Superweek '09

The final week of February is one of the biggest there is in terms of important dates in multiple sports. MLB Spring Training games begin this week. Many college and high school basketball conferences conclude the regular season. And the NHL and NBA are done with their All-Star breaks, and into their stretch runs. Therefore, there is no single week of the year more fitting of the title "Superweek" than this week. (With no disrespect to Chris Thompson's "Christober," celebrated annually from October 1st-5th. Read his blog here.)

Starting in 2009, I will truly celebrate Superweek, and I encourage you to do the same. Here is my schedule for Superweek '09:

Mon 2/23: Women's College BB: Fairleigh Dickinson at Quinnipiac, Hamden, CT

Tue 2/24: NHL: Florida Panthers at Boston Bruins, Boston, MA

Wed 2/25: Red Sox and Mets' first spring training games

Thu 2/26: Men's College BB: Wagner at Quinnipiac, Hamden, CT

Fri 2/27: RI Boys' High School Basketball (tentative): Mt. Hope at Westerly, The Fed

Sat 2/28: Women's College BB: CCSU at Quinnipiac, Hamden, CT

Sat 2/28: Men's College BB: CCSU at Quinnipiac, Hamden, CT

Celebrate Superweek. Or Justin Rutty will dunk on you.

--MTM

Meet the Mets

In the fall of 2000, the New York Yankees were on their way to steamrolling their way through the postseason on their way to yet another championship. Standing in their way was "New York's other team," as I like to call them, the New York Mets. Growing up a Red Sox fan, the last thing I wanted to see was another title in the Bronx. That being said, the 2000 Mets were my team that October.

After the Yankees completed that act of steamrolling, I didn't really follow the Mets for a few years. It was the beginning of this 2008 season, when the combination of moving to a house on the southwest coast of Rhode Island allowed me to clearly pull in WFAN on my radio, and more Mets fan friends lead me to follow my second team again.

The 2008 season came on the heels of one of the greatest September collapses of all-time when the Phillies stormed back to win the NL East. And it didn't start much better for "Los Mets." After a 34-35 start, skipper Willie Randolph was canned in an Anaheim hotel room in the middle of the night. Jerry Manuel was brought in as manager, but the Mets' Achilles heel, their bullpen, couldn't have been fixed if Casey Stengel came back from the dead.

Now, on August 17th, the Mets sit 2.5 games ahead of the Phillies, who as I write this are continuing their series of offensive futility in San Diego. The bullpen is still shaky, with Billy Wagner injured, Aaron Heilman pitching BP every time he takes the hill, and talk of Jerry Manuel screwing with the rotation and moving John Maine to the closer's role. The team is being carried by players like Fernando Tatis, who has returned from who knows where to be the Mets' big-hit man, and Daniel Murphy, who is hitting .415 in his first 15 big league games. September is right around the corner for Los Mets, and who knows what will happen for MLB's most inconsistent team.