Mike Vaccaro

Mike Vaccaro

Sports

Which team’s title would evoke memories of ’94?

There was a time when the coming weeks would have brought an almost religious fervor with them, because there was a time when the Rangers carried a 54-year championship drought in their satchel wherever they went. Sometimes we get carried away with how meaningful sports are, but there was no mistaking the raw emotions that took hold 20 years ago.

Red Sox fans co-opted the whimsical catch phrase “Now I Can Die in Peace” when they ended their own trudge through the desert in 2004, but there is irrefutable evidence that sign first appeared in Madison Square Garden 20 years ago this month. And anyone who cared about the Rangers understood: That was dead on.

There are some who were too young to fully enjoy that, but a Rangers Cup, even as wonderful as it would be, wouldn’t be the most meaningful to the varied fan bases who walk in our midst just because 20 years is a hiccup in the big picture, not a famine. What team would cause the most similar reaction to those ’94 Rangers if they went the distance? Once again, One Man’s List. If you’d like to share your list, let me know at vac@nypost.com.

9. Giants: Look, after two preposterously awesome runs to the Super Bowl since 2007, it still is hard for a lot of Giants fans to get worked up about an 0-6 start to the season. They’re good for a while.

8. Devils: Three Cups in 19 years, which is a stat Devils fans surely will throw around gleefully if the Rangers get there this year. And as long as Lou Lamoriello is boss, there always will be the sense they’re a move or two away from a run.

7. Nets: There just aren’t enough long-suffering fans, and there simply isn’t enough accumulated history. Look, if you want to bleed over whoop-de-damn-do, you also have to factor in the Dr. J titles of 1974-76 and the wonderful Jason Kidd era.

6. Yankees: Yes, Yankees fans obsess over championships the way any self-respecting Steinbrenner does, and there’s little argument that when they win the World Series, New York feels like the
center of the universe. But let’s be fair: It’s hard to get too worked up about having to wait five whole years for the next title.

Now it gets fun …

5. Islanders: If only because it was a pleasing reminder last spring that when the Isles are good there is still a sizable contingent of fans who remember when they were the unmatched dynasty of American sport. And if 1980-81-82-83 was a long time ago in one sense, in another it was practically only yesterday.

4. Rangers: Because, let’s be honest, the team has been in business since 1926 and still only has four Cups. That’s almost impossible to believe, especially because in so many of those years your odds of winning the Cup were only one-in-six.

3. Mets: If history had broken differently, then their tortured recent past probably would have them as a permanent No. 1. But come on, as much as Mets fans believe the world is conspired against them, they have been the beneficiaries of two of the greatest miracles in sports history, the ’69 Miracle Mets and the Ball Through Buckner’s Legs.

2. Jets: There are times when they feel like they’re the most definitive No. 2 team of all the sports. But the true believers truly believe before they die, there will be a team to match Joe Willie’s bunch. On faith alone, a Jets title would keep the town lit for a month.

1. Knicks: No team’s fans believe more fervently in the power of tomorrow — despite the evidence of yesterday — than the Knicks. We call hoops the City Game around here, and for that alone it has been a cold wilderness dating to 1973. And would provide some kind of forever canticle when — if — it ever happens again.

Whack Back at Vac

Bruce Welsch: Travis d’Arnaud stated how loud noises bothered him while recovering from his concussion. Well, he couldn’t have been at a quieter place than Citi Field.

Vac: Other solid uses for Citi Field: 1) study hall; 2) meditation; 3) a convention of Trappist Monks.

Bill Green: Was 50 Cent’s headline-making first pitch at Citi Field that much different from the deliveries we witness from Mets pitchers on a daily basis?

Vac: Come on … you were thinking the same thing, too …

@peteeee: For the organization, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with bandwagon fans, but die-hards go through the struggles and see it as cheap … but who cares? The cup transcends all.

@MikeVacc: Exactly. The die-hards are the ones who’ll reap the greater benefits. Everyone else is just in for the party.

ChuckLeamy: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO RANGERS!!!

Vac: For the record, that’s what a die-hard looks like.

Vac’s Whacks

All New York sporting icons should age as gracefully as John Amirante, whose voice still soars to the sky.


I don’t necessarily think the Wilpons are nefarious in the way they run their baseball team. I just think they don’t have enough wealth/will to properly own a baseball team, certainly not one
with a New York City address. Simple math.


I must admit, I didn’t know 50 Cent’s real name was Curtis Jackson. But after witnessing that first pitch, it’s pretty clear that all the athletic talent went to the other Curtis Jackson, who was a stalwart on Carver High’s 1980 L.A. city champs team until his untimely death. #WhiteShadowForever


Just a hunch: Our man Melo wouldn’t have dumped that pass off to Chris Bosh in the corner the other night.