Rich Soil by Lamar Odom

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20372759&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=576715&rfi=6

September 24, 2009


Jets are patsies no longer

This probably won’t be the year that the Jets win the Super Bowl. They may not even make the playoffs. But even the biggest cynic has to concede that the Jets turned a corner last Sunday when they beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at Giants Stadium for the first time in nine years by a score of 16-9.

While he did not have a great day, Jets rookie QB Mark Sanchez kept his composure and was able to shake off a sluggish first half and deliver when he had to in the second stanza. The Jets’ defense held the Patriots without a touchdown, which hasn’t happened to New England since December 2006. Even more telling was that the Jets did not buckle when Brady had the ball back with two minutes to go and trailing by a touchdown. In past years Tom Terrific would have marched his team downfield, scored a touchdown in the final seconds, and then made the two-point conversion to seal the victory over hapless Gang Green. Professional sports leagues and television networks continuously get slammed by sports columnists for their avarice. So in fairness they should be praised when they place good will ahead of greed. A tip of the cap therefore to the Yankees, Major League Baseball and ESPN, and to the Jets, the NFL, CBS and Fox for allowing both the Red Sox-Yankees game, and the Titans-Jets game to start at 1 p.m., instead of later as originally scheduled, so the games would not conflict with Yom Kippur, the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar.

The Knicks, however will not be getting any awards from the Anti-Defamation League as the team will hold its annual Media Day on Yom Kippur. Although not a public event, the Knicks are showing surprising insensitivity to the members of the sports media and their own public relations officials who are Jewish.

We may get to see South Jamaica native and L.A. Lakers forward Lamar Odom at a future Fashion Week. Los Angeles Confidential reports that Odom has launched a new line of men’s clothing called Rich Soil. He said he got interested in clothing as an adolescent growing up just off Rockaway Boulevard. Odom, incidentally, will have Ron Artest of Queensbridge as a teammate this season.

It was great to see the Mets did not forget the late Jimmy Plummer, as they named a room at Citi Field after him. Plummer, a longtime resident of Fresh Meadows, died unexpectedly last year at the age of 56. He was one of the team’s first African-American executives and was beloved by nearly everyone who worked at Shea Stadium. Former Met Rusty Staub broke into tears as he paid tribute to “Plum” at the dedication ceremony.

Mets relief pitcher Lance Broadway was a history major at Texas Christian University. Having grown up just outside of Dallas, he has always had an interest in the JFK assassination. “I believe that the Warren Commission got it right when they reported that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman,” Broadway opined. “On the other hand, I believe that he was working for an organization that planned the murder. We’ll never know whose bidding he was doing.”

Courtesy of FGPR