Keyboard Quarterbacks

By Mark La Monica

Thank you, Susanna Hoffs and the rest of The Bangles for those slightly modified lyrics from the 80s pop hit "Manic Monday."

Manic is a bit of understatement right now. More like just another insane, crazy, bonkers Monday in New York sports. Just when it seemed the right play to lament Boston's dominance over New York in the sports world, New York delayed the pain with a monster of a day.

Follow this little chain reaction:

The Yankees chose Joe Girardi over Donnie Baseball for their vacant managing job.

Donnie Baseball, somewhat perturbed for getting passed over for the top spot as if he was Fredo Corleone, left his position as Yankees bench coach.

Then, in the moments before midnight and the actual changing of the calendar day, buckets of rumors hit the Internet that Joe Torre is going to be named the next manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, replacing the soon-to-be-canned Grady Little.

Just to add to the chaos, Mattingly is rumored to join Joe Hollywood at Chavez Ravine. Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long is also possibly rumored to make the move. But that's slightly more speculative than the Torre-Mattingly thing.

And there's the ripple effect of A-Rod opting out of the last three years of his contract and hitting the free-agent market.

Oh, wait we're not done.

The Jets announced that Kellen Clemens is their new starting quarterback, replacing the ineffective Chad Pennington.

Supposedly, the Red Sox won the World Series somewhat recently. You wouldn't know it today, at least not in New York.

Crazy, crazy day.

By Mark La Monica

Scott Boras announced during Game 4 of the World Series that A-Rod would be opting out of the final three years of his contract with the Yankees.

Hate him if you wish for blowing all that smoke during the season about how he loves New York. Hate him for losing his bat in the Yankee lineup. Or love him for leaving. It's your choice. But here are three reasons Alex Rodriguez made the right decision.

1) Personal peace

A-Rod gets killed in the New York media. Newspaper, Internet, TV stations, radio stations, everything. The guy tries to enjoy Central Park with his wife and child a few hours before he has to be at the ballpark, does it without a shirt on, and because he's only hitting .280 at the time, the New York tabloids hammer him.

He's the only professional baseball player to enjoy the company of a woman that's not his wife and get it plastered on the front and back covers of every newspaper in town. You really think A-Rod is the only player on the Yankees, the Mets or in baseball that goes out on the town with other women when they're on the road?

It was only a matter of time before he let his alarm clock snooze three times and his neighbor calls the police on him.

No one needs that kind of regular abuse, regardless of how much money he or she gets paid to play a game. In every other aspect of life, there's a hotline people can call to report such acts of violence and hatred.

2) Carpe diem . . . squared

By opting out, A-Rod can negotiate another monster contract at the peak of his career. Coming off a huge year (.314, 54 HR, 156 RBI, 143 R, 24 SB), A-Rod has an overzealous owner's checkbook at his feet. Becoming a free agent at age 32 instead of 35, he's more likely to receive a longer-term deal. Teams would be slightly more hesistant to throw an eight-year deal that ends at age 43 instead of 40.

So, why not try to max out while he can? We all would do the same thing in our jobs. The only difference is $5,000 means a heck of a lot more to us than $5 million does to him. But still, go for yours. Like Johnny Depp said in the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie: "Take what you can, give nothing back."

3) Derek Jeter

A-Rod is not Derek Jeter. In any other city, that's not a problem. But New York is Jeter's city. A-Rod faced the inevitable questions, scrutiny and comments about sharing a uniform, a left side of the infield and a city with the Yankees' captain. Damn that pesky Esquire magazine interview where A-Rod took a shot at Jeter.

Whichever team he goes to, he won't have to deal with that kind of stuff on a daily basis. No one in Chicago would care that A-Rod was once traded for Alfonso Soriano. No one in Boston would care about that slap of Bronson Arroyo's glove or the Jason Varitek scrap. (Imagine a 3-4-5 of Big Papi, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez.) Angels fans wouldn't get too grumpy over A-Rod's double play to end any rally hopes in the 2005 ALDS.

Once he withstands the negative reaction in New York to his decision and the inevitable PR backlash from his next megadeal, he can just go and be A-Rod. You know, that guy that gets paid like Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal did. Of course, those guys won championships.

AP Photo

By Mark La Monica

Hopefully by now, you understand what Props is all about. But if not, here's a quick refresher course.

Props celebrates the brash, bold and otherwise outrageous occurrences in sports each week.

This time around, we have reserved this space for just one group of people.

Props to the Georgia Bulldogs football team for their work on Saturday against Florida in what used to be called "The World's Largest Cocktail Party."

Oh, sure, Georgia won, 42-30, but in the bigger picture, it's what the Bulldogs did after scoring their first touchdown of the game that cemented their singular spot on Props.

On the front end, Knowshon Moreno ran it in from the 1-yard line with 4:54 left in the first quarter. On the back end, 30 yards in penalties! In between, the entire Georgia team rushed the field to celebrate Moreno's touchdown and 7-0 lead over archrival Florida.

No amount of jorts could overcome the psychological and emotional boost the brash move gave Georgia.

Before the game, Georgia head coach Mark Richt demanded some type of celebration after his team's first touchdown.

"I told them if they didn't get a [celebration] penalty after the first touchdown I was going to run every one of them at 5:45 a.m.," Richt said in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Surely, he didn't expect that.

Read previous Props

CINCINNATI -- I'm in the hotel, a few minutes after midnight, wishing I knew then what I know now.

No, this isn't a diary entry of a tormented rock star on the road. It's the lamenting of a Jets fan on the road.

For the past few seasons, Lawyer friend Steve and I have made the pilgrimage once a year to a Jets road game. Some years they win, others they don't. That's never really been the reason for traveling. It's more about the experience of a new city (and taking a day off from work).

Back in May, we chose Week 7 in Cincinnati. It fit well with our schedules and Lawyer friend Brendan lives in nearby Lexington, Ky. This was the perfect excuse to come down for a visit and a weekend of unabashed boozing. These sorts of things happen in Kentucky, a land of bourbon and basketball. Plus, we had the added bonus of tickets to the UK-Florida game on Saturday and the chance to experience ESPN College Gameday.

All that stuff on Saturday was fun. Then, of course, Sunday just had to show up, with those 1-5 Jets against the 1-4 Bengals.

The Jets led, 23-10, in the third quarter then systematically -- and predictably -- gave away the lead and lost 38-31. Staying true to the notion of Jet fan misery, rooting for the two-point conversion to get the Jets to within seven points and mess up the spread for gamblers and office pools wasn't even an option. The spread in the Sunday edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader was 6.5. The two-point conversion only pulled the Jets within seven. When things smell, they smell bad.

A good rule of thumb: Don't plan Jets road trips several months before the season starts unless it's to a hot, happening city, or a warm-weather city in December, or Lambeau Field before November. Otherwise, you're just asking for misery.

There are few things more demoralizing than sitting in an away stadium with the away team's gear on and listening to the fans of a slightly less awful team taunt you. There are fewer things more demoralizing than walking into a bar and grille after the game with the away team's gear on and having to hear three drunk local girls in pink home team jerseys spew some kind of yang about your team and your city. There are only two semi-polite responses you can offer before things get really ugly:

1) "Here's my cell phone number. Call me in January when your team doesn't make the playoffs either."

2) "Yeah, well, you still live here!"

After that, it gets nasty. Really nasty. Point out obvious shortcomings nasty. Order them three milks nasty. I'm too old for that nowadays. Better to just leave the restaurant and let the hostess know why you've chosen to spend your money at a different establishment.

Turn on your Joe Benigno voice now.

You just know that when you planned a Jets trip for the middle of the season way in advance, you were going to regret spending a few hundred bones to watch a 1-5 team transform itself to 1-6.

Turn off your Joe Benigno voice now -- and start hoping Florida QB Tim Tebow challenges the NFL rule and tries to enter the draft after two years of school.

By Mark La Monica

The Joe Torre era has ended and team president Randy Levine is likely quite happy about it. Word around town is that Levine and Torre didn't get along all that well.

Whether or not you agree with the decision to part ways, Torre has earned his rightful place in Yankee history. And with all that glory comes accountability with things don't go the Boss' way. For better or worse, right?

But let's just throw this out there once more for Yankee fans to chew on a bit. Levine joined the Yankees as team president in 2000 at the tailend of the bandwagon's most crowdest point. Since then, the Yankees haven't added that 27th championship.

Just for fun, take a look at the tale of the tape between Torre and Levine.

By Mark La Monica

As if Britney Spears wasn't already the source of unlimited derision and mockery, here comes this gem from the good people at UrbanDictionary.com.

It defines the phrase "Leave Britney Alone" as follows:

An exclamation made when your friends or family are teasing you to a point where you can't handle it anymore and a hissy fit is in order.

It stems from Chris Crocker's slightly famous/extremely unnerving YouTube video after Britney's performance at the 2007 VMAs.

Can you use this phrase in a sentence? UrbanDictionary.com can!

Sarah: "OMG Susan, I can't believe you are wearing the same skirt as yesterday. Oh, and by the way, EVERYONE knows what you did with Kevin on the weekend. Plus you look a little fat, are you retaining water?"

Susan: "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!"

What does this have to with a sports blog? Let me learns you.

There's a new phrase sweeping across my mind, this blog and hopefully, the nation. The phrase go as follows: "So then they bring in Eric Gagne."

It's defined as "when something beyond your control goes horribly awry."

Can you use it in a sentence? Sure can.

"Hey Adam, how did it go with that girl you were talking to at the bar before?"

"Well, Kevin, everything was going smooth. She was laughing at my jokes, digging my vibe. So then they bring in Eric Gagne and the next thing you know, her glass of vodka-tonic is now her vodka-tonic with a twist of my face."

It's waiting approval for publication in Urban Dictionary, but the metaphor works in just about all facets of life.

In the emergency room

A patient seems fine then all of sudden codes and can't be revived. When the chief asks what happened, you can say, "All his labs came back fine and we were chatting. The patient seemed in good spirits, but then they brought in Eric Gagne and Dr. Grey called the time of death as 10:22 p.m."

In a legal setting

"How did your case go, Jon?"
"Awful, Nick. I delivered a brilliant closing, even had the judge in tears. So then they brought in Eric Gagne to read the verdict."
"Aw, man, sorry Jon."

At the bank

You walk in and there's no line. You stop to fill out a deposit form. As you're writing, a bus from the assisted living home pulls up on Social Security check-cashing day. Yeah, they just brought in Eric Gagne.

To fully understand this concept, we must explore the Gagne saga a bit. It's a source of much discomfort and disdain up there in Red Sox Nation and great joy and pride in every other baseball fan nation.

Boston traded for Gagne, who once successfully completed 84 straight save opportunities for the Dodgers, at the trading deadline. He was supposed to solidify the bullpen and be the setup man for closer Jonathan Papelbon. The only solidifying Gagne did was his place next to Bucky Dent and Aaron Boone as the most hated people in Red Sox history.

A look at Gagne's numbers before coming to Boston:

2-0
16-for-17 in saves
2.16 ERA
34 games
33.1 innings
23 hits
12 walks
29 strikeouts

A look at Gagne's numbers before coming to Boston:

2-2
0-for-3 in saves
6.75 ERA
20 games
18.2 innings
26 hits
9 walks
22 strikeouts

A look at Gagne's postseason (through Game 4 of ALCS)

0-1
2 games
13.50 ERA
1.1 innings
3 hits
2 walks
4 strikeouts

Quite awful for someone who saved 152 games from 2002-04 before arm injuries derailed him for all but 15.1 innings from 2005-06.

Gagne has been so remarkably brutal since coming to Boston that manager Terry Francona has to at least consider leaving him off the World Series roster should the Red Sox climb back from being down 3-1 to Cleveland in the ALCS.

If not, Boston fans will be calling their local radio stations and flooding their message boards with a simple explanation for the season: "So then they bring in Eric Gagne."

By Mark La Monica

In Props, our three-week old new feature, we salute the brash and the bold in sports. They're umbrella terms and concepts, thus making the entire sports world eligible for inclusion.

This week, we're only throwing out props to one person. Not so much because others aren't worthy, but rather this athlete deserves a singular pedestal for the day. Besides, how many times can you say you heard of a 214-year-old dude who was sitting on his couch in a house he's about to sell on a Tuesday, signed to be a backup quarterback in the NFL on Wednesday, studied a playbook, film, a game plan and practiced for four days, then threw a touchdown on Sunday in a real NFL game?

Hence, props to Vinny Testaverde, the new starting quarterback of the Carolina Panthers, who was old enough to throw a touchdown pass in a 21st straight season, and young enough to break his old record of 20 straight seasons with a touchdown pass. Testaverde, Long Island's favorite son, was 20-for-33 for 206 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions in a 25-10 win over Arizona. Yo, Vinny!

Watch Vinny's highlights on NFL.com.

By Mark La Monica

Frank Caliendo does a phenomenal John Madden impersonation. He does it so well, he might even be better at being Madden than the actual Madden. Turducken!

Too bad TBS completely destroyed any chance of us ever watching his new show, which I believe is called "Frank TV."

In fact, I know it's called "Frank TV" because TBS shows a commercial for the it every other pitch. Seriously, doesn't TBS have any other original programming to promote? Oh wait, that's right. They don't.

I'd rather watch commercials for reruns of "Saved by the Bell" or "Friends" or "Seinfeld" or "Everybody Loves Raymond" or a 32nd showing of "The Fast and the Furious" and "Cannonball Run."

One of the reasons networks pay millions of dollars to show major sporting events is to promote their main programming. The hope is that exposure creates knowledge of the show, which creates viewers, which creates higher ratings, which creates more desire for advertisers, which creates higher advertising rates, which creates more money for the network.

Of course, there's such a thing as overkill. Just ask the producers of "Gigli" who lost out on a few extra bucks at the box office because the world could no longer stomach Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. (Of course, the actual script was beyond saving.)

TBS hasn't crossed the threshold of overkill. They triple-jumped over the line. They did it so well that the FCC and the Nielsen rating system have both launched separate probes into their use of performance-enhancing drugs. Someone get Dr. Gary Wadler on the phone!

Common practice here in blog land is to provide you the reader with a link or three that points to content relevant to what we're writing about. Today, in this piece, I will do no such thing.

Common practice here in blog land is to provide you the reader with a photo or two that brightens up the page and is relevant to what we're writing about. Today, in this piece, I will do no such thing.

Strictly on principle, I shall buck the blog rules. Besides, they're more like guidelines any way. We've all seen enough of Frank Caliendo to last us a few years. If you really want more info on "Frank TV", just watch TBS for 22 seconds.

Word is Caliendo will act as interim pitching coach for Colorado in Game 2 and come out to the mound once each inning to do an impersonation. Preferably not his Al Pacino, though. That's just awful. It takes at least 11 viewings of it to realize it's not Yoko Ono, a dude from The Monkees or k.d. Lang.

There's talk that the groundskeeping crew at Coors Field is hard at work right now cutting the "Frank TV" logo into the outfield grass for Game 3 of the NLDS on Sunday.

Another rumor making its way around the Internet, specifically right here, is that Caliendo will pull a Frank Drebin and be the home plate umpire for Game 4, if necessary. No word yet on if he'll impersonate Drebin, Leslie Nielsen or Enrico Palazzo.

TBS has forced us to root for fast-paced, 4-0 games where all the runs are scored in the same inning. That provides for less pitching changes and pinch-hitters, thereby making the game move faster and with less commercials. Less "Frank TV" is good tv.

Send us your comments! | Photos: Best of Rangers-Islanders | Talk about it

Final thoughts The Islanders' defense deserves a ton of the credit for an outstanding performance at even strength and on the penalty kill. They killed off six Rangers power plays, including a 38-second 5-on-3 during the third period. They blocked 19 shots and checked Jaromir Jagr tightly most of the night.

What the Islanders defense didn't prevent, Rick DiPietro did. Tonight's performance was exactly the type that will begin to get him more and more recognition around the league. He's matured into a calmer, more technically sound goalie, who leaves few rebounds and picks his spots when playing the puck.

The Rangers certainly have some kinks to work out, and need to take a hard look at why they only played well in spurts tonight. It seems like they're waiting for someone to do something, and they'd better hope that feeling fades away soon. They need to start playing like a team before they dig too deep a hole for themselves. I have confidence that they will do that, but the longer they wait, the tougher it will make it for them to ascend to the top of the standings, like everyone is expecting they will.

Hope you all enjoyed the blog. Have a great night.

-Mike Casey

9:35 p.m. Bizarre situation here. It looks like the Islanders are saying the Rangers reached out from their bench to grab the puck and stop play... Faceoff at center with 9.8 to go. Islanders clear, and that's the game. I'll be back with a final thought or two once I get back from the locker room.

9:34 p.m. Jagr slides the puck through the crease, nobody home. The Islanders take a penalty and the Rangers will have a 6-on-4 for the final 17.2 seconds. The Rangers take a timeout to rest Jagr, Drury, Shanahan, Straka and Gomez, who have been on the ice a lot in the last six minutes.

9:32 p.m. Lundqvist to the bench.

9:31 p.m. The Rangers have begun their full-court offensive press, but so far they haven't been able to break through. The Islanders have played an excellent defensive game, taking away shooting lanes, blocking shots and playing solid positionally.

9:20 p.m. Rangers kill the penalty, and Jagr moves in on DiPietro. Great glove save to keep the Isles in the lead. This game has featured one of the best combined goaltending perfomances I've seen in a long time. If I had a vote (I don't), DiPietro, Berard and Lundqvist would be the stars of the game.

9:19 p.m. Comrie goes off for holding Jason Strudwick, and now it's a 4-on-3. Sometimes, 4-on-3's can be more dangerous because there's more space and the offensive team is forced to shoot more often.

9:18 p.m. Toe save by Lundqvist on Guerin to keep the Rangers alive -- for now. Still 1:00 left on the 5-on-3, 1:08 on the Rozsival penalty.

9:17 p.m. Michal Rozsival goes to the box for boarding the Rangers have one foot in the grave. They need to kill this long 5-on-3 or it's probably all over.

9:15 p.m. Bad hooking penalty by Marcel Hossa puts the Islanders on the power play with 10:21 to go. The Isles can put this game away right now if they score. The Rangers are looking pretty frustrated right now.

9:14 p.m. Scott Gomez scored only 13 goals this year. I'm beginning to understand why. He's had two point blank, empty-net chances tonight. He was denied on the first try and he fanned on the second one.

9:12 p.m. Absolutely terrific penalty killing by DiPietro and the Islanders. Scott Gomez did flub the puck on an empty net, but DiPietro made several big stops and Andy Hilbert made a courageous dive to block a Jagr slapshot. If the Islanders win this game, that penalty kill will be the reason why.

9:08 p.m. Huge moment in this game as Bruno Gervais goes to the box, giving the Rangers a 38 second 5-on-3. Good pressure by the Rangers, but the Islanders twice clear the puck to kill the 5-on-3.

9:06 p.m. Tyutin knocks Comrie off the puck, creating a 3-on-2 for the Rangers. Guerin takes down Shanahan and the Rangers go on a power play. The Rangers, incidentally, are 0-for-12 on the power play so far this year. Yikes!

9:00 p.m. Scoring changes: Tyutin's goal was from Straka and Hossa, not just Hossa. Berard's goal was from Guerin and Bergeron, not Guerin and Comrie. Sorry, Mike Comrie fantasy-team-owners.

8:58 p.m. Third period, here we go...

By Karen Bailis

Is it a coincidence that the source of spoken sludge, Don Imus, is slated to return to radio just as women's basketball season is kicking into high gear?

Newsday's Neil Best reported the other day that Imus and his band of blowhards will return, on WABC, the first week in December. The Rutgers women's basketball team, the target of the racist rant that got him bounced from the airwaves, plays 2006 NCAA champions Maryland Dec. 3 as part of the Jimmy V Classic. It will be on ESPN2.

Perhaps Imus and sidekick in sexism Bernard McGuirk should watch. At the very least, they'll see an entertaining game that benefits cancer research. At most, they might have something enlightening to say on the air about it. Too much to hope for? Probably. But we can dream. That's what the Rutgers team likely has been doing since its dream season ended in April a few points shy of a national crown. The squad woke up to a nightmare after Imus and McGuirk said what they said. The women of Rutgers emerged stronger and perhaps better poised to make another championship run.

Three of Rutgers' starting five are on the watch list for the Wade Trophy, which is presented annually by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association to the national player of the year. Essence Carson, Matee Ajavon and Kia Vaughn are the backbone of the team that fell to Tennessee in the national championship game and that returns all five starters and nine letterwinners. They're also a few of the women who stood up strongly and fiercely and told Imus just whom he'd messed with.

“I’m not a ho. Unless they've given `ho' a whole new definition, that's not what I am," Vaughn said at the time.

“You don’t get too many opportunities to finally stand up for what you know is right,” Carson said. “I know we’re at a young age but we definitely understand what is right and what should get done and what should be made of this. We’re happy — we’re glad to finally have the opportunity to stand up for what we know is right.”

We can only hope that he's taking their words with him when that "ON AIR" sign lights up and he leans into the microphone.

By Mark La Monica

That Yankee post-game presser with Joe Torre was pretty sad. Torre, to his credit as a class act, didn't entertain any questions before he had the chance to give the proverbial albeit metaphoric tipping of the cap to Cleveland for smoking his Yankees in four games.

After that, the questions and answers took on an ominous and reflective tone. Who knows what will happen in the next few days? The Boss may stick to his claim from Saturday night that if the Yanks lose the ALDS, Torre won't return. He's perfectly within his right to not re-sign Torre after 12 seasons as Yankees skipper. Or, Steinbrenner may give him one more shot. Again, no one really knows for sure.

In the past few years, Yankees fans have been like Radio Rahim's four-finger rings from "Do The Right Thing" when it came to their opinions on Joe Torre as skipper. It was either love or hate. Again, they're all perfectly within their right to feel as they feel.

But, in this week's edition of "Three Reasons," we've come up with three reasons to always love Joe Torre's tenure as Yankees manager, regardless of what may occur in the next few days.

1) The Ultimate New Yorker

He was a Brooklyn boy, born and raised. He came to New York with little more than a reputation as an average manager at best (894-1,003 record, .471). Who could forget the "Clueless Joe" back page cover of the Daily News the day after Steinbrenner hired him after the 1995 season? How did Torre respond? By bringing the city its first World Series parade in 18 years. Then, for fun, he did it three more times in the next four seasons.

A dozen straight years in the postseason ain't too shabby either (1,173-767, .605). Of course, the talent and resources didn't hurt either. Torre came to New York perceived as a retread manager. He'll leave New York, whenever that is, as an icon. And he's immediately employable by any team he wishes. It's the quintessential New York story of making it here, then making it anywhere.

2) A mostly clean dozen

Torre managed in New York, for the Yankees, for George Steinbrenner, for 12 years. That's impressive and worthy of praise, regardless of what you think of Joe's recent postseason troubles. Sure, he had his run-ins (or was it more George having his run-ins), but to last that long under the Boss is record-setting.

3) "Uncle Joey"

Torre is Italian. As is La Russa, Bowa and Girardi. But only Torre has that "Uncle Joey" quality, that ability to appear as an everyman to the working-class fan. Basically, if you saw Torre sitting in a diner, Yankee fan or not, you'd want to send him a few black-and-white cookies and a glass of Bigelow green tea. You'd then want to go ask him for advice about your personal life. You'd then follow that advice and start most sentences with "It's like Joe Torre told me when I asked him what to do about this girl that I like." He's our "Uncle Joey."

Read more Three Reasons

By Mark La Monica

Time for the second installment of "Props," a series celebrating those moments in sports that are brash, bold and generally counter to the accepted norm.

Props to Tim Tebow, the Florida quarterback who ran for a touchdown against No. 1 LSU in the first half and then gave the "call me" hand signal to the LSU home crowd. Pretty gutsy move for the sophomore. Gotta respect him for that.

Props to the the LSU crowd, a group so unwilling to let Tebow's actions go unchecked, they immediately burst into an "F U Tebow" chant, only they didn't censor themselves. Such quick thinking without a cheer coordinator always earns instant consideration for Props.

Props to Les Miles, the LSU head coach who went for it on fourth-and-1 at the Florida 7-yard-line with two minutes to go in the game when a field goal would have tied it at 24. This guy has some serious intestinal fortitude.

Props to Aaron Ross, the Giants cornerback who gave one of the most honest and emotional radio interviews with Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts on WFAN last Friday. They asked him questions and he answered them like a normal person, not an athlete. Clearly, he's a rookie . . . and a welcome refresher for sports fans.

Props to David Justice, the YES in-studio analyst. The Yankees lost the ALDS on Monday night. In the postgame locker room interviews on YES, A-Rod answered all the questions thrown at him. Most of those questions revolved around his upcoming decision to opt out of his contract or not. He said he hasn't thought about it, that it's been all about baseball for the past eight months. After that, Justice needed no more than a few seconds to say "To say that he hasn't thought about it, who you kidding?" You don't get that sort of honesty from most people in Yankee broadcasting land, TV or radio.

Read previous Props

By Mark La Monica

And away we go with some live blogging fun from the Giants Stadium as the Jets travel all of 15 feet for a road game against the Giants.

Since the Giants have the home field, we'll even things out and blog mainly from the Jets' point of view, with some Big Blue stuff mixed in.

lPre-game: Saw TV announcer/former NFL lineman Randy Cross in the elevator. Note to self: Super Bowl rings are huge! Saw Greg Buttle in the press lounge. Wanted to ask who he was buying and selling this week, but professional decorum prevails.

1:15 p.m. - Mangini shows some guts and goes for it on fourth and a foot from the Giants' 48 yard-line line early in the first quarter.

1:15.30 - So much for guts. Pennington takes a delay of game penalty to give Ben Graham five more yards to punt. Take a chance!

1:16 - Graham pins the ball at the Giants' 8.

1:20 - If you're playing any season of Madden and you're not using the Jets as your team, immediately trade for Jets safety Kerry Rhodes and put him on your hands team. He just stripped Brandon Jacobs, ran after the bouncing ball and picked it up with one hand (all in one motion) and ran it 11 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead for the Jets. It wasn't quite the Karate Kid catching a fly with chopsticks, but it was close.

1:32 - Jump up and rejoice Jets fans, Chad Pennington just the ball more than 20 yards in the air. And it was completed for 17 yards to Chris Baker.

1:34 - The quarterback sneak may be Chad's best asset, aside from his brain, on the field.

1:36 - Uh oh. This isn't good. Laveranues Coles is kneeling on the 10-yard-line in pain. It's never a good thing when your best offensive weapon is no longer an offensive weapon. Coles is walking off the field now on his own power, but appears to be favoring his left side.

1:39 - Not suprisingly, Mike Nugent missed a 42-yard field goal. This guy, yeah, not so good so far this year. But, would you rather have Doug Brien?

1:42 - I'm in the third row of the press box, which is level 9 of the stadium, above the last row of seats. It's geographically impossible to be further away from the field while still being in the stadium. Clearly, the Keyboard Quarterbacks' passer rating isn't on the NFL radar. However, we do get a great new perspective on the game by watching from waaaaaay up above instead of from the side like on television. And I'm surrounded by nine different TV screens with the live broadcast, so I got that going for me, which is nice.

BY MIKE CASEY

It's been a long wait, but the Rangers are back. After last year's shattering playoff defeat -- which felt less shattering when put in perspective (i.e., after realizing they are still a team on the rise) -- they loaded up with free agents Scott Gomez and Chris Drury and re-signed all of their key players except Michael Nylander.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time analyzing the offseason comings and goings; instead I want to dive straight into the preview. First, some introductory comments:

OVERVIEW

The Rangers are a talented team with lots of stars up front, a burgeoing superstar in net and a bunch of no-names on defense.

The first mistake lots of people will make with this team is to assume that they'll be a high-flying, high-scoring unit this year, based on the additions of Gomez and Drury. Not true. Tom Renney coaches this team to play defense first, and he won't let them get engaged in a run-and-gun style -- frankly, because they are ill-suited for it.

While Gomez, Marty Straka and Sean Avery bring some speed, the team lacks a true transition defender, and all of their top goal scorers are not blindingly fast. That means they'll tend more towards the puck control offense they've utilized the past few years -- less so than in the days of Michael Nylander -- but more so than, say, the speedy Ottawa Senators.

The Rangers' defense is solid and their goaltending nearly impeccable (we'll see how close to perfect Henrik Lundqvist can be this year), and they should put together a season in which they are comfortably among the top four teams in the conference from start to finish.

Let's go in-depth with some breakdowns of the forwards.

By Mark La Monica

The Yanks are in the postseason for 13th straight season, which produces a 13th straight season of "Win the World Series or the season is a failure" stories, columns and quotes.

Some folks subscribe to that theory, that a World Series ring comes with residency in Yankees Universe. That's not realistic and we know that (or at least most of us do).

I had the magical 1996 season, where Joe Girardi's triple is still rolling around right-centerfield in my mind. I had the insane 1998 season, where Tino Martinez hit a three-run homer in the first inning at least 162 times. I had the 1999 season, where I almost died from choking on a bite of a sandwich the day of Game 2 (thanks again, Bones and Noose). I had 2000 and the thrill of being in Shea Stadium for the clinching Game 5 of the Subway Series.

So, I don't mind if the Yankees don't win another title for a little while. However, I would enjoy one more World Series ring this season for one reason: Don Mattingly.

Yankees fans whose fandom began 11 Octobers ago may find this next sentence difficult to comprehend.

Don Mattingly was Derek Jeter before Derek Jeter was Derek Jeter.

From 1984-1995, Don Mattingly was the main reason to be a Yankee fan. The one player fans could look to and say, "I want to make my dad take me to the Stadium because this guy is playing for them."

Just as Jeter owns New York City now (he does, regardless of how many bombs A-Rod hits), Mattingly did then. And he did it with a resume that included zero championship rings and even less famous women.

Mattingly was the quintessential tragic hero, the type of character that would make Shakespeare run out feathers and ink. When it came to Donnie Baseball, the only man in recent sports history to be nicknamed after the sport he played, any Yankee fan in the '80s and '90 would have chipped in to pay free-agent contracts to help him win a ring.

He just had the aura about him. He was the everyman, an aw-shucks Midwesterner who readily identified with the working class. Of course, it helped that he could hit the ball wherever he wanted.

Today's thirtysomethings who grew up Yankee fans can appreciate this: Mattingly was the player we all emulated in Little League. When someone would ask us who we wanted to be when we grow up, "Don Mattingly" was the standard response. Now, it's Jeter. And rightfully so. He's earned every bit of it.

Ask any true Yankee fan in 1994 how furious they were that August day when Bud Selig canceled the World Series. The Yanks had the best record in the American League at the time. The Yanks had Don Mattingly at the time.

Ask any true Yankee fan in 1995 how excited they were that early October day in Toronto when the Yankees clinched their first playoff berth since 1981. The Yankees lost to Seattle, 3-2. Don Mattingly hit .417, then retired a few months later.

Ask any true Yankee fan in 1996 how pained they were that mid-October day in New York when the Yankees won their first World Series since 1978 and Don Mattingly was nowhere to be found in pinstripes.

Ask any true Yankee fan in 1997 how sad they were that early April day in New York when the Don Mattingly, standing in Monument Park among the Yankee legends and championship winners, helped raise that World Series banner on Opening Day.

So, if for no other reason in 2007, let the Yankees win the World Series. For Donnie.

By Mark La Monica

Here we go with the debut of Three Reasons, a new weekly feature here in Keyboard Quarterbacks.

The Oakland Raiders are 2-2 and in a three-way tie for first place in the four-team AFC West division. However, they are the only team in the division to have scored more points than they've allowed, a rarity in Oakland of late.

Three reasons why the Raiders can win the AFC West this season:

1) Norv Turner

Who else can take a 14-2 team from one season ago, return 20 of 22 starters and turn them into a three-loss team within four games? The San Diego Chargers head coach is that bad at head coaching! He proved it from 1994-2000 with the Redskins and cemeted his inability to head coach with Oakland from 2004-05, in the process amassing a 58-82-1 record coming into this season.

2) Jay Cutler

He's not exactly the second coming of John Elway, at least not yet. Probably not even Ron Elway or Don Elway. But he's just a second-year quarterback with Denver, so this is probably the best season for the Raiders to strike.

3) Herman Edwards

You have to love Herm's motivational abilities and his quirky, kooky, amusing mannerisms. (Hello????)

You have to not love Herm's desire/ability to make sure he always coaches his team with the philosophy that having a chance to win the game late in the fourth quarter is all you can ask for. It's an interesting theory, but sometimes you might want your team, be it the Jets, Chiefs or his next team, to have a game in hand before the start of the fourth quarter. Especially when time management is an issue.

By Mark La Monica

Jets fans are bumming today. Mets fans are really bumming today.

Those who are fans of both the Mets and Jets, well, today is quite uncomfortable. If there's a company in the New York area that can measure productivity in the workplace on a daily basis, someone please contact them. Today could set an all-time record.

Perhaps no one captures the essence of being a Mets and Jets fan than Joe Benigno of WFAN Radio. Those who have been listening to Benigno on the air for the past 10-plus years understand. Those who haven't been listening, turn on your radio and set it to 660 AM. Or log on to wfan.com for live streaming of his weekday show from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Within the first three minutes, you'll understand the Benigno phenomenon.

After the Mets engineered the worst regular-season collapse in baseball history and the Jets lost to the worst-ranked-in-everything Bills, there's a good chance Benigno will lose his mind on the air Monday. Provided he even makes it into work. It's 50/50 that Benigno has already turned into the distressed and disheveled Ron Burgundy after he got fired in "Anchorman."

Either way, we're channeling our inner Benigno for this Monday morning. So, turn on your best Benigno voice and read along.

YOU JUST KNEW that when the first inning of the Mets-Marlins game took nearly as long as the entire first half of the Jets-Bills game, it wasn't going to be a good day.

YOU JUST KNEW that when the Jets didn't go for it on fourth-and-less-than-a-yard from the Buffalo 45 on the opening drive, they weren't going to win.

YOU JUST KNEW that when Eric Mangini and the Jets spent most of the last week praising the worst-ranked defense in the NFL, that worst-ranked defense in the league was going to play like the 2000 Baltimore Ravens.

YOU JUST KNEW that when the Bills decided to start rookie Trent Edwards, a guy who never started an NFL game and only had 20 pass attempts in his young NFL career, the Jets' defense would make him look like the next Tom Brady. (Edwards was 22-for-28 for 234 yards and the decisive touchdown pass.)

YOU JUST KNEW that when Tom Glavine said late in the week that he'd rather not have to pitch on Sunday because that would mean the Mets had clinched the NL East, he would have the worst start of his entire career (seven runs in 0.1 innings) when the Mets needed him the most.

YOU JUST KNEW the Phillies were going to win on Sunday.

YOU JUST KNEW that the Padres were going to lose and the Rockies were going to win, thereby rubbing it in more after the Mets lost.

YOU JUST KNEW that after the last two weeks, the Mets weren't going to win the one game all season they really needed to win.

YOU JUST KNEW Lee Evans, the Bills receiver who hadn't done anything all season coming into Sunday's game, would catch six passes and have a big game.

YOU JUST KNEW when Mike Nugent missed that field goal after Chad Pennington's fake-spike completion to Laveraneus Coles, it would be the difference in the game.

YOU JUST KNEW that Sunday was going to be the worst day ever.