Who Are These Guys?

30 05 2012

Mike Baxter and Omar Quintanilla - Philadelphia Phillies v New York MetsI’m going to roll off a list of names here, so bear with me for a second: Mike Baxter, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Vinny Rottino, Rob Johnson, Jordany Valdespin, Lucas Duda, Mike Nickeas, Omar Quintanilla, Scott Hairston. Not exactly household names, are they?

In fact, if you’re not a Mets fan there’s a solid chance that you’ve never heard 80-90% of the names on this list. Here’s the thing though, every single one of these guys has played some kind of role in the Mets’ 28-22 start to the 2012 season. Other than David Wright 2.0 or Daniel Murphy, who have basically been the two most consistent mainstays in the lineup, it’s been a mixed bag of names that are as hard to remember as they are to pronounce. Whether it’s Nieuwenhuis and Duda, who have blossomed into solid, everyday players, or a guy like Quintanilla who has literally only been on the team for a total of four at-bats, this ever-changing lineup of unusual suspects is making the Mets one of the league’s biggest surprises as we head into June.

It’s really hard to quantify the way in which these new guys are contributing night in and night out. For example, a brief look at the numbers shows that Mike Baxter is batting .339 in 62 plate appearances this season. That’s 21 hits — but they’re 21 extremely productive hits. Twelve of those 21 hits have been for extra bases, and they’ve driven in 10 runs as well.

That’s just one example though. This season, the Mets have gotten timely hits from just about everyone in the lineup and they’ve done it in situations that past Mets teams could never even dream of getting hits in. The Mets lead all of baseball with 108 two-out runs. They also have won more than a few games this season where they rallied from a deficit in late innings and have squeaked out their share of one-run games, as evidenced by the fact that they have a -20 run differential and are somehow six games over .500.

And let’s not forget about the pitching, which has also been surprisingly strong early on. After a somewhat lackluster 2011 season, R.A. Dickey has seemingly regained his form and is 7-1 with a 3.04 ERA. If this red-hot start has anything to do with him climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro this past winter, then we’re going to have to find some more mountains for him to summit next January.

It’s been a strange first 50 games to say the least, but no matter how they are getting the job done, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the Mets are finding ways to win ballgames.

Now, they will head into what will probably be the toughest month of their season when they will face the first- and second-place teams from the AL East (Orioles and Rays), the first- and second-place teams from the NL Central (Reds and Cardinals), the first-place team from the NL East (Nationals) and, of course, the Yankees. Twice. Beginning on Friday, they will play 22 games in 24 days against some very good teams and we will learn a lot about the 2012 New York Mets.

Am I expecting much out of this 22-game stretch? Honestly, no. I haven’t expected anything since Opening Day, and I’m not going to change my philosophy just because the Mets are only 1.5 games out of first place on May 30. The moment you let your guard down as a Mets fan and raise your expectations is the moment they stab you in the face. Not even in the back either — right in the face.

I’ll be more than happy with going 11-11 over the next 22 and rolling into Wrigley with a 39-33 record on June 25. Anything better than .500 over this stretch and I’d be ecstatic — anything less than .500 and…well, it just proves that it’s going to take a lot more than Mike Baxter and Vinny Rottino to be a serious contender for that new second Wild Card spot that I’m not even sure is a real thing.

But if Ike Davis can start hitting like we all know Ike Davis can, and if Tejada and Thole both return from the DL and contribute like they were in the beginning of the year, then anything is possible. Well, not anything, but you get the point.


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So We Meet Again…

27 04 2012

April  and May of 1997-2000 were arguably four of the most memorable springs of the early part of my life. Why? Well it wasn’t because I was crushing elementary school and middle school spring dances (I wasn’t), it wasn’t because it always marked the beginning of a crippling allergy season, and it certainly wasn’t because it meant that summer vacation was right around the corner. It was because the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat played four of the most intense playoff series in NBA history.

From 1997-2000, the Knicks and the Heat in the playoffs was a staple of the spring. I mean, from the ages of 9-12, I was probably convinced that the NBA had made it mandatory for the Knicks to face the Heat in the playoffs and for the series to go all five games, or all seven games, or however many games it took for both teams to beat the living hell out of each other. If it was a best-of-11 series, you could have guaranteed that they were going to play all 11.

And boy were those series good. If you liked defense, they were more than good — they were ecstasy. Games with final scores like 77-73 and 77-76 and 82-81 were commonplace. Some of the most fiercely competitive basketball you could possibly ask for between two teams that were so evenly matched and so perfect for each other, that they were practically carbon copies.

I still remember the pure hatred I had for those Heat teams like it was yesterday. I think about Tim Hardaway, and Alonzo Mourning, and Dan Majerle, and Jamal Mashburn, and Voshon Lenard and I feel like I’m 10 years old again. I think of P.J. Brown flipping Charlie Ward in the air like a rag doll on the baseline right underneath the basket in Game 5 of the 1997 Eastern Conference semis and I feel the same rage the 4th grade version of me felt. I think of Jeff Van Gundy swinging on Alonzo Mourning’s tree trunk of a leg, hanging on for dear life trying to break up the fight between him and Larry Johnson during Game 4 of the 1998 first round series and I think of how badly I wanted Grandmama to knock Alonzo on his ass, even as a 5th grader.

All of those memories are so fresh, so vivid still, that’s it’s impossible for me not to get excited about Knicks-Heat, Part V. Even though it’s 12 years later, and even though Allan Houston is sitting behind the Knicks’ bench in a suit as the Assistant GM and not on the court putting a dagger in Miami’s heart with a Game 5 buzzer-beater, it still feels the same. Even though it’s Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler out there instead of John Starks, Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley, it still feels the same. And even though the hatred is now aimed at LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, it still feels the same.

Are we heavy underdogs? Yeah, there’s not a single person that knows anything about basketball that honestly thinks the Knicks will beat the Heat in a best-of-seven series. They’re bigger than us, faster than us and better than us and we don’t match up with them nearly as well as the teams of the late-90s did. But so what? The Knicks were heavy underdogs to Miami in every series they won from 1998-2000.

Back in those series, the key to our victories over Miami was our physicality, our refusal to be bullied and pushed around. We had a bunch of guys who would go to the mat every game for 48 minutes and not let up until the final buzzer sounded — Charles Oakley diving into press row saving lose balls, Larry Johnson scrapping with guys six inches taller than him, Charlie Ward driving the lane with reckless abandon, putting his body on the line.

This year, our key is going to be defense. The defensive play of Iman Shumpert and Tyson Chandler is going to ultimately decide who wins this series. If Shumpert can slow down Dwyane Wade and Chandler can control the paint, the Knicks have a legitimate shot of knocking off the Heat. We already know Carmelo Anthony is going to score in bunches and he’s capable of going blow-for-blow with LeBron James. We don’t know what we’re going to get out of Amar’e Stoudemire, Baron Davis, Landry Fields and J.R. Smith. They are the wild cards. But if Shumpert and Chandler can make life difficult for Miami, they will make things a whole lot easier for us.

Tomorrow afternoon, in the arena formerly known simply as Miami Arena, this 15-year-old rivalry will begin anew. In terms of the animosity the teams’ fan bases hold for each other, it’s almost like there hasn’t been over a decade in between playoff meetings. But tomorrow afternoon, the saga will resume, right where it left off, 12 springs ago.


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How to Alienate Your Franchise Quarterback 101

21 03 2012

I hope you all enjoyed your spring break, but it’s time to crack open those textbooks and get back to the grind. Today’s lesson will focus on the best methods for completely alienating your franchise’s former first round draft pick and the quarterback who “took you to two consecutive AFC Championship games.” I know, it’s a pretty specific lesson, but it’s an important one nonetheless. I hope you all take notes, but then again I’m just going to put these Powerpoint slides up online right after class anyway, so just do what you want. You’re the ones paying $3,000 to take this class.

Step 1: Publicly court a 2-time league MVP coming off of 4,000 neck surgeries in the offseason. Make sure you do it right in the face of your franchise quarterback while the entire rest of the team throws him under the bus anonymously by making subversive comments to the media.

Step 2: When it’s clear that the aforementioned 2-time league MVP wants absolutely nothing to do with your circus of an organization, turn around and tell the media that you willingly “passed on him” and then immediately sign your franchise quarterback to a huge 3-year contract extension. This should make him SUPER happy and it will also show that you fully support him and you’ve chosen to instill your trust in him. You are officially handing the keys of the franchise over to him for the next three years.

Step 3: But wait! I bet you’re asking “Isn’t this a lesson about how to ALIENATE your franchise quarterback? You just told me how to support him and make him feel welcomed?” Well, you didn’t let me finish. Right after you sign him to this awesome contract extension, and by right after I mean literally a week later, you’re going to want to go out and trade a 4th round draft pick for one of the most beloved quarterbacks in recent history. Not one of the most talented, because let’s be honest, he’s terrible. But you’re going to do it purely for publicity purposes because you’re EXTREMELY jealous that your crosstown rivals just won their second Super Bowl title in four years.

So what’s the problem with that? You just signed him to sell jerseys and put people in the seats, right? That’s all he’s really good for anyway.

Only there’s a teeny, tiny little problem with that. Because as soon as your franchise quarterback, whom you’ve just spent a lot of money on to make happy, throws an interception in a big spot or fails to come up with a first down in a tight game, the fans are going to get restless. Do you know what restless fans like to do? They like to chant things, and you can bet all the house’s money on the fact that a WE WANT TE-BOW chant will happen as soon as Mr. Franchise Quarterback screws up.

And when that does happen, because it will, Mr. Franchise Quarterback is going to shrink right back into that little shell you just spent $40 million to coax him out of.

Congratulations, New York Jets! You just traded a 4th round draft pick to put your “franchise” quarterback into a corner that it’s going to be nearly impossible for him to play himself out of, while simultaneously alienating him and canceling out all of the goodwill you tried so hard to gain back by signing him to an extension!

If this sounds like the most backwards logic imaginable, then you’d probably be right. In fact, the decision to trade for Tebow is not only illogical, but it’s downright laughable. The fact that the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team that literally has to put tarps over their seats because they can’t sell them out, wouldn’t give up more than a 4th round pick for a guy who can guarantee them EXACTLY THAT, is all you need to know about Tebow.

He will provide the Jets with some headlines, some publicity, some sponsors and some ticket sales and he will also provide his teammate, Mark Sanchez, with a colossal headache and the knowledge that there is now someone breathing down his neck with every bad pass he makes. That’s exactly the kind of pressure that I’m sure he wants before the ink on his new contract is even dry.


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How Much Are the Jets Sweating Right Now?

7 03 2012

Let the Peyton Manning Sweepstakes begin! There’s probably nothing I want more than for a team to go out and scoop Peyton up within the next few days before the free agent period officially opens up on March 13th, so we don’t have to listen to the endless rumors and speculations for the next X number of months. I’m tired of it already and I don’t want to hear anymore about it, so I hope this is quick and painless.

But since we’re speculating, here’s what I think: No situation makes better sense for Peyton than going to Miami. God knows they need a viable quarterback and a warm weather team is probably in #18′s best interest right now. Nobody wants to come back from four major neck surgeries and spend the latter years of their career in the northeast or northwest or wherever it’s 32 degrees in December.

The Dolphins have a solid defense and some weapons on offense that resemble what Peyton was working with in Indy. Reggie Bush is a solid pass-catching back and is coming off of one of the most productive seasons of his career. Plus, he’s got a couple of young talented receivers in Brandon Marshall and Davone Bess.

Most importantly, they can (and will) back up the Brinks truck and dump a ton of money on him if he wants.

So how much are Jets fans sweating right now? I don’t care how old he is and how many experimental stem cell procedures he had. Peyton Manning is still Peyton Manning until proven otherwise. The Jets don’t want to have to face Tom Brady and Peyton Manning four times in a 16-game season. Nobody does.

I’m getting a kick out of all the Jets fans that think he’s coming to New York though. It’s hilarious how quick they are to not only throw their golden boy Mark Sanchez under the nearest NJ Transit bus, but then back up over him a few dozen times. Because that’s exactly what they’ve been doing the last few months.That should work wonders for his self-confidence that’s already teetering somewhere between “fragile” and “15-year-old girl with body image issues.”

And can you see Peyton playing for Rex Ryan? Please. His last two coaches in Indianapolis were Jim Caldwell and Tony Dungy, two guys who could have been replaced by life-size cardboard stand-ups and nobody would have noticed. In case it hasn’t been obvious for the past few years, Peyton likes to run the ship. Do you think his ego is going to sit around and watch while Ryan parades himself through the headlines week-after-week?

Anyway, that’s enough of my commentary. Here are the top 5 teams that I think have a realistic shot at landing Peyton for the 2012 season:

1) Miami Dolphins

2) Washington Redskins

3) San Francisco 49ers

4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers

5) Arizona Cardinals

 

P.S. If you don’t think Peyton looks good in aquamarine and orange you must be outside of your mind.


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Dos and Don’ts of Picking an NCAA Tournament Bracket

6 03 2012

It’s Championship Week in the college basketball world, and since my Dos and Don’ts of Fantasy Football column from last July was so popular (kind of) I figured I would give you all the benefit of my wisdom once more. To say I’ve never picked a bad bracket in my life sounds like an exaggeration, but it isn’t. I don’t win my pool(s) every year, but I’m always still in it when the Elite Eight rolls around, and that’s all you can really ask for, isn’t it?

Now, be aware that some of these tips may sound a little unorthodox to people who are even a little bit familiar with not doing things backwards. I understand that. I also don’t care.

DON’T watch a lot of college basketball during the regular season. It’s probably a little too late for this piece of advice, but you can give it a try next year if you want. While it sounds extremely counter-intuitive, it’s actually helped me for almost a full decade now.

You might ask, “How am I supposed to successfully pick a college basketball tournament bracket without having watched a substantial amount of the teams in the tournament all year?” Perfectly valid question. I don’t watch more than 4-5 hours of college basketball all season. You see, during the months of November through January I’m pretty much 90% occupied with the NFL season, and the other 10% of hard drive space that’s left is usually devoted to the NBA. That doesn’t leave any room to care about college hoops, unfortunately. Once the Super Bowl is over, I’m left with about three full weeks to absorb whatever college basketball knowledge I can.

Too late? Nope, actually just the opposite. I typically sit and wait, like a jaguar lying in the dense jungle brush stalking a wild boar. On Selection Sunday, the hunt begins. I pour over every one of the 67 teams and every one of the first round matchups like I’m studying for the BAR exam. In college, there are usually two kinds of study techniques: pay attention during every class and take notes, or read the entire book the night before the exam. You can probably figure out which kind I was.

DO put a lot of value in the following things: strength of schedule, non-conference API, head-to-head records, conference records and past tournament experience. Believe it or not, you can find out almost all you need to know about a team from the above five categories. I say “almost” because chaos loves the NCAA tournament, we know that.

Be especially cognizant of the last category: past tournament experience. Experience is highly valuable in the tournament, and for good reason. Why do you think Michigan State makes a run almost every year? Because Tom Izzo is no stranger to the Dance and knows how to prepare his teams. It’s the reason why Butler made a second straight Final Four run last year and it’s the reason why VCU might do the same this year (early pick alert). I know VCU has a younger team compared to last season’s Final Four squad, but never discount the experience of the guy at the helm.

DON’T lean too heavily on the #1 seeds, and certainly don’t put all four of them in the Final Four. Why? I mean, they’re the #1 seeds for a reason, right? Wrong. All four top seeds have only made it to the Final Four once in tournament history. Because it happened in 2008 and it’s still a fairly recent memory, it may seem more likely to happen again, but it’s not. Don’t be tempted.

DO recognize that the system tends towards chaos (at least in the first and second rounds). In the end, everything usually works out the way it’s supposed to. Four out of the last five tournaments have been won by a No. 1 seed and a top-seeded team has won a total of 16 titles since 1985, but at least for the first few rounds, be aware that upsets will occur. Sprinkle a few of them throughout your bracket, but don’t just close your eyes and see where your pen lands, focus on a few key statistics.

For example, the No. 12 seeds are 39-89 against the No. 5 seeds. That may seem pretty lopsided to the casual observer, but then again if you’re reading this you’re probably more than just a casual observer. That winning percentage is 30%, which is pretty good considering the circumstances. That works out to one out of every three, which means that of the four 5-12 matchups that occur in every tournament, it’s almost guaranteed that at least one of them will win, and there might even be two. If you finish your bracket and notice you don’t have any No. 12 seeds advancing to the second round, you should probably go back over them and reconsider.

Also, the 2-10 second round matchup is something else to watch. This is one of the most fascinating stats in the tournament: Historically, the No. 2 seed is 28-21 against the No. 10. That’s almost an even split, so if you find yourself with any 2-10 matchups in the second round of your bracket, watch out. Last year, there was only one 2-10 matchup and the No. 10-seeded Florida State defeated the No. 2-seeded Notre Dame.

DON’T over-think anything. I know that teachers always tell you to go with your first instinct, and no one ever listens to that, but it’s surprising how often it’s true. If you come to a matchup you’re not sure about, don’t start digging out your Magic 8-Ball and firing emails at Joe Lunardi. Go with your gut and stick with it. Of course, I never follow my own advice and change my bracket upwards of eight or nine times before I’m okay with it.

DO think about having your wife/girlfriend/sister who knows nothing about college basketball fill out your bracket for you. They’ll often pick teams based on which mascot they like better or which family members or friends attended the school, and more often than not you’ll find that they’re absolutely destroying you by the Sweet 16. It’s fascinating, but also frustrating. So if you’re going on Year 14 of finishing in dead last in your office pool, you might want to consider this route.

DON’T pick a No. 9 seed to beat a No. 1 seed or a No. 12 seed to beat a No. 1 seed unless you personally have (possibly illegal) insider information that says differently. In the history of the tournament, No. 1 seeds are 59-6 against No. 9 teams in the second round of the tournament, and 18-0 against No. 12 seeds in the Sweet Sixteen. That adds up to an overall record of 77-6 against No. 9s and No. 12s, which isn’t very good. It’s certainly not a number you would feel comfortable leaning on when you’re making your picks, so it’s best to just stay away from that. We love our upsets, so we’ll always consider putting that No. 12 seed or No. 9 seed past the big, bad No. 1, but history tells us that it almost never happens. When in doubt, always side with history.

So those are my dos and don’ts. It’s not a complete list by any means, but it’s all I can think of right now. Besides, I don’t want to give away all of my secrets, right? Anyway, you’re welcome for the advice and like Drake’s album, you can thank me later.


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Okay, Okay, I’ll Write About Jeremy Lin

16 02 2012

So all week people have been asking me when I’m going to write about the man who has set the NBA on fire, the new savior of New York basketball, Jeremy Lin. (Nope, nobody has asked me that.)

Well, I’m finally breaking my silence on the phenomenon that is Linsanity. I’ve been a Knicks fan since I learned how to dribble a basketball (so, about 6 years old) and I love the Knicks. Maybe my love for them has been overshadowed by my love for the Giants during the past decade (winning will do that), but it’s always still been there.

Watching Jeremy Lin ignite Madison Square Garden during this seven-game winning streak has rivaled just about anything I’ve ever seen in my time as a Knicks fan, including their remarkable 1999 Finals run and the first few games of the Carmelo era last season.

But that’s such an unremarkable blanket statement that doesn’t really touch on why this has been so extraordinary. What makes it unlike anything else is where Jeremy Lin came from: nowhere. It’s almost like he literally materialized on the Knicks roster one day, and a week later NBA.com was sold out of his jerseys. WHAAAAAT?

Then the comparisons started. Is he the NBA version of Tim Tebow? WHAAAAT? I know football season has been over for almost two whole weeks now, but does anybody remember what it was like to watch Tim Tebow during about 85% of every game he played? He was pretty bad. The Tim Tebow craze was mostly about how we were surprised he was actually winning games. He looked so inept and remarkably unremarkable that his winning streak was almost like an inside joke that every sports fan was in on, except for Tebow.

On the contrary, Jeremy Lin is actually really good. I mean, he put up 38 points on Kobe and the Lakers last Friday night in front of a national television audience with just about everyone expecting him to fall back to Earth. Instead, he continued to rise, to almost meteoric heights. Watching that performance against Los Angeles, I don’t ever remember being that giddy during an NBA game. Every circus shot, every reverse layup, every lob pass for an alley-oop evoked the same reaction: Is this really happening? And if it is, HOW?

So yeah, enough with the Tim Tebow comparisons. Here’s a comparison that fits: Victor Cruz. How weird is it that in the span of a few months, two New York sports franchises had a breakout star that came onto the scene in almost identical scenarios? It’s uncanny. Victor Cruz, the No. 4 wide receiver on the New York Giants depth chart until Domenik Hixon went down in Week 2, steps in and ignites the Giants on a remarkable run to a Super Bowl title. Jeremy Lin, probably days away from being cut, living on his brother’s couch, sparks the dreadful 8-15 Knicks on a 7-game winning streak (and counting), possibly saving his coach’s job and his team’s season.

Oh, and how about the fact that they both came from colleges in Massachusetts? Eerie.

Above everything else, it’s been fun to watch, and isn’t that what being a sports fan is supposed to be all about anyway? The Giants provided a pretty good amount of fun this past season (in between the hundreds of mini heart attacks) and God knows I’m going to need something to inject a little excitement into my sports-watching life over the next few months because we all know that baseball season probably won’t be supplying any.

And for the people questioning whether or not Carmelo Anthony is going to “buy in” to this new and reinvigorated style of basketball when he returns from his injury? Complete and utter nonsense. Carmelo Anthony is not a selfish basketball player, he was simply forced to adjust his natural role as a pure scorer to adapt to an offense that was missing a true point guard. What that meant was a lot of isolation plays and a lot of Melo handling the ball — something he wouldn’t need to do with a point guard that can create the way Lin creates.

For Melo to “not buy in” to this would not only be counter-intuitive for him, but it would also not make much sense. Especially when you consider the fact that Melo was actually the one who told D’Antoni to play Lin.

That’s right, on The Boomer & Carton Show this morning, Lin explained that Carmelo was actually his staunchest advocate for playing time when he went down with his injury.

So to say that Carmelo won’t buy in to this new offensive scheme is not only ridiculous, but also misinformed. Either way, Lin’s ability to draw defenders away from their men should create a lot of open looks for Melo when he returns, just as it’s been providing the same open looks for Amar’e, Steve Novak and even Bill Walker. He makes everyone on the court better, even his buddy Landry Fields who is beginning to look like the Landry Fields of early last season and not the post-Melo-trade Landry Fields who sort of disappeared.

Anyway, we don’t know how long this ride is going to last, but you can bet that us Knicks fans are going to enjoy every last twist and turn. It’s not every day that you get to see an undrafted Harvard grad become the biggest story in the NBA and it’s also not every day that you can witness an entire nation of basketball fans get away with unwittingly making thinly veiled and slightly racist puns that nobody gets upset about!

Jeremy Lin: Bridging races and fan bases, all at the same time.

And when a guy that changed his named to Metta World Peace is running around the Los Angeles Lakers locker room screaming “LINSANITY!” at the top of his lungs, even though you just harpooned his team a few nights before, you know that you’ve officially arrived.


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World Champions!

6 02 2012

It’s hard to imagine a more anticlimactic game-winning touchdown run with :57 seconds remaining in the Super Bowl than the one Ahmad Bradshaw scored last night. On a second-and-goal from the six yard line, Bradshaw took the hand-off from Eli Manning and ran directly up the middle of a gaping hole in the Patriots defensive line. Shocked by this clear path to the end zone, it took a few seconds before Bradshaw suddenly remembered what he had to do, but it was a few seconds too late. Just inside the one yard line, Bradshaw squatted as if he was shrinking away from an imaginary tackler, hearing Eli yelling for him not to score. The momentum of his run was too much to fight though, and it carried him over the goal line, backwards, almost as if he were moving in slow motion.

And just like that, the New York Giants led the New England Patriots 21-17 with :57 seconds left in Super Bowl XLVI and we didn’t know whether to celebrate or be disappointed. So, by default, we celebrated — even if the reaction was a little delayed. After all, wouldn’t it be better to force the immortal Tom Brady to go the length of the field and score a touchdown to win, rather than relying on Tynes to boot a high-pressure kick and then give Brady the ball back needing only a field goal to win?

The decision will be debated, for sure, but not as much as it would have been if the outcome of the game was any different than what it ultimately was. As it were, Brady’s last second Hail Mary pass ended up hitting the turf  just out of the reach of Rob Gronkowski’s fingers and scooted out the back of the end zone, and then — cue the confetti, for the second time in four years.

It’s still far too early for me to accurately put this Super Bowl run and eventual title in the proper perspective, but I can say this much: this one seemed more deserved, like we really earned it, at least more so than 2007. Although 2007 was special for me in its own way (it was the first Giants title that I was old enough to appreciate, we ruined the Pats’ perfect season, etc.), my immediate feeling is that I will come to cherish this victory even more when I look back on it years from now.

To compare the two would be foolish at this moment, before the initial wave of euphoria from last night’s victory has even worn off. If I could put it simply though, I would say that when it comes down to it the 2007 title felt like it was a series of serendipitous events that carried us like a team of destiny, whereas this run felt like we scratched, clawed and fought to the death every step of the way, catching fire at the right time and straight-up beating the best teams in football in the rawest, most pure way possible.

And maybe there are other factors in there somewhere too. Maybe it’s because of the fact that this run seemingly came out of nowhere. Maybe it’s because of the fact that every single win in this six-game stretch dating back to Christmas Eve against the Jets has felt like one big sigh of relief after another. Or maybe it’s because of the fact that I already have such fond memories surrounding each and every playoff game that made up this run. From being there in MetLife Stadium to witness the first home playoff win in the new building against Atlanta, to the improbable win over the 15-1 Packers, to watching us capture the NFC title on a beach in St. Maarten, and finally watching Big Blue wrap up another Super Bowl title in the last minute with my Dad, the only other Giants fan I know more diehard than I am, every step of the way was memorable.

A few years from now, I’ll probably be able to better assess the two Super Bowl runs and how they compare to one another, but right now, I’ll just stick to enjoying this one.

So soak it all in, Giants fans. After the season we just went through, that might very well have taken a few years off of my life, we sure as hell deserve it.


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Super Bowl XLVI: New York Giants vs. New England Patriots Position-By-Position Breakdown

30 01 2012

There are about 155 hours left until the kickoff of Super Bowl XLVI, or three viewings of The Tree of Life if you want a rough comparison. The Patriots have already landed in Indianapolis and the Giants are due to arrive today, so in celebration of the official beginning of Super Bowl Week, I’m going to do a position-by-position breakdown of the big game. But before you read all the way through to the bottom expecting to find my prediction, I want to warn you that you’re not going to find it. If you think I’m going to be pressured into giving a prediction that I’ll regret all week, then you must be outside of your mind. It’s not happening.

Quarterback: Eli Manning vs. Tom Brady

If this breakdown was comparing how Eli Manning and Tom Brady played last week, then the outcome might be a little different. If it was comparing which quarterback was hottest at this very moment, then the outcome would definitely be different. But if we’re just comparing Eli Manning and Tom Brady straight-up, with no stipulations, then it’s hard not to tip the scales in Brady’s favor. I know Eli has won his last two games against Tom and I know he’s probably playing the best football of his life right now, but the fact is that Tom Brady is still Tom Brady, official UGG’s spokesman, until further notice. The fact that this is even as close as it is speaks volumes to how well Eli Manning is playing right now. I’ll leave it at that.

Slight Edge: Pats

Running Backs: Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw vs. BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Danny Woodhead

If this category was “Which running back tandem has the best names” then I’d have to give it to the Patriots. BenJarvus Green-Ellis almost has half as many names as he had rushing touchdowns during the regular season and Danny Woodhead sounds like a comic book character. But if we’re comparing them based on which tandem is more likely to swing the momentum of the game, it’s going to have to be Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. Bradshaw is the heart of the Giants offense, even if his numbers may not always show it. He didn’t play the last time the Giants and Pats met back in Week 9 and the Giants still came out on top, so having him around this time should be a big plus for Big Blue. And if Brandon Jacobs can break a few big runs, the Patriots defense will have major problems.

Edge: Giants

Wide Receivers: Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, Mario Manningham vs. Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Chad Ochocinco

Right now, the Giants have the best wide receiving corps in the NFL and it isn’t even close. Each and every one of those three have had a significant impact on the Giants’ postseason run and they are a major reason why the Giants are going to be playing for the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday night. Nicks had enormous games against Atlanta and Green Bay, and when he was locked down against San Francisco, it was Victor Cruz that stepped up with 10 catches for 142 yards. And what about Mario Manningham? Well, he has only quietly scored 3 touchdowns this postseason, one in each game so far. His 3rd-and-15 catch against San Fran to put the Giants up 17-14 was one of the biggest plays of the season.

As for the Patriots receivers, we all know that Welker has had a monster season. Although the New England receivers are the exact polar opposite of the Giants’ squad in that they are more prone to controlling the middle of the field and not known for their big-play tendencies the way Nicks, Cruz and Manningham are, they are still dangerous and equally hard to cover in the 10-20 yard range. Plus, Ochocinco just bought a pair of Beats by Dre headphones for every single player on the Patriots which is probably the most important thing he’s contributed all year.

Edge: Giants

Offensive Line: Chris Snee, David Diehl, Kareem McKenzie, David Baas vs. Matt Light, Logan Mankins, Nate Solder

These two units are going to play an extremely important role in Sunday’s game. If the Patriots offensive line can protect Brady and make sure he isn’t running scared and throwing darts into the ground like Alex Smith during the 4th quarter last week, then the Pats should be in good shape. We all know what can happen if the Giants get pressure on Brady. We saw it in Super Bowl XLII and we saw it in Week 9. This is no secret. For the Giants, their line was simply abused by the 49ers defensive front last week. Manning was hit so many times he could have legally changed his name to Tina Turner. Luckily for the Giants’ line, the Patriots pass rush isn’t nearly as ferocious as San Francisco’s. For now though, and since the play of the Patriots’ line is much more closely connected to their success than the Giants’ line is, I’m going to give the edge to New England.

Edge: Pats

Tight Ends: Jake Ballard, Travis Beckum vs. Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez

Much like the wide receiver match-up, this one isn’t even close. Only instead of being in the Giants’ favor, this one clearly goes to New England. Jake Ballard can hold his own with just about anyone in the league and has had a great season filling the shoes of the departed Kevin Boss, but he’s leagues away from Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Gronkowski shattered tight end records left and right this season and even on a bad ankle, he’s the player that the Giants defense needs to make its number one priority going into Sunday night. His high ankle sprain is going to be the big story leading up to the game and it’s not likely that Gronk will be 100%, but Rob Gronkowski at 75% is still more dangerous than 90% of the tight ends in the league playing at full health. Plus, Aaron Hernandez plays like a wide receiver and the Pats have even started using him as a running back too because apparently their offense is run by a 12-year-old playing Madden.

Edge: Pats

Defensive Line: Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Jason Pierre-Paul, Chris Canty, Linval Joseph vs. Shaun Ellis, Vince Wilfork, Mark Anderson

This unit is the Giants’ bread and butter. They will set the tone of this game and it’s up to the Patriots offensive line to keep them at bay, which will be easier said than done considering no offensive line has been able to successfully do that in over a month and a half. The Giants’ defensive line is a very close-knit group and they have big game experience too. Tuck and Umenyiora both played huge roles in the Super Bowl XLII victory and Tuck sacked Brady twice in that game. In fact, if it wasn’t for Eli Manning’s late game heroics, an argument could have been made to give Tuck the MVP of that game. Simply put, this game will be determined by how much pressure the Giants’ front four can put on Brady.

As for the Patriots, Wilfork had an enormous game against Baltimore last week, and it will be up to the Giants’ offensive line to keep him at bay on Sunday. If it was legal for defensive tackles to eat their way through the offensive line though, Wilfork would be absolutely unstoppable.

Edge: Giants

Linebackers: Michael Boley, Mathias Kiwanuka, Jacquian Williams, Chase Blackburn vs. Brandon Spikes, Rob Ninkovich, Tracy White

This is a tough category to call because the Giants linebackers have been really hit-or-miss all season. Only in the last five weeks have they begun to really gel and play some quality football. Jacquian Williams is finally making plays, Boley and Kiwanuka are finally both 100% healthy and Chase Blackburn went from eating Cheetos on his couch two months ago to playing a major role in another Giants Super Bowl run. It’s weird how football works. The linebackers are going to really be tested on Sunday with Gronk and Hernandez roaming the middle of the field. If they can cover and not let either tight end go all Vernon Davis on them, then they will severely limit the Patriots’ offensive options.

Slight Edge: Giants

Secondary: Kenny Phillips, Corey Webster, Aaron Ross, Deon Grant, Antrel Rolle vs. Devin McCourty, Kyle Arrington, Pat Chung, James Ihedigbo, Sterling Moore

I have to give the edge to the Giants here on principle. The Patriots owned the league’s worst passing defense all season, and even though they’ve looked a little better during the playoffs, you need to remember who they went up against the last two weeks: Tim Tebow and Joe Flacco. Two quarterbacks who aren’t exactly known for lighting it up. The most dangerous receiver they’ve had to cover was probably Demaryius Thomas. Let’s get real here for a second. They haven’t had to face a receiving corps like the one the Giants have since the last time they played the Giants. Plus, if they throw Julian Edelman out there on Cruz or Manningham it’s going to be a blood bath. The one thing the Patriots’ secondary has in its favor is that it’s opportunistic. They get a lot of takeaways, so as long as Eli can play mistake-free football and be careful with his throws like he was last week in San Francisco, then the Giants can avoid playing to the Patriots’ strengths.

Edge: Giants

Special Teams: Lawrence Tynes, Steve Weatherford, Will Blackmon, Devin Thomas vs. Stephen Gostkowski, Zoltan Mesko, Julian Edelman, Wes Welker

The Giants special teams play is probably what won the game for them against the 49ers. Weatherford punted the hell out of the ball all night, Thomas’s two fumble recoveries were responsible for 10 points and he might have singlehandedly put the Giants in the Super Bowl and of course Lawrence Tynes was the one who won it with his kick. But the truth is that Big Blue’s special teams have been shaky all season. Another game like last week’s is probably asking too much, but all they really need to do is play smart, mistake-free football. On the Pats’ side, Gostkowski is a model of efficiency and Edelman and Welker are always dangerous in the return game. We’ll call this one even.

Edge: Even

Head Coach: Coughlin vs. Belichick

For the second time in four years, Tom Coughlin has coached himself off of the hot seat and into the Super Bowl. He’s done a fantastic job of getting the team motivated and prepared down the stretch this season and especially in the playoffs and he’s converted guys like Antrel Rolle and Michael Boley and made them believers. In fact, he might be doing the best coaching job of his career right now. But so is Belichick. He’s taken a team with the 31st ranked defense in the league and brought them within one win of a Super Bowl title, which is amazing given the fact that he has based his entire career up until now on his defensive superiority. Basically this comes down to the fact that Belichick is Belichick — the slight edge here goes to the Pats, even though, much like the Manning-Brady comparison, this is much closer than it would have been a few years ago.

Slight Edge: Pats

 

Prediction: No way.


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The Man Who Saved Rutgers Football

27 01 2012

There used to be a time for Rutgers football when a 25-point loss at home was the highlight of the season. In fact, this time was not that long ago, and I remember it well. It was a blustery early November afternoon and we were sitting in the upper deck of an unusually packed Rutgers Stadium as the Scarlet Knights led the No. 1 ranked Miami Hurricanes 17-14.

I say unusually packed because in those days the stands were typically barren on most Saturdays, with the school desperately giving out tickets to anyone who would fill the seats, to anyone who would even pretend to be interested in a football program that was mightily struggling.

But on that afternoon, midway through the second season of coach Greg Schiano’s tenure, there was a brief glimpse of the hope that Rutgers saw when they hired him away from the very school they were beating that day. Although the Hurricanes would rattle off 28 unanswered points and win the game 42-17, and although Rutgers would finish the season a dismal 1-11, that game and that brief 3-point lead was enough to knock Miami out of their No. 1 ranking for at least one week, and it was certainly enough to restore just a glimmer of hope in a football program that had long been an afterthought in New Jersey sports.

During his 10 years as head coach of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Greg Schiano restored pride in a school and a football program that desperately needed it. The “Birthplace of College Football” could once again proudly declare itself as such without receiving the harsh ridicule that had come to be associated with the scarlet “R” during the 1980′s and 1990′s. To put it plainly, he rebuilt Rutgers football from the ground up, turning it from a rusty and wind-beaten shack on the banks of the Raritan into the proud, gleaming behemoth that it is today (complete with 12,000 new seats and a shiny new jumbotron).

When I arrived at the university in 2005 as a student, I brought with me the hopes that I would one day get to sit in Rutgers Stadium with my fellow students and cheer for a winning football team, a team that I could be proud of, and a team that packed the seats with a sea of Scarlet red and regularly played games on ESPN. The team was coming off of a 4-7 season before I began my freshman year on the banks, and I figured my dream of watching a contender was possible, but still far off.

Boy, was I wrong.

That 2005 season saw Rutgers play in its first bowl game in over two decades, and although we lost, it was certainly a sign of things to come. Little did I know that less than 12 months later, I would be witnessing the game that would put Rutgers football on the map for good and become one of the most exciting moments in the history of the school and the state of New Jersey.

That warm November night in 2006 was when Rutgers football officially went from pretender to contender. No longer was a 25-point loss to a Top 5 team considered a high point. No, we wanted more than that. We wanted to taste victory, we wanted to rush the field, to soak in the beauty of college football relevance, to watch our team lead off that night’s edition of SportsCenter. By erasing a 25-7 deficit and knocking off No. 3 Louisville to remain unbeaten, we got just that.

That week, Rutgers would rise to the highest BCS ranking in school history, at No. 6, and it seemed surreal. In a span of only 5 years, Greg Schiano turned Rutgers football from the laughingstock of the Big East into a legitimate BCS contender, and he did it with a roster loaded with future NFL talent like Ray Rice, Brian Leonard, Kenny Britt, Devin McCourty, Tiquan Underwood and Anthony Davis. No longer was the school begging people to fill the seats of Rutgers Stadium — now they had to build more seats just to fit everyone who wanted to be there, who wanted to witness this transformation. In fact, in my 4 years at Rutgers, I went from easily being able to get free tickets to games to having to enter a lottery just for the chance to get tickets. By my senior year, students had to pay to get in. Crazy, huh?

After receiving five different Coach of the Year awards for his stellar 2006 season, the offers began rolling in for prestigious coaching jobs all over the nation. Miami, Notre Dame, Michigan, you name the vacant head coaching position and chances are that Schiano was offered the job — and turned it down. Born and raised in the state of New Jersey, Schiano was a Jersey boy all the way through. He had helped to resurrect this downtrodden football program and now he was going to stick around and watch it flourish. Or so we had thought.

Less than a month ago, Rutgers defeated Iowa State in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium to pick up its school-record 5th consecutive bowl win, which is now the longest active streak in the nation. With 8 wins or more in five of the last six seasons and two second place finishes in the Big East, Rutgers is now a school that attracts top high school recruits, instead of scaring them away. Just last season, we landed Savon Huggins, one of the top running backs in the nation in high school. What state was he from? New Jersey. In the past, top New Jersey high school players would typically have shunned Rutgers to attend Penn State or Pittsburgh or West Virginia. Now, we had enough clout to snag this in-state talent we so sorely needed.

The 2011 Rutgers football team exceeded most preseason expectations by finishing 9-4. With a young, mostly inexperienced team filled with underclassmen, the fact that this year’s Scarlet Knight squad was able to scratch together 8 regular season wins and an impressive bowl victory over a Big XII school was a big accomplishment and a reason to have hope for the next few years, especially after a disappointing 2010 campaign. With letters of intent being signed next week, Rutgers was gearing up for another successful offseason of recruiting until a bomb was dropped around noon yesterday.

Nobody saw this coming, not even people closely connected to Schiano inside the Rutgers football organization. There had not been a single word uttered about Schiano being considered for an NFL head coaching position until the rumor slipped out yesterday morning and quickly evolved into a full-fledged story.

Schiano was out.

Just like that, after 10 years of building a program, a stadium, a community and salvaging a long-forgotten fanbase, the Greg Schiano era was over. He is headed to Tampa Bay, to the NFL, where many college coaches have tried and failed before him. Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Butch Davis, Bobby Petrino, Dennis Erickson, Lane Kiffin, and the list goes on. It’s not an easy adjustment to make, especially when the pressure is on you from a fanbase that won’t accept a period of rebuilding. The NFL is not like college football, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

You see, here at Rutgers we were used to decades of losing. When Schiano came in before the 2001 season we weren’t expecting a quick turnaround, or even a turnaround at all. Things like that don’t happen overnight in college football. You need recruits, and you need time. In the NFL, things move much faster. The Buccaneers won their division just a few years ago and have a Super Bowl title. Their fans pay a lot of money for tickets and aren’t going to wait around 4 years for Schiano to rebuild. They want to win, and they want to win now.

Will Schiano be just another college coach who fails in the NFL? Will he long to be on the sidelines of High Point Solutions Stadium next October when the Bucs start the season 2-5 and the fans start getting antsy? Only time will tell.

Of course there are college coaches who have succeeded in the NFL too — Jim Harbaugh is a recent one that comes to mind, and Pete Carroll isn’t doing a bad job in Seattle right now, given the scarce amount of talent he was handed. So there’s hope for Schiano in South Florida.

But what about here at Rutgers? I’m not going to pretend that I’m okay with Schiano leaving the way he did, right before one of the biggest weeks of the year for recruitment. I’m not going to pretend I’m happy with his decision to leave after all he’s done for the program. But I won’t be bitter either. I recognize what he did for Rutgers football, and I thank him for that. Without him, we might still be celebrating 7-6 victories over the University of Richmond instead of scanning the weekly AP rankings to see if Rutgers has cracked the Top 25. The Top 25 was a distant and impossible dream when he arrived in Piscataway, and he made it a reality in only five years.

For that, we will thank him, and wish him the best of luck in Tampa Bay. Just as long as they aren’t playing the Giants.


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Just Enjoy the Ride, Right?

26 01 2012

I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the last few days trying to figure out why this Giants Super Bowl run feels so different from the 2007 Super Bowl run. Am I not recalling the last one correctly? Is my memory skewed and tainted, now that I know the outcome was a Super Bowl title? It was only four years ago, so it’s all still pretty fresh, or as fresh as four-year-old memories can be. So why does this run feel so different, and why does it seem so much more stressful when we weren’t even supposed to be here in the first place?

I’ve tried to go back and put myself in the state of mind I was in during the 2008 playoff run, but it’s a little difficult now in hindsight, especially with the knowledge that we did eventually end up winning the Super Bowl. From what I can piece together though, that run seems to have been, in hindsight at least, a lot less taxing and less stressful than this one does, even though both teams were virtually in the same place before the playoffs began — fringe playoff teams that nobody ever expected to compete for a title.

So what’s the deal?

Was it because I didn’t expect the 2008 team to make a run, so the pressure was off and I simply enjoyed each game for what it was? No, it couldn’t have been that because as recent as a month ago I didn’t expect the 2011 Giants to make a run either. In fact, I had already begun mourning the lost season before JPP dragged us out of the grave against Dallas on December 11th.

What about the playoff games themselves? Nope, it couldn’t be that either, because with the exception of Sunday’s game against San Francisco, we’ve won by double digit margins in every game we’ve won on our five-game winning streak. If you compare the margins of victory in the 2008 playoff run leading up to the Super Bowl (10, 4, 3) with this year’s (22, 17, 3) it’s not even close.

There it is though. There’s a key phrase in that last paragraph that might explain everything: five-game winning streak. This season, we have essentially played two more playoff games than we were supposed to play, and we’ve played three more playoff games than the Patriots. Beginning with our Christmas Eve game against the Jets, every single game we’ve played since Week 15 has essentially been a playoff game. We’ve obviously heard this repeated quite a few times throughout this playoff run so far from Tom Coughlin and a handful of others, but I hadn’t yet looked at it from this perspective yet — as the reason why this playoff run feels longer, harder and more draining.

Every single one of our last five games have been must-win, do-or-die situations, and each victory has been like reaching a new plateau and then looking up and seeing how much mountain there is still left to climb. To compound all of that, there is the issue of perspective that goes along with it as well. For example, since the memories of the 2008 playoff run are still fresh and the vivid memory of winning a Super Bowl is still lingering, it’s only natural that we want more of it. That’s another major factor in what has set this run apart from the last one. The feeling of knowing what it’s like to win it all and not being happy with anything less than that. If you could isolate that feeling and recognize it for what it is, things start making more sense.

There has been a tremendous amount of tension released after each victory on this run. Beating the Jets allowed us to breathe a little easier and push past all of the distracting “New York vs. New York/Rex Ryan” hoopla and focus on making the playoffs. Then, beating the Cowboys allowed us to exhale because we clinched the division and got into the playoffs. The Falcons game allowed us to push past the “first home playoff game at MetLife Stadium” milestone and the “haven’t won a home playoff game in 11 years” stigma that was hanging over our heads. Beating a 15-1 Green Bay team almost felt like winning the Super Bowl, but it wasn’t and we had to recognize that we still had to get past San Francisco. When we finally did though, it allowed for the biggest wave of relief yet when Tynes’ kick sailed through the uprights.

But now, there is one final hurdle, and the fact that we’ve been here once before and jumped this hurdle only makes it that much more important. If we lose to New England this time, will the Pats’ revenge taint our fond memories of the SB XLII victory?

There are two weeks for Giants fans to sit back and enjoy the ride and soak in the joy of being in the Super Bowl, but when Sunday, February 5th rolls around, you better believe that anxiety will return. Because even though we weren’t even supposed to be here a month ago, now we are and there is a lot for us to prove. If it seems like there’s more to prove this year than there was in 2008, it’s probably because there is.


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