NEW YORK, NY – We’re full into one of the busiest and most interesting months for sports fans. The bearded #NHL battle for Lord Stanley’s Cup and painstakingly prolonged #NBA playoffs are in full swing, as is Major League Baseball (some swinging and missing more than others). We’ve also got 6 teams (including NY’s franchise out of MCU Park) with a realistic shot at 4 playoff spots in year 2 of Major League Rugby. Soccer doesn’t count for this pundit, so that’s the only play it will get here. But as April showers turn into May flowers and Mother Nature slides summer in, the past 30 days have been both exciting and confounding. Thus, today’s headline and topics for conversation: Boys of Bummer: Teams and Sports Stars That Have Disappointed This Month. (Ben Whitney will supply the acronym come Tuesday).
New York Brooklyn Islanders: How many of you can name their head coach? How many of you know where they played their home games in the playoffs? How many of you know they were in the playoffs? The point is, the Fish Sticks marketing stinks like sturgeon left on the 7th train docked in Hunter’s Point. 
And the NHL ain’t much better at it. Bryan Trotz ( whose last name sounds like Bryan Trottier’s nickname) and his Icelanders (you’re welcome, Steve Somers) were a great story and two things kept the masses from knowing more about them: 1) the Carolina Hurricanes and 2) Management’s decision to play at Barclay’s, rather than Nassau Coliseum. Sure, the Masoleum is an antiquated dump. But Islanders fans love it out of romanticized spite now and rock the joint. The players swim to the top of the tank and feed off it. Meanwhile, Brooklyn blows for hockey. Ah, what could have been for Tall Matt, Rex O’Rourke and their Uniondale pals.
https://youtu.be/ZeVgGfTxR_U
Manny Machado: The big dollar free agent signing for the San Diego Padres has been as quiet as a Pad’s game in September. Yet, the team is doing pretty well. The player stealing the headlines has been Fernando Tatis, Jr., even while injured. They have some offense in what has mostly anemic throughout the course of the Friars’ history. But they are in a division with teams that are simply better, and look as though that won’t change for years. That stick’s in my craw about Machado; that he had to know he was destined for a life of mediocrity and chose money over winning. Ironically, he’d have shown us something if he took less to play in The House That Greed Built up in the Bronx. But maybe it’s just Manny being Manny.
Speaking of anemic…
Anemic Mets: The Amazin’ Anemics have gotten very good pitching in the last 4 games. The staff has allowed only 8 runs in those four games, 2 of which were unearned. Pretty good, right? You’d take those numbers any day. You team would likely win at least 3 of those games, right? Wrong. They lost 3 of 4, scoring only 5 runs in the four innings, which included an especially difficult 18-inning loss last night. But it can only get better, right? Wrong again. Vargas is on the hill. Bet your mortgage that Bernie The Brewer gets splinters from the Home Run Slide today. Blame the Shadow of David Wright, this time in the form of Todd Frazier. He came back and the kids tightened up. Cut. Him. Now.
NY Giants: Did they draft another Dave Brown and set the franchise back 5+ years? Ask Jim Fassel and Phil Simms. Or Dan Reeves. If names tell the story, Daniel Jones is arguably less exciting than David Brown.
Come back tomorrow for a man that never is less than exciting, Cheesy Bruin!
#Isles #Islanders #FishSticks #DanielJones #NYGiants #NYMets #Mets #LGM #Yankees #MannyMachado #Padres #RUNY #Rugby
