Head-scratcher.

When I feel badly about the state of the New Jersey Nets and their futile record, I just look at the Washington Wizards. I have been in the DC area during many of the Wizards’ horrid seasons, and many there have been in the last decade. But I’m not sure they’ve been as bad as they are this season, even that year they lost and lost and lost to start the season and got Eddie Jordan fired. The Nets, as bad as they are, have two wins. The Wizards? One win. To 10 losses. Yikes. They basically have one good player (John Wall) whom people are already ragging on because of his slow start to the year. Well, it’s not his fault he doesn’t have LeBron or Dwight around. Still, what kind of team goes 1-10? A bad one. No shock there. But every other team (besides the Nets) has at least two more wins. There’s bad, and then there’s putridness. Go with the latter for the Wiz. The Nets aren’t much better, but they at least have one established player in Deron Williams. It’s going to be a long season for both the Nets and Wizards. Again. 

WINNING

Consider this—a year ago today (although it was technically Jan. 2), I sat (and stood) at the Giants at Redskins game, freezing my hands off and watching the Giants beat the Skins in the team’s final game to improve to 10-6. Throughout the game, I was monitoring my phone for the score of the Bears-Packers game. The playoff-bound Bears had to top the Pack in order for the G-Men to make the playoffs. Instead, I found myself staring in disbelief at my phone as the Packers pulled out the win (and a lot more wins to become the Super Bowl winners). I thought, how can a 10-6 team make the playoffs when an average team like the Seahawks qualify? Granted, the Seahawks did end up beating those same Bears shortly thereafter. Regardless, the Giants missed out on the playoffs for the second straight year. Now, flash forward to this season—the usual 6-2 start, then the decline, then the re-emergence. And it was all capped by tonight’s win over the Cowboys in a winner-take-all game for the NFC East crown and a playoff spot—a No. 4 spot at that. All it took was a 9-7 record! Guess I should take accept those teams with so-so records that make the playoffs. But these Giants are not so-so. If, and only if they set aside games where they don’t show up, this is a dangerous team with dangerous players. Manning, Cruz, Pierre-Paul, Tuck, it doesn’t stop. Playoffs, glad to have you back. It’s been quite some time since any of my teams made them.

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The Clippers' Griffin, center, and Paul, right of him, have high expectations suddenly.

There’s been a lot of happenings in the NBA lately, many of which I think are worth discussing. First, Chris Paul to the Clippers. So the Clips are hot and cool now with Paul and Blake Griffin? Okay. I’ll wait to see results. Second—teams like the Lakers, Celtics and Spurs are taking a back seat to those fresh teams like the Clips, Knicks, Thunder, Bulls, etc. Granted, the Thunder and Bulls are legit. And the Lakers, Celts and Spurs are aging. But again, I wait for the results. Right now, the Mavs and Heat are still the teams to beat in my opinion. They may have lost some players to pair with new faces, but I still think they’re top dogs. Meanwhile, the Nets lost Brook Lopez to injury for a while, but got Mehmet Okur and DeShawn Stevenson. Neither are superstars, but both are good role players. I’ll take them for now, but the Nets still need another big-name player. Speaking of big-name players, a bunch of “old” guys are back: Stackhouse, Bonzi Wells, and Ricky Davis and Greg Ostertag (the latter two in the D-League). Are we playing like it’s 2003? Is Latrell Sprewell next? Robert Horry? Speaking of the olden days, Dec. 21 was the 10-year anniversary of my first-ever NBA game. It was the game that propelled me to where I stand today with sports. Big deal in my book. So for that, a shout out is due to my Uncle Jimmy. The other Nets fan in the country!

Bam.

In the midst of finals, reading and papers craziness, I took five minutes of my time to catch the end of the Indiana-Kentucky game. I watched Kentucky make a free throw to go up by two points. And then, unranked Indiana came running down the court against the No. 1 Wildcats. A Hoosier drove inside and then kicked the ball out to his teammate for the 3. In, and it wins the game by one point. Swish. Hysteria. Yes, in it went. And that is how you win a basketball game. Probably one of the best ways to win one (besides a desperation heave). Props to Indiana for the win. And with that win, and Ohio State’s loss (UK and OSU are the “No 1.” and “No. 2″ teams in the nation to “No. 3″ Syracuse), SU moves in prime position to take over the top spot come Monday’s new rankings. Of course the ‘Cuse won today, to stay undefeated and snatch up our deserved No. 1 ranking. The stars align. Now rankings don’t matter til the end, but it’s a nice ego boost. This ranking won’t be as special as two years ago when Syracuse beat a top-10 Villanova team in front of a record crowd and the top two teams also lost as SU became No. 1 on March 1. But it’s pretty nice to say you go to the best damn basketball school in the country. Pundits aside: Syracuse is No.1. 

All they do is spend.

The Marlins are really starting to annoy me. First, they change their name this offseason from “Florida” to “Miami.” Fine. Then, they re-design their uniforms to look like Miami Vice 1980s style. OK. But the major thing that got me was them stealing (ok, so they didn’t technically steal) Jose Reyes from the Mets. They basically deflated the Mets. And now they’re continuing their “Let’s be like our basketball neighbors” trend of trying to get every star in the universe by offering a giant contract to Albert Pujols. Who do they think they are? And how did they go from barfing up payroll and being penny pinchers to the penthouse? But, I still remind myself that superstars can only get you so far. After that, well, the Miami Marlins might just melt in their new ballpark along with their new manager. The Mets will gladly mop them up. After all, the Amazin’s are used to mopping up messes.

VICIOUS.

The Giants lost today. The Mets just lost Jose Reyes to the Marlins. But hey, the Nets are going to start playing soon! Fan-freaking-tastic. At least there’s Syracuse basketball…for now. But there’s still hope! The G-Men are just one game out of the division, the Mets still have David Wright, and the Nets are looking good! (Because they haven’t played a game yet). Sports are sports. Unlike LSU football and the Packers, you have to lose at some point. Losing just makes the wins even better. The Giants will absolutely not lose a fifth straight game next weekend. They can’t after the way they played the Packers. The G-Men’s valiant effort against Green Bay today brought me back to their regular-season finale against the then-unbeaten Patriots back in 2007. They lost that game, like today’s, but the Giants went on to win it all, giving the Pats their first loss in the Super Bowl. At 6-6, this year’s crew has a long way to go. But they’re so much better than 6-6. Okay, enough about wins and losses. It’s how you enjoy the game, right? I guess there’s no real answer to that. Sometimes we lean one way and sometimes the other. But a game is always more than just a final score.

Cheese.

The deal is tentative, but putting that aside, the NBA will be back come Christmas! The seemingly never-ending lockout is over, and basketball has returned!! Assuming everything goes smoothly (let’s hope), basketball will finally be back. It’s about damn time. It seemed as though the lockout would never end and I think most of us accepted the fact that there would be no season. This agreement reminds myself, and I hope many others, just how much basketball was missed. I cannot wait for it to return, and I hope we’re all grateful for the NBA now. Many thanks on Thanksgiving! Now let’s play some basketball.

In other non-sports related news, I suggest you use your time away from the NBA to watch a movie, catch up on TV shows, or read a good book or magazine. Will full-fledged NBA games be featured? Highly unlikely. But there are other forms of entertainment besides the National Basketball Association. And they are here. Remember a few years back when the Screen Writers Guild went on strike? That was a shame and it cut our television seasons in half. But they came to a decision. Maybe the NBA can learn from that. Then again, I wouldn’t count on it. Sayonara to the 2011-2012 NBA season as we know it. No, it’s not the end of the world. But it’s damn close. Just kidding.