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NY & LA Pt.3 – The Fans

The Fans

New York City – Meritocracy

The fans in the Big Apple ask for one thing: WIN. They don’t mind being the Evil Empire (see: Yankees) or the Underdog (see: Giants), as long as you get the job done. The old adage of “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere” applies in to New York sports. If you can ball, you have the love of the masses. If you can’t, you can take the first flight out of JFK. Like New York weather, NY’s sports scene can be scorching one day and snowing the other. The fans are intensely passionate and fiercely loyal, but New York is also a cold, unforgiving place. Just ask Mark Sanchez and he will tell you the cold hard truth: that you’re only one butt-fumble away from being boo’ed in your home arena. Amare and Melo were once touted as New York’s white knights, the saving grace for a long-dead Knicks, and combined with Tyson Chandler, another Big Three. Now, whenever there’s an injury, there’s an endless barrage of “Are the Knicks better without ____.” Except for Tyson Chandler—he’s great.

P.S. Remember when we loved A-Rod?

Los Angeles – Theocracy

If sports is a religion, for Angelino’s it’s not polytheistic. There is one god. And it is the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe is their Pope and Staples, their Sistine Chapel. Don’t get me wrong, LA loves their other teams, but the Kings won the Stanley Cup and all Los Angeles could talk about was what to do with Andrew Bynum. Clippers are making the best run in their franchise’s history but the Lakers fighting for 8th seed bumps them off the headlines. It’s not that Laker fans aren’t fickle and clamoring for revolution when the Lakers have their struggles (see: Mike Brown, soon-to-be Mike D’Antoni), it’s that they are single-minded in their love or hate of their Lakers. There are no cross-town rivalries. There is no subway series and except for the minority of die-hards and band-wagoners, Los Angeles is Laker-Nation.

P.S. What a wonderful pope he is.

The Knicks: A Conversation

Me: I’d be happy if they lost by 5 or 10.
Thomas: Does that mean they’re down?
Me: Only by four.

Thomas showers

Tom: What’s the score?
Me: Down by ten.
Thomas: What?!
Me: What did you expect? They’re playing the tenth seed in the west.
Thomas: …

Me: Let’s see, who can the Knicks beat?
Thomas: Hmm…
Me: The Cavs maybe. Minus Kyrie Irving.
Thomas: Only if Kyrie is out.

silence

Thomas: The Wizards!
Me: Yes! The Wizards!

silence

Me: The Sixers?
Thomas: I don’t know about that.
Me: Maybe if Jrue Holliday is having an off day.
Thomas: Sacramento?
Me: They just beat Chicago by forty points.
Thomas: Oh.

THE END

Booing ‘Melo: How ‘Melo Stacks Up Against The NBA’s Other Prodigal Sons

Today the Knicks went back to Denver and got utterly spanked by the Nuggets. Melo went out with knee problems and Tyson Chandler went down with a “knee contusion” that for me, felt like this:

The Knicks’ playoff chances will come or go with Chandler’s health. He’s the foundation of the team and I don’t care how good ‘Melo or Stat might be, the Knicks don’t win a playoff series without Tyson Chandler. They don’t win the Atlantic Division either. Anyway, in other news, ‘Melo returns to Denver!

To an expected amount of boos. Let me tell you how this is similar and different than other recent All-Star exoduses. So how does ‘Melo stack up?

3. The Melo-Drama

What The Nuggets got for Melo: Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, 2014 1st Round Pick
Nuggets Record With Melo: 38 – 28 (.567 pct)
Nuggets Record After Melo: 44 -22 (.667 pct)
Melo’s Return Game: DEN 117 – NY 94

‘Melo might have complained about being in Denver a lot, but he sure got them some important pieces to build around. Without his fat contract, the Nuggets have also been able to accquire some other stars like Andre Iguodala. Denver can be mad at ‘Melo for leaving them or dissing their town, but they can’t say that he screwed over the franchise. Especially now that it’s obvious that Denver is a better team now without him.

2. The Dwightmare

What The Magic got for Dwight: Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless, Arron Afflalo and three future first-round picks.
Magic Record With Dwight : 37 – 29 (.561 pct)
Magic Record After Dwight: 18 – 47 (.277 pct)
Dwight’s Return Game: ORL 97 – LA 106

The Dwightmare seemed to drag on forever as the Magic locker-room was constantly bombarded with questions about Dwight’s future. Stan Van Gundy lost a job but Hedo Turkoglu kept his. Despite the criticism, Orlando got a fair amount of value in exchange for Dwight, including future picks that we’ve yet to see. On top of that, they dropped Jason Richardson’s ugly contract. However, the Magic are clearly at a disadvantage without the NBA’s best center and have fallen far from the perennial playoff contender they once were.

1. The Decision

What Cleveland got for Lebron: Two 1st-round draft picks, two 2nd-round picks, Trade Exception
Cavs Record With Lebron: 61 – 21 (.744 pct)
Cavs Record After Lebron: 19 – 63 (.232 pct)
Lebron’s Return Game: CLE 90 – MIA 118

Of course The Decision is number one. This departure left the NBA with the most visceral reaction, because not only were jerseys burned in Cleveland, Lebron was booed in arenas all across the league for at least a year after the decision. He left his hometown team in a one-hour special that will live in infamy. In his defense, Cleveland management really did fail to put a winning team around Lebron. His absence took the Cav’s from the best record in the NBA to the worst, including a history streak of sucking. I remember when the Cav’s were like, “oh. Here’s Antawn Jamison. That will make it ok, right? Right?” He had his reasons for leaving, and he did raise a million dollars for kids, and he does seem like a genuinely good person, and he does have the best chance of catching Michael, but I think I’ll boo him for the rest of my life. When he won his first ring, I remember joking that now Lebron can go back to Cleveland and win one without the pressure. Now it looks like it could have a chance.

BTW: The pick used to acquire Kyrie Irving wasn’t even from Lebron’s trade. It was the Clipper’s pick that they traded for Baron Davis.

NY & LA: Two Great Sport Cultures…Pt.1 – The King

Since 2010, I’ve split my time between New York and Los Angeles. These years have also been my formative years in sports fan-dom, so my loyalties have grown recently—not in the time I grew up in NY. For all the people who get wonder why I don’t particularly care for the Knicks, that’s the explanation in a nutshell. I’m starting a series of comparisons between the cities. This is the first installment.

The King
Every great empire must have a king. These are the sports icons, the living gods amongst mere men. We know the cities. These are their kings.

New York City – Derek Jeter – “The Captain”

Derek Jeter IS New York sports. His easy charm embodies the blase attitude of the city while his fierce competitiveness captures New York’s determination and grit. Mr. November is the quintessential professional and New York’s most eligible bachelor. There are never stories about Jeter to distract the clubhouse, but everyone in the city has a friend with a story about Jeter in a club. A legendary career and an urban legend, Jeter wins the crown in Gotham.

Notable Stat: Jeter is 5 of 7 in World Series(es?). Judging by injuries to the Yank’s this season, it looks like that will be the number he’s retiring with
Crowning Moment:: The Flip. Jeter makes an unforgettable play that shows the instincts and ballsiness that has made him an immortal baseball icon.

Los Angeles – Kobe Bryant – “The Black Mamba”

Without a question, Kobe is King of LA. The Black Mamba is Undisputed Dictator of the city of angels and you know what? He wouldn’t have it any other way. He seized the throne for himself by way of coup (sorry, Shaq) and has no intention of giving it up any time soon (sorry, Dwight). He has the most indomitable will that I, personally, have ever witnessed in sports and he’s won the hearts of Los Angeles by being a classy, larger-than-life figure that blurs the line between athlete and Hollywood celeb. And it’s not Angelinos, either. I’ve never seen a player who gets MVP chants in opponent arenas and I don’t know if I ever will again.

Notable Stat: Kobe has played enough playoff games to fill three full NBA seasons. He’s 5 of 6 in Finals and is showing that if you give him the chance, he’s going to make a run to tie Michael.
Crowning Moment: The Fourth – After years of hearing that Shaq won them the first three titles, Kobe gets the monkey off his back with his fourth title and first Finals MVP.

Why the Jets Will Trade Revis

Why The Jets Will Trade Revis
by: sunroot liu

Rumors have begun to swirl about the Jets trading star CB Darrelle Revis. Revis’ contract is set to expire at the end of this coming season and Revis has all but put the Jets on Holdout Watch 2013. This is why I think Jets management should and will trade him this offseason.

1. The Jets Suck
The Jets have way too many holes in their offense. They need a QB that’s not Mark Sanchez. They need a real RB if they’re ever going to successfully run a Ground-and-Pound offense. They need help in their line since they’ve let go of Bart Scott and they could use some real receivers. A better pass rush wouldn’t hurt either. If the Jets could get some pieces or draft picks for arguably the best shutdown corner in the NFL, they should pull the trigger.

2. Revis is an Ass
Revis has proven that he’s prepared to put himself above the team by holding out in 2010 and threatening to hold out again. Keeping a team on edge and having management worry about him is no way to endear the Jets to him. People often say that the best player on a team sets the tone for it, and while Revis is undoubtedly the Jets’ best player, his me-first attitude isn’t something you would want in the locker-room

3. Revis is an Ass…Part 2
Richard Sherman, CB for the Seahawks, is a young stud gunning for the title of the NFL’s best cornerback. In a recent TV interview, Sherman left Revis out of a list of the top corners in the league, on account of Revis being out this season with a torn ACL. The following Twitter feud ensued.

Sherman pads his argument with stats. Really good stats. Revis argues that he has more Twitter followers. Maybe Bieber can start next year. He has more followers than the population of his home country.

4.
Revis’ knee blew up. ACL/MCL injuries are a big deal. Despite what Adrian Peterson’s MVP season has shown us, players don’t always bounce back quickly and quite often never bounce back at all. On top of that, the demands on a cornerback’s knees can be more demanding than a running back’s in their need to backpedal and rotate. There’s no guarantee that Revis comes back to be the defensive force that he once was.

5. The Age of The Tight End
As football continues to evolve, we see the rise of complex offenses and teams with a diverse range of weapons. If you take the Pats for example (an AFC East rival), maybe Revis can stop Welker or Lloyd but it doesn’t do a thing about Hernandez and Gronk. It’s great that Revis can shut a guy down, but you wonder if it’s even a good thing that you force QB’s to throw to other players. While I’m not going to make the argument that having a worse cornerback is a better, I think the price tag on Revis, an A+ corner, versus a B/B+ corner isn’t worth it. Is that marginal cost? I forget

Sunroot Liu

work in progress

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