The Jets and Giants are clutching Super Bowl aspirations. Both teams took major steps forward last season. The Jets fielded one of the league’s best defenses and although they finished last in the competitive AFC East with a record of 7-10, they were, by most close observers of the NFL, simply missing a capable quarterback to be a serious championship threat.

They filled that need by acquiring four-time league MVP Aaron Rodgers in a trade with the Green Bay Packers last Monday, three days ahead of the annual draft. Then on draft night, the Jets improved an already formidable defense by selecting edge rusher Will McDonald IV from Iowa State with the 15th pick.
“This is a surreal day for me. After spending 18 years in the same city, it’s been a lot of introductions today and meeting a lot of people, but there’s a lot of excitement,” said Rodgers at his inaugural Jets press conference last Wednesday at the team’s facilities in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

“I’m here because I believe in this team, I believe in [head] coach [Robert] Saleh, I believe in the direction of [general manager] Joe Douglas. Obviously, he’s drafted well in recent years, having the Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year.”
Rodgers, who will turn 40 in December, somewhat quipped, “I’m an old guy, so I want to be part of a team that can win it all, and I believe that this is a place we can get that done.”
The Giants made the playoffs for the first time since 2016 last season. They were 9-7-1, third in the NFC East and defeated the Minnesota Vikings 31-24 in a wildcard game before losing 38-7 to the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round. They addressed three areas of need in the draft by taking University of Maryland defensive back Deonte Banks with the 24th pick in the first round, offensive lineman Michael Schmitz in the second round (No. 57) and wide receiver Jalin Hyatt from the University of Tennessee in Round 3 (No. 73).
“I feel like I’ve got a mentality just for me to try to be better at every play,” said 6-foot-1-inch, 197-pound Banks about his style of playing cornerback. “I try to be aggressive, and I try to use my superpower, which is my physicality.”
The Jets and Giants will meet in the 2023 regular season at their shared home, MetLife Stadium, at a date that will be revealed when the full NFL schedule is released later this month.  

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On April 23, DaShena Stevens, a member of the St. John’s University Athletics Hall of Fame, received another honor, this one tied to her home state: She was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (CWBHOF) in recognition of her outstanding play at Trinity Catholic High School and with a nod to her incredible accomplishments with the Red Storm, scoring 1,515 points during her collegiate career.

“It was amazing,” said Stevens. “A lot of my family was there and some of my friends. It was a reunion in a sense. Then, being able to meet some of the individuals from the selection committee and others from the CWBHOF was exciting. 

“Both of my parents played high school basketball; they went to Stamford High School,” she added. “To have both of them there was excellent.” 

As a standout high school player, Stevens received a lot of attention, but always remained focused on team success. “From a playing standpoint, I had to play every single position—the one through five,” she recalled. “In college, I had my position, maybe a hybrid position, but in high school, I played them all. That was cool…also, keeping everyone involved and making sure it was still fun. These were all your best friends.” 

Coming into college, Stevens had insight into each position, which she said made her a better teammate. She was instrumental in making St. John’s a national presence, including being part of the Red Storm team that broke the University of Connecticut’s 99-game home court winning streak. She was excited to see St. John’s do it again this year. 

After graduating in 2012, Stevens played professionally, and eventually returned to St. John’s as assistant coach for three seasons before turning her attention to athletics administration. Today, she is the deputy director of athletics at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.

In addition to the contingent of parents, sibling, uncles, cousins, and long-time friends, Stevens’s daughter Aria was in attendance. “As she’s getting older, I think she’s realizing that when everybody talks about me and basketball, they’re talking about me playing,” she said. “She said, ‘I think you were kind of good. Can you still play?’ 

“She’s starting to know that side of me,” Stevens added. “She Googled me the other day when we were at home. She saw all of my basketball pictures. That was a proud moment.”

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In the months after Brittney Griner’s December release from a Russian penal colony, she kept a relatively low profile. While she and wife Cherelle have made a few public appearances, attending the Super Bowl and the NAACP Image Awards, Griner has not sat for a televised interview or held a press conference. On April 27, with WNBA training camps about to kick off, she faced the media for the first time.

The press conference was hosted by the Phoenix Mercury, the team for which Griner has played since 2013. She wore a shirt indicating the Mercury’s support of Bring Our Families Home, an organization focused on bringing attention to individuals wrongly detained overseas. This mission will be part of the team’s platform this season.

Griner noted that there was more media in attendance than what she normally sees at a Mercury press conference, and she encouraged the media to cover the WNBA throughout the 2023 season. “I expect to see this same coverage because we have a great product,” she said. 

“I’m no stranger to hard times,” said Griner about her resilience in the face of an overwhelmingly negative situation. “Just [keep] digging deep, honestly. You’re going to be faced with adversities throughout your life. This was a pretty big one, but I just kind of relied on my hard work [for] getting through it.”

Being prepared to play professional basketball again after nearly 10 months with no play or serious training has been challenging. “It’s still a process,” Griner said. “As an athlete, you always want to be where you left off, and I left off playoffs, finals in Chicago. I wanted to be that player when I started back, and everybody was telling me to give myself grace and it’s going to take time, but that’s the hardest thing to a pro athlete because we always want to be right back at our tip-top shape. It’s liberating as well, just getting back to my craft.” 

As was discussed repeatedly during Griner’s detention in Russia, she was there to earn money in the WNBA’s off-season. Asked if she’d play overseas again, Griner’s answer was decisive. “I’m never going overseas to play again unless I’m representing my country at the Olympics,” she said. “I’m hoping that our league continues to grow, and…I hope you continue to cover our league and bring exposure to us.”

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