January 31 —I’ll be brief today because as I said yesterday, today’s lineup was pretty much a carbon copy of what happened on Wednesday. In a nutshell, we had our final media opportunity with the players and coaches at their team hotel and the next time we hear from them (save for head coach Tom Coughlin who’s scheduled to speak on Friday at the media center), will be during the post game.

I will, however, offer a few quick observations. I think the players have really enjoyed themselves this week. For instance, Michael Strahan, he of the “three questions only” fame amongst the New York press, had to be dragged out of the press interviews by a member of the P.R. staff after he lingered for 20 minutes more than he needed to. Maybe it was the thrill of hearing the same questions from different people – I don’t know. But I thought it was kind of funny.

Reuben Droughns? I have to wonder if his jaw hurt him after all the smiling he did during the pressers. No matter what kind of question he was asked, he was laughing, smiling, joking and just having a great time.

Even some of the quiet guys were getting into it. Kevin Boss, who is typically very good and accommodating, was enjoying himself while at the same time watching what he said. And Madison Hedgecock, who’s typically a quiet guy who doesn’t usually draw much press attention, quickly took to certain members of the press as though they were his buddies.  

As I said though, it’s all over now and it’s time to really focus on business.  Head coach Tom Coughlin has a jam-packed day for those guys which begins around 6:30 and ends somewhere around 9:30 – 10:00 p.m. Despite all the fin the players have had (and a few mentioned they did not have fun with the repetitiveness of the media sessions – can’t really blame them), they know why they’re here and I am slowly starting to believe they can pull off the impossible.

Can you just imagine it? I can. And I can’t think of a more deserving group than this one.

The only other event I added to my list of things to do was to attend the NFLPA press conference. I always like to find out what the union is up to, and as I wrote in my blog last night, the news isn’t good, as the owners are threatening to terminate the new CBA as soon as November of this year. And I fear they things might get ugly fast because the owners clearly seem to feel they gave up way to much in cutting the union 60% of the gross revenues.

And the union isn’t about to give any of that back (do you blame them?) So the results appear to be either a strike, a lockout, a decertification of the uion (which would allow the players to sue the owners under the US Anti-trust laws) or, in the best case scenario, a new agreement.

Moreover I wonder how this whole situation is going to affect former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s Hall of Fame ballot. The new CBA was pretty much one of the major milestones of his tenure, but with so many owners apparently grumbling over it, and the threat of a labor disruption looming, I think serious consideration has to be given into his candidacy. (The owners don’t vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class; that is done by senior members of the Pro Football Writer’s group, of which I am not one, by the way.)

As for me, my mother-in-law got into town today and my husband is due in tomorrow afternoon. Perfect timing as my heavy workload is going to start to lighten up a bit before game day. On Friday we have the two head coach’s final pressers, then the Commissioner’s state of the NFL address and then the Pro Football Writer’s meeting. Once all that’s done, my husband will hopefully be in town and I’ll hopefully have all that I need to have done so I can spend some time with him and his mom.

Next: Friday wrap-up