Fear and Greed Blog

In other news ...

The New York Giants beat the Green Bay Packers yesterday in a hard fought contest. They will now face the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on February 3rd. This will be a re-match of the last game of the regular season, which the Patriots won by a score of 38 to 35.

The early line on the game favors the Patriots by 14 points.

The Patriots are attempting to duplicate the Dolphins' 1972 perfect season in which they won 17 games, including the 1973 Super Bowl. The Patriots' task would be even more impressive as they have to contend with both a longer season (now 16 games instead of 14) and free-agency (the Dolphins were able to keep their team together because players didn't have the freedom to leave).

The Giants, who have set a record by winning 10 road games in a row, have been underdogs throughout the playoffs. As Eli Manning said, when asked about what he likes about the road "I like that we win on the road."

As an avid Giants fan, I am rooting for a third Super Bowl for the team (they won in 1987 and 1991).

The Patriots, under coach Bill Belichick, are extremely tough; and they'll be looking for their fourth Super Bowl victory in seven years. Coach Belichick was an integral part of the Giants two Super Bowl wins as their defensive coordinator. Unfortunately he left before Bill Parcells announced his (first) retirement, and we ended up with Ray Handley. Tom Coughlin (the current Giants coach) also left before the retirement (between the 1991 Super Bowl victory and Parcells' retirement, on May 16th, Belichick left to become the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and Coughlin left to become the head coach of Boston College). I have to believe that the Giants, who still had Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor, would have been in the playoffs for most of the early 1990s had either Coughlin or Belichick become the head coach after Coach Parcells.

The Patriots are an extremely professional team. They are talented and disciplined. They will be an incredibly tough team to defeat. Coach Belichick will have two weeks to prepare for the Giants (as compared to the week he had in week 17).

The Giants have yet to define their personality. They will have little pressure, since nobody will expect them to win (much like the 1991 contest in which the Buffalo Bills were heavily favored).

Eli Manning has been a better quarterback over the last four weeks. He has moved well in the pocket, made good decisions, and thrown accurate passes. I hope that he has turned a corner and will continue his growth.

Go Giants!!!

I miss Monty Python!

While the focus of this blog is on finance, money, markets, economics, and other related subjects; I want to take this opportunity to mention one of my other passions, the New York Giants.

According to my parents, when I was just a baby I watched the championship game in 1963. I guess that's when it started. As I grew up and understood the game, I became an avid Giants fan.

I get an emotional high when they win; not so much when they lose (the 70s were tough).

Tonight Eli & Co. stepped up and won against the Falcons. They looked good, mostly, and are now 4-2.

When they started the season with two losses (giving up a total of 80 points), I was starting to hunker down for a long season - and focusing on the Mets to cheer me up (but that's another story).

Now the Giants have won four games in a row. The press seems to have focused on how the new Defense has started to click, and that's definitely true.

What surprised me, however, is that nobody seems to have noticed that the two teams that the Giants lost to are now each 5-1. The only team that the Giants have beaten that has a winning record is the Redskins.

To me that says two things: 1 the Giants losses were two of the top teams in the League; and 2 now that the Giants are getting used to the new system, they might now have the ability to defeat the two teams that beat them so badly. They play the Cowboys again on November 11th, so that will give us a better feel.

So tonight I'm in a good mood.

Just thought I'd share that.