NIAGARA FALLS, NY – Happy Monday!The dog days of summer have begun, and the kids are home. Well, my son is home, and my daughter will start being home at the end of this week. So with all that going on, let’s push that aside and get to this week’s topics: The Knicks championship celebration, Mets Update and a World Cup update.
Knicks Championship Parade
The Knicks championship parade was Thursday, and the number of people I know in person who went was a lot. The 15-year-old boy in me almost cried watching that parade. I mean, it was New York at its finest. There was good footage of people being ridiculous, a fight here and there, but really just watching the players and their friends and family—the broadcasters carrying it and sharing it—was beautiful. The reality that this team will be partially dismantled because of salary cap realities and younger stars coming in and older players making more money is just the way it goes in American sports. But I have a lot of faith in Leon Rose, and I think he’s got credibility in the bank now for James Dolan to stay out of his way. And dare I say, the dynasty is possible. The rest of the league will get better, though, so we’ll see. But the parade and that moment were just the most beautiful things I’ve seen in ages, and I smiled so much
Mets Week In Review
Man, the Mets know how to bring you down. This week they went 2-4, taking only one from the Reds and one from the Phillies. They’re still stuck in last place, and they’re still nine games under .500. It’s becoming much clearer that the second-highest payroll in baseball is going to be dead last in the division and struggle to be anything other than second- or third-from-last in the National League. I mean, they could get hot—they’ve shown the ability to go on a three-game win streak here and there, and they’re capable of that. But I don’t see it. Maybe when they get all of their first-choice players back, like Lindor and Robert, things could change. But I’m not holding my breath. Let’s see if they can at least do a slow and steady climb to .500.
World Cup Update
So it looks like the usual chaos is out of the World Cup. The US won its first game while having its captain unavailable due to visa issues. I’m kind of getting the sense that the US has already booked its place for the second round after dominating Paraguay 1-0. They had another strong performance, winning 2-0.
I am really impressed by head coach Mauricio Pochettino because I did not see this in any of the warm-ups—this kind of dominant performance, energy, and execution. But maybe he had it, or you know, as it goes sometimes when everything goes live, the bullets are real, and guys realize they can do it.
Canada is in good standing too. I thought they slapped up Uruguay in a weird love fest. Right now, there’s some of everything—I keep seeing fans of different countries and Mexico fans being best friends, and I don’t understand how or why.
Surprises in the competition? Top of the list: Spain drawing Uruguay. Uruguay got themselves a Superman performance by their goalie. And Germany looks like they are going to be happy with their 7-1 performance. The Germans look good. Argentina, once again, was being completely murdered by their group again. It’s just outside the area, and they look to once again be allowed to break every law in the rulebook.
I’m trying to keep you updated as we go through. Football is the beauty of international sport and the underdog nature—how people have to not write anybody off at all. That should be another week or so, so stay tuned.
Thanks for coming. Stay tuned tomorrow for The Big Aristotle
