The Outsiders' Edge

(I’m pleased to welcome our new friend Joel Rodriguez on board as our New York correspondent. Joel keeps a close eye on the Gotham scene and performs as a stand up comedian in his spare time. I can assure you that he will find nothing usable in his act from any of my posts.)

The New York Scene

This is arguably the best time of year for sports.  Here in New York, the baseball home stretch doesn’t matter for either  the Yankees or Mets, but for different reasons.  The Yankees are far and away the best team in the baseball, while the Mets have decided not to show up for the second half of the season.

A lot has been made of the all the injuries the Mets suffered and that being the reason for their terrible season.  While injuries have taken away Putz, Reyes, Beltran, Wright and Delgado, they have lost plenty of games in ways winning teams just do not do.  Dropping balls in the bottom of the 9^th, skipping 3^rd base in extra innings, 4 base errors and falling flat on your face while shagging routine fly balls have just as much to do with their season as injuries.   It is amazing no one is on the hot seat.  This team is a mess.

The Yankees, meanwhile, are steamrolling towards October.  They have two MVP candidates in Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira, and two Cy Young candidates in CC Sabathia and Mariano Rivera.  They hit the ball as well as anyone and the bullpen is very strong.  It feels like the late 90s with this team.  I personally am a huge Yankee fan and I am very excited about our chances this year.

Pro football begins this week and both the New York Giants and New York Jets have high hopes for this season.  The Jets begin the season with a new coach in Rex Ryan, son of former head coach and sideline sucker puncher Buddy Ryan.  He seems to have changed the attitude and culture in that Jets locker room already with his confidence and allowing the players to be themselves.  Their old coach Eric Mangini kept everything close to the vest.  Here in New York we read about Osama’s whereabouts twice a week yet we do not know the status of an injury to a Jets player.  They seem to dig this guy now.  He brings along a great resume being the defensive coordinator of some really tough Baltimore Ravens defenses.  He got linebacker Bart Scott and safety Jim Leonhard to join him here, and I see the Jets defense doing some great things this year.  Safety Kerry Rhodes looks like he will benefit the most from Ryan’s scheme, playing centerfield more and using his talents better than during the past regime.  They also traded for QB Mark Sanchez in the draft, and he beat out Kellen Clemens for the starting nod, which makes Clemens 0 for 3 in QB competitions in the last 3 years.  Poor guy.  Although Sanchez is a rookie, he is in a pretty good spot.  The Jets have a very good offensive line and good backs to hand the ball off to.  If Namath (sorry) Sanchez can limit his mistakes, the Jets can make some noise in the AFC.

At least Mark Sanchez hasn't tried to get it on with Suzy Kolber on National Television yet.

The Giants begin the season angry over how last season finished up.  They were punishing teams and seemed to be the safest bet to reach the Super Bowl. Then Plaxico, you know what?  I am not going to get into what happened next.  It has been reported ad nauseam, and if you are reading this column you are most likely a sports enthusiast, so I am not going to tell you something everyone else knows.  Plaxico being in jail and the decision not to resign longtime Giant Amani Toomer has left a lot of unproven yet talented guys to fill their roles.  There was plenty of talk about how GM Jerry Reese should go after Anquan Boldin or Braylon Edwards, but he decided not to and I think he made the right decision.  The Patriots have won super bowls without a big time WR.  They have had Randy Moss, probably the best  at his position for this decade,  and they only have 2 postseason victories.  Larry Fitzgerald,  Terrell Owens, Andre Johnson, Boldin and Edwards are also big name players at their position, no super bowls.  So having a big time WR may actually be a bit overrated.  What the Giants do have is a very talented relentless defense, the best offensive line in the league and a superior running game, which last I checked is what wins games in January.  I think the Giants are going to make the postseason if they stay healthy, and are going to be as tough an out as anyone.

The QB on the giants, Eli Manning, seems to have a love hate relationship with New Yorkers. I personally am cool with the guy. He won a Super Bowl dammit. A lot of us New Yorkers do not like him though, and I have heard in many a barber shop, hot dog stand and while waiting for my bacon egg and cheese that they think he is terrible, and they can do a better job than him.  I doubt that some construction worker who just learned English can do a better job than Eli Manning.  He has made the playoffs every season since he has been the named the starter coming into September, I do not see Ahmed the cab driver doing that.  But it got me thinking, who are some other New York sports figures New Yorkers think they think they can do a  better job than?

I am only 25 so forgive me if I fail to bring up some backup 2^nd baseman from Stengel’s Mets.  Most of these guys were a bit underappreciated, but some of these dudes straight sucked.  Here is the list, in no particular order. Enjoy.

Aaron Heilman, P New York Mets

This guy was bad news the second he started warming up.  If he came in the game with runners on base, those guys seemed to score every time.  If he came in to start the inning, he most likely wouldn’t finish the inning.  If he did finish the inning, it is because he gave up so many runs the game was over and they did not want to use the rest of the bullpen so he took one for the team. What made it worse was he normally came in after the 7^th inning.  Shea does not sell beer after the 7^th. You probably needed something a little stronger than beer after he pitched, but Shea had a strong no cocaine policy.

Dave Brown QB, New York Giants

Brown scarred the Giants so bad they have yet to use a compensatory draft pick since they drafted him out of duke.  They guy who replaced Phil Simms after his “retirement”
was just never that good.  They never made the playoffs while he was their quarterback, and he made Danny Kanell look like Joe Monatana when he took the Giants to the postseason.  I was in elementary school when he played and I thought I could have played better than him.  Just might be the worst starter in any position of any sport in New York sports history.

After Eli's 96 million dollar contract, Dave Brown may not have been a bad value.

Rich Kotite HC New York Jets

He wasn’t that bad in Philly right?  He won 21 games in two years there.  So how the fudge did he only win 4 games with the Jets in his two years here?  During the press conference the owner of the Jets Leon Hess said “I’m 80! I wanna win now!” in explaining why he hired Kotite.  A .108 winning percentage was not what he had in mind.  If you were to just hear coach talk and not watch the games you would swear that percentage was reversed with his army of defenders who flew to the ball and dominating offense. He never had a job again in the NFL.  The closest thing was that super bowl commercial where he played  a dad who was surprised that his son wanted to be on Broadway.  I was more surprised he would be hired for anything ever again.

Rich Kotite is actually coaching the Jets in this picture.

Isiah Thomas HC and President New York Knicks

Before I begin writing about this loser I want it to be known I am a lifelong Knicks fan.  I cried during the missed finger roll, the four point play and Starks’ game 7.  I thought we hit rock bottom when Don Chaney and Scott Layden were running the show here.  Man was I wrong.  Dolan finally fired Layden, and replaced him with Thomas.  Thomas then began to trade almost every expiring or soon to be expiring contracts for guys who put up good numbers on bad teams.  Every trade seemed to get worse.  Unprotected Draft picks and expiring deals for Eddy Curry and Stephon Marbury and trading Keith Van Horn and Dikembe Mutombo reportedly because of his beef with agent David Falk come to mind.  Let’s not forget Steve Francis, Zach Randolph, Jalen Rose, and Quentin Richardson.  He also lost a sexual harassment suit against former Madison Square Garden employee Anucha Brown Sanders, which also shows more poor judgment.  The Knicks and Rangers have cheerleaders and that is the best one he could hit on?  I began to think that he had something on Garden president James Dolan, that was the only reason he kept his job.  He is the only sports figure who if were to see him or any of his kids I will challenge them to a fight.

Isiah Thomas is visibly upset after being turned down by a Madison Square Garden employee

That’s it for now, maybe you readers can think of some more.  Next article (if I am still here) I will touch on how the Giants and Jets seasons are going, October baseball, US Open results and a preview of all the hockey and basketball teams in the area. Hope you all enjoyed your holiday and sports weekend.

~ by globalcorrespondent on September 9, 2009.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: Dave Brown, Derek Jeter, Isiah Thomas, Mark Sanchez, New York Yankees, Rich Kotite