BY JOHN McALEAVEY | I can’t believe the news today / Oh, I can’t close my eyes / And make it go away / How long / How long must we sing this song / How long, how long...
Sunday, November 1, started off just as every other Sunday does for me. I rise early, attend 7:30 AM mass and then return home for a big bacon and eggs breakfast. I read the local papers and get ready for a day of sports that lies ahead. Well, this past Sunday was unique for sports fans in the New York/New Jersey area because it afforded us the opportunity to watch our local teams play back to back to back. The afternoon/evening full of pigskin and pitching began with the Giants/Saints game at 1 PM, followed by the Jets/Raiders at 4 PM, leading up to the first pitch of the Royals/Mets World Series Game 5. Wow, could you ask for a better way to spend a day? Well, actually, yes! I’m reminded of the famous quote, be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it. One by one the Giants, Jets, and Mets took the field and lost–making for a Sunday Bloody Sunday!
If I were to tell you before kickoff at the Superdome in New Orleans that Eli Manning was going to complete 30 of 41 passes for 350 yards, and a whopping six touchdown passes, and Big Blue would receive a Trumaine McBride 63 yard pick six; you would have told me this was a laugher for the visitors. Au contraire! You see, someone forgot to tell the Giants that you also have to prevent your opponent from scoring points. As good as the G-Men were on O, they were expodentially worse on D. The Saints ran off 608 yards of total offense, and Drew Brees threw seven touchdown passes of his own. As defenseless as the defense was, somehow the game appeared headed for overtime. That is until poor punt coverage in the final seconds of the game, aided by a facemask penalty on the Giants punter, Brad Wing, lead to a New Orleans field goal and an excruciating 52-49 final.
That was a brutal loss, but at least I had the Jets and Raiders to take my mind off of it. Surely the vaunted Gang Green defense would have its way with the inexperienced Oakland Raiders, right? Wrong. Second year signal caller Derek Carr picked apart a very good New York secondary to the tune of 333 yards and four touchdowns (zero interceptions). The Jets lost quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to a torn left thumb ligament early on and were forced to send Geno Smith into the fray. He was rusty as expected and took a vicious hit of his own along the sideline late in the game, forcing him to the bench for a series as well. What on paper appeared to be a winnable road game for New York, became a total disaster, as they lost a starting quarterback and a lopsided game.
Clearly the New York football teams didn’t have it on this day; but the New York Mets certainly would, or so I hoped. Matt Harvey would toe the rubber at Citi Field trying to pitch his team back into a series in which they were on the brink of elimination. He sure looked the part of stopper for eight innings, but he faltered in the 9th when the Royals were able to plate two runs and tie the game. We all know how the story ended from there–Kansas City scored five runs in the 12th inning to defeat the Metropolitans and win the World Series. Talk about putting a cherry on top of an abysmal sports day, this certainly qualified as such.
So, as I made my way off to bed following the day full of terrible losses, I did so with a certain U2 song playing in my head.
And that my friends is My 2 Sense for this week.
Photo credit: Denverpost.com
