Watchdog

Cornell lost its 31st consecutive game to Syracuse Wednesday night, but hey, we led at halftime!

WatchDog has obtained a complete list of AP MVP voters, but alas, the only thing I can do with it is use it to do my own lobbying to get the Giants' o-line selected, because I got it with the understanding I would not make it public.

I do know from my array of NFL sources who some of the people on the list are, in addition to Glauber.

It includes Chris Mortensen, Howie Long, Boomer Esiason, Chris Berman, Bob Costas, Peter King, John Clayton . . . and a bunch of my newspaper buddies you've never heard of because by definition people who are not on TV are not famous.

I asked Glauber about this in his live chat today, and he called it "an interesting idea."

By the way, Barry Horn was right: Barry Melrose is headed back to ESPN.

Not sure of the details yet, and not sure what if anything this means for Matthew Barnaby.

Have think of something to write about Plax for the newspaper now. Enjoy the Connecticut-Buffalo game on SNY at 8 p.m.

(UPDATE: I hear Barnaby's role will be unchanged. Maybe they're going to have Melrose replace Erin Andrews as a sideline reporter or something.)

(UPDATE: It's all official now. Click below for the news release.)

Continue reading "Yup, Barry Melrose really is headed back to Bristol" »

With all due respect to Mr. Plaxico Burress, nothing I write about him or anything else in the Friday paper will be as important as this story from Multichannel News.

It's about a skirmish between Cablevision and Disney / ESPN that if I understand this correctly means Cablevision wants to radically alter the way TV content is packaged and distributed.

Since I started on the beat three years ago - well before Cablevision bought Newsday - I have been in a small minority of heretics who favor a la carte programming or at least more flexibility in cable offerings. It won't be easy, but we revolutionaries do have some powerful fellow travelers, such as FCC chairman Kevin Martin and Cablevision chairman Charles Dolan.

This is fascinating stuff to the many TV distribution nerds in WatchDog Nation, even if it understandably makes most normal readers' and editors' eyes glaze over.

Stay tuned!

I don't think I would be giving away any tabloid war secrets if I were to speculate my editors will force me to write about Plaxico Burress in my Friday column, lest I be suspended or (much worse) be assigned to cover the baseball winter meetings as punishment.

Let's start with Frank Gifford, who still is around the Giants regularly, giving me his take on Mr. Burress' difficulties:

"I think it's sad, it really is very sad. I don't know him. I've met him. He always came over to say hello to me and I've had a couple of talks with him. I really couldn't comment, but I think it's understandable to some degree when you're exposed to a life that is so really beyond belief and understanding, and is really beyond belief and understanding to the media that covers it, what goes on on a day-to-day basis with these guys."

Did players walk around with guns in your era?

"No. I couldn't afford a gun."

Is it fair to assume there was no metal detector at Toots Shor's?

"No. But Toots, I think, carried himself. I'm not sure. A lot of his friends did. But I'm serious, I just feel bad about it. In today's world, the way the media covers and attacks people, it just feeds on itself and goes and goes and goes. It's sad, really."

I had the privilege Wednesday night of watching ESPN's upcoming documentary on the 1958 NFL Championship Game at a Chelsea theater with Frank Gifford, Pat Summerall, Raymond Berry, Gino Marchetti, Lenny Moore, Jim Mutscheller, radio announcer Bob Wolff, Wolff's spotter for the game, Maury Povich, the New York Times' Dave Anderson, who covered the game, as well as others, including Aaron Ross and Justin Tuck, who like me were not at Yankee Stadium on Dec. 28, 1958.

But enough name-dropping and tag-cloud seeding. The best story of the night came from a guy you've never heard of, loyal Newsday reader Ed Hertz "like the rental car" of Bayside.

Mr. Hertz, now 68, lived in the Bronx in 1958 and was at the game, but was and is a huge Colts fan, and thus was and is thrilled with the events of 50 years ago.

He said his wife dragged him to Chelsea to see "Milk" Wednesday afternoon, and when he emerged he saw posters advertising the documentary screening so he hung around the lobby. Soon he was face-to-face with his boyhood heroes.

Cool. Click below for the story in his words.

Continue reading "Colts fan from Queens stumbles into childhood heroes" »

Tim Layden, one of the many Newsday stars Sports Illustrated has pilfered over the decades, has a nice read in this week's magazine about the Giants' offensive line.

Speaking of which, there is a growing movement which I hereby join to get the selectors for the Associated Press' MVP award to ignore the lackluster quarterback options this season and instead vote en masse for Big Blue's five starters.

Is there any reason that can't or shouldn't happen?

I asked AP football writer Dave Goldberg, one of the people most involved in administrating the award. He said this:

"We do a Player of the Week every week, and a couple of weeks ago we did the Giants' offensive line. We have 50 voters, and it's up to the 50 voters. But I would think there is nothing to prevent it. If X number of people voted for it, and they got the most votes, you'd say, yeah, it's five guys, but we've had ties. We had Brett Favre and Barry Sanders. It's kind of a novel idea. There's no clear-cut winner. You look at Drew Brees, who's going to put up big numbers on a last-place team. Kurt Warner has dropped off.

"Everyone says the key to the Giants' season is their offensive line, and the Giants are the best team in football. As individuals none of them is a superstar offensive lineman. Chris Snee is probably the best. I don't think it's a crazy idea. [Sports Illustrated's] Paul Zimmerman would love it."

By the way, you might have heard of one of the 50 voters: Glauber!

Barry Horn, my Dallas Morning News counterpart, reports Barry Melrose is headed back to ESPN. Hmm.

I will look into this further Thursday.

I still am not entirely sure what Chris Russo's point was Tuesday in his amusing, rambling rant about John Mara in the wake of the Plaxico Burress incident, but I have gotten to the bottom of one of Russo's accusations.

For the record, the Giants' president does have four dogs, but none is a poodle.

Initially Mara described them in an email as "the mangiest looking mutts ever seen in the greater metropolitan area."

Later, he added a clarification in an attempt to maintain peace in his home. The pooches all are Pet Rescue dogs, an organization for which Mara's wife, Denise, volunteers.

So, now you know, people. That's journalism!

I'm out. Enjoy the 1999 "Wrangler World or Rodeo" on ESPN Classic at 11 p.m.

Neil Best answers your sports media and business questions today in a live chat at 12:15 p.m.