Missed us over the weekend? Yeah, we missed you too. In this edition of the FanHouse Minute, let "This Suit Is Not Black" guide you through the latest on the NBA's mini tour bus and how she's a better runner than Hideki Okajima, as only she can.
It was during the 2007 preseason that retired Giants running back Tiki Barber proclaimed on NBC's Football Night in America that former teammate Eli Manning lacked the requisite leadership skills to lead New York. Of course, they won the whole thing a few months later. Barber: "So before last season on NBC, I publicly questioned your early leadership. Now, clearly I was proven wrong. But what was your reaction when you heard?"
Manning: "I obviously had to stand up for myself. I kind felt I was called out. So I had to come back and stand up for myself. I felt in that situation, I had to say something. Sometimes, you've got to go outside what's your norm and do something you feel strongly about. I've been through all sorts of things in New York City through the media. There's a time when you reach a certain point where you've got to stand up and fight back a little bit."
Yesterday, Michael Strahan did that whole "hey, look, I'm an unbiased TV personality" thing yesterday, predicting a Super Bowl win for the Cowboys a few days after popping out of a giant Lombardi Trophy at Giants Stadium like the world's scariest-looking stripper emerging from a cake. You might remember Jerome Bettis and Tiki Barber pulling similar acts of defiance upon becoming talking heads, neither of which went over particularly well in said head's NFL city."If I was an analyst, I'd probably pick the Cowboys, too," LB Antonio Pierce said with a smirk today. "That's not outrageous; that's the norm. ... Pierce was asked if the Giants will put Strahan's words on a bulletin board. "No, no, no. We just send Mike text messages and laugh about it," Pierce said. "We know where Mike's heart is...."And then Pierce was asked about the contrast between Strahan's words and those spoken by Tiki.
"Who?"Nice. Before you accuse Pierce of holding a double standard, there are a few key differences. As Pierce said, they know where Strahan's heart is, because he spent his last season leading them to a trophy, as opposed to Tiki, who spent his last season disinterested, insulting, obnoxious, and isolated. And then there are the words themselves. Strahan predicted a pretty damn good division rival would win the title; Tiki more directly said very unkind things about the Giants themselves. So, yeah, the continued vitriol is kinda understandable, no?
Some players weren't happy with former Dolphins kicker Jay Feely's comment that ''you can see the lack of talent that still exists'' here. ''He was part of the lack of talent we got rid of!'' [Channing] Crowder said. Vonnie Holliday called Feely's comment ``kind of Tiki Barber-ish . . . Now that you're no longer [here], you downgrade us? I would expect a little more from that guy.''Crowder makes a good point. It's not like Feely was exactly kicking game-winning field goals on a weekly basis last season. I know, it helps to have an offense that can actually get past midfield when trying to best utilize the kicker, but it seems like an odd remark for a kicker, a position most players don't even consider part of the team.
Six months ago, Terry Bradshaw was set to retire from Fox "NFL Sunday" once his contract expired, because, as he explained to the New York Daily News' Bob Raissman, "I see the energy and the enthusiasm these young guys (who get into broadcasting) have and I think it's time to hang it up..." "I'm going to do it (the Fox pregame) as long as I can. I don't want to retire," Bradshaw told me. "I just see too many people retire and say, 'I'm going to take off, travel, spend time with my family' and they are just miserable. They end up dying. People who work and stay active, and like what they are doing, live longer. I look forward to doing the show."Bradshaw thinks Strahan will liven things up on the set, which should offset any fears he has of viewers getting tired of the on-air talent. (Something the USGA has yet to embrace when talking about Chris Berman. Moving on...)
Last week, I pointed to Mike Garafolo's article about what Ahmad Bradshaw's month-long stint in lock-up might mean for Brandon Jacobs and his desire for a shiny, new deal. Predictably, I trotted out the "running backs are fungible, there's no need to give Jacobs a big payday, even if Bradshaw gets a life sentence" reasoning. So it makes perfect sense that The Record's Vinny DiTrani writes the following: But now that [Jacobs is] back [from traveling] negotiations are continuing on a four-year contract which could be concluded any day now.Well, No. 1 sounds likes it's coming along much better than Nos. 2 and 3, but DiTrani also notes that "a source that has been accurate much of the time says the Giants have given up efforts to try to trade the tight end, and that Shockey will stay put." He admits that's hard to believe, but the voice of reason, Lawrence Taylor, makes a solid point: once the season starts, everything's forgotten.
If the Giants get Jacobs signed, come to an agreement on a much-deserved raise for Plaxico Burress, and somehow get Shockey back on the right track, what appeared to be a disruptive off-season might not be that bad after all.
Michael Strahan's a Hall of Famer and I don't think anybody begrudges him for choosing to retire after the Giants won the Super Bowl, and then taking a $2 million-a-year job to be an analyst on Fox's "NFL Sunday." Unlike Tiki Barber, who left under less happy-go-lucky circumstances, Strahan is still a fan favorite. Even when talking about his former team for the first time as a member of the media yesterday. Strahan, a former Giant, had just been asked what he thought of his former teammates, Jeremy Shockey and Plaxico Burress. They are currently boycotting the team's off-season training and demanding contract renegotiations.He then randomly added, "Tom Coughlin forced me out of football and Eli Manning isn't a leader."* Actually, Strahan, who quit talking to the media for a spell last season, has seamlessly made the transition to the other side: "I'd like to put in my first media request for an hour sit-down with Coach Coughlin," he announced. "And tell him not to be late."
"Obviously, he is underpaid for what he does and brings to the team," Strahan said of Burress. "For him, in his defense, it is the right time to do that."
"But to be honest with you, in professional football, there is no loyalty," he added. "There is really no contract."
"This is the business of the sport," Barber told The Post. "Once football starts it's [all about] football." ...Can't disagree with any of that. And Tiki, who questioned Eli Manning's leadership skillz almost a year ago, even had some nice things to say about the handsomest dude in the Manning family:
"I don't think [Burress' contract demands] matter ... As we saw last year with Michael [Strahan, who skipped training camp], people thought it was going to be a big issue and it turned out not to be. I don't think, come Sundays in the fall, it matters too much to players."
"He's always been [a leader] who it didn't matter what people thought of him, it only mattered how he could grow," Barber said. "When I was there you could see him growing. People will still doubt him at some point during the year, but he can know in his mind and his heart, 'I've done it already, so I can do it again.' "See, we can all get along.
Eli Manning, June 9, 2008: We head into the 2008 season with the goal of getting better, not winning the Super Bowl. "We've said we're not going to talk about repeating or doing that, just becoming a better team," he said. "We have a lot of work to do. You look at a lot of things from last year that we did not do well. From an offensive standpoint, there's a lot of things." ...Actually, if Manning had uttered these words a year ago, they would've made sense then, too, but the difference, obviously, is that when he says it now, people only half-pay attention because they're too busy gawking. It's just a shame that Manning will never be the outspoken leader the Giants need. Maybe someday.
Manning said the focus for the Giants this season is to find a way to learn from last season, when they turned around their season with a six-game winning streak after losing their first two.
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