A big Sportszilla welcome for... By Zach

So, the Sportszilla crew is growing by leaps and bounds. The new members of this elite fraternity, this Sports Skull and Bones, will bring their keen insight, sharp wits, and brilliant command of the English language to the Wide World of Sports. Two of them get the nod today, with another two coming soon.

They are:

Ben Valentine ("The X-Factor"):
*From-Long Island, NY
*Age-21
*Favorite teams-New York Jets, New York Mets, New Jersey Nets, New York Rangers (defunct), U of Miami football, St. John's(probation league) basketball, Liverpool Reds
*Favorite players-Darryl Strawberry, Alexi Kovalev, Santana Moss, Chad Pennington, Richard Jefferson, El-Hadji Diouf, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Mike McMahon (heretofor referred to as "The Commishioner"
*Most hated-New York Yankees, New York Knicks, New York Islanders, Philadelphia
Flyers, Miami Dolphins, Ohio State, Manchester United, USA Basketball, Rick Mirer
*Best sports memory-Timo Perez ending Game 5, 2000 NLCS...the Mets go to the Series
*Worst sports memory-Kenny Rogers, Game 6, 1999 NLCS...ball four to Andruw Jones

Bryan Koch ("The Mayor"):
*From-Long Island, NY
*Age-19
*Favorite teams-New York Yankees, New York Jets, New York Islanders, New York Knicks
*Favorite players-Bernie Williams, Mo Rivera, Chad Pennington, Jonathan Vilma, Adrian Aucoin, Catfish Hunter, Paul O'Neil, Wayne Chrebet, John Starks, Ray Ferraro
*Most hated-Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, Toronto Maple Leafs, Kevin Millar, Tom Brady, Allen Iverson
*Best sports memory-The 2001 Yankees...Jeter's flip against the A's, Brosius and Jeter winning games with home runs, Mo Rivera finally getting beat.
*Worst sports memory-The 2004 Yankees collapsing worse than any other team in sports history...blowing a 3-0 series lead to the Red Sox.

And, just for a reminder:

Zach Geballe ("Big Time")
*From-Seattle, WA
*Age-21
*Favorite teams-Seattle Supersonics, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Seahawks, University of Washington football/basketball, Boston Celtics, NYU.
*Favorite players-Ken Griffey, Jr., Gary Payton, Edgar Martinez, Marques Tuiasosopo, Nate Robinson, Shawn Kemp, Matt Hasselback
*Most hated-Ray Rhodes, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders, Florida State, Dikembe Mutumbo, Kobe Bryant, Jim McIllvane, anyone who played quarterback for the Seahawks after Dave Kreig and before Warren Moon
*Best sports memory-Game 5, 1995 ALDS...David Cone bouncing a 3-2 splitter to Doug Strange!, then Edgar Martinez doubling Joey Cora and Ken Griffey home to beat the Yankees
*Worst sports memory-Game 5, Western conference first round...the Sonics blow a 2-0 series lead to the Denver Nuggets and become the first #1 seed in history to lose to a #8 seed.

So show these guys some love.