SISTER OR IMPOSTOR? YOU DECIDE

Well Well, besides T.O. getting his own reality show, it seems as though the NFL has even more drama. According to the Shutdown Corner at Yahoo! Sports the recent Hall of Famer, Bob Hayes, has a fraud for a sister. Literally.

The sister, Lucille Hester, spoke on behalf of her late brother, Hayes, who was being inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At the news conference, Hester read aloud a letter that Hayes had supposedly written in 1999, three years before his died. However, there is evidence in this letter that points to Hester being a fraud, as well as being a bad speller. The name of the QB, Staubach, was spelled incorrectly in the thank you letter.

Okay, so let's all agree that this woman is a fraud. Why is she trying to get into the spotlight for this? Did she try when he was alive? Apparently Hayes' ex-wife and some of his siblings are denying that they are related to this woman. However, apparently no one has figured out how to look up family trees or censuses or anything of that nature. It can't be impossible to figure this out.

In my opinion, this woman is probably not his sister. But I am still stumped as to why should would want to choose Hayes' as her relative to share the spotlight with. It could be that he is long gone so he couldn't say whether or not she was a fraud or not. But if I wanted to get into the spotlight, I would pick a more prominent sports figure of today that is alive, well, and filthy rich. Why can't she pose as T.O.'s long lost aunt? Why not pick Michael Jordan, or now that the Steelers won another Super Bowl, I would probably feed off having one of those players be my relative some how.

Actually, I should let the world know that Bruce Smith, who has also just been introduced to the Pro Football Hall of Fame is my long lost uncle. Seriously! Can't you see the resemblance?
Fine, if you don't believe that one, will you believe that Jim Kelly is my father? Trent Edwards is my cousin twice removed, and unfortunately, Tony Romo is the black sheep of my family as the cousin who was dropped on the head as a baby. Either way, I better start going to press conferences with letters from them so I can cash in my well deserved paycheck!

Jaclyn Kahn

Will the Super Bowl be without a Manning or Brady?

So even though the Super Bowl isn't for a few weeks, I just began to think about it and who might be showing up. Now that both of the Mannings are out of the playoffs, and Brady has been a no-show for most of the season (Hallelujah, am I right?) it just might seem that none of the "big guns" or celebs of football are going to be in the spotlight. That will be even more true if the big names like McNabb, Westbrook, and Roethlisberger don't make it to Tampa.

Since last Super Bowl, Eli Manning has become as popular as his brother, which makes some people elated, and others astonished. Personally, I think that he got to where he was because of his family name, but that is another story for another day. So that's why so many are shocked and dismayed that Baby Manning will not be venturing to the Super Bowl this year, at least with his Giants.

A couple of years ago, when neither the suddenly amazing Giants, nor the monopolizing Patriots made it to the Super Bowl, there was still a football giant to take much of the spotlight: Peyton. And with good reason; Older Bro Manning helped bring his team to Super Bowl XLI and win it. But what really pissed me off, and I mean PISSED me off was that Brady somehow ended up at this game by being involved with the coin toss.

It doesn't surprise me, now or then, that the NFL loves Brady and can't get enough of him. So even though his team didn't make it to the Super Bowl, he sure did. And because of this special guest appearance, I am intrigued and apprehensive to see which NFL "star" is going to make a special guest appearance this year. Will it be Brady again? Even though he was out for most of the regular season, there's no doubt in my mind that the NFL would pull any amount of strings to get him back out onto the football field, even to the dismay of all anti-Patriots/anti-Brady football fans.

However, after the big hoopla about Eli Manning and his winning Giants, the team who beat out the Super Bowl Giants (no pun intended...maybe) the NFL might not want to give up their overly praised NFC team. That is why the person that might be at that coin toss, who won't be Brady, will be Eli Manning.

In a perfect Super Bowl world, there will be no surprise appearances by any Brady, Manning, or anyone of that stature. The only players that should show up to this game should be the players from the two teams playing in the XLIrd Super Bowl. If any players are going to help with the coin toss, or any other mundane part of the show, why not have it be some Hall-of-Famer? Someone who isn't associated with a current football team that didn't make it because they just couldn't live up to the pressure, or just weren't that good?

Oh and if the NFL has Tony Romo show up for anything, I will search out the idiot who made that decision and give them a piece of my mind!

Go Eagles!
-The Jaxster

Third Time the Charm; Giants Stun Cowboys in Big D

-Giants 21, Cowboys 17
Heroes: Giants defense, especially after another injury in secondary to Aaron Ross
Goat: Tony Romo
Turning Point: After the Cowboys ate up 10 minutes to take a 14-7 lead, the Giants matched that TD with one of their own to tie with just :53 seconds on the clock before the half
Next: NFC Championship @ Green Bay

Well there will be a Manning playing on championship weekend after all. It will just be Eli Manning and not Peyton. For the second time today the road team went into a hostile environment and came away with a stunning victory. The Giants are clearly still riding high from their impressive performance vs. New England in Week 17 and playoff win in Tampa Bay, while the Cowboys were effected by not playing big time football in six weeks. This was a game the Cowboys had several chances to win, but they were unable to get on track in the second half.

The Cowboys were able to score two touchdowns in the first half because Marion Barber ran at will on the Giants' defense. Barber's ability to rush the football gave Tony Romo time to throw on third down. However, when the Giants adjusted in the second half, Romo melted under the pressure. He melted like Jessica Simpson on Celebrity Jeopardy! (zoom, zoom, zoom!) He overthrew Terrell Owens on what would have been a touchdown. It would have made the score 21-14. Patrick Crayton did drop a critical pass at 17-14, but other than that Romo was awful.

With good starting field position on each of the last three drives, Romo was unable to do much with the ball. During the final series, he did a poor job of managing the clock. They got the ball with 1:50 remaining at around midfield, but yet somehow they were forced to take last ditch shots at the end zone from around the Giants' 25. They were slow getting to the line on completions, and even ran the ball once on the drive that ate up about 30 seconds. It was not a good night for Romo, and for the second year in a row he'll be left to wonder what if?

I have to give a lot of credit to the Giants' defense though for their ability to stop the Cowboys several times in the second half. After Aaron Ross's injury there was not much left in the secondary. I thought at this point that the Boys would go to town on the Giants, but they didn't. Then the pass rush started to have an effect, and that really rattled Romo on the last few drives. How does a receiving core with Terrell Owens, Jason Witten, Terry Glenn, and Patrick Crayton not have success today? Give a lot of credit to the heart of the Giants' defense. After years of all kinds of internal problems, the Giants are finally playing as a team. Tom Coughlin has done a great job, and has gone from the chopping block to the cusp of a long-term extension. I wonder what Tiki Barber is feeling right now.

Eli Manning was fantastic in managing the Giants offense today. He did not have sexy numbers, but he didn't make any key mistakes. The drive of the day for Eli was his ability to lead the Giants down the field in 53 seconds at the end of the 1st half. The Cowboys had just taken a lot of momentum by scoring a go-ahead touchdown on a 20-play, 90-yard drive that lasted 10:28. If the Giants don't score there, they go in to the locker room down a TD without the ball first in the second half. That is a big time drive that even the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning would have trouble doing.

Give credit to the Giants' special teams as well. R.W. McQuarters was able to return a punt to the Cowboys' 35 which set up the ultimate game-winning TD drive. It was an all around big time effort from the Giants, who were beat up and were playing a team with far more talent. The Giants will head to Green Bay next week with a chance to advance to Super Bowl XLII. It will be interesting to see if Eli Manning can go into a cold weather environment and continue his run.

Pat Morgan