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Giants savor afterglow while pondering future

BY ARTHUR STAPLE | arthur.staple@newsday.com

February 6, 2008

Brandon Jacobs was one of the many Giants getting teammates to autograph something. Players were milling around excitedly. Some shot video of a Giants Stadium worker painting the Super Bowl XLII logo on the wall outside the locker room.

Former Giants running back Charles Way, the team's director of player development, was the most popular man in the room. He carried the ring sizer to make sure the soon-to-be-designed championship rings fit properly.

No, yesterday was not a normal last day of work for the Giants. "Yeah, this is usually a quiet, slow day," Jacobs said. "Not today. This is the best."

After the Giants had their exit physicals and their final meetings with Tom Coughlin and general manager Jerry Reese, it was on to a fleet of buses and off to the "Canyon of Heroes" parade in lower Manhattan, a first for a Giants Super Bowl champion.

"We've been waiting a long time for this, ever since [former mayor] Ed Koch denied us permission to hold a parade in 1987 [after Super Bowl XXI]," team president John Mara said. "I can't imagine a better feeling."

Seeing the players packing up their lockers, then donning championship sweat shirts and hats for the parade, was an odd sight. And an odd feeling for some.

Last summer, rookie Kevin Boss had a chance not to just march in a parade. His Oregon hometown asked him to be the grand marshal of the annual Fourth of July "Philomath Frolic and Rodeo."

"I said no, because I didn't feel like I'd really done anything to deserve it," Boss said. "Maybe I'll say yes this year. I'll see what today's parade is like first."

There were the Giants' top receivers, Amani Toomer and Plaxico Burress, hobbled by injuries. Burress skipped a ride on one of the parade floats because of a sprained knee he suffered when he slipped in the shower at the team hotel last week, but he made the rally at Giants Stadium later yesterday afternoon.

Toomer carried his belongings out of the locker room with his left hand, his right hand in a cast and possibly broken from a fourth-quarter catch in Sunday's Super Bowl. "I hope it's not broken," he said. "I don't really feel it, though."

There were still some of the usual aspects of the team's final day together, such as wondering whether free agents or potential retirees would return. Michael Strahan was serenaded by chants of "One more year!" at the rally.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Strahan, 36, said when he arrived at the stadium yesterday morning bearing gifts. He gave each teammate a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label scotch with his name and "Super Bowl XLII Champions" engraved on the bottle.

Jeff Feagles, at 41 the oldest player in Super Bowl history, also said he hadn't considered whether to return for a 21st season. "No announcements today," he said.

Kawika Mitchell and Gibril Wilson are the only starters who are pending free agents. Mitchell, who joined the Giants this season on a one-year, $1-million contract and ended up recording a sack in the Super Bowl, sounded hopeful.

"I would love to come back, but you never know," Mitchell said. "Especially after last season [when only the Giants made him a free-agent offer]. I never assume anything anymore."

Wilson, a starter in all four seasons as a Giant when healthy, wants at least a four-year deal with a signing bonus in the range given to Seahawks safety Deon Grant, who got an $11.1-million bonus last season as a free agent.

"[Reese] told me he wants to keep me," Wilson said, "so we'll see. You still have to feel wanted. This is a pretty happy day, though."