It's not that the Giants' three-game losing streak has gone unnoticed. It's just that, with all the excitement over everything the Yankees have been up to, New York sports fans have had other things on their minds. Yes, they're aware, vaguely, that the Giants' defense hasn't been able to stop the Saints, Cardinals or Eagles the past three weeks. And they have seen a headline or two about Eli Manning suddenly looking much more mortal than his contract and his championship pedigree say he should. But the panic meter hasn't moved too much over all of this, because New York is still one of the few American towns in which football can take a backseat to baseball. And for the past few weeks, for very good reason, New York has been a baseball town.
That all changes this weekend. The San Diego Chargers hit town -- another dynamic offense surely licking its chops over a chance to take its turn at the Giants' battered ego and secondary. If the Giants lose again, they're looking at a 5-4 record heading into their bye week, which would mean two solid weeks of tabloid and talk show debate on the issue of "What's Wrong With the Giants?"
The Chiefs fans who want Larry Johnson off their team aren't your typical angry fans, lashing out over something as unpleasantly common as another losing season. The online petition they started, which was barreling toward 20,000 signatures Thursday afternoon amid a surprising run of national publicity, says nothing about wanting a coach fired or demanding that an owner sell. It is a petition from the heart, whose roots lie not in anger over the team's record or current stretch of on-field futility, but rather in a deep and abiding love of the team and its history.
"People in Kansas City, we don't mind losing," Dan Cataldi said. "We get used to it, actually. But it just gets frustrating when we don't like the team. That's what we can't stand."
Hence, this petition, which is addressed to new Chiefs GM Scott Pioli and makes the simple plea to remove Johnson from the field and/or the team before he collects 80 more yards and surpasses Priest Holmes as the team's all time leading rusher.
In case you hadn't noticed, sports these days are all about Goliath. In 2009, the Steelers, Lakers, North Carolina Tar Heels and now the Yankees have all won titles in their respective sports. Cinderella is yesterday's news. The teams that win these days are the teams that always win, and if you think that's boring, well, tough. You can kiss one of Derek Jeter's five World Series rings.
So with that in mind, we need to be really careful about overlooking the Dallas Cowboys.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. All you ever hear about the Cowboys is what's wrong with them. Terrell Owens was a pain. Roy Williams is a loudmouth, too, and isn't good enough to replace T.O. Tony Romo's too concerned with his golf game and his high-wattage love life to ever attain his potential. The new stadium is ridiculous...
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell testified before a congressional subcommittee Tuesday, asking U.S. lawmakers for legislative help in the league's ongoing effort to suspend Minnesota Vikings defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams for a positive drug test. But at the end of a three-hour hearing, the chairman of the subcommittee made it clear that Congress has no interest in getting involved in the StarCaps case. Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois urged Goodell and players' union head DeMaurice Smith, who also testified, to work out their differences over the case and the league's drug policy through collective bargaining.
"Ask Rodney King for some advice," Rush said in his closing statement. "Can't we all get along?"
PHILADELPHIA -- You don't think of the Eagles along with the Saints or the Colts or the Patriots in terms of the number, the variety and the explosiveness of their offensive playmakers. Teams like that set the standard, and the Eagles don't feel like they fit into that kind of conversation. And that's fine, because they're not there yet.
But if you watched the Eagles score on big play after big play Sunday afternoon against the Giants, you got the feel that they might very well be there soon. Andy Reid's Philadelphia offense remains a work in progress, but with the number of different weapons he has at his disposal on any given play, we could soon be talking about the Eagles as one of the most exciting and dynamic offensive teams in the league.
PHILADELPHIA -- Mike Alvarez is a lifelong Philadelphian with a Cole Hamels haircut and a vintage maroon Phillies cap who spent his Sunday in a parking lot. Alvarez didn't have tickets to the Eagles-Giants game in the afternoon. He didn't have tickets to the Phillies-Yankees World Series game at night. What he did have was a parking space for his truck, a seemingly bottomless supply of beer and enough slightly slurred wisdom to know that there was no place he would have rather been than this particular parking lot on this particular day, surrounded by his fellow Eagles and Phillies fans.
"They got flat-screens over there," Alvarez said, waving his beer can in the direction of a nearby RV. "Everybody's grilling food. I've made a ton of new friends. What more could you want?"
PHILADELPHIA -- If the Phillies were trying to get into Alex Rodriguez's head by hitting him with pitches, they're going to need to find another tactic, and fast. Something very strange has happened here in late 2009, and the inside of that particular head is no longer the mushy, insecure, vulnerable place it once was. Matter of fact, when Cole Hamels hit Rodriguez with a pitch in the second inning on Halloween night, the Yankees' All-Star third baseman and would-be centaur says, it had the opposite effect.
"Kind of woke me up a little bit," Rodriguez said early Monday morning, after his ninth-inning double had broken a Game 4 tie and moved the Yankees within one game of a championship. "Just reminded me, 'Hey, this is the World Series. Let's get it going a little bit.' "
It was the fluke catch of the week. Sunday night at the Meadowlands, Giants rookie receiver Hakeem Nicks caught a tipped pass that had been intended for Mario Manningham and carried it all the way to the end zone for a 62-yard touchdown against the Cardinals. It was a shake-your-head play -- the kind the defense can write off as an excusable miracle, a bizarre bounce, nothing more than pure luck.
But they say luck is the residue of design, and the people who know Hakeem Nicks say that design is a huge part of his game. Coaches and teammates past and present describe Nicks as an intensely studious, hyper-prepared player who obsesses over his playbook and game scripts and would rather talk about route-running than anything else. Knowing Nicks means knowing that the seeds of that Sunday night play were planted years ago at Independence High School in Charlotte, N.C., where a coach named Tommy Knotts drills 16- and 17-year-old kids on something even NFL coaches struggle to get across -- the importance of film study.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- This was to have been the Giants' get-right game. Sure, New Orleans beat them up last week, but the Saints are an undefeated team that was coming off a bye week and playing at home. The Giants spent the week shrugging off that loss and promising to be better this week at home against the Cardinals. The defense promised more blitzing and less trepidation. The offense promised to be sharper. To a man, the Giants were certain they'd come up with a big win Sunday night over the reigning NFC champs...and then they lost.
"For whatever reason, we've had two weeks in a row now where one area has not performed very well," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "So, back to the drawing board."
And back, whether they like it or not, into a three-team NFC East tussle where there's no clear favorite -- not even them.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- They flew all over the field all night, racing to the ball, harassing the opposing quarterback with a variety of aggressive blitzes. The defense was disruptive, deep and energetic, and the main reason its team won the game. All of this was to be expected, of course...just not from this particular team.
On this night, it was the Arizona Cardinals beating the New York Giants at the latter's own game, forcing four turnovers and out-muscling Big Blue 24-17 on national TV in the swamps of Jersey.
"We definitely fed off our defense tonight," Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner said.
It's not that the Giants' three-game losing streak has gone unnoticed. It's just that, with all the excitement over everything the Yankees have been up to, New York sports fans have had other things on their minds. Yes, they're aware, vaguely, that the Giants' defense hasn't been able to stop the Saints, Cardinals or Eagles the past three weeks. And they have seen a headline or two about Eli Manning suddenly looking much more mortal than his contract and his championship pedigree say he should. But the panic meter hasn't moved too much over all of this, because New York is still one of the few American towns in which football can take a backseat to baseball. And for the past few weeks, for very good reason, New York has been a baseball town.
The 
In case you hadn't noticed, sports these days are all about Goliath. In 2009, the 
NFL commissioner 
PHILADELPHIA -- You don't think of the 
PHILADELPHIA -- If the 
It was the fluke catch of the week. Sunday night at the Meadowlands, 
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- This was to have been the Giants' get-right game. Sure, New Orleans beat them up last week, but the Saints are an undefeated team that was coming off a bye week and playing at home. The Giants spent the week shrugging off that loss and promising to be better this week at home against the Cardinals. The defense promised more blitzing and less trepidation. The offense promised to be sharper. To a man, the Giants were certain they'd come up with a big win Sunday night over the reigning NFC champs...and then they lost.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- They flew all over the field all night, racing to the ball, harassing the opposing quarterback with a variety of aggressive blitzes. The defense was disruptive, deep and energetic, and the main reason its team won the game. All of this was to be expected, of course...just not from this particular team.
