Are the Giants better off without Jeremy Shockey? One of his former teammates believes so. "I've been there, I've been in that locker room, I know how guys feel, I know how people in that organization feel," Tim Hasselbeck, a Giants backup quarterback in 2005 and 2006, said yesterday on the "Mike and Murray Show" on Sirius Satellite Radio. "People there are relieved he's not around. There's this big stink about he's on injured reserve. How come he's not on the sideline supporting his team? Let me tell you something, they don't want him there. They're going to say all the right things, 'Oh yeah, we'd love to have him around' and all that stuff because he's their teammate, he's under contract next year and you can't do that. But when they're talking to people and it's not necessarily being reported they don't want him around. He's a distraction."

Just days after declaring that New York's receivers are better than New England's, the Giants' Plaxico Burress told the New York Post that his team will win the Super Bowl on Sunday, 23-17. He didn't name the Giants as the victor, but it is pretty obvious which team he feels will come away victorious this Sunday.

The flu has torn through the New York Giants, according to the Associated Press. Cornerback Aaron Ross caught something recently and got sick on the team's flight to Arizona. He was so sick that the flight was delayed for nearly an hour. Several other players missed practice on Monday because of both the flu and high body temperatures. "It's not a sign," defensive end Michael Strahan told the AP.

According to the Associated Press and ticketing firms, Giants' and Patriots' fans are paying record prices to scalpers for tickets to this year's Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, and the total dollar volume of resold seats could be the biggest ever. Asking prices for the February 3 game range from $2,450 to $19,446 at StubHub, a unit of eBay Inc. and the biggest of the online resellers. Officials there say the average price so far is $4,300 for tickets that the NFL originally priced at either $700 or $900.

New York Giants' wide receiver Plaxico Burress has provided the New England Patriots with a little unneeded fuel heading into next weekend's Super Bowl, according to the Associated Press. Plaxico thinks that his Giants may have better receivers than the Patriots' deep group of Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Donte' Stallworth and Jabar Gaffney. "We have guys that can go out and do things just as well or maybe better than some of those guys," Burress said.

Injured tight end Jeremy Shockey told the New York Post on Friday that he believes his New York Giants will upset the New England Patriots and win the Super Bowl. "Having something to prove," Shockey told the Post. "What else is a bigger motivator than that?"

Peyton Manning doesn't think next week's Super Bowl will be his younger brother Eli's last as a professional football player, according to the New York Daily News. "I feel very strongly that this will not be the last Super Bowl he will play in," Peyton told the Daily News in a conference call. "I just think he?s got what it takes to lead his team to championships." Peyton named his brother's work ethic and talent as reasons why he'll likely make another Super Bowl appearance.

The Associated Press and ESPN.com are reporting that for the second consecutive day, Patriots QB Tom Brady wasn't in the locker room when reporters and cameramen were allowed inside Friday. Several cameramen lingered near Brady's locker, but he didn't show up. Nor was he there for the first 12 minutes of practice that the media were allowed to watch. Asked if he could say whether Brady would practice later in the day, Bill Belichick said, "Not now. We'll see."

The Associated Press is reporting that former President Bill Clinton will pull for the Giants in their Super Bowl matchup against the undefeated Patriots. "They're the underdog, and they're my home team. But I'm glad the Patriots are undefeated, and I'm glad that teamwork from both teams is back at the center of professional sports," Clinton told about 400 people Thursday as he campaigned for wife Hillary Rodham Clinton.

To reach the Super Bowl, the New York Giants had to go through a Dallas Cowboys team they lost to twice in the regular season, followed by an upset of the Green Bay Packers, who New York fell to in week two. It didn?t matter who the New England Patriots hosted for the AFC Championship. They played the Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers during the regular season and the Pats beat them both. Ultimately, it was a rematch with the Chargers, and the Pats disposed of the Bolts without difficulty. Which leads us to Super Bowl XLII. The Giants failed in their bid to prevent a New England undefeated regular season when the Patriots came from behind to beat the G-men, 38-35. That?s a lot of familiarity in the playoffs. While it?s not uncommon to see Conference foes tussle a second time in the playoffs, in the 41-year history of the Super Bowl, eleven times have regular season opponents met again when the stakes were for all the marbles. Most recently the Patriots and the St. Louis Rams played a rematch in Super Bowl XXXI. Here are the results starting with the most recent: XXXVI ? Patriots def. Rams 20-17 Week 10 ? Rams def. Patriots 24-17 XXXIV ? Rams def. Titans 23-16 Week 8 ? Titans def. Rams 24-21 XXIX ? 49ers def. Chargers 49-26 Week 15 ? 49ers def. Chargers 38-15 XXVII ? Cowboys def. Bills 30-13 Week 2 ? Bills def. Cowboys 13-10 XXV ? Giants def. Bills 20-19 Week 15 - Bills def. Giants 17-13 XXI ? Giants def. Broncos 39-20 Week 12 ? Giants def. Broncos 19-16 XX ? Bears def. Patriots 46-10 Week 2 ? Bears def. Patriots 20-7 XVIII ? Raiders def. Redskins 38-9 Week 5 ? Redskins def. Raiders 37-35 XVI ? 49ers def. Bengals 26-21 Week 14 ? 49ers def. Bengals 21-3 XV ? Raiders def. Eagles 27-10 Week 12 ? Eagles def. Raiders 10-7 XII ? Cowboys def. Broncos 27-10 Week 16 ? Cowboys def. Broncos 14-6 These results break down as such: - The winner of the regular season game won the championship fives times. The average margin of victory was 13 points in the regular season, but increased to 20 points for the Super Bowl, an increase by a touchdown. Four of the championship wins were by 17 points or more. - Six times the regular season loser reversed their fortune. The winning difference jumped from 3.6 points (regular) up to 12 (SB). Of the wins, three were blowouts, a 17-point win or greater. - The home team won the regular season game five times. It wasn?t an advantage in the ultimate game as home winners were 2-3 in the Super Bowl. - The six road winners were even in the championship game (3-3). - Seven of these Super Bowls were blowouts by 17 points or more. In the four close games, the average margin of victory was four points. - In the games played in the first half of the season, the loser won the Super Bowl three of the four times. If it was played in the second half, the winner swept four out of seven times. - The Giants are 2-0 in the Super Bowl grudge matches, but 1-1 the first time around, beating the Denver Broncos in 1986 but losing to the Buffalo Bills in 1990. - As for the Patriots, both times they lost the regular season games (Chicago Bears in 1985, St. Louis Rams in 2001), but 1-1 in the rematch. - The exact scenario between the Patriots and Giants this year played out in 1977 when the Dallas Cowboys beat the Denver Broncos in the season finale and later in Super Bowl XII, 27-10. What does all this mean for Super Bowl XLII? Absolutely nothing. More than anything it proves there?s a 50-50 chance for either team to win, just like in any competition between opposing sides. Many expect the New England Patriots to become the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to go undefeated for the season. Or will they be like the Chicago Bears of 1942 and 1934, undefeated until the championship game? On the flip side, some think the New York Giants are the 2007 version of the 2001 Patriots, a double-digit underdog that pulls off the unexpected upset. Or maybe the G-men are like the 1985 Patriots, winners of three road playoff games just to get pasted by a dominant Bears team. The point is none of what you just read can help predict what happens on February third. One thing for sure is I just wasted minutes of your valuable free time, like many other forms of analysis. But at least I?m honest about it. Randolph Charlotin can be contacted at lordrc@netzero.net