Here are some of the highlights, lowlights, scandals, trades and car accidents of the past week in the New York sports world.

Nate-Gate: The surging Knicks have won three games in a row, they’re spreading the ball around on offense and playing solid team defense – yes, defense (somewhere Dave DeBusschere is smiling). They’re moving up in the standings, but Nate-Gate is in full bloom, with chants of “We want Nate” raining down from the Garden faithful while Nate Robinson is tethered to the bench. Whenever he doesn’t play, the Knicks win, so the erratic guard may never see action again. Shooting at the wrong basket, too much goofing around and breezily fraternizing with the enemy have done him in. After realizing that he’s getting paid $4 million to watch NBA games a few times a week and is getting front row seats to boot, he’s not complaining, and is settling into his role as the Knicks’ Little Bit o’ Luck guy. He’s starting to make …

Thanksgiving is the best of all holidays. There’s football all day long, eating all day long and drinking all day long (actually that sounds like most Sundays during football season). I think there’s something in there about Pilgrims and Indians, too, but I can’t remember what it is. A Chiefs-Patriots game maybe? Did they have muskets and kill turkeys in the old AFL? Or was it Redskins-Cowboys? The Knicks won a game this week, but it was against the Nets so I’m not sure if that really counts (those teams are a combined 3-27 so far this season), the hockey teams all won some and lost some, the Jets were trounced by the hated Patriots, the Giants went 1-1, and the Mets and Yankees started looking at possible free agents and trades, but they all have something to be thankful for during the holiday season. So here we go:

The Knicks are thankful that the Nets are worse than they are.

The Knicks are also thankful for 1970 and 1973 because that may be it for another 30 years or …

The Knicks won a game this week! And The Answer may be coming to New York (so the question must be: Will a desperate team do anything to keep their fans interested?). But with last Friday’s loss, the Knicks established the worst 10-game start in franchise history. Things could be a lot worse, though; here are some other bad starts throughout history that may help them feel better about themselves: The Hindenburg blew up over New Jersey on the first of its 10 scheduled round-trips between Europe and the United States, killing 36 people; the Titanic hit an iceberg and sunk four days into its maiden voyage; William Henry Harrison died of a cold one month into his presidency in 1841; Wally Backman lasted four days as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks before he was unceremoniously shown the door; Gilligan’s three-hour tour got off to an inauspicious start, getting stranded on a deserted island for 15 years, until the castaways were miraculously rescued, followed by them buying …

The Yankees win the World Series and as soon as you can say the words “Johnny Damon wants a four-year contract” the rest of the New York–area teams go down the tubes. They went a combined 5-11 this past week. It must be a hangover. Are all the local teams riding on the Yankees’ coattails and going to all of their parties? It’s also possible that many of the area teams just stink. The Knicks and Nets went a combined 0-7 this week, and are 1-16 for the year, for instance. It was only the always-good Devils that skewed the combined record by going 4-0, and they barely count as a local team.

Here’s a day-by-day look at the past seven days.

Friday: The injury-riddled Nets lost to Philly, which kept them winless for the season, and the Devils beat the Islanders in a continuation of the New Jersey–Long Island War of 1801, in which it was so cold and icey out during the Battle of Massapequa that both sides just gave up …

All anybody’s talking about in the New York area is the Islanders’ first regulation win over the Rangers (though Jimmy Rollins predicted it on Monday). You can’t walk down the street without somebody stopping you and asking all about the hockey team from Long Island. Will they get on a roll? Is John Tavares the real deal? Islanders, Islanders, Islanders! Everybody’s forgetting all about the bad start of the two local basketball teams, and does anybody even know that the Yankees are in the World Series this year? All the Islanders-all-the-time talk is really taking the pressure off the other local teams.

Here at Hot Stove, we know that the Yankees are in the World Series again, as you can’t get anything by us. The Bronx Bombers paid their $200 million entry fee into the Series, setting up a rematch of the 1950 Fall Classic. And with so many off-days, it seems like there are about 59 years between games in this postseason. In the Series we’ve already seen Cliff Lee nonchalantly put the Bombers’ bats to sleep, …

It was a brutal week for the New York football teams, as the Giants got killed and the Jets fell to lowly Buffalo and lost Kris Jenkins for the rest of the season. Even the hockey teams mixed in some debacles with a few wins. And something bad probably happened to the Mets even though their season is long over.

But even after last night’s loss, the Yankees are sitting pretty, with a 3-2 lead in the series and heading back home. With a budget as high as our country’s deficit, the Yanks had two options this offseason: Use their money to cure the U.S. economy or buy a whole bunch of free agents. They chose the latter, and it’s working out just fine (well, for them). Unfortunately, the one aspect of the playoffs that has stood out the most is the atrocious umpiring. The horrible umpiring in this year’s postseason is unprecedented, but there are things out there that are actually worse, if you can believe it. …

Now that the Great Balloon Hoax of Aught-Nine is over, we can concentrate on sports again (CC Sabathia’s uniform is so big and baggy, it could probably be filled with helium and flown across the country, too). This past week in New York sports, the Yankees swept the Twins and now have to take on those pesky, team-of-destiny Angels, the Giants killed the Raiders to stay undefeated, the Jets suffered their second consecutive loss, the Rangers kept on winning, the Devils heated up, but the poor Islanders still couldn’t manage to notch their first victory of the year. The most bizarre moment of the week, though, was the Mickey Rourke sighting on the Giants sideline. And Kevin Bacon showed up at the Garden for the Knicks preseason home opener. Is the cast of Diner making the rounds of the local sports teams to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the movie?

Besides being at the Knicks game, Bacon could also be seen hiding in the Yankees dugout on Friday because, unbeknownst to A. J. Burnett, that was Shrevie’s wife, donned in curly …

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 …

Here is the third installment of our Superteams Smackdown series (for the first two, click here and here). The Islanders won their first Stanley Cup in only their eighth season. The Rangers won their first in their second season, but nobody remembers that one. Their 1994 Cup win was the Blueshirts’ first in 54 years, so it felt like the first time. If the team that started the Islanders dynasty faced the Rangers Cup-winning team that “will last a lifetime,” who would win? And would somebody from Def Leppard be there to place the Cup upside down?

After winning the President’s Trophy the year before, but being upset by the surprising Rangers, the 1979-80 Islanders finished in second place in the Patrick Division (91 points), but went all the way this time, to win the first of four straight Stanley Cups. They were coached by the great Al Arbour, and the architect of the team was Bill Torrey. Bryan Trottier (42 goals, 62 assists) and Mike Bossy (51 goals) led the offense. Three-time Norris …

So once again it’s time to make our New Year’s resolutions. With the new year comes a sense of hope and renewal, but it’s also a time for self reflection and self improvement. My resolution for 2009 is to eat more bacon, ham and sausage. I really dropped the ball on that last year and could have done better in that area. Last year’s resolution – to drink more beer – was a complete success. The prize for this week’s Hot Stove Player of the Week is a package of Jimmy Dean sausage, so he can join me in my quest to better myself.

Winner

Mike Comrie: Out of all the New York-area teams, the Islanders had the best week. The Giants and Jets both lost, the Knicks and Nets went a combined 2-5 since Friday, and the Rangers (1-1) and Devils (2-2) both went .500. The Isles were 2-1-1, and Comrie scored four of the six goals he’s scored all season in their last three games. In the win …

Here are the answers to yesterday’s quiz.

1. The Rangers debut season was 1926-27.

2. The Devils franchise began as the Kansas City Scouts in 1974, and after two seasons moved to Colorado, where they played as the Rockies from 1976-82.

3. The one other NHL team to play in New York was the New York/Brooklyn Americans. They played in the league from 1925 to 1942.

4. The New York Raiders/Golden Blades/New Jersey Knights (one team, many names) played two seasons in the WHA before becoming the San Diego Mariners.

5. The Rangers acquired their name when newspaper writers started calling the team Tex’s Rangers, after original owner Tex Rickard.

6. New York/New Jersey teams have won 11 Stanley Cups – the Rangers won in 1928, 1933, 1940 and 1994; the Islanders in 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983; and the Devils in 1995, 2000 and 2003.

7. Andy Bathgate (1959), Bryan Trottier (1979) and Mark Messier (1992) all won the Hart Trophy.

8. Bryan Trottier is the only New York-area player to win the …

See how much you know about the history of the local hockey franchises. The answers will be posted tomorrow.

1. What year did the Rangers debut?

2. Before the Devils moved to New Jersey, they played in two other locations. Name them.

3. Besides the Rangers, Islanders and Devils, what other NHL franchises have played in the New York area?

4. What WHA franchise played in the New York area?

5. How did the Rangers get their name?

6. How many Stanley Cups have New York/New Jersey teams won?

7. In the past 50 years, only three New York-area players have won the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP. Name them.

8. How many New York-area players have won the Art Ross Trophy (leading scorer; first handed out for the 1947-48 season)?

9. How many New York-area players have won the James Norris Trophy (top defenseman; first handed out for the 1953-54 season)?

10. Which center of the New York-area’s WHA franchise was named a first team All-Star for the 1973-74 season?