Are This Season's Giants the Best Ever?

No, I am not going to make the obviously false claim that the 2007 New York Giants were the best football team in history by any stretch, but the Winter 2008 Giants have accomplished something unprecedented in NFL football. The Giants won four postseason games against teams with a combined regular season record of 51-13 (.797). Their last three games were against the Cowboys (13-3), Packers (13-3), and the previously perfect Patriots (16-0).

Until now, the 2004 Patriots and 2005 Steelers had to triumph through the toughest postseason schedules to win a Super Bowl. In 2004, the Patriots had to overcome three teams with a combined 40-8 (.833) regular season record, the best overall opponents' winning percentage ever overcome to win the Super Bowl. Like this year's Giants, The 2005 Steelers needed to defeat four teams with a combined 51-13 record en route to their Super Bowl win. This year's Giants postseason accomplishments easily overshadow the '04 Patriots because they had to win a wildcard game (over the 9-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers) in addition to winning their last three games against teams with two more wins than the three teams that the '04 Pats had to face. The Steelers' four wins leading up to Super Bowl XL makes a strong case for them to have at least matched the Giants' run this year, but I think the Giants' win over the seemingly indomitable Patriots in the Super Bowl gives them the edge.

This is supposed to be a political blog, so I am going to try to appease the editor-in-chief by tying in this post to tomorrow's primaries. Illinois Senator Barack Obama, like the Giants, was strong enough throughout 2007 to make it to the "postseason" as a credible candidate, but right up to the Iowa Caucus, Obama was widely viewed as a small obstacle in Senator Hillary Clinton's path on the way to the nomination. Also like the Giants, Obama has been picking up steam when it really counts, winning states and rapidly building up support leading up to Super (or Tempestuous) Tuesday. New York Senator Hillary Clinton was pulling for a Giants upset on Super Sunday and got her wish. She might not be so happy if the season-long favorite gets defeated on Super Tuesday, though.

So there you go, Publius, this is now a political post.

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Romney Repudiates Craig

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Mitt Romney responded to the Senator Craig Sex Scandal today:

I think it reminds us of Mark Foley and Bill Clinton. I think it reminds us of the fact that people who are elected to public office continue to disappoint, and they somehow think that if they vote the right way on issues of significance or they can speak a good game, that we’ll just forgive and forget. And the truth of the matter is, the most important thing we expect from elected–an elected official is a level of dignity and character that we can point to for our kids and our grandkids, and say, `Hey, someday I hope you grow up and you’re someone like that person.’ And we’ve seen disappointment in the White House, we’ve seen it in the Senate, we’ve seen it in Congress. And frankly, it’s disgusting.

Like Romney or not, that is exactly what any politician should do and say. I don’t care whose party it is; call disgusting behaviour what it is. We would all do good to consider these words.

H/T The Ward View Read More. . . .