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.

Some say Charles Oakley is the toughest man alive. Some say he was one of the best rebounders and fiercest defenders of his time. Some say he looks like Darryl from The Office. And they would all be right. Oakley played for the Knicks for 10 years, and he epitomized the brawling, blue-collar defensive style of the team of …

As the Knicks played their final home game of the season yesterday here are some next steps to consider…In Part B, I will cover the David Lee issue and other possible free agents.

Next season the Knicks have Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Toney Douglas under contract. Eddy Curry has a $11 million dollar option he will exercise. Bill Walker and J.R. Giddens have team options while Sergio Rodriguez has a qualifying offer. This being said the Knicks roster looks very thin going into the off-season.

1) Sign Marcus Camby: Camby has expressed interest in returning to New York and Donnie Walsh is expected to pursue him this summer. The Knicks need to add a long and athletic big to the front-line which makes the former Knick very appealing. Despite his injury concerns he is very productive when healthy. He is averaging 11.8 rebounds (2nd in the NBA) and 2 blocks (4th in the NBA). His 30-point, 13 rebound effort against the Thunder yesterday shows he is not slowing down even at the age of 36.

2) Target players …

The Yankees opener, which was a typical American League softball marathon (and umpire Joe West was not happy about it!), didn’t quite go as planned, what with the losing and all. I took a break from the action on TV to grab my daughter, as it was her bed time, and I found her watching the Sound of Music. Julie Andrews had just made clothes for the von Trapp kids out of the drapes in her room – she could have easily put together more than enough outfits for the whole family out of the pants CC Sabathia was sporting on Sunday, too. And that movie is pretty much a carbon copy of my childhood, well, except our governess was called “the TV” and my brothers and I paraded through our town, not singing “Do-Re-Mi,” but the theme to Three’s Company – and the townsfolk pretty much wanted to punch our faces in. Oh, and we didn’t so much escape the Nazis as just our teachers, when …

Opening day is right around the corner (Sunday for the Yankees, Monday for the Mets). The start of a new baseball season is a time of hope, renewal and optimism (well, unless you’re Brother Theodore – does anybody remember him?). In fact, today I’ll declare myself the Opening Day Optimist. If you’re a Mets fan, it’s no time to think of The Ghosts of Bad Things Past (2009, 2008, 2007, Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman – ok, ok, I’ll stop), but only positive memories, players and dates – 1969, 1986, Tom Seaver, Gil Hodges, Joan Payson, Banner Day, Bud Harrelson, Jerry Koosman, the black cat, Donn Clendenon, the shoe polish play, Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee’s catches, Ron Swoboda’s catch, Ralph Kiner, Bob Murphy, Lindsey Nelson, Rusty Staub, Tug McGraw, Ya Gotta Believe, Rube Walker, Joe Pignatano, Eddie Yost, Jerry Grote, Jon Matlack, Ed Kranepool, Felix Millan, the sign guy, Lee Mazzilli, John Stearns, Mr. Met, Mookie Wilson, Darryl Strawberry’s swing, 1985 Dwight Gooden, “Gets by Buckner!”, Ray …

“I love D’Antoni, he’s the dope,” Boozer told the paper. “Spending time with him in the Olympics, his offensive mindset is unbelievable. He’s got the best plays I’ve ever been around — on a whim. It’s like rappers when they come out on the top of the dome with quotes. He’s got plays in the back of his head with plays for that moment.”
Boozer also went out of his way to let the New York reporters know he’s a New York Yankees fan.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Boozer-coveting-Knicks-job-?urn=nba,231033

Carlos Boozer is in the final year of his contract that is paying him $12.6 million this season. Since 2004-2005 season he has made at least $10 million per year. This all means he will not come cheap if he decides to leave Utah. After appearing in just 37 games last year, Boozer has missed only 3 games averaging 19.5 points and 11.2 rebounds. The Jazz are currently the number three seed in the West with 49 wins.

Boozer is one of the best power forwards in the league …

We’re less than two weeks away from opening day, so it’s prediction time. Who’s going to win each division? Who will win the World Series? Who will take the MVP and Cy Young awards? How the hell should I know? Does anybody get these predictions right? With injuries, fluctuations in performance, Ron Washington making out lineups while snorting a few lines of his “manager’s little helper” and other unforeseen circumstances, it’s anybody’s guess. So I’ll take the safer route and make my prognostications for the 1972 season instead. It’s way more of a sure thing that way.

The young, upstart A’s are looking like a lock to take the AL West, after winning the division last season. I foresee that they will all grow mustaches and wear green-and-gold uniforms this year. Vida Blue’s holdout will lead to a poor season for him, but I’ll go out on a limb and predict I’ll write him a nice letter a few years later and he’ll graciously send me his autograph. …

It has been a difficult year for Wilson Chandler on and off the court. His grandfather passed away a few weeks ago and he has missed the last four games due to a left groin injury. The Knicks are considering shutting him down for the rest of the season.

Chandler is a very talented player but also a very attractive trading piece. He is turning 23-years old in May and will be making $2.1 million next season and has a qualifying offer for $3 million the year after. If the Knicks sign two big free agents within the next two years I think it makes Chandler expendable. Meaning his role would change and I do not see him attempting 13 shots a game.

What could Chandler be traded for? New York does not have a first round pick in this year’s or 2012 NBA Draft. However, we have seen the Knicks buy a late first round pick from another franchise.

The third year forward is averaging career highs in points (15.3), field goal percentage (47.9) and minutes per …

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:

“Kiss me – I’m 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 …

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. …

“Before his high school career ended he was the first player to attend the Adidas ABCD Camp in New Jersey three times, and won the MVP his final season, an award given out to the likes of Lebron James and Kobe Bryant.”

Bill Walker was a Top 10 high school recruit and made the EA Sports High School Boys Basketball team in 2006. He was also a teammate of current Memphis Grizzle and former first-round pick (3rd overall) O.J Mayo. He received interest from top programs such as Connecticut, Syracuse, Texas but elected to go to Kansas State.

Walker elected to go to Kansas State and averaged 16.1 (5th in the Big 12) points, 6.3 rebounds and shot 46% (10th in the Big 12) in his second season. He played alongside Michael Beasley who was drafted second overall in the 2008 draft.

His knee injuries affected his draft stock but the talent, athleticism and size had scouts compare him to Vince Carter. His leaping ability, strength and competitiveness would have made him a first-round pick …

“If they get Lebron James (it was worth it),” Randolph says. “If they don’t get him, I wonder. I don’t know.”- Zach Randolph

The Knicks traded Randolph in November 2008 to the Clippers for Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley. The Knicks were not looking for any premium players back just, for another team to take his long and expensive contract. Donnie Walsh has worked very hard to get the Knicks under the cap but he could have waited and deal Zebo or even Jamal Crawford this year for more talent or draft picks.

Randolph is blossoming for his new team (Memphis Grizzlies) averaging 20.6 points, 11.9 rebounds (second highest of his career) and is shooting 49.5 % from the field (second highest of his career). His shooting percentage has gone up because his three point attempts have gone down. He has attempted only 30 this season (59 games) compared to the 104 in 80 games with the Knicks. More importantly he leads the NBA in offensive rebounds per game (4.4) and the 28 year old was …