Giants atwitter during long delay

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While NFL and team officials tried to figure out where and when they would play the Minnesota Vikings, members of the New York Giants were sequestered in a Kansas City hotel, waiting for their marching orders.

Word finally came down at midday on Sunday that the game would be shifted to Detroit. Until then the players and coaches were stuck in limbo in Missouri, where they had been diverted by bad weather on Saturday. The primary source of information during the drama was media relations director Pat Hanlon's Twitter feed.

The veteran PR man posted news that there was a fire alarm at the team's Kansas City hotel, photos of quarterback Eli Manning enjoying his breakfast and more substantive information.

"[The team has] been in great spirits and really taken it in stride really well," Giants co-owner John Mara said in a conference call. "Laughing and joking about it. They have taken it about as well as possibly expected and that includes the head coach, by the way."

"For all the brilliant 'shoulda traveled on Friday' comments, we monitored weather all week and moved our departure time up 3.5 hours today," Hanlon tweeted on Saturday.

The Giants were involved in looking for an alternate site for the game, and Hanlon even suggested one.

"They say Miami is nice this time of year, and we do kind of have an "understanding" with them," Hanlon said.

He didn't get the warmth, but the players did get an extended holiday adventure. Although players weren't thrilled about the delay, their time in Kansas City and leisurely morning gave them plenty of time for social networking. Several used Twitter to lament the weather, question the decision to move the game to Monday night and wonder if they packed well enough for a longer stay up north.

"My first concern when I heard the news of our game being pushed to Monday was that I didn't pack enough socks and underwear!!" tweeted tight end Kevin Boss.

When the decision first was made to push the game to Monday, cornerback Terrell Thomas didn't sound happy. "It's all a conspiracy," he tweeted, possibly with tongue in cheek.

Before the Metrodome roof collapse made a change of venue necessary, Thomas tweeted: "All I'm saying is the story we got doesn't add up with the #NFL reasoning, but we got some team [bonding] going and we will be ready Monday!"

"Bummed that my wife has to work on Monday night and won't be able to watch me play!" Boss tweeted as the team was preparing to fly to Detroit on Sunday afternoon.

Running back Brandon Jacobs tweeted: "Midstream [adjustments,] there is nothing like it. Adversity [will] make us stronger."

While the travel arrangements were a headache, Hanlon offered a little perspective.

"More importantly, we are grateful the Metrodome was empty when roof collapsed ..." he tweeted.

Jane McManus is a reporter and columnist for ESPNNewYork.com. You can follow her on Twitter.

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Jane McManus

ESPNNewYork.com

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Jane McManus has covered New York sports since 1998 and began covering football just before Brett Favre's stint with the Jets. Her work has appeared in Newsday, USA Today, The Journal News and The New York Times. Follow Jane on Twitter.