Training camps are officially open and it begins an endless array of new storylines that are set to dominate the airwaves.  As NFL Network begins its utter domination of my television viewing, today’s Monday Morning wrap up also deals with some baseball tidbits including the Yankee haul of Ichiro and possible other moves the Yankees may make.  The Mets week, more precisely Matt Harvey’s debut.    Some Penn State as the decision was handed down and what I think will happen with the program and the long lasting effects it has on the NCAA and other major programs.

But of course we begin with the NFL….

TRAINING CAMPS ARE OPEN

And that means endless speculation abound over our two local teams: the Jets and the Giants.  This week, I wanted to focus on the five major questions heading into training camp including some position battles that don’t have the name Tebow in it, but yes I will get into him too.  First, we start off with the World champion New York Giants, I think they’ve earned it:

1. Can the Giants repeat?

That’s the question the Giants will have to answer as training camps open.  Usually teams who win either come out super focused and some come out lackadaisical and before they know it they are out of the playoff picture.  The Giants luckily are getting absolutely zero respect from the analysts who deem their Super Bowl title run the result of “all things clicking at the right time” phenomenon.  Kind of like the big bang theory- you know a random cosmic event that eventually created a beautifully precise thing.   But you couldn’t draw it up any better for them.  Last year’s Packers team won and all anyone could do was talk about an impending dynasty.  Even this year’s Eagles team is talking dynasty without even winning a championship.  But the Giants have something working for them: motivation.  This year’s mantra may not be finish but I’m sure Tom Coughlin will have enough ammunition to provide his World Championship ball club to get them focused for another season.  Everyone is over the Giants winning their second Super Bowl in 5 seasons, now comes the hard part: their attempt at repeating.  The last time a World title champion repeated was the 2004-2005 Patriots.  The last time a Super Bowl loser made it to the title game the next year?  You have to go back to the 1993-1994 Buffalo Bills.  History says that its a tougher road for the losers to get back, but anyone check the odds for title favorites and see where the Patriots are and where the Giants are?

2. Who will take over Hakeem Nicks spot if there are complications with his return?

Nicks is apparently on schedule but beware the dreaded “best shape in my life” line.  Nicks hasn’t mentioned it, but there have been reports that his comeback is making progress and is right on schedule at the moment but of course that can change at any minute.  Whatever the case may be, Nicks slot as the number one may automatically go to Victor Cruz who is sure to draw more double teams regardless of Nicks’ presence anyway.  We all know Cruz plays his best in the slot but in the interim he may have to play a bit of number one which leaves the second position open.  Jernel Jerrigan has been making strides, while Domenik Hixon just hopes he doesn’t tear another ACL in the process.  The reciever that has me most intrigued is Ruben Randle.  Randle has good size and played in a very bad system that may have masked his skill set.  He never had as good a QB as he will get in the pros in Eli Manning and some teams may have missed the boat on this kid but from reports it seems as though he’s keeping everyone open to the possibility that even upon Nicks return that he has the leg up on the third receiver position.

3. What does Eli Manning do for an encore?

Do you want more?  That’s the question that begs Eli this morning.  He won his second super bowl, backed up his preseason talk about being included in the discussion of elite quarterbacks and woke up on the first day of the offseason with questions about his big brother.  Now that THAT is out of the way and the admiration of his big bro will undoubtedly keep Eli under the shroud of mystery and “Peyton’s younger brother” status for another season, Eli goes into his 9th season with very little to prove.  Of course that 31’st best player in the NFL Network’s Top 100 (the list he wasn’t even mentioned in last year) will undoubtedly quietly get some kind of play in Eli’s mind.  Greg Cosell, a respected scout and mind on football X’s and O’s broke down his marked improvement in several key areas in this post he did this past year, and if he continues on this path it remains to be seen where Eli can go from last season’s breakout year.  Its clear that Eli will be counted on again to lead his team every Sunday and Eli is clearly up to the task.  This time hopefully every year and not every presidential election year.

4. Speaking of encores, what say you Victor Cruz?

Everywhere you looked Victor Cruz seemed to be there.  Basking in the glow of a breakout season and winning a Super Bowl to boot, its going to be tough for Cruz to top it.  But one major thing I saw out of Cruz that has me excited is, he never let the fame get to his head. He never demanded a new contract, like most guys seem to do when they win a championship and they play the kind of role that he did. He is willing to play this year out and then get paid next offseason when he will be a restricted free agent: ask Osi how that can sometimes turn out.  Honestly I’ve only heard good things about his work ethic and none of his teammates are affected by the attention he gets because of his electric play.  If everything comes back to average, some of those acrobatic catches he made may not be there next year but its clear that his skill set is for real.  Let’s see how it goes for the phenom.

5. What will the Giants do with the no respect angle?

There are certainly plenty other storylines to ponder as camp opens but in the broadest sense this is the one question that I seem to be struggling with.  When the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2008 against the Patriots the Giants ran through the first 13 weeks and piled on an 11-1 record.  Then the Plax shooting happened and with it, went the Giants chances at repeating.  They lost to an inferior Philly team because they didn’t seem to have any fight or juice left.  This year’s team seems to be different as I can’t see a major problem child on the roster but of course there will be plenty of things that can go wrong during the season.  This year’s NFC East seems to be as competitive as ever.  The Cowboys got better in the secondary.  The Eagles got better on defense.  And the Redskins got better by adding RGIII or Bob Griffin as Osi would say.  It doesn’t seem like the Giants made any earth shattering roster add-ons.  Of course they have a ton of talent returning from IR: including Hixon, Marvin Austin (last year’s rookie selection and who I think will be a beast in the pros), and of course their draft picks (David Wilson- the fastest runner Eli has ever seen in Giants camp), and their free agent pick ups (hello Martellus Bennet, Keith Rivers (yes he came via trade I know)).  In Reese we trust right?

Next week, I will look at my breakout candidate for the Giants and of course see which rookie will burst on to the scene.

For the Jets:

1. What will Mark Sanchez’ development look like under Tony Sparano?

For all the love that Eli Manning gets, let’s remember one thing: he has played under one offensive coordinator and one system for his entire professional career.  Credit the Giants management for knowing that changing systems every year for a franchise QB is not healthy and won’t improve the QB automatically as a result of a change.  Sanchez got the Jets to two AFC Championship games in his first two seasons, and the first year that he didn’t even make the playoffs the Jets decided that Brian Schottenheimer was the problem and he was jettisoned.  In comes Tony Sparano the former Miami Dolphin coach who will surely run the football more and will bring the Wildcat formation with him.  But what will these new wrinkles do to Mark Sanchez’ eventual growth as a QB?  We won’t know that answer till later on in the year but it will be fun to guess and see where he goes from a wildly inconsistent year.  Here’s on dramatically wild comparison: Eli threw 2o interceptions in 2010 and came back to have the year he had last year.  Sanchez threw 18 interceptions, yet still had statistically his best year to date because of a pronounced emphasis on the passing game.  We’ll see if his numbers trend forward or backward.  Remember folks, Eli won his title in his 4th year, guess which year Sanchez is going into?

2. Is Darelle Revis really playing good citizen or this all a ploy?

My bet is on the former although I can be wrong.  There were rumblings that Revis could have held out but he showed up to camp and made no fuss about a new contract and even when he sat out Saturday’s practices with a tight hamstring (usual stuff for summer camp), most in the press saw this as a form of a hold out from Revis’ camp.  I don’t think it was, ENTIRELY.  I’m sure Revis’ people are telling him to not participate if he isn’t a 100% healthy which would be wise because a big year can set up for a dramatic hold up of camp like he did two seasons ago.  Revis is important to the Jets but if he’s going to be playing with bubble wrap on him all year it may be wise to close this situation quickly by offering him a new deal or sitting down with his camp to go over stuff.  We’ll see how the rest of training camp plays out but I’m sure this question will be figured out prominently as training camp continues.

3. How different will Tony Sparano’s system be than Schottenheimer’s?

Many accused Schottenheimer with going away from what worked in the Jets offense: their running game by focusing on the passing game.  Of course most didn’t realize that it was a natural change due to Mark Sanchez needing those extra reps and throws and plays to further his growth.  In his fourth year, Sanchez now has a new system under Tony Sparano who tried very hard to implement it in Miami.  One thing that I do like about Sparano: he isn’t afraid to try new things which is what the Wildcat was.  He experimented with the system and it eventually became a trend that ultimately gave you know who his run in the pros.  That quality more than anything has to be a bright spot for Jet fans.  Schottenheimer’s biggest flaw was as a game time play caller.  He rarely made adjustments and stuck to whatever plan he had.  Now, say what you will about that but in game adjustments are a fact in football that must be made and that just wasn’t done last year.  The hope among Jet fans are that Sparano will do a better job in that department alone.  Word has leaked that an Antonio Cromartie package has been introduced making him a receiver on those plays.  The unexpected is expected with Coach Sparano.

4. How is Mark Sanchez and Santonio Holmes’ relationship?

Tone attended Sanchez’ Jets West training camp this season but he’s been vocally critical over you know who’s arrival and also what the Jets do offensively.  Look, I think we all know that the things Santonio Holmes is saying isn’t wildly out of left field but it shows an immaturity that he does it in the press.  It also tells you something that the Steelers gave up on him even after he made one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history.  This is a Super Bowl MVP we’re talking about here and yes he’s one of the few on this roster that has a title to his name but the fact remains he can’t do that and it will be interesting to see how close and tight knit this group will be heading into next year.  I still think they should have brought back Braylon Edwards as it seemed that they all had a good relationship but it remains to be seen how Tone handles being the big wig in the receiving group.  He will still be vocal but let’s see if he’s vocal in the locker room or if he’s vocal in the media room.

5. Are the Jets good enough to take down the Patriots?

In rivalry games/divisional games I would never count out the opponent but let’s face it, the Jets are nowhere near the Patriots level.  They don’t have the QB nor the skill players the Pats do and the coaching is still decisively in Belichiek’s favor.  To add on to that, have you seen the Pats schedule?  They can easily go 12-4.  Are the Jets going to be better than 12-4?  I highly doubt that, but those two games will be tight for sure and played with a level of drama that surely will warrant prime time scheduling.

Next week I look at a player ready for his breakout season and a rookie to keep an eye on.

The Kid and the Phenom

I’m combining the Yankees and Mets post and I begin with the Yankees who had a very un-Yankee like week.  They finished 3-3 thanks to losing 2 out of three to Boston while winning their two out of three in Seattle which is where I begin.  Anyone who saw the Ichiro trade coming is a damn liar but there were rumblings on Sunday that a potential trade was in the works for a player NOT on the trade block radar.  When Ichiro was traded it sent shockwaves through the industry but more out of the surprise on people’s faces that the Mariners would trade Ichiro and that the Yankees would willingly participate in another Mariner trade.  Ichiro’s star was fading in Seattle as many veterans, like Jay Buhner thought an Ichiro extension would physically make him ill.  Ichiro was brought in by Mariner management who reside in Japan because of their love for the Japanese star and are strident supporters of Ichiro but reports are that he was a diva in Seattle and he had wore out his welcome in the clubhouse.  It may have not been a popular move in the fan base but removing a cancer like Ichiro can do wonders and it remains to be seen how this goes over in the future.  The Mariners are staring down the barrel of another losing season and there will be questions about the potential of this organization to rebound now that its most marketable star is now wearing a different uniform.  Who else but King Felix has that kind of gravitas now?  But the Mariners did a good thing in dealing Ichiro given the situation brewing and a good job by the Yankees to poach a team looking to get rid of such a headache.  Organizations as fundamentally sound as the Yankees can handle the likes of Ichiro and Brian Cashman made sure of it by assuring Ichiro that NOTHING was guaranteed to him.  Not the lead off position (no diva can replace Derek Jeter in Yankee-land), not any kind of clubhouse favoritism.  Joe Girardi has built a very tight group and will not allow any player of any ilk to come in and ruin that good vibe.  The Yankee aura is greater than any player thanks to 27 championships.  If Ichiro is serious about playing for a contender in his final few years (he’s only contractually obligated to the Yankees this year) it would be prudent for him to play solid baseball for the next 3 months and keep his mouth shut and show no signs of the diva he was in Seattle.  I think its a good trade for both clubs.  Ichiro will hit 8th for the majority and he’s only asked to replace Brett Gardner’s output which shouldn’t be hard offensively or defensively for Ichiro who is an upgrade over most of the guys the Yankees throw out there and now they have an automatic replacement for a leadoff hitter for  Jeter should they decide to rest the Captain.  It will be interesting to see Ichiro in action on a more daily basis now that he’s escaped the relative obscurity of the Pacific Northwest and into the bright lights of the AL East and into the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry.

Meanwhile in Mets land, they finished 2-5 as they began their west coast trip by splitting with the Arizona Diamondbacks behind a huge series by Ike Davis.  Davis’ 3 homeruns on Saturday was on the backdrop of a dramatic night for him and his childhood friends who were doing an event for a friend, Mike Lio who died of cancer.  But he wasn’t even the biggest story of the week: as the Mets continued their slide, (remember that series against the Nats I said that they had to sweep in order to stay in it- well they got swept so…), they got a brief respite from it all thanks to Matt Harvey’s debut.  What a debut it was.  Eleven strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work with three walks.  It was the perfect situation to bring Harvey up and as a Met fan I’m proud of the job organizationally they did in ensuring that everything happened the way it did.  They opened up on the west coast away from the bright lights and attention that New York would’ve served up.  They set him up against a young team that he could potentially dominate and against an opponent that the Mets don’t see regularly.  It was under the roof of a dome so weather wasn’t a factor.   They brought up his regular catcher, Rob Johnson, to catch his first big league game and that helped obviously.  All in all, it was a very proud moment personally for a fan of this team who has seen so many bungled situations these last few years to last a lifetime.  I know everyone was anxious to see the kid brought up, me among those, but I’m glad they did when they did because to see him pitch like that, throwing high 90’s missing bats and making batters take check swings that made them look like they had no clue where they were and what they were doing, it was probably the best in terms of situations that could’ve happened for the Mets.  Now, comes the next step in the evolution.  Teams have a little bit of tape on him and naturally hitters will adjust but its clear that Harvey has swing and miss stuff.  His adrenaline was high and he went into some deep hitter counts but that lack of control was more due to him being amped up for his first major league game.  He goes up against a pretty good Giants team that is in a little bit of a slide and has a few good hitters in their line up that could cause him problems.  It will be interesting to see how he handles a bit of adversity- if it comes to him.  Scouts thought that this was the best first start by a rookie since Stephen Strasburg.  He also roped two hits becoming the first pitcher since 1900 to go 2 for 2 and strike out more than 10 hitters.  Not bad at all.

QUICK HITS-

• The Penn State scandal has long term effects.  Some are measuring between 8-10 years.  However long it takes, make that double to remove the stigma attached to it.  SMU, another program that got the dreaded “death penalty” hasn’t recovered still and we’re now almost 20 years since that time.  Lucky for Penn State that their team has some kind of history attached to it which allows it to maintain some sort of status and two other weird things happened this week.  Recruits and players from the program who came under the premise that they would be playing for a reputable program were given the option of transferring without having to sit out a year because of the harsh punishment handed out.  Well, many of those recruits have chosen to stay to help rebuild the program, a rather noble attempt.  Futile, but noble nonetheless.  And secondly, Bill O’Brien the son of a gun unfortunate enough to take over the program after Joe Paterno’s dismissal was automatically granted four years to his contract thanks to a stipulation that says he gets those four years if the sanctions handed down by the NCAA would affect their bowl eligibility.  So not everyone lost out here.  One thing that should be noted: O’Brien has numerous contacts in the NFL and he will surely be counted on to put in a good word or two for several of his players to league officials.  The main thing here is how these players will now be looked at in draft circles.  Its clear that those players are also protecting their individual stock by sticking it through with Penn State during such a hard time while knowing that their head coach can help get them in the door on the next level, a level that pays a hell of a lot better than the level they are currently at now.  Though, the hope within this column is that soon enough players will get some kind of reimbursement for all they do to help the bottom line of many of these “institutions of higher learning” that’s more been “corporations of higher earning” these last few years.
• Count me as a fan of all these trade rumors.  Here’s my thoughts on a few that went down this weekend:  As a fantasy fan of Francisco Liriano, I think its dangerous whenever a team trades a player within the division- for the team thats trading for them.  Competitive wisdom says that nobody trades a valuable commodity within division unless they know something about the player and are with holding that information.  I’m not charging the Twins with any foul play here, but I find it fishy that the Twins would trade a former number one starter who’s struggled to come back from arm surgery a few years ago, to a team within the division.  Let’s see how it develops.  Huge gain by the Angels who snagged Zach Greinke from the Brewers before the Rangers swooped in.  There’s still less than 40 hours left before the deadline ends at 4Pm and we all know the phone lines are burning hot right now in Arlington looking for some kind of counter-strike to the Greinke trade.  This gives the Angels the kind of rotation depth teams only dream of and allows them to put Ervin Santana, who’s struggled this season, into the bullpen and see if he can’t fix his problems there.  The Ryan Dempster deal has been almost funny to watch: with the Braves having to wait for Dempster to give his approval after a deal was in place.  Its clear that he doesn’t wear the pants in the family and may seek counsel from several deities before coming to a decision which means this is a last second deal OR he doesn’t get dealt at all.  Its clear though that the Cubs want to get a good haul from the Dempster trade.  Many are still trying to figure out the Phillies.  The Cole Hamels deal surprised me for one reason: as much money as he got from the Phillies, I still think he could have gotten more from the Dodgers with the added bonus of going back home.  But good organizations know how to treat their homegrown stars and its clear that Hamels is comfortable enough with the way things are that he doesn’t wish to disturb it.  He likes Philadelphia and doesn’t wish to go anywhere.  It does however figure heavy into plans for the Phillies who will have several key decisions to make.  Sources are indicating that a deal to send Hunter Pence is done, only needing Philly to give the go sign but the Phillies are discussing internally wether they think they have a shot at getting a playoff spot.  This is the quandary that the second wild card creates for teams like the Phillies who definitely have the talent to get back in it and gain a playoff spot and figure that they have elite pitching and a decent offense and can surprise people.  We don’t know how far that belief will get them but with their resume (5 straight NL East titles and two come from behind divisional crowns in 07-08), its hard to discount that line of thinking no matter what kind of damage this weekend series against the Braves did to their playoff chances.
• A lot of international players have come out and said that this US Olympic team is beatable- which would have never been uttered by teams in 1992 back when basketball was probably still in its infancy stages in many countries competing that year.  Nicolas Batum was the latest after the US blew out France in the fourth quarter to win commandingly.  This goes with Spain’s Serge Ibaka speaking on the same refrain.  Its odd considering that the US have handily beaten both teams but it goes to show you how the gap has closed between the US and the rest of the world in what was once OUR sport.  It is now not only the US’ sport but the world’s sport.  It will be interesting if the US increases its intensity and decides to send in some added aggression in their next few contests to assert their will and dominance on the rest of the field.
• Speaking of the Olympics- kudos to India for allowing a young student to walk with their contingent.  Oh you mean it was an accident?  You mean we had a breach of security during the opening ceremony for the world to see?  That’s nice.
• As good as it is seeing victories you almost feel bad when you see the losers being constantly shown on television sobbing their eyes out like I saw yesterday for women’s all around gymnastics.  Heartbreaking to see four years of hard work go down the drain and when he wasn’t making Bob Costas nearly lose his hearing by screaming at him, Bela Karolyi made a valuable point that the IOC should look into allowing the best scores to qualify and not limit each country to a max of two representatives.  Doubt we will see it happen but it was worth the air time.
• By the by, hating the tape delay NBC coverage.  Knowing the swimming results without actually seeing them removes any sense of drama in those events.  I know NBC has several channels to show it when it is happening live but perhaps NBC can work with the Olympics to schedule events closer to primetime to help themselves.  I am sure they are limited in what they can suggest to the IOC and how it comes across because it depends on the event and due to time-zones but there has to be some kind of way to fix this.
• By the way, now with the NFL in full swing we can safely agree that the next month will be filled with Tim Tebow vs Mark Sanchez stat tweets by Jet beat reporters while Giant beat writers will ask Eli Manning in 1,000 different ways whether he feels his team, the defending Super Bowl champions, are being disrespected by analysts and I believe every answer Eli gives will be so vanilla that reporters will be sick of asking it by mid August.  Nationally, the Peyton Manning in Denver angle will be beaten to death while the Andrew Luck and RGIII rookie camps will be covered like Presidential elections.  So get yourself strapped in folks.
• By the way, I expect a major trade between now and tomorrow’s 4PM deadline.  I feel it.  Texas will be pressured into making a move while Philly may give up more than just a few parts.

Enjoy