My Super Bowl Halftime Review

It sucked

Notes on Giants-Cowboys

I’m real excited about the Giants beating the Cowboys last night so why not start up the blog again. Here are some notes on the game last night.

Eli Manning- How many high difficulty throws did this guy make with the game on the line? He’s going to make 1-2 stupid throws a game but nobody has been better with the game on the line this year. Whether you like or dislike Eli you can’t deny he’s playing at an MVP level this year.

Defense- These teams are pretty much exactly the same on the defensive side of the ball. If they can’t put pressure on the quarterback they just get torched. Outside of Jason Pierre Paul I don’t think another defender for either team had even an average game. It was that bad.

JPP- Speaking of Jason Pierre Paul, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a defensive end be an ENTIRE defense like that. He had 8 tackles, a forced fumble, 2 sacks, a safety, and a blocked field goal. Ladies and gentleman, here’s your NFC Defensive Player of the Week. The scary part about JPP is that he’s just learning how to play football.

Justin Tuck- On the other side of JPP and having just about the exact opposite game was Justin Tuck. It might be a bit rash but the Giants have to consider playing Tuck less. He looks out of shape and he isn’t contributing against the pass or the run right now. He used to be a guy known for his motor but Tuck seems to shut it down on half the plays he’s in on now. Not sure if he’s hurt, out of shape, or done but clearly Justin Tuck isn’t right.

Rob Ryan- Can we stop showing this guy before/after every play? What has he done to deserve this kind of coverage? I’m not sure whether the constant coverage is just because he looks like a werewolf or if there’s something I’m missing here. Also, how did he not know the Giants were going to run a draw for the 2 point conversion? They ran the same play last week in the same exact situation. Who on the planet DIDN’T know the Giants were running a draw there?

DJ Ware- Why do the Giants insist on running draws and screens for this guy? Why is he even on the team? What does he do well? I don’t get it. 

Collinsworth Praising Terrence Newman- For some inexplicable reason Collinsworth in the early 4th quarter praised the way Terrence Newman had been playing. I guess if getting burned over and over again is worth praise then Newman deserved it.

Plaxico Burress and the "evil" New York Giants

We have football in just a few days and the top story on ESPN New York is about Plaxico Burress ripping his former team and its’ fans. His reasons for this are because the Giants didn’t treat him properly after he shot himself in the leg and removed himself from the Giants roster. The worst part of this entire situation is that Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants are actually taking criticism from the media and idiots like Stephen A. Smith about how they handled this situation.

Let me start this off by saying the Giants do not owe Burress anything. They paid him millions of dollars and in the midst of a playoff run, he shot himself in the leg. This created an enormous distraction for his team and he wound up in jail. Now he’s complaining Eli Manning didn’t visit him in prison and that Tom Coughlin was mean to him after it happened. I mean this is stuff we should be rolling our collective eyes at but instead it’s “top news.”

Are you freaking kidding me Plax? I know you’re trying to say you were Eli’s biggest supporter now but I clearly remember when you were publicly bashing his play the years leading up to the Super Bowl run. I’m sorry Eli hurt your feelings not visiting you but I know there wasn’t much love between you guys to begin with and you sabotaged his season. What the hell do you expect? The idea that Eli Manning should’ve done anything besides go about his business and be a professional is absolutely ridiculous.

Seriously, I know we love this story of redemption and we want to show that Burress was somehow kicked down by everyone instead of actually shitting all over himself, but we’re taking it a little far when we start criticizing professionals like Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin. I mean Burress didn’t like that Coughlin didn’t treat him with respect after he put himself before the team and shot himself? It’s Tom Fucking Coughlin! Did you expect him to be understanding about this situation?

Where in the blue hell was this media when Burress originally shot himself and got a RIDICULOUS prison sentence he didn’t deserve? Where was and where is the criticism of Bloomberg for making all this happen? No one defended Burress then, but now we want to spin this huge revival comeback story so we need the arch villains to be the New York Giants. This is so ridiculous because the Giants are such a professional organization that it works to their own detriment at times. They sat by and let Tiki Barber, Jeremy Shockey, and now Plaxico Burress just rip up their guys and they don’t respond because they always take the high road.

If you really think that Burress was mistreated by the Giants then you’re an idiot. This franchise did nothing but put up with him sitting out practices and games while he publicly bashed his own teammates and coach. Yeah, he was a force on the field and was awesome in the NFC Championship game vs. the Packers, but this is no reason for the Giants to treat a guy with respect who clearly didn’t treat them with any respect during his tenure. So while Plax bitches about us Giants fans not having his back during this maybe he should think about the constant disrespect and bullshit he always showed us as a player for our team.

I know post Michael Vick comeback the media dying for another prison to superstar revival story and wants to make the Giants the antagonists in this one but the fact is they are not. I don’t care how we celebrate Burress’ come back but let’s not act like the Giants are the bad guys here. With that said, let’s just talk about football.

Why Steve Smith?

Steve Smith of the New York Giants recently accepted a one year offer to play for the Philadelphia Eagles. He had a horrific knee injury last season and will likely be in a very limited role for the Eagles this season thus why the Giants had a lack of interest in signing him long term. However, despite the Giants never doing any harm to him, Smith is now talking trash about the team. This hits me hard as Steve Smith was probably my favorite player on the Giants and now I pretty much have no choice but to dislike him.

Smith recently told reporters, "I used to hate the Eagles, now I don't like the Giants." He went on further to state how the Giants had 2 ½ weeks to resign him but didn’t make him an offer that he apparently found worthy of his services. Now I understand that ESPN New York is making this out like the Giants screwed over Smith (because they never defend any New York franchise) but the reality of the situation is that Smith screwed himself over.

Steve Smith turned down a multi-year extension that the Giants offered him during the middle of last season that would have made him a very rich man and then had a knee injury that will probably limit his value the rest of his career. He then goes and doesn’t reply to the Giants contract offer and signs with their arch-rivals. How exactly are the Giants the bad guys in this situation? They were supposed to offer a multi-year deal to a guy coming off career threatening knee surgery? The Eagles sure didn't do that.

So while I loved what Steve Smith did on the field for the Giants, I’m a little ticked off at how he handled this situation. This is the last guy I would expect this kind of stuff from considering he always just kept his mouth shut and played football. It's just a very disappointing situation coming from a guy who I know Giants fans liked and had a lot of respect for. I'm just confused to why he would talk trash to reporters regarding this situation. Way to go from a classy guy to classless in a few weeks Steve Smith. 

We Must Trash A-Rod to Sell Sports News!

It’s a slow time for writing stories about sports. Baseball is the only sport going on, football hasn’t started yet, and there’s not much you can say about the NBA when it’s likely there’s not going to be a season. There’s not exactly a lot to draw the casual fans interest so in come these respective articles from ESPN New York writers Wallace Matthews and Ian O’Connor regarding Alex Rodriguez allegedly attending a celebrity “illegal” underground poker game. Clearly the thing to do that requires the most journalistic integrity in this situation is to cut this story from Star Magazine and then use anonymous sources to bash Alex Rodriguez. Brilliant, let’s look at these articles that I would say border on slander.

The story was initially published by Wallace Matthews who apparently has a personal vendetta against A-Rod and a deep hatred for the Yankees despite covering the team for ESPN New York. (Seriously, go through his archive then the stuff Fire Joe Morgan made fun of him for. It’s ridiculous he’s still in this business) He was one of the brilliant media types who were leading the charge saying the Yankees were better off without A-Rod despite his multiple MVP efforts.

So the title of Matthew’s article is “A-Rod Ban for Poker?” as to suggest that A-Rod is actually facing some kind of ban from baseball like Pete Rose. In reality, it would probably be a small suspension if these allegations from nameless people from a trashy tabloid are true. I mean let’s look at the evidence Matthews provides.

The allegations, first reported by Star Magazine, are that the New York Yankees third baseman played in at least two of the games, one of which took place at a record executive's Beverly Hills mansion, where "cocaine was openly used" and a fight nearly broke out when one of the players refused to pay after losing "more than a half-million dollars."

According to the story, details of which were reportedly provided by another player at the games, Rodriguez "tried to distance himself from the game," once the violence broke out.

So this is the top story on ESPN right now and to summarize it for you it’s basically MLB investigating whether A-Rod was at this poker game and the only evidence they have is hearsay about him being there. This “other player” or “whistleblower” as he’s called later in the article is really the only source given of this information. It’s also not even mentioned that this probably happened a few years ago as all the stories I’ve read regarding these poker games all point back to 2007-2008 but those are also from trashy tabloids. Alright, that’s the story so the responsible thing to do at this point would be to bring up a bunch of unrelated incidents to convince you A-Rod is an awful human being.

MLB is also concerned that Rodriguez's name will resurface in the ongoing federal investigation of Dr. Anthony Galea, the Toronto physician charged with smuggling human growth hormone and other illegal substances into the United States. Galea has treated numerous professional athletes, including Rodriguez and Tiger Woods.

Another story completely based on hearsay regarding A-Rod? Perfect. He wasn’t charged, his name wasn’t brought up, and he wasn’t convicted of anything but you’re right this is pretty relevant. How else can we slander his name Mr. Matthews?

"It's like there's something new with (Rodriguez) every day and it's impossible to keep up with it," a baseball insider said.

What exactly is a baseball insider? Does he work for MLB, an MLB team, or maybe cover baseball? If we were even slightly less vague with this would it really compromise this person’s identity? This is garbage journalism.

According to the baseball executive, MLB has yet to positively determine that Rodriguez took part in the games, which reportedly included actors Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The man did not know if baseball's investigators had yet spoken to Rodriguez about the allegations, but he confirmed MLB has at least two investigators working on the case

The “baseball executive” doesn’t know that A-Rod was there and has yet to speak to him about it. MLB has someone working on it though! God A-Rod you’re just so lame with your celebrity high stakes poker games. Nobody wants to do shit like that. I hate you! I wish there was more stuff we could bring up unrelated to this situation that could make me hate you more!

Recently, it was revealed that Rodriguez still employs his cousin, Yuri Sucart, after fingering him as the "mule" who transported his performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 after his steroid usage was revealed in a 2009 Sports Illustrated story, despite being told by the Yankees that Sucart would no longer be allowed in the clubhouse and encouraged to keep his distance from him.

Nice, this is exactly what this article needed, another hearsay story about A-Rod doing nothing illegal just seeing his cousin at a hotel while the Yankees were in town. Seriously, it’s not possible A-Rod would see his cousin without being injected with all kinds of steroids or doing something else equally as sinister.

"You get the feeling that Alex says what he thinks he needs to say to get by, and then goes out and does what he wants," the MLB executive said.

Even though we don’t know when this happened? Even though all the stories we just brought up are hearsay and involve him doing nothing illegal? How dare someone do what they want to do? What a selfish piece of shit. Fantastic piece though Wallace Matthews, you’ve managed to write an article based on anonymous sources and connect it to a bunch of other unrelated stories. How do you write for ESPN? How do you call yourself a journalist? Do we really believe there’s not a systematic effort to sell stories on Alex Rodriguez when a story lacking merit like this one is a top story?

A few hours later fellow ESPN New York writer Ian O’Connor published a piece that is right next to Matthews on the top of ESPN headlines asking whether A-Rod is worth the headache. I can assure you this piece is about of the same quality of Wallace Matthews. Let’s plow through this piece of shit.

"This is classic Alex Rodriguez," one high-ranking baseball official said Wednesday night.

Apparently NOBODY wants to give their name to these journalists. They only work for ESPN.

"In a lot of ways Alex is no different than Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. He's a thrill seeker, and he does everything he can to be overt. He's a classic example of where we are in society, the age of celebrity, where everyone loves triumphs and tragedies."

No No No. A-Rod is talented. He’s one of the best baseball players ever. Just because we report everything he does like those people doesn’t actually make him similar to those people. If an actual MLB executive thinks that A-Rod is like Lindsay Lohan, maybe he shouldn’t work for MLB.

"It's always something with Alex," said a second baseball official. "The amount of energy everyone has to devote to him is unbelievable.”

The amount of energy you guys spend trying to convince us all A-Rod is the anti-christ is what’s really unbelievable. He is a legendary baseball player, bangs hot celebrities, and attends poker games with Matt Damon. I’m sure nobody would do the same thing is his shoes. God, what a horrible human being. Also, all the cheap shots at A-Rod are from anonymous officials and insiders, as always.

Following his steroid admissions and his hip surgery in the spring of '09, Rodriguez was ambushed in a Tampa diner by longtime friend Gui Socarras and Yanks PR man Jason Zillo. They shouted at A-Rod over breakfast, told him he had to change his self-absorbed ways.

On the eve of the World Series, Rodriguez credited that intervention for sending his inner diva to the bench. "They showed me tough love," A-Rod said, "and I thought from that breakfast on I've stayed with the plan and it's been a good plan."

But in A-Rod's world, good plans can only be followed for so long. No, a poker game among ultra-famous friends doesn't amount to the crime of the century, not when poker tournaments are all the televised rage.

Okay, we’re actually reporting this story as if A-Rod JUST did this although ESPN never reported when this took place. All other sources say it took place years ago and that would make it in fact before everything you just said happened. Talk about spinning a story to make it more relevant. Also, poker tournaments are not “all the televised rage” and really never were. Where do they get these guys?

For the sake of my sanity I can’t quote anymore from these articles as I’ve rambled on long enough. I mean, is this journalism? We have two completely negative pieces written about A-Rod without one legitimate source. They all reference other incidents also without sources to basically prove that A-Rod is some kind of villain. It’s just terrible the things they will write and say to get people to visit their website and watch their network. There’s not a shred of integrity in either of these articles and it’s disgraceful. That’s all I can say. This is a total disgrace.

Message to Yankees Fans: Pray for Gardner’s Success

The Yankees need Brett Gardner to go on a tear over the next 15 days. Jeter is on the disabled list and if Gardner can have some success leading off in his absence maybe the Yankees can finally make the right decision and move Jeter down in the order. I know this has been written about over and over again but Jeter at this point of his career belongs nowhere near the top of the order and this is the time to move him down. I know he is close to 3,000 hits but winning and losing games are more important than personal milestones. (At least that’s what Jeter has always said)

The Yankees know at some point they have to do it and Girardi has already stated that it will happen eventually. Jeter has a slash line of .260/324/.324 which is pretty awful in its own right but even worse when you factor in he gets the most at bats on the team. I know he’s a double play machine and how could he not be hitting 66% of the balls he puts in play on the ground. However, this is no excuse to have the worst statistical hitter in your lineup getting the most at bats. This is not just some kind of trend because last year Jeter hit ground balls at the same rate and he obviously isn’t straightening himself out at the plate this year.

Let’s hope Gardner really tears it up and gives the Yankees no excuse but to continue to have him leading off. Gardner got off to an atrocious start but has picked it up over May and June to have a respectable .282/.362/.426 slash line. He’s also been red hot of late hitting .417 this June over 36 at bats. Gardner’s best attributes are his speed and ability to get on base so I feel like having him do anything but lead off is kind of a waste of his ability. Honestly at this point there is really nothing Brett Gardner will not give you that Derek Jeter does. He’s only 27 and I don’t quite think Gardner has reached his ceiling yet as a player.

I’m also in love the idea of pitchers having to worry about Gardner’s speed on base while pitching to the Granderson/Teixeira/A-Rod triumvirate. I know Gardner has been struggling running the bases but there’s no way he doesn’t put more pressure on opposing pitchers than 36 year old Jeter does at this point. He’s also seemingly too fast to continue to have these struggles. Hopefully Granderson will hit a few less solo shots with Gardner at the top of the order as well.

So let’s hope Gardner continues his hot hitting in June and gives the Yankees no option of putting him back down in the order. The Yankees need to put wins before legacies and milestones and I fail to see how it would be less special for Jeter to hit his 3,000^th batting 7^th rather than 1^st. I know ESPN and the New York media will play Jeter being moved down as some sort of insult to him just as they did with his overpriced contract in the off-season, but anyone who follows the Yankees knows this needs to happen. This is the time to do it. But hell, even if Jeter comes back to leadoff at least it makes more sense than this guy doing it.

A-Rod and Lebron are nothing alike

I’m listening to Colin Cowherd yesterday and during his rant of how Lebron disappeared in the Finals he stated that, “the only player I can even think of that compares to this is Alex Rodriguez.” I was confused by this statement but not terribly offended because Cowherd says baseless and stupid things just about daily. It’s kind of his job. Then I started to hear this comparison thrown around elsewhere in the media and by some of my friends, so I decided to write about it. Listen, Alex Rodriguez isn’t anything like Lebron James.

A-Rod struggled in the ALDS in 2006 and the media made a big deal out of it so of course, he’s the only guy we can compare to Lebron. This is an absolutely ridiculous argument. The most valuable player on a baseball team isn’t nearly as important as the most valuable player on a basketball team. That’s just how it is. Baseball is a series of individual match ups at the plate and A-Rod could have hit 400. in that series and the Yankees still would’ve lost because just about EVERYONE on the Yankees struggled in that series. A-Rod was the scapegoat of the series but “Captain Clutch” was even worse and he failed in every big situation.

I never bought this argument that A-Rod isn’t a clutch player because he’s one of the more clutch players in baseball. He hits very well with runners in scoring position, has several walk off hits in his career, and is probably the best bases loaded hitter of all time. Also, remember that time had one of the best post-season performances in baseball history in 2009 that carried the Yankees to a World Series title? Where’s the argument here?

It’s a fallacy to begin with saying A-Rod isn’t clutch and it’s even more ridiculous to suggest that what Lebron went through in the NBA Finals is even remotely the same. Lebron looked like he was going to poop his pants in the 4^th quarters during the Finals and A-Rod had big hits and crushed the baseball in the 2009 World Series. Lebron averaged 18 points a game in the Finals after averaging almost 28 during the season. Compare him to the other players who’ve choked in the NBA Finals before you compare him to one of the best baseball players ever who has absolutely no problem hitting in the clutch.

Just because both these players have been over scrutinized by the media doesn’t make them remotely the same. The scrutiny of A-Rod was unfair when it was happening and continues to be unfair if people actually think this guy isn’t clutch. Lebron wasn’t the same player in the Finals and A-Rod put the World Series away with his clutch hitting, again, what’s the comparison here? Really, if you know tell me.