My Gifts to the Giants and Jets

Since the Giants play the Jets on Christmas Eve let’s take a look at some of the gifts I’m going to personally buy the players.

Hot Potato: The Giants receivers. They must play in practice because they are great at getting rid of the ball in a hurry.

Rolex: Eli Manning. He’s expensive but durable.

A Furby wearing Abercrombie: Antrel Rolle. Overpriced, poor quality, and NEVER SHUTS UP.

Punching Bag: Mark Sanchez. He got beat up last game.

Don’t Break the Ice: You never know when Mathias Kiwanuka is going to fall apart.

Green and White Lamborghini: Darrelle Revis. As good as it gets.

Pet Rock: Prince Amukamara was absolutely worthless last game.

Red Rider BB Gun: Plaxico Burress. So he doesn’t injure himself.

Remote control helicopter: Terrell Thomas. I broke mine in literally 2 minutes.

Easy Bake Oven: Rex Ryan. The man loves his sweets.

Clothes: Justin Tuck…you have been so disappointing.

Now I just hope Tom Coughlin…I mean Santa Clause, gives us Giants fans a win.

Jets Fans Rooting for the Giants? A Recap of a Weird Sunday

Earthquakes, Blizzards, and now this?

Usually every Giants' loss is a Jets fan’s win but last week something weird happened. Die hard Jets fans were giving the Giants their best wishes. These are the same people that smile like the Grinch at every Eli interception and Jay Feeley missed field goal. The people that wanted to see the Patriots win the Super Bowl just so Giants’ fans couldn’t have their moment in the sun. But last Sunday the Jets fans were in essence, Giants fans. They cringed at the draws Kevin Gilbride ran on the goal line, and had flashbacks of last season after Eli got picked off. Now I know what it would be like if this area had only one football team. Boring. So get back on your own side and we'll see you Christmas Eve!

Giants
• Tyree and now Ballard. Belichick is going to have nightmares about number 85
• Troy Aikman and Joe Buck should be banned from calling Giants games. Even Archie agrees
• Ramses Barden has come alive
• Eli is the NFL’s best 4th quarter passer with a QB rating of 121.7
• I actually saw Tom Coughlin smile
• Big win but the Pats D is last in the league in yards allowed
• Jake Ballard runs like he’s stuck in quick sand but is still better than Kevin Boss
• Da’Rel Scott is so fast his legs look like a blur

Looking ahead…

The Giants lead the league in sacks but have struggled against the run, which makes the ground and pound 49ers a bad matchup. San Francisco is first in the league in rushing yards allowed and has yet to give up a rushing touchdown this year. It’s going to be a tough matchup but a healthy Justin Tuck should help control Frank Gore. Alex Smith hasn’t faced a good pass rush since Dallas in week 2 and was sacked 6 times in the loss. The Niners are playing a little over their head right now and Alex Smith is not this good.

The Giants score first while Alex Smith has trouble playing from behind as the Giants win 23-16

Jets
• The Jets can win it all with Mark Sanchez IF they can run the football
• Watching Mark Sanchez flinch was hilarious on that Wild Cat play
• Dustin Keller thinks he’s Michael Jordan
• Plaxico Burress looked even better this week and is getting his football legs back
• Rex Ryan actually has some hops
• Shonn Green could be a star if he had at least one move. Literally anything…
• Plaxico Burress needs to be a serious red zone threat

Looking ahead…

Forget the ground and pound, the Patriots defense ranks dead last in passing yards allowed so the Jets have to open up the offense. They were too conservative last time even though Sanchez was playing well. The Giants pressured Brady with their front four but the Jets will have to blitz, which is not a good idea against Brady. The Patriots rushing attack gashed the Jets for 142 yards last time but their run defense has picked it up and Green-Ellis has struggled lately. Since the Jets only have 18 sacks I don’t think they will be able to get enough pressure on Brady but Plaxico Burress and Shonn Green have improved and since the last meeting and will be ther difference.

Sanchez throws 2 touchdowns to Burress as the Jets win 27-24

100 Kids With Special Needs Ride Custom Bikes to Kick off Cross-Country Tour

LIVINGSTON, NJ -- Beneath an arch of white and orange balloons, 100 children with special needs pedaled forward on their new custom-made bicycles from Olivia's Friendship Cycle to kick off Bike 4 Friendship, a cross-country tour to raise awareness for children with special needs.

Leading the pack was 11-year-old Olivia Lefkovits, who initiated the event as part of her Bat Mitzvah project. An avid cyclist, Olivia wanted all children to be able to experience the joy of bike riding. “I just love biking because it’s always been a part of our family,” she said.

Daniel Saul, Zalman Perlman and Shmuel Rothstein of The Rabbinical College of America in Morristown will bike from New Jersey to California to help raise awareness and funds for the Friendship Circle, the fastest growing Jewish organization for children with special needs. With over 79 locations worldwide the Friendship Circle has cultivated friendships between 5,000 special children and close to 11,000 teen volunteers.

“The Friendship Circle’s message is ‘Do all you can’, which is a reason why we’re doing this,” Perlman said.

Perlman, or "Zalmy," as people call him, reflected on the significance of the occasion: “It’s not every day three rabbis bike across America,” he said.

Perlman thought of the idea for the ride while in a pizza shop in Jerusalem. Now that his idea is a reality, a 4,000-mile journey awaits. The trio will be riding about 100 to 120 miles a day, except for weekends and days when they fast.

The riders departed Saturday June 26th from Livingston and will stop in New York City before continuing on to North Carolina, Texas and New Mexico. They will stop at 20 Friendship Circle chapters along the way and will end in Agoura Hills, CA, Zalmy’s home state.

Taking the southern route to California will help them avoid the mountains of the Midwest, which would make traveling extremely difficult. In preparation for the voyage the three have been training by biking 70 miles a day for the last few months.

All of the money raised through the ride will go to The Friendship Circle’s mission of bringing friendship and inclusion into the lives of children with special needs, while also providing support to their families and siblings. The biker’s progress throughout the country can be tracked at www.friendshipcircle.com/bike4friendship.

This article was originally published at www.thealternativepress.com.

Millburn Cruises Past Mendham Under Phenom Talpalar and Bomfim’s 5 RBIs

By Anthony Carrea

MILLBURN, NJ – Mendham kept under estimating Felipe Bomfim and Millburn kept reaping the benefits.

Bomfim hit a triple and a homerun for a total of five RBI, on plays that looked exactly the same. Both blasts were to left field and each time the Mendham outfielder played extremely shallow.

The power hitting catcher gave the fans déjà vu and helped 24-6 Millburn move on to round 1 of the Group 3 Championship against Paramus on Tuesday.

“We’ve just worked and executed on every play and hit the ball hard” said Bomfim.

Millburn didn’t have trouble handling Mendham’s bats either. The freshman David Talpalar pitched a complete game three hit shutout against the once hot Mendham bats that averaged nine runs their last three tournament games.

“My teammates kept making plays behind me” said Talpalar.

The defense turned two double plays, which attributed to Talpalar’s low pitch count of 70. The small number of pitches was why the first year skipper brought him out in the seventh inning despite a 7-0 lead.

The game however did start off as a pitcher’s duel. It stayed scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning when Millburn put four runs on the board. They played small ball to manufacture the first two runs of the game until Bomfim cleared the bases.

Mendham on the other hand couldn’t get anything going. They went three up, three down in the second, third and fourth innings as Talpalar seemed to be on cruise control.

“What more can we ask of him? He beat Seton Hall, West Essex and now Mendham” said Bomfim.

Brian Chapman’s decision to call upon Talpalar in critical games seems to be paying off.

This article was originally published on www.thealternativepress.com

Hackettstown’s Bats Lead the Way,Beating Madison 15-5

By Anthony Carrea

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ – Hackettstown continued their hot hitting against Madison and slugged their way to a 15-5 win. The Tigers have scored 36 runs in their past three games, which is reminiscent of the combined 34 they scored in the first three games of last year’s tournament. They continued to show why they received a number one seed in the North 2 Group 2 bracket.

They were anxious to feast on Madison pitching, scoring six runs in the first. Mark Feci got the first taste with an RBI single to center but James Novembre had his share as well. His two run blast into the hometown fans in right center field made it 6-0.

“The hits were a big deal for us today” said Feci, but pitcher Justin Knight showed that the Tigers can pitch as well.

This article was published on www.thealternativepress.com
After walking the first batter Knight retired nine straight. Leaning on his curveball the crafty righty kept the Madison Dodgers off the board.

Meanwhile the Hackettstown offense continued to have their fun as Matt Reynolds hit a three run shot in the second making it 9-0. The hitting frenzy continued in the third with three RBI singles putting the score at a lofty 12-0.

At this point it was just too many runs for Madison to keep up. They finally got to Knight in the top of the fourth with five runs, including a two run single by Dilan Kluge but it was all for nothing.

Mark Feci finished what he started with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the sixth making it 15-5 and enforcing the ten run rule. He finished the game 3-3 with 3RBI.

Hackettstown will move on to the championship game Friday and looks to get revenge against West Essex who beat them in last year’s tournament.

“The rematch vs. West Essex is what we’ve been practicing all year for” said Hackettstown coach Gary Poyner.

This article was originally published on www.thealternativepress.com

Mountain Lakes beats Madison in 2nd Half Surge and Moves on to Semis

By Anthony Carrea

MOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ – Mountain Lakes grinded out a tough 8-5 win against Madison in the Group 1 Boys lacrosse quarterfinal on Thursday. What started off a close game slowly turned in Mountain Lakes’ favor, as the Lakers exploded in the 4th quarter with four goals.

Two of them came from Tim LaBeau who got the home crowd on their feet with the first score of the game. He then put a cork in the close affair with repeated strikes, which helped the number one seeded Lakers pull away.

“They are a lot better than an eight seed. Their goalie made awesome saves but we got some by him.”

Their goalie is Brett Anton and he had 15 saves for Madison. He held his own against an attacking Mountain Lakes who managed 38 shots on goal.

While the Lakers pressured Anton, Chad Smith did what he could on the other side of the field. He chipped in 2 goals and an assist for the Dodgers in the first half, which ended tied 4-4.

Madison opened the second half with momentum thanks to a goal by Colin McLindan, but then the control shifted. A Madison player slashed a Laker and it was on. Maroon and white jerseys converged at midfield to the smacking sounds of helmets. The refs pulled the teams back to their corners but it was Mountain Lakes who took advantage. Fired up they hit four consecutive goals courtesy of Rob Orazietti, Andrew Portnoy and the star of the day Tim LaBeau.

“Ground balls were huge for us but the game plan was to win face-offs, and in the second half we did a lot better with that” said LaBeau.

Mountain Lakes will take on number five seed West Essex in the semifinals at home this Saturday at 11:00 a.m.

This article was originally published on www.thealternativepress.com