Tag: Sports

Escape from New York.

And, in related news, the Knicks end their thoroughly depressing 23-59 season with a meaningless win over the playoff-bound New Jersey Nets. (Of course, the nightmare won’t fully be over until Chicago uses our possible #1 pick, which it scored in the Curry trade after Isiah Thomas, not the best GM out there, neglected to lottery-protect it.) And now, the post-mortem begins: Larry Brown sounds like he’ll be back for now, which means many of the more recalcitrant Knicks this year (I’m looking at you, “Starbury”) are likely as good as gone. Still, one small bit of consolation for Garden fans this season, courtesy of swingman Jalen Rose: “I put together our roster on ‘NBA Live,’ and we’re pretty good.”

Another Season Nixed.

“Across nearly 50 years, the coaches of the best Knicks teams — Joe Lapchick, Red Holzman, Hubie Brown, Pat Riley, Jeff Van Gundy — sucked every ounce of talent and effort from their troops. They didn’t always win it all, but they emptied the tank in the attempt. When they lost, they lost without disgrace. Even when the Knicks were truly bad, the scent of those years didn’t rival the unbearable stench of this one.” With the Knickerbocker freefall continuing apace, ESPN’s Ken Shouler lays the blame squarely on Larry Brown. Well, when you’re 19-54, there’s a lot of blame to go around.

Galloping Gators.

Congrats to the Florida Gators, who defeated UCLA handily tonight 73-57. According to Yahoo, I ended up in the whopping 34th percentile this year with my Final Four (Duke, Connecticut, Gonzaga, Ohio St.), which is my worst showing in several years. But, I suspect this was a tough year for a lot of people, given the George Mason phenomenon. At any rate, now to the NBA playoffs…

Latrell AWOL.

“Inside the sprawling yellow brick home with the massive wooden jungle gym in the backyard resides the best basketball player in the world without a job, an athlete who could help some team win an NBA championship three months from now if it could just get a reading on whether he’s willing and/or able to set aside his shame and lace ’em up for the first time since the Minnesota Timberwolves played their final game last season.” ESPN’s Chris Sheridan tries to ascertain what’s up with Latrell Sprewell these days. I’d take Sprewell back in a New York minute over the ungainly gaggle of underachieving shoot-first guards Isiah’s assembled for the Knicks. If nothing else, Spree left it out on the floor most every night.

Dissipating Duchy.

“The congressman’s tastes were eclectic and a little ostentatious. The man drove a Rolls (a bribe). His furnishings have a similar plea for attention: They shout ‘antique,’ even when they are reproductions.” So pass the wages of sin: As Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s ill-gotten lucre is auctioned off, the Pentagon announces an investigation into how Duke managed to wrangle earmarks for MZM. (Speaking of the demise of Dukedoms, I think my NCAA bracket is now officially busted.)

Frye’s to go.

Yes, sports fans, it can get worse. The woeful 19-47 Knicks lose rookie Channing Frye for the rest of the season to a ligament sprain in his left knee. Since New York was already way out of contention for the playoffs, playing the rookies (Frye, slam-dunk winner Nate Robinson, David Lee) would’ve been the only positive aspect of the remaining games. Sigh…now, it’ll just be Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury endlessly jawing at Larry Brown.

Say it ain’t so, Joe…and Clyde, and Jerome…

(Like I needed to another reason to think less of A-Rod.) By way of my friend Mark, here’s an interesting list of campaign contributions made by sports figures since 1978. Some of the bigger Democratic donors include Hank Aaron, Andre Agassi, Michael Jordan, Robert Kraft, Alonzo Mourning, Bud Selig, Dean Smith, and David Stern. As for athletes buttressing the GOP, they include several football (Troy Aikman, Bobby Bowden, Mike Ditka, Peyton Manning, Roger Staubach) and racing (Mario Andretti, Brian and Bill France, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Richard Petty) stars, along with Jerome Bettis, Clyde Drexler, Karl Malone, Lute Olson, Rafael Palmeiro, A-Rod, and Marge Schott.