After thinking about it a little bit more, I have a few more comments about the Giants in general and the SuperBowl last night. My first thought is that I always thought Jeremy Shockey was a bit of a bully to Eli and the rest of the Giants organization. He reminds me of my friends from South Jersey - you love them to death, but they get really fired up and ultra annoying at inappropriate times and during inappropriate situations.

Shockey had a so-so season this year and was injured before the playoffs. Word going around is that the only post-season game he even attended was the SuperBowl last night. And this guy is supposed to be a team player? Please. If you even saw the brief clip they showed of him last night up in his sky box, you saw the disappointment on his face. Of course the guy is going to be disappointed - his team is beating one of the best teams in NFL history and they’re winning the SuperBowl in the process! Yet, I have to believe that some of his disappointed look was attached to knowing how arrogant he had been earlier in the season and in past seasons. Somewhere in his head he had to be under tremendous torture from making Tiki-like comments questioning the team leader.

I hope that he gets his head on straight and becomes the player that he can become.

My other thought is about Tiki Barber. For everyone who has ever played on a sports team with that one guy who acts like he is bigger than the team (or even bigger than the sport), you know what the other Giants must have felt like for the last few seasons. It is absolutely amazing to see how the Giants and Tom Coughlin managed to turn their fortunes around after this egomaniac left the team. Absolutely amazing.

It would be great if other teams that are saddled with such arrogant jerks took a look at themselves in the mirror. Too often it seems that front offices are blinded by the lights of the cameras that follow around the “big star” and they miss the fact that you can put a damper on and entire team’s attitude by allowing one guy to be a prima donna.

I’m glad that Tiki is making omelettes on NBC because the Giants don’t need his crap any more.

Whoooo!!! Can you believe it? A team that started off the season 0 - 2 and a quarterback that many had written off as not ready for the big leagues managed to win the biggest game on the biggest stage we’ve seen in the NFL in years! Combine that with the fact that Tom Coughlin was on the chopping block before this season began and one of the best Giants players in history (I forget his name - Tiki something) openly criticized the team and Eli Manning’s leadership during the early weeks of this season and you have a story that is much better than Tom Brady winning a 4th SuperBowl or the Patriots going 19 - 0.

It’s been a long time since I jumped out of my seat while watching sports. The last time that I can remember was when my little brother played his last football game for Roxbury High School a few years ago. And the last time that I jumped out of my seat watching professional sports? Phew. Who knows? I can’t even remember, but watching this game tonight - I absolutely loved it! Put aside the fact that my team was playing in the SuperBowl; this low-scoring game had compelling stories on both sides of the field, was held in a Class A stadium, and showed that an underdog can still take down the league Goliath. It was everything that you want in a football game and so much more.

As for the “other” aspects of the game here are some comments.

I loved that Peyton Manning was just an all-American guy in the box while watching the game. The Manning family has a genuine character about them that you don’t find too often in many parts of this nation any more.

Is there any doubt about Tom Coughlin’s leadership ability now? What I love about Coughlin is that he seems to be a mean, grumpy guy who doesn’t want to hear any bitching. I love it.

Tom Brady handled himself brilliantly in the post-game press conference. He looked the part of a champion and showed that - even though most American males hate him (his life is too perfect) - he’s a classy guy. Bill “The Cheater” Belichek, on the other hand, looked and acted like a sore loser. He’s done this before after big losses, too. Very classless and not becoming of a team the stature of The Patriots.

Sean Salisbury was on ESPN after the game was over and said that no one needs to go out there and say that the Patriots beat themselves. He went on that the Giants beat The Patriots up and down the field and they were the better team - and that’s the truth. Again, that’s not because I’m a Giants fan - it’s because I watched the game and saw the Patriots not play their best game while the Giants played excellently.

Speaking of post-game commentators, someone really needs to get those former NFL guys classes in grammar. These guys sit on the daises on various channels and speak a refined form of Ebonics that is both horrifying and alarming at the same time! Quotes like, “The Patriots defense try to not let Giants score is a tough thing to accomplish this game,” scare the shit out of me! What’s even scarier is that you normally get three or four of these guys on one channel within the same time period! Damn it!

Anyway - go Giants!

Since I haven’t had time to put together a coherent post in the last few days, here are some random thoughts from the last 5 - 7 days. As you’ll see, this is about as disjointed as you can get for a blog entry, but hey - if millions of other blogs can do it daily, then why can’t I do it once in a blue moon?

• You ever watch a football game and the wrong team wins? For those of you who have played football at any level - have you ever been in a game where you are obviously the better team, but you don’t win the game? I watched the Colts take on the Patriots last night and even though the Patriots had a 24 - 20 victory over the Colts, Manning and his teammates are obviously the better football team. At least in my view, that is. And I take nothing away from the Patriots (who are amazing), but after watching yesterday’s game it just seemed clear that the Colts are a better team. I could be wrong, though…
• On the subject of sports, I’m still baffled that the baseball season is over. You know when the football season is over because there is this massive Super Bowl where over 100 million people watch. It just seems like baseball ended this year and no one took notice. How many people even know that the Red Sox won the Series? How many people even care?
• You may recall that I went out over the summer and bought myself a Nintendo Wii. I have a lot of fun playing it, though I certainly don’t play it as much as I used to play video games when I was a little kid. But still, a quick game or two of bowling before I go to bed at night is fun. Anyway, part of the excitement of owning a cutting edge video game system is getting the new game as soon as it’s released. I really don’t have the time for that any more, but I figured what the hell and bought Guitar Hero III the other night. Wow. Talk about a fun game! You get to use this guitar controller to play all of these rock songs. It’s a lot of fun! Though I do take issue with the “Legends of Rock” subtitle…some of the folks in that game are brand new to the music industry and are by no means legends yet. Hell, some aren’t even footnotes yet!
• Last weekend I went up to Roxbury and while I was there I tried to play his XBox 360. Lucky for me, the machine was just having all types of problems. Think about it in terms of how your computer gets all goofy on you when Windows doesn’t work correctly. We eventually got the problem handled and I played a little Halo 3 (which lasted all of 20 minutes because the guy on the screen was hard to control). I just found it funny that Microsoft has managed to not only bring a high-tech gaming system to the masses, but they brought along the bugs and bs with it!
• I don’t know if you heard, but the Hollywood writers went on strike. I’m heartbroken…
• There were a lot of reports this weekend of King Tut being on display to the public for the first time ever. I really don’t like this move. Besides the fact that Tut’s body is petrified at 3000+ years old, putting him on display is just inappropriate (in my view). How many of us would want our petrified, blackened bodies put out on display in the year 5007? I don’t think this is the right thing to do at all.
• Have you guys seen the female wrestler named Awesome Kong? She’s in TNA right now and she’s a beast! And she is easily one of the best aspects of the show right now.
• Finally, I watched the Giants and Dolphins go at it in London last weekend. I understand the NFL’s desire to spread their market and to reward those NFL fans who ARE in other countries, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of the atmosphere. Besides the rain and crappy field, the fans weren’t the typical, rowdy American football fan. All you had to do was watch the extra point and instead of fans standing up and cheering so the kicker sees them going nuts behind the goal post, you had a group of a very nice, very proper Brits sitting there awaiting the result of the kick. Very proper, indeed!

I just wanted to share those random observations and thoughts with you. Have a good one!

Earlier today, the Yankees made an offer to Joe Girardi to take over for Joe Torre in New York. This is a good move as Girardi would be a better Manager than the other top choice, Don Mattingly. Girardi has a ton of experience as a Manager as well as a host of awards and accolades to his credit. Don Mattingly has a ton of a fanfare and a presumed curse that he can’t win the big one (he never won the Series as a player and he hasn’t won yet as a Bench Coach).

Girardi is the right choice here, guys. Actually, Torre would have been the right choice, but since that bridge is nothing but ashes at this point - I’ll take Girardi. Hey, did you guys know that Boston won the World Series last night? I swear I didn’t know until I read the USA Today story a little while ago that talked about how A-Rod is FINALLY gone from New York (thank God for that!).

Anyway, we’re good with Girardi, glad that A-Rod is history, and surprised that there’s still a baseball team up in Boston. Good for them for winning the Series.

Professional sports is an interesting field to watch. As most of you know by now, I think the majority of professional sports are fixed. You see it in the NFL with completely ridiculous calls, you see it in the NBA with struggling “markets” all of a sudden having tremendous teams to drive fans into the buildings (a la the NJ Nets), and you see it in baseball with the creation of drama between various teams.

Sometimes, though, the stuff that goes on “behind the scenes” is absolutely crazy. Take the Joe Torre debacle with the New York Yankees. Here is a man who would be revered in any other city in the country if he performed as well as he performed for the Yankees as manager. Yet, in New York, the Steinbrenner Machine won’t work for Torre. That’s ridiculous. They insult him with their contract offer and then they have the audacity to make comments about him over the weekend?

What are they crazy?

That punk bitch Hank Steinbrenner said the following in a recent article in the New York Post:

“Where was Joe’s career in ‘95 when my dad hired him? My dad was crucified for hiring him.”

What a dumb bastard this guy is. Who in the world doesn’t know that Torre’s career was in the crapper before he came on as the Yankees’ manager? That’s like saying, “Where was the United States before the Revolution?” Any blockhead knows that we were in a bad spot.

Does his previous career make Torre’s performance over the last 12 years any less remarkable? Absolutely not. But this is the Steinbrenner way - classless and defamatory. It’s a real bummer that one of my favorite sports franchises is owned by such low-rent people. Punk Steinbrenner goes on:

“You can’t take credit for success when you’re going good, and then not take at least some of the blame when things change.”

Tell me one time when Joe Torre said that he was not to blame for the team’s inability to get out of the first round of the playoffs. Torre has stressed time and time again that it’s a team effort and that it’s not the fault of any one person in particular, but a group failing that costs the Yankees the big games. Hank is trying to say that by offering Torre incentives to win, he is making sure that Torre knows that some of the blame rests on him when they lose.

That’s the most arrogant, ignorant thing I’ve ever heard. The right thing to do here is for the Steinbrenners to eat their hats, apologize, and try their damnedest to get Torre back. Oh (and for good measure), get rid of Mattingly - he’s a curse!

Rutgers football deserves to be ranked in the Top 25 in the nation. Not only have they put together a winning format over in New Brunswick, but they’ve showed dominance over the teams that they’ve defeated each week.

Today’s USA Today Coaches’ Poll doesn’t rank Rutgers at all. That’s a shame. The Associated Press Top 25 lists Rutgers as #25 and I can deal with that for now, but the BCS doesn’t mention Rutgers at all and that’s just not right.

This is a good team with great potential and they deserve a BCS ranking.

The other day I was up in the Roxbury area so I stopped in at The Vitamin Shoppe that my younger brother works at to replenish my supply of “Ultimate Man” multivitamins. I like the Ultimate Man, No Iron blend because it is essentially the same mixture as GNC’s Mega Men multivitamins except it costs between $8 and $15 less per 180-count bottle (depending on the sale at the time)! I began taking these “high-powered” multi-vitamins a few years ago after my doctor said that he wanted to see me on something stronger than Centrum. Anyway, I digress…

The Vitamin Shoppe was running a promotion where you got a free, 30-count bottle of Cytolean for every 180-count bottle of Ultimate Man that you bought. Since I buy my vitamins two bottles at a time, I got two free bottles of this Cytolean stuff. The Cytolean bottle says that it is a, “Maximum Duration Adipose Reducing Agent,” which I think means that it tries to burn fat for you. Another one of the on-bottle advertisements is, “Profound sense of well-being & mental focus.” Well, folks, since I have these two free bottles, I decided to give this stuff a try to see what the effects would be on me.

I should preface this review by stating that I don’t really take anything to enhance or skew my train of thought. I take the multivitamin each morning and I take some Excedrin Migraine whenever I get a headache. On occasion I will take some Excedrin PM to help me sleep. I don’t really drink that much any more and I’ve never done any drugs, so any time I’m taking something that has the ability to alter my state of mind, it’s pretty noticeable.

This Cytolean stuff definitely altered my state of mind! When I was taking it, I found that I was more active and less sluggish. I also found that my appetite was diminished and I was able to focus more on whatever project I had in front of me. Every now and again I found myself yelling at the television while I was watching Rutgers and the Giants play over the weekend (which is very unlike me to do). It’s also worth commenting that I was not jittery or in a frantic state of mind when I used the Cytolean; these are common side effects of energy/stimulant pills. Though I did get a little light-headed from time to time, but nothing more than usual.

Many years ago when I was in high school, I took Stacker 2 just to see what the effect would be and if it would actually help me lose weight. I distinctly remember sweating a lot with the Stacker 2 and being in an excitable state of mind while the pills were pumping through me. I didn’t like that. I also remember crashing after taking Stacker. I didn’t get any of those effects from Cytolean. Well, yeah, I was sweating when I took it the other day, but that’s because it was nearly 90 degrees in New Jersey…in October!

So I would recommend Cytolean for anyone who is looking for a clear, clean boost to their mental and physical facilities. I had no hangover effect after the pills wore off nor did I crash and burn at the end of the day. I can’t comment on the “fat burning” ability of the product as I’ve only had it a couple of times. All in all, though, it was a pretty nice feeling and something that I’ll probably use again!

This is, by far, one of the most ignorant posts that I’ve ever put up on this blog, but screw it! Oh, and for the rest of this post try to put aside the knowledge that I truly believe just about all professional sports are fixed…

The catastrophic meltdown of the New York Mets, the crappy two-game losing streak that the New York Giants started the season on, and the destruction of the Rutgers football “phenomenon” in the last two weeks are perfect examples of why I don’t invest too much time in professional sports. Sure, I’m a casual Yankees fan, but watching my friends who are Mets fans hang their heads in anguish is something that I just hate to see. I understand that it’s all in fun and that fans are just fans and not the guys on the field, but the way the Mets completely fell apart really took its toll on their dedicated fan base.

How can you wait all off-season then get amped up for all of the regular season to watch it all slip away in a matter of a few games? At that point, you’ve pretty much wasted all of your thoughts and mental capacity for the team in the off-season, your effort sweating it out at the stadium in the summer, and your free time during the season watching the games when you could have been out with friends, working harder in school, or doing something financially productive.

I know there are those who would read such an assessment and think me a fool. But before you spit your forked tongues, don’t take me for an idiot. I understand the bonding that takes place with friends and family at the ballpark and around the television. I understand the thrill of the chase from the fan’s perspective and the even greater thrill of achieving previously unachievable goals. I get all of that and I love that just as much as the next guy. I was bouncing off the walls last season when Rutgers was racking up victories. It was awesome! And I don’t regret spending the time, thoughts, or effort to be a part of that Rutgers phenomenon from last season.

But let’s do something very unintelligent for a minute and use hindsight as 20/20. The truth is that a lot of people waste countless hours of personal time and potential productive time by getting themselves over-engrossed in a team. You know these people - the ones who yell at the television in an empty apartment (I’ve been guilty of this); the ones who attend their teams’ games when there are only three thousand people in a 77,000 person stadium; the people who know every last fact about every last person associated with the team from the front office down to the water boy.

When you watch a team that you’ve invested so much of yourself in completely blow it, you feel disappointment on so many levels. The Giants give me this feeling seemingly every football season lately! And this is why I’ve invested less and less of my personal time in the Giants. Why invest time in a program when it’s losing? I’m not saying that you should completely stop liking the team, but I AM saying that this concept that a true fan is with a team through thick and thin should be reserved for a small minority of fans who have nothing else in their lives.

I lumped Rutgers in at the beginning of this post because of their two recent losses. However, they really are a different story than the Mets and the Giants since they’re at the collegiate level. For a long time now I’ve enjoyed college sports much more than professional sports since the dynamic really can change every few years.

Anyway, there’s my ignorant post. Deal with it!

Eli Manning just didn’t have a good game today. That said, he still managed to bring the team to victory. I don’t know…yeah, it’s nice to get a check mark in the “W” column, but there’s something hollow in a victory where your Quarterback stinks up the field.

I generally can’t stand the television commentators on major league sports broadcasts, but when they said that Eli looked like his bad old self today, they were dead on the money. Here’s hoping that he stops that shit and gets his ass back in gear. He’s got the potential - he just needs to reach it every game day. Every game day!

Yesterday afternoon I was driving back from a workshop in Southern New Jersey and I had the Giants game on in the truck. I was absolutely shocked that the Giants won! I thought for sure that they were going to have one of those seasons where they play great games but lose every one of them.

Thank God I was wrong! I haven’t gotten a chance to see any of the updates from the game yet, but I’ll be looking for them tonight. Whew! What a relief!