Sports chatter: Giants’ Super Bowl rings ‘modest’

Need to know:
Imagine what these Super Bowl rings would look like if the Giants wanted flashy.

The NFL champion New York Giants unveiled their championship bling on Wednesday, saying they asked Tiffany and Co. for “modest.”

“We wanted something a little more modest, but at the same time you can’t help but notice it is a championship ring,” co-captain Zak DeOssie said on the Giants’ website. “The owners deferred to us as the players and we got everything we wanted.”

The rings are made from white gold. They feature the NY logo amid four Vince Lombardi trophies that represent the franchise’s four Super Bowl wins.

Round, brilliant diamonds and 37 blue sapphires cover the ring.

Some of the players on this year’s team also won in 2007. Both times, the Giants beat the New England Patriots.

They said it was important to separate the two rings.

“The blue makes it a little different,” quarterback Eli Manning said. “We wanted some blue – the Giants are Big Blue. We definitely wanted to get a little blue to spark it up a little bit.”

Want to know:
Horseracing is a numbers game, something trainers are well aware of headed into this weekend’s Preakness Stakes.

Oddsmakers put Bodemeister the early favorite at 8-5, while Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another is next at 5-2.

I’ll Have Another drew the nine position in the starting gate, which excited trainer Doug O’Neill; the horse won in Kentucky from No. 19.

“Anything with a nine is fine for us,” O’Neill told The Baltimore Sun. 

Bodemeister will start from the seventh spot, and that’s great news for trainer Bob Baffert, who named the horse after son Bode – age seven.

I’ll Have Another caught Bodemesiter down the back stretch at Churchill Downs, and passed him a few yards from the line.

If the Canadian-owned horse wins Saturday in Baltimore, it will have a chance to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

Dull but important:
Junior Seau’s San Diego restaurant is closing its doors, USA Today reported. 

The former San Diego Chargers linebacker died two weeks ago, and management decided it was better to shut down business.

“Without Seau’s charismatic leadership, it was felt that the future profitability of the restaurant could be in question,” a press release from his lawyers said.

Seau, 43, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest on May 2.

It was five days later the family reported a robbery at Seau’s Oceanside, Calif., home.

Someone broke into the garage through a doggy door, and stole a bicycle. After subsequent media coverage, the bike was recovered, said The Associated Press.

A woman led police to the bike, and the man who had possession said he bought it a day after the reported theft.

He’s not a suspect, the AP said. 

Just because:
Will Rhymes gave his Tampa Bay Rays a fright when he collapsed after being hit by a ball Wednesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

A pitch from Boston’s Franklin Morales hit Rhymes in the arm, and he immediately reacted as if he was in severe pain.

Team trainers checked him over, and he proceeded to first base.

While talking to first base coach George Hendrick, Rhymes began to collapse again.

X-rays were negative, and doctors said it was symptoms of an adrenaline rush. He’ll be reevaluated today. 

Strange but true:
David Booth, a forward with the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, learned about Twitter and YouTube the hard way.

The 27-year-old Detroit native sparked a social media feeding frenzy when he tweeted about hunting black bears in Alberta. It continued when he posted a video on YouTube.

“You all know i shot a bear heres how … you have every right not to watch just like i have the right to choose to hunt,” he tweeted along with the YouTube link.

Much of the controversy surrounds the way he killed the bruin, and the fact there was video evidence.

Specialty channel Wild TV invited Booth along for the trip and had cameras rolling when he shot the bear using a compound bow.

The small group used a method called bear baiting, where food is left inside a barrel to attract an animal.

Bear baiting is illegal in 18 states, but a necessary method of controlling the population in Alberta, conservation officers said.

About half of the 10 Canadian provinces allow hunters to use the method.

Animal lovers didn’t enjoy the fact Booth seemed extremely proud of his kill, a “7ft black black bear- 21in skull,” his tweet said.

Next to the YouTube video, he wrote, “you have every right not to watch just like i have the right to choose to hunt.”

After the backlash, the video was removed, the Vancouver Province reported.

“Instead of cowardly killing bears for fun because u r a spoiled, rich kid, u should try being less cowardly on the ice. Van=0 cups,” tweeted Claire_McMaster.