In the summer sun….

In all the Subway Series madness last week, forgot to tell you guys I’m on vacation for the next three weeks. So feel free to chat among yourselves and discuss any news that happens while I’m gone.

See ya later,

EP

Commissioner Roger Goodell is beginning his investigation into the Plaxico Burress gun charges and agent Drew Rosenhaus says five teams are interested in signing the troubled wide receiver.

This is gonna be fun. I’m thinking it’s not a matter of if Plax gets a league suspension, it’s when and how much. And who’s gonna be the team dumb enough to sign him as he awaits his Sept. 23 hearing date?

Wondering what you guys have to say.

EP

For those of you planning to trek up to Albany for a training camp session or two, here’s the schedule. Make the most of it because the Giants have yet to decide whether they want to renew all or part of their agreement with the University at Albany past this final year of a three-year contract. Now that the Giants have their own big training facility, they may want to stick around New Jersey the better part of the summer.

But for this season, anyway, they’re up north for a 14th year starting Aug. 2. First workouts are Aug. 3. Only eight two-practice sessions in the 17-day stretch, and six of those include night workouts that start at 6:05 p.m.

2009 New York Giants Training Camp Schedule

August 3 (Mon.)

Practice #1: 8:35-10:35 a.m.

Practice #2: 3:15-5:15 p.m.

August 4 (Tues.)

Practice #1: 8:35-10:35 a.m.

Practice #2: 3:15-5:15 p.m.

August 5 (Wed.)

No Practice

August 6 (Thurs.)

Practice #1: 8:35-10:35 a.m.

Practice #2: 6:05-8:05 p.m.

August 7 (Fri.)

Practice: 2:35-4:35 p.m.

August 8 (Sat.)

Practice #1: 8:35-10:35 a.m.

Practice #2: 6:05-8:05 p.m.

August 9 (Sun.)

Practice: 2:35-4:35 p.m.

August 10 (Mon.)

Practice #1: 8:35-10:35 a.m.

Practice #2: 6:05-8:05 p.m.

August 11 (Tues.)

No Practice

August 12 (Wed.)

Practice #1: 8:35-10:35 a.m.

Practice #2: 6:05-8:05 p.m.

August 13 (Thurs.)

Practice: 2:35-4:35 p.m.

August 14 (Fri.)

Practice #1: 8:35-10:35 a.m.

Practice #2: 6:05-8:05 p.m.

August 15 (Sat.)

Practice: 2:35-4:35 p.m.

August 16 (Sun.)

Practice: 10:00-11:30 a.m. (Jog-Thru)

August 17 (Mon.)

NFL Preseason Game vs. Carolina, 8:15 p.m.

August 18 (Tues.)

No Practice

August 19 (Wed.)

Practice: 2:35-4:35 p.m.

August 20 (Thurs.)

Practice #1: 9:10-10:10 a.m. (Jog-Thru)

Practice #2: 6:05-8:05 p.m.

August 21 (Fri.)

Practice: 10:25-11:25 a.m. (Jog-Thru)

August 22 (Sat.)

NFL Preseason Game @ Chicago, 8:00 p.m.

August 23 (Sun.)

No Practice

August 24 (Mon.)

Practice: 2:35-4:35 p.m.

August 25 (Tues.)

Practice: 8:35-10:35 a.m.

Cam

Remember that injury list that seem to grow exponentially during minicamp. It just got a person longer, and a lot more perilous.

Michael Boley, the weakside linebacker the Giants just handed a five-year, $25 million free agent contract, underwent arthroscopic surgery today to repair a torn hip labrum. The expected recovery time is eight to 10 weeks. Doing the quick math, that means with an Aug. 2 reporting date, Boley will miss at least half, and possibly all of training camp. And that’s not good news for a guy who was penciled in as a starting linebacker. He needed those reps to get accustomed to Bill Sheridan’s system after dealing with both coaching and philosophical changes over four years in Atlanta.

Boley had shown much promise during minicamp, at one point displaying his coverage abilities as well as his pass-rush potential. But if he misses camp, one has to assume all bets are off. It will be a matter of whether he’s learned enough in the offseason to create a seamless fit into his new system.

Looks like Chase Blackburn and Gerris Wilkinson should plan on increased workloads during camp. That’ll be big for Wilkinson, who after five starts was bitten by the injury bug that has plagued him first three years in the league. Blackburn handled weakside last year following Bryan Kehl’s injury-shortened two-start stint in place of Wilkinson, but spent most of minicamp in the rehab circle.

Tell me what you think of the situation? Is Boley a good enough player to come in and make an impact after only half a camp, or perhaps no camp at all?
—————————————————————————-

The Giants also signed two more of their draft picks—third-round receiver Ramses Barden and fifth-round quarterback Rhett Bomar. Seventh-year tight end George Wrightster was waived along with first-year offensive lineman Mike Fladell to create roster space.

If I get any terms on Barden and Bomar, you’ll be the first to know.

UPDATE: Bomar’s deal has been reported at four-years, $1.935 million with an $895,000 signing bonus.

EP

Wishing all my guys a Happy Father’s Day.

People ask me what my greatest achievement is. That’s easy. My kids.

EP

The Giants announced the signing of seventh-round DB Stoney Woodson to a four-year deal believed to be worth $1.8 million, with escalators that can push it to $4 million.

That makes two down, seven to go.

CB Rashad Barksdale was waived to make room for Woodson.

EP

I promised a while back that I’d bring you, courtesy of Jane McManus, a special story on Eli Manning and his wife, Abby. Seems the power couple sponsored a new birthing center.

Here, then, is Jane’s story. It’s a good read, and might even come in handy for you young families who are having or planning to have kids in the near future.

Enjoy!

Jane McManus
jmcmanus@LoHud.com

Mary Esther Malloy-Hopwood, a doula from Hastings, was at another woman’s side helping her through a three-day labor. The mother was having a difficult time, until she focused on something that seemed just as impossible as having her baby.

Eli Manning’s pass to David Tyree when the Giants won the Super Bowl.

So when Hopwood heard that the Giants quarterback and his wife Abby were spearheading the effort to fund a new $10 million birthing center at St. Vincent’s Hospital, it just seemed to fit.

“It’s been a subtext to my year, Eli Manning and birth,” Hopwood said with a laugh.

To many others however, quarterbacks and natural birth might seem like a strange combination. Even Manning understands it might seem unusual for a football player to take up such a core women’s issue.

“It’s probably a little different,” Manning said.

His involvement increased with St. Vincent’s very gradually. Manning made the traditional visits to the hospital as part of the Giants community outreach. The NFL often works with community hospitals and, like other players, Manning was affected by the people he met.

The more time he spent in the pediatric rooms, the more he was moved by the plight of young cancer patients and their parents. He asked how he could get more involved in helping St. Vincent’s and learned about the plans for the birthing center. He and his wife discussed it and signed on.

“My attachment to the new hospital, the plans, (is so) they have everything they need to make a woman feel like they’re doing it at their home,” Manning said.

A birthing center is very different from a hospital’s traditional labor and delivery area. Many women who decide to come to a birthing center opt for a midwife or doula rather than a physician, and the philosophy is very different.

“The assumption is that birth works and that women can do it,” Hopwood said. “Procedures are reserved for women who need them.”

Those procedures include fetal heart monitors, epidurals and IV fluids. Instead, women at a birth center might lean on hot tubs, relaxation techniques and visualization to make it through their labor — things Manning is finding out more about.

“The more we get involved the more we’ll learn,” said Manning, who was married after his Super Bowl victory and doesn’t yet have children.

Was he worried that he might get some ribbing from his fellow GIants?

“I think that players will see that I’m helping out with the hospital,” Manning said. “I don’t think I’ll get much heat for it.”

In 2003, Manhattan lost the Elizabeth Seton Childbearing Center, the only free-standing birth center in the city. Some natural birth advocates feared that women would be forced to choose between a hospital and a homebirth.

But Hopwood said interest in natural birth increased and there are several options for women in the five boroughs. She also thinks athletes and women in labor might have more in common than they think, in pushing themselves to accomplish a physically difficult task.

Hopwood will be hosting a discussion at St. Vincent’s later this summer on ment and natural childbirth, and she is sure that Manning will be a topic that comes up.

“It’s interesting having an icon in the masculine world of sports emblazoned across a birthing center,” Hopwood said, “but there are almost as many men walking through those doors.”

Manning may be an unlikely hero for the natural birth movement, and the quarterback has gotten letters through the hospital from people excited about his sponsorship. But Manning said he isn’t even sure that it’s what he and his wife will want when they decide to have children.

Then he paused.

“I’ll let my wife make that decision,” he said.

Reach Jane McManus at jmcmanus@lohud.com  =

The Giants went to Yankee Stadium last night as one of Tom Coughlin’s team-bonding exercises. Here’s the story Giants web writer Mike Eisen wrote.

By Michael Eisen

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Justin Tuck would seem to be an unlikely fan of Thurman Munson.

After all, Tuck was born in 1983, almost four years after Munson, the great New York Yankees catcher, died in the crash of a small plane he was piloting near Canton, Ohio. And Tuck grew up in Kellyton, Ala., an area that’s not exactly a breeding ground for Yankees fever.

But Tuck is an ardent and longtime fan of both Munson and the Yankees, so it was a huge thrill for him to see the former captain’s locker in the museum in the new Yankee Stadium. The entire Giants team (players, coaches and football support staff) attended last night’s 3-2 Yankees loss to the Washington Nationals.

“I took a picture by it,” Tuck said of the locker. “It was awesome.”

Many Giants players had a similar reaction to the evening. A spring night out for the players has become an annual rite under Tom Coughlin. Two years ago, he hosted a Casino Night in Giants Stadium. Last year, comedians entertained the players. The Giants have had similar outings in training camp, including a bowling tournament. This time, Coughlin made the event a short road trip, and the players had a blast.

The team’s four busses pulled up to the stadium about 2½ hours before the game’s 7:05 start. Most players and coaches rushed up to an opening in the outfield wall, looked all around the stadium and snapped photos as the Yankees took batting practice.

The next stop was Monument Park, where plaques and memorials honor the greatest figures in Yankees history, including players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, manager Miller Huggins, owner Jacob Ruppert and broadcaster Mel Allen. Also displayed are all 15 numbers retired by the Yankees to honor 16 former players and managers, including Munson’s No. 15 (both Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra wore No. 8, which is also retired).

After studying the monuments, the players and coaches took the elevator up to the museum, which houses a treasure trove of Yankees history. In one corner is a display honoring every one of the Yankees’ record 26 World Series titles, including the six they’ve won since the Commissioner’s Trophy was first awarded in 1967. There’s also a corner devoted to Ruth, a revolving model of the new stadium and Munson’s locker, which has never been used since his death and was transported from the old Yankee Stadium (which still stands next door, awaiting demolition).

Perhaps the most eye-catching feature in the museum is a display of hundreds of baseballs, each signed by a former Yankee. The Yankees are trying to get a signed ball from as many of their former players as possible. The baseballs have been signed by prominent figures like Mantle, owner George Steinbrenner, Hall of Famer Wade Boggs and Don Larsen, who pitched the only perfect game in World Series history in 1956. But the majority of balls were autographed by relatively obscure players, like Rich Bordi, Bob Meyer and Hal Lanier.

After leaving the museum, the Giants party dined in the Legends Club. The players and coaches then scattered to watch the game. Coughlin and Tuck were cheered when they were shown separately on the stadium’s huge television screen. Eli Manning spent a half inning in the booth the Yankees’ announcers on the YES Network, then later visited with his older brother and fellow Super Bowl MVP, Peyton, who attended the game separately.

“We had a good, good time,” Coughlin said. “I looked forward to it and I knew I was going to have a good time. What was really neat, I thought, was how well-organized it was and what wonderful hosts the Yankee people were. To a person, they were really nice to all of us. And then, of course, the history of the organization. I stood a long time to try to fathom, for example, Yogi’s accomplishments – three batting titles, 10 World Series victories, 14 appearances. The seats were terrific, the food was great and we enjoyed the game.”

Coughlin believes having everyone spend time together way from football will strengthen bonds among the players and help the team on the field.

“The players with the coaches, with the organization in a different venue, allows people to exchange conversation about topics other than what is the norm when you walk into this building,” Coughlin said. “And people see each other on a little different level. I know with the bowling, they see me throw the ball in the gutter and they laugh. It brings a different opportunity to get to know somebody better.”

And it’s fun. Even those players who have no interest in baseball enjoyed spending time with their teammates somewhere other than the practice field or the locker room.

“Whenever you get the whole team together like that, it’s fun,” guard Rich Seubert said. “It was my first game at the new Yankee Stadium, so it was cool to see. I enjoy baseball, so I just sat back and watched the game. It was fun.”

“I think anytime we get the opportunity to see each other outside of our pads and jerseys, it gives us an opportunity to spark up conversations about something other than sports or football,” Tuck said. “You get a chance to learn the substance an individual might have. I think that is exactly what bonding consists of. We see each other nine hours out of the day, but it is football-based, so you don’t get the opportunity to understand a guy outside of football. Things like this give us that opportunity. It was honestly a great trip.”

What self-described “huge” Yankees fan wouldn’t say that? How, exactly, did a kid from rural Alabama start rooting for baseball’s most famous franchise?

“My father (Jimmy) has been a Yankee fan all of his life and he kind of passed it on to me,” Tuck said. “Growing up in Alabama, we never had a major league team – football, baseball or basketball. I don’t know the story of how he became a Yankee fan. When I was born, all we did was watch Yankee tapes. I mean old tapes, too. His favorite player was Thurman Munson. That got passed down to me. Even though I never watched a live game with him in it, I had the opportunity to go back and watch things he had done in his career. I loved the way he played the game. He actually became one of my favorite players, even though I never had the opportunity to see him. Once I got drafted by the Giants, it was one of those scenarios where I thought maybe I was supposed to be a Yankee fan.

“It has been awesome for me, getting drafted here and having the opportunity. I live right across the bridge and have the opportunity to come here about anytime I want to.

Last night, he went with 120 of his closest friends and had a great time.

EP

I’m out at Yankee Stadium in the spring’s latest entry in the Noah and the Ark saga—and just for the record, I can’t believe they’re intent on playing this thing—but I have some notes for you on the final day of minicamp.

Justin Tuck wasn’t there to say farewell until the Aug. 2 reporting date in Albany because of a family issue, and Chris Snee missed because he had to attend his uncle’s funeral. But the rest of the Giants were there to hear Tom Coughlin send them off with an 18-minute speech about how they should behave and what they should be doing in the interim.

“You can go with the idea of the summer and what they have to be careful of,” Coughlin said. “It is a longer stretch than normal for us.

“I gave them some notes about the number of practices up there and how it is reduced. Let’s face it, we don’t get the same number because we play the Monday night game. So we have to make things count when we get them.

“I wished them and their families, ‘God bless them for the summer.’ But they need to think long and hard about the disappointment of January in terms of what we have created for ourselves and how badly we want to prioritize our 2009 season.”

Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride just hoped his players were listening.

“ That is exactly what you are saying,” Gilbride said. “I thought he spoke from the heart, I really did. And I thought he addressed the things that needed to be said. I kind of like when he does that because I’m thinking, ‘You know what, he is hitting – he is right on the mark with some of the things that he is saying.’”

“All of the potential in the world means nothing if you are not out there practicing and doing it. So he talked about being confident but also understanding the work that is necessary to deserve that confidence.”

Coughlin is most concerned over a growing injury list. At least a dozen players stood on the sidelines on Wednesday, including Sinorice Moss, David Tyree, Barry Cofield, Fred Robbins, and second-round inebacker Clint Sintim.

“I am disappointed in the number of injured guys,” he said. “It’s not their fault. I’m not pointing the finger at anybody. I’m just saying for our team to have that many guys standing around watching practice in training would be a real setback. We couldn’t function the way we want to if that was the case.”

The rookies stay on another week. Until camp starts, the front office will be busy signing the draft picks, none of which have been locked down as yet. But a few are close to agreements.

UPDATE: My guy Ralph at The Blue Screen reports that sixth-round corner DeAndre Wright has agreed to a four-year deal worth approximately $1.6 million, with escalators that can push it to $4 million. DT Dwayne Hendricks was cut to make room for Wright. Also, the Giants are reportedly close to signing seventh-round DB Stoney Woodson.

EP

Hard to believe something as benign as minicamp would include a fight. But that’s what happened about midway through the afternoon practice when tight end Darcy Johnson took down defensive end Dave Tollefson on a pass rush. Tollefson got up hot and got Johnson by a leg before teammates intervened. He even managed to get off a punch. No damage done, however.

The part of practice where the Giants actually did productive work was a bit different than the morning session. More deep passes, and Andre Woodson didn’t look nearly as good flinging them as he did a few hours earlier. In fact, toward the end, Rhett Bomar took his place in the rotation, stepping in after David Carr, while Woodson stood watching from the back.

Woodson did do one nice thing. Toward the end, he saw one of the safeties walk up and he audibled out of the play, instead hitting Ramses Barden, who had to reach out for the throw.

Steve Smith caught a touchdown pass from Carr on the Red Zone 7-on-7 drill. Domenik Hixon made a catch while stumbling off Eli Manning’s deep throw, and Mario Manningham made a catch deep off Manning after Rashad Barksdale deflected it upward.

Barden had a good session overall, though Hakeem Nicks still has a leg up after having caught everything and anything.

Kevin Dockery didn’t work in the afternoon. Don’t quite know what’s ailing him, as he wouldn’t address it after practice.

Minicamp ends tomorrow, the vets scattering until the Aug. 2 report date in Albany, and the rookies staying on another week.

EP