Tom Coughlin Will Be Your Guest Speaker

Two things about Tom Coughlin you may not know: First, he hosts an annual Wine Tasting Gala as a fund raiser for The Jay Fund. He was in Florida this weekend for the event. Second, while in town, he also spoke at at a reception hosted by "the new 50,000-watt sports talk show station, 1010XL, which will begin broadcasting the first Monday in April."

For some reason, somebody thought it would be a good idea to ask the Giants head coach to weigh in on what it means to run a radio station:

"Have a philosophy, have a purpose and most of all, have goals and commitment," Coughlin told the audience of several hundred. "I challenge you to be the best you can be and do it better than anyone else."

Coughlin added, "And fine the hell out of your employees ... even if they've done nothing wrong. It sends a message." Okay, Coughlin didn't say that, but some Giants players probably wouldn't have been surprised if he had.

After the pep talk, a Times-Union reporter asked Coughlin if he'd like to comment on Tiki Barber's criticism of his coaching style. Predictably, Coughlin was in no mood to talk:

When asked if he had a comment about Barber's statement, Coughlin responded "No!" Asked if he was surprised by what Barber said, Coughlin replied, "I have no comment on that."

I suspect Barber will have a lot more to say about his NFL career given his new job.