Got some cheese for this whine!
Giants are Already Making Excuses
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/fo...complaint.html
Quote:
Sunday Morning QB: New York Giants file complaint with NFL about Thanksgiving week schedule
Just as New York football fans are finishing up their holiday dinner on Thanksgiving night in 11 days, the Giants will be getting ready for kickoff 1,750 miles away from home in Denver.
How does the organization feel about it? Not happy.
Giants co-owner John Mara told the Daily News it's a competitive disadvantage for his team to play two time zones away in a short week. Mara, like his father before him, is the ultimate league man, but he filed a complaint with the NFL claiming the scheduling is unfair.
"It's not an ideal situation," Mara said.
The advantage is magnified because once the Broncos arrive home tonight from their game in Washington, they don't have to travel before Thanksgiving. They play the Chargers at home next Sunday and then will wait for the Giants to travel halfway across the country. That is not even taking into account the Giants' players and coaches and front office staff being away from their families.
Mara is a long-time member of the powerful competition committee that makes rules recommendations on the competitive aspects of the game. The committee is expected to address the Thanksgiving situation next year.
"I don't mind playing on Thanksgiving," Mara said. "My complaint is sending us all the way to Denver on a short week."
In order to create inventory for its NFL Network and appease a handful of owners who felt the NFL should break tradition and not award the Thanksgiving games to Detroit and Dallas, the league added a third Thanksgiving game to the schedule in 2006. To go along with the 12:30 p.m. game in Detroit and 4:15 p.m. game in Dallas, a third game with a rotating host was made part of the annual schedule and starts at 8:20 p.m.
The late Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt had pushed for Dallas and Detroit not to get the games every year. Three years ago, the third game debuted in Kansas City. The Chiefs beat the Broncos, 19-10. Two years ago, the Colts went on the road and beat the Falcons, 31-13. Both reasonable length trips. But last year, the Cardinals traveled nearly all the way across the country to get blown out by the Eagles, 48-20.
Hosting the Thanksgiving Day games, as well as the Thursday night games that are now part of the second-half NFL Network schedule, is a competitive advantage. The NFL decided in 2007 that all teams playing on a Thursday would be home the previous Sunday. Last year, the Eagles requested to be on the road before Thanksgiving because of concerns about field conditions with the Army-Navy game being played that Saturday.
What the NFL should have done is make sure the teams hosting on Thursday are on the road the previous Sunday and the teams traveling to the Thursday games are at home. That would even it up somewhat.
For the Thanksgiving teams this year, the Cowboys, Lions and Broncos each have two home games in a five-day period, while the Giants have the long trip to Denver, the Raiders have a long trip to Dallas and the Packers have a quick flight to Detroit.
The Giants will have the short work week following their Nov. 22 home game against the Falcons and will be flying to Denver on Nov. 25, the day before the game. They likely will get in just one regular practice. The Giants will also have to deal with the altitude adjustment in mile-high Denver.
Mara was not given the option to turn down the game in Denver when the schedule was being formulated. He was just told the Giants were selected. When the third game was added three years ago, the NFL asked him if the Giants were interested in hosting on Thanksgiving night. "We declined," he said. "I didn't think most of our fans would like that."
He's probably right about that. But he also knew the Giants were due to be selected for a Thanksgiving game. They last played on the holiday in 1992 when they were beaten by the Cowboys, 30-3. From 1993-2008, a total of 20 different teams played on Thanksgiving. The Bears, Packers and Dolphins have done it four times as the road team. The Jets played in Dallas in 2007 and lost, 34-3.
Maybe the NFL should ask teams to sign up if they want to be the road team on Thanksgiving. "I don't know how many volunteers you are going to get," Mara said.
The one advantage is that if you win on Thanksgiving and stay in the playoff race, you have 10 days to prepare for the next game. But for the Giants, the advantage is minimized this year. They are playing the Cowboys, who will also have 10 days off.
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Originally Posted by LRtagger
!
It's the way things go.
To all the armed forces... present, past, and future. 
