Sibling Rivalry

Me & my younger brother Danny, we don't really look alike & we don't agree in 3 of the 4 majors sports. Sure we're doing our father proud by being Yankee fans but when it comes to sports, that's all we agree on. I've been a lifelong Jets, Knicks & Rangers fan. I base the Jets on my dad, I started watching Knicks games at a young age with my Uncle Rich and became a fan, I became a Ranger fan because of my mom being a Ranger fan and I like the color blue so the Broadway BlueShirts became my NHL team. My team choices were simple and local.

Danny's team origin stories are mostly interesting. Danny became a New Jersey Devils not because we live in New Jersey but rather in a similar fashion to me becoming a Ranger fan in terms of color, he became a Devil fan because of the color red. He chose the Bulls for the exact same reason, at least he wasn't a front runner though. 

Then there's football...when Danny was 2 my dad took him to a Jets game back in 1998 vs the Ravens & Danny got everything he wanted: Popcorn, a Keyshawn Johnson jersey, team trading cards & ice cream...but Danny wanted something else, a helmet. Plastic helmets back then were $15 at Giant Stadium & my dad saw some at Value City for $10 and told Danny he'd get a helmet later that day. So when my dad came home, Danny didn't want to take the ride down Route 9 & I did. When we got to Value City there were only 2 team helmets left...the Oakland Raiders & Jacksonville Jaguars. I thought the Raiders helmet was pretty cool so i took that one because I took the ride, I got to pick. Little did I know what I really decided on because as soon as we got home Danny put on his Jaguars helmet & became a Jaguar fan. My Uncle Rich bought him a Mark Brunell jersey (when he came to the Jets, Danny got pissed) & the rest is history. Oh how I wish my dad would have spent 5 more dollars.

Whenever our teams play each other Danny & I either watch or go to the games. Knicks-Bulls has mostly gone in Danny's favor but the Knicks have had their moments. Now that both teams are heating up, so's the rivalry with me & Danny.

Our true basketball rivalry has grown in the last few years ever since Danny committed to St. Joseph's High School in Metuchen back in 2010. I graduated from Cardinal McCarrick High School in 2011 after spending 4 great years there. McCarrick & St. Joe's have played each other in the Greater Middlesex Conference tournament for the last 2 years with St. Joe's coming away in 2 close games. I may be an alum now but the loss a few weeks ago hurt me the same as it did last year. McCarrick & St. Joe's have had their share of Alumni in the world of sports. Cardinal McCarrick's (formerly St. Mary's) notable sports alumni included: the first pair of twins on the same team in MLB history The O'Brien brothers who played together for the Pirates, former World Champion Yankee Allie Clark (who I've met a few times), 2 Time World Series Manager Tom Kelly & last but not least former Florida Marlins World Champion Manager Jack McKeon. St Joe's famous sports alumni are more modern: John Carlson of the Washington Capitals, Jay Williams of ESPN (former Chicago Bull) & Lakers All-Star Center Andrew Bynum. Danny & I are baseball players, being in seprate fan sections was fun but it would have been great to see him on my team or another team that McCarrick played last year. It's truly a shame McCarrick didn't play St Joe's in baseball last year, no doubt McCarrick would have gotten mercy ruled. The point of that was, while i was being confused with being a coach & Danny was on Freshman...it would have been nice to have his team on one side of the diamond & mine on the other. Back to pro sports!

(I would have used Matteau but Danny wasn't born 

when that game happened so I went for something that we've both seen)

The Devils & Rangers Rivalry is closely watched in our house. They meet an NHL most 6 times a year but to me and Danny each game is like a playoff game. Until the next meeting Danny & I always remind each other who won in the last meeting. Last week we attended the Ranger-Devil game at Prudential Center (best Christmas present ever from Danny btw) and the Rangers lost. Danny snapped a picture of me on his BlackBerry after the Devils went up by 2 in the 3rd. I'm upset they lost but going to a game with my brother meant a lot more then the result.

While Devils-Rangers is a strong division rivalry, our strongest personal rivalry is Jets-Jaguars. The first time the Jets made the playoffs in my life was 1998-99 & after a first round bye their opponent in the Divisional round would be...the Jaguars. My dad & my Uncle Sal went to the game while Danny & I attended a birthday party in Brooklyn. When we got news of the Jets victory i was 5 and started running around in joy while my 2 year old brother was angry. Oddly enough besides that playoff game the only other times the Jets have beaten the Jaguars was when Danny & I went in 2003 and in 2011. The 2003 game was great, it was me, Danny and our dad we got Big Wally's subs and had a great time, I wasn't suppose to go but my dad wanted to try to scalp a ticket for me & when we stopped at Quick Check before we hit Wally's then the Turnpike a guy noticed my & my dad wearing Jets attire and Danny in his Brunell jersey and gave us a free ticket 3 sections down from ours, it was the luckiest and coolest thing ever. Danny attended the 2005 overtime game with my dad & my dad told me that being with Danny that day was unbearable in terms of him going on & on about how much better the Jags were. In 2006 I was happy the game was played down in Jacksonville, I did watch the game with Danny though, it was the worst loss for the Jets in my life...as far as the regular season goes. We weren't able to get tickets to the 09 game because my Uncle Sal gave up his season tickets following the 2007 campaign. Last year (2011) my Uncle Rich helped me & Danny get last minute tickets on StubHub and the 3 of us went (my dad's commitment to softball prevented him from going). Rich (a Colts fan) sat between us in the first quarter to avoid me & Danny from getting into it if the game got too close but it didn't and the Jets blew out the Jaguars 32-3 & started the Blaine Gabbert era in Jacksonville as he replaced Luke McCown in the 2nd half. Danny went to a Jags home game against the Colts in 2010 with my Uncle Sal and they said it was nice down there...the reason I bring that up is because the NFL has announced the Jets will travel to Jacksonville in 2012 to play the Jaguars & I have 1 thing to say about that...ROAD TRIP!

Spring Break Means More Posts!

It's Spring Break at MCC & that means I have a little more time for some posts! So coming up this week will be:

• A Review of Black Uniforms In Sports
• An Article on St Patricks Day & Sports
• 2012 MLB Logo & Uniform Preview
• Being A New York Fan
• & (Last but not least)
• Being A Fan When You See Your Team On The Road

Stay Tuned for these posts in the coming week!

Sorry For The Lack Of Posts

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last few weeks guys, between school & my new job I've mostly been either writing papers, eating a meal or sleeping. Remember I'm only an 18 year old college student, things can get overwhelming at times. Nonetheless I've been keeping my grades up at MCC & protecting lives at the South Amboy YMCA life-guarding & loving my new job and work environment. I'll be posting tomorrow morning before I get MLB 12: The Show. Sorry again for the waiting for something new on here. I'M BACK!

-Mike

The Good & The Bad of LINsanity for Die-Hard Knick Fans

Being both a journalist & a Knicks fan, I couldn't avoid talking about LINsanity. LINsanity has swept across headlines around the world and has picked up on the bandwagon that "Melo-drama" started. So it's time to break down the good and the bad of LINsanity from a die-hard Knicks fan's point of view.

THE GOOD: 

Jeremy Lin's momentum brougut the Knickerbockers a nice 7 game win streak including a big win over the LA Lakers & a buzzer beater by Lin in Toronto. The Knicks are becoming more relevant now & even President Obama has complimented Lin. Lin (so far) is the point guard the Knicks were in desprate need of since the departure of Chauncey Billups. Baron Davis has been waiting for his recovery from injury to show New York what he's got but he may have to come off the bench to provide a spark because Lin is showing everyone he belongs in New York. Winning games and getting a high seed in the East is what seems likely if this momentum keeps up. If they reach the Eastern Conference Finals this year I'll be satisfied and if they reach the NBA Finals I'll be a mix of surprised and happy. This kind of excitement is what I've been waiting for since A'mare said "THE KNICKS ARE BACK!"

THE BAD:

ESPNarcade.com is on the money with this one. In any sport you will find band-wagoners (for those of you unaware with the term it means a fan who likes a team when they get hot) and especially in the case of the Knicks it makes me sick. I've heard people say "Jeremy Lin has me watching basketball, I've never been a fan but this kid is really good." And my favorite I heard while scorekeeping heard a coach tell his team after a game "Hey do you guys think the Knicks will win every game, No, you did good today" a parent said to the coach "The Knicks will win every game, they have Jeremy Lin and are unbeatable" I restrained myself not saying anything. I have nothing against Lin, I'm a fan, but I remember when the Knicks were the laughing stock of the NBA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj8-fsnV8nY) and when people would show me that Family Guy clip or the picture I have below. I'd like to share with everyone my Knicks memories.

I've been a Knicks fan since I could remember watching basketball, my first NBA jersey...a 90's Knicks Allan Houston jersey. I remember crying as a 5 year old when I watched the Spurs win Game 5 of the NBA Finals when they celebrated on the court at MSG. Reggie Miller use to rip my heart out and back in 2004 my dad showing me a broom after his Nets swept the Knicks in their last playoff appearance before the 2010-11 season. After 2004 the Knicks became a joke in the NBA with the arrival of Isiah Thomas. I could go on and on with all the players who played for the team in this time and most of these guys aren't remember for their time in New York. It wasn't until November 22, 2008 that I got to my first Knicks game after years of begging my parents & my uncle just to go to one game. I didn't care how bad they were or if they played a bad team, I wanted to be there. On that November night in 2008 I saw the Knicks beat the Wizards 122-117. When I got news of my uncle buying the tickets I bought a Jamal Crawford jersey at Modell's and all be it that Crawford was traded the night before the game. That night was so fun it became more of a common place for my uncle & I to purchase Knick tickets on StubHub.com and saw games that interested me or my brother(who's a Bulls fan but loves basketball). We went on April 4, 2009 to see the Knicks fall to the Raptors because I wanted to see Jason Kapono. The only Knick road game I attended was at iZod Center on November 21, 2009 when the Knicks were 2-9 and the Nets were 0-12, that game was the last time I saw a Knicks W in person. On February 27, 2010 it was Retro Night at MSG and the Knicks fell to the Grizzlies, I'll always remember that game because at halftime the Sugarhill Gang performed "Rapper's Delight" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKHEAylqDds). The next time I went to MSG was for the 2010 Open Practice and sat courtside at MSG for the first time and at the end of practice there was a "$10 ticket deal" announced. By the time my uncle, my brother and I reached the front of the line at the box-office with slim pickings for tickets vs good opponents: we got 3 tickets for the infamous asbestos game vs Orlando and I bought 2 tickets for my friend Brandon and I to see the Knicks take on his Mavs. I attended opening night at MSG on 10/30/10 and the Knicks fell to Portland. About half an hour before our train for the Orlando game, I got a text message saying the game was cancelled and my options were either refund or nothing so we went up the following Sunday for a matinee between the Knicks & 76ers ($7 tickets on StubHub). The last Knicks home game I attended was the 40 point loss to Dallas last year. It was a lonely time to be a Knick fan, the only other true Knick fan in my high school class was my good friend John. John and I went to school together since first grade and he was always someone I could talk Knicks to without someone asking me why I was a Knick fan and the only other guy in my class who wore Knicks gear with pride. In my family my fellow Knick fans were my Uncle Rich(who's the reason I'm a Knick fan) and my cousin Drew. When the Melo trade became official, I facebooked with Drew & John in excitement and called my Uncle saying the suffering was officially over. The day after the Melo trade, was a dress down at good ol Cardinal McCarrick High School and John and I were waiting on line for lunch when this kid Dan who was a Nets/Grizzlies fan came to lunch wearing a Melo Knicks t-shirt, John and I looked at each other and said "And so the bandwagon begins".

It's a sad but true reality in sports, people question your fan allegiance when your team does good because everyone gets on the bandwagon. When your team takes a downturn they leave and for the true fan that's the only ray of sunshine that you get during these times. As a fan I will ALWAYS stand by the Yankees, Jets, Rangers and Knicks. To me being a fan is like marriage, when you're a fan of a team it's for better or for worse. When championships are won, it feels more satisfying when you remember the bad times.

16 year old me, when I was convinced LeBron was going to save the Knicks

17 and satisfied with Stat & Gallo

18 and ready for NYK to return to being an Eastern Conference Powerhouse

That does it for my Knicks post, thanks for letting me share my memories of being a Knicks fan with everyone and hopefully the best ones are still to come! GO KNICKS!!

BREAKING NEWS: WRESTLEMANIA XXIX IS COMING TO NEW JERSEY

After about a month of speculation, WrestleMania is returning to New Jersey for the first time in 24 years. According to NJBiz.com Governor Chris Christie & WWE will announce that WrestleMania XXIX will take place at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands and WrestleMania Axxess will be held at iZod Center. I for one am wondering that now with everything happening in my hometown area...will WrestleMania XXX happen at MSG as planned or is WWE thinking of going down to Dallas, only time will tell how that will go down. Nonetheless I am one happy New Jerseyan & will certainly be waiting on line at MetLife or will shell out on StubHub for tickets. With the last 2 early Aprils being incredibly hot and moderately cold respectively in the Garden State, I'm wondering if I'll be rocking my jorts or jeans...either way I'm excited.

Why I Love Sports

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Today's all about love so I figured that today's post is going to be about the things in sports that I love & can't get enough of. I'm going to list some "Top 5's" in a few categories, which are:

1. Stadiums I love to go to
2. Stadiums I'd love to go to
3. Logos I Love
4. Jerseys I Love
5. Jerseys I'd Love to Buy
6. Sports Traditions I Love

TOP 5 STADIUMS I LOVE TO GO TO

1. Yankee Stadium- New or Old nothing beats the experience of going to the ballpark in the Bronx
2. Madison Square Garden- Knicks or Rangers I can't describe the feeling I get when I go to MSG
3. Citizens Bank Park- Not a Phillies fan but I've caught a couple games there & it's such a beauty
4. Citi Field- An improvement from Shea & I'll gladly go there to see some NL baseball for cheap
5. MetLife Stadium- home of the Jets!...and Giants, my hometown's stadium is where I watch football

TOP 5 STADIUM'S I'D LOVE TO GO TO

1. Fenway Park- I'm a Yankee fan but I really wanna go see this century old stadium just for 9 innings
2. AT&T Park- That Park just looks so beautiful on TV, I can only imagine what it's like in person
3. United Center- I'd love to go to a Blackhawks or Bulls game just to check out "The Madhouse"
4. Wrigley Field- It's Wrigley, that place just has so much history
5. Michigan Stadium/Cowboys Stadium- I couldn't pick one 100,000+ Stadium over the other so it's a tie

TOP 5 LOGOS I LOVE

1. New York Yankees- This hasn't left the team in 99 years under the Yankee name, it was even around for the Highlander days

2. Green Bay Packers- This is the iconic, time tested logo in the NFL nothing could ever replace this

3. New York Rangers- Since the team's inception the shield has been the representation of the NY Rangers

4. Chicago Bulls- The only logo the Bulls have ever used and should stay that way

5. San Jose Sharks- What's not to love about a shark biting a hockey stick, it's always been a favorite of mine

the next top 5 is gonna be broken down to 2 parts, my favorite teams jerseys & my other favorites

TOP 5 JERSEYS OF MY FAVORITE TEAMS THAT I OWN

1. My Derek Jeter jersey with GMS & Bob patches

2. My Rangers Heritage custom ordered Messier jersey (I know that's a Drury in the pic but replace the 23's with 11's & that's what i got)

3. My Mitchell & Ness Namath Throwback

4. My 2009 World Series CC Sabathia jersey

5. My Danilo Gallinari Knicks jersey

TOP 5 JERSEYS(NOT MY TEAMS') THAT I OWN

1. My Patrick Kane 2009 Winter Classic Jersey

2. My Joe Mauer 2010 Twins Road Jersey

3. My Jim Brown Jersey

4. My Dan Uggla FLORIDA Marlins Jersey

5. My Roy Halladay Phillies Alternate

TOP 5 JERSEY I'D LOVE TO BUY

1. NY Rangers Lady Liberty

2. SF Giants Orange Brian Wilson

3. Maple Leafs James Reimer

4. Knicks Carmelo Anthony
5. A Jets Super Bowl Jersey(wish I had a picture)

Last But not least...

TOP 5 SPORTS TRADITIONS I LOVE

1. Fan Sections- in any sport any fan section is great: Dawg Pound, Cameron Crazies or my favorite...the Eagle's nest of my high school in my senior year last year
2. Tailgating- Food & Sports go hand in hand
3. Music- nothing get's me more hyped up then music
4. Gatorade Baths- it's an accomplishment in and of itself
5. Shaking Hands after the game- sportsmanship, it's a great tradition that's stood the test of time

That's a few things I love about sports, Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Speculating The 2013 Winter Classic Logos & Uniforms

Now that it's official, the Toronto Maple Leafs will travel to the Big House to take on the Detroit Red Wings in the 2013 NHL Winter Classic on January 1st. I've done a little research on NHLuniforms.com & sportslogos.net and thrown together what uniforms & logos are very possible for the game. It could be possible that the two teams will use their current primary logos for their uniforms but then again as we've seen in the past they could have just used the current primaries for the press conference & team designers could be working on something very unique & special. If they choose to do what the Penguins and Sabres did for the first Winter Classic back in 2008 & wear the exact uniforms they wore the first time the two franchises faced each other then the uniforms I have up there are on the money. Toronto first played Detroit back on January 4, 1927 when the Leafs were known as the St. Patricks and the Wings were known as the Cougars. About a month after their first meeting Conn Smythe bought the St. Pats and renamed them the Maple Leafs. The Cougars name would stay in Detroit until 1930 when the teams name was changed to the Falcons and in 1932 the team finally became known as the Red Wings. If the teams use their original encounter sweaters then that will be great for Toronto but not great for Detroit as they previously wore the Cougars uniforms with two Red Wing logos on the shoulders for the 2009 Winter Classic in Chicago.

Here's what the uniforms look like in a game:

Detroit's 09 Classic Jersey's

Mats Sundin in a St. Pats Jersey back in 2002

What I'm hoping for is a hybrid jersey like the Blachawks (09), Bruins (10), Penguins (11) & Rangers(12) did  where they blended past elements into one awesome jersey.

We'll have to STAY TUNED to see what these 2 Original Six franchises have in store for us for the "Big Game in the Big House". If anyone wants to see the uniforms these teams have used in their history, I'll gladly post the links for you to enjoy below:

TORONTO ST. PATRICKS/MAPLE LEAFS

http://nhluniforms.com/MapleLeafs/MapleLeafs.html

http://sportslogos.net/franchise.php?id=28

DETROIT COUGARS/FALCONS/RED WINGS

http://nhluniforms.com/RedWings/RedWings.html

http://sportslogos.net/franchise.php?id=11