It's like a movie that you read

I was referred to a great article on cracked.com (I assume based on the magazine) titles 8 Kick-Ass Movies You Didn't Know Were Based on Books. It's a funny read with some decent incite. The biggest revelation was about Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

This is why ESPN doesn't let Sal Paolantonio share his opinions

Somehow Sal Paolantonio's descriptively named book The Paolantonio Reports: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players, Teams, Coaches, and Moments in NFL History is the number one selling football book in America (according to Wikipedia. According to Amazon it's 11th). Personally, I hate saying movies or athletes are underrated or overrated, because they're wrongly rated to me. For example, I think Brian De Palma's Mission: Impossible is underrated, and Scarface is overrated. But by what measure? Who's doing the rating that I have to debunk? With teams I don't have as much of a problem with it, because you can at least imagine teams across seasons or eras playing each other. I don't mind using it in terms of draft prospects, as long as it's not referring to their college career. For example, J.J. Redick was overrated as a draft prospect but was a great college player. He was overrated because he has underperformed in relation to where he was drafted, and there is statistical evidence to support where he was rated (his draft slot) and where he should have been rated (his effectiveness as a player).

Some of Paolantonio's poorly defended declarations include Barry Sanders and Brett Favre as overrated, and Dave Krieg and Bart Starr as underrated. His argument for Barry Sanders being overrated center around his 2.8 yard per carry in the post season, which jumps to 5.0 if you take away one game at Lambeau where he had -1 yard on 13 carries. So one bad game on the road against another of his most overrated players takes away from the legacy as the most exciting athlete anyone has ever seen. Paolantonio is underrating the importance of a supporting cast.

His argument for Bart Starr being underrated centers around his postseason quarterback rating, particularly his record low interception rate. Tom Brady, throwing to no receivers of note last year, dropped from first to second behind Starr all time in lowest postseason interception rate last year. Phil Simms is third; is he underrated or are all New York athletes overrated, as he says Tiki Barber and Michael Strahan are as part of the "New York Hype Machine?" Starr threw 3 TDs, no picks in the 1967 postseason after throwing 9 TDs, 17 picks in the regular season. Maybe Paolantonio is overrating the importance of the postseason?

When you've got ex-kickers releasing memoirs, you know there's a problem

Giants all-time leading rusher Tiki Barber's much publicized autobiography Tiki: My Life in the Game and Beyond was released September 18. He ripped Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning, drummed up some publicity in various media outlets, yada yada yada; it's been a mild success. Ernie Accorsi retired as GM of the Giants in January and his tell-all The GM: The Inside Story of a Dream Job and the Nightmares that Go with It was also published the 18th. Judging by the excerpt in Peter King's latest column, it sounds like an interesting read. Michael Strahan made it three books in three weeks by members of the 2006 Giants organization with Inside the Helmet: Life as a Sunday Afternoon Warrior, co-authored by Fox NFL reporter Jay Glazer. It dropped yesterday as Strahan was on the Dan Patrick Show and PTI plugging away. Hopefully he'll sell enough copies to pay for a hit on his ex-wife. Even former Giants kicker Owen Pochman is self-publishing a memoir.

Also in the pipeline: Cocaine: It's a Hell of a Drug by Lawrence Taylor, My Dad is Archie Manning not Jim Nabors, by Eli Manning, and Hitler is my Homeboy, by Tom Coughlin.