New Year's Resolutions,New Year's Resolutions

Brian Igel is a freelance writer whose first book of essays, “King Friday”, is due in bookstores in May ’02. ,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

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