The NFL has easily the best offseason in sports. There’s the draft, free agency, cuts, trades, and this year, the argument over the collective bargaining agreement. 2006 in particular will be possibly the most chaotic in the league’s history. There’s the draft that everyone is talking about, star running backs who will be moving to a different team, and the great debate between the Union and the league.
By David J. Cohen
It was a great feeling to cheer for the Knicks in the 90s. Even though the Knicks didn’t win a title during the period they produced competitive teams that captivated sold-out crowds at Madison Square Garden. In 1994 the Knicks reached the NBA finals and were led by G John Starks and C Patrick Ewing. In the shortened season of 1999 the Knicks enjoyed one of the most memorable runs in NBA playoff history. They became the first (and only) 8th seed to reach the finals. The floater by G Allan Houston with .7 seconds left in game 5 of the opening round against the Heat was pure magic and capped off one of the greatest rivalries in modern NBA history. Then in the conference finals, F Larry Johnson made a miraculous 4-point play in game 3 that propelled the Knicks into the finals. After that shot the Garden was visibly shaking as the entire crowd was jumping and screaming as one. To this day I have never seen fans as electrified in a celebration as they were after that play against the Pacers. In those days you were proud to be a Knicks fan.
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Say it ain’t so- Jerry
It’s Sunday night and I’m flipping through the channels when I stumble across the show I’ve been trying to pretend doesn’t exist– “Dancing with the Stars.” For those of you who haven’t seen this trainwreck, here’s how it goes. You take 10 Y-list celebrities, force them to do complicated dances that they only have time to half-learn, then the audience laughs at them and votes one off the island. It’s good, wholesome entertainment at the expense of wannabe or used-to-be celebrities whose 15 minutes of fame are long gone.
But here’s the thing. This season, one of the contestants was Jerry Rice, the greatest wide receiver in the history of football. Any other position in football, you’ll get an argument about who is the best who ever played. But the debate is moot at wideout. Rice is the man. He holds every meaningful NFL record for his position. You can measure his yards gained in miles (a little over 13). He is unquestionably the best wide receiver to have ever played the game.
I am allowed to bash the Flyers. I am allowed to bash the Flyers because I am a Flyers fan and that is what we are brought up to do. If the team wins 2-1, we bash them for not shutting out the other team. If they win a playoff series 4-1, we fume because we feel that sweeping a team is the only way to show superiority. A player can score five goals one game, but screw up the next, and suddenly he is the most hated man in the City of Brotherly Love. With all this said, I am going to bash the Flyers and I’m going to do it well. Why? Because this is what I’ve been brought up to do.
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NFL: Greed vs Greed
So here we stand, 2006 and the CBA is running out in a year on the NFL. Normally, the NFL has been good at signing and extending their agreements just because of the fear of what will now happen. They have been able to avoid a mess. Much like the NHL, MLB, even the NBA, the NFL seems to be going down that same path but worse. Why? The sport that makes the most money, the sport that wins in popularity, the sport that fills the stadiums easily, the sport that has the biggest event of the year. Why ruin all this?
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Who want’s to get swept?
If you’re not an NBA fan in the cities of Dallas, Detroit, San Antonio, Phoenix, and Miami you may not have gotten a lot out of my last article. You see…that article was written to let you all know who is going to win the NBA championship this year. It is going to be one of those five teams. So I gave my opinion on who had the chance to get by Detroit and San Antonio, but I realized something today…that making the playoffs would be just as exciting for cities like Chicago, Boston, Golden State, Minnesota, Utah, Houston, Sacramento, and Milwaukee as one of the top five teams actually winning it all. Most teams have got 25 runs to go, and this is the time of the season where you can actually calculate the “magic number” for some teams to wrap up playoff spots. It is also the time of the year where you can write teams off (sorry Charlotte, Atlanta, New York, Toronto, Orlando, Seattle, and Portland) and wish them good luck in the lottery. At this point in time in the NBA season there is a legit cutoff point between teams that are still in it, and teams that are not. That point is 5 games. If there are more than 5 games between you and the final playoff spot in the conference, start thinking spoiler
By David J. Cohen
It was the best game the Seminoles had played all season. They dominated the boards, hit clutch shots, and forced someone other than J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams to make shots in the last minute. The win guaranteed the `Noles a spot in the big dance. Yet, as usual, the FSU fans found a way to screw things up.
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The Combine Blues
There are some things about sports that don’t blow me away. Some things that are sick and represent the worst aspects of humanity. One of those things is the NFL draft scouting combine.
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Top Ten Predictions
I made ten predictions before this NBA season started. With the playoffs on the horizon and many things starting to become set in stone, I thought it would be interesting to go back and see how completely accurate or off base I was heading into the season
Predictions
- Lakers will miss the playoffs
- Artest will be a MVP candidate
- Rockets will get past the first round
- Cavaliers will see the first round
- Carlisle vs Karl for Coach of the Year. (Or Phil if the Lakers do well)
- Kings will be mediocre unless Skinner gives it his all or they bring back Founderburke (joke)
- Knicks will have life and a winning record
- Someone is going to get injured and Ben Gordon will become a permanent starter
- Golden State will make the playoffs
- Spurs over Miami for the Championship
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American highs and lows from Torino
By Sean Quinn
Americans are feeling about as empty as the medals themselves now that the Winter Olympics are over. They came and went about as fast as a Ben Affleck movie. For two weeks, we watched odd sports performed by athletes and just regular folk. Our eastern European geography lesson is over, as is our craving for curling.
Unfortunately the events are over, but Avril Lavigne is still singing, or at least attempting to. Whether we related to a Home Depot employee or an athletic icon, we did so on delayed time.
We have to slip back into our boring, non-Olympic society, and we’ll have to settle for March Madness. Here are some of the best and worst from Italy.