You could faintly smell it walking down the brilliant, squeaky linoleum hallways where flat-screen televisions played Knicks highlights in perpetual loops and ten gallon hats carrying nine-dollar beers scurried to their seats. Descending the concrete staircase, the odor turned tangy and complex as it mixed with 600 tons of dirt. Sulfur-spewing pyrotechnics shot sparks into the air, the pop country kicked in, and the crowd roared approvingly. The smell, of course, is bull excrement, and it's an essential ingredient in the electric spectacle that is bull riding in Madison Square Garden. Every time it kicked up in the air it begged the question: What city was this again?
Bucking Bulls & Blue Bruises: Inside MSG's Rowdy Rodeo
Last Night's Action: Looking Bad Against the Worst
- 76ers 124, Knicks 84: For the second time this season, the Knicks got blown out by the second-worst team in the division. How is that possible? Start with nine turnovers in the first quarter alone -- and 23 for the game. Sprinkle in some porous defense and everything should come out just fine. The Knicks lost by 40 despite shooting 46 percent from the floor. Too bad Philadelphia made 57 percent of its shots.
- Nets 110, Bulls 102 (OT): Even without Devin Harris, the best player the Nets got in exchange for Jason Kidd, the Nets were able to take down the Bulls at home. Marcus Williams played 39 minutes and had 25 points. If he can play remotely like that down the stretch, the Nets may find themselves a first-round victim rather than draft-lottery hopeful.
- Islanders 3, Capitals 2: Suddenly, the Islanders can't be stopped. One game after he helped his team stun the Sharks, Mike Comrie scored the only goal in the shootout and helped New York to its fifth straight win. This was the second consecutive time they rallied from a two-goal deficit. Miroslav Satan and Josef Vasicek lit the lamp in regulation.
Last Night's Action: Brodeur Saves Devils
- Devils 2, Sabres 1 (SO): Aggressive play cost the Devils the win in regulation, but Martin Brodeur, Brian Gionta and Patrik Elias too center stage in the shootout to allow the Devils to continue their home dominance. They have picked up 21 of 22 points at their new Prudential Center in the last 11 games. Things didn't look so rosy when Jason Pominville tied the game with 1:47 to go, but the Devils bounced back. They held out during Buffalo's dominance of the extra session to make use of Brodeur in the shootout.
- Lightning 5, Rangers 3: Spotting the Lightning a three-goal lead didn't seem to be a good move. After Jaromir Jagr opened the scoring, Tampa Bay struck for four straight, and the Rangers couldn't recover.
- Canucks 3, Islanders 2 (SO): The Islanders can't be happy they traveled all the way to the Pacific Northwest only to see that second point disappear after a goal between the legs of Rick DiPietro. But he can't be blamed for this loss. His 43 saves were the only reason the Islanders made it to the extra session and the shootout.
Comments of the Day: Is Bull Riding Bull?
When we mentioned how the Professional Bull Riders were holding an outdoor demonstration of bull riding on the corner of 8th Avenue and 33rd Street (outside of Madison Square Garden where their invitational is being held this weekend), our readers had some strong opinions.
Last Night's Action: A Much-Needed Win
Knicks' Thanksgiving Leftovers
A day after the NY Post served up a Thanksgiving day front page cover of Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas as a turkey, the embattled Thomas proclaimed he would stay in his job, saying, "I don't foresee there being any changes this year." Which the Post calls "LOAD OF BULL?" But really, if there's one thing that the Post and Daily News must have been thankful for, it's having such a spectacularly poorly managed...
Television Watching: CBS Strike?, MSG Free, & Smith
If CBS News Writers Strike, Democrats Will Nix Debate Several presidential candidates - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson -have announced their intentions not to cross picket lines for a debate sponsored by CBS News on December 10th. The Writers Guild of America announced earlier this week that its members who work for the network’s television and radio operations at both the national and local level have authorized a strike vote. The members have...
Last Night's Action: A Garden Shootout
Rangers 2, Devils 1 (SO): Petr Prucha did enough to finally earn a second "E" for his name. He set up the only goal in regulation and scored the only goal in the shootout. Scott Gomez struck against his former club. The Rangers had other chances, including Chris Drury's breakaway in overtime, so this win helped them sleep better at night. Islands 3, Penguins 2: This could have been a Pyhrric victory. Rick DiPietro got...
Last Night's Action: Wright Stuff
Last Night's Action: No Wins Here
The current Devils are one of the best teams in the NHL over the past 12 seasons, but that meant nothing as they opened up their new building with a loss. The Senators blew open a 1-1 game after two with three goals in the third and the Devils fell to 3-6-1 on the season. Luckily, they have a lot of home games coming up at “The Rock”.
Last Night's Action: Guerin Gets Going
Last Night's Action: An Early Hole
- IIndians 12, Yankees 3: Well, that didn't go as planned. Chien-Ming Wang didn't have his sinker, gave up a ton of two-out and two-strike hits, and the Yankees got buried. Their patient bats wore out C.C. Sabathia, but they only got three runs for their efforts against him, and that wasn't nearly enough given the way Wang pitched. Then they stunk up the joint against the Indians bullpen, but by them the game was over. It's only one in a five-game series, but the Yankees have an uphill battle. Remember who's likely pitching in Games 3 and 4: Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina. Andy Pettitte will face Fausto Carmona in Game 2 on Friday. Want a positive spin? The Yankees have never lost a division series in which they have lost the first game. That includes 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004. Those teams were better than this one though.
- Rangers 5, Panthers 2: A sluggish second period couldn't slow down the Rangers, who lit the lamp four times in the final session to pick up a win in their season opener. Who knows what Tom Renney said in the dressing room during the intermission, but it worked. The Rangers got three goals in two minutes and two in 12 seconds. Chris Drury, one of the big offseason signings, got a goal in a five-point performance.
- Lightning 3, Devils 1: Things didn't come up roses for the Devils, who started a season-opening nine-game road trip with a loss in Tampa Bay. Why the long trip? They're waiting for their new arena.
- FC Toronto 2, Red Bulls 1: Ah, the own goal. Soccer players' way of giving back -- to their opponents. Blame this one on Chris Leitch, who kicked the ball into his own net for the deciding score. New York will have to wait for a playoff berth.
Last Night's Action: One More Day
Last Night's Action: A Long Day In The Bronx

- Yankees 12 Blue Jays 11 (10 innings): What could have been one of the more painful losses of the season turned into a very satisfying win. Down 3-1, the Yankees rallied to a 6-3 lead, only to fall behind 8-6. Once again, the bats responded, putting New York ahead 9-8, but Toronto jumped ahead again 11-9 in the eighth. The Yankees had another rally in them and tied things up in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-run single by Melky Cabrera.
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Last Night's Action: Those Pesky Rivals
"New Meadowlands" to Change Colors...Like Chameleon
Our neighbors to the west broke ground today on a new stadium for the Giants and Jets at the Meadowlands. Rather, officials officially broke ground today, since it's obvious to anyone that's been to the Meadowlands that construction on the new two-team stadium has already started. The $1.3 billion stadium will be jointly owned by the two teams and make both feel at home, unlike Stadium, which irritates the Jets and their fans.
Last Night's Action: Welcome to the Bigs
Last Night's Action: Delgado Finally Comes Through
Last Night's Action: Congrats, Joe!

- Yankees 8 Angels 2: Don’t let the final score fool you, this was a much closer game. The Yankees scored in the fourth and the Angels scored in the sixth to make it 1-1 heading into the seventh. That’s where the starting pitching diverged. Andy Pettitte continued his brilliance while John Lackey ran into trouble. New York scored twice in the seventh and four-times in the eighth to blow the game open.
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Last Night's Action: Unfamiliar Sights
- Red Bulls 5, Galaxy 4: Giants Stadium fills up for plenty of events, but Red Bulls games don't usually rank among those. Saturday's did, if only because David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy was in town. Those fans, who were there for Beckham and not the Galaxy, found another rare treat: goals in a Major League Soccer game. Soccer doesn't need frequent scores to be exciting, but the rare 5-4 game never hurt anyone. Not only did Beckham play, but he stayed on the artificial pitch the whole game, setting up three goals in his team's loss. The nine total goals fell two short of the league record, which came nine years ago. Jozy Altidore had two of them for the Red Bulls, who are now 10-7-3.
- Yankees 5, Tigers 2: Control can do wonders for a pitcher. Roger Clemens didn't have his best stuff, but he did well in two departments: strikeouts and walks. He K'd eight and walked none through six innings while allowing two runs, and Bobby Abreu's two-run homer off the left-field
fairfoul pole helped make him a winner. So did the bullpen, which in Kyle Farnsworth, Luis Vizcaino and Mariano Rivera provided three innings of scoreless relief. The Yankees can take three of four in the series if they win when Chien-Ming Wang takes on Jeremy Bonderman, the man who eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs last year. - Mets 7, Nationals 4: The good news: Luis Castillo homered and the Mets won. The bad news: Damion Easley sprained his ankle, and, with Ramon Castro moved to the disabled list, the Mets' catching corps now consists of Mike DiFelice and Sandy Alomar Jr. Their short-handed lineup -- Carlos Delgado was also out nursing an injury -- still had David Wright, who doubled home two runs to give his team the lead for good against John Lannan, a Long Beach, N.Y., native.
Soccer Star David Beckham Arrives in NYC
British tabloid mainstay, fashion icon, and fabled footballer David Beckham will make his first appearance in New York City today since the former captain of England's national team started playing with the Los Angeles Galaxy. He is spending the afternoon in Harlem coaching the 33 teenage members of the FC Harlem Lions, intending to highlight the need for more soccer fields in the neighborhood.
Last Night's Action: Break Out The Brooms

- Yankees 5 Cleveland 3: New York has passed the first big test on their current schedule, sweeping Cleveland and improving to 15-games over .500. Sunday’s win was the toughest of the series as Andy Pettitte and Jake Westbrook locked into a pitcher’s duel for the first part of the game before the Yankees jumped out to a 4-0 lead. But, Cleveland made things interesting in the ninth.
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Eddy Curry Robbed in Suburban Chicago Home
The Knicks have a bad history of getting robbed when it comes to the Windy City and Eddy Curry (forget all their history with the Jordan-era Bulls). First, the Knicks traded for Eddy Curry in a deal that also gave the Bulls the 9th pick in the 2007 draft (they picked Joakim Noah) and early Saturday morning Curry was robbed at gunpoint in his suburban Chicago home. Three masked intruders tied up Curry, his wife and an employee with duct tape and robbed the home of jewelry and cash.
Last Night's Action: No Wins Here

- Royals 7 Yankees 0: Kei Igawa should buy a plane ticket back to Japan. Today’s ledger of 5.2 innings, seven hits and 2 walks while allowing five runs just reinforced the fact that Igawa is nothing more than a batting practice pitcher. The Yankees could have won seven-straight, but they didn’t, at least we know that Igawa is junk and Phil Hughes will be back in the rotation soon.
Last Night's Action: Bombardment Continues
Last Night's Action: Wins Almost Everywhere
Last Night's Action: Heading to the All-Star Break
Last Night's Action: Yanks Take A Series!

- Yankees 7 Minnesota 6: The Yankees showed some grit Thursday, overcoming another lousy start from Kei Igawa and a lack of clutch-hitting to get the win. Things looked great in the first couple of innings as New York rebounded from a two-run deficit take a 5-2 lead thanks to home runs from Cano and Cabrera. But, Igawa was awful again, giving the lead back in the fourth by allowing three runs to score with two outs. Igawa may have come with a $46-million price tag, but the Yankees can’t keep sending him out there every fifth day.
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Last Night's Action: One F**king Hit??
- Oakland 7 Yankees 0: Not only did the Yankees lose on Saturday, but they managed only a single hit in the game, Johnny Damon’s single to center in the sixth. Apart from that, they were totally embarrassed, giving a half-assed performance in another utterly forgettable game in an utterly forgettable season.
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Did The Two Sides Of Isiah Have A Good Night?
There are two sides to Isiah Thomas. There is the GM who drafts diligently building a team from the ground up, or Dr. Jekyll. And then there is the GM who recklessly trades players simply to trade them while acquiring bigger salaries and losing draft picks, or Mr. Hyde. Both sides were on display Thursday night as Isiah radically overhauled the Knicks and may have finally come up with a trade that made them better.


