Rental car, check

Uh-oh.

The game is still two days away and that wad of cash you came with is mostly gone. There’s only thing to do: Count out every last dollar and dime and str-r-r-r-etch it until kickoff.

Tough but not impossible in this town — even on a $20-a-day budget. Here’s how:

9:30 a.m. — Take a short drive east of downtown to 16th Street and Roosevelt. Pass a row of taquerias, park at the Ranch Market. Part grocery store, part paper-plate restaurant, it’s a festival of Hispanic flavors. Breakfast today is a plump hojaldra de manzana — that’s an apple turnover because, as every fan knows, big games always come down to turnovers. Add a ripe banana and a cafe con leche. Sit at any of four long tables; overhead are two newly installed flat-screen TVs, tuned to the NFL Network. Total: $2.35.

11 a.m. — Feeling lucky? Hop on the 101 and drive 20 minutes into the desert, to Casino Arizona on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community reservation. There’s an autographed Troy Aikman football for auction in the lobby. TVs are set to ESPN, and are showing highlights of the Giants beating Denver in the 1991 Super Bowl. I skipped right past the two-cent “Game of Life” slots and went to a nickel package. Hit on the “Deal or No Deal” machine and walked out a dime richer.

1 p.m. — Lunchtime. Head 15 minutes to the Arizona State campus in Tempe and hit The Chuckbox at 202 East University. Smoky, mesquite grill, tree stumps for chairs. Grab their version of the quarter-pounder, called the Little One. A big one, 299-pound Giants lineman Grey Ruegamer, fondly remembered the hangout from his days at ASU. “Great hamburgers,” he said. Friendly spot, they gave me an iced tea for free. Total: $2.93.

2 p.m. — The sun’s out. Ride 15 minutes up to Scottsdale and a true treasure, The Phoenician hotel. Time for a local tradition, favored by the younger set at fancy resorts — pool hopping. Park for free, find a side door, dress like a cool guest. Hint: Do not ask which way to the pool; there are nine, including one with mother of pearl tiles. Instead, casually inquire whether the towels are at the cabanas. Enjoy, and feel free to lounge like Joe Namath and make a poolside prediction.

6 p.m. — Take a quick detour to get gas at the Sinclair station off Camelback Road. The cute green dinosaur logo is now found only in the West and Midwest. Two gallons will cover these two days. Total: $5.98.

6:45 p.m. — A real treat for dinner: In-N-Out Burger. Located only in California, Nevada and Arizona, one bite can hook a person for life. Former Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith swore by them when Ohio State played out here. Go for the No. 1 combo — a double-double burger, fries and a medium drink. Total: $5.83.

8 p.m. — It costs $1,700 to get into John Travolta’s party this weekend and $100 for the Paris Hilton/50 Cent bash. Save your money, park for free about a half-mile from the Suns arena and walk to the NFL souvenir stand next to the Convention Center. Pass on the $1,100 black leather jacket with team logos on the sleeves. Buy the silver mini-helmet with the Super Bowl XLII insignia. Total: $3.

First day total (minus the dime I won): $19.99.

10 a.m. — Matt’s Big Breakfast is a perfect place to start, downtown at McKinley and First Street. Only seats 24, low slung brick building, easy to miss — even with the pretty but prickly cactus garden in front. “Our locals are very protective of our place,” said Erenia Pool, Matt’s wife. Go with the Five Spot — a roll with two eggs, two slices of thick-cut bacon, American cheese and grilled onions. Some days, they make fresh sun tea. Total: $8.55.

11 a.m. — Walk three blocks to the Westward Ho, a gem of the Southwest when it opened as a 16-story hotel in 1928. John F. Kennedy stayed there, as did Fred Astaire, Jimmy Cagney and Al Capone. Big, red block letters at the top spell out the building’s name; there are stucco faces above the entrance and ornately tiled floors inside. These days, it’s a home for the low-income elderly. A longtime resident, Erling Eaton, loves to give tours.

Noon — Lunch back at Arizona State. It’s almost a straight shot, 20 minutes east to Dave’s Doghouse. The owner of this popular hot dog emporium grew up outside Boston — fittingly, the TV was tuned to ESPN2 and showing Tom Brady this week. Buttered, grilled buns hold the house specialty: the Boston dog, with mustard, relish and onions. Throw in the fries, wash it down with a soda. Total: $6.50.

1 p.m. — Ready, set, hike! Go 15 minutes north to Echo Canyon Road, pull out a pair of rugged shoes and climb Camelback Mountain. It’s not for mere amateurs, but well worth it. The views of the Superstition Mountains are spectacular, especially from 2,700 feet at the top. Bring water and be alert: rattlesnakes are known to frequent the trail.

5 p.m. — A 20-minute hop west to the uptown section, for dinner at a local pizza chain called Streets of New York. Posters of the Big Apple on the wall, a television keeping tabs on the Giants. One slice of the New York combo is plenty, topped with sausage, pepperoni, meatballs, mixed bell peppers, mushrooms, onions and black olives. Dessert is free — there are orange trees in the parking lot, full of fruit. Total: $4.12.

6 p.m. — Party time. Head downtown, taking the nearest parking spot without a meter. Stroll toward the Hyatt Hotel — there’s an elevated ESPN radio booth outside that’s sure to attract stars and celebs. Lots of athletes are buzzing by — Terrell Owens, Deion Sanders and Andre Tippett have been spotted. The TVs show the NFL nonstop, and it’s easy to get into a football debate — who’s better, these Patriots or the great 49ers teams or the Steelers dynasty? Doesn’t cost a dime to argue all night.

Second day total: $19.17.

That’s it, you’re home free with plenty to spare. Heck, you can even put aside that extra 84 cents you saved — it’s bound to come in handy next year for the trip to Tampa.

[via AP]

And that’s just the beginning. You might also want to start shoring up that bank account, maybe put the rest of your 2008 vacation plans on hold. This journey to the center of the sports universe will take its toll in cold, hard cash (and credit cards, too).

The total cost: $5,033. That’s more than $1,675 for each of the three Super Bowls the Patriots have won so far. Or $280 for every game they’ve won this year. Or a touch over $100 for each of the 50 touchdowns Tom Brady threw for. It comes to $83.88 a minute, or about $41.94 for each play in Sunday’s game. Or the cost of 125 white rose bouquets delivered to Gisele Bundchen.

About 24,000 of the 73,000 tickets at University of Phoenix Stadium were awarded to average fans through the lotteries the Giants and Patriots held among their pool of season-ticket holders.

They all had a chance to sell those tickets to brokers for around $4,000 a pop — kind of like winning the real lottery — but those who want to live the dream, see the Super Bowl in person, might be keeping an eye on their credit scores as they watch the scoreboard.

The breakdown:

_Airfare, $775. That was the price Jan. 22 for a round-trip ticket from Kennedy airport in New York to Phoenix (with a stop in Atlanta on the return). On Monday, that same ticket was going for $1,123.

Airfares from Boston were similar. The Patriots are in their fourth Super Bowl in the last seven years and there are some stories circulating about fans who made their plans weeks, if not months ago, betting the Patriots would make it to Phoenix. They bet right and may have saved about $500. On airfare, at least.

_Hotel, $1,100. It could be worse. Because of a deal the NFL cuts with Super Bowl host cities, there are caps on the prices hotels can charge and still be “affiliated” with the Super Bowl experience. Most hotels require at least a four-night stay. A La Quinta near the airport averages $259 a night starting Thursday, up for the normal $109. Add tax to get to the final figure.

_Rental car and parking, $510. No use in bothering with cabs in one of America’s most sprawling cities. An intermediate-sized rental car at Enterprise was running $90 a day. If you were lucky enough to get a parking pass for the game at $60, you’re set. If not, drive to downtown Glendale and park, then take a short, $5 shuttle ride to the stadium.

_Food, $700. Phoenix is a great place for Mexican food, which is usually relatively cheap. So dinner at the Tee Pee on 42nd Street and Indian School might run about $40 for eats and a couple of margaritas. Meanwhile, if you can get in at the Pink Pony Steakhouse — a kitschy old spring training haunt for Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and that set — the dinner bill will probably be double.

You’ll probably do lunch on the run, or at the golf course ($15 a day), and spend about $5 a day at Starbucks trying to fight those hangovers. Throw in $50 for hot dogs, beers and other overpriced fare at the game and a few bucks for antacid on the way home.

_Golf, $225. It would be expensive this time of year, Super Bowl or no. At the Phoenician Resort, on the morning of Super Bowl Sunday, there were a few tee times available, though if you get one, you’ll have to hustle from the 18th green to the game. Remember to tip the bag boys and the cart girl. But if you wait until the last minute to make golf plans, you’ll be driving a long way to a course on the outskirts of town — or watching golf instead of playing.

_FBR Open golf tournament, $100. Actually, general admission tickets for the PGA Tour’s regular stop in Phoenix — a golf tournament that happens to be held in the middle of the party and boozefest at the TPC Scottsdale — are surprisingly cheap. It’s only $25 to be one of the 150,000 at the course on any given day. But at this event, it’s not so much about the golf. The beer stand is never too far away. Also budget for souvenirs, beers and — who are we kidding here? — the cab ride back to the hotel.

_Other entertainment, $617. Let’s say you blow $100 at one of the area’s casinos, splurge and spend $400 for a ticket to Snoop Dogg’s Friday-night Super Bowl party at Axis, $17.50 for a ticket into the NFL Experience street party and find something else to do after the game for another $100.

_Souvenirs, $206. Never cheap unless you wait until the day after the game. But no use taking the risk of not finding what you want and coming home empty-handed. So … Cute, ladies T-shirt with the SB XLII logo: $21. Two small footballs with logos: $40. Game program: $20. And that nice golf pullover for yourself (our little secret): $85.

_Miscellaneous, $100. That’s for tipping valets, filling up the gas tank, sunscreen, aspirin and other painkillers, a couple bottles of water and Diet Cokes.

This will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but expensive — more than double what it would cost to come to Phoenix a week later.

But the Super Bowl will be packed up and gone by then, replaced by the Arizona National Boat and Watersports Expo. You could be paying credit card bills on this for months, but consider yourself lucky. Had you not won the lottery, and been forced to buy a ticket from a broker, the price could have easily reached five figures.

[via AP]

David Beckham will have to wait for his 100th international appearance.

The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder was omitted Thursday when Fabio Capello picked his first roster as England’s coach.

While bypassing the former captain for next Wednesday’s exhibition game against Switzerland, Capello said he will consider picking Beckham in the future if the 32-year-old shows good form after the Major League Soccer season opens March 29.

“I know there has been a lot of discussion about David Beckham,” Capello said. “When I spoke with David on the phone yesterday, I advised him that he is still part of my plans and once he is playing regularly in America, we will look closely at him again.”

Beckham would be England’s fifth player with 100 appearances, following Peter Shilton (125), Bobby Moore (108), Bobby Charlton (106) and Billy Wright (105). Beckham has been training with Arsenal to stay fit during the MLS offseason.

Capello instead chose Chelsea’s Shaun Wright-Phillips and Blackburn’s David Bentley as contenders for Beckham’s role on the right of midfield, although one could miss out when the coach trims the roster from 30 to a final 23 on Saturday.

Beckham was dropped from the national team when Steve McClaren took over after the 2006 World Cup, then returned last spring.

After spending the past month watching Premier League and domestic cup games to assess the talent available to him, Capello also selected Gabriel Agbonlahor and Curtis Davies as he starts to build what the Football Association hopes will be a team capable of reaching and challenging for the 2010 World Cup.

Agbonlahor makes the step up from the under-21 team after scoring seven goals in 24 games to help Aston Villa rise to fifth in this season’s Premier League standings. Davies has led Villa’s defense while on loan from West Bromwich Albion.

The roster:

Goalkeepers: Scott Carson (Aston Villa), David James (Portsmouth), Chris Kirkland (Wigan)

Defenders: Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Curtis Davies (Aston Villa), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United) Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Ledley King (Tottenham), Joleon Lescott (Everton), Micah Richards (Manchester City), Nicky Shorey (Reading), Matthew Upson (West Ham), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham)

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), David Bentley (Blackburn), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), Ashley Young (Aston Villa)

Forwards: Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Emile Heskey (Wigan), Michael Owen (Newcastle), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

[via AP]

Tiger Woods shot a 7-under 65 to take a two-stroke clubhouse lead in the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic.

“I had two good days of practice the last couple days and started to hit the ball a lot better than I did last week,” Woods said after the bogey-free round at the Emirates Golf Club.

Woods, going for a fifth straight tournament victory, won the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines last week.

Woods, the 2006 Dubai winner, was plagued by poor putting last year when he finished third. He missed a few chances Thursday but wasn’t complaining.

“I had a couple of good opportunities to make some putts and just kind of ran them over the edge but overall today was just — couldn’t ask for a better start,” he said.

Woods’ dominant win Sunday at the Buick Invitational was his 62nd career title, tying Arnold Palmer for fourth place on the PGA Tour list. If he triumphs in Dubai, it will be his seventh win in eight starts.

Three players were two strokes behind in the clubhouse at 5-under — Pelle Edberg of Sweden, Thomas Levet of France and Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain, who had a hole-in-one on the seventh hole.

[via AP]

Motivation or much ado about nothing? For the Giants, Plaxico Burress’ guarantee that New York will beat the New England Patriots 23-17 in the Super Bowl Sunday is nothing more than an outspoken player showing confidence. For the Patriots and MVP Tom Brady, it’s a Super-sized diss, and bulletin board material.

“We’re only going to score 17 points?” a surprised Brady said Wednesday. “OK. Is Plax playing defense? I wish he had said 45-42 and gave us a little credit for scoring more points.”

The Giants were quick to defend Burress, whose history of talking out of turn dates to his days at Michigan State.

Before a game against Michigan, he was so confident in his ability that he said it would be like taking candy from a baby.

After 15 years of dealing with the New York media, seven-time Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan wondered what all the fuss was about.

“Now, you ask a question of ‘Do you think you are going to win the game?’” Strahan said. “What am I supposed to say ‘No, we are going to lose the game’? No, I think we are going to win the game just like they think they are going to win the game. No one comes here thinking that you are not going to be victorious.”

Osi Umenyiora, the bookend on the other side of the Giants’ defensive line, had no problem with Burress.

“That’s just positive thinking and positive mentality,” Umenyiora said. “If it happens, it happens, and if it doesn’t happen, nobody expected us to win anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.”

By New York standards, Burress’ prediction really isn’t among the best in Big Apple sports history.

It comes nowhere close to Joe Namath’s guarantee that the New York Jets would beat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl in 1969.

Nor does it match Mark Messier’s guarantee that the New York Rangers would beat the New Jersey Devils in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals in 1994, the season the Blueshirts won the Stanley Cup.

“It’s all entertainment,” Burress said after arriving 33 minutes late for the team’s press availability. “Look at how this has made national headlines. I’ve always been a confident player and I’ll always be that way and will continue to be that way. What we have done up to this point really doesn’t matter. All we can do is go out there and try and do our thing.”

The problem was that the Patriots didn’t seem to be entertained, and the prediction that New England would only score 17 points bugged Brady.

The Patriots set an NFL record scoring 589 points and Brady’s 50 touchdown passes were also a new mark. Receiver Randy Moss broke Jerry Rice’s record with 23 TD catches and New England has not scored fewer than 20 points in its 18 wins this season.

“I learned a lesson early in my career: No matter what you say during the week — and God knows we say a lot this week — we’re going to be focused on going out and winning this game,” Brady said. “We’re confident, but I don’t think we share our thoughts with everybody.”

The Patriots, who beat the Giants 38-35 in the regular-season finale, may not share their thoughts, but they speak loudly on the field.

Earlier this season, Steelers defensive back Anthony Smith guaranteed that Pittsburgh would end New England’s perfect season after 12 straight wins.

Brady threw four touchdown passes in a 34-13 thrashing.

Days before the AFC title game, San Diego defensive end Igor Olshansky said the Chargers were unstoppable. New England stopped them, 21-12.

“Plaxico is a hell of a player,” Brady said. “If he feels that way, I think that’s great. I’d hate for him to think he’s going to lose this game. It’s obvious nobody does.”

Told about Brady’s reaction to that score, Burress said he wasn’t disrespecting anyone.

“I’m not taking anything away from what those guys accomplished,” he said. “They set all the records you could possibly imagine. They have a great quarterback, the MVP, who threw for a record (50) touchdowns. Randy set a TD record for catches. They had two receivers with over 100 catches.

“The numbers don’t lie about what they have done.”

Moss said Burress, who said he was late because he was having breakfast with his family, was entitled to his opinion.

“But the only thing about a prediction is that you have got to make it happen,” he said.

That brings us back to Michigan State and Burress’ junior year.

Remember that ‘taking candy from a baby’ comment?

Well, Burress went out the following weekend and caught 10 passes for a school-record 255 yards and a touchdown in a 34-31 win over Michigan.

By the way, Michigan made the game close, getting two late touchdown passes from someone named Tom Brady.

[via AP]

Justin Tuck didn’t need to conduct a survey to figure out who America expects to be the Super Bowl MVP. “Tom Brady,” he said.

If Brady plays well, the New England Patriots are going to cap an undefeated season and certify their claim to being a dynasty.

The biggest obstacle in his way is a band of brothers who form the New York Giants’ defensive line.

There’s Michael Strahan, the NFL’s active sacks leader and the group’s emotional linchpin. Fellow defensive end Osi Umenyiora is the only current Pro Bowler in the group and its rising star. There’s Tuck, the standout hardly anyone knows.

Fred Robbins is the brawn in the middle and Barry Cofield is the smart guy next to him who gives way to Tuck on passing downs.

“We can’t win this game if we don’t play well,” Umenyiora said Wednesday before the Giants returned to the practice field. “We will absolutely lose if the defensive line does not play well. There is no question about that.

“We’re facing a quarterback who completes passes and does all these things with people in his face. So can you imagine if no one is around him? It will be absolutely ridiculous.”

In the Patriots’ 38-35 win over the Giants on Dec. 29, Brady was sensational, hitting 32 of 42 passes for 356 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Still, New York got to the quarterback who set an NFL single-season record with 50 touchdown passes this season. Brady was sacked once and hit eight times.

His record-setting touchdown on a 65-yard pass to Randy Moss came during a play on which cornerback Sam Madison pulled a stomach muscle and could not cover.

“Early in the football game, we got him out of his rhythm,” Tuck said. “I think he went in at halftime, made his adjustments and you saw the Tom Brady that everybody is accustomed to seeing. We have to be consistent and continually hit him. If we can continually get pressure up the middle, up in front of him, it gives us opportunity for the defense to be successful.”

New England’s offensive line has changed slightly since then. Starting right guard Stephen Neal and right tackle Nick Kaczur will be back after missing the final game of the regular season with injuries.

The Patriots are still concerned about the defense that led the NFL with 53 sacks, including 39 by the linemen.

“When we played them, we had a lot of negative yardage plays in the run game,” tackle Matt Light said. “They obviously got to Tom more than we’d like and they are very good at what they do. There is a reason why they are here and in this game.”

Light and Umenyiora might be the best matchup to watch, especially since Umenyiora accused Light of some late hits in the first meeting.

Both players downplayed the comments this week.

Umenyiora, who had a team-high 13 sacks this season, including a franchise-record six against Philadelphia, said that time seems to almost stop with each snap. He will get in his stance, see how Light is set up, and decide what moves to make.

“I hear absolutely nothing,” Umenyiora said. “I don’t hear the crowd. I don’t hear anything. Justin Tuck told me when I’m in my stance, I make noises. I don’t hear myself. I don’t know I am doing that. I guess sometimes you are so focused that everything else is blocked out.”

As far as getting to Brady, Umenyiora admits he doesn’t watch the league MVP — or any other quarterback.

“As soon as you beat the guy in front of you, most times the quarterback is right there in front of you,” he said.

Getting there, however, doesn’t equate to either a sack or even a hit.

“Tom understands how to move around in the pocket,” said Strahan, who had nine sacks in 2007. “He moves around very well. He looks like he’s on ice skates. And he doesn’t stand that deep in the pocket so it’s not like you can aim at a spot.”

For this second meeting, Brady expects defensive changes: new fronts, new looks, different packages of players.

“We’ll come in with new plays, and probably not until the end of the first quarter, you won’t really understand how the game is going to play out,” Brady said. “It’s always a little more challenging when you play a team a second time. I think there are advantages to it, but at the same time, you have to change up the things that were successful.”

What won’t change is the way the Giants’ front four plays.

While defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has used blitzes to pressure quarterbacks, the majority of the pressure has come from the front line.

Sometimes, it’s the front four against the five offensive linemen. Sometimes it’s four vs. six or seven or eight blockers.

“To be honest with you, and not to take anything from the linebackers and DBs, most games are won up front,” said Tuck, who had a career-best 10 sacks. “We take pride in that and the pressure placed on us, and we embrace it.”

Defensive line coach Mike Waufle isn’t surprised. He has seen it all year from his group, which is not only talented, but close-knit. Hours after arriving in Phoenix for the Super Bowl, they all went to dinner. There was no talk of football.

“There is a lot of pride and wanting to be the best at what they do,” Waufle said. “They want to be great against the run and excellent pass rushers. They are like brothers. There is no room for error in that room, and they will call each other out. They are good for each other. They are always trying to one-up each other.”

If the defensive line can get to Brady, the Giants have a chance. And if they win, Tuck even has his own MVP choice: the defense, particularly the line.

“I’ll take our D-line against anybody’s offensive line,” he said. That’s just how I feel.”

[via AP]

Matt Cassel is every New England Patriots fan’s worst nightmare. He’s the one player they don’t want to see in a game, especially the Super Bowl. He’s Tom Brady’s backup.

When the star quarterback was hobbling around on a sprained ankle last week, attention quickly turned to Cassel.

Who is he?

Is he any good?

Where did he come from?

“He’s always been in situations where he’s always been the man behind The Man,” wide receiver Jabar Gaffney said. “He can play, though. He can definitely play.”

As long as it’s not against the New York Giants on Sunday.

“I hope I don’t see him this weekend,” Brady said with a smile, “unless he’s kneeling down on the ball.”

Brady is fine — he practiced Wednesday — which for now means Cassel will spend the Super Bowl the way he spends most football Sundays: on the sideline with a clipboard charting plays.

Cassel hasn’t started a game at quarterback since he was a high school star in California. He went to Southern California and backed up Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart before being drafted in the seventh round in 2005 by New England, where he’s firmly entrenched behind arguably the greatest quarterback in NFL history.

“I’ve got five different Heisman Trophy winners I played with,” Cassel said. “I’ve got Carson, Leinart, Reggie (Bush), Vinny Testaverde, and even Doug Flutie my rookie year. I can’t get away from them.”

Brady wasn’t a Heisman winner and was drafted only a round higher than Cassel, so he knows exactly what kind of patience it takes to keep from becoming frustrated.

“The thing about Matt, as soon as he gets the opportunity, everybody will see what he can do,” Brady said. “It’s hard to be a backup in our system. I don’t like to let anybody to take any reps. I don’t want anybody taking my job.”

No worries there. But what if Cassel needed to play?

“We all feel here that if something were to happen to Tom that he could come in and do a good job for us,” receiver Kelley Washington said.

Cassel has thrown 39 passes, including seven this season, and two touchdowns in his three-year NFL career. He also had a 15-yard scramble for a score in the Patriots’ 52-7 rout of Washington early this season.

“Visualization is a big part of what I do,” Cassel said. “If an instance like that where I had to come in were to come up, I try to visualize that — what the emotions and the energy and everything would be — and go out there and execute.”

As a freshman at USC, Cassel appeared in seven games as a wide receiver and played on special teams. He got into 10 games as a backup quarterback in 2002, the year Palmer won his Heisman. Cassel competed with Leinart the following year for the starting job. Leinart got it, won the Heisman and led the Trojans to the national title.

“It was an intense battle between myself and Matt, and they obviously went the other direction,” Cassel said. “It didn’t happen, but at the same time, I’m here at the Super Bowl.”

Where he’s mostly answering questions about Brady.

“Yeah, I get, ‘What’s Tom like? Is he as good-looking as they say he is? How’s his ankle? Is he playing Sunday?’” Cassel said with a laugh. “It’s easy for me to say he’s a great guy because there are nothing but good things to say about him.”

With the spotlight brightly shining on the golden boy quarterback with the model girlfriend, no one would fault Cassel for wondering what life would be like if he were in Brady’s shoes.

“No, I don’t think about that,” he said. “I’ve got a model wife. She’s a great gal. I like my life just the way it is, and it’s great.”

Cassel actually spends most of his practice time pretending he’s other people. He runs the scout team, meaning he imitates the opposing team’s starting quarterback, down to the mannerisms. This week, Cassel played the role of the Giants’ Eli Manning.

“He’s a guy who brings a lot of energy,” receiver Chad Jackson said. “We’re on the scout team and giving the defense a good look, and he’s like, ‘Let’s do it like we’re really getting offensive reps.’ He really wants to be out there.”

Cassel, who has two brothers playing minor league baseball, had a chance on the diamond, too. He played in the 1994 Little League World Series with the Northridge team that went to the finals. Ten years later, he pitched for USC, where his teammates included Yankees prospect Ian Kennedy.

“I only played one year,” he said. “I was just trying to get out of spring football.”

He went 0-1 with a 9.35 ERA in eight appearances, including one start, and was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 36th round of the 2004 draft. Cassel opted instead for the NFL.

“I don’t know that I would enjoy all the minor league buses and going from one place to another and all the long bus rides,” he said.

Cassel will take the trip to the Super Bowl over that any day, even if it’s as the backup to The Man.

“Oh, yeah, he was born to be a quarterback,” Washington said. “He was blessed to do that and he’s made the right decision. His time will come.”

[via AP]

Coughlin sat next to Bart Starr that Super Bowl Sunday. He said it was “an honor” and “interesting.” It was also something he never wanted to do again.

“The goal, always the goal, was that the next time I went back to a Super Bowl, it would be with my team,” Coughlin, now the coach of the New York Giants, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The 61-year-old coach has been painted this week as a changed leader as he approaches a game against undefeated New England in his first Super Bowl as a head coach.

He’s the “kinder, gentler” Tom, the once-unbending taskmaster who knew he had to change or else.

He sort of laughs at that notion, insists he doesn’t know what “kinder and gentler” is supposed to mean. That he’s gone soft? That he doesn’t believe in structure and rules? That he’s thrown away everything that’s worked for him over a 38-year coaching career that has been, by every measure except maybe the one that counts the most, a success?

But something did change.

“He is smiling,” Michael Strahan said. “He uses the word `fun’ and `enjoy’ and it blows my mind. When he first came here, I said to myself, `I have to be here this year, but after this, I can’t play for this man. He’s crazy’ He has come around.”

He created the players leadership council this year to give his players a voice, and some naturally viewed it as little more than a ploy for Coughlin to hang onto his job. It almost certainly wouldn’t have worked had his team finished 8-8 again, or been bounced from the playoffs in the first round — or both, as happened last season.

Instead, New York made it to the Super Bowl, in large part because of a new sense of unity and “team,” as Coughlin calls it, that the leadership council instilled. So now, with perceptions being what they are in the NFL, Coughlin is a genius and his leadership council is all the rage.

“His personality has always been, `It’s my way. That’s the way I was brought up, the way I was taught,’” said Coughlin’s wife, Judy. “But he’s always been open to change and listening. He just doesn’t always take your advice.”

It wasn’t so much his message that changed with this so-called epiphany, only the way it’s delivered.

Coughlin said as things deteriorated during his first three seasons in New York, he found himself shocked at the way his prodding and coaxing, messages he viewed as straightforward and logical, could be interpreted 53 ways. One for every player in the locker room.

He realized something really did need to change.

“I wanted to let the players know that it wasn’t about me,” he said. “I don’t have this huge ego. I feel strongly enough in my beliefs and principles that I had no problem sitting down with a group of guys who also have the No. 1 interest in mind. Which is winning.”

And so, instead of Strahan being a divider in the locker room, he’s now the No. 1 uniter. Instead of second-guessing their coach, they circled around him after the 0-2 start. Tiki Barber, who caused more dissension than anyone in the locker room last season, is gone. Now, instead of bickering and trying to force their coach’s retirement, the Giants have delivered him to the Super Bowl.

He has reached the pinnacle of a career that began soon after he graduated from Syracuse, where he played alongside Larry Csonka and Floyd Little, and got his first head coaching job at Rochester Institute of Technology in 1970.

He studied the coaches he met along the way — most notably Mike Ornato at Greenwich High School and Bill Carey, “a basketball and baseball guy,” as Coughlin calls him, at RIT.

“You knew your best interests were always going to be served when it came to those guys,” Coughlin said. “I liked watching what they did for a living and how they did it.”

He poured everything into his chosen profession, so much so that when Judy went into labor with the first of their four children, Keli, Coughlin rushed to the delivery room only to find that he was at the wrong hospital.

Stories like those seem funnier now than they did at the time. While he’s surely proud of this latest accomplishment, the Super Bowl, he insists this trip isn’t as sweet for him as for the family that labored with him through the job changes, long hours and years of nonstop work.

Don’t let all that selfless oratory fool you, Judy Coughlin said.

“I believe he’s enjoying this. How could he not?” she said. “Sure, he’s happy for the family. We rode along the way. But he’s taken the same road. We’re living our dream. All of us.”

Though the Coughlins are fiercely protective of their patriarch, they don’t let him take himself too seriously, either. Classic is the family Christmas card with the picture of the coach, the unrelenting drill sergeant, sitting on his easy chair, remote control in hand. Sound asleep.

It wasn’t so funny last offseason, though, when Keli and one of Coughlin’s sons, Tim, gathered ’round the hearth to talk about the savaging Coughlin had been receiving in the New York press after that 8-8 season with the unseemly late collapse.

He needed to go, the critics said. So why not go on your own terms, his kids suggested.

“It’s sometimes harsher on the family than it is on the individual,” Coughlin said. “It was just a family sit-down to check the wounds out and make sure they weren’t fatal. They were going to support what I wanted to do, but they were upset and disappointed in some things. Just a family thing.”

Not surprisingly, Coughlin decided to press on.

Now, he’s closer than ever to writing the long-missing chapter, the one that would anoint him a champion. It’s the chapter that seemed destined after he led the Jaguars, a second-year expansion franchise, to a stunning upset of the Denver Broncos in the 1996 playoffs. It came painfully close to being written in 1999, when the Jaguars were the best team in the regular season but lost to Tennessee in the AFC title game.

Things were never quite the same after that loss. His rules and regulations, the constant grind, his insistence on practicing in pads — all the things that rushed the Jaguars toward the top — began to seem worn and outdated. Troubles with the salary cap put the Jaguars in a deeper and deeper hole. Suddenly, 14-2 turned to 7-9, 6-10 and 6-10.

Fans started booing. Or worse, not showing up at all. Coughlin went through the semi-humiliating task of making the rounds in Jacksonville, speaking to rotary clubs and civic groups to drum up support — the way a college coach would.

Few realized that the last season, those six victories were something of a football miracle, coaxed and coached out of a team that, because of salary cap restraints, had a roster about half full of callow players who made the league minimum. It might have been Coughlin’s best coaching job until this year.

“The hardest part of it all was some of the really, really outstanding young men we had to release and part ways with,” said Coughlin, who still has a house in the Jacksonville area, where he runs his thriving Jay Fund charity that helps kids with cancer. “Those were the most difficult things.”

Yet as Coughlin’s reign in Jacksonville was disintegrating, and after it was over, a quiet trend was developing, one that went largely unreported by media that was more interested in reinventing the unflattering caricature that had become Tom Coughlin.

Drip by drip, his former players — the ones who ripped him and said they couldn’t play for a taskmaster so strict — began telling a different tale. About how they missed him and would play for him again in a heartbeat.

Mark Brunell said it. Keenan McCardell did, too. Fred Taylor: “He’s pretty cool, in a sense.”

That was during that 1999 season, when Coughlin was at his apex in Jacksonville.

Today, Taylor feels the same way, saying Coughlin was never exactly what many portrayed him as.

“He’s passionate about winning and if you have a problem with that, you probably need to find another sport,” he said. “He’s a passionate, committed coach. Sure, he had his tactics and some people didn’t like them, but those were the ones who didn’t need to be there anyway.”

More than winning and this trip to the Super Bowl, it’s testimonials like that that make this lifetime of coaching worthwhile for Coughlin.

“We played Washington this year and Keenan walked up to me after the game, he put his arms around me and said, `I love you,’” Coughlin said. “To me, that’s as good as it gets.”

[via AP]

When Pepper Johnson joined the New York Giants as a rookie in 1986, the locker room was ruled by two of his defensive teammates, Harry Carson and George Martin. They were given free rein to run things by Bill Parcells, coach of that Super Bowl-winning team.

“We’ve got 40 of those guys in our locker room now,” said Johnson, now the defensive line coach of the New England Patriots.

That is an exaggeration. It’s more like a dozen or so veterans, led by linebackers Mike Vrabel and Tedy Bruschi, who set the tone with the Patriots, a direct descendant of Parcells’ Giants teams, which won two Super Bowls with Bill Belichick as their defensive coordinator. Fittingly, Belichick’s Patriots will try to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history Sunday by winning the Super Bowl against the current edition of the Giants.

The symmetry is interesting.

Only recently has Belichick, back on relatively good terms with his one-time mentor, begun to acknowledge his roots with Parcells’ Giants. He spent 12 seasons as an assistant coach in New York, and his references to those years have been a recurring theme since his team’s 38-35 win in the Meadowlands to finish an unbeaten regular season. Those references intensified since the teams qualified to meet again for the NFL championship.

For all of Belichick’s genius, one of the lesser-known secrets to New England’s success — four Super Bowl victories in seven seasons if it beats the Giants — is the verbal self-control of its players.

Thirty-one other teams may have “look at me” players providing bulletin board material for opponents. The Patriots have none, not even Randy Moss, a loose cannon during his previous nine NFL seasons, but a total team man with New England. That’s because he walked into a locker room full of veterans with two or three Super Bowl rings who had a code of their own that Moss wasn’t about to break.

It’s an even more stringent atmosphere for rookies, who learn quickly that they are at the bottom of the pecking order — seen but not heard.

A year ago, Laurence Maroney, the first-round draft pick who shared the running back load with veteran Corey Dillon, was discouraged from talking. This season, with Dillon gone, Maroney has proven to be quite enthusiastic, especially after his better games. But he’s never gone to the extremes of other young emerging stars at skill positions, including his talkative counterpart with the Giants, Brandon Jacobs.

That’s because Maroney has learned from his “handler,” nine-year veteran Kevin Faulk, the third-down back who was elected a team captain at the start of the season. Maroney may have led the team in rushing, but Faulk has qualities that Belichick values as much or even more: a veteran who will say nothing to violate the team trust, and willingly teaches younger players to adhere to the rules.

“It’s just something young players have to learn,” says Faulk, who was broken in by the long-departed Terry Allen as a rookie in 1999, a year before the start of the Belichick era. “It’s not only about playing. It’s about being a professional.”

There is, of course, a pecking order in New England.

Tom Brady is at the top of it and beyond it. Superstar quarterbacks are leaders and celebrities by definition, especially those with supermodel girlfriends. A few conspiracy theorists even suggested that Brady deliberately went out in public with a boot on his sprained right ankle to deflect attention from Moss, who was hit with a temporary restraining order filed on behalf of a woman he has known for 11 years.

That’s because the code of silence and secrecy with the Patriots lends itself to such speculation.

Whatever Belichick says at the beginning of a week about the upcoming opponent (always complimentary, of course) is likely to be parroted almost word-for-word by the players who make themselves available that week: Brady, Faulk, Vrabel, Bruschi, safety Rodney Harrison, defensive lineman Richard Seymour, wide receiver Wes Welker, offensive linemen Matt Light, Dan Koppen and a few others.

Assistant coaches hardly talk at all, although under new rules set down by the league, coordinators are expected to be made available every two weeks.

But on media day at the Super Bowl, everyone is required to be there, which allowed Johnson to provide valuable insight into the system and its link to Parcells’ Giants of two decades ago.

“When I walked in there as a rookie,” Johnson said, “the first thing I understood was that the locker room belonged to Harry and George. They even decided the music that would be played. We don’t go quite that far here.”

But it’s close.

[via AP]

“It’s time to move on and focus on doing what I need to do to make a positive impression for the next level,” Temple said in a statement released through the school.

Temple played in one game as a freshman in 2004, carrying six times for 13 yards in a loss at Nebraska before injuring his Achilles’ tendon. Because of the short stint, Missouri coach Gary Pinkel was hopeful he might be granted an extra year of eligibility.

The request was turned down earlier this month by the Big 12. Temple has dropped his appeal to the NCAA.

“It was worth a shot, but I don’t want anyone spending any more time on it,” Temple said. “Coach Pinkel and I decided before last season that we should approach the 2007 season like it was going to be my last, and I’m glad we did it that way.”

Temple certainly went out on a high note, rushing for a Cotton Bowl record 281 yards and scoring four touchdown’s in Missouri’s 38-7 win over Arkansas on Jan. 1. The Tigers had one of their best seasons ever, finishing 12-2 and No. 4 in the nation.

After rushing for 1,039 yards in 2007, Temple became the first Missouri running back to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark in more than one season. He rushed for 1,063 yards in 2006. His 2,552 career rushing yards rank sixth on the team’s all-time list.

“I think this is the right decision for Tony,” Pinkel said in the statement. “If he is going to get ready for the NFL then it’s time.”

Three running backs will compete for playing time next season, led by Jimmy Jackson, who rushed for 331 yards and seven touchdowns in 2007. Derrick Washington and Earl Goldsmith will also challenge for the starting spot.

[via AP]