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Mark Lamping, President and CEO of the New Meadowlands stadium, takes the Associated Press on a tour of the future home of the New York Jets and New York Giants. The new stadium will be unveiled this weekend with three college lacrosse games.

Demolition of Giants Stadium got under way Thursday in East Rutherford , New Jersey. The Giants and Jets will open a new stadium in 2010.

Saints rally to beat Panthers, 30-20, to improve to 8-0 for the first time in team history. Chargers beat Giants with late touchdown pass, 21-20. Titans defeat 49ers, 34-27.

Ravens hand Broncos their first loss, 30-7. Joseph Addai throws for a touchdown as Colts edge 49ers, 18-14. Eagles rout Giants, 40-17. Ted Ginn Jr. returns two kickoffs for touchdowns in Miami's win. Rams break losing streak.

AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner previews three top games this week in the NFL, including Brett Favre and the Vikings meeting Green Bay. The winless Rams take on the Lions, and the Giants visit the Eagles.

The Saints routed the Giants, 48-27, in a meeting of unbeaten teams. Drew Brees had four touchdown passes in the win. Vikings rally to beat Baltimore, 33-31. Redskins lose third straight game to a winless team.

The Giants improved to 5-0 with a 44-7 rout of Oakland. Eli Manning had two touchdown passes in the win. Minnesota remained undefeated with a 38-10 win over the Rams. Late touchdown lifts Bengals over Ravens, 17-14.

By TOM CANAVAN

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress is done for the year.

The New York Giants fined and suspended Burress on Tuesday for four games — the rest of the regular season — after he accidentally shot himself in the right thigh over the weekend at a Manhattan nightclub. The team also placed him on the reserve non-football injury list, which means the wide receiver couldn't come back for playoffs, either.

The team punished Burress a day after he was charged with illegal weapons possession, which carries a penalty of 3 1/2 to 15 years in prison. He is due back in court on March 31.

Burress arrived at Giants Stadium on Tuesday morning, and met individually with Giants president John Mara, general manager Jerry Reese and head coach Tom Coughlin. He left for a medical test and returned in the afternoon for another brief session with team officials.

"As we have said since Saturday morning, our concern is for Plaxico's health and well-being," Mara said. "This is an important time for him to take care of his body and heal up and also deal with the very serious legal consequences and other issues in his life. When I spoke with Plaxico he expressed great remorse for letting down his teammates."

Neither Burress nor his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, was immediately available for comment.

Giants suspend Super Bowl hero Burresss....

East Rutherford, NJ (Sports Network) - The New York Giants have suspended wide receiver Plaxico Burress one game for violating team rules.

Details were not provided by Giants head coach Tom Coughlin and general manager Jerry Reese, who made the announcement on Wednesday morning after meeting with Burress and informing him of the suspension that takes effect immediately.

The 3-0 Giants have a bye this week and will host Seattle on October 5, meaning the suspension is actually for two weeks.

Giants suspend Plaxico Burress....

By RICHARD SANDOMIR

The Giants and the Jets said Friday that they had ended talks with Allianz, a German-based insurance company with connections to the Third Reich, about selling the naming rights to the $1.6 billion stadium they are building in the Meadowlands.

The decision came after two days of largely negative reaction to the possibility of a deal with Allianz, which insured facilities at Auschwitz and other concentration camps, and which deprived many Jewish customers of the proceeds from their insurance policies.

The New York Times first reported about the talks between Allianz and the teams on Sept. 1 and provided details of the company’s history Wednesday. Mark Lamping, the president of the teams’ joint venture, New Meadowlands Stadium, informed Allianz on Friday morning that the discussions were over.

Allianz Drops Bid for Naming Rights....

BY OREN YANIV
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Football fans and Jewish groups are outraged over the prospect of a new Giants and Jets stadium being named for German insurer Allianz because of its Nazi ties in World War II.

The company insured the Auschwitz death camp and had a chief executive serving in Hitler's cabinet. The company is on the short list of those vying to slap their name on the Meadowlands stadium in New Jersey via a lucrative sponsorship deal.

The possibility of what some saw as a former Third Reich enabler getting its name on their ballpark has some Big Blue and Gang Green fans vowing boycott.

"I think it's terrible, but that's the mighty dollar," Giants fan Keith Hayes, 33, said of the name.

"It would be an insult," said Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. "It's putting their name in lights for generations to come."

Debate over Allianz is also heating up the Net and is the talk of sports radio.

A season-ticket holder who posted under the name xxvnyg80 in a Giants Internet forum said he wrote team owner John Mara, begging him to sack the idea.

Allianz would reportedly pay $20 million to $30 million per year for the naming rights of the $1.3 billion stadium, which is to open in 2010.

During the Holocaust, the same company refused to pay off life insurance stipends to Jews and sent their policies' proceeds to the Nazis instead, Holocaust historians have written.

Allianz, which employs 11,000 people in the U.S. and sponsors golf and racing events, has acknowledged its shameful past and has shelled out millions in restitution.

Giants and Jets fans join uproar over stadium naming rights bid by firm with Holocaust ties....

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Maybe it's time to start giving the Super Bowl champion New York Giants a little more respect.

Overlooked by the experts heading into the season, the Giants were impressive in a 16-7 win over the Washington Redskins on Thursday night in a game that really wasn't that close.

"Let people doubt us, it doesn't matter," offensive tackle David Diehl said Friday. "It's what you do on Sundays. That's always been the case and last year was not different. People counted us out and said we weren't going to do anything. That's fine. This year we are playing with a chip on our shoulders."

The Giants displayed that chip repeatedly in the nationally televised season opener.

New York Giants were impressive in debut as Super Bowl champions....

ESPN.com news services

Former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan would consider returning to the team in the wake of Osi Umenyiora's season-ending knee injury, the New York Daily News has reported, citing an unnamed source.

According to the paper, Strahan, 36, who retired in the offseason after helping lead the Giants to a Super Bowl championship, would come back with the Giants if offered an $8 million contract for this season, according to a source close to the seven-time Pro Bowler.

"If the Giants make a sincere overture, it's a good chance that Strahan would consider coming back," the source said, according to the Daily News. "There are other things he has to take into consideration: the money and his contract with Fox."

Strahan currently holds a position at Fox Sports as an NFL studio analyst.


"But if the Giants really want him, they have a shot," the source said. "It's not out of the question."

The Giants appear open to the idea.

Reports: Strahan would consider returning, Giants open to idea....

By TOM CANAVAN

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora will have season-ending surgery on his injured left knee. Umenyiora was hurt in the second quarter of Saturday's preseason game against the New York Jets, and Dr. Russell Warren told the team on Sunday that an MRI found a tear in his lateral meniscus.

The two-time Pro Bowler will have surgery on Tuesday.

"It was obviously the news that I did not want to hear," coach Tom Coughlin said. "But after listening to the explanation and Dr. Warren's thoughts on it, I am convinced that this is the right procedure and the right way to go."

The normal recovery last four months, Coughlin said, adding that a non-surgical option was not discussed.

Giants DE Umenyiora needs surgery, to miss season....

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia man has been charged with trying to blackmail New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin by threatening to expose a fictitious sexual tryst.

Federal prosecutors said Thursday that 30-year-old Herbert Alex Simpson sent Coughlin a pair of phony letters from two women last month.

The letters demanded the coach pay $20,000 to $30,000 or his life would be made "a living hell by doing something to (his) family."

Philly man charged with blackmailing Giants coach....

By JOHN BRANCH

Michael Strahan, the longtime leader of the Giants’ defense, is retiring from the N.F.L., leaving his lone Super Bowl victory as the final game of a 15-year career.

trahan, a defensive end and a likely first-ballot Hall of Famer, told the Giants of his decision on Monday morning. A news conference was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday at Giants Stadium.

MORE....

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- After four months of celebrations, parades, dinners and a tour of the White House, the New York Giants got their final reward on Thursday night for winning the Super Bowl: the bling.

The Giants walked a blue carpet on fashionable Fifth Ave and then were handed their Super Bowl championship rings in a private ceremony at Tiffany and Co.

"As a kid you always think about winning a Super Bowl, winning a championship," tackle David Diehl said. "When you have that ring you are in a unique class. It is something that we will remember for the rest of our lives and something no one will be able to take away from us."

While most of the team attended the ceremony, there were some notable exceptions.

ARTICLE....

By Megan King | NFL.com

PHOENIX -- Last September, former New York Giants defensive end George Martin began a journey on foot from New York to San Diego.

Martin started the cross-country trek in order to raise money to provide health care for rescue and recovery workers who worked at Ground Zero after the attacks on September 11, 2001. A Journey for 9/11 was born.

As of Thursday, on the eve of Memorial Day weekend, he's 2,684 miles into his journey and with nearly $2 million in his coffers so far, firefighters as well as policemen and women from across the state of Arizona gathered at the Hall of Flame Fire Museum in Phoenix to say thank you.

"I lost a lot of friends on 9/11, and I've lost some friends who worked at Ground Zero," said Tom Brock, who used to work as a police officer outside of Giants stadium and now resides in Arizona. He convinced the team at A Journey for 9/11 to change its route through the state and then worked tirelessly to organize the ceremony at the sprawling 35,000 square foot museum.

"How can you not support him walking across the United States for people he really doesn't even know?," Brock asked.

One former NYPD officer Martin now knows is lifelong Giants fan Joe Brodsky, who retired in Arizona nearly 30 years ago. Martin's project is one the 70-year-old Brodsky takes very seriously.

ARTICLE....