Giant Steps?

The New York Football Giants have been dominating the NFL headlines for the last few days and as Boom Roasted Sports' resident Giants fan, I feel I need to share an opinion.

First let's talk about Plaxico Burress.

There is a lot of gray area in the Burress situation, but let me state two truths: One, I miss Burress being a New York Giant, and two, he is an idiot.

When he did what he did last year (for those who don't know, he accidentally shot himself in the leg in a New York City nightclub), I knew he was going to be suspended. My immediate thoughts were about the Giants offense and how they were going to get along without Eli Manning's safety valve. Six foot five receivers with Plax's talent don't come along everyday.

I truly think that Burress carrying a gun into a nightclub is not that egregious. He was doing what he felt he needed to do to protect himself. Many athletes feel this way, and carry weapons or use bodyguards while they are out. These guys are targets, in many ways. They are high profile, recognizable, and rich. They are targeted by gold digging women, family members, jealous men, jealous men who have had a few too many cocktails at a nightclub. Get the idea?

I don't necessarily think that Burress should have taken a gun with him into that nightclub, I just understand why he did so. To me his mistake was not taking the gun into the club, his mistake was taking a gun into a club in New York City, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.

Well, I guess you could say his mistake was carrying a gun into a club in NYC, and tucking it into the waistband of his sweatpants, and then shooting yourself. Like I said, he's an idiot.

Now onto Eli Manning and his new contract. Little Eli signed a six year extension for a reported $97.5 million dollars, making him the highest paid player in the league on a per season basis.

At first I thought, like you did, that is an outrageous amount of money. Then I thought about it for a while. Then I listened to Doug Gottlieb on ESPN Radio on my way home from work, and he brought up the money side of this.

This contract is not about his stats or on the field performance. Eli has spent five years in the league, so we know who he is now. At times he looks every bit the QB who has a sub-par completion percentage and throws lame duck interceptions off of his back foot. Other times he looks like the calm and collected QB who leads his team on pressure packed game winning drives and throws the prettiest post pattern ball in the league. At best he is somewhat above average.

This contract is about the Giants locking up the face of their franchise. This is about Eli being beloved by New York fans. And ultimately, this is about selling tickets. New York fans love Eli, and they will forever. New York fans are peculiar in that they are always suspect of players on their teams, until they win, then they are beloved forever. Joe Namath, Derek Jeter (and most of the mid to late '90's Yankees), Mark Messier, the list goes on. By winning Super Bowl XLIII the way he did (the David Tyree catch), against who he did (the 18-0 Patriots), Eli added his name to that beloved list.

New York fans are going to love him forever, and by locking him up with this contract extension the Giants have taken a step to make sure their stadium is filled for years to come.

(They needed to do something. Those Personal Seat Licenses are ridiculous. I know personally. I was offered mezzanine seats (because I am on their season ticket waiting list) that with PSL's, and the required eight regular season games, two preseason games, and a minimum two ticket purchase would have run me just over $31,000. Anyone got that lying around?)