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!

Even though the game was on too late for my liking, I watched the whole Giants game last night. The Giants looked good, but the Cowboys looked better. Not too bad of a game for Eli, though I still think he doesn’t have “it” - whatever “it” is these days. He did show some leadership potential, though, and I credit him for those qualities.

All in all, the team played well. A few mistakes here and there, but that’s to be expected (come on, it’s the Giants - we can’t expect perfection!). If they play a little bit better each week, then I think we have a great second half of the season ahead of us, but that remains to be seen.

One of the downers yesterday had to do with Tiki Barber, though. As one of my roommates said last night, the man really just talks too much shit on the Giants. Last night on Sports Final with Mike Francesca (who ought to be ashamed of the what he said about the Jets fans yesterday), Tiki blatantly stated that he’s employed by Dick Ebersol and that he’s using this controversy to launch himself from football into his next career.

That may fly in other sports and other professions, but it’s not going to work in football. Here’s hoping that the Giants get a little bit better each week and that Tiki learns some couth (some in his new profession might call it gravitas) and stops bashing the Giants.

Listening to some of the losers on sports talk radio this week, you’d think that Rutgers Football is experiencing some type of flash in the pan with the success that they had last year and early this year. Hopefully their dominating victory against Navy tonight helps to prove that Ray Rice, Mike Teel, Tiquan Underwood, Eric Foster, and Coach Schiano are no joke. These guys are in it to win it and there are literally hundreds of thousands of people in the New Jersey metro area that are pulling for these guys to bring home a lot of hardware come the end of the season.

Great game tonight against Navy. It was one of those games that Rutgers should have won convincingly and they did just that. The same goes for last week’s game against Buffalo and next week’s game against Norfolk State (who the hell is Norfolk State? seriously - I’ve never heard of them).

Rutgers isn’t here to play games - just like the rest of this state. One of the interesting things about college football in New Jersey is that you have the Monmouth University Hawks, the TCNJ Lions, the William Paterson Pioneers, and a whole host of other decent football programs who all obviously want to win each week. But all of these teams at our smaller schools still root on Rutgers since they’re the flagship program in the state. And, in turn, the Rutgers crowd is always pulling for New Jersey’s smaller schools to win. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship in New Jersey - sort of like we’re all in this thing together!

Anyway, a great game by Rutgers tonight and a great effort by a decent Navy team. Can’t wait for next week!

Former WWE & WCW wrestler Brian “Crush” Adams was found unconscious in his home yesterday. He was 44. This is, of course, another tragedy for a profession that has gone through so much turmoil in so short a time. But the only thing that is more depressing about another wrestling star passing away is the manner in which the media is trying to link Crush’s death to Chris Benoit, the WWE, and steroids. It’s scandalous that these media outlets get away with such garbage reporting…

It’s tough to say what Crush was best known for in the wrestling world. If you’re an older fan like I am, then you remember when he debuted in the WWE as the third member of Demolition. This lasted for a little while before he was repackaged as Kona Crush, given his Hawaiian roots. If I’m not mistaken, the highest profile feud he was involved in as Kona Crush was with the Macho Man Randy Savage - Savage was the face in this one!

Adams was then arrested in real life for attempting to purchase steroids and subsequently jailed. When he got out of prison WWE paired him with Clarence Mason and he was given the ex-con gimmick. Eventually, he wound up as a member of Ron Simmons’ Nation of Domination before he was kicked out for the gang battles of the later 1990’s. In these battles he led the Disciples of Apocalypse against Los Boriquas and the Nation. Crush asked for and received his WWE release after he disagreed with Vince McMahon’s double-cross of Bret Hart at the 1997 Survivor Series.

Logically, this led Adams to jump to WCW where he had an uneventful career until he was paired with the former Adam Bomb (Bryan Clark) to form Kronik. The duo won the WCW tag team championship by defeating Shane Douglas and Buff Bagwell.

When WWE bought WCW, the two men were brought over and briefly had a feud with The Undertaker and Kane. The feud culminated in a pay per view match where Kronik had a terrible performance - which led to Bryan Clark getting fired and Adams being sent to WWE’s developmental territory for a short while before he was eventually let go, too.

Adams had the look to be a major player in the wrestling world, but his career never fell in that direction. Our prayers and condolences are with his family.

Listen, I don’t really care about the home run race nor do I give a crap about Barry Bonds and his steroid case. If you look at the facts of the case - which is, admittedly, still pending - it’s obvious that this man took “performance enhancing drugs.” Just look at the before and after pictures of him. You don’t have to be a genius to figure this stuff out, folks.

So does Barry Bonds get an asterisk next to his name in the history books? I don’t care. He’s already got the asterisk in the court of public opinion and that’s what matters more. The man had an advantage that Hank Aaron did not have and he used that advantage to put himself on top of the home run list.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter. A-Rod is going to eclipse Bonds in a few years anyway!

The Eagles have signed free agent wide receiver Kevin Curtis to a six-year contract worth $32 million with $9.5 million guaranteed.

This space prefers Donte’ Stallworth, but I like the deal nonetheless. More to come…

In another questionable move by the Eagles’ front office, running back Ron Dayne will come in for a visit to discuss the possibility of become the team’s number two running back behind Brian Westbrook.

Many people view the 29 year-old, who was taken with the 11th overall pick by the Giants in 2000, as a complete bust who has never lived up to expectations. Actually, that’s the way Iview him. With that said, Dayne might actually be a decent fit for the Eagles, who will likely call on him for six to ten carries a game.

Last year, in only 11 games with Houston, Dayne 612 yards on 151 carries, for an average of 4.1 yards per carry. When you consider that he was running behind an absolutely awful Texans offensive line, those numbers begin to look pretty good.

The key with Dayne is understanding that he is not a push the pile type of back despite his stout 5′10”, 245 lb. frame. He is a little bit more of a shifty runner than people would anticipate him to be.

Given the choice between Dayne and Eagles free agent Correll Buckhalter, who has missed three of the past five seasons with knee injuries and was only OK in his return last season.

Of course, Corey Dillon still remains on the market, but the likelihood is that he will command more money and be less likely to embrace the roll of backup runningback. He is also three years older than Dayne.

It certainly isn’t Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush, but Brian Westbrook and Ron Dayne could form a nice one-two punch.

In a very weird development, restricted free agent linebacker Ryan Fowler, who reportedly signed a four-year offer sheet on Sunday with the Eagles, has opted to sign with the Titans instead.

Profootballtalk.com reports: “Late last week, the Eagles and the Titans were both negotiating with Fowler, who previously played for the Cowboys. Titans G.M. Mike Reinfeldt, however, had to return to Seattle to deal with a family medical issue. Over the weekend, Fowler’s agent, Alan Herman, was unable to reach Reinfeldt to determine whether the pending offer from the Titans was their final offer.

Acting under the assumption that they had the Titans’ best offer, Herman and Fowler weighed the offers from Tennessee and Philly and Fowler decided to sign the Eagles’ offer sheet.
On Sunday, Reinfeldt got back to Herman, and presented the Titans’ final offer. It was better than the Eagles’ offer. The only problem? Herman already had told the Eagles that Fowler would sign the Eagles’ offer sheet.

As we understand it, Herman explained the situation to the Eagles, and Fowler took Sunday night to make a decision. On Monday morning, he decided to sign the offer sheet from the Titans.”

The reaction here? Good. Perhaps this will force the Eagles hand at actually going out and drafting somebody worth a damn at linebacker instead of handing out mid-range contracts to nobody’s from the NFL’s trash heap.

Interestingly, this is the second time in two seasons that a free agent appeared poised to sign with the Eagles before a last minute change of heart. Last year, center LeCharles Bentley spurned the Eagles and signed a mega-deal with Cleveland, only to blow out his knee and miss the entire 2006 season. It currently appears unlikely that Bentley will play in 2007, putting his career in jeopardy.

The Eagles have not yet commented on the matter and it is not certain that they will.

Former Eagles’ wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth has signed a six-year contract with the New England Patriots for $30 million, $12 million of which is guaranteed. Reports suggest that the contract is essentially a one-year deal worth $3.6 million should the Patriots decide that Stallworth is not worth the rest of the rather large signing bonus.

It’s not that the Stallworth is fleeing Philadelphia is a surprise, it is that the Eagles opted not to match what appears to be a very modest deal from the Patriots.

Maybe the Eagles made Stallworth a similar offer and he simply chose New England, where he could catch passes from future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady on a team that is the early favorite to reach the Super Bowl. Maybe the Eagles didn’t offer him anything at all. Still, it is a disappointing end to the Stallworth saga for Eagles fans, who once again are left scratching their heads at another unpopular decision by Joe Banner, Tom Heckert, and Andy Reid.