Archive for the ‘Empire Sports Now’ Category

In 2007, I traveled to Australia to visit my girlfriend who was doing a semester abroad at the University of New Castle. In our travels together, we went to a rugby match in Sydney. There are two kinds of rugby in Australia; rugby league and rugby union. Rugby league is more of the classic style of rugby while rugby union is more like American football (but still not very similar). I watched several matches on TV during my stay there and that’s what made me want to go to see a live match. 

At first I was more interested in rugby union. It seemed to be much more popular. Those stadiums were filled to capacity and the environment was similar to playoff football. When I asked a concierge about seeing a rugby match, he told me to see the Sydney Roosters, who play in the NRL (rugby league). He had high praises for the classic sport and said it’s more “tough and rough” than rugby union. I took his advice and we saw the Roosters play in a beautiful stadium that wasn’t even a quarter filled. It was a very enjoyable experience. We paid admission and got to choose our own seats.

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Does a boxing event like the one being held at Yankee Stadium this summer draw more interest from the average sports fan being that it is going to be held at one of the most well-known venues in sports?

I’m interested.

Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman will be fighting at Yankee Stadium on June 5, 2010.

I’ll be watching.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m interested in the boxing match that’s going to be held at Yankee Stadium. I’m probably not the only one either. I’m not interested because of who will be fighting, but because of the venue it is being held at. I’m sure there are others like me that will watch the fight solely for the reason that it’s taking place at Yankee Stadium. Boxing will have at least one additional person watching the event who wouldn’t ordinarily be watching it and boxing is hoping that I like what I see.

I bet there are a lot of sports fans like me that stick to the major sports in America and are interested in this fight because of the history of boxing at Yankee Stadium and many other reasons that come along with Yankee Stadium and New York City.

I’m not a fan of boxing by any means. The only two names of current boxers I’m familiar with are Pacquiao and Mayweather. The only boxing I used to follow was Mike Tyson’s fights and I was very young during he heyday.

Having a boxing match at Yankee Stadium is ingenious. If this bout was taking place in Las Vegas, it wouldn’t get the nearly same exposure as it is going to get at Yankee Stadium. The average sports fan is going to tune in just to see boxing at the stadium. That’s the first step for boxing. The next step is to keep them watching. There will be some people who will watch the fight on June 5 and not watch again. But some people will watch the fight, enjoy it, and keep watching. A new boxing fan has unfolded.

Boxing is hoping that Cotto and Foreman put on a great right. If the fight is a good one, it is sure to attract more viewers to watch another fight. If it’s a lousy fight, some viewers may be ‘one and done’.

I’ll have my TV tuned to the fight on June 5 at Yankee Stadium. If I like what I see, maybe boxing will have a new fan. Boxing is sure to have a slew of new viewers for this fight. It’s in their hands whether they can keep these new viewers coming back for more.

To be a professional athlete, it takes more than just physical ability, X’s and O’s,  and athleticism to be successful. It takes mental toughness and a specific mindset. That’s where Donald MacNaughton, director of Zoned in Performance and Sports Psychology 2 comes in. MacNaughton has worked with some of the world’s top athletes and Olympians, as well as CEOs and business people, to help them become stronger mentally in order to take their performance to the next level. 

According to MacNaughty, “An athlete’s mindset has a huge influence on their performance. That is the area Zoned in Performance specializes in. Competitive sport is undoubtedly about winning and thriving under pressure. It’s also a fact of life that defeats happen and athletes of all levels need to know how to cope well with whatever is happening. My work focuses on successful techniques and processes from performance psychology and helps athletes apply these in ways that significantly impact both their physical and mental performance.” 

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Jared Jeffries’ defense is hard to ignore and my thinking is the Knicks may be able to trade him to a contending team that is looking to add a defensive presence to their roster. The team would most likely have to be a team that isn’t looking to sign one of the NBA’s top free agents this summer because teams that are going to be in hot pursuit of big names won’t want to take on Jeffries’ contract. They’ll want as much cap flexibility as possible. 

Teams that could use Jeffries’ services are the Spurs, Hornets, and there could just as well be others (my assumptions). Maybe even the young Grizzlies could use Jeffries.

Knick fans know that Jeffries plays really well on defense. He works hard and the Knicks use him to guard several different players. Jeffries could help a defensive-minded team or even an offensive team looking to add a little defense down the stretch. They’ll have to act quickly, however, because the NBA trade deadline is less than three weeks away.

If the Knicks receive an offer of an expiring contract for Jeffries, they’ll be inclined to make that trade. Donnie Walsh would be thrilled to receive such an offer. Walsh shouldn’t wait for teams to come to him though. He should be making phone calls to them (which I’m sure he’s doing already). The Knicks are falling out of contention quickly and they need to make up their minds before the February 18 trade deadline whether they want to add a piece to make this team better or diligently try to trade the contracts of Eddy Curry and Jared Jeffries in return for expiring contracts.

Mock drafting; It’s an inexact science. There is so much involved and so many variables in simulating player choices by professional sports teams. Experts aren’t going to get their entire mock draft choices correct. They’re lucky to get half of the first round correct and the percentage decreases drastically as the rounds proceed. They are going to go through six… eight… ten revisions before the day of the draft. But they worked hard to create their mock draft. They didn’t read other mock drafts and make changes to them and called it their own. They made there’s from scratch. They put the time in and they are so called “experts” for a reason.

I never understood how the Average Joe Schmo off the street received the ability to create a mock draft. If experts and scouts never created a mock draft first, the Average Joe wouldn’t do too well creating his own. If the Average Joe had to create a mock draft on his own without watching film, going to workouts, talking to scouts and doing other various activities with college players, they wouldn’t be able to create a respectable mock draft.

Mock drafts can be created in fun, but the line is drawn when the average fans thinks they know more than the experts. I read a mock draft created by an normal fan recently and after he wrote the first round picks he ended the article with, “I had more picks correct than Todd McShay (of ESPN) did last year.”

That’s when the respect of that person’s mock draft flew out the window.

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The once lovable Brett Favre had many fans. He wasn’t only loved by cheese-heads, but also by fans of other teams throughout the nation. The gunslinger won over fans because of his child-like view of the game and great play with a small town team. He has lost a good amount of fans since his bitter breakup with the Packers. His waffling the last two offseasons about retiring or not has also lost him fans. When Favre’s Vikings took on the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship, was there anybody other than Viking fans rooting for Brett Favre?

Jet fans weren’t rooting for Favre. Not after he “assaulted” the team over the summer by asking for a release because he was going to retire and then throwing them under the bus about the injury report. Packer fans sure weren’t rooting for Brett. After the divorce that occurred two years ago do you blame them? Cowboy fans wanted the Saints to pound Favre after he and the Vikings ran up the score against their team the prior week. Fans of the other two teams in the NFC North, the Bears and Lions, didn’t want to see Favre in the Super Bowl. 

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While all the recent talk around MLB centers on Mark McGwire and steroids, itís easy to forget that Spring Training is creeping up.

Cactus League play begins on March 3 and Grapefruit League starts a day before that.

This is a good time to look at the future baseball odds to win World Series that sportsbook currently have posted.

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Why is it all of a sudden an “NFL sin” to rest starters in weeks 16 and 17 in preparation of a playoff run? There is no evidence that resting starters in the latter weeks of the season works or doesn’t work. It’s inconclusive to tell what if it helps or hinders a team in the playoffs. All it does is make players take less snaps and gives them less of a chance to go down with injury in the last few and often meaningless games of the season. You can get injured on any play of any game, but the less you are on the field, the less chance of being injured.

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Here are Empire Sports Now’s top 10 New York sports moments from 2009

Before you read this list, know that I tried to get a moment from each team in New York that was worthy. Some teams had more big moments than others. Feel free to comment and share your feelings on the list or come up with your own list.   

10. Daniel Murphy’s behind-the-back flip

9. Rangers go up 2-0 in ’08-’09 Conference Quarterfinals against Capitals
The Rangers came into the series as underdogs, but won games one and two and knocked Alexander Ovechkin around. Although the Rangers would lose the series, they were up 3-1 after four games before losing the last three.

8. Islanders select John Tavares with 1st overall pick in 2009 NHL Draft

7. Giants beat Cowboys 33-31 in the first game at the new Cowboys Stadium 
Lawrence Tynes hit a game-winning field goal as time expired to give the Giants a 33-31 win over the Cowboys in the first NFL regular season game at the Cowboys’ new $1.1 billion stadium. Eli Manning threw for 330 yards and two touchdowns in the game. Eli also put his signature on a wall in the visiting locker room that has caused a stir.

6. Nate Robinson wins 2008-2009 NBA Slam Dunk Contest

5. Jets select Mark Sanchez with 5th overall pick in 2009 NFL Draft/Jets beat Patriots 16-9 in Week 2

At the 1:25 mark in the video there is a Jet fan in the middle of the screen that is absolutely hating this pick. Jet fans hope Sanchez will make this guy look like an idiot one day.

4. Yankees and Mets open brand new stadiums
Citi Field cost over $900 million to build and the new Yankee Stadium cost over $1.2 billion.

3. #18 Syracuse beat #4 Connecticut 127-117 in six overtimes 
Syracuse and UConn played a game for the ages on the hardwood at Madison Square Garden in the Big East quarterfinals. Syracuse outlasted the Huskies 127-117 in six overtimes. Six players had double-doubles, eight players fouled out and the game lasted 3 hours and 46 minutes.

2. Yankees walk-off wins
The Yankees had 15 regular season walk-off wins and one postseason walk-off win.
Notable walk-offs:
- Three walk-off wins in a row from May 15-17 against the Twins.
- Mets second baseman Luis Castillo dropped a high fly ball by A-Rod in 9th inning on June 12.
- A-Rod hit a walk-off two-run home run in the 15th inning against the Red Sox on August 7.
- Mark Teixeira hit a walk-off home run in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Twins.

1. New York Yankees win the 2009 World Series
The Yankees captured their 27th World Series championship by beating the 2008 champion Phillies in six games. From Teixeira’s monster regular season to Damon’s double-steal in the World Series, the Yankees had an incredible championship season in 2009. A-Rod overcame past failures and succeeded in October and Matsui was named World Series MVP. There were so many more great moments and memories from the Yankees in 2009.