What Sports Are All About

 

The NCAA tournament starts today, brackets have been filled out, dreams of a national championship for 64 teams will commence, but only one will prosper. Everyone also thinks they are an expert when it comes to filling out there brackets during March Madness. We are all really just winging it, because a perfect bracket is impossible. Yahoo is offering a billion dollars to whoever gets a perfect bracket, but picking a perfect bracket has a lower risk of probability than winning the lottery, so it really is all luck. A lot of us fill out multiple brackets trying to pick the correct upsets, change and cross out picks, enter numerous pools trying to win money, but it’s all for bragging rights and fun, or is it?

It is called March Madness for a reason. As fans we constantly check our brackets during the tournament, but usually by the end of the second day maybe even the first day our picks are completely wrong and brackets are ripped across the nation. The first two days of the tournament are where the madness begins. There are basketball games on all day, 12 hours straight! FIlled with passion, excitement, close games, upsets. The tournament represents sports as a whole because it’s so unpredictable and anything can happen, a direct metaphor to life. It is win or go home and just because you’re a favorite doesn’t guarantee that you win. There’s a certain magic and atmosphere to the NCAA tournament. It is unlike any other playoff in any sport. It starts off so hectic and fast paced with game after game, potential upsets and bracket busters, and gradually slows down. Just as life is a roller coaster, so is the NCAA tournament, or March Madness as we like to call it. It represents sports and it represents life, and I think thats why sports fans tend to love the tournament. Work productivity is guaranteed to go down as it always is during the tournament. Don’t get caught watching games, and check scores wisely. Enjoy the tournament and good luck in your brackets.

 

Jets sign Eric Decker, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie meeting with Jets tonight.

Jets sign Eric Decker, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie meeting with Jets tonight..

Jets sign Eric Decker, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie meeting with Jets tonight.

 

The New York Jets made a huge free agent splash by signing free agent wide receiver Eric Decker. Decker played for the Denver Bronco’s and flourished with Peyton Manning as his QB. The deal is for 5 years and $36.25 million with $15 million in guarantees. Decker was arguably the best receiver in the free agent market. Decker had 87 receptions, 1,288 yards receiving, and 11 touchdowns with Denver last year, but this year Peyton Manning will not be his QB, his QB this year will be Geno Smith, so Decker’s numbers will go down substantially, as will his fantasy value. That still doesn’t subtract from the fact that this is a great signing for the Jets. Decker feels as if he doesn’t want to be a product of Peyton Manning. He wants to be the #1 receiver. He wants to prove that he is good and that Manning didn’t just make him good. 

One of the best free agent cornerbacks Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is meeting with the Jets tonight. Rodgers-Cromartie would fit well in Rex Ryan’s defense. So fellow Jets fans lets hope this meeting goes well and that the Jets sign him. This would be another great signing. It’s ironic that Rodgers-Cromartie just so happens to be recently cut cornerback Antoinio Cromartie’s cousin.

Phil Jackson agrees to become New York Knicks team president.

Phil Jackson agrees to become New York Knicks team president..

Phil Jackson agrees to become New York Knicks team president.

 

Phil Jackson has officially agreed to become the next Knicks president. The New York Knicks will formerly announce his hiring at a press conference on Tuesday March 18th at 11.00 A.M. The contract will be for 5 years and $60 million dollars. That is about $12 million a year, which would be hard for anyone to pass up. Luckily the Knicks and owner James Dolan have this kind of money to offer. Phil Jackson without a doubt is a great hire for this organization. He brings a winning attitude and has played for the Knicks, and also has a championship ring with them to go along with his 11 championship rings he has as a coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. Jackson has the highest winning percentage for a coach in league history (.704) as long as the most playoff wins in league history (229). He was inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

His name alone will entice players to come and play for the Knicks and hopefully lure Carmelo Anthony to resign with the Knicks once he opts out to test the free agent market at the end of this season. Phil Jackson has not had a role of this magnitude in an NBA franchise, so it is a different role for him. He is used to coaching, but Jackson will hire the coach he feels will fit this team the best and allow them to win a championship. It’s kind of hard to not trust Jackson when you look at his resume. The coach that he hires may or may not run the triangle offense, but every team that Jackson has coached has ran the triangle offense, so I can’t see why it would be any different with Jackson being the team president. He will handle many, if not all basketball operations and decisions. The players that Jackson wants will inevitably come to New York without thinking twice. Who wouldn’t want their boss to be a known winner? It’s also New York, so his name alone will bring the players that will give the Knicks the best chance to win a championship somewhere during his 5 year tenure. I have the utmost confidence in whoever Jackson decides to bring in as coach, and who he gets to play for the Knicks in the near future.

A couple big questions are who will he hire as coach? So far the only name mentioned in rumors has been Steve Kerr, who is currently an analyst for TNT. Kerr is a former player on the Bulls who Jackson coached. There are currently no other names being mentioned, but that will be one of the main questions answered in the next coming months. Another question is will Carmelo Anthony now stay with the Knicks now that Jackson is the president? It sure as hell makes him think a little more about whether to stay or go. I believe Carmelo will stay and ride it out with New York now. After next season the Knicks will have Tyson Chandler, Amare Stoudemire, and Andrea Bargagni’s contracts off the books, which will free up their cap space and allow them to sign some of the key free agents in the summer of 2015. Raymond Felton also has a player option at the end of next year. The free agent class of the summer of 2015 is mouth watering. Ok, we have Kyrie Irving, Ricky Rubio, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, Roy Hibbert, Al Jefferson, and DeAndre Jordan, just to name a few. The Knicks are bound to get one of these point guards, and one of these big men. That is too far to think down the road, but its exciting to think of the possibilities.

We don’t know how hands on Phil Jackson will be with his role as team president and what kind of autonomy he will possess, but I’m assuming he will be involved in a lot of tasks that involve scouting players, signing and trading, talking to and managing players, and also talking to the coaches to make sure everyone is on the same page. I expect him to be hands on, and what I’m hoping and every Knicks fan is hoping is that he brings a title to New York. I’m excited that Phil Jackson will be running this team, it is one of the best moves they have made in a while.