The Giants had in the secondary last year

Here is a novel concept for you, and a feat his signing will certainly achieve. Thierry Henry will make the MLS more enjoyable for the people who already watch the league—the league attendance for the 2009 season had an aggregate of over 3 million.

If some guy in a sports bar on a Sunday afternoon dripping buffalo sauce down his Steelers jersey is not paying attention, that does not necessarily mean his signing has not worked.  Any American fan who states Henry will not catch on because American fans like sports where you "use your hands" need only check out Henry's performance against Ireland that sent France to the World Cup.

Thierry Henry will also help the league in a big way in the immediate future. The American Osi Umenyiora sports public paid huge attention to the World Cup—there is no denying that fact.  In fact, reports surfaced that the USA vs. England fixture attracted more TV viewers than the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup finals did this year.

Henry gives the MLS a powerful marketing tool to try and pull in some of these viewers Kevin Boss  to their product. The late goal scored by Landon Donovan against Algeria will also help the MLS in this regard.  As for the fact that Donovan and Henry will play in the two biggest media cities, well that is just marketing gold for Don Garber and the boys.

To truly see whether his signing works we must first decide what the reason he was signed is.  Many Ahmad Bradshaw state that the David Beckham signing was to create media attention. Jim Rome and many talking heads said it did not work, not realizing the very fact they spent so long talking about the signing meant it had already worked.  Grant Wahl wrote an enjoyable book titled 'The Beckham Experiment' explaining how it didn't work.  Again, the very fact a book was published may have achieved the goals of the league.  Despite the criticism he received, the 'Beckham 23' is the MLS merchandise you will see the most throughout the nation.

It's been all over the place, but it wasn't mentioned on the front page here and has now been overshadowed a bit by George Steinbrenner's death yesterday, but long-time NY area P.A. announcer Bob Sheppard passed away on Sunday. He's most famous as the "Voice of God" at Yankee Stadium, but he also followed the Giants out to Giants football jerseys Stadium and did P.A. work for the St. John's mens basketball team. Both teams paid their respects to a sports icon.

Lawrence Taylor has pled not-guilty to the rape charge he is facing. Good luck, LT.

Gerris Wilkinson is already planning for life after football.

Yahoo's! Jason Cole ranks the NFL linebacking units, and has the Giants as the 3rd worst in the NFL. Interesting to note that all of his top 5 and 8 of his top 10 are 3-4 defenses, where the linebackers more commonly get to do flashy things like sack the QB.