Ed posted last night that the Giants' 2011 schedule features nine weeks of hell on the back end. No wonder Tom Coughlin's teams jump out to 5-0 starts only to finish 9-7. I'm generalizing, of course, but not too much. I don't understand why we can't spread the NFC West part of the schedule out a bit more, but then again, we have no idea how the season will shake out and who might be 4-7 rather than 9-2 when we face them.
Also, after hearing all day Tuesday that the Giants and Jets were going to meet on 9/11, the NFL threw us a curve and slated the Giants against the Redskins on opening day to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. There is one stretch where we play the Eagles, Saints, Packers and Cowboys back to back late in the season. Yikes. And the Giants/Jets matchup will be a 1 p.m. Christmas Eve game instead.
But will there be an NFL season at all? There are still no guarantees, but the players and owners will meet again today in front of a federal mediator in Minneapolis to try and work toward an agreement. Here is an article from Monday's New York Times that shows a more realistic viewpoint of the possibility games may be canceled.
Some of you like to mock Peter King, and here you will have a chance to mock his mock 2011 NFL draft. I have not been following the draft chatter as much as I should be, so I'll let you all poke holes in King's picks. But two things stood out to me--I love the pick of Anthony Castonzo for the Giants, if he's still available. The other thing is that the "who they should pick, who they will pick" format is dizzying. Just give us your picks and analysis, Peter.
Ed mentioned Bill Parcells "finally" retiring officially from NFL coaching on Monday, and the National Football Post also posted something that same day about Parcells' respect for one of his proteges, Bill Belichick. If you guys haven't seen that special on the NFL Network about Parcells' life in football, hopefully you will have that opportunity again. If not, stop by my house for a beer, as I have it saved on my DVR.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art buys eight artworks - latimes.com
Some individual donors helped out. At the dinner on Saturday, Govan announced that Marclay's "The Clock" was no longer in the popular competition, as Steve Tisch, who became a LACMA trustee last year, pledged the $467,500 needed for the acquisition. Tisch, the film producer and co-owner of the New York Giants, said he was "blown away" by the piece when he first saw an excerpt in New York.
News is news, but if you can get through two sentences of that article without having your mind wander, you're doing better than me.