What about Bob?

As painful as it was for Patriots fans to watch the Giants upset the previously unbeaten team in Super Bowl XLII, it was pure agony for Pats owner Bob Kraft.

"We came within 30 seconds of having an umbelievable season, something that probably won't be replicated in my lifetime," Kraft said at the NFL owners meetings earlier today.

One thing that helped get him through the ordeal: warm thoughts of the late Giants' co-owners, Wellington Mara and Bob Tisch.

"I think Well Mara and Bob Tisch were both present at that game," Kraft said. "That’s how I got through it."

The Giants will receive a sixth-round compensatory pick (199th overall) in this year's draft.

The NFL awards compensatory picks to teams that lost more free agents than they signed the previous year. Last year, the Giants lost kicker Jay Feely, tight end Visanthe Shiancoe and cornerback Frank Walker. They signed free agent linebacker Kawika Mitchell and quarterback Anthony Wright.

The Jets did not receive any compensatory picks.

The Redskins (96th overall), Bengals (97), Falcons (98) and Ravens (99) all received third-round compensatory picks.

Giants general manager Jerry Reese said earlier today at the NFL owners meetings that he will wait until Michael Strahan returns from a vacation in Africa before discussing the defensive end's plans.

Strahan hasn't made a decision about whether he'll play in 2008, and when we caught up with him at an appearance in New York a couple weeks ago, Strahan said he needed to get away from it all before he'd have any idea about whether he wants to play.

What does Reese think?

"My gut feeling is that he will play another year," Reese said. "We haven't had any conversations, and we'll sit down and he'll let me know if he wants to play."

Many of Strahan's teammates think he'll be back, but Strahan sounded legitimately torn when I spoke to him during an appearance in Times Square earlier this month.

Just announced by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

The defending Super Bowl champion Giants will host the Redskins on Thursday, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m. at Giants Stadium. It's an NBC game.

The start time has been moved up because it's the same night as the Republican Convention.

Other national games announced today for opening weekend:

Bears-Colts on Sunday, Sept. 7, to christen the Colts' new stadium.

Vikings at Packers on ESPN's Monday night opener on Sept. 8. Game time is 7 p.m. The second half of the opening week double-header is Broncos at Raiders at 10:15 p.m.

We told you the week before last about some of the rules changes contemplated by the competition committee, but here's a review of what's on the docket at this week's owners meetings. The votes on these are expected to be held tomorrow and/or Wednesday.

*Changing the playoff seeding system. Remember last year, when the Giants had a better record than the Bucs but still had to play Tampa on the road during the playoffs? A proposal that narrowly passed muster in the competition committee (5-3 in favor) would granted a higher seed to a team with a better record, even if said team was a divisional wild card. Don't think this one will pass. Too many dissenting votes. But the measure does have its supporters.

"I like it because it makes teams play out the season," said Detroit Lions president Matt Millen, a member of the competition committee.

* Defensive coach-to-helmet communication system. The committee has voted unanimously to recommend that NFL owners adopt a rule allowing coach-to-headset communication for the defense. The proposed rule, which narrowly was defeated by just two votes last year, is expected to pass.

The coach-to-headset system will eliminate the need for defensive coaches to signal in plays, thus preventing teams from stealing signals. The Patriots were caught stealing signals in a Week 1 game against the Jets last season, setting off the Spygate scandal that continues to reverberate throughout the league.

* Force out rule being forced out? The competition committee has endorsed a proposal that would eliminate the "force-out" rule that has been the subject of much controversy over the years.

Under the current rule, an official can rule a pass near the sidelines a catch even if the receiver fails to get both feet in bounds. If the official feels that the receiver was forced out by the defensive back before being able to get both feet down, the play can be ruled a catch.

* Training camp rosters. They're currently at 86 before the first cut-down, but that included six additional spots for players from NFL Europe. Now that the league is defunct, owners must decide on whether to keep the rosters that high, or go back to 80 players. The competition committee endorsed this one unanimously, but the owners' vote could be close.

That's one of the questions that NFL owners will be wrestling with this week in Palm Beach, scene of their annual spring meetings. The place we'll be camped out.

A proposal has been formulated by the Chiefs that would require players' nameplates on their jersey to be visible at all times. Thus, if a player like Polamalu, who sports very, very long hair that goes down almost to the middle of his back, would be required to tuck it into his helmet.

"We don’t have anything against long hair,” Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson said. “It’s certainly not a cultural thing. We submitted the proposal because we think the long hair should be in violation of the NFL uniform code. We think there are also safety implications that should be considered.

“We aren’t the only team that wanted to address this. We’re just the team that volunteered to make the proposal. I think the competition committee is in support of it. We’ll see what the response is from other teams. I know there are some teams that are supportive of it.”

Honestly, this is much ado about nothing. Whether it's Polamalu, Asante Samuel, Bob Sanders, or any of the handful of other players who wears their hair long, you can always tell who they are, and I've never heard of an instance where long hair is somehow a danger to playing football. Polamalu once was dragged down by Chiefs running back Larry Johnson by the hair after an interception return, which is about the only instance that immediately comes to mind.

Not sure if this one will even come to a vote, quite frankly. It's come up in discussions before, but has never gotten anywhere. And there is language in the collective bargaining agreement that prevents players from being sanctioned for the length of their hair.

Honestly, there are other more important things to worry about - like what happens as a result of the continued deadlock between owners and the NFL Players Associaton over the collective bargaining agreement.

In other words, it's more about the deadlock, not the dreadlocks.

Yes, we knew it was expensive, but after a trip to the northeast visiting a few schools, we found out firsthand. My oldest daughter is a high school junior, she's into her schooling, and so are we. Needless to say, I will be blogging (hopefully) for many, many years to make this happen.

One thing I did see was the potential for many, many new readers. Everywhere you looked at these places all you see is young men and women at the library with their eyes riveted on their computer screens.

It is quite impressive, and it is actually a very reassuring feeling seeing all these folks earnestly pursuing their dreams. It makes you feel good about the future of this country, though.

This one from "Mark," who likens the Davidson hoops star to Ivey, one of the greatest poker players in the world. Curry and his Davidson mates continue their incredible run in the tournament today against Kansas.

(Prediction: jeffp will poo-poo this look-a-like. It's not a perfect match, but it's serviceable.)

Here's how.

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We'll take a few days to chillax over spring break and be back with news around the NFL, including a trip next week to the annual owners meetings, which are always chock full of stuff. Click here and scroll down to see several entries on topics that will be discussed.

In the meantime, Tom Rock will provide some football blog entertainment in between college hoops and the opening of the baseball season.

Oh, and condolences to the Best household, which saw all their hoops dreams go up in smoke over the weekend.

The Tennessee basketball coach and the New York Post basketball/football writer. Hey, Lenn. Smile, dude.

Another good one from our upstate NY buddy Tony Arnoldine.