THAT'S BRILLIANT, DOCTOR!

My new favorite philanthropist works for Google.

Last Friday's New York Times Business section had a terrific piece about how Google (and you really should buy their stock!) is reserving 1% of its profit and equity to "make the world a better place". Anyway, Google is fielding suggestions from all over the world (mine: more Nickelback!) and they've placed a most able man in charge of this extraordinary task. His name:

Dr. Larry Brilliant. Seriously, that's his name. Dr. Brilliant .

(At bar)

Doctor (to woman): "Hi, I'm Brilliant."
Woman: "Of course you are. What do you do for a living?"
Doctor: "I'm a doctor."
Woman: "You're a brilliant doctor?"
Doctor: "Actually, I'm Dr. Brilliant."
Woman: "Buzz off, pal."

(I'm sure G.A. will come up with better dialogue than that.)

Anyway, you cannot go wrong with a Dr. Brilliant, can you? It's like having a spy named Incognito.

Dr. Brilliant instantly joins our All-Aptly Named Team, alongside Steve Jobs of Apple, Brian Cashman of the Yankees and field goal kicker Ryan Longwell.

AFC/NFC Championship Game Thoughts

1) Was it just me or did you see Eli Manning searching the crowd after the Giants won, all alone, and think of Cyril after the Cutters won the Little 500 in Breaking Away ?

2) I've mentioned this before, but one of my old high school coaches used to drum the phrase "somebody loses" into our heads. In other words, in football, you're a lot more apt to lose a game via mistakes than to win it. The Giants are winning because they're not losing. That is, few penalties and just one turnover (and that on a play that began with a Packer turnover) in the postseason. And that's why they're winning.

3) Will Sunday's games at last convince the people who build stadiums that comfort does not equal (is in fact, less than) pleasure? Sure, there are 70,000 or so fans who had to brave the arctic conditions on Sunday, but the rest of us (tens of millions of us) were clearly delighted to watch these games that transpired in weather you'll normally only see on TV in "Deadliest Catch: King Crabs". I mean, wasn't that awesome to watch? Why do people ever, ever, ever build domes? You could never capture the atmosphere that existed in Green Bay and New England on Sunday in the RCA Dome.

4) If you've never played outside in those temperatures, it's impossible to appreciate how amazing Chris Chambers' sideline catch for San Diego and Amani Toomer's diving catch for the Giants were. Laying your body out to catch a rock-hard football, knowing that the landing is going to be like hitting concrete...those were two outstanding catches.

5) Allow me to echo Phil Mushnick of the New York Post, CBS: It's not enough to tell us that Randy Moss only has one catch all afternoon. You need to explain why. Show the coverage on him.

6) Watching Laurence Maroney of the Pats this week and Marion Barber of Dallas last week. Realizing both played on the same team at Minnesota in 2003 and 2004. And wondering how the Golden Gophers never did better than one appearance in the Music City Bowl those two seasons.

7) Will someone tell me how the Giants "shocked" anyone by winning? All New York had done going into the contest was win nine consecutive road games. They had the better big-play receiver (Plaxico B-r-r-r-ess), the better running back (Brandon Jacobs) and the better defensive line. And they came within one blown coverage play against Randy Moss, you can argue, of upsetting the Pats in Week 17.
Shocked? Not even Shockey-ed.

8) Will Bill Simmons' "Ewing Theory" be renamed the "Tiki Theory" if New York wins the Super Bowl? By the way, Pats by 13? Seriously. I've already booked my flight to Vegas in support of Coughlin.

9) The Chargers showed up more than anyone thought they would. We may turn Norvelous into a blossary term yet (Norvelous, adj., "pleasantly surprising people after your entire career gave no one any reason to believe in your ability to do so"...used in a sentence: "Eli Manning was simply norvelous on Sunday" or "That was a norvelous piece Walters wrote on the Notre Dame game.")

10) I believe you (seriously) if you say you thought Tynes would hit the 47-yarder. I did. Really. The fact that it was so unlikely took all the pressure off him.

And finally...Something tells me the Dana Jacobson fiasco won't blow up quite as much as the Kelly Tilghman one did. Though I do hear that "Blue & Gold Illustrated" is considering putting a crucifix on its cover next week and asking Coach Weis to pose next to it.