Knick Knacks: Obi Wan Anthony, You Are My Only Hope

Article first published as Knick Knacks: Obi Wan Anthony, You Are My Only Hope on Blogcritics.


A holographic vision appears and tells Carmelo Anthony he is the only hope. Hope for the season, for the playoffs, for staving off the calls for "Wait until next year." The person speaking is Mike Woodson, interim head coach who has somehow lit a spark under these fledgling padawans that call themselves The New York Knicks. Yes, okay, enough of the Star Wars references, but you get the idea. The Knicks are in trouble, even if they have won seven of their last ten games.

One of the biggest problems is Amar'e Stoudemire, the 29 year old forward who has looked ancient at times this year. The history of bad knees were always a problem, but now he has a definitely more serious issue with the bulging disc in his back. No one around the Knicks is saying it, but Amar'e is done for the season. He has to be or he may risk being out for the rest of his career.

Now you can talk about Linsanity all you want, but down the stretch toward the playoffs Jeremy Lin is not going to be the most important factor. Neither are Tyson Chandler, Baron Davis, Steve Novak or any other Knick. It all falls to 'Melo, whether or not any of us like that or not. The equation is simple in the Mike Woodson era (its brevity not withstanding). Even before Amar'e's injury, it was clear Woodson's game plan was built around Anthony. Now there is no choice at all but to believe in this because nothing else will get the Knicks there.

Right now the Knicks are 25-25 and the playoffs loom a month from now. Some people around New York are talking about overtaking the Celtics and Sixers and taking first place, but those guys are dreaming up the wrong tree. They are looking up when they should be looking down at Milwaukee. Right now they lead the Bucks by two games in the playoff race. That is the number they should be concerned about because, like Obi Wan Anthony, it's their only hope.

Photo Credit: NBA.com

Russians Look to Establish Permanent Moon Colony

Article first published as Russians Look to Establish Permanent Moon Colony on Blogcritics.

The moon has always had a tug on us, whether it is causing our tides or filling the sky at night with luminous beauty. We have imagined the man on the moon, creatures large and small, and even it being made of cheese. The moon is our closest neighbor in space and occupies a place in literature and film, yet we have barely touched the surface after the historic landing of humans in 1969, and I have often wondered what it would take to get us back there.
So when I heard a report on Fox News that the Russians were planning to establish a moon base, my immediate thought was "What about us?" Had we abandoned the idea of ever returning to that celestial wonder, the place where an American flag stands in the stillness of a windless plane?

Vladimir Popovkin, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, revealed that he was in joint talks with NASA and the European Space Agency on a joint venture in this process. This would make more sense because NASA has not been able to orchestrate a return to the moon for many reasons, including the obvious financial burdens such a mission would entail. Hopefully, with these agencies working together, something tangible can happen to make this vision a reality.

Of course, President Obama is noted for saying that we should set our sights on Mars. I wrote about this in an article nearly two years ago, and I haven't heard much about it since. At the time I praised Obama's vision, but I think reality always rears its ugly head. Mars is a much more difficult mission and will no doubt take a much longer time to accomplish. The moon, on the other hand, can be more easily reached, and I even noted at the time that a base on the moon would make sense as a staging point for these missions to Mars.

Space has an allure for many of us, especially Star Trek and Star Wars fans, but also many others who have have turned their heads to ponder the universe. Whether you have looked at the moon on a sandy beach, from an airplane window, or through a telescope, the fascination is palable and the yearning for "infinity and beyond" is something more than a cartoon fantasy. If space is indeed the final frontier, then we must find ways to explore it, starting with baby steps that take us to the moon and then one day to planets beyond our solar system.

People living in 1869 had no idea that one hundred years later we would witness a man walking on the moon. In 1969 we could imagine many things after seeing Neil Armstrong take that amazing first step, but we had no idea that the communicators we saw in Captain Kirk's hand on Star Trek would be in our own hands when we grew up in the form of cellular phones. Now, if we could just get Scotty to beam us up to avoid that traffic jam, but that's for another story.

I think it is exciting to imagine what a moon base would be like, and 2020 certainly doesn't feel that far away. The question is would this open up an eventual opportunity for civilians to visit the moon? I would like to reserve a room in that first Marriot that goes up near the Sea of Tranquility. Ah, a room with a view!

Until then "Live long and prosper" to one and all!

Photo Credit - NASA

Subway Series Part II: This Time It's Personal

Article first published as Subway Series Part II: This Time It's Personal on Blogcritics.


Okay, I'll admit that I was kind of down on the Subway Series the last time around, but that is not the case now. Why is that? Because back then the Mets were playing like they were in the Pee-Wee Herman League and the New York Yankees were doing their best Incredible Hulk impersonation in the American League East. Since then the Mets have incredulously bounced back from adveristy (even with key players on the disabled list) - with Jose Reyes taking the part of The Flash while his teammates, even the AAA Buffalo contingency, are looking like superheroes in training. So now it is at least interesting enough for this old Mets fan to put on his blue cap with the orange NY and brave the Number 7 train to get out to Citi Field.

Make no mistake - the Yankees have to be favored today. They just steamrolled over Milwaukee, but these are the Brewers and not the Boston Red Sox or the Philadelphia Phillies. When you put the pitching poor Yankees up against those types of teams, they wilt and that is what they will have to face once again in the playoffs this year. Of course, at least they can say they have the playoffs in their future, but that is still a reality for Yankees fans; too bad Sabathia can't pitch every day.

The Mets led by Reyes and much lesser names like Turner, Murphy, and Hairston, are definitely going to be David going up against Goliath in the Subway Series, but we all know how that turned out. Truth be told, the Mets are playing like the Mets of old - most notably the 1973 version - and that team was the little engine that could, knocking out the Big Red Machine of Cincinnati and taking the Oakland A's to the seventh game of the World Series.

I'm not saying anything like that can happen this year, but there is hope in Flushing and the Mets fans can invoke the old Tug McGraw mantra of "Ya Gotta Believe" again, so in that way it becomes very personal for me (and most Mets fans). And don't forget, these are the dreaded Yankees, the minions of Darth Steinbrenner who once circled the city in his Death Star thinking he could rule the baseball galaxy.

So break out your old copies of Return of the Jedi if you need inspiration, Mets fans, and "you gotta believe" the force is with these young Met padawans. Jose Reyes is wielding that bat like a light saber, and maybe, just maybe, some Yankee heads will roll this weekend. So yeah, it's personal this time, and Mets fans have to get out there and cheer this underdog team for no other reason than they are New Yorkers who are not Yankees' fans.

Let's go Mets!

Photo Credit: NY Daily News

Mets Mess: New Owner Einhorn Has Work to Do

Article first published as Mets Mess: New Owner Einhorn Has Work to Do on Blogcritics.

The New York Mets have a potential new owner - of a minority stake in the team - and he has visited Citi Field to meet the Mets. Keeping in the tradition of the old team song ("Bring the kiddies; bring the wife; guaranteed to have the time of your life"), Einhorn brought his children to the game but perhaps wisely left the missus at home. The Mets lost that one against the Phillies, so it probably was for the best.

Einhorn is the latest entry into the Mets mess, and one has to wonder what he will be able to do to change the misfortunes of the organization. Yes, he is a wildly successful businessman, President of Greenlight Capital, which is sort of a complete opposite of the Bernie Madoff nightmare of an investment firm. Einhorn makes big money and is ready and willing to plunk down $200 million on the Mets, and there is a distinct possibility that he will be able to buy up more of the team, eventually making him the principal owner. So the stakes are high and, since he is such a smart fellow, we have to think that he has a lot more up his sleeve than he is showing in the cards right now.

Mets fans welcomed him at Citi Field on Wednesday night, and the cheers may be for something intangible as hope. Having gone to many games at old Shea over the years, I can tell you that Mets fans will cheer for the simplest possibilities of better things. They also look at what has happened in the past five years to this organization, how it has tanked so miserably since Carlos Beltran was a bystander on a third strike from Adam Wainwright in the NLCS in 2006. Ever since that bat never left Beltran's shoulder, the team has fallen and it can't get up, and all the things that have happened since have driven more and more nails into the team coffin.


Einhorn has a Mets pedigree, and fans always like that. Take a look at this picture of him as a kid. He is wearing a Mets cap and a jersey that he made himself with number 42 on it - the number of Dave Kingman, the big bopper at Shea at the time. It makes me like him right away because he was a fan when it was very hard to be a Mets fan, when "Sky King" (as Mets announcer Bob Murphy called Kingman) struck out and popped up towering fly balls a lot more than he hit homers. If he could be a fan in those dark times, he is probably the right man for the job here and now.

Make no mistake - these are extremely dark times for Mets fans. If you can imagine the team existing within the Star Wars saga, I would say right now we are stuck in the Empire Strikes Back with everything going against us. All the injured players are like Han Solo getting freeze-dried, and the fans are sort of like Princess Leia being a prisoner of Jabba the Hut. We have chains around our necks and things are looking mighty grim, so we have to hope that Einhorn is approved by Major League Baseball soon. This way we can speed things all the way up to Return of the Jedi, and he can be like Luke Skywalker and swoop in and save the day.

There are many things wrong with the Mets, and the truth is most fans know the team has been run poorly for years. Whatever happened between Fred Wilpon and Madoff notwithstanding, we need an infusion of new blood fast. Einhorn may not have much of a baseball background, but he certainly has a great track record in the business world. I hope that he gets involved, rolls up his sleeves, and starts taking the Mets machine apart. When he is all done - and if we are lucky - the Wilpons will let him buy them out and he can start building a winner again.

It seems to me it is time to shake off the ghost of Beltran watching that third strike. The way to do this is to have Einhorn pull a Moses. "Let my people go," he can say to Pharaoh Wilpon. He can let Beltran walk, perhaps Jose Reyes too, and take the team toward a new start with new blood. Hopefully Einhorn will recognize Mike Pelfrey is no ace and get into the market and bring someone here who is, and maybe after a few years the Mets can get back to where they were in the late 1980s, and the Yankees with Posada, Jeter, and Rivera gone will be the second bananas in town again.

We have a long way to go to accomplish that, David Einhorn, but you have to start somewhere, so please get in there and get to work. Mets fans need you to do something and quickly, and if you do then you will have more people in those seats and the chants of "Let’s go Mets" will resound through the new park the way they once did at old Shea. Please do it for the fans, for the city, and for yourself too. Come on, some kid is waiting to make his favorite player’s jersey just like you did. Don't keep him waiting!

Photo Credits- Daily News and SNY.com

As Gang Green Turns: Jets Sack Pats 28-21 - Bring on the Steelers!

Article first published as As Gang Green Turns: Jets Sack Pats 28-21 - Bring on the Steelers! on Blogcritics.

Today Jets fans are bursting with green pride, while fans of the New England Patriots just might be green with envy, but no matter what the game last night settled - at least for this season - the score between the two teams in favor of the Jets. The Jets now head into their second AFC Championship Game in a row, and one has to give a great deal of credit to Jets' head coach Rex Ryan as the man who has got them there.

Make no mistake, this was a battle of wits and wills between two tough competitors. You could say that Mark Sanchez beat Tom Brady, or you could say the Jets' defense beat Tom Brady (sacking him five times in the process), and you could even say the Jets' offense was just better than the Pats' offense. While these things are all true in regard to last night's game, the real battle - as stated during last week by Ryan - was between the head coaches Ryan and Bill Belichick.

Last week I referred to Ryan and Belichick as Luke Piewalker and Darth Bull respectively (alluding to the famous Star Wars characters), but as I watched the game last night, something made Belichick lose his imposing status. Wearing a frumpy Patriots' hoody and his headphones, Belichick looked more like a worn-out Yoda who the force did not have with him. At times Belichick seemed lost, as if the proceedings could not be happening before his eyes as his padawans were getting clobbered.

What even seemed more impressive was that the Jets defense got to Brady. Besides sacking him five times, Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie, Drew Coleman, and company rattled Brady's cage. During every possession he seemed rushed and even flustered, trying to find someone to throw the ball to but being dogged by that relentless Jets defense that had him flinching even when no one was close to him.

Sanchez was impressive going 16 - 25 for 194 yards with three touchdown passes and no interceptions. While he no doubt had to be nervous going into this game at Foxborough, he showed the grit and determination of one more experienced on this night, and this ongoing maturation process has been happening though not always obvious in the later games of the season. Now it seems Sanchez has found himself, is comfortable with his receivers, and is playing the game smarter than he ever has before.

Last week Rex Ryan said that there was the only one bigger game in Jets team history than this one, and that was the victory of Joe Namath and his team in Super Bowl III. At the time I thought this was more typical Ryan bluster, but now I see the wisdom of this comment. Beating the Patriots - and especially beating Belichick - was indeed crucial and exorcises the haunting 45-3 loss to the Pats last month.

Now the Jets will turn their attention to the Pittsburgh Steelers. If the Jets can indeed beat the Steelers next week and reach the Super Bowl, the achievement will be even more amazing because they will have won three playoff games in a row against the best teams around: the Colts, the Patriots, and the Steelers. Even more amazing is the fact that they will have done this on the road.

There will be lots of talk going on this week, and I am sure much of it will be coming from Ryan as per his usual routine. Still, despite all the talk and all the hype, Ryan and his men came out and walked the walked. In two more weeks, they may even get to walk the walk of Super Bowl champions. If they do win it all, should we worry that Rex will finally run out of things to say? Not a chance.

That's it until next week at Pittsburgh in the ongoing sports soap opera As Gang Green Turns.