Neil A. Carousso produces NewsNation original “Kurt’s Country” – a celebration of country music and a slice of Americana with host Kurt Bardella.
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Giant Recovery: Limited Practice Time May Keep G-Men Healthier in 2015
By Neil A. Carousso
East Rutherford, NJ — This week, Tom Coughlin, head coach of the New York Football Giants decided to implement a “recovery cycle” system to allow for his football team to get healthier before their third preseason game against their fellow MetLife Stadium tenant the New York Jets.
“Let’s not go there,” Coughlin said when asked about the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which limits on-field practice time and subsequently seems to have an impact on preparedness in the early weeks of the regular season. The new CBA was implemented as a result of the 2011 National Football League lockout.
Coughlin may decide to implement this recovery cycle in the regular season, giving his players rest at the end of the week, before game day on Sunday or Monday night. In place of drills, plays and scrimmages, each player does different strength and conditioning exercises and even yoga, tailored to individual players’ needs according to health data that is calculated on a new “GPS” system provided to NFL teams.
Meanwhile. foreseeable team issues for the Giants include a young offensive line and a young defensive front. Quarterback Eli Manning has a plethora of weapons including wide receivers Odell Beckham, Jr., Rueben Randle and Victor Cruz, who is out Saturday evening with a calf injury; however, with the young G-Men O-Line the questions remain whether or not the 2-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player will have enough time to move around in the pocket and throw to his big playmakers one of which could be tight end Daniel Fells, who has been impressive in training camp.
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WATCH: “Be the Michael Strahan of London:” Osi Umenyiora Retires a Giant after Record-Breaking Career
By Neil A. Carousso
East Rutherford, NJ — Osi Umenyiora played 9 seasons for the New York Football Giants as a defensive end. On Wednesday, August 26, #72 retired as a Giant, the team Umenyiora played 9 seasons with before playing 2 NFL seasons with the Atlanta Falcons while rooting for Big Blue.
Umenyiora is fourth among Giants all-time sacks leaders with 75 sacks as a G-Men DE. In the video above, we look back on Osi’s illustrious career and look ahead to a bright future for the 33-year-old man.
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Mission: Accomplished! WATCH: Nail Biting “Rogue Nation” Stunts Thrill the Audience
By Neil A. Carousso
The fifth installment of the “Mission: Impossible” action-thriller series, “Rogue Nation,” is now playing in theatres. I saw an advanced screening earlier this week; watch the above video for a sneak peak and a “thumbs up” review!
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WATCH: Checking It Off the Bucket List: Baseball Fans Elated Over the Largest Hall of Fame Class of Immortal Players in 60 Years
By Neil A. Carousso
Cooperstown, NY — Roughly 50,000 fans congregated in the baseball capital of the world in upstate New York for the National Baseball Hall of Fame Weekend and the 2015 induction ceremony, according to the Hall of Fame. Events, like “Play Ball with Ozzie Smith” and the “Legends of the Game Parade” are organized in the village.
In the above video, baseball fans from around the world express excitement, energy and enthusiasm for the weekend and hold high esteems for the 2015 induction class, which includes Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros, Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox, and John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves.
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WATCH: “They’re there right now.” Mets Broadcaster Howie Rose Says the Amazins’ are 2015 Contenders; Howie Also Talks about Mike Piazza’s PED Speculation and This Year’s Hall of Fame Inductees
By Neil A. Carousso
Flushing, NY — Prior to the middle game of a three game series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets at Citi Field on July 11, I sat down with Howie Rose, who has been in the Mets broadcast booth for 20 years on both radio and television, to discuss the 2015 Mets team and the Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2015 with that part of the interview airing during WRHU-FM’s Hall of Fame coverage in Cooperstown, New York this weekend.
“They’re there right now,” Rose said when asked if the Metropolitans can contend for a playoff bid in 2015, despite being second-to-last in runs scored, just ahead of the Chicago White Sox. “There are enough bats here so that with their pitching as good as its been, they should be able to compete,” said Rose.
The 61-year-old sports broadcaster has seen the game evolve over the years from the “steroid era,” when there was an abundance of sluggers in the game, to baseball dominated by stellar pitching with young arms like Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard of the Mets and 2015 all-star game starters Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers right hander Zach Greinke, to name a few.
“It’s a pitchers game right now,” remarked Rose, adding, “There are good young hitters in this game; they just need to develop a few more of them.”
On the topic of the aforementioned “steroid era,” former Mets catcher Mike Piazza came to mind, not because he is highly suspected of using performance enhancing drugs, but because he has been held out of the Hall of Fame after three years on the ballot.
“I feel there’s an inevitability to Mike Piazza going to Cooperstown,” said Rose. “He’s part of an era where everybody’s under some suspicion and I think he’s somewhat victimized by that.”
In the video above, Rose also recalls Piazza’s eighth inning home run that brought a sold-out Shea Stadium crowd to their feet on September 21, 2001, the day baseball returned to New York after the tragic terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Howie, who called the game on Fox Sports Network, remembers it as an “Americana” moment.
Meanwhile, Rose addressed the 2015 Hall of Fame class, the largest players class inducted in 60 years.
First thing that comes to mind when Rose thinks of Long Island, New York native, 20-year Astro Craig Biggio is “consistent.” Biggio is 21st all-time in hits with 3,060, along with a .281 average and 291 home runs.
He called Randy Johnson, 2nd in strikeouts all-time with 4,875 K’s, “imposing,” adding he was “as intimidating as a pitcher as perhaps there ever was in the game.” The “Big Unit” has the 22nd most wins all-time with a record of 303-166. He played 22 years with seven teams, where he threw one perfect game, as a member of the D-Backs, against the Atlanta Braves in May 2009 to become the 17th pitcher in history to throw a perfecto. Johnson also pitched 100 complete games.
Pedro Martinez, one of three pitchers in this 2015 class, pitched 18 years and dominated the game in 1999, when he went 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA for the Boston Red Sox. Pedro was also in Queens for four seasons, although injured for some of his time in blue and orange.
“I think my favorite memory of Pedro had nothing to do with performance as it did attitude,” Rose said, while he recounted a story in which the sprinklers went off in-between innings at Shea. Pedro, who was the starting pitcher that day, was the least affected by the situation, according to Rose, who points out how routine oriented and superstitious baseball players are, especially starting pitchers.
Meanwhile, John Smoltz, who’s former Atlanta Braves teammates Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine were enshrined last year, along with his manager Bobby Cox, will be inducted in Cooperstown on Sunday. Being in the National League East, Smoltz faced the Mets as both a starter and closer often.
“I kind of look at him as a pitching version of Craig Biggio,” remarked Rose. He excelled in two totally different ways just as Biggio did at two totally different positions,” Rose said continuing, “I, again, tip my cap to someone who was able to A, recover from adversity, and B, show an almost unparalleled, with the exception of [Hall of Fame pitcher] Dennis Eckersley, to an extreme in two different areas that are very very hard to do.” “[Smoltz is a] no doubt Hall of Famer in my mind.”
The Mets are two games out of first place behind the Washington Nationals, going into tonight’s head-to-head match-up in the nation’s capital. After a three-game series in Washington this week, the two NL East teams will play at Citi Field in a weekend series next week.
