In “Empire State of Mind,” Alicia Keys sings, “New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of.” Well, Keys’ statement was disproved this year in the sports world as the dreams of concrete jungle fanatics are being shattered due to the poor performances of the teams they support.
According to a recent article published in the Wall Street Journal, New York sports teams as a whole haven’t performed this poorly since the mid-1960s.
To start, the Jets and Giants have both had considerably bad luck in the NFL this season. In the past six years, the Giants have had two Super Bowl victories, both of which were over the New England Patriots; however, this season did not follow the trend. With a disappointing seven wins out of 16 total games played this season, the Giants were so far from winning that they didn’t even reach the playoffs. The Jets didn’t have much more success either; scoring a meager 290 points in the regular season, it was the fourth lowest total in the NFL.
Basketball is another story. Last year, the New York Knicks were considered one the best teams in the league, advancing into the first two rounds of the playoffs before losing to the Indiana Pacers in a 4-2 series. Last season, the Knicks ended in second place in the Eastern conference as the seventh best team in the NBA. Now, the Knicks are one of the worst-performing teams in the NBA with a record of 15-23 for the season thus far. According to the New York Times, the team is suffering from a number of problems including their lack of communication, effort, and defensive action.
The Brooklyn Nets are a comparably better New York basketball team this season, but not by much. The Nets are currently the most expensive team in the NBA because of the finances needed to build the new Barclays Center, which cost the team $1 billion in construction. Also, the team has a very inexperienced coach, Jason Kidd, who retired after playing for the York Knicks just last year.
Both NY basketball teams a desperate to gain the upper hand at this point, and some of their players’ behavior is only hurting the situation. In recent news, New York Knicks player JR. Smith was fined $50,000 for slyly untying the shoes of two players during different games after a warning.
Watch closely during the beginning of the video below to catch JR in the act:
Unfortunately, baseball and hockey are not excluded from the group of underdogs this year either. In baseball news, this year marked the second time in 19 years when the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs. Additionally, star player Alex Rodriguez has been suspended for the next 162 games while his trail pends for suspicion of using performance enhancing drugs. In hockey news, The Rangers have only won one Stanley Cup in the past 74 years.
New York is hoping that these teams have made it their New Year’s resolutions to improve and return to their former places of glory, bringing die-hard big apple sports fans back to watching their victories.
In the words of Frank Sinatra, “It’s up to you New York, New York.”