In all the criticism directed at Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez over the past few months - most of it well earned, some of it from me - nobody has ever questioned his basketball acumen.

The guy can coach. We knew that before he came to South Orange, the way his pesky Manhattan teams had played in the postseason. We saw it last season, when the Pirates upset a tournament-bound Louisville team. And now, we see it again in Puerto Rico, where the undermanned Pirates gutted out a victory over No. 20 Southern Cal.

Continue reading "Politi: Nobody ever said Bobby Gonzalez couldn't coach" »

Admit it. You thought you had seen the last of these two old quarterbacks, hadn't you?

Oh, you might have envisioned them wearing a suit in a broadcast booth somewhere, but the only thing they'd be passing is the tapioca pudding at the Shady Acres Retirement Village.

Kurt Warner was a fumble-prone shell of a former MVP, one who had been replaced twice, in two cities, by high-profile first-round draft picks. He was washed up and wiped out, ending a great career as a place-holder for Matt Leinart in Arizona.

Kerry Collins was a cement-footed dinosaur who missed his one chance to win a Super Bowl, one who seemed resigned to finishing his career holding a clipboard. He was as irrelevant as a quarterback could be, backing up a rising star in Vince Young for Tennessee.

Continue reading "Collins, Warner both in top form after getting boot from Giants" »

He was still running when the Giants' latest conquest had ended, only this time, Brandon Jacobs was running his mouth. And nobody could stop him from doing that, either.

"Who can't run the ball?" he yelled to the few remaining fans at Giants Stadium as he jogged up the tunnel. "Who can't run the ball?!"

Not you.

Not your team.

"You write about that!" he barked to a group of reporters gathered near the locker room. A team official was pulling on his arm, trying to drag him to a TV interview, but Jacobs was still moving in the other direction.

Continue reading "New York Giants prove they can run the ball in victory over Ravens" »

Giants vs. Ravens wrap-up

TAMPA, Fla. -- Rutgers emptied the playbook at times against South Florida, with 325-pound tackle Anthony Davis lining up as a fullback and quarterback Mike Teel catching his first career pass.

The tricks received mixed reviews, but ultimately, they were unnecessary. Rutgers returned to the smash-mouth running game that had carried this team to most of its victories over the past few years, and it was freshman running back Joe Martinek leading the way.

Martinek finished with a career-high 98 yards on 21 carries, including two touchdown runs, in the 49-16 victory over South Florida. His best performance was a nifty 19th anniversary gift for his parents, who turned the trip to Tampa into an extended celebration.

Continue reading "Martinek rushes for career-high 98 yards in Rutgers' 49-16 victory over South Florida" »

TAMPA, Fla. -- The question had to pop in the mind of every Rutgers fan Saturday during this 49-16 butt-whooping of South Florida: Where the heck was that team all season?

The big plays on offense. The six turnovers on defense. The pounding running attack. The utter domination of a conference rival, on the road, for a fourth straight victory.

Here is some free advice before they pull all their hair out: Let it go. Yes, if the Scarlet Knights complete this turnaround with two more victories and end up in another bowl game, there will always be the "what if?" about the 2008 season, especially with the Big East up for grabs.

Continue reading "Rutgers' season not perfect, but looking good" »

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- He looked like the coolest person on earth when it ended, like Frank Sinatra strolling on stage in Vegas.

Everyone else? We were trying to figure out how the Jets had survived what was nearly an epic, season-ruining choke. We were still running on the adrenaline from this amazing 34-31 overtime victory over the Patriots, one that left this team all alone in first place.

We were a sweaty, sloppy mess.

Not Brett Favre. He slipped on a thin leather jacket, flipped up the collar, and draped a striped scarf around his neck. "Like my outfit?" he asked a couple of reporters. "My wife picked it out."

Continue reading "Favre returned to do it his way, just like that" »

Eric Mangini does not believe in statement games. His players do. His fans certainly do. The media? We love them so much, we have about a dozen different names for them.

A showdown. A defining moment. A must win. Or, if you prefer simplicity, a big game. Even Mangini has to acknowledge this trip to New England at least counts as a big game, right?

"I don't think one game ever defines a season," the Jets resident party pooper said Tuesday. "It's the consistency, regardless of (it being a) a division game, a non-division game, or what the opponent's record is. That consistency to me defines a team."

Continue reading "It's time for New York Jets to send a message, Politi says" »

PHILADELPHIA -- The grump of a head coach has had his share of sideline theatrics with the Giants, but this was a first. Tom Coughlin heard the good news from the referee that his game-changing challenge was a success, then turned back to his team and did a little dance.

All right, so this move wouldn't earn him a spot next season on "Dancing with the Stars." It was short and sweet, but still so utterly uncharacteristic. Coughlin is a fighter, not a dancer, but the coach is on such a hot streak now, who could blame him for doing a little jig?

His team is 8-1 after this 36-31 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday night, boasting a comfy two-game lead in the NFC East. His decision to throw the red challenge flag on a too-close-for-the-naked-eye play in the third quarter changed this game's outcome.

Continue reading "Coughlin's challenge means happy feet" »

The first time the NFL put its most fearsome foursome of teams together 40 years ago, the league called it the "Capitol Division." Not exactly a formidable name for the meanest division in football, was it?

The league was trying to be cute back then, giving each of its four divisions a name that began with a "C" and was seven letters long. The experiment was such a rousing success, the Giants were pulled out the following year in 1969 and replaced with New Orleans.

Just imagine if that combination had stuck: Dallas, Washington, Philadelphia ... and the Saints.

"That was probably done for travel purposes," Giants CEO John Mara said last week with a laugh. "But we always felt very, very strongly about being in the same division with Dallas, Washington and Philadelphia because the rivalries we had with those three teams were so strong."

Continue reading "Rivalries built on intense dislike fuel NFC East, as Giants and Eagles know" »

One of the most improbable stories in Super Bowl history might have reached its end Wednesday.

Or, maybe, that story will get even better.

That's up to David Tyree -- again. He was counted out before, of course, the troubled kid who was wasting his talents on drugs and alcohol, the special-teams player who would never make an impact on offense.

Then, he made The Catch, fastening that ridiculous heave from Eli Manning onto his helmet for all of eternity. He could never play another down in the NFL, never even step on a practice field, but nobody can take that moment away from him.

Continue reading "Tyree on injured reserve, but Super hero won't quit" »

The Devils have a new starting goaltender for the first time in 15 years, which is major news in the NHL that no doubt barely created a ripple on the streets surrounding the team's new arena.

Even in their second season in downtown Newark, the Devils sometimes feel like they were dropped in from another planet. Would it be any different if residents found out that new goalie was black?

Would that matter?

Continue reading "Weekes can be an ambassador for the Devils, too" »

The stadium was nearly empty and the visiting team was wishing for the mercy rule, but the maniac in the headset was still charging up and down the Giants sideline, barking one specific order.

"Win it the right way!" Steve Spagnuolo kept yelling at his defensive players in the fourth quarter. The 35-14 laugher against the Cowboys was not enough. The four sacks, the three interceptions, the two humiliated Dallas quarterbacks, none of it was enough for Spagnuolo.

He would have blitzed Troy Aikman right out of the Fox broadcast booth if he could have. The Cowboys called "uncle!" early in what was supposed to be a matchup between Super Bowl contenders, but Spagnuolo just attacks, then attacks some more, then the game ends.

Continue reading "Spagnuolo not letting up on opponents -- or his players" »

Crystal Uqdah came to a high school football game in Newark yesterday afternoon, and the only protection she needed was an afghan blanket that her grandmother knitted.

"It is freezing out here!" she said as she leaned against a fence at Untermann Field -- one of the few spectators remaining after the politicians had come and gone, along with the television cameras and even the Central High marching band.

The home team was about to lose 48-0, and the dozen or so parents and diehards who stayed until the end were left to wonder: What was all the fuss about?

Roselle comes to Newark for football

Continue reading "Despite all the attention, it was football as usual" »

Al-Tarik White gathered his players from the Weequahic High football team Tuesday and gave them a choice.

Parsippany, the next opponent on their schedule, was the latest suburban school too scared to travel into their city, too frightened to show support for a rival during a tough time. Weequahic could accept a forfeit, White told his players, or they could give up their home game.

"They were upset," White said, "but they told me, 'Coach, we want to play the game.'"

So those Weequahic players will board a bus and make the 22-mile trip to Parsippany Thursday, all because officials in that Morris County town have let the recent shootings in Newark make them forget about their long relationship with their inner-city rivals, just like their counterparts in Scotch Plains and Cranford did days earlier.

Continue reading "Suburban schools' fear of playing in Newark sends the wrong message" »

(This column appears in the Monday Oct. 27 editions of The Star-Ledger.)

PITTSBURGH -- This time, at least he actually showed up for work. Maybe we should count that as progress in the warped world of Plaxico Burress, where cursing at his head coach and missing meetings are as much a part of life as brushing his teeth and eating his Cheerios.

Burress said he had no idea he was supposed to show up for treatment on Saturday morning before the team left for this defining road trip, which is like the old dog-ate-my-homework excuse. He was benched for the first quarter, then looked so lost on one play the Giants had to burn a timeout to set him straight.

It's always something with Burress, and eventually, all of it will add up to his departure from this team that doesn't need the headache any more. That won't happen anytime soon, but it will, just like it did with perennially unhappy tight end Jeremy Shockey.

You think you're sick of hearing about this guy? Imagine how the Giants feel right now.

Continue reading "Burress more trouble than he's worth" »

(NOTE: This column appears in the Sunday Oct. 26 editions of The Star-Ledger.)

PITTSBURGH -- So is it too late to start the Mike Teel for the Heisman campaign? Or, even better, to get a Teel-Britt ticket on the ballot before the polls open next Tuesday?

Probably too late for all that, but certainly not for this: When the Rutgers quarterback runs onto the field in two weeks for his next home game, the 42,000 fans should stand and give him the loudest ovation of the season.

Teel deserves that much after this whodathunkit, 54-34 victory over No. 17 Pittsburgh. The fans who booed him again and again during the victory last Saturday against Connecticut can offer their apology with cheers -- and maybe, if the kid is feeling generous, he'll even accept.

Continue reading "Teel shows his critics a thing or two" »

Good news: It isn't raining in Pittsburgh - yet. Give it time. I have no facts to support this, but personal experience with trips to Pittsburgh suggests that some form of precipitation (usually hail) falls 97.4 percent of the days here. But again, that's just my personal estimate.

Not that I'm complaining about Pittsburgh. It really is an underrated city. Clean downtown, good restaurants, lively bar area - it has just about everything you'd want on a college road trip, minus the college town. Which got me thinking: What is the best road trip in the Big East?

It really is a tough question to answer. There are few obvious college towns like Austin or Ann Arbor, no bucolic campuses like Stanford or - my all time favorite - Virginia. The Big East really isn't the kind of league where you pack up an RV and drive to a stadium to spend the weekend.

Still, with nothing but time to kill between now and kickoff for Rutgers-Pittsburgh, here are my official rankings (football and basketball included):

Continue reading "Ranking the Big East, one road trip at a time" »