Whew -- pretty venomous stuff, that last post from my son! "When the Jets head out to Gillette Stadium on Monday Night, I want them to get brutally destroyed in every facet of the game." Sounds like he really hates my team. I think I liked it better when he was three years old, and he called the team from Foxboro the "Pay-tweets."Well, good for him, he got exactly what he wanted. And for Jets fans, obviously, the less said about that 45-3 loss to the Pay-tweets, the better. The good part for Jets fans is that we have the Dolphins this Sunday, and I can't think of a more delectable opponent for a bounce-back game. (Oh, and note to my co-author, who took the Jets to task for "celebrating a three-point win against the Browns like it's the Super Bowl": At least we beat the Browns, which a certain team I know from South Florida wasn't able to do last Sunday . . .)
But I'm going to move on here, and ask: How 'bout them Huskies?! (And no, I'm not talking about the women, winners of 7,942 games in a row. Can that really be fun?) I'm talking about Jim Calhoun's Huskies, picked pre-season to finish in the mid-to-lower depths of the Big East, and now ranked sixth in the country! Eight wins, no losses -- including victories over top-ten powers Michigan State and Kentucky!
And how 'bout Kemba Walker?! Who knew he could be this good??? One of the TV college analysts last night called him, along with Duke's Kyrie Irving, one of the top two guards in the nation! The way he's playing right now, who knows -- he could turn out to be the best Husky ever. Yeah, yeah, go ahead and hoot and holler, but over the first eight games of the season, he's averaging better than 28 points, shooting 53% from the field, and 88% from the line. I sure can't remember any Husky going on a tear like this.
And the team as a whole -- playing hard, playing fast, playing scrappy -- this is how UConn basketball is supposed to be! You've got a whole litter of freshmen fighting for playing time, and it's a pleasure to watch. Certainly nothing like last year's forgettable edition.
I have to say, ever since my Mets stopped playing in July (and yes, I know, the season actually dragged on into October), things have been going pret-ty well for my teams. The Huskies. The Jets -- 9-3 even after the Patriots debacle. My hometown Staples Wreckers, who bowed out a week-and-a-half too early, in the quarter-final round of states, but who had a great 9-2 run nonetheless. And even my Knicks (yes, the Knicks!!!): 14-9 and winners of their last six in a row.
Ah, it's good to be a sports fan again . . .
-Hank
