Volume 67, Issue 4

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Eastern Conference
9-15. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  Boston’s best point guard was Kenny Anderson.  That’s bad.  They traded him for Vin Baker.  That’s stupid.  Who is going to get the ball to Paul Pierce and Antione Walker?  And Baker is just a more expensive version of Rodney Rogers, whom they lost.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  Detroit wasn’t broken either.  They traded away their best player, Jerry Stackhouse.

Western Conference
9-14. The L.A. Clippers are only playing for contracts.  Anyway, the Clippers’ futility is as sure a bet as the Yankees winning the … oh, wait.  Houston will be dangerous with a healthy Steve Francis and a tall Yao Ming.  The question is if they have enough talent to crack the top eight.  Phoenix continues to sink.  Remember when Tom Gugliotta and Penny Hardaway were All-Stars?

One-on-One 
The Los Angeles Lakers sweated through a Game Seven on the road, pulling out the game in overtime. 

No Stopping the Diesel
by Binyamin Muschel

You can’t slow down a locomotive, let alone stop it.  Trying to get in its way will only hurt you.  The locomotive will slow down when it chooses to slow down, or when it malfunctions.  Understood?
Three consecutive championships and counting.  The Los Angeles Lakers have dominated the competition in the NBA over the past three years, winning nearly three quarters of their regular season games.  In the playoffs they have been just as strong, winning at an even higher ratio.  This is no reason why this season should be any different.

“Beat L.A.” – Are the Kings Ready?
by Alexander Chester

Much like the American League behind the juggernaut New York Yankees, the NBA in recent seasons has been a one-sided affair.  The West is so much better than the East that it is possible that no Eastern Conference team would even make the playoffs in the Western Conference.  But beyond depth, the true disparity between East and West can be found in the Staples Center, where the best two players in the league play together on a nightly basis, to the frustration of every other team in basketball.

Nets Look to Improve on Improbable Season
by Daniel Groner

The New Jersey Nets led the Eastern Conference in wins last season and advanced to the NBA Finals.  Their championship sweep at the hands of the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers was not deemed a disappointment by any means.  It merely left them with a bitter taste in their mouths after a sweet season.

Mac Spotlight: Alex Lapidus
by Binyamin Muschel

It had been a good season for Alex Lapidus.  Making the team in his first year at YU, he managed to contribute off the bench, probably earning himself a starting spot for the 2002-03 season.  But his plans for this season changed last April, on the courts of the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach.  Playing in a pickup game a few days after finishing his work at the Eden Roc where he was employed as a waiter over Pesach, Alex went up for a lay-up and, with a slight push from behind, came down injured, clutching his knee.  The diagnosis: a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. 

Basketball Team Begins Life Without Gev
by Avi Mermelstein

Yeshiva basketball this year embarks not only a new season, but a new era.  The Yossy Gev era  ended last year with Gev graduating as the school’s all-time leading scorer, having surpassed Ayal Hod’s 13 year-old record.  The Macs will find it difficult to replace Gev’s 20 points and 9 rebounds per game, first and second in the conference, respectively.  They will find it even more difficult to replace his inside presence; without him the Macs are suddenly undersized.

Knicks Limp into New Season
by David Epstein

After an unsuccessful ‘01-‘02 campaign, the New York Knicks went into their off-season faced with a choice.  They could follow the path taken by most of today’s NBA powerhouses and rebuild, accepting a losing season or two before rising to the level of the NBA’s elite.  Alternatively, they could try to bypass the rebuilding process by trade or free agency, transforming themselves into immediate contenders in the wide-open Eastern Conference.

A New World Order
by Avi Mermelstein

This past summer, when no one was really looking, an interesting thing happened in basketball.  A team of American professionals lost in international competition for the first time.  And the second time.  And the third.  In fact, the Americans went home having finished sixth in the World Basketball Championships and suddenly everyone associated with American basketball from George Karl on down had a lot of ‘splaining to do.

NFL Midseason Report
by Daniel Groner

In case you missed anything in the first eight weeks of the NFL season, here is a divisional breakdown:
Sitting atop the AFC East are Miami and Buffalo, though they took different paths there.  Miami has shown a commitment to running with star Ricky Williams, while Buffalo has depended on the arm of Drew Bledsoe.  Peerless Price has emerged as a receiving star for Buffalo, leading the league in many categories.  Miami’s defense has been amongst the league’s best and it should hold up strong on their way to the postseason.  The Jets currently reside in last place at 2-5.  It is nearly time for them to refocus for next season.

Sports
Annoying or endearing but very, very loud, the Thunderstix helped propel the Anaheim Angels to a championship, becoming a featured part of the television coverage.  The hollow plastic tubes originated in Korea and made their US debut during a soccer game vs. Costa Rica.  While we plug our ears and wait for the ‘Stix fad to fade, let’s take a look back at other cheering accessories that became visible parts of championship runs.

Series of Firsts for the Soccer Team
by Avi Mermelstein

Sunday, October 13th, 2002 did not begin like an especially promising day.  The overcast sky chilled the afternoon to an iron gray.  It had rained over the weekend, so when the Yeshiva Soccer Macs arrived at Reinhart Field (after the bus had completed its obligatory regimen of wrong turns) in SUNY Maritime they were greeted by a muddy, rain-soaked field littered with green goose excrement.  But that day and that field bore witness to history as Yeshiva emerged from SUNY Maritime admittedly cold but in possession of the first victory of the modern era of YU Soccer.

Correction
In the October 18th issue of The Commentator, the article about the soccer team implied that the athletic department was unprepared for the shortage of space on the team bus to the first home game. 

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