Reasons To Be Thankful For Every New York Sports Team I Root For
It hasn't exactly been a vintage year for NY sports, but here's one reason I'm grateful for each of my teams anyway...
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hopefully by this point you are battling through and getting ready to tackle a second - or third - plate having just watched the Packers take down the Lions in the first game of the day.
Today, as you all know, is all about being thankful for the things we have in our life right now. It is about being grateful for what we’ve got.
And that got me thinking.
While it is true that being a New York sports fan sucks right now - what’s new, honestly - it isn’t all bad. I mean, I could be a Cleveland sports fan. Or, God forbid, an Oakland fan. Those poor, poor bastards.
We don’t have it all that bad. We don’t. I mean, I think the vast majority of Major League Baseball teams would love to be a near-lock for the playoffs every single year, like the Yankees. 2023 being the exception, obviously.
So, with that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to list the one reason I’m thankful this year for every one of the New York sports teams I follow.
Here goes…
New York Rangers
Alexis Lafrenière
There’s no doubt that the biggest X-factor heading into this season for the Rangers was the continued development of their young players. If Alexis Lafrenière, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko could take that next giant leap, well that would certainly help to widen the win-now window.
There is also no doubt that Lafrenière has been the one to take that giant leap. And then some.
The former No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft has been nothing short of sensational through the opening two months of the season. He has eight goals and four assists for 12 points in 17 games, while averaging a career-high 16:38 of total ice time.
Plenty of experts are extolling the virtues of Lafrenière’s stellar play right now, and rightly so. His underlying metrics are all incredibly impressive, his skating has improved tenfold, he gives it everything he’s got every single shift and he just appears fully locked in.
Everything seems to be clicking for the 22-year-old right now.
You can even make the case that he’s arguably been the most important player for the Rangers up to this point. He’s certainly played a crucial role in their impressive 13-3-1 start to the season. Just look at what transpired on Wednesday night. In a tight game against a divisional rival in Pittsburgh, Lafrenière scored the only goal of the game on a breakaway in the first period. It was a filthy backhander that beat Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry, and it was another welcome reminder that this is the version of Alexis Lafrenière the Rangers have been patiently waiting for.
Of all the many great things to like about this team right now, Lafrenière showing tangible signs of a real breakout season is something I’m beyond thankful for.
New York Knicks
Tom Thibodeau
In a week where James Dolan has reminded everyone why he is one of the worst owners in sports (I think Dolan and Colts owner Jim Irsay are in direct competition to see who can prove themselves as the biggest tool), I find myself being thankful for a guy who probably doesn’t get the credit that he deserves.
Tom Thibodeau.
On the cusp of becoming the longest-tenured Head Coach under Dolan - and that deserves a lifetime achievement award in itself - Thibodeau is playing a direct role in keeping us Knicks fans sane. And that takes some doing when you have a jackwagon of an owner who seems determined to torch everything within reach.
Sure, an 8-6 record is hardly awe-inspiring, and the fact that the Knicks are 5-0 against teams under .500 but 1-5 against teams that are above .500 is a slight concern.
However, it is still early and what this team does have thanks to its coach is an identity. You know what you are getting from this Knicks team on a nightly basis. They are competitive and Thibodeau is squeezing every last ounce of juice out of what he’s got to work with.
When you have a batshit crazy owner, the kind of stability that Thibodeau brings is something I’m incredibly thankful for.
New York Jets
The (hoped) end of the awful Zach Wilson Era
I’m not going to say I told you so but, yeah, I told you Zach Wilson was garbage.
Okay, so I’m hardly alone in thinking that, but there did seem to be a slew of fans willing to die on the hill that maybe Wilson could be saved. I don’t know if that’s because they allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the pro-Wilson propaganda that the Jets have been trying to shove down our throats, but I never bought into that thinking.
Three years in, I know all there is to know and Wilson has no future with this team.
And, after being benched for the final three drives of the brutal loss to the Bills on Sunday, it does seem more than likely that Zach Wilson’s career with the New York Jets is all but officially over.
At least I hope it is.
It isn’t anything personal. I’m sure Wilson is a great kid, and I hope he can salvage his NFL career elsewhere. But he’s done in New York. He hasn’t shown any glimpses of being a franchise QB from Day 1, and the few flashes we have seen are vastly overshadowed by the slew of jaw-dropping and mind-boggling mistakes we have seen from him on a weekly basis.
Granted, he wasn’t helped by this organization. The Jets failed Wilson, as much as Wilson failed the Jets. An abject failure to surround Wilson with a veteran quarterback for his rookie season proved both stupid and fatal, while few QB’s would actually succeed with that hot, stinking dumpster fire of an offensive line.
But, on the flip side, Wilson has shown time and time and time again that he hasn’t got the skillset required to be able to put a team on his back and win games. He can lose games on his own - as he’s made a disturbing pattern of doing throughout his first three years in the NFL - but he’s been unwilling to elevate a team. He hasn’t thrown three touchdown passes in a single game, he has a completion percentage of just 56.6 percent, and he’s thrown more interceptions (25) than touchdowns (21). Oh, and before a touchdown on Sunday, Wilson had failed to guide the Jets into the end zone for 12 straight quarters and 40 straight possessions. Holy crap.
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At this point, it is best just to be blunt. Jets GM Joe Douglas suffered the all-time brain fart by thinking Wilson was a better figure of hope than Sam Darnold. Wilson should never have been drafted by this franchise. When he was, he shouldn’t have just been handed the starting job. He should have been made to fight for it. He should have been cut or traded this offseason and put out of his misery.
Instead, Wilson was allowed to stick around and, after the first glimmer of hope we’ve had in decades went up in flames with Aaron Rodgers going down hurt minutes into his Jets career, the season has now been left on life support with Wilson once again proving that he isn’t the answer. He never has been, nor will he ever be the answer for this franchise.
Hopefully now the Jets learn from their previous mistakes, do the right thing and part ways with Wilson this coming offseason. Allow him the benefit of a fresh start elsewhere, while giving Rodgers a worthy backup that can navigate the system as and when called upon.
Zach Wilson is a bust. There is just no escaping from that fact. It was a failed experiment from the very beginning, and I’m thankful that we’re now (hopefully) admitting defeat and moving on. It is the right thing to do across the board.
New York Mets
David Stearns
I’ll keep this one short, but I’m very thankful for David Stearns and the fact that the Mets finally have a competent president of baseball operations running the show.
Stearns was the gargantuan white whale that owner Steve Cohen had been chasing ever since he bought the team back in 2020. This franchise has been ravaged by mismanagement in the front office for decades, so hiring a true baseball savant and a bright young mind was always going to be the priority for Cohen.
Stearns checks all the boxes and he’s been uber-aggressive early in his first offseason in Queens. He’s gutted the roster and created a hell of a lot of flexibility in the process. The Mets are in rebuild mode but they can take a giant leap towards being a legit contender by making the right moves this offseason.
Okay, so the hard work is still to come and Stearns is going to be judged by the moves he makes in free agency and via the trade market. However, for the first time since I started rooting for this team, I actually have total confidence in the front office and I trust Stearns to make the right moves required to get this thing back on the right tracks.
And I haven’t been able to say that about a member of the Mets front office for a long, long time. For that, I think we can all be thankful.