The Basement View

Fresh Start_39: My Way As the great Frank Sinatra once said “And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain…” Well Yankees fans that final curtain was drown last night with the win at home and the Blue Jays loss in Toronto. The Yankees are mathematically ineligible for the playoffs, and they’ve had a great run. After selling at the deadline, the Yankees went on a magical run with great play from rookies and an MVP performance from Gary Sanchez the Yankees played playoff baseball. The slow start from the bombers ultimately became the downfall of the team. Nobody saw the emergence of the team after the deadline and that is completely understandable. As a fan I was completely happy with the decision to sell and the turn out after the fact. I enjoyed the playoff hunt very much, especially since I didn’t think I would see that this year. The team is only going to get better and the young guns can use this as motivation for the years going forward. I said at the beginning of the...

Fresh Start_38: September After the Baltimore Orioles beat the Blue Jays 3-2 the AL East was set. It took until the 158 th game of the year but the AL East has a champion for 2016. With the loss the Blue Jays surrender the division to the Boston Red Sox. This, for me hurts on many levels. I knew the Yankees wouldn’t win the division and I figured that out a long time ago. That was no question, but the Wild Card is basically at this point over, and with that, the season. I always have a tough time at the end of the Yankee season. I feel like a person in New York City who is getting ready to leave a sublet apartment and getting ready to go to another for a short time. I have so much joy and excitement every April when baseball is fresh and new because it is my favorite sport and my favorite time of the year. Now a few days’ pass and Jets football gets back in my life and I indulge myself in that until February when pitchers and catchers start. Baseball for me is a lifestyle… I don...

Fresh Start_37: Tebow Time If you haven’t heard by now, Tim Tebow played his first game of organized baseball since his high school days. Tebow didn’t just make an impact he made his mark in the game. His first pitch, first at-bat Tebow hit a homerun to left center. This like everything else in Tebow’s athletic career. This is up there with the playoff win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, or the National Championship when he was at the University of Florida. This is unlike Michael Jordan when he quit basketball to play baseball. Tebow had no career in the NFL and was doing he doing really well on the SEC Network. Now I will not blow this out of proportion because it is Single A baseball, and it is only one game. It is a nice story and whether or not a twenty-nine-year-old will make it past Single A ball. It is highly unlike that Tebow will make it to the Major Leagues or even make it to Triple A. What I like about it is, it adds to the Hollywood story that is Tim Tebow, while als...

Week 4 Alright at this point, through three weeks I am becoming sick of picking games at a .500 pace. I hope and pray that I can get off the .500 snide. Here are my Week 4  picks. Sources:(nfl.com, footballlocks.com) Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!

Week 3 Monday night game In a game in a giant shadow of the debate it was hard to watch. This game was also the ten-year anniversary of the first game back from Hurricane Katrina. The game itself wasn’t that interesting which seems to be the theme for the Monday night games this year. Hopefully things will put up with the Vikings and Giants in Minnesota. Getting back to the Saints and Falcons, it wasn’t what I thought would happen. I thought the Falcons would win, but not as convincing or as boring. Julio Jones didn’t have a good game at all—with only one catch for sixteen yards. Matt Ryan who was on fire last week, only had two hundred and forty yards with two touchdowns. Brees on the other hand threw the ball fifty-four times for three hundred and seventy-six yards with three touchdowns and interception. The Saints struggles mightily in the second half as Atlanta coasted to the W. My game ball this week is going to defense, and the outside linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons Deio...

Fresh Start_36: Debate Night Now I don’t normally talk about politics on this blog but considering it is election season and most of the country has their opinion, I might as well give my input. I am not in love with either candidate and I am in the same boat with many on this. I do think that there was clear winner and loser. I don’t think the election was won or lost on this debate alone, considering how much wasn’t talked about or brought up.   The clear winner in my mind was Hilary Clinton, largely based on how she handled the way Trump reacted to some of the questions and responses. Clinton went extremely left which was much to my surprise, and that could be interesting for voters on the fence. The way she spoke about the economy and of course her emails, she was put in the driver seat and never looked back. Trump on the other lost, but surprised me a lot in some and didn’t in others. The way Trump talked about the minorities in the country and how we need to fix it, wa...

Week 3 Sunday Game ball Week 3 was such a weird Sunday for the NFL. Coaches saved their jobs, teams didn’t show up to play. Arizona laid an egg in Buffalo only scoring eighteen points, while giving up thirty-three to a team that was dead in the water without stud wide receiver Sammy Watkins. The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t get off the bus against a rookie quarterback Carson Weintz (who looks like the real deal). I have already talked about the dumpster fire that was the New York Jets game. Which after talking to my dad—who is a level headed non Jets fan made me realize that they aren’t in that bad of shape as I previously thought the Jets were in. The Jets got lucky to say the least, but moving on from that. The Sunday Night game was what we expected (sorry Chicago fans). The rookies this year look like four, five-year vet. The Washington Redskins pulled off some trickery with a fake punt to edge the Giants. Yes, the blocked punt that was redone due to offsetting penalties was extrem...

Farewell Mr. Palmer Just as the day is coming to an end yesterday the already shocked sports received some more sad news. Arnold Palmer the King of Golf died at the age of 87. The iconic golfer, entrepreneur, and person that Palmer was won’t die with him. His records in the game of golf will always be there. His marks on life and his logo of the umbrella will always be iconic as long as the Golf Channel and Arizona Ice Tea are in circulation. I have personally have never saw Palmer hit one golf ball live in my life, but playing the golf growing up I have heard of the All-time Great, the King of Golf Arnold Palmer. No matter what golf course you go to the presence of Palmer is there, even if the course is a small par three, nine-hole course in upstate New York. The half lemonade, half ice tea is the only drink to have on the golf course. The overall brand of Palmer from golfers and people around the country is something that is bigger than Palmer might have sent out to accomplish. ...

NY 500 #6 Well get the brown paper bags out New York fans if you aren’t a Mets fan this weekend. Just an embarrassing weekend more the majority of New York sports. Let’s start out with the bright spot this weekend in the New York Mets. The Metropolitans won three out of four against the arch rival the Philadelphia Phillies. The weekend got off to a great start when Asdrubal Cabrera sent Met fans home with a walk off shot into the New York night sky in the eleventh inning. Then the Mets ended the weekend in a nice way for their fallen friend Josè Fernàndez with a 17-0 win thanks to Jose Reyes and guess who—Asdrubal Cabrera who both had four RBI’s in Sunday’s game. The Mets, if the season ended today would host the San Francisco Giants in Flushing, which just two weeks ago sounded laughable. The Yankees shot themselves in the foot yet again getting sweep yet again, this time by Toronto. The Yankees blew yet another lead on Sunday and have made making the playoffs slim to impossible fo...

Fresh Start_35: R.I.P Jòse Fèrnandez Tragic news, horrible news, and I just am lost for words. Waking up yesterday to this news just put a damper on my day and my thoughts and prayers go out to the Fernandez family and the Miami Marlins Organization and fan base. Fernandez was only twenty-four years old and was one of the up and coming superstars in the game and was looking like a guy who could accomplish great things. Not only was he a great player on the field but he seemed like an amazing person off of it. He was a great ambassador for the league, especially in his home country of Cuba. I think the thing I will remember most about Fèrnandez is the way he played the game with a smile on his face. How appreciative he was of just being a part of a Major League Club. He played the game like a ten year kid every time he stepped inside the white lines. Now, unfortunately I couldn’t watch many of Fèrnandez’s starts but I still respected his game and how good he was. The Yankees never ...

Honest Recap #3: 60 Minutes of crap The last sixty minutes of football was the worst display of football I have ever witnessed and I watched the butt fumble game. Ryan Fitzpatrick played like a middle school quarterback, throwing six interceptions to the Kansas City defense. Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker didn’t get off the bus with three catches combined for fifty-eight yards. The Jets offense really never got going and just sat on the sidelines for most of the game. The defense DID NOT lose this game for the Jets. This game is on Fitzpatrick whether you like it or not and nobody is going to argue you with that. I won’t be surprised if some Jets fans want Ryan Fitzpatrick’s head on a spike Game of Thrones style, because I wouldn’t argue with that. Geno Smith should have clocked in after about the fourth interception. Now, Jets fans know the miseries of watching Geno Smith play at quarterback. The Jets showed fight on defense as they always do and this defense should get a badge o...

Fresh Start_34: The Panda Do you all remember Pablo Sandoval? I do, and I don’t just remember the overweight Panda that walked into Red Sox camp last February, or the one that was sent down this past April. I remember the San Francisco Giants Pablo Sandoval that was a joy to be around and a three-time champion. Yes, the contract that he signed before last season hasn’t worked out so far, but it was well deserved. He performs well in the postseason and that is something you can’t say about most players. The year before going to Boston Sandoval had a decent regular season batting .279 with sixteen homers and seventy-three RBI’s. In the postseason, he batted a combined .385 with five RBI’s. Sandoval also has a World Series MVP in 2012, where he had batted .500 with three bombs and four RBI’s. I routed for him when he was on the Giants and although it is extremely tough to want to see him play well now that he is dawning Red Sox garments I don’t want his career to end here. Manager J...

Fresh Start_33: Big Ticket Yesterday one of this generations legends called it quits. It’s a shame that three icons for the game retire in the same season. Kevin Garnett was one of the game’s elite for over a decade. Garnett was a fourteen-time all-star, a two time MVP, and an NBA champion. Coming out of high school, Garnett set the tone for players skipping college and heading right into the NBA. Garnett played an old-fashion style of basketball in a new age of faster, stronger guys. Garnett’s grit and tenacity of defense will never be questioned or emulated ever again. Garnett prided himself on defense and that shows in his twelve times on the NBA’s “all-defense” teams as well as his defense player award in 2008. Garnett was the total package in a game of stationary power forwards. Now Garnett wasn’t the stretch four that we are accustom to seeing now. Garnett could hit the ten to twelve footer with consistency, rebound on both ends with an unparalleled hustle. And on the other ...

Week 3 Thursday Game ball BOY WAS I WRONG! I thought the Houston Texans would come out and play inspired football and come out flying all over the field. The Houston Texans laid a huge goose egg last night in Foxborough last night. Brock Osweiler showed me that John Elway was 100% correct about Osweiler and how good of a QB he was. To me, Osweiler doesn’t look like he can throw the ball that hard and get the ball into needed tight windows. Some of the footballs that Brock Osweiler were throwing last night looked like balloons. The weapons are there for Osweiler which is an incredible blessing to have in the second or third best wide receiver in the game in DeAndre Hopkins. Bill O’Brian needs to figure a scheme on both offense and defense. Especially defense because of an embarrassment of a loss to a third string quarterback in Jacoby Brissett.  Jacoby Brissett didn’t look that great last night he only had 11/19 for only 103 yards and no touchdowns last night. Brissett did have e...

Fresh Start_32: Chris Bosh Earlier today the Associated Press got word that Chris Bosh did not pass his physical to participate in the Heat’s training camp due to the blood clots that he has been dealing with for about two years now. Bosh who despite the blood clots might be one of the best players in the NBA. Considering the clots and the inability to be on the floor for his team. It is taking its toll on Bosh; not just with his health but with his physiological state. With Dywane Wade now gone in Chicago, Bosh is the only remaining player from the days of the “Big Three”. Bosh is an All-Star when healthy and one of the best stretched power forwards in the game today. What Chris Bosh has to think about now, with thirteen seasons under his waistband, he has to consider retirement. He has had a good career including two rings, nine All-Star appearances and was the best power forward for a period of time during his career. He earned both of the contracts he got from the Heat. I feel...

Fresh Start_31: An Answer to question never asked As we are getting ready for Week 3 NFL fans around the country are having a huge mix bag of feelings. If you are in New England it is a calm sense of panic. I don’t think you can’t panic after Jimmy Garoppolo went down with a sprained AC Joint in this right shoulder. I personally know how uncomfortable the injury is—having the same injury in my left shoulder during swim season early in the year. Garoppolo says that he can’t move his right shoulder due to the injury and the Patriots camp want Garoppolo to play through the injury because Brady has played through the injury on multiple occasions. This move is not like the New England Patriots and shows that even the team in New England is human and panic with a rookie quarterback with four days to prepare for a stout defense. Julian Edelman has taken snaps under center this week which is not that surprising due to the fact that Edelman played quarterback in college. It will be interest...

Week 3 Picks Week 3 Well, well, well I might as well be the Dallas Cowboys because I am now after two weeks picking against the spread I am 16-16. The New Orleans saved my record of mediocrity. Here are the week 3 picks, and I hope I can do better than .500. I am happy that I am not worse but it is not a comforting feeling being dead even.   Sources:(nfl.com, footballlocks.com) Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!

Fresh Start_30: AL Roy As the season is winding down and playoff races are coming into form it is an interesting race for something other than the playoffs, that is the AL Rookie of the Year. The top candidate is Detroit Tigers right-hander Michael Fulmer who is 10-7 with a 3.03 ERA in 148.2 innings in 24 starts. Fulmer is the key to the Yoenis Cèspedes trade to the Mets. Fulmer is one of the bright spots on a team fighting for their playoff lives right now. He is out of all the candidates had the best season. Next up on the list is Cleveland Indians outfielder Tyler Naquin; in 107 games Naquin is batting .300 with 14 homers, 42 RBI’s, 5 stolen bases, and a .907 OPS. Naquin was a top prospect of the Cleveland organization and is helping the “Windians” grab a division title. Naquin as good as he is right now probably has the most room for improvement for any prospect in this rookie class. Then is the talk of baseball, at least in the AL, Gary Sanchez. Sanchez busted on the scene on A...

Very late game balls *I want to apologize for not getting these game balls out on Friday and Monday morning respectably. School work comes first and I have been very busy as of late. But, I think you can tell due to the fact that I am getting this out to you late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning. I will do my best to get the game balls out for their respective games the following morning the best I can but this is a disclaimer if it doesn’t happen in the weeks coming up.* The Thursday game ball is going to Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitz threw for three hundred sixty- four yards and one touchdown in a dominating offensive performance in Orchard Park last Thursday. This was Fitzpatrick’s first win over a Rex Ryan led team or defense in his last eight starts now improving to 2-8 against Rex. This is a game the Jets desperately needed as falling to 0-2 would not be good in a close division, on top of the fact that the Jets would have given life to a dead Buffalo Bills ...

Fresh Start_29: USC to Seattle After a horrible 9-3 loss in Los Angeles on Sunday and a fine from the NFL resulting in losing a fifth round draft pick in the upcoming draft on top of a $400,000 fine from the NFL regarding non-contract drills during the offseason. Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks have to reevaluate themselves in the middle of an NFL season. This coming off a week where the entire team didn’t score an offensive touchdown and in week one waiting until the last drive to seal the deal. Now the team does have injuries: Thomas Rawles got injured in the first half of the Rams game with a lower leg injury, Tyler Lockett suffered a knee injury on the final drive against the Rams, and Russell Wilson doesn’t seem to be fully healed from his ankle injury that he had in Week 1 against the Dolphins. The defense has held up, not giving up a touchdown yet this season through two weeks, but the offense needs to be looked at. This is an offense that last year had serious strug...

NY 500 #5 Well it was a roller coaster of weekend for New York Sports fans. Let’s start off in Buffalo where the New York Jets had an offensive explosion and looked like one of the league’s offenses and the defense took a step back. Eric Decker, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Quincy Enunwa, and Matt Fortè looked nothing short of amazing. This Jets team is looking really good and could quite possibly pull off a great road win in Kansas City next week. In Metlife Stadium on Sunday the New York Football Giants narrowly escaped the New Orleans Saints yesterday. The game was not played well at all on either side of the ball for both teams. If I was a Giant fan I would be concerned about the offense and the defense looks confused at times. Olivier Vernon has not shown up yet to play having only one assisted tackle yesterday and four total tackles last week in Dallas. I am not panicking over five tackles in two weeks, but the offensive lines on the Cowboys and New Orleans Saints have just manhandled Ve...

Fresh Start_28: Personal Plug What a lot of people don’t know about me is that I have a sports podcast on Youtube called the Play by Play Podcast. The Podcast is at 1PM EST every Friday. We have other videos periodically talking about burning questions, college football and basketball. I also have another channel with my partner on Play by Play, called Play by Play Plays. That channel is a just a channel with random videos that include politics, movie reviews and comedy. That channel will allow my friend Nick and I to be ourselves more. Sports is a huge part of both of our lives but so is comedy. Both of the channels have cursing in the videos and as I have said before on this blog. Just like this blog, I hope to have my own radio show in the same format that I have my podcast. Even though I am doing this blog, I love doing the podcast just as much. I love writing and voicing my opinion to the public. So I would greatly appreciate it if everyone would subscribe to the Play by Play ...

Fresh Start_27: The Year of the curse? With the Chicago Cubs clinching the NL Central division on Friday, they have their best chance to break the 114-year curse of not winning a World Series. This ball club is one of the best ever assembled. This team has similarities to the 2007 New England Patriots that lost the Superbowl. What the Patriots and this Cub team have in common is that there is not an aspect of the game that the team doesn’t excel at. With the trade to acquire Aroldis Chapman the Cubs locked up the division due to the fact that they were already winning games at an all-time pace. The stage is set for Chicago to make history and make the entire North side of Chicago cloud nine. Everyone predicted this team to do incredible things, but nobody expected the Chapman trade the unbelievable run that the Cubs have been on. Cub fans around the country have to be cautiously optimistic because the cubbies have been in a similar place before and nothing is set in stone yet. But...

Fresh Start_26: Another Elway? After watching another great day of college football and texting a few friends back and forth about the 2017 NFL Draft I got to thinking about something Colin Cowherd said on his radio show a few months back. Cowherd said if he was Clemson Quarterback DeShawn Watson, he would not go to the Cleveland Browns assuming the Browns receive the number one overall pick. This was also done by John Elway famously in the 1983 draft were he refused to go to Baltimore if the Colts drafted him. Cowherd warns Watson and even urges him to do the same. In this sound bite Cowherd compares Watson to Carolina Panthers Quarterback Cam Newton. This isn’t the first comparison between the two, but it sure is interesting. Thinking to myself I agree with Cowherd about this issue with Watson. Assuming Watson doesn’t become a JaMarcus Russel type player, you are looking at an MVP candidate a few years down the line. Also if you look at the Cleveland Browns current state so far ...

Honest Recap #2: Explosion in Buffalo “It never is easy” said my grandmother said just mere seconds after the final whistle blew in Buffalo last night. And if I’m staying true to the title of this column; my grandmother is nothing but 100% right about the Jets. In a high scoring, fantasy football busting, football game; the Jets always seem to make every game an emotional roller coaster which drives there fans up a wall each and every second of the game. Ryan Fitzpatrick finished with 374 yards going 24/34 and one score, but in the first quarter fumbled the ball once (almost twice) which would have completely changed the game. Brandon Marshall gave all the Jets fans a heart attack when he got pulled down on a facemask by Ronald Darby in the second quarter. Marshall’s knee buckled and looked like a season ending injury that turned into just a mini scare. Matt Fortè has just cashed in his entire contract last night in Buffalo. The offense was rolling on all cylinders last night and it...

Fresh Start_25: Dead Draft picks If you have watched the NBA in recent years, you will have seen the drafting of Ricky Rubio and Jahil Okafor, and Joel Embiid. Rubio was playing overseas while he wasn’t playing in the NBA. Okafor and Embiid were injured before playing. Okafor finally started his career last year along with Nerlens Noel. The burning question is “are the Philadelphia 76’ers ready for Embiid?” Is there enough room on the floor for three big men, and in a high flying, fast break thrived league, is the league ready to change to a game with three centers and Ben Simmons. Another question is if you are going to trade one of them, and who? The ‘76ers organization as a whole has enormous pressure following the number one pick of Ben Simmons this past June. The pressures aside the NBA in my opinion has a major problem with drafted players not playing in the NBA following the draft pick. Even with the injury to Embiid, I believe if the player doesn’t play any games under hi...

Fresh Start_24: The best of the generation? While watching the Yankee Game yesterday I happened see one of my favorite pitchers that I don’t normally get to see. That man is Clayton Kershaw, and since he is on the dodgers when the games are started I’m getting ready for bed on the east coast and plus I don’t have a MLB Atbat premium account so I can’t watch Kershaw pitch even if it isn’t ten o’clock at night. I wish the expendable funds for that but being a college student, I only have a certain amount. I love watching Kershaw whenever I can. I honestly believe that Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher of my generation. No pitcher in any aspect of the game is better in this generation of baseball. Kershaw in nine years of pitching in the majors is 125-59. Kershaw also a 2.38 ERA in his career and that is not even close to any other pitcher in that time period. Kershaw has not fallen off the cliff ever in the regular season, and despite the back injury that he suffered back in June,...

Well Week 1 is over and I am officially 8-8 with the pick and that isn’t that bad, some tough losses but I would have collected money in Vegas. Also my lock of the week that I predicted my podcast on Friday. That podcast channel link is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNNY_cvgqIPpS8_PsuNCm8w Let’s see how I do this week here are my picks.  Make sure you go to sheet two for week two picks. Week 2 Sources:(nfl.com, footballlocks.com) Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!

Fresh Start_23: C.C. Sabackia Last night in the Bronx, the fans in attendance had the opportunity to witness time travel. C.C. Sabathia has shown me that he has figured out how to pitch with less velocity. He went six and a third innings, giving up three hits, and seven strikeouts. He looked unhittable at times and just straight up fooling dodger hitters. Throughout this year, C.C. has thrown the ball extremely for a thirty-six year old at the end of his career. This also coming off a season that ended by going into rehab for alcoholism. C.C. going in on his conscience and bettering himself as a man, husband, and father. He also seems to have gotten his head back and has bettered his pitching. Flashback to 2013 where Sabathia went 14-13 and looked lost out on the mound losing velocity each and every start. It looked like a guy that was just going into shambles. The next season he 3-4 in an injured season, and not really turning it around last season. This season was not only a nee...

Fresh Start_22: A Quick Thank You This column will be my two hundredth post on this blog and currently when I am writing this I have 5,051 page views and I could not be more appreciative for all of those. It is truly mind blowing that I would get one view, let alone over 5,000 and still growing. I didn’t know how long I would do this blog, or how many people would actually look at the columns that I would be putting out. I still can’t believe that people come back every day to read my content. I am so thankful for the people that do, and none of this would be possible without you. I’ve gotten job offers because of this blog, and that is mind blowing as well. Now, unfortunately I wasn’t able to take the job offer because of school and maintaining this blog, but I hope for more in the future. This blog has grown over the past two years and I expect great things to come in the future. I still to this day get an unmatchable excitement when I look how well an article is doing and I see...

Monday Night Game ball: Last night, the first week traditional two game Monday Night schedule. This time around it was the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road in Washington playing the Redskins, and then the Rams went up the highway to San Francisco against the 49er’s. Both of the games were not nail bitters in any sense of the word. Pittsburgh took the ropes very early on and never looked back. The 49’ers who are not the 49’ers of four/five years ago; they blanked the Los Angeles Rams in a late night dog of a game. So, in the lesser of two evils my first Monday Night Game ball with be handed out to Pittsburgh Steelers Linebacker Ryan Shazier. Shazier totaled five tackles, one interception, while also forcing a fumble. Shazier with his speed was the definition of being “all over the field.” Sources:(nfl.com) Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!