“Diamond J’s Sports Time Capsule”… by Jordan Stankovich, Class of 2009.

This sums Cespedes in NY.

August 3, 2020. 

By Jordan Stankovich, Class of 2009.

This sums Cespedes in NY. What a creep. He’s opting out because of the virus and I respect that.

But to pack his bags and run away especially in 2020 with all the technology there is 0 excuse for that.

With the exception of 8 games this year 15 strikeouts in 31 at-bats just 2 homers he always played well as a Met (let alone in 2015 offensively carried the team to the NL East Crown) but he would never step on the field.

The ranch incident was deplorable and this one takes the cake. He should wear glasses, a beanie and striped white and redshirt.

Instead of where’s Waldo?     Where’s Cespedes?

Will Eli Manning be a Hall of Famer?

March 7, 2020.  By Jordan Stankovich, Class of 2009.

The fact that people are asking will Eli Manning be a Hall of Famer makes no sense how it is even a topic for debate. We all know he had an inconsistent career and threw numerous interceptions. But the Postseason is where legacies are defined most prevalent in the NFL.

I don’t know many Quarterbacks with two Super Bowls that are not members of Canton. Except for Jim Plunkett. Jim had two Super Bowl victories with the Raiders though he was never voted to a pro bowl, his career completion percentage was 52.5%, and half of his career he was a backup Quarterback.

Joe Namath threw more interceptions than Touchdowns and had more losses than wins. In his thirteen year career Joe only had four or maximum of five stellar seasons. If he didn’t win Super Bowl III he would not be a member of Canton. You can say the same for Len Dawson and Ken Stabler. Even Terry Bradshaw. Take away his four rings not sure if he’d be in the Hall.

Everyone forgets Bradshaw had the best defense of all time notoriously known as The Steel Curtain, a great Running Back in Franco Harris, and one of the best Wide Receiver duos of all time with the combination of Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. Let’s remember Eli had at best mediocre and some slightly above average Wide Receivers and Running Backs. Amani Toomer, Plaxico Burress, Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw were the best in the Super Bowl seasons but their stats don’t jump out at you. To add to the lack of top notch offensive weapons superstar Tight End Jeremy Shockey broke his leg in December 2007 and all four playoffs victories were without the flamboyant Tight End out of University of Miami.

The best receiver in Eli’s career was number thirteen, the knucklehead that would drop passes and complain about it. Post the Super Bowl teams he was on despicable clubs with a deplorable offensive line. That’s why there was a lack of success in recent years. Look up the stats they don’t lie.

Manning was a victim of dropped passes his whole career as well. Seventh all time in passing yards and Touchdowns and look at the immortal names he’s passed or is sandwiched between. Once again thank you for everything Eli and haters are always gonna hate.

What has gone wrong with the New York teams this millennium?

January 18, 2020.  By Jordan Stankovich, Class of 2009.

Since the year 2000, the local teams have won just six world championships — two from the Yankees, two from the Giants, and two from the Devils. Boston has put the Big Apple to shame. In Beantown, they’ve won twelve championships since 2004. And, don’t forget we have nine teams, they have four.  To make it more appalling the Yankees and Red Sox seem to have reversed roles since the spell was broken but that’s another story for another time.

Younger New Yorkers may not realize it hasn’t always been this way. Being a New York sports fan used to feel like being a winner all the time. Starting in the mid-20th century, it was hard to find a year where a championship banner didn’t hang in our city.  And it all started on the diamond. The Yankees were World Series champs in 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, and 1958. Even when they went without rings in that decade, “we” still won. The Dodgers, playing in Brooklyn, became “Bums No More” in 1955. And baseball’s New York Giants won it all in 1954 when Willie Mays made the immortal catch deep in the never-ending centerfield of the Polo Grounds, stayed on his feet like a quarterback, and threw a missile to second base. In the city’s “Golden Age of Baseball”, 1949-1964, a New York team was in the World Series every year except 1959 – when a Dodgers organization hailing from Brooklyn moved west to Los Angeles … thanks for that Robert Moses and Walter O’Malley.

The football Giants hoisted a trophy of their own. Overwhelming the Monsters of the Midway in the 1956 NFL Championship Game 47-7 at Yankee Stadium, the House That Ruth Built being the home of champions in 1956.

The winning accelerated in the sixties. The Bronx Bombers winning back to back 1961 and 1962 with the M&M Boys. In 1969 (the same year as the first man on the moon and Woodstock) the Miracle Mets shocked the world defeating Earl Weaver’s Orioles, most definitely one of the greatest teams of all time to not win a World Series. Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Boog Powell, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, and Jim Palmer were overmatched by some kids called Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Gary Gentry. You might have heard of those guys … just maybe.

New York stunned Baltimore twice that year. Broadway Joe guaranteed victory in Super Bowl III and the Jets beat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. (though it really was Matt Snell who should have won MVP honors). No one took the AFL seriously prior to the Jets victory and subsequently led to the AFL-NFL merger.

In the seventies, the Knicks reached the pinnacle of the basketball world. The 1970 NBA Finals featured Willis Reed limp onto the court for a game 7 match-up against Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and the Lakers and every human being in Madison Square Garden knew the Knicks were going to win. Then the Knickerbockers beat the Lakers again in 1973. Two more basketball crowns followed in 1974 and 1976 when the New York Nets young dunk master called Doctor J earned ABA Championship banners to be hung from the rafters of the Nassau Coliseum. The “Bronx Zoo” version of the Yankees beat the LA Dodgers consecutively in 1977 and 1978.

An expansion NHL team called the Islanders really filled those Coliseum rafters winning four consecutive Stanley Cups in 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1983.  The Rangers ended fifty-four years of suffering by winning 1994 Stanley Cup Finals (one of the biggest deals in NY sports history), the Devils gained the Cup the following year and “our area” stayed on top. 1986 was another calendar year where there was more than one champion in the city. “The Bad Guys Won” Mets of 1986.  Phil Simms was sensational in the Rose Bowl as the Giants won their first of four Super Bowls in 1986 and counterparting the feat in 1990 (Wide Right.) The Joe Torre dynasty capped off the 20th century with three more World Series trophies (1996, 1998, 1999). The dynasty stretched briefly into this Millennium with a Subway Series that capped off MLB’s first 3 peat since the 1972-1974 Oakland A’s. The Bombers closed out the decade as winners in 2009. Another miracle happened in 2007 when the Giants known as “Road Warriors” told the Patriots, “Talk is Cheap, Play the Game!”  And, of course, our lone championship of the last decade came when the Giants broke the Patriots hearts again and became the only nine win team to win a Super Bowl.

All those championships since the fifties too many to count and in the past twenty years only six World Champions with only three of the nine teams being victorious. New York deserves better.