The only good thing you can say about last night’s game was at least the Rangers didn’t embarrass themselves. After 156+ scoreless minutes, Artem Anisimov came through with a goal, and we all let out a sigh of relief. But, as usual, the Blueshirts fell to the Penguins (0-4 against them this season). It looks like they’re back to the days of if Henrik Lundqvist makes one mistake and Marian Gaborik doesn’t score, the Rangers don’t have a chance (where have you gone, Marian? Ranger fans turn their lonely eyes to you).

Like clockwork, after the Rangers teased us with those 6-2 and 8-2 victories, they followed them up with the “Carcillo Incident” game, the complete shellacking in Montreal and last night’s “well, we played better” game. They may slip into the playoffs, but it’s doubtful there will be any “getting on a roll” or “turning it around” or “finding themselves” this season. A little successful stretch is always followed by a disaster, or at least a losing …

I’m not a Jets fan, but Rex Ryan has everyone in this city so inspired and pumped up, even I’d run through a wall for him. In fact, I tried to do just that. Unfortunately, I slipped on a bag of Funyuns and flew through the plate-glass window in my living room. Now I have cuts and bruises all over my face and body, one of my ears was sliced off, my wife is furious at me and it’s really, really cold in our living room. Ryan’s infectious motivating style is being packaged into a new self-help, confidence-building program, with books and DVDS – The Rex Ryan Method: Swaggering, Boasting and Eating Your Way to a Newer, More Confident You. Here are his three top keys to turning yourself into a more successful person:

       1. Declare yourself the favorite in any situation; and then make yourself a nice, big sandwich.

       2. Declare that you will be invited to the White House and meet the President; he will …

We all know about the great athletes in New York sports history – Babe Ruth, Tom Seaver, Lawrence Taylor, Joe Namath, Mark Messier, Walt Frazier – and even the busts – Ed Whitson, Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, Stephon Marbury, Scott Gomez. But what about the slightly-to-highly-above-average athlete? The kind-of-great but not all-timer? They may not have been Hall-of-Famers, but they were All-Stars, fan favorites, cogs on a championship team or maybe even just pretty darn good. They’re the little brother that didn’t hog all the attention. But they’re certainly worth talking about and remembering. So when do they get their due? Well, now they will. Here is a series of the not-quite-legendary in New York sports history.

After starring in Juniors and one year in the minors, New York Ranger left winger Steve Vickers burst onto the NHL scene in the 1972-’73 season by scoring 30 goals and winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the rookie of the year. He netted 30 or more goals in his first four seasons, with a career high of 4…

Wade Redden’s fighting. Chris Drury’s scoring. They totaled six goals. In one game. They’re relentless. They swarm to the net. They’re physical. They stand up for themselves. Who are these guys? Are they the Rangers? Or are they imposters? Ok, we now know they can play a game like they did vs. Montreal and even one such as last week’s contest against the Devils. But then they squeeze in a couple of snoozers in St. Louis and against Ottawa. They have multiple personalities. They have an identity crisis. Not every team is consistent night in and night out, but this is ridiculous.

The Rangers are a team filled with a mix of young and old, and part of the learning curve for inexperienced players is learning to be consistent on a nightly basis, and for the crusty vets on the team, let’s face it, they periodically, and sadly, can’t be bothered to try every single game at this stage of their careers (I don’t think I need to name …

Confidence. The Jets have it. In fact, the Jets are so confident after whooping Cincinnati’s butt on Saturday, that Rex Ryan feels his team should not only be the favorite in the Super Bowl but also in the NBA playoffs. The first-year coach has his players believing that they can accomplish anything. He’s dispatched Dustin Keller to solve the Jay Leno/Conan O’Brien conundrum. The offensive line is drafting a health-care bill that will make everyone happy. And Bart Scott will be stepping in to replace Simon Cowell on American Idol. To paraphrase Yogi Berra: Sports are 90% mental, the other half is physical. And the Jets are not having any problems with the mental aspect of the game right now (nor the physical side either). Some feel there may be a little too much braggadocio in Jet land, but so far it’s working. Sitting at the other end of the confidence meter is the Nets. They do nothing but lose, and can’t even sniff a victory. Do …

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with my five-year-old daughter about whom our favorite players on the Rangers are. Granted, she can only name about four on the whole team, and thinks Guy Lafleur is one of them, but she’s a Brandon Dubinsky girl. I think it’s the funny sounding name that won her over (and I recently found out that Marian Gaborik’s first name is a laughfest for the kindergarten set). I mentioned that Ryan Callahan was my favorite. And when she asked why, it was easy to sum up in one simple sentence: Because he tries the hardest.

Callahan’s the one guy who hits everybody in sight, forechecks like a demon, gets back on defense and does all the little things a player is supposed to do. And ever since PRB (post–Redden benching), the Rangers are starting to follow his example and play like him (with the exception of the Flyers debacle, of course). Last night’s thrilling game was exhibit A. They did everything …

We’re only one week into 2010 and I’m already dropping the ball on my resolutions. In the past I’ve been more successful, such as the year I resolved to quit smoking cigarettes. I used one of those quit-smoking programs, with the patches and the gum and the whole nine yards. Unfortunately, the side effects included nausea, dizziness, vomiting, disorientation, hallucinations, agitation, hostility, amnesia, blindness, a hacking cough, lung cancer, throat cancer, the sudden loss of one’s extremities, and addiction to cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars. Sure, now I can’t see, I’m always falling down, I have no idea who I am, I have a hole in my throat and I’m constantly having hallucinations that Art Howe is standing beside me trying to sell me a time-share, but at least I don’t smoke anymore. This year I decided to stop being so humble, demur and shy and to play up my strengths, which means wearing more tank top shirts to show off my impressive shoulder and back hair and to stop hiding my disgustingly smelly feet, …

Last night’s game belonged to Sean Avery. He finally shook off the milquetoast imposter that’s taken over his body and returned to being the love him, hate him Sean Avery we’ve all come to love or hate. And it resulted in his best game of the year, as he led the Rangers to a 5-2 victory. He gained some revenge against his former team, and when you get revenge against Texas, not only is it sweet, it tastes like BBQ. The agitating left winger scored a power-play goal and assisted on three others. And that last assist looked like he was doing his Brian Leetch impression. He was also sent to the penalty box for a cross-checking penalty and a 10-minute misconduct. Move over Gordie Howe Hat Trick; we now have the Sean Avery Hat Trick – a goal, an assist and a 10-minute misconduct. Avery happily went to the box to serve his misconduct penalty because the refs were scheduled to whistle him for a four-minute roughing minor in …

Christmas is all about comebacks and overcoming adversity against all odds. Ok, it’s really nothing about comebacks and overcoming adversity against all odds but is about love, peace on earth, goodwill toward men, opening presents, then drinking all day long and passing out underneath the tree as an ornament falls and pierces one of your eyeballs, sending you screaming down the street bloody, naked and in horrifying pain. Ah, Christmas. One of the brightest, heartwarming stories of the week, though, is Jonathan Bender’s return to the world of basketball after not playing a game in four years. And on top of it all, he’s been productive. The Knicks, too, are on the comeback trail after starting out at 1-9. Bender’s return after a long absence brings to mind other great comebacks. So, without further ado, here’s a random list of notable returns over the decades (and even centuries).

Gordie Howe retired after the 1971 season, then came back in 1973-’74 to play with his sons, Mark and Marty, lasting …

After John Tortorella’s tirade heard round the world last Wednesday night, the Rangers have won three straight games. “No entitlement” is the new philosophy in Ranger Land. The first step was to scratch Wade Redden for two games. He took it like a man. Well, actually he didn’t. He took it like a four-year-old. “Why am I being singled out?” was his response. You’re not being singled out; you stink, is the answer. Ales Kotalik was also scratched, and Chris Drury was demoted to the fourth line. It’s a brand-new world for the Blueshirts. Maybe Madison Square Garden won’t be a graveyard for the rich and lazy anymore.
On the surface all the moves seemed to work, with the Rangers not having lost since the coach’s outburst. But the first two games were won thanks to the brilliance of Henrik Lundqvist. The team played solidly all around in Monday’s game against Carolina, though. And all three games were against subpar opponents, so it’s hard …

On Saturday night I was flipping between another Rangers loss and the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life. Of course you can’t help but wonder, “What if George Bailey’s situation happened to me?” What if I were able to see the consequences of never being born? That thought lasted about a minute and a half, because everybody’s life would surely be better. My wife would have been able to marry a more successful, rich, interesting, well-rounded man instead of someone who has nothing but a monkey shooting a slap shot, a couple of empty beer cans and some old Rusty Staub highlights filling up his head. My daughter would have a normal father, one who doesn’t constantly quiz her on the proper French Canadian–accented way of saying the names Guy Lafleur and Gilbert Perrault. And nobody else’s life would be affected one way or the other.

But on that subject, what if, more importantly, James Dolan had never been born? The Isiah Thomas era would never have happened. …

If only the Rangers could play against themselves. They could finally score more than two goals, what with their defense as soft and holey as Swiss cheese. They wouldn’t have to worry about being manhandled, as there would be no hitting at all in the game. The offense only occasionally crashes the net, so the defense wouldn’t have to contemplate clearing out the crease, which they never do anyway. It’s a win-win situation for the offense and defense. It would be a breezy, no-checking game, with the players not even working up a sweat.
Sure, the Rangers play a solid, hard-fought game once in a while, like they did on Monday against Atlanta, but the Thrashers aren’t exactly the Broad Street Bullies. They’re as soft as the Rangers. What we usually see is the Blueshirts getting outclassed, outhit and outplayed. So where does that leave them? They’re stuck with the bad contracts of Chris Drury, Michal Rozsival, Wade Redden and Donald Brashear, so there’s …