An advice column for people who live with people who live for sports
What happened on Monday, February 16, 2015?
New York Rivalry on ice: For the first season in a long time, the New York Rangers and New York Islanders are both very good. Regardless of record, over the years their rivalry has remained strong. Now it’s even better. Last night’s game went back and forth and back and forth until finally the Rangers won 6-5. Line: When the Islanders were terrible, they seemed to always get up to play the Rangers. Now that they’re both good, it’s pretty even.
So close, but no tea: The English FA cup is a psychological challenge for top-flight teams like Manchester United. Instead of playing against equals, they frequently play against teams, like Preston North End, which plays in League One, the third tier league in the country. The mind-game goes like this — “it’s not going to be hard to win, we should win, uh oh, what if we don’t win, we have to win!!” This only gets worse, when, like happened yesterday, the underdog scores a goal first. Preston North End couldn’t hold back the flood of Manchester United forever, and finally gave way to a barrage of goals in the second half to lose 3-1. Line: These David and Goliath games seem to follow a pattern with David threatening but Goliath almost always winning in the end.
West Virginia wins a thriller: There was a time when West Virginia’s men’s college basketball team made the NCAA tournament almost every year behind coach Bob Huggins. That’s not the case anymore — it’s actually been three years since they played in March Madness. This looks like it will be their comeback year. The West Virginia team is ranked 23rd in the country and just beat the number eight team, the Kansas Jayhawks, last night in a thriller of a game. West Virginia went up by a point with four seconds left and then defended a last second attempt by Kansas to win the game. Line: The NBA has higher quality players but it’s hard to match the joy of watching a college team win a close game.
