OK, sports fans, your time has come. Given the Omicron variant and all of the NBA and NHL games being canceled due to positive tests, I am sure that there is a need for your services. Get out on the driveway and brush up on your 3-point shot and spin move to the basket. Fine-tune those defensive moves that you use in pick-up games to slide under the shooter and cause him to miss and wonder why (OK, this only applies to the over-60 crowd here).

SU likes the Buck Showalter signing by the Mets. They tried the up and comer approach last year with Luis Rojas and well, not so great in terms of results. The Yankees have picked him up to coach 3rd base so good for him. Buck may not fit the Aaron Boone profile of the “great communicator”, but he is not afraid to get in someone’s face to let them know what he expects. As he worked for the YES Network the last couple of seasons, perhaps Boone can borrow him to light a fire under Gary Sanchez in 2022 as we all know Sanchez will be jogging to 1st base for the next 8 years. The Mets have stolen the off-season in New York: new GM; new manager; quality free agent signings. The Yankees? Not so much.

By the way, MLB has really hurt itself with the lockout as baseball is just not even in the news anymore. And if this lasts well into February, it’s a lost Hot Stove season and all the buzz that goes with that. Bad job – by both sides on this one.

Ever since SU announced its support for YOUR NEW YORK KNICKS, well, they have been a pretty pedestrian team searching for its identity. Randall has regressed in 2021 and the team just struggles for long stretches every game. SU believes the talent is there but Thibodeau needs to find the right line-ups. That is his job – no excuses.

The NFL is limping to the conclusion of the season with games being moved and players either testing positive or getting hurt. It does feel like this season has seen an especially large number of injuries. Players being carted off the field are no longer the exception. Tampa Bay lost 2 top receivers and their starting running back in one game. On the other hand, so many teams are still in the playoff hunt which is great. SU says the playoffs are wide open this year – there just is not that one dominant team. Of course, even in a season like this one, neither the Jets or Giants are relevant. Time to fly the plane with the banner over MetLife stadium.

No doubt the NCAA is hoping that the Bowl Championship Series semi-final games get played on schedule (as does SU).

You have to appreciate the irony of the Nets finally making the decision to let Kyrie Irving play in road games (not in NY and Toronto) and then he immediately tests positive for COVID.

The College Football finalists will be announced later today but for once, there is no drama this year. The seedings will likely be: Alabama; Michigan; Georgia; and Cincinnati. All are deserving of course and a notch above Notre Dame. SU says the decision-makers will not want a Georgia-Alabama rematch in the semi-finals, and therefore the safe play is to put Alabama at #1 based on their thrashing of Georgia yesterday.

The reality is that in college football, a season can change on just one play for most winning programs. Consider just last week that Alabama really should have lost to Auburn if their running back had stayed in-bounds with 2 minutes left in the game. There would not have been enough time to drive down the field to tie the game in the last seconds forcing overtime. Alabama’s quarterback was not effective for most of the game against Auburn but was dominant against the crazy good Georgia defense yesterday. Go figure.

Michigan was going to lose late to Penn State a few weeks ago but a long pass play to tight end Eric All changed all of that and they have been on a roll ever since. Jim Harbaugh went from again not beating a ranked team in the regular season to a coaching genius with this year’s team. SU says he was smart to bring in a team of young assistant coaches and created a culture that his players totally bought into with senior leadership. He also unshackled the offensive coordinator to open up the playbook. They are still a run-first team but for once, they have some playmakers and he is letting them make plays. For SU, the season is a success and they are now playing with house money. Anything from here on out is gravy.

Michigan has not always done well with the 3 weeks off before the bowl game and no doubt, Harbaugh will be focused on that as well. If they play Georgia, that will be an interesting match-up of an SEC powerhouse with many 5-star recruits vs. a hot team. But Georgia was the “hot” team going into the game yesterday and Alabama took care of business. Alabama has to be the favorite to win it all but SU does note that they don’t seem to have the dominant running back that they usually have. It’s why they play the games.

MLB has entered hibernation until likely mid-February according to most experts. Good move by MLB and the Players’ Union. Good move to have their fans pay no attention to baseball for several months and then develop a distaste for both sides going into next season. Brian Cashman is taking what might be a very effective strategy. Rather than over-pay now for free agents and the $300 million contracts that never pan out or end well, he will have money to spend in the few weeks before the start of the season in 2022 to snatch up free agents at bargain prices. Time will tell but hard to argue with that.

Teams are not allowed to have any contact with their players. How many pitchers will come in with arm issues not having done the off season work? Something to watch for.

And maybe the Mets will have a manager by April.

Uh, hello, anyone working this weekend in Yankeeland? Kluber staying in the division with the Rays. This is not good…

Not many people were giving Michigan much of a chance this week vs. Ohio State as the Buckeyes had the #1 offense in the country. SU would have been happy with a respectable performance to be honest. Jim Harbaugh has not done well vs. the top 10 teams in his tenure at Michigan but you have to give him credit this year. He brought in a team of young assistant coaches and he has loosened the reins. The team plays with more enthusiasm than in past years and the seniors have provided great leadership. Even after losing a heartbreaker to Michigan State late, the team held together and were dominant yesterday.

Ohio State still threw for close to 400 yards as they have 3 NFL caliber wide receivers but Michigan beat them down with the running game from the start. Harbaugh also opened the playbook a bit more with some gadget type plays although they still run the 3rd and 1 hurry up to the line of scrimmage running play which has a season success rate of .05%. Michigan had a lot of recruits at the game and that can only help looking ahead to next year. Go Blue.

The college football championship is now wide open with blue bloods like Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma out of the picture, and Alabama looking very vulnerable. after eking out a win late vs. Auburn. SU says it’s good for the sport and the upsets are always fun as well. Georgia has a crazy good defense this year – only gave up 8 offensive touchdowns all season which is nuts.

The Mets have been busy with some good free agent signings. SU likes the way that they struck quickly – even without a manager in place. As expected, Steve Cohen is not afraid to spend his money and he needs to show some wins with free agent signings to entice others to join the fold. The Yankees have been quiet but that won’t last. SU is interested in seeing if they decide to over spend on a shortstop or take the smarter route and fill in other needs – such as speed and on base percentage. Still waiting to be impressed.

So, the Yankees continue to either trade or designate for assignment (DFA) any players that SU happens to like on the roster. First, it was Kenny Allen and the shortstop Velazquez who were traded a couple of weeks ago. OK, I get that as they were not key pieces going into 2022, and they have some top prospects at shortstop in the lower minors.

Then, on Friday, we learned that Clint Frazier (good), Odor (extra good) and Tyler Wade (bad) were being DFA’d. Now, Wade has shown in his time with the Yankees that he cannot hit a fastball – we get that. But he finally in 2021 showed signs of productivity for stretches and he filled in a number of holes. Plus, he is one of probably 2 players on the roster who can actually run from 1st to 3rd on a single. SU predicts that he will prosper for some National League team that likes to use the full roster, and you will hear from him again.

The Yankees did hire the Mets’ former manager, Luis Rojas, to be their new 3rd base coach. Interesting move. Boone seems to like him a lot and truth be told, he can only have a better year than Phil Nevin did in 2021 given how many Yankees were thrown out at home plate. I don’t think Nevin ever figured out just how slowly Giancarlo Stanton was running on the base paths. He used the sun dial instead of a stop watch to time that.

Houston shortstop, Carlos Correa, has gone on record dissing Derek Jeter’s gold gloves at shortstop based on the stats. Not a winning move if he wanted to come to the Yankees or at least use them for leverage in his negotiations with some other team. For SU, I don’t want one of the Astros’ cheaters on the team. We had to endure Roger Clemens – isn’t that enough?

With Aaron Hicks returning, it’s hard to know what Cashman sees in the outfield. You know he will get hurt again in 2022 plus he is just another swing for the fences guy like his neighbor in left, Joey Gallo. As a fan, you want to look forward to next year but my requirement is getting younger, faster, more athletic and quite frankly — interesting and exciting. I will wait and hope.

The Mets have hired Billy Eppler – from the Cashman tree – as the new GM. SU thinks that is a good move given that no-one else seemed to be interested which is surprising. You have an owner ready to spend money and while he likes to tweet, he’s not as bad as some others in the sport. How is this not an attractive position for someone?

Ohtani making noise that if the Angels don’t win, he may not want to stick around. I’m sorry: wasn’t the point to be closer to Japan? Now you care about winning? Should have been a Yankee. Enjoy .500 success.

SU continues to enjoy the Red Zone channel. Who knew what I was missing? No need to ever watch a full Giants or Jets game again.

Michigan basketball took it on the chin last night vs. Arizona. They have 3 McDonald’s All-Americans in the freshman class but as we see, going from high school to the college level is not always a smooth transition. However, SU is patient and I always enjoy the journey of watching a team evolve and develop over a season as kids figure things out. On the other hand, not sure who can make a 3-pointer on that team so there is that.

Jordan Poole is lighting it up for Golden State this year. Back-to-back 30+ point games. Golden State is once again must see TV. I have watched most of their games – that is fun basketball. On the other hand, the Knicks are searching for the right line-ups and SU says that you cannot base your offense on making 3-pointers in the NBA if you don’t have the shooters (I have done the research – the ball needs to go into the basket a certain percentage of the time). But they have some fun youngsters and Thibodeau has to figure out how to play the right guys and not destroy the confidence of players on the bench. Well, that is why he’s paid millions of dollars so get to work.

Finally, getting ready for Michigan – Ohio State this Saturday. On paper, it’s hard to see how Michigan can stay with the Buckeyes who have so many weapons on offense but as they say, play the game and let’s see what happens. I just hope the game does not come down to a Big Ten replay review of anything. There is no worse officiating in the country – and I am including Westchester County high school basketball here – than the Big Ten in either football or basketball. They never disappoint.

The Yankees just announced that the LA Dodgers have claimed Andrew Velazquez off waivers from the Yankees. It is officially the end of an era. For those of you not paying attention, Velazquez came up from the minors in the 2nd half of the season and flashed a great glove, speed and some switch-hitting ability. Of course, he played for the minimum salary.

SU had projected him as the everyday shortstop in 2022 as a way to save money (what!!??) and spend on others where there was a greater need. Clearly, Gleyber Torres was not the answer and you don’t need an overpaid player at every position. The Yankees have 2 top prospects at shortstop in the lower minors and they will be ready in 2023 at the earliest. So, why not let Velazquez be that guy? Nope. Now, we will see them pursue one of the many free agent shortstops as they go in big on salary and number of years. SU says not a good investment and the team has other needs.

The rumor is it will be Seager on the LA Dodgers who at least bats left-handed. But Velazquez was a nice NY kid with a great story. Sigh. It will be an interesting winter.

I can’t believe I am even saying this but YOUR NEW YORK KNICKS are one of the most entertaining NBA teams to watch this year. I mean think about it: who else do you want to watch? The Lakers and the Nets are loaded with current/ex-all stars but half of them will be hurt most games. Golden State will soon get Klay Thompson back and they are always a fun watch. I like watching the Heat to see Duncan Robinson and they play the game the right way. But so do the Knicks. They play hard, they’re young, they run and they play defense. True, they are a work-in-progress and still improving but have a lot of upside.

SU saw an interesting comment from Draymond Green over the weekend about officiating. Apparently, the NBA refs are no longer calling fouls on the drive and clutch type of plays that James Harden has made a living on for many years. You know what he does: he drives to the basket and latches onto the defender’s arm/hand with his off-ball hand to make it look like a foul. Or the fake 3-point shot and then lunging into the defender. That’s why he used to shoot 20 foul shots a game. But no more. New era. Thank goodness.

SU can’t say that I have been watching the World Series too much. Rooting for the Braves to beat the cheating Astros but not more than a few minutes a game. But I am gearing up for the off-season. Did you see that the Red Sox hitting coach is not returning? He was very effective for several years with their offense. Maybe the Yankees have offered him a lot of money to come to the Bronx? Just wondering. The Mets still don’t have a President of Baseball Operations or a manager.

Be sure to watch spring training next season for the Red Sox, Astros, Braves and Dodgers. How many pitchers will be having surgery? SU says the over/under is 9. Pitcher abuse is rampant in these playoff games. At what cost a World Series championship?

The College Football playoffs will be very interesting this year. Michigan State is all of a sudden in the mix after beating Michigan in an agonizing loss for Wolverine fans. SU says that Michigan State will get manhandled by Ohio State in the 2nd to last game on the road and then faces Penn State at home in the finale. They have a great running back but their defense is terrible. Props to the coach, Mel Tucker, but let’s see how the season plays out before crowning him best coach of all time. And by the way, his continued success will only make him more attractive to LSU and USC. He is someone to watch this off-season. SU does not see anyone beating Ohio State in the Big Ten. And when we get to December, will a 1-loss Alabama team be more deserving than Wake Forest? One would think so.

Finally, SU is not happy with Djokovic who may skip the Australian Open if they require all players to be vaccinated. Unclear if he is or not vaccinated. Only slightly more than half of professional tennis players are vaccinated. SU says get with the program please. Do your part. Or do the 14-day quarantine in Australia and don’t complain.

SU has officially activated the NBA Season Pass which gives me access to every NBA game each night. Now, the reality is that 2/3 of the teams are unwatchable and SU does not go there but I do enjoy following the ex-Michigan players to see how their careers are progressing… or not.

But last night, SU watched most of the Knick game to see if the hype was for real. My first reaction is that team is much deeper than last year, and it looks like Thibodeau will be playing more guys this year. Fournier and Kemba Walker have been added to the backcourt and that is a definite upgrade. And there were stretches where the 2nd unit was really running and gunning led by Derek Rose and Toppin who is ready to take that next step – very athletic dude.

But SU says that what you need to watch for is whether Julius Randle will embrace having a better cast of characters around him. To me, the team played better when they pushed the pace and scored in transition. That helps the youngsters like Toppin and RJ Barrett who looked much improved I thought over last year. However, when it came to the 4th quarter, the movement stopped and grinded to a halt with every possession going through Randle. For SU, it brought back memories of the Carmelo offense who was another guy that didn’t like to run. If you watched the post-game, on-court interview, Randle said that he was looking for Fournier once in a while as he knew he was hot and wanted him to get his shots. I thought that was an odd comment. Better to say “we need to move the ball and find the open man.” If you run the offense through Randle too much, it will be easy for opposing teams to defense that.

It’s one game and there is talent on this roster. Kemba was way too passive and looked a step slow but he’s a good guy and if he’s healthy, is worth the price of admission. SU will be watching this year and is ready to return to the fold.

Speaking of watching, SU did check out the Red Sox – Cheating Astros games the last 2 nights. I have landed on rooting for Houston as I just cannot root for Boston. Can’t do it – ever. I do not understand the use of starting pitchers in relief on their “throw” days. You put a guy like Eovaldi in there in the 9th inning in a high stress situation. Make a note to see how his arm and shoulder are in 2022. It’s an injury waiting to happen. Neither team has great pitching at this point

So, Boone gets the new 3-year deal. SU says fine – he wasn’t the major issue this year although his in-game managing of the relievers probably cost about 5 wins along the way. But… if this is the Yankees’ major upgrade for 2022, don’t bother. There was no obvious replacement out there so that’s fine. But if the strategy is to roll out the same all right-handed line-up in 2022 and expect guys to have rebound years, well let’s not go there. Trade Gary Sanchez, Clint Frazier, and decide what you will do with Gleyber Torres. No-one will take Gallo so he is here for another season under contract. SU would trade Hicks as well. This will be an interesting off-season and SU expects Cashman to be bold as his contract is up soon as well.

Jared Diamond who covers baseball for the Wall Street Journal wrote an interesting article this week on how the teams that are in the Final Four now in the playoffs all emphasize hitting fly balls over ground balls. All are in the bottom handful of teams that hit the ball on the ground. The theory is that with the shifts, you need to try for home runs and extra base hits as hard hit ground balls into the shift are sure outs. SU says great but can’t you train hitters to hit to the opposite field where there is literally no-one standing? Apparently not. For the fan, this means games with lots of strikeouts and no action. It’s like watching Joey Gallo hit 27 times in a row. This cannot be the long-term answer. MLB may outlaw the shifts which rewards the fly ball hitters. Better to learn to bunt and hit to the opposite field and figure out a better way.

It’s bad enough that the Yankees lost to the Red Sox in the wild card game after a long and generally uninspiring season. I mean the ending was certainly fitting as the team was man-handled by a pitcher that had started against them about 17 times this season. But then the Red Sox beat Tampa Bay including back-to-back walk-off wins in dramatic fashion. Meanwhile, the Astros blow out the White Sox and here we are: the hated Red Sox vs. the cheating Astros.

SU will move to Netflix mode and try and avoid watching any of these games. But the reality is that one of these teams will be in the World Series. And did you see that Houston has made it to the ALCS 5 years in a row? That is pretty impressive whether they have been cheating in the playoffs all those years or not.

The Yankees have started with their off-season moves. Yesterday, they fired the 2 hitting coaches and Phil Nevin, 3rd base coach and best friend of Aaron Boone’s. Now, we have certainly seen this before. SU recalls that Cashman has done this to Joe Torre on occasion and also to Joe Girardi. The goal is always to make them more uncomfortable and attempt to inject some new voices into the leadership positions. There are lots of rumors swirling around Boone with the San Diego Padres supposedly very interested in his situation.

As we all know, the manager in baseball is just not as important as in other sports. Boone is a players’ manager and supposedly a great communicator. His in-game moves have always been lacking but in the end, if the players perform better on the field, you can overcome these moves. SU does not feel strongly about Boone. There is no obvious replacement out there who is a difference maker, and you have to figure that the new analytics way of thinking would mean they want a younger, numbers type person to step in if they make a move. So, for example, you would not bring in Buck Showalter here. But would you consider David Cone who has Yankee pedigree, is not afraid to get in players’ faces and is an analytics guy? He definitely wants the job.

SU believes the Yankees will stay the course with Boone and give him an extension through 2023. But the real need is to do something with the roster. It is not enough to say that most players had down years and will bounce back in 2022. Get more athletic, get faster and be sound defensively at all positions. You don’t need an All-Star at every position.

SU applauds the Nets for trying to move beyond Kyrie Irving although paying him for road games that he will not play is not necessary. And there is no way they offer him the 4-year, $185 million contract now – right? SU says he has been a disruptive influence on every team he has been on in his NBA career. He may be the best one-on-player in the League but it’s not worth all of the drama. Missing games for various personal reasons, the conspiracy theory beliefs, etc. The Nets have enough talent to win a championship and need to focus and move forward.

Who will manage the Mets? That is a great landing spot for someone with a wealthy owner willing to invest in his team. Sure, there will be expectations and tweets galore but embrace the challenge. Who do you want Met fans?

Great game 5 between the Giants and Dodgers last night. So many low scoring, tense games. Of course, awful that the Giants had to play LA in the NLDS. Something to change for future years in baseball. Need to reseed after the wild card games.

SU must admit it: in a way, I am relieved for this season to be over and no longer feeling the need to watch this under-achieving team. Let’s get right to it:

1. If nothing else, 2021 proved that an all right-handed line-up at Yankee Stadium does not work and is just a bad idea. SU was on record on this going back to March. It won’t happen again.
2. Cole is a competitor and he cares. SU is convinced that his hamstring has been an issue going back to early September and I don’t fault him for last night. He tried but was not himself. I don’t think it’s a make-up thing, can’t handle the pressure thing, a can’t pitch in NY thing. Move on.
3. However, the problem is this. Boone went with basically an opener mindset on Sunday to get that one last win thinking he would receive a normal start from Cole. Instead, you get 2+ innings and had to roll out the same pitchers who were in high pressure situations on Sunday. It showed last night. A lot of walks, missed targets. The Sunday game had a direct bearing on the Wild Card game.
4. SU believes that LeMahieu was suffering from the sports hernia all year. He hit with no power this season and so many ground ball double plays. Something has been off all year and I am confident he will bounce back in 2022. He’s not that old and he’s a gamer.
5. SU is done, done, done with the following players:

• Gary Sanchez: he will not hit to right field and is not getting better defensively. Stop telling me that a .210 batting average is “above average” for catchers in 2021. Low baseball IQ. He will do well with a fresh start somewhere else.

• Joey Gallo: SU does not care about the stats. It was stupid to bat him behind Stanton for a half season. A-Rod went off on him all night in the game last night as the weak link, and he did not disappoint. Not a bad guy, great outfielder. Must be a taker for him somewhere in MLB.

• Luke Voit, Aaron Hicks, Odor, Clint Frazier: find a home for them somewhere else. All or nothing players. Odor was the poster child for this year’s team. A .200 hitter who swings for the home run on every pitch and has a mindless approach at the plate.

SU had no favorite players on this year’s team. No Didi type player. I think that sums it up for me. This team played many, many low scoring, close games and won a surprisingly high percentage of them. But the wins were agonizing and Boone’s handling of the relievers made it even more torturous. Chapman was great and then terrible and finally just struggled each time out. The relievers were solid and Cortes was an eye opener. Montgomery improved. Taillon was a great pick-up and Kluber should be brought back for another season. Really, the pitching is fine. The offense is not and SU says the all or nothing approach is not enjoyable or a winning formula. No .300 hitters and few who can hit with RISP.

It will an interesting off-season for Cashman who must figure out shortstop and first base. Rizzo is a free agent and signing him creates the problem with LeMahieu and Gleyber. They need a shortstop but SU is not in favor of overpaying for one of the free agents. Hey, you can probably get back Didi as a rental for a year as he hit about .210 for the Phillies and must have more left in the tank than that. Bring in guys who are likeable and who care. Greg Allen who was banished to Scranton because he was out of options is a nice bench player. Gardner had a long Yankee run but time to move on.

SU never endorses firing managers or coaches. But this team needs a new mindset at the plate. Other than Judge and Stanton, no one had a better year than the year before. Other than Michael King, none of the other young pitchers emerged. Devi Garcia took a step back. But there are some strong arms ready to emerge in 2022 I think.

Much work to do. SU will move on – and easily this year.

Yankee fans: are you disappointed? Ready to move on? Ready to fire the manager? Feel free to weigh in.