Knicks fall short late, lose 98-93 in Cleveland; Cavs get crucial win in bid for first in the East, while solid game by Knicks locks them into “At least it’s a hell of a lot better than when Isiah was here” place.

Nets fall victim to buzzer beater, lose 107-105 on Steve Novak’s last second 3-pointer; New Jersey’s playoff hopes severely damaged by Devin Harris’ third quarter exit with a sprained shoulder, while their collective manhood was severely damaged by a loss to the Clippers.

Rangers drop Flyers 4-1 behind Sean Avery’s 2 power play goals; Head coach John Tortorella forced to compliment Avery in the media for a (sloppy) second time in one week.

Brodeur earns share of all-time win mark in Montreal with 551st of his career; Patrick Roy, the current record holder, was in attendance for the historic event.  And reportedly quite miffed that the goons he hired off Craigslist failed to “Kerrigan Brodeur’s ass” prior to the game.

US team avoids elimination with 9-3 win over the Netherlands; Win assures team another shot at moving forward on Tuesday, also assures Derek Jeter and David Wright months of joyous laughter while burning up Dominican teammates Robbie Cano and Jose Reyes with ruthless Dutch jokes.

Yanks GM Brian Cashman is confident in his bullpen even though — direct quote — “there are no big names like Farnsworth.” Funny, last time we checked, Farnsworth was only a big name on the list of guys you absolutely need to get rid of to improve your bullpen, right behind Heilman.

Tim Redding said he’s just toying with the Mets and trying to see at exactly what point a terrible Spring Training performance can outweigh a guaranteed contract in influencing roster decisions. The always-PR conscious Mets say they’re thankful for Redding’s generous help with their outfielders’ conditioning.

Rudy Giuliani was in Atlantic City yesterday and joked, “New York has the greatest baseball team in the world, New Jersey, not so much.” “Not cool,” replied Newark Bears manager Tim Raines.
After six overtimes and nearly four hours, Syracuse beat UConn in a wild Big East tournament game last night. Experts say it was the longest, most exciting, most hard-fought struggle at the Garden since Eddy Curry tried on some new pants last week.

Knicks top Pistons in OT to move within 3 1/2 games of playoff spot; New York enjoying the “week that gives you hope”  before it is somehow snatched away with losses to the Timberwolves, Nets and Kings in the coming days.

Nets drop fifth out of last six away games, fall to Warriors 116-112; Tough road streak has Nets longing for home, sweet… East Rutherford?

Sabathia knocked around in second start as Yanks fall to Tigers 7-4; CC blames poor start on distraction of being pulled aside by master manipulator Gary Sheffield prior to the game, and told that Joe Girardi hates fat people.

St. John’s smacked around by Marquette, out of the Big East tourney after 74-45 drubbing; Marquette restores balance to the universe by handing Red Storm the equivalent of 2 losses after their unsuspected win in round 1.

McNamee claims he injected Clemens with steroids at Yankee Stadium; Fans everywhere appalled such an act would take place on such sacred ground…  Now, the fact that Daryll Strawberry did blow off a strange woman’s back in the trainer’s room at Shea during the 7th inning of a home game? Well, that’s just good reading baby.

Larry Hughes drops 39 in Knicks road win over Milwaukee; Hughes happy to be upping his value for when he is inevitably traded over each of the next 3 seasons.

Drug paraphernalia evidence links Roger Clemens to Brian McNamee; Apparently ESPN trying to take some of the heat off A-Rod by running headlines from last year.

St. John’s moves on with win over Georgetown in Big East tournament; Hoyas to be preliminarily left out of 2010 Big East tourney as penalty for losing to Johnnies twice in one season.

Netherlands moves on with huge upset win over Dominican Republic in WBC; Dominicans to be preliminarily left out of the 2012 WBC as penalty for losing to the freaky-deaky Dutch twice in one classic.

A-Rod undergoes hip surgery, doctor says everything “went as planned… no surprises.” Well, no medical surprises that is… he was a little weirded out however by the “D.J. + A-Rod 4Ever” tattoo on Alex’s hip.

Jets reach 1-year agreement with Jay Feely to remain on as kicker; Feely also looking forward to battling Kellen Clemens and Brett Ratliff for the starting quarterback position.

Amazins overtake Orioles with 5-run rally in final two innings; Mets make sure to get hot bats and timely hits out of their systems before Johan Santana’s debut on Thursday.

Brett Gardner continues big hitting while Ian Kennedy continues to struggle on the mound in Yanks’ loss; Gardner showing potential for power with 3rd HR of preseason, while Kennedy proves his greatest quality is indeed his unwavering consistency in the face of hope for change.

A-Rod to miss 6-9 weeks after opting for arthroscopic surgery; Procedure should allow him to play through the pain until at least October, when the Yankees were more or less assuming he’d disappear regardless.

Nets edge out Knicks 106-101 with solid play down the stretch; “We had lost a few close games recently to New Orleans, Boston and Orlando,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said, “so it really helps when a team who finds a way to lose EVERY close game comes to town and simply won’t allow us to blow it.”

USA reaches second round of WBC after pounding Venezuela 15-6; Venezuelans lose dignity, but the national treasure that is Magglio Ordonez’s flowing mane remains in tact.

Buffalo Bills sign enigmatic receiver Owens to one year deal; T.O. excited for opportunity, upset however to hear that his driveway ab crunch routine may be delayed by the need to first plow the 4 feet of snow.

The following format is completely unoriginal. It is a tribute to Fire Joe Morgan, which some of us think is the funniest Web site in the history of Internet. We read this piece on Mike Piazza’s bacne on Murray Chass’ blog and couldn’t help ourselves. So here goes. In keeping with FJM format, the bold words are Chass’, the others are ours.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post and I do not have any kind of relationship. We have not talked for years. There’s no need to bore you with the reasons why.

“Because I’m an old crotchety jackass and he’s a younger crotchety jackass.”

But the other day his column caught my attention. Not many of his columns do. He writes them, after all, for the New York Post.

As compared to the bastion of journalistic integrity that is MurrayChass.com.

Circumstantial evidence against Piazza is almost as strong as it is against Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. A 62nd round draft pick in the 1988 draft and drafted only as a favor to his father, a close friend of Tommy Lasorda, Piazza wound up as the No. 1 home-run hitting catcher in major league history.

Yes, that is almost as strong as federal perjury cases, grand jury testimony, doping calendars, and receipts for steroid purchases. Because all longshot success stories must have cheated. Tom Brady? Juicehead. Cinderella? Boob job. We’ve got circumstantial evidence. (more…)

Larry Hughes’ 23 points lead Knicks to 109-105 win over Atlanta; Garden fans now considering only booing him mercilessly every other time he touches the ball.

Nets put up a fight, but fall to Pierce and the Celtics 115-111; Pierce credits late shots to plays drawn up by Doc Rivers in the huddle, saying Doc called it the “we’re not friggin’ losing to New Jersey” set.

Bengals address receiver need by signing ex-Jet Coles to a 4-year, $28 million contract; Laveranues looking forward to combining his efforts with Chris Henry for a solid 5 minutes before he is taken away in a squad car and Chad Johnson for 3 games before Ocho Cinco officially throws in the towel and demands a trade.

After 3 seasons,  T.O. experiment done in Dallas as the Cowboys cut star receiver; Al Davis has his crazy hat dry-cleaned and starched and is all set to lure Owens to Oakland.

Johan Santana unlikely to be ready for opening day, but not completely ruled out; Pitcher says elbow actually feels fine, and that he will likely just shave his goatee and try to make the start under an assumed alias in order to throw the Mets’ bullpen off his scent.

Jeter’s 2-run single helps Team USA beat the Yankees 6-5; Rather than donning the normal Captain’s C, Jeter’s locker will now sport a Scarlet A for the entire 2009 season.

Nets hit clutch 3′s late, drop Bucks 99-95; New Jersey pulls within a 1/2 game of Milwaukee in battle for which team will get to set record low number for playoff tickets sold.

Hip injury/shameful revelations/shady cousins/being born in the Bronx may keep A-Rod off roster for the Dominican Republic in WBC.

Jets snatch safety Jim Leonhard from the Ravens; Leonhard, whose name is derived from the Gaelic word for Lionheart, should prove a valuable commodity on defense as he is able to debilitate opposing team members by shooting rays of hearts from his fluffy tummy.