COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

Led by an impressive showing from quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, Rutgers found a way to hold off Ohio 34-31 in the season opener at SHI Stadium, Thursday in Piscataway.  A game that featured a combined 863 total yards and 48 first downs between the two teams, served as a showcase for a Rutgers offense that appears to be more "air-friendly" as compared to the past few years when the Scarlet Knights pounded the rock with the likes of Kyle Monangai and Isiah Pacheco.  "He's a winner," Head Coach Greg Schiano said of Kaliakmanis when describing his quarterback's conversion on a game-icing fourth and seven in the final minutes of the game. "I think his growth and development keeps showing."  "I am very encouraged about our offense, wide receivers, running backs, offensive line. There is depth there."  Drew Miller (7) celebrates his blocked punt TD. Michael Cohen  Rutgers spent much of the night with its offense in the shotgun formation, and Ka...

While the 2025 season is hitting the stretch drive,  Major League Baseball quickly gave fans a glimpse at 2026 as the league wide schedule finally dropped on Tuesday afternoon.    The Yankees will open the season on March 25 against the San Francisco Giants in the Bay Area. It will be the earliest regular season game on U.S. soil ever! Of course MLB has opened even earlier, including this year, when games were played internationally in Japan or Australia.  That won't be the case here.  Of course there is lot to like about a Giants-Yankees match-up to kick things off. 1) It's Aaron Judge's return to his home city; 2) Two flagship franchises that once played across the East River from each other with the Giants, formally at the Polo Grounds, and the Yankees, of course, in the Bronx.  Should be a fun one.  The rest of the league opens up the next day on March 26. The Mets will host the Pittsburgh Pirates that day.  The Yankees and Mets will have six ...

 The Tommy DeVito era is over with the New York Giants.  Big Blue was never going to keep four quarterbacks on its roster, and at the end of the day waived DeVito in a series of cuts as teams trim down rosters to the standard 53.  DeVito became a popular figure both on the team and among the fan-base when he lit a charge into the team a couple of years ago, winning games, and bringing some needed energy to the offense during the doldrums of the 2023 season.   Here was the local kid from New Jersey, who went from unknown third stringer to Italian-American superstar overnight.  From his family that felt like it was out of central casting, to his dapper agent, to the pinched fingers gesture, DeVito became a cultural figure.   What's next ?  DeVito could wind up on the Giants practice squad if he clears waivers. But there will be teams that could use him. One of them is in this town: the New York Jets.  The Jets (as usual) have issues at quarterback. ...

One-time top Yankees prospect Anthony Volpe sat again, as the Yankees beat up the Washington Nationals 10-5 on Monday night.  Volpe has spend the last two games on the bench as he mulls things over after leading the league in errors (17), coupled with his lack of production has made him the symbol of Yankees' fans angst.  Even with his benching, Aaron Boone remains stead fast in returning to the struggling infielder rather than play veteran Jose Caballero at short stop.  The Athletic reports the Yankees have no idea why Volpe is struggling. That is a huge indictment of the organization if it has no clue what is wrong with, and how to fix the guy who was positioned as the "next Derek Jeter" since he was in the Yankees farm system in 2021 and 2022.  Sure Volpe has 18 homers and a career best 65 RBI, the man is hitting .208 and looks lost at the plate. That and he is an automatic error at shortstop. We haven't see that since the days Chuck Knobloch was throwing baseba...

 Are the Mets figuring it out?  The Amazin's blew the doors off the Philadelphia Phillies 13-3 on Monday night to move to within six games of first place. More importantly, a loss by the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night, helped the Mets increase their lead for the last wild card to 2.5 games.  With 31 games to go, could the Mets finally be figuring it out?   They are offensively at the very least. In three of their last four games the Mets have scored 12, 9, and 13 runs respectively against the Braves and Phillies. They are 3-1 in those games.  Mark Vientos is sizzling at the dish. He's riding an eight game hitting streak heading into Tuesday with five homers and 13 RBI during that span.  The Mets have been waiting patiently all year for Vientos to turn it on, and he has finally figured out, resembling the hitter that was the Mets most lethal batter in the postseason last year.  Starling Marte, is another one, who finally healthy, is red hot right ...

 Leave it to baseball fans to jump the shark, if you will, and make wild assumptions online all while acting like whatever Rob Manfred was trying to say on Sunday Night Baseball when posed with the question of expansion and realignment, is the absolute end of the world.  Yankees and Mets in the same division? No?   Here is what Manfred said : "I can see that. The first two topics (expansion and realignment), "I think if we expand, it provides us with an opportunity to geographically realign," Manfred said. "I think we could save a lot of wear and tear on our players in terms of travel. And I think our postseason format would be even more appealing for entities like ESPN, because you'd be playing out of the east and out of the west."  Here is what most fans and pundits acted like Manfred said, (and we are making this up based on the reaction): "We are going to realign the divisions so the Mets and Yankees are the same division with the Phillies...

 The suddenly red-hot Yankees spanked the Tampa Bay Rays out at Steinbrenner Field, Tuesday night, to the tune of 13-3, as New York got back to flexing it's power with nine home runs, tying a club record.  The last time the Yankees offense was this potent was on March 29 when they corked nine bombs in a 20-9 beatdown of the Milwaukee Brewers that sent baseball fans into a tizzy over the use of the turbo bats.  Remember those days!?  Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton each launched a pair of home runs in the win, and Aaron Judge cracked his 40th moonshot of the year. All three players contributed to hit back-to-back-to-back home runs for the Bombers in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead.  Jazz Chisholm and Ben Rice also went deep for the Bombers. Even newly acquired Jose Caballero hit a solo shot in the ninth to cap off the scoring against his former team.  Since joining the Yankees at the deadline, Caballero is hitting .364 in 11 games with two homers an...