NY Jets: It Was All Good Just A Week Ago

Sigh.

One week you're up.  The next you're down.  One day you're mentally making Super Bowl plans.  The next you're avoiding all media outlets and seriously contemplating not even watching The Big Game.  Or maybe that's just me.

Typically after any of my teams suffer a brutal loss which results in an abrupt ending to a promising season, I'm unable to function for a week.  I avoid all sports everything and create massive distractions for myself...read, write, cook, work, watch TV One reruns, catch up on my DVRed programs...you get the picture.

However, the fact that I'm even attempting to write about last night's game is a huge first step towards recovery for me.  Here goes nothing!

On Friday I recognized an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I watched or read anything Jets related.  It wasn't because I didn't have confidence that the Jets could defeat the Steelers, it was more about me knowing that the game would have my emotions spiraling out of control and I was unsure if I'd be able to handle it.

For this reason, my game plan was to watch the Jets game ALONE! I'd throw on the same Jets t-shirt I've worn for almost every game of the season and spazz out as I pleased.

Well, similar to the Jets, my game plan went up in flames immediately.  Instead, while I was at brunch on Sunday afternoon, my mom called and texted me to say that my brother (also a Jets fan) and his girlfriend were heading out to the house to watch the game.

Panic ensued.

OMG. Do I stick to the script and move forward with watching the game alone?  Do I head out to LI and watch the game with the fam?  What about my t-shirt?  Does it make sense to trek back to Harlem, grab my t-shirt, and go back downtown to catch the Long Island Railroad?  Should I buy a "backup" t-shirt and wear that instead?  Yes!  That's what I'll do.  It's the most logical, right?  BUT! It's not the same t-shirt.  What if the mojo is thrown off?  Aaarrrggggghhh!!!!!  All of these thoughts and a million more had my brain working overtime.  I was driving myself insane.

Led by my head and not my heart, I decided to forget THE t-shirt, go to LI, and buy a "backup" t-shirt.  My brother thought I was nuts, but whatevs.  I had to do what I had to do. The Super Bowl was on the line!

Though, I was never quite comfortable with this decision.  I thought it was similar to having a "backup" player start the game with no prior experience.  The "backup" t-shirt wasn't broken in.  There was no history.  It was too fresh.  Too fragile.  This game was too major for that and I knew that the "backup" t-shirt couldn't handle the pressure. But I figured, if the first half was a disaster, I would remove my t-shirt for the second half and reverse the curse.

Well, you know what happened next.  The Jets couldn't get anything going.  Rashard Mendenhall ran all over our defense.  Missed tackle after missed tackle.  To borrow Bart Scott's line, they couldn't stop a nosebleed.  Mr. Can't Wait!  I couldn't wait for you to make a tackle!  How about that!?  Ugh.  The irony.

The offense was no better.  Brian Schottenheimer lived up to his name with shotty play calling.  I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but what was he thinking on that long drive in the 4th quarter?!?! The pass to Dustin Keller and Santonio Holmes on the next play were horrible calls!

I digress.  

I think, if my memory serves me correctly, we had 1 rushing yard in the first half of the AFC Championship Game.  You have got to be kidding me!  The Steelers totally dominated us on both sides of the ball.  Time of possession was more than 2:1 in favor of the Steelers.  Overall, Rex Ryan was completely out coached in the first half.

Oh, and not to mention our kicking game was really suspect.  Steve Weatherford, Nick Folk (just throwing him in because of past transgressions) -- get them out of here!  I'm hoping they've already been cut and I just don't know it because I've cut myself off from all media.

As halftime approached, my mom said that the Jets needed to make some second half adjustments.  You think?  Understatement. Of. The. Century. 

Down 24-3 at the half,  I knew Rex Ryan would let them have it because that's what he does.  As my brother pointed out, the Jets have been the Comeback Kids all season.  We're use to this position.   It's not the best position to be in, but it's ok.  We'll come back.  OK?  OK.  Agreed.

My confidence was building.  Not only because we would start the second half with the ball, but most importantly, because that cursed "backup" t-shirt came off with the quickness! Also, we forbade my mom, who's known to be a sports jinx at times, from watching the second half.  Now that normalcy had been restored, we knew the Cardiac Kids would wake up and get it done.

And just as I hoped, they came out ready. Their first drive resulted in a touchdown!  24-10.

OK, defense.  Your turn.  Time for you to show us that you received the same memo as the offense.

Although they shut out the Steelers in the second half, it still wasn't pretty.  Stupid penalties like roughing the kicker set us back as seconds ticked away on the clock.  Disastrous.

Plus, as I mentioned earlier, Schotty's play calling drove me crazy in the 4th quarter, especially since we made it all the way to the 1 yard line without scoring a TD.  That's never OK.

As frustrating as it was, I suddenly had deja vu and images of a safety followed by a touchdown on the next possession dancing in my head.  After all, Pittsburgh's center was out of the game with an injury and our defense was finally having success applying pressure to Big Ben and sacking him.

It happened!  Just as I imagined!  We were suddenly only down five points with about 3 minutes to go. 24-19.  I was ecstatic!  Running through the house flying like a jet!

There was enough time to get the ball back, IF, and that was a big IF, our defense handled business.  I believed if our offense took the field again, Sanchez would lead us to victory!!!

They couldn't get it done.  The defense gave up one first down too many and we were out of time outs.

The Jets lost.  Game over.  Season over.  God bless you.  Goodnight.

Sports Illustrated, Thanks for the Memories!

This week's issue of Sports Illustrated is on stands and its cover may be the greatest cover in the history of magazine covers.  Revel in it and take special notice of the fear in Tom Brady's baby blue eyes.  Priceless.  Definitely a collector's item for any hardcore Jets fan or true hater of the Patriots.  Cop it, frame it, and covet this moment forever.

For all of you local Jets fans, this week's rally is Thursday @ 5:30pm in Times Square.  Come out and support!

NY Yankees Pop Champagne! and more

I'm baaa-aaack and so are the Yankees!  But, before I get into that I have a short PSA:  Sports heads, please know that I've missed delivering the goods.  I've been a busy little bee the past month.  However, I'm finally getting a grasp on things (I think) and can return to blogging with some type of regularity (I hope).  

With that said, there's no better time to jump back in than the present!

My beloved NY Yankees are in the playoffs...AGAIN!!!  There was never a doubt in my mind that I'd see Yankees Stadium open for business in October.  Despite injuries to Andy Pettitte, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, we managed to keep it together.  Our ace CC Sabathia reached 21 wins for the first time in his career (congrats!) and Robinson Cano is making a strong bid for MVP.  Nick Swisher has also been pretty consistent all year.  Newbie Curtis Granderson got off to a slow start, but was finally able to locate his swing.  And although Captain Derek Jeter's batting average isn't where we're used to seeing it, you know he'll step up when needed i.e. now.  So, expect Mr. November to produce like he usually does.

But I must admit, I'm not as confident as I was last year this time.  Last year, the Yankees were so dominant that it was a no-brainer that we'd get our 27th World Championship.  However, this year's suspect pitching rotation makes me slightly nervous.  I just hope that Joe Girardi makes the right decisions, the team starts hitting again, and our defense is on point.  Since our pitching is the biggest question mark (including Mariano Rivera's ability to get four outs), we need to make sure we're gelling everywhere else.

The other thing that makes me nervous is the possibility of facing the Texas Rangers.  Dare I say that I'm quietly hoping the Yankees land the wild card spot because I like our chances against the Twins more? The Rangers seem to have our number this season.  Plus, it's such a slap in the face to see us struggle against Cliff Lee when we were rumored to get him before the trade deadline.  I hope that doesn't come back to bite us!  No matter what though, I'll be focused during the postseason.  Go Yankees!  Let's win it for the Boss!

Another thing that I love about this time of year is the overlap between the NFL, NBA, and Yankees Postseason. Forget Christmas, for me, this is the most wonderful time of the year!  The NFL is always enjoyable, but when your team is playing well, that feeling is multiplied by 100.  With my Jets scheduled to face the Bills, Vikings, and Broncos before their bye week, I expect this blissful feeling to continue for a while.

Now the Knicks are a different story. Tonight my Dad and I talked about the Knicks and I'll tell y'all like I told him, don't believe the hype.  Knicks fans have suffered too long and I'm not convinced that the dark days are behind us.  In the past, I devoured reading material about the Knicks early in the season, but this year, I've decided it's not worth it.  I can't even tell you who their starting 5 is.  Admittedly, it's pretty pathetic, especially since I consider myself a ride or die fan.  But recent history has proven that I shouldn't invest too much time and energy in them this early in the season.  Yes the Knicks made some moves, but is it really enough to make a push toward the playoffs? I'm not sure.  And, my uncertainty is causing me to be proceed with caution.  I'd be more hopeful if I knew Carmelo Anthony or Chris Paul were on their way to form the NYC version of "Superfriends" with Amar'e Stoudemire, but that doesn't seem likely.  Now don't get me wrong, Amar'e Stoudemire is a good player, but he's injury prone and I just have nightmares of our other $100 million man, Allan Houston.  I'm definitely not wishing that on Stoudemire, but it's real.  Microscopic knee surgery is a beast.  Just ask Allan Houston, Grant Hill, Chris Webber, and Tracy McGrady.

Since my Yankees and Jets are still holding me down, I prefer to ride that wave for as long as possible.  Truthfully, last season when the Jets lost to the Colts in the AFC Championship game, I wasn't only disappointed because the Jets' season was over.  The most painful part was facing the harsh reality of giving the Knicks 100% of my attention.  Since I've finally learned the hard way, I'm going to let the Knicks' regular season record do the talking. Show and prove Knicks.  Show. And. Prove.

P.S.  Yes, I'm aware that when referencing the Yankees and Jets it's all about "my", "we", and "us", but when referencing the Knicks, it's all about "them".  The Knicks will get back to "my", "we", and "us" status when they earn it.

The Talk of the Town: NY Knicks, NY Yankees, NY Jets, NY Mets

No matter the season, NYC sports always manages to dominate sports talk.  This morning I woke up, turned to NY1, like I do every morning, and realized that we (NYC sport teams) were pretty busy yesterday. In case you missed it, here's a quick recap!

NY KNICKS
The Good!  Yesterday afternoon, the Knicks announced that Isiah Thomas would not be consulting for the organization, after all.  According to certain NBA bylaws, an NBA exec can't have any contact with NCAA athletes.  Since Zeke is the head basketball coach for Florida International University (which went 7-25 last season, fyi), Isiah would've been in direct violation of that bylaw.  When I read this, I released a huge sigh of relief.  Phew!

The Bad!  The fact that Isiah Thomas was offered a job with the Knicks, after EVERYTHING we've been through with him, proves that leadership (Jim Dolan) is still delusional and ill equipped to run this team.  At one point in Isiah's career, he was praised for being able to scout talent.  I was one of those people doing the praising. But, those days are long gone.  In my opinion, Isiah has indisputably proven that he's all about self and lacks any type of dignity or pride.  How could Isiah, a Hall of Fame player, return to the scene of the crime, while Knicks fans are still licking our wounds? Contrary to what Isiah and Dolan may think, it's still too soon.  Until the Knicks have a respectable season, we will not forgive OR forget Isiah for leaving us in ruins.

I say all of this despite having been a Zeke fan forever.  In fact, when I tried out for the basketball team in 7th grade, my Dad hyped me up by saying that Isiah Thomas is small, but also the best at his position.  Nuff said.  I got this.  Lacking talent, I quickly realized that the only thing Zeke and I had in common was our size deficiency, but I digress...

Thank goodness the NBA stepped in to put Knicks fans out of our misery, for now.  Despite making some solid (not great!) off season moves, hiring Isiah Thomas would've ruined our season before it even started.


NY YANKEES
The Good:  Last night, the Yankees had an incredible comeback against the Texas Rangers. After a loss to the Red Sox and a blown save by Mariano Rivera, the Yankees' bats suddenly woke up toward the end of last night's game.  Sadly, I fell asleep and missed the exciting comeback, but it was nice to wake up, wipe the cold out of my eyes, put my glasses on and see that we got the W!

The Bad:  Watching the Yankees struggle against Cliff Lee had me fuming. I keep shaking my head at the thought that the Yankees didn't get Cliff Lee when all reports pretty much confirmed that he was a Yankee. Cliff Lee should be in pinstripes, not serving up 11 strikeouts against us.  And then to make matters worse, I had to witness another piss poor Lance Berkman performance at first base.  I keep asking myself, why did we acquire him at the trade deadline?  Why?????  Congrats to Mark Teixeira and his wife for welcoming a son into the world, but I'm thankful he'll be with the team for tonight's game against the Kansas City Royals.

As of now, there's a good chance that we could face the Rangers in the playoffs.  Thankfully their relief pitching is a little suspect.  Despite the Rangers having Cliff Lee, I like our chances.

NY JETS
The Good!  Last night was the highly anticipated debut of HBO's hit series, Hard Knocks starring the NY Jets!!  Since I'm such a huge Jets fan, I've been waiting for this show to debut since HBO announced that Gang Green was their chosen team.  I know I've said this before, and I'm saying it again, I absolutely love that the Jets have completely erased the NY Giants from the back pages of the New York dailies.  They're everywhere!  We have a coach that talks nuff smack, as I'm sure you saw on last night's show, and a team that can back it up! The Giants/Jets preseason game on Monday can't come soon enough!  J-E-T-S!  JETS! JETS! JETS!

The Bad! I was asleep before the show even started.  Extremely pathetic.  I know.  I remember looking at the clock at 8something thinking that I had another two hours to go.  I tried to fight it but lost that battle.  Although I haven't watched the show, I heard that the Darrelle Revis contract situation had a starring role.  I hate this.  I really do.  Up until this point, what made the Jets such a good story to follow is that there was nothing negative to report.  Now all of a sudden they're engaged in this extremely public contract dispute with Darrelle Revis and his agent.  And, our GM Mike Tennenbaum is admitting defeat on camera.  Really?  Really?

I've tried to speak about this topic without getting fired up, but I can't.  However, I will say this.  I understand where both parties are coming from.  I'd be a horribly judge.  Also, I didn't expect Revis to hold out this long.  I wasn't all that concerned during OTA's but now that we're heading into our first preseason game on Monday, I'm super concerned.  And, having the team owner, Woody Johnson, publicly say that he doesn't think Revis will play this season does not put me at ease, posturing or not.  Oh how I wish this was just scripted reality to create more buzz around Hard Knocks, but I know that it's not.  All I can say is, Damn you Al Davis for overpaying Nnamdi Asomugha!!! 
 

NY METS

Unlike all of the other teams I've covered, the Mets don't have anything "good" to touch upon.  With them, it's just all "bad". They can't catch a break.  I don't follow them a whole lot, but I do know that they're on a sinking ship.

Last night, Francisco Rodriguez verbally assaulted reporters with countless F-bombs during the post game interview following their 6-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies. As if that wasn't enough, he then went on to physically assault his father-in-law. Whoa!  Who does that?  K-Rod certainly isn't a saint, and has a history of losing his temper, but going off on your father-in-law is next level!  As a result, K-Rod was arrested, charged with third- degree assault, and suspended 2 games.

More importantly, this altercation gave everyone an insiders look at how dysfunctional the Mets clubhouse really is.  If Mets fans were hoping for some type of miraculous comeback, they should face reality and shift their focus to football.  It's not happening.  The only hope they can cling to is team owner, Fred Wilpon, finally manning up and getting the courage to send Jerry Manuel packing.

It ain't easy being a New York sports fan!