A concerned commenter below writes on the lack of informed or gloatatory (yes, I’m coining a word) sportswriting. Here are the answers to explain the omission.

1) I am far too gracious for that.

2) I am hungover. (Alas, no.)

3) I have married into a family of Red Sox/Patriot fans, and they are still making up their minds what they make of me, so I am really trying not to rub it in. Especially after the historic, wondrous Red Sox collapse in September, and their subsequent Steinbrennerian orgy of backstabbing and infighting. And chicken-eating.

4) I have been laid low by the first cold of the season, which has been kicking around in my lungs and skull and nasal passages and all that stuff for over a week now, and really has become quite boring.

5) That said: Go Giants! They certainly stepped it up yesterday, beating the Patriots at Foxboro. I have been an Eli Manning skeptic over the years and that combo delay-of-game/end-zone interception felt very Eli-esque to me, but he has been generally terrific this season and is showing signs of becoming a great come-from-behind quarterback. Plus, I love that the Giants D is a terror. What is more fun than a good sack?

Face it, Boston: New York has your number. (Oh, all right—you can beat the Knicks. Whenever they start their season.)

And by the way, Patriots fans—booing Tom Brady? That is just nuts. You don’t boo Tom Brady. The guy didn’t have his best game ever, but it looked to me like a lot of the throws that were off-base were really the fault of receivers running bad patterns, or being knocked on their duffs by the G-men. Who were also in Brady’s face pretty much the whole game.

I started this season with low expectations for the Giants; they’ve already surpassed them. Quite fun.