NYaT

Views from the Seat: Rangers vs. Senators Game 7

2012-04-27T00:30:00.000-04:00

What a night tonight at MSG. The house was rocking, the game was exciting, my heart is still racing, and the win was exhilirating. Below are some pictures and one video after the Rangers second goal. All from the newly renovated Section 343, Row B. Pretty awesome experience:

View From The Seats: Twins at Yankees

2012-04-16T21:27:00.001-04:00

Back at Yankee Stadium for my first game of 2012 for the Minnesota Twins vs the New York Yankees. This didn't seem like it was going to be a pitchers duel coming in with Freddy Garcia against Carl Pavano, but after a bad 1st inning, Pavano has settled down and held the Yankees in check.

My real attention tonight is to the Rangers as I feel like Steve Bartman sitting at a Yankee game with headphones in but, you know, priorities. The Yankees still have 3 innings to make up the deficit as they trail 5-3 through 6 1/2 innings in the Bronx.

View from the Seats: Rangers vs Red Wings

2012-03-21T22:20:00.001-04:00

The Original Six matchups are usually more fun but tonight was especially so as the New York Rangers got a huge two points beating the Red Wings 2-1 on Overtime at Madison Square Garden.

Today was especially cool as I got to watch the game from a luxury suite (h/t to Howie on that).

After the Rangers fell behind 1-0 on a soft goal, it looked like it could be a long night but the Rangers came back with a power play goal on an amazing move from Brad Richards and an Overtime winner from the Captain, Ryan Callahan.

Henrik Lundqvist was especially good tonight as the Rangers were sloppy in their own zone. He helped the Rangers to move 3 points in front of the surging Pittsburg Penguins for first place on the Eastern Conference. Huge two points for the Rangers tonight in front of the Garden faithful.

NYaT Fantasy Baseball League 2012

2012-03-19T10:40:00.003-04:00

The 2012 league is ready to go. Go sign up for ultimate blog bragging rights!
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		Hey NYaT Reader, You have been invited to join NYaT's custom league in Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball, NYaT. In order to join the league, follow the link above or go to game front page, click the "Sign Up Now" or "Get Another Team" button and follow the links to "Join a Custom League". When prompted, enter the League ID# and password below. League ID#: 132136 Password: Mo We will send you a confirmation with further details once you have completed the registration process. --Fantasy Baseball Commissioner http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1

A Fun Debate: The Ultimate 25-Man Roster

2012-03-09T10:07:00.002-05:00

Opening Day is less than a month away, but in the meantime baseball fans all need something to keep them busy while their teams get ready down in Florida or Arizona. A few years ago, during a long roadtrip out to Pittsburgh (my favorite ballpark I've seen in person, by the way), my friend and I did a hypothetical of the starting lineup you would build if you wanted to build a team for the next 3 years.

It ends up we weren't thinking far enough ahead. As ESPN's SweetSpot posted this morning: "Michael Baumann of Crashburn Alley has a fun post on a theoretical question: If your life depended on winning the next 10 World Series, who do you pick for your 25-man roster? Money is no object. Injuries are a factor. Your team can't be too old, or it won't win down the road. It can't be too young or it won't win now. So who do you take?"

10 years is a long time so there is a lot of commitment involved here which means that you really have to look hard at those guys in their late 20s and early 30s to see how they will age in the last 5 years of this project. Starting pitching is the toughest, in my opinion, to figure out (especially since injuries are a factor). The other positions have their tough calls as well, like second base: do you go with a Robinson Cano or Dustin Pedroia who may be a little older but are more polished, or do you go with a young stud like Dustin Ackley and hope that he is your answer there?

Let us know what you think in the comments below. Even if you just want to give your starting 9, let's see what you've got.

View from the Seats: Rangers vs Devils

2012-02-27T21:57:00.001-05:00

Tonight I'm checking out a new section of Madison Square Garden, West Balcony 19, Row 1. This is an awesome way to watch the game, even if the picture doesn't do it justice. An awesome view and I'm excited for them to finish the construction because that walkway will be very cool.

This game has been a defensive battle as only 26 shots have been attempted so far in the game. Rangers lead 1-0 on a chippy game as we get down to the final few minutes at MSG

View from the Seats: Knicks vs Hawks

2012-02-22T21:47:00.001-05:00

I had to check out Linsanity in person and, well, wow. A few years ago, the fun and excitement at the Garden was booing Isiah Thomas as they were losing. Now, it's Lob City East and Linning. And it's awesome (h/t to Doug on the awesome seats, too. Section 9, row 16 is the way to watch the game).

It's also a different Knicks team with offensive weapons, depth and *gasp* defense. It's at least fun to watch which is more than I could say earlier in the season. Now, Pringles still has a job, Jeremy Lin jerseys are all over MSG and this is a team that looks like they can do something in the playoffs if they get there.

Well, maybe. But, tonight, as they lead the Hawks by 20 in the 4th, Madison Square Garden is rocking again for Basketball just watched Lin get another assist towards a double-double. Awesome.

Leading a Semi-Charmed Kind of Sports Life

2012-02-13T09:59:00.002-05:00

There's a Seinfeld episode where George realizes that it's better to get up and leave the room after telling a great joke and go out on that note, than stay and have the possibility of ruining the mood. I sort of feel like that in my last year of sports. It hasn't always been championships and parades, but, for the most part, it's been pretty close. Here's what it's looked like:

Like Victor Cruz at the Grammy's, I've been salsa'ing with my sports year (sports grid)

February 2011: Won a quarter of the Super Bowl squares. No skill, nothing you can do, but pray, but I took home a nice sum of money just for the score ending up on a random set of numbers. Thank you, Green Bay Packers!

April 2011: Despite knowing very little about the NCAA tournament, I took home the title before the final game was ever played in my only money league. That makes it 4 times in the past 5 years I've come out in they money in March Madness brackets. Proving, once again, that knowing less is sometimes more.

August 2011: Pitching wins championships ended up not only being a mantra in real baseball, but fantasy baseball as well as a 16-team league strategy of hoarding pitchers led to a huge division title in one of the tougher fantasy baseball leagues I've ever played in. I am pretty good at fantasy baseball, but that still was one of my greatest seasons to date.

September 2011: Not only did the Yankees take an improbable AL East crown, but I watched the best final day of the regular season in the history of the game which also saw the Red Sox (and Jonathan Papelbon) blow a huge September lead to take "choking" to a whole new level. "2004" can now be countered with "2011". I will always remember flipping back-and-forth between the live games and MLB Tonight, watching the insanity unfold.

January 2012: After starting out 0-3 in my work league (with two losses to auto-picked teams), my fantasy football season looked done. A ridiculous winning streak later took me to the playoffs where I got to knock off the # 5, # 1, and # 2 seed on my way to the championship (sound familiar?!). There was money involved in this work league but the real prize for first place: another vacation day for 2012.

February 2012 (and beyond): In December, against the Jets, the Giants were at 7-7, down 7-3 and were back at their own 1-yard line. Victor Cruz caught the pass from Eli Manning and the Giants never stopped salsa'ing the rest of the season. The Giants improbable playoff run ends with another improbable Super Bowl over the New England Patriots. I attended the only home playoff game and then got to see the Ticker Tape Parade.

The New York Rangers are in first place. Linsanity is taking over Madison Square Garden. The New York Yankees are making great, under-the-radar moves to gear up for the 2012 season. I got a chance to write a pinch hit post for the LoHud Yankees blog. And, oh, I took three quarters of Super Bowl squares again making it an amazing 4 out of the last 4 years I've won money in that luck-only league. I'm not sure what the rest of 2012 will bring, but I feel like I'm living the good life, sports wise, the past year. Let's hope it continues with a few more parades down the Canyon of Heroes.

Lin & Trivia

2012-02-10T14:10:00.004-05:00

I thought I'd share the trivia I prepared for the Super Bowl party I attended in the heart of Giants country---- Northern Jersey!!!

The answers appear a little ways below the link to the Jeremy Lin photo gallery on nypost.com

Total possible points 18 (one more than Jeremy Lin’s #)

1) Where did Eli go to college?
2) Where did Brady go to college? Bonus if you can name that school’s fight song.
3) Why no handles on tea cups in China?
4) What was score of previous Giants vs. Pats Super bowl?
5) What cities in Florida have hosted a Super Bowl?
6) Which QB threw most Interceptions in a Super Bowl (5)?
7) Name a team that has never won a Super Bowl?
8) Name a team that has never been in a Super Bowl?
9) Name a recording artist from Indiana?
10) What do they drink in the winner’s circle at the Indy 500?
11) What is the #1 beer brand sold in the USA?
12) This family activity has decreased 80% in US households since 1960? (Answer is not board games.)
13) Who did the Giants lose to in their only Super Bowl loss? Bonus if you can explain the team’s nickname.

Couple bonus questions I did not have Sunday
14) What did Pat Sajak & Vanna White do on dinner breaks in early days of the Wheel of Fortune?
a)knock boots b)pass the dutchie c)get drunk d)eat Pink’s hot dogs

15)Who has all 3 highest passing yard games in Super Bowls?
a) Elway b) Montana c)Brady d)Kurt Warner

15) On February 3, 2012 a new Disneyland/Disneyworld policy allows employees to do what? bonus if you can name the term for Disneyland/world employees.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/jeremy_lin_dLjyQee73bBU3P0WHfNsVO?photo_num=12

I hope everyone is geared up to watch Jeremy Lin tear up the point guard combo of Derek Fisher and Steve Blake tonight. Unfortunately the Knicks have to try and stop Kobe with Landry Fields or Iman Shumpert or maybe they will even give Jared Jeffries a shot. The hype of the last week on this kid has been great as a Knicks fan, from the talk of him sleeping on couches since his contract was not guaranteed until Tuesday or the fact that you can not even buy a Lin Jersey yet. Now we hear that the Knicks games are going to be broadcast in China because of Lin. Of course people have talked about other hysteria in sports with a new player such as Fernando Valenzuela or in hoops maybe Yao. But Fernando is probably a better call since Lin has come out of nowhere being undrafted, although he got into 29 games last year in Golden State and was a fan favorite since he grew up in the Bay area. For now let's enjoy the ride, and hope Lin can keep the mojo going for the Knicks who come into tonights ball game tied with Cleveland for 9th in the East---- nuf said.

1) Ole Miss
2) Michigan ---bonus Hail to the Victors
3)too hot to hold too hot to drink
4)17-14
5)Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville
6)Rich Gannon
7) 8)if u don't know these quit
9)John Cougar Mellancamp or Jim Nabors(Gomer Pyle) only 2 I know
10)Milk
11)Bud Light
12)Reading to kids at bed time
13)Baltimore ravens--- bonus Edgar Allan Poe from Baltimore his famous poem was The Raven. I am kind of more partial to the Cask of Amantillado but I guess the Baltimore Casks is no good.
14) c --- get drunk
15)d Kurt Warner
16) Beards--- bonus is Cast members

Will The Public's Confidence Get to the Giants?

2012-02-04T20:39:00.000-05:00

It’s been a while since the last blog post, but I couldn’t let this entire New York Giants playoff run go by without something. Anything. I just have been one big ball of confused emotion during this playoff run. It wasn’t that I didn’t think the Giants had this in them (I did), but I thought that this team had too many big injures and too many inconsistencies to go more than one game in the playoffs. They seemed like they were doomed to have that one, head-scratching game. That whole last paragraph and everything about this playoff run could have been a VHS-style grainy replay of the 2007-2008 football season, except for one thing: the public (and even the Giants website) is picking the Giants.

The Giants website is even overconfident about the team (NYDN)

Don’t get me wrong, I have confidence in my team and I’m happy they’re confident in themselves, but every time the general public starts picking the Giants en masse, the Giants play like a mess. There are many, many differences between 2007 and 2011 but the biggest difference is that the Giants are finally at the point where many people don’t think they can lose—and that scares me to death.

I can’t shake that feeling that this team is going to win either which means that I’m definitely setting myself up for disaster. Why am I so confident? As they say in weight loss commercials, past results don’t predict the future, but the Giants beat the Patriots earlier in the season when their offensive line was terrible and disorganized, Ahmad Bradshaw and Hakeem Nicks were out with injuries, and the Giants defense could be described as porous…at best. Now? They have a confident O-line (hey 2007), a defense that’s playing like no one can stop them (yo 2007), and health at the right time of year with role players stepping up for those who are out for the season (what’s up 2007). Oh, and the Giants have three top wide receivers, two tight ends who can catch the ball and three running backs who can work the screen out of the backfield with an ELIte quarterback at the helm and a defense that is so bad that they’ve employed a wide receiver (Julian Edelmen) as the cover DB against the other team’s best receiving threat*.
*Side Note: If you’re a Ravens fan, one of the worst things about that AFC Championship game besides the missed FG, the dropped TD by Lee Evans and, well, the lack of time out before that FG try, was the fact that Edelman was covering Anquan Boldin and a DB from the practice squad (Sterling Moore) was covering Evans and the Ravens couldn’t exploit it. They didn’t deserve to win.

Let’s not forget that this Giants season could have been over, though, if not for a blocked kick by Jason Pierre-Paul, Tony Romo missing a wide-open Miles Austin, the Packers receiving corps forgetting how to catch the ball or Ted Ginn, Jr. staying healthy. I mean imagine how disappointing the end of this Giants season would have been had they not showed up for the second half of that Jets game and never gotten to that Cowboys game with something to play for at the end of the season? I hate to get all Sliding Doors on you, but this Lucky Charms run would never have occurred had it not been for a few breaks, a few defensive backs running into each other, and a few whistles going the right way.

The Giants seem to have Tom Brady’s number like few teams have in the past 4 years. 3 wins in 4 years would be an amazing achievement. Go back and let me know how many teams have beat Tom Brady twice out of two times in one season as the Giants are trying to do this year. I’ll wait.

And that’s the thing the most frightening about this game: it’s not about the Giants offensive prowess or their momentum or anything else: if the Giants can’t stop Tom Brady, nothing else is going to matter. Eli Manning plays from behind like few quarterbacks before him, but Tom Brady, if he has time, will thread the Giants defense. Yeah, I know the Giants defense has been dominating lately, but they are the same players who got lit up by Rex Grossman, looked dead against the Saints, and couldn’t stop the Seattle Seahawks during crunch time.

So there’s my contrarian view, trying to turn around this awful jinx of people picking the Giants.

Now back to why I love this team: they are a bunch of scrappy, chip-on-your-shoulder guys who seem to play above your head. ESPN recently went through the entire Giants roster and showed how they got to the Giants—check it out here. Sure they have five of their last six first-round picks starting on Sunday, but the rest of the team are full of great stories. Here’s something crazy: 4 out of the last 5 2nd round picks for the Giants are on IR this year (the 5th is Linval Joseph). They are built by either high draft picks that people questioned (like JPP), or late-round, practice squad, or undrafted players like Bradshaw, Victor Cruz, Jake Ballard, Danny Ware, Henry Hynoski, and Chase Blackburn. They have built this team into a TEAM which was far from what I felt when the Giants of 2010 collapsed in the second-half of the year.

This is not a team that doesn’t frustrate you at times. They can’t run the ball (especially to the edges) yet a few times a game you’ll see the double tight-end set on the left side of Eli and know that he’s about to pitch the ball to Brandon Jacobs who will run in slow motion for a 2-yard loss. They have a really hard time finishing out teams, letting some of their really bad opponents back into games they should never have been close to in the first place. And they sometimes take a while to get pressure on the quarterback, waiting until the second-half of the game to really get the pass-rush going.

So on Sunday I’ll be rooting for a team that’s tough to watch even when they win. I’ll bang the table and throw something at some point during the day and wonder whether the Giants can actually get over the ghost of Myra Kraft (and as a Brandeis alum, that’s the only thing I would be 1% okay with if the Patriots won—well, maybe less than 1%, but higher than 0%).

But I think the Giants can do it. I think they can find a way to thread the needle against the Patriots pass rush, build off their special-teams success from San Francisco, and have Deon Grant step up to stop Rob Gronkowski (even if it means stepping on his ankle). And I’ll be praying that the Adam Vinatieri Curse and the Bridget Moynahan Curse both come full into effect to overcome that everyone seems to be as confident in this Giants team as I am. Let’s go Big Blue!