New York doing Wonders
It’s been an exciting week for 3 New York metro teams, the NY Yankees, NY Knicks, and the NY Rangers. The Yankees made a trade for Ichiro Suzuki, one of the best baseball-hitters of all time. Along with producing tons and tons of hits, Ichiro is also known for his coveted defensive skills. Ichiro tallied up 10 gold glove awards within his first 10 seasons. He has had 7 separate 20 game hitting streaks. This move will help the Yanks tremendously. Adding Ichiro (for basically nothing, two prospects that is) gives the Yanks a legitimate lead-off hitter, and a legitimate fill-in for Brett Gardner in the outfield. It is known that Ichiro has tremendous power in his throwing arm.
The New York Rangers, who’ve finally made a deep playoff run in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 1997 (when Wayne Gretzky was still here, and Mark Messier was still in his first stint with the Rangers. Yes it’s been that long, yikes.) had been struggling with scoring throughout last season. As mentioned, it came back to haunt them in the ECF against the New Jersey Devils, bowing out in 6 games. The physicality may have worn them out due to the fact that most of the games were close to a lack of scoring, forcing the Rangers to play much harder than usual. However, next season they shouldn’t have as many problems scoring by acquiring Rick Nash, a lethal scorer, from the Columbus Blue Jackets for only Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Asinimov, Tim Erixon and a 1st round pick. This is a steal for NY, as the only player given up with value is Dubinsky. Dubinsky’s known for his defense, but his scoring dipped from the 2010-11 season to the 2011-12 season.
The New York Knicks continue to add defenders with the latest addition being Ronnie Brewer. Brewer is a legitimate defender and is going to be a great fill-in until fan favorite and top 5 defender “Shump Shump” returns from his MCL injury in January. Brewer will be a perfect fit as he doesn’t really look to score the ball and will focus primarily on defense. This allows Carmelo and Amare to retain their scoring opportunities.
These 3 teams have now rebuilt into serious title contenders, particularly the Rangers and Yanks. NYR may once again finish with a #1 seed, and with an actual scoring punch pairing up with stingy goaltending and defense, this may be the year NYR returns to the Stanley Cup. The Yanks added a polished hitter to an already outstanding lineup. Him leading off will result in more scoring opportunities. As for the Knicks, I see them topping out as a #4 seed and potentially making a run at the conference finals (barring that they do not face Miami in Round 2). I am excited as I am a fan of these 3 teams. Go New York, Go!
Faith in humanity restored
As you may all know, on Thursday night during “The Dark Knight Rises” midnight screening, gunfire erupted inside a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. This massacre took away 12 young souls and injured 58 more, earning the title as one of the bloodiest massacres of all time in the United States. As there are still victims lying in the hospital recuperating from their injuries, a QB we all have come to love shows why we should give greater reason to appreciate him. In the aftermath of the shootings, newcomer Denver Broncos QB Peyton Manning has personally called victims of this horrific shooting to lighten their spirits up. This is a class act that most will not find in others and I’m glad it was Peyton who has done this. Peyton did not do this for the sole reason of attention, but did it because he has a very big heart. It’s athlete’s like him that we all come to appreciate. Too all athletes out there, this is what the perfect role model should be. Peyton is certainly living up to his name, being what a man should be. Peyton, you are a great man and because of this Faith in Humanity has once again been restored. Kudos to you, and all other athletes that care. This is why we love sports.
asianstalkingaboutsports
manningsofthehouse
Richard
Asians Talking About Sports 