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JJ: “Good Midseason Report Card, but Final Grade All That Matters”

BQE Admin on February 18, 2026

New York, New York

By John Jastremski

We have reached the All Star break of this 2025-2026 NBA season.

As a whole, I’d say the Knicks are basically right around where I thought they would be at this point.

They are 35-20 and have the third best record in the Eastern Conference. 1/2 game back of Boston for 2nd place & 6 games back of upstart Detroit for 1st.

The narrative around the team is actually quite similar to where we were a season ago.

Last year, it was the struggles with the Boston Celtics that appeared incredibly problematic.

This year, it happens to be the Knicks’ struggles with the Detroit Pistons. In both matchups this year, the Knicks have been absolutely dominated and it sounds the alarm of concern for Playoff Time.

For me, I’m not there with that narrative. Last year was the perfect lesson for why I am not. 

The Celtics won all 4 matchups with the Knicks in the regular season. The Knicks flipped that vibe on its head winning the 2nd round playoff series in 6 games.

Yes, the Knicks play the Pistons this coming Thursday. I’d prefer to see the Knicks win that game and silence this building narrative.

That said, the bigger concerns for the team moving forward are these:

  1. How do you mask the defensive deficiencies of Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns on the floor together?
  2. How do you get Karl Anthony Towns back offensively to where he was a season ago?

If the Knicks can solve those two riddles, they will be playing in the NBA Finals. If they don’t, they will be soul searching in a big way this summer.

The Knicks midseason report card grade is a solid B, but it will be a monstrous swing between now and the spring.

For a group that’s been knocking at the door the past few seasons, the only grade that matters is the final.

Stay tuned for the result!

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network every Sunday/Thursday on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sportsnite at 11 PM on SNY.

JJ: “The Long And Winding Darnold Road To Glory”

BQE Admin on February 12, 2026

New York, New York

By John Jastremski


 Super Bowl 60 has come and gone. Now that the dust has settled. Can you believe Sam Darnold is now a Super Bowl champion??

What a wild turn of events. 

Darnold’s career was well documented and under the spotlight from his time with the New York Jets.

Darnold was the 3rd overall pick in the 2018 draft. The hope was that he’d be the answer to Jets fans’ prayers at the most important position on the field.

Darnold’s Jets tenure was doomed to fail. The team was poorly built, poorly coached and Darnold could not rise above that adversity as a young quarterback.

He missed time with Mono, he famously saw ghosts on Monday Night Football against the Patriots, and never delivered on that draft day hope.

Now, the story of Sam Darnold doesn’t exactly go from leaving the Jets to the top of the mountain. Darnold struggled in his next stop with the Panthers and had to sit for a year in San Francisco to rehabilitate.

Last season, it appeared Darnold had finally found a home with the Vikings. He won double digit games and played brilliantly until the final 2 games of the season.

Those 2 games pushed Vikings brass into allowing Sam Darnold to leave for the Seahawks. And boy did the Seahawks hit the jackpot.

The Seahawks had the team. They needed their caretaker. Darnold delivered.

Consider this. The two teams that caused Darnold the most anguish, he sent both home.

The Rams embarrassed Darnold in his Vikings finale in 2024. Darnold beat them in the crucial Thursday night OT classic & in the NFC Championship game.

On Super Sunday, it was the Patriots. The team Darnold famously saw ghosts against.

Darnold was efficient, turnover free and a winner in his first Super Bowl.

What a ride for the Sam Darnold redemption tour.

Now, you have a trivia question for your friends for years to come:

Who was the first QB in the 2018 draft class to win a Super Bowl? 

Not Josh Allen, Not Lamar Jackson, Slingin’ Sam Darnold!

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network every Sunday/Thursday on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sportsnite at 11 PM on SNY.

JJ: “NFL Hall Of Fame Misses Mark”

BQE Admin on February 5, 2026

By John Jastremski

Hall Of Fame discussion has really become a massive hobby of mine over the past decade. I guess as I have gotten older, you gain more perspective and develop even more appreciation for the stuff you have watched over the years.

This weekend, the Pro Football Hall Of Fame will unveil its class of 2026. 

That class will NOT include legendary Patriots coach Bill Belichick and 2 time Super Bowl winning quarterback Eli Manning. Talk about amateur hour. 

Let’s start with Belichick.

It’s almost impossible to get anyone in this country to agree on anything in 2026.

I can’t think of a moment of more unity in the sports world expressing the disgust of almost everyone across the board that Bill Belichick is not a first ballot Hall Of Famer.

Explain this to me; Bill Belichick has a resume with 6 Super Bowl victories & 9 appearances as a head coach. If he’s not a first ballot Hall Of Famer, who is exactly?

The narrative of spy gate or deflated footballs interfering with 20 plus years of excellence on the field is simply nonsense. 

According to most reports, former Colts GM Bill Polian was the ring leader in preventing Belichick from getting in on the first ballot. 

Talk about sour grapes and absolute stupidity. That’s what this decision reeks of.

The Eli Manning case is not as clear cut as Belichick’s. That said, Eli has waited his turn.

And in this week of Super Bowl nostalgia, I remind all of you… Eli Manning beat Tom Brady and Bill Belichick twice on sport’s biggest stage.

Eli Manning delivered one of the best throws in the history of the Super Bowl to Mario Manningham. He too deserves his place in Canton.

Two omissions, one way more obvious than the other. They point to a Hall Of Fame committee that has drastically missed the mark.

JJ: “Finally! A Met Offseason Move to Celebrate!

BQE Admin on January 21, 2026

New York, New York

By John Jastremski

The winter months so far have not been kind to David Stearns and the New York Mets.

Sure, they’ve told you that a plan is in place. Yes, publicly they have remained confident about their process.

However, as of 4 days ago. The plan was not exactly one that had Mets fans jumping for joy.

So far this winter, it’s been the winter of departure. First Brandon Nimmo, but in a two day span Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso became former Mets.

No disrespect to Jorge Polanco and Luke Weaver, but not exactly the moves that have you high fiving your buddy at work walking into the office.

The Mets last week appeared poised to make a big splash. As of last Thursday, the team was hot and heavy for Cubs All Star outfielder Kyle Tucker.

Tucker was looking for a short term contract with a crazy high yearly salary.

Despite some of the fit concerns I had with the player, on a short term deal, this appeared to be in the David Stearns wheelhouse, until guess who?

Yep… The Dodgers!!!!! Swooped in and made Tucker an offer he couldn’t refuse.

After losing Alonso and Diaz and now missing out on Kyle Tucker, the Mets had to do something this offseason. After all, you just can’t sit on all that Steve Cohen loot!

Thankfully Friday, they pivoted beautifully.

Out of nowhere, the Mets signed infielder Bo Bichette to a three year contract. 

Bichette is a right handed hitting machine. He is a throwback player, puts the ball in play and has exactly the sort of attitude the 2026 Mets should be looking for.

He is a natural shortstop, so he will be moving positions, which certainly contradicts the run prevention narrative you’ve heard throughout this offseason.

However, cast that aside. 

Bichette makes the 2026 Mets a significantly better team.

He can hit behind Juan Soto. He has the right makeup to handle New York City.

Oh and the Phillies were interested! So much for that!

The Bo Bichette signing will bring about a variety of questions about how the rest of the roster will look moving closer to Opening Day.

However, there is no question that the Mets are a much better team than they were on Thursday night.

This was a move that had to be made.

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts every Sunday & Thursday. You can watch me nightly at 11 PM on Honda Sports Nite on SNY. 

JJ: “A Giant Change in the Coaching Equation…”

BQE Admin on January 15, 2026

By John Jastremski
The coaching carousel in the NFL can sometimes take a life of its own.
Quite frankly, I feel I have been living in this world of candidates for the better part of the last few weeks.
Since the Giants parted ways with Brian Daboll back in November, this has been your life as a Giants fan.
If you follow the team, it seems every prospective candidate has been dissected.
I’m sure you’ve heard the names Jeff Hafley, Jesse Minter & Mike McCarthy a little too much for your liking.
Guess what, last Tuesday finally brought a shifting wind to whatever the Giants organization might have been thinking.
After 18 seasons, the Ravens and Head Coach John Harbaugh parted ways.
Holy moly! As Elanie Costanza famously once said, “this changes everything!”
Harbaugh is exactly the program builder the Giants desperately need.
He is a Super Bowl winning coach. He’s reinvented himself throughout his 17 years in Baltimore and has been a fixture in the month of January in the postseason.
Sure, he will not come cheap. Yes, you’ll have to spend a pretty penny on his coaching staff.
Guess what, who cares!
Giants ownership has to embarrassed with the product that has been on the field for the past decade.
They cannot find themselves in a position rolling the dice on a first time head coach.
For this job at this time, Harbaugh is the perfect fit for the franchise.
He will come in high demand and will have his pick of the vacancies.
Giants fans can only hope that he’s in a New York State of Mind.
You can listen to my podcast New York, New York every Sunday & Thursday on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly at 11 PM on Honda Sportsnite on SNY. 

JJ: “David Stearns Legacy Offseason… Loading…”

BQE Admin on December 19, 2025

New York New York

By John Jastremski

What a crazy few weeks to start the offseason for the New York Mets.
Of course after the way the 2025 season ended up, you had to imagine the status quo was not going to be accepted by ownership and GM David Stearns.
The Mets were going to have a much different team going into 2026, sure.
However, who could have possibly imagined that before Christmas, the Mets have said goodbye to three of the most popular players the team has had over the past seven or so years.
It started with Brandon Nimmo and then last week the Mets saw Edwin Diaz sign with the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and franchise home run leader Pete Alonso take his talents to the Baltimore Orioles.
Unlike the Diaz sweepstakes, the Mets had no interest in bringing Alonso back to Queens.
The Mets will point to the amount of years the Orioles gave Pete Alonso and suggest it was a length of contract they did not feel comfortable with.
There is some truth in that, but it digs even deeper.
David Stearns did not want Pete Alonso back. He didn’t want to resign him last year and simply has a different vision for building and reshaping the ballclub.
Look, if I was in David Stearns shoes. I would want Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz back on my baseball team.
Diaz is one of the best closers in baseball and Pete Alonso is one of the best slugging right handed hitters in the sport.
However, I’m not running the Mets.
David Stearns has put his reputation on the line this offseason.
Remember, Stearns grew up a Mets fan on the Upper East side as a kid.
He probably wants nothing more than returning his boyhood team to glory with a trip down the Canyon of Heroes.
Stearns clearly has a plan for what he envisions this Mets roster to be in 2026 and beyond.
At the moment, he’s not exactly the most popular person in town.
The Mets said goodbye to three players the fan base absolutely adored.
Mets fans are not exactly going to show a ton of patience with the team’s GM if the team doesn’t win and win in a big way next season.
He knows that.
David Stearns acted with serious backbone and conviction in charting the current course for the team.
He has a plan, the pieces are not officially all in place quite yet.
Will Stearns offseason be a story of vindication or of massive regret.
The plot thickens indeed…
You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts every Sunday & Thursday. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite at 11 PM on SNY. 

JJ: “Progress With A Twist In Jet Land”

BQE Admin on December 4, 2025

By John Jastremski

The first eight weeks of the NFL season were the definition of a horror show for Jets first year head coach Aaron Glenn. 

Glenn started the season 0-7, he found himself picking fights with members of the media that cover the team and had a team that looked beyond lost across all three elements of the game. 

There was a time back in mid to late October where you wondered A : Where are the wins for this team coming from? B: Could it get bad enough in Jets land for Aaron Glenn to be a one and done head coach? 

For what it’s worth, I never necessarily bought into the narrative that Glenn, despite whatever the record may have been in 2025 was on the chopping block, but the optics for the first two months were rough across the board. 

Since the calendar has flipped to the month of November, I must admit that the vibe around the Jets the past month is way better. 

The team has been far more spirited and competitive. They won 3 of their last 5 games and as a whole have looked far more cohesive and buttoned up. 

The penalties are down, the special teams has soared and the quarterback change from Justin Fields to Tyrod Taylor has provided much needed credibility to the offense. 

In addition to the improvement on the field, off the field the Jets organization made moves that signal serious organizational competence. 

The Jets flipped Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts for 2 first round picks. In addition, they traded Quinnen Williams to the Cowboys for a 1st and a 2nd round pick.

The Jets said goodbye to two very talented players, but they also put themselves in a position to make the most important move the franchise can make. 

The Jets are making progress, but it’s irrelevant if they do not get it right long term at the quarterback position. 

It may be in this coming draft or the following draft, but the status of the current Jets regime rests entirely on nailing the most important position in football. 

The Jets will be in a division for the next decade with Josh Allen in Buffalo and now the emerging Drake Maye in New England. 

If you have any hopes of competing with the big boys, better get your guy at quarterback. 

So yes, the Jets are trending finally in a positive direction. Want to know if the progress is real and tangible? Get the right quarterback. 

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York every Sunday & Thursday on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite at 11 PM on SNY.

JJ: “For the Mets. The Core Is a Changin'”

BQE Admin on November 26, 2025

New York, New York

By John Jastremski

Sunday was the first of many big moves by David Stearns and the Mets braintrust this winter.

Make no mistake, Sunday was a trade that was a bit of a shock to the system. Brandon Nimmo, the popular outfielder and longest tenured Met was traded for Rangers Infielder Marcus Semien.

My initial reaction was of surprise, but not shock. If you follow the team closely and listen to the chatter and smoke that was being reported over the past week, it became obvious that Nimmo despite his no trade clause was being shopped.

If you also took a listen to what David Stearns had to say throughout this offseason, the theme of athleticism and run prevention was going to be a major point of emphasis in improving the club.

At this stage of Nimmo’s career, his defense and athleticism is most certainly in decline. On the flip side, despite his age, Semien’s defense profiled incredibly well at 2nd base.

Look, if we are comparing the back of the baseball card in 2025, I won’t pretend to say the Mets instantly improved their baseball team just based upon this trade. 

They didn’t, but they did accomplish a major goal.

Yes, not only did the Mets get better defensively, they now have a lot more flexibility to swing big in the outfield this offseason. Does that mean Free Agent Outfielders Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger? Does it mean a trade for athletic players such as Byron Buxton and Ketel Marte?

The opportunities and flexibility within the roster now must be taken advantage of by David Stearns and the Met brass.

Look, it’s never fun trading a life long Met or the longest tenured player on your team. However, after the way the 2025 season finished up, you couldn’t simply run it back.

You can’t play as poorly as the Mets played, miss the postseason and make zero significant moves when it comes to changing the core of your team.

Brandon Nimmo’s departure was the first signal that nobody from last year’s group should feel safe.

Now, let’s see what the rest of the winter brings.

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer podcast network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts every Sunday & Thursday. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite at 11 PM on SNY.

The Bully Yanks… Until Proven Otherwise…

BQE Admin on September 2, 2025

By John Jastremski

The 2025 New York Yankees just put together a recent stretch of baseball that sums up their season rather appropriately. 

The Yankees got rather fat against three sub .500 teams. The Twins, Cardinals and Rays respectively. 

They got absolutely smacked by the Boston Red Sox, one of the better teams in the American League. 

It’s been a common theme watching this group play over the course of the season. 

When the Yankees are going good, they’re going real good. The ball is leaving the ballpark, their starters are going deep into games and they find a way to hold down leads in the late innings. 

When the Yankees are going poorly, a lot of the warts and deficiencies of the group are on full display for the world to see. 

It’s a team that can’t win without hitting a home run. It’s a team that yucks up leads with shaky relief work. 

Oh and don’t forget about the poor fundamentals in the field and the bases that continue to be a narrative around the franchise dating back to last season. 

When the Yankees are going poorly, all of these elements come to play. 

Here’s the dirty little secret regarding the 2025 Yankees: They will be playing October baseball. 

The team faces a September schedule that is rather reasonable against a good number of sub .500 opponents. 

More than likely, the Yankees will find themselves in the Wild Card round the first week in October with a series against a team that has owned them all season. 

The only way this group is changing the current bully narrative about their season is two fold. 

Stun the world by winning the American League East. Highly unlikely with a 5 game deficit and a month to play, but it would signal a whole lot of wins against both the Blue Jays and the Red Sox. 

Two, flip the script in October against the better teams in the American League. 

It’s hard to imagine the script changing in Yankees land, but if you’re not satisfied with the narrative, you have to change it. 

We’ll see if this team can…

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts every Sunday & Thursday evenings. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite following Mets Postgame on SNY. 

JJ: “Panic & Stress Is Contagious For NY Baseball in 2025”

BQE Admin on August 12, 2025

By John Jastremski

I think it’s fair to say for a month plus, the narrative around NY Baseball and panic has been front and center around the New York Yankees. Totally fair, totally justified might I add… 

However, over the past month. The New York Mets have basically said to their crosstown rivals, “Hold my beer.”

The Mets were a team that at one point in the season was 20 plus games over .500 and basically found themselves in a dead heat with the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East. 

The past month around the Mets has changed that narrative quite significantly. The Mets have fallen on some very hard times as a team. They have lost 7 consecutive games entering Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Braves. 

After the sweep at the hands of the Brewers, the Mets have stunningly lost 11 of their last 12 games and now cling to the 3rd Wild Card spot in the NL Playoff Picture and find themselves 6 games back of Philadelphia for first place in the NL East. 

The pressing question is how in the world has this happened? A couple of different reasons. 

The Mets cannot get any length out of their starting pitchers. For the past two months, their starters have averaged less than 5 innings a start. I don’t care if it’s the modern day game in 2025, that is 100 percent unacceptable. 

The Mets inability to get length out of their rotation has compromised their bullpen dramatically. 

The Mets also have seen their stars struggle mightily. Francisco Lindor was the conquering hero of the 2024 team. He has been dreadful for the past two months, where you have to wonder if indeed he is 100 percent right? 

Juan Soto falls under that microscope too. Yes, his numbers on the surface look solid, but much of the damage Soto has done was during a red hot month of June.

In the biggest of spots so far in 2025, Juan Soto has come up too small. Soto was the king of the moment a year ago for the Yankees. The Mets need him to meet the moment over the final two months of the season. 

The Mets schedule is very tricky after the next two weeks. It is imperative for the Mets to beat up on the Atlanta Braves, and yes I realize how weird it was typing that exact sentence. 

Yes, the Braves have been a thorn in the Mets side for years. However, the Braves are a hot mess in 2025. 

They are well under .500 and it’s been a lost season. Time to punish a team that wants to be put out of their misery. 

The Mets have time to get their season back on track, but if the stars don’t play like stars and the rotation doesn’t find a way to give them some length, the problems and the misery will continue.

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts every Tuesday & Friday. You can watch me on Honda Sports Nite following Mets postgame on SNY. 

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