John Clayton

This past Monday, some poor soul over at some other Giants site linked to ultimatenyg with the story from John Clayton from ESPN and his perspective on Shockey and Strahan. Amusing. The bullies over there started giving him s*** for sending over a stale story quoting a loser like Clayton.

1) The Shockey and Strahan stories are not exactly 'timely' pieces where an ESPN analyst is being held on the clock for a breaking OPINION. It's freaking MAY, the nadir of our football calendar. EVERYTHING IS STALE!

2) Clayton is not the holy grail. In over 400 posts over a 1.5 year period, do you know how many times this blog referred to his coverage? TWICE. That INCLUDES Monday's post. AND it also includes the John Fox article where the blog casted doubt on the perception of Fox as damaged goods on the hot seat. So this site is not exactly a John Clayton parrot.

3) My own personal bias has been leaning toward Strahan coming back because of the financial nightmare of a divorce. But I have enough humility and respect for other opinions to ask for any STRONG opinion which is based on strong facts in support for EITHER side. I'd love to share the OUTCOME before it occurs. IF you have a unique perspective on WHY he is going to leave or stay that no one is talking about, I am all ears.

4) Lost in the Monday post was the key part of the message, that Clayton's perspective on Strahan and Shockey had some merit because he was a step back from the Giants mania and had an unbiased view of the story. His sense of Strahan packing it in has more merit in my eyes than mine or anyone else's in Giantland right now because he is NOT watching every bowel movement of Strahan and really could care less about the outcome. We care. We are biased. We are dissecting every angle.

The bottom line here is that I'd rather have the answer than be right. Clayton is out there ALL THE TIME, and rarely does he add something which is worth passing along. This time his comments struck me as simple and to the point. His lack of bias is the value, that is the story.

The latest is that Strahan said Wednesday that he has pretty much made up his mind. The earlier he makes up his mind the more likely he is retiring. Clayton does not look so bad right now, given that he is saying Strahan goes and Shockey stays.