to football teams: offense, defense, and special teams.

New York has been miserable on both offense and special teams (if you can call them that), as there has been horrible punting, a missed field goal (from less than 30 yards), and a very stagnant offense that has no answer for Chicago defensive end Julius Peppers.

Yet, on defense, New York can do no wrong. They have set an NFL record by sacking Bears quarterback Jay Cutler nine times, and until the final two minutes of the half, Chicago had a dismal 11 yards of total offense.

The Giants should be leading this game by a score of about 21-0 right now, but instead they lead by a mere 3-0, which means that thet are playing with fire. Everyone knows that in most sports, if you let a team hang around long enough on the scoreboard, it often comes back to bite you...right in the win column.

Tom Coughlin et al better come up with some kind of offensive game plan so that this defensive effort doesn't go to waste.

Giants' Line Woes Continue

2010-09-19T23:08:00.002-04:00

Problems continue to hinder the New York Giants on both sides of the football.

After the Colts lost in Houston last week, I knew that the Giants were walking into a lions' den this week at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Unfortunately for Big Blue, I was right.

From the outset of tonight's game, Indianapolis showed early on that they had no intentions of a repeat performance of last week.

The Colts began the game on offense, and Peyton cranked the machine up quickly to give the Colts an early 7-0 lead.

Then Indy came out on defense and completely smothered Eli and the rest of New York's offense. Eli had no protection, and the running game could not establish anything.

In a nutshell, that's the way that the rest of the game went, as the Colts built a huge 24-0 lead by halftime.

Nothing worked for the Giants tonight, other than a few inspirational runs by Ahmad Bradshaw.

The offensive line could not block for either the run or the pass, as was evident by Dwight Freeney camping out in Eli's back pocket. Freeney made New York left tackle David Deihl look like a rookie.

But Diehl was not alone, by any stretch of the imagination. The Colts came from all angles, and from both ends of the line.

Four sacks in all were totaled for the Indianapolis defense, and the Giants simply could not get any rhythm offensively.

On defense, the news wasn't much better.

Peyton picked apart the Giants' soft defensive backfield, carving them up for over 250 yards and three TD's.

New York's run defense wasn't any better, as Brown and Joseph Addai combined for more than 150 on the ground.

So, they couldn't stop the run, the pass, or Indianapolis' defense, which all adds up to one thng: an embarrassing 38-14 loss that wasn't even that close.

NHL Playoffs: Giddyup!

2010-04-18T00:55:00.002-04:00

One of the most exciting times of year is here: the NHL playoffs.

Many of the lower-seeded teams surprised their opponents with wins in game one, but the tables have been turned in the second game of each series, as all of the losers in the first game of the series came back for game-two wins.

In the Eastern Conference, the Devils, the Bruins, the Capitals, and the Stanley Cup-defending Champion Pittsburgh Penguins all lost their first game, only to come back to tie their series in the second game.

In the West, the San Jose Sharks, who come into the playoffs as the No. 1-ranked team in the conference and have a history of playoff woes, lost their first game against the Colorado Avalanche, bringing back all of the doubts, but came back in the second game to tie the series at one apiece.

The Detroit Red Wings lost game 1 against the Phoenix Coyotes, but in a game that saw four goals scored in a four-minute span, won the second game to tie that series at 1-1.

Perhaps the most exciting series so far has been the L.A. Kings against the Vancouver Canucks. Both of the first two games have gone into overtime, with the Canucks winning the first game and the Kings taking the second game on a power-play goal less than five minutes into the OT.

The Chicago Black Hawks and the Nashville Predators are the final series in the west, and Nashville surprised the Hawks in the first game, with game two slated for later today.

As an Islanders fan, I'm used to my team not making the playoffs, which leads me to root either against the Rangers or for the New Jersey Devils, or both.

The Rangers have embarassed themselves yet again by having one of the league's highest payrolls and not making the playoffs.

This is astonishing to me. As an Islanders fan, I'm trying to cope with the idea that my owner doesn't want to spend money and is happy being in the middle of the pack and not making the post season year-in, year-out. What baffles me is how the Rangers, with their high payroll, their ability to attract the league's highest-paid players, and a goalie like Hendrik Lundqvist, can miss the playoffs as often as they do.

I'm frustrated enough because my owner refuses to keep good players (e.g., Jason Blake, Zdeno Chara, Miro Satan, Michael Peca, Ryan Smyth, Tim Connolly, just to name a few), but I can't imagine how Ranger fans feel when their team DOES spend the money but still ends up watching the playoffs on TV.

I've gone off on a tangent here, but the bottom line is the playoffs are here, and even marginal NHL fans are perched in front of their TV's to watch the excitement.

It's going to be going on for a while, so grab a beer and kick back and enjoy the thrill.

And go Devils!

Lee not an NBA All-Star?

2010-01-28T22:17:00.005-05:00

Ok, I need someone to explain something to me. Have I lost my mind, or did the NBA East suddenly come up with a plethora of power forwards that are tearing up the stat sheet?

As we all know, the New York Knicks are terrible. They have been breaking some of our hearts since that magical 1973 season when they won their last championship.

With that said, how can no one be noticing the fact that as bad as they are, the Knicks have one of the best power forwards in the Eastern Conference, if not the league.

Night after night, David Lee goes on a tear. Once again, the former Florida Gator has been averaging a double-double.

This season, Lee is averaging 19.6 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game. Just what does he have to do to get the recognition that he deserves?

This is not the first time that I have written in his defense. I did it last year, too.

Even tonight, in a losing cause against the Toronto Raptors, Lee put up 29 and 18.

What does this man have to do to be recognized by his peers or the league? I just don't get it.

Maybe the rest of the league needs to be watching more than LeBron and Kobe.

For the Love of the...ART!

2010-01-28T22:07:00.002-05:00

To sports fans in Saratoga Springs, the name Design has been associated with boxing for two generations.
In the 1980’s, Sam enjoyed success in the amateur ranks in the ring, winning local matches as well as Golden Gloves bouts. For several years now, it has been Sam’s son Alex who has made the family headlines with his ring prowess.
Back in 2006, Alex turned his attention to a different passion: welding.
In his junior year of high school, Design took a B.O.C.E.S. course in welding, fell in love with the trade, and it evolved into an artistic passion.
Working for Charlie Van Hall of Metro Metal Recycling in Watervliet, Design was introduced to Peter Paquet, an artist that used hard steel and molten metal as his canvas. First Design helped Paquet on his projects, which are mostly large-scale steel pieces that were built not for money, but simply for Paquet’s love of the art. None of his pieces have ever been in a gallery or on display, other than outside of his Schuylerville home.
“I first started at BOCES at the welding class there and I wasn’t really interested in art at that time, as far as a regular job,” said Design. “And then I was doing some structural welding for somebody private in a big, huge art studio, actually, but I was just putting in the beams and stuff like that… then his friend, Peter Paquet, needed some work done, so we (he and Van Hall) were finishing up with the work there, and it kind of actually worked out so I just started working right over there (for Paquet).”
As for Design, his love of welding grew, as he entered and won several competitions — including one in Syracuse on the same day he was scheduled for a Golden Gloves boxing match in the same town.
First, there was a local competition comprised of fellow Saratoga B.O.C.E.S. students. After winning that, he went on to win a regional competition in Schenectady before taking the state title and a trip to the national competition as New York State’s representative in Kansas City.
“I finished in the middle of the pack,” Design said about the Kansas City trip. “There’s some tough competition out there…but it was really nice because I got a free trip, a free hotel room, free food, everything. It was definitely a lot of fun.”
Incidentally, he won the Golden Gloves Championship in Syracuse, as well.
Since working under the tutelege of Paquet until he passed away several months ago, Design has gone on his own, working at his shop behind his house, where he has already found success as an artist.
His shop is adequately stocked with steel and equipment, and sitting on top of one of his racks of steel he displays one piece that is a take on a medieval warrior’s helmet that weighs in at approximately 15 pounds, and has some quite dangerous points to it.
Sitting on the floor against another wall is another helmet that is currently a work in progress, although this one is much larger and will eventually sit atop a steel pole. On one of his workbenches sits a partial lamp that is also in progress, and upon another is a three-foot wide propeller that he fabricated. Design is still not sure what will become of the propeller, which looks as if it was rescued from the aft end of an old ship, but he is sure that it will find a home somewhere in one of his designs.
Design’s work has been on display at the House of Creative Soul, a fairly new art gallery located on Van Dam Street, where he has already sold a couple of his pieces at one of the gallery shows, and still has several pieces on display, including the large steel sculpture that sits outside the gallery’s door. He seems to have already developed a signature of his work, as he incorporates a steel sphere in nearly all of his works.
“Searing Bliss” is Design’s interpretation of fire, as the pieces in the sculpture have bronzed look to them, and the shapes are reminiscent of flames. It’s a beautiful piece of art.
“I thought of that (the name) because of the color that it ended up going, and all of these shapes are similar to shapes of fire, so it’s pretty dynamic.”
On the configuration that sits outside the gallery, which is still unnamed, two pieces of curved steel balance perfectly, with a steel sphere sitting between the two semi-circular fragments. The whole structure sits atop a base that consists of copper and steel, and the entire upper portion of the sculpture rotates.
Design enjoys his craft, but is also appreciative of the fact that others may be interested in something that he does outside of the ring.
“I like selling them. The idea that somebody would be interested enough to buy it is pretty nice.”
As much as he enjoys putting on the welding shield, however, Design has not left the ring. He believes that his next fight will be within the next couple of months.
The House of Creative Soul is located at 38 Van Dam Street.

Trying to Catch Up

2009-11-02T20:35:00.009-05:00

I haven't been writing much lately, as I have been very busy with both of my jobs over the last couple of weeks, so this piece is just going to be a little catching-up segment.

There has been so much going on, from the Giants playing like crap for three straight weeeks, the start to the Islanders and the Knicks seasons, and the Yankees going for their 27th World Championship.

The problem that the Giants have right now is very simple. Although the offense looked dismal in the first half against the Eagles yesterday, the real issue is the defense.

What you have to understand is that New York lost two starters in its defensive backfield within the first two weeks of the season. I'm not making excuses for them, just hear me out.

The reason that the Giants got to 5-0 is because although they were missing these players, the teams that they played were so bad that none of those teams challeneged the New York secondary. Once the Giants came up against teams with decent offenses, such as the Saints, Cardinals, and Eagles, they were then playing against teams that could stretch the field and throw the ball downfield. That's when the Giants got in trouble.

On offense, the line is killing them. They aren't blocking for the run, which is their staple, and everyone knows that when you can't run, you generally can't pass, unless you're using the West Coast offense.

So, they're not run blocking, they're not giving Eli any time to throw, and then when they do, half of the times he makes mistakes, which is something that he really hasn't done since before the Giants went to the Super Bowl.

As for the Islanders, they're coming around a little bit. After some disappointing losses by blowing third-period leads and losing games in overtime and the shootout, New York has taken out three first-place teams of late, and it appears that a game against the Islanders is no longer an automatic "W".

They have shown that they have other players that can find the back of the net besides Tavares and Moulson, and the defensive unit has stiffened.

This team needs to keep working hard, the wins will come, and their confidence will be boosted. They just may make the playoffs this year, and if they can realize their young talent, they may even have a first-round upset in their future.

And here's an update. The Isles have just beaten the Edmonton Oilers for their fourth straight win, 3-1.

Edmonton came into the game with a 7-6-1 record, fourth place in the Northwest Division.

Brendan Witt scored a pair of goals, Tavares had one, and Weight added two assists. Roloson got the win with 22 saves, and a good sign was New York leading in shots, 37-23.

New York is 5-4-5 and over the .500 mark for the first time this season.

Also, here's something that may loom large come later in the season. Although the Islanders have just 5 wins, they also have just 4 regulation losses. That means that in all of those other games, New York earned a point. There are 12 teams in the NHL right now that have more regulation losses than the Islanders. And that means that New York has (or will have at the end) more points due to less regulation losses, should the Islanders have the same amount of wins as they do. That means playoffs.

On to the Knicks. This won't take long. They suck. Period. Not only have they lost their first three games, but those losses include an opening-night losst at Miami, followed by overtime losses at Charlotte and then in their home opener against the 76ers.

Tonight they are hosting New Orleans. They're winning right now, but we'll see when they blow it.

Now, for the best news amongst all of this mess, the Yankees.

New York did a phenominal job of handling Minnesota and Anaheim in the first two rounds of postseason action, and they now have a 3-1 lead in the World Series against the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Phillies starter Cliff Lee was absolutely unhittable in Game 1 of the Series, but the Yanks got an early run off of him in the first inning tonight.

Things sren't looking real smooth for the Bronx Bombers right now, as they trail 4-1 in the bottom of the third and Burnett is being lifted, but there's a long game to go, and the New York bats aren't even warm yet.

And, if indeed they never do catch up to Lee tonight, think about what lies ahead. The Yankees come back home to New York for Game 6, and their starting pitcher will be Andy Pettite, who is 5-0 lifetime in games when the Yankees have three wins in a series. So, I'm not sweating anything right now.

So much for my "little" catching-up segment.

Isles Showing Signs of Life

2009-10-31T21:55:00.004-04:00

OK, Islanders fans, cheer up. New York got off to a disappointing start of the 2009-10 season, blowing several third-period leads and losing games either in overtime or in the shootout, but things are starting to change.

Those five overtime losses, which give me a pain in my heart, may turn out to be big points, and the Islanders have only built on those tough losses and are making a HUGE noise in the NHL.

After losing in overtime to Washington and at Montreal, New York has answered in a tremendous way, taking out two first-place teams and a second-place team.

First, they beat the second-place and fiercely-rivaled Rangers 3-1, then they beat the Caps in Washington in overtime, 3-2, and now have shut out the Buffalo Sabres, who are in first place in the Northeast Division.

And what a game the Isles played.

Where do we start? Matthew Biron earned a shutout for his 200th career win and 25th career shutout, Jeff Tambelini showed signs of scoring life, which the Islanders have been waiting for, with a hat trick, and for once, New York did not rely on all of their scoring coming from John Tavares and Matt Moulson.

The Islanders look good right now, and if they stay the course, they could make life miserable for a lot of teams come playoff time.

Go Islanders.

Girardi the Idiot

2009-10-17T21:52:00.003-04:00

Baseball has some very fundamental unwritten rules when it comes to managing. One of them is that when your in a tight game, say trailing by a run or the game is tied, and you have a runner on first base and no outs, you have your batter lay down a bunt to move the runner into scoring position. Anybody who knows anything about baseball knows that. Except Yankees manager Joe Girardi.
In the bottom of the fifth inning in tonight's game, the Yankees had not one, but two runners on base and nobody out. Melky Cabrera was at second, Jose Molina was on at first, and the batter was Derek Jeter.
The no-brainer call of the game was to have Jeter bunt the runners to second and third. But, instead, Girardi helps the Angels out by not making Jeter bunt. Jeter then promptly bounces a ball back to the pitcher, who goes to second for the 1-4-3 double play.
Jeter was shown on replay to be safe at first, and of course Girardi doesn't even come out of the dugout to argue.
That is neither here nor there, as the point is that it should have never came to that. Girardi should have put the bunt on and prevented the double play, which he didn't, so the Yankee rally was killed, and the Angels got out of the inning.
Girardi has made many questionable calls as the Yankees manager, but this was perhaps his biggest blunder.
It just shows, once again, how he is lacking in basic baseball knowledge.
I don't know what it is that the Yankees are so impressed about when it comes to him, but he's far from the second coming of Joe Torre.
He's more like what the newspapers labeled Torre when he was first announced as the Yankees manager.
Girardi truly is the clueless Joe.

Irish Lose Tough One

2009-10-17T20:39:00.002-04:00

In recent years, the University of Southern California football team has had Notre Dame in their back pockets. USC has dominated play over the last few meetings, but this year things were different.

Notre Dame played well from the start of today's game, and even tied the game at 7-7 by the end of the first quarter.

But soon things began to go USC's way, such as some generous calls from the refs (what a surprise, you say?), and suddenly, after a couple of field goals, the Trojans held a 13-7 lead by halftime.

The two teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter to make it a respectable-looking 20-14 affair, but USC scored again to make it 27-14 with less than three minutes left in the period.

Southern Cal opened the fourth with a touchdown to extend its lead to 34-14, and it looked as though the Irish were done.

But Notre Dame showed a lot of character in this game, and they mounted a comeback, led by quarterback Jimmy Claussen.

Just two minutes after the Trojans' score, Claussen dove into the end zone to pull the Irish to within 34-20, and with 11:13 remaining, you had to wonder if Notre Dame was actually going ot make a game out of it.

They did, as the defense stiffened after yielding the touchdown that put USC at 34 points, and with 7:28 left, Claussen hit Golden Tate with a 15-yard pass to make it 34-27.

The game ended in quite dramatic fashion, as Notre Dame was in position to tie the game in the final minute with the ball in the Trojans' red zone, and after two incomplete passes by Claussen, the Fighting Irish were down to their final play.

Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weiss again put the ball in the hands of his quarterback, but again the pass was incomplete. Everyone thought that the game was over, but Weiss argued to the refs that there should have been one second left on the clock. After the play was reviewed, the refs agreed with Weiss, and Notre Dame had one last chance. On the final play, Notre Dame's wide receiver fell down in the end zone, the pass fell wide, time expired and USC escaped with the win.

So, the Irish didn't beat USC again, but at least this time they had an opportunity to win in the end and have nothing to be ashamed of. And with this showing today, they will deserve a little more respect.

Sabathia Tosses a Gem

2009-10-16T23:21:00.003-04:00

In the shadows of recent Yankees' postseason woes against the Anaheim Angels, CC Sabathia pitched a beautiful game to kick off the 2009 A.L.C.S.

Sabathia did something that the Yankees bullpen desparately needs: he went eight innings, leaving no work for anyone but Rivera. That's huge for the Yankees' pitching staff.

You need your best players to perform to win championships, and that is exactly what Sabathia did tonight for New York. In eight innings, CC surrendered just four hits and one earned run, and he struck out seven batters while walking just one. The one walk is huge, because as we all know, walks (especially of the lead-off variety) can come back to haunt you big time, especially in the postseason when you are facing the better lineups in the league.

There were not many hits in the game on either side, as the Yanks had just 10, but, of course, leading the way was Jeter, as he, Damon, and Matsui all had two-hit games.

But tonight was Sabathia's night. He made the Angles' hitters look foolish on many occasions, and the Yankees are going to need more nights like this if they are going to post their 27th World's Championship.

Economy or Ineptitude?

2009-10-14T21:31:00.002-04:00

In the midst of tremendous economic suffering in the United States at the moment, the fallout is reaching the National Football League.

Or is it?

For the first time in quite some time, the NFL is having to enforce its TV blackout rule. The rule is that if you do not sell out your home game, it isn't on television in your market. This is something that happens once in a while in the NFL, but recently it is happening more and more.

There are two reasons that we can turn to to understand why this phenomenom is taking place.

First of all, with the cost of NFL tickets as high as they are, most people simply don't have the expendable cash to spend a couple of hundred dollars on a day at the stadium. Between ticket prices, tailgating, and food and beverages inside the stadium (and souvenirs, especially if you're taking kids to the game), right now people are finding that they're money is better spent somewhere else. Like the rent. Or gasoline for the car.

But there is another reason which is slightly more tangible. Have you seen an NFL game lately? They're getting to be like college games, with their 53-3 drubbings and other scores of the like.

If you look at the numbers, it's not hard to see why some of these teams have tickets left over on Sundays.

Nearly 1/4 of the league is unwatchable at this time. The Raiders, Chiefs, Rams, Lions, Browns, Bucs, Bills, and Titans are absolutely horrendous this season. And there are others that are on the cusp of this ineptitude.

These eight teams that were named represent a quarter of the entire NFL. That means that at this point in time, one out of every four NFL clubs are unwatchable. That's a disgrace. The combined records for these eight miserable teams is 4-36. That's barely a 10 percent winning percentage. Not very good for a league that has boasted such parody over recent years that the two teams that played in the Super Bowl were different just about every season, especially since New England's run has ended.

But if you look at the Super Bowl over the course of the last 10 years or so, aside from the Patriots, the teams that have gone to the big dance has changed almost annually.

I'm not going to go into detail about how horriffic these teams are, other than to say that when the Raiders are on the schedule, it's pretty much considered a bye week, or a glorified walk-through practice.

Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce stated after the game this week that it didn't even seem as if Oakland was trying.

So, chalk it up to whatever reason you want, but the NFL is in a little bit of trouble right now. Don't get me wrong, it's not like they're going bankrupt or anything, but it's not good when one out of every four teams in your league is slightly better than a college team.

So, if the wife is nagging you to go shopping on Sunday, at least you know that if you root for one of these atrocious teams, you won't be missing much. You won't even want to go to the electronics department to watch the game in High-Def while she's busy shopping.

NFL Week 5 Review

2009-10-12T21:41:00.002-04:00

Week 5 of the NFL season is complete (except for the Jets-Dolphins), so let's take a look at the highs and lows.

The first high is the New York Giants. They were unmerciful against the Oakland Raiders, allowing them less than 200 yards of total offense, while the G-men piled up over 400.

This game actually covers the best and the worst.

The Giants had this game in the bag so early that Tom Coughlin pulled Eli Manning midway through the second quarter.

The Giants did exactly what a top-notch NFL team is supposed to do to a miserable team like the Raiders. If Dallas expects anyone to take them seriously, they need to watch New York and see how it's done. They certainly did not impress anyone by having to go into overtime to beat the Chiefs, another of the league's miserable teams.

The Giants ran and threw all over Oakland all day, and the defense was superb, as Justin Tuck sacked JaMarcus Russell twice and Osi Umenyiora had a down lineman's trifecta: forcing a fumble, recovering the fumble, and then taking it to the house for a touchdown. All together, Big Blue sacked Russell six times and limited him to just eight completions for 100 yards.

Minnesota and Philly romped, which was no surprise since they were playing the Rams and the Bucs, disrespectively.

Cincinnati won in surprising fashion yet again, as they won in Baltimore in the last seconds. What an unbelievable season the Cardiac Cats are having. First, they lose to the Broncos on a last-second play, and then went out and won four straight games in the last minute of the game. And how about that hit that Ray Lewis put on Senor Ochocinco? It was ugly, and it clearly showed how frustrated the Ravens defense was getting.

Atlanta won in impressive style, as they thumped the 49ers on the road. San Francisco has not been very good the last few years, but this season they have been known for their defense, as they have been one of the top defensive units in the league thus far.

Not yesterday. Matt Ryan threw for over 300 yards and a pair of TD's, and Michael Turner ran for just under 100 yards and three TD's. Good win for the Falcons.

The Colts improve to 5-0, and again it was not difficult, as they were in Tennessee to play the winless Titans (or is it the Titanics?). Peyton was terrific, as he's been all season, and this just may be his finest season to date. Which doesn't bode well for the rest of the top teams in the AFC who may have to find a way to defend him in the postseason.

And, the Colts are playing amazing defense. The most amazing point to me is that they have been doing it all without Pro-Bowl defensive back Bob Sanders. What is this defense going to become when he comes back? Scary stuff.

Seattle laid a good old-fashioned whipping on the Jaguars, but seriously, who didn't see that coming? Jacksonville is another of the league's teams that are not very good. Jacksonville plays well twice a year: when they play the Colts. For some reason, the Jags match up well with Indianapolis. They don't match up well with anyone else, but they do, for whatever reason, play like a contender against Indy. Too bad they don't play them 16 times a year. Maybe they would have a winning season.

That's about all of the games worth talking about. Shut up Pittsburgh fans. If you have to fend off Detroit, you get no love from me. Ciao for now!

Giants Destroying Raiders

2009-10-11T14:05:00.003-04:00

You know, I knew that my Giants were going to beat my Raiders with relative ease this week, with or without Eli Manning, but I didn't think that it was going to be this easy.
With 6:30 remaining in the first half, the G-Men are winning by a 28-0 score, the Raiders just picked up their first first down of the game, and before JaMarcus Russell completed this pass just now, four members of the Giants offense had outgained the entire Raiders offense, who have 18 yards.
The Giants really have a chance to pour it on in this game, and Eli is already putting up some fairly hefty numbers.

Yankees Keep the Drama Train Rollin'

2009-10-10T13:58:00.003-04:00

The Yankees led the major leagues in walk-off wins this year, and they did it again last night as they took a commanding 2-0 lead over the Twins in the A.L.D.S.

They received a solid pitching outing from A.J. Burnett, but when Minnesota took a 3-1 lead in the top of the eighth inning, it appeared that the series may be tied as the teams headed to Minnesota for game three.

The Yankees offense couldn't get anything consistently going, and it looked bleak that they would pull it out. Especially when you consider that the Twins have one of the better closers in baseball, Joe Nathan.

But, once again, the Yankees found a way to win. A-Rod should feel like the weight of the world is off of his shoulders as far as his postseason critics are concerned, as he's had several big hits in this series so far, but none were bigger than his two-run jack that tied the game. But I'm sure that the questions will still follow him until he produces in baseball's biggest event, the World Series.

Those are fair criticisms, but let's not forget that you don't get to the series unless you produce along the way, so even if his bat doesn't lead the Yankees to winning it all, don't forget that he helped them get there (if, indeed, they do).

And can enough be said about Mark Texeira? Many free agents have been signed to huge numbers in the past and found that they could not handle the pressure of playing on the game's biggest stage, New York City (can you say Rick Rhoden?).

Texeira, however, has shown since game one of the season that playing in New York agrees with him, and he did everything humanly possible for this team to be in the place that it's in right now.

He has a good chance to be voted the league's MVP, and I can't recall if any other player came to the Big Apple and was voted the MVP in their first New York season, be it Yankee or Met.

At first, I didn't think that Texeira's shot had a chance of making the seats, because I don't think that the ball got more than 20 feet off of the ground its entire trip. Had the left field wall in Yankee Stadium been six inches higher, Texeira most likely would have been held to a long single, given the speed in which the ball got to the wall.

But, it cleared the fence, and the Yankees are heading to Minnesota with a two-games-to-none lead and are sitting in the driver's seat.

Couple that with the fact that the Ded Sux' bats have gone silent on the left coast, and all is right in the baseball world on this fine autumn Saturday. Go Notre Dame.

Islanders Lose Another One Late

2009-10-09T00:20:00.003-04:00

For the second time in this short NHL campaign, the Islanders still have not only not won, but have lost both games that they have played after regulation time expired.

On opening night, they held a lead for most of the game against the defending champion Penguins until Dwayne Roloson gave up a late goal and then the game was lost in the shootout.

Now, in game two of the season, the Isles came back from a 2-0 deficit, only to allow the winning goal just 32 seconds into the OT period for their second OT loss of the year.

The Islanders brought in a couple of new goalies this season, but the team seems to have the same results.

They have no real firepower, and that is what hurt them last year, and it's going to hurt them again this year, because they think that John Tavares is going to do all of the scoring for them. They won't admit it, but by the looks of the offense that they brought in...ummm...and that would be...no one, that the organization that isn't serious about NOT being the second-worst scoring team in the NHL.

So, what are we supposed to surmize from their lack of recruiting.?

Tavares had a good game and is off to a very good start, with a goal and an assist for two points in two games, but that is not the answer right now.

Hell, even when the Islanders had Mike Bossy, they still had Trottier, Nystrom, Potvin, and a host of others that could score points. That is far from the team that Tavares has. In fact, if they rounded those guys up, they might STILL be better than what the organization is putting on the ice right now. I know that I would rather pay to watch them at their ages then to watch this dismal product.

Lee Phenominal in Debut

2009-10-08T14:24:00.001-04:00

Starting Pitcher Cliff Lee made his postseason debut for the Philadelphia Phillies yesterday afternoon, and Phillies fans got what they paid for as Lee threw an absolutely dominating game against the Colorado Rockies to go up 1-0 in their N.L. Divisional Series.
You can't say enough about the job that Lee did, going the distance, which he did five times this season for the Phils, and showing incredible command of his pitches as he did not walk a single batter.
Phillies' fans are pumped up about defending their first World Championship in nearly 30 years, and Lee gave them every reason to believe that Philly will go deep into the playoffs once again.

Jeter Leads Yanks Into Postseason

2009-10-08T14:03:00.000-04:00

After a year break, the Yankees are once again in the postseason, and Derek Jeter continues to deliver, setting the table with a home run to propel the Yanks to a win over the Minnesota Twins in the first game of the A.L.D.S.

It seems almost as if Jeter sets another record with nearly each hit. His list of accomlpsihments keeps growing, and this year he achieved one of the most historic feats of his career when he passed Lou Gehrig as the all-time Yankees hits leader.

Since then he has cracked the top-50 all-time in Major League history, and each hit draws him closer to 3,000, a plateau that he should reach sometime in the 2011 season.

There is only one active player with more hits than the Captain, and that is Ken Griffey, Jr., with about 20 more hits. And the way that Junior exited the field after Seattle's final game this season, it appears that 2009 may have been his last season.

CC Sabathia gave up two quick runs last night in game one, but Jeter's shot pulled both the Yankees and the fans right back into the ball game, and the Yankees kept the momentum going until they built their lead.

Even Alex Rodriguez produced, as he FINALLY picked up a hit with a runner in scoring position, something that he had not in any of his previous 19 postseason at-bats. A-Rod took it a step further when he slapped another shot into the right field corner later in the game, driving in another run.

Sabathia went on to have a fine outing, now let's see what happens in game two.

The Twins have a lot of confidence and momentum going into this series, and losing the first game will not deflate them. After all, pretty much every road team loses the first game of any series, so they won't be all that dejected by the loss. What the Yankees need to do is sweep at home, and that might darken Minnesota's perspective on the series.

Minnesota is the type of team in the postseason where you have to stand on their proverbial necks and not let up. If you go into that dome and the fans have anything at all to cheer about, you won't be able to hear yourself think, and that can rattle a visiting ball club.

That's what the Twins are counting on, and that's what the Yankees must prevent.

Go into Minnesota with a two-games-to-none lead, score first in game three, and New York should be watching the other series to see who they play in the second round.

Giants Looking Strong

2009-10-05T22:25:00.000-04:00

We are four weeks into the NFL season, and once again the New York Giants have proven themselves to be one of the premiere teams in the league.

After four games, the Giants first defeated NFC East rival Washington at home, and then went on to win three consecutive road games in quite impressive fashion. The icing on the cake is the fact that the Giants spoiled the unveiling of the new Cowboys Stadium. That's about as sweet as it gets for Giants fans.

New York played extremely well in that game, and if it were not for the usual inefficiency in the red zone and a poor call by the refs, the Giants would have had a 17-point lead at halftime.

In fact, the Giants have played so well that it was easy to overlook their red zone inefficiency. Also, not many people knew that going into the game at Tampa Bay in week three, New York was the only team in the league without a red zone touchdown.

Eli has played very well, including a 104.1 passer rating, he has completed 63.2 percent of his passes, and has thrown eight touchdowns with just two interceptions.

Brandon Jacobs has yet to be as dynamic as he was a year ago, with just 288 yards for 3.6 yards-per-carry and one TD in four games, but that has allowed Ahmad Bradshaw to step up, and step up he has, with roughly just 20 yards fewer than Jacobs on just over half the carries and a 5.6 yards-per-carry.

One of the question marks that surrounded the Giants entering the 2009 campaign was who was going to step up at wide receiver, with Amani Toomer in Kansas City and Plaxico Burress in the New York Penal League.

Enter Steve Smith, who has played primarily on special teams and has been a third-down receiver for Big Blue. Smith is becoming Manning's favorite receiver, recording 34 catches for 411 yards, a 12.1 yards-per-catch average, and four TDs. His 411 yards leads the league, 12 yards more than Indianapolis' Reggie Wayne. His four touchdowns also leads all receivers. So, for the time being, at least, it appears that New York has answered that question.

Yesterday, the Giants blew out the Chiefs, one of the worst teams in the league, in a game that was basically over in the second quarter. The score doesn't reflect how one-sided the game was.

One negative to come out of this game was an injury to Eli. It's being called a bruised foot for now, but apparently it has something to do with a tendon that runs from your heel to the bottom of your foot. He's going for an MRI tomorrow, and we'll see what happens later in the week.

If Eli can't go on Sunday, or if the Giants decide to play it safe and rest him, David Carr should fill in just fine for the G-men because they basically have a bye week with the Raiders coming to town. The attrocious JaMarcus Russell and company should pose no threat to New York on their hoime turf. I would be shocked if the Giants couldn't win this game with all of their second units in.

NHL Season Underway

2009-10-05T21:59:00.000-04:00

The National Hockey League began its 2009-10 campaign this past Friday night and once again, I am filled with hope and at the same time reality (or disappointment) for my lowly New York Islanders.

Goalie Rick DiPietro is coming off of yet another knee injury and surgery and will not be available until late October at the very earliest. This year, however, I give the Islanders much more credit than least year when they were in this predicament because at least this year they are somewhat prepared for such a loss.

Instead of sitting on their hands and leaving the fate of the club in the hands of two goalies who have less than 25 games of NHL experience under their belts, New York went out and signed two former Stanley Cup goalies: Martin Biron and Dwayne Roloson.

In case you're not familiar with them, Biron is formerly of the Buffalo Sabres, and Roloson was part of that terrific goalie tandem of himself and Manny Fernandez in Minnesota before going on to be the number one guy in Edmonton and taking them to the playoffs in recent years.

So, the Islanders should be fairly solid in goal. But, what about the forwards and defensemen?

Still lacking firepower as well as a payroll, New York did not attempt to replace the offensive presence of Bill Guerin, their former captain that they traded late last season.

Instead, the Islanders are resting their hopes on several of their kids, including number-one draft choice John Tavares. New York is putting a lot of pressure on Tavares' shoulders, whether they admit it or not.

They say in the press that it's unfair to have all these expectations of a rookie, but what do you expect people to do when you have the kid on your number one line and no veteran scorers for him to learn from?

I think the Islanders are asking too much of this kid, and if they wanted to properly develop him, they would have gone out and signed some veterans for him to ease the pressure of being the only one who can find the back of the net on this club.

New York has done nothing (outside the drafting of Tavares) to make anyone believe that they are serious about winning and are dedicated to being a contender.

Doug Weight has returned, as has Mark Streit and Brendan Witt. The Islanders will be tough, but will they be able to stop teams from scoring? They couldn't do it last year, and I'm not convinced that they can do it this year, either.

The Islanders may have had a bunch of inexperience between the pipes last season, but when you're being outshot by 15 shots per game, I don't care who's in net, there's going to be problems.

And the Islanders had plenty of them last season. Can they improve on that this year? We'll see.

Yankees Win first Place, All is Right

2009-10-05T21:15:00.000-04:00

On to baseball. I can't believe that I have not made a single post the entire baseball season.

Especially with all that has gone on this year, with Alex Gonzalez starting the season on the disabled list with the hip injury as well as answering more steroids allegations, Derek Jeter breaking Lou Gehrig's all-time Yankee hit record as well as cracking the top-50 all-time Major League hits list, Boston taking the first eight meetings from the Yankees, and the Yankees responding by winning eight of the next nine games with the Sux to erase the memories of those early losses, and plenty of other stories around the league.

But the icing on the cake is that all is said and done for the regular season for the Yankees and the Bronx Bombers finished well ahead of the hated Red Sux to win the American League East. Yes, that is a sign that all is well in the baseball world.

Not to say that it was easy, especially in the end when Boston creeped back into the race with a couple of weeks left, pulling to within five games of New York. But the Yankees fended off that threat and clinched the division with time to spare.

And, in an unbeleivable turn of events, in the A.L. Central, the Minnesota Twins fought back in the final series of the season to tie the Detroit Tigers in a most unlikely situation.

The Tigers, who were leading the division most of the season, were ahead of a red-hot Minnesota club by a mere two games with three to play.

Minnesot was hosting the lowly Royals, while Detroit was hosting the Chicago White Sox.

The Twins needed a sweep of the Royals and needed the Tigers to lose all three games to the Sox in order for the Twins to steal the division. One of the problems that Minnesota had was that Kansas City had their ace, Zack Greinke, scheduled to pitch the middle game of the series. It was certain that the Twins would not sweep. And even if they did, they still needed Tigers to drop two or three at home to Chicago, who have underachieved all season. Not likely.

If the Tigers lost two games and the Twins swept, that would put the two teams in a tie for first place and force a one-game playoff.

So, what happens? Minnesota DOES sweep the Royals, including tagging Grenke for four runs in a 5-4 win in the middle game.

Things looked even better for the Twins on Saturday night because Detroit lost the first two games against Chicago, which meant that if Minnesota won on Sunday that they would own at least a share of first place.

The Tigers ended up taking thre final game of their series against the Chisox, but the Twins won again, forcing Tuesday's playoff game.

This helps the Yankees even more, because now either they get an extra two days' rest before they play the Twins, who they swept in eight games this season, or they get Detroit, who will undoubtedly pitch their ace, Justin Verlander, in this crucial playoff game for the Tigers and he will then not become available until at least game three against the Yanks, should they win. And the Yanks could have a 2-0 series lead over the Tigers by then.

So, the Yankees begin the postseason against either the Tigers or the Twins, and New York will be well rested.

The Yankees' pitching staff has had holes and has been questionable all season, but I think that New York will be just fine with their top three guns of Sabathia, Pettitte, and Burnett.

The rest of the rotation had been, for the most part, atrocious, but I think that the short series' of the post season will make that point moot.

I believe that the World Series will place the Yankees against the Dodgers, and wouldn't it be special to see Joe Torre announced at the World Series in Yankee Stadium. What a response he will undoubtedly receive. Probably the best by any opponent in Yankees history.

It all begins on Wednesday, so buckle up, buttercup, it's going to be a hell of a ride!

Don't Pay the Ransom...I escaped!

2009-10-05T20:28:00.000-04:00

Well hello. That's right, I didn't fall off of the face of the earth, or get that ever-elusive big-time radio or newspaper job. No, instead, I have been held captive on a ship with no internet, but you need not pay that ransome note (which I'm sure that all of you have gotten together and organized a fund-raising drive for my lovely wife), because, using the guile and cunning of a fugitive, I escaped so that I could come back to all of you fine people and get back to the really important things in life....sports!!

In fact, there has been so much that has transpired in the world of sports since my last posting, it's difficult to know where to start.

Let's see...Jeff Gordon has gone on to have a decent season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Again, he's having trouble winning races, even though he has consistenlty finished in the top 10 or top 5. He made the Chase, so, once again, at least he has a chance. But does anyone really have a chance against that monster known as the 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, or more specifically, Jimmy Johnson? Johnson continues to be one of the, if not THE, premier driver in the sport and is sitting pretty in the Chase for the Cup.

Johnson has four wins again so far this season, just one behind current points leader Mark Martin.

And speaking of "the old man," as he's fondly referred to in NASCAR circles, what about the year he's having? Martin, who's gone back to a full-time ride with Hendrick Motor Sports, has started every race this year, won five of them, and is currently leading the Chase by 18 points over three-time defending champion Johnson.

So, the 24 team has their work cut out for themselves. Right now, Gordon is in seventh place in the Chase, 103 points behind Martin.

That covers NASCAR. To avoid having this piece drag on to 10,000 words, I'll do my catching up one piece at a time. Ciao for now.

Stampede heads to State Tournament

2009-07-28T14:56:00.000-04:00

The Saratoga Stampede American Legion baseball team is going back to the New York State Tournament, which begins on Wednesday, for the third time in the past four seasons. Saratoga went to the championship game in 2006 against New Hartford, but has never attained the brass ring.
The Stampede accomplished this feat by defeating their arch rivals, the Anaconda Indians out of Scotia, twice last Saturday to win the District 4 title and earn the right to head to the big tourney that will be taking place in Utica.
And a big tournament it is. Legion baseball is absolutely huge in Oneida County, and the tournament will feature TV and radio coverage, a flyby by the Navy’s Blue Angels, color guards, and more. It is a true stadium event that regularly sees fan attendance in excess of 6,000 spectators.
Although Stampede Head Coach Paul Mound had his sights set on Utica from the start of the season, the team faltered a bit, and about midway through the season, Mound was beginning to have second thoughts.
“Honestly, at the start of the year I thought we were New York State champions, because the Saratoga High School players were performing at a high level in the spring, as evidenced by how far they went in sectional play. Spa Catholic obviously won their Class B title, the Ballston Spa kids, while they underachieved, I thought they were going to be solid players, so on paper I really thought we had a state championship team. We came out, and as you saw yourself, we were Jeckyl and Hyde. When we were bad, we were real bad, and when we were good, we were good. Suddenly, from the beginning to the end of June, I started questioning if we could even physically get out of the district.”
The Stampede did make it out of the tournament, however, with back-to-back, one-run wins over Anaconda in the semifinal and championship games. Saratoga won the tournament in Scotia via the loser’s bracket, as the Stampede lost its first two games before coming to life.
“We lost to Smith Post, who’s going to be out here in Utica, 3-0, and we were as flat as a pancake. We popped up I think 14 times in that Smith game, out of 21 outs, lost to them 3-0, and 20 minutes later came back and absolutely pulverized Anaconda, and beat them 10-4. So I thought, OK, we got momentum. So then we played the Montreal Titans the very next day, we came out, we started out smoking, we played horrible defense, and we handed the game away. They scored nine runs on seven errors, we allowed seven unearned runs and we lost the ball game 9-7. And then we turned around 20 minutes later, and we mercied Colchester, Vermont. So, like I said, we’re Jeckyl and Hyde.”
The Stampede also fought off injuries while winning the district tournament. Catcher Tyler Prehoda suffered a fractured jaw in the Cooper’s Cave Tournament earlier this month, and Mound’s other catcher, Scott Hladik, has been suffering from a stiff back as well as not being available due to emersion classes at the College of Saint Rose. With nowhere else to turn, Mound used the advice of Skidmore College coach Ron Plourde and put his best overall athlete, Ben Cook, behind the dish. Cook had never caught and had not played anywhere but the outfield in the last four years, but he shined for the Stampede in the tournament.
“Think about this. It was hot, ok, and Ben Cook caught 18 innings (the last day of the tournament), and do you know what he said to me at the end of the game? ‘That was the most fun I ever had playing baseball.’ Not one ounce of tiredness out of that kid.”
Playing in the infield for the first time in four years, Cook enjoyed his stint behind the plate so much that he asked Mound if he could do it again. The coach told him that he single-handedly showed him (Mound) the greatest individual day of any player that he’s ever coached. That’s a pretty strong statement coming from a man who has been coaching for 17 years.
Mound is also fairly familiar with the competition that he will be facing this week. It won’t be an easy road for Saratoga, since the eight teams that make the state tourney come from a field that starts out with 278 teams. To make it to the final eight may also take a little luck, but the one thing that’s guaranteed is that none of the district winners will be pushovers, and Mound is well aware of that.
“I don’t like opening against the host (Utica) because they have a rabid fan base (an estimated 7,000 fans will be in attendance), and that’s going to be challenging for us, but I don’t think that they’re the most talented team overall. I’m not saying that they’re not good. Let’s face it, in the New York State Tournament, when 270 out of 278 are gone, the last eight teams are pretty doggone good. I’m not looking past them, but I’d rather draw them, then say, Melvin Roads or the OTB Pirates out of Rockland County. We saw them (Melvin Roads) once this year in early June at Geyser (Park), we beat them 3-2, but I fear that team. I think they’re an immensely talented ball club. And additionally, the other team that scares the daylights out of me is the OTB Pirates, who beat (Cooper’s Cave Champion) Shrub Oak to win their district…Smith Post, out of Rome, very competitive team, by no means a pushover, but I’d probably rather see Smith than I would OTB or Melvin Roads.”
However tough the competition might be, Mound feels that his club is peaking at the right time, and he likes his chances for his quest for his first state championship.
“We’re winning now, we are exactly where we want to be, I think our focus is greater than probably any focus of any team I’ve taken to the states.”
Fans can also follow the tournament via the internet at www.nystourney.com. The Web Site will feature detailed statistics and box scores, and all of the games can be heard through their web cast. Just go to the site and check for the web stream link.
The tournament begins on Wednesday, and Saratoga’s first game will be on Wednesday night against the host Utica Post. The Stampede have their work cut out for them, but perhaps the third time will be a charm for Coach Mound and his ball club.

Curry a Big Mistake

2009-01-23T20:24:00.000-05:00

New York Knicks center Eddy Curry continues to show that it was a mistake for the Knicks to bring him to New York.
First, he shows up with a heart condition and the Knicks didn’t even know if he was going to be able to play or not.
Then, he underachieves, hurts his knee, gets fat, shows up to training camp out of shape, hurts the OTHER knee, and NOW he seems that he has gotten himself into a legal dispute.
It appears that his personal driver is suing him, first, for about $90,000 in unpaid wages (c’mon, Eddy), and to add insult to injury, it seems that Curry is a homosexual - not that there’s anything wrong with that.
But the embarrassing part is that he sexually harrassed his driver, and allegedly exposed himself to him.
This type of conduct is totally unacceptable. Curry, not the first person in the Knicks’ organization in recent years to be slapped with a sexual harrassment suit (see Isiah Thomas), continues to add to New York’s problems.
This player has been a complete bust since he first arrived at the Garden. Not only has his playing not met expectations, but his lackadaisical attitude is not endearing himself to head coach Mike D’Antoni, either. To show up to training camp fat and out of shape simply shows that Curry doesn’t care.
He doesn’t care about his career, his teammates, his coaches, or perhaps worse, the people who pay his salary, the fans.
Knicks fans have had enough heartache since Willis Reed and Clyde Frazier raised the roof of Madison Square Garden with their second championship back in 1973.
First, there was Jordan, Jordan, and more Jordan, who consistently crushed New Yorker’s dreams of a title in the 80’s.
Then, there was the missed finger roll as well as the missed free throw (see Patrick Ewing)- both times costing New York a banner.
Now, since Ewing left, the Knicks have been in worse shape then ever. They don’t ever make the playoffs, Isiah put his dismal signature on the organization by running them even further into the ground, his scandal which finally got him out of the front office, a trade that cost the Knicks their top two scorers, bad draft picks, and now the Knicks expect their fans to put the next two seasons on hold in hopes of LeBron James gracing the Garden’s floor after the 2010 season.
Other than David Lee, this organization has very little to smile about. D’Antoni, once he makes this team his own with the roster that he will build, will bring New York back to respectability.
It is even obvious that he has earned the respect of his current team. This team will not make the playoffs, but they are not going down without a fight. Game after game, the Knicks may not be winning, but they are not giving up. And that is because of D’Antoni. After a trade like they made, if D’Antoni can still sell his system to the remaining roster, it is clear that they have bought into his philosophy, and they are fighting each and every night.
So, now this. Bringing Curry to New York was a bad move, and it appears that Curry is solidifying that belief with his latest shenanigans.
Curry needs to be unloaded by this club. It won’t be easy, because he makes a lot of money and nobody wants damaged goods, but the Knicks have got to do something about it.
This is a situation that was ugly from the start, and it’s only getting uglier.
Come on, Eddy, pay your driver and keep it in your pants. These are not the types of headlines that the Knicks expected to see about you when they acquired you. Grow up, show some respect for ALL of the people around you, and pay your bills.

Lee Most Underrated PLayer In NBA

2009-01-23T19:48:00.000-05:00

New York Knicks power forward David Lee is beginning to take the NBA by storm, so you may want to keep your eye on him.
Lee, who came on last year off of the bench for the Knicks, has proven himself worthy of a starting position on the club.
On a team that shows little fire or intensity most of the time, Lee is the furnace that’s burning in Madison Square Garden’s cellar.
With the trades that the Knicks made earlier in the year, it may have been an easier decision for New York head coack Mike D’Antoni to play Lee more, or maybe it was just the enthusiasm and intensity that Lee plays with that earned him a starting position, but whatever the reason, you can’t deny that Lee belongs there.
With all of the fancy playmakers that this league has to offer, all of the high-flying dunks, alley-oops and amazing three-point jump shots, Lee simply goes out there night after night and fights for every loose ball, will take a two-handed slam if the defense is passive, and continues to throw up double-doubles night in and night out.
Lee’s numbers over the last six games are more than impressive. In his last six, Lee is averaging over 18 points per game and 12 rebounds.
Over the course of the season, his average is 15.2 ppg and 11.3 boards.
It would be easy for Lee to mail it in like management did on hopes that King James is coming to New York to save the franchise. But he hasn’t. Instead, Lee is playing as if two years away is two years away, and he’s not willing to sacrifice those two years by just going through the motions until (and if) LeBron comes to town.
His game is an example that several of his teammates can learn from. When you watch David Lee play, you tend to forget that you’re watching a team that has sacrificed the now for the future, a team that on paper has no business even thinking about such a thing as the playoffs. By watching Lee, you would think that he was defending a league championship.
You simply see a player that wants to grab every rebound and wants desperately to win every game that he plays, no matter who the comptetition is.
Lee could be a huge teammate for Lebron James, if he arrives in two years as projected. The two of them together could be quite a tandem to watch.
Knicks fans just better pray that management doesn’t decide to trade him, as well.

Islanders Establish Themselves

2009-01-09T21:06:00.000-05:00

The New York Islanders have established themselves. Not in a positive way, mind you, but they are perhaps in the worst position as they ever have been as a National Hockey League team - the league's worst.

Before you try to say that I'm wrong - I know that the Islanders have 12 wins and that the Tampa Bay Lightning have just 11 - but look a little further in the stats and you will see why I am correct.

New York has 26 losses in regulation, which is the most in the NHL. Tampa has just 19 because they have lost 10 games in overtime.

Also, New York has only 28 points. It is the only team in the league that has not topped to 30 mark for points.

If you look at goals scored, the Islanders have 109 to their credit. Six teams have less goals than the Islanders, but the difference is that the Islanders have allowed 154 goals, compared to those other six clubs where just one of them, the Lightning, has allowed more than 120 goals - 124 to be exact.

Next, let's take a look at the flaming-hot hockey that New York has played over its last 21 games.

The Islanders have lost four straight games, six of their last seven, 16 of 18, and 18 of 21. That's miserable hockey, no matter who is on the injured list.

I know that preseason is preseason, but it's amazing how a team can win four of seven games in training camp, but can then go on to the regular season and win four of TWENTY-TWO! - including a 10-game losing streak.

A couple of years ago, it seemed as though perhaps the Islanders were on a road to being a contending team once again, but the last two seasons have been a joke.

They changed coaches again before this season, but it certainly hasn't seemed to help at all.

I don't know what GM Garth Snow is doing, and personally I don't think that he has a clue, either.

It sure doesn't appear that New York is in a winning direction, and this ship is sinking fast.

Something needs to be done, and quickly.

D'Antoni Making Things Happen

2008-11-16T17:39:00.000-05:00

When the New York Knicks announced this past summer that they were signing former Phoenix Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni, many speculated that although D'Antoni was a very good coach, the contention was that his running style of play would not work with the current Knickerbockers' personnel.

Although it is certainly too soon to be making room for any banners in the Madison Square Garden rafters, the Knicks have made a statement by getting off to a 6-3 record, their finest start in a decade.

The Knicks are actually still in the playoff hunt, which sadly enough hasn't been much of an option nine games into the season in recent seasons, as New York typically has proven itself to be a roster of overpaid underachievers by the end of the first month of play.

Instead, the Knicks find themselves in second place in the Atlantic Division, just two games behind the World Champion Celtics, who are off to a hot start of their own at 9-2.

They are 4-1 at the Garden and 2-2 on the road. That is generally what you ask of your team, to win at home and to play .500 on the road. That normally qualifies as a recipe for success, especially in the NBA, where half of the league makes it to the post season. And anything can happen once the playoffs begin.

13.3 million-dollar-man Zach Randolph has begun to earn his paycheck, as he is both scoring and averaging 12.3 rebounds per game, third in the NBA.

Nate Robinson continues to electrify the crowd, sitting at fifth in the league with 2.4 steals per game.

The Knicks also have balanced scoring. You won't find a Knickerbocker in the top 10, or even the top 15 of the league in points per game, but both Jamal Crawford and Randolph are averaging more than 20 points per contest, with Crawford leading the team at 21.9 and Randolph at 20.1, and the Knicks have three other players averaging double digits.

And don't forget Chris Duhon, who has done a fine job of running D'Antoni's offense and dishing out nearly seven assists per game.

And all of this is being done without perhaps the most selfish, unhappy, overpaid player in the league: Stephon Marbury.

The Knicks have begun talks with Starbury about a buyout, because they are in such a tough situation due to the astronomical salary that Marbury brings to the table, and his being somewhat of a distraction, or better said, a cancer, in the locker room. It's a lot of baggage, and with every team in the league knowing that, a trade is nearly impossible. So, the Knicks are left with the option of buying him out, since he has not played a minute yet this season, and is making a quarter of a million dollars per game to be a spectator.

Although Duhon has served the Knicks well thus far, D'Antoni is still shopping for a point guard, so who knows what the future will bring.

They may not win 50 games this year, but the 2008-09 Knicks are making things interesting, and after several years they are finally giving the Madison Square Garden crowd something to cheer for, and some hope for the future of the organization.

Giants Still the Team to Beat in NFC

2008-11-04T20:56:00.000-05:00

At 7-1 after eight games this season, the World Champion New York Giants have picked up where they left off this past February...winning games.
There was a bit of controversy in Giants' camp coming into this season, such as the loss of Michael Strahan, and how New York was planning on filling that void.
Was the end of last year just a fluke for Eli Manning, or had he finally come into his own?
Manning has thrown for more than 3,000 yards in each of the past three seasons, including over 3,700 in '05, and this year is no different. Through eight games played, Manning has thrown for 1,735 yards, which projects to nearly 3,500 for the season.
He is also enjoying his most accurate season, completing over 61 percent of his passes. Manning has never completed 60 percent in a season.
Manning has also thrown 24, 24, and 23 touchdowns over the past three seasons. This year he has 12, which is right on pace for 24.
And, finally, Manning is throwing less interceptions than ever. Again, since 2005, he threw 17, 18, and 20 picks, respectively. This year Manning has thrown just five, which would put him on a pace for 10 on the season. Quite a step up from the previous three seasons.
The loss of Strahan was bad enough, but when New York's other defensive end, Osi Umenyiora, went down in week 1, the doubters were out again.
Hence, the arrival of Justin Tuck. Although Tuck had a fine season last year as the G-Men's third DE, there were questions as to how he would play as a starter.
As he has shown , Tuck has had no problem settling in as a regular, posting 8.5 sacks, 36 tackles, an interception, and a TD, and the Giants' defense has been outstanding this season, even without Strahan and Umenyiora.
The Giants are at 7-1 on the 2008 campaign, and it seems as if they are making it look easy (tossing out the Cleveland game) by routing teams, as they did to the Dallas Cowboys this past Sunday.
New York may not have the best record in the NFL (see Tennessee's undefeated 8-0 mark), but they do seem to be the best in the NFC, and ready to not just defend their crown, but to annihilate anyone that stands in their way.

Islanders Continue to Take Steps Back

2008-11-04T20:33:00.000-05:00

Watching the changes that the New York Islanders make to their personnel each year is reminiscent of the old song: "take one step forward and two steps back."
Each year, New York adds interesting pieces to their puzzle (and believe me, this team is puzzling), but also loses key elements. If you take a look at the roster of players that the Islanders have let go over this past decade, you find the makings of what would be a pretty good hockey team.
This year, the Isles do not have Miro Satan. Although Satan's numbers declined over his three seasons in New York (66 in his first year, 2005-06, 59 in '06-'07, and 41 in '07-'08), he still finished last year as a 40-point player, which is more than many others on this roster can claim.
After the '07 campaign, Jason Blake departed. Blake was a fan favorite, a shorthanded specialist, and a huge spark plug for the team. They lost a lot of intensity and fire when he left.
The year before, Mark Parrish was wished farewell. Parrish was perhaps the best and most consistent scorer that the Islanders have had in the past decade. He was terrific in front of the net and on the power play, and New York lost a lot of goals when they lost Parrish.
Other players that were sent packing since the turn of the century include team captain, fan favorite, and All-Star Michael Peca. Peca is perhaps the best two-way player in the NHL, and is fantastic on the penalty kill. Enough said.
In addition, Alexei Zhitnik, Roman Hamrlik, Adrian Aucoin, Chris Osgood, Tim Connolly, and Zdeno Chara were all bid adieu.
If you take all of these players, and if the Islanders would have kept them, this is quite a formidable roster. But as they did with Zigmund Palffy, Todd Bertuzzi, and a host of other young talent, the Islanders let them go, mostly to save money.
In this day of free-agency and high-priced contracts, it has been proven (mostly by the Detroit Red Wings) that you need to spend money to put a decent product on the ice.
The Islanders, apparently, do not see it that way. Each year they add some exciting players, like a Doug Weight, but they offset that acquisition by letting other integral parts of the team go.
How good would New York be this season if they boasted a lineup of Weight, Peca, Parrish, and Blake at the forwards, to go with a defense corps of Hamrlik, Aucoin, Connolly, and Chara? Not to mention a goaltending tandem of Osgood and Rick DiPietro?
I know that you can't pay all of the players all of the time, and sometimes you have to give up some quality to get quality back in return, but if most of these players would have been kept on the Island, this team would be winning right now, and they would have been winning for the past several seasons.
It wouldn't be the same old one step forward and two steps back.

Stampede Nips Trumbull in Final At-Bat

2008-07-15T22:54:00.000-04:00

Trumbull Post 141 decided to intentionally walk Erich Lange to load the bases in the bottom of the seventh, but it came back to bite them as pitcher Brett Blueweiss hit Ben Cook on the first pitch to force home Tyler Prehoda and give the Saratoga Stampede a 6-5 win on Friday night at Saratoga’s East Side Rec.
Trumbull showed off their offensive prowess right from the start, as shortstop Daren Micalizzi belted a line drive to the left-center field gap for a leadoff triple. Tim Zubrinsky then got his job done, hitting a ground ball to the right side of the infield to knock in Micalizzi for a 1-0 Trumbull lead.
Saratoga starting pitcher Levi Washburn settled down after that, and yielded just a harmless single before retiring the side.
The Stampede tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Lee Jay Pollachi singled and stole second base. Justin Wilock flied out to right field, and Pollachi alertly tagged up and went to third. Mike Allen followed with a fly ball to medium depth left field, and Pollachi came home to tie the game at one.
Neil Callahan and Scott Hladik then smacked base hits, but Kyle Baldani struck out to end the inning.
Trumbull would jump back out ahead in the top of the second. With one out, Washburn walked Anthony Vinci, and then Kurt Sieier doubled, putting runners on second and third. Colin Moore grounded out to Wilock at second, scoring Vinci to make it a 2-1 game. Sieier, now at third, then tried to steal home, but Baldani was waiting for him to apply the tag.
Saratoga was sent down in order by Trumbull starting pitcher Brett Blueweiss in order in the bottom of the inning, but Trumbull continued to build their picket fence with another run in the third.
Zubrinsky drew a walk to start the inning, and then stole second. Lou Tarantino then doubled to make it 3-1. Washburn then received a little luck, and Ben Benigno cracked a line drive right to Allen at short, and with Tarantino leaning off the base, Allen flipped to Wilock to complete the 6-6-4 double play. Washburn then got Ben Walkley to fly out to left field to end the inning.
The Stampede again were sent down in order in the third, but then mounted a serious threat in the bottom of the fourth. Three straight two-out walks would load the bases, but Blueweiss got Chris Curcio to ground out to second to end the threat.
Both teams would find some offense in the fifth. Micalizzi struck out to begin the inning for Trumbull, and a walk and an infield single put two base runners on. After Washburn struck out Benigno for the second out, Walkley ripped a double to drive in a pair of runs to give Trumbull a 5-1 lead. An error on Pollachi in center field allowed Walkley to advance to third, but Washburn stranded him there when he got Chris Bove to pop out to Allen at short.
Saratoga began their rally with two outs and Allen on first. Callahan doubled, driving in Allen and cutting the deficit to 5-2. Hladik singled to left field, holding Callahan at third, but then a wild pitch scored Callahan to make it 5-3, and sent Hladik to third. Baldani then grounded to short to retire the side.
Washburn was very sharp in the sixth, sandwiching two strikeouts around a ground ball to short.
In the bottom of the frame, the Stampede would tie the game. Lange opened the inning with a base hit to left, and then Cook followed with a double. An error on the play on shortstop Micalizzi allowed Lange to score and sent Cook to third. After Curcio popped out to shallow right, Pollachi laid down a beautiful bunt just as Cook was racing towards home for a perfect suicide squeeze to tie the game at 5-5. Blueweiss settled down after that and he got both Wilock and Allen to foul out to Walkley, the catcher, for the final two outs.
Things got very interesting in the top of the seventh. With one out, Washburn walked Zubrinsky before getting Tarantino to ground out to Lange at third. With two outs and first base open, the Stampede decided to intentionally walk Benigno to set up the force out. But instead, Washburn walked Walkley, and the bases were loaded.
The tension mounted as Washburn went to a full count on Bove, but then Bove fouled out to Baldani behind the plate to end the inning.
The base-on-balls would play a major part in the bottom of the inning as well. Callahan drew a free pass to start the inning, and then he moved to second when Hladik grounded out to first baseman Bove. A base hit by Baldani sent Callahan to third, and then Prehoda was sent in to replace him as a pinch runner.
With runners on the corners and one out, the Trumbull coaching staff then decided to intentionally walk Lange to set up a force at any base. That strategy would backfire, however, as Cook was then hit by the first pitch, forcing home Prehoda and giving the Stampede a 6-5 win.
Trumbull, the defending Connecticut State Champions, had come into the game with a 26-2 overall record, which is very impressive. With a veteran roster like they have, it made it all the more impressive that this young Stampede club came away with the win for their fifth straight in the tournament.
The Stampede will face Saugerties on Saturday afternoon, and if they win, they will go to the semi final game on Saturday night, which will determine who will play in the championship game on Sunday at East Field in Glens Falls.

Saratoga Tops Rondout in Extras

2008-07-14T12:11:00.000-04:00

It took eight innings, but the Saratoga Stampede pulled out a win against the Rondout Royals on Thursday night for their fourth straight win in the 13th Annual Cooper’s Cave Tournament at Saratoga’s East Side Rec.
During the tournament, there is a coin flip to determine the home team. Saratoga lost the flip and was playing as the visiting team on its home field.
Both starting pitchers put on terrific displays of working into, and mostly out of, trouble over the first five innings, as just one run was scored during that time frame.
After a scoreless first inning, the Stampede would pick up the game’s first run in the top of the second.
Scott Hladik drew a walk to lead off the inning, but then Rondout starting pitcher Jackson Quinn got Erich Lange to foul out to catcher Nick Mason, and then he struck out Steve Brennan for the second out.
Ben Cook came up next, and he lined a double to left field, scoring Hladik and giving Saratoga starter Matt Coleman a 1-0 lead.
The Stampede continued to get runners on base over the next few innings, but could not get the clutch hit to bring runners home.
Meanwhile, Coleman breezed through the second inning, walked a pair of batters after striking out the first two in the third, and then got the final out without any damage done.
In the bottom of the fourth, he again got the first two batters out, and then gave up a single to Craig Gilliland. Gilliland went to second on a wild pitch, but then Ryan Layton popped out to Tyler Shattuck at second for the final out.
Saratoga made it a 3-0 ball game in the top of the sixth when Cook drove his second and third runs of the game when he knocked in Justin Wilock on a two-run blast over the left field wall.
The Royals would respond in a big way in the bottom of the inning. Nick Mason led off with a base hit to left field, and then Coleman went to 2-0 on Joe Dennin before he was relieved by Ryan White.
White went on to walk Dennin, and then gave up a three-run shot to left field off of the bat of Freddie Moore, and the game was tied at three. That apparently sparked a competitive fire inside of White, because he went to strike out the next three batters, and then struck out the side in order in the seventh.
The Stampede had been sent down quietly in the top half of the frame, so the game went into the eighth.
Leading off for Saratoga in the top of the eighth inning was Neil Callahan, who was 0-for-1 on the night with a pair of walks. Rondout starter Jackson Quinn had been very careful with Callahan all night, and he hadn’t let Callahan beat him to this point.
But Jackson got cute on the first pitch, trying to sneak the first strike in, and Callahan made him pay, crushing it over the left field wall for a 4-3 lead. Cook singled two batters later for his third hit of the night, but was stranded at first.
White came out to close the game, and if he felt any pressure, it would soon be relieved as Mason led off the inning by grounding out to Wilock at second. Dennin followed with a base hit to right field, and then once again White settled down. He was facing Moore, who had taken him deep just two innings before, but this time White struck him out on four pitches. He then fanned Joe Viviani on three pitches to end the ball game and lift Saratoga’s record to 4-0 in pool play.
Their next game will be on Friday night against Trumbull, Connecticut. Trumbull has looked very impressive so far in the tournament, and most of the team is comprised of scholarship ball players. It shows, because that team can hit from top to bottom in the batting order, and it’s going to take some very good pitching to keep them off of the scoreboard.

Stampede Holds off Saugerties for Third Tourney Win

2008-07-13T20:48:00.000-04:00

The Saratoga Stampede took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the second inning, and then spent the rest of the night fending off a solid Saugerties Post 72 club for a 10-6 win, their third in the 13th Annual Cooper’s Cave Tournament, on Thursday afternoon at Saratoga’s East Side Rec.
There was plenty of offense early on, and Saugerties wasted no time against Stampede starting pitcher Travis Wilson. Jon Perrin led off the game with a base hit to left field, and then Joe Riccio moved him to second on a sacrifice bunt. Riccio’s twin brother Nick followed with a double, and Saugerties took a 1-0 lead. Wilson came back to strike out Kevin Casey, but then walked Mike Gunn. Sean Wachtel then smacked a swinging bunt that was near the mound, but Wilson fumbled the ball for the error and the bases were loaded.
Wilson then made up for his error, as he buckled down to go ahead on B.J. Doyle 0-2 before inducing Doyle to smack a grounder to Allen at short, and he flipped to Wilock at second to escape any further damage.
Saratoga would take advantage of several mistakes by Saugerties in the bottom of the inning to take a 2-1 lead.
LeeJay Pollachi tried to start the game off with a bunt base hit, but Saugerties starter Will Weissburg fielded it and fired to first for the first out. Levi Washburn followed with a double, and when Mike Allen reached on an error on Casey at first, the Stampede had runners on first and third with just one out. Walks to Neil Callahan and Scott Hladik and a pair of wild pitches plated two runs, and Saratoga had a 2-1 edge.
With runners on first and second with just one out, the Stampede could not take advantage of the situation, as Kyle Baldani struck out and Steve Brennan flied out to right field to end the inning.
In the second, a walk and back-to-back singles scored a run for Saugerties, and the game was tied at two.
In the bottom of the frame, Saratoga had some luck and did some damage to take the lead with two away. Wilock and Phil Dilorenzo struck out to start the inning, but then Pollachi reached on an error and stole second. Washburn’s base hit scored Pollachi to make it a 3-2 game, but he was thrown out trying to advance to second on the throw home to end the inning.
Saratoga extended its lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the third, when Allen was safe for an infield single, Callahan reached on an error, and after Hladik grounded into a double play, Baldani drove in Allen on a base hit.
Saugerties, however, would get the run back in the top of the fourth. After Ryan Hastie led off with a single to right-center field, Gabe Depoalla tapped one back to the box, and Wilson threw to first for the out. Depoalla, who advanced to second, took a shot at third, and Callahan gunned him down to complete the unconventional 1-3-5 double play.
The inning wasn’t over, however, and Perrin re-started the rally with a single to left. After Joe Riccio drew a walk, Nick Riccio drilled a base hit up the middle to knock in Perrin and pull Saugerties to within 4-3.
Wilock led off the fourth with a base hit to left field, and he was sent to second on Dilorenzo’s sacrifice bunt. But he would be stranded there as Pollachi and Washburn both struck out to end the inning.
Saugerties was sent down quietly by Wilson in the top of the fifth, but Saratoga would pad its lead in the bottom half.
With one out, the Stampede then received four consecutive singles by Callahan, Hladik, Baldani, and Dan Brennan. Baldani’s shot drove in Callahan, and Brennan’s plated Hladik and Baldani to raise Saratoga’s lead to 7-3.
Trailing by five runs, Post 72 would show its resiliency in the final two at-bats. With one out in the sixth, Depoalla singled to left, but Wilson picked him off for the second out. Then Wilson surrendered back-to-back walks to Perrin and Joe Riccio. Nick Riccio reached safely on an infield single, and Perrin came around to score from second to make it a 7-4 game. A stolen base, an error, and a wild pitch brought home Joe Riccio and made the score 7-5.
Wilson was then pulled in favor of southpaw Ryan White, and he got Casey to ground out to Allen at short for the final out.
The Stampede would put the game out of reach in the bottom of the inning. Pollachi led off by using his lightning-fast speed to leg out an infield single, and then he promptly stole second. Pollachi is so quick that just about any time he lands safely on first base, you might as well pencil him in at second, because he’s usually there before too long.
Washburn then slapped a 3-0 pitch to third base, and Nick Riccio threw to first for the out. Pollachi was then caught straying off of second, and Casey threw over to Gunn for the unlikely 5-3-6 double play.
Allen then drew a walk, and back-to-back singles by Callahan and Hladik made it an 8-5 affair. Baldani then crushed a double, driving in both Callahan and Hladik to give Saratoga a 10-5 lead.
The trio of Callahan, Hladik, and Baldani had a tremendous day at the plate, as they combined to go 7-for-10, with five runs scored and five runs batted in, four of them by Baldani. Out of 12 total plate appearances, the three amigos reached base safely 10 times.
Saugerties was obviously disappointed to fall further behind, but they would not give up. With one out and Wachtel at the plate, Callahan dropped a pop up in foul territory that gave Wachtel new life. He ended up walking, and then a passed ball moved him over to second. White came back and struck out Doyle, but then Hastie drilled a double to score Wachtel and pull Saugerties to within 10-6.
But White again showed his mental toughness, and he struck out Depoalla to end the game.
The Stampede improves to 3-0 in pool play in the tournament, and it looks good for them to make the playoff round this weekend.

Callahan Drives in Two in Seventh for Dramatic Win

2008-07-13T20:43:00.000-04:00

Neil Callahan drove in two runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Saratoga Stampede a come-from-behind, 5-4 win over South Kingston, Rhode Island Post 39 in their second game of the 13th Annual Cooper’s Cave Tournament at East Side Rec on Wednesday night.
After a scoreless first inning, Post 39 opened the scoring in the second.
With one out, designated hitter Anthony Tortalano took Saratoga starting pitcher Tyler Prehoda’s 1-1 pitch and drilled it into center field for a base hit. A wild pitch moved Tortalano to second base, and then he went to third on Ryan Stone’s ground out. Will Frost then smacked a single to drive in Tortalano, and South Kingston held a 1-0 lead.
Meanwhile, South Kingston starter Brian Lessard had faced the minimum amount of batters through the first three innings, erasing a leadoff single by Lee Jay Pollachi in the first by getting Justin Wilock to ground into a double play.
That would change in the bottom of the fourth, as Saratoga sent six batters to the plate. With one away, Wilock drew a walk. After Mike Allen struck out for the second out, back-to-back hits by Callahan and Scott Hladik scored Wilock to tie the game at one apiece.
South Kingston, however, would answer back in the fifth with a pair of runs. Ryan Stone led off with a base hit to right field and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Frost. Jay Romano was then sent in to pinch run for Stone, and he stole third. Kevin Carey then smacked a sacrifice fly to score Romano to give Post 39 the lead back at 2-1.
Chris Cocci came up next and he lined a base hit to right, and then stole second. The inning turned ugly after that for Saratoga, as a single, a walk, and another wild pitch ended Prehoda’s night and he was replaced by Chris Curcio.
Curcio’s night started out rough, as he issued a free pass to J.P. Stone. Tyler Shattuck then misplayed a ball hit to short, and by the time Curcio got Graham Manning to look at a third strike, it was a 3-1 ball game.
The Stampede offense would bail out the defense in the bottom of the fifth, and they did it with two outs. Erich Lange began the inning by reaching on an error. Ben Cook then grounded to Cocci, and he threw over to second base for the force. After Levi Washburn, pinch hitting for Tyler Shattuck, struck out, Pollachi came up with a clutch hit, a double to left-center field that would plate Cook to pull the Stampede to within 3-2. Wilock was then hit by a pitch, and then a throwing error by Frost scored Pollachi all the way from second to tie the game at 3-3. Saratoga had a chance to take the lead with runners on first and second, but Callahan popped out to second to retire the side.
Callahan would replace Curcio to start the sixth, and he had major control issues. After hitting Tortalano on the first pitch, he walked Romano on four pitches. He then threw two hard fastballs to Frost to go ahead in the count 0-2. Frost desperately wanted to bunt the runners over with no outs, but when he still attempted to lay one down with two strikes, his bunt went foul and he was called out. Callahan then walked Carey and Cocci, plating Tortalano to put Post 39 up by a 4-3 margin.
With the bases still loaded, Callahan was relieved by Levi Washburn, who would stop the bleeding. Washburn would first get James McKinney to hit a ground ball to second, and Wilock fired home to Baldani for out number two. After that, he went to a 2-2 count before getting J.P. Stone to hit a dribbler towards first. Callahan fielded the ball and flipped to Washburn, who was covering first, and the inning was over.
In the bottom of the inning, Saratoga again had an opportunity to tie the game but could not. Hladik led off with a double, and the inning looked promising. But then Baldani struck out, and Lange bounced a ball that was fielded by pitcher Brian Lessard, and Hladik took off for third. Lessard’s only play was to first base for the second out. Ben Cook then pushed the count to 3-1, but he just got under the next pitch and fouled out to Lessard, stranding Hladik at third and wasting a leadoff double. But that would only add to the drama that was to come.
South Kingston led off the seventh with a single and a stolen base by Forest Dwyer. After Manning looked at a curve ball with two strikes for the third time in the ball game, there was one out. Tortalano grounded out to second, and that moved Dwyer to third.
Not wanting to fall behind any further, Washburn did a terrific job of striking out Romano on three pitches to retire the side.
Washburn led off the Stampede’s final at-bat, and he worked the count full before finally drawing the walk to get the leadoff batter aboard. Pollachi then legged out an infield single, and Saratoga had the tying run in scoring position, the winning run on first, and still nobody out.
Wilock then laid down a sacrifice bunt, and the runners advanced to second and third.
That’s when the tension began to mount. Mike Allen went to a 3-2 count before looking at a called third strike, and Saratoga was down to its last out of the game with Callahan coming up.
Callahan’s at-bat was equally dramatic, as he also worked a full count. Down to his final strike, the ball park was electric with anticipation and cheering for both sides, with the Rhode Island crew rooting for the final out, and the Saratoga faithful looking for a big hit out of their biggest bat.
Callahan would not let the home crowd down, and with the runners taking off on contact, he lined a bullet to left field, scoring both runners for the walk-off base hit and a Stampede victory.
It was a hard-earned win for the Stampede, and they are now 2-0 in pool play of the tournament. Their next game is tomorrow against Saugerties.

Stampede Opens Tourney With Win

2008-07-10T13:28:00.000-04:00

Mike Allen, Scott Hladik, and Justin Wilock all doubled and scored, and starting pitcher Kyle Baldani gave up just two runs and worked into the sixth inning as the Saratoga Stampede defeated Helmuth-Ingalls Post 232 in their opening game of the 13th Annual Cooper’s Cave Tournament at East Side Rec on Tuesday night.
After a scoreless first inning, Helmuth posed the first scoring threat in the bottom of the second.
Baldani walked Justin Corney to start the inning, but then Cory Gogola bounced a 0-1 pitch to Allen at short, and he flipped to Matt Coleman for the force. Tyler White drew a walk, and Helmuth had runners on first and second.
But Baldani fought back and worked out of the inning by striking out Jeff Ostrander and Wes Roberts.
Saratoga took the lead in the top of the third. After a walk to Erich Lange, Wilock doubled, and when the return throw from the outfield went wild, Lange scored on the error for a 1-0 lead. Coleman then laid down a sacrifice bunt, moving Wilock to third. Lee Jay Pollachi followed with a ground ball to short, but Helmuth shortstop Matt Martin threw the ball away, and Wilock scored to put Saratoga on top by a 2-0 margin.
The Stampede doubled their lead in the fourth. Allen opened the inning with a double, but then Neil Callahan popped out to Martin for the first out. Hladik then doubled, plating Allen to make it a 3-0 game. After Baldani reached on an infield single, putting runners on the corners, Lange popped out to Corney at first for the second out. Wilock then came up with the big hit, a two-out single to right-center field to score Hladik and give Saratoga a 4-0 advantage.
Helmuth put together its second serious threat in the bottom of the frame, but again Baldani worked out of it. Martin led off by reaching on an infield single, and was advanced to second and then third on a pair of ground outs. But Baldani enticed White to swing at a 1-2 pitch, and it was grounded to Coleman for the final out.
Saratoga went quietly in the top of the fifth, but Helmuth finally broke through in the bottom of the inning. Ostrander led off by smacking a single to right, but Baldani struck out Wes Roberts on four pitches, his fifth K of the game. Tyler Heck drew a walk, and then Chris Hughes moved the runners up when he grounded out to third baseman Levi Washburn. A passed ball brought Ostrander home to cut the deficit to 4-1, and then a wild pitch plated Heck to reduce Saratoga’s lead to 4-2. Baldani walked Lee Foxton next, but Foxton was gunned down by Hladik trying to steal second to end the inning.
In the sixth, the Stampede threatened, but couldn’t extend their lead. Callahan drew a walk to start the inning, and then after Hladik flied out and Baldani struck out, Lange doubled to put two runners in scoring position. But Wilock struck out on a 2-2 pitch, and Helmuth was out of the jam.
The bottom of the inning would be Baldani’s last. Martin led off with a scorching line drive to right field, but Wilock chased it down before hauling it in on a full-extension dive while running backwards for the first out. Baldani was showing signs of wear, and when he walked Corney, he was pulled in favor of Callahan.
Callahan got Gogola to chop a 1-0 pitch in front of home plate, and Callahan threw to first for the out, advancing Corney to second. A wild pitch moved Corney up to third, but then Callahan got Jordan Doroshenko to look at a called third strike on a 2-2 pitch to retire the side.
In the top of the seventh, Saratoga tried to bring home an insurance run, but didn’t get it done. With one out, Lee Jay Pollachi reached on an error, and made it all the way around to third on a wild pitch. With a 1-2 count on Washburn, the Stampede let Pollachi attempt to steal home, but he was tagged out just before his foot hit the plate.
The Helmuth Post proved that they had some fight left in them, but Saratoga held them off. Ostrander led off the inning by smacking a grounder to deep short, but Allen’s throw got past Hladik, who had replaced Callahan at first. Ostrander then took off for second, but Hladik recovered and threw over to Allen and the run-down was on. Allen threw back to Hladik, who placed the tag for the first out of the inning. Roberts then slapped a single up the middle, but Callahan got Heck to smack a ground ball to short, and Allen stepped on second and fired to first for the game-ending double play.
Next up for the Stampede in the tournament will be South Kingston, Rhode Island on Wednesday.

Junior Stampede Wins Under the Lights

2008-07-10T11:43:00.000-04:00

The Saratoga Junior Stampede team got its opportunity to play under the lights at East Side Rec on Monday night, and they made the most of it, coming away with a 6-5 win over the Tri-County Bees.
Dylan Anderson was Saratoga’s starting pitcher, and he was quite impressive, going the distance and surrendering just two earned runs on two base hits, while walking five batters and striking out six.
Catcher Jack Keller and second baseman Sam Maxwell each helped to provide the offense, as Keller was 2-for-3, including a two-RBI double, and Maxwell singled twice and scored a run.
After a scoreless first inning, the Stampede opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning on Matt Angelini’s RBI single.
With one out, Luke Fauler looked at a called third strike, but the catcher dropped the pitch, and Fauler hustled to first ahead of the throw. Dylan Anderson’s ground out to first baseman Matt Gage moved Fauler to second, and then with two away, Angelini gave Saratoga a 1-0 lead with a base hit on the first pitch that he saw to drive in Fauler, who was running on contact.
The Bees answered with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning to take a 2-1 lead, thanks to a pair of Stampede errors.
Tri-County added to its 2-1 lead in the fourth, when a leadoff error, the fourth of the game by Saratoga, a stolen base, and a wild pitch led to a 3-1 Bees lead.
The Stampede cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the frame, as they took advantage of Tri-County’s second miscue of the contest.
With Chris Davis on first base, Ryan Coseo singled up the middle to put runners on first and second. Two batters later, Dylan Anderson helped his own cause, driving home Davis on a ground ball to make it a 3-2 game.
Saratoga would take the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth. Maxwell led off with a base hit, and then pinch hitter Nate Foster drew a walk, and the runners were on first and second. Jordan Stubblebine also walked to load the bases, and then Dale Long smacked a sacrifice fly to left field, plating Maxwell to tie the game at three. Keller followed with a double that scored both Foster and Stubblebine, and the Stampede held a 5-3 lead.
In the sixth, the Bees would pull to within a run. With one out, Tri-County played small ball, and a walk and a two-base error on Davis landed D.J. Hoagboon on third base. A beautifully placed bunt by Kurt Kowalcyzk brought Hoagboon home to make it a 5-4 affair.
The Stampede would get the run back in the bottom of the sixth. Fauler led off and ended up on second due to an error by shortstop Brandon Eutermarks. A sacrifice bunt moved him to third, but first baseman Matt Gage tried to throw Fauler out at third, and when the throw went awry Fauler cruised home for a 6-4 lead.
Angellini then reached on a two-base error, but Maxwell slapped a hard line drive to second, and R.J. Pingitore made the grab and then stepped on second to double-up Angelini and retire the side.
Two more miscues by the Stampede would make the game interesting in Tri-County’s final at-bat.
A Ryan Coseo error opened the inning, and then Anderson fought back and struck out Owen Chizek to take a little of the pressure off. The count then ran full on Pingitore, but Anderson lost him, putting a runner on second, and more importantly, the tying run on first and the go-ahead run at the plate.
Anderson then tried to pick Steve Dygon off of second, but the throw went wild and Dygon advanced to third. Jordan Kaplan then slapped a grounder to short, and Coseo flipped to Maxwell to get Pingitore, but the run scored and the Bees were within 6-5. Anderson then took things into his own hands, striking out Eutermarks to end the ball game.
Anderson pitched a fantastic ball game, surrendering just two base hits and overcoming seven of his defense’s errors to earn the win.
Now the younger guys in the Stampede program have a little taste of what it’s like to play at the East Side under the lights, and they have something to look forward to once they make it to the American Legion squad.

Rick Ankiel: A Story of a Changed Career

2008-07-07T14:52:00.000-04:00

For those who may not be familiar with the story, Rick Ankiel is a center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. But that has only been for the past two seasons of his nine year Major League career.
Ankiel broke into the major leagues in 1999 as a left-handed starting pitcher for the Redbirds.
At age 19, Ankiel was brought up by the Cardinals and appeared in 19 games, and did a pretty good job, as he gave up 26 hits, 12 earned runs, walked 13 while striking out 39, and had a 3.27 earned run average in 33 innings.
He followed that up in 2000 with a strong campaign, as he went 11-7, and his ERA was 3.50 and he struck out 194 batters while walking just 90.
Suddenly, in 2001, Ankiel began to break down. He couldn’t find the plate any more, and he totally lost his command and his control.
He only pitched 24 innings in the 2001 season, and threw five wild pitches and walked 25 batters while striking out 27. Ankiel also surrendered 25 hits, 21 runs, 19 of them earned, seven home runs, and hit three batters as his ERA ballooned to 7.13.
Ankiel was having problems and the Cardinals didn’t know what to do about it. The harder that they worked on his control, the worse it got. Dave Duncan and Tony LaRussa were completely befuddled.
They decided to send Ankiel down to the minor leagues, and they took a different approach. As the many attempts to straighten him out proved futile, the Cardinals decided not to give up on Ankiel, but to instead have him change positions, no longer being a pitcher. Ankiel has completely turned his career around after that decision was made.
Ankiel slowly worked his way through the minor leagues after that, and he was even out of baseball for the entire 2006 season.
But he came back strong in 2007, as he was playing for AAA Memphis, where he played 102 games, and he clubbed 32 home runs, drove in 89, had over 100 hits on the season, and boasted a slugging percentage of .568. Not bad for a guy who was on the pitcher’s mound just three years earlier.
Although he didn’t even finish the season in the minor leagues, he would go on to be named the 2007 Minor League Player of the Year.
Ankiel was brought up to the Cardinals for the final 47 games of the 2007 season, and he made the most of the opportunity. In 172 at-bats, he smacked 49 hits, cracked 11 homers, and drove in 39 runs while maintaining a .285 batting average as well as a slugging percentage of .535.
He now continues to tear up the National League, as he has been with the Cardinals since the start of the 2008 campaign, and already this season he has 18 home runs, which makes him tied for 11th in the league, driven in 45 runs, and scored 49 runs himself, and his batting average is a respectable .265, but he has an on-base percentage of .339, and a slugging percentage of .523. Ankiel’s batting average over the past two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals currently stands at .275. Those are pretty good stats for a guy who thought that his major league career was in jeopardy just a few seasons ago.
And he has also shown that he has more than just an offensive game. Several times this season Ankiel’s acrobatic catches have ended up on Sports Center, and a few of them have been top-10 highlights.
Ankiel has done an incredible job of not just getting back to the majors, but excelling, as he is now the starting center fielder for the Cards.
Ankiel’s story is an amazing one, and it also sends a message about weighing your options, not giving up, and finding out that through perseverance, there is more than one road that leads to the major leagues.

Stampede Slips Past Waterford

2008-06-26T22:21:00.000-04:00

In a game that had just eight base hits, it came down to a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly to give the Saratoga Stampede a 2-0 victory over Waterford at Geyser Park on Thursday.
Stampede starting pitcher Ed Reilly remained perfect, as his record improved to 4-0 on the season, and he was quite impressive in the process, needing just 80 pitches to earn his fourth win and fourth complete game in four starts.
“Reilly has been lights out…unhittable,” Stampede head coach Paul Mound said after the game.
While Reilly was cruising, his counterpart, Waterford starter Chris Burns, was matching him inning after scoreless inning, until Saratoga broke through with the game’s only two runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Stampede catcher Noah Poissant led off the home fifth with a walk. After Reilly was hit by a pitch, shortstop Andy Brown laid down a perfect bunt for an infield single to load the bases.
Kenny Recore then battled through a 12-pitch at-bat, and when it was over, he earned the free pass, picking up the RBI as Poissant scored and giving the Stampede a 1-0 lead.
With the bases still loaded two batters later, third baseman Matt Kelley drove a pitch to deep left field, scoring Reilly on the sacrifice for a 2-0 Saratoga advantage.
That was all the Reilly needed, as he scattered five hits while helping his club lift its record to 22-4 on the year.

Triple the Teams, Triple the Success

2008-06-26T20:48:00.000-04:00

The summer baseball is under way, and that means that it’s time for the Saratoga Stampede to make their bid for a New York State Championship.
This year is a little different than previous seasons, as the Stampede organization is fielding not just one, not two, but three different teams for the summer of 2008.
As if Manager Paul Mound, one of Saratoga’s busiest men to begin with, doesn’t have enough on his plate, he has kicked it up a notch this year by adding two brand new clubs.
In addition to the 19-and-under American Legion squad, Mound has added a 16-and-under junior Stampede team as well as a 22-and-under wood-bat club.
The Stampede has a unique support system, as several of the players play on the Legion team as well as the wood-bat team, and several players from both squads can be found supporting their organizational mates from the other Stampede clubs by attending their games.
All three teams have found success in the early going this year, as the college team holds a record of 16-2, the Legion club boasts an undefeated record of 9-0, and the junior team’s record is 9-3.
Mound spoke of why he decided to expand his workload threefold.
“Essentially, I felt that there was a two-fold need in our community to give younger players in Saratoga a chance to play legion baseball, which was requested of us by the American legion organization itself. They’re trying to get all of their senior legion franchises to establish junior legion franchises,” said Mound.
That wasn’t what motivated him, though.
“What principally motivated me to begin a junior legion team was my involvement coaching young players at Spa Catholic,” said the Saints’ junior varsity coach. “The talent that I have seen at Spa Catholic, coupled with the talent that I knew existed at Saratoga high school made establishing a junior legion program a natural because it gives us a true legion feeder program to our very successful senior legion team.
The senior team is currently ranked sixth in New York State.
Mound is also using the junior team to gauge his expectations for when they move up to the senior squad.
“I’m very anxious to see outfielder Kyle Willmott, shortstop/pitcher Billy McDonough, infielder/pitcher Dylan Anderson, left handed pitcher Jordan Stubblebine, catcher Jack Keller, who was a freshman starting catcher for the Spa Catholic varsity team, as well a infielder Dale Long, and many, many others whose future makes the senior Stampede program very, very bright.”
Mound is excited for his teams’ success, but is possibly more excited about the opportunity that the new clubs allow for the youths of Saratoga Springs.
“Although the workload is intense, it allows 50-plus players to participate in Stampede baseball in 2008, with a record of achievement as dictated by their combined 36 win, 5 loss season so far,” said Mound.
With all of the Stampede teams having stellar seasons, it makes Mound’s labor of love that much easier, and the overall future of the program looks very, very bright.

A Stampede That Can't be Stopped

2008-06-26T19:29:00.000-04:00

The Saratoga 22-and-under college wood-bat team continues to win, even though they’re not exactly burning up their wooden bats.
With a record of 16-2, the Stampede has managed to win 16 of 17 games since their opening-day road loss to the Tri-County Bees.
Even though Saratoga still hasn’t found its groove yet with the wooden clubs, manager Paul Mound has been able to guide his team to victory by enhancing other aspects of their games, such as pitching, defense, and taking advantage of the other team’s mistakes.
For example, last Tuesday night the Stampede defeated the P.N.A. Eagles by a score of 9-5, but they managed just seven base hits. The Stampede won by taking advantage of P.N.A.’s three errors, as well as the nine bases-on-balls from the Eagles’ pitching staff.
Saratoga plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning when Eagles starting pitcher Will LaRose walked two of the first three batters in the inning.
In the second, the Stampede scored their third run thanks to a leadoff error by P.N.A. second baseman Dan Conley. The error landed Saratoga catcher Kenny Recore at second base, and then he went to third on a wild pitch. He would score two batters later when Neil Callahan grounded out to third.
Saratoga added another run the following inning when it looked like they were going to be sent down in order.
After Ryan Washburn and Andy Brown struck out, back-to-back walks put runners on first and second. A passed ball moved the runners up a base, and then a wild pitch plated Bobby Murphy.
The Stampede scored five more runs over the next two innings on just four hits. Again they preyed on the weakness of their foes, as they made use of five walks, mixing them in with a couple of hits to drive home three of the walked batters.
Saratoga did get a taste of its own medicine, however, as P.N.A. scored five unearned runs in the top of the fifth inning off of two Stampede errors to take a then 5-4 lead. But Saratoga starting pitcher and Skidmore College product Ed Reilly sucked it up and held on for the complete-game win, raising his record to 3-0 on the year. Similarly, the Stampede scored nine runs on only six base hits against Ravena last Monday, they scored 14 runs on just eight hits against Niskayuna on June 7, and they plated four runs on three hits against the Tri-County Bees on June 5.
Mound is confident that his team’s batting average will improve as the season goes on.
“Early on the adjustment that is made between hitting wood and aluminum is huge,” said Mound. “No Matter what type of hitter you are, you have to make a major adjustment from metal back to wood bats.”
The Stampede is beginning to make the necessary adjustments needed to win games.
“We’re hitting the ball on the screws right now,” said Mound. “Every ball that they’re hitting, they’re hitting hard. Once they made the adjustment to where the sweet spot is, the team batting average was raised by 70 points, from .200 to .270 as a team.”
When asked if he could name one player who could help the club significantly once he got hot with the wood bats, Mound did not hesitate to answer.
“Without a doubt, when Matt Kelley makes his adjustments, he’s capable of carrying a team solely on his back,” said Mound. “We’re also getting offensive contribution right now from Kenny Recore, Andy Brown, and Bobby Murphy.
Mound also spoke of Dan Randall, who has been Saratoga’s best hitter this far.
“Dan Randall has been consistent from day one with wood in his hands. He is probably one of the most feared hitters in our league, regardless of having wood or metal in his hands,” said the coach.
However, during this “slump”, it has been the Stampede’s pitching that has kept them in the win column.
Ed Reilly, Skidmore College’s ace, is undefeated at 3-0. The southpaw did a great job of keeping his composure as he surrendered five unearned runs last Tuesday night while holding on for the complete-game win.
“We’ve had consistent performances up and down our rotation,” Mound said. “We’ve gotten some solid performances out of Kevin Gent, as well as Travis Wilson. For that matter, Matt Kelley and Ryan Washburn would be indicative of our team’s 0.85 earned run average.”
Whether they start to hit the ball or not, the Stampede is still doing all the little things right that equate to wins: good defense, solid pitching, and taking advantage of the gifts that the opposition gives you.
Maybe that’s why their record is 16-2.

Mercy Rule Needed in High School

2008-04-22T18:56:00.000-04:00

As a sports clerk for the Saratogian newspaper here in upstate New York, one of my main duties is to collect game results, mostly high school and college sports, via the E-mail, the fax machine, or from a phone call from a coach. I gather the data that is provided, and from that data I write short stories to bring you, the reader, the best game synopsis that I can, given three or four paragraphs.

As many of you may or may not know, there are several rule differences when you compare amateur-level sports to the professional ranks. In most amateur baseball and softball leagues, there is something known as the "Mercy Rule". The mercy rule generally states that depending on how many innings a full game is, if a team is ahead by 10 or 15 runs, the game is called to spare the losers any more embarrassment.

For instance, in a little league game that is scheduled for five innings, if a team is ahead by 10 or 15 runs after the third inning, after the losing team bats, the game is called. Children need to be spared their dignity, and spectators need to be spared the boredom, and rightfully so on both counts.

With that said, I learned yet another rule in high school sports (it has been so long since I played at that level that I have forgotten many of the nuances in the rule differences).

In high school, there is a mercy rule for girls' softball. In a seven inning game, the rule would take effect after the fifth inning. There is no such rule for boys' baseball.

The county where I live is in Section II. As in many counties and Sections, there are large schools and small schools. Being a native of New York City, a large school here would be considered a small school in the Big Apple.

In a large school there are tryouts for the sports teams, and you have to earn a place on the squad. In smaller schools, it's all that the coaches can do to round up enough recruits to field a team. This was the case between two Section II teams that played baseball last Tuesday night.

Galway High School, a school so small that its baseball team consists of just 10 players, hosted Northville, a school of similar size. What happened in that game should never happen to a high school player.

The Galway Eagles defeated the Northville Falcons by a score of 38-0. Since the scheduled seven innings must be played in its entirety according to high school rules, there was no stopping the beating that Galway laid upon Northville.

The Eagles scored several runs in the first two innings, and then exploded for 12 runs in the third. That gave them a 16-0 lead, and by the fifth inning, when the lead was increased to 24-0, the game should have been called. Since Northville was the visiting team, the game sould have been stopped due to the mercy rule in the middle of the fifth inning.

However, there is no said rule, the game was required to be played in its entirety, and the Falcons of Northville were bound by rule to take a beating that no team should be forced to endure. Especially when it involves young athletes who can have their confidence severely shaken after such a lopsided affair, possibly to the extent that they never recover.

There was a second game with a similar outcome on the same night. Waterford-Halfmoon defeated Hadley-Luzerne by a score of 27-4.

Waterford opened the game with three runs in the first inning. Hadley responded with a run in the bottom of the second to make it 3-1, but then Waterford answered with a 12-run third. Four more runs in the fourth made it a 19-1 game.

In the fifth, Waterford scored 2 more to go up 21-1, and then Hadley plated three to make the score 21-4 after five innings. The game should have been stopped at that point.

What is the rationale for making these teams suffer such humiliating defeats? Is it necessary for high school kids to be ashamed of themselves, their schools, and their teammates for being beaten by 30-some-odd runs? Is that supposed to build character? I don't think so.

Put yourself in the position of being part of a baseball team that was so small that you knew, as a starting pitcher, that there was no way that you were working less than five innings, no matter how badly you were hit or how many runs you gave up.

Can you imagine surrendering 20 or 30 runs simply because there was no one else to pitch?

I spoke to the Galway coach that night. His team was the winning team, and he only had 10 players. He had no bench players to replace starters that had terrific games. He had no choice but to play all of his players until the game was over.

He told me that as the winning coach that the game was painful to watch.

I won't reveal exactly what he told me that he did, but let's just say that he advised a player on the other team. The player took the advice, but he still didn't make the play, scoring more runs for the winning team.

I have been involved in baseball as a player, a radio announcer, and a writer for more than 35 years. Never, in all of my experience, has a 30-run annihilation been a part of the spirit of baseball.

It leaves a bade taste in your mouth. This is not healthy competition, or even an easy game for the winners. It's hard. It's hard for the coaches, the spectators, the parents, and most of all, the winners and losers, or the players. And, after all, isn't that what the game is all about?

We need a mercy rule in high school baseball. If we, as a community, are going to support amateur sports, as we should for so many reasons, we should be advocating healthy competition.

In football, they score in seven-point increments (for the most part). To lose 38-0 in football would be an embarrassment. To lose 38-0 in baseball, where you score one run at a time, is an absolute atrocity.

If it happened at the pro level, that would be ugly enough. For it to happen to teenagers is simply unnecessary.

We need a mercy rule in high school baseball. The kids don't need to be embarrassed like this.

NHL: Detroit Tandem the Best

2008-02-21T20:51:00.000-05:00

The National Hockey League is filled with great talent between the pipes, and you may argue who is the best goalie, whether it be Brodeur from New Jersey, DiPietro from the Islanders, Lundqvuist from the Rangers, or Miller from the Sabres in the East; or San Jose's Nabokov, Anaheim's Giguere, or Hasek from the Red Wings in the West, but theres' no doubt as to who the best goaltending tandem in the NHL is: Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek of the Detroit Red Wings.
Since they split their playing time fairly even in Detroit, it's tough for either one of them to be on the league leader's list for wins, but they both have impressive numbers, with Osgood boasting a 23-7 record in 33 games, and Hasek's record standing at 19-7 in 30 games.
But what's even more outstanding is that the two netminders are currently ranked first and second in the league in the goals-against-average department, and that stat is a truer measuring bar because the amount of games played does not affect the statistic.
Hasek is ranked No. 1 in the league with a 2.07 goals against, while Osgood stands in the two-hole at 2.11.
Obviously they have a lot of help from their amazing defensemen, namely veterans Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Chelios, and Brian Rafalski, but yet these stats show that Hasek and Osgood are still on top of their games.
Some people thought that Hasek may have been done when he retired a couple of years ago, and even more thought that Osgood's best days were behind him when he left the Motor City for Long Island.
Osgood has some incredibly impressive career numbers, as well. This season, he owns a GAA of 2.11, and if it holds up it would be the best of his career.
Also, Osgood, now in his 14th NHL campaign, has never had a GAA higher than 2.86 in any season he has played. His goals-against has been below 2.4 in three of his last four years, and his 23 wins this season is the most for Osgood since he won 31 for the St. Louis Blues in the 2003-'04 season.
He's been a little shaky since the All-Star break, but I would expect Chris Osgood to return to the form that he has been showing all season long.
As for Hasek, what more needs to be said about a man who has more than 380 career wins, 80 shutouts, and a career goals-against of 2.20.
And this season, with his GAA at 2.07, Hasek is making a statement that he has not lost a step and he plans to be around for a while.
There's an old saying in hockey that a goalie that gets hot in the playoffs can be ridden to a championship. Many teams have a good goalie, even a great one. Some even have a formidable backup. But no team has the 1-2 punch that the Red Wings have, and that can be scary for the rest of the NHL come April and May.

NHL: Islanders are League's Hottest Club

2008-02-21T19:44:00.000-05:00

Earlier in the National Hockey League season I wrote about how, at the time, the Atlantic Division was the best team in the league, and I had the stats to back up my claim.
Now, not only does that statement still hold true (just check the standings), but the hottest team in the entire National Hockey League is the New York Islanders, who sit in last place in the Atlantic, and 10th overall in the Eastern Conference.
The Islanders are winners of five straight games, and going into tonight's battle against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Nassau Collisuem, New york owns a record of 29-25-7 and they have 65 points.
Even more impressively, since their first game of the calendar year, New York lost seven games in a row, nine of 10, and 14 of 18 contests before the current five-game winning streak.
The Chicago Black Hawks, in the Central Division of the Western Conference, are the next-best cellar-dwelling team in the NHL with a 28-26-6 record and 62 points. The Hawks are off tonight.
It hasn't been pretty, as the Islanders have outscored their opponents only 19-12 during the streak, but New York is doing the little things that they need to do to win.
In goal, Rick DiPietro has allowed just five goals in his last three games, which has more than put his club in a position to win.
Mike Comrie and Bill Guerin have done the bulk of the scoring, with Comrie putting up 18 goals and Guerin with 19. Perhaps even Miro Satan, who has been dormant for much of the season, may be waking up, as he now has two goals in his last three games for 13 on the season.
There is a tie for the seventh, eighth, and ninth positions in the East, with Boston, Philadelphia, and Buffalo all sitting at 66 points.
This should be a great second half to the Eastern Conference's second half of the season, with all of these teams throwing down for the final two or three playoff spots in the conference.
The Bruins have the advantage of the four teams, as they have only played 59 games as they trail the Florida Panthers by a 1-0 score with eight minutes left in the first period. The Flyers and the Sabres have both played 60 games, and they are both playing tonight.
Buffalo is at Toronto and holds a 1-0 first-period lead, and Philly trails the Sharks at home by a 1-0 score after one. The Islanders and Tampa are scoreless after one, with New York holding a 15-10 shots advantage.
There's a lot of hockey left to be played in the regular season, and the race to the playoffs in the East should have a very entertaining finish.

MLB: One and Done is the Only Answer

2008-02-15T23:17:00.000-05:00

If the Major League Baseball Player's Association wants anyone to take them seriously when it claims that they want to get rid of the steroid epidemic in their game, there is only one way to do it: baseball needs a policy of one strike and you're out, not three.
Under the current collective bargaining agreement, the first time a player fails a steroid test, he gets 50 games off. The next time, the penalty is more severe, 100 games. Only if a player fails the test three different times is his career then in jeopardy.
This agreement has got to go. All this did was appease the owners that there was some type of testing and consequenses in place.
Donald Fehr says that he and the players want to put an end to this problem.
I say that all of them need to put their money where their mouths are and institute a "one and done" policy.
Under the terms of this agreement, if a player fails a test for steroids or HGH JUST ONCE, he will be banned from baseball for life.
No "extra chances", no milking the system for as long as you can until you get busted a second time. You will take it seriously from the start, and you will know going into professional baseball that you only get one shot. Then, and only then, will players take each and every screening test seriously.
Of course, there will be room for error. Some people say that you can't do that because what if the test has been tampered with.
OK, I'll give you that, there is that possibility. But more than likely, that instance would only happen once. To think that a test could be botched twice on the same player is unrealistic. So, if a player's test turns up positive, he is to be called in IMMEDIATELY for another sample. If he's truly clean, the second test will reveal that result.
But, if a player comes up dirty a second time, that's it. He obviously is doing something wrong, and he should know that he tossed a multi-million dollar career out the window.
Let's face it folks, the public, the people who are paying the exorbitant ticket prices and buying all of the jerseys, T-shirts, jackets, hats, and everything else with their team's logo on it, deserve - and demand - to know that these players that they are coming out to see are not just playing by the rules, but by the law. Let's not forget that first and foremost, steroids and HGH are illegal, plain and simple. So, using them isn't just breaking a policy or a league rule, it's breaking the law.
The fans deserve better than this, and it's time that the league and the union got on the same page and showed the world that they are seriously doing something to eliminate the problem.

Clemens: Much ado About Nothing (for MLB)

2008-02-15T22:22:00.000-05:00

Roger Clemens appeared before a congressional panel this past Wednesday in an attempt to clear his name in the whole Mitchell Report/steroids affair.
Few questions were answered in the four-hour long hearing, but perhaps some new questions were raised.
Right off the bat, Brian McNamee's credibility comes into question because of not only his part in this whole torrid situation, but because he lied on several occasions before the hearing or the Mitchell report.
McNamee presented "physical proof" that he injected Clemens by turning over a used syringe and some gauze that he believes will show that Clemens' DNA is on them.
To me, this only presents another question.
First of all, Clemens has already admitted to being shot up by McNamee, but the two differ on just what the substance was that was in the syringe. McNamee, of course, claims that it was steroids or human growth hormones. Clemens insists that it was a B-12 shot.
My question is even if they do find the DNA of Roger Clemens on the syringe or gauze, how does that prove what the needle contained? Unless there is some type of residue on the inside of the syringe, how can they prove that it was steroids? And, even if they do find steroid or HGH residue in the needle, who's to say that McNamee didn't plant the residue inside it? So, to me, the "proof" is really no proof at all.
The next question is where was Andy Pettite during this hearing? If Pettite does believe that Clemens admitted to him that he did something illegal, then why didn't McNamee's attorneys see to it that Pettite was there?
And, as Clemens suggests, if Pettite misinterpreted what was said during this conversation that the two of them had, why haven't Clemens and Pettite ironed out what was exactly said so that Pettite could have showed up in Roger's defense?
This is the most troubling question to me. With all that Clemens is going through to try to prove his innocense, wouldn't he want his best friend, a man that everyone involved agrees is an honest man, and would therefore be perhaps the most credible witness in this mess, there to help clear his name? To me, Pettite's testimony is the key to this whole circus.
Third, one of the congressmen held up a large poster-board that had pictures of Clemens throughout various stages of his career, and it was pretty much agreed upon that whether he was pitching for Toronto, the Yankees, or Houston, there was no obvious change in the build of Clemens' body.
To me (and others that were watching), that suggests that there was no steroid use in this time period, which was more than 10 years long.
Now, you could say that none of those pictures were from his Boston days. That is true, but if you consider that Roger Clemens built the bulk of his reputation, and had quite a good deal of success, with the Sox, that obviously it was talent, not steroids, that made him the pitcher that he was in those days.
I have yet another unanswered question. Roger Clemens has been pitching in the major leagues for more than 20 years. From what I have heard, there is somewhere between three and five different dates, or time periods, that are in question. Even if Clemens is guilty of taking something illegal on these dates that are in question, can those few instances be given the credit for a 20-plus year hall-of-fame career? I think not.
In Roger's defense, it has been well documented for years and years how much of a gym rat he is, and how much time he invests in working out. It has even been said that on days that he pitches, he spends an hour riding an exercise bike after the game.
And on top of all of this, he has given countless speaches to high school and college student-athletes where his message has been that there are no shortcuts to success, it's all about hard work, and that it has been proven that steroids will break your body down in the long run.
I think that if Roger Clemens was a 'roid head, he would have never achieved the success in baseball that he has, and his body certainly would not have stayed as strong as it has over the course of his career.
I'm not saying that Clemens is innocent, but there are a lot of reasons to believe him. And just one known liar that is trying to give us reasons not to.
And, through it all, what will all of this prove? What will be the penalties for those involved? As for now, if Clemens is lying, of course he could be facing perjury charges and jail time.
But, aside from that, from a baseball vantage point, what are the consequenses? Major League Baseball knows that it can't prosecute someone for doing something before it was against the rules. So, what does it all mean?
I think that even if they find Clemens took steroids, that there is little that MLB can or will do about it.
What Congress does about it is a different story.

The 1972 Miami D(sgusting)olphins

2008-02-14T22:21:00.000-05:00

I have been a sports fan for some 30-odd years now. In that time, I have seen many records in sports come and go.
I watched Hank Aaron hit home run No. 715 off of Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1975. I remember seeing the Pittsburgh Steelers win four Super Bowls - the first team to accomplish such a feat - until Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers came along and won five (not all five with Joe, of course). I saw Wayne Gretzky pass Gordie Howe as the all-time leading scorer in NHL history. Mark Maguire beat Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs in a single season. Emmitt Smith became the NFL's all-time leading rusher, passing one of my all-time favorites, Walter Payton. And, more recently, Barry Bonds surpassed Aaron by becoming the all-time home run king, steroids or not.
In watching many of these records about to fall, there has always been a common thread, especially in baseball.
Usually, the person whose record is about to be broken is on hand at the game to congratulate the new record-holder's accomplishment.
That, folks, is what sports is all about. It's about watching the younger, stronger, faster players that come into the game take over the record books.
Gordie Howe congratulated Gretzky when he broke Howe's long-time-standing record. The Maris family was in St. Louis, anticipating Maguire's new record, and they took part inthe celebration. Even Hank Aaron, who was more than a little stand-offish when Bonds was at the threshold of the record, finally took the high road and congratulated Bonds for his feat.
Then, there are the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
As an Oakland Raiders fan in the early 70's, Miami was a perennial playoff foe of Oakland's.
Back then, there were basically three powerhouses in the AFC that took turns representing the conference in the Super Bowl - Miami, Oakland, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
With Franco Harris making the (illegal) immaculate reception to knock the Raiders out of the playoffs in my cousin's rookie season, the Steelers quickly became one of the teams that I would despise in the NFL.
Miami went on to defeat Pittsburgh and went to the Super Bowl, but for some reason I liked the Dolphins. I didn't hate them like I did the Steelers. I had respect for them, and I thoroughly liked Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield and other players.
Being a New York sports fan, I very rarely root for any team from Boston. That's just life in major league sports between the two cities. We just don't like each other. There would have to be something pretty bad to make me root for a team from Boston.
Hence, we have the '72 Dolphins.
To go back to my point at the beginning of this piece, records are meant to be broken. And good sportsmanship suggests that the old welcomes in the new.
This '72 Miami club has provided us with the worst case of sportsmanship possible.
Instead of wishing luck to whatever team could match their record of an undefeated season, these crotchety old men - Nick Buoniconti, Mercury Morris, et al., sit around in their homes every season and follow the NFL until there is just one undefeated team left. At that point, they get together on Sundays at Buoniconti's house, or whoever's, maybe even Don Shula's, they put a bottle of champagne on ice, and root for the undefeated team to lose. Once the last undefeated team has lost, and Miami's perfect 17-0 record remains in tact, they pop the cork on the champagne and celebrate.
I guess these miserable old men have such empty lives that they feel that they would be worthless without the record. It's simply the most disgusting case of poor sportsmanship that I have ever witnessed out of so-called "professionals."
So, with the Giants struggling through much of the season, and with me having many doubts about how successful the 2007 campaign was going to be, I actually didn't mind the fact that a team from Boston was going for perfection. I just wanted some team, any team, to finally make that stupid bottle of bubbly go flat on those annoying old men.
Also, Giants fans hate the Cowboys. With Dallas looking as though they were going to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, I started to root for the Patriots.
Of course, I wasn't rooting for them against Big Blue, but once they beat the G-men, I figured what the heck, let's see some history.
I am still riding on a high from the Giants' win last week. It's just surreal to me to think about the frustrations of not just starting 0-2, but nearly starting the season at 0-3. I think about the four picks against the Vikings, with three of them returned for touchdowns, and I can't believe that that is the team that took on the league's best and prevailed. They made history by preventing it, and they took down the closest team to perfection in 35 years.
That says quite a bit. They beat all of the odds, and all of the doubters. I couldn't be happier to see my team win the Super Bowl. It's just a shame that the greater Miami gray-hair-and-denture club will be chilling another bottler for next year. What a sickening display.

Eli Hushes the Critics

2008-02-14T20:18:00.000-05:00

Eli Manning has had to endure much criticism the last couple of years as the starting quarterback of the New York Giants.
New York football fans were content to give him a season or two to flourish, with most noting that big brother Peyton didn't exactly set the league on fire in his first season or two as a starter, either.
Peyton started full-time as a rookie in 1998 at 22 years old. First off, the '98 Colts had a better offensive line and a more solid coaching staff than the '04 Giants did for Eli.
Peyton went into the '98 season knowing he would be the starter, and in his first 16 games with the Colts, he threw 26 touchdowns, which is definitely impressive, especially for a rookie. But, he also threw 28 interceptions, which will kill a lot of scoring drives.
Eli began his rookie season on the bench behind starting quarterback Kurt Warner. After several games had already been played in the '04 season, Eli was thrown into the fire cold at 23 years old. He only threw six TD's, but he also threw just nine picks.
Peyton's numbers improved over the next few seasons, with his completion percentage continually rising, and his interceptions continually on the decline.
Eli's critics began to speak about his regression in '06, when he threw for fewer yards, the same amount of TD's (24), and one more INT than the previous year.
I can not say these things without adding that I was one of Eli's biggest critics.
I spoke openly about how he looked confused on the field, was not becoming the leader that the Giants need, and how basically he was costing the Giants football games.
With that said, let's just say that I'm glad that I am not the Giants General Manager.
Giants' management, whether it was the front office or the coaching staff, continued to believe in Eli, although there were many times that I wasn't quite sure why.
As we all saw, it was the right choice to make. Eli proved myself and a lot of others wrong when we called for his head. He stood tall through it all and stunned the world, literally, when he drove the Giants down field and threw what would be the winning touchdown of Super Bowl XLII, making history by stopping history, as the then 18-0 New England Patriots were finally defeated.
Unfortunately for the Pats, they are going to go down as probably the worst 18-1 NFL team ever. Because the one loss was the biggest game of the year - the game that should have been their coronation of a perfect season. Especially when you consider that the Patriots were not met by the NFC favorites. In fact, it was a Wild Card team, a team that had to go on the road and beat first Tampa Bay, and then on to the cities that were boasting the two best teams in the NFC: Dallas and Green Bay.
In the games against Dallas, Green Bay, and New England, the critics' picks were lopsided against New York each week.
Each week on ESPN, Fox Sports and CBS, most of the so-called "experts" picked the Giants to lose.
First, they said that the Cowboys were the best team in the conference.
Then, they said that it was Brett Favre's year. That with all of the records that he broke this year, and the fact that he took his team further than anyone would have guessed, suggested a win for the Pack, especially on the frozen tundra of Green Bay.
So, the season seemd to be on Favre's side. Throw in the week 2 game between the two teams where the Giants looked terrible at the Meadowlands and fell to 0-2, and it was basically a no-brainer that the Packers would win. Or, so one would have thought.
Instead, New York took the Packers to the brink, with the game being decided in overtime by the foot of Lawrence Tynes, another Giant who had his ups and downs this year.
The Super Bowl was the next stop for Eli and the boys. Again, few in the media gave the Giants any serious chance at all to win.
The Patriots were 18-0, and cruised through the season. They also beat New York in week 17, another point that was supposed to be in their favor.
It was supposed to be destiny for the Pats, the first time in 35 years that a team went into the Super Bowl with the chance to play an undefeated schedule.
To write a movie with those circumstances and have the Giants win the game, people wouldn't believe it. It wouldn't make a dime at the box office because it would be looked at as corny and predictable.
But Eli did just that. He watched his defense completely dominate what was supposed to be the best offense in the NFL, and make them look like a flag football team.
He moved his team strategically down the field, and even though they fell short a few times in the first half, when they should have been up by at least 14 points, Manning did not lose his confidence one bit.
Manning did what he had to do when he had to do it. He bounced back from a 14-10 deficit with less than three minutes remaining in the game and drove his team down the field for the winning touchdown.
Eli may have been inconsistent for some, or even most, of the season. But he played in the clutch so well, and produced such fantastic results, that he truly showed the mark of a champion.
Eli Manning is a Super Bowl champion and MVP, and that's enough to shut everyone's mouth.

NFL: Eli Must Play Well for Giants to Win

2008-01-12T23:28:00.000-05:00

If the New York Giants want to keep their season alive, they will have to do something that they have not been able to do so far this season: beat the Dallas Cowboys.
After watching the talk shows with the so-called experts stating what their keys to the game are, I noticed that they all left out an ingredient that is key for the Giants to win: Eli Manning must play well.
You may say that there is nothing profound in that statement, that anyone could have said it, but guess what – they didn’t, but I did.
The panel of ESPN’s NFL crew – Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Keyshawn Johnson, and Emmitt Smith, all spoke of different aspects of the game that they thought were most important – the Giants’ pass rush, Michael Strahan, the Dallas running game, etc., etc.
But what the point that they all failed to bring up is how Manning is such a perfect example of the Jeckyl and Hyde syndrome. From week to week, you don’t know what you’re going to get out of Eli until the game is played.
The Giants lost just one game on the road this year, and it was week 1 against Dallas. Manning played well in that game as he was 28-for-41 for 312 yards, four touchdowns, and a pick.
Plaxico Burress had one of his best games of the season, with eight receptions for 144 yards and three TD’s, and they ran the ball for more than 100 yards.
The Giants lost that game because the secondary simply fell apart in the fourth quarter. The Giants lost the game by 10 points, and two fourth-quarter touchdowns by the Cowboys were the difference.
Entering the final period, the Giants were trailing 31-19. A Giants’ field goal made it 31-22, but then Romo connected with T.O. for a 47-yard strike, as Dallas went 71 yards in three plays and less than two minutes. That made it 38-22, and things didn’t look good for New York.
However, the Giants came back after that, as two straight touchdown passes by Manning pulled the Giants to within 38-35 with time winding down. New York needed a defensive stop and a score to tie or win the game.
But, the secondary let the team down for the second time in the quarter, as Romo hit Sam Hurd (who?) for a 51-yard bomb that put the game away.
Week 2 was another disappointment, as the Giants were beaten by a Green Bay team that nobody expected anything from. Eli’s numbers were average, going 16-for-29 for 211 yards, a TD, and a pick. The offense wasn’t terrible in the loss, but for the defense, it was a complete meltdown.
Brett Favre played the game that propelled the Packers to the unbelievable season that they have had. Favre was 29-for-38 with three TD’s, and his confidence was completely restored.
After six straight wins, the Giants went into the bye week on an incredible high. I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth from New York defeating the then 0-7 Miami Dolphins by a mere three points in London.
The rest didn’t seem to help New York, because the Giants were again thumped by Dallas. The Giants stayed with the Cowboys for most of the game, but another meltdown gave Dallas the easy win.
Manning threw a pair of picks, and the defense collapsed, giving Owens two more touchdowns in the final 25 minutes. One was in the third quarter that went for 25 yards about midway through the quarter, and then in the fourth another bomb, this one for 50 yards, completed the scoring as Dallas outscored the Giants 14-3 in the last quarter-and-a-half to make it look easy.
New York lost three more games down the stretch, against Minnesota, Washington, and New England. And all three of those games were played at Giants Stadium.
The game against the Vikings was simply awful, and by far Manning’s worst outing of the season. He went 21-for-49 for a mere 273 yards one TD, and four – count ‘em – four picks – and three of them, including one in the fourth quarter that was returned 93 yards, went for touchdowns.
Against Washington, Manning was again poor, completing just 18 out of 52 passes for 184 yards, a lost fumble, and a TD. Even Brandon Jacobs’ big game of 130 yards couldn’t give the G-men a win and his fine performance went to waste.
Eli was good against the Patriots, as the Giants scored more points against New England than any other team that the Pats faced all year.
Of course, Manning had to throw a fourth-quarter interception that killed a Giants’ drive and helped lead to the loss.
The defense didn’t help, however. In the fourth quarter, they gave up a 65-yard touchdown to Moss, and then with less than five minutes left they gave up a score on the ground to Maroney for the game-winner.
So, as we see the pattern, it’s quite clear. It doesn’t matter how stingy the defense is, and it doesn’t matter if Jacobs runs for 500 yards. If Manning doesn’t play well and protect the ball even better, the Giants have no chance to beat Dallas.

NHL: Atlantic Division Strongest in the League

2008-01-12T21:36:00.000-05:00

Most of this year’s attention in the National Hockey League has been paid to the standout teams – e.g. the Detroit Red Wings, and the game’s superstars – e.g. the Sydney Crosbys et al, but few headlines or discussions have mentioned the best division in the league, and that would be the Atlantic Division.
The Atlantic Division is the only division that can boast that all of its teams are over .500, and that they all have at least 20 wins. The teams in the Northwest Division, which consists of Minnesota, Vancouver, Calgary, Colorado, and Edmonton, have all won a minimum of 20 games, but Edmonton is one game under .500.
Only three teams in the league have surrendered less than 100 goals, and one of them is the New Jersey Devils, with 99. The Red Wings have allowed 96 and the Sharks have given up 95.
As a division, they have allowed fewer goals than any other division in hockey, giving up 568. The Central Division, with Detroit’s 96, are the only other division to surrender less than 600, at 572.
Sydney Crosby of Pittsburgh leads the league in assists, with 41, and he is also fourth in the league with 59 points. Philadelphia’s Mike Knuble is tied for fifth with 10 power-play goals. Those are the only players in the division who rank highly on any major offensive stat sheet.
The Atlantic is doing it with a phrase that’s most associated with football: defense and special teams.
If you take a look at the numbers, most or all of the teams in the Atlantic rank in the top 50 percent in categories that are most associated with winning games (other than obviously goals scored).
Goaltending can win a championship, and the Atlantic has plenty of it.
In the category of goals against average, Martin Brodeur ranks sixth at 2.11. Henrik Lundqvist is 14th in the league at 2.41, and Rick DiPietro of the Islanders sits in the 16th position with a goals-against average of 2.56.
Looking at the wins list, Brodeur is ranked 2nd with 23, Lundqvist is tied for eighth with 18, and DiPietro is tied for 10th with 17.
The save-percentage stat is very strong in the Atlantic as well. Brodeur again leads the way in the division, tied for 7th in the NHL at .920. Matthew Biron of the Flyers is 9th with a percentage of .919, and DiPietro is 16th with a .911.
Moving on to shutouts, Lundqvist is tied for 2nd with six, Brodeur is 4th with four, DiPietro is tied for the 12th spot with two, and both Pittsburgh goalies have two shutouts apiece. One of them, Dany Sabourin, is tied for 2nd with four shootout wins.
Brodeur is seventh with three wins in the shootout, and DiPietro is tied for eighth as he has won two games for New York via the shootout.
With all of these rankings, keep in mind that there are 44 goalies ranked in these lists, so if a goalie is ranked even as low as 22nd, he’s in the top half of the goalies in the league.
Now let’s take a look at special teams, an intangible part of hockey that can turn a game around in a flash.
The teams in the Atlantic Division rank among the best in these departments, and there are at least three teams from the division that are in the top half of the league.
On the power play, Philadelphia is ranked 2nd, scoring at a clip of 23.5 percent. The Penguins are 8th at 18.9 percent, the Rangers rank 15th at 17.4, and the Islanders sit in the 22nd spot at 16.3. Not bad numbers for a division in a league of 30 teams.
The penalty-kill numbers are even better, with four clubs ranked in the top 14 spots.
The Islanders are the 4th-best team in the NHL at killing penalties, squashing 86.4 percent of their opponents’ opportunities. Three other teams from the Atlantic are bunched in right behind each other. The Rangers ranked 12th at 83.3, followed by the Devils at 83.1, and Philly at 82.7.
So, other teams may score more goals, have flashier players, or, except for the Rangers, spend more money, but as strong as the defense and special teams are for the teams in the Atlantic Division, I’ll take my chances with any of these clubs against any of the other high-octane teams in the league.

The Ups and Downs of Football Picks

2007-11-14T23:36:00.000-05:00

As we enter week 10 of the NFL season, I suppose that it’s about time that I talked about my weekly NFL picks.
I play in two different pools: one of them is in a local restaurant, and the other one is at the newspaper where I work. We run an “Armchair Experts” section of the Sunday Saratogian, where five of us from the sports department go through the NFL schedule and choose our projected winners for the week.
In the restaurant pool we play with a point spread. At the newspaper we do not, we just pick the winner of the game.
Point spreads have never been one of my friends, and week in, week out for years I have lost many a bet, a football sheet, or a pool simply on a lousy half point.
To say that picking winners in the NFL is not an exact science is about as obvious as saying that wild animals live in Africa.
At the newspaper, where there are no points involved, I am doing quite well. I have been running consistently second or third out of five all season.
The restaurant pool, however, is a totally different story. All I can say about that is that I’m glad that my choices in the restaurant pool do not get posted in the paper, or no doubt some maniac would have hunted me down already and skinned me alive because he lost his house based on one of my losing selections.
Hey, this is a small town, and it isn’t easy to hide when you work for the only newspaper in the county.
It seems that last week, Week 10 in the NFL, I took a turn for the worse in the standings.
With a record of 84-47 entering last week, I was holding my own quite well, running second in the standings only to my editor, two games back.
To say that last week was tough on all of us is a huge understatement. The boss was a mediocre 7-7, as was Stan. I was a dreadful 5-9, Adam went an amazing 9-5 to take the top weekly honors, and even Ian, who has been picking up the rear all season long, out-picked me by one game.
That shook up the standings a bit. Instead of me still on Brian’s heels, I am now four games behind him.
I opened the week one game in front of Adam, two games ahead of Stan, and was leading Ian by seven, but now that’s all changed. Now, I am tied with Stan for third place, behind Adam, which does not make me very happy.
Upsets were abound, there’s no doubt about that, and once again the underachievers played the spoiler, the winless or near-winless finally played with some enthusiasm, and the favorites did not cover the spreads. Ha ha.
It was an atrocious week, one I would like to soon forget. The Chiefs were one of the teams to stick it to me. Kansas City has been playing better as of late, and they’re always tough at Arrowhead. The Denver Broncos have been something short of horrible, and they have been a nightmare on the road. Take the Chiefs, right? Wrong. Denver jumps out of the gate to take an early lead, and K.C. was never in a game that it lost, 27-11.
Next up, Carolina. The Panthers have been somewhat inconsistent, with all of their quarterback injuries and what not. But somehow, Carolina has been able to keep its head above water.
In come the Atlanta Falcons, who have had a miserable season, starting with the whole Michael Vick fiasco that lead to Atlanta losing its quarterback before the season even began.
This wasn’t a game that anyone expected to be a landslide, but even with Carolina’s troubles, it wasn’t a tough guess to think that the Panthers would muster up enough offense to come away with a win against the reeling Falcons.
Nuh-uh. Instead, Atlanta (like Denver) took an early lead and never looked back as they beat Carolina 20-13. Loss number two.
Next up, it was the New Orleans Saints’ turn to foil my predictions. They were hosting the winless St. Louis Rams. Another no-brainer, you say? NO SOUP FOR YOU!! The Saints, at home and winners of four straight games, could not even handle the hapless Rams. St. Louis goes on to win a shootout, 37-29, and once again, the bookies never lose.
Tennessee was next to sock it to me, as they were at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Another matchup that didn’t take too long to consider. The Jaguars have been rocky, and the Titans have had one of the league’s stingiest defenses all year. The Titans at home would be the logical choice, but once again, no. Tennessee could not get points on the board for most of the game and the Jaguars went home 28-13 winners.
Baltimore-Cincinnati was a bit of a toss-up, but as good as the Ravens’ defense is and as unpredictable as the Bengals have been, I took Baltimore at home.
Another mistake. Again, Cincinnati took a quick lead and the Ravens could not catch up all game, and the Bengals walked away with the 21-7 win on the road.
The Detroit Lions continue to let me down this year. I just can not win with them. When I think that they are going to stumble, they win convincingly, and when I think that they have a win in the bag on Saturday, sure enough on Sunday they revert back to looking like last year’s squad.
This week was no different, as the Lions went out west to visit the underachieving Arizona Cardinals. Arizona went into the game at 3-5, and the Lions were at 6-2. With the Lions looking like a football team lately – no, honest, they really have – I didn’t think that Detroit would have much of a problem. Once again, I couldn’t have been more wrong if I said that gas was going to drop to $1.50 per gallon next summer. Cards 31, Lions 21.
Next up, Chicago at Oakland. The Raiders are one of my two favorite teams, but they have been so absolutely miserable in recent years that I have pretty much decided that I would not pick them until they showed me something.
They still can’t score any points, but the defense has not been playing that badly and the special teams have been playing well. Add that to the fact that Brian Griese continues to throw interceptions in key situations, and that the only offense that the Bears have had recently has been their kick returner, Devin Hester, and I thought that maybe the silver and black would find a way to win at home against a stumbling opponent.
Wrong again. The Raiders stayed with Chicago for most of the game, but the Bears pulled away in the fourth quarter for the 17-6 win.
My two disappointments of the day by far were the Giants and the Colts.
The Giants were winners of six straight going into their rematch with the Dallas Cowboys. Had New York avenged their earlier loss to Dallas, the two teams would have been tied for first place. The game was in The Meadowlands, and the Giants had all the momentum that they could ask for.
They squandered their opportunity, as they turned the ball over on their first possession and Eli Manning was sacked twice and threw a pair of picks in the first half.
That set the table for the Cowboys, and they did what good teams will do – they make you pay for your trespasses. Dallas took a quick lead, added to it, and by the time it was over the Giants were left hanging their heads and Dallas returned home with a two-game lead in the NFC East.
The Colts were visiting the San Diego Chargers in what should have been a fairly easy game for the Colts.
Indianapolis has been excellent all year (except, of course, when they played the Patriots, but everyone had looked bad against New England, so you almost have to give the Colts a pass on that one) even without their star wide receiver, Marvin Harrison.
That game featured something that has never happened before, and is likely to never happen again – Peyton Manning threw six interceptions.
No team, not even the Patriots, could think that they could get away with throwing six picks and still winning. Turnovers are the name of the game in football. If you win the turnover battle, more often than not you will win the game. The Chargers proved it, as they beat the Colts during a season that San Diego has played less than dominant, even at home.
So, it was a pretty gut-wrenching week for the old football picks. The only teams that did not disappoint me were the Packers, the Bills, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Seattle.
And I don’t even want to mention how I did against the spread at the restaurant. I had what had to be the worst week of my life, as I won just two games.
Maybe, at least, I will qualify to win low-man honors for the week. How pathetic.

The Green Dot

2007-11-06T21:13:00.000-05:00

I have been a football fan for more than 35 years now. I have seen many changes in the National Football League. Different styles, new and improved design changes in equipment, and so on.
I also have always been the type of person that pays very close attention to detail. If you watch TV or a movie with me, you may find that several times during the production, I will point out technical errors.
For instance, perhaps someone in a movie is speaking and from one camera shot they have a corsage on their lapel, and then in the next shot the corsage is missing. Switch back to the first angle and the flower reappears. Those are the kinds of things that I notice.
I also have been good at, especially when I was growing up and we collected baseball cards and actually read magazines, noticing changes in uniforms in sports. Even to this day, I could tell the difference when the Miami Dolphins added that touch of blue in their logo, for example, or when any other changes, no matter how subtle or slight, were made to team uniforms.
Last year during training camp I noticed that the Minnesota Vikings changed their style of unis, and the year before that when there was a change made in the NFL officials’ uniforms.
Usually, when there is any kind of league-wide change to team uniforms, whether it be something that is added or deleted, we will learn about these changes when we watch the games on television. The announcers will normally make us aware of the changes and the reason or reasons for the changes.
Until this year. There has been a change that I have noticed, it has been a league-wide alteration, and for some reason, to this day (Week 9 in the NFL just passed), nothing has been mentioned about it.
The announcers haven’t talked about it. I haven’t seen any story about it on the internet. I watch 4-6 NFL games per week and I haven’t heard anything mentioned.
It is a small change, a change so subtle that as the first few weeks of the season went on, and I found myself watching a game with someone that I know for the first time of the season, I would ask if they noticed it, or if they had heard what it was for. One by one, they all informed me that they had neither seen it before or heard why the change was made.
You can see this difference literally 100 times per game. It’s a small thing, something little, but I have been looking at it constantly each and every Sunday and Monday for the last nine weeks and still no one has explained where it came from or why it is now there, and it’s really beginning to annoy me.
How could this difference in the NFL uniform be on television screens from coast to coast 50-100 times per game, but yet be ignored by the announcers of the game all season long, as if it’s a secret, league-initiated coup that everyone is to be tight-lipped about, something that they don’t want the fans to know about.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, or maybe you still haven’t even noticed it, it’s the little green dot that is currently on the back of every NFL quarterback’s helmet.
I don’t know where the green dot came from, and thus far, no one has been willing to talk about it.
They haven’t mentioned it on Sports Center, on any of the pre-game shows, any Website, in any magazine, or by any of the announcers during the games.
What is the reason for the green dot? What is its significance? What is it trying to tell us? I don’t know the answers to these questions and it’s bothering me tremendously.
Now that I have mentioned what it is, you can clearly see that I was not exaggerating when I said that you can see it at least 100 times per game.
You can see the dot before every play, when the quarterback is huddling up the team, is in the huddle, or perhaps when he’s calling out the signals at the line of scrimmage and he turns his head to shout to the other side.
I have come to believe that most TV announcers do a pretty good job of letting us know the new developments in the teams, and even the uniforms, at season’s beginning.
But somehow the NFL has snuck in this little green dot without heed or warning. They have not offered us any explanation as to why we are forced to stare at this hideous little lime green circle all day and night on Sundays and for three hours on Monday night. And I want answers. And the sooner, the better, folks, because I haven’t been alerted to reason of the little fluorescent sticker’s existence, and the more I see it, the more I wonder just what the NFL is up to now. And, more importantly, why aren’t they talking about it.

Consistency or Wins? That is the Question

2007-10-31T20:12:00.000-04:00

As the NASCAR season headed to its “Chase for the Cup,” a new points system took over which, if you weren’t too dizzy from watching cars go around in circles for eight months, brought a very interesting question to mind: “What matters more in the NASCAR Chase, wins or consistency?”
If you were to talk to some of the old-time NASCAR fans, crew chiefs, or drivers, undoubtedly they would all answer “consistency.”
Which makes perfect sense. Since winning the championship is based on points, and points are based upon performance, i.e. not only how many races you won, but how you finished in ALL of the races from February through November.
So, the general thinking was that if you ran consistently well throughout the season, and collected points each week based upon how you finish in each race, you very easily could win the title by finishing strong each week. If you end up with, say, 10-15 top-10 finishes, maybe between five and ten top-fives, and throw in three or four wins, you have a recipe for nearly guaranteed success.
That has all changed now. Here, in the 2007 season, we see how drastically things have changed in NASCAR. Jeff Gordon has had, by most accounts, a model year for another strong championship run. He has had a nearly flawless ’07 campaign right from the start, where he finished 10th at Daytona, and throughout the course of the season amassed 21 top-10 finishes, 15 top fives, 10 top-threes, four second-place finishes, and four wins, while posting just one DNF (did not finish) on the year. Gordon also finished ahead of Johnson in 16 races.
As for Johnson, along with his six wins, he recorded 16 top 10s, 14 top fives, 11 top threes, one second-place finish, and he did not finish four races. Johnson finished ahead of his mentor nine times.
When the regular season ended, and NASCAR switched to the points system for the Chase, Gordon’s season suddenly didn’t look so dominant, as his 300-plus points lead evaporated like a politician’s campaign promises.
Jimmy Johnson had a solid season, to that there is no doubt. He did not have a dominant season, not a season that other drivers looked at in awe, but it was very good, especially compared to the 41 other drivers in the Nextel Cup Series, besides Gordon.
Johnson didn’t run as consistently as Gordon, he didn’t have as many top-10 finishes, or as many top fives, but he did do one thing that Gordon did not: he won six races.
Gordon won four races on the year, but it seemed like more with all of the success he had week in and week out, all season long.
One difference in the points system once the regular season ends, is that there is a points bonus for winning races. That boded well for Johnson, because although he didn’t have the type of season that he would have liked to, he did manage to squeak out six wins, which ironically, enough, was two more than Gordon (who at that time had a lead of more than 300 points).
Since NASCAR decided to put a premium on winning races regardless of how you finish in the other races, and despite how consistently well you ran all season long, Johnson was the big winner, as he entered the “Chase Season” in first place over Gordon.
This is an issue that NASCAR needs to address. They can not simply put a premium on winning races. There has to be some value to the regular season in another way, not just if you won, or how many races you won. What happened to Jeff Gordon is not right. It completely devalues all of the hard work that he, his crew chief, and his crew did all season long to make the 24 DuPont Chevrolet a serious contender to win the NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship.
Apparently, it doesn’t matter to NASCAR whether you come in third or 43rd week in and week out, only if you won or not.
That sends a bad message to the drivers, crews, and fans of the sport. There should and must be some type of reward for running well all season long. Perhaps they should consider some type of system where the regular season points leader gets extra points, pro-rated on how much of a points lead he has accumulated.
Take, for example, that Gordon finished the season with a 400-point lead. If there was a system that awarded the driver 20 percent of the points lead and added that to the points he would have started the Chase with, Gordon would have then received an additional 80 points. That seems fair, considering that nobody really posed a threat to the No. 24 team all season long. They should get a bonus for a great season, a season where they dominated the field from start to finish.
I’m not saying that what I have suggested is the answer, or the only answer, but something has to be done. And if they like, I’ll give NASCAR all the help that I can.

Once Again, American League too Tough

2007-10-30T22:35:00.001-04:00

Another beaseball season has come and gone, and once again, the American League has prevailed.
It has happened quite often lately, and it's beginning to look as though the A.L. has a bit of a dominance over the "senior circuit."
Now, before you self-dubbed "purist" National League fans start getting all bent out of shape, screaming about the designated hitter, or the Cardinals in '06, or the Marlins and Diamondbacks clubs that have won the Series recently, look at what has been going on between the two leagues over recent years.
For one, the last time that the N.L. won the All-Star Game was all the way back in 1996, a 6-0 victory.
The American League is 10-0-1 since 1997 (the 7-7 tie in '02 being the only non-win), and has won 16 of the last 20 mid-summer classics, with the National League winning three ('94, '95, and '96), with the last one being over a decade ago. Put it this way, if your kid is less than 14 years old, he probably doesn't remember seeing the National League win an All-Star Game. That' dominance.
There was a time when the N.L. fan could say that the All-Star game doesn't mean anything, but as we all know, now it does, as the winner hosts the World Series. That means something.
Over those 20 years, the A.L. has outscored the N.L. 110-74.
In the fall classic since 1991, the A.L. has won 11 out of the last 16 series', and they have beaten the N.L. 55 series games to 33.
To look even further at National League futility against the American League, consider in the last four years, the A.L. has won the Series three times, and the N.L. has failed to win a game in any of those series'. That's dominance.
Or, just look at what happened this year. The Colorado Rockies were America's darlings, winning 21 of 22 games going into the Series, including back-to-back sweeps of the Philadelphia Phillies, who got hot in mid-September to steal first place away from the reeling Mets, and the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were the best team in the National League all season long.
The Rockies got an eight-day layoff between game four of their series with the Diamondbacks and the first game of the World Series. Some of the experts wondered if the layoff might hurt Colorado, who had been a team afire going into the series.
Maybe that did have something to do with it, but the team that had somewhere around a .280 batting average looked like a little league team against Josh Beckett and company.
Let's face it, folks. I know that, like I said earlier, you can bark about the '06 Cardinals, a vicious veteran lineup that went against the young Tigers' pitching staff (who also committed at least one error in each game against the Cards), or the '03 Marlins and the '01 D-backs who beat the Yankees, but those three teams have been the exception rather than the rule for the National League against their A.L. rivals.
Regardless of wether they use the designated hitter (hitters hitting, kind of makes sense), or the (Ho-Hum, yawn yawn) pitchers-behaving-badly-trying-to-hit National League rules, the American League is bi-annually torturing the National League, in the All-Star Game and in the World Series, and I'm loving it.

George has Flashback to Earlier Years

2007-10-23T20:38:00.001-04:00

It seems that New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner has reverted back to his wicked, old ways.

Just as many of us thought that George was losing his capacities, as his lack of appearances at Yankee Stadium, paired with the medical confirmation of his sad news would suggest, he transcended time and went to a place that he is most recognized for: the 1970's and 1980's, primarily.

In his heyday, Steinbrenner got as much press as his team did, if not more.

Steinbrenner's antics were well documented, from hiring and firing Billy Martin five times, to labeling Dave Winfield "Mr. May" after the Yankees fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1981 World Series, to firing Buck Showalter - when all Showalter did was to help mold the club that would bring home four world titles from 1996-2000.

In more recent years, it seemed as though the Boss had mellowed, with his sudden lack of voice in the media as well as his lack of appearances in the clubhouse.

Some thought that perhaps he had finally learned his lesson, and decided to let the men in the clubhouse and dugout do the motivating and criticizing.

Then, the monster reared its ugly head.

With the Yankees' back against the wall in the division series against the Cleveland Indians, Steinbrenner said in a statement to the press that if his club didn't come back and win the World Series, that Manager Joe Torre would, in all likelihood, not be invited back with the club.

Joe Torre, who, upon the announcement that he was named the Yankees manager, was dubbed "Clueless Joe" in the New York papers.

All "clueless Joe" did in his 12-year tenure as manager was win 10 A.L. East titles, six pennants, and four world championships.

The Yankees, as we all know, were bounced by the Indians, and for the seventh year in a row, New Yorks would not win baseball's ultimate prize.

This put Big Stein in a hell of a spot. Once again, Mr. Steinbrenner opens mouth and inserts foot. On one hand, if he asks Torre back, he loses credibility of being able to stand behind his words. If he doesn't ask Torre back, he risks the rath of the New York media, and most of all, the fans.

So, George has to then figure out a way where he can make everyone happy. He has to make good on his threat, but how can he appease the fans that are so heavily on Torre's side?

In the Godfather, there was a saying that Don Vito Corleone would "make someone an offer that they couldn't refuse." Steinbrenner, along with his brain trust of his children and his general manger, came up with an idea of making Torre an offer that he couldn't accept.

They came up with an idea to make Torre an offer (that alone would appease the fans who would otherwise call for their collective heads) that they knew Joe would never go for (thus, Torre does not return, as per the wishes of the Boss in the first place).

After all that Torre has done, the Yankees offer him a one-year deal with a pay cut, as if Torre has anything else to prove. Is there any doubt why Torre wouldn't take that deal?

Joe Torre has received credit for a lot of things, but not enough credit for others.

Torre ranks (and rightfully so) alongside other great Yankee managers, such as Miller Huggins and Joe McCarthy. However, there is one huge, underrated difference between the kid from Marine Park, Brooklyn and the others.

If you look at the Yankees' rosters in the days of Huggins and McCarthy, there is something that the two have in common: the rosters changed slightly, if at all.

It must have been very comforting for Huggins to know at the end of the season that all of his boys, including Ruth, Gehrig, Dickey, Lazzeri, and others were locked into contracts that would keep them in pinstripes for years to come.

McCarthy surely slept soundly during the winter months knowing that Rizzuto, Berra, DiMaggio, and later Mantle would be back without question the following seasons to defend their crowns.

Torre didn't have that luxury. From year to year, Torre was never quite sure in November what his club was going to look like the following spring.

But, through it all, Torre kept on winning. Whether it was Clemens retiring, Pettite going to Houston, Knoblaugh not being able to throw to first, Giambi's injuries and steroid scandal, an unhappy Scheffield, Stottlemyre and Zimmer leaving, free agents taking off, or any other of the ump-teen personnel changes that he had to endure, Torre kept winning. And those were many, many obstacles that neither Huggins nor McCarthy would have had to think about in their wildest dreams.

Who can blame Torre for not accepting a one-year deal and a pay cut. This man has proven many, many times that he is a winner, a manager that can overcome adversity and is more than likely going to the hall of fame as a skipper. Even if the Yankees haven't won the series since 2000.

So, the Yankees prepare to enter a new era. It's been a long time since New York had a new manager. And, it's been a long time since they didn't have Joe Torre. The Yankees, primarily King George, won't truly appreciate Torre until after he's gone. And, to quote Oliver Hardy, I say to George, "Now look at the fine mess that you've gotten us into!"

Michael Vick needs to pay

2007-08-21T17:32:00.000-04:00

One of the hottest topics entering the 2007 NFL season hasn't been the upcoming season itself, it has been about Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and his involvement with dog fighting at one of his homes.

When the story first broke, Michael Vick began the process by denying any knowledge of what was going on at the house, which is in Surry, Virginia, citing that he had cousins living there and that he did not go there very often himself.

It's funny how stories change. After entering a not guilty plea, others that were indicted in the case decided to plead guilty. After this turn of events, Vick has suddenly changed his plea to guilty. Perhaps he, or at least his attorney, could see the writing on the wall, and they knew that if everyone else turned state's evidence, Vick would end up being the fall guy for everyone involved. So, out of fear, if nothing else, Vick changed his plea to guilty.

Michael Vick has lied to all of us. He has let down his teammates, his coaching staff, his NFL organization, and the fans, many of whom are teenagers and children that wear his Falcons number 7 jersey.

Several videos have been circulating following the investigation, videos that were too barbaric and gruesome to show on network television.

There were some horrendous things going on in that house and the property that surrounds it. What investigators found as evidence, including various tools and devices that are meant for torturing purposes, are utterly disgusting.

When police first inspected the property back in April, 54 pit-bulls were found. Later investigations of the grounds turned up seven graves of dogs that were killed by "Bad Newz Kennels", the company that Vick's relatives were running. These dogs were killed by strangulation, electrocution, bullet wounds, or other means when they were found either not to be good fighting prospects, or punishment for dogs who lost their fights. It was also discovered that dog fighters from as far away as South Carolina, Texas, and New York would come for the events.

"Bad Newz Kennels" also put on exhibitions and sponsored fights in other parts of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and other states.

We have a major problem in this country when it comes to this matter: the laws as well as the punishments for these heinous acts are minimal, at best. On Tuesday it was released that Vick has worked out an "agreement" with prosecutors in the matter. It has been said that prosecutors want Vick to serve 12 to 18 months.

As a human being with a basic conscience, an animal lover, as well as a vegetarian, I am personally insulted at the lack of penalty that Vick may or not have to serve.

I can not believe that where the laws state that these types of crimes may warrant fines of $350,000 and up to six years in prison, that they can be reduced to such a minimal level.

Why should they cut a deal with Vick? If they have evidence to put him away, then it would appear to me that they are in the driver's seat, and I say, fire away, and let him serve SIGNIFICANT jail time.

I am not saying that the value of an animal's life is on the same level as a human's, but at the same time, torturing any living creature, whether it is human or not, is cruelty, and it is no less cruel or sick to torture an animal as it is to torture a human being.

This is not a crime that was a one-time act. That could be looked at as a mistake, something that could possibly be forgiven or made up for with a minimal penalty. This is a series of vulgar mistreatments of animals that went on for a period of at least five years, and severe penalties are in order, and should be exercised.

There is an awful lot yet to be sorted out, such as Vick's punishment, the "deal" which will be formally made next Monday, his contract, his future with the league, and so on.

But I believe that our lawmakers will discover, through this case, that they have their own work cut out for themselves, when it comes to the laws that are currently on the books for animal cruelty, torture, and abuse. The penalties for these crimes are ridiculous, and need to be sharply stiffened.

It seems that the men and women who make the laws and punishments in this country leave things very lenient until a case comes about when the whole country becomes outraged at a national story.

I believe that this is the national story that will and should outrage Americans when it is announced next week that Vick's punsihment will be barely more than a slap on the wrists.

It breaks my heart, because Michael Vick used to be one of my favorite quarterbacks in the National Football League. Yes, I said used to be.

Stampede win District Title

2007-08-05T17:27:00.000-04:00

SARATOGA SPRINGS – In a game that would have not been believable had it been scripted in a Hollywood movie, the Saratoga Stampede overcame an eight-inning deficit to win the District IV American Legion Tournament as they defeated the Anaconda Indians by a 4-3 score on Sunday.
Starting pitcher Zach Hartman got into trouble early, as a base hit, a triple, and a ground ball to shortstop resulted in a 2-0 lead for Anaconda in the first inning.
Mike Center took the mound for Anaconda, and he was very impressive, as he would turn away most of Saratoga’s threats during the course of the game.
The Stampede would finally get on the scoreboard in the third. With one out and Kenny Recore on first via a base on balls, Andy Brown grounded into a force play at second. After stealing second and third, center fielder Vince Farfaglia smacked a line drive to left field, scoring Brown and cutting the Indians’ lead to 2-1.
The game would remain 2-1 until the ninth. Hartman, meanwhile, settled down, and after giving up three hits in the first, he would not allow another hit until the sixth.
Brown made a rare error at short to open the fourth that put Ed Shively at second, but Hartman picked his teammate up by wheeling and throwing to Brown to pick Shively off. Shawn Kennedy smacked a single up the middle with two outs in the sixth, but Hartman caught Kennedy in a rundown, and Kennedy was retired on a 1-3-6 caught stealing to retire the side.
In the bottom of the inning, Chris Hackett led off by slapping a single to center, and was moved over to second on Ryan Washburn’s bunt. But Center fought back, and he struck out Justin Wilock, and two batters later he got Brad Elliott to fly out to center to end the inning.
Saratoga again got the leadoff hitter aboard in the fifth, as Kenny Recore struck out, but made it safely to first on a wild pitch. After Brown bunted him over to second, Vince Farfaglia hit a ground ball to Matt Kelly at short, and Kelly threw to third for the fielder’s choice. Neil Callahan then struck out and the inning was over.
In the home sixth, Hackett led off with his second hit of the game, a single to left, but a fly ball to right and a ground ball back to Center turned into a 1-6-3 double play to squash the Stampede’s threat.
Hartman then pitched a perfect seventh and eighth innings, but gave up an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Billy Nikolski lined abase hit to left to start the inning, and Hartman tried to pick him off, but his throw was out of Callahan’s reach, advancing Nikolski to second. Center then flied out to Farfaglia, but Kennedy got the run home with a single to left to make it a 3-1 game. Hartman was then relieved by Ryan Washburn, who got the next two batters to end the inning. Then things got interesting.
Washburn reached safely on a dribbler between third and short that resulted in an infield single to open the ninth, and then Wilock drew a walk, putting runners on first and second. Jeff Mound laid down a bunt to move the runners to second and third, and then Manager Paul Mound sent in pinch hitter Kyle Baldani. Baldani got the job done with a base hit, and Washburn and Wilock both scored to tie the game at three apiece and send the game into extra innings.
In the tenth inning, Washburn got Jordan Pennings to fly out to Recore, who was moved to right field, and then Recore made a tremendous catch in foul territory off of the bat of Dave Filak for the second out. Pinch hitter Joe Privatera then grounded out to Mound at second for the final out.
Farfaglia grounded out for the first out in the bottom of the frame, but then Neil Callahan, who has struggled in his last two games, belted a shot towards the left field wall. Mike Center had a bead on the ball as he neared the wall, but it popped out of his glove, and Callahan was on second base with one out.
Paul Mound then sent in his fastest player, Mike DeGregory, to pinch run. Saratoga could smell a victory, and Hackett came through with his third hit of the game, an infield single. Degregory got a great jump on the play, and he raced home from second for the winning run that propelled the Stampede in the state tournament.
When asked about his winning hit, Hackett was pleased, while also being a bit perplexed.
“It wasn’t quite a line drive, but it will look like it in the box score…I didn’t even see what happened…I saw him coming home, and I thought that was awesome, a good feeling.”
Anaconda had a terrific tournament, and the first and third-ranked teams in New York State showed why they are ranked where they are, as both teams played a tremendous game, and both are worthy of playing in the state tourney.
Anaconda head coach Jim DeMidio was obviously disappointed, but he was proud of the way that his team performed throughout the tournament, as he should have been.
“The better team won today. They out hit us in the last two innings, and that’s what counted. (My team) played excellent. I couldn’t ask for anything else. Maybe they were tired. This was our seventh game (of the tournament, while the Stampede played just four games).
Neil Callahan, who drove in the winning run, was equally impressed with his club’s tourney play.
“Coming out of this district without a loss is pretty impressive,” said Callahan.
“We started out the tournament slow. Our bats were slow, and then today, they were slow, too. But I think we’ve got to get the momentum of starting off early like they did, and keep going all night, those long innings. It was a great tournament for us. The pitching stepped up huge the entire tournament, which was awesome. Hackett threw a great game (on Friday night, 7-2/3 innings, one earned run, eight strikeouts). Hartman throwing, probably, the game of his life, and just couldn’t get any run support. It was great, and we’ve got a pretty good shot to go back to the state championship game. Hopefully, we won’t come back until Sunday (after the state title game).
Zack Hartman offered his viewpoint on the game.
“(In the) first inning, I think we were a little anxious. I was over-throwing a little bit, and I got knocked around, and after that, I settled down, and I just waited for the guys to score, and once they did, it was kind of nice.
Hartman was also quick to give credit to his opponent.
“They can hit one through nine (in the batting order)… They have some good players on their team that can hit, through their lineup, some good pitchers. They’re a tough team, and we were fortunate to pull that one out late.”
When asked about the upcoming state tournament, Hartman is looking forward to it.
“I can’t wait for the states. We’re all excited, we’re riding pretty high, that was a big win for us, and hopefully that can carry over to the states.”
Manager Paul Mound also shared some thoughts about the team that he had to get through to get to the states, as well as what he expects from his club in the state tourney.
“Right from the beginning of the season I felt like Anaconda and Saratoga were the best two teams in the district, and the state rankings indicate such, we’re number one and they’re number three. So it’s fitting that the championship be played between the two of us. They’re an awfully tough team, I mean they’re not going to give you anything for free. You rarely get them to make an error in the field, and the one error they did make, we were able to capitalize on it, and score the game-winning run. It was a fitting ending to a great tournament and a great summer, now we go on to the state championship for the second year in a row. Out of 228 (teams), there are eight left, and we are one of them, so it’s already an accomplishment, and I’m not for one minute, not looking to win the state title. We want that, that is our goal, however, that’s gravy as far as I’m concerned, because winning our district is really, really huge. We’re going to go and give it our best shot, and win, lose, tie, or draw, it’s been a heck of a lot of fun. I think we’ve got the horses to win it, and that’s how we’re going to go about it…an extra-inning ball game, two best teams in the district, I don’t think that you can argue, either side…in fairness to them, they (Anaconda) gave it everything they had, they battled us right to the end… but we got it done in the tenth, it was a great battle, I think it’s great for the district that the two best teams in the district ended up in the championship game, and obviously, for our kids, I’m ecstatic that they’re going back to the states. It’s tons of fun.
Travis Wilson will get the start for game one, followed by Hartman in game two.
The Stampede has a record of 78-18 over the last two seasons, something that Mound is very proud of.
“This is an outstanding ball club, fitting of being a New York State representative, said Mound.

"We’re going to match up with anybody that could possibly come against us, so, we like our chances.”
The Stampede will play their first game on Wednesday, against Coughlin, out of Rochester.
The State Tournament will be aired over an internet webcast. For more information, go to www.americanlegionbaseball.org.

American Legion Tournament comes to Spa City

2007-07-30T23:12:00.000-04:00

SARATOGA SPRINGS – For the third consecutive season, the Saratoga Stampede will compete in the American Legion District IV Tournament, but this time they will host the tourney at East Side Rec.
Saratoga completed its regular season with a 36-6 Legion record, the best in New York State. Manager Paul Mound is thrilled that his team has surpassed its 2006 record of 36-10.
“Last year we came out of the district tournament unscathed to advance to the New York State final. Back in May, I felt as though this year’s Stampede team was better than last year’s that made it to the state championship final.”
Mound is also quick to acknowledge that the regular season is behind them, and that advancing to the state tournament will be no easy task.
“We have formidable competition, with the likes of the Anaconda Indians and St. Johnsville.” said Mound. “The task this year is going to be tough, but we have players on this roster that have the ability to play as a state championship team. We’re going to need to play state championship-winning baseball to advance past our very difficult district.”
The American Legion has been around since 1925. It’s the oldest and largest teenage baseball organization in the United States, as 10,000,000 players have competed in the league since its inception. It also continues to grow, as 1,900 new teams have registered to join the Legion since 1985.
The Legion boasts ties to Major League Baseball as well, as 52 percent of all Major League players have gone through the American Legion system. MLB also honors the Legion at the World Series, as it is there that the big boys celebrate the Legion’s national championship team by presenting a trophy to the winning club.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame also recognizes the American Legion, as they annually honor the Legion player of the year with a plaque. This year, Fernando Irizarry, from Puerto Rico, received his trophy at the Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown.
MLB doesn’t stop there, either, as they contribute $35,500 - 3 percent of the Legion’s annual budget - to the American Legion.
Once the state winners have been decided, the teams advance to the regionals. The country is divided into eight regions: the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Great Lakes, Central Plains, Northwest, and West. 64 teams, including 1,280 players and coaches, do battle to come out of their region as champions, and the right to go to the American Legion World Series. The regional tournaments draw quite a crowd, as the average attendance at the regionals was 75,000 people last year. Saratoga plays in the Mid-Atlantic District.
This year, the eight teams will fight for the right to go to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where the national champion will be crowned.
Mound would love to see his club go that far, but admits that there is plenty of work to be done.
“We have been practicing defensive plays we wanted to work on, as well as other strategies we wanted to develop.”
Although Mound yearns to board a plane with his team and head to Bartlesville, he’s taking one step at a time.
“Our goal that we set out to achieve this year is to win the district and the state.”
The tournament will begin on Tuesday, but the Stampede have earned a bye, and will play their first game at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night, against the winner of Tuesday's 4 p.m. game between the Clinton County Mariners (Plattsburgh) and Ticonderoga.

Stampede shuts out Ticonderoga

2007-07-24T23:19:00.000-04:00

July 24

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The Saratoga Stampede closed out the American Legion regular season on a high note – defeating Ticonderoga by a 4-0 score to claim their fifth consecutive win.
The game was well pitched on both sides, and through the first two innings Ryan Washburn gave up just two hits for Saratoga, and Ticonderoga starter Hunter Denno allowed only a single by Justin Wilock.
In the third, Washburn was relieved by Andy Brown, as Stampede Manager Paul Mound continues to fine tune his staff heading into next week’s district tournament. In the tournament, the games change from seven innings to nine, so starters can’t pitch complete games as they do in the regular season.
Brown was very effective, yielding just a walk to Garret Hume in the third.
In the bottom of the inning, the Stampede would open the scoring. Brad Elliott drew a walk, stole second, and took third on a wild pitch. Kenny Recore then did his job, grounding out to the right side, driving home Elliott, and giving Saratoga a 1-0 lead.
Brown got the first out of the fourth easily, but then an error on third baseman Chris Hackett put Todd Carr on first. Two batters later, Travis Tabor singled, and there were runners on the corners. But Brown worked out of it, striking out Andrew Stanley to retire the side.
In the fifth, Brown again worked in and out of trouble. With one out, he walked Steve Burris, and then Hume slapped a base hit to left field. Brown then hit pinch hitter Travis Turnbull to load the bases, but he came back to strike out Adam Pond and got Carr to ground into a force play at second to end the threat.
Saratoga added two more runs off of Denno in the bottom of the frame, but only one of them was earned. Wilock reached on an error on Burris at short, and then stole second. A wild pitch sent Wilock to third, but when Tabor, the catcher, recovered the ball and fired to third, it sailed past Hume, the third baseman, and Wilock scored to make it 2-0. Later in the inning, Recore doubled, and Brown followed with a single to center to plate Recore and make it a 3-0 contest.
Neil Callahan came on to pitch the sixth, and he faced just four batters to keep the shutout alive.
The Stampede completed the scoring in the bottom of the sixth, as Callahan and Hackett started with back-to-back base hits. After Denno struck out Washburn and Wilock, Zach Hartman, playing right field, smacked a single to drive in Callahan, and it was 4-0.
Mike DeGregory, who just returned to the Stampede after a shoulder injury, saw his first action on the mound since the beginning of the season in the seventh. DeGregory showed some rust, walking Hume and throwing three wild pitches, but he struck out three batters, including pinch hitter Pat Wallace, to strand Turnbull on third and preserve the shutout.
Manager Paul Mound talked about his pitching staff, and the difference between the regular season and tournament play. He’s also quite pleased at what he has seen.
“When we go to district play we’re going to be doing nine inning games, so you’ve got to piece it together. We’re not going out and throwing complete games when they’re nine inning affairs. We’re getting more and more positive out of Mike DeGregory, I’m really pleased. He had a lot of pop on the fastball that last inning. Andy Brown threw phenomenal. (If) You get that kind of approach out of Andy, who got the win tonight, and I’ll tell you what, that’s a big contribution for us. Callahan’s been doing extremely well out of the bullpen, and that’s really what’s going to be the difference in this tournament. In these nine inning games, that’s the great equalizer – pitching.”
Mound also believes that the parts of his bullpen are coming together.
“I’m actually looking at one of our starters, if not both of our primary starters (Wilson and Hartman) as being the ultimate closer. The key to being able to use them in that role is to minimize how many pitches they throw in starts they have… if we can get the kind of performances out of the middle guys like I’m seeing right now, namely Callahan, DeGregory, Brown, those guys are going to be very big players in the districts. We get good starting pitching, with Travis, with Zach, with Wash(burn), with Hack(ett), and with Ryan White, I like what we have from the starting rotation’s perspective.”
The win puts Saratoga’s record at 36-8, and they are ahead of last year’s pace, where they finished at 36-10.
The Stampede will play a non-league double header against the Vermont Lakers on Thursday night, with the first game beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Stampede tops Oneonta

2007-07-23T18:28:00.000-04:00

July 23
SARATOGA SPRINGS – Neil Callahan drove in eight of Saratoga’s 11 runs as the Stampede finished their regular season on Monday by defeating Oneonta Post 259 by an 11-6 score.
The Stampede jumped out to a quick lead in the bottom of the first inning. Kenny Recore led of with a base hit, as he would go on to reach base safely all four times that he batted. After Recore moved to second on a passed ball, Andy Brown popped out to second baseman Lance Ratchford, and then Vince Farfaglia reached safely on an error by third baseman Ryan Lynch. Next up was Callahan, and he smashed a home run over the left-center field wall to put the Stampede on top, 3-0.
Manager Paul Mound was working his pitching staff, as he prepares for the District IV Tournament that begins on July 31. Mound used four pitchers during the game, and starting pitcher Ryan White was taken out after the second inning.
In the second, Oneonta picked up a run on a walk, a stolen base, and a two-out single up the middle. They tacked on two more runs in the third to tie the game. Three straight singles off of newly reactivated Mike DeGregory made it 3-2, and then a double two batters later tied the game.
But Saratoga answered back in the bottom of the inning. Recore was hit by a pitch, Andy Brown reached on an infield single, and then two batters later, Callahan picked up his fourth RBI when his infield single plated Recore to make it 4-3. Chris Hackett smacked a sacrifice fly to left, and Brown came home to make it 5-3.
DeGregory was shaky in the fourth, surrendering a single and two walks to load the bases. Lance Ratchford then lined a bullet to short, but Brown snagged it and tossed to Justin Wilock at second to catch P.J. McMullen off the base to complete the double play. A single to right brought in a run, and Oneonta pulled to within 5-4.
The Stampede got the run back in the fifth, as Recore, Brown, and Farfaglia all singled to start the inning. Farfaglia’s base hit scored Recore to make it 6-4. An error would lead to Farfaglia scoring later in the inning, and at the end of the fifth Saratoga was on top by a 7-4 margin.
In the sixth, the Oneonta club showed that they had plenty of fight left in them, and they scored twice to make it a 7-6 game.
But in the bottom of the inning, Callahan saved his finest feat for last. After Brad Elliott walked, Recore was hit by a pitch, and Brown reached on a bunt to load the bases, Callahan would clear them on a 1-0 pitch, slamming a grand slam high over the left field wall to give the Stampede an insurmountable 11-6 advantage.
Levi Washburn, who came in to pitch the sixth, closed out the game, allowing a base hit, and then inducing A.J. Herrmann to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. After walking McMullen, Jack Benjamin popped out to Callahan at third to end the ball game and improve Saratoga’s record to 35-8 on the season.
The Stampede will host a tune-up doubleheader against the Vermont Lakers on Thursday before heading to the District IV Tournament next week.

Stampede sweep double header

2007-07-23T17:36:00.000-04:00

July 22

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The Saratoga Stampede swept a double header at East Side Rec today, coming from behind to defeat Hudson Post 184 7-6 in the first game, and then coming from behind again, this time against Mohican Post 553 out of South Glens Falls, to win by a 4-2 margin.
Against Hudson in the first game, Travis Wilson took the ball from Manager Paul Mound, and the 6’ 5” southpaw struggled just a bit with his control, which is a rarity. After allowing an infield single and a base hit with one out, Wilson tried to pick off Dave Ellis at first. The throw sailed past first baseman Neil Callahan, and the runners advanced to second and third. Wilson settled down and struck out Brian Gauthier, but then walked Zach Kraham to load the bases. Wilson then got his focus back, and fanned Mike Rigos to retire the side.
In the bottom of the frame, Saratoga took a 1-0 lead without the benefit of a base hit. Catcher Kenny Recore led off by drawing a base on balls, and then went to second base on Andy Brown’s swinging bunt down the first base line. A wild pitch then sent Recore to third, and when the catcher recovered the ball, he overthrew third baseman Eric Mossman, and Recore jogged home for the game’s first run.
Hudson touched Wilson for their first run in the third. With one out, Brooks Winner lined a single to center, but Wilson came back to strike out Ellis. Gauthier came up next, and he smacked a double to drive in Gauthier and tie the game. Kraham then smacked a line drive that seemed destined for center field, but second baseman Justin Wilock timed his leap perfectly and robbed Kraham of a hit and Hudson of the lead.
The Stampede threatened in the bottom of the inning, with runners on second and third and nobody out, but Kraham did a beautiful job of working out of it, as he struck out Recore, Brown, and Vince Farfaglia to snuff out the threat.
In the fourth, Hudson took the lead for the first time. With runners on first and third, Jeff Mound muffed a ground ball, and it was a 2-1 game. Wilson wasn’t fazed, as he then picked off Nate Toussant for the final out.
It remained a 2-1 game until the seventh, when things took a turn for the worse for Saratoga. After Erin Mossman fouled out to Callahan, Wilson walked Zach Issler, and Toussant reached on an infield single. Winner reached on Mound’s second error to load the bases, and then Ellis drew a walk to plate Issler and give Hudson a two-run advantage.
The walls seemed to be falling in on the Stampede, as Gauthier then smacked a two-RBI single to center to make it 5-1, and then Paul Mound lifted Wilson in favor of Callahan. Callahan came up huge, first by inducing Kraham to pop out to left field. The shot appeared that it was going to fall in, but Brown showed his range at short by tracking it down and making the catch two steps in front of left fielder Brad Elliott. Wilson then got Drew Doty to ground out to Mound to end the inning.
Meanwhile, Kraham was cruising for Hudson. Through the first six innings, the Stampede could only muster three base hits; Wilock reached on an infield single in the third, Recore singled in the fifth, and Chris Hackett lined a base hit in the sixth. Kraham also had sent nine batters down on strikes. Down by four runs, the Stampede were down to their final three outs.
The Stampede opened the inning with four straight hits. Wilock singled to right, and then Elliott doubled him home to pull the Stampede to within 5-2. Recore’s base hit to left put runners on the corners, and then Brown pulled a single to left. Elliott scored to make it 5-3, but Gauthier misplayed the ball in left, and Recore and Brown moved up to second and third. A wild pitch by Kraham scored Recore, making it 5-4, and then two batters later Callahan singled to left to plate Brown and tie the ball game at five.
The game went into extra innings, as it remained tied until the top of the ninth, when Hudson again took the lead. Toussant was safe on an infield single, went to second on a bunt by Winner, and then stole third. Mound’s third error at second scored Toussant and gave Hudson a 6-5 lead. Gauthier then lined out to Elliott in left and then Callahan got Kraham to ground out for the final out.
But Saratoga would not be denied. Back-to-back base hits by Recore and Brown put pressure on Hudson reliever Brett Anderson, but he came back to strike out Farfaglia.
Next up was Callahan, who has come up big all season for the Stampede. Neil wasted no time, as he blasted a double on the first pitch that he saw, scoring Recore and Brown and giving the Stampede the come-from-behind win.
Chris Hackett took the mound for Saratoga in the second game, against Mohican Post 553.
Hackett showed much better form than he has in recent outings, and he kept the Mohican bats at bay, scattering just two hits and two walks over the first five innings.
The Stampede got on the scoreboard in the third. Levi Washburn led off with a base hit to center, and then he stole second. Jeff Mound bunted him over to third, and then a wild pitch by Mohican starter Lance Chapman allowed Washburn to race home for the game’s first run.
After five innings of futility, Mohican finally scored in the sixth. Hackett struck out the first two batters, and then Lance Bull singled to center. Hackett then lost his control, throwing two wild pitches that moved Bull around to third. Chapman walked and stole second, and then Matt Lacy slapped a single, scoring both runners and giving Mohican a 2-1 lead. Hackett then got Tyler Beecher to hit a ground ball to Brown at short, and he flipped to Mound at second for the force to end the inning.
But, as in the first game, Saratoga could not be held down. Brown led off with a base hit, and then went to second on Farfaglia’s ground ball to short. A wild pitch sent Brown to third, and then Callahan drew a walk. Kyle Baldani came up next, and he singled to plate Brown and tie the game at two. Ryan Washburn walked to load the bases, and then Levi singled to right, driving in Callahan and Baldani, and Saratoga re-took the lead at 4-2.
Mohican would make it interesting in the seventh. A walk and a singe put runners on first and second with nobody out, but Hackett collected himself, and he got Damian Tyler to fly out to Recore in right. Joe Deutchman tried to tag up from third, but when Recore’s throw was cut off by Callahan, Deutchman tried to head back to second, and Callahan fired to Brown at second for the double play. Hackett then went to a full count on Ryan Chadwick before he caught him looking at a called third strike to end the ball game.

Double Trouble

2007-07-19T12:42:00.000-04:00

July 18

The Saratoga Stampede are off to a terrific start to defending their 2006 District IV American Legion championship, and pitchers Travis Wilson and Zach Hartman are two of the reasons why. With identical 7-1 records, the two have a combined earned run average of just 1.82, and have accounted for nearly half of Saratoga’s 31 wins.
Wilson has had a tremendous season on the mound for the Stampede, ranking as one of the aces on the staff. In 13 appearances, eight of them starts, Wilson has thrown 58.2 innings, has yielded just 48 hits and 16 earned runs, has struck out 55 batters while walking only 24, and boasts an earned run average of just 1.91.
He has also helped his own cause while at the plate. The Stillwater grad has made the most of his nine at-bats, as he’s contributed three hits, scored two runs, has two runs batted in, and sports a .500 on-base percentage to go along with his slugging percentage and batting average, both at .333.
As for Hartman, he has been equally effective, if not more so. He’s had 10 appearances and seven starts, and has allowed just 13 earned runs on 32 hits, and has struck out 55 batters in only 53 innings while walking just 17. Hartman also has a miniscule ERA of 1.72, in a league that has an optional designated hitter.
A product of Ballston Spa High School, Hartman has proven to be an asset at the plate, as well. In 21 games and 57 at-bats, Hartman has 18 hits, including 14 base hits, three doubles, and a triple. He’s driven in 10 runs, scored 12, has an on-base percentage of .426, a slugging percentage of .404, and is batting .316 on the season.
When talking to the two hurlers, one finds many similarities between the two. Whether talking about their high school careers, their summer with the Stampede, or their future at the college level, Wilson and Hartman seem to be on the same page.
Hartman was quick to note the difference between Legion ball and his experience at the high school level.
"I have more confidence with the guys I'm playing with over the summer," said Hartman. "Everybody out there's a stud, and you know they're going to score for you, too. In high school we didn't get as many runs as the Stampede puts up. And with these guys we know we can put the ball in play and they're going to get the out.
One of the advantages of American Legion baseball is that it gives the players who just graduated from high school a taste of what they're to expect come next fall at the college level. This is particularly helpful to Wilson, who attended Stillwater High, and may have been considered a big fish in a small pond. This opportunity was huge for Wilson, and it has helped to answer any questions he may have had about his own ability, and how he might fare against college competition.
"Definitely for me (the experience has helped), because I go to a smaller school than he (Hartman) does, and I face less competition, so this summer was a real test for me, to make sure I could get out good hitters, said Wilson. I'm a lot more confident going into college now then I was at the end of the high school year.
Hartman agreed that this summer with the Stampede would give him an edge as a freshman pitcher.
"Some of the legion players already played in college," replied Hartman. "Guys are coming to get after you, too. They're all stars on their high school teams, so it prepares you for some of the hitters you're going to see in college."
Another one of the advantages for the players of Paul Mound's Saratoga Stampede program is that some of his players come from sub-par high school programs, where they carry the burden for their team, but they all get to showcase their talents for the Stampede.
When asked why it all seems to come together for the Stampede, Wilson offered his view.
"I think that the weight's lifted off of everybody's shoulders (with the Stampede). You know that if you don't get a hit that the guy behind you is going to pick you up. And I think that takes a lot of pressure off of everybody because they're more relaxed, more confident. I know, being in high school, when I was pitching, I knew that if I was getting tired that were no other options. Now, if I get tired, I can look over in the bullpen, see him (Hartman) warming up, I know that I can give the ball up.
The Stampede is a fun team to be around. They're loose, they know how to have fun, and it's an atmosphere that baseball is all about.
With that said, don't think that this team doesn't take its job seriously. When talking to these players, it's clear that they know what's going on, they love what they do, they know what it takes to win, they study the game and its effect on their lives, and they also appreciate heir teammates. For Wilson and Hartman, this is the best pitching staff that they have been a part of.
"This (staff) is unreal," said Hartman. "Usually, you're team has one or two good pitchers, if that, and this team's got four or five… It's nice to have confidence that everybody that you hand the ball to, no matter who goes on the mound, we know we have a shot at the win."
This team has shown that they definitely have a shot at the win, no matter who they're playing. The Stampede just completed the 12th Annual Cooper's Cave Tournament, where they were a perfect 7-0 to take the title.
The regular season is nearly over, which means that the District Tournament isn't too far away, and then, hopefully for the Stampede, it will be on to the state tourney.

Hartman and Wilson both feel good, and they're ready for what lies ahead.
"I'm pitching with a lot of confidence right now, trying to get rolling into the districts," said Hartman.
The Stampede will be at home at East Side Rec to take on Anaconda in a double header on Friday night, and the District Tournament, which they will host, begins on July 31.

Stampede wins title

2007-07-19T12:13:00.000-04:00

July 15

Saratoga Springs – Powered by Neil Callahan’s two home runs, the Saratoga Stampede defeated the Newburgh Nuclears 6-2 to win the 12th Annual Cooper’s Cave Tournament Sunday at East Side Rec.
Callahan, named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, launched his first shot in the bottom of the first inning with Andy Brown on first base to give Saratoga a 2-0 lead.
Travis Wilson took the mound for the Stampede in the title game, and he had one of his finest outings of the season. Wilson kept the Newburgh bats silent, giving up a harmless single in the second, and then he did not allow another hit until the top of the fifth.
Saratoga made it a 3-0 contest in the second. Ryan Washburn walked to lead off the inning, and then brother Levi smacked a single up the middle to put runners on first and second. One out later, Brad Elliott laid down a beautiful bunt that plated Ryan Washburn to make it 3-0.
The Stampede kept the pressure on in the following inning, as Callahan’s second dinger to left field drove in Kenny Recore, who opened the inning with a base hit, and Andy Brown, who had drawn a walk, and the score was then 6-0.
Wilson ran into some hard luck in the sixth, and Newburgh took advantage of it. Josh Depew started the inning by hitting a shot to third base, and Chris Hackett misplayed it for a two-base error. Rick Pacione then reached on a swinging bunt infield single, putting runners on the corners. Wilson then threw a wild pitch that got past Recore, which doesn’t happen often, and Depew raced home to pull the Nuclears to within 6-1. After Jack Crawford flied out to Elliott in center, John DeGroodt lined a single to left to drive in Pacione and Newburgh was within 6-2. Wilson then took matters into his own hands and picked DeGroodt off of first, the second time he nailed a runner in the game.
In the seventh, Wilson caught Sean Griffin looking at a called third strike for the first out. Mark Corrado then popped out to Brown at short, and Saratoga was one out away from winning. But Newburgh wouldn’t go down without a fight, and after Vinny Moscato reached on an error and Tommy Hand doubled, the Nukes had some confidence back with runners on second and third.
But once again Wilson answered the call, and he struck out pinch hitter Sean Leahy to end the game.
The Stampede finished the tournament with a perfect 7-0 record, and they will next play at home on Friday night in a double header against Anaconda.
For the tournament, Callahan went 8-for-22 (.364), with two home runs, seven RBIs, seven runs scored, four doubles, and six walks.

Stampede take two

2007-07-19T12:09:00.000-04:00

July 14

Saratoga Springs – The Saratoga Stampede did what they had to – win two games to advance to the championship game of the 12th Annual Cooper’s Cave tournament at East Side Rec on Saturday.
The Stampede (29-7) first took on St. Johnsville Post, where they won a tight match, 3-2.

Saratoga wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as designated hitter Kyle Baldani drove in Andy Brown to make it a 1-0 game after one inning.
The Stampede would score the remainder of their runs in the second. With runners on first and second with two outs, Zac Kozersky ripped a base hit to score Justin Wilock to extend the lead to 2-0. Kenny Recore followed with a single to right, plating Brad Elliott for a 3-0 edge.
Ryan Washburn took the ball from Manager Paul Mound, and he turned in a terrific performance. Washburn, who now hurls for the Hudson Valley Community College pitching staff, has pitched sparsely for the Stampede. It didn’t show, as Washburn held St. Johnsville, a formidable team, scoreless over the first four innings, while scattering just three hits. The three hits in the fifth inning would amount to two runs, but after Josh Nethaway’s RBI double made it a 3-2 game, Washburn struck out Nick Manganelli to retire the side.
In the next inning-plus that he pitched, Washburn would yield just a harmless base hit before giving way to Travis Wilson, who struck out Derrick Nugent and Brandon Elmendorf to end the game.
In the semifinal game that leads to the championship match, which will be played today at noon at East Side Rec, Saratoga was matched against Hoxsie Cleansers from Rhode Island, who crushed the Malone Post earlier in the day to make it to the semis.
Zach Hartman, who has been an ace for the Stampede all season (7-1, 1.72 ERA), took the mound for the Stampede. Hoxsie was not intimidated by Hartman’s success, as they tagged him for a run in the top of the first inning.
Hartman would have the last laugh, however, as he settled down and held Hoxsie to just three runs over six innings.
Saratoga doesn’t play from behind very often, and this game was no different. Third baseman Chris Hackett led off with the first of two long doubles that he would hit on the night, and he would score later in the inning on a wild pitch by Hoxsie starter Angelo St. Laurent.
Ryan Washburn, who drew a walk, scored later to make it 2-1, as the Stampede sent eight batters to the plate.
In the fourth, Saratoga picked up another run. With one out, Kozersky reached on an infield single, stole second, went to third on an error, and then scored when Recore laced a single to center
The Stampede put the game way in the fifth, as Kyle Baldani, Hackett, and Washburn all drew walks to open the inning. Wilock then polished off Hoxsie with a base-clearing double, giving Saratoga an insurmountable 6-1 lead.
Hoxsie, however, refused to go down without a fight. They ripped three straight singles off of Washburn to start the sixth, but Washburn showed his mettle, as he gave up just one run while retiring the next three batters to end the inning.
The Stampede added two more runs in the bottom of the frame, as Hackett’s double to deep left-center field scored Neil Callahan, and then he would come around to make it 8-3 on an error on shortstop Dan Gamache to complete the scoring.
Neil Callahan, who sparkled defensively by making two tremendous diving plays to steal a hit from the opposition in each game today, recorded the final three outs to preserve the win.
The Stampede players are excited to be playing Newburgh, who they lost to by a 3-2 score in an earlier tournament this season. Zach Hartman is just one of the players who remembers the heart-wrenching loss.
“We saw them with the wood bats earlier, and we can’t wait to get back at them with the metal ones,” said Hartman.
Manager Paul Mound, who has seen his club in the championship game of two tournaments already this season, is thrilled to be in the same position once again.
“The team’s on a roll, just like last year…we’re doing it with all kinds of players…up and down this lineup, every day it’s somebody else… so, what more can you ask for?.. Washburn was huge today, Hartman was unbelievable on short rest, Hackett’s bat is back, Justin Wilock is hitting the cover off of the ball, Kozersky is a major weapon because of his foot speed and what he brings to the game… so, for us, I’m incredibly pleased.
“Newburgh is a very good squad… they’re well managed, they’re fundamentally sound… they came from behind to beat Saugerties 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning… Newburgh’s undefeated (5-0 in the tournament, one game cancelled due to rain), we’re undefeated (6-0), so I guess it’s fitting… We’re going to give them our game, we know what they are all about, our guys are pretty stoked to go and play them again, and we feel like we owe them one."
Saratoga and Newburgh will face off today at noon at East Side Rec.

Hartman continues to mow down competition

2007-07-19T12:01:00.000-04:00

July 12
SARATOGA SPRINGS – Saratoga Stampede starting pitcher Zach Hartman had another impressive outing, this time in the 12th Annual Cooper’s Cave tournament, as he allowed just one earned run in a 4-2 win over the Rondout Royals at East Side Rec on Thursday night.
Hartman struck out eight batters while walking just one as he kept the Rondout bats quiet for most of the night.
The Stampede gave Hartman an early 1-0 lead with a little two-out lightning in the bottom of the first inning. After Kenny Recore and Justin Wilock grounded out to shortstop Dan Steers, Andy Brown worked out a walk. Neil Callahan then delivered the big blow, a double into the left field corner that scored Brown all the way from first.
Saratoga increased its lead to 4-0 the following inning. Ryan Washburn reached safely on an error on second baseman Gideon Sterer, and then advanced to second when Mike Hughes, the Royals starting pitcher, threw wildly to first in an attempt to pick him off. Ryan’s brother Levi then stroked a base hit into left field, scoring Ryan and putting the Stampede up 2-0.
After Brad Elliott struck out, Recore reached on an infield single. Justin Wilock delivered another blow to Rondout when his single to deep left field scored Levi Washburn and Recore, and Saratoga was on top 4-0.
Hartman was in a groove by then. After surrendering a single to Joe Dennin to open the game, Hartman retired the next eight batters before Sterer poked a single to left. Hartman then got Fred Moore to ground out to Wilock at second to end the inning.
The Stampede threatened again in the third, with runners on second, but 15-year-old relief pitcher G.C. Yerry came in, walked Levi Washburn on a full count, and then struck out Brad Elliott to end the inning. Yerri would strike out seven Stampede batters in 3 2/3 innings.
Other than a hit batsman, Hartman sailed through the fourth. In the fifth, he stumbled just a bit. He walked Joe Viviani, and then Levi Washburn misplayed a fly ball in left, resulting in an error. Sterer’s groundout to Andy Brown at short scored Viviani, but then Moore smacked a ground ball to short that hit Dennin, who was running to third, and the inning was over.
Hartman allowed his only earned run in the sixth, but struck out Jonny Harkins for the third out.
In the seventh he picked up his final two strikeouts, including Moore for the final out of the night.
To go with his eight K’s, Hartman scattered just six hits over the seven-inning contest.
The tournament continues today, with the first game scheduled for 9 a.m. at East Side Rec, and the Stampede will play at 8 p.m. versus Malone Post.

Stampede - Saratoga's best-kept secret

2007-07-19T11:55:00.000-04:00

July 9
SARATOGA SPRINGS – There’s some great baseball being played right here in the Spa city, and no one’s watching.
The Saratoga Stampede, the defending District IV Champions of the American Legion, is one of Saratoga’s best-kept secrets.
The Stampede was founded by their head coach, Paul Mound, seven years ago. Starting out as a Babe Ruth team as well as a 15-and-under independent travel team, Mound turned down offers to bring his club into the Connie Mack league and instead opted to join the American Legion. Some say that his club is better suited for Connie Mack, but Mound defends his choice to join the Legion.
“I don’t believe that Connie Mack baseball is as good as American Legion baseball because college guys don’t come out and follow Connie Mack baseball. I can give you college coach after college coach that are big proponents of Legion baseball. I think it’s a much better brand of baseball also because in American Legion, you can come back and play after you’ve completed your freshman year of college and challenge high school kids. You can’t do that in Connie Mack, they’re all high school players. So it’s an extension of high school baseball in many ways. It (Connie Mack) typically doesn’t travel outside of the immediate area, where we go outside of our immediate area to seek out tougher competition.”
Others believe that the competition would be better in Connie Mack, but again Mound stands by his league.
“Locally, when we play weeknight games I would make an argument that some of the teams that come out of certain counties are not as strong because there are too many posts in that area.
“If you were Melvin Roads out of East Greenbush, who won the Newburgh tournament last weekend, they’re a very good team, and we pounded them. After we pounded them they went up to Plattsburgh and won the Plattsburgh tournament, and went down to Newburgh and won the Newburgh tournament.
Mound is 100 percent dedicated to his team as well as his league, and he has made it a point to learn the history of the league, former players, and the current teams as well as the management of the other clubs.
“We go down and we play Shrub Oak. The director of the Shrub Oak baseball program happens to be the East coast director of scouting for the Kansas City Royals. We play the Newburgh Nuclears, chartered in 1948 and personally have put nine players in the major leagues and continue to be a college hotbed for quality college baseball players. Beacon is a solid program whose players are always being recruited to go play. So to the nay sayers I would say this, ‘What percentage of players are you placing at top-shelf college programs versus what percentage the American Legion is placing,’ and I think that speaks volumes.”
Mound continued to show his detailed knowledge of the league.
“St. Johnsville’s head coach was a nine-year major league baseball player, Roger Weaver, who pitched for the Detroit Tigers for nine years… St. Johnsville has an amazing baseball program. You go out to Utica, New Hartford, who are New York State champions, they ran nine guys out on us last year, eight of them who were Div. I or Div. II baseball players!”
American Legion baseball has been around since 1925. The American Legion in the state of New York has produced over 50 major league baseball players, including many from this area.
“Think of these names, out of the Utica area; American Legion baseball players Mark Lemke, Andy Van Slyke, Dave Cash, all out of Utica, New York. Gary Tuck, who played American Legion baseball with me out in Amsterdam, was solely responsible for the development of Jorge Posada. He’s currently the catching instructor for the Boston Red Sox. Dave LaPointe from Glens Falls Post, and David Palmer, who pitched for the Montreal Expos and the Atlanta braves.
“American Legion baseball is quality, quality baseball, and, on top of it, you can go travel to American Legion tournaments and get tested even more.”
And when it comes to quality baseball, Saratogians do not have to travel to Utica or Amsterdam to see fine athletes, as the Stampede play right in our own back yard.
Of the players from last year’s squad who helped bring home the crown, Kevin Gent, who pitched for the Stampede for six years and holds all of Saratoga’s pitching records, is now hurling for Plattsburgh State. Matt Kelley is playing for Hartwick, Oliver Aldrich is a member of Castleton State’s baseball team, Steve Hughes is in the U.S. Naval Academy, and Brian Sheridan is part of Hudson Valley Community College’s starting rotation.
And it doesn’t end there. Currently, part of this year’s Stampede team just completed their freshman year of college, while others who graduated high school this year have a college career already mapped out for them.
Third baseman Chris Hackett, one of five Saratoga High School products currently on the Stampede roster, will be headed to the University of Albany. Second baseman Jeff Mound, one of the team’s co-captains, just completed his freshman year at Plattsburgh State, as did Andy Brown, the team’s other co-captain, at Union College. Underclassmen Brad Elliott and Ryan White also hail from the Blue Streaks’ squad. Zac Kozersky, a Schuylerville grad, is playing for Hudson Valley, where he led the team in stolen bases in his freshman campaign. Ryan Washburn, who was a teammate of Kozersky’s at Schuylerville, is also on the roster at Hudson Valley, where he led the club in batting average in his first year.
Not only are the players on the Stampede talented, as their record consistently shows, but they are loyal to the program as well.
The aforementioned Gent was with the Stampede for six years, co-captains Mound and Brown are seven-year veterans of the program, and since they have been with the club since before they were a Legion team, have put up records that will never be broken by another Stampede player.
Kozersky, while sitting out last season, is also in his sixth season with the club, as is Washburn. Hughes played for Saratoga for four years, and Hackett is in his fourth season and will most likely be back for a fifth and maybe even a sixth season. Neil Callahan, Justin Wilock, and Kenny Recore are all three-year veterans of the Stampede.
When asked why he thought his players were so loyal to the team, Mound wasted no time in giving his perspective.
“Because I love each and every one of them like they’re my own family,” said Mound.
“You won’t know what kid is my kid, other than the name on his back. I don’t treat any of them any different. They’re all an extended part of my family. They know that I care about them not only as players, but as people, and I want them to have these years, when they look back at them, to be the greatest time in their life. So we have a lot of fun.”
Ryan Washburn added some color on the subject when he said that he had opportunities to play elsewhere, but he didn’t want to miss a season of “Paul Ball,” as the players have titled Mound’s baseball philosophy.
What exactly is “Paul Ball?” Quite simply put, it’s fundamentally sound, winning baseball. His team can hit, they are excellent defenders, there’s plenty of team speed, and they round it all out with outstanding pitching.
The Stampede are off to another fine season, as their record shows (20-5 American Legion, 22-7 overall). So, if you’re a fan of baseball, there are some great games being played right here in town, where you can see the stars of the local high school and college baseball diamond, and it also gives you a chance to follow the area players after they have graduated from high school.
Saratoga plays its home games at East Side Rec, and will have an extended home schedule this season, as they will be hosting the 12th annual Cooper’s Cove tournament, an 18-team tournament that will be played from July 10-15, as well as the American Legion District IV Tournament, which runs from July 31 - Aug. 5. To see the complete 2007 Saratoga Stampede schedule, visit http://www.saratogastampede.com/, click on the eteamz link, and the click on schedules.

Stampede lose first home game in over a year

2007-07-19T11:48:00.000-04:00

July 3
Saratoga Springs – The Saratoga Stampede lost their first home game in more than a year, as they split a double header to the Vermont Lakers, a college team, on Tuesday night.
The Stampede (17-4 American Legion, 19-6 overall) took the first game by a 2-0 score, as Ryan White, a Saratoga High School product, scattered six hits over six innings and struck out four batters while walking just one to earn the win.
The game went by quickly, as both starting pitchers carried shutouts into the fifth inning.
Both teams threatened, but could not come up with the key hit. In the top of the second, a two-out hit loaded the bases for Vermont, but White got former Stampede player Oliver Aldrich to ground out to Levi Washburn at shortstop to end the threat.
Saratoga answered in the bottom of the frame, as Chris Hackett opened the inning with a walk. A single by Ryan Washburn and a beautiful sacrifice bunt by Kyle Baldani put runners on second and third, but Zach Hartman’s grounder was played to home to cut down Hackett, and then Justin Wilock tapped one back to the mound, and Vermont pitcher Jeremy Gilchrist threw to the plate to end the inning.
In the top of the third, White surrendered back-to-back singles to start the inning, but then got Matt O’Rourke to fly out to Hackett in right, struck out Ted Mills, and enticed Dan Conley to groundout to Wilock at second to retire the side.
The Stampede broke through to end the scoreless tie in the fifth. Levi Washburn opened with a base hit up the middle, Wilock grounded out to first, and then Saratoga received four consecutive singles, by Zac Kozersky, Kenny Recore, Vince Farfaglia, and Hackett. Recore drove in Washburn and Farfaglia’s base hit to left plated Kozersky for the 2-0 lead.
That was all that White needed, as he gave up a leadoff single in the sixth, and then got the next three batters. In the seventh, he struck out Mike Jones, gave up an infield single to Anthony Angrasano, picked him off, and then ended the game by striking out Aldrich.
Vermont sent pitcher Stephen Shorml to the mound for game two, and he simply dominated the Stampede. He sent Saratoga down in order in the first, and then his club gave him a 1-0 lead to work with in the top of the second.
Shorml was even more impressive in the second, as he struck out Andy Brown, Baldani, and Hartman all in a row. After two innings Shorml had four strikeouts.
Stampede starter Chris Hackett pitched well in the third, but lost the strike zone in the fourth, walking the first three batters he faced. Three hits and a sac fly later, Vermont had built a 4-0 lead.
They added two more in the fifth, as two more walks came around to score, making it a 6-0 contest.
After Ryan Washburn struck out two and faced the minimum three batters in the sixth, the Lakers picked up their final two runs in the seventh off of Brown on four base hits, and the deficit was then 8-0.
Saratoga went quietly in the seventh, as Mat Tutthil struck out Farfaglia and Brown before Baldani scorched a line drive to short, and Scott Robinson timed his leap perfectly, robbing Baldani and ending the game.

Stampede to hoist flag tonight

2007-07-19T11:29:00.000-04:00

June 26
Saratoga Springs – The Saratoga Stampede will receive their 2006 American Legion Division IV championship flag, which they will raise tonight in a pregame ceremony at East Side Rec.
The flag will be presented by Saratoga Central Catholic baseball head coach Alphonse Lambert. Lambert has close ties to the Stampede, as Vince Farfaglia, Neil Callahan, and other members of the Saints’ team are a part of Paul Mound’s Stampede squad.
To honor the ’06 team that won District IV and went to the state finals, Mound has invited players who were on last year’s club, but are age ineligable to play this season, back for the ceremony.
Kevin Gent, a left-handed pitcher who now attends Plattsburgh State, is one of the former players that will be attending the ceremony. Gent played for the Stampede for seven years and holds all of the Stampede’s pitching records. Since the Stampede began as a Babe Ruth and 15-and-under independent travel team and have only been in the American Legion for three years, Gent’s records should stand for as long as the Stampede remains a baseball club.
Also appearing for the ceremony will be Matt Kelley, who only played one year for Saratoga, but was a huge part of the ’06 team. Kelley hit three home runs in one game against St. Johhnsville in last year’s state tournament.
Mike Ruggiero, who posted a 15-3 record in two years as a starting pitcher for Saratoga, will be in attendance, as will Oliver Aldrich, who now plays for Castleton State in Vermont. Rounding out the list of last year’s players are Steve Hughes, who left the club midway through the season to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, and Brian Sheridan, who recorded an 8-2 record as a starting pitcher and worked his way into the closer’s role by season’s end. Sheridan is now a member of Hudson Valley Community College’s pitching rotation.
Making the ceremony extra sweet for the Stampede is the fact that they are playing St. Johnsville, who they defeated for District IV title.
The ceremony will begin at 6:45, with first pitch scheduled for 7:30.
Also attending tonight’s ceremony will be the Director of the Saratoga Springs Recreation Commission, Linda Tericola.
“Linda has worked closely with me over the past seven years to insure the growth of the Stampede program. Her time and assistance has been extremely valuable to our success,” said Mound.

NHL: Isles get Smyth for deal of deadline

2007-03-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

There were several moves made in the NHL at the trading deadline, with some teams bulking up for the post season and others unloading unhappy players and unsignable free agents.
Among the best deals to emerge from the deadline was the New York Islanders' acquisition of the Edmonton Oilers captain, Ryan Smyth.
Smyth has been the heart and soul of the Oilers for 10 years. He's scored fewer than 20 goals just twice in his career, has scored more than 20 goals four times, and has scored more than 30 goals four times as well, including this season (31 and counting).
He has totaled 50-60 points four times, 60-plus points three times, and scored 70 points once, in the 2000-'01 campaign. Smyth has also tallied at least 10 power-play goals seven times in his career.
Smyth is a great playmaker, as he proved in his Long Island debut, assisting on the Islanders' first goal and playing a big part in their second, even though he wasn't credited with an assist.
There have been kudos from coast to coast and in both Canada and the U.S. praising New York General Manager Garth Snow for pulling off the seemingly impossible.
The Islanders have had their most competitive season in several years, and Snow rewarded his club by adding Smyth, as opposed to past years when Islanders fans watched more and more talent shipped out of Uniondale come trade-deadline time.
With the addition of Smyth and fellow veteran winger Richard Zednik, the Islanders proved that they are out to prove something this year, and bringing Smyth to Long Island just may be the best move of the deadline.

NBA: Time for Thomas to let Lee run wild

2007-03-02T22:13:00.000-05:00

I understand that Channing Frye is a local product and a fan favorite, being from White Plains and all, and the Knicks once again don't want to eat crow about another unsuccessful draft pick, but it's time for Isiah Thomas to realize that David Lee is a better player than Channing Frye, hands down, and the numbers more than prove it.

Compared side by side, look at the numbers. They are both the same age, 23; Frye is 6'11", Lee is 6'9". But Frye is one pound lighter than Lee, and it shows. Frye is a nice player, but he doesn't intimidate anyone inside, and he has a soft interior game.

Frye is averaging just under 26 minutes per game, 10 points, and five-and-a half boards.

Lee is averaging just under 31 minutes per contest, and is dropping in 11.2 points and grabbing 10.7 rebounds.

Lee is a nightmare for opponents in the paint, and his play lifts the team's energy level and spells havoc for the opposition. He is instant offense, as he comes in off of the bench time after time, and is usually in double digits in both points and boards after he's been in the game just 10 minutes.

Frye doesn't offer that. He doesn't fight for the ball in a crowd like Lee does, nor does he have that "refuse to be boxed out" mentality that Lee shows under the glass. Not only does David Lee do that (dive for balls), but when he does, he's often more successful than not.

Lee has missed four straight games due to an ankle injury and five out of six. His last game was against the Milwaukee Bucks on February 23, when he recorded 10 points and nine rebounds in 26 minutes. In his last game before that, against Orlando on Feb. 20, he scored 14 points and hauled in 16 boards in 36 minutes.

But for some reason, he still doesn't get the start.

I understand the importance of a sixth man. It is something that championship clubs rely on. It is often the final missing piece of a puzzle for a team that has everything else. So, I understand the affect that Lee has coming off of the bench.

But, at the same time, unless I missed something, the Knicks are not at the point where they are missing just one piece of the puzzle. This is a team that struggles to win each and every night, regardless how good or pathetic the opponent is. They need Lee's energy from the opening tip-off, not coming off of the bench when they need a boost midway through, or when a starter gets into foul trouble.

Knicks fans have been complaining during recent years that the only position that the club has taken seriously when it comes to acquisitions, is at guard. With Starbury, Franchise, Crawford, and Robinson, New York has reached its guard quota, and is in good shape.

The problem has been in the paint.The Knicks finally have some light at the end of their power forward tunnel, and that light is David Lee, who shot 14-for-14 and won the game's Most Valuable Player award in the Rookie-Sophomore game at the NBA All-Star Weekend last month. If Isiah doesn't see that, then he just might get hit by that oncoming subway car.

NHL: Isles and Pens shaking up East

2007-03-02T20:16:00.000-05:00

As the NHL season enters its final quarter of the regular season, there are two teams in the East that haven't made much noise in recent years, but plenty of people are paying attention to them now: the New York Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In the new calendar year, there aren't any two teams that have been hotter.
Since January 18, when the Islanders won in Philadelphia by a score of 4-2, New York has a record of 11-2-5 in 18 games. This means that they came away with at least one point in 16 of 18, and took 27 of a possible 36 points over the stretch. The Islanders have haven't lost two consecutive game in regulation play since January 15 and 16, when they dropped one game at home against the Lightning and another in Pittsburgh, and they have jumped from being 12th in the conference to their current No. 7 spot.
At No. 7, New York has amassed 73 points in 64 games played. Atlanta is No. 6, with one more game played at 65 and just one more point than the Isles with 74. The Penguins have a firm grasp on the No. 5 position, as they have four more points than New York, 77, and have played two games less.
The Islanders are not just hot, but with the recent additions of right winger Richard Zednik and the Edmonton Oilers' heart and soul, captain Ryan Smyth, New York has positioned itself to make a strong push this coming spring.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been just as hot as New York, if not hotter. Since January 13, when they won at Philly 5-3, breaking a three-game losing streak, the Pens have gone 16-3-2 in 21 games, have taken 34 of a possible 42 points, and did not lose back-to-back games, in regulation or overtime, until this past week, when they dropped a 5-1 decision at Tampa, and followed that with a tough 1-0 home loss against the first-place New Jersey Devils.
The Penguins have truly been the talk of the league this season, and understandably so, as young sensations Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal have meshed terrificly with veterans like Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts, and they have kept Pittsburgh in the thick of the hunt all year.
It looks as though the Penguins will hold on to second place in the Atlantic Division, with the Devils playing great hockey and probably out of Pittsburgh's reach, as Pittsburgh is most likely out of the reach of the Islanders. They're in fifth place in the conference, and barring a collapse by them or the teams in front of them, they will likely be right there at No. 5 come playoff time.
Now, combined with the addition of a tough guy like Georges Laraque, Pittsburgh could be close to returning to the glory days of Mario and Jaromir.

Boxing: New year already off to a crazy start

2007-02-16T21:19:00.000-05:00

It's only the middle of February, but already we've seen some stories in the world of boxing that will raise more than an eyebrow.
There have been fighters in trouble, both familiar names as well as some less known, in negative headlines.
Let's take a look at some of Boxing's top stories of the young year:
In January, Mike Tyson pleaded not guilty in a Scottsdale, Arizona court to charges of drug possession and driving under the influence of drugs.
This would fall under the category of familiar ring names in trouble.
Tyson was picked up with several bags of cocaine and admitted to police that he uses the drug "every chance he gets." Yet he pleaded not guilty.
Tyson voluntarily entered a rehab shortly after, citing nothing more specific than "several addicitons."
Just another page in the whacky world of Iron Mike.
On the comeback trail, former WBC heavyweight champ Vitali Klitschko announced his comeback, two years after an injury to his right knee forced his retirement.
An advisor for Klitschko said that the knee has healed, and that Klitschko will face Oleg Maskaev in Moscow on April 21.
Time will tell just how well healed that knee is.
Wladimir Klitschko, IBF and IBO heavyweight champ and younger brother of Vitali, announced that he will defend his titles against American Ray Austin in Mannheim on March 10.
Klitschko, who last fought on Nov. 11 when he stopped Calvin Brock in the seventh round in New York, is 47-3 with 42 knockouts, and Austin is a respectable 24-7.
Klitschko won the IBF and IBO titles last year with a technical knockout of Chris Byrd.
Former WBC heavyweight champ Hasim Rahman announced in January that he was going to fight Sinan Samil Sam in May in Turkey.
Sam is the third-ranked heavyweight, as well as the WBC's international champ. Rahman, who hasn't fought since losing his WBC title to Oleg Maskaev last August, is ranked fourth in the world.
This could be a good one, with two of the four highest-ranked heavyweights in the ring together. Not exactly Ali-Frazier, but it has the makings of a good match, nonetheless.
Perhaps the marquee matchup of the first half of the year will pit Oscar De La Hoya against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. on May 5.
De La Hoya has fallen under heavy criticism in recent years by losing some tough fights, so he'll once again be looking to disprove the naysayers who say that yet again De La Hoya is overmatched.
Initially, there were questions of who would be De La Hoya's trainer. Floyd Mayweather, Sr., Jr.'s dad, has been training Oscar since 2000.
All questions were answered when it was announced that De La Hoya was going in a different direction for the fight, opting to hire Freddie Roach.
Hopefully, this fight will be entertaining and live up to its handsome payday.
Aside from Tyson, there have been several other arrests of boxers this year. Former WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrison was arrested on drug charges in Scotland. Harrison has had a history of problems, mostly alcohol-related, and he was stripped of his world title in December after bowing out of a title defense.
Harrison claimed it was due to a medical problem, and he is now banned from fighting by the British Boxing Board of Control.
Mexico's WBC light-flyweight champ, Omar Nino, was stripped of his belt when he tested positive for methamphetamines.
Due to Nino's clean record, it is not believed that the positive result was Nino's willfull and knowledgeable doing, and after the No. 1 and 2 challengers fight for his vacant belt, Nino will be able to contend to regain the belt.
During the first week of February, former world welterweight champ Ricardo Mayorga was arrested in Minagua, Nicaragua, for fraud charges.
Can any of these guys just behave themselves??
As we continue down the police blotter, world cruiserweight champ O'Neill Bell was arrested for suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon while training for a fight in Big Bear City, California. This one falls under the heading of strangest crime, if not funniest.
Apparently, while running through the woods with his training partner, Bell was upset at something that his partner, 37-year old Larry Slayton, had said to him that day, so he flung a hatchet at him. It seems that Bell had the hatchet to protect the two fighters from bears (hence the name of the town) while they were running through the woods.
Big Bear is a popular training facility outside of Los Angeles.
As the boxing world turns... can't you just see it?
Back to comebacks. "Sugar" Shane Mosley, the lightweight champ from a decade ago, is back in the ring at age 35.
Mosley looked very sharp in his victory over Luis Collazo, his most recent win in his quest to fight again.
The win could make Mosley a welterweight champion once again because the WBC billed it as an eliminator to the title held by Floyd Mayweather Jr. When Mayweather vacates the title to fight Oscar De La Hoya on May 5, it will revert to Mosley.
The final comeback fighter of mention is former heavyweight champion and fan favorite, the earless Evander Holyfield.
Holyfield, 44, has had a couple of fights in his bid for a comeback, and he won them both.
In his first fight, he knocked out Jeremy Bates in the second round in Dallas last August. In November, Holyfield won a decision over Frez Oquindo.
Now he has announced that he will fight Vinny Maddalone on March 17.
Those living in the Capital District of New York will remember Maddalone from his fight against area heavyweight Shannon Miller last summer at the Saratoga Springs City Center, which he won.
Apparently, the shananigans are not limited to the ring participants, as seemingly now the antics have flowed over into the first row...behind the microphone, to be exact.
Longtime ABC and HBO TV announcer Jim Lampley was arrrested last Friday in San Diego for violating a temporary restraining order filed by a former beauty queen.
Lampley, 57, faces up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of the charge, a misdemeanor.
In January, there was a police report for domestic violence. 28-year old Candice Sanders, Miss Califonia U.S.A. 2003, claimed that Lampley attacked her in her Encinitas apartment on New Year's Eve, which led to Lampley's arrest and the restraining order.
Sanders also claimed that Lampley had been drinking and smoking marijuana before the attack.
We'll keep an eye on this one, too.
So, as we see, although we are barely six weeks into the new year, there's never a dull moment in the world of boxing.
Stay tuned for the results of the upcoming fights that were mentioned, as well as the jail sentences.

NFL: What Happened to the Holy Roller Rule?

2007-01-27T03:43:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don’t know me, football is the only sport where I have two favorite teams.
As a New Yorker, I’ve been a Giants fan since the days of Norm Snead and games at Yale Bowl in Connecticut.
But, when my cousin was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 1971, I became a Raiders fan.
The Raiders played a game several years ago against the San Diego Chargers. The Raiders ended up winning the game on a pass to their tight end, Dave Casper, that he fumbled into the end zone, and it was recovered by Oakland for the winning touchdown.
That play was dubbed the “Holy Roller,” and it spawned a new rule in the NFL, which came to be known as the “Dave Casper” rule, or the “Holy Roller” rule. The rule stated that a fumble could not be advanced by the fumbling team except for the player that fumbled it. If the fumble progressed forward and was recovered by the fumbling team, the ball was placed at the spot of the fumble.
It became a well-known rule that was common knowledge to fans.
Usually, the NFL does a pretty good job of announcing rule changes and new rules. Announcers will talk about new rules during games early in the season, in case we hadn’t heard of the changes.
Being in the sports journalism business, we’re pretty well informed of rule changes.
Somehow, the “Holy Roller” rule was somewhere along the line, abolished.
I don’t know when it happened, or how the rule change evaded me, but apparently it did.
I have seen several games lately where the Holy Roller rule was not enforced.
Most recently, it happened during the Colts-Patriots game in the AFC championship game.
In the first quarter, Tom Brady fumbled a ball that eventually wound up in the Indy end zone, was recovered by the Pats, and they were awarded a touchdown. As far as I know the rule to be, the ball should have been placed at the spot where Brady fumbled. But it wasn’t, and New England was on top, 7-0.
In the fourth quarter, Indianapolis running back Dominic Rhodes fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by the Colts Jeff Saturday in the end zone for a touchdown. When I saw the play live and on replay, I knew that the ball was recovered by Indy, but I thought that the ball should have been returned to the spot of the fumble, but it wasn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, I was rooting for Indy and was glad to see the TD, but I thought that the wrong call was made…again.
I’m looking for some help here…CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HOLY ROLLER RULE???

NHL: Congrats to Perreault

2007-01-27T02:10:00.000-05:00

After toiling for 13 seasons in the NHL, one of the league's quiet performers, Yannic Perreault, was finally rewarded with his first trip to the NHL All-Star game.
Perreault was a phenominal scorer in junior hockey, scoring 127 points in his first season in 1987-88, when he was just 16 years old.
Perreault would go on to score at least 100 points in his next three seasons, topping it off with 185 points in 1990-91.
He was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1991 NHL entry draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he debuted in the NHL in the 1993-94 season with Toronto.
Perreault has never been able to transfer the scoring prowess he posessed in junior hockey in the NHL, but he has been a quiet, solid player for years.
He's the kind of player that has spent his career just going out and doing his job every night.
This season, his first with the Phoenix Coyotes, he is enjoying one of his finest ever in the scoring column, and he's on a pace to put up the best offensive numbers of his career.
When he was interviewed about going to his first All-Star game, he was humble and gracious.
It was fitting to see Perreault score not just one goal, but two that he can treasure for the rest of his life, should he never be voted to go to the All-Star game again.
He earned those two goals with all of the hard work that he has put in over the last 13 seasons, and I couldn't have beeen happier to see him score in a game that has eluded him for so long.
So, here's a hats off to one of the league's classy guys, who has given so much, both on and off the ice, and was finally recognized for a lifetime of achievements.

Robitaille: Three Decades of Class

2007-01-19T20:29:00.000-05:00

Last season, Luc Robitaille retired unceremoniusly after his second year of his third stint with the Los Angeles Kings.
Robitaille played for 19 seasons in the NHL, and for 19 seasons he was one of the rare good guys that we don't see enough of in today's sports world.
He played in parts of three decades - coming up with the Kings after being passed up for eventual Hall of Fame pitcher, Tom Glavine, in the 1980's, and played into the 21st century.
He quickly showed L.A. management that it was a mistake to pass on him - and that they were lucky to still get him in the ninth round with the 171st pick in the 1984 NHL draft.
Robitaille was named Rookie of the Year after the 1986-87 season, when he scored 45 goals.
He leaves the game with 668 goals and 1,394 points, first among left wingers in NHL history.
Robitaille lit the lamp at a ferocious pace in his first eight years in the league, all with the Kings. In those eight seasons he averaged 44 goals and 67 points per season.
After the Kings added Wayne Gretzky to their roster, Robitaille helped the Great One take Los Angeles to their first Stanley Cup final ever.
Although they lost the series, Robitaille and Gretzky had turned a sunny, warm town that everyone said would never accept a winter sport, into huge hockey fans.
In 1994, Luc left L.A. for Pittsburgh, which lasted a season. Then, two frustrating years with the New York Rangers.
The Rangers had just won the Cup in 1994 and after several players left, New York fans were looking for Luc to help them defend their first title in 54 years.
Those were the first two seasons in Robitaille's career that he failed to score at least 40 goals. New York fans were upset, and after the 1996-97 season, it was back to L.A. for his second go-round.
After four seasons with the Kings, which saw his numbers improve, he would move on again, to Detroit.
Luc spent two seasons in the Motor City, playing for the Red Wings. It was there that he had the biggest moment in his career, hoisting up Lord Stanley's Cup for what would be the only time in his career.
Being the class man that he was, he returned with the Cup to the city where it all began for him as a pro, Los Angeles, to share the Cup with the city that he loved and that loved him, a city that he desperately wanted to win the Cup for, but only came close.
Robitaille called it a career after his final two years with the Kings. At the time, he wasn't getting along with Head Coach Andy Murray. Murray was fired towards the end of the season and interim coach John Torchetti kept him in the doghouse for the remainder of the year.
Robitaille didn't deserve to go out like that. And the Los Angeles Kings franchise realized that, and they will be doing the right thing when they retire Robitaille's No. 20 this coming Saturday night.
Next for Robitaille will no doubt be the NHL Hall of Fame. Robitaille deserves that honor for retiring as the highest-scoring left winger in league history.
Congratulations Luc Robitaille, for all that you have done, for all that you have accomplished, and for being one of the classiest and most underrated player in the National Hockey League in the last generation. We'll see you in Toronto.

Saints now staring "Destiny" in the eyes

2007-01-14T05:33:00.000-05:00

So the Saints beat the Eagles in tonight's NFC divisional playoff game in the Superdome.
Don't get me wrong. it's tough to root against New Orleans. If you have any heart at all, you had to feel what this team was put through last year, with Hurricane Katrina, the fact that their first "home" game was played at Giants Stadium, and all the shuffling that this team endured last year, you had to feel for them.
Now we fast forward to this year. They open the season with the Superdome back in tact, and major restoration work has been done to the city of New Orleans.
The fans needed hope, something to help get life in perspective. Then, there was their beloved Saints. A love affair between fans and a city, something akin to Boston fans and the Red Sox, Chicago fans and the Cubs, or New York fans and the Knicks.
It's the life-long glimmer of hope, the wait-till-next-year syndrome, the belief that when the team lost, that it hurt the players as much as it did the fans.
It's a connection between fans and team that is recognized only in few pro circles.
Not only is this a connection that Saints' fans have had with their perrenial losers, but that the new regime reinforced.
After a dismal season that ended in a 3-13 record, New Orleans made some changes. Out went the head coach, Jim Haslett, and in came first-time head coach Sean Payton. They were also given a top draft pick, and with that they took one of the most electrifying players in college, Reggie Bush from USC.
They then signed quarterback Drew Brees, who took the San Diego Chargers to the playoffs.
The team had a new outlook this season, and so did their fans. They needed something to believe in, and their team delivered with a 10-6 record and first place in the NFC South.
Today, as you saw the television crowd shots of the fans, there was a thread
in the crowd. The thread was a "destiny" that they believe in. They believe that this is their year, a year that they have never known. Through the Archie Manning years, when one of the best quarterbacks in football played for one of the worst teams, through the Sam Mills era, when he led one of the toughest defenses in the league, but came up empty, this city has supported their team.
And now they think that this is their year. And in the year of a mediocre NFC, to say the least, they may be right.
One game stands in their way between just another season and a Super Bowl appearance. That game is the NFC Championship game.
From the beginning of the season, I thought that the Chicago Bears were the class of the NFC.
Most others did, as well. But, then, the last few games of the season rolled around and the Bears were not quite so impressive. Some people fear their quarterback, Rex Grossman. But the fear isn't about how good he is, but the inconsistancy in his play.
Even in the last game of the season, when the Bears got waxed by the Green Bay Packers, with the Bears resting key players, Grossman was questioned about his decision making.
But the Bears have a ferociuos defense that is reminiscent of the '85 team.
They gave up 23 points or less in 12 of their games this season.
They have had a week off, and Lovie Smith and his coaching staff have had two weeks to work with Rex and teach him to protect the ball so that they don't lose the game.
The Saints have had the benefit of schedule, a soft NFC, especially in their own division, and a little luck and solid play, to be in this position, playing for the NFC championship.
So, will "destiny," as the Saints' fans believe, live on in the Bayou in a home game against Seattle, or will reality set in on a frozen field in Chicago?
We'll see next week.

MLB: This isn't Russia, is it?

2007-01-13T22:21:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, we had one of the moments that make Major League Baseball special: the announcement of the voting of who would be inducted to this year's Hall of Fame.
Each year, fans and experts alike talk about who will be on the ballot, who was removed, and why certain people should or shouldn't be inducted.
This year was not without controversy, either.
Two men will be inducted to baseball's most hallowed halls this coming July. Those men are Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr.
The controversy started when a name was mentioned that was to be left off: Mark McGwire.
I was at home that day, and I watched the interviews on ESPN with Gwynn and Ripken, as well as several of the baseball writers who have the privilege to vote for the inductees.
There was a common thread to those who voted against McGwire. Several people said that the feeling among the voters is that they just want to "punish" McGwire for a year or two because of his "alleged," that's right, ALLEGED steroid use.
Before we start getting into right or wrong, lets establish a couple of facts.
FACT: When mark McGwire played major League Baseball, steroids was not on the list of banned substances. The steroid policy was just instituted within the last couple of seasons.
FACT: No one knows for sure if McGwire even DID steroids, except his teammates and whoever his supplier was, if there was one to begin with.
FACT: Take any athlete, especially one who has a frame of 6'5" and weighs around 200 pounds, have him institute a training regimen that includes weight training, and guess what? Over a period of time, he's going to get BIGGER!! That fact can not be disputed. If you think it can be, just ask Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, or even Howie Long or Ray Lewis.
FACT: Unlike Barry Bonds, you can not look at McGwire's statistics and pinpoint a point in time when he began using steroids (if he did). McGwire started popping home runs from his very first year of regular play. If you look at the numbers, McGwire's first year with the Oakland A's was in 1986. Big Mac hit just three homers, but he only played 18 games. In 1987, he played 151 games and hit 49 dingers. He followed that season by hitting 32, 33, and 39 over the next three years. So apparently, even what they called a "tall, skinny, kid" had some pop in his bat from the get-go. From that point forward, he hit at least 30 home runs every year that he played more than 47 games except one, in 1991, when he had a dismal season, knocking out 22 and hitting a horrendous .201.
So, with there being no admission, compounded by the fact that if he did do steroids, it wasn't illegal, and that he can not even be suspected of using steroids based solely on his year-to-year performance, how do these pompous, arrogant, self-important writers have the audacity to appoint themselves judge and jury, and decide to "punish" a man for crimes that there is no proof that he committed, not to mention that they are trying to hold him responsible for doing something that wasn't even against the rules when he played?
This is a situation that is so appalling that I want to throw up. That men could be so full of themselves that they will abuse the little power that they have just so that they can make themselves feel important, as if they are doing us all a favor. Like they are going to show us what justice is.
Give us all a break, guys. We all know that steroids are wrong. Now they are even illegal in MLB.
Now, take the man who was the 1987 American League Rookie of the Year, won home run titles in each league TWICE, broke Roger Maris' 40 year-old single-season record, and has 583 career homers, and do the right thing in 2008 - give Mark McGwire what the evidence shows that he TRULY deserves - and vote him into the Hall of Fame.
After all... this isn't Russia, is it?

Colts overcome road, #1 defense

2007-01-13T21:02:00.000-05:00

The Inianapolis Colts proved that they're not out yet. The Colts - maybe moreso Peyton Manning than anything else - overcame some of the bugaboos that have plagued them over recent NFL playoff seasons.
The first obstacle that they overcame in their 15-6 victory over the Baltimore Ravens was the building. If you know your NFL history, then you know that Robert Irsay and company moved the Colts out of Baltimore and to Indianapolis via the Mayflower moving company literally in the middle of the night.
The Colts had been in Baltimore since their inception into the league in the 1950's, and the fans were loyal from the days of Johnny U and Lenny Moore right up to the days of Bert Jones and Roger Carr.
So, with that said, it's fair to say that when the Colts come to town, Ravens' fans give their guests perhaps the nastiest welcome that they can come up with, and they keep it up throughout the game. Rightfully so.
But the Colts overcame that, and they mustered up enough communication among themselves to get 15 points on the scoreboard.
The second problem that Tony Dungy's team incurs in the post season is the road itself. Historically, the Colts are a dismal road team and their record away from Indy proves it.
Somehow the Colts overcame that, too, and came away with a rare playoff road win.
The third reason that Baltimore was supposed to win this game was the fact that they held the #1 defense in the NFL. They give up the fewest points, and all reports were that statistically speaking, this Ravens' defense was even better than the one that beat the Giants in the Super Bowl. And we all know the old saying that defense wins championships.
If you need a fourth reason why the Colts should have lost, it was their defense. Indianapolis had the worst rushing defense in the league, and if Baltimore would have been able to establish a rushing attack, they could have won. Establishing the run against the Colts is like establishing a disappearing witness at a mob trial. It's usually a pretty easy thing to do.
But not today. After last week, when Indy stuffed the Kansas City Chiefs in the RCA Dome, the skeptics were not convinced.
Even though the Colts D held the Chiefs to 0 first-half first downs and less than 200 yards in total offense for the game, and held Larry Johnson to a mere 32 yards, some questioned whether the Colts would unravel once they were away from home. Today they stuck to the script like pros, and the Ravens, heavily favored in the minds of fans as well as experts, if not on the betting line, were left to watch Peyton Manning beat the odds and knock Baltimore out of the playoffs.
They played tremendous defense, they scored the points that they needed, and they beat the crowd and the road. That is the determination that Peyton Manning has got to have is if he is going to slay the playoff ghosts that haunt him.

NHL: Isles can count on Rangers to ease woes

2007-01-10T23:22:00.000-05:00

So, the Islanders were currently in the midst of a six-game losing streak. Fans of the Broadway Blues read the newspaper daily, thrilled to open up to the sports section and see that the Islanders dropped another game...then another...and another (while the Rangers were winning)...after defeating the Rangers on Dec. 26.
When the Islanders lost to Ottawa on the 27th, all of the conspiracy theorists thought that they had it figured out.
"It's the curse of the Rangers," they cried. Indeed, the Islanders do have a habit of going through an emotional letdown after they play the Rangers, but no one expected the drought to last for six games.
So, with that said, what do the Rangers fans have to say when they seemingly have all the momentum going into last night's game at "The World's Most Famous Arena," and the Islanders get healthy and hand a streaking Rangers team a loss?
It didn't seem likely. After all, the Rangers were riding a four-game winning streak, and the Isles were losers of six straight.
But, as often happens in this rivalry, the unusual happened and the improbable became probable.
So, both streaks come to an end. The Rangers see their winning streak end, and the Islanders snap their six-game losing streak.
Islanders fans may want to start a hex of their own. After all, the Isles have not lost to the Rangers yet this season - that's four games played this year - and apparently there's no pattern to it - the Islanders have beaten the Rangers whether they're hot, the Rangers are hot, they lost their last game, or the Rangers won theirs.
There is no rhyme or reason to this season's dominance for the boys from Nassau over the Broadway boys. Some seasons just turn out that way between these two clubs.
Normally (I'm sorry to say), it's the Rangers who come up with these little streaks. For a while, they had dominated the Islanders so badly - in either team's building - that when the two clubs played in Nassau Coliseum, it appeared that there were more fans at the game from the City than from the Island.
The Rangers even had an unbeaten streak in Long Island that lasted more than a season.
But now, at least for this season, the shoe is on the other foot. The teams have played four games, and the Islanders have won them all.
The Islanders have to feel confident as well as comfortable when they look on the schedule and they see the Rangers on tap. Now, if only they can take that confidence and level of play and use it against the other 29 teams in the NHL. Then, maybe they'll have something that will transcend to the bigger picture - like another NHL championship in Long Island.

NFL: Expectations high for Jets, low for Giants

2007-01-05T21:20:00.000-05:00

As we head into the first week of playoffs in the NFL, both New York City football teams are in the playoffs, something that doesn't happen very often. However, there is a huge difference in attitude, as well as expectations, from the two sides.
For Jets fans, coming into this season without one of the best running backs in NFL history, Curtis Martin, and with rookie Head Coach Eric Mangini, brought a lot of unanswered questions. Mangini did his part in answering at least a few of them.
Witha game plan that got many players involved -- and at the same time kept his quarterback, Chad Pennington, who hasn't been healthy in years, healthy, Mangini employed a system and produced results that Jets fans have been waiting for since Parcells took them to within one game of the big dance.
At one point, mired in a 2-3 record and without much light at the end of the tunnel, the J-E-T-S rolled off wins in three of their next four games -- and fresh off of a win in New England -- had new hope with a 5-4 record. With other teams in the same position, the Jets and their fans were thinking of a post season.
With the help of their schedule, New York went on to win five of their last seven games, including an impressive win in Green Bay.
The Jets are going into the post season playing with house money, and as long as they don't embarrass themselves, their fans should have nothing to complain about if (when) they get knocked out of the playoffs.
The Giants, however, are a completely different story. In fact, I don't think that you could have a season where two teams went to the NFL playoffs by taking such contrastingly different routes.
The Giants started the season sluggish, albeit with a tough schedule, and at their week-three bye found themselves at just 1-2. Then they ran off five straight wins, and after week nine they were at 6-2, had a division record of 3-0, and were considered one of the top teams in the NFL.
Then Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, and "Mr. Nickles," LaVar Arrington, all got hurt. That led to holes in the defense, which somehow carried over to holes in the offense.
Offensively, wide receiver Amani Toomer and left tackle Luke Petitgout went down with season-ending injuries, and the Giants simply were not the same ball club that was at 6-2.
They lost four straight and six out of seven. Their saving grace was a week-17 win at Washington so that they could escape with an 8-8 record and qualify for the playoffs in a very mediocre NFC.
The Giants' season went on a downward spiral on Nov. 12 with a horriffic 38-20 loss at home to Chicago on national television. The pinnacle of the misery was when the Bears took a missed-Jay Feely field goal attempt and ran it all the way back for a touchdown, capping a dismal night for New York.
Then they went to Jacksonville and lost by 16 points, and followed that with a trip to Tennessee which saw another Giants' implosion that led to Vince Young's coming out party.
They lost a close one in Dallas before stopping the bleeding with a win at Carolina, but that didn't last long, as they once again imploded against the Eagles, allowing late turnovers come back to bite them. They got stomped on by the Saints in their own house, and then came back to somewhat salvage their season by beating the Redskins to make the playoffs.
The way the Giants have played since November, there is absolutely no reason in the world why Giants fans should expect anything positive to happen this weekend in Philadelphia. Philly has been riding a high for the second half of the season, ironically enough when they lost their starting quarterback, Donovan McNabb. Jeff Garcia took over and ignited this team with a confidience they had not shown to this point all season. Their offense is scoring, and Philadelphia's defense is playing their best football of the season.
Should the Giants accomplish anything this Sunday? Not if they play the way they have played for most of the last six weeks, and there isn't much reason to think that they won't.
As for the Jets, no matter what the scoreboard says, they come out winners. If they win the game, they beat one of their bitter rivals, the New England Patriots, and move on to the second round of the AFC playoffs, an amazing accomplishment for a team that was still looking for an identity midway through the season. If they lose the game, so what, they would have lost to a team that has won a few Super Bowls recently, and just making it to the post season was more than Jets fans could have asked for out of their first-year, rookie head coach, who just may win Coach of the Year.

NHL: Islanders slump no help in division

2007-01-05T20:18:00.000-05:00

The recent play of the New York Islanders had been disturbing, to say the least.
After battling the Rangers and the Devils for the Atlantic Division lead, the recent five-game losing streak has suddenly taken them out of the running and could find them in fourth place if Pittsburgh wins their game against Buffalo tonight.
With the Atlantic being a tight division as it is, the losing streak -- especially against division opponents -- is NOT what the Islanders need if they want to contend for the division lead or a playoff spot.
In the last five games -- which, by the way, presents an argument for anyone who believes in the "Ranger's curse," the boys from Nassau have scored a meager six goals, while they have given up 14.
The power play has been non-existent, though the penalty killing has been ok.
In last night's game against New Jersey, the Islanders were trailing 4-2 before they scored a goal late in the third, when there was little or no chance at tying the game.
New York started the season well, and I thought they they were going to sruggle when Alexei Yashin got hurt, but the team played well through the injury.
Jason Blake began the season on fire, scoring goals at a rapid pace, but has tailed off as of late.
Miro Satan has not been producing in the scoring column like he should, either.
Ted Nolan has to figure something out to get this team on track while there's still time, because in a tight division it will be very difficult to jump three or four teams to make the playoffs.
If the Islanders want to not to just make the playoffs, but have an impact, then either Garth Snow is going to have to bring in another scorer, or the men that are already wearing the orange and blue are going to have to step things up. Because 1.2 goals per game is simply not going to get it done.

NHL: Two months later, not many changes

2007-01-05T19:08:00.000-05:00

After a two-month hiatus, it seems that not much has changed in the National Hockey League.
When I last wrote, I entertained the question of the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals being played by the Anaheim Ducks and the Buffalo Sabres.
Obviously, that was back in November, when the season had barely begun and most teams had played about a dozen games. Buffalo and Anaheim had gotten off to quick starts, and both were tops in their respective divisions.
Fast forward two months later, to Jan. 5. Oddly enough, as we take a look at the top two teams in both the Eastern and the Western Conferences, the Ducks and Sabres are still standing above the rest.
What is (are) the reason(s)? Well, for Buffalo, scoring a ton of goals makes life easy. The Sabres are the top-scoring team in the league right now, as their 158 goals scored puts them ahead of the second-best team -- you guessed it -- the Anaheim Ducks -- by more than a dozen goals -- 14 to be exact.
Second-year star Thomas Vanek is 10th in goals in the NHL with 22; veteran Chris Drury has 20 and is on a pace to smash his season-high best in goals scored; Maxim Afinogenov continues to be one of the league's top scorers with 19; and Jason Pominville has 19. On top of that, Daniel Briere leads the club with 46 points.
But although they're scoring goals, the Buffalo Sabres are getting the converse -- excellent work on defense as well as between the pipes.
Goalie Ryan Miller is having a tremendous season, posting a 2.66 goals against average and a .915 save percentage.
Combine that with a league-leading 3.80 goals per game, the Sabres score about 1/2 a goal per game more than the next best team -- again, you guessed it -- the Anaheim Ducks.
Offensively, the Duck are operating on all cylinders as well, and they're led by Teemu Selanne.
Selanne ranks fifth in the NHL with 23 goals, eighth with 50 points, and is ranked 21st with 27 assists.
Defensman Chris Pronger, revived after going to Anaheim from Edmonton, is off to one of the best starts in his career, and his 33 assists is good for sixth in the league. Scott Niedermayer's 29 assists is tied for 12th, and Andy McDonald had helped with 26 assists.
Defensively, Jean-Sebastian Giguere, one of the most underrated goaltenders in the league, is off to another tremendeous start. Giguere's 23 wins has him tied for first with Martin Brodeur, he ranks third with a miniscule 2.17 goals against, fourth with a .924 save percentage, and third with four shutouts.
After seeing stats like that, it's no wonder that these two clubs rank as the best in the league.
If they can continue to avoid the injury bug, like they both have, my prediction of two months ago may not seem like such like a bold statement after all.

NHL FINALS: Sabres vs. Ducks?

2006-11-01T20:56:00.000-05:00

It doesn't exactly roll off of your tongue. The Ducks and the Sabres for the NHL Stanley Cup. Anaheim and Buffalo. But it's possible. Stranger things have happened. Heck, even the Rangers made the playoffs last year, so I guess that it's true: anything IS possible.
Obviously, it's far too early in the NHL season to begin talking about favorites to win the Cup, but you gotta like what's going on in Buffalo and Anaheim (unless you're a fan of their biggest rival).
For those of you who may not yet have acclimated yourself to the fastest game in sports, the Buffalo Sabres and Anaheim Ducks (they dropped the "Mighty," officially ending the affiliation with Disney, their former owner) are undefeated. At least in regulation play they are. Under the new rules, which were adopted last year along with the shootout, a shootout loss falls under the category of overtime loss.
Buffalo has the league's best record at 10-0-1, tops with 21 points. Anaheim is 9-0-3, also with 21 points.
Compare that to some of the league's perennial top teams, and Buffalo and Anaheim are flying high (no Duck pun intended). The New Jersey Devils are atop the Atlantic Division, but their record is just 6-4-1 for 13 points. Ottawa is struggling at 5-6-0 for 10 points, Detroit is 6-4-1 for second place in the Central Division with 13 points, and the Rangers are in a dreadful fourth place in the former Patrick Division at 5-6 for 10 points.
Buffalo ended last season well, as did the Ducks, and it seems that the two clubs may have had 2006-07 already in their sights when they were eliminated from last year's playoffs.
One of the reasons that these two clubs are doing so well is goaltending. Both of each teams' two goalies are in the top 20 in goals against average. That's out of approximately 60-65 goalies in the league. That stat alone may not sound that impressive, but when you see that Detroit's two backups are ranked in the high 20s, it's much more impressive.
For Anaheim, Ilya Bryzgalov has only had two starts, but he's made the most of it, as he's currently ranked second in the league with a GAA of 1.22. Jean-Sebastian Giguere, their No. 1 man, is on top of his game as well, as he's posted a 2.12 GAA in 10 starts.
But just as the Ducks' goalies are the core of the team, the same rings true for Buffalo's goalies. Their No. 1 guy, Ryan Miller, has just a 2.36 GAA in nine starts, while his backup, Martin Biron, has a GAA of just 2.50 in a pair of starts.
The perfect complement to great goaltending is a team that can score. These two clubs are right up there with the league's best.
The Ducks went to the conference semifinals last year, and this year they may be even better. Scott Niedermeyer is off to a tremendous start and is leading the team in goals, and don't forget that they acquired Norris Trophy runner-up Chris Pronger.
Offensively for the Sabres, Chris Drury was tied for the league lead in goals going into Wednesday night's games, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek are both tied for ninth with seven goals apiece, Maxim Afinogenov is tied for second in points and seventh in assists, and Donald Briere is fifth in points and fourth in assists. And don't forget, the Sabres were no slouch in last year's playoffs, either.
Solid goalkeeping has kept both of these clubs at the head of their respective conferences. Match that with consistent scoring, and your team has a great chance of winning when you give up only two goals per game.
Sabres - Ducks may not sound that appealing now, but we just may see them face each other next June.

St. Louis is home sweet home

2006-10-25T20:38:00.000-04:00

As we await tonight's festivities in game four of the World Series, it certainly appears that home actually is sweet home for the St. Louis Cardinals.
After gaining the split in the first two games in Detroit, the Cards have won Game 3 at home and are looking for their fourth home playoff win in the last five games.
In the series against the Mets, St. Louis used a similar formula that they have for the Series: earn a split on the road, and take the first game at home. They did that against New York and they did it against the Tigers. They lost the middle home game against the Mets, but that's the only game that they have lost in Busch Stadium in the last two rounds.
For the post season, the Cards have won four home games while losing two. They lost Game 3 against the Padres, but at the time they already had a 2-0 lead in a five-game series. They won Game 4, also at Busch, to move on to the NLCS.
There are two more home games in this World Series for St. Louis, and if things continue to go the way they have thus far in the playoffs, we'll all be watching highlights from the Cardinals' World Series Parade as it motors through downtown St. Louis.

Giants taking control of NFC East

2006-10-24T23:05:00.000-04:00

After Monday night's 36-22 thrashing of the Dallas Cowboys, the N.Y. Giants, the team that all the so-called experts picked to relinquish their NFC East crown, seem to be in control of their own destiny in the division.
At 4-2 and on a three-game winning streak, the Giants are 3-0 in the division. No other team in the NFC East can make that claim. The Eagles are closest at 1-1 in the East, but they look very shaky.
One more division win will basically lock up the best division record for New York. There's a lot of football left to be played, but the next three weeks could spell out the division.
Next week won't matter too much, as there are no division games and Washington has a bye. But the two weeks after that could make or break teams in this division.
Philly has Jacksonville at home, then a bye, but then they have the Skins at home. If they lose one of those two games, especially the Redskins game, they could be in trouble.
Dallas is on the road the next three weeks, and that's not easy no matter who the opponents are. They have Washington sandwiched between two non-division games. The 'Boys already have two division losses, and at 3-3 they'll need to win all three games to stay in the hunt.
As for Washington, they have a bye next week. Then it's home for Dallas and at Philly. The Redskins are in deep trouble. For the last couple of seasons, everyone has said "Watch out for the Redskins." Well, I've seen nothing to be afraid of.
The mountain that they have to climb is severely steep. Washington is 0-3 in the East with their next two games being against division foes. They need to win them both. They have even less room for error than the Cowboys do.
The Giants have Tampa and Houston at home the next two weeks before they have to face the Bears. If the Giants are 6-2 by then, which they should be, they could be in firm grasp of another division title.
I do have one question for Tom Coughlin, though. With less than two minutes left in the first half and a 12-7 lead, why were the Giants running out the clock instead of running the two-minute drill to try to add to their lead? If anyone has an answer, because I can't think of one, please let me know.

Cabrera shines in Yanks loss

2006-06-27T23:33:00.000-04:00

Melky Cabrera, who has dramatically improved his game since he was called up to the Yankees last season, was about the only bright spot in an otherwise anemic lineup as the Yankees lost the middle game of a three game set against the Braves 5-2. Cabrera was 3-for-4 and was responsible for both Yankees runs. His RBI infield single was the only run that the Yanks could score against Atlanta starter Horacio Ramirez. Cabrera also kept New York's slim hopes alive when he golfed a solo shot to right field in the bottom of the ninth, making it a 5-2 game, but that was all that the Yankees could do in the final inning. Cabrera is now hitting nearly .270, and his defense is greatly improved, as he's made some stellar catches while being converted from a center fielder to a left fielder.

Surprises, surprises

2006-06-26T22:41:00.000-04:00

As we near the midpoint of the 2006 Major League Baseball season, let's take a look at some of the players that have raised a few eyebrows so far this year.

Kenny Rogers, Detroit: So, you thought his career was over. Well, you're not alone, many of us did. After building a respectacble resume in his first stint with the Texas Rangers, Rogers had a few less-than-admirable stops, including the Yankees, Oakland, the Mets, two more stops in Arlington, and a year in the Metrodome. His career has been spattered with ups-and-downs, bad years following good ones (compare his first and second years with the A's), and a lack of success in towns that he genuinely enjoyed playing in (see Yankees career).
Who would have thought, that in his 18th season as a journeyman pitcher, that Kenny Rogers would be reborn in, of all places, Detroit.
But that is exactly what has happened. In his first year with the Tigers, Rogers has become the first pitcher in the American League to reach the 10-win plateau, he's given up less hits than innings pitched for just the sixth time in his career and the first since 1999 with the Mets, his strikeout-to-walk ratio is better than 2-1 for just the fifth time in his career, and his earned run average, which is at 3.44 at the moment, is his best since '98 when it was 3.17 with the A's.
At 41 years old, Kenny Rogers may be saving his best for last.
Jose Contreras, Chicago White Sox: Speaking of careers that we thought were over, how about Contreras? Here's a guy that could not buy an out at the end of his stay in New York, and now he's pitching lights-out in the windy city.
Contreras is undefeated in his 13 starts with an 8-0 record, and his 3.15 ERA ranks him third in the American League.
Jose Contreras has certainly turned things around.
Tom Gordon, Philadelphia: Gordon began his career as a fireballing starter. Eventually converted to a closer, the Yankees brought him in as a setup man for Mariano. It was an experiment that had just about as many failures as it did successes, but Gordon was never comfortable in the role.
Fast forward to 2006, and we see Gordon back in his old role, as closer for the Philadelphia Phillies. Was his career on its way out? Some people in New York thought so, but back in a familiar role with a team that's contending for the National League Wild Card, Gordon is third in the NL with 20 saves, and he probably would have several more had the club not had some late-inning implosions.
Nomar Garciaparra, Los Angeles Dodgers: This man has gone from no-play to no-can-get-me-out. Nomar has spent so much time on the disabled list the last few seasons that it became a pre-season ritual for fans to start their own pool to see who can come the closest to guessing when Nomar would go down with a season-ending injury. This season, Garciaparra has let the water out of everyone's pool, as he has not only stayed healthy, not only has become an integral part of his club, but he's doing it in style, as his league-leading .362 batting average is 10 points higher than his nearest competitor, Matt Holliday of Colorado.
David Wright, N.Y. Mets: Not so much of a surprise, but this is a player that has got to be mentioned when talking about this season's early producers. Wright is now beginning to flourish and show the talent that he was touted to have, and he's impressing everyone in the process.
His 18 home runs puts him in a four-way tie for 10th with Atlanta's Andruw Jones, Houston's Morgan Ensberg, and Philadelphia's Pat Burrell. He's tied for fourth with Andruw Jones with 64 RBIs, he's in a three-way tie for 15th in the National League with 19 doubles, and is tied with teammate Jose Reyes for second place with 98 hits. If that's not enough, Wright ranks sixth in slugging percentage, ninth in on-base percentage, sixth in batting average, and is tied for 25th in the league in walks. This kid looks like he's going to be a stud in the league for years to come.
Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati: Phillips was traded from Montreal to Cleveland in 2003, and he was considered a bust, as he hit just over .200 for the season. The Indians were not pleased with his production or his cockiness. A Cincinnati scout pestered the GM to take a chance on him in the spring, and it paid off. So far, Phillips is batting .310, he has seven home runs, and 43 RBIs.
Alex Rios, Toronto: In his third year with the Blue Jays, Rios is showing that Toronto's patience has paid off. In his first two seasons, Rios' slugging percentage was below .400 both years and he had a total of 11 homers.
This season, Rios is proving the nay-sayers wrong. In 71 games, Rios has taken his slugging percentage to an amazing .602, he's got a .323 batting average, 15 home runs, and 51 runs batted in.
Freddy Sanchez, Pittsburgh: I'm putting Sanchez in as an honorable mention. His numbers are not mind-blowing, but they have improved. In his third season with the Bucs, Sanchez is developing as a hitter, as he's second in the National League with a .355 batting average and above-average play at third base.
Andy Phillips, N.Y. Yankees: Another honorable mention because he's not an every-day player, Phillips has been buried in Triple-A Columbus for several seasons, knocking the cover off of the ball and waiting to be called up. He had a couple of cups of coffee with the big club in '04 and '05, but this season, with all of New York's injuries, Phillips has done a fantastic job in his sporadic role. In 55 games, Phillips has five homers, five doubles, a pair of triples, and is hitting .294 with a slugging percentage of .496.

The Giambi Show Rolls on in the Bronx

2006-06-26T21:21:00.000-04:00

Jason Giambi continues to impress as he handled Atlanta Braves' starting pitcher Tim Hudson all by himself on Monday night at the Stadium.
Giambi's two-run home run in the bottom of the first gave New York a 2-0 lead. He followed that up the next inning, when his three-run blast put the Yankees ahead 5-0. The two homers move him up from fifth to a tie for second in the American League with Boston's David Ortiz with 22 dingers each.
The pitching was outstanding as well, as Randy Johnson gave perhaps his best performance of the season. Johnson kept the bats of the slumping Braves at bay with seven shutout innings, finishing it off in grand style as he struck out five of his last six outs, including striking out the side in the sixth. His total of nine K's for the night was his most in a game this season.
Giambi continues to impress. He won over the hearts of the fans of New York by being the first and only man still playing to openly admit that he took steroids, apologize to the fans for doing it, and trying to reconstruct his career after giving them up. He struggled on the diamond when he first got off the juice, but had a strong second half of last season, and this year he's picked up where he left off. He currently ranks in the top five in home runs, RBIs, walks, and on-base percentage. There is little question as to why Jason Giambi won the comeback-player-of-the-year award last season.

Hopkins Ends a Great Career

2006-06-22T20:52:00.000-04:00

41-year-old Bernard Hopkins, perhaps one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in recent history, is calling it a career.
When you talk about pound-for-pound champions, there are several that jump into mind. The original was "Sugar" Ray Robinson. Never a large enough man to be able to work up to the heavier ranks, Robinson was one of the most revered fighters of his time. He was such a textbook fighter, with speed and uncanny power that could damage any opponent at any given point in any fight. His fights with Jake "Raging Bull" Lamotta were legendary.
The next pound-for-pound champ was another "Sugar Ray", some 30 years later in Sugar Ray Leaonard. Leonard won America's heart in the 1976 Summer Olympics with his flashy style en route to a gold medal. He had classic fights with Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns and Roberto "The Hands of Stone" Duran, forcing the mighty Panamanian to coin the famous "No Mas!" phrase when he could take the punishment from Leonard no longer.
Leonard finished off a Hall-of -Fame career when he rose from the ranks of the welterweights to fight the undisputed middleweight champ, "Marvelous Marvin" Hagler. In what was a close, if not questionable decision, Leonard had done what everyone said that he couldn't: jump up in weight class and beat the most dominant champion of the era.
Roy Jones, Jr. would be next on the list of boxers who dominated one or more weight classes. Jones was a fantastic fighter, with a ripped, muscular body, speed, power, and a tremendous ego. But like Muhammad Ali had done decades earlier, Jones won the fans over by proving that he could back up what he said.
Jones captured his first belt, the IBF Middleweight title, in May of 1993. The following year he beat James Toney to take the IBF Super-Middleweight belt.
In November of 1996 he jumped up to win the interim WBC Light heavyweight title by defeating Mike McCallum. He lost that belt in March of 1997, but regained it later that year by beating the man that beat him, Montell Griffin. Public opinion said that Jones would win the fight easily because the only reason that he lost the first fight was for hitting Griffin when he was down, disqualifying Jones and handing him his first defeat as a boxer.
In November of 1998, Jones not only defended the WBC title but added to it the WBA Light-Heavyweight crown. In June of the following year he again added to his collection, as he picked up the IBF title, giving him three different light-heavyweight championships.
Then on March 1, 2003, with the unified belts still intact, Jones jumped up again, this time to heavyweight, and he beat champion John Ruiz to claim the WBA Heavyweight Title.
Which leads us to Hopkins. He regained the IBF Middleweight in January of 1996 and held it until April of 2001, when he added the WBC Middleweight crown to his list. Five months later he would unify the middleweight title by knocking out Felix Trinidad in the 12th round. Hopkins successfully defended all three belts until July 2005, the first time that he lost to Jermain Taylor.
Bernard Hopkins went out on the high note that he promised that he would when he beat Antonio Tarver on June 10 to capture the IBO and NBA Light Heavyweight Championships. At 41, Bernard Hopkins was still schooling them till the end. Pound-for-pound one of the greatest fighters ever? I think so.