The Final Score

When does he sign with the Cowboys?

Many media outlets reported that RB Derrick Ward was the third Giants player out with Plaxico Burress and Antonio Pierce the other night when Plax shot himself.

Looks like it's not so. Our Tom Rock called me a while back to confirm that it was Ahmad Bradshaw (photo) who was at the club with AP and PB, not Ward.

Here's what Ward said after Sunday's game, courtesy of TR:

"I didn’t even know what happened until the next morning. I wasn’t with Plaxico or Antonio that night. I was out having dinner with friends, and that was about it. Last time I saw them was that afternoon right after practice.”

In my 19 years working for New York tabloids, I have tried to follow a simple rule: don't repeat something if you don't know it's true. Just parroting what another news organization reports in an "unnamed source" report is bad journalism. I trust my sources and the sources of my Newsday reporter bretheren. I can't trust another newspaper's sources because i don't know who those sources are.

Most of the time sourced reports turn out to be true.

Too often, though, they don't.

From Giants LB Danny Clark as quoted on the Daily News Giants blog:

“AP was AP today. He led the troops. He got everybody lined up, went out there and made plays. He doesn’t miss a beat. He’s a mainstay of our defense and guys look to him for leadership.”

So maybe the conversation between AP and Plax went something like this?

PLAX: AP, I accidentally shot myself! What should I do?
AP: Well, Plax . . .

Hopefully, what AP said was: "let's get you to the hospital"

Anything other than that, and AP isn't much of a leader after all, now is he?

Every time I turn on an NFL game, some guy is running the length of the field for a touchdown. It's reached the point that I just assume it is live and not a replay.

Last week, it was Quintin Demps of the Eagles who took a kickoff and ran it back 100 yards against the Ravens.

On Sunday, I turned on the Bears game and within seconds Bernard Berrian of the Vikings was on the rambling end of 99-yard TD catch and run from Gus Ferrotte, who I thought retired in the 1970s.

It was the eleventh 99-yard pass play in NFL history. And since Glauber has already rattled them off, give him a break and hit up his blog for the list - and to see the same picture of Berrian again.

Last week I spoke with Ickey Woods about, what else, the Ickey Shuffle. With the Jets playing the Bengals last Sunday, I planned to make the Ickster my where-are-they-now. Then Ray Knight called back.

So, in need of a Web column today, I broke out the Ickey Woods interview, in which we talked about doing his dance today, the evolution of TD celebrations, why the NFL stands for No Fun League and his current job as coach of a women's football team.

Here's the column.

BTW, I'm disappointed by how hard it is to find a video of the Ickey Shuffle online. Please help, kind readers.

And now he's your Cowboys starting QB for the next fours weeks.

Adjust your fantasy teams.

(BTW: Brad Johnson is one year and 27 days older than Brett Favre.)

At first glance, you think the team that wins by that margin is completely in the wrong. Typically, it is. Longtime TFS readers probably know I played on a youth hoops team that once lost, 103-3. And, believe me, that team's goal was to score 100.

But when you read this story about the 91-0 game, you see that clearly the winning coach wasn't happy with the situation, either.

[Coach Bill Kramer] looked at the scoreboard late in the game, saw 91-0, and said he felt sick to his stomach. Kramer’s team ran only 31 plays and he kept most of his best players on the sideline — for the entire game in some cases. But still Kramer knew what was coming.

Soon after the game ended, his inbox began filling with angry e-mails, some from Estero parents wondering why so many points were necessary, some from Naples parents wondering why their kids didn’t play more in an effort to pad their stats.

A lot of Giants fans were watching the wrong comedy last night.

While the Giants were getting trashed on ESPN, Michael Strahan was chewing up the scenery on NBC's "Chuck," a comedy-spy spoof about a computer-repair geek who accidentally becomes a spy with a hot-chick partner.

Remind me; is the timing of the two events coincidence or irony?

Anyway, in last night's "Chuck," Mitt (Strahan) and his co-workers from Mighty Jock Sporting Goods are turning the viewing room of Buy More (the Best Buy-like store where Chuck and his misfit friends work) into a Madden video game beer party during their lunch hours.

Chuck's wimpy best pal is forced to challenge the bullies and Strahan does a great job of terrorizing him. In the end there's a hilarious caged-fight scene.

Go here for a short interview video with Strahan and the Chuck cast.

Or go here for the complete show, entitled "Chuck Vs. The Volcano." Come for Michael Strahan, stay for Yvonne Strahovski, Chuck's spy psuedo-girlfriend, and Sarah Lancaster, his sister who used to play Gift Shop Girl on "Scrubs."

(Warning: You may have to re-enter the NBC website on your own to watch the video.)

I wonder how this will affect Frank Caliendo, who's better at doing Madden than Madden.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK (AP) -- John Madden will miss calling an NFL game this weekend after working 476 in a row.

The 72-year-old Sunday Night Football analyst, who travels by bus because of a fear of flying, will take a break to spend time with his family instead of making three straight cross country trips, NBC said Monday.

Madden went from Jacksonville, Fla., to San Diego last week; he would have had to return to Florida for this Sunday's game at Tampa Bay. There's no Sunday Night Football game the following weekend, so Madden would have then headed home to the Bay Area.

NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol first approached Madden in the spring with the suggestion of skipping the trip.

Cris Collinsworth, normally a part of NBC's studio show, will fill in for Madden.

Earlier in the year, Romo played a game with his face split open but now, as Anthony pointed out a few minutes ago, a broken pinkie is going to put him out for up to a month.

But despite the bandaged finger, Romo will sure look good in the new duds that Jessica Simpson bought for him last Wednesday at LFT. And we all know that it's more important to look marvelous than to feel marvelous.

Romo being on the DL could be great news for Giants fans, who will see the Cowboys Nov. 2 at Giants Stadium, with Romo on the sidelines and Brad Johnson in the huddle.

To review Tony's tough day (ie. the Jessica Simpson gameday curse at work) before news of the pinkie, click here for a direct link to Sunday's posting.