There’s been a big flap in Ohio because an Ohio radio talk show guy named Bill Cunningham emceed a John McCain rally and several times referred to Senator Obama using his full name, Barack Hussein Obama.

The Democrat base and their far left, loony, socialist-leaning, uber liberal, redistribute-the-wealth friends got their shorts in a twist. Somehow, using Barack Hussein Obama’s middle name gave them a huge wedgie and they didn’t like it.

Why not? It’s his name. On his birth certificate. Why shouldn’t anyone be allowed to use it?

I’m being naive. Of course we know why — because it’s the same name as the brutal dictator we overthrew in Iraq and it’s a Muslim name. In case anyone hasn’t heard, a small but significant percentage of the Muslim population wants to destroy us. The Obama supporters are rightly defensive about the middle name “Hussein.” In today’s poltical climate, I’d be defensive about it, too.

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Rutgers Brian Leonard in a drill

I’m trying to step off the emotional cloud of my Giants’ indescribably glorious Super Bowl win and get back to reality. Euphoria is a great place to live, but life is an insistent creature that wants to move on and has a way of kicking you in the jujubes if you don’t. Wearing a cup won’t help, so I’ll start making the transition.

Which brings me to the upcoming NFL combine in Indianapolis. Okay, okay, it’s still football, but it’s not the Giants.

Pat Kirwan’s blog at NFL.Com has some interesting observations on the value of the combines, which is not a gathering of John Deere equipment; it’s where top college football prospects perform rigorous physical tests for NFL coaches and scouts to demonstrate their strength, speed, agility and flexibility in the hopes that they’ll be drafted as high as possible.

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RJM Kelly, a friend and classmate from years ago at St. Joseph’s College (now University) in Philadelphia sent me this. It is a morning prayer given at Fordham Prep, Monday morning, February 4, 2008, the day after the Giants win in the Super Bowl.

I’m biased, of course, but I think the Giants run in the playoffs and then the win in the Super Bowl was more than a victory, it was a mythic event that seemed to resonate with sports fans across the country. It was “Little Giants,” “Rudy,” “Miracle On Ice,” win-it-for-the-Gipper and all those miraculous stories we hold dear to our hearts.

I think this morning prayer, given by the Fordham Prep Director of the Service Program, Paul Homer, is testament to the universality of the Giants victory.

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We Are the Champions

In Superbowl XI, 1986, Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, Harry Carson, Mark Bavaro and other Giant greats led our team out of the darkness of twenty five years of “lousy football” to its first Super Bowl win. At the end of the game I saw in the stands across the Pasadena field a young man holding up a sign that said, “Dad, this one’s for you.”

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I’ve had to wait a few days to think about about what I could say about this great Super Bowl victory that wouldn’t be a repetition of what others may have written. But that would be impossible. Everything that could be said is being said. From every angle imaginable.

It was an elemental game. A game that justified counting these yearly contests with Roman numerals. It suggested gladiatorial combat, chariot races, warriors versus lions and tigers in an arena with spectators cheering participants who were fighting for life or death.

Whew! Okay. I needed to get that out.

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Nostradamus Picks Giants

We all know that Nostradamus predicted the Kennedy assassinations and the destruction of the twin towers, along with World Wars I and II and the dropping of the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Beside great world events, Nostradamus had a great interest in sports of the time — mace fests, lance toss, sword derbies and such, and made many sports related prophesies. Everyone knows he predicted the NFL’s “Punt-Pass-and-Kick” competition and, of course, his well known prophesy of half time entertainment at Super Bowls.

I thought I’d comb through Nostradamus’ thousands of prophesies for more sports predictions and as a Giants’ fan, I have been pleasantly surprised to see that he’s clearly picked the Giants to beat the Patriots in Super Bowl 42.

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