Sports | The New York Observer

The Mets' Other Guy

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:16:44 -0400

Mike Pelfrey’s 2009 season did not start well. Yesterday, in the first inning of his first start of the season, the 25-year-old pitcher faced nine Reds hitters and gave up four runs, thanks to two walks, two extra-base hits and an untimely error charged to shortstop Jose Reyes. Struggling with his command, Pelfrey danced around trouble the rest of the night, and departed after five innings without giving up another run. He picked up...

What's Wrong With Syracuse?

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:10:04 -0500

How did high-flying Syracuse (No. 22 in ESPN/USA Today poll), a team that began the year 16-1 on the strength of one of the most efficient offenses in the nation, become Syracuse, 1-5 in its last six games and edging toward NCAA tournament bubble status?

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, whose Huskies handed the Orange their latest defeat, 63-49, Wednesday night, speculated that the Big East Conference's brutally deep schedule was to blame.

...

The End of the Favre Error

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:44:04 -0500

Brett Favre retired yesterday for the second time in 11 months, and if the New York Jets are lucky, this one will stick.

The decision to sign Favre last August was an unmitigated disaster, typical of the Jets' blundering over the last quarter century. Stripped of the illusions the New York media wrapped it in, it came down to a 4-12 team that hitched their star to a 38-year-old quarterback, who despite...

The Worst Story in Baseball

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:49:40 -0500

The report from Sports Illustrated that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids means many things. Foremost among them: the $423.5 million dollars the New York Yankees spent on free agents C. C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A. J. Burnett to make championship baseball the story in the Bronx is wasted money from a public relations standpoint.

While the Yankees have never enjoyed a season devoid of sidebar distractions, this is no simple...

Is Connecticut Too Diversified to Fail?

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:50:02 -0500

Despite being ranked No. 1 in the country by ESPN/USA Today, it is far from certain that the University of Connecticut will even win the Big East regular season title—they are currently tied for second with Louisville, trail Marquette and sit just a game ahead of Pittsburgh.

But consecutive victories this past week at Providence and Louisville illustrated just why Connecticut is the best bet to be the last team standing, not just...

Why Roger Clemens Isn't Barry Bonds

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:57:40 -0500

No matter what the outcome of the tests now being conducted on the Roger Clemens-Brian McNamee syringes and no matter what the outcome of the anti-defamation suits Clemens and McNamee have filed against each other and no matter whether the government finds grounds to indict Clemens on perjury, there's one issue that no one is raising: Did anything Roger Clemens took or might have taken have made him a better pitcher?

A...

Lean Times Force Sports Illustrated Editor Terry McDonell to Watch the Super Bowl From New York

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:09:36 -0500

While most of the sports world was gathered in Tampa over the weekend, the top of the Sports Illustrated masthead was left behind to schmooze with the media set Sunday night at the Oak Room at the Plaza. "Our sponsors are having very tough years," said S.I. editor Terry McDonell. (In flush times, advertisers like General Motors paid for part of a party the night before the game.) "They can't do it and they...

Big East Bubble Teams

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:57:57 -0500

In a league as deep and challenging as the Big East, it was reasonable to assume that for some of the league's better teams, making the NCAA tournament would be no easy task.

But few expected those teams to include Georgetown and Notre Dame, both ranked in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25. No. 25 Georgetown has the likely Big East freshman of the year in Greg Monroe, while No. 24 Notre Dame...

Have You Tried to Predict This Super Bowl? Because Don't.

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:13:40 -0500

For everyone making Super Bowl predictions, I have a couple of questions: What exactly are your predictions based on? Is there any logic or analysis behind them? Or is it all just hunch?

I'm asking because I've been doing Super Bowl predictions for 20 years and have written three books on professional football and countless articles on football analysis, and I can find absolutely nothing to base a prediction on for Sunday's game...

Why Do the Eagles Always Choke?

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:04:16 -0500

Six years ago my cousins in South Jersey told me a little joke:

"Why do the Eagles eat their cereal from the box?"

Answer: "Because they choke when they get close to the bowl."

It does seem that way, doesn't it? Analysts argue endlessly about whether clutch performance actually exists in baseball, but it's kind of hard to deny its existence in professional football. In baseball, postseason success is pretty...

If Only the Giants Had Plaxico. Yeah, Right.

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:19:33 -0500

I hope that in about ten years when Pro Football Hall of Fame voters sit down to make their selections, they remember the greatest Giant of them all, Plaxico Burress. Burress is so good that his absence alone was responsible for New York not repeating as Super Bowl champs – which means, by extension, that he must have been the primary reason they won last year. There aren’t too many players who are that...

Warner Underappreciated, Manning Scapegoated, Giants Imperiled

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:34:20 -0500

With all due respect to Peyton Manning, the NFL’s MVP for the 2008 season was the Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback Kurt Warner. Warner didn’t have the best passing stats in the league, though his numbers were outstanding: 4558 yards passing, good for 2nd in the league behind New Orleans’ Drew Brees; a healthy 7.7 yards per throw; 30 touchdowns against just 14 interceptions; and a third-place finish in the NFL’s passer ranking. (This doesn’t...

The Pedro Feliciano Project

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:43:07 -0500

For players in Caribbean winter leagues like Pedro Feliciano, each game is an exercise in multitasking.

Feliciano, who is currently pitching for Leones de Ponce in Puerto Rico, has the immediate task in front of him—helping his team to the Puerto Rican playoffs. Feliciano also has the unenviable task of putting a difficult 2008 behind him. And add to that Feliciano’s expected lead role in the bullpen for Puerto Rico in this spring’s World...

Stumbling Into the Playoffs

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:09:24 -0500

If the Giants go on to win it all, their season-ending 20-19 loss to the Minnesota Vikings will be meaningless. But just in case they don’t win it all, it might be worth doing a retake of the game to see if we can find a clue as to what went wrong.

Yes, the game meant a great deal to Minnesota and nothing to New York—the Giants already had home-field advantage through the playoffs...

Blame Mangini

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:53:50 -0500

Sunday’s 24-17 loss to Chad Pennington, Bill Parcells and the Miami Dolphins saw a bitter and ironic end to perhaps the most disappointing seasons in Jets history. It’s tough to tell, of course; there’s ample competition for that title. But for a team that jumped out to an 8-3 record on the strength of a 34-14 win over the then-undefeated Tennessee Titans in Nashville, the death spiral seen over the last five weeks will...

Why the Yankees' Teixeira Deal Is Huge

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:36:58 -0500

Leave aside the eye-popping eight-year, $180 million contract the Yankees and first baseman Mark Teixeira agreed to on Tuesday. Ignore for the moment that snatching him from the clutches of the Red Sox made Boston’s 2009 offense worse. The important question raised by the Teixeira deal is: how much better does Teixeira make the Yankees?

The answer: a lot. Not only for his hitting and his defense, but in adding an in-prime star to the...

Late-Season Giants Look Dangerously Average

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:24:44 -0500

The Giants saved their biggest finish of the year for their biggest game, Sunday night’s 34-28 overtime win over the best team they’ve played all year, the Carolina Panthers. It was like watching a lousy action movie with a great, rousing finish that makes you forget that the first three quarters were excruciating.

But is it true that, as the New York Daily News’ Gary Myers wrote Monday morning, “The slump is...

What Was Eric Mangini Waiting For?

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:40:40 -0500

Four weeks removed from establishing themselves as the team to beat in the AFC by virtue of a 34-13 thrashing of the then-undefeated Titans in Tennessee, the Jets are all but dead following an abysmal 13-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks yesterday afternoon in Seattle. The Jets' slim playoff hopes are now contingent on defeating the Miami Dolphins next week and hoping that the moribund Buffalo Bills somehow earn a victory against the...

Can the Giants Offense Remember How to Play Football?

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:43:36 -0500

Last Sunday’s 20-8 victory by the Dallas Cowboys over the New York Giants was great news for Giants fans – if they have tickets to this Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers. What looked a couple of weeks ago like a stress-free exhibition where the Giants could get some game experience for second-teamers turns out to be, perhaps, the most critical game of the season – and against the toughest team the Giants have...

Yankees Win With Sabathia, Lose With Burnett

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:55:57 -0500

The Yankees made a huge investment in their starting rotation this week, reaching agreements with pitcher C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett on a pair of lucrative, long-term contracts.

But while the acquisition for Sabathia for seven years, $161 million dollars includes all of the necessary upside such an expensive deal should provide while addressing a clear need, the five years and $82 million New York handed to Burnett does neither of these things. Meanwhile, the...

After a Near-Disaster, the Jets Need a New Plan

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:12:52 -0500

Bear Stearns. AIG. Citigroup. Ford. Chrysler. General Motors. The New York Jets.

Yesterday afternoon, and with time running out in yet another near-certain fiasco, Abram Elam and Shaun Ellis secured a bailout: a shocking 31-27 win over the Buffalo Bills at the Meadowlands.

With just minutes left, yesterday’s game appeared a lost cause for the Jets. For the third straight game, the Jets’ glaring inability to slow opposing offenses had pushed them to the precipice...

The Stephen Curry Show

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:12:23 -0500

Just as he has turned the world of college basketball upside down, Stephen Curry, the 6’3” junior guard from little-known Davidson College averaging nearly 30 points per game, defied standard practice in his first visit to New York as a player in Tuesday night’s Jimmy V Classic.

On the doubleheader bill opposing Davidson was West Virginia, a Big East team coached by Bob Huggins, as well as Villanova and Texas, two huge programs from power...

Mets Buy K-Rod and a Chance to Contend in 2009

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:56:31 -0500

From the moment the Mets announced that Billy Wagner would miss the 2010 season, both fans and the media focused on the prize closer of the offseason, Francisco Rodriguez.

With the news that the Mets have agreed to a three-year deal with Rodriguez today, it is clear that New York came to the conclusion that K-Rod was a necessity, too.

With the addition of the finest closer on the market, the Mets have begun to...

Giant Letdown Shouldn't Become a Habit

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:11:38 -0500

Let’s get this out of the way up front: if the absence of Plaxico Burress and the so-called distractions surrounding his legal problems were the reasons the Giants played their worst game of the year against the Philadelphia Eagles, then Plaxico is a much bigger influence out of the lineup than he ever was in it.

It would have been difficult for New York to have been beaten in more...

First, Fire the Coordinators

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:31:59 -0500

Outcoached. It’s often a trite criticism; something to be cast off into the vast sea of sporting clichés alongside staying within yourself and taking it one day at a time.

But not here. And not for the Jets, whose agonizing 24-14 loss to a 4-8 49er team yesterday in San Francisco leaves many questions but yields one conclusion: They’re one of the worst-coached teams in the league. Of course, neither that nor the full extent...

Fashion Roundup: Valentino to Skip Runway Shows; Kate Moss Pregnant?; Topshop to Open in March

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:36:27 -0500

As Valentino braces for the recession, the fashion house announced that it will not show during Paris or Milan fashion week in the new year and will instead hold "commercial appointments." [Vogue UK]

Kate Moss might be with child. [Female First via The Cut]

Topshop boss Sir Philip Green on the delayed New York store opening, which has now been pushed to March: “I think actually the delay’s helped us. We’ve got an army...

The Yankees May Have Blown It With Pettitte and Abreu

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:52:12 -0500

While much of the media focus has been on New York’s pursuit of C.C. Sabathia, the Yankees took the unusual step this week of not offering arbitration to both Bobby Abreu, last season’s starting right fielder, and starting pitcher Andy Pettitte.

The choice potentially weakens New York in two ways. First, should Abreu and Pettitte now sign elsewhere, the Yankees do not receive the two draft picks apiece they’d have been entitled to had...

Time for the Mets to Close on a Closer

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:26:40 -0500

The Mets have casually approached the free agent closer market, and rightfully so. Both Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Fuentes are top choices, but it appears that only the Mets have both the money and the inclination to spend it on a closer, leaving them free to choose.

So New York has let the market come to them, and while Rodriguez, who set the all-time record for saves in a season in 2008, once expected...

These Giants Compete With Simms, Gifford and Lombardi

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:23:03 -0500

If you're a Giants fan, would you consider it a letdown if they didn't go all the way this season? You should, because right now, after their hugely impressive 23-7 victory over the Washington Redskins on Sunday, the Giants are clearly the best team in the NFC and probably in the entire league.

If you really want to know how much difference a year makes, consider this fact: The Giants are currently...

The Jets Get a Beating and a Lesson

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:57:42 -0500

Last week, an upstart team packed its backs and traveled to play the conference-leading Tennessee Titans when few supposed it had any realistic chance of success. As it would turn out, the upstarts destroyed that Titans team, embarrassing it before its hometown crowd by a score of 34-13 and, in the process, securing for itself its new identity, equally coveted and dreaded, as “the team to beat.”

That team was the Jets. And after...

Memo to the Mets: Let Heilman Start

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:47:51 -0500

As Thanksgiving approaches, the Mets are still two reliable starters short, with only Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey and John Maine assured of spots in next season’s rotation. Oliver Perez remains unsigned, and if the season opened today, Jonathon Niese (total career starts: 3) would likely be the number four man.

Meanwhile, embattled reliever Aaron Heilman has reiterated his desire to start for the Mets or be traded to a team that will use him as...

The Demon Defenses of Steve Spagnuolo

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:55:53 -0500

Learn how to spell the name: S-p-a-g-n-u-o-l-o, with a Steve in front of it. Oddly enough, considering he has a Super Bowl ring and is the mastermind of what is probably the best defense in football, many in the New York sports media still get his name wrong. It’s tough to play in New York, win and still be an unsung hero, but that’s the case with the Giants’ defensive coordinator. More than...

These Jets Keep Getting Better

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:39:26 -0500

If last week’s heart-stopping overtime victory in Foxborough was the last step in an exorcism, then yesterday’s landmark, franchise-altering 34-13 victory in Tennessee may well have been the first step in a coronation.

Not in the last twenty-five years have the Jets performed so remarkably in a game of such monumental proportions and when so few afforded them any realistic chance to win.

With just a slim one-game advantage over two divisional rivals, the Jets...

How the Knicks Just Got Worse to Get Better

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:41:44 -0500

In one day Friday, the New York Knicks traded away their two best scoring options, getting very little in return, and making it likely that watching New York for much of the next two seasons will be futile at best and disheartening at worst.

Knicks fans couldn’t have asked for anything more.

By dealing forward Zach Randolph, guards Jamal Crawford and Mardy Collins for mediocrities Tim Thomas, Cuttino Mobley and Al Harrington, New York did more...

Time to Bid Fond Farewell to Pedro

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:39:43 -0500

Time to Say Goodbye to Pedro.

Pedro Martinez’s agent said this week that while several teams are interested in his client’s services for 2009, the Mets remain his top choice. And on the surface, Martinez is still a good fit for the Mets.

Even if New York re-signs Oliver Perez, their fifth starter remains a question mark, with Jonathon Niese (with his three career major-league starts) the heir apparent. The Mets have little depth...

Giant Ground Game: With a Line Like This, Why Pass?

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:55:17 -0500

No one ever begins a story by listing offensive linemen, so let’s set a precedent: the New York Giants offensive line, from left to right, consists of David Diehl (left tackle), Rich Seubert (left guard), Shaun O’Hara (Center), Chris Snee (right guard), Kareem McKenzie (right tackle).

New York’s offensive line is the heart and soul of this team right now, the reason the Giants are currently 9-1 and the favorites to win the...

Jittery Yankees About to Throw Bad Money After Good

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:27:14 -0500

The Yankees took the no-brainer approach to improving their pitching staff, making an undisclosed but reportedly huge offer to C.C. Sabathia. But on the heels of that offer, Hank Steinbrenner confirmed that New York is preparing bids for both A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe, with the idea that adding both would provide the security missing from the starting rotation in 2008.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, while Sabathia represents the addition of a workhorse pitcher likely...

Jets on Top: Favre, Unlike His Coach, Fears Nothing

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:57:08 -0500

In recent weeks, as Brett Favre’s infamous penchant for interceptions became even more pronounced, speculation grew in contrarian circles that the Jets may have made a mistake in acquiring him, that the Dolphins had ultimately been the grand-prize winners in the Brett Favre sweepstakes, and that the Jets would have been better served had they held fast to the steady but unspectacular hand of Chad Pennington rather than leave their fortunes prone to the...

Will Eli Be the Wrench in the Big Blue Machine?

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:25:10 -0500

The unsung hero of the New York Giants’ now-legendary 2007 season wasn’t a player but a quarterback coach. Chris Palmer, an 18-year NFL veteran, had a sensational track record: at New England he worked with Drew Bledsoe, who went on to lead the Patriots to the 1997 Super Bowl. The following season, he moved on to Jacksonville, where he coached Mark Brunell, who led all AFC quarterbacks in passer rating that year. ...

Yankees' Choice: Sabathia or Mediocrity

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:52:08 -0500

Free agency opens on Friday. The Yankees need to sign C.C. Sabathia as soon as possible once it does. He is not the final piece—but it will be extremely difficult for New York them to win in 2009 without him. He represents something the Yankees do not have: an in-prime superstar.

Let’s start with the obvious: the Yankees need a number-one starter. Their best starter in 2008, Mike Mussina, is likely to retire. That means...

The Jets Are Contenders. Really.

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:01:26 -0500

Just one week after the New York Jets turned in their most complete performance of the season in a 26-17 win over the Buffalo Bills, some wondered whether the team was not ripe for yet another letdown against the seemingly rejuvenated St. Louis Rams, who had won two of its last four games after a dreadful 0-4 start. In truth, all the classic indicators were in place: an exuberant victory in the preceding week...

Save Oliver Perez!

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:35:14 -0500

As the Mets assess ways to improve their pitching staff this offseason, Oliver Perez, who has been a mainstay of the starting rotation, is mentioned as one of several options. But if the Mets are serious about consolidating 2008’s gains, they have no choice but to sign Perez, who is the best of their plausible alternatives, both in 2009 and beyond.

The Mets, despite a laughably poor bullpen, remained in playoff contention until the season’s...

Jets Beat Buffalo, Play Like Grown-Ups

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:45:08 -0500

With eight games gone by and half the NFL season now complete, the New York Jets, whose season teetered so precariously on the precipice of doom not two short weeks ago, now enjoy a distinction that they haven’t known this late in any season since 2002: first place.

After a spate of curiously underwhelming performances against an assemblage of league doormats including the Bengals, Raiders and Chiefs, the Jets turned in their best, most...

Can Someone Please Tell This Jets Defense What to Do?

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:51:47 -0400

The New York Jets’ 2008 season might have remained plausible even if they had not overcome a porous defense and three Brett Favre interceptions to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 28-24 yesterday afternoon at the Meadowlands.

But it would have been a close thing.

For the third time in as many weeks, the Jets were faced with a serendipitous opportunity to right their tattered ship against a listless bottom-dweller, and for the third straight...

Morning Memo: Rock Princesses Trade Photo Shoots; Tabloid Rakes Muck, Literally

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:58:50 -0400

Someone has been looking through the trash cans of the West Village's celebrity residents and sending their finds to Page Six. So far, they've turned up evidence of Mary-Lousie Parker's thyroid problem. Good work, guys! [P6]

One rockstar's model daughter is as good as another: When Bijou Phillips had to cancel on Chrissie Miller's latest photo shoot, the designer simply went up to Alexandra Richards on the street and asked her to stand in. [Page...

Built for Failure, Again: Your 2008-2009 New York Knicks

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:04:32 -0400

A peculiar irony facing the New York Knicks as they embark upon their season Wednesday night against the Miami Heat is that the what little talent they have is completely at odds with the system new coach Mike D’Antoni has installed.

D’Antoni brought his “seven seconds or less” offense to New York, which thrives on converting the missed baskets of opponents and taking high-percentage shots early in the shot clock. The Knicks, however, are a...

In the Silver Anniversary Breeders' Cup, Take Kip DeVille

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:31:30 -0400

This marks the 25th anniversary of the Breeders' Cup. Twenty-five years of great memories. The 2008 edition should bring some new ones.

This is the first time the cup will be run on a synthetic surface. Santa Anita racecourse installed a Pro-Ride surface over the summer. Southern California-based horses will have an advantage, I think.

Another first this year is that the Friday racing card will be Ladies Day....

No Joke: Championship Basketball in New York

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:30:09 -0400

The Big East Conference, which started in 1979 as a seven-team collection of northeastern Catholic schools, and which dominated college basketball for much of the 1980s, has become a virtual national championship in and of itself since expanding to 16 teams in 2005.

The basketball conference now boasts schools as far west as Milwaukee and as far south as Tampa. Of the 16 teams, 15 have reached the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four.

At the annual preseason...

Let's Hope the Jets Learn Something From This Pitiful Display

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:39:07 -0400

There are some well-known guarantees in life: death, taxes, the sun’s rise in the East. And then there are those less-momentous but nevertheless predictable events. Under this second heading we may well file the annual self-destruction of the New York Jets, who yesterday cast prosperity aside en route to losing a nearly unlosable game to an Oakland Raider franchise so backward and beset by its own mismanagement that it had replaced the Jets, if...

Boxer, in Brief: Welterweight Wants to Soar

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:58:19 -0400

Last month, Paul “Magic Man” Malignaggi vacated the International Boxing Federation junior welterweight champion title, which he’s held for the past year and successfully defended three times, so that he may fight the welterweight world champ, the great pug-faced hope of Britain, Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton. Nov. 22, MGM Grand, HBO. A seven-figure payday. He’s arrived.

Only Little Paulie doesn’t see that way. He wants the world to...