Why the New York Knicks are a complete fraud

People in New York are breathless, and not just because of the recently-arrived cold snap that has accompanied the thicker crowds and gridlock that can only mean the holiday season (for my gift, I'd like another half-hour each day to make sure I get to work on time).

The reason for a lot of this self-induced asphyxiation is the smoking start of New York's favorite winter sons, the New York Knicks. And a lot of the noise coming out of the Garden isn't just coming from the fans.

They are off to a 9-3 start, and 5-0 on their home floor. Carmelo Anthony already has been touted as the NBA's MVP. Mike Woodson and Glen Grunwald are in the discussion to be named Coach and Executive of the Year, respectively. Next thing you know, the Knicks City Dancers will replace the Rockettes at Radio City. We might as well cancel the rest of the season and reserve the Canyon of Heroes right now.

EVERYONE. PLEASE. STOP.

Did I mention the Knicks began play Monday morning 9-3? As in 12 games? As in 12 games of an 82-game NBA schedule? Sure, the Knicks have impressed, and for a team that has not shown much in the way of postseason chops since Pat Riley (and to a lesser extent, Jeff Van Gundy) stalked the sidelines, I'm here to tell you to take it down a notch. Or several.

I'll take it a step further, for the record: The Knicks are a mirage, an apparition, a fraud. You heard it here first: The Nets will finish the regular season with a better record; the Knicks will be hard-pressed to wheeze to the end of the regular season above .500.

Why? The reasons are many. You want to say the Knicks have plenty of veteran experience? That's a diplomatic way of saying they're old -- the oldest team in NBA history on opening night of the season, according to Stats, LLC (32 years, 240 days). Half their roster is comprised of players with 10 or more years in the league (not including Pablo Prigioni, who is classified as a rookie despite being 35 years old). They have eight players 30 or older, five 35 or older, and one -- Kurt Thomas, who is 40.

Rasheed Wallace has already missed two games with a sore foot that won't get any better as the schedule intensifies. Ronnie Brewer already is hobbled with a bad knee. This team is a Jason Kidd rolled ankle and a Tyson Chandler knee sprain away from tumbling to oblivion.

But wait, you say -- the Knicks are getting back Amar'e Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert, who surely will add to the depth of this team.

Well and good, sort of. For one, Stoudemire's best days are long behind him, and you have to wonder how much he'll actually be able to contribute when he does get back on the floor. It's more likely he'll just line up as another casualty in a list that's sure to grow as the season progresses. And by the time Shumpert is cleared to play, there's a good chance the Knicks' season will be in as much ruin as the ancient, creaky guys who wear their uniforms.

It would be impossible for any team -- much less one with as much mileage as this one -- to maintain the torrid pace they've set. A case can be made they've played their best basketball of the season. And the Christmas decorations just went up in midtown. You have to wonder how much love there will be for the Knicks once Valentine's Day rolls around, which should be more than enough time for everyone around here to catch their breath.

NFL preseason = stealing money from fans

As I was sitting at my desk at the New York Post Sunday night, monitoring the Jets-Panthers preseason game to prepare our coverage and headlines, I couldn't help but notice the quality of what I was watching, well, stunk.

Much is being made in New York this morning that the Jets are the only team in the NFL that has not scored a touchdown through three preseason games, and, according to NBC, are the first team to accomplish that forgettable feat since the 1977 Falcons.

But this isn't about trashing the Jets (given what we've seen from them so far, there'll be plenty of opportunities for that later). It's about a system that's clearly broken, and the fact the most powerful, richest and most successful sports league seems to want to do nothing about it.

The NFL preseason has become a foxhole. With the artillery barrage of a four-game schedule (and imagine -- it used to be six), all teams want to do is get through it without anyone getting killed. So they trot out their starters for a series or two, or maybe a half, or not at all. In many instances, stars don't even suit up. Then there's the factor of teams keeping it vanilla, for fear of showing a play, formation or personnel that could come back to haunt them down the road. All of which leads to a bland, boring, tedious exercise.

All of that is fine, given teams have to evaluate draft picks and free agents, and make personnel decisions. And for the players on the bubble, it's perhaps the best chance they have to impress coaches and land a coveted roster spot.

I get all that. The problem is, the NFL charges its fans regular-season admission and parking for the privilege of watching a third-string quarterback you'll never see again try to complete passes behind a fourth-string offensive tackle to a fifth-string receiver.

For a league that talks the talk about integrity and protecting the shield (and while we're at it, bring the real refs back; a subject Believe the Type has already addressed), it's time Roger Goodell's corporation takes a much-needed and necessary step:

Cut the four-game preseason down to two games -- or better yet, ditch the preseason entirely.

A good friend of mine is a Jets season ticket-holder. He has four seats, each worth approximately $125, which he, of course, has to buy in order to purchase his eight regular-season games. That's an extra $1,000 out of his pocket for a third-rate product -- not even including parking (he has a parking pass for which he pays $15 per game as part of the season-ticket package) the time spent driving to and from the stadium, the price of gas and concessions.

For the poor guy who just shows up at MetLife Stadium for a one-shot deal just to watch a game, it's nearly as prohibitive; say he buys two of the cheapest seats way upstairs (about $50) and $50 to park -- to park! -- he's out $150 before he even goes through the turnstiles.

Sure, you can go through a secondary ticket provider like StubHub, but that's not the point. My friend suggests teams could either make preseason tickets free and spread out the price for them throughout the regular season. That would at least show appreciation for the fans showing up, or, in his words, "acknowledgement that you're getting screwed."

Taking it a step further, he suggests teams could take that $1,000 and return it to their season ticket-holders in the form of gift certificates for concessions and souvenirs that could only be used at the stadium -- a pretty good idea, if you ask me.

On the field, the preseason has long outlived its usefulness. The NFL could replace preseason games (at least two of them) with two live scrimmages against opposing teams, held during training camp. Charge fans a nominal fee (say $25) and charge for concessions. Teams will still make money, and fans won't feel as if they're getting fleeced.

Goodell has never been shy about engaging NFL fans when it comes to labor negotiations, player safety or other initiatives. After last season's Super Bowl, he thanked the fans for their unwavering support and said, "Our commitment to improve everything we do is ongoing."

Now it's time to not just say it, but show it.

NFL must end officials lockout -- now

Picture this: A company at the unquestioned top of its field, at the apex of success with its profits only forecast to go higher and higher with no ceiling in sight, decides to endanger everything it has built by waging labor war with a small but crucial department of its operation -- which just happens to be the gatekeeper of the integrity of the entire corporation.

Why would that company even think about messing with such a good thing just to save a couple of bucks? 

Excellent question. And it's one that Mike Arnold, the lead counsel of the NFL Referees Association wants an answer to, with the NFL officials lockout now expected to last into the regular season, which begins Sept. 5 when the Giants host the Cowboys.

"This is one of the perplexing things about why the NFL would lock us out," Arnold told USA Today. "Why would an organization with $9.3 billion in (annual) revenues expected to rise to $12 billion or $14 billlion in the forseeable future jeopardize the health and safety of its players and the integrity of the game by hiring scab officials?"

The amount of money the league and its officials are haggling over -- a $16.5 million gap in negotiations, according to Arnold -- seems like nickels and dimes ... if not pennies in perspective to the entire picture. But there's more:

The NFL wants its officials to become full-time positions -- a break from the current and past, as many officials have had long and successful careers in other fields. The league also wants to hire three additional officiating crews to allow the existing ones to take a week off here and there, with the possibility of rotating new officials into the current crews should the performance of individual referees decline. Not surprisingly, the officials' union is against all of that.

Arnold said the league also wants to blow up the officials' pension program and replace it with "annual contributions" the league would pay to retired officials instead.

But on top of all of that, and most important to fans, is how the games are affected on the field. And while there's only a very small sample size -- one week of the preseason -- it's more than enough to prove the point this nonsense needs to end. Now.

Mistakes and gaffes have been so numerous in just one week, it would be impossible to list them all here. Instances of penalties called on wrong players, not moving down markers and misinterpretation of rules have become tragically comical in short order.

At the conclusion of the Giants-Jaguars game last Friday, the Giants had the ball with time running out, trying to get into field-goal range for a potential game-winning kick. The Giants were called for a penalty, and under that scenario, a 10-second runoff should have been assessed and the game should have been over.

I -- and everyone else on the sports desk at the New York Post that night -- knew the rule. The commentators broadcasting the game knew the rule. But the officials, who huddled for several long minutes, didn't, and gave the Giants one more play. They didn't score, but imagine if they had ... and it had been a regular-season game against, say, the Cowboys ... on national TV.

"I actually heard one of the refs (say) he'd only reffed glorifies high school games, which I don't even know what that means," the Giants' Victor Cruz told my New York Post colleague, Paul Schwartz. "I just want to make sure (the officials) have the best interest of the players at heart and they know what they're doing out there, because there were a few instances where there were some iffy calls made and there were some things that were ... out there.

"Sometimes you could see them being a little flustered at times ... like they called a holding call on the returner when he was returning a punt. That was probably the most mind-boggling one to me. We just want to make sure we get the refs back out there and out there making the right calls."

Don't we all.

Then there is the issue of player safety, obviously a major concern of the league's rank and file.

"Everybody says the preseason is at one speed and once you get up to regular season the speed picks up and it goes to the next level," Bears punter and player rep Adam Podlesh told ESPN. "That is one thing that basically all these refs that are officiating our games haven't experienced ... That's the concern for the players: Are they going to be able to keep up with the speed of the game and are they going to make the right calls that are going to make the players feel safe?"

The regular NFL officials have, and would -- all the reason the league needs to end the insanity ... as soon as possible. 

Why we love the U.S. women's soccer team

Everybody can get into a good story. We voraciously download them on our Kindles and Nooks (or actually crack open a real book) and spend untold hours at the movies watching them unfold before our eyes. We wait anxiously for the next installment of our favorites, eagerly anticipating the twists and turns that elevate or befall our heroes and heroines.

As if on cue, there's a huge drama taking place at the London Olympics, one we've seen before, and one we hope has a slightly different ending than the last installment.

Like an old friend you've lost touch with for a while, the U.S. women's soccer team is banging on our doors again, much the same way they did a year ago, when they became the top sports story in the nation, when they reached the World Cup final against Japan. I remember staking out a stool in a jam-packed sports bar in New York to watch that game, which the "Drama Queens" ultimately lost (I highlighted the event on this very blog last July).

And like a Hollywood sequel, here we are again: Hope, Abby, Alex and the rest of our old pals are back, this time in the Olympic gold-medal game, set for Thursday, against -- wouldn't you know it -- Japan. You can hear the movie preview now:

"In a world where (doesn't every one of them start that way?) redemption leads to a second chance ..."

It might be tough to come up with an ending more dramatic than Monday's semifinal victory over Canada, when Alex (Morgan ... you mean you didn't know?) scored that amazing goal with time running out in the second overtime to secure the victory. That, after Megan (Rapinoe, but you didn't need me to tell you that) tied the game on a controversial indirect kick after the Canadian goalkeeper was called for delay of game, holding the ball too long.

Such territory is familiar for this team. And it's a place we can't wait to go to with them, to be there for the whole ride, making sure we don't miss a moment.

"I'm really happy that Alex Morgan's on my team," Abby (Wambach ... duh!) told NBC. "I think I told her I was in love with her in the dog pile we had.

"Even when they scored their third goal, there was something in me that knew that we had more, that we could give more. I don't know what that means, quite honestly. I don't know if it's just confidence until the end, but this team has a belief in itself, even when the going gets tough."

Beside the obvious drama, what makes this particularly appealing is this hard-working, driven, inspired group of young women aren't constantly in our faces, self-promoting, wondering in public why they can't sell out American stadiums for their pro soccer games -- think the opposite of Geno Auriemma. Instead, they're content to stop by every year or so and spend some quality time with us, giving us something to remember and reminisce about until their next visit, whenever that may be. We're fine with that, and so are they.

Pretty enlightening, during an Olympics that quite frankly has turned off a lot of people with a steady stream of controversies and scandals -- and no, we didn't forget our friend Hope's tweets likening the Olympic Village to a brothel. Still, you can bet these ladies won't be crashing their bikes on purpose, bribing officials or peeing in anyone's pool anytime soon.

"This is what we're about," Abby said. "This is what we've been working for since the day we lost to Japan in the World Cup final. We know it's not going to be easy. We didn't anticipate a game like this but we're willing to deal with whatever's thrown at us. We stuck it out until the end."

Which implores all of us to do the same.

Why Penn State escaped the NCAA's "death penalty"

The word from the NCAA has come down, and it's very, very bad news for the Penn State football program, including:

* A four-year ban from bowl games.

* All wins from 1998 to 2011 vacated -- which means Joe Paterno's career coaching wins fall from 409 to 298, and the Nittany Lions will lose six bowl championships and two conference titles.

* A $60 million fine, specifically intended to create an endowment to "external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims," and specifically not to aid programs at Penn State.

* A reduction of 20 scholarships for each of the next four years.

* A five-year probation, under which Penn State will be subject to an athletic integrity monitor to be chosen by the NCAA.

One factor that will have an immediate and even more-crippling effect on the Penn State program is that current scholarship players will be allowed to transfer and play at new schools immediately, without losing a year of eligibility.

The effect on the program will be profound for the foreseeable future. With its scholarships cut in half for four years and current players allowed -- if not encouraged -- to leave and play elsewhere, new coach Bill O'Brien and his staff will have a daunting and near-impossible task of attracting and signing recruits to join a decimated program that realistically has no shot at being even close to competitive in the Big Ten for a long time. Eight-to-10 years before the Nittany Lions' next winning season is a conservative estimate.

"I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead," O'Brien said in a statement. "But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes."

There were those who said the expected sanctions would be worse than the NCAA's "death penalty," and that nuclear option -- which would have shut down the program entirely for one year -- would have been preferable. And they may be right.

But in announcing the penalties Monday morning, NCAA president Mark Emmert said while considerable thought and discussion had been given to such a measure,  the committee decided against it due to the harm such a sanction would have caused to "innocent people" who had nothing to do with Jerry Sandusky's crimes and the ensuing silence from Paterno and the school's administration detailed in the Freeh Report -- including current Penn State players, opposing Big Ten teams and schools and people who make a living from Penn State games (stadium workers, concessionaires, area hotels, restaurants, etc.).

And in the wake of a scandal and coverup that violated the lives and well-being of countless innocent victims, isn't that entirely right and appropriate?

Kevin Durant has your back ... pack

NBA players have never been shy about their wardrobe and fashion choices, from the loud, obnoxious-colored suits that were in style (?) in the mid-90s, to the Allen Iverson-inspired street look that drove the image-obsessed league to institute a dress code. And AI was only talking about practice.

And we won't even get into the color palette in Craig Sager's closet.

Now we have new stars and a new movement that some have dubbed nerd-chic, now spotlighted by the Oklahoma City Thunder's young star, Kevin Durant. Never mind that he scored 40 points and pulled down eight rebounds Tuesday night in OKC's 121-112 loss in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals (in a game that the Mavs' Dirk Nowitzki scored 48 points). The focus on what he was wearing, specifically a checkered button-down shirt -- buttoned all the way to the top -- and a backpack, circa fifth grade.

Apparently, Durant has made his backpack his accessory of choice this season, and now that the Thunder have stormed their way into the national consciousness, it has become a topic of conversation. After a victory over the Grizzlies in the previous round, TNT's Charles Barkley even made an unflattering comment on it, and Durant was asked about the contents during an appearance on "Inside the NBA."

"I've got a Mac computer, my game shoes and clothes for the road trip," Durant said before embellishing. "Three pairs of jeans, three shirts, some dress shoes, phone chargers, a basketball, my phones ... I've got three phones.

"Oh, and I've got Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kremes for Chuck."

Which prompted Barkley to retort, "I didn 't hear anything about underwear. That means Kevin Durant is going commando."

Perish that thought. After a recent game, Durant was more low-key when asked about it again during the postgame interview session.

"I've got my iPad, I've got my Bible, my headphones, and my phone chargers."

Not too exciting, but you've got to respect Durant for having the confidence and poise to take the nerd-retro approach to fashion.

And then there was Thunder teammate Russell Westbrook, who sat next to Durant in the interview room wearing a pair of glasses that looked like they came from the Steve Urkel estate. That's another story for another time.