I love that commercial where the wolf or coyote or whatever it is jumps through the sunroof of the Jeep and spits out the bird and breaks into “Rock Me Gently”—”…Baby, Baby. …”

Don’t know why, but it just cracks me up. I’m sure you’ll see it during the games today. They just showed it early in Chargers-Patriots.

Anyway, since Antonio Pierce and some of his teammates seem to need extra incentive all the time—since it’s not enough to play for a chance to win the championship, he and they have to be disrecpected and given no chance for motivation—I hope he saw the front page of the Green Bay Press-Gazette yesterday. The two lead stories on the front of the paper, not just the sports section, were Mike McCarthy’s five-year contract extension AND the story about how Austin Straubel airport in Green Bay is thinking about adding up to 20 extra flights to Phoenix in the next week so Packers fans can go to the Super Bowl.

What do you think of that, Antonio?

Since I picked Tampa Bay to beat the Giants, and then I picked Dallas to beat the Giants, a lot of Giants fans have asked me to please pick the Packers. Some have done it nicely or jokingly. Some have just figured I’m a know-nothing moron.

Well, I wouldn’t be shocked at all if the Giants keep it going and get to the Super Bowl, not one bit. I think they have a pretty fair chance to do that.

But I’m picking the Pack. Probably low scoring because of the weather, especially if the wind kicks up as it’s supposed to do tonight. So, 21-10 Packers. How’s that sound?

Antonio?

Of course it’s only fitting that in order to play for the Vince Lombardi Trophy in two weeks, somebody will have had to travel down Lombardi Avenue and win at Lambeau Field.

This place is absolutely awesome. Cold-looking, I imagine, even in July, with its cold Fenway Park green around the tops, its yellow railings and its ice-covered silver aluminum bleacher seats. No wonder most people stand up the whole game.

Driving down Lombardi Avenue this afternoon was a trip. You see all kinds of gear. I saw a couple of guys with fox pelts on their heads—the animal’s head right on top, the body and tail draping down the backs of their necks. Somebody topped that—a guy in hunting camouflage pants, with a deer on his head … a full buck’s head, complete with like 16-point antlers, and the animal’s pelt covering his back.

Can you imagine sitting next to that guy, or behind him?

Anyway, the field is covered by a green tarp which is blowing in the wind, waves of air ballooning underneath, and when one of the edges comes up, steam pours out from under the tarp because the field has heat coils in it—unlike the 1967 Ice Bowl. I wonder if the moisture being trapped by the steam will turn to ice once they uncover the field.

I’m in Green Bay, and I’ve got to tell you, minus-4 under a sunny sky doesn’t feel nearly as bad as I thought it would. Of course, by some time during the NFC title game tomorrow night, it will be colder than that, with a windchill that could make it feel like minus-30, they’re saying.

And mind you, I only walked 100 yards or so to my rental car, and then into a few shops, with gloves, a huge coat and a hood—and had icicles inside my nose by then. I didn’t stand out there and tailgate for two hours, then stand in the frigid wind for three-plus hours of football.

That said, the connecting flight fron Detroit to Green bay was loaded with fans—actually more Packers fans than Giants fans. When the pilot announced before takeoff that the temps in Green Bay had hit minus-14, fans of both teams cheered. These people are hard-core, and I say that with all admiration. By the time we landed it had warmed to minus-9, and soon was heading toward a balmy zero.

The coolest part of the flight was the landing, banking in right around Lambeau Field, seeing the place in all its frozen glory, surrounded by several inches of snow that covers the entire area. It was snowing in Detroit, too, so beware if you plan on going through there.

By the way, on one of the main highways in the area is a video billboard which genuinely welcomes the New Yorkers. It says, “Giants and Fans, Welcome to Heaven in a Freezer.”

It reminded me of the 1986 NLCS in Houston, where there was a sign that told Mets fans to go North, when the game was actually going to be played South.

Oh, and if you plan on finding a room once you get here, don’t. The thing about Green Bay, which I guess is by far the smallest city in any big-league sport, is that most of the Packers fans come from elsewhere in the midwest. In other words, they fly or drive here, and they stay in a hotel or motel on gameday. So there are rooms available tonight, and Monday, but not Sunday. I’m 30 miles away, and I made my reservation Tuesday. And if you can find a room, plan on paying big bucks—the good folks of Wisconsin take advantage of the Packers-Sunday supply-and-demand.

Another thing about the flight. I opened the in-flight magazine on Northwest (and Continental) and in it is a full-page ad for HGH, Human Growth Hormone. Buy it and improve your growth and your life, it says. Holy cow!

Then I watched some of the C-Span replay of Donald Fehr and Bud Selig being grilled by Congress on Tuesday, and sure enough, Fehr had torn out the ad from his in-flight magazine and showed it to the whole world. How can this happen???

Need some baseball? Can’t wait for pitchers and catchers? Especially during the two-week break between football’s conference championships and its Super Bowl TV show?

The Baseball Writers Association of America’s 85th annual dinner is open to the public, Jan. 27 at the New York Hilton. Tickets are $225, which might be steep, but the guest list includes Yogi Berra plus two of the newest Hall of Famers, Goose Gossage and Dick Williams; most, if not all, of the BBWAA’s national award winners—Alex Rodriguez, Jimmy Rollins, C.C. Sabathia, Jake Peavy, Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Braun, Eric Wedge and Bob Melvin—who will get their awards that night; and those who won awards annually doled out by the BBWAA’s New York chapter—Craig Biggio, Johnny Damon, Billy Wagner, Joba Chamberlain, Bobby Murcer.

For information or tickets, call 201-871-5924.

 

We were all over the Ryan Grant story in The Journal News and on LoHud.com today.

Ernie Palladino wrote about the Giants’ trade of Grant to the Packers, which has turned out to be a complete heist by Green Bay. How and why did the Giants make this deal?

“Read his story here”:http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080117/SPORTS01/801170403/-1/SPORTS&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL.

I wrote a column about how Grant persevered through his fumble-itis in the divisional game against Seattle, when he single-handedly gave the Seahawks a 14-0 lead, then rushed for 201 yards and three touchdowns to redeem himself. Adversity is nothing new to Grant.

“You can read that column here”:http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080117/COLUMNIST01/801170416&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL.

And Jane McManus wrote about the low profile Grant, a Nyack native, has in Nyack and in Rockland, because he played his high school football at Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey.

“Read Jane’s story here”:http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080117/SPORTS01/801170422&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL.

• One of the great, underwritten, under-discussed stories Sunday in Irving, Texas was the adjustments made by Tom Coughlin’s staff against Marion Barber, who had 101 yards on 16 carries at halftime and finished with 129 (or just 28 on nine carries in the second half). And I wonder if they will do the same things against another powerful running back, Ryan Grant.
• My first dalliance with pro football, when I really became a fan, was the Ice Bowl, and I can’t believe this past December marked the 40th anniversary. I think that brought a lot of people into the NFL, especially those from my generation. And it spawned a whole bunch of fans, from New York, of other teams. Why? Because the Giants weren’t on TV when they played at home, and because you couldn’t get a ticket to see them play.
• Despite the draw of that game, I am really not looking forward to going to Lambeau Field. I mean, I’d love to see the place for the first time, but, man, I hate to be cold.
• It’s hard to believe, also, that Saturday was Brett Favre’s first playoff game in a snowstorm. He said it was.
• Jumping ahead … how much fun do you think it would be for the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, if it’s Eli Manning vs. Phillip Rivers? Not that Giants-Patriots wouldn’t be fun. Or Packers-Patriots.
• I have already exceeded my allotment of the use of “Frozen Tundra” and it’s only Wednesday.
• Do you think Brett Favre will be an easier target, or more difficult, than the nimble Tony Romo was? I mean, the Giants chased Romo all over the field and belted him quite a bit; but Favre, who doesn’t move nearly as well, gets rid of the ball whereas Romo holds onto it.

The only question you need to ask about the Giants now is this:
Why not? Why can’t they beat the Packers and go to Glendale for the Super Bowl?(and wouldn’t they deserve a week in the desert if they could make Brett Favre eat snow?)?
Anyway, who would have thought that Eli Manning would be playing on championship weekend and not Peyton?
Archie Manning was in Indy today and his wife, Olivia, was here at Texas Stadium. I spoke with her briefly, and she mentioned that a friend had told Archie after Peyton’s Super Bowl win last February that now “it’s Eli’s turn.�
That’s what I wrote about in my column for The Journal News and LoHud.com tomorrow.
Sorry for the lack of blogs after the fourth quarter. The internet service here in the Big-D pressroom kept going out. Many, many newspapers nearly had deadline disasters.
I know that I predicted Cowboys 31, Giants 17. And surely, if you had told me that Marion Barber would have more than 100 yards rushing in the first half and that Tony Romo would have a touchdown drive that nearly ate up the entire second quarter, I would have thought that pick was golden. I also said the Bucs would beat the Giants, so you Giants fans should be hoping that I pick the Packers next week.
I also said last week that the NFC was a wide-open opportunity for the Giants, that there was no really elite team.
They just beat the best, the first team to knock out the NFC No. 1 seed in the divisional round in 20 years. They just won their ninth straight road game.
So why not the Giants now? Why not?

The Giants are wearing their classic blue uniforms again, and the Cowboys their classic whites. So it has the look of a good old rivalry.

Which reminds me how unbelievable it really is that the Giants and Cowboys have never played a playoff game against each other.

Now that the place is filling up—and with Dallas fans encouraged to wear white for the White Out effect, which by the way started in hockey in places like Winnipeg and Vancouver—it’s getting harder and harder to spot Giants fans. They are going to be in a great minority for this game.

Yee-ha.

The Giants fans are trickling in. They’re here. Not in the numbers, apparently, that they were last week in Tampa.
I imagine tickets were bit harder to get. Dallas hasn’t had a home playoff game s ince 1999.
Meanwhile, the sun isn’t directly over the stadium, so the hole in the roof is only providing warm sunshine in one corner of one end zone. That’s where a lot of the Giants fans are standing. I don’t know if that’s a sign from above, or just a sign than Giants fans are smart enough to stand where it’s warmer.
Romo just came out and jogged the length of the field to a standing ovation, and it looks like he’s doing it just for the ovation because he can’t be getting anything else out of it.
Speak to you later.

The Giants have done a marvelous job, as they always do, of convincing themselves that it’s them against the world again, that nobody’s giving them a chance, that they are these vast underdogs.

That’s what they do best. You know what? They are vast underdogs. The Cowboys are better at every position except D-line, and the Giants’ D-line will have to go up against perhaps the best O-line in the NFC plus a quarterback who thrives when he’s flushed from the pocket. So even that advantage might be negated.

My pick is: Cowboys 31, Giants 17.

I wrote a column about it for The Journal News and LoHud.com tomorrow, and will be blogging throughout tomorrow’s game.