The Final Score

I spent about an hour Wednesday night following false leads on the web as I searched for Jessica Simpson's new country song, "You're My Sunday."

The tune is about her boyfriend, Tony Romo, whose Dallas Cowboys fans truly hope that Jessica is not Tony's Sunday, seeing that Sunday is the day that he's supposed to be focusing on football.

But I refuse to give up. I must know the words to the song. Are they silly? Stupid? Touching?

Would they sound good coming from the lips of a real country singer?

I must know; I must. And I want to share them with you.

So, if you know the words or know where to find them, just post a comment and leave your email address in the space provided. (Don't worry; your email will stay private; it is only visible to your Final Score team and a few newsday.com VIPs).

When the Green Bay Packers gave Brett Favre a team cell phone, they didn't expect him to put the Minnesota Vikings on speed dial.

Reports have surfaced that Favre has used his Packers-issued cell to make numerous calls to Vikings coach Brad Childress and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell.

I'm doubt he was looking for tips on a good place to go fishing.

Packers officials reportedly found the calls after checking phone records as they tried to build a case against the Vikings for tampering with Favre.

Bevell was formerly the Packers' QB coach, so it's possible that the two were only having "friendly" conversations.

However the calls to Childress sound, well, fishy.

Is there a single Giants fan out there who thinks that Personal Seat Licenses are a good thing?

Forty thousand dollars for the privilege of being able to buy the four tickets to Giants games that your family has been buying for years, only in a newer stadium? And then you still have to pay for the tickets.

No problem, your kids can always work their own way through community college instead of going to NYU.

These devilish PSLs are nothing new. Some colleges have done this for years, and Dallas' Cotton Bowl required them for some events as early as 1960.

That said, there is a special place in the netherworld for whoever first thought of PSLs. And I'd like to think that he gets to share eternity in the same room -- without a toilet, and all they get to eat is Taco Bell refried beans -- as the person who invented amortized compound interest.

Apparently T.O. no longer sees Jessica Simpson as a jinx to the Dallas Cowboys.

In fact, he says he was kidding all along when he said he wanted her banned from Texas Stadium.

He told USmagazine.com, "She is welcome to the stadium anytime. I told her she can come down and sit in my section. I’m sure she will be back!”

That's great news for Giants fans because, let's face it, Jessica Simpson really is a jinx.

1. He's very comfortable with the color green.

2. He wouldn't have to play against the Packers unless both teams reached the Super Bowl.

3. There's no way on earth that the Packers would allow him to go to the hated Chicago Bears.

4. Jets punter Joe Smith would probably be willing to give up his uniform number.

5. There's no way on earth that the Packers would allow him to go to the hated Minnesota Vikings.

6. Although Frozen Tundra isn't available, Giants Stadium is a great place to throw snowballs in December.

7. The New York media is always very friendly.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is mounting a tongue-in-cheek campaign for some Clevelander to buy and gut the Browns' arch-rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Rooney family recently put the Steelers on the market and an Op-Ed piece in yesterday's Plain Dealer suggested that "Browns fans' main concerns should be, how can we buy them, neutralize them as a foe and put Cleveland's unique stamp on them."

One suggestion was that new ownership could trade Ben Roethlisberger to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, "removing him from the NFL in what would be his prime football years."

I guess football becomes king of the city when your baseball team waves the white flag even before the midges start attacking.

This entry was posted yesterday by Shannon J. Owens, sports celebrity blogger of the Orlando Sentinel.

Nicole is the former wife of comedian Eddie Murphy.

I wonder if the couple will be invited to the red-carpet opening of Murphy's new movie, "Meet Dave," next month.

Today's episode of the Simpsons . . .

Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson are back on.

Chicago Sun-Times gossiper Bill Zwecker says the two are back together, but only as long as Jessica's dad, Joe Simpson, butts out.

Zwecker said: "My source says Romo has told Jessica their renewed relationship is ''a trial thing,'' dependent on Daddy Joe ''leaving them alone'' and stifling his tendency to tell Romo how to run his life, career and endorsement deals."

Giant fans appreciate the distraction and hope the circus continues so that Romo will be completely unhinged when his Cowboys come to the Meadowlands on Nov. 2

Omigosh! Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson have apparently split up. Will the world ever be the same? Will the Giants be able to beat the Cowboys? Which sports figure's career would you like to see Jessica screw up next?

By the way, PerezHilton.com - Hollywood's Most-Hated Web Site, said that Tony dumped Jessica. The split has also been reported by the Dallas Morning News and other fine publications.

Now let me ask you this: Would you rather read about Jessica Simpson or the silly Baumbach-Rieber prediction competition?

Yours truly, Chicago Norm

From ESPN.com news services:

Florida Gators safety Jamar Hornsby has been kicked off the team after turning himself in Friday to answer charges he allegedly used the credit card of a woman killed six months ago in an accident that also killed a teammate.

"He is not a part of our program," Florida coach Urban Meyer said in a news release.

Continue reading here

I've read several stories this morning about how former Patriots employee Matt Walsh has handed over the tapes of other teams' signs to the NFL, but the Super Bowl XXXVI walk-through was not one of them. So what!?!?

Why does this now guarantee the Patriots didn't tape that walk-through? Are we're supposed to take the Pats at their word? Hopefully Walsh tells us what he says to the commish. Still, isn't anyone else bothered by the FACT that the greatest NFL dynasty in decades has been illegally taping other teams' signs for eight years?!?!

Then I hear Boomer Esiason on WFAN this morning saying he hopes Walsh is happy he got his 15 minutes and we can call an end to this. Huh? And don't even get me started on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell destroying the evidence...

Okay, I'm going to make some coffee. Decaf.

There are no good MLB transactions that occurred on this date, so let's look back at a random MLB amateur draft. Why MLB? For starters, I don't get excited about the NFL draft - even 10 minutes between picks will have me bored by the sixth pick. And who doesn't like looking back at old drafts to see what happened to the players?

So here's some interesting first-round picks from the 2000 MLB draft:
1... Marlins... Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
6... Rays... Rocco Baldelli, OF
7... Rockies... Matt Harrington, P (Google this guy. He has some story...)
15... Phillies... Chase Utley, 2B
16... Mets... Billy Traber, P (Wonder where he is now? Hmmmm)
21... Giants... Boof Bonser, P
28... Yankees... David Parrish, C (Whoops)
29... Braves... Adam Wainwright, P

Amazingly, I didn't recognize any other names.

Marshall Faulk, the former St. Louis Ram RB turned NFL Network broadcaster, gave Barack Obama's campaign $1,000 on March 17, 2007.

He still lives in St. Louis, if you're wondering.

Richard Eisen made his contribution to Barack Obama on Feb. 28, 2008. Are sports journalists allowed to make contributions? It's definitely frowned upon, for sure. But is Eisen a journalist?

Probably not.

I should probably stay away from Eisen and people of his nature. This is Neil Best's domain.

To Newsday's NFL expert, Bob Glauber,
I read that even though the Dolphins have signed the No. 1 pick, the Rams (at No. 2) can't talk money with the guy(s) they want to pick. Why is this? And does this seem fair? In theory, couldn't the whole first round of the draft be done by, like, noon on Friday?
Thanks,
Anthony

AND FROM JIM: Good question, Anthony. I was puzzled when I saw the signing in the transactions in my morning paper. Just because the Dolphins announced they're going with this guy, does that make it official? Don't they still have to announce it Saturday?

UPDATE FROM ANTHONY: SO I CALLED GLAUBER at 11:55 a.m. to get his answer.

Here's a partial transcript:

BG: Who is this exactly?

AR: Anthony. Rieber. Your Newsday colleague.

BG: Oh, right. Listen, I've got Ocho Cinco on one line and ESPN honchos on the other. Make it quick.

AR: Did you read the question I asked you on my blog?

BG: Yes. The answer is the Rams are not allowed to talk money with their prospective pick, but there are talks going on right now that could change that. OK? Gotta go. (CLICK.)

AR: Thanks, Bob.

AR: Bob? Are you there?

(DIAL TONE)

This is what makes the NFL so foreign to me. Shaun Alexander just two years ago was widely referred to as one of the top two running backs in the league. Hands-down the best? Arguably so.

Signed a $62 million, eight-year contract after the 2005 season when he was the MVP. But there are no guarantees in the NFL, and after two straight injury-filled years Alexander is cut loose.

How big was Alexander in 2005?

Former Yankee Andy Phillips went to college with Alexander at Alabama and they had classes together. So they kept in touch through the years. When Phillips was getting ready for a big game as a Yankee - I don't remember which - he said he received a call from one of Alexander's assistants telling him Shaun wished him good luck.

Maybe I should get an assistant.

Jim and I just realized we haven't done one NFL post since I joined the blog on April 1.
That's a shame, since if we did we could attract the attention of Glauber, who would then link to our blog from his more popular one. Then we could bathe in the rich warmth of the love and adulation of Glauber's blog audience as they clicked on our blog again and again and again.
Some people would call it poaching. Others would call it being a happy part of the Newsday blog family.
I'm going to spend the weekend studying up on the NFL Draft so I can blog about football next week.
thanks to noveltyquiltfabric.com for the photo.

So now Brett Favre says he might come back.
Reporters around the country, please, stop calling him!
My theory from the beginning was Favre only quit in a hissy fit because the Packers didn't sign Randy Moss.
Please, Brett, get on to your post-football life. Maybe a "There's Something About Mary" sequel?
Franks and beans! Franks and beans!
Thanks to www.videospidertv.com for the photo.

Seems as if we're going to find out soon.

Meanwhile, the Boston Globe today published a long story that focuses on Walsh, his former ties with the Pats, his background and how he is viewed by former coworkers, etc.

Frankly, I'm just glad the emergence of Walsh is forcing the NFL to deal with SpyGate some more. The way the league handled their illegal taping of the Jets back in the fall left a bad taste in my mouth -- and I definitely assumed that this would just go away, sort of like how NFL players who used steroids get off easy.

Walsh is making sure that's not happening. Will be interesting to see where this goes.

BTW: I have a hard time taking anything Walsh's coworkers say about him seriously. Of course they're going to rip him and not attach their names to it. He potentially has evidence that could ruin the legitimacy of their Super Bowl rings...

It's going to be another 20 minutes or so before this Congressman will presumably grandstand -- hey, I'm just speculating, but this guy is up for election this year -- anyway, we'll get to that when he actually speaks. Sorry to keep this so mysterious. Anyway, to pass more time, I'll list the football stadiums I have never been to.

This list is much longer than the baseball stadium list, so I'm going to make you click on the link to go to the next page... (And still waiting for the grandstanding...)

Finally, Lawrence Taylor logged on to AIM. Even though we've moved on to bigger and better stories, I figured why not send LT a message. It's still a story if he talks, albeit weeks after we originally tried to get him. This was the message I sent:

Hi LT, Jim Baumbach from Newsday here. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that amazing Giants Super Bowl win, whether you got to see it live, etc.

He never responded and went idle at 1:55 p.m.

But until he signs off there's hope! (Not really.)

Funny story today from Newsday's Marshall Lubin.

Smokin' Al's, my favorite L.I. restaurant, ran a promotion in which if you spent between $200 and $500 on a Super Bowl catering party, they promised to refund it if the Giants won.

Whoops!

The owner says he lost between $15,000 and $20,000.

Another good find by TheBigLead.com.

In the most bizarre post-Super Bowl moment, Tiki Barber interviewed Eli Manning late Sunday night for The Today Show. Here's the link to the video on youtube. There are snippets of the interview sprinkled throughout Tiki's 6-minute Monday-morning spot, beginning at the 2:29 mark of the video clip.

Surely everyone remembers Tiki criticizing Eli on NBC in the preseason, famously calling his attempts to be a leader "comical." It's funny, therefore, to hear Tiki talk about how Eli's season was "full of criticism" at the 3:36 mark. Then he asked Eli about it.

Wonder if that was awkward?

At the 3:45 mark, Rich Seubert tells Tiki, "Eli has taken heat from a lot of people," and no doubt he knew one of them was the former teammate that was interviewing him.

(I would imagine there was no Tiki-Coughlin interview.)

What a bunch of (presumably drunken) idiots in this video.

Hope the police made some arrests.

I'm just going on what I saw today at the parade.

I staked out the Giants players on the side of City Hall along with some rowdy fans prior to the start of the key-to-the-city ceremony. When Michael Strahan showed up, fans chanted, "One more year!" Then Eli Manning got into it, holding up two fingers and chanting, "Two more years!"

Strahan looked at the crowd, laughed and then winced. It was a painful look on his face, not the least bit promising if you're hoping to have No. 92 back next year.

Then, when the same chant broke out during the ceremony, he said, "We'll see."

So if I was a betting man...

I read on TheBigLead.com today that Dan LeBatard of the Miami Herald said this in one of his online chats:

“i’ve heard second hand about doug flutie being amazed when he got there that the plays were being piped into his helmet warning brady what was coming…..we’ve tried to talk to flutie on our radio show about it but he hangs up on my producer…..”

When I was quietly working and keeping to myself in the media center on Saturday afternoon, I couldn't help but overhear the people in front of me discussing this very same story.

I took a mental note to call Flutie about this. Apparently LeBatard has tried to no avail.

We'll still try, but we're not hopeful.

The early odds on next year's Super Bowl winner have been released by our friends in Las Vegas, and it appears the people there don't think the Giants can carry over their magic to next year.

The Patriots are the heavy favorites at 9-5, followed by the Colts at 8-1, Chargers at 9-1 and Cowboys at 10-1. Then comes the Giants, who are tied with the Packers and Jaguars at 15-1 odds.

What do you think? Can they do it again?

If you don't count the New Jersey Devils as a New York sports team -- and, really, who among us does? -- then the Giants' Super Bowl XLII victory ended a seven-year, three-month drought since the last New York sports championship.

Amazingly, that's the longest drought in New York sports in almost 90 years.

To find out when the last time New York has gone this long without a championship, you have to go all the way back to a stretch between 1906 and 1920, when baseball was the only sport league in existence. There were three New York teams at the time - Giants, Dodgers and Yankees - yet they went 14 years without a title.

1. '69 Mets
2. '69 Jets
3. '86 Mets
4. '94 Rangers
5. '07 Giants

Here's my reasoning.

Go ahead and disagree.

I'm sure a lot of people are in that boat, including the famously white haired horse trainer / owner.

When I saw him at lunch last week and I asked him for a prediction, he said, "Anything that adds up to more than 47."

Whoops.

That's the question I asked the handful of fans who wore a Giants No. 21 jersey. Most did it because they believed Barber's departure was the reason the Giants made it here. One wore it because his last name is Barber. Here's the story.

Also, I found someone with the jersey, "Mom Pierce." Yes, it was Antonio's mom. I talked to her, too. She was nice.

Now that was amazing.

I watched the first half from the upper deck auxiliary press box. After Tom Petty performed, I went downstairs into the press room -- a tent outside the stadium -- and wrote stories while watching the game on television.

But when the Giants had the ball with 2:39 remaining, I had to go back inside. So I stood in the back of one of the low-level sections in the opposite end zone. The scene was crazy. The whole stadium was standing. The fans were split 50-50. And the Eli-Tyree play will go down in history. I still haven't seen a replay of his catch.

I'll never forget this.

Bill Germanakos is his name. He's from Lynbrook. Said he lost 164 pounds. Looks like he's in incredible shape. Also won a quarter-mil from the show -- and got his mug on a 'Got Milk?' ad. Not bad.

I haven't watched that show, so he filled me in. He said his twin brother, Jim, of Massapequa, shed 186 pounds.

Insane.

I ran four miles on a treadmill last night.

Maybe I'll work out again later.

Every time I passed a man in a white Patriots golf shirt during media day, I looked down at his pass in hopes of seeing: "Matt Estrella."

No such luck.

You know who I'm talking about. He's the guy who was caught videotaping the Jets during Week 1, sparking a Spygate scandal that is threatening the validity of Bill Belichick's dynasty.

Imagine if Estrella had a podium. That would have been fun. I could have videotaped it.