COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

Former Mets legend Darryl Strawberry sounded off on Pete Alonso's departure from the New York Mets this off-season, saying Monday that the slugger would one day "wake up just like I did and regret you didn’t stick where you’re at.” Oddly enough on Tuesday, Strawberry tried to walk back t hose comments, stating:   “I was talking about the mistakes that I made of leaving,” Strawberry said Tuesday from Clover Park, where he is serving this week as a guest instructor. “This is not about me and Pete. I love Pete. And I always had hope that he would stick around and be the guy to break all the numbers." The comments are interesting, mainly because Alonso and Strawberry share the distinction of being the franchise-leading home run leader. Alonso passed Strawberry last summer.  In Strawberry's case, he left the Mets in 1990 he did so with a strained relationship with the front office, and wound up signing a five-year deal with the Dodgers after rejecting a lesser deal fro...

 It took a New Jersey Devil to get gold for Team USA. Devils forward Jack Hughes netted the game winning goal 1:40 into overtime as Team USA defeated Team Canada in the Gold Medal Game at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.   Hughes who missed a month this year for the Devils, netted the game winner despite having one tooth knocked out. His effervescent smile with a bloody and broken tooth with the stars and stripes draped over his shoulders is going to be a photo that will live on for decades to come.  Don't believe me? Think about it.  Whenever a seminal moment happens and the U.S. flag is involved it is guaranteed to be part of immortality. Think of the images from Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iowa Jima to the planting of the flag on the surface of the moon. The artwork of Washington's crossing of the Delaware; the raising of Old Glory by firefighters on 9/11, and even the moment President Trump raised his fist in the air after a bullet grazed his ear....

 Baseball is back baby!  And what a way to open the season than to have one of the game's biggest free agent signings from this past winter have an immediate impact.    In his first game in Baltimore Orioles attire, former Mets slugger Pete Alonso cracked a two-run homer in Baltimore's 2-0 spring training victory over the New York Yankees.    The homer was Alonso's only hit of the day in three trips to the plate. But the impact of the slugger in the Cresent City is already being felt. Meanwhile the Mets are running with basically a platoon at first between Jorge Palonco, Mark Vientos and Brett Baty. This should be a storyline we will follow all year.  Heck even social media was having a field day!   As for the Yankees they were held to three hits on the afternoon. Jazz Chisholm (1-for-1) and Austin Wells (0-for-3) were the only notable Bombers in action on Friday afternoon.   

 MLB Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark is expected to resign from his position amid a federal investigation that was opened last year by the Eastern District of New York regarding using licensing money or equity to enrich themselves, according to the New York Times and The Athletic .  The Department of Justice opened an additional investigation in October, according to the Times.  Clark who played from the Detroit Tigers, New York Mets and Yankees in his career has been the head of the players union since 2013.    This news comes at a wild time for baseball as the league is starring down the prospect of a work stoppage in 2027.  The Time cites a statement from MLBPA executive subcommittee member Brent Suter (a pitcher of the L.A. Angels of Anaheim) that bargining sessions were expected to start this summer, and hopes to keep things stable toward that end.  It is not known who will serve officially as Interim Executive Director, b...

 Mets owner Steve Cohen was prickly in his opening press conference of the year, sounding more like George Steinbrenner in his prime as he sounded off on the Mets 2025/26 off-season, losing out on top flight talents, the financial rivalry with the Dodgers, missing the playoffs, and naming a captain. Let's just say the Mets boss left plenty of missives that feel he's calling on his team to figure things out and get back to the playoffs this year.  "We haven't won. I really want to win," Cohen said emphatically. "Each year that goes by I get more annoyed.  "It's hard to know when to make those changes, but the other side is we have a sharp management and they were prepared and had alternatives. Saying good bye is tough, but saying hello is kinda fun. "I get frustrated. I am committed to this team. I know how much the fans care. I know we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of 1986, but that is far too long. I want to put myself in a positio...

As green and blue confetti spewed into the air at Levi's Stadium to celebrate the Seattle Seahawks 29-13 victory over the punchless New England Patriots in one of the worst Super Bowl game's ever played, the night belonged seemingly, and inexplicably to one man: Sam Darnold.  Sam Darnold with the Lombardi. Getty Images.  The former quarterback of the New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers, and Minnesota Vikings, had done the unthinkable. He won it all.   In one of the most bizarre seasons we have ever seen, it was fitting in a way that it had one of the most bizarre endings we've ever seen. And unironically, of the four former employers Darnold once played for, one in particular has drawn the ire of the national media and fans alike: the New York Jets.  If 2025 can be summed up succinctly it is this: "LOL Jets!"   Because ever since Seattle's 38-37 overtime victory over the L.A. Rams on a Thursday night in late December, it became more a...