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Holiday hiatus leads As most local teams pause between Christmas and the re-opening of schools in early January, this sports editor’s musings wander off into the realm of professional sports, particularly those of my hometown New York. In essence, this is a journey to another world, a world of highly paid athletes, high drama and worldwide markets. Pro sports commercialism is the antithesis to the spontaneous innocence of local scholastic sports, but in their own right, they are also a slice of American Pie. As a person born and bred in NYC, rooting for NY teams (most of them anyway) has never been a dull experience. Storied victories by the great New York Knicks’ teams featuring Bill Bradley, Clyde Frazier, Earl “the Pearl” Monroe, Dave DeBusscher and Willis Reed in 1969 and 1973 come to mind. Who could forget the Amazin’ Mets defeat of the Baltimore Orioles in 1969 or their great comeback victory over the cursed Boston Red Sox in 1986? The Mets made things very dramatic in 2000 with their battle with the New York Yankees in the Subway Series. In football little compares to the heroics of Joe Namath’s Jets in 1969 in Super Bowl III. The New York Giants made history of their own with Super Bowl wins over the Denver Broncos in 1986 and the Buffalo Bills in 1990. Though they fell to the Baltimore Ravens in 2000, they still made it to the Super Bowl. For high drama, let’s not forget the end of the 54-year drought as the Rangers made Mark Messier’s prediction of a Stanley Cup victory come true in 1994. And speaking of hockey, how about the New York Islanders run of four consecutive Stanley Cup championships from 1980-1983? Should we add the Nets impressive run to the NBA Eastern Conference title last year? Though they reside in New Jersey, many New Yorkers hold allegiance to metro area teams including the New Jersey Devils who won the Stanley Cup in 1995 and again in 2000. Last but definitely not least, no New York team has a more illustrious history than The New York Yankees who won four out of five World Series from 1996 including three in a row from 1998-2000 and have won the World Series 26 times in all. So as a New Year begins, what is the status of New York teams? The answer to that is, at best, uncertain. Here is a breakdown of each team’s current situation. Hockey: The New York Rangers boast the largest payroll in the NHL and a list of superstars including Eric Lindross, Pavel Bure, Mark Messier, Brian Leech and Mike Richter. With Richter out for the season with a concussion and Bure sidelined with knee surgery, the Rangers are sliding into oblivion. Having a record of 1-7-1-1 over their last 10 games has put the Rangers in familiar territory—far from playoff contention. True, the season has a long way to go but the Rangers may be heading for their sixth straight year of early vacation. The New York Islanders are currently faring even worse than the Rangers losing star Michael Peca to a devastating knee injury against the Toronto Maple Leafs during last year’s playoffs caused the team to play many games without him early on. The Islanders currently are in last place in their division. Still, with Peca’s return and the great play of Alexei Yashin, the Islanders could suddenly become a factor. The Devils, unlike the Rangers and Islanders are having a great season. They currently lead the Atlantic Division and are sure to be a playoff contender. Basketball: Longtime darlings of the metropolitan area, the New York Knicks have lost their luster and may be losing their fans to rival Nets across the river. While the Nets have won 12 in a row at home and currently sit at the top of their division, the Knicks own the cellar. The loss of off-season signee Antonio McDyess left the Knicks without a presence in the middle. Spreewell’s early season absence due to an unreported broken finger didn’t help matters either. Still, a victory by the Knicks over the Nets two weeks ago coupled with a victory over the Houston Rockets does give fans hope. Football: The pre-season expectations were high for the New York Jets and moderate for the New York Giants. Both teams have had devastating losses to teams they should have easily beaten which left their playoff hopes in question going into week 17. The Giants’ most stinging losses were to Houston, Atlanta and Tennessee while the Jets dug themselves into an unbelievable hole with baffling losses to Kansas City, Cleveland, and the Chicago Bears. Still, each team entered the final week with playoff hopes still alive. The Giants were masters of their own fate and overcame a number of serious miscues to beat the Eagles in overtime making it to the playoffs. It was an incredibly dramatic regular season finish to a roller coaster year by Big Blue. The Jets would need a victory over daunting Green Bay coupled with a loss by the Dolphins to the Patriots or a series of losses by other teams in the AFC. Minutes before game time it seemed that the Jets would be out of the running. Then, miraculously, the Patriots beat the Dolphins in overtime and the Jets went on to destroy Green Bay 42-17. For the first time in 17 years both New York teams are in the playoffs. Can we fantasize about a NY vs. NY Super Bowl? Baseball: While baseball might be seasonal in other cities, it is a 12-month topic of conversation in New York. The Mets, coming off a horrendous season, have made great acquisitions in the off-season, including the addition of pitching ace Tom Glavine, great lefty reliever Mike Stanton, and slugger Cliff Floyd. It is unimaginable that players such as Robbie Alomar, Mo Vaughn and Jeremy Burnitz would have repeats of last year’s dismal performances. Look for the Mets to make a serious run at the N.L Eastern title. As for the Yankees, two consecutive years of losing in the playoffs has put owner George Steinbrenner in a state of high voltage anxiety. This off-season, the Yankees, who swore they would cut payroll, have instead added two international superstars. First, they acquired outfielder slugger Hideki Matsui from Japan’s Yomiuri Giants. Then they outfoxed the Red Sox to land Cuban ace Jose Contreras. The Yankees resigned Robin Ventura to play third and are on the verge of resigning Roger Clemens who would be their eighth starting pitcher! As a longtime Yankee fan, I can only say that the teams who were part of the great recent run did not win with superstars, they won with chemistry and grit. If the Anaheim Angels proved anything last year, it is that payroll doesn’t necessarily translate into victory. So there you have it. The lineup of New York teams may or may not live up to the feats of bygone years, but when you live in NY, there is always hope that one of your hometown teams may once again raise that championship banner. MONTICELLO, NY — The 46th season of harness racing at Monticello Raceway begins on New Year’s Day and will continue until New Years Eve 2003. Racing, with just a few exceptions, will be on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. However, due to New York State racing regulations there can be no Sunday racing on Palm or Easter Sundays, April 13 and 20. Other changes include added Thursday programs on April 17, April 24 and September 4 along with five Saturday cards July 5, 12, 19, 26 and August 2. During January, February and continuing through March 11 post times will be at 12:40 p.m. NYSPHSAA announces fall The New York State Public High School Athletic Association has just released a list of its lists of “State Champions.” A school was designated “State Champion” by earning the highest academic average in their sport. Many area schools competed for these titles. Each received NYSPHSAA awards for their teams who achieved an average of 90.0% or better during the falls sports season. Pine Bush High School’s girls swimming team was the Section Nine leader with a team G.P.A. of 97.612. Several area schools earned high rankings within their sports. Some of these included:
Congratulations are in order for schools and athletes who have maintained fine academic standards while participating in interscholastic sports. For a complete list of top ten schools in each sport for Section 9 visit www.nysphsaa.org.
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