National Football League

Do Giants have gnome-field advantage?

Published Jan. 29, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Super Bowl is days away, but it's already getting crazy out there:

1. Pot, meet kettle

Just when you thought the Democrats and Republicans in Washington would go to any length to disagree on even the most trivial of matters, we bring you the governors of New York and New Jersey.

This past week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, decided to take a shot at the New England Patriots.

“I’ll let you know what’s interesting about the New England Patriots,” Cuomo said jokingly. “Isn’t it interesting that no specific state identifies with the team? Like the Mid-Atlantic Chargers. Why didn’t Massachusetts say, ‘It’s our team? Massachusetts Patriots. Vermont Patriots. New Hampshire Patriots.’ They all have semi-deniability. That’s what I think this is.”

In trying to make a funny, Cuomo overlooked the fact the New York Giants play their games in New Jersey.

And reporters kindly pointed that out to Cuomo, as well as the fact that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, said he wants a parade in New Jersey if the Giants win the Super Bowl.

“He should read the helmets: New York,” Cuomo said.

Christie responded: “The only thing New York about the Giants is the helmet. That’s it.”

And you thought your tax dollars were being wasted.

2. Battle of the bars

OK, this one is more serious.

Foley’s Pub in New York City has said it will not offer Sam Adams beer during the Super Bowl “so as not to support a Boston-based brand.”

Pub owners in Boston might be hard pressed to counterpunch because, well, there really is no New York brew worth serving anyway.

But, wait, there’s more. (We told you this was serious.)

Shaun Clancy, owner of Foley’s, has reportedly made a wager with Ken Casey, best known as the lead vocalist of the Dropkick Murphys, but also the owner of McGreevy’s bar in Boston. The loser will donate the earnings from all shepherd’s pies sold from the Super Bowl to Opening Day in baseball.

And, finally, the loser will have to tend bar at the winner’s establishment in the winner’s jersey.

We told you this was serious stuff.

3. The Ballad of Ochocinco

Wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, in an interview with the Boston Herald, said it has been a “bittersweet” season but he has no regrets signing with the Patriots.

But here’s the good part. When times were the toughest, guess who he turned to for advice? Terrell Owens and Randy Moss.

“For me, those guys were my outlets, not Twitter,” Ochocinco said. “To have those two guys in my corner, I talk to them all the time. (Moss) keeps me sane for 16 weeks, every week. Every week, we talked. T.O., too. We’re close-knit, us so-called diva receivers. . . .

"I love those two, man. I didn’t want to burden anyone else in here with that bull. They don’t want to hear that.”

With all due respect, but isn’t turning to Owens and Moss for advice sort of like calling Paula Deen for advice on a healthy diet?

OK, one more comment from Ochocinco, this one about playing in a new offense.

“It’s like being married. If I’m married to Halle Berry for 10 years, and her and I break up, and I marry Scarlett Johansson, there are going to be some things I have to adjust to based off what I’m used to. That’s just the way life is in general.”

Funny, but Patriots quarterback Tom Brady probably feels like he married Ugly Betty in this deal.

4. Serendipitous gnome

Eli Manning’s composure? The sticky hands of Victor Cruz? What is the secret of the Giants’ January streak to the Super Bowl?

If you ask Jennifer Pernice of Brooklyn, it’s the Giants garden gnome she received from her sister as a Christmas gift. “Since he came into my life, the Giants have been doing pretty good,” Pernice told the New York Daily News.

Pernice brings the gnome with her to a bar whenever the Giants play, and the superstition doesn’t end there.

“I take it very seriously. Nobody is allowed to touch him,” Pernice said.