Syringes and "The Play"

Apparently Roger Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee, says he has physical evidence that Clemens used steroids - including syringes with traces of steroids and hGH and Clemens' DNA. I don't really understand a few things about this. First, who keeps syringes after using them? Second and more importantly, how can they tell how old the syringes are, and whether or not the blood and steroids were somehow associated with them at the same time? For example, what is the difference between a needle / syringe that was used to inject steroids that has some blood on it, and a needle / syringe that was used to inject someone with something else, and then had steroids put into it? For that matter, since blood should only go into the needle, why not mix and match needles and syringes? It still sounds like a lot of "He Said / He Said."

The Eli Manning to David Tyree play that seemed almost miraculous during the Super Bowl should just be nicknamed "The Play." Right now, everyone knows what that refers to, so why not just dub it so? We already have "the catch" and "the escape followed by helmet catch" is too long a name. The local papers all have contests to "name the play."

Stomp You Out

I'm no Giants fan, but I'm really glad they won last Sunday. However, Michael Strahan's "stomp you out" speech was not only difficult to understand, it was pretty ridiculous. It made me sick of Michael Strahan again.



Not to take anything away from the Giants, but if you think about it, they had a ton of breaks before the Super Bowl, not to mention during it. Think about how they nearly lost in Dallas, the fumble recoveries in Green Bay and the fortunate plays in the Super Bowl... I guess when things are going your way, even the lucky stuff breaks that way too.

After Justin Tuck's great Super Bowl, I would have thought I'd see more "Tuck Rules" T-shirts. Then again, since the tuck rule game was eight years ago, it's basically forgotten.

Tiki Barber kept yapping away before the Super Bowl saying things like, "With every heroic story there has to be a foil, and I'm convenient for that. I am the (expletive) foil in a Shakespearean play."

"Love me or hate me or be indifferent about me, that doesn't bother me," Barber said. "But when you don't respect who I was as a player, that hurts ... For people to discredit what I was as a player is disingenuous at best and malicious at worst."

"I tell you the truth, even if you don't want to hear it," Barber said. "If you want to vilify me for being honest, you have to hate me then."

He also took credit for saving Tom Coughlin's job.

Tiki Barber needs to realize that his obsession with the spotlight is what has caused the Giants fans to hate him. Had he not announced his retirement mid-season last year, or written a book and criticized the current coach and QB, nobody would care. Fans would have appreciated Tiki's performance, but there was something about his comments that was more like he was betraying his former teammates. He would not have been this "foil" had he not offered up his opinions unsolicited (and in a book, no less). He must also have been (aside from his brother, Ronde) one of the only players to have had active media involvement while he was still a player (he was a local sports anchor and on WFAN). Nobody wants to see a player already working on the next career.

Tiki Interviews Eli

For the Today show, Tiki Barber had a feature where he interviewed some of his former teammates.



Tiki Barber was mentioned quite a bit over the last two weeks and at some point, it might be interesting to write about how a guy who played so well has become so unpopular.

Wow

I can't believe it. The Giants have won the Super Bowl!

-Have you ever seen so much pressure on Tom Brady?
-The Patriots committed a surprising number of false starts.
-Why did the Patriots go for it when they had the chance for the 49 yard FG?
-How lucky were the Giants on two plays? First, the Tyree catch from the Manning escaped sack. Second, the fumble that got batted away from Bradshaw, while it was a penalty, it could have easily been a turnover.

What an amazing game.

Tiki

Has any professional athlete become less likeable following his retirement than Tiki Barber? Maybe Jose Canseco?

I was already down on Tiki before retirement - he seemed like such a self-promoter, willing to say anything to please the media - but he's constantly criticized current Giants personnel including QB Eli Manning and coach Tom Coughlin since his retirement. Why not talk to these guys while you were on the same team? Maybe then the team wouldn't have done poorly in the playoffs. By the way - Tiki's best years? Under Coach Coughlin.