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The most frustrating part of being a Giants fan over the last three years has been the overwhelming amount of injuries. Not once in those three years have the Giants managed to play through a season without a significant injury. In fact, they'd consider it a good year if they only suffered a single significant injury.

Unfortunately, with a little over a week to go until the regular season begins, the Giants are once again facing those injury demons. It began early in the offseason when fullback Jim Finn was placed on injured reserve with a torn labrum and was promptly followed by cornerback Michael Stone going down with a hip injury.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the Giants lost tight end Darcy Johnson (knee), wide receiver Michael Jennings (Achilles), defensive tackle Marcus Bell (knee) and defensive end Dek Bake (back).

Day number two has just ended and I was so excited about some of the news that I decided to make this an evening thing rather than a morning thing. If you'd like to keep up on all "Giants Training Camp Notebook" updates, just click the link and bookmark that bad boy.

- Ralph Vacchiano of "The Blue Screen" says the Giants have no intentions of sitting around and waiting for Michael Strahan. Although the scheduled meeting with Simeon Rice has been postponed until Tuesday, New York will pursue a contract when he arrives.

- Will Demps has been "demoted" and he's not exactly happy with it. James Butler has been practicing with the first team in his place.

"My track record speaks for itself," Demps said. "It's real early. I'm not going to say, 'OK, he's the starter,' because we haven't played any games. I'm healthy and I'm in the best shape I've been in. This is the guy I felt I should've been last year."

- Sam Madison missed a few plays today due to cramping, but it's nothing serious.

It took until April 13th but the Giants finally started to address some of their needs and depth issues. The day began with the signing of free agent quarterback Anthony Wright and ended with the additions of defensive tackle Marcus Bell and defensive back Michael Stone.

While I was openly displeased with the Wright signing, I am thrilled with the addition of Marcus Bell. One of the Giants biggest concerns this offseason was finding a run-stuffing DT/NT and that's exactly what Bell brings to the table. The 6'2 and 326 pound Bell collected 40 tackles, one sack and one forced fumble last year. In all likelihood he'll be used in rotation with Barry Cofield and Fred Robbins; primarily used on rushing downs.

Unlike Bell who will come in and have a specific job, Stone will not. He is an underperforming defensive back but he does excel on special teams. For that reason I am also pleased with this signing. The Giants special teams unit left a lot to be desired last year so any additional help can only be positive.

With the recent announcement of G/T Barry Stokes and DT Marcus Bell being placed upon the injured reserve list, that makes 14 members of the Lions roster who have been lost for the season due to injury. One other player, G Ross Verba, would have already been placed on the injured reserve but his injury doesn't fit under the right parameters of an injury that would allow him to be placed on the injured reserve. How did the Lions get themselves into a situation where 15 players, who are obviously better and more experienced than the ones who have taken their place, are no longer on the active roster?

One theory may be the extra-physical nature of Rod Marinelli's pre-season camps have exerted an exceptionally heavy toll. That being said, I don't believe that this is the case. The Lions entered the regular season with only DE Bill Swancutt and S Idrees Bashir on the injured reserve. You would think a lot more players would have went down to injury earlier in the season if the camp had been too physical. To the contrary, with the high number of offensive and defensive linemen who have gone down to injury, and the additional knowledge that several of these players were being penalized for being overweight, conditioning of linemen on both sides of the ball seems to be a major issue which needs to be addressed this offseason.

G Damien Woody and DT Shaun Rogers have been both the recipients of fines for being overweight, and as a result of their weight issues, out of shape. Both players were considered cornerstone members of the franchise entering the season, but now might be considered organizational dead weight as the season plays out. Neither contributed much value this season and both provided a certain amount of embarrassment to the franchise. Rogers, who was suspended for four games for testing positive for a banned substance, and Woody, who allegedly stalked and harassed a Detroit-area woman who he had had an affair with, should probably receive the first ticket out of town after this season expires.