Who’s the most despised player in baseball history? Ty Cobb was a virulent racist who sharpened his spikes to slash the shins of infielders who got in his way. The 1919 Chicago Black Sox took money to throw the World Series. There’s Barry Bonds, of course, but at least Bonds wasn’t booed—much—in his own home Read More
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 Read More
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 Read More
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 Read More
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 Read More
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 Read More
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 Read More
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 Read More
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 Read More
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 Read More
