The Knicks Are The Basketball Version Of An Erectile-Dysfunction Ad

Despite being so old they meet every morning at McDonald's for discounted coffee, the 'Bockers are the NBA's only undefeated team.

The New York Knicks are the only undefeated team in the NBA (6-0). Who are these Knicks?
1) Carmelo Anthony, the league's most perenially unsuccessful All-Star;
2) J.R. Smith, a streak shooter who is the basketball equivalent of Russian Roulette;
3) Steve Novak, who, if he weren't 6'10", would remind you of your girlfriend's genial older brother, a bank manager in Ohio;
4) Fat Raymond Felton
and 5) a whole mess of old dudes.
The Knicks right now feature six rotation players — Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd, Pablo Prigioni, Rasheed Wallace, Marcus Camby, and Kurt Thomas — whose average age is 53. Which is remarkable considering none of them are actually older than 40; it's just that the Knicks are so old that they cripple conventional mathematics. (Those guys' average age in reality is 37. Which is still a lot.)
And yet, the Knicks have won five games and lost zero — one fewer than the Grizzlies and the Spurs; two fewer than the Nets and the Clippers; three fewer than Heat and the Thunder; and five fewer than the Lakers, a team that rosters both Ares the God of War and 19th-century abolitionist John Brown. In a twist anticipated by no one, the Knicks — the big-city team, the celebrity-fan glamor team — have become better than they've been in years by harnessing the power of middle-aged wisdom. As the Lakers' coaching carousel and Dwight Howard antics dominate the headlines, this is probably the quietest five-game Knicks winning streak in the last three years. (Can you imagine the pandemonium if they were doing this WITH Jeremy Lin? You don't have to: they did last year, and it consumed the world.) They are the spirit of an erectile-dysfunction ad channeled into a basketball team: laid-back, kind of goofy, and hard to take seriously — but always, in the end, effective.
Saddled with bad knees and full figures — Rasheed Wallace in particular entered training camp as though he'd been transported there by a Carnival Cruise — it seems incomprehensible that the team could keep pace with, for example, a Miami Heat squad made up mostly of players who appear to have been carved from Egyptian obelisks. Even Carmelo Anthony, who at 27 is one of the Knicks' sprightlier youngsters, looks physically smudged, like the artist who drew him had to leave before he could finish. And these guys SMOKED the Heat on opening night. It wasn't even close.
What these Knicks are is efficient. They can't run around all crazy like they used to, but hey, that's not going to stop them from getting the job done. They play defense, they take good shots and make them at a high rate, and they take care of the ball. Their turnover differential is best in the league at -7.6, meaning that they force 7.6 more turnovers a game than they surrender; second place are the Raptors and the Hawks, at -3.6. They have all the glamour of a couple in parallel bathtubs watching the sun set over wine country, and about as much appeal to a viewing audience that doesn't have an immediate need for their product. (Cialis users = Knicks fans.)
Will the Knicks keep up this pace? No! J.R. Smith will not continue to make 72% of his three-pointers, and Jason Kidd won't maintain a 22.8 PER. But is it reasonable to think that they could be a long-shot Finals contender? That, especially with the return of Iman Shumpert, they could continue to combine a top-five defense and a top-ten offense? That they could compete for the NBA championship, and that Carmelo Anthony could finish the season in the MVP discussion? It's possible, just like anything else in our age of miracles.

Credit : Buzzfeed

Sports : NBA - Chris Paul Trade hits a Road Block

The Los Angeles Lakers trade to obtain New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul for Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom has hit a snag, sources tell ESPN.com's Marc Stein.
Sources said that a group of NBA owners, assembled in New York for the ratification of the league's new labor pact with the players, protested vigorously that the league-owned Hornets were trading Paul to the star-studded Lakers and convinced NBA commissioner David Stern to intervene.
"The deal is off," one source told ESPN.com.

The Houston Rockets were the third team in the trade and would have obtained Gasol from the Hornets in return for Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic, and a 2012 first-round pick that Houston received from the New York Knicks, sources said.
Paul can opt out of his current contract with New Orleans after this season, and the Hornets have been fielding trade offers in an effort to acquire new players for the star guard rather than letting him walk in free agency.
Paul averaged 15.8 points and 9.8 assists last season.
The Rockets, who lost Yao Ming to retirement, coveted the 7-foot Gasol, while the Hornets didn't, a source told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher.
Furthermore, the Rockets have the rebuilding pieces Hornets general manager Dell Demps wanted in a trade for Paul -- namely, young talent such as Martin and the 2012 first-round draft pick, the source told Bucher.

Speaking earlier Thursday, Hornets president Hugh Weber said the franchise has been preparing for months for the possibility that Paul would resist signing an extension in New Orleans, a move that would all but force a trade."We've been preparing for this moment for over a year and it's not like we were surprised or caught flat-footed," Weber said. "This is not a surprise. This is not something where we've been sitting around waiting to see what would happen. We've been managing this and taking control of the situation as best we can and we're going to have a team that we believe achieves that objective of making this community proud."
While he never said publicly that he wanted to play in a larger market, he did say before last season that he wants to play for a team that has a chance to contend for a title right away -- something he should get if he joins Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

The Hornets have been owned by the NBA since last December, when the league bought the club from founder George Shinn.
Despite the lockout and uncertainty over Paul's future, fan support has been building in New Orleans, where the team has advertised their season-ticket drive as an effort to lure a permanent local buyer who is committed to keeping the team in Louisiana.
The Hornets have increased their season ticket base from a little more than 6,000 last season to just over 10,019 as of Thursday afternoon.
Owners and players ratified a new collective bargaining agreement Thursday, the final step to ending the five-month lockout and paving the way for training camps and free agency to open Friday.
There was hope in small markets like New Orleans that after the lockout it would be easier for teams to hold on to their biggest stars. However, that apparently is not the case.
If this deal is approved one of the NBA's biggest stars from the league-owned small-market Hornets will be moving to one of the NBA's largest, richest markets.
Paul was drafted by the Hornets fourth overall out of Wake Forest in 2005.

Sports : MLB - Albert Pujols agrees to a 10 Year Deal With The Angels

DALLAS -- Albert Pujols has agreed to a 10-year, $250 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney on Thursday.
The deal includes a full no-trade clause, which Pujols had been seeking and may have been a sticking point in his negotiations with the Miami Marlins.
Pujols had turned down an offer from the Cardinals, the only team he has ever played for, about a year ago, but St. Louis was still in the bidding as of Wednesday.

Sports : Boston Red Sox pitching trio Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey drank beer in dugout

Jon Lester (l.) John Lackey (c.) and Josh Beckett sweat it out during spring training. If they receive a Dos Equis endorsement deal, they would be 'the most interesting pitchers' in the world.

The Red Sox's tippling trio - Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey - drank beer in the Sox dugout during games, according to a report yesterday by a Boston television station. However, the three pitchers denied the report in a release late Tuesday night.
According to a report on WHDH-TV 7 News' website that cited Red Sox employees, the three pitchers - on nights they weren't starting - would leave the dugout as early as the sixth inning and go back to the clubhouse to pour themselves a cold one.
They'd return to the dugout and watch the game while drinking beer, the report said. The practice became more frequent later in the season, whether the team was winning or losing.
Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said in the team's statement Tuesday night:

"Tonight our organization has heard directly from Jon, Josh, John, and former manager Terry Francona. Each has assured us that the allegation that surfaced today ...is false, and we accept their statements as honest and factual."
One Sox employee said: "Beckett would come down the stairs from the dugout, walking through the corridor to the clubhouse and say, 'It's about that time.' Beckett was the instigator, but Lester and Lackey were right behind him. It was blatant and hard not to notice what was going on with all three guys leaving at once."
Lester was quoted Tuesday in multiple reports admitting the pitchers had an "occasional" beer in the clubhouse, calling them "ninth-inning rally beers."
But Lester disputed the idea that it fueled Boston's epic collapse down the stretch.
"There's a perception out there that we were up there getting hammered and that wasn't the case," Lester told the Boston Globe. "Was it a bad habit? Yes. I should have been on the bench more than I was. But we just played bad baseball as a team in September. We stunk. To be honest, we were doing the same things all season when we had the best record in baseball.
"We'd go in, get a beer, and go back on the bench. The accusation that we were up there sitting around and playing video games is obscene."

Sports : Manny Ramirez arrested in Florida

 Ramirez was booked into the jail shortly before 9 p.m. ET and was held overnight, sources said. Ramirez made his first court appearance Tuesday morning and was ordered to have no direct contact with his wife.

Broward Circuit Judge Jon Hurley set bail at $2,500, but it was not immediately clear when Ramirez would leave the Broward County Jail.
According to a police report obtained by the Associated Press, Ramirez and his wife were arguing in their bedroom when he slapped her face, causing her to hit her head on their bed's headboard. She told the deputy she was afraid the situation would escalate and called police.
Ramirez denied hitting his wife, according to the police report. Ramirez's wife had injuries consistent with her story, but did not want medical treatment.
A source confirmed to FOXSports.com that Ramirez lives in the home with Juliana and his sons Lucas and Manny Jr.

Ramirez, 39, retired from baseball earlier this year following a second positive test for performance-enhancing drugs. His use of banned substances, which came to light late in his career, has called into question achievements that would have otherwise resulted in election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Ramirez was the 2004 World Series MVP, made 12 All-Star teams, and hit 555 home runs in a 19-year career.

Sports : Delonte West has been traded to Home Depot?

Although he's made over $14 million in the NBA, Delonte West tweeted recently that he is "broke" and has applied for a job at Home Depot.

"It's official.. Pride 2 the side.. just filled out a application at Home Depot.. Lockout aint a game," the Celtics guard tweeted.
West is on probation for a weapons charge and also tweeted that he wasn't allowed to pursue basketball opportunities overseas.
"Can't even get that over seas money," he tweeted. "Judge said it's a no go on leaving the country."
West has battled bipolar disorder during his career and also posted this to Twitter: "Broke down in the ATM line.. 25 cars behind me and I already reached my daily limit... I'm broke n my cars broke.. Where's my therapist???"
Appearing in only 24 games this past season, the 27-year-old West averaged 5.6 points in his second stint with the Celtics.

Sports : Reggie Bush to Dolphins, Albert Haynesworth to Patriots

Reggie Bush’s tenure in New Orleans appears to be over as Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer is reporting that the Dolphins have conditionally acquired him. If Bush is willing to take a pay cut (he was due for $11.8 million), then the deal will likely be made in the next few hours.
The drafting of Heisman winner Mark Ingram signaled that the Saints were more than likely going in another direction and would not require the services of the oft-injured Bush. His tweet on draft night, “it’s been fun New Orleans”, which was quickly taken down, showed Bush was not exactly thrilled with the decision management had made.
In other free agency news, Redskins malcontent Albert Haynesworth looks to be headed to the Patriots for a 2013 fifth-round draft pick. Just two years ago, Haynesworth signed a deal guaranteeing him $41 million dollars. However, things went south in a hurry last year when he feuded with coach Mike Shanahan and was subsequently suspended for the last four games of the season.

Sports : Mets Fan Storms Citi Field But Doesn’t Get Tased

Mets fan, and apparent laxer, Andrew Hurst ran onto Citi Field last night and lead 4 out-of-shape guards on a wild goose chase. But before he ran onto the field, Hurst tweeted his intentions with the hash tag #legendaryswag, and then after he was apprehended, he tweeted again. This time, a joke about jailhouse sodomy. 

Here is the chase from another vantage point. What the fuck is up with this bat boy (or whatever the foul-line jockey is called) and his non-reaction? Are you not entertained!?

Sports : Fan Dangles Above Right Field Fence After Going for a Catch During the Home Run Derby

And now for the scary part from last night's Home Run Derby. After catching three balls above the right-field fence at Chase Field, Keith Carmickle went for the fourth. That's when he went over a railing and almost took a certainly-fateful headfirst fall onto a pool deck 20 feet below. Fortunately, some buddies hung on to Carmickle for dear life, grabbing him, preventing him from falling and possibly even saving his life.



Via the AP:

His near miss came the same day as the memorial service for Shannon Stone, a 39-year-old fan who died last Thursday while trying to catch a ball thrown into the stands at a Texas Rangers home game. ''I thought: I've lived a good life,'' Carmickle said about dangling.

Seated in a small section of seats above the right-field fence, Carmickle, of Kingman, and his group had already grabbed home-run balls by Robinson Cano and Adrian Gonzalez and were looking to add another to their collection when Fielder came up in the second round of the derby. Trying to snare a towering shot by Fielder, Carmickle stepped up onto a metal table about 18 inches wide and reached down to catch the ball. It hit a wall several feet below Carmickle. His momentum carried him forward, headfirst over a short railing at the back of the table.

Carmickle was headed for a hard landing when his friend, Aaron Nelson, grabbed his legs and his brother, Kraig, grabbed him around the arms. Carmickle dangled briefly over a deck were a couple of cameras were positioned behind Chase Field's pool before being pulled back up to his seat as the crowd above and below gasped.

''He tried to catch it, I grabbed his legs and his brother grabbed his arms,'' said Nelson, who, along with Kraig Carmickle, is from Chandler. ''So when he went over the ledge, we pulled him back. He wasn't going down, I was holding on.''

Sports : Derek Jeter Reaches 3,000 Hits

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Derek Jeter came ready to play on Saturday, smacking a double in the first inning for his 2,999th hit. The positive tension mounted thereafter, and in the third-inning, Jeter sealed the deal and officially became the 28th member of the exclusive 3,000-hit club when he launched a home-run over the left-field wall off of pitcher Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price. The only other player to make a home-run his 3,000th hit was former Yankee Wade Boggs, who, coincidentally, played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays during his moment.

Sports : Jack McKeon Lights Up a Cigar in the Dugout After Florida Marlins 11th Straight Loss

Nearly six years ago Jack McKeon retired from a 30-year managerial career in Major League Baseball. Last week, while watching his granddaughter’s softball game in North Carolina, the phone rang with a job offer: Interim Manager of the barely-breathing Florida Marlins, the same franchise he won the World Series with in 2003 (the first year he came out of retirement). Last night McKeon suited up on a Marlins uniform with No. 25 and came out of retirement again at 80 years old, making him the second-oldest manager in major-league history and the oldest man in the league since 1950 (Connie Mack, the legendary Philadelphia Athletics' manager, worked in baseball until the age of 87). The Marlins still lost their 11th in a row to the Angels, but that didn't stop him from light up a signature cigar in the dugout. Boss move? Yep, and man I can't stand the Marlins.

Pic via SB Nation on Facebook

The media fanfare and not managing since 2005 isn't stopping him from putting up with crap from players. For example, yesterday he benched Marlins' star shortstop Hanley Ramirez for not hustling and showing up late to a team meeting. His rationale? "If you try to be (the players’) friend that will get you fired," he told the Palm Beach Post.

Ramirez, the three-time All-Star arrived late to the clubhouse Monday, showing up after McKeon called the team together for a 3:30 p.m. meeting, according to people in the organization. When asked if he knew why he was not in the lineup Ramirez said “no,” before joining his teammates to stretch.


When McKeon was asked if there was a reason Ramirez is not in the lineup he said: “Yeah, because I didn’t put him in there.” He added that he didn’t like the way Ramirez was running on Sunday. McKeon was in North Carolina on Sunday at a softball game in which his granddaughter was playing. Ramirez was going 0-for-3 in St. Petersburg against the Rays, dropping his average to .201.

You can't help but admire an man with the balls put his foot down and say, "I'm not here to deal with your melodramatic bullshit." Yeah, he's an easy target being old and all. But how can you not help but like an grizzly attitude like that?

Sports : Mark Cuban spent $110k in four hours Sunday night

Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks celebrated their championship at Club Liv in South Beach Sunday night. If you find that weird, you’re not alone. In the history of professional sports (at least in my lifetime), I don’t ever recall a team partying it up in the road team’s city. Can you imagine the Bad Boy Pistons hitting up a Hollywood club after disposing of the Lakers in the 80′s? Or Magic and Kareem throwing back cocktails in a Boston pub? Yea, right.
That aside, Cuban went on bit of a spending spree in his four hours at the club. All told the bill ran as high as $110k. A mere pittance of Cuban’s net worth.

Cuban spent most of it on a $90,000 bottle of Ace of Spades Champagne for teammates Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Brian Cardinal and Shawn Marion. After partying with the trophy until 5 a.m. yesterday and taking in a performance by Lil Wayne, Cuban left a $20,000 tip for the wait staff. “Worth every penny,”

Sports : Serena Williams hospitalized with pulmonary embolism

Serena Williams, who has been out with an injured foot since last year’s Wimbledon, has been hospitalized with a pulmonary embolism. The clot was discovered on Monday after a return visit to L.A. from New York.

“Monday Serena Williams underwent emergency treatment at Cedars for a hematoma she suffered as a result of treatment for a more critical situation,” the rep says in an exclusive statement.

Serena has been in and out of a cast with that mysterious foot injury she suffered at a bar with friends while celebrating her aforementioned Wimbledon victory. According to her, a piece of glass was lodged in her foot and required surgery. Some eight months later and she’s still battling this rogue glass.
As far as this blood clot is concerned, allow me to play internet doctor for a moment. Yes, completely healthy people can get pulmonary embolisms, especially if they are flying a lot and are inactive.
But something just doesn’t seem right in this whole thing. For Serena’s sake and for the sake of women’s tennis, we hope she makes a full recovery. But considering her reluctance to return to the game with a foot injury, this clot might set her back even further.

Sports : Donald Trump wants to buy the Mets

The New York Mets are in dire financial crisis, so it only makes sense that a man who has been on the verge of bankruptcy several times in his life has offered to buy them. Donald Trump, real estate mogul and CEO of the Trump organization, has expressed his interest in the team, more or less because Fred Wilpon, the Mets principal owner is a personal friend.
Yea, this sounds like a terrific idea all around. A team that’s in shambles because a ponzi schemer took them for all their worth is going to get bought by a guy whose sole redeeming quality right now is encompassed by two words….”You’re fired!”.

“We’ll see what happens,” said Trump, who previously owned the New Jersey Generals in the United States Football League, and who was a frequent guest of George Steinbrenner at Yankee Stadium.
“It’s going to take a long time for [the Mets] to work out the situation,” said Trump, who added he would be willing to sell any interests he has in Atlantic City casinos to satisfy baseball’s prohibition of team owners running gambling houses.
Trump said he would not necessarily insist on owning a majority stake in the team, but he noted, “My history is I control things.”

Trump seems to have a loyalty problem here as well. He’s been known to take in a Yankees game or two during the baseball season and was seen in the New England Patriots box during the playoffs. This commingling between Boston and New York teams almost seems like sports sacrilege.
The only good thing that can come out of this? The Donald’s hair may make more repeated appearances on TV. We’re all winners if that’s the case.

Sports - Jacob Pullen comes through when needed

Not much had gone right for Kansas State or Jacob Pullen this season.

In the preseason, Kansas State was picked to win the Big 12 for the first time ever and Pullen was tabbed as the conference player of the year.

Yet the Wildcats entered Monday night’s game against Kansas with nothing but trouble to show for their efforts.

Sure, there were a few pops of success like beating Virginia Tech, Gonzaga and Washington State. But those games were in November and early December.

Senior Curtis Kelly had been suspended twice, missing nine games. Pullen was suspended for three games for accepting extra benefits. Wally Judge quit the team after 17 games.

Kansas State was 1-5 on the road in the Big 12 and had been swept by Colorado, the last matchup coming down to the buzzer Saturday night when a game-winning 3-point shot by Rodney McGruder wasn’t allowed since it came just after the clock hit zeroes. With 33 seconds left in that game, Pullen committed a costly turnover with his Wildcats down one.

It’s just been that kind of season for the senior guard. At one point he was so frustrated that he said this: “I won’t play basketball in the NIT. I’m saying that now. If we lose and we have to go to the NIT. I will not play.’’

Not good.

“There was a lot of things going bad for us,’’ Pullen said by phone from Manhattan, Kan., on Monday night. “We had problems off the court. We were college students that made bad decisions and at the same time there was a lot of pressure on my teammates and they’ve never dealt with this and the expectations.’’

And yet, all seemed forgiven on one magical Monday night at Bramlage Coliseum.

Pullen erased plenty of the bad karma with his 38-point undressing of Kansas in K-State’s 84-68 rout of the top-ranked Jayhawks.

“Credit goes to my teammates that did a great job of getting me the ball, setting screens and making plays,’’ said Pullen after his career-high scoring performance. “When we make plays like we did tonight, we look good.’’

A season ago, Pullen was one of the catalysts with his backcourt mate, senior Denis Clemente, in Kansas State’s Elite Eight run that was ended by Butler in Salt Lake City.

“We won games with a core group of people that came in to practice and worked hard,’’ Pullen said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys and freshmen that had to understand what we had to do. We didn’t expect to be the No. 3 team in the country [in the preseason].’’

Pullen said the team came together on Sunday and made sure they checked the poor vibes from the late loss to Colorado right at the door of the locker room.

“I made a bad play, turned the ball over and Rodney’s shot was too late,’’ Pullen said. “I knew we had to focus on Kansas. I felt I didn’t want to be overly aggressive with my shot. But my team followed me and when I do things in practice that are lackadaisical it affects my team. Me and [coach] Frank [Martin] communicated in the last month that when I’m having a bad practice, he pulls me out. I know that as a point guard we have to understand each other and lately I’ve understood that he has to count on me as a leader.’’

Kansas State (17-9, 5-6 Big 12) has five games remaining in the regular season. Home games against Oklahoma, Missouri and Iowa State are must-wins. Splitting the road games at Nebraska and Texas would help the cause, too.

But what happens to Pullen if Kansas State doesn’t make the NCAA and is invited to play in the NIT?

“I will play anywhere,’’ Pullen said. “I said that comment in a heated moment to get my teammates to understand the reality. I didn’t say that comment to mean it. In my heart I will play for Kansas State regardless if it’s in the NIT or the NCAA.

“I think if we can win some games, get a win on the road,’’ Pullen said. “I think we’ll play our way in.’’

Sports : Baseball - Pettitte reportedly set to retire Friday

Andy Pettitte reportedly has informed the Yankees of his intention to retire and will announce that decision on Friday.

Pettitte's decision was initially reported by Michael Kay, Yankees television broadcaster and host on ESPN Radio in New York, who cited an unidentified source. The Associated Press said a news conference will be held Friday at Yankee Stadium.

Neither the Yankees nor Pettitte has confirmed or commented on the reports.

Pettitte, 38, pitched 16 seasons in the Major Leagues, 13 of them with the Yankees. He went 11-3 with a 3.28 ERA last season but missed two months due to a left groin injury. He has 240 career wins, 203 of them with the Yankees. He ranks third in franchise history in victories, behind Hall of Famers Whitey Ford (236) and Red Ruffing (231), and holds the all-time record for the most postseason wins with 19.

The left-hander won five World Series titles with the Yankees: 1996, 1998-2000 and 2009.

Pettitte, who returned to the Yankees in 2007 after three seasons with the Houston Astros, took time after both the 2008 and 2009 seasons before deciding to return rather than retire. He has cited a desire to be with his family at home in Texas as opposed to continuing his career in New York as the factor in his decisions.

Sports : NFL - Belichick wins AP Coach of Year

The New England coach Bill Belichick won The Associated Press 2010 NFL Coach of the Year award on Wednesday, the third time Belichick has earned the honor. Belichick, who also won in 2003 and 2007, now trails only Don Shula, a four-time winner of the award.

For leading the Patriots to a 14-2 record, the best in the league, Belichick received 30 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. That easily beat Raheem Morris, who led a turnaround in Tampa Bay and got 11½ votes.

Belichick has overseen a transition in New England to a younger team, particularly on defense. Of course, he still has Offensive Player of the Year Tom Brady at quarterback.

"I will say the foundation of the Patriots organization, which starts with Mr. Kraft and Coach Belichick, has not changed since the day I arrived," Brady said. "They have and will always do what is in the best interest of the team, and they will continue to find selfless players that love to work hard, compete and strive to be the best they can possibly be."

Then Belichick makes them even better.

"He really stays on top of us," wide receiver Wes Welker said. "He makes sure that we're not getting overconfident or believing in the noise outside the locker room and understand that every game's tough in the NFL."

Belichick's record with the Patriots is 126-50, plus a 14-5 mark in the postseason, with losses in the last three tries with teams that went a collective 40-8. His career winning percentage of .716 ranks eighth, tied with Hall of Famer Paul Brown, and no other coach has four 14-victory regular seasons.

This might have been Belichick's most impressive work as the Patriots retooled much of the roster, yet had a dominant regular season in which they won their final eight games.

"When you have so many things that go into a team, so many things that go into what's happened over the last decade, which ones do you point to?" he said. "You can make an argument for a lot of different things. In the end, it's each individual team and that collection of players that particular year and that particular time during the season or whatever it is, that was able to go out there and be successful."

Belichick basically rebuilt the defense, particularly the secondary, where rookie Devin McCourty made the Pro Bowl.

He showed confidence in BenJarvus Green-Ellis as his main running back, and Green-Ellis rushed for 1,008 yards. Belichick claimed Danny Woodhead when the Jets cut him, and Woodhead was a dynamic piece of the offense and special teams.

Then there was the Randy Moss case.

Eager to remove the recalcitrant receiver, Belichick stole a third-round draft pick from Minnesota in early October for Moss, who lasted a month with the Vikings, then was cut.

Meanwhile, Belichick traded with Seattle for Deion Branch, the 2005 Super Bowl MVP with the Patriots. Branch had a rebirth in New England, making the Moss deal look even better.

And making the Patriots a better team - typical of what Belichick has done since getting his second chance to be a head coach. The first was a flop with the Browns, where he went 37-45 in four seasons and alienated nearly everyone in Cleveland.

"When I chose him, people at the league office, people in this town, sent me tapes of him in Cleveland and said, `You don't want to hire this guy,' " Patriots owner Robert Kraft said. "And, remember, he went 5-11 (in his first year with Patriots) and we gave up a No. 1 draft choice (to the Jets to get him). People thought we were nuts.

"So I think that probably was one of the best decisions I've made in football."

Belichick is a disciple of Bill Parcells, the only other New England coach to win the award.

Morris lifted the Buccaneers from 3-13 in his first season to 10-6 in 2010 and in playoffs contention until the final week. He did it with the league's youngest roster.

"We put a lot on his plate," Bucs general manager Mark Dominik said, "and he has absolutely handled it all. We all see where this ship is headed."

Also receiving votes were Kansas City's Todd Haley (4½), whose team went 11-5 and won the AFC West; and four coaches with one selection apiece: Atlanta's Mike Smith, Philadelphia's Andy Reid, Chicago's Lovie Smith, and St. Louis' Steve Spagnuolo.

Sports : Wilpon Reign With the Mets Under Threat

For more than two years, the Mets have been adamant that losses suffered by owner Fred Wilpon stemming from Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme would have no impact on the ballclub's operation. But by announcing Friday that they have retained an investment banker to sell up to 25% of the team, the Mets indicated that they are on shakier financial ground than they had previously acknowledged.

At the very least, it highlights the threat posed by the lawsuit brought by Irving Picard, the trustee seeking to recover funds on behalf of Madoff victims. Mr. Picard sued Mr. Wilpon and his real-estate investment firm, Sterling Equities, in December; they have yet to reach a settlement. At worst, experts say, Friday's announcement could mark the beginning of the end of the Wilpon family's controlling interest in the team.

The move the Mets are trying to pull off has become difficult in recent years in the sports business. The market for sports franchises essentially dried up in 2008, and while values have rebounded the past 18 months, the limited-partnership market has been more challenged, said Rob Tillis, principal at sports-investment advisory firm InnerCircle Sports.

"This is going to be all about the size of the check, valuation and control," Mr. Tillis said. "Also, does the limited partner get a piece of SNY?" he added, referring to the Mets' lucrative regional sports network.

In a conference call with reporters, the Mets' chief operating officer, Jeff Wilpon, said SNY is "totally separate" and "not part of the consideration."

Principal owner Fred Wilpon, who has owned at least a share of the team since 1980, insisted that his family would not relinquish majority ownership of the Mets. And Steven Greenberg, a managing director at Allen & Company whom the Mets retained for the sale, was optimistic that they could find a minority investor. "I'm very confident that when qualified buyers explore and get access to the information they're going to get, we'll have a robust level of interest in a minority stake in the club," Mr. Greenberg said.

Other sports owners have had difficulty raising funds without ceding control.

In the past two years, Texas leveraged-buyout king Tom Hicks tried to bring in limited partners to finance his ownership of the Texas Rangers baseball team, the English soccer club Liverpool and the Dallas Stars hockey team.

But when no buyers appeared who were willing to hand their money over to Mr. Hicks and cede all control to him, Mr. Hicks, who needed to raise money to meet his debt obligations, was forced to sell all three entities, though the Stars remain on the market.

The New York Times Co. has been trying to sell its 17.75% stake in New England Sports Ventures, owners of the Boston Red Sox, for more than a year, but so far has sold just 6.6% of its investment.

On the other hand, Dan Rooney, the longtime owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, successfully raised enough money from outside investors who bought stakes in the team but left Mr. Rooney and his son, Art Rooney II, in charge.

But as Marc Ganis, principal of the Chicago sports consulting firm, SportsCorp, Ltd., said, the NFL assisted the Rooneys' efforts by adjusting its rules on how much equity a principal owner needed to hold. Also, the Steelers, unlike the Mets, have proved to be one of their sport's strongest franchises in the last 40 years. "The Steelers run a good operation," Mr. Ganis said. "They don't operate on a shoestring, but they aren't known for spending a lot of money and yet they've had a lot of success."

The Mets had the fifth-highest payroll in the majors last season, at $136 million, but finished just 79-83, in fourth place in the National League East. Jeff Wilpon said recently the team's payroll would approach $145 million in 2011. But the Mets were already on the hook for most of that money because of previous contract commitments.

They have signed only low-budget players this winter. And while they have a new general manager in Sandy Alderson and up to $60 million coming off the books after this season, it's not clear how much of that money the Mets will be able to spend.

To a significant degree, Mr. Alderson's ability to revitalize the struggling ballclub will be determined by what extent the Mets can shore up their finances. And that starts with finding an infusion of cash from one or more investors.

Sports : Yanks prez: Rangers owner 'delusional'

NEW YORK -- Yankees president Randy Levine has fired back at Texas Rangers owner Chuck Greenberg, calling him "delusional."

The message was direct: Mind your business and keep your team off "welfare."

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Levine made his comments in response to Greenberg's opinion that the Rangers kept the chase for Cliff Lee going long enough for the Phillies to sneak in and take Lee from the clutches of New York to the National League.

"I think Chuck is delusional," Levine told ESPNewYork.com. "He has been running the Rangers for a few minutes and seems to believe he's mastered what everyone else is thinking. I think he should let Cliff Lee speak for himself. I'll be impressed when he demonstrates he can keep the Rangers off welfare. What I mean is make them not be a revenue-sharing recipient for three years in a row, without taking financing from baseball or advance money from television networks. Then I'll be impressed."

The Yankees and Rangers have been going at it in the board room and in the media ever since the Rangers beat the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. The Yankees were chapped that Greenberg said Lee might not want to play in New York because of how the fans acted toward Lee's wife.

The Yankees, including part-owner Hal Steinbrenner, went to the airwaves and responded, calling out Greenberg. Now, Levine is taking on Greenberg again because the Rangers' owner said he was glad that Lee ended up in the NL and not with the Yankees.

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Richard Durrett and ESPNDallas.com team has the inside scoop on the Rangers, the American League and Major League Baseball. Blog
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"We didn't know specifically that Philadelphia was in on Cliff until the day he agreed to terms with Philadelphia," Greenberg said Sunday at Rangers Fan Fest. "But all along we thought if a mystery team would come forward that there was a pretty good chance that it would be Philadelphia.

"We had three different meetings with Cliff and his wife and his agent in Little Rock. At the very first meeting he spoke very highly of the experience he had pitching for the Phillies. And it was clear that pitching here and in Philadelphia were the two most enjoyable experiences of his career. Even though Philadelphia was probably not in, they were always in the back of our mind.

"I think if we wouldn't have gone to Arkansas that last time, I think he was going to sign with the Yankees. We pried the door open a little bit to give ourselves another opportunity. And ultimately the Phillies were able to take advantage of that opportunity that we created. While we would have preferred that he would have chosen to go with us, we're real pleased that he's going to the other league."

Greenberg, along with Nolan Ryan, completed the purchase of the Rangers this year, but the transaction was held up for quite some time, leading to Major League Baseball coming in to help the franchise pay its bills.

NFL and Players Union Take Labor Dispute Bickering to Twitter

With a lockout looming, the NFL and its players union have been struggling to reach a new collective bargaining agreement by March 3rd. Both sides have begun using Twitter and other sites to attempt to sway the popular opinion of fans who might not have a sport to watch in 2011.

According to The New York Times, commissioner Roger Goodell sent an e-mail on Wednesday to his staff saying he'd take a $1 salary (a pay cut of about $10 million) if a lockout occurred. Naturally, it was leaked to the NFL Network, and spread quickly across Twitter. To counter, DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the players union, tweeted that he would work for just 68 cents if an agreement was reached by next Sunday's Super Bowl. Naturally, this online posturing doesn't mean a whole lot in reality, since the commish and the executive director aren't hurting for money, and there's just no way a new collective bargaining agreement could be reached before kickoff in Dallas.

There are two points of contention at the center of the labor struggle. The league wants less revenue sharing among teams and to add two more games to the current 16-game regular season. The players union, of course, wants more revenue sharing among teams and believes a 16-game season is long enough. So far, neither side has budged enough to even come close to signing a new collective bargaining agreement.

Some, like Paul Hicks, executive vice president of communications and government relations for the NFL, believes Twitter and other sites can give an advantage to one side or the other. "You need to sell your idea and use every opportunity you can at a speed that is not generally normal in a business environment." But Doug Allen, a former players union executive, told the Times that he doesn't think this online back-and-forth does much to change the balance of power. "It alters the atmosphere, but I'm not sure it changes the leverage on both sides. It would, if one side were doing it and the other weren't." But a large online presence could sway public opinion, which can be a powerful tool in convincing one side to cave to the other side's demands. That's why the league has created a Super Bowl Twitter aggregation page, and the players union displays a lockdown countdown clock on its site.

Despite all this online bickering, the NFL and the players union how much money would be lost and damage done if a lockout occurred, which means they'll keep thumping their chests on the Internet for another couple months. But in the end, an agreement will be reached, and we'll have football in the fall.