New York Giants News and Notes: Good Friday Edition

Good morning fellow Giants fans, and Happy Easter and Passover to all of you celebrating this weekend. I grew up Catholic and my wife grew up Jewish so, while neither of us is very religious, we tend to mix certain things about each holiday--mostly, the food. Of course, these are two holidays that don't exactly go together, and it might seem odd to mix brisket, matzoh ball soup, ham, hard boiled eggs and chocolate bunnies all at the same time, but we try to do it over the course of a few days (not making a big deal out of either) and it works. Anyway, you didn't come here to discuss religion, but I wanted to observe the fact that many of us do observe this weekend's holy days. Meanwhile, baseball is starting (did Johan Santana actually pitch five scoreless innings yesterday? Did the Mets actually win yesterday?), the Masters is in high gear and the NFL Draft is just three weeks out. So what's going on with the Giants?

First of all, former New York Giants Amani Toomer and Harry Carson will be celebrating the first official day of the New York International Auto Show (at the Javits Center) with The Vehicle Production Group LLC (VPG). Throughout the day (Saturday, April 7 from 2pm to 4pm), Toomer and Carson will be available for interviews and photos (and, we're told, autographs).

Giants a happy, confident offseason tortoise - NFC East Blog - ESPN
Have you seen what the New York Giants have been up to in free agency? No? Me neither, and I cover the division! Ah, we kid, we kid. Jokes about the Giants' offseason inactivity are so 2011. It is what it is, as they say in places where Giants fans live, and after the way last season ended, there's no reason to think it's going to change. Those of us who ripped Giants general manager Jerry Reese for not doing enough to improve his team last summer (and yes, of course, I very much include myself) are full to bursting from all the crow we had to eat once Reese's bunch won the Super Bowl. And the Giants' uninspiring list of 2012 free-agent pickups to date -- let's call them Martellus and the Special Teamers -- isn't worth getting worked up over now that even the doubters understand the way the Giants look at the NFL world.

Vikings: We aren't pursuing Bill Parcells - TwinCities.com
A Vikings team spokesman denied a New York Post report linking Bill Parcells to the team. "There is no truth to the media reports," media relations director Bob Hagan said in a statement Wednesday, April 4. Vikings owner Zygi Wilf, a longtime New York Giants fan, was reported to be pushing hard on Parcells to head to Minnesota and "run the show" by overseeing football operations and coaching the team, according to the Post. But a person with knowledge of the situation told the Pioneer Press there's "zero truth" to the story and nothing is happening with Parcells and the Vikings.

Scout.com: Dave Tollefson Profile
New York Giants veteran free agent defensive end Dave Tollefson visited the Oakland Raiders, according to a league source. He has also visited the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers. He's also expected to visit the Tennessee Titans today.

There Is No Stopping All-American Running Back Brandon Jacobs
Nicknamed the Juggernaut for his overpowering force on the field, this celebrity football player is known for his ability to break tackle after tackle in his determined drive for total domination. Jacobs recently unleashed this unbridled energy with his first foray into the billion dollar beverage industry. Since the success of this year's Super Bowl, convenience stores in the New York Tri-State area have featured the water-based, protein-rich sports drink PRO-NRG. And now, with Jacobs' move to the West Coast, this athlete turned entrepreneur is leading the push for national distribution.

This is a rather odd press release, but I thought it might be entertaining for you guys to read. Someone actually came up with this sub-headline: Two-Time Super Bowl Champ Rushes a Blitz into the Free Market, Making His First Draft Choice the All-Natural, Water-Based Sports Drink PRO-NRG. That's three football cliches in one line for those of you keeping score at home.

Former New York Giants star Tiki Barber reaches divorce settlement - NFL News | FOX Sports on MSN
Former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber and his ex-wife have finally reached a settlement in their bitter divorce, a clerk at Manhattan Supreme Court confirmed Wednesday. The clerk said the once-happy couple has 60 days to turn in the settlement to the court. The ex-Giants star was slapped with divorce papers in 2010 after he was seen gallivanting around town with his then-23-year-old mistress — while his pregnant wife, Ginny Barber, spent a week in the hospital.

Source: Gregg Williams instructed Saints during speech to injure Niners offensive players - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
In the speech at the team’s hotel near the San Francisco Airport, Williams – according to documentary filmmaker Sean Pamphilon – at one point made a hand signal suggesting he would personally pay for a ferocious shot on 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. Williams also referenced the prospect of his players inflicting a severe knee injury upon San Francisco wideout Michael Crabtree and exhorted them to "put a lick on" backup receiver Kyle Williams in an effort to "find out" if he was still suffering from the effects of a late-December concussion.

I'm sure most of you saw this already, and it's no big secret that Gregg Williams has always been a thug of a defensive coordinator. But this is just chilling to hear him talk about going after a player with a concussion. For that reason alone, it's easy to see why Roger Goodell brought the hammer down hard on this guy, and why Williams isn't appealing.

Wes catches up, discusses drop - BostonHerald.com
His contract status wasn’t the only topic Wes Welker addressed yesterday. There were so many more issues for the Patriots [team stats] wide receiver, who hadn’t spoken to the media since the Super Bowl, to tackle, but none struck a more poignant chord than one at the very end of his session, with only a handful of reporters left around his chair. Welker was asked about the drop in the Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants. Two months have passed since he couldn’t hang on to that fateful fourth-quarter pass that could have changed the outcome. Two months have passed since that emotional postgame scene, where Welker, fighting back tears, took the blame for the loss. Does he feel any differently now about that play with some time, distance and perspective to absorb what happened? "Not really," Welker said. "It is what it is. But I’ve moved on."

Ouch. I genuinely feel bad for Welker, because he's going to forever be linked with Bill Buckner. Of course, we're always going to be elated that he did drop that pass.