Blogs – Page 232 – Keefe To The City

Jan 5, 2011

My Super Bowl Dilemma

This column was originally published on WFAN.com on Jan. 11, 2011. I hate football. Not really, but the Giants are giving me no choice. Two weeks ago, I asked for three things for Christmas. I

This column was originally published on WFAN.com on Jan. 11, 2011.

I hate football. Not really, but the Giants are giving me no choice.

Two weeks ago, I asked for three things for Christmas. I asked for the Yankees to produce something that resembles a starting rotation that can compete in the AL East, the Giants to make the playoffs and for the Knicks to land Carmelo Anthony. The Giants were eliminated from the playoffs on Sunday, and the Yankees are thinking about bringing in Jeff Francis or Jeremy Bonderman to round out their rotation. Carmelo might as well just get traded to the Nets or Bulls now and put me out of my misery.

I wish I could have been in the locker room prior to the Giants-Packers game and delivered the pregame speech for the Giants. It wouldn’t have been like the speech in Rudy when Rudy gets up on the stool and starts with, “We’re gonna go inside, we’re gonna go outside, inside and outside.” It would have been more like the famous Bobby Knight halftime speech (which you can find on YouTube uncensored), highlighted by the line, “You will not put me in that position again!”

Well, the Giants put me in that position again. That position is being on the outside looking in on the NFL playoffs for the second straight year.

Tom Coughlin will return in 2011 in search of a three-peat of collapses to unseat the Mets as the worst late-season team in the city, but hopefully with him, Plaxico Burress will return. I’m not sure what Plaxico can bring at the age of 34 and having not caught a pass in the NFL since Nov. 16, 2008, but I do know that the Giants are 20-18, including their only playoff game, since he last appeared in a game for them.

While Brandon Jacobs was busy packing up his equipment in a trash bag and giving Bruce Boudreau a run for his money with F-bombs as he cursed out photographers, Giants fans are forced to watch the playoffs without a horse in the race … a race that includes the chance for many hated franchises of mine to win it all. I’m forced to sit and watch the NFL playoffs for the second year in a row as a spectator while my Jets fan friends and Patriots fan friends get to actually participate. Good thing there’s beer and point spreads.

Someone will win Super Bowl XLV, but it won’t be the Giants. The scary part is it will likely be a team that I don’t want to see win the Super Bowl. And because the Giants aren’t going to The Dance, I have to sit back and think of which team I would want to take to The Dance with me and which team I would rather leave at the front door waiting for me to pick them up for The Dance.

It wasn’t easy, but I was finally able to sort out the 12 playoff teams from which team I would most like to see win Super Bowl XLV to which team I don’t want to see win at all. Here it is:

1. Colts
I’m a Peyton Manning fan and a year ago I was certain that Peyton Manning was going to win his second Super Bowl and solidify his place as arguably the greatest quarterback ever. Then there was that Pierre Garcon drop, the onside kick and the pick six, and Peyton left Miami with as many rings as his brother.

Peyton is now 34. He isn’t retiring tomorrow, but he also isn’t getting younger and is running out of time in his prime when he will be as dangerous as he now. If he can’t win it this year, it’s just another year closer to retirement for him, and another year with just one Super Bowl to his name, and that will keep him out of the conversation as the greatest ever.

2. Chiefs
It would just be weird if the Chiefs won the Super Bowl, but hey, it’s better than a lot of other options.

A Super Bowl would bring Kansas City some sort of happiness since their baseball team hasn’t for a while and likely won’t for a while. It would be a nice story if Matt Cassel wins and will likely cause crazed sports radio callers in Boston to argue that the Patriots should have never gotten rid of Matt Cassel, no matter how insane that sounds. And if you think I’m kidding, you have never lived in Boston. Go Chiefs!

3. Seahawks
Who knows why Randy Edsall left UConn the way he did? But he’s a college coach and with college coaches, you can’t be surprised when they do sleazy things. Enter, Pete Carroll … the poster boy for sleaze.

Carroll had so many NCAA violations that the NCAA gave USC a two-year bowl ban and eliminated 30 football scholarships from the school. And when Carroll sensed the NCAA closing in to bring the bill, he said he had to go to the bathroom and left USC with the check. I don’t feel bad for USC, but what a stand-up guy Pete Carroll is!

Part of me wants the Seahawks to win it all because it will just be an absolute joke if a 7-9 team wins the Super Bowl. But the bigger part of me wants the Saints to beat them 67-3 to prove how much of a joke it is that a 7-9 team can make the playoffs. And I can’t help but think of Pete Carroll during his postgame press conference on Sunday night saying how proud he is of his team and sounding like Rex Ryan by being ecstatic over an accomplishment that isn’t worth celebrating.

All I know is in Week 9 when the Giants embarrassed the Seahawks in Seattle, I thought Charlie Whitehurst might never watch another football game for the rest of his life let alone play in one that would send the Seahawks to the playoffs. Now he might start a playoff game, and if he wins a playoff game, I think I’m done with football.

4. Falcons
I’m very protective of Eli Manning. I’m like the parent of the kid that all the other kids pick on. And truthfully, you shouldn’t feel that way about your franchise quarterback, but that’s life as a Giants fan.

Matt Ryan hasn’t won a playoff game, but he didn’t bring the Falcons to a 13-3 record this season, and the hype around him rivals the hype around Aaron Rodgers. And there isn’t a non-Giants fan that doesn’t think Ryan is better than Eli. That’s fine, but I hope the Falcons go down because of it.

5. Bears
I promised I wouldn’t say another bad word about Jay Cutler if he beat the Packers in Week 17. So what did he do? Oh, just throw a pick in the red zone and another to end the game. Nothing major.

Here I’m nervous that Lovie Smith might pull the plug on the game and not start Cutler or take him out early and ruin the Giants’ chances. I have never been so angry to not see Todd Collins in a game I needed to win because the way the Bears defense played, I think they would have won the game if anyone other than Cutler started.

When the Bears were 3-0 and the Giants embarrassed them in Week 4 and forced Cutler and Collins out of the game and Caleb Hanie had to take snaps, I thought, “That’s the end of the Bears.” But they somehow managed to win eight more games. But I can’t root for a team the Giants crushed and a team that let the Patriots come to Soldier Field and blow them out by 29 points.

6. Steelers
I have never liked the Steelers in the least bit, and that was before Ben Roethlisberger finally got caught for being such a good role model. There’s no way you can pull for Big Ben if you aren’t from Pittsburgh.

7. Ravens
I’m still not over Super Bowl XXXV. I’m still not over disliking Ray Lewis or Terrell Suggs or Joe Flacco’s unibrown.

8. Saints
Of course the Saints would barely beat the Falcons on the road and then lose to the Buccaneers at home in Week 17 to close the back door to the playoffs for the Giants. Of course.

The Friday before the last Super Bowl, I wrote:

“But should the lasting image of the 2009 NFL season be the visor-wearing Sean Payton embracing Jeremy Shockey? Is seeing New Orleans win its first Super Bowl enough to want Jeremy Shockey to win a Super Bowl? Is the Saints getting their Walt Disney-like win worth knowing that Jerry Reese’s trade of the disgruntled and disrespectful tight end worked out in New Orleans’ favor? No, no and no.”

The same holds true for the 2010 NFL season.

9. Packers
My distaste for Green Bay has grown in recent years and after the embarrassment against the Giants it is at an all-time high. If you combine what the Packers did to the Giants with the national lovefest for Aaron Rodgers, it’s enough to make you sick. How about we let Aaron Rodgers win a playoff game before we put him in the same conversation as Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees?

I’m not really worried about Green Bay winning it all because their running game is just embarrassing. And I know this because after Ryan Grant got hurt, I was forced to pick up Brandon Jackson in fantasy football, and Jackson was so bad that I will never play fantasy football ever again. Aaron Rodgers didn’t need to get a concussion against the Lions, but the Packers kept running the ball against a terrible secondary for some reason, and then why Rodgers tried to run the ball himself, he got popped. It wasn’t until Matt Flynn came into the game that the Packers started to throw the ball, and nearly beat the Lions and then the Patriots because of it.

One question: Do you think FOX will let Joe Buck wear his Aaron Rodgers jersey under his suit for playoff games, or is he only allowed to do that for regular season games?

10. Jets
I don’t like thinking about a Jets parade and J-E-T-S echoing through the city streets. It would be like the Mets winning, and maybe even worse. I have spent a lot of my life despising the Jets and here I’m making a list of the order of which team I want to win the Super Bowl, and they aren’t even last. Richard, what’s happening?

But how fun it would be listening to Joe and Evan after a Jets’ Super Bowl win? Probably fun enough for me to actually pull for them if they play either of the next two teams along the way.

11. Patriots
It was a hard decision to figure out which team I wanted to win less between the Patriots and Eagles, and I nearly turned to my friend’s Magic 8 ball to make the decision for me.

There is no way I want the Patriots to win the Super Bowl. None at all. I would rather walk across the George Washington Bridge naked, during rush hour, while it’s freezing rain than see the Patriots win. But if they do win, I understand. They’re 14-2 and the No. 1 overall seed. They have the best coach and the best quarterback in the league.

However, a Patriots’ championship would put a serious damper on the possibility of adding more chapters to The Last Night of the Patriots Dynasty book that I plan to write with Mike Hurley.

12. Eagles
This is my nightmare!

The Third Annual Eagles Devastate My Life Party was even more of a gongshow than the first and second. 31-10. 8:17 left. Why? Whyyy? Whyyyyy?

There are no redeeming qualities about the Eagles. I’m not a Mike Vick (hat tip to Cris Collinsworth) fan like the rest of the country and there is nothing to like about DeSean Jackson’s Broadway shows in the end zone. I wish Andy Reid had gotten run out of Philly along with Donovan McNabb and there is something that makes me angry when Reid puts up one finger for the extra point when it’s obvious the Eagles wouldn’t be going for two in the situation (I know a lot of coaches do this, but only when Reid does it, does it make me mad).

Before the Packers game I wrote:

“I don’t think you can have your wife cheat on you, take all your money and find out your kids aren’t really your kids and decide to get back out and start dating the following weekend. It just doesn’t work like that. And I don’t know if the Giants can come back from such a devastating defeat and win in Lambeau Field this Sunday no matter what Antrel Rolle says or guarantees.”

And unfortunately, I was right.

Philadelphia already took Cliff Lee away from me. They aren’t going to win the Super Bowl. They can’t.

Blogs

Dec 29, 2010

Year in Review, Part I

It seems like yesterday that it was the morning of January 1, 2010 and I was riding the Metro North from Grand Central to Connecticut with a pounding headache as a result of a hangover,

It seems like yesterday that it was the morning of January 1, 2010 and I was riding the Metro North from Grand Central to Connecticut with a pounding headache as a result of a hangover, looking like I had just relived October 2004. As the train slowly moved through Noroton Heights and Rowayton and every other unnecessary stop on the Metro North route, I probably would have agreed to watch the Yankees blow another 3-0 series lead in exchange for a Gatorade.

At the time of the longest train ride of my life, the Yankees were world champions, the Knicks were as bad as ever, the Giants’ season was over, Rex Ryan had declared the Jets’ season over before the Colts revived it and Mets fans were convinced that Citi Field wouldn’t be a problem for their new $66 million left fielder, Jason Bay. A lot has changed since that day, but most people still don’t care what the Devils, Islanders and Nets are doing.

Outside of the drama and changes in the sports world in 2010, I got to see Gordon Gekko return to Wall Street, a robbery in The Town in front of the laundromat I used in Boston’s North End when I lived there for two years in college and Anne Hathaway naked for about two hours in Love and Other Drugs. I was reminded why Friday Night Lights is the best show on TV in Season 5 and why it’s devastating that there’s only six episodes left in the series. I became addicted to The League, fell for the Jersey Shore again and was happy to see Kenny Powers and Stevie Janowski return to the baseball world.

Even though the Yankees came two wins shy of returning to the World Series and the Giants collapsed for the second season in a row, 2010 was a good year.

I wrote a lot of words during 2010, and my first piece for WFAN.com was “I’m Going To Miss Johnny Damon” on February 1. Now here we are, nearly 11 months later and the Yankees are reportedly having talks about bringing back Damon when he probably should have never left in the first place. As John Sterling would say, “You can’t predict baseball, Suzyn!”

Most of the words I wrote this year were about the Yankees, but at some point I touched on every metro team that matters. When I went back through everything I wrote to come up with something for the end of the year, I thought it only made sense to write about the people that gave me things to write about in the first place. So here it is … The 20 People That Most Influenced My Writing In 2010. I just wish we could have Liev Schreiber from 24/7 narrate it.

20. The Voice of God … Bob Sheppard … The Voice of God
I actually didn’t write very much about Bob Sheppard, but as a Yankees fan he has been a major part of my life even though I never got the chance to meet him. I think when you grow up as a Yankees fan, you dream that one day you will have the chance to hear your name echo across the Bronx sky with perfect diction and pronunciation from Bob Sheppard.
When Sheppard first started missing games, I never really thought he would be gone for good at any point. Even at his age you just felt like he would find a way to get back to the Stadium and be as much a part of it as Monument Park and the facade.

Paul Olden, who is the PA announcer now, is good at his job in my mind, though I don’t know if there is any way to actually measure how good or bad a PA announcer is (but I do know I am not a fan of the Fenway Park announcer). The only problem is that Olden is not Sheppard no matter what he does or how good he is. There are rumors that Danny McBride might take over The Officeonce Steve Carell leaves at the end of this season, but it won’t be the same no matter how good McBride is or how good anyone is that they choose as Carell’s replacement.

It might be unfair to compare Olden to Sheppard or to hold him to that standard, but that’s what happens when your act follows the best there ever was and ever will be.

19. The Boss
In the back of my mind I always liked to think that George Steinbrenner was still in charge of the Yankees even though the last few seasons were filled with stories about the demise of his health.

I remember riding the Metro North and listening to WFAN on October 7, 2007 to the city to meet my friend Redz to go to Game 3 of the ALDS, which was the day that Ian O’Connor’s exclusive interview with George Steinbrenner was printed in The Record. Steinbrenner told O’Connor that Joe Torre’s job was on the line if the Yankees didn’t beat the Indians. I don’t know if anyone outside his immediate family really knew what Steinbrenner was capable of in October 2007, but I liked to believe that he was still calling the shots even if he wasn’t, and this story sure made it seem like the old George was still running the Yankees.

When the Yankees missed out on Cliff Lee, I said, “In the 37 ½ years of his life that he ran the team (I know that number depends on when he technically stopped being in charge and you also have take away the years he was banned), only one ace turned down the Yankees’ money (to my knowledge) and that was Greg Maddux. Steinbrenner has been dead for five months, and the number of pitchers to turn down the Yankees’ money has already matched the total number during Steinbrenner’s 37 ½ years as The Boss.” Then a few days later Kerry Wood signed with the Cubs for $1.5 million when it was reported that the Yankees were offering two years and $10 million.

I don’t know what the future holds for the Yankees with Hal running the team, and Hank to some degree, and Brian Cashman not facing the same pressure and accountability for his actions. I don’t know if the Steinbrenner family is serious when they say that they don’t plan on selling the team, but I do know that we are a couple of days away from 2011 and the Yankees don’t have a fourth or fifth starter.

18. John Tortorella
I haven’t written anything about John Tortorella since the end of last season when I thought he should be fired, and he probably should have been. If the Rangers find a way to not make the playoffs this year, I don’t think there is any chance that Tortorella comes back. Then again, Glen Sather has been able to keep his job with the Dolans for this long, so nothing is out of the question.

So far with the Rangers, Tortorella has blown a 3-1 playoff series lead and missed the postseason, and I am still waiting for him to show me something. Maybe I expect too much from the coaches of my teams, but I think anything other than advancing a couple of rounds in the postseason this year deserves being fired.

Once again Sather has built a team that will most likely end up with the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the postseason and probably lose in the conference semifinals at best. Everyone is still waiting for the Rangers to have a team that is supposed to win and a team that fans can feel confident about winning. How many years of Henrik Lundqvist’s career are the Rangers going to waste?

17. Amar’e Stoudemire
I was skeptical about the signing of Amar’e Stoudemire at first and I was even more skeptical when I realized that he would be the only big name free agent that the Knicks would come away with in the summer sweepstakes. But Amar’e has been everything and more for the Knicks and has brought back a winning mentality to the Garden and rejuvenated the interest of basketball in New York City.

I still wonder what the Knicks would be like had LeBron James decided that he would rather be the King of New York than the King of South Beach where it’s just not the same. The Knicks aren’t ready to win it all just yet, but with LeBron they could have been, and basketball in the city would have been as big a deal as it has ever been.

What Stoudemire has done in just a couple of months has been inspiring to watch and with Carmelo Anthony only wanting to play in Manhattan, the future of the Knicks finally looks bright for the first time in a long time. We have Amar’e Stoudemire to thank for that.

16. Omar Minaya/Jerry Manuel
I don’t think either of these two are worthy of their own spot, so I put them together since they will be linked together in Mets history.

Sandy Alderson has been the Mets general manager for as many games as me, but just watching how he conducts his business and what his presence feels like from his in-studio interview with Mike Francesa, I think Mets fans should be happy with the future of their team in the hands of Alderson. However, the Phillies rotation likely put a damper on any division title dreams for the Mets for the next five-plus years. But I don’t think any Mets fan has to worry about Sandy Alderson’s friends taking their shirts off and challenging minor league affiliates of the Mets, or get nervous that Sandy is going to blame his team’s public relations mess on media members wanting jobs in the organization.

I am a Willie Randolph fan, and I wasn’t a fan of the way he was let go by the Mets considering he could have done just as bad a job as Jerry did for the last two-plus seasons. But part of me is sad to see Jerry go since it was like seeing Wade Phillips go. Wade Phillips didn’t deserve to be the coach of the Cowboys anymore (he probably never did), but now with a competent person coaching the team, I am scared that the Cowboys might realize their potential and actually win. The Mets aren’t that talented, but they probably could have fared better than they did with Jerry since the middle of 2008.

15. Winter Olympics Hockey
I know that this isn’t a person, but it was an event that dominated the month of February at a time when the sports world is starving for excitement between the Super Bowl and March Madness and Opening Day, and the hockey tournament filled that void after being a disappointment in 2006.

After being embarrassed four years ago in Turin, Italy, Brian Burke put together a worthy Team USA that didn’t lose a game until the gold medal game when they lost to Canada in overtime. Ryan Miller became a household name for three weeks, though I am sure non-hockey fans don’t even know who he is now 10 months later, and for at least a few days this country was engulfed in hockey. I thought the level of interest would carry over into the NHL regular season and I think it did at first, but eventually hockey went back to being the way it has always been: a sport for lifelong fans and not casual fans.

The NHL can keep changing the rules to increase scoring or create better marketing campaigns or even fire Gary Bettman, but I think the NHL will always have that special niche with its fan base, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Maybe if less warm-weather cities had team and more cold-weather cities had teams the game would gain popularity, but maybe just one month every four years is enough for casual fans if it is as good as the 2010 Olympics were.

14. Matt Dodge
I don’t like Matt Dodge because he isn’t a good punter, but I don’t blame any of the Giants’ losses this season on him because since the first day that his punting became a problem, he has proven that he doesn’t deserve to be in the NFL. Tom Coughlin stuck with him for the whole year when he could have gone another route, and at this point watching Dodge take the field is just a joke and I just expect the worst possible scenario when he is waiting for the snap.

The same way that DeSean Jackson and Devin Hester and Dez Bryant bring that sense of excitement and anticipation to special teams, so does Matt Dodge. On any punt attempt, Dodge might drop the snap, fall down, bobble the ball, lose a shoe, kick the ball on a line drive to the returner, kick the ball into the stands or completely whiff on the kick. I am still waiting for him to try and throw a 60-yard touchdown pass instead of punting.

I actually felt bad for Dodge when Coughlin was out on the field ripping into him after the collapse in what was the most uncomfortable TV moment aside from the five nights a week when Jay Leno is introduced on the Tonight Show and audience members awkwardly go up to the stage and give him high fives. I’m pretty sure Matt Dodge didn’t give up the 21 points that tied the game and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t the one missing every tackle on Jackson after Jackson muffed the punt. Matt Dodge has become a household name as a punter, and that is as bad as an umpire or referee becoming a household name. You just want to do your job and do a good job because there isn’t a non-die-hard fan that knows the names of good punters or good umpires or referees. Just the bad ones.

13. Rex Ryan
I’m not sure who Rex Ryan wants to be. One day he wants to be an NFL coach and the next day he wants to be friends with the players and a class clown with the media. So far his team has underachieved by the standards he set in Hard Knocks (leading the league in wins), but you would never know that from the way he conducts himself.

I was still on the fence about whether or not I liked Rex Ryan and then on Sunday when he was giving his press conference and found out in the middle of it that the Jets made the playoffs because the Jaguars lost, and he started acting like the Jets had decided their own fate with a convincing win, well it was then that I finally decided Rex isn’t for me.

I don’t agree with everything that Bill Belichick does or how he handles the media, but I get why he acts that way, and at least he is consistent. He gave this interview outside the locker room after losing to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII, and had the Patriots won, his postgame interview probably would have been very similar.

Call him smug, or arrogant or pompous, but call him consistent. That is all I ask of Rex. Be consistent. Find a personality and stick with it. Either be an authority figure or a coach that is buddy-buddy with the players. Don’t try to be both because you can’t be both.

12. Joba Chamberlain
Three years ago it was rare if someone reached base against Joba Chamberlain, and it was nearly impossible to score against him. Now he is only in the majors because of the name he built for himself in 2007.

I don’t get Joba Chamberlain. I don’t know how he used to be so dominant and now he is so inconsistent. I think part of it has to do with Brian Cashman’s genius plan to stretch him out to be a starter then to be a reliever then to be a starter then to be a reliever again. And I think the other part of it is that Joba is too cocky to make adjustments to the league after the league clearly made adjustments to him.

I was part of the “Joba should be a starter” party and now I think we are all seeing why. Forget the fact that he was barely given any time to progress as a starter, but let’s look at where the rotation currently stands with a major gap in major league ready arms to fill the voids left by not signing Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte’s indecision. If Joba had remained on the path to be a starter, one of the two rotation spots would be filled right now, and I wouldn’t need to worry about whether A.J. Burnett is going to finally earn his salary or if Andy Pettitte could put his family on hold for another year.

Thanks, Cashman!

11. DeSean Jackson
I didn’t necessarily write about DeSean Jackson, but anything I have written about the Giants enduring another collapse is directly related to DeSean Jackson who has clearly made it his personal mission to rip the hearts out of Giants fans every December.

Last season the Giants needed to beat the Eagles to take over the division lead and make the playoffs, and the Eagles went into East Rutherford and put up 45 points on the Giants and Bill Sheridan. Jackson scored on a 72-yard punt return and a 60-yard pass, catching six passes for 178 yards. He backpedaled into the end zone on the 60-yarder, holding the ball out and laughing as he watched the Giants’ season fall apart.

It was Jackson again who put the dagger in the Giants this season with his punt return that I will have to watch be replayed during every Giants-Eagles game for the rest of my life. And now Jackson has assisted in helping Michael Vick (or Mike Vick according to Cris Collinsworth) be named the Pro Bowl starter in what has been as been as big of a comeback year as Enrique Iglesias’ 2010 has been. Just devastating.

I don’t need any incentives to hate the Eagles or the city of Philadelphia’s sports teams, but DeSean Jackson is a good incentive.

Part II coming on Thursday.

Blogs • NHL

Dec 16, 2010

Must-See TV

The debut of 24/7 Penguins-Capitals: Road to the Winter Classic instantly took over the No. 1 spot on my TV power rankings.

I have a hard time deciding what my favorite show on TV is. There’s The Office, The League, Friday Night Lights and Curb Your Enthusiasm. If I could only watch one, I honestly have no idea which show I would pick. But I think that problem was solved on Wednesday night with the debut of 24/7 Penguins-Capitals: Road to the Winter Classic, which is easily the best show on TV and it instantly took over the No. 1 spot on my TV power rankings.

If you didn’t see it, watch it … now. Stop whatever you’re doing and watch it because it’s that good. And if you did watch it and aren’t more excited for next Wednesday instead of next Friday because of it, then I don’t know what’s wrong with you.

The series is a combination of every 24/7 boxing series and Hard Knocks on steroids. That’s how good it is. I was sold on the show well before Maxine Nightingale’s “Right Back Where We Started From” came on in the middle of the Penguins’ road trip, but as someone who could recite lines from Slapshot before I could recite the Pledge of Allegiance, the incorporation of the song took the show to another level.

Nothing is played up because HBO is there. Those were real F-bombs you heard for 60 minutes, not the overly exaggerated fake F-bombs of Rex Ryan to become to a character on a TV show. And HBO couldn’t have started filming at a better time with the Penguins being the hottest team in the league and only the Islanders playing worse than the Capitals are right now.

I’m sure Penguins fans had a lot of fun reliving their winning streak behind the scenes, and Capitals fans probably took out their emotions on some household items as a result of the team’s slide. But there might not have been a more angry fan base than Bruins fans who had to watch Matt Cooke having fun living life and saying, “There is no easy ice,” when he is on the ice, knowing that Marc Savard is still feeling the side effects of the nasty elbow Cooke gave him last season.

Within the main story line of “Penguins vs. Capitals” and their paths to the Winter Classic are other story lines that, as a fan, help to enhance the show and make you pick a side when watching it. The show isn’t supposed to be about good vs. bad or to sway you in favor of one team, but if you’re not a fan of either team, which I’m not, there are three separate stories embedded into the show that will help you decide which team to pull for in the 2011 Winter Classic.

Sidney Crosby vs. Alexander Ovechkin
These two players will be linked and connected throughout their entire careers, and if you’re a hockey fan, you’re either a Crosby guy or an Ovechkin guy. You can’t be both. You have to pick one. I’m a Crosby guy and have been from Day One, though I am pretty much alone on this among my friends.

When Evgeni Malkin is watching the game against Toronto on TV and laughs while saying, “Sid … Look,” as Crosby joins a scrum in front of the net after a whistle, I couldn’t help, but think of all the cheap shots and slew foots the Penguins committed against the Rangers in the 2006-07 Eastern Conference semifinals. But being able to play that way and get away with it is part of the game and a big part of the Penguins’ game, and it’s what makes them good. And it’s what makes me like them and like watching them play.

Is Crosby chippy and even dirty? Yes. Does he excessively whine to refs and dive? Yes. Does he get into scrums in front of the net after whistles because he knows that he won’t get a penalty and that no one will touch him then? Yes. Is he the best player in the world? Yes.

Capitals assistant coach Dean Evason made it a point to call Ovechkin “the greatest player in the world” during his locker room rant when the Rangers scored more goals against the Capitals than the Jets did points against the Dolphins last Sunday (7-6).

“Our best player is fighting! The greatest player in the world!”

I understand that Evason was trying to make the point that the Capitals were embarrassing themselves and there’s no need for Ovechkin to be fighting when the team is getting shutout, but was it necessary to call Ovechkin “the greatest player in the world?” Sure, that’s Evason’s opinion and he spends every day around Ovechkin, so I would expect his opinion to be skewed, and I’m probably making too big of a deal about nothing, but do you think the Pittsburgh coaching staff is telling Crosby he is the best player in the world? No, because he knows he is.

Ovechkin is the most exciting player in the world, but to me, he isn’t the greatest. (And how about his weird tramp stamp tattoo?) When he’s on the ice you pay attention because he could do something you have never seen before, but that doesn’t make him the best. Sean Avery is also an exciting player because when he’s on the ice he might jump someone or commit an act that forces the NHL to create a new rule overnight, but sadly, being exciting doesn’t make you “the greatest.”

Dan Bylsma vs. Bruce Boudreau
It’s hard to know exactly who Dan Bylsma and Bruce Boudreau are from one episode because Bylsma is in the middle of 12-game winning streak while Boudreau can’t even find a way to beat the Panthers. At the end of the premiere, narrator Liev Schreiber says, “Teams are never as bad as they appear during their lowest points, and never as good as they seem during their highest ones,” but right now, that’s all we have to go off of when evaluating the two head coaches.

There isn’t much to dislike about Dan Bylsma. He seems to have found the perfect medium between being an imposing authoritative figure and still being able to have fun with his players. He isn’t exactly their friend, but he isn’t just a coach. His pregame and intermission speeches are solid, and the little nuances (the clapping for the announcing of the staring lineup) and games (Mustache Boy shootout) he has instituted into the team’s practices and locker room environment are unique and entertaining. The only real downfall for Bylsma in the first episode was watching him take one-timers at practice.

I’m not sure Bruce Boudreau is going to make it through the whole season of 24/7. Once you start making positives out of losses and tell your team to build off a losing effort, well the end can’t be far away. Are the Capitals’ struggles all because of Boudreau? No, but neither are the three straight division titles that HBO seemed to make it sound like. His biggest problem is that he has terrible goaltending. Yet somehow, he has the intestinal fortitude to criticize Henrik Lundqvist and say, “Lundqvist likes to come out of the net” before the game against the Rangers.

I always wonder how NHL coaches are able to keep their emotions in check on the bench and always have the same serious and puzzled face like they’re watching the State of the Union address. Rarely do you ever see NHL coaches clap or fist pump after a goal, and the only time you ever see them talking during a game is when they are trying to sort out a mess of penalty minutes with the ref. The other night the Red Wings lost to the Kings 5-0 and as soon as the game ended the cameras showed Mike Babcock, and after being shutout at home, he looked exactly the same as he would if he had been on the winning end of the shutout. Bruce Boudreau is the exception to the rule.

Between elbowing the glass and freaking out on the bench during his team’s current losing streak, it’s no wonder the Capitals have little to no composure when they are forced to play from behind. In the event of a fire or an emergency, Boudreau is the last guy I would want being in charge of the safety of people’s lives. (That and the fact in one of his Real World-like confessions, he had either ketchup or barbeque sauce all over his face). He appears to be the complete opposite of Bylsma, who probably checks himself in the mirror a dozen times before being on camera, and I’m not sure how many NHL players can take their coach seriously when he shows up to practice in all red Capitals warmup gear with his stomach hanging over his pants like he is going to be Santa Claus at the Penguins’ team Christmas party.

Penguins Not Named Sidney Crosby vs. Capitals Not Named Alexander Ovechkin
It might have something to do with the extreme opposites of where the teams are right now, but the Penguins are a more likable team than the Capitals after one episode.

(On an unrelated side note: I went on a tour of the Verizon Center in D.C. in the summer of 1998 (it was the MCI Center then), the week after the Capitals were swept by the Red Wings in the finals. The building was a year old at that time and the locker rooms were incredible in the state-of-the-art facility. But after seeing what a locker room that was built 13 years ago looks like compared to the Penguins’ new locker room and arena, well there isn’t much of a comparison. The Verizon Center already looks old.)

I guess it’s interesting to see the life changes that a player experiences like Scott Hannan trying to rent a new house after being traded in the final year of his contract, or watching Pascal Dupuis say goodbye to his family before a road trip, but that’s not what people want to see.

Seven and eight years ago, ESPN had a similar show called The Season and one year they followed the Red Wings (when everyone was introduced to a call-up by the name of Sean Avery) and the next year they followed the Avalanche. In the Avalanche season, there is a scene on the plane where Peter Forsberg and some other guys are playing Tiger Woods on their computers against each other, and at the time I thought it was unreal. Then you see the Penguins in 2010 playing what looked to be Call of Duty on PSP and it’s just that much cooler. Sure there are the outcasts like Harvard grad Craig Adams reading a book on the plane while everyone is playing video games or cards, but aside from that, who wouldn’t want to be on the Penguins? Then again, that’s likely the difference between a team that’s winning and a team that’s losing.

The most intriguing Penguin was without a double Max Talbot who showed the stereotypical hockey player combination of being, odd, weird and creepy, and making sure to keep all these qualities balanced. Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury had their moments as well, but in the few minutes that Talbot had the camera on him, he stole the show.

From the Capitals we saw a lot of depression as a result of losing. Mike Green was more upset that the team was in a funk than the fact that he had a sprained MCL and still wanted to play.

The Capitals lost again on Wednesday night in overtime to the Ducks and their losing streak is at seven, but hopefully their weekend road trip to Boston and New Jersey will give them a personality for next week.

Blogs • KTTC Archive • Yankees

Dec 10, 2010

Sudden-Lee, Yankees Are Without A Plan

This is not good. This. Is. Not. Good. I was thinking of sending in the lyrics to Pearl Jam’s “Black” instead of writing this since I am holding back tears and shaking, but I wasn’t

This is not good. This. Is. Not. Good.

I was thinking of sending in the lyrics to Pearl Jam’s “Black” instead of writing this since I am holding back tears and shaking, but I wasn’t sure if turning in Eddie Vedder’s work as my own counts as plagiarism since it’s a song.

On Friday, I told Sweeny Murti that I had made a playlist of sad songs in the event that Cliff Lee didn’t choose the Yankees. I asked Sweeny what the Yankees’ Plan B was if he didn’t sign, and he said it wouldn’t be to make a sad songs playlist, but I’m not so sure it isn’t. (Now playing: “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M.)

Cliff Lee wasn’t Plan A. He was The Plan. There isn’t another free agent pitcher even close to his abilities; in fact there isn’t even another free agent pitcher I would want on the Yankees. And according to Joel Sherman, Felix Hernandez, Josh Johnson and John Danks aren’t available. So I’m not exactly sure where the Yankees go from here. All I know is it’s never a good thing when you are googling “Sidney Ponson” to see if he is available knowing that he is probably somewhere on Cashman’s list of backup plans. And yes, he is. He was placed on the Atlantic League’s retired list on June 18. Ponson Part III, anyone?

I’m scared. I’m scared of what Brian Cashman might do now. I’m scared of what will happen to the Yankees in 2011. I’m scared that CC Sabathia might opt out after this season and sign with the Phillies. I’m scared that the Yankees are banking on the idea that Larry Rothschild thinks he can fix A.J. Burnett.

Last week on Twitter I joked that this offseason Brian Cashman publicly bashed the face of the franchise, forced the best relief pitcher in the history of baseball to talk to Red Sox, scaled a building in Stamford, Conn., had dinner with Carl Crawford and then hours later Crawford signed with the Red Sox and now you can add letting a pitcher turn down seven years and $154 million to that list. His offseason has been as bad as Tim Redding’s only start with the Yankees on July 15, 2005 against the Red Sox in a 17-1 loss at Fenway Park (1 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 2K). I was joking with that tweet, but now I’m not really joking because my 2011 summer hinges on whether or not Cashman can trade for a pitcher worth getting excited about. (Now playing: “All Out Of Love” by Air Supply).

I know people are sensitive about just about everything when it comes to the Yankees and there are those that get easily offended when Cashman’s decision making is questioned. But on a day like today after a night like last night, I think it would be unfair not to question Cashman and his decision to leave next season in the hands of a lefty willing to leave two years and $28 million on the table. This isn’t so much to blame Cashman for failing to land Lee since, according to Jon Heyman, Lee is the one that initiated talks with Philly and probably never wanted to come to New York. This is more to blame Cashman for putting the Yankees in a position in which they absolutely had to have Lee.

So, here’s a look at just how much of an impact Cliff Lee’s decision has on the Yankees. And to take us through all the aspects of Lee’s choice to pitch for the Phillies and not the Yankees are quotes from Michael Scott of The Office because right now that is the person who most resembles our trusty GM, who is one non-move from ruining the 2011 summer the same way that Cliff Lee just ruined Christmas.

“But I always thought that the day that Steve Martin died would be the worst day of my life. I was wrong. It’s this.”

When Derek Jeter was still not signed, I kept thinking, “What if he goes somewhere else? What if I have to write my ‘Tribute to Derek Jeter’ story at least four years before I’m supposed to?” I never really thought that Jeter would leave, but there was that chance that he might.

I always thought there was a slight chance I might have to write the story you are currently reading. I thought I might have to write about being devastated that Cliff Lee didn’t choose the Yankees, but really, I didn’t think I would because I just figured that the Yankees would give him whatever he wanted to make sure that they would never have to face him again. And when everyone tells you he is going to be a Yankee and that they will pay whatever it takes, you believe it. So much for that. (Now playing: “Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness” by The Smashing Pumpkins.)

“How do I feel about losing the sale? It’s like if Michael Phelps, came out of retirement, jumped in the pool, belly-flopped and drowned.”

This is bad for Brian Cashman. This is as bad as giving $82.5 million to A.J. Burnett or giving Javier Vazquez and Nick Johnson second chances or letting Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui go. Maybe Cliff Lee was never going to come to New York, but Cashman put the Yankees in a position in which they had to have Lee because there was no other option and now they don’t have him.

“My whole life, I believed that America was No. 1. That was the saying. Not, ‘America is No. 2.’ England is No. 2, and China should be like 8.”

George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in 1973. In the 37 ½ years of his life that he ran the team (I know that number depends on when he technically stopped being in charge and you also have take away the years he was banned), only one ace turned down the Yankees’ money (to my knowledge) and that was Greg Maddux. Steinbrenner has been dead for five months, and the number of pitchers to turn down the Yankees’ money has already matched the total number during Steinbrenner’s 37 ½ years as The Boss.

Aside from Maddux, I never really thought anyone would turn down less money or not accept the Yankees’ eagerness to overpay for someone. But at the end of the day, it turns out the Yankees didn’t even offer Lee the highest contract in terms of average annual salary. Here were the offers to Lee, according to Jon Heyman:

Yankees: Six years, $148 million plus player option for seventh year at $16 million.

Phillies: Five years, $120 million.

Rangers: Six years, $138 million.

In the end, Lee left $28 million on the table, but did end up getting a higher average annual salary. (Now playing: “Every Breath You Take” by The Police.)

“Here’s the sitch. Two weeks ago, I was in the worst relationship of my life. She treated me poorly, we didn’t connect, I was miserable. Now, I am in the best relationship of my life, with the same woman. Love is a mystery.”

Before the winter meetings, it was expected that Cliff Lee would be a Yankee, and once the Red Sox got Carl Crawford and the Yankees improved their six-year offer to seven years, it was basically a guarantee that Lee would sign with the Yankees.

And before the winter meetings, the Yankees rotation was CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett, Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre, but it was expected to improve over the next week. Guess what? That’s still the rotation right now. So before the winter meetings the thought of that rotation was a joke, and now it’s still our rotation. Do I expect the rotation to stay the same? No. But I also don’t know how Lee’s decision will impact Pettitte’s.

“You know what? I had fun at prom. [pause] And no one said yes to that either.”

Brian Cashman and the front office will have to speak to the media about what went wrong in trying to entice Cliff Lee to the Bronx, and I fully expect them to spin in a way that make it sound like it’s no big deal. I’m sure they will tell Yankees fans how they are focused on the bullpen and the bench, and they will eventually believe their own lie that this is somehow for the better.

After the Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez for prospects and not a single current major leaguer (I wonder if Jed Hoyer is still technically a Red Sox employee) and signed Carl Crawford the same night that Cashman had dinner with him, Cashman said you just have to “tip your hat” to the Red Sox for making great movies. I wonder if he will tip his hat to the Phillies too? Why not? Seems like the polite thing to do. (Now playing: “With Or Without You” by U2.)

“You know what Toby, when the son of the deposed king of Nigeria e-mails you directly, asking for help, you help! His father ran the freaking country! OK?”

Brian Cashman was embarrassed in July when the Mariners used the Yankees to get the Rangers involved in a deal for Cliff Lee. The Mariners got the Rangers to offer Justin Smoak, and once they did, they cited David Adams’ ankle injury as a way to cancel the deal on the Yankees.

At the time I was crushed. The Yankees missed out on the chance to add Lee even if it came at the cost of Jesus Montero. Here is what I said to Sweeny following the deal that didn’t happen:

“Many people thought that Lee to the Yankees would be too much or even “overkill” given the already star-studded roster. I was clearly not one of those people and even though I have been anxiously awaiting the debut of Jesus Montero, I could deal with the Yankees losing him given the depth of catchers in the minors. The Yankees would have gone from favorites to win the World Series to heavy favorites, and would have had a real chance to run away and hide in the AL East.”

And here is Sweeny’s response:

“I don’t think it was a necessary move to make, but I’ll repeat what one GM said to me last week when I told him the Yankees didn’t need Cliff Lee. He said to me, “Everybody needs a Cliff Lee!”

If Lee gets traded to the Yankees, they probably would have beaten the Rangers and might have won the World Series. Lee would have had a half season under his belt in New York and been reunited with his so-called “best friend” CC Sabathia (maybe they aren’t exactly best friends after all) and fellow Arkansas native A.J. Burnett, and would have never had a taste of the Rangers, so they wouldn’t have had much of a say in the sweepstakes. The Yankees could have signed him to an extension after trading for him or waiting until right after the season, and just like that there would be no problems.

Then again, what if the Yankees had traded Montero for Lee, and then Lee still left for Philly the way that the Rangers traded Smoak for a half-year rental? I’m just glad Chuck Greenberg made it impossible for me to feel sorry for Rangers fans. (Now playing: “How’s It Going To Be” by Third Eye Blind.)

“There are ten rules of business that you need to learn. Number one: You need to play to win. But, you also have to … win, to play.”

Here is the Yankees rotation as of today:

CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett, Ivan Nova, Sergio Mitre.

One second, I need to grab a tissue.

Here is the Red Sox rotation as of today:

Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, John Lackey, Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Am I the only one that sees a problem here?

Let’s not forget that the Red Sox were without Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis for a large portion of the year and still caused me to hyperventilate as late in the season as September 26 when there were only seven games left. A healthy Red Sox team in 2011 with the additions of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford has kept me awake for nearly a week and will probably cause a great deal of stress this winter and eventually ruin my summer. Merry Christmas, Cliff Lee!

“I miss the feeling of knowing you did a good job because someone gives you proof of it. ‘Sir, you’re awesome, let me give you a plaque! What? A whole year has gone by? You need more proof? Here is a certificate.’ They stopped making plaques that year.”

Two years ago, Brian Cashman ended the World Series drought by unloading the Yankees’ checking account on CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, and the Yankees won the World Series. Then, instead of doing all he knows how to do (spend money), he tried to be a real general manager and get creative. So he traded for Javier Vazquez and signed Nick Johnson. He let the No. 2 hitter and the World Series MVP both leave via free agency and essentially ripped apart two of the Yankees’ most important offensive weapons and two players essential with winning and big-game pedigrees. He did trade for Curtis Granderson, so it wasn’t all bad.

Now, Cashman is going to need to get creative again. The problem is being creative doesn’t win in baseball. You either have a lot of money to spend or you have enough homegrown starting pitching that you don’t need to spend money. Look at the Red Sox. After trying to save some pennies on Mark Teixeira and trying to get creative with reclamation projects like John Smoltz and Brad Penny and Mike Cameron, and winning zero postseason games since all of this, the Red Sox went to the winter meetings with Adrian Gonzalez already in hand and left with Carl Crawford. Lots of money. Zero creativity.

I can’t wait for the creativity era to begin. (Now playing: “The Heart Of The Matter” by Don Henley.)

“Andy Bernard. Pros: he’s classy. He gets me. He went to Cornell. I trust him. Cons: I don’t really trust him.”

I’m supposed to like Brian Cashman, but I don’t. It’s not because of this or that he told No. 2 to test the market if he didn’t like the Yankees’ offer, but they are just the icing on the cake of a mountain of problems in the last decade. I have no idea what Brian Cashman is going to do now. No one does. I don’t even know if Brian Cashman knows what he’s going to do.

Cashman’s biggest flaw has always been that he doesn’t know pitching and to think that he is now being asked to make a move regarding pitching to save the 2011 season before it even starts is as bad as it gets.

Now playing until the Yankees bring back Andy Pettitte and trade for a front-end starter: “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day. September 2011 that is.

Blogs • NFL

Dec 7, 2010

A Reality Check

I was born on September 19, 1986 — 29 days before the start of the Mets-Red Sox World Series. At this point in my life, a series of that magnitude would be the equivalent of

I was born on September 19, 1986 — 29 days before the start of the Mets-Red Sox World Series. At this point in my life, a series of that magnitude would be the equivalent of the apocalypse. Mets. Red Sox. One team has to win. One team has to become world champion. It’s as terrifying as a sporting event can be in which one of my teams isn’t playing. Thankfully I wasn’t even a month old the last time that nightmarish matchup took place.

Nothing in sports can touch what the aftermath of a Mets-Red Sox World Series would mean to me as a Yankees fan and someone who lived in Boston for five years and had to live through two Red Sox championships. The only thing that I could see being relatively similar would be a Jets-Patriots AFC Championship, and that’s why on Monday I made the trip to Foxboro to get a first-hand look at the second-worst possible sports formula to my life. Sounds crazy considering I’m a Giants fan, and neither team has a direct impact on the Giants’ path to the Super Bowl, but with all of the hype surrounding the Jets-Patriots Monday Night Football game, I figured if this is the potential AFC Championship, I might as well get a sneak peek as to what life will be like when two teams that I despise meet to decide a trip to Dallas.

For all the hype, it was as bad a football game as it could be. Actually it was a bad football game even without the hype. It was as bad as the time I went to see Tom Petty a few summers ago and he played all new songs, or the time I had seats behind home plate for Yankees-Red Sox and Roger Clemens put together the type of performance (5.1 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR) that A.J. Burnett puts together every fifth day. I respect the Jets fans that I saw playing bags and crushing Coors Lights when I walked into the stadium at 5 p.m. knowing that they would be pregaming for another three-plus hours in freezing temperatures and would then have to sit through another three-plus hours of freezing temperatures being humiliated in a rival stadium. I respect them, but I don’t feel bad for them because at some point “the same old Jets” were going to become exactly that. It might not have happened against the Broncos, Lions, Browns or Texans, but it was going to happen again, and the Patriots were the perfect team to remind the Jets that they have a long way to go.

I went into the game with an open mind knowing that one of the fan bases I hate would come out victorious. I didn’t care who won because the result would be both good and bad either way it ended, I just wanted to see a good game. I was hoping for maybe a low-scoring defensive affair, or a game that would come down to a two-minute drill in the fourth quarter. Instead I got a 45-3 blowout in which Mark Sanchez looked every bit as bad as he was in his four-interception game in Foxboro last season. By the end of the third quarter, I was wishing it were an NHL game so that there would be a line brawl or scrap of some kind. Instead the Patriots tacked on another 14 points in the fourth quarter and the closest thing to a line brawl was the wild pack of reporters fighting over the free pizza after the game.

I believe that you find out what players and coaches are really like in big games. It’s like talking to someone when they are drunk and they open up to you and tell you their real opinions and feelings that they would never tell you sober. But with some alcohol, you are suddenly their best friend and someone they trust to talk to. Well big games are alcohol for players and coaches, and no game has been bigger this season than the Jets-Patriots Monday Night Football game. No one is as important as the head coach and quarterback in football, so let’s find out who the two head coaches and quarterbacks really are after the biggest game of the 2010 season to this point.

Rex Ryan
I didn’t like Rex Ryan at first, then he grew on me and I even wished Tom Coughlin was a little like him when I said, “I only wish Tom Coughlin could be half as likeable as Rex Ryan.” Actually I wish Tom Coughlin could be half as likable as anyone, but I was wrong to think that Coughlin should change his ways to be more like Ryan. After my 180 on Rex, I have done other 180, and now a complete 360 and I am back to my initial stance of not being a fan of Rex Ryan anymore.

There are few, if any, press conferences in sports as entertaining as Rex Ryan’s, but even those are getting old. In two seasons, Rex Ryan has become what The Office has become for me over seven seasons — a show that I was skeptical about at first, and then grew to love before becoming skeptical again.

One day Rex is saying that the Jets are the team to beat and the next he is saying that he knew the AFC East would run through New England. I understand that you have to take a grain of salt with whatever Rex says, but it’s become ridiculous. He wants to come off as this cocky, arrogant and pompous winner when the Jets are winning close games against barely competent teams. And after losses, he becomes an apologetic, sincere and humble the next. It’s an odd act that has made him a favorite of Jets fan, but an immature and unprepared clown to outsiders.

Tom Coughlin might not have a comedic personality or a limit to the amount of snacks he can eat in a day or a twin brother that looks like Sean Connery’s character John Mason at the beginning of The Rock, but he has beaten Bill Belichick in a big game (the biggest of games), and at least with Tom Coughlin you know what you’re getting, whether you like it or not. Oddly enough, I’m thankful that Tom Coughlin is the way he is.

Mark Sanchez
Last week, Mike Francesa said that if you polled the city, the majority of people would take Mark Sanchez to be their quarterback over Eli Manning. It’s true and it blows my mind.

I understand that Jets fans are protective of their quarterback the same way that I was of Eli in his first few seasons in the league before he beat what would have been the greatest team ever and then didn’t need me to protect or defend him anymore. But there comes a time when you have to look in the mirror and admit that while Mark Sanchez might be an elite quarterback one day, he is nowhere close to being one right now.

This season Sanchez has been a lot better than his disastrous 20-interception season in 2009, but with the team’s success, his second-year abilities have been disguised for most of the season before being unveiled on national TV on Monday night.

I had one friend tell me that Mark Sanchez is underrated — a claim that couldn’t be further from the truth. If Sanchez isn’t the most overrated player in the league, he is certainly near the top of the list. I think he will be an elite quarterback in the league at some point, but I don’t think he is ready to be the Super Bowl quarterback Rex Ryan thinks he is, and we saw that in his second career start in Foxboro.

Bill Belichick
Unless you’re a Patriots fan, it’s easy to hate Bill Belichick, and I think Patriots fans understand why non-Patriots fans hate him. He dresses like he came out of the Eric Prydz “Call on Me” video, usually wearing 1980s sweats, a shredded hoodie and a women’s headband. He is smug with the media, and his answers are more boring than Associated Press stories. He has very few redeeming qualities from a non-Patriots fan perspective, except for two things: He is a winner and he is a Yankees fan. And being a Yankees fan means a lot, at least to me it does. It made me go change my feelings about UNC’s Roy Williams, and it just might work with Belichick.

Bill Belichick is as much a symbol of winning as Tom Brady is in the NFL, and for all the criticism and abuse he takes about he conducts himself, the man puts a winning on the field every season. So many people were quick to predict the Jets to win the AFC East this season and write off the Patriots and their young and inexperienced defense. And when the Patriots traded Randy Moss, everyone thought Belichick was making a terrible mistake, the same way they did when he traded away Mike Vrabel and Richard Seymour. But at some point I think we need to stop questioning Belichick’s coaching and personnel decisions.

He will never say it outright, but Monday night’s win was as big a regular season win as there is. But Belichick didn’t compare it to the Super Bowl or make it sound any more important than a win over the Lions. And that’s probably because he knows the difference between winning a Super Bowl and winning a game in Week 13 against your division rival.

Tom Brady
I should hate Tom Brady. He is a legend and an icon in Boston and has brought immense happiness three times to the sports city I hate more than any other. But everything about Tom Brady says I should like him.

He’s the Derek Jeter of football. He’s a winner. He says the right things (minus that Plaxico Burress defense comment). He wears a Yankees hat away from the football field and is married to a smokeshow. I think I want to be a fan of Tom Brady. I just don’t know if I can.

For some reason, Tom Brady is constantly doubted. Whether it’s “experts” picking against him in big games or people siding with Peyton Manning in the “Who’s The Better Quarterback Debate?” it seems like Tom Brady doesn’t get enough credit. I’m sure there are plenty of people who watched the game on ESPN last night and had to listen to Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski and John Gruden drool over him and who think that maybe Tom Brady gets too much attention, but doesn’t he deserve it? And if he doesn’t, who does?

Aside from making the Patriots the Yankees of the NFL and giving Boston three championships in a four-year span, Tom Brady is 0-1 against my team in big games, so I don’t have any real grudge against him, other than maybe his haircut. But I know one thing, and that is after his performance this season in what was supposed to be a down year for the Patriots, I will never doubt him again. He’s earned that.