(Neil Miller/Sportsday Wire)
“It’s better to be lucky than good” is a shopworn sports axiom. It was however certainly apropos when it came to the Jets’ 28-23 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars this past Sunday afternoon.
The Jets had no running game as the Jaguars defense limited Chris Ivory to approximately one yard per carry. Jets QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was outplayed by his young Jags counterpart, Blake Bortles, who had no trouble marching his team up and down the field as aging Jets cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie couldn’t keep up with young and speedy Jacksonville receivers Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns.
Bortles was able to generate two touchdown drives from deep in his territory with little time left on the clock to finish out both the second and fourth quarters. That clearly rankled Jets head coach Todd Bowles who more or less admitted in his post-game press conference that the only reason that the Jets were able to beat the upstart Jaguars was thanks to ill-timed turnovers on Jacksonville’s part.
Bowles also admitted that his team did not have a place-kicker for Sunday’s game because Nick Folk strained the quadriceps muscle in his right leg warming up and that thus the Jets did not attempt any field goals. Gang Green is fortunate that their lack of a kicking game did not come back to haunt them.
The Brooklyn Nets appear to be in for a long year as they dropped their first seven games. Official scorer and Bayside resident Herb Turetzky has seen the peaks and valleys of this franchise from their American Basketball Association days in Teaneck and West Hempstead to now at the Barclays Center. Herb commemorated his 2000th game as Nets official scorer last week.
Queensbridge native Metta World Peace (the former Ron Artest) is turning 36 Friday and he was in town last weekend as his current team, the Lakers, took on the Nets Friday night and the Knicks on Sunday afternoon.
Metta is arguably the best schmoozer in NBA history. “You know that I’m a Queens guy. I was really crushed that the Mets didn’t win the World Series. I was watching all of the World Series because our games did not start until later because of the time difference on the West Coast.” He then asked me what I thought of the Jets chances this year.
He humorously tried to take credit for Friday’s record warm temperatures saying that he brought the California weather with him to his hometown. I replied that if palm trees start growing on Queens Boulevard this winter then I will give him full credit and he chuckled.
I expect Metta to be in demand from the various sports television networks when he retires. I have no doubt that he can bring the same quick wit to basketball telecasts that Charles Barkley does for TNT’s NBA games.
As expected, the Mets rewarded their manager Terry Collins with a two-year contract last Wednesday. What created news however was that Mets general manager Sandy Alderson fainted during the breakout session with reporters after the formal press conference.
Thankfully he seems to be all right. No formal medical reason was given for him losing consciousness but Alderson indicated that he was fatigued from the post-season (as were many Mets fans), was speaking under hot lights, and finally, that he skipped breakfast that morning. Nutrition experts always say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I guess that this is further proof.
Mets pitcher Matt Harvey received the National League Comeback Player of the Year Award. While it’s hard to argue with what Harvey accomplished in his first year back from Tommy John surgery, I am accustomed to thinking of this award as a way of honoring those players who posted a very good year after having endured a disappointing previous season. It’s in this spirit that I would have voted for former Met and current Phillies outfielder Jeff Francouer. Many thought that His career was over a couple of years ago and he spent most of 2014 playing for the San Diego Padres’ top minor league team, the El Paso Chihuahuas. It is difficult to find a player who is more universally liked than Francouer.
Giants radio analyst and former Big Blue linebacker Carl Banks hosted a panel on mobile advertising at last week’s annual Ad-Tech conference and expo that was held at the Javits Center. Carl is also president of the sports apparel company, G-III.
Dunkin’ Brands marketing director John Costello was a keynote speaker at Ad-Tech. He spoke about how the company has used popular Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski for special Dunkin Donuts digital ads that are designed especially for the web and smart phones.
Fox Sports 1, in an effort to get late night viewers, has joined with the celebrity gossip behemoth TMZ, this week launched a half-hour midnight show. Expect TMZ Sports to use the same tactics that its older entertainment sibling does such as catching sports celebrities at premiers, airports, and nightclubs. I have a feeling that Matt Harvey, who enjoys dating supermodels du jour, will be getting a lot of exposure on this show to the consternation of Mets executives.
The Women’s Sports Foundation named Team USA soccer star Carli Lloyd and tennis great Serena Williams as their Sportswomen of the Year. Lloyd was the winner for team sports while Williams was the best at individual sports.
Jets QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is also an alumnus of Harvard University, told me that he attended Saturday’s Harvard-Columbia football game. As per custom, the Crimson beat the Lions, albeit by a closer score than usual, 24-16. Fitzpatrick smiled when I told him “Wait till next year.”