OK, this is partly in response to my friend who thinks I hate when someone says something bad about my teams...but partly not, since I've made posts like this before.
Here is a brutally honest look at where my teams stand as we prepare to make the turn to 2009:
New York Rangers - Quite possibly the worst 20-11-2 team in the history of professional sports. That record has been built on fabulous goaltending and shootout victories. When we've been tested in real games, we've been thoroughly embarassed recently by Montreal, Vancouver, and New Jersey. Our fabulous goalie was unfabulous during those games, but it was really our defense that let us down. Our defense is slow, and some of them play like they've just been given ridiculously large contracts recently and don't have to try anymore. Oh wait, they have.
I'm starting to turn on the Edmonton Genius again. This three game road trip could bury us. If I were a betting young lady, I'd bet we're going to struggle to make the playoffs.
New York Yankees - Hopefully last year was an aberration, as everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Neither Hughes or Kennedy stepped up and earned a spot in the rotation, Joba couldn't last the whole year as a starter, Pettite had his first off year, Wang got hurt, Cano and Melky had terrible years, A-Rod grounded into 4,000 double plays, Matsui got hurt, Posada got hurt, Pudge forgot how to hit as soon as his plane from Detroit landed at LaGuardia, Damon was no longer able to play center field, yadda yadda yadda.
Bright spots? Sydney Ponson actually did some good things in the rotation, and of course Mariano is still Mariano.
Hope for this year? Some...A-Rod cannot hit any worse, Cano hopefully will live up to the back of his baseball card, and Damon is still a good leadoff hitter, albeit a left fielder now. Hopefully Wang, Joba, Matsui, and Posada come back strong. Or at least a couple of them. Sabathia and Burnett give us hope. No, they're not Beckett and Schilling, but they're a lot better than what we had last year.
And Mariano is still Mariano.
New York Jets - This team scares me. I am now officially worried about Mangini...A LOT. He's crossing into Jim Tressel territory of getting out-coached week after week. Leon Washington touches the ball once on offense against Buffalo? The Buffalo offense, which had been as effective as a pea-shooter the last two weeks, has a huge game against the Jets defense. Ugh.
Seattle is going to be tough next week, they haven't given up and they have a proud coach. I can see the perfect storm brewing...Chad Pennington comes in week 17 and knocks us out of the playoffs. Then Brett Favre retires after the game (and starts placing phone calls to Green Bay around February), and we're left with Kellen Clemens and a coach who follows Herm Edwards in the long line of the Jets incredible coaching tradition of getting the worst out of your team.
Ohio State football - I've said it here enough. Tressel is a great recruiter, and I love how he restored the OSU traditions. I most importantly love that he's not John Cooper. But he's a terrible game coach. He's going to be here another 20 years, which I think is a good thing. But during those 20 years there will be a lot of big games that get away from him because his team is not prepared or does not make the proper adjustments during the game. And there will be the occasional games where it is, and does.
New York Knicks - Headed in the right direction, which wasn't hard to do since there was nowhere to go but up. We'll see what happens in 2010 with free agents, but until then the team will do nothing to improve for the short term. And it shouldn't. They can play exciting basketball, but until we start competing again in 2010, we should procure the best draft picks we can.
St. John's basketball - Believe it or not, they used to be good. Who would have thought we'd long for the days of Mike Jarvis? When the team gets a coach who can recruit the best city talent, they'll be good again. Until then...
One day a coach will come in that makes St. John's a destination again for the best talent in the city. There is so much talent here, all they need to do is keep some players home. Then the Garden will be rocking again.
But that may take a few years...or a few decades.
Sandra
Here is a brutally honest look at where my teams stand as we prepare to make the turn to 2009:
New York Rangers - Quite possibly the worst 20-11-2 team in the history of professional sports. That record has been built on fabulous goaltending and shootout victories. When we've been tested in real games, we've been thoroughly embarassed recently by Montreal, Vancouver, and New Jersey. Our fabulous goalie was unfabulous during those games, but it was really our defense that let us down. Our defense is slow, and some of them play like they've just been given ridiculously large contracts recently and don't have to try anymore. Oh wait, they have.
I'm starting to turn on the Edmonton Genius again. This three game road trip could bury us. If I were a betting young lady, I'd bet we're going to struggle to make the playoffs.
New York Yankees - Hopefully last year was an aberration, as everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Neither Hughes or Kennedy stepped up and earned a spot in the rotation, Joba couldn't last the whole year as a starter, Pettite had his first off year, Wang got hurt, Cano and Melky had terrible years, A-Rod grounded into 4,000 double plays, Matsui got hurt, Posada got hurt, Pudge forgot how to hit as soon as his plane from Detroit landed at LaGuardia, Damon was no longer able to play center field, yadda yadda yadda.
Bright spots? Sydney Ponson actually did some good things in the rotation, and of course Mariano is still Mariano.
Hope for this year? Some...A-Rod cannot hit any worse, Cano hopefully will live up to the back of his baseball card, and Damon is still a good leadoff hitter, albeit a left fielder now. Hopefully Wang, Joba, Matsui, and Posada come back strong. Or at least a couple of them. Sabathia and Burnett give us hope. No, they're not Beckett and Schilling, but they're a lot better than what we had last year.
And Mariano is still Mariano.
New York Jets - This team scares me. I am now officially worried about Mangini...A LOT. He's crossing into Jim Tressel territory of getting out-coached week after week. Leon Washington touches the ball once on offense against Buffalo? The Buffalo offense, which had been as effective as a pea-shooter the last two weeks, has a huge game against the Jets defense. Ugh.
Seattle is going to be tough next week, they haven't given up and they have a proud coach. I can see the perfect storm brewing...Chad Pennington comes in week 17 and knocks us out of the playoffs. Then Brett Favre retires after the game (and starts placing phone calls to Green Bay around February), and we're left with Kellen Clemens and a coach who follows Herm Edwards in the long line of the Jets incredible coaching tradition of getting the worst out of your team.
Ohio State football - I've said it here enough. Tressel is a great recruiter, and I love how he restored the OSU traditions. I most importantly love that he's not John Cooper. But he's a terrible game coach. He's going to be here another 20 years, which I think is a good thing. But during those 20 years there will be a lot of big games that get away from him because his team is not prepared or does not make the proper adjustments during the game. And there will be the occasional games where it is, and does.
New York Knicks - Headed in the right direction, which wasn't hard to do since there was nowhere to go but up. We'll see what happens in 2010 with free agents, but until then the team will do nothing to improve for the short term. And it shouldn't. They can play exciting basketball, but until we start competing again in 2010, we should procure the best draft picks we can.
St. John's basketball - Believe it or not, they used to be good. Who would have thought we'd long for the days of Mike Jarvis? When the team gets a coach who can recruit the best city talent, they'll be good again. Until then...
One day a coach will come in that makes St. John's a destination again for the best talent in the city. There is so much talent here, all they need to do is keep some players home. Then the Garden will be rocking again.
But that may take a few years...or a few decades.
Sandra
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