COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

So it's been a couple of days since the Mets hired former sports agent Brodie Van Wagenen as their next General Manager. To say it's a controversial hire would be an understatement. Check out the Open Mike Podcast as I delve into the story.

According to Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon, his father, Fred was the most “excited he has been about a hire in a long time,” when the Mets hitched their wagons to former sports agent Brodie Van Wagenen as the club’s new General Manager. Mets fans can only hope that quote from Wilpon doesn’t become a blooper sound bite for years to come after the Mets made the biggest gamble in franchise history. In a press conference that looked and felt as awkward as it sounded, the Mets made it official with Wilpon standing next to Van Wagenen a man he claimed was the “front runner” for the head of baseball operations. There was no discussion about Van Wagenen’s qualifications, or what baseball experience he might have other than being a sports agent for 18 years, where he represented a number of the Mets current players. Wilpon described his new hire as someone who is deeply analytical with a scouting background, but didn’t go into specifics. Nobody asked either. I...

The Cleveland Browns have finally ended the Hue Jackson reign of terror in Cleveland. After posting a 3-36-1 record in 2.5 years in Cleveland the Browns had more then enough and fired the beleaguered coach after the Browns 33-18 meltdown to the Steelers on Sunday. The firing of Jackson was inevitable, if not late in coming. Many thought that Jackson should have been canned after the club's 0-16 performance last year. Nevertheless, Jackson is out. The question is, who is next on the NFL coach's hot seat? Todd Bowles, New York Jets: Record: 23-34 in four seasons.  It is fair to say that Bowles is coaching for his job as the Jets enter the second half of the season at 3-5, the same exact record they had each of the last two seasons at this time of the year. In each of the last two seasons the Jets finished 5-11. A look at the remaining schedule it is hard to fathom the Jets finishing better than 6-10. Bowles has become notorious for his coaching gaffs, namely the team's l...

If Eli Manning won't waive his no-trade clause, something he has a right to do, the Giants have no choice but to bench him and begin the journey to find the next franchise quarterback. This is not an easy admission. Manning has been the face of the Giants since he took over for an ineffective Kurt Warner at the middle of the 2004 season. He dealt with teammates who hated him, Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey this means you. He dealt with a head coach who seemingly was always on the hot seat in Tom Coughlin. He won two Super Bowls against the greatest modern dynasty in the NFL in the New England Patriots, and has become one of football's all time top passers. Yet the last few seasons for Manning and the Giants have put a huge blemish on what is otherwise a Hall of Fame career. Three years ago Eli Manning was as close to a lock as there is for Canton. Now, I'm not so sure. That is how bad the last couple of seasons have been. It's not all Manning's fault. The Gi...

REDSKINS 20 - GIANTS 13  The New York Giants rode in football purgatory continues after Sunday's 20-13 loss to the Redskins where Big Blue was uncompetitive and inept for the fifth straight week as their record fell to 1-7. Even after the team traded away cornerback Eli Apple and defensive tackle Damion "Snacks" Harrison, the toxic nature of the Giants continues to loom. The script Sunday was the same script Giants fans have seen play out for weeks. Heck, it's the same script they have seen play out since last year. For 60 minutes this game felt like one big tease. The Giants defense played well enough against the Redskins to keep the offense in it, but New York couldn't help but shoot itself in the foot over and over again. The offensive line could't create running lanes for Saquon Barkely, and they couldn't pass protect as Eli Manning was sack seven times, and, Manning for his part was down right awful when he did have time. There was the horri...

BEARS 24 - JETS 10  A Jets football team hamstrung by injuries was virtually lifeless on a cold, rainy Chicago afternoon as the Bears did more then enough in a 24-10 victory that sent Gang Green’s season into no man’s land at 3-5. Offensively the Jets did absolutely nothing (to put it bluntly) against a Bears defense that was missing the stud outside linebacker, Khalil Mack, who was nursing an ankle injury. The Jets managed only 207 yards off offense with 12 first downs, and were an anemic 3-of-14 on third downs. Sam Darnold wasn’t good, but the Jets rookie found himself playing with a supporting cast that wouldn’t be good enough for a CFL roster let alone the NFL. Two weeks ago, Darnold had Quincy Enunwa, Robby Anderson and Terrelle Pryor to throw to. Now he is was stuck with Deontay Burnett, Charone Peake and preseason’s fumble-extraordinaire Trenton Cannon. The only veteran in the lineup was Jermaine Kearse, but he never got into a rhythm with Darnold who found hi...

The New York Mets are on the precipice of making one of the most controversial hires in franchise history.   The Mets are negotiating a deal that will make Creative Artist Agency (CAA) sports agent Brodie Van Wagenen their next General Manager. Naming a sports agent as the head of baseball operations is extremely rare, although it has happened. The only other instance where it happened, the Diamondbacks made Dave Stewart their GM in 2014. But at least Stewart was a well-known baseball man, having played the game for nearly 20 years with the A’s, Dodgers, and Phillies to name a few teams. He was also an assistant to former Met GM Sandy Alderson in Oakland in the late 90s, before he became an agent. Van Wagenen doesn’t have that experience; he’s just an agent. It remains to be seen what kind of philosophy Van Wagenen has when it comes to baseball ops. What makes matters a little complicated is the fact that Van Wagenen has represented a number of players currently on the...

FALCONS 23 - GIANTS 20 When the Giants hired Pat Shurmur to be its head coach in January, they did so under the assumption that they hired an adult, someone who would be the anti-Ben McAdoo. Someone who could revitalize the career of Eli Manning and bring the Giants back to life one year after going 3-13. Instead, it has been more of the same and then some. One can even argue that the 2018 Giants under Shurmur are now worse than last year's version under McAdoo. Monday night's debacle in Atlanta was this team's waterloo.  Facing one of the NFL's worst defenses, the Giants couldn't get anything started until late in the fourth quarter. Running back Saquon Barkley was virtually ineffective, rushing for only 43 yards on 14 carries and Eli Manning once again played comatose. Even though he threw for 399 yards, he was sacked four times and couldn't engineer a scoring drive until the end of the game. A lot of that has to do with the execution as much as it doe...

VIKINGS 37 - JETS 17  The Jets have nobody to blame but themselves for Sunday’s loss 37-17 to the Minnesota Vikings, an afternoon that was defined by mistakes in all three facets of the game as the Jets dropped to 3-4 on the season. For a young team like the Jets, this kind of performance is expected, especially against a team like the Vikings. But what made Sunday’s defeat so frustrating is the Vikings were ripe for the picking. The Jets could have won this game had they played smarter.   While the turnover sheet shows the Jets turned the football over four times, the amount of mental and physical mistakes created a laundry list of problems for Gang Green. It seemed to all start when punter Lachlen Edwards received a horrible snap on a simple fourth down early in the second quarter and it just kept down hill from there. Edwards botched the punt, giving the Vikings the football at the Jets 40, and inspite of an inspired Jets defensive stand, Minnesota still go...