The NFL Network has teamed up with Hulu to provide video on their web service. I don't know if you guys have seen this, but enough content has been released that there is even a NY Giants channel with 28 videos available. I just was finally able to watch "America's Game" for the '07 SB, which I had heard so much about and was finally able to watch. There is some really cool stuff available. Anyway, here's the link & I hope I'm not posting info that everyone on the site already knows about.

http://www.hulu.com/nfl/new-york-giants

From NY Daily News:

Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes wants one more unlikely victory in this Super Bowl year - and he's hoping the Bush administration can make it happen. Tynes, the hero of the NFC title game, seeks a White House order freeing his jailed brother Mark, a convicted drug trafficker doing 27 years. Lawrence Tynes acknowledges his older brother's guilt but believes the sentence is overly harsh Two factors are working against him: Bush has granted very few pardons or commutations. "This President has virtually ignored this power," said Prof. Dan Kobil, a pardon process expert at Capital University Law School in Columbus. "He's by far the stingiest pardoner." Second - and more problematic - is Mark Tynes' criminal history. He was saddled with a prior felony drug charge before his 2004 conviction as kingpin of a syndicate that transported 3,600 pounds of marijuana between Texas and Florida. Mark Tynes refused to cooperate with prosecutors - and his sentence was extended from 151 months to 324 months over allegations of witness intimidation. Without presidential help, Tynes isn't scheduled to leave prison until November 2026.

Good luck to Lawrence on this one. It doesn't sound too promising when you consider GW is not very lenient and the fact that all of Mark's friends sold him out so that everyone knows how guilty he is.

Peter King is now claiming that the best team in football after the Cowboys & Eagles losses is our New York Giants:

"Somewhere in between the Cowboys giving up 37 points to the Eagles and 381 yards to the Redskins -- both at home -- and listening to Terrell Owens complain last night that he's not getting the ball enough, I came to realize the team with the best talent is not the best team. At least not now. The Giants have retained the hunger of a team on the verge of winning a Super Bowl -- not of a team that just won one. In training camp, Justin Tuck told me the defensive linemen were sitting around at the team's Super Bowl party in Phoenix three hours after the game last February, all talking about winning another one instead of how they were going to celebrate this one. The Giants are deep at running back and wide receiver (even with the Plaxico Burress fireworks), have a workmanlike and versatile offensive line, are surviving the killer losses of Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora, and are maturing in the secondary. Will they win again? If they don't get a big injury on defense, and if Eli Manning continues his steady climb as a passer and leader, the answer is yes."

While I'm happy that at least 1 "expert" realizes that the best team is not always the one with all the big names, it worries me that the Giants are getting so much love. Let's hope their heads don't swell like they have in the past.

This from ESPN.com:

-New Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey will have sports hernia surgery this week and will miss three to six weeks.

The story was first reported by The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune. The injury had been bothering Shockey for weeks, the newspaper said, but was aggravated in Sunday's 34-32 loss to the Denver Broncos.

Of course this shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. Shock has been pretty banged up the last few years and his questionable health was one of the main reasons the trade didn't sting so much (well, at all). I do feel for the Saints though. They are having some tough luck so far this season.

There is a very interesting article about Lawrence Tynes and his brother on ESPN.com. Check it out: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3340561

Amazing how different their lives ended up, even though they came from the same household. Also pretty interesting that his career really took off after his brother went to prison.

Dr Z has posted a positional breakdown of Pats-Giants over at SI.com: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/dr_z/01/29/matchups.offense/index.html?eref=T1

I think he did a tremendous job. It's pretty rare that a national media member gives us such an in depth analysis. Here is an example of the breakdown at LCB:

"Aaron Ross (31)
Has been hurt late in the season and in and out of the lineup, which is the only reason I'm not giving him the edge. A good, active coverage man, but a rookie, and Brady likes to work against those. Usually lines up on the slot receiver."

Now this is against Asante Samuel, which if he just used the conventional wisdom like most of the media does, then he would never even consider that Ross might be as good as Samuel.

Overall the Pats O gets a pretty big edge over the Gmen (not surprising). He gives the Giants a slight edge on D and special teams with the Giants pretty close in the total tally.

Now I've been listening to WEEI (Boston) for the last few days and again and again they assume that the Pats talent level is A LOT greater than the Giants, often claiming that the Giants do not even have as good of talent as Dallas & Green Bay (even though we kicked their butts). As Giants fans we have known that this team has had the talent, but just couldn't put it together for various reasons (buying into TC, Eli's consistency, etc ...) and the talent base got a huge lift by the great draft by Reese. I think what everyone is going to realize after this game is that win or lose this team has the talent to compete with anyone and that this game is a closer matchup then most people think it is. Go Giants!!

This from Mike Garafolo:

The Falcons have requested permission to talk to Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo about their open head-coaching job. According to someone who has been informed of the Giants' reply, the team said no -- for now. The person, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the coaching search, said it's just a temporary "no" until the team is eliminated from the playoffs.

He goes on to say that Spags & Jason Garrett are on top of the team's wish list. Man, that would suck to lose guy after only one year. He's been a huge boost to a previously suspect coaching staff.

In case you missed it, Tiki criticized Eli during halftime show of the game Sunday (he did have some nice things to say too). Basically Tiki claimed that Eli was uncomfortable being a leader and that he wasn't sure that he'd ever be able to "be a leader of men".

Well, Eli responded:

"I don't always believe everything Tiki says. You know I feel very comfortable and I saw the deal last night and it seemed very rehearsed, kind of like his pre-game speeches."

He then went on to say:

"I feel confident in what I'm doing in getting the team ready and if you ask any of the players around here who the leader of the offense is they're going to say me."

This is good stuff. 1st, I'm glad someone spoke up about Tiki's B.S. Enough is enough with Tiki throwing his old teammates and coaches under the bus. It's obvious that his TV persona is more important to him than his friendships. 2nd, I love the confidence Eli is showing. It appears that he's making big steps this year both in his play and his leadership.

From CNNSI.com:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/jon_heyman/07/17/scoop.giambi/index.html

On Friday the Royals dropped their asking price on Sanders, and talks have progressed to the point where the Royals had a scout watching the Yankees over the weekend. Kansas City apparently is no longer insisting on prized pitching prospect Phil Hughes, Jose Tabata or Melky Cabrera and appears willing to choose from New York's second-tier prospects, which include Tyler Clippard, Jeff Karstens, Stephen White, Jeff Kennard and T.J. Beam. A deal may be expanded to also send relievers to the Yankees, possibly including veteran Elmer Dessens.

I think the lower asking price makes Sanders a much better option. Plus we know he's playoff tested.

I went to the Sox-Yanks game at Fenway last night. I grew up in upstate NY and have been a life long Yankees fan, but I've lived in New England for about  10 years now. At first it was an adjustment to deal with Sox fans, but now most of my friends and my girlfriend are Sox fans. Obviously I've learned how to deal. I've gone to maybe 10 Yanks-Sox games in Fenway and seen some real classics, such as Clemens first game there as a Yankee and a Moose-Pedro duel (1-0, 3 hits allowed).

Anyway, the game wasn't a classic, but it was fun. The highlight was definitely Fransworth blowing away Ortiz. The crowd was expecting Ortiz to get a hit. I even overheard someone on their cell phone afterwards say "Ortiz was up with the bases loaded and he STRUCK OUT! Can you believe it?!?!" That was priceless. Also, the Herald (terrible paper) had an article defending ARod yesterday and I actually heard Sox fans picking up on it and defending him too! I couldn't believe it. They were using the "Well, if he hits that many homeruns and RBI's than he must be clutch sometimes." Anything to run us Yanks fans down though. But, I did hear plenty of discontent about Manny showboating Tuesday night. Surprisingly, I got very little grief about my Jeter jersey. The Yanks fans down my row that were very obnoxious took most the heat and ended up in a fight. All in all, an entertaining night.

This is from today's NY Times: Kevin Brown's career with the Yankees seems to be over. After holding out hope that he could join their bullpen down the stretch, Brian Cashman said. "His throwing session didn't go as well as he had hoped," Cashman said. "He's still feeling it in his back despite his rehab sessions."

I couldn't be happier.

The HBO documentary on Mantle premiers tonight at 9pm. Its HBO, so it should be good. From HBO:

"The one-hour HBO Sports special explores the life and career of one of baseball's most enduring icons, Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle. August 13, 2005, marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Mickey Mantle, who lived a life as rich and extraordinary as a Hollywood script. Over the 18 seasons with the Bombers, despite constant nagging injuries, Mantle hit 536 home runs, twice hitting more than 50 in a season. He finished ten seasons with a batting average of .300 or more, and played in seven World Series. Today, "The Mick" remains the greatest switch-hitter in baseball history."