So it’s Wednesday morning and it’s just another routine day – I’m tooling around my house on my Hoveround like always, making myself one of those healthy breakfast shakes made of Lucky Charms, chocolate milk and a half dozen Yodels, when I suddenly realize it’s one of our great holidays – St. Patrick’s Day. With drinking, and uh, even more drinking, what’s not to like? Everybody grabs a pint of Guinness or a green beer, sings “Dirty Old Town,” wears their “Kiss me I’m Irish” shirt and at least pretends to be of Gaelic persuasion. I, on the other hand, am German, so I throw on my “Don’t kiss me I’m German – that would be inefficient, emotional and unsanitary” T-shirt, and head off to work. I’m not the only one around these parts who wears a variation on the “Kiss me I’m Irish” shirt, though; here are some like-themed T-shirts seen worn by local athletes past and present on St. Patty’s Day:
” LaDainian Tomlinson, the eighth-leading rusher in NFL history with 12,490 yards, signed a two-year contract worth $5.1 million with an escalator to $5.6 million, ESPN reported first on Sunday. A league source told the Star Tribune the Vikings made a similar offer.”
Tomlinson decided to sign with New York because of the familiarity and the larger role he would have in the Jets offense. The Jets offense is run by former Chargers assistant Brian Schottenheimer. Thomas Jones is a year older than LT but has 600 fewer carries and is coming off a 1400-yard season.
Even though he is a Hall-Of-Fame back his carries and rushing yards have declined each season since 06-07. His production has tailed off due to injuries and the Chargers shifting into a pass-first offense.
LT is coming off a year where he set career lows in carries (223), yards (730), yards per carry (3.3), receptions (20), receiving yards (154) and it was the second time since his rookie season he failed to record a receiving touchdown. Jones, did not …
Baseball season is right around the corner (hey, three weeks is like four days when you’re my age, so twentysomething days is “right around the corner” to me), and after all the snow this winter, I’m ready. But here comes one of those “the old days were better” ramblings – they don’t call me Old Man Freier in my neighborhood for nothing (actually they pretty much just ignore me because I start every sentence with “Back in my day”). I was recently watching part of game five of the 1976 Yankees-Royals LCS that YES always seems to show and an episode of The Bronx Is Burning on MSG (the one about the 1977 LCS, which intersperses real highlights from the series), and it’s safe to say that baseball has changed since then. It may not have been better, but it was different. It’s lost a lot of its toughness and boys-will-be-boys attitude. In the 1976 game, the first pitch thrown by Grant Jackson right after George Brett …
Drafted 2nd round (Oklahoma) by the Cleveland Browns
The Jets signed FS Brodney Pool to a one year, $1.3 million dollar contract. Trading Kerry Rhodes has created a hole at safety. Pool will be competing with Eric Smith and James Ihedigbo for the starting spot along side Jim Leonhard.
Pool started 10 games games for the Browns last season and finished with 50 tackles and 4 sacks. He missed the Browns final five games last season after sustaining a concussion. There have been mixed reports on how many concussions he has suffered in the past but his agent says “he is healthy and ready to go.”
Pool holds the Browns franchise record with a 100 yard interception TD against the Ravens in 07. The five-year players has 11 interceptions and 35 pass defensed in his career.
Todd McShay has USC Safety Taylor Mays going 21 to the Bengals and the Jets selecting Penn State defensive end Jared Odrick
Mel Kiper has the Jets selecting Mays, which is surprising considering his strong combine and other teams that have safety needs.
Who is Jared Odrick?
“Odrick has a good combination of size and strength. He is more of a run-stopper with power to hold the point but needs to utilize his hands more consistently to separate to the ball. Odrick shows power to collapse the pocket as a pass rusher but again needs to expand his pass rush package with more moves and counters to contribute at the next level. He feels pad pressure well and constricts running lanes effectively. He has some limitations (lateral agility and speed) but plays with a good motor and often wins with effort. Odrick could be considered a versatile prospect as an end in a 3-4 front or tackle in 4-3 schemes. Odrick has upside if he can improve his overall …
Kansas City signed Thomas Jones to a two-year deal after the Jets released him. New York did not want to pay him the roster bonus he was due. The team should have kept him considering he has rushed for 2700 yards with 27 touchdowns the past two seasons. However, he was due a $3 million roster bonus on top of a $2.8 million base salary and Jones did not want to take a pay cut. “Jones ranks second only to LaDainian Tomlinson, who also was cut by his team, in yards rushing since 2005″.
Jones is coming off a career year where he rushed for 1402 yards and 14 touchdowns. However, the 331 regular season carries was the most of his 10-year career. Jones has rushed for at least 1100 yards in each of his past five seasons. His consistency can be credited due to his workout regimen but he is turning 32-years old in August. Also, the Jets boast one of the top offensive lines in the league …
The Jets traded safety Kerry Rhodes to the Arizona Cardinals for a 4th (Rhodes was a former 4th round pick) round pick in this year’s draft and a 7th round pick in the 2011 draft. Rhodes has a 4 years left on his contract and a $2 million roster bonus due on Friday. This past season he recorded a career low 55 tackles and did not intercept a pass until Week 12.
Rhodes will be replacing Antrel Rolle, who signed with the Giants last week. The Cardinals other starting safety (Adrian Wilson) is the same height 6′3″. The team’s new defensive backs coach is Donnie Henderson, who was a former Jets assistant under Herman Edwards.
In his second season in the league Rhodes had 99 tackles, 5 sacks, 4 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. However, his play has not been on the same level since his teammates have labeled him as “Hollywood” because of his off-the-field initiatives.
The Jets filled a need when they traded for cornerback Antonio Cromartie, However, they have a hole at safety because Eric …
The Knicks recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first championship, which got me to thinking – and yes, this is what I think about while cracking open my ninth beer of the night: New York-area teams have a seven-decade championship streak on the line this year. For the last seven decades (and eight out of nine) a New York team has played in a championship game when the year ends in a zero. Sometimes they lost, sometimes they won, but they reached the final game or series. Coincidence? Yeah, but so what? Let’s look back anyway.
The year 2000 was a bonanza. The Yankees and Mets squared off in the World Series, the Devils won the Stanley Cup and the Giants made it to the Super Bowl but lost to Baltimore (the game was played in 2001 but it was the 2000 season). In 1990, the Giants beat Buffalo in the Super Bowl (wide right!). The Islanders won the first of four consecutive Stanley Cups in 1980. …
“He has failed to appear in court twice for different traffic tickets and hasn’t paid $799 in traffic-related fines, causing the Department of Motor Vehicles to withhold his driver’s license application.”
“Cromartie has at least seven children with six different women in five states. All children are under 6.”
“He was also disciplined by coach Norv Turner for breaking team rules regarding tweeting from the team premises.”
Antionio Cromartie was traded to the Jets for a 2011 third-round draft choice that could turn into a second-rounder. He comes with baggage but he is 25 years old and led the NFL in interceptions (10) in 2007. He was also named to the Pro Bowl and All-Pro team that year. That season he returned a missed field 109 yards for a touchdown. Darrelle Revis was a Pro Bowler and All-Pro for the Jets last season. This combo can turn out to be one of the best combos in the NFL.
Cromartie replaces Lito Sheppard, who the Jets released because of his roster bonus. Besides his legal troubles he has battled injuries …
Super Bowl Sunday combines everything that’s great about our country: Drinking, eating 15 pounds of Buffalo wings, gambling and British classic rock. Why, oh why is this day not a national holiday? Here in New York, did we care who won? Well, if you had a wager on the game you did. Or did one of those squares things at work. So even if you don’t have a true rooting interest, it’s still hard to watch the game in a nice, relaxing manner when you’re yelling at the TV for the Colts to get a safety so they could end up with a score that ends in 5. The halftime show is always fun. The Who (or what’s left of them) rocked as only senior citizens can. Let’s give them credit, though, when I’m their age I’ll be lucky if can eat solid food and remember where I live. But the band is getting too rickety to smash their own equipment, so they have roadies do that …
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.
Giants linebacker Brad Van Pelt was the bridge between the Alex Webster/Norm Snead/Ron Johnson era and the Lawrence Taylor/Phil Simms/Bill Parcells years. He played for five different coaches (Webster, Bill Arnsparger, John McVay, Ray Perkins, Parcells) and in four home stadiums (Yankee Stadium, the Yale Bowl, Shea Stadium, Giants Stadium). And he was a Giant through and through. He …
We sports fans are a dramatic bunch when it comes to our teams – everything is life and death – but in real life we shrug sadness and tragedy off like it’s nothing. “My Uncle Maury died? What are ya gonna do? He had a good run. Can you pass the ketchup?” But if the team we root for goes into a slump or, God forbid, gets knocked out of the playoffs, we’re screaming, tears are falling like Niagara Falls and we’re pulling what’s left of our hair out. Think back to the 1994 Stanley Cup and tears of joy start falling. Think of the Wilpons or James Dolan owning your team, and tears of sadness reign down. And if you’re like me and Rip Torn, you’ll get so drunk you’ll mistakenly take a local bank for your house, break in and pass out as I did when the 2007 baseball season ended and the Mets pulled off the collapse hear round the world. I was in such bad shape that I was nearly fired …
I am one of the crazy few who thinks LT is a better fit here than TJ... Assuming of course that Shonn Greene is the new sheriff in town. Neither Greene nor Jones are the threat out of the backfield that LT is, even at this advanced stage in his career. The crux of it, to me, is that if Greene gets injured or proves a dud, Jones could have stepped in to take […]
Gia I think you are much more beautiful on the inside then you are on the outside. I would love to just have one opportunity to meet with you one to one for dinner. David […]
"The Knicks reported a 40 percent spike in on-site merchandise sales during Saturday’s game at Madison Square Garden — including more than 200 McGrady T-shirts and more than 100 McGrady jerseys. All for a player who might be here for just 39 games." So embarrassing. […]
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