The Boss will be pulling for Gang Green Sunday night... will you?

Happy New Year, guys and girls. Busy weekend for sports in general and no shortage of action on the local front to keep you all busy. For starters, raise your hand if you tuned off the Tim Tebow show last night to check out Nate Robinson dropping a 41-point N-Bomb on the Hawks. Seriously though, if Urban Meyer knew that the Sugar Bowl was going to be that relaxing, he may not have Favre’d us this week.

Since I’m a little sluggish from starting the New Year off right (read: drunk, watching college football, and sleeping), we’ve already missed two games on today’s dockett – the Rangers dropping the back end of a home-and-home series with the Hurricanes that spanned two years in OT earlier today and the Nets not making news by going down quietly to the King and the Cavs in scenic East Rutherford. Really, it’s breathtaking in the winter. You’ve gotta see it.

And now, on with the show…

Saturday January 2, 2010

Who: Atlanta Thrashers at New York Islanders

When: 7PM, MSG+

The game is on MSG+. It’s the Islanders. Really, I’ve got more important things to get to…

Who: New Jersey Devils at Minnesota Wild

When: 8PM, MSG

The Devils, first place in the Eastern Conference head out to the Midwest to face the Wild – 11th in the Western Conference and not particularly antsy to do anything about it.

Sunday January 3, 2010

Sunday is a jam packed day for New York sports. I will be enjoying it in Atlantic City while celebrating my father’s 66th birthday. Happy birthday, Pop.

Who: New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings

When: 1PM, FOX

The G-Men wrap up a disappointing 2009 campaign that makes me physically ill to even discuss Sunday afternoon in Minnesota. My only hope is that somehow the Giants are able to continue making Brett Favre look like he did down the stretch last year for the Jets and remind him of the last time he faced this team in the 2008 NFC Championship Game. This will hopefully mean the Vikings get an outdoor playoff game, instead of remaining comfortable inside a dome (either Metro or Super) for the duration of the playoffs. I’m not sure I’ll even watch, the results of the Giants e-mailing the game in last week while working from home has me looking for anything else to distract me (like a craps table).

Who: New York Knicks at Indiana Pacers

When: 6PM, MSG

The Knicks! Who knew? Nate’s alive and well and reminding New Yorkers that another Nate exists besides Chace Crawford’s character on Gossip Girl (plug). Will D’Antoni ride the spark plug’s hot hand, or will he be banished to the back of the bench for another month (he went from 12/1/09 – 1/1/10  between appearances). Tune in and hope that these questions are resolved before the day’s main event…

Who: Cincinnati Bengals at New York Jets

When: 8:20PM, NBC

Time to shut the old girl down, indeed. The Jets will follow up great performances by U2 and Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band and one shit sandwich from the Giants in closing down 30+ years in Giants Stadium. Now, I want the Jets to win. I really do. I like Rex Ryan. I like the mean defense and I’m most especially looking forward to the Ocho Cinco / Darrelle Revis show wherever they line up. I just know how this story ends. I’m a Mets fan. That’s analagous to being a Jets fan. It’s torture. They continually get the hopes of their fans up only to crush them into more pieces than you can count. In 2008, I watched the Mets close down Shea Stadium from 12 rows behind home plate. It effectively ended with a Wes Helms home run eliminating the Mets from the playoffs one day after a masterful performance from Johan Santana. Now here, we are, waiting on a Jets collapse. Most Jets fans will talk positively about how Ryan has brought a different attitude to the team but this is embedded in the name, the uniform, and the culture of the franchise. I fear a heartbreaking Jets collapse in one of two ways – a game they are never in and put up maybe 3 points, or a game they lead the whole way only to crap away at the end. Either way, I hope I am wrong and the Jets emerge victorious Sunday night.

STAMP OF THE WEEK

Longhorns. Colt McCoy follows up on the performance by fellow God Squad member Tim Tebow and leads the Longhorns to their second BCS title in the same place Vince Young did 4 years ago.

Texas – 31

Alabama – 20

Hook ‘em and STAMP IT.

**Keep watch this week as I will continue my assault on the dumbfounding commentary found on MetsBlog.com — they’ve done themselves a favor over the past few days and kept from making any asinine statements. Yes, it’s a new year but it’s only a matter of time.**