Sports Then and Now

Marcos Baghdatis will look to continue his Australian Open magic.

It must be something about the Australian sun that helps Marcos Baghdatis to burst into bloom in the first month of the tennis year.

And here he is again, jumping up the rankings and jumping all over his opponents, in one of the most highly anticipated come-backs of the tournament.

It was in his first Slam appearance in Melbourne in 2005 that he set the crowd alight with five-set wins in both the first and second rounds, and a demolition of No. 13 seed Tommy Robredo in the third round, before finally losing to Roger Federer in the fourth.

When he came into the 2006 Australian Open, he was newly in the top 100 but still unseeded. Again he set pulses racing with his thrilling brand of tennis and sunny personality.

He took out world No. 20 Radek Stepanek, No. 8 Ivan Ljubicic, and No. 4 David Nalbandian, all in five sets.

He managed to dismiss No. 3 Andy Roddick, in four.

Once more, he fell to Federer, but this time it was in the final, having taken the first set. It propelled him to his highest world ranking of No. 8.

Although 2007 saw him lose relatively early to Gael Monfils, Baghdatis was back to his dramatic Aussie ways in 2008, when he battled through five sets to beat Marat Safin, only to fall in another epic five-setter against Lleyton Hewitt. Read the rest of this entry →

Sunday will be the biggest game between the Colts and Jets since Super Bowl III.

Okay, be honest. How many people had the New York Jets reaching the AFC Championship Game in their preseason predictions? Other than maybe ESPN’s resident Jets cheerleader Mike Greenberg, I seriously doubt there were many folks giving the Jets much of a chance.

The general consensus is that their improbable playoff run will end this weekend in Indianapolis, but the more I look at this Jets team the more I think they might have karma on their side.

First off, can you pick a more appropriate opponent for the underdog Jets to beat and earn their first Super Bowl trip in 41 years?

When the Jets beat the Big, Bad Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III it forever changed the game of professional football.

A win by the current Jets over the Indianapolis Colts wouldn’t have quite the impact to the history of the sport, but it would certainly make the short-list of all-time playoff upsets.

That game represented the changing of the guard with young and boastful Joe Namath taking the reins from aging veteran Johnny Unitas.

In the quarterback battle of 2010, Jets youngster Mark Sanchez is not as loud and glamorous as Namath, but he has the same kind of dark good looks that made Namath a star. Sanchez has yet to display the same kind of passing ability as Namath, who was the first quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season, but he has made a great start and has time on his side. Read the rest of this entry →

Zephyr's Strength and Conditioning Coach, Gary McCoy talks about the Road to the Show

“Some of these guys are going to make it. Most won’t. But they all share a dream and passion for the game of baseball. Nobody tells their compelling stories of hard work, determination and sense of tradition better than the players themselves.”

That sums up the story of “The Road to the Show” the much awaited project of co-creator and producer, Larry Richards. “The Road to the Show” tells the real life stories of players as they fight their way through baseball’s minor leagues in hopes of getting their day in the sun as full-fledged Major Leaguers.

Richards, a graduate of Syracuse University, has been working on the “original baseball docuality” for better than two years and continues to work tirelessly to get it into the hands of those who will make his personal baseball dream a reality, as well.

As Richard’s states on the show’s web-site, “Somewhere in the minor leagues is the next legend”. Read the rest of this entry →

In 2010 28 of the 30 MLB teams will be playing on natural grass.

There’s a famous quote from one of my all time favorite baseball players, Tug McGraw, that goes something like this:

REPORTER:  Tug, Which do you prefer: Grass or AstroTurf?

TUG:  I’ve never smoked AstroTurf…

You have to love the Tugger!

Since its hay day back in the 70’s, artificial turf has been prevalent in professional sports, particularly in baseball.  It’s first appearance in the Houston Astrodome in 1965, and plastic grass has been the bane of baseball purists everywhere from just about day one.

The Astrodome was the world’s first domed sports stadium and, as luck would have it, grass doesn’t grow in the shade.   While the name “AstroTurf” is a trademarked product, the phrase gets used to cover just about all of the nasty dangerous stuff that players have been ravaging their bodies on for decades. There’s the painful “Turf Toe,” which is essentially a type of tendonitis common for athletes playing on artificial surfaces.  Earlier versions used rubber based under-matting that could leach chemicals in to the water table.  The stuff also had the pleasant distinction of needed to be disinfected at regular intervals to prevent mold and smell. Read the rest of this entry →

After 33 years, the final games have been played at the Meadowlands.

Some called it Giants Stadium.

And some (namely, Jets fans) called it the Meadowlands.

Come April, you can call it rubble.

The former home of the Jets and Giants (and Generals and Knights and Hit Men and Red Bulls, too), a concrete monolith in an asphalt jungle, and a beacon to New Yorkers and New Jerseyans traveling State Routes 3 and 120 and the New Jersey Turnpike, is slated to be torn down the spring (but is living long enough to see this year’s impressive, improbable Jets playoff run). The Jets and Giants will remain New Yorkers as New Jersey tenants when Meadowlands Stadium opens just next door in East Rutherford.

Opening in 1976, it was the first “major league” venue built in the state of New Jersey, and the last of a wave of “multi-purpose stadiums” erected in the era that included Three Rivers Stadium, Veterans Stadium, Riverfront Stadium and Busch Stadium. Appropriately, it is the last of that group to remain as it awaits the wrecking ball. (And when they dig it up, there’s been no confirmation that they’ll look for Jimmy Hoffa.)

When the Jets moved from Shea Stadium and across the Hudson River into New Jersey after failing to negotiate a new lease, the Meadowlands, thanks to hosting two teams for over 25 years, passed Wrigley Field in 2003 for the most NFL games hosted. Read the rest of this entry →

There is no shortage of money being spent on baseball salaries, but which teams are getting the most bang for their bucks?

Given that they spent half a billion dollars more than any other team over the last decade, it should come as no surprise that the New York Yankees top the list of Major League Baseball teams when it comes to cost per victory. However, in an interesting article posted on SportsIllustrated.com, Tom Verducci contends that the Yankees got much more bang for their buck than some teams that spent less money during the decade.

Just looking at the raw numbers, the Yankees top the sport by spending $174,600 for each of their league-best 965 victories. The New York Mets ($133,300), Boston Red Sox ($127,000), Los Angeles Dodgers ($116,200) and Chicago Cubs ($112,400) round out the list of the top five teams in spending per victory.

Not surprisingly, the Yankees and Red Sox are the only two teams to claim multiple World Series titles in the decades. However, using a formula that weighs playoff success and then compares it with total payroll to illustrate efficiency and inefficiency, Verducci suggests that the Florida Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals got the most for their money over the past decade.

But, Verducci also points out the flaw in his system when considering the comprehensive success of those teams during the decade.

The Cardinals spent $843 million (eighth highest in baseball) while winning 913 games (third in MLB). They also reached the playoffs eight times, appeared in two World Series and claimed the World Series title in 2006.

While the Marlins equaled the Cardinals with one World Series title (2003 over the Yankees), their rise to the top of the efficiency scale is tied primarily to annual place at the bottom of the league when it comes to team payroll. The Marlins spent only $349 million during the decade, which is $50 million less than the other team in Florida, the Tampa Bay Rays. The 2003 championship was the only playoff appearance for the Marlins and they finished within five games of making the playoffs only one other time in the decade. Read the rest of this entry →