Facebook Twitter
718-639-7000
Facebook Twitter

The Best BK Sports Bar for Banter

BQE Admin on December 31, 2025

A typical scene at Banter, the king of Greenpoint’s sports bars. Via @banterbrooklyn

GEOFFREY COBB

Author, “Greenpoint Brooklyn’s Forgotten Past”

gcobb91839@Aol.com

There are people who claim that Americans will never fully embrace soccer and that it will always be a foreign game. Those people have obviously never visited Banter, a soccer bar located at 132 Havemeyer Street in Brooklyn. Voted one of the ten best sports bars in the United States by CNN, it has also been featured in a 2023 article in the New York Times about fans coming to the bar at 7AM to watch the Women’s World Cup.

Though I can describe the banter vibe, you really have to experience for yourself the passion for the beautiful game that pulses in the bar. The bar opens at 7:30 AM on Saturdays and at 7:00 AM on Sundays during the British Premier League season, which typically runs for about nine months, from August to May. Few bars open that early and fewer still are packed before most people are out of bed, but Banter isn’t like most other bars. On big match days it is almost as if there is an electric current permeating the bar. It is a football mecca, drawing its devotees.

Customers sit and anxiously watch, glued to the eight or so large TV screens showing different matches. If the English Premier League is on,” says co-owner Conor Carolan. “We get packed regardless of the hour for the bigger games.” Banter also shows Spanish, Italian and German league matches but British football is far and away the biggest draw. 

I sat down with Greenpoint resident and co-owner Chris Keller, a German born passionate fan of the game. As a kid growing up in Germany, he developed a love for both soccer and beer, which have a happy marriage at Banter. Chris and his co-owners started Banter Fifteen years ago. Prior to opening Banter, Chris worked at Iona where he experienced the passion for football that animated many of the customers. Before Banter occupied the space, it had been a fish market, so Chris and his partners needed to do a painstaking total renovation. They opened up previously bricked up windows, installed a beautiful bar and decorated the place with football memorabilia including dozens of scarfs from supporters around the world, creating a really comfortable place to watch a football match.

Banter has twenty-four beers, ales and ciders on tap, including my favorite, Bitburger lager from Germany. Their pint of Guinness is also regarded as one of the best in New York City by aficionados. Chris has hired a really great, friendly staff, which adds to the bar’s friendly vibe.

Many banter regulars have formed friendships with other customers based on a shared passion for the beautiful game. As someone who has lived in Europe, one aspect of Banter stands out; though there are bitter rivalries between soccer clubs, the atmosphere is friendly, not hostile. Everyone is welcome, regardless of the team they support. Keller had to bar a few aggressive bad apples, but even fans of teams in bitter rivalries seem to get along with each other and supporters of many different teams have become friends at Banter.

I support the Liverpool football club, and I can watch their matches at home, but it is far more fun to watch a match at Banter. It’s not hard to spot the bar’s Liverpool supporters because many come to the matches dressed in the team’s red kit, but other days you are greeted by fans wearing Manchester City, Tottenham or Arsenal jerseys as well.

The customers are a mix of Americans and ex-pats. Some European and Latin American customers have grown up playing the game and passionately supporting a club. Others are Americans who have recently developed a love for the beautiful game, but all feel at home at Banter, where the customers relish the special atmosphere that makes this bar so unique.

Chris and many of his customers are eagerly anticipating the World Cup, which will be played here in the United States, Canada and Mexico next year from June 11th to July 19th. Chris expects a huge turnout for the competition. Though Banter is a big bar, Keller expects many of the more popular games to pack out the bar. Even if you are not a football fan, watching a world cup match or any soccer game at Banter is an experience not to be missed.

You can find more info at banterbrooklyn.com.

Kashi Brings North Indian Flavors to Downtown BK

BQE Admin on December 26, 2025

By COLE SINANIAN  | news@queensledger.com

History, spirituality, and cuisine collide spectacularly in the North Indian city of Varanasi, where the Buddha is said to have given his first sermon in the 5th century BC and where Hindus believe the waters of the Ganges River have the power to wash away the sins of mortals. 

As Mark Twain once said, the city is “older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together.” It is also a world-class culinary destination known for a diversity of cuisine that reflects its position at the crossroads of Mughal, Punjabi, and Awadhi cultures, noted for its heavy use of aromatics like cardamom, clove and saffron, slow-cooked lamb and mutton stewed with bright herbs, rich curries, and addictive fried street snacks. 

Brothers Sam and Nick Yadav, along with renowned Chef Hakikat Dhawan, bring a piece of this rich tradition to Kashi, their new restaurant on Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn. Named for Varanasi’s ancient moniker, Kashi’s menu highlights both hard-to-find North Indian specialities and beloved global Indian classics. It’s all paired with an equally exhilarating cocktail menu that showcases Indian whiskies and South Asian flavors like cardamom, rose water, coconut and hibiscus. 

The restaurant’s roots go back to 2000, when Nick Yadav worked alongside Chef Dhawan at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi. But their professional relationship didn’t begin until 2023, Nick said, when the trio got together to discuss the restaurant concept. Sam and Nick had by this point spent more than 20 years working in the New York City restaurant scene, while Dhawan had built a career helming kitchens at classic NYC Indian joints like Union Square’s GupShup and the Upper West Side’s Baazi. 

“Most of our signature dishes are coming from North India,” Nick Yadav said. “Before we were more in the American restaurant scene, but our dream concept was to one day open an Indian restaurant.” 

Sam and Nick kept a close dialogue with the Staten Island-based designer Maria Shafran during Kashi’s design process, ensuring that the deep spiritual roots of the restaurant’s namesake could be felt in its two dining rooms. The first dining room, for example, features a wall-to-wall painting of a tranquil forest scene in which followers of the Hindu deity Krishna romp among the trees and flowers. Called gopi, these worshippers are often depicted as young women and are regarded in Hinduism for their unwavering commitment to Krishna and are said to embody unconditional love. 

In addition to Indian diasporic classics like Butter Chicken and Dal Gosht — or slow-cooked lamb and yellow lentil stew —  other specialties at Kashi unique to North India include Methi Murgh, a rich, Fenugreek chicken curry with roots in the 17th century Mughal Empire, and the Paratwala Paneer Tikka from Punjab, marinated cubes of salty paneer cheese cooked with mint and cilantro chutney. 

Kashi’s Achari Gobhi, or chili-laced fried cauliflower, is a tempting appetizer in its own right, though it’s also, perhaps inadvertently, a shockingly convincing meat substitute. As the Yadav brothers  explained, the dish is a version of a popular street snack in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, traditionally made with battered and deep-fried fresh cauliflower. But Kashi’s version forgoes the deep-frying for a less greasy pan-fry and is served in a bright orange spicy-sweet chili sauce and garnished with black and white sesame seeds. 

“The traditional one they make with batter and a sauce, it could be coriander and mint chutney,” Nick said. “But with this one you don’t need anything because it’s already sauteed with sweet chili.”  

Other dishes are creations of Chef Dhawan’s inspired by regional flavors. In what he’s dubbed Chicken Tikka Chlorophyll, four herby, deeply spiced slabs of green-hued chicken breast come topped with sliced yellow chilis. And in a rice dish called Gucchi aur Sukhe Tamater Ka Pulao, wild Himalayan morel mushrooms — foraged only in the alpine forests of Kashmir — are paired with acidic pops of sundried tomato and fragrant basmati rice. 

“You won’t see a lot of places that are using Gucchi mushroom,” Nick said. “It’s very expensive. It comes dry and you soak it in water and it gets very soft and spongy.” 

As Sam explained, the brothers grew up in New Delhi but would spend their summers visiting their relatives in Uttar Pradesh, not far from Varanasi. Evenings in this part of India indisputably taste of Malaiyo, Nick said, a kind of condensed milk confectionery eaten throughout the region. The brothers recalled their grandfather taking them out for nightly Malaiyo during visits. Although it’s sweet and decadent, so ubiquitous is Malaiyo in Uttar Pradesh that it’s hard to even call it a dessert, Sam said. 

“In India, in a lot of places, they’re eating it as an evening snack,” he said. “A few friends meet in the evening, they’ll say ‘ok, I had a very good day, let’s go for a party, a little treat. Let’s go eat Malaiyo.” 

But in US restaurants authentic Malaiyo is not so easy to find. This is partly due to its laboriousness, as it can take up to ten hours to prepare. The milk is gently cooked on low heat for eight hours, then left to cool in the fridge before sugar and sometimes cardamom is added for flavor. The result is a dense but light mixture that’s thicker than condensed milk. 

But the most exotic item at Kashi might actually be on its cocktail menu. Kashi’s Old Fashioned features rosewater, Indian whiskey, black cherry and is garnished with a betel leaf, known in India as paan. Used for millenia throughout southern Asia as a palette cleanser, breath freshener, and stimulant not unlike tobacco, paan imparts a mild bitterness to the drink. As a garnish it represents another bridge between modern Western dining and the ancient culinary traditions of Uttar Pradesh. For example, a popular snack found at markets in the region involves a paan leaf rolled into a cone with rose petals, honey, cardamom and sometimes tobacco. 

To experience the full effect at Kashi, Nick and Sam recommend chewing a bit of the paan between sips and bites.  

“Varanasi is the main place I would say where a lot of people eat paan in very large quantities,” Sam said. “So we made our old fashioned with it. But ours has no tobacco, of course.” 

Kashi is open Monday through Thursday from 5pm to 10pm and Friday through Sunday from 11am to 10pm. For reservations, check Resy, OpenTable, or visit Kashiny.com

The Place of Bad Water: A History of Bushwick Inlet

BQE Admin on December 26, 2025

Bushwick Inlet in 2025. Photo by Geoffrey Cobb.

By COLE SINANIAN | news@queensledger.com

If you were a Dutch sailor who regularly traveled up the East River circa 1660, you would’ve grown accustomed to passing a strange, grassy spit of land jutting out into the brackish water to your west, just south of what is today Bushwick Inlet. To the east, a densely forested island that the Munsee Lenape people called Manaháhtaan. 

This spit of land, a key landmark to passing Dutch ships, earned the larger peninsula it extended from the nickname “Greenpoint.” Inland was a marshy wilderness of bears, wolves, salamanders, turtles and mountainous colonies of clams and oysters. Prone to intense and frequent flooding, this swamp was, for many centuries, traversed via canoe only by the Mespeatches clan of the Keskachaugue tribe, who lived primarily atop the hill that is now Mt. Zion cemetery (the word “Masepeth” comes from “Mespeatches”). Greenpoint was their hunting ground; the Mespeatches wouldn’t dare settle a place so waterlogged, a place that, during intense rains, would flood completely, then, once the waters receded, leave an odor so fetid that the Mespeatches referred to it as “The Place of Bad Water.”

“The Native Americans were onto something,” said retired high school teacher and historian Geoffrey Cobb, at a December 3 event called  “Secrets of Bushwick Inlet,” held at the Greenpoint Library’s Environmental Education Center. Originally from Northern Ireland, Cobb wrote a book called “Greenpoint Brooklyn’s Forgotten Past,” and has become in the 30 years he’s lived here a preeminent authority in local history. 

At Secrets of the Bushwick Inlet, presented by a community group called Save the Inlet, Cobb’s presentation functioned as a kind of parable, a long-forgotten story whose lesson is more relevant now than ever. As the City prepares to rezone a plot of land immediately adjacent to Bushwick Inlet to allow for the construction of the Monitor Point residential towers —  of which the tallest would rise to more than 600 feet  — a chorus of critics including Cobb, Save the Inlet, and Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park are sounding the alarm, arguing that residential towers in the flood zone of a city that’s expected to see as much as 6.5ft of sea level rise in the coming decades is a recipe for disaster. 

“We still have issues today with flooding,” Cobb said. “Flooding has always been an issue in Greenpoint, and these developers pretend that we can ignore the natural environment, that we can ignore history. But we can’t. It’s part of who we are. 

Forgetting history — or rather, paving over it — is a recurring theme in the story of New York City’s development, Cobb argues. Bushwick Inlet, now just a small cove off Franklin Street, was once the delta of a major creek that flowed to where McCarren Park is today. When the first European colonists arrived in the area, modern day Greenpoint and Williamsburg were separated by many yards of water and un-navegable marsh, for centuries leaving the Greenpoint peninsula in what Cobb called “splendid isolation.”

The first European to attempt to tame Greenpoint’s wild swampland was a Norwegian named Dirck Volckertszen, who arrived in the 1630s. Volckertszen built his house on the banks of present-day Bushwick Inlet, near modern Calyer Street. Norman Street is named for Volckertszen, Cobb said, as “Norman” is the Dutch word for “Norseman,” or someone from Scandinavia. Terrified of the Mespeatches, Volckertszen likely felt safer with water on three sides. Conflict with the Native Americans came quickly; Volckertszen brought pigs from Norway and let them loose in Greenpoint’s swampy meadows, meadows where the Mespeatches grew corn.  Operating on principles of European land ownership that did not exist in local Native American culture, Volckertszen treated the land as if it were his own, harvesting crops without sharing, allowing his pigs to destroy the cornfields, which entered the Norwegian and his family into a drawn-out conflict with the natives. 

“Native Americans had no conception of ownership,” Cobb said. “There was no idea that you could own land. The way we don’t have an idea that you could own air. So what the Native Americans agreed to, was you have the right to live here, but you also had to share what you produce.”

In 1655, the conflict reached its climax. A band of Mespeatches attacked Volckertszen’s home and killed two of his sons. Volckertszen raided their hilltop village in retaliation, massacring men, women, and children. After this point, the Mespeatches seem to vanish from the local historical record, which Cobb views as evidence of their total destruction by the European colonists. 

By the latter part of the 17th century, the native population had been replaced by French and Belgian protestant refugees. Fleeing religious persecution in Europe, the Huguenots, as they were known, settled a fence fort that Volckertszen had built years prior. They named their village Bushwick and likely engaged in plenty of incest, Cobb said. Today, their legacy can be found in Greenpoint’s street names. Calyer Street, Meserole Ave, and Provost Street are all named for these protestant families. 

The “splendid isolation” ended after the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, beginning the era of  New York’s shipbuilding industry. Greenpoint’s swamps were rapidly developed to accommodate this new economy, and by 1860, 12 shipyards lined the East River shoreline, the Greenpoint peninsula now humming with the sounds of workmen and their hammering. Industrial development brought about major changes in local geography— hills were leveled, land reclamation made solid ground of what was once flooded swamp or open water. As Cobb notes, much of the land west of Franklin Street did not exist in pre-industrial Greenpoint. 

Volckertszen’s house was a casualty of this development, as was much of the early Dutch colonial architecture. During his presentation, Cobb displayed a photo from 1918 of an original Dutch colonial homestead from the 1600s, not dissimilar from how Volckertszen’s home would’ve looked. Located where Meeker Avenue meets Newtown Creek, the house was torn down not long after the photo was taken. 

“This is one of those things that, to historians, is just mind boggling,” Cobb said. “They used to have no sense of history. New York  destroyed so many of its monuments.” 

Finally, in 1913, the last portion of Bushwick Creek ws filled. An article from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle memorialized it in a short article titled “To Wipe Bushwick Creek Off  the Map. Famous Old Waterway Will Soon Be Entirely Filled In.”  

Later came the oil refineries, the gas storage facilities and petrochemical industries that would come to define modern Greenpoint, completing its evolution from a pristine estuarine paradise to one of the country’s most polluted urban areas. 

What remains of Bushwick Inlet, however, provides a brief glimpse into the ancient landscape the Mespeatches once traversed in their wood canoes. Now engaged in its own existential fight for survival, the inlet, Cobb argued, is no place for a residential skyscraper, particularly on a waterfront already packed with so much luxury development and so little natural wonders. 

“We have one little piece of the neighborhood where kids can go and kind of imagine what native Greenpoint was like,” Cobb said. “Hopefully, those kids will be able to enjoy this park without a monster building casting a massive shadow.”  

JJ: “The Year in NY Sports for 2025. Not Good Enough…”

BQE Admin on December 25, 2025

New York New York

By John Jastremski

Believe it or not, next week is the final full week of 2025. 

In NY Sports, I think many of us went into the calendar year with high hopes for our teams and prospects for success. 

Looking back on the year, it’s hard to not have a feeling of disappointment. 

I think the best way to look at NY Sports in 2025 is to say the year wasn’t good enough. 

Our baseball teams were fresh off a trip to the World Series and the NLCS a year ago at this time. 

Life was good for Mets fans, Juan Soto was the new conquering hero and the sky was the limit… Until it wasn’t. 

The Mets inexplicably missed the playoffs in 2025 and it was no fluke. 

They were a terrible baseball team for the final 4 months of the season and the ramifications of that poor play is the wholesale change we are witnessing within the team heading into 2026. 

In Yankees land, it was another year of coming up short in October. 

Yes, the Yankees pivoted brilliantly away from Juan Soto. 

Yes, they tied the Blue Jays for the most wins in the American League, but another year slips through the hourglass of Aaron Judge’s career without a ring. 

The pressure continues to mount and yet the team continues to be content with where they stand. 

Good enough to be in the dance, sure they have a chance, but it hasn’t been good enough to win. 

The football teams. Par for the course. And not in a good way. A collective 5 wins by 2 teams is a special sort of ineptitude. 

One would argue the New York Knicks would buck this trend of not being good enough. 

And compared to the other teams in town, it makes perfect sense. 

The Knicks advanced to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in 25 seasons. 

They had an epic 2nd round series win against the Boston Celtics. 

Yet, they can join the club of disappointment. Why? The Game 1 collapse against the Indiana Pacers will be a game that lives forever in infamy. 

It flat out cost the Knicks the series and will haunt this team until of course they reach the NBA Finals. 

2025 was eventful. There were some monster moments, promising debuts & plenty of interesting subplots. 

At the end of the day, it wasn’t good enough for our fair city. Let’s hope 2026 can be better…

You can listen to my podcast New York, New York every Sunday & Thursday on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite at 11 PM on SNY.

Johnnies Drop Out of the Top-25

BQE Admin on December 25, 2025

By Noah Zimmerman

noah@queensledger.com

The St. John’s Red Storm are ranked no more, and it was a long time coming. After a brutal defeat to Kentucky over the weekend, the Johnnies finally lost their spot in the national rankings, one they’ve held since January. After ranked losses to Alabama, Iowa State, and Auburn, it was the 78-66 loss to unranked Kentucky that ended the St. John’s stint in the Top-25. 

The second half was nothing short of a disaster in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta, GA. After holding Kentucky to 25 first half points, St. John’s was outscored 53-34 in the second frame, scoring nearly half of those points from the free throw line.

Head Coach Rick Pitino and his captains have committed to growth more than a few times this season, and now their words are starting to feel a little familiar and repetitive with that promised growth still to be seen.

‘I’m disappointed in any loss, but it’s not my job to be disappointed. My job is to make the team better,” said Pitino after the defeat. “We can be a good team, and we can get better and better and better.”

There isn’t much time left for St. John’s to get better, and following Tuesday’s matchup against Harvard, all that’s left in the Johnnies schedule is their BIG EAST slate. Their final 19 games include two against the #4 UConn Huskies, as well as matchups with a much improved Seton Hall squad. 

Additionally, Creighton, Butler, Georgetown, Xavier, Villanova, and DePaul have all started the season with 8 or more wins, a sign that the BIG EAST will be a fiery contest this season and in the conference tournament next year.

Senior big man Zuby Ejiofor is well aware of the challenge and time constraint as he looks to lead his team to a conference title defense and a return to the NCAA Tournament, but acknowledged that they can’t let their focus drift far from the next game on the schedule.

“It’s important to take one game at a time and take things one day at a time,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of opportunities, so we’ve got to stay focused and keep working.”

This season is far from over for St. John’s, but if they don’t see improved performances and consistency, it’s hard to envision Pitino’s group reaching the same heights as last year’s team.

WNBPA Authorizes Strike if Deemed Necessary

BQE Admin on December 25, 2025

Can the W Avoid a Catastrophic 2026 Lockout?

By Noah Zimmerman

noah@queensledger.com

On Thursday last week the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) saw historic participation and support for a potential strike, authorizing executives to dig their heels in if CBA negotiations don’t progress. The vote saw overwhelming participation and support, with 98% in support of authorizing a strike and 93% of the league casting a vote.

“The players’ vote is neither a call for an immediate strike nor an intention to pursue one,” the WNBPA said in their statement. “It is an emphatic affirmation of the players’ confidence in their leadership and their unwavering solidarity against ongoing efforts to divide, conquer and undervalue them.”

After seeing significant growth over the past few seasons, WNBA players are eyeing a significant jump in shared revenue, also hoping for other significant concessions. However, the league has made little progress on negotiations. While a strike could be catastrophic to continued league growth from its current peak, the vote sends a strong message to the league, urging executives to pursue a fair deal in good faith.

The emphasis in a new CBA largely falls on league revenue sharing and salary ranges. Right now, the league only shares roughly 10% of revenue, much lower than most male sports leagues that share nearly half of their profits. As a result, many players are forced to look overseas or into offseason leagues like Unrivaled to supplement their time playing in the WNBA. With the league making more than ever, players are searching for significant increases.

Reports say that the WNBA is offering an increase in revenue sharing up to 15% with minimum and average salaries roughly quadrupling, but players are steadfast in their demands for 30% of revenue, with salaries dependent on annual league profits.

“What we’re doing right now isn’t working,” said NY Liberty star Breanna Stewart, who serves as a Vice President in the Players’ Association. “We know how important as players it is to play and to be on the court. But at the same time, if we’re not going to be valued the way that we know we should be, then we’re just not going to do something that doesn’t make sense for us.”

It doesn’t seem likely that the league will cave to player demands quite yet, but the threat of a 2026 lockout shouldn’t be taken lightly. After all the growth in recent years, it would be disastrous for players, teams, and the league if the upcoming season doesn’t start on time.

Perea Re-Signs, but Haak Deal Looms Large for NYC

BQE Admin on December 25, 2025

Boys in Blue add new homegrown players, draft selections, and academy director

By Noah Zimmerman

noah@queensledger.com

New York City FC midfielder Andres Perea is returning to the club on a three-season deal running though the transitional 2027 season and until the end of the 2027-28 campaign. There is a club option to retain Perea for the 2028-29 season. 

After joining the team on loan from the Philadelphia Union in 2023 and later re-signing in NYC, the American-born Colombian had a breakout season in 2025, providing an immense defensive presence in the middle of the park and contributing on the offensive end a number of times. That season was cut short in the playoffs when Perea fell after an aerial challenge, breaking his leg in Game 3 of the opening round. 

After receiving surgery, the club made sure to take care of their midfield man. Although they declined Perea’s club option for 2026, NYC remained in negotiations with him to ink a longer term deal.

“I’m really excited to sign a new contract with New York City and continue this journey with Los Celestes,” said Perea after penning his new deal. “I’ve felt so much love from the City, my teammates, the entire staff, and the fans, making me truly happy here.”

Perea wasn’t the only player up for a new contract this offseason, nor the only defensive player to break out this season. Homegrown center back Justin Haak may have seen his final minutes of MLS action against Miami in the Eastern Conference Final, and he’ll be an extremely difficult piece to replace.

Haak was the third homegrown player to join the senior team as an academy graduate and first to sign from the 5 boroughs, playing on the club’s first ever U-14 academy team back in 2015. He made his senior debut in 2019 after inking his first professional contract.

After a few shaky seasons and a pair of loan spells with USL side Hartford Athletic, Haak began to settle in with the club before stepping into a vital role this past year. Paired at CB with Thiago Martins and backed by Goalkeeper of the Year nominee Matt Freese, Haak was central in the team’s terrific defensive record, tied for the 6th least goals conceded in the league.

Unfortunately it appears that contract talks have broken down, making a reunion unlikely. Haak has attracted decent interest from Europe, as well as other MLS clubs. It would be disappointing for NYC to lose out on Haak to another club in the league, but it appears their valuation of the Brooklyn native isn’t in line with him or his potential suitors.

Regardless of Haak’s future with the club, NYC has other homegrown talents waiting in the ranks. This past week they announced the signing of Duke defender Kamran Acito and Wake Forest midfielder Cooper Flax, both on multi-year deals.

The club also made four MLS Superdraft selections in midfielders Ransford Gyan (pick #27, Clemson), Kevin Pierre (#57, Georgia Southern), and Joey Mueller (#71, UCF), as well as defender Luca Nikolai (#87, UNC). 2025 draftees Nico Cavallo and Max Murray, both defenders, are also likely to feature in the near future, progressing well in their first year with NYC.

To help oversee the club’s academy and youth structure, NYC also announced the appointment of Robin Nicholls as Academy Director. Nicholls spent a few years with English club Sunderland AFC, some formative years for the club as they mounted a return to the Premier League after a troublesome 8-season absence.

“New York itself is not only a fantastic city, but the background of the people who live there, the different socioeconomic backgrounds, means the potential for talent is exceptional, one of the best and most diverse talent pools in the world, in my opinion,” said Nicholls about his new home. “I wanted to tap into that and really help develop that level of talent to hopefully go on and play at the highest level one day. The Club is headed in the right direction, and with the opening of Etihad Park, it’s an exciting time to be a part of.”

JJ: “David Stearns Legacy Offseason… Loading…”

BQE Admin on December 19, 2025

New York New York

By John Jastremski

What a crazy few weeks to start the offseason for the New York Mets.
Of course after the way the 2025 season ended up, you had to imagine the status quo was not going to be accepted by ownership and GM David Stearns.
The Mets were going to have a much different team going into 2026, sure.
However, who could have possibly imagined that before Christmas, the Mets have said goodbye to three of the most popular players the team has had over the past seven or so years.
It started with Brandon Nimmo and then last week the Mets saw Edwin Diaz sign with the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and franchise home run leader Pete Alonso take his talents to the Baltimore Orioles.
Unlike the Diaz sweepstakes, the Mets had no interest in bringing Alonso back to Queens.
The Mets will point to the amount of years the Orioles gave Pete Alonso and suggest it was a length of contract they did not feel comfortable with.
There is some truth in that, but it digs even deeper.
David Stearns did not want Pete Alonso back. He didn’t want to resign him last year and simply has a different vision for building and reshaping the ballclub.
Look, if I was in David Stearns shoes. I would want Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz back on my baseball team.
Diaz is one of the best closers in baseball and Pete Alonso is one of the best slugging right handed hitters in the sport.
However, I’m not running the Mets.
David Stearns has put his reputation on the line this offseason.
Remember, Stearns grew up a Mets fan on the Upper East side as a kid.
He probably wants nothing more than returning his boyhood team to glory with a trip down the Canyon of Heroes.
Stearns clearly has a plan for what he envisions this Mets roster to be in 2026 and beyond.
At the moment, he’s not exactly the most popular person in town.
The Mets said goodbye to three players the fan base absolutely adored.
Mets fans are not exactly going to show a ton of patience with the team’s GM if the team doesn’t win and win in a big way next season.
He knows that.
David Stearns acted with serious backbone and conviction in charting the current course for the team.
He has a plan, the pieces are not officially all in place quite yet.
Will Stearns offseason be a story of vindication or of massive regret.
The plot thickens indeed…
You can listen to my podcast New York, New York on The Ringer Podcast Network on Spotify/Apple Podcasts every Sunday & Thursday. You can watch me nightly on Honda Sports Nite at 11 PM on SNY. 

Johnnies Beat Iona at The Garden

BQE Admin on December 19, 2025

Pitino Downs Former School, Zuby Block Party Continues, & Jackson Gets Start

Zuby Ejiofor leaps for the opening tip against Ole Miss just a week before the Iona matchup. The Red Storm big man recorded 8 blocks in each of the two games.

By Noah Zimmerman

noah@queensledger.com

Rick Pitino vanquished his former team on Saturday afternoon as the St. John’s Red Storm took down the Iona Gaels at Madison Square Garden, 91-64. Pitino spent three seasons in New Rochelle, leading the Gaels to two MAAC regular season titles, two conference championships, and two trips to the NCAA Tournament. The win over Iona marked Pitino’s 20th over teams he had previously coached.

“Iona is such a special place because every coach that coaches there wins. Kevil Willard started there, I certainly was rejuvenated there,” Pitino said about his former school.

Even after another slow start (this time missing 12 of their first 13 field goal attempts, St. John’s were able to outscore the Gaels 36-26 in the opening half before pulling away in the second frame.

Scoring for St. John’s was led by Oziyah Sellers with 19, though 16 of them came in the 2nd half. His strong performance led him to a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.

Ian Jackson got the nod at guard over Dylan Darling for the Red Storm. It was the Sophomore transfer’s first start since the opening game of the season against Quinnipiac, and he put up a solid 14 points with 5 rebounds and a joint-team-high 3 assists. Jackson made a change of his own, chopping off his iconic hair, leading to some amusing comments by his teammates and coach.

Zuby Ejiofor was the only SJU starter to record less than 13 points, but the Red Storm big man continued his tremendous work on the defensive end with 8 blocks for a 2nd straight game. Ejiofor also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds in the winning effort. Led by Ejiofor, the Red Storm defense is finally starting to come around as a strong point.

“We realized we weren’t a very good defensive team. Last year’s team around Christmas time wasn’t a very good defensive team either and they became one of the great defensive teams in the nation,” Pitino said about their improved effort on that end of the floor. “I think we can get to that point, we just need to keep our turnovers down because you beat yourself when you turn the ball over.”

Defense isn’t the only spot where the Red Storm needs to improve. Their inability to start games hot and inconsistent shooting will be a difficult spot as the season enters conference play and eventually the BIG EAST Tournament and beyond. If they’re unable to find consistency on that end of the floor, there’s only so much the defense can do to see out big wins down the stretch.

Following Tuesday’s contest against De Paul the Red Storm is on the road to take on the Kentucky Wildcats in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta. Tip off will be Saturday December 20 at 12:30pm. St. John’s comes back to Carnesecca Arena for their final game in Queens on Tuesday the 23 against Harvard.

Was the Mets’ Apple Rotten at the Core?

BQE Admin on December 19, 2025

Noah Zimmerman

noah@queensledger.com

Not many saw this trajectory coming for the Mets’ offseason, but nevertheless the core of the team has been torn apart. In the span of just weeks, New York traded their longest-tenured player in Brandon Nimmo, saw star closer Edwin Diaz sign with the back-to-back champion Dodgers, and didn’t even present a contract offer to franchise HR leader Pete Alonso, who signed in Baltimore.

It’s a complete restructuring of the team in the wake of a brutal failure last season, where they missed the postseason despite boasting MLBís second-highest payroll.

Now it’s evident that Steve Cohen and David Stearns won’t be paying more than they’re comfortable for key players, and that includes long contract terms and deferred money that ultimately led to Diaz and Alonso signing elsewhere.

“In the years that I’ve been with the Mets, I have not seen this much moving in a new direction,” said all-time great Met Kieth Hernandez.

Former manager Terry Collins shared insight on the shakeup, saying “this core has not won. Maybe it’s time to go with a different core.”

Ultimately, the bulk of the Mets’ failure last season came down to their pitching staff, one that’s only gotten weaker in recent weeks. While the offense certainly came up short more than a few times, starting pitchers consistently failed to last and the bullpen was ineffective far too often.

Now those problems are exacerbated by the loss of Diaz, Gregory Soto, and Tyler Rodgers. Additionally New York missed out on Padres reliever Robert Suarez (now with Atlanta), and still have holes to fill in their rotation.

The core certainly did not get it done, but it’s hard to see the Mets bouncing back and making the playoffs with this much upheaval in the offseason.

Fill the Form for Events, Advertisement or Business Listing