LINSANITY HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

The Knicks will not match the 25 million dollar offer sheet that Jeremy Lin signed with the Houston Rockets. The James Dolan owned Knicks have decided that they will start to become financially responsible and they are going to start with Jeremy Lin.

Dolan decided that Lin was not worth the money especially with the third year balloon payment. This was a balloon payment that Lin restructured with the Houston Rockets. Lin signed an offer sheet with the Houston Rockets that would pay him 9.8 million dollars in the third year. Woodson stated publicly that the Knicks would match that offer sheet and the next thing you know Lin goes and restructures his deal with the Rockets. The new deal will now pay Lin 14.9 million dollars in the third year. Dolan refused to pay that.

So, Dolan decided that after all his years of being completely financially irresponsible with useless, over the hill players, he was going to turn over a new leaf with Lin. He refuses to pay a young, exciting and fan favorite a king's ransom to stay in New York. Dolan did not see that Jeremy Lin was a bright spot last year, he didn't see that Lin put asses in seats and he sure didn't see that he made the Garden electric. I know that Lin has not established himself as a genuine star but he was the one guy that Knicks fans were happy about.

James Dolan never understood Linsanity and now the head nitwit has allowed Linsanity to leave the building.

WHO'S TUGGING AT THE CARPET

Just like I said the other day, it doesn't take a Harvard MBA to realize that Jeremy Lin was going to agree to a handshake deal with the Rockets. He is being offered a four year deal. The first two years will be at 5 and 5.2 million respectively. The third year will be backloaded at 9.3 million. The fourth year will be a team option year. Since he is a restricted free agent, the Knicks can match the deal.

The Knicks have 3 days to match the deal and sources are saying that they will do whatever they can to make things work out. The Rockets also will do whatever they can to make the Lin thing happen. They are in desperate need for a point guard and are willing to wheel and deal. We will wait and see on that one. The Knicks have disappointed all of their fans so often we basically have battered wives syndrome.

In the surprise news of the day, Jason Kidd, who all but committed to Dallas, has changed his mind and wants to play in New York. Jason Kidd is a Hall of Fame basketball player but he is 39 years old and how much longer does he have. The Knicks need to concentrate on Lin and not a 39 year old. Don't get me wrong but the addition of Kidd would be huge for this team, but not if you don't have the youngsters to develop. The Knicks are notorious for these older player signings. Aren't the Knicks still paying Larry Johnson and Allen Houston?

The lose of Landry Fields will hurt but the lose of Landry Fields and Jeremy Lin will doubly hurt. And to add to the Knicks' tale of woes to continue, watch Jason Kidd decide to go back to Dallas.

Who can feel that carpet being tugged?

KNICKS, YOU ARE ON THE CLOCK

           In one day, the Knicks young future can be going in two different directions. One going north of the border to Toronto while the second might be going to Houston, Texas.

            Landry Fields, the third year swingman from Stanford has signed an offer sheet with the Toronto Raptors. The offer sheet is for a three-year deal worth about 20 million. The Knicks can resign him after next Wednesday but monetarily the Knicks will be over the cap in the third year of that contract. Fields has been promised 5 million the first year and 5.2 the second year. The third year will be a balloon payment that the Knicks cannot afford with Anthony, Tyson and Stoudemire’s contracts. It doesn’t take a Stanford grad to know which way Fields is going to go.

            Jeremy Lin, the journeyman point guard from Harvard that brought an excitement back to the Garden, will meet with the Rockets today in order to sign an offer sheet. Sources are saying that this offer sheet might be for a three or four year deal.

            Due to the new collective bargaining agreement, no team can sign Lin for the average of 5.3 million in the first two years. Houston is looking at offering Lin a 40 million dollar deal. That would mean that in Lin’s third year, he could be owed close to 15 million dollars. Once again Knicks finances will be unable to pay that third year bill. It doesn’t take a Harvard business degree to see where this is going to end up financially.

            All Knicks fans have grown accustomed to having the carpet pulled out from under them. Let’s recap a few. John Starks shooting miserably in the 1994 Finals, allowing the Houston Rockets to win the championship and how about watching Charles Smith attempting to make a bazillion lay-ups only to fail. All I can say is hang on to your wigs and keys because I see that carpet coming loose again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CYCLONE

The Cyclone in Coney Island turns 85 today. If you lived in the Coney Island area, this and the Parachute Jump and the Wonder Wheel, are iconic landmarks.

I remember the first time that I rode this roller coaster. It was the fastest and scariest thing that I had ever rode. This coaster gets up to speeds of 60 mph on some of the drops. I think the scary part of this ride is that it is made completely out of wood. The ride definitely has a shakiness to it. It has been said that the coaster is so shaky and fast, that a person once lost their dentures on the ride.

The ride today will cost 25 cents, just like in 1927.

I remember when I was growing up, Coney Island was a desolate place. I was told that Coney Island was at one time the place to be but that all seemed to disappear. In the late 60's, the Cyclone was condemned because of a lack of riders. In 1971 the City of New York bought the roller coaster and spruced it up. In 1975 the city re-opened it and it has been declared an official landmark. It also has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Happy Birthday!!!!

CFL FOOTBALL

Friday night is the first game of the season for the Grey Cup Champion BC Lions. They will be playing the Edmonton Blue Bombers at BC Place. This will be a replay of Grey Cup 2011.

First year head coach, Mike Benevides will have Travis Lulay, the reigning MVP of the CFL under center. Lulay will be part of a record breaking event on Friday. Geroy Simon can become the CFL's all time leading receiver. Simon needs 67 yards to surpass Milt Stegall's current record of 15,153.

Most important is to start this season strong and start the march to another Grey Cup appearance.

TWISTS AND TURNS

It has been one of those seasons for the Yankees pitching staff.  All of them seem to have this knack of getting hurt. First you have Joba jumping on a trampoline that ended with a broken ankle, Mariano doing his best impression of a pitcher playing the outfield and ruining his knee for the season and possibly his career.  When these two went down, the pitching staff looked a little thin in the bullpen. Then without missing a beat, Robertson decided to hurt himself. This left Soriano as the closer.

Outside of the thin bullpen, the starting pitching was suspect. They even started the season with the loss of Michael Pineda to shoulder problems. Could they now pitch enough innings to avoid using the bullpen? They answered that question with a resounding yes. The starting pitching was on fire. They were pitching better than any team in the majors and they catapulted to the leagues best record and into first place. Things were looking good, for now.

In one day, the starting rotation was decimated by two. CC went down with a groin injury and Pettite went down with a fractured ankle after he was struck by a Casey Kotchman grounder. Boy these Yankees like to make it interesting. What I find interesting is that we are going to get a look at some AAA pitchers. Maybe one of them will be a diamond in the rough and he will come in to save the day. Tonight the Yankees are going to start 24 year old Adam Warren, a right hander and Freddy Garcia is being moved into the starting rotation. It is going to be an interesting summer for the Yankees pitching staff.

Who would of seen this one coming. Rafa Nadal exits Wimbledon with a loss to No 100 ranked Lukas Rosol in 5 sets. This was Nadal's quickest exit from a major tournament since 2005.

And then there is the soccer team from Italy. The way they played against England, it appeared that they were not going to be up to the task of defeating the Germans. The Germans appeared to be a well oiled machine. Mario Balotelli, the 21 year old striker for Italy, stepped up his game and scored two goals in the first half. This was good enough to carry the Italians past Germany and setting up a showdown with Spain in the Euro Cup Final.

EURO 2012

On Wednesday afternoon, Spain, the reigning World Cup and Euro Cup Champion will face off against Portugal in one of the semi-final matches of Euro 2012.

Portugal will be a tough opponent for Spain. Ronaldo has stepped up his play for the Portugese team. If Ronaldo is able to carry his team past Spain and through either Italy or Germany for the Euro crown, Ronaldo might just take the world player of the year away from Lionel Messi. Ronaldo has gotten the reputation of being the Lebron James of soccer, never able to win the big one.

Spain has a tough task. No team has ever won three straight major titles and two consecutive European Championships.