I was checking up on some of the RSS feeds I subscribe to but don’t get a chance to read often and came across a few interesting posts about the upcoming football season, some of them involve my Giants. First, from this post:

National Football League clubs today unanimously voted to return the name of the official game ball to “The Duke” in honor of Wellington Mara, the late and much-loved owner of the Giants. Mara, one of the most influential and respected figures in professional sports history, died last October.

The announcement was made this morningby NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue during his opening remarks at the 2006 NFL Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. Tagliabue then presented Ann Mara, Wellington’s wife of 51 years, and team president John Mara with the first “Duke” football.
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Mara spent 81 seasons with the Giants and made countless contributions to the franchise and the NFL. He was named Wellington by his father after the Duke of Wellington and was given the nickname “The Duke” as a youngster by Giants players.

The NFL game ball was known as “The Duke” from 1941-69.
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The NFL first used a ball in honor of Mara called “The Duke” in 1941 at the suggestion of Chicago Bears owner George Halas, who had helped arrange with Giants owner Tim Mara (Wellington’s father) for Wilson to become the league’s official supplier of game balls.

“The Duke” ball was discontinued prior to the 1970 season, the first to be played in the NFL-American Football League merger. The NFL and AFL continued using a Wilson football, but with a new design.

Second, what I’m predicting may be next year’s Super Bowl matchup, my Giants open the regular season up against the Indianapolis Colts. It will be the first time Eli and Peyton Manning play against each other. I’m going to try to get tickets to that game, if I can.

Third, with Monday Night Football moving to ESPN this year, there will be 2 games played on Monday nights instead of just one. It’s my opinion that they okayed this because of the Monday night game between my Giants and the New Orleans Saints last season. They were supposed to play on Sunday in New Orleans but Hurricane Katrina hit so the game was postponed a day and moved to the Meadowlands.

Fourth, there will be 3 games on Thanksgiving this year instead of the typical 2. The Dolphins will play the Lions in the early game, followed by the Buccaneers at the Cowboys and then the Broncos at the Chiefs.