Hey Hockey, Long Time No See

There used to be a great sport around these parts, and it was called hockey.   A lot of us used to enjoy it.

Back in 1994 my cousin was a big Rangers fan.  I liked blue and orange teams so I rooted for the Islanders.   The Rangers were on their way to winning a cup, and I needed to stop that from happening at all costs.   The Isles were useless in the playoffs that year but I fell in love with a scrappy Devils team and their awesome goalie Martin Brodeur – and these Devils seemed like they would be the ones to stop the Rangers from ever winning so I could keep on chanting 19-40 every time I walked past the cousin’s house.

We were really into hockey 15 years ago.   I bought a Devils jersey.  I would watch every game at his house.  I’d show up with Devil horns and bring Devil dogs.  Anything to keep 19-40 alive.  Back in those days I had to get up at 3:30 in the morning for work.  It didn’t matter, I stayed up for the NHL playoffs.

We all know that the Rangers won, and I lost – but hockey was alive.  It’s good for leagues when the team from New York is good despite what those in the flyover states think.   Hockey had a brand new contract with FOX, and FOX was proving itself to be really good at this sports thing.

Then the geniuses had a lockout and started the 1995 season late.  The Devils won it, but they swept in the finals which didn’t help the cause.  Neither did threatening to move to Nashville in the middle of a cup run.

Still we loved our hockey.   We played NHL 95 on the Sega Genesis like you couldn’t believe.   Messier came and went and came back.  Even the great Wayne Gretzky came to New York.   However, little by little hockey was slipping away.  

Eventually the NHL decided not to play a season and nobody cared.

Tonight is the All-Star game.  It’s 90 minutes away and I only now got excited enough to write about it.  I’m going to check it out and I hope I last more than five minutes.   I couldn’t tell you who is playing, I don’t know if I get Versus in HD (they keep telling me “you gotta see hockey in hi-def!”) and I bet I won’t recognize any of the players.

I have heard of Niklas Lidstrom but he decided he isn’t playing and the league has decided to make him sit out a regular season game as punishment.  I’ve heard of Sydney Crosby, but he isn’t playing either.

Well, I bet Martin Brodeur made the team.  Oh what’s that – he’s been out with an injury all season?  The Devils are somehow in first with the Rangers just a point behind.   You’d think someone would notice.

www.metspolice.com

Swanny, Stadia, Manny, Ollie

On another quiet morning in Flushing, I thought I’d take a look around the internet to see what’s out there:

Hotfootblog correctly observes that just about every Mets fan now wants Manny.  Why would a franchise not want to offer the customer the player that the customers want?  It boggles the mind.  It would be very easy for all parties to show up at the press conference and say “we heard how much you wanted him, here he is” and Manny can stand there in a black #99 jersey with a lame patch and I’ll keep my mouth shut.

Forbes magazine also thinks the Mets need to grab Manny.

The Subway Sqwakers blog and the Daily News both observe that as much sense as Manny makes for 2009, he may make even more sense for 2010!

Not surprisingly the Mets are upping their offer to Oliver Perez.   I don’t think any of us are shocked that this is happening.

Craig Swan is 59 years old now and has a dog powered scooter.

My favorite piece out there is from the Amazin’ Avenue blog which has a collection of Mets Sports Illustrated covers throughout the years.   The young Dwight Gooden makes me sad.   It’s a very cool collection, check it out!

Meanwhile in the Bronx, they haven’t signed Manny yet (who will be surprised when they do?) but the great River Ave Blues blog has this virtual tour of Yankee Stadium (and here’s one of Citi Field – what’s up with the yellow hat on the scoreboard).

www.metspolice.com

Daily News on Manny

I wish I had written this.  It sums up all the frustration of all the fans.   From Bill Price in the Daily News:
In years past, the Mets would’ve told everyone they were interested in Manny, only to have some other team eventually sign him. It’s nice that can’t happen this year. Thanks for letting us down easy.

I can now focus on Alex Cora, Freddy Garcia and the rest of the other key offseason acquisitions the Mets have made. I can now start accepting this Fernando Tatis/Daniel Murphy platoon in left and three more years of Luis Castillo at second.

I figure since it’s only January, I’m better prepared for the late-season collapse. That is, of course, if this team actually has a lead in the division late in the season. The more this offseason drags on, the more I doubt that will be the case

As for Manny, I promise this is the last time I will mention him on this blog until the day he signs with the Yankees.

Why do I have a feeling he’s right about the Yankees?   I think the only thing that would stop them is if they fear that this signing would be the straw on the camel’s back that gets MLB talking about a salary cap.
Bill’s full piece is at the link below.