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      The Week When Sports Would Not Let America Look Away

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      As their games continued in the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, Golden State Coach Steve Kerr, the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays made powerful statements against gun violence.Before the big N.B.A. game Tuesday night, there was no talk of basketball: only frustration, rage and pain.On Thursday, sports slid into the background once again, as was appropriate, replaced by heartbreaking facts, courtesy of two Major League Baseball teams, and calls to do something to end the carnage.Something is wrong in America. We can’t figure out how to stop aggression and death.The rampage killings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, have again shaken us to the core. We brace against the plague of gun violence that threatens every part of the country: grocery stores and churches, street corners and shopping centers, and schools filled with grade school children.Daily life feels at any moment like it could turn into horror.Amid all of this, our games go on. Important games featuring remarkable teams. The Golden State Warriors played their familiar brand of beautiful basketball in the conference finals of the N.B.A. playoffs. The Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, division rivals and contenders to win this year’s World Series, played a key series in St. Petersburg, Fla.Sports can be a tonic during hard times. Games and great performances offer a chance to wash away awful emotion. To move on and even forget. But hours after 19 students and two teachers were murdered in Uvalde, Steve Kerr, Golden State’s head coach, a man who knows firsthand the suffering caused by gun violence, would not let us turn from the agony completely.From Opinion: The Texas School ShootingCommentary from Times Opinion on the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.Michelle Goldberg: As we come to terms with yet another tragedy, the most common sentiment is a bitter acknowledgment that nothing is going to change.Nicholas Kristof, a former Times Opinion columnist: Gun policy is complicated and politically vexing, and it won’t make everyone safe. But it could reduce gun deaths.Roxane Gay: For all our cultural obsession with civility, there is nothing more uncivilized than the political establishment’s acceptance of the constancy of mass shootings.Jay Caspian Kang: By sharing memes with each new tragedy, we have created a museum of unbearable sorrow, increasingly dense with names and photos of the deceased.And the Yankees and Rays would soon come together in a way that demanded attention be paid to what matters — and what mattered most was not about wins or losses or the battle for first place in the American League East.In the minutes before Game 4 of his team’s playoff series, Kerr sat at a table before reporters and powerfully let loose. Nothing he said was scripted. Everything came from the heart, molded by personal experience. And it had nothing to do with basketball or sports.“In the last 10 days, we’ve had elderly Black people killed in Buffalo, Asian churchgoers killed in Southern California. And now we have children murdered at school,” Kerr said, his words forceful enough to go viral almost instantly. His voice quaked. His eyes narrowed with burning-ember emotion.He pounded the table, as his voice rose.“I’m fed up. I’ve had enough. We’re going to play the game tonight, but I want every person listening to this to think about your own child or grandchild or mother or father, sister, brother. How would you feel if this happened to you today?“When are we going to do something?” he added.“Enough!”Kerr has long spoken out in news conferences and other venues for stricter gun laws and against our society’s thirst for violence. He did so again this week, denouncing the politicians who do nothing and specifically railing against the Senate for not even passing legislation as simple as a requirement for universal background checks. In that moment, watching him was to watch a man struggling to make sense of a tragedy he is all too familiar with. In 1984, during Kerr’s freshman year at the University of Arizona, his father, Malcolm, was shot and killed by assassins outside his office at the American University in Beirut.With the dark cloud of wanton gun violence growing in America, don’t expect silence.Political statements are more rare in baseball, still nominally our national pastime though its dwindling audience has aged toward conservatism. Even the staid Yankees — so tradition-bound a team that they don’t even allow players to wear facial hair — and their division rival collaborated on a singular message. Instead of posting the usual stats and scoring updates during their game Thursday, both teams shared facts about gun violence to millions of followers.When they played on Thursday, their Twitter and Instagram posts focused entirely on the death toll of guns in this country.“58 percent of American adults or someone they cared for have experienced gun violence,” read one of the scores of posts.“This cannot become normal,” read another. “We cannot become numb. We cannot look the other way. We all know, if nothing changes, nothing changes.”Another: “Every day, more than 110 Americans are killed with guns, and more than 200 are shot and injured.”Jason Zillo, the Yankees’ vice president of communications, put the posts in perspective in a text message to my colleague David Waldstein this week. “As citizens of the world, it’s hard to process these shootings and just slip back into a regular routine,” Zillo said. “For one night, we wanted to reflect and draw attention to statistics that carry so much more significance and weight than batting average.”Well said. And well done.I’m one of the legions touched by gun violence: the suicide of a favorite great-uncle, the slaying of a distant cousin, an infant, by a stray bullet in a gang shootout. My pain swims in the same deep currents that swell across America. Together we grieve. Together we decide how to respond.This week, Steve Kerr, and the Yankees and Rays were there to remind us not to dive too deep into the easy distraction of sports — and that action is required to end this madness. More

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      New Sports Books About the Knicks, Rickey Henderson and More

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      Baseball, basketball, Formula One: Six new books take readers on a tour from Madison Square Garden to Monza, Italy.Millie von PlatenOne day this spring, Gregg Giannotti showed up to work dressed as a leprechaun. Giannotti, better known as Gio, is one half of WFAN’s morning show “Boomer and Gio.” He supports the New York Knicks, who finished the season 37-45, safely out of playoff contention. Dejected, Gio channeled his energies into rooting against the crosstown Nets in their opening-round series against the Celtics. Boston was once itself a formidable Atlantic Division rival. But the Celtics and Knicks haven’t played much meaningful basketball this millennium; since 2001, no N.B.A. team has lost more games than the Knicks. So Gio donned the green pants, green vest and green hat of Lucky, the Celtics mascot. He even found himself a shillelagh.Such is the sad state of New York Knick fandom in 2022. The faithful may take some solace in BLOOD IN THE GARDEN: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks (Atria, 368 pp., $28.99), Chris Herring’s new book about the franchise’s last golden era. Of course, those Knicks came up short — repeatedly, painfully short. Six times in the ’90s New York was eliminated from the playoffs by the eventual N.B.A. champion. In 1991, they were trampled by a Bulls team charging toward the first of six titles; in 1999, New York lost in the finals to the rising Spurs dynasty. In between came a now-mythic series of missed opportunities. Charles Smith’s futile put-backs in 1992. John Starks’s leaden 2-18 performance in 1994. Patrick Ewing’s errant finger roll in 1995.Michael Jordan vs. the New York Knicks, 1993.Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE, via Getty ImagesHerring covers the Knicks the way Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein covered the Nixon White House in “The Final Days” — the book spills over with delicious detail. In one scene, the executive Dave Checketts has the unenviable task of dismissing a trusted lieutenant. Checketts arranges dinner at a favorite restaurant. The men split an order of penne vodka, Herring reports, then cuts of steak. Only when dessert arrives does Checketts find the resolve to drop the ax.More ruthless was the man Checketts hired as coach in 1991. Pat Riley had developed champagne tastes while winning four titles with the Lakers: Herring writes that among his contract demands were that his team-issued polo shirts be manufactured by Ralph Lauren and that the team cover his dry-cleaning bill. (Checketts drew the line at the latter request.) But Riley had a different vision for the Knicks. They would be bullies.It was a style of play well suited to the Knicks’ musclebound roster and to a more permissive era of professional basketball. It also suited Riley, a son of blue-collar Schenectady and a natural martinet. He drilled the team relentlessly, stressing conditioning, defensive intensity and unapologetic toughness. This group would win, Herring writes, by “making teams pay for having the audacity to wander into the paint.”When the Knicks failed in this regard, Riley saw to it that his own team paid dearly. In Game 5 of the 1992 Eastern Conference semifinals, Michael Jordan cut the Knicks defense to ribbons. Before Game 6, Riley wheeled a television set and VHS player into the locker room. The team watched a clip of a single play in which Jordan beat Starks off the dribble, juked Charles Oakley and dunked over Ewing. Then the clip started again. And again. The tape contained only this one play, on loop. “This makes me sick to my stomach,” Riley pronounced, when the tape finally stopped. “One of you is gonna step up, knock Michael Jordan to the floor and not help him up.”No player embodied the swaggering ethos of the ’90s Knicks more than Oakley, whom Herring describes as “the most physical player in perhaps the N.B.A.’s most physical era.” In 1992-93, he led the league in flagrant fouls, racking up more such calls individually than 15 entire teams.Some athletes melt under Broadway’s stage lights; Oakley thrived. His gritty play befitted the city’s “if I can make it there” self-image. He could be as brash as Mike Tyson and as cryptic as Casey Stengel. (“Just because there is some glass in the road doesn’t mean there was an accident,” he once said, after being fined $10,000 for leveling Reggie Miller.) He was even something of a gourmet, notorious among teammates for sending back food when it failed to meet his discerning standards. “This isn’t German chocolate cake!”A childhood friend calls Oakley “arrogantly honest,” a description he embraces, and that captures the appeal of his new memoir, THE LAST ENFORCER: Outrageous Stories From the Life and Times of One of the NBA’s Fiercest Competitors (Gallery, 288 pp., $28.99), written with Frank Isola. Oakley is a great perceiver of slights, holder of grudges and all-around curmudgeon. “I think that 20 percent of today’s guys would be tough enough to play in our era,” he writes. “Maybe not even that many.”Charles Oakley looking displeased, 1998.Barton Silverman/ The New York TimesSuch crankiness ought to be more grating, but Oakley (mostly) punches up, and even in high dudgeon he has a sense of humor. “I’ll admit that we do share some common ground,” he writes of Charles Barkley, an old nemesis. “I’m better looking, but we both wore number 34.” (The rivalry merits its own chapter, titled “Barkley and His Big Mouth.”) Oakley makes a point of defending Charles Smith, noting that Starks and Ewing also had key misses down the stretch in what is still known as “the Charles Smith game.” “How are you going to put that on Charles Smith? This was a team loss. A bad team loss.”If Oakley is the quintessential ’90s Knick, he has also experienced the team’s tragic arc most acutely. Whereas many of his peers remain fixtures at Madison Square Garden, Oakley was exiled, thanks to a long-running feud with James Dolan, the team owner who has presided over two decades of Knick futility. In 2017, Dolan had Oakley ejected from the Garden for alleged belligerence. Oakley was escorted out of the building in handcuffs and charged with counts of assault, harassment and trespass. “The organization has this saying, ‘Once a Knick, Always a Knick,’” Oakley writes. “But it only applies to certain players.”The Knick fan base, however, honored the credo. The Times’s Scott Cacciola reported that “a police officer at the Manhattan precinct where Oakley was being processed stood on the steps and shouted ‘Free Charles Oakley!’” Even Reggie Miller took his side. In the end, the ejection may have been a small mercy. The charges were eventually dropped, and all Oakley missed was a 119-115 loss to the Clippers.“A baseball life is fragile and absurd,” Ron Shelton says. “It’s also wondrous and thrilling.” Shelton is the writer and director of “Bull Durham,” the 1988 film that Sports Illustrated has called the best sports movie of all time. The movie plays as a broad satire, but in THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit (Knopf, 256 pp., $30, to be published in July), Shelton’s new memoir, we learn that it is firmly rooted in the author’s experience playing in the Orioles farm system. When he reports for rookie ball, the first player he meets is another guy named Ron Shelton. It only gets more absurd from there.A pitcher for the Durham Bulls.Paul A. Souders/Corbis, via Getty ImagesShelton’s love of film was nurtured as a young ballplayer. With time to kill before games in dusty towns, he would repair to the movies, taking in whatever matinee happened to be playing. “There’s a kind of film education in going indiscriminately to movies, whatever the rating, whatever the reviews,” he writes. “‘Rio Lobo’ to Russ Meyer to Alain Resnais.”His appreciation of the high and the low shaped the writing of “Bull Durham.” Crash Davis, the veteran catcher played by Kevin Costner, is based on a stock figure from the western, the hired gun. The idea that a sex-starved pitcher might throw nastier stuff came from Aristophanes.That anyone agreed to make this movie is a credit to Shelton’s talents as a writer, but also a stroke of dumb luck. When he makes his unlikely elevator pitch — “‘Lysistrata’ in the minor leagues” — it’s to Thom Mount, perhaps the only producer in Hollywood who would appreciate it. “He knew ‘Lysistrata’ and he knew the infield fly rule — that’s a small group to find in Hollywood — and he owned a piece of the Durham Bulls baseball team in the Carolina League.”For the part of Nuke LaLoosh, the cocky pitching prospect eventually portrayed by Tim Robbins, Shelton wanted Charlie Sheen, but he was already attached to “Eight Men Out.” A year after the release of “Bull Durham,” Sheen would play a different pitcher with control issues, in “Major League.” Costner’s next role was Ray Kinsella, in “Field of Dreams.” It’s a measure of baseball’s diminished cultural capital that such a slate is impossible to imagine in the present.A funny thing, though, about “Bull Durham”: There’s not all that much baseball in it. This reflects a maxim of Shelton’s: “The biggest mistake a sports movie can make is to have too much sports.” At the movie’s heart is the love triangle of Crash, Nuke and Annie, the sultry Bulls booster played by Susan Sarandon; command of the infield fly rule is not required to appreciate their chemistry. Shelton was pleased that his former peers in the minors liked the movie, but he knew he had a hit when Billy Wilder, master of the sex farce, summoned him to his table at a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. “Great picture, kid,” he said.At the end of “Bull Durham,” Crash is thinking about taking a job as a manager — there may be an opening next season in Visalia. What would have awaited him in the California League? Visalia was an early stop for the umpire Dale Scott, the author of a rollicking new memoir. The games were sparsely attended, he reports, save for one couple who never missed an inning, or an opportunity to rain abuse on the umpires.One night, Scott and a crewmate go out for ice cream after a game, only to discover that the couple are the proprietors of Visalia’s ice cream parlor. The umpires decide to exact a bit of sweet revenge: “You call that a scoop?” they heckle. “That’s not a scoop.” The couple is duly chastened. “The rest of our games in Visalia, we didn’t hear a word.”It’s a rare victory for the blue. In THE UMPIRE IS OUT: Calling the Game and Living My True Self (University of Nebraska, 312 pp., $34.95), written with Rob Neyer, Scott is cheery yet candid about the indignities of umpiring. Sparky Anderson sprayed tobacco juice on his face. Billy Martin once attempted to kick dirt on him, but struggled to dislodge a clod equal to his ire. “Billy then bent down, scooped as much as he could with both hands and shoveled it right on my classy American League sweater.” In Baltimore, Scott was hit below the belt by a wild pitch, requiring a trip to the E.R. The bright side: Taking a ball to the groin “might be the only time when every player on the field, no matter which team, actually sympathizes with you.”Dale Scott in action, 2001.via Dale ScottScott had a long, illustrious run in the majors, calling All-Star games, playoff games, World Series games. But he’s an important figure not just for his work behind the plate. He was also M.L.B.’s first openly gay umpire.For decades, however, Scott kept his sexuality to himself, fearful that his secret could cost him his career. “I was so in the closet when living my baseball life that I would take what now seem like ridiculous and (frankly) demeaning precautions,” he writes. At one point, he enlists a beautiful woman, a flight attendant, to meet him for dinner at an umpire hangout in Tempe, Ariz. Scott’s peers are duly impressed, unaware that his date is in fact the sister of his longtime partner, Mike.Scott came out publicly in 2014, shortly after he and Mike were married. Between innings during his first spring training game after the news broke, the Cincinnati Reds’ Marlon Byrd ran up to Scott and gave him a bear hug: “Buddy, I’m so proud of you. You’re free! You’re free!”Perhaps few players in baseball history have taxed the umpire ranks as severely as Rickey Henderson. His batting stance, a tight crouch, shrank the strike zone. “The guy is impossible to pitch to,” said a pitcher for Visalia, who faced Henderson when he was coming up with Modesto. “He drives me crazy, and the umpires too.” Then there was his distracting habit of chattering to himself — in the third person — in the batter’s box. “Come on, Rickey. He can’t beat you with that. … Is that all he’s got? … He better hope it isn’t. Ooooohhh, he better HOPE it isn’t.” The umpire manning second base had it easier. Henderson was usually safe by a mile.“Baseball is about homecoming,” A. Bartlett Giamatti famously wrote. “It is a journey by theft and strength, guile and speed.” By that definition, is there any question that Henderson must be considered one of the best to ever play the game? No player has had more guile or speed: Henderson holds the career record for stolen bases. He also journeyed by strength, hitting 297 home runs, more than many of the sluggers he competed against over his long career. Indeed, no player has had more homecomings than Henderson. He holds the record for runs scored, with 50 more than Ty Cobb.Henderson is the subject of RICKEY: The Life and Legend of an American Original (Mariner, 448 pp., $29.99), by Howard Bryant. Bryant’s most recent books, “Full Dissidence” and “The Heritage,” have been studies of sports and race, an intersection he covers with moral urgency. While his new book is a biography, it is remarkable for the way in which it tells a broader story about the social and political forces — starting with the segregation that divided Oakland, where Henderson grew up and made his name — that shaped this player and the way he was perceived by his peers, the media and the fans.Rickey Henderson at bat, 1995.Brad ManginDespite his unimpeachable numbers, Henderson was routinely accused of privileging flash over substance. Bryant sees instead a man unwilling to bend to tradition. “The Black fans and players knew that pitting charisma against winning was a false, often racist choice — and a way to punish the Black players for playing with Black style. More than any other sport, baseball demanded that Black and brown players adapt to the old ways of playing the game, which is to say, the white ways.”Henderson did things at his own pace (“Rickey Time”) and in his own way (“Rickey Style”). “Rickey was all legs and thrust and ferocity,” Bryant writes. “Batting leadoff, a position in the order that was supposed to be largely inconspicuous, the table-setter for bigger things to happen, he demanded to be recognized.” The sportswriter Ralph Wiley coined a term for the damage Henderson could do all on his own: the “Rickey Run.” He could “walk, steal second, either steal third or reach it on a grounder, then come home on a fly ball. With Rickey, the A’s could score without even getting a hit.”After watching a Rickey Henderson highlight reel, a Yankees executive once remarked, “I’ve never seen a guy look so fast in slow motion.” The same might be said of a Formula 1 driver as he maneuvers through a chicane, the elegance of the alternating turns belying the car’s speed. The success of the Netflix series “Drive to Survive” has led to an explosion of interest in F1 in the United States, a country long immune to its charms. It is said that the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher loved to vacation in the States — because no one ever recognized him.The suddenness of this change in fortunes has left the publishing industry on the back foot, as they say in the paddock. Surely waves of books are in the making: a collection of earthy wisdom from Kimi Raikkonen, perhaps, or a behind-the-mic memoir by the beloved Sky Sports commentator David “Crofty” Croft. For now, F1 HEROES: Champions and Legends in the Photos of Motorsport Images (Skira/D.A.P., 192 pp., $42) isn’t a bad way to bide the time. Though largely a compendium of photographs, the book, edited by Ercole Colombo and Giorgio Terruzzi, also offers capsule histories of each of F1’s seven decades — a helpful cheat sheet for those newly minted fans who can’t yet tell the difference between Phil Hill, Graham Hill and Damon Hill, former champions all.Spanish Grand Prix, 1951.LAT PhotographicFormula 1 is a fantastically photogenic sport, owing to the beauty of the cars, the globe-spanning venues of the races and the glittering people it has traditionally attracted. Here is Juan Manuel Fangio in Pedralbes, Spain, in 1951, in an Alfa Romeo that looks like a soap box compared with today’s menacing machines. Here is Jim Clark in Riems, France, in 1963, strips of plaster affixed to his face to provide protection from flying debris. Here is Jochen Rindt with his wife, the Finnish model Nina Rindt, in Monza, Italy, in 1970, looking philosophical in the moments before the practice session that will claim his life. Here is Pope John Paul II granting an audience to Team Ferrari; here is George Harrison granting an audience to Damon Hill. One hopes the Motorsport photo pool was on assignment at this spring’s Grand Prix in Miami, where American royalty — Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, the Williams sisters — saluted the nation’s new favorite sport.John Swansburg is a managing editor at The Atlantic. More

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      Mets Hire Buck Showalter as Manager

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      The hiring of Showalter, the latest acquisition in an off-season of win-now moves by the Mets, was announced in a tweet by the team’s owner, Steven Cohen.The Mets hired Buck Showalter as their new manager on Saturday, choosing a leader with 20 years of experience in the job and signaling again the high expectations at Citi Field.The Mets’ owner, Steve Cohen, announced the decision on Twitter. The team plans to formally introduce Showalter as its manager on Monday.I’m pleased to announce Buck Showalter as the new manager of the New York Mets— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) December 18, 2021
      Showalter, 65, got a three-year deal and another chance to take a team to the World Series. He has guided the Yankees, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Baltimore Orioles to the postseason without winning a pennant, but is widely respected for his preparedness and attention to detail. He has won his league’s manager of the year award three times — in 1994 with the Yankees, in 2004 with the Texas Rangers and in 2014 with the Orioles.The other finalists for the job were much younger than Showalter: Matt Quatraro, 48, the bench coach for the Tampa Bay Rays, and Joe Espada, 46, the bench coach for the Houston Astros. Neither Quatraro nor Espada has ever managed in the majors, however, much like Showalter’s predecessor in New York, Luis Rojas, who had no major league managerial experience when the Mets hired him in 2020, before Cohen bought the team.Rojas, now the Yankees’ third base coach, went 103-119 overall. He was fired in October after the Mets’ late-summer collapse completed a second straight losing season under his leadership.Hiring a manager with Showalter’s pedigree is consistent with the Mets’ off-season moves before the lockout suspended transactions involving major league players on Dec. 2. Cohen has invested $254.5 million in multiyear contracts for four free agents this winter: pitcher Max Scherzer, infielder Eduardo Escobar and outfielders Mark Canha and Starling Marte. All will be at least 33 years old by opening day, and Scherzer, 37, got a three-year deal with a record average annual value of $43.3 million. More

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      Twins, Timberwolves and Wild Postpone Games After Shooting

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      With the Minneapolis area on edge, M.L.B., N.B.A. and N.H.L. teams decided they could not play on Monday following the shooting of Daunte Wright.Professional baseball, basketball and hockey games in Minnesota were postponed on Monday in response to tension and unrest after a police officer shot and killed a Black man during a traffic stop north of Minneapolis.The Minnesota Twins postponed their afternoon game with the Boston Red Sox and were quickly followed by the N.B.A.’s Minnesota Timberwolves calling off a game against the Nets and the N.H.L.’s Minnesota Wild postponing a match against the St. Louis Blues.With the region on edge as the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer facing murder charges in the death of George Floyd, continues in Minneapolis, the Twins said it would not have been appropriate to play. The police in Brooklyn Center, Minn., where the latest shooting took place Sunday, said that the victim, Daunte Wright, 20, was shot accidentally by an officer who had intended to use a Taser.“Our community’s been through a lot, and we have a trial taking place just blocks away from Target Field,” said the Twins team president, Dave St. Peter, in a video news conference with reporters. “Emotions across our community, emotions across our organization, are raw.”He added that baseball seemed “a little less important” now, and that the Twins prioritized safety and compassion over holding the game as scheduled.“Make no mistake, part of the decision here today is out of respect for the Wright family, but there’s a big part of this decision that’s also rooted in safety and consultation with law enforcement about unknowns, about what will, or could transpire within the broader community over the next several hours, based on the news that has come out of Brooklyn Center this morning,” St. Peter said.“Once you understand that information, for us the decision becomes a lot easier. The right thing to do is always to err on the side of safety for our players, for our staff, for our fans.”Outside of Minnesota, Aaron Hicks, who had previously played for the Twins, asked to sit out of Monday’s game between the Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. Another Yankees player, Giancarlo Stanton, was considering sitting out as well.“I would say that Aaron is hurting in a huge way,” Manager Aaron Boone told reporters. “I think in a way felt like it was probably the responsible thing to take himself out and knowing that it was going to be hard for him to be all in mentally in what’s a high stake, difficult job to go out there and perform for the New York Yankees.”In a statement, the N.B.A. said the decision to postpone Monday night’s game was made after consultation with the Timberwolves organization as well as local and state officials.Last spring, after the killing of Floyd, several N.B.A. and W.N.B.A. players became active participants in the protests that broke out around the country.Last August, after the N.B.A. had resumed its season on the Walt Disney World campus near Orlando, Fla., some N.B.A. players took their demonstrations further after the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. Blake, then 29, was partially paralyzed after being shot multiple times in the back by police while trying to enter his vehicle.With emotions high after the shooting of Jacob Blake, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for a playoff game on Aug. 26, 2020.Kevin C. Cox/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBefore a playoff game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic, George Hill, then a guard for the Bucks, persuaded the rest of his teammates to sit out the game. This created a cascade effect: The other games on tap that night were postponed as well, as well as those in other leagues, like women’s basketball, baseball and soccer. Naomi Osaka, a Black tennis star, threatened to leave the Western & Southern Open, which pushed officials to delay the tournament by a day.Two days later, the N.B.A. and its players’ union announced an agreement that would convert some team arenas into polling sites and lift the player-inspired work stoppage. Some of the league’s top players, including LeBron James and Chris Paul, consulted with former President Barack Obama on a path forward.In discussing the Twins’ postponement on Monday, Manager Rocco Baldelli said some players were shaken by the incident in Brooklyn Center.“We have some guys that I would put in the category of passionate,” Baldelli said, “and were really damaged and hurt by everything that was going on today.”The Twins and the Red Sox were scheduled to play four games through Thursday, and this is Boston’s only scheduled trip to Minnesota this season. The teams play a series in Boston in late August, but St. Peter said the Twins have not considered moving the series to Fenway Park.The N.B.A.’s announcement did not say when the Timberwolves and Nets would make up the lost game. The Wild’s game against the Blues has been rescheduled for May 12. More

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      The Masters Is Business as Usual as Georgia Faces a Political Onslaught

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      Major League Baseball pulled its All-Star Game from the Atlanta area, but Georgia’s most cherished sporting event remains firmly rooted in the state.AUGUSTA, Ga. — Georgia and its new elections law are caught up in a political riptide.But there’s scant evidence of that on and around the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club, where the state’s most cherished sporting event, the Masters, begins play on Thursday. There are no protests along Washington Road. There are only limited calls in Georgia, even among the law’s fiercest critics, to upend a springtime ritual at a club that stands on what was once an indigo plantation and did not admit a Black member until 1990.Indeed, even after Major League Baseball chose to move its All-Star Game from Georgia to protest the law that restricts access to voting, there was little doubt that the Masters would go on as planned this week — a reflection of golf’s Republican lean, but also of Augusta National’s honed willingness to defy pressure and, crucially, the reality that the mighty, mystique-filled brand of the Masters hinges on one course, and one course alone.“When you think about the Masters golf tournament, the first major of the year, the Augusta National Golf Club, to suggest that it ‘doesn’t happen’ in Augusta really speaks to people’s lack of knowledge about the Augusta National and, more importantly, the Masters,” said Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. of Augusta, a former Democratic legislator in the state and an avowed opponent of the new elections law.Tournament play will begin less than one week after baseball’s announcement about the All-Star Game, an exhibition that will now be played in Denver and, unlike the Masters, is staged in a different city each year. But Augusta National is still facing scrutiny from well outside its gates, not least because its membership includes executives whose current and former companies have come under pressure to condemn the machinations in Atlanta, the state capital.At the White House on Tuesday, President Biden said it was “up to the Masters” whether the tournament should be moved out of Georgia. He added that it was “reassuring to see that for-profit operations and businesses are speaking up.”Officials at the club, which remained all-male until 2012, did not respond to requests for comment about the law ahead of the tournament. Augusta National’s chairman, Fred S. Ridley, is scheduled to hold his annual news conference on Wednesday, when he will most likely be asked about the measure, which, among other provisions, limited the time for voters to request absentee ballots and handed broad powers to the Republican-controlled Legislature.Ridley, who became Augusta National’s chairman in 2017, has often had a more conciliatory tone than his predecessors on whatever controversy percolated around the tournament. Less than 20 years ago, Chairman William Johnson, whose nickname was Hootie, faced pressure to allow a woman to join Augusta National and responded by decreeing that a woman might someday be invited to join “but that timetable will be ours and not at the point of a bayonet.”At the height of the protests in 2003, Augusta National held the Masters without the support of television sponsors. It was “unfair,” Johnson said at the time, “to put the Masters media sponsors in the position of having to deal with this pressure.”But last autumn, with the country engaged in a sustained debate about some of the very racial inequities that had endured at Augusta National over its history, Ridley said that the club and three corporate partners had pledged $10 million for a pair of underserved Augusta neighborhoods that have grappled with generational poverty and neglect.Lee Elder became the first Black golfer to compete at the Masters in 1975.Doug Mills/The New York TimesOn Thursday, Lee Elder, who in 1975 became the first Black golfer to play the Masters, will join the traditional honorary starters Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player to hit the 2021 tournament’s ceremonial tee shots. To many people, Augusta National’s ultimate decisions were welcome but tardy, a familiar criticism for a club where opaqueness and caution are among the norms.This time, golf has given Ridley some cover. The sport has expressed measured anger — and suggested it had no desire, or willingness, to boycott Georgia.The PGA Tour, which does not control the Masters, said over the weekend that it would not move the Tour Championship, which is scheduled to be played in Atlanta, because of the economic and charitable repercussions the decision would have on nearby impoverished areas. It added, though, that the choice “to stage an event in a particular market should not be construed as indifference to the current conversation around voting rights” and that it was “a critical national priority to listen to the concerns about voter suppression — especially from communities of color that have been marginalized in the past.”The P.G.A. of America, which is planning to hold the Women’s P.G.A. Championship in suburban Atlanta in June, said it was “monitoring developments.”“We believe elections should be accessible, fair and secure, and support broad voter participation,” it added.And almost none of the sport’s top players have made open demands for any other approach, a contrast to the tactics of the Major League Baseball Players Association, which had made its reservations about the All-Star Game public.The golfer Collin Morikawa called the issue of voting “very important.”Doug Mills/The New York TimesCollin Morikawa, who won last year’s P.G.A. Championship, said this week that issues of voting were “very important” and that he did not believe that golfers were “stepping out of our way to block it out and forget about it.”“The topic of voter rights and all that, that should be the topic that we talk about, not if we are here playing golf,” he said.Bryson DeChambeau, who is hoping to contend after a disappointing Masters showing last year, avoided the clearest political tripwires but cited golf’s contributions to the communities where tournaments are held.“We try to show, no matter what happens, we’re going to do our best to be an example for the world,” he said. “I think when those times come about, we have an opportunity to show the world what we can provide.”But when asked on Tuesday whether golf or Augusta National should take a forceful stand against the law, Cameron Champ, who is biracial and one of the few Black players on the tour, replied, “I would think so” and moments later described baseball’s decision as “a big statement.”“It really targets certain Black communities, makes it harder for them to vote,” Champ, who wore shoes reading “Black Lives Matter” at a tournament last year, said of the Georgia statute.A crucial question for Augusta National in the coming weeks and months will be how to balance its views with whatever pressure its handful of tournament sponsors or the companies employing its members may face. A similar dynamic surfaced in the early 2000s, when Citigroup effectively acknowledged that Sanford I. Weill, an Augusta National member who was then the company’s chairman, had told the club that he supported adding women to the membership.Condoleezza Rice was one of the first two women to become members of Augusta National, in 2012.Doug Mills/The New York TimesIf Augusta National were to condemn the law, its message would carry outsize influence in the state.Although the club’s membership roster is not public, the guarded grounds are a gathering place for many of the South’s most powerful figures and their guests. And its known members include bipartisan political royalty, including Condoleezza Rice, who was raised in segregated Alabama and was secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration, and Sam Nunn, a Democrat who represented Georgia in the United States Senate for about 24 years.M.L.B. Commissioner Rob Manfred at the 2020 Masters last November.Rob Carr/Getty ImagesIn a letter on Monday, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, asked Rob Manfred, the M.L.B. commissioner, whether he would surrender his Augusta National membership. A league spokesman did not respond to a request for comment, but Rubio opined that he was “under no illusion” that Manfred would quit because that would “require a personal sacrifice, as opposed to the woke corporate virtue signaling of moving the All-Star Game.”Davis, Augusta’s mayor, praised baseball’s move but said he was not worried about the tournament, which local officials believe is responsible for at least $50 million in economic impact, when the Masters is running at normal capacity. He argued that people in the city would challenge and protest the new law but also be deeply protective of their most renowned athletic tradition.“This is our sports team,” he said. “We don’t have the Falcons, the Cowboys or the Baltimore Ravens. But what we do have, every year, same time, is the Masters golf tournament.” More

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      in Soccer

      Rooting for Your Home Team in Person? Here’s What You Need to Know.

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      This spring, big-league games are luring fans to stadiums and arenas. Expect varying levels of mask-wearing, social distancing and pregame testing.From strict testing, masking and physical-distancing protocols in New York and California, to a full 40,000-seat stadium with almost no coronavirus restrictions outside Dallas.These are the widely varying conditions sports fans can expect as large-scale spectatorship returns to big-league stadiums and arenas this spring. Americans are still getting infected with the coronavirus each day, and hospitalizations and deaths continue to add to the virus’s ghastly toll — but even the most Covid-weary cannot deny the life-affirming joy of root-root-rooting for the home team.The question is, should you be rooting in person?“The devil’s always in the details,” said Dr. Thomas A. Russo, chief of infectious medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. But when masking and distance standards are closely enforced, “the risk is going to be low,” he said.Fans were present on a very limited basis for some games at the end of last baseball season and in the N.F.L. season that concluded last month, and more recently for some N.B.A. and N.H.L. games. As of Friday, there have been no reports of community spread, but an argument can be made for waiting a bit before applying the face paint and heading out.“We’re still going to have a moderate community burden of disease for another six to eight weeks,” Dr. Russo said. “After that, as we’re working on the vaccinations, I expect it to lighten. So baseball in July may be very comfortable,” he continued, “whereas Opening Day may be less so.”This spring, the spectator policies of big-league baseball, soccer, hockey and basketball teams in the United States are governed primarily by the Covid-19 regulations of the 27 states where they are located, and the District of Columbia. The N.H.L. has extensive protocols for players, fans and buildings, and “none are independent of local, state, provincial or federal guidelines,” said John Dellapina, the league’s senior vice president of communications.But that leads to wide variations in how many are able to watch a game at the stadium or arena — and the lengths to which they must go to get in. The best thing for prospective spectators to do is check on their favorite team’s website and see what they need to do for a ticket.In New York, regulations currently allow 10 percent capacity at indoor sports venues — that translates to roughly 2,000 fans at Madison Square Garden for Knicks and Rangers games, 1,300 Islanders fans at Nassau Coliseum and 1,800 Nets fans at the Barclays Center — and 20 percent at outdoor venues.Those fans must present evidence of a negative virus test taken within 72 hours of the game (at a cost of $60 or more); have that test result linked to their ID via an app, like the tech company Clear’s digital health pass or New York State’s Excelsior Pass; complete a health survey before entry; submit to a temperature check; and, once inside, wear a mask except when eating or drinking.Outdoors, the same entry procedures will be in place, but with 20 percent capacity, when fans return to Yankee Stadium on Opening Day, April 1, and to Citi Field for the Mets home opener on April 8. (Both teams also say they will accept proof of full vaccination.) Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the doubling of capacity for outdoor stadiums on Thursday, which means the Yankees can host almost 11,000 fans and the Mets about 8,400.That will also hold true for the Toronto Blue Jays, who are likely to play home games in Buffalo’s intimate Sahlen Field starting in May or June if the U.S.-Canada border remains closed. At Sahlen, 20 percent capacity translates to about 3,300 fans.Limited tickets and lots of social distancingOf course, all of this is dependent on scoring a ticket. Season-ticket holders get first crack at seats, so resale sites are the best bet for the casual fan.For some teams those secondary prices will be steep, given the limited supply, like the $260 nosebleed seat listed on Thursday for Islanders-Rangers at the Coliseum April 11. The cheapest resale price for a Red Sox-Orioles Opening Day ticket at Fenway Park (12 percent capacity) was put at $344. Currently, resale sites don’t even list tickets for Yankee Stadium or Citi Field until June.Baseball fans kept their distance from each other during the game between the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., on March 13.Eve Edelheit for The New York TimesNew Jersey is allowing 10 percent capacity at Devils games indoors in Newark (about 1,800 fans), and 15 percent capacity for Red Bulls games outdoors in Harrison (about 3,750) when the Major League Soccer season starts on April 17. But unlike New York, no negative Covid-19 test is required. “If you buy tickets together, you can sit together, but otherwise, we have to spread apart,” said Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey.Sports and health officials use algorithms to determine what percentage of capacity allows for six feet of spacing. For most arenas, that figure is 20 to 25 percent, so the Devils are well below that threshold.In California, a color-coded system determined by local infection rates determines restrictions. Until recently, Los Angeles County was in the strictest purple tier, which would have restricted attendance to 100 fans at LA Galaxy and LAFC soccer games and Dodgers baseball games.But the county has since moved to the red tier, which allows 20 percent capacity at sports venues. So when the Dodgers play their home opener on April 9, as many as 11,200 fans will be on hand at Dodger Stadium. Orange County also moved to red, which will enable 9,000 fans to turn out at Angel Stadium. So did San Diego County, giving the OK for 10,000 Padres fans at Petco Park.And so it goes in a checkerboard manner across the country. The Colorado Rockies can fill their ballpark to just over 42 percent of capacity, or 21,000 fans who must wear proper masks. In Missouri, the St. Louis Cardinals can fill up to 32 percent of their stadium, and in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates can fill 20 percent. But in Michigan, current regulations mandate that the Detroit Tigers admit only 1,000 fans, though the team says that figure could be increased.In Oregon, state officials have not yet cleared the Portland Timbers men’s and Portland Thorns women’s soccer teams to allow fans into Providence Park. That’s also true for 13 N.B.A. basketball teams, though that number could shrink in the coming days.Indeed, the N.B.A. has perhaps the most uniform leaguewide policy regarding Covid protocols. In the 17 arenas that currently admit fans, none are allowed to sit courtside and must be at least 15 feet behind team benches. Fans with seats within 30 feet of the court must present a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours of game time or pass a rapid test on-site, and they are prohibited from eating.The N.H.L. has also made rink-side adjustments after a few early-season outbreaks among players and officials in closed-door games. The plexiglass panels were removed from behind the team benches and the penalty boxes to promote air circulation. And at 18 of the 24 U.S. rinks that now or will soon allow attendance, fans are prohibited from sitting behind the benches and penalty boxes or along the glass.And then there’s Texas…Then there’s the Lone Star state, where Gov. Greg Abbott recently removed all Covid-19 restrictions.The Texas Rangers took that as their cue to allow full capacity, all 40,518 seats, for the first three games at their new retractable-roof baseball stadium in Arlington — the first team in North America to do so. There will be no protocols beyond a mask-wearing rule at those two exhibition games on March 29 and 30 and the season opener on April 5. Subsequent games will be at less-than-full but still undetermined capacity.Dr. Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston, said she would not recommend attending those first three games in Arlington.“Will people keep their masks on, will they be drinking alcohol, will they be shouting, will the roof be open or closed?” she said. “There are so many risk factors. Even if you’re fully immunized, I’d advise against going.”However, another Dallas team is showing more restraint. The N.B.A. Mavericks will continue to cap their attendance at about 25 percent capacity and require fans to complete a health questionnaire. “Nothing will change,” the Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, said.Golf fans, buoyed by the principle that outdoors is better when it comes to the coronavirus, are returning to PGA Tour events. Some 10,000 were expected for this weekend’s Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. That’s 20 percent of maximum capacity.But if it still seems like a lot of people on a golf course, don’t worry. The PGA Tour website reminds all spectators to make sure their temperature is under 100.4 degrees before they arrive and to maintain six-foot distancing.And, as a final reassurance for those who simply must get out and watch a tournament in person, the PGA warns that “no autographs, fist bumps or selfies are permitted with players.”Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. More

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      When the Coronavirus Shut Down Sports

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      This article is by Alan Blinder and Joe Drape. Additional reporting by Gillian R. Brassil, Karen Crouse, Kevin Draper, Andrew Keh, Jeré Longman, Juliet Macur, Carol Schram, Ben Shpigel, Marc Stein and David Waldstein. Illustrations by Madison Ketcham. Produced by Michael Beswetherick and Jonathan Ellis.

      This article is by

      Alan Blinder

      Joe Drape

      Gillian R. Brassil

      Karen Crouse

      Kevin Draper

      Andrew Keh

      Jeré Longman

      Juliet Macur

      Carol Schram

      Ben Shpigel

      Marc Stein

      David Waldstein

      Madison Ketcham

      Michael Beswetherick

      Jonathan Ellis More

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      in Football

      New York Sports Entering a Promising Era

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.The Friendship of LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOn New York SportsThat Strange Feeling Going Around New York Is OptimismAfter two decades of frustration and incompetence broken up by an occasional championship (thanks, Giants), the region’s sports teams all appear headed in the right direction.Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving have the Nets poised to be true championship contenders for the first time since Jason Kidd was playing for the team.Credit…Jason Miller/Getty ImagesFeb. 23, 2021Updated 9:08 a.m. ETIt was a rough couple of decades for sports in New York, and not just because of the incessant losing. The last 20 years was an era of general ineptitude marked by a butt fumble, a Ponzi scheme, failed coaches, disgraced executives, a team hero getting dragged out of the arena by security and losing seasons stacking up like rotting garbage bags in the snow.To be a New York sports fan through all of that was a mental and emotional test of endurance just to remain loyal during perhaps the worst two-decade stretch for sports in the region.The dozen or so teams in the country’s biggest market, with all their resources and expectations, competed for a possible 223 championships over that period in six different leagues, but won only four titles, or 1.8 percent. Boston, a much smaller city, won 12 out of a possible 99 and one team in a an even tinier market — the San Antonio Spurs — won just as many as all the New York teams combined, despite having only 20 chances.But maybe, just maybe, the collective suffering is coming to a merciful end. You might have to look deep in a couple of cases, but for the first time in years, all the arrows seem to be pointing up.“We are on the cusp of maybe a good 10-year run where all the teams are in contention in their respective sport,” said Boomer Esiason, the Long Island-bred former N.F.L. M.V.P. who, as the host of the drive-time morning show on WFAN radio, has the pulse of the fans. “It’s really a fascinating time in New York sports.”Of course, it could all go sideways in the blink of a stupid trade or a shredded elbow, especially with articles like this one to jinx it. For now, optimism reigns as fans are allowed back in arenas and stadiums in limited numbers, and the following words can be typed in succession for the first time in ages: The Nets are stacked, the Mets are poised, the Giants seem to be building something real, the Jets have a bushel of draft picks and a commanding new coach. And the Knicks — the Knicks! — actually seem to know what they are doing.OK, we know you are skeptical. Twenty years of sports PTSD will do that. But here is a closer look at how the various New York teams are faring.Julius Randle, center, has received All-Star buzz but the team has several other promising young players like Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett.Credit…Jason Decrow/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Nets are contenders. The Knicks are competent!The most astonishing turnaround in the metropolitan region at the moment belongs to the Knicks.People under the age of 30 may not remember, but there was a time when the Knicks owned New York, even more than the Yankees. When they played the Chicago Bulls, the Indiana Pacers or the Miami Heat in the playoffs in the 1990s, the city went on pause. That changed, coincidentally or not, around the same time James Dolan took ownership of the team and the Knicks only made the playoffs (barely) five times over 20 seasons.But the future for the Knicks shimmers a little brighter now with a combination of exciting young players, a highly respected head coach in Tom Thibodeau and a sensible executive with a vision in charge of it all (Leon Rose, that is, not Dolan).Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin are impressing in their first few months in the league. RJ Barrett, a former No. 3 over all pick, is only a year ahead of them on the development scale. And Julius Randle, a rare free agent success for the team, has broken out to become a star. With everyone committing to Thibodeau’s defensive mandate, the Knicks are floating close to .500 for the first time in eight years and are actually watchable again.“One hundred percent they are headed in the right direction,” said Isiah Thomas, the Hall of Fame point guard, N.B.A. analyst and former Knicks coach and executive. “Under Leon Rose and Thibodeau, what they have established with his defensive mentality is already paying dividends.”Sabrina Ionescu didn’t get much of a rookie season because of an injury, but she is expected to lead the Liberty into a promising new era.Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressWhile the Knicks are building organically, the Nets took the just-add-water approach with a powerful mix of three superstars — Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. The Nets, fresh off a five-game sweep on the West Coast, are the No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference behind the Philadelphia 76ers and are title contenders for the first time since the Jason Kidd (playing) era.The Liberty have been quietly atrocious the last three years, but in 2020 they selected the incomparable point guard Sabrina Ionescu with the No. 1 over all pick in the W.N.B.A. draft. She played in only three games her rookie season because of an ankle injury, but is expected to help transform the team. Adding Natasha Howard, an All-Star who has won multiple championships, can’t hurt.Oh, and St. John’s men’s team is playing tough defense, too, and is over .500.Taken as a whole, Thomas said, “It’s very positive for basketball in New York right now.”Shortstop Francisco Lindor is expected to solidify the Mets’ defense while providing a middle-of-the-order bat.Credit…Gene J. Puskar/Associated PressD.J. LeMahieu and Luke Voit are two of the many bright spots for a loaded Yankees offense.Credit…Mike Stobe/Getty ImagesThe Mets have a savior. The Yankees are the Yankees.It is impossible to look past the Mets repeatedly hiring men accused of harassment, but the actual team on the field should be in for an exciting summer. Many of those fans waited years for an owner like Steven Cohen to take the team from the Wilpons and start spreading his billions around like a wiseguy at a craps game, but their best off-season move was a trade for Francisco Lindor, a transformational player. For now, fans and players alike believe Cohen will deliver a winner to Flushing. Luis Rojas, the Mets manager said the players’ optimism was palpable on the first day of spring training.“You feel the energy from the guys as far as talking about the passion that our new owners has shown in the off-season,” Rojas said.As for the Yankees, let’s cut them some slack for only winning one World Series since 2000. Ordinarily, that would be an abject failure, but compared to the other slouches in town, at least they actually grabbed one. For sheer consistency of effort over that time, the Yankees stood alone in the region.Coach Joe Judge appears to have changed the tone for the Giants.Credit…Adam Hunger/Associated PressCoach Robert Saleh is expected to bring intensity to the Jets’ sideline.Credit…Doug Benc/Associated PressIn new coaches, the New York football teams trust.Look, we know the last five years or so of football in New Jersey has been excruciating for the fans. But …“There is no question that both franchises are on the upswing,” said Esiason, who is also an N.F.L. analyst for CBS. “Both Giants and Jets fans feel there is an optimism surrounding the team, for different reasons.”Finding something positive about the Jets is really an undertaking for a historian. Actually, a geologist — what does the carbon dating reveal about their only trophy? Paleolithic period? Jurassic? After all, the Jets (2-14 last season) can’t even lose properly. By winning a second game, they missed out on a generational No. 1 draft pick. Trevor Lawrence almost certainly won’t be a Jet, but the No. 2 pick is better than, say, the No. 3 pick, and they have many more picks in the holster, too.“I would love to see Joe Douglas’s white board,” Esiason, who played for the Jets, said about the team’s shockingly competent general manager. “They’ve got tons of options.”They also have a new coach, Robert Saleh, whom people already love before he has run a practice. The Jets clearly took note of the success of their fellow Jersey swamp residents’ new tough-guy coach, and hired one of their own.Much of the hope surrounding the Giants emanates from that coach. Joe Judge changed the culture in his first year and led the G-men to six wins, which in the awful N.F.C. East made them a playoff contender.Plus, with two Super Bowl titles in the last 14 years, the Giants get the city’s only hall pass in this accounting.Alexis Lafreniere, center, is one of the many bright spots for a team that began a total rebuild a few years ago.Credit…Nick Wass/Associated PressHockey built itself back from the ground up.Esiason is also passionate hockey fan, and he pointed to a key moment in recent Rangers history that he sees as the catalyst for the entire region’s turnaround. In February 2018, the Rangers decided they were going to tear down the roster and rebuild, and sent a letter to season ticket holders advising them to say goodbye to their beloved older stars.“That has never been accepted in New York, for any team,” Esiason said. “It kind of set things in motion.”Now the Rangers are loaded with promising young players, like Alexis Lafreniere, last year’s No. 1 pick, Kaapo Kakko, the No. 2 pick in 2019, Adam Fox and goalie Igor Shesterkin, just to name a few.The Devils have also been plucking No. 1 picks, with Nico Hischier, who was just named captain last week, in 2017 and Jack Hughes in 2019, plus a deep pool of other intriguing prospects. Fans seem to appreciate where they are headed (and yes, they also get credit for capturing the region’s other title way back in 2003).Meanwhile Islanders fans are feeling good that Lou Lamoriello is the president of a team that made the conference finals last year.“Lou Lamoriello has basically resuscitated that moribund franchise,” said Esiason, whose son-in-law, Matt Martin, is a forward on the team, “and they have a new arena being built over in Elmont — who would have thought that would ever happen? Now, suddenly, they are one of the top teams in the N.H.L.”It’s all there. Maybe.Add it all up, from the Bronx to New Jersey — the Red Bulls are bound to win an M.L.S. Cup eventually, right? — and maybe the region really is headed for something better than four championships in the next 20 years.“New York is the greatest city in the world and it really needs some positive energy,” said Alex Rodriguez, the ESPN analyst who was part of the last Yankees championship in 2009. “Things are looking up. I think sports is ready to bring a lot of joy and hope for the folks of New York.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More