Some Thursday Rangers / Knicks / Chapel Bill Thoughts
Plus, an update on new content and exciting changes coming to TSSB…
I started writing this late Wednesday night while watching the Knicks on the big TV, with the Rangers - Sabres game also keeping me company on the iPad.
Trust me; I know how to rock and roll on a Wednesday night.
Anyway, it struck me as the perfect time to jump on and give a quick update on what to expect from me and this website over the coming weeks and in general, too.
Before I do that, though, I thought I would dish out a couple of sports thoughts while they are still fresh in my mind. These are hot right off the press…
I’m still a bit dumbfounded about the news that Bill Belichick - the winner and architect of six Super Bowl championships - will be jingling and jangling his way to North Carolina after taking the UNC job. It just strikes me as a strange move for a number of reasons. Firstly, Belichick is just 14 wins away from tying Don Shula’s all-time wins record. You would think passing Shula would mean a hell of a lot to Belichick. And, given the ton of Head Coach jobs that will open up in the NFL during the offseason, you’d also think that the most accomplished coach in pro football would have a good shot at getting one of those gigs. I also struggle to envision Belichick - a renowned curmudgeon and pain in the ass who wants to only do things his way - will relate to college kids when it comes to both recruiting and coaching. I’m not buying it. Then again, no matter what happens, it will be a fun and compelling experiment to watch play out. Plus, as my friend
mapped out, there is plenty of potential for this unlikely relationship to actually flourish. And, if you delve a little bit deeper, there are a slew of connections between Belichick and the college game, with his father, Steve, spending over 40 years in college football, including a stop at UNC. So, maybe it will work out, maybe it won’t. But, like a lot of car crash TV, I won’t be able to tear my eyes away from all things Chapel Bill.I don’t get the NBA Cup. I can’t stand those NBA Cup courts. And I’ve had enough of Trae Young swaggering into MSG and elevating his game like he’s Michael Jordan. Those are my initial reactions after watching the Knicks lose 108-100 to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night. Sure, I’ll happily admit that I’m not bothered the Knicks won’t be moving on in the NBA Cup. After all, winning a funky midseason tournament doesn’t mean anything; securing a high a seed as possible in the regular season standings and going on a deep run in the playoffs does, however. But, with that said, the way the Knicks lost to Atlanta was more than a little concerning. Especially the way they played after halftime and the implosion that followed. As was the fact that they continue to let Young bully them in their own building. Young is averaging 21.0 points per game this year yet, against the Knicks, he looks like the MVP of the entire league. That whole rolling dice celebration over the Knicks logo was sickening to watch, too. This team really needs to hand a total beatdown to Young and the Hawks. And soon. Whatever. All in all, I’m not too worried about this team moving forward. They’re still figuring it out and embedding two stars into a new system on the fly isn’t exactly easy to do. This will all take time to click. Plus, Karl-Anthony Towns has been elite in a Knicks uniform so far, and he recorded 19 points and 19 rebounds on Wednesday. So, no, I’m not sweating it about this team just yet, even if the second half performance was beyond embarrassing. I’m just glad I don’t have to pay any attention to the fugazi NBA Cup anymore. Oh by the way, for the best Knicks coverage out there, make sure to follow and subscribe to my friend
- Knicks Film School really is the best Knicks site out there with outstanding daily coverage, analysis and breakdowns.
We were treated to a real poopfecta in the NHL on Wednesday night. The Rangers - who were 2-7-0 heading into the game - beat the Sabres 3-2, with Buffalo now on an eight-game losing streak. Yikes. I’m still not sold on this current iteration of the Blueshirts, especially after they gave Buffalo life - twice - late in the third period. Something is very clearly wrong with the Rangers, and edging past a Sabres team that look likely to miss the postseason for the 14th consecutive season is hardly enough to stop fans from panicking. But, when you look at things from a 30,000ft view, what realistically can be done this year? It would be stupid to pull the trigger on a mass teardown midseason because you just aren’t going to get fair value back for certain players. You will almost certainly get less for Chris Kreider if you trade him now, as opposed to waiting and moving him in the summer. Also, with Jacob Trouba’s $8 million cap hit off the books, there will be some flexibility to make a move or two at the Trade Deadline. If I were in Chris Drury’s shoes, the GM of the Rangers, I’d look to add at the Deadline and give this team one more kick at the can. If they fall short in the playoffs again, then feel free to blow up the current core in the offseason when it is far easier to make wholesale roster changes. However, with all that said, the Rangers can go all out and trade for a hard-nosed star like Brady Tkachuk all they want - and I can’t really see that deal happening anytime soon - but it won’t matter unless their current stars start to right the ship. The likes of Kreider, Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniére all need to play a lot better. Most importantly, though, Mika Zibanejad needs to figure things out. And quick. The center - who scored on the power play against Buffalo - has just six goals and 21 points so far this year. This hasn’t been the same version of Mika Zibanejad and, quite frankly, the 31-year-old’s play has fallen off a cliff. So, unless he can find a way to get the train back on the tracks, I don’t really see a path in which this Rangers team can get back to being legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. The window appears to be rapidly closing.
I’m not one to gloat but, yes, I am very, very, very, very, very, very happy that Juan Soto is a New York Met. It is a landscape-altering, franchise-defining signing for the Mets. Not only are they relevant and a major destination after beating out the Yankees for a marquee free agent, but they also have the financial might and flexibility to add other pieces in pursuit of a World Series. I shared some thoughts on the Soto deal in the immediate aftermath, and I’ll be writing a lot more on what this means for the Mets, Yankees and baseball over the coming days, in addition to a ton of other baseball stuff too. Stay tuned.
With the fun stuff out of the way, now it’s time to dive into some general housekeeping.
I’m all too painfully aware that this newsletter / website has lacked some consistency. All of that is my own fault, obviously, and I’m determined to right that wrong immediately. All of the health issues I’ve mentioned in the past - both mental and physical - have now been dealt with and the plan is to write consistently every day. I want to fire out a newsletter into your inboxes every single day seven days a week. Now, depending on what’s going on in the sports world, you may even get more than one a day on certain days.
On that note, I’m also in the middle of making some incremental, but important, adjustments to the website. The entire purpose of this site is to feel like you are at a bar with your friends, hanging out, having fun and just talking sports all night. But just without having to put pants on and leave the house. I mean, what could be better than that?
When I renamed the website ‘The Steele Sports Bar,’ I did so with the intention of creating a really special and really fun online community for sports. Although I’m a sports writer, and that’s my profession, I’m a huge sports fan at my core. Just like you. And, at the end of the day, I just want to focus on all the good things that made us fall in love with sports in the first place. I want to strip away all the boring stuff, all the shady business crap, and instead just drill down into what makes sports, and being a sports fan, the most magical thing on the planet.
That’s going to be the entire essence of the website, and the newsletter, going forward.
To that end, from today onwards, we’re going to lean into what we’re good at. You aren’t pulling up a stool at ‘The Steele Sports Bar’ for breaking news, longform features straight from the heart of the locker room or game recaps. You can find all that stuff across a slew of different places on the internet, on sites that are far better equipped to deliver that kind of content, honestly.
What you will find on this site instead, however, is a lot of opinions about a plethora of everyday sports topics. From all the latest across the NFL, MLB, the NHL and the NBA, I’ll have you covered every single day with columns and thoughts-related pieces. I’ll also share my musings with you on anything and everything else that pops into this weird old head of mine. Furthermore, every Sunday I’ll publish a roundup of everything I’ve written that week, in addition to sharing with you the best things I’ve read / listened to / watched too.
Plus, one of the best things about sports is that it has the unique power to bring us all together like no other thing or entity on the planet. And the myriad of sports talk topics that are an essential staple of the everyday diet of the sports fanatic can bring together even the strangest of strangers. Therefore, going forward, I’ll be having a lot of fun with features like athletes I’d pay to go back in time to watch at their prime, historic sporting events I wish I could have witnessed, all-time lineups, my all-time Mets / Jets / Knicks / Devils lineups, my Mt. Rushmore of greatest and most underrated athletes in different sports, uniform rankings, top 10 / top 5 lists, sports media opinions and so much more.
I’ll also be incorporating live video into what we do here. Substack has introduced some really cool video features, and I want to make full use of those on this website, along with the chat function too. So if something major happens, like a trade or free agent signing, or on a Tuesday morning after the week’s NFL action, I’ll jump on and do a quick video giving my thoughts before opening up the comments for you to have at it.
I will dive into all of this in far more detail in a later post I’m currently working on but, all in all, I’m putting things in place with the aim of making this website the most fun place on the internet for sports fans.
Our community keeps growing day by day in large numbers, and I am forever grateful for your incredible support. We are building towards quite a special 2025, and I’m beyond pumped to show you what we’ve got cookin’ over the coming days, weeks and months.
See you tomorrow.