The Giants kept on rolling this week, the Jets lost to a good Saints team (but traded for troublemaker Braylon Edwards), hockey season has started, with mixed results for the three local teams, the Mets held a day-long press conference on Monday to announce the firing of two coaches, and the $200-million juggernaut that is the Yankees steamrolled over the Twins in the opening game of their playoff series. Here are some fun facts about the Yanks and Twins:
CC Sabathia eats more food in one year than the farmers of Minnesota produce combined.
Brett Favre was warming up in the Twins bullpen in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s game.
George Steinbrenner gave an inspired speech to the team down in Tampa after the Yankees’ final regular season game. It was short, yet fiery: “Where the hell is my damn calzone!”
After defeating the Tigers in their dramatic one-game showdown on Tuesday, the Twins immediately called Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra and Keith Hernandez to find out the most effective way to destroy a plane on a flight to New …
The Mets baffled everybody by holding a nine-hour press conference on Monday to announce . . . the firing of two coaches (and reassignment of a few others). Yes, that was it. Did they really need to hold a press conference for that? Omar Minaya, Jerry Manuel and Jeff Wilpon took turns showing that there’s no accountability in the world of the Mets. Here’s what I heard Wilpon saying on Monday (keep in mind, I’m just paraphrasing here):
“What happened this season was unacceptable. But we decided to keep Omar Minaya around because when he came onboard after the 2004 season, he took a Mets franchise that was seemingly irrelevant and in five short years turned them into an embarrassing laughingstock. Not everybody has the talent to do that. Instead of creating a plan and vision for future stability, we’re going to continue to put our finger in the dike and keep on plugging holes.
“Today we’re announcing the firings of Luis Alicea and Sandy Alomar Sr., because, …
Mike Vaccaro has been the lead sports columnist for the New York Post since 2002. A New York native, Vaccaro has also covered the local sports scene for the Newark Star-Ledger, as well as working for papers in Kansas City and Arkansas. He’s just written a book entitled The First Fall Classic: The Red Sox, the Giants, and the Cast of Players, Pugs and Politicos Who Reinvented the World Series in 1912. He’s also the author of 1941: The Greatest Year in Sports and Emperors and Idiots. His latest book details the ninth World Series, and third one for the Giants (the only New York team to make it to the fall classic up to that point). And it had it all: Intrigue, drama, hatred, gambling, cheating, a tie game, an extra-inning deciding game, an all-time goat to rival Bill Buckner, day games, fans sitting on the field of play, no Joe Buck or Tim McCarver, the rebuilt Polo Grounds, brand-new Fenway Park, the Royal Rooters, Christy …
Sunday afternoon was a New York sports fan’s dream (or nightmare) as the Giants, Jets, Yankees and Mets all played at the same time – and they all won (even the Rangers played at noon on Sunday and lost, but we won’t count that because it was preseason). I’m jumping on the bandwagon and doing one of those running diary things that are so popular with the kids these days of that afternoon. Here we go:
12:30: Watch the last half of the first period of the Rangers game and eat a turkey, ham and cheese sandwich.
12:36: Yell at my daughter to quit jumping on the couch.
12:50: Bring plate into kitchen.
12:51: Sit back down in front of TV, and watch Terry Bradshaw, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson and Howie Long laugh.
1:02: Giants game starts. They drive down field with ease and score their first red zone touchdown of the year. It was done so easily, I don’t think there was even another team on the field.
1:21: Switch to Channel 2 to check …
There are only five games left for the Mets – thank God. Once the 162nd game is played, we can then turn our attention to brighter and happier pastimes, such as starting petitions to get Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel fired, drinking so much tequila that we forget this season (or decade) ever happened and forming an angry mob while chasing the Mets out of town after Sunday’s game with pitchforks and torches.
Over the weekend, when the Mets took on the Marlins, there was a lot of talk about the team playing the role of spoiler by the SNY announcers and pre- and postgame crew. None of the talk came from the team itself. The SNY guys all felt the Mets should be chomping at the bit to knock Florida out of the wild card race after what the Fish did to the Metsies at the end of the last two seasons. They were practically begging the team to show some type of spark and …
A Giant won, a Jet soared and a Yankee guaranteed that New York is the best place to call home.
Three sports team hailing from New York had simultaneous starts this afternoon (Yanks not on time due to rain delay).The Yankees, Giants and Jets each had something to prove today.
The Yankees had a reason to celebrate and be proud of this seasons accomplishments. The Bombers clinched the American League East Division for the playoffs which gives them home field advantage and an extra day off at their disposal.
The biggest upside for the Bombers not having to fly back to Anaheim to play the Angels in the first round. The Angels are that good and that scary.
Realizing why the Yanks looked like a beaten club even when they beat the Angels is because the Angels play small ball, long ball and run the bases fiercely. Easily, the Angels have the most comparable batting line-up to the Yankees so pitchers have to be virtually perfect. The Angels are relentless in …
The Giants and Jets both beat division archrivals this past week. And both are 2-0 and sitting atop their respective divisions. The Giants went down to Texas and paid the Cowboys back for beating them in the first-ever game at the Meadowlands in 1976 (Dallas won, 24-14). Of course, Giants Stadium didn’t receive quite the same amount of hoopla as Cowboys Stadium has gotten this week. Here are some reviews from 33 years ago when the Giants home first opened:
“It just looks like a regular football stadium. Where is the 60-yard JumboTron? Where are the go-go dancers? What do they plan to do here, just play football?”
“Where do you put 78,000 angry New Jersey residents to watch Doug Kotar gain 500 yards a season? The new Giants Stadium, that’s where.”
“The new stadium is a modern marvel, but can they do something about that swampy smell?”
“It just goes to show you the power of the Mob that they got this stadium built all the way out …
I had previously slammed Marty Appel’s book Thurman Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain for being just another Munson bio. This is probably because I didn’t get past the first three pages. After sitting down and actually taking the time to read the book, I have to say that this is THE Munson bio. Pretty much as deep as one would want to delve into the private life of one of New York’s most hallowed legends. Great for anyone who grew up in that time, but also for someone trying to turn back the clock and learn a good deal of Yankee history. This book isn’t just about Thurman, but about the Yankees too.
Take some time to check this book out.
With ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball winding down for another season, their announcing team of Joe Morgan, Jon Miller and Steve Phillips took some time to analyze the New York baseball scene for Hot Stove New York.
Joe Morgan: The Yankees are looking pretty good, having the best record in baseball, and they just clinched a spot in the postseason with last night’s win. But you really can’t compare them to the teams of old. I mean, do they have Johnny Bench on their team? [laughs] Derek Jeter does a decent job but give me Dave Concepcion any day of the week. You can throw any stat at me you want about the Yankees – you know I don’t believe in stats [laughs]. When I played we didn’t have stats. We didn’t know what batting averages were let alone WARP and whatever else these kids are talking about nowadays [laughs]. In fact, we didn’t even keep score, but the Reds still won every game we played and were the World …
When we last saw the Jets, the comedy team of Eric Mangini and Brett Favre were sabotaging the season. Favre confessed that he had a torn biceps tendon, but he’s just covering up for his arm – it wasn’t torn, it was drunk. The team was even fined for the subterfuge. New and improved coach Rex Ryan gave a pregame speech to remember; it basically boiled down to this: Win on for Richard Todd. And win they did. The rookie coach even shed a tear after the game – it wasn’t because his team won, though, but instead the reason behind the crying was that he just found out that NBC cancelled My Name Is Earl to make room for Parks and Recreation. And when Ryan was about to present owner Woody Johnson with the game ball, Kanye West appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the ball and yelled out, “Weeb Ewbank is the greatest Jets coach in the world! In the world!”
Meanwhile, the Giants …
I turn on the TV, and I’d rather watch anything else but the Mets – So You Think You’re Crazier Than Gary Busey, Two and a Half Accountants, even Yentl. But something’s commanding me to watch. I have no control over it. I think the ghost of Gil Hodges is controlling me. Or maybe it’s M. Donald Grant. I want to turn the game off, but I can’t. Maybe there’s just something wrong with me. And sometimes I get the feeling that the Mets are watching me (see picture at right).
But since the TV’s on and the channel stuck on SNY, I may as well pick out things that are worthing watching. Josh Thole comes up to the plate, and I think, “He doesn’t have the stench of failure all over him yet. He’s worth watching.” And he’s fun to watch. He comes straight out of 1973 – choking up on the bat, crouching, no power. He looks like he has an idea of what to do …
Derek Jeter started feeling the pressure to overtake Lou Gehrig as the Yankees’ all-time hits leader, but he came through as always (well, was he really never going to get a hit again?). Tonight he’ll attempt to pass the Hall-of-Fame first baseman and stand alone at the top of the heap. Here’s a list of other lesser-known Yankee records that will most likely never be broken:
Highest number of floozies and alcoholic beverages consumed in one night: 29, Babe Ruth (it’s unclear how many were drinks and how many were floozies).
Most times teammates swapped wives: once, Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich
Most hits by a Yankee backup catcher in 1966: 47, Jake Gibbs (this is one record that will never be broken)
Most times a player sat in a cake while pantless: 11, Sparky Lyle
Most times a Yankee manager was referred to as “Stump”: 1,342, oddly enough it wasn’t Stump Merrill but Ralph Houk
Most times a player had to clean George Steinbrenner’s pool to stay on his good side: seven, Steve Howe
In other …
