DAILY NEWSNYDailyNews.com Sunday, March 29, 2020 63
●
Is the couples’ counseling for
James L. Dolan and Charles
Oakley still on for this week?
Hey, with no sports on televi-
sion right now, and none on the
horizon until the NFL draft, I’m
thinking the whole thing ought to
be PayPerView.
With Judge Spikepresiding.●
This was another week when
the governor of the State of
New York acted like the real
president of the United States.
It’s interesting, by the way,
that not so long after Sean Han-
nityoffered Andrew Cuomoany
help he needed on radio or televi-
sion he turned around on Thurs-
day night and allowed the actualpresident of the United States to
bounce him on his knee.●
Joe Burrowhad one of the
great seasons a college
quarterback has ever had.
And Tua Tagovailoawas a
huge college star before Burrow
ever got his chance at LSU.
But no matter how high the
ceiling for both of them, it is
worth noting that five years ago
the first two picks in the NFL draft
were Famous Jameis Winstonand
Marcus Mariota.
Mariota lost his job to Ryan
Tannehll last season, and is with
the Vegas Raiders now.
Jameis is out of a job and
looking for a new team now thatTom Bradyis with the Bucs.●
And speaking of quarter-
backs?
Ihope Phil Riversgets one last
run to the playoffs with the Colts.
He was in the same draft as Eli
andBen Roethisberger.
Eli got the Giants, Roethlis-
berger got the Steelers.
Rivers got the Chargers.
And has still thrown for 59,271
yards, thrown 397 touchdown
passes, against 198 intercep-
tions.
Eli?
He’s had 57,023 yards, 366 TD
passes, against 244 picks.
Just sayin.●
We’ve heard that while Dolan
has taken some action pay-
ing Garden employee, he also has
a“longterm plan.”
That sounds great.
But why don’t we just go
ahead and pay them now.●
Always remember, by the
way, that the first person in
sports to step up when it came to
arena employees was Kevin Love
of the Cavaliers, who put up
$100,000 right away.●
The only way that the NFL
Draft could get bigger ratings
than it is going to get is if they
had UFC fights between rounds.
If the NBA could get by with a
5 0-game regular season in 1998-9 9, Major League Baseball could
get by with an 80-game season, if
it comes to that, this year.●
At least our Olympic athletes
get another shot in a year.
So many U.S. athletes, who
had to watch the 1980 Summer
Games in Moscow after America
decided to boycott them, never
went back to the Olympics.●
At this rate, Severinois going
to be ready for Opening Day.
There is one thing that never
changes in the city of New York:
The quality and courage of
first responders, against a virus
this time, and not planes coming
out of the sky.
God bless them all.Dolan and Oakley, Rivers with the Colts and thanking NYC heroes ...
healthy, he can come back
from it the way deGrom has,
moving up now on 10 years
since his own Tommy John
surgery. He might not have had
the wins that Seaver used to
have when he was young at old
Shea Stadium. But it turns out
that he is the one who has
pitched like Seaver these past
two years for the Mets.
Harvey, though, never came
back from his various sur-
geries, including one for some-
thing called thoracic outlet
surgery on his right shoulder.
He ended up with the Reds
and then was released by the
Angels and signed a minor-
league contract with the A’s.
There is no way of knowing
whether the kid known as the
Dark Knight might ever pitch
again in the big leagues, seven
years after that All-Star Game
start at Citi Field. Less than five
years from that night against
the Royals in Game 5 when he
once again looked like one of
the best young arms in the
world.
Syndergaard, the other Mets
comic book pitching hero, the
one everyone knows as Thor,
now joins him as a member of
the Tommy John Alumni As-
sociation. He is still just one
year older than Harvey was
when he pitched Game 5 of the
World Series. And certainly he
can come back from surgery
the way Harvey did, if briefly,
and deGrom, and a lot of other
pitchers, including Stephen
Strasburg, one of the pitching
stars of last October for the
Nationals.
We all know there is no
baseball right now. The season
was supposed to start last
Thursday, day after Matt Har-
vey’s birthday. A couple of days
before that came the news
about Syndergaard, and the
Mets’ season changed before
there even was a season. But
then a lot has changed for the
comic book guys since October
of 2015, when it was all ahead
of both of them.w with
oes
Noah Syndergaard faces a long road back after Tommy John surgery, but teammate Jacob deGrom shows it can be done. GETTY