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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 3941926, member: 289"] 2000 OG: 131 NB: 114 Historical: OG: 2,799 points, 29 victories and 13 rings NB: 2,036 points, 12 victories and 11 rings. The Knicks were still good, (50-32, second to the Heat in the Atlantic Division and better than 20 teams) and the nets were still bad, (31-51, better than 6 teams). Only the Knicks made the playoffs and they fought their way to Eastern Finals, where they lost to the Pacers in six games. That got the Old Guard 27 points to 6 for the New Breed. The Devils, (45-24-8, 103 points), got beat out by the Flyers (45-22-12, 105) for the Atlantic title but were still better than the Rangers (29-38-12, 73) and the last place Islanders, (24-48-9, 58). The Devils were better than 24 of the league’s 28 teams. The Rangers were better than 3 teams and the Islanders 2. Only the Devils made the playoffs and they won their second Stanley Cup, beating the Florida Panthers, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Dallas Stars, (the NHL wasn’t what it used to be). That gave them 52 points and the New Breed a spring lead of 59-30 as well as an 11th ring. But the Old Guard got their 13th ring when the Yankees won their third straight World Series and fourth in five years. It wasn’t easy as the Yanks stumbled to an 87-74 record, barely making the playoffs by beating out the Red Sox (85-77), for the 5-team AL East title. On September 10 they were rolling along at 82-56, ahead by 8 ½ games. From that point on, they were an astonishing 5-16 and absorbed defeats of 1-11, 4-15, 3-16, 4-15 and, in consecutive games, 1-11, 3-11, 2-13 and 1-9. I’m a Mets fan and I was considering feeling sorry of the Yankees. (then I thought about it: Naaahhh!) I’ve never seen a good team in any sport have a stretch like that. But they somehow righted the ship and beat the A’s 3 games to 2, the Mariners 4-2 and in the World Series, my Mets in 5 games. (I haven’t considered feeling sorry for them since.) That turn-around, in retrospect, seems as impressive as what they did in 1998, when their regular season record was 26 ½ games better. But the most impressive thing is that, from 1996-2001, they won 14 of 15 post season series before Luis Gonzalez finally beat them with that blooper. The 1997 loss to the Indians being their only defeat in that time. That 87-74 record was better than 21 teams. The divisional title got them another 4 points and winning the series again got them 30 big points for a total of 55 points. The Mets had a strong year, too, with a better regular season record than the Yankees at 94-68, better than 25 teams but not than the Braves, who were a game ahead of them in the NL East at 95-67. They lost to the Cardinals in the playoffs. The Mets beat the Giants and then the Cardinals before falling the Yankees in the first subway series in 44 years. With 15 points for being the runner-up, the Mets would up with 40 points, That left the New Breed still ahead, 99-85. On November 19, the Jets and the Giants were both 7-4. But the Jets had just beaten the Dolphins 20-3 while the Giants had lost their second in a row after a 7-2 start. Coach Jim Fassel pulled a play out of Joe Namath’s playbook by saying ““This is a poker game, and I’m shoving my chips to the middle of the table, I’m raising the ante, and anybody who wants to get in, get in. Anybody who wants out can get out. This team is going to the playoffs, OK? This team is going to the playoffs.” The Giants won their final 5 games to win the 5 team NFC East. The Jets won two more in a row before losing their last three to finish 9-7, 3rd in the AFC East. The Jets were better than 15 teams, the Giants better than 27. The Jets didn’t make the playoffs but the Giants beat the Eagles 20-10 and then steam-rolled the Viking 41-0 in the NFC title game. Then they got steam-rolled by the former Cleveland Browns, now the Baltimore Ravens, 7-34 in the Super Bowl, (as an old Browns fan I would have enjoyed the heck out of that if they were still the Cleveland Browns). The Giants got 27 + 4 for winning the division + 15 for being runner-up for a total of 46 to just 15 for the Jets. That won the Old Guard their 12th straight title, 131-114, the most combined points the two groups had ever generated. Junior joined the 2000 point club in the year 2000. The new century looked interesting. [/QUOTE]

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