I’m sure you’ve been inundated with everyone’s two cents these past few days on whether AI is a good fit at MSG, but who cares what blogger nerds like me think (and Bobby, who weighs in one post below).

We caught up with a couple of Knicks tonight and got THEIR opinion – the only ones that matter, really – on whether or not they think Allen Iverson is a good fit with the Knicks.

Check out the video below for interviews with David Lee, Jared Jeffries and Chris Duhon (who will lose significant playing time if Iverson becomes a Knick – you can feel the tension!!).

However unenthusiastic Lee and Duhon may seem (Jeffries actually does seem jazzed about the idea of bringing Iverson aboard), I think the Knicks should DEFINITELY make this move.

Why not? They have nothing to lose this season. Bring in Iverson, generate some buzz, sell some tickets.

The basketball back pages are theirs for the taking given the fact that the Nets (literally) can’t win a game.

The only ‘cons’ I’ve heard about signing AI are that he’ll stunt the growth of the young players and that his bad attitude might permeate the locker room.

To that I say a) the young players aren’t developing all that much to begin with with Duhon and Toney Douglas running the point and b) Iverson is a player's player….he doesn’t piss off his teammates – just coaches and owners.

And if he does become a problem, just get rid of him. It’ll only cost the Knicks a million bucks or so. Aren’t they still paying Larry Brown and Jalen Rose like $20 mil a year or something?

They can afford the gamble on AI.

***By the way, we met the Knicks at The Children's Aid Society in Harlem, where they were handing out 300 Thanksgiving dinners to local families in need.

Kudos to the guys for showing up tonight despite playing in Indiana last night, getting into NY at 3 am, then practicing this morning.

Matt Estreich for The Huddle

So the Knicks are considering bringing in Allen Iverson. I have mixed feelings on this, as should most Knicks fans, Apparently the Knick brass has misgivings about A.I. too.

Another positive:Like him or not, Iverson would play hard and fearlessly every night. He is a big little man with the heart of a pride of lions.

His contract is up at the end of the season: The Knicks must be clear with Allen that he is NOT in their future plans. Unless Iverson takes the team to the playoffs, he WON'T be back at age 35. His contract comes off the cap as soon as the season ends.

Here come the negatives:

He's me first: Iverson never met a shot he didn't want to take. He still has big play ability, no question. But he's not 25, and the Knicks can't afford 9 of 23 from the floor every night. They also want a relatively quiet season before going after LeBron, Wade, etc in July of next year. Donnie Walsh won't tolerate any crap from Iverson anymore than he did from Stephon Marbury.
Iverson wasn't ready for the youth movement in Memphis-can we expect any less in the Big Apple.

He'll take time and shots away from gthe kids: Gallinari, Douglas, probably Chandler are the few Knicks who WILL be here next season, Walsh and D'Antoni have to see if these kids can play, and "The Answer" will only raise questions there.

My take:Leave Iverson alone, unless you have an agreement signed in blood that he will behave. Such a deal is not likely. Leave him for Pat Riley, DeWayne Wade and the Miami Heat.

If you’re not hip to Sanchez’s latest gaff, here’s what happened:

After the game Sunday, the Sanchize stormed the post game podium, told the gathered media (yours truly included) that he was going to read from a prepared statement (a tattered piece of notebook paper), then proceeded to go a mile a minute spewing talking points while motoring through his media responsibilities.

It was all very strange. And from a TV perspective, very unusable as far as sound bites go.

Again, take a listen for yourself…the video is below. I’m sure you’ll agree it was a tad askew.

Anyway, the new news today is that Sanchez said he knows the unconventional rant “didn’t go over very well” and that he believes it’s “hopefully a one-time mistake.”

Here’s to hoping the rook learned his lesson.

As it was going on, the 20 or so media members in the room were looking around at each other with “what the hell is going on here” looks on their faces.

Ditto for the Jets’ PR staff, as I spotted a pair of them whispering to each other while Sanchez was imploding on the stage.

Ok. That’s pretty much it for this blog. I’ll now accept any comments you guys may have but I can’t imagine you’d have any now that I’m done.

Matt Estreich for The Huddle

Laue is believed to be the first one handed athlete to play Division I basketball. Check out the video player or after the jump!

Couple of things from the NFL this weekend... Sunday night Bill Belichick made a gutsy call and it backfired on him. I'll leave that for last. Let's start with the Jets and supremely confident Rex Ryan. His defense needs to go back to the drawing board... Whenever they needed a big stop Sunday against the Jaguars, they came up small. Second quarter... 4th and 4... David Garrard throws to Mike Thomas. Keeps the drive alive. Then in the 4th on the Jags winning drive... 3rd and 9.... again, Garrard finds Thomas. Another crucial conversion. Then there was the Maurice Jones Drew play and you know the rest.

I don't blame the offense for the loss. I thought they played pretty well... except for Mark Sanchez's interception that should have been a pick 6 if the guy didn't trip over the 10 yard line... But Sanchez after the game was ridiculous. He actually read from a piece of paper in the post game presser. I guess his line of thinking was that if he touches on subjects that are of interest, then the media will not ask him those questions, thus taking "The Hammer" away from the media. He should know better and if he doesn't someone should tell him. Just go up to the microphone talk to the media, answer their questions and go on about your business. When did he have a chance to prepare this little cheat sheet anyway? Maybe during the Jags final drive because the defense did nothing to get their offense back on the field.

Belichick is looking at it this way: How many times has Peyton Manning driven his team down the field in less than 2 minutes to win the game? The answer: A lot!!! He's also thinking that his defense probably will have a hard time stopping him this time around, given the fact that Manning used 2:04 and 1:49 respectively in his last 2 scoring drives. So he's thinking that his offense led by Super Bowl Quarterback Tom Brady can get 2 yards for the first down. If they get the first down, they can sit on the ball and waste out the clock, thus stopping Manning. It didn't work so Belichick looks bad. But I don't think it was such a bad strategy. By the way, it was really close to a first down. Belichick will have to mend fences with his defense. He didn't show much confidence in them and that might not sit well with them. By the way, the Pats should be a happy bunch when they host the Jets this Sunday.

This time around the honor goes to the Jets, who didn't bother showing up for the first half against a below average Jacksonville team.

It wasn't until the 3rd quarter that the Jets' vaunted "D" made an appearance, but alas, it was short-lived as the Jets crumbled on the last drive of the game.

The Jags drove into Jet territory, Maurice Jones-Drew made the unselfish play of the year opting to take a knee in order to burn clock instead of accepting a gimmie touchdown and Jacksonville kicked the game winning field goal as time expired.

Take a listen to the interviews below and you'll get a sense that the Jets know they let one slip away today, and the theme going forward is "finishing games."

That's certainly something the Jets didn't do today.

Enjoy:

Mark Sanchez
 

Braylon Edwards
 

Calvin Pace and Jim Leonhard
 

Matt Estreich for The Huddle

This might be a day late but it’s no less relevant – WHERE THE HECK IS ROBINSON CANO’S GOLD GLOVE!!

Sorry, I shouldn’t use such strong language, but this one really burnt my biscuits!

Placido Polanco, the capable 2nd baseman for the Tigers took the title (announced yesterday) instead of Cano.

Usually when I write blogs such as these questioning an award (MVP, Cy Young, etc.), I like to back up my argument with some cold hard facts. But I’m not even going to go there this time.

Do you really care about Cano’s UZR versus Polanco’s? What about his VORP? I say B-S!!

This season Cano pretty much patented the back-hand grab up the middle and the throw across the body to first while running towards the second base bag.

That’s a ball that 75% of second basemen don’t even BOTHER TO THROW. This year Cano made those plays routine.

I know Polanco has gone entire seasons without making an error, but there’s no way he fielded the position any slicker than Robbie did this year.

And it wasn’t just us in the New York area who noticed.

It was virtually impossible to watch a Yankee game this season broadcast by crews other than the YES Network (FOX, TBS, ESPN) who didn’t comment on how great a season Cano was having defensively.

And to a man they all said he deserved to win the Gold Glove.

So I ask you, Huddle-Nation, do you share my outrage here? Where’s the justice??!!

Can the Yankees please catch a break!!

Matt Estreich for The Huddle

For more information on the team and the Port Washington Family Skating Center:
http://www.pwskating.com/

Big Blue laid another big egg at the Meadowlands today, falling to the Chargers 21-20…their 4th straight loss since opening the season 5-0.

Lots of second-guessing to go around for all you Monday morning quarterbacks.

Personally I would have liked to have seen the Giants go for it on 4th down on their opening drive instead of opting for the (eventually botched) field goal attempt.

And then of course there was Tom Coughlin’s decision to play it conservative in the 4th quarter after Terrell Thomas picked Philip Rivers.

With 1st and goal at the 4 the Giants did the following: penalty, short pass, run, run.

I know the penalty set them back, but they had 3rd and goal from the 9 with Jacobs and chose to run instead of taking a shot at the end zone.

To me that was the uninspiring play call that doomed the Giants.

But don’t take my word for it (Reading Rainbow, anyone?)….here’s what Big Blue had to say after their Big Stinker.

Listen to Eli Manning, Shaun O'Hara, Brandon Jacobs, Kevin Boss and Corey Webster:

Shaun O'Hara and Brandon Jacobs
 

Kevin Boss and Corey Webster
 

Matt Estreich for The Huddle

The obvious answer is football, basketball and hockey.....3/4 of our sports! But if you're like me, you just can't ease into the "lesser" three so easily after seven months of fantastic baseball.

Thought I'd be able to make the transition tonight, given that EVERY New York-area basketball and hockey team was playing....but nope....just wasn't that exciting.

Nights (other than NFL Sundays) during the wintertime don't get much more jam-packed than tonight, and I was still left wondering "now what?"

Anyone else feeling this same way?

What's the opposite of "cold turkey"....you know, when you want to become involved with something all at once -- as opposed to kicking the habit in one shot.

Whatever that is, that's how I'm going to have to get back into the non-baseball sports-watching groove. I bet you I'm not alone.

I wonder how other people are coping.

It definitely doesn't help that the Knicks are a laughing stock and the Nets only make the news when one of their players has swine flu.

And as far as hockey goes - what am I going to do now that Radek Martinek is out of the year for the Islanders!!??

Ok, that last one was a joke.

But seriously, with baseball gone, these other sports better step up and answer the age-old post October question....."now what?"

Matt Estreich for The Huddle

As you know, our cameras were rolling after the final out, as intrepid anchor Lolita Lopez and the rest of the PIX sports crew interviewed a bunch of the Bombers (check it out two posts down).

What you didn't see, though, were the rest of the festivities from inside the locker room, on the victory podium and on the Yankee Stadium field.

What follows is a short compilation of the best moments from the Yankees' World Series party last night....Game 6's "Greatest Hits," if you will.

Some moments are candid, some were meant for all to see, and others just an excuse to show champagne being poured on everyone.

Check it out:

Matt Estreich for The Huddle

Congratulations to the Yankees on their 27th World Championship. It is very well deserved. They were the best team in baseball once Alex Rodriguez returned to the club in May.

The Mets? It has to be a tough day for the club and more so for their fans.Their season pretty much was done June 12th, when Luis Castillo dropped a pop up that cost the Mets a game at Yankee Stadium. Still, if you're a fan of this blog, you know that I officially "ended" the Mets season on July 17th. The only sound you hear at Citi Field is the wind howling past the Shake Shack. I got several looks, curious to hilarious, wearing a Mets cap today.

As the Yankees celebrate their title, I hope that Fred and Jeff Wilpon wake up and see that it is days like today, with fans rejoicing and media outlets going gaga over the Yankees (rightfully) that should spur them to make the right moves to bring a World Championship back to Flushing. Right now, the Mets are as relevant in the Big Apple as air conditioning at the North Pole.

1. You have competent baseball people. This includes scouts, medical staffs and management. GM Omar Minaya: Overhaul what you must. When Jeff Wilpon says after the season ended that EVERYTHING would be evaluated, that, if true, was a step in the right direction. There were TOO many injuries, TOO much turmoil-and you don't need that when the Yanks are winning nearly every day.

When I had medical issues during the summer, the Yankees were a tremendous help. Their people evaluate situations and make timely decisions. I cannot express enough gratitude to the Yankees' PR staff for all their help. Meanwhile, Jose Reyes was injured in May. All season we heard, "He might be back, he might be back.: Then in October, another injury AND surgery. Carlos Beltran was another (often unhappy with his progress) mystery regarding his knee trouble.

2. Conmmit yourselves to winning CHAMPIONSHIPS, not just being a playoff competitive team. That's Jim Dolan talk over at the Garden-NOT Steinbrenner talk in the Bronx. Players want to play for the Yankees because they KNOW every effort is made to win the Fall Classic EVERY year. Mets fans heard more about union carpentry workers and the Jackie Robinson Rotunda at Citi Field than long term success.

3, Spread out your money: You DON'T need a $250 million dollar payroll, but you DO need to get the "can't miss" guy every once in a while. Orlando Hudson, for example, was there for the taking in the off season. A few years back, A-Rod and Vladimir Guerrero. The Mets passed not only on obvious PR coups, but making the team better lfor the long term.

The Yankees get high priced players to excess. BUT they scout well, pump up prospects for potentilal trades (Randy Johnson comes to mind) and scout young guys all over the world. The Mets need to put young players around Reyes and David Wright, building a BALANCED team that can stay together for a long time-mixing in free agents AS NEEDED. The Yankees spend lots of money, but they STILL have 4 guys (Jeter, Posada, Pettitte and Rivera) who have been around for nearly all of the Yankees' latest run.

4. Hire people who will stick to fundamentals. YES, there were injuries. BUT: Why did it take so long for the club to see that Daniel Murphy had NO business being in the outfield. WHY are guys passing one another on the base paths? This team was decimated, no question. But common avoidable baseball mistakes could have been fixed, meaning 5-10 more wins. Obviously that isn't enough to be a playoff team. But it tells the fans that the team IS giving 100 percent effort and that management knows what it is doing. Fundamentals-and those that teach them MUST be stressed. Manager Jerry Manuel: THIS MEANS YOU!

Well Fred and Jeff-and Omar and Jerry- you have a lot of work to do, and plenty of holes to fill. Get to work.

Seems like it was a different hero every night for the Yanks, and tonight was no exception with Hideki Matsui’s record-tying six RBI night.

But of course title #27 was a group effort and WE HAD THE LOCKER ROOM COVERED, talking to nearly everyone and anyone wearing pinstripes.

We’ve got all the video below, so click to hear from:

Jeter, Mariano, A-Rod, Pettitte, Nick Swisher, AJ, Hughes, Joba and Brett Gardner.

Way to go Yanks! Enjoy!

Mariano Rivera
 

Andy Pettitte
 

Johnny Damon and Alex Rodriguez
 

Nick Swisher
 

Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain
 

AJ Burnett and Brett Gardner
 

Matt Estreich for The Huddle