COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

And so ends another bizarre era in Knicks basketball history. Perhaps the weirdest. Kristaps Porzingis , once the apple of the Knicks eye, the key cog to the their future, the 7-foot-3 Latvian was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks along with Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee. For the Knicks and Porzingis was was as much about turning the page than anything else. Porzingis was always unhappy in New York. A couple years ago he publicly complained about life under the Phil Jackson regime; and reports on Thursday indicated that Porzingis still was not happy with the Knicks, even with a new regime in place. For a player who has spent the past year on injured reserve as he heals from ACL surgery, he really had no ground to stand on to complain about his place in the organization. The hope was that Porzingis would be the center piece to attract a major free agent talent this summer. Now those plans change. The 23-year old Porzingis wanted no part of the future of the Knicks. He'll ins...

In an offseason where it seems that just about every team is refusing to pony up on boatloads of cash on top free agents like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, in Queens it is business as usual. Because when it comes to the Mets it’s almost always about dollars and cents. During a luncheon this week with Mets beat reporters at Citi Field, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon threw water on the idea they would jump into the mix for one of the prized free agents by saying the Mets already have a $30 million player in Yoenis Cespedes. The same Yoenis Cespedes who is going to be out for more than half of the 2019 season as he recovers from heel surgery.   The same Yoenis Cespedes whom the Mets could recoup as much as a reported $7 million from in insurance should he be out through the All-Star Break. “I don’t know how many teams have two   $30 million players,” Wilpon said. Well, it is true; there aren’t a lot of teams with multiple $30 million players. But the facts are th...

The greatest closer in the history of the game is officially heading to Cooperstown . Mariano Rivera became the first player to ever be elected into the Hall of Fame unanimously. The only player to come close to receiving 100 percent of the vote in baseball history was Ken Griffey Jr., two years ago. Beginning his career as a struggling starting pitcher in 1995, Rivera moved into the Yankee bullpen in 1996 and never looked back. In '96 he was the set-up man to John Wetland on the Yankees World Series championship team. By 1997 he became the Bombers closer - a job he would hold for the next 15 years, transforming into the greatest and most dominate closer in the history of the game. Coming into each outing to the strings and guitar of Metallica's Enter Sandman, you knew the game was over. Over his 19-year career, Rivera would amass 652 saves, a 2.21 ERA and WHIP of 1.00. His dominance wasn't just reserved for the regular season of course. In the playoffs Rivera nailed d...

RAMS 26 - SAINTS 23 - OT PATRIOTS 37 - CHIEFS 31 - OT  Welcome to another year of a Super Bowl that nobody wanted. Sunday's conference championship games proved to be two of the most controversial in the history of the league as the both the Patriots and Rams advance to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta. The Rams place in the game has come under intense scrutiny due to a horrible non-call on Rams corner Nickell Robey Coleman for slamming Saints receiver Tommy Lee Lewis as a pass by quarterback Drew Brees was coming in his direction on third and 10 at the Rams' 13-yard line. In a year where pass interference has been called way too often, the officials ate the whistle and did flag Robey-Coleman with a personal foul. Had that happened, the Saints would have had a new set of downs at around the five yard line. They might have scored to take a 27-20 lead, but that is just assumption at this point. As is the theory that the call blew the Saints chances to win. Yes, the call im...

While many Yankees fans are complaining about the team not going hard after Manny Machado, the Bronx Bombers beefed up their bullpen with former Colorado Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino.  Ottavino signed an three-year deal that will pay him $27 million, as he joins Zach Britton as the other free agent addition to the bullpen this offseason. Now the Yankees are looking at the prospect of having Ottavino and Britton join Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman in what could be one of baseball's best bullpen's.  Really Ottavino is a no-brainer for the Yankees.  For starters he is a New York native, so pitching close to home is a huge boon for the 33-year old from Brooklyn.  More importantly, he is coming off the best season of his career. In 2018, Ottavino gave up only 21 earned runs in 77.2 innings of work, walking 36 and striking out 112. His efforts were good enough for a microscopic WHIP of 0.99 and an ERA of 2.43. And this coming from a guy who pitched at...

More revelations are coming out about the three-ring circus that was the Jets coaching search that produced Adam Gase as head coach. According to Jason LaConfora of CBS Sports , the reason the Jets didn't hire former Packers coach Mike McCarthy was because McCarthy was not pleased with the front office structure of the Jets, and wanted more say on his staff. " McCarthy harbored some concerns about the structure and composition of the Jets front office, sources said, though he did have a productive interview with ownership and team officials. "However, as the Jets began deeper conversations with their finalists for the job, it became clear he was not going to mesh with their direction. "Specifically, sources said, the Jets asked to see a list of a potential coaching staff so that they could peruse and consider the options. McCarthy complied with the request but began to have reservations about the process at this point, sources said, and was unsure if this wou...

Leave it to the New York Jets to find a way to foul this up. This was supposed to be easy, a no brainer. Mike McCarthy was the obvious choice to be the Jets new head coach moving forward in 2019 and beyond. While some said his offensive strategy was stale, you couldn’t argue that a man with 125 wins as a head coach, eight division titles and a Super Bowl ring would not be a good hire. In fact, the Jets should have begged him to take the job. Everything was right there in front of the Jets, especially after McCarthy’s people sent out word on social media that he wanted the Jets job. That should have been enough to end this silly search. Instead the Jets turned a two week coaching search into a three-ring circus leaving fans spinning their heads 360 degrees like the Exorcist. The only thing missing is barfing green pea soup. Then again, maybe an exorcism is what this franchise needs right about now. Around 3 p.m. ET, as teams like the Cardinals, Bucs, Broncos, and B...

The New York Jets have completed their interview with former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. The long awaited meeting between the Jets front office and McCarthy took place Saturday afternoon, although details about how long the meeting went and whether the Jets will bring him back for a second interview is not known. The interview with McCarthy wasn’t really expected until later this upcoming week, so it is interesting that the two sides bumped up their talk to today. McCarthy is now the third person to formally interview for the job joining Chiefs Offensive Coordinator Eric Bienemy and former Dolphins Coach Adam Gase. The Jets are still expected to interview Cowboys Defensive Back’s Coach Kris Richard on Sunday and former Buccaneers Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken sometime next week. In the eyes of most Jets fans, McCarthy would be the desired choice. McCarthy spent 13 seasons as Packers head coach, posting a record of 125-77-1 with a Super Bowl title in 201...