Hoops Night Out

IT'S BEEN A FAIRLY GOOD stretch for me lately as far as attending live sporting events. Thanks to generous invites from buddies like Jimi the Greek and Johnny Star, I went to two New York Yankees games at the new Stadium last season, checked out the Mets at their new Citifield in scenic Flushing, and this week caught the Knicks for the first time in a long while at good old Madison Square Garden.

Unfortunately for Knicks fans, of which luckily I'm not a member, the hometown crew managed to fritter away a 15-point 4th quarter lead to the lowly Sacramento Kings -- who, despite some up-and-coming players on the roster, have to be one of the more nondescript franchises in organized sports these days. Here was a 16-34 team riding an 11-game road losing streak into town and the Knicks, now a crappy 19-31 themselves on the year, couldn't seal the deal.

Tuesday happened to be Jewish Heritage Night at the Garden on Tuesday, and it also just happens that Sacramento has the the first and only Israeli player in the NBA on their team. Coincidence? You tell me. Omri Casspi, a 6-foot-9 rookie forward, certainly rewarded all the chants and waving of Israeli flags with a solid 18 points. And as the once-proud Knickerbockers squandered their big lead with their trademark matador defense, I'm sure more than a few fans were heard muttering "Ov vey" as a game seemingly in the bag headed to overtime.

I met John and his two fellow firemen season ticket holders outside the Garden at around 7, then we headed upstairs to the Play by Play bar for a few beers. The tickets actually called for us to sit pretty high up in the rafters, but in time-honored New York tradition we made our way down to four conveniently unoccupied seats in a much lower section, and we stayed there unmolested for the duration of the game -- not quite court side, but close enough to spot any celebs sitting front row. No Spike Lee this night, but there was a Steve Schirripa of Sopranos fame sighting, as well as long-time Hebrew Dustin Hoffman, a Garden regular for years. More importantly, from our improved vantage point we were able to appreciate the finer points and parts of the Knick City Dancers, of booty-shaking dance moves during timeouts fame.

The unquestioned wearer of the goat horns for the hometown squad was Chris Duhon, who shot just 2-10. Duhon is a very average player with a contract that pays him 6 million dollars, which tells you everything you need to know about the dismal state of the NBA. Hardly a fan favorite already, he single-handedly butchered numerous key Knicks possessions, including the end of regulation when he heaved up an exceedingly ugly airball from 3-point range with the shot clock winding down that had lower odds of going in than a random fan coming down from the stands and hitting a half-court bomb. Duhon's heave led to deafening boos from the crowd. Not that the Knicks' lack of execution down the stretch didn't deserve a round or two of harsh booing, but the volume would only grow when, as if coached by no one, the last shot in OT inexplicably went to non-shooter Jared Jeffries of all people, who wildly fired a 3-pointer in desperation with the clock running out. The 6-11 Jeffries makes almost $6.5 million a year and gives the Knicks 5.5 points and 4.4 rebounds a night in return. Nice bang for the buck there, GM Donnie Walsh. The Knicks did get 35 points from Wilson Chandler, but somehow he never saw the ball down the stretch.

The Kings on the other hand are not waiting around for the LeBron James sweepstakes to play itself out over the offseason and instead have assembled some good young talent: 20-year-old Tyreke Evans is a 6-foot-6 point guard with silky smooth moves who finished with 27 points and 10 boards; 6-11 forward Donte Green (21 years old) had 24 points, including the bucket that put his team up 4 in overtime with a minute left; and Jason Thompson, also a second-year 6-11 forward, averages 13 points and 9 rebounds a night and is all of 23. That's how you build a team, rather than a collection of expiring contracts.

Now I'm looking forward to seeing my beloved Philly Sixers at the Garden next month, even if the 76ers are underachieving this season at 20-32 after making the playoffs last year. The game on March 19 may very well be the rapidly fading Allen Iverson's final career appearance at the Garden also, and I bet the place will be packed if New York fans realize that.

A Bronx Jinx?

WELL, NOW IT'S 0 FOR 2 on the 2009 season for me at the new Yankee Stadium following a loss to Texas this afternoon on a picture-perfect day for baseball. Good thing I don't have season tickets, because based on my track record the Yankees would be winless at home on the year. For the record, without my presence, they're 42-18 at the new Stadium this year.

We got there about an hour early, so we circumnavigated the huge ballpark. And who should we see pulling into the players' entrance but one Alex Rodriguez, driving his own black SUV. Who knew that would be the highlight of the day! Well, that and seeing ex-Yankee "legends" Ron Blomberg (MLB's first designated hitter back in 1973) and Oscar Gamble (he of the giant Afro and funky batting stance) signing autographs in front of one of the old souvenir shops across the street from the Stadium. But at $20 a pop, we bypassed their table and instead took our chances on a dollar street dog with all the trimmings before heading inside the park.

Starter A.J. Burnett had great stuff today, striking out 12 Rangers in just 6 innings, but he walked 7 men and gave up a 3-run bomb to Ian Kinsler in the 4th inning. He left the game trailing 3-1, but Phil Coke and the rest of the Yankee relievers couldn't hold it there, and the final score was 7-2 in favor of the visitors.

I don't know if it was due to a day game following a night game, but the energy level in the park was almost nil, despite a crowd of over 47,000. Boston also lost last night as well, so the division lead remains at 6 games with fewer than 40 left to play. Barring a New York Mets 2007/2008-type collapse, the Yankees will be back in the postseason again, where of course it's one big crapshoot, if I can still say that on the Webosphere. We've got tickets for at least one more regular season game this season, so it would be nice to see a victory in person and break this curse once and for all.

Slow Motion Soak

THEY SAY YOU SEE something new every day in baseball, and today's has-to-be-a-record 5 1/2-hour rain delay would sure qualify as something different. We got to Yankee Stadium at 12:30 amid a steady downpour, and the rain never let up for the entire afternoon, postponing indefinitely the 1:05 first pitch. Then at about 5:30 it slowed to a drizzle as the grounds crew started taking off the tarp. At 6 the rain stopped altogether, and 6:30 sharp we finally had baseball.

A day game had morphed into a night game before our very eyes.

We killed the time by going to Monument Park and the Yankee Museum, even leaving the Stadium entirely a couple of times. Finally, back at our seats, we watched the Phils-Blue Jays game on the crystal-clear big screen scoreboard.

Still doubting they were gonna get a game in, we walked around the spacious concourse some more -- marveling at the dizzying array of concession choices and the ludicrous prices attached to them. Beers were 9 bucks a pop except for lowly Schlitz at 6, I believe it was. There were steak sandwiches for 15, sushi for 12, pork pull sandwiches 10, sausage for 9, hot dogs for 6, small garlic fries 6, large fries 9, slice of pizza 5 bucks, bag of chips only $4.50. There were yearbooks for just 25 dollars, programs for a mere 10, Yankee caps going for a song at $45. There was even an art gallery where you had the opportunity to purchase Peter Max-tinged bats, balls and player portraits for but a few thou.

Sometimes it was hard to tell if you were at a mall food court, a baseball game or stuck in a long flight delay at the airport.

By the time the game started, the crowd as you can imagine had thinned out to a few thousand hardy souls (paid attendance was 45, 143; rain delay clocked at 341 minutes). Plenty of very good seats remained empty, in fact, until an announcement to the effect of anyone who wants to sit closer, go for it. Now, of course, this did not include the $1,000+ seats you may have heard about: the ones in the first 20 rows or so that come with wait service and free, unlimited dining. Those rows are gated off and accessible only via a separate entrance. But the four of us were right behind those box seats, along the 1st base-rightfield line, where the seats were wet but offered a good view of 1B Mark Teixeira, 2B Robbie Cano, and RF Nick Swisher's new faux-hawk hairdo.

We left after 7 innings and over 8 hours at the ballpark, with the Yankees looking flat and trailing the Nationals 3-0, which is where it ended. We caught the last 2 innings on the radio on the way home. I just called my brother and he said that they announced on the radio that because of the rather lengthy rain delay, ticket holders can choose another non-marquee game later in the season. That's something we will definitely take advantage of. Besides, Yanks owe us a win after this lackluster, going-through-the-motions effort tonight -- getting shut out at home by the worst team in baseball, dropping 2 out of 3 in the series. Don't look now but baseball's highest paid player Alex Rodriguez is hitting a scrub-like .212 on the season after going 0 for his last 14.

Also, this was the first time all season no home runs were hit at the Stadium -- after an astounding 119 balls had cleared the wall through the first 34 games. I like to think the soggy night air had a lot more to do with that power drought than my presence there for the first time all season.

Wash Out?

THIS CAN'T SUCK ENOUGH! After raining all night, it's 8:36am and still pouring out, so there's a very real danger that my first Yankees game this year, and thus my first shot to check out the new Stadium, is gonna be washed away. I had written YANKEES 1:00 on my wall calendar weeks and weeks ago when Jimi the Greek told me had tickets. Who knows when the makeup date will be if it gets rained out? What a drag this "spring" has been -- with literally one sunless day after another... more like global wetting if you ask me. Joba Chamberlain was scheduled to start, and I was looking forward to a nice sunny day, seeing my old buddies. It's criminal, I tell ya.

But not the kind of criminal a former Yankee got himself mixed up in. It took only about an hour yesterday for a Texas jury to sentence Mel Hall -- a decent slugger for the Cubs (1981-84), Indians (1984-88) and Yanks (1989-92) who mentally tormented a sensitive young Bernie Williams -- to 45 years yesterday for torment of a much more serious kind: the rape of a 12-year-old girl and sexual abuse of 3 other minors. Those are not the kinds of stats you want to be connected to as a ballplayer. If you're counting, barring parole, Hall will be 93 years old should he be invited to attend the Yankee Old-Timers game in 2054. So hold onto your Mel Hall memorabilia, kids.

When it comes to athletes, however, Florida justice is another matter. Earlier this week, a Cleveland Browns wide receiver received a sentence of 30 days after pleading guilty to a manslaughter charge for killing a pedestrian while driving drunk. Returning home from an all-night party celebrating a $4.5 million roster bonus, Donte Stallworth's Bentley was going 50 in a 40MPH zone when he struck a construction worker getting off his shift at around 7:15am.

The sentence mandates 1,000 hours of community service, a lifetime driver's license ban (yeah, right), eight years' probation, and drug & alcohol testing. Prosecutors cited Stallworth's clean record and cooperation -- he remained at the scene and called police -- for the light jail time; he could have faced up to 15 years in prison without a plea bargain. But you don't have to read between the lines to notice that it was the family's need for "closure" that evidently played the larger role: "a confidential financial settlement to avoid a potential lawsuit from the family of 59-year-old Mario Reyes."

Dog-killer Michael Vick becomes eligible to play again in the NFL this season after spending the last 2 years in jail, should any team want to deal with that PR nightmare. Will Stallworth end up suspended for the upcoming season after killing a man? Probably -- but he's still getting off too lightly. In fact, with time served (the day of his arrest) and an automatic state credit of 5 days for every day served, Stallworth will be in jail for a total of 24 days.

They say Justice is blind, but more likely it's just shutting its eyes so it doesn't have to see all the money changing hands in the courtroom.

Going Gone

WELL, THEY FINALLY tried to get to the bottom of what's causing the home runs to fly out of the new Yankee Stadium this season. A report on AccuWeather.com blames not wind patterns but the height of the outfield walls, specifically in right field. I for one ain't buying it. It's classic meteorological behavior: never blame the weather for anything. I mean, it's not like you need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

105 homers have been hit in 29 games at the new park, that's both teams, with the home team clubbing 59 of them. According to the report, close to 20% of those HRs would not have left the old Stadium. The notion that weather had anything to do the increase is shot down: "there has been no consistent pattern observed in the wind speed and direction that would lead to an increase in home runs so far this year." Glad to see AccuWeather's resources going to the right priorities. Maybe we can get the CIA involved after the All-Star Break if the power surge continues.

The study also notes that the new right field wall is shorter by an average of 4-5 feet, "but up to 9 feet shorter in spots." But just how do shorter walls account for the broken bat HR hit by Mark Teixeira a few weeks ago? The all-time record for a ballpark is the 303 HRs hit in the thin air of Colorado's Coors Field 10 years ago; Yankee Stadium is slightly off that pace right now.

I'll get a chance to examine the conditions firsthand in a week: I've got tickets to next Thursday's day game against the storied Washington Nationals. Quite a rivalry these two franchises have going for themselves.

The other new stadium, Citi Field, is playing quite differently for the Mets. They've only managed 21 HRs as a team through 28 games, and there are indications it may be getting into the head of some members of the Collapsin's. 3B David Wright confessed to Chipper Jones that he's losing some long balls that are being contained by the new park's spacious dimensions. Wright took it back the next day -- but the numbers don't fib: just 3 homers in 27 home games after hitting 21 in 80 games at Shea last season.

David Wright may not be smacking a ton of homers, but it's not exactly David Ortiz futility (.196, 3 HR) we're talking here; he's hitting a sizzling .354 with 35 RBI and a surprising 16 steals.

Going into tomorrow night's Subway Series opener at Yankee Stadium, Yankees have hit 95 HRs in 2009 compared to 37 for the Mets. Ace Johan Santana will pitch the Sunday night game, coming off a start where he surrendered 4 HRs to the Phils at Citi Field.

Yankees are 0-7 now against Boston this year after losing 6-5 last night at Fenway -- and 34-18 against everyone else. That's gotta be in their heads going into series finale tonight. You'd think New York would have the pitching edge with CC Sabathia matching up against a struggling Brad Penny, who's let on 96 baserunners in his 60 innings so far.

Yanks recently went MLB-record 18 straight games without an error. Then they made at least 1 error in 7 straight before the y played a clean game last night. Some Jorge Posada detractors would point out that the catcher missed most of the 18 games with an injury and returned to the lineup as the errors started.

Mets are playing with a patch on their uniform sleeve commemorating the first season at Citi Field, which would be okay if it didn't look exactly like the Domino's Pizza logo, which is lame. Maybe I'm not the first one who noticed the resemblance; someone going by No-Name247 pointed it out back in January, but he's kind of dismissive of it. I made the connection as soon as I saw the new patch in April. Just want to get that on the record.

Sum Kwik Hitz

IT'S EARLY YET, but Yanks off to pretty good start at 9-6 after yesterday's almost 5-hour extra-innings 9-7 win at home over Oakland. Melky Cabrera went deep from both sides of the plate, the last one a game winner from the left side in the bottom of the 14th.

N.Y. Manager Joe Girardi has to at least be thinking real long and hard about platooning Cabrera (4 HRs, 7 RBI in just 23 at-bats) in centerfield with slap-hitting Brett Gardner batting a powerless .240 with only 3 RBI in 50 ABs.

You can only carry so many automatic outs in a lineup. Alex Rodriguez's replacement at 3B Cody Ransom is struggling at the plate big-time so far, "hitting" an anemic .170 with 0 HRs. Obviously whatever's responsible for the record pace of long balls leaving the new Stadium -- with speculation ranging from wind tunnels and seating angles to early-season weather patterns -- it isn't rescuing Ransom any when he's in the batter's box. Five more were hit yesterday: the 2 by Cabrera, 1 each by Hidecki Matsui and Derek Jeter (playing in his 2,000th game as a Yankee), and 1 by Oakland's Kurt Suzuki.

John Sterling, too-long-time radio voice of Yanks, has lowered his own lame standards with new home run call for 1B Mark Teixeira. It starts with the usual unspontaneous "It is high, it is far, it is gone" before the cringe-worthy "Mark sends a Tex message!" Weak.

Mets at 6-8 are playing even worse than their record, and with their legions of neurotic fans, you just know that the psychiatric business will be thriving now despite the recession.

WFAN and ESPN-Radio phone lines are burning up already, with talk show hosts fielding complaints about everything from Dan Murphy's defensive struggles in left field and the shaky starting pitching after Johan Santana to the lack of clutch hitting and the stunning lack of Met history on display at the new Mets home, Jackie Robinson Stadium, uh, Citi Field.
What were the odds? The Pittsburgh Pirates are having a much better year than the Somali Pirates. After a modern sports record 15 straight losing seasons, the revamped Bucs have started off 9-6, with an astounding 4 pitched shutouts on the young '09 season. They just completed an impressive dismantling of the surprising 11-4 Marlins, outscoring Florida 18-6 over the 3-game sweep in Pittsburgh.

Nobody can explain why the homers are flying out out of new Yankee Stadium, with 26 hit over the first 6 games of the homestand (only 160 were hit over 8o games last year at the old Stadium). Moreover, another design flaw has been on display at the new park: two HRs already have been disputed because it's so easy for fans to reach down over the wall and interfere with outfielders. One umpire conference lasted over 7 minutes before upholding the HR ruling. It's just bush league.

Another common sight at the new Yankee Stadium is row upon row of empty box seats, the ones priced at thousands of dollars per game. Wherever fans are sitting, they can expect to be routinely gouged by the obscene food and beverage prices, to the tune of up to 15 bucks a beer if you're foolish enough to enter the Stadium's Hard Rock Cafe.

Also an inordinate number of grand slams and cycles hit this year already. Over the first 15 games, there's been something like 15 Slams and 3 cycles, which for the uninitiated is a player hitting for a single, double, triple and HR in the same game. Cycles are usually much more rare, with 3 about an average full season's worth, if I had to guess. Thank god I don't...














He'd rather be in Pittsburgh
"The pirate suspect arrested in the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama was all smiles on arriving in New York City late Monday, escorted by a phalanx of law enforcement officers."

Goings & Comings

Well, that didn't take long, did it? Fewer than 3 days after being handed his walking papers by Dallas, Terrell Owens will be shuffling off to Buffalo (couldn't resist), signing a one-year, $6.5 million contract with the Bills yesterday.

Around 20 NFL teams immediately issued clear denials of their interest as soon as the controversial wide receiver became available as a free agent. The Saints' and Redskins' statements in particular were stridently anti-T.O. It seemed like there was no market at all. I had the Colts as my dark horse, since they are a perennial Super Bowl candidate as long as Peyton Manning is under center and they were losing WR Marvin Harrison. But it was a non-contender, the Bills (7-9 last three seasons), who become Owens' 4th NFL employer, and the first American Conference team to take the tempting T.O. plunge. I'll have to ask Dan the one diehard Bills fan I know, how he feels about this move. (Note: Dan was against it.)

For his part, Owens promised "to be the same person he was the last three years with the Dallas Cowboys" as he takes his act from the glaring spotlight of America's Team to as close as you can get to the Canadian Football League. And T.O. has seemingly resigned himself to playing on a new stage, if not a new continent:

"I just have to create my own following up here in North America. I'm leaving America's Team to come to North America's team."

Owens will be playing in another country next year, as the Bills will play one "home game" next season in Toronto. Paired with WR Lee Evans and emerging RB Marshawn Lynch, the addition of T.O. gives Buffalo a decent array of offensive weapons, provided QB Trent Edwards can continue to improve this season. Just another interesting situation to monitor after the NFL's most fascinating offseason in recent or distant memory.
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IT LOOKS LIKE Alex Rodriguez will have that hip surgery after all, but the Yankees doctors are opting for the arthroscopic surgery and hoping that his recovery will be in the 6- to 9-week range (2 to 5 weeks of the season); the more aggressive kind of surgery Mike Lowell and Chase Utley had for similar injuries requires a much longer recovery period and likely would have cost A-Rod most or all of the 2009 season.
Eventually, Rodriguez will need the more complete procedure, so why not do it now? It's a gamble that A-Rod doesn't reinjure the hip after he returns. Personally, as a Yankees fan who can't stand Rodriguez, I'd rather see him out the whole year; just the absence of bad karma would do wonders for the state of the Yankees.

One overlooked element to the whole A-Rod story is that this all but kills his chance of becoming the all-time home run king five or six years down the road. No matter how great an athlete a player is, he's just not coming back from this kind of major setback healthy enough to pick right up where he left off.

A-Rod has amassed 553 homers through 15 seasons, leaving him over 200 HRs short of Barry Bonds' mark of 762. A-Rod will be 34 years old during the season, not old but he's never had this kind of injury before. Get used to lovable Barry at the top of the heap, asterisk and all, because A-Rod was probably the last guy who had even a remote chance of breaking the record. Otherwise, you'd have to believe A-Rod has five more years of 40-plus HRs left in him. And that's just crazy talk, even coming from you.

Subtracting A Distraction

"Vanity keeps persons in favor with themselves who are out of favor with all others." - William Shakespeare

"I love me some me." - Terrell Owens
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Whether it was due to excessive vanity, overweening pride or any other combination of tragic personal flaws, the 3-year Terrell Owens melodrama in Big D came to an end late last night, with the Dallas Cowboys biting the bullet and taking a massive salary cap hit of almost $10 million in the process.

On the field, Owens put together 3 seasons of 1,000+ yards and at least 10 touchdowns. He caught 235 passes for 3,587 yards and 38 TDs while at Dallas, but as usual with T.O., it's all the baggage that comes with the production. After last season's sideline outbursts and complaints about not getting the ball enough, this is a move that had to be done to save the chemistry of the Cowboys. Most Cowboy fans are in agreement that this is a positive day for the franchise given all that transpired last season: Owens is officially someone else's problem child now. Jones' comment last month that he was committed to making the team more "Romo-friendly" now reads like a clue in the thought process that led to the T.O. release.

The magnitude of this transaction is enough to drive sports talk radio for weeks and weeks, perhaps even displace the Alex Rodriguez-on-steroids monotony for a while. It's not only how the move affects Dallas, but all the speculation over which team takes the plunge and becomes Owens' fourth NFL employer after controversial stops in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Dallas. This story has more legs than a family of centipedes.

If T.O. is not picked up immediately, in the next 3 or 4 days, there could be a sizable delay before a team takes a chance on the 35-year-old receiver with Hall of Fame production but off-the-wall distraction, similar to what Manny Ramirez just went through in baseball. Training camp could very well begin without T.O. on a roster. Already one prominent Dallas sportswriter is on record saying Owens is finished, period. I seriously doubt it. But everything has to be just right in terms of QB situation, veteran leadership and sheer desperation for a front office to even consider acquiring the migraine-in-waiting that is Owens.

ESPN is already throwing out some names. How about Arizona, if they lose Anquan Boldin? The Vikings, who need playmakers? Maybe the Saints would take a chance? How about the Giants? If GM Jerry Reese is ready to welcome the felonious Plaxico Burress back with open arms, why not Owens? (After all, the Giants just signed two players who were accused of assaulting women.) Owens has never been a problem off the field, just a high maintenance handful everywhere else. But there just aren't a ton of places in the league for T.O. to land.
After Dallas pulled the trigger on the Roy Williams deal midseason, giving up a boatload of draft picks and signing him to a lucrative long-term deal in the process, there was not room for both of them. Add in the problems with TE Jason Witten, the offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, QB Tony Romo, and fans were waiting for this day since the season ended. If every disgruntled Cowboy fan sent Jerry Jones a dollar, I have a feeling he'd have more than enough bills to cover the $9.5 million cap hit.

Dallas should look to add another WR to the mix in the draft, then concentrate on becoming a run-first team. With a massive offensive line that is better run-blocking than pass-protecting, this makes sense. When you add in three top-notch RBs in Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Rashard Choice, plus two of the more versatile tight ends in the league in Witten and Martellus Bennett, a ball control offense that limits Romo's turnovers is the way to go. Also, ridding the team of Owens may have the same salutary effect on Romo as the Giants dumping Jeremy Shockey had on Eli Manning's development.

You would have to be on the various Cowboys websites and forums on almost a daily basis to get a feel for the intense, visceral hatred many fans have for Jerry Jones. Many wanted coach Wade Philips gone after the December collapse. But for better or worse Jones chose stability over headlines in that case. Firing the ineffective special teams coach, and then cutting ties with Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson and "Bad" Johnson were steps in the right direction. But it's releasing Terrell Owens that will go a long way toward restoring Jones in the good graces of the team's rabid followers.
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2:30pm Update:
The major facelift continues apace with news that the Cowboys have also released S Roy Williams this morning, saving themselves $2 million in salary cap for 2009. The 8th overall pick in the 2002 draft and one of the most feared defensive players in NCAA history while at Oklahoma, Williams' Cowboy career started off like he just might become the next great defensive force in the NFL. But after 3 strong seasons of terrorizing receivers who came into his territory with a series of highlight reel bone-jarring hits, his play began to level off, with his coverage skills in particular consistently exploited by opposing offensive coordinators.

Williams' sudden downfall was vexing and perplexing to Cowboy fans, as if one day he was a dominating safety that had to be accounted for in every offensive game plan, the next day a scrub who had those same coordinators licking their lips in anticipation of facing him. Interesting to see where he ends up and at what price.

Ironically, word this morning that Alex Rodriguez may miss up to 10 weeks with a hip injury has overtaken the T.O. news as the day's main topic on sports talk radio stations, with callers wanting to talk A-Rod versus T.O. running about 5 to 1. This could be the best thing to happen to the Yankees. It eliminates the inevitable A-Rod circus at opposing ballparks, or at least delays it until he returns in May or perhaps even June, and allows the Yankees to forge somewhat of an underdog identity without the beleaguered superstar. Maybe him missing a substantial part of the season due to injury is just what the doctor ordered. Thus his biggest contribution to team chemistry, like T.O., may be in physically removing himself from the equation.

FINALLY, SOME POSITIVE NEWS for Dallas Cowboys fans on Super Bowl weekend: the original #22, Bob Hayes, is going to the Hall of Fame, part of a strong Class of 2009 that includes Bruce Smith, Rod Woodson, Randall McDaniel, Derrick Thomas and 2,000-year-old owner Ralph Wilson.

Once dubbed the World's Fastest Human as a track star at Florida A&M and an Olympic gold medalist before embarking on his NFL career in 1965, Hayes became better known as "Bullet Bob" as a wideout with Dallas -- literally a threat to score every time he touched the ball, a touchdown waiting to happen. He still holds the Cowboys record for receiving TDs with 71, catching 371 passes for over 7,000 yards, better than a 20 yards per catch average. And Hayes was also a dynamic punt and kickoff returner. As the spectacle of pro football was overtaking baseball as the national pastime, it was the attraction of larger-than-life characters like Bob Hayes that helped to tilt the scale in the NFL's favor. The sight of "Bullet Bob" streaking like a blur across your color TV screen was emblematic of the excitement offered by football on a weekly basis.

The thing about any Hall of Fame, whether football, baseball or even Rock & Roll (Sex Pistols yes, Aerosmith no) is that you know it when you see it; if you have to think long and hard whether a candidate deserves to be enshrined, they probably don't. All the players in this year's class fit the bill, but for Hayes it comes 34 years after his playing career ended, and almost 7 since he passed away in 2002 at age 59.

One finalist who didn't get in was Cris Carter. He seemed to be a consensus lock judging by sports talk radio, but I never thought Carter was ever one of the best receivers in the league during his time. His career numbers are very good, with 130 TDs and over 1,000 receptions over 16 seasons, and he will probably get in sooner or later, but I'm glad this loudmouth has to wait a while, especially after his repeated over-the-top anti-Cowboys rants. Most notoriously, Carter said on ESPN that if he was running the Cowboys, "I'd get rid of T.O. T.O. got to go from the beginning. Right from the giddy up. I take one bullet and put it right in him. Bam!" He later apologized, sort of, but who knows, maybe that mindless, classless comment cost him a few votes this year. Nowadays when we hear the words wide receiver and bullet, we probably think of Plaxico Burress and Cris Carter first before Bob Hayes, and that's a shame.

DE Bruce Smith had over 200 sacks during a 19-year career, helping lead the Bills to 4 straight Super Bowls in the 1990s. G Randall McDaniel went to 12 straight Pro Bowls as an offensive lineman with the Vikes. S Rod Woodson, even when he was playing, you knew this player was an all-time great DB. Chiefs' LB Derrick Thomas had 126 sacks in an 11-year career cut short in 2000 after a fatal car accident, including a record 7 in one game. He may have been a notch below LT as far as blitzing banshee outside 'backers, but it wasn't a deep notch, and his 45 forced fumbles are a good indication of what a handful Thomas was from an offensive game plan standpoint. Yet even "experts" like WFAN's Mike Francesa were giving Thomas very short shrift leading up to yesterday's announcement.

As far as the game itself today, Arizona will upset Pittsburgh and, almost more importantly, put a lid on the traps of all the insufferable Steeler fans. I'd be surprised if Pittsburgh's overrated defense can hold the Cards under 30. Steelers won't have the cold weather to help them in Tampa, and therefore I see it 34-16 in favor of the Cards, denying Pittsburgh's bid for a 6th Lombardi Trophy in the process.

Memory's Wrecking Ball

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE...as in just 3 games left at Yankee Stadium. After this series against the Birds of Baltimore, it's off to the wholly unnecessary new Stadium being built just a Ruthian blast away from the current cathedral of American sports, set to be demolished next spring after every last seat, section post and light fixture has been cataloged, indexed and sold off to the proverbial highest bidder.

Ironically, the Yankees are making a big show of warning fans attending this Sunday's game against helping themselves to any impromptu souvenirs on their way out. See, it's still big money, the memorabilia game, what with suckers still being born in this dying consumer republic at the alarming rate of one per minute. As proof, pairs of Shea Stadium seats were going for $869 -- get it: 1969 and 1986 were the Mets' two championships, so they made the price 8 + 69. Just what the hell you do with rusting stadium seats once you've overpaid for them and actually brought them home is another relevant question. Of course, telling you not to do something works very much like a call to arms for some New Yorkers -- or is it "New Yorkians" now as Brett Favre actually put it the other day? They should take away Favre's key to the city for that one.

My own Stadium memories go back so far, they almost seem to be among my earliest memories period, all the more rich because they remain intertwined with recollections of my dad taking me to games. Funny the Yanks are closing out with Baltimore this weekend, because the first game I have concrete memories of is actually a doubleheader loss to those same Orioles. Back then, the late 1960s, Baltimore was a powerhouse and the Yankees, well, the Yankees were something less than that. The glory days were in the rear view mirror, with Mickey Mantle on his last legs literally as well as figuratively. The product taking the field every night was subpar to put it kindly, with decent players like Bobby Murcer and, my favorite, Roy White, surrounded by so-so players like Horace Clarke, Jerry Kenny and Gene Michael.

The Orioles, on the other hand, were fielding some of the greatest players not only of their era, but any period in baseball history. The pitching was so good, with Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally, that they would have four 20-game winners in one season. And with Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson and Boog Powell providing the power, there were a lot of nights like the one I suffered through that night: a discouraging 13-0 shutout loss in the opener, followed by another defeat in the nightcap.

Bat days at Yankee Stadium for this reason were something of a crapshoot. Like most young Yankee fans, you hoped you got a good bat -- in my case, one with a Bobby Murcer or Roy White signature, and not a Jake Gibbs or Tom Tresh model. Shea Stadium had to eliminate their own bat day giveaways at this time because of fan violence. When Yankee fans are the well behaved ones, you know you got a story.

They didn't call it the Bronx Zoo in those days for nothing. The half-filled stadium reflected the team's popularity in the City, as the rising Mets were beginning to capture New York at this time, with exciting young players like Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Cleon Jones, with the Mets turning from lovable losers to something like perennial contenders, and for that glorious year of 1969, even I got caught up a little in the fever, surreptitiously scrawling Tommie Agee in the palm of my glove in black marker after they won the World Series against the heavily favored Orioles.

Back at Yankee Stadium the next year, this time for Cap Day -- god how we lived for those giveaway days! -- I had one of the more traumatic experiences. After proudly wearing my new hat all day at the game -- that deep navy blue with, yes, the interlocking N/Y above the bill -- to my horror it was snatched off my head, never to be seen or worn again, as the heartless thief made his way down the exit ramp in a New York second. My mom made me write a letter to the team and, sure enough, a few weeks later a new cap came in the mail with a letter of apology from the team president of those pre-Steinbrenner New York Yankees, and I was a happy kid again.

For two years, 1974 and '75, the Yankees actually played their home games at Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium was being refurbished. That's right, they shared a park with the Mets, so every day Shea had a baseball game featuring one of the New York teams. I haven't heard anyone talking about how some of the Yankees memories at least technically will also be lost when the wrecking ball is let loose on Shea.

The old Yankee Stadium, pre-renovation, had a feature that was eliminated in the new one: a kind of Yankee Hall of Fame that you could pass through on your way to Monument Park. It was really little more than some old uniforms in a glass case, but there was also a bank of phones where you could "talk to" Yankee greats. You picked up the receiver in, say, Mantle's booth and you heard a recorded message from Mickey. I never got tired of that.

One year, me and a friend went to a game along with my older brother and his friend Jimmy Kelly, who was known as a little crazy around the neighborhood. Now of course he's a New York City cop, so you see how things work out sometimes in the long run. Anyway, the Monuments were on the field in those days, just part of the cavernous centerfield, right in front of the 463-foot marker. I still find that hard to believe and yet I am sure that, yes, the players had to deal with all that while fielding a long blast to straightaway centerfield. I'm pretty sure I'm not embellishing this, but I can see how someone would be skeptical.

Anyway, you could also see the bullpen from Monument Park, and on this day reliever Lindy McDaniel was getting some work in. Lindy was one of the better players on the team in the early '70s, a trusty middle reliever and a reliable spot starter. So we started calling his name, once, twice, but no reaction, so finally, really loud, Jimmy yells: "Hey Lindy McDaniel you fucking faggot!" That got his attention, and sent us running back through the tunnel toward our seats. Ah, good times...

The late 1970s, of course, the Yankees started winning. Steinbrenner had taken over the team and was sparing no expense in upgrading the roster, dipping early and often into the free agent pool for top-notch talent like Catfish Hunter and later Reggie Jackson. It paid off to the tune of three straight World Series appearances from 1976-78, with championships the last two years against the L.A. Dodgers.

Summer of '78 found me working as a camp counselor at the Police Fresh Air Fund in upstate New York near Hunter Mountain, almost totally cut off from what was happening in New York for two months. Whenever I did manage to get hold of a paper, I saw the bad news getting progressively worse. Not only were the Yankees not going to defend their first World Series win in 15 years, they were so far behind the Red Sox that the AL East division itself was almost hopelessly out of reach. The lead ballooned to 14 games in July. Only a fool would think the season wasn't lost.

Then the Yankees reeled off a 35 of 49 stretch while Boston floundered at 25-24, pulling New York within a handful of games. Up next came the legendary 4-game series at Fenway early September, with the Yankees positively bludgeoning Boston by a composite 42-9 in what came to be known as the second "Boston Massacre." The next week Boston came to town for a 3-game series, and I was there for the finale, watching Yankee CF Paul Blair slap a bases-loaded single through a drawn-in infield for the 5-4 win in the bottom of the 9th, with a delirium ensuing that can only be termed seismic.

The Red Sox had given up their entire 14-game lead, and then some, only to show some guts of their own in coming back to tie for the division lead by season's end, prompting the historical one-game showdown at Fenway. I will never forget watching it along with Debbie Ellen Epstein, who happened to be the world's biggest Bucky Dent fan. And it was a good day to be a Bucky Dent fan on that day as he hit the go-ahead HR.

My only World Series moment comes from Game One, 1981, Yanks-Dodgers yet again in baseball's version of Groundhog Day. My friend Roger had waited on line for tickets the day before, not great seats, but then again we only paid $20 apiece! A younger, simpler time on pro sports. Singer Pearl Bailey blew the crowd away before a single pitch was thrown with a stirring version of the National Anthem, and then a Bob Watson 3-run bomb in the 1st inning had the Yanks well on their way to a 4-1 opening game victory. Yankees won the second game too, but then things spiraled out of control with the Series shifting out West.

See, we were up 2-0, and Roger also had tix for Game 6. But there wouldn't be a Game 6 unless the Dodgers could win a couple of games. So Roger did what I specifically asked him not to do: root for L.A. to win two games at Dodger Stadium and thus send it back to Yankee Stadium for at least one more game. Well, you know the baseball gods have a screwy sense of humor, and sure enough the jinx was enough to propel the Dodgers winning not just 2 but then all 3 games at home, and back in New York it was all over in 6 games. It was Dave Winfield's futility in this postseason that earned him the harsh sobriquet Mr. May. Who knew then it would be the last season that would end in the Series for another 15 years! Not me, not when a young lad name of Donald Arthur Mattingly showed up in the Bronx a few years later with a sweet swing and a commanding presence at 1st base.

But alas, the Winfield-Mattingly Era would also be bereft of postseason glory, always a sore spot for those of us who appreciated Donnie Baseball all those years. The early Joe Torre years seem like a blur now, almost running together in a haze of great playoff moments. The best games those years were the spontaneous ones we would attend, a select few of us at The Wall Street Transcript casually bolting from the office at noon of a workday, shooting uptown on the 6-train, arriving at our seats in time for 1:05 first pitch and ordering a well-deserved cold one after a long morning at work: the green, green grass of the field winking back at me reassuringly: relax... where else would you possibly rather be?

Those glory days it seemed like the year wasn't over until the parade was held downtown through the Canyon of Heroes. Now the Yankee team is forced into the uncomfortable role of postseason spectators. Both fans and players hope they don't have to get used to it when the new Stadium begins making its own history.

"Theater Of The Hopeless"

WITH ALL THE rainouts last night forcing doubleheaders today, there are a total of 20 MLB games being played today -- the most in one day since August of 1974. And I hope my Yankees lose both of their games today at Yankee Stadium to the Tampa Bay Rays, all the better to hurt the Boston Red Sox, who come into today trailing by only 2 games. Not that the Yankees need any more reasons to lose this season. Mike Mussina, after tying Cy Young for career strikeouts, gave up a 2-run single to the next batter, and Rays lead 2-0.

Derek Jeter is at that point in his career where almost every day he seems to be tying or passing one or another Yankee legend's record. The other day it was passing Babe Ruth in hits, and with his first hit today he is now within 8 hits of Lou Gehrig for most hits all time at Yankee Stadium. It seems only yesterday me and my dad were agreeing that this skinny kid with the #2 on his back has a chance to be something special.

When the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles 90210 clinched the AL West with a win over the Yanks in their series finale the other day, it marked the earliest a team had clinched a division title since they went to the divisional alignment for the 1969 season. Yanks, on the other hand, have the AL's 7th best record, and 12 other teams in MLB have better records, which helps to put their lost year in perspective.

More painful perspective: Yanks scored 2 runs or less 46 times this year, compared to 33 in all of 2007. I'm tempted to say after all the number crunching, maybe it all comes down to something as simple as not making up for the loss of Jorge Posada's 2007 production (.338, 20 HRs, 90 RBI), which if spread across a season would make right a lot of offensive woes. Whatever the conclusion, Yankee fans are gonna need a fall guy for the year, and the name Brian Cashman immediately springs to mind and will do just fine.

Now it's 7-0 Rays, and the word forfeit never sounded so reasonable. Forfeit the game, give up the season already. Nothing to play for over the last 10 games at Yankee Stadium. That's pitiful really.

Yanks' radio man John Sterling just called this game "the Yankees' worst of the year" -- as if such a thing were truly quantifiable. Anyway, it seems there's been a "worst game of the year" almost every week this season.

The other day Tyler Kepner, Yanks' beat writer for The Times, called playing out the rest of the season a "theater of the hopeless." Can't argue with that. We all waited for the hot streak to come, hoped for the run that never came, but unlike even last year, this Yankees team didn't have the collective heart to will themselves to win day after day, and so the long playoff run ends not with a bang but with a whimpering wind through what will soon be not only an empty ballpark but an abandonded one.

The Yanks have only 3 hits today, all by Jeter, against Rays starter James Shields and we're already in the 6th inning. This is their 2008 season in a nutshell, the utter futility. Better the season ends this way, however, than another first-round knockout in the playoffs. That's somehow worse. Let's hit bottom, take stock, reload. All that's left for a Yankees fan this year is rooting agains the Red Sox and rooting against the Mets, and then hoping Jeter gets those 6 more hits for the record. That's what happens in losing seasons: the fans of the team start paying attention to individual records.

Ending Better Than Mending

AH, WHAT A NICE TIME of year for the pro sports fan here in New York. Baseball pennant races are ready to heat up in earnest, and in Flushing and the Bronx as well. Pro football is about to start its regular season, the U.S. Open just started here in Queens for all you tennis weenies out there, and the Olympics is finally, mercifully over. And oh what a regular human rights festival we had there in Beijing! That's just China being China, get used to it.

The big baseball questions here in New York can be reduced to two, I believe: Will the Yankees finally miss the playoffs this year after 14 straight years, and will the Mets collapse like a cardboard condo again this year? We're hoping the answers to those perplexing queries will be, respectively, Hell No and Fuck Yeah.

The Mets were on a nice little roll until this past weekend, when they lost 2 games to Houston. Yesterday's game in particular was a nasty one, with yet another stunning 9th inning bullpen collapse. The Metsies were out to a 3-0 lead early courtesy of a Carlos Beltran blast, and with Ollie Perez (who I predict will be a New York Yankee next year) dealing, I looked at the feeble 'Stros lineup and said to myself, Self, why are you wasting your time watching this? So I tuned out, only to find out later that the immortal Brad Ausmus and Darrin Erstad had dashed the Metsies' hopes on this cruel summer Sunday, taking Pedro Feliciano deep, or "going yard" as ESPN geeks might put it on Sportscenter. Then ex-Yank flop LaTroy Hawkins came in and shut the door, extending his Astros scoreless streak to 10 games. Yeah, this baseball season is not too crazy...

So after the Mets got well against the little sisters of the poor -- aka Pittsburgh (57-73), Atlanta (57-73), and Washington (46-85) -- teams with a combined record of 71 games under .500, they ran into a decent Astros team (66-64), who took 2 of the first 3 games at Shea. The two teams play one more game tonight before the Metsies pack their duffel bags and head off to unfriendly Philly (71-59), with stops in Florida (67-64) and then Brewtown (76-55) to follow. We'll see if the Mets are the powerhouse their more delusional fans claim they are or the dogs most Yankees fans hope they are.

Speaking of unhinged fans, you would think I would have my hands full with the Yankees doing all they can to keep their own heads above water. But after writing them off at least 3 times over the course of this long season, I'm ready to get back on the bandwagon. If I'm wrong, no one will remember, and if I'm right, well, I'm used to that by now.

Yanks find themselves in strange position of being underdogs down the stretch, what with Sid Ponson, Darrell Rasner, and Carl Pavano manning the rotation. Three games at home against the Red Sox kick off the last 32 games of the year. Yanks need a sweep, will settle for 2 out of 3, but a sweep the other way and it's Nellie, Bar the Door. That Yankees bandwagon will be emptier than a Mitt Romney campaign promise.

Daily News' Bill Madden gave more ammo to all the Brian Cashman haters out there, and we know who we are, in his Sunday column, as part of a longer piece chronicling the "demise" of the Yankee empire. Madden did not paint a pretty picture of the young talent in the Yankees system, nor did he pull any punches in Cashman's direction. Regarding the minor league pipeline of young players, there's just one teeny problem: there is none, and according to Madden, most of the fault lies not in our (lack of young) stars, but in our Cashman:

"It would be nice if they had a couple of young position players like the Mets' Murphy and Evans coming in the system, but they do not. They do not have a first baseman to replace Jason Giambi, or an impact center fielder, or a shortstop to spell (and eventually replace) Derek Jeter, or a second baseman who could enable them to deal the enigmatic Cano while he still has value.

The reason they don't have any of these players in their system is because they continue to do a terrible job of scouting and developing. They spend millions more in Latin America than almost every other team and yet the only position players from there to make the big club over the last 10 years are Alfonso Soriano, Cano and Melky Cabrera. The draft? An even bigger disgrace. Jeter, in 1992, is the last player they drafted who became a regular.

And the beat goes on. In this year's draft, the Yankees took pitchers with their first three picks: No. 1, Gerrit Cole, whom they did not sign because their scouts obviously didn't get to know the kid's makeup or his family situation; No. 2, Jeremy Bleich, who's going to need Tommy John surgery; and No. 3, Scott Bittle, whose arm problems were so severe they elected to pass on signing him.

After a while, you have to wonder what fatal attraction Cashman's player evaluators have with injured pitchers. Last year, they took North Carolina State righthander Andrew Brackman in the first round, knowing he was going to miss all of this season with Tommy John surgery. And, then, of course, there's the immortal Humberto Sanchez, purportedly the key return player in the Gary Sheffield deal with Detroit, who also underwent Tommy John surgery and is still rehabbing somewhere.

Cashman keeps stockpiling pitchers who come up hurt or fall on their face when they get to the big leagues. Enough! He is banking on the offense coming back next year, even though everyone will be a year older and there is nobody to step in when the inevitable injuries come. Off the way this season has gone, with young, homegrown teams such as the Rays and Twins giving their owners so much more bang for their buck, the Yankees returning to power would be an even bigger surprise."

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As soon as I saw Osi Umenyiora being helped off the field the other night against the Jets, I knew it might be serious. If a player makes it off the field without any help, it's usually not too bad an injury. As he was being carted off, he didn't appear to be in great pain, but this one didn't look good, for the Giants at least, right from the proverbial get-go.

I'll be honest, because the alternative is to sound like a hypocrite: As a Dallas Cowboy fan, I'm happy anytime a starting player from a rival team goes down; that's just the way it is. But in my opinion, Osi is overrated. He's a good pass rusher who doesn't really play the run that well, unlike the retired Mike Strahan, who was/is a more complete player. I always looked at Osi as the black Mark Gastineau: He gets the flashy numbers, but what about all the other plays where he doesn't get the sack?

Umenyiora had 13 sacks last season and had an All-Pro year, but I don't consider him an All-Pro. Put it this way, I think Strahan was a better player than Umenyiora, but Jason Tuck has the skills to be better than Osi and perhaps even as good as Strahan. And that's coming from an objective Cowboy fan, remember.

The other guy the Giants are counting on, Mathias Kiwanuka, let's face it is still an unknown entity. Giants have already announced they are moving him back from LB to his more natural position, DE. Any way you slice it, the Giants are presently without 23 sacks from last year, and sacks don't grow on trees.

All anybody wants to talk about when Umenyiora's name comes up is that fluky 6-sack game against the Eagles last year, the one where he lined up against 3rd-string OT Winston "Turnstile" Justice, not the 4 playoff games where he had 7 tackles and came up totally sackless. A good player, one opposing offenses have to contend with, but not the major force some would make him out to be.

Something tells me Giants will be this year's version of last year's Miami Heat. That post-championship year can sometimes be a case of a team crashing back to earth, especially one that played way, way over its head.

Even if Strahan comes back, he's not close enough to football shape, and perhaps the right mental state, to be as effective as he was last year. You can take that to the bank, or at least the drive-through teller, if you're so inclined, because if and when Mike Strahan comes back, you can bet it's all about the crazy money the Giants are about to throw at him more than his love of the game. Just one man's considerably informed opinion.

Let me throw out a few crazy baseball stats, because my extensive market research tells me the kids go silly for that kind of stuff...

Going into yesterday's game, Mets had attempted only 2 steals in their last 11 games. How can that be?

Phillies' Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell and Chase Utley all over 30 HRs already, and their 95 combined HRs is more than Washington Nationals' entire team at 91 and maybe some other teams as well, but right now I'm not quite interested enough to look it up. Maybe you can find out and get back to me if you're not too busy. Oh...

Mets offense worst in baseball over last 3 innings (your 7th, 8th and 9th for those keeping score), which isn't helping their suspect bullpen put any games away, that's for sure.

Cubs' Carlos Zambrano has now hit 4 HRs this year, tying all-time record for HRs in a season with a good 6 weeks left. The same game he tied the HR record was Zambrano's 7th straight start with an RBI, which may be almost as remarkable as the HR record. Zambrano, 13-5 as a pitcher, may be the biggest two-way threat in baseball since George Herman Ruth plied his trade for the Red Sox of Boston; Zambrano has 16 career HRs.

Phillies will have already played the new Manny Dodgers 8 times after tonight, while the Mets not only haven't played L.A. since the big trade, but I'll be damned if they don't have to play them the rest of the season. There's always the NL playoffs, though...

By the way, since the trade, in 22 games Ramirez is hitting .380 with 6 HRs and 21 RBIs; while in 21 games for Boston, Jason Bay is hitting .333 with 4 HRs and 18 RBI. Pretty even...

Not a stat per se, but I have a feeling Xavier Nady is the new Paul O'Neill: professional, deadly serious, still young player in the middle of the offense for years. Counting both his Bucs and Yanks numbers, Nady has hit .328, 21 HRs and 80 RBI. Just like O'Neill, Nady switched leagues and was about the same age (29) as O'Neill when he was traded from the Reds for Roberto Kelly.

According to my sources, Mets up 3-0 over Astros, courtesy a Carlos Delgado HR. Delgado, you might remember, is the guy Mets fans booed relentlessly and wanted to run out of town two months ago. Thought he was finished? His hot streak makes him a ton of cash next year and possibly one last big contract.

Let me give you a football stat that's been eating a hole in my mental pocket the whole offseason: In their fluky, lucky win against Dallas in last year's playoffs, the Giants vaunted offense gained a total of... 52 yards. That's right, 52 total yards in the second half, yet somehow the Giants walked out of Texas Stadium with the unlikely W instead of the L they so richly deserved.

Now the offseason is winding down, the real games about 10 days away, and finally a chance for redemption, another shot at glory and the beginning of the war of attrition that is the NFL season. For the most part the Cowboys bring back the same 13-win team, with a much-improved secondary led by Pacman Jones and some high draft picks. Gone are the horrendous Nate Jones and Jacques Reeves, who gave Giants receivers so much cushion in that playoff game that they were barely in the same zip code at times.

Speaking of good offseasons, the Philly Sixers, a team on the rise if there ever was such a thing, made what I think are 4 solid moves since their season ended with a decent accounting of themselves in their playoff series against the Detroit Pistons.

First, the 76ers managed to free enough cap room to land Elton Brand via free agency, a major addition to a young team. Next, they locked up Andre Iguodola with a long-term contract, giving themselves a 24-year-old stud to build around. Then they bring back one of my all-time favorite players, Theo Ratfliff, admittedly past his prime, but perhaps capable of 10-12 minutes a night, some big rebounds, a shot block or two per game. Nice touch, Ed Stefanski. And finally I read where Jeff Ruland will be joining the coaching staff, which ought to help out the big men like Sam Dalambert. Add it all up, and why can't the 76ers be one of the top teams in the East for years to come, if not the top team? I can't think of a single good reason and, admit it, even you Knicks fans can't either.