Entries from January 2008 ↓

Tom Coughlin and the New York Giants celebrate the winning field goal in overtime of the NFC championship game against the Green Bay Packers. The Giants advance to the Superbowl XLII. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

All the so-called football experts picked against the Giants during this year’s NFL post season.

First Jeff Garcia was supposed to outperform Eli Manning and take Tampa Bay to victory. Gmen won the Wild Card game 24-14. Then the Dallas Cowboys were supposed to have too many weapons and would overpower New York. Giants went into Dallas and beat them 21-17. Finally, a combination of cold weather and the near-God-like Brett Favre were suppose to be just too much for them. Giants 23, Green Bay 20 in OT. The New York Giants are NFC Champions and are going to Super Bowl XLII to face the AFC Champion New England Patriots.

As a long-suffering Giants fan—I have lived and died with this team every Sunday of my life since 1965—nothing makes me happier than to see people pick against us and pick wrong. This championship game was supposed to be a Favre farewell tour, the media was already writing that story. “Brett Favre takes Pack back” and stuff like that. Sorry suckers, but the Jints destroyed the fairytale.

New York dominated Green Bay in every aspect of the game, time of possession (40:01 – 22:34), total yards (380 – 264), Eli was 21/40 for 254 yards to Favre’s 19/35 for 236. Plaxico Burress, who has played all season on an injured ankle, had 11 receptions for 154 yards and used Al Harris and Darren Woodson, the defensive backs who were supposed to shut him down.

The Giants have now won 10 straight games on the road, a new NFL record. On defense, they shut down Green Bays running game to the point where they eventually abandoned it and relied on the pass. The supposedly weak Giants secondary handled the Packer passing game on all but a few plays. If you take out Donald Driver’s 90-yard TD catch, the Packers had only 174 total yards on 48 plays (a 3.63 yard per play average).

New York’s fortunes seemed to change this year in week 15 when they came back in the second half against the Buffalo Bills on the road, down 21-17 before scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter. Then in week 16, when they could have rested players and prepared for the playoffs, they battled the NFL’s best team, New England, down to the wire before losing 38-35. That willingness to play out the full schedule and the last game as hard as possible, has seemingly galvanized them and propelled them through this post season. Now they get a rematch against the Pats in Arizona.

The early betting line has New England by 14 1/2 points. I’m 7-3 in my picks this year. I think you already know who I’ll be picking but I’ll officially make it in two weeks.

And now there are four.

First to recap, we went 2-2 in our picks last week. Who would have figured San Diego could lose LaDainian Tomlinson and Philip Rivers and still beat Indianapolis, while I admittedly over-estimated the readiness of Seattle in their game against Green Bay. On the upside, all of the so-called experts told us how Dallas was going to win handily over the Giants. ALL of us in New York knew better and had the last laugh. And while it would have been nice to see Jacksonville upset New England, that pick was a no-brainer.

So I come into conference championship weekend 5-3 in post-season picks knowing the worst I can wind up after today is 5-5. But that’s not going to happen.

The early game has San Diego again in an up hill battle against a formidable adversary. As of this morning we are told it will be a game time decision whether Rivers will start at quarterback after injuring his knee last week. Tomlinson is probable while tight end Antonio Gates is doubtful, still dealing with a sprained big toe sustained two weeks ago. The Charger defense has had past success disrupting the passing of Patriots QB Tom Brady and will need to do that again in order to win. But they still have to figure out how to score.

While everybody is talking about Brett Favre and whether he’ll get one last chance to win a Super Bowl, there are two veterans in New York, Michael Strahan and Amani Toomer, who are still looking for their first ring (Favre has one as a member of the 1996 team that beat New England). Yeah, it’s going to be cold, harkening back to “the frozen tundra of Lanbeau Field” and the 1967 NFL Championship game, but this is a different year and a different era.

To win, the Giants defense will need to shut down the Packer rushing game to force Favre into throwing. Then their complex blitzing scheme need to put the kind of pressure on him that worked so well against a younger, more mobile Tony Romo last week. Putting the 38 year old on the turf a few times wouldn’t hurt either. On offense, New York needs to establish their running game both to wear down the Packer defense and open up passing opportunities. Failing to do that, it will be a long, cold evening.

My picks are in bold.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

AFC

San Diego at New England (3:00 PM ET CBS)

NFC

New York at Green Bay (6:30 PM ET FOX)

Sunday, February 3, 2008

SUPER BOWL XLII
Phoenix, AZ

AFC Champion vs NFC Champion (6:00 PM ET FOX)

NFL News: Mike Carey will be the first Black referee in Super Bowl history

Since movie and television producers refuse to go back to the bargaining table with members of the striking Writers Guild it continues to be difficult to find anything worth watching on the tube. But this weekend, as the nation officially celebrates the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., two networks will air programs honoring his legacy and chronicling the Black experience in America.

On Saturday, January 19, 2008 at 8:00 PM ET/PT, the gay cable network LOGO presents the award-winning film Brother Outsider: The Life Of Bayard Rustin, kicking off Season Five of their “Real Momentum” documentary series. Brother Outsider illuminates the life and work of Bayard Rustin, the “unknown hero” of the civil rights movement. A mentor to Martin Luther King Jr. and the architect of the legendary 1963 March on Washington, Rustin dared to live as an openly gay man during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. The documentary reveals the price that Rustin paid for this openness, showing both the triumphs and setbacks of his remarkable 60-year career.

Then on Monday, Turner Classic Movies spotlights the work of filmmaker Charles Burnett, a man the New York Times once called “the nation’s least-known great filmmaker and most gifted Black director.” Perhaps best known for To Sleep With Anger and The Glass Shield, TCM will show five of Burnett’s earlier works, including his critically acclaimed 1977 film Killer of Sheep. This will be the first time a mass audience will have had an opportunity to see these films giving Burnett attention that is long overdue.

Sunday was my birthday. I turned 48.

It’s not one of the big milestone birthdays like 40 or 50, just a run of the mill day that went largely unobserved. I received cards from family and friends, a bunch of emails and phone calls, even some instant messages wishing me well on my day. In between watching the NFL playoffs including my Giants’ exciting victory over the suckass Cowboys, I managed to treat myself to some homemade lasagna, a dish I enjoy but which takes a lot of time to prepare. My birthday gift to me.

But every birthday presents an opportunity to reflect on the past and contemplate the future. I don’t make New Year’s resolutions as much as I set out goals and objectives for the year. Pardon me for sounding so business-like, but helping nonprofit boards do strategic planning is what I do for a living so it stands to reason that I might also guide my own life so logically. As it so happens, a few weeks ago, I sat down and used the same procedures I use with organizations to set out a 3-5 year life plan for myself. It has more to do with putting my personal finances, career plans and home life needs in order.

As I plan for tomorrow, I do so with the awareness that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to any of us. Even though I probably have fewer years ahead of me than I do behind me, today’s birthday allowed me to think about some of the fun dreams I still have and experiences I still want to have.

So, borrowing a page from the new Jack Nicholson-Morgan Freeman movie (and no, I’m not being paid for this plug), here are some of the things I still want to do before I “kick the bucket.”

Buy a house. Home ownership is still the American dream. I grew up in a house but ever since I was in college, I’ve been an apartment dweller. I presently own my apartment and plan to leverage it for my retirement in years to come, but it is still an apartment. A house has land around it.

Travel. I want to drive across country. My family did that when I was four years old and even at that young age it was one of my fondest childhood memories. I want to do it again as an adult. I also want to go abroad, visit London, Paris, South Africa, Brazil and China.

Write a stage play. Or more accurately finish writing a play and see it staged. I’ve got self-discipline issues when it comes to my writing. Deadlines help. I’m working on it.

Get licensed to sky dive solo. I’ve already done a tandem jump a few years ago and plan to do another probably in the spring. But I’d like to go through the process of learning to jump solo. Coupled with that dream, I’d like to

Learn to fly an airplane I probably need to do that sooner rather than later while I still have some eyesight left. But it’s a dream I’ve had since high school.

And just for the fun of it, I’d like to get my commercial drivers license. Not that I have any plans to be a truck driver, but I’ve always wanted to learn how.

Of course now, if I win the lottery, then I’m gonna get my CDL, buy one of those rock star tour buses and drive cross country, then learn to fly and take my self to Europe, Africa and South America, while my play is running off Broadway. You just watch me.

Maybe the less said, the better. Last week I had an unexpected guest drop by and didn’t get time to write an in-depth entry to give a justification for my picks. End result, I went 3-1, missing only the Redskiins—Seattle game. This week, four potentially very exciting games and the possibility of upsets.

Every year there are sleepers, teams few people paid attention to but who just might sneak up and surprise everyone. In this weekend’s first game, Seattle might be that team. They aren’t flashy, they just manage to get output from everyone and get the job done. A tough defense held the Redskins to just 14 points while their offense moved the ball handily. Green Bay is at home and had a week off. A young offensive line will need to stop a tenacious Seahawks defense to enable Brett Favre to work his magic.

New England is at home and went 17-0 in the regular season, only the second team in 35 years to go undefeated. Do I need to say more. Jacksonville may also be a sleeper. They are a scrappy blue collar team that scored easily on the Steelers last week only to lose the lead before driving down the field for the winning field goal. They’ll need to study the game tapes from the Patriots games against the Eagles, Ravens and Giants, then play 60 minutes of football. My heart will be with them but my head with New England.

San Diego takes on the defending Super Bowl Champion Colts in Indianapolis Sunday without tight end Antonio Gates who injured his toe in their win against Tennessee. Running back LaDainian Tomlinson was held to 42 yards rushing against the Titans. He’ll have to do better against the Colts who will have wide receiver Marvin Harrison back in the lineup.

In the late game, the resurgent Giants travel to NFC East rival Dallas, who has beaten them twice already this year. The Giants have never lost to a team three times in a season and the Cowboys haven’t won playoff game since 1996. Tony Romo hasn’t looked sharp down the stretch but will have Terrell Owens back in the lineup despite a high ankle sprain. The Gmen play better on the road than at home and have been on an uptick since taking New England to the brink in the regular season finale.

My picks are in bold.

Saturday, January 12

NFC

Seattle at Green Bay (4:30 PM ET FOX)

AFC

Jacksonville at New England (8:00 PM ET CBS)

Sunday, January 13

AFC

San Diego at Indianapolis (1:00 PM ET CBS)

NFC

New York at Dallas (4:30 PM ET FOX)