The High Post: On the Hot Seat - Coaching the Knicks

(By Jerry Levi)

With the NBA playoffs in full swing, I was going to start The High Post in New York with the Knicks and their coach Mike Woodson as the No. 1 coach on The Hot Seat. But when one wakes up Monday morning and sees that club president Phil Jackson decides to have a spring cleaning of sorts and fires the ENTIRE coaching staff of the team, we’re left with the scraps of what happened. Phil Jackson just beat us to the punch. The writing was on the wall, though, especially when Jackson came on board. With the second highest payroll in the league behind the Brooklyn Nets, Woodson had all the makings of having a good stint in New York. He let his players play and seemingly run the huddle. Those players included are Carmelo Anthony, the overpaid Amare Stoudemire, and J.R. Smith. That led to 57 wins last year but not even making the playoffs this year at 37-45. It just seemed like they were more interested in padding their stats by shucking up 3s towards the end of the season instead of trying to make the eighth seed. What was needed? A complete overhaul, coaching-wise. And not just Mike Woodson, but all of the coaching staff. Which was what Phil Jackson got. It's just too bad he couldn’t fire some in the front office, James L. Dolan included. So what’s the Zen Master up to? Who are his coaching candidates? 

Sports Top-Picks: Pujols' Pre-Game Prediction

(By Josiah Overstreet) 

Seems impossible to think of a baseball player having the type of success that Albert Pujols has been having, with not one mention of steroids or some other performance-enhancing drug. When entering the league 14 years ago, Pujols stated that he was not a slugger; tell that to whomever the poor sucker was pitching to him when he hit No. 499, which was a three-run shot, only to return with more misery at the top of the fifth, where he crushed a 430-footer to an off-duty marine . . . whooooowaaaa . . .

Philadelphia's Double Take

(By Franklin Lee)

Philly fans were doing a double take this week when the Union played two games in four days. Poor Union fans only got one point out of those two games. Philly is continuing their poor showing this season, with no positive outlooks for the future to speak of besides Maurice Edu. Philly faced New York on Wednesday night and got beat by the Red Bulls, with a very passionate Thierry Henry scoring a goal and picking up a yellow card in the 2-1 win.