Belmont's Swan Song

It's well known that Veronica Belmont has decided to pursue other interests and has left Mahalo Daily. But not before starring in one last comedy episode. Those of us that grew up in the 1970's, and those wishing they had, will no doubt enjoy the latest episode titled "I'm Gonna Git You Spamma!" Brilliantly written by one of the new co-hosts, Lon Harris, it includes a groovy narration track by Tay Zonday, a guest appearance by Digg's Kevin Rose, and several fellow "Mahooligan's" such as Jonathan Harris, Mike Rhodes, Ken Bothe, Adam Hann-Byrd, Juan Garcia, and Lon Harris. Also included is former Mahaloite Mark Freiburger and the big dog himself, Jason Calacanis.

Brilliant. Simply brilliant...

I'm Gonna Git You Spamma!

Forty

It's been nearly 40 days since my last blog post, and since this past Wednesday was birthday number 40, I figure it's time to jump back into the blogosphere with a posting. First, a brief bit of business to clean up since last we spoke:

I've spent most of my time the last seven weeks preparing for, micromanaging and live blogging the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament for Mahalo, which ended two weeks ago. While the numbers certainly didn't live up to what I'd hoped for, it was an overall great experience. I was able to recruit several fellow Mahalo employees to help me blog the early games of the tournament, when as many as four games were being played at once. And I must say, with very little preparation to build off short of a brief lunch-time video I threw together for them, these guys really stepped up to the challenge and did an outstanding job in delivering all of the games of the tournament.

The liveblogging thing has been hit-or-miss recently, and I think this is a learning experience for me. Do I wish we were producing a weekly sports-related content video to build an specific audience and drive traffic to our site? Of course I do, but I don't get to make that decision. I can only play the cards I'm dealt. What I'm learning is that we need to be a little bit more selective about what works and what doesn't. The NFL games worked, and my vision for the fall is to live blog the Sunday Night and Monday night games, along with the late-in-the-season Thursday night games on NFL Network (which seemingly nobody still has). The pay-per-view events have worked, and we'll continue to do the boxing and wrestling events as they come up. I think we have the potential to hit with some niche events, like auto racing and the like. But I've decided to pull back a little bit too, so as not to over-saturate. I was going to live blog the NFL Draft next weekend, but with so many other outlets covering it, I'm deciding to just comment about it when it's over.

I must tell you the experience of doing all the games in the NCAA Tournament (I personally handled half of the games myself) was exhausting, but satisfying none the less.

Moving on to the subject of my birthday: my family and friends each took part in dual celebrations this past week, and they were really great. It's nice to know that I mean something to people. Seems like it should feel more important than it has been. I keep waiting for the epiphany that a round number such as 40 should constitute. Yet I feel the same as I did last week.

So I thought I would compile a brief list called "10 at 40", the 10 greatest experiences of the first 40 years of my life. After all, I'll feel extremely fortunate if I can do a 10 at 41, let alone a 10 at 80. So here goes, in Letterman-style reverse order:
(10) Graduating from high school
(9) The Remedy screening and after-party in April of 2004
(8) The '86 Mets winning the World Series (still my favorite sports moment of all)
(7) My internship at WFAN
(6) PA Announcing the Hollywood vs HipHop Celebrity Basketball Game in NYC in 2006
(5) My 20-year high school reunion weekend in 2006
(4) Winning the Saddle River Day School morning announcement job, announced in front of entire student body in an assembly
(3) Winning softball championships in 1991 & 97 as a teammate of my best friend, Patrick D'Errico
(2) Getting to be the best man at my brother Zac's wedding in 2000
(1) The births of my nieces, Bella and Vivi

I feel very blessed to have experienced some of the highs and many of the lows that I have so far. I'm trying to learn to lose the many things that I regret about my life, of opportunities wasted and people lost, to accept that I am where I am right now in part because I went through some trials and tribulations and came through the other side. Now I need to just see where things go next.

And you know what, I haven't been able to predict anything of true significance to this point, and I'm not going to even try to do so going forward. Just going to fasten my seat belt and see where the ride takes me next...

"You want a little 'butta' with your Blog Roll?"

So those of you that have become part of Crief Case Nation, you may have notice there are some other 'thingys' on the right hand side of the page. There's basic info about me, a couple of ESPN widgets about my favorite teams, Del.icio.us listings, and my "Blog Roll". Some may be wondering who gets to be on my blog roll and why, but I'm not that selective to be fair. So who are these bloggers, and why should you read 'em?

Pay attention - we'll only do this once... for now:

- "The Life of My Girls" - also known on the Blog Roll as "All About My Nieces Bella & Vivi" - this is run by my brother Zac, a director who works in the animation business. He's work for Family Guy and Nickelodeon in the past, now he works for Phineas & Ferb on Disney Channel. The blog is all about his two daughters: Bella (4) and Vivi (2). I don't get to see them enough, so the videos and pictures are awesome. It's a totally personal blog with a small audience, but it delivers every time.

- Veronica Belmont - this one will be one of the 'self-explanatory' blogs. She is one of those ultra-saavy techie chicks who also handles hosting the daily podcast for the company I work at, Mahalo Daily. She always seems very dialed in on tech stuff, and it's always worth reading.

- The Jason Calacanis Weblog - to paraphrase ESPN's John Buccigross: "what Bono is to U2, Jason is to Mahalo." He's brash, he's opinionated, he's loyal to his Knicks almost to a fault, and he's confident (it ain't cocky if you back it up - a.k.a. "The Scoreboard Does Not Lie"). Days when I think I'm super smart, I spend about 10 minutes reading his stuff and realize just how many more levels I need to climb.

- Crushed By Inertia - now when it comes to intelligence about politics of the day and movies, this is a must read. Lon Harris is never one to shy away from theories and commentary, and his ability to expand of certain subject matter is not only entertaining, but also educational. When I read Jason's blog, I feel smarter, but I have sometimes have no idea why. With Lon, I feel smarter and I understand why. A must read.

- Country Caravan - much like his brother Lon, Jonathan Harris is able to find the funny. And when it comes to blog posts, where Lon goes mostly with the 'satire infiltrated within serious paradigms', Jonathan's blog posting are more dripping with sarcasm and wittiness. Jonathan often finds things off the beaten path to amuse, at times even maximizing what many think is his greatest comedic arch: self-deprecation. "Those Harris boys are funny..."

- Awful Announcing - If you're not into just watching sports but also watching those broadcasting these sporting events, this is the place to go. This was the first place I knew found out about the "Chris Berman outtake" videos and also provides the listings of announcing pairings for TV network sports coverage. It also provides necessary commentary about sports on TV & radio, and is one of the most respected on the web.

- Lelah with an "h" - She really knows how to bake things, she really knows how to write about baking things, and taking weekend trips. Lelah is also one of my fellow "Mahaloans" and writes extremely well (as I can attest to from the number of submissions she has made to our 'writers group' each week). I just wish we could get more from her, and a link might be nice...

- Sample the Web - My editor at Mahalo, C.K. Sample III (a.k.a. CKS3 if he were a Star Wars droid) also utilizes his web space very effectively, like Jason does. He also knows how to make for an interesting few minutes worth of reading, and sometimes even viewing with his sketches. My only issue is that, like Lelah, he doesn't list me on his blog roll (what's up with that?) - but I like how he has his Twitter listings right on his page, that's cool...

- Mark Jeffrey at The Huffington Post - This is somebody I wish had the time to post more often (his last post was last summer). He is super busy running the development side of Mahalo, which along with his Tae Kwon Do just eats up all his time. Still, his insights are brilliant, and I do wish he'd write more. The fact that he's with the Huffington people is reason alone to keep posted, in case he decides he needs to say something again soon. Still, I guess in this case, 'less is more', but I'm anxious to see more. Then again, if you really want inside Mark's mind, just read his book 'The Pocket and the Pendant'...

- Ridiculously Persnickety - Nicole Gustus (a.k.a. Red Nikki, a.k.a. Lieutenant Data) is from Boston, but we don't hold that against her, why would we? If you are looking for a comprehensive blog with journal-styled entries on a daily basis, then this is the place for you. She has a great (and sometimes slightly wicked) sense of humor, and rarely a day goes by without something tangible, I mean it's not like she's putting things like "12:41: I have a confession: I love brussels sprouts. They may be my favorite vegetable"... I mean, wow...

- Mood Vane - A recently new addition to the lineup, featuring Courtney, who's from the FTL (that's Fort Lauderdale), and she speaks her mind about, well, um, stuff, from her favorite musicians and artists, to musing about Britney and winter in the FTL. Hey, I lived in Dania Beach for 2 years, so I know all about rolling with Broward County's Finest, from doing oyster shooters at The Penalty Box, to hitting the trifecta at Gulfstream, to humming the tune from the Pompano Lincoln Mercury commercial, to spending time (and a lot of money) at The Dollhouse. Yet, she recently asked me whether or not I really like sports - would somebody please get my long-time friends and family some oxygen, they can't breathe from laughing so hard. I look forward to reading more of her stuff...

- Le Blog de Sara - Again, someone infinitely smarter than I am (I know, isn't that 90% of the country?) Sara has decided to look at the world on her blog through 'the language of love' - uh, that would be French, dude. I enjoyed her list of unspeakable phrases in French, and I expect big things to come for this blog. Anything to help grow my vocabulary in this language beyond "Les Habitants" and "Savoir-Faire is everywhere"...

- Angry Ken - Simplistic in it's title, it is just what you might think it is. It's written by Ken Bothe, someone I know I'm smarter than (sorry Ken, just had to do it), who writes mostly about, in no special order of preference: sports, videos, Cincinnati sports teams, wrestling, how bad Cincinnati sports teams are... you get the point - very entertaining sometimes to watch someone melt down more often on sports topics than even I do...

- Mindless Drivel - All you need to know about Evan Brown is by watching his Mahalo Daily Video on "How to Write a Love Song"... he is a very talented musician (we have several of those in our office here), and even though he's from Philadelphia and like the Flyers, and the Eagles, and the Phillies, I still tolerate him anyway. He's a very unique guy, and I think one of the reasons they separated him from Jonathan in our office is because we couldn't find a set-up man to keep up with their sarcastic barbs. His recent take on Hillary Clinton is perfect.

Now for the rest of the group, which needs to get going with some postings, as we haven't seen any from them in a while:

- Ray's Lucky 13 - When Ray has time, and isn't busy working two jobs, helping his wife with their two children (both toddlers) and creating a copious amount of pages for Mahalo, he actually has some great takes on sports and movies.
- Social Ham - Sean Percival is so talented with tech stuff that he even recently taught a class on how to blog here for some Mahalo peeps, but he's only written 2 posts since the calendar turned? Come on Sean, you're better than that! Love the layout of his page though...
- Two Cent Cinema - Adam Hann-Byrd, you know him and love him from his two episode stint on NYPD Blue in 1995...oh yeah, and movies like Little Man Tate and Jumanji, but would it kill him to update his page more than once since 2006? Now I know from his work at Mahalo on our recent Oscar coverage that he is very opinionated... come on dude, there must be a Jodie Foster story you can drop on us...
- Lady Loud Mouth - Veronica Yanco's ability to totally jam out blogging (see Item Three of this previous posting), and after much cajoling by many of us in the office, she decided to start a blog posting of her own, but has yet to add an additional page. If she could just spend like 5-10 minutes a day writing about the celebs doing the silly things, she would create an instant following and I think, over time, would be wildly popular. Maybe she just needs some encouragement - I don't know, but I do know that her takes would develop a following.

So there you have it, a thorough and exhausting, but hopefully not nauseating, breakdown of the bloggers I choose to link to. Want to get in on the fun? As Lady Loud Mouth would say, "Holler..."

The "other Super Bowl"

Today is the biggest day in the entertainment industry as the 2008 Academy Awards take place today.

Today is also a big day for Mahalo, as we provide wall-to-wall coverage of the Oscars on our website.

The red carpet entrances will be covered live beginning at 6PM ET. To catch this coverage, be sure to click on this link:
http://www.mahalo.com/Oscar_Red_Carpet_Live_Coverage

Then, at 8PM ET, it's live coverage of the 80th Academy Awards. Click here for that:
http://www.mahalo.com/Oscar_Live_Coverage

Be sure to visit both pages early and often!

Today should be a holiday

I may have been 12, but I was very aware of what was going on in the world at the age of 12. Thankfully.

The year was 1980. America didn't hate itself - it was too depressed to hate itself. High unemployment rates. Huge deficits. Energy issues. Post-Watergate. Post-Vietnam. Our confidence was so low as a country on so many fronts, our own president called, "...a crisis of confidence..." There were 52 hostages in Iran that we couldn't free from their captures, and it seemed like the Soviet Union was getting stronger, and stronger, and stronger. On a scale of 1-10 (1 low and 10 high), feeling good about being an American in early February of 1980 rated around a 2.

And then those 20 college kids came along. And everything changed.

For those (like the majority of people I work with) who weren't even born yet, let me explain further. In 1980, our olympic teams were formed solely of actual amateur athletes, within International Olympic Committee rules and guidelines. However, most of the other countries, specifically the Soviet Union, used professional players. The Soviet team in hockey was favored to win in 1980, and not just because it had won the gold medal the four previous times they held the games. Prior to the start of the hockey season in October, the Soviets played a team of NHL All-Stars, the best players in the world. The Soviets easily won 6-0. And just prior to the start of the games themselves, the Soviet team played an exhibition game against the United States team, and the Soviets easily won 10-3.

The United States team wasn't supposed to even contend for a medal. But there they were, 28 years ago today on Friday February 22, 1980, preparing to meet the mighty Red Army team in the medal round.

What I remember looking back on it now, 28 years to the day, is some of things I didn't pick up on as a 12-year old that day. Consider that the IOC refused to change the start time of the game from 5PM ET to 8PM ET to accommodate ABC. This meant that the game was broadcast on tape-delay on ABC, but appeared to be live for those watching. That's because there was no internet to get updated scores. There were no cell phones for word to get out from the arena that this incredible upset had just happened. ESPN had just launched 4 months earlier.

Yet every time I watch the game now, the saves that Jim Craig made in goal are even more incredible. And I'm amazed watching Mike Eurizione shoot off the wrong foot and score the game-winning goal. And every time I watch the final minute, and here Al Michaels make what I think is the greatest call in sports history, and the final seconds tick away, tears present themselves on my face.

That was the first time in my life that I believed in miracles.

It gets harder and harder to believe in them now. In many ways, life in this country today, from a confidence and patriotism standpoint, rival the way things were in 1980. Maybe they are that's bad, but they're in the neighborhood. I wonder if I'll ever again see something like that ever again. And maybe that's why this day means so much to me, as someone who went through it in 1980.

We have holidays for all kinds of reasons - some good, some suspect. Isn't it time we celebrate the anniversary of this monumental event in our country's history? Isn't it time we acknowledge that it is the single biggest day of positive feelings and unity this country has felt in the last 50 years?

This much I know: ESPN is doing this stupid 'Greatest Sports Highlight Ever' thing on SportsCenter right now, and if the Miracle on Ice doesn't win, then ESPN should be shut down immediately.

I may have been 12 back then, but the memory is still so fresh, and still so very much alive in me. To the members of that team: thank you.

Rocket Man Gets Blasted

Before I begin, a little aside to all you conspiracy theorists out there, and you know who WE are... credit to Lon who suggested today that on a day when members of Congress have one of the most important debates and votes they can take part in all year, having to do with whether FISA (legal illegal wiretapping of phones) will be extended, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform scheduled the Roger Clemens Steroids Hearings today. BTW, should also be noted that Arlen Specter, forever linked to the biggest conspiracy theory of all-time with his idiotic magic bullet theory, is speaking with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell regarding the Patriots Spygate scenario.

Are these forays by our government into the business matters of professional sports leagues really necessary? And today, when all members of both houses should be present and accounted for?

That aside, what great dinner theater we were provided with this morning. Here's a brief rundown of what we learned today boys and girls, in case you missed it:
- Roger Clemens is not just a ballplayer... he's a human being too... (From "The Rocket Man" to "The Elephant Man")
- Clemens also stated clearly and sternly that, "I have never taken steroids; I have never taken HGH; I have never done anything illegal to try and gain a competitive advantage; I have never lied about taken steroids..." and he has never had sex with Monica Lewinsky either.
- Andy Pettitte is a wonderful guy and dear and caring friend of Roger's, but apparently one of the side effects of his taking HGH is the loss of hearing
- "You too can inject illegal human growth hormones into the wife of Roger Clemens in their bedroom and without his knowledge!"
- The people of Indiana (Dan Burton) and Connecticut (Christopher Shays) have elected retarded nut jobs to Congress
- According to Brian McNamee, Clemens was bleeding so badly after receiving an injection that (CAUTION, those that are squeemish should just skip to the next take) he was bleeding through his pants and it was noticed by Mike Stanton
- One day after President Bush, doing his best Mr. Mackey from South Park, essentially told an audience of African-Americans that "...lynching is bad, umkay?", we have Rep. Tom Davis (not Dr. Tom Davis the former basketball coach) equating Clemens being subjected to the hearing as, "a new definition of lynching..."
- and finally, because of all he has gone through in this terrible ordeal, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton feels that Roger will, "...surely (be) going to heaven." So I guess when it comes to Clemens, to paraphrase 70's disco group Tavares, "Heaven must be missing a jackass..."

Ah yes, somewhere Mike Piazza is smiling in approval.

It's a proud day for baseball. It's a proud day for sports. It must be a proud day for Bud Selig. It must be a proud day for the United States Congress.

What a freaking joke. What a waste of time. You know, in light of the way those committee members acted today, perhaps Winston Churchill said it best: "Democracy is the worst form of government...except for all the rest." Today, though, only the first part of the quote applies. It was a train wreck. It was embarrassing. And it was very entertaining.

The only thing better would have been if Barry Bonds was getting the same treatment...

Incredible Super Bowl traffic weekend plus

So a month ago, I decided to try something to jump start the low number of page views that the sports pages on my company's website at Mahalo were generating. Having spent some time in November and December on temporary assignment with the Products Team helping to flood the zone on many products and gadgets made available during the holidays, I decided to take a chance.

There's floating an idea about whether something will work, getting pre-approval on whether it will work or not, and hopefully living up to expectations. Then there is simply trying something in a "thinking-outside-the-box-without-permission", so that if it doesn't work I don't get knocked down a peg in the pecking order, and if does work, well to the victor goes the spoils kind of thing.

Let's call it a calculated risk - fortunately, it was one that worked.

The idea was to live blog sporting events. Now this isn't a novel idea in of itself, but it was with respect to doing so at Mahalo. So I started with boxing. In fact, I really can't take full credit for the idea. A few of us here wanted to watch the pay-per-view boxing match in December between Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton. Our magnanimous boss, Jason Calacanis, simply said in response to our desire viewing the fight at the office, "Hey, if you live blog it, I'll pick up 1/2..."

And so, like Walter Payton used to do when he saw just a sliver of daylight between 2 blockers, I hit the hole and sprinted down field.

That night was the start of my live blogging experience, which has since included: Each of the 3 weekends of the NFL Playoffs; the January Jones-Trinidad PPV fight; the NHL All-Star Game; a WWE PPV event (Angry Ken handled that one on my encouragement); and the Super Bowl.

Then the decision to cover the Super Bowl went much further than covering the game. In addition to creating all kinds of Super Bowl related sports pages about the previous games, the coaches, the MVP's, and much more within the sports vertical, Ken and I brainstormed on other search terms that people would be searching for in other areas. Like food, TV, clothing, music, and more. And then, 3 weeks ago, based upon the initial success of several liver blogging events, I decided that we should also live blog the Super Bowl commercials - figuring that nearly as many people watch the game specifically for them as for the game itself.

So we have a tool that allows us to determine the number of times each of our pages is viewed, and ways to break that information down which I won't bother you with. But suffice to say that the numbers for the live coverage of the sporting events has been, as Frank Caliendo would say, "Jim Rome on a three-syllable word: in-cred-ible..."

I'm grateful to the tens of thousands that have come to our pages of the past 6 weeks. And the Super Bowl related pages have had 'through the roof' numbers. I also thankful to the tens of tens of Crief Case Nation that have followed your captain into battle.

And I think there are bigger numbers out there. Promotion and reputation I think will benefit our efforts in this area going forward. Again, we're providing ways to help people at Mahalo, and this is my contribution to our mission.

OTHER STUFF: A few months ago, I wrote here that Mets GM Omar Minaya needed to do whatever it took to get Johan Santana. I'm glad somebody is paying attention to me... I also know that Juan, a loyal member of Crief Case Nation, knew that I had the right spread and the right winning team in the Super Bowl, just the wrong score. You know, non-sports fans always want to hate on sports fans, and you know what, there are plenty of reasons to do so - but that game this past Sunday is just another reason why I keep coming back. Even the best of the "Reality TV" shows can't get the drama as good as that. Not only does Eli break free from 73 tacklers, and complete the pass to put the Giants in scoring range, but has the confidence to throw it up there and say go get it big fella to a dude that had 4 receptions all season! That's only 4 more than Max McGee had this year, and McGee is dead. And what a catch at that - oh, and memo to Rodney Harrison of the Pats, who did everything to try and break up that pass but have Jeff Gillooly's gang of thugs run out with batons and smack Tyree on the kneecap: hey Rodney, you obviously should inject more HGH next time dude...and finally, speaking earlier of Frank Caliendo, you must, must, must check out his guest spot last week at the Super Bowl on WFAN's Mike & The Mad Dog Radio Show. Not only does he do John Madden almost as good as Madden himself, but he does the best Charles Barkley I've ever heard too.

UPCOMING CALENDAR OF LIVE COVERAGE ON MAHALO:
February 17: Daytona 500, NBA All-Star Game, and WWE "No Way Out"
March 8-16: College Basketball's "Championship Week" - Live Coverage of all the conference championship games being played every night
March 16: NCAA Selection Sunday - get your brackets ready
March 18, 20-23, 27-30, and April 5 & 7: The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, a.k.a "March Madness"
March 30: Wrestlemania XXIV
April 13: Sunday at The Masters
April 26 & 27: The NFL Draft

You've been warned...

Super Sunday on Mahalo!

Okay everyone, here's our links:

- To follow the game itself:
http://www.mahalo.com/Super_Bowl_Live_Coverage

- To follow the commercials:
http://www.mahalo.com/Super_Bowl_Commercials_Live_Coverage

And be sure to hit up Jason Calacanis's website, where he's rating the spots:
http://www.calacanis.com

Enjoy - and Go Giants!

Greatest upset ever - or going down with the ship

Okay, I could come up with all kinds of expert analysis, and dazzle you with detailed breakdowns matching up the two teams to fit my thesis. But I'd rather just say it this way:

"I'm picking the Giants to beat the Patriots because I've been picking against New England all year - why change things now?"

Hey, if you are on the Titanic and the iceberg is dead ahead, why call the travel agent and fire him before you fall into the drink - grab a bottle of vodka and try to enjoy it.

I know, not exactly what you were probably expecting from me, but it is what it is. I'm tired of Tom Brady and his slutty supermodel girlfriend - I'm tired of Bill Belichick and his cantankerous nature - I'm tired of Rodney Harrison getting caught with steroids and getting a pass for it - I'm tired of Randy Moss stories about how he's fitting in with the Pats after being a malcontent in Oakland and Minnesota - and I'm tired of Patriot fans that jumped on the bandwagon in the last 5 years.

The Giants need to win this game, if only to spare us from the two week aftermath of stories about how the Patriots are the greatest team in NFL history, and the greatest team in sports history, and how they will cure cancer and find bin Laden too.

Enough already.

Here's hoping Coughlin and Eli have the last laugh on Tiki (see previous posting). Here's hoping Plaxico is healthy and makes plays without the benefit of practice time, like he's done all season. Here's hoping Strahan's tackling is tighter than the space between his teeth (if you take a microscope and zoom in on his left front tooth, there's a sign pointing to the right that says "Next tooth 50 miles"). Here's hoping this is the start of a three-tier title run for NY area teams, to be followed by the Devils in the late spring/early summer and the Mets in October (they better sign Santana or Minaya should be drawn-and-quartered and buried in the new Shea Stadium).

And here's hoping the coverage leading up to the game isn't insufferably and terminally boring, like it is every year. Hey, I like pre-game show, but not more than 30 minutes of them, and Sunday we get like 22 hours or something. Fortunately for me, being out west this year, the game comes three hours earlier in the day at least.

I'll be live blogging the game, so click here to watch along with me. We're also live blogging the commercials as well, so check that out too. In fact, check out all of our Super Bowl pages that we've worked on this week.

The Super Bowl...it's what's "New"

So Super Bowl XLII is all set as the New England Patriots are one step from immortality as they face the New York Giants. The next two weeks, people will be talking about the Pats, so let's spend a minute on the Giants.

First of all, if you've lived in the New York area at any point in the last 4 years, you are the happiest today for Giants QB Eli Manning and coach Tom Coughlin. Eli has lived in his brother's shadow forever, and with the way he orchestrated his draft day trade to the Giants, he asked to be put in the pressure cooker. And for a while, it looked like he would evaporate in it. No one, not even the most staunchest of Eli supporters though, would have ever thought that he could play this well. He has been extremely accurate with the ball, and its clear that he and offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride are on the same page. Not bad for someone who many Giants fans wanted to bench at mid-season.

Coach Coughlin has also felt the wrath of Big Blue fans for his tenure. The guy took Jacksonville to 2 AFC Championship game appearances, but came up short. It looked like he was the wrong fit through his first 3 years, an old school coach who was out of touch with today's players. Yet this team, which was so undisciplined and out of control last year, which somehow was Coughlin's fault, are playing mostly error free and penalty free, which Coughlin needs to get credit for.

But as happy as people should be for Eli and Tom getting to the Super Bowl, they should be equally as happy for the Giants getting to the Super Bowl WITHOUT Tiki Barber. I mean, if you're Tiki, doing 4th hour segments on the Today Show that no one is watching, you've got to be just feeling like crap that this has happened. For those not catching my meaning:
- He retires after last season, and many people expect the Giants to fail in 2007 without him
- He then criticizes Eli and Coughlin, saying Eli can't lead them to success and never will, and that intimates that he would have returned if Coughlin didn't.
- After the team plays well without him, he and his brother run smack about Plaxico Burress and the rest of the team before the 1st playoff game.
- Now he's doing manicure segments on television while his former team gets ready to play in the Super Bowl - without him

Kind of sucks to be Tiki right about now, huh? The only thing better would be if NBC were broadcasting the game next week and he'd be forced to be there covering it.

Oh, and its also nice to see the Giants succeed without Tara Reid flailing his arms around after every play saying he's open and dragging the team down with his selfishness. The solid play of Kevin Boss in his absence means the Giants can move on without #80 after this season, which makes them all the more likable.

BTW, I'll be live blogging the Super Bowl on Mahalo, and we'll also be live blogging the commercials as well, so be sure to log on while you tune in.

P.S. - The numbers from our coverage this past weekend continue to exceed expectations, especially the boxing coverage that generated over 12,000 hits! Thanks to all who visited.