While talk of a possible shortened season contingency keeps gathering steam, that just bums me out to no end. Sure, it would be better than no season at all. But having to wait until late November for the start of NFL football? That's painful to think about.
Pros/cons of a lost or shortened NFL season - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
Worst: Missing that great excitement and build up as the clock ticks down to the September kickoff in the opening week of the season. Even without the artificial hoopla the NFL has created in recent years, the season opener in football has become akin to Christmas Day.
Best: Seeing all the arrogant people on both sides of the lockout get a dose of reality when they find out the world really can go on without the NFL. As much as I love my job and this sport, a little humility would do everyone good.
This is a really long article listing the Top 10 Pros and Cons of an 8-game season. And it's pretty funny, especially when Jason Cole discusses how difficult it is to get two minutes with Tom Brady. But the number one Pro and Con are not funny at all, and that is what you just read above. Cole is dead on about the season opener feeling like Christmas Day. And I hope he's dead on about the reality players and owners would feel if they missed the first few months of the season. I also hope it won't happen that way.
New York Giants gather at Bergen Catholic HS for team workouts, despite injury and insurance risks
"It is dangerous," said Rich (Big Daddy) Salgado, the president of Coastal Advisors, a company that helps provide insurance for more than 200 NFL players. "It's dangerous especially if a guy is a free agent and doesn't have a contract. Each players is only covered for a certain amount of money and (to get a payout, an injury) has to be catastrophic. It has to be career-ending. It's not just for loss of time. It's not for if you're out for six weeks. "And it can't make up for everything they'd lose. It can't make up for those numbers."
I don't know why, but I wasn't even thinking about potential injuries. But that is a very real risk for these guys as they organize for workouts. Still, I can't imagine that if a player was hurt, that the team wouldn't take care of them financially if need be once the lockout is lifted.
Defense joins offense on field at New York Giants workout - ESPN New York
The New York Giants players organized their biggest offseason workout to date as nearly 40 Giants joined quarterback Eli Manning at Bergen Catholic High School (N.J.) on Tuesday......For the first time during the lockout, defensive players joined offensive players on the field. Defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka, center Shaun O'Hara, guard Chris Snee, wide receiver Hakeem Nicks and linebacker Michael Boley were among the several Giants veterans who practiced with rookies like first-round pick Prince Amukamara and running back Da'Rel Scott.
Toomer headed to 'Broadcast Bootcamp' - NFL News | FOX Sports on MSN
A source told FOXSports.com on Monday that Amani Toomer will be one of the 16 former players participating later this month in the NFL's "Broadcast Bootcamp." The program was designed to help current and former players pursue media careers. Because of the NFL lockout, only former players will be involved in this year's sessions, set for June 20-23.
Whenever I see or hear Toomer's name, I picture him making one of those patented impossible sideline catches. And how he needs to show Mario Manningham how to do that.
Here is a bit of chatter from Philly about Plaxico Burress and all of the rumors he has the Eagles at the top of his wish list....
Pros and cons of picking up Plax for the Philadelphia Eagles: Fan's take - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
It's complete and utter conjecture that Burress and the Eagles would be a match. People know Vick and Burress have a relationship and they know Reid is apparently not afraid of a reclamation project so the pundits put two and two together and rumors spread like wild fire.
Avant: Burress could help Eagles | Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/08/2011
"I want him to succeed in whatever he does," Jason Avant said Tuesday after a workout in Marlton. "If that means Philadelphia, that would be great. We definitely can use him in the red zone, I can tell you that." Avant recalled seeing Burress burn the Eagles over the years with the New York Giants.
Precisely why I've written that I hope Plax lands with a team like the Raiders if he doesn't come back to Big Blue.
Newsmakers Sports: Player helped change a word
Andy Robustelli was a Hall of Fame defensive end for the New York Giants. For Giants fans of half a century ago, Robustelli's best seasons were as the leader of the unit that changed the pronunciation of the word defense. It's really dee-FENSE, but ever since all those voices in Yankee Stadium first bellowed "DEE-fense! DEE-fense!" that's how sports crowds everywhere have pronounced it.
This is way better than being credited with starting The Wave.
Why The New York Giants Could Be Super Bowl Contenders in 2012 | Football News Now
The Giants don’t have to rely on a lot of rookies this year, but rather many seasoned veterans. Of course, they also still have a Super Bowl MVP quarterback in Eli Manning. And even as the injuries piled up last season, they still finished 10-6, although they didn’t make the playoffs. Finally, if the season is actually shortened because of the lockout and the Giants start out strong, they may never have the opportunity to fizzle out. They could stay strong all the way to Indianapolis, site of Super Bowl XLVI.
This made me laugh, the part about never having the opportunity to fizzle out. Because Tom Coughlin's Giants have a tendency to do that a lot. Then again, the Giants would still have to play the brutal part of their schedule and not the somewhat easier first half of it.