All right before we get to looking back at NFC Championship Game let me say a quick word about all New York Giants fans.
Everyone is jumping on their (our) backs for not believing in this team. Many fans say we shouldn’t even be happy right now we never expected the Giants to go to the Super Bowl. In the past two days I have been accosted of not even being a “real” fan, of coming out of the wood work, plus getting the whole “wait a minute I thought you hated Eli Manning” accusation throw in my face.
Well let me defend my people for a moment.
There are many reasons why they (we) didn’t give the Giants a shot in the playoffs:

(1) First off New York wasn’t even that good in the regular season. They only outscored their opponent by 23 points all season, meaning their margin of victory was less than 1.5 points per game.

(2) They beat one playoff team all year while losing four other times getting out scored 133-78 in those losses for a margin of defeat of nearly two touchdowns.

(3) If you throw out the final regular season game vs. the Pats, Eli Manning had 8 interceptions, four touchdowns in his last five games. Also in three of those contests his completion percentage was below 50% and I don’t think any astute football mind could see what was coming from Eli.

So yes we were surprised they are headed to the Super Bowl. Yes we hated this team for most of the season but we were within our sporting right to have such negative feelings. Remember this is the same team that makes a habit of crumbling down the stretch and had not won a playoff game since crushing the Vikings in the 2001 NFC Championship team.
Watching the Giants playoff run is a perfect reminder why we watch sports. Anything can happen and sometimes, when were lucky, we get to see a player grow up in front of our eyes. The last three weeks has been an absolute treat for all of us suffering Giants fans and I am going to enjoy the two weeks of hype before the inevitable crushing defeat to the Patriots.

Anyway … moving on to the game.

Everyone has had their say by now, you have had heard a 100 different takes on what happened, who’s to blame, what happened to Favre and why did those women decide to wear bikini’s at Lambeau. So I’ll keep this brief.

(1) Corey Webster is starting to have the look of an elite corner. He shut down Joey Galloway, Terrell Owens and had the game winning interception. Yes he is responsible for the 90 yard play touchdown but one-on-one corners are going to get burnt. It’s part of the game.

(2) The biggest play of the game that may have gone unnoticed was the 3rd down tackle of Brandon Jackson by Antonio Pierce on a screen pass near the end of the 2nd quarter. Jackson was wide open with three blockers and 19 yards of open real estate to the end zone. If not for Pierce blowing that play up Green Bay would have gone up 14-6 at the half, completely changing the atmosphere of the second half.

(3) Tom Coughlin’s red face was just hilarious. I never got tired of FOX going back to that shot. I was hoping that Lawrence Tynes would slap him as hard as he could on the cheek to see if Coughlin could feel a thing.

(4) Finally the CTV promo department should be ashamed of themselves. I understand they wanted to plug ‘Medium’, ‘Corner Gas’ and about 17 different versions of CSI but at one point was everyone else sick and tired of those promos? I’m guessing the collective answer would be the two minute warning of the first half. No doubt these shows lost a number of fans who just got sick and tired defending them.

Alright... soooooo, needless to say, the "Battle Of The Sexes" experiment is OFF as, umm, you may have heard, Turd Ferguson has been fired.

Tune in tonight at 11 for complete analysis with Wheels, The Hockey News' Chris Tessaro, the host of "Leafs Lunch Weekends" on AM640 Steve Dankoff and the man of many jobs Roger "LaShwa" Lajoie...

Hello and welcome to the interweb. Did you know they have this thing on computers now? The wonders of technology.

Anywho, enough about Moore’s Law. I’m Corey, a.k.a. Coco, and I work on the Casino Rama Grill Room with the other three clowns…I mean master minds. The other hooligan you’ll be hearing from is Nick, a.k.a. Dugas, who’s a big sports nut like myself…and he’s also single ladies.

For a majority of my blog entries it’ll be Dugas and I giving our two cents on the current topics in the sports world. So feel free to tell us how wrong and stupid we are.


Fletcher, Rutherford, Poile & The Trade Deadline Oh My!
It seems like almost a done deal, so we'll assume that Fletcher takes over as interim GM and JFJ is fired. What moves would you consider doing from now until the deadline and who do you see taking over as the full time GM in the summer?

Dugas: Anything can happen still and I hate to assume, but I can see Fletcher coming in and disappointing us. Cliff is still living off of the Gilmour trade and I think he’s getting too much credit. He is knowledgeable but I can’t see him doing enough in such a short period of time to help us. Expect the usual Sundin rumours and not much else. This being said with likely a similar roster to what it is now, I would like to see the Leafs go hard after Jim Rutherford during the off-season to bring the glory back to Toronto.

Coco: I’m not too sure about that one. Cliff’s famous deal is the Gilmour one, but he did a great job bringing in Glenn Anderson and Dave Andreychuk as well. He also did a great job trading Wendel Clark for Mats Sundin and Doug Gilmour for Steve Sullivan, Alyn McCauley and Jason Smith. He did say “draft schmaft”, but that was over 10 years ago. As for the search for a full time GM, I think one of Jim Rutherford or David Poile would be a wise choice. Most people seem to think Poile won’t come, but Fletcher did work with him back when the Flames were in Atlanta. So if there’s anyone who could convince Mr.Poile to join the dark side, it would be Cliff Fletcher.

Rolen Out Glaus
A big trade that didn't get enough attention: Troy Glaus for Scott Rolen. Who do you think "won" this deal and how will it impact the Blue Jays?

Dugas: It's hard to pick a winner obviously when potentially both teams can lose this deal. However I really believe this is going to be one of those trades that really benefits both teams equally. The Cardinals get some protection for Pujols and the Blue Jays shore up the best defense in baseball with a capable bat more suitable to there line up. This deal allows Rios to bat in more of a Power Slot and utilize his RBI capabilities. With Glaus' big bat gone however, Vernon Wells is going to have to become a feared hitter again to help protect Thomas and Rios. All in all I am more intrigued by the Blue Jays end as it shapes the team up much differently.
Coco: I agree that both teams will benefit from this deal. To me it seems like whoever stays off the IR the most will come out with the better result. I do however, like the fact that Rolen brings better defense and a better batting average than Glaus. You can’t depend on the long ball to be successful and with Wells, Glaus, Thomas and Rios I find it hard to believe that wasn’t what J.P. was trying to do last year.

G-Men vs. Pats
Both teams took very different paths to the Super Bowl. The Patriots are undefeated and the Giants had a roller coaster of a season with Manning setting a new NFL record for most incompletions in a game against the Redskins and then guiding his team to three straight playoff road wins in Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay. How do you think this game will pan out?

Dugas: It’s certainly hard to bet against the Patriots with what they have accomplished this season; it’s hard to think that anyone can beat them. They aren’t dominating the opponent anymore and have looked beatable on many occasions in the second half of the season including the regular season finale against these very Giants. Look to see Brady step up and at the very least do just enough to win. The Giants look great coming into this game having won 10 straight games on the road and look comfortable no matter who they’re facing; having taken out the #1 and #2 seeds in the NFC. I expect a good game, but in the end the Patriots are going to be too much to handle.

Coco: I agree that the Patriots will come out on top. The Giants didn’t make it this far by fluke and will keep it close but I’m looking for New England to start pulling away in the second half with Tom Brady being named the M.V.P….bold prediction I know.

In or Out
Jamario Moon is the real deal

Dugas: In, Jamario Moon will likely make his only All-Star weekend appearance this year in the Dunk Contest, but he is a hard worker who will bring energy and a positive vibe to a team.

Coco: I’m In as well. Jamario obviously won’t be in the running for the league lead in points, but as you said he’s a hard worker who brings lots of energy. Funny, sounds like a former Raptor fan favourite whose nickname initials were “Y.J.D.”.

Andrea Bargnani is a bad fit for the Raptors

Dugas: Out, Andrea is young and has a lot of time yet to develop. He is having a hard time finding his NBA game, whether it be inside or outside, but within a couple seasons he will be a consistent scoring threat.

Coco: In, Andrea is a talented young player, but I find his game to be quite similar to Bosh’s but with even less presence in the paint. Bargnani will definitely be a good, if not great, player in the NBA. I just find that his style of play, a big man who can shoot threes, doesn’t fit the Raptors as they already have a bunch of shooters. I think someone like a LaMarcus Aldridge who’s currently averaging 7.4 rebounds a game this year would be a better fit and something the team could use more of.

Ozzy

Lastly, I would like to finish off by saying that the Prince of Darkness isn’t dead yet, not by a long shot. I was at the Ozzy concert this past Saturday in London, Ontario and it was worth every penny. Great versions of Crazy Train, Suicide Solution, Bark At The Moon, Mama I’m Comin’ Home, a Zakk Wylde 20 minute guitar solo and then Paranoid to finish it all off. Ozzy said it best, “Forty years -- and they still can't kill me”.