Email Exchanges – Page 20 – Keefe To The City

Jun 17, 2010

A Game 7 For The Ages

It’s Lakers and Celtics, Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I don’t have a horse in the race, but I’m pulling for the Lakers for two reasons. First, I like Kobe Bryant, though I am

It’s Lakers and Celtics, Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I don’t have a horse in the race, but I’m pulling for the Lakers for two reasons. First, I like Kobe Bryant, though I am completely aware that a lot of people don’t, and second, I hate the Celtics. Maybe hate is too strong of a word in this case. I certainly don’t hate the Celtics like I hate the Red Sox or Boone Logan (despite his Wednesday night performance) or Chad Gaudin or the way I am starting to hate A.J. Burnett, but I just can’t stand them.

The problem is when I do talk basketball (which is rare) the one person I talk about it with happens to be a Celtics fan buried deep in the heart of Massachusetts. So to get inside the mind of someone with something on the line in Thursday’s Game 7, good friend and NESN.com writer Mike Hurley joined me to break down the biggest Finals game since ’94.

Keefe: I thought the Lakers were the best team after Game 3, and the Celtics after Game 5. Now I don’t know which team is better. Do you? Everything I read from Boston is that the Celtics will put Game 6 behind them and already have, and I fully believe that they have. If the Lakers could come back in Game 6 after looking the way they did in Game 5, then I have to believe the Celtics from Game 6 will show up in Game 7. I don’t know who is going to win, and wouldn’t be surprised by either team winning. Does that even make sense? Nothing makes sense anymore.

Hurley: No, nothing makes sense at all. I thought I finally had it figured out after Game 5 that the Celtics were in fact the better team. That lasted all of 75 seconds in Game 6. The craziest part of Game 6: Who was the best player? I mean, it was Kobe by default, but he barely had to break a sweat.

If you want to talk about what went wrong for the Celtics it was simple. They were playing as five individuals. Every trip down the court turned into 1-on-5. Even when they did make a pass, it was usually as a last resort with five seconds on the shot clock. That’s how they lost to the Nets and Wizards in the regular season, so it’s obviously going to fail tremendously in the Finals. That’s obviously a fixable issue, and I wouldn’t expect such a horrific effort Thursday night.

Keefe: I asked you the other day about Kobe being MVP even if the Lakers lost and you laughed at me. I would have laughed at me if I thought of the idea given Kobe’s shooting percentage throughout the series, but I didn’t. I just thought it was worthy of relaying to you to get you riled up and bring out your true hatred for the best player on the planet. Little did I know, you would write a story off of it (http://www.nesn.com/2010/06/kobe-bryants-oneman-show-in-game-5-not-worthy-of-praise.html). I’ve seen the comments from readers on your story, and if I were you, I wouldn’t travel to L.A. anytime soon.

Now, if the Lakers win, obviously Kobe is MVP. But if the Celtics win, I have no idea who gets it since you could make a case for a few people right now. I guess it comes down to which Celtic has the biggest Game 7?

Hurley: For the record, those numbers you speak of are: 10-22, 8-20, 10-29, 10-22, 13-27. Those are questionable numbers for an MVP on a winning team, let alone a losing team.

It’s also worth nothing that the story I wrote had nothing to do with hatred. It was clear as day that The Kobe Bryant Show in Game 5 was impressive, but it simultaneously killed the Lakers. They were down by one point with the whole team involved midway through the second quarter, then Bryant reeled off 23 straight points. And the Lakers trailed by nine.

What Kobe did was great theater, but it’s not conducive to winning. His 19 shots in a blowout win on Tuesday only solidified that point.

OK, but anyway … If the Celtics win, the MVP could be whoever plays the best in Game 7. Nobody’s been consistently excellent throughout the series. You could make a case for Rondo, but for two things. One, he’s only averaging 7.2 assists, which means he’s not doing what he does best. Second, he’s shooting 23.5 percent from the free-throw line. That’s just embarrassing.

But if Rondo puts up 16-10-8 or something around there, it wouldn’t be surprising at all for him to get MVP honors. Obviously, a Game 5 repeat for Pierce would get him his second, and to be honest, I’m not sure a huge performance from Garnett wouldn’t give him some consideration.

If I had to bet, my money would be Rondo. If I were to bet, I would have lost all my money by now.

Keefe: If I listened to your betting advice for Game 6, I would be out of money too, but hey, the Celtics at +250 coming off that Game 5 win wouldn’t have been a bad play even with the outcome. In the end, I just couldn’t justify backing the Celtics since I want to watch them go down in flames.

So here we are … Game 7. The whole season for one game. Obviously you would have signed up for this in November. Actually, you would have signed up for this two weeks ago. Take off your 1986 green nylon Celtics jacket and tell me what each team needs to do to win on Thursday night.

Hurley: For the Lakers, it might be as simple as getting an early lead. This Celtics team is not nearly the same team that pulled off that comeback in ’08. They haven’t shown that kind of resiliency this year, and I think if L.A. can open in similar fashion to the way they did Tuesday, it might be enough.

Of course, that might be dependent on Ron Artest draining 3’s and Jordan Farmar stepping in and playing better than Derek Fisher, so I’m not counting on that happening.

The Celtics simply need to play well near the basket. They unofficially missed 408 shots from within five feet in Game 6, and it killed them. They need to rebound, which falls on the shoulders of Rasheed Wallace and Glen Davis. Good luck with that. And they need to score in transition. They’ve made that look easy often in this series, and if they can keep up the tempo on offense, their defense has been plenty good enough to at least keep the Lakers at bay.

Rajon Rondo needs to play 46-48 minutes tonight. Nate Robinson was an absolute donkey in Game 6 and reminded everyone that yes, he is indeed Nate Robinson. Rondo’s been slightly above average this series, which for him isn’t enough. If he can recapture some of that brilliance from the Cleveland and Orlando series, the Celtics are the better team.

But really, you can say all that, and you can throw some fancy basketball words all over the place, but it’s all about hitting shots. The Celtics had open shots throughout the first four games of the series. When they hit them, they won. When they didn’t, they lost. In Game 6, the Lakers shot the lights out in the first half, and it iced the game early.

Keefe: This game is so important on so many levels that the more I think about it, the more reasons it is important I think of.

If the Lakers win, Kobe can further cement his legacy and finally add beating Boston to his resume, and the same goes for Phil Jackson. The Lakers can prove that the Ron Artest experiment wasn’t a failure, and that they would have beaten the Celtics in last year’s Finals as well if Kevin Garnett were healthy and the Celtics made it.

The Celtics can raise banner No. 18, celebrate one more time before the window of opportunity slams shut on their aging stars and make everyone wonder what could have been if KG didn’t have to sit out last postseason.

There is so much at stake for both franchises as a whole and for players individually that we haven’t seen in a long, long time. On a scale of 1-10, how devastated will you be if the Celtics lose this game?

Hurley: To be honest, I see all of that, and I don’t think it’s as big a deal as it’s being made out to be. If Kobe and Phil don’t beat the Celtics, then what? They’re not great? Where were the Celtics in 2000? 2001? In 2002, the Celtics lost in six games to the Nets in the conference finals. Then the Nets got smoked, getting swept by the Lakers and losing by almost 10 points per game. I’m going to go ahead and use the distributive property and say that Kobe/Phil could have beaten the Celtics in the past.

Losing Game 7 of the Finals is automatically a 7 on the devastation scale, but I don’t think it can rightfully go beyond that. This whole playoff run was completely unexpected. The team sucked all year. There’s no other way to put it. They had giant lapses in effort, they had chemistry issues, and they had Shelden Williams playing basketball for them. It was sort of a disaster year.

So yeah, losing in Game 7, to the Lakers, in L.A., against Kobe and Phil, seeing Pau Gasol shouting and yelling with that awful beard … it will hard for anyone with a Boston soul to watch. But nobody – seriously, nobody – expected the Celtics to be in this position, so you just have to sit back and enjoy what we’ll be watching.

Keefe: I know how much it will pain Bostonians to see Kobe flashing his hand around to signify five championships while he is holding his children and kissing his wife. It will probably hurt more to see Phil Jackson pull out a hat with the roman numeral XI on it, and to see Pau Gasol, Sasha Vujacic and Ron Artest hugging at half court.

Hopefully at this time tomorrow the Lakers will have back-to-back championships, Kobe will have five rings and cement his legacy by beating the Celtics in the Finals and every Boston outlet will turn on Doc Rivers and the Celtics and rip the team apart. That would make for an exciting Friday for you.

I’m going with my heart, instinct and hatred for the Green. Lakers 91, Celtics 83 and Kobe gets MVP. And we’ll have to do this again this summer if the Red Sox can stay in the race.

Hurley: Yuck.

You forgot to mention Adam Morrison. Somehow, he’s become the second most annoying person to look at this series, behind Pau Gasol. Just sitting there with his stupid hair and his stupid mustache – in the MIDDLE of the bench! Get down the end, buddy.

I said going into this series that I had a little bit of a head/heart thing going on. My head was saying Lakers in 6; my heart was saying Celtics in 7. Frankly, I thought the Lakers were better than this, so I’ll follow your lead and stick with the heart. Celtics 97, Lakers 91. Paul Pierce’s 20 points, six assists get him MVP.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

May 5, 2010

Bald Vinny and the Bleachers

I can only remember a handful of times over the last seven or eight seasons that I have been to Yankee Stadium and haven’t sat in the right field bleachers. Vinny Milano is responsible for

I can only remember a handful of times over the last seven or eight seasons that I have been to Yankee Stadium and haven’t sat in the right field bleachers. Vinny Milano is responsible for that.

Milano, known as “Bald Vinny” to Yankees fans, has been the face of the Bleacher Creatures over the last few seasons, helping create an exciting environment in Section 203 (formerly Section 39) at the Stadium. The voice behind roll call in the Bronx and the leader of the “real” fans, Bald Vinny has become the most recognizable Yankees fan around.

Bald Vinny is also recognized for creating some of the best Yankees-related T-shirts (http://www.baldvinny.com) and for making his pregame home at his T-shirt stand on River Ave. before taking his familiar spot in right field. Vinny talked with me about the history behind roll call, his T-shirt business and the state of the Yankees. Here’s a transcript:

Keefe: As the leading voice of the roll call in Section 203, how did roll call come to fruition?

Bald Vinny: Roll call really came about out of boredom. As fans, we never know what players on the field can “actually” hear. We had always shouted out the outfielders (all the way back to the Dave Winfield days), but one afternoon in 1996, someone posed the question: “Hey, do you think we can get Tino Martinez to hear us?” At this point, we would regularly call out to outfielders Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill etc. From there, we just went around the infield, and we wouldn’t stop until we got some sort of response. It just took on a life of it’s own after that, and it became our way to let the players know we were in the house and that we were pumped up and ready to go.

Keefe: Who has been your favorite player name to chant since roll call was established?

Bald Vinny: My favorite player to chant has always been Bernie Williams. Since roll call starts with the center fielder, I got to yell Bernie’s name a lot. So much so, that I would often do a one-man roll call (for Bernie only) at road games. He knew my voice from the “Yo Bernie” intro, and would always tip his cap to me. He loved it so much, that he even asked me to help introduce him to the stage at the Nokia Theater for his album release party.

These days, I love that the guys all have their own responses. It started with Johnny Damon, who would get down on one knee and shoot out “the double-finger point”, and now each guy has his own wave (even if it’s non-descript, like Derek Jeter). It means a lot to me, and the other fans, when you read of new guys coming over and stressing over how to respond like Curtis Granderson did when he wrote a blog about it for MLB.com the day before Opening Day.

Keefe: Since you are the leading man of roll call, and therefore the official starter of the “slow clap” that leads into roll call, is it frustrating when people try to jump the gun and put the clap and roll call in motion before you do?

Bald Vinny: I only get frustrated with people who sit out there who have no clue what roll call is (Thanks, StubHub). As for clapping, I just try to be the one to keep everyone on pace. If people want to clap because they are excited, then they should go for it. Our whole atmosphere is built on making noise, so no one will look at you crooked if you jump on your bench and start screaming. If you try that in the box seats, they look at you like you have two heads! We start with the big yell then everyone follows in because, frankly, it sounds like a mess otherwise! As unruly as we are, even our group needs some organization.

Keefe: There seems to be a lot of “unwritten rules” to sitting in Section 203, like not talking on the phone, participating in “The Wave” or joining into the untimely and awkward chants from Sections 201 and 202. What would you say is the most important “unwritten rule” to follow when sitting in Section 203 among the Bleacher Creatures?

Bald Vinny: I think our biggest un-written rule is “don’t get caught”. The core group of creatures is there on a fairly regular basis (60-plus games a year). We do what we can to police the section so that newbies don’t ruin it for the rest of us. Without blowing up any spots, let’s just say that membership has its privileges, and we don’t let strangers give us a bad name. For the most part, chanting profanities is a big no-no. Our guys know not to do it because then it makes the cops and security keep more of an eye on us because we’re troublemakers. More security means you get away with less, so we do our part to make sure they don’t have more reason than necessary to watch over us.

Keefe: Being the face of the bleachers got you publicity in Filip Bondy’s book Bleeding Pinstripes: A Season with the Bleacher Creatures of Yankee Stadium when he chronicled the 2004 season from Section 39, and it also landed you on the Ultimate Road Trip on the YES Network during the 2005 season. What was the bigger thrill: having a book written about the Creatures or getting to attend all 162 games during the ’05 season?

Bald Vinny: Bondy’s book helped me become the face of the group. We certainly weren’t “big” back then and not many people would really know of us if it wasn’t for Bondy’s coverage, first in the Daily News for a number of years and then the book. That certainly helped get me on the reality show. Both were really great experiences, but going to the Hall of Fame and seeing a book for sale with your face on it is pretty humbling.

Keefe: What was it like to have to sit in box seats during the year and watch the show go on without you?

Bald Vinny: The absolute worst part of the Ultimate Road Trip was not being able to sit in the bleachers. I’ve known most of the people out there for 14 years and consider many to be like my second family. Missing out on the good times was tough, especially because my wife (then girlfriend) would still get to hang with the group while I did Ultimate Road Trip stuff. After the first month or so, they did allow me to work out a deal. There were a few mandatory times that I had to be with the rest of the group, but they would let me sneak into the bleachers for a few innings.

Keefe: Now that you have become a recognizable face around the Stadium through the book and the show, how has that helped your t-shirt business outside the Stadium? What kind of response have you gotten from Yankees fans?

Bald Vinny: The exposure from the book and show has helped my business tremendously. It’s tough for any small business to compete in a large market, and it’s even tougher to compete against the Yankees and Major League Baseball. Fans know that I am a real person trying to accommodate a niche market, and not some corporation trying to exploit the popularity of the group. The “real” fans know that I have put my time in, and have worked tirelessly to promote a positive image for the bleachers as well as my brand. Being on the show really taught me about how passionate Yankees fans are, and I try to capture that passion in my designs. Yankees fans have been very supportive over the years. Without their loyalty, I would have been out of business years ago.

Keefe: How does it feel to have players like Nick Swisher stop by the stand before games and also wear your shirts?

Bald Vinny: It’s even more special when I get the support from players like Swisher and before him, Jason Giambi. I think they realize that I’m trying to build a brand extension of the Yankees franchise, and they “get it.” They know I’m not running some sweatshop that cranks out bootleg tees. Everything is original, and I don’t use any logos or trademarks (which makes design a lot more difficult). When I hear that guys like Swisher wear my tees in the clubhouse or under their uniforms, it’s pretty flattering.

Keefe: Now for some baseball talk. Everyone misses the “Home run, Matsui” chants from Section 203, the Johnny Damon point during roll call and the excitement Melky Cabrera brought to the team. Do you agree with the decisions to not bring either of them back?

Bald Vinny: It’s always tough when the team you support doesn’t re-sign a fan favorite. I’ve followed baseball enough to know that it’s a business, and sometimes players you really like go elsewhere. There are 1,000 disappointed Melky Cabrera fans, but I bet if Javier Vazquez can ever get his act together, he’ll do more for this team than Melky ever could.

Keefe: Have you enjoyed seeing Curtis Granderson in center field and as the new leadoff man for roll call?

Bald Vinny: The good part about being a fan of this franchise is that you know they are going to do their best to replace guys who left. Curtis Granderson is our first legitimate center fielder since Bernie in his prime. It’s a shame he went down with this groin injury, and I hope it doesn’t keep him out too long because I think he’s really going to make an impact this year.

Keefe: How about the new Yankees (or second go-around Yankees) like Javier Vazquez and Nick Johnson? I have been an advocate against both guys and so far neither of them has performed up to par, though there is still more reason to believe in Johnson than there seems to be with Vazquez.

Bald Vinny: Nick Johnson was a deal that really didn’t make much sense to me. He’s injury prone, and he’s not going to play first base all that often. For similar money, they could have had Damon back and at least had another outfield option. Ultimately, I think Jorge is going to shift to the DH role and the Yanks are going to get younger behind the plate with Francisco Cervelli.

Vazquez is a tough case. The guy can pitch in the National League, but I just don’t think he is suited for the Yankees. There are so many pitchers that just can’t cut it here for whatever reason, and I think Javy is one of them. Personally, I don’t think skipping his next start in Boston is the right move. He already has very little confidence in himself, and this shows him that everyone else has little confidence too.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Giants

Apr 29, 2010

Behind Big Blue’s Offseason

It’s hard to stay on top of everything with the Giants during the Yankees season when I have to worry daily about whether or not Nick Johnson will start hitting or if the bullpen will

It’s hard to stay on top of everything with the Giants during the Yankees season when I have to worry daily about whether or not Nick Johnson will start hitting or if the bullpen will hold a lead. Luckily I have Ralph Vacchiano, Giants beat writer for the New York Daily News, to trade e-mails with.

If you’re a Giants fan, Ralph’s Giants blog, The Blue Screen, is the best there is, and his book, Eli Manning: The Making of a Quarterback, is a must read for any Giants fan and Eli Manning fan for inside information on Eli’s career, and the inner workings of the Giants front office under Ernie Accorsi.

In our discussion, we analyzed the Giants’ draft, tried to make sense of Osi Umenyiora’s career downward spiral, picked apart the Giants schedule and tried to figure out how the defense will rebound in 2010.

Keefe: The Giants’ biggest hole entering the draft was in the middle of their defense and they didn’t address that need until Day 3 of the draft. You predicted that the Giants would take Jason Pierre-Paul, which they did, if Rolando McClain was gone by the time they were able to pick, which continued your near flawless record of Giants’ draft predictions.

From what I know and have read about Jason Pierre-Paul, I think I will be happy, as will every other Giants fan with the selection, though Osi Umenyiora might not be as happy. Did the team make a mistake by not addressing their most significant need with one their first three picks and by passing on Sean Lee and Brandon Spikes? And what does the selection of Pierre-Paul mean for Umenyiora’s role on the team and his career with the Giants?

Vacchiano: Well, they didn’t have a choice with their first pick. I still think they would’ve taken Rolando McClain if he were there. But he wasn’t. Could they have taken Lee or Spikes in Round 2? I guess, but they wanted a DT too and they may have gotten a steal in Linval Joseph. In the days before the draft a lot of people started mentioning him as a potential late first-rounder. A lot of teams liked him and he slipped into the Giants’ lap. They felt like they couldn’t pass that value up. They also apparently didn’t have Phillip Dillard rated too far behind Lee on their board (I heard they weren’t crazy about Spikes). So, was it a mistake? I guess that depends on Joseph and Dillard. They don’t think they made a mistake, though.

And I don’t think Pierre-Paul’s arrival will affect Osi much immediately. For now, Pierre-Paul is the fourth end and likely to be used as a situational pass rusher. How much he affects Osi in the future depends on a lot of factors — Osi’s happiness, how fast Pierre-Paul develops, what happens with Mathias Kiwanuka’s contract. But there’s enough uncertainty and defensive end for the Giants that I don’t mind them adding another. Things have a way of working themselves out, just like they did after they added Kiwanuka as a fourth end in 2006.

Keefe: The Umenyiora situation is pretty fascinating to me, considering I don’t spend every day in the locker room and I’m not in the Giants front office to know how good and bad some relationships are between the players and front office executives. All I know is that, Osi was an essential piece to the Super Bowl puzzle, and when Michael Strahan decided to retire, it was Osi along with Justin Tuck who were supposed to lead the defense into the future. Then, Osi goes down with the knee injury and Trent Dilfer says on ESPN that the Giants will “be the biggest disappointment in 2008,” only to have them win the division and get the No. 1 seed without Osi. Then he comes back and the team collapses, and he gets benched and is rumored to be on his way out of town. The whole thing doesn’t make sense.

I guess what I’m saying is Osi was supposed to be a staple in the defense for the future. Then because of injuries and some of the worst defensive performances (by the team, not just Osi), he became the scapegoat for the Giants’ defensive woes. We’re talking about a defense that had C.C. Brown starting before he was eventually benched. There are certainly no excuses for what happened last season and the abysmal play of the defense, but doesn’t it seem ridiculous that Osi comes out looking like bad guy in all of this? The way everything has unfolded with him since the Giants beat the Patriots just seems unfair.

Vacchiano: Yeah, I agree … for the most part. But Osi hasn’t exactly done himself any favors. I don’t think anyone considers him the biggest problem in last year’s defense. Bill Sheridan, injuries, the safeties, the linebackers, the defensive tackles, all would be listed ahead of him. But he wasn’t playing well against the run. He could rush the passer — though depending on whom you ask, he may not have been doing that at his usual standard either — but he was being pushed off the line of scrimmage and seemingly taking the wrong lanes on run defense. The Giants — Sheridan and Tom Coughlin — confronted him about that. And at that point, he had a real bad attitude about the whole thing. One of his teammates told me that he basically checked out mentally, which led to Coughlin and Sheridan to bench him. After that he was useless because he was ticked off.

Then, to make matters worse, he goes on that silly rant at the Super Bowl, demanding his starting job back or he’ll retire. He looked like a baby. Then, given the chance to back off it the next day, he insists that he wasn’t kidding — as if he’d really give up all that money. Then, a few months later, he has that “no comment” press conference where he looks even more ridiculous. Never once does he stand up and say “You know what? Nothing is given to you in life. I get paid a lot of money. I want to start. I’m going to go out and earn it and be a good guy and teammate.”

That would’ve gone a long way towards making him look like a good guy again. The whole defensive collapse definitely wasn’t his fault. But his own actions are what has put him in the spotlight.

Keefe: When it became evident that the Eagles were willing to part with Donovan McNabb, it was almost as relieving as when the Red Sox were finally ready to deal Manny Ramirez, except Manny left the division and went to the National League. For Giants fans, the only place that would have been worse for McNabb to end up other than staying in Philadelphia was Washington. Now he’s a Redskin, and if anyone wanted to question what division is the toughest in football, I don’t think there is really anything to question now.

But here’s the biggest problem with McNabb going to Washington: Where are the Giants going to get those two wins from? Sure, the Giants might still sweep the Redskins in the season series, but now a split is more likely and getting swept is even a possibility. I look at their 2010 schedule and I am having trouble finding 10 wins. Maybe it’s just me being down on the Giants after last year’s debacle, but where are the wins on this schedule that are going to get them in the playoffs? Where are the Giants going to finish in the division and the conference? Is it going to be another winter without a postseason for the G-Men?

Vacchiano: First of all, I won’t play the schedule game with you. I think it’s silly to look at a schedule in April and May and project wins. In the NFL, the success of teams varies wildly from year to year. Plus, it’s not always who you play, but when you play them. The Redskins games look a lot different if McNabb is hurt. The Green Bay games looks a lot different if it snows or if their defense is a mess, so who can tell this early? All I can tell you is the Giants were a disaster last year and still won eight games. Why can’t they win 10 with better health? I mean, they lost everyone on defense last year. Everyone, for at least a game or two. If they can stay in one piece, that’s got to be worth two wins, right?

Besides, if you insist on playing the schedule game, shouldn’t some of those wins come from Philly? Do you really believe the Eagles will be as good as ever now that McNabb is gone? I don’t know about Kevin Kolb. I really don’t. Maybe he’s Aaron Rodgers II. Maybe not. We’ll find out.

But for the moment — and this is really, really early, so I reserve the right to change my mind — I don’t see why the Giants can’t be right up there with the Cowboys as the best teams in this division. I really don’t.

Keefe: I agree that playing the schedule game is pretty ridiculous, but it’s hard to not look at it and try and play the season out in your mind.

I was never the biggest Antonio Pierce fan, but I understood what he meant to the team and what he meant to the defense. Now that he is gone, who steps up and takes leadership of the defense, and how will the team respond to the absence of Pierce for an entire season?

Vacchiano: I would hope by now that they’re used to Pierce being gone, since he was out the second half of last year. So I would hope they’d respond better to his absence. Who the leader will be is not real clear. I thought it was telling in the after-the-season press conference that when Tom Coughlin was asked about leaders he mentioned Jeff Feagles and then pretty much drew a blank. He had none on defense and he knew it.

I think the feeling is that Justin Tuck will be one, and that if he wasn’t so hurt last year he might have even emerged. They also have high hopes that Antrel Rolle will step in and be a leader, too.

Keefe: With the emergence of Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham and the outstanding season Steve Smith had, how good can the Giants offense be with Eli now having a full season under his belt with Nicks and Manningham? And how do you think Brandon Jacobs will respond after having a letdown season last year?

Vacchiano: I think the sky is the limit for the passing game. I really do. I have great respect for Eli Manning and think he’s going to be an upper echelon QB in this league before he’s done. And I think he’s got a good and diverse receiving corps. I do have questions about the running game, though. With Jacobs coming off knee surgery, and Ahmad Bradshaw coming off surgery to both his feet and his ankle, and with Andre Brown coming off a torn Achilles, I just don’t know what’s there. The potential is great, but I have serious reservations about whether any of these guys can stay healthy for a full season. That’s definitely a worry with Jacobs. I don’t see any evidence that he can take a pounding and survive. If he can, this has the ingredients to be one of the best offenses in football. If he can’t, it’s one-dimensional and that is just not good.