Mike Vaccaro

Big East Tournament at the Garden is not only surviving — it’s thriving Every year, when you go to the Big East Tournament, it never fails to deliver. The players come and go, coaches are hired and fired, whole swaths of schools have joined the conference, left the con…

Vac’s Whacks: for the 34th straight year the Big East’s teams will reconvene at Madison Square Garden, a tournament that’s the final callback to a time when the city and college hoops were the biggest winter shows in town. nypost.com/2026/03/07/s...

Jayson Tatum’s speedy Achilles return could make Knicks’ path trickier Maybe this technically makes things a little dicier for the Knicks as they try to figure out a way to extend this season longer than last.

Column: Jayson Tatum’s remarkably speedy return is a wonderful and inspiring comeback story if you are a fan of basketball. If you are a fan of the #Knicks it means a dicier, though still very much negotiable, path ahead. nypost.com/2026/03/05/s...

In a career of reinventions, Lou Holtz always got the last laugh Holtz died Wednesday at age 89 after a long illness, and for college football fans of a certain age it felt like a pillar of the sport had vanished.

Column: In a career — and a lifetime — of reinventions, Lou Holtz always seemed to get the last laugh. nypost.com/2026/03/04/s...

Zuby Ejiofor’s crucial senior night effort underscores his St. John’s evolution He was the Player of the Year.

ICYMI, Column 2: sometimes a team needs a Player of the Year to do Player-of-the-Year type things. Zuby Ejiofor did that for St. John’s Tuesday, as he has all year. And as he’ll need to for every game going forward. #sjubb nypost.com/2026/03/03/s...

Zuby Ejiofor’s crucial senior night effort underscores his St. John’s evolution He was the Player of the Year.

Column: sometimes a team needs a Player of the Year to do Player-of-the-Year type things. Zuby Ejiofor did that for St. John’s Tuesday, as he has all year. And as he’ll need to for every game going forward. #sjubb nypost.com/2026/03/03/s...

Shannon Forde’s impact on New York sports fabric still felt — and greatly missed Tuesday night during the St. John’s-Georgetown tussle at Madison Square Garden, St. John’s athletic director Ed Kull presented a St. John’s jersey to Debbie Dalton, Shannon Forde’s mother.…

Column: impossible as it is to believe, Shannon Dalton Forde passed away 10 years ago Wednesday. St. John’s honored this most distinguished alumnus Tuesday night at MSG; her memory honors everyone who knew her. #sjubb #mets nypost.com/2026/03/03/s...

Unpredictable Knicks sent clear message with Spurs domination The Knicks have now played the Spurs three times this year and every game has been something of a touchstone for them.

Column: The moment you want to paint the #Knicks into a corner in order to declare who they are — They’re contenders! They’re pretenders! — is exactly the moment when they will all but openly laugh at you and reply: “Oh, ya think so, eh?” nypost.com/2026/03/01/s...

‘Love Story’ nails how MSG regular John F. Kennedy Jr. was the quintessential New Yorker In my house, “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette” has become appointment viewing every week, more eagerly anticipated than even “The Pitt” or “Shrinking.

ICYMI, Vac’s Whacks: “Love Story” brings John F. Kennedy Jr.’s memory back to its old familiar prominence in New York City, where he was once the most visible #Knicks and #Yankees fan in the town (and quite a knowledgeable one, too). nypost.com/2026/02/28/s...

‘Love Story’ nails how MSG regular John F. Kennedy Jr. was the quintessential New Yorker In my house, “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette” has become appointment viewing every week, more eagerly anticipated than even “The Pitt” or “Shrinking.

Vac’s Whacks: “Love Story” brings John F. Kennedy Jr.’s memory back to its old familiar prominence in New York City, where he was once the most visible #Knicks and #Yankees fan in the town (and quite a knowledgeable one, too). nypost.com/2026/02/28/s...

Well, two years in the making and you don’t realize how it’s going to hit you when you open the box for real but … yeah, pretty cool. @harperbooks.bsky.social

The emerging problem for St. John’s that came out of demoralizing loss to UConn The final was 72-40. UConn is No. 6. St. John’s is No. 15. From opening tap to final buzzer, the Huskies beat the No. 2 out of the Johnnies.

Column: What we saw at Hartford Wednesday night probably wasn’t the real St. John’s; SJU had won 13 straight after all. But it really might be the real UConn, and that’s a big problem for the Johnnies (and everyone else in the sport). #sjubb nypost.com/2026/02/25/s...

Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley’s chilly relationship adds even more juice to St. John’s-UConn rivalry Here’s the thing: something would be wrong, very wrong, if there weren’t a fair amount of tension between Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley.

ICYMI, Column: Here’s the thing: something would be wrong, very wrong, if there weren’t a fair amount of tension between Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley. Two accomplished coaches and two impassioned fan bases equals one irresistible rivalry. #sjubb nypost.com/2026/02/24/s...

Knicks’ mail-it-in loss is totally unacceptable — and can’t happen again The Knicks never did join the fray Tuesday night against the Cavaliers, never really bothered to try, and it was shameless to behold.

Column: if the #Knicks can mail in a workday as uninspired effortless as the one they turned in Tuesday night in Cleveland, why can’t the rest of us? nypost.com/2026/02/25/s...

Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley’s chilly relationship adds even more juice to St. John’s-UConn rivalry Here’s the thing: something would be wrong, very wrong, if there weren’t a fair amount of tension between Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley.

Column: Here’s the thing: something would be wrong, very wrong, if there weren’t a fair amount of tension between Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley. Two accomplished coaches and two impassioned fan bases equals one irresistible rivalry. #sjubb nypost.com/2026/02/24/s...

Sometimes in this racket, you’re privileged and honored to be asked to hop onto a story that happens 4,000 miles away from you. This was one of those times.

There was no solace with silver in Olympic battle of hockey heavyweights — Canada’s faces said it all The two very best in the world, emptying their tanks, playing for the gold medal of each other. When those are the stakes, a silver medal will not do.

Column: once upon a time in a boxing ring in Manila Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier battled for “the championship of each other.” Sunday in a hockey rink in Italy, the U.S. and Canada fought for the gold medal of each other. And it was something to behold. nypost.com/2026/02/22/s...

The message is clear: St. John’s needs to stay at this level for as long as possible St. John’s finally had a gimme Saturday.

Column: St. John’s is playing as well as anyone anywhere right now but is still paying for its November and December sins. Right now they’re outside the first 18 seeds. The way to change that? Keep winning. And winning. And winning. nypost.com/2026/02/21/s...

Robert Duvall captured the essence of journalism in movies better than anyone The first time was as Max Mercy, cynical nationally-syndicated sports columnist in Barry Levinson’s “The Natural.”

Vac’s Whacks: Hollywood almost always gets it wrong when it comes to newspaper people. But thanks to Robert Duvall — and thanks to Max Mercy and Bernie White — sometime they got it awfully close to right. nypost.com/2026/02/21/s...

Tony Clark’s messy MLBPA exit does players no favors as work stoppage looms As baseball careens toward looming Apocalypse, the players are currently headless horsemen.

ICYMI, Column: Tony Clark’s messy exit puts an early spotlight on the looming reality of a sport careening straight into the apocalypse on the other side of the World Series. nypost.com/2026/02/17/s...

Tony Clark’s messy MLBPA exit does players no favors as work stoppage looms As baseball careens toward looming Apocalypse, the players are currently headless horsemen.

Column: Tony Clark’s messy exit puts an early spotlight on the looming reality of a sport careening straight into the apocalypse on the other side of the World Series. nypost.com/2026/02/17/s...

The AFL and ABA are long gone — but their legacies live on One league has been dead for 56 years. One is about to celebrate its golden anniversary of vanishing.

Vac’s Whacks: the two gifts from the ABA and the AFL that keep on giving all these years later in the NBA and NFL. nypost.com/2026/02/14/s...

St. John’s-Providence brawl was inevitable in the portal era We can bellow with great moral indignity about the vicious foul Duncan Powell committed on St. John’s star Bryce Hopkins on Saturday at Providence.

Column: Blame a guttersnipe player like Providence goon Duncan Powell all you want for the ugliness Saturday. In truth this is one of the inevitable results of the open-transaction era in college basketball. #sjubb nypost.com/2026/02/14/s...

Knicks hit peak on their wild ride — now comes next challenge The Knicks have become proficient in the rare art of emotional ping-pong this year.

Column: a decidedly roller-coaster #Knicks season hits a crazy apex right at the break. Nobody expects them to be able to produce a masterpiece like that on demand. But replicating the best parts of it will be the key over the final 27 games. nypost.com/2026/02/12/s...

Jose Alvarado has a chance to become the Garden’s next beloved native son It never stops being a genuinely cool thing when one of own trots out for his first layup line as a Knick at the Garden.

ICYMI, Column: Few things compare in the basketball city to a son of New York taking the MSG floor for the first time in a #Knicks uniform after a lifetime of smaller steps in the city’s playgrounds, gyms and driveways. Tuesday is Jose Alvarado’s turn. nypost.com/2026/02/09/s...

Jose Alvarado has a chance to become the Garden’s next beloved native son It never stops being a genuinely cool thing when one of own trots out for his first layup line as a Knick at the Garden.

Column: Few things compare in the basketball city to a son of New York trotting onto the MSG floor for the first time in a #Knicks uniform, after a lifetime of smaller steps in the city’s playgrounds, gyms and driveways. Tuesday is Jose Alvarado’s turn. nypost.com/2026/02/09/s...

Yankees’ rotation has chance to be among their best ever — but it comes with so many ifs This is a different kind of Yankees team that will report to Tampa this week.

Column: By July the #Yankees' rotation has a chance — a chance — to be among the best they’ve ever had. But that comes with lot of ifs. nypost.com/2026/02/09/s...

Knicks’ reaction to beatdown of Celtics spoke volumes The Knicks blasted the Celtics on Sunday, and it should be noted that at game’s end not one Knick acted as if they’d done anything extraordinary.

ICYMI, Column: the #Knicks have never doubted themselves even in the bad stretches of this season. When they play as they did Sunday in Boston, that bandwagon gets significantly more crowded. nypost.com/2026/02/08/s...

There was little room for drama in borefest Super Bowl We can’t expect a gem every year, and this was the second one in a row that served as an extended buzzkill.

Column: Good for Seattle. Good for Sam. Good for the Marist Red Foxes, and for you if you had the the 9 & the 3 in your Super Bowl box. Bad for all of the rest of us who endured close to four hours of one of the dullest Super Bowls imaginable. nypost.com/2026/02/09/s...

Only one monstrous victory could rival — or top — US hockey’s 1980 Olympic glory There are very few places and very few sports where Americans can compete and be the kind of overwhelming underdogs they were in Lake Placid in 1980.

Vac’s Whacks: Can any sporting event ever come close to making us feel when the U.S. Olympic hockey team shocked then world? Well, in truth, one thing could. nypost.com/2026/02/07/s...

St. John’s and UConn treated us to a blast from the past — bottle it up St. John’s won the game, 81-72, a signature win of what is slowly becoming a signature season.

ICYMI: Column: UConn and St. John’s reached back to 1985 or so to deliver an old-school Big East slugfest at Madison Square Garden. Notes from an electric night at the world’s most famous arena. #sjubb nypost.com/2026/02/07/s...