A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
Jets, Mets and Nets

1. Everybody including me expects the Jets to lose this week's wildcard matchup, which paradoxically gives me some (probably false) hope of an upset victory, since the Jets often do the opposite of what they are supposed to do.

The good news for the Jets is that defensive end John Abraham is ready to come back from a knee injury. The bad news is that Abraham is about to become a free agent, and probably will take the game off to make sure he doesn't reinjure his knee and jeopardize a big payday.

Today's New York Post quotes Abraham as saying: "I want to be out on the field, but also I have to be smart. I have a long career ahead of me and I can't go out there and hurt my knee again. Right now, I'm not planning on having surgery, so I don't want to run back out there too soon and get another injury to this knee and have to get surgery or something like that... I don't think they can make me go out there. I am not trying to say that in a bad way, but I don't think they can make someone go out and play."

Abraham's refusal to play is a strong indictment of Herm Edwards' leadership. According to Edwards, "The player always has to protect himself."

If Bill Parcells was still around, Abraham would be playing every snap, or would be verbally ripped apart so strongly that he would lose millions on the free agent market because teams would reasonably question his devotion to his team.

2. Carlos Beltran is not worth anywhere close to $17 million a year. He's a very good player who had a great run in the playoffs. I won't be upset if the Mets sign him, but expect him to return to Houston.

Vance Wilson had his best season last year, so the Mets traded him away today to Detroit for yet another mediocre infield prospect.

3. At 11-20, the Nets season is basically lost. They have no frontcourt and no defense, and in a best case scenario will make it to the first round of the playoffs.

One of the joys of being a Nets fan is watching them beat the Knicks at MSG. I was at Saturday night's game and enjoyed taunting the Knicks fans in section 421 as the Nets defeated New York. Back in the day of Anthony Mason and John Starks, that would have resulted in a strong response from the blue-seaters, but these days the seats in the 400s are green, and Knicks fans are as listless and boring as the players.

Fortunately, of course, the Knicks have the best point guard in the NBA. Stephon Marbury said so. Somehow I think that the Nets - who consistently lost with Marbury before trading him for Jason Kidd and winning two conference titles - and the Phoenix Suns, who traded Marbury last year and are now 28-4 - would disagree.
posted on 1/06/2005