The club is more exclusive than Augusta National, and a fat bankroll alone won't buy membership.

Eli Manning, if he is a student of football history, should have a list of its members taped inside his locker this month, because he is three victories away from getting the keys to the clubhouse and learning the secret handshake.

Continue reading "New York Giants QB Eli Manning is three wins away from elite company" »

Woody Johnson did his best to look like a decisive owner Monday. He stepped to the podium at 10 a.m. on the dot to announce the firing of his head coach, and did so less than 15 hours after the season had ended.

He insisted the "decision tree" had been growing for some time, and gave the impression that he was the one who got the shovel, dug the hole and planted the thing. Johnson cast himself as the decider in kicking Eric Mangini to the curb, which raises the obvious question:

Who will Brett Favre pick as head coach?

Continue reading "New York Jets need a map to know where they're going" »

Even if you're a Jets fan -- and if you are, our deepest condolences -- you had to admit the ending was perfect.

There was Brett Favre, exactly 99 yards away from a miracle touchdown that still could not save this cursed franchise, getting hit so hard as he tried to lateral the football that he probably had to count his teeth when he walked to the sidelines.

Favre arrived as a confident quarterback with Hall of Fame credentials. He crawls into the offseason and probably into retirement as a limp-armed, lead-footed, mistake-prone loser.

But hey, he should keep his chin up. He was not the first player or coach who could not save the Jets, and certainly won't be the last.

Continue reading "Jets suffer fitting end as franchise adds collapse to long list of woes" »

The snowballs came raining down from the Giants Stadium seats like big chunks of white confetti.

Giants fans have celebrated bigger wins than this thrilling 34-28 overtime victory over the Carolina Panthers, of course, including the mother of them all last winter in Glendale, Ariz.

But location is the point: That unlikely Super Bowl triumph was 2,500 miles away in the desert. All three playoff wins leading up to that victory? On the road, too, in Tampa, Dallas and Green Bay, when most Giants fans were forced to celebrate in their living rooms.

No, to find a victory this satisfying in their house, you had to go back a ways. Not now. Not any more. The Giants found their swagger last night in this whale of a win, and they found it right here in their ice-covered, soon-to-be-demolished home stadium.

Continue reading "New York Giants secure home, sweet home field advantage for the fans" »

NEW YORK -- He will get a warm welcome Friday night when he is introduced be­fore his first game in the Meadow­lands since he maneuvered his way out of town. Part of that ovation, no doubt, will be for all he accom­plished during his 6½ years in a Nets uniform.

But part of it will be something else entirely. It is much easier to stand and cheer Jason Kidd know­ing that he very well might have his ankles repeatedly broken by the kid who replaced him.

Devin Harris may never reach the heights that Kidd has as an NBA player -- face it, few players do -- but he has a chance to be very good for a long time. And if you aren't convinced that the Nets didn't get the better of the deal that sent Kidd to Dallas, you are ei­ther:

Continue reading "Nets' trade for Harris makes it easier for fans to cheer Kidd" »

His press conferences are starting to feel like the keynote address at an AARP convention. His numbers are way down from last season, with the notable exception of his interceptions, and his famous shotgun of an arm is firing like a water pistol.

The Jets are 9-5 and must win their final two games to guarantee a playoff berth, a telling stretch that will either validate their expensive offseason moves or send their head coach to Kinko's to get his resume ready. So who do they want at quarterback right now?

C'mon. They want the old guy.

They want Brett Favre.

Continue reading "Favre may be old, but he's the man to guide New York Jets' playoff push" »

IRVING, Texas -- For a man who had his Ferrari Scuderia taken away and replaced with a 1979 AMC Concord -- one with a slipping fan belt and four bare tires -- Eli Manning seemed to take it well.

Continue reading "Time for Giants to be concerned in wake of 20-8 loss to Cowboys" »

He leaves the athletic program better than he found it, but not nearly as good as it could be.

This is Bob Mulcahy's mixed legacy at Rutgers. His most important decision was his best, hiring the head coach who has transformed the football program from a laughingstock to four straight bowl appearances.

Those Scarlet "R" magnets you see on minivans and SUVs around the state? Greg Schiano gets the most credit, but that unprecedented success happened on Mulcahy's watch. He inherited a program that nobody cared about and leaves one that is a source of pride for alumni.

But he leaves behind so many loose ends, too.

Continue reading "Politi: Mulcahy's legacy is a mixed bag" »

The name is the first problem but not the only one. If it were called the Sweet Home Alabama Bowl, or the Bear Bryant Bowl, or even just the Pizza Bowl, maybe you could take it seriously.

Instead, Rutgers will play in the Papajohns.com Bowl, which raises one big question.

Does anybody really order pizza online?

All right, it raises other questions, too, since plenty of Rutgers fans have to be asking themselves if they'll shell out the money to make this trip to Birmingham. No sugarcoating it: This might be the worst bowl out there, and there are some doozies. This game is played in a crumbling stadium on a Monday afternoon for a ridiculously low payout.

Continue reading "Second place in Big East will always hurt Rutgers when it comes to bowls" »

When their worst performance of the season was finally over, the Giants did not want to talk about you-know-who. This was predictable, of course, but the wrong approach entirely.

Continue reading "Absence of Burress not the cause of New York Giants' meltdown against Eagles" »

We have no idea what the fine people of El Paso, Texas, do on the average Thursday night in December. We do know, however, that their local cable companies carry ESPN.

Were they watching this?

Rutgers will find out in a few days when the Sun Bowl selects its teams, because the second-best bowl in the Big East pecking order should not pass on the second-best team in the league.

Continue reading "If there was justice in college football, Rutgers would bask in the Sun (Bowl)" »

He had a diamond-studded Super Bowl ring on his finger, one earned from his awe-inspiring performances in the playoffs.

Continue reading "Fall from stardom serves as lesson for New York Giants' Burress" »

Antonio Pierce has always taken pride in being the ultimate teammate and leader during his NFL career. Now the Giants can only hope he didn't take that responsibility too far. Continue reading "Loyal to a fault, New York Giants' Antonio Pierce learning a tough lesson" »

LANDOVER, Md. -- The word of the day was "distraction," and it was a bigger presence in the visiting locker room at FedEx Field than any 350-pound offensive lineman.

How would the Giants deal with the latest distraction with troubled receiver Plaxico Burress? Would linebacker Antonio Pierce be distracted by his own involvement in the gun-shot investigation? Would all the distracting questions about the distractions be a ... well, you know?

The result, of course, was predictable if you have been following this team. The Giants were not remotely distracted by anything, unless that word can apply to only winning 23-7 on the road against a divisional rival that will probably end up in the playoffs.

Continue reading "Politi: In spite of Burress, New York Giants keep eyes on ball" »

Throughout his many indiscretions during his turbulent 2008 season, Plaxico Burress had been the Giants' problem, and nothing more.

Missed meetings. Skipped treatment sessions. Suspensions and fines, a red-faced head coach and annoyed teammates. Burress was a headache, to be sure, but he was a manageable one. The Giants had gotten used to his immaturity and were winning in spite of him.

But now? Burress has graduated to another level. He is the NFL's problem, too, because no matter what happened Friday night, his latest incident involved two things commissioner Roger Goodell is said to loathe more than anything else.

Guns and nightclubs.

Continue reading "Politi: It's time to part ways with Plax" »

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Now you can dare to dream a little bit. Now you can circle Feb. 1, 2009, on your calendar, start stocking up on beer and chips, and imagine what might happen that night in Tampa.

Continue reading "Dare to dream of a Giants-Jets Super Bowl" »

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- This one was not about the quarterback.

Okay, that might be an exaggeration. The quarterback is you-know-who, so it is always about him on some level. Like when one of the Jets' flacks yelled, "Brett Favre is going to the podium!" Sunday, and about two dozen sportswriters ran to get there as if the locker room had burst into flames.

Favre is at the center of everything the Jets do, but Sunday's 34-13 romp over the Tennessee Titans was much bigger than No. 4. And that is the most important development for this team.

The Jets absolutely pounded the Titans. You could picture them coming here and winning, maybe in a low-scoring game, maybe on a late field goal. But this? This was hard to see coming. The Titans were 10-0 for a reason, with a dominant defensive line and running game.

Continue reading "New York Jets' 34-13 victory over Titans about more than just Favre" »

In all the criticism directed at Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez over the past few months - most of it well earned, some of it from me - nobody has ever questioned his basketball acumen.

The guy can coach. We knew that before he came to South Orange, the way his pesky Manhattan teams had played in the postseason. We saw it last season, when the Pirates upset a tournament-bound Louisville team. And now, we see it again in Puerto Rico, where the undermanned Pirates gutted out a victory over No. 20 Southern Cal.

Continue reading "Politi: Nobody ever said Bobby Gonzalez couldn't coach" »

Admit it. You thought you had seen the last of these two old quarterbacks, hadn't you?

Oh, you might have envisioned them wearing a suit in a broadcast booth somewhere, but the only thing they'd be passing is the tapioca pudding at the Shady Acres Retirement Village.

Kurt Warner was a fumble-prone shell of a former MVP, one who had been replaced twice, in two cities, by high-profile first-round draft picks. He was washed up and wiped out, ending a great career as a place-holder for Matt Leinart in Arizona.

Kerry Collins was a cement-footed dinosaur who missed his one chance to win a Super Bowl, one who seemed resigned to finishing his career holding a clipboard. He was as irrelevant as a quarterback could be, backing up a rising star in Vince Young for Tennessee.

Continue reading "Collins, Warner both in top form after getting boot from Giants" »