New York football fans have been enjoying surprisingly good starts for both the Jets and Giants this season. Until now. As we get ready to head into December, the storm clouds are on the horizon. The Giants have won a lot of close games – as in a lot. The football gods rarely let you go through an entire season of doing just that. At some point, you need to start putting points on the board and not rely on late field goals and touchdowns to determine the outcome. The schedule gets harder now with Dallas on Thanksgiving and then 2 dates with the Eagles. A wild card would be huge for the Giants this year. Can they find another gear? Hard to see that.
The Jets managed to lose a game vs. New England in truly unique fashion with a late, late, late punt return for a touchdown. I mean, that just cannot happen. It feels like a quarterback change may be coming although Joe Flacco is not an upgrade. SU is amazed at how mediocre NFL quarterbacks are this season. It must give college quarterbacks hope to have a career in the NFL even if they were not that great in college. It doesn’t take much to be a game manager and avoid turning it over.
Kyrie Irving is back and has apologized. SU still cannot root for the Nets but at least Irving is trying – for now. The over/under is 20 days before the next flare-up.
You probably did not watch it but Novak Djokovic won the ATP Men’s end of year championships beating 5 top 10 players in a row in the round robin format. He has now won this 6 times in his career. SU is still annoyed with him on his anti-vax stance but his career record is pretty amazing. He will turn 36 next year and is still at the top of the game.
The Mets are kicking the tires on Justin Verlander and are also expected to bring back deGrom. Is that even possible financially? The Yankees have made their offer to Judge but apparently the Dodgers might be in the mix now and Judge is from California. SU says the Yankees must have offered the captaincy to Judge as part of the deal and given who has been a captain for the Yankees historically, that has to be a tiebreaker for Judge. At some point, it’s not just about the money – at least SU thinks so with Judge. It’s history and your legacy. SU says he returns to the Yankees and that has to be just step #1 for the team.
Michigan vs. Ohio State this Saturday for the Big Ten East and a slot (most likely) in the college football playoff assuming they win the Big Ten Championship game. While SU is all in on Michigan, I don’t see how they stay with Ohio State offensively as you know they will put up points with their top passing game. JJ McCarthy will have to have a career game which he is capable of (I think so although I am in the minority on this) if the coaches trust him enough to let him throw more. I will manage my expectations for Saturday. Truth be told, the Big Ten is terrible this year aside from these two teams and Penn State. Now having said this, these teams will run the table in the Bowls but strength of schedule will not help Michigan if they lose to Ohio State.
Finally, the World Cup kicks off for the US team this afternoon. SU will do its best to get on board with the World Cup this year but I must admit soccer does not come naturally for me.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Will be interesting to see Judge’s timing on making a decision. Get the impression that he really is enjoying being courted by all these teams but has also been quoted as acknowledging that any team which is interested in him is probably holding off making other moves until he decides.
Fair point. His agent must know by now who is in the running. Hard to believe there will be a late entrant who has $350 million lying around for Judge. I say they get it done by the week after Thanksgiving.
Reality Check?????
I predicted the Giants to win 5 games thias season. Of xcourse they have already overachieved this number. Yres, they have improved. No, they are not a playoff caliber team. The past 3 weeks has exposed us offensively and pretty much defensively as well. We have had our share of injuries, especially at the receiver position. It’s tough to win when defenses simply cover us man to man. That gives them an extra defenser covering the run. That’s trouble for an average, at best offensive line. If we win 9 games this seaosn that will be incredible…but still a long way to go. At least its encouraging.
The Jets have a formidable defense. They have kept the jets in the game. I dont understanjd how pathetic they were offensively with many weapons. Yes, they lost their starting running back, but his fill ins aren’t chumps. Unfortunately, every sports caster is beating up their QB and deservingky so. His interview was certainly poerceived as one who is immature. The question now is what kinf od mental toughness does he have to overcome his stupid words. The Head Coach and his QB Coach must work with him or itsw back to square one. They need to beat Chicago, who will be without their budding great QB. It’s a home game and a gut check on whether these jets have the right stuff offensivelky to bounce back. They better or the Boos will be heard across the Hudson River
The Wolverines might get torched on Saturday. I hope not for Howard’s sake but let’s face it…if the Buckeyes win decisively then they become the best chance to take away the grip of the SEC’s Championship run. If either team wins by a point or possibly in overtime I believe Ohio State will still be in the Top 4, but will drop down to #4. Michigan on tghe other hand, if they lose they will be out of the top 4 for sure due to a much weaker schedule.
With the Knicks floundering around 500, with no other big moves to get them into the playoff conversation it will be a long year.
There is no player in the 4 major sports that I detest more than Kyrie irving. I hope he stinks up the place, gets himself in trouble again and gets tossed out of thre league. he is 100% toxic. He has definitely become the most drama driven self centered player I have ever seen and heard.
All the moneyb these players are making… once they have alot of money I believe that most of them just don’t care if they act like self centered assholes. They’made it financially. That’s all they care about. A few bad guys in baseball, but because one can not carry a team like in basketball they shut up for the most part. You don’t really see it in football as the players interact with any bad karma dudes. Hockey…never happens.
Though Novak is now considered the greatest tennis player of all time….there is a smugness about him that I’ve always disliked. His act is good, but that’s all it is. He will never be loved as much as Federer was. Now that’s a man of class.
Lastlky, I am taking up donations in order to keep Aaron Judge here in NY. because George’s son will never be his father i do worry that we may lose him. My goal is to receive 1 billion dollars. I’m sure SU can afford to chip in at least one-third of my goal here.
“At some point, it’s not just about the money – at least SU thinks so with Judge.” – excellent point. Put another way, at these stratospheric levels of compensation, Judge can afford to “pay” something to be captain of the Yankees. The loss of comp opportunity will probably not negatively impact his lifestyle 🙂