Vac's Whacks

Vac's Whacks

Vac's Thursday Whacks on interpreting 'Hard Knocks,' A.J.'s quality, and NHL self-immolation

September 02, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

I have enjoyed every second of "Hard Knocks" as an entertainment vehicle, but then I always watch every second of "Hard Knocks" no matter who the featured team is. But after four episodes of the HBO show -- and with one left, next Wednesday -- it leaves me a little lost knowing what to expect of the Jets this year. Instead of getting extra insight, I am extra perplexed.
	 
Rex Ryan, for instance: There are moments every week when you understand why the players who play for him love playing for him. He is funny, he is personable, when he gets on players it's easy to see it's never personal, always business, always coming from a coaching place and not an ego place. There are moments every week when you understand why he will be put on so many bulletin boards this year. And moments every week when his genuine personality -- there really is no artifice there -- comes across.
	 
But there are times, every week, when you wonder what he's thinking. Such as the moment last night when he chews out his team for chowing down on McDonald's hamburgers as they were warming up for their Hofstra practice. Question: Aren't head coaches supposed to present a culture for their team in which such obvious transgressions as taking a Happy Meal out to the calisthenics line is supposed to be automatically verbotin? Does there really need to be a no-food-on-the-field rule? And what does it say of a player's true respect for a coach that there was a food run right before a workout?
	 
There are other things that come across as worrisome, too, not the least of which was the rampant fear among Jets brass that this team lacks leadership. Gosh, why would that be a problem, on a team that cut natutral leaders
	 Alan Fanecaand
	 Thomas Jonesin the offseason, one that has held up its end of the bargain making sure another natural leader,
	 Darrelle Revis, has stayed out of camp all summer?
	 
I must admit, even before "Hard Knocks," I was dubious that the Jets were Super Bowl contenders, legit ones. But I always believed they were a solid 10-11-win team, and clearly one of the top six teams in the AFC. Now? I'm more confused than ever. And really believe if we fast-forwarded to January and you told me the Jets finished 13-3, it wouldn't surprise me and if you told me they finished 3-13, that wouldn't surprise me, either.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Where the Buffalo Roam:If the Mets keep fielding the kind of no-chance lineup they fielded last night in Atlanta, will Buffalo automatically lose ground in the International League, too?
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
OK AJ:
	 A.J. Burnettthrew six innings and allowed three runs last night, and that is the very definition of what a
	 quality startis, and yes, you may now resume the debate of just how silly the notion of a quality start is.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Would You Like To Play A Game?:Yes, it would appear that the NHL likes to dabble in its own brand of
	 global thermonuclear warfareevery now and again, doesn't it?

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Vac's Tuesday Whacks on a baseball play-in game, 'Mad Men,' and Rocket's laughable legal team

August 31, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

I am still a fan of the baseball wild card. I still think that system works, that it provides the ultimate reward for more cities -- meaningful September games -- than any drawback. I think that extra playoff teams will be one of the jewels of
	 Bud Selig'slegacy.
	 
But it is impossible not to think about what this city would feel like if the old system were still in place, if instead of the safety net of a wild card the Yankees and the Rays were forced to keep wary eyes on one another now and for the rest of the season. There was a moment Friday night, when the Red Sox beat the Rays and the Yankees were losing to the White Sox, when Boston crept within five games in the loss column of both Tampa Bay and New York; now the margin is seven and nothing shy of a three-pronged miracle is going to rescue the Red Sox.
	 
Yes, there are still stakes on the table for the Yankees and the Rays. The winner of the East will likely get the Twins, and for the Yankees that has been a beneficial October treat through the years. The wild card will likely draw the Rangers, and even though
	 Cliff Leehas had his troubles in Texas it's unlikely either team will relish having to face Lee twice in a five-game series.
	 
What this does, however, is re-emphasize the need to add a second wild-card in either league, since that's the one equitable way to ensure that the difference between winning a division and finishing second is maintained. Several scenarios have emerged but the one I like is the one-game staredown play-in game. Think of it: if the Rays had to play in this, it would mean burning
	 David Pricethen only having him once in an ALDS; if it's the Yankees, it means going with
	 CC Sabathiato save the season and then relying on ... well, the other guys.
	 
It really is the perfect solution to re-injecting the integrity of first place without sacrificing the interest of fans who look to the wild-card as an antidote for the occasional blowout race. And think of it this way: if it were the Rays who won the East this year, the one-game playoff would almost certainly be between the Yankees and the Red Sox.
	 
And who, exactly, could argue against that?
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Just Mad About It:Three wins in a row for "Mad Men" and if this year is any indication so far, there's no need to even nominate four other shows next year.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
An Entourage Question:How is it possible that the ostensible star around whom the entire cast forms the titular entourage has the least-attractive girlfriend right now (assuming
	 Dramaand
	 E's secretary are heading for a hook-up)?
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
A Different Entourage:To watch
	 Roger Clemenseat with his defense team yesterday at the Federal Courthouse in D.C., and to watch them dissolve into gales of laughter at every story, makes it clear that Clemens may not be receiving the best legal advice for his money (given the pickle he's in), but he has bought one hell of a effective live-action laugh track.

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Vac's Monday Whacks on Big Rexy's swagger, the 'Entourage' comeback, and Coach K to the rescue

August 30, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

There is nobody more entertained by Rex Ryan than me. We live in a world in which saying something interesting is considered a venial sin, best to be avoided at all costs, and this is a guy whose commerce is saying interesting things. I wish we could clone him nine times over and have the coaches and managers of all our teams do business just like he does.
	 
Still, what we were reminded of this weekend is just how dangerous it is for anyone in the NFL to ever feel all that cozy about their team, no matter how confident you might be. And so it is that the Jets will live without Calvin Pace for four to six weeks. Does that devastate this Jets season the way, say, losing Vinny Testaverde did in 1999? Of course not. Ironically, as terrific a year as Pace had last year, he missed the first four weeks then, too, and the Jets were 3-1 without him (and 6-6 with him, for whatever that's worth). Jason Taylor may not be vintage Jason Taylor any more but he should be an adequate fill-in.
	 
The bigger point is this: You simply can't predict long-term in this league, not with health as fragile as it is, not with the whims of a cut or a juke capable of wiping out several key players in any given week. Ryan, typically, seemed unfazed by Pace's loss, and that's exactly as it should be, given the nature of the way things go in the NFL. But it can all vanish so quickly; good luck to the man confident enough to laugh heartily in fate's face.
	 
*******
	 
I know it's standard to hate TV shows after a given amount of time, but I have to say: This might be my favorite year of "Entourage" since Season One, and I already can't wait for next Sunday's season finale.
	 
*******
	 
I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves or anything, but the way the USA is playing so far in the basketball world championships it really is starting to look like the one thing holding us back all these years was never getting around to asking Mike Krzyzewski to coach the team.
	 
*******
	 
It's two starts, sure. But Ivan Nova sure has given the Yanks a shot in the arm -- the kind of shot that's really an inoculation for what's commonly known in the business as AJitis. Otherwise called Burnett-out.

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Vac's Friday Whacks on why Knicks fans should be nervous and why baseball should be even more nervous

July 09, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

There were a lot of things that could've ruined your day yesterday if you were a Knicks fan. Chief among these, of course, was the sobering reality that after two years of waitng, hoping and praying,
	 LeBron Jamesclearly never had any real intention of considering New York City as a destination point, given the half-hearted non-answers he provided on television whenever the subject turned to New York -- same as he'd done weeks ago on
	 Larrry King'sshow.
	 
Then came
	 newsthat
	 Donnie Walshmay well be retiring as the team's GM, a sad and unfulfilling end to an brief era that began with such promise and ended with a good-if-not-seminal free agent signing (
	 Amar'e Stoudemire) and a very good sign-and-trade with the Warriors, exchanging
	 David Leefor three players who will help the Knicks immediately.
	 
Still, the most troubling development may be the one that hasn't happened yet but looms over everything like a gathering storm cloud: the revelation that
	 Isiah Thomaswas sent as a last-second emissary to try and convince
	 LeBron Jamesto become a Knick. Look, it would be wrong to blame Thomas on James picking South Beach -- more and more, it seems, this was pre-destined months if not years ago by an idea hatched in the minds of both James and
	 Dwyane Wade.
	 
But the very fact that
	 James Dolanentrusted Thomas to make such a mission is a reminder that Dolan's puppy love for Thomas -- which caused the franchise so much angst and so much misery for so long -- hasn't quite faded away.
	 
And may, in fact, be as strong as ever.
	 
And with an opening soon looming in the most imprtant office of the Knicks' basketball hierarchy, it boggles the brain to think that Isiah might actually be inching his way closer to New York from his current coaching exile in the wilds of small-college Florida. Suddenly, assuming Walsh really decides to go, it becomes just as imperative that the Knicks land the LeBron James of available GMs --
	 Kevin Pritchard, formerly of Portland -- because it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see the Knicks re-casting that terrible old sit-com/soap opera that used to infect New York so many years ago -- with Dolan playing the
	 Steinbrennerrole and Thomas the part of of
	 Billy Martin.
	 
God help us all if we head down that horrifying road.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Generalities on Lee
:Terrific
	 getby pal and colleague
	 Joel Shermanon the Yankees moving thisclose to acquiring
	 Cliff Lee, a transaction that would put the Yankees on a path to win 110 games and be as clear-cut a postseason favorite as the sport allows, and will undoubtedly set off a nation of hand-wringing among everyone not associated with the Yankees. And I'm one of the wringers. Understand: the Yankees will have done nothing wrong here, and they do nothing wrong whenever they stockpile talent. All of that is done within the rules and in this case will have been done because the Mariners simply like the talent the Yankees are offering better than what they could get anywhere else. Trades have been done under those conditions for years.
	 
My concern lies in anything that strengthens the resolve of other cities and other owners to oneday go nuclear on the sport again. During the years of 2001-2008 when the Yankees surrendered their vise grip on the Commissioner's Trophy, as other teams rose to win it (and teams like Minnesota and Tampa Bay proved brains still can win over bank accounts) it was easy to forget just how distasteful the Yankees' two-fisted aggressions can be to the rest of the sport.
	 
And no one can ever really be considered unbeatable in baseball. But in this case, with this team and especially a rotation that would now go
	 Sabathia-Lee-
	 Pettitte-
	 Burnett-
	 Hughes(with
	 Javier Vazquez-- thinking out loud here -- turning into, say,
	 Jayson Worthand adding another punch of life to the Yankees roster) -- well, that's a team that might be as close to unbeatable as the law allows. Good for Yankees fans.
	 Greatfor Yankees fans. But I fear ugly repercussion somewhere down the road.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Screed is good
:Sure, I laughed at this unprecedented
	 rantfrom
	 Dan Gilbertas much as the next guy. But here's an inconvenient question: who, exactly, helped enable LeBron the past few years, Dan?

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Vac's Wednesday Whacks on LeBronTV ...

July 07, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

It is preposterous, of course. It is beyond egomaniacal, beyond megalomaniacal. It is absurd in so many ways.And yet it is perfect in so many ways, too.Of course LeBron James is going to climax this... Read on

It is preposterous, of course. It is beyond egomaniacal, beyond megalomaniacal. It is absurd in so many ways.
	 
And yet it is perfect in so many ways, too.
	 
Of
	 course
	 LeBron Jamesis going to climax this whole weirds, wacky trip down free agency's yellow-brick road with a one-hour TV show, to be broadcast live on ESPN tomorrow night. Could it have ended any other way? In so many ways it underlines and reinforces the duality of who James is. On the one hand, he really is an old-school worker, a student of the game, a relentless grinder who learned from
	 Kobe Bryantat the 2008 Olympics the value of out-working the world and honoring your talent, a guy who really does seem to cover a championship in the worst way.
	 
And on the other hand ... jeez, could you ever imagine
	 Larryor
	 Magicdoing this bald-faced attention grab on TV? Or
	 Michael Jordan?
	 
Or even Kobe?
	 
And yet it only adds to the fascination. Everything James has done since July 1 has been studied and analyzed and evaluated, and nobody knows how valuable any of the clues are. He's wearing a Yankees cap (he's coming to New York!)! He's talking on the telephone with
	 Dwayne Wade(hello Miami!)! He's distancing himself from
	 Worldwide Wes(good-bye Chicago!)! He's at his camp in Akron (hello Cleveland!)!
	 
That's only going to increase today, because each of the five finalists (sorry, Clippers) could twist this anyway they want to:
	 
*
	 Cleveland:Would LeBron honestly go on TV, national TV at that, just to say good-bye to his hometown? Would he really exacerbate this break with that kind of humiliation? I touched on this in a
	 columntoday, and this remains my prevailing thought. I just can't see James disrespecting Ohio this way, especially if he really wants to make Akron his permanent home.
	 
*
	 New York:And yet if he is going to make
	 David Stern'sdreams come true, what better way to introduce himself to the excesses of New York City than to hold his own impromptu TV show? I have thought all along that if LeBron was going to leave, this was the only viable landing spot that makes sense. And if he stays in Cleveland, the Knicks will be perceived, rightly or wrongly, as the runner-up.
	 
*
	 Miami:If only because the notion of the
	 Wade/
	 Bosh/James supernova has loomed over everything else this summer, and if James were to publicly emasculate Cleveland on national TV, if he were entering into this title-ready partnership at least he'd have that as an excuse.
	 
*
	 Chicago:Because there still has to be an appeal to coming in and playing alongside Derrick Rose, even if all the vibes seem to indicate the Bulls are free-falling out of it.
	 
*
	 New Jersey:Doubtful, sure. But in this crazy week, what really qualifies as doubtful?
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Jo say can you CC?:It was 10 days ago when a few pre-obits appeared for Johan Santana. I'm not saying we are about to see a reappearance of circa-2004 Santana, but that was the league's best offense he shut down on three hits last night. And as for the Yankees ...
	 CC Sabathiais starting to look an awful lot like he looked in October last year. Teams like the A's have no shot -- none against him. I see him winning the Cy Young Award.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Cheese Whiz:I know we tend to grade the Yankees on a curve, but doesn't this
	 Nick Swisherhouse ad on YES begging for All-Star votes come off a bit cheesy?

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Vac's Tuesday Whacks on a grateful zillionaire, Pelf concerns, and the good doctor

July 06, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

"The Knicks are back," Amar'e Stoudemire said last night, after emerging from Madison Square Garden, after agreeing to the Knicks' five-year, $100 million deal, and while the observation might be... Read on

"The Knicks are back,"
	 Amar'e Stoudemiresaid last night, after emerging from Madison Square Garden,
	 after agreeing to the Knicks' five-year, $100 million deal, and while the observation might be premature, the sentiment was actually welcome.
	 
Too often athletes shroud themselves in post-windfall shyness, refusing to embrace their new status as super-rich with anything resembling frankness. I call this "Teixeiracracy," the inability to say anything that's really on your mind thanks to a post-contract fog. Hopefully, Stoudemire will have little reason to command us to stare at the back of his basketball card anytime soon.
	 
Everyone walks into this with their eyes wide open. Stoudemire has had knee issues, and eye issues, and they could return, and we could be talking about this signing in vastly different terms a couple years from now. Remember, the Knicks' plunge into permanent darkness really began the night in preseason 2002 when the last post-
	 Ewingcenterpiece --
	 Antonio McDyess-- went up for a layup and came down on a ruined leg. Had McDyess worked out,
	 Scott Laydenmight've worked out and a whole lot of what followed might have wound up different.
	 
Stuff happens in the NBA. For the Knicks, for a decade, it's mostly been bad stuff. But Stoudemire's initial comments as a Knick make him someone to instantly root for. Too many athletes shrink from the glare after taking the money. That doesn't seem to be in Stoudemire's DNA. Good for him. Potentially better, much better, for Knicks fans.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Can't have it both ways --Two things about
	 the umpires' reversal that tuned the Mets-Reds game upside downyesterday: 1) We scream all the time about umpires not getting it right; sad to say for Mets fans, but it did appear that the final call, no matter what method by which it was reached, was the right one; 2)
	 Mike Pelfreyhad every opportunity to limit the damage and escape the inning 2-1 but melted down after not getting a strike call (on what would've made the count 0-and-2, by the way, not resulted in a strikeout) and subsequently allowed a single, double and triple to the Reds' 7, 8 and 9 hitters, resulting in five additional runs. I'd be more worried about Big Pelf than Bad Umps if I were you. 
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Doc's delight --One of the weird open secrets in baseball this year is that Roy Halladay hasn't exactly been the lockdown ace he was advertised as, he was only 9-7 heading into last night's game with the Braves, and while some of that can be attributed to spotty run support, not all of it can. But last night he was masterful in going the distance against the Braves, and served as an immediate reminder to the Mets, among others, that someone like, say,
	 Cliff Leereally could be a useful tool down the stretch.

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Vac's Wednesday Whacks on a Great, Great, Great Sporting Moment

June 23, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

Let's worry about what it means later, can we make that deal? Let's wait a few weeks, a few months, whatever it takes, before we start to ponder if the epic 1-0 win the United States earned earlier today over Algeria will have any kind of lasting impact on our always fickle relationship with soccer, OK?
	 
Let's just enjoy what we've got.
	 
Let's bask in the genius of
	 Landon Donovan, who may already own the title of greatest American-born soccer player in history, who tallied the game-winner in extra time one game after scoring what was surely the most important U.S. goal of the Cup before then, the ice-breaker from an impossible angle that allowed the rest of his teammates to believe against Slovenia. Let's admire the grit and the skill of goalie
	 Tim Howard, playing with cracked ribs, who started that fast break.
	 
It was that kind of game, that kind of moment. This time it was soccer. Thirty years ago it was hockey. The Miracle on Ice brought a brief surge of popularity to the sport, but it has remained fourth among the U.S. majors and nothing will ever change that. Will this morning's triumph instantly transform MLS in this country into the dizzying juggernaut NASL became in the '70s?
	 
I won't bet that way. But does it matter? For years people who hate soccer have bemoaned how boring the sport is, yet if you watched Wednesday's match you saw 90-plus minutes of drama and athleticism and end-to-end action that should stand as the default argument for all who believe the Beautiful Game is just that. Does it translate long term? Who knows? Who cares?
	 
What matters was the moment, and the game, and the tears that Donovan shed as he was talking to
	 Jeremy Schaapafterward. What matters is that for those of us who've always been skeptical and cynical about this game, it may well have been an education and an insight into what we've been missing lo these many years. Will I instantly go out and buy Red Bulls tickets?
	 
I won't promise you that.
	 
I will promise you I'll be in front of a television set for the U.S. date in the round of 16 with the runner-up from Group D. And I will promise you I won't be alone in making that kind of reservation.

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Vac's Tuesday Whacks on 2001 Series memories, Tiger's unlikeability, and a tough day for the Swiss

June 22, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

If you get a chance, take a few minutes and read this terrific story by my friend Brian Costello from today's Post, where he recalls Game 7 of the 2001 World Series through the eyes of two of the... Read on

If you get a chance, take a few minutes and read
	 thisterrific story by my friend
	 Brian Costellofrom today's
	 Post, where he recalls Game 7 of the 2001 World Series through the eyes of two of the most insightful and eloquent participants in that game,
	 Paul O'Neilland
	 Mark Grace.
	 
Not only was that World Series the greatest single event I've ever covered from the persective of a lover of sports, it was something akin to journalistic triage, a great daily series of deadline lessons of the highest order. I was working at the
	 Star-Ledgerin Newark at the time, and for the first and only time I blew a deadline. That was Game 5 (the
	 Brosiusgame). With two outs in the ninth, I made my way to the Yankee clubhouse, filing a "Yankees lose" story without having a "plug" story ready to go in the event of extra innings. Hell, the Yankees had done this the night before; there was no way they'd do it two nights in a row, right?
	 
Well, go to the archives if you must and find the New Jersey state edition of the Nov. 2, 2001
	 Ledger, and let the house ad that sits where my column should've answer that baby for you.
	 
After
	 Alfonso Sorianohit the go-ahead home run in the top of the eighth inning of Game 7 -- and as
	 Mariano Riveraoverwhelmed the D-backs in the bottom of the eighth -- myself,
	 Dan Graziano(covering the Yankees for the
	 Ledgerat the time) and the rest of us press box hacks started hammering away at our stories crowning the Yankees champions for a fourth straight year, five out of six.  Dan and I both finished around the same time, just as the Yankees were completing their half of the ninth. We e-mailed our stories to each other.
	 
"This is terrific," I said, before adding a quintessential press-box-gallows-humor aside: "Too bad I'm the only one who'll ever read it."
	 
He didn't laugh. Still, both of us started our "needless" just-in-case Yankees-lose alternate ledes, and we started typing faster when
	 Mark Graceled off with the single, and faster after Rivera threw a bunt into centerfield, and smoke started rising from the keyboards as
	 Tony Womacksingled and
	 Craig Counsellwas hit by a pitch and ...
	 
Well, you know the rest. Read Brian's piece. If, you know, you can stand it without losing your breakfast all over again.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
It's a Wonder, Stevie:It's a testament to just how unlikeable
	 Tiger Woodshas become that by intimating that his caddy,
	 Steve Williams-- one of the true guttersnipes in all of sports -- was actually responsible for his Sunday meltdown at Pebble Beach, he's somehow made Williams seem sympathetic. And that has to qualify as stupefying.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Some Holes in their Game:I'm not enough of a scholar on Swiss sporting history to know what would qualify as second, but you have to think if
	 Roger Federerhad kept fading out of Wimbledon yesterday as it seemed he might, at the same time Switzerland's World Cup team was getting beaten by Chile, that would qualify as a permanent No. 1, right?
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
A Hughes Decision:Intellectually, I understand why the Yankees are skipping
	 Phil Hughes. But there will forever be a part of me that wonders where exactly is the data that proves that babying a pitcher's arm also permanently protects it.

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Vac's Monday Whacks on the Blooper Open ..

June 21, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

Look, I get as tired as the next guy in every post-mortem at every U.S. Open, where the world's best golfers take turns either sneering or whining or complaining about how tough the golf course they just finished playing was. I want to scream: Guess what? Golf is a bloody tough game. You aren't telling
	 meanything I don't already know!
	 
Here's the thing, though: the more Open Sundays I watch, the more I'm starting to understand the frustration.
	 
Because every year, it seems, we get an Open very similar to the one we got yesterday, an Open that's decided because a staggering
	 Graeme McDowellstaggered just a little bit less than the other guys. If you want, you can turn to the Sundays turned in by
	 Phil Mickelsonand
	 Ernie Elsand
	 Tiger Woods-- 21 majors between them -- and say, Isn't it grand to watch the world's greatest golfers look just like us 20-handicappers for once in their lives?
	 
Only, it isn't just once. The Open has become a torturous test of who can choke the least, and I'm sorry, that's just not how it was supposed to be contested. That's why the Open, for all its primness and propriety, will never overcome the Masters for the public's imagination. Everyone knows that at the Masters, you almost always have to play great -- or at least very good -- on Sunday. You have to make decisions and then make shots at 13 and 15, the reachable par-5s. You can throw a Sunday 64 on the board without having the tournament leaders act like you just told a joke in church.
	 
Good for McDowell. He did choke the least. But make no mistake: as he came careening dwn the back nine Sunday, he was leaking every bit as much as the others were. He just ran out of holes with which to hand the Open away. Is that really what you want your signature event to be about?
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Subway Theories:What emerges from the six games the Yankees and Mets played against each other this year is this: as long as both teams stay healthy, they are both about to embark on the two most intriguing pennant races in baseball. I think the wild-card will come out of both Eastern Divisions, and both have three-team races: Yankees, Sox, Rays in the AL; Mets, Braves, Phillies in the NL. Best of all, the Yankees still have 25 games against the Sox and Rays left (including 13 at Yankee Stadium) while the Mets have 27 of them left against the Braves and Phillies.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
The Karate Id:Because it has some content some might consider objectionable, I won't link to it, but do yourself a favor: Google "
	 Ralph Macchio" and "funny or die." You'll thank me when you do.
	 
#  #  #  #
	 
Baseball wins, again:I am not picking a fight with soccer fans, honestly I am not. But can you imagine the backlash if
	 Jim Joycehad gone cold and silent after blowing his call as
	 Koman Coulibalyhas done -- backed by FIFA, by the way -- after blowing his?

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Vac's Monday Whacks on a Fallen Bonnies Hero and the Weekend Wrap

June 14, 2010 , ι By MIKE VACCARO

Please do yourself a favor and read my colleague Peter Vecsey’s wonderful tribute to Tom Stith, one of the best players you probably never heard of, the Knicks’ first-round pick in the 1961 draft,... Read on

Please do yourself a favor and read my colleague
	 Peter Vecsey’swonderful
	 tributeto
	 Tom Stith, one of the best players you probably never heard of, the Knicks’ first-round pick in the 1961 draft, second overall, a man whose brief post-college basketball career could fill a whole chapter of a sports What-If book.
	 
I went to St. Bonaventure, a place where Stith’s legacy lived on in all its majesty for each of the last 49 years since he helped nudge the Bonnies to the precipice of the big time. St. Bonaventure – and its hometown, Olean, N.Y. – remains the kind of small-town harbor for big hopes and bigger dreams. It remembers its heroes forever. And requires that any newbie who shows up and wants to care about its program understand all about what it used to be, as well.
	 
Most of the locals’ laments center around 1970, when the Bonnies – led by future Hall of Famer
	 Bob Lanier– were a Top Five team and qualified for the Final Four in one of the two years when the rest of college basketball felt it had a shot at a title – the years between
	 Lew Alcindor’sreign at UCLA, and
	 Bill Walton’sarrival. But Lanier blew his knee out in a regional final romp over Villanova, and for 40 years folks in Western New York have wondered what might’ve happened if Lanier had been able to play
	 Artis Gilmoreand Jacksonville in the national semifinals, and then
	 Steve Pattersonin the finals. No one will ever know. Ask someone up there about it sometime; be prepared to stay until closing time.
	 
Stith, in many ways, provided an even more haunting wonder. Nine years earlier, a team led by Stith,
	 Whitey Martinand
	 Freddie Crawfordtook defending champion Ohio State to the wire of the Holiday Festival at the Old Garden, losing a two-point decision that many old-time Garden patrons still recall fondly. That Bonnies team was flying, riding a 99-game winning streak at home, a civic favorite everywhere in Western New York.
	 
“I was 10, 11 years old,” Lanier told me once, recalling the many nights he would watch the Bonnies play Canisius or some other featured team at the old Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. “And I thought Tom Stith was Superman, only cooler. He was the most magnificent basketball player I’d ever seen.”
	 
The story from there is even sadder than Lanier’s; at least Lanier had a good decade and change in the NBA, became an All-Star, fulfilled his destiny. Stith and Crawford contracted TB. The 99-game winning streak came crashing down in a heap one night at the Olean Armory against Niagara, with
	 Sports Illustratedin the house to record what everyone expected would be an easy hundredth. In the NCAA Tournament – an event the Bonnies had spurned the year before because the team’s African-American players wouldn’t have been allowed to stay with their white teammates – they lose meekly to a Wake Forest team led by a guard named
	 Billy Packer. And soon enough, Stith would have his ruined lungs tended to in a sanitarium.
	 
“There are tragedies worse than what happened to Tommy I suppose,”
	 Eddie Donovantold me years ago. Donovan was sitting in his office at St. Bonaventure, back working at his alma mater in a fund-raising role after spending 25 years in the pros, helping build both the ’70 Knicks and the old Buffalo Braves.
	 
“But there is never a time when I think of Tom and I don’t want to cry. I mean it. Every time. Here was a kid who had it all, who was strong and tough and indestructible. Look, it wasn’t as bad as what happened to poor Mo Stokes, who really did lose everything once he got sick. Tom’s had a great life, and I’m grateful for that. But there is tragedy to the fact that people know who
	 Elgin Bayloris, and they know who
	 Connie Hawkinsis, but hardly anyone knows who Tom was. I thought he’d be a household name. And it wasn’t meant to be. People should remember him.”
	 
In one corner of Western New York, anyway, they always will. My friend
	 Jerry Carr, who was a freshman at St. Bonaventure in that wonderful and ill-fated winter of 1961, said after hearing of Stith’s death yesterday at 71: “It was magical. I can still see him scoring on that jump shot in the corner. And he was a class act.”
	 
Amen.
	 
# # # #
	 
Balti-less:Please, please, please, can we stop having to watch the godawful Orioles? Please?
	 
# # # #
	 
And that’s no joke:Let’s just say of
	 Robert Greenwere the goalkeeper for Colombia he would already have been … um, benched by now.
	 
# # # #
	 
Hip, hip, Jorge:I would say
	 Mr. Posada’sbat is rounding into form, wouldn’t you?

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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

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