The Afternoon After: Low frequency, high quality – NFL on radio a treat

Here are some reactions to this weekend’s football action, a little belated because of a rare vacation to the Jersey Shore, where I didn’t actually have Internet access. As such, I missed out on a lot of people complaining about the Mets’ inability to sign Jon Garland, of all people. It was bliss.

Black Sunshine

I’ve always been a radio guy, dating back to my high school days of calling the WFAN overnight shows, which actually provided a distinct preview of my sleeping habits later on. I later had the privilege of hosting my own sports and heavy-metal music shows – I was far better with sports given that I actually know very little about heavy-metal music.

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Point of interest: St. Ben’s tops St. Pat’s in battle of elite lead guards

Irving-Kabongo: Battle of titans I go to high school games to catch a glimpse of the future, to see future college and pro stars develop before my eyes. And with a matchup of two future stud point guards, I lucked into a special game on Saturday night.

The Dunn Center at Elizabeth High School was packed to the rafters to see St. Patrick (No. 3 in the nation) face off with St. Benedict’s (No. 10). Besides the elite coaches involved – Kevin Boyle and Danny Hurley, two guys who could find themselves in the college ranks before too long – the marquee matchup was at the point, where Duke-bound Kyrie Irving of St. Pat’s faced off with St. Benedict’s junior Myck Kabongo, who is heading to Texas.

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Something to believe in: Finding inspiration in rival fans’ celebration

A sea of green

New York City definitely isn’t the most comfortable place for a Dolphins fan these days, as I witnessed first-hand when I made a rare sojourn to Times Square to hit up Foot Locker today and found myself smack dab in the middle of a massive Jets playoff pep rally.

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The Afternoon After: Rex in effect – Jets proving smashmouth still works

Thomas Jones wins it for the Jets in a no-brainer call by Rex If there’s one thing Sunday’s games reminded me, it’s that I’m not a gambler. (Remember: I offer a disclaimer every week with this where I don’t actually claim to know anything about the game itself, I just like writing about it)

I missed – badly – on every single one of the games I picked, not just against the spread, but the results straight-up. I got caught up too much in the premise of the “hot team,” and forgot that some teams were just flat-out better, and those teams were playing at home.

The one road team to win was the Jets, in what was an upset to everyone but their coach. I have no love lost for the Jets personally as a Dolphins fan, but I respect the style they’re winning with in that they’re spitting in the face of the current football convention.

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Garden variety: Cheap-seats fans bide time as Knicks head for change

Note: These were not our seats I checked out the Knicks for the first time this season at the Garden on Friday night, and of course I looked up in the second quarter and they were down 53-26 to the Raptors.

Despite that, they’re not exactly the same old Knicks anymore. There’s a newfound underlying feeling of hope about the team now. They’re no longer permanently buried in salary cap hell. They’re no longer under the iron fist of franchise murderer Isiah Thomas. This might all be different at this time next season.

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The Afternoon Before: Momentum, not rest, clearly seems the key

I’ve transitioned “The Afternoon After” to “The Afternoon Before” – makes more sense at this stage. Here’s my look at this weekend’s games.

Revis Island is the place to be right now

You’d think teams would have begun learning from the recent trend in the NFL, which is that teams that play at a high level entering the playoffs continue to do so once January begins.

And yet, once again, lesser teams that finish the season strong appear poised to get the drop on teams that haven’t played meaningful football in a month. I mean, I’m no coach or anything, but how many times do we have to see it?

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Notes from St. Patrick: Gilchrist optimistic; Irving, Boyle pick up the slack

Gilchrist: In good spirits, focused on a return 

After watching Duke lose to Georgia Tech on Saturday, I felt like envisioning better times ahead, so I headed to Kean University to watch future Duke star Kyrie Irving and No. 1 nationally ranked St. Patrick vs. Westfield. It was also great to see Michael Gilchrist up and about after a scary knee injury on Tuesday. Here are my observations:

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