Green Bay Pulls 'Seinfeld' Ahead of Sunday's Big Game

Bill Kostroun / AP Eli Manning

In business, politics and even sports, some people will go to great lengths to gain an advantage. Any advantage.

Even taking part in dirty little tricks. At least that's what one New York star athlete found out this week.

A Fox affiliate in Green Bay, Wis., home to the Green Bay Packers, has said "No Seinfeld for you" to New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who is a big fan of the show. He's in football-crazy, cheese-head Wisconsin, preparing for the NFC championship game against the Packers Sunday night and a chance to make it to the Super Bowl.

In a video on the affiliate's Web site, General Manager Jay Zollar points at the camera and says, "Eli, no Seinfeld for you!"

The station pulled its regularly scheduled 5:30 p.m. Saturday rerun of the syndicated comedy in an effort to throw off Manning's preparation for the big game.

"We do not want to give any comfort to the enemy whatsoever when they come into town," Zollar says in the clip. "We had heard [one of Eli Manning's favorite shows was Seinfeld], and we know laughter is good medicine, and we decided that we're not going to give that to him, so we decided to pull Seinfeld this Saturday night."

AP Jerry Seinfeld

Giants and Seinfeld fans would likely have the same response: "Yada, yada, yada."

Jerry Seinfeld, however, is taking the matter seriously and is in the process of bailing Manning out, saying he'll send him the full Seinfeld series on DVD.

But the issue raises the topic of using dirty tricks to win — something we've also seen in politics and business recently:

• A reporter claimed lobbyists were running Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign. "Yada-yada-yada." Romney didn't like it.
• And another Republican candidate, Fred Thompson, needs to get some votes from yet another candidate, Mike Huckabee. With some mud slinging following the campaigns (Yada-yada-yada) ... Thompson blames Huckabee.
• And in the world of business, well, it wasn't quite like taking away your favorite show. In real estate, it was taking away your favorite home. "Yada-yada-yada: Don't worry. Take this adjustable rate mortgage. Rates will stay low. If not, come back and we'll take care of you." 
  Turned out to be "No refinance for you."