New York Red Bulls Autograph Signing at ESPN Zone New York

WHAT: The New York Red Bulls’ goalkeeper, Bouna Coundoul, and team newcomers, Joel Lindpere, Carl Robinson and Greg Suttonwill be on-hand March 24 at ESPN Zone for an autograph signing.  Coundoul’s quick reflexes earned him the starting nod in the final portion of last season, as he allowed just four goals over his final six appearances.

The first 50 fans who purchase a game card worth $25 or more will receive an exclusive, regulation size, Red Bulls soccer ball. The Red Bulls open their season on March 20 against Santos FC in their new home, Red Bull Arena, located in Harrison, New Jersey.

*The regulation size, Red Bulls soccer ball is available while supplies last.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. ET

WHERE: ESPN Zone located in Times Square – 1472 Broadway @ 42^nd Street       

Yankee Tickets and Bleacher Creatures

I tried to buy Yankee tickets yesterday when they went on sale to the general public but didn’t have any luck getting any reasonably priced tickets for their premium games such as games against the Red Sox, Mets and Phillies. I look for seats in the bleachers first and those seems to be gone immediately due to the inexpensive price of bleacher tickets ($14 per ticket and by the way, didn’t Yankee tickets used to go on sale in January? Why so late the last two years?). It’s my personal preference to sit in the bleachers over any other section of the stadium. Although the bleacher sections don’t have the same “spark” to them as they did in the old stadium, they still can get wild from time to time, especially during big games.

For most games, tickets are available for seating that can run you over $300 per ticket. Instead of spending $600 on two seats for a regular season game, I can put that money toward playoff tickets from a secondary ticket broker.

Recently, I’m starting to rely on secondary brokers more often. Last season, I bought Yankees vs. Red Sox tickets in the bleachers for August (the four game sweep series) at Barry’s Tickets for $45 each. Then, I bought bleacher tickets for Game 2 of the ALCS against the Angels (a 13 inning Yankees win) for $65 each the day before the game and just printed the tickets out online. 

Why do I enjoy the bleachers so much? I first got a taste of the bleachers at Game 3 of the 1999 World Series. I sat in section 39, home of the Bleacher Creatures. I was 13 years old and I loved the atmosphere. It could have been because of the game (Chad Curtis won it with a solo home run in the 10th inning over Atlanta), but to this day, I’d argue there’s no better place to watch a Yankees game from than the bleachers, specifically the right field bleachers. Why else do I love the bleachers so much? Because of Bald Vinny and role call, Rick Flair, the late inning songs, the YMCA remix, the chants and plenty more that I can’t say in order to keep this blog clean. I’m barely scratching the surface. 

Unless I am given free tickets, you’ll find me in the bleachers. Even then, I’ll try to scalp those tickets and buy some bleacher tickets the day of the game.

LeBron James and Joe Johnson in New York?

I first heard of Ric Bucher’s comments about LeBron James wanting to team up with Joe Johnson from The Knicks FanBlog. Go to their site to see the video of Ric Bucher making those comments. Basically, Bucher has a source that says LeBron James would love to play with current Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson. 

Take note, Knicks. 

It’s not going to be easy landing LeBron James this summer, but the Knicks have the ability to go to LeBron this summer and say, “Listen, go pick any other free agent that you will want to play with for the next six years and we’ll sign you both.” 

Although it could be possible that LeBron may want to play with another player more than he wants to play with Joe Johnson, having LeBron pick Johnson would be ideal for the Knicks because Johnson is most likely not going to get a max contract like Dwayne Wade or Chris Bosh. Signing LeBron at the max and Johnson a bit below the max will leave some wiggle room for the Knicks to add other players, but let it be LeBron’s choice first. Leave the “wiggle room” factor out of it. If he wants Wade, do it. If he wants Bosh, do it. Do whatever is necessary to get LeBron playing 41 games a year at the Garden.

My hope is that the Lakers win the title again this year, leaving LeBron wanting to join forces with another NBA star in order to surpass the Lakers. My thinking is that LeBron will come to terms that he’ll need another monster name on his side in order to upheave the champion Lakers and win multiple titles in the future. If he can’t win it all in Cleveland this year with Antawn Jamison and a supporting cast that includes Shaq also, then going to a team that has the financial flexibility to sign any two max deals it wants is optimal for LeBron.

It’s going to come down to either Cleveland or New York for LeBron this summer and if he really wants to play with Joe Johnson or another star player, like people say he does, then we may see a new No. 6 lighting up New York City.

St. John’s Fires Norm Roberts

The St. John’s men’s basketball team is in search for a new head coach after the dismissal of Norm Roberts. Roberts has coached St. John’s for the last six seasons. This morning Chris Monasch, the teams athletic director, made the announcement. 

In a statement, Monasch said, “Coach Roberts took over a very challenging situation and has advanced our program in many respects. We appreciate the class and integrity he exhibited in his six years at St. John’s.”

Some names that have been thrown around as possible replacements include current NBA announcer and former St. John’s and NBA player Mark Jackson, Virgina Tech’s Seth Greenberg, and even Florida’s Billy Donovan.

Safest New York Sports Jerseys to Buy

Santana Moss, Jonathan Vilma, Chad Pennington and Kerry Rhodes. Those are the names on the backs of the four Jets jerseys hanging in my closet. None of those players are currently on the Jets roster, therefore, I will have to spend another $80 on a Jets jersey before their season opener on September 13th. 

Which player’s jersey does my $80 deserve to go toward? Well, have you ever heard of the saying there’s “no such thing as a sure bet?” In the landscape of sports today, it’s not often a player spends his entire career with one team. Here one year and gone the next. There are, however, a number of players that do spend their entire careers with one team, but it is a small percentage of the total number of athletes in each sport. There are a number of reasons for this, but that’s neither here nor there. The intention of this article is to address the jerseys that you can count on being able to wear for the next five years and hopefully beyond. You could always buy a Lawrence Taylor, Willis Reed or Mickey Mantle jersey to be extremely safe, but I’m talking about the jerseys of more current and active players.

Continue Reading…

Second Banana in the Big Apple

Quite often it feels like the Long Island sports dynamic is doomed forever to be akin to being the ugly sibling, beaten like a red-headed step child. The typically favored L.I. teams, the New York Mets and New York Jets, are routinely ignored in favor of the perfectly media-spoiled New York Yankees and New York Giants. This is far from breaking news, but the 2009 sports year again proved that general sentiment.

The opening of the Mets new stadium was grossly overshadowed by the new Yankee Stadium, the house that Jeter built. The teams were equally disappointing a month and a half into the season. The Mets had been stripped of its potential by a plague of injuries that one could only assume was summoned by a Yankees fan practicing Voodoo in a Brooklyn basement studio. Luckily, the Yankees had just plain failed to show up as well. Then, the Yanks had a great rest of the season and the talks of power alley and ridiculously expensive New York Yankees tickets for the cheap seats had been replaced by whispers (and eventually shouts) of winning the franchises 27th World Series.

The New York Jets only received their due praise late in the season when it became obvious that the Giants had fallen apart following a four-game losing streak. Even then, everybody was waiting for Mark Sanchez to throw into too much coverage and spoil the poetic dominance of the Jets defense and the barrage of blitzes from every angle.

The 2010 sports year seemed to hold more promise. The Mets had recovered most of their roster from the IR and the Jets had undoubtedly established themselves as the best football team in the New York Metro area.

Ah, but then the sports gods stepped in and suddenly the Mets are without Jose Reyes for the first month of the 2010 MLB season because of unbalanced thyroid levels and Carlos Beltran will be joining him in street clothes as he recovers from a knee surgery after botched medical care last year.

Then the NFL privately decides that the Jets are not good enough to open the new Meadowlands Stadium after a phantom coin toss apparently held in the panic room with Roger Goodell and the television executives from Fox Sports.

So what is to be done? How do I end this rant? Well, I have to hope that the Mets were right to stick with Mike Pelfrey, John Maine, and Oliver Perez in the starting rotation. I have to hope that the Yankees rotation is mired by weight issues, inconsistencies, and old age. I have to hope that Mark Sanchez makes another jump in development and clearly surpasses Eli Manning as the best and more consistent quarterback.

Guest Post by Brian Sarna

Giants to Open New Stadium, Jets to Follow on Monday

The NFL has resolved the issue of which New York team would be the first to christen the new stadium at the Meadowlands. As reported by Newsday’s Bob Glauber, both teams will play home during the first weekend of the season.

Glauber tweeted, “Giants and Jets to play at home on opening weekend. Giants on Sunday, Jets on Monday.”

Rich Cimini of the NY Daily News went further in an article;

“The NFL just issued a press release on the controversy. Here it is:

The New York Jets and New York Giants both will play at home in their new Meadowlands Stadium on the opening weekend of the 2010 regular season, the NFL announced today.

The Giants will play on Sunday afternoon, September 12, and the Jets will play in the first nationally televised Monday Night Football game of the season on September 13. The NFL is completing the final stages of the 2010 schedule. The opponents for the Jets and Giants Kickoff Weekend home openers will be announced soon.

In addition, the NFL announced that the Jets will host the first NFL game at the new stadium during the preseason in August.”

Earlier in the day, it was reported by several media outlets that the Giants won a coin toss that gave them the rights to host the first game at the new stadium. This move should appease the Jets, having their game in prime-time a day later. Having both teams play home games on back-to-back days during opening weekend makes complete sense and the NFL did a very good job making this work.

Reported Jets’ Discussions for Brandon Marshall Have Jets Fans Buzzing

Michael Lombardi of the National Football Post has heard that the Jets are having “internal discussions” about Brandon Marshall.

Lombardi wrote, “I keep hearing from my Jets sources that they’re having internal discussions regarding Brandon Marshall and would love to put together a package of players that might entice the Broncos and still keep their first-round pick.”

Lombardi’s words have Jets fans in an uproar. A lot of people are against the idea of acquiring Marshall, citing his off-field problems and character issues. Other people see past his issues and see him as a talented receiver and one of the best in the league.

Whether you’d welcome Marshall or not, Lombardi’s report doesn’t mean the Jets are getting him.

Continue Reading…

Jets Sign LaDainian Tomlinson, Can Start Focusing on Other Needs

LaDainian Tomlinson has made a decision on which football team he will play for in 2010 and his choice is the New York Jets. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, L.T. signed a two-year deal worth $5.1 million that can turn into a total of $5.6 million. 

The addition of Tomlinson means the Jets have one less area to fill. Depth at running back is now complete, no matter if you think Tomlinson will have a good season or not in 2010. 

Now the Jets can focus on adding players that can have a bigger impact on the team than Tomlinson. Adding another running back was needed due to the release of Thomas Jones, but there are other positions the Jets need to tend to in order to get back into the AFC championship in 2010.

The Jets need to add to their defensive line and outside linebacking corps. The 29th pick in the draft is a critical one for them. Enough of the L.T. talk. It’s time to start focusing on strengthening the defensive front seven, which will have more of an impact on the success of the team than L.T. will. With a strong defensive backfield, adding to the pass rush will make the defense even stronger. To twist a football cliche into Jets terms; you win games in the trenches, not with your backup 31-year old running back.

Report: LaDainian Tomlinson to Choose Jets

An unconfirmed report by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune suggests that free agent running back, LaDainian Tomlinson, will be signing with the New York Jets.

Acee says;

“According to three people with knowledge of the process, Tomlinson has decided to become a New York Jet.

“It’s 100 percent,” one source said. “Done deal.”

Tomlinson is expected to announce the decision today or tomorrow.”

To reiterate, a deal is not confirmed, but sources are suggesting that L.T. will be choosing the Jets. I’m excited for him to make a decision so we can put this behind us and start focusing on more pressing needs and the draft. L.T. will be a welcomed addition to the Jets if the reports are true. How much he has left in the tank is one issue, but his character is top-notch.