Thursday was the final day of team media access and the game ball goes to Brian Lowe. During the media session, Brian took a live wireless camera around to all the tables, doing interviews and giving fans worldwide an inside look. I thought it was much more exciting that a static podium shot. It was also a great opportunity to see some of the players and coaches who don't get their own podiums. If we're ever lucky enough to be in this position again I'm going to add in a feature that will allow viewers to send in their questions and have them answered right there on the spot. Too late smart I guess.
We went incident-free on PFW in Progress today. No players or coaches walking by just at the wrong moment. Good thing too because once again I tried my best to get Paul Perillo to explode on the whole no respect subject. In all honesty I do think Patriots fans are being a bit hyper-sensitive but there is no question that when it comes to talking heads on national TV and radio, they are siding with the Giants by a lopsided margin. Our unofficial poll taken during the show was something like 24-6 in favor of the Giants. That's way too one-sided for a game as evenly-matched as this one. Here is my list of reasons why I think "experts" are leaning Giants:
- NY bias in general
- Patriots aren't as media-friendly
- Giants are the hotter team right now
- Giants have beaten tougher teams down the stretch
- Infatuation with the Giants front 4
- Disrespect for the Patriots defense and in particular defensive backfield vs. Giants receivers
- Finally, Eli Manning is the reason his team is winning games
- Gronk won't be 100%Of course, all these reasons, aside from 1 and 2, can be countered by something of equal or greater significance for the Patriots but images of XLII clouds the picture. I just can't believe we're going to see the same scenario. I would be shocked in fact.
Pete Sheppard did his best to defend the Patriots honor on his Patriots.com Radio show Thursday. He had NFL Network's Steve Wyche as a guest and Pete was throwing haymakers about the network's coverage. Pete claimed it was totally one-sided towards the Giants and Wyche did his best to defend his station. You can listen to it on www.Patriots.com.
If you're in Indy for the game and you see a Patriots employee, ask for an MHK pin. We received a huge shipment and staff will be more than happy to give you one. Wouldn't it be cool if every Patriots fan in Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday wore one? PFW's circulation manager, Carrol Hardy, is also driving around town looking for Patriots bars. She'll be dropping off this week's edition of Patriots Football Weekly and more MHK pins. If you know of a place she should hit up, leave it in the comment section.
Shameless plug time. I'll be heading over to the NFL Media Center around 3pm today to be a guest on the Dave Dameshek Show on NFL.com. He's set up on Radio Row. I think it should be live around 3:15. Should be fun. I'll see what he thinks about the NY bias.
