WTF Orioles!!!

14 games left , Yanks are up 1/2 game on the Orioles. The O’s have won their last 2 in extra innings. So far this year they are 15-2 in extras. The odds against the Orioles winning 15 straight extra-innings games are 16,384-1.

I popped on the Orioles blog “Camden Chat” to see how the fan base is dealing with this remarkable performance.  The nugget I extracted was beautiful in its simplicity, O’s fans have begun and may forever refer to the 2012 orioles as the “WTF Orioles”, sounds appropriate to me.

I made a comment to a fellow Yankees fan this morning: “Buck must wake up every morning and check the standings to make sure he is not dreaming.” The O’s are winning close games and that is the bottom line. No superstars, they are third in majors in taters although no one with more than 30(Adam Jones). No Ace, leading pitcher Wei Yin Chen has 12 wins. Major League low 50 steals--- no speed. They are also second in the majors in home runs hit in the seventh inning and beyond. They also have a solid bullpen led by their closer Jim Johnson. 15 games to go (for the Orioles) it will be an interesting stretch run.

Clearly my heart is with the Yankees but I am glad that the Baltimore Orioles are once again relevant. Years ago I worked at a company where the mail room assistant “Jimmy” was a die-hard Orioles fan. He was a gentle man, friendly, reserved, and genuinely liked by all in the company who crossed his path. Jimmy had a warm smile and his southern roots came through in his demeanor. In this company he was alone in his loyalty to the Baltimore baseball team and the head mailroom guy (Yankees fan) used to remind him constantly of the ineptness of the Orioles.  Jimmy’s loyalty never wavered and he loved his “birds” as much as he did his Newport menthols, and his after work cold ones.  I made a trip down to Baltimore on business which I made sure to include a sidetrip to Camden Yards for a ball game. I picked up a vintage Orioles cap and got a bunch of people to chip in a couple bucks so that I could present the lid to Jimmy “from the guys”.

I don’t believe I ever saw a bigger smile from Jimmy, and he wore that hat a lot.  I have not seen Jimmy in a few years, and I am not sure if he still has that black hat with the orange bird on it, but I am sure he is smiling!

"He's gone! And nuthins gunna bring him back!"

My title is from one of my favorite Dead songs.  (almost 17 years since Jerry passed)

I couldn't help but post after the Knicks decided to not keep Jeremy Lin. Here is the best article I have read about it. http://deadspin.com/5926800/with-jeremy-lin-gone-all-the-knicks-need-is-a-decent-point-guard-again

The title is so true, pointing out that the Knicks still need a point guard and how Linsanity only happened because they did not have a point guard. They really have not had a decent point guard since Derek Harper. My fellow Knicks fan Roger at Pete's Deli says, "since Charlie Ward" ---- I think we are splitting hairs.

Bottom line is that Felton and Kidd ain't gunna get us a title. I still think the best move would have been to amnesty Amare then we might have been able to get Nash? Or at least been in the running for Paul next off season. 

Let's see what happens, I think by the second month of the season I might be wishing I was watching the Nuggets rather then the Knickerbockers: Lawson, Faried, Gallinari, Anthony Randolph, JaVale McGee, Afflalo, Andre Miller, Will Chandler, not to mention rookie frenchy Evan Fournier. Sounds like a fun team to watch. How much better is Lawson/Miller than Kidd/Felton?

I wish we kept him, clearly money was not the issue. Someone made the point that the Knicks should have realized the value in Lin when the best offer was from the one team who knows how lucrative it can be to have a star with appeal in China.

Let's Go Nugs!

"He's gone! And nuthins gunna bring him back!"

Views from the Seat: Rangers vs. Senators Game 7

What a night tonight at MSG. The house was rocking, the game was exciting, my heart is still racing, and the win was exhilirating. Below are some pictures and one video after the Rangers second goal. All from the newly renovated Section 343, Row B. Pretty awesome experience:

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View From The Seats: Twins at Yankees

Back at Yankee Stadium for my first game of 2012 for the Minnesota Twins vs the New York Yankees. This didn't seem like it was going to be a pitchers duel coming in with Freddy Garcia against Carl Pavano, but after a bad 1st inning, Pavano has settled down and held the Yankees in check.

My real attention tonight is to the Rangers as I feel like Steve Bartman sitting at a Yankee game with headphones in but, you know, priorities. The Yankees still have 3 innings to make up the deficit as they trail 5-3 through 6 1/2 innings in the Bronx.

View from the Seats: Rangers vs Red Wings

The Original Six matchups are usually more fun but tonight was especially so as the New York Rangers got a huge two points beating the Red Wings 2-1 on Overtime at Madison Square Garden.

Today was especially cool as I got to watch the game from a luxury suite (h/t to Howie on that).

After the Rangers fell behind 1-0 on a soft goal, it looked like it could be a long night but the Rangers came back with a power play goal on an amazing move from Brad Richards and an Overtime winner from the Captain, Ryan Callahan.

Henrik Lundqvist was especially good tonight as the Rangers were sloppy in their own zone. He helped the Rangers to move 3 points in front of the surging Pittsburg Penguins for first place on the Eastern Conference. Huge two points for the Rangers tonight in front of the Garden faithful.

NYaT Fantasy Baseball League 2012

The 2012 league is ready to go. Go sign up for ultimate blog bragging rights!
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		Hey NYaT Reader, You have been invited to join NYaT's custom league in Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball, NYaT. In order to join the league, follow the link above or go to game front page, click the "Sign Up Now" or "Get Another Team" button and follow the links to "Join a Custom League". When prompted, enter the League ID# and password below. League ID#: 132136 Password: Mo We will send you a confirmation with further details once you have completed the registration process. --Fantasy Baseball Commissioner http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1

A Fun Debate: The Ultimate 25-Man Roster

Opening Day is less than a month away, but in the meantime baseball fans all need something to keep them busy while their teams get ready down in Florida or Arizona. A few years ago, during a long roadtrip out to Pittsburgh (my favorite ballpark I've seen in person, by the way), my friend and I did a hypothetical of the starting lineup you would build if you wanted to build a team for the next 3 years.

It ends up we weren't thinking far enough ahead. As ESPN's SweetSpot posted this morning: "Michael Baumann of Crashburn Alley has a fun post on a theoretical question: If your life depended on winning the next 10 World Series, who do you pick for your 25-man roster? Money is no object. Injuries are a factor. Your team can't be too old, or it won't win down the road. It can't be too young or it won't win now. So who do you take?"

10 years is a long time so there is a lot of commitment involved here which means that you really have to look hard at those guys in their late 20s and early 30s to see how they will age in the last 5 years of this project. Starting pitching is the toughest, in my opinion, to figure out (especially since injuries are a factor). The other positions have their tough calls as well, like second base: do you go with a Robinson Cano or Dustin Pedroia who may be a little older but are more polished, or do you go with a young stud like Dustin Ackley and hope that he is your answer there?

Let us know what you think in the comments below. Even if you just want to give your starting 9, let's see what you've got.

View from the Seats: Rangers vs Devils

Tonight I'm checking out a new section of Madison Square Garden, West Balcony 19, Row 1. This is an awesome way to watch the game, even if the picture doesn't do it justice. An awesome view and I'm excited for them to finish the construction because that walkway will be very cool.

This game has been a defensive battle as only 26 shots have been attempted so far in the game. Rangers lead 1-0 on a chippy game as we get down to the final few minutes at MSG

View from the Seats: Knicks vs Hawks

I had to check out Linsanity in person and, well, wow. A few years ago, the fun and excitement at the Garden was booing Isiah Thomas as they were losing. Now, it's Lob City East and Linning. And it's awesome (h/t to Doug on the awesome seats, too. Section 9, row 16 is the way to watch the game).

It's also a different Knicks team with offensive weapons, depth and *gasp* defense. It's at least fun to watch which is more than I could say earlier in the season. Now, Pringles still has a job, Jeremy Lin jerseys are all over MSG and this is a team that looks like they can do something in the playoffs if they get there.

Well, maybe. But, tonight, as they lead the Hawks by 20 in the 4th, Madison Square Garden is rocking again for Basketball just watched Lin get another assist towards a double-double. Awesome.

Leading a Semi-Charmed Kind of Sports Life

There's a Seinfeld episode where George realizes that it's better to get up and leave the room after telling a great joke and go out on that note, than stay and have the possibility of ruining the mood. I sort of feel like that in my last year of sports. It hasn't always been championships and parades, but, for the most part, it's been pretty close. Here's what it's looked like:

Like Victor Cruz at the Grammy's, I've been salsa'ing with my sports year (sports grid)

February 2011: Won a quarter of the Super Bowl squares. No skill, nothing you can do, but pray, but I took home a nice sum of money just for the score ending up on a random set of numbers. Thank you, Green Bay Packers!

April 2011: Despite knowing very little about the NCAA tournament, I took home the title before the final game was ever played in my only money league. That makes it 4 times in the past 5 years I've come out in they money in March Madness brackets. Proving, once again, that knowing less is sometimes more.

August 2011: Pitching wins championships ended up not only being a mantra in real baseball, but fantasy baseball as well as a 16-team league strategy of hoarding pitchers led to a huge division title in one of the tougher fantasy baseball leagues I've ever played in. I am pretty good at fantasy baseball, but that still was one of my greatest seasons to date.

September 2011: Not only did the Yankees take an improbable AL East crown, but I watched the best final day of the regular season in the history of the game which also saw the Red Sox (and Jonathan Papelbon) blow a huge September lead to take "choking" to a whole new level. "2004" can now be countered with "2011". I will always remember flipping back-and-forth between the live games and MLB Tonight, watching the insanity unfold.

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Lin & Trivia

I thought I'd share the trivia I prepared for the Super Bowl party I attended in the heart of Giants country---- Northern Jersey!!!

The answers appear a little ways below the link to the Jeremy Lin photo gallery on nypost.com

Total possible points 18 (one more than Jeremy Lin’s #)

1) Where did Eli go to college?
2) Where did Brady go to college? Bonus if you can name that school’s fight song.
3) Why no handles on tea cups in China?
4) What was score of previous Giants vs. Pats Super bowl?
5) What cities in Florida have hosted a Super Bowl?
6) Which QB threw most Interceptions in a Super Bowl (5)?
7) Name a team that has never won a Super Bowl?
8) Name a team that has never been in a Super Bowl?
9) Name a recording artist from Indiana?
10) What do they drink in the winner’s circle at the Indy 500?
11) What is the #1 beer brand sold in the USA?
12) This family activity has decreased 80% in US households since 1960? (Answer is not board games.)
13) Who did the Giants lose to in their only Super Bowl loss? Bonus if you can explain the team’s nickname.

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Will The Public's Confidence Get to the Giants?

It’s been a while since the last blog post, but I couldn’t let this entire New York Giants playoff run go by without something. Anything. I just have been one big ball of confused emotion during this playoff run. It wasn’t that I didn’t think the Giants had this in them (I did), but I thought that this team had too many big injures and too many inconsistencies to go more than one game in the playoffs. They seemed like they were doomed to have that one, head-scratching game. That whole last paragraph and everything about this playoff run could have been a VHS-style grainy replay of the 2007-2008 football season, except for one thing: the public (and even the Giants website) is picking the Giants.

The Giants website is even overconfident about the team (NYDN)

Don’t get me wrong, I have confidence in my team and I’m happy they’re confident in themselves, but every time the general public starts picking the Giants en masse, the Giants play like a mess. There are many, many differences between 2007 and 2011 but the biggest difference is that the Giants are finally at the point where many people don’t think they can lose—and that scares me to death.

I can’t shake that feeling that this team is going to win either which means that I’m definitely setting myself up for disaster. Why am I so confident? As they say in weight loss commercials, past results don’t predict the future, but the Giants beat the Patriots earlier in the season when their offensive line was terrible and disorganized, Ahmad Bradshaw and Hakeem Nicks were out with injuries, and the Giants defense could be described as porous…at best. Now? They have a confident O-line (hey 2007), a defense that’s playing like no one can stop them (yo 2007), and health at the right time of year with role players stepping up for those who are out for the season (what’s up 2007). Oh, and the Giants have three top wide receivers, two tight ends who can catch the ball and three running backs who can work the screen out of the backfield with an ELIte quarterback at the helm and a defense that is so bad that they’ve employed a wide receiver (Julian Edelmen) as the cover DB against the other team’s best receiving threat*.

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My Interview With Tina Cervasio

Knicks sideline reporter Tina Cervasio came on my tv show last night. Everybody check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqNtTMISsNw

View from the Seats: Falcons at Giants Wild Card Game

The view from the seats comes from 336, row 17 right before Eli Manning hits Mario Manningham for a TD to make it 24-2 Giants. The Giants defense has pitched a shutout with the only points scored for the Dirty Birds so far coming from an awful safety. The Giants are 9:48 from meeting the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round.

Giants Saints Preview

Here is the preview of the Monday Night Game I did for 89.5 FM

Can Jets Stop Jackson?

The Jets worst defensive performance of the year was week 3 against Oakland. They allowed Darren Mc Fadden to rush for 171 yards on 19 attempts and 2 touchdowns. Fast forward to today’s game against the Bills and Gang Green is facing another physical back, who brings the same level of physicality McFadden does, as well as breakaway speed. This player is Fred Jackson, and the similarities to McFadden are striking. McFadden is 6 foot 2 210 lbs. Jackson is 6 foot 1 215 lbs. Both have breakaway speed, and run a majority of their plays up the middle with Jackson specifically garnering 284 yards and 30 touchdowns on 45 attempts.

While the Jets have always been good against the run, this year at least the stats have been somewhat misleading. The Jets have handled the short versatile backs, Ray Rice and Maurice Jones Drew fine but struggled against McFadden and Ben-Jarvus Green Ellis. In terms of running back style Jackson fits into the latter group, which is not good. Today represents a chance for the Jets defense to bring back their old swagger and physicality that they had in the second half against the Chargers. If the Jets defense bottles up Fred Jackson, the Bills won’t be able to establish a tone offensively, and without a fair balance between run and pass plays the Jets can key in on Fitzpatrick, once they stop Jackson.

Today is the day where we see how good the Jets defense is. In a must win game (even though I say every game is a must win game) the Jets have to rekindle the defense of last season, and dominate Buffalo on the line of scrimmage. In the Bills loss against the Bengals and their luck win against the Patriots Jackson struggled held under 75 yards in both games. If the Jets can hold Jackson to that type of game they will win, and in a season with 3 AFC East contenders a win today could make all the difference.

25 years a go today..........

October 25th, 1986 Game Six of the World Series. I still remember the Mookie commentary from a video on the 86 Mets "The ball shall not pass without offering." The famous/infamous squibber through Bill Buckner's wickets on a 3-2 count from Bob Stanley. The drama was pretty nuts if you remember 25 years a go. This 1986 Mets team may be my favorite sports team of all-time. I was reminiscing about them a little yesterday after having seen Doc Gooden on TV talk about missing the ticker tape parade because he was in the projects somewhere in Long Island whacked out on drugs.

Here is the full details of game six from baseballreference:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN198610250.shtml

They won 108 games that year, many with suspense and drama in come from behind wins. They had a great starting rotation of : Gooden, Darling, Sid Fernandez (one of the game 7 heros in relief), Bob Ojeda (who they got in a package from Boston --- Mets sent Cal Schiraldi and others)

Gooden went 0-3 in the World Series as did Schiraldi. Can you believe the Sawx brought Schiraldi back out there in game 7 even after he threw 55 pitches in game 6? Perhaps it was because besides Bob Stanley their pen had guys like Al Nipper and Joe Sambito.

One thing I loved about this team besides having one of my favorite all time players Gary Carter (the biggest reason I started watching the Mets [I was an Expo fan b/c of Carter]), was the fact that they had stars(Carter, Hernandez, Strawberry), and they had characters like Mookie, Dykstra, Wally Backman, HoJo. I liked that they had 3 platoons going on, and it seemed like there was continually unlikely heros.

I might have to watch some youtube clips of the '86 Mets tonight to bring back the fond memories, or better yet maybe I can find that old VHS I have!

Fall Television Review

It's that time of year again: it's time to take a look at all the best shows on television. During the summer I ranked the shows and last year I just wrote my feelings on each one. This year? We go with superlatives like we're in our Senior year of High School. I have to admit: I don't watch every show on TV and I'm not a big fan of reality television. But here's what I got:

Claire Daines' Homeland is the Best New Show on TV (Showtime)

Best Show: Breaking Bad

This wasn't Breaking's best season (Season 3 certainly was), and there were some flaws to this season, but there is still no doubt this is the best show on television. Things with Walter White started out pretty poor when the season started and the show wasn't at its best for much of the season, but the leadup to the finale and then the finale itself were edge-of-your-seat awesomeness. I don't think I breathed for about 5 weeks as I watched the three-way showdown between Gus, Walter, and Jesse unfold. Mr. White and Mr. Pink (what else should I call Mr. Pink-man?) started out facing the blade of a boxcutter, but ended the season with their faces still in tact--which is much more than we can say for some characters (most brilliantly gif'ed here). Fabulous show that I miss already and cannot wait to see how they end it. Bonus Thought: It took me a week to be convinced that Walter White was responsible for a kid being poisoned. I don't know why, but it took me forever to feel like that was actually his doing despite the end of the episode. And I, like everyone else, should have realized what was going to happen in the episode as LOST's Damon Lindelof wrote on Twitter: "@DamonLindelof: The true brilliance of what happened last night is that we should have been spoiled by the TITLE OF THE SHOW ITSELF... and yet? Shocker."

Best New Show: Homeland

If 24 has to be off the air, at least I now have Homeland. It's gripping, engaging and all-too-real. And I have to agree with the critics who love this show. And we're three freaking episodes in! If I told you Claire Daines was going to star in a hit a thriller of a television show, you would have probably thought I was as bat-shit crazy as she seems to be on the show (and while she is great, she's nowhere near the top actor as Damian Lewis has stolen the show so far). But the writing is fantastic, the background stories have been engaging and, in true 24 fashion, I have no clue whatsoever where this show is going. I have my theories, of course, and I've read theories on line, but like Season 1 of 24, I don't feel like I can trust anyone (damn you, Nina Myers--you've ruined my TV innocence). I've really enjoyed it so far and, for bonus points, the people behind the show really love boobs. Bonus Thought: Saul=Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride. Thank you IMDB for helping me make that connection!

Funniest Show: It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
 

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View From the Seats: Bills at Giants

The view today is from Section 143, row 15 as the New York Giants get ready to host the upstart Buffalo Bills. The view is of the G-men running in for their pregame introduction. It's a beautiful day for football and the seats are great, 15 rows off of the goalline.

The Giants have a must-win game here in Week 6 as they need to make sure to keep their lead in the division. The Bills have been the surprise team of 2011 and are looking to keep up their success against the G-men. The key will be avoiding the big turnovers and to stop the Buffalo running game.

Let's go Big Blue!

-Andrew

In a pickle..........

I think they summed it all up pretty good over at itsaboutthemoney.net :

http://itsaboutthemoney.net/archives/2011/10/04/so-its-come-to-this/

Don't bother even checking, I already did, and there is no rain in the forecast for Detroit tonight.All we can do is hope we can get to Porcello early and often!