If 2012 Wasn’t the Year to Get Americans Interested In Soccer...

Soccer Stories All Over the World

2012 was probably one of the greatest years soccer fans have seen in a long time. From England to Spain to even the United States, there were stories everywhere that could catch the eye of even the most indifferent of followers. It is obvious that the United States has not been a country of soccer fanatics like the majority of countries in the world, but if 2012 did not jump-start something in terms of getting Americans to pay more attention to soccer then I do not know what will. We saw the greatest day of a regular season in its history, the greatest player in the world cement his legacy, and one of the greatest soccer matches in history. All that and much more.

Replacement Refs: Why We Haven’t Reached the Breaking Point

Don’t Blame the Replacements

I understand that these replacement refs are not very good. They tend to be very intimidated by coaches, players, and home fans when making calls. The very best of them may have some Division I College Football reffing experience but those appear to be few and far between. The majority of them seem to be former high school, Division III, and/or Junior College refs, heck there’s even a former Lingerie Football League referee in the mix (yes, seriously). But these refs did not ask to be here. They were put here because of a bad situation. Can you blame them for taking the opportunity to ref in the NFL, regardless of whether or not they have the credentials to do so?

The Jeremy Lin Decision

Passing on Lin

I wanted to wait until it was official that the New York Knicks would not match the Houston Rocket’s offer and therefore pass on re-signing Jeremy Lin before I wrote an article about it, I don’t like counting my chickens before they hatch. For the first time since I can remember, the Knicks’ front office, and specifically I mean owner James Dolan, did not bend to marketing pressure and finally made a smart basketball decision. Yes, the Knicks technically have people employed at General Manager, Glen Grunwald, and Head Coach, Mike Woodson, but for a long time Dolan has called all of the shots, regardless of what everyone else has said, especially when it comes to bringing in

What’s Next For Penn State?

The Freeh Report

Now that the the investigation is over and Louis Freeh, former director of the FBI, has produced his report I would say now is about the time we as the general public can begin to judge how the situation at Penn State was handled and how it should be punished. The investigation found that some of the most powerful men at the university, President Graham Spanier, Senior Vice President of Finance and Business Gary Schultz, Athletic Director Tim Curley, and Head Football Coach Joe Paterno, knew about Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of young boys and they all decided to conceal it. Although it was always somewhat assumed that these men refused to report the actions of Sandusky, this report makes it official after a long, 8 month investigation that reviewed over 3.5 million

2012 NBA Draft Recap

New York Goes Overseas

In a pick I definitely did not see coming, the Knicks selected Kostas Papanikolaou out of Greece. Although I was hesitant at first, I grew to, more or less, like the pick. I can honestly say I have never heard of this player nor have I seen any video of him. However, Fran Fraschilla spoke very highly of him (although which international player does he not speak highly about? It seemed like every international pick during the draft was a “great” or “solid” pick). 

In addition, the Knicks are trying to win right now and in doing so are taking a page out of the San Antonio Spurs’ draft manual by aiming for a championship while also looking towards the future in developing young players overseas, as Papanikolaou is not expected to enter the NBA for a

New York is getting (L)insane

And So It Begins

I’m studying in Seville, Spain this semester and am currently sitting in a hostel in Madrid. I’m about 5,000 miles away and 6 hours ahead of New York and the Eastern Time Zone. But yet, Linsanity (much like Lin himself) knows no boundaries. I don’t want to sit here and run through his life story, as impressive as it is, because I’m sure everyone has heard all about it: Harvard grad, undrafted rookie, released by the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets in the same summer, Knicks last man off the bench. But just when things got desperate and Coach D’Antoni entered his “I’ll try anything” phase due to the continued poor execution of the Knicks offense and rain of boos and chants coming from the Garden crowd, in came Lin against the New Jersey Nets. And the rest, as they say, is history.