End of the week

So, Christmas has passed and the new year is coming shortly, the football regular season is just about done. I must say that I'm pretty happy with the way that Notre Dame finished its season by crushing Hawai'i. In case you missed it my boy Jimmy Clausen broke the ND bowl record for yards in a game and td's in a game, by half time. Ha ha. He ended up breaking the passing completion record also. Plus Golden Tate went off again. Just like Clausen he broke the ND receiving records for yards and td's in a game. It was just crazy. Plus, the Irish returned their first kick off for a td in forever(I think it's like 2003, but I could be wrong). I think this is the end that the Irish needed to propel them into next season.

I'm just waiting for the last game to finish before I write about the postseason for the NFL. There's just one game to go and it will decide the AFC West. I think the best part about this season is the fact that the Patriots won't make it to the playoffs. That makes me feel sooooo much better, he he. Let's just hope that the Gmen go on another streak like last season. The three teams in the NFC who scare me the most are the Falcons(because of their running game), the Panthers(they took the gmen to OT) and the Eagles(because they've been on a pretty hot streak and they destroyed the Cowboys). Oh yeah, I also love the fact that Romo sucked in another high pressure game and the cowboys are out.

I have one last funny story to tell. I went out to Pizzaria Uno's last night for dinner. We sat in the bar and our waitress was wearing a Tony Romo jersey. I was thinking of something funny to say but nothing great came up(I thought of saying, after I ordered, "oh yeah, and I'll take an Eagles win tomorrow" but decided I didn't want spit on my food) so instead after I paid for for the meal I wrote on the bottom of the check, Go Eagles! He he.

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas

Malone, why did you go to bed? Once the defense stopped the Panthers that one time I knew we were still in the game. That's the great thing about the Giants, they just seem to be able to make changes pretty well. I've noticed that a lot about this team. That game was insane though. I almost died of a heart attack twice in overtime, the first time when we went 3 and out and the second time when McQuarters muffed the punt. Personally, I was happy that the team got back into the game. I would have been happy with a close loss because the Giants are pretty good at getting teams back in the playoffs, especially on the road(see 2007-08 playoffs). But I was floored after Ward broke off those three big runs in OT. Pretty crazy. Here's my question. Who is the Giants MVP? Is it Jacobs? Eli? Ward? Feagles? It's pretty hard to say.

Well, since it is Christmas time I've decided to post my favorite Christmas movies, in no particular order.

#1. Home Alone - You know, even to this day I can still watch this movie. Not sooo much the second one, which isn't bad, just not as good. I've never sat through all of the third or fourth ones and I never will. But this movie was just really put together well, the story was a little absurd but still I could buy it. My two favorite parts will always be the end when he sets up to defend the house and when Kevin orders pizza and uses the movie to scare the crap out of the delivery guy. Sadly I still laugh out loud during those parts. What can I say? I'm an 8 year old trapped inside a 29 year old's body.

#2. Die Hard 2 - This one just beats out the first one, but just because there were more references to Christmas and there was actually snow. The plot was good, the actions better and the lines by Bruce Willis were great. This is a tradition that I'd like to start where I watch at least the first two Die Hard movies during the Christmas time. But honestly, I'll probably watch all 4 because I like them. Plus, we all know there's going to be a fifth movie.

#3. The Office Christmas Special(BBC Version) - Ahhhh, the office. Probably one of the top 3 comedies of all time, especially when you combine the British and American versions. I will say that I do like the BBC version just a tiny bit more than the American one. For those of you who don't know, the BBC version only consisted of two seasons(both 6 episodes long) plus a holiday special that was to take place a few years after season two ended. It was Christmas time and everyone was invited back for a catch up. I think one side reason why I like it sooooo much is because I remember when I was out in London for the Christmas-New Years in 2004(just before I started working at TicketNetwork) and one night before I fell asleep I was watching tv and BBC was running their list of the top 100 Christmas moments and the moment at the very end of the special was in the top 5. I must say that I do miss London and I can't wait to go back someday.

#4. All of those short Christmas clay figure movies - You know, the ones about Santa and Rudolph and frosty and anything to do with Christmas. I can still watch those at any time. I also like the cartoon one for How the Grinch Stole Christmas. These are just great movies that I can watch during this time. Not sooo much during the summer or any other time, but definitely during Christmas.

#5. Love Actually - Go ahead and laugh, I don't care, but I really do like this movie. I think what I really like about this movie is that its not your typical chick flick because not everyone ends up happy. I don't know why that makes me like it so much, but I do. I also like how so many of the stories intertwine and theres also a lot of famous people in it. Plus, Kiera Knightley's in it. You can't go wrong with that, he he. I think my two favorite scenes in the movie, and they go together, are Hugh Grant's speach sticking up for England(I love the lines about Harry Potter and David Beckham) and then his dance through his house after the song is dedicated to him. Just great.

#6. The Harry Potter movies - I don't know why they're on this list, but I'm always reminded of the movies when I think of Christmas. It's probably because they get played during ABC Family's 25 days of Christmas, but whatever. I like the scenes during Christmas in the movies, especially during the first movie and the third movie. Now, the movies don't match up with the books at all, but they're still enjoyable.

#7. The Muppet's Christmas Special - You guys all know this one, the one where the Muppets go away for Christmas and get stranded at this cabin with this old man and his dog and then the Fraggles are there and then Sesame Street shows up. Ha ha, just great. My favorite Muppet will always be the Swedish Chef. He makes me laugh.

Well, one movie that people might be surprised to not see on this list is the Christmas story and that's because I can't stand the movie. I'm not sure why, I guess it's the fact that TBS plays it non stop for 24 freakin' hours every year, but I just don't like it too much. Some other movies that make me think of Christmas that I should probably have on the list are the original Star Wars movies and the Back to the Future trilogy. I just always remember them being at tv when I was over at my Grandparents house and watching them after opening up presents. Maybe I'm making it up but I swear they were.

Lastly, I have an open invitation to you guys if you are interested. The US is playing Mexico on February 11th out here in Columbus. If anyone would be interested in going to the game at all you are more than welcome to stay at my place. I've already taken off the 11th and 12th so I would be able to pick people up from the airport if needed. Tickets haven't gone on sale yet but I do plan on buying a ticket when they do. Let me know if you're interested, I think it would be a fun game to go to, even though it will be bitterly cold.

Are you kidding me?

So, it looks like Malone could be wrong about Big Tex. But my one question is when did he become one of the 5 best players? In fact, he's not even the best firstbasemen and he deserves 8 years $200 mil? Really? I'm sorry but I hope no one gives him that much money. He should just take the Nats offer of 8 years $160 and just go away. He's not worth $200 mil. I hope everyone takes their offers off of the table and he ends up signing a 1 year $12 mil contract with the Royals, ha ha. That would be funny. It won't happen because we all know someone will buckle and fork over the money, but it will still be funny.

Ehhhhhhhh, yeah

Listen, the last post was not me going corporate or anything like that. In fact, I don't know if I'm allowed to write anything bad about dish so I might be screwed already, ha ha, but I will say this. We don't do a lot of things right, but when it actually happens you have to give credit where credit is due. And the slingbox was doing something right, for once. And yes, I'm aware that's its been around for a few years but I believe the new ones are not that old, so there. When I finally get a new computer the next thing I plan to get a slingbox.

It was nice to hear CC talking about looking for his new house and when the realtor asked what team he played for he said the Yankees and he had the nice fuzzy warm feeling about saying that when a week ago he said that he didn't even want to play there. Yeah, right CC. We all believe you. You couldn't wait to play for the Yankees. I thought that was nice.

Also funny on yahoo they have a list of 11 teams that almost had different names. And of course the Mets were one of them. It was an interesting list. Here's the link to the story
http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/21090.html
I think my favorite is what the Raptors were almost called. Ha ha. I got a kick out of that.

Joe Horn was brought in by the Giants to try out but we didn't sign him. There was an interesting article on deadspin about how Joe Horn thought he was brought in to trick the other receivers into believing that he was going to replace them. Personally I think it would have been a good tactic because we've sucked the past two games. The receiving corp could use something to get them to play better. Lets hope it actually rubs off.

It's nice to know that the Mets hired someone like me to spell the new AAA team's name.
http://deadspin.com/5112677/mets-welcome-redundant-gramatically-questionable-triple+a-team

Well, that's all I've got for now. And remember, Jesus didn't tap.

Eh

Sooooo, I'm not really known to really endorse any products out there, well, besides the DVR. Well, I'm here to tell you about another product that will once again help shape the universe. This one is called the slingbox. Here's the website, www.slingbox.com and this is what it does. Basically what it is is a box that you can connect your tv up to and then your tv receiver box and your internet modem box and it will allow you to watch your tv through your computer or a cellphone that has a g3 network(iphone and those types) so if you ever go somewhere and you have your computer/cellphone with you you can watch your tv! Plus, if you have a dvr you can also use that! And you can hook up a dvd player to it. It's just insane! Now slingbox was boughtout by my company, and no they're not paying me to write this, I just like to pass on cool information, but there's also a special that you can get a reduced price for the box(there are actually a couple different options to use) at www.slingbox.com/Dishspecial so if this interests you I'd get one. It's just awesome(see Jim, when you're not doing work at ticketnetwork you can watch your tv).

Panic!!!

Soooo, I'm starting to get into panic mode now. Yes, we've clinched the division and a playoff spot but the past two weeks the offense has looked horrible. Absolutely horrible. I didn't think that the Plaxico situation would be a distraction but we've looked lost since. The team seems soooooo distracted by everything. Well, I shouldn't say the team, the offense does. I really didn't think we'd need him but it looks like I'm wrong. It's been soooo frustrating watching this team the past two weeks and the offense can't get anything done. I'm wondering if part of that is also because Jacobs hasn't played either. Of course last year I think we lost the last two games(at home against the Redskins and Patriots) so I know this team can bounce back but at least we scored some points in those games. I'm really worried about the game next week. Hopefully we'll play well enough for me not too worry, ha ha. We'll see.

A farewell to Endy!

Hey, I wrote before that I would write that post and then follow it up the next day. Stop complaining. I write about stuff that's important to me. But anywho, enough complaining, time for some baseball talk.

I must say that I'm surprised with how quickly the big free agents have signed. First K-Rod goes to the Mets and then the day after CC goes to the Yankees. Yes, Rob you called it but there were still a lot of teams that were interested. In fact, the day that the deal was reported one of my customers said that the LA papers listed a story that he was talking to them about signing. Also the Brewers made an offer and I'm sure the Angels made one too and the Red Sox were thinking about it. I'm wondering if the Mets thought about offering a similar deal but that contract is a scary one. 7 years/$161 million is a really big contract, especially for a pitcher. Personally I thought CC would get Santana type money but the Yankees blew that out of the water. I think if the Yankees had offered what Santana got that CC might not have signed with them. Of course there is the opt out afte 3 years. Does anyone know if that's just a player opt out or if the Yankees can opt out too? If the Yankees can I would say then that it's a good contract for the Yankees. If not I hope CC blows his elbow out midway through the next season and pulls an Albert Bell and doesn't retire and just sits around collecting his money, ha ha.

I'm loving what the Mets have done so far this offseason. I think Omar has done a great job. I love the trade for JJ and the fact that we got rid of two pitchers who weren't cutting it last season. For some reason Heilman just couldn't put it together the past two seasons. He was awesome in '06 but I wonder if he's going through Brad Lidge syndrome where Lidge was a shell of what he used to be after the Pujols homer? He really hasn't been the same since giving up the homer to lose the '06 season. Maybe he'll do better, maybe he'll just continue to fall apart. Only time will tell. I think Heilman will either become great again or he'll be out of the league in two years. I think it's that tramatic. Joe Smith was good when he first came up but people learned how to hit him and he basically lost his effectiveness.

The player I'll miss the most is Endy. Honestly I'll never forget Endy after the '06 season. He was just soooooo clutch that year, coming up with huge base hits at the end of games and with his fielding. His catch in game 7 is the greatest catch ever in Mets history. Ever. I can still remember where I was when it happened(TGI Fridays in Manchester, a bunch of us from TicketNetwork were there and I had just come from having dinner with the Account Management Team at that Fish restaurant) and how I just wanted to jump up and down and all around after that catch. The next season started off well but once he got injured he was really never the same. You could tell that this past season and his struggles continued. He will be missed.

But, I love our bullpen now, he he. With K-Rod closing things out and Putz setting him up, we finally have a steady end of the rotation. And, on the odd night that K-Rod can't go we have Putz to close. I think he'll pick up at least 5 saves next year. Plus, we still have Feliciano in the pen and hopefully Duaner can get back to the way he was in '06 before the shoulder injury. But now the Mets need to focus on getting, I think, two more starters. Our 1-2-3 are set with Santana, Maine & Pelfrey but there's no 4-5. I think Knight & Niese are a year or two away from the big leagues so we need to start looking and seeing what's out there. I think we'll go after D-Lowe and add him. Not too bad of a 4 or 5 starter and hopefully the Mets can re-sign Perez. That would be a pretty sweet rotation going Santana, Maine, Perez, Pelfrey, Lowe. AJ Burnett is out there but I don't think the Mets will make a play for him. He's too much of a contract year pitcher for me to want the Mets to sign him, unless it was for a 1 year deal. But we all know he won't take that. Well, only time will tell what'll happen.

In Defense of Charlie Weis

So, I've finally gotten around to writing this article. Actually I almost called up one of the local talk shows on Friday about this because they were talking about ND and how they thought ND should let Charlie go and that he wasn't doing that great of a job. An Irish fan called up and said that he didn't like when they signed him to begin with and I almost called up and called the guy a moron and then I was going to go into my reasons to defend him. Now, this season and last season didn't go too well but there were signs that the team would struggle, which I'll go over in a minute, but I'd also like to say that ND needs to win next year and that's it. I'm giving Charlie one more year to bring this team back to where it was when he first came in. If next year turns out to be another 6-6 team believe me I won't be writing the same article, I'll be writing to have him fired. I think next season is the season where the team must grow and turn into winners. So, here we go. Hope you enjoy:

#1. Memory
I'm not like most sports fans when it comes to the Irish. Well, I guess this Irish team. I have patiences. I understand that there will be growing pains and that this team and last years team were going to struggle. I accepted it because of what happened in the past. I think people who want Charlie Weis gone have a memory of the Irish that started last year, when they were bad, really bad. They don't seem to remember his first two years where the team was awesome. They were just plain fun to watch and they won a whole bunch of games and each Saturday I just wondered what they would do? I also remember the years under Tyrone Willingham and how bad the teams were. Not only his last two years but his first season when he won his first 8 games. What I didn't like about those teams were how bad the offense was. They just really didn't seem to be able to do anything offensively. They couldn't really move the ball and it was frustrating and boring to watch them. It really was. I also remember the teams under Bob Davie and it was just about the same type of team. What I also remember was the fact that Tyrone couldn't recruit. He just plain couldn't. He did find some good players every once in a while but he didn't really do anything with them. This I'll actually save for later. But what I also remember is what happened to lead the Irish to hire Charlie. See, Willingham was fired at the end of the season after and the Irish went after Urban Meyer who ultimately turned them down to sign with Florida, which has been a good thing for him, but what it also did was it screwed the Irish over. See, they didn't have a head coach. There was no one there to help develop these kids and also, too recruit. See, that's one of the biggest responsibilities of a coach is to go out and find the next players to come play for your school and there was no one there to do this that season. And that killed the team. They basically threw away a year of recruiting, cutting out the legs from beneath the team. Charlie wasn't able to sign to coach ND under after the pro football season was over, and if people can remember, the Patriots were in the Super Bowl that year so Charlie couldn't become the head coach until after that. Which gave him about a month to recruit players or at least keep the players that were going to go to ND. And that recruiting class was bad. It was. I think he was lucky to get 14 guys to commit to ND, which is just a horrible recruiting class. You can't keep a team going by doing that and it hurt ND. That's probably the biggest reason why we had the season we had last year. There were no leaders for that team. In fact, the Irish only lost 4 players at the end of the season. Now, the next recruiting class was just okay. Charlie recruited a lot of players, but nothing like the recruiting classes he's had the past two seasons or as he will have this year. I'm not saying that he didn't bring in any good players, just not like the dynamic ones he's brought in the past two seasons, which would also help cause the season the Irish had this year.

Now, there are also two reasons why I'm also patient with this team. The first reason comes from my high school days and from the hockey team. When I was a freshman the hockey team wasn't any good. In fact, they were horrible. I believe they won something like 3 or 4 games. They had a new coach that year and we figured to not play that well. Well my sophmore year the team got a lot better. In fact, they ended up making the playoffs but I believe they lost in the first or second round. Well, my junior year the team kept on getting better and they lost in the quarterfinals. As you can guess, my senior year we lost in the Semifinals. And the year after I graduated we won the whole things.

The second reason comes from college and the soccer team. Now the Messiah team was actually pretty decent before I got there. We'd made the playoffs every year for the past few years but couldn't really do much in it. So, once again my freshman year we made the playoffs but lost in the second round. Well, something happened my sophmore year and we grew a lot and lost in the quarterfinals. My junior year I expected us to lose in the Semifinals but we actually won the tournament. My senior year, unfortunately the team lost in the Semifinals, a little backwards but the team was in the right place, and they've also won 5 out of the past 6 national championships. And I can see the growth with this team, but they need to make a huge stride next year.

#2. Recruiting
I touched on this already but I'll go over it again. His first two official recruiting classes weren't that special. The first one was bad because he only had a month to get some recruits in and the second one because, I believe, he was still finding out how the system goes. Well, these past two years he's done a lot better job. Plus, Willingham was a bad recruiter and this is really what helped cost him his job. The athletic director realized that he wasn't bringing in the players that we needed and it just helped cause the situation we're in now. But, I do believe the team will be a lot better next year and the years after.

#3. Losses
This year the Irish have gone 6-6 with a bowl game left to play. Now, out of those 6 losses I believe the Irish could have won 5 of those games and I'll go through each loss and show you why. The first loss was at Michigan State 23-7. There were five plays that changed this game, the first two were turnovers in the red zone by the Irish, one interception and one fumble. The Irish also missed two field goals. The last was an interception inside their own red zone that lead to a Michigan State TD. If good things had happened on those plays instead of bad one you have a different game. The second loss was at UNC, which the Irish lead at half time and blew the lead. They also had a chance to win the game but there was a fumble on UNC's 7 yard line with 3 seconds left to play. They should have won that game. Next was a loss in 4 ot's at home against Pitt. Once again the Irish were up at half time only to blow the game in the second half. The d played pretty well but the offense just couldn't get it done in the second half. This game, I believe killed the team for the rest of the season. You could tell it in the way they played. They just weren't there. The next loss was at BC 17-0. Once again, 3 plays changed the game. Two interceptions in the red zone again and also a third int that was returned for a td. The d only gave up 10 points and if the Irish had scored on the two red zone possessions it would have been a better game. The last was a loss at home 24-23 to Syracuse. There was no excuse to lose this game. They should have killed the Orangemen but lost instead. I believe if the Irish had won these games instead it would have been a different game at USC.

#4. Young Starters
If you look at the ND starters most of them are either Freshman or Sophmores. In fact the Irish are only losing 2 starters from this years team. Of the main positions(QB, RB, WR, TE) on offense they're all freshman and sophmores. Of their 4 starting LB's 3 are freshman or sophmores. Of the starting CB's one is a freshman the other a senior. There are just sooo many young guys starting that it's hard to win with a team like that. In fact I believe that many of the problems that occured with the team were because of that. I think if this team were a year older they would have won the games that they ended up losing. That's why I have such high hopes for this team next year. I think the trials and tribulations of this season will help prepare them for next year.

#5. Not Losing Players
ND is only losing something like 4 players off of this years team. And only two are starters. That means that a lot of players gained a lot of experience this season that'll help them for next year. That shows you two things, first that the team can be really great next season but also that the team wasn't bringing in the players that it needed to those couple years where Tyrone was fired and when Charlie was first hired. If Willingham had done his job well then ND wouldn't have had bad seasons this year and last year. They would have just kept on rolling like Charlie's first two season.

#6. Developing Players
I heard this just briefly last Friday on the talk show, but I guess they were saying that Charlie Weis couldn't develop talent. That's what got me fired up and I almost called in. It's sad but true. Unfortunately I didn't hear the whole conversation, but I really wish I had. I'm sorry but without Charlie Weis no one would know who Brady Quinn is, who Jeff Samardzija is(in fact I wouldn't know how to spell his last name) or Maurice Stovall or Rhema McKnight, or Darius Walker or Tom Zbikowski or Trevor Laws. All of these players would have been no ones or duds. In fact, Samardzija was going to quit football and just concentrate on baseball. Without Charlie Weis there's no one I would have gotten a ND 83 jersey or a 10 jersey or a 7 jersey. There's no chance of that. In fact he's done a pretty good job with the players he's recruited. Jimmy Clausen's done a lot better this season than last. Golden Tate, I think, will be the best wide receiver ever at ND. And Michael Floyd will probably be #2. These guys are insane. Plus Armando Allen had a much better year this season. Without Charlie Weis we don't have any of that. In fact, if you look at the two best ND players in the NFL, that would be Justin Tuck and Ryan Grant, the ND coaches didn't do that good of a job with them. Tuck was drafted in the 4th round and Grant was either late in the draft or went undrafted(both started their careers with the Giants, I might add). If these other coaches were that good then I don't think they would have gone that low.

So, here are my reasons why I want Charlie around for at least one more year. I think he'll do a great job next year and I can see the team getting a BCS bid. Or at least that's what I'm hoping. Ha ha.

Oh boy

So it's been a couple days so there are a few things that have gone on. Plax is gone from the team, not sure if he'll be back or not b/c the players union is challenging the suspension. I must say that maybe the Giants could have used him today. It did seem that they were not completely focuses because I've never seen them play this bad since the Cleveland game. It just seemed that they could stop the eagles at all and they offense was soooooo bad. I've never seen them drop so many passes. The worst one was Hixon's drop pass. That would have been a td and maybe the Giants would have won the game. Maybe not. What I'm hoping now is that somehow the Steelers can pull this game out against the Cowboys. I'm not sure though. I really don't want to see either the Eagles or the Cowboys in the playoffs, I'll tell you that.

I was pretty impressed by the Gators yesterday. That was a big win by them and I think we'll have a great national championship game in January. In fact I would have been happy if either Alabama or Texas had made it too. I think those are the four best teams in the nation and if there had been a playoff I think those would be the final four teams. I really can't say who I think will win it all or not.

Did any of you see the Dela Hoya fight last night? Well dish was nice enough to make everyone work yesterday so I had the joy to work from 6-11pm last night. I left just as the fight started. I could have stayed and watched it but it didn't seem like it would be a good fight. And by the sounds of it it wasn't. I must say that I was surprised that Dela Hoya quit. I didn't think he was the type of person to do that. I guess he's really not the golden boy anymore, eh?

Playoffs

Rob, I think we'll have a pretty good playoff match as our teams are pretty eventually matched. I looked back and you beat me by 3 points when we played in like week 4 so it should be pretty close. I'm hoping Hixon has a huge game against the Eagles to help carry me to victory! It should be pretty interesting. I love how Koho didn't make the playoffs after getting off to a hot start, ha ha. It just goes to show that you do have to know at least a little bit to get by.

So tonight there was a happy hour for maureen and the other doctors that I got to go to. They had the Uconn game on tv and it was nice to see them struggle against a powerhouse like Buffalo. Buffalo? Really? I was waiting for the bulls to hit the game winning 3 at the end of the game but they didn't take it. Instead they drove in and tried to pass it to a center who can't catch. It made me laugh. Does anyone think that UNC can be stopped? After beating the Irish by 15 and then crushing Michigan State by over 30 points at Michigan State I don't know if they can. It's pretty scary, as much as I hate to admit it. Hopefully they'll get upset by the 16 seed in the tourny.

Did anyone see the Rutgers game tonight? I wouldn't have watched it if it wasn't on tv during the happy hour but by half time the Rutgers qb had 343 yards passing and 6 tds and Rutgers was up 49-0(which is a big east half time record). Maybe the Eagles will draft him so they can have a real qb? We shall see.

Just a quick note, I'm glad Brady Quinn wasn't taken #1 by the Raiders because they're aweful and it looks like JaMarcus Russell isn't that good, ha ha.

A Plaxico Tale

Well, as we've all found out today Plaxico Burress has played his last game for the giants. The Giants have suspended him for the rest of the year and he also can't play in the postseason. I would have been worried if the Giants hadn't been playing without him for most of the season. If fact, Burress really hasn't had that much impact this year. Plus, I think Hixon will be a better receiver than Plax but I will admit that not having Plax could be a huge blow and I'll miss having him on the team. He always seemed like a good blanket for the giants to use in case they were ever in an emergency. But, when you keep on getting into trouble like Plaxico has been it's just finally time to cut the cord and let him go.

Plaxico makes me think of the movie A Bronx Tale and one of it's themes, which is wasted talent. There is soooo much that he could have done, I personally think he could have been the best receiver in the league if he wouldn't let things get in the way. I understand why Pittsburgh let him go. I was happy about the signing but I feared that he would implode in NY. There just seemed to be too many distractions for him and now we know what happens. I can remember the good games that he would have, a couple years ago in Philly when the Giants came back from 17 down in the fourth to win in OT with a 45 yard td pass to Plax. I remember the playoffs and his Super Bowl winning catch. I'll never forget that, but I also won't forget all the trouble he brought. I'm just hoping that he doesn't rip apart the team. I don't think he will but you never know. Not only did he get himself in trouble but he could get two key players also in trouble. Only time will tell. Now I'm just hoping that Hixon can step up now and maybe we'll get a Mario Manningham sighting, which could be good. Maybe he can step up like Kevin Boss stepped up last season. What do you guys think about the Burress situation? Do you think the Giants did the right thing?