COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

 Can't say nobody saw this one coming.  The New York Mets fired embattled manager Carlos Mendoza amid the team's current six-game losing streak, highlighted by a four-game sweep at the hands of the Chicago Cubs at Citi Field.  When a team is as bad as the Mets are, which is 13-games under .500 (34-47), and 10 games out of a wild card and 16 out of the division, the manager, typically is the one that goes first especially if that team has a payroll as high as the Mets.  While you can debate Mendoza's lineup strategy, or his earnestness to run to the bullpen at the drop of a pop-up, this debacle that was the 2026 season was not his fault.   Mendoza was a decent manager (206-199), and a better man. He deserved a better fate, and hopefully for him he can land elsewhere as a bench coach and rebuild his rep. In many ways he's the lucky one as he departs with the seventh highest winning percentage a mong Mets skippers , and is one of seven managers to take the fra...

 The New York Knicks are back on top of the basketball world.  After 53 long years; five decades of broken promises and shattered dreams, fans of New York's preeminent basketball team were allowed to shed some tears.  Tears indeed. But tears of joy.    As they have seemingly all series long, and all postseason long, the Knicks fell behind by double-digits to the young, athletic and potent San Antonio Spurs in the early stages of the first half, only to storm back by the fourth quarter to snatch away victory by a score 94-90 while capturing the franchises first title since 1973.  Leading the way was Jalen Brunson, an easy MVP recipient on this night, because he put his team on his back when it needed him the most.  Sure it would be easy to shrug at a loss in Game  5. The Knicks were up 3-1 in the series, and who wouldn't want to celebrate a championship in front of the home fans. Only thing is don't tell that to these Knicks, and don't tell that to...

 As Al Michaels once said, "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"  The New York Knicks just had one of those rare seminal moments in sports that will forever be etched in time, never to be forgotten, and ingrained in the memory and DNA of all fans in and around the Tri-State area.  Think of Mookie Wilson sending a ground ball down the first baseline of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The ball hugs the first baseline, and somehow, miraculously slides under Bill Buckner's extended glove and rolls into the outfield. Ray Knight scores the winning run! Mets win! Mets win!  Think of Stephan Matteau i n the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals of the NHL, when he swung around the net and got the puck past Devils Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur for the game winning shot that sent the Rangers to the Finals, a finals they would win over Vancouver.   Think of Eli Manning heaving a pass downfield that somehow by the grace of God,  David Tyree pins up against his helmet ...

With throngs of celebrities including President Donald Trump, Mayor Zorhan Mandami among others packing into Madison Square Garden for the first NBA Finals game in 27 years, the New York Knicks laid an egg, and now find themselves in a series after the San Antonio Spurts answered their 2-0 series lead with a 115-111 victory over New York on Monday night.  The game itself will best be remembered probably as the Flagrant Foul Game, as twice the Spurs could have been called for Flagrant One Fouls that left Knicks guard Jalen Brunson peeling himself off the court, but they were not called.  Then there was the moment when Spurs guard Julian Champagnie tripped over his own two feet, which just so happen to be under Brunson's stretched out legs. Champagnie sold it as Burnson stepping on his ankle and was rewarded as Brunson was called for a Flagrant foul.   Brunson would have to spend much of the fourth quarter on the bench with four fouls on the night as the Knicks went s...

 There are games, and then there are games that can redefine careers an era, and in this case an NBA Finals.  The New York Knicks were enjoying a 14-points with six minutes to go in Game 2 before Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs rallied off 14 consecutive points to tie the game at 97, and even briefly took a 104-102 lead with 57 seconds to go on Wembanyama's lay-up and free throw shot.  If the Knicks had lost this game, it would have gone down as an inexplicable and painful way to watch a 12-game winning streak come to a screeching halt.  The Knicks had been in foul trouble all night, and despite missing some big shots early in the game, had rallied themselves back from a 12-point deficit to take the lead at the half.  A dominant third quarter had New York giddy at the prospects. Blowing it all could have been devastating.  That is when things drastically changed.    First Jalen Brunson tied the game on a 13-foot jumper with 39 ticks to go, setting...

 The New York Yankees 2026 season is going to take a huge hit.  It's pretty inevitable after word came down that Aaron Judge would miss 4-6 weeks, and possibly as much as two months after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right rib.  Judge, who was hitting .248 with 17 homers and 38 RBI this season, says he doesn't want to put any timetable on the injury, and his return. "You never know what's going to happen," he said.  According to The Athletic, Judge had been playing with the injury since late April when he landed awkwardly while diving for a catch while trying to avoid a teammate in Houston on April 26. Writes Brandon Kuty of the Athletic: "Since the end of the series in Houston, Judge has hit .263 with seven home runs and a .888 OPS in 31 games. But his production fell off a cliff after May 10, and he batted .206 with a home run and a .613 OPS since then." How will this affect the Yankees season is anyone's guess at this point. Th...

 The Knicks trailed by 13 points, 63-50 with 8:02 to go in the third quarter after San Antonio's Stephen Castle connected on a tip shot. At that point the Spurs had a 90.6 percent chance to win Game 1 of these NBA Finals, while sending a huge message to the Knicks and the rest of the league that these Spurs have arrived.  Then, the Knicks woke up.  Maybe it was because the Spurs opted to give their big man Victor Wembanyama a few minutes off, but once the 7-foot-4 giant who tortured the Knicks on the boards, even if he wasn't shooting well on the night, was out of the way New York settled down.  Mikal Bridges 11-foot jumper got it started, cutting the deficit to 12. That bucket was the first of an 11-0 run by the Knicks as they sliced the deficit down to six points 67-61.  Then Landry Shamet, who struggled all night long, finally connected on a big three-pointer to cut the Spurs lead to five. Then Karl Anthony Towns did his thing over the next handful of possess...