New Year's Resolutions,New Year's Resolutions

Articles in this Topic Discussions in this Topic

Dec 27, 2001

Could 2001 really have been only 365 days long? So much happened in sports that it’s really hard to believe. Still, I managed to whittle my New Year’s Sports Resolutions down to a list of ten worthy little axioms. Here they are….

1. To never forget the role of Sports in Life Too often, it seems Professionals rarely act that way. I was so proud with the way the “Big Four” leagues handled the aftermath of September 11th. The patriotism and morale displayed by all, as American flags were stitched onto uniforms, salaries and time were donated to the relief effort, and God Bless America usurped Take Me Out to the Ballgame, was overwhelming. Who could forget the Mets, donning FDNY caps in tribute, and their inspired play after 9-11? I get chills just thinking about it. These athletes are role models whether they like it or not and this time, when it counted most of all, they handled their duties as such with the greatest of dignity.

2. To never again say that baseball is not exciting I must admit that after the subway series last year, I was feeling a little guilty about the upcoming season. It does seem as if the Yankees have been hoarding the spotlight for a long time now. Still, the back-to-back bombs off Byung-Hyun Kim were little gifts from god, weren’t they? Never in 96 previous World Series had a team hit a two-out, two-run, game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth and gone on to win with another homer in the 10th. With dingers by Tino Martinez in Game 4 and Scott Brosius in Game 5, the Yanks managed to do it on successive nights… against the same pitcher! The Yankees, despite losing on a broken bat blooper, finally captured the hearts of baseball fans everywhere.

3. To watch more Nets games. When the Nets made the trade for Jason Kidd, I was excited -- not so much because I thought it was a great trade, but because at least it showed that the Nets brass had an active pulse. Bringing Jason Kidd to the Nets has helped a struggling, leaderless franchise finally achieve some measure of prestige in a town where they have played second fiddle (redheaded stepchildren ) for their entire NBA existence. In fact, this trade may prove to be the single most important move the franchise ever made, if you consider the importance of a franchise’s perceived value when attempting to get a new arena built. It’s no coincidence that the new Beasts of the East and their proposed stadium deal in Newark have been getting so much ink of late (nor is their threat to move out of New Jersey and back to New York City to be taken lightly by the powers that be). Although Jason Kidd is older and arguably less talented than Stephon Marbury, he is a leader and he plays with intelligence and maturity. He makes every one of his teammates better. Perhaps now, players won’t cry when, for whatever reason, they end up in the Swamp.

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The copyright of the article New Year's Resolutions,New Year's Resolutions in New York Sports is owned by . Permission to republish New Year's Resolutions,New Year's Resolutions in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.