For the final Friday column of the year, we’re dishing out on various topics near and dear to us, even including the rare “on topic” item.  So since we are looking forward to starting our weekend early, no more chatting and on with the the Top 5:

NY Giants – To say they BLEEPed last week would be an insult to every other team that BLEEPed last week.  That’s how bad they were. Yet somehow they still control their own destiny, including the eventual one-and-done playoff future.  This week they travel to Buffalo without Jeremy Shockey and an overachieving Buffalo team still in the playoff hunt.  Now they’ve managed to come through each time they’ve been embarrased, so this is the week in which I should decide if I should start wearing a paper bag over my head or not.

Fantasy Football – My league’s championship game is this week, and I am in prime position to defend my title.  So if you have to cheer for someone outside of your own team, channel your positive energy towards, Philip Rivers, Ernest Graham, Jamal Lewis, Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, Jason Witten, Mason Crosby and the Minnesota Vikings defensive and special teams units.

Parking at the Mall – Like most of you reading this (all two of you), I’ve been hitting the mall and stores recently for last minute Christmas shopping.  Yesterday, I overheard someone saying how they circled the parking lot for 20 minutes looking for a good spot.  To him and everyone else I saw doing this I pass along this small bit of common sense… You can walk close to a MILE in 20 minutes.  If you just take the ‘far’ spot and walk your lazy BLEEP to the store, you’ll save most of the time you will spend in the car looking around... and get some rare exercise for no additional charge

Perth Cup – I don’t know why I found this so interesting that I felt I had to break with the “off “ topic tradition of this column, but I’ll post it anyway.  No horse has won the grueling two mile race while carrying over 54.5 kg.  So on that note, say ‘you have no chance’ to highweights Rosskaen, Sentire, Daka's Gem and Pantani.  But even more interesting (to me at least) is that only 1 Perth Cup race winner has even gone on to win another race in the last 10 years.  So keep that bit of handicapping knowledge in your pocket, as odds are those celebrating on New Year’s Day will not be doing so ever again.

Denise Milani – To close out the last Top 5 of the year, G-t-W brings you another image of Denise Milani.  Why? … Well, why not?

And so with that our year (sans some recaps this weekend) comes to a close.  G-t-W wishes you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your loved ones.  See you back at the track in ’08.

(edited 3:05 p.m.)

Okay, one more ‘final’ topic and that’ll be it… I was checking out a rival website to Foxsports (sorry) and read a thought provoking article on how Tony Romo ‘dropped the ball’ by ‘downgrading’ to Jessica Simpson from Carrie Underwood.  The basis for the argument was that Underwood is a talented artist and true A-list celebrity, while Simpson is an overrated, brainless, no talent D-lister. So I feel I must stick up for my (indirect) fantasy team meal ticket (one more big game from Owens and Witten is all I ask for) and say to the author… Your points are relevant how? I don’t think anyone would debate what you said, Romo included.  But I dare you look below, glare at the reason for the ‘downgrade’ and tell me that you or anyone else would have done differently?

Downgrade, I think not.