Some Predictions For 2011

1. This has been the longest off-season in memory. It will remain so.

2. The NFL Giants are quietly plotting an 8-8 finish. Those guys yesterday are so much better than the Giants it is a joke. The Jets will remain excellent unless there is no football.

3. The Yankee collapse is imminent. Andy is gone. Bernie is long gone. Jorge is fading. Derek is slowing. Only Mariano remains a force.

Worse, there are no players like them in our system anywhere. Even Jesus is a joke. You will see.

4. The Giants, and about 24 other NFL teams, will benefit from an extended lock-out. Let's say 3 years without the NFL. That way, all the great players on the contending clubs will age and Coughlin will have to retire. Maybe then, the Giants can start over on " even " ground.

5. The Wilpons are greedy, pompous and arrogant. They sucked from the Madoff hoax for years and parlayed those millions into multiple millions. And I assure you, they knew something wasn't right. But as long as they kept sweeping off the profits, they could care less that some other people would pay the price and suffer.

They used the same strategy as the US Govt. wherein the US taxpayers became the "beards" for the investment banks, hedge funds, AIG, etc., while with the Wilpons it was the less sophisticated and less wealthy investors who took the hit for them.

And the taxpayers, by the way, did not get off "scott free"because the TARP money has been paid back to the government and GM is back on its feet.

Some of the less publicized, long-term "hits" suffered by the taxpayers as wealth transferred to the financial industry include;

A. The value of each taxpayer's prime asset ( their home ) is worth at least 20-25% less than before the financial collapse ( built by Alan Greenspan and his Ayn Rynd philosophy of no regulations for the marketplace ), and will remain so for their lifetimes ( it could worsen ).

B. The typical taxpayer lost 40% of their retirement savings package.

C. Those who did save in Banks now earn nothing for their deposits and are forced to use capital in their retirements, or go into the stock market. Goldman Sachs, of course, hedges their bets on this one, so they will win when the new shareholders lose.

D. We are told there is no inflation, except if you have to buy food or use energy. Social security recipients, for the second consecutive year get no cost of living adjustment

because, " there is no inflation."

E. State and local services will soon diminish ( parks will close, schools will close, state-funded colleges and universities will drop majors, etc. ) because our elected representatives won't touch the defense budget, social security or medicare. Soon, when you add the interest on the national debt to the liability side of the ledger, 77% of our national budget will be accounted for by those four categories of spending alone. If we don't touch them, we can't reduce the debt in any meaningful way.

F. Unemployment is how high? What percentage of college grads can't find jobs? Our educational system ranks where in the world?

I hope, therefore, that the Wilpons lose everything. I hope their extended family is forced to live in Somalia. And that the Mets develop a permanent home in last place.

The loyalty of Mets fans is similar to the party and issue loyalty of conservative voters who buy into false rhetoric and consistently vote against their own interests.

All the time. They love it and they are proud of it.

E.G. Vote against mining safety regulations ( " intrusive government !" ) and then pray a lot when your husband is trapped in a mine collapse.

E.G. Vote down stem cell research, and then be shocked and angry when tens of thousands of high paying jobs move to other countries. Kill an industry where we could be world leaders in exchange for a moral uncertainty.

5. Brian Cashman will leave the Yankees after another season of nothing. If "stick " Michael is still alive, I'd like him to become our GM.

6. Sarah Palin will declare that she can see Egypt from her front porch.

How many days until pitchers and catchers?