This was the year of Band-Aids, the year of gauze pads, the year of ice packs, the year of X-rays, MRIs, and PRP injections in New York sports. Maybe other years have been just as bad as this one, but it’s hard to remember a year as bad as this one.
If the last 12 months were to be portrayed by an actor, it would be Nick Nolte at the beginning of North Dallas Forty. The scene where she wakes up in bed with a nosebleed spilling onto his pillow, grabs his shoulder, grabs his wrist, and reaches out to him. He drinks both a bottle of painkillers and a warm Lone Star beer, then takes a bath in a hot water bath with a dart in his lungs and smokes.
It feels like we’re all on extended injured reserve together. Every time I feel like my ankle is getting better, the hamster starts barking, and every time the pain in my neck starts to subside, I crash land on the concussion protocol. It never ends. It never stops. And it’s everywhere.
This little cruel merry-go-round began in earnest last March 16, when Mets closer Edwin Diaz earned a save in the World Baseball Classic and began celebrating with his Team Puerto Rico teammates. However, he ended up hurting his knee and was sidelined for the duration. seasonal. He will be joined by a number of bullish allies, including Justin Verlander for the first month of the season, Starling Marte for most of the final three months, and Pete Alonso in a key part of the midfield. .
And that was just the beginning.
Things were going well for the Yankees until June, but two serious injuries changed their entire season. First, Aaron Judge crashed into the outfield gate at Dodger Stadium and was missing for most of June and July. Anthony Rizzo then missed the past two months due to post-concussion trauma, but the actual cause of the injury was Fernando Tatis Jr. colliding with him on a pickoff play in late May.
It’s a shame to lose our best right-handed hitter. It’s a shame to lose our best left-handed hitter. Will you lose both? That’s exactly the recipe for what befell the Yankees.
Ah, but there was more.
Both of New York’s quarterbacks suffered dramatic injuries that ended their seasons. After a summer full of hype and hope, there was Aaron Rodgers, who lost the first series of the season to an Achilles injury. And Daniel Jones (the ink on his $160 million contract was barely dry) was running for his life. Almost every drop back until he finally bruised his knee in Week 9.
The Islanders lost their best player, Mathew Barzal, for most of last season, and the Devils lost Jack Hughes for 16 crucial games this year. The Rangers just lost Blake Wheeler for the rest of the season. Ben Simmons, a one-man triage unit, has played a buffet of problems for the Nets in only 15 games this year.
Then, of course, there’s the Knicks. There’s no telling how last spring’s series with the Heat would have turned out if Julius Randle hadn’t been so bothered by his ankle injury that it required surgery in the offseason. They were also affected by minor injuries to Immanuel Quickley and Quentin Grimes. Then some of the trades were made.
But that was just a prelude to this season, with the Knicks losing Mitchell Robinson in December and Randle and OG Anunoby in late January, significantly cutting into a season that was supposed to last until at least late May. If you can deviate and avoid a free fall into the play-in tournament, you will be considered a winner.
It was quite a run.
Or, more accurately, quite limp.
Injuries are common in sports. Everyone knows that. Everyone recognizes that. Every team can withstand that. Every season is a test of how to overcome it. still …
still. I feel like I spent the whole year in the bath. And, as Bill Parcells once eloquently put it, “It’s hard to make a club out of a bathtub.”
It’s also difficult to advance to the championship.
Wack’s Wack
Maybe it’s my fault, but St. John’s players have looked pretty quick laterally the last few games.
Great to see the Globetrotters return to the Garden for the first time since 2018. Last week’s crowd of more than 12,000 was the largest in years. Former Nickelodeon president Keith Dawkins is leading a rebranding of a team that features a record seven female players, including former LSU captain Alexis Morris and former St. John’s center Joey Delarosa. . Globies will celebrate his 100th anniversary in 2026.
Shouldn’t the rules regarding court raiding be the simplest? The fields and courts are for the players, and the stands are for the fans. Players will not be required to be in the stands, and fans will not be required to step onto the field or court. period.
I’m convinced that Juan Soto may go many weeks this season without swinging a single pitch from the strike zone. He is like the anti-yogi.
hit back vac
Robert Lee: George Costanza appears to be in charge of MLB’s new uniforms.
vacuum: Perhaps those who approved it should have adopted Costanza’s signature move and done exactly the opposite.
Charles Costello: February is probably the worst month in sports. Personally, I dread the week in July when there is no baseball except for the All-Star Game. But think of the moon you hate the most and imagine him ten times worse. Still, it’s a lot better than waking up four years ago to the back page of the Post’s “No More Sports in Town.”
vacuum: Amen, Charles.
@mac21shaun: What the New York media is playing against the city’s sports teams and celebrities is a tired old game. I’m glad Coach Pitino and his players fought back.
@Mike Vac: Pitino plays a much more exhausting game, blaming everyone in the room but himself when things go wrong. It’s good for the players that they were able to overcome that.
John Covert: News Item: This year, player names on jerseys will now appear in small letters. “It’s a weight off my shoulders,” Cardinals pitcher Adam Kloffenstein said.
vacuum: Imagine the relief for Cubs players Pete Crow Armstrong and Miles Mastrobuoni.
