COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

The Denver Broncos are ready to talk. After almost two months of in-house fighting between quarterback Jay Cutler and new coach Josh McDaniels, Broncos owner Pat Bowlen is ready to trade Jay Cutler. Bowlen was quoted by NFL.com as saying: READ . " Numerous attempts to contact Jay Cutler in the last 10 days, both by Head Coach Josh McDaniels and myself, have been unsuccessful. A conversation with his agent earlier today clearly communicated and confirmed to us that Jay no longer has any desire to play for the Denver Broncos. We will begin discussions with other teams in an effort to accommodate his request to be traded. " The Jets, Buccaneers and Lions have been speculated as teams that were the front runners for Cutler. It was leaked last week that Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum had contacted the Broncos about Cutler's services, but later in the week Jets Safety Kerry Rhodes and Jets receiver Jericho Cotchery said that they were happy with Kellen Clemens and Brett Ratliff. Rhod...

RANGERS 3 DEVILS 0 Don't count the New York Rangers out just yet. The Rangers who have been clinging to a playoff berth throughout the winter are starting to look more and more like a certain playoff participant. Monday night, the Rangers shut out the rival New Jersery Devils 3-0 at Madison Square Garden. The once untouchable Martin Brodeur was effected big time against the Rangers, and it didn't help that the Devils offense took a night off. In the second period, the Rangers went to work on Brodeur. Brandon Dubinsky scored his 11th goal of the year to open the scoring at 1-0. Two minutes later, Daniel Girardi scored his 4th goal of the year to make it 2-0 Blue Shirts. Later in the period, Ryan Callahan scored his 21st goal of the year with assists from Scott Gomez and Sean Avery. Henrik Lundqvist had a huge night for the Rangers, recording 38 saves in 38 opportunites, which included four shots from Jamie Langenbruner and five shots Brian Roslton. BOXSCORE . The Rangers are no...

I remember many years ago there was an episode of the Brady Bunch where one of the kids complained that her sister Marsha got more attention than she. "Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!" she screamed in frustration. I guess you can say that pretty much describes the Yankees right now. Derek Jeter has been frustrated all spring with the A-Rod talk; he must be thinking, "A-Rod! A-Rod! A-Rod!", or, if you believe Joe Torre's book, The Yankee Years, perhaps it is A-Rod who is the one who can't get enough of Jeter, e.g. that Single White Female claim, or Madonna, or himself, or whatever you want to believe for that matter. Yes, this was supposed to be an offseason and training camp about the new additions of CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A.J. Burnett. It was supposed to be about Joe Girardi in his second season as manager; instead, it has been A-Rod, A-Rod, A-Rod all the time! First, it was Selena Roberts' report that Rodriguez had used steroids in 2003 when he was ...

Baseball season is just days away, but the NFL is trying to take some of the spotlight. Pre season schedules are now out, and the regular season schedules are soon to follow in the next week or so. Here are the pre season schedules for the Giants and Jets: Giants Schedule: Aug 17: CAROLINA.....8:00 ESPN TBA: @ Chicago........8:00 NBC TBA: N.Y. JETS........8:00 NBC TBA: @ New England..7:30 NBC Jets Schedule: TBA: ST.LOUIS..........7:30 CBS Aug 24: @ Baltimore...8:00 ESPN TBA: @ N.Y. Giants.....8:00 NBC TBA: PHILADELPHIA....7:30 CBS One national game to keep an eye on, is a Super Bowl rematch between the Steelers and Cardinals, scheduled for August 13 on ESPN. To view the pre season schedule for all 32 team click HERE .

The road to the Final Four is now complete, and the once mightly Big East Conference is really not so big after both top seeded Louisville and Pittsburgh bit the dust. Pittsburgh lost on a poorly played defensive adjusment that allowed Villanova's Scottie Reynolds to cruise to the basket for the easy layup in the final seconds to send the Wild Cats to the big show. Louisville never showed up against Michigan State, as senior Goran Suton led the Spartans charge with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Michigan State romped to a 64-52 win and will have a de facto home game in the Final Four which will be played at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. Talk about home court advantage. Meanwhile, the University of Connecticut did away with the pesky Missouri Wild Cats to make it to their third Final Four in nine years. North Carolina stormed past Blake Griffin and Oklahoma Sooners 72-60 to get back to the Final Four for the first time since 2005. At the end of the day, only two stand alone from the...

PENGUINS 4 RANGERS 3 If the New York Rangers are going to make one last push for the postseason, they can ill afford losses like the one suffered tonight. The Pittsburgh Penguins beat up the Rangers 4-3, jumping over the Rangers to take the sixth spot in the playoffs. The Rangers now hold a slim one point lead over the Carolina Hurricanes for the seventh seed, and are only two points ahead of the Florida Panthers for the final playoff spot. Pittsburgh got off to a fast start as Max Talbot and Matt Cooke scored in a span of over two minutes to take a 2-0 lead in the first period. The Rangers came back to tie the game, after Brandon Dubinsky's goal with five seconds remaining in the first period made it 2-2. But, the Penguins fought back. Ruslan Fedotenko scored his 14th goal of the year to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. The Rangers came back later to tie it up, but it was not enough. Sidney Crosby scored his 29th goal of the year to give the Penguins the lead and the win. The Rang...

Talk about a con job. Talk about taking the money are running with it. The New York Jets are about to pull off one of the biggest cons since Bernard Madoff made off with billions of investor money with his infamous ponzi scheme. After years of work, $75 million spent on building a facility, and increased taxes on the people of New Jersey and Morris County, the Jets are telling the people of the Garden State that their new Florham Park training facility is not good enough to host a training camp. Then why build a gigantic complex that is twice the size of the old one at Hofstra University with an indoor practice field and a swimming pool included for good measure? Toss in the state of the art equipment and let it rot for months. I suppose the Jets needed a warehouse for this stuff and New Jersey offered the perfect spot. The Jets and new coach Rex Ryan are now looking to move the team's camp to Cornell University in Ithaca, or the State Univeristy of New York at Cortland, which, by ...

It's OK , it's OK . Don't cry about Memphis destroying a piece of your bracket, life's too short. Missouri's 102-91 thrashing of the Memphis Tigers, last night was a shock to many, considering that Memphis had the nation's number one defense through the regular season. Still there are more games to be played, and possibly more upsets in the making. Oklahoma vs. Syracuse : A lot of people are riding the Syracuse bandwagon right now, because of the team's successful run in the Big East tournament. The play of Johnny Flynn has been amazing. He has scored 27 points in the NCAA tournament, while E ric Devendorf lit up Arizona St. for 21 points last week. Even Paul Harris has had a big tournament with 23 rebounds thus far. Still, the Orange will have their hands full against a very tall and physical Oklahoma team, led by one of the best all around players in the country, Blake Griffin. Griffin leads the Sooners in four statistical categories: points per game, f...

After a wild weekend last week in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, expect to see a lot more madness in the days ahead. Upsets are much more likely now with the number one seeds matched up against stiffer competition. Here is my low down on the weekend: UCONN vs. Purdue: The Purdue Boilermakers led throughout their game against Washington last week, but only shot 39 percent from the floor in the game. They are going to have to do better than that in order to stop A.J. Price and Jeff Adrian. Both players scored in the 20's last week against Texas A & M, and the Huskies don't seem to be missing a beat right now. Expect that to continue. PICK: UCONN 89, PURDUE 76. Missouri vs. Memphis: If there is one team that could pose a threat to any number one seed in this tournament it is Memphis. Against a good Maryland team, the Wild Cats shot 58 percent from the field and 53 percent from three point range. They also had five players in double figures for points. That i...

The NFL has announced, in what amounts to the first wave of announcements on the 2009 NFL schedule during the annual NFL meetings in California, the prime time games for Week One, as well as the games for Thanksgiving. The World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers will play host to the Tennessee Titans on September 10 at 8:15. The game will be televised on NBC. Later that weekend, NBC will host the Chicago Bears @ Green Bay Packers in one of the NFL's oldest and most historic rivarlies on Sunday night. With little suprise, considering that the Buffalo Bills recently signed Terrell Owens to a one year deal and the fact that Tom Brady is to return to the Patriots in September, ESPN will open its Monday Night schedule with the Bills @ Patriots; kickoff at 7:00 pm ET. Unfortunately, the nation will be subjeceted to the Oakland Raiders for the second straight season on the back end of the Monday Night double bill opener. Last year, the Broncos crushed the Raiders 41-7 on opening night; later ...

In a story from New York Daily News football analyst and writer Gary Myers , the New York Jets have every intention of acquiring Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos. " Multiple sources told the Daily News Sunday at the opening of the NFL meetings that Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum contacted the Broncos to let them know the Jets are very interested in trading for Cutler. But the Jets have yet to make a trade offer, and the Broncos have not said what they want, because Denver has not determined the Cutler situation is beyond repair. But this much is clear: The Jets are definitely in the Cutler Derby ." The Broncos are still trying to find out if the relationship between coach Josh McDaniels and Cutler can't be resolved sooner rather than later. If the two sides cannot make peace, the Jets are ready to take Cutler off of their hands. The Jets current quarterback situation is a fog once again. They have Kellen Clemens, Brett Ratliff and Eric Ainge in camp right now, but if th...

After two rounds of play in this year's installment of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, it is pretty obvious that the brackets of some are going to explode by next Sunday night. Pittsburgh and Louisville, two of the top teams in the land that both came out of the tough Big East Conference, have played underwhelming basketball thus far. Pittsburgh, for its part, was ranked number one nationally by many pundits from start to finish this year because of their dominating inside presence and excellent shooting, but so far they have played sub par. In fact, they look tired. Against lowly East Tennessee State in round one, the Buccaneers shot only 30 percent from the floor and a miserable 18 percent from three point land, and still managed to make the Pitt Panthers sweat it out. More revealing, there were several points in the game where East Tennessee State held slim two point leads in the contest. Against Oklahoma State, a much tougher opponent from the Big 12 Co...

When will the Nationals become ready for prime time? It has been a very long time since the Nationals played in Montreal as the Expos, and, with a beautiful ballpark in D.C. entering its second season, one has to wonder when the Nats will be ready to take that next step and make a move in the NL East. Some will say that they are in a tough division with the Phillies, Mets, Marlins and Braves all well established, but this is not a powerhouse division like the AL East with the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays. The NL East can be had, especially if the Mets, Marlins and Braves played mediocre baseball in 2009. If there is one thing that will be certain for the Nationals in 2009, it is this: they are going to hit and hit at will. In the off-season, the Nationals loaded up on some big boppers and now have an extremely tough lineup. Adam Dunn comes over from Arizona to platoon in left field with former Marlin Josh Willingham. Dunn is a excellent power hitter, but not a great hitter. He hit 40 home...

The Marlins have been pretty pesky the last couple of years. Both in 2007 and 2008 the Marlins alone ended the Mets dreams of winning division titles by taking two of three on the season's final weekend of regular season play. The Marlins made some moves this off-season, that, on paper, depleted them a bit, but it was not as dramatic as when they gutted their World Series teams of 1997 and 2003. Gone is Mike Jacobs, traded to Kansas City. Gone are Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen, sent packing to D.C. Still the Marlins have enough pop and some pitching to at least remain competitive in the NL East. The Marlins will have a new lead off hitter in 2009, as top prospect Cameron Maybin is ready to take the next step and play center field every day for the Fish. Last year Maybin hit .500 with two RBI and nine runs scored in just eight games. He is expected to be a huge base stealing threat when given the chance. The move with Maybin means that Haney Ramirez will be moved down in...

Are the Atlanta Braves ready to return to prominence in 2009? That is the big question surrounding an Atlanta team with a decent batting order, but a shaky pitching staff this season. The Braves were desperate for pitching help during the off-season after they suffered a dismal 72-90 season, as their best starting pitcher in 2008 was Jair Jurrjens , of all people, with his 3.68 ERA. So the Braves went out and overpaid for Derek Lowe, who automatically becomes the team's new ace. Lowe is a reliable right handed pitcher who won a World Series title with the Boston Red Sox in 2004, and led the L.A. Dodgers to a berth in the 2008 NLCS last year. Lowe went 14-11 with a 3.24 ERA with Los Angeles, and his best attribute is his ability to eat innings. Over his career, Lowe has averaged 215 innings a season. That is important for a team like Atlanta that lacks a deep bullpen. The Braves went out of their way to add a virtual unknown in Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakami . This could be...

DEVILS 3, BLACKHAWKS 2 Martin Brodeur is now number one. The future Hall of Fame goalie for the New Jersey Devils is officially the greatest goal tender of all time. With a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on St. Patrick's Day night, Brodeur secured his 552 career victory, putting him ahead of Patrick Roy on the all time NHL wins list for goalies. " After about a minute, they let him stand alone in front of the net and accept the cheers of the crowd. Brodeur then started to cut the net from the crossbar, only to stop and take a victory lap around the ice, high-fiving his coaches as he passed the bench. While the crowd roared, teammates finished the job of taking the net down. Brodeur eventually took it and skated to the bench for an interview ." (Tom Canavan, AP Sports). “ Martin Brodeur is the gold standard of goal tending—the model of character, consistency and commitment to the craft,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a prepared statement. “A champion. A winne...

Here is a list of teams that I think should investigate the time necessary to acquire disgruntled Denver quarterback Jay Cutler. 1) Detroit Lions: The Lions have never had a franchise quarterback; in fact, they have never had much of a franchise. Bringing in Cutler would be a no-brainer for a Detroit team that is trying to forget about a 0-16 season in 2008. Cutler would make the Lions an instant draw, nationally, and could go a long into bringing this muddled franchise into prominence one day. Keep in mind these are the Lions; something this obvious doesn't come easily to a team that kept Matt Millen around as GM for eight years. 2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The Buccaneers have no quarterback. They tried to trade for Cutler three weeks ago in a three team deal that would have involved the New England Patriots sending Matt Cassel to Denver. That trade never got anywhere, but don't think for a moment that the Bucs won't try to revisit a deal with the Broncos. Cutler would take...

Did someone say that the N.Y. Jets needed a quarterback? Well, there may be one available on the block really, really, really soon. Jay Cutler is very unhappy in Denver with new coach Josh McDaniels. A month ago, the Broncos tried to trade Cutler to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a three team deal with the New England Patriots that would have sent Matt Cassel to Denver. The trade never happened; Cassel was instead sent to Kansas City. Cutler feels unwanted and betrayed by the Broncos and its new coaching staff for even considering trading him away for a one time backup quarterback in Cassel. Cutler and McDaniels have been trying to patch things up ever since, and it appears that sides still can't make peace. Cutler has told ESPN Sunday night that he will not report to the team's mandatory off-season meeting Monday morning and has asked to be traded. " I went in there with every intention of solving the issue, being a Bronco, moving forward as a Bronco," Cutler said. ...

At 6:00 Sunday evening, CBS revealed this year's installment of the NCAA tournament men's basketball bracket for another year of madness. The Big East got big time reprsentation with seven teams, three of which earned number one seeds. Louisville, who won the Big East title this week deserved the award, while Pittsburgh proved to be the best team in the land through the regular season. However, one can question why the University of Connecticut got a number one seed in the western brackett. Connecticut struggled down the stretch losing three games in the last two weeks, two of which were defeats to Pittsburgh. Some might argue that either Memphis (31-3 this season) or even Oklahoma (27-5), which has the best player in the country in Blake Griffin, were more deserving of a number one seed over UConn. To get your bracket, download it right here: BRACKET . (Note: Make sure you have Adobe Reader 8 installed in your computer to get the bracket; it is a PDF file. Here are some inter...

Someone get new Browns coach Eric Mangini a load of aspirin! It has been a weird off-season for the former Jets coach, and it just got a little stranger. Wide receiver Donte Stallworth was involved in the death of a pedestrian Saturday morning in Miami. The receiver hit and killed a man named Mario Reyes, but he cooperated with police when he was arrested. It was not a hit and run. It is not known whether drugs or alcohol were involved in the tragedy. Stallworth signed a seven year deal with Cleveland in 2008 worth $35 million a year. He will need all of that money to get himself out of prison. Stallworth had played for the New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints in previous seasons.

Last time we previewed the 2009 Mets, now we continue our series of team previews for the 2009 baseball season with the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. For the second straight season the Phillies took advantage of another collapse by the New York Mets to capture the NL East, this time by two games and made a fantastic run through the playoffs to capture the world championship. The Phillies disposed of the Brewers and Dodgers with ease and exposed the Tampa Bay Rays as a young baseball team in a rather uncompetitive World Series. Now Philly is looking for a repeat. If Philadelphia has one thing going for it in 2009, it is this: they have guile and guts. No team in the majors found a way to excel in clutch moments more than the Phillies in 2008, and that should continue in 2009. Philadelphia is led by the a group of scrapy players in the prime of their careers. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino find ways to wreak havoc on the base paths and in the field. Victorino, who is only 5...

DEVILS 5 COYOTES 2 The excellence of Martin Brodeur was on display once again for the New Jersey Devils. The future Hall of Fame goalie is now one win away from tying Patrick Roy for most wins all time by a goalie, with 551 wins. After tonight's 5-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes Brodeur has 550 all time wins. He can tie Roy when the Devils play in Montreal over the weekend. 2008-2009 has been a wild ride for the goalie, but after returning from a torn bicep, life has been good to Brodeur and the Devils. Just 18 seconds into the game, Zach Parise scored his 40th goal of the year with assists from Jamie Langenbrunner and Paul Martin to make it 1-0 Jersey. Later in the opening period, John Madden added his seventh goal of the year to make it 2-0. In the second period, Dainius Zubrus and Patrick Elias added two more goals to make it 4-1 Devils. Brodeur had an easy night, recording 26 saves in 28 opportunities. BOXSCORE . The Devils now improve to 43-20-3 on the season, still six points ...