(Long Island, NY) Their record may not show it. And the casual follower may scoff at the notion. But if you have been a steady customer at MSG (speaking of the arena and the television network), then there is no denying that at least some of this year’s New York Knicks are playing inspired basketball.

It is troubling that the starters, who fill up most of the overflowing salary cap, have played with the least energy. That is with the exception of Quentin Richardson, who has had a nice rebound season from his confusing 2005-06 under former head coach Larry Brown. Eddy Curry looks more and more like the bust that Chicago dealt away then the potentially dominating seven-foot center they drafted out of high school. Stephon Marbury has had flashes, but has not been consistent and should bring more to the table. He often tries to create instead of setting up his teammates. An effective and winning point guard simply does not do that. Steve Francis looks, for all intents and purposes, washed up.

The most successful young player from last season, Channing Frye, has had the toughest start of all of his brethren. Possibly he is just rusty from his season-ending knee injury and will once again show some of his strengths from last year.

But he is the exception rather than the rule. His fellow draft picks, Nate Robinson and David Lee, have been huge coming off the bench. In the games the Knicks have made interesting after falling behind by double digits early, it was the second unit who fought back. And little Nate has been a Garden favorite with his shooting and hustle. Lee had a double-double in the 102-82 home win versus Washington on Thursday, which included many offensive rebounds and put-backs. He is doing a great job all year, and takes care of the little things on the court that all teams need.

This year’s first round draft pick, Renaldo Balkman, had his best game against the Wizards with 18 points. He has been getting dirty by diving for loose balls, which is something rarely seen from the first unit.

Isiah Thomas has publicly stated that he will bench anyone and play who is deserving, regardless of stature and salary. At the rate the Knicks are going, it won’t be long before the youngsters hear their names being introduced prior to the game.

(Long Island, NY) In their inaugural season, the Strong Island Sound made a lot of noise. Although they finished with a mediocre 16-14 record, they had a 10-game winning streak, qualified for the ABA’s Great 8 Tournament in Rochester, and made the Final Four. Not bad for an expansion team. Now they have to follow that up.

In the world of independent minor league sports, rosters change from month to month, and especially year to year. The Sound will have only three familiar faces from the team that made that great run. Captain Gary Williams of Bay Shore will be back and is expected to be one of the veteran leaders on a young squad. Shooting guard Michael Campbell, who had a big season on Long Island before signing to play in China towards the end of 2005-06, is back. And point guard Jerome “Fridge” Holman should be back in the fold soon. Having the sparkplug Holman on the floor will be key. He, along with Chris Sandy (now playing in Finland) were the catalysts of the late season flurry by the Sound. Over the summer, Holman was an AND1 Mix Tape Tour winner, known in that circuit as “Circus.”

Dytanya Mixson was elevated from assistant coach to head coach. He was on Joe Medina’s staff last year and now will be the main man. He will have a group of mainly young, aggressive players to mold into a team. It may take a while, as it did last season.

Some of the names that you are going to hear about a lot on the Sound are Darren “DP” Phillip, Gregory Plummer, Nate Brown, and Tommie “Gunzz” Eddie. The Sound have started the young season at 1-2, recently splitting their first two home games after dropping the season opener at Baltimore by two points.

Plummer leads the team with a 23.3 points per game average. He is also averaging 3 steals a game. Phillip has been a monster on the boards and is pulling down 10.3 each night.

One of the Sound’s rivals from last season, the Harlem Strong Dogs have moved their operation down to Tampa Bay and will start up again next season. Taking their place are the Brooklyn Wonders, who the Sound beat at their home opener. The Newark Express are back, as are the Maryland Night Hawks. The Sound played some great games against these two teams, and it shouldn’t be any different this year.

(Long Island, NY) What a difference a year makes. Maybe. We’ll see after the big Thursday night match-up on ESPN, which pits the Cinderella team from Rutgers against the Louisville Cardinals. Both teams are 8-0 so far in the NCAA season. Last season, the Cards whipped the Knights, 56-5, in Louisville. This one is in New Jersey, and Rutgers wasn’t even a blip on the national radar screen then.

In 2006, Rutgers ranks second nationally in yards (227.4) and points allowed per game (9.1). That’s nothing to scoff at, even for the big schools around the country. Louisville is coming off a big upset win against West Virginia last week and look to maintain their position as a major player. They currently reside at number three in the AP rankings, while Rutgers sits at number 15. There are five undefeated in the top 25 nationally. Besides Louisville and Rutgers, the top two clubs are 10-0 (Ohio State and Michigan, respectively), and the 9-0 Boise State are one spot ahead of Rutgers. This game has huge implications and the fallout should be very interesting.

This will be the first time in the 137-year history of Rutgers football that they will be ranked a facing a ranked opponent. Besides national implications, this game is also a battle for first place in the Big East, where both teams are 3-0. With the win last week against UConn, Rutgers will at least enjoy its first eight-win season since 1979.

If Rutgers is to have a chance to win this game, they must contain Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm. Rutgers’ head coach Greg Schiano also doubles as the team’s defensive coordinator and will look to improve on what occurred last November. Brohm torched the Scarlet Knights’ secondary for 315 yards and three touchdowns. Rutgers has already surpassed their team interception total from last season by four. Sophomore safety Courtney Green has three of the team’s 10 this season.

Rutgers will have to control time of possession with their backfield tandem of tailback Ray Rice and fullback Brian Leonard. Rice is being considered as a Heisman Trophy candidate. The second-year back has run for 100-yards in six games this season, which also include three 200-yard performances. In 20 career games, Rice has gone over the 100-yard mark on 11 occasions.

Quarterback Mike Teel has had a fine season, and enjoyed his finest game on October 14th in the win versus Navy. Teel had career highs with 15 completions, 215 passing yards and three touchdowns.

It has been a big season in Piscataway and the Scarlet Knights hope to continue that after the nationally televised contest. Something has got to give tonight for two teams with unblemished records. Red versus red. It doesn’t get any better than this.

(Long Island, NY) What exactly was Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones thinking when he took on the dependent known as Terrell Owens? The team already had a decent set of wide receivers in Terry Glenn and Keyshawn Johnson. They could have resigned Johnson and dealt with his moaning and groaning. But instead, they let him go to Carolina and acquired the most selfish athlete the game has known.

Head coach Bill Parcells could not have been behind the move to bring T.O. to Big D. Regardless of the Tuna’s reputation as a disciplinarian, this was risky even for him. Owens’ rap sheet is as long as his stat sheet. He caused a commotion in San Francisco with the ‘sharpie’ incident and, ironically enough, the Dallas Cowboys’ midfield star nonsense. Then he forces his way off the Niners, nixes a trade to Baltimore, then is all smiles when he is finally dealt to Philadelphia.

His tenure with the Eagles was a nightmare. Possibly his talent helped the team reach the Super Bowl a few years ago, but he also had a hand in tearing up that locker room. He showed a lot of courage coming back to have a huge game in the SB loss to New England, returning much earlier than expected, even with his broken leg not fully healed.

But instead of following that up with sportsmanship, he started making statements about Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. He was suspended for a week during the following training camp and held an impromptu press conference on his home lawn while doing sit-ups. He kept up what was deemed by Eagles head coach Andy Reid as conduct detrimental to the team, enough that he was told to stay home for the rest of the season.

Somebody was stupid enough to think that Owens would turn into a boy scout overnight. And that was Jones. Starting off on the wrong foot, he missed the majority of training camp and the pre-season with injuries. He was also late for a team meeting, claiming he overslept. Then the even out-did himself with his “suicide” attempt, which he denied was actually that. He accidentally took too many painkillers and had to be removed to the hospital via ambulance. He returned a few weeks later and even started to play at the level expected of him. But it was a matter of time until the next episode.

Owens had a falling out with his position coach, but then stated that everything was fine between the two. Then during g the week prior to a divisional match-up against Washington in November, Owens fell asleep during a team meeting. He promptly feigned sleep during an endzone celebration during the Redskins game, earning a 15-yard penalty. He also dropped a sure touchdown pass later in the game and had a sideline explosion at Parcells. And most importantly, the Cowboys lost the game by three points.

What will it take to finally send this player away for good? There is no way to say that he hasn’t caused enough of a distribution on this team to cause them to be having less of a season that they expected to. No one can say that he isn’t as talented a receiver in the NFL. But at what price? The negatives outweigh the positives by a large margin.

(Long Island, NY) A new beginning. New month, new season, new coach. Same bad roster. The 2006-07 New York Knicks are looking to erase the nightmare that was last year and hope that all these fresh starts transcend into wins. Former head coach Larry Brown seemed to get all the blame from the locker room. Now they don’t have him to point fingers at anymore. The only digits they can stick out will be in the mirror.

Knicks owner James Dolan made it plain and simple. He removed Brown and gave Isiah Thomas a second hat to wear, to go along with his General Manager duties. Thomas is the bottom line; He’ll have to make the decisions behind the scenes and on the bench. And he has only one year to make enough progress to satisfy Dolan. What that is has not been established. But when you consider that the 2005-06 squad finished 23-59, just about anything would be considered progress.

With no salary cap room to do much, Thomas signed forward Jarred Jeffries to a free agent deal. As Knicks’ luck would have it, he suffered a broken wrist in the pre-season and will be out at least another six weeks. Rolando Balkman was picked number 22 in the NBA draft, and the consensus was that it was a reach. But Thomas knew that he had to improve his defense and needed a player of that nature that will go after a loose ball as if it were a million dollar check on a winy day. But what does that say when you have a roster of battle-tested players who want to remain upright? Makes one think.

The bottom line with this team is if center Eddy Curry can be the player that he was projected to be. The Chicago Bulls gave up on him and received not only Michael Sweetney in return, but the Knicks’ first round selection this past June (second overall-Tyrus Thomas), but have the option of switching picks with the Knicks next year. It will be a no-brainer to say right now that the Bulls will finish ahead of the Knicks, thus capitalizing again on this deal. For it to swing into the Knicks’ favor, Curry needs to become a dominant big man. He will have plenty of competition in the East, with Shaquille O’Neal and Ben Wallace being the names mentioned regularly. If he can stay in good condition, start playing tougher on defense and on the glass and keep the fouls to a minimum, this trade will not look so one-sided anymore. A lot to hope for. But as Knick fans have been doing since Patrick Ewing left, what else is there but hope?

Herman Edwards had success during his five-year Jet tenure. But his swan song will be remembered in the same light as Rich Kotite’s days at the Meadowlands. Injuries may have played a big part of the 4-12 debacle that was the 2005 season. And when Herm packed up for Kansas City, not too many people were clinging to his leg. A change was needed for this team. And Eric Mangini was the right man for the job.

He doesn’t say much, this Mangini guy. Going to one of his press conferences is like sitting in on an interrogation for an old fashioned wise guy. It’s like pulling teeth to get him to say anything more than a jumbled up version of the question. But if he continues to get his team to play at the level they currently are, not too many folks will be complaining.

The Jets already have matched their win total from last year, and we’re not even at the half-way point in the season. 4-3 is not too shabby, and two of those three loses were very close against quality competition. Throw out the 41-0 whitewash in Jacksonville. All teams have a day where they get run over. Close defeats at home versus New England and Indianapolis, two of the stronger clubs in the AFC, is not something to hang your head about. And the Jets have won two on the road (Tennessee and Buffalo) and two at home (Miami and Detroit). They are 2-1 in the division, and have a bye week after traveling to Cleveland this Sunday. If they can get to 5-3 before the break, they have put themselves in nice shape to make it interesting the rest of the way.

Will they make the playoffs? Not likely, but not totally impossible, either. They have a fairly easy schedule, but you play who is on it and don’t worry about that sort of stuff. They still have one game each against New England, Miami and Buffalo. They also have Chicago, Houston, Green Bay, Minnesota and Oakland on their schedule. It’s not out of the question that they can finish with eight or nine wins. One more and they will be hinging on a wild card spot.

Regardless of what happens this season, the new regime has made an impact on this organization and has it headed in the right direction. Although he is a rookie coach, Mangini has showed the poise and confidence of a veteran. That has rubbed off on his players, especially cerebral quarterback Chad Pennington, who has returned from shoulder surgery and looked very impressive.

This has been a team that has had numerous eras of big losses and heartbreaking finishes. Mangini is looking to make that a distant memory, and he has succeeded so far.

(Long Island, NY) So now that it’s all over and Mets were sent home by the Redbirds, what do we take away from it? 97 regular season wins, a division title and one win away from the World Series is nothing to sneeze at. But when you break down the National League Championship Series, there is no excuse why the Mets are not sitting in Detroit right now.

Going into the NLCS, the biggest question mark surrounding the Mets was their starting rotation. With Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez both out with injuries, a heavy burden was placed on Tom Glavine to be lights out. He did pitch well, and replacement arms such as John Maine and Oliver Perez were a pleasant surprise. With the exception of Steve Traschel, the starters were strong. The non-publicized ‘personal issues’ that caused Traschel to be away from the team the last weekend of the regular season apparently came to the mound with him in Game 3. It was likely his last performance as a Met, with Perez taking his turn for Game 7 on only three days rest.

The supposed deep parts of the Mets did not fair as well as the starting rotation. The bullpen had an up and down series, looking great at some points but losing two games for them, including the final one when Aaron Heilman gave up a ninth-inning two-run home run to light hitting Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina in a 1-1 game.

The big Mets bats were silenced in six of the seven games. In Game 7, they were held hitless from the second to the ninth innings. Scoring opportunities went for naught, with the bottom of the sixth inning being the most glaring. Following Mets’ leftfielder Endy Chavez’ amazing grab off a sure home run by Cardinals’ third baseman Scott Rolen, which resulted in an inning-ending double play, the Mets were poised to take the lead. They loaded the bases without the benefit of a hit with only one out. A strike out by Jose Valentin and a fly out by Chavez kept the contest even.

The ninth-inning almost-rally by the Mets was gut-wrenching for them and their fans. The first two batters got on with hits, and the bases were eventually loaded. Two runs down and a classic ending was possible. But after Carlo Beltran was caught looking at an Adam Wayneright off-speed pitch, the crowd was sent home unhappy and the rain that had been falling seemed to come down harder as the Cardinals celebrated on the Shea Stadium grass.

(Long Island, NY) Maybe the winning has become so frequent that it is a shock when they lose. The New York Yankees have not been the most successful franchise in sports for nothing. 26 World Championships, countless post-season appearances and individual awards. You name it, they’ve done it. But sometimes things do not go your way. Take the American League Divisional Series versus the Detroit Tigers, for instance. After Game 1, it looked as if the Yanks were going to sweep the fading Tigers, who not only lost their final five regular season games, but were swept by the Kansas City Royals and blew a double-digit lead in the division. They had to go in to the playoffs as the American League Wild Card entry and drew the top-seeded Bronx Bombers.

The Yanks doubled up the Bengals, 8-4, in the opener at Yankee Stadium. Early in the next game, the Tigers trailed 3-1 and appeared to be poised for another defeat. Then they started chipping away at Mike Mussina and actually took a 4-3 lead. Their strong bullpen came in and shut down ‘Murderer’s Row and Cano.’ Gaining a split on the road was a major accomplishment for a team needing a boost.

The series shifted to Comerica Park in the Motor City, and in a short series, anything can happen. Not only did anything happen, but the impossible, too. Former Yankee Kenny Rogers pitched the game of his life versus his former mates to give the Tigers a two games to one edge and on the brink of knocking out the top team. A day later, the Yankees bats were once again cold as ice, and the Tigers Cinderella run was well on its way.

Now what? Will the wrath of George Steinbrenner be felt all over Yankee-land? He may have had the axe sharpened for his long-time manager, Joe Torre. But he apparently was swayed to put it aside. Torre will return for the final year of his contract in 2007, and one of the all-time great managers will make his exit gracefully.

And then there’s the Alex Rodriguez question. Keep him or try to convince him to waive his no-trade clause? This guy hasn’t looked fully comfortable in New York since he arrived. Changing positions, playing second fiddle to Derek Jeter, having that $252 million dollar contract hanging over his head. Whatever the reasons, A-Rod appears to be a shell of himself at times. And there was no worse time than the playoffs. Only getting one base hit throughout the four games and being jockeyed up and down the batting order could not have helped his cause. General Manager Brian Cashman has already publicly stated that he will not look to trade Rodriguez. But sharp GM’s don’t always show their cards.

Gary Sheffield appears to be a goner. Entering free agency, he was injured throughout most of the summer and didn’t hit when he came back. A failed experiment at first base to close out the season was just that.

The starting pitching needs to be overhauled. Old and fading is a kind way to put it. Randy Johnson is not the Big Unit New Yorkers were hoping for when he pushed that camera man in Manhattan. Moose has been a warrior, but he has seen his best days. The two big names the Yankees signed in 2004 to get younger have been a waste. Jaret Wright has been hurt and ineffective when he is in there. Carl Pavano is a joke and may turn out to be one of the worst free agent signings of all-time.

Is there work to do? Just like any other team, there is plenty to do in the off-season. But at least Steinbrenner didn’t over react and push Torre out. Maybe he didn’t do his best managerial job in the ALDS. But the team’s bats all going cold and pitching falling apart cannot be solely on the shoulders of the field boss.

(Long Island, NY) New York Islanders owner Charles Wang never expected this. At least not in his team’s first game of the season. On the heels of Wang inking goalie Rick DiPietro to a 15-year contract, the young netminder was shelled for six goals in Phoenix before being mercifully pulled by new head coach Ted Nolan.

The Islanders actually had a brief 1-0 lead on Miroslav Satan’s first period goal. The Coyotes then scored the next six of the contest to blow the game wide open.

DiPietro allowed the six goals on 32 shots. His teammates didn’t exactly help him out by committing 13 penalties. Back-up Mike Dunham took over in the third period and didn’t allow any goals.

When the exurbanite long-term deal was signed, it was widely scoffed at. Although DiPietro was a number one draft choice and has shown some promise, he is hardly a franchise player. Wang stated that DiPietro was going to be the backbone of the franchise and the layer that they were going to rebuild the team around.

Speculation was that Neil Smith was fired as the Isles’ General Manager because he disagreed with Wang on the length of the contract. Smith was reportedly set to offer the goaltender a four or five-year deal. Could this be considered one of the ‘philosophical differences’ that Wang said was the reason why he replaced Smith after only a few months with Garth Snow?

The Islanders have been a team that has not spent money and then spend too much in the wrong places. Alexi Yashin and Michael Peca received very generous contracts with little return. Yashin still remains and Peca has since departed. They have had front office changes that leave the critics and their fans scratching their heads.

One game does not a season make. But with the negative press the Islanders have received during the entire off-season, having their star goalie torched for six goals against a team that has not qualified fir the playoffs since 2002 was not a banner start.

The Islanders have tried all sorts of marketing tricks to build momentum leading up to the season. They even had a few players personally deliver season ticket packages to corporate sponsors. That is pretty unique, to put it kindly. Perhaps if they ran their organization properly, they could attract fans to the run-down Nassau Coliseum.

Long Islanders are longing for improvements to the team to even be a subtle reminder of the glory days. A franchise with such great history should not be struggling for this long. And with an albatross of a contract such as DiPietro’s, it may be some time before the winning returns.

(Long Island, NY) No one said that it was going to be easy. As soon as the NFL schedules were released, the first three games for the New York Giants stood out. Kicking off the season against the offensive powerhouse Indianapolis Colts. Going on the road to face their division rival, the Philadelphia Eagles. And then going cross-country for a rematch against the defending NFC champions, the Seattle Seahawks.

The problem is not that the Giants’ record stands at 1-2 heading into a much-needed bye week. A tough road against quality competition will do that to a team. But barring a few breaks that didn’t go their way in the Eagle game, the ‘Jints can easily be 0-3.

In the opening game, the Giants secondary dropped a few sure interceptions that would have made big brother Peyton Manning’s night much worse. An offensive pass interference call did not help the Giants’ cause. But one play (or call) does not make an entire game.

Eli Manning had a bad game in Seattle. There’s no way to sugar-coat that. Three interceptions will not get it done. Even though he threw three touchdowns in garbage time, the game was out of reach. But Manning was not the only one to have a rough day in the Pacific North West. Plaxico Burress followed up his big overtime winning touchdown reception in Philadelphia with an invisible day. He only had one reception for 23 yards, and one fumble. Tiki Barber was taken out of the game early when the Giants fell behind 42-3 after three quarters. He finished with 64 yards on 14 carries.

The Giants were only two for nine on third down efficiency as compared to Seattle’s 10 for 16. That’s a big difference. Seattle also ran 74 offensive plays to the Giants’ 52. Looking at the penalties, the Giants’ committed eight (63 yards) in comparison to the Seahawks’ four (22 yards). These numbers don’t lie. This was a total domination by Seattle, and the Giants’ came undone early. This was a far cry from the close loss out there last season, when missed field goals were the problem.

A major problem coming out of the game was the Giant bench openly arguing during the game and the comments by Jeremy Shockey in the locker room following the debacle. By Shockey stating that his team was outplayed and out coached, he was taking a shot at Head Coach Tom Coughlin. This can cause further dissention on a team that appears fragile before October even rolls around.

It is still early enough where the Giants can rebound and get back on the right track. Their division, which was picked in the pre-season as one of the best, seems a bit overrated at this stage of the season. The Giants face the Washington Redskins in their next game at home. They can right the ship quickly against a weak opponent that they should be able to handle. The jury is still out on the Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. The best thing for the Giants to do is to take it one game at a time. They won their division last season, and there is no reason to think that they will not do it again. Slow start and all, they have the most talent and should be able to find their winning ways.