01/29 — Super Bowl XLII Media Day has come and gone, and as always it was a zoo. A pleasant zoo, with lots of late-night television shows represented and Mexican TV stunts involving puppets and women proposing marriage to almost every Giant and Patriot.

But if you listen to enough of the players and read between the lines, usually you can tease out a storyline about the mindsets of the teams as they head into the NFL. And probably the truest emotions came out of Giants WR Plaxico Burress' prediction for today's New York Post that Big Blue would beat the Pats, 23-17.

New England DT Richard Seymour, at his podium on the near sideline of University of Phoenix Stadium this morning, was asked about Plax's prediction — appropriately enough by another Post writer, my good friend Mark Cannizzaro.

"I always feel like talk is cheap," Seymour said. "Someone can get out here and talk about it all day. But Sunday at 6 o'clock ... what is it, 3 o'clock here? I'm not even sure — I think the team that plays the best is going to be the champion. You can’t talk about wining this game. You have to execute and get it done when it’s time to get it done. Talk is cheap. You need to put some actions behind that.”

Then Seymour had a question for Cannizzaro. "Was he serious?" Told that apparently Burress was serious about his prediction, Seymour replied, "Sorry to hear that."

About two hours later, with the Patriots long gone to their practice day, Burress climbed onto his podium and was asked about his prognostication. He wasn't backing down.

The first question was about whether the Patriots might have heard a prediction and though it was a Namath-like guarantee that the Giants will prevail.

"A prediction is a guarantee?" Burress said rhetorically. Then he reasoned, "This is the biggest game of your life. It's OK to want to win, to predict, to dream."

A few questions later, he revisited a theme he first broached at the Giants' Monday night media session at their hotel.

"We actually want to be more of an underdog than 13 points," he said. "Why not make it 21 or 28?"

The lack-of-respect, us-against-the-world mentality is alive and well in the Giants, who expressed it several different ways.

"We can't do anything right as far as getting respect," DE Osi Umenyiora said. "Tampa Bay? We weren't supposed to win. Dallas? That was a fluke. Going to Green Bay, we were supposed to lose by 20 because it was cold outside."

"We're not here in awe of the New England Patriots," said fellow DE Justin Tuck. "Don't worry about us."

And Eli Manning, being the diplomatic QB, posited that "We're going to try to go out there and win. On any given day, if everything goes our way and we play our best football, we have a shot."