Trash Talk?

There are only a few more days until the final football game of the season so I might as well talk football while I can. There are two dreaded weeks in between the conference championship games and the super bowl. Two weeks for the media to search for and dig up any stories they can find involving the two teams. Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress has predicted a 23-17 victory. Seeing a story begin to brew, members of the media began licking their lips. MVP Tom Brady responds by laughing and saying, "We're only going to score 17 points. O.K." The media goes nuts. I don't see the big deal. I used to hate trash talking, but now that it involves my New York football Giants, I see it as good clean fun. Both players were having fun with it and they both said the right thing. What is wrong with having a confident receiver? What is Burress supposed to say? That is team is going to lose. Brady was just saying the truth. They haven't been held under 20 points all season. This is nothing but a fun story and something to pass the time before Sunday.

7 years later. . . another shot

Seven years after a super blowout in Super Bowl XXXV, longtime Giants Amani Toomer and Michael Strahan will get another shot (and possibly their last) at holding the Lombardi trophy above their heads. Toomer, 33, and Strahan, 36, are both closing in on what have been great careers. After defeating the Minnesota Vikings 41-0 in the NFC Championship game seven years earlier, they were matched up against the best defense in the league in the Baltimore Ravens. A tough matchup left the G-men with an embarrassing 34-7 loss. Toomer, Strahan, and the rest of the Giants are once again faced with a difficult task--the undefeated New England Patriots. Big Blue has been underdogs throughout the playoffs and have beaten the odds in every game against the Bucs, Cowboys, and the Packers. This is nothing new for Toomer and Strahan. They have plenty of big game experience. Giants' coach Tom Coughlin has even chose Toomer and Strahan to address the rest of the team on just how important this game is and how much it means to them. On the plane ride home from Green Bay after their 23-20 overtime victory over the Packers that sent them to the big game, the two veterans sat together to discuss what they would say to their teammates. I wish I could have been involved in that conversation.