Tra-la, tra-la, tra-la.

Mushin, thanks for bringing that veteran “leadership” and for letting your play do the talking. It really spoke more loudly than you ever could have.

The funny thing is that the Carolina Panthers are bringing him back. Don’t they know just as well as the Bears that Mushin isn’t all he’s cracked up to be? Not only that, he’s now a few years older than he was when he left the Panthers to come to the Bears. Maybe the Panthers are going to rely on that top-shelf quarterback that they have and that was lacking in the Bears offense? Hmm. But they also just cut David Carr, their starter for last year.

I’m not one to really give a rip about what the Carolina Panthers are doing with their personnel, I’m just glad that Muhammad is not a Bear.

This is just another example of a suit who doesn’t understand the Chicago baseball fan trying to wring more cash out of his investment.

Zell, who is the CEO of the Tribune Company, is planning on selling off the Cubs and Wrigley Field separately , undoubtedly to maximize his profit. He’s a businessman, that’s what he does. We get it. Little does he know, Wrigley Field is a baseball icon. There is a reason you’ve never heard of the “Ralph Lauren Polo Grounds”. I understand that this type of thing is prevalent is sport all the way down to the scoreboards in high school gyms. There’s one difference, there are no high school gyms that are international icons (to my knowledge). Yankee Stadium is Yankee Stadium, of course it’s sometimes called “The House that Ruth built”, but then again, Wrigley is referred to as “The Friendly Confines”.

All in all, it’s a bad deal. The place is packed every game of every season, and will continue to be. What more do you want from it? It’s not an amusement park like some of the modern ballparks, and it shouldn’t be. It’s a baseball stadium.

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Note to Andrew Freidman, GM of the Tampa Bay Rays, “Don’t do it”.

You have a team that is actually starting to resemble a major league ball club, you don’t need that kind of distraction and clubhouse cancer. You need to stay your course and continue to develop top young players into viable major leaguers.

There was also talk about bringing in other veterans (Kenny Lofton and Mike Piazza) to help help solidify the lineup. That might make some sense. Those are guys who know their role. They actually realize that they’re at the tail end of their careers and are willing to come off the bench, or not play every day. Bonds will be a major distraction and a huge injury (also perjury) risk.

I really hope the Rays steer clear of this deal.

So we’re in for another year of “Rex is our quarterback”. Ugh. The Bears say that Grossman will have to compete for the starting job with Kyle Orton, Brian Griese or whomever the Bears bring in at quarterback. Hopefully they’ll draft a solid QB in the upcoming draft, but my confidence in Jerry Angelo drafting offensive players is at an all time low.

Word is that Bernard Berrian and Lance Briggs will test free agency. Berrian I wouldn’t be too upset about losing. He can drop passes elsewhere for all I care. But I would like to see Lance Briggs back. He had a little bit of a down year, but with Brian Urlacher and his tweaky back and neck, I’d like to have a solid LB on the roster (no offense to Hunter Hillenmeyer).

The Mariners and the Orioles finally get the deal done to send Erik Bedard here to Seattle and the Mariners send top prospect Adam Jones to Baltimore. There are some other players heading to Baltimore in the deal as well. Left-handed specialist George Sherrill along with 3 minor leaguers.

Was this too much for the Mariners to give up? 2 players from their 25 man roster in addition to 3 minor league prospects. As I’ve said before, Adam Jones is going to be a star. Of course, you have to give up talent to get talent. Erik Bedard is a top shelf starter. He’s a bona fide Cy Young caliber starter. So the question is then, is the combination of an All Star caliber outfielder along with a solid bullpen guy (potentially a closer), and then multiple minor league pitching prospects more or less than a Cy Young starter.

In my opinion, a Cy Young starter is more important than any other position on the field. The Mariners can pick up an All Star outfielder, either in free agency or in a trade. Cy Young pitchers cost a ton in free agency, and you have to sell the farm in a trade. Another question is, “Is this selling the farm?” I don’t think this is giving up too much.

The Mariners are poised to compete in the American League West. They needed to keep pace with the Angels. This move to get Bedard puts the Mariners starting rotation on par or above the Angels and all other pitching staffs in the AL West.

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I pretty much want one thing from my weekly sports periodical… Sports. There is one issue a year from the only sports periodical that I subscribe to that is not focused on sports, the Swimsuit issue. Even if it was focused on the upcoming season’s hot swimwear (which it’s not), that still would be out of place in a magazine devoted to sport. We get too much sexual marketing in the regular pages of Sports Illustrated as it is. But that’s a different soap box for a different day.

I was very pleased to see in the “Letters” section of the February 4, 2008 issue, there is a box at the bottom that describes how subscribers can “opt out” of the Swimsuit issue. I was glad to see that. In the past, I have simply thrown the issue directly into the trash. I have been a SI subscriber for over 20 years. The Swimsuit issue regularly has the highest single issue page count of the year. They offered a service that I just didn’t want. Sports Illustrated and their parent company Time Inc. made it very easy for me to “opt-out” of the Swimsuit issue.

If you would like to opt out of the Swimsuit issue, simply call (866) 228-1175. You’ll need your account number, which is on the cover of your issue above your name.  Today, February 4th is the last day to opt out for this year’s issue, so act now.

Wow. I definitely did not expect the Giants to win, but I definitely didn’t expect the game to so entertaining and close. That was the best Super Bowl game I can remember.

The last Giants drive was amazing. It certainly won Eli Manning the MVP award. When he got away from the Patriots pass rush and made the crazy throw to David Tyree. It was such a great catch.

Even though Eli was great in the 4th quarter, it was the Giants defensive front that won the game for the Giants. They definitely tired as the game wore on, but Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan deserved the MVP just as much as Manning did.

One thing I love more than anything… I haven’t mentioned the Patriots once. They never established their offense and their defense played well, but didn’t shut the Giants down. The Giants controlled the game from the outset. That’s the most surprising thing for me. It seemed like Steve Spagnuolo and the Giants defense out game-planned the Patriots.

I’m so glad we don’t have to live the rest of our lives having to look back to the 2007 New England Patriots as the best team ever. They just can’t make that claim anymore. And I for one couldn’t be happier.

But this moment is for the Giants. They came out and played a fantastic game. It wasn’t a perfect game, but they were able to control both lines of scrimmage enough to win the game. Everything else was secondary.

Congratulations to the New York Giants… Super Bowl XLII Champions.

After a week of this previewing and hoopla, I’m spent. I think I have enough in me to recap, and then give you my prediction, as well as some of my co-writers here at Vigilante Sports.

• Coaching: Patriots
• Defensive Secondary: Patriots
• Defensive Front Seven: Giants
• Offensive Line: Patriots
• Quarterback: Patriots
• Running back: Giants
• Wide Receiver: Patriots

The Patriots, on paper, will dominate this Super Bowl. They take 5 out of 7 categories here. At the time of writing, the line is Patriots -11.5. Here are our picks.

Jared: Giants and the points
Patriots 24
Giants 17

Kendall: Patriots
Patriots 35
Giants 21

Would love to see your predictions in the comments.

Obviously with 2 wide receivers with 100+ receptions, Randy Moss with the TD record, and someone having to catch Tom Brady’s record setting 50 TD passes, the Patriots are loaded at receiver. Randy Moss leads the bunch, complemented by Wes Welker and Donte Stallworth. The Patriots have 7 wide receivers listed on their depth chart, all of which have started at WR in the NFL. That’s impressive. Sure, Troy Brown and Kelley Washington aren’t great, but they’re really good for your 6th and 7th wide out. Randy Moss has a history of disappearing in the post season, and this season is no different, in the Patriots 2 wins this post season, Moss has 2 receptions for 32 yards. Both catches were for first downs, but neither we touchdowns. Not the kind of production you want from your best WR. Can Moss rebound and change his bad post season rep?

On the Giants side of the ball, the receiver story is all about Plaxico Burress. In the NFC Championship game, he dominated. Amani Toomer, Steve Smith and TE Kevin Boss round out the receiving corps for the Giants. Toomer is a strong possession receiver, and Steve Smith (when he can hold onto the ball) is emerging as a threat. Kevin Boss is a very important part of the Giants passing game. He’ll most likely be matched up with a older, slower LB from the Pats. Look for that to be exploited. Giants recievers are 1-2 in catches in the post season in the NFC (Burress and Toomer). The Giants have had problems with dropped passes all season. That must change if the Giants are going to be able to effectively attack the Patriots through the air.

When a team goes 7 deep at the wide receiver position, I have to give them the edge. Patriots have more, and better wide outs than the Giants.

The Giants running backs averaged 134.2 yards per game and 4.6 yards per carry, that’s 4th in the league. The Patriots managed 115.6 yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry.

The Super Bowl will feature teams that have gotten to this point of the season based on the play of their quarterbacks. The ground game for both of these teams is primarily used to set up the pass. Brandon Jacobs will carry the load for the Giants. In the media he was 265 lbs. last week, and now apparently he’s put on 5 lbs. Either way, he’s HUGE. And he’s a hard-nosed runner. The front-seven of the Patriots will have their hands full trying to bring down Jacobs. Right when they start to settle into his running style though, Kevin Gilbride will shuttle in Ahmad Bradshaw, the shifty change of pace back, to switch things up. Bradshaw is a burner. He’s so small and quick, that he can hide behind his offensive line and dart up the field without the defense even being able to see him.

The Patriots bring a tandem of backs into the game as well. Laurence Maroney and Kevin Faulk will handle the rock for the Pats. Maroney has been up and down this season. I think part of it is due to the Patriots devotion to the pass, but he has been absent for a lot of the season. This post-season Maroney has played well. He won’t be asked to win the game for the Patriots, which is good. He wouldn’t be able to.

As for who has the edge in the backfield, I’d have to pick the Giants. Brandon Jacobs is a load, and they have such a solid change-of-pace, I think it’ll be hard to stop them.