Vac's Whacks

Vac's Whacks

Vac's Friday Whacks on the Big East Tournament mess, the fighting heart of the Fighting Irish, and dreaming of an upset

March 12, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

Is the Big East Tournament broken, or is it working too well?It's a fair question to ask this morning after watching three of the teams who earned double-byes get bounced by lower-seeded teams who... Read on

Is the Big East Tournament broken, or is it working too well?
	 
It's a fair question to ask this morning after watching three of the teams who earned double-byes get bounced by lower-seeded teams who had to play a day earlier, and after watching West Virginia barely
	 survivea fourth upset bid by Cincinnati thanks to a buzzer bank shot by
	 Da'Sean Butler.
	 
I've long believed the conference has become too big, too unwieldly, to stripped of the parochial soul upon which the league's popularity was built in the 1980s, but I also understand the business of big-time basketball. It's likely the present 16-team lineup won't survive another round of expansion by the Big Ten and the ACC, and just as likley that the lessons the league has learned is the need to stay big and robust in orderto survive such raids. So it's going to stay an uber-league for the foreseeable future.
	 
But the double-bye format has to go. Even before his team lost to Georgetown yesterday, Syracuse coach
	 Jim Boeheimwas screaming about what an advantage it is to play at least one game before the quarterfinals, and he was proven a prophet yesterday. The double-bye was supposed to be incentive to finish in the Top 4 in the league and ensure as much rest as possible in the tournament. But the fact is, as we saw yesterday, the psychology that settles in is predictable: teams 1 through 4 in this league are generally set in the NCAA; teams 5 through 8 (or whichever teams from 9 through 16 survive) are desperate, needing to pile as many wins as possible together to ensure their bids. Hence, Notre Dame. Hence, Marquette. Hence Cincinnati, which had to be dragged kicking and screaming from the tournament.
	 
My wish is that the league do what it used to do, and only allow the top 12 in, make teams 5 through 12 play one opening rounder and let teams 1-4 have one bye. Boeheim's preference is to let all the teams in (which is also fine, if not ideal) and just play it out like a regular tournament: 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15 and so on.
	 
"Some guys would be afraid of losing to a lower seed and ruining their seeding for the NCAA," Boeheim said yesterday. "But if you're a 1 and you lose to a 16 maybe you don't deserve a high seed in the first place."
	 
Wise fellow, that Boeheim. Might have a shot to win a few games before he's done.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
A Reyes of hope, dashed:Sometimes the Mets are inept, and sometimes they're unlucky. What's
	 happenedto them with
	 Jose Reyesis simply awful luck
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Unfurl the brown and white:Anyone looking for a team to adopt today, non-Big East division, is more than welcome to join me in hoping to see the mighty Bonnies of St. Bonaventure have a go at the evil Temple Owls at Atlantic City today at noon in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals. Plenty of good seats available on that bandwagon.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Cool-Hand Luke:Watching what Notre Dame did without
	 Luke Harangoty late in the season, and seeing what they've continued to do
	 nowthat he's back and coming off the bench, you get a glimpse of what might have become of
	 Wally Pippif there'd been a DH in the 1920s.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Vac's Thursday Whacks on the program formerly known as the Redmen

March 11, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

This is always the easiest part of the equation, even if it may be the most difficult in human terms. Once you decide you have to fire someone -- the way St. John's has apparently (and rightly) decided to fire
	 Norm Roberts, you have done the simple part of trying to breathe life into a program. Swinging the ax is the easy part.
	 
It's finding the proper gauze to heal what ails you that's the tricky part.
	 
Since
	 Lou Carneseccaretired almost 20 years ago, the Johnnies have fired three coaches (four, once it becomes official with Norm). Two of those decisions were lay-ups: after some early speed,
	 Brian Mahoney'sera quickly spun out of control, and
	 Mike Jarviswas maybe the most deserving coach to ever get fired after mis-managing St. John's into much of what now ails it. Only
	 Fran Fraschilla'sdismissal raised eyebrows, although the personalities of big-time basketball being what they are, sometimes it's inevitable you're going to find yourself in conflict every now and again.
	 
Again: firing them was the easy part.
	 
What St. John's has learned, time and again, is that replacing the departed is the hard part.There are a lot of schools that get angry and feel disrespected when coaches fly their coop, but this is what happens on the opposite end of that spectrum. Given the choice, you'd rather be a stepping-stone than a graveyard. Nobody leaves St. John's for North Carolina anymore, as
	 Frank McGuiredid once upon a time, or for the pros, as Looie did back in the day. Four coaches in a row have left for the unemployment line. That is a terrible pattern.
	 
And all but screams what the Johnnies need now. There are but two pre-requisites for this job now, and they are non-negotiable:
	 
2.
	 St. John's must hire an established head coach, which means that for all the alums who so badly would like to see
	 Mark Jacksonworking the sideline, that would be a terrible idea. Jackson has never spent a minute as a head coach. He has never spent a minute as a recruiter. If St. John's was handing over a winning program -- the way
	 Tom Creanwas able to hand over Marquette to
	 Buzz Williams, for instance -- maybe you could consider it (though Williams was already established as a player-procurer). In St. John's case, though, you need a track record. You need proof of success. Mahoney and Roberts both had prior head-coaching experience ... and both had been big losers. That usually isn't an accident.
	 
1. Most of all, St. John's needs to keep it local.Please, please, please, if
	 Rev. Harringtonand
	 Chris Monaschdo anything, anything at all, it has to be this: they must hire someone with already-established New York ties, who know their way around a subway, who know how to make it from Rice to Lincoln in the same afternoon if need be without a map. Sometimes, that can sound like the worst kind of parochial bias, but in this case it is necessary. St. John's has been dying a long, slow death in New York, and six years later it's impossible to keep blaming everything on Jarvis. The fact is, New York's high school and AAU heavyweights have a distinct and inherent trust in their own. You can argue about the rightness or wrongness of this, but that really doesn't matter; that's how it is.
	 
St. John's isn't a national program. It is a local program. It is New York City. You know what? If Kentucky or Kansas or Duke or Carolina wants to invade New York and take a blue-chipper here and there, that's going to happen. It's always happened.
	 Lennie Rosenbluthdidn't stay home, and neither did
	 Billy Cunningham, or
	 Lew Alcindor, or
	 Bernard King. Royalty is allowed its inroads. The galling thing is when other Big East teams raid the city and come away with mother lodes of talent, when the Pitts and Villanovas and Louisvilles make those raids. That has to stop. That only stops when the power brokers of New York basketball allow it to stop. And
	 thatonly happens when St. John's hires one of its own.
	 
The early names that have emerged are smart names: Virginia Tech's
	 Seth Greenberghas proven his chops in the ACC (but will St. John's pony up what it needs to pony up?). Hofstra's
	 Tom Pecorais a guy with mile-deep New York roots whose team won 10 out of its final 11 games this year and who is exactly the kind of city lifer New York's player feeders want to see succeed.
	 Rick Pitinowill always be the bright-light fantasy pick of many of the die-hards; so is
	 Billy Donovan, whose Rockville Centre roots are augmented by two championship rings.
	 
There are others. But this is where it has to start. St. John's means too much to too many people to entrust it to a first-timer or an outsider. And there is too much at stake to keep adding headstones to the graveyard.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(2) Comments

Vac's Wednesday Whacks on the DeNiro-Lombardi movie

March 10, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

I understand the dangers in getting too hopped up about the movie ESPN announced yesterday, the one in which Robert DeNiro will portray Vince Lombardi in an inspired bit of casting that makes even... Read on

I understand the dangers in getting too hopped up about the
	 movieESPN announced yesterday, the one in which
	 Robert DeNirowill portray
	 Vince Lombardiin an inspired bit of casting that makes even
	 Jamie Foxx-as-
	 Ray Charlesseem like a third-rate Vegas impressionist act. There are potential pitfalls and pratfalls inherenet to this, on both ends.
	 
For instance, I was looking forward to the ESPN adaptation of "Season on the Brink," until I actually watched "Season on the Brink" and realized that it should have been subtitled,
	 "We'll Take All of the Fun out of the Book but Keep all of the F-bombs, so You Can Squirm Uncomfortably For Two Hours While Beloved Character Actor Brian Dennehy Channels Joe Pesci."And I always look forward to any DeNiro movie, even though his batting average the past 15 years or so makes
	 Mario Mendoza'slook like Rod Carew.
	 
Still, it's impossibe to stop thinking about this, and so as a helpful service to ESPN, may I make a few casting suggestions:
	 
Marie Lombardi-- Vera Farmiga.
	 
Paul Hornung-- Taylor Kitsch
	 
Bart Starr-- Jeremy Renner
	 
Tom Landry-- Ed Burns
	 
Wellington Mara-- John Mara.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
The ambivalence of winning:St. John's fans are officially in sporting-fan Never-Never Land after watching the Johnnies destroy UConn yesterday. Today, the Storm gets Marquette, another winnable game ... that a good portion of the St. John's fan base may well not want them to win. Because a win will give the Johnnies 18, and an administration that was already gun-shy about making the coaching change it desperately needs to make will be awfully hard-pressed to pull that trigger after two Big East Tournament wins.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Jose, Jose Jose, Jose:You know it's been a
	 toughyear when you're laid up for a week in hospitals with needles sticking your arms and all anyone can say is, "It could've been worse."

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Vac's Tuesday Whacks on Roethlisberger's pickle, no to Coles and another New York-free NCAA

March 09, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

This was a few springs ago, when Darryl Strawberry first started coming back around spring training at Port St. Lucie. Strawberry was swapping tales about the old days, when baseball was about... Read on

This was a few springs ago, when
	 Darryl Strawberryfirst started coming back around spring training at Port St. Lucie. Strawberry was swapping tales about the old days, when baseball was about eighth or ninth on his priority list, when he was young and strong and believed with all his heart that he would be able to launch baseballs toward the sun until he was 80 years old.
	 
"You hear all the time about young kids who feel like they're bulletproof?" Strawberry said that sunny morning. "Me, I was whatever level you're at
	 afterbulletproof. I was indestructible."
	 
He wasn't, of course, because none of them are, not if they don't take care of themselves and honor the gifts and the talents they've been given. All of which leads us to
	 Ben Roethlisberger, who is in the news again, who may or may not be in trouble again depending on what investigators learn of a sexual assault beef in Georgia.
	 
Nobody should be quick on the draw with Roethlisberger, because right now nobody really knows what happened, same as nobody really knows, besides Roesthlisberger and the woman in question, what happened the last time this kind of charge was thrown at him, last year.
	 
What we do know is this: Roethlisberger has developed a nasty habit of finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is this pickle. There was last year's. There was the motorcycle accident a few months after he won his first Super Bowl. After a while, the only thing you can do is start to question the judgment of an athlete who literally has it all, who so often finds himself in positions that are at best difficult to explain, if not impossible to defend.
	 
Roethlisberger has two Super Bowl rings, he is the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the flagship brands of the NFL. On the field, he embodies everything you'd ever want in a quarterback: toughness, resilience, and an ability to shake off pain and hardship and, more often than not, delivering the goods.
	 
But he is not bulletproof. He is not indestructible. There comes a time when every athlete learns this, sometimes the hard way. His time is at hand.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Just say no
:I think we've already seen the best of
	 Laveranues Coles'career during his two stays with the Jets. There is no need for a
	 threequel.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Begging for a miracle
:Well, Stony Brook fell short. Hofstra fell short. We had Marist go 1-29 this year, and Fordham go 2-26, and Wagner 5-26, and Manhattan 11-20, which means this may well have been the single worst college basketball season in the history of our region. Of course it's too much for ask for the remainders -- Seton Hall, St. John's and/or Rutgers -- to make the kind of run through the Big East tournament that would land them in the NCAA (though Seton probably only
	 needsto win two to sneak in); but isn't that a worthwhile way to root anyway?
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Poor Joe
:Awful
	 newsabout
	 Joe Nathan'sarm. Nathan, an upstate kid, worked his way into the top of the closing class, non-Mariano division, and all this does is re-affirm, one more time, what a physical marvel Rivera is, on top of being the best who ever lived at the role -- sorry,
	 Goose.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Vac's Monday Whacks on Mets angst, Knicks irrelevance, and the missing handshake

March 08, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

It's hard not to be a panic-driven Mets fan, let's be honest. Your anxiety closet is stuffed with bric-a-brac, going back to Adam Wainwright's curveball, including September of 2007, September of... Read on

It's hard not to be a panic-driven Mets fan, let's be honest. Your anxiety closet is stuffed with bric-a-brac, going back to
	 Adam Wainwright'scurveball, including September of 2007, September of 2008 and April, May, June, July, August and September of 2009.
	 
So you can appreciate why it's a little harder for Mets fans to believe that seeing
	 Oliver Perezget
	 litup yesterday is a good thing, which is the way the Mets were spinning it. Look, on the one hand you understand where the Mets are coming from, too: after watching Pereze struggle with the strike zone all last year, to the point where watching his outings became a study in anger management for most, it is good that he seemed to have at least a fleeting relationship with the strike zone yesterday.
	 
But you can also understand where Mets fans are now, too. At some point, there has to be a payoff. At some point, there has to be good news.
	 Jose Reyesis in New York.
	 Mike Pelfreywas banged around in his spring opener on Saturday, and there was Ollie yesterday.
	 John Mainegoes in a few hours in Jupiter, maybe that will provide a glimmer.
	 Johan Santanathrows tomorrow; maybe
	 thatwill.
	 
Opening Day is exactly four weeks away. It's supposed to be a refresh button. The Mets could use some good news between now and then,or else it looms as something else: Groundhog Day.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Ah, the Old Days
:The Yankees lost 11-0 to the Twins playing their B lineup yesterday, which is the latest of several bashings the Yanks have absorbed the past few days, and it is an indication of just how different the New Steinbrenners are from their father that this is, rightly, a non-story. Because back in the day ... whew.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Oh, the Humanity
:I mean, it's not bad enough that the Knicks are officially unwatchable again. But now the Nets look like a lock to ease past the '72-'73 Sixers, meaning that they won't have any meaning attached to their woeful season. They'll be just another lousy team. And where's the fun in that?
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Dropping the ball
:If you invested four hours in the Oscars, and heard the evening-long reminders that
	 James Cameronand
	 Kathryn Bigelowused to be married and collaborators -- inevitable, since one was seater right behind the other -- how in the world could the camera come off them after Bigelow beat Cameron for Best Director? Is that not the only shot everyone wanted to see by the end?

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Vac's Friday Whacks on D'Antoni's critical role, the regal Rivera, and curling's future

February 19, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

Yes, the one story that really matters out of the Knicks trade-deadline blitz is the one that won't really be answered until July 1: will this help them land LeBron James ? Will this allow them to... Read on

Yes, the one story that really matters out of the Knicks trade-deadline blitz is the one that won't really be answered until July 1: will this help them land
	 LeBron James? Will this allow them to finally escape basketball purgatory after the better part of a decade? Will they be able to matter again?
	 
Here's something else, though. In his year-and-change on the job,
	 Mike D'Antonihas officially marginalized, antagonized and alienated  three of his players:
	 Stephon Marbury,
	 Larry Hughesand
	 Nate Robinson. Marbury is now exiled in China, of all places; Hughes was part of yesterday's mega-deal; and Robinson moved to a whole different area code in the standings getting moved to Boston.
	 
So the rule, for now, is this: challenge D'Antoni at your own risk.
	 
Now, it so happens that regardless of how he went about it, D'Antoni was in the right in all three instances. Marbury was a malcontent and the symbolic holder from the Isiah Era. Hughes is four years past being a reliable contributor. And Robinson was never going to embrace anything other than his own clownishness. It is hard to side against D'Antoni on any of these things.
	 
But there is a fine line between being a noble sherrif and being a dictator, and sometimes that line is blurred among the men who actually play the game. D'Antoni has had a terrific relationship with James at the Olympics, and most of the players who've ever played for him swear by him. You would think D'Antoni will be a help in building whatever the Knicks are building, and in a perfect world that would be true.
	 
How about in
	 thisworld?
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
More Mo Moments
:My buddy
	 Joel Shermanis dead on his
	 columntoday. As Knicks fans can attest when it comes to how much they took the
	 Patrick Ewingera for granted, it is important to savor however much time we have left with
	 Mariano Rivera, the greatest who ever was at what he does, maybe the greatest who ever will be.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Curling Fever
:It really is amazing to think about how popular a sport curling -- aka shuffleboard-on-ice -- has become as an Olympic sport, the ultimate background-noise-at-work TV option.
	 Here, from my friend
	 Dan Wetzel, is an, um, chilling look at how its future might actually be in question, even as its popularity has never been higher.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
He Shoots, He Scorsese
:If my man
	 Lou Lumenick
	 says"Shutter Island" is worth my while, then I will make it part of my first full day back in the world after the Olympics ends.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(0) Comments

Vac's Thursday Whacks on Why the Press Should Boycott Tiger's Charade

February 18, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

You know what I would like to see? I would like to see the three major wire services and the designated golf writers' association pool reporter show me something and boycott this ridiculous farce of a press conference that
	 Tiger Woodshas scheduled
	 tomorrowat PGA headquarters in Florida. For once, I would like to see those of us in the Fourth Estate dictate the rules to Tiger, and not the other way around.
	 
Allegedly, there will be no questions permitted, only a statement. In that case, allow the most famous adulterer on earth to put his message out there on his Web page, a method increasingly used by athletes who like to keep on point without the messiness of journalists doing their jobs and asking hard questions. But to play along with Tiger's rules ... it makes me nauseous, truth be told. Journalists aren't transcribers. Those are the rules right now. It's atrocious.
	 
Some people have thought the timing a little coincidental, that Tiger would hold this press conference at the same time the World Match Play event sponsored by Accenture -- one of Tiger's former benefactors which dropped him quickly after the scandal. That's silly. Of course there's no coincidence. And you know what? Accenture isn't the purest victim ever, either. Shed no tears for them.
	 
Save them for those of us who play along with this awful charade tomorrow if it goes off as is.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Why Not Dare to Dream?:You know what I found
	 refreshingactually? Both
	 David Wrightand
	 Johan Santanasaying they believe the Mets can win the World Series. Even if it seems a pipe dream, even if you think they have to say it, if the players on a team don't believe, who will? There is such a shroud of negativity that stalks this team, it's good to see someone thinks in another way. And why not the best pitcher and the best player?
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Must Reads I and II:I'm a little late to the party recommending these, but do yourself a favor and read
	 Chris Jones'marvelous
	 storyabout the great
	 Roger Ebert in this month's
	 Esquire, and then Ebert's
	 reactionto reading that story.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Paging Rock Bottom:The sad part isn't just that St. John's looked hapless and rudderless during a 59-50
	 lossto Seton Hall last night at the crypt formerly known as Alumni Hall; it's that they looked that bad coming off a two-game winning streak. Something has to change. Quickly.
	 Please.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(4) Comments

Vac's Tuesday Whacks on Knicks' Dynamic Duo and a muddled Big East

February 16, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

We are quietly entering into a critical junction in the Donnie Walsh-Mike D'Antoni stewardship of the Knicks. Knicks fans have long testified that they will indeed buy into a rebuilding plan,... Read on

We are quietly entering into a critical junction in the
	 Donnie Walsh-
	 Mike D'Antonistewardship of the Knicks. Knicks fans have long testified that they will indeed buy into a rebuilding plan, contrary to the popular notion that New York is too impatient a place to create any kind of genuine rebuilding. But the populace has mostly been supportive in what has become an endless two-year positioning just to
	 get into positionto be in position to be competent again.
	 
That's a lot of positioning. And a lot of posturing. And a lot of leaps of faith.
	 
But you don't have to search very far to locate unhappiness among the rank-and-file. If Mike D'Antoni's public wars with
	 Stephon Marbury,
	 Nate Robinsonand
	 Larry Hughesweren't exactly the same as taking on popular icons like
	 Clyde Frazier,
	 Bernard Kingand
	 Patrick Ewing, they nonetheless make some wonder if it doesn't reveal a melalomaniac streak in the coach. And while others have tried awfully hard to buy into Walsh's long-term vision, the fact remains that if any progress at all has occurred under his watch it is this: the Garden is no longer the lawless frontier it was under
	 Isiah Thomas.
	 
Is that enough? It is not. Same as it's not enough to get Knicks fans truly excited about the deadline
	 dealthat may yield them both Tracy McGrady and even more cap space for July 1. Walsh is doing what he can. He is trying. He is making every effort to turn July 1 into the most seminal offseason date in Knicks history. And that is fine. But the question still must be asked: will that matter? And can Walsh get done what needs to get done? Even this deal, as future-friendly as it might be for the Knicks, only serves as a reminder that Walsh -- no matter how much he tried to blame this on his underlings -- picked
	 Jordan Hill, now the cornerstone of the deal, instead of
	 B
	 randon Jennings.
	 
He has some more decisions ahead of him. Knicks fans have no choice but to hope the result of all the noise is something they can finally wrap their arms around. But for now, that's all it is. Hope.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Grand Slam:It is already
	 clearthat
	 Curtis Grandersonis the kind of guy you want to succeed in New York, if only so other athletes understand that you don't have to lose your sense of humor or sense of humanity just because you call the Big Town home.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Big Beast:OK, so in the course of two days Rutgers beats Georgetown, Louisville beats Syracuse, St. John's lays a death knell on Notre Dame and now UConn beats Villanova, and depending on how you look at it that shows preciseley how deep and difficult the Big East is ... or just how overrated it's been all year. And frankly, I'm not sure which I believe anymore, especially after that Rutgers game.

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(1) Comments

Vac's Monday Whacks on a Fighting Yankee, Knicks Follies and a Pothole Story

February 15, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

Through all of the craziness, all of the cartoon-like behavior of the '70s and the disappointments of the '80s and the return to glory of the '90s and the Gekko-like spending habits of the '00s, there were always two constants around the Yankees:
	 George Steinbrenner, who created most of the chaos and financed all of the championships, and
	 Gene Monahan, the man who helped keep the Yankees fit and healthy and able to play.
	 
If you watch the video of the Red Sox-Yankees playoff game from 1978 -- and it's only on about six times a week, between YES Network and the MLB Network -- you'll hear
	 Phil Rizzutocall Monahan "the best in the business" as he's applying cold spray to
	 Bucky Dent'sankle after Dent fouled a ball off his foot, seconds before he'd plant a
	 Mike Torrezfastball into the net.
	 
He became a quiet yet highly visible member of the Yankees, enough so that last October, during the playoffs, he was eating breakfast quietly, and alone, in Minneapolis one morning when no fewer than five different fans recognized him, and approached him, and to each one Monahan offered a quiet word of thanks, a smile and an autograph. He has been every bit the important Yankee as the ones wearing the pinstripes, and perhaps nothing shows how important Monahan and his staff have been than watching what developed across town with the Mets and their cavalcade of hurt last year.
	 
It is worth keeping Monahan in your
	 thoughtstoday, and in the days to come as he battles what is termed a "significant illness." LIfe around the Yankees won't be the same while he's away.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
T-Mac the Knife:I understand the need for
	 Donnie Walshto look
	 busynow, and for the rest of the year, because to stand around would be offensive to the handful of Knicks fans who still are paying attention to the newest seasonal train wreck to add to the collection. But at this point, with no deals in place for
	 Jared Jeffriesand
	 Eddy Curry, and none forthcoming, anything he does really does feel like rearranging the deck chairs on Team Titanic.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
A Father's Pain:We all deal with our grief in different ways, but when
	 Brian Burkeheld court last night in Vancouver to discuss how he is
	 dealingwith his son's death, it was a stark reminder that the men and women who play these games -- Olympic or otherwise -- and help accumulate the teams who play on them are anything but the automatons they often appear. 
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
A Mystery for All-Time:Let me get this straight: they can fix a gaping pot hole on the track at the Daytona Motor Speedway in time to get a race finished the same day, but they can't figure out a way to fix the one on the approach to the GW Bridge that's been terrorizing my car for three years?

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(3) Comments

Vac's Monday Whacks, on karma finally killing the Colts

February 08, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

Do you believe in karmic payback?I do.Do you believe that while God, capital "G," couldn't care less. about the outcome of secular things, there are armied of gods, lowercase, that do prowl the... Read on

Do you believe in karmic payback?
	 
I do.
	 
Do you believe that while God, capital "G," couldn't care less. about the outcome of secular things, there are armied of gods, lowercase, that do prowl the grounds, searching to separate good from bad, right from wrong, deserving from unworthy?
	 
I do.
	 
And so I cannot help myself: this morning I find myself believig that while history and record books will forever show that the Colts lost their chance at a second Super Bowl last night when the Saints beat them, they really began the process two days after Christmas, when the Jets beat them, on day when they had no business losing.
	 
I cannot help but laugh a little bit that the Colts -- who had no problem playing their regulars long enough a week later to reach personal milestones in the snow in Buffalo -- were so preoccupied with keeping themselves healthy, then saw two of their meal tickets -- Dwight Freeney and Reggie Wayne -- seriousl impacted by injuries anyway.
	 
Mostly, I cannot help but feel that justice was done yesterday, despite my warm feelings for both Peyton Manning and the Colts as a whole, because of the unspeakably arrogant way Bill Polian, the man who built and who runs the Colts, went about this fance with history. Colts fans deserved better than that, and so did the game of football, whose own milita of gods exacted a measure of revenge last night.
	 
Good.
	 
*******
	 
SOS for SJU: I don't like to sound like a broken record on these matters. But St. John's went from 14 upo to 19 down all in the space of a half the other day, and that is the kind of ineptitude -- especially at the Garden -- that simply cannot be tolerated if St. John's wishes to consider itself a legitimate Big Est program any longer.
	 
*******
	 
Where art thou, Eldrick?: Seriously, if the best the rest of earth's golfers can do is to get into hissy fits over square grooves, can't we all just declare him cured and get on with things?

PRINT
EMAIL
SHARE
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Digg
- Reddit
- Fark It
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
- Twitter
- Facebook
RSS

Post Your Comments ⁄

(2) Comments

↑ Back to Top

Viewing Page: 1 of 21

Next >

Subscribe to this Blog

About the Author

MIKE VACCARO A columnist for the Post since November 2002, Mike Vaccaro has reported from four Olympics, 12 World Series, 10 Super Bowls, eight Final Fours and five U.S. Opens, among the hundreds of events he has covered in his 20-year newspaper career. His "Open Mike" and "Vac’s Whacks" are regular Sunday features, and he has written three books, the latest -- "The First Fall Classic," about the 1912 World Series between the Giants and Red Sox -- is out Oct. 6. Columnist Archives

Follow Mike on Twitter