New York fans aren’t the most patient in the world. (They always are calling for Giants’ Head Coach Tom Caughlin’s job half way through the season, then he goes out and wins another Super Bowl). But while the Yankees are doing their usually outspending everyone except for the Red Sox, the Mets, who have a similar payroll, have struggled despite the big money shelled out.
Hanging over the franchise was the fact that prosecutors were coming after the owners of the Mets for money they received as part of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. Met fans were hoping that the owners would be on the hook for the full $302 million the trustee in the case was looking for. If they had to caugh up that much money, Met fans hoped that Saul Katz, Fred Wilpon and the holding company Sterling Equities, owners of the Mets, would have to put the team up for sale.
Well, the sides announced that an agreement had been reached – the owners of the Mets have agreed to pay a total of $162 million to the court-appointed trustee. That was in addition to the up to $83 million that Judge Jed Rakoff had earlier ruled that the Mets’ owners were liable in the case. The settlement was announced just as jury selection was scheduled to begin at U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York in a trial on the trustee’s claim. The settlement negates the need for a court case, in which the trustee would have tried to prove that the Mets owners were “willfully blind” to clues that Madoff was operating a Ponzi scheme.
The Mets’ owners were among thousands of investors who had invested in the Madoff’s Wall Street firm, which was a front for his Ponzi scheme. As part of the settlement, the trustee will now consider the Mets owners’ claim that they lost $178 million to Madoff’s scheme. The trustee’s firm released a statement that the Mets owners “will be entitled to recovery on the same basis” as other Madoff customers.
The question for Mets’ fans is, will this amount be sufficient to force Wilpon to sell the team, which is their biggest hope.

Hi Guys – it’s me again. We need to talk.
Concussions are a very real problem in sports, and the problem is particularly acute in the game of hockey. All we need to do is look at the fact that the sport’s best player and biggest star, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby has played nine games in over two years (just returning last night). Locally, Jonathan Toews has been out for 12 games this season and his return has suffered many setbacks.
So, I am a strong proponent of taking all measures to protect athletes and hockey players especially from concussions. Better protection, less padding on the other areas of the body so that hard hits affect the players giving the checks as much as those receiving them, are all points that should be considered.
However, there is one rule change being considered that should not – the return of the center red line – 2 line pass offside rule. It slowed the game to a crawl, and eliminated the long pass/possible breakaway. Even an old-fogey hockey fan like myself saw the excitement that this possibility adds to the game, and if there’s anything that the NHL needs, it is the interest of the casual fans. I don’t exactly understand how returning to the old days of slower, station-to-station hockey would cut down on head injuries, but this is one case where we do not need to go back to the “bad old days.”

I’m not even a basketball fan, and I’m tired of the ongoing back-and-forth, “trade me” -“don’t trade me” antics of Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard. He has said that he would exercise the “out clause” on his multimillion dollar contract with every team, from the Nets who wanted him desperately, to the Lakers, and even the Bulls being suggested in the media as being interested in Howard.
There were stories that he would definitely be traded before yesterday’s trade deadline so that the Magic would get something instead of watching Howard leave as a free agent and the team get nothing. There were stories that he would remain with the team; but his teammates stated that he had said nothing to them about that.
Finally, the dust has cleared and Howard agreed to return to the Magic next season. The center signed a waiver on the early termination option of his contract, guaranteeing he will return for the final year of his deal which is worth $19.5 million.
The simple fact is that Magic Owner Richard DeVos (Amway) couldn’t let Howard leave like Shaquille O’Neal did. The fans would have revolved. But Howard waffled like a wind sock all season and got worse over the past couple of weeks. One moment, he wanted to stay; the next, he was ready to leave. There was a list of teams that he would have accepted trades to, and that list seems to have been updated every couple of hours to accommodate another team reportedly interested.
Honestly, Howard was overvalued by the team – he would have been traded if the price had been more reasonable; and he is obviously overvaluing his own talents. He has yet to win anything in the NBA, and while the Magic have the third best record in the Eastern Conference, no one was seeing the Magic as being able to beat out Miami or the Bulls for the Eastern Conference title.
But it’s over now – Dwight Howard will stay in Orlando. You can fit him for the big ears because this whole incident has been a Mickey Mouse situation from the beginning.

It’s funny that it didn’t take 24 hours for the first big deal by new Chicago Bears General Manager Phil Emery to make the criminal section of the paper. The Bears acquired Pro Bowl wide receiver Brandon Marshall from the Miami Dolphins for 2 third round draft picks.
Why so cheap? Because Marshall has a long list of legal offenses while turning in several 1,000 yard receiving seasons, including being diagnosed with a psychological personality disorder.. The latest incident involves Marshall reportedly striking a woman in a New York nightclub last weekend. There are reports that the woman struck was his wife who he has had violence issues before in the past. Other reports were that the wife was hit by a bottle by someone else. The league and the Bears are investigating, and both Bear and Dolphins officials say that they knew about the incident when the deal was consummated.
The big thing about Marshall is of course that he had his best years in Denver when they had a certain quarterback named Jay Cutler, now with the Bears. In fact, Cutler’s QB coach has joined the team too. They have tried everything to make Cutler comfortable short of moving his apartment in Denver to Chicago, or moving the whole team to Colorado.
Will it work? Time will tell, of course. Brandon Marshall is a talent; a big, fast, skilled route-runner, and honestly, if a player can perform, there’s a coach who will give him a chance, unless he killed his last coach. Marshall knows Cutler and they made the Pro Bowl together. Can Brandon Marshall stay out of trouble enough to contribute, and should the Bears have pulled the trigger? That’s the multimillion dollar question.

I actually saw almost two complete movies this weekend, and only one of them was targeted at children. The first was “Game Change,” the HBO movie starring Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin and Ed Harris and John McCain.
Now, you know going in that “Game Change” is political; it is the story of Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, become a national figure when she was on the ticket with Senator McCain for President. What came out was that Ms. Palin was what we had heard – overmatched, ignorant on foreign and domestic policy, nearly insane. But Ms. Moore’s performance brought something unexpected – a few moments when you could empathize and actually sympathize with the woman when she was first getting attacked on, it seemed, all sides. She was blasted by MSNBC and liberals, that was expected, but she was also attacked by CNN and even Fox (Propaganda) News.
The firm showed a woman struggling to come to grips with her situation and how it affected her life and family. But, it also showed how deeply warped, twisted and difficult she became. It is truly frightening that this woman could have been one heartbeat from the Presidency (like it is scary to think of a Rick Santorum “theocracy”).
It is funny; despite McCain himself and Palin’s aides attempts to downplay the film, Steve Schmidt, Harrelson’s character in the film and McCain’s campaign manager said today on CNN.com that the movie was eerily correct. (And, it should be said that Mr. Harrelson has moved from “Woody” on Cheers to being one of our finest actors in movies today.)
Then, the Indignant Children asked to see “The Lorax,” the new animated film from the book by Dr. Seuss. I knew that the film had a conservationist, “Green” perspective on conservation, trees and nature, but I didn’t know that the film has two villains – both heartless CEOs who are cold, heartless, liars who have destroyed the environment in the name of profit; sold people air, which is theirs for free; and done anything including kidnapping to protect their business interests.
I am surprised that Republican Presidential Candidates Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich haven’t denounced the film in every speech on every stop in their campaigns. The business people are completely amoral (although “The Once-ler” voiced by Ed Helms redeems himself by helping Zac Efron’s Ted return trees to the world) and the film says that the Earth should be valued, not ruined. Not the world view of most of the staunch Republicans. Even Romney has been known more for throwing Americans out of work than being a “job creator.”
I know that it is usually the Right who sees shadows where none exist in the “liberal media,” but here were two movies that didn’t hide anything and espoused opinions that have been attacked nearly into whispers by O’Reilly, Limbaugh, Coulter and Fox News.

I have been torn emotionally this NCAA basketball season – lots of people expected my alma mater, Northwestern’s men’s basketball team to do something it had never done; make the NCAA Tournament. As an NU fan (although I’m bored with basketball), I want them to achieve this goal, since we are the only eligible team in the country to have never played in “the big dance.” But I have also said numerous times on this site that I didn’t think much of Head Coach Bill Carmody, and I have called for him to be fired often.
Why, you ask? He has never been much of a recruiter, at least of American talent. For many years, all of his “prize” recruits were from Europe. Good players, but basically jump shooters who would get bowled over in the heat of physical Big Ten play. Add to that that he is a student of the legendary Pete Carril, but Carril teams’ greatest upsets at Princeton were in the days before the 24 second shot clock. Carril was very good at getting less athletic teams to compete, but the game is even faster, and with so many quality players available at all levels, you can recruit talented athletes (ask NU Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald).
So, he couldn’t recruit as well as expected and he was a terrible bench coach. What does that leave? The team knew that it had to win at least one and perhaps two games in this weekend’s Big Ten Tournament to assure itself of an NCAA bid, and NU led Minnesota at half time and in the second half but Tubby Smith’s team rallied to tie the score and then won in overtime.
There is still a slim chance the NCAA Tournament Committee will still choose Northwestern, but they would have gotten in easier if they had beaten Minnesota, a team who NU beat in the regular season. But, if NU gets yet another NIT bid, Bill Carmody should join Illinois’ Bruce Weber on the unemployment line..

To some, the fact that the Indianapolis Colts released their leader and future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning, was a shocking surprise, but it wasn’t. Big headlines were made of chilly relations between Manning and Colts’ Owner Jim Irsay; and there were the items about the number of neck surgeries that Manning had/may have had and did/didn’t tell the team. And the team saves $8 million by releasing Manning now.
But all of this was just window dressing. I will say flat out that if the Colts had the 5th pick or the 10th pick, or the 20th pick in the first round of the NFL Draft, all eyes would be on Peyton Manning’s upcoming season in Indianapolis. I don’t care if he had 50 surgeries; if he was healthy to play, he would be with the Colts. He has been a class act; a great ambassador for the Colts and the league; and, most of all, he has won a Super Bowl and led the team to a second, which they lost. As I said, he is a first ballot Hall of Famer if he never takes another snap from center.
But, the colts were so lousy; they earned the First Pick in the draft. The First Pick is a funny thing. – it is as much about selling hope and seats as it is helping the team. With Andrew Luck and Heisman Trophy winner Robert Gordon III available and both quarterbacks, Manning was expendable.. Luck is the prototype QB: 6’5”, strong arm, smart. Griffin is a Michael Vick-type talent who, win or lose, will be exciting and barring injury, will put people into the stadium.
If the Colts had the 5th pick, for example, they would have gotten a fine player, but linemen, linebackers, even running backs and wide receivers aren’t “sexy” like QBs. That’s why quarterbacks get paid the most; make more appearances on magazine covers and media guides. They are the faces of the franchise.
Peyton Manning would still bring people in for a year or two, if healthy. But these young guys will be slinging footballs for quite a few years if successful. Yes, for every Manning or Vick or Aaron Rodgers, there is Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith and JaMarcus Russell; guys who got drafted high in the first round (Russell was the First Pick in 2007) and either due to laziness, injuries, bad fit with the coaching scheme, or just weren’t that good to begin with, never lived up to their draft status. It could happen to either or both of these young men.
But we know for a fact that Peyton Manning will play elsewhere if healthy. Fans in Washington D.C. and other places bought billboards lobbying the local owners to go out and get Manning. And Manning will be paid well. I hope he is healthy and plays somewhere – he will be successful. He would deserve it.