COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

 Back in 2003 when All Star Goalie Mike Richter retired New York Rangers fans could only hope they could find a goalie as good as the one who helped lead the Broadway Blue Shirts to a Stanley Cup title in 1994. Some two years after Richter retired, they found the rightful heir to the throne in Henrik Lundqvist. While Lundqvist didn't win a Stanley Cup in his 15 years at net for the Rangers, he became beloved by fans who dubbed him "the King." Lundqvist is the all-time leader in franchise history in games played (887), wins (459) and save percentage (.918). He won the Vezina Trophy in 2012 as the NHL's top goaltender. He holds the record for most wins by a European-born goaltender in the NHL. On Friday night, Lunqvist's number 30 joined Richter's number 31 in the rafters at Madison Square Garden.   Richter along with Rangers legends Mark Messier, Adam Graves and Brian Leetch were all on hand to welcome Lundqvist to the exclusive club. Only 11 Rangers have had t...

 After a thorough vetting process the New York Giants have officially named former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as Head Coach.  The hiring isn't the least bit surprising considering Daboll has long been perceived to be the favorite to land the job, especially after the Giants hired former Bills Assistant General Manager Joe Schoen as their new General Manager.  Both Daboll and Schoen worked together the past four years, and are said to be close friends.  Daboll was one of five candidates for the job including for Miami Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores, Dallas Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Dan Quinn, Bills Defensive Coordinator Leslie Fraizer, and Giants Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham.  Quinn pulled his name from consideration and returned to Dallas. Reports were Friday that he was more interested in Denver's head coaching job before they settled on Green Bay Offensive Coordinator Nathanael Hackett.  The Giants interviewed Flores on...

 When Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz were expected to appear on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2022, everyone knew that there would be a visceral, angry reaction one way or the other. On Tuesday night, the Internet blew up when Ortiz received 77.9 percent of the vote, while other accused and suspected steroid users like Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez were not voted in. In fact this was the final year of eligibility for both Clemens and Bonds.  Bonds only received 66 percent of the vote. Clemens got 65.2 percent. Former Diamondbacks and Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling was also removed from future consideration after drawing less than 60 percent of the vote. Fans were in a uproar.  David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez, much like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGuire before them were faces of the steroid era. Rodriguez was suspended for the entire 2014 season for using performance enhancing drugs. Ortiz was never suspended, although ...

 Buffalo Bills Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll is getting a second interview with the Giants on Tuesday, and it will be in person. This comes as the Giants are also set to interview former Falcons Head Coach and current Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Dan Quinn for the head coaching job. Daboll is the first coaching candidate the Giants have interviewed who is getting a second interview. He interviewed via zoom on Friday. Typically second interviews in person are a good indicator that a team is closing in on “their guy” for head coach. General Manager Joe Schoen is well versed in Daboll’s coaching ability and personality, having worked with him in Buffalo the past four years when Daboll was the O.C. and Schoen was Assistant GM. Daboll has perceived to be the favorite for the job for some time.  The Giants have also interviewed Bills Defensive Coordinator Leslie Fraizer, Cincinnati Bengals Defensive Coordinator Lou Anarumo, and Quinn. Former Dolphins Head Coach B...

 The Giants named Buffalo Bills Assistant General Manager Joe Schoen, (pronounced 'Shane') as their new General Manager on Friday, and in earnest began interviewing Head Coaching candidates, namely Bills Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll.  While the Bills are still in the playoffs, and depending on how they do on Sunday in Kansas City, could remain in the playoffs for another three weeks, the fact the Giants interviewed Daboll first, and his connections to Schoen, might indicate that he is an early favorite for the job.  Schoen spent the past five years with the Bills as Assistant GM under Brandon Beane. He is credited as being part of a front office that orchestrated a franchise turnaround from destitute loser to perennial Super Bowl contender.  Whether that makes Schoen a shoe-in to be a success down I-81 is anyone's guess. He has to hit on the head coach first. There are a number of candidates aside from Daboll, who are interested. Namely former Dolphins head coa...

 If the 2021-22 Brooklyn Nets weren't facing enough challenges this season, they received probably the worst news they could get: Kevin Durant is out for the next month-plus with a sprained MCL. Durant suffered the injury to his knee in Brooklyn's 120-105 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the realistic timetable for Durant's return is sometime after the All Star Break, which is between February 18-23. The good news for Brooklyn is obvious, Durant is expected back before the playoffs begin in late April. He should be fully recovered by then. In addition 11 of the next 14 games are on the road, meaning Kyrie Irving will be on the court for Brooklyn. Last year the Nets went 16-3 in games where they only had Harden and Irving on the floor. The Nets have put a lot on the shoulders of the 33-year old Durant since he signed with the Nets over two years ago. Last year he carried the Nets through the playoffs when the t...

When asked whether the 2021 season was one of the most embarrassing he has seen from the New York Giants, owner and CEO John Mara paused for a beat before answering, "Yes, yes it is. I kept thinking during the season we hit rock bottom and then each week it got a little worse." Mara sounded both contrite, exhausted and frustrated during a 20-minute news conference with reporters the day after he and co-owner Steve Tisch fired head coach Joe Judge after two years on the job. The firing of Judge echos a full house cleaning for Big Blue after General Manager David Gettleman "retired" at the end of the season on Sunday. "We've gotten into this process for too often recently," Mara added.  "There is nothing more painful to me than making that walk down a hallway to tell a good person like Joe that we are making a change. We have done it far too often. We are going to get it right this time." Judge is the third head coach in six season for Big Blue...

 The New York Mets will retire the number of Keith Hernandez this summer, a move Mets fans have wanted to see happen for many years. Hernandez's number 17 will be lifted to the rafters of Citi Field on July 9 before a match-up with the Miami Marlins. Hernandez becomes the fourth player to be so honored, joining Mike Piazza (31), Jerry Koosman (36) and the late Tom Seaver (41). Gil Hodges (14) and Casey Stengel (37) have their numbers retired as managers. Hernandez will also be the first member of the 1986 World Series championship team to have such an honor bestowed to him. In the summer of 1983 then Mets General Manager Frank Cashen sent relievers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for the All Star first baseman, who had already won a World Series in St. Louis. Hernandez was initially hesitant about staying with the Mets until he began to see the plethora of budding young talent coming up through the Mets farm system. In so many ways Hernandez was th...

 Giants fans can finally take a deep sigh of relief. The New York Giants officially fired embattled Head Coach Joe Judge after ownership spent the past two days meeting with Judge to gauge his plans for the team moving forward.  Judge finished 10-23 in two seasons as Giants head coach.  The Giants entered 2021 with very high expectations, but the team never even came close to matching them. A combination of poor play in big spots early in the season, combined with injuries and finally inept, noncompetitive play in the final month and a half of the season was too much.  Two weeks ago Judge had a bizarre 11-minute rant in which he claimed the Giants were not a "clown show" bringing up the scuffle on the sideline with the Washington Football Team as an example. Then against Washington, the Giants chose to do two quarterback sneaks out of the shadow of their own goalline that was totally ludicrous.  Finally, the fans just couldn't take it anymore. Fans were in MetLi...

 Giants fans got one half of what they wanted following a disappointing 4-13 season, General Manager David Gettleman is history .  Gettleman officially "retired" as Giants GM after four mediocre seasons running the Giants franchise. It was a tenure marred by bad decisions and horrible play on the field as the Giants went a combined 19-46 during Gettleman's four years.  Of the many mistakes by Gettleman, none were bigger than the drafting of running back Saquon Barkley with the second overall pick in a quarterback heavy draft in 2018 when the Giants clearly needed to find the successor to Eli Manning. Gettleman opted to stay with Manning another year.  As for Barkley, after a break-out rookie season in 2018, he struggled to repeat that performance henceforth. Injuries played a big role, as a ACL tear in week 2 of the 2020 season ended his year, and sent him down a path where he is a shell of the player he once was.  Gettleman also drafted quarterback Daniel Jones...

 BILLS 27 - JETS 10  Anyone paying attention to all the wild playoff clinching scenarios that were taking place Sunday afternoon knew the Jets were in a very tough spot in Buffalo late Sunday.  And what happened Sunday was predictable as the Jets were slammed by the Bills 27-10 in the season finale, as Buffalo clinched the AFC East title for the second straight season.  In fact Buffalo clinched the division before the game was over thanks to the Miami Dolphins 33-24 win over the New England Patriots.  The Jets were putrid offensively. A combination of injuries to the offensive line, wide receivers, and Zach Wilson's tendency to hold onto the football way too long paved the way for a brutal night for the Jets.  Wilson was knocked down 19 times, sacked eight times, and only completed 7-of-20 passes for 87 yards. He was totally under siege against the best defense in the NFL.  Yet somehow the Jets managed to hang around for most of the evening due in part...

 WASHINGTON 22 - GIANTS 7  What will be the fate of head coach Joe Judge? Well, if you ask Giants fans and pundits, they want to see Judge handed a pink slip. Outrage on social media has grown louder by the day, and it hit a fever pitch on Sunday in the second quarter of the Giants 22-7 loss to the Washington Football Team.  With Big Blue trailing 3-0, the Giants decided - TWICE - to go for a quarterback sneak deep inside their own territory in order to avoid the potential for a safety. Giants fans lost their cool, and one can understand why. The Giants offense has lacked creativity all season, and ever since Judge fired offensive coordinator Jason Garrett in the middle of the season, the offense has spiraled into mind-numbing proportions.  Where was the aggression? Where was the passion? The Giants are a 4-13 football, there should have been a willingness to do something to get the offense moving, and there was nothing.  When asked about the play Judge said , "...

BUCCANEERS 28 - JETS 24  There comes a point in the development of a young team that the very idea of "moral victory" has to go out the window, especially when actual victory is there for the taking.  The Jets instead bobbled that opportunity. It wasn't a buttfumble, but it certainly was a major brain fart by Head Coach Robert Saleh and Offensive Coordinator Mike LeFluer as the Jets, facing a fourth and two-plus inside the Buccaneers five yard line, decided to go for it, up 24-20, rather than kick a field to extend their lead to a full touchdown.  Not only did they decide to go for it, they decided to have Zach Wilson keep it on a quarterback sneak. The result: Wilson was stopped at the line of scrimmage.  Turnover on downs.  The Jets didn't score any points on a drive where the Bucs used all of their timeouts, and the Jets were poised to end the game out right.  Instead, Tom Brady got the football back, and he did exactly what the GOAT always...

 BEARS 29 - GIANTS 3  Another week, another unwatchable effort for the New York Giants. It has become commonplace of late here in the 2021-22 season as the Giants managed only one field goal, and finished the game with minus-10 yards passing in a 29-3 loss to the Chicago Bears. It was the third time in the last five games that the G-Men failed to score a touchdown, and the fourth time in five weeks they failed to score more than 10 points. Head Coach Joe Judge emphatically tried to defend his players after another dispiriting defeat: "This ain't a team that is having fistfights on the sidelines. This ain't some clown show organization or something else," Judge said. "You talk about the foundation built. The toughest thing to change in a team, in a club, is the way people think. You understand that? That is the toughest thing. You can get new players. You can have your damn locker room all you want. You have to change how people think. You have to change how they ...