NHL: Isles and Pens shaking up East

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

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?

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

NHL Playoffs - Still the Best

The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs have come and gone, and once again the players displayed why these NHL Playoffs are perhaps the most riveting and exciting in all of sports.
As if this game wasn't difficult enough to play in the regular season, the speed, intensity, and level of play increases in the NHL playoffs like it does in no other sport in America.
And on top of that, there were some terrific early-round upsets and come-from-behind victories as well.
The Edmonton Oilers not only made it to the finals, and pushed it to a seventh game when they were on the verge of being eliminated four games to one, but the forgottten fact (since both the NBA and NHL Playoffs are so long) is that the Oil took out the mighty Detroit Red Wings in the first round. The Red Wings, who had nearly 30 more points (124-95), 17 more wins, which equates to nearly 25% of a full season's schedule, outscored them on the season by nearly 50 goals (305 for Detroit and 256 for Edmonton), and allowed more than 40 goals less (209-251) than Edmonton, yet was unceremoniously tossed aside as the Oilers left eighth place in the Western Conference playoffs on a mission towards Lord Stanley's Cup.
Also in the West, #2 Dallas got upended by the seventh seed, The Colorado Avalanche. The Stars were one of the stronger teams in the league throughout the season, but found the wrong time to slump...in May. The Avs, however, barely made the playoffs, as their season was far more inconsistent than Dallas', and they stumbled into the playoffs with 95 points, tied for eighth in the conference with Edmonton, 17 points behind the Stars, and just three points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks, the ninth-place club that did not make the post season.
In the East, the fourth-ranked Buffalo Sabres had a tremendous run as well, as they first took out #5 Philadelphia, then beat second-seeded (and heavily favored) Ottawa before taking eventual Cup winner Carolina to the brink.
That brought us to a final series of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers. There were mixed emotions about who to root for and why. Some people held the age-long attitude that they would not root for a Canadian team over an American club. Some said that they always pulled for the underdog, so they were going with the Oilers because of all that they had accomplished to that point in the playoffs.
Others took sides based upon players. Some fans were rooting for one the league's best two-way players ever, Michael Peca, while others went with the list of Carolina Hurricanes who had been in the NHL for a decade or more and have never hoisted the Cup.
I found that based on all of the facts mentioned as well as others that were not, I myself had mixed emotions and also found justification in whichever side I chose, if I was to take a side at all.
So whomever you were rooting for, and whichever cause you got behind in the 2006 NHL Playoffs, you still had to feel good in the end about what an awesome second season it was, and what phenominal entertainment that the teams gave us along the way.

p.s. Although I would have been happy for Michael Peca had he won a cup because he is so deserving of one, do you really think an Islanders fan was going to root for the Oilers? Long live the Whale.