(Long Island, NY) If you approached nine out of 10 fans at either a New York Islanders or New Jersey Nets game, they probably would tell you that they have never heard of Roy Boe. Without him, neither franchise would be in existence today and it was a great loss for all of us when Boe passed away this week in Connecticut at the age of 79.

Back in 1969, Boe’s purchase of a fledgling basketball team in an unstable league began what would eventually result in multiple championships not only on the hard wood, but the ice, as well.

The story began two years earlier when a franchise was awarded in the newly formed American Basketball Association to be known as the New Jersey Americans. When the Teaneck Armory was unavailable for their playoff game, they found an opening at the Long Island Arena in Commack. Although the venue was a disaster, the team decided to stay put and became the New York Nets the following season.

They finished 44 games under .500 and struggled to average 1,000 fans a game, prompting owner Arthur Brown to dump the team off on a women’s clothing manufacturer with no prior experience in the sports industry. That hardly made a difference and a guy selling blouses quickly made the switch to changing the entire outlook of the organization, practically overnight.

Boe found a new home at the Island Garden in West Hempstead and acquired Rick Barry from the Virginia Squires. Attendance was up to over 3,500 per game and that set the owner up for bigger and better things.

Contingent on the construction of a new arena, Boe was awarded an expansion team in the National Hockey League, for which he hired Bill Torrey as general manager. By 1972, the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum had two tenants – the Nets and the Islanders. That same season, the Nets made it to the ABA Finals before losing to the Indiana Pacers, but their biggest moment came during the 1973 offseason when they acquired Julius Erving, a Long Island native and perhaps the most exciting player in basketball history.

Dr. J won the ABA MVP that first season back home and guided the Nets to the league championship. Erving repeated both feats two years later in what was to be the final season of the rival league before four of its teams merged into the NBA. While that may have seemed like a scenario for success, the end result was just the opposite.

With a total of $8 million in payments for league insertion and territory fees (to the Knicks), Boe needed to make a drastic decision literally on the eve of the franchise’s first game in the NBA. He sold Erving’s contract to the Philadelphia 76ers for $3 million, which put the team in a tailspin that resulted in a league-worst 22-60 record. A year later, the Nets returned to their roots and moved back across the Hudson River.

It was around that same period of time that things started to look up for Boe’s other team. The Islanders qualified for the playoffs for the first time after the 1974-75 campaign and knocked out the rival Rangers in the best of three first round.

Although the team had started to come into its own, economics were still an issue with Boe, as he had an even bigger bill to pay to get his hockey team off the ground. By 1978, he had sold the team to John Pickett, who enjoyed the Islanders’ dynasty that resulted in four consecutive Stanley Cups beginning in 1980.

But none of the six titles – including the two by the Nets – would have ever happened if not for Boe, who may have been in over his head but surely made more than a dent on the sports landscape.

(Long Island, NY) When New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya signed Livan Hernandez during the offseason, it was a low-risk, high-reward type of move to add depth to the slew of arms they were inviting to Spring Training in hopes of finding a reliable fifth starter.

Perhaps because the day the veteran righthander was inked was Valentine’s Day, that cemented the love affair that Minaya has had with him going back a few years. In March of 2003 when he was GM of the Montreal Expos, Minaya traded for Hernandez and then courted him in the winter of 2008 to bring him to Flushing.

In perhaps the unlikeliest of circumstances, the two are now reunited and Hernandez has had a resurgence of sorts. His bio states that he is 34, but his actual age has come into question ever since he arrived in the big leagues from Cuba. He probably is closer to 40 and even with that possibility, has been as effective as he has in a long time.

When he was finally announced as the fifth starter at the end of the exhibition season, Hernandez told reporters in Port St. Lucie, “What I want to let you know and let the fans know is I’m fighting. I’m fighting every time I go to the mound to win. I don’t like to lose.”

This is the same pitcher that won both the National League Championship and World Series MVP Awards in 1997 and has logged in over 200 innings pitched in nine of his 13 seasons throughout his career, the last one being 2007 for Arizona.

With Tuesday night’s complete game win over Washington, Hernandez improved to 4-1 with a 4.28 ERA on the current season and has come up big for the Mets when their supposedly strong starting rotation has been thinned by injuries.

Tim Redding, who was signed to be the fifth starter, went on the disabled list before the season commenced and just made his first start recently. Oliver Perez, who was re-signed to a three-year, $36-million deal, was atrocious before the team found a way to find a phantom injury on the quirky lefty to put him on the DL while Nelson Figueroa and Jonathan Niese have made spot starts filling in for the wounded.

All the while, Hernandez has been steady and complimented the top three starters well. Johan Santana is on a different planet than everyone else with a 7-2 mark and an ERA under two while Mike Pelfrey and John Maine both have four wins each, the same as Hernandez. Other than Santana’s 66 innings, Hernandez is next in line with 54.2. He is also the only one on the staff with a complete game.

At some point during the summer, Perez hopefully will find himself and get back to earning some of that free agent ransom he has coming to him. Even with him in the equation, Hernandez may be a vital part of the team as they go through the dog days and battle for a playoff berth. He is what they call in the business a ‘big game pitcher,’ and has a 7-3 record with a 3.97 ERA in the postseason, which includes four NLDS, three NLCS and two World Series for three different teams.

The Mets certainly hope that Hernandez adds to those numbers this October.

(Long Island, NY) One of the reasons to justify their lavish offseason spending spree was the expiration of long-term contracts such as the one Jason Giambi had. The Yankees inked two of the top pitchers on the free agent market in CC Sabathia and AJ. Burnett and had an affordable replacement at first base when they traded for Nick Swisher of the Chicago White Sox.

One of the last destinations for Mark Teixeira was the Bronx but that is exactly where he ended up after the Bombers went back to the well and signed him to an eight-year, $180-million deal.

While neither is exactly tearing the cover off the ball, Swisher is hitting 50 points higher than Teixeira. The former Angel is known to get off to slow starts but his numbers are down even for him. By going 2 for 4 in Wednesday’s 8-2 win at Toronto, Teixeira finally got over the dreaded Mendoza Line and is now hitting .202. His power numbers have been slightly better, with 19 RBI and 7 home runs, second on the team to Swisher by one.

“I expect that every single day we’re going to win and I’m going to get a couple of hits,” Teixeira said to reporters after the victory. “If you let a losing streak as a team get to you, it becomes a bad losing streak. If you let a couple of bad games or a bad month get to you, you’re going to have a terrible season. So every day when I come to the ballpark, I expect to win and I expect to succeed.”

Throughout his career, the nine-year veteran had had more ups than downs. Other than his rookie campaign, Teixeira has driven in more than 100 runs and hit as least 30 long balls every year. Even in 2003, he hit 26 home runs and had 84 RBI He has also earned two Gold Glove (2005, 2006) and Silver Slugger (2004, 2005) awards.

The 29-year-old is too good a player to continue to hit as weak as he has. In all likelihood Teixeira will come around and hit somewhere close to his lifetime average of .287/36/121. But until that occurs, the questions will remain if Swisher, a relative bargain at $5.3 million this year, could have kept the seat warm sufficiently with all the offensive firepower around him.

When general manager Brian Cashman was assembling this team during the winter, no one could foresee that Alex Rodriguez would miss time recovering from hip surgery and Xavier Nady would be lost for the season. The Yankees were thought to have enough bats to go to war with Swisher as their starting first baseman but once the Red Sox became heavily involved in the negotiations with the free agent Teixeira, there was no way they were going to let him go to their divisional rival.

The other possible suitors for Teixeira over the winter were two perennial losers, albeit close to his hometown, in Baltimore and Washington. The Orioles made a seven-year, $140 million offer which was topped by Boston’s $170 million. The Yankees, as usual, came in and upped the money to blow everyone else out of the water.

At Teixeira’s introductory press conference, he said that money was not the reason why he chose the Yankees, but rather that he went along with his wife’s wishes.

If he doesn’t begin hitting the way he can and start earning some of that extra $10 million, the fans at the new Yankee Stadium are going to make him wish he made up his own mind.

(Long Island, NY) The last year that Joe Namath wore a New York Jets uniform our country was celebrating the bicentennial. For you youngsters out there, that was 1976, the year before a beleaguered and gimpy-kneed “Broadway” Joe took his game to Los Angeles. Before then, he cemented himself into Gotham lore by becoming a Super Bowl hero.

The man who became the face of the franchise has always been revered as such and since then, a parade of quarterbacks have come and gone with nary an appearance in the big game. Richard Todd, Matt Robinson, Ken O’Brien, Browning Nagle, Boomer Esiason, Neil O’Donnell, Vinny Testaverde, Chad Pennington and Brett Favre. Young and old; expensive and cheap; drafted; traded for and signed as free agents…they have brought with them hope and left with disappointment. Every single one of them.

Now comes the latest savior, Mark Sanchez. The Jets made a bold move by trading up to pick the USC junior fifth overall in the 2009 NFL Draft and he brings with him the weight of the world on his broad shoulders.

“There’s going to be a ton of challenges,” he said. “One is just the locker room setting. There’s guys here, even in the huddle, who have been in this league for a while, maybe five plus years, and I have tremendous respect for those veterans, but at the same time it’s about coming into my own, maturing as an NFL quarterback and speaking their language along with the offense.”

Brian Schottenheimer sees many strengths in his new rookie field general. “He’s got terrific accuracy,” the offensive coordinator said. “When we talk in terms of accuracy and ball placement, accuracy would just be the ability to throw the ball where a guy can catch it. But ball placement is when it’s thrown to a specific spot, where if a defender is sitting on the shoulder you throw it to the opposite shoulder. That was very good; we felt it was top notch.”

Being a star quarterback – albeit it for only 16 games as a starter – at USC may have prepared Sanchez for some of the media frenzy that he should expect on a weekly basis. Chairman and CEO Woody Johnson recognized a special trait in the young man, agreeing with his front office and scouting department that Sanchez was a “pretty good fit for the New York Jets.”

According to Sanchez, he was prepared somewhat playing in the second largest media market but also realizes that things will only magnify for him now. “At USC, they put a lot of emphasis on the quarterback with Heisman trophy winners, All-Americans and national championships and they want results, just like the fans here, just like the press here,” he said. “That’s what they want. That’s what I’m prepared to work for, obviously, and with such a great team around me now it’s going to be a blast.”

For Sanchez and the Jet faithful, everyone certainly hopes so. He has the size (6’2”, 227 pounds) and was dominant last season, which culminated in the Trojans’ 38-24 over Penn State in the 2009 Rose Bowl. Sanchez threw for 413 yards (second most in Rose Bowl history) and four touchdowns, leading his team to their 12th win of the season against only one loss.

Sanchez became the sixth quarterback to be taken by the Jets in the first round. Sandy Stephens was also the fifth overall pick in 1962. In between, Namath (first overall – 1965), Todd (6th – 1976), O’Brien (24th – 1983) and Pennington (18th – 2000) fill the rest of that list.

Where Sanchez will be remembered remains to be seen, but at least from the early hype he should do quite well for himself in the big city.

There have many great players throughout the history of the game they call baseball. Babe Ruth may still be the most recognizable name to this day even though he played his last game 72 years ago and died 13 after that.

But on Wednesday night, every modern day Major League Baseball player will not be wearing the Bambino’s number 3 on the back of their jerseys, but rather one that will honor Jackie Roosevelt Robinson.

On this day 62 years ago, a young man took the field as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers wearing number 42 and what made it a historic moment was not for the color of his uniform but the skin that was underneath the flannel home white with the word “Dodgers” written in blue script across the front.

What was viewed as a day some cherished but others cringed at may have been highly anticipated but the actual game at Ebbets Field that afternoon against the Boston Braves was not even sold out. Hard to believe looking back now that a home opener was not played in front of a capacity crowd, especially for a team as beloved as the Bums were in the borough of churches. That in itself may have spoken volumes about the time and what can be construed as sort of a mini-protest by the people who could not accept the color barrier being broken.

Robinson proved those folks wrong by becoming an integral part of the Boys of Summer and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1947. He was also a member of the Dodgers’ only World Series championship team in Brooklyn, which came against the hated New York Yankees in 1955.

How deep did Dodger blue run in Robinson’s veins? When he started to slip later in his career, the team sold his contract to the New York Giants. Robinson retired so he would not have to suit up for ‘the enemy.’

Robinson himself may not have lived long enough to see it, but his widow Rachel will be on hand at Citi Field to honor her husband at the dedication ceremony of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda at the new home of the Mets. The entire section of the new ballpark will echo voices from the past, as it appears just like the entrance of the old place in Flatbush.

“The Jackie Robinson Rotunda at the Citi Field is a stunning space and a superb tribute to Jack’s enduring legacy,” Rachel Robinson said. “I am grateful to Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz and Jeff Wilpon for their vision and personal commitment to making this dream a reality at the Mets’ new ballpark.

“It is my hope that as people of all ages pass through the Rotunda, it will evoke their most cherished memories as well as serve as an inspiration to young people who we hope will share the values and ideals by which Jack lived.”

It will be a special day throughout America’s Pastime with a sea of ‘42’s’ in every city, all which at one time would not have accepted a man like Robinson playing baseball. He persevered and paying homage to him in this manner is well deserved.

The Dodgers may be in Los Angeles and the Braves in Atlanta, but in some ways we’re being brought back into time to a chilly April afternoon in Brooklyn that changed the way the game of baseball was not only played but also viewed.

(Long Island, NY) They say the number of years that a particular player can remain on the football field ranges from two to four on the average. Due to the physical nature of the game, that low figure should not come as a complete surprise.

But when you factor in behavioral issues that can shorten one’s career that has already surpassed that span, the finger of blame is squarely pointed at the one in the mirror.

Take Plaxico Burress, who went from the guy who caught the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl to the unemployment line (and possibly prison) in little over the span of a year. What should have taken place back in November finally did come to fruition when Giants general manager Jerry Reese pulled the plug on the mercurial wide receiver and released Burress.

“I am an optimist and I believe most situations can be worked out,” Reese told reporters. “We hung in there as long as we could in hopes that there could be a resolution to this situation other than the decision we made today to release Plaxico.

“It wasn’t to be, so now we have to move on,” continued Reese. “Like everybody else here, we want nothing but the best for Plaxico, and are appreciative of the contributions he made to this franchise.”

In is four seasons in New York, Burress was productive but did not exactly behave like a boy scout. What he did in previous seasons paled in comparison to this one, which culminated in the former Steeler accidentally shooting himself in the leg in a Manhattan nightclub on November 29.

The team suspended him for four games for “conduct detrimental to the team,” but his days in blue were, for all intents and purposes, done at that point. Especially with a head coach such as Tom Coughlin – who still runs a tight ship even though he has softened his stance some – bringing back Burress would have set a poor example for an organization that is widely respected throughout the sports world.

Replacing Burress’ numbers will not be easy, and that task is made even more difficult because the receiving corps was not a strong unit to begin with. During his Giant tenure, he caught 344 passes for 3,681 yards and 33 touchdowns. His best year came in 2007, when he played through an ankle injury virtually the entire way. Stepping up when it counted the most, Burress caught 11 passes in the arctic conditions in Green Bay during the NFC Championship Game, setting a team record. He then punctuated that two weeks later with the 13-yard grab from quarterback Eli Manning in the left corner of the end zone with a mere 35 ticks left on the clock to upset the previously undefeated Patriots.

Veteran Amani Toomer’s contract is up and the University of Michigan product will finish out his playing days in a different uniform. SB XLII hero David Tyree missed the entire past year with a knee injury and the rest of the wideouts have no more than three years experience at the most.

The one who gained the most playing time after Burress went away was Domenik Hixon, and he figures to play a big part in the 2009 offense. Youngsters Sinorice Moss and Mario Manningham need to make strides in order to pick up the slack while Steve Smith has justified Reese’s faith in drafting him.

The Giants will need to address the position in the NFL Draft on April 25 but do not pick until 29th. The top receiver is Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech, but he will be long gone by the time the Giants get a crack at it.

Other names being bantered as first rounders are Percy Harvin (Florida), Hakeem Nicks (Carolina), Darrius Heyward-Bey (Maryland) and Brian Robiskie (Ohio State). The former Buckeye may fall to the G-Men and would be a steal that low in the opening round.

Either way, the team is better off in more ways than one without Burress, who had his criminal trial postponed until June. He will probably avoid jail time but may face further suspension from the league.

The Giants do not need those types of distractions and anyone who looks to sign Burress has to take on some serious baggage with him. Is it worth it? That is the question that any potential suitors have to ask themselves.

(Long Island, NY) The modern day Yankees of the ‘high and mighty’ attitude and single box seats costing over $2,000 per game may be the target of much scorn throughout the state of Massachusetts – and even in New York – but the baseball world mourns with them on the passing of not one, but two exceptional people.

Former team executive Arthur Richman and 1961 World Series standout Johnny Blanchard both passed away on Wednesday, and on the cusp of the season opener, the news really hit home. Richman was 83 years old and Blanchard was 76.

“Arthur Richman made baseball and the New York Yankees an enormous part of his life and I am grateful for his contributions both personally and professionally,” Yankees Principal Owner/Chairperson George M. Steinbrenner said in a statement released by the team. “He was a trusted friend and advisor to me and someone the world of baseball will find impossible to replace. I extend my deepest sympathies to his wife Martha and to the countless others who were fortunate enough to call him a friend.”

During a career that began in 1942 as a copy boy for the now defunct New York Daily Mirror, Richman became a mainstay at the newspaper for over two decades and wrote the widely read “The Armchair Manager” column. He joined the Mets front office when the paper folded in 1963 and stayed in Flushing for a quarter century.

Richman moved to the other side of town in 1989 and worked with the Yankees’ media relations department and as a senior advisor to Steinbrenner. He is credited with convincing The Boss to hire Joe Torre as team manager after Buck Showalter was fired following the 1995 season. Richman obviously saw something in Torre when they were together with the Mets and it is hard to argue with the decision.

Although Blanchard may have only hit .239 over his career, the catcher/outfielder/first baseman was able to come through in clutch situations. He saved his best for October and batted .345 for the Bronx Bombers in five consecutive Fall Classics from 1960 through 1964.

“This is a sad day,” the great Yogi Berra said. “Johnny was a good friend and a great teammate. He was proud of being a Yankee and always fun to be around. We’ll m miss him.”

In a five-game victory over the Cincinnati Reds in the 1961 World Series, Blanchard went 4-for-10 and hit the tying home run in the eighth inning of Game 3 and blasted two home runs in the clincher.

His former manager realized that on a team full of All-Stars, some of the most important moments come from your utility player. “Johnny was a true Yankee, there’s no doubt about that” Ralph Houk said. “Everyone liked him. He would do anything it took to help win a ballgame. He would catch, pinch hit or go play the outfield if it meant the team had a better chance to win.”

It is ironic that Richman ended up working for the Yankees due to the fact that as a young boy during the 1930s, they shunned him when he and his brother waited for autographs.

“The Yankee players, for some reason, weren’t that friendly,” said Richman later in life.

Perhaps things have come full circle, but that is not the point now. Reflecting on these two men’s careers and lives should not be stained by the organization of today, which has not only outspent every other team in baseball, but in all of sports in an economy begging for fiscal responsibility.

(Long Island, NY) When the Jets acquired Brett Favre from the Green Bay Packers last August, they thought that the future Hall of Famer was going to be the answer to their quarterback question, one that really did not exist. Little did they know it at the time, but then-incumbent Chad Pennington would look awfully good in Kelley green right now instead of Miami teal and orange.

Having the 39-year-old Favre retire after one sub par season could not have been what team owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum envisioned when they introduced number four to the masses amongst back slaps and wide grins. Although there were no guarantees that he was going to play more than 16 games, the Jets hierarchy hoped that Favre’s tenure would have lasted more than that, albeit it through playoff games or this coming season.

Johnson and Tannenbaum even publicly campaigned for Favre to return prior to hiring new head coach Rex Ryan. They left themselves no margin for error as far as a back-up plan went. The three other quarterbacks on the roster have a total of eight NFL starts between them – all by former second round draft choice Kellen Clemens during the 2007 season.

The other two, Brett Ratliff and Erik Ainge, may be decent prospects but the team cannot expect much out of a pair of youngsters with zero professional experience besides meaningless preseason games.

That leaves three choices to upgrade the most important position on the field. As far as free agency goes, the pickings are slim and a stopgap, at best. Names such as Byron Leftwich, Rex Grossman, Jeff Garcia or Kyle Boller are not exactly the type that makes fans begin to book their hotel rooms for February in Miami, the location for Super Bowl XLIV.

In the upcoming NFL Draft, Matt Stafford out of Georgia is the consensus top signal caller going pro, but with the 0-16 Detroit Lions holding the first pick, figure on the former Bulldog to become their franchise quarterback. After that, not many teams are in the hunt for that position. The Jets can either stay put at number 17 and hope that the mock drafts are accurate or trade up to ensure that they can obtain a high caliber player.

Mark Sanchez, the USC junior, declared for the draft even though his head coach Pete Carroll advised him not to. The young southpaw must have looked at the board and realized that he can be either the first or second quarterback selected and cash in a big payday.

A perfect scenario for the Jets would be to have Sanchez fall to them, but in the event that a team like the St. Louis Rams (number two) or San Francisco 49ers (number 10) decide to take a quarterback, he will be long gone.

One thing that happens frequently on draft day is wheeling and dealing. One established quarterback who may be available is none other than Jay Cutler, who was drafted 11th overall by the Denver Broncos in 2006. Once viewed as the Broncos next John Elway, he has recently fallen out of favor with the new head coach. Josh McDaniels has taken over for the fired Mike Shanahan and the former offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots was interested in obtaining Matt Cassel, who led that Pats to an 11-5 record after taking over for an injured Tom Brady in Week 1. A potential three-way trade between Denver, New England and Tampa Bay was discussed before Cassel was eventually dealt to Kansas City.

The negotiations eventually became publicized and Cutler – already known as a moody person – apparently became upset that his team was looking to deal him and acquire a new quarterback after he has thrown for more than 20 touchdowns in each of his two seasons as a starter. Bad feelings were in the air and according to a report by ESPN, a conference call on Monday that was meant to clear the air made the situation go from “bad to worse.”

“The conference call was anything but genial and the two sides are now further apart than prior to it,” the report stated.

Although Broncos management is saying that he won’t be traded, it may be better for both sides if Cutler is moved. Denver will then need to replace him, so either a real high draft choice or another young and effective starter must be involved. The Jets can offer neither but must look into the possibilities. Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel went to the Chiefs in exchange for only a second round pick.

Would Denver be interested in a package of first and third round picks and Clemens? If that would ever come to pass, it would be considered a steal. Tannenbaum may have to sweeten the pot by dangling cornerback Darrelle Revis, who would be difficult to part with but may be necessary to obtain a young player that can lead your team for the next decade.

Sort of like when the Jets drafted Pennington in the first round back in 2000.

(Long Island, NY) Neil Best must have felt like $161 million on Thursday. One of Newsday’s top sports columnists, his article a day earlier made the readers aware of another strike against the ‘little guy’ by the Bronx Bombers and their corporate ways.

In case you didn’t have a chance to read it, Best wrote that there are two entire sections totaling 600 seats located in the centerfield bleachers of the brand new Yankee Stadium where the view is obstructed and he wasn’t referring to a tall guy or a lady in a wide hat sitting in front of you.

No, these seats are sandwiched by a sports bar/restaurant that surely brought in a pretty penny to the most valuable franchise in all of sports. So whom do you think came out ahead in this battle – the average fan that can barely afford a day at the ballpark or the Yankees and the owners of the establishment?

In Best’s article, Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost was quoted as saying that some views are obstructed “a little bit, but for $12, it’s a choice of taking it or not,” and that for the ‘lucky’ fans to be seated there that will not be able to see balls hit to either the right or left of them (depending on the section), the gracious and giving Trost added, “We will have TVs in the walls there.” Oh, how can we ever thank you enough!

Coincidentally, Trost was a guest on WFAN on Wednesday and following the fall-out from the article from fans, he said, “Those seats are being sold at $5, not $12. I think some seats may have gone out improperly invoiced.”

Hey, Lonn – can’t blame the intern doing the paperwork on your own words, which clearly repeated the $12 price. Later during the radio interview, Trost came up with another gem by calling the restaurant being built further out than the seats an “architectural shadow.” He must have been reading off of cue cards to come up with that one.

The tickets will now be marked as having an obstructed view, similar to an area located at the top of the Nassau Coliseum. When arenas and stadiums were built years ago, that was commonplace due to the architectural structure (not shadow). The ballparks of yesteryear had those thick, long columns that held the upper levels in place and were the cause of many a stiff neck the next day for the people sitting near them.

But that was then and this is now. Especially with a brand new stadium that was built to perfection, this should not have taken place. A prime example of having your cake and eating it, too.

This should come as no surprise when the Yankees are involved, the same team that signed free agent pitcher CC Sabathia to an average annual salary of $23 million over seven years. Win at all costs; no matter how many dollars are involved and how many people you leave in the dust, even if they’re your own fans.

They are an organization that never bends or makes amends for anyone, but in this case they reluctantly did. A sportswriter’s attention to a topic that is about more than just the cheap seats was at stake. It was the principal of the matter, and this time the good guys won.

(Long Island, NY) What started with an impromptu press conference last August in Cleveland and ended in a conference call on Wednesday can be summed up in one word – disappointing. When Brett Favre was introduced as the Jets new quarterback prior to the opening of the team’s exhibition schedule against the Browns, the air was filled with hope and visions of him celebrating in a different green jersey than the familiar number four that he wore for 16 mostly highly successful seasons in Green Bay.

What a difference seven months makes.

None of this should have come as a major surprise due to the eroding skills and physical condition of a soon-to-be 40 year-old player in a league where the average career last four seasons. In total, Favre played 18 years and will be a sure first ballot Hall of Famer in five years when he becomes eligible.

Perhaps the Favre of old was who Jets owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tennenbaum thought they were getting when they made the trade, but after a very frustrating season, the end result was that they merely acquired an old Favre. But Tannenbaum did not see it that way.

“When we acquired Brett, we knew we would get everything he had,” he said in a statement. “He took the time to mentor young players and his competiveness and enthusiasm at practice and during games was contagious. I spoke with him (this morning) and told him that he will be a friend of the Jets for years to come and it was an honor to work with him.”

Many fans and even reporters that follow the team through every snap may not totally agree with Tannenbaum’s view. During the conference call, one question that came up was if Favre felt if he was a distraction to the team.

“I honestly believe it was more of a positive than a negative,” answered Favre. “I wish we would have gone to the playoffs. There was a point in the season where we all thought that and they (the media) were talking (a) Giants-Jets Super Bowl. It was plenty of talk. It wasn’t all that bad.”

Yes, bringing in a player of Favre’s caliber and popularity was a shrewd front office and public relations move, especially for a team coming off a 4-12 season and in the process of selling Personal Seat Licenses for their new joint venture stadium project with the Giants. Add to that the fact that Tannenbaum went out and made vast improvements to the team via trades, free agency and the NFL Draft. In their eyes, Chad Pennington had taken them as far as he could and they needed a stronger-armed gunslinger to take it to the next level.

No need to remind anyone what happened in that last regular season game against Pennington’s new club, the Miami Dolphins, who went from a one-win team to the AFC East division championship with their new quarterback at the helm.

The Jets? They finished out of the money with a deceiving 9-7 record, which included a 1-4 mark in their last five games. Favre took much of the blame with only two touchdown passes versus nine interceptions during that span, and to his credit, didn’t run and hide when the going got tough.

An injury that he described as pain coming from his right shoulder wasn’t revealed until after the last game and a subsequent MRI showed that Favre had a torn bicep. “It actually started (hurting) probably when I started throwing back in the summer,” he said. “Ever so slight and not very often but just enough that I’d just wrote it off as just old age or whatever. Each week, just with wear and tear, it progressively (became worse) and I’m not a doctor, but I think, as the season progressed, it would tear just a little bit (more).”

By Favre retiring, the Jets have given their salary cap a much-needed relief of the $13 million he was to receive in 2009. Although both Johnson and Tannenbaum publicly stated that they wanted Favre to return, the most sensible business decision is him retiring. A banged-up old quarterback with a bad wing is not a recipe for success, even if that person happens to be Favre.

Choosing not to try to repair the injury via surgery and go through rehabilitation for it, Favre feels that this is finally the end of the road for him, even though he has changed his mind in the past about retiring.

“I’m sure because I have family and friends (saying), ‘All right Brett, is this the real deal?’ It is, believe me. It’s been a wonderful career. I couldn’t ask for anything more. It was worth a shot for me to go to New York. I wish I could have played better down the stretch. I didn’t and it’s time to leave.”

Just like the old saying, ‘Too little, too late,’ that seems to be a good summary of the Brett Favre era for the Jets, one that began with much promise and ended with a phone call.