Steve Politi

1 day ago | nj.com | Steve Politi

NEW YORK — On one of the biggest nights of the year for professional basketball, an unmistakably college chant broke out at exactly 8:41 p.m. Ace Bailey had just walked onto the stage at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the second Rutgers player to hear his name called in the first five picks of the NBA Draft. But before Bailey could fully process his new team — the Utah Jazz — a few dozen diehards from his old one wanted to make sure he didn’t forget them just yet.

3 days ago | nj.com | Steve Politi

We have reached the point of the pre-NBA Draft hysteria when I find myself wondering if I spent last winter in an alternate universe. I did see Ace Bailey drop 39 and 37 points in a pair of Big Ten road games, didn’t I? I did watch him make some of the most ridiculous shots I’ve ever seen on a college basketball court last season, right? I did cover a teenager whose ceiling as a player might be only matched by his jumping ability and unbridled joy for the game ... or did I imagine all that, too?

1 week ago | nj.com | Steve Politi

Springtime has a funny way of softening edges around the NFL. Even here in East Rutherford, where expectations for the upcoming season are practically subterranean, it is possible to watch a mid-June Giants’ workout and see something other than a gasoline-coated pile of tires awaiting the inevitable lit match. The defense looks fast and aggressive. The receivers look sure handed and reliable.

2 weeks ago | nj.com | Steve Politi

When Tony Meola looks back on the 1994 World Cup in the United States, he thinks about playing goaltender on the sport’s biggest stage, of course, just a few miles from where he grew up in Kearny — a.k.a. Soccer Town, USA. But he also remembers the way this country embraced the month-long celebration of the world’s biggest sporting event. “One image I have is this guy in Nebraska who sat on his roof the entire World Cup,” Meola said this week.

2 weeks ago | nj.com | Steve Politi

The man on the other end of the phone knows a little bit about hiring Big Ten athletic directors. Len Perna’s search firm, Turney ZRG, has helped place 10 of the current ADs in the conference and the league commissioner, too, which means he might have more experience sorting through high-level candidates than anyone on the planet. So when he uses the word “pioneering” to describe a search, well, it’s hard to keep your eyebrows from climbing to the upper reaches of your forehead.