Top 5 sports moments of 2010

1. The Decision: "I'm taking my talents to South Beach." These seven words uttered by LeBron James, with about 10 percent of the country watching, broke the hearts of an entire state (Ohio), while kinda making a touristy city that doesn't care about sports partially happy (Miami). LeBron went about the Decision incredibly wrong and he lost many fans in the process, including me, but if you didn't think the Decision was fascinating, then you don't know what fascinating is. This event was so big it broke the Mom test and created countless spoofs and angry videos from Clevelanders. The aftermath of the Decision is that the Cavaliers are terrible now, and the Heat are great. Does anyone in Miami really care though? Nope.
2. The Missed Call: When umpire Jim Joyce made an incorrect call to break up a perfect game for Detroit Tiger's pitcher Armando Gallaraga, it felt like the world was going to explode. This story transcended the world of sports and made the topic of instant replay in baseball come to the forefront of every sports discussion. In the end, a great show of sportsmanship and kindness by Gallaraga trumped everything bad that had happened, and although Gallaraga didn't technically pitch a perfect game, he got more recognition than anyone else who did this year.
3. The World Cup: And this is coming from someone who basically does not like soccer at all. The World Cup was riveting, from the opening concert to the championship match. USA made a spectacular run and the country of South Africa was put on display for all its greatness. With a German octopus predicting games, and a touch of vuvuzela controversy, there probably could not have been a more interesting world cup.
4. The Tiger Apology: There are championships won every year, great upsets, comebacks, and plays, but never has the most famous athlete in the world been caught cheating on his wife, go to a sex rehabilitation center, and then apologize for it. The Tiger Woods saga might just be the biggest sports story that crossed over into pop culture in the history of the world. I mean, damnnn, this guy was on the cover of Sports Illusrated and Us Weekly in the same week. ESPN became a station dedicated to relationship drama for months, and they spent more time on this than even the extremely annoying Brett Favre drama. Maybe not actually, Brett Favre is on ALL the time! And to make things more interesting, when Tiger returned to golf, he suddenly was not that good anymore. The entire Tiger story is one for the ages.
5. The Endless Match: When it finally did end the result was Isner def. Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68. This epic Wimbledon match lasted for 11 hours and five minutes shattering records and creating one of the most remarkable sporting contests of all time. Who cares who won Wimbledon, the Isner vs. Mahut match was remarkable with the players stopping to go to the bathroom to Mahut still diving after balls in the 10th hour of a match. It was perhaps the most memorable tennis match of all time, with a fifth set for the ages.

honorable mentions: The entire olympics, especially the gold medal hockey game. Saints win the Superbowl. Butler comes oh so close to winning the NCAA tournament.

My teams are terrible

Remember all that New York Knicks excitement from a week ago. Well, that's gone. The Knicks got obliterated by Miami (who have LeBron James), and then lost to lowly Cleveland (who don't have anyone). Thankfully, the Knicks don't play again until Wednesday, so they can get some much needed rest. On Wednesday though they play the 19-10 Kevin Durant Thunder. And then Chicago on Christmas day, followed by Miami again and Orlando. Come 2011, there is a very good chance the Knicks will be on a seven game losing streak. I know I'm Jewish and Hanukah's over, but if I could get a Christmas gift, Santa, please bring Carmelo Anthony.

The New York Giants suffered the most painful regular season loss I can remember in my nearly 17 years of life on Sunday. Apparently being up by 21 points with eight minutes to go is not a safe lead for the G-men, who all but handed the Philadelphia Eagles the NFC East title.

From missed tackles, to a misfielded onside kick, to the dumbest punt I have ever

seen, the Giants literally collapsed. The Giants can still clinch the wildcard with a win next week against Green Bay, but if they don't, Tom Coughlin should be fired immediately.

Also, I am so sick and tired of the Jets. Can people PLEASE stop talking about the Jets. Who cares besides some whack-job fireman and some other people who can spell a four letter word really loudly?

Oh, the Devils. Now ranked 30th out of 30 teams, the New Jersey Devils have literally hit the bottom. After a 7-1 loss to Atlanta, the team that traded the Devils Ilya Kovalchuk, it is apparent that this season is over for the Devils, not that it wasn't before. The gradual decline of the Devils has been in motion for a few years now, with the departure of players like Scott Stevens, Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer, Jay Pandolfo, and John Madden, to name a few, but the decline has reached its zenith this season. Martin Brodeur just can't seem to do it anymore. Ilya Kovalchuk is looking the

worst signing in the history of the NHL, and no one else can score goals either. First year head coach John Maclean should be fired shortly, and general manager Lou Lamoriello can start the rebuilding process. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Devils are rebuilding.

The Garden is Rockin', and Spike is Talkin'

I remember growing up in the 90s and watching all the great Knick games back when Patrick Ewing roamed the Madison Square Garden floor and Spike Lee and Reggie Miller had some less than friendly conversations. The New York Knickerbockers changed as soon the 90s became the 00s and a decade of horrendous basketball followed. Finally, as the 00s turned into the 10s, it seems as if basketball is relevant in New York once again.

The signing of free agent Amar'e Stoudemire has completely reversed the losing feel of the Knicks and New York has surged to a 16-10 start a quarter of the way through the season. After an eight game winning streak where Stoudemire scored 30 or more points in each game, the Knicks finally lost to the Boston Celtics in a Garden classic Wednesday night. Boston's Paul Pierce said before the game that it wasn't a real rivalry because the Knicks have been so bad the last decade, but everything changed as the Knicks earned some much deserved respect losing on Pierce's last second game winner. After the game he said, "The Knicks have arrived."

Yes, the Knicks certainly have arrived. There is a buzz around the city and in the Garden that

hasn't been felt in a very long time. Amar'e is playing better than any player in the league and is an early candidate for league MVP. The Garden is the place to be once again as tickets are getting harder to get and celebrities once again inhabit celebrity row. Spike Lee was court side as always and even he was whooping it up like it was the 90s. After a decade of suffering, it feels good be to a Knick fan once again.

As much as I want to enjoy the winning, it's impossible to ignore a certain player that wears number 15 and plays in the state of Colorado. Brooklyn native and Syracuse alum, Carmelo Anthony, is who I speak of, of course. He has already stated that he wants to be traded from Denver to New York, but many Knick fans have been debating how much he is worth. There is no doubt that Carmelo is one of the top five players in the NBA and an elite perimeter scorer but is he worth giving up Wilson Chandler, Danillo Galinari, or rookie Landry fields. Most likely the Knicks will lose at least two of those players, plus more, if they want to trade for Carmelo. The Knicks could wait for the summer to sign Carmelo as a free agent but there would be even further complications if they wait. As much as I love the young talent the Knicks have, if they have the chance to get Carmelo, they should get him. Just like Miami and Boston have done, the Knicks need to add another superstar to their lineup to compliment Amar'e. With the inside play of Amar'e and the perimeter presence of Anthony, the Knicks would be an immediate title contender.

Also, it's important to point out how great point guard Raymond Felton has played this season. It took awhile to click, but Felton and Amar'e have been running the pick and roll just as well as Amar'e did it with Steve Nash in Phoenix. Just thinking about the leading threesome of Amar'e, Felton, and Carmelo is enough to make me salivate as a fan.

The Knicks play Miami on Friday night, and the Garden will be rocking as LeBron James comes to town for the first time since he jilted the Knicks on the Decision. No matter the outcome, there is no doubt that the buzz is back, the Knicks are fun once again. Hell, even my Mom was watching the Boston game on Wednesday, and when a game passes the Mom Test, you know it's good.

What $1.6 billion buys

On Sunday I went to my first game at the New Meadowlands stadium. My grandpa, who has had Giant's season tickets for over 50 years, and I took the short drive from my home in Demarest to the swamp in East Rutherford to watch the G-men take on the Titans. The game the Giants played was appalling and embarrassing but that's a whole other issue.

As for the new $1.6 billion stadium, I felt sad, frustrated, and flat out angry. Basically, the stadium sucks! There was no reason to build a new one in the first place, but the fact that they did and made it worse, is disgusting.

It is not for the fans! I'm sure the box seats are nice but the average person does not get to go to a box to watch a football game. Big business, corporations, greed, and corruption are taking over professional sports while the working class guy who wants to enjoy himself for a few hours on a sunday is getting screwed. My grandpa, who's been going to games since the Giants played at the Polo Grounds, had to pay more money for his seats this year and the seats are further away and higher up. How did this happen?

Problems with the stadium:

1. Parking was completely ignored. Getting to the stadium is a nightmare so even if the stadium was great, the experience would still be ruined.
2. No roof. How can $1.6 billion be spent, and they can't even get a retractable roof so fans don't need to sit in snowy 20 degree weather.
3. No urinal dividers. For all that money they could at least give people who are peeing a little privacy. I do not enjoy it when a 300 pound drunk guy is rubbing up against me while I'm trying to urinate. $1.6 billion! Give us urinal dividers!
4. My seats suck! So, this one doesn't concern people who can afford to pay $20,000 PSLs and sit in the front row or in a box but for the normal people...I sit in the upper level and I could barely see the game. We payed more, and got less.

The New Meadowlands stadium is a perfect symbol for America. It's big, expensive, and it doesn't care about the little people. Sports are supposed to be for everybody. I want to get back to the days when it was cheap and fun to go to games, not expensive and tiring. I always loved going to games but maybe sitting on my couch, with my own food, my own bathroom, and a remote to change the channel if its a blowout , is a better option.

When I was younger I loved professional sports. Now that I understand its a business, professional sports make me very sad sometimes. There are 35,490 homeless people in New York City, but there's a brand new $1.6 billion football stadium across the Hudson. and a crappy football stadium at that.

Right now, professional sports seems to be a world where spoiled millionaires complain about playing a game for living, and they can drink and drive and just have to sit out a quarter (Braylon Edwards). Going to the New Meadowlands stadium made me a little sick about how we spend our money in this great country.

Oh, and one more thing! A bottle of water in this stadium is $5.25. That should be a crime.

In Europe and Africa, Americans provide us incredible sporting accomplishments

When I witnessed the most exciting conclusion to a soccer match in USA soccer history, I thought for sure that it would be the number one story of the week in sports, if not the month in sports, if not the year in sports. After 90 minutes of frustration and agony, finally, in stoppage time, in the 91st minute, Landon Donovan, the greatest US soccer player of all time, was able to score a goal and give the Americans the 1-0 victory they needed to advance out of their group and into the round of 16, in the World Cup.

But as it turns out, the thrilling American soccer game wasn't even the best sports story of the day.

The best sports story of the day, week, month, year, also involved an American and it also took place on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. It was not in South Africa, but in England, at the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

Concluded today, after 11 hours and five minutes, which spanned over the course of three remarkable days, the American John Isner defeated the Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in the most amazing tennis match ever played. Shattering every record possible in one match, Isner and Mahut played an epic first round match that no words can correctly describe and no superlatives would be fitting.

Here's the final score line: Isner def. Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 6-7, 70-68.

The final set was 70-68!

Due to the Wimbledon rules that a fifth set must be won by two games, Isner and Mahut just kept on going, no one breaking serve for 69 games each, and showing fortitude unmatched by anyone in the history of sports. Marathon runners don't have anything on what Isner and Mahut just accomplished. In 100 years people will look back on this match as one of the greatest sporting events of all time.

While Isner finally won out, Mahut, obviously distraught, showed an amazing amount of class in a losing effort. Both players are now immediate household names and will be linked together forever in tennis lure no matter what they both go on to accomplish. Their embrace at the end of the match showed us exactly what sports are all about.

In the past couple of days, we have witnessed American sports victories the likes of which have never been done before, and both of them weren't even in America. The NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL could never produce the sort of raw emotion and victories of the human spirit that we just saw in Wimbledon and the World Cup.

So what did we learn from the greatest tennis match of all time, and the greatest US soccer victory ever? Sports are the greatest entertainment in the world because they can't be scripted and sports are better on an international stage.

The Lake Show Championship and the World Cup

On the latest edition of the Jared from Jersey Show, Jared and Crush talk about the NBA finals and the World Cup!

And in honor of the opening of Toy Story 3, here are my rankings of Pixar's 11 great films:

1. Toy Story

2. Finding Nemo

3. Toy Story 3

4. Toy Story 2

5. A Bug's Life

6. The Incredibles

7. Monster's Inc

8. Wall-E

9. Ratatouille

10. Cars

11. Up

Chi-town gets the Cup

After 49 years, the best and most coveted trophy in sports, Lord Stanley's Cup, is back in Chicago.

The Chicago Blackhawks win was a result of a game 6, overtime goal that almost no one saw. Patrick Kane went down the left side of the ice, threw it at the goal, and then went crazy. Kane threw off his gloves, sprinted to the other end of the ice and jumped on his goalie as everyone at the Wachovia Center in Philly was stuck in a state of confusion. The announcers didn't even know if it went in.

But after a review, the goal that only Patrick Kane knew was good at first, was confirmed to be the game winning goal of the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals.

It's always a good feeling to know that the best team has won, and in this case the Chicago Blackhawks were the best team. From Kane to Byfuglien to Toews, the Chicago stars outperformed the Philly stars and in the end the Flyer's goaltending proved to be a fatal weakness.

You gotta feel good for Marian Hossa. After losing in the finals two years in a row with two different teams, he finally found redemption with the Blackhawks. Hossa nearly cost the Hawks game 6 with a huge turnover in the neutral zone that gave the Flyers a breakaway early in the game, but thanks to a huge Antti Niemi save, Hossa's mistake was eradicated. After Captain Jonathan Toews took his skate with the Cup, the first person he handed it to was Hossa. Hossa was finally able to touch the hardest trophy in the world to win.

And the Chicago goalie Antti Niemi. He was wildly impressive. I'd be lying if I said I knew who he was before this year, but in the playoffs he performed like exactly what he is now, a champion.

So, the Blackhawks become the first Chi-town team to win a championship under the presidency of Chicago native, Barack Obama. while I doubt though, that Obama knows too much about hockey, maybe the joy felt in his city will help ease the struggles that he's going through now. Probably not, but maybe. By the way, Chicago pizza is only second to New York pizza.

Now every player on the Blackhawks gets to spend a day with the Cup which is one of the coolest things about winning it. I'm looking forward to hearing some funny stories about what the players do with it.

Congratulations Chicago. Well deserved.

No one's perfect, except cameras

Armando Galaragga pitched a perfect game. period.

I have never been this angry about something to do with sports in my life. Every North American pro sports league uses replay, except for MLB. Baseball is the sport that needs it the most!

MLB has to get out of the dark ages and move into 2010 where we have the technology to get the calls right. SCREW THE HUMAN ELEMENT. HUMANS ARE WRONG.

Why are important calls in important situations in important games being left to a guess? A simple replay showed that Galaragga has indeed pitched a perfect game, but since MLB is so intent on pleasing baseball purists and is basically just stupid they won't use replay to make calls.

Look, Bud Selig is the worst commissioner in sports. He screwed up steroids, he doesn't market the game well at all, and lacrosse is going to be more popular than baseball in 10 years, but he could do one positive thing now...

Implement instant replay to get close calls right and give Galaragga the perfect game. Knowing Selig, he's not gonna do either of those things. Selig Sucks. Galaragga's perfect.

But, this whole ordeal has provided a world class example of sportsmanship from both the Tigers and the umpire Jim Joyce. No one feels worse than Joyce who apologized and has been brought to tears, while the Tigers have handled the situation to well, perfection.

As for Galaragga, he has been incredible, offering support for Joyce and staying all smiles. This "perfect game" will go down as the most infamous of all time, so Galaragga doesn't belong to the club of 20 pitchers to pitch official perfect games, but a club of one.

Galaragga knows he was perfect, so do the fans and so does everyone else. So in the end, what does the record book actually mean. Hell, half the records in the official record book are false anyway (steroids) so it only makes sense for baseball to leave out a record that is real.

Just talkin' some sports on Memorial Day Weekend

I seem to go back and forth on the Kobe vs. LeBron argument all the time, but after last night's masterful performance in game 6 of the Western Conference Finals, I think I'm gonna be going with Kobe for awhile. I don't care if people say Kobe's getting old and he's not what he used to be, number 24 is still the most dominant scorer in the NBA. If I'm playing a game of pickup basketball, I'm the captain, and I have first pick, I'm picking Kobe Bryant.

The bottom line is Kobe is a ring away from filling up an entire hand, while LeBron is still looking for his first.

Kobe scored 37 points to advance LA past Phoenix in game 6, to set up what is sure to be an epic finals between two rivals that seem to be competing for an NBA championship every single season. There have been 63 NBA championships, 32 have been won by either the Celtics or the Lakers (that's more than half).

Due to the ridiculous NBA finals schedule, game one doesn't get played until Thursday, so the NBA has plenty of time to amp up the rivalry. You're not gonna be able to go a day until the end of the finals without seeing an image of Magic vs. Bird.

Not only did the NBA luck out with their finals this year, but the NHL also got a great Stanley Cup finals. Chicago and Philly are two huge hockey markets, with teams rich in history, and both are enduring a seemingly interminable Cup drought. Game one was played last night with the Blackhawks winning 6-5. Hopefully people will watch because this Stanley Cup is going to be a perfect example of great hockey, much like the Olympics was.

And even with the Flyers in the Stanley Cup, the biggest sports story out of a city I hate, Philadelphia, took place on a baseball diamond in Florida. Roy Halladay, always dominant but stuck in Toronto, threw MLB's 20th perfect game in its history. And second this season, only three weeks after Dallas Braden's. Halladay has always been one of the best pitchers in baseball without achieving much celebrity playing in Canada, but now he's carving up

the National League like he's a killer in a horror movie.

Speaking of baseball, seeing A-Rod smack that ball right back into that Indian's pitcher head was extremely frightening. It's really amazing that doesn't happen more often actually. I would never wanna be a pitcher in MLB, and yesterday's incident just shows how stupid it is for any level of baseball to be using metal bats. If A-Rod hits that ball with a metal bat, the pitcher might have been killed.

And then not as important as someone's life, but still...how the hell did the Yankees lose that game?!?! Obviously it's just one game and it doesn't mean that much but the Yankees bullpen is really, really shaky. The thing that concerns me most is Joba Chamberlain. When he goes out to pitch, you have no idea what to expect. He is the most inconsistent relief pitcher I've ever seen. But there's still 113 games left for the Yankees to play, so no need to panic, right? Nah, it's New York baseball, every game is cause to panic.

The End

Ok, I'm not gonna lie, I cried last night. No, not because the Yankees lost to the Mets, although I am getting a bit worried, but because the greatest television program of all time came to an end.

Titanic, The Lion King, and Lost. Those are the three works of film or TV I have ever cried at while watching and none more than last night's series finale of Lost.

Screw the haters! The Lost finale was brilliant. Lost has never been about answering questions, its been about the characters and their journeys, and the conclusion for these characters was completely emotionally satisfying. If you didn't like the end, you missed the entire point of the show.

Just as in life, with Lost, many questions remain unanswered. But I think that's exactly the point. Not all questions can get answered.

Sure, it was confusing as hell and doesn't really make sense, but who cares? I loved Lost from beginning to end and the great thing about this show is that it will continue to be debated forever. The show is open to interpretation. You have to think, and that's a good thing.

Lost, I will miss you. Thank you for the best six years of television of all time.

Ping Pong Balls to get John Wall

As if 70 losses weren't bad enough.

The New Jersey (for two more years, then Brooklyn) Nets suffered another loss tonight in earning not the first or second pick in the NBA draft, but the third. Not even the presence of new owner Mikhail Prokhorov could get the ping pong balls to fall the right way for the Nets.

No John Wall, no Evan Turner, no playoffs.

I don't care that Prokhorov promised the Net fans he would give them "plenty to cheer about" and that he expects a championship in a "maximum of five years," the 2010-2011 season will be another terrible year for New Jersey. I don't doubt that Prokhorov wants to win and will do everything in his power to make the Nets win, but without Wall or Turner, it'll be interesting to see which will be lower, the Nets attendance or their win total.

The Nets just can't catch a break.

Prokhorov is a fascinating person and will threaten Mark Cuban for the title of most interesting NBA owner, but unlike baseball, being one of the richest men in the world doesn't help in the NBA. Good luck getting Lebron without John Wall.

The Washington Wizards, who had a 10.3% chance to get the first pick, won the lottery. The Washington owner was immediately asked if he was going to draft Wall and responded, "I have no idea." That would be complete BS on the Sportsnation BS Meter. Of course Washington is drafting Wall, they'll just have to make sure he doesn't get shot in the locker room.

Steve Nash and His Eye

On the Jared from Jersey show, Jared and guest-host Crush Donnybrook talk about the NBA Playoffs, Dallas Braden, and Tiger Woods.

Sex in Sports

I don't get it. I just don't get it.

From Tiger, to Ben, and now Lawrence Taylor, I can not comprehend why so many athletes are so stupid about sex.

From the days of Magic Johnson getting AIDS, to the Mike Tyson rape, to the Duke Lacrosse sex scandal, the pitfalls of sex have brought down more athletes than the amount of characters killed off in Tuesday's episode of Lost (three more to go; starting to get sad).

Listen, it's not easy for an athlete to not have sex because it is so easy for an athlete to get girls. I mean hell, I bet even Brian Scalabrine has groupies waiting for him in his hotel room every night. Sex surrounds sports; that's the reality.

But there are three simple rules about sex that athletes should follow to avoid the cover of Us Weekly or People Magazine:

1. Make sure it's consensual. Oh, Ben Roethlisberger! You're an NFL quarterback, there are plenty of girls who would consent to having sex with you. Raping some girl in a Georgia bar is not what you should be doing.
2. Make sure she's 18. Lawrence Taylor! Reading about the things that you did today, just flat out disgusted me. You were never a very good person but sex with a 16-year-old, whether it was consensual or not...I'm speechless.
3. Don't get married if you can't keep it in your pants. Tiger Woods! Period.

Every single athlete in the world should take a page out of the Derek Jeter handbook. Arguably the best girl-getting athlete since Wilt, DJ has managed to get with nearly every hot girl in America all without having a single negative thing written about him. Click here for a list of girls Derek's gotten with. Simply unbelievable. Jeter has played by the rules, gotten "it" all out of his system, and at the age of 35 is finally settling down with the gorgeous Minka Kelly. Derek Jeter didn't only conquer baseball in New York, he conquered sex in sports, with style.

The scary thing about sex in sports is that many athletes break the three rules, take some heat for it, and then simply move on like nothing happened.

The number one selling NBA jersey this year was Kobe Bryant's. Just seven years ago, Kobe was accused of raping a 19-year-old girl but now no one seems to care. Mike Tyson raped Desiree Washington and went to jail from 1991 to 1995, now he's drawing laughs in blockbuster comedies like The Hangover. Tiger Woods is already winning fans back and time will tell if Ben and LT can regain their images.

Temptations are abundant for many athletes; some are smart about it while some are not. Ben Roethlisberger is an idiot. He's like the guy in the frat who always has one too many drinks, but it stops being funny after awhile. Tiger Woods just lost his mind. And Lawrence Taylor, oh boy, simply sick. I am disgusted with what Lawrence Taylor has been accused of doing and as a die-hard Giants fan and someone who's talked about the greatness of LT all my life, I almost feel ashamed.

Baseball has steroids, football has head injuries, basketball has refs that bet on games. All sports have sex and many athletes simply can't handle the heat. I could make a couple really inappropriate jokes to end this column but I'll just let you use your imagination...

Lebron, please come to New York

On the first ever Jared from Jersey radio show, Jared talks about the future of Lebron James and why he should come to New York.

My thoughts on the last week of April

Jeff Ireland to Dez Bryant: "Was your Mom a prostitute?"

The news broke this week that the GM of the Miami Dolphins, Jeff Ireland, asked WR Dez Bryant, in a pre-draft interview, if Bryant's mom was a prostitute. We will probably never know what context this question was asked in, but there is no doubt that this question was completely out of line.

Dez Bryant did have a difficult childhood and when he was born his mom was 12 and his dad was 40. Those ages jump out at you and it's only natural to want to know more, but the way Ireland phrased his question to Bryant was horribly wrong. If you're about to pay a guy millions of dollars to catch a football, you have the right to know about that person and if he will cause problems down the line, but still Ireland should not have brought Bryant's mother into the equation. I applaud Bryant for not straight up punching Ireland in the face, I probably would have.

Even if Bryant's mom was, or still is a prostitute, it has no bearing on how Bryant will play football. If Ireland wanted to find out if Bryant was going to be a troublemaker down the line, there are many other questions he could have asked. Imagine if the Dolphins ended up drafting Bryant, instead of the Dallas Cowboys (that woulda been fun to see).

You can't spell Ovechkin without a C-H-O-K-E.

Coming back from a 3 games to 1 deficit, the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Washington Capitals in game 7 to complete one of the biggest upsets in first round NHL playoff history. It looked

like it was going to be an easy series for Alex Ovechkin and his Washington teammates after taking a resounding 3 games to 1 series lead, but thanks to the unbelievable goaltending by Montreal's Jaroslav Halak the Canadiens were able to win.

The gap between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby is as large as it has ever been now. In the past 12 months, Crosby has a Stanley Cup, an Olympic gold medal (with the game winning OT goal in the gold medal game), and beat Ovechkin's Capitals in a playoff series last year. Crosby has proven he knows how to win and perform in the clutch while Ovechkin hasn't won anything. Ovechkin may have more talent than Crosby but in the playoffs Ovie seems to shrink, and the playoffs is when it matters most.

Jaroslave Halak proved how any team can win any series with a hot goaltender and Washington's collection of all-stars were not able to gel together as a team quickly enough to beat Montreal. Ovechkin is gonna have another really long summer, as he seems to be turning into the pre-2009 Alex Rodriguez of hockey.

Jacques Lemaire retired! What?

I was completely taken by surprise, along with everyone else, when Jacques Lemaire suddenly announced his retirement from coaching in the NHL. For the third year in a row, the New Jersey Devils will be looking for a new coach in the offseason. I would really like a coach to stay for longer than one year, so how about Scott Stevens. Stevens is

one of the best Devils of all time, would command immediate respect from his players, and would probably stick around for longer than a year. If not Stevens, the Devils will go with John MacLean.

The Spurs win; the Mavs don't

Seemingly a perfect example of my "82 Games of Boredom Theory," the San Antonio Spurs upset the Dallas Mavericks in 6 games. The Spurs seem to win a championship every couple of years so don't be surprised if they go very, very deep this year. With a top ten player of all time in Tim Duncan, the best coach in the NBA in Gregg Popovich, and a really good supporting cast with Ginobli, Parker, Jefferson, and Hill, the Spurs can beat any team in the league. Don't ever count out experience in the playoffs, it's important.

I kinda feel bad for Mavs owner Mark Cuban (not really 'cause he's really rich but ya know). He wants to win so badly but can just never seem to make it work in Dallas. I don't think Dirk Nowitzki will ever win a championship, he just doesn't have that killer instinct that someone like Kobe has, and I think Jason Kidd is coming to the realization that he will never win a championship either.

The Disgraceful Devils

Disappointed. Yes, disappointed would probably be the word that sums up my feelings about the New Jersey Devils and their way too short playoff run. Or perhaps, shocked would be a better word. I really thought this was the year the Devils were going to at least get out of the first round, and maybe even go deep into the playoffs. But no, for the third year in a row, the Devils have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs - and it doesn't help that they've been eliminated at home all three years.

Perhaps, the Prudential Center is cursed. Ever since the Devils moved out of East Rutherford and into the Rock in Newark the Devils can't seem to escape the first round of the postseason.

Maybe, Martin Brodeur is done. The 38-year-old goalie just can't seem to steal a playoff series for Jersey the way he used to. Outplayed by Flyers third string goalie, Brian Boucher, Marty played well against the Flyers but certainly not well enough to win.

Or could it be, that the Devil's stars such as Langenbrunner, Elias, Parise, and Kovalchuk just forgot how to score goals in the playoffs. In the four Devil losses to the Flyers, the Devils scored just four goals.

I think that the Devils seemed unmotivated and uninspired and and it certainly looked like the Flyers wanted to win a hell of a lot more. I definitely was not happy with the coaching of Jaques Lemaire. The Devils were looking sluggish and down after falling behind three games to one, and Lemaire simply called for the Devils to stay the course. Stay the course!?!? How about throwing a chair across the room, or at least a little yelling? Lemaire seemed way to calm throughout the series and never made adjustments necessary for the Devils to win.

The Devil's power play was atrocious and their penalty killing wasn't anything special either. And most of the times on five on five, it might as well have been a Flyer power play.

As a Devil fan, I'm sick of being teased for 82 games only to be let down right away in the playoffs. I invest way too much time in this team for them to give the effort, or lack of effort, that they give in the playoffs. Maybe the Devils don't realize this, but no one cares about winning the Atlantic Division - all that matters is a Stanley Cup!

I'm sure the Devils will be back in the playoffs next year, because they always are. And for making the playoffs consistently I applaud them, but it's been seven years since a Cup and three years since getting out of the first round.

Alright, it's officially baseball season in NY/NJ...

Chillin' on a Sunday with Jared from Jersey

• Imagine if the Mets lost that 20 inning game. I mean, they played 18 scoreless innings got a run in the 19th, then K-Rod blew it. They are so lucky they won it in the 20th 'cause if they lost, it would have been possibly the worst Mets loss in the past three years (and there have been a lot of 'em).
• I love watching position players pitch, so thank you St. Louis Cardinals for that. I feel like the Cardinals weren't even taking that game seriously after awhile (their whole bench was laughing watching Felipe Lopez pitch) , while the Mets were playing like it was game 7 of the World Series. That's what happens when your team is 3-7 and the manager is on the hot seat, I guess.
• Just a borough away from where the Mets play, the Yankees are rolling through opponents like Hit-Girl rolls through bad guys. It's still very early but right now it looks like it's gonna be the Yankees and Rays contending for the AL East, unless the Sox can pull it together (which, ya know what, they probably will).
• Speaking of Hit-Girl, I saw the movie Kick-Ass yesterday and it was very, very good. It easily joins the list of movies that you love to say the title of 'cause it gives you an excuse to curse. It's Right up there with Inglourious Basterds in that category.
• Also, saw Hot Tub Time Machine yesterday which joins the list of movies with hilarious titles that tell you everything about the movie. But unlike Snakes on a Plane, which leads the category of hilarious titles that tells you the whole plot, Hot Tub did not live up to the title and was very disappointing. Instead of going to Hot Tub Time Machine, rent Snakes on a Plane, which I'm convinced will one day get the credit it deserves, and be looked at as a classic (nah probably not, but I can dream, can't I?).

NHL Playoffs

• So far, the NHL playoffs have been incredibly thrilling. It seems like every game is being decided by one goal. If you haven't been watching, turn on Versus tonight and watch. Versus is a channel (yes, you have it).
• If the Devils had lost Game 2 to the Flyers, it would have been over. There was no way the Devils were going into Philly down 2-0 and winning that series. Ilya Kovalchuk is a fascinating player to watch, 'cause he wants to win so much that he's basically trying too hard. I never though I'd criticize a player for trying too hard, but Ilya's gotta chill out. He took three penalties in game 2 and in many ways he's hurting the team more then helping. If he calms down and plays his game, the Devils will be very tough to beat.
• It was funny watching game 1 of the Blackhawks vs. Predators series, with the entire Chicago Cubs team watching from a box. I mean, I highly doubt Carlos Zambrano knows how to play hockey.
• The Washington Capitals are so lucky they won game 2 yesterday, or it would have been panic mode in Washington. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like Alex Ovechkin underperforms in big moments while Sidney Crosby shines. Sure, Ovie got a goal in game 2 but it was really Nicklas Backstrom who won the game for Washington, while Crosby will literally do anything to help his team win (Check out this play). Crosby's one of the best winners in sports today (Check out this play too, while your at it).

NBA Playoffs

• It's not even close to as exciting as the NHL playoffs until about the semifinals. In my opinion an Atlanta Hawks vs. Milwaukee Bucks series isn't exactly the most enthralling thing in the world.
• I am excited to watch the Lakers, Thunder series though. I don't think L.A. will have a problem steamrolling to the finals, but It'll be interesting to see if Kevin Durant can take over the series for a bit and maybe make the Lakers sweat a little.
• It's 74 days until Lebron's a free agent, and then maybe basketball will be relevant in New York again.
• While most of the playoffs games yesterday were low scoring, Denver and Utah forgot they were in the playoffs apparently. The Nuggets beat the Jazz 126-113. That's a lot of points.

And Finally...

This is not related to anything I've just been talking about, but if you live in the New York area go check out the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). There's a really cool exhibit on the top floor (don't bring young kids though; you'll see why).

The best team in sports that no one talks about

The New Jersey Devils are a team used to playing hockey in the Spring. For the 13th season in a row, that's right 13th, the Devils will be playing playoff hockey. The Devils play in the least popular league of the four major North American sports, they have one of the lowest payrolls in that league, and aren't even the most popular team in their own market. Yet somehow, year after year, even though no one talks about them, the Devils are a perennial playoff team and they always contend for a Stanley Cup.

There are two reasons for the success of the New Jersey Devils: Lou Lamoriello and Martin Brodeur.

First, the Devils have the greatest general manager in professional sports in Lou Lamoriello. I may be biased as a Devil's fan but honestly there is no other GM in sports who keeps his team competitive every year with the lack of resources Lamoriello has. Playing in New Jersey, with one of the lowest payrolls in the NHL it is truly incredible how Lamoriello can sign the players that he does (look at the Ilya Kovalchuk signing this year), but especially keep the players that he does. Players are proud to play for the Devils and though they might get bigger contracts and more media attention playing somewhere like Toronto or New York, rarely does a player bail on New Jersey if Lou wants to keep him. And if a player does leave (Scott Gomez) they almost always come to regret it, whether they'll admit it or not. Lamoriello has built a class organization that teams throughout the NHL are jealous of.

Look at the recent olympics, There were a ton of Devils and former Devils representing various countries: Jamie Langenbrunner, Zach Parise, Patrick Elias, Scott Niedermayer, Bryan Rafalski, Martin Brodeur, and more. The amount of Devils and ex-Devils in the Olympics is a testament to Lou Lamoriello. Olympic teams know what they're going to get when they select someone who played for the Devils: someone who puts his team first, always hustles, and plays defense. The New Jersey Devils produce quality players because of the way Lamoriello runs his organization. And Lamoriello's organization wins.

The second reason why the Devils are a consistently great team is their goalie Martin Brodeur. He is, and I'm saying this as a hockey fan not a Devil's fan, the greatest goalie of all time. With three Cups, four Vezina trophys (best goalie of the season), 10 all-star games, the most 40 win seasons of all time, the most shutouts of all time, and with over 600 wins and counting, the most wins of all time. Marty, as the fans in New Jersey affectionately call him, has played his entire career wearing the Devil's red and black. Since he came up to the NHL in 1993, Marty has been lights out for the Devils in net and in 1995 Marty won his, and the Devil's first Stanley Cup. Easily the best athlete to ever play for a New Jersey team, Marty has carved a legacy for himself that will live on forever in the minds of Devil's fans. If he played in say, New York or Montreal or Detroit, Marty would be even bigger than what he is now, but Marty never left. Always loyal and always winning, Martin Brodeur makes the Devils a Stanley Cup contender every single year.

On Wednesday night the NHL playoffs start as the #2 seeded Devils take on the #7 seeded Philadelphia Flyers in Newark. Besides the Rangers, the Flyers are the Devil's biggest rival and this series will surely be as intense as they get. I'm picking the Devils to win for two reasons: Lou Lamoriello and Martin Brodeur.

Playoff baseball in April?

It's amazing how quickly utter panic can turn to utter confidence. With the Yankee's loss in game one of the season to the Red Sox, I, along with millions of other Yankee's fans, was worried that the Yankees weren't going to be able to match their magical World Series winning season, and possibly not even win the AL East. Just two games later though, all that concern is gone, and has been replaced by a winning feeling. The bullpen has pitched great the last two games, after that rough first game, and even Chan Ho Park pitched three scoreless innings yesterday. Curtis Granderson hit a very clutch home run in the 10th last night which proved to be the winning run and Andy Pettitte looked like he was 25 years young. The season is only three games old, but winning any series against the Red Sox is cause to celebrate, and I'm feeling good about the Yankees.

The three games in Boston were as intense as the opening three games of a season could possibly be. It felt like the playoffs even though the playoffs don't start for seven months. I don't think the Yankees and the Red Sox can play a normal game and that's why it's the best rivalry in sports. Every game in the series was decided by two runs, they all took almost four hours to play, and one went into extra innings. Every single Yankees vs. Sox game is highly dramatic and perpetually thrilling.

I'm a little worried about Mark Teixera who went 0-9 with three walks in the series, but he's a notoriously slow starter and I'm sure he'll be fine. It's great to see David Ortiz so ineffective as he seems to be a shell of his former self. He used to be one of the most feared hitters in all of baseball, but he has been reduced to a guy pitchers actually want to face. Overall, I was not to impressed with the Red Sox lineup and even though they put up nine runs in the first game, I think they're going to struggle scoring runs this season. The Red Sox are gonna have to rely on their pitching to win games, and yesterday the Yankees proved that they can win pitching duels as well as slugfests. It's gonna be a good season.

Chan WHO Park and other thoughts on game 1 of 162

• Why is Chan Ho Park a current member of the New York Yankees? The guy had a 4.43 ERA last season, in the National League! He should not be a Yankee, especially since the Yankees made him shave off his hilarious Asian beard.
• The Yankees bullpen performed worse than Sandra Bullock's acting in All About Steve.
• Since when is Dr. Dre a Red Sox fan? He's from California. Also, I didn't know they let Black people into Fenway. Huh. Maybe you have to be famous.
• At first I didn't really like the YES Network's new graphics, but they grew on me. Good job YES.
• Pedro Martinez is like an attention hungry eight-year-old.
• Neil Diamond, you traitor!! You're from Brooklyn!! And the Dodgers moved a long time ago bud.
• I was kinda hoping the whole Curtis Granderson can't hit lefties thing was being overhyped, but it wasn't. He actually can not hit lefties.
• This is a quote from my brother Ezra: "Nick Johnson looks like a professional eater." Not bad Ezra, but he also looks like that crazy guy who killed himself in Full Metal Jacket.
• That throwing error by Brett Gardner made Johnny Damon's arm look like Melky Cabrera's. That means Gardner's throw was bad.
• It's a long season, the Yankees have nothing to worry about...except the fact that their bullpen sucks, their outfield is shaky at best, and Sandra Bullock could hit lefties better than Curtis Granderson, especially if that lefty was Jesse James (I don't know if Jesse James is a lefty but you get the idea).

It's time for some New York Yankee's baseball

The MLB season gets underway Sunday night when the World Series Champion New York Yankees take on the Boston Red Sox at Fenway. And like most seasons, unless some pesky team from Tampa Bay has anything to say about it, it will be the Yankees and the Red Sox competing down the stretch for the AL East title. I think the Yankees are going to win the AL East and repeat as World Series Champions.

• The Yankees are the best team on paper in Major League Baseball. Playing in the hitter friendly confines of Yankee Stadium with the most powerful lineup in baseball, it's pretty safe to say that the Yankees will have no problem scoring runs. The infield, which remains intact from last year, is one of the best infields of all time. One of the best hitters of all time plays 3rd base: Alex Rodriguez, you might've heard of him. At SS is a five-time World Series champion and one of the greatest shortstops ever, as well as the all time Yankee's leading hitter: Derek Jeter, you probably know him too. Robinson Cano plays 2nd base in his first season as a Yankee without hist best bud Melky Cabrera, who was traded to Atlanta. Last season Cano hit .320 with 25 HRs, and I only see him improving in the future. And at 1st base is a perennial 30 HR guy, who hit 39 HRs last year to go along with 122 RBI. He is the best defensive 1st baseman in baseball, and knows exactly how to handle the New York spotlight: Mark Teixera.
• The Yankees outfield will look a little bit different from last season. The biggest change is acquiring Curtis Granderson to play CF. With the losses of such key players as Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, and Melky Cabrera, Granderson has big shoes to fill. He really needs to step up and produce wherever the Yankees bat him, and he need to do better than his .249 AVG from last season. The Yankees also acquired Randy Winn, a nice veteran player who can step in and play the outfield successfully. Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner will probably be playing the outfield very regularly. Swisher is a very important locker room presence who has good power and Gardner is one of the fastest players in baseball and will steal bases at will.
• The Yankees Catcher will hopefully be Jorge Posada if he stays healthy. Posada is one of the best hitting catchers of all time so his contribution is obviously very important. If Posada can't play, the backups are Francisco Cervelli and P.J. Pilittere. Also, the Yankees acquired DH Nick Johnson who was on the Yankees from 2001-2003. Johnson doesn't hit for average well, but he gets on base, as he had a .415 OBP last season with Washington.
• Starting Rotation: CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Javier Vasquez, Andy Pettite, Phil Hughes. The biggest offseason pitching story was who will have the fifth spot in the rotation. Hughes or Joba? Hughes won the job and Joba will come out of the bullpen, which is the way it should be. Sabathia has looked shaky in spring training but he's one of the best pitchers in the league and when the season starts and his adrenaline gets flowing, he will be fine. Burnett is a pretty good number two guy, but the problem with him is you never know what you're gonna get. He might pitch a perfect game, but he also might walk 10 guys and give up six runs in three innings. Burnett's main problem is control and consistency. This is Javier Vasquez's second stint with the Yankees. Last time with the Yankees in 2004, he had 14 wins with a 4.91 ERA but he's improved since then and had a 2.87 ERA last season with Atlanta. Andy Pettite is Andy Pettite; he'll have about a 4.00 ERA but will keep the Yankees in games and he's one of the best big game pitchers in the league. And for Phil Hughes I have no idea what to expect.
• In the bullpen the greatest closer of all time will hold any lead after eight innings: Mariano Rivera. It's gonna be really fun watching Joba Chamberlain pitch as the bridge to Mo, which is what he should be. Damaso Marte is a good lefty specialist out of the bullpen and pitchers like David Robertson, Sergio Mitre, and Alfredo Aceves will fill in nicely.
• The Manager Joe Girardi will have some pressure off after winning a championship, but there's always pressure when you're the manager of the New York Yankees.

Lots of random thoughts as we March toward April (see that play on words right there; March the month and march the verb. That's good writing.)

• I am so happy that tomorrow is April because April is the best month of the year. Here are my reasons why April is the best and if you disagree, you are wrong: Baseball starts ('nuff said), NBA playoffs (we get to see professional basketball players try!), NHL playoffs (the most intense postseason of any sport), Final Four (Butler, Michigan St., Duke, West Virginia,) NIT finals (just kidding), international pillow fight day (click the link), and Tiger plays golf (I hope there are hecklers). The one downside of April is allergies, but nothing's perfect right? Wrong. UConn women's basketball is.
• Is it just me or does Leo DiCaprio give the same look in every movie? Ya know, that one where's he like half crying, half scowling. I have a feeling it's not just me.
• The Yankees Grapefruit League record is 12-15. Should I be worried? At first I thought no, but now I'm not so sure. I wonder how much letting go Matsui and Damon is gonna affect us (when I say 'us' I mean the 'Yankees.' I may not technically be on the team but I pay for tickets and merchandise and food, so if you think about it, I am partially paying Jeter's contract. So, I am a part of the Yankees...kinda.)
• I never realized how important a coach is in the NBA, but look at the Nuggets without George Karl. They're now in fifth place in the West and have lost six out 10, including a loss to the Knicks (that's when you know something's wrong).
• Hideki Matsui is gonna love Los Angeles. First of all, there's more Japanese people in L.A. than in New York, and well, there's no second of all but the first of all is pretty big I think.
• The Detroit Red Wings weren't even in the top eight of the West after the Olympic break, now there in sixth place and are 9-0-1 in their last 10 games. I guarantee you, no team wants to play Detroit in the first round. The Red Wings and the Boston Celtics are both teams that are prime examples for my "82 games of boredom theory" about the NHL and NBA. Let me explain: I think that some teams, usually veteran teams like the Red Wings and the Celtics get really bored during the course of a long NBA or NHL season. Due to their boredom they don't really try unless they have to. They basically don't try until the playoffs, but when the playoffs come, look out. So even though the Celtics haven't looked as good as teams like the Cavs or the Magic, you do not want to play them when it matters. This theory doesn't work for baseball because even though the season is longer, the teams that get bored don't make the playoffs. 16 teams make it in the NBA and NHL while only eight make it in baseball. There's no doubt teams get bored in baseball, I mean its 162 games, and you play every day, but you can't afford to get bored in Major League Baseball, while you can in the NBA or NHL.
• I would never be bored if I played a professional sport, but some people are just spoiled, I guess.

The Nets are not the worst

With their victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, the New Jersey Nets got their 10th win of the season, which ensures that they will not finish with the worst record of all time. I went to a Nets game about a week ago and it was a bizarre experience. Literally, the arena was half empty (and they were playing D-Wade!) and it was quiet as a morgue. It did not feel like a professional basketball game. The Nets move to Newark next year and in two years move to Brooklyn where the team will be renamed the Brooklyn Nets. Not a very good team name in my opinion but I digress. There is hope for the future of the Nets with the new Russian owner, good young players like Brooke Lopez and Devin Harris, and hopefully getting John Wall in the draft. Now that the Nets will not go down in history as the worst team of all time, Nets fans should hope for losses the rest of the way. Why you ask? Because there is a chance that the Nets could surpass the Minnesota Timberwolves (who have 14 wins) and then Minnesota would have a better chance of first pick in the draft. If the Nets get first pick the starting five would look something like this: John Wall, Brooke Lopez, Devin Harris, Chris Douglas-Roberts, and someone else. Not necessarily a playoff team, but not that bad. I wonder if people will go to games in Newark next year, and I really wonder who will go to Brooklyn. But it can't be less people than in East Rutherford and when Jay-Z is partially responsible for a team's success, anything is possible.