SOMETHING YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D HEAR ME SAY....

LET'S GO COWBOYS!!!!

No - you aren't drunk. No - I haven't totally lost my mind. I honestly think this is the most sane thing I have ever said.

Why, you may ask, do I think this way?

Simple - if the Giants get blown out, there's NO WAY they can keep Tom Coughlin. I mean this team is a total mess and yet they are still 6-5. Imagine if they had a coach that has a clue?

People are screaming at Eli - but do you know who his position coach is? Kevin Gilbride. The same guy Buddy Ryan threw a punch at year's ago on the sidelines during a game. Now I know that Buddy is a bit nutty - but maybe he should have connected for all our sakes.

Look - the Giants aren't a great team this year - but they are sure better than what we have seen from them. With that in mind, it's time to make the change that can affect the team the most and cut off the head of this snake.

There are going to be a lot of really, really good people available this season. There are two that I really want for us. One is Bill Cowher from Pittsburgh - he would bring a toughness and edge that this team has missed for a long, long time. He has one year left on his contract and I think he will be available to move to us. It's something we need to consider.

The most interesting coach available to me would be Bob Stoops from the University of Oklahoma. He is one of the best defensive coaches in the country year in and year out. He's smart enough to know that in the NFL, he would need to hire a CEO of the offense and let them work. He can work defensive wonders and be the no-nonsense guy that we need. He's young. He's hungry and he knows how to win.

When you look on the Big Blue sidelines, they aren't hungry and they look lost in a tough situation. No matter what, Stoops' teams are always prepared and he is the guy I would love to see on our sidelines.

With that in mind, I am a huge Tony Romo fans. Might even have some ribs in his honor on Sunday!

A PLEA FOR COUGHLIN'S HEAD

For those of you who know me well, there's not much I miss about New York. It's a great place and I love going to visit, but I have to tell you that life in the South is pretty good. I got to play two rounds of golf this weekend and life is great.

The one thing that I cannot shake from my New York soul is that I am a diehard New York football Giants fan. The best and worst things for guys like me is the NFL package on the dish. Be easier if we just had local television and didn't have to worry about this - but of course for me it's like watching a train wreck. I know what's going to happen and I still have to watch it.

Sunday was my last straw - up 21-0 going into the fourth quarter, sloppy and lazy play by the whole football team cost them a win. Tennessee scored 24 in the fourth to win 24-21. Our coach Tom Coughlin was supposed to be a disciplinarian and he's not. He's supposed to be a good teacher and he's not. He's not the man to lead this team and he needs to go now. Of course, the Giants being cheap as they have been in the past won't make a change right now and I doubt that they will do at the end of the year, but it needs to happen.

When Jeremy Shockey shot his mouth off early in the year about being, "unprepared," we all laughed because it's Shockey. But when Tiki Barber said things this past week, and then you watch the fourth quarter, you know it's true.

Plaxico Burress quits on a play that turned the whole game around. The game would have ended on a 4th down play late in the game when Giants rookie Mathias Kiwanuka had Vince Young wrapped up for a sack, but let him go, only to see him scramble upfield 19 yards for a first down. Coughlin was in his face yelling at him, but he should have never been in that position if the coach hadn't called a crappy 2nd half of football on the offensive side of the ball.

Now I usually defend Eli Manning, but he made many mental mistakes Sunday. He didn't look like he had a clue as to what was going on in the 2nd half and part of it is his fault and part of it is coaching or a lack there of.

Please Tom, if you care about the tradition and the history of New York Giants football, step down with GM Ernie Accorsi, who is retiring at the end of the year. Let's start fresh on the sidelines. We have some good players - but no leadership at all. For your first and only act as a great leader - get lost!

Maybe John L. Smith can find you a tee time with him ...

For those of you who want to see how the dearly kind New York papers handled it - and make sure to see the great cover headlines - go to the
New York Post New York Daily News Newsday New York Times Bergen Record

Happy Happy Joy Joy ...

Sorry I have been a bit slow in updating the past week. Been a little busy, but all is well.

So what has been going on? Michael Richards is in a bit of hot water for his use of racist words at a comedy club. May not have been funny, but it’s the best thing he’s been on TV for since Seinfeld.

THE Ohio State University hung on to beat Michigan in this year’s version of the Game of the Century by three points. Funny part is that Bo got to his seat in time to join Woody Hayes in watching their old teams put up 81 points. Definitely not the kids of football they played. And I am convinced Bo was more upset about the two big runs for touchdowns than the loss. Bo’s memorial service is at the Big House and I am sure it’s going to be interesting. Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press has written some great stuff on Bo. If you like sports at all – you should read them.

The NY football Giants are just painful to watch these days. And as long as the best part of the team is on the sidelines with injuries, it will continue. Only thing I was mad about Monday night was Tony Kornheiser. Hey Tony, tell you what, before you rip Eli Manning, realize that Bob Whitfield is blocking his backside. Why don’t you try it out for a while and see what it’s like? I am going to say words that I CANNOT believe I would EVER say – I am sorry Luke Petitgout … I am sorry!!! You can take your three holdings and your two false starts and come back … I miss you and will never yell at you again. Well, I promise to at least TRY not to yell! One thing I was shocked by was that I woke up this morning to see Tiki Barber on Fox and Friends at 6 a.m. He just got back from Jacksonville at 2 or 3 in the morning – shouldn’t you be getting rest? You aren’t on a bye week, what gives with this? For those who don’t think Tiki will retire, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to see you.

There’s a great story about Michigan State’s basketball coach Tom Izzo wanting to be considered for the football coaching job. Huh? Did I just write that? Yep. Did I drop acid before writing it? Nope. Is it possible that this could happen? ABSOLUTELY!
It may seem nuts, but think about it in Izzo’s eyes he compares himself to a CEO of a company in one industry taking the same job in an unrelated business. I hate to say it, but I hope he gets the job. He is the kind of no-nonsense guy with ties to Nick Saban and Steve Marucci that would find a way to make it work. It would be one of the great stories in college sports if he could pull it off. Imagine this, Izzo would be the first to win National Championships in both sports. Can’t I dream for a second? OK – moments over. What stiff of an assistant coach will be our lead candidate? I’d rather have Izzo.

That’s it for now, let me know what’s up with you and yours. Family is all good here and life is good.

Happy Turkey to all you Turkeys!

Down the stretch they come....

What a crazy night. Actually, let me correct myself. What an absurd 24-hours.

I was at a party at a bar with a bunch of friends and we were surrounded by every station covering the night. And it was a roller-coaster ride for me. I did realize that I have a serious gambling issue and its called Election night. It is my Super Bowl and NCAA hoop tournament rolled into one night.

I don’t bet on the winners/losers. I support candidates that I believe are going to make a difference for Israel and for the United States and this is the night to see if my investments pay off.

With that in mind, let me walk you through my crazy night. Started at 8 p.m. when Pennsylvania closed their polls. Two minutes after, Bob Casey was announced as the winner of the Senate race vs. Rick Santorum, who was the incumbent. I stuck with Rick, or as a friend of mine in Atlanta calls him “Son of Sam”, to the end. I knew it was money going down the toilet, but sometimes you have to bet the long shot and play the future. What we did here.

That was my only loss for a long, long time … my dear friend Lincoln Davis of Tennessee easily won his house race and was waiting to see what happened with Harold Ford. That race was tough for me – like both candidates, but Bob Corker held off Ford by about 55,000 votes. My only thought when I saw that is that I hope and pray that the people of Tennessee chose Corker because they believe he was better for the state. But I know better and I know that some of those folks couldn’t bring themselves to vote for an African American man for Senate. Would have been the first one in Tennessee since reconstruction. Just a damn shame, but Harold will be back and back in a big way. He’s only 36 and he’s a sharp man. Sad, sad that in 2006 this can still is a thought never mind a fact.

Around 9ish, Joe Leiberman of Connecticut won re-election. I was so happy for him. Here’s a man that has given a ton to his country and his party and they kick him to the curb. Only for him to run harder and smarter and kick Ned Lamont’s butt.

Other races came and went and I found myself screaming at the TV’s from time-to-time when I would see one of my guys doing well with 70 percent reporting but no winner chosen. “Go to the whip, hit ‘em baby,” as if these guys were Steve Cauthen riding Seattle Slew down the backstretch at Belmont.

About 11 p.m. I got a call from Heath Shuler’s finance director, Alexis, screaming into the phone, “Taylor conceded. WE WON! WE WON!” Watch my friend from North Carolina over the next two years – he is the moderate Democrat with family values that the party is going to try and model candidates in the future. Don’t be surprised if he is a keynote speaker at the 2008 Democratic convention.

Funny part with him is that he is a former Washington Redskins top pick. He struggled big time with the Redskins. The media and fans were awful to him. I know this first hand because I lived there at the time. When I asked him why he wanted to go back, Heath said, “Jon, this time I know I can make a difference.” I am considering going to DC for his swearing in wearing a Redskins Number 5 jersey just to piss off Skins fans!!!

I was rolling along well until another friend, Sen. Jim Talent from Missouri, conceded to Claire McCaskill around 3 a.m. ET. He is a very good man who did everything he can but he got caught up in Bush’s war garbage and stem cell research. He was against it and she was for it. While I will take nothing away from McCaskill, Jim should have held his seat and didn’t. Bush was there last week and maybe he blew it for Jim as well.

Consider that if he had fired Donald Rumsfeld a year ago instead of the day after the election, good Republicans like Jim could have held their seats. Funny part is that in Bush’s press conference Wednesday, he said, “I didn’t want to change right before the election. It would have looked too political and that would have been a wrong message to send to our troops.” Hey GWB, don’t you think the country just sent you a message? You might want to listen… funny part is now you have to listen to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Better you than me!

I had to wait for this morning to find out that two congressmen in Georgia held on for a win – John Barrow and Jim Marshall. Barrow won by about 1,100 votes and Marshall by about 1,500. Montana got called for the Dems and Virginia is leaning that way as well. Looks like a clean sweep for the Dems.

So – the big question is what does all this mean? If you know that answer, you are beyond a genius. With Rumsfeld gone, maybe we can straighten out the Iraq situation. With the Dems in power, maybe GWB (and Karl Rove) will stop and think before they blindly spout off. GWB is meeting with Nancy Pelosi on Thursday for lunch. I would love to be a fly on the wall for that one. It’s the first of many first for GWB. And it’s a whole new ballgame in DC.

We can all bet on that for sure….

W. or L. - either way it's a mess....

As we approach Election Day, everyone talks about wins and losses. Everyone claims they are leading and that they are ready to roll.

But this election is more about W. Do people trust him? Is he doing the right things? Does he have a way out of Iraq and what the heck will he do with Iran?

It's a bottom line mid-term election. You either decide to give him one more shot for his last two years or you decide to tie his hands around his back and tell him to chill out for two years.

Either way - not a great situation. Funnier part is that I am sure some Republicans are hoping the Democrats win the House. This way when nothing gets done, they can start the 2008 Presidential cycle by saying, "This is what you want? Democrats who get nothing done?"

On the bigger L. side of the issue is John L. Smith. The FORMER head coach of Michigan State will coach the rest of the year and probably win them all and win a bowl game. Big deal.

The question is who in their right mind wants that job? The school has had four coaches in eight years, is totally a political mess and is more of a stepping stone than a place to stay and build a program.

Steve Mariucci's name comes up and while he has name brand recognition, I would say pass him by. Butch Davis' name comes up, he could be very interesting. He's cleaned up a program before in Miami and we need that. But is he too strong a mind to hire for our administration?

I will say that if I were a gambling man, they will hire former Spartan Pat Shurmer. While I like Shurmer, he is not the answer. That way of thinking doesn't work all the time. We need the best man for the job. Go find him and hire him.

And make sure his middle initial is either W or V for victory. Enough L's.