The AnonyMets

We're heading toward spring training at top speed (sans caravan), yet there are a few Mets we haven't heard much of.

We've heard from the recently extended Willie and Jacket. Delgado has been in the press for likely missing the start of the season (I heard that he's giving birth... maybe my sources are off) and the Duck has been mentioned in John Thomson's firy rhetoric.

MiniMets Castro and Endy have resigned, and Jose and David are in the press as usual. We hear about Glavine and Pedro, and Duque reupped earlier.

My question– where are the outfielders?

Despite his new surroundings, and his new will to win, we've heard nothing of Moises Alou. Shawn Green is suspiciously incommunicado, and has anyone heard anything from Carlos Beltran since his MVP-caliber season ended?

Finally, where is Firstings? I miss him and his youthful indiscretion.

The lack of hype going into the season is hardly putting me at ease. Spring Training is soon.

See you later.



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A Haiku

Willie Randolph you
are now a very rich man
thanks to big contract

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Another haiku:

Don't be too happy
Willie because a man named
Schoeneweis makes more

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I'll be back eventually with some season previews.


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The Death of a Season

It's difficult for us to fathom what has become of the New York Rangers 2006-07 season. Sure, they're still only behind the Devils in the Atlantic Division, but at present they are tied for eighth in the conference with one game at hand vs. Toronto. That's right. If the season ended today, the Rangers would receive an early-round thrashing from the Sabres, similar to the show put on by the Satanists over in Jersey last year.

But if you've been living in a cave for a month, you would probably be surprised at this turn for the worse taken by the Rangers. After their 5-2 win at Dallas, where Henrik Lundqvist stopped everything, making 43 saves, the Rangers moved to 18-10-4 and had the division lead. It's been downhill from there. They have allowed 50 goals in their last 15 games, while scoring only 35 in that same span. The problem with that is that the Rangers are deviating from their best output in both directions.

Their weapons are rusty. Jagr's the walking wounded, Shanahan has two goals in his last 18 games, and Michael Nylander apparently has forgotten how to shoot the puck. The team defense is absolutely wretched- they take a plethora of useless penalties and then leave it up to Hank to make a great save. Of course, given that the Rangers play in Madison Square Garden and are owned by Jim Dolan, the coaching staff and front office are also ridiculously culpable.

Some of the team's problems were due to GM Glen Sather's weak manuvering during the spring and summer months. The playoffs exposed the Rangers as a team with few offensive weapons and scoring defensemen. Accordingly, Sather opted to let two of the Rangers' top scorers walk. Peter Sykora and Martin Rucinsky found new homes, and the Rangers seemed in no need to replace them.

Rather than choosing to add an elite defenseman, Sather chose to add Aaron Ward, a man who grew a red playoff beard last year. He added Ward's Hurricanes teammate Matt Cullen. The Rangers also added notable alcoholic Latvian superstar Sandis Ozolinsh into the fray last year, absorbing Ozo's giant contract from the Ducks in exchange for Ville Niemenen. He made another poor trade, as well, acquiring useless chump Adam "11 points in 47 games" Hall for Dominic Moore, a player who was much of the heart and soul of this team.

The burden to a certain extent falls on coach Tom Renney's shoulders as well. The coach has overexposed many players, repeatedly expecting some sort of output from them, while simultaneously burying the Rangers' future in Hartford and on the fourth line. Overexposed players include low-scoring forwards Hall, Jason Ward, Marcel Hossa, Colton Orr, and Ryan Hollweg, all of whom are logging valuable minutes while Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan rot in Hartford and Peter Prucha is atrophying on the fourth line.

The Rangers have also been the victim of some bad luck, to be sure, given Jagr's injury, Henrik's sophomore slump and Fedor Tyutin's sudden defensive regression. It's hard to say that this couldn't have been planned for, though.

Accordingly, the Rangers lost again, today, and will head into the All-Star Break losers of four of their last five.

They best come out strong, for Renney's sake.

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A Call to Polyester-Covered Arms

Omar Minaya has made his intentions for the 2007 season clear, and his recent signing of washed-up Cardinal/Brave fireballer Jorge Sosa is even more evidence of that.

Minaya did not add, much to the chagrin of fans like myself, an arm the caliber of Zito, Haren, or Schmidt. Minaya has yet even to add a pitcher in the mold of Gil Meche or Ted Lilly, pitchers who have been hampered by injuries moreso than ineffectiveness during their careers.

Instead, Minaya stockpiled projects. He nabbed hard-throwing righty relievers Jon Adkins and Ambiorix Burgos in separate deals, and he followed that up by trading for Jason Vargas, a pitcher whose ability far outweighs his performance to this point.

And now he's got Sosa. Although he was 13-3 with a 2.55 ERA in 2005, the righty posted a 5.42 ERA in 2006 following Leo Mazzone's departure.

One might wonder if the Mets were trying to play the market cheaply, avoiding expensive injury risks and the large contracts that have permeated the game so far this winter. However, these contracts show something else, as far as I can tell.

The Mets are putting all their faith in "Slick" Rick "The Jacket" Peterson. They are counting on him to take a rotation without a Pedro and a bullpen without a juiced Mota to the top of the NL East.

Beforehand, such a goal might have been unrealistic. We've watched as various projects scuffled at points in the year, and not one among us forgets his "I can fix him in ten minutes" comment. By the way, the Devil Rays are reportedly pursuing Victor Zambrano as an option for a non-roster deal.

This is all a giant opportunity for the Jacket. He will be given talented young starters with explosive arms (Pelfrey, Humber, Perez) and a few live-armed relievers down on their luck (Sosa, Burgos, Mota, Sanchez) and he will be expected to take this team to the top.

The Jacket will be required to take this team from its present conceptual state, instead hoping to turn it over into a pitching juggernaut where all fireballers are supposed to reach their potential. Obviously, that's not happening.

It's tough, though, to take a look at this team and realize the worst case scenario. The Mets will still have that incredible offense, and Glavine will still be here. Furthermore, the rotations in the division are still not all that formidable (though you have to fear the Marlins' young guns).

Godspeed, Jacket. This season is on your (surgically-repaired) shoulders now.

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According to Murray Chass in the New York Times, the Mets are close to a minor-league deal with Ruben Sierra. (What, Travis Fryman wasn't available?) Chass quotes Sierra's agent Chuck Berry, who will soon join a battle with Billy Wagner's agent Bean Stringfellow for worst name.

Sierra put up a garbage .179/.273/.214 line in 28 ABs with Minnesota last year, before being released in July.

I just don't understand this. Sierra is 41 years old, has garbage knees, hasn't played a game in the National League since '97 and played no time in the outfield last year.

In fact, the Mets already have Sierra's equivalent in Julio Franco. This move makes zero sense to me, even though it's probably a non-guaranteed deal.

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Rangers, Devils, tonight, 7:30. It strikes me that these teams just play every time that neither one has a nationally-televised game. It's pretty awful, given that the rivalry is devoid of intensity.

Oh, well... the boys looked alright during the Boston game.

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On Thomson, Schoeneweis, and Barroid

John Thomson is a giant prick. I'm not sure there's any way around it. Many of you have read his inflammatory (and somewhat indecipherable) comments towards the Mets as a franchise and specifically towards the Duck. Here they are, if you're interested.

"As far as just looking at Paul Lo Duca across the field, I'm not really into how he acts behind the plate," Thomson said on a conference call. "I know a bit about [Toronto catcher] Gregg Zaun and I know he wants to win and he's not going to let anything get in his way to do that, and I like that.

"And then with Vernon Wells in center field, I'm not really concerned about the outfield with him out there. ... Just watching the Mets' outfield, if Cliff Floyd is still there it's not a real good fit for him out there. He can hit the ball, but as far as defense, he's a little shaky.

I think I have an idea what Thomson was referring to, and it is a little disconcerting.

Lo Duca, as we are all aware, is something of an adulterer, who might have a thing for younger women. This may conflict with John Thomson's values of being a poor pitcher and screwing the Mets (unlike Lo Duca, who prefers college students) down the stretch run.

He then went on to diss Cliff Floyd, who by the way is no more a part of this 2007 team than John Thomson is. I would think he assumes Roger Cedeno is still in center field for the Mets, because Carlos Beltran compares quite favorably to Vernon Wells.

Nevertheless, if my perception of Thomson's comments is accurate, shouldn't we be worried? Say these words had come from the mouth of a pitcher with a much more credible career ledger, someone like Andy Pettite. Pettite is a notoriously devout Christian who undoubtedly might have some problems throwing to a philandering gambler behind the plate.

On the whole, though, I'm in no position to complain. We don't want John Thomson and we don't want to have to experience more of his mediocrity.

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Speaking of mediocrity, Minaya has apparently issued a ringing endorsement of it with the rumoured 3-year, $10.8MM deal with Scott Schoeneweis.

I find this awfully hard to endorse. While the Mets undoubtedly have vast financial resources, it is a poor decision to offer this kind of money to a pitcher who has been essentially the definition of mediocre (career ERA+: 94) over his career.

Furthermore, while he did impress during the stretch run with Cincinnati, he still only managed a 4.88 ERA for the season. His role in this bullpen is also unclear to me. Does he serve the purpose of lefty specialist, like he has recently, or does he fill the role that Darren Oliver filled last year?

Moreover, isn't Schoeneweis similar to the pitchers we have (or had) in this bullpen? As far as I can tell, Schoeneweis is an older and more expensive version of Royce Ring. It's not even unrealistic to expect one of the Mets' other young lefties (Vargas, Perez, Bostick) to fulfill this role with more aptitude than Schoeneweis can.

Given that Chad Bradford (granted, a higher injury risk) signed with Baltimore for slightly less money, wouldn't it have been rational to expect a bullpen arm with more potential than a thirty-three year old Duke graduate?

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Finally, today, T.J. Quinn of the Daily News outed Barry Bonds as a cheat and a liar.

It's an odd world that we live in. Given the recent discussion about McGwire and failed steroid tests, it's strange to think that this slugger, who has apparently failed a drug test is still allowed to play and potentially pass Hank Aaron's all-time home run record.

Bonds will engage in a summer of joyless pursit, making a tainted run at one of the most hallowed records in history. No longer is anyone naive or ignorant enough to have faith in the chase.

The media will be hard-pressed to find anyone outside of San Francisco who believes in Bonds or is willing to follow this man around the country with that unbridled joy that we saw with McGwire's 70 or Bonds' 73.

What strikes me as most humorous, though, are the circumstances in which we have wound up and the path baseball took to get there. Without that steroid piece in SI a few years back, we probably wouldn't be conscious of the issue.

If Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco hadn't scooped the piece's author, Tom Verducci, who would be focusing on steroids?

Furthermore, it makes you wonder about Jose Canseco, a hitter who would have probably hit 500 home runs if he had played until his thirty-ninth birthday. Imagine that world-- a world where Canseco is suddenly complicit in the coverup, more focused on a Hall of Fame legacy than on selling books.

If Caminiti's career had featured more forty-homer seasons, wouldn't he too lack an incentive to go public with the issues of steroids in baseball?

What differs Caminiti and Canseco from McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds?

In the end, the latter three were just using better steroids, realizing that they could someday be enshrined with greats like Ruth and Mays.

The first two are merely sore losers; those who boarded the train too late in their careers to rack up greatness.

I'm just sick of it all- I pray ESPN dismantles their "Chasing Aaron" graphics that showed Bonds' stat line for every game. While they're at it, can they stop glorifying the accomplishments of Shawne Merriman?

I can recall a quote on Sunday NFL Countdown, something to the effect of "Merriman had a great season, you know, registering 17 sacks in only twelve games!" Well, duh, he had a great season. Do you know why? HE WAS TAKING STEROIDS! Christ, why is this so hard to comprehend?

I don't think the media understands what kind of a message they send by glorifying the cheaters in our society. MLB and ESPN and co. will let Bonds persevere with his joyless pursuit. I guess we're just not supposed to mind.

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Weaver, Okha, Newhan, OH MY!

I'm not sure I'm a fan of technology, given that the Rivals machine has been in the shop. Granted, it's had a bit of wear and tear, but I didn't expect my hard drive to burst into pieces. Ugh.

Nevertheless, I am undaunted and return to you with an open mouth and an open mind.

Well, actually, the open mind part doesn't relate to the Mets' rumored pursuit of Jeff Weaver, which, as far as I can tell, could be the worst possible signing in history if it occurs, regardless of dollar amounts. While I still have enough remaining trust in Mr. Minaya to believe that it won't actually come to fruition, color me unimpressed by his scrambling efforts in the wake of the Zito contract.

In fact, Minaya has only been able to lock down David Newhan, who is not even a lock to improve over his batting lines from the last two seasons, including a .202/.279/.312 showing in 2005, and a slightly stronger 2006 performance of .252/.294/.374. It's actually rather telling that a team as woeful as Baltimore would not pursue a free agent who had spent a good deal of time there.

I would normally say, due to the strong performance of JoVal last year, that Newhan was a good flyer, except that Valentin brought 228 career dingers to the table. Contrast that with Newhan's 20-homer ledger, and well, you have the unimpressive fortunes of your 2007 Mets.

I'm not sure it would be prudent to throw in the towel at present, but I would say that the Mets are going to need at least thirty homers out of Wright, Beltran, Delgado and twenty out of Reyes and Alou. The team is set up to live and die on offensive production, and the last thing any of us need is something reminiscent of the Mets' offensive output from September and October.

Thankfully, there are other capable sports teams in this city, one of which is presently the New York Rangers. Shocking, no? Merely a week ago, the team was in the throes of a vicious losing streak, one that is roughly analogous to a sixteen-game losing streak in MLB. Yet now, the Rangers have dispatched the Capitals, Devils, and Flyers, and are looking to make it four straight in Montréal today.

Oddly enough, the Rangers' recent winning streak has included very little contribution from lynchpins Shanahan and Jagr and more production from unlikely heroes Martin Straka, Darius Kasparaitis, and Marcel Hossa. Since the debacle in Toronto, Hank has been rather strong and has showed it off during this streak.

Oh, and how about that other sports team... your New York Jetropolitans, visiting Tom Brady and the Patriots over in Foxboro tomorrow for a PLAYOFF GAME. I was not a huge fan of the Mangini hiring, but clearly I have backtracked, and with good reason... the Jets are IN THE PLAYOFFS.

No need to dissect the game, we'll just see which coach can outscheme the other.

Jets 23
Patriots 16

We'll hope.

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A Bit of a Shock

It really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Barry Zito followed the money trail to San Francisco. It's not as though one could punish the Mets for refusing to give a pitcher who has been just above average every year of his career (save for that 2002 23-5 Cy Young season).

Why wouldn't Zito go to San Fran? He doesn't have to switch houses. Moreover, he switches to the National League and stays in a nice pitcher's park. He's not going to Texas. So, as far as I can tell, we have to give maximum credit to the Zito/Boras team. He received everything he could have wanted while not having to make a single sacrifice. In fact, he agreed to the largest deal ever given to a pitcher, tying Mike Hampton's and Kevin Brown's in terms of length, while surpassing both of those in total dollars.

It's funny, actually. One would assume that the greatest contracts ever would have been given to pitchers like Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, or Greg Maddux. These pitchers (with the partial exception of Pedro) have traditionally been the most durable. Up until a few years ago, they, not Hampton or Zito, were perennial Cy Young contenders.

It'll be enjoyable to watch the Giants' management drowning in a pool of their own tears once they realize that Zito isn't all that great. Thankfully for them, they have impressive young righty starter Matt Cain to be a mainstay as an ace, given that Zito certainly cannot fill that role.

The issue for the Mets now exists with the fact that their rotation is in shambles. It's foolish to count on Pedro for anything more than a minimal contribution down the stretch. So, your rotation looks like this:

1. Tom Glavine
2. Orlando Hernandez
3. John Maine
4. Oliver Perez
5. Mike Pelfrey/Phil Humber/Dave Williams

Although we have all recently adopted the "In Omar We Trust" mantra, it's hard to give him much credit for assembling this rotation. El Duque has a history of breaking down: his 162.1 innings this past year were the most since he threw 195.2 in 2000.

Glavine's history is injury-free, but he's unable to go very deep into games unless he's hitting the plate exactly with his changeup. It's tough to say this, but the 41 year-old lefty is probably the closest thing this rotation has to a sure thing.

Maine is a bit of a wild-card. He obviously has an impressive fastball and has shown the ability to work with secondary pitches from time to time, but he survives on a low hit rate, something that usually means future pitfalls for pitchers. He also serves up far too many home runs and a few too many walks. Maine's future is undoubtedly bright, but it's difficult to say whether 2007 will be a progression or a regression.

Oliver Perez has become something of a folk hero within Mets circles. It's deserved, on some level, given his admirable performance on short notice during Game 7 of the NLCS. Perez obviously has a great arm, but it's ridiculous to pencil him in as a sure thing. He's always going to be something of a project, as far as I can tell, and it would not come as a shock to anyone if he was leading the league in strikeouts or biding his time at AAA at the All-Star Break. A bold prediction: Dave Williams and Phil Humber will both make as many (or more) starts for the Mets in 2007 as Perez will.

Pelfrey, Humber, Williams... they're all special in their own ways. It's hard not to like most of what we saw out of Williams last year, but history has shown that he's not exactly an elite pitcher. Humber made a strong recovery from 2005's TJ surgery, but it's hard to say that he's ready to contribute at the big-league level. As far as we can tell with Pelfrey, his biggest problem is working with his secondary pitches. His fastball has a ton of movement, but he can't always bring it over the plate for strikes.

So where do we go from here? Are the Mets really going to begin the season with all of these wildcards in the rotation? My best guess is that they won't. It's awfully likely that the Mets will make a move for a player like Jeff Weaver. If Weaver is still insistent on his four-year deal, it's a safe bet that the Mets will try to kick the tires on Tomo Okha and Tony Armas, Jr. I'm a fan of both, and either one would give the Mets a safe option to bide time until Pelfrey and Humber are dominating AAA.

Nobody said that it would take Zito to win the NL East. It's safe to say, though, that the division won't be as much of a cakewalk next year. The Phillies have upgraded their pitching, while the Marlins' young aces will be impressive as usual. Stay tuned. Omar must have something up his sleeve.

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A Christmas Story

Every year, children and youthful adults alike all anticipate the arrival of Santa on Christmas Day. Sure, there are some religions that don't worship the Santacious one, but for all intensive purposes, this is a universally giving Santa.

Santa's coming a little late this year. That's just the quaking in our bones, as all of us can tell that we'll have a brand-new shiny present for us come early January. Sure, it'll cost our franchise a good chunk of change, but he's coming. It really shouldn't matter. We won't get prices cut if they decide to sign Suppan instead.

Yes, we all know that Barry Zito's coming to town sometime soon. It always seemed like the likely destination for the long-haired idiosyncratic lefty. We've heard rumors forever about bringing Planet Zito to town.

And with Christmas approaching (and Hanukkah in the rearview mirror) the space under our ceremonial evergreen is mysteriously bare. We got a few of the presents we got last year again, but both of them looked old, dusty, and banged-up.

Later more presents appeared, including one with urine stains, and one that vaguely resembled Damion Easley. And sure, we even wound up with what had been our favorite present from a few holidays ago. It was repackaged nicely and I heard it was even a little cheaper.

But we're missing the great present, it seems. Where is that Lexus with the big red bow on it? Maybe times are tight and it makes more sense to settle for a Subaru. I don't think that's what we should be feeling this Christmas.

I took a peek in Omar's closet. I think that was dishonest of me. I'm sure, though, that it was in my readers' best interests. I know what he has up his sleeve. Ebenezer (or is Satan a more accurate name?) Boras is not going to ruin Christmas for the nation's greatest city.

I just hope that Santa can get here safely, what with Dontrelle Willis on the road and all. That's something that's just pretty hard to fathom. You're a professional athlete, making a couple million dollars a year, poised to get a huge raise, and you can't manage to hail a cab? Erm, wait, come to think of it given Mets history, you're probably safer driving drunk than taking a cab in Miami.

With all due seriousness, though, could anything make Zito a better fit for New York? Boras has expressed his client's desire to play for a championship contender. Zito also would fit in very well in the Mets' clubhouse, which includes his kindred spirits Pedro Martinez and Rick Peterson. Zito could refine his changeup with help from two of the top change-up pitchers of our generation in Glavine and Pedro. Orlando Hernandez and Julio Franco could tell him stories about the invention of the game, given that they played for Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's prior to the team's eventual migration to Oakland.

Zito's personality (and ethnicity) are both very marketable in this area. Undoubtedly, the Mets are in good position to pony up as well, given their new cable station (its shortcomings aside) and the arrival of a new stadium complete with a mondolicious naming rights package.

So fret you not, children, during this holiday season. Zito will soon remind us of the courtship of another Boras client whom we couldn't quite snag until after New Year's. Nevertheless, Mr. Beltran turned out okay after a little bit.

Merry Christmas. I'll be back on either Sunday or Monday for a little bit of Jets coverage.

Enjoy your substitute Santa (played above by Benny Agbayani).

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A Letdown

You have to worry about the Rangers. Even though the team is only a few games removed from a five-game winning streak and they still hold the division lead, it's not a bad idea to turn on the panic siren.

We hear about the flu striking the team, and sure, Kevin Weekes should not be starting for this team. Nevertheless, the Rangers have allowed a whopping 17 goals in their last three games while only scoring 6. Those numbers are made less stark by the 4-3 defeat last night at the hands of the Icelanders.

The problem with the Rangers is on some level due to a lack of depth. Young players with scoring ability, like Petr Prucha and Jarkko Immonen, are being buried on the third and fourth lines with incompetent goons like Ryan Hollweg and Colton Orr.

The Rangers team is made up of many players without a lot of scoring output. Jason Ward, who shifted for a bit with Jagr last night, has two goals and five assists on the season. Marcel Hossa has one goal and two assists. Those two combined have missed three games. Ryan Hollweg and Colton Orr, goons both, have played a bunch this season. Orr has skated in 23 games, while Hollweg has played in all 35 games this season. The two have combined for 0 points. Not one goal, not one assist. Combined they have taken 108 penalty minutes as well.

The shame in dressing these goons is that the Rangers are forced to rely on only their top two or three lines for scoring. Matt Cullen is disappointing (and now injured), and it's hard to see Immonen, as talented as he may be, stepping up to fill the void Cullen left.

If anything can tell you what's wrong with this season, it might be the following stat: penalty killer/solid faceoff man Blair Betts has notched 60 shots on goal and four of them have gone in. Lethal shooter Prucha has rarely been set up, only firing 49. Six of them have gone in.

The defensive corps is devoid of much offensive talent aside from Tyutin and Rozsival, as Marek Malik serves mostly as a physical presence. Karel Rachunek isn't all that special.

And here we stand- no Cullen or Nylander in sight, for now, and former Islander Brad Isbister and Thomas Pock are up from the minors.

PREDICTION: Rangers 3, Panthers 5

Weekes, starting in place of the flued-out Lundqvist, gets shelled again. Malik should be out of the lineup again, accompanying Hank, Nylander and Cullen in the press box. (source: The Blueshirts Blog)

Merry Hanukkah, Happy Christmas, the whole thing. See you back here if there's any resolution of anything related to Zito, the Rangers, the Knicks, or the Jets.

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Thuggish and Sluggish

I wish my notsomuch-anticipated return to blogging wasn't punctuated by a darling set of embarassing squads taking up residence at Madison Square Garden.

Your New York Knicks actually won tonight, alarmingly at the hand of $tephon (a little too clever, perhaps?) Marbury, against one of the league's best teams. I've decided that's not really saying much, given the disgraceful state of the NBA. It's not just that there are brawls. Hockey has fights too, you know.

What legitimately shocks me is the fact that the foremost role in the brawl was played by the league's leading scorer (Carmelo Anthony), who only a few days ago snagged the title from Allen Iverson, a man who has packed up his locker midseason to look for a better place. What is going on this league? Shouldn't the league's best players exhibit the most class? Take for example, the NFL, where elite wide receiver Terrell Owens is the epitome of class. Or you could maybe sneak a peek at the NHL a few years ago, where upper echelon scorer Todd Bertuzzi showed us how to respect the game and play with sportsmanship. Maybe you'll remember the tale of Barry Bonds, holder of many MLB records, who never broke any laws.

I don't understand why people seem to think that the NBA is doomed as a league filled with thugs. All professional sports leagues are filled with thugs. That's why, in most cases, they become athletes. They have the killer instinct. And in some cases, like that of Bears' DT Tank Johnson, they express that killer instinct by retaining six unlicensed firearms in their homes. Eight Cincinnati Bengals have been arrested this year. Many Vikings were arrested last year.

Baseball and hockey aren't devoid of criminal behavior either. Phillies RP Ugueth Urbina is still held in a Venezuelan jail cell on charges of attempted murder. Former #1 overall draft pick Josh Hamilton was recently selected first overall in the Rule V Draft, despite having prior battles with narcotics that netted him long suspensions. Hockey featured the Bertuzzi debacle, as well as an attempted murder allegedly organized by former Blues winger Mike Danton.

The media problem with basketball stems from the fact that there's really no barrier between the fans and the action, whatever it may be. Also, the players are usually big, black, and tattooed, which unfortunately provokes a subconcious prejudicial disposition in many. Football players may have similar appearances, but they are shielded by helmets, pads, and occasionally sleeves.

Basketball's problem is not unlike the others in sports. It's a mistake to compare this fight to that of a few years ago in Detroit. The fans had zero interaction with the sparring players during this brawl, and the league's suspensions and fines were dished out accordingly.

And to those who say that this fight proves that basketball has a serious problem on its hands, I would counter with this: the fight only proved one thing – that Isiah Thomas must go. His words after the game were startling, as he talked about how the Knicks had surrendered and how Nuggets Coach George Karl was wrong to leave his starters in. Isiah also apparently tried to explain this to Carmelo Anthony during the game, telling him to stay out of the paint.

What Isiah might lack, ironically, is that killer instinct. He lacks any sort of fire, and winds up through his action of dismissing Karl's friend Larry Brown inspiring the Nuggets more than the Knicks. It's not even that Isiah has done a poor job assembling this team, as his gamble on Eddy Curry seems to be a wise move. Hell, Thomas drafted wunderkind David Lee, and traded for Quentin Richardson, who has come alive this year. Marbury seems to be coming along as well.

The problem may lie in Thomas' coaching style, as only a few Knicks see it fit to play defense. It's not as though it takes an inordinate amount of skill to play defense well. Isiah's passive style has yet to yield hustle from the team. He has to go very soon. Bring anyone in. ANYONE.

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The Rangers stink. I was at the game on Sunday. Oops.

I will postpone judgment on Renney, Sather, the players, and Brian Leetch until tomorrow.

Here's something of note: Sandis "Fruit of the Vine" Ozolinsh was waived today. If he clears waivers, which he undoubtably will, he will be assigned to Hartford and the Rangers save some of his cap money.

Thank god. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to prep more sarcastic remarks next time I went to the Garden.
I was excited when we got him, but the former All-Star has less than nothing left in the tank, and really likes refueling that tank with alcohol before driving. You might remember when he scored on his own goal during the playoffs last year. Good riddance.

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