By
Joe DeLessio
Does Rex Ryan donning a wig and making an appearance at a press conference dressed like his twin brother, Cleveland defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, qualify as the most important thing that happened this week? Certainly not. But it may have been the funniest — and that's in a week that saw Ilya Kovalchuk do this with the game on the line during a shoot-out. But what happened this week that didn't involve a pillow stuffed under an already enormous T-shirt?
Plenty of things, one of which involved Joe Morgan losing his job.
By
Joe DeLessio
Jason Garrett has plenty of ties to the New York metropolitan area. He served as Kerry Collins's backup from 2000 to 2003, a period during which he attempted a total of zero passes. (He did, though, once give his teammates on offense harmonicas as a Christmas present.) On October 8, 1988, Garrett was the losing quarterback for Princeton on the day Columbia snapped its historic 44-game losing streak. (He'd also play at Columbia while his father coached there.) And now on Sunday, Garrett will make his head-coaching debut at the Meadowlands, against the red-hot Giants.
What's happened since the Giants beat Dallas last month?
By
Joe DeLessio
On the night Marian Gaborik, one of the pillars of the Rangers' roster, returned to the lineup, another, Henrik Lundqvist, missed the game due to illness. But no matter: Sure, the Rangers took two more leads only to see the Sabres even the score both times. And yes, their power play struggled again. But they'd win the game anyway, 3–2 in overtime.
Artem Anisimov deserved his first star, but the Rangers don't win without Martin Biron.
By
Will Leitch
The Steve Lavin era at St. John's is going to start at the strangest place, at perhaps the strangest time possible. Next Tuesday, if you want to watch the Red Storm's first game, you'll need to tune in to ESPN-2 at ... 2 a.m. As part of ESPN's College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon, St. John's will play in California against St. Mary's as the second game of the twelve-game marathon. It's a tough game: St. Mary's isn't as good as they were last year, when they made the Sweet 16, but it's still a long way to go to play at such a goofy hour. Particularly when you consider that the Red Storm will then fly back to Queens and play at Carnesecca Arena the very next night. (And then they'll be in Alaska a week later.) It's a whirlwind beginning to what's already been a whirlwind start to Lavin's reign.
The recruits aren't here yet.