Saturday morning link dump

by Ed Valentine on Jan 26, 2008 9:02 AM EST in News Comment 13 comments

Continuing our 'Weekend with Gisele,' here is today's offering.

First, it was the Yankees vs. Red Sox. Now, it's the Giants and Patriots stoking the New York vs. Massachusetts sports rivalry.

To throw even more gasoline on the fire, the Boston Herald has decided that fans who root for New England teams are "smarter, classier and healthier and own pricier homes than the riff-raff who root for the New York Giants."

The article refers to fans of Big Blue as 'Giants yahoos' and goes on to rip Giants' fans in a variety of ways. Yep. Real classy.

Osi Umenyiora isn't done talking yet. He still has more to say about Matt Light and the Patriots.

Gary Myers of the New York Daily News says matching wits with Bill Belichick will be a major test for Tom Coughlin.

Various bloggers, including yours truly, offer opinions on a variety of Giants' topics. Deadspin

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Comments

Wow.

ETVal, I give you props for not blowing your top on that "Pats fan" article - because I just about did. I get the pleasure of sharing the stands with Pats fans twice a year, and let me tell you, the supposedly underdeveloped, blue-collar city of Buffalo out-classes those folks by lightyears.

Two favorite parts:

We are likely to read connoisseur magazines like Wine Spectator. Gotham fans like to pig out on junk food like pretzels, chips and nuts. They're also less likely to favor organic food than other New Yorkers.

Hmm... last I checked, pigging out off of the back of trucks and SUVs, drinking real beer, etc. etc. was part of a real tailgate experience. Or I guess I've missed out on those upper-class wine and cheese fests in Boston that are sure to get me more jacked up for a game than more traditional, "lower-class" tailgates.

It's also worth noting that the Patriots are an equal opportunity franchise, drawing more female fans than the competition. Nearly half of all Pats backers - about 43 percent - are women. In Giants country, just 31 percent of the fans are female.

Sorry, but this just screams "bandwagon fans" to me. Or, more likely, women who accompany their husbands to games because they know their husband isn't going home pissed.

What a joke! Go Giants!

Buffalo Rumblings: the best Bills community on the Internet!

by Brian Galliford on Jan 26, 2008 9:37 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Exactly

This got me really fired up too, since I live in NE and know the BS that this is spouting.

Also, I totally agree about the bandwagon fans ... it's the same thing as the Sox crowd. Yeah there is a lot of women going to these games now, but they sure as hell weren't going before they started winning all the time.

Don't pay too much mind to this anyway, since it is the Herald. The biggest rag paper around. The readership of this paper is not reading Wine Spectator, driving Lexus and Volvos, and going sailing I promise you.

by potroast on Jan 26, 2008 9:50 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

most female Pats fans

are on the bandwagon because of Tom Brady. I guarantee you that back in the mid-90's the Packers had the most female "fans" of any team in the league, b/c Favre was the good-looking young QB.

I actually got into an argument with a girl at work yesterday because she's rooting for the Pats solely because of Tom Brady being good looking. She said if I could pick out one similarly good-looking player on the Giants, she'd root for them instead....let's just say she's still rooting for the Pats.

by cjmulrain on Jan 26, 2008 11:00 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I figured

just mentioning it would get my readers pissed off. I will just let them vent for me.

by Ed Valentine on Jan 26, 2008 4:55 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Osi's master plan

"Now everybody in the world is going to look and see if he's a dirty player, the referees especially," Osi said to the throng in front of his locker today. "It's exactly what they should do."

Ahhhhh, the truth finally comes out. Osi seems a bit afraid of what Matt Light might do to him on Sunday, so he told the reporters on him. Now the hall monitors, ooops, I mean referees, will be on the lookout for big bad Matt Light and protect Osi from the bully.

Great strategy.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 26, 2008 11:38 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Actually Osi might have been right

This was in a Ledger article by Mike Garofolo:

"Then again, the NFL Network's broadcast caught a few actions by Light that didn't appear to sit well with Umenyiora:

- At the end of a 13-yard run by Laurence Maroney in the second quarter, Light pushed Umenyiora in the back, causing him to trip over Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce and New England wide receiver Wes Welker. Umenyiora immediately jumped to his feet and went face mask to face mask with Light.

-Six plays later, the Patriots ran a quick screen to the right. On the back side, Light set his feet, waited for Umenyiora to start rushing, then dived with his helmet and shoulder toward Umenyiora's knees.

- On a second-and-7 in the third quarter, Light kept blocking Umenyiora after the whistle and drove him into Giants safety James Butler, clearly angering Umenyiora.

- And on a few more runs, Light kept blocking Umenyiora while every other player on the field pulled up.

It's no wonder, then, that when the Patriots took a knee at the end of the game, Umenyiora shook hands with tight end Ben Watson and guard Logan Mankins while Light, who was lined up between the two, simply walked back to the huddle."

Now I don't agree going to the media with this and I'm sure lots of other players do it too, but there is evidence that Osi wasn't just blowing smoke.

by potroast on Jan 26, 2008 3:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Actually Osi might have been HALF right

Football is a dirty game Yahoo News reported, and everyone is dirty. Nice of the rest of the Giants to finally come out and admit it.

"Everybody's worried about who's dirty," said Strahan, one of only two Giants holdovers from their 2000 Super Bowl runner-up showing against the Baltimore Ravens.

"I'll tell you one thing -- if you piss me off, I will stomp on your neck too. Everybody does it. We're punching, we're clawing. We're in the piles grabbing each other God knows where. That's just the game of football.

No one bought Osi's act, and I bet he was just SHOCKED at Green Bay's accusation before last week's game too.

Packers players complained before their NFC title game against the Giants last Sunday that some New York players had not played fair when the teams met earlier in the season.

Strahan and Pierce are at least forthright about the whole thing; gotta at least respect them for that.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 26, 2008 8:12 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I said that

I said that he shouldn't have come out and said those things and I also said that "other players do it too". My point was that Light DOES do dirty tactics, that there is evidence for it, and that Osi saying these things was not just a ploy to get the refs to call things the Giants way.

by potroast on Jan 28, 2008 10:14 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

For some weird reason that photo

looks like her head is on backwards, don't you think?

by Mr Met on Jan 26, 2008 12:50 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

She looks like a

transvestite. Guess that floats some people's boats. Yikes.

by NYERinKY on Jan 26, 2008 4:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

As a Pats fan

...and blood-dyed New Englander, I'd just like to say what a piece of tripe that Globe article is. Gah.

And also that I've been enjoying the Giselle clips. This is fun.

by NotJohnHannah on Jan 26, 2008 2:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

the NY equivalent

Here is Mike "HatGuy" Celizic's stupid "New York is better than Boston" article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22792627/

So Celizic wants to claim that Harvard and MIT aren't "Boston" because they're in another town across the river in an article that sticks up for a team that plays in East Rutherford, NJ? Whatever you say, Mike.

I love New York, and I love the Giants and Mets, but anyone who claims that Boston isn't better than New York in sports right now (regardless of how things turn out next Sunday) is out of his mind.

Arizona dreamin' baby!!!!

by Greenpoint Ian on Jan 26, 2008 5:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The article was...

...actually in the Herald, but that's a rag, too!! ;-)

At any rate, when I was tailgating in my youth (I'm old and responsible now ;-)) there wasn't much Wine and Cheese coming out of the back of our '73 Chevy Impala (the Buford Pusser mobile as I liked to call it - 'Walkin' Tall', running down stills...). Bud in cans, Jack Daniels bottle wiped off with a jacket sleeve when passed around... Hah, I can be positively pedestrian!

by MaPatsFan on Jan 26, 2008 7:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs