NY Giants get an unfair advantage over NFC

Giants get an unfair advantage with “road” victory!!!

Last night, the NY football Giants dismantled a tired and disheveled New Orleans Saints on an extra Monday Night Football Game. Because of the damage at the Louisiana Superdome the game was to Giants Stadium. The Giants got a benefit of additional home game, which no other team in the NFC will have this year. If they make the playoffs, I will question the validity and thinking of the NFL by moving this game to the Meadowlands, rather to a neutral site, which would not have given the Giants an advantage.

I understand and empathize with the NFL and Commissioner Paul Taglibue for making the decision right after Katrina and before the season started to move the game to the Giants home, because logistically this was probably the easiest and fastest way to make a decision. There was one small problem in that the NY Jets were scheduled to play Miami at the same stadium on Sunday, so the NFL simply moved the game to Monday night, and split the TV rights between ABC and ESPN (both owned by Walt Disney Co) and moved on calling it the Saints home opener. Now before I go further, I would like to commend the NFL for dedicated this weekend to fund raising effort for the victims of the Katrina, and giving the oddest combination since Lewis and Martin, former Presidents Bush and Clinton another chance to shine and do what they do best in raising awareness and funds from both sides of the political spectrum. They were successful in January when they went to Tsunami devastated Southern Asia, so why not pair up again? It was odd, to here GHW Bush (41 as he likes to call himself), praise his successor during last night’s game. For anyone that remembers the 1992 election, will remember that they were not always so cordial, but that is thankfully in the past. Remember if you would like to donate, go to http://www.redcross.org/.

Now, the problem with calling the Saints the home team only meant that the groundskeeper’s at Giants Stadium needed to add a Saints logo to one of the end zone, they wore the home dark jersey, and the visiting Giants go to call the opening coin toss. Other than those three attributes, the Saints were playing in hostile country, with more than half the house rooting for the Giants, so immediately if there is such a thing as home fans being the 12th man on a football team, then that went against New Orleans. The Saints played terribly and did not deserve to win from the start by fumbling the opening kick-off. Clearly they could not continue with the momentum they had gathered in last week’s final second win over the Carolina Panthers. Obviously, the reality of being on the road would eventually set in, and it did very early in the season, I just hope they can rebound, since many fans will be pulling for them this year.

The additional problem in my mind is that the Giants effectively have 9 homes games, where they get to stay at home, not travel, not alter their routines and get all the additional perks that go with playing at home. Hindsight is always 20/20, but what the NFL should have done was moved the game to a neutral site, such as another city that had a team on the road that day. Some options included Jacksonville, Kansas City, Miami, St. Louis, and Washington. St. Louis would have been an excellent choice as it is a dome, similar to their home field, and it might have been easier and cheaper to ship and accommodate more than 1000 fans from New Orleans. Now when the playoff picture comes rolling around in November and December this game is going to taint the rest of the NFC, since the Giants are going to have that one extra home game and may help them go 9-7 or 10-6, which might be enough to win the East (doubtful with the Eagles, but possible) or be in the wildcard mix. Now again, it is possible that New York still would have beaten New Orleans on any field last night, but we won’t ever know and now the Giants have an advantage which none of the competitors will have for the rest of the season. With the balance of the Saints home games being played in Baton Rouge or San Antonio, all of their opponents will need to travel to LA or TX, and not have a “Home” crowd behind them. It is just something to keep in mind later in the season.

I see the Giants losing in San Diego next week and New Orleans traveling to play the pathetic Minnesota Vikings. Not a good game to be a Saints fan. I am assuming the Vikings will get back on track next week, and the Saints have another sloppy outing.

The Jets are still suspect in my mind having barely beaten a weak Dolphins team 17-7. I predict the Jacksonville Jaguars beating the Jets in a low scoring affair, though I was disappointed that the Jags were only able to muster 3 points this week against the might Indianapolis Colts this past weekend. Congratulations to Colts for finally realizing that they cannot score 50 points a game then give up 47 to their opponent and expect to go to the Super Bowl. Anyone who has paid attention the past few years knows the Patriots, and most of the recent Super Bowl participants have gotten to where they with a strong defense. In my mind, the Colts might have finally turned the corner and are the premier team in the AFC. It is too early to write of the Patriots, but they have had a lot of personnel changes on and off the field, which could have an overall negative effect and could be suspect come January.

The Yankees (86-63) have battled back winning 6 of 7 and are now just a half a game behind the Boston Red Sox (87-63). I have to be honest, I did not assume the Red Sox would struggle the way they have down the stretch. A friend of mine from Boston has told me that the common BoSox fan thinks that just because the won last year, that the past 86 years have been forgotten. I am not sure I am willing to go there until that actually happens. I said last year, even up 3-0 in the ALCS that Boston was good, and still fee the same way. The Red Sox have 2 remaining with TB, 3 at Baltimore, 4 against Toronto and 3 against the Yankees. The Yankees have 7 remaining with Baltimore, 3 against Toronto then the final 3 in Boston. Considering the Devil Rays are a Jekyll and Hyde team against the Yankees this year, can they do the same against the Red Sox that they have done against the Yankees. The Yankees have one extra game, but gets a quickly fading Baltimore team 7 more times. I questioned the Yankees commitment earlier this season, but it is the final series could be like 1949 and 1978, where the winner goes to the playoffs and the loser goes home. If they wind up tied, the Yankees won a coin toss a few weeks ago saying the 1 game play-off would be in the Bronx. Advantage Yankees??

Meanwhile in the AL Central, the White Sox (90-59) who once led the division by 15 games are now down to a 2.5 game lead with 5 left against the red hot Indians (88-62). Aside from the Chicago series, the Indians have 3 against Tampa and 4 against the Royals. It is not unreasonable to think they could win 6 of those 7, which gives them a 94-63, with 5 to go. Chicago has 4 against Minnesota, and 4 against Detroit. Both divisional rivals, that would love to knock the front running White Sox down a notch. I will be optimistic and assume they win 5 of the 8, though it is not unrealistic to see them split those 8, moving them to 94-63 with 5 to go. So whoever wins the remaining 5 games will win the AL Central with a 97-65 record, I am betting on the Indians right now.

Either way, it is going to make the last weekend of the season that much more exciting for folks in New York, Boston, Cleveland and Chicago. It is good to see 4 of the original 8 AL teams in contention.