Guess Who's Back

It's been a busy few weeks since I last wrote......

My tenure at Syracuse officially ended on Saturday. During my graduation ceremony, I sat in a sea of black cardboard hats, trying my best to summon a few tears that were nowhere to be found, singing the chorus to Weezer's "We are all on Drugs" song off their new album. I packed up and moved out a few hours after the ceremony and I can confidently say that I will not be missing Syracuse any time soon.

After my tirade on the Yankees two weeks ago, my fellow teachers and I began spending our free time in the PE office, shooting darts at a picture of Kevin Brown and talking about all the free agent pitching mistakes they have made over the past few seasons (Lieber, Vazquez, El Dukue, Brown, Wright). Since then the Yankees have climbed above .500 with 9 wins in a row and Tino Martinez has re-established himself as the slugging, full-time 1st baseman for the Yanks. Hey Giambi, how do you like them apples? While life in Yankeeland has somewhat returned to normal, they only beat up on the A's and Mariners. The real tests will come when they play Baltimore, Boston, and Minnesota. However, I will admit that my rant came a little too early in the season. The World Series is not won in April and May. And the Yankees have a veteran team that knows how to win when it counts.

So now I'm back in Rochester and ready to take the softball world by storm. I played my first game of the season last night and hustled around the field as if I had something to prove. My fielding was solid and I finished 4-5 with 2 dingers. One of my homeruns hit the parking lot on the fly. I may have missed last week's game because I was finishing up things in Syracuse, but yesterday was my way of emphatically saying, "I"M BACK."

CLUTCH ATHLETES

There is no arguing with picking Jeter as the most clutch baseball player. HE has come up big time and time again. Walk-off World Series homeruns. Obviously the backhand flip in Oakland. World Series MVP in the Subway Series, including a lead-off homerun and a huge relay throw that beat Timo Perez in game 1. He has every quality that a coach would want from a star player. A-Rod may put up bigger numbers every year, but he would trade all those HR's and MVP's for one of Jeter's rings.

Mel, you broke my heart by picking Tom Brady. If the call stands, (and yes it was called a fumble on the field) Brady is just another no-name QB. In fact, maybe I'm writing Rich Gannon's name in this spot instead. Oh well, thats life as a Raider fan. Unfortunately, that year was our best chance to win and the victory was STOLEN from us. You can spew all the tuck-rule nonsense you want at me, but Brady fumbled that ball. Plain and Simple. He was going to throw it and then decided against it. Woodson knocks the ball free, Raiders recover, Super Bowl here we come. But wait, a grueling game, played in a blizzard, in sub-zero temperatures, is decided by an instant replay call. Bullshit. With that being said, my clutch football player is Adam Vinateri. I hate to admit it, but he has come up big every time his team has needed him. Two Super Bowl winners and the two kicks in the tuck-rule game. I can give him credit. Not Brady though. Never.

Hockey - Dominick Hasek
Hasek made his team a legitimate contender for almost a decade. The Sabres made the playoffs every single year with Hasek on the team (although that stat may be incorrect) and he usually carried the team on his back. They made a few runs deep into the playoffs and made the Finals one time. That hockey season was the best spring of my life. The playoffs streched throughout the final months of Junior year at Gates-Chili and we watched nearly every game in the garage. It is a time in my life I will never forget. Overtimes and chicken wings and nights in the garage. It's too bad we were robbed of our chance at a game 7, but that season is still very special to me. I must have saw 50 goals called back because of the crease rule that season. The rule was horrible, and it needed to be changed, but the rule was in place and Brett Hull's foot was in the damn crease. Needless to say, I'm still a little bitter about the whole thing. Back to Hasek. He made so many unbelievable saves that we all began to expect him to "stand on his head" as they say in hockey. If his number is not retired by the Sabres (that is assuming the NHL ever plays again) then I may have to string it up to the rafters myself.

Basketball. Sorry Mel, I have to pick a college player. One season will always stand out in my mind. The year SU won the championship and I was at Syracuse to watch it unfold, it was experience that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I watched the final game at the Dome and ran down to Marshall street when it was all over. It was an indescribable feeling that Orange fans may never get to feel again. BUT, we'll always have that year. Now, you may expect me to pick Carmelo as my clucth athelete, but you'd be wrong. G-MAC may be my favorite player and his first half performance in the championship game against Kansas goes down as one of the best of all-time, but he is not my choice either. If you'll remember, SU built a huge lead in the first half and Kansas, with a cast of NBA players on their team, began slicing into that lead. When Kansas cut it to 3 with only seconds to go, I envisioned an unhappy ending. We had come so far. We may never have this opportunity again. We had to win. The ball was inbounded to Michael Lee and he pulled up from the left corner and attempted to tie the game with a 3-pointer. All of a sudden, an arm came out of nowhere. An outstretched arm, reaching to the sky. The ball left Lee's hand with only seconds remaining and then, WHAM. Warrick blocks the ball. Orangeman Win. Orangeman win. Hakim Warrick's block will go down as the most clutch basketball play of my lifetime.