Giants Stadium

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- When Tom Coughlin was the New York Giants' wide receivers coach in the late 1980s under Bill Parcells, he was a relentless man on a staff of relentless men. On Christmas, Parcells called the Giants Stadium office to leave a message on Coughlin's voice mail. The phone rang. No one would be working on Christmas.The phone rang again. Coughlin answered. He was the only coach at the office that day -- had been for hours. "I don't know if I should be proud of that story or not," he said.

MARTINSVILLE, N.J. -- Twenty women are scheduled to arrive by bus at the posh Pingry School for about 90 minutes of soccer practice this morning.Practice figures to be routine for the day before a big game -- probably polishing "set pieces," or tricky scoring plays for certain game situations, and light conditioning.But unlike practices earlier this week on what the 138-year-old school calls its "World Cup field," this one is secret. No doting 12-year-olds or their soccer moms and dads. No media allowed until 1 p.m. After that, it's solitude for these world-class athletes, time to reflect and focus.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- When Tom Coughlin was the New York Giants' wide receivers coach in the late 1980s under Bill Parcells, he was a relentless man on a staff of relentless men. On Christmas, Parcells called the Giants Stadium office to leave a message on Coughlin's voice mail. The phone rang. No one would be working on Christmas.The phone rang again. Coughlin answered. He was the only coach at the office that day -- had been for hours. "I don't know if I should be proud of that story or not," he said.

In addition to who wins or loses (or draws), the U.S. Soccer Federation will be watching a couple of other things during the U.S.-Ecuador friendly match at Memorial Stadium on Aug. 7.The game will be a gauge of how the Ravens' new events-promotion people do things, not to mention how well professional soccer can draw here during the Orioles' season (they'll be on the West Coast).Soccer is one of the attractions the football folks want to present at the new Camden Yards stadium on the multitudinous dates when the Ravens aren't there.

NFC wild cardTime: 12: 30 p.m., chs. 2, 7.Line: Giants by 4.Vs. spread: Vikings 9-7; Giants 9-6.Last week: Vikings beat Colts, 39-28. Giants beat Cowboys, 20-7.Series: Vikings lead 7-6.Last meeting: Giants won, 15-10, last season at Giants Stadium.Streak: Giants have won five of the past six meetings in the series.Outlook: The Vikings are well-coached, with Dennis Green making his fifth playoff appearance in six years. They have a receiver in Cris Carter who seems to make one amazing catch after another.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Ravens called it a statement game, and the team may have left a favorable impression on the rest of the NFL and the country.If there were any residual effects from the team's move from Cleveland to Baltimore last year, they may have been buried at the same time the Ravens defeated the New York Giants, 37-27, yesterday before a crowd of 39,799 at Giants Stadium.Except for a shoddy second quarter, these hardly looked like the Cleveland Browns of a year ago that went 5-11 and lost eight of their last nine games.

What could be stranger than this?The New York Giants will be visitors in their own house today -- and underdogs against a team that carries a desultory 0-3 record.It was the NFL schedule that made the New York Jets, co-tenants at Giants Stadium, home team for this Big Apple showdown.But it's on the merit of a futility not seen in Giants blue since George Young took the general manager's job in 1979 that these Giants enter as two-point underdogs."It will be a strange game," Young said in reference to the semantics of filling Giants Stadium with Jets season-ticket holders.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Ravens called it a statement game, and the team may have left a favorable impression on the rest of the NFL and the country.If there were any residual effects from the team's move from Cleveland to Baltimore last year, they may have been buried at the same time the Ravens defeated the New York Giants, 37-27, before 39,799 at Giants Stadium on Aug. 10.Except for a shoddy second quarter, these hardly looked like the Cleveland Browns of a year ago that went 5-11 and lost eight of their last nine games.

The Ravens get their shot in prime time today, playing one of the NFL's most storied franchises, the New York Giants, at Giants Stadium.Most exhibitions lack the electricity of regular-season games, but even the Ravens admit their first game on national television wearing Baltimore's purple, black and white uniforms has created a buzz in training camp."

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Parmalat Cup soccer tournament will conclude this afternoon at Giants Stadium.Parma of Italy will clash with Boca Juniors of Argentina for the championship after the U.S. national team meets Benfica of Portugal in the consolation game at 1 p.m.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Matt Stover set the NFL record for most consecutive point-after touchdowns, but that's not what will be remembered from yesterday's 30-10 loss to the New York Giants. His 32-yard field goal attempt was blocked by defensive tackle Fred Robbins, ricocheting off the low part of his arm. The ball was recovered at the Ravens' 33-yard line, which set up the Giants' second touchdown that extended their lead to 13-0. The wind at Giants Stadium - which was listed at 17 miles per hour at kickoff - played a part in the blocked kick.

Now that Matt Walsh has finally told his story, I feel that the right thing to do is to come clean about something. I was once a suspected NFL spy. At least, I figure that's why New York Giants coach Bill Parcells threw me out of practice at the Meadowlands nearly 18 years ago and sent word through a team emissary that I was never to darken the doorstep of Giants Stadium again. But I have an excuse. I misinterpreted the rules. I was working for a Philadelphia newspaper, and the Eagles and Giants were preparing for a game in November 1990.

East Rutherford, N.J. It dawned on Tiki Barber the morning after the Giants beat the Eagles with a dramatic comeback in Week 2. That's when he knew this would be his final season. "I felt like I was 50 years old," Barber said Thursday. "I consciously told myself, `I don't want to do this anymore. I want to move on with the rest of my life.' " The Giants staged a remarkable fourth-quarter rally against the Eagles and beat their divisional rival in overtime. Barber was exhausted. "Literally, the next morning, I couldn't pick my head up off my pillow because I had an injury to my neck and back," he said.

The mood in the visiting dressing room at halftime of Sunday's game at Giants Stadium was hopeful. The Washington Redskins trailed by only six points even though their defense hadn't forced a punt and their offense hadn't shown the same explosiveness as the previous two weeks. "I think our guys wanted to play hard," Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said yesterday, a day after his team's 19-3 loss to the New York Giants. "I just don't think we played well. To be truthful, it was kind of the way we started the game off. We just never really got in sync."

A bundle of tangible gains befell the Ravens when Matt Stover's game-winning kick split the uprights Sunday in Cleveland. They have a 3-0 record for the first time. They're tied with the Cincinnati Bengals atop the AFC North. They have a two- game lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers. But the victory also delivered an intangible gain that eventually might be more important than all the others combined: Maybe, just maybe, the defense is actually going to start trusting the offense after Sunday's winning rally from 11 points down.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Four quarters of football and then back to reality. Watching the black-and-gold line up on the field is only a brief sigh. You don't want it to end. You don't want to go home. You don't want to think about home. Because you don't know what home is anymore. A home game, they called this. The New Orleans Saints playing their first home game of the season in New Jersey - Giants Stadium. Against the Giants. This wasn't their home. Not for the players on the field.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. It sounded like a bad joke - What happens when you move the French Quarter to Jersey-only no one thought to create a punchline. I wish they had. A chuckle would have felt good last night. Instead, therewere tears during the national anthem. There were cheers throughout last night's Giants-Saints game. And there were jeers whenever the "home team" tried to make itself at home. "We hate you, Saints!" a tailgating Giants fan yelled at a pair of New Orleans' fans prior to kickoff.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Fans who arrived late missed the decisive plays, but then Morgan State also seemed to show up late yesterday, giving up a long touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage in falling behind Hampton by 17 points in the first quarter en route to a 49-37 loss to the Pirates in the New York Urban League Classic at Giants Stadium. Quarterback Bradshaw Littlejohn took it upon himself to bring back Morgan, completing 28 of 47 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns and also running for three scores, but it wasn't enough.

Sept. 12 at Cleveland 1 p.m., Cleveland Browns Stadium, Ch. 13 Jamal Lewis goes for third straight 200-yard rushing game vs. Browns. Sept. 19 Pittsburgh 1 p.m., M&T Bank Stadium, Ch. 13 Ravens ended six-game home losing streak to Steelers last year. Sept. 26 at Cincinnati 1 p.m. Paul Brown Stadium, Ch. 13 Ravens committed nine total turnovers in losses here in 2001 and 2003. Oct. 4 Kansas City 9 p.m., M&T Bank Stadium, Ch. 2 Ravens are 3-0 on Monday nights, but 0-2 in all-time series with Chiefs.

If anyone is curious about whether Ravens senior offensive consultant Jim Fassel will get worked up for his return to Giants Stadium for tomorrow night's preseason game against the New York Giants, don't worry - he won't. Fassel said getting fired after seven years as Giants coach is part of the business, as is returning to a place with which a person has close ties. "You've got to move on; you've got to get over it," Fassel said. "Let's go." Fassel acknowledges he will have some emotions when he walks onto the turf at the stadium for the first time since the Giants' season-ending loss to the Carolina Panthers last year, but also said he is not bitter about the way things ended - a 4-12 record and a final month in which he was essentially a lame-duck coach.