TVSquad

Anyone who's followed the NFL over the last fifteen years knew what Michael Strahan's plans were going to be after retirement: TV, TV and more TV. It was a given; during most of his career with the Giants, Strahan loved to be in front of the camera, and often did commentary and studio gigs on his off-weeks or during the playoffs.

Now, with a Super Bowl ring in-hand, the newly-retired defensive end is making his move. Not only has he joined the FOX NFL pregame show, but he also just completed filming a cameo on the NBC geek adventure comedy Chuck. He plays Mitt, the manager of the sporting goods store that's in the same shopping center as Buy More, the store where Chuck works. He and his crew take over the home theater portion of the store during lunchtimes, playing Madden '09 and making a mess. My guess is that we'll set up a geeks vs. jocks scenario with retail being the venue, instead of the locker room.

Yesterday, Amani Toomer and Michael Strahan of the World Champion New York Giants (boy, it feels great to write that) stopped by The View to talk about fitness equipment. During the segment, Whoopi Goldberg, who is such a self-proclaimed Giants fan that she spoke during the team's post-victory-parade ceremony at New York's City Hall, asked Toomer about the miracle catch he made late in the game, where he pinned the football to his helmet before being tackled.

There was just one problem: Toomer didn't make the catch. David Tyree did. Video is after the jump, thanks to our friends at BestWeekEver.tv

I love a parade as much as the next guy. I especially love a parade that celebrates a championship for a team that I've been following since 1980. So, I was ready and eager to watch my beloved New York Giants float down New York's "Canyon of Heroes" for the first time ever, a just reward for beating the "perfect" Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

But, of course I couldn't completely enjoy it. Why? because, no matter what channel I tuned in to (and, here in the New York area, the parade was on every channel), I heard something that made my head rattle and my ear hair stand on end.

It was people. Talking.

FOX is hoping you like a little politics with your football coverage.

On Super Bowl Sunday (that's this Sunday), FOX News anchor Shep Smith will host a two hour political show on FOX from 10am to noon. The show will not only have news about the election (Super Tuesday is next week), but they'll also feature a story on what it takes to put the Super Bowl together and will include comments from the candidates and other politicians about the game and politics in general.

The move by the NFL to exclusively air this weekend's game between the New England Patriots and New York Giants on their own NFL network, which reaches only 40% of US households, was met with much criticism and frustration. With a win this weekend, the Patriots would become the first team to go undefeated in a 16-game season (the Dolphins did it in the 14-game '72 season).

Now it looks like pressure from Washington has changed their mind and suddenly the game is airing on NFL Network and both NBC and CBS. Of course, several local affiliates to the two teams had already negotiated exclusive rights to the game and sold ads at inflated rates, so they can't be too happy about having to share the game now with CBS and NBC.

I've been a New York Giants fan since 1980, and in all that time, I've always hated seeing them on at night, whether it was on Sunday or Monday. To me, football is a Sunday afternoon game, and I don't really like wrecking my evening just to see my favorite team play. The fans who go to the games like them even less; by the time they get out of the stadium, through the parking lot mess, and back home, it's often past 1 AM, making for some very tired commuters the next morning.

But NBC doesn't care. When they signed their new NFL TV deal, they got the option to take a game that was scheduled for the daytime and make it their Sunday Night Football game, starting in Week 10. The first matchup that will make such a shift is when the Bears visit the Giants on Nov. 12. According to Variety, this game was pre-designated by the NFL, taking it out of the reach of CBS and FOX, who are each allowed to protect four games per week. The two huge TV markets and potential playoff preview was just too much for NBC to ignore. Sigh. At least I'm not going to the game.