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As everyone knows by now, a Red Sox fan construction worker infiltrated the new Stadium work crew and buried a David Ortiz jersey in the wet concrete to try and hex the Yanks’ new stadium. In a classy and somewhat deliberate move (Yankee management clearly wanted to take the high ground with this), the excavated jersey was sent up to Boston and auctioned off for charity to the sum of nearly $200K.

So what’s the real story here? Some Boston fans, despite winning two of the last four World Series, clearly are as insecure as ever. You would think the actual process of winning a championship would mellow Boston fans, but there is much anecdotal evidence to the contrary–the Ortiz jersey notwithstanding.

Since the Red Sox actually won, I have never seen so many Red Sox hats being worn. It’s as if Boston fans are finally coming out of the closet to accept their team, jump on the bandwagon and bask in the light that Yankees fans have know for almost 100 years. More to the point above, I’ve never heard so many “Yankees suck” barbs in New England accents whenever I venture outside wearing some Yankees gear. 

So here’s my take on the “greatest rivalry in sports”. First off, there really hasn’t been a rivalry until this decade. Until then the Yankees had won 26 championships to Boston’s 5 (all around WWI). Ohio State and Michigan is a rivalry that’s much longer where both teams have shared in the winnings fairly evenly. 

What gives the New York/Boston rivalry life is this sense among Boston fans that everything great that has happened to the Yankees should have happened to the Red Sox if it weren’t for the ill-fated decision to sell Babe Ruth around 1918. But here’s a little know fact: the Boston Red Sox were the last team in the American League to integrate its roster. Don’t believe me, click here. Perhaps the Red Sox “curse” is simply driven by the fact that they were dead last in taking on non-white players who had plenty of talent when the Yankees and Dodgers were winning penants with Elston Howard and Jackie Robinson

The Yanks/Red Sox rivalry is (somewhat unfortunately) driven by the the intense jealousy-cum-hatred that Red Sox fans feel towards the Yankees. No such intense hatred exists on the Yankees side, and why would it? Between 1918 and 2004 the Red Sox could not beat the Yankees in a significant game. The “rivalry” exists in the hearts and minds of Red Sox fans.  Yankee fans know that their real rivals are the Anaheim Angels who have been the only team since the mid 90s to have a real edge in wins over the Yankees. 

So Boston’s inferiority complex with New York and its Yankees continues despite the Red Sox actually doing what nobody thought they could do: win a big game. If the Red Sox won as many rings as the Yankees, would the intense hatred continue? Only an experienced psychologist can answer that.  At any rate, check out this yankees gear here and let me know if it makes it into Fenway Park somehow.

I’ve spent a lot of time recently covering the Yanks, and I’ll admit that baseball has and always will dominate this blog, but it’s time to give a shout out to those Broadway Blueshirts. It’s nice to see a team that plays in the Garden win some games.

As of April 17, the Rangers have a commanding lead over the Devils 3-1 in the first round of the 2008 NHL playoffs. If you’re that big a fan, check out this cool assortment of NHL jerseys. The Rangers have rebounded nicely from having a team earlier this decade that was truly Isiah-esque in its awfulness. (As I write this, I’ve just seen that the Knicks fired Isiah Thomas). In three straight seasons, the Rangers have managed to make the playoffs. Each year the team seems to get a little better. This year they are led by Jaromir Jagr and Scott Gomez (71 and 70 points respectively), and the acquisition of Jagr in 2003-2004 was a major turning point for the team. If only the Knicks had such management.

So how far can the Rangers go this year? My feeling is that they’re a good team that can win it all if they get hot enough, but Montreal, Detroit and San Jose are pretty stacked and any of these three can and should be considered heavy favorites.

I remember going to the Garden as a kid with my best friend, Jesse and seeing some classic Rangers vs. Flyers games–penalty shots, OT wins. We even went down to Philly to see the Rangers play in the old Spectrum. Man, was that place a dump. Obviously, the Rangers winning it all in ‘94 was a great moment and never having to hear those Devils and Isles fans chant “1940″ is probably like what Sawks fans today feel knowing they’ll never have to hear “1918″ again.

It seemed like in the mid-90’s, the NHL was poised to break through to the mainstream (remember those NHL games on Fox with the puck tracker that never worked). Perhaps this is no coincidence seeing as the Rangers were the last big-market team win the Stanley Cup. Since then, I think the NHL was resigned itself to growing fanbases in more middle-market cities (Columbus, Charlotte), and this has not done well for the sport’s cross-over potential. The NHL needs strong support for legacy, big-market teams as much as it needs expansion across tier-2 cities in the US. But with Montreal, Detroit and the Rangers in it this year, perhaps things will change.

 So I made it out to Anaheim last Sunday to see the Angels play the Rangers.

I have to say, it was a bit weird to set foot in the place where so many Yanks playoff chances have gone to die. I remember being in shock back in the fall of 2002 when, after four consecutive World Series appearances, the Yanks went down in weak fashion to the Angels in four games. More recently the Yanks pushed the Angels to a five-game, winner-take-all in Anaheim back in 2005 but lost nonetheless. Neither team has not gone deeper into the playoffs since.

So with my Yankees hat firmly on my head, I went into Angels stadium preparing for some serious abuse. So what was it like to visit the home of the team with the best record vs. NYY since 2000? Honestly, not that bad. The stadium was clean and had a lot of open space. It was very fan-friendly. Did I get any crap for wearing a NYY hat? No, not at all. In fact I talked to a lot of fans there who felt no hate towards the Yanks. Maybe that’s because the Angels have owned the Yanks this decade. In this game the Rangers and Vincente Padilla held off the halos and won handily.

As I see more and more of these newer or renovated ballparks, I can’t help but notice how many distractions there are in the stadium from the actual ballgame. There are these huge playgrounds for kids, videogame stations, baseball-oriented carnival games and concessions stands as far as the eye can see. At one gaming station, I played Major League Baseball 2K8 for xbox 360, and it transported me for two whole innings.  It makes you wonder if MLB has given in to the fact that the game itself isn’t all that entertaining (or lucrative) and that to bring fans in and keep them there, a stadium should have an almost carnival-like atmosphere where, no doubt, you will spend more money on food and tee-ball than in sitting in the seat for which you paid to see the actual game.

So has MLB conceded that baseball is truly ”boring” and that fans would rather just hang out at the ballpark than watch the game going on inside? Nobody will ever admit it, but looking at these new ballparks, it’s a real possibility. I will say this: at the old Yankee Stadium, it’s all about the game. There’s not much space in there for anything else.

So the 2008 MLB season is underway. It’s been a long off-season. The Mets opened strong with a standout performance from their new ace, Johan Santana. Click here for an array of New York Mets jerseys. Who says I don’t cover the Mets enough?! And my beloved Yanks beat Toronto in a close game.

I love how already there’s analysis about how each team will perform in 2008 when there’s 161 games left on the year. Imagine forecasting how the next six months of your life will go based on what happened yesterday. But it’s still fun to kick around different scenarios about how this season will play out. Opening day is the one time in the year when all teams are on the same footing.

The combination of having the first new manager since 1996 and playing the last season in the old Yankee Stadium will make for a memorable year (and even higher ticket prices) for Bombers fans. The Mets too will say goodbye to their much-maligned Shea stadium. While switching homes for the Mets is a real no-brainer, (See plans for the new Citi Field here), replacing Yankee Stadium is much more controversial.

First off, Red Sox fans love the idea of tearing down what has been until recently their personal house of horrors. Check out the last time the yanks really stuck it to the Sox in the 2003 ALCS. Yes, the new Yankee Stadium will be adorned with the various hagiographies of its retired players and will have all the winning mementos, but it obviously will not be the same. The new Stadium will be built very intentionally to be a Boston fan’s version of hell with constant reminders of the 26 world championships. But we all know there’s no substitute for the real thing.

All this said, let’s focus on reality for a second. Yes, the old ballpark will be gone, and what can replace it? But let’s focus on all the good things the new Stadium will have (higher ticket prices notwithstanding):

1. Better access to Metro North and additional subway services is huge. Getting to/from games now is just not fun.

2. A lot more open space. The old ballpark feels in a lot of places like it really is from the 1920s. Too much old concrete and steel makes most fans feel very confined. Plus those nice old facades return in the new stadium.

3. An overall better look. Face it, the old stadium was half-torn down in the early 70s to build the monstrous upper deck. The result is a stadium that looks a bit half-baked. The new Stadium will be a unified structure that invokes all the best of the pre-renovated stadium with all the modern amenities.

I know I’ll take a lot of heat for “dissing” the old Stadium, and it’s an amazing place where I’ve had some of the best moments of my life (first home game after 9/11), but nothing’s going to bring it back. Plans for a new stadium have been in the works for decades, and now it’s finally happening. So let’s not forget the old HTRB and welcome in what’s essentially the HTSB (the ‘S’ is for Steinbrenner).

Unless you went to St. John’s (in Jamaica) or maybe Syracuse (way upstate), New Yorkers from from the city really have no team to support in the big tournament year-to-year. While New York has several major universities: Columbia, NYU and Fordham, none of them have significant a significant B-Ball presence. This is why March is a typically dead period for the NYSportsDude. The NBA and NHL are in their dog days, baseball hasn’t quite started up, and football won’t be around for many months.

I’ve always been jealous of those who are experiencing the madness this time of year, and I’ve kicked around the idea of adopting a team, but who? I didn’t go to St. John’s or Syracuse and have never even seen their campuses. I guess I could route for Duke. They have admirably been both an NCAA powerhouse and a very good university for academics. If you’re a real tourney fan, here’s a link to some NCAA Basketball gear.

The best thing would be for Columbia, NYU or Fordham to get off the sidelines and start investing in their B-Ball programs (and football for that matter). These schools have the money and clout to do it. Duke has shown that “good” schools can have it both ways by fielding competitive div 1 teams. You’re telling me that Mississippi Valley State can get a birth in the NCAA but any of the above NY schools can’t? I guess it’s just not a priority. New York has enough going on in its sports universe. 

With Opening Day just a week away, what can we say about this year’s crop of Bombers that hasn’t already been said? Obviously, there questions about the starting rotation and what the new regime under Girardi will be like. There’s been a lot of talk about the brawls with the Rays. And all those non-acquisitions…

First of all, word around the campfire has it that Girardi is not messing around this season and has had zero-tolerance for guys showing up to camp not in shape or acting as if they deserve a roster spot. Word around the campfire also has it that that Yanks under Torre (at least in the last few seasons) had treated spring-training too lightly and was just plain not pushing his guys. There may be evidence for this in the fact that over the last 2-3 years, the Yanks got off to awful starts. In ‘07 they dug themselves a hole so deep early on that it probably cost them the division. Now with the yanks going 12-8 (as of March 23) in spring training, perhaps they can roar into ‘08 taking advantage of the fact that Boston will be jet lagged for the first week of the season.

As for the Yanks “questionable” pitching, I’m hearing a lot of criticism from people who predicted the yanks staff in ‘05-’06 (Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright) would be utterly dominant. It’s not an issue of if the Yank’s young staff will be good but when. Yes, once you get through Wang and Pettitte (and even here, most teams will not be very intimidated), you run into a declining Mussina and a crop of untested rookies. But these rookies: Hughes, Kennedy, Joba (and maybe even Igawa) only have upside potential. Hal and Hank must believe in these guys because they passed on Johan Santana so that they could keep Hughes and the like. I stand by this decision and believe that one or more of these kid pitchers will emerge as a rotation anchor. And what of Joba’s sophomore slump? Sure, the league will have looked at a lot more tape of him, but as long as his velocity stays up, there’s not too much hitters can “learn” about him. Nobody can hit tripple-digit fastballs consistently.

As for the brawls with the Rays this spring, you have to wonder what fight these Yanks would have put up a year ago in the same situation. Personally, I think brawls like this can galvanize a team and get players more fired up to win. I’m not advocating brawling, of course.

So how will this year’s crop of Bronx Bombers stack up? Assuming Hank and Hal get along and somehow manage this co-presidency of the team, I’m predicting playoffs. From there, who knows. We all know that October is kind of a crap shoot where hot teams like the Rockies can go pretty far on adrenaline. There too much young pitching talent and too much offense for the Yanks not to be in it in October. Obviously, with the Sox in the same division, a lot has to go right for this team to take the pennant. This is an interesting year where expectations for the yanks are relatively low and they have a fiery (and very smart) new manager calling the shots–at least on the field. The Yanks will certainly not want to disappoint fans watching their last games in the great Stadium. This may be a refreshing year where the Yanks play (gasp) underdog and spoiler to a host of teams with higher expectations–like that team that plays in that old swamp up the 95 tpk.

This is a blog not just about my two favorite teams: the Yanks and Giants, but all NY sports and sports at large. 

So what was a better NY Sports moment: the Yanks winning it all in 1996 or this year’s Giants superbowl victory over the previously undefeated NE Patriots?

First off, even though this all went down over a month ago, what a superbowl?! That was one for the ages. I still haven’t gotten over it. Honestly, any Giants fan out there who says that they fully expected the Giants to win that game is lying. It was an incredible upset. Check out some cool Giants NFL jerseys here.

But the greatest NY Sports memory I have is from 1996, which was my senior year in college. I was living in NYC, where I was born. (FYI: I grew in upper Manhattan where you just wound up routing for the Yanks, even in the dark days of the ‘80s). While the Yanks did win in ’77 & ’78, I was too young to remember any of that, least of all the Bucky Dent moment. So my whole life up until 1996, I had to endure the fact that my favorite team’s best days were way behind it. The Red Sox were fielding much better teams in the late ‘80’s, winning two divisions from 1986-1989, while the Yanks seemed destined for perennial mismanagement and dysfunctionalality.

But things did turn around towards the middle of the ‘90s, and the Yanks became true contenders thanks to packing a good farm system while King George was temporarily banned from the game. They clinched their first playoff birth in 14 years in 1995. But while they were a good team, they were not the dominant team of the era, which was the Atlanta Braves. The Braves had arguably the best starting staff in the modern baseball era: Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux. The Braves also had an intimidating offense led by a much younger Andruw (and Chipper) Jones. They were the defending champs in 1996 and heavily favored to repeat World Series victories. Frankly speaking, the yanks weren’t given much of a chance in ‘96, and many people don’t realize that Yanks played the scrappy underdog role quite well that year. Put another way: they weren’t the ‘evil empire’ (yet). Click here for yankees hats.

The Yanks dropped games 1 and 2 AT HOME. (I was actually at Game 1, which was my first and still only World Series trip. It all felt like Christmas Day, until the game started. The Yanks were shellacked 12-1.) They then had the very daunting task of having to beat that great staff in Atlanta for at least two games. They did win a rather unexciting Game 3. But it was games 4 and 5 that I will always remember, especially the comeback from a 6-1 deficit in game 4 via that Jim Leyritz homerun. But few people seem to remember Game 5, which was a rare pitchers duel that resulted in a 1-0 Yanks win. That game showcased Andy Pettite as a true big-game pitcher. I was more on the edge of my seat for that game than for any other game in any sport in my life. When people say baseball is boring, they never watched this sports masterpiece.

So the bottom line is that the Yanks win in ’96 was more exciting than this year’s Giants win for two reasons: 1) the Yanks hadn’t won any kind of title in a generation—remember the Giants had been to the playoffs several times over the years and were in Superbowl XXXV and 2) the edge-of-your-seat excitement in fall ’96 went on for a week: imagine 2-3 Superbowl XLIIs in as many days. What’s also interesting is that the Giants victory was so unthinkable that there was really little expectation of a championship, and this somehow blunts the experience. You need some level of expectation of winning to make a championship run more intense and sweeter for the fan. There were people who predicted in ’96 that the Yanks could go pretty far, and there was thus some expectation, which the Yanks validated in ’96.