Thursday, December 25th
Coach woke this morning in West Texas just after we hit Interstate 10.  We thought maybe we would get a stop at Chuy's in Van Horn Texas but it was 8:00 a.m. and we were still sleeping.  Shortly after we did wake we started the search a Mexican restaurant to have lunch.  Being this close to the Mexico border you would think there would be one on every corner and they would all be fantastic.  The first town we tried was Las Cruces New Mexico.  First of all they are not on every corner and the couple we did find were closed up tight as a drum.  So we got back on the highway and continued West.  Internet service was coming in and out but I was able to find a joint in Deming New Mexico that was open.  The GPS was set for El Mirador.  It must have been the only place open in the entire southern half of New Mexico because it was packed and there was a steady flow of people the entire time we were there. 

After lunch we got started watching the Broncos from last week and stopped at halftime to watch some of the Celtics/Lakers and take a nap. 

What felt like one of the longest rides in history finally came to an end when we hit the hotel in San Diego at 11:00 p.m.

Wednesday, December 24th
The cruiser pulled out of New York late last night for San Diego.  Because of the storms that are plaguing the entire country we headed South to Atlanta before heading West to San Diego.  Coach woke up in South Carolina and as he says this is one that when you are checking off visiting all 50 states you don't spend much time getting.  He started his day with the KCBS radio show and then we got back on the road.  The time was passed getting caught up on the news and then the television tape of last weeks Chargers game.  After we passed through Jackson Mississippi we started looking for a place to stop and have dinner.  Being Christmas Eve this proved to be a larger task than we thought.  We were surprised to see that even Cracker Barrel was closed.  We finally found a chinese restaurant in Vicksburg Mississippi. 

After dinner we got rolling again and shortly after we hit the Texas state line it was time for bed.

Saturday, December 20th
Today we started with breakfast and then the Carolina film of last weeks game.  After the film Coach, Coach Robinson and I sat in the meeting room and talked about both the Giants and the Panthers and what they think we will see on Sunday night. 

Departure for the Panthers hotel was a little before 4 so Coach, Drew, Coach Robinson and I met in the lobby with J.J. and Willie to hang for a little while before we left for the hotel.  Seton Hall's mens basketball team was staying at the hotel as well and their meetings had just let out so Coach Bobby Gonzalez came over to say hello.  He and Coach were talking about film study and what it means to his team and he was quick to point out that you can scheme all you want but in the Big East if you don't have a couple of pro players you might have a long season.  Of course Coach had to share his Celtics story of Doc Rivers studying film when we were in Indianapolis and Coach Gonzalez got a big kick out of that.  As they were parting ways Coach asked who they were playing and who they had been studying, Coach Gonzalez said they were playing the team from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  I couldn't help myself, they are playing Indiana University Purdue University of Indianapolis, so I had to tell Coach that once again a basketball coach who had just studied the film of his opponent didn't even know who he was playing.  Coach got a huge laugh out of that and then we all headed out to the cruiser to go to see the Panthers.

After the meetings with the Panthers Coach, Dick, Susan, Coach Robinson and I had a little food in the lobby before the start of the NFL Network game kicked off.

December 19th, 2008
Friday morning Coach and the crew loaded up on the cruiser for the short trip to the Meadowlands to see Giants practice and meet with the Coaches and Eli Manning again.  Then we went back to the hotel to watch the Giants film of our game last week against the Cowboys.  After film Coach, Dick, Fred, Drew and I met in the hotel restaurant for dinner and then a short lobby hang with Vinny and his girlfriend Reena in the lobby bar.  Of course we had to revisit the "L" word story. 

December 18th, 2008
Because of the snow storm that rolled into the northeast Friday morning the cruiser brought Coach across the George Washington Bridge on Thursday night.  After we got to the hotel in New Jersey we all met in Dick's room to watch the Thursday night game on the NFL Network with a few pizza's and a couple of beers.

Saturday, December 13th
Breakfast was served this morning before film at 9:45 followed by the Giants film against the Eagles last week and then a little of the first meeting between the Giants and Cowboys. About halfway through film, Dick shows up with another special guest. Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, followed him in to meet Coach and hang for a few minutes. He and Coach began talking about guys that bring with them a stigma such as Ron Artest. He comes to a championship contender and when he leaves they aren't, as well as Wade Phillips and the headlines that have been written about him.  Coach pulls out the Dallas Morning News to make an example with the front page and Mark says, "I try not to read the sports page..." and laughs. After his departure we got back to work. 

The cruiser left the hotel around 3:20 for the Giants hotel and meetings with Coach Coughlin, both coordinators, Antonio Pierce and Eli Manning. After the meetings we made our way back to the hotel and parked in the hotel lobby for some food and a short hang before calling it a night. 

Friday December 12th
We arrived at the Cowboys facility and because of the recent media uproar it was a circus when we got there. We made our way through the circus and on our way to practice we passed the locker room and there was a curious sound that came from the locker room and it sounded like kids. Coach asked the Cowboys P.R., Rich Dalrymple, what it was and he told Coach it was the Make-A-Wish Kids, so Coach peaks his head through the curtain and you just hear the awh of voices when he is noticed! Pictures and autographs follow. We head on out to practice and as we make our way to the practice field Coach says "do you have Wii '09?" the anwers is yes and Rich says another customer and Coach says "no, if he didn't have it I was going to give it to him because that is the only thing some of them have!" His point was that video games are given a hard time but to some people it might be all they have!

After meetings and then film back at the hotel we parted ways and Coach and the crew went off the Jerry Jones' house for dinner.

Thursday December 11th
The Cruiser stayed put here in Dallas, but I drove up from home and met Coach to watch the television tapes of last week's games. We had lunch in his room and watched the games of the Cowboys/Steelers and Eagles/Giants and then Coach, Vinny and I had dinner in the hotel restaurant while we waited for Dick and Drew to get in to watch the Thursday night game on the NFL Network between the Saints and Bears. After we ate we went up to Dick's room and watched the first half of the game before we parted ways to watch the 2nd half in our respective rooms.

Sunday, December 7th
Sunday was much of the same, editorial meeting in the morning and then a 4:45 departure for the stadium. After the game Coach, J.J., Joe and I got on the cruiser to head south to Dallas to get ready for next week's Giants-Cowboys game.

Saturday, December 6th
Compared to Friday with Hall of Famer Lenny Moore and Gold Medalist Michael Phelps the rest of the weekend was small potatoes! As a matter of fact we didn't even leave the hotel on Saturday. We started with film of the Redskins from last week and since we have seen them so many times already this year we didn't make the long drive to see the Redskins in person. Vinny set up a conference call from our meeting room in the hotel and then Coach, Vinny, Audrey and I sat in the room after and had sandwiches and soup for dinner before calling it a night.

Friday, December 5th
Coach and the crew left the hotel this morning at 9:15 for the Ravens facility. First on the agenda was Coach's first ever meeting with John Harbaugh. After the meeting we went into practice. Wilbert Montgomery, the Ravens running backs coach, invited Lenny Moore to come to the facility to talk with his running backs so we got to spend some time with him during practice. After practice we finished meeting with the Ravens coaches and a couple players then we all loaded up on the cruiser and headed back to the hotel for Ravens film. Shortly after we started with film we had a guest appearance from Michael Phelps. He is a real football fan and loves his Baltimore Ravens.

After film Coach, Fred, Dick and myself met in the hotel restaurant for dinner and then a short hang with Coach Robinson after he got in from the airport.

Thursday, December 4th
The cruiser pulled out of New York at 1 p.m. heading down to Baltimore. Along the way we watched the television tapes of last week's Ravens and Redskins games. We hit the hotel around 4:30 and dinner in the hotel restaurant followed at 7, just Coach and I. After dinner we went up to Coach's room to watch the beginning of the Raiders - Chargers game and then called it a night.