It’s been a long and very restful off-season for yours truly and I’m excited to kick off the 2008 with some thoughts on what has been quite and eventful winter.

First of all have to give a huge thumbs up to De Rosa, whose hard work over the years was rewarded by SNY. GiantsFootballBlog.com is an awesome home for die-hard fans of Big Blue and is just what the doctor ordered.

Speaking of the Giants, I had a great feeling about them beating the Pats all along, but the Super Bowl victory gives ultimate credence to how Eli Manning really should have been perceived. People would question his lame stats and his facial expressions but when they drafted him I wondered how anyone could lead Ole Miss to an SEC Western division title and not have a magical quality? Hopefully, Giant fans will remember the Super Bowl-winning drive the next time Eli has difficulty with the wind at the Meadowlands or has a questionable QB rating.

And in watching the parade it came to mind that, yes, there is no place to win like New York and the “Canyon of Heroes” is the ultimate experience, but why did we need to hear politicians spew forced football jargon?

That said, nice job by “I love it when you call me” Bob Papa, - he made me want to throw my hands in the air.

My thanks to someone from WNBC-TV called Tracie Strahan who made me hit the mute button during their parade coverage after proclaiming, “Now I know what it’s like not to be the most famous Strahan in New York,” in reference to having to share the stage with Michael Strahan, no relation. Yep, those local NBC reporters have a great sense for the moment, don’t they?

Speaking of the mute button, how about Chris Berman’s latest venture? No, not the countless videos of Boomer cussing out ESPN peons, I’m talking about his role as the ultimate sportscaster for SportCenter’s “Greatest Highlight of All-Time.” If you haven’t seen it, ESPN deletes the original announcer’s call, thus overshadowing each broadcaster’s defining moment, so that Berman can interrupt with his own anti-climactic version. There’s nothing like hearing the “BACK, BACK, BACK…gone!” call attached to Aaron’s 715. Thanks Chris, we knew what was going to happen, it happened 30 years ago. Makes you wonder how sports EVER got along before ESPN, and Berman. Actually, it makes you wonder even harder just how cool sports would be if ESPN scaled its narcissism back and reverted to more simpler times.

As far as the Mets are concerned, say what you want about Johan, Pedro or Delgado, but I think the key to this year’s team is Duaner Sanchez. The guy was the best set up man in baseball for a stretch two years ago thanks to a nasty change-up which he learned from Eric Gagne. One can only hope that Sanchez is healthy and ready to contribute.

I recently noticed that the Yankees will start the season with Joba Chamberlain coming out of the pen. Strategically, it makes sense to shorten the game to 7 innings, the championship teams of the late 90’s were carried by getting late inning outs, but who on earth is going to pitch the first 7? Rest easy Yankee fans, Carl Pavano is raving up his engine again.

So here’s my take on the whole Clemens/Mcnamee thing. They’re both creeps. But neither are as creepy as the gutless Republican Congressmen who felt the need to verbally attack the trainer based on his checkered past, yet ignore basic flaws in Clemens’ testimony. The worst offender was Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana, who reminded me of the great Vin Scully’s evil twin brother. The whole thing was such a joke that it really cast a terrible cloud over our justice system. If you really believe that Clemens, a man who threw a jagged-edge bat in the direction of another human being, would allow a man to inject his wife without his knowledge and do NOTHING about it, you either need to pay better attention, actually do a little research, or get your head examined. In fact, Burton should be held accountable for his performance the other day. Ironically, Burton was the primary sponsor for the The Government Performance and Results Act, an 1998 effort to require federal government agencies to do more strategic planning, establish more accountability measurements, and do more reporting on their performance.

You have to love American politics.

The bottom line is Americans and even sports writers to a degree ( doesn’t agree) are forgiving people. Clemens should have come clean, waited 15 years and gone into the Hall of Fame a graceful 50 something, instead of hoping to go in a shady and tarnished, 40 something year old.

The whole thing will continue to drag on and on but let’s hope that the hype doesn’t overshadow what could be a glorious baseball season in New York.