The most high profile rebranding of a US sports team of the past decade needs all the help it can get and the Brooklyn Nets ticked two important boxes this week: they beat the New York Knicks on Monday night and got into a fight in Boston on Wednesday.

“Let’s face it,” reasoned Time Magazine, with its online readership on Monday, “It’s good to have the Irish back.”

IT was the passion of the Shannon Gaels man who drove Cork’s Paul Kerrigan and Dublin’s Kevin Nolan out to the northern end of Queens to show him the club’s new home pitch for the next 25 years.

With the All Star footballers flying into New York today for the first time since 1990, it’s worth going back to the first trip in 1975 which involved a unique exhibition remembered with affection around here.

So many accomplished players have passed through the Donegal Boston ranks during the club’s first 25 years that the summer of a young Jim McGuinness doesn’t stand out as much as you’d think.

Yet another sign that I’ve been in America too long — now it’s an NFL coach giving me a lump in the throat.

IT’S difficult to concentrate on much else when surrounded by the after-effects of Sandy battering this city but I did want to finally bring the Notre Dame football team back to an Irish sports page.

All in all, it hasn’t been a bad weekend for boxing Stateside.

As the cooler weather set in around the northern states of the US this month, the question arose once again: why oh why does the baseball season extend into October?

In the basement of a Yonkers pub, aspiring hurling coaches from the New York area gathered around coffee cups and notepads early last Saturday morning.