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Watching the Giants 19-17 loss to the Eagles in Philadelphia last night, two things stood out for me. The first was how extraordinary the Giants have been in two championship postseasons. The second is how utterly ordinary they have been otherwise in the Tom Coughlin era.

Late in the 4th quarter, with the Giants driving for what could have been he wining field goal, the announcers dropped a stat on us: the Giants had lost seven of eight previous games with the Eagles. Why didn't I know this? I guess because when I think of the Giants and Eagles, I think of the Giants rising to the occasion of the big game and the Eagles flopping.

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The Giants take the field tonight in the season opener against the Dallas Cowboys as a four-point pick, and the fans and local press seem to pretty much agree that Big Blue has an excellent chance of repeating as Super Bowl champions.

Las Vegas doesn't exactly agree, at least on the latter point: you can get 18-to-1 on the Giants going all the way, exactly the odds you'll get with the Cowboys. In fact, the Philadelphia Eagles are a better pick for the Lombardi Trophy than either of their NFC rivals, 12-to-1 (Don't make too much of this - no one is too strong a pick this year; the best you can do is the Green Bay Packers at 6-to-1).

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A piece by Jim Trotter in this week's Super Bowl issue of Sports Illustrated puts the Ahmad Bradshaw ass-first game-winning touchdown run in new perspective. With the Patriots leading 17-15 and a little more than a minute to play, the Giants had the ball on 2nd-and-6 at New England's six-yard line. Bradshaw, you'll recall, was free and clear on a run into the end zone when he stopped and spun around at the two-yard line; he got his touchdown only when gravity took its course. (And forgive me for pointing this out, but in Bradshaw's case gravity had a great deal to work with.) Bradshaw tried to keep from scoring but, literally, fell into the end zone to score the first ass-backwards TD in Super Bowl history.

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Football, our coaches always told us, is a game of inches. Yesterday, that fact was demonstrated with startling clarity by two plays, both of which will be remembered and argued about for years.

The first, of course, was the play that won the game, or at least was key in the game-winning drive. From his own 12, with a shade under 3:50 to play, Eli Manning made a spot-on pass to Mario Manningham at the 50-yard line for a 38-yard gain. (Admire it.)

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We heard many of you screaming about the Giants on the streets and in bars last night -- but only 500 of you lucky fans will get to celebrate tomorrow afternoon at City Hall. For the rest of you, though, there's a parade!

Late last night, the mayor's office announced plans for football festivities, which include a ticker-tape parade starting at Battery Place and Washington Street at 11 a.m. tomorrow. It will continue up the Canyon of Heroes (or, y'know, Broadway, as most of us like to call it), and end at Worth Street. At 1 p.m. at City Hall Plaza, the mayor -- who loves the Giants -- will present the team with "Keys to the City."

The city is conducting a public giveaway right now -- and is using the win as a chance to boost its social media presence! Follow them on Twitter, guys!

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This blogger doesn't like football. If she's going to watch a sport it's going to be baseball and she's going to root for the Yankees. Therefore, this Super Bowl Sunday, this blogger is not going to tell you which players to watch. In fact, the only ones she really feels qualified to even mention are Eli Manning and Gisele Bündchen's husband. (Just kidding, she totally knows that his name is Tom Brady.) That said, she is going to care about the Super Bowl outcome, and New Yorkers, you should too.

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Mitt Romney won the Nevada caucuses Saturday night. As of 9:20 a.m. with 71 percent reporting, Romney had 47.6 percent of the vote. Newt Gingrich trailed him with 22.7 percent. "This is not the first time you gave me your vote of confidence, and this time I'm going to take it to the White House," Romney said in his victory speech before launching into an attack on President Barack Obama. "Well, Mr. President," he said. "Nevada has had enough of your kind of help." The results leave Gingrich hanging onto the race by what seems to be a thinning thread. [NYT, CNN]

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via @WEEI

The Giants official website announced victory today when it posted an advertisement for "Super Bowl Champions" merchandise. The word "arrogant" has been thrown around on Twitter. Well, at least, now you can debate whether or not the t-shirts are ugly.

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If you're looking for a reason to believe as the Giants prepare to face the Patriots on Sunday -- that is, besides Madonna's preference for Eli Manning over Tom Brady -- don't look back to the 17-14 Super Bowl victory over New England four years ago.

The Giants started the year not knowing how they would replace a swarm of excellent receivers and wound up with better ones than they had last year. In fact, in Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks, the Giants may have the two greatest deep threats ever to play alongside each other in team history. Cruz caught 82 balls for an 18.7 average; Nicks wasn't bad either, with 76 and 15.7. The Patriots, meanwhile, became pretty much the first team in NFL history to succeed with what is basically a tight end-oriented offense: Rob Gronkowski made 90 catches this year for a 14.7 average and Aaron Hernandez had 79 at 11.5.

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It goes without saying that New York baseball fans are classier than those of New England -- we see evidence of that every time the Yankees and Red Sox play, whether in New York or Boston. As the Super Bowl approaches, it should be just as obvious that New York football fans are classier than their northern counterparts.

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