Quarterbacks típicamente reciben tratamiento preferencial, pero al final llega el momento cuando ese privilegio caduca. Esto es el caso de Eli Manning, un hombre que sin duda está en la lista de los mejores quarterbacks de la historia de los New York Giants. Él nunca ha sido un modelo de consistencia, pero sí ha ganado dos Super Bowls, que obviamente le ayuda. Sin embargo, el ha permanecido en el equipo por 15 años y, aunque duela decir esto, es la hora de seguir sin él.

Habra problemas para reemplazar a Manning. Primero, su sustituto tendrá difíciltades para triunfar. Kyle Lauletta, el rookie quarterback que los Giants escogieron en Abril, no está listo para asumir su puesto ahora. Otro problema es encontrar a alguien que pueda jugar bien con el receiving corps. Desde ese punto de vista, Manning ha sido inconsistente esta temporada, así que encontrar a alguien fuera del equipo puede ser la respuesta.

Max Kellerman de First Take ha propuesto una solución muy interesante: los New York Giants deben firmar a Colin Kaepernick. Yo apoyo totalmente este idea. Kaepernick es un quarterback dinámico que puede mover la pelota fácilmente por tierra o por aire. Otro factor positivo es que, aunque está fuera del NFL, ha mantenido su forma física. Creo que esto, aunque sea polémico, representa la mejor opción para los New York Giants.

Franchise quarterbacks are typically given preferential treatment, but there comes a time where that “free pass” has to expire. Such is the case with Eli Manning, a man who’s certainly on the list of greatest quarterbacks in New York Giants history. He’s never been the model of consistency, but at least he’s been able to carry the team to 2 Super Bowl victories, which obviously plays a part in his status. However, he’s spent a long time with the team (this year is his 15th season), and, as much as it hurts to admit this, it’s time to move forward.

However, there are a few issues with replacing Manning. First, making it happen now would be very hard to accomplish. Kyle Lauletta, the rookie quarterback the Giants drafted in April, certainly isn’t ready yet to assume the starting job, making an in-house replacement virtually non-existent. Another issue is finding someone who could immediately click with the receiving corps. That said, Manning’s been very “hit or miss” so far this season, so while this is obviously important, an outside replacement could be the answer.

Max Kellerman of First Take proposed an interesting solution: the New York Giants should sign Colin Kaepernick. I for one fully support this option. Kaepernick is a dynamic quarterback who can move the ball just as easily on the ground as he can through the air. Another positive is that he’s maintained himself to be in game-playing shape. I think that this, while certainly controversial, represents the Giants’ best path forward.

There are a few sports franchises that can be categorized as a comedy of errors. One of them is certainly the Oakland Raiders, and they did themselves no favors by hiring Jon Gruden to a 10-year contract, as well as the ensuing debacle that he alone caused. Trading the NFL’s best defensive player in Khalil Mack has done nothing but cause Gruden serious regret, but now that the Raiders are struggling mightily, it’s time to ask the question of how long he’ll stay with the team.

Let’s consider the fact that he’s owed $10 million over the next nine years (he’s already received the payment for this year) and understand that the Raiders aren’t going to give up on him immediately. Also, he did get a nice return from the Chicago Bears in the form of draft picks.  History tells us that there’s a greater likelihood of success with draft picks, so Gruden will have to pick well in order to make those pan out.

The real concern with Gruden is that the Raiders are god-awful through only 5 weeks of his first season. While he’ll obviously be given the benefit of the doubt after this year, his leash will be much shorter next year, and if he fails to deliver better results in 2019, it may be his last. Whether he gets his contract bought out depends on how badly Raiders owner Mark Davis wants the team to succeed.

Every season in La Liga, it’s expected that either Real Madrid or Barcelona will win, with all their opponents fighting for 3rd place. However, this might be one of the rare years where neither win La Liga, simply because both teams have been struggling mightily through the first two months of the season.

Currently, Sevilla is at the top of the league going into the 2nd international break of the year and experts are starting to wonder whether Real Madrid and Barcelona can right their respective ships.

The fact of the matter is that Real Madrid has lost 2 of its last 3 matches and Barcelona hasn’t won a match in four weeks. Both statements are both extremely confusing and concerning, namely because it’s rare to see both clubs struggling at the same time. While there’s obviously still time to course correct, the way football works dictates that the way you start determines how well you finish. If that’s the case, neither of the two Spanish powerhouses have good outlooks.

Another fact is that, after many years of dominance between Real Madrid and Barcelona, it seems that the other Spanish clubs are beginning to level the playing field and strengthening themselves. This means more interesting battles in La Liga and more entertaining matches, and every self-respecting football fan should be excited about it.

The NBA offseason is always rife with engaging storylines, but it’s disappointing when many of the best predictions don’t come to pass. However, what’s worse is when they nearly come to fruition, but then fizzle out because of someone’s ineptitude. Such is the case with Jimmy Butler and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite the fact that Butler has asked to leave, the Timberwolves can’t seem to agree on how to honor his request and risk losing him for nothing next offseason.

Butler requested a trade a few weeks ago, declaring that he would not resign with Minnesota when he becomes a member of the 2019 Free Agent Class. Obviously, this would put the onus on his current team to try and trade him to get something in return, but the Timberwolves simply can’t agree on a trade. Several times, they’ve had the framework of a trade hammered out with the Miami Heat, only to have those hopes disappear because of greed.

The Timberwolves keep asking for more than the Heat are offering it honestly isn’t a good way of doing business. Apparently, they’re convinced that coach Tom Thibodeau can use his familiarity with Butler from their years together with the Chicago Bulls to convince him to stay. However, Butler wants no part of that and has publicly stated as much, so that’s a dead end.

All this does is point to the ineptitude of the people who run the Minnesota Timberwolves, and without a voice of expertise, the team will eventually lose Jimmy Butler and have nothing to show for it.

North Carolina vs. Duke. Ohio State vs. Michigan. Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. These are all examples of sports rivalries so mythical that they might as well be blood feuds. However, perhaps the most famous rivalry of them all will be getting a new chapter starting in a couple of days: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox. What makes this rivalry different than the others? Where does the animosity come from? Is it the numerous brawls that the two teams have had over the years? Is it the fact New York and Boston, as cities, have always had a rivalry dating back to the founding of the United States of America? Or is the rivalry simply born out of the pure hatred they each have for the other and the overwhelming desire to see their counterpart fail?

What’s undeniable is that both teams have had incredible seasons. In fact, this year marked the first time that both teams won 100 games in the same season. That alone is cause for celebration. Both teams are offensive juggernauts and their defensive capabilities are sublime. In fact, there really isn’t much to separate the teams in terms of quality, and that’s what makes this rivalry so damn good.

When the 2018 ALDS begins and the Boston Red Sox face the New York Yankees at Fenway Park, it will mark the first time in 14 years that what arguably are sports’ two biggest rivals will meet in the playoffs. Such a long gap between postseason meetings means that the acrimony will be at an all-time high, so that isn’t saying much, to be honest, since the animus in their head-to-head matchups is already high. However, as much as that may be the case, the stakes are so much higher in the playoffs with all the marbles in play.

It’s undeniable that this rivalry has a cultural effect: families with split fandom will be temporarily torn apart, friendships will be tested, and two of America’s greatest and oldest cities will be at each other’s throats. But that’s what we all love about this rivalry: it brings people together for the sake of competition. That said, the New York Yankees will always be the better team and should be expected to come out on top. I’d apologize to Boston, but this rivalry doesn’t have any room for apologies. I think that’s what makes this rivalry truly one-of-a-kind.

Es la hora de coronar un deporte nuevo. Cuando vas a un arena, normalmente vas a pensar haya fans de un deporte como el baloncesto o el hockey. Sin embargo, lo que yo vi este fin de semana en el Barclays Center en Brooklyn, NY era a una multitud de  fanáticos para ver algo muy diferente: un video juego. Inmediatamente, te  vas a preguntar cómo es que miles de personas quieren ver un video juego en un arena. Antes, yo me hice esa misma pregunta, pero ahora me doy cuenta del tamaño de la popularidad que los e-sports tienen. De hecho, su popularidad ha aumentado tanto que nunca más podremos ignorarlo.

Lo que vi en el ESL One Semifinales de Nueva York entre el club americano NRG (está financiado por Alex Rodriguez y Jennifer Lopez) y el club europeo MouseSports en el video juego CS:GO se ajusta a todos los criterios  que constituyen un deporte típico. El ambiente del arena era electrizante, con casi 7,000 personas, gritando y llevando todos tipos de carteles. Fuera de los E.E.U.U., yo llegué a comprender que hay fanáticos más apasionados en países como Brasil, adonde hay un microcosmos entorno al ambiente en un estadio de fútbol, y Polonia, adonde hay la competición más grande del mundo con mas de 100,000 espectadores. Estos fanáticos tienen la misma energía que puedes ver en un partido de fútbol, y es asombroso.

Otro barómetro para la legitimidad de los e-sports es que los comentarios son fenomenales. En todo el evento, los comentaristas continuamente narran el juego, y es necesario porque el espectador necesita mucha ayuda para comprender que pasa durante el juego.

Otro criterio que hace que los e-sports sean irresistible es que los jugadores son famosos y son verdaderos atletas y deben ser referidos como tal. Tienen el entrenamiento y las dietas como cualquier otro atleta, y incluso requieren fisio-terapia. No parecen atletas, pero tienen los mismos reflejos que uno, lo que hace que merezcan ser reconocidos como tales.

La definición de “deporte” hoy es fluida, y yo la defino como un juego que obtiene levanta pasiones en los espectadores. Si eso es la definición real, los e-sports cumplen los requisitos, y deben ser admitidos en el reino de deportes.

It’s time to christen a new major sport. When you go to an arena, you normally expect to see it packed with sports fans waiting with baited breath to watch basketball, hockey, or some other major indoor sport. However, what I witnessed this past weekend at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY was people packed in to watch something very different: a video game. Right away, you’ll ask why or even how this could be a compelling sports event.  Admittedly, I used to ask the same question but I’ve come to realize how popular esports have become and how quickly it’s following has grown. In fact, they’ve become so massively popular that they can no longer be ignored.

What I saw at the ESL One New York Semifinals between NRG (US team backed by A-Rod and J-Lo) and European club MouseSports for CS:GO fits every criteria for what constitutes a formal sport. The environment was raucous, with 6-7,000 people in attendance, all of them enthusiastically cheering on their teams and waving all kinds of team props and signs. Internationally, I’ve come to understand that people are even more passionate about E-sports events with the largest competition in Poland where there are over 100k attendees over 2 days and in Brazil is like a microcosm of the environment regularly seen at soccer matches. For example, think of any raucous reception at a match of Real Madrid. These e-sports fans have the same kind of energy seen at these matches, and it’s breathtaking.

Another barometer for the legitimacy of e-sports is that the commentary is sublime. Throughout the event, the commentators were narrating the play, which is actually necessary to counteract the fast-moving nature of these video games. E-sports commentators have to constantly inform the viewers about what’s going on, as well as recapping the activity and points scored in the game.

Another key criteria that makes e-sports compelling is that the players who compete are real celebrities and are actual athletes and deserve to be categorized as such. They go through serious training like other athletes do which includes nutritional regimens, meditation, physical therapy, deliberate recovery tactics, etc. They may not look like it, but the fast-twitch reflexes of these athletes will rival those of any other athlete, which means that they deserve this distinction.

The definition of a sport is fluid, but I define it as a game being played that elicits an emotional reaction from spectators. If that’s the case, e-sports does just that, and it deserves its recognition as a real sport.

El deporte del golf es uno de los más antiguos  del mundo, pero también es uno de los más populares. Y hoy, después de cinco años, Tiger Woods formalmente ha anunciado su regreso al pináculo del deporte con su triunfo en el Tour Championship. Es algo que es muy significativo porque, como el jugador más famoso de todos ya había triunfado, el golf otra vez va a ganar más popularidad.

Pero es más importante darse cuenta que esto es el resultado de cinco años de sufrimiento para Woods. En estos cinco años, ha peleado con  las malas noticias de sus amoríos resultando en su divorcio, sus problemas de adicción a  los medicamentos , y  sus problemas con varias lesiones. Pero ahora, podemos ver que Tiger Woods ha regresado para dominar el deporte de nuevo.

Al comienzo de la temporada, se sabía que los New York Yankees serían uno de los equipos más poderosos en el MLB y han sido una fuerza para tener en cuenta. Pero ahora los Yankees están pasando una mala racha.  

Durante las últimas seis semanas. han luchado para ser pertinentes y están clasificados en segundo lugar del AL East. Sus rivales, los Boston Red Sox, han ganado el primer lugar. 

En los 9 juegos que les quedan de la temporada, los Yankees tienen que demostrar un enfoque singular y una consistencia de juego si quieren calificar para el Wild Card Game y tener la oportunidad de competir en la postemporada para la Seria Mundial.