To put it mildly, this is hardly the ideal way to start a Super Bowl title defense.
In less than a week, the Giants have dealt with the retirement of Michael Strahan, the unhappy rantings of disgruntled Jeremy Shockey, and now the demands for a new contract by Plaxico Burress.
So much for peace, love, harmony and a lack of distractions.
Burress apparently wants to be paid TO/Randy Moss/Javon Walker money . Shockey is ticked off at the Giants for God knows what, so he spent yesterday, the first day of mini-camp, ticking off his head coach. Strahan just wants to make millions without sweating and having 300-pound guys beat on him every Sunday.
It seems like a mess.
In reality, though, we should have seen all of this coming.
Burress played tremendously on one leg last season, proving himself to be among the half-dozen elite receivers in the league. Now he wants to be paid like it.
In today's NFL, that's how it works. You win, the stars demand to cash in.
TO recently signed a four-year, $34 million deal, and Walker got six years and $55 million from Oakland.
I don't know exactly what Burress wants, but he's earned some type of raise.
As for Shockey, we've known since before the Super Bowl that he wasn't exactly thrilled with the Giants. And you had to know it was a strong possibility Strahan would not come back.
So, none of what is going on right now should be considered an "out of left field" type shocker.
To be honest, the one that worries me the most is the Shockey situation. The Giants missed a draft-day opportunity to trade him, so now the two sides are stuck with each other. Since Shockey does a better imitation of a pouty 5-year-old than an adult we know this one could get even uglier.
I visited some of the various Giants message boards yesterday, and fans seemed to be in a panic over the number of players sitting out with "injuries."
Relax, people. It's the second week of June. Many of those guys are still re-habbing injuries, so you wouldn't expect them to practice now.
The same really goes for Burress and Shockey. If it's two weeks before the season-opener, Burress is holding out, Shockey is holding the Giants hostage, a dozen players are sitting out with injuries and the Giants simply aren't ready then I'll panic.
Right now, though, it's time to relax. The weather is gorgeous, there's time for all these things to work out and the Giants are still DEFENDING SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS.