Allstarjim

Gspotter is right. I never thought much of this rumor. I gave more creedence to the Marion Barber trade to Dolphins rumor and that one is doubtful it will happen. I'd rather concern myself with how the Giants are going to improve than what Dallas is doing.

I did my homework, check your PM's if you haven't already. Reminder to others, as well.

Zambrano had about a 4.00 ERA. True aces don't allow that many runs. He's good, though. You are correct about Sheets. I didn't really research him like others. I've always liked his stuff, though, and I'd take him over Zambrano, just my opinion. As for Maine, I didn't say he would "make or break" the rotation. I said he makes the rotation go from good to exceptional, because he is such a great pitcher. I agree with your assessment of Perez, who I also have high hopes for. For a 4th guy, though, and with what he did last year, there is a lot of reasons to be encouraged.

I disagree, blu. After the game is over is not the time to do that. You do that during the game, at half-time, whatever, where it still could make a difference. After it's all over to tell someone they were sh*tbags is destructive. Those guys were just overhyped and overmatched compared to the Giants defensive line and blitzes. Not saying he should be happy about it, but after the game is not the time to rip your O-line a new one, especially when your season is over. What's done is done, they got beat, Brady didn't make every play he could've either. After the game it's all just sour grapes.

True, Seph. But I know this guy and he's not a bs artist. He's a straight shooter. Of course, I don't know his girlfriend, or the acquiantance. But it's a great story, and usually these stories have SOME truth to them, at least.

Couple of things I'd like to point out. Hall (and his current contract) would come to the Giants via trade. The Giants will not need to renegotiate that deal, although they conceivably could. So the Hall possible acquisition has nothing to do with what Gibril will get in a contract. Don't know why that is being talked about. Also, John Clayton reported that the 31st pick will not be enough to get Hall. I agree. Hall is one of the top 5 corners in football. Maybe top 3. The 31st pick is not enough value. So be prepared, and the debate should be centered around, the 31st pick and possibly a 3rd through 5th rounder... at minimum. Carry on!

Man I can't wait for baseball to start. And because of my optimism, this thread is born... I will tell you, my fellow faithful Mets fans, why the Mets will win the NL Pennant and have a great chance to win the World Series. First let me tell you who the other "contenders" are: Rockies Padres Diamondbacks Phillies Braves Cubs Dodgers Brewers Cardinals Of course, everyone starts of 0-0, and the games are determined inside the lines, not on paper or in the blogosphere. And like Charles Schwab will tell you, "Past performance is not an indication of future results." However, you have to smile if you are a Mets fan today. And the reason why is pitching. It's always about the pitching, isn't it? The Red Sox won the World Series last year largely because of the heroics of Beckett. In 2004, it was Schilling, Pedro Martinez, and Derek Lowe. In 2006, the Cardinals won it all (I still think they are the worst World Series champion ever), but they did it on great performances by Chris Carpenter, Anthony Reyes (yes Anthony Reyes), Jeff Weaver (yes Jeff Weaver) and awesome bullpen relief by Adam Wainwright. In 2005, the White Sox held the trophy due to in large part to the arms of Jose Contreras, Mark Buehrle, and a spectacular game 4 shutout by Freddy Garcia. The bats matter of course. In the end, you win by scoring more runs than the other team. But the team with the best pitching almost always rises to the top. So how do the Mets' pitching staff stack up with the rest of the NL? The Padres lost a tiebreaker last season that cost them a playoff berth. They have the reigning NL Cy Young award winner, in Jake Peavy. They have Chris Young, who, with a 3.12 ERA, was tremendous last year... in the first half. Justin Germano was encouraging, but he too tailed off in performance. They brought in Mark Prior, a wild card in this discussion. Will the guy ever stay healthy? And will he be as dominating as he was earlier in his career after all the injuries and setbacks? They brought in Randy Wolf. The Wolfman pitched only 102 innings last year, and posted a 4.73 ERA, going 9-6 in 18 starts. One through five, the Pads starting rotation looks like this: Peavy Young Mark Prior Randy Wolf Justin Germano One and two looks great, especially if Young can prolong his success throughout the second half. Prior will make or break this staff. Wolf is nothing more than filler, though, and Germano is another maybe, but he's clearly not there yet. A very good staff, just because of Peavy and Young. How about the D-backs? They have Brandon Webb, a stud for sure, and just imported another stud, Dan Haren. One and two again look real good. Here's the rest of the starters: Randy Johnson - clearly at the tail end of his career. Only threw 56 innings last year. His last full season (2006) he pitched a 5.00 ERA. Doug Davis - The big lefty is a decent starter. 4.25 ERA, went 13-12 last year. Micah Owings - A young kid who is the wild card on this staff. Had a 4.30 ERA last year, has potential. This staff is good because of Haren and Webb. But the rest of these guys are just ok. The Dodgers: A lot riding on Jason Schmidt having a bounceback season after only throwing 25 innings last year. If he can, this staff can be very good as well. Here is how they stack up: Brad Penny - Great starter who is a definite ace. Jason Schmidt - Needs to stay healthy and regain form. Chad Billingsley - Had a nice '07... 3.31 ERA, and went 12-5. Derek Lowe - Still a decent pitcher. Hiroki Kuroda or Esteban Loiaza - a has been and a who knows? This could be the best one through four in the west, surprisingly. But a lot has to go right, especially with Schmidt. They also have Jonathan Broxton in the bullpen, a guy who throws a 100 mph, and a guy who the Mets hitters can't hit. The Colorado Rockies - We all know Jeff Francis is good, but after that, there is just hope and hype. Ubaldo Jimenez needs to be great, not just good for them to compete in the west this year. The other pitching staffs are just too good. Franklin Morales is another kid with a lot of potential. After that, you have Aaron Cook and maybe Kip Wells. Cook is decent, and Wells lost 17 games last year, winning 7. Nobody in Colorado should dilude themselves with envisioning the Rockies making another run in '08. Their pitching is just not going to cut it. The Cubs - Does anyone remember the Cubs won their division last year? Gone is Mark Prior, and Kerry Wood is in the 'pen. Here's how their staff shakes down: Carlos Zambrano - overhyped "ace" had a 3.95 ERA in 07. Rich Hill - Showed lots of promise early, but finished 11-9 with 3.92 ERA. Ted Lilly - Had a career year in '07, 15-8 with a 3.83 ERA. Probably a mirage. Jason Marquis Jon Leiber The last two guys are nothing to write home about. The Cubs 1 through 3 are ok, and they can come out of the Central, only because it's a weak division. The Brewers - Interesting team that I think will take the Central. With Ben Sheets leading the way, as good an ace as you can get, they have some young pitchers that can really pitch. Sheets - Coming off of injury-shortened season, but one of the best. Jeff Suppan - How does that big money signing look now? Suppan in '07 - 12-12, 4.62 ERA Yovani Gallardo - A name to remember went 9-5 with a 3.67 ERA in 110 innings last year. Carlos Villanueva - another young kid who could be good. 3.94 ERA went 8-5 last season in 114 innings. Dave Bush or Chris Capuano - a couple of guys who had 5+ ERA's last year, and lost a lot of games. One through four looks like they could be pretty good, although Suppan was a mistake for them. But they can do it, because of the division, especially if their new closer, Eric Gagne, can dominate again. The Cardinals - In trouble because Chris Carpenter won't be back from Tommy John surgery until the All-Star break. Matt Clement is coming off major shoulder surgery and didn't pitch at all last year. Here is how their staff looks until Carpenter comes back - Adam Wainwright - converted reliever had a pretty good season at starter - 3.70 ERA, 14-12. Braden Looper - Another converted reliever not having the same success as a starter. 4.92 ERA in '07. Joel Piniero - He's aight. 4.33 ERA, went 7-5 in '07. Matt Clement - a wild Card. Needs to be very good for the Cards to make a run. Al Reyes - plus 6 ERA last year. Not good. The Cards need Carpenter to come back and dominate to make a late season run, and even then, they won't have enough one through five. A pedestrian group of starters to begin the season. And now for the EAST! The Braves - Could be in the wild card hunt this year. Why? They are solid at one and two with Smoltz and Hudson. Both guys had great '07's and show no signs of slowing down. They got Tommy Glavine back, but I'm not scurred. Smoltz Hudson Glavine Chuck James - was actually decent last year. 4.24 ERA and won 11 games (in 30 starts!) Mike Hampton - Their hopes ride on this guy. That's not a good thing. If Hampton can finally stay healthy and win games, they have something. Having Glavine means that the bullpen will get plenty of work. This team will compete because of Smoltz and Hudson at the top. If Hudson goes down again, they are in trouble. Still not enough to compete for the East crown (more on that later). The Phillies - Ah, the big bad Phillies. Humbled the Mets in '07. Then got swept in the first round of the playoffs. Typical Philadelphia sports team behavior. Here is what they look like: Cole Hamels - A young stud at the top who went 15-5 last year, with a 3.39 ERA Brett Myers - Eh. Decent pitcher, but not going to dominate. Kyle Kendrick - went 10-4 with a 3.84 ERA. Pretty good for a young guy. Jamie Moyer - the ageless wonder won 14 games, but had a +5 ERA last year. Adam Eaton or J.D. Durbin - both had +6 ERA's last year. The Phillies one through three are pretty good. Really Hamels is the only standout. Moyer is just an innings eater, and I predict he's going to have a losing season, losing at least 15 games this year. Eaton and Durbin? Bad choices for the last spot in the rotation. And now the Mets! Now that you have an idea of the other contenders and the kind of numbers they put up and what they bring to their teams, how does the Mets staff stack up? It is my argument the Mets staff one through five is the best in the NL. All these teams have good pitchers at the front, but are weak on the back end. The Mets have as good as a starting 5 as you could ask for. Johan Santana - what can you say? Two Cy Youngs, won 15 games last year with a 3.33 ERA, and it was a down year. Still pitched 219 innings so you know he pitches deep into games. Coming to the NL will only help him. Pedro - missed most of '07 but what we saw of him late was encouraging. He says he feels good and the toe shouldn't be a problem. His ERA in 5 starts was 2.57, and he went 3-1! Small sampling, but very encouraging! Pedro is 36, not ancient, he can and will get it done still! John Maine - this is the guy that is going to make our staff go from good to exceptional. Everyone remembers the awesome game he pitched in his last start of '07. A one-hitter, striking out 14 in 7.2 innings. An awesome performance. He won 15 games last year, posting a 3.92 ERA, that should go down, as he is getting better. This guy is on the way up. Pitched an impressive 191 innings and struck out 180! The guy has potential to be a third ace! Oliver Perez - Had a roller coaster season, but overall was very good. Another guy that won 15 games, and had a 3.56 ERA. An impressive 174 K's in 177 innings! A fourth starter that does that is sick! I predict he will only get better as Peterson continues to work with him on his control. Orlando Hernandez/Mike Pelfrey - I think the Mets want Pelfrey to be the fifth starter. They want to see what they have, because Pedro is a free agent after this year, as is Oliver Perez, I believe. So getting Pelfrey a full season of starts would really help the Mets as they plan for '09 and beyond. That is not a bad thing. Pelfrey has a terrific sinking fastball that he is harnessing and used it to great success late last year. His overall numbers don't look good. He went 3-8 with a 5.57 ERA. But he had some good starts last year and I think he has "it". He needs to reduce the walks, that is what is killing him. But the Mets like him and so do I. If not Pelfrey, then Hernandez. El Duque at times was unhittable. Out of all the Mets pitchers last year, to me he was the most fun to watch for me. What he would do to hitters was comical at times. You know he will miss time, though. He had 128 K's in 147 innings. He went 9-5 with a 3.72 ERA. He should've had a lot more wins, too, the bullpen routinely did him in last year. As a fifth guy, you can't do better. And if Pelfrey isn't ready, El Duque will be the fifth guy. We'll know more as we get deep into spring ball. So there you have it, the Mets one through five: Johan Santana Pedro Martinez John Maine Oliver Perez El Duque/Pelfrey That is the best one through five in the NL. The Mets are the only team in baseball to have a starting 5 that has three 15-game winners from '07, a list that obviously doesn't include Pedro. Pedro will win more than 15 this year, and I see the same for the other 4. I've heard one ESPN baseball analyst say that he expects John Maine will be a top 15 pitcher in the NL this year. I think he's right. The Mets almost won the division last year with Maine as the staff ace, and with a lot of injuries from El Duque and no Martinez for most of the year... not to mention no Duaner Sanchez. The Mets are BACK! Not only do they add Johan, but Pedro and Duaner are back, and Maine is up and coming. This staff is the best since the '86 - '88 Mets with Gooden, El Sid, Ron Darling, Jesse Orosco, Roger McDowell, Bob Ojeda, Rick Aguilera, David Cone. Those three seasons the Mets pitchers were unbelievable. The Mets really should've won more than one world series titles in that era. Their pitching was that good. With Wagner, Heilman, Duaner Sanchez, and Pedro Feliciano, this team is set from top to bottom as far as pitching goes. The other teams in the NL just don't have what the Mets do from the starting staff one through five to the bullpen. This will be a great year for NY fans, with the Giants having won the SuperBowl and the Mets destined for the World Series!

So I was talking to an officer in my unit who knows I am a huge Giants fan, and he started to tell me this story... His girlfriend is a big Pats fan, and she saw an acquaintance of hers wearing some Pats gear (this was after the SuperBowl). So she said, "Oh, you're a Pats fan! So am I!" To which the acquiantance says, "Yes, actually my cousin is a rookie on the team." Turns out, the cousin is Brandon Merriweather, the standout rookie safety on the Pats. So they get to talking about the SuperBowl, and the acquiantace says that 'ole Brandon had told her what the lockerroom was like after they lost the big one. According to this girl, Brandon says that Tom Brady went into the locker and completely blew his top, like out of control rage. He was up in his O-linemen's faces, cussing them out, etc. He said a lot of the players were like, "F*** this guy" and calling him a puss or whatever. He said that being a rookie, he didn't know what to do so he just stayed in the corner of the lockerroom and kept to himself. Additionally, Brandon says that Belichek came in, packed his bag, and left without saying a word to his players. He said that Belichek didn't even fly back with the team. This part of the story I'm not sure if I believe. Anyhow, I believe most of this, just because I've really felt all along that Belichek, Brady, and Co. were so arrogant underneath, so unbelieving that the Giants could beat them, that when they actually lost, this reaction does not surprise me one bit. But it still brought a smile to my face to hear this, that the Giants caused Brady to actually go berzerk like that, and that Belichek was completely shut up and walked right out of the lockerroom without saying anything! What do you guys think?

I'm on the fence with this one. I feel like we are set at CB with Web and Ross as starters, and Madison at the nickel. However, getting Hall for a 1st rounder, and maybe even a late rounder would make our defense that much better. I don't, however, like the idea you guys are kicking around about having one of our corners switching positions. I'd rather re-sign Gibril. Is this not likely to happen? We have the cap room. Somebody fill me in if I missed something. But Hall and Ross, with Web as the nickel would be an awesome set of corners. With our pass rush, we might lead the league in sacks AND INTs next year. As long as we keep Gibril, our defense will be solid next year either way. If we do this deal, Madison should be gone. To me, Web's play has earned him a spot higher on the depth chart than Madison, and you don't keep a guy like Madison to be the 4th CB. Out of all of the candidates though, Madison would likely be the best suited to a move to safety, however, if that situation presents himself. The Giants have a tough decision to make here. And unless Gibril is asking for the moon, the best option is to just re-sign him, and let Ross and Web stay there as starters. Then we can use our cap room for depth at offensive tackle and perhaps re-signing Kawicka Mitchell. This is the first season in a long, long time, that I haven't seen multiple glaring needs up and down the roster going into the offseason, and that's a credit to EA and Reese for the last 2 stellar drafts.

I finally go the DVD my girl's old man had made and sent to me in the mail today. Man, goosebumps all over again. What a performance. Our defense was just inspired, and our offense came out determined, although they were sloppy at times. Our guys really manned up. At the end, I ALMOST cried AGAIN! Plaxico crying and seeing Strahan finally hold that long sought after trophy up in the air for the first time, just overwhelming. I am still in shock. This is such a great feeling guys! And I don't see it going away until football starts next year and we are focused on a new season! Cheers to everyone! Here's to the Giants, one more time!

This is what I was thinking too, Nem. I think I am just going to do it.

Dude, I don't know, but I found this off of Barnes & Noble website where it is being sold: "NFL: Super Bowl XLII Champions - New York Giants documents the remarkable season for the world champion New York Giants. The film features a plethora of game footage from throughout the season, including their three road playoff wins that earned them the franchise's third Super Bowl title. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide All Movie Guide"

I have a dilemma. I really want this NYG commemorative football, plus the NFL Films SuperBowl XLII DVD. Sports Illustrated is giving them away free with a year subscription that costs $89. I don't want 56 issues of SI. Don't want to have to deal with the magazines, I know I won't read them, don't have the time. What I really want is the gifts that come with them, and am willing to pay for them. The book would be nice, too, but I could really take it or leave it. Here is the link to the gifts: Sports Illustrated I found the DVD for roughly $18. I found somewhat similar looking footballs at the Giants Online Shop and other websites, but to me, they are not of the same quality in detail and also don't mention including the stand. These other footballs are going for $45. I would like the SI football, but can't find it anywhere. Should I just get the damn subscription and be done with it?

Thanks, everyone! And I will have to check that i-Tunes deal out. Even with getting the DVD, having a commercial free replay would be great, too. Thanks a lot!

Damn, I expected a little more response/sympathy from my fellow GMen fans. Thanks to Nas and Patriot, at least!

No fair, some people get two positions! Damn VG, I wanted WR! Put me down for DT.

Did BadEgg leave forever as he promised? Did he say anything at all about the Giants winning? Is Italian Hotdog still here?

It's PLDC revamped. They did away with PLDC a couple of years ago and WLC was it's replacement. Made some changes to modernize the training and make it more relevant to the modern battlefield.

Guys. Guys guys guys. Finally home from WLC (Army school). Two weeks away from home, and I missed almost all of the SuperBowl. They did have a SuperBowl party for the students and the game on the big screen in Grad hall, but it was made very clear to me that because I was Squad Leader that day and the next, that I was responsible for the students' performences that were being evaluated the following day. Wouldn't you know it, I had the two slowest people in my class being evaluated for leading PT the following morning, as well as a variety of other tasks I needed to complete to appease the instructors. I missed all but the final 9 minutes of the game. What irks me is people saying to me, "You didn't miss much" and "Nothing really happened until late in the 4th quarter anyway". I have been a Giants fan for as long as I've known what a football was. It's been 7 years since my team has been in the SuperBowl, and 17 since they won it in '91. I was 14 years old and still remember jumping up and down running all over my parent's house. I am 31 now. When my team makes it to the big one, I don't want to miss a second. Why can't these people understand that? I got no sleep that night after the game, partly because I was so pumped and partly because I had an immense amount of work to do still, from helping my intellectualy challenged squad mates pass and to complete the homework I had neglected due to the game and the homework/instruction I was doing. By the time I went to bed the next night, I was awake for 43 hours straight, and could only get 4 hours of sleep that night because of the late work/early wake up the next morning. It was grueling. Still, seeing the end of that game, "the catch" and so many of my fellow students going nuts after the victory, it was still special just being apart of it. I actually cried when they won. I was wiping away tears of joy, hugging perfect strangers, jumping up and down with them, screaming my head off, laughing, singing, it was awesome. The next day 3 people saw me and was like, "YOU WERE THE GUY THAT CRIED!" I just said, "hell yeah, tears of joy!" Truly a moment I will never forget. But now I just want to watch the game from start to finish. My girlfriend's dad recorded it and is sending me a dvd. Much to my chagrin, it wasn't here yet when I got home. Alas, hopefully on Monday. To make matters worse though, I saw no SportsCenter, as the only thing they showed was CNN in the chow hall, and there was no other TV we could watch, and almost as soon as the game ended, they kicked us all out so no post-game viewing at all. Guys, it was very hard for me that night not to watch that game, but seeing the end at least, and the first SuperBowl victory in 17 years, and 18-1, the whole thing, Hollywood could not write a better story about our guys. Truly unbELIevable. Good to be back.

I can agree with this. Tiki should've been invited. And the fact that he went to bat for Coughlin should say a lot about him to Tiki haters.

I'll take a yuengling! My everyday beer.

This is entirely true. They must get pressure no matter what, otherwise Brady will have a field day. I think they are going to have to blitz a good amount of the time, and keep Brady guessing on where it's coming from. And they have to contain Maroney like they did in the first meeting. The Offense might be more important. Brady and Co. haven't been held under 20 points at all this year. I doubt we'll be able to do it on the track in Arizona. Eli is going to have to sustain a lot of drives and keep the Patriot offense off the field. To me, that is our best defense. And we need to get points in most of our drives. And at the same time, not have turnovers and maybe we need Hixon to run one back for us again. Our special teams needs to continue their great play as of late in setting us up in good field position situations. To me, the first team to 30 points wins this game.

Johan Pedro Maine Perez El Duque In reality, it's not just that we've added Johan. We've added Johan AND Pedro, since Pedro missed almost all of last year. Maine was coming on very strong late, he is ripe to have a career year. Oliver Perez will probably be the same, some bad starts and some electric starts. But he did win 15 games last year. El Duque was at times untouchable last year, and at other times, he was on the DL. But we still have Pelfrey! And Pelfrey did great in the second half of last year. Not only is this starting 5 the best in the National Leage, maybe even all of baseball, we get Duaner Sanchez and Juan Padilla back. If this team stays relatively healthy, and Duaner returns back to form, this team may not have to score very many runs to win a lot of games. I feel better about the Milledge trade. We still have Endy, and Church will have a nice year just batting primarily against righties. And with our pitching, defense is even more valuable, and we have a lot of that. Adding the best defensive catcher in the NL and a huge upgrade in rightfield with Church, we are in damn good shape. I can't wait until the season starts now!

None from me! I don't care if half the team comes from Swaziland... if they win games! Personally I don't think Omar really cares that much either. The Mets makeup is a product of the rise of baseball in Latin markets, as opposed to all other markets except for Japanese/Asian. It seems to me that Baseball is either static or declining in White and African American Communities. Latino culture has fully embraced baseball and it is showing in the major leagues.

WTF?! The Mets win the Santana sweepstakes and we have to read about the Yankees prospective '08 starting rotation? GO TO THE YANKEES DISCUSSION BOARD FOR THAT STUFF! This is for Mets talk, dammit!