G-Men

It is usually a standard practice of the media to peg the defending champions in every professional sport as the team to beat the next season. I have never agreed with this way of denoting the team that was most likely to win. Don't get me wrong, there are those small amount of media members who don't do this, but the majority of analysts and reporters do. "You have to beat the best to be the best." The Spurs were the best team in the NBA last year even though they were in the middle of the pack during the regular season.

Here's the problem I have now. I haven't heard one NFL analyst claim that the Giants are the best team in the NFL "because they are the champs." All of the sudden media members are using actual reasoning to choose who the teams to beat are? Not that I'm a Giants fan, but after all of the times that the defending champs have not deserved to be the pre-season favorite, how come the G-Men haven't got one mention as the best team in the league...Patriots, Colts, Chargers and Cowboys are all mentioned before them.