By Foster Kamer 3/01/12 11:03am

SPORTS AND THE CITY

New York Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner gives

Steinbrenner Syndrome: The New York Sports Sickness

I first recognized it on Dec. 14, 2009, though I didn’t know its name then.

The news broke that Hideki Matsui—the George Harrison of the Yankees, the quiet, stoic performer, and the 2009 World Series MVP—wouldn’t play for New York the following season. The Yankees told Mr. Matsui’s agent that he wasn’t a priority, so Matsui took a one-year, $6.5 M. contract with the Anaheim Angels.

The same team who gave Carl “Ass Injury” Pavano a $40 M. contract (for which he earned $17,646 per pitch, having thrown in only 26 Yankees games) not four years before let Matsui go, just one month after he was named the MVP of the World Series he’d helped the team win. Even now, when I speak with fellow Yankees fans about this travesty, they just shake their heads and shrug, as if to say: Yeah, we know. What’re you gonna do?*

It was a classic, symptomatic moment of Steinbrenner syndrome, a disease characterized by short attention span, poor memory and fits of ecstasy followed by angry outbursts. It affects nine out of 10 New York sports fans (and 10 out of 10 New York sports editors). Its only treatment is frequent, intense doses of winning. Read More

By Foster Kamer 2/13/12 3:59pm

LINSANITY

jeremy-lin-nasty-ass-behind-the-line-swag-for-days-son- STOCK

Results: This is What Jeremy Lin and Linsanity Has Done to the Stock Market

Jeremy Lin’s rocketing stardom is a game-changer, in more than a few ways. For one thing, the Knicks are winning and the Garden’s regularly packed, nowadays. For another, besides breaking records as the first Harvard grad since the 50s to play in the NBA, and only the fourth Asian-American to play in the league, he might be one of the few NBA players who can claim to have made a significant impact on financial markets. Read More

By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke 6/08/11 4:25pm

Softball Report

A Newsweek/Daily Beast-er takes one for the team.

Softball Report: Daily Beast Takes One for the Team…in the Face

The New York Media Softball League continues to heat up as landlocked editorial staffers channel their sublimated rage into line drives. Two-time champions the Wall Street Journal Capitalists faced off against the Newsweek/Daily Beast team during Week 2 of the league’s exhibition play. In 2010, the only team to slay the mighty Beast was Newsweek. After a tumultuous year in which the properties merged and the editorial reins were handed to Tina Brown, the combined entity can be sure of at least one outcome: a better, tougher softball team. Read More

By Oliver Haydock 4/09/09 3:16am

The Mets’ Other Guy

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 Read More

By Howard Megdal 2/13/09 4:10pm

What’s Wrong With Syracuse?

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 Read More