Mickey Togs

Rangers fans still showed up Thursday at Madison Square Garden, as they always do, to witness the end of a season which offered them very little to be proud of.  

They’ve endured a disastrous 2024-25 campaign all the way through.

The Rangers became the fourth team in NHL history to miss the postseason one year after winning the Presidents’ Trophy, dropping from a franchise-record 55 wins all the way down to 39.

They managed a 4-0 win over the Lightning in Thursday’s regular-season finale, but neither team had anything to play for.

Rory McIlroy, the pre-tournament second “choice,” behind Scottie Scheffler, survived a bad last round and won a playoff vs Justin Rose, to win the prestigious Masters golf crown for the first time.

Oh he nearly blew it, but now has won 5 major golf tournaments.

McIlroy is now the sixth golfer ever to win all four majors and achieve the career Grand Slam, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

Quite good company!

The New York Knicks lost 108-102 last night at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers. New York was in firm control of the game, but everything fell apart in the second half. They coughed up a 23-point lead and were outscored by 18 points in the final 24 minutes.

Friday night was an age-old story for the New York Knicks. They have been unable to beat the NBA’s top 3 teams this year. They finished the regular season 0-4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, 0-4 against the Boston Celtics, and 0-2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. With the NBA Playoffs around the corner, how will the New York Knicks fare?

Even with a loss last night, an Indiana Pacers loss locked the Knicks into the No. 3 seed. They will face the Detroit Pistons in the 1st Round of the NBA Playoffs. The Knicks are limping into the postseason losers of three straight games. New York lost to Detroit 115-106 on the road on Thursday. The Knicks blew a 13-point lead to finish the season 1-3 against the Pistons.

New York has been paced by its offense this season. They are ninth in points scored, fourth in field goal percentage, and 10th in three-point percentage. The issue has been their defense. 

What goes on a patty melt? Traditionally, the sandwich is made with rye bread, a burger patty, Swiss cheese, and fried onions. The bread is grilled, similar to a grilled cheese sandwich, making it a cross between a hamburger and a grilled cheese. And, like all sandwiches, you can customize a patty melt with endless additions and substitutions. 

In fact, that’s how Five Guys customers have been creating their version of a patty melt. They just order a grilled cheese sandwich and an individual burger patty and  assemble the sandwich later. This has become such a popular menu hack that Five Guys has added it to the regular menu, and it seems that it may be more affordable than the hack itself. 

Five Guys announced, “We saw how much our fans love the Patty Melt menu hack, so we decided to make it official! If you don’t see it on the menu in your store, just ask the crew for a Patty Melt.

According to the Five Guys website, the Patty Melt features “a burger patty in between slices of American-style cheese melted on a toasted, inside-out sesame seed bun with toppings of your choice.”  

For 30-plus minutes in Monday’s NCAA title game, Houston’s defense flustered a freewheeling Florida offense into playing its own grinding game.

But Florida would not be denied. The Gators looked cooked when Houston opened up a 42-30 second-half lead. But Florida persevered and rallied for a 65-63 win to secure the program’s third national championship. The victory denied Houston and head coach Kelvin Sampson each their first.

Houston was in control for much of the game and didn’t allow Florida to take a second-half lead until Alijah Martin hit two free throws with 46.5 remaining after drawing a foul on a drive to the basket. Florida never trailed again.

Houston turned the ball over on its ensuing possession, and Florida answered with a Denzel Aberdeen free throw to extend the lead to 65-63 with 19.7 seconds left. Houston had an opportunity to tie the game or take the lead on the next possession.

But Florida gave Houston a dose of its own defensive medicine with a smothering effort on the final possession of the game.

General Motors is recalling nearly 820,000 pickup trucks over a faulty electronic latch mechanism used to open the trucks’ tailgates, increasing the risk of road hazards and crashes.

Detroit-based GM said the affected vehicles include 570,434 Chevy Silverados and GMC Sierras with model years between 2020 and 2024 in the US, while an additional 249,000 were sold in Canada.

All of the gates on the affected trucks’ beds may short circuit if water gets into the electric tailgate, GM warned, meaning the hinged door could inadvertently fall open and unsecured cargo in the bed may exit the vehicle “if the driver does not manually close the gate before beginning to drive.”

Per GM’s safety notice, it received 136 complaints of the tailgate opening “while driving,” though the gate is only intended to open when the vehicle is parked.

Among the complaints, one customer reported a minor injury and three reported “minor property damage,” GM said, though it didn’t elaborate on the complaints.

NEW YORK — You are invited to Hoops Cabaret New York, often cited as America’s sexiest sports bar, to watch UFC 314, featuring Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes, on Saturday night, April 12.

The fan-favorite Hoops Cabaret, with numerous oversized HD TVs, and its gigantic Mega-Tron Video Wall is the ideal place to watch all sporting events. Every seat has a clear view of all the action.  

Alexander Volkanovski could become UFC featherweight champion again. After Ilia Topuria vacated the featherweight title, Volkanovski returns to reclaim what many still consider his division against the red-hot Diego Lopes, headlining UFC 314 for the vacant belt.

Despite his recent knockout loss to IliaTopuria, the Australian remains one of the most technically sound fighters in UFC history. His opponent Lopes burst onto the scene taking short-notice fights and knocking out ranked opponents. Their styles promise fireworks.

UFC 314’s fight card is incredibly stacked, featuring exciting matchups. The co-main event features the long-awaited Michael Chandler vs. Paddy Pimblett bout.

Hoops Cabaret combines the fun of a sports bar with the excitement of a gentlemen’s club. Hoops girl Jessica said, “The girls and I will be performing on stage and up close and personal for you all through the night. And the after-party here will be amazing!” 

Hoops Cabaret for the ultimate fan experience. Check out the Hoops VIP Man Cave, pop some bottles, and make it rain!

The New York Yankees got off to a hot start Saturday, opening a home game against the Milwaukee Brewers by hitting three straight home runs off the first three pitches. That was just the start of the onslaught: New York finished with a team-record nine homers — including three from Aaron Judge — in a 20-9 victory over the Brewers.

The Toronto Blue Jays hold the MLB record for home runs in a game with 10, set in 1987. The Yankees, who were using some interesting hardware, joined the Cincinnati Reds (Sept. 4, 1999) as the only other teams with nine.

New York’s first four homers came against former Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes, who was traded to Milwaukee soon after dropping the ball in New York’s World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

For the first time in 70 years, two Yankees aged 25 or younger went deep in the first game of the season. The last time that happened, Mickey Mantle was involved, and the Yankees reached the World Series.

Austin Wells, a 25-year-old catcher, and Anthony Volpe, a 24-year-old shortstop, delivered homers Thursday on the way to a relatively breezy, 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. 

Southpaw Carlos Rodón cruised through 5 innings in place of injured ace Gerrit Cole. Captain Aaron Judge laced a timely double that doinked off third base in the seventh. Things got hairy for new closer Devin Williams against his former club in the ninth, but the All-Star held on for his first save in pinstripes.

And the home fans — all 46,208 of them went home happy.

Both Volpe and Wells are crucial not just to this season but also to the next half-decade of Yankees baseball. Aaron Judge will turn 33 in April. Cole will be 35 when he returns next season. Goldschmidt, Williams and Bellinger can be free agents this winter. Jazz Chisholm Jr. could depart the next winter.

And so, the blossoming of Volpe, Wells and Domínguez is not a pipe dream or a nice bonus. It is, as Boone said, something the Yankees are “relying upon.”

“Those guys are gonna be a big part of our future — and our success this year.”

Symphony Technology Group managing partner Bill Chisholm has reportedly agreed to purchase the Boston Celtics from the Grousbeck family for a valuation for $6.1 billion, which is the largest sale of a North American sports franchise in history.

The sale surpasses the previous record set when a group led by billionaire Josh Harris purchased the NFL’s Washington Commanders for $6.05 billion in 2023.

The Grousbeck family made a massive profit off the sale, having initially purchased the Celtics for $360 million in 2002. The franchise is the winningest in NBA history with a league-best 3,684 regular season victories and 18 NBA championships, having entered the current 2024-25 season as defending world champions.