tears of a clown

Instead of commenting on the Manny Ramirez-LA Dodgers freak show, The Onion has an article that says more about the situation than any current events article could say:

WASHINGTON—After a series of closed-door talks, Scott Boras, the agent known for representing the highest-paid players in baseball, set another record for the game's largest contract when he finalized Manny Ramirez's $20 billion agreement with the United States federal government on Thursday. "Manny's .396 batting average last season with the Dodgers, as well as his playoff performance, proved that he is as important to this country as infrastructure projects, health care, and renewable energy development," Boras said during an interview, adding that Ramirez is especially satisfied with the indefinite length of the contract. "He's promised to cut 47 hours of antics this year and to make necessary attitude adjustments in order to remain solvent. Any criticism Manny receives for this contract is simply what comes with getting a huge amount of money from the government during a time of crisis." A clause in the contract states Ramirez could receive an additional $6 billion if he successfully saves the American auto industry.

Scott Boras is doing his best to destroy what we all love about the national pastime. It is surprising that one of the most prolific hitters of our time could only manage to garner a two-year deal, though if he signs with the Dodgers he will be the second highest paid player (only to A-Rod) in baseball, getting $25 Million next season.

The Onion puts Manny's tears into the perspective of our current economic climate. Boras and Ramirez are trying to bleed every last dollar out of the Dodgers while normal Americans struggle to find jobs to make minimum wage and support their families. Though the Dodgers are not a victim here either. The true victim is the American public who has to endure this story on a daily basis, just to enjoy the game that provides a brief escape from the grindstone that is the American economy.

are you smarter than a pro football player?

Every year NFL prospects play in showcase games like the Senior Bowl, they go through the meat market known as the Combine, and they meet with endless amounts of NFL executives. In these meetings one of the ways the teams try to gauge the prospect's intelligence is the Wonderlic Personnel Test.

The Wonderlic amounts to an IQ test given by employers to judge the mental capacity of potential employees. It has been given to potential journalists, bank tellers, and security guards. But the most famous job candidates to take the Wonderlic are professional football players.

Sometimes players can raise or lower their draft stock with their Wonderlic scores. Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver, Kevin Curtis holds the highest score among active players at a 48 out of a possible 50. While New York Giants wide receiver, Mario Manningham, fell from a potential first round pick to the third with a score of 6.

So the real question is: are you smarter than a pro football player? Here is a sample test. Take it and score yourself against Curtis, Manningham, and these quarterbacks (Eli Manning/39, Aaron Rodgers/39, Tom Brady/33, Tony Romo/30, Ben Roethlisberger/25, Michael Vick/20, David Garrard/14)

nate robinson: dunk champion

first family of american soccer

In the US National team's 2-nil victory over a struggling Mexico side, 21 year-old midfielder Michael Bradley contributed the US brace. Bradley, who plays for German Bundesliga side, Borussia Mönchengladbach, also holds another distinction. He is the son of US national team coach Bob Bradley.

Fathers and sons have played baseball together, Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr for the Seattle Mariners; they have driven together, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Jr.; and they have skated together, Gordie and Mark Howe; now Michael and Bob Bradley join the list as a father and son tandem at their sports highest level.

Michael Bradley was born in Princeton, NJ then spent a soccer brat youth following his father's soccer manager career. Bradley never considered another profession signing with MLS at the age of 16 and entering the 2004 MLS super draft, selected 36th by the Metrostars. In 2008, he signed a 4 year contract with Borussia Mönchengladbach. Michael Bradley's international career began in 2006 when he was picked to train with the US national team in the build up to the 2006 World Cup.

Bob Bradley born in Montclair, NJ in 1958 holds the record for most wins in MLS history. His MLS coaching career spanned nine seasons and three clubs (Chicago Fire, Metrostars, and Chivas USA). The current coach of the US national side, he built a record of 12-1-5 in his first year in that post. Bradley had taken over for Bruce Arena, who had led the US national team in their last two World Cup campaigns.

Bob and Michael Bradley and first team regulars such as Landon Donovan, DeMarcus Beasley, Clint Dempsey, and Freddie Hejduk beat the Sven-Goran Eriksson led Mexican side in a 2010 World Cup qualifying match on Wednesday night. Mexican captain Rafa Marquez received a red card in the match and will miss Mexico's next World Cup qualifying match against Coasta Rica. Marquez saw red for his violent, studs first challenge on American keeper Tim Howard.

This win over Mexico is a positive beginning to the Bradley era of United States World Cup play. Mexico has consistently been the barometer for US success on the international stage. Jack Bell, of the New York Times Goal blog, writes "The seminal win for the United States came on June 17, 2002, in the second round of the World Cup in Jeonju, South Korea. Goals by Landon Donovan and Brian McBride eliminated Mexico, 2-0. The United States advanced to the quarterfinals, where it lost to Germany, 1-0. Since then, the United States has lost only once to Mexico." This may rank on the list of wins over Mexico, as the US side dominated the game from beginning to end. Mexico had made it out of the first round in the 2006 World Cup losing in extra-time to international powerhouse, Argentina. They are currently ranked 24th in the world by FIFA.

The Bradley led US national team currently holds the 20th place in FIFA's world rankings above former World Cup champion Uruguay and a Norweign side, who recently upset 2nd ranked Germany. 21 year old Michael and rookie international coach Bob certainly show sign of an American side ready to charge up the rankings in South Africa in 2010.

josh gibson

A lot has been written about Alex Rodriguez his involvement with steroids. Many have put in their two cents as to what implications this has on the legacy of Rodriguez and baseball itself. It is truly dark days ahead for baseball and one of its most revered players, but this problem is not the first baseball has overcome.

Years ago baseball was mired in even more bone chilling controversy. That of the color barrier. Until 1947 black baseball players were kept out of major league baseball. Until Jackie Robinson's bravery many African-Americans played in separate and unequal conditions. Until the Brooklyn Dodgers and Branch Rickey there were victims of racism far more cheated than any clean modern baseball player, like Roy Oswalt. One of these was Josh Gibson.

Instead of writing about Alex Rodriguez or steroids or Roy Oswalt or even the game's future, I'd like to share with you a bit of the game's past. A bit of history that may put our current events into perspective. This is the story of Josh Gibson:

The stage was set. It was the sixth game of a nine-game playoff for the Negro League Championship in 1930 being played in Yankee Stadium. The Homestead Grays were leading the series three games to two over the New York Lincoln Giants. “Broadway” Connie Rector, who had relieved starter, Red Farrell, was on the mound for the Giants. Earlier in the game Giants’ shortstop Bill Yancey had begged Farrell not to let the Gray’s young catcher hit the ball on the ground. “What are you afraid of?" Farrell asked. "You're 90 feet away; I'm only 60 feet away!” (5). When the Gray’s catcher came up to bat the first time Yancey was playing left field. Rector’s pitching arsenal consisted of three basic pitches, all of which were change-ups. They ranged from slow to crawlingly slow. Rector, the previous year, had won 20 games and lost only two. He had been brought in to face the feared catcher of the Grays. The catcher launched a shot that teammate, Judy Johnson, said cleared the entire stadium. Two Giants players, who may have had better looks at the home run, said it missed clearing the stadium by what looked like only two feet. Whether the home run went out of “The House That Ruth Built” or not, it was still considered the longest home run in Yankee Stadium’s history at an estimated length of 580 feet from home plate. The young catcher’s name was Josh Gibson.

Gibson played in the Negro Leagues from 1930 to his death in 1947 at the age of 36. The Negro Leagues were where black players could play ball in the pre-integrated era of baseball history. The Negro Leagues Committee elected Gibson to Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1972. He played along side Negro League greats who are also now enshrined in the Hall of Fame, like Satchel Paige, Oscar Charleston, Buck Leonard, Cool Papa Bell, and Smokey Joe Williams. During the depression age, black ballplayers would pass around a hat at games to pay for gas to get to the next game. The leftovers would be shared by the team. Negro League teams would do what is known as barn storming. They would go from town to town and play anyone who could field a team. Sometimes these teams would consist of white major leaguers. Records were poorly kept for these players, and all of the information about them comes from the players who are still alive to tell their stories. One such story is Josh Gibson’s. Gibson may have been the greatest home run hitter in the history of baseball. He is often referred to as the “black Babe Ruth”.

Babe Ruth is widely considered the greatest baseball player of all-time. Ruth’s greatest attribute in his baseball repertoire was hitting majestic, towering home runs that awed the crowd. For decades, Ruth held both the single season and career home run records, both of which have since been surpassed. Babe Ruth was the star of the most famous team in baseball history, the New York Yankees. Yankee Stadium is nicknamed “The House That Ruth Built”. Ruth was the first of the home run hitters, and he was the only one for many years. Well, at least in the major leagues.

Josh Gibson hit that home run in September of 1930; farther than any Ruth ever did in the stadium he built. Gibson seemed as though he was a man among boys, because of the way he hit the ball. Unfortunately, the commissioner of baseball at the time, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, would only let the “boys” who played against Gibson be black, and thus shrouding Gibson’s statistics in mystery and doubt. Had Gibson played in the major leagues, he may have broken Ruth’s single season home run record in around a decade. Had he played in the major leagues, Josh Gibson may now be considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, baseball players of all-time.

Babe Ruth’s single season home run record was 60 in 1927. This is the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s account of that day:

On September 30th, in the second to last game of the season, New York and Washington were tied 2-2 as the Yankees came to bat in the bottom of the eighth. With Yankee Mark Koenig on third, Ruth stepped in against Washington's southpaw hurler, Tom Zachary. Ruth sent a drive into the right field stands, putting the Yanks ahead by two and setting a new standard with 60 home runs in a single season. In what would be his final major league appearance, Hall-of-Famer Walter Johnson pinch-hit for Zachary in the bottom of the ninth, but the future Hall-of-Famer failed to reach base and the Yankees garnered their 109th victory of 1927. The next day, while the Yanks won the final game of their much-celebrated season of 1927, Ruth was held homerless and thus the single-season mark remained at 60 (3).

This was the jewel in Babe Ruth’s crown atop the kingdom of baseball, until Roger Maris broke the record with 61 home runs in 1961. Ruth’s record stood for 34 years, making it all the more prestigious. However, according to Washington D.C. editor, Allan R. Andrews, and confirmed by Tom Singer of MLB.com, Josh Gibson hit 84 home runs in 1936 in the Negro National League. This would have obliterated Ruth’s record within 11 years, leaving Ruth only a memory in the shadow of Josh Gibson’s legacy.

Josh Gibson was a physical marvel. Not only did he hit “Ruthian home runs”, but he was a good fielder as well. In an article written by ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer, about the greatest catchers of all-time, in a side note he stated, “While remembering, in the backs of our minds, that Josh Gibson was both an awesome power hitter and a good fielder in the Negro Leagues” (6). This is an amazing feat, because the position of catcher is not ordinarily where both of these skills are featured. For instance, in current Major League Baseball (circa: 2001), the two best catchers are Ivan Rodriguez and Mike Piazza; Rodriguez, of the defensive catching ilk, and Piazza, a pure slugger. Neyer says of the two contemporary catchers:

And finally, what of the current crop? As great as Ivan Rodriguez is, I don't see him breaking into the top five, all-time. Not unless he adds ‘hitting more home runs’ to his long list of other skills. Yes, Pudgy's got the greatest arm we've seen. But there's more to catching than throwing, my friends. And Piazza? He is, quite simply, on track to be the best-hitting catcher of all time. Remember that RC/27 chart from above? Piazza blows everybody away, with a 1.73 ratio. So should he actually play the position for another five or six years, he has to be considered a candidate for Greatest Ever. I'll make you a deal, too...if and when that happens, then we'll talk about Mr. Mike's glove (6).

Gibson’s hall of fame teammate, Cool Papa Bell said this of Gibson’s fielding prowess: “[He] was a good catcher, had a strong arm and was a good handler of pitchers but had difficulty on pop fouls” (7). His troubles locating pop fouls not withstanding, all of these attributes would have made him a very good fielder, and a very well rounded baseball player.

His baseball abilities, however, did not help him break the Major League Baseball color barrier, which was broken by Jackie Robinson only three months after Gibson’s death. Gibson was widely considered the best the Negro Leagues had to offer. Hall of Fame pitcher, and the greatest right handed pitcher of all-time according to Neyer’s calculations, Walter Johnson said this of Gibson: “There is a catcher that any big-league club would like to buy….His name is Gibson...he can do anything. He hits the ball a mile. And he catches so easy he might as well be in a rocking chair. Throws like a rifle...Too bad this Gibson is a colored fellow” (9). Until Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson to be the first black major leaguer, no major league front office wanted to be the first to do so. Washington Senator’s owner, Clark Griffith, who saw Gibson and teammate Buck Leonard play in his team’s stadium, once called the two greats into his office. He asked them if they thought they could make it in the big leagues, they answered positively. Unfortunately Griffith’s bottom line was this, “Nobody wants to be the first. That’s the problem” (4). To this day, some still believe Gibson died of a broken heart when he was continually not allowed to play in the big leagues.

One criticism of Gibson was that Negro League records are more often than not unreliable. This is not a criticism of his abilities as a baseball player, which has never been disputed by anyone. This is a knock against Gibson’s claims to Babe Ruth’s baseball throne. Ruth’s place is safe, as baseball’s greatest player, because of Gibson’s exclusion from Major League Baseball. However, baseball lovers have to salivate at the possibilities a Ruth and Gibson home run derby would have had.

Another criticism of Gibson is that the competition he faced in the Negro Leagues was not of the caliber of the major leagues. This is a racist argument. Saying that only white ballplayers were good competition in the 1920’s and 30’s is ridiculous. Satchel Paige, elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, was one of the greatest pitchers in the Negro Leagues; some think he is the greatest ever and faced the same racial historical problems as Gibson. Also Gibson “barnstormed” against some hall of fame major leaguers, like Dizzy Dean as well as 60 recorded at-bats against major league pitching, in which Gibson batted .426.

Josh Gibson was one of the greatest players in Negro League history. The only thing standing in Gibson’s path to baseball royalty was the color of his skin. His National Baseball Hall of Fame plaque says that he hit around 800 home runs in his career, and his 84 home runs in 1936, would have put his plaque at least next to Ruth as kings of baseball. Unlike the Bambino, Gibson had no nicknames. He was a stoic, business-like ballplayer. He stood tall and never even spoke out against the racial barrier that kept him from immortality. Struck with bouts of depression that may have been caused by this barrier, his only release was pounding little white baseballs miles away. When Gibson was elected into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, February 8, 2003, James A. Riley, Director of Research at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, said: “Josh Gibson is the greatest catcher in the history of baseball. He played at a time when baseball was separated by a color line. Josh was called the ‘Black Babe Ruth’ and like the Babe, he hit long, towering, majestic home runs. His power was legendary. You can go to any ballpark in the hemisphere where Josh played and someone will point to the most distant part of the park and say, ‘Josh hit one out there’” (4). Maybe the next time Barry Bonds or Sammy Sosa hits a home run the announcer should cry, “Wow, that was a Gibsonian blast!”

Bibliography:
1. Andrews, Allen R. “The Apocryphal Home-Run Hitter”. The American Reporter. http://www.toad.net/~andrews/josh.html. Online Meanderings '99. September 24, 1998.
2. Baseballhalloffame.org. “Josh Gibson”. http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/gibson_josh.htm. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. (No date).
3. Baseballhalloffame.org. “A Short History of the Single-Season Home Run Record”. http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/exhibits/online%5Fexhibits/ss%5Fhome%5Frun/ruth_4.htm. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. 2000.
4. Blackbaseball.com. “Josh Gibson Inducted into Georgia Sports Hall of Fame”. http://www.blackbaseball.com/updates/news.htm. TK Publishers & Blackbaseball.com. 1998-2002.
5. Holway, John B. “Great Moments in Blackball History: Gibson’s Yankee Stadium Blow”. Baseballguru.com. http://baseballguru.com/jholway/analysisjholway01.html. Baseballguru.com. (No date).
6. Neyer, Rob. “The Men in the Masks”. ESPN.com. http://members.tripod.com/bb_catchers/catchers/neyer.htm. Chuck Rosciam. 1997-2003.
7. Schwartz, Larry. “No Joshing About Gibson’s Talents”. ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016050.html. ESPN Internet Ventures. 2003.
8. Singer, Tom. “Powerful Bat: Gibson the Best Home Run Hitter in Negro Leagues”. MLB.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/mlb_negro_leagues_profile.jsp?player=gibson_josh. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. 2003.
9. Wichterman, Larry. “Josh Gibson: Baseball Superstar”. Pennsylvania Hall of Fame. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/4547/gibson.html. Larry Wichterman. 2003.

its david beckham's world and we're just living in it

David Beckham recently admitted that he’d like to remain at AC Milan after his loan spell is set to end on March 8th. Beckham joined the LA Galaxy, of the MLS, in a multi-million dollar 2007 transfer. He signed a $250 million contract with LA, which was suppose to bring one of football’s brightest lights to shine on American soil. But by all accounts the marriage has only soiled Beckham’s international prospects and LA’s 2008 season.

With Beckham struggling to make it into England’s first eleven and LA failing to make it to the 2008 MLS finals, both sides seemed ripe for a trial separation. Enter AC Milan. One of Europe’s most storied clubs, Beckham gladly went on a three month loan to the San Siro. Beckham, now, is so happy with his new girlfriend (sorry Victoria, its only a metaphor!) he wants to divorce LA, to continue his Italian romance.

This is big news in the football world, because anything David Beckham does is well, big news. But it is big news here in the states for a different reason. David Beckham’s signing was meant to signal a new day in American soccer. It was the beginning of the MLS becoming an internationally known league. It was when the US finally got on board with the most popular game in the world.

Beckham, however, begs to differ. “At the moment Milan is more important than money. I want to think about football before everything else. I said in a clear manner what I think, I want to stay at Milan because I’ve rediscovered myself as a football player,” he told an Italian newspaper.

America was where his passion for the game had gone to die and in Italy he rediscovered why he loved the game. Beckham’s claim that his move away from LA Galaxy to AC Milan is not about the money, says more than a ridiculously wealthy person saying he’d take less money to play for the passion. It is a statement about the MLS, and by extension United States football.

According to Beckham, he can only glean his love of the game away from US pitches. The big money American contracts are not enough for Beckham, and he needs an actual challenge. He needs the competition of Italian football to regain his inclusion in his beloved England national team. He needs to escape LA.

What does this say to other prominent European footballers about the MLS? It says, don’t come here unless you’re prepared to essentially end your career. What does it say to young American footballers like Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore? You need to go overseas to truly find out how good you are. What does it say to American-raised footballers with duel citizenship, like Giuseppe Rossi? Why represent the US, when there are greener pitches out there.

Thank you David Beckham. At one point you were going to advance US soccer to where it strives to be, among its European and South American counterparts. Now you’ve just sent it spiraling back to years before you even thought about crossing the Atlantic.

is this jackie's legacy?

Some athletes transcend their sport. Some become heroes for their on-field accomplishments. Some swim, ride, throw, or hit their way into our hearts. Some smoke pot. Some use performance enhancing steroids. Some break our hearts and leave us wondering why we loved them in the first place. And sometimes they are the same athletes. Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, Michael Vick, and Barry Bonds are such athletes, but there is one clear distinction. Armstrong and Phelps achieved feats no one ever thought possible and are still revered, their transgressions forgiven. Bonds and Vick broke records in their respective sports, but each now finds himself mired in ongoing investigations into their own offenses. What separates these four athletes? The same thing that Jackie Robinson battled in 1947: racial discrimination.

Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven consecutive times. No one had ever won more than five until he peddled his way into history. Armstrong not only beat cyclists but also beat cancer and is now respected as one of the foremost figures in the fight to find a cure to the disease that almost kept him from his cycling destiny. However, few recall when Armstrong was accused of doping. In 2006 friends of Armstrong testified that he had answered in the affirmative when asked if he had ever used performance enhancing drugs. Only the word of colleagues tainted Armstrong's name. But the public and press were able to forgive him because as the Washington Post said, he gives us hope:

That's the compact we have with Lance Armstrong that we don't have with Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds or Jose Canseco. Those guys are massive and superhuman. What could we possibly have in common with them? We're invested psychologically in Lance Armstrong in ways we can never be invested in them. They're about power. He's about hope. He gives us hope against our darkest fear, the fear of death. That's why so many of us hope Lance Armstrong doesn't cheat, even as we fully expect the others to.

The Post refers to other athletes in which the public can't find common ground. One of them is Barry Bonds. Bonds has set and now holds the records that filled the dreams of every little leaguer who picked up a bat and wished to be Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron. He is the career and single season leader in home runs (762 and 73, respectively). He also has won more MVP awards, seven, than any other player and at one time won four in a row. Bonds, now, is known not for his famous hitting, but for the infamous BALCO steroids case. Bonds' inclusion in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame is jeopardized as his legacy becomes more and more soiled in steroid controversy. Bonds' key accuser was a former trainer who claimed to have supplied the slugger with steroids. Bonds claimed if he had, it was without his knowledge. In 2007, Bonds was charged with perjury stemming from the BALCO case.

This leaves us with just two men. Both record setting athletes, both cast in a shadow of performance enhancing doubt. One is white and continues to successfully market his Livestrong clothing line and give the nation "hope," while the other is black and faces charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and may not be enshrined in his sport's pantheon.

Steroids are not the only drug prevalent among athletes. Marijuana use is not only illegal in sports, but against the law. Two athletes named Michael have been compared recently because of their marijuana use. Michael Phelps is a 14-time Olympic gold medalist, including eight in the 2008 Beijing games. Michael Vick was the first player selected in the 2001 NFL draft and holds many NFL records for rushing by a Quarterback. Each has been caught or tested positive for smoking weed, and both have been suspended by their sport's governing bodies, though one remains a forgiven role-model and the other has gone on to further criminal charges and jail time.

Phelps has now been twice forgiven for his "youthful transgressions". The first was an underage DUI after the 2004 Olympics and now he was photographed diving into a bong and not a pool. Phelps, however, has retained some of his lucrative endorsements and has been suspended for only three months, which does not come close to the next summer Olympics in 2012. Writers like ESPN's Pat Forde claim that they feel let down by his actions, but that it is something that can help teach their kids a lesson about athletes, "This is a perfect opportunity to teach kids that people put on pedestals sometimes fall off. That heroes have foibles. That foibles are understandable, even if they're not laudable." It is widely believed this will not effect his involvement in the 2012 summer games.


Michael Vick, however, has reached the lowest low of them all. Beyond his positive tests for marijuana use, he has been tried and convicted of funding a dogfighting syndicate. Vick has clearly joined the likes of OJ Simpson and Ray Lewis, though even those players were acquitted of the charges they faced. Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons, Vick's NFL team, has said Vick "betrayed the trust of many people," which of course he did. But is dogfighting that much more reprehensible than drunk driving? Dogfighting is sure to kill dogs, but drunk driving leads to an even higher cost, doesn't it?

Vick now faces up to five years in prison for his violation and Phelps will probably end up in the next movie starring Seth Rogan and James Franco. Again, what separates these two men? Skin-color.

America has reached a new plateau of racial equality. Barack Obama has shown that the United States can look beyond race when electing its highest office. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech has been referred to as having come to fruition. But as two black athletes struggle to maintain their reputations through controversy, and two white athletes remain in the public's hearts following transgressions, I ask have we really come that far from the days of Jackie Robinson's courage? Is Dr. King's dream a reality? Not yet. But it will be someday, and the 44th President of the United States is just the beginning.

what really matters

Tom Coughlin Retires From Family To Spend More Time With Team

should he stay or should he go

Over the past two seasons, the New York Football Giants have been at the precipice of the NFL landscape. Following one Super Bowl and a #1 playoff seed the following season, the G-Men are now touted as a year in and year out Super Bowl contender. In this vein Giants' general manager, Jerry Reese, is attempting to sign cornerstones such as quarterback Eli Manning and running back Brandon Jacobs to long term contracts. The Manning contract is in the works and every pundit agrees that Jacobs should be the Giants #1 off season priority. This is good news for Giants fans looking forward to an extended period of championship contention.

There is, however, one fly in the Giants honey jar! This fly's name is Plaxico Burress. Burress is the Giants go-to receiver. Famous for catching the Super Bowl XLII winning touchdown, Burress remains a major component of the Big Blue offense. Case and point, the Giants were a dismal 2-4 when Plaxico shot himself in the leg at a New York nightclub this season. It is easy to make the connection between the Giants' season coming to an early end and the end of Plaxico's season.

The question now on the minds of New York Giants players, front office, and fans alike is, what to do with Mr. Burress in their plans for the coming season. There is no doubt that a player of Burress' caliber would be at the top of most team's wish lists if he hit the trading block. He would also bring a hefty return to the Giants if they did ship their "problem child" elsewhere, which they have a history of doing.

The most recent case of the Giants cutting dead public relations weight was just before last season when the Giants traded Jeremy Shockey to the New Orleans Saints for second and fifth round draft picks in this year's draft. Shockey was popular in New York, but for having an attitude that extended off the football field, and the emergence of Kevin Boss precipitated Shockey's Broadway curtain call.

Now, let me bring this back to Plax. He certainly did not do himself any PR favors this season, by missing practice and not calling (which surprised me, because any "civilian" who doesn't go to work for any reason always calls in, its procedure, and apparently its the same in pro football). Burress was suspended by the team for this infraction for two weeks, one of which was a bye week. Then came the coup de grace was his self-inflicted leg wound towards the end of what had been a very promising Super Bowl defense. Burress showed the Giants that he was not a good soldier, but the Giants record without him also proved they are different battalion when he is in the MASH unit.

This leads us again to our question, and in the words of The Clash, should he stay or should he go? My answer is, he should stay. Wide receivers have always been head cases. From Michael Irvin and Andre Rison to TO and Ocho Cinco. Burress is just one in a long line of diva receivers. Of course a team could get lucky with choir boys like Larry Fitzgerald, but more than likely they end up with a headache, like Anquan Boldin. The real question here is what is more important, some hangups or production? My answer is production which Burress clearly provides. He has 33 touchdowns and has averaged over 900 yards over his four seasons with the Giants and I am counting 2008 where he missed 7 games. Burress brings it, and the Giants miss it. Unfortunately, it is victories.

Jerry Reese has a very tough decision to make this off-season, does he continue on the Giants current course of ridding their team of perceived distractions, or does he remember what it felt like to win a Super Bowl and keep one of their most productive offensive players in recent memory? I remember what it was like after Super Bowl XLII, and I wasn't even on the field, hopefully Jerry Reese remembers too.

stadium tour

Shea Stadium (w/ Hannah & Paul)

Michigan Stadium (w/ Sasha & Lucy)

Stamford Bridge (w/ Jimmy & Jack)