And so, the Giants finally pulled the trigger and signed the Barry. The money is about what was heard before- $16 million with enough incentive clauses to make it a possible $20 million. The only thing they got out of it as they were taken to the cleaners was no more Barry flunkies in the locker room. Ooh, boy.

You know, so here's how we see it: the Giants are the proverbial good girl who got into it with the proverbial bad boy. They've had some exciting times, some rough patches, but it's been going on for so long that she's starting to think she needs to move on. Her friends are begging for her to move on so she starts making some noise about breaking up with her bad boy boyfriend. But just when she is on the verge of doing it, she goes running back to him and when all the friends complain to her and tell her she's doing stupid things, she tells them "but he's really going to change this time! I swear!"

We'll just have to see if the friends finally cut her off this time around.

As for the rest of the reaction, others are seeing it the same way. Ann Killion says the Giants just did the "Talk of Shame" while Tim Kawakami plays the relationship angle and Gwen Knapp says maybe this time Barry really will change.

In other sports news...

-Mike Singletary interviews for the Dallas Cowboys coaching position. For a team that's barely mediocre, the Niners sure have a popular coaching staff.

-Jeff Tedford says he's not going anywhere despite the athletic center being put on hold. Cal fans were worried that all the craziness would make him go coach a university that doesn't have people crawl up in trees in protest when they try and upgrade their sports department. Stuff like that doesn’t happen at Alabama or Michigan.

-Greg Knapp is hired as the Offensive Coordinator of the Raiders. Kiffin, however, will be the one calling plays. So, we have a guy who never called plays in the NFL and was criticized for the play calling he did in college calling plays and the guy who does have experience calling plays in the NFL not calling plays. Or, as Silver and Black Pride puts it: "Between Kiffin and Knapp we have upgraded from an Over the Hill Dummy and a Bed and Breakfast Mayor to one of the great young offensive mids in football and a steady practicioner of the West Coast Offense."